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M-ACKENZIE'S 

' I* / 

TEN THOUSAND RECEIPTS, 

IN ALL THE 

USEFUL AND DOMESTIC '"AKTS ; : - ; ^' 

CONSTITUTING 

A COMPLETE AND PRACTICAL LIBRARY, 

RELATING TO 

AGBICULTUEE, ANGLING, BEES, BLEACHING, BOOK-KEEPING, BREWING, COTTOU 
CULTURE, CROCHETING, CARVING, CHOLERA, COOKING, CALICO PRINTING, 
CONFECTIONERY, CEMENTS, CHEMICAL RECEIPTS, COSMETICS, DISEASES, 
DAIRY, DENTISTRY, DIALYSIS, DECALCOMANIA, DYEING, DISTILLA- 
TION, ENAMELLING, ENGRAVING, ELECTRO-PLATING, ELEO 
TROTYPING, FlSH CULTURE, FARRIERY, FOOD, FLOWER 
GARDENING, FIREWORKS, GAS METRES, GILDING, 
GLASS, HEALTH, HORSEMANSHIP, INKS, JEW- 
ELLERS' PASTE, KNITTING, KNOTS, LITHO- 
GRAPHY, MERCANTILE CALCULATIONS, 
MEDICINE, MISCELLANEOUS EE- 
CEIPTS, METALLURGY,' MEZ- 
ZOTINTS, OIL COLORS, 
OILS, PAINTING, 

PERFUMERY, 

PASTRY, PETROLEUM, PICKLING, POISONS AND ANTIDOTES, POTICHOMANIA, 
PROOF-READING, POTTERY, PRESERVING, PHOTOGRAPHY, PYROTECHNICS, 
RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY, SUGAR RAISING, SILVERING, 
SCOURING, SILK AND SILK-WORMS, SORGHUM, TOBACCO 
CULTURE, TANNING, TREES, TELEGRAPHING, VAR- 
NISHES, VEGETABLE GARDENING, .WEIGHTS 
AND MEASURES, WINES, ETC., ETC. 

BEING AN ENTIRELY NEW EDITION 

CABEFULLY EEVISED AND KE-WKITTEN, 

AND 

Containing the Improvements and Discoveries up to last Date of Publication. 
JANUARY, 1867. 



Again Eevised to Date of Prese^^^^Aj^4^^U^i^ll?ii Addition of Special Articles 
ui 




REPORT AND AWARD OP THE TRIAT^&^fc&Wffl^WyjgraNTS AT THE GREAT NATIONAL 
FIELD TRIAL HM^g^^MgyB^^ J ULY, 1866. 

PHIL 
T. ELLWOOD ZELL & COMPANY, 

Nos. 17 & 19 SOUTH SIXTH STREET. 
.1867. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by 
T. ELLWOOD ZELL, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of 

Pennsylvania. 




J. FAGAN & SON, 
STEBEOTYPEBS, 

PHILADELPHIA. 




PRINTED BY SHERMAN ft CO. 



F THE 



'UNIVERSITY, 

PREFACE 



TO THE NEW AND EEYISED EDITION 
OP OCTOBER, 1865. 



IN preparing a new edition of this popular work, the Editors have endeavored 
to incorporate all the improvements in the various branches, which have been intro- 
duced, since the publication of the last edition. Much of the work has been 
entirely re-written, and new articles have been added on Photography, Pyrotech- 
nics, Angling, Pisciculture, etc. The matter has not been simply scissored from 
newspapers, but carefully digested from standard authorities, the scientific journals, 
and from the practical knowledge of the Editors and contributors. The Editors 
have to acknowledge valuable assistance from gentlemen, eminent in the depart- 
ments of Agriculture, Horticulture, Wine-making, Perfumery, Cements, Engraving, 
Photography, Angling, Tanning, etc. The work, it is believed, will be found 
more reliable and thorough than any one of its class now in print. The Miscel- 
laneous department is almost entirely new, and contains much valuable and inter- 
esting information. Some matters properly belonging under other heads, but 
received too late, have been transferred to it. The reader is especially requested 
io refer to the index, when seeking information. 



(iii) 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

/ 

FROM THZ PHILA. NORTH AMERICAN, DEC. 22, 1865. 

The vast amount of useful knowledge bearing on every-day life which constantly flits thiough the world, hnt 
Often led to efforts for gathering and rendering it available b.v those who want it, when they want it. Mr. Z< 11 
having made a previous successful eifort in this direction, has enlarged the field of his usefulness by a new editic n 
of his work, which will be exceedingly useful to all, and almost indispensable to some. He has gathered the formulae 
and directions of all the most recent discoveries in the useful and domestic arts, and has made it as nearly complete as 
possible. Though the work is designed for popular rather than scientific use, it contains much that will interest 
scientific men, as well as general readers. Agriculture, horticulture, domestic economy, farriery, medicine, biewing, 
distillation, dyeing, paints and varnishes, metallurgy, photography, engraving, pottery, weights and measures these 
are among the subjects treated very fully, and which are of fir^t importance. There is no effort to prepare treatises upon 
any of these. The kernel alone is retained, and that in the best form for use by practical men. There is a great 
body of what may be termed the cream of useful knowledge, under the general head of agriculture, which it were 
well all farmers should have for perusal at leisure moments. Manures, cropd, drainage, and the care of animals, are 
all treated in a condensed manner, with directions and information which cannot fail to advantage readers. The 
gardener, poulterer, and apiarian, are provided with excellent receipts. The half-hundred pages devoted to medicine 
will be useful where a physician cannot be procured ; and under the miscellaneous head there are a variety of facts 
on horsemanship and knitting, gunpowder and book-keeping, dogs and crocheting, which could not readily be found 
elsewhere. A great deal of the information hitherto published in this form has been of doubtful use, and has discredited 
honest efforts to aid the community. The counterfeit only proves the worth of what is genuine, and this really 
careful and useful vade mecum ought not to suffer from the reputation of the trash which it seeks to supplant. The 
index an essential in such a compilation has been carefully arranged, at much length. There are diagrams and 
illustrations where they are needed, and ihe whole forms a volume which ought to be very widely circulated, and 
which will repay its cost in almost any family within a year. 

FROM THE PHILA. SUNDAY DISPATCH, Nov. 26, 1865. 

Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Receipts, containing new discoveries and processes in use up to October, 1865. 487 pages. 
To describe this volume properly would require the space given to a catalogue, and the volubility of an auctioneer. 
We find in it almost everything that can be conceived as an object of inquiry involving the special preparation of 
materials or the management of processes. Agriculture, chemistry, cooking, manufactures, medicine, the decorative 
arts, household^management, and a thousand other things which defy classification, are embraced in this closely- 
printed book, which, in the way of condensation, contains enough to stock a library with volumes printed in fashion- 
ably large type. \Ve could not undertake to recite the whole title-page, which is of itself prodigious, affordhig but 
a feeble idea of what is within. Suffice it to say, that almost anything that anybody wants to know how to do will 
be found in this volume properly described, and illustrated in some cases by useful engravings. It has been re- 
written by a corps of scientific gentlemen, and is really a book which should be found in every house. 

FROM THE GERMANTOWN (PA.) TELEGRAPH, Nov. 22, 1865. 

The editor and publisher of this extremely well gotten-up edition, has been many months in its preparation, hay- 
ing employed in this time a corps of able experts, in order that the work might be brought out not only in a style 
hitherto unapproached, but with intrinsic claims upon the community which cannot but be acknowledged. Truth- 
fully, these "Ten Thousand Receipts in the Domestic Arts," constitute a "complete and practical library," relating 
to the hundreds of subjects treated of, connected with the indispensable every-day affairs of family life. The clear- 
ness of the print, the arrangement of the receipts, with the comprehensive index, render recourse to it at all times 
as easy almost as turning over the pages of a magazine, and obtaining from it the information sought in plain lan- 
guage and in condensed form, so that all can quickly see and readily understand. But this is not a work designed 
exclusively for domestic purposes, as the word "Domestic" is most generally understood; but it contains valuable 
suggestions and advice upon almost every practical pursuit. There is scarcely anything omitted in which any con- 
siderable number of people are interested. 

FROM THE PHILA. PRESS, Nov. 24, 1865. 

This is a domestic cyclopaedia, of nearly 500 pages, in new type, small but clear. We are assured that two years' 
labor, by very competent gentlemen, has been bestowed upon this large and improved edition, and can well believe 
it. There is scarcely a subject connected with the useful and domestic arts about which a seeker for information 
cannot find what he wants in this book. The most recent improvements and discoveries, up to October, 1865, when 
the work was stereotyped, have been included. The quantity of information in this volume is very great so far ag 
we have tested it we can vouch for its accuracy. As a work of reference, it has been made complete by the addition 
of a copious index. 

FROM THE PHILA. SUNDAY TRANSCRIPT, DEC. 10, 1865. 

It is one of the most remarkable books of the day, containing, as it does, a reference to every conceivable subject under 
the sun. In itself it is a complete and practical library, so arranged as to be invaluable in the household, on the 
farm, and in the counting-room. Pastry and petroleum, agriculture and knitting, receive equal attention, while the 
entire volume presents a fund of information not accessible in any other form. The thrifty housekeeper can pick up 
numerous capital receipts for pies, or can learn the art of carving, which is treated as one of the exact sciences ; the 
merchant will find mercantile calculations; the artist will find a dissertation upon oil colors, water colors, and mez- 
zotints; the farmer will learn something about gardening. In fact, there is no branch of trade but can be bene- 
fited by a perusal of this book. Although the receipts are quoted as 10,000, judging from the book they will double 
that figure. 

FROM THE PHILA. INQUIRER, Nov. 24, 1865. 

The present issue of this useful work by Mr. Zell, is a new and improved edition, carefully revised and re-written 
by a corps of gentlemen eminently qualified for the peculiar task. To it has been likewise added all the improve- 
ments and discoveries in the useful and domestic arts up to the date of publication, October, 1865. Two years of 
labor have been necessary to bring the book out in the present improved shape. 

FROM THE PHILA. EVENING TELEGRAPH, DEC. 23, 1865. 

Mr. Zell maintains his position among the first-class houses of our land, principally through his agencies and th* 
few well-selected works to which he has given life. Principal among the latter is " Mackenzie's Ten Thousand Re- 
ceipts," a work of universal information. In it are found, in fact, all the useful knowledge of the age compressed 
into this universal compendium of information. If a man be familiar with all thi contents of this book, he will bo 
an accomplished gentleman, a practical doctor, and in many respects a professional man. The work is one we can 
recommend as likely to be every day useful. We understand it is prepared by a gentleman well known in the 
world of science ; it bears the impress of a well-informed mind. It is specific in its directions, and illustrated by 
numerous wood-cuts. Too much credit cannot be given to both the compiler and publisher for the remarkable care and 
skill exercised in compressing into one volume, and that so carefully printed, so great an amount of useful information. 

FROM THE PHILA. EVENING BULLETIN, DEC. 12, 1865. 

This work has been thoroughly re-written, and comprises all manner of improvements and discoveries, brought up 
to October of this year. It forms a complete library of valuable knowledge upon almost every imaginable subject 
connected with the useful and domestic arts, and is a most important volume of reference for th manufacturer, 
agriculturalist and housekeeper. 



PREFACE 



TO THE LATEST LONDON EDITION. 



As the object of all study, and the end of all wisdom, is practical utility, so a collec- 
tion of the most approved Receipts, in all the arts of Domestic and Social Life, may be 
considered as a volume containing nearly the whole of the wisdom of man, worthy of 
preservation. In truth, the present volume has been compiled under the feeling, that 
if all other books of Science in the world were destroyed, this single volume would be 
found to embody the results of the useful experience, observations, and discoveries of 
mankind during the past ages of the world. 

Theoretical reasonings and historical details have, of course, been avoided, and the 
object of the compiler has been to economize his space, and come at once to the point. 
Whatever men do, or desire to do, with the materials with which nature has supplied 
them, and with the powers which they possess, is here plainly taught and succinctly 
preserved ; whether it regard complicated manufactures, means of curing diseases, 
simple processes of various kinds, or the economy, happiness, and preservation of life. 

The best authorities have been resorted to, and innumerable volumes consulted, and 
wherever different processes of apparently equal value, for attaining the same end, have 
been found, they have been introduced. 

Among the works consulted have been, 



The Monthly Magazine, 56 vols. 

The Repertory of Arts and Sciences, 60 vols. 

The London Journal of Arts and Scienees. 

The Transactions of the Society of Arts, 30 vols. 

The Magazine of Trade and Manufactures, 6 

vols. 

The Gazette of Health, 9 vols. 
The Series of the Horticultural Society, 5 vols. 
The Series of the Agricultural Society, 30 vols. 
The Farmer's Magazine, 16 vols. 
YOUNG'S Farmer's Calendar. 
LOUDON on Gardening, 1 vol. 
JENNINGS'S Domestic Cyclopaedia, 2 vols. 
TINGREY on Varnishing. 
RICHARDSON on the Metallic Arts. 



THOMAS'S Practice of Physic. 
COOPER'S Dictionary of Surgery. 
THORNTON'S British Herbal. 
WALLER'S British Herbal. 
IMISON'S School of Arts. 
Handmaid to the Arts. 
SMITH'S Laboratory of the Arts. 
HAMILTON on Drawing. 

The EDITOR'S Thousand Experiments in Manu- 
factures and Chemistry. 
DAVY'S Agricultural Chemistry. 
HENRY'S Elements of Chemistry. 
CHAPTAL'S Chemistry applied to the Arts. 
GREGORY'S Cyclopaedia. 
The English and other Cyclopaedias. 



Besides innumerable treatises on special subjects, minor journals, and a great variety 
of manuscript communications from friends and connections of the editor and publisher. 

A general, rather than a scientific, arrangement has been adopted, because the object 
of the work is popular and universal, and, though likely to be useful to men of science, 
it is more especially addressed to the public at large. In like manner, as far as pos- 
sible, technical and scientific language has been avoided, and popular names and simple 
descriptions have been preferred. 

Every care has been taken in the printing to avoid errors in quantities, as well as to 
select the best receipts of each kind ; but notices of errors, omissions, or experimental 
improvements, will be thankfully received by the publisher, for the use of future 
editions. 

The Index will render it easy to refer to every article of importance. 



PKEFACE 

TO THE EAELY AMEEICAN EDITION", 



IN fulfilling the duty of preparing for the press a new and enlarged edition of the 
valuable work of Mackenzie, the Editor has steadily borne in mind its evident aim at 
general practical utility; and consequently he has submitted both alterations and 
additions to its rules. While the former will be found but few a circumstance arising 
from the nature of the book ; the latter are both numerous and important amounting 
to about fifty pages, exclusive of those contained in the Miscellaneous Department and 
the Appendix. 

The Medical part has been condensed, simplified, and adapted to the climate and 
diseases of the United States. A short, but complete manual of " Directions for rear- 
ing the Silk Worm, and the Culture of the White Mulberry Tree," together with an 
extensive article on the Diseases of the Horse, may be noticed as among the important 
additions. The Culinary art has not been neglected the numerous original receipts 
from the best modern authorities of the " Kitchen," for preparing various delicacies of 
the animal and vegetable kingdom, including Pastry, Puddings, etc., will no doubt 
prove acceptable to American housekeepers. The man of family, the Sportsman, the 
Artist, the Mechanic, and the Farmer, have all been remembered. And an unusually 
large and correct Index gives every facility of reference that could be wished. 

The attention of the Reader is called to the " Miscellaneous Receipts." In this 
portion, which is very copious, numerous receipts have been placed, which could not 
with propriety be elsewhere arranged. It has also been made the receptacle of much 
valuable matter obtained from several kind female friends, and the fruH of researches 
into many curious and rare books ; and which was prepared at too late a period for 
insertion in the appropriate departments. The Appendix of " Instructions in the Art 
of Carving," with its numerous wood cuts, will, it is hoped, prove acceptable and 
useful to our country readers, for whose accommodation this work was originally 
designed. 

The Editor more especially notices the following works, as sources from which he has 
derived considerable assistance: The Franklin Journal; Willich's Domestic Encyclo- 
paedia, by Professor Cooper ; a Tract published by the Pennsylvania Society for the 
Rearing of Silk-Worms, etc. ;. and the curious work of Colonel Hanger, of sporting 
memory. 

In conclusion, the publishers beg leave to state, that neither time nor expense has 
been considered in endeavoring to render this edition cheaper and better than any 
other which has been published, and at the same time worthy of the patronage which 
is solicited for it. They have availed themselves of the services of a gentleman aa 
Editor, who has been for a considerable time engaged in the preparatory researches. 
The type, though small, is very legible and distinct ; and in the selection of the paper, 
whilst regard has been had to the color, it has been deemed of main importance that it 
should be sufficiently durable to resist the frequent usage into which a work of this 
description must necessarily be called, 
(vi) 



CONTENTS. 



[FOR DETAILS, SEE INDEX, AT CLOSE OF THE VOLUME.] 



AGRICULTURE 9 

MANURE 11, 18 

WHEAT 27 

DRAINAGE 49 

SUGAR 52 

COTTON AND TOBACCO 53 

SILK-WORM 54 

HORTICULTURE 60 

BUDDING AND GRAFTING 54 

FRUIT 67 

INSECTS AND DISEASES OP TREES ......... 76 

KEEPING FRUIT 86 

FLOWER GARDENING ........... 88 

RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY 91 

DAIRY WORK 91 

MANAGEMENT OF BEES 98 

FARRIERY 104 

DISEASES OF HORSES 105 

DOGS 115,449 

HOGS 116 

" SHEEP 117 

CATTLE 120 

MEDICINE 122 

DISEASES 122 

CHOLERA 162 

ACCIDENTS 143 

WOUNDS 144 

FRACTURES ............ 146 

DISLOCATIONS 148 

AMPUTATIONS 150 

DROWNING 151, 180 

POISONS 152 

MEDICINES 154 

DISEASES OF FEMALES .......... 165 

DISEASES OF CHILDREN 169 

DOMESTIC MEDICINES . . . . . . . 173 

HYGIENE 178 

RULES FOR HEALTH 184 

TEETH 186 

CULINARY ARTS ' . 188 

COOKING .188 

CONFECTIONERY 232 

PICKLING 238 

PRESERVING . . ... 239 

CARVINQ 241 

FOOD 5 .247 

(Tii) 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Mfl 

BREWING 251 

CIDER 263 

WINES 265 

DISTILLATION 277 

ESSENTIAL OILS 289 

WATERS 292 

VINEGAR 296 

ARTIFICIAL WATERS 300 

PERFUMERY 303 

BLEACHING AND SCOURING 309 

DYEING 315 

STAINING 325 

PAINTS AND COLORS 327 

VARNISHES 339 

LACQUERS 345 

CEMENTS 352 

GLUE 355 

INKS 358 

METALLURGY 362 

ASSAYING 363 

PARTING 367 

ALLOYS 368 

FOILS 373 

ELECTRO-PLATING 374 

GILDING 376 

IRON AND STEEL 381 

PYROTECHNY 384 

MATCHES 386 

TANNING 386 

ENAMELLING 390 

POTTERY 394 

GLASS 399 

PHOTOGRAPHY 409 

PHILOLITHOGRAPHY 417 

ENGRAVING 419 

LITHOGRAPHY 424 

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 427 

SPECIFIC GRAVITY 429 

GAS METERS 430 

VALUE OF COINS 431 

CHEMICAL RECEIPTS 432 

BOILER ENCRUSTATIONS 433 

ARTIFICIAL COLD 435 

ANTISEPTICS AND DISINFECTANTS ......... 435 

WEATHER PROGNOSTICS 439 

ANGLING 443 

PISCICULTURE 445 

MISCELLANEOUS 446 

To TIE KNOTS 446 

KNITTING ...........'.. 447 

CANARY BIRDS 448 

DOGS 449 

INSECTS 449 

PETROLEUM 451 

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH .......... 451 

BOOK-KEEPING 452 

PROOF-READING ........... 452 

ROWING 453 

DOMESTIC RECEIPTS 455-458-464 

MEDICAL RECEIPTS 460-463-464 

DIALYSIS 463 

HORSEMANSHIP 463 

DECALCOMANIA 464 

GUNPOWDER ............. 466 

FARM SEED 466 

INDEX 467-487 



MACKENZIE'S 




TEN THOUSAND RECEIPTS, 



THE MODERN THEORY OF AGRICUL- 
TURE. 

Liebig and other chemists have, within the last 
twenty-five years, endeavored to establish a science 
of agriculture, based upon a knowledge of the 
constitution of plants and of soils, and their mutual 
relations. We propose to give a very condensed 
account of the general conclusions arrived at. 

Food of Plant*. 

Plants derive their food from the air as well as 
from the earth ; the former by their leaves, the 
latter by their roots. Elements most necessary 
to them are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitro- 
gen, with various mineral substances present in 
the soil. Carbon is the most abundant. This is 
to a large extent extracted from the atmosphere 
by the leaves of plants, during the day-time. 
Hydrogen and oxygen are in the water contained 
in the earth and air; and oxygen is in the air 
mixed with nitrogen. Plants do not seem able, 
however, to separate much nitrogen from the air 
as such, but more readily obtain it by the decom- 
position of ammonia (composed of hydrogen and 
nitrogen), which is formed in the atmosphere, and 
washed down into the earth by rain-water, so as 
to reach the roots. All ordinary waters, it must 
be remembered, contain substances dissolved in 
them. Irrigation of land does not act only by 
the water itself, but by that which is dissolved or 
diffused in it. Davy calculated that, supposing 
one part of sulphate of lime to be contained in 
every two thousand of river water, and every 
square yard of dry meadow land to absorb eight 
gallons of water, then, by every flooding, more 
than one and a half hundred weight of gypsum 
per acre is diffused by the water a quantity 
equal to that generally used in spreading gypsum 
as a manure or fertilizer ; and so, if we allow only 
twenty-five parts of animal and vegetable remains 
to be present in a thousand parts of river water, 
we shall find that every soaking with such water 
will add to the meadow nearly two tons per acre 
of organic matter. The extraordinary fertility 
of the banks and delta of the river Nile is due to 
the natural annual overflow of the river, extended 
by artificial irrigation. In China also, the prin- 
ciple of irrigation is carried out very largely, and 
it is applicable, on a large or small scale, in any 
country. The water of lakes is usually charged 
with dissolved or suspended substances even more 
abundantly than that of rivers. 



Humus. 

Soils contain a great amount of matter which 
results from the decay of vegetables and animals; 
to a compound of which with earthy material the 
name of humus is given. This was once incor- 
rectly supposed to give the whole nutriment of 
the plant. Trees and plants, instead of abstract- 
ing carbon from the earth, really, by taking it 
from the air, and subsequently dying and decay- 
ing, annually by their leaves, and finally alto- 
gether, give carbon and other atmospheric elements 
to the soil. As above said, all plants by their 
leaves absorb carbonic acid from the air, and 
retain carbon, giving out oxygen. It is evident, 
therefore, that the leaves are of great importance 
to the plant. So are the roots, for their absorbing 
office. Thus it is true that the growth of a plant 
is always proportioned to the surface of its roots 
and leaves together. Vegetation, in its simplest 
form, consists in the abstraction of carbon from, 
carbonic acid, and hydrogen from water; but the 
taking of nitrogen also, from ammonia especially, 
is important to them, and most of all, to those 
which are most nutritious, as the wheat, rye, 
barley, &c., whose seeds contain gluten and other 
nitrogenous principles of the greatest value for 
food. Plants will grow well in pure charcoal, if 
supplied with rain-water, for rain-water contains 
ammonia. 

Animal substances, as they putrefy, alway? 
evolve ammonia, which plants need and absorb. 
Thus is explained one of the benefits of manuring, 
but not the only one, as we shall see presently. 
Animal manure, however, acts chiefly by th 
formation of ammonia. The quantity of gluten 
in wheat, rye, and barley is very different; and 
they contain nitrogen in varying proportions. 
Even in samples of the same seed the quantity 
varies ; and why ? Evidently because one variety 
has been better fed with its own appropriate fer- 
tilizer than another which has been reared on a 
soil less accurately adapted by artificial means 
for its, growth. French wheat contains 12 per 
cent, of gluten; Bavarian 24 per cent. Sir H. 
Davy obtained 19 per cent, from winter, and 24 
from summer wheat; from Sicilian 21, from Bar- 
bary wheat 19 per cent. Such great differ- 
ences must be owing to some cause, and thi* 
we find in the different methods of cultivation. 
An increase of animal manure gives rise not 
only to an increase in the number of seeds, but 
also to a remarkable difference in the proper- 



10 



AGRICULTURE. 



tion of gluten which those seeds contain. Among 
manures of animal origin there is great diversity. 
Cow dung contains but a small proportion of 
nitrogen. One hundred parts of wheat, grown 
on a soil to which this material was applied, 
afforded only 11 parts of gluten and 64 of starch ; 
while the same quantity of wheat, grown on a soil 
fertilized with human urine, yielded 35 per cent. 
of gluten, and of course a smaller proportion of 
less valuable ingredients. During the putrefaction 
of urine, ammoniacnl salts are formed in large 
quantity, it may be said, exclusively; for under 
the influence of warmth and moisture, the most 
prominent ^ingredient ,of .urine as! converted into 
carbonate, efalumonia:, ." ; ',*'*" 
'Guano. 

Guano -co.n.e1sfes" &f the ^xcrement-s of sjea-fowl, 
collected durJrrg'lVn'g. periods. ^xh/CBFtaifl islands 
in th'e South Sea. A soil which is deficient in 
organic matter is made much more productive by 
the addition of this manure. It consists of am- 
monia, combined with uric, phosphoric, oxalic, 
and carbonic acids, with some earthy salts and 
impurities. 

The urine of men and animals living upon flesh 
contains a large quantity of nitrogen, partly in 
the form of urea. ' Human urine is the most 
powerful manure for all vegetables which contain 
nitrogen; that of horses and horned cattle con- 
tains less of this element, but much more than 
the solid excrements of these animals. In the 
face of such facts as these, is it not pitiable to 
observe how the urine of the stable or cow-shed 
is often permitted to run off, to sink uselessly into 
the earth, or to form a pool in the middle of a 
farm-yard, from which, as it putrefies, the am- 
monia formed in it rapidly escapes into the atmos- 
phere ? 

Cultivated plants need more nitrogen than wild 
ones, being of a higher and more complex organ- 
ization. The result of forest growth is chiefly 
the production of carbonaceous woody fibre; of 
garden or field culture, especially the addition of 
as much nitrogen as the plant can be made to 
take up. 

Solid Manure. 

The solid excrements of animals do not con- 
tain as much nitrogen as those which are voided 
in a liquid form, and do not constitute so power- 
ful a fertilizing material. In urine, moreover, 
ammonia loses a good deal of its volatility by 
being combined and dissolved in the form of 
Baits. In an analogous manner, one of the uses 
of sulphate of lime or gypsum, as a manure, is to 
fix the ammonia of the atmosphere. Charcoal 
and humus have a similar property. 

Mineral Matter in Plants. 

Besides the substances already mentioned, 
others are needed by plants as part of their food, 
to form their structure. The firmness of straw, 
for example, is due to the presence in it of silica, 
the principal constituent of sand and flints. Po- 
tassa, soda, lime, magnesia, and phosphoric acid, 
are contained in plants, in different proportions. 
All of these they must obtain from the soil. The 
alkalies above-named (potassa and soda) appear 
to be essential to the perfect development of the 
higher vegetable forms. Some plants require 
them in one mode of combination, and some in 
another,- and thus the soil that is very good for 
one, may be quite unfit for others. Firs and 
pines find enough to support them in barren, 
vandy soil. 

The proportion of silicate of potash (necessary 
for the firmness of wheat straw) does not vary 



perceptibly in the soil of grain-fields, because what 
is removed by the reaper, is again replaced in 
putrefying straw. But this is not the case with 
meadow-land. Hence we never find a luxuriant 
crop of grass on sandy and limestone soils which 
contain little potash, evidently because one of the 
constituents indispensable to the growth of the 
plants is wanting. If a meadow be well manure!, 
we remove, with the increased crop of grass, a 
greater quantity of potash than can, by a repe- 
tition of the same manure, be restored to it. So, 
grass-land manured with gypsum soon ceases to 
feel its agency. But if the meadow be strewed 
from time to time with wood ashes, or soap-boilers' 
lye made from wood ashes, then the grass thrives 
as luxuriantly as before. And why ? The ashes 
are only a means of restoring the necessary potash 
for the grass stalks. So oats, barley, and rye 
may be made for once to grow upon a sandy 
heath, by mixing with the scanty soil the ashes 
of the heath-plants that grow upon it. Those 
ashes contain soda and potash, conveyed to the 
growing furze or gorse by rain-water. The soil 
of one district consists of sandstone; certain trees 
find in it a quantity of alkaline earths sufficient 
for their own sustenance. When felled, and burnt, 
and sprinkled upon the soil, oats will grow and 
thrive that without such aid would not vegetate. 

The most decisive proof of the absurdity of the 
indiscriminate use of any strong manure was ob- 
tained at Bingen, a town on the Rhine, where the 
produce and development of vines were highly 
increased by manuring them with animal matters, 
such as shavings of horn. After some years, the 
formation of the wood and leaves decreased per- 
ceptibly. Such manure had too much hastened 
the growth of the vines : in two or three years 
they had exhausted the potash in the formation 
of their fruit leaves and wood; so that none re- 
mained for the future crops, as shavings of horn 
contain no potash. Cow-dung would have been 
better, and is known to be better. 

Conditions of Vegetation. 

The sun's heat and light, air, water, and the 
common elements of the earth are necessary to 
the existence of plants. But a greater or less 
abundance of certain elements, and their existence 
in more or less favorable states of combination, 
determines the magnitude and fertility, or, in a 
word, the whole productiveness, of the vegetable 
growth. 

The rules of agriculture should then, if ration- 
ally perfected, enable us to give to each plant 
what it requires for the attainment of the special 
object of its culture; namely, the increase of cer- 
tain parts which are used as food for men and 
animals. 

One instance may illustrate this idea. The 
means to be resorted to for the production of fine 
pliable straw for hats and bonnets are the very 
opposite to those which would tend to produce the 
greatest possible amount of seed or grain from the 
same plant. 

Sand, clay, and lime, as has been said ; are the 
principal constituents of soils. Clay asi marl 
always contain potash and soda. Pure land, or 
pure limestone, would alone constitute absolutely 
barren soils. All arable land contains an admix- 
ture of clay, although an excess of it, in propor- 
tion, is of course disadvantageous. 

Rotation of Crops. 

The exhaustion of alkalies in a soil by succes- 
sive crops is the true reason why practical farmers 
suppose themselves compelled to suffer land to lie 
fallow. It is the greatest possible mistake to 



FERTILIZERS. 



11 



think that the temporary diminution of fertility 
in a field is chiefly owing to the loss of the decay- 
ing vegetiible matter it previously contained: it 
is principally the consequence of the exhaustion 
of potash and soda, which are restored by the 
slow process of the more complete disintegration 
of the materials of the soil. It is evident that the 
careful tilling of fallow land must accelerate and 
increase this further breaking up of its mineral 
ingredients. Nor is this repose of the soil always 
necessary. A field, which has become unfitted for 
a certain kind of produce, may not, on that ac- 
count, be unsuitable for another; and upon this 
observation a system of agriculture has been 
gradually formed, the principal object of which is 
to obtain the greatest possible produce in a suc- 
cession of years, with the least outlay for manure. 
Because plants require for their growth different 
constituents of soil, changing the crop from year 
to year will maintain the fertility of that soil 
(provided it be done with judgment) quite as well 
as leaving it at rest or fallow. In this we but 
imitate nature. The oak, after thriving for long 
generations on a particular spot, gradually sick- 
ens; its entire race dies out; other trees and 
shrubs succeed it, till, at length, the surface be- 
comes so charged with an excess of dead vegetable 
matter, that the forest becomes a peat moss, or a 
surface upon which no large tree will grow. 
Generally long before this can occur, the opera- 
tion of natural causes has gradually removed from 
the soil substances, essential to the growth of oak, 
leaving others favorable and necessary to the 
growth of beech or pine. So, in practical farm- 
ing, one crop, in artificial rotation with others, ex- 
tracts from the soil a certain quantity of necessary 
materials; a second carries off, in preference, 
those which the former has left. 

One hundred parts of wheat straw yield 15J of 
ashes ; the same quantity of barley straw, 8 ; of 
oat straw, only 4; and the ashes of the three are, 
chemically, of about the same composition. Upon 
the same field, which will yield only one harvest 
of wheat, two successive crops of barley may be 
raised, and three of oats. We have in these facts 
a clear proof of what is abstracted from the soil, 
and the key to" the rational mode of supplying the 
deficiency. 

Since wheat consumes a large amount of silicate 
of potassa from the soil, the plants which should 
succeed or alternate with it must be such as re- 
quire but little potassa, as potatoes or turnips. 
After three or four years the same lands may well 
bear wheat ; because, during the interval, the soil 
will have been, by the action of the atmosphere, 
and the solution of vegetable and nnimal sub- 
stances decaying upon or in it, again rendered 
capable of yielding what the wheat requires. 
Whether this process can be artificially antici- 
pated, by supplying the exhausted ingredient to 
the soil, is a further and most interesting and im- 
portant inquiry. 

We could keep our fields in a constant state of 
fertility by replacing, every year, as much as is 
removed from them by their produce. An in- 
crease of fertility may be expected, of course, 
only when more is added of the proper material 
to the soil than is taken away. Any soil will 
partially regain its strength by lying fallow. But 
any soil, under cultivation, must at length (with- 
out help) lose those constituents which are re- 
moved in the seeds, roots and leaves of the plants 
raised upon it. To remedy this loss, and also in- 
crease the productiveness of the land, is the ob- 
ject of the use of proper manures. 

Land, when not employed in raising food for 
animals or man, should, at least, be applied to 



the purpose of raising manure for itself; and 
this, to a certain extent, may be effected by means 
of green crops, which, by their decomposition, not 
only add to the amount of vegetable mould con- 
tained in the soil, but supply the alkalies that 
would be found in their ashes. That the soil 
should become richer by this burial of a crop, 
than it was before the seed of that crop was sown, 
will be understood by recollecting that three- 
fourths of the whole organic matter we bury las 
been derived from the air : that by this process of 
ploughing in, the vegetable matter is more 
equally diffused through the whole soil, and 
therefore more easily and rapidly decomposed ; 
and that by its gradual decomposition, ammonia 
and nitric acid are certainly generated, though 
not so largely as when animal matters are em- 
ployed. He who neglects the green sods, and 
crops of weeds that flourish by his hedgerows 
and ditches, overlooks an important natural 
means of wealth. Left to themselves, they ripen 
their seeds, exhausting the soil, and sowing them 
annually in his fields : collected in compost heaps, 
they add materially to his yearly crops of corn. 

Organic Manures. 

The following conclusions may be regarded as 
scientifically sustained, as well as confirmed by 
practical experience : 

1. That fresh human urine yields nitrogen in 
greater abundance to vegetation than any other 
material of easy acquisition ; and that the urine 
of animals is valuable for the same purpose, but 
not equally so. 

2. That the mixed excrements of man and 
animals yield (if carefully preserved from further 
decomposition), not only nitrogen, but other in- 
valuable saline and earthy matters that have 
been already extracted in food from the soil. 

3. That animal substances which, like urine, 
flesh, and blood, decompose rapidly, are fitted to 
operate immediately and powerfully on vegetation. 

4. That dry animal substances, as horn, hair, 
or woollen rags, decompose slowly, and (weight 
for weight) contain a greater quantity of organized 
as well as unorganized materials, manifesting 
their influence it may be for several seasons. 

5. That bones, acting like horn, in so far as 
their animal matter is concerned, and like it for a 
number of seasons more or less, according as 
they have been more or less finely crushed, may 
ameliorate the soil by their earthy matter for a 
long period (even if the jelly they contain have 
been injuriously removed by the size maker), per- 
manently improving the condition and adding to 
the natural capabilities of the land. 

Uses of Guano. 

This manure is a powerful stimulant to vege- 
table development generally; it is especially 
available in raising wheat, corn, potatoes, gaiien 
vegetables, and tobacco. If the land needs it, it 
may be put on as often as a crop is to be raised; 
though not, it is said, as a top dressing. For 
wheat, 150 to 200 pounds of guano may be used 
to the acre; for Indian corn, 300 to 400 pounds; 
unless it is put directly in the hills., when 100 
pounds per acre will do. For potatoes, 300 to 400 
pounds, in a drill, with bone dust. The addition 
of the latter makes the good effects of the guano 
more durable. 

Min eral Fertilizers. 

Simple lime, although an important constituent 
of plants, is rarely suitable as an application to 
them in its pure state. Carbonate of lime (rep- 
resented by chalk, &c.) is a natural ingredient in 
very many soils. The sulphate of liine (gypsum. 



12 



AGKICULTURE. 



plaster of Paris) is often used for fertilizing pur- 
poses. It is less easily decomposed than the car- 
bonate. The precise conditions which make it 
most advantageous, are not positively determined 
yet. Phosphate of lime is a very important con- 
stituent of plants; and, as it exists also in the 
bones of animals, a double relation follows : 
namely, that it should be abundant in soil on 
which plants are raised for food of men and ani- 
mals ; and, on the other hand, that animal bones 
contribute it to the soil when they decay upon it. 
Wood ashes contain a large amount of car- 
bonate of potassa, with also the sulphate and 
silicate of that alkali. Peat ashes vary in different 
regions, but always are found useful as manure. 
Kelp, or the ashes of sea-weeds, are often em- 
ployed in the same way; they contain soda in 
considerable amount. Nitrate of potassa (nitre, 
or saltpetre) is said to quicken vegetable action 
when aided to the soil, and to give the leaves a 
deeper $<;reen. A hundred pounds to the acre of 
grass or young corn, have been reported to pro- 
duce a beneficial effect. In localities far inland, 
common salt, chloride of sodium, is indispensable 
to the soil, although a small amount of it will 
suffice. Animal manures contain it. An excess 
of salt will render land barren; as was well 
known to the ancients. 

Conclusions, 

We may take it for granted that every thinking, 
practical mind, will admit it as proved, that there 
must be an exact adaptation and fitness between the 
condition of any given soil and the plants intended 
to be raised upon it; and, further, that if this 
mutual fitness does not naturally exist, a know- 
ledge of its requirements will enable us to supply 
it artificially. The great difficulty is, to obtain 
this knowledge fully and accurately. It must be 
confessed that, at present, much is wanting to 
render it complete and directly available. Indus- 
trious observation and experiment may, hereafter, 
make it so; and thus give us a system of truly 
scientific agriculture. 

A few statements only remain to be added to 
what has been said. The best natural soils are 
those where the materials have been derived 
from the breaking up and decomposition, not of 
one stratum or layer, but of many divided mi- 
nutely by air and water, and minutely blended 
together: and in improving soils by artificial 
additions, the farmer cannot do better than imi- 
tate the processes of nature. 

We have spoken of soils as consisting mostly 
of sand, lime, and clay, with certain saline and 
organic substances in smaller and varying pro- 
portions; but the examination of the ashes of 
plants shows that a fertile soil must of necessity 
contain an appreciable quantity of at least eleven 
different substances, which in most cases exist in 
greater or less relative abundance in the ash of 
cultivated plants; and of these the proportions 
are not by any means immaterial. In general, 
the soils which are made up of the most various 
materials are called alluvial ; having been formed 
from the depositions of floods and rivers. Many 
of them are extremely fertile. Soils consist of 
two parts; of an organic part, which can readily 
be burned away when the surface-soil is heated 
to redness ; and of an inorganic part, which re- 
mains fi^ed in the fire, consisting of earthy and 
saline substances ; from which, if carbonic acid 
or any elastic gas be present, it may, however, be 
driven by the heat. The organic part of soils is 
derived chiefly from the remains of vegetables 
and animals which have lived and died in and 
upon the soil, which have been spread over it by 



riverg and rains, or which have been added by the 
industry of man for the purposes of increased 
fertility. 

This organic part varies much in quantity, a. 
well as quality, in different soils. In peaty soils 
it is very abundant, as well as in some rich, long 
cultivated lands. In general, it rarely amounts 
to one-fourth, or 25 per cent., even in our best 
arable lands. Good wheat soils contain often as 
little as eight parts in the hundred of organic 
animal or vegetable matter; oats and rye will 
grow in a soil containing only 1 per cent. ; and 
barley when only two or three parts per cent, are 
present. 

The inorganic portion of any given soil, again, 
is divisible into two portions; that part which is 
soluble in water, and thus easily taken up by 
plants, and a much more bulky portion which is 
insoluble. 

Sir Humphrey Davy found the following to be 
the composition of a good productive soil. In 
every 9 parts, 8 consisted of siliceous sand; the 
remaining (one-ninth) part was composed, in 100 
parts, as follows : 

Carbonate of lime (chalk), . . .63 grains. 
Pure silex, . . . " . 15 grains. 

Pure alumina, or the earth of clay, . 11 grains. 
Oxide (rust) of iron, ... 3 grains. 
Vegetable and other saline matter, . 5 grains. 
Moisture and loss, . . . . 3 grains. 

100 

Thus the whole amount of organic matter in this 
instance is only 1 part in 200, or one-half of one 
per cent.; a fact which, in itself, would demon- 
strate the fallacy of supposing that decomposed 
animal and vegetable matter in the soil form the 
exclusive supply to growing plants. 

In another instance, soil was taken from a field 
in Sussex, remarkable for its growth of flourishing 
oak trees. It consisted of 6 parts of sand, and 1 
part of clay and finely-divided matter. One 
hundred grains of it yielded, in chemical lan- 
guage 
Of silica (or silex), . . . .54 grains. 

Of alumina, . . . . .,28 grains. 

Carbonate of lime, .... 3 grains. 

Oxide of iron, ..... 5 grains. 

Vegetable matter in a state of decom- 
position, ...... 4 grains. 

Moisture and loss, .... 6 grains. 

100 

To wheat soils t the attention of the practical 
farmer will be most strongly directed. An ex- 
cellent wheat soil from West Dray ton, in Eng- 
land, yielded 3 parts in 5 of silicious sand; and 
the remaining two parts consisted of carbonate 
of lime, silex, alumina, and a minute proportion 
of decomposing animal and vegetable remains. 

Of these soils, the last was by far the most, 
and the first the least, coherent in texture. In all 
cases, the constituent parts of the soil which give 
tenacity and stiffness, are the finely-divided por- 
tions; and they possess this quality in propr rtion 
to the quantity of alumina (or earth of clay) they 
contain. 

The varying power of soils to absorb and retain 
water from the air, is much connected with their 
fertility. This absorbent power is always greatest 
in the most fertile lands. Their productiveness 
is also much influenced by the nature of the sub- 
soil on which they rest; for, when soils are situ- 
ated immediately upon a bed of rock or stone, 
they dry sooner by the sun's agency than when 
the subsoil is clay or marl. 

A great deal more might be said upon other 



SOILS. 



13 



kindred points. But, as has been already re- 
marked, agricultural science is, as yet, imperfect. 
It is a mistake for the practical farmer to contemn 
"book farming," as if it were something visionary 
or useless; while, on the other hand, the agricul- 
tural chemist and vegetable physiologist must 
submit all their inductions and conclusions to the 
test of careful and repeated trials. The one can 
seldom analyze soils, and the other can rarely 
attend to raising crops; so they must help each 
other, and, together, aid in advancing the oldest 
of human arts, and one of the most beautiful of 
the sciences that of the earth's culture. 

PRACTICAL FARMING. 

Component parts of Soil. 

The principal component parts of the soil, what- 
ever may be the color, are clay, lime, sand, water, 
and air. The primitive earths, argil, lime, and 
sand, contain each, perhaps in nearly equal de- 
grees, the food of plants; but in their union the 
purposes of vegetation are most completely an- 
swered. The precise quantities of each necessary 
to make this union perfect, and whether they 
ought to be equal, it is not very easy to ascertain, 
since that point is best determined in practice, 
when the soil proves to be neither too stiff nor 
adhesive, from the superabundance of clay, nor 
of too loose and weak a texture, from an over 
quantity of sand in its composition. The medium 
is undoubtedly best; but an excess towards adhe- 
sion is obviously most safe. A stiff or strong soil 
holds the water which falls upon it for a long 
time, and, being capable of much ploughing, is 
naturally well qualified for carrying the most 
valuable arable crops. A light sod, or one of a 
texture feeble and easily broken, is, on the con- 
trary, soon exhausted by aration, and requires 
renovation by grass; or otherwise it cannot be 
cultivated to advantage. 

To distinguish Clayey Soils. 

A clayey soil, though distinguished by the 
color which it bears, namely black, white, yellow, 
and red, differs from all other soils, being tough, 
wet, and cold, And consequently requiring a good 
deal of labor from the husbandman before it can 
be sufficiently pulverized, or placed in a state for 
bearing artificial crops of corn or grass. Clay 
land is known by the following qualities, or pro- 
perties. 

It holds water like a cup, and once wetted does 
not soon dry. In like manner, when thoroughly 
dry, it is not soon wetted ; if we except the varie- 
ties which have a thin surface, and are the worst 
of all to manage. In a dry summer, clay cracks 
and shows a surface full of small chinks, or open- 
ings. If ploughed in a wet state, it sticks to the 
plough like mortar, and in a dry summer, the 
plough turns it up in great clods, scarcely to be 
broken or separated by the heaviest roller. 

To manage Sandy Soils. 

Soils of this description are managed with infi- 
nitely less trouble, and at an expense greatly infe- 
rior to what clays require; but at the same time, 
the crops produced from them are generally of 
smaller value. There are many varieties of sand, 
however, as well as of clay; and in some parts of 
the country, the surface is little better than a bare 
barren sand, wherein artificial plants will not take 
root unless a dose of clay or good earth is previ- 
ously administered. This is not the soil meant 
by the farmer when he speaks of sands. To speak 
practically, the soil meant is one where sand is 
predominant, although there be several other 



earths in the mixture. From containing a great 
quantity of sand, these soils are all loose and 
crumbling, and never get into a clod, even in the 
driest weather. This is the great article of dis- 
tinction betwixt sand and sandy loams. A sandy 
loam, owing to the clay that is in it, does not 
crumble down, or become loose like a real sand, 
but retains a degree of adhesion after wetness or 
j drought, notwithstanding the quantity of sand 
I that is mixed with it. Perhaps a true sandy loam, 
' incumbent upon a sound subsoil, is the ino.t valu- 
able of all soils. Upon such, every kind of grain 
may be raised with advantage, and no soil is 
better calculated for turnips and grass. 

The real sands are not favorable to the growth 
of wheat, unless when preceded by clover, which 
binds the surface, and confers a temporary strength 
for sustaining that grain. Much of the county of 
Norfolk, in England, is of this description ; and it 
is well known that few districts of the kingdom 
yield a greater quantity of produce. Till Norfolk, 
however, was invigorated by clay and marl, nearly 
one-half of it was little better than waste; but by 
the success which accompanied the use of these 
auxiliaries, a new soil was in a manner created; 
which, by a continuation of judicious manage- 
ment, has given a degree of fame to the husbandry 
of that country, far surpassing that of other dis- 
tricts naturally more fertile. 

Gravelly Soils. 

The open porous nature of these soils disposes 
them to imbibe moisture, and to part with it with 
great facility: from the latter of which circum- 
stances they are subject to burn, as it is termed, 
in dry seasons. The main difference between 
gravel and sand is, that the former is chiefly com- 
posed of small soft stones ; though in some in- 
stances the stones are of a silicious or flinty na- 
ture, and, in others, of the calcareous or chalky. 
From these constitutional circumstances arises the 
propriety of deepening gravelly soils by coats of 
marl or earth, and of keeping them fresh by fre- 
quent returns of grass, and repeated applications 
of manure. Gravelly soils, from the lightness of 
their texture, are not expensive or difficult in the 
means of cultivation. All the necessary business 
required for gravels may be carried forward with 
ease and expedition; and such soils are, in gene- 
ral, soon brought into a proper state for the re- 
ception of crops. 

The constitutional qualities of gravels point out 
the propriety of ploughing them deep, so that the 
surface soil may be augmented, and greater room 
given to the growth of the plants cultivated on 
them. A shallow-ploughed gravel can stand no 
excess of weather, however enriched by manure. 
It is burnt up by a day or two of drought, and it 
is almost equally injured by an excessive fall of 
rain, unless the pan or firm bottom, which such 
soils easily gain, be frequently broken through by 
deep ploughing. 

Uses of different Soils. 

Clayey soils, when sufficiently enriched with 
manures, are naturally well qualified for carrying 
crops of wheat, oats, beans, and clover; but are 
not fitted for barley, turnips, potatoes, etc., or even 
for being kept under for grass longer than one 
year. Such soils ought to be regularly summer- 
fallowed once in six, or at least once in eight years, 
even when they are comparatively in a clean state, 
as they contract a sourness and adhesion from wet 
ploughing, only to be removed by exposure to the 
sun and wind during the dry months of summer. 
Soils of this kind receive little benefit from winter 
ploughing, unless so far as their surface is thereby 



AGRICULTURE. 



presented to the frost, which mellows and reduces 
them in a. manner infinitely superior to what could 
be accomplished by all the operations of man. 
gtill they are not cleaned or made free of weeds 
by winter ploughing; and therefore this operation 
can only be considered as a good means for pro- 
curing a seed-bed, in which the seeds of the future 
crop may be safely deposited. Hence the neces- 
sity of cleansing clay soils during the summer 
months, and of having always a large part of every 
clay farm under summer fallow. All clayey soils 
require great industry and care, as well as a con- 
siderable portion of knowledge in dressing or 
m;mngement, to keep them in good condition; yet 
when their natural toughness is got the better of, 
they always yield the heaviest and most abundant 
crops. One thing requisite for a clayey soil, is to 
keep it rich and full of manure; a poor clay being 
the most ungrateful of all soils, and hardly capa- 
ble of repaying the expense of labor, after being 
worn out and exhausted. A clayey soil also re- 
ceives, comparatively, small benefit from grass; 
and when once allowed to get into a sterile con- 
dition, the most active endeavors will with diffi- 
culty restore fertility to it after the lapse of many 
years. 

Upon light soils the case is very different. These 
flourish under the grass husbandry; and bare 
summer fallow is rarely required, because they 
may be cleaned and cropped in the same year, 
with that valuable esculent, turnip. Upon light 
soils, however, wheat can seldom be extensively 
cultivated; nor can a crop be obtained of equal 
value, either in respect to quantity or quality, as 
on clay sand loams. The best method of procur- 
ing wheat on light lands, is to sow upon a clover 
stubble, when the soil has got an artificial solidity 
of body and is thereby rendered capable of sus- 
taining the grain till it arrives at maturity. The 
same observation applies to soils of a gravelly na- 
ture; and upon both barley is generally found 
of as great benefit as wheat. 

Thin clays and peat earths are more friendly to 
the growth of oats than of other grains, though in 
favorable seasons a heavy crop of wheat may be 
obtained from a thin clayey soil, when it has been 
completely summer-fallowed and enriched with 
dung. A first application of calcareous manure 
is generally accompanied with great advantage 
upon these soils; but when once the effect of this 
application is over, it can hardly be repeated a 
second time, unless the land has been very cau- 
tiously managed after the first dressing. Neither 
of these soils is friendly to grass, yet there is a 
necessity of exercising this husbandry with them, 
because they are incapable of standing the plough 
more than a year or two in the course of a rotation. 

Wheat ought to be the predominant crop upon 
all the rich clays and strong loams, and light 
soils of every kind are well qualified for turnips, 
barley, etc. Upon the thin and moorish soils, oats 
must necessarily preserve a prominent rank, and 
grass seeds may be cultivated upon every one of 
them, though with different degrees of advantage, 
according to the natural and artificial richness of 
each soil, or to the qualities which it possesses for 
encouraging the growth of clover, in the first in- 
stance, and preserving the roots of the plant after- 
wards. 

Operation of Tillage. 

Tillage is an operation whereby the soil is either 
cleared from noxious weeds, or prepared for re- 
ceiving the seeds of plants cultivated by the hus- 
bandman. When this operation is neglected, or 
even partially executed, the soil becomes foul, 
barren, and unproductive; hence, upon arable j 



farms, tillage forms tne prominent branch of work j 
and, according to the perfection or imperfection 
with wnich it is executed, the crops of the hus- 
bandman, whether of corn or grass, are in a great 
measure regulated. 

Tillage, in the early ages, was performed by 
hand labor; but, in modern times, the plough has 
been the universal instrument used for executing 
this necessary and important branch of rural work. 
In no other way can large fields be turned over, 
because the expense of digging with the spade, 
the only other method of turning over the ground, 
would much exceed any profit that can be reaped. 

Stones lying above or below the surface are the 
most formidable obstruction to perfect tillage. 
On stony ground, the work is not only imperfectly 
executed, but in many cases the implement is 
broken to pieces, and a considerable portion of 
time lost before it is repaired and put in order. 
The removal of stones, therefore, especially of 
such as are below the surface, ought to be a pri- 
mary object with every agriculturist; because a 
neglect of this kind may afterwards occasion him 
considerable loss and inconvenience. 

To drain the ground, in other words, to lay it 
dry, also facilitates tillage exceedingly ; for plough- 
ing cannot be performed with advantage where 
either the surface or subsoil is wet. 

Best Mode of Tillage. 

The only sure and certain way by which the soil 
is cleaned or rendered free of weeds, is by plough- 
ing in the summer months, when the ground is 
dry, and when, by the influence of the sun and 
air, the weeds may be destroyed with facility. 
Seldom at any other period is the soil much bene- 
fitted by ploughing, unless so far as a seed-bed is 
thus procured for the succeeding crop ; and though 
the situation or state of the ground, when these 
intermediate ploughings are bestowed, is of im- 
portance in judging of their utility, yet the radi- 
cal process of summer fallow cannot, by any means, 
be altogether dispensed with. Though, if the win- 
ter and spring ploughings are executed under 
favorable circumstances, and plenty of manure is 
at hand, it may be delayed for a greater number 
of years than is otherwise practicable, if good 
husbandry is to be maintained. 

Without summer fallow, or, which is the same, 
thing, without working the ground in the summer 
months, perfect husbandry is unattainable on all 
heavy or cold soils, and upon every variety in- 
cumbent on a close or retentive bottom. 

To keep his land clean will always be a princi- 
pal object with every good farmer; for if this is 
neglected, in place of carrying rich crops of gram 
or grass, the ground will be exhausted by crops 
of weeds. Where land is foul, every operation of 
husbandry must be proportionably non-effective; 
and even the manures applied will, in a great 
measure, be lost. 

The necessity of summer fallow depends greatly 
upon the nature and quality of the soil; as, upon 
some soils, a repetition of this practice is less fre- 
quently required than upon others. Wherever 
the soil is incumbent upon clay or till, it is more 
disposed to get foul, than when incumbent upon 
a dry gravelly bottom ; besides, wet soils, from be- 
ing ploughed in winter, contract a stiffness which 
lessens the pasture of artificial plants, and prevents 
them from receiving sufficient nourishment. When 
land of a day gravelly bottom gets foul, it may 
easily be cleaned without a plain summer fallow; 
since crops, such as turnips, etc., may be substi- 
tuted in its place, which, when drilled at proper 
intervals, admit of being ploughed as often as 
necessary ; whereas wet soils, which are naturally 



IMPLEMENTS. 



15 



unfit for carrying such crops, must be cleaned 
and brought into good order by frequent plough- 
ings and harrowings during the summer months. 

To Conduct a Fallow. 

Upon all clayey soils (and upon such only is 
a complete summer fallow necessary) the first 
ploughing ought to be given during the winter 
months, or as early in the spring as possible; 
which greatly promotes the rotting of the sward 
and stubble. This should be done by gathering 
up the ridge, which both lays the ground dry and 
rips up the furrows. As soon as seed-time is over, 
the ridge should be cloven down, preparatory to 
cross ploughing; and after lying a proper time, 
should be harrowed and rolled repeatedly, and 
every partible of quickens that the harrovrs have 
brought above, should be carefully picked off with 
the hand. It is then proper to ridge or gather it 
up immediately, which both lays the land in pro- 
per condition- for meeting bad weather, and opens 
up any fast land that may have been missed in 
the furrows when the cross ploughing was given. 
After this harrow, roll, and gather the root weeds 
again ; and continue so doing till the field is per- 
fectly clean. 

To Prepare the Ground. 

The above object is most completely accom- 
plished, when the ground is ploughed deep and 
equal, while the bottom of the furrow immediately 
above the subsoil is perfectly loosened and turned 
equally over with the part which constitutes the 
surface. In many places these properties are 
altogether neglected, the ground being ploughed 
in a shallow way, while the bottom of the ploughed 
land remains something like the teeth of a saw, 
having the under part of the furrow untouched, 
and consequently not removed by the action of 
the plough. While these things are suffered, the 
j object of tillage is only partially gained. The 
food of plants can only be imperfectly procured : 
and the ground is drenched and injured hy wet- 
ness; these ridges, or pieces of land, which are 
not cut, preventing a descent of the moisture from 
above to the open furrows left for carrying it off. 
Where the seed-bed is prepared by one ploughing, 
the greatest care ought to be used in having it 
closely and equally performed. When two are 
given, they should be in opposite directions, so 
that any firm land left in the first may be cut up 
in the second ploughing. It is not profitable to 
plough twice one way, if it can be safely avoided. 

Another important point towards procuring 
good tillage, is never to plough the land when in 
a wet state; because encouragement is thus given 
to the growth of weeds, while a sourness and ad- 
hesion is communicated to the ground, which is 
rarely got the better of till the operations of a 
summer fallow are again repeated. 

All soils ought not to be wrought or ploughed 
in one manner. Each kind has its particular and 
appropriate qualities ; and, therefore, each requires 
a particular and appropriate mode of tillage. 
Ploughing, which is the capital operation of hus- 
bandry, ought, on these accounts, to be adminis- 
tered according to the nature of the soil which is 
to be operated upon, and not executed agreeably 
to one fixed and determined principle. On strong 
clays and loams, and on rich gravels and deep 
sands, the plough ought to go as deep as the cat- 
tle are able to work it; whereas, on thin clays 
and barren sands the benefit of deep ploughing is 
Very questionable; especially when such are in- 
cumbent on a till bottom, or where the subsoil is 
of a yellow-ochre nature; such, when turned up, 
being little better than poison to the surface, un- 



less highly impregnated with alluvial compost, 
the effect of which expels the poisonous substance 
contained in this kind of subsoil, and gives a fer- 
tility to the whole mass, more decisively perma- 
nent than would follow a heavy application of tLa 
best rotten dung. 

Two sets of Ploughs required for perfect Tillage. 

On clayey soils, where the ridges are so that 
the ground may be preserved in something like 
a dry condition, the plough used for tillage 
ought to have a mould-board considerably wider 
set than is required for light soils, in order that 
the furrow may be close cut below, and only 
turned over. The method of constructing the 
plough necessarily makes a heavier draught than 
would be the case were the mould-board placed 
differently ; though if good and sufficient work 
be wanted, the necessity of constructing the im- 
plement in the way mentioned, is absolute and 
indispensable. The plough to be used on light 
soils, or on all soils that admit of what is tech- 
nically called crown and furrow ploughing, 
may be made much straighter below, and yet 
be capable of executing the work in a perfect 
manner. On every farm, consisting of mixed 
soils, two sets of ploughs ought to be kept, 
otherwise proper work cannot be performed. All 
land ought to be ploughed with a shoulder, and 
the advantages of ploughing in this way are, 
that, if ploughed before winter, the surface is 
enabled to resist the winter rains, and afterwards 
present a face on which the harrows can make a 
proper impression, when the seed process is to be 
executed. This deserves particular attention 
when old grass fields are broken up ; as, by neg- 
lecting it, the harrows are often unable to cover 
the seed. It is perfectly practicable to plough 
land with a tolerably broad furrow, say 10, 11, or 
12 inches, and yet to plough it clean, provided 
the implement used is properly constructed ; but, 
then, care must be taken that the furrow be of 
proportionate deepness, otherwise it will be laid 
on its back, instead of being deposited at an angle 
proper for undergoing the harrowing process. 

The use of stibsoilers is now common, to turn up 
the depth of the soil. In sandy earth, beneath a 
ten-inch furrow, a subsoiler may go ten inches 
deeper ; but this is not easy or possible in all 
soils. 

Implements of Husbandry. * 
No country in the world is better provided with 
implements for executing rural labor than Great 
Britain; and to this superiority may, in some 
measure, be attributed the increased and in- 
creasing perfection of agriculture over the whole 
island. American ingenuity has gone still further 
in the same direction. We have ploughs of all 
the different kinds that ever were constructed : as 
for wheel carriages, the variety is immense; 
whilst harrows, and other common implements, 
of various constructions and dimensions, are 
equally numerous. But it is in the articles more 
pmperly allied to machinery, that the superiority 
f A merican rural implements is most conspicuous. 
Drills for sowing grain and small seeds with 
regularity, have been constructed upon scientific 
principles; and machines for separating grain 
from straw, have been invented, and brought to 
a degree of perfection which few people expected 
when these machines were first introduced. 

The double Michigan plough is an important 
mprovement on the old plough. Instead of a 
coulter it has a small plough attached to the 
beam in front of the other, which takes a slice 
from the sod, and makes cleaner work for the 
plough. Steam ploughs have also been invented. 



16 



AGRICULTURE. 



The univertal Sowing Machine. 

This machine, whether made to he worked hy 
hand, drawn by a horse, or fixed to a plough, and 
used with it, is extremely simple in its construc- 
tion, and not liable to be put out of order; as 
there is but one movement to direct the whole. 
It will sow wheat, barley, oats, rye, clover, cole- 
seed, hemp, flax, canary, rape, turnip ; besides a 
great variety of other kinds of grain and seeds, 
broadcast, with an accuracy hitherto unknown. 
It is equally useful when fixed to a plough; it 
will then drill a more extensive variety of grain, 
pulse, and seed (through every gradation, with 
regard to quality), and deliver each kind with 
greater regularity than any drill plough whatever. 

Among many other valuable and peculiar pro- 
perties, it will not only sow in the broadcast way 
with a most singular exactness, but save the ex- 
pense of a seedsman; the seed being sown (either 
over or under furrow at pleasure), and the land 
ploughed at the same operation. 

Another advantage attending the use of this 
machine is, that the wind can have no effect on 
the falling of the seed. 

The machine, when made to be used without a 
plough, and to be drawn by a horse, may be of 
different lengths. The upper part contains the 
hoppers, from which the grain or seed descends 
into the spouts. The several spouts all rest upon 
a bar, which hangs and plays freely by two dia- 
gonal supporters; a trigger, fixed to this bar, 
bears a catch wheel: this being fixed on the axle, 
occasions a regular and continued motion, or 
jogging of the spoute, quicker or slower in pro- 
portion to the space the person sowing with it 
drives. At the bottom of the' machine is placed 
an apron or shelf, in a sloping position, and the 
corn or seed, by falling thereon from the spouts 
above, is scattered about in every direction. 

To sow the corn or seed in drills, there are 
movable spouts, which are fixed on or taken off 
at pleasure, to direct the seed from the upper 
spout to the bottom of the furrow. 

Harrows. 

These beneficial implements are of various sizes 
and dimensions; but the harrow most commonly 
used consists of four bulls, with cross-mortised 
sheaths, each bull containing five teeth, of from 
five to seven inches in length below the bulls, the 
longest being placed forwards. Harrows of this 
kind, drawn by one horse, are generally used on 
most farms for all purposes, though on others 
large brake-harrows, consisting of five bulls, each 
containing six teeth, and worked by two horses, 
are employed during the fallow process, and for 
reducing rough land. Some of these brake-har- 
rows are constructed with joints, so as to bend 
and accommodate their shape to the curvature of 
ridges. A small harrow, with short teeth, is also 
used for covering grass seeds, though we have 
rarely seen any detriment from putting grass 
seeds as deep into the ground as the teeth of ordi- 
nary sized harrows are capable of going. 

The best methods of Harrowing. 
When employed to reduce a strong obdurate 
soil, not more than two harrows should be yoked 
together, because they are apt to ride and tumble 
upon each other, and thus impede the work, and 
execute it imperfectly. On rough soils, harrows 
ought to be driven as fast as the horses can walk ; 
because their effect is in the direct proportion to 
the degree of velocity with which they are driven. 
In ordinary cases, and in every case where har- 
rowing is meant for covering the seed, three har- 
rows are the best yoke, because they fill up the 



ground more effectually, and leave fewer vacan- 
cies, than when a smaller number is employed. 
The harrowman's attention, at the seed process, 
should be constantly directed to prevent these 
implements from riding upon each other, and to 
keep them clear of every impediment from stones, 
lumps of earth, or clods, and quickens or grass 
roots; for any of these prevents the implement 
from working with perfection, and causes a mark 
or trail upon the surface, always unplensing to 
the eye, and generally detrimental to the vege- 
tation of the seed. Harrowing is usually given 
in different directions, first in length, then across, 
and finally in length as at first. Careful hus- 
bandmen study, in the finishing part of the pro- 
cess, to have the harrows drawn in a straight 
line, without suffering the horses to go in a zigzag 
manner, and are also attentive that the horses 
enter fairly upon the ridge, without making a 
curve at the outset. In some instances, an excess 
of harrowing has been found very prejudicial to 
the succeeding crop; but it is always necessary 
to give so much as to break the furrow, and level 
the surface, otherwise the operation is imperfectly 
performed. 

Rollers. 

The roller is an implement frequently used for 
smoothing the surface of land when in tillage, 
especially when the processes of summer fallow 
are going forward. Several kinds of rollers are 
used in America. Some are of stone, others of 
wood or iron, according to the nature of the opera- 
tion intended to be performed. The only material 
difference in rollers is their weight; but it should 
be attended to, when a roller is made of large 
diameter, that its weight ought to be the greater, 
for in proportion to the largeness of its diameter 
will be the extent of surface upon which the 
roller rests. The weight of a roller ought there- 
fore to be in proportion to its diameter, otherwise 
its effect will be proportionably diminished. 

Rolling, however, is a modern improvement, 
and used for different purposes. In the first place, 
it is of great advantage to roll young grasses 
after the ground is stoned, because the scythe can 
then be placed nearer the surface, and the crop 
cut more equally than when the operation is 
neglected. 2dly. Land on which turnips are to 
be cultivated can rarely be made fine enough, 
without the repeated use of this implement. And 
3dly. The process of summer fallow, upon strong 
soils, is much advanced by rolling, because 
without its aid the large and obdurate clods can- 
not be reduced or couch-grass eradicated. -From 
these circumstances it will readily appear, that 
rollers of various sizes and dimensions are re- 
quired on every farm, for accomplishing different 
purposes. Wooden rollers, drawn by one horse, 
answer very well for grass and turnip land; but 
massy stone rollers, drawn either by two or three 
horses, are absolutely necessary on clay soils. 

It is obvious, that when a large field is to be 
rolled, a number of rollers ought at once to be set 
at work, otherwise an opportunity may be lost, 
never to be regained. The deficiency is most 
conspicuous when barley is taken after turnips in 
a dry season. From poaching the ground with 
carts, in order to carry off the crop, and even by 
the treading of sheep, a degree of stiffness is 
contracted, which requires the use of the roller 
before grass seeds can be sown. 

On all occasions it is most beneficial to roll 
across, because, when going in length, the imple- 
ment is of small benefit to the furrows, the 
slightest acclivation of the ridges preventing the 
work from being equally performed. The expe- 



IMPLEMENTS. 



17 



dition which takes place when rollers are used, 
compared with the tedious and expensive process 
of breaking clods with malls, formerly the gene- 
ral custom, sufficiently proves the importance of 
these implements, though it deserves to be re- 
marked, that, when rolling is bestowed upon a 
pring-sown field, harrowing it afterwards is of 
great advantage. By harrowing when the clods 
ftro reduced, the earth stands the effects of rain 
better afterwards, and does not consolidate so 
firmly as when that process is neglected. 

Mowers and Reapers. * 

These machines are of great value, especially 
to those with large farms. One machine, the 
mower, can be made to perform duty both with 
grass and grain ; but reapers are constructed 
especially for the latter. Weeders are also in use 
in some parts of the country, drawn by horse 
power. 

The Thrashing Machine. 

The thrashing machine is the most valuable 
implement in the farmer's possession, and one 
which adds more to the general produce of the 
country, than any invention hitherto devised. 
The saving of manual labor thereby obtained is 
almost incalculable; while the work is performed 
in a much more perfect manner than was formerly 
practicable, even when the utmost care and ex- 
ertion were bestowed. In fact, had not the 
thrashing machine been invented, it is hardly 
possible to conceive what would have been the 
rate of expense of thrashing, or even whether a 
sufficient number of hands could, at any rate of 
expense, have been obtained for thrashing the 
grain of the country. 

Since the invention of this machine, Mr. Meikle 
and others have progressively introduced a variety 
of improvements, all tending to simplify the labor, 
and to augment the quantity of the work performed. 
When first erected, though the grain was equally 
well separated from the straw, yet as the whole 
of the straw, chaff, and grain, was indiscrimi- 
nately thrown into a confused heap, the work 
could only with propriety be considered as half 
executed. By the addition of rakes, or shakers, 
and two pairs of fanners, all driven by the same 
machinery, the different processes of thrashing, 
shaking, and winnowing are now all at once per- 
formed, and the grain immediately prepared for 
the public market. When it is added, that the 
quantity of grain gained from the superior powers 
of the machine is fully equal to a twentieth part 
of the crop, and that, in some cases, the expense 
of thrashing and cleaning the grain is considerably 
less than what was formerly paid for cleaning it 
alone, the immense saving arising from the in- 
Tention will at once be seen. 

The expense of horse labor, from the increased 
value of the animal and the charge of his keep- 
ing, being an object of great importance, it is 
recommended that, upon all sizable farms, that 
is to say, where two hundred acres, or upwards, 
of grain are sown, the machine should be worked 
by wind, unless where local circumstances afford 
th<; conveniency of water. 

Where coals are plenty and cheap, steam may 
be advantageously used for working the machine. 

Method of Treading Grain. 

In some countries wheat is trodden out by 
horses, nearly in the same way as it was formerly 
done in Palestine by oxen. 

The treading floors are generally from sixty to 
100 feet in diameter; but the larger their diameter 
ie, the easier is the work to the horses. The 
track, or path, on which the sheaves are laid, and 



on which the horses walk, is from twelve to tvron- 
ty-four feet wide, or more. The floors are com- 
monly enclosed by fences; and the horses are 
generally driven between them promiscuously and 
loose, each pressing to be foremost, so that fresh 
air may be obtained, biting, jostling, and kick- 
ing each other with the greatest fury. The labor 
in this way is extremely severe. Upon some 
small floors a centre-stick is placed, to which 
hangs a rope, or a pole and swivel, and four or 
five horses being fastened together, travel round 
upon the sheaves with the utmost regularity. 
Previously to laying down the wheat sheaves, the 
state of the air, and the probability of its con- 
tinuing dry through the day, is fully considered. 
If they resolve to tread, the morning is suffered 
to pass away till the dew is removed. A row of 
sheaves is first laid upon the floors with the heads 
and butts in a line across the track of it, as a 
bolster for receiving other sheaves; and these 
sheaves range with the path, or circle, the butts 
resting on the floor. Other sheaves are ranged in 
like manner, with the heads raised on the former, 
till the whole floor is filled, when it appears to be 
filled with nothing but ears of wheat, sloping a 
little upwards. Upon laying down each sheaf, 
the baud thereof is cut with a knife. A west 
wind is always desirable while treading is going 
on, as when wind is from the eastward dampness 
generally prevails. 

In some instances, twenty-four horses are 
formed at some distance from the floor into four 
ranks; and when the floor is ready laid, the word 
is given to advance. For the sake of order and 
regular work, a boy mounted on one of the fore- 
most horses advances in a walk with the whole 
rank haltered or tied together, and enters upon 
the bed of wheat, walking the horses slowly over 
it; another rank is ordered to follow as soon as 
the first is supposed to have obtained a distance 
equal to a fourth part of the circumference of the 
bed, and in the same manner the other ranks 
proceed. They are forbidden to go past a walk, 
till they have proceeded five or six rounds, when 
the word is given to move at a sober trot, and to 
keep their ranks at a full distance from each 
other, regularity and deliberate movement being 
necessary for preventing confusion. The gentle 
trot is continued till it may be supposed the 
horses have travelled eight or nine miles, which 
is the extent of their first journey ; they are then 
led off to be foddered and watered, when the 
trodden light straw is taken off as deep as the 
place where the sheaves lie close, and are but 
partially bruised. 

As soon as this first straw is removed, one-third 
of the width of the bed is turned over on the other 
two-thirds from the inner side or circle of the bed, 
which narrows the neck of the next journey. The 
horses are again led on, and trot out their second 
journey, till the straw be clear of wheat. The 
outer part of the bed is then turned upon the 
middle part, when the horses take another jour- 
ney. The loose straw being then taken oft', the 
whole remaining bed is turned up from the floor, 
and shaken with forks, and handles of rakes, 
after which the horses give another tread, which 
finishes the work. The grain is then shoved up 
from the floor with the heads of rakes turned 
downwards, and put into heaps of a conical form, 
in which situation it often remains exposed to the 
weather for several days. The correct American 
agriculturists, however, have houses adjoining 
the treading floor, where the grain is deposited 
till it is cleared from the chaff and offal ; though, 
as most of them continue treading, if the weathet 
be favorable, till the whole crop is separated from 



See page 470. 



18 



AGRICULTURE. 



the straw, it is pretty obvious that the grain 
stands a considerable chance of being damaged 
before the several processes are concluded. 

Fanners. 

If thrashing machines are of much advantage 
to the public, by separating grain completely from 
the straw, the introduction of fanners, or the ma- 
chine by which grain is cleansed from chaff, and 
all sorts of offal, may, with justice, be considered 
as of equal benefit to the practical agriculturist. 

Since thrashing machines were introduced, fan- 
ners almost in every case are annexed to them, 
and in some instances, where powerful machines 
are used, fitted internally with suitable riddles, it 
i perfectly practicable to measure and market the 
grain immediately as it comes from the machine. 

Manure*. 

The term manure is applied indiscriminately to 
all substances, which are known from experience 
either to enrich the different soils, or contribute 
in any other way to render them more favorable 
to vegetation. 

In an ngricultural point of view, the subject of 
manures is of the first magnitude. To correct 
what is hurtful to vegetation in the different soils, 
and to restore what is lost by exhausting crops, 
are operations in agriculture which may be com- 
pared to the curing of diseases in the animal body, 
or supplying the waste occasioned by labor. 

To manage Dung upon Light Lands. 

For soils of this description, where turnips are 
taken as a first crop, dung can hardly be too well 
prepared ; because the nature of the crop to which 
it is applied renders a complete incorporation 
with the ground absolutely necessary; without 
which the young plants might be starved at their 
very entrance into life. In the best farmed Eng- 
lish counties, dung is often kept more than a year, 
In order that it may be perfectly rotted. 

In general there is not much difficulty in pre- 
paring dung upon turnip farms; because, in the 
driest season, from the nature of the food used, 
juch a quantity of liquid passes from the animals, 
is to prevent burning, provincially fire-fanging, 
the greatest obstacle to the rotting of dung that 
ean be experienced. If turnip dung is regularly 
removed, if it is properly mixed with the horse 
litter and other excrementitious matter accumu- 
lated upon the farm, it will be found an ea?y task 
to prepare all that is made by the middle of April, 
at which time the fold-yard should be cleared. 
What is produced after that time should be stored 
up separately, receive waterings if the weather is 
dry, and be reserved for clover-stubbles, or other 
fields that are to be dunged in autumn. 

The middle of April is a good time for clearing 
the fold-yard; but this does not prevent the work 
from going partially forward through the winter, 
when suitable opportunities occur. 

When driven out of the fold-yard, the dung 
should be laid up in a regular heap or pile, not 
exceeding six quarters, or four feet and a half in 
height; and care should be taken not to put either 
horse or cart upon it, which is easily avoided by 
backing the cart to the pile, and laying the dung 
compactly together with a grape or fork. It is 
also useful to face up the extremities with earth, 
which Tteeps in the moisture, and prevents the sun 
and wind from doing injury. Perhaps a small 
quantity of ea,rth strewed upon the top might also 
prove useful. Dung, when managed in this man- 
ner, generally ferments very rapidly; but if it is 
discovered to be in a backward state, a complete 
turn over, about the 1st of May, when the weather 
becomes warm, wilJ quiokn the process ; and the 



better it is shaken asunder, the sooner will theob* 
ject in view be accomplished. 

A secluded spot of ground, not much exposed to 
wind, and perfectly secure from being floated with 
water, ought always to be chosen for the site of 
such piles or heaps. If the field to which it is to 
be applied is at hand, a little after-trouble may be 
saved by depositing it there in the first instance. 
But it is found most convenient to reserve a piece 
of ground adjacent to the homestead for this pur- 
pose. There it is always under the farmer's eye, 
and a greater quantity can be moved in a shorter 
time than when the situation is more distinct. 
Besides, in wet weather (and this is generally the 
time chosen for such an operation), the roads are 
not only cut up by driving to a distance, but the 
field on which the heap is made, may be poached 
and injured considerably. 

Upon Heavy Lands. 

Upon clay soils, where wheat forms a principal 
part of the crop, where great quantities of beans 
are cultivated, and few turnips sown, unless for 
the use of milch cows, the rotting of dung is not 
only a troublesome but an expensive affair. In- 
dependent of what is consumed by the ordinary 
farm stock, the overplus of the straw must, some- 
how or other, be rotted, by lean cattle kept in the 
fold-yard, who either receive the straw in racks, 
or have it thrown across the yard, to be eaten and 
trodden down by them. According to this mode 
of consumption, it is evident that a still greater 
necessity arises for a frequent removal of this un- 
made dung; otherwise, from the trampling of 
beasts, and the usual want of moisture, it would 
compress so much as altogether to prevent putre- 
faction. TO prepare dung sufficiently upon farms 
of this description is at all times'an arduous task, 
but scarcely practicable in dry seasons; for if it 
once gets burnt (fire-fanged), it is almost physi- 
cally impossible to bring it into a suitable state of 
preparation afterwards; and, at all events, its 
virtues are thereby considerably diminished. 

Straw flung out in considerable portions to the 
fold-yard, after being compressed by ihe tramp- 
ling of cattle, becomes rather like a well-packed 
stack, than a mass of dung in a preparatory state. 
The small quantity of water and dung made by 
the animals is barely sufficient to cause a slight 
fermentation ; and this slight fermentation, when 
the heap gets into a compressed state, is sure to 
bring on fire-fang, as already said, after which 
its original powers can rarely be restored. To 
prevent such an injury, no measure can be so 
successfully used as a frequent removal of this 
unmade dung, especially if the weather is wet at 
the time. If people can stand out to work, there 
cannot be too much wetness while executing this 
operation; for there is always such a quantity of 
the straw that has not passed through the en- 
trails of the cattle, as renders it almost impossible 
to do injury, in the first instance, by an ex jess of 
moisture. 

It is therefore recommended, upon every olay- 
land farm, especially those of considerable size, 
that the fold-yard be frequently cleared; and that 
the greatest care be taken to mix the stable or 
horse-dung in a regular way with what is gathered 
in the fold-yard, or made by other animal?, in 
order that a gradual heat or fermentation may be 
speedily produced. Where the materials are of 
the sorts now described (that is, a small quantity 
of dung, or excrementitious matter, and a large 
store of unrotten straw, only partially moistened), 
no damage can ensue from putting horses and 
carts upon the heap; nay, a positive benefit will 
be gained from this slight compression. 



MANURES. 



19 



The heap or pile, in the case of turnip dung, 
should be formed in a secluded spot, if such can 
be got at hand; because the less it is exposed to 
the influence of the sun and wind, the faster 
will fermentation proceed. It should be con- 
structed on a broad basis, which lessens the 
bounds of the extremities, and separate heaps are 
necessary, so that too much may not be de- 
posited at once. By shifting the scene frequently, 
and allowing each covering or coat to settle and 
ferment before laying on any more, the most 
happy effects will follow, and these heaps (at 
least all such as are completed before the first of 
May), may reasonably be expected to be in a fit 
condition for applying to the summer-fallow 
fields, in the end of July, or first of August. If 
the external parts get dry at any time during the 
process, it will be proper to water them thorough- 
ly, and in many cases to turn over the heap com- 
pletely. It may be added, that much benefit has 
been experienced from laying a thick coating of 
snow upon such heaps, as by the gradual melting 
thereof the whole moisture is absorbed, and a 
strong fermentation immediately follows. 

Upon large farms, where the management of 
manure is sufficiently understood and practised, 
it is an important matter to have dunghills of all 
ages, and ready for use whenever the situation of 
a field calls for a restorative. No method of ap- 
plication to clay soils, however, is so beneficial as 
during the year of summer fallow, though in such 
a situation a greater stock of manure is often 
gathered than is required for the fields under 
this process. 

As to the proper quantity of dung to be used, 
no greater quantity ought to be given at one time 
than is sufficient to fructify the grounds; in other 
words, to render it capable of producing good 
crops, before the time arrives when a fresh dose 
can be administered. 

The Spreading of Dung. 

The increased attention now bestowed, in all 
the cultivated districts, to the spreading of dung, 
originated from the measure of limiting the quan- 
tity applied. When forty, fifty, nay even sixty 
double loads were applied to an acre, it was not 
very difficult to cover its surface, even with an 
imperfect separation, though it certainly was im- 
practicable to bury the big lumps with a furrow 
of ordinary size; but when the quantity was 
brought down to eighteen and twenty loads, and, 
still more, when twelve or fourteen loads were 
thought sufficient, a different conduct became ab- 
solutely necessary. Another improvement also 
followed, viz., spreading dung when raw or green, 
that is, immediately after the carts; in which way, 
at least during summer, it will be separated at 
one-half the expense, and to much better purpose, 
than when it is suffered to lie in the heap for a 
day or two. In short, it is a sure mark of a slov- 
enly farmer to see dung remain unspread in a 
field, unless it be in the winter months, when it 
may happen that hands cannot be got for carry- 
ing on such operations with the usual regularity. 
At that time the injury sustained by losing a few 
days is not great, though as a general rule it will 
be found that the expense is always smallest when 
the carts are regularly followed up. 

Application of Dung to Turnips. 
When turnip husbandry forms the chief branch 
of fallow process, dung is naturally of a superior 
quality, and requires little artificial management 
for bringing it to a proper state of preparation. 
In the greater part of Scotland, and even in Eng- 
land, where the drill and horse-hoeing system is 
pi fcctised, the common, and undoubtedly the most 



approved way of applying dung to turnips, is by 
laying it in the intervals of the drills or small 
ridges, which are previously made up by a bout, 
or two furrows of the plough. These drills oe 
ridges are formed at a distance of from twenty- 
four to thirty inches from the centre of each ; and 
by driving the horses and cart along the middle 
one of the space intended to be manured, th 
dung is drawn out either by the carter, or by 
another man specially appointed for that pur- 
pose, in such proportions as the poverty of the 
soil, or the disposition of the occupier, may rec kon 
necessary. If the breadth of three drills is unly 
taken at a time, the dung stands a better chance 
of being regularly administered; for it often hap- 
pens, that when a greater number are included in 
one space, the two outside drills receive a less 
quantity than the intervening ones. Those, 
therefore, who limit themselves to three drills, 
generally divide the spreaders; as it requires six 
hands, women or boys, to follow up what is usu- 
ally called a head of carts, the number of carts 
to a head being regulated by the distance of the 
dunghill, or the kind of road over which it is to 
be carried. 

The quantity of dung usually given for turnips 
is from twelve to fifteen double cart loads, of one 
and a half cubic yards each, to a Scots acre. In 
some cases only ten loads are given ; but the 
land ought to be in high condition where such a 
small quantity is bestowed. In fact, no soil caa 
be made too rich for turnips or other green crops, 
peas excepted ; but the object to be attended to 
in this, and every other case, is an allotment of 
the manure collected on the premises, in such a 
way as that the greatest possible return over the 
whole farm, not from a particular field, may be 
gained by the occupier. 

Application of Dung to Potatoes. 
The culture is in several respects similar to 
that of turnips, but in others it differs materially. 
Potatoes are planted earlier in the season than 
turnips: the ground rarely receives so much 
work; the soils upon which they are cultivated 
are more variable; and the dung considered to be 
most suitable for promoting their growth, does 
not require such high preparation. Many far- 
mers, notwithstanding these circumstances, follow 
out the same process as described under the head 
of turnips. After the ground receives three, or 
at most four ploughings. the drills are made up, 
dung deposited in the intervals, the seed planted 
above the dung, and the drills reversed; aftor 
which, say at the distance of two or three weeks, 
a slight harrowing is given. They avoid making 
up drills, but dung the ground in what may be 
called the broadcast way; and, entering the 
plough, plant the seed in every thiid furrow, into 
which only the dung is raked; and so on till the 
whole is finished. Before the young plants ap- 
pear, or even after they are above the surface, a 
complete harrowing is given, which is considered 
as equal to a hand-hoeing; ad from the dung 
being completely covered, scarce any of it ia 
dragged up, while the seed, being undermost, 
noneof it is disturbed by the operation. Some 
farmers do not dung their potato fields; but, re- 
serving the manure till the crop is removed, find 
the remainder of the rotation greatly benefited. 
Potatoes scourge severely, and, in general cases, 
require a larger quantity of dung than turnips, 
but, as the extent of land under this culture is not 
great in common farming, few people grudge this 
extra quantity, because, except in a few favored 
situations, a good crop cannot otherwise be re** 
sonably expected. 



AGRICULTURE. 



To Manure Clayey Soils. 

Upon all soils incumbent on a wet or close bot- 
tom, whether characterized as clay, loam, or moor, 
it may be laid down as a primary principle, that 
dung cannot be so profitably applied, as while the 
ground is under the process of summer fallow. 

When the ground is under the process of sum- 
mer fallow, it is then the best and most appro- 
priate time for applying manure to clayey soils. 
When under this process, the soil, comparatively 
peaking, is reduced into minute particles, which 
affords an opportunity of conveying the virtues 
of manure through the veins or pores of all its 
parts. The soil, at that time, is also freed from 
its aboriginal inhabitants, quickens and other root- 
weeds, which claim a preferable right of support; 
hence the artificial plants, afterwards cultivated, 
possess, without a rival, such supplies as have 
been granted, without any deduction whatever. 
In short, without laying any stress upon ele- 
mentary effects during the procees, it does not 
admit of a doubt, that the same quantity of ma- 
nure, bestowed upon the ground when summer- 
fallowed, will produce a greater return to the 
occupier, than if it had been applied at any other 
stage of the rotation. 

Dung should not be laid upon fallows before 
they are completely cleaned ; though, no doubt, 
in wet summers, that operation is not easily ac- 
complished. 

To make sure work, the fallows, if possible, 
hould be early stirred, and no opportunity slipped 
of putting them forward with the utmost expedi- 
tion; for it rarely happens that much good can 
be done towards the destruction of root-weeds 
after the month of July. Before that time a ju- 
dicious farmer will have his fallow dressed up, 
and in a suitable state for receiving dung. It 
should be well harrowed, if the weather is favor- 
able, previous to the dung being laid on ; and if 
rolled, or made smooth, the spreaders will be en- 
abled to perform their task with much more pre- 
cision. 

At the proper season every other operation 
ought to be laid aside, so that dung may be ex- 
peditiously spread out. To do it in wet weather is 
attended with pernicious effects; the horses are 
oppressed, a longer time is required, the land is 
poached, and in some measure deprived of all 
benefit from the previous fallow. These circum- 
stances will be reflected upon by the attentive 
farmer; they will stimulate him not to lose a mo- 
ment when the weather is favorable, and prevent 
him from forcing on the work, when injury, rather 
than benefit, may be expected. After all, seasons 
are so perverse as to render every rule nugatory. 
These must, however, be taken as they come, 
avoiding at such times to break the land down, ac- 
clivating the ridges sufficiently, and keeping the 
water-furrows completely clear. 

Quantity of Dung for Fallows. 
The quantity of dung usually applied to fal- 
lows in ordinary condition is from fourteen to 
twenty double loads per acre; though often good 
Crops are reaped when twelve loads only have been 

Siven. Much, however, depends upon the con- 
ition of the land, upon the quality of the dung, 
and the way in which the carts are loaded. A 
decent, load may contain one cubic yard and 
three-fourths, and weigh a ton, or thereabouts. 
It also deserves notice, that less dung will serve 
gome lands than others, especially if they have 
lately been ploughed from grass ; but, at all events, 
sixteen such loads as are mentioned will answer 
for any sort of soil, unless it has been previously 
quite wrought out. Even if it were in this forlorn 



state, it is better management to dung upon th* 
stubble of the first crop than to give an over-dose 
when under summer fallow. 

Time of Spreading the Dung. 

All dung laid upon summer fallow ought to be 
spread the moment it is pulled out of the cart. 
It can at no other time be done so well, or so 
cheaply, though on many farms, small ones espe- 
cially, where a full supply of hands is wanting, 
this beneficial practice is much neglected. Four 
spreaders, boys or girls, with an attentive overs- 
man to follow up and supply any omissions, are 
sufficient for one head of carts ; the number in- 
cluded in a head being regulated by the distance 
of the field from the dunghill. Some farmers 
employ a person on whom they can depend to 
draw the dung from the cart, who has judgment 
to proportion it according to circumstances, and 
is responsible for any failure in the execution; 
but the carter is the person usually employed, 
though, unless a boy is given him to drive, a regu- 
lar distribution can hardly be expected. To in- 
sure accuracy in laying down, fields are some- 
times thrown into a dam-broad figure; and. a 
heap being drawn into each square, you could 
have nearly ascertained the quantity required for 
the whole. The great object, after a regular and 
economical distribution, is to shake and part the 
whole completely; as, by minute attention to this 
circumstance, a, much greater effect is necessarily 
produced. 

Intermediate Dunging. 

After the fallows are dunged, the remainder in 
hand is reserved for what may be called the inter- 
mediate dunging, generally bestowed either upon 
clover stubbles, upon wheat stubbles previously 
to taking beans, or upon bean stubbles before the 
seed furrow is given for wheat. It is obvious, 
that the farmer must be regulated, in this inter- 
mediate dunging, by the weather at the time, 
though it rarely happens but that dung may be 
got out upon clover stubbles at one time of the 
winter or other. When applied to beans, a bene- 
ficial practice, the dung, as we said above, is by 
some people laid upon the wheat stubble, and 
ploughed down before winter; hence it is in full 
action in the spring, when the seed furrow is 
given. Others make up drills at seed time, de- 
positing the dung in the intervals, as for turnips 
or potatoes ; but it seldom occurs that weather 
can then be got, at least on real bean soils, for 
executing this management. 

Many arable farms, under the strictest economy, 
are unable to furnish supplies for an intermediate 
dunging, at least to its full extent; but persons so 
circumstanced have it always in their power to 
overcome the defect, and preserve a regular rota- 
tion, by keeping certain fields longer in grass, 
which of course will yield weightier crops when 
broken up, and stand less in need of manure du- 
ring the after rotation. As, for instance, in a 
rotation of six, and it is here that the greatest 
shortcoming is felt, grass seeds to a certain ex- 
tent, say a half, may be thrown in with the crop 
of wheat taken after fallow, which is the second 
year of the rotation ; this part may be pastured 
for three years, and broken up in the sixth for 
oats, which concludes the course. Again, in a 
rotation of eight, grass seeds, in like manner, may 
be sown with a part of the fallow wheat, which 
part can be pastured for three years, then broken 
up for oats, succeeded by beans and wheat. By 
such arrangements, made according to circum- 
stances, it is an easy matter to preserve a regulai 
rotation, and to proportion the corn crops to th 
quantity of manure collected upon the premises. 



MANURES. 



21 



To increase the Quantity of Dung by Soiling. 

The practice of soiling, or feeding horses or 
eattle in the house or farm yard, is eminently 
calculated to increase the quantity of manure up- 
on every farm, and improve its quality. 

The soiling of horses, in the summer months, 
on green clover and rye-grass, is a practice which 
prevails in many grain districts where farm labor 
is regularly executed. The utility of the practice 
does not need the support of argument, for it is 
not only economical to the farmer, but saves much 
fatigue to the poor animal; besides, the quantity 
of dung thereby gathered is considerable. 

Oxen and cows of all sorts, might be supported 
and fed in like manner, during the whole of the 
grass season. It is well known that milch-cows 
have, in several instances, been so kept; but it 
has rarely happened that other descriptions of 
cattle have been fed for the butcher according to 
this mode, though it is perfectly practicable. 

The chief benefit of soiling may be considered 
as arising from the immense quantity of fine dung 
which would thus be accumulated, and which can 
be returned to the ground in the succeeding sea- 
son, alter being properly fermented and prepared. 
In all grain-farms, at least those of clayey soils, it 
is a work of great difficulty to rot the straw pro- 
duced upon it; and much of it is misapplied, in 
consequence of such soils being naturally unfit 
for raising green winter-crops. 

If a numerous stock of cattle were kept either in 
the house or in separate divisions of the fold yard, 
all the straw threshed in the summer months 
might be immediately converted into dung, the 
quality of which would be equal, if not superior, to 
what is made from turnips consumed at the stake. 

Dung is the mother of good crops ; and it appears 
that no plan can be devised by which a large quan- 
tity can be so easily and cheaply gathered, or by 
which straw can be so effectually rotted and ren- 
dered beneficial to the occupier of a clay-land farm, 
as the soiling of grass in the summer season. In 
a word, the dung of animals fed upon green clover, 
may justly be reckoned the richest of all dung. It 
may, from the circumstances of the season, be ra- 
pidly prepared, and may be applied to the ground 
at a very early period, much earlier than any other 
sort of dung can be used with advantage. 

To make Composts, 

The use of manure, in the shape of compost, or 
ingredients of various qualities, mixed together in 
certain proportions, has long been a favorite prac- 
tice with many farmers; though it is only in par- 
ticular situations that the practice can be exten- 
sively or profitably executed. The ingredients 
used in these composts are chiefly earth and lime, 
sometimes dung, where the earth is poor; but lime 
may be regarded as the main agent of the process, 
acting as a stimulus for bringing the powers of 
the heap into action. Lime, in this view, may be 
considered as a kind of yeast, operating upon a 
heap of earth as yeast does upon flour or rneal. 
It is obvious, therefore, that unless a sufficient 
quantity is given, the heap may remain unfer- 
raented, in which case little benefit will be derived 
from it as a manure. 

The best kind of earth for compost is that of 
the alluvial sort, which is always of a rich greasy 
substance, often mixed with marl, and in every 
respect calculated to enrich and invigorate barren 
soils, especially if they are of a light and open 
texture. Old yards, deep headlands, and scourings 
cf ditches, offer themselves as the basis of corn- 
lost middens; but it is proper to summer-fallow 
them before hand, so that they may be entirely free 
Df weeds. When the lime is mixed with the soil 



of these middens, repeated turnings are necessary, 
that the whole may be suitably fermented, and some 
care is required to apply the fermented mass at a 
proper time to the field on which it is to be used. 
The benefit of such a compost in nourishing 
soils is even greater than what is gained by dress- 
ing them with dung. 

Lord Meadowbank' 8 Directions for making Conk- 
posts of Peat-mots. 

Let the peat-moss, of which compost is to bo 
formed, be thrown out of the pit for some weeks 
or months, in order to lose its redundant moisture. 
By this means, it is rendered the lighter to carry, 
and less compact and weighty when made up with 
fresh dung for fermentation; and, accordingly, 
less dung is required for the purpose, than if the 
preparation is made with peat taken recently from 
the pit. The peat taken from near the surface, or 
at a considerable depth, answers equally well. 

Take the peat-moss to a dry spot convenient for 
constructing a dunghill to serve the field to be 
manured. Lay the cart-loads of it in two rows, 
ad of the dung in a row betwixt them. The dung 
thus lies nearly on an area of the future compost 
dunghill, and the rows of peat should be near 
enough each other, that worCTnen, in making up 
the compost, may be able to throw them together by 
the spade. In making up, let the workmen b< .gin at 
one end, and, at the extremity of the row of dung 
(which should not extend quite so far at th&.t end 
as the rows of peats on each side of it do), let them 
lay a bottom of peat, six inches deep and fifteen 
feet wide, if the grounds admit of it, then throw 
forward, and lay on, about ten inches of dung above 
the bottom of peat; then add from the side rows 
about six inches of peat; then four or five of dung, 
and then six more of peat; then another thin layer 
of dung; and then cover it over with peat at the 
end where it was begun, at the two sides, and 
above. The compost should not be raised above 
four feet, or four feet and a half high ; otherwise it 
is apt to press too heavily on the under parts, and 
check the fermentation. When a beginning is 
thus made, the workmen will proceed working 
backwards, and adding to the columns of compost, 
as they are furnished with the three rows of ma- 
terials directed to be laid down for them. They 
must take care not to tread on the compost, or 
render it too compact ; and. in proportion as the 
peat is wet, it should be made up in lumps, and 
not much broken. 

In mild weather, seven cart-loads of common 
farm-dung, tolerably fresh made, is sufficient for 
twenty-one cart-loads of peat-moss; but in cold 
weather, a larger proportion of dung is desirable. 
To every twenty-eight carts of the compost, when 
made up, it is of use to throw on, above it, a cart- 
load of ashes, either made from coal, peat, or 
wood ; half the quantity of slacked lime, the more 
finely powdered the better. 

The compost, after it is made up, get;* into a 
general heat, sooner or later, according to the 
weather, and the condition of the dung. In sum- 
mer, in ten days or sooner; in winter, not perhaps 
for many weeks, if the cold is severe. In the for- 
mer season, a stick should be kept in it in different 
parts, to pull out and feel now and then ; for, if it 
approaches blood-heat, it should either be watered 
or turned over; and, on such an occasion, advantage 
may be taken to mix with it a little fresh moss. 
The heat subsides after a time, and with great 
variety, according to the weather, the dung, and 
the perfection of the compost ; which should then 
be allowed to be untouched, till within three weeks 
of using, when it should be turned over upside 
down, and outside in, and all lumps broken ; thua 



22 



AGRICULTURE. 



it comes into a second heat, but soon cools, and 
ehruld be taken out for use. In this state the 
whole, except bits of the old decayed wood, ap- 
pears a black free mass, and spreads like garden 
mould. Use it weight for weight, as farm-yard 
dung; and it will be found, in a course of crop- 
ping, fully to stand the comparison. 

Peat, nearly as dry as garden-mould in seed- 
time, may be mixed with the dung, so as to 
double the volume. Workmen must begin with 
using layers ; but, when accustomed to the just 
pix portions, if they are furnished with peat mod- 
erately dry, and dung not lost in litter, they throw 
it up together as a mixed mass, and make a less 
proportion of dung serve for the preparation. 

The rich coarse earth, which is frequently found 
en the surface of peat, is too heavy to be admit- 
ted into this compost; but it makes an excellent 
top-dressing, if previously mixed and turned over 
with lime. 

Dr. Hennie's Method of Converting Moss into Ma- 
nure. 

The importance of moss as a manure is now 
generally admitted by all who have had an op- 
portunity of making experiments on that subject. 
The Rev. Dr. Rennie, of Kilsyth, having proved 
the utility of filtration, has recommended, in pri- 
vate letters, to water the collected heap of moss 
for about ten days, once each day, very copiously ; 
and when that is done, to trim it up to a compact 
body, allow it to dry, and to receive a gentle de- 
gree of heat. The degree of heat necessary for 
accomplishing that end, is sufficient, though not 
discoverable by the hand. If it only affects the 
thermometer a little, it is declared to be a ma- 
nure. The doctor also declares, that moss can be 
converted by filtering steam through it; and 
more expeditiously still, by exposing it to a run- 
ning stream of water. If the water penetrates 
the moss, it expels its poisonous qualities sooner 
and more effectually than any other mode ever 
devised. When it is sufficiently purified by any 
of these means, it must be laid up to dry, and is 
in a short time ready for applying to the land. 

Use of Lime as Manure. 

This mineral, after undergoing the process of 
calcination, has long been applied by husband- 
men as a stimulus to the soil, and, in consequence 
of such an application, luxuriant crops have been 
produced, even upon soils apparently of inferior 
quality, and which would have yielded crops of 
trifling value had this auxiliary been withheld. 
In fact, the majority of soils cannot be cultivated 
with advantage till they are dressed with lime ; 
and whether this beneficial effect shall be consid- 
ered as an alterative, or as a stimulant, or as a 
manure, it will be found to be the basis of good 
husbandry, and of more use than all other ma- 
nures put together. Wherever lirne has been 
prcperly applied, it has constantly been found to 
piove as much superior to dung, as dung is to 
the rakings of roads, or the produce of peat-mire. 
_ In respect of operation, it is immaterial whether 
lime be used upon grass land or summer-fallow. 
Upon old grass land, it is perhaps best to plough 
first, and to summer-fallow in the second year, 
when lime can be applied. On new and clean 
grass land, it may be limed at the outset, that is 
before the plough is admitted. 

To lime moorish soils is a hazardous business, 
unless dung is likewise bestowed: but to repeat 
the application upon such soils, especially if they 
have been severely cropped, is almost a certain 
loss ; a compost of lime and rich earth is, in such 
cases, the only substitute. 



Strong loams and clays require a full dose to 
bring them into action ; such soils being capable 
of absorbing a greater quantity of calcareous 
matter. Lighter soils, however, require less lime 
to stimulate them, and may be injured by admin- 
istering a quantity that would prove moderately 
beneficial to those of a heavy nature. 

Upon fresh land, or land in a proper state for a 
calcareous application, lime is much superior to 
dung. Its effects continue fora longer period; 
while the crops produced are of a superior kind 
and less susceptible of injury from the excesses 
of drought and moisture. Finally, the ground, 
particularly what is of a strong nature, is much 
easier wrought; and, in many instances, the 
saving of labor would almost tempt a judicious 
farmer to lime his land, were no greater benefit de- 
rived from the application than the opportunity 
thereby gained of working it in a perfect manner. 

It may be added, that though strong soils re- 
quire to be animated with a strong dose of lime, 
those of a light texture will do well with little 
more than half the quantity requisite on the 
others, especially if they are fresh, ^r have not 
already received an application of calcareous 
matter. 

Application of Marl. 

In many places the value of land has been 
much augmented by the application of marl. 
Treating of this article in a practical way, it may 
be divided into shell-marl and earth-marl. Shell- 
marl is composed of animal shells dissolved; 
earth-marl is also fossil. The color of the latter 
is various ; its hardness being sometimes soft and 
ductile, like clay; sometimes hard and solid, like 
stone; and sometimes it is extended into thin 
beds, like slate. Shell-marl is easily distin- 
guished by the shells, which always appear in it j 
but the similarity betwixt earth-marl and many 
other fossil substances, renders it difficult to dis- 
tinguish them. 

Shell-marl is very different in its nature from 
clayey and stone marls, and, from its effects upon 
the soil, is commonly classed among the animal 
manures : it does not dissolve with water as the 
other marls do. It sucks it up, and swells with 
it like a sponge. Dr. Home says, that it takes 
six times more of acids to saturate it than any of 
the other marls which he had met with. But the 
greatest difference betwixt the shell-marl and the 
other marls consists in this, the shell-marl con- 
tains oils. 

This marl, it would seem from the qualities 
which it possesses, promotes vegetation in all the 
different ways. It increases the food of plants; 
it communicates to the soil a power of attracting 
this food from the air; it enlarges the pasture of 
plants; and it prepares the vegetable food for 
entering their roots. 

Shelly Sand. 

The shelly sand, often found deposited in beds 
in the crevices and level parts of the sea-coasts, 
is another substance capable of being employed, 
both as a manure and stimulant, not only on ac- 
count of its containing calcareous matter, in 
greater or less proportions, but also from the 
mixture of animal and vegetable substances that 
are found in it. The portion of calcareous matter 
contained in these substances must vary accord- 
ing to circumstances; but, when the quantity is 
any way large, and in a reduced or attenuated 
state, the quality is so much the more valuable. 
On that account the quantity which ought to be 
applied to the soil, must be regulated by the ex- 
tent of calcareous matter, supposed, or found, 
upon trial, to be contained in the article. 



MANURES. 



23 



Clayey and Stone Marls. 

The clayey and stone marls are distinguished 
by their colors, viz., white, black, blue, and red. 
The white, being of a soft, crumbly nature, is 
considered to be the best for pasture land ; and 
the blue, which is more compact and firm, for 
grain land. In the districts where marl is much 
used, these distinctions of management nre at- 
tended with advantage, if the following rules are 
adhered to : 

If marl is of the blue kind, or of any kind that 
is compact or firm, lay it upon the land early in 
the season, so as the weather may mellow it down 
before the last plough ; and, if on pasture land, 
let it also be early laid on, and spread very thin, 
breaking any lumps afterwards which are not 
completely separated by the first spreading. If 
marl is of the white, or any of the loose or crum- 
bling sorts, it need not be laid on so early; be- 
cause these varieties break and dissolve almost as 
soon as exposed to the weather. 
Sea-weed. 

Sea- weed is driven ashore afteV storms, and is 
found to be an excellent article for manuring light 
and dry soils, though of little advantage to those of 
a clayey description. This article may be applied 
on the proper soil with advantage to any crop, and 
its effects are immediate, though rarely of long 
continuance. As the coast-side lands of Great 
Britain are, in every case, of superior fertility to 
those that are inland, we may attribute this su- 
perior fertility to the great quantity of manure 
found upon their shores after every storm or high 
tide, whereby the resources of the ocean are in a 
manner brought forward for the enrichment of 
tta lands locally situated for participating in such 
benefits. The utmost attention has long been 
paid to the gathering and laying on of this valu- 
able manure. 

Application of Sea-weed. 

Sea-weed is applied at all seasons to the surface, 
and sometimes, though not so profitably, it is 
mixed with untrodden dung, that the process of 
putrefaction may be hastened. Generally speak- 
ing, it is at once applied to the soil, which saves 
labor, and prevents that degree of waste which 
otherwise would necessarily happen. Sea-weed 
is, in one respect, preferable to the richest dung, 
because it does not produce such a quantity of 
weeds. The salt contained in sea-weed, and ap- 
plied with it, is the real cause of the after-clean- 
liness. This may be inferred from the general 
state of coast-side lands, where sea-weed is used. 
These lands are almost constantly kept in tillage, 
and yet are cleaner and freer from weeds than 
those in the inland situations, where grain crops 
are not so often taken. 

When a coast-side farm contains mixed soils, 
the best management is exercised, by applying 
sea-weed to dry, and dung to clay-land. In this 
way, the full advantage of manure may be ob- 
tained, and a form so circumstanced is of infi- 
nitely greater value, with respect to manuring 
atd laboring, than the one which contains no such 
variety. 

Burning the Surface. 

The practice of burning the surface, and apply- 
ing the ashes as manure to the soil that remains, 
has been long prevalent in Britain; and is con- 
sidered as the most advantageous way of bring- 
ing in and improving all soils, where the surface 
carried a coarse sward, and was composed of peat- 
earth, or other inactive substances. The burning 
of this surface has been viewed as the best way 
of bringing such soils into action ; the ashes, fur- 
nUhed by the burning, serving as a stimulant to 



raise up their dormant powers, thereby rendering 
them fertile and productive in a superior degree 
to what could otherwise be accomplished. 

Mr. Curwen's Method of Burning Surface Soil and 
Clay. 

Mounds of seven yards in length, and three and 
a half in breadth, are kindled with seventy-two 
Winchester bushels of lime. First, a layer of dry 
sods or parings, on which a quantity of lime is 
spread, mixing sods with it, then a covering of 
eight inches of sods, on which the other half of 
the lime is spread, and covered a foot thick, the 
height of the mound being about a yard. 

In twenty-four hours it will take fire. The lime 
should be immediately from the kiln. It is better 
to suffer it to ignite itself, than to effect it by the 
operation of water. When the fire is fairly kin- 
dled, fresh sods must be applied. I should re- 
commend obtaining a sufficient body of ashes be- 
fore any clay is put on the mounds. The fire 
naturally rises to the top. It takes less time, and 
does more work to draw down the ashes from the 
top, and not to suffer it to rise above six feet. The 
former practice of burning in kilns was more ex- 
pensive; did much less work; and, in many in- 
stances, calcined the ashes. 

I think it may fairly be supposed that the lime 
adds full its worth to the quality of the ashes. 
Where limestone can be had, I should advise the 
burning of a small quantity in the mounds, which 
would be a great improvement to the ashes, and, 
at the same time, help to keep the fire in. 

The general adopting of the system of surface 
and soil clay-burning, is likely to be an important 
discovery for the interests of agriculture. 

To burn Moss with the Ashes. 

The following directions for burning mops along 
with the ashes are of considerable importance: 
Begin the fire with dry faggots, furze, or straw, 
then put on dried moss finely minced and well 
beaten with a clapper; and when that is nearly 
burnt down, put on moss less dry, but well minced 
and clapped, making holes with a prong to carry 
on the fire, and so adding more moss till a hill of 
ashes, something of the size of a wagon load, is 
accumulated, which, when cold, carry to the bins, 
or store heaps, before the ashes get wet. 

Mr. Roscoe's Method of Improving Moss Land. 

The best method of improving moss land is by 
the application of a calcareous substance in a suf- 
ficient quantity to convert the moss into a soil, 
and by the occasional use of animal or other ex- 
traneous manures, such as the course of cultiva- 
tion and the nature of the crops may be found to 
require. 

After setting fire to the heap and herbage on 
the moss, and ploughing it down as far as practi- 
cable, Mr. Roscoe ploughs a thin sod or furrow 
with a very sharp horse- plough, which he burns 
in small heaps and dissipates; considering it of 
little use but to destroy the tough woods of the 
ediophorus, narclus stricta, and other plants, 
whose matted roots are almost imperishable. 
The moss being thus brought to a tolerably dry 
and level substance, then plough it in a regular 
furrow six inches deep, and as soon as possible 
after it is turned up, set upon it the necessary 
quantity of marl, not less than 200 cubic yaris to 
the acre. As the marl begins to crumble and fall 
with the sun or frost, it is spread over the land 
with considerable exactness, after which put in a 
crop as early as possible, sometimes by the plough, 
and at others with the horse-scuffle, or scarifier, 
according to the nature of the crop, a quantity of 
manure, setting on about twenty tons to the cr. 



24 



AGRICULTURE. 



Moss-land, thus treated, may not only be ad- 
rantageously cropped the first year with green 
crops, as potatoes, turnips, etc., but with any kind 
f grain. 

Peat and Peat Ashes used as Manure. 

In the county of Bedford, England, peat ashes 
are sold as manure, and are used as a top dressing 
for clovers, and sometimes for barley, at the rate 
of from forty to sixty bushels per acre. They are 
usually spread during the month of March, on 
elover, and on the surface of the barley-lands 
after the seed is sown. Peat ashes are also admir- 
ably useful as manure for turnips, and are easily 
drilled with or over the seed, by means of a drill- 
box connected with a loaded cart. 

After the quantity required has been cast, a por- 
tion sufficient to kindle a large heap (suppose two 
cart-loads), is dried as much as if intended for 
winter's use. A conical pile is then built and 
fired, and as soon as the flame or smoke makes its 
appearance at any of the crevices, it is kept back 
by fresh peat, just sufficiently dry to be free from 
water; and thus the pile is continually increased, 
until it has burnt thirty or forty loads, or as much 
more as may be required. The slower the process 
the better; but, in case of too languid a consump- 
tion, the heap should be stirred by a stick, when- 
ever the danger of extinction seems probable. 

In case of rain, the workmen should be prepared 
with some coarse thick turf, with which to cover 
the surface of the cone. 

Coal Ashes used as Manure. 
Coal ashes may likewise be made a most useful 
article of manure, by mixing with every cart-load 
of them one bushel of lime in its hottest state, 
covering it up in the middle of the heap for about 
twelve hours, till the lime be entirely slacked, and 
incorporating them well together ; and, by turn- 
ing the whole over two or three times, the cinders, 
or half-burnt parts of the coal, will be reduced to 
as fine a powder as the lime itself. The coal-ashes 
should, however, be carefully kept dry ; this mix- 
ture will be found one of the best improvers of 
moorish and benty land. 

Method of Burning Lime without Kilns. 

The practice of lime-burners in Wales has for- 
merly been to burn lime in broad shallow kilns, 
but lately they have begun to manufacture that 
article without any kiln at all. 

They place the limestone in large bodies, which 
are called coats, the stones not being broken small 
as in the ordinary method, and calcine these heaps 
in the way used for preparing charcoal. To pre- 
vent the flame from bursting out at the top and 
Bides of these heaps, turfs and earth are placed 
against them, and the aperture partially closed; 
and the heat is regulated and transfused through 
the whole mass, that notwithstanding the increased 
size of the stones, the whole becomes thoroughly 
calcined. As a proof of the superior advantage 
that lime burnt in these clamps or coaks has over 
lime burnt in the old method, where farmers have 
*an option of taking either lime at the same price, 
a preference is invariably given to that burned in 
heaps. This practice has long prevailed in York- 
shire and Shropshire, and is also familiar in Scot- 
land. 

Mr. Craig's Improved Method of Burning Clay. 
Make an oblong enclosure, of the dimensions 
of a small house say fifteen feet by ten- of 
green turf-seeds, raised to the height of three and 
a half or four feet. In the inside of this enclosure 
air-pipes are drawn diagonally, which communi- 
eate with holes left at each corner of the exterior 



wall. These pipes are formed of sods put on edge, 
and the space between so wide only as another 
sod can easily cover. In each of the four spacos 
left between the air-pipes and the outer wall, a 
fire is kindled with wood and dry turf, and then 
the whole of the inside of the enclosure or kiln 
filled with dry turf, which is very soon on fire; 
and, on the top of that, when well kindled, is 
thrown on the clay, in small quantities at a time, 
and repeated as often as .necessary, which must 
be regulated by the intensity of the burning. The 
air-pipes are of use only 'It first, because if the 
fire burns with tolerable keenness, the sods lorm- 
ing the pipes will soon be reduced to ashes. The 
pipe on the weather side of the kiln only is left 
open, the mouths of the other three being stopped 
up, and not opened except the wind should veer 
about. As the inside of the enclosure or kiln 
begins to be filled up with clay, the outer wall 
must be raised in height, at least fifteen inches 
higher than the top of the clay, for the purpose 
of keeping the wind from acting on the fire. 
When the fire burns through the outer wall, 
which it often does, and particularly when the 
top is over-loaded with clay, the breach must be 
stopped up immediately, which can only be effec- 
tually done by building another sod wall from 
the foundation opposite to it, and the sods that 
formed that part of the first wall are soon re- 
duced to ashes. The wall can be raised as high 
as may be convenient to throw on the clay, and 
the kiln may be increased to any size by forming 
a new wall when the previous one is burnt through. 
The principal art in burning consists in having 
the outer wall made quite close and impervious to 
the external air, and taking care to have the top 
always lightly, but completely, covered with clay; 
because if the external air should come in contact 
with the fire, either on the top of the kiln or by 
means of its bursting through the sides, the fire 
will be very soon extinguished. In short, the 
kilns require to be well attended, nearly as closely 
as charcoal-pits. Clay is much easier burnt than 
either moss or loam it does not undergo any 
alteration in its shape, and on that account allows 
the fire and smoke to get up easily between the 
lumps whereas moss and loam, by crumbling 
down, are very apt to smother the fire, unless care- 
fully attended to. No rule can be laid down for 
regulating the size of the lumps of clay thrown on 
the kiln, as that must depend on the state of the 
fire. After a kiln is fairly set going, no coal or 
wood, or any sort of combustible, is necessary, the 
wet clay burning of itself, and it can only be ex- 
tinguished by intention, or the carelessness of the 
operator, the vicissitudes of the weather having 
hardly any effect on the fires, if propei-ly attended 
to. When the kiln is burning with great keenness, 
a stranger to the operation may be apt to think that 
the fire is extinguished. If, therefore, any person, 
either through impatience or too great curiosity, 
should insist on looking into the interior of the 
kiln, he will certainly retard, and may possibly 
extinguish, the fire; the chief secret consisting, as 
before-mentioned, in keeping out the external air. 
The above .method of burning clay may be con- 
sidered as an essential service rendered to agri- 
culture; as it shows farmers how to convert, at a 
moderate expense, the most worthless barren sub- 
soil into excellent manure. 

To decompose Green Vegetables for Manure. 

The following process for the decomposition of 
green vegetables, for manure, has been practised 
with great success in the counties of Norfolk and 
Suffolk, England: 

Place a layer of vegetable matter a foot thick. 



MANURES. 



25 



then a thin layer of lime, alternately ; in a few 
hours the decomposition will begin, and, unless 
prevented by sods, or a fork full of vegetables, will 
break out into a blaze ; this must be guarded 
against; in twenty-four hours the process will be 
completed. Weeds of every description will an- 
swer for vegetables ; two pounds' worth of lime 
will produce manure for four acres. Use the 
vegetables as soon after cutting as possible, and 
the lime fresh from the kiln, as distance will allow. 

Bone Manure. 

Mills are constructed for the purpose of bruis- 
ing (not pounding) bones; and the dust riddled 
therefrom is reckoned a still stronger manure. 
The same person selects the best bones, which 
are sawn into pieces, for button-moulds and 
knife-handles: and the saw-dust from this ope- 
ration is particularly useful in gardens and hot- 
beds. It suits every vegetable, hot-house, or 
green-house plant. 

Bone manure is best adapted for cold and light 
sandy land. The usual quantity per acre is 
seventy bushels, when used alone; but when 
mixed with ashes, or common manure of any 
sort, thirty bushels per acre is thought quite 
enough. It is applied at the same periods as 
other manure, and has been found in this way 
to remain seven years in the ground. The rough 
part of this manure, after being five years in 
the ground, has been gathered off one field and 
thrown upon another of a different soil, and has 
proved, even then, good manure. 

The bones which are best filled with oil and 
marrow are certainly the best manure; and the 
parts generally used for buttons and knife-hafts 
are the thigh and shank bones. The powdered 
bones are dearer, and generally used for hot-beds 
in gardens, being too expensive for the field, and 
not so durable as bruised bones, yet, for a short 
time, more productive. 

A dry, light, or gentle soil, is best adapted for 
the use of bone-manure; as it is supposed that, 
in land which retains wet, the nutritive part of 
the bone washes to the surface of it and does not 
incorporate sufficiently with the soil. 

Bruised bones are better when mixed with 
ashes or any other manure, as the juice of the 
bone is then more equally spread over the field. 
Bone manure ought to be ploughed into the land 
in tillage. On the grass the powder should be 
sown in the hand. 

Super -Phosphate of Lime. 

To Liebig is due the greatest credit for the theory 
that the organic matter of plants is supplied abund- 
antly by nature from air and water; that the ashes 
of plants exhibit the mineral matters most needed 
for a fertile soil ; that the ashes of the most valu- 
able parts, such as the husk of wheat, especially 
show what matters are required for the most 
abundant production of those parts ; that soils are 
most frequently deficient in phosphoric acid, which 
should be supplied in the form of bones, guano, 
and more especially as a more or less soluble phos- 
phate of lime. Long and extensive experience 
has proved the great value of a fertilizer which 
contains a portion of so-called super-pho.sphate of 
lime ; that is, a bone-phosphate of lime, which is 
treated with sulphuric acid, so that more or less 
of the phosphate will dissolve in water. Of course 
a true chemical super-phosphate would wholly dis- 
lolve, but such a one is impracticable in use; 
moreover it is found by practice that a few per 
cent, of phosphoric acid in a fertilizer is sufficient 
to insure its promotion of fertility. Hence some 
fertilizers in commerce consist almost wholly of a 



phosphate of lime mixed with a little sulphate of 
lime (plaster), resulting from the action of the 
sulphuric acid, so that it contains 15 to 20 per 
cent, phosphoric acid, one-third or one-fourth of 
which readily dissolves in water. These fertilizers 
are found to yield excellent results when applied 
to the soil. 

The superiority of these nitrogenous superphcs- 
phated fertilizers over all others may be summed 
up in a few words. They surpass stable manure 
in their extremely small bulk and weight for the 
same fertilizing effect, and consequently in the 
greater ease and less expense of their handling, 
hauling and spreading, and yet further in their 
never fouling land by the seeds of weeds and 
noxious plants. They excel bones and phosphatio 
guano in their more rapid action and their yield- 
ing a quicker return. They excel Peruvian guano 
in continuing their fertilizing effects for a longer 
period of time, in their being less violent at first, 
and yet sufficiently energetic to yield a return the 
first season of their application. Most of our 
land is either poor by nature or through exhaust- 
ive cropping, and there is nothing that will more 
rapidly restore and increase their fertility than 
the ammoniated super-phosphates. It may be 
yet further observed, that there is scarcely any 
soil to which their application will not prove a 
decided benefit, and scarcely a crop which they 
will not improve, whether grain, vegetables, cot- 
ton, tobacco, fruits, etc. 

Various Substances used as Manure. 

J. B. Bailey, Esq., presented to tho Agricul- 
tural Society of Manchester, the following enu- 
meration of substances which may be applied 
usefully as manures instead of stable dung, viz., 
mud, sweepings of the streets, and coal-ashes, 
night-soil, bones, refuse matters, as sweepingg 
and rubbish of houses, etc., sea-weeds, sea-shells, 
and sea-gravel, river-weeds, sweepings of roads, 
and spent tanner's bark to mix with lime. Peat 
or moss, decayed vegetables, putrid water, the 
ashes of weeds, etc., the refuse of bleacher's 
ashes, soap suds, or lye, peat ashes, water in- 
floating, refuse salt. 

The use of liquid manure, so long common in 
China and Japan, is gaining in favor with agri- 
culturists everywhere. Peruvian guano is one 
of the important discoveries of modern times ; with 
its use ground almost barren may be made produc- 
tive; it is available for almost all kinds of crops. 

Plaster of Paris used as Manure. 

Plaster of Paris is used as a manure in Pennsyl- 
vania and elsewhere. The best kind is imported 
from hills in the vicinity of Paris: it is brought 
down the Seine, and exported from Havre de Grace. 
The lumps composed of flat shining spicula are pre- 
ferred to those which are formed of round parti- 
cles like sand; the simple method of finding out 
the quality is to pulverize some, and put it dry 
into an iron pot over the fire, when that which is 
good, will soon boil, and great "quantities of the 
fixed air escape by ebullition. It is pulverized 
by first putting it in a stamping-mill. The finer 
its pulverization the better, as it will thereby be 
more generally diffused. 

It is best to sow it on a wet day. The most 
approved quantity for grass is six bushels per 
acre. No art is required in sowing it more than 
making the distribution as equal as possible en 
the sward of grass. It operates altogether as a 
top manure, and therefore should not be put on in 
the spring until the principal frosts are over and 
vegetation has begun. The general time for 
sowing in America is in April, May, June, July, 



26 



AGRICULTUKE. 



August, and even as late as September. Its 
effects will generally appear in ten or fifteen days ; 
after which the growth of the grass will be so 
great as to produce a large burden at the end of 
gix weeks after sowing. 

It must be sown on dry land, not subject to be 
overflown. It has been sown on sand, loam, and 
clay, and it is difficult to say on which it has best 
answered, although the effect is sooner visible on 
eand. It has been used as a manure in this state 
for twelve years; for, like other manure, its con- 
tinuance very much depends on the nature of the 
soil on which it is placed. 

Mode of Applying Blubber as a Manure. 

This is a very rich ingredient, as well for ara- 
ble as pasture lands, when mixed at the rate of 
one ton of blubber to twenty loads of mould, and 
one chaldron of lime, per acre. It must be turned 
over and pulverized ; and when it has lain in 
this state three or four months, it will become fit 
for use, and may be put upon the land in such 
quantities as the quality of the land to be ma- 
nured requires. It is a very strong manure, and 
very excellent. 

Application of Manures to Land. 

Early in autumn, after the hay crop is removed, 
is the most convenient and least objectionable pe- 
riod for the purpose. The common practice is to 
apply manures during the frost, in the winter. 
But the elastic fluids being the greatest supports 
of vegetation, manures should be applied under 
circumstances that favor their generation. These 
will occur in spring, after the grass has, in some 
degree, covered the ground, the dung being then 
shaded from the sun. After a frost much of the 
virtues of the dung will be washed away by the 
thaw, and its soluble parts destroyed, and in a 
frosty state the ground is incapable of absorbing 
liquids. 

Management of Arable Land. 

Alternate husbandry, or the system of having 
leguminous and culmiferous crops to follow each 
other, with some modifications, is practicable on 
every soil. According to its rules, the land would 
rarely get into a foul and exhausted state ; at 
least, if foul and exhausted under alternate hus- 
bandry, matters would be much worse were any 
other system followed. The rotation may be long 
or short, as is consistent with the richness of the 
soil, on which it is executed, and other local cir- 
cumstances. The crops cultivated may be any of 
the varieties which compose either of the two tribes, 
according to the nature of soil and climate of the 
district where the rotation is exercised, and where 
circumstances render ploughing not so advanta- 
geous as pasturing, the land may remain in gra^s, 
till those circumstances are obviated, care being 
always taken, when it is broken up, to follow 
alternate husbandry during the time it is under 
tillage. 

In this way we think it perfectly practicable to 
follow the alternate system in every situation ; nor 
do we consider the land being in grass for two, 
three, or four years, as a departure from, that sys- 
tem, if called for by a scarcity of manure, poverty 
of soil, want of markets for corn, or other acci- 
dental circumstances. The basis of every rotation 
wo hold to be either ,a bare summer fallow, or a 
fallow on which drill turnips are cultivated, and 
its conclusion to be with the crop taken in the 
year preceding a return of fallow or drilled tur- 
nips, when, of course, a new rotation commences. 
First Rotation of Crops. 

According to this rotation, wheat and drilled 
beans are th crops to be cultivated, though clover 



and rye-grass may be taken for one year, in place 
of beans, should such a variety be viewed as mor 
eligible. The rotation begins with summer fallow, 
because it is only on strong deep lands that it can 
be profitably practised; and it may go on lor any 
length of time, or so long as the land can be kept 
clean, though it ought to stop the moment that 
the land gets into a contrary condition. A con- 
I siderable quantity of manure is required to go on 
successfully ; dung should be given to each bean 
crop; and if this crop is drilled and attentively 
horse-hoed, the rotation may turn out to be one 
of the most profitable that can be exercised. 
Second Rotation. 

Upon loams nnd clays, where it may not be ad- 
visable to carrj the first rotation into execution, a 
different one can be practised, according to which 
labor will be more divided, and the usual grains 
more generally cultivated; as, for instance: 

1. Fallow, with dung. 2. Wheat. 3. Beans, 
drilled and horse- hoed. 4. Barley. 5. Clover 
and rye-grass. 6. Oats, or wheat. 7. Beans, 
drilled and horse-hoed. 8. Wheat. 

This rotation is excellently calculated to insure 
an abundant return through the whole of it, pro- 
vided dung is administered upon the clover stub- 
ble. Without this supply the rotation would be 
crippled, and inferior crops of course produced in 
the concluding years. 

Third Rotation. 

This rotation is calculated for clays and loama 
of an inferior description to those already treated 
of: 

1. Fallow, with dung. 2. Wheat. 3. Clover 
and rye-grass. 4. Oats. 5. Beans, drilled and 
horse-hoed. 6. Wheat. 

According to this rotation, the rules of good 
husbandry are studiously practised, while the se- 
quence is obviously calculated to keep the land in 
good order, and in such a condition as to insure 
crops of the greatest value. If manure is be- 
stowed either upon the clover stubble or before 
the beans are sown, the rotation is one of the best 
that can be devised for the soils mentioned. 
Fourth Rotation. 

On thin clays gentle husbandry is indispensably 
necessary, otherwise the soil may be exhausted, 
and the produce unequal to the expense of culti- 
vation. Soils of this description will not improve 
much while under grass, but unless an additional 
stock of manure can be procured, there is a neces- 
sity of refreshing them in that way, even though 
the produce should, in the meantime, be compara- 
tively of small value. The following rotation is 
an excellent one: 

1. Fallow, with dung. 2. Wheat. 3. Grass, 
pastured, but not too early eaten. 4. Grass. 5. 
Grass. 6. Oats. 

This rotation may be shortened or lengthened, 
according to circumstances, but should never ex- 
tend further in point of ploughing, than when 
dung can be given to the fallow break. This is 
the keystone of the whole, and if it is neglected 
the rotation is rendered useless. 
Fifth Rotation. 

Peat-earth soils are not friendly to wheat unless 
aided by a quantity of calcareous matter. Taking 
them in a general point of view, it is not advi- 
sable to cultivate wheat, but a crop of oats may 
almost be depended upon, provided the previous 
management has been judiciously executed. If 
the sub-soil of peat-earth lands be retentive of 
moisture, the process ought to commence with a 
bare summer fallow; but if such are incumbent 
on free and open bottoms, a crop of turnips may 



WHEAT. 



27 



b substituted for follow, according to which 
method the surface will get a body which natu- 
rally it did not possess. Grass, on such soils, must 
always occupy a great space of every rotation, be- 
cause physical circumstances render regular crop- 
ping utterly impracticable. 

1. Fallow, or turnips, with dung. 2. Oats, of 
an early variety. 3. Clover, and a considerable 
quantity of perennial rye-grass. 4. Pasture for 
several years, till circumstances permit the land 
to be broken up, when oats are to be repeated. 

Sixth Hotation. 

Light soils are easily managed, though to pro- 
cure a full return of the profits which they are 
capable of yielding, requires generally as much 
attention as is necessary in the management of 
those of a stronger description. Upon light soils 
a bare summer fallow is seldom called for, as 
cleanliness may be preserved by growing turnips 
and other leguminous articles. Grass also is of 
eminent advantage upon such soils, often yielding 
a greater profit than what is afforded by culmifer- 
ous crops. 

1. Turnip?. 2. Spring wheat, or barley. 3. 
Clover and rye-grass. 4. Oats, or wheat. 

This rotation would be greatly improved, were 
it extended to eight years, whilst the ground by 
such an extension, would be kept fresh, and con- 
stantly in good condition. As for instance, were 
seeds for pasture sown in the second year, the 
ground kept three years under grass, then broken 
up for oats in the sixth year, drilled with beans 
and peas in the seventh, and sown with wheat in 
the eighth, the rotation would be complete; be- 
cause it included every branch of husbandry, and 
admitted a variety in management generally 
agreeable to the soil, and always favorable to the 
interest of cultivators. The rotation may also 
consist of six crops, were the land kept only one 
year in grass, though few situations admit of so 
much cropping, unless additional manure is 
within reach. 

Seventh Rotation. 

Sandy soils, when properly manured, are well 
adapted to turnip?, though it rarely happens that 
wheat can be cultivated on them with advantage, 
unless they are dressed with alluvial compost, 
marl, clay, or some such substance, as will give a 
body or strength to them which they do not natu- 
rally possess. Barley, oats, and rye, the latter 
especially, are, however, sure crops on sands ; and, 
in favorable seasons, will return greater profit 
than can be obtained from wheat. 

1. Turnips, consumed on the ground. 2. Bar- 
ley. 3. Grass. 4. Rye or oats. 

By keeping the land three years in grass, the 
rotation would be extended to six years, a mea- 
sure highly advisable. 

From what has been stated, every person capa- 
ble of judging will at once perceive the facility of 
arranging husbandry upon correct principles, and 
of cropping the ground in such a way as to make 
it produce abundant returns to the occupier, 
whilst at the same time it is preserved in good 
condition, and never impoverished or exhausted. 
All these things are perfectly practicable under 
the all ornate system, though it is doubtful whether 
they can bs gained under any other. 

It may be added, that winter-sown crops, or 
crops sown on the winter furrow, are most eligible 
on all clayey soils. 

Ploughing, with a view to clean soils of the de- 
scription under consideration, has little effect un- 
less given in the summer months. This renders 
summer fallow indispensably necessary; and, 
without this radical process, none of the heavy 



and wet soils can be suitably managed, ir pre. 
served in u good condition. 

To adopt a judicious rotation of chopping for 
every soil, requires a degree of judgment in the 
farmer, which can only be gathered from obser- 
vation and experience. The old rotations were 
calculated to wear out the soil, and to render it 
unproductive; but the modern rotations, such as 
thos<e which we have described, are founded on 
principles which insure a full return from the 
soil, withi.ut lessening its value, or impoverishing 
its condition. Much depends, however, up;n the 
manner in which the different processes are exe- 
cuted; for the best-arranged rotation may be of 
no avail, if the processes belonging to it are im- 
perfectly and unreasonably executed. 

To cultivate Wheat. 

On soils really calculated for wheat, though in 
different degrees, summer fallow is the first and 
leading step to gain a good crop or crops of that 
grain. The first furrow should be given before 
winter, or as early as the other operations of the 
farm will admit; and every attention should be 
used to go as deep as possible; for it rarely hap- 
pens that any of the succeeding furrows exceed 
the first one in that respect. The number of 
after-ploughings must be regulated by the condi- 
tion of the ground and the state of the weather; 
but, in general, it may be observed, that plough- 
ing in length and across, alternately, is the way 
by which the ground will be most completely cut, 
and the intention of fallowing accomplished. 
Varieties of Seed. 

Wheat may be classed under two principal di- 
visions, though each of these "admits of several 
subdivisions. The first is composed of all the 
varieties of red wheat. The second division com- 
prehends the whole varieties of white wheat, 
which again may be arranged under two distinct 
heads, namely, thick-chaffed and thin-chaffed. 

The thick-chaffed varieties were formerly in 
greatest repute, generally yielding the whitest 
and finest flour, and, in dry seasons, not inferior 
in produce to the other; but since 1799, when the 
disease culled mildew, to which they are consti- 
tutionally predisposed, raged so extensively, they 
have gradually been going out of fashion. 

The thin-chaffed wheats are a hardy class, and 
seldom mildewed, unless the weather be particu- 
larly inimical during the stages of blossoming, 
filling, and ripening, though some of them are 
rather better qualified to resist that destructive 
disorder than others. In 1799, thin chaffed 
wheats were seriously injured; and instances 
were not wanting to show, that an acre of them, 
with respect to value, exceeded an acre of thick- 
chaffed wheat, quantity and quality considered, 
not less than fifty per cent. Since that time, 
therefore, their culture has rapidly increased ; and 
to this circumstance may, in a great measure, be 
attributed the high character which thin-chaffed 
wheats now bear. 

Method of Sowing. 

Sowing in the broadcast way may be said to be 
the mode universally practised. Upon well pre- 
pared lands, if the seed be distributed equally, it 
can scarcely be sown too thin ; perhaps two 
bushels per acre are sufficient; for the heaviest 
crops at autumn are rarely those which show the 
most vigorous appearance through the winter 
months. Bean stubbles require more seed than 
summer fallows, because the roughness of their 
surface prevents such an equal distribution ; and 
clover leas ought to be still thicker sown than 
bean stubbles. Thin sowing in spring ought not 



28 



AGRICULTURE. 



to hft practised, otherwise the crop will be late, 
and imperfectly ripened. No more harrowing 
should be given to fields that have been fallowed, 
than what is necessary to cover the seed, and 
level the surface sufficiently. Ground, which is 
to lie in a broken-down state through the winter, 
suffers severely when an excessive harrowing is 
given, especially if it is incumbent on a close 
bottom; though, as to the quantity necessary, 
none can give an opinion, except those who are 
personally present. 

To sow Grain by JZibbing. 

The ribbing of grain crops was introduced into 
Great Britain in the year 1810. The process is 
as follows: Suppose the land in fallow, or tur- 
nips eat off, let it be gathered into ridges of twelve 
feet each; then harrow it well, particularly the 
furrows of the ridges: after which take a narrow- 
bottomed swing plough, five inches and a half 
broad at the heel, with a narrow-winged sock, 
drawn by one horse; begin in the furrow, as if 
you intended to gather two ridges together, which 
will make, a rib exactly in the middle of the fur- 
row; then turn back up the same furrow you 
came down, keeping close to the rib made; pursue 
the same mode on the other side, and take a little 
of the soil which is thrown over by the mould- 
board from the back of each rib, and so on till you 
come near the furrow, when you must pursue the 
same mode as at first. In water furrowing you 
will then have a rib on each side of the furrow, 
distance between the rib, ten or twelve inches. 
The seed to be sown from the hand, and, from the 
narrowness or sharpness of the top of the ridges, 
the grain will fall regu-'i'-'v r1<M V n thon put on a 
light harrow to cover the oeea. in wet soils the 
ridges ought to be twice gathered, as ribbing re- 
duces them. 

It will answer all kinds of crops, but not all 
soils. Strong clayey soils cannot be pulverized 
sufficiently for that purpose ; nor can it be effected 
in clover-lea, unless it be twice ploughed and well 
harrowed. Ribbing is here esteemed preferable 
to drilling, as you have the same opportunity of 
keeping the land clean, and the grain does not 
fall so close together as by drilling. 

The farmer may hand or horse-hoe his crops, 
and also hoe in his clover-seed, which is consider- 
ed very advantageous. It is more productive of 
grain, especially when it is apt to lodge, and, in 
all cases, of as much straw; and ribbing is often 
the means of preventing the corn lodging. 

In a wet season ribbing is more favorable to 
harvesting, because the space between the ribs 
admits the air freely, and the corn dries much 
sooner. The reapers also, when accustomed to it, 
cut more and take it up cleaner. 

Improved Method of Drilling Wheat. 
The drill contains three coulters, placed in a 
triangular form, and worked by brushes, with 
cast-iron nuts, sufficient for one horse to draw, 
and one man to attend to. It will drill three acres 
'i>er day of wheat, barley or oa.ts, at five inches 
asunder; and five acres per day of beans, peas, 
etc., at twelve inches asunder. The general prac- 
tice is to drill crossways, and to set the rows five 
or six inches, and never exceeding seven inches, 
apart, it being found that if the distance is greater 
they are too long filling up in the spring, that 
Miey afford a greater breadth for the growth of 
Weeds, are more expensive to hoe, and more liable 
to be laid in the summer. In drilling wheat never 
harrow after the drill if it can be avoided, the 
drill generally leaving the corn sufficiently cover- 
ed ; and by this plan the vegetation is quickened, 
and the ridges of soil between each two rows pre- 



serve the plants in winter, and render 1 he operation 
of harrowing in the spring much more efficacious. 
The spring harrowing is performed the contrary 
way to that of the drilling, as the harrow working 
upon the ridges does not pull up the plants, and 
leaves the ground mouldy for the hoe. This point 
should be particularly attended to. The harrow- 
ing after the drill evidently leaves the ground in 
a better state to the eye, but the advantages in 
the produce of the crop are decidedly in favcr of 
the plan of heaving the land in the rough staf-a 
already described, as the operation of the winte/ 
upon the clods causes them to pulverize, and tur- 
nishes an abundant nutrition to the plants in the 
spring; and followed by the hoe about the tiiuo 
the head or ear is forming, it makes the growtn. 
of th-j plant more vigorous, and greatly improves 
the size of the head or ear. The drilling for wheat 
should generally commence about the latter end 
of September, at which time the farmer may drill 
about two bushels per acre. As the season ad- 
vances, keep increasing the quantity to three 
bushels per acre, being guided by the quality of 
the soil and other circumstances. A great loss 
has frequently arisen through drilling too small a 
quantity of seed, as there can be none spared in 
that case for the rooks and grubs: and a thick, 
well-planted crop will always yield more abun- 
dantly than a thin stooling crop, and ripen sooner. 

The drill system would have been in more gene- 
ral practice, if its friends had also recommended 
the use of a larger quantity of seed to the acre, 
and the rows to be planted nearer together. It is 
impossible to obtain so great a produce per acre 
by the broadcast system as by the drill system at 
the same expense, be the land ever so free from 
weeds. Fifty bushels per acre may be raised by 
the drill, but never more than forty bushels by 
sowing broadcast. The wheat crops should gene- 
rally be top dressed in winter with manure com- 
post, or some other dressing in frost, or when you 
can cart upon the land; but if that operation ia 
rendered impracticable, sooting in March, or any 
other dressing of that description, hoed in at the 
spring, is preferable to a dressing laid on in the 
autumn and ploughed in. 

The advantages of the drill over the broadcast 
system, are numerous and decisive, as it enables 
the farmer to grow corn without weeds, is sooner 
ready for stacking after the scythe or sickle, pro- 
duces a cleaner and more regular sample for the 
market, and hence obtains a better price, leaves 
the land in a better state for a succeeding crop, 
and materially increases the quantity of food for 
human consumption. 

To Pickle the Seed. 

This process is indispensably necessary on every 
soil, otherwise smut, to a greater or less exterit, 
will, in nine cases out of ten, assuredly follow. 
Stale urine may be considered as the safest and 
surest pickle, and where it can be obtained in a 
sufficient quantity, is commonly resorted to. TL 
mode of using it does not however seem to be 
agreed upon, for while one party contends that 
the grain ought to be steeped in the urine, another 
party considers it sufficient to sprinkle the urine 
upon it. But whatever difference of opinion there 
may be as to the kind of pickle that ought to be 
used, and the mode of using it, all admit the utility 
of mixing the wetted seed with hot lime fresh 
slaked; and this, in one point of view, is abso- 
lutely necessary, so that the seed 'may be equally 
distributed. It may be remarked that experience 
justifies the utility of all these modes, provided 
they are attentively carried into execution. There 
is dome danger from the first, for if the seed steep- 



INDIAN CORN, SORGHUM. 



29 



d in urine is not immediately sown, it will infal- 
libly lose its vegetative power. The second, viz., 
sprinkling the urine on the seed, seems to be the 
safest if performed by an attentive hand, whilst 
the last may do equally well, if such a quantity of 
alt be incorporated with the water as to render it 
of sufficient strength. It may also be remarked, 
that this last mode is often uccumpanied with 
smut, owing no doubt to a deficiency of strength 
in the pickle; whereas a single head with smut is 
rarely discovered when urine has been used. 

To cultivate Indian Corn, 

The land should be a loamy sand, very rich. In 
April the grains should be set like hops, at three 
to four feet distance, three to six grains in a hill, 
each grain about an inch deep in the ground. 
The seed from New England is the best. In 
May the alleys should be hoed and the hills weed- 
ed and earthed up higher; many good farmers 
plough three times after planting. At the latter 
end of that month all the superfluous stalks should 
be taken away, and only three steins of corn left 
in each hill. By the middle of June, it will cover 
the alley. It grows much like bulrushes, the 
lower leaves being like broad flags, three or four 
inches wide, and as many feet in length ; the 
steins shooting upwards, from seven to ten feet in 
height, with many joints, casting off flag-leaves at 
every joint. Under these leaves and close to the 
stem grows the corn, covered over by many coats 
of sedgy leaves, and so closed in by them to the 
stem, that it does not show itself easily till there 
bursts out at the end of the ear a number of 
strings that look like tufts of horse-hair, at first 
of a beautiful green, and afterwards red or yellow, 
the stem ending in a flower. The corn will ripen 
in October or early November; but the sun at 
that season not having strength enough to dry it, 
it must be laid upon racks or thin open floors in 
dry rooms, and frequently turned, to avoid mould- 
ing; the grains are about as big as peas, and 
adhere in regular rows round a white pithy sub- 
stance, which forms the ear. An ear contains 
from two to four hundred grains, and is from six 
to ten inches in length. They are of various 
colors, blue, red, white and yellow. The manner 
of gathering them is by cutting down the stems 
and breaking off the ears. The stems are as big 
as a man's wrist, and look like bamboo cane; the 
pith is full of a juice that tastes as sweet as sugar, 
and the joints are about a foot and a half distant. 
The increase is upwards of five hundred fold. 
Upon a large scale the seed may be drilled in 
alleys like peas, and to save digging, the ground 
may be ploughed and harrowed, which will answer 
very well. It will grow upon all kinds of land. 
The ears which grow upon dry sandy land are 
smaller, but harder and riper. The grain is taken 
from the husk by hand, and when ground upon 
tones, makes an excellent flour, of which it 
yields much more, with much less bran, than 
wheat does, and exceeds it in crust, pancakes, 
puddings, and all other uses except bread ; but a 
sweetness peculiar to it, which in all other cases 
makes it agreeable, is here less so. It is excellent 
for feeding horses, poultry and hogs, and fattens 
them much better and sooner than peas or barley. 
The stems make better hedges for kitchen garden 
than reeds do. It clears the ground from weeds, 
and makes a good season for any other kind of 
grain. It was the only bread-grain known in 
America when first discovered by the Spaniards, 
and is there called maize. 

Sorghum. 
This, also called Chinese sugar-cane, is now 



attracting attention, especially in the West. It 
uuiy be cultivated almost precisely like in ^?e, and 
is more profitable. It is cut off when it is ripa 
and beginning to fade slightly, or sometimes ear- 
lier than this. It may then be ground like sugar- 
cane. This is often done in a mill like a cider- 
press. The syrup is then boiled at once, in largo 
shallow kettles. It is said that soighuui should 
be grown on a sandy soil, not too rich; if tho 
earth is rich, it grows too strong and fibrous, with 
less sugar in the stem. 

Diseases of Wheat. 

Wheat is subject to more diseases than other 
grains, and, in some seasons, especialiy in wet 
ones, heavier losses are sustained from those dis- 
eases than are felt in the culture of any other cut- 
miferous crop with which we are acquainted. 
Wheat may suffer from the attack of insects at 
the root; from blight, which primarily affects 
the leaf or straw, and ultimately deprives the 
grain of sufficient nourishment; from mildew on 
the car, which operates thereon with the force of 
an apoplectic stroke ; and from gum of different 
shades, which lodges on the chaff or cups in which 
the grain is deposited. 

Slight. 

Blight originates from moist or foggy weather, 
and from hoar-frost, the effects of which, when ex- 
pelled by a hot sun, are first discernible on the 
straw, and afterwards on the ear, in a greater or 
less degree, according to local circumstances. Let 
a field be examined in a day or two alter such 
weather, and a careful observer will soon be satis- 
fied that the fibres and leaves of plants are con- 
tracted and enfeebled, in consequence of what 
may be called a stoppage of perspiration. This 
disorder may take place either earlier or later, 
but is most fatal when it appears at the time the 
grain is forming in the ear. It may appear at an 
earlier stage; and though the productive powers 
of the plant will thereby be lessened, yet, if cir- 
cumstances are afterwards favorable, the quality 
of the grain produced may not be much impaired; 
or it may appear, after the grain is fully formed, 
and then very little damage will be sustained, 
except by the straw. 

Mildew. 

Mildew may be ranked as a disease which af- 
fects the ear, and is brought on by causes some- 
what similar to those which occasion blight, 
though at a more advanced period of the season. 
If this disorder comes on immediately after the 
first appearance of the ear the straw will also be 
affected, but if the grain is nearly or fully formed 
then injury on the straw is not much discernible. 
We have seen a crop that carried wheat that was 
mildewed where the straw was perfectly fresh, 
though, indeed, this rarely happens. A severe 
mildew, however, effectually prevents both grain 
and straw from making any further progress, the 
whole plant apparently going backward every 
day till existence in a manner ceases altogether. 
Something akin to mildew is the gum which, in 
all warm moist seasons, attaches itself to the ear, 
and often occasions considerable damage. All 
these different disorders are generally accompa- 
nied by insects, and by minute parasitic vege- 
table growths, considered by many to be the 
authors of the mischief that follow?. Their ap- 
pearance, however, may justly be attributed to 
the diseased state of the plant; for wherevet 
putrefaction takes place, either in animal or vege- 
table substances, the presence of these parasites 
will never be wanting. 



80 



AGRICULTURE. 



Rust. 

.Another disorder which affects wheat and is 
by several people denominated the real rust, is 
brought or/ by excessive heat, which occasions the 
plants to Buffer from a privation of nourishment, 
and become sickly and feeble. In this atrophic 
state a kind of dust gathers on the stalks and 
leaves, which increases with the disease, till the 
plant is in a great measure worn out and ex- 
hausted. The only remedy in this case, and it is 
one that cannot easily be administered by the 
hand of man, is a plentiful supply of moisture, by 
which, if it is received before consumption is too 
far advanced, the crop is benefited in a degree 
proportional to the extent of nourishment re- 
ceived, and the stage at which the disease has 
arrived. 

Impropriety of Sowing Xfildewed Wheat. 
Some people have recommended the sowing of 
blighted and mildewed wheat, because it will 
vegetate; though certainly the recommendation, 
if carried into practice, would be attended with 
imminent danger to those who attempted it. 
That light or defective wheat will vegetate and 

Sroduce a plant we are not disposed to contra- 
ict, but that it will vegetate as briskly, or put 
out a stem of equal strength, and capable of with- 
standing the severe winter blasts as those pro- 
duced from sound seed we must be excused for 
not believing. Let it only be considered that a 
plant of young wheat, unless when very early 
sown, lives three or four months, in a great 
measure, upon the nourishment which it derives 
from the parent seed ; and that such nourishment 
can, in no view of the subject, be so great when 
the parent is lean and enmciated as when sound, 
healthy and vigorous. Let it also be remem- 
bered that a plant produced from the best and 
weightiest seed must, in every case, under a 
parity of other circumstances, have a stronger con- 
stitution at the outset, which necessarily qualifies 
it to push on with greater energy when the sea- 
son of growth arrives. Indeed, the economy of na- 
ture would be ove'rturned should any other result 
follow. A breeder of cattle or sheep would not 
act more foolishly, who trusted that a deformed 
diminutive bull or ram would produce him good 
stock, than the corn farmer does who uses unsound 
or imperfect seed. 

To remove the Mildew on Wheat. 
A solution of common salt in water, in the pro- 
portion of a pound to a gallon, is an excellent 
remedy for the mildew on grain. After sprinkling 
three or four days, the mildew will disappear, 
leaving only a discoloration on the straw where it 
was destroyed. The best and most expeditious 
way of applying the mixture is with a flat brush, 
such as is used by whitewashes. The operator 
having a pail of the mixture in one hand, with 
the other he dips the brush into it, and makes 
his regular casts as when sowing grain broadcast; 
in this way he will readily get over ten acres in 
the day, and with an assistant a great deal more. 
About two hogsheads of the mixture will suffice 
for an acre. Wherever the mixture touches the 
mildew immediately dies. 

To prevent Mildew in Wheat. 
Dissolve three ounces and two drachms of sul- 
phate of copper, copperas, or blue vitriol, in three 
gallons and three quarts, wine measure, of cold 
water, for every three bushels of grain that is to 
be prepared. Into another vessel capable of con- 
taining from fifty-three to seventy -nine wine 
gallons, throw from three to four bushels of 



wheat, into which the prepared liquid is poured, 
until it rises five or six inches above the grain. 
Stir it thoroughly; and carefully remove all that 
swims on the surface. After it has remained half 
an hour in the preparation, throw the wheat into 
a basket that will allow the water to escape, but 
not the grain. It ought then to be immediately 
washed in rain, or pure water, which will prevent 
any risk of its injuring the germ, and afterwards 
the seed ought to be dried before it is sown. It 
may be preserved in this shape for months. Ano- 
ther method, which has been tried in Russia, 13 
to expose the seed for one or two weeks to a dry 
heat of about 80 or 90. 

To prevent the Smut in Wheat. 

Liming the seed by immersion is recommended 
by a French writer, as the only preventive war- 
ranted by science and sanctioned by experience, 
and the following is given as the method in which 
the process is best performed : 

To destroy the germs of the blight in four and 
a half bushels or 256 pounds of grain, about six 
or seven gallons of water must be used, as grain 
may be more or less dry, and from thirty-five to 
forty-two ounces avoirdupois of quick-lime, ac- 
cording as it may be more or less caustic, and 
according as the seed may have more or less of 
the blight. Boil part of the water, black the 
lime with it, and then add the rest. When joined 
the heat of the water should be such that the 
hand can with difficulty bear it. Pour the lime 
water upon the corn placed in a tub, stirring it 
incessantly, first with a stick, and afterwards with 
a shovel. The liquid should, at first, cover the 
wheat, three or four fingers' breadth ; it will soon 
be absorbed by the grain. In this state let it 
remain covered over for twenty-four hours, but 
turn it over five or six times during the day. 
Such parts of the liquor as will drain off may 
then be separated, when the corn, after standing 
a few hours, in order that it may run freely out 
of the hand, may be sown. If not intended to be 
used immediately, the limed wheat should be put 
in a heap, and moved once or twice a day till dry. 
Experience has proved that limed grain germi- 
nates sooner than unlimed ; and, as it carries with 
it moisture sufficient to develop the embryo, the 
seed will not suffer for want of rain ; insects will 
not attack it, the acrid, taste of the lime being 
offensive to them ; and, as every grain germinates, 
a less quantity is requisite. In fact, the grain 
being swelled, the sower filling his hand as usual, 
will, when he has sown sixty-five handsful of 
limed corn, have in reality only used fifty-two. 
As blighted grains preserve for a long time the 
power of germinating, the careful farmer, whose 
grain has been touched, should carefully sweep 
out the crevices in the walls and cracks in the 
floors of his barn, and take great pains to clean 
them thoroughly. Dry heat, as above spoken of, 
may be worth trying. 

Another Method. 

A tub is used that has a hole at bottom for ft 
spigot and faucet, fixed in a wisp of straw, to 
prevent any small pieces of lime passing (as in 
brewing). To seventy gallons of water add a 
bushel of unslaked lime, stir it well till the 
whole is mixed, let it stand thirty hours, run it 
off into another tub (as practised in beer) ; add 
forty-two pounds of salt, which, with stirring, 
will soon dissolve; this is a proper pickle for 
brining and liming seed wheat without any ob- 
stacle, and greatly facilitates the drilling. 

Steep the wheat in a broad-bottomed basket^ 
twenty -four inches in diameter and twenty inchei 



BARLEY. 



3l 



deep, running in the grain gradually in small 
quantities, from ten to twelve gallons; stirring 
the same. What floats skim off, and do not sow ; 
then draw up the basket, to drain the pickle for a 
few minutes ; this may be performed in half an 
hour, and when sufficiently pickled proceed as 
before. The wheat will be fit for sowing in 
twenty-four hours, if required; but for drilling 
two hours pickled will be best, and prepared four 
or five days before. 

Mr. Henderson's Method of preventing Smut in 
Wheat. 

Take of best soft green soap, made from fish- 
oil, one pound, and of scalding water four gallons. 
Put the soap into a glazed vessel with a small 
portion of the water; continue stirring it, and 
add the water as it dissolves, till the whole is a 
perfect lye. It should be used at about ninety de- 
grees of Fahrenheit's thermometer or new-milk 
warm. Put the wheat into a tub, and pour on it 
a quantity of the liquor sufficient to cover it com- 
pletely, and throw a blanket over it to preserve 
the heat. Stir it every ten minutes, and take off 
the scum. When it has remained in this manner 
for an hour, drain the liquor from the wheat 
through a sieve, or let the tub be furnished with 
a drain-bottom like a brewing vat. Let the 
liquor which was drawn off stand a few minutes 
to subside, and then pour it off the sediment. 
Repeat the operation till the whole quantity is 
steeped, only observe to add each time as much 
hot lye as was observed by the former steeping. 
Dry the wheat with quick-lime, and sow as soon 
as convenient. It will keep ten days after steep- 
ing; but should be spread thin on a dry floor. 

If a tub with a drain-bottom is used, such as 
a hogshead with a spigot to draw off the lye, 
four ounces of soap and one gallon of water, 
scalding hot, will preserve a stock of warm lyo 
euffieient for any quantity of wheat. The ope- 
ration should be performed in a clean place, 
at a distance from barns and granaries, the 
roofs of which may be observed hanging full of 
smut. The refuse of smutted wheat should be 
buried deep in the earth, and not thrown to the 
dunghill, from which it would be conveyed to 
the field. 

Advantages of Reaping. Grain before being Per- 
fectly Ripe. 

M. Cadet de Vaux has recommended, as an im- 
portant and useful innovation, the reaping of 
grain before it is perfectly ripe. This practice 
originated with M. Sajles, of the Agricultural 
Society of Beziers : grain thus reaped (say eight 
days before it is ripe) is fuller, larger, and finer, 
and is never attacked by the weevil. This was 
proved by reaping one half of a field as recom- 
mended, and leaving the other till the usual 
time. The early-reaped portion gave a hecto- 
litre (about three bushels) of grain more for an 
acre of land than the later-reaped. An equal 
quantity of flour from each was made into bread ; 
that made from the grain reaped green gave seven 
pounds of bread more than the other in two 
bushels. The weevil attacked the ripe grain but 
not the green. The proper time for reaping is 
when the grain, pressed between the fingers, has 
a doughy appearance, like bread just hot from 
the oven when pressed in the .same way. 
To Manage the Wheat Harvest. 

It is advantageous to cut wheat before it is fully 
ripe; but, in ascertaining the proper state, it is 
necessary to discriminate between the ripeness of 
the straw and the ripeness of the grain ; for, in 
lome seasons, the straw dies upwards, under whict 



circumstance a field, to the eye, may appear to be 
completely ffl for the sickle, when, in reality, the 
grain is imperfectly consolidated, and perhaps nofc 
much removed from a milky state. Though it in 
obvious that under such circumstances no further 
benefit can be conveyed from the root, and that 
nourishment is withheld the moment that the roots 
die, yet it does not follow that grain so circum- 
stanced should be immediately cut, because, after 
that operation is performed it is in a great mea- 
sure necessarily deprived of every benefit from the 
sun and air, both of which have greater influence 
in bringing it to maturity so long as it remains on. 
foot than when cut down, whether laid on the 
ground or bound up in sheaves. The' state of 
weather at the time also deserves notice, for as in 
moist or even variable weather every kind of 
grain, when cut prematurely, is more exposed to 
damage than when completely ripened. All these 
things will be studied by the skilful husbandman, 
who will also take into consideration the danger! 
vhich may follow were he to permit his wheat 
crop to remain uncut till completely ripened. Th 
danger from wind will not be lost sight of, espe- 
cially if the season of the equinox approaches; 
even the quantity dropped in the field and in th< 
stack-yard, when wheat is over ripe, is an objecl 
of consideration. Taking all these things inta 
view, it seems prudent to have wheat cut before it 
is fully ripe, as less damage will be sustained from 
acting in this way than by adopting a contrary 
practice. 

If the weather be dry and the straw clean, 
wheat may be carted to the stack-yard in a few 
diiys ; indeed, if quite ripe it may be stacked im- . 
mediately from the sickle, especially when not 
meant for early threshing. So long, however, as 
any moisture remains in the straw, the field will 
be found to be the best stack-yard; and where 
grass or weeds of any kind are mixed with the 
crop, patience must be exerted till they are de- 
cayed and dried, lest heating be occasioned. 

Barley. 

Next to wheat the most valuable grain is bar- 
ley, especially on light and sharp soils. 

It is a tender grain and easily hurf in any of 
the stages of its growth, particularly at seed 
time; a heavy shower of rain will then almost 
ruin a crop on the best prepared land; and in all 
the after processes greater pains and attention are 
required to insure success than in the case of other 
grains. The harvest process is difficult, and often 
attended with danger; even the threshing of it is 
not easily executed with machines, because the 
awn generally adheres to the grain, and renders 
separation from the straw a troublesome task. 
Barley, in fact, is raised at greater expense than 
wheat, and generally speaking is a more hazard- 
ous crop. Except upon rich and genial soils, 
where climate will allow wheat to be perfectly 
reared, it ought not to be cultivated. 

Varieties of Barley. 

Barley may be divided into two sorts, fall and 
spring; to which may be added a bastard variety, 
called bear or bigg, which affords similar nutri- 
ment or substance, though of inferior quality. 
The spring is cultivated like oats ; the fall, like 
fall wheat. Early barley, under various names, 
was formerly sown in Britain upon lands that had 
been previously summer-fallowed, or were in high 
condition. 

The most proper seed season for spring barley 
is any time in March or April, though we have 
seen good crops produced, the seed of which waa 
sown at a much later period. 



32 



AGKICULTUKE. 



To prepare the Ground. 

Barley is chiefly taken after turnips, sometimes 
after peas and beans, but rarely by good farmers 
either after wheat or oats, unless under special 
circumstances. When sown after turnips it is 
generally taken with one furrow, which is given 
as fast as the turnips are consumed, the ground 
thus receiving much benefit from the spring frosts. 
But often two or more furrows are necessary for 
the fields last consumed, because when a spring 
drought sets in the surface from being poached by 
the removal or consumption of the crop, gets so 
hardened as to render a greater quantity of 
ploughing, harrowing and rolling necessary than 
would otherwise be called for. When sown after 
beans and peas, one winter and one spring plough- 
ing are usually bestowed: but when after wheat 
or oats, three ploughings are necessary, so that 
the ground may be put in proper condition. 
These operations are very ticklish in a wet and 
backward season, and rarely in that case is the 
grower paid for the expense of his labor. Where 
land is in such a situation as to require three 
ploughings before it can be seeded with barley, it 
is better to summer-fallow it at once than to run 
the risks which seldom fail to accompany a quan- 
tity of spring labor. If the weather be dry, mois- 
ture is lost during the different processes, and an 
imperfect braird necessarily follows ; if it be wet, 
the benefit of ploughing is lost, and all the evils 
of a wet seed time are sustained by the future 
crop. 

Quantity of Seed. 

The quantity sown, is different in different cases, 
according to the quality of the soil and other cir- 
cumstances. Upon very rich lands eight pecks 
per acre are sometimes sown ; twelve is very com- 
mon, and upon poor land more is sometimes 
given. 

By good judges a quantity of seed is sown suf- 
ficient to insure a full crop, without depending on 
its sending out offsets ; indeed, where that is done 
few offsets are produced, the crop grows and ripens 
equally > and the grain is uniformly good, 

M'Cai-tney's Invention for Hummelling Barley. 

This invention is extremely simple, and the 
cost small. It is a bit of notched stick or bar, 
lined on one side with a thin plate of iron, and 
just the length of the rollers, fixed by a screw- 
bolt at each end to the inside of the cover of the 
drum, about the middle of it, so that the edge of the 
said notched stick is about one-eighth of an inch 
from the arms of the drum as it goes round. Two 
minutes are sufficient to put it on, when its opera- 
tion is wanted, which is when putting through 
the second time, and it is easily taken off. It 
rubs off the awns or spikes to admiration, and 
by putting the grain another time through the 
mill, it will rub the husk off the ends of the 
pickle so entirely, that it is unnecessary to sow it 
afterwards. 

To harvest Barley. 

More care is required in the harvesting of barley 
than of any of the other white crops,, even in the 
best of seasons ; and in bad years it is often found 
very difficult to save it. Owing to the brittleness 
of the straw after it has reached a certain period, 
it must be cut down, as when it is suffered to stand 
longer much loss is sustained by the breaking of 
the heads. On that account it is cut at a time 
when the grain is soft, and the straw retains a 
great proportion of its natural juices, consequently 
requires a long time in the field before either the 
grain is hardened or the straw sufficiently dry. 
When put into the stack too soon it is apt to heat, 



and much loss is frequently sustained. It Ih 4 
custom with many farmers to have an opening in 
the middle of their barley stacks, from top to boU 
torn. This opening is generally made by placing 
a large bundle of straw in the centre of the stack 
when the building commences, and in proportion 
as it rises, the straw is drawn upwards, leaving a 
hollow behind, which, if one or two openings are 
left in the side of the stack near the bottom, in- 
sures so complete a circulation of air as not only 
to prevent heating, but to preserve the grain from 
becoming musty. 

Varieties of Oats. 

Of this grain the varieties are more numerous 
than of any other of the culmiferous tribe. These 
varieties consist of what is called the common oat, 
the Angus oat, which is considered as an improved 
variety of the other, the Poland oat, the Friesland 
oat, the red oat, the dun oat, the Tartar or Sibe- 
rian oat, and the potato oat. The Poland and 
potato varieties are best adapted to rich soils; 
the red oat for late climates ; and the other va- 
rieties for the generality of soils of which the 
British isles are composed. The Tartar or Sibe- 
rian kind, though very hardy and prolific, is much 
out of use, being of a coarse substance, and un- 
productive of meal. The dun oat has never been 
much cultivated, and the use of Poland and 
Friesland is now much circumscribed, since 
potato oats were introduced; the latter being 
considered, by the most discerning agriculturists, 
as of superior value in every respect where the 
soil is rich and properly cultivated. 

To prepare the Ground. 

Oats are chiefly sown after grass; sometimes 
upon land not rich enough for wheat, that has 
been previously summer-fallowed, or has carried 
turnips; often after barley, and rarely after wheat, 
unless cross-cropping, from particular circunv 
stances, becomes a necessary evil. One ploughing 
is generally given to the grass lands, usually in 
the month of January, so that the benefit of 
frost may be gained, and the land sufficiently 
mellowed for receiving the harrow. In some 
cases a spring furrow is given, when oats succeed 
wheat or barley, especially when grass seeds are 
to accompany the crop. The best oats, both in 
quantity and quality, are always those which 
succeed grass; indeed, no kind of grain seems 
better qualified by nature for foraging upon grass 
land than oats; as a full crop is usually obtained 
in the first instance, and the land left in good 
order for succeeding crop^. 

Quantity of Seed. 

From twelve to eighteen pecks of seed are 
generally allowed to the acre of ground, accord- 
ing to the richness of the soil and the variety 
that is cultivated. Here it may be remarked that 
land sown with potato oats requires much less 
seed, in point of measure,, than when any of the 
other sorts are used ; because potato oats both 
tiller well, much better than Poland, and have 
not an awn or tail like the ordinary varieties. 
On that account, a measure contains many more 
seeds of them than of any other kind. If land 
is equally well cultivated, there is little doubt but 
that the like quantity of seed given when barley 
is cultivated, may be safely trusted to when po- 
tato oats are to be raised. 

To harvest Oats. 

Oats are a hardy grain, and rarely get much 
damage when under the harvest process, except 
from high winds or from shedding, when opened 
out after being thoroughly wetted. Tho early 



OATS, RYE. 



TjBjg 



rarieties are much more liable to these losses than 
the late ones, because the grain parts more easily 
from the straw, an evil to which the best of grain 
is at all times subject. Early oats, however, may 
be cut a little quick, which, to a certain extent, 
lessens the danger to which they are exposed from 
high winds; and if the sheaves be made small the 
danger from shedding after rains is considerably 
lessened, because they are thus sooner ready for 
the stack. Under every management, however, a 
greater quantity of early oats will be lost during 
the harvest process than of late ones; because 
the latter adhere firmly to the straw, and conse- 
quently do not drop so easily as the former. 

To cultivate Rye. 

Bye ought never to be sown upon wet soils, nor 
even upon sandy soils where the subsoil is of a 
retentive nature. Upon downs, links, and all soft 
lands which have received manure, this grain 
thrives in perfection, and, if once covered in, will 
stand a drought afterwards that would consume 
any other of the culmiferous tribe. The several 
processes may be regarded as nearly the same with 
those recommended for wheat, with the single ex- 
ception of pickling, which rye does not require. 
Rye may be sown either in winter or spring, 
though the winter-seeded fields are generally 
bulkiest and most productive. It may succeed 
either summer fallow, clover or turnips: even 
after oats good crops have been raised, and where 
such crops are raised the land will always be 
found in good condition. 

To cultivate Bean*. 

Beans naturally succeed a culmiferous crop, and 
we believe it is not of much importance which of 
the varieties is followed, provided the ground be 
in decent order, and not worn out by the previous 
crop. The furrow ought to be given early in 
winter, and as deep as possible, that the earth 
may be sufficiently loosened, and room afforded 
for the roots of the plant to search for the requi- 
site nourishment. The first furrow is usually 
given across the field, which is the best method 
when only one spring furrow is intended; but as 
it is now ascertained that two spring furrows are 
highly advantageous, the one in winter ought to 
be given in length, which lays the ground in a 
better situation for resisting the rains, and ren- 
ders it sooner dry in spring than can be the case 
when ploughed across. On the supposition that 
three furrows are to be given, one in winter and 
two in spring, the following is the most eligible 
preparation : 

Approved Modes of Drilling. 

The land being ploughed in length as early in 
winter as is practicable, and the gaw and head- 
land furrows sufficiently digged out, take the 
second furrow across the first as soon as the 
ground is dry enough in spring to undergo the 
operation ; water-furrow it immediately,, and dig 
again the gaw and headland furrows, otherwise 
the benefit of the second furrow may be lost. 
This being done, leave the field for some days, 
till it is sufficiently dry, when a cast of the har- 
rows becomes necessary, so that the surface may 
be levelled. Then enter with the ploughs and 
form the drills, which are generally made up with 
an interval of twenty- seven inches. In the hollow 
of this interval deposit the seed by a drill-barrow, 
and reverse or slit out the drills to cover the seed, 
which finishes the process for the time. In ten 
or twelve days afterwards, according to the state 
of the weather, cross-harrow the drills, thereby 
levelling the field for the hoeing process. Water- 
furrow the whole in a neat manner, and spade 



JJIFIVEEST 

and shovel the gnw and tKe. headland furrows, 
which concludes the whole process. 

This is the most approved way of drilling beans. 
The next best is to give only one spring furrow, 
and to run the drill-barrow after every third 
plough, in which way the intervals are nearly of 
the same extent as already mentioned. Harrowing 
is afterwards required before the young plants 
reach the surface, and water-furrowing, etc., aa 
above described. 

Dung is often given to beans, especially when 
they succeed wheat which has not received ma- . 
nure. The best way is to apply the dung on the 
stubble before the winter furrow is given, which 
greatly facilitates the after process. Used in thig 
way, a fore stock must be in hand ; but where the 
farmer is not so well provided spring dunging be- 
comes necessary, though evidently of less advan- 
tage. At that season it may either be put into the 
drills before the seed is sown or spread upon the 
surface and ploughed down, according to the na- 
ture of the drilling process which is meant to be 
adopted. Land dunged to beans, if duly hoed, is 
always in high order for carrying a crop of wheat 
in succession. Perhaps better wheat, both in re- 
spect to quantity and quality, may be cultivated 
in this way than in any other mode of sowing. 

Drilling Machines. 

Different machines have been invented for drill- 
ing beans, but the most common and handy is one 
of the narrow form. This hand drill is pushed 
forward by a man or woman, and will, according 
as the brush or director is lowered or heightened, 
sow thicker or thinner, as may be expedient and 
necessary. Another machine, drawn by a horse, 
and sowing three drills at a time, has been con- 
structed, and upon flat lands will certainly dis- 
tribute the seed with the most minute exactness. 
Upon unequal fields, and even on those laid out in 
high ridges, the use of this machine is attended 
with a degree of inconvenience sufficient to bal- 
ance its advantages. The hand-drill, thepefore, 
in all probability, will be retained for general use, 
though the other is capable of performing the 
work with minuter regularity. 

Quantity of Seed. 

Less than four bushels ought not to be hazarded 
if a full crop is expected. We seldom have seen 
thin beans turn out well, unless . the soil is par- 
ticularly rich; nay, unless the rows close, weeds 
will get away after the cleaning process is fin- 
ished, thereby disappointing the object of drill- 
ing and rendering the system of little avail to- 
wards keeping the ground in good condition. 

Hoeing Process. 

Beans are cleaned in various ways : 1st. By the 
hand-hoe. 2d. By the scraper, or Dutch hoe. 
3d. By a plough of small dimensions, but con- 
structed upon the principles of the approved swing 
plough. Ploughs with double mould-boards are 
likewise used to earth them up, and with all good 
managers the weeds in the drills which cannot be 
touched by the hoe are pulled out by the hand; 
otherwise no field can be considered as duly 
cleaned. 

In treating of the cleaning process we shall 
confine ourselves to the one most suited to the 
generality of bean soils. About ten or twelve 
days after the young plants have appeared above 
the surface, enter with the scraper, and loosen 
any weeds that may have vegetated. At this time 
the wings or cutters of the implement ought to 
be particularly sharp, so that the scraper may not 
run too deep and throw the earth upon the plants. 



AGRICULTURE. 



In about ten days after the ground is scraped, ac- 
cording to the state of the weather, and other cir- 
cumstances, use the small swing plough to lay the 
earth away from the sides of the rows, and in 
doing so go as near to the plants as possible, 
taking care at the same time not to loosen their 
roots. If any weeds stand in the rows pull them 
out with the hand, afterwards earth-up the plants 
with the small swing plough, or run the scraper 
in the intervals, as may seem expedient. 

To manage the Harvest. 

Before beans are cut the grain ought to be tol- 
erably well ripened, otherwise the quality is im- 
paired, whilst a long time is required to put the 
straw in such a condition as to be preserved in the 
stack. In an early harvest, or where the crop is 
not weighty, it is an easy matter to get beans 
sufficiently ripened ; but, in a late harvest, and in 
every one where the crop takes on a second 
growth, it is scarcely practicable to get them thor- 
oughly ripened for the sickle. Under these circum- 
stances it is unnecessary to let beans stand uncut 
after the end of September or the first of October, 
because nny benefit that can be gained afterwards 
is not to be compared with the disadvantages that 
accompany a late wheat seed time. Beans are 
usually cut with the sickle and tied in sheaves, 
either with straw ropes or with ropes made from 
peas sown along with them. It is proper to let the 
sheaves lie untied several days, so that the wind- 
ing process may be hastened, and, when tied, to 
set them up on end, in order that full benefit from 
air may be obtained and the grain kept off the 
ground. In building bean stacks it is a useful 
measure for preserving both grain and straw from 
injury, to keep an opening in the centre, and to 
convey air from the extremity by a hole or funnel. 
Beans, on the whole, are a troublesome crop to the 
farmer, though of great utility in other respects. 
Without them heavy soils can scarcely be man- 
aged with advantage, unless summer fallow is re- 
sorted to once in four years, but by the aid de- 
rived from drilled beans summer fallow may be 
avoided for eight years, whilst the ground at that 
period will be found in equal, if not superior 
condition. 

To cultivate Peas. 

Peas are partially sown with beans to great ad- 
vantage, and when cultivated in this way the same 
system of preparation, etc., described under the 
head of beans is to be adopted. Indeed, upon 
many soils not deep enough for beans, a mixture 
of peas to the extent of one-third of the seed 
sown proves highly advantageous. The beans 
serve as props to the peas, and the latter being 
thus kept off the ground and furnished with air 
and other atmospheric nutriment, blossom and 
pod with much greater effect than when sown ac- 
cording to the broadcast system. 

Peas agree well with lime and other analogous 
stimulants, and can hardly be reaped in perfection 
where these are wanting. The varieties cultiva- 
ted are numerous, but those adapted to field cul- 
ture may be divided into two kinds, namely, early 
and late, though these branch out again into sev- 
eral varieties. We have white peas both early 
and late, and likewise gray peas, possessed of 
similar properties. The nomenclature is entirely 
arbitrary, and therefore not to be illustrated. As 
a general rule the best seed time for late peas is 
in the arly spring, though early ones, such as the 
Extra Early and Blue Imperial pea, may be sown 
successfully later in the season. 

Peas ought to be sown tolerably thick, so that 
tho ground may be covered as early as possible. 



To cultivate Taret. 

The tare is a plant of a hardy growth, and when 
sown upon rich land will return a large supply of 
green fodder for the consumption of horses or for 
fattening cattle. When intended for this use, the 
seed ought to be sown tolerably thick, perhaps 
to the extent of four bushels per acre, though 
when intended to stand for seed a less quantity is 
required, because otherwise the thickness of the 
crop will prevent the plants from blossoming and 
podding in a sufficient way. When meant for 
seed early sowing ought to be studied, otherwise 
the return will be imperfect ; but when for green 
food any time betwixt the first of April and the 
latter end of May will answer well, provided 
crops in succession from the first to the last men- 
tioned period be regularly cultivated. Instances 
are not wanting of a full crop being obtained 
even when the seed was sown so late as the mid- 
dle of June, though sowing so late is a practice 
not to be recommended. After the seed is sown 
and the land carefully harrowed, a light roller 
ought to be drawn across, so that the surface may 
be smoothed, and the scythe permitted to work 
without interruption. It is proper also to guard 
the field for several days against the depredations 
of pigeons, who are remajkably fond of tares, and 
will pick up a great part of the seed unless con- 
stantly watched. 

Horses thrive very well upon tares, even better 
than they do upon clover and rye-grass ; and the 
same remark is applicable to fattening cattle, who 
feed faster upon this article of green fodder than 
upon any kind of grass or esculent with which 
we are acquainted. Danger often arises from 
their eating too many, especially when podded; 
as colics and other stomach disorders are apt to 
be produced by the excessive loads which they 
devour. 

Potatoes. 

Potatoes, as an article of human food, are, next 
to wheat, of the greatest importance in the eye of 
a political economist. From no other crop that 
can be cultivated will the public derive so much 
food as from this valuable esculent; and it ad- 
mits of demonstration that an acre of potatoes 
will feed double the number of people that can be 
fed from an acre of wheat. Very good varieties 
are the Gleason, Calico, and Early Goodrich. 

To prepare the Ground. 

To reduce the ground till it is completely free 
from root-weeds, may be considered as a desi- 
deratum in potato husbandry; though in many 
seasons these operations cannot be perfectly exe- 
cuted, without losing the proper time for planting, 
which never ought to be beyond the first of May, 
if circumstances do not absolutely interdict it. 
Three ploughings, with frequent harrowings and 
rollings, are necessary in most cases before the 
land is in suitable condition. When this is accom- 
plished form the drills as if they were for turnips; 
cart the manure, which ought not to be sparingly 
applied, plant the seed above the manure, reverse 
the drills for covering it and the seed, then harrow 
the drills in length, which completes the prepa- 
ration and seed process. 

Quantity of Seed. 

It is not advantageous to cut the seed into 
small slips, for the strength of the stem at the 
outset depends in direct proportion upon the 
vigor and power of the seed-plant. The seed- 
plant, therefore, ought to be large, rarely smaller 
than the fourth-part of the potato; and if the 
seed is of small size, one-half of the potato may 
be profitably used. At all events, rather err in 



POTATOES. 



35 



giving over large seed than in making it too 
email because, by the first error, no great loss 
can ever be sustained; whereas, by the other, a 
feeole and late crop may be the consequence. 
When the seed is properly cut, it requires from 
ten to twelve hundredweight of potatoes to plant 
an acre of ground, where the rows are twenty- 
seven inches apart; but this quantity depends 
greatly upon the size of the potatoes used; if 
they are large, a greater weight may be required, 
but the extra quantity will be abundantly repaid 
by the superiority of crop which large seed 
usually produces. 

Advantageous Method of raising them. 

The earth should be dug twelve inches deep, if 
the soil will allow it; after this, a hole should be 
opened about six inches deep, and horse-dung or 
long litter should be put therein, about three 
inches thick ; this hole should not be more than 
twelve inches in diameter. Upon this dung or lit- 
ter a potato should be planted whole, upon which a 
little more dung should be shaken, and then the 
earth should be put thereon. In like manner the 
whole plot of ground must be planted, taking care 
that the potatoes be at least sixteen inches apart. 
When the young shoots make their appearance 
they should have fresh mould drawn around them 
with a hoe; and if the tender shoots are covered, 
it will prevent the frost from injuring them; they 
should again be earthed when the shoots make a 
second appearance, but not covered, as in all pro- 
bability the season will be less severe. 

A plentiful supply of mould should be given 
them, and the person who performs this business 
should never tread upon the plant, or the hillock 
that is raised round it, as the lighter the earth is, 
the more room the potato will have to expand. 

A gentleman obtained from a single root, thus 
planted, very nearly forty pounds weight of large 
potatoes; and from almost every other root upon 
the same plot of ground from fifteen to twenty 
pounds weight; and, except the soil be stony or 
gravelly, ten pounds or half a peck of potatoes 
may generally be obtained from each root by pur- 
suing the foregoing method. 

But note cuttings or small sets will not do for 
this purpose. 

Mode of Taking up and Storing the Crop. 
Potatoes are generally dug up with a three- 
prong grape or fork, but at other times, when the 
weather is dry, the plough is used, which is the 
most expeditious implement. After gathering 
the interval, the furrow taken by the plough is 
broken and separated, in which way the crop may 
be more completely gathered than when taken up 
by the grape. The potatoes are then stored up for 
winter and spring use; and as it is of importance 
to keep them as long through summer as possible, 
every endeavor ought to be made to preserve 
them from frost, and from sprouting in the spring 
months. The former is accomplished by covering 
them well with straw when lodged in a house, 
and by a thick coat of earth when deposited in a 
pit, and the latter, by picking them carefully at 
different times, when they begin to sprout, drying 
them sufficiently by exposure to the sun, or by a 
gentle toast of a kiln. 

Method of Cultivating Potatoes in Ireland. 
The drill system, in the cultivation of pota- 
toes in Ireland, is particularly recommended by 
Lord Farnham, in a letter to Sir John Sinclair. 
The small farmers and laborers plant them in 
lazy -beds, eight feet wide. This mode is prac- 
tised on account of the want of necessary imple- 



ments for practising the drill system, together 
with a want of horses for the same purpose. 

They are cut into sets, three from a large potato j 
and each set to contain at least one eye. The sets 
are planted at the distance of seven inches asunder, 
six and a quarter cwt. are considered sufficient 
seed for an English acre. Lord Farnham recom- 
mends rotten dung in preference to any fresh 
dung. If not to be procured, horse-dung, hot 
from the dunghill. In any soil he would recom* ' 
mend the dung below the seed. 

When the potatoes are vegetated ten inches 
above the surface, the scuffier must be introduced, 
and cast the mould from the potato. If any 
weeds are found in the drills they must be hand- 
hoed ; in three days afterwards they must be 
moulded up by the double-breasted plough, as 
high as the neck of the potato. This mode must 
be practised twice, or in some cases three times, 
particularly if the land is foul. I do not (says 
Lord Farnham) consider any mode so good as the 
drill system. 

General Observations. 

To prepare for the drill system either oat or 
wheat stubble, it should be ploughed in October 
or the beginning of November; to be ploughed 
deep and laid up for winter dry. In March let it 
be harrowed, and give it three clean earths. Be 
very particular to eradicate the couch grass. The 
drills to be three feet asunder; drill deep the first 
time that there is room in the bottom of the fur- 
row to contain the dung. The best time to begin 
planting the potatoes is about the latter end of 
April by this system. It is as good a preparation 
for wheat as the best fallows. 

Three feet and a half for drills are preferable to 
four feet. Mr. Curwen prefers four feet and a 
half. He says the produce is immense. Pota- 
toes ought to be cut at least from two to three 
weeks before being planted; and if planted very 
early whole potatoes are preferable to cut ones, 
and dung under and over. Some agriculturists 
lately pay much attention to raising seedling 
potatoes, with the hope of renewing the vigor of 
the plant. 

To produce early Potatoes in great Quantity. 
Early potatoes may be produced in great quan- 
tity by resetting the plants, after taking off the 
ripe and large ones. A gentleman at Dumfries 
has replanted them, six different times in one sea- 
son, without any additional manure; and, instead 
of falling off in quantity, he gets a larger crop of 
ripe ones at every raising than the former ones. 
His plants have still on them three distinct crops, 
and he supposes they may still continue to vege- 
tate and germinate until they are stopped by the 
frost. By this means he has a new crop every 
eight days, and has had so for a length of time. 

To grow Potatoes constantly on the same piece of 
Ground. 

Let the cuttings be made from the finest pota- 
toes instead of the smallest and worst, usually 
employed for the purpose ; and it will be found, 
contrary to what is supposed by farmers, that 
they will not degenerate. The same will happen 
with respect to the seeds of the watery squash, 
early peas, and several other kinds of vegetables. 
To preserve Potatoes from Frost. 

This is best done by filling completely the place 
where they are deposited, whether it be a house 
or a pit, and allowing the place to remain shut 
during the winter. But this cannot be done 
easily with a potato-house, as it cannot be com- 
pletely packed or filled like a pit Besides, some 
potatoes are generally wanted daily, and thus air 



36 



AGRICULTURE. 



is admitted and a greater vacuity constantly 
making, both which are very likely to be the 
means of proving injurious or destructive to what 
potatoes may be in the house when a severe frost 
sets in. There is no such thing in nature as a va- 
cuum ; therefore, if a place is not filled with some 
substance or other, it will be filled with air. For 
this reason, pits are better for preserving potatoes 
from frost than a house, because a pit can be 
more effectually filled : and, by opening a pit 
when potatoes are wanted, and removing the 
whole into some part of a house, and still keep- 
ing over them a covering of straw or turf, the 
potatoes are kept close. A potato-house, how- 
ever, is very useful, and what every farmer ought 
to have, as in this house he may still keep a 
small quantity of his crop for daily use by emp- 
tying a pit occasionally, and keeping them always 
well covered with straw, as has been already 
mentioned. 

The potato-house ought to be well plastered 
with clay, and perfectly dry before using it. 

Potato-pits should be made upon ground that 
has a southern exposure, a deep soil, and de- 
clining to a considerable distance from the pit. 
In a deep soil the pits can be made sufficiently 
deep before reaching any cold bottom, and the 
declivity carries away water. When the pits 
have been fully finished and covered, a sod should 
be cut out all the way round the potatoes, and 
the cut continued a little way as the descent 
points out. A pit of about ten feet deep, six 
wide and ten long, will hold from four to six cart 
loads of potatoes. The covering should consist 
of straw, fern, rushes, etc. next the potato, then 
the whole of the earth dug out should be thrown 
upon the heap; and, last of all, a covering of 
earth, if done in the best way. This covering 
will be about two feet thick. 

Another Method. 

The best and easiest way of preserving potatoes 
is for the farmer to drive all his potatoes home, 
and to lay them upon dry ground without break- 
ing the surface, and as near the stables as pos- 
sible, putting them in heaps of about three or 
four carts, then covering them with straw, and 
above that with turf, where it can be commanded, 
or with a neat thatching of straw. Then let a 
quantity of stable dung, of the roughest kind 
and the newest, be laid upon each heap, to remain 
during the winter, but which must be removed in 
the spring. As the weather appears severe, the 
quantity of dung may be increased at pleasure. 
If this practice were adopted few or no potatoes 
would be penetrated by the frost, as none would 
be in hazard except one pit, or part of it, when 
it was removing or placed in the potato-house 
during the winter season. 

To remove Frost from Potatoes. 

Theweather which soonest injures and destroys 
potatoes, is when the atmosphere is depressed 
with cold to such a degree that it congeals water ; 
then potatoes, unless covered, will be frosted ; and 
the cover proper to preserve them ought to be 
proportioned to the intenseness of the weather. 

Potatoes, when slightly frosted, so as to have 
acquired a slight sweet taste only, are often 
found quite wet. When they are in this state, in 
order to recover them, and bring them to a proper 
taste, the whole quantity infected should be 
turned over, and a quantity of mill-seeds thrown 
among them as they are turned over; this both 
extracts and absorbs the injured moisture from 
the boJy of the potatoes infected. But there is 
Btill a more powerful remedy than simply mixing 



them with mill-seeds, and that is a small quantity 
of slaked lime, perfectly dry, mixed among the 
seeds to be used, which has a very wonderful 
effect in recovering potatoes that have been con- 
siderably injured by frost. 

When frosted potatoes are to be used, either at 
the table, or given to horses, black cattle or swine, 
plunging them in cold water, about half a day 
before using them, is of great advantage ; and if 
put into running water so much the better, as it 
has been proved to be more powerful in extracting 
the frost, on account of its alterative quality and 
superior purity. 

Another Method. 

Another way of removing frost from potatoes, 
when they are to be prepared for the table, is to 
strip them of their skins, and, if large, to cut 
them into two or more pieces; then to plunge 
them into cold water for a considerable time, with 
a handful of salt in the water; and, when put on 
to be boiled, put as much salt into the water as 
possible, not to make them too salt when boiled. 

This is a powerful way of making the potato % 
throw off the bad taste and spoiled quality lodged 
in its substance. 

When prepared for horses, black cattle, and 
swine : Salt put among the potatoes and boiled 
together, will destroy any injurious quality which 
frost has lodged or brought on. Chaff or oats 
bruised in a mill, boiled with the frosted potatoes, 
when designed for horses or cattle, tend to destroy 
the bad effects of the frost. 
Uses to which Frosted Potatoes may lie beneficially 

applied. 

When potatoes have acquired a disagreeable 
taste by means of frost, they will make good and 
wholesome bread by boiling them, as has been 
mentioned, with salt, mashing or bruising them 
small, then kneading them together with oatmeal. 
Not less than two-thirds should consist of meal, 
which will destroy the sweet taste, and the dry 
and generous quality of the meal will effectually 
correct and destroy anything noxious in the in- 
jured roots. 

Horses, swine, dogs, etc., may all be fed with 
potatoes, though frosted, by boiling them and 
mixing them with oats coarsely ground, or with 
oat-meal, always adding a good quantity of salt 
in the mixture. Poultry also may be fed with 
potatoes very much frosted, if mixed with oat- 
rueal in about equal proportions, without salt, as 
this species of animal cannot admit of it. 
Further uses of Frosted Potatoes. 
Potatoes frosted, when three times distilled, 
produce a spirit from hydrometer proof to ten per 
cent, over proof; therefore a principal purpose 
and use to which they may be turned, is'the mak- 
ing of alcohol, more particularly as that article 
is useful for many purposes where strength is its 
principal recommendation. The ordinary strength 
thai; spirits are run preparatory to converting 
them into alcohol, is from forty to fifty per cent, 
over proof, which, re-distilled from calcined car- 
bonate of potash, will produce alcohol at 825, 
water being 1000. 

When potatoes are frosted to such a degree as 
to be useless for food from their sweet taste, they 
are very useful to weavers in dressing their yarn, 
and particularly cotton. They are prepared for 
this purpose by boiling them well, then mash or 
beat them small; then put them into a vessel, 
adding a little barm, drippings of ale or porter 
barrels, allowing them to stand two or three 
months to ferment. 

Shoemakers may use it also; only as their pasta 
requires more solidity and greater strength, flour 



TURNIPS. 



ST 



is generally miyed along with the fermented pota- 
toes in about equal proportions. 

Bookbinders also may use this paste, alum being 
mixed to assist the strength of the composition. 
And it may be beneficially used by paper stainers 
and upholsterers, when made up with a mixture 
of flour and alum. 

When potatoes are so penetrated with frost that 
they have become quite soft, they are useless for 
man or beast, but make excellent manure for light, 
sharp soils, and for this purpose are worth about 
one-fifth or sixth of their original value. In 
places where it is a great object to get straw 
turned into dung, the value of the frosted potato 
is still greater, as it assists the farmer in that 
operation. 

To make Starch from Frosted Potatoes. 

Potatoes much frosted will make very good 
starch, though it is a shade darker in color. All 
coarse clothes requiring to be stiffened, where 
whiteness is no object, may be done with starch 
made from potatoes greatly penetrated with frost. 
The beet method of making potatoes into starch 
is to grate them down into water, then to take 
out all the refuse with the h:ind, and next to strain 
the whole of the water in which the potatoes have 
been grated through a thin cloth, rather coarse, 
or fine sieve, and afterwards frequently putting on 
and pouring off water until it comes clear from 
the starch, which is always allowed to settle or 
fall to the bottom of the vessel in which the ope- 
ration is performed. An experiment was tried 
with a few potatoes that were put out to frost. 
They were grated down and made into starch 
powder. The produce of the fresh potato weighed 
876 grains, while that of the frosted was only 412, 
being less than half the quantity. 

The refuse of the potato, when taken from the 
sieve, possesses the property of cleansing woollen 
cloths without hurting their colors, and the water 
decanted from the starch powder is excellent for 
cleansing silks without the smallest injury to their 
color. In making hair-powder it has long been 
used, and is therefore well known. 

Turnips. 

The benefits derived from turnip husbandry are 
of great magnitude j light soils are cultivated with 
profit and facility ; abundance of food is provided 
for man and beast ; the earth is turned to the uses 
for which it is physically calculated, and by being 
suitably cleaned with this preparatory crop, a bed 
is provided for grass seeds, wherein they nourish 
and prosper with greater vigor than after any 
other preparation. 

To prepare the Ground. 

The first ploughing is given immediately after 
harvest, or as soon as the wheat seed is finished, 
either in length or across the field, as circum- 
stances may seem to require. In this state the 
ground remains till the oat seed is finished, when 
a second ploughing is given to it, usually in a 
contrary direction to the first. It is then repeat- 
edly harrowed, often rolled between the harrow- 
ings, and every particle of root-weeds carefully 
picked off with the hand ; a third ploughing is 
then bestowed, and the other operations are re- 
peated. In this stage, if the ground has not been 
very foul, the seed process generally commences, 
but often a fourth ploughing, sometimes a fifth is 
necessary before the ground is sufficiently clean. 
Less labor, however, is necessary now than in 
former times, when a more regular mode of crop- 
ping was commonly followed. 

To sow the Seed. 
The next part of the process is the sowing of the 



seed ; this may be performed by drilling machines 
of different sizes and constructions, though all act- 
ing on the same principle. A machine drawn by a 
horse in a pair of shafts, sows two drills at a time 
and answers extremely well, where the ground if 
flat, and the drills properly made up. The weight 
of the machine insures a regularity of sowing 
hardly to be gained by those of a different size 
and construction. From two to three pounds of 
seed are sown upon the acre, though the smallest 
of these quantities will give many more plants in 
ordinary seasons than are necessary j but as the 
seed is not an expensive article the greater part 
of farmers incline to sow thick, which both prc- 
vides against the danger of part of the seed per- 
ishing, and gives the young plants an advantage 
at the outset. 

Turnips are sown from the beginning to the end 
of June; but the second and third weeks of the 
month are, by judicious farmers, accounted the 
most proper time. Some people have sown as 
early as May, and with advantage ; but these 
early fields are apt to run to seed before winter, 
especially if the autumn be favorable to vegeta- 
tion. As a general rule it may be laid down that 
the earliest sowings should be on the latest soils j 
plants on such soils are often long before they 
make any great progress, and, in the end, may be 
far behind those in other situations, which were 
much later sown. The turnip plant, indeed, does 
not thrive rapidly till its roots reach the dung, 
and the previous nourishment afforded them is 
often so scanty as to stunt them altogether before 
they get so far. 

Cleaning Process. 

The first thing to be done in this process is to 
run a horse-hoe, called a scraper, along the 
intervals, keeping at such a distance from the 
young plants that they shall not be injured; 
this operation destroys all the annual weeds 
which have sprung up, and leaves the plants 
standing in regular stripes or rows. The hand- 
hoeing then commences, by which the tur- 
nips are all singled out, at a distance of from 
eight to twelve inches, and the redundant ones 
drawn into the spaces between the rows. The 
singling out of the young plants is an operation 
of great importance, for an error committed in 
this process can hardly be afterwards rectified. 
Boys and girls are always employed as hoersj 
but a steady and trusty man-servant is usually 
set over them to see that the work is properly 
executed. 

In eight or ten days, or such a length of time 
as circumstances may require, a horse-hoe of a 
different construction from the scraper is used. 
This, in fact, is generally a small plough, of the 
same kind with that commonly wrought, but of 
smaller dimensions. By this implement, the earth 
is pared away from the sides of the drills, and a 
sort of new ridge formed in the middle of the for- 
mer interval. The hand-hoers are again set to 
work, and every weed and superfluous turnip is 
cut up; afterwards the horse-hoe is employed to 
separate the earth, which it formerly threw into 
the furrows, and lay it back to the sides of the 
drills. On dry lands this is done by the scraper, 
but where the least tendency to moisture prevails, 
the small plough is used, in order that the furrows 
may be perfectly cleaned out. This latter mode, 
indeed, is very generally practised. 

To cultivate the Yellow Turnip. 

This variety, as now cultivated in the field, is 
quite different from the yellow garden turnip, be- 
ing larger in size, containing more juice, or nu. 
tritive substance, much easier cultivated, and pre> 



88 



AGRICULTURE. 



serving its power till the middle of May, when 
the grass-season may he expected. Upon ordi- 
nary soils it is superior to ruta baga, because it 
will grow to a considerable weight, where the 
Other would be stunted or starved ; and it stands 
the frost equally well. No farmer who keeps 
Stock to any extent should be without it. The 
mode of culture required is in every respect simi- 
lar to what is stated concerning common turnips, 
With these exceptions, that earlier sowing is 
necessary, and that the plants need not be set out 
o wide as they do not swell to such a size. 

Ruta Baga or Swedish Turnip. 

The process of management is precisely the 
game with that of turnips, with this addition, that 
more dung is required, and that seed-time ought 
to be three or four weeks earlier. Rich soil, how- 
ever, is required for this article; for it will not 
grow to any size worthwhile, on soils of middling 
quality, whatever quality of dung may be required. 

Ruta baga is of great advantage in the feeding 
of horses, either when given raw or boiled, or 
with broken corn. If a sufficient quality were 
cultivated a great deal of grain might be saved, 
while the health and condition of the working 
Stock would be greatly invigorated and aug- 
mented. An evening feed of this nutritious arti- 
cle would be of incalculable benefit; most horses 
are fond even of the common turnip in a raw 
state; and it is a subject well worthy of every 
farmer's attention, whether it would not be for 
his interest to raise these esculents in such a 
quantity as to serve them during the long period 
when grass cannot be obtained. That the health 
of the animals would thereby be benefited is un- 
questionable ; and the saving of grain would 
greatly exceed the trouble occasioned by furnish- 
ing a daily supply of these roots. 

To destroy the Fly on Turnips. 

Lime sown by the hand, or distributed by a 
machine, is an infallible protection to turnips 
against the ravages of the fly. It should be ap- 
plied as soon as the turnips come up, and in the 
game daily rotation in which they were sown. 
The lime should be slaked immediately before it 
is used ; if the air be not sufficiently moist to 
render that operation unnecessary. 

Another Method. Let the farmer carefully 
%atch his turnips as they come up, and whenever 
the fly makes its appearance, take a certain quan- 
tity of brimstone, about two and a half or three 
pounds to an acre; put this into a kettle, and 
melt it in the turnip-field, in a situation the most 
eligible for the wind to carry the fume over the 
ground; then take any combustible matter calcu- 
lated to make a considerable smoke, which, being 
dipped in the liquid brimstone, must be strewn 
all over the field in a state of ignition, and so 
close together that the fumes of the burning mat- 
ter may completely cover every part of the ground 
The decoction of the bitter almond is more fatal 
to the lives of insects and worms than almost any 
Other vegetable or mineral poison. It is made by 
infusing the bitter almond powder (the ground 
cakes that remain after expressing the oil) in 
warm water for twenty-four hours ; twenty-eight 
pounds will make forty gallons, a sufficient quan- 
tity for a large garden. 

Remedy against the Bite of the Turnip Fly. 
It is upon the principle of creating an offensive 
mell that turnip seed is recommended to be 
steeped in train oil before it is sown. This has 
been found to be a perfect security against the 
bite of the turnip fly. 



To prevent the Fly in Tnrnipg. 

Sow good and fresh seed in well-manured and 
well-prepared ground. 

To prevent the increase of Pismires in Grass Landt 
newly laid down. 

Make a strong decoction of walnut-tree leaves, 
and after opening several of the pismire's sandy 
habitations, pour upon them a quantity of the 
liquor, just sufficient to fill the hollow of each 
heap; after the middle has been scooped, throw 
in the contents from the sides, and press down 
the whole mass with the foot, till it becomes level 
with the rest of the field. This, if not found 
effectual at first, must he repented a second or a 
third time, when they will infallibly be destroyed. 

To preserve Growing Crops from the Devastation of 

Vermin. 

The good effects of elder in preserving plants 
from insects and flies are experienced in the fol 
lowing cases : 

1. For preventing cabbages and cauliflowoj 
plants from being devoured and damaged by 
caterpillars. 

2. For preventing blights, and their effects on 
fruit trees. 

3. For preserving corn from yellow flies and 
other insects. 

4. For securing turnips from the ravages of 
flies. 

The dwarf elder appears to exhale a much more 
fetid smell than the common elder, and therefore 
should be preferred. 

To Check the Ravages of the Turnip Fly. 
Suppose that the farmer had no objection to 
bestow five pounds of seed per acre, in order to 
secure his crop of turnips. If he sows broad cast, 
let him medicate one half of the seed, in the man- 
ner to be afterwards explained, leaving the other 
half unprepared. The latter may be sown one 
day, and the medicated a day or two after, so as 
to give a start to the other. The medicated will, 
in that case, escape from the attacks of the fly or 
beetle. If the slug, however, does appear, rolling 
in the night is necessary. If the farmer drills his 
turnips after the land is prepared for the drill, 
two and a half pounds of the unmedicated seed 
should be sown broadcast, and a day or two after- 
wards the medicated seed sown in the drills. In 
this way a crop may be obtained, at least by the 
industrious farmer who does not grudge a little 
trouble to secure a good one. He will find that 
the plants sown broadcast will give full employ- 
ment to the fly, till the less savory plants in the 
drill pass the moment of danger. As to preparing 
or medicating the seed, sulphur is so obnoxious to 
the whole insect tribe, and at the same time so 
favorable to vegetation, that it seems entitled to 
a preference. The turnip seed may be a little 
damped, and then mixed with the flour of sulphur, 
at the rate of two ounces of sulphur to one pound 
of seed; or let the seed be steeped in a liquor 
formed by boiling three parts of lime to one of 
sulphur, and 100 parts of water. This steep is 
much approved of for all such purposes. It is 
not improbable that the same liquid in which 
wheat is commonly pickled would prove a pre- 
servative against the fly. It may be proper to 
add, that when the season is very dry, it has been 
found a most useful practice to moisten the dung 
well before it is inserted into the drill, to spread 
the dung very rapidly in the rows, and instantly 
to sow, at the rate of four pounds of turnip seed 
per acre, upon the dung. The ground should then 
be gathered up into bouts twenty-seven inoliea 
wide, by tha going and returning of the plough. 



TO DESTBOY WEEDS AND INSECTS. 



The seeds are thus put in contact with the wet 
dung. Many perish, but a sufficient number es- 
cape to produce a good crop. In this case, the 
owing any unmedicated seed broadcast may be 
dispensed with. 

To cultivute San-/oin. 

Chalky loams and gravelly soils on a calcareous 
bottom, are most proper for this grass. It is more 
adapted to hay than pasture, and much heavier 
crops of this grass are obtained from thin lands 
than when clover is sown. San-foin is a hardy 
kind of grass, well worth the attention of cultiva- 
tors in upland districts where the soil is obdurate 
and shallow^ and where clover and rye-grass can 
with difficulty be raised to such a height as to 
stam} the scythe. When sown, fresh seed ought 
constantly to be used, as the vegetation of old seed 
cannot be depended upon. Four bushels may be 
used for an acre, and great care ought to be taken 
to cover the seed well, and to put it deeper into 
the ground than the seeds of other grasses. 

To preserve Grain from Vermin. 
To preserve rye and secure it from insects and 
rats, nothing more is necessary than not to winnow 
it after it is threshed, and to stow it in the grana- 
ries mixed with the chaff. In this state it has 
been kept for more than three years, without ex- 
periencing the smallest alteration, and even with- 
out the necessity of being turned to preserve it 
from humidity and fermentation. Rats and mice 
may be prevented from entering the barn by put- 
ting some wild vine or hedge plants upon the 
heaps; the smell of this wood is so offensive to 
these animals that they will not approach it. 

To prevent the Destruction of Corn by Insects. 

In laying the floors of a granary let Italian 
poplars be made use of for the timber. Many ex- 
periments show that granaries, after laying down 
this flooring, will no longer be infested with wee- 
vils, etc. 

To destroy Slugs upon Wheat. 

Collect a number of lean ducks, keep them all 
day without food, and turn them into the fields 
towards evening; each duck would devour the 
slugs much faster than a man could collect them, 
and they would soon get very fat for market. 

To prevent the Ravages of Mice in Corn Stacks. 

The following simple remedy against the depre- 
dations of mice in corn stacks, has lately been re- 
commended for its undoubted efficacy. Sprinkle 
from four to six bushels of dry white sand upon 
the root of the stack before the thatch is put on. 
The sand is no detriment to the corn, and stacks 
thus dressed have remained without injury. So 
very effective is the remedy, that nests of dead 
young mice have been found where the sand has 
been used, but not a live mouse could be seen. 

To clear Barns and Out-houses from Mites and 
Weevils. 

The following method is practised in Germany, 
for granaries infested with mites and weevils. Let 
the walls and rafters, above and below, of such 
granaries be covered completely with quick-lime 
llaked in 'water, in which trefoil, wormwood, and 
hyssop havedeen boiled. This composition should 
be applied as hot as possible. A farmer who had 
the granaiies empty in June last, collected quanti- 
ties of the largest sized ants in sacks, and scatter- 
ed them about the places infested with weevils. 
The ants immediately fell upon and devoured 
them all. 

Tc destroy Slugs on Land. 

Procure some fresh lime, and after throwing as 



much water upon it as will reduce it to a powder, 
sow the lime in a hot state upon the land that is 
overrun with the vermin, at the rate of about 
twelve bushels to the acre. The lime should b* 
sown towards the wind, and falling upon them i 
a fermented state, it will instantly kill them. 

Usefulness of the Hedgehog. 
This little animal, the object of persecution, not 
only to little boys but to the farmer and game- 
keeper, on account of its supposed mischievous 
propensities, is in fact one which the agriculturist 
should endeavor to preserve, as it is the most 
effectual destroyer of snails, worms, and insects, 
on which it almost entirely subsists. A garden 
in which a hedgehog is kept, will, in the course 
of two or three nights, be entirely freed from 
slugs; and that enemy to fruit, the millepede, is a 
favorite food to him. The London gardeners are 
so aware of this, as often to purchase hedgehogs 
to put in their grounds. If it ever has been found 
eating poultry or game, as has by some been as- 
serted, they must previously have been killed by 
rats, weasels, or some more ferocious animal than 
the hedgehog, whose habits are those of gentle- 
ness and timidity, who is not formed for attack, 
and whose sole mode of defense is rolling itself 
up in a ball and opposing its strong prickles to 
the enemy. This statement is given in the hop* 
of rescuing a harmless and useful creature from 
the general abhorrence in which it is held, and 
the unmerciful treatment it meets with. 

Birds. 

Farmers should be friendly to birds, as they 
are of the greatest service in destroying worms 
and insects, and thus preserving the crops and 
fruits. The small amount of vegetable food they 
consume is thus much more than compensated for. 
Sparrows are especially useful in this way. 

To destroy Weeds. 

To clear the ground of weeds is an operation no 
less necessary in husbandry than the disposing it 
to produce vegetables of any kind in plenty. 

Annual weeds, or such as spring from seed and 
die the same year, are most easily destroyed. For 
this purpose, it will be sufficient to let them spring 
up till near the time of ripening their seed, and 
then plough them down before it comes to matu- 
rity. It is also of service to destroy such weeds 
as grow in borders or neglected corners, and fre- 
quently scatter their seeds to a great distance; 
such as the thistle, dandelion, rag- weed, etc.; for 
these propagate their species through a deal of 
ground, as their seeds are carried about with the 
wind to very considerable distances. A farmer 
ought also to take care that the small seeds of 
weeds, separated from corn in winnowing, be not 
sown again upon the ground; for this certainly 
happens when they are thrown upon a dunghill, 
because, being the natural offspring of the earth, 
they are not easily destroyed. The best method 
of preventing any mischief from this cause is to 
burn them. 

Perennial weeds are such as are propagated by 
the roots, and last for a number of years. They 
cannot be effectually destroyed but by removing 
the roots from the ground, which is often a matter 
of some difficulty. The only method that can be 
depended upon in this case is frequent ploughing 
to render the ground as tender as possible, and 
harrowing with a particular kind of harrow, in 
order to collect these pernicious roots. When 
collected, they ought to be dried and burnt, as 
the only effectual method of insuring their doing 
no farther mischief. 



AGRICULTURE. 



To destroy Broom, Furze and Thorns. 

Besides those kinds of weeds which are of an 
herbaceous nature, there are others which are 
woody, and grow to a very considerable size; such 
as broom, furze and thorns. The first may be 
destroyed by frequent ploughing and harrowing, 
in the same manner as other perennial weeds are. 
Another method of destroying broom is by pas- 
turing the field where it grows with sheep. 

The best method of extirpating furze is to set 
fire to it in frosty weather, for frost has the effect 
of withering and making them burn readily. The 
stumps must then be cut over with a hatchet, and 
when the ground is well softened by rain it may 
be ploughed up, and the roots taken out by a 
harrow adapted to that purpose. If the field is 
goon laid down to grass they will again spring 
up; in this case, pasturing with sheep is an 
effectual remedy. The thorn, or bramble, can 
only be extirpated by ploughing up the ground 
and collecting the roots. 

Usefulness of Mowing Weeds. 

In the month of June weeds are in their most 
succulent state, and in this condition, after they 
have lain a few hours to wither, hungry cattle 
will eat greedily almost every species. There is 
scarcely a hedge, border, or a nook, but what at 
that season is valuable; and it certainly must be 
good management to embrace the transient oppor- 
tunity, for in a few weeks they will become nui- 
sances. 

To banish Crows from a Field. 

Machinery of various kinds, such as wind-mills 
in miniature, horse-rattles, etc., to be put in mo- 
tion by the wind, are often employed to frighten 
crows; but with all of these they soon become 
familiar, when they cease to be of any use what- 
ever. 

The most effectual method of banishing them 
from a field, as far as experience goes, is to com- 
bine with one or other of the scarecrows in vogue 
the frequent use of the musket. Nothing strikes 
such terror into these sagacious animals as the 
sight of a fowling-piece aud the explosion of gun- 
powder, which they have known so often to be 
fatal to their race. Such is their dread of a fowl- 
ing-piece, that if one is placed upon a dyke or 
other eminence, it will for a long time prevent 
them from alighting on the adjacent grounds. 
Many persons now, however, believe that crows, 
like most other birds, do more good by destroying 
insects and worms, etc., than harm by eating grain. 

To cultivate Carrots. 

To command crops of this root, manure the 
land with twenty-five or thirty loads of dung per 
acre, pretty rotten, plough it in, and then cover 
the seed by harrowing. The dung neither injures 
the taste of the carrot, makes them grow de- 
formed, nor causes the canker. A farmer's object 
is to produce as great a quantity as possible from 
every acre, which must undoubtedly be accom- 
plished by manure. In confirmation of this 
opinion the following statement is given : 

Unmanured Carrots, sown March 31. 

Ton. Ibs. 

Boots . . . 9 . . 1918 per acre. 
Tops . . . 4 . . . 336 do. 
Manured after Potatoes, sown April 7. 

Ton. Ibs. 

Roots . . . 12 . . 1582 per acre. 
Tops . . . 5 . . . 994 do. 

The soil in both was exactly the same, and the 
dung half rotten. The preceding crop had in 
both instances been potatoes, and the quality of 
the carrots was similar in both cases. An extcn- 



j sive collection of such well authenticated experi- 
ments is better calculated to extend the boun- 
daries of agricultural knowledge than all the 
theories and mere reasonings upon them yet 
published. 

Mode of Cultivating Parsnips in Guernsey. 

Although this root is cultivated in almost all 
the soils of that island, that is esteemed the bsk 
which consists of a good light loam, the deeper 
the better. If the loamy soil is not deep, the 
under soil at least should be opened, to allow of 
the free penetration of the roots. 

If the land is not perfectly clear from couch 
grass and other weeds, it is pared with the paring- 
plough in October, and harrowed to 'remove the 
weeds. About the middle of February the land 
is prepared for sowing by means of two ploughs. 
A small plough precedes and opens the furrow to 
the depth of four inches, and is followed by a 
large plough drawn by four or six oxen and as 
many horses, which deepens the furrow to ten or 
fourteen inches. As soon as the clods are capable 
of being broken the harrowing commences, and 
is repeated till the soil is pulverized, and reduced 
nearly to the state of garden mould. All of the 
processes are intended to loosen the soil to as 
great a depth as possible. 

The seed should not be more than a year old, as 
it is uncertain when of a greater age. It is sown 
broadcast, and on a day just so windy as to insure 
its regular spreading over the surface. The seed 
is then covered by the harrow. The quantity 
sown is from two to four quarts. 

As soon as the plants are sufficiently strong, 
they are hand-weeded and thinned, and this ope- 
ration must be repeated at least three times during 
the summer. The distance between the plants is 
ultimately about nine inches; and to save a por- 
tion of the labor a harrowing is sometimes given 
between the first and second weedings. 

The first weeding is performed about the middle 
of May, and repeated when necessary till the be- 
ginning of July. 

The roots are dug up about the middle of Au- 
gust, when they are thought to be most nutritious, 
and to fatten animals better than after the leaves 
are decayed. The quantity dug up at this season 
is not more than is required for two or three days' 
consumption. It is only in October that the root 
is fully ripe, when it may be dug up with forks 
and preserved dry in sheds during the winter; but 
it is usually left in the ground in Guernsey, where 
frost is rare, and taken up as it is wanted. 

The parsnip is considered by the Guernsey far- 
mers to be the most nutritious root known, supe- 
rior even to the carrot and the potato. When 
small it is given to the animals whole, but when 
large it is sliced longitudinally. Hogs prefer this 
root to all others, and it makes excellent pork. 
Horses are equally fond of the parsnip, although 
from eating it with too much avidity it sometimes 
sticks in the throat. But this may easily be pre- 
vented by cutting the roots into pieces before they 
are given. 

To cultivate Hemp. 
The Soil. 

The soils most suited to the culture of this 
plant are those of the deep, black, putrid vegeta- 
ble kind, that are low, and rather inclined to 
moisture, and those of the deep mellow, loamy, 
or sandy descriptions. The quantity of produce 
is generally much greater on the former than on 
the latter; but it is said to be greatly inferior in 
quality. It may, however, be grown with success 
on lands of a less rich and fertile kind, by proper 
care and attention in their culture and preparation. 



HEMP AND FLAX. 



41 



To prepare the Ground. 
In order to render the grounds proper for th 
reception of the crop, they should b reduced intc 
fine mellow state of mould, and be perfectly 
cleared from weeds, by repeated ploughings 
When it succeeds grain crops, the wrrk is mostly 
accomplished by three ploughings, and as man;] 
harrowings: the first being given immediately 
after the preceding crop is removed, the seconc 
early in the spring, and the last, or seed earth 
just before the seed is to be put in. . In the lasl 
ploughing, well rotted manure, in the proportion 
of fifteen or twenty, or good compost, in the quan- 
tity of twenty-five or thirty-three horse-cart loads 
should be turned into the land; as without this il 
is seldom that good crops can be produced. The 
surface of the ground being left perfectly flat, and 
as free from furrows as possible; as by these 
means the moisture is more effectually retained 
and the growth of the plants more fully pro- 
moted. 

Quantity of Seed, etc. 

It is of much importance in the cultivation of 
hemp crops that the seed be new, and of a gooc 
quality, which may in some measure be known by 
its feeling heavy in the hand, and being of 
bright shining color. 

The proportion of seed that is most commonly 
employed, is from two to three bushels, according 
to the quality of the land; but, as the crops are 
greatly injured by the plants standing too closely 
together, two bushels, or two bushels and a half 
may be a more advantageous quantity. 

As the hemp plant is extremely tender in its 
early growth, care should be taken not to put the 
peed into the ground at so early a period, as thai 
it may be liable to be injured by the effects of 
frost; nor to protract the sowing to so late a sea- 
son, as that the quality of the produce may be 
affected. The best season, on the drier sorts of 
land, in the southern districts, is as soon as pos- 
sible after the frosts are over in April, and, on 
the same descriptions of soil, in the more north- 
ern ones, towards the close of the same month, or 
early in the ensuing one. 

Method of Sowing. 

The most general method of putting crops of 
this sort into the soil is the broadcast, the seed 
being dispersed over the surface of the land in as 
even a manner as possible, and afterwards covered 
in by means of a very light harrowing. In many 
eases, however, especially when the crops are to 
stand for seed, the drill method in rows, at small 
distances, might be had recourse to with advan- 
tage; as, in this way, the early growth of the 
plants would be more effectually promoted, and 
the land be kept in a more clean and perfect state 
of mould, which are circumstances of importance 
in such crops. In whatever method the seed is 
put in. care must constantly be taken to keep the 
birds from it for some time afterwards. 

This sort of crop is frequently cultivated on 
the same piece of ground for a great number of 
years, without any other kind intervening; but, in 
such cases, manure must be applied with almost 
every crop, in pretty large proportions, to prevent 
the exhaustion that must otherwise take place. 
It may be sown after most sorts of grain crops, 
especially where the land possesses sufficient fer- 
tility, and is in a proper state of tillage. 

After Culture. 

As hemp, from its tall growth and thick foliage, 
soon covers the surface of the land, and prevents 
the rising of weeds, little attention is necessary 
after the seed has been put into the ground, espe- 



cially where the broadcast method of sowing is 
practised; but, when put in by the drill machine, 
a hoeing or two may be had recourse to with ad- 
vantage in the early growth of the crop. 

In the culture of this plant, it is particularly 
necessary that the same piece of land growl 
both male and female, or what is sometimes de- 
nominated simple hemp. The latter kind con- 
tains the seed. 

When the grain is ripe (which is known by its 
becoming of a whitish-yellow color, and a few of 
the leaves beginning to drop from the stems) ; this 
happens commonly about thirteen or fourteen 
weeks from the period of its being sown, according 
as the season may be dry or wet (the first sort 
being mostly ripe some weeks before the latter), 
the next operation is that of taking it from the 
ground ; which is effected by pulling it up by the 
roots, in small parcels at a time, by the hand, 
taking care to shake off the mould well from them 
before the handsful are laid down. In some dis- 
tricts, the whole crop is pulled together, without 
any distinction being made between the different 
kinds of hemp ; while, in others, it is the prac- 
tice to separate and pull them at different times, 
according to their ripeness. The latter is ob- 
viously the better practice; as by pulling a large 
proportion of the crop before it is in a proper state 
of maturity, the quantity of produce must not only 
be considerably lessened, but its quality greatly 
injured by being rendered less durable. 

After being thus pulled, it is tied up in small 
parcels, or what are sometimes termed baits. 

Where crops of this kind are intended for seed- 
ing, they should be suffered to stand till the seed 
becomes in a perfect state of maturity, which is 
easily known by the appearance of it on inspec- 
tion. The stems are then pulled and bound up, 
as in the other case, the bundles being set up in 
the same manner as grain, until the seed becomes 
so dry and firm as to shed freely. It is then 
either immediately threshed out upon large cloths 
for the purpose in the field, or taken home to have 
the operation afterwards performed. 

Process of Grassing Hemp. 

The Kemp, as soon as pulled, is tied up in small 
bundles, frequently at both ends. 

It is then conveyed to pits, or ponds of stagnant 
water, about six or eight feet in depth, such as 
have a clayey soil being in general preferred, and 
deposited in beds, according to their size, and 
depth; the small bundles being laid both in a 
straight direction and crosswise of each other, so 
as to bind perfectly together; the whole, being 
oaded with timber, or other materials, so as to 
leep the beds of hemp just below the surface of 
he water. 

It is not usual to water more than four or five 
imes in the same pit, till it has been filled with 
water. Where the ponds are not sufficiently large 
:o contain the whole of the produce at once, it \8 
he practice to pull the hemp only as it can be 
admitted into them, it being thought disadvanta- 
geous to leave the hemp upon the ground after 
>eing pulled. It is left in these pits four, five, or 
ix days, or even more, according to the warmth 
)f the season and the judgment of the operator, 

his examining whether the hempy material 
eadily separates from the reed or stem ; and then 
aken up and conveyed to a pasture field which is 
lean a.nd even, the bundles being loosened and 
pread out thinly, stem by stem, turning it every 
econd or third day, especially in damp weather, 
o prevent its being injured by worms or other 
nsects. It should remain in this situation for 
;wo, three, four, or more weeks, according to cir- 



42 



AGRICULTURE. 



cumstances, and be then collected together when 
in a perfectly dry state, tied up into large bundles, 
and placed in some secure building until an oppor- 
tunity is afforded for breaking it, in order to sepa- 
rate the hemp. By this means the process of 
grassing is not only shortened, but the more ex- 
pensive ones of breaking, scutching, and bleach- 
ing the yarn, rendered less violent and trouble- 
some. 

After the hemp has been removed from the field 
it is in a state to be broken and swingled, opera- 
tions that are mostly performed by common la- 
borers, by means of machinery for the purpose, 
the produce being tied up in stones. The refuse 
collected in the latter process is denominated 
sheaves, and is in some districts employed for the 
purposes of fuel. After having undergone these 
different operations, it ia ready for the purposes 
of the manufacturer. 

To cultivate Flax. 

The soils most suitable for flax, besides the al- 
luvial kind, are deep friable loams, and such as 
contain a large proportion of vegetable matter in 
their composition. Strong clays do not answer 
well, nor soils of a gravelly or dry sandy nature. 
But whatever be the kind of soil, it ought neither 
to be in too poor nor too rich a condition, because 
in the latter case the flax is apt to grow too luxu- 
riant and produce a coarse sort, and in the former 
case, the plant, from growing weakly, affords only 
a small produce. 

To prepare tJie Ground. 

When grass land is intended for flax, it ought 
to be broken up as early in the season as possible, 
so that the soil may be duly mellowed by the winter 
frosts, and in good order for being reduced by the 
harrows, when the seed process is attempted. If 
flax is to succeed a corn crop, the like care is re- 
quired to procure the aid of frost, without which 
the surface cannot be rendered fine enough for re- 
ceiving the seed. Less frost, however, will do in 
the last than in the first case, therefore the grass 
land ought always to be earliest ploughed. At seed 
time, harrow the land well before the seed is dis- 
tributed, then cover the seed to a sufficient depth, 
by giving a close double time of the harrows. 
Water-furrow the land, and remove any stones 
end roots that may remain on the surface, which 
finishes the seed process. 

Quantity of Seed. 

When a crop of seed is intended to be taken, 
thin sowing is preferable, in order that the plants 
may have room to fork or spread out their leaves, 
and to obtain air for the blossoming and filling 
seasons. But it is a mistake to sow thin when flax 
is intended to be taken, for the crop then becomes 
coarse, and often unproductive. From eight to 
ten pecks per acre is a proper quantity in the last 
case ; but when seed is the object, six pecks will 
do very well. 

To save the Flax and Seed. 
Flax should be pulled when the lower part of the 
plant begins to turn yellow, and when, on opening 
the pods, the most forward of the seeds are found 
in a soft state, and the middle of the seeds is green ; 
while the seed is quite soft, the flax should be 
spread on the ground in bundles of about as much 
as a woman can grasp with both hands, and it 
should remain so till the upper part is dry ; in fine 
weather it will be dry in twenty-four or forty-eight 
hours ; the bundles should be then made up, with 
the dry part inside, and set up in stocks of ten 
bundles each, to stand on the ground till the 
whole is dry, pods and all j the seed will then be 



ripe and the flax in the best state, and may I* 
stacked, housed, or worked; great care should be 
taken to keep the root ends even. 

Method of Watering. 

When flax is pulled it ought to be immediately 
put into the water, so that it may pnrt with the 
rind and be fit for the manufacturer. Stand- 
ing pools, for many reasons, are most proper 
for the purpose, occasioning the flax to have a 
better color, to be sooner ready for the grass, and 
even to be of superior quality in every respect. 
When put into the water it is tied up in beet*, or 
small sheaves, the smaller the better, because it is 
then most equally watered. These sheaves ought 
to be built in the pool, in a reclining upright pos- 
ture, so that the weight placed above may keep 
the whole firmly down. In warm weather, ten days 
of the watering process are sufficient ; but it is pro- 
per to examine the pools regularly after the seventh 
day, lest the flax should putrefy or rot, which some- 
times happens in very warm weather. Twelve 
days will answer in any sort of weather; 'hough 
it may be remarked, that it is better to give rather 
too little of the water than too much, as any de- 
ficiency may be easily made up by suffering it to 
lie longer on the grass, whereas an excess of water 
admits of no remedy. After lying on the grass 
for a due time, till any defect of the watering pro- 
cess is rectified, the flax is taken up, tied when 
dry in large sheaves, and carried to the mill to be 
switched and prepared for the hackle. 

Dressing Flax. Instructions for Using the Ma- 
chinery. 

The process is divided into two parts : the first 
part is intended for the farmer, or flax-grower, to 
bring the flax into a fit state for general or common 
purposes. This is performed by three machines : 
one for threshing out the seed, one for breaking 
and separating the wood from the fibre, and one 
for further separating the broken wood and matter 
from the fibre. In some cases the farmers will 
perhaps thrash out the seed in their own mill, and 
therefore, in such cases, the first machine will be, 
of course, unnecessary. 

The second part of the process is intended for 
the manufacturer to bring the flax into a state for 
the very finest purposes, such as lace, cambric, 
damask, and very fine linen. This second part is 
performed by the refining machine only. 

The Threshing Machine. 

Take the flax in small bundles, as it comes from 
the field or stack, and holding it in the left hand, 
put the seed end between the threshing machine 
and the bed or block against which the machine 
is to strike ; then take the handle of the machine 
in the right hand, and move the machine back- 
ward and forward, to strike on the flax, until the 
seed is all threshed out. 

The Breaking Machine. 

Take the flax in small handsful in the left hand, 
spread it flat between the third and little finger, 
with the seed end downwards, and the root-end 
above, as near the hand as possible; then put it 
between the beater of the breaking machine, and 
beat it gently till the three or four inches, which 
have been under the operation of the machine, ap- 
pear to be soft; then remove the flax a little 
higher in the hand, so as to let the soft part of 
the flax rest upon the little finger, and continue 
to beat it till all is soft, and the wool is separated 
from the fibre, keeping the left hand close to the 
block and the flax as flat upon the block a? pos- 
sible. The other end of the flax is then to be 
turned, and the end which has been beaten is to 



HOPS. 



be wrapped round the little finger, the root end 
flat, and beaten in the machine till the wood is 
separated, exactly in the same way as the other 
nd was beaten. 

The Cleansing Machine. 

It it to be used in the same way, in all respects 
as the breaking machine, first cleansing one end 
of the flax, and then turning the other, keeping 
the flux all the while flat in the hand. 

To Hackle. 

A common hackle will be found useful in this 
stage for opening the ends, and may be placed for 
greater convenience at the side of the breaking 
and cleansing machine. 

This concludes the first process of the machi- 
nery intended for the farmer or flax-grower. The 
second, or manufacturer's process, requires 

The Refining Machine. 
Take a small piece of flax as it comes from the 
breaking or cleansing machine, pass the seed end 
through the fluted rollers of the refining machine, 
and bring it round, laying it flat on the root-end 
of the flax, forming it into a skein. A few fibres 
of the end brought round, and looped in the flax 
on which it is laid, will keep the skein together. 
It must be kept flat and even on the machine, 
which may continue to go round and work the 
flax till it is brought to any degree of fineness 
that may be required, and this will not require 
more than from two to six minutes. 

Washing or Whitening. 

The flax, when prepared by these machines, 
without having been water-steeped, or dew- rotted, 
may be washed in small quantities at a time, either 
in water only or with soap and water, without any 
other mixture, and brought by these simple means 
to the purest white. It is to be wrung several 
times in water till the water becomes no longer 
colored from the matter, and care is to be taken 
that the flax is laid flat like tape, and then spread 
upon the grass, but it is recommended that the 
flax should be spun in the yellow state, and then 
washed in warm water and soap, or boiled with 
care in water and soap from ten to fifteen minutes, 
so that, when dried, it will be perfectly white. If 
the weather should be favorable it would be well 
to have it dried on the grass. 

As to the labor required, the machines are easily 
wrought by women or girls, and without any as- 
sistance from men. 

The Produce. 

As to the produce of different degrees of fine- 
ness from a given weight of the raw material, we 
subjoin the following statement: 

112 Ibs. of flax from the stack, after the seed 
was threshed out, produced 30 Ibs. in the state 
No. 1 ; refined to No. 3 it produced 20 Ibs. of flax 
and 3 Ibs. of common tow; 20 Ibs. of No. 3 pro- 
duced 14J Ibs. of No. 4. The loss in weight is 
caused by the discharge of matter ; there is no loss 
of fibre. 

An average crop will produce about two tons to 
the acre after the seed is threshed out. This will 
produce one-fourth fibre, making ten cwt. to the 
acre No. 1. 

To cultivate Hops. The Soil, &c. 
The hop is planted on various soils, and chiefly 
in valleys. Hops are generally of the best quality 
from strong clay land. The crop, however, is 
there very precarious. Those on peat are much 
more productive, but are liable to be affected by 
the mould in some seasons, which reduces their 
value considerably. The best plantations are on 
a deep, laarny soil, where the produce of the latter 
and the quality of the former are sometimes ob- 



tained. Those which are grown on sandy and 
gravelly lands are seldom remarkable for either 
great produce or superior quality. 

The plant is extremely liable to disasters from 
its first putting up in the spring until the time of 
' picking the crop, which is in September. Snaila 
or slugs, ants and flies, are formidable enemies in 
the first instance. Frosts are inimical to its 
growth, and the vines are frequently blighted even 
after they have reached the t< p of the poles. 
Small green flies and other injects which make 
their appearance in the months of May and June, 
when the wind is about northeast, often greatly 
injure them, and they are subject to take damage 
by high winds from the southwest. The best 
situation for a plantation, therefore, is a southern 
aspect, well shaded on three sides either by hills 
or planting, which is supposed to be the chief pro- 
tection that can be given them. 

To plant Hopt. 

In the winter time provide the soil and manure 
for the hop-ground against the following spring. 
If the dung be rotten, mix it with two or three 
parts of common earth, and let it incorporate to- 
gether till there is occasion to make use of it in 
making the hop-hills ; but if it be new dung, then 
let it be mixed as before till the spring in the next 
year, for new dung is very injurious to hops. 
Hops require to be planted in a situation so open 
that the air may freely pass round and between 
them to dry up and dissipate the moisture, which 
often destroys the middle of large plantations, 
while the outsides remain unhurt. 

The hills should be eight or nine feet asunder. 
If the ground be intended to be ploughed with 
horses between the hills, it will be best to plant 
them in squares, chequerwise ; but if the ground 
is so small that it may be done with the breast- 
plough, or spade, the holes should be ranged in a 
quincunx form. Which way soever is made use 
of, a stake should be stuck down at each of the 
places where the hills are to be made. 

To choose Hops. 

Be very particular in the choice of the plants as 
to kind, for if the hop-garden be planted with a 
mixture of several sorts of hops that ripen at 
several times, it will cause much trouble and 
great detriment. 

The two best sorts are the white and the gray 
bind ; the latter is a large, square hop, more hardy, 
bears more abundantly, but ripens later than the 
former. There is another sort of the white bind, 
which ripens a week or ten days before the com- 
mon ; but this is a tenderer and a less plentiful 
bearer, though it has this advantage, that it comes 
first to market. If there be a sort of hop you 
value, and would wish to increase, the superfluous 
binds may be laid down when the hops are tied, 
cutting off the tops and burying them in the hill, 
or when the hops are dressed all the cuttings may 
be saved, for almost every part will grow and be- 
come a good set the next spring. 

Seasons of Planting. 

English planters approve the months of Octo- 
ber and March. The most usual time of pro- 
curing the cuttings is in March, when the hops 
are cut and dressed. As to the manner of plant- 
ing the sets, there should be five good sets planted 
in every hill, one in the middle, and the rest 
round about, sloping. Let them be pressed close 
with the hand and covered with fine earth j a 
stick should be placed on each side of the hill to 
secure it. 

To form a New Plantation. 

The best method is to have cuttings from ap- 



AQKICULTURE. 



proved stock, planted out the year before they are 
wanted, in the hop-ground ; as the use of plants in- 
stead of cuttings not only gains a year, but the for- 
mer arc more certain to flourish. A small piece of 
moist land is sufficient to raise plants for many acres, 
and at little expense. If the ground be in grass, 
pare and dig in the pods ; work the land with a 
spade, and set it out into ridges of three and a 
half yards wide, and two yards between each ; 
having a strip of grass (called a pillar) next every 
ridge, and an open drain between every two pil- 
lars, the depth of which must vary according to 
the soil, some being less than one foot, and others 
nearly four feet in depth. Three rows of plants, 
or, as they are termed, hills, are made upon each 
ridge, which should intersect each other; they 
are generally two yards distant in the rows, so 
that about 1300 is the usual number of hills in a 
statute acre. Small sticks are proper to tie the 
binds up to the first year, then small poles for a 
year or two; the size of which should be gradu- 
ally increased. Some set two poles to every hill, 
which is proper for ground producing luxuriant 
binds ; but on clay land three poles are set in a 
triangular form to the hills on the two outside 
rows of each ridge, and only two in the middle 
row. Many additional poles, longer than the 
rest, called catch- poles, are also set to take the 
binds as they run beyond the lesser poles. 
Where the bind is weak, three heads are com- 
monly trained up each pole ; though two are bet- 
ter, if strong. If the ground intended for a new 
plantation is not clean from couch-grass, a com- 
plete fallow is essential, whether it be grass or 
stubble ; and a crop of turnips may be taken to 
advantage, if the land is proper for their growth, 
and can be made clean, as hops are planted in 
March, 

To take up Hop-Ground. 

The following are termed the annual orders : 
Digging the ground completely over; hoeing the 
earth from the hills, and cutting off the stock a 
little above the root, which are called pickling and 
cutting; poling, which is carrying the poles from 
the stacks, and setting them down to the hills 
with a round implement, shod with iron, and called 
a poy, having a crutch at the top, and a peg 
through the middle to tread upon ; tying^the binds 
round the poles with rushes, and pulling up the 
superfluous binds; hoeing the ground all over 
with a hoe of large dimensions ; wheeling and 
laying manure upon every hill ; covering the ma- 
nure with the soil, which is done by scraping the 
ground over with a hoe, and is called hilling; and 
stacking, which is carrying and setting up the 
poles into heaps or stacks, after the crop has been 
taken. 

Extra-works. 
As the preceding are termed the ordinary* so 
the following are called the extra-works, as not 
being included in the yearly bargain with the men 
by the generality of planters, and some of them 
are done only by the very best managers. Or 
clayey ground, either the earth ought to be bared 
off the hills,' and a covering of good manure ap 
pliod to them previous to digging, which will re- 
quire from twelve to fifteen tons per acre ; or from 
twenty to twenty -five tons of manure, or a greater 
quantity of fresh earth (when the ground wants 
condition) should be wheeled and spread all over 
the ridges. It is not improper, in some cases, to 
pursue these methods alternately; but on b^ggj 
and very rich ground the earth only can be ap- 
plied with advantage. The drains should be 
scoured out yearly on very wet ground ; and wha 
Is thrown out is always intermixed with the soi 



n digging; on drier soils this is done every second 
3r third year, and on very dry land it is scarcely 
necessary to do it at all. Recruiting the stock by 
)1 an ting, where any hills have failed, is done at 
ittle cost in well-managed plantations, as there 
are seldom many at once in those. If there is any 
couch-grass, it should be dug out with three- 
>ronged forks in March, and carried off the 
ground. The renewal of poles requires from one 
o two hundred per acre every year. If, when the 
)inds first appear, they are beaten by slugs, a 
landful of malt culm or saw-dust is sometimes 
aid round each hill, which they cannot travel 
over; and should flies or ants attack them, soot 
s the best preventive. The carrying in and set- 
ting catch-poles varies much as to number, as 
some set fewer than one hundred, and others five 
or six hundred per acre. Moving the drains and 
illars is generally done once, but twice moving is 
setter (whether the grass be made into fodder.^ or 
suffered to fall into the drains for manure), as 
:,hen no seeds scatter on the ground. Extra-hoe 
once before the hilling, and once after. After 
high winds many poles are broken down, which 
should be set up again soon 

J^anure proper for Hop- Culture. 

As to the manure most proper for the hop-cul- 
ture, good stable dung is much used, and is pre- 
ferred to the manure made by beasts at pasture, 
as the latter encourages ants on strong ground. 
Woollen rags are the best for forcing a luxuriant 
bind, and if used with judgment, are excellent 
for clayey ground; but they are apt to make the 
hops small, if too many are used. Malt culm 
and dove manure are excellent, and one complete 
dressing with lime is very serviceable for strong 
ground. 

To pick Hops. 

When the crop is ripe, a proper number of 
pickers is procured, for whom are provided light 
wooden frames, called binges; they are clothed 
with hop-bagging, into which the hops are picked 
off the poles by women and children, having them 
brought by men, who take them up by cutting the 
binds about a foot above the ground, and drawing 
up the poles by an instrument called a dragon. 
Each binge has from four to six pickers, and a 
man attends to one or two binges, according to 
the crop ; he strips the binds from the poles as 
they are picked, and lays them in heaps ready for 
stocking; he also carries the hops to the kilns, if 
near; or to a cart, as they nre measured from the 
binge. The number of binges employed vary 
with the crop and kiln-room; about one to an 
acre is usual. The hops are taken out of th 
binge with a basket which holds six pecks. 

Another Method. 

The most convenient way of picking them is 
into a long square frame of wood, with a cloth 
hanging on tenter-hooks within it, to receive th 
hops as they are picked. 

They must be picked very clean, free from 
leaves and stalks; and as there shall be occasion, 
two or three times in a day, the frame must be 
emptied into a hop-bag made of coarse linen 
cloth, and carried immediately to the oast or kiln, 
in order to be dried : for if they should be too 
long in the bag they will be apt to heat and be 
discolored. If the weather be hot, there should 
no more poles be drawn than can be picked in an 
hour, and they should be gathered in fair weather, 
if it can be, and when the hops are dry; this will 
save some expense in firing, and preserve their 
color better when they are dried. 



HOPS, MADDER. 



45 



To dry Hops. 

The best method of drying hops is with char- 
coal on an oast or kiln, covered with hair-cloth of 
the same form and fashion that is used for drying 
malt. The kiln ought to be square, and may be 
ten, twelve, fourteen, or sixteen feet across at the 
toji, where the hops are laid, as the plantation re- 
quires and the room will allow. There ou^ht to 
be a due proportion between the height nd breadth 
of the kiln, and the steddle where the fire is kept, 
via., if the kiln be twelve feet square on the top, 
it ought to be nine feet high from the fire, and 
the steddle ought to be six feet and a half square, 
and so proportionable in other dimensions. 
The hops must be spread even upon the oast, a 
foot thick or more, if the depth of the curb will 
allow it; but care is to be taken not to overload 
the oast if the hops are green or wet. The oast 
ought to be first warmed with a fire before the hops 
are laid on, and then an even steady fire must be 
kept under them, it must not be too fierce at first 
lest it scorch them, nor must it be suffered to sink 
or slacken, but rather be increased, till the hops 
are nearly dried, lest the moisture or sweat which 
the fire has raised, fall back or discolor them. 

When they have lain about nine hours they must 
be turned, and in two or three hours more they 
may be taken off. It may be known When they 
are well dried, by the brittleness of the stalks and 
the easy falling off of the hop-leaves. 

TQ bag Hops. 

As soon as the hops are taken off the kiln, lay 
them in a room for three weeks or a month to cool, 
give, and toughen ; for if they are bagged immedi- 
ately they will powder, but if they lie awhile (and 
the longer they lie the better, provided they are 
covered close with blankets to secure them from 
the air), they may be bagged with more safety, 
as not being liable to be broken to powder in 
treading ; and this will make them bear treading 
the better, and the harder they are trodden the 
better they will keep. 

To dress Hops. 

When the ground is dug in January or February, 
the earth about the hills and very near them, 
should be taken away with the spade. About the 
end of February, if the hops were planted the 
spring before, or if the ground be weak, they 
ought to be dressed in dry weather; but if the 
ground be strong and in perfection, the middle of 
March will be a good time; and if it is aptto pro- 
duce over-rank binds, the beginning of April may 
be soon enough. Then having with an iron picker 
cleared away all the earth out of the hill, so as to 
clean the stock to the principal roots, with a sharp 
knife cut off all the shoots which grew with the 
binds the last year; and also all the young suck- 
ers, that none may be left to run in the alley and 
weaken the hill. It will be proper to cut one part 
of the stock lower than the other, and also to cut 
that part low that was left highest the preceding 
year. In dressing those hops that have been 
planted the year before, cut off both the dead tops 
and the young suckers which have sprung up 
from the sets, and also cover the stocks with fine 
earth, a finger's length in thickness. 

To pole Hops. 

About the middle of April the hops are to be 
poled ; when the shoots begin to sprout up, the 
poles must be set to the hills deep in the ground, 
with a square iron picker or crow, that they may 
the better endure the wind; three poles are suffi- 
cient for one hill. These should be placed as near 
the hill as possible, with their bending tops turned 



outwards from the hill, to prevent the binds from 
entangling; and a space between two poles ought 
to be left open to the south, to admit the sun- 
beams. 

To tie Hops. 

The buds that do not clasp of themselves to the 
nearest pole when they are grown to three or four 
feet high, must be guided to it by the hand, turn- 
ing them to the sun, whose course they will always 
follow. They must be bound with withered rushes, 
but not so close as to hinder them from climbing 
up the pole. This continue to do till all the poles 
are furnished with binds, of which two or three 
are enough for a pole ; and all the sprouts and 
binds that there are no occasion for, are to be 
plucked up ; but if the ground is young, then none 
of these useless binds should be plucked up, but 
should be wrapped up together in the middle of 
the hill. 

To gather Hops. 

About the beginning of July hops begin to blow, 
and will be ready for gathering the last of Au- 
gust. A judgment may be made of their ripe- 
ness by their strong scent, their hardness, and 
the brownish color < f their seed. When by these 
tokens they appear to be ripe they must be picked 
with all the expedition possible, for if at this time 
a storm of wind should come, it would do them 
great damage, by breaking the branches and bruis- 
ing and discoloring the hops; and it is very well 
known that hops, being picked green and bright, 
will sell for a third more than those which are 
discolored. 

To cultivate the Madder Plant. 

The ground is ploughed deep in autumn, and 
again in March, and then laid up in ridges eighteen 
inches asunder, and about a foot high. About 
the beginning of April the ground is opened where 
the old roots are planted, and the side shoots taken 
off, which are transplanted immediately upon the 
new ridges, at about a foot distance, where they re- 
main two seasons ; at Michaelmas, when the tops 
of the plants are decayed, the roots are taken up. 
This method of planting in ridges is only neces- 
sary in wet land. If all the horizontal roots are 
destroyed from time to time, it will cause the large 
downright roots to be much bigger, in which the 
goodness of this plant chiefly consists. After the 
roots, the only parts of the madder used by 
dyers, are taken up, they are kiln-dried, and then 
reduced to powder by a mill. Previously to the 
grinding they are carefully assorted. 

The fine quality of madder is distinguished by 
its being of a bright, lively, light color, well 
ground, without any coarse parts proceeding from 
the peelings. Fresh is always more valuable than 
old madder. It should be kept close to prevent 
the access of air, as its virtue evaporates when 
exposed. 

Madder is principally cultivated in Holland, 
Germany, and France, especially the former place, 
where it grows in greater abundance than in any 
other part of the world. The turkey madder root 
s principally cultivated about Smyrna. This plant 
may be propagated either by offsets or seeds. On 
a light thin soil the culture cannot be carried on to 
any profit; that soil in which the plant delights is 
a rich sandy loam, three feet or more in depth. 

The ground being first made smooth, is divided 
nto beds four feet wide, with alternate alleys half 
as broad again as the beds. In each alley is a sh al- 
ow channel for irrigating the whole field, etc., that 
;hat part of the alley that is not otherwise engaged 
may be sown with legumes. The madder seed is 
sown broadcast in the proportion of from twenty- 



AGRICULTURE. 



five to thirty pounds per acre about the end of 
April. In a fortnight or three weeks the young 
plants begin to appear, and from this time to the 
month of September care must be tsiken to keep 
the ground well watered and free from weeds. If 
the plants are examined in autumn they will be 
found to be surrounded with small yellow offsets 
at the depth of two inches, and early in Septem- 
ber the earth from the alleys is to be dug out and 
laid over the plants of madder to the height of 
two or three feet. With this the first year's ope- 
ralion finishes. 

The second year's work begins in May with 
giving the beds a thorough weeding; and care 
must be taken to supply them with plenty of water 
during summer. In September the first crop of 
seed will be ripe, at which time the stems of the 
plants may be mown down, and the roots covered 
a few inches with earth taken as before out of the 
alleys. 

The weeding should take place as early as pos- 
sible in the spring of the third year; and the 
crop, instead of being left for seeds, may be cut 
three times during summer for green fodder, all 
kinds of cattle being remarkably fond of it. In 
October the roots are taken up, the offsets are 
carefully separated, and immediately used to form 
a new plantation ; and the roots, after being dried, 
are sold either without further preparation or 
ground to a coarse powder and sprinkled with an 
alkaline lye. The roots lose four-fifths of their 
weight in drying, and the produce of an acre is 
about 2000 pounds of dry salable madder. 

Use of Madder. 

The principal use of madder is in dyeing. It 
gives out its color both to water and rectified 
spirits ; the watery tincture is of a dark dull red, 
the spirituous of a deep bright one. It imparts 
to woollen cloth, prepared with alum and tartar, 
a very durable, though not a very beautiful red 
dye. As it is the cheapest of all red drugs that 
give a durable color, it is the principal one com- 
monly made use of for ordinary stuffs. Some- 
times its dye is heightened by the addition of 
Brazil-wood, and sometimes it is employed in 
conjunction with the dearer reds, as cochineal, for 
demi-scarlets and demi-crimsons. Madder-root 
is sometimes employed in medicine as an emme- 
nagogue. When the madder is given to animals 
with their food it produces a curious phenomenon, 
namely, tinging their bones with red. The bones 
of young pigeons will be thus tinged of a rose- 
color in twenty-four hours, and of a deep scarlet 
in three days; but the bones of adult animals 
will be a fortnight in acquiring a rose-color. 

Best Method of Hay-making. 
Instead of allowing the hay to lie, as usual in 
most places, for some days in the swath after it 
is cut, never cut hay but when the grass is quite 
dry, and then make the gatherers follow close 
upon the cutters ; put it up immediately into small 
cocks about three feet high each, and of as small 
a diameter as they can be made to stand with ; 
always giving each of them a slight kind of 
thatching, by drawing a few handsful of the hay 
from the bottom of the cock all round and laying 
it lightly upon the top, with one of the ends 
hanging downwards. This is done with the utmost 
ease and expedition ; and when once in that state 
the hay is, in a great measure, out of danger ; for 
unless a violent wind should arise immediately 
after the cocks are put up, nothing else can hurt 
the hay ; as no rain, however violent, can pene- 
trate into these cocks but for a very little way ; 
and if they are dry put up they never sit together 



so closely as to heat, although they acquire, in a 
day or two, such a degree of firmness as to be in 
no danger of being overturned by wind after that 
time, unless it blows a hurricane. 

In these cocks allow the hay to remain until, 
upon inspection, the farmer judges it will keep in 
pretty large tramp-cocks (which is usually in a 
week or two, according as the weather is more or 
less favorable), when two men, each with a long- 
pronged pitchfork, lift up one of these small cocks 
between them with the greatest ease, and carry 
them one after another to the place where the 
tramp cock is to be built; and in this manner 
proceed over the field till the whole is finished. 

Mode of Hay-making in England. 
The clover is cut, and after it has lain four or 
five days in the swath, till it is sufficiently dry, 
the hay-maker, with a rake, rolls up a sufficient 
quantity to form a ripple, which is set up in the 
form of a cone. Taking a few of the longest 
straws he twists them round the top, which forms 
the point of the cone, keeps the ripple compact, 
and shoots off the rain. In taking up the clover 
from the swath and forming the ripple, it is 
necessary to keep the upper or dry part inwards : 
by that means it is much sooner dry, and in a fit 
state for the stack. It is generally necessary for 
clover to remain five or six days in the ripple 
before it is put into the stack ; but that depends 
on the state of the weather. There is no occasion 
to untie the ripples. The method of rippling is 
not so expensive as cocking; it is much superior 
both in wet and dry seasons not so liable to bo 
injured by the wet much sooner dry, and of 
course of a better quality and more nourishing 
for cattle. Each ripple will weigh, when dry, 
about four or five pounds. They should not be 
made too large. Except where meadow grass is 
very long it would not be practicable to ripple it. 
The practice of rippling is simple, attended with 
little trouble or expense, and whenever t;ied will 
recommend itself. 

To manage Cut Grass for Hay. 
Grass, when cut for hay, ought to be quickly 
raked, in order that its powers may neither be 
exhausted by the sun nor dissipated by the air. 
In the first stage small cocks are preferable, and 
on after days these may be gathered into large 
ones or hand-ricks, by which method the hay is 
equally made and properly sweetened. After 
standing eight or ten days in these ricks, accord- 
ing to the nature of the weather, hay may be 
carted home and built in stacks of sufficient size 
for standing through the winter months. 

Buckwheat. 

This thrives among mountains better than on 
lowlands. Sow in July. It grows ripe with frost j 
the seeds grow black after a frost. 

Importance of Straw in Husbandry. 

This is a subject that has not always been so 
much attended to as its importance deserves. 

Though many useful observations on straw are 
occasionally introduced in agricultural writings, 
and though its value, as the basis of future crops, 
is fully admitted by every intelligent farmer, yet 
the subject has seldom been professedly treated 
of at any length : we shall endeavor, therefore, to 
compress the most important particulars con- 
nected with it under the following heads : 

1. The weight of straw produced on an average 
of the different crops of grain and pulse per 
statute acre. 

2. The value of the different kinds of straw, and 



STRAW. 



3. The various uses to which each kind of straw 
It applicable. 

Weight of Straw produced by the different Crops. 

The quantity of straw per acre differs according 
to a variety of circumstances j as, 1. The speciel 
of grain, whether wheat, barley, oats, etc. 2 
The different kinds of the same grain. 3. The 
season, for in dry seasons the quantity is less 
than in moist 4. The soil, for in fertile soils 
the straw is more abundant than in poor ones. 
6. The season when the seed is sown, for spring, 
gown wheat has less straw than the winter-sown 
And, 6. The manner in which the straw is cut, 
for an inch or two at the root- end of the straw 
makes a great addition to the dunghill. 

From a statement by Mr. Young it would ap- 
pear that the average produce in straw of all the 
different crops, stubble included, may be calculated 
at 1 ton, 7 cwt. per acre, but that is rejecting the 
weaker soils. 

It is calculated by Mr. Brown, of Markle, tha 
yn an average of years, the produce of straw in 
good land and under tolerable management, wil 
be nearly in the following proportion per acre : 

Wheat, 2240 

Beans and peas, 1820 

Oats, ...*... 1820 

Barley, 1400 



Total, 



7280 



Or, at an average of these crops, 130 stone per 
acre, 22 Ibs. avoirdupois per stone j in all 2860 
Ibs., or 1 ton, 5 cwt., 2 quarters and 4 Ibs. 

It may be safely estimated that on an average 
of years well cultivated and fertile soils, when 
the crop is carefully cut down, will annually pro- 
duce, on the average of the crops above mentioned, 
1 ton, 5 cwt. per acre. 

Value of the different kinds of Straw. 

The intrinsic value of straw must vary materi- 
ally, according to its leading properties, the quan- 
tity of manure into which it may be converted by 
littering, or its fitness to be employed as thatch, 
these being the chief uses to which it is applicable ; 
but in general its price depends on its vicinity to 
large towns. It is only in situations where foreign 
manure can be procured easily and at a cheaper 
rate ihan by converting the straw raised upon the 
farm into dung that the sale of straw is ever per- 
mitted. Two loads of wheat-straw per acre are 
reckoned a tolerable crop. 

As straw is rarely permitted to be sold, being 
usually employed in maintaining winter stock, the 
real value of the article to the farmer is but in- 
considerable, depending upon the quantity and 
quality of the dung it produces. So little is it 
thought necessary accurately to ascertain the value 
of straw, that in several cases it has been given by 
the outgoing to the incoming tenant as an equiva- 
lent for the expense of harvesting, threshing and 
marketing the last crop. It is often thought in- 
sufficient to cover even that expense, and a fur- 
ther abatement is allowed on the price of the 
grain. 

Various purposes to which Straw is applicable. 

The subject of feeding with straw will be better 
understood by considering the specific properties 
of the different kinds of straw employed in feed- 
ing stock, and the rules that ought to be observed 
when stock are fed with that material. 

Wheat Straw. 

This kind of straw, from its strength, is con- 
dered to be peculiarly calculated both for litter 



threshing, and indeed wherever the practice ' which would improve both. 



< r 47 

of cutting straw into chaff ftr mixing with grain 
for horses prevails, wheat %aw/1s preferred. 
When given to cattle or horses, it IB sometimes cut 
into chaff, and either given raw In that state, or 
what is greatly preferred, steamed with other food, 
in particular with potatoes. 

In order to improve wheat straw as fodder, it is 
the practice in some parts of England to cut the 
grain rather green, which preserves more of the 
natural juices, and consequently makes the fodder 
better. Some of the best farmers are accustomed 
to cut wheat much earlier than common in their 
respective districts. One of these was a miller in 
Norfolk, who occupied a large farm, where he 
always cut his wheat several days before any one 
else thought of beginning, well knowing the good 
consequences in the value of the grain. It must 
then be less apt to be injured by shaking or 
harvesting. 

Oat Straw. 

Among the culmiferous grains, the straw of the 
oat is considered to be the best fodder, when given 
uncut. It is well known, indeed, that oat straw, 
during the winter season, is almost universally 
given instead of hay, in all the best cultivated 
counties of Scotland during the winter monthY, 
though that of peas and beans is certainly pre- 
ferred where both are grown. 

In some districts farmers cut oats in the straw 
into a species of fodder, which is called "cut 
meat." This is given not only to horses, but to 
cattle, especially fattening cattle. It is thought 
to give not only fatness but a fineness of skin to 
all sorts of stock. 

Bean Straw. 

If well harvested this straw forms a very hearty 
and nutritious kind of food for cattle in the win- 
ter season. Both oxen and horses, when duly 
supplied with oats in proportion to the work they 
have to execute, thrive well on it, and the reduced 
parts, or what is termed in England the coving- 
chaff, is found valuable as a manger food for the 
laboring teams; when blended with other sub- 
stances it is probable that, in particular cases, the 
stems might be cut into chaff with advantage, but 
when made use of in these methods it should be 
used as fresh as possible after being threshed. A 
mixture of bean straw (which by itself is rather 
dry), and of peas-haum, which is sweet and nour- 
ishing, makes excellent fodder. 

But though this straw, more especially when 
mixed with peas-haum, is of great value as fodder 
to the working stock of the farm, it does not suit 
well with riding-horses, as it is apt to hurt their 
wind. In some horses both bean-straw and peas- 
are apt to occasion colic pains, or the dis- 
ease which is called botts, probably occasioned by 
flatulency. For this disease, about half an ounce 
or a tablespoonful of laudanum is found to be a 
good remedy. 

Pea Straw. 

In Scotland the haum of peas is used as fodder 
"or working-horses instead of hay, and when well 
larvested forms a very excellent provender, inso- 
much that it is considered to be of almost equal 
value to the grain itself. 

Tare-straw or ffay. 

This is an article strongly recommended by some 
armers ; for when the land has been dunged and 
he seed good, the produce is considerable. The 
crop should be cut as soon as the blossoms begin 
;o fall off or the pod to form, and the whole, con- 
verted into hay-tares, require a great deal of sun 
o cure, and rain is very injurious to them. It 
would be a good plan to mix them with dry straw, 



AGRICULTUKE. 



Itules regarding the consumption of Straw in feed- 
ing Cattle. 

Straw is much used in the feeding of cattle in 
Scotland, and there can be no doubt that oxen 
will feed well on straw and turnips, if the straw 
be good. It is recommended in all cases that for 
a month or six weeks after a bullock is put to tur- 
nips, straw only should be given with them. But 
in the more advanced stages of fattening, hay is 
go much superior, that it should if possible be 
supplied. It is certain, at the same time, that hay 
is a very expensive food for stock, and ought to 
be saved as much as possible where it can pru- 
dently be done. It is well known that a full 
allowance of turnips and straw, during the winter 
months, will fatten better than a small allowance 
of hay in place of the straw. In the spring, hay, 
which retains its nutritive juices longer than 
straw, is much more valuable, both for fattening 
stock and feeding horses, and it is therefore the 
practice to reserve hay for about three months' 
consumption of these kinds of stock, and for no 
others. 

Rules for Feeding Horses with Straw. 

In regard to horses, hay may very often be 
more or less scarce or dear ; but with straw and 
the oats, which must always be given them whe- 
ther they get straw or hay, they not only plough 
three-fourths of an acre per day, or work from 
seven to eight hours at other labor, but are actu- 
ally full of flesh and vigor when sowing com- 
mences. They must, however, have hay instead 
of straw, when the severe labor of spring takes 
place. 

When, therefore, farmers' horses are so much 
reduced in condition as to be unable to go through 
the severe labor of spring, it is owing to their not 
having got a sufficient quantity of oats or corn. 
Pea. and bean-straw certainly make the best fodder, 
when not injured by rain ; but if that kind of straw 
,is damaged in harvest, white straw is to be pre- 
ferred. 

Rules for Feeding Sheep with Straw. 
'There is no food of which sheep are fonder than 
pea-straw. The soil of pastoral districts being 
rarely of a kind calculated for peas, any extensive 
cultivation of that grain is impracticable; but 
where circumstances are favorable to that crop, 
peas ought to be cultivated, were it merely for 
the straw, as it would enable the store-farmers to 
carry on their system of sheep-farming with 
much more advantage. Indeed, the same plan 
might be advisable in other districts. It might 
be proper to add, that for ewes at yeaning time, 
lentil-hay is better than tare-hay or even pea- 
hautu. 

Miscellaneous Rules and Observations regarding 
the Consumption of Straw. 

On turnip farms it is the usual practice to feed 
horses till March, where the labor is not severe, 
and cows through the winter, with oat-straw, 
whilst the fattening and straw-yard cattle get 
the straw of wheat and barley. If any peas 
or beans be cultivated on the farm, that straw 
being given to the horses, a part of the oat-straw 
may be left for the fattening and straw-yard cat- 
tle. Upon turnip farms, it is not thought profit- 
able to cut the greater part of the clovers for hay. 
These are usually eaten by sheep, and no more 
hay paved than what may serve the horses, cows, 
and fattening stock for eight or ten weeks, imme- 
diately before grass, with a small quantity occa- 
sionally given to the.sheep fed on turnips. 

The expense of feeding even the horses alone, 
for eight months, on hay, would be more than a 



farmer can well afford; at the same time it is a 
rule with the best farmers to give hay to their 
horses in the early part of winter; then peas or 
bean-straw till seed-time commences in the spring; 
and afterwards hay. 

Straw keeps much better unthreshed, in a large 
stack, than in a barn. Straw in general, more es- 
pecially white straw, is found to lose its value a? 
fodder, in whatever way it may be kept, after 
the sharp dry breezes of the spring months have 
set in. 

It is a general rule that straw, when intended 
to be used as food for stock, should be given as 
speedily as possible after it is threshed. The 
threshing separates and exposes it so much, that 
if kept long it is, comparatively speaking, of little 
value as fodder. Lisle, an intelligent writer on 
agriculture, and a practical farmer, states, that he 
found cows did not eat straw so well on a Monday 
morning as they did the rest of the week, because 
the straw was not fresh from the flail. Straw, 
therefore, should be constantly made use of, as 
soon after it is threshed as possible: for by keep- 
ing it becomes either musty or too dry, and cattle 
do not eat it, or thrive on it so well. It cannot 
be doubted that air has a very injurious effect 
upon all kinds of fodder, and the more it can be 
kept from the influence of the sun and the atmo- 
sphere, the better. It is seldom given as fodder, 
unless to straw-yard cattle, after the month of 
March. 

When clover is sown with grain crops, the clo- 
ver has often arrived at such a length as to mix 
with the straw in cutting the crop. This certainly 
improves the straw in good harvests ; but as little 
clover as possible should be cut with the straw, as 
it makes it very difficult to secure the crop, unless 
it be left upon the ground for several days. 

Straw as applicable to Litter. 

Straw, when mixed with the dung and the urine 
of cattle, horses, etc. etc., is a rich and excellent 
manure; but even alone, when ploughed in, or de- 
composed by pure simple water, it is of use. All 
the various sorts of straw answer the purposes of 
litter. Some farmers contend that rye-straw is 
the best litter; others prefer the straw of wheat, 
which absorbs, it is said, so much urine and moist- 
ure, that a cart of wheat-straw is supposed equal 
in' value to three carts of well-made dung. In 
England the straw of peas and beans is extremely 
valuable, forming, it is said, when well broken by 
threshing, a desirable litter for working-horses, 
hogs, and other stock; but in Scotland it is never 
used as litter, unless it has been spoilt by bad 
management or a most unseasonable season in 
harvest, as its feeding properties there are so well 
known. Littering is of use, not only for convert- 
ing straw into manure, but for keeping the ani- 
mals warm and dry. In fact cattle cannot be 
soiled on clover, or fed on turnips, without abua- 
dance of litter. 

There are four modes of converting straw into 
dung by littering stock: 1. In stalls or stables; 
2. In hammels; 3. In fold-yards; and 4. In open 
folds, where sheep are littered with straw. . 

The quantity of dung produced from a given 
quantity of straw depends a good deal upon the 
kind of straw that is used (as some kinds absorb 
much more moisture than others), and upon the 
degree of care employed in preparing the dung. 
Speaking generally, the original weight of straw 
may be tripled, if the manufacturing process be 
properly conducted, and the dung applied to the 
ground before its powers are lessened or ex- 
hausted. The quantity of dung which may be 
made from an acre, especially if the dung arising 



DRAINAGE. 



49 



from clover, turnips, and hay, consumed on a 
farm, is included in the general stock, will be 
/ something more than four tons; consequently, 
any farm of decent soil may be manured at the 
rate of twelve tons per acre, every third year, from 
its own produce, provided the corn crops are cut 
with accuracy and the straw manufactured into 
dung in a husbandman-like manner. 

Straw as applicable to Thatching. 

For many ages straw was the common material 
for roofing farm-buildings and cottages, and was 
formerly made use of even in towns. The expense 
of a thatched roof is not great, in so far as respects 
labor; and the value of the straw is, to the grower, 
either the price he could obtain for it, or that of 
the dung that could be made from it, as the kind 
used for thatch is seldom used as fodder. Where 
economy must be attended to in the building of 
cottages, straw is taken as the least costly mate- 
rial; but in these days, when manure is so ex- 
tremely valuable, as little straw as possible should 
be spared for other purposes. 

The durability of a thatched roof is likewise 
maintained. A good coat of thatch will need very 
little repair during an ordinary lease. But care 
must be taken that the straw is very clean 
threshed. If it is not, the grain left will soon 
spring, and introduce putrefaction and encourage 
vermin. The threshing-mill renders straw less fit 
for thatch than when it is threshed by the flail. 

In Great Britain, wheat is seldom threshed with 
the straw, but the ears are cut off, and the straw, 
bound in sheaves, and tied very light, is used for 
thatching. 

Miscellaneous Uses of Straw. 

It is well known that various articles are manu- 
factured from straw, such as bonnets, and other 
ornaments for the ladies. Even in remote coun- 
ties in England, the straw manufacture is car- 
ried on. The straw is prepared in London, and 
the plait is returned to that market. Straw-plait- 
ing is the principal manufacture in Bedfordshire. 
The quantity thus used is very considerable, and 
it furnishes employment for numbers of persons 
who might otherwise with difficulty find the means 
of subsistence. 

In some districts straw mixed with clay is used 
for building the walls of houses or gardens, and 
with the same mixture for the roofs of houses, 
instead of the common mode of thatching. 

In districts on the sea-shore, it is common for 
experienced farmers to keep in reserve a consid- 
erable proportion of their vneat or barley straw, 
and to make it into a dunghill, alternately with 
the sea-ware, stratum upon stratum, till both are 
exhausted. This is an excellent plan where the 
ea-weed cannot be immediately applied, but it is 
the best system to plough it in, when obtained. 

In some places great quantities of bean-haum, 
as well as common straw, are bought up at potash 
manufactories, and burnt for the ashes. 

Straw is alsj used for stuffing beds. For this 
purpose the chaff of oats is found to be a material 
not much inferior to ordinary feathers ; and being 
o much cheaper, chaff beds are almost univer- 
sally used by the lower orders in Scotland. 

Another purpose to which straw is applied, is 
that of packing ; and it is proper to observe that 
the quantity used in packing china and stone- 
ware, in the districts where these manufactories 
Srevail, is found to be a serious injury to the 
irmer. 

Rev. James Hall has ascertained that every 
bean-stalk, according to its size, contains from 
twenty to thirty-five filaments, which are of a 



nature among the strongest and most durable 
hitherto discovered. He calculates that on an 
average there are about 200 Ibs. weight of such 
filaments on an acre, capable of being applied t 
various useful purposes, where durability and 
strength, rather than fineness and delicacy, are re- 
quired. A tolerable paper is now made of straw. 

To tinder-drain Clay Lands. 

This operation is always best performed in 
spring or summer, when the ground is dry. 
Main drains ought to be made in every part of the 
field where a cross-cut or open drain was formerly 
wanted ; they ought to be cut four feet deep, upon 
an average. This completely secures them from 
the possibility of being damaged by the treading 
of horses or cattle, and being so far below the 
small drains, clears the water finely out of them. 
In every situation, pipe turfs for the main drains, 
if they can be had, are preferable. If good stiff" 
clay, a single row of pipe-turf; if sandy, a double 
row. When pipe-turf cannot be got conveniently, 
a good wedge drain may answer well, when the 
subsoil is a strong, stiff clay; but if the subsoil 
be only moderately so, a thorn drain, with couples 
below, will do still better ; and if the subsoil is 
very sandy, except pipes can be had, it is in vain 
to attempt under-draining the field by any other 
method. It may be necessary to mention here 
that the size of the main drains ought to be regu- 
lated according to the length and declivity of the 
run, and the quantity of water to be carried off by 
them. It is always safe, however, to have the 
main drains large, and plenty of them; for economy 
here seldom turns out well. 

Having finished the main drains, proceed next 
to make a small drain in every furrow of the field, 
if the ridges formerly have not been less than fif- 
teen feet wide. But if that should be the case, first 
level the ridges, and make the drains in the best 
direction, and at such a distance from each other 
as may be thought necessary. If the water rises 
well in the bottom of the drains, they ought to be 
cut three feet deep ; and in this case would dry 
the field sufficiently well, although they were from 
twenty-five to thirty feet asunder ; but if the water 
does not draw well to the bottom of the drains, 
two feet will be a sufficient deepness for the pipe- 
drain, and two and a half feet for the wedge-drain. 
In no case ought they to be shallower where th 
field has been previously levelled. In this in- 
stance, however, as the surface water is carried off 
chiefly by the water sinking immediately into th 
top of the drains, it will be necessary to have the 
drains much nearer each other say from fifteen 
to twenty feet. If the ridges are more than fif- 
teen feet wide, however broad and irregular 
they may be, follow invariably the line of the 
old furrows, as the best direction for the drains ; 
and, where they are high-gathered, ridges, from 
twenty to twenty-four inches will be a sufficient 
depth for the pipe-drain, and from twenty-four to 
thirty inches for the wedge-drain. Particular 
care should be taken in connecting the small and 
main drains together, so that the water may har 
a gentle declivity, with free access into the main 
drains. 

When the drains are finished, the ridges are 
cleaved down upon the drains by the plough; and 
where they had been very high formerly, a second 
clearing may be given ; out it is better not to lvel 
the ridges too much, for by allowing them to re- 
tain a little of their former shape, the ground 
being lowest immediately where the drains are, 
the surface water collects upon the top of the 
drains; and, by shrinking into them, gets freely 
away. After the field is thus finished, run the 



50 



AGRICULTURE. 



new ridges across the small drains, making them 
about nine or ten feet broad, and continue after- 
wards to plough the field in the same manner as 
dry land. 

It is evident from the above method of drain- 
ing that the expense will vary very much, accord- 
ing to the quantity of main drains necessary for 
the field, the distance of the small drains from 
each other, and the distance the turf is to be 
carried. 

The advantage resulting from under-draining, 
ia very great; for besides a considerable saving 
annually of water furrowing, cross cutting, etc., 
the land can often be ploughed and sown to ad- 
vantage, both in the spring and in the fall of the 
year, when otherwise it would be found quite im- 
practicable ; every species of drilled crops, such as 
beans, potatoes, turnips, etc., can be cultivated 
successfully; and every species, both of green and 
white crops, is less apt to fail in wet and unto- 
ward seasons. 

To drain Lands. 

Wherever a burst of water appears in any par- 
ticular spot, the sure and certain way of getting 
quit of such an evil is to dig hollow drains to 
such a depth below the surface as is required by 
the fall or level that can be gained, and by the 
quantity of water expected to proceed from the 
burst or spring. Having ascertained the extent 
of water to be carried off, taken the necessary 
levels, and cleared a mouth or leading passage 
for the water, begin the drain at the extremity 
next to that leader, and go on with the work till 
the top of the spring is touched, which probably 
will accomplish the intended object. But if it 
should not be completely accomplished, run off 
from the main drain with such a number of 
branches as may be required to intercept the 
water, and in this way disappointment will hardly 
be experienced. Drains, to be substantially use- 
ful, should seldom be less than three feet in depth, 
twenty or twenty-four inches thereof to be close 
packed with stones or wood, according to circum- 
stances. The former are the best materials, but 
in many places are not to be got in sufficient 
quantities ; recourse, .therefore, must often be 
made to the latter, though not so effectual or 
durable. 

It is of vast importance to fill up drains as fast 
as they are dug out ; because, if left open for any 
length of time, the earth is not only apt to fall in, 
but the sides get into a broken, irregular state, 
which cannot afterwards be completely rectified. 
It also deserves attention, that a proper covering 
of straw or sod should be put upon the top of the 
materials, to keep the surface earth from mixing 
with them ; and where wood is the material used 
for filling up, a double degree of attention is ne- 
cessary, otherwise the proposed improvement may 
be effectually frustrated. 

Pit Draining. 

The pit method of draining is a very effectual 
one, if executed with judgment. When it is suffi- 
ciently ascertained where the bed of water is de- 
posited, which can easily be done by boring with 
an auger, sink a pit into the place of a size which 
will allow a man freely to work within its bounds. 
Dig this pit of such a depth as to reach the bed 
of the water meant to be carried off; and when 
this depth is attained, which is easily discerned 
by the rising of the water, fill up the pit with 
great land-stones and carry off the water by a 
stout drain to some adjoining ditch or mouth, 
whence it may proceed to the nearest river. 
Mr. Uay ley's directions for Draining Land. 

First make the main drains down the slope or 



fall of the field. When the land is very wet, or 
has not much fall, there should in general be two 
of these to a statute acre ; for the shorter the 
narrow drains are, the less liable they are to acci- 
dents. The width of the trench for the main 
drains should be thirty inches at top, but the width 
at the bottom must be regulated by the nature and 
sizp of the materials to be used. If the drain is 
to hfi made of bricks ten inches long, three inchet 
thick, and four inches in breadth, then the boltotn 
of the drain must be twelve inches: but if the 
common sale bricks are used, then the bottom 
must be proportionably contracted. In both cases 
there must be an interstice of one inch between 
the bottom bricks and the sides of the trench, and 
the vacuity must be filled up with straw, rushes, 
or loose mould. For the purpose of making these 
drains the bricks should be moulded ten inches 
long, four broad and three thick, which dimen- 
sions always make the best drain. 

To construct Main Drains. 

When the ground is soft and spongy the bottom 
of the drain is laid with bricks placed across. On 
these, on each side, two bricks are laid flat, one 
upon the other, forming a drain six inches high 
and four broad, which is covered with bricks laid 
flat. When stones are used instead of bricks, the 
bottom of the drain should be about eight inches 
in width; and in all cases the bottom of main 
drains ought to be sunk four inches below the 
level of the narrow ones, whose contents they 
receive, even at the point where the latter fall into 
them. 

The main drains should be kept open or unco- 
vered till the narrow ones are begun from them, 
after which they may be finished; but before the 
earth is returned upon the stones or bricks, it is 
advisable to throw in straw, rushes or brushwood, 
to increase the freedom of the drain. The small 
narrow drains should be cut at the distance of six- 
teen or eighteen feet from each other, and should 
fall into the main drain at very acute angles, to 
prevent any stoppage. At the point where they 
fall in, and eight or ten inches above it, they 
should be made firm with brick or stone. These 
drains should be eighteen inches wide at the top 
and sixteen at bottom. 

To Jill Drains. 

The completest method yet known is to cut the 
strongest willows, or other aquatic brushwood, 
into lengths of about twenty inches, and place 
them alternately in the drain, with one end againsk 
one side of the bottom and the other leaning 
against the opposite side. Having placed the 
strong wood in this manner, fill up the space be- 
tween them, on the upper side, with the small 
brushwood, upon which a few rushes or straw 
being laid, as before mentioned, the work is done. 
Willow, alder, asp or beach boughs, are exceed- 
ingly durable if put into the drain green, or before 
the sap is dried ; but if they are suffered to become 
dry, and then laid under ground, a rapid deqay is 
the consequence. 

As in some situations it is an object of great 
importance to save the expense of materials com- 
monly used in filling drains, a variety of devices 
have, with that view, been adopted. One of these 
is of the following nature : A drain is first dug 
to the necessary depth, narrow at bottom. Into 
the trench is laid a smooth tree or cylindrical 
piece of wood, twelve feet long, six inches in dia- 
meter at the one end and five at the other, having 
a ring fastened into the thickest end After 
strewing a little sand upon the upper side of the 
tree, the clay, or toughest part of the contents of 
the trench, is first thrown in upon it, and after 



THORN" HEDGES. 



51 



that the remainder of the earth is fully trodden 
down. By means of the ring, the tree is then 
drawn out to within a foot or two of the smaller 
or hinder end; and the same operation is re- 
peated till the whole drain is complete. Such 
a drain is said to have conducted a small run of 
water a considerable way under ground for more 
than twenty years without any sign of failure. 

To water Meadows. 

The water should be set on in the month of Oc- 
tober, and also as early in that month as possible. 
The effects of this watering are very important in 
strengthening the roots and stalks of the plants, 
and preparing them for shooting up strong and 
vigorous next spring; and the blades that now 
rise form a rough coat against winter, protecting 
the vital powers of the plants from the severity 
of that season. It sometimes happens, also, that 
by delaying the watering process too long, early 
frosts supervene, and very much impede or pre- 
vent the operation. The floods of autumn are 
very enriching to meadows; but this benefit is 
lost sight of to a certain degree when the process 
of watering is delayed too long. Indeed, the 
latter pasturage of meadows may generally be 
consumed early in October; and what may then 
remain is of no importance compared with the 
advantages to be derived from early watering. 
Besides, if the meadow must be watered in sepa,- 
rate divisions, and at different periods, it must 
happen, that by delaying the operation till No- 
vember, some parts of the meadow may receive 
no water sooner than December or January; and 
if these months are very severe, it may be wholly 
impracticable to complete the process at that 
season. 

If the land is fine and rich, it will generally be 
found that three weeks may be sufficient for the 
first turn ; if sour and coarse, four weeks may be 
necessary. The verdure will then be fine, and the 
soil rich and yielding. If scum appear on the 
grass, the water must be instantly removed. 

Should the water not overflow properly, stops 
must be placed in the small feeders. These are 
either of stones or stakes, which are firm and dur- 
able. Sods rise and float away, and boards are 
seldom firm enough, though at times they may 
answer well. If the water, after all, does not flow 
properly over, notches must be cut, in order to 
make passages for it. 

Separate divisions of meadow occupy the water 
in succession throughout winter; during which 
they ought all to receive one turn of the water, as 
above recommended, if not given in later than 
autumn. , 

In severe frosts, it is not very safe to remove 
the water, as it operates so far to protect the 
grass ; and if exposed wet to frost, it might be 
greatly injured. If it be necessary to alter the 
water in such weather, let it be done in the morn- 
ing of a dry day. 

In spring every division of the meadow requires 
to be again watered ; and the fine rich verdure 
that appears, with the soft unctuous tread of the 
Boil, are indications of advantage being obtained; 
but the appearance of a white scum warns the 
floater instantly to remove the water. 

To form Inclosnrcs. 

Inclosures, with some trifling exceptions, are 
formed in Great Britain by building stone walls, 
or planting thorn hedges. In this country rail 
fences are most used, but wire is becoming com- 
mon. According to the first method, the walls are 
either of dry stone, or of stone and lime; and in 
th * last instance lime is either used only in bed- 



ding the outer part of the wail, or applied to the 
whole of It, as circumstances may render neoos< 
sary. These walls are either coped witn sod, or 
have a cope which tapers to the top, closely built 
with stone and lime, or the coping is executed 
with large irregular stones, according to the taste 
and disposition of the persons by whom they are 
erected. A wall built with stone and lime is un- 
doubtedly the preferable fence; but the expense 
far exceeds the value of the interest a tenant gen- 
erally has in the premises. Such walls ough^ 
therefore, in every case, to be erected by the pro- 
prietor, who thus increases the value of his prop- 
erty, in a direct proportion with the increased value 
given to the land, by the erection of such fences. 
To render a stone wall useful as a fence, its 
height ought never to be less than five feet three 
inches, otherwise it will not keep in many of the 
breeds of sheep which prevail in the country. In 
erecting the fence great care ought to be taken to 
build upon a solid foundation, otherwise the wall 
is apt to incline to a side, and gradually to fall 
down. The coping should be made close, for if 
the water gets down the inside of the wall, it will 
bulge out, and finally go to ruin. 

To plant Thorn Hedges. 

When a thorn hedge is to be planted, it is of 
advantage to fallow the ground a year before- 
| hand ; and if the soil is poor, to dress it with dung, 
so that the young plants may not be oppressed 
with weeds, or stunted for want of food, when weak 
and unable to send forth their fibres in search of 
nourishment. These things being attended to, 
nnd the hedge planted, an annual cleaning ought 
to be given ; sometimes two cleanings are neces- 
sary before the hedge will thrive. It is also 
necessary to fence it at the back with paling, that 
beasts may be restrained from going over it, and 
to switch it over when two or three years of age, 
in order that it may be kept close at the bottom. 
As the hedge grows up, repeated cuttings are 
necessary, so that a wide bottom may be gained, 
without which no hedge can be considered as a 
suitable fence; and some attention is required to 
give a proper shape to the top, which is a matter 
of much importance to the welfare of the hedge. 
When thorns are allowed to grow to unequal 
heights, the strong plants are sure to smother the 
weak ones; and when the hedge becomes broad 
at the top, it retains water and snow to the great 
injury of the plant. All these evils may be 
avoided by proper management: though twelve 
years must elapse before the best- managed hedge 
can be considered as a sufficient fence. 

To protect Young Thorn Hedges. 

The expense of protecting young hedges from 
cattle, by paling and railing, have always ap- 
peared to be too great, and, at the same time, an 
unnecessary consumption of wood and nails. It 
occurred to Mr. Moore, steward to the Marquia 
of Bute, that a more economical protection might 
be effected by forming a small earthern dike upon 
the side of the ditch, opposite the line of thorns, 
sufficiently high to prevent cattle getting into the 
ditch. Accordingly, some years ago, he tried the 
experiment, and found it completely to answer his 
expectation. 

The materials of this sort of a protection being 
always on the ground, it is attended with no ex- 
pense but the workmanship, and the want of the 
use of the land occupied by this small ditch, for 
the time required will be much more than com- 
pensated by the saving of paling, railing, work- 
manship, and nails. Mr. Moore has also practised 
with success, in parts where dead thorns, or brush 



52 



AGRICULTURE; 



for cocking, are scarce, the placing of stones I 
across the top of the dike, instead of the usual 
ocking. These stones, after having served their 
purpose, will be useful for drains or dikes where 
improvements are carrying on. 

To form a Plantation. 

When a plantation of timber is to be formed, 
the first step necessary is to fence the ground that 
is to be planted, so that cattle of all kinds may be 
kept from making inroads. The ground to be 
planted ought to be completely fallowed the pre- 
ceding year, and, if in a rough or waste state, 
two years fallowing will be useful. If wet or 
boggy, open drains are to be dug through all the 
hollow places, so that superfluous moisture may be 
removed. These operations being performed, the 
planting may proceed, in executing which great 
care should be taken to make the pits of a proper 
size; and, in filling them up, that the best earth 
be returned nearest the roots. A mixture of tim- 
ber, in the same plantation, is always advanta- 
geous, and thick planting is eligible for the pur- 
pose of affording shelter. As the plantation gets 
forward, attention must be paid to thinning and 
pruning the trees, removing always those first 
that are either sickly or debilitated ; and, in this 
way, and by exercising constant attention in the 
management, timber trees will advance with much 
more rapidity, than when neglected and over- 
looked. 

Much expense is often incurred in planting 
trees, which is afterwards lost by neglecting to 
train them up. Trees indeed are, in most cases, 
put intc the earth, and then left to themselves to 
grow or die; whereas with them, as with all other 
plants, the fostering hand of man is indispen- 
sably called for in every stage of growth, other- 
wise they will rarely arrive at perfection, or make 
that return to the owner which maybe reasonably 
expected when the several processes of planting, 
pruning, and thinning are duly exercised. 

Planting trees in hedge-rows is not only preju- 
dicial to fences, but of great detriment to grain 
crops cultivated in fields surrounded by these 
hedge-rows, especially if the fields are of a small 
size. If shelter is wanted for a field, the best 
way of procuring it is to form belts, or strips of 
planting, from fifty to sixty feet wide; for timber 
trees thrive much better than when planted in 
rows, or narrow strips. All cold or moorish soils 
are greatly benefited by being inclosed in this 
way ; though it may be remarked that small in- 
closures ought to be avoided, because they occa- 
sion a great waste of ground without affording a 
benefit in other respects proportioned to the heavy 
expense entailed upon the proprietor or tenant, 
for supporting such a number of unnecessary 
fences. 

The best method of raising Oaks. 

The Dutchess of Rutland received the gold 
medal of the Society for the Encouragement of 
Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, for experi- 
ments in raising oaks. After five several experi- 
ments, her grace is of opinion that the best 
method is " to sow the acorns where they are to 
remain, and, after hoeing the rows two years, to 
plant potatoes, one row only between each row of 
oaks, for three years. The benefit to the oaks 
from planting potatoes is incalculable; for, from 
the said experiments and from others made at the 
same time, and with the same seedling oaks, 
planted with a mixture of larch, spruce, beech, 
birch, and other forest trees, and also with oaks 
only in all cases she has found that potatoes 
between the rows are so superior to all other 
methods that the oaka will actually grow as much 



the first four years with them as in six without 
them, "It appears," she observes, "that the 
great secret in raising plantations of oaks is to 
get them to advance rapidly the first eight years 
from seed, or the first five years from planting, 
so that the beads of the trees are completely united, 
and become a smothering crop ; after this is ef- 
fected the trees will appear to strive to outgrow 
each other, and will advance in height rapidly; 
they will be clean straight trees, to any given 
height : experiments have proved the fact, which 
may be verified by viewing Belvoir." 

Sugar-Cane. 

The best climate for the sugar-cane is that of 
tropical or sub-tropical regions. Although some- 
times grown in South Carolina, Tennessee, and 
Kentucky, it cannot be depended upon as a crop 
farther north than Louisiana. The principal va- 
rieties of the plant are the Creole, called also 
Malabar, the Otaheite, and the Batavian. 

The plants are, in our Southern States, put in 
between January and March; October is the sea- 
son for gathering the crop. At that time the slips 
or cuttings are selected for setting out, as the cane 
is never grown from seed. On general principles 
we venture to suggest that final deterioration is 
probable in any plant which is never renewed from 
seed. 

For planting, after breaking up the land, fur- 
rows are run four, six or eight feet apart; in these 
the slips, each having several joints, are laid, from 
two to five feet apart, and covered not very deeply. 
The spaces between the rows are ploughed or hoed 
well. In Louisiana three crops will successively 
follow from a single planting; in the West Indies 
one laying will last from ten to twenty years. 
The yield of sugar to the acre is from 500 to 5000 
or more Ibs. to the acre ; never more than 2000 in 
this country. 

When ripe the canes are cut down close to the 
ground and stripped of the leaves, which are left 
to shelter the roots through the winter. This 
trash is now and then burned or ploughed under. 
The lowest part of the cane is richest in sugar. 
All parts of the plant make good fodder. 

As soon as cut the canes should be taken to the 
mill, before fermentation sets in. There are many 
kinds of mills in use, from the simplest to the 
most powerful steam apparatus. In them all the 
canes are crushed repeatedly, so that the juice 
runs out below ; but a great deal of sugar yet re- 
mains in the bagasse. The crude syrup contains 
various impurities, and should be at once strained 
through copper or iron wire into the clarifying 
vessels. Then it is boiled fpr concentration, lime, 
being added in just sufficient quantity to neutral- 
ize the free acid, which is known by its no longer 
reddening litmus paper. The heat used should 
not be more than is necessary for boiling. In 
about twenty-four hours crystalization begins. 
The molasses is then drained out from hogsheads 
bored at the bottom. This process requires fn.m 
three to six weeks before it is fit for shipping, 1 ut 
it continues to deposit or drip molasses for some 
time afterwards. Refining or whitening the sugar 
is performed in various ways, the most useful 
agent for the purpose being animal charcoal >r 
bone-black. 

Maple Sugar. 

This is obtained by tapping the sugar-maple 
tree in the spring, while the sap is ascending vig- 
orously. The trees grow in groves or orchards in 
New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Michi- . 
gan, and Canada, as well as farther south. In 
February and March persons go to the maple 
groves and bore the trees with augers, two hole* 



SUGAR, TOBACCO, COTTON. 



53 



in each tree, near each other, two feet above the 
ground and only half an inch beyond the bark 
into the white wood. Tubes of split elder are 
then introduced, and the sap allowed to flow into 
troughs prepared for it The sap is poured into 
kettles and boiled briskly, the scum being removed 
as it forms. When it becomes a thick syrup it is 
cooled and filtered through woollen cloth. After 
a second boiling it is left for granulation in moulds 
made of birch bark. Maple sugar may be refined 
BO as to b perfectly white, but is generally eaten 
in the crude state. A good deal of it is sold in 
small cakes in the northern cities. 

Beet- Root Sugar. 

In France and Belgium this is quite largely 
manufactured. The fresh root of the sugar beet 
contains from five to twelve per cent, of sugar. 
The juice is obtained by pressure, after a kind of 
tearing or' grating process has broken up the 
fibres and cells. The liquor is then boiled with 
lime, filtered, concentrated by evaporation, and 
granulated much as cane-sugar. 

Tobacco. 

The tobacco plant will flourish as far north as 
Southern Ohio and Pennsylvania. Even in Con- 
necticut large quantities of it are now raised for 
market. The most suitable soil for it is a light, 
rich, sandy soil ; the finest qualities grow on newly 
cleared land. Tobacco consumes the strength of 
the soil more than most crops. The best fertilizer 
for it is Peruvian guano. 

Having selected a lot of newly cleared land, in 
the early part of March lay a large quantity of 
brush, leaves, etc., over the ground, and burn it 
thoroughly, then plough and pulverize the earth 
well, raking in as much ashes as possible. When 
the bed has been made smooth and firm, sow your 
seed about the middle of March, and then tramp 
it in, being careful to tramp the surface equally. 

A few days before the plants are ready for 
transplanting, the ground should be thrown into 
ridges with the plough, by throwing two furrows 
together about two feet apart, and then raking 
down to from two to three inches above the gen- 
eral level of the surface. A time of wet weather 
is the best for transplanting. Set the plants about 
eighteen inches or two feet apart in the rows. 
This work is generally done from the middle of 
May to the middle of June. 

Cultivate the plants as you would a corn crop, 
being careful to keep the ground well stoned and 
clean from weeds. The greatest enemy to con- 
tend with is the tobacco worm, which must be 
often and well looked for and destroyed. These 
worms will sometimes devour a large plant in a 
few hours. Some planters keep large flocks of 
turkeys, and train them to the tobacco field, in 
order that they may devour the worms; this 
answers well, and saves a good deal of manual 
labor. 

When the plant makes buds for seed, they must 
be broken off, or it will make small leaves. 

After the plant seems fully grown and assumes 
a yellowish cast, it is then ripe and fit for housing, 
which must be done by cutting it off at the ground 
and piercing with split sticks about four feet 
long, putting as many plants on each stick as it 
will hold without pressing them too closely to- 
gether. If a free circulation of air be prevented 
the plants will mould. When thus done, hang 
them up in an airy house, made for the purpose, 
to dry. It is better to wilt the plants in the sun 
before housing, if it can be done. 

When housed it requires nothing further until 
it has become seasoned. Then, in damp weather, 



while the leaves are pliable, strip them off, noting 
the different qualities as you proceed. Tobacco is 
generally, at this stage, divided into four qualitie* 
the ground leaves, the bright red, the dull red, 
and the tail ends, or top leaves. When there are 
large quantities to handle, it is best to have a 
stripper for each quality, the first taking off the 
ground leaves, then passing the plant to the next 
to take off the bright red, and so on until the 
leaves are all taken off. The stripper should hold 
them in his hand till he has as many as he can 
well carryj then he takes a leaf and ties around 
the stock ends of the bunch, and ties them fast. 
The bunches of leaves are then to be well packed 
in heaps, and to remain so until they begin t 
heat. Then they must be shaken out and again 
hung on the sticks and put up in the house as be- 
fore. When the bunches are packed in bulk to 
heat, the pack must be examined every twelve 
hours, lest it get too hot and spoil. 

After the bunches have undergone the ferment- 
ing process they are to be tightly packed by hand 
in hogsheads and powerfully pressed, putting from 
800 to 1000 pounds in a hogshead. It is then 
ready for market. 

Cotton. 

The most suitable soil for the cotton plant is a 
rich loam. It cannot be too rich, and it is a poor 
crop on poor land. Cotton has been raised with 
success in Delaware, and even in Pennsylvania, 
but the finest long-staple cannot be produced so 
far north. 

The seed are planted in hills, the rows three or 
three and a half feet asunder, and the plant* 
about two feet apart in the row. After springing 
it should be thinned to one plant in a hill. The 
season for planting is as early in the spring aa 
the ground can be prepared. The soil should be 
well cultivated and kept clean from weeds. 

In the fall, when the pods open, it must be 
gathered every day and stowed away Until there 
is a sufficiency to run through the cotton gin, 
which cleans it of seed. It is then packed in 
bales, when it is ready for market. The yield of 
cotton per acre is from 500 to 1000 pounds, ac- 
cording to soil, cultivation, season, etc. 

DIRECTIONS FOR THE REARING OF SILK 

WORMS. 

Procure eggs in February and March, and 
choose those of a pale slate or clay color; avoid 
all which are yellow, as they are imperfect. Keep 
them in a cold, dry place (where water will, how- 
ever, not freeze,) until the leaf buds of the mul- 
berry begin to swell. If the eggs be soiled, dip 
the paper or cloth to which they adhere in water 
once or twice, to wash off the coat with which 
they are covered, and which will impede the hatch- 
ing of the worms. It is not necessary to scrape 
off the eggs from the paper or cloth on which they 
have been deposited. Dry them quickly in a 
draught of air, and put them in one or more shal- 
low boxes lined with paper, which place, if pos- 
sible, in a small room of the temperature of 64, 
and keep it up to that degree for the first two day* 
by means of a fire in the chimney, or, still better, 
in a brick, tile, or porcelain stove, or for want of 
these in a iron stove, and use tanners' waste-brok 
turf, or charcoal for fuel, to promote and keep up 
a regular heat day and night. The third day in- 
crease the heat to 66, the fourth to 68, the fifth 
to 71, the sixth to 73, the seventh to 75, the 
eighth to 77, the ninth to 80, the tenth, eleventh 
and twelfth to 82. It is impossible to expect re- 
gularity in hatching, if reliance be placed upon 
our variable weather, and it is the regularity of 



AGRICULTUKE. 



the worms coming forth which will ensure their 
uniform growth, save much trouble in feeding and 
attending those of various ages, and cause the 
whole, or the greater part, to form their cocoons 
at the same time, provided proper care be given 
during their progress. 

When the eggs assume a whitish hue the worm 
is formed ; cover the eggs with white paper (never 
use a newspaper,) pierced full of holes the size of 
a large knitting needle; the worms when hatched 
Will creep through them ; turn up the edges of the 
paper to prevent their crawling off. Lay twigs of 
the mulberry, having two or three dry and young 
leaves on the paper, to collect the worms, and 
more as they continue to mount. For want of 
mulberry leaves feed for a short time upon lettuce 
leaves, perfectly dry ; if large they should be cut 
in strips and the mid rib thrown away, or, still 
better, feed with the twigs of the white mulberry 
tree cut up fine. The worms first hatched are the 
strongest, nevertheless, if only a few come out on 
the first day, give them away to save trouble, and 
depend upon those which appear on the second 
and third days. Give away also the produce of 
the fourth day, and then the whole stock will go 
on regularly. If it be wished to rear all that a,re 
hatched, endeavor to keep the produce of each 
day separate, by numbering the boxes and shelves. 
When the leaves on the twigs are loaded with 
worms, they are to be gently placed on clean, stout, 
white paper laid on frames with crossed rattans, 
giving them plenty of room. The shelves over 
which these frames should slide may be four feet 
square and fixed to upright posts ; they may be 
multiplied as required. Whether a distinct build- 
ing or apartment in a dwelling-house be devoted 
to a large parcel, it is absolutely necessary to se- 
cure the command of a gentle circulation of air 
by having ventilators in the windows, floors, and 
doors. 

One or more tin circular ventilators in place of 
panes of glass would always ensure a regular cir- 
culation in the apartment; they may be stopped 
when their motion is not required. Bed ants are 
deadly enemies to silk worms; to prevent their 
attacks the posts containing fixed shelves must not 
touch the ceiling, nor must the shelves reach the 
walls; the lower part of the posts should be 
smeared with thick molasses. If the worms are 
fed on tables or movable frames, their legs may 
also be smeared with molasses or put in u dish of 
water ; guard also against cockroaches, mice, and 
other vermin. 

The worms being all hatched, whether they are 
to remain in the first apartment or be removed to 
another room or distinct building, the heat must 
be reduced to 75, for as the worms grow older 
they require less heat. 

It is impossible to insure the regular hatching 
of the worms without the use of a thermometer. 

first Age that is, until the Worms have passed 
their First Moulting or changed their First Skin. 

The apartment must be light, but the sun must 
not shine on the worms in any stage. 

Feed the worms with the most tender leaves 
four times a day, allowing six hours between each 
meal ; give the smallest quantity for the first feed- 
ing, and gradually increase it at each meal be- 
tween the moultings. 

In about an hour and a half, the silk- worms de- 
vour their portion of leaves, and then remain more 
or less quiet. Whenever food is given, widen the 
*paces for them ; scattered food may be swept into 
its place. 

Experiments may be made as to the compara- 
tive advantages of using chopped or whole young 



leaves. If chopped, a sharp knife must be used, 
to prevent the leaves from being bruised, and 
thereby causing the exudation of water from them, 
which would prove injurious. On the fourth day 
the skin becomes of a hazel color and looks shin- 
ing, their heads enlarge and assume a silvery 
bright appeamnce; these are marks of their ap- 
proaching first change. Their food on this day, 
therefore, may be diminished, or when these ap- 
pearances take place, but not before. Enlarge the 
spaces as the worms increase in size. The leaves 
ought to be gathered a few hours before they aro 
used, that they may lose their sharpness : they 
keep very well in a cool cellar three days. The 
leaves ought to be gathered over night for the 
morning's meal, to prevent the danger of collect- 
ing them in rainy weather. The leaves must be 
pulled carefully, and not bruised. On the fourth 
day the appetites of the worms begin to decrease, 
preparatory to their first moulting, and their food 
must be diminished in proportion as the previous 
meal has not been completely eaten. If the pre- 
carious heat of the weather has been depended 
upon, the first change may not appear until the 
sixth or seventh day. 

In the course of the fifth day all the worms be- 
come torpid; during this period, and in the sub- 
sequent moultings, they must on no account be 
disturbed. A few begin to revive at the close of 
the fifth day; some leaves may be then given. 
After the first moulting the worms are of a dark 
ash color. 

Second Age. 

As the worms are fond of the young twigs, some 
of these should be spread over them with the leaves 
attached, upon which the worms will immediately 
fasten, and they may then be removed to a clean 
paper; or lay a strip of chopped leaves near the 
worms, and they will leave the old food. 

The litter is to be taken away; but as some of 
the worms often remain among the old leaves, they 
ought to be examined. To this end the litter 
should be removed to another room, spread out 
on a table, and a few twigs placed over it, on 
which the worms, if any, will mount, when they 
may be added to the others. This rule must be 
attended to after every moulting. Ten per cent, 
is generally allowed for loss of young worms. The 
first two meals of the first day should be less plen- 
tiful than the last two, and must consist of the 
most tender leaves; these must be continued for 
food until after the third moulting. 

If between the moultings any worms should ap- 
pear sick and cease to eat, they must be removed 
to another room, where the air is pure and a little 
warmer than that they have left, put on clean pa- 
per, and some fresh leaves, chopped fine, given to 
them; they will soon recover, and then may be 
added to the others. 

On the third day the appetite of many worms 
will be visibly diminished, and in the course of it 
many will become torpid; the next day all are 
torpid ; on the fifth day they will all have changed 
their skins and will be roused. 

The color of the worms in the second age be- 
comes a light grey, the muzzle is white, and the 
hair hardly to be seen. 

It must never be forgotten, that during the time 
the worms are occupied in moulting the food should 
be greatly diminished, and no more given than will 
satisfy those which have not yet become torpid on 
the first day, or those which have changed their 
skins before the others. 

Third Age. 

During this age the thermometer must range be- 
tween 71 and 73. The revived worma are easily 



SILK WORMS. 



55 



known by their new aspect. The latest worms 
should be placed apart, as their next moulting will 
be a day later also, or they may be put in the hot- 
test part of the room to hasten their growth. This 
rule must be observed in the next moulting in- 
crease the spaces. 

The second day the first two meals are to be 
the least copious, the last two the greatest, be- 
cause towards the close of the day the worms grow 
very hungry. The third day will require about 
the same quantity as the preceding last meals; 
but on the fourth day, as the appetites of the 
worms sensibly diminish, not more than half the 
former feed will be required. The first meal is to 
be the largest: feed those that will eat at any 
time of the day. The fifth day still less will suf- 
fice, as the greatest part are moulting; the sixth 
day they begin to rouse. Remove the litter, or 
even before they are moulted, if the worms are 
numerous. 

Fourth Age. 

The thermometer should range between 68 and 
71. If the weather be warm, and the glass rise 
several degrees higher, open the ventilators, ex- 
clude the sun, and make a slight blaze in the 
chimney, to cause a circulation of the air. Widen 
the spaces for the worms. The leaves must now 
be regularly chopped in a straw-cutting box, or 
with achopping-knife. The food is to be greatly 
increased on the second, third, and fourth days. 
On the Hfth less will be required, as in the course 
of this day many become torpid; the lirst meal on 
this day should therefore be the largest. On the 
sixth they will want still less, as nearly the whole 
will be occupied in effecting their last change of 
skin. Renew the air in the apartment by burning 
straw or shavings in the chimney, and open the 
ventilators. If the evenings be cool, after a hot 
day, admit the external air for an hour. None but 
full grown leaves should be hereafter given to the 
worms, and they must be all chopped; avoid the 
fruit, as they would prove injurious, and add 
greatly to the litter, On the seventh day all the 
worms will have roused, and thus finish their 
fourth age. The litter must be again removed. 

Fifth Age, or until the Worms prepare to Mount. 
The thermometer should be about 68. The 
constitution of the worms being now formed, they 
begin to elaborate the silk-vessels, and fill them 
with the silky material, which they decompose, 
and form from the mulberry leaves. Give abun- 
dance of room: do not let the worms lie so close 
as to touch one another, for their respiration will 
be thereby impeded. Continue to feed regularly 
and fully, as the appetite of the worms now be- 
comes voracious : give food rather five times a 
day than four; even six meals will not be too 
many. The last meal should be late at night, and 
the first the next day in the morning, at an early 
hour. The worms are not again to be moved, and 
the hurdles or feeding frames must be cleaned. 
On the seventh day of the fifth age they have at- 
tained their largest size, viz., three inches long, 
and begin to grow shining and yellow. The ap- 
petites of some diminish, but that of others con- 
tinues, and must be supplied, to hasten their ma- 
turity. The litters must be removed every two 
days during the fifth age, but not when the worms 
are moulting, unless it can be done without dis- 
turbing them. 

The preservation of the proper temperature of 
the apartment at this stage cannot be too seriously 
impressed upon the cultivator. If sudden and 
great heat in the weather should take place, as 
often happens at this time, serious loss may be 
uttered, without proper precautions. The in- 



creased heat to which the worms are exposed 
causes them to cease eating, to leave their feeding 
shelves, and to wander about the room in order to 
find corners and places to form their cocoons in 
before the silk fluid has been fully elaborated or 
matured: thus defeating, in a great measure, all 
the care previously bestowed upon them. In the 
summer of the year 1825 vast numbers of worms 
were killed by hot weather in Mansfield, Connec- 
ticut. To guard against sudden heat in the wea- 
ther, close the window shutters while the sun is 
beating on them, and keep the ventilators in the 
ceiling or other parts of the room open ; and, if 
possible, tubs of ice should be brought into the 
apartment until the thermometer shows a dimi- 
nution of temperature to the proper degree. The 
windows must also be kept open every evening, 
and until sunrise next morning, and water sprin- 
kled on the floor to promote evaporation,, and 
consequently a freshness in the air. If the worms 
should become diseased during the fourth or fii'th 
ages, oak leaves may be given to them. These 
are stated to have been found very beneficial ; but 
the species of oak is not mentioned. The white 
oak may be tried. 

Of the rearing of Silk Worms in the last period of 

the Fifth Aye ; that is, until the Cocoon is Per- 
fected. 

The fifth age can only be looked on as termi- 
nated when the cocoon is perfect. 

The cleanliness of the feeding frames in these 
last days of the fifth age requires great attention 
to preserve the health of the silk worms. 

About the tenth day of the fifth age the worms 
attain perfection, which may be ascertained by 
the following indications: 

1st. When on putting some leaves on the wick- 
ers, the insects get upon the leaves without eating 
them, and rear their heads as if in search of some- 
thing else. 

2d. When looking at them horizontally the 
light shines through them, and they appear of a 
whitish yellow transparent color. 

3d. When numbers of the worms which were 
fastened to the inside of the edges of the wickers, 
and straightened, now get upon the edges and 
move slowly along, instinct urging them to seek 
change of place. 

4th. When numbers of worms leave the centre 
of the wickers, and try to reach the edges and 
crawl upon them. 

5th. When their rings draw in and their green- 
ish color changes to a deep golden hue. 

6th. When their skins become wrinkled about 
the neck, and their bodies have more softness to 
the touch than heretofore, and feel like soft dough. 

7th. When in taking a silk worm in the hand, 
and looking through it, the whole body has as- 
sumed the transparency of a ripe yellow plum. 
When these signs appear in any of the insects, 
everything should be prepared for their rising, 
that those worms which are ready to rise may not 
lose their strength and silk in seeking for the 
support they require. Handle the worms at this 
stage with the greatest gentleness, as the slightest 
pressure injures them. When moved, they should 
be left on the twigs or leaves to which they are 
fastened, to prevent their being hurt by tearing 
them off. A blunt hook should be used to take 
up those not adhering to leaves or twigs. 
Preparation of the Hedge. 

A week or ten days before the worms are ready 
to mount, bundles of twigs of chestnut, hickory, 
oak, or of the birch of which stable-brooms are 
made, must be procured, prepared, and arranged 
in bunches, so that the worms may easily climb 



56 



AGRICULTURE. 



up them to work their cocoons. As soon as it is 
observed that the worms want to rise, the bundles 
of twigs must be arranged on the feeding trays, 
leaving fifteen inches between them. The top 
branches should touch the lower part of the tray 
above that on which they are placed, so as to form 
an arch and be placed a little aslant, that the 
worms, when climbing, may not fall off'. The 
branches should be spread out like fans, that the 
air may penetrate through all parts and the worms 
work with ease. When the worms are too near 
one another they do not work so well, and form 
double cocoons, which are only worth half a single 
round cocoon. Leave openings at the tops of the 
urves for the worms to form their cocoons in. 

As soon as the worms are prepared to rise, the 
feeding frames should be cleaned thoroughly and 
the apartment well ventilated. Put the worms 
which are ready to rise near the hedges, and give 
a few leaves to those that are still inclined to eat. 
After they have begun to rise, those that are weak 
and lazy do not eat, do not seem to be inclined to 
rise, and remain motionless on the leaves. These 
should be taken away, and put in a clean dry room 
of at least 75 of heat, where there are hurdles 
covered with paper, and the hedge prepared for 
them. The increased heat will cause them to rise 
directly. All the silk worms being off the hurdles, 
they should be immediately cleaned. The tem- 
perature of the room should be between 68 and 
71. When the worms are forming their cocoons 
the utmost silence must be preserved in the room, 
as they are very sensible to noise, and, if disturbed, 
will for a moment cease to spin; thus the con- 
tinuity of the thread will be interrupted, and the 
value of the cocoon diminished. When the co- 
coons have attained a certain consistency, the 
apartment may be left quite open. 

Sixth Aye, beginning in the Chrysalis State, and 

ending when the Moths Appear. 
The following are the necessary things to be 
done : 

I. To gather the cocoons. 

II. To choose the cocoons which are to be pre- 
erved for the eggs. 

III. Preservation of cocoons until the appear- 
ance of the moth. 

/. Gathering of the Cocoons. 

Strong, healthy, and well managed silk worms 
will complete their cocoons in three days and a 
half at farthest, reckoning from the moment when 
they first begin casting the floss. This period 
will be shorter if the silk worms spin the silk in 
a higher temperature than that which has been 
indicated, and in very dry air. 

It will be better not to take off the cocoon be- 
fore the eighth or ninth day, reckoning from the 
time when the silk-worm first rose. They may 
be taken off on the seventh, if the laboratories 
have been conducted with such regularity that 
the time may be known with certainty, when this 
may be done. 

Begin on the lower tier of hurdles and take the 
cabins down gently, giving them to those who are 
to gather the cocoons ; place a basket between two 
of the gatherers to receive the cocoons ; another 
person should receive the stripped bushes, which 
may be laid by for another year. All the cocoons 
that want a certain consistency, and feel soft, 
should be laid aside, that they may not be mixed 
with the better. Empty the baskets upon hurdles 
or trays placed in rows, and spread the cocoons 
about four fingers deep, or nearly to the top of 
the feeding frame. When Ihe cocoons are de- 
tached, the down or floss in which the silk-worms 
have formed the cocoon should be taken off. If 



the cocoons are for sale, weigh them and send 
them to the purchaser. The baskets, the floor and 
all things used, should be cleaned. 

When gathering the cocoons, make four assort- 
ments : 1st. Those designed for breed. 2d. The 
dupions, or double ones. 3d. The firmest of those 
which are to be reeled. 4th. Those of a looser 
texture. 

//. Choosing the Cocoons for the Production of 
Eggs. 

About two ounces of eggs may be saved out of 
one pound and a half of male and female cocoons, 

The small cocoons of a straw color, with hard 
ends, and fine webs, and which are a little de- 
pressed in the middle, as if tightened by a ring or 
circle, are to be preferred. There are no certain 
signs to distinguish the male from the female oo- 
coons; the best known are the following: 

The small cocoons sharper at one or both ends, 
and depressed in the middle, generally produce 
the male. The round full cocoons without ring 
or depression in the middle, usually contain the 
female. 

These may be distinguished from the dupiong 
by the extra size, the clumsy shape, rather round 
than oval, of the latter. As however all marki 
may fail, an extra number may be kept, of the 
best of those which are spun double ; and when 
the moths come out, the males and females being 
easily distinguished, an addition can be made 
from them to the defective fide. 

By shaking the cocoon close to the ear, we may 
generally ascertain whether the chrysalis be alive. 
If it be dead, and loosened from the cocoon, it 
yields a sharp sound. When dead it yields a muf- 
fled sound, more confined in the cocoon. 

///. Preservation of Cocoons intended for Seed, or 
until the Appearance of the Moth. 

Experience shows that where the temperature 
of the room is above 73 the transition of the 
chrysalis to the moth state will be too rapid, 
and the coupling will not be productive; if below 
66 the development of the moth is tardy, which 
is also injurious. Damp air will change it into a 
weak and sickly moth; the apartment should, 
therefore, be kept in an even dry temperature, be- 
tween 66 and 73. When collected spread the 
cocoons on a dry floor, or on tables, and strip 
them clean of down or floss, to prevent the feet 
of the moth from being entangled in it when 
coming out. While cleaning them, all those that 
appear to have any defect should be laid aside; 
this is the time, also, to separate the male and 
female cocoons, as far as we can distinguish them. 

Select an equal number of males and females, 
and keep the cocoons of the same day's mounting 
separate, that the moths may pierce them at the 
same time. If the good cocoons taken from the 
whole parcel, are all first mixed, and the selection 
for those intended for breeding be made from this 
general heap, many will be set aside, which were 
formed by worms that had mounted upon different 
days, and which will be pierced by the moths un- 
equally, and hence there will not be an equal num- 
ber of males and females produced at the ??.m6 
time; this irregular appearance may cause the 
loss of a great many moths, or of several thou- 
sand eggs. 

When the selection has been made, the sorted 
cocoons must be put on tables, in layers of al><>ut 
two inches, allowing the air to pass freely through 
them, that it may not be necessary to stir them 
frequently; but it is beneficial to stir them round 
once a day, if the air be moist. When the sed 
cocoons are not very numerous, they may be 



SILK WORMS. 



57 



gtrung i pou threads, and hung against a wall, or 
suspended from a beam. Just so much of the 
middle of the cocoon is to be pierced with a nee- 
dle as is sufficient to attach it to the thread. The 
middle is chosen, because it cannot be ascertained 
at which end the moth will pierce the cocoon. 
Place a male and female cocoon alternately upon 
the thread, that they may be near each other 
when they come out. 

If the heat of the apartment is above 73, every 
method of diminishing the heat should be tried : 
Buch as keeping all the apertures to the sunny 
side carefully closed, to cause thorough drafts of 
air to dry the humidity that exhales from the 
chrysalides. Should the temperature rise to 78 
or 82, the cocoons must be put in a cooler place, 
as a dry cellar. 

Seventh Age of the Silk Worm. 

The seventh, and the last age of the silk worm, 
comprises the entire life of the moth. 

The formation of the moth, and its disposition 
to issue from the cocoon, may be ascertained when 
one of its extremities is perceived to be wet, 
which is the part occupied by the head of the 
moth. A few hours after, and sometimes in one 
hour after, the moth will pierce the cocoon and 
come out ; occasionally the cocoon is so hard, and 
BO wound in silk, that the moth in vain strives to 
comes forth, and dies in the cocoon. Sometimes 
the female deposits some eggs in the cocoon be- 
fore she can get out, and often perishes in it; this 
circumstance has induced some to extract the 
chrysalis from the cocoon by cutting it, that the 
moth may have only to pierce its thin envelope; 
but the experienced Dandolo disapproves of the 
practice (although he has performed the operation 
with success) becsiuse it is tedious; and should the 
moth be put on a plain surface, five in a hundred 
will not be able to get out, but will drag the en- 
velope along, and at last die, not being able to 
disencumber themselves. If the surface be not 
smooth, the moths will issue with greater ease; it 
is very favorable to the moths when they put forth 
their head and first legs, to find some substance to 
which they may fasten, arid thus facilitate clear- 
ing out of the cocoon by the support. For this 
reason they should be spread out very thin on ta- 
bles covered with a muslin or linen cloth. The 
life of the moth lasts, in Italy, ten, eleven, or 
twelve days, according to the strength of its con- 
stitution, and the mildness of the atmosphere. 
With Mr. Dusar, of Philadelphia, the moths lived 
from five to eight days; a hot temperature accele- 
rates their operations and the drying which pre- 
cedes their death. 

Hatching of the Moths, and their Preservation. 

Cocoons kept in a temperature of 66 begin to 
be hutched after fifteen days ; those kept in a heat 
between 71 and 73, begin to come forth after 
eleven or twelve days. The room in which the 
moths are produced should be dark, or at least 
there should be only sufficient light to distinguish 
objects. This is an important rule, and must be 
carefully attended to. The moths do not come 
forth in great numbers the first or the second day, 
but. are chiefly hatched on the fourth, fifth, sixth, 
and seventh days, according to the degree of heat 
in which the cocoons have been kept. The hours 
when the moths burst the cocoons in the greatest 
numbers, are the three and four hours after sun- 
rise, if the temperature is from 64 to 66. The 
m;ile moths, the very moment they come out, go 
eagerly in quest of the female; when they are 
united, they must be placed on frames covered 
Kith linen, and made in such a manner as to 



allow the linen to be changed when soiled. 
Much care must be taken in raising the united 
moths; they must be held by the wings in order 
not to separate them. When one small table is 
filled with moths in a state of union, they are to 
be carried into a small room, sufficiently airy and 
fresh, and which can be made very dark. Hav- 
ing employed the first hours of the day in select- 
ing and carrying the united moths, the males and 
females which are found separate on the tables 
are to be brought into contact, put on frames and, 
carried into the dark room. It is easy to ascer- 
tain if there are more females than males. The 
body of the female is nearly double the size of 
that of the male ; besides, the male which is sin- 
gle, beats about its wings at the least approach 
of light; the hour must be noted at which the 
tables containing the united moths are placed in 
the dark room. 

If, after this operation is over, there still remait 
some moths of each sex, they are to be placed in 
a small box with a perforated cover, until the mo- 
ment favorable for their union arrives. From 
time to time they must be looked at, to see if they 
separate, in order that they may be brought anew 
into contact. 

When any thing is to be done in the dark cham- 
ber, as little light as possible must be admitted, 
only sufficient to distinguish objects. The more 
light there is the more the moths are disturbed 
and troubled in their operations, as light is too 
stimulating for them. The boxes are very con- 
venient to keep quiet the males which remain, and 
thus prevent the fine powder adhering to their 
wings from flying about, and the destruction of 
their wings, and consequently their vital power. 
The cocoons must be removed as fast as they are 
pierced by the moth, for being moist they com- 
municate their humidity to those which are still 
entire. The paper also on the trays, when soiled, 
is to be removed, and fresh supplied. Constant 
attention is required during the whole day, as 
there is a succession in the process of hatching, 
and union of the moths, which occasionally vary 
in relative proportion to one another. Instead of 
a frame paper may be used for receiving the eggs. 
A few good cocoons will not produce moths, 
owing to their hardness, which prevents the moth 
from making a hole by which to come forth. 

Separation of the Moth and laying the Eggs. 

If there be an excess of males they must be 
thrown away ; if of females, males must be allotted 
to them, which have already been in a state of 
union. Great care must be taken when the couples 
are separated not to injure the males. The male 
ought not to remain united more than six hours; 
after the lapse of that time take the moths by the 
wings and body and separate them gently. All 
the males which are no longer in union must be 
placed upon a frame, the most vigorous after- 
wards selected and united with those females 
which have not yet had a mate. Other vigorous 
males must be preserved in a separate box, and 
kept in darkness. When there is a want of 
males let them remain united to the female the 
first time only five hours instead of six; the fe- 
males are not injured by waiting for the male even 
many hours; the only loss sustained is that of 
some eggs, which are not impregnated. Before 
separating the two sexes prepare in a cool, dry, 
airy chamber the linen on which the moth is to 
deposit its eggs. 

Six hours, as just said, is the usual time for the 
moths to remain united, for in that time the eggs 
of the female will be fully impregnated. It is 
also the general practice not to use the mal '' 



53 



AGRICULTURE. 



another female, but Mr. Delonchamps assures us 
that in the event of having more female than male 
moths, the latter may be again used to profit. In 
the year 1824 he raised many worms from eggs 
the produce of a sixth coupling, which were fully 
equal to those produced from those at the first; 
the union continued never less than from twenty 
to twenty-four hours; the male after a sixth union 
appeared & lively and as brisk as at first, but he 
had no more females. The eggs from even a thir- 
teenth union of the same male with different fe- 
males had all the characters of those of the best 
quality. In these cases the disunion of the pair 
was, moreover, never spontaneous, but always re- 
quired to be effecttd by the hands. 

The following is the manner in which the cloth 
must be arranged : 

At the bottom of a tressel or frame, which must 
be proportioned to the number of moths, place 
horizontally on each side of the length two boards, 
BO arranged that one of their sides may be nailed 
to the tressel about five inches and a half high 
above the ground, and that the other side of the 
board shall be a little higher and project out- 
wards. Upon the tressel lay a cloth, so that it 
may hang equally on each side. The ends of 
the cloth must cover the boards below; the more 
perpendicular the lateral parts of the tressel are 
the less soiled will be the cloth by the evacuation 
of the liquid from the moths. The moths which 
have been united six hours are then to be gently 
separated, the females placed on the frame and 
carried to the tressel and placed on the cloth, 
one over another, beginning at the top and 
going downwards. Note the time at which the 
moths are pluced on the cloth, and keep those which 
are placed afterwards separate, to avoid confusion. 

The females that have had a virgin mate must 
be treated \r. the same manner as those which 
have been united with one that had been coupled 
previously five hours. The females should be 
left on th cloth thirty-six or forty hours without 
being touched; at this time if it be observed that 
the linen has not been well stocked with eggs, 
other females must be placed upon it, in order 
that the eggs may be equally distributed. When 
the heat of the room is 77 or 79, or when at 63 
or 65, the eggs will be yellow, that is unimpreg- 
nated, or of a reddish color, that is imperfectly 
impregnated, and will not produce worms; the 
temperature of the room must therefore be kept 
between these extremes. Sometimes a female moth 
will escape from its mate before impregnation and 
produce many worthless eggs. 

The female cocoons, as before noted, are gene- 
rally larger than the males and not so much 
pointed as these are, and are without the ring or 
depression in the middle, which commonly distin- 
guishes the cocoons containing the latter. 

Eight or ten days after the deposition of the 
eggs the jonquil color peculiar to them will change 
to a reddish gray, and afterwards into a pale clay 
hue ; they are of a lenticular form, and on both 
surfaces there is a slight depression. 

Preservation of the Eggs. 

Collect the eggs which have fallen on the cloth 
covering the shelves of the tressel, when quite 
dry, and put them in a box, and, if numerous, in 
layers not more than half the breadth of the fin- 
ger. The cloths raised from the tressel when quite 
dry are to be folded and placed in a dry room, the 
temperature of which does not exceed 65, nor 
below the freezing point, 32. 

During the summer the cloths must be exam- 
ined every month, to remove insects, and to pre- 
serve the cloths always in fresh air ; if the quan- 



tity be large, place them on a frame of cord at- 
tached to the ceiling or a rafter. A barrel-hoop 
crossed with stout pack-thread will make a good 
frame. A small quantity may be kept in a tin case. 
If a board box be used the joints and edges of the 
top should be pasted with paper to exclude ants. 

There exists a notion that every two or three 
years the eggs should be changed. It requires 
little to be said on this egregious error. To sup- 
pose that the good cocoons of a cultivator, after a 
few years, are no longer fit to produce seed, and 
yet that these cocoons can give good seed for the 
use of another, would be to admit a superstitious 
contradiction, which reason, practice, and science 
alike condemn. A change of seed can only be 
necessary when, from great neglect for a series of 
years of the worms, a diminutive race has been 
produced. Worms properly treated will never 
degenerate. On the subject of the degeneracy of 
silk-worms, in the United States, the most posi- 
tive information can be given. 

Mr. Samuel Alexander, of Philadelphia, says: 
"I am convinced that silk worms cultivated in 
Pennsylvania, instead of degenerating, improve; 
proof of which I possess, in comparing the co- 
coons of four years since with those of the last 
year. I can say, with truth, the worms hatched 
from the eggs I brought from the south of Eu- 
rope have produced annually better silk." The 
testimony of Mr. Sharrod M'Call, of Florida, is 
still more decisive. 

A sample of beautiful sewing-silk, sent with his 
communication to the Secretary of the Treasury, 
was part of a parcel produced by worms, the stock 
of which he has had thirty years; and they were 
obtained from a maternal ancestor, who had pos- 
sessed them many years before. 

During all this long period no degeneracy has 
been observed. Let proper care be taken of silk- 
worms, and no deterioration will take place. 

The time has passed when the idle reveries of 
Buffon, Robertson, De Pauw, and others, respect- 
ing the tendency of nature "to belittle" and de- 
generate everything foreign in the new world, 
were received as truths. Facts, proud facts, de- 
monstrate not only the absurdity of their positions, 
but the superiority of many American animals and 
vegetables, when compared with similar produc- 
tions in the old world, 

To bake Cocoons. 

Cocoons reel more readily, and yield silk of a 
superior quality, without killing the insect by 
either steam of hot water, or by baking them; but 
those who have not the means of reeling off their 
cocoons in two or three days after they are formed, 
or of selling them, must kill the insects they con- 
tain, or they will eat through, and spoil the co- 
coons by breaking the continuity of the thread. 
The easiest way to do this is to bake them in an 
oven, which must be about as hot as when bread 
has been taken out of it. After picking out all 
the spotted cocoons, put the rest in flat baskets, 
filling them within <m inch of the top; cover them 
with paper, and a wrapper over it; put these bas- 
kets in the oven, and after an hour draw them 
out and cover them with a woollen rug, leaving 
the wrapper as it was. Let them stand five or six 
hours, to keep in the heat and stifle the chrysalis. 
Then spread them in thin layers on shelves, and 
move them every day (to prevent their becoming 
mouldy) until perfectly dry. ft may be impor- 
tant to state that the birth of the moth may be 
prolonged a month, by keeping the cocoons in a 
very cold dry cellar. If the cocoons are kept 
over summer, they must be protected from an'.d, 
mice, and cockroaches. 



MULBERRY TREE. 



59 



OH the Culture of the White Mulberry Tree. 

The proper soils for this tree are dry, sandy, or 
stony; the more stony the better, provided the 
roots can penetrate them. The situation should 
be high: low, rich, and moist lands never pro- 
duce nourishing leaves, however vigorously the 
trees may grow. They are always found to be too 
watery. The same remark may be made upon 
the leaves of young seedling plants, which will 
not produce good or abundant silk, and are 
only proper when the worms are young, say in 
their first two ages. It may be useful to have a 
parcel of these growing in a warm situation, that 
they may come forward before large trees, and 
serve for early food. 

Mulberry trees may be propagated by 1st, 
seed; 2d, grafting; 3d, budding; 4th, layers; 5th, 
cuttings; 6th, suckers. 

The ripe fruit may be sown in drills, in ground 
previously prepared; or the seeds may be washed 
out of the pulp, and mixed with an equal quantity 
of sand or fine mould, and then sown. They should 
be covered about a quarter of an inch deep. The 
seeds will soon vegetate, if the ground be rich, and 
will live through the winter, unless the cold should 
be unusually severe. A quantity of plants from 
seed* thus treated lived through the coldest win- 
ters in the Middle States. In very cold weather 
the young plants may be covered with straw or 
long manure. The following spring thin the plants, 
BO that they may stand one foot apart at least. 
Seeds intended to be sown in the spring, or to be 
kept, should be washed out, as they are apt to 
heat or to mould, if permitted to remain in the 
fruit. Land destined for spring sowing should be 
dug or ploughed in the preceding autumn, left 
rough ail winter, and be harrowed or raked fine, 
as soon as the season will permit, and the seed 
sown in drills. The young plants must be watered 
in dry weather, and weeds carefully kept down. 
Weeds will not only stint the growth of the plants, 
but cause disease in them, which may affect the 
future vigor and health of the tree. In the second 
year transplant them to two feet distance from one 
another, to give room for cleansing and dressing 
the land. When transplanting, cut off some of the 
roots, especially those that are ragged or decayed, 
and the tap-root, to force out lateral roots; and 
also the tops, at six or seven inches from the 
ground. When the plants in the nursery have 
sprung, strip off the side buds, and leave none but 
such as are necessary to form the head of the tree. 
The buds which are left should be opposite to one 
another. If the plants in the nursery do not shoot 
well the first year, in the month of March follow- 
ing cut them over, about seven inches from the 
ground, and they will grow briskly. They should 
be watered with diluted barn-yard water. 

When the plants have grown to the size of one 
inch in diameter, plant them out in fields or places 
where they are to remain, and make the hole six 
feet square; trim the roots, and press the earth on 
the roots as the holes are filled. During the first 
year of planting out, leave all the buds which the 
young trees have pushed out on the top till the 
following spring, when none are to be left but 
three or four branches to form the head of the 
tree. The buds on those branches should be on 
the outside of them, that the shoots may describe 
a circle round the stem, and that the interior of 
the tree may be kept open; and as the buds come 
out rub off all those on the bodies of the trees. 
For several years after, every spring open the 
beads of the trees when to: thick of wood, and 



cut off any branch which crosses or takes I ho lead 
of the rest, leaving two buds on the outside of 
every trimmed branch. Count Verri, of Italy, an 
experienced cultivator of the mulberry tree, re- 
commends to leave only one bud at the end of 
every branch, preferring those which are outside 
and opposite to each other; and when three buds 
appear together to leave the middle one, which is 
always most vigorous, and to detach the two on 
e:ich side of it. If the superior buds do not push 
well, the two next lower ones must be left. Every 
farmer knows the very great importance of dress- 
ing ground round young trees twice in the course 
of a year, and of securing them to stakes, to in- 
sure an upright, straight growth, and to prevent 
their being shaken by winds or levelled by storms. 
The trees may be planted at the usual distances 
of apple trees. The intervals may be cultivated 
in cabbages, turnips, or mangel wurt/.el. The at- 
tendance necessary to Indian corn would endan- 
ger the young trees. 

It is so much the practice in the United States 
to let trees take their chance for growing, after 
they have been planted, or sprung up from seeds 
or stones, that these particular directions may be 
disregarded. But let a comparative experiment 
be made with mulberry trees permitted to grow 
at will, and others treated as here directed, and 
the difference in their beauty and growth will be 
obvious. The advantage, in these respects, will 
be decidedly in favor of trees which have been 
attended to. 

Without deciding upon the superiority of the 
various modes of propagating mulberry trees, it is 
thought proper to mention the great advantage of 
the mode of budding. In the year 1826, Mr Mil- 
lington, of Missouri, "budded the white mulberry 
on stocks of native trees; and such as were done 
before July were forced out immediately by cut- 
ting off the stocks above the buds. Some of these 
buds made limbs more than two feet long by the 
27th of October. The buds put in after the mid- 
dle of July he did not intend to force out until 
the following spring. He thinks budding more 
expeditious and surer than engrafting, and when 
it fails does not injure the stock so much as this 
mode. Native stocks, to engraft or bud on, can 
be procured with ease; and the trees thus raised 
would not be liable to disease in their roots, like 
foreign trees : and these engrafted or budded trees 
would grow much faster, and furnish leaves much. 
sooner, and of a larger size, and better quality. 
This will not be doubted by those who have ob- 
served how much faster an engrafted tree grows, 
and how much larger its leaves are than those of a 
seedling tree." 

Experience has fully shown that the leaves of 
the native mulberry tree produce good and strong 
silk; although not so fine as that from the white 
mulberry. Those, therefore, who have only the 
native tree, may begin their operations with it; 
and they will acquire a knowledge of the business 
of rearing silk worms, while the foreign species is 
growing. 

It must be added that experience in the raising 
of the mulberry silk worm has led to much disap- 
pointment in this country. Recently, the ailan- 
thus silk worm (bombyx or attacus cynthia) has 
been introduced, and affords promise of success. 
Dr. Stewardson, of Philadelphia, and Rev. Mr. 
Morris, of Baltimore, report very favorably of its 
hardiness and productiveness. Fabrics made of 
its silk are very durable. The U. S. Agricultural 
Department, at Washington, will furuisk the eggs 
for trial. 



60 



HORTICULTURE. 



HORTICULTURE. 



To choose the lest Soil for a Garden. 
Prefer a sandy loam, not less than two feet deep, 
and good earth not of a binding nature in sum- 
mer, nor retentive of rain in winter; but of such a 
texture that it can be worked without difficulty in 
any season of the year. There are few sorts of 
fruit-trees or esculent vegetables, which require 
less depth of earth to grow in than two feet to 
bring them to perfection, and if the earth of the 
kitchen-garden be three or more feet deep, so 
much the better ; for when the plants are in a state 
of maturity, if the roots even of peas, spinach, 
kidney beans, lettuce, etc., be minutely traced, 
they will be found to penetrate into the earth, in 
search of food, to the depth of two feet, provided 
the soil be of a nature that allows them; if it can 
be done, a garden should be made on land whose 
bottom is not of a springy wet nature. If this 
rule can be observed, draining will be unneces- 
sary, for when land is well prepared for the growth 
of fruit trees and esculent vegetables, by trench- 
ing, manuring, and digging, it is by these means 
brought into such a porous temperament, that the 
rains pass through it without being detained longer 
than necessary. If the land of a garden be of too 
strong a nature, it should be well mixed with sand, 
or scrapings of roads, where stones have been 
ground to pieces by carriages. 

To make Gravel Walks. 

The bottom should be laid with lime-rubbish, 
large flint stones, or any other hard matter, for 
eight or ten inches, to keep weeds from growing 
through, and over this the gravel is to be laid 
six or eight inches thick. This should be lain 
rounding up in the middle, by which means the 
larger stones will run off to the sides, and may be 
raked away; for the gravel should never be 
screened before it is laid on. It is a common mis- 
take to lay these walks too round, which not only 
makes them uneasy to walk upon, but takes off 
from their apparent breadth. One inch in five feet 
is a sufficient proportion for the rise in the mid- 
dle; so that a walk twenty feet wide should be 
four inches higher at the middle than at the edges, 
and so in proportion. As soon as the gravel is 
laid, it should be raked, and the large stones 
thrown back again.; then the whole should be 
rolled both lengthwise and crosswise; and the 
person who draws the roller should wear shoes 
with flat heels that he may make no holes, be- 
cause holes made in a new walk are not easily 
remedied. The walks should always be rolled 
three or four times after very hard showers, from 
which they will bind more firmly than otherwise 
they could ever be made to. 

To prepare Hot-beds, Manures, and Composts. 

Stable-dung is in the most general use for form- 
ing hot-beds, which are masses of this dung after 
it has undergone its violent fermentation. 

Bark is only preferable to dung because the 
substance which undergoes the process of putrid 
fermentation requires longer time to decay. Hence 
it is found useful in the bark pits of hot-houses, 
as requiring to be less often moved or renewed 
than dung or any other substance. 

Leaves, and especially oak leaves, come the 
nearest to bank, and have the additional advan- 
tage that when perfectly rotten like dung they form 
a rich mould or excellent manure. 



The object of preparation in these three sub- 
stances being to get rid of the violent heat which 
is produced when the fermentation is most pow- 
erful, it is obvious that preparation must consist 
in facilitating the process. For this purpose a 
certain degree of moisture and air in the ferment- 
ing bodies are requisite, and hence the businesa 
of the gardener is to turn them over frequently 
and apply water when the process appears impe- 
ded, and exclude rain when chilled with too much 
water. 

Recent stable-dung generally requires to lie a 
month in ridges or beds, and be turned over in 
that time thrice before it is fit for cucumber-beds 
of the common construction: but for McPhail's 
hot-beds, or for linings, or for frames with mov- 
able bottoms, three weeks, a fortnight, or less, 
will suffice, or no time at all need be given, but 
the dung formed at once into linings. Tan and 
leaves require in general a month. Fermentation 
is always most rapid in summer, and if the ma- 
terials are spread abroad during the frost, it is 
totally impeded. In winter the process of prepa- 
tion generally goes on under the back sheds, which 
situation is also the best in summer, as full expo- 
sure to the sun and wind dries too much the ex- 
terior surface; but where sheds cannot be had, it 
will go on very well in the open air. Some culti- 
vators have devised plans to economize heat by 
fermenting dung in vineries which are just begin- 
ning to be forced, or in vaults under pine pits, or 
plant stoves. 

To form Dung Beds. 

In general such beds are formed on a level sur- 
face, but Mr. T. A. Knight's plan is to form a sur- 
face of earth as a basis, which shall incline to the 
horizon to the extent of 15; on this he forma 
the dung-bed to the same inclination, and finally 
the frame, when placed on such a bed, if as is 
usual, it be deepest behind, will present its glass 
at an angle of 20, instead of six or eight, which 
is undoubtedly of great advantage in the winter 



Ashes are often mixed with the dung of hot- 
beds, and are supposed to promote the steadiness 
and duration of their heat, and at least to revive 
it if somewhat decayed. Tan leaves have also 
been used for the same purpose, and it is generally 
found that about one-third of tan and two-thirds 
of dung will form a more durable and less violent 
heat than a bed wholly of dung. The heat of 
dung-heds is revived by linings or collateral and 
surrounding walls or banks of fresh dung, the old 
dung of the bed being previously cut down close 
to the frames, and in severe weather the sides of 
the beds are often protected by bundles of straw 
or faggots. 

The residuum of heats, properly reduced by 
keeping, is a good simple manure for most fruit 
trees, and excellent in a compost; but where the 
soil is naturally cold a little ashes of coal*, wood, 
straw, or burnt turf, or a minute proportion of 
soot, ought to be incorporated with it. Hog-dung 
has a peculiar virtue in invigorating weak trees 
Rotten turf, or any vegetable refuse, is a general 
manure, excellent for all soils not already too rich. 
One of the best correctives of too rich a soil is 
drift sand. For an exhausted soil, where a fruit- 
tree that has been an old, profitable occupant is 
wished to be continued, a dressing of animal mat- 
ter is a powerful restorative, such as hogs' or bul- 



COMPOSTS FOR MANURES. 



61 



locks blood, offal from the slaughter-house, refuse 
of skins and leather, decomposed carrion, etc. 
The drain ings of dung laid on as mulch are highly 
*erviceable. 

It is very proper to crop the ground among new 
planted orchard trees for a few years, in order to 
defray the expense of hoeing and cultivating it, 
which should be done until the temporary plants 
are removed and the whole be sown down in grass. 
As the trees begin to produce fruit, begin also to 
relinquish cropping. When by their productions 
they defray all expenses, crop no longer. 
To make Composts for Manure. 

During hot weather, says Knight, I have all the 
offals in the garden, such as weeds, leaves of straw- 
berries and other vegetables, short grass, peas, 
and asparagus haum, with the foliage of trees and 
ghrubs when newly shed, carefully collected into 
a heap. These are all turned over and mixed 
during the winter, that they may be sufficiently 
rotted to mix with the dung against the end of 
summer. I have also another heap formed with 
the prunings from gooseberry and currant bushes, 
fruit-trees, raspberry shoots, clippings of box-edg- 
ings, and lappings from shrubs; also the roots of 
greens and cabbages, which are generally burnt at 
two different periods in the year, viz., in spring 
and autumn, but previous to each burning I en- 
deavor to pare up all the coarse grasses around the 
garden, with a portion of the soil adhering there- 
to, and whenever these are sufficiently dried have 
them collected to the heap intended to be burnt. 
The fire is kindled at a convenient distance from 
the heaps, and a portion of such as burn most 
easily is first applied, until the fire has gained a 
considerable power. After this the process of 
burning is continued by applying lighter and 
heavier substances alternately, that the one may 
preserve the action of the fire, and the other pre- 
vent it from reducing them too much to ashes. 
When the whole are thus consumed a quantity of 
mould is thrown over the heap to prevent the fire 
from breaking through, and whenever it can be 
broken into with safety it is then mixed up into a 
dunghill with the rotted vegetables, moss-earth 
and stable-yard dung in such proportions as is 
likely to insure a moderate fermentation, which is 
generally completed in three or four weeks, at 
which time it is most advantageously applied in 
having it carried to the ground and instantly 
dug in. 

To make Composts for Moulds. 

Composts are mixtures of several earths, or 
earthy substances, or dungs, ekher for the im- 
provement of the general soil under culture or for 
the culture of particular plants. 

In respect to composts for the amendment of 
the general soil of the garden, their quality must 
depend upon that of the natural soil; if this be 
light, loose, or sandy, it may be assisted by heavy 
loams, clays, etc., from ponds and ditches, clean- 
ings of sewers, etc. On the other hand, heavy 
clayey and all stubborn soils may be assisted by 
light composts of sandy earth, drift, and sea-sand, 
the shovellings of turnpike roads, like cleansing of 
streets, all kinds of ashes, rotten tanner's bark, 
rotten wood, saw dust, and other similar light 
opening materials that can be most conveniently 
procured. 

To make Composts for Plants. 

These may be reduced to light sandy loam from 
old pastures : strong loam approaching nearly to 
brick earth from the same source; peat earth, from 
the surface of heaths or commons ; bog earth, from 
bogs or morasses ; vegetable earth, from decayed 
karo, ttalks, cow-dung, etc.; sand, either sea- 



sand, drift-sand, or powdered stone, so as to be as 
free as possible from. iron; lime-rubbish; and, 
lastly, common garden earth. There are no 
known plants that will not grow or thrive in one 
or other of these earths, alone or mixed with some 
other earth, or with rotten dung or leaves. Nur- 
serymen have seldom more than three sorts of 
earth : loam, approaching to the qualities of brick- 
earth ; peat or bog-earth, and the common soil of 
their nursery. With these and the addition of a 
little sand for striking plants, some sifted lime- 
rubbish for succulents, and some well-rotted cow- 
dung for bulbs, and some sorts of trees, they con- 
tinue to grow thousands of different species in aa 
great or greater perfection as in their native coun- 
tries, and many, as the pine, vine, camellia, rose, 
etc., in a superior manner. 

To prepare Composts. 

The preparation necessary for heavy and light 
composts for general enrichment, and o r the above 
different earths, consists in collecting jach soil in 
the compost ground, in separate ridges of three or 
four feet broad, and as high, turning them every 
six weeks or two months for a year or a year and 
a half before they are used. Peat earth, being 
generally procured in the state of turves full of 
the roots and tops of heath, requires two or three 
years to rot; but, after it has lain one year, it may 
be sifted, and what passes through a small sieve 
will be found fit for use. Some nurserymen use 
both these loams and peats as soon as procured, 
and find them answer perfectly for most plants; 
but for delicate flowers, and especially bulbs, and 
all florists' flowers, and for all composts in which 
manures enter, not less than one year ought to be 
allowed for decomposition, and what is called 
sweetening. 

To make a Green-House or Conservatory. 

The depth of green-houses should never be 
greater than their height in the clear; which, in 
small or middling houses may be sixteen or eigh- 
teen feet, but in large ones from twenty to twenty- 
four feet; and the length of the windows should 
reach from about one foot and a half above the 
pavement, and within the same distance of the 
ceiling. 

The floor of the green- house, which should be 
laid either with Bremen squares, Purbeck stone, 
or flat tiles, must be raised two feet above the sur- 
face of the adjoining ground, or, if the situation 
be damp, at least three feet; and if the whole is 
arched with low brick arches under the floor, they 
will be of great service in preventing damp; and 
under the floor, about two feet from the front, it 
will be very advisable to make a flue of ten inches 
wide, and two feet deep ; this should be carried 
the whole length of the house, and then returned 
back along the hinder part, and there be carried 
up into funnels adjoining to the tool-house, by 
which the smoke may be carried off. The fire- 
place may be contrived at one end of the house, 
and the door at which the fuel is put in, as also 
the ash-grate, may be contrived to open into the 
tool-house. 

Whilst the front of the green -house is exactly 
south, one of the wings may be made to face the 
southeast, and the other the southwest. By this 
disposition the heat of the sun is reflected from 
one part of the building to the other all day, and 
the front of the main green-house is guarded from 
the cold winds. These two wings may be so con- 
trived as to maintain plants of different degrees 
of hardiness, which may be easily effected by the 
situation and extent of the fire-place, and tho 
manner of conducting the flues. 



62 



HOKTICULTUKE. 



The sloping glasses of these houses should be 
made to slide and take off, so that they may be 
drawn down more or less in warm weather to 
admit air to the plants; and the upright glasses 
in the front may be so contrived as that every 
other may open as a door upon hinges, and the al- 
ternate glasses may be divided into two; the upper 
part of each should be so contrived as to be drawn 
down like a sash, so that either of them may be 
ased to admit air in a greater or less quantity, as 
there may be occasion. As to the management 
of plants in a green-house, open the mould about 
them from time to time, and sprinkle a little fresh 
mould in them, and a little warm dung on that; 
also water them when the leaves begin to wither 
and curl, and notoftener, which would make them 
fade and be sickly ; and take off such leaves as 
wither and grow dry. 

To propagate Vegetables. 

Plants are universally propagated by seed, but 
partially also by germs or bulbs, suckers, runners, 
slips, and offsets, and artificially by layers, in- 
arching, grafting, budding, and cutting. 

The propagation by seed is to make sure of live 
seeds ; for some lose their vitality very early after 
being gathered, while others retain it only for one 
or perhaps two seasons ; some seeds also are in- 
jured, and others improved by keeping. The size 
of seeds requires also to be taken into considera- 
tion, for on this most frequently depends the depth 
which they require to be buried in the soil ; the 
texture of their sl- ; n or covering must be at- 
tended to, as on this ^ c ten depends the time they 
require to be buried in the soil previously to ger- 
mination. On the form and surface of the outer 
coating of seeds sometimes depends the mode of 
sowing, as in the carrot, and on their qualities in 
general depends their liability to be attacked by in- 
sects. The nature of the offspring expects it, and 
the proper climate, soil, and season, require also to 
be kept in view in determining how, where, when, 
and in what quantity any seed must be sown. 

Germs or bulbs, cauline or radical, require in 
general to be planted immediately, or soon after 
removal from the parent plant, in light earth, 
about their own depth from the surface. Ma- 
tured bulbs may be preserved out of the soil for 
some months, without injury to the vitality; but 
infant bulbs are easily dried up and injured when 
BO treated. 

Slips are shoots which spring from the collar or 
the upper part of the roots of herbaceous plants, 
as in auricular, and under shrubs, as thymes, etc. 
The shoot, when the lower part from whence the 
roots proceed begins to ripen or acquire a firm 
texture, is to be slipped or drawn from the parent 
plant, so far as to bring off a heel or claw of old 
wood, stem, or root, on which generally some 
roots, or rudiments of roots, are attached. The 
ragged parts and edges of this claw or rough sec- 
tion are then to be smoothed with a sharp knife, 
and the slip to be planted in suitable soil and 
shaded till it strikes root afresh. 

The division of the plant is adopted in many 
species, as in grasses, the daisy, polyanthus, and 
a great variety of others. The plant is taken up, 
the earth shaken from its roots ; the whole is then 
separated, each piece containing a portion of root 
and stem, which may be planted without further 
preparation. 

With certain species taking runners is a conve- 
nient and sure mode of propagation. All that is 
requisite is to allow the plantlet on the shoot or 
runner to be well rooted before being separated 
from the parent. It may then be planted where 
ft is finally to remain. 



Suckers are merely runners under ground ; some 
run to a considerable distance, as the acacia, nar- 
row-leaved elm, sea-lime gr;iss, etc.; others again 
are more limited in their migrations, as the lilac, 
syringa, Jerusalem artichoke, saponaria, etc. All 
that is necessary is to dig them up, cut off each 
plantlet with a portion of root, after which its top 
may be reduced by cutting off from one-fourth tp 
one-half of the shoot, in order to fit it to the cur- 
tailed root, and it may then be planted, either in. 
the nursery department or, if a strong plant, wher < 
it is finally to remain. 

Propagation by Layering. 

In general the operation of layering in tree* 
and shrubs is commenced before the ascent of the 
sap, or delayed till the ascent is fully up. Th 
shoot, or extremity of the shoot, intended to be- 
come a new plant, is half separated from ihe parent 
plant, at a few inches distance from its extremity, 
and, while this permits the ascent of the sap at the 
season of its rising, the remaining half of them, 
being cut through and separated, forms a dam or 
sluice to the descending sap, which, thus inter- 
rupted in its progress, exudes at the wound, in the 
form of a granulous protuberance, which throws 
out roots. If the cut or notch in the stem does 
not penetrate at least half way through, some sorts 
of trees will not form a nuc'eus the first season; 
on the other hand, if the notch be out neariy 
through the shoot, a sufficiency of alburnum, or 
soft wood, is not left for the ascent of the sap, and 
the shoot dies. In delicate sorts it is not suffi- 
cient to cut a notch merely, because in that case 
the descending sap, instead of throwing out gran- 
ulated matter, in the upper side of the wound, 
would descend by the entire side of the shoot; 
therefore, besides a notch formed by cutting out 
a portion of bark and wood, the notched side is 
slit up at least one inch, separating it by a bit of 
twig, or small splinter of stone or potsherd. The 
operation of layering is performed on herbaceous 
plants, as well as trees; and the part to become 
the future plant is, in both cases, covered with 
soil about a third of its length. 

When the layers are rooted, which will generally 
be the case by the autumn after, the operation is 
performed, they are all cleared from the stools or 
main-plants, and the head of each stool, if to be 
continued for furnishing layers, should be dressed; 
cutting off all decayed scraggy parts, and digging 
the ground round them. Some fresh rich mould 
should also be worked in, in order to encourage 
the production of the annual supply of shoots for 
layering. 

Propagation by In-arching. 

A sort of layering, by the common or slit pro- 
cess, in which the talus or heel, intended to throw 
out fibres, instead of being inserted in the soil, is 
inserted in the wood, or between the wood and 
bark of another plant, so as to incorporate with it. 
It is the most certain mode of propagation with 
plants difficult to excite to a disposition for root- 
ing; and, when all other modes fail, this, when a 
proper description of stock or basis is to be found, 
is sure to succeed. 

The stocks designed to be in-arched, and the 
tree from which the layer or shoot is to be bent or 
arched towards them, and put in or united, must 
be placed, if in pots, or planted if in the open soil, 
near together. Hardy trees of free- growing kinds 
should have a circle of stocks planted round them 
every year in the same circumference, every other 
one being in-arched the one year, and when re- 
moved their places supplied by others. If the 
branches of the tree are too high for stocks in the 
ground, they should be planted in pots, and ele- 



BUDDING, 



r~ted on posts or stands, or supported from the 
tree, etc. 

To perform the operation, having made one of 
the most convenient branches or shoots approach 
the stock, mark, on the body of the shoot, the part 
where it will most easily join to the stock; and 
in that part of each shoot pare away the bark and 
part of the wood two or three inches in length, 
and in the same manner pare the stock in the 
proper place for the junction of the shoot; next 
make a slit upwards in that part of the branch or 
shoot, as in layering, and make a slit downward 
in the stock to admit it. Let the parts be then 
joined, slipping the tongue of the shoot into the 
slit of the stock, making both join in an exact 
manner, and tie them closely together with bags. 
Cover the whole afterward with a due quantity 
of tempered or grafting clay or moss. In hot- 
houses care must be taken not to disturb the pots 
containing the plants operated on. 

By Budding. 

Budding, or, as it is sometimes called, grafting, 
by germs, consists in taking an eye or bud attached 
to a portion of the bark of a ligneous vegetable, of 
various size and form, and generally called a 
shield, and transplanting it to another or a differ- 
ent ligneous vegetable. Nursery-men now gene- 
rally prefer budding to any other mode of propa- 
gation. The object in view is precisely that of 
grafting, and depends on the same principle; all 
the difference between a bud and a scion being 
that a bud is a shoot or scion in embryo. Budded 
trees are two years later in producing their fruit 
than grafted ones: but the advantage of budding 
is that, where a tree is rare, a new plant can be 
got from every eye, whereas by grafting it can 
only be got from every three or four eyes. There 
are also trees which propagate much more readily 
by budding than grafting; and others, as most 
of the stone fruits, are apt to throw out gum when 
grafted. Budding is formed from the beginning 
of July to the middle of August, the criterion 
the formation of the buds in the axillae of the leaf 
of the present year. 

The budh are known to be ready by the shield, 
or portion of bark to which they are attached, 
easily parting with the wood. 

Shield Budding 

Is performed as follows : Fix on a smooth part 
on the side of the stock, rather from than towards 
the sun, and of a height depending, as in grafting, 
on whether dwarf, half, or whole standard trees 
are desired; then, with the budding-knife, make 
a horizontal cut across the rind, quite through the 
firm wood ; from the middle of this transverse cut 
make a slit downward perpendicularly, an inch or 
more long, going also quite through to the wood. 
Proceed with expedition to take off a bud; hold- 
ing the cutting or scion in one hand, with the 
thickest end outward, and with the knife in the 
other hand, enter it about half an inch or more 
below a bud, cutting nearly half-way into the 
wood of the shoot, continuing it, with one clean 
slanting cut, about half an inch or more above 
the bud, so deep as to take off part of the wood 
along with it, the whole about an inch and a half 
long; then directly with the thumb and finger, or 
point of the knife, slip off the woody part remain- 
ing to the bud; which done, observe whether the 
eye or germ- of the bud remains perfect; if not, 
and a little hole appears in that part, the bud has 
lost its root, and another must be prepared. This 
done, place the back part of the bud or shield be- 
tween the lips, and with the flat haft of the knife 
separate the bark of the stock on each side of the 



perpendicular cut clear to the wood, for the ad- 
mission of the bud, which directly slip down, close 
between the wood and bark, to the bottom of the 
slit. Next cut off the top part of the shield even 
with the horizontal cut, in order to let it com- 
pletely into its place, and to join exactly the upper 
edge of the shield with the transverse cut, that 
the descending sap may immediately enter the 
back of the shield, and protrude granulated mat- 
ter between it and the wood, so as to effect a living 
union. The parts are to be bound round with a 
ligament of fresh bass, previously soaked in water, 
to render it pliable and tough. Begin a little below 
the bottom of the perpendicular slit, proceeding 
upward closely round every part, except just ovec 
the eye of the bud, and continue it a little above 
the horizontal cut, not too tight, but just sufficient 
to keep the hole close, and exclude the air, sun, 
and wet. 

Another Method of Budding. 
Trees are generally budded by making a trans- 
verse section in the bark of the stock, and a per- 
pendicular slit beneath it; the bud is then pushed 
down to give it the position which it is to have. 
This operation is not always successful, and it is 
better to employ an inverse or contrary method 
by making the vertical slit above the transverse 
section or cut, and pushing the bark containing 
the bud upwards into its proper position. This 
method very rarely fails of success, because as the 
sap descends by the bark, the bud placed above 
the transverse section receives abundance, whereas 
if it be placed below the section very little sap 
can ever get to it to promote the growth of the 
bud. Oil rubbed upon the stems and branches cf 
fruit trees destroys insects and increases the fruit- 
buds. Used upon the stems of carnations, it guards 
them against the depredations of the ear- wig. 
The coarsest oil will suit, and only a small quan- 
tity is required. 

To bud with Double Ligatures. 
This is an expeditious mode of budding 
by Mr. T. A. Knight. The operations are per- 
formed in the manner above stated, but instead 
of one ligature two are applied, one above the 
bud, inserted upon the transverse section, through 
the bark; the other applied below in the usual 
way. As soon as the buds have attached them- 
selves the lower ligatures are taken off, but the 
others are suffered to remain. The passage of the 
sap upwards is in consequence much obstructed, 
and the inserted buds begin to vegetate strongly 
in July (being inserted in June), and when these 
have afforded shoots about four inches long the 
remaining ligatures are taken off, to permit the 
excess of sap to pass on, and the young shoots are 
nailed to the wall. Being there properly exposed 
to light, their wood will ripen well, and afford 
blossoms in the succeeding spring. 

To graft Trees. 

This is a mode of propagation applicable to 
most sorts of trees and shrubs, but not easily to 
very small under-shrubs, as heath, or herbaceous 
vegetables. It is chiefly used for continuing va- 
rieties of fruit trees. A grafted tree consists of 
two parts, the scion and the stock; their union 
constitutes the graft, and the performance of the 
operation is called grafting. 

The end of grafting is, first, to preserve and 
multiply varieties and sub-varieties of fruit-trees, 
endowed accidentally or otherwise with particular 
qualities, which cannot be with certainty trans- 
ferred to their offspring by seeds, and which would 
be multiplied too slowly or ineffectually by any 
other mode of propagation. 

Second, to accelerate the fructification of trees, 



HORTICULTURE. 



barren as w 11 as fruit bearing; for example, sup- 
po e two acorns of a new species of. oak received 
from a distant country; sow both, and after they 
have grown one or two years cut one of them over 
and graft the part cut off on a common oak of five 
or six years' growth ; the consequence will be that 
the whole nourishment of this young tree of five 
years' growth being directed towards nourishing 
the scion of one or two years, it will grow much 
faster, and consequently arrive at perfection much 
sooner than its fellow, or its own root left in the 
ground. 

The third use of grafting is to improve the 
quality of fruits, and the fourth to perpetuate va- 
rieties of ornamental trees or shrubs. 
Materials used in Grafting. 

Procure a strong pruning-knife for cutting off 
the heads of the stocks previous to their prepara- 
tion by the grafting-knife for the scion, a small 
saw for larger stocks, and a penknife for very 
small scions, chisel and mallet for cleft grafting, 
bass ribbons for ligatures, and grafting clay. 

To prepare Graf ting- Clay. 

Grafting-clay is prepared either from stiff yel- 
low or blue clay, or from clayey loam or brick 
earth ; in either case adding thereto about a fourth 
part of fresh horse dung, free from litter, and a 
portion of cut hay, mixing the whole well together 
and adding a little water ; then let the whole be 
well beaten with a stick upon a floor or other hard 
substance, and as it becomes too dry apply more 
water, at every beating turning it over, and con- 
tinue beating it well at top till it becomes flat and 
soft. This process must be repeated more or less 
according as the nature of the clay may require 
to render it ductile, and yet not so tough as to be 
apt to crack in dry weather. 

Whip Grafting. 

Whip, or as it is sometimes called tongue graft- 
ing, is the most generally adopted in nurseries for 
propagating fruit-trees. To effect this mode in 
the best style, the top of the stock and the ex- 
tremity of the scions should be nearly of equal 
diameter. Hence this variety admits of being 
performed on smaller stocks than any other. It 
is called whip-grafting, from the method of cut- 
ting the stock and scions sloping on one side so as 
to fit each other, and thus tied together in the 
manner of a whip-thong to the shaft or handle. 

The scion and stock being cut off obliquely, at 
corresponding angles, as near as the operator can 
guess, then cut off the tip of the stock obliquely, 
or nearly horizontally j make now a slit nearly in 
the centre of the sloped face of the stock down- 
wards and a similar one in the scion upwards. 
The tongue or wedge-like process forming the up- 

Eer part of the sloping face of the scion, is then 
iserted downwards in the cleft of the stock, the 
inner barks of both being brought closely to unite 
on one side, so as not to be displaced in tying, 
which ought to be done immediately with a rib- 
band of b.iss, brought in a neat manner several 
times rouud the stock, and which is generally done 
from right to left, or in the course of the sun. 
The next operation is to clay the whole over an 
inch thick on every side from about half an inch 
or more below the bottom of the graft to an inch 
over the top of the stock, finishing the whole coat 
of clay in a kind of oval globular form, rather 
longways up and down, closing it effectually about 
the scion and every part, so as no light, wet, nor 
wind may penetrate, to prevent which is the whole 
intention of claying. 

Cleft Grafting. 
This is resorted to in the case of strong stocks, 



or in heading down and re-grafting old trees. The 
head of the stock or branch is first cut off ob- 
liquely, and then the sloped part is cut over hori- 
zontally near the middle of the slope ; a cleft nearly 
two inches long is made with a stout knife or 
chisel in the crown downward, at right angles to 
the sloped part, taking care not to divide the pith. 
This cleft is kept open by the knife. The scion 
has its extremity for about an inch and a half, 
cut into the form of a wedge; it is left about the 
eighth of an inch thicker on the outer side, and 
brought to a fine edge on the inside. It is then 
inserted into the opening prepared for it, and the 
knife being withdrawn the stock closes firmly 
upon it. 

Crown Grafting. 

This is another mode adopted for thick stocks, 
shortened branches, or headed down trees. It ia 
sometimes called grafting in the bark or rind, 
from the scion being inserted between the bark 
and wood. This mode of grafting is performed 
with best effect somewhat later than the others, 
as the motion of the sap renders the bark and 
wood of the stock much more easily separated for 
the admission of the scions. 

In performing this operation, first cut or saw 
off the head of the stock or branch horizontally 
or level, and pare the top smooth; then having 
the scions cut one side of each flat and somewhat 
sloping, an inch and a half long, forming a sort 
of shoulder at the top of the slope, to rest upon 
the crown of the stock; and then raise the rind 
of the stock with the ivory wedge forming the 
handle of the budding knife, so as to aflinit the 
scion between that and the wood two inches down, 
which done., place the scion with the cut side next 
the wood, thrusting it down far enough for the 
shoulder to rest upon the top of the stock ; and 
in this manner may be put three, four, five or 
more scions in one large stock or branch. It is 
alleged as a disadvantage attending this method 
in exposed situations, that the ingrafted shoots 
for two or three years are liable to be blown out 
of the stock by violent winds; the only remedy 
for which is tying long rods to the body of the 
stock or branch, and tying up each scion and its 
shoots to one of the rods. 

Side Grafting. 

This method resembles whip grafting, but dif- 
fers in being performed on the side of the stock, 
without bending down. It is practised on wall 
trees to fill up vacancies, and sometimes in order 
to have a variety of fruits upon the same tree. 
Having fixed upon those parts of the branches 
where wood is wanting to furnish the head or any 
part of the tree, then slope off the bark and a 
little of the wood, and cut the lower end of the 
scions to fit the part as nearly as possible, then join 
them to the branch, and tie them with bass and 
clay them over. 

Saddle Grafting. 

This is performed by first cutting the top of th 
stock into a wedge-like form, and then splitting 
up the end of the scion and thinning off each half 
to a tongue-shape; it is then placed on the wedge, 
embracing it on each side, and the inner barks 
are made to join on one side of the stock, as in 
cleft grafting. This is a very strong and hand- 
some mode for standard trees, when grafted at 
the standard height. It is also desirable for 
orange-trees and rose-standards, as it makes a 
handsome finish, covering a part of the stock, 
which, by the other methods, long remains a black 
scar, and sometimes never becomes covered with 
bark. The stocks for this purpose should not be 



GRAFTING. 



65 



much thicker than the scions, or two scions may 
be inserted. 

Shoulder or Chink Grafting. 
This is performed with a shoulder, and, some- 
times also with a stay at the bottom of the slope. 
It is chiefly used for ornamental trees, where the 
scion and stock are of the same size. 

Hoot Grafting. 

Root grafting is sometimes performed in nurse- 
ries on parts of the roots of removed trees, when 
the proper stocks are scarce; in which case the 
root of the white thorn has been resorted to as a 
stock both for the apple and pear. In general, 
however, a piece of the root of the tree of the same 
genus is selected, well furnished with fibres, and 
a scion placed on it in any of the ordinary ways 
for small stocks. Thus united, they are planted 
BO deep as to cover the ball of clay, and leave only 
a few eyes of the scion above ground. 

In a month after grafting it may be ascertained 
whether the scion has united with the stock by ob- 
serving the progress of its buds; but, in general, 
it is not safe to remove the clay for three months 
or more, till the graft be completely cicatrized. 
The clay may generally be taken off in July or 
August, and at the same time the ligatures loos- 
ened where the scion seems to require more room 
to expand : a few weeks afterwards, when the 
parts have been thus partially inured to the air, 
and when there is no danger of the scion being 
blown off by winds, the^ whole of the ligatures 
may be removed. 

To choose Scions. 

Scions are those shoots which, united with the 
stock, form the graft. They should be gathered 
several weeks before the season for grafting ar- 
rives. It is desirable that the sap of the stock 
should be in brisk motion at the time of grafting; 
but by this time the buds of the scion, if left on 
the parent tree, would be equally advanced, 
whereas the scions, being gathered early, the 
buds are kept back, and ready only to swell out 
when placed on the stock. Scions of pears, plums 
and cherries, ace collected in the end of January 
or beginning of February. They are kept at full 
length sunk in dry earth, and out of the reach of 
frost till wanted, which is sometimes from the 
middle of February to the middle of March. 
Scions of apples are collected any time in Febru- 
ary, and put in from the middle to the end^of 
March. In July grafting the scions are used as 



To choose Cuttings. 

In respect to the choice of cuttings, those 
branches of trees and shrubs which are thrown 
out nearest the ground, and especially such as 
recline, or nearly so, on the earth's surface, have 
always the most tendency to produce roots. Even 
the branches of resinous trees, which are extremely 
difficult to propagate by cuttings, when reclining 
on the ground, if accidentally or otherwise covered 
with earth in any part, will there throw out roots, 
and the extremity of the lateral shoot will assume 
the character of a main stem, as may be some- 
times seen in the larch, spruce and silver fir. 

The choice of cuttings then is to be made from 
the side shoots of plants rather than from their 
summits or main stems, and the strength and 
health of side shoots being equal, those nearest 
the ground should be preferred. The proper time 
for taking cuttings from the mother plant is when 
the sap is in full motion, in order that, in return- 
ing by the bark, it may form a callus or protruding 
ring of granular substance between the bark and 
Wood, whence the roots proceed,. As this callus 



or ring of spongy matter is generally best formed 
in ripened wood, the cutting, when taken from the 
mother plant, should contain a part of the former 
year, or in plants which grow twice a year, of the 
wood of the former growth ; or in the case of 
plants which are continually growing, as most 
evergreen exotics, such wood as has begun to 
ripen or assume a brownish color. This is the 
true principle of the choice of cuttings as to time ; 
but there are many sorts of trees, as willow, elder, 
etc,, the cuttings of which will grow almost at any 
season, and especially if remored from the mother 
plant in winter, when the sap is at rest. 

These ought always to be cut across, with the 
smoothest and soundest section possible at an eye 
or joint. And as buds are in a more advanced 
state in wood somewhat ripened or fully formed 
than in forming wood, this section ought to be 
made in the wood of the growth of the preceding 
season; or as it were in the point between the two 
growths. It is a common practice to cut off the 
whole or a part of the leaves of cuttings, which is 
always attended with bad effects in evergreens, in 
which the leaves may be said to supply nourish- 
ment to the cutting till it can sustain itself. This 
is very obvious in the case of striking from buds, 
which, without a leaf attached, speedily rot and 
die. Leaves alone will even strike root, and form 
plants in some instances, and the same may be 
stated of certain flowers and fruits. 
Piping. 

This is a mode of propagation by cuttings, and 
is adopted with plants having jointed tubular 
stems, as the dianthus tribe; and several of the 
grasses and the arundines may be propagated in 
this manner. When the shoot has nearly done 
growing, its extremity is to be separated at a part 
of the stem where it is nearly indurated or ri- 
pened. This operation is effected by holding the 
root end between the finger and thumb of one 
hand, below a pair of leaves, and with the other 
pulling the top part above the pair of leaves, so 
as to separate it from the root part of the stem at 
the socket, formed by the axillae of the leaves, 
leaving the stem to remain with a tubular termi- 
nation. These pipings are inserted without any 
further preparation in finely sifted earth to the 
depth of the first joint or pipe. 

To insert Cuttings. 

Cuttings, if inserted in a mere mass of earth, 
will hardly throw out roots, while, if inserted at 
the sides of the pots so as to touch the pot in their 
whole length, they seldom fail to become rooted 
plants. The art is to place them to touch the 
bottom of the pot; they are then to be plunged 
in a bark or hot-bed and kept moist. 

To manage Cuttings. 

No cutting requires to be planted deep, though 
the large ought to be inserted deeper than such 
as are small. In the case of evergreens the leave* 
should be kept from touching the soil, otherwise 
they will damp or rot off; and in the case of tu- 
bular-stalked plants, which are in general not very 
easily struck, owing to the water lodging in the 
tube and rotting the cutting, both ends may be 
advantageously inserted in the soil, and besides a 
greater certainty of success, two plants will be 
produced. Too much light, air, water, heat or 
cold, are alike injurious. To guard against these 
extremes in tender sorts, the means hitherto de- 
vised is that of inclosing an atmosphere over the 
cuttings by means of a hand or bell-glass, accord- 
ing to their delicacy. This preserves a uniform 
stillness and moisture of atmosphere. Immersing 
the pot in earth has a tendency to preserve a 



66 



HORTICULTURE. 



steady, uniform degree of moisture at the roots; 
and shading, or planting the cuttings if in the 
open air in a shady situation, prevents the bad 
effects of excess of light. The only method of 
regulating the heat is by double or single cover- 
ings of glass or mats, or both. A hand-glass 
placed over a bell-glass will preserve, in a shady 
situation, a very constant degree of heat. 

What the degree of heat ought to be is decided 
by the degree -of heat requisite for the mother 
plant. Most species t,f the erica, dahlia, and 
geranium, strike better rhen supplied with rather 
more heat than is requisite for the growth of these 
plants in green-houses. The myrtle tribe and 
camellias require rather less: and in general a 
lesser portion of heat, and of everything else pro- 

er for plants, in their rooted and growing state, 
i the safest. 

To sow Seeds with Advantage. 
This is the first operation of rearing. Where 
seeds are deposited singly, as in rows of beans or 
large nuts, they are said to be planted; where 
dropped in numbers together, to be sown. The 
operation of sowing is either performed in drills, 
patches or broadcast. Drills are small excavations 
formed with the draw-hoe, generally in straight 
lines parallel to each other, and in depth and 
distance apart varying according to the size of 
the seeds. In these drills the seeds are strewed 
from the hand of the operator, who, taking a 
small quantity in the palin of his hand and fin- 
gers, regulates its emission by the thumb. Some 
seeds are very thinly sown, as the pea and spinach; 
others thick, as the cress and small salading. 

Patches are small circular excavations made 
with the trowel ; in these seeds are either sown or 
planted, thicker or thinner, and covered more or 
less, according to their natures. This is the mode 
adopted in sowing in pots, and generally in flower 
borders. 

In broadcast sowing the operator scatters the 
seed over a c^ siderable breadth of surface, pre- 
viously prepared by digging, or otherwise being 
minutely pulverized. The seed is taken up in 
portions in the hand and dispersed by a horizon- 
tal movement of the arm to the extent of a semi- 
circle, opening the hand at the same time and 
scattering the seeds in the air so that they may fall 
as equally as possible over the breadth taken in 
by the sower at once, and which is generally six 
feet that being the diameter of the circle in 
which his hand moves through half the circum- 
ference. In sowing broadcast on beds and narrow 
strips or borders, the seeds are dispersed between 
the thumb and fingers by horizontal movements 
of the hand in segments of smaller circles. 

Dry weather is essentially requisite for sowing, 
and more especially for the operation of covering 
in the seed, which in broadcast sowing is done by 
treading or gently rolling the surface, and then 
raking it; and in drill-sowing by treading in the 
larger seeds, as peas, and covering with the rake ; 
smaller seeds, sown in drills, are covered with the 
same implement without treading. 

To plant Shrubs and Trees. 

Planting, as applied to seeds or seed-like roots, 
as potatoes, bulbs, etc., is most frequently per- 
formed in drills or in separate holes made with 
the dibbler ; in these the seed or bulb is dropped 
from the ha,nd, and covered with or without tread- 
ijig, according to its nature. Sometimes planting 
k) performed in patches, as in pots or borders, in 
which case the trowel is the chief instrument used. 

Quincunx is a mode of planting in rows, by 
which the plants in the one row are always op- 
posed to the blanks in the other, so that when 



plot of ground is planted in this way the plants 
appear in rows in four directions. 

Planting, as applied to plants already originated, 
consists generally in inserting them in the soil of 
the same depth, and in the same position as they 
were before removal, but with various exceptions. 
The principal object is to preserve the fibrous 
roots entire, to distribute them equally around the 
stem among the mould or finer soil, and to pro- 
serve the plant upright. The plant should not be 
planted deeper than it stood in the soil before re- 
moval, and commonly the same side should be 
kept towards the sun. Planting should as much 
as possible be accompanied by abundant water- 
ing, in order to* consolidate the soil about the 
roots ; and where the soil is dry, or not a stiff clay, 
it may be performed in the beginning of wet 
weather, in gardens; and in forest planting, on 
dry soils, in all open weather during autumn, 
winter and spring. 

To water Gardens. 

Watering becomes requisite in gardens for va- 
rious purposes, as aliment to plants in a growing 
state, as support to newly-transplanted plants, 
for keeping under insects, and keeping clean the 
leaves of vegetables. One general rule must be 
ever kept in mind during the employment of water 
in a garden, that is, never to water the top or 
leaves of a plant when the sun shines. All water- 
ing should be carried on in the evening or early 
in the morning, unless it be confined to watering 
the roots, in which case transplanted plants, and 
others in a growing state, may be watered at any 
time; and if they are shaded from the sun, they 
may also be watered over their tops. Watering 
over the tops is performed with the rose, or dis- 
penser attached to the spout of the watering-pot, 
or by the syringe or engine. Watering the roota 
is best done with the rose; but in the case of 
watering pots in haste, and where the earth is 
hardened, it is done with the naked spout. In 
new-laid turf, or lawn of a loose, porous soil, and 
too mossy surface, the water-barrel may be advan- 
tageously used. 

Many kitchen crops are lost, or produced of 
very inferior quality, for want of watering. Let- 
tuces and cabbages are often hard and stringy, 
turnips and radishes do not swell, onions decay, 
cauliflowers die off; and, in general, in dry soils, 
copious waterings in the evenings, during the dry 
season, would produce that fullness of succulency, 
which is found in the vegetables produced in the 
low countries, and in the Marsh Gardens at Paris; 
and in this country at the beginning and latter 
end of the season. 

The watering of the foliage of small trees, to pre- 
vent the increase of insects, and of strawberries 
and fruit shrubs, to swell the fruit, is also of im- 
portance. 

To water the Foliage of Wall Trees. 

Water is to be supplied to a garden from a re- 
servoir, situated on an eminence, a considerable 
height above the garden walls. Around the 
whole garden, four inches below the surface of 
the ground, a groove, between two and three 
inches deep, has been formed in the walls, to re- 
ceive a three-quarter inch pipe for conducting the 
water. About fifty feet distant from each other, 
are apertures through the wall, two and a half 
feet high, and ten inches wide, in which a cock is 
placed, so that on turning the handle to either side 
of the wall, the water issues from that side. The 
nozzles of the cocks have screws on each side, to 
which is attached at pleasure a leathern pipe, with 
a brass cock and director; roses, pierced with 
holes of different sizes, being fitted to the latter. 



By this contrivance, all the trees, both inside and 
outside the wall, can be most effectually watered 
and washed, in a very short space of time, and 
with little trouble. One man may go over the 
whole in two hours. At the same time the bor- 
ders, and even a considerable part of the quar- 
ters, can be watered with the greatest ease, when 
required. 

To transplant. 

Transplanting consists in removing propagated 
plants, whether from seeds, cuttings, or grafts, ac- 
cording to their kinds and other circumstances, 
to a situation prepared to receive them. Trans- 
planting, therefore, involves three things: first, 
the propagation of the soil, to which the plant is 
to be removed; secondly, the removal of the 
plant; thirdly, the insertion in the prepared soil. 

The preparation of the soil implies, in all cases, 
stirring, loosening, mixing, and comminution; 
and, in many oases, the addition of manure or 
compost, according to the nature of the soil and 
plant to be inserted, and according as the same 
may be in open grounds, or pots, or hot-houses. 

The removal of the plant is generally effected 
by loosening tlic earih around it, and then draw- 
ing it out of the soil with the hand ; in all cases 
avoiding as much as possible to break, or bruise, 
or otherwise injure the roots. In the case of small 
seedling plants, merely inserting the spade, and 
raising the portion of earth in which they grow 
will suffice ; but in removing larger plants, it is 
necessary to dig a trench round the plant. 

In some cases, the plant may be lifted with a 
ball of earth, containing all its roots, by means 
of the trowel ; and in others, as in large shrubs or 
trees, it may be necessary to cut the roots at a 
certain distance from the plant, one year before 
removal, in order to furnish them with young 
fibres, to enable them to support the change. In 
pots less care is necessary, as the roots and ball 
of earth may be preserved entire. 

To accelerate Plants in Hot-Houses. 
There are two leading modes of accelerating 
plants in these buildings; the first is by placing 
them there permanently, as in the case of the 
peach, vine, etc., planted in the ground; and the 
second is by having the plants in pots, and intro- 
ducing or withdrawing them at pleasure. As far 
as respects trees, the longest crops, and with far 
less care, are produced by the first method ; but in 
respect to herbaceous plants and shrubs, whether 
culinary, as the strawberry and kidney-bean, or 
ornamental, as the rose and the pink, the latter is 
by far the most convenient method. Where large 
pots are used, the peach, cherry, fig, etc., will 
produce tolerable crops. Vines and other fruit 
trees, when abundantly supplied with water and 
manure in a liquid state, require but a very small 
quantity of mould. 

To protect Vegetables from injuries by means of 

Straw Ropes. 

This is effected by throwing the ropes in differ- 
ent directions over the trees, and sometimes de- 
positing their ends in pails of water. It has been 
tried successfully on wall-trees, and on potatoes 
and other herbaceous vegetables. As soon as the 
buds of the trees become turgid, place poles 
against the wall, in front of the trees, at from four 
to six feet asunder, thrusting their lower ends into 
the earth, about a foot from the wall, and fasten- 
ing them at the top with a strong nail, either to 
the wall or coping. Then procure a quantity of 
straw or hay-ropes, and begin at the top of one of 
the outer poles, making fast the end, and pass the 
rope from pole to pole, taking a round turn upon 



FRUIT TREES. 67 

each, until the end is reached, when, after secur- 
ing it well, begin about eighteen inches below, and 
return in the same manner to the other end, and 
so on^ till within two feet of the ground. Straw- 
ropes have also been found very useful in protect- 
ing other early crops from the effects of frost, as 
peas, potatoes, or kidney-beans, by fixing them 
along the rows with pins driven into the ground. 

The same by Nets. 

The net should be placed out at the distance of 
fifteen or eighteen inches from the tree, being 
kept off by looped sticks, with their butts placed 
against the wall, and at a distance of about a } r ard 
from each other. In order to make them stand 
firmly, the net should be first stretched tightly on, 
and be fastened on all sides. If the nets were 
doubled or trebled, and put on in this way, they 
would be a more effectual screen, as the meshes 
or openings would, in that case, be rendered very 
small. Woollen nets are deemed the best, and are 
now in general use in Scotland. In screening 
with nets of any kind, they are always to be left 
on night and day, till all danger be over. 

The same by Canvas Screens. 
This is effected either by placing movable can- 
vas screens over or around detached trees, porta- 
ble hand-cases over herbaceous plants, tents or 
open sheds over the forests' productions, or frames 
or sheets against trees trained on walls. In all 
cases they should be placed clear of the tree or 
plant, either by extended, forked or hooked sticks, 
or any other obvious resource. 

To raise and manage Fruit Trees. 

In the removal or transplantation of trees, gar- 
deners and nurserymen are generally very care- 
less and inattentive in taking them up, and care 
not how much the roots are broken or lessened in 
number, provided they have enough left to keep 
the tree alive; the consequence is that although 
the branches left on remain alive, there is so great 
a deficiency of sap, from the loss of roots, that the 
vessels cannot be filled the following spring. 

The roots are broken or cut off at random, and 
generally diminished more than one-half, or they 
are doubled back and distorted, and if there be 
enough left to keep the plant alive, it is thought 
quite sufficient, and by these means the appear- 
ance of blossoms and fruit being prematurely pro- 
duced, those stinted and deformed plants are sold 
as half or full- trained trees for four times the 
price of others, and when sold they are again 
taken up and the roots treated and diminished in 
the same careless manner. 

When the soil of a garden wherein fruit-trees 
are to be planted is not naturally comfortable or 
congenial to the first principle, it must be made so. 

The top of a wall should be so formed as to 
throw off water, for otherwise it will generally be 
damped, which renders the trees unhealthy, and 
when the substance against which the branches 
are fixed is dry, the temperature on all sides will 
be more equal. 

In preparing beds or borders, due attention 
must be paid both to the soil and subsoil, as each 
equally affects the health and fruitfulness of trees, 
and principally as it retains or discharges water, 
stagnant water being at all times particularly det- 
rimental to the fructification of trees. 

For peaches, nectarines, etc., a border of ten or 
twelve feet wide will generally prove sufficient. 
In cases where the soil has been too close and re- 
tentive, and the roots apt to grow deep on the 
substratum, lay a stratum of six inches of the 
common soil of the garden and then form a strat- 
um of about six inches for the roots to ruu and 



68 



HORTICULTURE. 



repose in, composed of two-third parts of fine 
drift sand (the scrapings of a public road that 
has been made or repaired with flints), and one- 
third part of rich vegetable mould, well mixed 
together; and the better way to perform this is, 
first to lay on about three inches of the compo- 
sition, and on this place the roots of the plant, 
a-nd over them spread the other three inches, and 
cover the whole down with from nine to twelve 
inches of the common soil of the place. 

Where it is not found necessary to form an arti- 
ficial substratum, it will be sufficient to remove 
the soil to the depth of fifteen or eighteen inches, 
and there form the stratum of the roots, covering 
it down with afoot or nine inches of the common 
toil. 

General mode of planting Trees. 

The operation of inserting plants in the soil is 
performed in various ways ; the most general 
mode recommended by Marshal and Nicol is pit- 
ting, in which two persons are employed, one to 
operate on the soil with a spade, and the other to 
insert the plant and hold "it till the earth is put 
round it, and then press down the soil with the 
foot. 

The pit having been dug for several months, the 
surface will therefore be incrusted by the rains or 
probably covered with weeds. The man first 
strikes the spade downwards to the bottom two or 
three times, in order to loosen the soil, then 
poaches it, as if mixing mortar for the builder; 
he next lifts up a spadeful of the earth, or if ne- 
cessary two spadesful, so as to make room for all 
the fibres without their being anywise crowded 
together; he then chops the rotten turf remaining 
in the bottom and levels the whole. The boy now 
places the plant perfectly upright an inch deeper 
than when it stood in the nursery, and holds it 
firm in that position. The man trindles in the 
mould gently; the boy gently moves, the plant, 
not from side to side, but upwards and downwards, 
until the fibres be covered. The man then fills in 
all the remaining mould, and immediately proceeds 
to chop and poach the next pit, leaving the boy to 
set the plant upright and to tread the mould about 
it. This in stiff, wet soil he does lightly, but in 
sandy or gravelly soil he continues to tread until 
the soil no longer retains the impression of his 
foot. The man has by this time got the pit ready 
for the next plant; the boy is also ready with it 
in his hand, and in this manner the operation 
goes on. 

One general rule, and one of considerable im- 
portance in transplanting, is to set the plant or 
tree no deeper in the ground than it was origi- 
nally ; deep planting very often causes a delay, if 
not sudden destruction. 

More expeditious method. 

The following mode has been practised for many 
years on the Duke of Montrose's estate, in Scot- 
land: The operator with his spnde makes three 
cuts twelve or fifteen inches long, crossing each 
other in the centre at an angle of 60, the whole 
having the form of a star. He inserts his spade 
cross one of the rays, a few inches from the cen- 
tre, and on the side next himself; then bending 
the handle towards himself, and almost to the 
ground, the earth opening in fissures from the 
centre in the direction of the cuts which had been 
made, he at the same instant inserts his plant at 
the point where the spade intersected the ray, 
pushing it forward to the centre and assisting the 
roots in rambling through the fissures. He then 
lets down the earth by removing his spade, hav- 
ing pressed it into a compact state with his heel ; 
the operation is finished by adding a little earth 



with the grass side down, completely covering the 
fissures for the purpose of retaining the moisture 
at the root, and likewise as a top-dressing, which 
greatly encourages the plant to put fresh roots 
between the swards. 

German method of forcing Trees. 
With a sharp knife make a cut in the bark of 
the branch which is meant to be forced to bear, 
and not far from the place where it is connected 
with the stem, or if it is a small branch or shoot, 
near where it is joined to the large bough; the 
cut is to go round the branch, or to encircle it, and 
penetrate to the wood. A quarter of an inch from 
this cut make a second like the first, round the 
branch, so that by both encircling the branch a 
ring is formed upon the branch a quarter of an 
inch broad between the two cuts. The bark be- 
tween these two cuts is taken clean away with a 
knife down to the wood, removing even the fine 
inner bark, which lies immediately upon the wood, 
so that no connexion whatever remains between 
the two parts of the bark, but the bare and naked 
wood appears white and smooth; but this bark 
ring, to compel the tree to bear, must be made at 
the time when the buds are strongly swelling or 
breaking out into bloom. 

The AppU. 

The best soil for the apple is a dry, loamy, rich 
soil, with a light clay subsoil that the roots can 
easily penetrate to a considerable depth; with an 
easterly or southern exposure. The best fertili- 
zers are barn-yard manure, lime, and bone-dust. 
Care should be taken to apply the manure gene- 
rally over the surface. 

The best varieties for cultivation are the follow- 
ing, which ripen in succession : the Early Har- 
vest; Red Astrachan; Summer Rose; American 
Summer Pearmain; Large Early Bough ; Graven- 
stein ; Maiden's Blush ; Fall Pippin ; Smokehouse; 
Rambo; Esopus; Spitzenberg; Boston Russet; 
Rhode Island Greening; Baldwin; Wine-sap. 

The apple-tree is subject to several diseases. 
The best preventive of them is heading low, so 
th.:t the trunk of the tree will be shaded from the 
hot sun, and washing the tree occasionally with 
soap-suds, a pint of soft soap to a gallon of 
water. 

The Pear. 

The best soil for the pear is a moderately heavy, 
sandy, and dry soil, with a sub-soil of light clay 
which is easily penetrated by the roots to a great 
depth ; a moderate portion of iron in the soil is 
desirable. The best situation is an undulating 
eastern or southern exposure. The best fertili- 
zers, as in the case of the apple, are barn-yard 
manure, lime, and bone-dust. Iron cinders are a 
good application when there is a deficiency of that 
element in the soil. 

The most desirable varieties for general culture 
as standards to ripen in succession are as follows: 

Doyenne d'Ete ; Bloodgood ; Dearborn's Seed- 
ling; Beurre Giffard; Bartlett; Sickel; Tyson; 
Howell; Belle Lucrative; BuflFum; Blemish Beau- 
ty; Beurre Bose; Doyenne Boussock ; Beurre 
d'Anjou; Sheldon; Beurre Clairgeau; Lawrence. 

The best varieties for dwarf pears, on quince 
stocks, are Beurre d'Anjou; Duchesse d'Angou- 
16me ; Glou Morceau ; Vicar of Wakefield. 

The most serious disease of the pear is the 
blight. The remedy is, to cut the blight off well 
down into the second wood. 

The Peach. 

The soil most suitable for the peach-tree ia * 
dry, light, sandy, undulating soil, with a light 



PINE-APPLES. 



69 



clay subsoil, and an eastern or southern expo- 
sure. The best fertilizer for the peach is Peruvian 
guano. Among the best varieties to ripen in suc- 
cession are, of clearstoues, the Early York; Early 
Tillotson; George the Fourth; Oldmixon Free- 
stone; Columbian; Crawford's Late. Of cling- 
stones, Large White; Oldmixon Cling;- Heath. 

The principal diseases of the peach are, the yel- 
lows, aod worms which prey upon the crown roots 
near the surface of the ground. The most effec- 
tual preventive for the yellows is, to be careful to 
get healthy trees, and to plant them well above 
the surface of the ground, by throwing up ridges 
with the plough, say fifteen or twenty feet apart ; 
then plant the tree on the ridge, also making a 
slight mound to cover the roots. If the tree shows 
signs of weakness, dig the earth well from the 
crown roots, scrape the worms away if any, and 
then sprinkle in the hole around the roots a hand- 
ful or two of guano, and fill it up with earth. 
Worms may be prevented, also, by coating the 
bark of each tree, for three or four inches next to 
the ground, with coal or gas tar; which will not 
allow the parent insect to deposit its eggs. Only 
a short distance must be so coated, as to cover the 
whole trunk would kill the tree. A kind of coat 
made of the gas-soaked felt used for roofs will 
answer the same purpose. 

All orchard trees require good cultivation, but 
especially the peach. Ashes are said by some to 
be a good addition to its manure. 

The Plum. 

The plum-tree is hardy, and requires but little 
attention ; it bears abundantly, and may be' con- 
sidered a sure crop when the soil suits. The best 
for it is a stiff clay, which is not suitable to the 
habits of the curculio, the great enemy of the 
plum. 

The best varieties are, the Green Gage, Purple 
Gage, and Prince's Yellow Gage. 

The Blackberry. 

For the cultivated blackberry the soil should be 
rich, dry, and mellow. Barn-yard manure and 
bone-dust are its best fertilizers; it is a good plan 
to mix them with half-rotten straw, or some such 
thing. They should be planted three feet apart 
in the rows; the rows being six feet asunder. 
The most approved variety is the Lawton or Ro- 
chelle; its fruit is very large, beautiful, and lus- 
cious, when allowed to become fully ripe on the 
bush. The Dr. W'arder, Dorchester and Marshall 
Winder varieties are also very fine. Immense 
numbers of cultivated blackberries are now sold 
annually in the markets of our cities. 

The Raspberry. 

The best soil for the raspberry is a rich, light, 
deep soil. Plant them in rows six feet apart and 
three feet asunder in the row. It is well occa- 
sionally to throw up the earth around them so as 
to protect the roots which keep near the surface 
from the hot sun. The most desirable varieties 
are, the American Black; Hudson River Ant- 
werp; Improved American Black; Brinckle's 
Orange. 

The Strawberry. 

For this fruit the most suitable soil is light and 
sandy. It may be enriched by ashes, bone, barn- 
yard manure, etc. The plants should be set one 
foot apart, in rows two feet from each other. Put 
in the young plants from the middle of August to 
the middle of September. Keep the ground mel- 
low and free from weeds. In the following spring 
manure and hoe the ground well, to keep it moist 
and free from weeds. With such care a quart of 



fruit has sometimes been picked from one plant, 
the next season after planting. Some cultivators 
prefer to cut off all the blossoms the first spring, 
so as to strengthen the plants for growth. The 
best varieties of strawberry are, Wilson's Albany; 
Hovey's Seedling; Triomphe de Gaud; Bartlett; 
McAvoy's Superior. 

The Cranberry. 

This is a hardy trailing shrub, growing wild in 
many parts of the country. It is easily cultivated, 
and when once established in the soil requires very 
little attention ; it produces large crops, and the 
fruit commands high prices. The best soil is that 
of swampy, sandy meadows or bogs, which are 
unfit for any other purpose. This fruit is well 
worthy of the attention of any one who has wet, 
swampy land. It will flourish from Maine to 
middle Virginia. 

To plant Small Fruits. 

Currants and gooseberries are often planted in 
lines, by the side of the walks or alleys of the 
garden ; but it is a better method to plant them, 
in quarters by themselves, and to make new plan- 
tations every sixth or seventh year. 

Raspberries produce the finest fruit when 
young; that is, about the third or fourth year 
after planting, if properly managed. 

It is proper to plant some of all the above fruits 
on a north border, or other shaded situation, in 
order to prolong the season of them, if that be an 
object, besides planting them out in quarters as 
hinted above. 

From four to six feet square, according to the 
quality of the soil, may be deemed a proper dis- 
tance at which to plant the above fruits; that is, 
in good land six feet, in middling land five, and in 
poor land four feet apart. Some may also very pro- 
perly be planted against vacant places on any of 
the walls, pales or espaliers. Antwerp raspber- 
ries, in particular, and some kinds of gooseberries, 
are highly improved in size and flavor if trained 
to a south wall. 

To choose Plants. 

No better mode exists at present than having 
recourse for trees to the most reputable nurseries; 
and, with McPhail and Nicol, we would recom- 
mend, instead of maiden plants, " to make choice 
of those not very young, but such as are healthy, 
and have been transplanted several times, and 
been in a state of training for two or three years 
at least." A safe mode is to plant partly maiden 
and partly trained plants, by which means those 
which come early into fruit, should they prove 
bad sorts, may be replaced by others. 

To manage Orchards. 

The whole ground of an orchard should be dug 
in the autumn and laid up in a rough state for th 
winter, giving it as much surface as possible in 
order that the weather may fully act upon and 
meliorate the soil; thus following it as far as thd 
case will admit. Observe to dig carefully near to 
the trees, and so as not to hurt their roots and 
fibres. If the soil be shallow, and if these lie 
near to the surface, it would be advisable to dig 
with a fork instead of the spade. 

Crop to within two feet of the trees the first 
year, a yard the second, four feet the third, and 
so on until finally relinquished ; which, of course, 
would be against the eighth year, provided the 
trees were planted at thirty or forty feet apart, 
with early-bearing sorts between. By this time, 
if the kinds have been well chosen, the temporary 
trees will be in full bearing, and will forthwith 
defray every necessary expease. 



70 



HORTICULTURE. 



Let a small basin or hollow be made round the 
Stem of each tree, a foot or eighteen inches in dia- 
meter and two or three inches deep, according to 
the extent of its roots. Fill this basin with 
dung to the thickness of five or six inches, over 
which sprinkle a little earth, just enough to keep 
It from being blown about. This both nourishes 
the young fibres, and keeps the ground about 
them moist in hot weather if wetted freely once 
a week. 

To clothe the Stems of Standard Trees. 

This is done by an envelope of moss or short 
grass; or litter wound round with shreds of mat- 
ting is of great use the first year after planting to 
keep the bark moist, and thereby aid the ascent 
and circulation of the sap in the alburnum. This 
operation should be performed at or soon after 
planting, and the clothing may be left on till by 
decay it drops off of itself. It is of singular ser- 
Tice in very late planting, or when, from unfore- 
seen circumstances, summer-planting becomes 
requisite. 

To prune Orchard Trees. 

The object in pruning young trees is to form a 
proper head. The shoots may be pruned in pro- 
portion to their lengths, cutting clean away such 
as cross one another, and fanning the tree out 
towards the extremities on all sides, thereby keep- 
ing it equally poised, and fit to resist the effects 
of high winds. When it is wished to throw a 
young tree into a bearing state, which should not 
l>e thought of, however, sooner than the third or 
fourth year after planting, the leading branches 
should be very little shortened and the lower or 
side branches not at all, nor should the knife be 
used, unless to out out such shoots as cross one 
another. 

The season for pruning orchards is generally 
winter or early in spring. A weak tree ought to 
be pruned directly at the fall of the leaf. To 
prune in autumn strengthens a plant, and will 
bring the blossom buds more forward ; to cut the 
wood late in spring tends to check a plant, and is 
one of the remedies for excessive luxuriance. 

To recover Deformed Trees. 
Where a tree is stinted or the head ill-shaped 
from being originally badly pruned, or barren from 
having overborne itself, or from constitutional 
weakness, the most expeditious remedy is to head 
down the plant within three, four or five eyes (or 
inches, if an old tree) of the top of the stem, in 
order to furnish it with a new head. The recovery 
of a languishing tree, if not too old, will be fur- 
ther promoted by taking it up at the same time 
and pruning the roots : for as, on the one hand, 
the depriving of too luxuriant a tree of part even 
of its sound, healthy roots, will moderate its 
vigor, so, on the other, to relieve a stinted or 
sickly tree of cankered or decayed roots, to prune 
the extremities of sound roots, and especially to 
shorten the dangling tap-roots of a plant affected 
by a bad subsoil, is, in connection with heading 
down, or very short pruning, and the renovation 
of the soil, and draining if necessary of the sub- 
soil, the most availing remedy that can be tried. 

To cure Diseases of Orchard Trees. 
A tree often becomes stinted from an accumu- 
lation of moss, which affects the functions of the 
bark and renders the tree unfruitful. This evil 
is to be removed by scraping the stem and 
branches of old trees with the scraper, and on 
young trees a hard brush will effect the purpose. 
Abercrombie and Nicol recommend the finishing 
of tiiis operation by washing with soap-suds, or a 



medicated wash of some of the different sorts For 
destroying the eggs of insects. 

Wherever the bark is decayed or cracked it 
ought to be removed. 

The other diseases to which orchard trees are 
subject are chiefly the canker, gum, mildew and 
blight, which are rather to be prevented by such 
culture as will induce a healthy state than to be 
remedied by topical applications. Too much lime 
may bring on the canker, and if so, the replacing 
a part of such soil with alluvial or vegetable earth 
would be of service. 

The gum may be constitutional, arising from 
offensive matter in the soil; or local, arising from 
external injury. In the former case improve the 
soil, in the latter employ the knife. 

The mildew may be easily subdued at its first 
appearance, by scattering flour of sulphur upon 
the infected parts. 

For the blight and caterpillars, Forsyth recom- 
mends burning of rotten wood, weeds, potato- 
haulm, with straw, etc., on the windward side of 
the trees, when they are in blossom. He also re- 
commends washing the stems and branches of all 
orchard trees with a mixture of "fresh cow dung 
with wine and soap-suds," as a whitewa^her would 
wash the ceiling or walls of a room. The pro- 
mised advantages are, the destruction of insects 
and fine bark, more especially when it is found 
necessary to take off all the outer bark. 

To preserve Apple, Cherry, and Plum-trees from 
frost, as practised in Russia. 

The, severity of the winters at St. Petersburg 
is so great that few fruit, trees will survive it, even 
with careful matting; to prevent the loss which is 
thus usually sustained, the following mode of 
training has been attended with complete success. 
It consists in leading the branches of the trees on 
horizontal trellises only ten or twelve inches from 
the ground. When the winter sets in, there are 
heavy falls of snow, and as the frost increases, the 
snow generally augments, by which the trees are 
entirely buried, and receive no injury from the 
most intense frost. 

Another very great advantage of training trees 
in the above method consists in the growth of the 
wood, it being of equal strength, and the fruit pro- 
duced being all alike, the blooms come out much 
earlier, and the crop ripens sooner. The trees 
are always clean and free from insects. 

The only cherry that does not succeed in that 
way is the Black-heart; this is attributed to the 
damps which affect the early blossoms, but in a 
milder climate this injury would be obviated by 
placing the trellis higher from the ground. When 
the trellis decays under the apples, it is never re- 
newed, as the trees keep always (from the strength 
of their branches) their horizontal position. 

There are other advantages of treating fruit 
trees in this manner; they come sooner into bear- 
ing, and their fruit is not affected by high winds. 
The apples are never gathered, but suffered to 
drop off, for the distance they fall is not sufficient 
to bruise them. 

To preserve and pack Roots, etc. 
Roots, cuttings, grafts, and perennial plants in 
general, are perserved, till wanted, in earth or 
moss, moderately moist, and shaded from the sun. 
The same principle is followed in packing them 
to be sent to a distance. The roots, or root ends 
of the plants, or cuttings, are enveloped in balls 
of clay or loam, wrapped round with moist moss, 
and air is admitted to the tops. In this way 
orange-trees are sent from Genoa to any part of 
Europe and North America in perfect preserva- 



PINERIES. 



71 



tion ; and cuttings of plants sent to any distance 
which can be accomplished in eight months, or 
even longer with some kinds. Scions of the apple, 
pear, etc., if enveloped in clay, and wrapt up in 
moss or straw, and then placed in a portable ice- 
house, so as to prevent a greater heat than 32 
from penetrating to them, would keep for a year, 
and might thus be sent from England to China. 
The buds of fruit trees may be preserved in a 
vegetating state, and sent to a considerable dis- 
tance by reducing the half-stalks to a short length, 
and enclosing the shoot in a double fold of cab- 
bage-leaf, bound close together at each end, and 
then enclosing the package in a letter. It is of 
advantage to place the under surface of the cab- 
bage-leaf inwards, by which the enclosed branch 
is supplied with humidity, that being the porous 
surface of the leaf, the other surface being nearly 
or wholly impervious to moisture. 

Screen for protecting Wall Trees. 

It consists of two deal poles, on which is nailed 
thin canvas, previously dipped in a tanner's bark 
pit, to prevent its being mildewed when rolled up 
wet. At the top the ends of the poles fit into 
double iron loops, projecting a few inches from the 
wall, immediately under the coping; and at the 
bottom they are fixed by a hole at the end of each 
pole, upon a forked iron coupling which projects 
about fourteen inches from the wall, thereby giv- 
ing the screen a sufficient inclination to clear the 
branches. When it is wished to uncover the trees, 
one of the poles is disengaged, and rolled back to 
the side of the other, where it is fastened as before. 
The most violent winds have no injurious- effect 
upon shades of this kind ; a wall is very expedi- 
tiously covered and uncovered, and there is not 
any danger of damaging the blossoms in using 
them ; they occupy very little space when rolled 
up, are not liable to be out of order ; and, although 
rather expensive at first, seem to be very durable. 
From the facility with which the screen is put up, 
it may be beneficially used in the seasons when 
fruit ripens to secure a succession, by retarding 
the crop of any particular tree. 

The lower ends of the poles are advantageously re- 
tained in their place by means of a small iron spring 
key, attached to the coupling by a short chain. 

To protect Fruits from Insects. 

Some species, as wasps, flies, etc., are prevented 
from attacking ripe fruits by gauze or nets, or by 
inclosing the fruit, as grapes, in bags. 

The blossoms of the hoya carnosa drives wasps 
from grapes in hot-houses; and the fruit of the 
common yew-tree the same in open air, 

To manage Pineries. 

The culture of Pine-apples (says Nicol), is at- 
tended with a heavier expense than that of any 
other fruit under glass, especially if they be grown 
in lofty stoves; but, independent of this, pine-ap- 
ples may certainly be produced in as great per- 
fection, if not greater, and with infinitely less 
trouble and risk, in fluid pits, if properly con- 
structed, than in any other way. 

The pinery should, therefore, be detached from 
the other forcing-houses, and consists of three pits 
in a range; one for crowns and suckers, one for 
succession, and one for fruiting plants. The fruit- 
ing pit to be placed in the centre, and the other 
two right and left, forming a range of one hun- 
dred feet in length, which would give pine-apples 
enough for a large family. 

The fruiting pit to be forty feet long, and ten 
wide, over walls; and each of the others to be 
thirty feet long, and nine feet wide also over walls. 
The breast-wall of the whole to be on a line, and 



to be eighteen inches above ground. The back- 
wall of the centre one to be five feet, and of the 
others to be four and a half feet higher than the 
front. The front and end flues to be separated 
from the bark bed by a three inch cavity, and the 
back flues to be raised above its level. 

The furnaces may either be placed in front or 
at the back, according to convenience ; but the 
strength of the heat should be first exhausted in 
front, and should return in the back flues. The 
fruiting pit would require two small furnaces in 
order to diffuse the heat regularly, and keep up a 
proper temperature in winter; one to be placed at 
each end; and either to play first in front and re- 
turn in the back ; but the flues to be above, and 
not alongside of one another. The under one to 
be considered merely as an auxiliary flue, as it 
would be wanted occasionally. None of these 
flues need be more than five or six inches wide, 
and nine or ten deep. Nor need the furnaces be 
so large, by a third or a fourth part, as those for 
large forcing houses ; because there should be pro- 
per oil-cloth covers for the whole, as guards against 
severe weather, which would be a great saving of 
fuel. The depth of the pits should be regulated 
so that the average depth of the bark-beds may 
be a yard below the level of the front flues, as to 
that level the bark will generally settle, although 
made as high as their surfaces when new stirred 
up. If leaves, or a mixture of leaves with dung, 
are to be used instead of bark, the pits will re- 
quire to be a foot or half a yard deeper. 

General Mode of Cultivating the Pine. 

The culture of this plant generally commences 
in a common hot-bed frame, heated by dung; at 
the end of six or nine months it is removed to a 
larger framed hot-bed or pit, generally called a 
succession-bed ; and after remaining here from 
three to twelve months, it is removed to its final 
destination, the fruiting-bed. . Here it shows its 
fruit, continues in a growing state during a period 
of from six to twelve months, according to the 
variety grown, mode of culture, etc., and finally 
ripens its fruit and dies, leaving the crown or ter- 
minal shoot of the fruit, and one or more suckers 
or side-shoots as successors. The production of a 
single pine-apple, therefore, requires a course of 
exotic culture, varying from eighteen months to 
three years. 

Soil. 

The pine-apple plant will grow in any sort of 
rich earth taken from a quarter of the kitchen 
garden, or in fresh sandy loam taken from a com- 
mon pastured with sheep, etc. If the earth be 
not of a rich, sandy quality, of darkish color, it 
should be mixed well with some perfectly rotten 
dung and sand, and if a little vegetable mould is 
put with it, it will do it good, and also a little 
soot. Though pine-plants will grow in earth of 
the strongest texture, yet they grow most freely in 
good sandy loam not of a binding quality. 

Heat. 

Pines do not require so strong a bottom-heat as 
many keep them in ; yet there is something in a 
mild tan- heat so congenial to their natures, that 
they thrive much better in pots plunged in a bark- 
bed, if properly managed, than when planted out 
on a bed of earth that is heated, and often 
scorched by under-flues. The tan or bark-pits 
are, therefore, essential to the pinery. Bark-pits 
are filled with tan which has previously under- 
gone a course of draining and sweating. The 
heat thus produced will last from three to six 
months, when it is sifted and again put in a state 
of fermentation, by replacing the deficiency occa- 



72 



HORTICULTURE. 



sioned by decay, and a separation of the dust by 
gifting With new tan. In this way the bark-bed 
is obliged to be stirred, turned, refreshed, or even 
renewed, several times a year, so as to produce 
and retain at all times a bottom-heat of from 
75 to 85 in each of the three departments of pine 
culture. 

Propagation of the Pine. 

The pine is generally propagated by crowns and 
guckers, though, in common with every other 
plant; it may be propagated by seed. 

To separate Crowns and Suckers. 

When the fruit is served at table, the crown is 
to be detached by a gentle twist, and returned to 
the gardener, if it be wanted for a new plant. 
Frui', stalk suckers are taken off at the same pe- 
riod. Suckers at the base of the herb are com- 
monly fit for separation when the fruit is mature; 
though, if the stool be vigorous, they may be left 
on for a month after the fruit is cut, the stool re- 
ceiving plentiful waterings on their account. The 
fitness of a sucker to be removed is indicated, at 
the lower part of the leaves, by a brownish tint; 
on the appearance of which, if the lower leaf be 
broken off, the sucker is easily displanted by the 
thumb. 

If the old fruiting-plant offers only small bot- 
tom suckers, or fails to furnish any, good suckers 
may be thus brought out : having waited till the 
fruit is cut, take the old plant in its pot out of the 
bark-bed; strip off the under-leaves near the root, 
and with the knife cut away the leaves to six 
inches from the bottom. Take out some of the 
stale mould from the pot, fill up with fresh, and 
give a little water. Plunge the old plant into a 
bed with a good growing heat. Let the routine 
culture not be neglected, and the old plants will 
soon send out good suckers; allow these to grow 
till they are four inches long or more, and on the 
signs of fitness detach them. 

As soon as either crowns or suckers are de- 
tached, twist off some of the leaves about the base ; 
the vacancy thus made at the bottom of the stem 
is to favor the emission of roots. Pare the stump 
smooth ; then lay the intended plants on a shelf 
in a shaded part of the stove or any dry apart- 
ment. Let crowns and fruit off-sets lie till the 
part that adhered to the fruit is perfectly healed ; 
and root suckers in the same manner till the part 
which was united to the old stock is become dry 
and firm. They will be fit to plant in five or six 
days. 

Treatment of the Plants. 

Keep the plants growing gently, and have the 
pots, in general, completely filled with the roots 
by the time at which it is intended to excite them 
into blossom. From the middle of February to 
the 1st of March is a good time to have the main 
crop in flowers ; as the prospective season is the 
finest. About a month before it is expected to 
see fruit dress the plants by taking away two 
inches in depth from the top of the mould. Twist 
off some of the lower leaves. Fill up with fresh 
eompost, round the stem, to the remaining leaves. 
The bark-bed should be revived at the same time, 
so as to make it lively ; but no new tan should be 
added till the time for the fullest heat arrives. 
If it is desired to ripen eminently large fruit, de- 
stroy the suckers as they spring, by twisting out 
their hearts with an iron sharp-pointed instrument 
formed for the purpose. Apply this to the heart 
of the sucker ; and, turning it round, bring the 
heart away; on the other hand, when the multi- 
plication of the stock is a principal object, the 
suckers must not be extirpated. A yet further 
advantage may be given to the swelling of the 



fruit, by having a few of the lower leaves of tho 
plant taken off, and by putting a rim of tin, or 
anything else in the form of a hoop, round the top 
of the pot, sufficient to raise the mould three or 
four inches. The mould should be of the best 
quality, and constantly kept in a moderately moist 
state; this may be done by having the surface 
kept covered with moistened moss. The roots of 
the pine-plant, especially those produced from the 
part of the stein just under the leaves, will then 
make a surprising progress, and the fruit will be 
greatly benefited by this expedient. 

To cut Ripe Pines. 

The indications of maturity are a diffusive fra- 
grance, accompanied by change in the color of 
the fruit; most sorts becoming yellow or straw 
color; others dark green, or yellowish tinged with 
green. Cut pine-apples before they are dead 
ripe, or the spirit of the flavor will be dissipated. 
Bring away with the fruit above five inches of 
stalk, and leave the crown adhering to the top. 
If pine-apples be not cut soon after they begin to 
color, they fall greatly off in flavor and richness, 
and that sharp luscious taste, so much admired, 
becomes insipid. 

To destroy Insects in Pines. 

If the plants by proper culture be kept healthy 
and vigorous, insects will not annoy, but leave 
them. The coccus hesperides seems to delight in 
disease and decay, as flies do in carrion. The fol- 
lowing recipe may safely be applied to pine-applea 
in any state, but certainly best to crowns and suck- 
ers, at striking them in August; to others it may, 
at any rate, be used in the March shifting, when 
they are shaken out of their pots : 

Take of soft soap, 1 pound; flowers of sulphur, 
1 pound; tobacco, half a pound; nux vomit-a, 1 
ounce; soft water, 4 gallons. Boil all these together 
till the liquor is reduced to three gallons, and set 
it aside to cool. In this liquor immerse the whole 
plant, after the roots and leaves are trimmed for 
potting. Plants in any other state, placed in the 
bark-bed, may safely be watered over head with 
the liquor reduced in strength by the addition of 
a third part of water. As the bug harbors most 
in the angles of the leaves, there is the better 
chance that the medicated water will be effectual, 
because it will there remain the longest, and there 
its sediment will settle. The above is a remedy 
for every species of the coccus ; and for most in- 
sects, on account of its strength and glutinous 
nature. Its application will make the plants look 
dirty; therefore, as soon as the intended effects 
may be supposed to have followed, whatever re- 
mains of the liquor on the leaves should be washed 
off with clean water. It would be improper to 
pour a decoction charged with such offensive ma- 
terials, over fruiting plants. 

Other Methods. 

Turn the plants out of the pots, and clean the 
roots; then keep them immersed for twenty-four 
hours in water in which tobacco stalks have been 
infused. The bugs are then to be rubbed off with 
a sponge, and plants, after being washed in clean 
water and dipped, are to be repotted. 

In the" Caledonian Horticultural Transactions," 
a similar mode is described, only in the place of 
tobacco-juice flowers of sulphur are directed to be 
mixed with the water. With a bit of bass-mat, 
fixed on a small stick and dipped in water, dis- 
place as many of the insects as can be seen,. 
Then immerse the plants in a tub of water, con- 
taining about one pound of flowers of sulphur to 
each garden potful. Let them remain covered in. 
the water twenty- four hours, then lay them with 



GRAPES. 



73 



their tops downwards to dry, and re-pot them in 
the usual manner. 

The experience of Hay, one of the best prac- 
tical gardeners in Scotland, leads him to conclude 
that even moderate moisture is destructive to these 
insects. For many years he regularly watered his 
pine plants over head with the squirt during the 
summer months. This was done only in the even- 
ing. It never injured the plants, and the bug 
never appeared upon them. 

The Grope. 

For the grape, the best soil is a light, loamy, dry, 
limestone soil, with a high and warm exposure, 
especially to the south. The earth should be kept 
well cultivated and free from weeds. The most 
useful fertilizers for the grape are well-rotted 
barn-yard manure, bone, and lime. For ordinary 
cultivation the best varieties are, the Isabella, Ca- 
tawba, Diana, Delaware, Concord, Clinton, and 
the Rebecca when you have a sheltered situation. 
Some of the finer foreign wine-grapes, of France, 
Italy, and the Rhine region, may be naturalized 
with success in some parts of the United States; 
"but it is hardly yet determined which are best 
suited for the purpose. 

To plant Vines. 

Vines are often either trained against the 
back wall or on a trellis under a glass roof. In 
the former case the plants are always placed in- 
Bide the house; but in the latter, there are two 
opinions among practical men, one in favor of 
planting them outside, and the other inside the 
parapet wall. 

Abercroinbie says: "Let them be carefully 
turned out of the pots, reducing the balls a little 
and singling out the matted roots. Then place 
them in the pits, just as deep in the earth as they 
were before, carefully spreading out the abres and 
filling in with fine sifted earth or with vegetable 
mould. Settle all with a little water, and let them 
have plenty of free air every day, defending them 
from very severe frost or much wet; which is all 
the care they will require till they begin to push 
young shoots. 

Composts for Vines. 

The following are the materials and proportions 
of a good compost, recommended by Abercroinbie : 
Of top-spit sandy loam, from an upland pasture, 
one-third part; unexhausted brown loam from a 
garden, one-fourth part; scrapings of roads, free 
from clay, and repaired with gravel or slate, one- 
sixth part; vegetable mould, or old tiin reduced 
to earth, or rotten stable-dung, one-eighth part; 
shell marl or mild lime, one-twelfth part. The 
borders to be from three to five feet in depth, and, 
where practicable, not less than four feet wide in 
surface within the house, communicating with a 
border outside of the building not less than ten 
feet wide. 

To choose, the Plants. 

Vines are to be had /n the nurseries, propagated 
either from layers, cuttings, or eyes ; and, provided 
the plants bo well rooted, and the wood ripe, it is 
a matter of indifference from which class the 
choice is made. 

Speedy Mode of Storing a New Grape House. 

This mode is only to be adopted where a vinery 
previously exists in the open air, or where there 
i a. friend's vinery in the neighborhood. 

In the end of June or beginning of July, when 
the vines have made new shoots from ten to twelve 
feet long, and about the time of the fruit setting, 
select any supernumerary shoots, and loosening 
tbeia from the trellis, bend them down so as to 



make them form a double or flexure in a pot filled 
with earth, generally a mixture of loam and vege- 
table mould, taking care to make a portion of last 
year's wood, containing a joint, pass into the soil 
in the pot. The earth is kept in a wet state, and 
at the same time a moist warm air is maintained 
in the house. In about ten days roots are found 
to have proceeded plentifully from the joint of last 
year's wood, and these may be seen by merely stir- 
ring the surface of the earth, or sometimes they 
may be observed penetrating to its surface. The 
layer may now be safely detached; very fre- 
quently it contains one or two bunches of grapes, 
which continue to grow and come to perfection. 
A layer cut off in the beginning of July generally 
attains, by the end of October, the length of fif- 
teen or twenty feet. A new grape-house, there- 
fore, might in this way be as completely furnished 
with plants in three months, as by the usual me- 
thod, above described, in three years. 
Another Mode. 

A mode of more general utility than the fore- 
going, is to select the plants in the nursery a year 
before wanted, and to order them to be potted into 
very large pots, baskets, or tubs, filled with the 
richest earth, and plunged into a tan bed. They 
will thus make shoots which, the first year after 
removal to their final destination, will, under or- 
dinary circumstances, produce fruit. 
To prune and train Vines. 

The methods of pruning established vines admit 
of much diversity, as the plants are in different 
situations. Without reckoning the cutting down 
of young or weak plants alternately to the lower- 
most summer shoot, which is but a temporary 
course, three different systems of pruning are 
adopted. 

The first is applicable only to vines out of doors, 
but it may be transferred to plants in a vinery 
without any capital alteration. In this method 
one perpendicular leader is trained from the stem, 
at the side of which, to the right and left, the 
ramifications spring. Soon after the growing 
season has commenced, such rising shoots as are 
either in fruit or fit to be retained, or are eligibly 
placed for mother- bearers next season, are laid in 
either horizontally, or with a slight diagonal rise 
at something less than- a foot distance, measuring 
from one bearing shoot to the next. The rising 
shoots, intended to form young wood, should be 
taken as near the origin of the branch as a good 
one offers, to allow of cutting away, beyond the 
adopted lateral, a greater quantity of the branch, 
as it becomes old wood; the new- sprung laterals, 
not wanted for one of these two objects, are 
pinched off. The treatment of those retained 
during the rest of the summer thus differs : A3 
the shoots in bearing extend in growth, they are 
kept stopped about two eyes beyond the fruit. 
The coronate shoots, cultivated merely to enlarge 
the provision of wood, are divested of embryo 
bunches, if they show any, but are trained at full 
length as they advance during the summer, until 
they reach the allotted bounds. In the winter 
pruning there will thus be a good choice of mo- 
ther-bearers. That nearest the origin of the former 
is retained, and the others on the same branch are 
cut away; the rest of the branch is also taken off, 
so that the old wood may terminate with the 
adopted lateral. The adopted shoot is then short- 
ened to two, three, four, or more eyes, according 
to its place on the vine, its own strength, or the 
strength of the vine. The lower snoots are pruned 
in the shortest, in order to keep the means of 
always supplying young wood at the bottom of 
the tree. 



HORTICULTURE. 



Second method. 

The second method is to head the natural leade 
BO as to cause it to throw out two, three, or more 
principal shoots; these are trained as leading 
branches, and in the winter-pruning are not re 
duced, unless to shape them to the limits of the 
house, or unless the plant appears too weak t 
sustain them at length. Laterals from these are 
cultivated about twelve inches apart, as mother 
bearers; those in fruit are stopped in summer 
and after the fall of the leaf are cut into one or 
two eyes. From the appearance of the mother 
bearers, tLns shortened, this is called spur-prun 
ing. 

Third method. 

The third plan seems to flow from taking the 
second as a foundation, in having more than one 
aspiring leader, and from joining the superstruc- 
ture of the first system immediately to this in re- 
serving well-placed shoots to come in as bearing 
wood. Thus, supposing a stem which has been 
headed to send up four vigorous competing lead- 
ers, two are suffered to bear fruit and two are di- 
vested of such buds as break into clusters, and 
trained to the length of ten, twelve, fifteen feet or 
more, for mother-bearers, which have borne a 
crop, are cut down to within two eyes of the stool 
or legs, according to the strength of the plant, 
while the reserved shoots lose no more of their 
tops than is necessary to adjust them to the trellis. 

To prune Vines to advantage. 
In pruning vines leave some new branches every 
year, and take away (if too many) some of the 
old, which will be of great advantage to the tree, 
and much increase the quantity of fruit. When 
you trim your vine, leave two knots and cut them 
off the next time, for usually two buds yield a 
bunch of grapes. Vines thus pruned have been 
known to bear abundantly, whereas others that 
have been cut close to please the eye have been 
almost barren of fruit. 

To mature Grapes by Incision of the Vine Bark. 

It is not of much consequence in what part of 
the tree the incision is made, but in case the trunk 
is very large the circles ought to be made in the 
smaller branches. All shoots which come out 
from the root of the vine or from the front of the 
trunk, situated below the incision, must be re- 
moved aa often as they appear, unless bearing 
wood is particularly wanted to fill up the lower 
part of the wall, in which case one or two shoots 
may be left. 

Vines growing in forcing houses are equally im- 
proved in point of size and flower, as well as made 
to ripen earlier, by taking away circles of bark. 
The time for doing this is when the fruit is set, 
and the berries are about the size of small shot. 
The removed circles may here be made wider than 
on vines growing in the open air, as the bark is 
sooner renewed in forcing houses, owing to the 
warmth and moisture in those places. .Half an 
inch will not be too great a width to take off in a 
circle from a vigorous growing vine, but I do not 
recommend the operation to be performed at all in 
weak trees. 

This practice may be extended to other fruits, 
BO as to hasten their maturity, especially figs, in 
Which there is a most abundant flow of returning 
Bap, and it demonstrates to us why old trees are 
more disposed to bear fruit than young ones. Mil- 
ler informs us that vineyards in Italy are thought 
to improve every year by age till they are fifty 
years old. For as trees become old the returning 
vessels do not convey the sap into the roots with 
the same facility they did when young. Thus by 



occasionally removing circles of bark we only an. 
ticipate the process of nature. In both cases a 
stagnation of the true sap is obtained in the fruit- 
ing branches, and the redundant nutriment then 
passes into the fruit. 

It often happens after the circle of bark has 
been removed, a small portion of the inner bark 
adheres to the alburnum. It is of the utmost im- 
portance to remove this, though ever so small, 
otherwise in a very short space of time the com- 
munication is again established with the roots, and 
little or no effect is produced. Therefore, in about 
ten days after the first operation has been per- 
formed, look at the part from whence the bark was 
removed, and separate any small portion which 
may have escaped the knife the first time. 

To prevent the Dropping off of Grapes. 
Make a circular incision in the wood, cutting 
away a ring of bark about the breadth of the 
twelfth of an inch. The wood acquires greater 
size about the incision, and the operation accele- 
rates the maturity of the wood, and that of the 
fruit likewise. The incision should not be made 
too deep and further than the bark, or it will spoil 
both in the wood and the fruit. 

To retard the Sap. 

At certain periods preventing or retarding the 
mounting of the sap tends to produce and ripen 
the fruit. An abundance of sap is found to in- 
crease the leaf buds and decrease the flower buds. 
A process to retard sap has long been employed in 
the gardens of Montreuil. The practice is to di- 
varicate the sap as near the root as may be, by 
cutting off the main stem and training two lateral 
branches, from which the wall is to be filled. An- 
other process of interrupting the rising of the sap 
by separating the bark has been long in practice 
in vine-forcing houses; this is done when the 
grapes are full grown, and is found to assist the 
bark in diminishing the aqueous and increasing 
the saccharine juice. 

To destroy Insects in Vines. 
The red spider is the grand enemy to the vine; 
after every winter's pruning and removal of the 
outward rind on the old wood, anoint the branches, 
shoots and trellis with the following composition, 
the object of which is the destruction of their eggs 
or larvae : 

Soft soap, 2 Ibs. ; flour of sulphur, 2 Ibs. ; leaf of 
roll tobacco, 2 Ibs. ; nux vomica, 4 oz. ; turpentine, 1 
English gill. 

Boil the above in 8 English gallons of scft river 
water till it is reduced to six. 

Lay on this composition, milk-warm, with a 
painter's brush; then with a sponge carefully 
anoint every branch, shoot and bud, being sure to 
rub it well into every joint, hole and angle. If 
the house is much infected the walls, flues, rafters, 
jtc., are also to be painted over with the same 
iquor. Watering over the leaves and fruit at all 
hues, except the ripening season, is the preven- 
,ive recommended, and which all gardeners ap- 
prove. 

To protect Grapes from Was})s. 
Plant near the grapes some yew-trees, and the 
wasps will so far prefer the yew-tree berries as 
wholly to neglect the grapes. 

To take off Superfluous Suckers from Shrubs. 
Many flowering shrubs put out strong suckers 
rotn the root, such as lilacs, syringa, and some of 
he kinds of roses which take greatly from the 
trength of the mother plant, and which, if not 
panted for the purpose of planting the ollow- 
ng season should be l wisted off or otherwise da 
troyed. 



FRUIT-TREES. 



75 



To renovate old Apple- Tree*. 
Take fresh made lime from the kiln, slake it 
well with water and well dress the tree with a 
brush, and the insects and moss will be completely 
destroyed, the outer rind will fall off and a new, 
smooth, clear, healthy one will be formed, and the 
tree will assume a most healthy appearance and 
produce the finest fruit. 

Treatment of Apple-Trees. 

The limbs of apple-trees re recommended by 
some to be brushed all over in the midst of sum- 
mer, but it is difficult to brush the branches of 
trees when the fruit is upon them. Instead of 
brushing the trees in summer, as soon as the 
leaves have fallen every tree should be carefully 
and freely pruned ; this will open a passage to the 
Bun and air, and will contribute to health in the 
future season. In addition to this, says a corres- 
pondent of the Monthly Magazine, I should re- 
commend brushing off the moss and cutting out 
the cankered parts at any season this is conve- 
nient, and I further recommend the tree to be 
anointed some feet from the ground with a com- 
position of sulphur and goose oil, and unless the or- 
chard is ploughed, the soil should be opened at 
the roots.- 

To render New Pippins Productive. 

To render it more hardy, the farina of the pip- 
pin should be introduced to the flower of the Sibe- 
rian crab, whereby a mule is produced, which 
ripens in cold and exposed situations, yet retains 
the rich flavor of the other parent. But the^e 
hybrid or mule productions in a few generations 
return to the character of the one or the other va- 
riety. A most excellent variety 01 this apple, 
called the Downton Pippin, has been obtained by 
introducing the farina of the golden to the female 
flower of the Orange Pippin, and the progeny is 
more hardened than either parent. 

To obtain Early Fruit by Exhibiting the Trees. 

Mr. Knight having trained the branches of an 
apple-tree against a southern wall in winter, 
loosened them to their utmost, and in spring, when 
the flower-buds began to appear, the branches were 
again trained to the wall. The blossoms soon ex- 
panded and produced fruit, which early attained 
perfect maturity, find, what is more, the seeds from 
their fruits afforded plants which, partaking of the 
quality of the parent, ripened their fruit very con- 
siderably earlier than other trees raised at the 
same time from seeds of the same fruit, which had 
grown in the orchard. 

To hasten the Ripening of Wall Fruit. 
Painting the wall with black paint or laying a 
composition of the same color, produces not only 
more in quantity, in the proportion of five to three, 
but the quality is also superior in size and flavor 
to that which grows against the wall of the natu- 
ral color. But the trees must be clear of insects, 
or they will thrive, from the same cause, more 
than the fruit. 

To preserve Plants from. Frost. 

Before the plant has been exposed to the sun or 
thawed, alter a night's frost, sprinkle it well with 
ipring-water in which sal-ammoniac or common 
colt has been infused. 

To engraft the Coffee-Tree. 

Plant in small hampers during the rainy season 
young plants raised by seed, when they are from 
twelve to eighteen inches high. Place them in the 
shade until they are quite recovered, then remove 
them in the hampers, respectively, to the foot of 
the coffee trees chosen for the mother plants, which 



ought to be of the most healthy and productive 
kind. 

These latter ought to be cut down to within 
three or four inches of the ground, to make them 
throw out new wood near their roots. It, is those 
shoots which are grafted when they are about a 
foot or fifteen inches long upon the seedling plants 
in the hampers placed round the mother plants. 
The hampers should be in part buried in the 
ground to preserve the earth within them moist. 

There are several ways of performing the ope- 
ration of grafting, but we shall give only the two 
following, which seem most likely to answer the 
purpose, without calling upon the cultivator to 
pursue too complex a process : 

1st Draw together the stem of the plant in the 
hamper and one of the branches of the mother 
plant. Then make a longitudinal incision on each 
of them of the same length ; bring the two in- 
cisions together, so that one wound covers the 
other ; bind them closely together and finally cover 
them with a mixture of clayey earth and cow 
dung. It would be useful to cut off the top of 
the plant in the hamper, in order to force the sap 
into the branch of the mother plant. 

2d. Draw together the tree in the hamper and 
the branch of the mother plant as before, and take 
off from three to eight inches of the head of the 
former. Then make a triangular incision upon 
this cut, and a similar one on the branch of the 
mother plant, to unite the two wounds; make them 
fast together and cover them with the same com- 
position as before; then place the branch upright 
by means of a prop. When the parts are firmly 
knit together, cut the branch away from the 
mother pl>mt. and the engrafting is completed. 

Young trees thus engrafted, after remaining one 
or two years in the nursery, should be removed to 
the plantation they are designed for. This method 
is highly useful to the fruit trees which do not 
propagate with all their best qualities by means 
of seed. In the same manner excellent varieties 
of spice trees may be raised from plants propa- 
gated by seed. 

To preserve Fruit Trees in Blossom from Frost. 

Surround the trunk of the tree in blossom with 
a wisp of straw or hemp. The end of this sink 
by means of a stone tied to it in a vessel of spring 
water at a little distance from the tree. One ves- 
sel will conveniently serve two trees, or the cord 
may be lengthened so as to surround several be- 
fore its end is plunged into the water. It is neces- 
sary that the vessel should be placed in an open 
situation out of the reach of any shade, so that 
the frost may produce all its effects on the water 
by means of the cord communicating with it. 
Chinese Jlfode of Propagating Fruit Trees. 

Strip a ring of bark about an inch in width 
from a bearing branch ; surround the place with a 
ball of fat earth or loam, bound fast to the branch 
with a piece of matting, over this they suspend a 
pot or horn with water, having a small hole in the 
bottom just sufficient to let the water drop, in 
order to keep the earth constantly moist. The 
branch throws new roots into the earth just above 
the place where the ring of bark was stripped 
off. The operation is performed in the spring, and 
the branch is sawn off and put into the grour.d at 
the fall of the leaf. The following year it wil] 
bear fruit. 

This mode of propagating, not only fruit trees 
but plants of every description, received particular 
attention from the editor while in China, and has 
since been practised by him in this country with 
never-failing success. The mode he has adopted 
is this : A common tin cup has a round hole 



HORTICULTURE. 



punched in the bottom, a little larger than will 
admit the stem of the branch it is intended to re- 
ceive. A slit is then to be made from the edge 
down one side and along the bottom to the central 
aperture. The two sides can thus be separated 
go as to let in the branch without injury ; it is 
then closed up, the cup filled with loom mixed 
with chopped moss, and another cup or gourd 
pierced with a small hole suspended from a branch 
above. This is to be kept filled with water. The 
time to do this is in the spring just before the sap 
rises. In the fall the limb, as before stated, is to 
be taken off below the cup and planted, with all 
the earth that adheres to the roots. 

To heal Wounds in Trees. 

Make a varnish of common linseed oil, rendered 
very drying by boiling it for the space of an hour, 
with an ounce of litharge to each pound of oil, 
mixed with calcined bones, pulverized and sifted 
to the consistence of an almost liquid paste. With 
this paste the wounds are to be covered by means 
of a brush, after the bark and other substance 
have been pared, so as to render the whole as 
smooth and even as possible. The varnish must 
be applied in dry weather, in order that it may 
attach itself properly. 

Composition for Healing \Vounds in Trees. 

Take of dry pounded chalk three measures, and 
of common vegetable tar one measure; mix them 
thoroughly, and boil them with a low heat till the 
composition becomes of the consistency of bees- 
wax; it may be preserved for use in this state for 
any length of time. If chalk cannot conveniently 
be got, dry brick-dust may be substituted. After 
the broken or decayed limb lias IH-CM sawed off, 
the whole of the saw-cut must be very carefully 
pared away, and the rough edges of the bark, in 
particular, must be made quite smooth : the doing 
of this properly is of great consequence; then lay 
on the above composition hot, about the thickness 
of half a dollar, over the wounded place, and over 
the edges of the surrounding bark; it should be 
spread with a hot trowel. 

To propagate Herbs by Slips and Cuttings. 
Many kinds of pot-herbs may, in July, be pro- 
pagated by cuttings or slips, which may bp planted 
out to nurse on a shady border for a few weeks, 
or till they have struck root, and may then be 
planted out where they are to remain. If made 
about the middle or end of the month, they will 
be ready for transplanting before the end of Au- 
gust, and in that case will be well established 
before the winter. The kinds are marjoram, mint, 
sage, sorrel, tansy, tarragons and thyme. 

To prevent the growth of Weeds round Young Fruit- 
Trees. 

To diminish the growth of weeds round fruit 
trees, spread on the ground round the fresh trans- 
planted trees, as far as the roots extend, the refuse 
stalks of flax after the fibrous parts have been 
separated. This gives them very surprising vigor, 
as no weeds will grow under flax refuse, and the 
earth remains fresh and loose. Old trees treated 
in the same manner, when drooping in an orchard, 
will recover and push out vegerian shoots. In 
place of flax stalks the leaves which fall from 
trees in autumn may be substituted, but they 
must be covered with waste twigs or anything 
else that can prevent the wind from blowing them 
away. 

To avoid the bad effects of Iron Nails, etc., on 
Fruit- Trees. 

It often happens that some of the limbs of fruit- 
trees, trained against a wall, are blighted and die, 



while others remain in a healthy and flourishing 
state. This has hitherto been erroneously attri- 
buted to the effects of lightning; but from closer 
observation, and from several experiments, it has 
been found to arise from the corroding effects of 
the nails and cramps with which trees in this sit- 
uation are fastened. To avoid this inconvenience, 
therefore, it requires only to be careful in pre- 
venting the iron from coming in contact with the 
bark of the trees. 

To destroy Moss on Trees. 

Remove it with a hard scrubbing brush in Feb- 
ruary and March, and wash the trees with cow- 
dung, urine and soap-suds. 

To protect Trees and Shrubs from the attack of 

Hares. 

Take three pints of melted tallow to one of tar, 
and mix them well together over a gentle fire. 
In November take a small brush and go over the 
rind or bark of the trees with the mixture, in a milk- 
warm state, as thin as it can be laid on with the 
brush. This coating will not hinder the juices or 
sap expanding in the smallest degree. Its effi- 
cacy has been proved by applying the liquid to 
one tree and missing another, when the latter has 
been attacked and the former left. During five 
years' experience, of those besmeared the first two 
years not one was injured afterwards. If all the 
bark were properly gone over with the mixture, 
they probably would not need any more for some 
years, 

To prevent the Propagation of Insects on Apple- 
Trees. 

Let a hard shoe-brush be applied to every in- 
fected limb, as if it were to coach harness, to get 
off the dirt, after which, with the tin box and 
brush, give the limbs a dressing, leaving them 
exposed to the sun to increase the efficacy of the 
application. This should be repeated occasionally 
during the summer, choosing always a dry time, 
and warm, clear sunshine. 

To prevent the Ravages of the Gooseberry Cater- 
pillar. 

The only remedy is placing something about the 
stem or among the branches of the bush, the smell 
of which is obnoxious to flies, and which they will 
not approach. The smell of coal-tar or petroleum 
is said to keep off the caterpillars ; the fact is, 
that it keeps off the fly. The practice is to wrap a 
beam or twist of seed, strongly impregnated with 
this strong-scented bitumen, round the stem of 
the bush, and no caterpillar will touch a leaf. 

Other remedies are used, such as soap-suds 
thrown over the bushes, lime, chimney-soot, and 
a strong decoction of elder-leaves ; but who can 
eat gooseberries and currants after they have 
been besmeared with such filthy materials ? Keep- 
ing off the fly by the smell of something which is 
disagreeable to it goes to the root of the evil at 
once, and there is nothing in the smell of coal-tar 
which can excite a prejudice in the most delicate 
stomach. 

Another Method. 

A few small pits or holes, from twelve to fifteen 
inches deep, being dug among the bushes, at con- 
venient distances, all the surfaco mould immedi- 
ately under and near to the bu.'.hes, wherein the 
greatest quantity of shells is likely to be depo- 
sited, is taken off with a common garden hoe and 
buried in these holes or pits; after which the 
whole surface is carefully dug over to a consi- 
derable depth. Wherever these operations are 
properly performed, no apprehension of loss from 
this kind of caterpillar need be entertained. 



FRUIT-TREES. 



77 



To cure the Disease in Apple-Trees. 

Brush off the white down, clear off the red stain 
Underneath it, and anoint the places infected with 
a liquid mixture of train oil and Scotch snuff. 
Another Method. 

Orchards are occasionally much injured by an 
insect appearing like a white efflorescence ; when 
bruised between the fingers it emits a blood-red 
fluid. Mix a quantity of cow-dung with human 
urine, to the consistence of paint, and let the in- 
fected trees be anointed with it, about the begin- 
ning of March. 

To cure the Canker in Apple- Trees. 

The only means of preventing the canker 
worm, which destroys the young fruit, and endan- 
gers the life of the tree, when discovered, and 
which, in many instances, has proved to be effec- 
tual, is encircling the tree, about knee-high, 
with a streak of tar, early in the spring, and occa- 
sionally adding a fresh coat. 

In other Trees. 

Cut them off to the quick, and apply a piece of 
sound bark from any other tree, and bind it on 
with a flannel roller. Cut off the canker, and a 
new shoot will grow strong, but in a year or two 
you will find it cankered. 

To cure Ulcers in Elm- Trees. 

The remedy consists in boring every tree at- 
tacked by the disease, at the ulcer itself; and in 
applying a tube to the hole occasioned by the 
borer, penetrating about nine lines in depth. The 
sound trees, which are also bored, afford no 
liquor, whereas those that are ulcerated afford it 
in great abundance, increasing particularly in fine 
weather, and when the wound is exposed to the 
south. Stormy weather and great winds stop 
the effusion. In this manner the ulcers dry and 
heal in forty-eight hours. 

To cleanse Orchard Trees by Lime. 

The use of lime has been highly recommended 
in the dressing of old moss-eaten orchard trees. 
Some fresh made lime being slaked with water, 
and some old worn out apple-trees well dressed 
with it with a brush, the result was that the in- 
sects and moss were destroyed, the outer rind fell 
off, and a new, smooth, clear, healthy one formed; 
the trees, although twenty years old, assuming a 
most healthy appearance. 

To cure Blight in Fruit Trees. 

A smothering straw-fire should be made early 
in October, in calm weather, under each tree, and 
kept up during an hour or more. This done, 
scrape the moss and other impurities from the 
trunk, and from every obscure hole and corner; 
set your ladders to the branches, carefully clean- 
ing them in the same way, taking from the re- 
maining leaves every web or nidus of insects. If 
need be, wash the trunk, and all the larger wood, 
with a solution of lime and dung. Last of all, it 
is necessary to destroy the insects or eggs, which 
may have dropped upon the ground, and it may be 
useful to loosen the soil in the circumference. In 
the spring, or early blighting season, apply your 
ladders, make a careful survey of every branch, and 
act accordingly; repeat this monthly, picking 
off all blights by hand, and using the water-en- 
gine, where ablution may be necessary. To those 
who have fruit, or the market profit thereof, every 
orchard or garden, little or great, will amply re- 
pay such trouble and expense. 

Another Method. 

Trees newly transplanted, in general, escape its 
attack, when other trees, of the same kind of fruit, 



grown in the same situation, are nearly de- 
stroyed. Peach and nectarine trees should be dug 
up once in every five or six years, and replanted 
with fresh mould. By this method, a larger 
quantity of fruit of a superior kind will be ob- 
tained. The covering of trees with mats, by 
almost totally depriving them of light, has a ten- 
dency to create blight, which often attends an 
excess of heat or cold. 

To preserve Apple- Trees from Blight. 

Washing the branches with quick-lime will pre- 
serve the trees from blight, and insure a crop; 
those which escape washing suffer from the blight, 
whilst the others produce a good crop. 
To prevent the Blight or Mildew from injuring Or- 
chards. 

Rub tar well into the bark of the apple-trees, 
about four or six inches wide round each tree, 
and at about one foot from the ground. Thia 
effectually prevents blight, and abundant crops 
are the consequence. 

To prevent Mildew on Fruit- Trees. 

Take one quart of whiskey, two pounds of pow- 
dered sulphur, two ounces of copperas, and a small 
quantity of camphor. Dissolve first the camphor, 
reduced to powder, gradually in the spirit, then 
dissolve also the copperas in it; then rub gradu- 
ally the powdered sulphur into the solution, when 
the whole will form a mixture of a thickish con- 
sistence. The fruit-trees, in the spring of the year, 
immediately after being cleaned and tied up, are 
to have their trunks and all their branches com- 
pletely covered with this mixture, by means of a 
large paint-brush. 

To prevent Mildew on Peach-Trees. 

In the months of January and February, if the 
trees are in a stunted or sickly state, take away 
all the old mould from the roots as carefully as 
possible, and put in its place fresh rotten turf from 
an old pasture, without any dung; and the trees 
will not only recover their health, but produce a 
crop of fine fruit. 

To prevent Gumming in Fruit- Trees. 

To prevent gumming, or the spontaneous exu 
dation of gum from the trunks of fruit trees, 
which injures to a considerable extent the growth 
and strength of the tree, 

Take of horse dung any quantity, mix it well 
up with a quantity of clay and a little sand, so as 
to make a composition; then add a quantity of 
pitch-tar (which is put upon cart-wheels), and 
form a wettish composition of the whole. The 
fruit trees, in the spring of the year, after they are 
cleaned and tied up, are to have their trunks and 
stems completely bedaubed or covered with this 
mixture. 

To cultivate the Cucumber. 

To produce cucumbers at an early season, is an 
object of emulation with every gardener; and 
there is scarcely any person who has not a cu- 
cumber-bed in his garden. Cucumbers are forced 
in hot-beds, pits, and hot-houses, and the heat of 
fire, steam, and dung have been applied to their 
culture; but dung is the only thing yet found out, 
by the heat of which the cucumber may be advan- 
tageously cultivated. 

Soil. 

Cucumbers, like every other plant, will grow in 
any soil, though not with the same degree of vigor, 
provided they be supplied with a sufficiency of 
heat, light, water, and air. 

For Early Forcing. 

Abercrombie recommends a mould or compost 
of the following materials One-third of rich top- 



78 



HORTICULTURE. 



spit earth, from an upland pasture, one-half of 
vegetable mould, and one-sixth of well decom- 
posed horse dung, with a small quantity of sand. 
McPhail used vegetable mould made from a 
mixture of the leaves of elm, lime, beech, syca- 
more, horse and sweet chestnut, spruce and Scotch 
fir, walnut, laurel, oak, evergreen, oat, ash, etc., 
and among them withered grass, and weeds of 
various sorts. This vegetable mould is preferable 
to any other. 

Compost used in Keic Garden. 
Of light loam, a few months from the common, 
one-third part; the best rotten dung, one-third 
part; leaf mould, and heath earth, equal parts, 
making together one-third part: the whole well 
mixed for use. 

To form the Seed. 

If one light frame will be large enough for ordi- 
nary purposes, choose a dry sheltered part of the 
melon ground, and form abed. When high winds 
are suffered to blow against a cucumber bed, they 
have a very powerful effect on it; therefore, when 
a cucumber bed is about to be formed, the first 
object of consideration should be to have it shel- 
tered from the high winds and boisterous stormy 
weather. Having put on the frame, and waited 
till the bed is fit for moulding, lay in five or six 
inches depth of the proper earth or compost. 

Sowing. 

Abercrombie sows some seeds in the layer of 
the earth, which he spreads over the bed, putting 
them in half an inch deep. He also sows som< 
seeds in two, three, or more small pots of the same 
kind of earth, which may be plunged a little into 
that of the bed. 

To raise Plants from Cuttings. 
Instead of raising cucumber plants from seed, 
they may be raised from cuttings, and thus kept 
on from year to year, in the following manner: 
Take a shoot which is ready for stopping, cut it 
oif below the joint, then cut smooth the lower end 
of the shoot or cutting, and stick it into fine leaf 
or other rich mould, about an inch deep, and give 
it plenty of heat, and shade it from the rays of 
the sun till it be fairly struck. By this method 
cucumber plants may readily be propagated. 

Treatment till removed to the Fruiting Bed. 
After sowing continue the glasses on the frame; 
giving occasional vent above for the steam to eva- 
porate. The plants will be up in a few days, when 
it will be proper to admit air daily, but more 
guardedly at the upper ends of the lights. In 
frosty weather hang part of a mat over the aper- 
ture. When the plants are a little advanced, with 
the seed leaves about half an inch broad, take them 
up and prick some in small pots of light earth, 
previously warmed by the heat of the bed. Put 
three plants in each pot, and insert them a little 
slopingly, quite to the seed-leaves. Plunge the 
pots into the earth; and prick some plants also 
into the earth of the bed. Give a very little water 
just to the roots ; the water should be previously 
warmed to the temperature of the bed. Draw on 
the glasses ; but admit air daily, to promote the 
growth of the plants, as well as to give vent to the 
steam rising in the bed, by tilting the lights be- 
hind from half an inch to an inch or two high, in 
proportion to the heat of the bed and the tempera- 
ture of the weather. Cover the glasses every night 
with garden mats and remove them timely in the 
morning. Give twice a week, once in two days, 
or daily, according to the season, a very light 
watering. Keep up a moderate lively heat in 
the bed by requisite linings of hot dung to the 
sides. 



To guard the Seeds from Mice. 

Lay a pane of glass over the pot or pan till they 
have come up, and afterwards at night cover with 
a pot of equal size till the seed-leaves have ex- 
panded and the husks h;.ve dropped; for, until 
then, the plants nre liable to be destroyed. The 
cover, however, should always be removed by sun- 
rise, and replaced in the evening. It is at night 
these vermin generally commit their depredations. 
No air need be admitted till the heat begins to 
rise, and steam begins to appear; hut after that 
the light should be tilted a little every day, in 
whatever state the weather may be, until the plants 
break ground. Air must then be admitted with 
more care; and if frosty, or very chill, the end of 
a mat should be hung over the opening, that the 
air may sift through it, and not immediately strike 
the plants. 

To transplant Cucumbers. 

As soon as the seed-leaves of the plants are fully 
expanded, transplant them singly into pots of the 
48th size, and give a little water and air night 
and day. The temperature for seedlings is from 
65 to 75. With this heat and water, as the 
earth in the pots becomes dry, and a little air 
night and day so as to keep the internal air in th 
frame sweet and fluctuating between the degrees 
of heat above-mentioned, the plants will be fit for 
finally transplanting out in one month, that is, by 
the 14th of November, into the fruiting frames. 
To form the Fruiting Bed. 

Begin to make preparations for the fruiting bed, 
about three weeks before the plants are ready to 
be planted out for good. The dung collected, 
after being well worked, is made up into a bed 
about four or five feet high, and the frames and 
lights set upon it. It is afterwards suffered to 
stand for a few days to settle, and until its violent 



heat be somewhat abated, and when it is thought 
to be in a fit state for the plants to grow in, its 
surface is made level, and a hill of mould laid in 
just under the middle of each light, and when the 
mould gets warm the plants are ridged out in it. 
After this, if the bed has become perfectly sweet, 
and there be heat enough in it, and the weather 
proves fine, the plants will grow finely. 

To Plant Out. 

When the temperature is ascertained to be right, 
bring the plants in their pots; turn over the hills 
of mould, forming them again properly, and then