Full text of "Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1859 : agriculture"

See other formats

O I

JOHNA.SEAVERNS

Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine

Cummings School of Veterinary fviediclne at

Tufts University

200 Westboro Road

North Grafton, MA 01 536 ' v :;?^'n-4^^

Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive

in 2011 with funding from

Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries

Iittp://www.archive.org/details/reportofcommissi1860wasli

ELAIVD. (See page 212.)

^\ ^/ ^ y

-'S -_

^;\

' k ■«

■*^!»^^.

^'■^1^^^

•V ' - >^ "

^ ^,

*>♦

\^-

V ~

V^_~

--^ -fW ■

r.,^

ft'

HORSE STABLES. (See page 260.)

36th Congress, ) HOUSE OF EEPRESENTATIVES. j Ex. Doc.
1st Session. \ j

REPOET

COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS

FOR THE YEAR 1859.

AGRICULTURE

WASHINGTON :

GEORGE W. BOWMAN, PRINTER.

1860.

In the House of Representatives, June 13, 1860.
Resolved, That there be printed, in addition to the usual number, three hundred thousand
extra copies of the Report of the Commissioner of Patents on Agriculture, for the year 1859;
fifteen thousand of which shall be for distribution by the Interior Department, and two hun-
dred and eighty-five thousand for the use of the House of Representatives.

EEPOET

COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.

United States Patent Office,

January 3, 1860.

Sir: Agreeably to the design of Congress, as indicated in the clause
of the act of March 3, 1859, '^for collection of agricultural statistics,
investigations for promoting agriculture and rural economy, and the
procurement of cuttings and seeds," I have the honor herewith to
transmit the agricultural portion of my report.

Owing to the reduced appropriation made by Congress for agricul-
tural purposes, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1860, the office has
been compelled to reduce its expenses and confine its action to a more
limited sphere than heretofore. In doing this, it was found necessary
either to decline purchasing for distribution the usual varieties of gar-
den and field seeds, or to abandon the experiment of propagating the
tea, and various other foreign plants and grape-cuttings, for which
orders had been given. The expense which had already been incurred
in their procurement would hardly justify the office in throwing them
aside. It was accordingly deemed advisable to apply the remainder
of the funds solely to the procuring of information and preparing the
material for the Agricultural Eeport, and to the propagation and
distribution of such varieties of foreign seeds and cuttings as had been
already engaged. These were of such a nature that, if they had been
distributed throughout the country immediately upon their receipt, the
probability is that very few of them would have reached their destina-
tion in a fit state for propagation. The tea seeds, more particularly,
arrived in such a condition that it was of the utmost importance to
plant them at once. For this purpose, large propagating houses were
erected upon the government grounds north of the canal, between
Four-and-a-half and Sixth streets. These structures now answer well
the purpose for which they were intended, as is exhibited by the fact
that we have, ready for distribution, over 30,000 well-rooted tea plants,

IV REPORT OF THE

12,000 foreign and domestic grape-vines 900 rooted, seedless, pome-
granate cuttings, and various foreign, medicinal, and ornamental
plants. These will be ready for distribution during the present winter
and the ensuing spring.

The nature of the tea plant is such that it cannot be successfully
cultivated in the open air above the northern boundaries of Tennessee
and North Carolina. For this reason, the larger portion will be sent
south of that line. A sufficient number, however, will be divided
among the remaining States, to satisfy the reasonable demands of such
persons as have the conveniences necessary for their protection during
the winter months.

Last summer and fall an agent was employed to travel through
several of the Northern States for the purpose of collecting the best
varieties of ripe native grapes. An experienced chemist was also
engaged to analyze the fruit thus collected, for the purpose of ascer-
taining the amount of saccharine matter and other ingredients con-
tained in the juice of each variety, and determining which kinds are
best adapted to the making of wine. The reports of the agent and
chemist appear in this volume, and will, no doubt, prove valuable and
interesting to the public.

It is now about twelve years since Congress adopted^the system of
making annual appropriations for agricultural purposes. Previous to
this time, there seemed to be but little progress made by the people in
this branch of our national industry. Agricultural newspapers were
then in their infancy, while agricultural societies were scarcely known
or heard of. The attention paid by Congress to this subject seems to
have awakened the people to its importance. It has stimulated inquiry,
encouraged new experiments, and to such an extent has the public
mind been excited, that agricultural societies have been formed and
are now in successful operation in nearly every county and State
throughout the Union. Newspapers entirely devoted to agriculture
are published in nearly every State, and at prices which place them
within the reach of all. Enterprising men in all the principal cities
have established agricultural warehouses, where varieties of seeds,
plants, and cuttings, from foreign lands, as well as from different sec-
tions of our own country, can be purchased upon reasonable terms.

More recently, a national agricultural society has been established,
which will undoubtedly prove valuable as a medium of communication
between the various county and State societies. Indeed, so thoroughly
have the public become impressed with the importance and necessity
of paying more strict attention to improvements in agriculture, that

COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS. . V

it may well be doubted wbetber anything Congress may do can give
an additional impetus to tbe movement.

I have no hesitation in saying that the necessity no longer exists of
distributing the various seeds of domestic growth, inasmuch as the
facilities for obtaining them are such that every person of enterprise
enough to cultivate them can obtain everything in that line from the
seed-stores. If, therefore, it is the desire of Congress to continue the
appropriation for agricultural purposes, I would recommend that it be
limited solely to the collection of valuable information for the agricul-
tural report and the collection and distribution of such varieties of
foreign seeds, plants, and cuttings, as have not heretofore been intro-
duced into this country.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

WM. D. BISHOP,

Commissioner.

Hon. Wm. Penningtozj,

Speaker of the House of Bepresenfatives .

INDEX.

Paj;e.

Acclimation and domestication of animals 207

Acid, determination of 57

Acid, tartaric 59

Administering medicines to domestic animals .... 199

Powder 199

Drink 1 99

Infusion or potion 199

Electuaries or jellies 2U3

Pills 204

Agricultural Society, United States, Historical

Sketch 22

Agricultural Schools of Prussia 457

Analysis of grapes 55

Animals, docility of 448

Animals, administering medicines to domestic .... 199

Horse 199

Cattle 205

Sheep 206

Swine 206

Dog 207

Apparatus for wine making 85

Benefits of soiling 448

Breeding of fish 217

Of trout at Hartford 230

Of migratory fishes 229

Cells, vegetable 37.3

Cells, grouping of, in fiber 330

Commissioner of Patents, letter of iii

Construction and arrangement of liorse stables .... 260

Crops, larger, require greater manuring 449

Diet, fish as an article of 236

Farm journals 367

Farm "houses, some hints upon 397

Fences, cost of 447

Fences dispensed with 446

Fencing and herding 443

Fertilizers 136

Lime ] 52

Marl 154

Plaster or gypsum 162

Sulphate or barytes 163

Magnesia 165

Phosphorus 166

Fish breeding 217

Transportation of living fishes 228

Breeding of migratory fishes. 229

Breeding trout at Hartford 230

Practical hints to fish breeders 232

Fish as an article of diet 236

Fiber, vegetable 372

Vegetable cell 373

Grouping of cells in fiber 380

Fibrous materials for paper 391

Gall & Petiol's method of wine making, (modern

principles) 94

Garden, government experimental and propagating 1

Grapes and other plants 13

Seeds for distribution 18

Plants from Palestine 19

Government experimental and propagating garden 1

Grapes, native Arkansas and Texas 30

El Paso, or grapes cultivated on Rio Grande. . 35
Grapes, report on the saccharine contents of na-
• five American, in relation to wine making. . 42
Chemical examination of juice of, from vari-
ous localities of the United States 44

Analysis of, tabular statement 55

Grapes, report on American 57

Determination of the proportion of acids 57

Tabular statement 59

Grapes, tartaric acid in the cultivated 59

Grapes, native, of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New

York, and New England 61

Vitis vinifera 62

Vitis labrusca 62

Vitis labrusca 63

Vitis eordifolia 63

Page.
Grapes —

Vitis aestivalis 65

Vitis eordifolia punctata 67

Vitis aestivalis punctata 67

Vitis sinuata 68

Culture and management of, and the mode of

making wine 71

Propagation, by layers, cuttings, eyes, and seed 71
Improving by layering, grafting, budding, and

hybridizing 75

Culture of, in the vineyard 78

State of grapo, when and how it should be

gathered, and apparatus for wine making. . . 85

Wine-making 89

Treatment of the young wine 91

Use of the husks, lees, and seeds 93

Gall & Petiols' method of wine making 94

Historical Sketch of the U. S. Agricultural Society 22

Horse-stables, construction and arrangement of. . . 260

Location 261

Ground 262

External wall 262

Ceilings 263

Floor 265

Accommodation 269

Division of stalls 270

Doors 275

Ventilation 279

Cribs 282

Racks 285

Fastening horses 287

Houses, farm, some hints upon 397

Husks, lees, and seeds of grapes 93

Ionian Islands and Italy, productions of the 100

Sicily 104

Rome 130

Florence 132

Pisa 133

Arena 134

Isola Bella 136

Lees, husks, and seeds of grapes 93

Lime 152

Magnesia 154

Marl 165

Medicines, administering to domestic animals .... 199

Meteorology 461

Miscellaneous .535

Reports on —

Grape culture in Illinois 535

Grapes, by H. W. Ravenel .536

Glover's experiments on orange grove 540

Alpaca and cashmere goats, &c 541

Peruvian bark 542

Italian bees 543

Wine making in New York 544

Grapes in Yates county. New York 547

Silk culture 548

Radish, and fruits of Japan 549

Vegetable tallow 550

Orchard house culture 550

Hang-worm 551

Glover's syringing of orange groves 554

Frost 555

Chinese yam » 558

Seeds, &c., from the Holy Land 559

Seeds from Ecuador 559

Cotton plants, &c.. Sandwich Islands 560

Wooden shoes 561

Letter from Governor Wright, at Berlin 562

Cherimoya, &c 562

Algaroba 563

Hungarian grass 563

Patent Office seeds 564

Patent Office seeds 566

Tuscan wheat 567

Organization of agricultural society 567

Samples of wheat, &c., from Russm 568

VIII

INDEX.

Page.
Miscellaneous— Reports on —

Crops in Nebraska 568

Contributions of seeds, cuttings, &c 569

Paper, fibrous materials for 391

Paw-paw spirits, experiments on 370

Mode of purifying alcoliol, &c 370

Distilled liquors and fusil oil 371

Petiol's, Gall, and, method of wine maJcing, (modern

principles) 94

Phosphorus 166

Plants used as food for man 299

Plaster or gypsum 162

Patents for agricultural inventions 572

Plows and plowing, English 239

1. Influence of weight of plow on the draft... 243

2. Influence of mold-board on the draft 244

3. Influence of depth of furrow on tlie draft. . 245

4. Influence of velocity on the draft 246

5. Influence of wheels on the draft 247

6. Effect of the length of the various parts on

the operation of plow 248

Steam plows in England 249

Fowler's steam plow 249

Boydell's patent traction engine 253

Smith's cultivator 254

American steam cultivators 256

Fawkes's steam plow 257

Waters's steam plow 258

Productions of the Ionian Islands and Italy 100

Q,uincy's statement on soiling 453

Koots, farm supply and 446

Roots and soiling in England 452

Salt in agriculture, importance of. 395

Prize paper of. Dr. Desaive 396

Sap, art of governing the 362

Schools of Prussia, agricultural 457

Seeds, husks, lees, and 93

Sheep, Saxon merino 288

Sketch of farm of Baron Speck 294

Sheep, spleen in, and its prevention 296

Soiling, advantages of 443

Stables, horse, construction and arrangement of. . 260

Stock, green-soiling 442

Feiices and herding 442

Advantages of soiling 443

Farm supply and roots 446

Could dispense with most fences 446

Cost of board fences 447

Docility of animals 448

Nine distinct benefits '. 448

Larger crops require greater manuring 449

Higher influences of the system 450

General view of the subject 451

Page.
Stock-
Soiling and roots, in England 452

Mr. Quincy's statement 453

Sulphate or barytes 163

Surgeons, veterinary 183

Tartaric acid 59

Tobacco, reports on 524

Report from Charles A. Lees, United States

consul. Revel, Prussia 524

Report from B. Hammatt Norton, United States

consul, Pictou, Nova Scotia 526

Report from Daniel R. B. Upton, United States

consul at Bathurst 526

Report from S. J. Merrit, United States consul

at Nassau, Bahamas 526

Report from Robert Dowling, United States

consul at Cork, Ireland 527

Report from Stephen Ralli, United States vice-
consul at Odessa 527

Report from Thomas Savage, United States

vice-consul general, Havana, Cuba 529

Report from J. B. Hayne, United States con-
sul, Turk's Island, West Indies 529

Report from Samuel W. Talbot, United States

consul, Dublin, Ireland 530

Report from Herbert Davy, United States con-
sul, Newcastle-on-Tyne, England 530

Report from R. S. Newbold, acting United

States consul, port of Spain, Trinidad 53J

Report from John Black, United States com-
mercial agent, Galle, Ceylon 531

Report from W. H. Morse, United States con-
sul at Cape de Verds 5:S

Report from G. H. Goundie, United States

consul at Zurich, Switzerland 532

Report from Henry Pemberton, consular agent

of the United States at Quebec, Canada 532

Report from L. II. Hatfield, United States con-
sul at Bombay 533

Transportation of living fishes ^8

Veterinary science and art 179

Royal college of veterinary surgeons 183

Veterinary medicine 185

Vegetable fiber 372

Vitis vinifera, &c 62

Wine making 89

White wine 89

Schiller wine 89

Red wine or claret 90

Wine, young, treatment of 91

Second fermentation 91

Remedies for flat and turbid wines 92

Fining .' 92

GOVEENMENT EXPEMMENTAL AND PEOPAGATING

GAEDEN.

Prominent among the purposes of the government, with respect to
agriculture, is the introduction of trees, shrubs, and plants from other
countries. In whatever form these are received, whether as seeds,
roots, cuttings, or plants, the most tender treatment is generally re-
quisite to preserve, develop, multiply, and acclimatize them ; and every
possible facility therefor should always be in readiness at the moment
of their arrival.

The want of accommodations of this character had long been felt,
when, in August, 1858, intelligence of the transmission of a quantity
of tea seeds, from China, created an immediate necessity for their pro-
vision. A plot of five acres was accordingly chosen, in a central posi-
tion, in the city of Washington, and prepared in the manner described
in the Eeport of the Commissioner of Patents on Agriculture, for that
year. A system of underground tile-drainage, upon a plan now com-
mon in the United States and in Europe, was applied to this ground,
and with excellent results for a time ; but, unfortunately, there was a
want of adaptation in the manner of laying the tiles upon the yield-
ing, marshy base, and the continuity has consequently been inter-
rupted by occasional depressions. When this shall have been remedied,
as it doubtless may be v/ithout serious detriment to the field or its
products, the experiment may be regarded as complete and satisfactory.

The plan pursued in constructing and warming the green-houses
upon this ground, though successful in its present application, is not
commended for all purposes. Decomposing vegetable matter, covered
with a portion of nitrogenous materials, might be adapted to general
use, were the process of decomposition susceptible of being controlled at
will: but so variable is its progress, and so dependent upon exter-
nal influences, in a ratio inverse to the requirements within, that the
vicissitudes of temperature proceeding from it are such as none but
hardy plants can endure. The volatile emanations are likewise in
excess in this process, insomuch that even those plants which become
accustomed to and prove capable of sustaining an atmosphere so
highly stimulating may suifer when suddenly withdrawn from its
influence and exposed to the open air.

The partial exclusion of the light and warmth of the sun, practised
in connection with this plan, also proves detrimental to tender plants,
while the altitude of the roof, eleven feet at the apex, is to them a con-
stant and certain cause of slender and feeble growth.

Happily, these disadvantages are remediable at small cost of money
and labor, by the provision of apparatus for artificial heating, the
elevation of the beds, the adoption of means of ventilation, and the
extension of the glass roofing over the whole of each structure.

1 A

■2 AGRlCtJLTURAL REPORT.

The garden thus establisliecl may be properly applied to other uses
than the propagation of exotic plants. Kot only may the tea shrub,
the cinchona tree, the camphor tree, the cork tree, and others of for-
eign origin, be nurtured here, but also many native as well as foreign
plants desirable for their edible and medicinal properties and products
and ornamental qualities. The amateur, pharmaceutical, and profes-
sional botanist may 'here examine the vegetation of many soils and
climates, and witness experiments in the culture and hybridization of
various trees and j)lants. Among those now in course of cultivation
the following may be named :

Tea shrub from China, '^2, Q^^ plants: The proposition to introduce
the tea shrub of China to culture in the United States has been dis-
cussed in the Keports of the Commissioner of Patents, for the years
1855 and 1857; and information, gleaned from accredited sources, has
been given in regard to this plant, and the soils, climates, and condi-
tions of its profitable growth and preparation. The subject is now
presented in a practical form ; a new interest has been excited in regard
to it ; and information, upon which the American planter may rely, is
demanded by the exigency that has arisen.

Tea was little known in Europe until the middle of the seventeenth
century. Mr. Pepys, secretary of the British admiralty, in 1661,
speaks of "tea, (a China drink,) of which," he says, "I had never
drank before." Three years later, the Dutch East India Company
presented two pounds and two ounces to the king of England, as a
rare and valuable ofiering ; and, in 1667, this company, by the im-
portation of one hundred pounds, commenced a traffic that has grown
to the magnitude of thirty million pounds, for home consumption
alone, in England, yielding a revenue to the government of about
£4,000,000 per annum. The value of the tea imported into the Uni-
ted States, in the year ending June 30, 1858, was $7^261,815, and, in
the succeeding year, $7,388,741.

The use of tea as a beverage was^ for a time, strenuously resisted in
Europe, on the ground of its alleged deleterious influence on the
human constitution. Many diseases were declared to be aggravated,
if not superinduced, by it, and manifold evils were predicted from the
importation. This should not be a subject of surprise ; since, like
many other luxuries, and especially vegetable narcotics, tea is repul-
sive to the natural appetite, and its effects, when used in excess, are
very powerful, and, it may be, hurtful to an organization not habituated
. to its use. But it is now generally conceded throughout the civilized
world, not only that tea is far less pernicious and offensive than any
of the various excitants or stimulants it has displaced, but that it has
proved a positive benefit to the world, with as few evidences of injury
from its abuse as exist in relation to any article of luxury, or of food,
with which we are acquainted. The chemical principle characteristic
of tea, coffee, and cocoa, has been found one and the same, and has
been called, indifferently, theine and caffeine. Dr. Ure remarks that
the proportion of azote in theine or caffeine is much greater than even
in any animal compound, urea and uric acid excepted, and adds :
"Since so many different nations have been, as it were, instinctively
led to the extensive use of tea, coffee, and chocolate, as articles of food

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN. 3

and enlivening beverage, whicli agree in no feature or property but in
the possession of one peculiar cliemical principle, we must conclude
that tlie constitution of these vegetable products is no random freak of
nature, but that it has been ordained by Divine wisdom, for perform-
ing beneficial effects on the human race."

Various writers have made conjectures with respect to the time and
manner of the discovery, by the Chinese themselves^ of the properties
and uses of tea ; but, as with most questions respecting the social his-
tory of China, all is vague and unsatisfactory, A passage has been
quoted from an ancient Avork, entitled, ''Periplous of the Erythrseum
Sea," (the Ked sea, or Arabian gulf,) which Vossius Vincent and other
writers have regarded as relating to the betel nut ; but which Ehind,
in his "Vegetable Kingdom," recites as descriptive of the tea plant
and its cultivators eighteen centuries ago: "There used to come,
yearly, to the frontier of the Since, [a people inhabiting the southeast-
ernmost part of Asia, supposed to be the same as the Cochin-Chinese,]
a certain people called Sesatse, with a short body, broad forehead, fiat
noses, and of a wild aspect. They came with their VN^ives and chil-
dren, bearing large mats full of leaves, resembling those of the vine.
When they have arrived on the frontier of the country of the Sin89,
they stop and spend a few days in festivity, using the mats for lying
upon ; they then return to the abode of their countrymen in the inte-
rior. The SinEB next repair to the place, and take up the articles
which they left ; and having drawn out the stalks and fibres, they
nicely double the leaves, make them into a circular shape, and thrust
into them the fibres of the seeds. Thus three kinds of malabatJirum
are formed ; that from the larger leaf is called hadrospJicerum ; that
from the middling one, mesosphoencm ; and from the smaller, micros-
2^Jioerum." The fact that any reliance has been placed upon this
statement, for the purpose of proving that tea was known to the
Greeks or Eomans in the first century, but serves to show how desti-
tute the civilized world was of all knowledge of it prior to the era of its
introduction, in the seventeenth century.

However remarkable it may be that a product, destined to become
essential to the people of every nation, and to constitute an important
commodity in the commerce of the world, should so long remain hidden
from our knowledge, it is still more anomalous that, for two centuries
after its general adoption, the culture of it should still be limited, with
comparatively inconsiderable exceptions, to the regions in which it is
indigenous, viz : to China, Tonquin, Japan, and Assam, in India, in
which last-named country, though the plant always existed abundantly
in*a wild state at the base of the Himalayan mountains, its cultivation
and the manufacture of its product, and the introduction of plants
from China, have been but recently commenced. The first stimulus
to this enterprise was given by Dr. Royle, who, in 1807, directed
attention to the subject, and induced the formation of the Assam
Tea 'Company, which now exports large quantities of tea of superior
quality, chiefly, it is represented, from the indigenous plant {Tliea assa-
mica,) which is regarded there as a distinct species. The cultivation of
tea is also prosecuted with success in Penang, more than a third of the

4 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

population of wliicli is composed of Chinese ; and in Java, where, in a
population of nearly 10,000,000, there are more than 100,000 Chinese.
From Java, the exports of tea were valued, in 1848, at |336,206. The
plant was introduced to both these islands from China, the experiment
in Java, initiated by the Dutch proprietors, having precedence of all
other attemj)ts of the kind.

On this continent, Brazil has gone before us in the adoption of the
Chinese plant. Here, although comparatively little effort is required
for the subsistence of man ; although an indigenous plant, the mate,
(Ilex Paraguay ensis,^ is in general use among the people ; although
coffee, long a staple product of the countr}^, is of equally general con-
sumption ; and although an inveterate prejudice exists in favor of the
manufactured tea of importation, yet the culture continues to increase
and to gain favor among the people, insomuch that it may be regarded
as an established branch of industry. In a letter from Mr. John
Eudge, of St, Paul, Brazil, who has been for many years engaged in
the cultivation of tea in that province — communicated to the Patent
Office in April, 1859, by the United States legation at Eio de Janeiro —
the writer says: ''The tea plant flourishes here, I think, equally as
well as in its native country, and I can see no reason why it should
not do as vfell in the southern regions of the United States. The val-
leys are best suited to it, and it delights in manure. Care should be
taken not to cover the seeds too deep in planting ; they should be
merely hidden from the sun.* The tea is made from the newest and
softest leaves. I usually cut the tree down every year nearly to the
ground, that it may produce leaves and not seeds. When it is per-
mitted to go to seed, the leaves become hard and unfit for use as tea.
The plant is a very hardy evergreen, never suffering in the slightest
degree from the frosts, which greatly injure our coffee and cane in the
low grounds. The home consumption is much affected by the par-
tiality of the common people for coffee, and the prejudice of the higher
classes in favor of tea brought from afar. In some instances, tea
grown in this region having been sent to Pdo, and there put up in
Chinese boxes, and having a small proportion of Chinese tea mixed
with it, has been returned to St, Paul and sold for double the price
the producer would have demanded for it. But such conceits, I believe,
are common to those who can afford to indulge them throughout the
world."

In the historical and descriptive sketches of "Brazil and the Brazil-
ians," by Kev. D. P. Kidder, D. D., and Eev. J. C. Fletcher, whose
experience in that empire extended through a period of twenty years,
published in 1857, an account is given of the adoption, progress, and
prospects of tea culture, which merits the perusal of every ximerican
reader. These writers say :

" There is probably no other country where the culture of this
Asiatic shrub has been so. successful away from its native region. The
Portuguese language is the only European tongue which has preserved
the Chinese name (cha) for tea ; and as the stranger at Eio de Janeiro
and other towns of the empire passes the vendas, he is always sure to

®The protection of two or three inches of soil will be found requisite in the United States.

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN. 5

see a printed card suspended, announcing Cha da India and Clia
Nacional ; the former is the designation given to tea from China, and
the latter to the same production grown in Brazil.

"In 1810, the first plants of this exotic were introduced at Kio de
Janeiro, and its cultivation, for a time, was chiefly confined to the
botanical garden, near the capital, and to the Yojal farm, at Santa
Cruz. In order to secure the best possible treatment for the tea, which
it was anticipated would soon flourish so as to supply the European
market, the Count of Linhares, prime minister of Portugal, procured
the immigration of several hundred colonists, not from the mingled
population of the coast of China, but from the interior of the celestial
empire — persons acquainted with the whole process of training the
tea plant and of preparing tea.

"This was probably the first colony from Asia that ever settled in
the New AVorld, of w^hich we have authentic records. The colonists,
however, were not contented with their expatriation; they did not
prosper, and they have now disappeared. Owing, in part, doubtless,
to characteristic differences in the soil of Brazil from that of China,
and perhaps as much to imperfect means of preparing the leaf when
grown, the Chinese themselves did not succeed in producing the inost
approved specimens of tea. The enthusiasm of anticipation, being
unsustained by experiment, soon died away ; and near the city of Eio
de Janeiro, the cultivation of tea has dwindled down to be little more
than an exotic grown on a large scale at the botanical gardens.

"Asa government matter, it was a failure; but several Paulista
planters took up the culture, and, though they encountered years of
discouragement, they have lived to see it, though as yet in its infancy,
one of the most flourishing and remunerative branches of Brazilian
agriculture.

"Between Santos and San Paulo, near San Bernardo, I saw large
and productive tea plantations. Tlie manner of its culture differs but
little from that adopted in China. Tea is raised from the seed, which,
being preserved in brown sugar, can be transjDorted to any portion of
the country.. These little tea balls are planted in beds, and then, in
the manner of cabbage plants, are transported to the field, and placed
five feet apart. The shrubs are kept very clean, by the hoe or by the
plough, which, though a recent introduction, has on some plantations
been eminently successful for this purpose.

' ' The shrubs are never allowed to attain a height of more than four
feet ; and the leaves are considered ready for picking the third year
after planting. The culture, the gathering, and the preparation of tea
are not difficult, and children are profitably and efficiently emploj^ed
in the various modes of arranging it for market. The apparatus used
is very simple, consisting of — 1. Baskets, in which the leaves are de-
posited when collected; 2. Carved frame-work, on which they are
rolled, one by one; 3. Open ovens, or large metallic pans, in which
the tea is dried by means of a fire beneath. Women and children
gather the leaves and carry them to the ovens, where slave men are
engaged in keeping up the fire, stirring, squeezing, and rolling the
tea, which operations are all that it requires before packing it in boxes
for home sale, or for exportation to the neighboring provinces.

6 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

"The tea plant is a hardy shrub, and can "be cultivated in almost
any portion of Brazil, though it is, perhaps, better adapted to the
south, where frosts prevail, and vv^hich it resists. If left to itself in
the tropics, it will soon run up to a tree. The coffee tree requires rich
and new soil and a warm climate, unknown to frosts ; but the tea plant

will flourish in any soil. Dr. , who visited various portions of

China, is of the opinion that the cha can be grown in any part of the
United States, from Pennsylvania to the Mexican Gulf. There are not
many varieties of the plant, as is often supposed, black and green teas
being merely the leaves of the same tree^ obtained at different seasons
of the year. The flavor is sometimes varied, as that of wines from
the same species of grajDe grown on different soils. The plant is not
deciduous, as in China, and in Brazil is gathered from March to July,
which, in the northern hemisphere, would correspond to the interval
between September and January.

' ' I was informed that several million pounds are now annually pre-
pared in the provinces of San Paulo and Minas Geraes, and its culture
is on the increase.

"Some years ago the tea planters were greatly discouraged; for the
cha was badly prepared, was sold too new, and hence the demand did
not increase. But, since a greater experience in its culture and prepa-
ration, a better article for this favorite beverage has met with corres-
ponding encouragement. Formerly, the cultivators said that, if they
could obtain sixteen cents per pound, wholesale, it would be as remu-
nerative as coffee. In 1855, twenty cents for the poorer article could
be obtained ; and for superior qualities, the greater portion of the crop,
forty cents per pound, wholesale, was readily commanded. The de-
mand for it is constantly increasing. When rightly prepared, it is not
inferior to that imported from China. Much, indeed, of the tea sold
in the province of San Paulo as cha da India, has merely made the
sea-voyage from Santos to Eio de Janeiro, and there, after being packed
in Chinese boxes, is sent back to the Paulistas as the genuine aromatic
leaf from the celestial empire. I have seen foreigners in Brazil, who
esteemed themselves connoisseurs in tea, deceived by the best cha na-
gional.

"A few years ago Mr. John Kudge, of the province of San Paulo,
sent some tea from his plantation as a present to his relatives in Rio
de Janeiro. This was prepared very nicely, each separate leaf having
been rolled by the slaves between the thumb and forefinger until it
looked like small shot. It was thus invested with a foreign appear-
ance, packed in small Chinese tea-caddies, and shipped at Santos for
the capital. When the caddies arrived, they were seized at the cus-
tom-house as an attempt to defraud the revenue. It was, on the other
hand, insisted that the boxes contained cha nacional, although by
neglect they did not appear upon the manifest. The parties to whom
the tea had been sent offered to have it submitted to inspection. The
caddies were opened, and the custom-house officials screamed with
triumph, adding to their former suspicions the evidence of their senses,
for the sight, the taste, the smell of the nicely-prepared tea proclaimed
emphatically that it was cha da India, and that this was an attempt
to defraud his Imperial Majesty's customs. It was not until letters

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN. T

were sent to Santos, and in reply the certiiicates of that provincial
custom-house had been received, that the collectors at Rio were satis-
fied that there was no fraud, and that the province of San Paulo could
produce as good tea as that l3rought around the Cape of Grood Hope.

^'A few years may suffice to show^ on the pages of the ^Commerce
and Navigation' of G-reat Britain and the United States, that tea
enters largely into the articles of importation from Brazil. Fifty
years only have elapsed since the first cargo of coffee was shipped from
Rio de Janeiro, and now Brazil supplies two thirds of the coffee of the
world. The revolution in Hayti was the commencement of .a new era
for the coffee of Brazil.

''In 1846, Dr. learned that several planters were about to root

up their tea shrubs. He besought them not to carry out their inten-
tion, 'for,' said he, 'there is to be a great revolution in China, [in
1845 he had been informed, in the Celestial empire, of the existence
of the Triad society,] and the price of teas will be sure to go up in a
few years.' The dishea,rtened planters were encouraged to go on, and
only a short time before my visit to Limeira, one of these fazendeiros

sent to Dr. ■ several pounds of most excellent tea, at the same time

assuring him (the doctor) of his deep gratitude for having been pre-
vented from the destruction of his plantation. He had found it
exceedingly remunerative, and next year he intended to enter into
more extensive operations.

"Throughout the world the use of tea is becoming as universal as
that of coffee, and any continued disturbance in China must bring into
prominent notice the tea culture of Brazil. The product is now almost
entirely used within the empire ; but the adaptability of the culture to
almost any portion of the immense territory, and the ease by which it
can be carried on^ will doubtless, in a very brief period of time, fully
develop this new source of national wealth."

In the United States a single enterprise, upon a very limited scale,
indifferently managed, and early abandoned, is the only experiment in
tea culture of which we have any record. Junius Smith, LL. D., of
South Carolina, in 1848, imported a number of shrubs of from five to
seven years' growth, and caused them to be planted at Greenville, in
that State. In March, 1851, they were removed to a neighboring
pla^ntation. About this period Dr. Smith wrote concerning them, as
follows: "They grew remarkably last summer, and are now fully
rooted, with fine large main and collateral roots, with an abundance
of fibrous radicles. They all stood the snow, eight or nine inches
deep upon the level, on the 3d of January, and the severe frosts of
winter, without the slightest covering or protection, and without the
loss of a single plant. They are now all forming part of the planta-
tion, composed of those received from China la.st June and a few
planted the first week in June, which germinated the 17th of Septem-
ber. All these young j)lants were thinly covered with straw. Some
of them have lost their foliage, others have not ; the stems do not
appear to have sustained any injury ; the fresh buds are beginning to
shoot. I cannot help thinking that we have now demonstrated the
adaptation of the tea plant to the soil and climate of this country, and
succeeded in its permanent establishment within our borders." Littla

8 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

more is known of tliese plants, except that, being neglected, they have
perished, unless a few isolated specimens have been preserved as sub-
jects of curiosity. Last spring, however, Mr. S. P. Buckley, a well-
known writer on horticulture, communicated to a New York periodical
(the "Country Gentleman") the following statement: "A few days
ago I drank a cup of real American tea, from the Chinese tea plant,
of which Dr. J. P. Barratt, near New Market^ South Carolina, has a
fine shrub about four feet high, which has borne fruit during several
years. By its side was a thrifty specimen of the olea fragrans, or
Chinese olive, witli which the tea is scented. * * :^ j ^j^g
recently at Greenville, in this State, where Junius Smith, some years
ago, essayed its culture. I was told that his experiment was by no
means a true test. His soil was barren^ and he took no pains to im-
prove it. The plants did not receive proper nourishment, and, not
being used to such treatment, they pined and died."

Although many varieties of tea are known in commerce, they are
not the products of as many different species of the tea plant. Burnett
Bays, (see "Outlines of Botany:") "Of the genus thea there are but
three or four known species, and of these tw-o only, viz : thea viridis
and thea bohea, afford the leaves which are so extensively used in
infusion, as the common morning and evening beverage in this country,
(England,) and in other parts of Europe, as well as in China. Indeed,
some authprities declare that the black and green teas are not the pro-
duce of different species, but merely varieties of thea viridis, which,
according to soil and culture, will produce either green tea or black ;
and that the thea bohea of botanists does not enter essentially into
the manufacture, although its leaves, as v/ell as those of different spe-
cies of camellia, may be introduced accidentally, or be mixed design-
edly, as an adulteration." These are the commonly received opinions
on this subject, but Mr. Fortune, whose opportunities of obtaining
correct information have been very ample, asserts that both green and
black tea are made from each of the two species named, the difference
in the article produced depending upon the period of gathering and
the process of manufacture.

But one species forms the subject of the present experiment — thea
viridis. For the instruction and guidance of the American cultivator
the following information has been elicited from Mr. Fortune, in re-
sponse to inquiries presented to him by the Patent Office concerning
the culture of the tea plant in China and India :

The principal tea districts in China, which supply the greater por-,
tion of the teas exported to Europe and America, lie between latitude
25° and 35° north; the finest districts between 26° and 35°, and be-
tween longitude 110° and 120° east of Greenwich. The Indian dis-
tricts in which tea is cultivated, between the 26th and 32d degrees of
north latitude, and the 75th and 95th degrees of east longitude. The
chief districts are Assam, Cachar, Dehra-Dhoon, Almorah, and Kan-
gra, in the Punjaub.

In China, the lower slopes of the hills are preferred, at 1,000 feet
above the level of the sea ; in India, from 2,000 to 6,000 feet. The
best description of soil for the tea plant is a light loam, well mixed
with sand, and enriched with vegetable matter, moderately moist, but

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN.

neither wet nor sour. Sloping or undulating land of this kind, on
which good crops of millet and Indian corn may be produced, is likely
to be suitable. Any aspect will do, but east and west are preferred.
The tea plant will not flourish in a wet or stagnant soil. Those on
which it succeeds best vary in their constituent elements in the several
districts. With respect to climate, the following abstract of observa-
tions in the open air, in a shaded situation, at Shanghai, in lati-
tude 31° 20' north, the maximum of the day^, and the. minimum at
night, taken by a self-registering thermometer, will afford satisfactory
data for comparison. In the tea mountains, to the west of this, the
thermometer sinks several degrees lower in the winter months:

Abstract of Ohservations.

Years 1851 to 1858, inclusive.

-J

bj)

-(-■

>-.

-O

bJD

>
<

s
Pi

240

510

330

. 10

January, 1851.
1852.
1853.
1854.
1855.
1856.
1857.
1858.

February, 1851.
18.52.
1853.
1854.
1855.
1856.
1857.
1858.

March, 1851.
1852.
1853.
1854,
1855.
1856
1857,
1858,

April, 1851,
1852
1853
1854
1855,
1856
1857,
1858,

May, 1851
1852,
1853
1854,
1855
1856
1857,
1858,

650

42°

38
38
33
32
35
30

40
43
46
42
36
40
45

50
50
50
56
52
54
53

60
60
62
64
60
60
65

450
40
43
53

40
42
44

42
40
40
43
45
42
45

55
45
57
47
57
50
56

56
61
60
60
67
62
62

68
68
68
70
73
73
70

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

ABSTRACT— Continued.

Years 1851 to 1858, inclusive.

a
pi
s

July,

Auarust,

June 1851...

1852...

1853...

1854...

1855...

1856...

1857...

1858...

1851...

1852...

1853...

1854...

1855...

1856...

1857...

1858...

1851..,

1852..

1853..

1864..

1855..

1856..

1857..

1858..
September, 1851..

1852..

1853..

1854..

1855..

1856..

1857..

1858..
October, 1851..

1852..

1853..

1854..

1855..

1856..

1857..

1858..
November, 1851..

1852..

1853..

1854..

1855..

1856..

1857.,

1858.,
December, 1851.,

]852.,

1853.
1854.
1855.
1856.
1857.
1858.

830
99
93
90
90
88
90
87
96
100
99
98
94
96
96
94
93
94
95
99
99
95
96
90
89
92
90
90
88
90
88
87
90
83
88
88
80
84
82
76
76
80
76
76
78
75
78
73
64
65
66
66
73
76
64
57

680

82
83
72
82
77
75

750

81
81
81

,78

60O
58
59
62
56
64
59
59
66
75
77
70
73
70
74
68
63
67
70
65
75
74
68
67
51
56
64
59
58
"58
60
63
43
49
46
50
45
45
53
45
41
32
32
31
33
32
39
26
25
19
27
26
22
26
31
31

770

81
82
79
80
70
74
73
74
73
70
72
70
66
64
66
66
62
68
62
63
54
54
54
55
60
57
53
51

670

10
17
13

10
7
3

7
8
2

3.
12

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN. 11

In the Folden districts, where black tea is generally produced, the
ice is never of any considerable thickness, and the snow lies only on
the tops of the mountains, rarely so far down as the tea plantations.
In the northern districts of Hwuychow, Honan, and Hopek, ice is
often found from two to four inches thick, the ground frozen six to
eight inches, and the snow from one to two feet deep^ though rarely,
as the winter months are comparatively dry. But the sun, even in
winter, has considerable power, and the snow does not lie long on the
ground. A climate having abundance of rain is advantageous to this
XDlant, particularly if the rain falls in the spring and summer monthsj,
say from April to July,

The tea plant is an evergreen, not unlike the camellia, though by
no means so retentive of its leaves in winter. Sometimes the plants
are ten feet high in a wild state, but they never form stems of great
thickness, two or three inches in diameter being the largest. The
young leaves only are gathered, and in young plants they are usually
from two to three inches long. Some kinds of fine teas, such as the
flowery ''Pekoe," are made of partially developed leaves. When the
leaves are very large and succulent, they are not considered suitable
for the manufacture of good tea, especially if they are old. When pro-
duced from seeds, the tea plant first flowers in the second year, rarely
in the first. It is not usual to propagate it from cuttings in China,
but it would no doubt flower the first year if the cuttings were taken
from full-grown plants. The usual period of flowering is in November,
and the seeds ripen the next autumn. The number of seeds produced
by a shrub depends upon its size and health. Vigorous plants pro-
duce fewer than the sickly and stunted. A great number of the young
clusters are pulled in gathering the leaves, and may be seen in the tea
brought to America. The seeds are preserved, preparatory to sowing,
by being mixed with damp sand and earth. They are sown at any
time after they are ripe before April of the following year. Beds about
four feet vfide are prepared, and the seeds are sown in rows across these
beds in the way common in our nurseries. In the field they are planted
four or five in a hole,* the bunches usually about four feet from each
other, in rows. The ground is prepared for planting by being dug, or
trenched, in the usual way. Manure is rarely used in tea culture in
China ; but where the land is poor, stable litter and sewage of all kinds
are sometimes applied, indiscriminately, in moderate quantities, and
a top-dressing of rich loam is considered valuable. The best time to
apply manure is in the spring, before the plants begin to grow, or
during mild weather in winter. In transplanting, if the ground has
been well prepared, the holes need not be much larger than the size
of the roots requires ; but if this has not been the case, the holes should
be at least eighteen inches in diameter and in depth. The same rules'
apply to tea plants and to our fruit trees. The shrubs should be
planted about as deep as in their original beds. The roots of a full-
grown shrub ordinarily descend two to three feet, and extend laterally
from the stems about two feet on each side. The plant usually attains
a height of from three to five feet, when fully grown in a cultivated

* Singly, it is believed, will be the preferred mode in this country.

12 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

•state, or it is kept at this lieiglit, .and round and busliy, that it may
yield a large crop of leaves. When it is about eighteen inches high,
the leading shoots are pinched off, and the shrub is forced to throw
out laterals. Naturally, it has a tendency to grow tall and straggling,
with few side shoots. The object of pruning, or rather pinching off
the ends of the shoots with the fingers, is to force each plant to form
hundreds of little shoots, and to assume a round and bushj^ outline.
As the leaves used in making tea are produced yearly at the ends of
the shoots, the object of this- system of treatment is apparent. It is
practised during the tea-gathering season, so that liothing may be
wasted, all being made into tea.* A small crop of leaves may be
gathered the third year after planting. In the eighth or tenth year,
the produce may be considered at its maximum.

In China, in consequence of the continual plucking of the leaves, the
tea plant remains in full bearing only twenty-five or thirty years, when
it becomes feeble and stunted, and can no longer be cultivated profit-
ably. The usual annual product is as follows :

Tea produced in 3d year, 1 0 pounds to an acre.

Tea produced in 4th year^ 30 pounds to an acre.

Tea produced in 5th year, 80 pounds to an acre.

Tea produced in 6th year, 120 pounds to an acre.

Tea produced in '7th year, 150 pounds to an acre.

Tea produced in 8th year, 200 j^ounds to an acre.

Tea produced in 9th year, 250 pounds to an acre.

Tea produced in 10th year, 300 pounds to an acre.

For ten or fifteen years longer, the maximum of 300 pounds may be
kept up by judicious management. The Chinese cultivators are most
careful in gathering the leaves. They know well that the continual
plucking has a tendency to make the bushes unhealthy, and conse-
quently they do not gather from very young plants, nor from those
which are not vigorous and healthy. For the first three years the
chief object is to form the plants, as has been already described.
Stunted, unhealthy bushes are always passed by in the gathering
season.

While the instruction thus derived from the experience of the Chi-
nese is worthy the attention of every American cultivator, a servile
adherence to it is not desired. With our superior implements and
superior skill in husbandry, and with the unceasing efforts of our peo-
ple to improve upon past usages, it can hardly be otherwise than that
the labor of cultivating and manufacturing tea will be greatly facili-
tated, and that acceptable and even improved qualities may soon be
produced at lower prices than the imported varieties now command in
general commerce. In accordance with this practical view, a note has
been prepared for the instruction of those to whom the plants are to
be committed for culture, in the following words:

''The tea plant is a half-hardy evergreen shrub, thickly branched,
with dark coriaceous foliage. Under cultivation it grows from four
to six feet high. It is seldom attacked by insects, and is sufficiently
hardy to flourish where the temperature in winter does not fall below

*The early spring, before budding, will doubtless prove the proper time.

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN. 13

'2° of Falireiilieit. It may be readily propagated from seeds, from
ayers, and from cuttings. The seeds may be sown from two to three
nches deep, in rows, and they will germinate in from two to three-
months. They grow from six to ten inches high the first season, and
in the following spring may be plaiited out to the sites in which they
are to remain. The ground should be kept clear of weeds, and occa-
sionally loosened about their roots. In Septemher the lower branches
may be laid in the ground, and kept covered with sandy soil, until the
next autumn, when they should be severed from the parent stock and
removed to the plantations prepared for them. Cuttings may be taken
in October from well-ripened shoots. The operator should cut smoothly
across, at a joint, with a sharp knife, and remove two or three of the
lower leaves, and then plant the cuttings in boxes of sand, making
them firm with a small dibber. The boxes should then be placed in a
cold frame and kept shaded, during sunshine. In the next spring,,
those that have taken root will begin to grow, when their progress
may be accelerated by a gentle bottom heat ; and in autumn they may
be planted out in rows, six feet apart, the shrubs standing five feet
apart along the row."

In order that this enterprise may be judiciously conducted, it is pro-
posed to supply to each experimenter, in those regions in which the
shrub may be expected to flourish in the open air, a sufficient number
of plants to occupy a few square rods of ground. Accordingly, there
will be but one consignment to each congressional district, and that
to some intelligent and responsible person, selected with the assistance
of the representative of the district. As it is supposed that the plant
cannot be cultivated in the open air north of the northern boundaries
of Tennessee and North Carolina, but must be protected in heated con-
servatories and green-houses during the winter, they will be distrib-
uted among from fifty to a hundred persons in the States, respectively,
north of the above-named line, for the gratification of the taste and
the curiosity of the public. The names and address of these persons,
also, have been obtained through the aid of their representatives in
Congress. The distribution will be made in February and March.
1860, and the intended recipients will be duly notified thereof.

The Chinese processes of gathering, rolling, drying, coloring, scent-
ing, and packing tea for commerce, have frequently been described in
English and American publications, and partially in the Patent Ofiice
Report for 1857. Rolling, coloring, and scenting will probably be
wholly omitted in the manufacture in this country. The discussion of
the other operations will be in season hereafter, when the public mind
shall have been drawn more practically and interestedly to the subject.

Pyretlirum caucasicum, 250 plants : This plant, from which the
Persian insect powder is obtained, is partially known in the United
States. It was described in the Patent Office Report for 1857. It
bears white flowers, in July and August, like those of the oxeye daisy,
(chrysanthemum leucanthemum,) and is propagated by the division
of its root and by seeds. It is a herbaceous perennial, and flowers the
first year.

Achillea rosea, 200 plants: A pretty border plant, with beautiful
red flewer, having an aromatic, agreeable smell, and bitter, pungent

14 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

taste. It is a variety of tlie common pereniiial_, (achillea millefoliumj)
in the dry pastures and on the steep banks of rivers in Great Britain,
known as millfoil, or yarrow, which has been used medicinally as a
narcotic, and applied to the manufacture of beer. The usual height
of the achillea rosea is six inches, but the flower stem ascends twelve
inches above it. The flowering season is in June, July, and August,
the brilliant hues becoming pale as the season advances.

The corJc tree, (quercus suher,) 250 plants: This tree is fully de-
scribed in the Patent Office Keport for 1858_, and has been partially
introduced to the country by means of the distribution of a large
quantity of its acorns; yet, so general has been the neglect or want of
knowledge respecting their culture, that the successful propagation
froni acorns at this garden is deemed essential to the success of the ex-
periment. The habitat of the cork tree does not, probably, extend
north of Maryland.

The mahonia, 5,000 plants: This is an evergreen shrub, four feet
Mgh, having yellow flowers, succeeded by brilliant red berries. It is
known in some parts of the United States, whence, indeed, it was intro-
duced to Europe. It is, probably, the mahonia fascicularis ; natural
€rder^ berberide^.

Seedling straivherries, 1,000 plants.

Virgilia lutea, 200 plants: This is a deciduous shrub. It attains a
lieight of fifteen feet, and, in Europe, flowers in June and July. It is
.a native of North America, and is well known in Tennessee. The
wood is yellow, and dyes a beautiful saffron color.

The camphor tree, 21 plants : There are already a few specimens of
this tree in botanical collections in the United States. It is a native
of Japan. The roots, wood, and leaves have a strong odor of cam-
|)hor, which is found everywhere in the interstices of the fibers of the
wood and in the pith, but most abundantly in the crevices and knots.
The camphor of commerce is obtained not only from this tree, (laurus
€amphora,) but also from the dryobalanops camphora, a native of
Sumatra, which yields a harder, more brittle, and more highly-valued
gum. The camphor tree is tall and divided into many branches, cov-.
ered with smooth greenish bark. It may be propagated from seeds or
from cuttings.

Finns edulis, 100 plants: This tree is from Oregon. It is of rapid
growth, and very ornamental. The Indians esteem the seeds a great
'delicacy.

Sycamore Jig, 50 plants : The platanus occidentalis of Linnasus,
commonly called button- wood or cotton tree, is erroneously called syca-
more also. The true sycamore, in size and appearance, resembles a
mulberry tree, but bears a species of fig. It is found in Palestine,
and is believed to be the tree mentioned in Luke xvii : 6, and else-
where in the New Testament.

Arbor vitoi, (species, thuja,) 1,500 plants: The arbor vitas of the
United States, (thuja occidentalis,) is a well-known evergreen shrub,
-assuming the form and height of a tree in Canada, its native locality,
and growing best in swamps and marshes. That now introduced very
nearly resembles the American species ; but Mr. Fortune states that,
in China, it is the most ornamental of the species he has seen.

Tihus succedanea, {loax plant,) 150 plants : An evergreen shrub,

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN. . 15

ten feet liigli. It is half-hardy, and flowers in June. It was first in-
troduced into England, from Cliina, in 1768. The plants now under
cultivation are from seeds obtained in Japan. The seeds yield an oil,
by expression, of the consistence of suet, which is used in China and
Japan for making candles. Its sap is resinous, and might be used as
varnish.

Tung oil tree, 50 plants : Also from Japan.

Oodung, and other ornamental trees from Japan.

Olea fi'agrans, or fragrant olive, called Lan-hoa by the Chinese,
who use the leaves and blossoms in scenting their teas.

Ilex vomitoria : This plant, according to Burnett, is known as
yopon and emetic holly. It is indigenous to North Carolina, and
found along the coast thence to Florida. Its properties were known
to the Indians, who used an infusion of its leaves as an agreeable bev-
erage, and at a certain time in the year purified themselves by drink-
ing it very strong, and in copious drafts, for two or three days,
throughout which period it operated as an emetic. Though it is not
pleasing to the uneducated taste, poor people in the eastern portions
of North Carolina use it as a substitute for tea ; and the captains of
many vessels take supplies of it to sea, because, as they believe^ the
sailors are in better condition while using it than when supplied with
coffee. It usually grows Avild, but, when brought under cultivation
and training, it becomes a beautiful tree, though not often more than
fifteen feet high.

It is the popular belief in the United States that this plant is iden-
tical with the Ilex Paraguayensis, Yerba mate, or Jesuits' tea, of
Paraguay ; but this is an error. Nor is the Ilex gongonha, of Brazil,
identical with either. The tree of Paraguay is greatly superior, and
possesses an importance in that country little appreciated elsewhere.
In 1854, the president of the province of Parana alluded, in his annual
message, to the fact that wheat had been an article of export, but had
been abandoned because "a large portion of the population, eschewing
the labor required in the production of the cereals, rush to the virgin
forests, and there, stripping the evergreen leaves and the tender
branches of the Ilex Paraguayensis, easily convert them into the pop-
ular South American beverage knov/n as the yerba mate, or hewa Par-
aguaya, and thus amass fortunes, or obtain a livelihood without the
intervention of persevering industry or great exertion." Large quan-
tities of this kind of tea were annually exported from the province of
Parana until interdicted by the government.

"Whilein Paranagua," says an authority already quoted, (Kidder
and Fletcher's Brazil,) "I observed many raw-hide cases, which the
blacks were unloading from mules, or conveying to the ships riding at
anchor in the beautiful bay. Upon inquiry, I learned that these pack-
ages, weighing about one hundred and twenty pounds each, consisted
of mate. This substance, so little known out of South America, forms
truly the principal refreshing beverage of the Spanish-Americans
south of the equator, and millions of dollars are annually expended in
Buenos Ayres, Bolivia, Peru, and Chili, in its consumption. This
town of Paranagua, containing about three thousand inhabitants, ex-
ports every year nearly a million dollars' worth of-mate.

''It can be gathered during the whole year. Parties go into the

16 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

forest, or places where it abounds, and break off the branches with the
leaves. A process of kiln-drying is resorted to in the woods^ and
afterward the branches and leaves are transported to some rude mill,
and there they are, by water-power, pounded in mortars.

"The substance, after this operation, is almost a powder, though
small stems, denuded of their bark, are always permitted to remain.
By this simple process the mate is prepared for market. Its prepara-
tion for drinking is equally simple. A small quantity of the leaf,
either with or without sugar, is placed in a common bowl, upon which
cold water is poured. After standing a short time boiling water is
added, and it is at once ready for use. Americans who have visited
Buenos Ayres or Montevideo, may remember to have seen, on a fine
summer evening, the denizens of that portion of the world engaged in
sipping, through long tubes inserted into highly-ornamented cocoanut
bowls, a liquid which, though not so palatable as iced juleps, is cer-
tainly far less harmful. These citizens of Montevideo and Buenos
Ayreswereenjoying, with their bombil has, a refreshing draught of mate.
It must be imbibed through a tube, on account of the particles of leaf
and stem which float upon the surface of the liquid. This tube has a
fine globular strainer at the end.

" Great virtues are ascribed to this tea. It supplies the place of
meat and drink. Indians, who have been laboring at the oar all day,
feel immediately refreshed by a cup ®f the herb, mixed simply with
river water. In Chili and Peru, the people believe that they could
not exist without it, and many persons take it every hour of the day.
Its use was learned from the natives ; but, having been adopted, it
spread among the Spaniards and 'Portuguese, until the demand became
so great as to render the herb of Paraguay almost as fatal to the In-
dians of this part of America as mines and pearl fisheries had been
elsewhere.

"It grows wild, and never has been successfully cultivated, although
attempts were made by the Jesuits of Paraguay to transplant it from
the forests to their plantations. These attempts have been considered
by many without result; still, there are others who consider that the
experiment justifies further efforts, and are urging this day the do-
mestication, so to speak, and the cultivation of mate under a regular
system."

Don states ("System of Gardening and Botany") that "there are
three kinds of Paraguay tea, but all procured from the same plant.
These go under the names of caa-cuys, caa-mini, and caa-guazu. The
first is prepared from the buds, when the leaves are scarcely expanded ;
the seconcl of the membrane of the leaves strij)ped off the ribs before
roasting ; and the third consists of the leaves roasted entire, without
any selection. The caa-cuys does not keep, and is consequently all used
in Paraguay; and the aromatic bitterness even of the others is less-
ened by time and partly dissipated by carriage. The principal har-
vests of this herb are reaped in the eastern parts of Paraguay, and
about the mountains of Maracaya; but it is also cultivated in the
marshy valleys between the hills. The natives boast of the innumer-
able qualities the tea possesses, and in the mining countries its use is
almost universal, from the opinion that prevails among the Spaniards-

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN. 17

that the wines arc there prcjodicial to health. Like opiiira, it pro-
duces some singular effects; it gives sleep to the restless and spirits to
the torpid. Persons who have once contracted the habit of taking
it do not tind it an easy matter to leave it off, or even to use it in mod-
eration, although, when drank to excess, it brings on disorders similar
to those which are produced by the immoderate use of spiritous
liquors."

Grape vines, 2o, 000 plcmts : These embrace seedlings and rooted
cuttings irom not less than fifty varieties of native and foreign grapes,
among which may be named:

Hungarian, ibur varieties.

El Paso, seedlings and cuttings, two varieties, the blue and the
white.

Hartford prolific, Connecticut.

Clinton, New York.

Diana, Massachusetts.

Concord, Massacliusetts.

Seedling, Massachusetts.

Union Village, Ohio.

Delaware. Ohio.

Kebecca, New York.

Saluda, South Carolina.

Scuppernong, North Carolina and Virginia.

Washita, v/hite, Arkansas.

Devereaux, South Carolina.

Herbemont's Madeira, Georgia.

Lenoir, the Carolinas.

Anna, Ohio.

Logan, New York.

Catawba, southern.

Isabella, North Carolina.

Wyoming, Pennsylvania.

Red Venango, Tennessee.

Canby's August, southern.

Black July, "France.

Minor, Massachusetts.

Clara, Pennsylvania.

Elbling, northern.

Lincoln Downer, northern.

Trarainer, Germany.

Trollinger, northern.

Chasselas de Fontainebleau, France.

Sweet water, foreign.

Black Hamburg, foreign.

Seedless, (large,) Egypt.

Lady's finger, (berries three inches long, three fourths of an inch in
diameter, delicious flavor,) Egypt.

Grahami i , northern .

Fran ken tb al , foreign .

Dracot amber, Massachusetts.

Grevadulv, Massachusetts.

-A

18 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Hensliaw, Pennsylvania.
Franklin, (fruit black,) Pennsylvania.
Burgundy, (fruit black,) foreign.
Black prince, (fruit black,) foreign.
Harris, (fruit black,) northern.
To-kalon, (fruit red,) New York.
Emily, (fruit red,) northern.
Garrigues, (fruit dark purple,) Delaware,
Cassady, (fruit white,) northern.

In view of the generally received opinion that the native vines alone
are adapted to the production of good wine in the United States, it is
proper to explain that the object in introducing foreign varieties into
this collection is to jDroduce such hybrids as. may inherit the better
qualities of both originals. It is believed that salutary and important
results may be realized from the skillful, careful, and persistent pros-
ecution of experiments of this character.

SEEDS FOR DISTRIBUTION.

In the fulfillment of orders made previous to the appropriation of
March, 1859, an assortment of seeds has been imported from Europe,
and portions of them distributed among the State and local agricul-
tural societies in those sections of the Union to which they are believed
to be applicable respectively, while an adequate quantity of each has
been retained for propagation at this garden. Among those possessing
novelty or merit may be named the following :

Early Washington peas : An excellent pea of American origin,
though produced from European varieties ; known as the extra-early.

Gliautong yelloiv oil pea : From China ; it abounds in oil, but is not
suitable for edible uses.

Gliautong green oil pea : Same origin, and varying but little from
the above.

Matchless marroio 2)ea : An excellent variety, the merits of which
are well known in the United States.

Ice drum lettuce : A fine variety.

White Paris cos lettuce : Also a good and well-known variety.

White solid celery : An admirable variety.

Neio Yorhpyurple egg-plant.

Early Winningstadt cabbage : English ; one of the best varieties,
of easy culture and delicious flavor.

Dutch horn carrot : An excellent and well-known variety.

Onion, (Bassel:) From Egypt ; not equal to varieties now cultivated
in the United States.

Melochia, {Gorchorus olitorius :) A novel plant, the leaves of which
afibrd a mucilage relished in soup.

Ice-cream loatermelon,

Neiu hybrid Marvel of Peru : A pretty flowering border plant, bloom-
ing from June to September ; adapted to light soils.

Trifolium incarnatum : A good flowering variety, but tender ;
adapted to lawns.

EXPERIMENTAL AND PROPAGATING GARDEN. 19

Pyretlirum caucasicum : A fine flowering herbaceous perennial plant,
already described. It is in character like the feverfew.

Linum grandijlorum rubi-um : Grand red flowered flax ; height,
eighteen inches ; blooms from May to September.

TrifoUum Alexandrimim : From Egpyt ; a poor variety of clover,
like liicern.

Broughton early seed lolieat: Has been highly commended wherever
it has been fairly tried. Mr. Peter Gorman, of Howard county, Mary-
land, says of it : "I received from the Patent Office, in the autumn of
1858, a half bushel of ' Tappahannock wheat,' which I sowed broad-
cast, with the aid of a small plough to cover it suitably, tlie 16th of
October, 1858. On the 17th June, 1859, it was ripe and fit for har-
vest, but I did not cut it until the 21st. In August, I had it threshed
by a machine, and found the yield to be sixteen bushels and two quarts
merchantable wheat, weighing sixty-three pounds to the bushel, and
a half bushel of small, light wheat. It ripens sixteen days sooner than
other wheat, and thus escapes various diseases and casualties."

Orzomondo barley : European ; very fine.

Sotv-tow : China cotton seed ; not known to have germinated. The
specimens of the fiber are very white.

PLANTS FROM PALESTINE.

On the 12th of April, 1859, the Kev. J. T. Barclay, a Christian
missionary from the United States to Jerusalem, in compliance with a
request of the Patent Office, shipped at Jaffa (the ancient port of
Joppa, thirty-one miles northwest of Jerusalem) a quantity of the
seeds named in the following list ; but, in consequence of unexpected
delays in their transmission, they were not received at Washington
until the 25th of October, when many df them were found apparently
damaged from their protracted exposure. A portion of each variety
has been retained for experiment and propagation, and the rest dis-
tributed among the State and local agricultural societies in the regions
of the country to which they are believed to be adapted respectively.
Minute descriptions of these plants had not been received from Mr.
Barclay at the date of this report ; and their classification and charac-
teristics have in some cases been sought with no better guide than the
local Arab names afford :

Carol) tree, {Ceratonia siliqua:) This name is derived from Kepat;, a
horn, which was givQn to this tree because of its long, horn-like pods,
containing a sweet fecula, and known in commerce as Algaroba beans.
The Arabic name is kharub. It is generally considered the locust tree
of Scripture, and its fruit has been called St. John's bread, while the
shells of the pods are supposed to be the husks of which the prodigal
son desired to partake with the swine. The tree is common in the
south of Spain. Its quality improves the further south it is found.
In the south of Italy and of Greece it prospers well, and affords abund-
ant fodder for swine and sheep. In Syria it is still more valuable, and
in Egypt the pods are so thick, and so charged with sugar, as to be
regarded as a delicacy by the common people, the dry pulp in which
the seeds are buried being remarkably nutritious. It is said that

20 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

singers have derived benefit from chewing this fruit, their voices being
thereb}'' rendered more flexible. The carat weight of four grains is be-
lieved to have originated in the adoption of the seed, of this tree as a
standard.

Foosduch, or foostuk, (Pisiacia vera:) This tree is common in the
valley of Jericho, and elsewhere in Syria. It also abounds in Sicily,,
where it is cultivated for its nuts. The flowers come forth in clusters,
and of herbaceous color, in April and May.

Senaichcr, or snoivher : This also is a pistacia, (terebinthus,) but is
ranked by Arab v/riters among the pine or turpentine trees. Its nuts
are shaped like the filbert, long and pointed, the kernel being pale,
greenish, sweet, and more oily than that of the almond. It grows in
Syria, Arabia, Persia, and the island of Cyprus. The Cyprus tur-
pentine is ])rocured Irom the trunk, by wounding the bark in several
places, in the month of July. From these wounds the turpentine
flows upon receptacles arranged for the purpose, and, becoming con-
densed in the night, is scraped off in the morning, but is again liqui-
fied in the sun and strained for use. It is obtained in small quanti-
ties, however, four large trees yielding but tv/o pounds, nine ounces,
and six drachms. It is hence often adulterated in commerce.

Doura-esh-shamy , or Syrian maize: A hardy plant in Syria and
Egypt. In Egypt there is also a variety called Doora-neely, which
groAvs twelve or fifteen feet high, bearing, sometimes, from fifteen
hundred to two thousand kernels of small corn in a single head or top.
It [)ropagates itself by new shoots from the old roots in the spring.
There is also in Syria a Doora-es-seify, which is millet. Several
varieties of it are now well known in the United Spates. The Doora-
neely affords a very coarse meal, of which bread is made by the labor-
ing people of Egypt, but it is more suitable for their horses and
cattle.

liclheh : A variety of clover, abundant in Egypt. ■ Its stalks,
shaded by the tops, are bleached, and are eaten as celery by the poorer
classes. It is spoken of in Numbers, chapter xi, in connection with the
cucumbers, the melons, the onions, and the garlic of Egypt ; though
the translators, unacquainted with this plant, have rendered the word
leeks in the English version.

Fool : This is the Arabic name of a leguminous plant grown in tho
delta oi the Nile, on the flat lands throughout Syria, and in small
tracts in the deep valleys of the mountain ranges of the desert of
Sinai. The peas or beans are sold in immense quantities to the desert
Arabs, who feed their camels upon them. They are said to be sown
broadcast, but this mode of culture is not commended to imitation In
this country. The stalks attain the height of eighteen or twenty
inches, standing thick and upright, bearing twenty or more round and
slender pods, of from four to six peas each, of the size and shape of
the marrow-fat pea. They become dark brown and somewhat shriv-
eled when dry. The Arabs, as they pass along the immense fields, are
fond of plucking and eating them green ; but v,^lien dry, they are
better suited to the lowej- animals. They are preferred to maize,
or Indian corn, for the camels, being an exceedingly grateful and nu-
tritious food. But little labor is requisite in planting, cultivating,

EXPERIMENTAL x\ND TROPAGATIXG GARDEN. 21

and gathering them, yet the yield is large. Doubtless they may ho
cultivated to great advantage in the southern portions of the United
States. It is believed that Moll, in his work on agriculture in Alge-
ria, has reference to this pea when he says: "The gray pea [pois
gris] is preferred for forage, the yellow and green as food for man."

■ Semsem : .This is the Sesamum Indicura of botany, belonging to the
family pedaliace^e, and is supposed to have been brought originally
from India, though it is now cultivated in Arabia and Syria. It is an
annual, grows eighteen inches high^ and bears a pale purple flower in
July. The seeds are used for bread. They are more oily than any
of the cereals. This plant is abundantly cultivated in the valleys and
on the plains of Syria ; and one of the finest valleys in the western
part of the hill country of Judea, about equidistant from Jerusalem
and Gaza, and from Joppa and Hebron, is named Wady-Scmscm, be-
cause of its producing this grain. Semsem is found in the Levant also,
and in Africa, where it is grown as a pulse. An oil extracted from
the seeds, Loudon asserts, will keep many years, at the end of two
years becoming so mild as to supply the place of olive oil in making
salads, and for other purposes. Puddings are made of the seeds, as
of millet or rice. A pound of oil is obtained from four or five pounds
of the seeds. The name of this plant has been preserved in the "open
sesame" of the Arabian Nights. The bene plant, valued in the United
States for its medicinal qualities, is a variety of this species.

Kirsenneli, or kersenna: This is a species of vetch, which ripens
with the barley, and is beaten out in like manner. It is extensively
cultivated in Syria, and, like lentils and barley, is consumed by the
camels.

Luhia, or lubyeJi : A species of pea or bean. El-Lubyeh, a large
village Avest of the lake of Tiberias, having a deep valley on the east
and north, and by which passes the road from Nazareth to Tiberias, is
named after this plant.

Hummas, or hummus: A species of vetch, growing abundantly on
the northern side of Syria, on the undulating lands back of Tyre, and
elsewhere .

Addas, or adas: The lentil spoken of in Genesis xxv, 34. The lentil
of Europe and of this country is an annual plant, growing about
eighteen inches high, and its seeds, contained in pods, are round, flat,
and a little convex in the middle. The lentil of Syria is pinkish red
when ripe, and is excellent in soups, or Vv^hen parched over the fire,
prepared in which manner it is sold in the shops, being considered by
the natives the best food to be taken on long journeys ; but it is chiefly
cultivated as food ibr cattle. It is often sown broadcast, but prospers
better in drills. March is the time for planting, or as soon as the
ground is dry enough for cultivation. A warm, sandy soil is adapted
to this plant. It ripens sooner than the pea, and is harvested in like
manner. The straw is delicate and nourishing.

Bariiya, or hurmyeh, (species, Meloclda :) It is much like the okra,
now common in the United States. The pods are six-sided, and grow
on a bush from three to five ieet high. When green they make ex-
cellent soup.

Khoosa and Khyar : These are two varieties of squash adapted to

22 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

ta"ble use. Syria and Egypt abound in excellent varieties of this
vegetable.

Kliumbers : An excellent species of flax.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE UNITED STATES AGEI-
CULTURAL SOCIETY.

This society^ as its name imports^ is a national institution, and was
created in its present form by a convention or congress of farmers,
composed of delegates from the several State societies, many of which
are not only incorporated, but endowed as permanent State institu-
tions.

Its organization was, therefore, in strict conformity with that of the
general government, whilst its position is similar to that of the na-
tional societies in foreign countries, such as the Koyal Agricultural
Society of England and the Imperial Agricultural Society of France.

It resembles the government, also, in being the result or consequence
of several unsuccessful experiments, dating almost from the com-
mencement of our national existence.

The records of these efforts constitute, therefore, a part of the com-
plete history of the present society, and have been carefully preserved
among its archives.

As early as 1794, the formation of a National Agricultural Society
appears to have occupied the attention of Washington, then President
of the United States.

A letter addressed by him to Sir John Sinclair, on the 20th of July,
1*794, contains the following reference to this subject: ''It will be
sometime, I fear, before an agricultural society, with congressional aid,
will be established in this country. We must walk, as other countries
have, before we can run ; smaller societies must prepare the way for
greater ; but, with the lights before us, I hope we shall not be so slow
in maturation as older nations have been. An attempt, as you will
perceive by the inclosed outlines of a plan, is making to establish a
State society in Pennsylvania for agricultural improvements. If it
succeeds, it will be a step in the ladder ; at present, it is too much in
embryo to decide upon the result."

The first proposition for the establishment of such an institution
was made by Washington, in his annual speech, delivered on the 7th
of December, 1796, when he met the two Houses of Congress for the
last time. He said: ''It will not be doubted that, with reference to
either individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary impor-
tance. In proportion as nations advance in population, and other cir-
cumstances of maturity, this truth becomes more apparent, and renders
the cultivation of the soil more and more an object of public patronage.
Institutions for promoting it grow up, supported by the jmblic purse;
and to what object can it be dedicated with greater j^ropriety? Among
the means which have been employed to this end, none have been at-
tended with greater success than the establishment of boards, composed
of proper characters, charged with collecting and diffusing informa-

UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 23

tion, and enabled, by premiums and small pecuniary aids, to encourage
and assist a spirit of discovery and improvement.

" This species of establishment contributes doubly to the increase of
improvement, by stimulating to enterprise and experiment, and by
drawing to a common center the results, everywhere, of individual
skill and observation, and spreading them thence over the whole nation.
Experience, accordingly, has shown that they are very cheap instru-
ments of immense national benefits."

The Senate, in an address in answer to this speech, drawn up by
Senator Bead, of South Carolina, and adopted, after having been dis-
cussed and amended, said: "The necessity of accelerating the' estab-
lishment of certain useful manufactures by the intervention of the
legislative aid and protection, and the encouragement due to agricul-
ture by the creation of boards, (composed of intelligent individuals,)
to patronize this primary pursuit of society, are subjects which will
readily engage our most serious attention."

A committee of the House of Kepresentatives, composed of Messrs.
Swift, of Connecticut, Gregg, of Pennsylvania, and Brent, of Maryland,
made a report, on the 11th of January, recommending the institution
of a society for that purpose, under the patronage of government,
which might act as a common center to all other societies of a similar
kind throughout the United States. The report is accompanied by a
plan, the principal articles of which are that a society shall be estab-
lished at the seat of government ; that it shall comprehend the Legis-
lature of the United States, the Judges, the Secretary of State, the
Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, the Attorney General,
and such other persons as may choose to become members, according
to the rules prescribed ; that an annual, meeting shall be held at the
seat of government, at which are to be elected the president, secretary,
&c., and a board, to consist of not more than thirty persons, which
shall be called the " Board of Agriculture;" that the society shall be
a body corporate; that a report shall be made annually, &c. The
rejjort concluded with a resolution in these words :

'■'Resolved, That a society for the promotion of agriculture ought to
be established at the seat of government of the United States."

The first national association of this description was the " Columhian
Agricultural Society for the jrromotion of Rural and Domestic Economy,"
which was organized by a convention held in Georgetown, District of
Columbia, on the 28th of ISTovember, 1809, at which a constitution was
reported by General John Mason. Osborne Sprigg, Esq. , of Maryland,
was chosen president, Thompson Mason, Esq:, of Virginia, vice presi-
dent, and David Wiley, Esq., of Georgetown, secretary.

The first agricidturcd exhibition in Amei-ica. was the nationcd fair
held by this society at the Union Hotel, in Georgetown, District of
Columbia, on the 10th of May, 1810. Among other premiums awarded
were three, of |100, $80, and $60, respectively, for "two-toothed ram
lambs," showing the great importance attached at that early day to
improving the breed of sheep.

President Madison wore his inauguration coat, made from the merino
wool of Colonel Humphrey's flock, and waistcoat and small clothes
made from the wool of the Livingston flock, at Clermont.

24 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

The./?r.s^ field trial of implements in America was the plowing matcli
at the filth semi-annual exhibition of the Columbian Society, on the
20th of May, 1812. The war with England, which occnrred at that
time, overshadowed everything else ; and, after holding a sixth suc-
cessful exhibition, on the 18th of November, 1812, the time for which
the society liad been organized (three years) having expired, it was
dissolved at the close of that year. Its successful exertions in av/aken-
ing a more genial interest in the various departments of husbandry,
not only in the immediate vicinity of its exhibitions, but in the adja-
cent States, merit a grateful remembrance by the agriculturists of
America.

In 1840, Solon Kobinson, Esq., and other gentlemen, anxious "to
elevate the character and standing of the cultivators of the American
soil," called a convention, which met at the city of Washington in
1841, and organized the "United States Agricultural Society." A
constitution was adopted, and eiforts were made to secure "that
sj)lendid donation of a munificent foreigner, with which to establish a
great school and library of agricultural science and experiment, with
a garden that should bear and be worthy of the name of Smithson."
The establishment of the Smithsonian Institution prostrating the hopes
of those who had expected to base a national agricultural institution
upon his endowment, the United States Society never held a meeting
after its organization. Such were the stages through v^'hich this un-
dertaking wa.s destined to pass before attaining its mature development
in the United States Agricultural Society.

On the 14th of June, J 852, a National Agricultural Convention was
held at the Smithsonian Institution, in the city of Washington, under
a call issued by the following agricultural societies, at the instance of
the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture : The Massachusetts State
Board of Agriculture; Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society; Mary-
land State Agricultural Society; New York State Agricultural Society;
Southern Central Agricultural Society; Ohio State Board of Agricul-
ture; American Institute, New York; Massachusetts Society for the
Promotion of Agriculture; Indiana State Board of Agriculture; New
Hampshire Agricultural Society; Vermont Agricultural Society; and
the Ehode Island Society for the Encouragement of American In-
dustry.

The convention was composed of 153 delegates, representing 23
States and Territories. Among those who were present during its
sessions were the Hon. Millard Fillmore, President of the United
States, and the Hon. Daniel Webster, Secretary of State.

The following gentlemen composed the committee who drafted the
constitution of the United States A gricultural Society : Messrs. Hol-
comb, of Delaware; Douglas^ of Illinois; J. A. King, of Nev/ York;
Steele, of New Hampshire; Thurston, of Ehode Island; Hubbard, of
Connecticut; Stevens, of Vermont; Elv/yn, of Pennsylvania ; Calvert,
of Maryland; Campbell, of Ohio; Hancock, of New Jersey; Callan,
of the District of Columbia; Gr. W. P. Custis, of Virginia; Burgwyn,
of North Carolina; Taylor, of Alabama; DeBow, of Louisiana; Spencer,
of Indiana; Mallory, of Kentucky; Bell, of Tennessee; Weston, of
Wisconsin; McLane, of California; Pickljard, of Maine; Dawson, of
Georgia; French, of Massachusetts ; and Seaman, of Michigan.

UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 25

The objects of the society, as declared by the preamble to its consti-
tution, are : to "improve the agriculture of the country, by attracting
attention, eliciting the views, and confirming the efforts of that great
class composing the agricultural community, and to secure the advan-
tages of a better organization, and more extended usefulness among
all State, county, and other agricultural societies."

Its officers consist of a president, one vice-president for each State
and Territory, a treasurer, and secretary. Colonel Marshall P. Wilder,
of Massachusetts, was elected president. On the list of its members
are to be found the names of many of the most distinguished men in
the nation, and it will compare favorably, in this respect, with any
institution in the country.

The first annual meeting took place at Washington, on the 2d of
February, 1853, since which they liave been regularly held on the
second Wednesday of January, constituting, in reality, the "Board of
Agriculture," recommended by the Farmer of Mount Vernon. The
annual meetings have been attended by the Presidents of the United
States, heads of departments, and many of the most distinguished
members of the houses of Congress. Gentlemen from almost every
State in the Union (many of them delegates from agricultural asso-
ciations) have annually assembled to discuss such topics as have been
presented, calculated to advance the cause of agricultural improve-
ment ; interesting and valuable lectures have been delivered, and essays
read by practical and scientific farmers; reports have been submitted
by committees specially appointed to examine new inventions and
theories, and by delegates who have been accredited to the agricul-
turists of other lands, and there has been a general interchange of
opinion.

At the sixtb annual meeting, the first change took place in the
executive department, by the voluntary retirement of Colonel Wilder,
whose energetic participation in the formation of the society, and whose
enlightened administration of its affairs have contributed so largely
to its usefulness and success. He Avas succeeded by General Tench
Tilghman, of Maryland, the present incumbent; thus establishing the
precedent of rotation between the different sections of the Union.

At this meeting, a report of extended experiments in the culture
of Chinesfe sugar-cane in this country was made, by a committee
of the society, througb its chairman, Mr. D. J. Browne, (then super-
intendent of the Agricultural Division of the Patent Ofiice,) and
subsequently published in the Agricultural Report of the Patent Ofiice,
for 1857.* In this report, Mr. Browne says: "Conformably to the
resolutions adopted by the United States Agricultural Society, at the
city of Washington, in January, 1857," the committee appointed to
investigate and experiment upon the sorgho sucre, or Chinese sugar-
cane, with the view of determining its value, for the purpose of syrup
and sugar-making, soiling cattle, use of the seed for feeding stock, for
bread-making, and for the manufacture of paper and alcoholic liquors,
beg leave to report as follows :

* It will be seen by the Agjricultural Report for tlio year 1856 that the first purchase of
sorghum seed made by the Patent Ofiice was in the autumn of 1854, and the second in 1855.

26 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

''Agreeably to the requirements, there was imported from France
sufficient sorgho seed to plant one hundred acres of land. This seed
wais placed in the hands of a number of individuals, in different sections
of the country, who cultivated it under various conditions of soil,
climate, &c.

"From the results of their experiments, in ninety localities, between
New Brunswick, in the British Dominions, and Mexico on the one hand,
and between Florida and Washington Territory on the other, the
committee are of the opinion that the sorgho sucre possesses qualities
which commend it to the especial attention of the agriculturists of all
parts of the country."

Annual exliihitions have been held at the following places: Spring-
field, Massachusetts, (1853;) Springfield, Ohio, (1854;) Boston, Massa-
chusetts, (1855 ;) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (1856 ;) Louisville,
Kentucky, (1857 ;) Eichmond, Virginia, (1858 ;) and Chicago, Illinois,
(1859.)

In July, 185*7, a national trial, in the field, of reapers and mowers,
was held at Syracuse, New York, unequaled by any similar exhibition.

The illustrated rej3ort of this trial, published by the society, is the
most elaborate treatise that has ever been issued on this important
and strictly American implement.

The exhibitions have been self-sustaining, the receipts meeting the
disbursements of upwards of one hundred and thirty thousand dollars
for premiums and expenses, whilst they have been strictly confined to
legitimate objects, and avoided all extraneous attractions for the pur-
pose of augmenting their receipts.

They have not only increased the efficiency of the State and local
associations, but have elevated the standard of excellence in agricul-
tural productions and processes, and extended the amount of agricul-
tural information in the various parts of the country, by carrying into
each, successively, articles of a superior quality, and, in many instances_,
of a different kind from those previously exhibited at the local fairs.
They have called together larger assemblages of people than have
ever been convened upon other occasions, embracing not only our most
intelligent yeomanry, but members of every art and profession, from
all portions of the wide-spread Union, and thus disseminated correct
information in regard to the institutions of each portion of the country
among the people of the other portions.

At these national jubilees, gentlemen have met upon the broad plat-
form of good citizenship, merging all sectional jealousies and party
distinctions in a general desire to improve and to elevate that great
calling which gives independence and strength to our nation.

Agricultural discussions and addresses, both at the "evening meet-
ings," the banquets, and on the grounds, have formed a prominent
feature in the proceedings.

The recent exhibition at Chicago, whether we regard its magnitude
or excellence, was eminently worthy of a great agricultural nation.

The number of articles entered for exhibition was 2,549, classified
under 123 separate departments, beside that of miscellaneous articles,
and coming from the following States : California, Georgia, Connecticut,
Illinois, Indiana^ Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland,

UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 27

Massachusetts, Micliigan, Minnesota, NewHampsliire, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Vermont^ and Wisconsin, and the
Province of Canada. Delegations were in attendance from eighty-one
societies, embracing twenty-seven States and Territories.

The leading feature of the exhibition was the trial of steam plows,
for which the society had offered its highest prize — the grand gold
medal of honor.

The large premiums offered by the Illinois State Society, and the
Illinois Central Railroad Company, were also awarded at this fair, and
the trial was conducted by committees appointed by each.

Tlie report contains an able review of the trials in England and
America, and shows the superiority of the American plow invented
by J. W. Fawkes, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

During the entire week both the city and extensiv.e fair grounds
were crowded to their utmost capacity.

It was truly a national gathering, and a fitting occasion for the com-
mencement of official courtesies between the national societies of England
and America. In reply to an invitation from President Tilghman, on
behalf of the United States Agricultural Society, the following letter
was received from the Hon. Thomas de Gray, Baron Walsingham,
President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England :

'''Sm: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter containing an
invitation to the exhibition of the United States Agricultural Society,
to take place at Chicago.

''I regret much that, your letter having only just reached me, the
great distance will prevent my being present at a meeting in which I
should feel the greatest interest.

"I shall report your obliging communication to the council of the
Royal Agricultural Society of England, and feel certain they will feel,
as I do personally, much gratified by the honor you have done them
in inviting their President to your exhibition.

"I have the honor to be, sir, your obliged and obedient servant,

''WALSINGHAM,
^'■President of Royal Agricultural Society of England.

'^General Tench Tilghman,

^^ President United States Agricultural Society."

It is an interesting incident in the history of these two great agricul-
tural nations, that the present mode of conducting their national fairs
was commenced almost at the same period, and has been attended with
results which evince a remarkable degree of coincidence.

'The Royal Agricultural Society of England, however, had been in
successful operation for many years, sustained by the wealth and
enterprise of that powerful and enlightened nation, before it ventured
upon the experiment of migration in its fairs, which has since been
found to be so highly beneficial in its results.

It is still regarded as an undertaking of no ordinary magnitude ; and
yet the actual extent of their migrations is less than those of the State
Agricultural Society of New York, whilst the shortest distance between
the locations of any two consecutive fairs of the United States Agri-

28 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

cultural Society lias been greater than tlie entire extent of tlie United
Kingdom of Great Britain.

Tne principal difficulty encountered in both countries lias been in
securing the attendance of competent and experienced judges, especially
in the machine and implement departments. This has been obviated
in England by the payment of their expenses, and it is hoped that the
United States Agricultural Society will soon have sufficient capital to
enable it to adopt a similar course.

Seven volumes of transactions have been published, containing re-
ports of the annual meetings, exhibitions, and operations of the society,
with a general statement of the position of agricultural affairs at the
metropolis, (including such information as is furnished by the Agri-
cultural Division, and by the examiner of implements in the Patent
Office,) and reports of the operations of State boards and societies,
agricultural colleges, and of all legislative recognition of the predomi-
nant interest of the country.

This publication is now issued in four numbers, as the Quarterly
Journal of Agriculture, and edited by the secretary of the society.

Avoiding all intrusion upon the legitimate sphere of the various
agricultural periodicals, it affords an opportunity for those most deeply
versed in the arcana of nature to discuss those abstruse principles from
which the most important results are often found to proceed.

A secretary's office, library, and reading-room have been established
at Washington city, where the members of the society, and others in-
terested in agricultural improvement, meet as brothers at a common
home, and find a collection of objects in which they have a common
interest.

Many State and county societies have contributed their published
transactions, premium lists, the names of their officers, and other in-
formation, which has been duly registered, and they have received the
publications of the society in return.

A majority of the agricultural and numerous other publishers have
contributed their periodicals and newspapers, and thus aided in form-
ing a free agricultural library.

As soon as sufficient means can be obtained, either by endowment,
appropriation, or otherwise, it is proposed to establish at Washington,
an experimental farm, where every species of culture, all the products
of the soil, and the different varieties of domestic animals, may be seen
by every one who visits the national metropolis.

The society is supported by fees for membership, and by the pro-
ceeds of its exhibitions.

Life-members receive an elegant diploma, all the publications, free
tickets of admission to all exhibitions, and their share of such seeds
and cuttings as may be procured for distribution, without any ad-
ditional assessment or payment beyond the admission fee of ten
dollars.

Annual members receive the publications of the society, paying a fee
of two dollars.

County or town societies have the privilege of making their presi-
dent, secretary, or treasurer, ex officio, a life-member, in which case
the society will receive the publications, &c.

UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 29

The increased interest in the annual meetings and exhibitions of
the society, and the constant additions to its roll of members, furnish
evidence of its growing prosperity and usefulness.

Its prepcnt officers are as follows :

President — Tench Tilghman, Ox^'ord, Maryland.

Vice Presidents — N. B. Cloud, Alabama; S. Mo\vrey, Arizona; H.
A. Dyer, Connecticut; A. W. McKec, Caliibrnia; John Jones, Dela-
ware ; W. W. Corcoran, District of Columbia ; A. G. Fuller, Dacotah;
S. R. Mallory, Florida; Puchard Peters, Georgia; D. P. Holloway,
Indiana ; J. A. Kennicot, Illinois ; Legrand Byington, Iowa ; W. L.
Underwood, Kentucky ; W. F. M. Arny, Kansas; J. D. B. DeBow,
Louisiana ; John Brooks, Massachusetts ; N. N. Harrison, Mississippi ;
A. Kimmcl, Maryland; II. Ledyard, Michigan; E. Holmes, Maine;
II. M. Rice, Minnesota; J. R. Barrett, Missouri; H. F. French, New
Hampshire; J. II. Frazee, New York; B. P. Johnston, New York;
Miguel A. Otero, New Mexico ; W. T. Brown, Nebraska ; H. K. Bur-
gwyn. North Carolina ; F. G. Cary, Ohio ; Joseph Lane, Oregon ; A.
Clements, Pennsylvania ; E. Dyer, Rhode Island ; F. W. Alston,
youth Carolina ; Thomas AtBeck, Texas; D. R. Eckels, Utah ; Fred-
erick Holbrook, Vermont; W. A. Spence, Virginia; D. S. Curtis,
Wisconsin ; I. I. Stevens, Washington Territory,

Executive Committee — T. Tilghman, ex officio, Maryland; Marshall
P. Wilder, Massachusetts; H. Wa^^er, New York ; J. McGowan, Penn-
sylvania; Frederick Smyth, New Hampshire; J. W. Ware, Virginia;
J. Merryman, Maryland; Horace Caprou, Illinois; J. M. Cannon,
lov/a; B. Perley Poorc, Massachusetts.

Treasurer — Benjamin B. French, Washington, District of Columbia.

Secretary — Ben. Perley Poore, Newburyport, Massachusetts.

During the first five years of the existence oi the socletj'', the vener-
able George Washington Parke Custis, the vice-president lor Virginia,
and the last surviving member of the family of Washington, was a
regular attendant at its annual meetings.

He had been among the earliest and most steadfast advocates of a
national agricultural society, having, as early as 1810, published in
the National Intelligencer, and also in pamphlet form, a jjrojet for a
national agricultural organization, to be incorporated with the govern-
ment and attached to a national university.

He had always been requested by President Wilder to conclude the pro-
ceedings ; and his valedictory at the fifth annual meeting (the last before
his death) is replete with sentiments which are worthy of one who was
so nearly connected with the author of the farewell address. It termi-
nates with the ibllowing patriotic appeal :

"The time has come for me to sayfareiueU! And when a man on
whose head rest the snows of seventy -six winters bids you farewell,,
the probabilities are that it will be a long farewell.

''You will now return to your homes, with hearts cheered and hands
strengthened by this mutual communion, and this brotherhood of
farmers from all parts of our great country.

" And as you come up from all portions of the country, from these
classic grounds where our fathers died, let your hearts be invigorated
by their patriotism, and your hands labor for the prosperity of the
country they bought with their bbod. *

30 . AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

"And now, gentlemen of the United States Agricultural Society,
farewell! Go back to your liomes, and tell your friends what has been
done at this meeting for the cause of agriculture, and encourage them
as you have been encouraged.

' ' Continue your devotion to this bulwark of our country ; continue
inviolate our great Constitution ; obey our self-imposed laws ; preserve
our blessed Union, and our republic will be immortal."

MTIYE GRAPES OF ARKANSAS AND TEXAS.

BY n. C. WILLIAMS, OF JEFFERSOISr, CASS COUNTY, TEXAS.

The Patent Office having decided to ''make a thorough experiment
with our native grapes," to test their merits for wine and table use, I
received instructions, dated July 1, 1857, directing me to proceed to
Arkansas, and explore portions of that State, Texas, and the adjacent
Indian territory, as far as practicable, to inspect the vines while in
fruit, and to obtain certain information connected ''with their growth
and locality, to be employed in carrying out said experiment." After
making those observations, and at the j^roper time, I was directed to
collect cuttings of the vines, to be forwarded to such points as might
be designated in future instructions.

Accordingly, I left the city of Washington on the 1st of August fol-
lowing, and proceeded by the most direct route to the Hot Springs, in
Arkansas^ the first point where the wild grapes are found in such
abundance as to invite attention. At that place, with so many attrac-
tions to the naturalist, I spent several days, and made frequent short
excursions in the mountain ridges and hills of the neighborhood.
From the foot to the summit of those ridges, some of which are beds
oinovaculite, or the celebrated Arkansas oil-stone, two varieties of wilds
grapes are found in .abundance. I was disappointed in one of the
objects of the mission, that of observing the "fruit on the vines," for
the frosts of the preceding April had almost entirely destroyed the
crop, wild and cultivated, throughout the State, A few chance branches
had escaped, and I found a native vine in the garden of Mr. Fullerton,
with fruit on it, which enabled me to ascertain the varieties. These
will be hereafter designated.

While at the Hot Springs, I learned from Mr. Whittington, a
resident of the village, that he had some years previously collected a
quantity of the wild grapes "from the hills," and expressed the juice
with the view of making vinegar for family use. The following spring,
finding the wine of such fine quality, he drew ofi" about five gallons
and set away the vessel containing it in a garret room in his house.
There it remained undisturbed for two or three years. A guest from
Little Eock, who had been a dealer in wines, being informed of the
experiment, requested an examination, and decided that the wine was
a first-rate claret.

NATIVE GRAPES OF ARKANSAS AND TEXAS. 31

Eesiiming my journey, I proceeded to Hempstead county, where I
learned that the frosts of the preceding spring had heen more severe
than in any portion of the country I had traveled over. Not only was
the fruit crop entirely destroyed, but the ornamental trees, in many
instances, were killed to the ground. The forest trees, especially the
oaks^ had suffered severely. As it would have served no beneficial
object to continue explorations, I determined to proceed no further, but
devote the interval of time, before commencing to take off cuttings, to
an examination of the portions of the counties of Hempstead and
Sevier in which the native grapes are found, and to collect such in-
formation regarding them as the Office desired. Other obstacles pre-
sented themselves; a long-continued rainy season had set in; the
streams became impassable ; the mail failed in many of its trips ; and
nearly all travel was suspended, until the time of the ripening of the
grapes was over. Beside, I had an attack of chills and fever, which
were more prevalent then than they had been for many years previous.

Having waited until the first of November, I set out with a light
two-horse wagon, in which boxes were placed to contain cuttings, and
took a northerly direction, expecting that the first frosts of the season
would be met in the mountains. The 8th of that month there was a
killing frost, when I was in the Washita cove; and, in a day or two
after, the vines were in a condition to admit of cuttings being taken.
As I had anticipated, the roads in the mountainous country were not
much traveled, and their conditioH was but indifferent. I performed
most of the journey on foot, and had ample time to select cuttings from
the vines oh the way-side^ and keep up with the wagon. In this way
I passed through the counties of Sevier^ Polk, Scott, and Franklin, as
far as Mulberry river, where high waters prevented further progress.
The country over which I traveled was generally mountainous, the
spurs or ridges rising about eight hundred or a thousand feet above the
plain ; and, in one or two places, the boiling point of water indicated
an altitude of eighteen hundred feet. This elevation can only be re-
garded as approximately ascertained. The prevailing rocks of the
mountain ranges were sand-stones, and the soils resulting from them,
of course, very silicious. The valleys are generally narrow, washed
by the rivers and mountain streams. The prairie lands of Franklin
county seemed to be connected with the sand-stone of the coal forma-
tion. Bituminous coal, of excellent quality, is mined in many places.
The timber on the sandy soils is generally post oak, black jack, and
nutmeg hickory ; and it is worthy of special remark that the most ex-
tensive grape thickets are always associated with sandy soils wheie
those trees are abundant. On high lands, termed the black-jack ridges,
and distant from the settlements, where the woods are seldom burnt,
the grape vines flourish with greatest luxuriance. Before leaving
Washington, I had been informed by a gentleman who had resided in
Arkansas, that I should be certain to find the white grape near Plea-
sant Hill post office, in Franklin county. Of this grape I could gain
but little reliable information in the southern part of the State, where
the citizens are mostly engaged in cotton planting, and scarcely cul-
tivate fruit of any kind. This variety was first obtained in Scott
county, where its singular appearance, in contrast with other vines,

dZ AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

attracted notice ; Init the larger portion was procured on the farm of
Mr. Bryant, near Mulberry river.

Finishing the collection at this point, I returned to the town of
Ozark, recrossed the Arkansas river, and proceeded to the west, to
reach a point of the Grand Prairie, where I v/as informed that I should
find the white grape vines in abundance. In this I Avas disappointed.
After passing Waldron, I took the road which led to the Hot (Springs,
passing near the town of Mount Ida, in Montgomery county. Through
the whole distance, the same general features marked the soil and pro-
ductions which had been observed on the journey to the Arkansas, with
the difference of occasionally presenting large groves of pine on the sum-
mit of t!ie hills-, with v/hich the native grapes were closely associated.

After having made a collection at the Hot Springs, I took the road
through the Caddo Cove, passing into Pike county, and through it to the
starting point in Hempstead county, vvhich was reached on the 14th
day of December, As on the previous part of the route, I continued
to make collections along the roadside, with a view of procuring all
the varieties of native grapes. That course only was left open to me,
as I had been disappointed in seeing the fruit on the vines; and to be
certain of getting all, I determined to make as extensive explorations
a.s the season would permit.

In the collection thus made at random it cannot be pretended that
any accuracy 'Could be observed in designating varieties by labels. No
reliable inibrmation could be obtaiaed irora the inhabitants, and the
most careful observers among them would only say ''in a grape year tho
fruit could be gathered by the wagon load; that the grapes wei-e the
best they had ever seen, and were as large as the end of their linger
or thumb." Therefore, in packing the cuttings I designated the col-
lection as "Mountain," "Red River," and "Washita," from the
circumstance that these varieties, growing together, are, nevertheless,
more numerously multiplied in those localities. When they pro-
duce fruit they will be easily distinguished, and I propose that the
names be continued.

The variety to be called the "Mountain" is found most abundantly
on the silicious soils of the elevated country; though, in some portions
of Sevier and Pike counties, it is often met in the light, loose, dry soils
of the tertiary formation. As we approach Red river it becomes scarce,
and is apparently superseded by the variety proposed to be called by
that name. Allied to the species known to botanists as the vitis cesti-
valls, it is probably a sub-species. The growth is strong and vigorous,
often short-jointed, with deeply colored bark near the joints. The
brandies are short, thick, very compact; and the berries as hirge as a
medium size Catawba, covered with a bloom. The color is black. It
begins to ripen about the middle of September, but the bunches will
hang on the vines till winter. The skin is about the thickness of the
Catawba, and the pulp reddish. In Arkansas, I learn that raisins of
goo'd qiuillty had been made from it. Witli the amelioration v/hich
cultivation will doubtless produce, this vv^ill be a valuable grape in
southern locations.

Tiie "Red River" is also allied to vitis cesiivalis. In its charac'eris-
liCiS there is some resemblance to the preceding, but in general the

NATIVE GRAPES OF ARKANSAS AND TEXAS. 33

vine is not so vigorous in its growtli;, the bark a paler red and brown,
and tbe fruit inclining to black, but not so deeply colored. The
bunches are open, loose, and shouldered; skin thin, pulp reddish
and more juicy than the "Mountain," Its flavor is sweet and sugary.
From these grapes Mr, Whittington made the wine before alluded to

When these varieties grow in shaded positions the extremities of the
vines do not thoroughly ripen the wood for several joints back from
the extremities, and the following season the buds on the ripened
wood vegetate and take the same course as the growth of the former
year. This condition in the growth for a few years gives the vine a
bush form; and hence the common expression in Arkansas of the
"bush grapes," or that the grapes grow on low bushes. The vines
are, however, runners, where there is anything for them to clamber
upon ; but they never attain the large growth of the common summer
grape-vine.

The "Washita" was occasionally found on the road from the
Arkansas river to Hempstead county. It was first discovered on the
Washita river, hence its name. Probably it is a species of fox grape,
the vitis lohrusca of the botanists. The vine is a vigorous grower, of
a rusty-brown color, and the wood more soft and spongy than any
other variety of grape. Having never seen the fruit, I can only give
such description as I received from various sources, selecting those
points on which there is no disagreement. All unite in assigning it
high merit as a juicy, sweet grape, with a foxy aroma. The skin is
thin, and the berries large. When fully ripe it varies in color, but
is generally a light brown, or tinged with brown: while growing it is
remarkably transparent and of a light greenish hue. Its period of
ripening is earlier than other wild grapes, and so eagerly is it sought
Dy birds, that it is exhausted before the neighboring planter is aware
that it is ripe. Hence, it is not unusual to find persons who have
resided in its midst for many years, yet who have no knowledge of
its existence. Besides, it grows on the richer soils bordering the
streams, and is, therefore, more likely to be destroyed as the lands are
cleared and put under cultivation. Though preferring a rich, deep,
alluvial soil, it is not a tenant of low, damp grounds.

Believing this to be a new and superior variety, and one that would
be an acquisition to the wine-maker, I determined to spare no exertions
to obtain it. This was the reason of my making such an extensive
excursion. As far back as the year 1842, which I spent in Arkansas,
my attention had been called to this variety by the late General Tow-
son, United States army, though all my efforts to procure cuttings for
him were unsuccessful. He was of opinion that it was the grape to
which Colonel Long alludes in his expedition to the Eocky Mountains.
It is said that the late Mr. Audubon had seen it on the KedKiver, and had
pronounced it equal to any French variety. While on my excursion,
I met the late Hon. Shelton Watson, judge of the circuit court, who
assured me that this grape had been taken to France, and there had
established a reputation for the highest excellence. In the town of
Ozark, a very intelligent gentleman, the treasurer of the county^ in-
formed me that he was from the Khine, was acquainted with the grapes
grown in the Avine countries, and "he did not believe a finer grape than
3 A

34 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

the Wasliita could be found in tlie United States or Europe." Per-
haps his encomium may appear extravagant, but still his intelligence
and powers of observation entitle his opinions to high regard.

I learned that several experiments in making wine had been at-
tempted in Arkansas. Some years since, a prominent member of a
temperance society made a barrel of wine, which act being considered
a breach of its rules, he was cited to trial, convicted, and sentenced to
make two barrels more the next season. Whether he complied with
the sentence I am not able to state ; but this much I feel bound to say,
that if more attention were paid to the cultivation of the grape in Ar-
kansas, much of its soil, unsuitable for cotton or grain crops, and re-
garded as comparatively valueless, would be as productive as the best
cotton lands. So many varieties of fine grapes were not placed there
by Nature without some beneficent object, and but energy and skill are
required to bring out that object, and open new avenues to industry
and wealth.

The mountainous region is proverbial for its health, the atmosphere
pure, streams of water abundant, and the scenery, for beauty and sub-
limity, unrivaled. Sheep raising, where there are so many nutritious
grasses, affording good grazing nearly the whole year, could be made
a profitable business, and might be connected with vine culture..

In this place it may be proper to mention, that on the streams in the
lower part of the State, the bottom lands are literally covered with
muscadine vines, (vitis vulpina.) They vary in quality, and some of
them, no doubt, would prove as good for wine as the Scuppernong of
North Carolina. I did not learn that any experiments in wine-making
from them had ever been made, but as an inducement to the trial, I
will state that Mr. Longworth informed me that he would purchase, at
a fair price, as much wine of those grapes as might be sent to him.
He wished to obtain it to be used in flavoring his Catawba. The de-
sideratum of American wine grapes, in his opinion, consists in their
imparting the foxy aroma to the wine, a realization of which I entertain
the most sanguine hopes in the successful cultivation of the Washita.

Having laid away the cuttings in sand, to preserve them until the
collection should be complete, and having rested the team, I again set
out, on the 30th of December, 1857, with a view of ascending the Bed
Eiver as far as the Cross Timbers. In the condition of the roads at that
season it was thought advisable to proceed through the Choctaw Na-
tion, by Fort Towson, cross the river near the mouth of the Kiamechi,
take the main road leading through Paris, Bonham, and Kentucky
Town, and strike the Cross Timbers south of Preston. A great por-
tion of this journey was through a prairie country, of a rich, black,
calcareous soil, in which grape-vines are very seldom seen. In the
pine lands, from the Arkansas line to Wheelock Academy, where the
prairie is reached, similar grapes to those already collected are found ;
and likewise, in the red-oak lands, from the ferry on Bed Eiver to the
town of Paris, there is great abundance of that variety proposed to be
called "Ked Eiver." On my return by another route, through the
timbered lands adjoining the prairies, it was of frequent occurrence,
and very abundant in the Cross Timbers, where the soil is arenacious,
and the prevailing rock a sandstone, probably belonging to a coal

NATIVE GRAPES OF ARKANSAS AND TEXAS. 35

formation subsequent to the carboniferous period. The collection at
that point was marked for the locality, in hopes that the varieties
would be established when the cuttings produced fruit. A gentleman
long resident in the Cross Timbers informed me that three varieties
were common there.

Near the Cross Timbers, a Mr. Simcoe politely conducted me to a
place where I obtained all the cuttings designated as the "Mustang."
The general appearance of this vine resembles the muscadine, except
the bark of the old wood inclines to detach itself in strips, like Catawba
and other vines. It was described to me as a great runner, reaching
the tops of thetallest trees, and to beaprofuse bearer. In some portions
of Texas it is multiplied to an extent almost incredible to a person who
has never visited that State and who knows but little, except by
report, of its extraordinary natural productions. I hazard nothing in
saying, that if all the mustang grapes were made into wine, and sold
at one dollar a gallon, the product would greatly exceed the value of
a cotton crop. The chief excellence of this grape consists in its quali-
ties for making wine, as the skin contains such acrid matter that the
fruit cannot be eaten, without producing painful sensations to the
inner coats of the mouth, and sometimes swelling. The skin must be
broken, and the pulp withdrawn, which is said to be exceedingly sweet
and juicy.

On my return from the Eio Grande, in March last. Dr. J. H. Lyons,
of San Antonio, presented me with ten bottles of mustang wine, made
the previous season from the wild grapes. Those bottles were dis-
tributed among the friends of native grape culture, by some of whom
it was pronounced a good claret, wanting only age to bring out its
qualities. One gentleman, not less distinguished as an agriculturist
and friend to native vine culture than for his eminent talents and
public services, remarked, in relation to the bottle sent him, that "the
mustang wine has had so bad a chance from traveling so far and so
recently that a proper judgment cannot now be passed on it. I regret
that I did not let it rest two or three months, which is little time
enough for it to settle after its travels. It would be pronounced common
claret, a little pricked, by most persons. I still think, however, that
I perceive in it the elements of a rich and highly-flavored claret ; but as
to its delicacy, whether it turns out Pineau or Gamay, no opinion can
be formed from this bottle, under the circumstances."

It was not until the 8th of February that I returned from this trip,
and immediately commenced arrangements for leaving the country
with the collection. Being delayed in the means of transportation, I
did not reach New Orleans until the 4th of March, and proceeding up
the river to Memphis, I then forwarded suits of the cuttings to the
different points designated in my instructions.

EL PASO GRAPES, OR GRAPES CULTIVATED ON THE RIO GRANDE.

The Patent Office having determined to continue the collection of
American grapes, and wishing to obtain seeds and cuttings of those
cultivated at Paso del Norte, in the department of Chihuahua, I
engaged to make the collection in the manner agreed upon, and set

36 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

forth in instructions, dated July 1, 1858. By those instructions, I
was directed "to proceed to Santa Fe, in New Mexico, via Indepen-
dence, Missouri, and explore the valley of the Rio Grande as far below
El Paso (in Texas) as the grape season would admit." On my arrival
in the valley of the Rio Grande, I was to "take the requisite steps to
procure cuttings preparatory to their removal," "noting the character
of the fruit_, the local names, their period of maturity, the nature of
the soil," and any "information connected with the climate, which
would have a bearing on the case." I v\^as also required "to collect
small quantities of grape seeds, and forward them to the office by
mail." In case I "met with ripened seeds of any other valuable
native wild fruits, forest trees, or shrubs, or any important vegetables,
which could be conveniently collected," I was instructed "to put them
up in a proper manner, and forward them to the Office." It was stipu-
lated that this duty should be performed in a "period of nine or ten
months, commencing the 1st day of July, 1858," and for which I was
to receive a fixed compensation.

Having made the necessary preparation for the journey, I left
Washington city on the 14th day of July, and proceeded directly to
Independence, Missouri, arriving there in time to secure a passage in
the mail train, which left on the 19th, for Santa Fe, The journey over
the plains was accomplished without delay or accident, and I reached
Santa Fe on the 8th of August. As the grape season did not, as I
then learned, commence before the last of August, I did not think it
necessary to proceed to El Paso by the mail stage which left for that
place on the 11th of August, but remained there until the departure
of the mail on the 25th, and reached El Paso on the 1st day of Sep-
tember,

In the market of Santa Fe I found excellent plums. They resem-
bled the wild variety known in the southern States as the Chickasaw,
though more sweet and delicious than southern plums. Apricots, also,
were in season. In comparison to our improved sorts, they were small
in size, but in richness of flavor are not surpassed. Seeds of these
fruits were collected and sent to the Office. So far as I could learn, these
fruits are grown in a natural way, the art of budding and ingrafting
being unknown to the natives, or not practised. The trees are chance
seedlings, or transplanted suckers, and thrive most when in proximity
to the acequias, or irrigating canals, from which the roots derive a
constant and regular supply of moisture. I saw no orchard in New
Mexico, though with irrigation, apples, pears, and peaches could be
successfully cultivated. I did not see any of those fruits which would
be considered valuable where our varieties are known.

Descending the Rio Grande, the vineyards are first seen at Berna-
lilla. At Albuquerque, I learned that the grape was extensively
cultivated. I was told that the fruit from cuttings procured in Paso
d(>,l Norte was of inferior quality, but that another generation of vines
produced grapes equal to those grown three hundred miles south.
How far this is to be received as correct, I ha,d no means of ascertain-
ing, but, as it seems to favor the idea that the habituation of these
grapes to a northern latitude is gradual and progressive, I deem the
statement necessary, leaving future experiment to test the principlo.

NATIVE GRAPES OF ARKANSAS AND TEXAS. 37

The grapes wliicli I saw in Albuquerque were of sucli excellent qual-
ity that every inducement is held out to increased cultivation.

The vine is cultivated in many if not all the villages on the Rio
Grande, though not so extensively as at Paso del Norte. The vine-
yards there are scattered through the town, wherever water can he
procured for irrigation. They are generally small, inclosed by adobe
walls, and resemble in appearance the inclosures devoted to the growth
of culinary vegetables in the lesser towns of the United States. Great
quantities of the fruit are exposed in the market places, and much is
dried for winter use.

As yet there are but few vineyards in El Paso valley, on the east-
ern or Texas side of the river, but the market was abundantly supplied
from the vineyards in Paso del Norte. There are but two varieties,
the loldte and the blue, though some of the proprietors of the vineyards
will say that there avejlve or six classes. Their distinctions, however,
are founded merely on variations in color, caused by difierent exposures
to light, and it not unfrequently happens that two or more classes are
taken from the same vine.

The white grape was nearly out of season when I arrived at El Paso.
The bunches are large, loose, and shouldered. The berries are about
the size of the Catawba ; they have scarcely any pulp, very sweet
and juicy, with a slight and not unpleasant musky aroma, which is
imparted to the wine. This is of a pale straw color, slightly acid.
The vine is vigorous, but does not seem to be hardy.

The hlue grape, which this year was in season from the 25th of
August till the 15th of September, is more extensively cultivated in
Paso del Norte. The bunches are large, loose, and branching, some-
times weighing three pounds ; and as many as thirty bunches have
been picked from a single vine. Such a yield is, however, unusual,
though with better cultivation than is now given the product would
be augmented. The berries are generally larger than the Catawba
grapes of our vineyard, thin-skinned, very juicy, and exceedingly
sweet. The vine is short-jointed, and a strong and vigorous grower.
When in the vicinity of fruit-trees on which they can climb the vines
will sometimes grow twenty feet in a season. Such vines are, however,
not productive, and it is probable that if they were trained on frames
they would not be so fruitful nor of such fine quality as cultivated by
the present mode.

The vineyards of Paso del Norte are planted in rows, five or six feet
apart each way. Most of the labor of the vineyard is performed with
the hoe, while the ground is kept loose by frequent irrigations. If the
ground were to receive stirring once or twice by the plow, it would
.certainly be attended by beneficial results. It would have a tendency
to lessen irrigation^ which, in my opinion, is overdone, and, as a con-
sequence, the energies of the vine are expended in the production of
wood. The vines are lopped off in a very careless manner, and a stump
two or three feet high is formed. The bearing branches emerge from
the buds near the top of the stump ; these are annually cut back to
three or four buds, every spring ; but it is often done so late in the
season that the flow of sap kills the spurs, and suckers are thrown out
from the roots. Early in winter, the branches are drawn together and

38 AGEICULTURAL REPORT.

bound ; tlie earth is tlien heaped around the vines with a hoe, in which
condition they remain till the following spring, when danger from
frosts is supposed to be past, and the vines are headed back, and the
earth leveled. It would no doubt be an improvement on the present
system if the vines were pruned before the winter protection is given
them, and the spurs covered with earth. Great injury is done by
straining the vines and rupturing the sap-vessels in the operation of
gathering up and pruning in the spring. The pruning should always
be done with hand shears. An impression prevails among the vine-
yardists that pruning in early winter is prejudicial to the vines.
Nothing can be more absurd ; for the drying of the end of the vine
where pruned off would prevent ''bleeding" when the sap is in motion
the following spring. From this notion being generally entertained,
I had great difficulty in obtaining cuttings.

Major Emory, in his able ' ' Keport on the Mexican Boundary Survey, ' '
says :

"Southern California, the whole of the upper valley of the Grila,
and the upper valley of the Del Norte, as far down as the Presidio del
Norte, are eminently adapted to the cultivation of the grape. In no
part of the world does this luscious fruit flourish with greater luxu-
riance than in these regions, when properly cultivated. Those versed
in the cultivation of the vine represent that all the conditions of soil,
humidity, and temperature, are united in these regions, to produce the
grape in the greatest perfection. The soil, composed of the disinte-
grated matter of the older rocks and volcanic ashes, is light, porous,
and rich. The frosts in winter are just sufficiently severe to destroy
the insects without injuring the plant, and the rain seldom falls in
the season when the plant is flowering, or when the fruit is coming
into maturity and liable to rot from exposure to humidity. As a con-
sequence of this condition of things, the fruit, when ripe, has a thin
skin, scarcely any pulp, and is devoid of the musky taste usual with
American grapes." (I differ with Major Emory, it will be seen, in
regard to the musky aroma of the white or muscatel grape, as it is
sometimes called. He doubtless refers to the hlue grape, of which most
of the El Paso wine k made.)

"The manufacture of wine from this grape is still in a crude state.
Although wine has been made for upward of a century in El Paso, and
is a very considerable article of commerce, no one of sufficient intelli-
gence and capital to do justice to the magnificent fruit of the country
has yet undertaken its manufacture. As at present made, there is no
system followed, no ingenuity in mechanical contrivance practised,
and none of those facilities exist which are usual and necessary in the
manufacture of wine on a large scale ; indeed, there seems to be no
great desire beyond that of producing as much alcoholic matter as
possible. The demand for strong alcoholic drinks has much increased
with the advent of the Americans ; and in proportion as this demand
has increased, the wine has decreased in quality. On one occasion,
I drank wine in El Paso which compared favorably with the richest
burgundy. The production of this wine must have been purely acci-
dental, for other wine made of the same grape and grown in the same
year was scarcely fit to drink."

NATIVE GRAPES OF ARKANSAS AND TEXAS. 39

The process of making wine is quite primitive. The great scarcity
of timber in that country compels a resort to various means to supply
its place, and none is more likely to arrest attention than that which,
takes the place of the wine-press. An ox hide is formed into a pouch,
which is attached to two pieces of timber and laid on two poles sup-
ported by forks planted in the ground-floor of the room in which the
vintage takes place. The grapes are gathered in a very careless man-
ner, and placed in the pouch until it is filled. They are then mashed
by trampling with the feet. In this condition the mashed fruit, stems,
and some leaves remain until fermentation takes place, which requires
from fifteen to twenty days. An incision is made in the lower part
of the pouch, through which the wine drips ; it is transferred to barrels.
The wine now has a flat, sourish taste. Should it be desired to make
sweet wine, grape syrup, made by evaporating fresh juice, is added
until the wine has the desired sweetness. It is not afterwards fined,
or racked off, but remains in the cask until used. Perchance a few
bottles may be filled and set away for particular occasions, but a very
small quantity remains on hand six months after it is made. The
scarcity of suitable casks, and the high price of bottles, may be a reason
of so little old wine being in the country. I was told that the wine
never underwent a second active fermentation. The room in which
the wine is made and afterwards kept resembles a cellar, except that
it is above ground, always dry, and an evenness of temperature pre-
served by thick adobe walls and a covering of earth.

For the last several years there has been a falling off in the product
of the vineyards. The estimate is from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred gallons to the acre, but with American skill in the manage-
ment of the vineyards, and American appliances in making wine, the
product might be more than doubled. The El Paso valley, on the
Texas side of the Eio Grande^ is about eighty miles long, and has an
average width of seven or eight miles. This, in my opinion, is the
Eden of the grape in the United States. The whole of this tract of
country is adapted to vine culture. In some portions of California
the same grapes which are cultivated on the Eio Grande may be pro-
duced in greater quantities to the acre, and the bunches and fruit may
be larger ; but it should be recollected that the grapes of California are
cultivated with superior skill, and perhaps the soil of the vineyards in
that State has not been so long under cultivation as that at Paso del
Norte. Still, I think, in the quantity of grapes produced, and their
qualities for wine, the El Paso valley will not, when it has a fair trial,
be excelled by any district in California. As yet, lands in the valley
are cheap ; the town of San Elizario, the seat of justice of El Paso
-county, has a large body of land, which it will part with at a nominal
price to actual settlers. The village of El Paso, near the upper end
of the valley, has in a few years become a place of considerable trade.
That point may now be said to be the key to the trade of Arizona and
northern Chihuahua. It is the point where the two great overland
mails have to pass, and is near the place which Nature has marked out
as the most eligible for a railroad to the Pacific, to cross the Kio
Grande.

The soil of the El Paso valley is an alluvial deposit, obviously de-

40 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

rived from tlie volcanic and older rocks of tlie mountain ranges. It is
of a brownish color, absorbs water freely, and wlien duly saturated, is
open and porous. The roots of vegetables penetrate it very easily.
Beneath the surface there are thin beds, or strata, in which clay
predominates. These beds contain a substance called ^'salitre," proba-
bly a mixture of alkaline matters. Salitre is often found on the surface,
in thin efflorescence, especially in places from which water has subsided.
The water of the Kio G-rande, no doubt, holds it in solution, more
especially after the rainy seasons, and as long as it is used for pur-
poses of irrigation, the alkalies cannot be exhausted from the soil.
The presence of the alkalies must, doubtless, be very energetic in sup-
porting the luxuriant vegetation of the valley, as well as the principal
means of continuing its wonderful fertility without apparent exhaustion.
It may be proper in this place to remark, that the grape evinces a
preference for the soils which are inclined to be sandy, and the most
flourishing vineyards in Paso del Norte are those on the sites where
the sand has been settled by the winds. The soil is admirably suited
to the growth of corn, wheat, cotton, and tobacco ; garden vegetables
are raised in profusion.

The El Paso valley is remarkable for the production of various kinds
of fruits. The apple, pear, quince, peach, almond, fig, pomegranate,
and Persian walnut_, also the apricot and plum, though not extensively
cultivated, succeed well ; but as the late improved sorts of our gardens
and orchards have not reached that country, their fruits cannot be
compared to ours. 'Exceptions can be made only of the grape, the fig,
and the quince, which in quality are not excelled in the Atlantic States.
Advantage is taken of the facilities for drying fruits, and immense
quantities are thus preserved every year. In making pasas, or Mex-
ican raisins, the largest and best bunches are taken from the vines
when fully ripe and hung up in the houses. The grape gradually
shrinks away until it becomes skin and seeds, with a small honied
consistence surrounding the seeds. Fearing that a quantity of seeds
which I had purchased might have their vitality injured by the dryness
of the atmosphere before I could send them to Washington, and believ-
ing that the honied consistence round the seeds would serve as a pro-
tection, I purchased about fifty pounds of the dried grapes, and reported
the fact to the Office. I regret that the letter approving my course,
and directing a further purchase, did not reach me in time to comply
with the order to the desired extent, but through the exertion of my
obliging friend, Mr. Lightner, an American merchant residing in Paso
del Norte, I obtained an additional ahno and a half. Seiior Don
Joachin Sabo, of Paso del Norte, presented me with a gallon of seeds,
and I also sent some of those I had purchased, and am gratified to
learn that, with all, the success has been most complete, and the crop
raised in the propagating gardens is worth a far greater sum than was
expended in introducing them. Of the ultimate success of these grapes,
especially in the southern States, I have not the least doubt, and I do
not think experimenters should be discouraged if the first results do
not equal their expectations. Dr. Lyons, of San Antonio, Texas,
informed me that he had a vineyard of two hundred and fifty vines of
the El Paso grapes, which would come int© bearing next or the follow-

NATIVE GRAPES OP ARKANSAS AND TEXAS. 41

tng year. From his intelligence and skill, and tlie lively interest he
takes in grape culture, the friends of "the cause" may look for most
favorable results. The San Antonio river will afford water for irriga-
tion, and the flourishing city of that name on its banks will furnish
every convenience and facility for making and storing wine. The
country round that city holds out inducements to grape culture, and
the vine will no doubt succeed well on the Picos and other streams
between that point and the Kio Grande, where water can be had for
irrigation. On Devil's river I was told that wild grapes are found
of such excellence that some persons maintain that they are indentical
with the El Paso grapes, but that is a mistake, for those grapes are
of European origin.

There was no frost last year until about the middle of November,
and then so slight that the vines were not in a condition for cuttings
to be taken off until the last of the month. From the objections before
alluded to, I experienced much difficulty in procuring cuttings, and
for those obtained I am indebted to the politeness of Seiior Don GJ-uad-
alupe Mirandi, Seiior de Oranga, and Mr. Lightner. On the 10th of
January I had the collection packed and ready for conveyance to
Washington, but was detained till the 8th of February before a train
passed down to San Antonio. We were thirty days making the jour-
ney to that place, a distance of six hundred and fifty miles. The
collection reached New Orleans, and was sent on to Washington the
28th of March, 1859. The journey was accomplished without loss or
injury to the collection, except that, in following my instructions to
pack the collection in barrels made air-tight, I found one barrel of
cuttings so much injured, on reaching New Orleans, that they had to
be thrown away.

I did not explore the country below El Paso during the grape
season, for the reason that the vine is cultivated to a limited extent
east of the Eio Grande, and I should not have met with any native
varieties until reaching Devil's river, by the mail, which then made
but semi-monthly trips. That place is in an uninhabited part of the
country, and in the midst of the Apache Indians. Such was then the
condition of affairs on the border that the government established ad-
ditional military posts, one of which is in the El Paso valley. I
collected seeds of the pinon, or Finns edulis, mezquit tree, tornillo,
sapindus, seeds of several vegetables, and some superior wheat, culti-
vated by the Pimos Indians, which were forwarded by mail.

42 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

EEPOET ON THE SACCHARINE CONTENTS OE NA-
TIVE AMERICAN GRAPES IN RELATION TO WINE-
MAKING.

BY CHARLES T. JACKSON, M. D.

Wine is properly tlie fermented juice of grapes, and contains alco-
hol, variable proportions of grape sugar, bi-tartrate of potash, and
some tartrate of lime, with a very little malic and tannic acids, and
some mucilagenous matters, besides oenanthic acid, and in old times
oenanthic ether and some volatile oils, derived from the grapes or pro-
duced by fermentation.

The tartrates are characteristic of the wines produced from the
grape, and do not characterize fermented currant, gooseberry, or apple
juices; citric acid being contained as the chief acid of the currant and
gooseberry juice, while malic acid is that of the juice of the apple.
Currant and gooseberry juices, therefore, are not wines, but are similar
to punch made of lemon juice and alcohol, sweetened. Fermented
apple juice is not a wine, for it does not contain the tartrates, nor any
tartaric acid, but does contain malic, acetic, and tannic acids. If we
intend to produce wine we must resort to the juice of grapes exclu-
sively, and it therefore becomes important to inquire if the native
American grapes will produce good wines. The object in the present
analysis is to ascertain the most important facts bearing upon this sub-
ject, and although the limited researches, extending only through one
season, may not fully settle the question, we trust that they may throw
some light on the subject, and open the way to more extended re-
searches.

It was obvious at the outset that we must find out the proportion of
saccharine or alcohol-producing matter in the American grapes ; for if
they will not produce alcohol in sufficient proportions to keep the wine
from souring, we should have to add saccharine matter in some other
form to make a sound wine If the acids in our grapes are not the
same as those in foreign wine grapes then the task would be more
difficult. It was, therefore, desirable to determine this point ; for it
has been supposed by many that malic, and not tartaric acid was char-
acteristic of the native American grapes.

I have, therefore, paid especial attention to the proportions of sac-
charine matter^ and to the nature of the acids in the grapes submitted
to me for analysis, and have found that, although many of our grapes
are too poor in saccharine matter to produce sufficient alcohol for the
preservation of the wine, without the addition of sugar to form more
alcohol, or of ready formed spirits, that there are some grapes rich
enough in saccharine matter to produce, without these additions, ex-
cellent light wines, similar to those of France. I have ascertained
that malic acid exists in grape juice, in the proportion of nearly one
grain to the ounce of grape juice. This acid was found by Mulder in

SACCHARINE CONTENTS OF AMERICAN GRAPES. 43

Bordeaux wines, but lie does not state in what proportions, thougli lie
says it exists in small quantity.

Tartaric acid and tlie bi-tartrates, have been found to characterize
all the native American grapes which I have analyzed ; this acid ex-
isting in rather too large proportions for the saccharine matter in most
of our grapes.

Cultivation appears to increase somewhat the proportion of sacchar-
ine matter, and to diminish that of the tartaric acid ; but we have not
carried this experiment of cultivation far enough to determine its full
effects on the character of the grapes. When we reflect on the fact
that all the wine grapes of Europe are the products of cultivation of
some very small and not very j^alatable wild grapes of Asia, and when
we see how various are the kinds of grapes thus produced, we cannot
fail to perceive that similar experiments with our native grapes may
reward us with new and valuable varieties not yet known.

A northern grape transferred to a more genial climate at the south
will, without doubt, yield a sweeter fruit. This may not be effected
at once, but will come about gradually. Perhaps we may have to
resort to seedling vines, and gradually to acclimate the grapes we
would cultivate.

The Catawba, Isabella, and Concord grapes are examples of the
great improvement we can bring about by cultivation of grape vines, for
all these were native American wild grapes, much inferior to those at
present cultivated for wine-making and for table use.

On examination of the tabular statement accompanying this report,
the reader will see that there are many grapes which promise to repay
for cultivation. The Henshaw grape will make a good light wine, like
the French clarets ; and the Amber grape, of Dracut, Massachusetts,
by cultivation, will doubtless become much sweeter, and will produce
a highly-flavored wine, with a rich bouquet.

The Catawba, Isabella, and Scuppernong grapes have already
proved to be excellent wine grapes, and are extensively cultivated for
that purpose. The Clinton, Bartlett, Petit Noir, and Hartford Prolific,
will all make good wines.

Those grapes which contain less than 15 per cent, of saccharine
matter, will require sugar or alcoholic spirit to be added to them in
order to make a wine that will keep. The celebrated Scuppernong
wine will not keep without the addition of spirit or sugar, since the
grape juice will not produce more than four and nine-tenths per cent,
of alcohol. The rich flavor of this grape renders it particularly valu-
able, the wine having the flavor and bouquet of the celebrated Tokay
wine of Hungary. This grape, however, cannot be cultivated in the
open air north of Virginia, and is a native of North Carolina. It is
desirable that extensive vineyards should be established in that State
expressly for the cultivation of this grape, which will make a wine that
will be most eagerly sought for as the best of American native wines.

The Catawba grape has already acquired a just reputation as a wine
grape, and is extensively cultivated in Ohio, Kentucky, and the middle
States. It ripens very late in the latitude of the New England States,
and is apt to suffer from early frosts. We must, therefore, select some
more hardy or earlier grape for the northern States. The Concord,

44 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Bartlett, Sage, Amber, sugar grape of Plymoutli and Cape Cod, are
all good grapes for the northern regions. The Clinton, already culti-
vated, is one of the best of our hardy grapes, and is rich in saccharine
contents, though this season it has not shown its sweetness to so much
advantage as usual.

The grapes of Connecticut have, this year, failed to do justice to
themselves; but it will be seen, by the analysis of last year's growth,
that they are generally much richer in saccharine matter than the
samples of the present season have proved.

Some object to the peculiar flavor and bouquet of the new wines made
from native v/ild grapes of the north, and are not aware that the wine,
by age and proper sulphuring, loses the "foxy" flavor. Mr. E. Paige
has proved this in his extensive. operations in making wines from our
native northern grapes.

The effect of mixing the juices of several different kinds of grapes
together, before fermentation, has not yet been properly tried; and I
have no doubt that great improvements in the flavor of the wines may
be effected by such a method of operating. Within a few years, the
manufacture of wines from our native grapes has made great pro-
gress ; and the wines made in Ashburnham, by Messrs. Glasier & Flint,
and in Boston, by Mr. E. Paige, have acquired a wide-spread reputa-
tion, and the demand has for some time been beyond the supply.

Native American wines have not only become common in household
use, but have taken their place on the communion-tables of our churches,
to the exclusion of foreign wines ; and the time will come when Amer-
ica will be able to produce most of the wines her people may need.
California is, perhaps, the best wine-growing region, but the middle
and southern States, without doubt, can do nearly as well in this busi-
ness ; and the north is not so cold that New England cannot produce
good, wholesome, and fine-flavored wines from native grapes. We
have yet to learn much in the business of manufacturing wines, and
this we can learn readily from the wine-makers of Europe, and from
those who have had some experience in Ohio. As much depends on
the processes of manufacturing as on the nature of the grapes ope-
rated with, as is obvious from the numerous varieties of wines made
from the same kinds of grapes in Europe. This art we have still to
acquire.

CHEMICAL EXAMINATION OP THE JUICE OP GRAPES FROM VARIOUS
LOCALITIES IN THE UNITED STATES.

No. 1. Henshaw grapes, from Martinsburg, Virginia. Sent to me
from the United States Patent Office, September 1, 1859.

One pound of the grapes when pressed yielded 8 fluid ounces of
rich, dark-purple juice, which weighed 9 ounces avoirdupois. The
specific gravity of the strained juice was 1.0700. Saccharine matter,
by Evans's tables, 17 per cent.

By the copper grape-sugar test, the fluid yields 15.52 per cent, of
grape sugar, which will make 7.76 per cent, of absolute alcohol. On
fermenting a portion of the juice and distilling it, I obtained 7.5 per
cent, of absolute alcohol from the wine.

"SACCHAEINE CONTENTS OP AMERICAN GRAPES. 45

The coloring matter and the tartaric acid used were precipitated by
means of acetate of lead, which, gave a fine blue-colored precipitate.

The wine, after fermentation, changed from a deep purple to a deep,
rich red color, and was in appearance and taste much like the red
wines of Burgundy, in France, but more acid. To diminish the acid
taste, and to increase the proportion of alcohol, I took a portion of the
grape juice and added water and sugar, and allowed fermentation to
take place. It produced an agreeable light wine.

No. 2. Traminer grapes, No. 18, of Weber's list. Eeceived Sep-
tember 16, 1859.

These grapes were obtained in Dorchester, Massachusetts. They
are of a pale mahogany-red color. I do not think they were fully ripe.

One pound of these grapes yields 7 fluid ounces of juice, on pressure,
and the specific gravity of the strained grape juice was 1.0485. This
will indicate, by the saccharometric tables in Evans's book, nearly 12
per cent, of saccharine matter. By the copper test, the proportion of
grape sugar was found to be 11 per cent., which indicates the pei--
centage of alcohol would be 5.5 per cent, in the wine.

In order to ascertain the character of the juices of the hard pulps,
and of that portion which is contained next to the skins, when the
pulp is snapped out from the grapes, I took 8 ounces of the grapes,
and separated the pulp from them, and found the pulps by themselves
weighed 4^ ounces, and the skins, with what adhered to them, 3|
ounces. On pressure, the pulps gave 2^ fluid ounces of juice, and the
skins 2|- fluid ounces. The specific gravity of the juice from the pulps
was 1.052, and from the skins, 1.046. The juice from the pulps
yielded 10 per cent, of grape sugar, and that from the skins, 9.5 per
cent.

This was an unexpected result, for the juice next the skins tastes
sweetest. Undoubtedly, there is more tartaric acid in the hard pulp,
and hence the sour taste of the juice therefrom ; for the tartaric acid
covers the sweet taste.

No. 3. Catawba grapes, from the District of Columbia. Eeceived from
United States Patent Oflice, September 19, 1859.

These grapes were quite ripe. One pound of the grapes^ on pressure,
yielded 11 fluid ounces of juice_, which had the specific gravity of 1.0715,
and, by the tables, this should contain between 17 and 18 per cent, of
grape sugar. By the copper test, however, the proportion was found
to be 21.3 per cent.

The experiment was repeated, and 21.4 per cent, was obtained as the
largest yield of grape sugar.

The grape juice was allowed to ferment, and the wine to become clear
and fine. The acids were then separated and examined, and tartaric
acid, bi-tartrate of potash, and tartrate of lime were obtained, and
less than one grain per ounce of malic acid.

In searching for malic acid, the process recommended by Mulder was
employed.

The wine was saturated fully with lime, by simmering it upon an

46 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

excess of pulverized clialk until all tlie tartaric acid was converted into
insoluble tartrate of lime, and the malic acid, if present, should be
converted into the soluble malate of lime. When cold, the solution
so saturated by the chalk was filtered, and the malate of lime, with a
large quantity of flocculent mucilage, was thrown down. This precip-
itate, after being washed with alcohol, was dissolved in water, and
acetate of lead was added so long as any precipitate fell. This pre-
cipitate was collected on a filter, washed, and then was removed and
mingled with water saturated with sulphide of hydrogen, which con-
verted all the lead into a sulphide of lead, and set free the malic acid.
This was then filtered, and the solution was evaporated to near dryness,
and then pure alcohol was added, which took up all the malic acid and ^
left the mucilage insoluble.

This alcoholic solution being evaporated, yielded a small quantity
of malic acid, which, on 100 cubic centimeters, about 3|- ounces of the
wine, Avas only 3 grains of dry malic acid.

The nature of this acid was then proved by experiments on its lime-
salt, and by nitrate of silver and sub-nitrate of mercury. It responded
to all these tests as malic acid.

I am not aware that the proportion of malic acid existing in Euro-
pean wine grapes has been determined, though Mulder says he found
a small portion of it in French Bordeaux wines.

I am satisfied that it is not the characteristic acid of American grapes,
which yield an abundance of tartrates, like the European wine grapes,
the wine casks being incrusted with the argals, or cream of tartar.

So, likewise, our tests indicate that tartaric acid predominates in the
American, as in the European grapes.

No. 4. Grapes ^' from Fairfax county, Virginia." Keceived from United
States Patent Office, September 20, 1859.

These grapes are a large, red variety. The name of them is not
known to me.

One pound of them, on pressure, yielded 10 fluid ounces of juice,
which had the specific gravity=1.0410, and, by saccharometric tables,
should yield 10 per cent, of grape sugar. By the copper test, the pro-
portion obtained was 10.9 per cent. This will give 5.45 per cent, of
absolute alcohol, which is too little alcohol to preserve the wine, and
therefore more sugar must be added when the juice is set to ferment,
or alcohol may be added to the wine Avhen made.

No. 5. Mahogany-colored grape, vitis labrusca, No. 17 of Weber's list.
From Gr. W. Clarke, of Maiden, Massachusetts. Eeceived Septem-
ber 21, 1859.

This is a large, red grape, quite ripe, and sweet to the taste.

One pound of the grapes yielded 10| fluid ounces of juice, which
had specific gravity =iz 1.050, and when boiled and filtel'ed, specific
gravity of 1.045. By the tables this should give 11 to 12 per cent, of
saccharine matter.

By the grape-sugar copper test_, it yields 10.7 per cent, of grape sugar,

SACCHARINE CONTENTS OP AMERICAN GRAPES. 47

or 5.35 per cent, of absolute alcohol. This is too small a proportion
to preserve the wine, without the addition of sugar or spirits.

Some of the juice fermented made a pleasant-flavored wine, hut it
soon soured.

No. 6. Sweet-water grape. A naturalized foreign species_, much used

as a table grape.

It was desirable to know if this grape would yield juice of sufficient
Bweetuess to add to our sourer native grape juice. Mr. Weber there-
fore obtained from Mr. Newell JEEarding, of Boston, some samples of
these grapes — No. 19, Weber's list.

One pound of these grapes yielded 12 fluid ounces of juice, which had
specific gravity = 1.0525, and should, by the tables, yield nearly 13
per cent, of saccharine matter. By the grape-sugar test it gave only
9.53 per cent, of grape sugar. ,

Since, however, there is very little tartaric or any other acid in any
quantity present, the juice of these grapes may be advantageously
mingled with that of our sourer varieties ; but still it will be necessary
to add some pure loaf-sugar or clarified syrup, in order to keep the
wine sound, and to produce more alcohol by its fermentation, the alcohol
which the sweet-water grape produces being only 4.76 per cent.

No. (T. Concord grape. Yitis labrusca, No. 22 Weber's list.

This is a medium-sized, purple grape, native in Concord woods.
One pound of the grapes yielded 12 fluid ounces of juice, which had specific
gravity =r:1.0510_, and, by the tables, should contain 13 per cent, of
saccharine matter, while by the copper test it yielded 15 |)er cent., and
will give by fermentation 7| per cent, of alcohol.

No. 8. A large dark-red grape, from Concord, Massachusetts. Vitis
labrusca. No 20 of Weber's list.

One pound of these grapes yielded 10-| fluid ounces of juice, which had
specific gravity = 1.0570, and, by tables, should contain 14 per cent,
of saccharine matter. By the grape-sugar test, the juice yielded 11.7
per cent.^ which would produce 5.85 per cent, of absolute alcohol.

It will be necessary to add sugar or alcohol to this wine to make it
keep sweet.

«
No. 9. Concord seedling, from Mr. Bull's estate. No. 24 of Weber's

list.

This is a purple grape, of medium size, and is an agreeable fruit to
the taste. It yields 12 fluid ounces of juice per pound of grapes, and
the juice has specific gravity = 1.0550^ and should, by the tables, con-
tain 13^ per cent, of grape sugar. By the copper test the yield was
11.8 per cent., and the alcohol which this will produce is 5.9 per cent.

No. 10. Second seedling Concord grape, (Bull's,) color purple, size
medium, taste sweet and good.

One pound of the grapes yielded 12 fluid ounces of juice, and the

48 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

specific gavity of wliicli was 1.0550 ; saccTiarine matter, by tables, 13^ ;
grape sugar, by copper test, 11,8 ; alcoliol the juice will produce by
fermentation, 5.9 per cent.

It appears, tlierefore, that tlie second seedling is not in advance of
tbe first. This may be accidental in this instance, and should not
discourage the experiments of cultivation of seedling vines.

No. 11. The Sage grape of Concord — a native of the woods of that
town. Cultivated by E. W.Emerson. •

This is the largest sized grape I have seen in liew England, three
of them weighing an ounce. It is No. 25 of Weber's list. Color^
pale-red ; bunches not very much crowded, but heavy. A pound of
these grapes yielded 11^ ounces of juice, which had specific gravity of
1.0465, and, by the tables, should contain 11^ per cent, of saccharine
matter. •

By the copper test I obtained from the juice 11 per cent., which is
equivalent to 5.5 per cent, of absolute alcohol. Sugar or spirit must
be added to this juice when made into wine.

No. 12. Light-red grape, from Bedford, Massachusetts. Vitis aasti-
valis. No. 21 of Weber's list.

A rather tart grape. Juice pale yellowish. One pound of the
grapes yields 11| fluid ounces of juice^ the specific gravity of which is
1.053, and the saccharine contents, by tables, 13 per cent. By the
grape-sugar test, however, only 8.97 per cent, was obtained, equivalent
to 4.48 per cent, of absolute alcohol. Sugar or spirit is required for
this wine, and probably both, with water, will be needed, as the juice
is so strongly acid. It contains much tartaric acid, more than many
of the other grapes.

No. 13. Amber grape, Dracut ; No. 26 of Weber's list.

A light-red grape, with much translucency, very fragrant, bunches
well shouldered, full, and heavy. This sample was not quite ripe^ and
I subsequently procured another which was fully ripe. One pound of
grapes from sample 26 yielded 11 fluid ounces of juice, which had spe-
cific gravity of 1.0580, and, by tables, should contain 14 per cent, of
saccharine matter, but yielded to grape-sugar test only 10.97 per cent.,
which is equivalent to 5.48 per cent, absolute alcohol.

No. 14. Amber grape. KeceivedfromAsa Clenient, of Dracut, October

5, 1859.

This lot was fully ripe. These grapes are of medium size and very
handsome. The variety was found by Mr. Clement in the woods of
Dracut, and has been cultivated by him several years.

A pound of these grapes yielded 11 fluid ounces of juice, having a
specific gravity of 1.0550, and containing, by tables, 14 per cent, of sac-
charine matter, while by copper test the yield was 13.6 per cent, of
grape sugar, equivalent to 6.8 per cent, of absolute alcohol. The wine
made from the juice of these grapes will have to be reinforced by sugar

SACCHARINE CONTENTS OF AMERICAN GRAPES. 49

or spirit to make it keep sweet ; probably water will be required to
reduce tlie acid and sugar to produce more alcobol. The high aroma
of the grape makes it desirable as a wine grape, since the wine will
have a peculiar bouquet, quite strongly marked.

No. 15. Isabella grapes, from A. Harshbarger, near Veytown, Mifflin
county, Pennsylvania. Keceived from United States Patent Office,
October 1, 1859.

These grapes were quite ripe. Color, dark purple ; size, medium;
bunches well filled. One pound of these grapes yielded, on pressure,
10^ fluid ounces of the juice, and the juice had specific gravity 1.064,
from which the tables indicate 16 per cent, of saccharine matter ; but
the grape-sugar test gives but 14. f per cent, of grape sugar, equal to
7.03 per cent, of absolute alcohol.

These grapes will make a light wine, but it will keep if well bottled
and j)laced in a cold cellar. A little sugar added during the fermen-
tation will add to its strength. I found about one grain of malic acid
to an ounce of the grape juice.

No. 16. Sugar grape, of Plymouth, Massachusetts. A white grape,
a little above medium size, and in favorable seasons very sweet and
good. Sample furnished by T. 0. Jackson, of Plymouth.

One pound of the grapes yields 10 fluid ounces of juice, which has
specific gravity of 1.040, and by tables should contain 10 per cent, of
saccharine matter. By the grape-sugar test, 10.33 per cent, of grape
sugar is indicated, equivalent to 5.16 per cent, of absolute alcohol.

This grape grows abundantly at Manumet, near Plymouth, at Sand-
wich, and in many places on and near Cape Cod. It is worthy of atten-
tion, since the juice of these grapes will make very delicate white
wine.

No. IT. Yitis labrusca, Hartford, Connecticut, No. 10 of WeW's

list.

A medium-sized grape. One pound of the grapes yielded 10 fluid
ounces of juice, which had specific gravity 1.036, and, by tables^ should
contain 9 per cent, of saccharine matter. The grape-sugar test gives
only 5.73 per cent., equivalent to 2.86 per cent, of alcohol.

It is probable that the grapes were not quite ripe, for this variety
generally yields more saccharine matter than found at this time. The
matters which would have formed grape sugar, if the grape was
ripened, served to augment the density of the juice, and hence the dis-
agreement between the tabular estimate and the actual result of
analysis.

No. 18. A large white grape, from near Hartford, Connecticut_, No. 5

of Weber's list.

One pound of the grapes yielded 10^ fluid ounces of juice, having a
specific gravity of 1.030, from which the tables indicate 7^ per cent.
4 A

60 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of saccliarine matter, and the copper test gives but 4.8 per cent., equiv-
alent to 2.4 per cent, of absolute alcobol.

The remarks on No. 17 also apply to this example. The season
appears to have affected the Connecticut grapes more unfavorably than
it did those of Massachusetts.

No. 19. Vitis cordifolia, No. 11 of Weber's list. Near Hartford, Con-
necticut.

This is a medium-sized grape. One pound of the grapes yields 10|
fluid ounces of juice, and its specific gravity is 1.036; from which the
tables indicate 9 per cent, of saccharine matter. The copper test gives
but 6.2 per cent, of grape sugar. The grapes could not have been
ripe.

No. 20. Vitis cordifolia, No. 8 of Weber's list, Connecticut.

Size of the grapes, medium ; quantity of juice per pound, 10^ fluid
ounces; specific gravity of the juice, 1.036; saccharine matter, by
tables, 9 per cent., and copper test, 6.2 per cent. These grapes could
not have been ripe.

No. 21. Vitis cordifolia. No. 7 Weber's list.

These grapes were of medium size. A pound of them yielded 10|
fluid ounces of juice, which had specific gravity 1.044, and the saccha-
rine contents, by tables, would be 11 per cent.; while the grape-sugar
test gave 8.7 per cent., equivalent to 4.35 of absolute alcohol.

No. 22. Vitis cordifolia. No. 27 Weber's list.

Small black grapes, in closely-packed bunches. One pound of them
yielded 10| fluid ounces of juice, of specific gravity 1.035; from which,
by tables, the saccharine matter would be 9 per cent., but the copper
test gives but 4.7 per cent.

No. 23. Scuppernong grapes, from near Wilmington, North Carolina.

These grapes are more remarkable for the high flavor of the wines
they make than for the saccharine matter they contain. It has always
been necessary to add a portion of brandy or some other spirit to keep
the wine from souring ; nevertheless, the Scuppernong wine is the best
thus far produced in the United States,

The grapes have a very thick, leathery skin, which is of a green color,
with a few rusty specks on the surface of them.

The pulp is soft and juicy, and the skins give a j)eculiar aroma to
the wine, which is similar to the Tokay of Hungary. Sometimes 1
have observed a peculiar bitter taste in the wine, due to the crushed
seeds of the grape, and not unfrequently the flavor and odor of whisky
indicate the introduction of that liquor into the wine. With proper
attention and care, Scuppernong wine may be made so fine as to excel
all other wines made on this continent ; and I would earnestly advise
those interested to attend to the cultivation of this grape, in regions

SACCHARINE CONTENTS OF AMERICAN GRAPES. 51

where the vine will grow, and make use of more skill in the manufac-
ture of the wine.

The grape will grow and ripen its fruit anywhere south of Washing-
ton, but has thus far proved more prolific in the soil of North Carolina,
especially near Halifax.

The sample of grapes I operated upon was sent to me from the
United States Patent Office on the 3d October, 1859.

One pound of the grapes when pressed yielded 8 fluid ounces of juice,
which had a specific gravity 1.048, and, by tables, should contain 12
per cent, of saccharine matter, but, by the grape-sugar test, yielded
9.8 per cent., equivalent to 4.9 per cent, of absolute alcohol.

If 4 or 5 per cent, of sugar is added during the fermentation of the
juice, the proportion of alcohol will be raised to that of sherry wine, if
the fermentation is allowed to become complete. Only the purest white
sugar, sugar candy, or refined syrup should be employed.

Another method will give a still richer wine. Distil a portion of
the wane, and add the spirit obtained to the wine when it is made and
fined. This will keep up the flavor of the Scuppernong grapes, and
not vitiate the wine by any foreign flavors, such as are given by brandy
and whisky so often put into this wine.

The Scuppernong grape-vines are, as I learn, cultivated on trellises
or arbors raised to some height above the ground, as is practised in
Ischia and Venitian Lombardy.

Thus far the vineyards are wholly domestic institutions in North
Carolina ; but I think the cultivation of this grape will amply repay
any one who will devote his entire energies to planting vineyards of
this vine, and in manufacturing the wine on a large scale.

No. 24. Hartford Prolific, No. 31 of Weber's list. Connecticut.

Small black grapes. A pound of them yields 10^ fluid ounces of
juice, which has specific gravity of 1.056, and, by the tables, should
contain 14 per cent, of saccharine matter.

By the grape-sugar test, the yield is 13.8 per cent, grape sugar,
or 6.9 per cent, of absolute alcohol.

On searching for the acids, I found tartaric was the chief acid, and
it is in part combined with potash as a bi-tartrate, and with lime as
a tartrate. Malic acid, in minute proportion, is also present, but
there is not more than 1 grain in 1 fluid ounce of the juice of the
grapes.

This is a well-known and good wine grape, and was evidently ripe
at the time I received the sample.

No. 25. Vitis labrusca. No. 6 of Weber's list. From near Hartford,

Connecticut.

This grape yields in one pound 11 fluid ounces of juice, having the
S'pecific gravity 1.038, and, by the tables, should contain 10 per cent,
of saccharine matter.

By the grape-sugar test, the proportion was 8.2 per cent., and the
alcohol it will produce is 4.05 per cent.

52 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

'Mo. 26. A small black, hard, and sour grape. No. 28 of Weber's

list. Connecticut.

This grape yields in one pound 6| fluid ounces of juice, which has
specific gravity 1.032, which indicates, by tables, 8 per cent, of sac-
charine matter, while by the copper test we obtained but 5.5 per
cent, of grape sugar, equal to 2.'7 per cent, alcohol.

No. 27. A large red grape, No. 29 Weber's list.

A pound of these grapes yield 10^ fluid ounces of juice, which has
specific gravity of 1.035, and, by tables, contains 9 per cent, of saccha-
rine matter, while by grape-sugar test the proportion is only 6.16 per
cent., which will give 3.8 per cent, of absolute alcohol in the
wine.

No. 28. Large white grapes. No. 30 Weber's list.

A pound of these grapes yields 10| fluid ounces of juice, which has
a density of 1.036, and, by tables, should contain 9 per cent, of saccha-
rine matter, while by the grape-sugar test it is 5.38 and the alcohol
2.69 per cent, in the wine.

No. 29. Black grapes, medium size, vitis cordifolia. No. 32 of We-
ber's list.

A pound of these grapes yields 7 fluid ounces of juice, which has a
specific gravity of 1.047, and, by the tables, 11^ per cent, of saccha-
rine matter.

By the grape-sugar test, it contains 7.84 percent., or 3.92 per .cent.
of alcohol.

No. 30. Large red grapes, vitis labrusca. No. 33 of Weber's list.

One pound of the grapes yields 10 fluid ounces of juice, which has
the density of 1.051, and by the tables contains 13 per cent, of sac-
charine matter, and by grape-sugar test, 13.3 per cent., while the
alcohol will be 6.6 per cent.

This is a good wine grape, and was thoroughly ripe.

No. 32. Vitis sinuata, No. 35 of Weber's list.

These are very small black grapes, not much larger than ordinary
cherries. The bunches are closely packed, well shouldered, and heavy.

A pound of these grapes yields 8 fluid ounces of juice, which has a
density of 1.061, from which we estimate, by the tables, 15 per cent,
of saccharine matter, while by the grape-sugar test the proportion
found was 11.5 per cent., which represents in the wine 5.7 per cent, of
absolute alcohol.

This grape will make a good wine.

No. 33. Dark-red grapes, vitis labrusca. No 36 of Weber's list.

A pound of these grapes yields 10 fluid ounces of juice, and the den-
sity of the juice is 1.042, whence the tables indicate 10| per cent, of

SACCHARINE CONTENTS OF AMERICAN GRAPES. 53

saccliarine matter, while tlie copper test gives 14.3 per cent., from
whicli tlie alcoliol computed will be 7.15 per cent. This is a
good wine grape.

No. 34. Catawba grapes, grown at East Cambridge, Massachusetts.

These grapes, which ripened November 21, were among the last of
the season, and it was a matter of some interest to know what they
would produce.

A pound of them yielded 11| fluid ounces of juice, which had a
density of 1.063, and, by the tables, should yield 15 per cent, of
saccharine matter. By the grape-sugar test, the yield was 16.9 per
cent, of grape sugar, equivalent to 8.45 absolute alcohol.

It appears, then, that this grape will make a good wine as far north
as Massachusetts. It is, however, very late in ripening here.

No. 35. Adelia, or Petit Noir.

A small black grape, raised in Orange county. New Jersey. It is a
native American, though named in its synonym in French.

The sample was sent to me from the United States Patent Office,
October 13, 1859.

This grape yields in one pound 10^ fluid ounces of juice, which has
the density of 1.061, and by the table its saccharine matter would
amount to 14^ per cent., while by the grape-sugar test it is 15.33
percent., representing 7.66 per cent, of alcohol in the wine. It is a
good grape, as proved by trial.

No. 36. Bartlett grape.

This grape was discovered in Lexington woods, by the late Elias
Phinney, and is a large white grape, with one side light-red, which is
that exposed to sunshine.

The sample was furnished to me by F. Alger, of South Boston.

A pound of these grapes yielded lli fluid ounces of juice, and its
specific gravity was 1.0680. By the tables, the saccharine matter
would be 17 per cent., while by the copper test the sugar was 12.87
per cent., representing 6.44 per cent, of alcohol.

No. 37. Clinton grapes, East Cambridge, furnished by Mr. Brackett

October 29, 1859.

These grapes are of a very dark-purple, and are of medium size. A
pound of them produced 11 fluid ounces of juice, which had the density
of 1.088, which, by tables, indicates 22 per cent, of saccharine matter,
while the grape-sugar test gives 20.5 per cent., equivalent to 10.25
per cent, of absolute alcohol.

This is an excellent wine grape and needs no more sugar to make
a good light-red wine.

No. 38. Last year I had occasion to make an analysis of some of the
wild grapes of Connecticut, used in Boston for making wine, and since

54 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

the season was more favoraMe tlian tlie past I add this analysis to
do the Connecticut grapes more justice than they have done themselves
generally this year.

Yitis labrusca. Medium-size purple grapes. Sample furnished by
E. Paige, of Boston, in 1858.

A pound of the grapes yielded 10 fluid ounces of juice, which had
the density of 1.052 and, by tables, should contain 13 percent, saccharine
matter. By the grape-sugar test the proportion was found to be 1*7.8
per cent., and the alcohol 8.9 per cent.

This I believe will be the average in good seasons. The past sum-
mer and the autumn especially has been unusually cold in the New
England States.

I have given a tabular resume of the principal facts discovered by
the foregoing analysis, which will present to the eye a ready means of
comparison of the products of the different grapes, so far as their wine-
making properties are concerned.

CHARLES T. JACKSON, M. D.

Boston, December 24, 1859.

SACCHARINE CONTENTS OF AMERICAN GRAPES.

•jisSns gd-BaSuioJjpaind

t~LOoioiO'=t"t~>rtioioio •^intot^LOCTc^cofi-^c^-^

•■^e^■^ .laddoo Ac\

p3;T30ipUI 'jBSnS 9dl3J£)

•S3[qB^

'•;U80 aad '8uui3qooBg

t- C* t- O (M CO M"* CO CO r-H CO -* ^ coo 05 t^ as OT i-HOiCJ "*
i-Hr-lt— IrHrHr— IrHi— li— (i— I— ' >— li— li— li— IrH i— I i— I r- (

•jCita-gjS oijioadg

•punod jgd 'aoin£

oOO£-r-iOOC5(^!OC<!(Mi

1— ii-Hi-HOOOOOOOOOO

-=3

^ a <o

3 >>■=;

KJ fl^ (O K] *^

13 TS C

1 C !-i O O S

S oj S S'-
.2 £P.3.3 i^

o ;-. a) n) p

fcdOTS

<i: S

=" S S ^^-rf

5 ^ P m S

:^ "m 'm C p

13 C G S "
<i> OS cS S .<

S 13 il ;rt 5^ 5^

S ij d S cj

= 13^^ ^Ss s s
2 gg ^^^-^S ^ S S

ri^-^r^ S^'S'-S 'J^S'TJ'

fcxifaflbj:^^ o ^ oj o

•r! o IS .^ "rt

Ogo

03 O ^—^

• r3 O d

Vh ij O

o t) •

g fs ■ ■

2 (U cS

o g ^

GTi

nQ -Q 13

■ 0) o -

•E §
- "^s

^ M T3 *J g ^>

T3 ^ m rf ^ g
o -t-> ^ HM i_ t*-,

^ C .»s

38 S

l^g

" "^ o S

^Q S S3Eh .-

Sr; .- o Q. t<

,Q CD !h - tAJH

To o

io^

.03 o -^ ^

i-S.S .
S S " w a,^:

, 0:-i

• O . '

■^ S o

UO S J"

a o <« <
^6666^

■^1

.2.S iio ;^

o o SB'S

> CS C3 S-, Oh ^

j» ^< t, J5 b-C rf
mj2^ o <^ >»

S "S'S^

,p o :q :o ^J5 _g

X '^ T3 Td T3 2 _

P o o o o Js t.

o o o o ^ o

bfl CO tti M m 0-, V

^ '-Ij *+J '-vJ 'hJ ^ ^

i-ICJCO'*iO<»t-Q0050T-l

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

• jbShs adBjS luo jj pa^nd

•^ (M c^ c<j CO to lo in t^Qot-oooo
I— I

•%sdi J9ddoo Aq

oomoiot^cooi— I

•S9{qi3:j

*-;U80 J9d 'aUUBllOOBg

ococncn^cofoio

•^ITA-bjS 0I^09dg

•pimod J9d 'aomf

O rH O >— I r-IO

S
«.

"'3 , r

W)3 i?

5 s

(D 5^ g

;» P -■

O OJ kj

t^ v^ y

tS 5J a m

D C G !h
j; K 52 m

Sis y«i

ei <p r;
-tt S g

,^ "^

"■^^

<D k-« Wis-.

fe ^ 3 " 3 -72

— I o I I — 1

S eS ctf s

^ %-t %-( %-t "^

_o o o o g

.-y o o o .ti

AMERICAN GRAPES. 57

EEPOET ON AMERICAN GMPES.

DETERMINATION OP THE PROPORTIONS OF ACIDS IN NATIVE AMERICAN
GRAPE WINES MADE FROM THE PURE JUICE OF THE GRAPES.

BY CHARLES T. JACKSON, M. D.

In this examination I employed graduated solution of pure caustic
soda, in distilled water^ and prepared it so that every degree of the
acidimeter corresponded to one tenth of a grain of pure tartaric acid.
This test gives results sufficiently exact, though a little of the acid in
the wines is malic acid, as I had previously ascertained.

In applying this test, any acetic acid which had formed in the wine
during the process of fermentation was first removed by evaporating
the wine until it was all volatilized, the acetic acid passing oif in
vapor, while all the tartaric and malic acid remained. One thousand
grains of each of the wines was operated wpon in determining their
acidity. In the tabular resume the results will be stated in per cent-
ages, as the other ingredients have been.

It may be observed that pure grape juice, merely fermented and not
diluted with any water, has been the subject of these experiments. In
making wines from American grapes, it is customary to add a certain
proportion of water and of sugar to the grape juice, to overcome the
acids, and to make the wines more agreeable. As the sugar is con-
verted into alcohol, it gradually precipitates a portion of the tartaric
acid as bi-tartrate of potassa, or cream of tartar, thus relieving the
wine of part of its acidity.

No. 1. The juice of the Henshaw grapes, from Martinsburg, Vir-
ginia, yielded, in 1,000 grains, 11.4 of tartaric acid, or 1.14 per cent.

No. 3. The Catawba grape juice, Washington, D. C, yielded, in
1,000 grains, 10 grains of tartaric acid, or 1 per cent.

No. 6. Sweet-water grape, Harding's, tartaric acid in 1,000 grains,
6 grains, or 0.6 per cent.

No. 7. Vitis labrusca. No. 20 of Weber's list, from Concord, Mas-
sachusetts, yielded, in 1,000 grains of the fermented juice, 14.2 grains,
or 1.42 per cent.

No. 9. Concord seedling. Bull's, Concord Massachusetts, No. 24 of
Weber's list, yielded, in 1,000 grains of the fermented juice, 6 grains
of tartaric acid, or 0.6 per cent.

No. 11. Sage grape, of Concord, Massachusetts, No. 25 of Weber,
yielded, in 1,000 grains of the fermented juice, 11 grains of tartaric
acid, or 1.1 per cent.

No. 12. Vitis gestivalis, from Bedford, Massachusetts, No. 21 Weber,
yielded 14.6 grains of tartaric acid per 1,000 grains of the wine, or
1.46 per cent.

No. 13. Amber grape, of Dracut, Asa Clements, yielded, in 1,000
grains of the wine, 15 grains of tartaric acid_, or 1.5 per cent.

68 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

No. 16. Sugar grape, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, yielded, in 1,000
grains of the wine, 14,8 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.48 per cent.

No. 17. Vitis labrusca, Connecticut, No. 10 Weber, yielded, in
1,000 grains of the wine, 7.2 grains of tartaric acid, or 0.72 per cent.

No. 18. White grape, from Connecticut, No. 5 of Weber, yielded,
in 1,000 grains, 12 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.2 per cent.

No. 19. Vitis cordifolia, Connecticut, No. 11 Weber, yielded, in
1,000 grains of the wine, 14 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.4 per cent.

No. 20. Vitis cordifolia. No. 8 of Weber's list, yielded, in 1,000
grains of the wine, 13 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.3 per cent.

No. 21. Vitis cordifolia, Connecticut, No. 7 of WelDer'slist, yielded,
in 1,000 grains- of the wine, 15 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.5 per cent.

No. 22. Vitis cordifolia, No. 27 of Weber, Connecticut, yielded,
per 1,000 grains of the wine, 18 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.8 per cent.

No. 23. Scuppernong grapes, from near Wilmington, North Caro-
lina, yielded, in 1,000 grains of the wine, 17 grains of tartaric acid,
or 1.7 per cent.

No. 25. Vitis labrusca, Hartford, Connecticut, No. 6 of Weber,
yielded, in 1,000 grains of the wine, 13.8 grains of tartaric acid, or
1.38 per cent.

No. 26. Small black grape. No. 29 of Weber's list, yielded, per
1,000 grains of the wine, 12.4 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.24 percent.

No. 27. Large red grape. No. 29 of Weber's list, yielded in 1,000
grains of the wine, 9.2 grains of tartaric acid, or 0.92 per cent.

No. 28. Large white grape. No. 30 of Weber's list, yielded per 1,000
grains of the wine, 14 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.4 per cent.

No. 29. Vitis cordifolia. No. 32 of Weber's list, yielded per 1,000
grains of the wine, 12 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.2 per cent.

No. 30. Vitis labrusca. No. 33 of Weber, yielded per 1,000 grains
of the wine, 11.8 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.18 per cent.

No. 31. Vitis cordifolia. No 34 of Weber's list, yielded per 1,000
grains of the wine, 14.4 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.44 per cent.

No. 32. Vitis sinuata. No. 35 of Weber, yielded per 1,000 grains
of the wine, 20 grains of tartaric acid, or 2 j)er cent.

No. 33. Vitis labrusca, No. 36 of Weber, yielded per 1,000 grains
of the wine, 15 grains of tartaric acid, or 1.5 per cent.

No. 34. Catawba grape, from near Boston, Massachusetts. This
wine gave per 1,000 grains of the juice, 14 grains of tartaric acid, or
1.4 per cent.

No. 35. Adelia, or Petit Noir, Oi'ange county, New Jersey, yielded
per 1,000 grains of the wine, 8 grains. of tartaric acid, or 0.8 per cent.

No. 36. Bartlett grape. South Boston, Massachusetts. The wine of
these grapes yielded, per 1,000 grains, 19 grains of tartaric acid, or
1.9 per cent.

No. 37. Clinton grape. East Cambridge, Massachusetts. The wine
of this grape yielded, per 1,000 grains, 19 grains of tartaric acid, or
1.9 per cent.

The other wines were used up in other researches, before I was aware
that it was desired that I should determine the acidity of the speci-
mens.

It is probable, however, that there are here given a sufficient number

AMERICAN GRAPES.

of examples of our native grapes, including all tlie species, to settle tlie
question as to the proportion of acids in tliem.

It will be remarked that, while the proportion of sugar is not in-
creased in grapes by cultivation, the tartaric acid is diminished in a
remarkable manner.

Tabular statement of proportion of tartaric acid per cent.

Per cent, tartaric acid.

Number 1 1.14

3 1

6 0.6

7 1.42

9 0.6

11 1.1

12 1.46

13 1.5

16 1.48

17 0.72

18 1.2

19 1.4

20 1.3

21 1.5

22 1.8

Per cent, tartaric acid.

Number 23 1.7

25 1.38

26 1.24

27 0.92

28 1.40

29 1.20

30 1.18

31 1.44

32 2

33 1.5

34 1.4

35 0.8

36 1.9

37 1.9

ON THE PEESENCE OE TAHTAEIC ACID IN THE CUL-
TIVATED GEAPE OP THE UNITED STATES.

BY THOMAS ANTISELL, M. D., PROFESSOR OP CHEMISTRY IN THE MEDICAL
DEPARTMENT OF GEORGETOWN COLLEGE, D. C.

The assertion has been frequently made in publications in this coun-
try, that the growth of grape-vines for the manufacture of wine is a
project of doubtful success, since in the United States the grape does
not form tartaric acid in the same large proportion in which it is found
to exist in the European plant, its place being supplied by the vegetable
acids, which alter the flavor and value of the wine produced.

Inasmuch as the cultivation of the grape is now prosecuted with
success in the Ohio valley, and extending over a large section of coun-
try, and since the climate and soil of the United States are eminently
favorable to the growth and propagation of the vine, as shown by the
abundant woody development, it becomes a matter of importance to
know whether the juice of the fruit grown in the United States differs
in any important particular as regards the nature or amount of acid
from that of European grapes.

For the successful manufacture of wine the presence of tartaric acid
is all essential; for, by its tendency to unite with the jDotass, also
present in the pulp, and to form the acid tartrate of potass (cream of
tartar) — a salt Soluble in the pulp of the grape, but not soluble when,

60 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

by fermentation, alcoliol is formed in the juice, and wMcli is therefore
thrown down and separated from the wine forming the "tartar" —
depends the superiority and greater healthfulness of true wine over the
fermented liquors of other pulpy fruits, whether indigenous or exotic.

In the pulpy fruits used in the manufacture of domestic wines the
acids present are chiefly malic and citric, which form with potash salts
soluble not only in the fresh juice but also in the fermented wine.
They are consequently not thrown down or separated out of the wine
as alcoholization goes on in the fermenting vats, and their presence in
the wine renders the latter unhealthy, it being liable to become acid
in the stomach, and to produce derangement of function in that organ.
Hence, the real superiority of the wine of the grape above the fermented
juices of other fruits depends not upon fancy, nor an uneducated taste,
but upon the production of an alcoholic liquid not containing within it
substances injurious to digestion.

Tartaric acid is as essential as sugar in the manufacture of wine ; in
dry wines the tartar predominates much more than in sweet, in which
sugar is the dominant element. This acid diminishes as the fruit
approaches ripeness ; and it is also diminished in grapes grown where
the climate is hot and dry in the season when the fruit is ripening. In
the south of Europe, when, in the autumn, the African winds blow
northward, when the grape is ripening, those portions of the Mediter-
ranean shores exposed to a hot and dry wind do not produce dry wines,
but wines that are always sweet, because the proportion of sugar and
tartar are out of relation with each other. Thus the rich, sweet grape
of Malaga has but little tartaric acid, and a sweet wine is the result,
while the wine of Burgundy has more tartar and less sugar, and
produces a more acid wine.

To determine the presence and proportion of tartaric acid, I selected
the Catawba grape as that most abundantly grown for wine purposes^
and, by the kindness of Mr. Michael Work, of Greene county, Ohio,
who placed at my service several pounds of ripe grapes, and a sample
of the tartar produced, I have been enabled to furnish the following
results :

Six pounds of grapes, pressed, yielded 56 ounces of a literally clear,
colorless juice of specific gravity 1.074. This juice was diluted with
an equal amount of distilled water, and the mixed liquid passed through
a fine strainer to separate the cellulose and albuminous matters not
dissolved ; solution of chloride of calcium with ammonia was added so
long as a precipitate was produced, allowing the liquor to rest between
the additions ; the precipitate was then dissolved in hydrochloric acid,
and ammonia added. The precipitate was then collected and dried at
a gentle heat, and weighed against a tared filter. By this process the
malic acid present is avoided, and the precipitate obtained is either
wholly tartrate of lime, or, if not containing any racemic acid present
in the juice, forming a racemate of lime. As racemic acid is only a
modified form of tartaric acid, and as it is not known to act in any
way difierently in wines from its congener, it was not deemed necessary
to separate them in this examination.

The amount of tartrate of lime attained from six pounds of grapes,
or from 4f pints of juice, was 4yVo- grammes, (nearly 67 grains,) which

AMERICAN GRAPES. 61

represents SOj^-g-V grains of acid_, tartrate of potash., originally existing
in tlie juice.

This would give the quantity of cream of tartar present in each ounce
of juice as nearly one grain, admitting the whole of the tartaric acid
to be combined with potassa, but as there is always some tartrate of
lime present in the juice, the amount of cream of tartar is slightly les-
sened.

The quantity of sugar determined by Fehling's modification of the
copper grape-sugar test was 19.6 per cent.

As the grapes examined had ripened very much in the interval
between the gathering and the examination, the above proportion of
tartrate of potass is probably somewhat less than existed in the fruit.
The presence of that amount shows satisfactorily, however, that tar-
taric acid is the dominating acid in the Catawba grape, and that is
produced abundantly in the latitude of Cincinnati.

The sample of crude tartar forwarded by Mr. Work yielded, on
qualitative analysis, acid tartrate of potass, tartrate of lime, sulphate
of potass, sulphate of lime, phosphate ammonia, and magnesia. The
two last-mentioned salts were present in but small amount.

Mr. Payen, having stated in his work on distillation that the
cellular tissue of the pulp contained "tannin," led to a repeated ex-
amination of the juice of the pulp ; and in every case where common
care was taken that the skins should not be pressed, so that any of its
liquids might become mingled with those of the pulp, not a trace of
tannic acid could be detected, thus verifying Mulder's statement that
this acid is wholly confined to the skins.

THE NATIVE GMPES OF PENNSYLVANIA, NEW
JEESEY, NEW YORK, AND NEW ENGLAND.

THEIR WINE-PRODUCING Q-UALITIES.

BY JOHN F. WEBER, OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

My examination of native grapes began at Orange and the surround-
ing country, in New Jersey. Some varieties^ which I had noticed
several years before, first attracted my attention. I found them still
vigorous in their natural growth, and capable of improvement. Fol-
lowing a northern direction, I traversed the greater part of the State
of Connecticut, meeting, in the township of Canton, with valuable
kinds, free from insects. In western Massachusetts, especially in East
Hampton, Northampton, Florence, and Leeds, I observed a few
varieties well worthy of attention, exhibiting, with regard to the for-
mation of wood and fruit, all the qualities sought in good wine. Such
was also the case south and north of Boston. I selected samples of the
matured fruit of all those probably most capable of improvement, and
transmitted them to Dr. Jackson, of Boston, for chemical analysis.

The value of grapes, either for wine-making or table use, being de-

62 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

termined by tlie amount of saccliarine matter contained, it is important
to know to what species a promising new variety may belong.

From the great difference existing between a table grape and a wine
grape, it becomes necessary that, wherever the manufacture of wine is
the object, the former should be altogether ignored, its sweet, yet
watery, juice producing but a weak wine.

Though the wine grape has also,, and should have, a sweet taste, it
is a different one from that of the table grape, as it is vinous instead
of watery, and piquant instead of fiat, attributable to the amount of
sugar and acids being well proportioned.

Actuated by this fundamental view, I designated the following
varieties for chemical analysis, desiring to improve them thoroughly
and systematically :

No. 1. Vitis vinifera. — A grape extensively grown in the vicinity of
Paris, for the market and wine-making; introduced eight years ago,
and cultivated with entire success, by John Charles Savalle, near
Orange3 New Jersey. It seems to be perfectly acclimatized. Its char-
acter and habitus consist in the following points : a healthy, vigorous
growth; short-jointed light-brown wood; medium sized, roundish
leaves, of dark-green color and a bluish tinge, a fine down on the
upper part, soft and fine nerves ; bunches and berries medium sized,
well set, compact, and well shouldered ; of a fine dark-blue color ;
ripens toward the end of September, and, according to the statement of
Mr. Savalle, a fortnight earlier than in Paris. It is a regular bearer,
and in every respect a first class grape-vine. The soil where it grows
is not favorable to its full development, being sandy and wet, yet por-
ous enough to prevent water from stagnating. A location on the south
side of a house would be more suitable. Mr. Savalle takes down this
vine every winter, wraps it in straw, lays it flat on the ground, and
covers it with a board, on which are placed stones of sufficient weight
to keep it in that position.

This is the whole secret of success with foreign grapes. Tender and
highly improved as they are, they cannot bear our severe winter. In
central Germany, northern France, and the greater part of Hungary^
the custom is to lay down the grape-vines before the winter sets in,
and protect them from the attacks of high winds and piercing cold,
otherwise they would there be winter-killed as well as here.

No. 2. Vitislabrusca. — A blue wild native grape-vine, found in the
woods near Haydenville, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, and trans-
planted on the south side of his dwelling-house, by James K. Salomon,
of Leeds, near Florence, Massachusetts. Its habitus resembles much
that of the Isabella. The wood is, however, of a darker shade, short-
jointed, and of healthy growth; leaves rather large, heart-shaped, and
of a light-green color, downy on the lower part; bunches contain from
ten to twenty-five berries, large and oval shaped ; thin skin and juicy,
sweet pulp ; ripens about the 15th of September ; a good regular bearer.
The soil in which it grows is a sandy loam, rather wet, the situation
open to the east and south, but well protected from north and west
winds by a chain of mountains. This vine would improve by propa-
gation, and may be rendered a desirable table and market grape, prof-
itable to its cultivator.

AMERICAN GRAPES. 63

No. 3. Vitis lahrusca. — A blue wild native grape-vine, probably a
seedling of an old vine standing near by; very prolific and luxuriant
growth ; stands at the foot of a hill, well protected from the north and
west, but open to the east and south ; in a wet, sandy soil, on the farm
of Solomon Phelps, near Florence^ Massachusetts. I have known this
grape seven years, and always considered it possessed of good points
and qualities worthy of propagation. The wood is dark-brown, long-
jointed; leaves of medium size, heart-shaped, dark-yellow down on
the lower side, and of a pale yellowish-green on the upper, nerves
fine ; bunches contain from fifteen to twenty-five large round berries,
of an agreeable wine taste ; ripens by the end of September. It de-
serves improving, and will be a desirable acquisition for the vineyard.
The late frosts in June destroyed most of the fruit in this section,
which, in favorable seasons, abounds in luscious grapes of all colors and
sizes.

No. 4. Viiis cordifolia. — A blue wild native grape, standing on a
sandy plain, northwest of Mount Tom, on the farm of William
Kntipfer, of East Hampton, Massachusetts. Wood light-brown,
short-jointed, not so vigorous, but healthy growth ; leaf medium size,
heart-shaped, with fine nerves, yellowish-green on the upper side and
bright-yellow on the lower ; clusters compact, with twenty to twenty-
five round, medium-sized berries, of a juicy, agreeable wine taste;
ripens toward the end of September. A good grape for red wine^ or
claret.

No. 5. Vitis lahrusca. Crystal grape. — A white wild native grape,
was found in a swamp on the farm of Salomon D. Case, Canton Center,
flartford county, Connecticut, and transplanted by Mr. Case on an
open field, or rather side-hill, facing southeast, well sheltered from the
north and northwest wind. He has propagated considerably from this
vine, by making layers, of which many are already bearing. The
wine has a pleasant taste, much like the genuine Madeira, and needs
no sugar. The soil is gravelly loam, rather strong, but contains valu-
able mineral substances, and is well adapted for the grape. The vine
is of a healthy, vigorous habit, ripens wood and fruit well, and is a
regular bearer. Wood brown, short-jointed; leaf medium, heart-shaped,
strong nerves, of a yellowish-green on the upper side and light-yellow
on the lower ; clusters medium size ; berries large, round, flat on both
ends, of a green color, with snowy-white specks ; ripens about the fif-
teenth of September; sweet and juicy. See analysis and report of Dr.
Jackson, page 49.

No. 6. Vitis lahrusca. — A blue wild native grape. Wood reddish-
brown^ short-jointed, of a healthy growth ; leaf small, heart-shaped,
strong nerves, yellowish-green on the upper and dark-yellow on the
lower side; clusters, or bunches, large; berries large, round, and flat,
very sweet; ripens middle of September. Soil the same as above;
location open and level. See analysis, page 51.

No. 7. Vitis cordifolia. — A black wild native grape; very old vine,
standing on the same farm, in a wet, stony soil, surrounded by wood.
Wood dark-brown, short-jointed, and of healthy growth ; leaf medium
size, heart-shaped, tender nerves, light-yellow on both sides ; bunches
large, of a fine form; berries large, round, of an agreeable wine taste.

64 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

best quality; will make a good claret ; ripens in the beginning of Sep-
tember. See analysis, page 50.

No. 8. Vitis cordifolia. — A blue wild native grape, on tbe same
farm; grows on a dry, stony soil, in an open, level situation. Wood
dark -brown, sliort-jointed, and of vigorous growth ; leaf medium size,
beart-sbaped, fine nerves, yellowisb-green on tbe upper and ligbt-
yellow on tbe lower side ; bunches large ; berries round, and flat on
both ends, rather large, of a pleasant wine taste ; juice dark-colored ;
makes a good claret wine; ripens middle of September. See analysis,
page 50.

No. 9. Vitis labrusca. — A red wild native grape ; grows in a swamp
on clay subsoil, among brushes, likewise on Mr. Case's farm. Wood
light-browU;, short-jointed, and healthy growth; leaf small, round, and
strong nerves, yellowish green on the upper, and bright yellow on the
lower side ; bunches compact ; berries round^ medium size ; very sweet ;
ripens middle of September ; a good table grape.

No. 10. Vitis labrusca. — A purple grape, with copper-colored specks ;
wild native; grows in the same situation and soil as the preceding.
Wood light-brown, short-jointed, aijd robust growth; leaf medium
size, round, strong nerves, yellowish green on the upper, and yellow
on the lower side ; bunches medium ; berries round ; sweet, juicy, and
spicy taste ; will make a good schiller wine ; ripens middle of Septem-
ber. See analysis, page 49.

No. 11. Vitis cordifolia. — A red wild native grape, standing on the
same soil and location as the preceding. Wood light-brown, short-
jointed^ and strong growth ; leaf medium size, round, with fine, ten-
der nerves, light-yellow on the upper, and yellow on the lower side ;
bunches medium size ; berries large, oval, sweet, and spicy ; a good
table and wine grape ; ripens middle of September. See analysis,
page 50.

No. 12. Vitis labrusca. Sugar grape. — A white wild native grape,
stands on an elevation, a quarter of a mile from the sea-coast, Eocky
Hill, and four miles north of Plymouth, Massachusetts, on an old pas-
ture, overrun with briars, belonging to Mrs. Mental Peirce. Soil dry,
sandy gravel. Wood brown, short-jointed, of healthy but moderate
growth ; leaf medium, heart-shaped, strong nerves, yellowish-green
on the upper, and dark yellow on the lower side ; bunches and berries
of medium size, round and flat ; very sweet ; ripens by the end of Sep-
tember ; good table grape.

No. 13. Vitis cordifolia. — A mahogany-colored wild native grape,
stands on a dry, strong soil, on an old wood lot, in a free, high sit-
uation, belonging to James Merrick, South Scituate, Massachusetts.
Wood red-brown, short-jointed, and vigorous growth ; leaf medium,
round, ribs and nerves fine, and of a bright reddish color ; bunches
medium; berries, ditto, round, and of agreeable wine taste ; ripens mid-
dle of September.

No. 14. Vitis cordifolia. — A white, grey-spotted, wild native grape,
resembles much the German Gutedel, or French Chasselas ; stands near
the preceding. Wood gray, short-jointed, and tender growth ; leaf
small, heart-shaped, with fine nerves, of light yellowish-green color ;
bunches long and loose ; berries medium size_, and oval ; ripens the

AMERICAN GRAPES. 65

end of September. The fruit was destroyed by a sharp frost about the
middle of September. I am of opinion that this grape is a seedling of
the above-named Gutedel, and got there by some accident ; but it may
be the product of a hybrid from white and colored grapes growing
there ; it certainly has more the character of a vitis vinifera.

No. 15. Vitis cor difolia. — Bartlett grape. A pale-red or pink-colored
grape ; was found in the woods near Lexington, Massachusetts, by
Elias Phiney, some years ago, and transplanted by Francis Alger, 34
South street. South Boston, into his garden ; the soil is a sandy clay^,
location warm, and well sheltered by a tight board-fence". Wood red-
dish-brown, short-jointed, and of a robust growth ; leaf medium size,
heart-shaped, fine nerves, light yellowish-green color on both sides ;
bunches rather large, compact; berries round, medium, and sweet;
ripens late ; requires a warmer climate. See analysis.

No. 16 Vitis cordifoUa. — An amber, or rather Traminer-colored wild
native grape ; seedling ; has got by accident into the garden of Hon,
Marshall P. Wilder, Dorchester, Massachusetts. Soil dry, gravelly
loam ; situation warm and sheltered. Wood light-brown, short-jointed,
healthy growth ; leaf medium size, heart-shaped, strong nerves, yel-
lowish-green on both sides ; clusters and berries of medium size, round
and sweet ; ripens middle of September. Not fruit enough for an
analysis. .

No. 1*7. Vitis labrusca. — A red-brown, mahogany-colored, wild native
grape, originated in the woods, and was transplanted, three years ago,
into the garden of Gr. W. Clark, Maiden, Massachusetts. Soil stony
clay ; situation level and sheltered. Wood red-brown, short-jointed,
vigorous growth ; leaf medium size, round, strong nerves, and yellow-
ish-green color ; bunches medium ; berries round and fall ; ripens mid-
dle of September ; a good table grape. See analysis, page 46.

No. 18. Vitis cor difolia. — A Traminer-colored seedling grape, perhaps
recently out of the woods ; stands in Mr. Wilder 's garden. Soil and loca-
tion like No. 16. Wood red-brown, very short-jointed, healthy
growth ; leaf medium size^ heart-shaped, fine nerves, and yellowish-
green color ; bunches medium ; berries round ; sweet and agreeable
taste ; ripens middle of September. See analysis, page 45.

No. 19. Vitis cestivalis — Sweetrwater. — A white propagated grape,
cultivated eighteen years by Mr. Newell Harding, 38 Chamber street,
Boston, in his garden, a warm, well-sheltered situation. Wood golden-
yellow, short-jointed, very healthy, vigorous growth; leaf small, heart-
shaped, three-lobed, fine tender nerves, green on both sides ; bunches
large, compact, well shouldered ; berries medium, round, very juicy
'and sweet; ripens middle of September, bears regularly every year.
This grape is very profitable for table and market, and in a good shel-
tered position, with proper management, it will thrive anywhere. It
requires to be laid down during winter, to be protected from severely
cold weather. See analysis, page 47.

No. 20. Vitis labrusca. — A dark-brown wild native grape, from the
woods, transplanted twelve years ago by John Butterfield, Bedford,
Massachusetts, on the south side of his house ; soil dry gravelly loam ;
situation sheltered and level. Wood brown, short-jointed, vigorous
growth; leaf medium, heart-shaped, strong nerves, yellowish-green

66 AaRICULTURAL REPORT.

on tlie upper, and yellow on tlie lower side ; bunches large ; berries
round, large, and sweet ; ripens by the end of September ; a good and
regular bearer. See analysis, page 47.

No. 21. Vitis cBstivalis. — A red-brown, mahogany-colored wildnative
grapes grows in an open field belonging to John Wilson, Bedford,
Massachusetts, running up on trees ; soil sandy gravel. Wood brown,
rather long-jointed, healthy growth ; leaf round, small fine nerves ;
bunches medium size, compact ; berries round, medium size, and of an
agreeable Avine taste ; regular bearer ; ripens by^ the end of September.
See analysis, page 48.

No. 22. Vitis labrusca, the original Concord grape, a seedling from
the Vitis labrusca. — This vine is now fifteen years old, and has borne
regularly for seven years. It is one of the best hardy American varie-
ties, ripening its delicious fruit in the most northern part of our coun-
try. It will improve its qualities every degree further south, wherever
cultivated ; in the South, West, and even in California, it gives gen-
eral satisfaction. The wine, in body, flavor, and taste, resembles the
sherry wine. The owner and propagator, Hon. E. W. Bull, of Con-
cord, Massachusetts, deserves much credit for the introduction of this
highly valuable grape. Its character consists of the following points:
Wood brown, medium-jointed, very healthy, vigorous growth; ripens
its wood well ; leaf large, heart-shaped, three-lobed, strong nerves,
yellowish-green on both sides ; bunches large, well shouldered, rather
loose; berries over medium size, oval, of a dark-blue color, thin skin,
juicy, and of an agreeable wine taste ; good for the table and wine
making ; it ripens about the middle of September ; a good regular
bearer ; soil dry sandy loam ; location open to the south, and sheltered
from the north and northwest by a hill. See analysis, page 47.

No. 23. Vitis lahrusca. — A seedling from the third generation from the
original Concord vine. Soil and location the same as above. Wood
light-brown, long-jointed, vigorous growth ; leaf medium size, heart-
shaped, strong nerves, three-lobed, and green on both sides ; bunches
well shouldered, medium size ; berries medium, dark-blue, j-uicy,
and very sweet ; a good wine and table grape ; ripens middle of Sep-
tember. See analysis, page 47.

No. 24. Vitis labrusca.— A seedling of the second generation from the
original Concord vine. Soil and location as stated above. Wood red-
brown, long-jointed, healthy moderate growth; leaf medium size,
heart-shaped, three-lobed, strong nerves, yellowish-green on both sides ;
bunches well shouldered, a little above medium size ; berries the same,
round, dark blue, sweet, and juicy ; good wine and table grape, ripens
with the other two. See analysis, page 47.

No. 25. Vitis labrusca. — Sage grape, a red-brown wild native grape,
found in the woods some years ago by Mr. Sage, and transplanted by
Mr. R. W. Emerson, of Concoi'd, Massachusetts, on the south side of
hishouse. Soil dry sandy loam. Wood red-brown, long-jointed, healthy
but moderate growth ; leaf medium size, round, strong nerves, yel-
lowish-green on both sides ; bunches medium ; berries of uncommonly
large size, three berries weighing an ounce ; round and tolerably sweet ;
ripens early in September. See analysis, page 48.

No. 20. Vitis labrusca. Dracut Amber. — A reddish-brown wild

AMERICAN GRAPES. 67

native grape^ a seedling from this family, found in the woods, and
transplanted by Asa Clement^ in Dracutt, near Lowell, Massachusetts,
in his nursery. Soil a heavy wet clay ; situation too much shaded and
obstructed by trees. Wood red-brown, short-jointed, and healthy growth ;
leaf medium, heart-shaped, strong nerves ; bunches rather large, com-
pact ; berries large, round, and sweet ; ripens middle of September.
See analysis, page 48.

No. 27. Vitiscordifolia. — A dark-blue wild native grape ; grows in a
swamp, owned by Salomon D. Case, Canton Centre, Connecticut. Soil,
wet clay ; situation much shaded by young forest trees. Wood dark-
brown, medium-jointed, healthy, but moderate growth ; leaf small,
heart-shaped, fine nerves, yellowish-green on both sides ; bunches not
above medium^ compact ; berries round, medium size, thin skin,
pretty sweet ; ripens toward the end of September. See analysis page 50.

No. 28. Viiis cordifolia j)U7ictata. — A blue, copper-red speckled wild
native grape ; grows in the same swamp ; situation the same as above
stated, wet and shaded. Wood red-brown, short-jointed, healthy
growth ; leaf medium size, heart-shaped, fine nerves, yellowish-green
on both sides ; bunches medium, berries ditto, oval, and strong wine
taste; ripens in the beginning of October. See analysis, page 52.

No. 29. Vitis cor difolia punctata.— A. light-red colored v»^ild native
grape, speckled with copper-red. Soil and situation like the preceding.
Proprietor^ Mr. Case, of Canton Centre. Wood brown, very short-
jointed, vigorous growth ; leaf medium size, heart-shaped, fine nerves,
yellowish-green on both sides; clusters large and compact; berries
rather large, oval, sweet and juicy ; ripens in the beginning of Oc-
tober. See analysis, page 52.

No. 30. Vitis cestivalis punctata. — A green wild native grape, dotted
all over with snow-white specks, standing on Mr. Case's property.
Soil and situation the same as No. 29. Wood brown, short-jointed,
a good healthy growth ; leaf large, heart-shaped, strong nerves, yel-
lowish-green on both sides ; bunches and berries medium size, the
latter oval, sweet, and of an agreeable taste ; ripens by the end of
September. See analysis, page 52.

No. 31. Vitis Idbrusca, Hartford Prolific. — A dark-blue cultivated
grape, a seedling from the Isabella. This is one of the earliest varieties,
and therefore exceedingly well adapted to a northern climate ; it
ripens in favorable localities by the end of August ; a good regular
bearer. Wood brown, short-jointed, vigorous growth ; leaf medium,
heart-shaped, strong nerves, green on the upper and whitisli-green
on the lower side ; bunches above medium size, compact ; berries
medium, round, and very sweet. I obtained a sample from E. W.
Whiting, nurseryman, Hartford, Connecticut, who propagates largely
from that grape for sale. See analysis, page 51.

No. 32. Vitis cor difolia punctata. — A dark blue, nearly black, wild
native grape, speckled with copper-red ; grows in the woods, in a
valley near a small river, on the land owned by John Warner, near
Florence, Massachusetts, Soil, sandy gravel, containing some loam.
Wood light brown, short-jointed, and rather slender growth ; leaf
small, heart-shaped, tender nerves, yellowish- green on both sides ;
bunches medium ; berries, large, oval, sweet, and vinous ; ripens by
the end of September. See analysis, page 52,

68 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

No. 33. Vitislabrusca. — A red Traminer-colored wild native grape, an
old vigorous vine ; stands in the garden of Theodore Clark, near East
Hampton, Massachusetts, west of MountTom, on a level, open situation.
Soil deep, sandy loam. Wood brown, short-jointed^, of moderate
growth ; leaf medium size, heart-shaped, fine nerves, yellowish-green
on both sides ; bunches and berries of medium size, the latter round,
and of a pleasant wine taste ; ripens middle of September. See analysis,
page 52.

No. 34. Vitis cordifolia. — A dark-blue, almost black, wild native
grape ; grows on the western slope of Mount Tom, on a wet, cold,
clayey soil, and runs along a fence, and on trees and brushes. The
land belongs to Frank Clark, near East Hampton, Massachusetts.
Wood dark-brown, short-jointed, of healthy, but moderate growth ;
leaf small, heart-shaped, fine nerves, green on both sides ; clusters of
medium size, very compact, a little shouldered ; berries small, round,
and of an agreeable vinous taste, slightly acid, but not unpleasant ;
ripens in the early part of October. See analysis, page 52.

No. 35. Vitis sinuata. — A dark-blue wild native grape, one of the best
specimens of the frost grape ; grows near the one just described.
Wood brown_, very short-jointed, tough, vigorous growth; leaf small,
heart-shaped, three-lobed, green on both sides; bunches long, com-
pact ; berries small, round, if not compressed, rather crisp, or acid,
but not disagreeable ; ripens in the beginning of October. This grape
deserves propagating and improving, as its juice contains pro2Derties
desirable to be mixed in small quantities with other varieties in
making wine, obviating flatness, and rendering it tenable.

No. 36. Vitis lahrusca. — A red-brown wild native grape, found in the
woods, and transplanted, or set out, by Mr. Clark, in his garden,
southwest of Bound Hill. Soil, a good sandy loam ; situation, warm
and well-sheltered ; grows up on an apple tree. Wood brown, medium-
jointed, vigorous growth ; leaf medium size, heart-shaped, strong
nerves, yellowish-green on both sides ; bunches and berries of medium
size, oval, and pretty sweet ; ripens towards the end of September.
Se§ analysis, page 52.

No. 37. Vitis cordifolia. — A dark-blue, nearly black, wild native grape;
stands on the edge of a forest, in a swamp meadow, at the top of the
Orange mountains. Proprietor, A. 0. Moore, Orange, New Jersey.
Soil, wet clay. Wood dark-brown, short-jointed_, thrifty growth; leaf
medium size, heart-shaped, strong nerves, yellowish-green on both sides;
bunches medium size, shouldered; berries rather below medium, oval,
and of an agreeable wine taste; ripens the first part of October.

No. 38. Vitis lahrusca. — A dark-blue, wild native grape, found in the
woods, and set out by Charles Dickinson, of Verona, Essex county,
New Jersey^ on the southeast side of his house. An old vine: no care
is taken of it ; is supported by a rough frame. Wood greyish-brown,
short-jointed, healthy, vigorous growth; leaf medium size, heart-
shaped, strong nerves, yellowish-green on both sides ; bunches medium,
berries large, round, sweet, and pleasant wine taste-; ripens in the
beginning of October. Soil wet clay and very stony ; situation high
and open, on the top of the Orange mountain.

AMERICAN GRAPES. 69

I have been particular, in noting these varieties, to describe their
character as clearly as possible with regard to their wood, growth, fruit,
and its shape, color, and taste. I did not find much difficulty, but have
been often at a loss how to make out the leaves, which were often of
different shapes and colors on one and the same vine ; for instance,
there were on a vine large heart-shaped leaves, deeply cut, with three
to five lobes, long stem, stout ribs and nerves ; and, again, leaves almost
square, lobes hardly discernible, short stems, small, tender ribs and
nerves ; and some round, without lobes, long stems, fine ribs and nerves;
some on one side, heart-shaped, with one or two pretty sharp cut lobes,
and, on the other side, round and smooth. The same variation I found
in the color of the leaf, but here it was merely the influence of the light,
sun, and shade. In shaded localities, under trees, &c., where the sun
and light were obstructed, the color would be a bright green, as it ap-
pears on the best improved European varieties. According to circum-
stances, as they were under this influence, they would change their
colors, and the inore favorable their situation in this respect, their color
would change to yellow, and, in free, open situations, would be for the
most part a yellowish green on the upper side, and several shades
deeper, sometimes clear, bright yellow, on the lower side, which is in
most cases their fixed color. But there are some exceptions again:
The most of the worthless offsprings from the Vitis cordifoUa have
clear, green leaves, while the better varieties have that yellow hue.
There is only one family of which the leaf is found invariably green ;
it is the lowest and least useful of all — the frost grape, or vitis sinuata.
On some of the seedlings from the fox grape, vitis labrusca, the white
color predominates, instead of yellow ; the upper part of the leaf will
be of a white hue, while the lower side presents this peculiar downy
character, completely white.

According to my instructions, to investigate and examine the wild
native grapes with a view of testing their respective qualities, and to
note those which show good qualities for wine or table grapes, in order
that they might be propagated and improved, and as those which I
marked will, in proportion as they are submitted to a systematical
course of development, change their original nature and habitus, so the
proper time to record their character will be when they shall have
attained the highest point of improvement, therefore, I concluded not
to take notice of the. numerous variations in the form or construction
of the leaf, and difference of their colors, but only to describe their
most common forms, namely, round, heart-shaped, large, medium size^
or small, and the color, yellowish, whitish, or green.

The quality of their fruit, as exhibited by analyzing samples, is, in
all cases, capable of improvement, the degree of which will be in pro-
portion to the advancement of the vine itself ; therefore, the analysis
shows only the fundamental properties of these specimens, and the task
to develop and progress upon this basis is reserved for the practical
propagator and cenolog. He will arrange these varieties to answer his
own purposes ; by a thorough system of rational culture, increase their
saccharine properties, restrict the predominance of acidity, and bring
the whole to a proper condition.

By due consideration of the soil, position, and^climate_, a good esti-

70 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

mate will be obtained, from tlie result of the analysis, as to the capa-
bility of the wine. For instance, the fruit of a vine which grows on a
wet, cold soil, in a low, shaded situation, and in a severe and rough
climate, contains eight per cent, of sugar, the vine thus possessing
the points required of a good grape ; yet, in most cases, by being
translated to a better soil, position, &c., with proper culture, it will
attain from twelve to sixteen per cent., and, of course, produce a
superior wine. Analysis, therefore-, gives a surer basis to judge and
select wild grapes than the simple taste, which is as various as decep-
tive ; at the same time, it will bring to notice such varieties as, differ-
ing from the common and fashionable sweet grapes, contain precisely
the properties essential to make several of the most highly esteemed
wines.

Late frosts in the springs and especially some sharp visitations in
June, checked the grape-vines, and totally destroyed those on level
parts of the country ; only in elevated, sheltered portions was there
any saved, and far less than the usual crops. My investigation was,
therefore, limited to such favored locations, while even here the means
allowed were not sufficient to enable me to extend my labors to a
larger scale. The result is highly valuable and stimulating for the
culture of the grape. I found, in general, a lively interest among all
classes for this noble and lucrative branch of horticulture. The inten-
tion of the Patent Office to encourage the culture of the vine through
the whole country, by collecting and disseminating knowledge relating
to it, and the best methods of wine-making, was well appreciated, and
especially so on account of the direct way which had been chosen.
Personal observation and instruction will often, in one hour, be more
beneficial than long study of scientific essays, which are, for the most
part, written in too high a style to be clearly understood by the plain,
practical man. By those interested in this pursuit earnest wishes
were expressed that the Patent Office might continue its noble efforts.

In a country like ours, blessed with everything to make life pleas-
ant, and possessing a proper soil and climate for every plant, why,
otherwise so favored, should man be deprived of the real essence of life,
wine? True, this incomparable nectar is not unknown here, for many
thousand American eagles of gold cross the Atlantic annually to
bring it to us ; but this privilege is attainable only by a few, while
the mass of the people may not receive this best gift of Nature. Sub-
stitutes have been invented, but they are poor indeed_, compared to
genuine wine, which makes man social, contented, and happy, while
those mixtures and drugs, at once exciting and stupifying, demoralize
him. As wine is a pure beverage which Nature furnishes, its use should
be attainable by every one ; while it inspirits the youth to all that is
fair, good, moral, and grand, it stimulates the man in his labor and
occupations, makes him a brave husband, father, and citizen, and
brightens the evening of age. As wine has so beneficial an influence
on the nature and character of the individual, it will likewise exalt
the condition of a whole people ; consequently, there is reason why
we should exert ourselves to introduce the general culture of tho
grape in our own country, as has been done for centuries in other
lands.

AMERICAN GRAPES. 71

For the use and comfort of a single family, a small piece of ground,
by intelligent management, will produce sufficient, while if the area
be extended, the profits obtained will prove a liberal encouragement.
Many hundred acres^ exhausted by our bad management, but yet con-
taining enough mineral substances to support the grape-vine, might,
with little expense, be converted into vineyards. Those black and
barren hills, gloomy as they look, will, in many instances, afford
desirable situations for this purpose, and can thus be changed to
profitable plantations, highly ornamental to the country. By a proper
selection of the position and of the varieties adapted to the climate, the
grape-vine may be successfully cultivated in every State of the Union,
It will flourish wherever corn will grow. But before embarking in
this enterprise, it is necessary to understand the principles of the cul-
ture and management of the grape, and the mode of making wine.

CULTUEE AND MANAGEMENT OE THE GEAPE, AND
THE MODE OE MAKING WINE.

BY JOHN F. WEBER, of WASHIJSTGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

PROPAGATION OF THE GRAPE, BY LAYERS, CUTTINGS, EYES, AND SEED.

Layers. — Supposing the vines are old, and growing wild in the woods
or fences, the best branches should be selected, those which have made
strong and well-matured wood. They must be bent down to find where
the last year's growth reaches the ground, in order to see what space
they require ; the length and number of the shoots will give the best
indication. The land should be cleared of stones, stumps, sod, and roots,
trenched to the depth of from fifteen to eighteen inches, and enriched
with well-rotted compost. Heavy and stiff soil needs to be meliorated
with sand, to the texture of good garden earth, after which small
trenches have to be dug for each single shoot, about a foot wide and
six inches deep. The branch is now taken down and secured to the
ground by a strong Avooden peg with a hook. It is not necessary that
the branch should be prostrated quite to its root, but precaution must
be ta,ken not to break it by bending. The shoots of the last year's growth
are then taken and deposited singly, each in a trench, fastened by little
wooden pegs, care being used that they lay close at the ground. These
shoots must have been previously examined, all dry and immature
wood cut off, and only the sound, well-ripened wood employed. The
best time for that operation is when the buds have made two leaves.
They are left in this position, uncovered, till the eyes have attained
three or four inches growth, when a regular circulation of the sap will

72 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

"be effected ; they are then covered with fine, pulverized earth, ahout an
inch. It is very interesting now to observe how quickly callus is formed
under each eye, from which small roots will emanate in the course of three
or four days. In eight or ten days the formation of roots will be com-
pleted, when two inches more of earth may be put in, and in a fortnight
after another inch, which is the final covering. In dry, sandy soil,
or when the summer is unusually hot and arid, it is prudent to mulch,
these young plants at once, two or three inches, after the last covering,
with straw, leaves, or tan-bark. This will keep the ground moist, and
protect the young, tender roots from becoming dry and burnt. Late
in the fall, when the plant is in a dormant state, the branches which
have been layered are cut off close at the old wood, carefully taken up
with a garden fork, so as not to break the roots, and divided. There
will now be obtained from each eye a strong, well-rooted plant. These
young offsprings are now taken and heated in the ground, where they
remain through the winter, or till they are wanted. The branch of
the old vine remains in its bent position ; the next spring shoots will
grow out near where the layers had been cut off the year previous ;
when they have made about twelve inches in growth, the stump or
basis of these young shoots is covered with good rich soil, about six
inches, in order that roots may emanate to render it independent of the
old vine. They are left to grow during the season. The next spring
they are layered again, and another set raised in the same manner.
By this manipulation, vigorous plants can be propagated from an old
vine every second year, and will bear the second year after planting.
In regard to their strength, and the development of their root system,
they are preferable to any propagated from eyes or cuttings.

Making layers from vines in a vineyard is far more easy, as the
ground is already in a good condition, and the vines in a more active
state. In the time of summer pruning, one or two strong shoots are
left, as close as possible to the ground, on the vines from which layers
are desired ; they remain hanging down through the summer, undis-
turbed, and the next spring are treated as already described. It is
important, in all cases, to let them hang loose, till all the eyes are
well developed, and have made at least half an inch growth. This
method is always sure, as it corresponds with the principles of the
physiology of the grape-vine, which, like other young plants, requires
for its developement an equal share of light, warmth and moisture.

Pro2oagaiion from cuttings. — This is a very simple procedure. In
the fall or winter, shoots are selected from the strongest and best
ripened vines, cut three or four eyes long, tied together in bunches of
from one hundred to five hundred pieces, and either put in the ground
and well covered with earth, or kept in a cellar during winter, covered
with sand. In the spring, as soon as the ground is dry, a partly
shaded spot is chosen for a plant-bed. The soil should be dry and
warm ; it requires trenching about two feet deep, and meliorating
with compost and sand till it compares well with hot-bed earth. This
plat is laid off in beds four feet wide, and two feet are left between for
a path. There will be room in such a bed for four rows of cuttings.
In order to plant them at equal distances, the ground should be
measured and a line drawn. The wood, on the lower end of the

AMERICAN GRAPES. 73

cuttings, should "be cut off close to the eye. To keep them moist, it is
well to wrap them in a piece of old cloth, and take up only one bunch
at a time. There is an instrument generally used for that purpose,
which greatly facilitates planting ; it is made of a piece of wire, half
an inch thick and two feet long, a cross handle at one end, and the
other flattened and bent to an angle of 45°. In the flat end an open-
ing is prepared in the shape of a V, wide enough to admit the cutting.
With this instrument, called a plant-stick, the cutting is pushed into
the ground in a slanting position, and only one eye left out, near the
surface. It should never he inserted deeper than four or five inches.
In dry weather, the plants require watering every second night, till
they have formed roots and are established ; they must be kept clean,
and no weeds allowed t© grow in the bed. In the fall, they are taken
up carefully, with a garden fork, and heeled in the ground again during
winter. Next spring, they may be removed to the vineyard, and will
bear the third year. But if strong-rooted vines are wanted, these
rooted cuttings have to be planted once more in the bed, but require
now at least a square foot of space, and their last year's growth to be
cut back to one eye, and taken up again in the fall and heeled in.

Propagating from eyes. — This can be done only under glass, either
in a propagating-house, green-house^ or hot-bed, as otherwise no good
results can be expected; still, if trouble is not regarded, eyes may
sometimes be propagated in boxes, or even in the open ground.

Strong and well-ripened canes should be selected. They may be cut
eight or ten eyes long, heeled in sand till wanted, and put in the cellar,
or in any place where the frost cannot reach them. In order to get
large plants the first season it is necessary to begin their propagation
early; February is generally the time when they are started. If a
propagating-house with a sand bed be at disposal, little furrows are
made in the sand about half an inch deep, and two inches apart, in
which the eyes are placed horizontally ; they are then covered with
sand and drenched well ; a temperature of from sixty-five to seventy
degrees must be maintained till they have completel}'' rooted. In
common green-houses pots are generally used ; they may be of diiferent
sizes, but should not be smaller than tAvo pints. After some broken
pieces of crockery, oyster-shells^ &c., have been put in the bottom to
secure a good drainage, they are filled to half an inch of the top with
earth, and four to six eyes are stuck in vertically, so that the point of
the eye just peeps out. They are well drenched, and placed in the
warmest part of the house. In hot-beds pots are likewise more conve-
nient than open beds. They should be constructed as usual for raising
plants, with' a bottom heat of from fifty-five to sixty degrees. The
pots with the eyes are put in dry saw-dust, or tan-bark, and raised
within six inches to the sashes. In order to preserve an even temper-
ature, constant watching is necessary, an'd every opportunity, when
the weather is clear, and the atmosphere warm, should be improved to
give air so as to prevent mold and rot. Straw-covers and board-shut-
ters must be provided for cold nights and stormy days. In proportion
to the development of the plant must be the quantity of air admitted,
and finally the sashes will have to be removed during the day, and
only kept on in the nights. When at last the spring has fairly opened ;

74 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

when night-frosts have ceased, and the soil has become warm and dry,
a shady place is selected, soil suitable for the striking of cuttings
prepared, and the young vines are transplanted into the open ground,
about a foot apart, care being taken not to set them too deep ; throe
inches will be sufficient.

It is well to mulch them at once, to secure an even temperature and
moisture for their tender roots. Straw or leaves are the best material
for that purpose. If properly attended, they will make a growth of
from six to eight feet, sometimes as much as twelve feet, the same
season, and will bear the second year after transplanting. They may
remain during winter in their bed or nursery, and be transplanted at
once the next spring in the vineyard. This method applies to all
young plants grown in the propagating house, green-house, or hot-bed.
The best earth to strike eyes in is a mixture of equal parts of well-rotten
turf, or sod, soil, or leaf-mold, from the forest^ and v/ashed sand, with
a little addition of fine bone and charcoal dust.

Propagation from seed. — The best ripened bunches should be selected,
the seeds extracted, and dried in a shady, airy place. When dry, they
should be put in a little bag, and hung up till wanted. A spot for a
seed-bed should be selected on a dry, airy, and shady piece of ground,
prepared as for cuttings, or eyes. The fall is the best time to sow the
seed. Furrows, half an inch deep and one foot apart, are made, the
seed dropped in, about two inches from each other, covered with washed
sand, and finally with straw or leaves. In the spring, v/hen the night-
frosts have ceased, this cover is removed, and pine or hemlock boughs
put on instead till the seed has sprouted, and young shoots make their
appearance. Nothing else is required through the summer except
weeding, and occasional watering at night in dry wxather. Late in
the fall the young vines are taken up with a garden-fork, and heeled
in again. In the spring they are cut back to one eye, and replanted
a foot apart, in which situation they remain undisturbed during the
season.

But, as the grape-vine seldom reproduces its character in its oif-
spring from seed, and is rather changed to all possible variations,
there can be no confidence that such seedlings will be of the same
type ; sometimes they will be of a first-rate quality^ and generally of
different colors. The well-known and highly-esteemed Concord grape,
for instance, is of a dark blue color ; yet from this Mr. Bull has raised
a white seedling of superior quality, and other seedlings of first-rate
qualities, varying in color from a light Amber of all shades to a dark
Traminer, while several, again, presented the same color as the original
vine. Among seedlings, also, are male plants, which will not produce
fruit at all. These are distinguished by their small, long eyes., lying
flat on the wood, while fruit-eyes may be recognized by their short,
thick, shouldered appearance. In order to find out what may be ex-
pected from them, they should be closely examined the second year,
and those which promise best brought in a bending situation, to induce
the formation of fruit-buds. They are taken up in the fall and planted
in pots holding about six quarts, and their shoots cut back to three
eyes. Until the middle of February they are kept in a cool place,
when they should be put under glass, either in a green-house or h.ot-

AMERICAN GRAPES. 75

bed, to be started. By bending tlie cane till the young shoots are out
one inch, and cutting a ring from the bark below the upper eye, they
will sometimes bear that season and show their true character. If
there is no such convenience as a green-house or hot-bed, the propa-
gator can only wait till the weather becomes warm, and in the mean-
time may jDlace them in a sunny, sheltered corner, near the buildings.
Of course, no fruit can be expected that season.

If, in either case, no fruit appear, the canes should be bent as soon
as the wood begins to ripen on the lower part, and kept in this position
till fall^ when they are pruned back to six eyes. In the following
spring this cane is bent again, and fastened on a stick, to remain so
during the season. All the side shoots and new wood, except a lead-
ing cane, is pruned off during the summer, and only a single bunch
allowed to grow. Seedlings which have satisfactorily fruited and
proved of a generally good character, may be set out and grown as the
sources of further propagation ; they are now new varieties. Those in
the seed-bed, or nursery, should be examined again, and such as com-
pare well with the fruited specimens may be planted out in the vine-
yard; the rest, which show less good points, should be grafted, or
budded, at once.

The object of taking up and transplanting these young propagated
grape-vines every season is to get a chance to regulate their formation
of roots, to cut back single leading roots and make them grow more
fibres, which are less important to the rapid and vigorous growth of
wood than to the fruit and its quality.

IMPROVING THE GRAPE-VINE, BY LAYERING, GRAFTING, BUDDING,

AND HYBRIDIZING.

Improving &?/ lo.yeri'ivj. — This, in the beginning, is performed as
before described. After the plants obtained from layering off have
been transplanted and gro"wn one year, they are cut back in the fall to
four eyes, and the next spring layered down again, and treated in the
manner above referred to. In the fall they are taken up, heeled in
through the winter, and set out again in the spring, being pruned
back to one eye ; the following fall they are cut back to six eyes, and
layered down once more the next spring.

When this operation has been performed several times, the character
of such a vine will be greatly changed, and the quality of its fruit
improved. By this manipulation, another system of roots is obtained,
the wild nature of thd vine tamed, and, in consequence of its fino
cellular texture, it will form larger fruit buds, the cluster will bo
heavier and more compact, the stem of the berry more tender, and,
acquiring more and stronger fibres on the basis, the berries will not
again drop off", the skin will become thin, and the pulp soft, juicy, and
more sugary.

This method has been practised for centuries in parts of Germany
and France, with the exception only that such plants were allowed to

76 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

grow and bear several years before tliey were layered again. All those
first-class varieties, the Gutedel, or Chasselas, Muscats, Traminer,
Malvasier. Kiesling, &c., have thus been brought to their present high
state of perfection.

Improving by grafting. — Grape-vines which have good roots, grow-
ing on houses, arbors, or such places, where stirring and breaking the
surface-soil is omitted, and yet better fruit, or a different variety, de-
sired, and where, also, shade is an object, may be successively changed
by grafting on seedlings and other vines of inferior quality, to turn
them to better account in the quickest possible time. This operation
is best performed in the spring, when the buds have developed to two
leaves, and when the sap does not circulate and flow so rapidly. How-
ever, the grafts have to be cut in the fall, when the vine is in a dormant
state, and either buried in the ground, or kept in a dry, cool cellar,
through the winter.

Grafting is performed in the following manner: The soil is removed
about four inches deep, the vine sawed off, and the cut nicely pared
with a sharp knife, a cleft is now made, two or three inches deep, into
the stump or stock, which is kept open by a wedge till the graft is set;
the graft should have two or three eyes, and be cut exactly to fit the
cleft. The lower eye should be close to the bark of the stump, and the
bark of both stump and graft should fit v/ell together. The wedge is
next taken out, the whole wound well covered with grafting wax, and
the soil brought back again, and mulched with straw or leaves. All
the buds are allowed to grow undisturbed through the summer^ but
the water shoots from the stump must be kept down ; in the fall one or
two canes are left, and pruned back to six eyes ; all other wood is
cut off.

There are sometimes cases where vines cannot be grafted so low, and
perhaps several feet above ground only. If so, another method is
adopted : The top of the vine is cut off likewise where the graft is
wanted ; then a three-inch vertical cut is made through the bark, which
is lifted up ; the graft, with two eyes and three-inch wood below, is cut
half through horizontally back of the lower bud, and from the point
below diagonally up to the cross cut. This wedge is pushed down under
the bark, after the cross cut has been made to fit the stump or stock,
that is, cut in slanting till the graft gets a vertical stand. It is then
tied up with bass, covered thickly with grafting-wax, and finally wrapped
in a piece of rag. The tying requires particular attention, as the air
must be entirely excluded from the wound. Another method is prac-
ticable on young vines, seedlings, &c. The vine is cut off diagonally,
and also the graft or scion; both cuts should be at least three inches
long, and fit exactly together, the graft is laid on, tied with soft bass,
and the whole dressed with grafting-wax, as above. When the vine
is much thicker than the scion, the bark and some wood are cut off on
one side only ; the graft is cut diagonally ; both cuts should match and
fit, so that the inner hark of the scion may lie exactly on the inner harh
of the stump or stocJc. This is the essential part of grafting, and in all
cases should be observed. The union takes place first between the inner
bark and wood, where callus is formed for new wood. The whole ope-

AMERICAN GRAPES. 77

ration must be done very quickly, so that the circulation of the sap will
not interfere with putting on the wax.

Improving hy budding. — The proper season for budding grape-vines
is the latter part of August, when the huds of the current year's growth
are plump and the young wood is becoming firm. If possible, two or
three year old wood should be chosen, in v/hich to set the buds.
Thrifty shoots are selected, and the soft eyes on the upper end rejected.
The bud is cut out about two inches long, with as much bark as pos-
sible. In taking out the wood, a thin slice should be left at the basis
of the bud, so that its roots may not be injured. Having prepared the
bud, an upright incision is made in the bark about an inch and a half
long ; on the top of this a cross cut is made, forming a T, when the
bark is raised up, the bud is pushed in, tied carefully with soft bass,
and covered with grafting w^as:, only the eye being left exposed to the
light and air. When the bud has taken, the old wood is cut off above
it in the fall. Another mode, for which the spring is the proper sea-
son, is often practised with good success. Having ready the shoots,
the upper and lower end, from which buds are wanted, the eye, with
an inch of wood on, is cut off from the cane, together with half of the
wood back of the eye. Then a similar cut is made in the stock where
the eye is to be inserted, so that it shall fit exactly. The eye being
set in, the whole is waxed and tied up as before.

Budding grape-vines is based on the same principle as budding fruit
trees, roses, &c. By budding, different varieties may be produced on
one vine, and, if chosen with regard to their maturity, blossoming at
the same time, accidental hybrids may be obtained.

Improving hy cross-hreeding . — This method requires much time and
attention, and cannot be much depended on, unless the plants are grown
in a green-house or grapery, which is seldom to be found in connection
with a vineyard. Such experiments are rather out of question with
the practical grape-grower, as he is generally fully occupied with the
work of the vineyard. But it is very important that those who have
more leisure and proper skill should employ themselves in this highly
interesting business. Or, still better, that it should be executed at
governmental or State expense in experimental gardens and vineyards.
It is highly appreciated, that the United States Patent Office has
already commenced to carry out such a plan, raising and creating new
varieties of grape-vines for distribution through the whole land, which
will promote and encourage grape culture. But this is only a begin-
ning. In addition to the propagating houses, a vineyard is wanted,
where these new varieties can be tested and their character observed,
in order to decide what soil and climate suit them best.

To obtain an improvement on a new variety, two well-known vines
are selected ; when they blossom, the anthers must be cut out, with
scissors, from the blossom of the vine to be improved and impregnated ;*
and as soon as the blossom is expanded on the other from which a bet-
ter variety is intended, the pollen is collected with a fine brush from a
well-blown flower, and applied upon the point of the pistil on the other
vine. The seed of such a cross-breed will produce plants of a new
variety.

78 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

CULTURE OF TEE GRAPE-VINE IN THE VINEYARD.

Proper soil and position. — The best and most natural soil for the
grape-vine is a dry porous lime-stone; the next best, a deep, loose,
stony, loamy soil, even sandy, if it contain some loam and marl, and
if a good subsoil be practicable. The soils upon rocks arQ favorable
to the growth of tVxe vine, as the roots find in the clefts the very
essence of life — a loamy substance, containing phosphates. The less
vegetable substances a soil contains, the better is it for the grape-vine.

In regard to position, a high, free, vi'-ell-sheltered one, on the south-
east slope of a hill, is the best; but level or rolling land may be made
available by planting groups of pine trees on the northern part, to
break the cold, strong v/inds. A vineyard, in all cases, should be open
to the south and east, admit a free circulation of air, and not be under
the influence of miasmas, dampness, and stagnating waters,, or exposed
to cold north winds.

Preparation of the soil. — As there are many instances where soil of
the above description, in a naturally good condition, cannot be found, it
must be meliorated, if position and other circumstances will justify
such expense.

Strong, heavy soils require loosening, so that the atmosphere may
have free action upon them, and therefore must be trenched. This is
done in the following manner: on the lowest part of the land a line is
drawn across^ and six feet wide marked off; the top-soil, according to
its richness, is taken up, perhaps from four to eight inches deep, and
placed somewhere near, but out of the way ; then a three-feet wide,
and three to three and a half feet deep, trench is opened, and the earth
thrown forward. This is the beginning. Now another three-feet wide
strip is cut out, and the earth thrown into the open trench ; three feet
wide are marked for the next trench, and the top-soil from that strip
thrown upon the first trench, which is filled up level with the surface ;
coming up at last with this work to the other end, there will be one
trench and six feet wide surface left to be filled up and covered with
the earth taken out of the first trench and the top-soil from the first
six feet wide^ which were thrown forward out of the way. This has
to be carted up, first the subsoil for filling the trench, and next the
top-soil to level with. On such lands the tojD-soil should never be
thrown into the trench and covered with the raw subsoil, as the young
plants have to depend on it for their first nourishment, till the subsoil
has changed its texture, by the action of the atmosphere and manure,
to a mellow, productive condition.

If the resources of a forest are near, where leaves, pine straw, rotten
mast of branches, &c., can be obtained, all these should be collected,
as the rough material to be thrown in the bottom of the trenches, and
leaves, &c., mixed in layers with the subsoil. The fertilizing capaci-
ties of such substances are not of much account, but the advantage thus
derived keeping the soil loose, to admit light and the action of the at-
mosphere, is all important. Whatever may serve that purpose, as
stones, half-rotten stumps, &c., found on the land, and necessary to be
cleared off, may be thrown in the bottom of the trenches. If sand, the

AMERICAN GRAPES. 79

coarser the better, be convenient, it would be well to put it a couple
of inches high on the top of such subsoil, as it will add greatly to its
improvement.

Should the land require draining, this must be done before trench-
ing; horse-shoe tiles, of four-inch diameter, will answer, but they
should be laid at least four feet deep, with sufficient fail.

On a less tenacious soil, with a gravelly, loose subsoil, trenching
may be performed by horses and plows, which considerably lessens the
expense. A double Michigan plow jind one of the largest subsoil plows
would be required, and two double teams for each ; the double plow
will throw up a furrow about twenty inches deep, while the subsoil plow
following it will loosen and deepen the soil in that furrow from twelve
to fifteen inches more. If only two teams are at disposal, they must
be changed from one plow to the other, going round first with the
double ploWj and following in the same furrow with the subsoil plow.
By this mode of trenching, the good surface soil will inevitably be
buried by the subsoil, and therefore it must be meliorated with com-
post. Naturally good soils seldom need trenching ; all that is neces-
sary is to remove all obstacles from the surface, spade or dig the ground
over to the depth of a foot or eighteen inches, and jDlant the vines.

Manuring, and the test manure for the grape-vine. — The mineral ma-
nures, in consequence of their ingredients, have the most effect on the
quality of fruit, and keep the soil in a porous, mellow, and productive
condition ; v/hile animal and vegetable manures encourage the forma-
tion of wood too fast, and make the vine tender and subject to disease.
Never should fresh animal manure be brought into the vineyard, but
always be first composted with sod, or good surface-soil and charcoal
dust, well rotten ; and even then only used when young tender plants
absolutely need support. On first-class land no manure is required,
except a little well-prepared old and mild compost, with which to
start the young plants, and to encourage their formation of roots. But
heavy soils, after they have been trenched, should be improved by
sowing leguminous plants on them before planting the grape vine, and
receive a good dressing of lime. Peas, vetches, or buckwheat, would
probably answer best ; they should be sown pretty thick, and early in
the spring ; when they have grown to about six inches, it is time to*
apply the lime ; twenty bushels per acre will be the least quantity, but
more may be put on, if convenient. The lime should be strewn, in a
well-powdered state, early in the morning, when the dew is on the
plants. After the crop has blossomed, it is plowed under about four
or six inches deep, and a crop of turnip may be raised on it the same
year, partly paying the expense. By such treatment, and the appli-
cation of lime, the soil becomes mild and admirably adapted to support
the grape-vine ; it can be kept in a highly productive condition by
alternate application of green manuring and lime, and once in about
five years of eight hundred to one thousand pounds of bone dust, all
of which must be plowed under and mixed well with the soil.

Sandy soil must be treated in the same way, marl and leached ashes
being added, to make it more consistent. Ashes and lime should never
be applied with bone dust, as they will weaken its fertilizing capaci-
ties by driving out the ammonia. The ashes and lime, while they

80 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

furnish the plants with oxygen, act at the same time, through their
salinous suhstances dissolving and cooling upon the soil, to keep it
moist ; the bone dust, again, contains the most nourishing elements,
which, in addition to the other suhstances, promote the prosperity of
the grape-vine. When the planting of a vineyard has been concluded,
resources should he explored whence proper material may he obtained
for manure. The first step is to begin with a compost heap, which
should be of such dimensions as to correspond with the size of the land
to be prepared for a vineyard. A large quantity of charcoal dust, the
unmarketable refuse, to be had, in most cases, for nothing, if carted
by one's own team, with leaves, pine straw, and such stuff, which can
be scraped off in the forest, muck, &c., should be provided ; anything
raked and swept in the yards, barns, and stables, will be acceptable ;
nor should be forgotten a large cistern to gather all the liquid manure
from the animals. When all these materials are at hand, the con-
struction of a compost heap may be commenced by a layer of sod,
muck, or good soil, a foot high ; on this, stable manure a foot high ;
this again covered with charcoal dust tvfo inches high ; now again six
inches of good soil, sods are best ; on this, manure, leaves, &c., and
again charcoal dust and sods, or muck, manure, or leaves, &c. ; char-
coal dust continued till the heap gets six or eight feet high, when a new
addition has to be begun. The heap should be kept level and not too
small on the top, so that the air and rain may equally penetrate it.

In two or three months this heap may be worked over, by which its
contents will become well mixed and fit for use. But it will improve
by age. It is often surprising how much material can be collected for
this purpose, and how clean and neat the while a farm-yard appears !
In the same proportion that the land is made productive, so the barns
and cellar will expand and fill up with treasures.

Planting the grape-vine. — Before beginning to set out the j^lants, the
land should be laid off in squares, according to its size, perhaps from
one to two or more acres, with convenient roads between for the pas-
sage of teams and carts. On side-hills, impassable for teams, these
avenues may be narrower. Next to be determined is whether the
vines shall be trained on trellises or stakes. This will indicate hov^
much room they require. In a northern climate, trellis culture is
preferable, while in the south stake and bow training are more advan-
tageous. The reason for the northern mode of training, is to keep the
vines as high as possible from the ground, as its damj)ness causes rot
and mold on the lov/er fruit. But in a hot climate, it is desirable to
have the ground shaded to retain the moisture. Therefore, in this
case, the vines should be trained low and. on stakes, and the S23ur and
bow system practised. In regard to the space allowed them, six by
eight feet will be about the proper distance for trellis culture, and four
by four for stake and bow training. In the first instance, nine hun-
dred and seven plants to the acre will be required, and in the second,
two thousand seven hundred and twenty-two. The rows should run
from east to west, to receive the first and last rays of the sun, at morn-
ing and evening, on as large a surface of the ground as possible. After
the course of the rows has been decided, the distances for the plants in
the rows are measured, and a stick inserted where the vine is to be

AMERICAN GRAPES. 81

l^lanted ; then the holes are made, which should he a foot deep and
three feet wide. A shovelful of good mild compost is put into each
hole, and well mixed with the soil ; heing ready for planting, the dif-
ferent varieties are counted over, and the places for each selected.
Every variety has its own merits.

To make a good wine, free from that peculiar taste which wine has
when made from one variety, several kinds must be planted, selected
with regard to their qualities ; one to furnish hulk, another to give
body and consistence ; one to be rich in sugar and vinous acids, an-
other to furnish flavor, another aroma, another color, and still another
to unite all these qualities, &c. The nearest proportion of one to the
other of the varieties here named, or rather their requirements to
make 100, would be : 60, 20, 3, 3, 9, 5.

Of rooted plants layers are the best, they having completed the
formation of roots, and being able to bear the second year after trans-
planting ; sickly, tender, and poor-rooted vines can be rejected, as
there is a chance to examine them. It requires two persons for plant-
ing, one to take the plant and spread out the roots evenly in the hole,
while the other brings in the soil, well pulverized, shovel by shovel,
and keeps gently moving the plant up and down, in order that all the
fibres may come in contact vfith the earth, and no cavities be left
among them. After the hole is filled, the earth is pressed down
gently with the foot, and thus is the work finished.

When no rooted plants are at disposal, and resort must be made to
cuttings, they should be five eyes long ; the instrument described on
a previous page will be the most convenient to plant them with. Of-*
course, no holes need be dug, but the places will have to be marked by
a stick. They are planted by couples, that is, two at a place, and
pushed in, slanting, to the last and uppermost eye, leaving one eye
only above the surface. In the north, the spring is the best time for
planting ; while in the south, the fall is best for rooted plants, and
spring for cuttings. Kooted plants have to be cut back to two eyes,
the young shoots of either are left without tying the ensuing season,
as they will get a stronger body by being left loose, and in a bending
position.

In northern countries, especially in the New England States, there
is, at present, but little choice among varieties ; the Diana, Delaware,
Isabella, Catawba, &c., will not ripen there ; with a few exceptions,
in very favored localities at least, their maturity cannot be depended
on in general open-vineyard culture. But the Concord, Hartford Pro-
lific, and several of those investigated and noted contiguous varieties,
can be relied on, such as Case's Crystal, the Bartlett, Dracut, Amber,
&c. Together, if cultivated well, they will produce a pretty fair wine.
In milder climates there is less difficulty in choosing the proper vari-
eties for a good wine ; besides of several highly improved native
grapes, German and Hungarian varieties m.ay be cultivated with suc-
cess, if £^ttention be paid to their habits and qualities. In all cases
their time of maturity should be alike, that they may be gathered
simultaneously.

Pruning and training the grape-vine. — This is one of the most essen-
tial points in grape culture, as development and productiveness arc
6 A

82 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

directly affected by it. The proper knowledge can only be acquired
by practice and experience. It would be prudent for an inexperienced
person to engage a practical vine-dresser to j)rune bis young vineyard
once or twice, and accompany liim and take lessons, rather than to ex-
periment himself according to the wild, unsound theories prescribed
by professional book-makers. It is easy to give rules in general reli-
able, but there are often circumstances in which none of them can be
ap]3lied, when the theorist is no longer able to decide his course. In-
deed, it requires practical knowledge to prune and train a grape-vino
well. Much has been done, in those countries of Europe where the
grape-vine is cultivated, for the education of practical vine-dressers,
either by their respective governments or by agricultural societies,
schools having been established especially to promote that branch of
horticulture.

The best time to prune the grape-vine is late in the fall, or, when
the weather permits, during winter, as the plant is then in a dormant
state. The young rooted vines, or layers two years old, which have
been cut back to two eyes by transplanting, will have made two shoots
during their summer's growth; these are pruned back, if trained on
trellises, to six eyes each; if on stakes, one to six eyes; the short end,
called the spur, to furnish bearing wood the next year, and the long
end, or bow, to bear fruit. On cuttings, the single shoot which they
produce the first season is pruned back to two eyes, and so all young
and tender-rooted vines. During the ensuing summer nothing more
is to be done than occasionally to tie up the young, growing shoots,
and keep the weeds down l3y plowing or hoeing. Fruit-bearing
branches must be nibbed back two leaves above the bunches. A crop
of turnips, carrots, or cabbage may be raised that season, which will
facilitate the growth of the young grape-vine.

The second year, on the strongest vines — now four years old — both
ends are lengthened by six eyes from the young wood, and the rest cut
off; from the side shoots all new wood is removed, except one spur of
two eyes on each shank, for making new wood ; the following spring,
these two shanks are tied horizontally on the first wire or lath of the
trellis. During their summer's growth, all the shoots on the bearing
canes are nibbed back to the second leaf above the fruit, as soon as the
fruit has well set, and water-shoots broken off as soon as they apjDcar.
The shoots from the lowest buds on the spurs, after they have made
two feet growth, are pinched in two, and the other shoot is allowed to
grow ; all the young shoots must be tied up several times through the
season. The third ^''ear, the longest canes from the spurs are trained
up to the third wire, or lath^ or both, of the trellis, and cut according
to the length required, to permit them to be tied on one foot long,
horizontally. Every second bud on the vertical part of these canes is
broken out, the rest left for fruit spurs ; and the short shoots on the
spur are pruned back to two eyes, to bear. After this, the vine must
b» kept in such trim as to produce alternate fruit and bearing wood.
Those canes which had fruit are pruned back to one eye, to make bear-
ing wood for the next year, and alternate canes to two eyes, to bear
the present. It requires skill and experience to manage vines on trel-
lises, in order to get large crops without weakening the plant.

AMERICAN GRAPES. 83

There are many different modes of training vines on stakes, accoid-
ing to the soil, climate, and skill. They may be trained without
stakes, on one or more, in spiral or pyramidal form, &c.; but the
most common and simple manner is the spur and bow system. The
second year they are cut back to two buds, of which two canes are
obtained. The third year, one of these is cut back to a spur of two
eyes, the other to a bow of six eyes ; the first to form wood for the next
year, and the other to bear fruit. The fourth year, the bearing cane,
or bow, is cut back to two eyes ; the canes on the spur one, which is
the lowest, to two ; and the other to six or eight eyes. The fifth year,
and thereafter, there will be two shanks, each with a spur and bow,
changing alternately to spurs and bows. The length of the bow must
correspond with the age, strength, and condition of the vine. All the
wood on the young bearing shoots must be pinched ofi", after it has
grown two leaves above the fruit. Water-shoots, and those which are
not wanted for either spurs or bows, are taken off" by summer pruning.
In bending and management of the bow lies the art to raise large, fine
clusters of superior qualities, without straining the bearing capacities
of the vine. Bows and fruit spurs must always be bent, in order to
concentrate the sap in the fruit buds and check the formation of wood.
For this reason, also, they must be cut loose from trellises or stakes
in the fall, and, after pruning, left hanging down on the ground during
winter. In the spring, after the vines and bows have been tied up,
and the ground is dry and settled, all the dew-roots, or small fibres
near the surface, are cut off; a heavy-pronged hoe is used for the pur-
pose, to remove the ground about six inches deep from the vine, to
facilitate this work; the soil is put back again afterward.

The object of this operation is to induce the vine to push its roots
deep in the ground, for better nourishment, and to check its tendency
to superabundant wood. By this mode of root pruning, it is easy to
keep the vine in proper bounds, to render suckers and water-shoots
less prolific, and greatly to improve its fruit. Stakes will last twice
the time if they are taken up every fall, and put under cover during
winter, or, at least, piled up, bottom point uppermost. About a fort-
night after root pruning, the soil needs stirring; if this can be done
with horse and plow, it will be an easy task, otherwise it must be
spaded or hoed ; the garden fork will be the best instrument. This is
a good time, also", to manure with lime, ashes, or bone-dust, and mix
them with the ground.

After the second summer pruning — that is, when the fruit is nearly
full grown — another plowing or digging of the ground is necessary, in
order to keep the weeds down and the soil open and free to the action
of the atmosphere. When the fruit begins to color and ripen, it is of
great importance for its perfection, as well as to strengthen and mature
the new wood, to top the young shoots which are left to grow as bear-
ing wood for the next year, and thus to check their growth. During
the summer, indications of disease often appear on the vines, which
may occur from different causes ; they are perceptible in the color of
the leaves when they assume a dull, pale, yellow color, commonly
after several rainy days, or sudden changes of the weather from very
hot to cold, chilly, and cloudy days. When the leaves having this

84 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

appearance begin to shrivel up, insects will be found tlie cause — the
aphis — which will generally appear after very hot days and thunder-
storms, the sun coming down hot on them, while dripping with water,
and no motion of the air. In both cases their organism and functions
are irritated and made sick. The best preventive is a high, free, and
open position ; the cure, the application of plaster or sulphur. There-
fore, plaster should always be kept in readiness. In either case, a good
dusting of it all over the vines early in the morning while the dew is
on, and this several times repeated, will excite the action of the leaf
again and destroy the insects. Sulphur, as it is more expensive,
may be reserved for other and worse diseases — the rot or mold on the
fruit. If this makes its appearance, a good dusting of ^t will stop the
disease. But, again, a high, free, open position, and a gravelly,
porous soil, are the best preventions.

Protection of tender plants during the winter.' — With very little
trouble, tender plants may be protected from the destruction of a
severely cold winter, and foreign varieties cultivated with success, even
in a northern climate. All that is necessary is to lay the vines flat on
the ground late in the fall. With the garden fork the soil is taken
up about nine inches deep on one side of the vine, which will prevent
it from breaking, and brings the vine so much better down and even
on the ground ; after this object is gained, the earth is replaced and a
few forks full added; the canes are taken together, laid down, and
covered at some convenient place with earth or stones to keep them in
such a position. This simple operation will preserve them in a sound,
healthy condition, and increase their fruitfulness. In the northern part
of Germany, where corn cannot be grown on account of the coolness of
the summer, the highest cultivated varieties of grape-vines are pro-
duced with good success; the winters there are as cold as in the
northern parts of our country^ and would destroy the plants as well as
here if they were not thus protected. As a proof that foreign grape-
vines can be cultivated in this country, even as far north as Boston, it
may be stated that Mr. Harding, of that city, has cultivated and fruited
the " Sweet- Water" in open ground for many years with great success ;
and, in fact, this vine looks as healthy and thrifty, and bears as re-
gular and large crops as could be expected from the best treatment
under glass. So has Mr. Syiferman, in Maiden, north of Boston,
several highly improved varieties from the Khine growing in the open
land of his garden ; such as the Trollinger, Grutedel, Elbing, Traminer ,
and white and black Burgundy, and has obtained from the first kind,
for five years, a regular and full crop annually. Of course, these
would be destroyed if left unprotected, or, at least, so much injured as
to render them subject to diseases and insects. Protection through the
winter and good culture have proved that foreign grapes can be success-
fully cultivated in our country. Nothing pays better than a little
extra care and good management of the vine.

German, French, and Hungarian methods compared to ours, with
regard to their adoption. — Although these methods are based on one
and the same fundamental principle, there are some considerable varia-
tions in the culture and training of the vine, according to old habits,
soil, and climate. With the introduction of grape culture into this

AMERICAN GRAPES. 85

country by the G-ermans, their system has likewise been adopted. On
the Ohio, Missouri, and Hudson rivers, south, east, and west, where-
ever the vine ornaments the land, it has been planted, with very few
exceptions, by G-ermans; they have succeeded well by their modes of
culture ; modern improvements in the propagation and culture have
been adopted, step by step ; so that if we bestow the same care on it as
in the other country, there will not be much difference from the general
German system.

The prevailing French mode is, in general, either the trellis, or bow
and spur system, practised, perhaps, a little more artfully and exactly
to the point. But the Hungarians have a different way of pruning
and training ; they do not allow wood to grow for shanks and branch
canes, but cut all off, low on the ground, every year ; the stock forms
a head, from which one or two shoots are allowed to grow and bear ;
in the fall they are cut off, and the stock covered with coarse manure,
or litter. One other mode is, to raise alternate shoots, one to bear,
the other to form wood for next year ; the bearing canes are bent
down, and a few eyes covered with earth, to strike roots near the top,
where three or four are left to form a new plant, and bear at the same
time. Canes thus treated bear very heavy crops, as they have two
sets of roots for their support. I am not aware whether this mode has
yet been introduced in our country, but it would be well to try it.
The vines must be trained to it while young ; the first grow^th will
have to be pruned back to one eye to form the stock, and afterwards,
every fall, back to the socket of this bud ; all other shoots, except one
or two, are broken out.

THE STATE OF THE GRAPE — WHEN AND HOW IT SHOULD BE GATH-
ERED, AND APPARATUS FOR WINE-MAKING.

Signs ivhen the grape is ripe, and may be gathered. — There are cer-
tain signs when the fruit has attained its perfection : the green stem
of the cluster changes to a brown, woody color ; the bunches begin to
hang down heavily on the canes, the berries getting soft; a thin and
transparent skin ; the juice vinous, agreeable, sweet, thick, and adhe-
sive ; the seeds free of the pulp, and dry.

Disadvantage tuhen the fruit is unri^oe, or dead-ripe. — In the first
case, the formation of sugar is not developed, hence the predominance
of acids in the wine, and its inferiority. In the second case, the ne-
cessary vinous acids are last to neutralize, and give character to a
syrup-like wine, not to take in account the great loss in quantity.

Gathering , sorting, and transporting the fruit to the press. — When it
is determined to gather the vintage, sufiicient help should be provided
in order that enough may be collected every day to fill a large fer-
menting vat in the evening or night ; sharp pruning knives or scissors
should be used, to prevent jerking and dropping the berries. When
a bunch is cut off it has to be examined, and all dry, green, and rotten
berries picked out and thrown away, while unripe and other imper-

86 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

feet berries or biinclies should either be allowed to remain on the
vines, or sorted out and gathered by themselves. The bunches should
be handled carefully, so as not to bruise them. Clean wooden pails are
best to use, each hand being provided with one ; and for transporting
the grapes to the mill or press, a wooden tub, constructed in a cylin-
der form, but flat on two sides and a little wider on the top, with
straps, so it can be carried on the back, and holding from two to three
bushels, will be found very serviceable ; or, if the distance to the press
is considerable, a wagon with large tubs on it will be required, the
tubs to have wooden covers. Clear, dry weather must be chosen for
gathering the grapes, and the operations must not be begun in the
morning till they are perfectly dry.

The quality of the wine will be much improved if the grapes are
visited by a slight frost before they are cut off ; particular pains must
be taken to have everything used in gathering clean to the utmost ;
and no lunching or eating should be allowed near the vessels where
the grapes are kept, as the smallest quantity of bread or any eatable
coming in contact with the grapes or juice will produce disastrous
effect on the wine.

The luine-press and its apioaratus. — In the vineyard culture, a good
wine-press is most important. It is composed of a platform, frame,
and screws. The best seasoned white-oak should be used ; the platform
to be of four inches thickness, the frame of sufficient strength, and the
screws either of wood or iron, but strong enough to answer the pur-
pose. A large press with two screws is always preferable to a small
one, as it performs the work more thoroughly, and a greater part or
the whole of the vintage can be pressed at once, which is a considera-
tion in making wine according to the principle that the quicker the
operation of gathering, pressing, and filling into the casks, the better
its quality. The press should be near, or above the cellar, with all its
apparatus, fermenting vats, &c., inclosed in a building erected chiefly
for that purpose ; and nothing else should be kept in the press-house.
It should be substantially built, have good ventilation, and be cajDable
of maintaining an even temperature, as this is very important while
the must is in its fermenting process. Next to the press, an apparatus
is required to mash the berries. This may consist either of a grape-
mill, with two iron rollers or cylinders, a deep, strong-built tub, in
which they are crushed by a beater, or a j)air of boots with double
soles and without heels, long tops, and unblackened, to tread the ber-
ries on the press, or in a box with holes in the bottom to let the juice
through, having hinges, hooks, and staples on one side to oj)en for the
mash or trester to be let out. There are cases, also, when, it being
desirable to exclude the stems, a strong wire sieve, with about an inch-
wide masher, will be necessary.

The fermenting apj^iaratus and cas/^s.— The size of the fermenting
vats should precisely correspond with the dimensions of the vineyard,
in order to get the whole vintage into one or two. As the average
yield from an acre of well-cultivated vineyard may be set down at four
hundred gallons, the vats should be one fifth larger, for the expansion
of the must while in a fermenting state; by calculation and comparison
it will be ascertained how large they should be. Well-seasoned, two-

AMERICAN GRAPES. 87

incli white oak planks sliould be chosen for the construction, and hoops
one third of an inch thiol?:, of good soft iron, connected by a screw,
that they may he loosened or restricted according to the swelling of
the wood. The proportion should he as three to four, or one-fourth
higher than wide. When the vat is thus far constructed and set up,
a false bottom is made, from well-seasoned white pine boards, and
holes bored all over, for the purpose of putting it on the husks, to
prevent their rising and coming in contact with the air. Its position
must be regulated by two or three sticks, of two inches square, let
through by means of a dozen holes in each, with one wooden pin un-
derneath and one above the bottom; the sticks or joists to rest against
the cover of the vat. It may be placed two feet or more under the
surface of the must, and the pomace kept down that much.

A strong cover must likewise be constructed as a head for the vat.
It is fastened on by means of grooves, like the heads in casks. This
cover should fit well, so that all external air may be excluded, and screwed
and pinned together in one piece. When putting it in, the screw on
the upper hoop is loosened, to make it, easy, and when the head is
accommodated in the grooves the hoop is again screwed tight. To
regulate the formation of carbonic acid gases and their outlet, and to
prevent an explosion of the vat, a two-inch hole is bored through the
head-piece, into which is fitted a tube-bung — a cylinder made of white
tin. It may be constructed like a yoke-bow, rising with the shank
fixed in the hole about eighteen inches, and the other end coming
down within six inches of the cover, and terminating in a vessel of
water.

Another hole, three inches wide, is made in the head, into which a
bung is fitted, with a two-inch hole bored through ; on the toj^ of the
bung is nailed a piece of sole leather on one side, on which a two-
pound lead is placed, to hold it firmly and exclude the air ; the leather
at the same time acting as a safety-valve, in case the gas should de-
velop very rapidly. As the vat should never be filled to the top, but
about eighteen inches space left between the head and the must^ another
small hole is made through one of the staves, to show when the vat is
filled to that point, which is then closed by a wooden pin or plug.
Again, another hole is required, about the middle of the vat, to admit
a small faucet^ by which must may be let out to be examined. Finally,
a hole is made close at the bottom, for a large faucet, to let off the
young wine when it has finished its fermenting process.

There is still a better apparatus for examining the must while in its
different stages of fermentation, and to indicate the quantity in the
vat. It is a glass tube, or cylinder, about an inch thick, inserted near
the bottom of the'vat and forming a right angle, the other end running
close along the vat to the top, and fastened to it by a staple; the capa-
city of the vat is indicated by marks on this tube, showing precisely
how many gallons it contains, with the state of fermentation, and the
changes of color in the must. When the color of the wine is a great
object, this is one of the best contrivances to determine when the young
wine should be drawn from the husks.

For a small vintage, a large cask or pipe may be fixed up to answer,
the same purpose ; the head with the faucet hole is taken out, a false'

88 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

bottom fitted in, a liole for a faucet bored near the bottom, and the
other fixtures added.

The casks for receiving the young wine -from the vats should he
large, holding from one to two thousand gallons each, or the whole
vintage ; they should be made from the very best seasoned white oak,
having strong iron hoops, with screws attached, a common two-inch
bung-hole, and in one head a door, eighteen by twenty-four inches
wide. The door is fastened on hinges, opening inside, and has two
stout bolts and a cross-bar of oak outside, with two holes, through
which the bolts are passed when the door is closed, being further fast-
ened by two notches with wings. Another small hole is made in the
middle of the head, in which a wooden faucet is inserted, for drawing
out samples. The door is intended to admit a man, for the purpose
of washing and cleaning the cask.

As such large casks cannot be removed from the cellar, particular
care is requisite to keep them clean and sweet, but they will last any
length of time if made of good material. A cask for keeping wine
should never be used .for other purposes. As soon as it is empty it
must be washed clean, inside and out, well sulphured^ and the bung
driven in again. It should be kept in an airy, shady place till wanted
for use ; the press-house would be the most suitable.

A couple of pails are necessary for exclusive use in the cellar ; they
are generally made of oak, and in the form of a vase, having a narrow
neck, but widening again at the top, which is made of copper
or iron, the hoops and handle being composed of the same metal, and
should hold exactly five gallons, being gauged to show by a mark
each single gallon.

Funnels of difierent sizes are also wanted, the largest to be made of
oak wood, holding about six gallons, with a copper or iron tube on
the bottom, to go into the bung-hole of the casks, and two staves pro-
jecting three inches at the bottom, for two feet, to make it stand firm,
a little declining towards the tube-hole.

Lastly, for drawing wine in or out of the casks a good siphon is re-
quired. This may be made of tin or lead pipe, but, for convenience,
should have a small faucet soldered on, as a mouth-piece. All these
articles should be kept as clean as everything pertaining to the cellar
and presses, and never used for any other purpose.

The cellar, liow it should he constructed. — A good, well-ventilated
and drained cellar is absolutely demanded for wine making. To se-
cure an even temperature, it must be deep, and arched over with stone
or brick, the stone-work snaoothed off with plaster, and whitewashed ;
the floor either of flag-stones or brick ; and to prevent the hot summer
air getting in, and likewise the cold in winter, a separate entry for
the steps is required, with a door at the top and another below. Sev-
eral air-channels or flues must be arranged from the arch to a couple
offset above the ground outside, The arch is covered with from four
to six feet of earth. And this is now the most practical spot to build a
house large enough to contain the press, a fermenting room, with con-
veniences for heating, connection by conduits with the cellar, and
perhai)s a separate room for distillery apparatus.

AMEEICAN GRAPES. , 89

WINE-MAKING.

Making luliite wine. — To make a first class white wine, only white
grapes are used ; they are mashed in the apparatus, being fixed on the
top of the fermenting vat, but not allowing the husks to fall into the
vat, which, after being mashed, are put on the press, and when the
whole mass is thus prepared, they are pressed out, and the juice, or
must, put in the vat. As there are no husks in the vat, the false bot-
tom is not required. The head, or cover, is now put on, and the
temperature of the must ascertained by the thermometer. If it is
lower than 50°, some must is taken out and heated, to warm up the
whole mass till it comes up to 60°, which is the point it should be
brought to when fermentation takes a proper course. This tempera-
ture must be maintained as evenly as possible, and therefore a proper
room, as already described, with a stove or fire-place in it, will be the
most serviceable. After the temperature of the must is regulated, the
bung with the safety-valve and the tube are fixed on, and a small
vessel with water is placed under the other end of the tube, or cylin-
der, so that it will reach into the water about three inches. The whole
work of mashing, pressing, regulating the temperature, and closing
up the vat, must be performed with the greatest possible speed, as the
juice begins to ferment as soon as it is extracted from the berries, and
hj coming in contact with the atmosphere, the most essential part of
the wine, its chief strength, the alcohol, escapes. In proportion as
the grape contains sugar, the fermentation of the must will proceed ;
hence the fermentation of the must from highly improved grapes of
best qualities, containing much sugar, and a vintage favored with a
hot, dry summer, will take twice as much time as poor and watery
juice. By fermentation, the sugar of the grape-juice is converted into
alcohol, which, amalgamated with the other contents of thp grape-
juice, forms the wine, at once fiery, aromatic, and pleasant m every
respect. The dissolution of the greater part of the sugar, and the
union with the acids gluten, tannin, &c., will have been performed
when the must begins to get a clear color, an aromatic, vinous taste,
and quiet ; it is then time to draw it from the fermenting vat into the
casks, in whicli it will slowly finish its fermenting process. Kich must
will ferment in from five to eight days in the vat, while that of infe-
rior quality gets through in two or three days. It is very important
to have large casks in which to keep the wine, as thus its properties
and character are much better preserved.

When the casks have been filled, a similar tube is fixed, as on the
fermenting vat, with one end in the bung-hole and the other in a small
Tessel of water.

Making schiUer luine. — This name signifies a particular color of the
wine, varying from one hue to another, and to be called neither white,
yellow, nor red. Grapes of all colors are used in making this wine ;
they are mashed by putting the mill on the top of the vat, and the
husks put in it, and fermented together with the must. When they
are all mashed, or one vat is filled, tlie false or fermenting bottom is
set in, to keep the husks under the must, and the head and other fix-

90 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

tures put on. The fermenting of scliiller wine takes a longer time
and is more stormy tlian white or claret wines ; but this is stronger,
more fiery, and aromatic, than either.

The same temperature is required as for other kinds. Much care,
however, must be taken to watch its culminating point, when the car-
bonic acid gas escapes furiously, the water begins to roar in the little
tub, and the safety valve works like a hammer, that nothing may inter-
fere with the action and function of those agents, on which depends,
in this critical period, the safety of the whole contents of the vat.
The agitation may be observed still better in the glass tube connected
with the vat; but after a short time, only a few hours, the must will
calm, the fermentation proceed more quietly, and, in two or three days,
begin to get clear and vinous, which is the time for drawing the young
wine into the casks, there to complete its fermentation. The husks
are pressed and the juice obtained added to the rest. As soon as one
cask is filled, the tube is fixed into the bung-hole, and a small vessel
of water put under the other end, to keep the air from contact with
the young wine. The ventilation of the cellar is so regulated as to get
an even temperature of about 50°.

Mahing red luine, or claret. — The blue and Traminer-colored varieties
are used for this purpose ; after the whole vintage, white, Traminer, and
blue, or black, is m.ade into claret. The color of the juice has to be
examined, if it be not of the desired dark-red, some coloring matter
•must be used. There are several harmless substitutes, such as well-
ripened elder berries, the berries of the hawthorn, &c. Whatever
kind of berries may be used, they should, in all cases, be perfectly
ripe ; still better if they have been picked some time before they are
wanted, and dried in the sun. The quantity of these must be ascer-
tained by taking a sample of the must and adding berry juice till the
lesired color is obtained ; but, as the red or claret whines become lighter
3y age, the color should at first be a few shades darker.

Claret wine takes more time to finish its fermenting process than
any other. It is perfected when the color becomes clear, and the taste
changed from sweet to strong vinous. According to the state of the
weather and the season, which influence the quality of the grape, the
fermentation will proceed, but the ordinary period requisite to com-
plete it is from eight to ten days. When finally fit to draw into the
casks, the management is the same as with other varieties ; the husks
are put under the press, and the extracted juice into the casks and
mixed with the juice first drawn. The sediment or lees, from either
variety, is saved in a cask for further use.

The husks, which still contain a considerable amount of wine-
making properties, after the juice has been extracted from them by the
press, are broken up fine, put into the fermenting vat, and water, in
equal proportion to its bulk, is added — to each ten gallons of water one
gallon of lees — to strengthen and facilitate its fermentation. A light
but pleasant wine is obtained in this way, which is fit to drink the
next summer, and will be found, in hot weather, a very agreeable
cooling drink. All the seeds should be saved, well dried, and hung
up in bags in an airy, dry place.

AMERICAN GRAPES. 91

TREATMENT OP THE YOUNG WINE.

The second fermentation. — The young wine, after it has been brought
into the cellar, will go through another course of fermentation, and
will he more or less agitated for a certain time. The casks have to he
filled occasionally, and kept full to the hung ; the dissolution of the
sugar and of the diiferent constituents of the wine will proceed slowly,
and finally cease altogether ; the undissolved matter settles on the
bottom of the cask^ and is called lees. When the wine gets to such a
state, quiet and clean, it is time to draw it off into another cask. The
casks, before using them, must be well cleaned and sulphured, which
is done by dissolving sulphur in an iron pan over a fire, cutting strips
of cotton cloth or linen two inches wide and nine long, and soaking
them in the sulphur ; then a piece of wire about a foot long is fastened
to the bung, and the other end bent to a hook, on which is hung an
ignited strijD of the sulphured cotton^ and introduced into the cask,
the bung driven in, the cask rolled to and fro, and finally the sul-
phuric acid gas, which has not penetrated into the wood, let out by
loosening the bung.

A siphon, reaching about two thirds to the bottom of the cask, is
used for drawing. If the empty cask can be placed near enough, so
that the other end of the siphon reaches to its bung-hole, it is so much
better, as there is less escape of the gaseous and flavoring ingredients
of the wine. The rest of the wine which the siphon does not draw is
drawn off by a faucet, about six inches above the bottom. When a
cask is thus filled to the bung-hole, the bung is driven in tight.

In order to preserve the fine, clear condition of the wine, all jerking
and other rough treatment of \\\q casks must be avoided. The lees
from the emptied casks are collected into a cask- by itself.

White wines will have attained the proper condition for drawing in
a couple of months, wine of inferior quality still sooner, and should bo
drawn immediately after showing a clear, bright color, as the sedi-
ment injures its taste and character.

Schiller wine, according to its quality and intended use, may remain
some time on the lees, especially if it is designed for preserving to an
old age ; but in most instances it will improve by drawing as soon as
it is clear.

Claret wine, however, should remain from five to six months in the
first cask and lees. When fermentation is no longer perceptible, the
cask is filled, the bung driven in, and it is left undisturbed till the
drawing is finished. The exact period is a matter of fashion, accord-
ing to the taste and habit predominating in the country where it is
sold. By letting it stand on the lees for several months it obtains
more of those peculiar principles, astringency, &c., preferred in a good
claret.

No wine should be drawn, and no good wine-cooper will open a cask
in cloudy or sulky weather, as the wine, coming in contact with such
an atmosphere, gets turbid and excited ; therefore cool and bright
days must be chosen for that purpose. AH articles used in the draw

92 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

ing, no matter how clean they may he kept, should he previously
rmsed with wine.

Remedies for fiat and turhid loines. — There are many instances when
the wine loses its character, either turning flat, or getting excited and
turhid, when it will he necessary to attend at once to its restoration hy
applying proper remedies, and prevent it from total destruction. By
acting according to the principles set down here, such cases can occur
only by accident ; hut, to avoid the calamity, constant care is requir^ed.
Tlie causes may he diffeient, hut generally it will he found that
neglect, merely, or perhaps ignorance of proper management, created
the trouble.

When wine becomes flat, it wants stimulating. This may he done
by various means. The liquid from two pounds of raisins, cut fine,
and soaked a few days in a gallon of good rectified alcohol, then pressed
and strained, is mixed with a couple of gallons of the flat wine, heated
to near boiling, and all put into the cask again. After it has been
well stirred^ the bung is replaced and left undisturbed for at least two
months, when it may be drawn into another cask, previously well-
sulphured. Every thirty gallons will require a gallon of alcohol and
two pounds of raisins.

Another good remedy is, from each thirty gallons of flat wine two
gallons are taken out, two pounds of well-dried grape-seed added, and
brought over fire ; while it is heating the seeds are stirred and rubbed
with a beater, and after a while the liquid is strained and put hot into
the cask again, which is bunged up immediately. Practical knowledge
and experience are necessary to manage such wines ; but the cause of
the trouble may easily be prevented by adhering to the general princi-
ples of wine-making.

If the cask produced the flatness, the wine must be drawn first into
another, before anything is done with it. When the wine becomes
excited, turbid, and ferments again, which may occur often in poor
cellars, if the weather should change from cold to warm, or if the
casks have been opened in close, sulky, and cloudy weather^ the diffi-
culty will be found most likely in the cellar. Wine cannot be ex-
pected to keep and mature well in a poor cellar, which, perhaps, is
also used for other purposes. '

Sulphur is a good remedy. An empty, clean cask is provided, two
gallons of the infected wine put in, a strip of sulphured cotton ignited,
the bung driven in, and the cask rolled. After a while, two gallons
more of wine are put in, sulphured, and rolled again, according to the
quantity to be cured ; eight or ten gallons may be impregnated with
sulphur, or even more ; and finally restored to its stand, and well-
stirred, with the bung out.

Further treatment of the wine, and its fining. — After the wine has
been drawn once, there is still more or less undissolved matter in it,
which will soon settle to the bottom of the cask and therefore render
necessary another drawing. This must be done, generally, three or
four times before the wine gets clear, well-fined, and fit for the market.
The proper time for drawing will be at intervals of from three to five
months ; but experience and judgment alone can point out the exact
period. If it is desired to sell the wine before it has attained its finish,

AMERICAN GRAPES. \)6

it must be fined. This is done by taking out of the cask from four to
five gallons, and adding to each thirty gallons the whites often eggs;
these are beaten to foam with the wine, finally put into the cask, well
stirred, and the cask bunged up.

Or powdered gum arable may be used, in the proportion of one ounce
to fifty gallons of wine, well stirred with the whole contents. Both
articles are perfectly harmless to the character of the wine, and en-
tirely answer the purpose. In the course of from four to six days the
wine will be in the desired condition to draw and bottle for market.
It will keep best and improve more in the casks ; but there are several
instances when, after it has been drawn, and the casks filled, portions
remain, for which no casks small enough can be provided; it is better
to draw such portions at once into bottles. Simple as the bottling
seems to be, yet there are many things to be observed, in order to keep
the wine well and prevent it from becoming flat and turbid. The first
and chief requirements are clean, sweet bottles, and new, fresh corks ;
it must be a rule strictly adhered to, that as soon as a bottle is emptied
it is to be rinsed out well with water and placed in the open air, on a
shelf or frame erected for the purpose ; before using, it is rinsed out once
more, and then filled within two inches of the mouth. The cork,
which should fit exactly, is dipped into wine, and driven well in. The
bottles should always be placed in a horizontal position, so that the
corks cannot get dry and admit air, which is generally the reason why
the wine gets flat. They keep best if put in dry sand, one above the
other. As further protection, the corks may be waxed.

USE OF THE HUSKS, LEES, AND SEEDS.

Use of the hushs, — These may be differently used ; a pleasant wine
can be made of them, in the way already described, but a real good
marketable wine is obtained by adding sugar in proportion to the
vinous principles, found out by proper instruments, by which all wines
have to be brought up to a certain standard point, most favorable to
their development. But, as a description of this modern art of Avine-
making would require more room than has been allowed, it may only
be mentioned that a vintage can be increased from a hundred to two
hundred per cent, without the least detriment to its quality.

If the husks are not wanted for this purpose, a good vinegar may
be obtained from them. As soon as they come from the press they are
broken up fine, and put into a vinegar vat, twice their bulk of rain-
water added, with two gallons of lees and a quart of beer-yeast to each
barrel. The vat is set in a warm room, but not in a fermenting room,
cellar, or anyioliere near ivine, and allowed to stand till the vinegar is
formed, which is then drawn into barrels, the husks being brought to
the compost heap, or directly to the vineyard.

Use of the lees. — The lees contain considerable undissolved sugai
and other vinous substances, which, by distilling, make a highly fla-
vored brandy. The quantity may be increased without affecting its
good quality by adding to each barrel of lees half a barrel of well-rec-
tified alcohol ; that from potatoes is the best. Let it stand a couple
of weeks, turning the cask once or twice a day, and finally it will be

94 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

fit for the still. The remainder in the still, too weak for brandy^
makes a good vinegar. Lees are likewise a good stimulant for flat,
insipid wine, and a portion should always he kept on hand to he thus
applied.

Use of the seeds. — G-rape seeds are very valuable for fining and
iStrengthening the wine ; they may he used either in the manner men-
tioned, or a few handsful thrown into the cask just as they are.
They must he well dried, and kept hung up in an airy place.

DRS. GALL AND PETIOL'S METHOD OF WINE-MAKING, ACCORDING TO
THE MODERN PRINCIPLES ADOPTED IN GERMANY AND FRANCE.

In consequence of many failures in the ripening of the grapes, and
diseases spreading rapidly over the continent, more or less destroying
the crops of whole districts, grape culturists and chemists began to
look for remedies and substitutes for those principles in which the
vintages are deficient.

Much has been said against this method^ and much suggested to
neutralize predominating acids without resort to sugar and water, but
all experiments have thus far failed, either the wine would get flat at
once, or be unfit for nse on account of its harshness. More than fifty
years ago, Chaptal, Cadet de Vaux, and other eminent chemists, sug-
gested that poor wines might be improved by adding sugar ; later,
Claudot-Dumont urged his countrymen to abstain from the bad prac-
tice of sweating and mixing their poor wines, and recommended sugar
as the best agent to improve them. But neither of these chemists
were able to point out in what proportion sugar should be used to ob-
tain the desired result. This problem has finally been solved by Drs.
Gall and Petiol, and approved by such men as Thenard, Dobereiner,
Von Babo, Bronner, and others.

Drs. Gall and Petiol both discovered, after many analytical experi-
ments and researches, that the surplus acids in the grape-juice can be
turned to good account, by bringing its other ingredients (sugar and
water) to a proper proportion. Every kind of grape-juice is nothing
but clear vfater, in which are dissolved from six to thirty per cent, of
sugar, two to four per cent, of free acids, and from three to five per
cent, of other matter, or the essence of wine-making principles. Sugar
converts itself into alcohol by fermenting, and two per cent, of sugar
will produce, in the average, one per cent, of alcohol ; the free acids,
if they are in proportion to the other principles, give the wine its
agreeable vinous character, its flavor, &c.; the last properties contain
the principles necessary for fermenting, fining, and keeping. Dr.
Gall has further proved the fact that these different acids in the grape
do not require particular notice ; it is sufficient to find out the whole
sum, and then treat them alike. In order to ascertain what per cent-
age of sugar and acids the must, or grape-juice, contains, two difier-
ent instruments are required, a "^must scale" and an ''acidimeter ;"
for the first purpose Oechsle's must scale is generally used, and Otto's
acklimeter for the second ; on both are the foHowing calculations based,
illustrative of this method. None of these instruments have been yet

AMERICAN GRAPES. 95

introduced into our country, but it may be presumed tliat, when a de-
mand for tbem shall be manifested, some of the leading druggists will
respond, and import them. They may, however, be procured at any
time direct from the manufacturers, Dr. L. C. Marquart, of Bonn, on
the Rhine, or J. Diehn, Frankfort-on-the-Main.

Experiments continued for eight years have proved that, in favorable
seasons, grape-juice contains, in the average, in 1,000 pounds:

Sugar 240 pounds

Free acids 6 pounds

Water 754 pounds

1,000

Which proportion may be set down as a normal ; therefore, to obtain
good wine from a vintage of inferior quality^ these proportions must
be secured by adding sugar and water. It will be seen that the con-
tents of the acids are the indicating point as to what quantities of
sugar and water would be required to bring the wine to such a normal
state ; further, as has been the case generally, the less sugar the more
acids. The per cent, of acid in the grape-juice is the basis on which a
calculation must be founded.

All practical grape-growers and wine-makers in Germany and
France admit that a wine containing the proportion of sugar, acids,
and water above-described, is in every respect preferable to heavier or
lighter wines. It has lately been called a " normal wine," and will
serve here as well as a standard.

When a must contains, instead of twenty-four per cent., only fifteen
per cent., or instead of two hundred and forty pounds, only one hun-
dred and fifty pounds of sugar, but, instead of only six per cent, or
pounds, nine per cent, of acids in one thousand pounds, the question
arises, how much sugar and water will have to be added, to bring such
a must to the proportion of a normal wine? To solve it, we calculate
thus : if, in six pounds of acid, in a normal wine, two hundred and
forty pounds of sugar appear, how much sugar is wanted for nine
pounds of acids? Answer: three hundred and sixtj^ pounds. And
again : If, in six pounds of acids, in a normal wine, seven hundred
and fifty -four pounds of water appear, how much water is required for
nine pounds of acids ? Answer : one thousand one hundred and thirty-
one pounds. As, therefore, the must which we intend to improve by
neutralizing its acids should contain 360 pounds of sugar, 9 pounds of
acids, and 1,131 pounds of water, but contains already 150 pounds of
sugar, 9 pounds of acids, and 841 pounds of water, remain to be added
210 pounds of sugar, 0 pounds of acids, and 290 pounds of water.

By ameliorating a quantity of 1,000 pounds must

by 210 pounds sugar
and 290 pounds water,

we obtain 1,500 pounds of must, consisting of
the same properties as the normal must, which makes a first-class wine.
The increase of the quantity is five hundred pounds, or two hundred

96 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

and fifteen quarts, wliicli, after deducting tlie outlay for sugar, two
hundred and ten pounds, at twelve and a half cents per pound, amounts
to twenty-six dollars and twenty-five cents, and, allowing fifty cents
per quart, leaves a clear profit of eiglity-one dollars and twenty-five
cents.

Another illustration, which prohably comes near the qualities of
northern wild native grapes — already largely manufactured into wine,
but, for want of knowledge, seldom accepted in market — may be thus
calculated: Such grape-juice, or must, contains twelve per cent., or
one hundred and twenty pounds of sugar, and fifteen per cent., or
pounds of acids. One thousand pounds of such must will consist,
then, of one hundred and twenty pounds of sugar, fifteen pounds
of acids, and eight hundred and sixty-five pounds of water. In order
to neutralize these acids, and make them proportionate, correspond-
ing vfith wine of a good character and normal state, it will require to
15 pounds of acids, 600 pounds of sugar and 1,885 pounds of water ;
as the must contains 15 pounds of acids, 120 pounds of sugar, and
865 pounds of water, have to be added 0 pounds of acids, 480 pounds
of sugar, and 1,020 j)ounds of water.

Such improved must will, therefore, consist of —
15 pounds of acids,
600 pounds of sugar,
1,885 pounds of water,

2,500 pounds.

Deducting one thousand pounds of must, which furnished the wine-
making principles, acids, &c., gives a surplus of fifteen hundred
pounds, or six hundred and forty-five quarts of must in a normal
state. Value of six hundred and forty-five quarts, at fifty cents per
quart, three hundred and twenty-two dollars and fifty cents. Cost of
four hundred and eighty pounds of sugar, at twelve and a half cents
per pound, sixty dollars. Net profit, two hundred and sixty-two
dollars and fifty cents.

It will be seen that such wine is produced at the small expense of
nine and a quarter cents per quart, omitting the one thousand pounds,
or four hundred and thirty quarts, which furnished the wine-making
principles. But a true estimate of the cost of such a wine from the
wild native grapes when they have to be bought must be calculated
thus :

3,000 pounds of grapes, at 3-| cents per pound |105

480 pounds of sugar, at 12^ cents per pound 60

165

And as one hundred and sixty-five dollars make two thousand five
hundred pounds of must, or one thousand seventy-five quarts, the
actual expense is fifteen and one third cents per quart; allowing in-
terest on capital invested for apparatus, casks, shrinkage, and labor,
the whole expense will not average twenty cents per quart.

AMERICAN GRAPES. 97

An immense field of profitable employment presents itself to indus-
trious men. In a favorable season a man will g'ather five bushels of
wild grapes in a day, from which he obtains at least eighty quarts of
natural wine, while if ameliorated according to Drs. Gall and Petiol,
he will get one hundred and twenty quarts of good normal wine.

It is further proved that such wines made according to these princi-
ples mature at least in half the time required by natural wine, and
keep better ; consequently, permitting a quicker return of invested
capital, a Ijetter article for speculation, safe transport to distant
markets, &c. Thus, too, a good v/ine can be made of an inferior
vintage, grown in an unfavorable season, and the quantity of a rich
vintage increased to two hundred per cent., without the least detriment
to its quality. It is very important that this method should be intro-
duced into our country ; it will not only encourage people to more
activity in this lucrative branch of industry, but will furnish us with
a wholesome and pleasant beverage ; insuring as a pure, cheap article,
a large consumption and a ready sale.

Grapes properly cultivated in vineyards or gardens, and in favorable
climates and localities, will generally contain sufficient sugar and no
surplus of acids ; so it may appear that there is no need to practice this
method. But Drs. Gall and others found by analyzing the husks or
pomace, after the juice had been extracted by means of povf erful presses,
that these not only still contained a considerable amount of juice, but also
a great amount of extracts or wine-making principles, in many cases
sufficient for three times the bulk of the juice previously obtained.
This fact suggested the question : as there are so many of these valuable
properties left, and only sugar and water exhausted, v/hy cannot these
principles be substituted till the other are completely used up ? It
was found that it could be easily done !

The secret of making wine from water was thus solved, and an all-im-
portant principle for wine-making established. By further experiments
these speculations not only proved to be correct, but it was in most
cases impossible to judge which was natural wine, or which the pro-
duct of this new method ; indeed, the preference is generally given to
the latter. While natural wine is so very different, according to cir-
cumstances v/hich prevailed in its growth, such "Gallized" wine is
always in peri^ct harmony, because its contents are not the results of
chance, but the close follovf ing of the process of Nature.

The 2:>ractice of this method is quite simple ; for instance, let the
vintage be of an average good quality, the must containing twenty-
four per cent, of sugar and six per cent, of acid, and the quantity ono
thousand pounds. The grapes are mashed in the usual way, but not
pressed ; the juice, if it be white wine, drawn off into casks to ferment ;
if claret or red wine, it is fermented on the husks, as described in a
former paragraph, and then drawn off into casks. Before this is done,
however, tv/o hundred and forty pounds of sugar are dissolved in seven
hundred and fifty-four pounds of water, and as soon as the grape-juice
is drawn off, this solution is put on the husks in the fermenting vat.
It is absolutely necessary to have sugar-water prepared and ready for
an infusion before the wine is drawn from the fermenting vat, and put
immediately on the pomace as soon as the wine is off, to prevent their
7 A

98 AaRICULTURAL REPORT.

coming in contact with tlie air, getting dry, moldy, and spoiled. It
is practicable to draw off this infusion once a,nd' put it on the husks
again in order that their fatty substances may be better dissolved ; but
this operation has to be performed without delay, as fermentation
commences immediately*, and must not be interrupted. The water
used for that purpose should be soft rain or cistern water. A large
iron or copper kettle is put over a fire and heated, in which the sugar
is thoroughly dissolved, and then the whole brought to a temperature
of '70° and poured over theliusks in the vat.

The'mode of fermenting, temperature, and the entire operation, .is
the same as before described. To obtain a certain color, it may be
necessary to let this second wine remain longer on the. husks and in
the vat. The proper period for drawing will be best found out by often
examining samples till the desired result is obtained. When this is
the case, the young wine is drawn off and filled into casks.

Again, two hundred and forty pounds of sugar are dissolved in seven
hundred and fiftj^-four pounds of v^^ater put on the husks and managed
as before stated. Should this second wine, after it has fermented and
been drawn off from the lees, contain less than five per cent, of acid,
it will be necessary to add two ounces of tartaric acid to each one hun-
dred pounds, or twenty ounces to one thousand pounds of wine; the
tartar is pulverized and dissolved in two quarts of heated wine, which
is then j^ut into the casks and well stirred.

After this third wine (second infusion) has fermented and been
drawn off, the husks are taken out and put under the press, and the
extracted juice added to the rest in the casks. This wine is treated
like other wines, only left some time longer on the lees before drawing
and fining. There is, from one thousand pounds, or four hundred and
thirty quarts of must, an increase of two thousand pounds, or eight
hundred and sixty quarts of wine, which, after charging for four hun-
dred and eighty pounds of sugar, at twelve and a half cents per pound,
will equal sixty dollars, or not quite seven cents per quart.

The must-scale and acidimeter have to be used often while such wine
is in its fermenting process, and before it is drawn off from the vat, in
order to examine and find out the capacity of the husks, whether they
contain sufiicient properties for another infusion, or only for 'a part.
If the result of the examination of the young wine shows an undimin-
ished amount of acids, the husks will bear another infusion of sugar-
water to the same amount as before ; or if there is found a deficiency
of one and a half or two per cent., the quantity of sugar and water
must be regulated accordingly. For instance^ after the first infusion
has fermented, the pomace shows a decrease of two per cent, of acids,
or wine-extracts, but there is still four per cent, remaining, which, if
fermented with a proportionate quantity of sugar-water, will make as
good a wine as any. Therefore, to determine of vdiat proportion the
second infusion should consist, we calculate thus : If six per cent, of
acids require two hundred and forty pounds of sugar, how much is
wanted lor four per cent.? Answer. One hundred and sixty pounds.
Now, if six per cent, of acid required seven hundred and fifty-four
pounds of water, how much is wanted to four per cent. ? Answer.

AMERICAN GRAPES. 99

Five liundred and two and two third pounds. There is CQnsequently
wanted for the second infusion one hundred and sixty pounds of sugar
and five hundred and two and two third pounds of water.

It will sometimes be found that, after two infusions have been fer-
mented^ and two hundred per cent, obtained, the pomace still contains
several per cent, of wine extract ; therefore, a third infusion of sugar-
water may be applied, and a still larger quantity of v^ine obtained.
The calculation in regard to the amount of sugar and water to be used
is the same. In either case, should a stronger vinous taste be desired,
tartaric acid is added by degrees till the object is attained.

To facilitate these manipulations, it is necessary to construct tables,
in which the proportion of weight and measure to each other are cal-
culated. It will be found more convenient in practice to measure the
must and Vc^ater, instead of weighing, and as must will differ in its
specific weight, according to its acids and saccharine properties, it is
necessary to have a table, on which can be ascertained, according to
the indication of the scales, the exact amount of each. On the table,
for instance, which has been calculated and constructed to Oechsle's
must-scale, when ninety-five per cent, is indicated, it will be found
that the must contains 21.8 per cent, of sugar. The acids and extracts
which the must contains increase its specific weight, and prevent the
scale from sinking and showing the amount of sugar correctly, being
deducted, and the exact amount of sugar found on it. For the acidi-
meter, a table is constructed, on which is found the calculation how
the per cents, of acid compare with those of sugar, and how much
water is required for certain per cents, of acids and sugar in weight
and measure.

These tables, as they are compiled in conformity with the scales, are
generally supplied with the instruments, and with directions for use.

As the sugar contains more or less water, even when it appears
perfectly dry, it is necessary, after a certaiii quantity has been dis-
solved for such ameliorating purposes, to use the must-scale, find out
how it compares with the intended purpose, and regulate the balance
by either adding more sugar or water till the desired point on the
scale is correct.

It is a matter of course that only sugar of the best quality should be
used ; grape sugar is the best ; but as this cannot be had cheap and in
large quantities, white loaf sugar must be used. Still, there is no
doubt that enough of the former will be manufactured as soon as a
demand is manifested.

Since the introduction of this new method of wine-maldng into Grer-
many, several grape-sugar factories have been established, and are all
doing well, as the demand for this article increases from year to year.
Grape sugar can be produced from forty to fifty per cent, cheaper than
v/hite loaf sugar ; it is, therefore, a great desideratum that this method
should be adopted.

It lias been suggested to keep each part of the wine by itself: as the
natural wine, the first, second, and third, that a fair chance of judg-
ment may be had ; but afterward, when the result has given satisfac-
tion, and all doubts are removed, it will be found that no reason exists
why they sh(^ild not be mixed a,t once, as the care and management

100' AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

will be considerably facilitated, without interfering in the least with
its quality.

But as experience and judgment are required to put this method in
practice, it will be .best to begin with a small quantity.

Success will follow good management in this branch, as well as in
any other of horticulture or agriculture, and more so here, as these
principles correspond precisely with Nature.

ON THE PEODUCTIONS OF THE IONIAN ISLANDS

AND ITALY.

BY S. B. PARSONS, OP FLUSHING, NEW YORK.

We landed opposite the little town of Samos, on the island of Ceph-
alonia. Our ride up the mountain, from this place, was full of inter-
est, with delightful glimpses of the coast and sea, patches of vines,
with the peculiar ant-hill culture noticed first in Zante, and wild
flowers and trees, many of which were new to us. Cyclamens, ane-
mones, and iris were abundant. The Quercus ilex, or holly oak, grow-
ing in the plains of large sise, became dwarf as we ascended, until, at
the greatest altitude, it creeps like a vine upon the ground, in large
rich masses, v/itll very small leaves. Although flourishing here in the
snow region^^it has not proved hardy about New York, but would
doubtless be-so wherever the QiLercus virens, or live oak, will grow.
With its rich, glossy, holly foliage, it would be a valuable addition to
our ornamental trees. That which most excited our admiration, how-
ever, was the Ceratonia siliqica, or carob tree. It is round headed, ever-
green, with leaves placed and formed like the locust, but thick and
glossy as the Pittosporum. It bears a pod, which is eaten by cattle,
and is used largely for government horses in Malta. In Sicily, a spirit
is distilled from it. It grows wild everywhere, and is said to be the
same tree which furnished food to John the Baptist. A superior va-
riety is cultivated by grafting upon the wild species. It would doubt-
less succeed in our extreme southern States, for we found it on high
positions, and in the snow region. Some seeds for distribution will be
forwarded to the Patent Office, and it will be found worthy of careful
trial, combining, as it does, great beauty with the production of a use-
ful article of food.

At one of the villages, we found the women crocheting capes and
sleeves with a thread made from the fibers of the aloes. The fabric
v/as light, glossy, and beautiful ; and the fiber could readily be culti-
vated in our southern States.

The culture of grape and currant, on Mr. Pana's estate, is very
thorough. It was pleasant to notice his frank, kind manner with his
laborers, and their respectful, ready answers. He is said to be un-
cqualed on the island for the thought and intelligence Which he givea

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY- lOl

to his estates. His gardens were full of oranges, pears, Japan med-
lars, grapeS; and quinces, while roses were blooming everywhere.

We wished to ascend the Black mountain, to see the noble speci-
mens of Picea cephalonica, which are found here only, and took mules
up the almost j^recipitous sides, among piles of rocks and stones, with
a few flowers struggling from among them, and very little vegetation,
except mosses and the dwarf Quercus ilex. After some hard work, v/e
reached the forest of pines, and, passing through a part of it, arrived
at the government cottage, where rangers are kept to protect the wood.
The sight of the trees fully repaid us. Here were superb specimens of
Ficea cephaloovica , fifty or sixty feet high, growing where they had
abundant room to develop, straight as an arrow and symmetrical as a
pyramid, with the rich, glossy foliage peculiar to the species. Some
of the specimens had trunks three feet in diameter, and covered as
much ground as a large live oak in Florida. As the tree is perfectly
hardy near New York, we were anxious to procure some seed, but
looked in vain for cones. One was brought us by a ranger, but the
seed was all worthless. We could now readily understand why it is
that the French and English have been unable to procure this seed;
and that the tree is still a rare one in England, notwithstanding the
great rage there for all fine conifer?e. From the overhanging rocks,
nearly three thousand feet high, we caught a superb view of the island
and sea, as the clouds rolled away below us for a few minutes. The
barren peaks loomed up, white with limestone; rich -olive groves and
small villages dotted the plain ; and the sea, winding in among the
islands, gave the coast many little coves with picturesque effect.

In Cephalonia, the sides of the mountains below the' snow line are
planted with vines on the steepest declivities. The whole ground is
white with small pieces of limestone, and these are often a foot deej).
Among them the vine is planted, and one can scarcely conceive how
great must be the change, on the appearance of vegetation, from their
present white barrenness to the living green of the new leaves. No
soil was to be seen on the surface, where the vines had not yet been
touched with the hoe. On digging down there is found a rich-looking,
bright red soil, called te^ra rosa, which is sometimes used for mortar,
and is evidently full of iron. In some places the vines were planted
in water-courses, and much earth had been washed away from the
roots. These are said to produce the best wine. It is evident from
their experience in Cephalonia that the vine thrives well with plenty
of stone and surface water. We noticed many fossils, and passed a
fathomless lake two thousand feet above the sea. The whole, road
down the mountain was full of glimpses of beauty. In the valley "WS
again met the luxuriant vegetation which this climate and soil give.

Cephalonia is not so highly cultivated as Zante, but its specialities
are the same — currants, grapes, and olives. We saw no cows on the
island, and but few oxen, of inferior breed, imported from Morea.
Thero are few horses, and those of inferior character. Fish are plen-
tiful and good. Lemons and oranges are abundant, but not exported.
The blood-oranges are the best, and we could hear of no insect upon
them. They have a singular mode of propagating the lemon, in order
to insure the same variety. A brancli, two or three feet long, is buried

102 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. -

in the ground^ in a sloping direction, tlie upper end being six inches
below the surface, and several inches of the lower end left out of the
ground. In other words, it is a cutting reversed. • That part a,bove
the ground sends up a shoot vfliich grows with great rapidity, vdiile
the part below remains dormant or decays. Jaj^an medlars grow here
of large size, and are said to produce fine fruit. Currants are produced
in large quantities, but with the exception of those of Mr. Pana, the
cultivation is not equal to that of Zante.

Olives are cultivated by cuttings, and also by grafting. Twenty-
five thousand barrels of oil are made annually. The" harvest is from
October to December, inclusive. The ripest fruit is the richest, and.
the best is grown on the hills. Five to forty bushels are produced by
a tree, and one bushel will make two gallons of oil.

Near Lixuri is a heavy gray argillaceous soil, and all along the coast
are numerous marshes, which could be easily drained and thus ren-
dered extremely fertile.

The caper grows wild, but is never prejoared for exportation. A list
of about two hundred species of plants and trees found in Cephalonia
was obtained, which, if desired, will be furnished to the department.
Of these. Salvia officinalis is used for asthma, Golutea arhorescens in-
stead of senna leaves, (this is hardy near IST.ew York,) and Phytolacca,
applied externally, is considered a specific in cancer, producing exces-
sive pain and inflammation, and curing in six or eight weeks.

Orange trees, the size of full-bearing apple trees, and filled with
fruit; Japan medlars, fifteen feet high; Portugal laurel, of the same
height ; large and beautiful specimens of Lauristinus, in full bloom,
(and this in January;) pride of India; immense cactus and aloes ; large
acacias ; a sort of Gleditschia, the pods of which are sold in the market ;
date palms, myrtle, pine, cypress, and olives, clothe the valleys and
hills. The olives, unlike the Italian, were very large and spreading,
and their trunks split and perforated, often to such a d.egree that one
wondered vfhere vitality could exist. The French cut down most of
the finest trees during the rule of the first Napoleon, and after the
island Avas delivered to the English, in 1815, the government oifered
a shilling bounty for each tree planted, hoping thu^ to encourage their
grov.^th. It was partially successful, and there are nov/ a great num-
ber of fine trees upon the island. The only kind grov/n is the small
variety, for oil. A large variety, used for pickles, is produced upon
the adjacent island of Paxos.

Corfu has a great abundance of rich soil, but is not under good cul-
ture. The ruinous metayer, or contract system, prevails here, and few
cultivate their own lands. They are let out on short leases, for one
third or one fifth of the produce. For want of intelligent manage-
ment, the olive and vine, of which three fourths of the culture con-
sist, are very much neglected. The vine is of the poorest quality,
while the olive trees are too thickly planted for ventilation, and never
regularly pruned nor dug. Instead of being carefully picked, the
fruits are allowed to fall, from October to Aprils and many are half-
rotten before being pressed. Sometimes they are stored and salted,
until a more convenient time for manufacture. The ripe olives make
better oil, but not of such fine appearance as the unripe. The trees

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY

103

blossom in April and ripen in October, when tlie fruit harvest begins.
The soil is a very rich, stiJtf, tenacious clay, retentive of moisture, and
interspersed with stone and rock, of limestone and silex. Arable land
bears a small proportion to woodland and pasture.

Quercus aegilops is found in the mountaiii,s, and its acorn, called
halania, is sometimes used for a dye-stuff. Figs, pomegranates,
apricots, almonds, plums, peaches, and melons abound, and there is
some culture of the cereals. Oranges fruit and flower together through
all the year. Apricots, almonds, plums, andpeaches flower in February.
Peas, beans, potatoes, and cherries ripen in April. The hay harvest
is in May ; that of barley, oats, wheat, and flax in June. Indian corn
and millet generally ripen in August, but sometimes, in bad years, not
un'cil September or October. The vintage begins the latter part of
September.

The following table, obtained from the garrison librarian, will give
the best idea of the temperature. It is the monthly average for ten
years :

1-3

3
fcs
3

.3
O

S
o

5Si

47'

7.40

5.27

51-i

40'

3.74

1.60

6,5i

0.69

87i

72i

58i

0.70"

77i

0.23

88
76
63i
1.36

70'

58i

3.17

65i

53'

5.86

6Si

57|

44i

7.25"

Mean

49-!

5.47

In 1839, there were 17 inches feil In November.
In 1842, there were 19 inches fell in January.

There are no animals peculiar to Corfu. Pasture is scarce, and cat-
tle are brought from Albania. Dogs are reared with great difficulty.
The birds most common are havfks, owls, crows, partridges, quails,
woodcock, snipe, plover, wild duck, and pigeons, the last in large
quantities. Eggs are abundant, and good butter and cheese are made
from goat's milk. The fuel is wood, charcoal, and cliosto, or refuse
fi'om the oil mills. The peasants are industrious and thrive well on
their daily allowance of food, which is two pounds of coarse bread,
seasoned by a few cloves of garlic, with a little weak wine. Meat is
almost an unknovv^n luxury with them, although we noticed in the
market some fine turkeys and chickens, for the use of the wealthier
classes. Among the peasants are several curative practices which they
think specifics. They treat the pip in fowls by removing the crust on
the tongue, and then making them swallow it in oil, v/hich purges
copiously. Convulsions in goats are cured by a seton thrust through
the cartilage of the nose. Setons of green hellebore are inserted in
horses for pectoral diseases. To prevent hydrophobia, a paste of
verhascwn and cantharides is given dogs. Teucvium tincture is used
for intermittent fevers. Excellent honey is made, and Melissa officinalis
is cultivated for the bees. Or ganum vulgar e i^ used for dying wool
purple, and Juncus acutus is gi'0V\ai for the manufacture of mats and
cordage, but too limited in extent to' afford any opportunity of ex-
amining its culture.

104 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

We cannot liear of any insect upon the orange or lemon. The olive
appears to be infested by an insect, which caused knots upon the limbs,
similar to those which grow upon our plum trees. There is also an
insect, something like the curculio, which destroys the kernel of the
olive. They are sometimes collected and destroyed by beating the
tree. There are also knots upon the olive similar in character, though
not in shape, to the knees of the cypress^ which are so much dreaded
by travelers in our southern swamps. These are about the size of tv\^o
hands, and are planted to produce young trees. It is difficult to obtain
them in any quantity, on account of the unwillingness of proprietors
to have their trees mutilated. The olive grows fast in a warm climate,
biit very slow in its northern limit, which is about the latitude of
Lyons. Those from the north, would doubtless be most successfuHn
the United States. The Lucca oil is considered the best, from the fact
that a superior quality is made from trees grov/n in high situations,
where ice is often found. Slopes of our Allegiiauies present favorable
sites for this culture. The high lands are also esteemed best for vines,
and produce the finest wines, although the plains yield more abund-
antly.

Near Catania is a highly-cultivated J'egion, with vineyards of great
extent, and large fields of grass, wheat, flax, lupins, &c. The vines
were about four feet apart, and men were plowing between them both
ways, while others, with hoes, were drawing the earth away from the
roots, as in Cephalonia. Many of the plants were of great age, with
stems three or four inches in diameter, and each branch pruned dovv^n
to one or two eyes. Orchards of lemon and almond trees Avere there,
and the earth drawn from their roots, laying bare a circle sometimes
ten or fifteen feet in diameter. The soil is decomposed lava, black,
like peat, even on higu lands, and must be wonderfully fertile. In
many places dykes were formed to catch the rain and keep it upon the
vines as long as possible. We crossed many beds of mountain torrents
several hundred feet wide and running into the sea. Near Catania an
immense stream of lava, a mile wide, is piled up in masses, upon which
nothing will yet grow, except here and there a cactus, the acrid nature
of which is said to aid in disintegrating the mineral.

As we approached Catania there Avere evidences of higher cultivation,
and pleasant-looking country houses, with their gardens, were fre-
quent. Fields of mustard, with their light and vivid green, had a
growth of a foot even thus early in February ; indeed, all the vegeta-
tion evinced the richness of the soil and the tropical nature of the
climate.

Oranges and lemons were abundant, and we occasionally ate some
Indian figs, which were pleasant, but rather too sweet. The sharp
spines with which they are covered render gloves necessary in handling
them. The best fruit we found here were some delicious pears, sold at
a cent each, and the Limoncelli apple, which grows upon the slopes
of Mount Etna, and has a delicate sub-acid flavor.

In the vicinity of Palermo we visited the agricultural school, com-
menced in 1848 under the private endowment of the Due Castel Nuovo
of $5,000 per annum. The director receives $500 annually, the chap-
lain, who also teachesj |325, and the Lancasterian teacher |90, It is

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 106

connected witli 130 acres of land, composed of red calcareous soil, allu-
vial and rich. The plantations of manna and saffron were the most
interesting. The ash trees ibr the manna were planted ten feet apart,
and the bark on one side was full of incisions, from which the gum
had issued. There v/ere good plantations of oranges and lemons, but
it was too early to see their 'growing crops. The building is Grecian,
of very tasteful design, with bed-room, dining-hall, and school of
ample size. A very fine collection of 230 varieties of the woods of the
island was shown us. The ornamental grounds are tasteful, with
trimmed cypresses, seventy years old, and walls painted with good
landscapes, above Avhich rose at a distance the real mountains. A
flov,'-er-garcien, in the French style, a statue, and groups of shrubs,
aided the effect of the scene. There are twenty-six pupils, four of
whom arc charity, the others paying about fifty dollars a year, which
sum includes clothing, board, and tuition. Three meals a day are
given them; breakfast an hour after sunrise, consisting of bread, with
fruit, cheese, or sausages; dinner at noon, of v/ine, bread, and soup,
with meat three "times a week, and on the alternate days beans and
maccaroni, with a ragout on the Sabbath ; supper at eight, of bread
and cheese, salad, and boiled greens. Napkins were provided, and the
table-tops were of marble. Five hours a day is devoted to practice in
the field, and four hours in the school to scientific studies.

AGRAMI.

Oranges^ Lemons, and Citrons.- — Of these, the best known and
most generally cultivated are the common orange and its varieties,
the blood orange, the Seville or sour orange, and the bergamot ; the
common lemon, the sweet lemon, and the bergamot; the Florence
citron, distinguished by its delicate, grateful, and highly-scented
oil, contained in the rind, and the imperial citron, a rough, irregular
fruit, growing to a great size, and chiefly cultivated as a curiosity.
The citron is cut in two, placed in salt water ten or twelve days, then
laid down in salt, and sent thus to Leghorn, Genoa, and France, to be
preserved in sugar. These, and all the varieties of the citron family,
require a v/arm climate, a rich, loamy soil, somewhat loose, and an
eastern or sunny exposure. Stable manure is used freely, and the best
fruit is grow^n on the richest soil. An abundant supply of water is
also requisite, especially for the lemon species^ whose roots, spreading
horizontally and rarely striking deep, are most exposed to the burning-
heat of the summer. In preparing for a plantation, the ground is
made gently sloping, with just enough descent to allow water to run,
and is then dyked in eight feet squares. Every week or fortnight after
being planted, according to the weather, water is turned on the highest
of these, and then on each lower one, successively. This is continued
all summer. As the same water is used by many, some irrigate at
mid-day, and do not consider it injurious. The trees are grown in
nurseries, and when of sufiicient size are planted in orchards, fifteen
icet apart. The lemon, from its more straggling growth, will do better
at twenty feet. The fruit from ungraftecl trees grows larger, and is
esteemed as good as that from grafted trees for home consumption.

106 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

The latter, liowever^ are preferred, for several reasons. Tlie natural
fruit is more delicate in its texture, matures quicker, and will not keep
so well for exportation. It is also tliorny, and wounds the fruit.
Trees are sometimes grown from cuttings, but are thought to bear less
and to be of shorter duration than those from seed. The trees may be
raised from seed, or propagated by layers and young branches. When
the plants are cultivated with attention and skill, they come into
bearing in four or five years. In ten or twelve years a moderate crop
is annually produced, and at from twelve to twenty they may be con-
sidered in full bearing. An average-sized, adult tree will produce
from twelve hundred to two thousand fruit, although there are many
larger trees that will yield from four to six thousand. Of these, one
sixth are unfit for exportation, and are used for home consumption or
cut up for lemon juice and oil. From the flowers of the orange an
agreeably-scented water, well known in commerce, is obtained by distil-
lation. The bitter peel of the sour or Seville orange, as also the orange
buds or small fruit which are blighted on the trees of all varieties in
the month of June, afi^ord a considerable article of commerce. They
are dried, and shipped to Germany and other parts of the north, where
they are either consumed by the brewers of malt liquors or converted
into cordials by infusion or distillation over spirits. The fruit intended
for exportation is gathered with the greatest care, and deposited in
baskets lined with sacking or hemp cloth. The sound and most perfect
being selected, they are wrapped in a light-brown, thin paper, imported
from Genoa and Trieste, the rags composing Vvdiich go from Sicily.
Large sums are sent annually to Genoa for its j)urchase. They are
then packed in light, boxes, double-lined with this paper. This gath-
ering and packing continues from November to March, and is done by
men, v.^omen, and children, in the country, under a contractor, who
receives eight cents for each box of three hundred and sixty. In this
shape they are brought to the city store-houses, where, after remaining
eiglit or ten days, they are all unpacked and examined, and any orange
or lemon showing the least scratcli or blemish is cast into a bin, to be
sold in small quantities to the city retail dealers. The perfect ones are
then again wrapped and packed as before. If, by some accident, they are
not shipped, the same process is repeated every two weeks, so that when
shipped they are always perfect, and likely to keep for a long time. The
assorting and wrapping- by women, at eighteen cents a day, and packing
by men, at thirty-two cents, requires some skill a-nd dexterity to suit
the numbers contained in the cases to the customs of the country to
which they are to be sent. Each case is divided across the middle into
two equal parts, in each of which the fruit is arranged in five tiers.
Children are employed in smoothing the papers taken from the fruit in
the unpacking, and these children earn about two cents per day beside
fruit enough to eat with their bread.

Of lemons intended for England and America, the usual number in
such cases is three hundred and sixty ; of oranges, the size of the case
for which is smaller, the number is two hundred and forty. The first
shipment of lemons, called "di jyrimi fiori," takes place in September;
they are considered much inferior to the subsequent gathering, from
November to January, as they have a hard, thick rind, and contain

THE lONIAlN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 107

little juice. These are mostly sent to Trieste, and to the markets in
the Mediterranean, while some few find their way to England, as early
shipments. Lemons for exportation should weigh at least three and a
half ounces each, have a firm rind, moderately thick, ahoundvfith acid
juice, and not he unripe. For this latter quality, the fruit which is
gathered and packed green, in the early part of the season, is greatly
to he preferred for foreign markets. About the month of Januar}^,
the lemons, approaching to maturity, hegin to change their color on
the tree, from whicli time they gradually decline in quality for long-
voyages, until the month of March, when, the trees heing exhausted
of their fruit, the gathering season closes until the new crop comes
round. A sufficient quantity of fruit is always kept upon the trees for
home consumption until the next season. The most considerable, and
sometimes the most valuable portion of the fruit, is the scartito, or that
rejected as unfit for exportation, from whicli the essential oil, contained
in the rind, and the juice or citric acid in the pulp, are extracted. The
essential oil is expressed by the hand, in a room from which the air is
carefully excluded, as, owing to its highly volatile nature, the oil pro-
duced would be greatly diminished by currents of air. The skin cut
from three sides of the lemon is pressed between the thumb and finger,
and ten or twelve ounces may be expressed in a long day by an expert
and stead}^ workman. The oil thus expressed is put into large re-
ceivers, whence (after remaining some days to d.eposit the extraneous
matter that comes off with the oil) it is transferred to copper bottles,
for exportation.

The juice, or citric acid, is obtained by submitting the pulp to a pow-
erful press, which, though rustic in construction, is efficient. This is
worked during the season night and day. The cjuantity of juice pro-
duced from one press during twenty-four hours averages one hundred
and twenty-six gallons. In the average of the season, it requires from
ninety-five to one hundred and five lemons to produce a gallon of juice.
The amount of the annual produce cannot easily be ascertained. The
produce of the district of Messina, including imports from the oppo-
site coast of Calabria, is- stated at two hundred and forty-two millions
of gallons. In seasons of great demand, any quantity maj be pur-
chased, the requisite amount being fraudulently made up by water
mixed with the juice of the sour or Seville orange and that of the
sweet orange taken in its green and immature state ; sometimes the
adulteration is with the juice of unripe grapes.

Lemon juice intended for exportation is put into strong and vfell-
seasoned oak casks, and filled to the bung, so as entirely to exclude
the air. When the lemon juice is originally of a good quality, and
the filling of the casks is completed, the article may be kept in a cel-
lar, or cold place, for any reasonable time. By injudicious manage-
ment, rather than from natural defect, lemon juice shipped to foreign
markets was formerly spoiled before it reached- its destination. To
obviate this evil, a British merchant established in Messina, in 1815,
a manufactory, on a large scale, for crystalizing the citric acid. This
process, however, being found expensive for consumers in general^ a
new mode was introduced, of evaporating the juice over steam, in
leaden pans, four or five feet in diameter, by which tlie watery parts

108 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of the juice being thrown off, there remained nothing but the citric
acid and mucilage, in a highly-concentrated state. This was found to
answer the purposes of calico printers and other great consumers so
completely, that almost all the lemon juice now shipped from Sicily
is boiled down to any given strength ; the degree of that strength,
ascertained by a hydrometer contrived for the purpose, determines the
amount of the duty to be levied on the import.

VINE.

Unlike some other vegetable productions of the island, the cultiva-
tion of the vine is not limited to any particular district or aspect. It
flourishes equally well on the mountains and in the plains, on the sea-
coast and in the interior, in the north and in the south.

The difficulty of transportation in so mountainous a country as
Sicily naturally promotes the most extensive cultivation toward the
coast. That in the interior is principally limited to the vicinity of
large towns, for the consumption of the inhabitants alone.

Generally speaking, the black grape predominates throughout the
island, and from this and the white, too often planted promiscuously,
an endless variety is cultivated in every province. In laying dov/n a
new vineyard, the land, which should slope southerly, is iirst well
cross-plowed, in the month of isTovember, and allowed to rest till the
middle of January. Trenches are then dug, about five feet deep and
from four to five feet apart, which are left open to ventilate about fif-
teen days. The plants, which are vigorous cuttings of the former
year's growth, taken from some neighboring healthy vineyard, and
generally from eight to ten feet long, are placed upright in the
trenches, at a distance of five feet apart, the trench being then filled
in to the depth of three fiset. The upper end of the cutting or magli-
nolo, as it is termed, is then turned down with its point stuck into the
ground to keep it fresh. 'As the season advances: and the plant begins
to vegetate, the remainder of the trench is from time to time filled in.
In the succeeding winter the plants are attentively examined and
pruned, leaving the most vigorous shoots only with not more than two
eyes or buds. The vineyard is then hoed up and kept clean from
weeds, till the end of May or June, a cavity being left around each
plant to receive the rains. The same cultivation is continued for the
second and third years, before which the plants do not show any fruit.
The fourth is generally considered the first year of produce. In those
districts where canes are to be had, the plants are staked in March and
April, to which the shoots are attached as they advance in growth, to
protect them from being broken by the strong northeast winds which
prevail in June, From six or seven years to twenty a vineyard is
considered in its prime bearing, though there are many favored by rich
soil and judicious management, which remain in full bearing forty and
even fifty years. If the plantation is good, the produce of one thou-
sand vines, in the seventh year, will be two hundred and thirty gal-
lons of wine. Where the proprietor holds the vineyard in his own
possession, the average annual expense of cultivation may be estimated

TH^ IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 109

at from two dollars and fifty cents to three dollars and fifty cents per
thousand.

When the owner is an absentee, or puts his vineyard into the hands
of a metmjer, this latter is expected to reside on the spot and perform
all the labor, for which he divides the vintage with the landlord in
equal parts, measured at the press. The expense or cost of the canes
is borne equally by the landlord and metayer, and cuttings are also
divided in equal portions. These agreements are always in favor of
the landlord, as, the metayer being unprovided with casks or stores to
deposit his portion, the whole goes into the hands of the landlord, who,
about Christmas, holds a meeting with other landlords of the same
district, when a price is fixed at which tliey are to settle with the me-
tayers, deducting one half the expense of the vintage. The price is
always much under that at which the wine maybe sold when matured,
but the landlord considers himself entitled to this advantage for the
expense of providing casks and stores, the possibility, in unfavorable
seasons, of the wine turning sour, the bursting of casks, and similar
accidents.

The vintage toward the coast commences, in favorable seasons, from
about the 20th to the 25th of September, but in the mountains and
the interior a month later. Every vineyard of any extent is provided
with apalmento and wine-press, generally constructed in some shed or
convenient out-house adjoining the dwelling of the metayer. This
consists of a substantial stone cistern built upon the floor of the press
room, about three feet deep, and proportioned to the extent of the vine-
yard, having an opening at the bottom, or one side, into which is
introduced a Stone gutter, projecting over a well sunk in the ground,
and immediately under the wall of the cistern above. Sometimes a
wooden cistern is used, which is cheaper, and better adapted to our
economy. The grapes being gathered and thrown into this cistern,
are trodden by men, when the juice flowing through the gutter is re-
ceived into the well below. This treading is kept up as long as any
juice continues to flow, when the husks are collected and heaped in the
middle of the cistern. Being covered with strong planks, they are
then submitted to the press. This consists of a beam of timber, from
twenty to twenty-four feet long, one end of which is let into a hole,
purposely built in the wall, and to the other is affixed a vertical screw,
with a huge stone attached, weighing from twenty to twenty-five hun-
dred weight. This beam passing over the husks, which have |)re-
viously been collected in the middle of the palmento, subjects them to
a most powerful pressure, when the stone is suspended by the winding
of 'the screw. When no more juice flows from the pressure, the husks
are removed, and the must conveyed to the magazine. The produce
of this pressing, which brings out the coloring matter from the musk,
is, in a commercial point of view, considered essential in the quality
of the red wines. So much is a deep color thought desirable in these
wines for a foreign market, that it is a custom, in many parts, to spread
the husks again upon the floor of the palmento, and return the must
thereon, leaving it two or thr?e days to ferment, thereby more effectu-
ally incorporating the coloring matter with the wine ; but the practice
is injudicious, as it imparts to the wine a harsh, acid taste, acquired

110 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. .

from the- stalks. For wliite wines, the husks and stalks are excluded
in the fermentation.

A good vineyard, in favorable seasons, v^^ill produce about four hun-
dred gallons of must per thousand plants ; but an average of the whole
island cannot be calcula^ted at more than two hundred gallons. The
places for the exportation of Sicilian vfines are Messina, Melazzo, Ei-
posto, or Mascali, Catania, Syracuse, Mazzara, Marsala, and Palermo.
Those of Messina and Melazzo are all red, or, according to the term
of the country, hlack wines. Very little of the white grape is culti-
vated, and that chiefly intermixed with the red. In the neighborhood
of Savora, about twenty miles south of Messina, and from Kiposto to
Catania, and thence to Syracuse, including that district, the cultiva-
tion of the white grape preclominates ; hence the shipments from those
ports are principally white wines, and the quality full-bodied and
strong. A description of muscat is made in Syracuse, and much es-
teemed for its rich and luscious flavor.

The most esteemed wines of Sicily, and the most important in com-
mercial rank, are the celebrated white v/ines of Marsada, Mazzara, and
the adjoining territories. As far back as I'ISO, John Woodhouse
settled at Marsala and laid the foundation of the first establishment
for those wines, which have since obtained the highest reputation. It
is said, -however, that the success of this speculation was in the outset
very equivocal. The first shipments were made to America, where it
gradually acquired reputation ; and about 1802 it was introduced into
the English fleet, then under the command of Lord Nelson, in compli-
ment to that oflicer acquiring the appellation of Bronte Madeira; under
which denomination considerable shipments were subsequently made
to England. Five other establishments were afterwards founded, and
have proved ^qyj profitable. Each of these gives employment to nu-
merous workmen. In those of Woodhouse and Ingham, about one
hundred, and in those of others, from fifty to seventy, are in constant
attendance, v\fhose wages and allowance are liberal. A visit to one of
these establishments is always interesting. The great extent of the
premises, the neat arrangement of the work-shops, the close attention
of the principals,- and the incessant activity of the cooi)er and smiths,
make an impression on the visitor ; the strength of which is heightened
by the appearance of the v/ine stores, where from ten to twelve thou-
sand pipes are ranged, tier above tier, extending to a distance of several
hundred yards. The daily earnings of a family, consisting of a father
and fom- sons of various ages, might be estimxated as follows :

Father 28 to 32 cents.

Son, seventeen years 20 to 24 "^

Son, twelve 12 to 14 ''

Son, eight 8 to 10 ''

Son, five 2 to 4 "

Each adult is allowed fire-v/ood for cooking his food^ besides two and
a half quarts of Vv^ine, and a small quantity of oil, per day. Each boy
has the same allowance, excepting wine; his ration of which is about
one quart per diem.

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. Ill

The annual produce in Marsala and tliat territory is estimated at
about twenty-four thousand pipes, of v/liicli one half is supposed to he
consumed in the country. As the grape is a mixture of both white
and black, the v/ine, in its primitive state, would be approaching to
pale-red or cherry color. Artificial means are therefore employed to
reduce the color ; and though much mystery is affected in the subse-
quent management, and each establishment pretends to a process
peculiarly its own, the main secret may be said to consist in frequent
rackings from the lees, taking care never to disturb it in the spring,
or during the prevalence of the sirocco or southeast winds. There is
also a gradual reinforcement of clean spirit; for the preparation of
which, each establishment is provided with the most modern and ap-
proved retort. Three or four years are required to make it marketable.
The neighborhood of Palermo and the surrounding territory produces
abundance of most excellent v^^ines in greafvariety, both red and v/hite,
which are brought into Palermo and prepared for foreign markets. No
less considerable quantities, destined for exportation, are likewise
brought along the coast to this port, whence extensive shipments of
white wines are annually made to South America, England, and the
United States.

SUMAC, OE RHUS CORIARIA.

Is a small shrub^ growing from two to three feet in a season, and
used for its stringent qualities by tanners and dyers. The cultivation
is confined chiefly to the vicinity of Palermo and Alcamo, the last
being esteemed the best. It is sometimes adulterated with the leaves
of the leutish and mjh'tle trees. A soil of moderate depth is required,
and not too ricli ; for if the growth is too luxuriant, the tannin in the
plant becomes diluted. Manure, therefore, is never used. Stony
ground will do very well, although the sumac near Palermo was on
good rich loam. It will not bear much water, and is therefore better
on a hill-side, vfith a southern exposure, as the more sun it receives
the stronger will be the tannin. It could doubtless be grown with
profit on the dry lands in our southern States. The proper adaptation
of the land can be ascertained by testing the leaves Vv^ith sulphuric
ether. In the best sumac, one hundred grains of the powdered leaf
should give thirty to thirty-five grains of pure tannin. Use as much
sulphuric ether as will dissolve the sumac, or pass it through the sumac
till it runs clear, then, draw off the ether by heat, and the deposit will
be pure tannin.

The soil is prepared as for potatoes, with furrows from two to two
and a half feet apart, in which in January or February are placed the
young suckers two and a "half feet apart. In August, of the first year,
the leaves on the lov/er part of the branches are drawn off with thumb
and finger, leaving a tuft on the top. In October the whole head is
taken off, or sometimes broken, and left ha,nging by the bark till dry.
The second year, in June, the branches are stripped of ripe leaves;
and in August, as soon as the v/hole plant is mature, it is cut with a
sickle down to six inches ; it is then spread out, dried thoroughly on
each side till entirely cured. The June gathering is omitted in many

112 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

cases when the plants are not strong. After being dried, tlie brandies
are put upon a floor and threshed, when the leaves will separate from
the wood, which is of no value except for fuel. The leaves are then
ground between two mill-stones, one of which is on edge and revolving
around a center. We visited a mill driven by steam pov/er, which
threw out the powdered sumac in large quantities. The air vras iilled
with fine particles of dust, which covered our clothing and entered th'.
lungs. It is not injurious, however; for, although it seemed suffoca-
ting, the workmen will sleep three or four hours successively in it and
are always remarkably healthy. They were particularly exempt from
cholera.

The leaves are readily reduced to powder, v/hile the stems are not.
These last are then separated by sifting, and the pure sumac is placed
in bags of one hundred and sixty-three pounds each for shipment. A
sumac plantation will produce a good article for ten years, and a
poorer for ten years longer. The same soil will not bear sumac a
second time, unless cropped by something else for twenty years, nor
is it then so good as land on which sumac has never been grown. It re-
quires the usual cleaning, and is hoed in December, March, and May.
Two thousand pounds of- ground sumac to an acre is considered an
average crop.

BARILLA, OR SODA.

The cultivation of this alkaline plant, which is attended with con-
siderable expense and requires great labor and care, has lately been
much neglected, as its present value will hardly remunerate the grower.
Since the introduction of chemical bleaching, the demand for Great
Britain, Ireland, and America, has become very limited; while in
France the extended use of soudefactice has almost exploded the con-
sumption of the vegetable production. The favorite soil of this plant
is a fat and putrid earth, and it requires an exposure to marine exha-
lations, on v/hich the quality much depends. The best is that of Tra-
pani and the Island of Ustica. After these Terranova, on the south
coast. The produce of the latter district, however, is supposed to be
affected in its quality by the sirocco winds, it having been observed
that in seasons when these winds prevail it is much inferior.

The superiority of the Ustica barilla is said to be owing to the burn-
ing of the plant before it is thoroughly dry ; but, if this were the sole
reason, the jjeculiar process would naturally be adoj)ted elswherc.

Owing to the state of the roads, I was unable to reach a barilla plan-
tation even on horseback, but was promised a detailed account, which
has not yet reached me.

OLIVES.

The cultivation of the olive maybe traced among the earliest objects
of Sicilian industry, and its fruit has ever been considered one of the
principal sources of national wealth. Only two varieties appear to be
generally known or cultivated in Europe. The Olea longifolia, the
spear, or long-leaved European olive, which is chiefly cultivated in

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 113'

the south of France and many parts of Tuscany and Piedmont. From
the fruit of this species, which is of a hright, lively green, oval and of
a roughish skin, we are furnished with that delicate oil so much
esteemed for our tables.

The Olea latifoUa, or broad-leafed European olive, is the species cul-
tivated in Sicily, Italy, and the Kingdom of Naples, v/here the trees
grow to a much larger size than those of the other variety. The fruit
or berry is also much larger, rounder, smoother skinned, and more
fleshy, than the olive of France, more productive in oil, and though
much stronger and less grateful to an American palate, arising from
an improper mode of treatment, is, nevertheless, from its rich and
unctuous quality, better suited to manufacturing purposes.

The usual mode of propagating the olive in Sicily is by grafting upon
the wild olive, or from strong, healthy shoots, which are thrown up
about the roots of the old plants. These latter, being detached with a
portion of the parent root in the months of January and February, are
plajited twenty-five feet apart, in holes four or five feet deep, previously
opened and prepared for their reception, and in ten years will become
bearing trees. The mountain shores, on the northern coast of the
island, seem peculiarly favorable to the growth of the olive. Along
the whole extent of this coast, we saw the sides of the mountains and
intermediate valleys entirely clothed with it ; while in the interior of
the island and on the southwestern coasts, it is rare to find a few small
and straggling plantations. Hence, almost the entire produce of oil
in Sicily is collected along the northern coast, extending from Cape
Gallo to the Paro of Messina, and thence to Taormina, about two hun-
dred miles, including Palermo and its dependencies. From the quan-
tity of oil made on the estates of small proprietors, and consumed for
domestic use, it would be difiicult to give any accurate statement of the
entire annual product, though it has been estimated that the above-
mentioned districts collect, in favorable seasons, from seventeen hun-
dred thousand to twenty-two hundred thousand gallons, of which four
fifths is required for home consumption.

Maay incredible tales are related of the extraordinary duration of
the olive ; but there is no doubt that, when carefully cultivated, it will
continue to produce fruit and remain in healthy vegetation for cen-
turies. Trees are now living, which are said to be seven or eight hun-
dred years old, and several are designated in a title deed drawn up in
1610. The flower, which is a small cluster, not unlike that of the
grape, is put forth from shoots of the former year's growth, in the
month of June. In July the fruit begins to set, and from that to
the end of August is considered the most critical time for the crop, to
which nothing is at that time more injurious than the rains. From
this cause, and a prevalence of east v.^inds, the fruit during that season
is very subject to blight, and to be infested with a small insect which,
penetrating the skin, produces a worm or grub ; this consumes the
pulp v/ithin, leaving little more than the nut or stone covered with the
outer rind. As no means have been discovered to check its progress,
in a few days the most promising crops have been rendered of little
value. Of all the vegetable productions of the island, none is con-
sidered more precarious tha,n the olive, even under the most favorable

114 AGEICULTURAL REPOET.

circumstances and seasons. An uninterrupted succession of crops is
never to be calculated upon, it being an admitted fact that every third
year will be one of scarcity or sterility. In some districts, many ex-
tensive plantations have often been altogether out of bearing for many
years, without any apparent cause, and to the utter ruin of the pro-
prietors.

Toward the coast, the season of gathering commences in the month
of October. This work is continued from this time until the month
of December and even January in some of the districts situated higher
up the mountains. The fruit is at first shaken from the trees, and
finally, toward the latter end of the season, beaten from the bunches
by long poles or canes. At each respective gathering, women and
children are employed to collect the fruit from the ground, whence it
is conveyed to appropriate stores, and cast into large bins or receptacles,
prepared for the purpose. Here it is left to sweat and ferment for
many days, until it becomes black, and has all the appearance of ap-
proaching decay. This practice, so destructive to the quality of the
oil, is nevertheless general, as it is erroneously supposed to increase
the quantity. In this state it is conveyed to a mill, where it is first
ground to a paste under heavy stones, and chaff or small straw oc-
casionally thrown on, to retain the oil. The pulp is then rammed
into round, flat baskets, made of a strong kind of rush, and submitted
to a press. When the oil ceases to run from this first pressing the
baskets are removed, their contents again passed under the mill, thence
a second time returned into the baskets, submitted to the press as
before, and in like manner, a third and last time. In these final
pressings, hot water is thrown upon the baskets as they are jAled under
the press, the more readily to disengage the oil, which, flowing out
with the water^ as the press is let down, is conveyed to the tub or cask
sunk in front, where the oil, swimming on the surface, is carefully
skimmed off. Whatever now remains in the baskets is thrown aside,
as the perquisite of the workmen, by whom it is collected and left some
days to ferment, and then submitted to another pressure, which yields
a small quantity of very bad oil, used by curriers and leather dressers.

Although the mode here described is that in general practice for
extracting the great mass of oil produced for commerce, there are many
intelligent men who, for private consumption^ are more refined in their
process. By pressing their fruit fresh, as gathered from the trees,
without leaving it to ferment, they obtain an oil nothing inferior in
quality to that of Lucca. From the many samples of fine oil found
at the tables of the most respectable Sicilian families, it may be safely
inferred that the bad repute of Sicilian oil arises from the unscientific
mode employed in its preparation. By proper attention to this point
alone, the olives of Sicily are as capable of yielding as good oil as the
boasted produce of France and Tuscany.

THE INDIAN PIG

Is the Cactus opuntia, which makes so conspicuous a feature and
gives so tropical a character to a Sicilian landscape. Although some-
what ugly, it is strikingly picturesque. The leaves are nearly half

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 115

an inch tliick, large as a miiUen' leaf, of a dull green color, and free
from j)rickles. AVithout stalk or stem, these leaves grow one out of
another,, agglomerating into an irregular mass, like a rock with
cavernous vacancies in its sides. This vegetable mass hears a yellow
flower, which becomes a fig-like fruit, with a red, sweetish pulp, much
eaten by the natives.

It is generally planted in belts, from two and a half to three feet
wide, and from ten to fifteen apart. Across these belts the cactus
leaves are placed, touching each other ; they very quickly take root,
and produce new foliage. It will grow in poor and dry soil, and, with
asphodel, is the first plant upon the lava, for which it is the most
valuable, breaking it up with its strong acrid roots.

It bears the third year, and has a full crop in ten years. Its net
profit is estimated at from thirty dollars to fifty dollars per acre, as it
will produce two crops a year, one hundred and fifty to three hundred
bushels ])er acre, and sells readily at wholesale at from twenty-four to
thirty cents per bushel. It is one of the most useful plants on the
island ; the tree serves for fences, the leaf for receiving the liquid
manna, and the fruit for the consumption of all classes.

ALMONDS.

Almonds are grown in greatest abundance at Avola and Girgenti,
and are of both kinds, sweet and bitter. The trees are propagated
from nuts and cuttings. The nut it planted in the spring or autumn,
and the young trees transplanted at the end of a year to the nurserv
grounds, to be grafted in the second or third year. The cuttings are
planted about fifty feet apart_, and are grafted at six years old, four
years after which they come into bearing. Attaining its full growth
at fifteen years, the tree continues in its prime until thirty, when it
begins to fall off, and perishes at sixty years. The flower appears in
January, the fruit ripens in May. Of the sweet almond, the best sorts
are those of Mascali and Avola, which are equally remarkable for
whiteness and flavor. The shell is used for fuel.

SAFFRON.

Saffron grows wild in various parts of Sicily. The soil most con-
genial is a loose, calcareous earth, free from clay. Planted in fur-
rows, about a foot apart, the bulbs produce a violet colored flower,
which is gathered in October. The three pistils are collected and dried.
The stamens are thrown away as useless. The bulbs require to be
transplanted every third year.

MULBERRY.

The red mulberry is the species chiefly cultivated in Sicily, the white
being much neglected. The fruit is of little value, and grown only
for the silk-worm. The Celso Jilippino, a species recently introduced,
comes into leaf about three weeks before the white, and six before the

116 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

red. The growtli is veiy rapid, but is never allowed to exceed twelve
feet in height, at which elevation the tender leaf can be gathered by
children.

SILK.

The production of silk in Sicily is almost entirely confined to the
northern and northeastern coasts. From Catania, its southern limit,
this branch of industry goes northward, as far as Taormina and Mes-
sina, proceeds eastward to Melazzo, follows the line of coast to St.
Stefano, turns a little southward, and terminates at Mistretta. The
whole produce of these places, and all the intermediate villages, finds
its way to the Messina market, except what is retained in Catania, for
the use of the Catanese looms. None is produced in the interior, and
but a very small quantity in Palermo and its neighborhood. The
annual produce is estimated at thirteen hundred bales, or three hun-
dred thousand pounds. This is exclusive of floss or waste, which is
estimated at one hundred thousand pounds more.

SILK-WORMS.

The appearance of the worm, in its natural course, takes place about
the ipiddle of April ; but, in seasons when the vegetation of the mulberry
tree is unusually backward, it is artificially retarded until the leaves
are ready. When this cannot be accomplished, the leaves of the
blackberry and the lettuce, which merely keep it alive, are given to
the worm, until its natural food, the mulberry leaf, is ready and
plentiful. This, in Messina and its dependencies, which chiefly form
the silk district, is almost wholly the leaf of the red species. In Cala-
bria, the white mulberry, which leaves out three weeks earlier than
the red, is used, until the first and second change, w^hen the white be-
comes hard, and the red is substituted for it. Those fed on the red,
yield a greater quantity of a stronger silk than those fed on the white,
but the silk of the latter is finer and of a brighter description. The
quantity consumed by the worms, from the time of their coming into
being, to the fourth and last change, bears a great disproportion to
the amount of silk produced. One hundred and seventy-five pounds
of leaf yield only thirteen ounces' of silk. In Lombardy, one hundred
and twenty-six pounds of leaf yield one pound of silk ; in Sicily, two
hundred and fifteen pounds of leaf, one pound of silk.

The fourth and last sickening, or change of skin, is considered the
most critical; nor are the worms deemed out of danger until they
have climbed the arbor and spun the cocoon. The intestines of such
as die in the changes are made into thick thread and sold under the
name of " silk-worm gut" to American seamen and others, for making
fishing tackle. A small portion of the cocoons, according to the ex-
tent and demand of the establishment, is put aside for eggs, the grubs
of which, when transformed into m.oths, are alloAved to eat their way
out. Those intended to be wound off" must be destroyed, in order to
obtain the silk unbroken. The usual mode of effecting this purpose
is by placing the cocoons in a slow oven. This practice greatly hardens

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 117

the gummy matter which covers the silk on the cocoon, and renders it
more troublesome to detach, in winding. To obviate this objection,
some establishments in Messina have adopted successfully the following
ingenious contrivance, which, from its simplicity and efficacy, is worthy
of notice: In a small closet, erected in some corner of the establish-
ment, a copper hoiler is fixed over a furnace. From the ceiling of this
closet, shallow baskets, attached to each other, and filled with cocoons,
are hung up in succession, until the lowermost nearly touches the
boiler, previously filled with water. A sliding door in front, wdiich is
made to fit closely, is now let down to touch the edge of the boiler,
and so secured that the steam shall not escape. The water is now made
to boil, and so kept up for about half an hour, at the end of which
time the fire is withdrawn and the whole left quiet another half hour.
During this period, the condensed steam from the cocoons, with a great
portion of the gummy substance from the silk, which has been dis-
solved by the steam, is drained off into the hoiler below. The cocoons
are then removed to the floor of a chamber and left to cool, after which
they are placed on a terrace, where they are exposed to the full heat of
the sun, until thoroughly dried and prepared for winding. Mean-
while, the steam-closet receives a fresh charge^ and the operation is
repeated, until all the gruhs are killed. From the cocoons eaten
through, a silk, called calamo di semenza, is obtained, by carding, and
which, in quantity, is equal to one fourth, and in value to three fourths,
of the ordinary or net silks. Another and inferior description, called
culahio di fuori, is taken from the outer part of the cocoon, before the
silk is wound off, the value of which is about half that of the common.
The calamo of both sorts is exported to England, where it is made
into hosiery and shawls. In Sicily it is spun by hand and woven into
ticking, for mattresses, and into coarse stockings and gowns, for the
use of the female peasantry.

MANNA.

The manna-ash grows chiefly near Palermo^ and is propagated from
seed, or cuttings. The former is preferable, the tree being of rapid
growth and soon coming to perfection. Manna is the coagulated juice,
or sap, which oozes out of the Fraxinus ormcs, a species of ash, indige-
nous to the northern coast. The tree, at its full growth, is from twenty
to twenty-five feet high^ borne on an upright stem, with smooth bark,
about eight feet in height, and about two and a half in circumference.
It is well-known, with us, as a hardy, ornamental tree, with clusters
of flowers. The manna is obtained in the months of August and Sep-
tember, from horizontal incisions made in the bark about three inches
long and half an inch deep. Under these incisions, and quite close,
another slight cut is made in the bark, in which is inserted a leaf of
the same tree, serving as a gutter to conduct the sap into a receiver
placed on the ground at the foot of the tree. This receiver is nothing
more than the dried leaf of the cactus opuntia, which is ten or twelve
inches long and about eight inches broad. When dried, it assumes
the shape of a hollow dish, sufficiently capacious for the purpose re-
quired. These incisions are begun at the bottom of the tree, and each

118 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

day a fresli one is made, two inclies above the first, and so continued
during the ''raccolta," or gathering, which, in favorahle seasons, lasts
about six weeks.

WJien the incision is first made, the manna flows in a watery, lim-
pid state, but gradually thickens as it is exposed to the air and the
heat of the sun, which at this season is intense.

This is deemed the best and finest quality, and called '■'■ manna in
tears.'' After it is collected, and the leaf removed to a fresh incision
above, the sap continuing to flow down the bark of the tree is concen-
trated thereon, and farms a second quality, which is afterwards care-
fully detached with a knife. This is distinguished in commerce as
'' manna in flakes," the quantity of which is by far the most consider-
able 23art of the collection.

A third and inferior quality is collected, called ''manna in sorts,"
composed of the refuse, or broken collections from the two preceding,
that which has accidentally run upon the ground, or been damaged by
rain, and that which flows at the end of the season, when the heat of
the sun is insufficient to concentrate it. The quantity and quality of
th is article depend upon a hot and dry season. As the operation is neces-
sarily exj^osed to the weather, a rainy or damp season will greatly
diminish the quantity of the crop, and often entirely ruin its quality,
since, once wet, it cannot be dried by any artificial means. The first
two qualities are usually shipped to England and the United States ;
the latter, and inferior, to the Adriatic markets, and those of the Med-
iterranean. Other countries are provided with this drug from Naples,
which draws its supplies from the southern coast of Calabria. In the
plantation which I saw the trees were ten feet apart, but aijpeared too
close for healthy growth.

CAROB TREE, OR CERATONIA SILIQUA.

The carob was noticed in my report on Cephalonia, as being one of
the finest ornamental trees. Its fruit is somewhat like that of the
honey locust, or Gleditschia, and its pod full of a sweet, rich pulp, cov-
ering a nutritious bean. It is eaten here, as at Cephalonia, both by
men and cattle. A preserve is made of the juice, boiled with sugar,
and spirits are also distilled from it. Most of the produce goes to
Naples. It is rarely cultivated in large quantities, and the fruit is
mostly collected from natural trees. A few specimens on a place will
often 'be found grafted with a superior variety. Its native habitat
seems about Syracuse, where it is found in considerable quantities.

PISTACHIO NUTS, OR TEREBINTHUS INDICA.

The pistachio tree springs up in rich soils, in the central districts,
and also in the volcanic humus, in the region of Mount Etna. Grafted
at six 3^ears old, it comes into bearing at twelve, and produces a fair
crop about once in three years, until a very advanced age. A male
scion, grafted upon one female in an orchard, is sufficient to fecundate
the whole. The nut, gathered in September, is exposed to the sun
until perfectly dry, as the least degree of moisture causes it to rot.

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 11^

ALOE.

This conspicuous plant, equally useful and ornamental, abounds in
all parts of Sicily, but is found in the greatest perfection in the
southern and central districts. Planted in favorable soils, it attains
the height of eighteen to twenty feet, and flowers in seven or eight
years, after which it immediately dies away, leaving suckers behind
to continue the succession.

It serves for impenetrable fences, the stems for rafters of huts, and
the leaf for domestic manufactures. The leaf, steeped in water until
perfectly tender, crushed between cylinders, soaked for some days in a
stream^ then beaten and combed out, yields a thread which is used for
various purposes.

CORK WOOD.

Cork oaks of stunted growth are found in the woods of Sciana. The
outer bark, unfit for bungs and stoppers, is used chiefly for fishing
tackle ; the inner, equally valuable with common oak bark, is used in
tanneries, to protect which branch of industry, the exportation of cork
wood, except as dunnage, is strictly prohibited.

GUADO.

This dye plant is sown in autumn, and gathered in May. The leaves,
ground at the mills and kneaded with the juice, are worked into balls,
which, when dried in the sun, are used in giving linen a light-blue
color.

FIGS.

These are of poor quality, not so well suited for exportation as those
of the Levant. No alkaline solution is used in their preparation ; they
are slit, and dried on strings, mostly about Messina and Calabria.

TOBACCO.

This plant is produced in gardens around most of the principal
towns. The best soil for its cultivation is a good, rich loam, and the
best situation a slope with a southerly exposure. Sown in the winter^
it soon comes up, and gradually advances until the crop requires to be-,
thinned. The sprouts transplanted are set about twenty inches apart,^
in ground well watered and manured. The blossoms are nipped off,,,
and the shoots cut away as soon as they appear, to enable the young.;
leaf to expand and ripen. The maturity of the leaf, which is in sum-
mer, is denoted by a change in its color, and the appearance of pus-
tules on its surface. The plant is then plucked up, and the leaf'
stripped and dried, preparatory to its sale to the dealer for manufac-
ture. The quantity of seed sown is about a gallon per acre ; the
quantity of leaf gathered about thirteen thousand pounds. Tobacco .

120 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

was once worth to tlie government tliirt}^ or forty tliousand dullars
revenue ; they increased the duty, and none was imported.

COTTON.

The soil of the Sicilian plains is eminently adapted for its growth.
The seed is obtained from Malta, sown in S23ring, gathered in August,
September, and even as late as December. The plant is not liable to
blight, but is sometimes injured by the sirocco.

The sea-island cotton seed has been distributed in several districts ;
some has entirely failed. In one place a little cotton was produced,
but the trial was scarcely such as to warrant a decision upon its adap-
tation to the climate and soil.

CASTOR OIL.

This plant grows wild in many parts, and is much cultivated in the
vicinity of large towns for the oil which is extracted from the nut. It
is prepared by almost every chemist, for home consumption, to the ex-
clusion of castor oil from the East and West Indies. Were the process
properly conducted, the extraction of the oil might become an impor-
tant branch of Sicilian industry.

LIQUORICE.

The roots of the liquorice plants^ which grow wild, are converted
into paste by washing, steeping, boiling, and evaporation. The first
quality is that of Taormina ; that of Catania and Patti is too often
adulterated with the juice of the cactus and carob.

OPIUM.

This is nearly equal to the Turkish ; has been made by a Sicilian
chemist from the wild poppy, vfhich abounds in the island,

LUPINS.

White lupins are raised for fattening cattle, and also as manure for
vineyards, being plowed in when a foot high.

SEEDS.

Anise, canary, cotton, flax, hemp, and mustard are the chief. The
first three are largely ex]3orted ; the last three are mostly consumed in
the island.

Wheat is of two kinds, soft and hard, the soft used chiefly for house-
hold bread, the hard for maccaroni. The seed sown in October and
November, at the rate of half a bushel to an acre, yields, in June and
July, about eight for one. The average weight of a bushel is about
sixty pounds. This grain has been much neglected for the want of

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 121

sufficient hardness in the English mill-stones ; hut since cast-iron and
French hurrs have heen introduced, the wheat here can be made into
flour equal to that of the best soft grain. The best maccaroni wheat
is called Giustalisa, and the next best Bealforte. At the magazines
these were priced to me at |1 50 per bushel. The annual crop of
wheat is computed at 16,000^000 bushels.

Oats are raised in small quantities in the southern districts ; the re-
turn of seed is ten to one.

Barley is found unfit for malting, and is chiefly used as provender
for horses.

Indian corn is but little cultivated. A particular species, called
Oinquantino, ripens in fifty days.

Eice is principally grown in low marshy districts about the plains
of Catania, where the lands may be irrigated by the waters of the Giar-
retta. The quantity is inconsiderable, and hardly sufficient for home
consumption. The grain, small and ordinary in quality, may be classed
as little better than Egyptian. It must be sown in a deep soil, and kept
constantly under water. It produces about six hundred weight per
acre of clear rice. This is thrown into a mill, the lower stone of which
is lined with cork. The cultivation of this grain is considered an un-
healthy occupation. The dry rice of Porto Rico is not cultivated in
Sicily. Sown on two occasions, it came up quickly, but owing to inat-
tention was allowed to perish.

Flax is grown abundantly in all parts of the island. The best soil
for it is a rich garden-ground. The land requires from three to six
plowings, according to the nature of the preceding crops, and good and
plentiful dressings with stable manure, or the sweepings of sheep-folds.
The sowing generally takes place in November, but occasionally in
March, when two salmas, or sixteen bushels of linseed are allowed to
one salm, or about five acres of ground. The harvest is usually in
May and June, when, in favorable seasons, from thirty to forty bush-
els of linseed are gathered, together with ten cantars, or about sixteen
hundred weight of flax . The plant being drawn up by the roots , the seed
is beaten out and sifted previous to shipment. The stalk is steeped in
running water for seven or eight days, at the end of which time it is
taken out and dried. The crisp bark is broken and removed by a pe-
culiar instrument. The fibre is combed and prepared for spinning
with a view to future manufacture. Flax, which in England is sup-
posed to impoverish the ground^ is in Sicily thought to have a benefi-
cial effect.

Hemp is much cultivated on the eastern coast, in rich damp soils, or
in ground well irrigated. The land is plowed four or five times before
the sowing, which takes place, near the coast, in March, but in the moun-
tains in April, when three and a half bushels are sown on an acre of
land. The ground requires to be well watered every four or five days
from running streams or from reservoirs. The plant, which is delicate,
and liable to be cut by the frosts, comes to perfection in July and Au-
gust. A good crop will yield from seven hundred to a thousand
pounds of seed, and from six to ten hundred weight of fiber, per acre.
The seed is beaten out, and the fiber prepared for spinning in the same
manner as flax. The plant, when taken out of the water in a putrid

122 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

state, creates a severe malaria, to escape the effects «f whicli, the persons
employed are recommended to sleep among horses and mules. The
cultivation of hemp and rice is prohibited within two miles of any hu-
man habitation, unless mountains or rivers intervene.

CREAM OF TARTAR.

This salt has of late years been manufactured largely near Messina
from the f93ces in settlings of new wine. The tartrate of potash,
though containing a large quantity of tartaric acid, is too much charged
with extraneous and earthy matter, deposited in the fermentation of
the must, to allow it to crystalize by rest, on which account it was
formerly made ui3 into large balls, dried in the sun, and then burnt in.
heaps. The tartaric acid destroyed, nothing remained but the jDotash,
which was sold to soap-makers, hatters, and others. This wasteful
practice is at length exploded, and at present from fifteen to twenty
per cent, of cream of tartar is obtained from the faeces of wine of good
quality, while the base, or potash, is employed as heretofore.

SULPHUR.

This mineral is found in most parts of the island ; but it is within
the area of an irregular diamond, of which Sciacca, Mount Hybla,
Alicama, and Terranova are the relative points, that the richest beds
are situated. The mines lying v/ithin twenty or thirty miles of the
coast are at present in full operation. Of those further inward^ some
are not worked, on account of the" high rate of carriage, while others
are worked only in discharge of contracted obligations. Generally
covered by a bed of calcareous concretion, sulphur is found combined
with other matters, its separation from which is effected by burning in
kilns, made of gypsum and stone, each containing about sixty hundred
weight of mineral. The liquified sulphur escapes through a hole in
the front, and runs into a wooden trough, where it is left to grow
solid.

CANTHARIDES, OR SPANISH FLIES.

These insects come over from Egypt, and alighting in the olive trees
in the months of May and June, are collected by the peasantry and
prepared for exportation. They are similar to our curculio, and are
caught about Bronte, by jarring the tree over a blanket.

SALT.

The excavation of rock salt, most of which goes to the Danubian
pastures, amounts to about one hundred and fifty thousand tons per
annum. Evaporating salt is carried on at Trapani and Agosta. At
the former place, fifteen hundred and sixty-two tons are annually
made.

THE 'IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 123

BEES.

These insects arc kept in great quantities in tlie southeastern dis-
tricts. Some farmers have from two to three thousand large hives ;
these are carried, by night, up into the mountains, in summer, and in
winter brought to the plains, in both which regions the bees find abun-
dant flowers. Two or three crops of honey and wax are obtained in
the course of the year, generally in May and August. The honey of
Mount Hybla, near Catania, clear and well-flavored with orange flow-
ers, maintains its ancient reputation.

Owing to the great consumption of wax in churches, the proceeds of
bee-hives form a valuable item in husbandry.

DAIRY.

Butter is only made around Messina, Palermo, and in the country
of Modria, from the milk of cows and goats. Curds and cheese are
made throughout the island, from the milk of cows, sheep, and goats
combined.

LIVE STOCK.

Horses. — Those used in riding are in general small, but good; those
for draft, wretched and worthless. Their usual fodder is, in the spring,
green barley; in summer, a kind of dog grass; in winter, barley, oats,
straw, beans, and bran.

The Butera stud, in Sicily, is that of the estate of Kadali, held by
the Prince of Butera, at Melangianni, near Terranova and Licata.
Founded in 1825, at which period the thorough-bred horses and blood
mares were imported from England, it increased by degrees, till now
it consists of one hundred and six animals. It is placed under the
superintendence of an experienced trainer.

Mules are small and feeble, with the exception of the Modua breed,
which are tall, strong, and active, and chiefly used for riding and lit-
ters. The mules are much employed in land culture and in carrying
burdens.

Asses are also inferior, except the Pantelleri breed, which is tall and
well made.

Oxen are of two breeds, the red, or Tunis, and the black, or native.
The red^ which is much used in farming, is large and well propor-
tioned ; one species is remarkable for its length of horns, which are
often two and a half feet; these are not so strong as those whose horns,
are more moderate. The black is never put to the plow. In the sum-
mer the cattle graze upon the mountains, Avhere they find abundant,
grass ; in the winter they descend to the plains, where they browse on
the dwarf palm, the bird weed, and the stubble of corn fields. Unpro-
vided with sheds, they have no other shelter from the weather than the
branches of trees, an exposure always prejudicial and often fatal. A
cow which is a good milker will yield from four to six quarts per day.
Barren covv^s are usually put to the plow.

124 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Sheep. — The native breeds^ wliite, brown, and blacky are small and
scraggy, producing a coarse wool, at the rate of from two to three
pounds per animal, used for domestic manufacture. The ewes, which are
milked regularly, give about half a pint per day. The carcass of a
.two year old weighs about thirty pounds. The merino breed has been
introduced on the Butera estate, which boasts of two flocks of unmixed
and crossed, of four and fourteen hundred, respectively.

Goats are numerous ; their long and fine hair is woven into cloth
and sacking.

Swine compose a gaunt, black breed, remarkable for nothing but the
length and stiffness of their dorsal bristles. A one year old hog
weighs, if fed on acorns, one hundred and twenty pounds; a two year
old, one hundred and. eighty pounds.

LAMB AND KlD SKINS.

After the month of March the kid and the white and sjDotted lamb
skins are steeped in sea- water, to preserve them from the worms, and
to clear them from all fleshy substances. In this state of preparation,
which costs about five dollars per thousand, they may be safely shi]3ped,
in all seasons of the year, to perform the longest voyages. The black
lamb skins are prepared for the German market, at about ten dollars
per thousand.

SOIL.

With the exce|)tion of the chain of Monte Peloso, or Nestuvo, which
runs in a southwest direction from Cape Peloso, and its dependent
granitic plains, all the soils of Sicily may be classed under the several
varieties of the calcareous. There are, of course, exceptions, but these
are so diminutive in comparative extent as not to admit of their being
called any more than mere patches. When the soil is deep, which is
not unfrequently the case, and this to an extent seldom seen in other
countries, it is, for the most part, a rich and fertile loam; where it is
shallow, it has the appearance of being sandy and sterile, without being
so in reality, as it contains a very great variety of marine exuvia in its
composition, derived' from the neighboring conchiferous limestone,
which yields sufficient humus to enable it to produce the most luxur-
iant crops, notwithstanding its arid and unpromising appearance.

MANURES.

The usual fertilizing materials are stable manure, and, where it is to
be had, that of sheep and goats. Lime, so useful an agent in stiif and
clayey soils, which abound in Sicily, as well as in light and sandy ones,
also common in certain districts, is totally neglected, to the consequent
loss of humidity, which it would absorb from the atmosphere, and the
prevalence of vermin, which it would check and destroy. Bones,
formerly used for manure, but now employed in chemistry, are become
too expensive for the farmer, and are therefore left to be exported, in

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 125

large quantities, to France and G-enoa. Lupins, as before observed,
are in frequent use for manure ; their tliick, succulent tops, covered by
the plow, form a highly fertilizing mass of vegetable matter.

IMPLEMENTS.

The rudest is the plow, Avhich Simond properly describes as an im-
plement which seems to have gained nothing since the days of Tuj^to-
lemus. It consists of a shaft, eleven' feet long, to which the oxen are
fastened by an awkward collar, while the other end is mortised ob-
liquely into another piece of timber, five feet long, with one end sharp,
scratching the ground, and the other held by the plowman, who, on
account of its shortness, bends almost double while at work. The end
in the ground is often, but not always, shod with iron, but it has
neither colter nor mold-board. This instrument scarcely penetrates
the earth, and is kept straight with great difficulty.

The next is the hoe, which varies in construction in different pro-
vinces, according to the nature of the ground. In the vicinity of Pal-
ermo, where the soil is not deep, and the heavier soils of the Valle
Mazzara prevail, the hoe is broad and shallow; whereas that in use
near Messina and the Val Demone, where the soil is light and sandy,
is narrow and long, often two feet and more, and sloped in upon the
handle. This unwieldy instrument, often containing from eight to ten
pounds of iron, is used by the peasants.
■ The sickle and three-pronged wooden fork offer nothing remarkable.

RENTS.

The usual rent of land for corn, &c., is about one dollar and seventy-
five cents per acre, taking the average throughout the island. Leases
run for three years, sometimes with the privilege of three more, and
occasionally for nine years, but never a longer time. For orange and
lemon orchards the rents are higher, and vary widely, according to
age and quality, - Their standing crop, however, is often sold by the
landlord, by estimation, at so much per thousand on the tree, or per
thousand gathered by the purchaser, counted on the premises, and
often by the heap. When the crop is sold thus, it is at the risk of the
purchaser from the day of the contract, and one third of the amount
is always paid in advance. The expense of the gathering in all cases
devolves on the purchaser.

LABOR.

The laborer by the day receives one tari (eight cents) in money, and
in food four ahd a half pounds of coarse bread, one quart of wine, and
one measure of oil for his herb soup. His earnings amount to about
twenty cents per day. In some places he is paid entirely in money,
in which case he receives about twenty cents per day the year round.
In harvest, his wages are generally doubled, and his food given v/ith-
out limitation. The hours of labor from April to harvest are divided

126 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

in two portions, from 4, am., till noon, allowing one liour for break-
fast, and from 3, p. m., till sunset. The three hours at' noon are for
dinner and sleep, a plan which must be attended with the best results,
and which we have often vainly endeavored to introduce among our
own laborers during the hot season. From harvest to April the hours
are from sunrise to sunset, with one hour for dinner and half an hour
for breakfast. The price of bread does not vary so much as elsewhere
in Europe, and with us being about two cents a pound.

- GENERAL CULTURE.

With a population of two millions three hundred and fifty thousand,
Sicily has an area of more than six and a half millions of acres, of
which 4,000,000 are cultivated with wheat, 1,700,000 are left for graz-
ing, 200,000 are left in woodland, 420,000 are cultivated with grapes,
150,000 are cultivated with olives^ 40,000 are cultivated with oranges
and lemons, and 30,000 are cultivated with sumac.

The remainder is in other crops and waste lands. The whole is
divided into seven hundred thousand properties, the yearly value of
each being about twenty dollars. The soil is adapted to all the finest
vegetables. Peas are on our table here in February, and I see con-
tinually the very finest broccoli and cauliflower. Of the former, there
are varieties for each winter month from November to April. Of the
latter^ a moderate specimen measured more than a foot in diameter.
These were under field culture, and not the pet nurslings of a gentle-
man's gardener, which are often still larger with us ; you see every-
where donkey after donkey loaded with them. Lettuce is used for
horses, and also the twitch grass, which with us is so formidable an
enemy to hoed crops. Walnuts, or Madeira nuts, which with us will
scarcely bear in twenty years, produce fruit here in from four to six
years. The soil and climate of Sicily are all that could be desired, the
working classes seem industrious, and nothing is wanting but enter-
prise among the men of wealth, and a laissez faire practice on the part
of the government. The Sicilians of the higher class rarely visit their
estates in the country, except for a few weeks, in spring and autumn,
when they carry with them all the fashionable follies of the city, and
rarely take an interest in agriculture. Notwithstanding the hot weather,
by which the country is nearly burnt up in the summer, the peasantry
cultivate the land thoroughly, and gather in- the crops.

The Neapolitan government is far from being paternal ; it is thor-
oughly repressive of all development. It seems apprehensive lest any
of its people should attain wealth, and instead of encouraging an in-
dustry which would add to its own revenues, it imposes a burden upon
anything becoming too profitable. Large quantities of wheat were at
one time grown, and Sicily bade fair to be a great producer of that
grain ; government then forbade its exportation. They began the ex-
tensive production of maccaroni ; government forbade its exportation.
They produce largely of sumac. G-overnment has forbidden the export
of trees, and may next forbid the export of the ground article. Their
policy can scarcely be thus to keep it in their own hands, as the plant
exists elsewhere. Some enterprising men desired to construct a rail-

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 127

road ; the stock was all taken, and they were about to commence the
work, when government threw obstacles in the way, and the enter-
prise was abandoned. There is also a tax upon each tree planted, to
be paid annually, and not remitted if the tree dies. Whether this is
imposed by the government, or by the church, to v/hich two thirds of
the island belongs, I could not satisfactorily ascertain; but, however it
may be, the result of this wretched policy is that the lessees take no
interest in improving the land, and content themselves with a bare
subsistence.

One thing is certain, there is no country whatever of its extent that
can compare with Sicily in climate, soil, and variety of its products.
Were it in the hands of our people, and allowed to develop under our
free institutions, its exports would become of unexampled value, and
its whole surface would be like a garden.

MADDER.

At Naples we found in the cultivation of madder more peculiarity
than we had anticipated, and could readily account for our own failure
in its culture on Long Island, some fifteen years ago, when we had no
guide beyond the meager information contained in books. It will be
borne in mind that the madder root is two feet long, about the size of
a large pipe stem, and thus very liable to break in digging from a
heavy adhesive clay. The soil should, therefore, be light and very
rich, with as much fertilizing matter applied as it will hold. It should
be dug or plowed three feet deep, and then laid out in beds or spaces
six feet wide, having a vacancy of two feet between them. In these
spaces the seed is planted like beet seed, in rows nine inches apart, and
covered three inches deep. The quantity of seed required for an acre
is one hundred and twenty pounds. The planting is done in March,
and the same clearing is required through the season that beets receive.
The following November or December, the earth from the two feet va-
cancies between them is taken out and placed upon the beds, covering
them two inches, and sometimes more, as a protection against the
cold. In August of the following, or second year, and sometimes of
the third year, the roots are dug with a spade two feet long, dried in
the sun to one fifth of their green weight, and exported in that condi-
tion. They were formerly always ground here, but the adulteration
was so great that foreign merchants now prefer to grind it themselves.
The average jDroduce of that dug in the second year, or of eighteen
months growth, is one ton per acre; that of thirty months growth is
one and a half tons per acre. Its value is from one hundred and thirty
dollars to one hundred and fifty dollars per ton, and doubtless more in
the United States. The quantity grown in the vicinity of Naples is
large, but probably not equal to that grown near Avignon.

As a general rule, the quality of all agricultural products is better
the further north they are grown, so long as the growth or fruit is not
injured by the cold. Thus, the orange is finer in Florida than in
Havana, while in Savannah again, it is inferior, as the wood is injured
by the above-mentioned cause. Apples, pears, potatoes, wheat, and
corn are finer in the northern and western States than in the southern;
and although exceptions may exist, this will be found commonly true.

128 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Madder could, doubtless, be most profitably grown with us in the
light, rich soils of the south. 'Whether it can be profitably grown at
the north, and its superior quality compensate for the greater trouble,
may only be ascertained by actual experiment and a knowledge of the
effect upon it of northern w^inters.

SILK.

We visited the estate of Mr. Strickland, near Naples. This gentle-
man is much interested in silk culture. He is just finishing a stone
cocoonery, one hundred and tv/enty by thirty feet, and thirty leet high,
which is heated by earthen stoves, and will hold the v/orms from twelve
ounces of eggs. He is very particular to throw out all the defective
eggs, and consequently no disease has yet appeared among his worms,
while it is abundant elsewhere in Naples, and all through Tuscany and
Lombardy. The arrangements of his new cocoonery are complete. The
frames are made of cane and brown paper, and covered with nets. Upon
these nets the leaves are placed, and while the worms are feeding they
are lifted off, and the frames cleaned. Mustard is cultivated to give
bosquets for the worms to spin upon, the branches being hung above
them, and the seed j)aying the cost of cultivation.

His mulberry trees are planted fifteen feet apart, grafted, and cut
down every year, leaving two new branches, each with six eyes. They
generally vegetate about the twentieth of March, although a variety
called Filippino is two vv^eeks earlier. Those known, however, as Bolog-
nese and Majatica are most generally used. The leaves are ready two
weeks after vegetation, and the hatching of the eggs is deferred till
they are certain of the right food. The use of substitutes, as in Sicily,
might produce disease. The quantity of leaves consumed is about
twenty-four hundred pounds to an ounce of eggs, or one hundred and
fifty pounds of cocoons. The trees being kept down to the height of
seven feet, children can pick the leaves ; but this operation is not
allowed till the tree has been grafted ten years, wdien it will produce
fifty pounds.

The best worms, and those from which the finest silk is obtained,.
are called Festallini and Valdarned, while a coarser kind is made by
the Bolognese. The hatching is generally about the end of April, but
depends somewhat upon the season and the state of the leaf. The
cocoons are sold alive at forty cents a pound, and some "are always-
reserved for eggs, which sell for four ducats, or three dollars and twenty
cents per ounce. Five hundred pounds of cocoons will produce two
hundred ounces of eggs.

The production of silk has been larger in the provinces, but limited
in Naples to domestic cultivation among the peasants, who had suffered
severely from inferior eggs until Mr. Strickland came, and, by his clean
mode and uniform success, induced them to imitate his practice and
buy the eggs from him. Whoever may desire a supply, should order
not later than the fifteenth of May, as Mr. Strickland only reserves
from his sales of cocoons sufficient to meet actual demands. A better
source cannot be found, as he is an educated, intelligent man, and an
attentive manager, taking great pride in keeping his worms free from
the disease which has ravaged Tuscany and Lombardy.

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 129

LUPINS.

Mr. Strickland cultivates lupins and plows them in for manure. He
thinks them indigestible and unfit for horses, although often cut by
others for that purpose "when a foot high.

BARLEY.

Two or three crops of barley are grown successively for fodder.

CLOVER.

The Italian clover, in his opinion, deepens the soil.

CASTOR OIL.

Castor oil is grown and manufactured to some extent, but requires
much irrigation.

APPLES.

The best apples here are Limoncelli and Melagelata.

GRAPES.

A grape called Wafrancola is spoken highly of, with a strawberry
flavor and coarse leaf, not subject to mildew.

FIGS.

They have a mode of ripening figs ten days earlier by touching the
blossom end with sweet oil.

TREES AND PLANTS.

In the botanic garden are Magnolia soulangiana, Pyrus japonica,
and Camellias, in the open ground, all in bloom early in March, with
some fine specimens of rare trees, such as Laurus camphora, fifty feet ;
Araucaria excelsa, thirty feet; and Araucaria hrasiliensis, twelve feet;
a large tree of Taxodium mucronatum, and a fine plant of Chammrops
Jiumilis. The place appears well kept, under the direction of M. Ten-
ore, but Tv^ill not compare in richness with the botanic garden at Pal-
ermo. There were two trees in the garden of Baron Kothschild which,
to a lover of arboreal beauty, would almost be worth a trip from Eomt
to Naples. They were Araucaria excelsa; and those who have admired
the small specimens in green-houses can imagine, in some degree, how
superb are these, forty feet high, straight as an arrow, full, rich, and
feathery, and clothed Avith a shade of incomparable green.
9 A .

130 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

AGRICULTURE.

The agriculture of the vicinity of Naples presented nothing beside
the madder worthy of special attention. The usual proportion of olives
and vines grows on its rich volcanic soil. These under a good govern-
ment would be the source of wealth beyond measure.

ROME.

The agriculture of the Eoman Campagna does not offer, like Sicily,
numerous objects of interest; and, respecting its leading features,
Hiliard has written so well and thoroughly that repetition would be
needless. One of our most interesting visits was to the estate of Count
Her rick. liis place is not a large one, but he has for manager a very
intelligent Irishman, who has been in Italy some fifteen years, and
thoroughly understands the comparative merits of Italian culture. He
says that, with all the skill of his countrymen with the spade, they
cannot compete with Italians.

VINES.

The soil is about two and a half feet deep, and, to prepare it for
vines, the Romans have a mode which they call a scasscata. This
consists of trenches four feet wide and four feet deep, by means of which
the ground is thoroughly broken up and prepared for culture. After
the first trench is dug out, the workmen, with a sharp-pointed, strong
hoe, undermines the adjacent soil as far as he can reach it, commencing
at the bottom and making a lateral trench a foot high ; the other three
feet soon fall in, breaking up entirely, and thus saving a large part of
the labor of digging. For vines, the ground is generally thus prepared
to the depth of four feet; still deeper is considered better, and ten feet,
if possible, would be desired. When the ground is ready, a cutting
five or six feet long is taken, and six or eight inches of its lower end
twisted and bent upward, forming an elbow, in which is placed a
strong, long-handled, two-pronged fork. Upon the handle is a step
for the foot^ three and a half feet from the forked end; with this the
laborer is enabled to force the cuttings rapidly into the soil, to the
depth of three and a half feet, and three feet apart. Thus planted, the
cuttings rarely fail to grow, and are preferred to rooted plants, because,
vrith greater facility, they may be planted very deep. There is the
same aim in this country, as elsewhere in EuroiDe, to keep the roots of
vines as deep as possible; and they are equally careful to cut off all
the roots which strike out within a foot of the surface.

CANES.

In the cultivation of the vine here, canes form an important feature,
and it would be difficult to find a substitute for them. Four or six are
placed around a vine, about a foot from it at the bottom, and meeting

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 131

at tlie top, where they are tied with osiers. They will last two or three
years. In many places these canes are used for trellises and fences,
and are capable of being applied to so many purposes that their culti-
vation should be introduced with us. They can be bought here, eight
to fifteen feet long, at four dollars per thousand. The soil to grow
canes is dug four feet deep, and should be rich. The eyes are planted
four feet apart and a foot deep, and the spaces between kept clean ; but
no hilling up is required, as with corn. A good, plantation will pro-
duce twelve thousand per acre, for twelve or fifteen years. The heavier
the soil, the longer will the plantation continue to produce well.

CLOVER.

Lucerne is cultivated extensively. This is well known to require a
very deep soil, and the ground in which it is sown is dug four feet
deep. The seed is drilled in, at the rate of ten |)Ounds to an acre. In
its best condition, it will bear five cuttings during the season, of
three tons per acre, at each cutting. It requires great care in feeding,
to avoid injuring the cattle, and is never fed fresh, but cut in the
morning and used in the evening. It is thought good for liver disease
in horses.

MANURES.

Lupins are used extensively for manure, and are sown after harvest,
broadcast, at the rate of three hundred pounds to an acre, costing one
cent per pound. They are not covered^ but will quickly germinate,
growing two feet in three months, at which height they are plowed
under. The next best article for this purpose is the French bean.
Peas are planted between the rows of vines.

PEACHES.

Peaches are grafted on the almond tree, and are considered better on
the sweet than on the bitter. They have no worms at the root, but
ants destroy the bark when old.

GENERAL REMARKS.

Manure is not so abundantly used as further north, costing two cents
per bushel. The great fertility of the soil and numerous laboring pop-
ulation would, under proper management, make the country around
Rome very productive ; whereas, under its present metayer system, and
want of fostering care, either from proprietors or from government,
agriculture is depressed, and there is neither ambition nor effort for
improvement.

Some credit, however, should be given to the government for the
establishment of a small agricultural school in 1852. There are seven
pupils, who pay from their labor, after their education is finished, at
the rate of one hundred and fifty dollars per year. There were excel-
lent drawings by the students of flowers, architecture, vegetables, high

132 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

and low vine-culture, different modes of farm-culture, and inventions.
The course lasts three years, and the ages of the students are from
nineteen to thirty. The artistic tendencies of young Komans were
here well illustrated, and more rapid progress was never exhibited
than by the drawings of these pupils.

FLORENCE.

The finest specimen of landscape-gardening in Italy is the Villa
Bemidoff, at Florence, and this owes much to the taste of an English
gardener, Joseph Goode.

Near the entrance to these grounds there is a mass of rock-work,
covered with ferns, mosses, and flowers. A rustic path leads to the
top, from which is a view of a miniature lake, filled with fish_, and dot-
ted with aquatic plants. The interior of this rock-work forms a grotto,
used by the bathers in the lake as a dressing-room. The variegated
ivy, which grew in great profusion, produced a pretty effect. There
were beyond this some acres of lawns and gardens laid out with taste,
and looking very beautiful with the flowers and fresh foliage which
thus early in April were in full luxuriance. The purple magnolia,
Spirce Jieveesii, and Judas tree were in bloom, and masses of Rhododen-
dron, Weigela, and laurel were very brilliant, the latter filling the
whole air with its fragrance. There were large PauUinias, Fittosporum,
and Arbutus Uned.o. The Banksia roses were in full bloom, and quite
astonished us by the great size of the plants. Arose garden, one hun-
dred and fifty feet in diameter, was judiciously planted, with standards
and dwarfs, and veryp)retty seats were formed by roses trained so as to
make little alcoves. An island in the middle of a lake was ornamented
with a large cage, in which were birds of fine plumage or song, while
around it swam several black swans. There was, also, quite a mena-
gerie of the more useful animals, among which we noticed a drome-
dary and a llama. Each of the animals had a house and large pad-
dock for its especial use. The stables and carriage-houses were in
perfect order. The horses were fine, and four black ones, of mixed
ISTorman blood — were showy, and of admirable action. The villa was
under repair and could not be seen, but we entered the conservatory
through a most charming horticultural library. The glass structures
here contain one of the most rare and valuable collections of plants in
Europe, among which are an oak leaf, Grevillea, fifteen feet high, and a
Metrosid^eros albicans twenty feet. An Agave gracilis, five feet, was
valued at $5,000. Rliopala corcovadensis had a very beautiful leaf, like
young ferns. DicJcsonia antarctica was a beatiful fern, four feet high.
None of the fern tribe, however, could equal the Cheilantlies lentigera,
or Brussels lace. Its leaves were finely cut, soft, and feathery, and
there was a gracefulness about it quite unequaled in its way. Lyco-
podium leptopliyllum was a moss of unusual beauty. But the great
charm of this collection was in the variety of plants remarkable for
their foliage, among which were some five hundred of Dracmna nobilis,
scattered all over the house, with their soft luxuriant leaves, tinted
crimson, purple, and pink, resembling masses of flowers. There were,
also, Caladium argente, Maranta roseolineata, and many others. These

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 138

foliage plants are becoming deservedly popular in Europe. Curious,
often brilliant, and growing luxuriantly, they are constantly changing
their form, and present always the beauty which belongs to otlier
plants only vfhen in bloom.

There are several other villas about Florence, the grounds of which
are found delightful in the early spring, when bright flowers and fresh
foliage abound, but they offer no distinctive features worthy of record.
One of the best was the Torrigiaiia. In this, masses of blooming
flowers, some twelve feet in diameter, in pots, were surrounded by an
edging of tile twenty inches high, and produced a good effect. There
were an imitation temple of Janus, a high tower and observatory,
patches of China roses, hedges of Japan Euonymus, weeping SopJwras,
and an artificial river, with miniature island and stone bridge. A
large Phoiinia serrulata was in full bloom, and those who have seen
only the shrubby specimens we have in America can scarcely conceive
the beauty of a tree fifteen feet high, and the same in diameter, with
its glossy, rich leaves, and covered with masses of white fringe like
flowers. Banksia and Chromatella roses were trained twenty-five feet ;
and Souvenir de Malmaison was grafted on Banksia, which, in this
climate, makes the best stock possible. There were, also, imitation
Gothic ruins, and the unfailing circus of wooden horses — a part of
every Italian villa of any pretension. Anemones, tulips, and carna-
tions were in full bloom, and a fine effect was produced by roses trained
on fences, in the form of inverted arches. The turf was good at this
season, but the summer heat is said soon to destroy it.

Pratolino, about seven miles from Florence, in the mountains, is a
place of much beauty, belonging to the grand duke. Here are very
few flowers, but delightful, shady walks, miles in extent; fine lawns,
openings, and vistas; lakes, cascades, old trees, rose gardens, and well-
kept turf. It has, from one point, a superb view of the whole valley
of the Arno, witli the city of Florence.

The botanical garden at Florence is in good order, and has some
fine specimens of trees and shrubs, but is small, and cannot compare
with that at Pisa.

One of the specialities of Florence is the Cascina, or farm of the
grand duke, through which is a drive, well kept, and flanked by woods
and broad meadows, on which some of his best cattle and horses were
grazing. For each horse a small stable was erected in the middle of
the field.

PISA.

We found time to visit the duke's farm at Pisa, where are kept some
two hundred camels. We could not discover, however, that they were
of much use, although it is reported that they performed part of the
farm work. Those which we saw were quietly lying in their stables^
and none could be seen at work about the fields. The farm, which is
flat, consisting mostly of woods and pasture grounds, possesses very
little interest. There were some fine sheep, and a few cattle, appar-
ently crossed with Durham stock. The cattle of Eome and Tuscany
are generally long-horned, large-boned animals, destitute of the beauty

134 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of tlie English "breeds. The best were in the market at Perugia, where
there were some beautiful animals, and on the road between Genoa and
Pisa, the pet bullocks being driven to town would have been highly
prized at any show with us. Count Herrick had a pair of large cows,
which did the work of the farm and also supplied him with milk — too
much duty for any animals, but evincing their strength and valuable
qualities for crossing with other stock. He had a cross between the
Koman and Swiss cow, which partook of the best qualities of each.
There never can be improvements, however, in cattle, or anything else,
where the metayer system prevails. There is, under it, a very thorough
cultivation of the land, but no peasant is able to bestow such benefits
on his one or two acres as a farmer with us would eagerly introduce.

The country between Pisa and G-enoa is well cultivated ; wheat pre-
vails, and the vines are trained upon trees, the deep roots of the for-
mer and the surface roots of the latter not interfering with each other.
Sometimes the center of the tree is cut out, and the other branches
trained in the shape of a goblet, with the vine branches interlacing
them. The effect is pretty, and every farmer with us could adopt the
same plan successfully^ by digging a hole, near each apple tree, six
feet square and three or four deep, securing good drainage in the bot-
tom, and filling in with rich soil. A Diana or Delaware vine, planted
there, would soon cover the whole tree, and give an abundance of
fruit. ,

ARONA.

I searched the surrounding country for the bees desired by the de-
partment. I could find nothing which met the description given me,
and upon examining the bees of the country carefully, I could discover
none different from those with us. Intelligent men, in whose business
honey formed an important item, had no knowledge of a bee like that
which I described, and I was almost ready to doubt its existence. I
made an attempt to get to Milan, to inquire there, but the Austrians
had cut off all communication. A similar attempt to reach Turin was
frustrated by the closing of the railroad^ the advance of troops, and
the expectation of an immediate battle. I was obliged, therefore, to
defer further search until hostilities should cease.

The charms of Lake Maggiore have been long celebrated_, but no
description can exaggerate the reality. There is here a mode of train-
ing vines which produces a fine effect, namely: upon a sort of trellis,
four or five feet high, and then brought over at the top and tied to
branches from the next trellis, the point of union being supported by
a stake. Every other row of these ties is- supported by a shorter stake
than its alternate; thus one row forms a gothic, and the next an in-
verted arch.

From the road, the field presents an undulating surface of green
leaves, the top branches completely hiding the trellis. It was thought
at one time that the oidium was owing to the age of the vines. Many
of the old vineyards were therefore destroyed, and new plantations
made. The use of sulphur has since proved efficacious, and this
destruction useless.

THE IONIAN ISLANDS AND ITALY. 135

Another cliarming feature of the cultivation here is, that mulben-y
and other trees are not disfigured by close pruning, as in Lombardy
and southern Italy. They grow with luxuriance, and are kept down
by the same degree of pruning that we af)ply to dwarf pears. Haw-
thorn hedges and primroses, blooming along the roadside, give the
country quite an English look.

Taking a boat, with four sturdy rowers, for the lake had become
rough, we visited Pallanza, to obtain some information about bees, and
then landed on Isola Madre, one of the Borromean islands. This
island is far out in the lake, and beyond the shadow of the mountains.
It therefore enjoys an almost tropical climate, and many New Holland
plants grow luxuriantly in the open air. There is very little taste dis-
played in its plan, and many small places in England are, in this
respect, vastly its superior. But the combination of agreeable objects
is unequaled. You stand in the midst of trees and plants, with us
found only in green-houses. From this forest-like luxuriance, the eye
passes to the white houses of Pallanza opposite, the strongest possible
contrast of the works of Nature and of man. Then the eye wanders
over the rippling lake, and, upward, catches the sloping shores, upward
still, the crowning hills, covered with foliage, and above all, the high-
est peaks of the Alps, white and glistening with snow. Here £U'e all
the elements of natural beauty— rich vegetation, quiet water, hills,
mountains, and snow. Isola Madre contains scarcely more than foui
or five acres, yet in this small space is an unrivaled collection of trees
and plants, and one could ramble about for days, and find each hour
some new beauty to admire.

Among the trees which with us require green-house cultivation we
noticed a Camelia, thirty feet high, and another of twenty-five feet,
with a mass of foliage twenty-five feet in diameter, and covered with
flowers ; Acacia dealbata, fifteen feet high ; an oleander, grafted with
five sorts, twenty feet high, and twenty-six feet in diameter; a Wio-
dodendron arhoreum, twenty feet high, in full bloom, incomparably
superb; Cactus, on the rocks which bound the shore; Palmetto; Cycas
revoluta; Carob; Indian fig, in fruit; Fabiana imhricata; Hakea pugion-
iformis; Encalypta saligna; Lemons trained on walls, and in full fruit;
large specimens of Magnolia grandifiora, some thirty-five feet high ;
Iris, in bloom; Escallonia florihunda ; Araucaria imhricata ; Ericas, fif-
teen feet high, in full bloom; masses of Azaleas; Phillocladus trichoma-
noides; Cr^p^omerm, twenty feet high; Weeping cypress, eighteen feet;
Taxus haccata, forty feet ; Arbutus AoidracJme, thirty feet ; immense
Quercus Ilex; Araucaria hrasiliensis, thirty feet ; Gunningliamia, eigh-
teen feet ; Euonymusjimhriatus, six feet ; with glossy acuminate leaves ;
and many other plants and trees too numerous to mention. One of
the most striking objects was made by four plants of Juniperus sabina
forming one evergreen mass, four feet high, and thirty in diameter.
Several large Lagustremias , twenty-five feet high, are seen a mile dis-
tant when in bloom. Pinus patida, twenty feet high, with a head
twenty feet in diameter, greatly resembled Pinus excelsa. A white
Banksia rose, with trunk five inches in diameter, showed well the fine
efiect of this variety.

136 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

ISOLA BELLA.

A visit to Isola Bella was productive of less pleasure. It is far more
expensive, but constructed with, little taste, being a succession of ter-
races, with too great a predominance of brick and mortar. It reminds
one of a tine piece of confectionary. There are, however, many inter-
esting objects ; Gerasus caroliniana, thirty feet high, and with foliage
thirty feet in diameter ; groves of oleander, eighteen feet high ; Tree
Box, thirty feet high ; parterres ; groves of Magnolia grandifiora;
Metrosideros alba, twelve feet high, and eighteen in diameter of foliage ;
Magnoliaii hartwg, fifteen feet ; Arbutus unedo, twenty feet ; Laurus
campliora, forty years old, and some fifty feet high ; Cunninghamia
sinensis, sixty feet ; Cupressus glauca penditla, twenty feet ; and a sin-
gular Abies monocaulis, forty-six years old_, and ten feet high. One
of the best things was a grotto, made to resemble the temple of peace,
filled with ferns, kept damp b}^ trickling water, and apparently sup-
ported by columns of ivy, five feet in diameter, and twenty-six feet
long, which grew down from above, and, being detached at the bot-
tom, would swing at a touch from the hand.

The collection in both these islands far surpassed that at the botanic
garden of Pisa^ and although not so large as that at Palermo, con-
sisted of finer specimens, because less crowded.

The whole country about Lake Maggiore is full of delightful features,
and in our pedestrian excursions among the mountains in search of
bees there frequently burst upon us scenes of wonderful beauty. The
quiet charm of the lake was always present, and we would sometimes
walk over stretches of turf like an English lawn, or skirt along copses
of underwood, ffesh with the peculiar beauty of young vegetation. At
one time old trees, with broad arms, would shelter us, and then we
would be wandering amid the trained gracefulness of a vineyard, while
an occasional mountain torrent, foaming and dashing, would leap
across our path.

To visit Italy and not see the Italian Lakes, is to look at a frame
and not see the picture. But the nations were gathering to the battle,
troops were hastening forward, and, bearing in mind that in war there
was lawlessness, we hastened to place the Alps between the combatants
and our defenseless party.

FEETILIZEES.

BY HON. THOS. G. CLEMSON, L.L. D.

From the day when the ^fiat went forth, "In the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread," agriculture took its place among the arts of the
world. It is true, while population was sparse, and man depended first
on game and then on flocks and herds, this art made little or no pro-
gress. The tropical climate, where the infancy of man seems to have

FERTILIZERS. ' 137

been cradled, would appear also to have led him to defer the necessity
of much attention to it. Very soon, however, the increasing density
of population must have necessitated its development, since we find
that the Egyptians, at the earliest period to which history reaches,
were already skillful agriculturists, and had carried the art to such a
point of perfection as not only to have sustained their own dense pop-
ulation, "but to have made Egypt the granary of the world. That it
was not entirely the fertility of that favored region to which this was
due, we have evidence in the present state of that country. The Nile
still overflows the land with fatness, and the sun still sheds its vivify-
ing influence ; yet, there^ agriculture has sunk to its lowest ebb, and
the country scarce supports its miserable tribes; its immense world-
renowned monuments alone remain to show what the land once was.
Egypt is the most striking proof which history presents of the insep-
arable connection between a high state of civilization and a high de-
velopment of agricultural resources. They rise and fall together, and
the prosperity and, indeed, existence of the one is identical with the
other. Let that nation beware, whose exhausted fields are forcing her
population to emigrate. Civilization, in its highest degree, cannot
exist without dense population ; nor dense population, without calling
to its aid the highest resources of agriculture.

Egypt stands a living, or rather a dead, type of the intimate con-
nection between population and agriculture. China is one equally
striking, on the opposite side. For how many thousand years has her
pains-taking care for every foot of her soil maintained her prosperous
and dense legions, in a region comparatively but little favored by Na-
ture, and given a respectable position among nations to a people but
little intellectually gifted ! How many wonderful discoveries do we
owe to the necessities of their compact masses ! The struggle for ex-
istence has always been one of the greatest stimulus to the activity of
the human mind.

This continuous prosperity, through a long series of centuries, is
owing to the sedulous care of the government. No people, left to
themselves, will think of future generations ; and it is for that reason
that all governments should foster and aid the development of this
most important of arts, as government only can. This is so well un-
derstood in the present day, by all nations, that those who govern are
turning their attention daily more and more to its aid and advance-
ment. England has done so by direct legislation ; her aristocracy,
also an integral part of her government, having, consequently, the
weight necessary to carry out a continuous system, has given all
the impetus of this weight and their great wealth to its energetic de-
velopment.

It is only within comparatively few years that science has revealed
to us the true composition of bodies and the laws that govern their
action ; thus developing the wonderful resources of Nature, and reducing
that to system which, in the time of our forefathers, Avas ignorant
practice based upon hereditary experience.

It is true that this subject has occupied, from the earliest times, the
attention of statesmen, philosophers, and philanthropists; but they
only collected and reasoned from the results of experience, without

138 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

entering into the laws which led to and governed the results which
they recorded. Agriculture, therefore, now stands upon a hasis far
different from what it has hitherto occupied ; and not working, as we
have heretofore, in the dark, but knowing where to look for causes and
effects, we may expect in the next century to make a stride that will
give to this art, or rather convocation of arts, a place among the exact
sciences. But this very rapidity of advancement will render it more
fatal to be left behind in the race ; and neither nations nor individuals
can stand supinely by, depending upon the past, and exhausting the
accumulated resources of Nature, without individual and national ruin.
Death is the award of improvidence, to nations as well as to individu-
als. The continuous march of civilization to the west was the natural
result of ignorance ; and the civilized world is just beginning to realize
the dire consequences that are pending over those who neglect to act
upon the unerring laws which science reveals. Sterility and depopulation
are consequences not of use, but of abuse. Disappearance of man and
all his monuments, even to the entire extinction of vitality, is the con-
sequence of mistaken cupidity, or the ignorance of those laws which gov-
ern scientific agriculture. Indeed, that essential art needs no protection ;
we may safely leave to enlightened industry, especially in our country,
the application of proper and well-proved rules. That which is neces-
sary, however, is to place within the reach of all the ex^perience of the
world, and the important results which science and observation are
constantly developing, that time may not be lost in futile and oft-tried
experiments. G-overnment, indeed, alone would seem capable of es-
tablishing and persisting in a continuous system of improvement and
development, not only for this, but future generations. Its influence
and weight are essential on the side of advancement.

One of the most interesting and important subjects to the agricul-
turist is, of course, the means of keeping up, or restoring the fertility
of his land ; and that he may not work in the dark, it is essential that
he should understand the nature and action of soils, the functions of
plants, and the operation of fertilizers.

It is important we should always bear in mind that this earth is not
a heterogeneous mixture of an indefinite number of illy-defined sub-
stances, but, on the contrary, the different objects or forms of matter
which present themselves to our senses are limited in the number of
their constituents ; as far as our knowledge extends they do not exceed
sixty-two.

Each substance is sui generis, and, no matter from whence taken,
possesses precisely similar properties, and is governed by invariable
laws in its action upon other substances. They are solid, liquid, or
aeriform, according to circumstances. Water is a familiar example ;
it is solid in the form of ice, liquid in water, and aeriform as steam.

Substances have been created once and forever ; they may change
place, form, and combinations, but such a thing as blotting out of ex-
istence, or re-creation, is impossible. Some are abundant, while others
are exceedingly rare, and difficult to procure. To show the small or
limited number of substances which enter into the bodies around us,
it is only necessary to remember that the great mineral masses, which
form by far the largest portion of the earth, are composed, as far as

FERTILIZERS. ' 139

our IrnowledgG extends, of a few elementary principles. Water is
composed of two gases, and the air we breathe likewise of two gases,
one of which is common alike to air and water. Nor do they combine
in an indefinite manner ; they unite with each other in simple, definite
proportions, multiples the one of the other, and the quantity rarely
surpasses the proportion of five to one. Substances may be, it is true,
heterogenenusly mixed in any proportions, and these mixtures present
endless varieties, but are not chemical compounds, and do not enter
into the category of which we are speaking.

Matter may be divided into that which has life, and that -which is
without life. The principal part of the substances which go to com-
pose organic beings exists around us, in the air we breathe, (water,
carbonic acid, nitrogen.) There are other substances not less essential
to organic life, but which are found to enter their composition in infi-
nitely smaller quantities. These are found in the ashes, after incin-
eration of any vegetable or animal matter. We shall learn their
composition as we proceed.

Those things which are endowed with vitality are produced, then
increase, and mature. Inorganic substances increase by the juxtapo-
sition of similar parts, and their form is destroyed by forces exterior
to themselves, while organisms reproduce their like, and have a period
of existence determined by laws, which fix their time of growth^ decay,
and death. Of organic life there are two distinct classes, one receiving
its food through a digestive canal, and is endowed with locomotion;
the other is fixed by roots to the soil. This is not rigorously correct,
but sufiiciently so for our present purpose. The last, or vegetable pro-
ductions, receive a portion of their food through their roots, and
another through their leaves. The root answers a double purpose,
that of fixing the plant in the earth, and drav/ing from it nourish-
ment. Yegetable anatomy informs us that among the elements of
their construction there are cells, which are found in all plants, what-
ever character they may have, and those cells, by transformations and
successive development, form fibres, tubes, or elongated canals. While
the characteristics of the animal and vegetable classes are thus marked,
the qualitative chemical composition of both is identical ; the princi-
pal organic portions of which — I do not allude to the mineral constit-
uents, or ash, and there is great similarity in that respect — may be
said to express the condensation of the gases of which they are com-
posed. Oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen form the volatile
portions ; and silex, lime, potash, soda, magnesia, iron, sulphur, and
phosphorus the mineral parts. It is mainly with those substances
that we have to deal in connection with fertility or agriculture. If
we can turn a never-ceasing influx of them into our fields, the prob-
lem of fertility is solved, and it remains for us to consider their prop-
erties, their history, their action the one upon the other, and the means
that have heretofore been employed of making them subservient to. our
wants .

Plants are divided into two distinct classes, those that receive their
increment from within and those that receive their growth on the
exterior. The first are called endogens, the latter exogens. All or-
ganized bodies have forms and properties peculiar and inherent to

140 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

themselves, and those forms and properties cliaracterize the parts as
well as the whole ; and it is that particular form and the properties of
the parts that render it what it is and make it a living thing. Some
plants go through the different stages of germination, growth, fructi-
fication, and death in one season ; they are called annuals. Others
live through a succession of years, and are called perennial. Some
of the minute fungi, on the contrary, go through the stages of their
existence in a few hours, and seldom live loriger than a few days.
Some plants are annuals in a northern latitude, hut perennial in a
more southern. The oak, the yew, the cypress, and cedar are long-
lived trees, and flourish for many centuries. Some remarkable in-
stances of the longevity of trees are noted by historians. A yew tree,
which was growing in 1660 in the county of Kent, in England, about
which all tradition was lost, measured at that time very nearly sixty
feet in circumference at the base, and is believed to have been 2,880
years old. On the island of Nerbuddah, in Hindostan, there is still
standing a banyan ; the tradition of the natives is that it is 3,000
years old. A species of cypress, which grew near Oaxaca, in MexicO;
and which is said to have sheltered the whole army of Cortez, meas-
ured nearly 118 feet in circumference, or 3*7^ feet in diameter, a.nd was
computed by Decandolle to have withstood the deluge and been in
existence before the creation of man. There is another cypress at
Chapultepec, in the same region, which is said to be 117 feet 10 inches
round. If the measurement here given be correct, and the tree con-
sists of one stem, we are entitled' to consider the Mexican cypress as
the most gigantic and ancient tree discovered on the globe.

No infallible rule is known by which we can estimate the age of
trees. The known practice of counting the concentric rings in the
trunk of a tree, and reckoning each for a year, is liable to error, for
a recurrence of cold after warm weather may so check vegetation as to
occasion the formation of two layers in one season, or two zones may
be fused into one by some temporary injury. But it is nevertheless a
close approximation, and may be relied on within certain limits.

It is through the roots that the ash or mineral ingredient enters,
while the leaves absorb from the atmosphere the organic or combus-
tible portion. The power of assimilation appears to be dependent
upon the action of light. A plant placed in water containing car-
bonic acid, and exposed to the light of the sun, absorbs the acid and
gives off oxygen. At night the action is reversed, and carbonic acid
is emitted, when oxygen is assimilated. Every one has remarked the
tendency of plants to lean towards the sun, and where they are kept in
cellars they will bend even several feet from the perpendicular to re-
ceive the rays of light that may enter through an aperture. In the
early stages of plant-life, the carbon of the soil enters through the
roots ; but when the plant has risen above the ground, and its leaves
are formed, the carbon of the soil is no longer needed, and it is pro-
bable that what is required is entirely assimilated from the carbonic
acid of the atmosphere.

The sap rises from the roots through the internal vessels to the leaves,
becomes carbonized by the decomposition of the carbonic acid of the

FERTILIZERS. 141

atmosphere, and passes down into the plant, forming ligneous fiber, &c.
We shall not enter into the subject of vegetable physiology ; that would
be foreign to our purpose. Fertility depends at once upon the chem-
ical composition and mechanical condition of the soil ; nor can it be
independent of subsoil and climatic influences. The latter question,
including the chemistry of ozone, is one of great intricacy. It is so
interwoven with heat, electricity, moisture, and chemical reaction as
almost to baffle investigation. Plants generate and evolve heat, and
possess the power of preventing their juices from freezing at a degree
of temperature far below that at which congelation would take place
were the plant dead. Fertility is a relative term, and is dependent
upon multifarious influences. A certain degree of heat and moisture
is essential to life ; without them, there can be no germination nor
maturation of seed ; nor are these essentials independent of soil, or
rather its constituents, we may say one constituent, for the absence or
presence of one substance may secure fertility or produce sterility.

With these preliminary remarks, we pass to the consideration of
water in its connection with fertility:

Water in a perfectly pure state is composed of two volumes of hydro-
gen gas and one of oxygen, and about 89 parts of oxygen and 11 of
hydrogen by weight. When you mix the two gases they will remain
uncombined for an indefinite period, unless the mixture should be sub-
mitted to the action of heat or electricity. The combination then takes
j)lace with the manifestation of stupendous force. The two compo-
nents may be separated by electricity. Water enters into the composi-
tion of all vegetable and animal structures. It is one of the principal
constituents of blood, milk, and sap. By its assistance, silex and other
insoluble substances enter into circulation, and are assimilated by ani-
mals and vegetables. It is found to make part of all grains, woods,
leaves, &c. Its absence would jjroduce universal death. It enters
into all our domestic operations, and forms part of all alcoholic bever-
ages and articles of food. It is essential to production, and it may be
said that fertility in any locality is in direct proportion to humidity,
and sterility in proportion to its absence. The truth of this proposi-
tion is verified in a remarkable degree in the deserts of Sahara and the
western plains of this continent.

Water is never obtained pure from natural sources ; it is procured
by distillation. That which issues from springs, generally contains
mineral substances, and always impurities of a gaseous nature. There
are waters, even river waters, that at times evaporate without residuum.
Such is the case with that of the Schuylkill, at Philadelphia. We
have used it for months together, in analysis. Eain-water, and that
which falls in the form of dew, are also impure. The former, though
much freer from impurities than that which has flowed over the ground,
comes down charged with all the impurities of the atmosphere, which
it washes as it descends. These substances are varied and numerous,
consisting of impalpable sand, vegetable and animal particles, also
salt taken up from the ocean. That which first falls after a drought
is often charged with the offensive odor of animal perspiration, excre-
ments, and putrefaction. It also brings down fishes and frogs, and at
times organisms and pollen, to the extent of tinging the surface of the

142 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

earth witli the color of the adventitious matter. Eain-water always
contains ammonia and nitric acid. These are partly formed by the
action of electricity in the atmosphere, and are partly the result of de-
compositions which take place on the surface of the earth and in the
air.

Pure water. is insipid and unhealthy. That taken from springs or
rivers, independent of any mineral ingredients which it may hold in
solution, always contains a quantity of oxygen gas, the great supporter
of life and combustion. This imparts a tonic-invigorating quality to
cold water, which when boiled it does not possess ; to the latter, emetic
qualities are attributed. Water, from its known quality of containing
oxygen in weak combination or in an evanescent form, together with
carbonic acid, is a powerful and essential agent in chemical action,
which is ever occurring in the soil, &g. The substances held in solu-
tion vary in different rivers and different parts of the same stream,
both in Idnd and in proportions of the saline ingredients. The follow-
ing analysis of water from different rivers were made by some of the
most distinguished chemists of continental Europe, Bouchardat, Bous-
singault, Dupasquier, Tingry, Gi-rundaub, and Payen :

" For example, 100,000 parts of the water of the Seine above Paris
contain 11.3 of carbonate of lime, 0.4 of carbonate of magnesia, 0.5
of silica, 3.6 of gypsum, 0.6 of Epsom salt, l.Oof chloride of calcium,
0.8 of chloride of magnesium, and traces of nitrates and of organic
matter ; 100,000 parts of the water of the Marne contain 10.5 of car-
bonate of lime, 0.9 of carbonate of magnesia, 0.6 of silica, 3.1 of gyp-
sum, 1.2 of Epsom salt, l.T of chloride of magnesium, and traces of
organic matter ; 100,000 parts of the water of the Ourcq, at St. Denis,
contain 1Y.5 of carbonate of lime, 2.0 of carbonate of magnesia, 2.0
of silica, 15.3 of gypsum, 7.0 of Epsom salt, 4.0 of chloride of mag-
nesium, and traces of common salt and of organic matter ; 100,000
parts of the water of the Yonne, at Avallon, contain 4.3 of carbonate
of lime, 1.9 of silica, traces of gypsum, 1.5 of chloride of calcium,
and traces of common salt and organic matter ; 100,000 parts of the
water of the Benvronne contain 25.7 per cent, of carbonate of lime,
20.3 of gypsum, and 8.5 of chloride of calcium; 100,000 parts of the
water of the Therouenne contain 26.2 of carbonate of lime, 2.0 of
gypsum, and 3.6 of chloride of calcium; 100,000 parts of the water
of the Gergogne contain 18.0 of carbonate of lime, 1.5 of gypsum,
1.5 of chloride of calcium, and 1.9 of common salt ; 100,000 parts of
the water of the Bievre, near Paris, contain 13.6 of carbonate of lime,
25.1 of gypsum, 10.9 of chloride of calcium, and 1.2 of common salt;
100,000 parts of the water of the Arcueil contain 16.9 oi^ carbonate of
lime, 16.9 of gypsum, 11.0 of chloride of calcium, and 1.9 of common
salt ; 100,000 parts of the water of the spring of Eoye, at Lyons, con-
tain 23.8 of carbonate of lime, traces of silica, 1.4 of gypsum, 1.2 of
common salt, and traces of nitrates and organic matter ; 100,000 parts
of the Avater of the Fountain Spring, at Lyons, contain 23.4 of car-
bonate of lime, traces of silica, 1.7 of gypsum, 1,3 of chloride of cal-
cium, traces of chloride of magnesium, 0.2 of common salt, and traces
of organic matter ; 100,000 parts of the water of the Khone, at Lyons,
in July, contain 10.0 of carbonate of lime, traces of silica, 0.6 of gyp-

FERTILIZERS. 143

sum, and traces of Epsom salt, of chloride of calcium, of chloride of
magnesium, of common salt, and of organic matter ; 100,000 parts of
the water of the Khone, at Lyons, in February, contain 15.0 of car-
bonate of lime, 2.0 of gypsum, 0.7 of Epsom salt, 0.7 of chloride of
calcium, and traces of nitrate of lime and of organic matter; 100,000
parts of the water of the spring of the G-arden of Plants, at Lyons,
contain 27.0 of carbonate of lime, 25.2 of gypsum, 16.8 of carbonate
of calcium, 1.6 of chloride of magnesium, 12.6 of common salt, 7.G
of nitrates, and traces of organic matter; 100,000 parts of the water
of the Lake of G-eneva contain 7.2 of carbonate of lime, 0.7 of car-
bonate of magnesia, 0.1 of silica, 2.6 of gypsum, 3.1 of Epsom salt,
0.9 of chloride of magnesium, and 0.6 of organic matter; 100,000
parts of the water of the Arve, in August, contain 5.2 of carbonate
of lime, 0.4 of carbonate of magnesia, 0.1 of silica, 3.2 of gj^psum,
2.9 of Epsom salt^ 0.7 of chloride of magnesium, and 0.3 of organic
matter ; 100,000 parts of the water of the Arve, in February, contain
8.3 of carbonate of lime, 1.2 of carbonate of magnesia, 0.2 of silica,
6.5 of gypsum, 6.2 of Epsom salt, 1.5 of chloride of magnesium, and
0.4 of organic matter ; 100,000 parts of the water of the Loire, near
Orleans, contain 1.7 of carbonate of lime, 5.1 of chloride of calcium,
and traces of common salt; 100,000 parts of the water of the Loiret
contain 11.9 of carbonate of lime, 3.8 of gypsum, 10.2 of chloride of
calcium, and 2.5 of common salt ; and 100,000 parts of the water of
the artesian Avell at Grenelle, near Paris, contain 6.8 of carbonate of
lime, 1.42 of carbonate of magnesia, 2.90 of bicarbonate of potash,
1.2 of sulphate of potash, 1.09 of chloride of. potassium, 0.57 of silica,
and 0.24 of nitrogenous organic matter."

It will be borne in mind that the above-named substances are in
solution and do not include those held in mechanical suspension. The
waters analyzed above are not only limpid, but such as are used for
the kitchen and all the daily purposes of life.

Much has been written upon the sewerage of eities throughout the
world. This is a subject of great importance, not only to the agri-
cultural wealth of the country, but imminent to its sanitary condition.
The value that is daily washed into rivulets from our lands, and thence
to the sea, is incalculable. Mr. Grey, in speaking of the Medloch,
says: "it receives the drainage of not more than 100,000, and contains
sufficient phosphoric acid to supply 95,000 acres of wheat, 184,000
acres of potatoes, or 280,000 acres of oats, and to hold in solution a
sufficient quantity of silica to supply 50,000 acres of wheat."

A distinguished agricultural writer in 1845 makes the following
remarks upon the subject of the sewerage of London :

"By carefully conducted experiments and very accurate gaugings it
has been found that the chief London sewers convey daily into the
Thames about 115,000 tons of mixed drainage, consisting on an average
computation of one part of solid and twenty-five absolutely fluid matters ;
but if we only allow one part in thirty of this immense mass to be com-
posed of solid substances, then v/e have the large quantity of more than
3,800 of solid manure daily poured into the river from London alone,
consisting principally of excrements, soot, and the debris of the London
streets, which is chiefly carbonate of lime; thus, allowing twenty tons

144 AGRICULTUEAL REPORT.

of the manure as a dressing for an acre of ground, tliere is evidently
a quantity of solid manure annually poured into the river equal to
fertilizing more than 50,000 acres of the poorest cultivated land! The
quantity of food thus lost to the country hy this heedless waste of
manure is enormous ; for only allowing one crop of wheat to be raised
on these 50,000 acres that would be equal to the maintenance (calcu-
lating upon an average produce of three quarters of wheat per acre) of
150,000 persons. London, too, is only one huge instance of this
thoughtless waste of the agricultural riches of the soil of England.
From every other English city, every town, every hamlet, is hourly
passing into the sea a proportionate waste of liquid manure ; and I
have only spoken of the solid or mechanically suspended matters of
the average ; the absolutely fluid portion is still rich in urine, ammo-
niacal salts, soda, &c."

The earth is surrounded by water in a state of vapor, and the quan-
tity varies according to the temperature of the atmosphere and other
circumstances. Vomer found as a mean of fifty experiments, in 1,000
parts of air, 8.47 parts of vapor. In the forenoon, and before two
o'clock, the mean was 7.97; and between tvv^o p. m. and evening,
8.85. There is more humidity in the atmosphere during the day than
at night ; and more during the summer than winter ; more in low flat
countries than in mountainous regions ; and less in the interior of con-
tinents far removed from rivers, lakes, or the ocean. A slight change
in the temperature of an atmosphere, saturated with humidity, pro-
duces fogs, clouds, and rains ; and by congelation, snow, &c. A con-
tinuous evaporation takes place from the ocean, lakes, rivers, and the
soil, and a return to the earth in form of dew and rain. Tlie amount
of evaporation that takes place in a country is greatly influenced by
the operations of the farmer. In a report made by Andrew Brown and
Dr. M. W. Dickeson to the American Association, in 1849, those gentle-
men remark "that the annual quantity of rain that falls in the valley
of the Mississippi maybe estimated at 169,128,960,000,000 cubic feet,
which is about llf, or 11.3636, times the quantity which is discharged
by the river. Tliere can be but two ways by which this immense quan-
tity of water can make its escape from the valley ; one is by the course
of the river^ and the other by evaporation ; -^j parts are carried off by
the river and |-f- parts by evaporation. Thus, we arrive at a fact of the
most momentous importance to the planting interests of Louisiana and
Mississippi; for it v/ill be at once- perceived that the more exhalations
are promoted, the less liable will the low or bottom lands of these two
States be to the periodical inundations by the river.

"If it be asked by what process it is expected that evaporation can be
proinoted over such an extensive area as the Mississippi valley, so as
visibly and permanently to affect the planting interests of the above-
named States ; the answer will be found in the fact that the process
has been, and is now, in the most rapid and successful progress, and
of that kind which is the best calculated to produce so desirable a
result, viz: the clearing of such large portions of the valley of its
forests for the promotion of agriculture, and the consequent exposure
of the lands to the action of the sun and winds, the very best promotors
of the evaporating process, particularly on a large scale.

FERTILIZERS. 145

' ' So rapid is the progress of this increased exposure and its consequent
evaporating tendency, and so visible have been its effects on the Missis-
sippi river, that we may hazard the assertion with safety, that there is
not now by twenty-five per cent, as much water passing down the Mis-
sissippi as there was twenty-five years ago ; for at and prior to that
time, there were annual inundations of many feet, and long periods
of submergence of almost all the bottom lands, from the bluiTs on one
side of the river bottom to those on the other side. Such lands were
at that period accounted valueless, and to such a degree that but little
or no hopes were entertained of the practicability of their redemption
by any artificial means — that is on any general scale ; but such has
been the diminution in the annual quantity of water discharged from
the valley, that those lands have been progressively and rapidly
redeemed from overflow, until very great portions of them are now in
the highest state of cultivation, and with but slight assistance from
art in the v/ay of embankments, and these such as could not have been
at all available against the overwhelming effects of floods and the
length of time of their continuance ; for then there were annual inun-
dations, both deep and expansive, of the waters, over almost all the
bottom lands, but now the river seldom rises to the same elevation as
formerly, and, when it does, it is of much shorter duration, and the
waters are almost exclusively confined to the channel of the river, in
place of being spread over almost all the bottom lands the whole spring
and early part of the summer."

Such changes are progressing, generally unsuspected and overlooked,
but not the less sure.

The art of producing large crops by means of artificial supplies of
water, has been practised from remote ages in the warm countries of
the world. It was used by the aborigines of America, by the Incas,
the inhabitants of Mexico, extensively practised by the Egyptians, the
Romans, and at the present day in France and Germany. The Hin-
doos make no attempt at cultivation without artificial irrigation. The
rivers of Italy are made subservient to agricultural v/ants wherever it
is practicable. Arthur Young gives an account of an hour's run of
water through a gutter, near Turin, which produced, in 1778, 1,500
livres. The rent of irrigated lands in Italy is much larger than upon
land not watered. Moses, in speaking to the Israelites in the wilder-
■ness, said : " The land v/hither thou goest in to possess it, is not aa
the land of Egypt, whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed,
and water edst with thy foot, as a garden of herbs." Here the law-
giver alludes to the machines that v/ere used in Egypt, which they
worked with their feet, for raising water. Virgil tells how to bring
down the waters of a rivulet upon the sown corn, and when suffer-
ing from heat, to convey the vivifying liquid from the crown of the
declivity, in channels, to the roots of the plants. Columella, Pliny,
Cato, Yarro,* &c., all dwell upon the importance of irrigation. It is
found profitable in England to irrigate plantations of willows and
other semi-aquatic trees upon dry soils. The efficiency of irrigation is

* Sine aqua omnis agricultura est miserabilis et sine efFectu. — Varro, d. r. r.
10 A

146 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

dependent upon many considerations ; one of the principal is the na-
ture of the subsoil. When it is a tenacious clay, the preparation
consists in suitable under-draining, that would be useless where the
subsoil is sand or open gravel.

Some waters are injurious. Certain salts of iron are known to be
unfavorable to vegetation. Waters issuing from factories impregnated
with animal and vegetable substances, such as the waters of distilleries,
breweries, slaughter-houses, &c., are highly fertilizing ; others issuing
from chemical establishments, calico printing factories, are injurious.
Salt water in small quantities may be found useful upon certain plants,
such as the grasses, asparagus, &c., while they are positively injurious
to such plants as rice. The sa,lt marshes of France are known to pro-
duce a superior quality of mutton, which commands a high price, and
is known in the French market under the name of "pres sale."

Waters impregnated with carbonate and sulphate of lime are very
fertilizing. In certain parts of Germany, a weak solution of sulphuric
acid has been employed for irrigating grass lands with great ad-
vantage. Those v/hich liold in suspension mud and other detritus,
are highly useful, particularly on sandy soils; the fine mud settles in
the pores, and gives consistency, but any soil would be benefited by
water holding mud in suspension, and that, of course, in proportion to
the amount of organic and saline matter in the mud.

Sir Humphrey Davy thought that the protection of grasses from frost
during the winter season was of great importance, for a meadow
irrigated in winter is preserved from sudden alternations, and from the
effect of the roots being thrown out of the ground by alternate freezings
and thawings. Tlie water immediately in contact with the roots of the
grass is rarely belovv^ 40° Fahrenheit. In the month of March, in a
meadow near liungerford, the air was, at 7 o'clock, A. M., at 29°.
The water vv^as frozen above the grass, and the temperature of the soil
below the water in which the roots were growing was 43°. While the
temperature is thus prevented from falling during the winter, it is
kept cool during the summer.

Irrigation supposes water in motion ; if it be allowed to stand and
stagnate^ its effects would destroy the objects sought to be accomplished.
Instead of fine grasses we would have a growth of carices, junci, and
other coarse plants of no value.

Sir John Sinclair says that the advantages of meadow irrigation are"
chiefly as follows :

First. With the exception of warjDing, it is by far the easiest, cheaj)-
est, and most certain mode of improving poor land, particularly if it is
of a dry and gravelly nature.

Second. Land once improved by irrigation, is put into a state of
perpetual fertility, without any occasion for manure or trouble of weed-
ing or any other material expense.

Third. It becomes so productive as to yield the largest bulk of hay,
beside abundance of the very best support for ewes and lambs in the
spring, and for cows and other cattle in the autumn of every year.

Fourth. In favorable situations, it produces very early grass in the
spring, when it is doubly valuable.

Fifth. Not only is the land thus rendered fertile without having any
occasion for manure, but it produces food for animals, which is con-

FERTILIZERS. 147

verted into manure, to be used on other lands, thus augmenting, in a
compound proportion, that great source of fertility.

The subject of irrigation is one of immense importance, in a dry,
arid climate, such as characterizes portions of the western plains par-
ticularly. It is paramount, and may be employed throughout the con
tinent with advantages greater than any other agricultural application.
It is an important art of itself, and one that requires special acquire-
ments for its adaptation.*

The direct action of the fertilizing constituents of water are not the
only influences Avhich that substance exerts upon our fields and grow-
ing crops. Its simple percolation through a soil has an important
influence, by displacing gases and thus creating circulation of air and
bringing a fresh supply of ameliorating agents.

A little reflection will teach us how to prevent the disastrous conse-
quences of the sudden and powerful rains that fall in our climate. If
the ground is cultivated shallow, we must suffer from washing. A
hill-side plowed two or three inches would meet with the same fate
that we would expect if we were to expose an inclined looking-glass,
upon which we had sprinkled sand. The deeper a ,soil is stirred the
better rain will be absorbed, instead of running off; and the deeper
the furrow the longer will the moisture be retained. The alternate
influence of showers and sunshine upon deeply-stirred land brings
about another important eftect, which cannot be obtained without it :
we allude to aeration, an influence of great importance, by which not
only the organic portions of the soil are, by aid of air circulation,
brought into a state of decomposition ; gases are evolved, new com-
binations formed, the inert mineral constituents are also decomposed,
new salts are.created, and numerous chemical. actions take place, pro-
ducing active food for plant-life.

It is, of course, necessary to distinguish between a wholesome hu-
midity and destructive saturation ; while the one is to be cherished,
the other must be avoided. On the subject of under-draining we shall
not enter ; its importance is too great for a cursory notice in a paper
of this kind, and we refer our readers to the many valuable publica-
tions written upon the subject.

Liebig makes the following beautiful remarks :

''There is not to be found in chemistry a more wonderful phenome-
non, and which more confounds all human wisdom, than is presented
by the soil of a garden or field.

"By the simplest experiment, any one may satisfy himself that rain-
water, filtered through field or garden soil, does not dissolve out a
trace of potash, ammonia, silicic, or phosphoric acid. The soil does
not give up to the water one particle of the food of plants which it
contains. The most continuous rain cannot remove from the field,
except mechanically, any of the constituent elements of its fertility.
The soil not only retains firmly all the food of plants which is actually
in it, but its power to preserve all that may be useful to them extends
much further. If rain, or rather water, holding in solution ammonia,

*See Stephens's Practical Irrigator, Smith's Observations on Irrigation, Brown's Treatise
on Irrigation, Sir John Sinclair's Code of Agriculture, Voyage en Espagne, par M. Jaubert
de Passa, Anlcitnng zum praktischen Ackerbau von Schwerz, Lr 1

148 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

potash, phosijlioric, and silicic acids, be brought in contact with the
soil, these substances disappear almost immedia-tel}^ from the solution.
The soil withdraws them from the water. Only such substances are
completely withdrawn by the soil as are indispensable articles of food
for plants. All others remain wholly or in part in solution."

In connection with this interesting subject, it may be remarked that
the absorbent power of soils varies according to their composition. It
is greater in clays than those which are silicious or sandy, but belongs
to all, more or less, not excepting those of a calcareous nature. Liebig
tells us that if the phosphate of lime be dissolved in weak carbonic
acid water, and the solution filtered through a soil, the phosphate of
lime is removed from solution, and the same result takes place with the
jihosphate of magnesia' and ammonia. This is a fact of great agri-
cultural importance, from the constant occurrence of those substances
in organic manures.

The complete absorption of potash, ammonia, and j)hosphoric acid
by the soil, a,nd thus entering into combination and forming insoluble
compounds, would appear to militate against the received opinion, viz:
that plant food must necessarily be in a soluble state for assimilation.
This is contradicted by tjic above facts. It is, besides, well known that
plant vitality has the power, as it were, of corroding insoluble sub-
stances, and absorbing them by the roots. Varieties of plants growing
upon rocks contain large quantities of the substance of which the rock
is cotnposed. Such is known to be the case with lichens growing on
calcareous rocks. Again, the roots of the grape-vine have been found
surrounding, and its rootlets insinuated in every manner through,
around, and enveloping a piece of bone, which finally disappears.
Nor does it seem that assimilable food should necessarily be soluble,
provided it be in a state of atomic division.

It has been stated that the constituents of plants are divided into
two classes, organic and inorganic. The first named are derived from
water, carbonic acid, nitric acid, and ammonia, and may come from
the air through the leaves, or from the soil through the ropts. The
inorganic constituents are of a different character, and can only be
received from the soil and through the roots. It then becomes impor-
tant that there should be deep preparation of the soil, in order to com-
mingle the surface with that which underlies, that the roots in their
search for food (for it is proved that it does not circulate in the soil as
it becomes fixed by combination) may more readily come in contact
with all the substances the j^lant requires to form the wonderful com-
pound necesse.ry to its growth and development. Deep preparation
insures aeration, and the decomposition of the constituents of the soil
is thus attained by the action of the atmospheric agents. Both car-
bonic and nitric acid, which are known to exist in the air and water,
have a powerful action upon the soil, but unfortunately our knowledge
upon that subject leaves much to be desired. The importance of minute
division of the soil, and the manures which may be added, must, on
reflection, be evident to every one. Plants assimilate food in a state
of atomic division, and the nearer we approach that point the better ;
beside which, they will more readily undergo those chemical changes
v^hich are ever taking place in Nature's great laboratory, the earth.

FERTILIZERS. 149

By breaking the clods mechanically, by exposure to the air, and the
freezing efiects of water, the mass is pulverized, and thus food, before
locked up, is appi'oaclioil and used by the tender roots of the plant.

"Plants cannot obtain from the soil more food than it contains.
Further, its fertility is not to be measured by the whole quantity pres-
ent in it, but only by that portion of the whole quantity which exists
in the smallest particles of soil, for it is with such portions alone that
the rootlets can come into close contact.

"A piece of bone weighing one ounce, in iX cubic foot of earth, pro-
duces no marked effect on its fertility. But if this one ounce of phos-
phate of lime be uniformly distributed throughout the earth, it will
suffice for the nourishment of one hundred and twenty wheat plants.

•'Of two fields with the same amount of food, one may be very fer-
tile, and the other very unfruitful, if the food is more uniformly
distributed throughout the ibrmer than the latter. The common
plow breaks and turns up the soil without mixing it. It only dis-
places, to a certain extent, the spots on which plants have already
grown, but the spade breaks, turns, and mixes it thoroughly."*

Those plants which reach maturity in a short time are materially
affected by the preparation of the soil. Their powers of absorption
are much greater in the spring tha,n in the summer, when the leaves
are being formed, and when the plant is in the full vigor of growth,
than when it has reached its maturity. We have a familiar instance
of the importance of preparation in our corn crop, and the stimulus
that is imparted to it by constant working, by which food is contin-
ually renewed and brought into close contact with the roots, and the
soil kept in a well pulverized state, thus increasing its absorbing
powers. The descent of water through the soil, and its escape upward
as vapor, tend to the same end, and hence the great importance of
under-draining.

Chemists employ sulphuric acid in their experiments for absorbing
moisture. Lime and caustic potash .are also used: Soils possess the
absorbent power in an eminent degree, and it is by that inherent
quality that plants are enabled to resist extreme droughts. The
power of absorption depends gre<atly upon division, color, &c. A dark
soil absorbs heat more readily than a light-colored one ; it also
radiates heat quicker. When the sun sets, the earth begins to radiate ;
in proportion as it cools, will be the amount of dew deposited. When
a gas passes to a liquid state, caloric is evolved ; such is also the effect
when a liquid passes to a solid. The reverse occurs when a solid be-
comes liquid, or a liquid a gas. By the condensation of vapor, or the
formation of dew, heat is evolved ; by the absorption of dew, a further
degree of sensible heat is produced. This process prevents a too sud-
den change of temperature in the surface of the earth, and which
otherwise would have been sensibly aff'ected by the too great radiation
of heat. This equalization is brought about in a manner to excite oun
admiration. Evaporation is far more rapid in a dry, than in a moist,
atmospljere, and more rapid in a current of air than when it is still or
stagnant. Dry, porous, and thoroughly-pulverized soils radiate heat

* Liebig's Letters on Modern Agriculture, p. 108.

160 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

from a vastly greater number of points than v/et and compact soils,
and receive more abundant depositions of devf . Sands are powerful
absorbents, and some countries depend almost wholly upon this for
the support of vegetation. The sandy plains of Chili seldom receive
any rain, yet^ in consequence of their excessive radiation of heat and
the heavy dews at night, they maintain a liigli fertility. If a soil be
sufficiently permeable to the air, condensation may take j)lace below
during the day, at the same time that the surface may be giving ofi'
both heat and moisture, which is due to the relative degree of heat be-
tween the tv/o.

To the farmer and the gardener, the soil is that portion of the
earth's surface or crust which supports vegetation, or that is sus-
ceptible of cultivation, and is rich or poor accordingly as it is well
or illy adapted to production. Soils are formed from the decom-
position and disintegration of rocks, and are either from those im-
mediately underlyiiig, or may have been brought from a distance by
causes still acting, or that have ceased to operate. The tendency of
all high land to depression, and the consequent elevation of low
grounds, is a never ceasing action upon the surface of the earth; winds
and tides, currents and volcanic perturbations, elevations, the depres-
sions and ejectments, continuous action of the atmospheric agents,
changes of temperature, moisture;, &c., and those causes acting from
eternity, have caused the present state of the surface of the earth. But
the soil contains more or less of plant and animal life^, or the result of
their decomposition. Traces of obscure microscopic life first manifest
themselves ; these objects live, assimilate food, procreate, and die.
From their remains other and a higher order of organisms aj^pear ;
they run their course and disappear, and their substance is by grada-
tion finally transformed into the bone and muscle of man.

The soil has a varied composition, according to locality and circum-
stance. The decomposition or disintegration of an argillaceous rock
would naturally give rise to a soil in which aluminous properties would
prej)onderate. If the soil originated from a silicious rock, then it
v\^ould be sandy ; if from limestone, we should expect it to be calca-
reous. These and other substances, variously intermixed with organic
matters in different states and stages of decomposition, form soils.
They owe their properties to the distinctive minerals from which they
are derived.

These inorganic constituents do not exist in the atmosphere, aiid are
supplied by the earth, as they do not grow ; and having been created
once and forever, it follows that, if removed, they must be replaced.
It does not matter how removed, v/hether in the form of grass, grain,
milk, flesh, or bone, if taken away they are gone, so far as the farmer
is concerned. This principle lies at the foundation of all successful
agriculture, and is the fundamental axiom for which Liebig and others
have so long, so laboriously, and ably contended.

It would, be as ridiculous for the miner to suppose that his exhausted
placer would.yield as much gold by re-working, as for the farmer to
think that his exhausted lands would be recuperated without the addi-
tion of the substances extracted from it.

All the constituents of soil are compounds : they are oxydes of some

FERTILIZERS. 151

metallic base, the organic portions are animal and vegetable substances
in a decomposing state, complex and passing by degrees to simple
forms. Soils, then, in complexion and composition vary. Two soils
originating from the same rock may differ widely, in consequence of
mechanical condition, subsoil, situation, climate, and cultivation. But
as rocks are the same in all parts of the world, so must they give rise
to a similarity of soil. In one hundred and forty-six soils analyzed by
the geological surveyor of Massachusetts, taken from every variety of
rock formation, the most remarkable uniformity was presented. These
again, as compared with forty-eight soils from Germany, Holland,
Belgium, Hungary, and Bohemia, offer the same striking uniformity,
differing but slightly from American soils. "^^ These facts would appear
to shoAV that there is not only a great similarity, but that their compo-
sition is independent of the variety of rocks which they overlie. Some
of the most fertile are those formed by deposits, and the amount of
fertilizing material carried from one spot to another, or entirely lost
in the ocean, defies any estimate. Drs. Dickeson and Brown estimate
the annual deposit from the Mississippi river to amount to the enor-
mous quantity of 28,188,053,892^- cubic feet of solid matter. That
amount is independent of the coarse sand and gravel transported by
the river current, which they were unable to estimate.

Mr. Leonard Horner estimates that "the Ehine carries down every
year 1,973,433 cubic yards of earth, and if this process has been going
on at the same rate for the last two thousand years, and there is no
evidence that the river has undergone any material change during that
period, then the Khine must in that time have carried down materials
sufficient to form a stratum of stone a yard thick, extending over an
area more than thirty-six miles square.''

From the nature of the constituents of silt, and the finely comminuted
state in which it is deposited, we should expect it to be fertile ; and so
long as the deposits continue, so long will their richness rj^main. Such
soils are among the richest known. The low grounds bordering on
the Nile, the Mississippi, the Khone, the Danube, the Po, the Wolga,
Orinoco, &c., are examples, and maintain their fertility without appa-
rent diminution. The composition of alluvium depends upon the geo-
logical formations and the character of the country through which the
waters pass; and the nature of the deposit again depends upon the
current. If the stream be sluggish, the pa-rticles are much finer than
if the water be rapid or turbulent. When the uplands of our country
have been impoverished by successive croppings or injudicious tillage,
the low grounds will resist longer, and continue to be a resource. But
the amount of low ground is insufficient to supply the requirements of
a dense population; hence the necessit}^ of fertilizers. Organic ma-
nures, those of a nitrogenous nature, have been used from time imme-
morial. It is said "that the barn-yard yields a panacea for all the
farmer' s ills. ' ' This is not rigorously correct ; for there are soils which
never can be rendered fertile by the application of barn-yard manure,
but which may be improved by correctives, and the addition of organic
substances.

* Dana's Miiclc Manual.

152 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

LIME.

Next to manm-e, tlie most common fertilizer used throughout the
United States, wherever it can be procured, is lime, either hurnt from
limestone or oyster shells, or in the state of a sulphate commonly called
gypsum or plaster of Paris. It appears to iiave been used from remote
antiquity, and there are few soils which are not benefited by its appli-
cation. It does not seem to be of very great importance whether it be
added to the soil in the shape of lime direct from the kiln, slaked, or in
the form of carbonate, as it occurs in chalk, marble, or marl. The
essential point is extreme fineness. The finer it is, the more easily it
enters into combination and produces its effect. This purpose is always
better attained by burnt lime, whatever it may be burnt from, whether
limestone, marble, or shells. Lime has a great affinity for carbonic
acid, which is one of the ever-present constituents of the atmosphere;
so that, upon the exposure of caustic lime, it soon becomes carbonated;
Caustic, or fresh-burned lime, when put in contact with organic matter,
either animal or vegetable, causes immediate action and rapid decom-
position. Carbonate of lime is less active; and, although it has lost-
its caustic pov/er by the absorption of carbonic acid, still it produces
important changes in soils. As we have seen, soils are mixtures of
salts and organic matter, containing air and water in their pores. Here
lime acts, decomposing the organic matter, and freeing carbonic acid.
It again acts upon the alkaline and earthy salts, decomposing them,
and enabling them to form such combinations as the plants require.

Chemistry has rendered important services to agriculture in many
ways; none more than by analysis of soils; not by informing us of the
difference between poor and rich soils, nor by pointing out the specific
wants of the farmer, or the particular applications to each soil so hoped
for by him ; but by showing us that certain combinations exist in the
soil; that a simple silicate of alumina is barren, experience proving
that the mere application of manure to it will not give fertility ; though,
lime being added on common clay, a double silicate of alumina and lime
will be found, which, in the course of time_, with manure^ becomes
fertile. Lime added to a clay soil destroys that sticky, waxen consist-
ence that makes it so difficult to work, and prevents the baking and
hardening so fatal to vegetable life. The addition of lime is not so
beneficial from its mere presence in a soil, for generally there is enough
for plant food ; but its good effect is chiefly owing to the chemical
changes it causes among the substances forming and existing in the
soil.

It has been long knovfii that a mixture of lime, earth, and rich
organic matter, such as manure and decomposing vegetable substances,
causes the production of nitric acid. Such a mixture is used in many
parts of the world to produce saltpeter, which is a nitrate of potash.
It is collected from the earthy mixture by dissolving it in water, which
is evaporated, leaving the salt in crystals. The same thing takes
place in the earth ; when lime is added to it, nitric acid is formed,
v/hich combines v/ith the alkalies and earths in the soil, forming
nitrates. These are all excellent fertilizers.

FERTILIZERS. . 153

The exact manner in whicji lime acts upon the soil is not entirely
understoocl, but that it does produce a wonderful effect, and a very ben-
eficial one^. is well known. The limestone formations in the United
States are of very great extent. Our best wheat soils overlie them. By
analysis, we find no carbonate of lime in these limestone clays; yet it
does not follow that lime is not there in some shape. Accordingly we
discover it in the state of phosphate and silicate. Upon these lime-
stone soils lime has been largely applied, and the result has been ex-
cellent. We owe much to Mr. Edvfard Eufiin, of Virginia, for his
])ractical application of lime, and for his publications in regard to it.
By his efforts in this respect a revolution has been created in agricul-
ture throughout the tide-water regions of Virginia.

Some of the soils in the United States, overlying limestone rocks,
contain carbonate of lime, while others are formed of a decomposing
limestone, or, as it is called in Alabama, "rotten limestone.'' Here,
of course, we have lime largely in the soil. This is not the case with
soils overlying the blue limestone of New York, Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, and Virginia. The composition of these soils shows a different
origin. The numerous and large springs throughout this region form
a great source to the soil of carbonate of lime. This is insoluble ; but
the bi-carbonate, in which the lime has a double quantity of carbonic
acid, is soluble and easily gives off a part of its carbonic acid, re-
turning to a carbonate, and to an insoluble state. The springs bring
up the lime in solution, in a state of bi-carbonate, which, upon expo-
sure to the atmosphere, loses a portion of its carbonic acid, and is de-
posited in the earth in the shape of limestone. The most familiar
example of this occurs in a tea-kettle, which soon becomes incrusted
with limestone, if limestone water be used in it, from the caijse we have
mentioned above.

By far the largest portion of the soils east of the Alleghany and Blue
Ridge are formed from the older and crystaline rocks, and consequently
contain less lime than soils of a different origin^ there being neither
limestone nor springs from limestone rocks to impart it to them. All
these soils, without exception, would be benefited by the application
of lime. When using the word lime, we would not wish to be under-
stood as meaning the result of burnt limestone or shells only, but in
whatever shape it maybe found, as marls, &c. Lime, added in small
quantities annually, would seem, from experience, to have a better
effect than when put on the land heavily at once. It is stated, on reli-
able authority, that so small an amount as a bushel to the acre has
produced good effect. In some parts of the country it is customary to
add burnt lime in great quantities, as high as two hundred and more
bushels per acre. Utter sterility for sometime has been the result of
such profusion. Prudonce and economy would suggest smaller sup-
plies. Some care should ' '<'. used in selecting the limestone from which
to make lime, as it is seldom pure, often containing large portions of
magnesia and sand, and always more or less phosphate of lime. The
magnesia, if not in too large quantities, can hardly be objectionable.
The phosphate of lime is very desirable, and too much of it can scarcely
be applied. The sand in limestone might be objectionable on the score
of economy, otherwise its use on a stiff clay would be beneficial. Oys-

164 ^ AGRICULTORAL REPORT.

ter shells miglit naturally be expected to contain phosphate of lime in
considerahle quantity, and these are, perhaps, the best materials from
which to make lime for the farm.

It must be borne in mind that lime of itself will not give fertility to
soil. The materials upon which it can act must be present, or its
greatest effect will be lost. There must be organic matter in the soil.
either as decomposing manure or as vegetable mold, upon which it can
operate. Lime brings into play the constituents of the soil, and
enables the plant to feed on them, while, as a salt, it forms the food
of plants, yet its great effect is upon the different parts of the soil
itself. The richer this may be, the better will prove the effect of lime ;
the poorer the soil, the slower and worse the effect. It is owing to
this cause that lime has been condemned in many cases, it having been
put upon poor soils, where there was nothing for it to operate upon.
The effect of lime, it will be observed from what we have sa,id above,
is long continued. Its benefits can be seen for crop after crop. As
long as there is organic matter in the soil, it slowly decomposes it,
forming new combinations and fresh food. Those results which we
produce in the laboratory, fall far short of the endless changes going
on in the earth. Pie who undertakes to explain every operation of
Nature will fail most lamentably. There are causes at work we but
little understand. Who can explain vitality? It has much to do
with the marvelous actions and reactions going on in the earth. By
it inert matter becomes part of life, fills its functions^ decays, forms
new life, and thus runs on in an eternal round.

MARL.

Next to lime, marl has the most extensive use, as a fertilizer, in the
eastern part of the United States. It has been found from New York,
along the coast, to the Gulf of Mexico. We have heard of none
between the Eocky and Alleghany mountains, unless it might be on
the Gulf of Mexico. The composition of m.arls is various, most of
them abounding in carbonate of lime. . To this they ov/e a great cause
of their usefulness. The word marl has various significations in the
United States. In New Jersey, the green sand is called marl, while
on the Chesapeake the calcareous earth, so largely used there, bears
the same name. In Europe, the word marl vv^ould appear to be ap-
plied to substances as often vfithout lime as v/ith it, and not by any
means confined to a class of calcareous earths. The application of
marl, or a variety of substances under that name, is of quite ancient
date. Marling was practised by the Greeks and the Komans, and
Pliny, in his Natural History, evidently alludes to and mentions chalk,
under the head of marl. He says the Gauls and Britons sunk shafts
to the depth of a hundred feet for the extraction of Avhite chalk. It
was used to scour silver, and is the whiting of the present day. The
same substance, on being put on land, produces fertilizing effects for
eighty years. In England and on the continent, chalking and marl-
ing are synonymous terms ; and it is probable that substances of an
unctuous, soapy feeling came into use because they v/ere supposed to
possess properties similar to chalk.

FERTILIZERS. 156

The ]3ure green sand marl of New Jersey, according to the analysis
of Mr. Henry Seybert, contains no lime. He obtained as follows :

Silica 49.83

Alumina COO

Magnesia 1.83

Potassa 10.12

Water 9.80

p;q

Protoxyd of iron 21.5

Loss 0.89

1,000

But the substance varies very materially, as is shown by the folloAv-
ing analysis, copied from Professor Cook's Keport on the G-eology of
New Jersey. We give the analysis with the decimals abridged from
two figures to one :

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Protoxyd of iron 8.3 16.8 21.3 14.9

Alumina 6,1

Lime 2.4

Magnesia 4

Potash 2.5 4.9 7.1 1.1 4.3 3.37

Soluble silica 20.2

" Insoluble silica and sand 49.9

Sulphuric acid 9

Phosphoric acid 1.4 1.1 1.3 .2 2.6 6.9

Carbonic acid 2

Water 7.1

Soluble in water 1.9 1.4 1.1 1.1 1.9 4.7

Marl from the State of Delaware, according to Mr. Booth, does not
differ very much from that of New Jersey. But in Delaware there
are two varieties, proximate one to the other, and one of which con-
tains as high as 25 per cent, of carbonate of lime. Mens. P. Berthier,
professor of Docimacie, in the royal school of mines, of France, has
analyzed several varieties, which are more or less analogous in compo-
sition to the green sand of New Jersey. The bluifs called Cape La
Heve, near Havre, in France, are mainly formed of carbonate of lime,
through which are interspersed nodules and grains of a dark-greenish
substance, which yielded :

Silica 50.00

Protoxyd of iron 21.00

Magnesia 7.00

Alumina 11.00

Potassa 10.00

16.8

21.3

6.6

8.0

12.5

1.0

2.6

2.0

4.9

7.1

31.2

45.9

5.6

4.0

1.1

1.3

9.3

8.9

8.1

1.4

1.1

99.00

The grains of chlorite are found isolated and distinct in the lime-
stone at Havre. Analysis represents the composition of those grains
free from the mass in which they occur. The analysis of Mr. Seybert
exhibits, as I have understood, the average of the deposit as it came

L56 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

from the ground. If it be otherwise, and the particles of chlorite were
selected previous to analysis, the green sand of New Jersey would he
infinitely less valuahle as a fertilizer than is indicated hy the above
analysis. In other parts of the United States, other substances of an
entirely different composition have received the name of marl, and been
applied to the soil with marked advantage. Such a substance is found
in the environs of Pendleton, in South Carolina, where it has attracted
attention. It is a variety of kaolin, or decomposed feldspar, one of the
constituents of granite, containing little or no lime, but sometimes as
high as 17 per cent, of potassa. At Fort Hill, the residence of the
late J. C. Calhoun, this substance was found in digging a well. It
was used in dressing the lawn in front of the dwelling, where its fer-
tilizing effects are manifest to this day in a luxuriant sward, contrast-
ing vividly with the surrounding vegetation on which the application
was not made. In 1837, some years after the experiment, it was
pointed out by Mr. Calhoun as an illustration.-! of the adaptability oi
that country to produce luxuriant grass, if the soil were properly
treated.

We speak of marl as always containing the calcareous principle, in
which sand, clay, or carbonate of lime may predominate, it accordingly
receiving the appellation of sandy or clay marl, as either principle may
be in excess. Few marls are free from admixture with the above-
named substances, and sometimes others are found, sucn as oxyd of
iron, sulphuret of iron, manganese, sulphate of lime, &c. 'i'jio ma-
jority of our soils east of the mountains, originate from the old granitic
schistose and sandstone rocks, which are wanting in the proper pro-
portions of lime to make them as fertile as those soils having a different
origin. Animals fed on the grass grown upon limestone land, or
those artificially limed, thrive much better than when pastured upon
lands of a different character. It is also known that wheat weighs
heavier, has a much better appearance, and is invariably preferred by
millers v/hen grown upon calcareous soils. It is, then, of importance
to the agriculturist that he should possess a knowledge of the pres-
ence or absence of lime in his soil, and how to make examinations,
both qualitative and quantitative, for that substance or minerals sup-
posed to contain carbonate of lime.

No mineral varies more in its physical character than marl. It
occurs of all colors, from black to white ; and frequently in the same
bed you have a variety of tones, as inhere may be present more or less
oxyd of iron ; or according to the state of oxydation oi that metal, you
may have the red, yellow, brown, blue, and the different shades which
a mixture of these would create when variously mixed with white,
black, &c. Sometimes it is smooth and without grit ; at others it has
a coarse grain, with crystals of other mineral substances disseminated,
such as sulphate of lime and quartz. Chalk is a marl, through which
nodules of flint occur, sometimes in large quantities, and sometimes
the carbonate of lime disappears altogether, and is replaced by silicious
matter. Very often the bed may be wholly composed of shells, broken
or entire, or even invisible to the naked eye, but revealing through
the microscope the remains of minute organisms forming the complete
mass. It is sometimes soft and unctuous to the touch, friable, or hard.
But it has one general property, of falling into powder when exposed

FERTILIZERS. 157

to tlie air, or forming pasty mud when saturated witli water, and acts
very like lime in the process of slacking, without giving off heat.

A marl is valuable in proportion to the amount of carbonate of lime
that it contains. Take a piece of the substance suspected to contain the
carbonate, large as an acorn, throw it into a tumbler or wine-glass, and
cover it with water ; after the air has escaped from the interstices, add
a few drops of any acid, say nitric or muriatic, or either of these being
wanting, strong vinegar may sufhce ; then, if there should be a disen-
gagement of gas, or etfervescence, it is pretty sure evidence of the pres-
ence of carbonate of lime. In order to ascertain, rigorously, the amount
of carbonate that may exist in the mass, we should select an average
sample. The first operation consists in drying perfectly, to drive off
the hygrometric humidity, which varies according to the state of the
atmosphere. Eeduce the matter to powder, if it requires it, and place
it upon a plate. By setting the plate upon a vase containing boiling
water, and maintaining the temperature for a sufiicient time, all the
water not combined will be driven off ; and this may be ascertained by
placing over the powder a glass funnel,, on the inside of which the hu-
midity will be condensed until it entirely ceases to appear. The funnel
serves another purpose, that of excluding any accidental impurities,
and preventing the steam, which naturally escapes from the water be-
low, being condensed upon the powder. When the substance is thus
perfectly dried, weigh fifty or one hundred grains, and place them in a
silver or iron spoon,* and heat over a few live coals to a dark cherry-
red. If the presence of organic matter be suspected, the powder may
be carefully stirred with apiece of clean wire, in order to bring the dif-
ferent parts in contact with the atmosphere, when any carbonaceous
matter will thus be burned. Now let the powder cool, weigh it care-
fully, and you have the amount of combined water or volatile matters
driven off. The heat should not be so great as to drive off the carbonic
acid from the lime.

Throw the powder thus calcined into a glass tumbler, and cover it
to the depth of half an inch with rain-water, to which add, by de-
grees, a few drops of nitric or muriatic acid, until you find that the
addition of the acid produces no more effect. Mix the vfhole with a
glass tube, cover the glass, and let it stand for several hours. 'Now
fill the glass two thirds with water, and let it settle. When the sedi-
ment, or insoluble portion, has subsided, and the liquid is perfectly
limpid, decant it carefully into a large bottle, and put more rain-water
on the sediment, allow it to settle, decant again, and repeat the opera-
tion, until the sediment is entirely cleansed of the acid solution. This
may be verified by taking a piece of clean glass, and putting a drop
of the solution upon it. Now^ if you hold this glairs over the fire
until the drop of water is evaporated, you will find it sufficiently
washed when there is no residuum left on the glass. The lime, mag-
nesia, some alumina and iron, if they are present, will be found in
solution in the water decanted. The sediment, which was not dis-
solved by the acid, contains the sand and insoluble substances. This
may be collected upon a filter, carefully dried, separated from the filter,
calcined in a spoon, as before, and cooled and weighed.

* We mention the iron spoon as a substitute for the preferable platina crucible.

158 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

If the solution be very acid, or the amount of water too large to
manage well, they may l3e collected and evaporated to dryness over a
slow fire ; by this operation the excess of water and acid is driven off
which may also be performed in a porcelain capsule, but by no means
employ a metallic vase, as the acid would dissolve the metal, and your
labor would be useless. Vfhen the excess of water has been driven,
off, together with the excess of acid, if the heat has not been carried
too far, the whole will be found to re-dissolve in rain-water, to which a
drop or two of acid may be added to insure that result. You now
have nearly a neutral solution of the salts dissolved by the acid.

The next operation consists in precipitating all the constituents held
in solution, less the lime. For this purpose use lime-water. To pre-
jDare lime-water, put lime, say a piece as large as a walnut, in a bottle
of rain-water, shake it well, and allow it to settle; decant, and you
have a limpid solution of lime in water. This water, added to the
solution containing the soluble substances of the marl until a further
addition produces no further precipitate, throws down everything in
solution but the lime. Let the precipitate settle and decant. Throw
the precipitate in a filter, and carefully collect, dry, and weigh. Your
analysis will stand thus :

Volatile matter, water, organic matter, &c. W

Insoluble residuum, sand, silicates, &c X

Precipitate by lime-water, iron, magnesia^ &c Y

Carbonate of lime, by difference Z

Equal 100

If it should be thought desirable, either of the quantities X and Y,-
may be taken up separately and examined in detail. If phosphoric
acid be present, it will be found combined in tiie precipitate Y, in com-
bination with the iron or magnesia.

The above method is one that we have practised very often, and is
the most simple that we can offer to the inquiring reader, who has not
devoted much of his time to chemical examinations. If performed
well, the results v/ill be found as exact as any other method; and the
reader will please understand that, in giving this, we do not write for
the professed chemist, but to enable the educated farmer to make an
analysis in which he can confide, rather than pay a sum of money,
often for false returns, with which the charlatan is always ready.

In deposits of marl there are frequently different layers, varying in
appearance, thipkness, and composition. The lower strata are often
richer in lime than the upper. An argillaceous layer sometimes over-
lies one that is sandy, and one or the other will be selected as the land
to- which it is to be applied may be sandy or stiff. Sea-sands are, in
many cases^ applied to the soil with great advantage, and it is not
surprising, for they are frequently composed of minute fragments of
shells, comminuted corals, and the remains of minute organisms,
which are found inhabiting the ocean— Nature's great reservoir of life.

But the action of marl cannot be entirely owing to the carbonate of
lime. There are effects due to other causes, and it would be strange

FERTILIZERS. 169

indeed, considering the origin of these fertilizers, if they did not con-
tain some of the more evanescent principles of organic life. Mr. Pay en
and Boussingault, both celebrated chemists, instituted a series of in-
quiries into the composition of marls, from different localities, and
found nitrogen in all. "^It were therefore very proper, in analyzing
marls, chalk, &c., to have an eye to their organic, or azotic, as well
as to their mineral constituents. There can be very little question
of the azotized elements being at the bottom of the really wonderful
fertilizing influences of the marls of certain districts."*

It would be still more surprising if a substance less ephemeral in
its nature, and not less important, should not be found more con-
stantly in limestones and marls than former analysis has shown.
Phosphoric acid at all times complicates analysisj is difficult to appre-
ciate correctly, and has doubtless been largely overlooked. But there
is higher evidence of its almost universal presence than chemical tests,
for wherever organic remains are found, it is a sure indication of that
singularly interesting substance, phosphorus, to which we attach as
important a role, if not a higher one, than that attributed to nitrogen,
by the celebrated authorities mentioned above.

Marl, after extraction from the pit, should be exposed as long as
possible to the action of the a^tmospheric agents. A summer's heat
and a winter's cold, previous to spreading, make its immediate action
manifest ; but its durability is dependent upon its contents and the
quantity applied. According to Mr. Parvis, who has written an in-
teresting and useful paper upon marl, the quantity to be applied
depends upon the quantity of lime already existing in the soil and the
richness of the marl in lime. He says that any soil which contains
less than nine to ten per cent, of lime may receive a dose, or successive
doses, until they are brought up to that point. Lord Kames mentions
a particular instance of the continued beneficial effects of calcareous
manure for one hundred and twenty years, and Johnson quotes the
vrords of an intelligent and experienced farmer, that certain lands in
Scotland "would never forget an application of forty to sixty bushels
of lime to the acre."

Lime appears to change the inert organic matters in the soil and
give durability to their action far beyond what would have been the
case without the presence of that mineral. It also changes the rela-
tions between the other mineral constituents of the soil, and is an
essential element of plant food; but there are other substances quite as
necessary to healthy vegetation. It follows, then, that whoever may
expect to harvest large crops immediately from the addition of lime to
poor land will surely be deceived. The proportion of marl or lime to
be added to a soil should be in accordance with the amount of organic
matter already existing in it, or that maybe contributed; in other
words, the lime should progress jpari passzij; and by following such a.
course, the land may be brought to a state of permanent fertility^ to
which it never could be carried by farm-yard manure alone. What
would be an over-dose of lime to one field would be a light dressing
for another. An over-dose of marl or lime may altogether prevent the

* Boussingault, Rural Economy

160 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

appearance of vegetation, or cause a sickly growth. Mr. Kuffin says
tiiat manure is a remedy for such effects. Interesting and important
as the subject certainly is to the farmer, the nature of this article will
not permit us to extend our observations further, and the reader is
once more referred to Mr. Kuffin's work on calcareous manures, in v/hich
will be found much detail not written elsewhere.

Limestone is one of the principal rocks which forms the solid crust
of the globe. It has a large development, and is intercalated witli
the primitive rocks. It occurs there in a saccharoidal form of different
colors — grey, blue, red, &c., but never black. A notable fact is that
no fossils of any descrij)tion have ever been discovered in primitive
limestone. It is often found schistose in its structure, from a mixture
with other rocks, particularly mica schists. As we rise in the geologi-
cal series, the limestones preponderate, and become by far the most
important of rocks. Instead of being subordinate and alternating with
others, they now form independent developments, of vast extent, con-
stituting mountain ranges. The character of the rock is also changed.
It occurs of all colors, from black through every shade to v/iiite. The
mixture of foreign minerals is less notable ; but there the first appear-
ance of organic remains is a most significant and interesting fact. At
times, no fossils are to be found; and one may travel for miles without
meeting with a single specimen; when, all at once, they occur in pro-
digious quantities. The fossils of this formation are all characteristic;
and without giving a detailed list, I will mention Orthoceratites,
Spiriferes, Encrinites, and Trilobites. In the secondary forma.tion, the
carbonate of lime may be said to constitute the almost entire series of
superpositions. The secondary formations are divided into several
series known by different names in various parts of the world. The
lowest of these formations immediately overlying the intermediary is
called Zechstein by the Germans, and occurs compact of a greyish-
black color, sometimes bituminous, and gives off a fetid odor when
rubbed or receiving the shock of the hammer. It is characterized by
certain fossils, and is separated from the formations immediately
underlying, as those overlying, by arenaceous sandstones of a peculiar
nature. The red marl or great mushelkalk limestone is the next series
as we travel up. In general, this stone is found less highly colored,
and contains fossils, all of which differ from the Zechstein, and occur
in much greater abundance. In traveling over Germany we have often
spent hours in studying this interesting rock through its fossils, which
would show themselves at diflereat localities on our journey. There
is one in particular, the Encrinites Liliformis, of singular beaut3\
They are rarely found entire, but v/hen they do so occur they cannot
fail to excite the admiration of the observer. Earely as the entire
plant is found in one specimen, so common are parts of it, that the
rock at times would appear to be formed of them.

A third deposit now occurs, and is known in England by the
name of Lias, also characterized by particular fossils ; and here, for
the first time, we see Belemnites, and Ammonites, and a large num-
ber of shells, peculiar to that formation. Another deposit, which
is known as the Jura limestone in France, oolite and coral rag
in England, and which subdivides again, is, with its antedivi-
sions, distinguished, the one from the other, by the fossil re-

FERTILIZERS. '161

mains found in them. In the upper part of this division we have
certain varieties of marl, such as that at Havre, in which the chloritic
grains occur, as analyzed by M. Berthier ; and in England, at Pur-
beck and Portland, are found marls, where fresh water shells show
themselves for the first time. The fifth deposit of the secondary se-
ries, separated from the last described by iron sands, is the chalk
formation, which may be divided into green sand and true chalk.
These formations contain fossils which are characteristic and such as
are found nowhere else.

The next in order, and superimposed upon the preceding, is the ter-
tiary formation, so interesting for the number and character of its
organic remains. Around the city of Paris, the student has an oppor-
tunity of studying this formation perhaps better than at any other
locality. Montmartre, so celebrated for its geology and paleontology,
as well as for other reasons, is really classic ground. The remains of
extinct animals, buried from incalculable time, were frequently ex-
tracted by the workmen engaged in quarrying out material for con-
struction. From the study of such remains the genius of Cuvier opened
a new creation. Fragments of bones of extinct animals, that were
gazed upon by the curious, and received no other explanation than
^'lusus nattcrce," were classified, each bone to its proper place ; and
each animal according to its habits, which were pointed out by its
teeth or its osteology, was assigned its appropriate position in the
gradation of animated Nature. Though extinct, their general habits
are known as certainly as if they were domesticated under man, and
belonged to the present time. Science has placed a wreath around the
brow of Cuvier, that will endure to his honor so long as civilization
shall be in the ascendant.

The first plaster of Paris used in America for fertilization came from
the hill of Montmartre, and was imported under the auspices of
Franklin. Above the tertiary formations are others of a much more
recent date, and now forming under our eyes. Many of these are
mainly composed of limestone, made up from the destruction of other
calcareous rocks. Along our sea-coast such rocks are forming, and
even furnish building material. Tufaceous deposits are making in our
valleys, by the deposition of carbonate of lime from water issuing
from limestone rocks. Immense beds of shells, such as are living in
our waters, are found along our coast. In Prince G-eorge's county,
Maryland, the marl-beds are well-known, and the celebrated lands of
that region owe their fertility to these remains of a former life. Among
these fragments, bones and teeth of animals are not uncommon ; and
whole skeletons have been disinterred and set up to be wondered at.
The remains of the mastodon, (an animal of the elephant tribe, but
much more gigantic,) are frequently met with, and an almost entire
specimen was taken up in the interior of the State of New York.
Sharks' teeth are also common, sometimes of enormous size. We have
one in our possession, taken from a bed in Prince George's county,
that measures about four inches in breadth at its base and nearly
five inches in length. It is in perfect condition, its cutting edges as
finely and sharply serrated as if just taken from the monster's mouth.
Nor is the limestone formation of our continent confined to the

11 A

162 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

recent deposits of wliicli we have spoken. The blue limestone forma-
tion, so celebrated for its excellent wheat lands in Pennsylvania, Mary-
land, and Virginia, continues through Georgiaj comes to the surface
near Clarksville, in Habersham county, and extends to the Island of
Cuba, where we have traced it again for miles.

The limestone lands of the State of New York are celebrated for
their fertility and the magnesian limestone of the great west has
prodigious extension.

In closing our observations uj)on lime, we Avill remark that of all
mineral substances it is among the most extensively diffused, so much
so that it would be impossible to find a soil without it. An amateur
asked us if we had ever found lime in the soil on which we lived; he
thought it absent. We answered that, even if we had failed to detect
it with the aid of reagents, there was higher evidence of its presence,
which could not be contradicted, namely: the bones of the animals
reared u]3on the place, the eggs of our hens, and the houses which
snails carried upon their backs.

Those who desire details upon the green sand marl of New Jersey
and Delaware, will do well to consult the reports of Messrs. Eogers
and Booth ; the former was charged with the geological survey of New
Jersey, the latter with that of Delaware.

PLASTER, OR GYPSUM.

It is probable that the "marl" of the ancients was plaster of Paris,
or gypsum, but it was not until near the close of the last century that
its incontestible utility became known ; since that period it has become
almost a necessity ; nor is it surprising that such should be the case,
when we consider its efficacy on certain crops, the small amount
required to produce a great increase, and the facility with which it can
be procured and prepared. The first authentic experiments of which
we have record were made by a German clergyman, named Meyer.
These were repeated in France, when it soon grew into extensive use.
Sulphate of lime, as its name indicates, is composed of sulphuric acid,
lime, and water.

Sulphuric acid 46 )

Lime 33 V =: 100

Water 21)

It is unusually soft, and may be scratched with the finger nail.
When pure, it is generally of a whitish color, but according as it is
found mixed with foreign matter its color varies. It assumes a variety
of forms, compact, granular, fibrous, pulverulent, crystaline, &c. Its
crystals are sometimes perfectly limpid. Gypsum is plentifully and
widely disseminated throughout the crust of the globe, and is confined
to no age or particular formation. In some cases it would appear to
owe its existence to the decomposition of the sulphuret of iron in con-
tact with limestone or, again, to the action of sulphurous vapors upon
that rock. It is not often fossiliferous ; but that which is found at
Montmartre, in the environs of Paris, is an exception. At that locality

FERTILIZERS. 163

tlie remains of mammiferous animals, of birds, and reptiles, are very
common. In certain formations the sulphate of lime is usually found
accompanying common salt. It is also a constituent of some of the
marls, which occur along our sea-coast, but only to a limited amount,
comparatively. In the State of New York it is found in large quantities,
and also in Novia Scotia, whence it is imported into the United States,
forming by far the greater portion of that which is used by the farmers
of the Atlantic shore.

Notwithstanding all the experiments that have been made, and all
that has been written upon the subject, our knowledge of the action of
gypsum is limited and very unsatisfactory.

Sir Humphrey Davy analyzed the ashes of clover, and concluded,
from the presence of sulphate of lime, that the application of gypsum
acted as direct food. But subsequent investigations show that the
amount of sulphate of lime in the ash of clover, grown upon gypsumed
land, was not greater than the quantity of the same salt, found in the
ash of clover, grown on ungypsumed land.

Professor Liebig explains the action of gypsum, as a means through
which ammonia is presented to the plant. It is known that ammonia
and nitric acid are found in the atmosphere, and that salt and carbon-
ate of ammonia are brought down by rains. That fact may be easily
verified by evaporating snow, or rain water, to which a few drops of
muriatic acid have been added ; crystals of muriate of ammonia will be
found. Indeed, without consulting the agency of electricity for the
formation of ammonia, it is a natural consequence of the decomposition
of animal, matters, which is ever progressing upon the surface of the
globe, and many jolants emit pungent odors, apparently containing
more or less of that alkali. According to the eminent professor, the
action of gypsum would be confined to the absorption of that gas, to
be held in readiness, according to the wants of the |)lant. But his
ingenious theory is no less satisfactory, for it is stated that gypsum has
no action whatever on the natural gases, which are stimulated by
organic manures. Nor does it appear, from careful experiments made
by M. Boussingault, that gypsum has the least action upon wheat,
oats, or rje, upon which it is known that nitrogenous manures act
most favorably. Eigaud de Lisle, in a paper read before the Paris
Society of Agriculture, in 1843, maintained that gypsum only operates
upon vegetation grown upon soils without a sufficient amount of car-
bonate of lime, and his declaration is borne out by the practice in Flan-
ders of applying slaked lime, instead of gypsum, with equally good
results. We have heard the same opinion expressed by practical farm-
ers, who knew nothing of the discussion. Having limed their lands
to the full requirement, they would look upon the application of plaster
as a useless expense.

SULPHATE OF BARYTES.

Another assertion, which has its advantages, gives the entire credit
of the action of gypsum to the sulphuric acid which it contains ; and
this ajipears to be supported by the fact that the addition of the sulphate
of barytes is followed by as strongly marked results as those that are

164 AGRICULTURAL REPORT!

derived from the application of the sulphate of lime. Experiments
were made some years since in Eockhridge county, Virginia, hy Dr.
Barton, upon whose farm a deposit of the sulphate of barytes v^as found.
It was ground and applied. We are informed by an intelligent ob-
server that the effect was manifest five years after. A paper was writ-
ten at the time, and published in one of the agricultural periodicals of
Virginia. We have not had access to the article, but Dr. Barton
received the award of a gold medal for his investigations. Should the
usefulness of sulphate of barytes be confirmed, it will be a notable and
important addition to the list of fertilizers. It is sometimes called heavy
spar, owing to its specific gravity, which is almost double that of gyp-
sum or the sulphate of lime; the first being 4.7, and the latter 2.72.
Generally it is found white, or reddish, yellowish, white, grey, and
even black, compact, granular, crystaline, &c. Insoluble in water,
and when decomposed, as may be done by calcining together powdered
charcoal, or sugar, starch, resine, &c., with sulphate of barytes, the
barytes will dissolve in nitric or muriatic acid, from which it will always
be precipitated by the addition of sulphuric acid. It will be recollected
that the sulphate of lime is sensibly soluble in water, more so than
lime, for when suli^huric acid is added to limewater no precipitate is
thrown ; whereas, when a few drops of sulphuric acid are added to a
solution of the nitrate, muriate, or to the oxyd of barytes in solution,
a white precipitate never fails to fall. The carbonate of barytes may
be easily distinguished from the sulphate by its effervescing, as it does
slowly on the application of nitric acid. It is composed of —

Sulphuric acid 34.37 \ __ -,0^ '

Barytes 65.63 ^ ~" ^^^

It is, however, often found mixed with different substances, such as
sulphate of strontian, sulphate and carbonate of lime, silex, oxyd of
iron, and alumine. It occurs in veins in the primitive and secondary
rocks, and is most always found in veins of lead, copper, silver, and
mercury ; in the metalliferous regions of Europe, in the Hartz, Sax-
ony, Hungary, Almaden, in Spain ; in the United States, in New
York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia,
Missouri, &c.

Owing to the great analogy that exists between the characters of the
salts of strontian and those of barytes, it would be surprising if the
fertilizing properties attributed to the one were not common to both,
particularly if the acid were found to be the active fertilizing principle
as well in the sulphate of lime as that of barytes ; other sulphates, such
as the sulphate of iron, (green vitriol,) when much diluted with water,
without the presence of lime, have extraordinarily advanced the growth
of plants, including beans, potatoes, rye, Indian corn, carrots, &c. Weak
sulphuric acid has also a favorable effect when applied to clover, but
in botli cases it may be argued that the sulj^hate of iron, (which is solu-
ble,) and the sulphuric acid come in contact with lime in the soil, and
sulphate of lime is then formed, and may act in that state upon crops;
or the acid, in one case or the other, may combine with ammonia,
already existing in and combined with the earth, and form sulphate

FERTILIZERS. 165

of ammonia, wliicli is a valuable and well-known fertilizer. But we
will liere remark that, in our laboratories, tlie sulphate of barytes is
found to be one of the most stable of salts, and its combination is in no
instance decomposed by lime or ammonia. Nor does barytes form a
constituent of any vegetable or animal organism within our knowledge.
A small quantity of the nitrate of barytes will destroy vegetable life
very quickly ; yet nitric acid is a strong fertilizer, and one of the prin-
cipal liirnishers of nitrogen to plants.

MAGNESIA.

Magnesia is a common substance, largely disseminated, existing in
most soils, is one of the constituents of many rocks, and is most always
present in vegetables and animal bodies. It is a white, light^ and
odorless powder, infusible at the highest temperature of our furnaces,
and slightly soluble in water. It forms soluble salts, with nitric,
muriatic, or sulphuric acid, and may be easily distinguished from lime,
by the fact that it is precipitated from its solution by limewater. It
is generally found in combination with lime in all calcareous rocks,
and in certain varieties it is a constant constituent ; such are the
dolomites, or.magnesian limestones, which are largely developed in
Europe, as well as in America, and have received the name of metalli-
ferous limestone, from the mineral substances which they contain.
Magnesian limestones are found to an immense extent, in the western
Sta.tes, and constitute the lead and copper-bearing rocks of Missouri,
&c. They are also found in New York, Pennsylvania, &c. Magnesia
is moreover, one of the constituents of serpentine and talcose slate,
which last-mentioned rock extends continuously from Pennsylvania to
G-eorgia, and through the West Indies, to the continent of South
America. It is remarkable as being the formation in which gold,
silver, copper, chromate of iron, &c., are contained. The carbonate
of magnesia and the carbonate of lime have many properties in
common, the one replacing the other, and those plants which grow
upon magnesian soils, contain the carbonate of magnesia instead of
the carbonate of lime. Those two salts being isomorphous, according
to Bergmann, magnesia forms an important part of some of the most
fertile soils, and of the mud of the Nile. Einoff mentions a marl of
extraordinary merit, which yielded him as high as twenty per cent, of
the carbonate of magnesia. Stockhardt says that the most famed lime
stone in Saxony is a dolomite ; and eighteen analyses, each specimen
being from a different quarry, yielded from forty-one to forty-four per
cent, of carbonate of magnesia. It is carried from the quarries to a
great distance, because these limes, from undoubted and universal ex-
perience, act more powerfully and at the same time more ]3ermanently
than other kinds of Saxon lime, although many of these latter are
extraordinarily pure. The same eminent observer states, that well-
known recent investigations of the ashes of various kinds of corn
grains show a percentage of magnesia of 11.1 grains, against 3.4 of
lime ; and the analysis of the ashes of twenty kinds of peas, grown in
the most varied soils and districts, of 8.3 to 4.5. With very few excep-
tions, a similar preponderance of magnesia is exhibited by other kinds

166 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of seed, so far as tlieir mineral constituents liave yet been examined,
for the proportion of magnesia exceeds that of lime, in approximative
round numbers, two to one in peas, beans, vetches, quince, bucli'vvheat,
linseed, &c. ; two and a half or three to one in wheat, rye, oats, coffee,
&c. ; six or eight to one in maize, millet, and in the seeds of pines,
firs, &c.

On the other hand, the opposite condition occurs regularly in the
leaves and stems of plants, and in the wood of trees, in which lime has
always the superiority over magnesia, and exists in two to eight times
greater quantity, whence he deduces the law, that magnesia is espe-
cially necessary for the maturation of the seed, and lime for the devel-
opment of the herbaceous and woody structure.* Lampadius also
thinks this substance particularly favorable for the production of rye.

We have dwelt upon this subject, because much injury has been
caused to agriculture by the prevalent opinion that the presence of
magnesia in limestone, when calcined and applied to land, was followed
by bad consequences. Much has been written to explain the cause of
this, as we consider it, imaginary evil. Caustic magnesia, or magnesia
without carbonic acid, may absorb carbonic acid much more slowly
than lime, and in the presence of the latter substance, it will not com-
bine, until the lime has been saturated; yet after all that has been
stated, it would appear less than j)robable, that the presence of caustic
magnesia should play so unfavorable a part, and so contrary to expe-
rience.

The salts of magnesia may be employed, as the salts of lime, for
fixing ammonia, but in that case its apjDlication will depend u]30ri its
cost. When a salt of that base is added to urine, it produces a preci-
pitate of the phosphate of magnesia and ammonia. Caustic lime, con-
taining magnesia, is used for this purpose ; but owing to the bulk of
lime, the amount is rendered less portable. The phosphates of mag-
nesia and ammonia, when applied at the rate of one hundred and thirty
to two hundred and sixty pounds per acre, had a powerful effect upon
the production of Indian corn ; at the rate of three hundred weight per
acre, it increased the crop of grain six times, and of straw three times. f

Magnesia is a constant and important constituent of sea-water. It
is also found in many mineral waters, and to this fact their virtues are
attributed. As it usually exists in the ashes of cultivated plants, its
presence in the soil is a requisite to fertility, and its addition of mani-
fest necessity wherever it may be wanting.

PHOSPHORUS.

Of the substances with which the farmer has to do we think phosphorus
the' most important. It is found in all animals and vegetables ; without
it neither the one nor the other could live. It is detected, if not pure, as
has been stated frequently, in combination with a particular organic sub-
stance, in the brain, the spinal marrow, the spermatic liquid, in the melt
of fishes, certain mollusca, &c. It is also diffused very widely, and
is discovered in combination with oxygen in all rocks, in all soils, and

* Stockhardt's Agricultural Chemistry,
t Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry.

FERTILIZERS. 167

in tlie flesli, bones, &c., of fisli, reptiles, insects, birds, animals, and
their secretions. Some of the fossil excrements of extinct animals are
extensively and advantageously used as fertilizers. Wherever there
are organisms, either vegetable or animal, or their remains, it is very
strong evidence of the presence of phosphoric acid. It is detected in
almost all limestone rocks, and particularly in those containing fossil
remains. Close investigations show its presence in the older crystaline
rocks ; and where it has not appeared as a constituent in any analysis
made hitherto, we do not look upon that as evidence of its absence, for
the reason that this substance was not suspected, and the analysis were
generally conducted in a manner to ignore its presence. Besides, all who
have analyzed much know that i:)hosphoric acid is a great complicator,
and requires special attention and care to appreciate. In small quanti-
ties (and all analyses of minerals must be made upon small quantities to
give exact results) it may be overlooked, and its presence not even
suspected. "We feel confident that future research will prove what we
have stated to be perfectly true.

Organisms exist, procreate, live, and die, wherever there is heat,
air, and moisture. They are in the air, in fresh and salt water, in the
arable soil ; and their remains constitute the principal mass of immense
calcareous formations. It would appear that they are found from the
equator to the regions of eternal ice ; and according to the observations
of the learned Ehrenberg, have been discovered at work in certain
localities to the depth of twenty or thirty feet.* If they make a portion
of all animated bodies, it follows that this interesting substance is
omnipresent, and plays a part in fertilization much more important
than has hitherto been attributed to it. An alchemist in Hamburg
first discovered phosphorus by evaporating urine and calcining the
residuum. Though this was done in 1669, by Brandt, it was not
known to the public until many years after, when Gahn and Scheele
extracted it from animal matters, and explained their process of obtain-
ing it from the bones of animals, a mode pursued up to the present
time. It is a simple substance, of a yellow color, tough, and resemb-
ling wax. It may be procured in three states, solid, liquid, and
gaseous. At the temperature of freezing water, it is hard, brittle, and
even friable. It crystalizes, and its density is about 1.77. Phospho-
rus, when exposed to the air, is luminous, owing to the fact that it
absorbs oxygen and undergoes a slow combustion. Hence its name,
from two Grreek words, which signify light-producer. When inflamed
in the air, or in oxygen gas, it produces white fumes, and when col-
lected free from humidity, is white, pulverulent, and absorbs the hu-
midity of the atmosphere, or deliquesces, and becomes liquid. This
combination of phosphorus with oxygen is called phosphoric acid. It
inflames easily, and produces obstinate wounds ; therefore, it is kept
under water, and handled with pinchers. In this condition it may be
melted without danger, and is purified by distillation and filtration
through buckskin under hot water. Phosphorus combines with oxy-
gen in several proportions ; but we shall only dwell upon that whicl?

* See Ehrenberg on Infusoria, and his researches as to the cause of the instability of found
ations under the city of Berlin.

1G8 AGRICULTURAL REPORT

contains five atoms of oxygen and one of pLosphorus. Phosplioric
acid, when perfectly pure, and tlirown into water, combines with that
liquid with so much rapidity that it produces a noise like that caused
by plunging a red-hot iron in water, and the temperature of the liquid
is elevated. It is found in Nature, combined with Taanj other sub-
stances, forming phosphates: thus we have the phosphates of lime,
magnesia, lead, manganese, iron, uranium, &c.

The phosphate of lime is known under the mineralogical term apa-
tite, and is found crystalized in stalactites^ granular, fibrous, compact,
and friable. It is sometimes colorless, or yellow, blue, violet, and
green, transparent, translucid, and opaque. It occurs among crystal-
ized rocks, such as the granite, gneiss, chlorite, and talcose slates ;
also in the trap and basalts, and is frequently met with in metallifer-
ous deposits connected with copper, lead, &c., in the slates of coal, in
chalk, and in the tertiary formations, as well as in the sedimentary
and tufaceous deposits forming at the present day.

A fact worthy of note is the connection of fluoric acid with phos-
phoric in its combinations, and these two substances are not only found
associated together in the mineral kingdom, but in vegetable and
animal matters. The teeth of animals contain both. We are disposed
to believe that fluoric acid is much more common than has been re-
marked, and, owing to its singular properties^ has been doubtless often
overlooked. One of the most extensive deposits of the phosphate of
lime is found in Estremadura, in Spain, and was visited and examined
by Dr. Daubeny and CajDtain Widdington, with a view to its intro-
duction into England as a fertilizer. That mineral, according to their
analysis, contains eighty-one per cent, of phosphate of lime, and is so
abundant that it is used as a building material. In the United States,
mineral phosphates are found in many localities, particularly in Morris
county, New Jersey, and at Crown Point, in the State of New York.
The mineral was crushed and sold in our markets as a fertilizer, but,
for some cause not known to us, it appears to have gone out of use.

Since writing the above, we have received the following interesting
communication from Mr. F. Alger; as it contains a more full account
of the native phosphorite of New Jersey and that of New York than
we have seen elsewhere^ we append it entire.

"1 send you a few facts, as requested, in regard to the deposit of
mineral phosphate of lime (phosphorite) discovered by Dr. Jackson
and myself in Hurdstown, Morris county, New Jersey, in 1850. Crys-
tals of apatite had been found there for several years previous, but the
massive mineral had escaped the notice of all who had, up to that time,
visited the locality. I purchased the right to explore the minerals
with which the phosphorite was associated, viz : magnetic iron, iron
and magnetic pyrites, and early in 1851 I made several shipments of
it to Messrs. Jevons & Co., of Liverpool, by whom it was sold to
various parties for agricultural and manufacturing purposes at prices
varying from twenty to thirty-Jive dollars per ton in its crude state.
Fine, large masses of the substance were placed in the great London
exhibition, at its firat opening, and attracted much attention, from
their rocky character, and being unlike any specimen of the mineral
before seen. Professors Daubeny, Johnstone, and others became much

FERTILIZERS. 169

interested in the discovery, and the latter opened a correspondence
with me on the subject, setting forth the advantage which would accrue
to British agriculture, if, as a substitute for bone phosphate, guano, or
coprolites^ it could, at a fair price, be introduced into England. At
his suggestion. Dr. Richardson, the celebrated manufacturer of arti-
ficial manures at Newcastle, made a successful trial of the mineral^
and proposed to negotiate for large importations of it into England
for his own use. It was also used in the lead smelting establishments,
in the making of cupels in the porcelain works, and in the manufac-
ture of pure phosphorus. For the latter purpose, its purity over bone
phosphate highly recommended it, and afforded a most expeditious
method of obtaining the beautiful glacial phosphate in the hands of
Dr. Jackson, who was also the first chemist who made pure phosphorus
from it. In its application to the production of phosphate of soda, for
which it has been recommended, I have received no information, though
it is probable some of the calico printing and dying establishments,
where this article is largely used^ may have made a trial of it. Should
they, or others, feel desirous of trying it, I shall be glad to supply the
mineral in moderate quantity, having yet a supply of it on hand. But
I have disposed of my interest in the mine to other parties, who have
now ceased to work it. The application of the mineral in the United
States has been only to agriculture, and to that by no means exten-
sive, though with the best results. For this purpose it is ground very
fine, treated with sulphuric acid to produce super-phosphate, and then
mixed with wood ashes and thrown into the compost heap, or other-
wise distributed upon the land. In some cases the pulverized mineral
has been taken alone and mixed with the compost, but in this way a
much longer time must elapse before any beneficial effects can be wit-
nessed. One of our practical agriculturists, who has long supplied
milk and meat for the m.arket, said that he had been sending jjIios-
phate of lime away from his farm for twenty years, and now he meant
to carry some back again. He believed that it w^ould pay, even if
applied only to grass lands, as he had no doubt it Avould find its way
into the bones of his animals, and thus prevent the impoverishment of
his land. The American chemists who have analyzed and written
upon the New Jersey phosphate are Dr. Jackson, Dr. Chilton, Pro-
fessor Mapes, Dr. Antisell, and Mr. Wells, the editor of the Annals
of Scientific Discovery. Dr. Jackson's analysis of a very pure speci-
men, gave of —

Phosphate of lime 92 .405

Chloride of calcium 0.540

Peroxyd of iron 0.040

Oxyd of manganese 0.003

Fluoride of calcium 7.012

By difference

'''Professor Mapes found no fluorine in the specimens he analyzed.
He obtained :

170 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Lime 61.50

Phosplioric acid 33.85

Chlorine 3.50

Silica 0.09

Iron peroxyd 0.10

Loss .96

" The mineral phosphate from Crown Point, New York, has been
examined by Mr. Wells. It contained 92.85 per cent, of phosphate
of lime, only a trace of fluoric acid, 5.20 oxyd of iron, 0.50 silica,
1.50 water. Later analyses make it much more impure. This has
been shipped to England by Professor Emmons, who was the first to
make it known under its mineralogical name, Eupyrchroite. It is no
longer obtained. The phosphorite from the province of Estremadura,
in Spain, where it was at first supposed to exist in large quantity, was
analyzed by Professor Daubeny, who was commissioned by the British
government to visit the locality, with the view of supplying the Eng-
lish market. He obtained :

Phosphate of lime 81.15

Peroxyd of iron .' 3.15

Fluoride of calcium 14. 00

Silica 1.70

Chlorine of calcium .31

''The Spanish mineral proved veins in clay slate, and was formerly
so abundant as to be used for a building stone. It seems, hoAvever,
never to have been sent to England. The New Jersey deposit is in
hornblende rock, as metamorphic sienite, and when discovered, formed
a vein from three to five feet in thickness, running parallel with a vein
of magnetic pyrites of about the same dimensions, the two being fre-
quently intermixed.

"¥. ALaER."

The coprolites, so extensively sought after, and used as fertilizers,
are found in various formations, occurring in limited quantity in the
mountain limestone; but the lias, green sand, &c., are the sources
whence by far the largest amount is obtained. These nodules, in form
and even appearance, indicate their origin. The undigested portions
of fishes, scales, bones, and distinct parts of things tliat once lived,
show them to be excrementitious matter, solidified by time and jjres-
sure. The coprolites vary considerably in their composition, according
to the locality, and partly owing to the variety, some yielding as high
as seventy per cent, of phosphate of lime, while others give as low as
ten per cent. Some contain, beside phosphate of lime, phosphate of
iron, and phosphate of alumine. According to Mr". Nisbit, the analysis
of five varieties produced :

FERTILIZERS. 171

Tertiary deposit 19.19 to 22.17

London clay 15.96 to 28.00

Chalk 19.00 to 26.92

Green sand 7.72 to 18.81

Green marl 16.47 to 26.56

Coprolites always contain, beside pliosphate of lime and pliosphate
of magnesia, carbonate of lime, and different substances in varied
quantities.

It is needless liere to state that the phosphate of lime, or we might
say, the phosphoric acid, whether taken from the mineral apatite, or
any other mineral phosphate, from coprolites fossilized or recent
bones, is the same substance and may be applied with the same advan-

We have said that phosi3horic acid, according to our estimate, is the
most valuable substance with which the farmer has to do. Silica, lime,
magnesia, and alumine are found in abundant quantities in all parts
of the earth ; nor does it appear that soda and potash require great so-
licitude, for the latter, which is the most important of the two, enters
into the composition of different mineral substances, all very common,
and forming portions of the great mass of the globe. We allude to
feldspar and mica, both constituents of granite, and of most of the crys-
taline rocks. Feldspar contains as high as seventeen per cent., while
sometimes mica has not less than twenty per cent, of potash. Of oxygen,
hydrogen, and carbon, therefore, it hardly requires that we should
feel much anxiety about them. The two former substances combined
form water ; the latter independent of other supplies^ is one of the con-
stituents of carbonic acid, a constant part of the atmosphere. Nor do
we think that fertility fails so much owing to the want of nitrogen, for
that gas is an ingredient of the atmosphere. Wherever it has been
taken, at every height, and from every locality, the air we breathe is
composed of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid, holding 79.00 parts
of nitrogen. We shall not enter into the discussion of how nitrogen
is assimilated, whether directly or indirectly, whether through ammo-
nia or nitric acid, or other nitrogenized components ; suffice it to say,
that both ammonia and nitric acid are ever forming in the air and in
the soil, and that either of those compounds, the admitted purveyor of
nitrogen to plants, is a consequence of the existence and decay of or-
ganized matters in the air, or near the surface of the earth. By far
the larger part of organized matter is composed of the condensed gases.
Even during life these gases are given oif and replaced by others.
After death, de(my speedily ensues, and they return to the great reser-
voir to be assimilated by other vegetables or animals, and thus con-
tinue the circle. •

Phosphoric acid, though extensively diffused, and sometimes in large
quantities, does not appear to be found in the same profusion as the
other substances mentioned. The phosphate of lime is a fixed salt,
neither soluble nor volatile, and when removed from the soil must be
replaced. This is done in the shape of manures, both organic and
inorganic; the main sources of the latter we have alluded to. The
amount returned from the barn yard is infinitely less than that carried

172 AGEICULTURAL REPORT.

away in grain, hay, milk, Lone, and flesli, even on the most economi-
cally regulated farms ; and, notwithstanding all our care, there must
he a constant decrease of that suhstance, unless recourse he had to
exterior supplies. True, small farms near large cities, may even add
more than is taken away, hringing hack the refuse of the supplies
which are sent to market ; hut that kind of circulation, from the
garden to the market, to the refuse heap, and again to the field, is
limited hy distance and cost of transportation. Kemote lands, from
which such supplies are stopped, must in the course of time hecome
impoverished, unless provision he made to replace the continual drain.
Exhaustion is hut an affair of time ; knowing the amount of nutriment
in the soil, we may make an approximate calculation, and decide when,
under different modes of treatment, it will work sterility. Strong
symptoms of a downward tendency in that direction hegin to manifest
themselves throughout the .whole cultivated portion of our country.
Indeed, it would he difficult to find, in any part of the civilized world,
a more melancholy picture than is presented to the traveler in certain
parts of our Union. The exhaustion has not only heen caused hy
continued cropping, and the extraction of phosphoric acid; injudicious
culture has had much to do with it, and, perhaps, much the greater
part of the fertility has heen carried into the streams, thence to rivers,
and finally to the ocean. There can he no civilization without popu-
lation, no population without food, and no food without phosphoric
acid. Indeed it might he easily shown, that the march of civilization
has followed the direction of supply of that material. There are lands
which will not hetray the effects of continued cropping, hut these are
exceptions, and they receive ahundant supplies of plant food from some
local circumstance. The valley of the Nile is a familiar example; here the
annual deposits from the overflow of the river counterhalance the drain.
Other lands, composed from the detritus of fossiliferous formations,
rich in phosphates, maj resist during an indefinite period. The slopes
of volcanoes are instances of a different character, where the supplies
are restored from ejectments coming from the interior of the earth.
The history of the world shows, heyond cavil or douht, that population
cannot endure where the supplies are wanting. Each return of the
seasons hrings another draft upon the phosphates, and when these fail,
civilization takes up another dwelling place. It is not necessary that
we should travel far to verify these sad truths. Within the period of
a short life, lands were called inexhaustible, which are now worthless;
and a great portion of the boundless west is naturally sterile. We are
on the eve of a movement from the west hack to the east, where a
different work is in prospective, that of the regeneration of worn-
out land. Perhaps science may be adequate to the task, hut the re-
cuperation of a soil will surely he more difiicult than cropping it to
exhaustion.

If we examine the commercial and agricultural statistics of England
for the last fifty years, or even for a much shorter period, we shall he
convinced that she never could have attained her present prosperous
condition, hut from two causes: emigration and the importation of
foreign fertilizers. The hones introduced have increased to an enormous
extent, during the last few years. "They are principally brought/'

FERTILIZERS. 173

says Macullocli, ''from the Netlierlands, Gferman}^, anclSoutli America.
At the present time, however, they form a part of the export trade of
nearly every port in the north of Europe." From a report on agri-
cultural shipping and produce, printed by order of the House of Com-
mons, in 1842, we learn that, out of eleven ports of the northern
countries of Europe, bones were exported to a large amount, from the
following nine: Hamburg, Eotterdam, Bremen, Lubeck, Kiel, Rostock,
Stettin, Elsinore, and Danzic. So far back as the year 1827, two
hundred and forty-eight vessels entered the one port of Hull, carrying
seventeen thousand seven hundred and eighteen tons of bones, which
were derived from Eussia, Prussia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Hanse
Towns, Netherlands, Mechlenburg, Hanover, and Oldenburg. In 1835^
the importations into Hull alone, had increased to twenty-five thousand
seven hundred tons. The value of bones imported into Scotland in
1841, was seventy-four thousand nine hundred pounds sterling. In
1837, the total value of bones imported into the United Kingdom
amounted to two hundred and fifty-four thousand six hundred pounds
sterling.* This is independent of the home supply which is estimated
at not less than five hundred thousand pounds sterling.

The extensive importations of bones, and the application of the na-
tive mineral phosphates, (coprolites, &c.,) together with the introduc-
tion of guano, have been the main dependence of agriculture in Great
Britain during the last twenty-five years. Science, indeed, has aided
in making these supplies more active and efficient, great economy
having been secured by improved machinery for crushing bones to fine
powder, (for the finer the dust the more immediately active it becomes;)
but the dissolution of bones with acid has been of still greater benefit.
Farm as you may, upon the majority of soils, without the use of ex-
traneous fertilizers, your crops will certainly diminish, until total
impoverishment shall leave no other alternative than starvation or
emigration.

Science teaches that the principal fertilizing element of the bone is
phosphoric acid, and thus, much is saved in transportation and the
economy of application.

Bones vary much in their composition, according to the age or
variety of the animal. The amount of mineral matter is less in a
young animal than in an old one, and the quantity increases gradually
with age. Schreger tells us that the bones of a child contain one half
of phosphate in the entire mass of earthy matter, while those of a full-
grown person give four fifths, and an aged person not less than seven
eighths. The bones of adults contain less water than those of chil-
dren. When h, bone is sufiiciently digested in muriatic acid, the
mineral part is dissolved, leaving the gelatin^ or cartilage, intact,
which retains the original form of the bone. Large amounts of gela-
tin, or glue, are thus made. That portion of the bone dissolved in
the acid consists of phosphate of lime and magnesia_, fluoride of cal-
cium, and carbonate of lime, with small quantities of salts of potash
and soda.

*Morton's Cyclopaidia of Agriculture

174

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

We copy from Berzelius the following analysis of the hones of man
and those of the ox :

Man. Ox,

Gelatin, (soluhle in water,) 32.17? ^o oa

Vessels 1.13 ] '''^•''^

Neutral phosphate of lime 51.04 55.45

Carbonate of lime 11.30 3.85

Fluoride of calcium 2.00 2.90

Phosphate of magnesia 1.16 2.05

Soda and muriate of soda 1.20 2.45

100.00 100.00

The experiments made by Barras inform us that the proportion of
carbonate of lime varies in different animals, as well as in the bones
of the same individual. He found, for every 100 parts —

Carbonate of lime

Bones of a lion 2.03

sheep 24.12

chicken 11.70

frog 5.76

fish 2.52

Chevreuil, Dumeril, Marchand, and other chemists, have analyzed
the bones of various fishes ; they vary considerably, as will be seen by
the following results obtained by the three first mentioned:

Skull of a
cod.

Bones of a
pike.

Bones of a

"vvliale.

Organic matter

Phosphate of lime

Sulphate of lime ,

Carbonate of lime

Phosphate of magnesia

Sulphate of soda

Soda and common salt

Fluoride of calcium and loss .

43.94
47.96

5.50
2.20

0-.60

100.20

37.36

55.26

6.15

1.23

100.00

78.46

14.20

0.83

2.61

0.70
2.46
0.74

100.00

The gelatinous part of the bone consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
nitrogen, and sulphur. One hundred parts of gelatin of bones pro-
duce, when fermented, twenty-two pounds of ammonia, together with-
carbonic acid. The sulphur, as we have seen, is also an ingredient of
plants.

The phosphate of lime is soluble in all acids, and we may say that
all the phosjDhates are soluble in an excess of acid. When bones are
surrounded by fermenting organic matter, such as is offered in a
manure or compost heap, the phosphate of lime is dissolved in the
humidity by the carbonic acid which is constantly being evolved by

FERTILIZERS. 175

tlie fermenting mass. This operation is more or less prompt according
to tlie activity of the fermenting heap. In the field, where carbonic
acid is always present, this process is constantly going on ; hut, owing
to the presence of the cartilaginous or gelatinous portion which sur-
rounds the particles of phosphate, the action is less apparent on a large
hone than if it were in powder, and the finer the powder the more
rapid the decomposition.

Many farmers are in the habit of collecting the refuse bones of their
farms and covering them up in the accumulating manure in the barn-
yard, where, in the course of time, they become soft and pliable, as if
they had been immersed in muriatic acid. Such an addition gives in-
creased strength to the manure in proportion as the quantity of bones,
which, thus dissolved, becomes immediately active, but endure a less
time than when added to the land without preparation. For when
bones in large pieces are applied to the soil the action is slow ; when
divided;, more rapid, according to the state of division, and still greater
when dissolved, as the state of division is then perfect, provided the
operation has been well conducted.

The crushing of bones, owing to their tenacity and hardness, is
attended with feome difficulty and expense, and, therefore, where the
operations are large, steam-mills are employed. But in other places
the bones are steamed or boiled, after which they are easily reduced to
powder. By that process, however, the gelatinous and fatty matters
are extracted and used; the grease for making soap, and the gelatin
for fabricating size or glue. We have seen that the organic portion
of bones contained fertilizing matter, (nitrogen, sulphur, carbon, &c.)
If this be previously extracted, so much is lost to the land ; and it is a
question of loss to the farmer if the dust be sold by weight. Some
burn the bone in order to reduce it to extreme division . Here again
the organic portion is entirely destroyed, save only a part of the carbon.
It is known that animal black (charred bones) is a great deodorizer
and antiseptic, largely used by sugar boilers for refining sugar, and
by chemists for whitening sulphate of quinine, &c. It has the property
of condensing gases; and charcoal_, derived from the calcination of
bones, possesses this property to a greater extent than any other sub-
stance; it will absorb ninety times its volume of ammoniacal gas.
Hence, it becomes a consideration with farmers to know whether they
do not gain more by charring the bones than they lose by chasing off
the volatile matters. If the bones be burned in contact with the air,
the greater portion of the carbon will be driven off with the other
combustible parts of the bone ; and in order to avoid that result the
bones should be charred in air-tight vessels. Iron cylinders are used
for the purpose.

Whatever method may be employed, it is important that the bone,
previous to treatment with acid, should be divided ; otherwise the
operation will be imperfect, and particularly so if sulphuric acid be
used to form the compound called bi-phosphate, super-phosphate, or
acid-phosphate of lime, known to farmers under those appellations.
*For if the bone, without being reduced to powder, be treated with sul-
phuric acid, gypsum or sulphate of lime is formed, and that substance
being insoluble, surrounds and prevents the further action of the acid

176 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

upon those parts of the hone not already acted on. If muriatic acid
he employed, that difficulty does not present itself, hecause the muriate
of lime which is formed is very soluble, and so long as acid may be
present the decomposition of the hone continues until the operation is
complete. In the latter case, the phosphates and muriates would be
in solution, which is less convenient of application ; this, added to
other reasons not necessary to mention,- makes it preferable to employ
sulphuric acid, which is largely manufactured, and may be obtained
everywhere. It is important, however, that the farmer should look to
the density of the article, for it is by no means immaterial whether it
be strong or weak ; otherwise, in the case of the weak or diluted acid,
he will be paying for water instead of acid. By the addition of sul-
phuric acid to crushed bones they are decomposed, and effervescence
takes place, arising from the escape of carbonic acid, which has been
liberated by the sulphuric acid combining with the lime and forming
sulphate of lime, or gypsum.

The insoluble phosphate of lime is decomposed, a part of the lime
combining with the sulphuric acid, and liberating the phosphoric acid,
which combines with that portion of the phosphate of lime not decom-
posed, forming a phosphate of lime with excess of phosphoric acid,
called bi-phosphate, super-phosphate, or acid-phosphate. The sul-
phuric acid also combines with the potash, soda, and magnesia. Heat
is evolved, the excess of water (if there be not too much) is absorbed,
and the mass, when the operation has been well conducted, remains in
a dry, pulverulent form. The gelatinous portion of the bone is also
modified by the action of the acid, becoming more assimilative. The
operation is simple, offering no difficulty whatever. Any farmer may
fabricate his own super-phosjohate with the implements he may have
at hand, and avoid the necessity or risk of paying for an impure
article ; for every one knows that frauds, to an enormous extent, have
been perpetrated upon the confiding farmer, who has often paid high
prices for that which was of no value as a manure, and might he had
for the collecting.

Sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) is a substance to be procured in all
our markets, and its value depends upon its density, specific gravity,
or its state of concentration. The weaker it is, the less valuable. The
proper density should be about 1.85.

The quantity of acid required for the decomposition of one hundred
pounds of bones depends upon whether they are in meal, half inch, or
entire, or whether they are in their natural state, boiled, or burned.
The finer the powder the more perfect the action, and the more acid
will be required. If the bones are in their raw state, they contain, as
has been said, an amount of animal or organic matter, which varies
according to the age or species of animal from which they have been
derived. The amount of bone-ash obtained from the calcination or
burning of bones in contact with the air, may beset down, on an aver-
age, at fifty per cent. For every hundred pounds of bone-ash, eighty-
seven or eighty-eight pounds of sulphuric acid will be required. The
operation may be practiced in a hogshead, on a tight floor, or on the *
ground, or in the field where the mixture is to be used.

Take, for instance, one hundred pounds of powdered bone-ash, throw

FEETILIZERS. 177

into a liogsliead, to wliicli add from five to six gallons of ■water, and
mix witli a stout wooden shovel or paddle. Then pour on about eighty-
eight pounds of concentrated sulphuric acid. The mass should now be
well turned and mixed. It will effervesce and foam up, give off steam
in profusion, and the temperature will be found to have risen sometimes
as high, or higher, than 212° Fahrenheit. Instead of adding the entire
amount of acid at once, it maybe divided into two portions, and added
separately. In handling acid, have a little care, otherwise an eye or
the clothes maybe the forfeit, as such accidents have happened. After
mixing for some time, the mass will stiffen, when it should be covered,
and allowed to stand for a day. It may now be thrown out in a dry
place^ to remain sufficiently long to be ready for powdering, or it may
be mixed with dry peat, charcoal, calcined plaster of Paris, or even dry
mold, or saw-dust, and powdered, when it is ready for use.

A mode which is extensively practiced on farms in England was first
suggested by Mr. Pusey, and is, briefly, very similar to making mor-
tar out of sand and lime. The circular wall of sand may be replaced
by coal ashes, or bone-dust itself. The bone-dust is deposited in the
middle of the circle, then thoroughly saturated with water, when the
sulphuric acid is added, and the mass well and frequently turned over,
until there is no further action. The decomposition is more perfect when
the temperature is high, and this is obtained by making the wall of ashes
as lofty as possible. The operation is more or less well conducted as the
mixture has been the more evenly made, and the parts thoroughly
mixed. The mineral phosphorite, coprolites, and varieties of guano,
rich in phosphoric acid, may be treated with acids, and will produce
super-phosphate of lime, having all the efficiency, and with preciselj'
the same properties of that manufactured from bones, the only differ-
ence being that the one may contain salts, which are absent from the
the other, and more or less phosphoric acid.

The super-phosphate of lime, from its comparatively high value,
leads to adulteration. Water is added to increase the weight ; earths,
chalks, lime, old plaster, oyster shells, &c., are sometimes mixed in a
manner to deceive the eye. Some of these substances may be detected,
with the aid of a magnifier, by acids, or by simple washing with water,
and examining the residue after decanting. If old plaster is suspected,
the hair will be seen ; if oyster shells or chalk, the effervescence and
particles of shells will furnish indications which will lead to closer
scrutiny. The sulphate of barytes, or sulphate of lime, increases the
weight of the mixture, and the former particularly will fall to the
bottom, when thrown into a tumbler of water, more rapidly than the
super-phosphate. Eecourse may be had to a chemist, whose familiarity
with the properties of different substances will enable him to arrive at
conclusions not to be expected from those whose occupations are^ of an
entirely different character.

The loss that is taking place in this most essential ingredient to- life
(phosphorus) is enormous, unavoidable, and impossible to estimate
with any correctness. Independent of that continuous drain which
takes place by the washing of the soil,, together with the waste ever
occurring in provisions of all kinds, grains, vegetables, and animals
exported, and but a small part of which finds its way back to the place
12 A

178 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

whence it came, tliere is another gradual yet certain loss which, in time,
will be felt — I allude to the amount of phosphorus in our bodies — a
loss to be attributed to the respectful and pious custom followed in all
civilized countries, that of burying the dead. By this practice much
is entirely withdrawn from circulation ; for the depth at which the
bodies are deposited in the ground is below the reach of vegetation.
Supposing the inhabitants of the United States at this time to amount
to twenty-five millions, and that each individual contains, on an aver-
age, four pounds of phosphate of lime, (which will be found not far
from the truth,) when this population shall have passed away, one
hundred millions of pounds of the phosphate of lime will have been
abstracted from the soil, or from activity in the endless change of life.*
It will be borne in mind that the extinction of the present generation
does not limit the loss ; for population increases much more rapidly
than supplies ; and if we reflect how wonderful has been its augmenta-
tion in the United States since its settlement, and its probable continu-
ance, even in a greater ratio, we shall be less apt to underrate the
future consequences.

The ocean is a vast reservoir of life's requirements, from which
science may find means of recovering supplies, especially of this valua-
ble ingredient.

It is hardly necessary to remark that, while phosphoric acid is an
essential part of all fertile soils, it. is not the only substance required,
for the application of the phosphates may be made without any apparent
good result, owing to the absence of other substances not less necessary.
With a view to supply every important quality, much ingenuity has
been employed in making artificial and saline mixtures, not only to
furnish special manures for special crops, but such also as would satisfy
the wants of all vegetation. Many saline mixtures may be compounded
to increase the efficiency of each other, and at the same time to accele-
rate, promote, and supply the requirements of plants ; but we cannot
refrain from cautioning the farmer against the exaggerated accounts
now everywhere published in favor of certain fertilizers. They are far
from being always what they are described, either in composition or
effect, and are very often quite the contrary. At best, composts would
frequently appear to be mere dilutions, or attempts at making the truly
useful do more service than is possible. The most shameful impositions
are being daily practiced. From the nature of the substances employed,
these frauds may not easily be detected by the farmer ; but he should
rather trust, if he will have unusual mixtures, to such as he may
manufacture on his own ground;, and under his own eye, from materials
of positive utility, and purchased from dealers of undoubted character.

* Monsieur Elie de Beaumont, who has made a similar calculation, in detail, for theamount
of phosphate of lime aBstracted from culture, by burial, estimates that France has thus lost
not less than two millions of tons. — See Etude sur les Gisements Geologiques du Phosphore.

The reader will thank us for directing his attention to the above-named work, recently pub-
lished by our distinguished friend and professor, M. M. L. Elie de Beaumont. We have
read it with great interest, and are indebted to the learned author for many valuable sugges-
tions.

V^ETERINARY SCIENCE AND ART. 179

VETERINARY SCIENCE AND AET.

BY CAPTAIN JOHN C. RALSTON, PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OP VETERINARY

SURGEONS, NEW YORK.

In this country, tlie veterinary art appears to have suffered, and is
still allowed to suffer, unaccountable and most undeserved neglect, in
an educational or duly qualified point of view. Its practice has mainly
fallen into the hands of the stable-man, the shoeing smith, and the
charlatan ; for the number of educated practitioners, derived from for-
eign schools, (chiefly from the Eoyal Veterinary College, London, or
the Veterinary College of Edinburgh,) is very limited, when con-
trasted with the forcible occasions and wide field for their services, at
once to be found in the larger cities and in the farming districts every-
where. Grave considerations, alike creative of surprise on the one
hand and of regret on the other, are thereby involved, when due reflec-
tion comes to be directed to this state of things : of surprise, because
this country has been so quick and ardent as relates to the introduction
or improvement of whatsoever otherwise has presented any aspect of
benefit or utility ; and, assuredly, veterinary science prefers very high
claims, whether in relation to agriculture, stock raising, or any other
public or social interest, and may be said to be only second to those
claims which appertain to the science of human medicine and surgery:
of regret, because the horse, first, and after him all other domestic
animals, requires, and should have, intelligent and scientific care and
treatment in health and sickness, and which can never prove the case
where the means of education and right information are wanting. The
aforesaid neglect seems the more singular when the vivid example pre-
sented by other countries is considered. The veterinary schools of
Europe are numerous and highly valued ; have been sustained by mon-
archs, governments, associations, and individuals; and are acknowl-
edged on all hands to have been the sources of no ordinary general
benefit; while the attainments and skill of the members of these
schools have conferred high professional respect, alike in private life,
public or governmental employ, and in the capacity of commissioned
veterinary-medical officers of the cavalry and artillerj'" services.

In the early times of Europe and Asia, veterinary art was assidu-
ously cultivated. In ancient G-reece, especially, it obtained a leading
place, along with the general pursuit of medical and surgical knowl-
edge. The physicians of those days seem to have given coequal atten-
tion to anatomical and physiological research and pathological investi-
gation, human and veterinary, and have left behind numerous treatises
upon the latter art. By the Komans, veterinary art was also held in
much esteem, and their medical and agricultural writers have treated
of it with acumen. Among the Moors, particularly during their domi-
nation in Spain, solicitous attention was, in like manner, bestowed on
the subject. But it were not fitting, here, to seek to enlarge on these
remoter chronicles of this estimable science, except to note the forcible

180 AGRICULTURAL REPORT,

impressions wliich prevailed in favor of its cultivation in those early
times, wlien flocks and herds held a prominent place, and the welfare
of all the domestic animals was well nigh the most important of con-
siderations on the part of communities. The downfall of Eome_, and
the oblivion of learning during the dark ages, overvN^helmed veterinary,
as it did all other science. During the later and still rude middle
ages, the iron defense, termed the shoe, was adopted for horses' feet,
(or, at least, came to he somewhat more used,) and the horse-shoeing
of the farrier began to he recognized as an operative art. It was at
this period that this craft appears to have appropriated veterinary sur-
gery, (in like manner as the barber craft had become the surgeons and
j)hlebotomists of those days,) and, unfortunately, it continues to be
only too generally accepted, that the operator who makes and nails on
a horse's shoes, has thereby acquired a knowledge of his diseases and
their treatment, which, otherwise, can only be obtained by means of
education and the well-trained pursuits and investigations of science.

In the sixteenth century, some effective degree of revival of this
always important though so decayed art began to take place. In
France, the spark thus rekindled v/as worthily fostered by Francis I,
in a very marked manner. This sovereign caused translations of Ye-
getius and other ancient writers to be made and disseminated, both in
the Latin and modern languages. From this period, in Europe, the
step-by-step advancement of veterinary science is to be discerned. In
1761, the French king and government founded a veterinary college at
Lyons, which still is flourishing, and in 1776 the present noble insti-
tution of Alfort, near Paris, was opened to the public. Subsequently
other schools, at Strasbourg, Montpelier, Toulouse, &c., were founded;
and these examples were followed by most of the other European
states, until now none are to be found vfithout one or more veterinary
institutions, enjoying state and public approbation and support.

Great Britain, somewhat singular to be observed, was slow to follow
in the footsteps of improvement, in this direction, although a country
which, it would seem, should have early recognized the importance ot
aught relating to the care, treatment, or improvement of stock gene-
rally, and of horses more especially. The art of equitation, which
had earlier taken a strong hold in England, more particularly from
the time of Henry VIII, seems to have (from among its professors, and
similarly on the part of one or two human anatomists and surgeons,
still later,) contributed better information and practices, and also some
publications on veterinarianism. It was not, however, until toward
the close of the last century that any general movement ensued, in
England, as to laying the educational foundations of this art. Seve-
ral efforts to establish a school had successively proved abortive ; until,
in 1792, the present Koyal Veterinary College was founded. This in-
stitution was projected by M. St. Bel, who had been educated at the
school of Lyons, and who became its first professor. He died in 1793,
having hardly had time to see the tree he had so striven to ingraft give
promise of fructification. St. Bel, by whom some treatises of merit
were left, was succeeded by the late Professor Coleman, with Mr. More-
head as colleague ; the latter, however, soon resigning in order to go
to India, in the service of the East India Company, where, not long

VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ART. 181

after, lie died. By degrees the college began to flourisli. It was
warmly promoted by George III, who made appointments of its grad-
uates to the various regiments of cavalry and corps of artillery, as
commissioned veterinary-medical officers; and it was also aided by
annual government grants. The press and public evinced the most
favorable approbation of its objects ; and the medical teachers, and the
profession in general, cordially acknowledged this affiliation claim.
The great John Hunter was a veterinary examiner, and an early and
zealous friend ; and Sir Astley Cooper, who was brother-in-law of the
veterinary professor, exerted earnest and active service in its behalf.
The school gradually became confirmed in repute, and increased year
by year in the attendance of pupils, until, in 1841, after the death of
Professor Coleman, the profession was chartered by an act of Parliament
as the Koyal College of Veterinary Surgeons. This corporate body, the
Koyal Veterinary College, the Veterinary College of Edinburgh, the
veterinary professorships of the London University, Dublin, and the
Andersonian University, of Glasgow, combine to afford the means and
to be the guarantee of that veterinary knowledge which is claimed in
behalf of the domestic animals. What benefit Great Britain has de-
rived from these veterinary schools, her farmers, stock raisers, horse
owners, and the public generally, can avouch. Of her horses, it can
be said that, despite a climate not favorable to raising the finest races,
without certain artificial appliances, they are unsurpassed, and sought
for throughout the world; while her cattle and sheep stock have been
the sources of improvement everywhere.

And now, let it be asked, how is all this in the United States? The
answer must be both perplexing and mortifying. Four or five years
back, there was not even the apparent germ of a veterinary school.
Some three years since, one was opened in Boston, but which has lately
been given up. In Philadelphia, a veterinary association and college
are making efforts to secure a creditable footing ; and it is to be much
wished and hoped that they may succeed. New York has incorporated
a college. of veterinary surgeons, the j^rospects and progress of which
have, as yet, all to be put on trial. In these young and inadequately
aided or sustained efforts is mainly contained the history of the means
for educational veterinary science in this country.

The school accommodations of the College of Veterinary Surgeons,
of New York, are contained within the Veterinary College Institute,
75 and 77 West 23d street. A brief description may be not amiss
here. They consist of a lecture hall, museum room, faculty room, and
in a separate building, students' dissecting room, &c. The entrance
to these is on the east side ; on the west side is the entrance for horses,
leading to a noble stable of seventeen stalls, having ample space and
light, and thoroughly drained and ventilated. On the same floor is
a handsome and commodious office, &c. In a separate building, in the
rear, is an eight-box-stall stable, for sick horses, forage loft, &c.
The floor below, which is equally well-lighted, drained, and ventilated,
contains a seventeen-stall stable, eight box-stalls for horses lame or
requiring treatment of the leg-joints or feet; the shoeing forge, which
is light, roomy, and well-arranged ; a store-room for iron, shoes, &c.
Water is introduced to every stall ; hot water is supplied in each stable ;

182 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

a steam drying apparatus is adapted for drying tlie straw used for tlie
horses' beds ; and two ventilator furnaces lieat the whole building
when required. Every arrangement has been kept in view which is
found in the best-planned European stables, and an example is pre-
sented of the manner of stalling and keeping horses, wherever comfort,
health, and high condition are studied. There is no country to which
improved veterinary knowledge, or the treatment which the domestic
animals claim, is of greater importance than to this. The horse, who
stands in the front rank as regards utility and value, demands primary
and corresponding consideration. Any effort to introduce improve-
ments on the housing, management, and stable economics of this
noblest subserver of the occupations and enjoyments of man, is worthy
of j)ublic appreciation and support ; and this claim can be well and
' forcibly advanced for the Veterinary College Institute of New York.
As regards veterinary science, in a more generalized sense, it may be
further added that its cultivation in this country would be followed
by advantages of no limited amount. Among others, it would open
for many young men a new professional path, at once attractive and
emolumental in pursuit. To medical students it not only tenders
opportunities for improving their knowledge, through comparative
inquiry relating to animal structure and functions, but, also, for be-
coming acquainted with the complaints to which domestic animals are
subject, and the treatment appropriate, whereby the sphere of useful-
ness and professional income may be extended. Such opportunities
are presented in the classes of the Veterinary College. Another very
useful and profitable source of occupation for young men whose educa-
tional opportunities or means have been more narrowed, is to be found
in the veterinary scientific art of shoeing. Some competent knowledge
of the anatomy and physiology of the horse's foot, and the requisite
expertness or skill for preparing the hoof, fitting and fixing the shoe,
&c. , can be acquired by any intelligent young man in two or three
months, in the lecture room and the shoeing forge of a veterinary
institution; whereupon, by purchasing finished shoes, a business —
which, divested of the more rude labor of the forge, may be then very
properly termed an art — of a very remunerative nature can readily be
established in any town or farming district, by means of only a small
capital. Toward this object, courses of lectures on the horse's foot
and shoeing, and likewise forge instruction, are proposed to be afforded
at the Veterinary College Institute. So essentially important is the
art of better shoeing, that, in the tariff" of charges annexed to the cir-
cular of the institution, a price per set for finished shoes and nails is
stated, and the same can be sent to horse-owners, with shoeing instruc-
tions, and their smiths can then put on said shoes^ charging the same
half-price as for removes of shoes ; better still, if in every stable and
on every farm there were one or more hands who could properly pare
and rasp the hoofs and fix the shoes, which would prove a most mate-
rial economy of time, money, and horses' feet.

The attitude of the veterinary art in Europe has been adverted to,
and also its great development in Britain, especially during the present
century. The following extract from the London '^Times'' will more

VETEEINARY SCIENCE AND^ ART. 183

directly serve to show, in an incidental manner, its elevation in the
latter country :

"EoYAL College of Yeterinart Surgeons. — On Thursday evening a
conversazione was given by William Field, Esq., the President of the
Eoyal College of Veterinary Surgeons, at the institute of the profession.
The spacious suite of rooms were thrown open for the reception of
visitors. On the walls were hung several valuable paintings, »by Sir
Edwin Landseer, J. Ward, E. A., and others. The tables in the
board room were covered with microscopes, stereoscopes, and photo-
graphic drawings. In the council room, an extensive series of calculi
of large size and varied composition, together with numerous morbid
specimens, showing the results of disease in our domesticated animals,
including several of rare occurrence, such as ossification of the heart,
lungs, liver, spleen, brain, were supplied from the Eoyal Veterinary
College, and the private collection of the president. These, together
with a minutely digested preparation of the nerves of the heart of a
horse, by Dr. Lee, attracted general attention. A select and rare
collection of the chemicals and articles of the veterinary materia medica,
as also specimens of the remedies used by the native practitioners of
India, were placed in the library. Several articles of Vertu, with busts
of Dr. Babbington and Professor Farraday, and carvings in ivory,
from busts, by Chantry, ornamented the rooms. The bust of the late
Professor Coleman, and cases of electrotyped medals, added to the
general effect, and the decorations were completed by several beautiful
exotic and other jDlants, from the Eoyal Botanic Gardens. The refresh-
ments were supplied on the most liberal scale by the Messrs. Gunter.
About one hundred and fifty noblemen and gentlemen were present,
including names from every department of science and art. The
professors of the Eoyal Veterinary College, and the leading members
of the profession, very ably seconded their worthy president in the
duties of the evening."

Veterinary medical departments are connected with the English
army, and armies of India, and this has suggested the query, whether
a similar department for the United States army would not be desirable,
or likely to be productive of utility and benefit? A staff medical officer
called recently at the Veterinary College Institute, and observed that
the subject had been under discussion or consideration, at one time, in
an official quarter. I will avail of the present opportunity, and ven-
ture to submit the views I would be disposed to entertain on this
subject, so far as the limited means I have access to can enable me to
form an opinion. It appears to me that the comparatively limited
extent of the cavalry and artillery force of the United States, and the
manner in which the respective corps are detailed for service along our
extensive frontier, preclude any adequate occasion or opening for a
regularly constituted army veterinary department, with its veterinary
surgeons attached to regiments and corps. Still, it must not thereby
be inferred that the advantages derivable from veterinary science should
be denied the army. It is a question only of adaptation, cost, and
effectiveness. That system which prevailed in the cavalry and artillery
arms of the service in India for upwards of a century, would seem to
be well fitted for adoption in an army so circumstanced as that of the

184 4G^RICULTURAL REPORT.

United States. In tlie India service tliere were veterinary schools for
tlie sons of deceased soldiers and others, who were trained in a
knowledge of the horse's foot, and the art of shoeing. As vacancies
occurred, these young men were detailed to the different regiments as
farriers. At regimental headquarters there was a farrier major, and
to each troop a farrier and assistant farrier. The captains of troops,
respectively, acted as the veterinary surgeons, and had a monthly
allowance for shoes, medicines, and necessaries. It has often surprised
me to note the excellent practical skill evinced by many of these
officers, derived from casual opportunities of attendance on veterinary
lectures, reading, and observation. The said system worked very well,
and would have worked better still if troop-officers had been induced
to follow a regular course of instruction, to a certain extent. In this
country, were a veterinary professorship instituted at West Point, it
might prove the source of much practical utility, inasmuch as the cadets,
generally, could attend a series of lectures of a character to interest
them, and promote their general range of information, while the cadets
of cavalry and artillery could more especially acquire the elements,
and lay the foundations of a useful knowledge, which could afterward
be valuably extended to their commands. Above all, some acquaint-
ance with the structure and functions of the foot of the horse and
mule, and the art of properly shoeing them, would have results of high
value, and in like manner some knowledge of the nature and treatment
of the more obvious accidents or maladies. Probably officers already in
actual service might have opportunities for attendance on a course of
these lectures ; farriers, moreover, could also be instructed in improved
principles of shoeing ; and, furthermore, an army veterinary code and
shoeing manual could be serviceably compiled. If a permanent pro-
fessorship of this nature should seem not quite eligible at West Point,
then a modified appointment for a certain course of lectures each year
might be effected. In the same connection, it may appropriately be
observed that army horse-shoes should be supplied, sized, (say eight
sizes,) fullered, nail-holed back and front, finished, filed up, and all
ready for putting on cold, except it might be a blow from the hammer
to close up any too great width of shoe. Machine-made shoes, finished
in rough, are as heavy to carry about as in bar, and more inconvenient ;
require as much forging and finishing; are never as well fitted; and
are hurtful and imperfect. In this question, a very important consid-
eration of service, effectiveness, and economy, lies.

VETERINARY MEDICINE. 185

VETEEIMM MEDICINE.

{Ai's Vet&i'inaria post medidnam secunda est.)

BY DR. B. F. CRAIG, OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

The benefits whicli the human race has received from the cultivation
of medical science and from the progress of the medical art, are so
habitually and universally enjoyed that their existence is hardly no-
ticed and their real extent seldom justly appreciated.

They are enjoyed too much as a matter of course to he duly valued,
and too equally hy all classes of the community to have their impor-
tance illustrated hy frequent contrasts of the relative effects of their
possession or their absence; and besides this, men are so apt to con-
sider health as their natural and ordinary condition, and to look on
every departure from it as an accident that could hardly have been
expected, and that should, in the nature of things, be susceptible of
prompt and easy correction, that they can scarcely regard with much
favor a science which assumes the unpleasant truth, that human flesh is
heir to many ills, difficult to escape by the utmost care, and only to
be overcome by well-devised efforts.

Instead of the relief that medicine can give to suffering being re-
garded as a cause of thankfulness, and as a triumph for humanity, the
fact that such relief is not always complete and speedy is felt as a
grievance, and complained of as an instance of the entire impotency
of the art; and in proportion as disease is disarmed of its dangers, and
the pangs of suffering allayed , as men are habitually called upon to
endure less, does the impatience of what has still to be suffered and
encountered increase.

A vent is often sought for this impatience in language directed
against medical science and its results — language which men, by fre-
quently repeating, come at last partly to believe; and the perversion of
correct views thus brought about is so liable to interfere with the exercise
of judgment, that it becomes necessary to set forth and establish the
real facts of the case before proceeding to discuss any question upon
which they have a bearing.

The results of medical treatment in individual instances can fairly
be appreciated only by professional men, and they cannot draw con-
clusions from any single case, but from a comparison of many similar
ones.

It is not like the application of skill and force to inert objects, where
the change brought about is a distinctly visible one, and the effects of
our exertions are easily distinguishable from those of all other causes.

The real condition of the sick, in the first place, is only to be dis-
cerned by the eye of reason and knowledge, and not by the uninstructed
spectator; and when that condition is known, the change in it that
follows the application of any remedial measures proves nothing, since
a change of some sort is constantly going on by the operation of Nature,

186 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

wliicli may take one or anotlier direction, Jn accordance with circum-
stances almost impossible to appreciate, and to wliicli we may plausibly
ascribe almost any event that may occur.

If, in a number of cases^ apparently similar, certain changes gene-
rally follow certain measures, and but seldom occur in the absence of
those measures, there is better ground for reasoning, and conclusions
may be drawn which are reliable in x^roportion to the number and the
degree of coincidence of the observations upon which they are based.

Medical science rests upon observations too numerous and concur-
rent to be much influenced by chance, and derived from sources too
independent and various, as to persons, place, time, and country, to be
governed by any common prejudice or perverted by any common inter-
est; but while no well-informed person, free from unhealthy peculiari-
ties of mind, can doubt that laws have been ascertained which give a
right direction to the healing art, there is still an apparent difficulty
in estimating the amount of good that is done, or that probably will
be done, by that art.

To form a just opinion on this point, the most proper course would
seem to be to inquire into the general amelioration of mankind in all
that relates to health and disease, which has accompanied the great
development undergone by medical science during the last three cen-
turies.

It were too narrow a view to limit the field of medical science to the
sick-room, or to the every-day duties of the physician.

The preservation of health, the proper regulation of diet, of clothing,
and of lodging ; those measures of hygiene which are applied to cities, to
ships, to armies, to hospitals, and to prisons ; the means of protection
against plague and pestilence, are matters upon which knowledge has
been acquired only by a long course of observation and reflection.

However simple some of the establislied rules may now seem, and
however universally they may now be admitted, there was a time, not
very remote, when they were unknown or unappreciated ; and if we
look at t^ieir history, we shall find that they have been established in
the face of prejudice, false opinion, and false habit, by laborious exer-
tions on the part of those who have made the human body their
study.

If the medical sciences had been neglected in the progress of civili-
zation, we have no reason to believe that the increase of material
comforts and resources would have more than counterbalanced, if it
counterbalanced at all the evil effects on man's physical nature which
arise from the luxuries, the temptations, the artificial modes of life, and
the increased wear of mind attendant upon the busy struggle of
modern times. Whatever superiority, then, in length of days, and in
freedom from disease and infirmity, is possessed by the present, as
compared with former times, may fairly be claimed as directly due to
that science which makes the attainment of such superiority its object;
and the amount of this amelioration may best be determined by in-
quiring into its extent on those points, concerning which we have the
most ample and reliable information.

If we take, as a subject of consideration, the average length of hu-
man life at different periods since the dawn of modern medicine, we

VETERINARY MEDICINE. 187

will find tliat it has been undergoing a progression, remarkable both
for its amount and its regularity ; and of this fact we have proofs, de-
rived from various European countries, where, for a greater or less
time, records have been made and preserved which give information
on this, and on other subjects connected with social economy. Tlie con-
clusions to be drawn from these records, wherever kept, agree so well as
to show that some general cause must have operated in all parts of the
civilized world, independently of those historical changes which have
affected particular communities. The most complete records of the
kind referred to are to be found in the statistics of the town of Greneva,
in Switzerland, where a detailed account of the population, of the
deaths, the births, and the marriages, has been kept since the year
1549, forming a valuable body of information, an abstract of which,
extending from 1549 to 1833, a period of nearly three centuries, has
been published, both in French and English journals. It appears,
from these statistics, that the proportion of the number of deaths to
the number of the whole population, which, in 1600, was one to twen-
ty-five, in the next half century, was one to twenty-seven ; in the
next, one to twenty-eight ; in the next, one to thirty ; and in the next,
one to thirty-four ; and_, during the half century lately passed over, the
proportion is known to have decreased still more rapidly. We find
that the difference cannot, in this case, be explained by a decrease in
the number of births, and consequently of the number of persons of
the age most liable to mortality.

The average duration of life — that is, the average age of all persons
at the period of their death — has increased from twenty-two years and
three months at the end of the sixteenth century, to forty years and
eight months during the period between the years 1814 and 1833 ;
and not only has this increase of longevity been uninterrupted, but
the rate of the increase during the present century is greater than
that for any former time.

The probable length of life, which is determined by taking the age
to which one half of those born survive, shows a still more striking
difference, for from the end of the sixteenth to the middle of the eight-
eenth century, it increased more than threefold, and from the end of
the sixteenth century to the present time, more than fivefold.

It would be difficult to imagine any equivalent that men would be
willing to exchange for this increase of life, or to appreciate the
amount of sorrow inflicted, if we were to retrograde to the rate of mor-
tality of the sixteenth century ; but, for our present purposes, we may
view the subject under a different light, and consider only the effect of
this alteration on the material prosperity of the community_, and its
value in that point of view in which the conclusions drawn would
apply with equal force to the case of our domestic animals.

The value of man to society is very much in proportion to the length
of his life. If he dies early, he fails to make return for the care and
expenses bestowed upon his infancy and childhood ; if he lives long,
and exercises his matured strength and practical skill in industry
profitable to the community, he adds by so much to the general
wealth.

As the period at which man is fitted for labor does not begin much

.7th.

18th.

19th.

188 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

before tlie twentieth year, it can easily be seen how important an ele-
ment in the progress of the race is a change from twenty-two to forty
jesiYS as the average length of life ; and what an increase of productive
industry is implied in that simple fact! But, to illustrate the same
point still further, we may take up the question of longevity in an-
other manner.

If we take from the Geneva tables the percentage of the whole num-
ber born, who survive to different periods of adult or useful life, we will
find it to have varied in different centuries, nearly as follows : .

In the 16th In the In the In the
century.

Of 100 persons^, there lived to the age of 20 39

Of 100 persons, there lived to the age of 30.... 30
Of 100 persons, there lived to the age of 40.... 20
Of 100 persons, there lived to the age of 50. , . .14
Of 100 persons, there lived to the age of 60. . . . 9

By this table we see that where, in the sixteenth century, nine per-
sons lived to their sixtieth year, thirty-two persons do so now ; and if
we take the average number of survivors for all periods of adult life,
it will be found to be at the present time considerably more than
double what it was three hundred years ago.

We can also conclude from this table that the total number of years
over fifteen which men live through on an average, has rather more
than doubled in three centuries, and that, therefore, from this cause
alone, the amount of work done by each person before he dies is more
than twice what it formerly was.

The above statistics are all taken from the records of the same place,
and the same people, and the conclusions drawn from their comparison
may therefore be regarded as reliable ; the more so, since they are in
perfect accordance with the results of the vital statistics of other coun-
tries, where such statistics have been kept for a sufficient length of
time.

Thus, in England, the expectation of life, that is, the probable fu-
ture length of life^ of persons twenty years old, is stated to be at the
present time about forty-four years, while a century ago it was rather
less than thirty-four years ; so that there has been an increase at the
rate of ten years for a century; and it seems probable that, for the last
three centuries, there has been an increase averaging about eight years
for each century, in this expectation or probability; an increase which
would lead us to about the same results, as regards the average length
of useful life, as those deduced from the Genevese tables, namely, that
it has more than doubled during modern times.

Our knowledge of the advance made as to the length of life, is of
course more capable of statistical demonstration than that of the other
benefits resulting from the application of science to the preservation
and restoration of health ; but if we admit reasonable conclusions,
from circumstantial evidence, we will find that, in other respects, the
improvement has been at least proportionate.

The shortening of the duration of sickness, and consequently of the

VETERINARY MEDICINE. 189

amount of time lost by each person from that cause, seems to be fully
as great, in proportion, as the lengthening of life ; more so, certainly,
in some diseases.

In surgery, the improvement in the treatment of wounds, fractures,
and dislocations, by which permanent disabilities are often prevented ;
the progress of conservative surgery, or that branch of the art by
which limbs are preserved, which, without the exercise of peculiar
skill, would have to be sacrificed ; and other advances made by the
profession, have done much toward the diminution of crippled and
deformed persons in the community, as well as toward the preservation
of life.

Without the instrumentality of medicinal science, many great enter-
prises would totally fail;, or only succeed with extreme difficulty. Long
sea voyages, for instance, which in former times often involved the loss
of crews by disease, or the interruption of the voyage from the preva-
lence of scurvy, are now performed without a greater mortality than
would occur among the same men on shore ; and thus our knowledge
of the world has been extended, commerce enlarged, and the ocean
made a safe highway for civilized man, in a way that would, two hun-
dred years ago, have been impossible, simply from the ravages of
disease on shipboard. Many similar examples might be cited, which
are, however, not needed for the establishment of the j)oint here
aimed at.

The consideration of the benefits conferred upon the community at
large, and of the gain, in an economical point of view, to be derived
from the cultivation of medical science, is not, it is true, necessary to
turn man's attention to it. His greatest hopes and fears, his strongest
feelings, are too much called forth by the sickness and danger of him-
self and of those around him, to allow him to neglect any available
means of relief ; and he will seek medical aid, and support medical
men, even without giving a thought to the general utility and the
economical value of their occupation.

In the care, however, of those animals which have been given into
his dominion, and from whose labors he derives so large a part of his
prosperity, it is to be feared that a sympathy for their sufferings and
a humane regard for their welfare would be insufficient motives to
induce him to attend properly to the treatment of their diseases, unless
it could be shown that, by doing so, he increases his own wealth to an
extent that fully compensates him for the expense and trouble thus
bestowed.

There are, perhaps, some who fancy that the brute creation, living
in accordance with natural instincts, or in obedience to some routine
imposed on them by man, and destitute of that finer organization
which in the human race is thought to render the system peculiarly
liable to derangement, must be but little subject to disease ; that their
lives, with few exceptions, must pass through an even course, untrou-
bled by sickness, and sink only when the lapse of years has weakened
their vigor and brought them to the natural termination of their exist-
ence. Such is not the case, as far as is known, with any class of
animals ; such is certainly far from being the case with those which
are under the care of man.

190 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

We often speak of the constitution of a horse, assuming him as the
type of disease-resisting vigor and unfailing health ; yet ample statis-
tical reports in Germany, France, and England, have shown that the
mortality of horses, in the prime of their life, is many times greater
than that of man at a corresponding age.

This mortality among horses is, no doubt, for the most part pre-
ventable ; and we have no reason for believing that, with proper care
and skill in their treatment, horses would die much faster than men ;
for the number of annual deaths during the years of youth and middle
life does not depend upon the absolute longevity of the animal, and
might be as small in the shortest as in the longest-lived species.

The annual mortality among horses in their working years is about
five per cent., or one twentieth of their whole number; and as the
number of horses in the United States is about five millions, there
would, at that rate, be a loss of two hundred and fifty thousand every
year ; and if their average value be taken at fifty dollars each, the
pecuniary loss will amount to twelve and a half millions of dollars.

The mortality among oxen is much less than that of horses ; while
that of sheep is greater.

Besides this regular and usual mortality of domestic animals, they
are, like the human race, subject to occasional visitations of great and
extraordinary sicknesses. Such epidemics, when of a certain degree
of virulence, are known under the name of murrains, and seem, from
the earliest ages, to have been regarded as among the severest afflic-
tions to which nations were exposed.

A murrain was threatened to Pharoah as a calamity, the nature of
which was fully understood by him; and, in thi« instance, as has often
been the case in subseq.uent murrains, the pestilence was to attack
more than one species of domestic animals, it being foretold that,
"upon the horses. Upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen,
and upon the sheep, there shall be a very grievous murrain."

Homer relates that the pestilence which was sent upon the Grecian
camp, first seized upon the domestic animals congregated there ; and
some of the most eminent writers of antiquity, as Hippocrates, Plu-
tarch, Livy, and Virgil, speak of the murrains which seem, at various
times, to have visited Greece and Italy.

In the fourth century, a murrain of great virulence devastated
Europe, and may, perhaps, be reckoned among the causes which has-
tened the downfall of ancient civilization.

Unusual mortality of cattle occurred, from time to time, in difierent
localities, during subsequent ages ; and, in ■ the eighteenth century,
the occurrence of a murrain which, originating in northern Asia, pre-
vailed for a series of years over a large part of Europe, roused the
public mind to the necessity of the better cultivation of veterinary
medicine.

In the present century, the various domestic animals have, in dif-
ferent regions, been subject, at times, to great mortality ; but nothing
has yet occurred of the nature of a general murrain. Nevertheless, the
teachings of history make it evident that such a thing must be expected
at some future period, perhaps remote, but, it may be, near at hand.

The amount of devastation committed by such an outbreak in a

VETERINARY MEDICINE. 191

country, a large part of whose wealth consisted of live stock, might be
immense, and the loss would be especially felt if falling upon an ani-
mal like the horse, whose services are almost essential to the main-
tenance of every branch of industry.

There is, in general, no form of disease over which medicine seems
to have more control than over great pestilences ; for the prevention
or cure of any one case, not only affects the individual chiefly con-
cerned, but hinders an addition from being made to the intensity of
the general pestilential action, and by so much checks the propagation
of the disease and the virulence of its attacks.

Independently of the effect produced by the diminution of the annual
mortality of domestic animals, we have to consider, so far, at least, as
the horse is concerned, that which would follow the lengthening of the
time during which they are maintained in a state of soundness and
vigor. A horse is fed and cared for until he becomes old enough to
labor, at an expense varying in different places, and which, for the
United States, has been estimated to range from twenty to sixty dol-
lars. For this outlay he makes return during his subsequent life ; and
the amount of the return made must depend upon the length of that
life, up to the time at which he becomes unfit for work ; so that, to
render him of proper value to man, he should be maintained free from
infirmity to the age when the inevitable operation of natural laws term-
inates his usefulness.

The horse attains to his greatest strength and vigor between the
tenth and twelfth years of his life,, but in too many cases he has
scarcely passed, or arrived at that epoch, when he is already infirm,
lameness or other disability having been brought on by injudicious
management, or by neglect or maltreatment of some chronic disease.

That the natural decline of a horse's strength does not take place
until a much later date than the period at which his usefulness is usu-
ally thought to terminate, has been amply shown, there being many
instances of horses retaining their vigor after their thirtieth year, and
some having been known to live to the age of forty and upward ; the
longest authenticated life of a horse in England or this country having
been sixty-two years.

A writer in one of the English agricultural journals, who seems to
have given particular attention to the prolongation of the working
lives of horses, states as the ages of five horses in his stables, who were
all serviceable animals at the time of his writing, the following num-
bers of years :

Thirteen, twenty-one, twenty-six, twenty-nine, and forty. He at-
tributes their good preservation mainly to the care and skill exercised
in shoeing them and in attending to their feet.

During the latter part of the eighteenth century, the want of judi-
cious treatment of domestic animals, in health and disease, was seen
with regret by many enlightened persons, and, among others, by the
illustrioms Buffon, who, in his work on natural history, after having
treated of the horse, expresses himself on this point as follows :

"I will not here speak of the other diseases of horses, since to add
to the history of an animal that of his diseases would be to render
natural history too prolix. Nevertheless, I cannot finish my account

192 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of tlie horse without expressing my regret that the health of this useful
and precious animal is at the present time abandoned to the care, and
to the often blind practice, of uneducated and ignorant persons. That
department of medicine which the ancients called veterinary medichie,
is now scarcely known, except by name. I believe, if some medical
man were to turn his attention to this subject, and devote himself
chiefly to it, he would soon be amply recompensed, and that he would
not only acquire wealth, but, instead of being lowered in his profes-
sion, would become illustrious.

"This branch of the healing art would not be so difficult nor so de-
pendent on conjecture as human medicine; for, since the food, the
habits, the efi'ects of the mind, in short, all acting causes, are more
simple among the lower animals than with man, the derangements of
their health should be less complicated, and consequently easier to
diagnose, and to treat successfully. We must also take into account
the great freedom with which we can make experiments, try new reme-
dies, and thus acquire, without causing ourselves great anxiety, and
without incurring odium, a large fund of this kind of knowledge, from
which, in the way of analogy, we might draw conclusions useful even
in human medicine."

The high authority of BuflPon, and the zealous exertions of some of
his cotemporaries, were much aided toward the attainment of the
desired end by the great mortality among cattle which occurred during
his time; and in the year 1761, a veterinary school was founded at
Lyons, at the head of which was placed Bourgelat, a name celebrated
in the history of veterinary medicine. In 1766 another school was
opened at Alfort, not far from Paris, which, in the course -of time,
became a most useful and flourishing institution. Perhaps no better
idea could be given of the condition and management of such schools
in France, than to quote some passages from the account of the one at
Alfort, by Mr. H. Colman, who visited Europe in 1843 for the pur-
pose of examining the state of agriculture and agricultural institu-
tions.

"This establishment is beautifully situated on the river Seine, near
the village of Charenton, about six miles from Paris.

"The buildings for the diflerent objects of the institution are spacious
and well-contrived, and the grounds sufficiently extensive and judi-
ciously arranged. Like other governmental establishments in France
which have come under my observation, the institution is upon a grand
scale, and complete in all its parts. The government of France, in a
liberal manner, avails itself of the talents of the most competent men
in every department, and of all the advantages which science and art
can afibrd ; and it spares no expense in the perfect execution of what-
ever it undertakes. It adds to all this, as is everywhere to be seen, a
refinement of taste in the arrangement of the most ordinary subjects,
which increases the expense only in a small degree, and which does
not abstract at all from the solidity and substantial character of the
work itself ; but relieves that which would otherwise be monotonous,
if not offensive, and often renders the plainest subjects attractive.

"The school at Alfort is designed to furnish a complete course of
instruction in veterinary medicine and surgery^ embracing, not horses

VETERINARY MEDICINE. 193

only, but all the domestic animals. A student, at his entrance, must
he well versed in the common branches of education ; and a full course
of instruction requires a residence of four years. The number of pu-
pils is limited to three hundred. Of these, forty are entirely supported
by the government. These are educated for the army, and are re-
quired not only to become versed in the science and practice of veteri-
nary medicine and surgery, but likewise in the common business of a
blacksmith's shop, as far as it is connected with farriery.

"The establishment presents several hospitals, or apartments, for
sick horses, cows, and clogs There are means for controlling and
regulating as far as possible, the temperature of the rooms, and for
producing a complete and healthy ventilation. There are stables
where the patients may be kept entirely alone, when the case requires
it, and there are preparations for giving them, as high as their bodies,
a warm bath, which, in cases of diseased limbs or joints^, may be of
great service. There is a large college, with dormitories and dining-
rooms, for the students; houses for the professors within the inclosure;
rooms for operations upon animals, and for anatomical dissections ; a
room, with a complete laboratory, for a course of chemical lectures ; a
public lecture-room, or theater ; and an extensive smithery, with sev-
eral forges, fitted up in the best possible manner. There are, likewise,
several stands, contrived with ingenuity, for confining the feet of
horses, that students may m.ake, with security, their first attempt at
shoeing, or in which the limb, after it has been separated from its
lawful owner, may be placed for the purpose of examination and ex-
periment.

''An extensive suit of apartments presents an admirable and, indeed,
an extraordinary museum, both of natural and artificial anatomical
preparations, exhibiting the natural and healthy state of the animal
constitution, and likewise remarkable examples of diseased affections.
The perfect examples of the anatomy of the horse, the cow, the sheep,
the hog and the dog, in which the muscular integuments, the nerves,
the blood-vessels, and, indeed, all the parts, are separated, preserved,
and exhibited, by the skill of an eminent veterinary surgeon and artist,
now deceased, who occupied the anatomical chair of the institution,
display wonderful ingenuity in their dissection and preservation, and
present an interesting and useful study, not to medical students only,
but to the most ordinary, as well as the most profound, philosophical
observer. I have seen no exhibition of the kind of so remarkable a
nature.

"The department for sick dogs, containing boxes for those which
require confinement, and chains for such as must be kept in the open
air, and a cooking apparatus and kitchen for the preparation of their
food, was spacious, well-arranged, and contained a large number of
patients.

"Any sick animals may be sent to the establishment, and their board
is to be paid at a fixed rate of charges; twelve sous, or six pence, per
day, for a dog, and fii^y soils, or twenty-five pence, for a horse, includ-
ing medicine, advice, and attendance. In cases of epidemics, or mur-
rain, prevailing in any of the districts of France, the best attendants
and advice are sent from these schools, to assist in the cure, and espe-
13 A

194 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

cially to watch the symptoms and progress of the malady. In coun-
tries where large standing armies are maintained, and where, of course,
there are large bodies of cavalry and artillery to he attended upon, as
well as wagon horses for carrying the supplies, the importance of vete-
rinary surgery is vastly increased ; hut in countries where no standing
armies exist, the number of horses kept for use and pleasure, and of
other domestic animals, bears a much larger proportion to the number
of human beings than we should like to state without inquiry, and
renders the profession highly important,"

Other veterinary schools were before long established in different
parts of France, and in various countries of Europe ; in Germany, in
England, in Kussia, and in Italy. The veterinary college at London
was established in the year 1791, under the charge of a graduate of
the parent school of Lyons, and at the expense of a number of gentle-
men who, upon becoming subscribers to the school, acquired certain
privileges with regard to the medical treatment of their horses, in the
event of their sickness.

The college received much encouragement from the medical profes-
sion of London, and a committee of some of the most eminent practi-
tioners was appointed to assist at the examination of those of the pupils
who became candidates for graduation, and to certify to their acquire-
ments ill case that they should be found properly acquainted with the
principles of medical science and with the veterinary art. The asso-
ciations of physicians with veterinarians, in such colleges, is one of
the best assurances that the character of the education there given will
be kept up to the high standard to which medicine has herself attained,
and that the empiricism of a speciality will not be allowed to displace
the philosophic spirit of true science.

Soon after the establishment of the London college, it received further
encouragement by the appointment of veterinarians, as commissioned
officers in cavalry regiments — a proceeding of great benefit to the ser-
vice. The care of horses was the original object of the college, but an
annual sum was given to it by the Eoyal Agricultural Society of Eng-
land, to enable it to extend the field of its operations -over the other
domestic animals, whose diseases it has, accordingly, taken charge of;
and such animals are sent from London and the neighboring country
to the infirmary of the college, where, for a moderate charge, they are
fed, housed, and receive veterinary attendance. The college has also
received assistance from parliamentary grants.

In Germany, some of the veterinary colleges have, as a chief object,
the education of veterinary surgeons for the military service.

In the United States, Veterinary colleges have been recently estab-
lished. A veterinary institution has existed for some years in Massa-
chusetts. In Pennsylvania, the Veterinary College of Philadelphia
was incorporated in 1852, and put into operation during the present
year. Four professorships have been established in it, namely : Of
Materia Medica and Therapeutics ; of Pathology and Practice of Medi-
cine in Keference to Domestic Animals ; of Medical Chemistry and
Pharmacy; of Anatomy, Physiology, and Operative Surgery.

The College of Veterinary Surgeons of New York has also announced
a course of lectures for the session of 1859-GO; it has established

VETERINARY MEDICINE. 195

professorships of Veterinary Theory and Practice ; ofYeterinary Anatomy
and Surgery, and of Chemistry ; and has a Board of Censors, composed
of some of the most eminent medical men in the city of New York.

A veterinary author, who stands as high as any who have written
in the English language — Mr. Delahre Blaine — remarks, in his Vet-
erinary Art, that there are three classes of persons hy whom veterinary
medicine may he profitably studied; first, hy gentlemen owning
animals, and taking considerable interest in their management ; second,
hy medical men who design practicing in the country, or in small
towns^ where regular veterinary surgeons are not accessible ; and last,
by those intending to make veterinary surgery their profession.

The acquirement of veterinary knowledge by non-professional men
is a thing not at all impracticable, especially in the southern part of
the United States, where, as agricultural matters are often under the
control of men of wealth and leisure, a very thorough and elaborate
education might be given, with the joarticular view of fitting gentlemen
for the management of everything connected with a farm or plantation.

One remark, however, should be made with regard to veterinary
education, whether of amateurs, or of professional men : no branch of
medical art can be usefully taught ■ without first imparting some
knowledge of that medical science upon which the art rests. The
names of diseases, their most prominent symptoms^, and the remedies
used for them, may, indeed, be communicated ; but that information,
without the guidance of rules for correct reasoning on the subject, can
only lead to a blind and mischievous ofiSciousness. Those who would
learn how to deal with the arrangements of the living body, should
first have their minds properly trained by the study of some branch
of natural science, and, being thus accustomed to recollect facts, and to
view them as parts of a system, they are better fitted to acquire a
knowledge of the structure and of the functions of the body ; in other
words, of anatomy and of physiology. It is not essentially requisite
that this knowledge should be minute, but a certain amount of it must
be acquired, after which the various modes in which the functions
depart from a state of health, and the proper methods of remedying
such departures, may be made objects of study.

A delicate question here arises : whether any knowledge short of the
professional would be of practical use to any one ? It seems to me that
the only way of throwing light upon such a question is to attempt to
answer it as far as human medicine is concerned, and to leave the
conclusion thus drawn to be applied, analogically, to the veterinary
art. The skill which the medical man applies to the treatment of
difiicult cases is not to be attained except by those who have devoted
many years to its acquirement ; but there is much that he does which
he could teach others to do without burdening them with an elaborate
and laborious course of instruction. In the surgical art, there is a
special branch called minor surgery, which treats of such things as the
proper mode of dressing wounds, burns, and scalds ; of setting frac-
tures, and reducing dislocations. Much of it is taught to, and practiced
by, hospital attendants and medical students in the early part of their
course of medical education. Any intelligent person could, in a few
weeks, learn enough of this art to enable him to render great service

196 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

in cases whicli at present are neglected, or given over to the manage-
ment of the ignorant and presumptions, either from the inaccessibility
of regular surgical aid, or from an indisposition to have recourse to it.

It may not be impossible to establish a similar branch of the medical
art. A great deal of medicine has been, and always will be, admin-
istered without the advice of a physician ; in fact, it is the testimony
of apothecaries that the greater part of the medicine sold is so admin-
istered.

If instruction as to the nature and proper use of the medicines most
in the hands of the people were generally diffused, of course with some
previous instruction concerning the human body, and its more common
and simple diseases, the amount of medicine taken would be less, and
the good eifected by it vastly more certain.

Without attempting to intrude upon the serious duties of the physi-
cian, every educated man might be qualified to deal with those trivial
affections from which the great harvest of quackery is reaped, and to
render service to himself and others, wdien out of the reach of profes-
sional assistance. To do this, the knowledge possessed may be limited,
but should be perfectly sound as far as it goes, should be derived from"
unexceptional sources, and be in no wise akin to that of those pseudo-
medical works, of a popular cast, which are at the present day put for-
ward in large numbers, for the edification of a credulous public.

Similar remarks may be applied, with still more force, to veterinary
surgery and medicine. Domestic animals, in many parts of the coun-
try, must be so far out of the reach of regular veterinarians, or of phy-
sicians qualified to practice the veterinary art, that the only means of
giving them the benefit of medical knowledge is by lodging it in the
hands of their owners.

The mode of education of regular veterinarians is a matter of more
settled character than the above. The colleges existing in England,
and now going into operation in this country, are founded by the effort
of associations, and sustain themselves, both from the fees of pupils
and from those received for the medical treatment of horses and other
animals.

A number of persons become subscribers of a small annual sum,
each, toward the maintenance of a veterinary hospital, in consideration
of which they acquire the privilege of consulting the veterinary sur-
geon of the establishment upon the proper treatment of their animals,
upon the soundness of a horse that they purpose buying, and upon
such other points as may present themselves ; and wdien a horse is sick,
they may send him to the infirmary and have him attended to, with no
other expense than that of his keep at livery and of his medicines.
The veterinarian should not, save in exceptional cases, be called upon
to pay visits out of the hospital, but should remain at the est/iblish-
ment. A hospital thus established furnishes the means of clinical
instruction for a school, which may afterw^ard be attached to it. Pro-
fessors of anatomy, physiology, materia medica, and chemistry, may,
if necessary, be chosen outside of the ranks of veterinary practitioners,
and students may be received on terms similar to those of medical col-
leges, and subjected to a course of study varying from two to four
years. Much may be done in this way by private enterprise; but the

VETERINARY MEDICINE. 197

question arises, of how far such schools might hope for the support of
a State, or of the federal government.

All forms of civilized government have made education, in some
way, their care, and there would seem to be great propriety in this,
since all experience tends to show that the prosperity of a community
chiefly depends upon the education of its members. This is true,
whether we consider that general diffusion of knowledge and of mental
discipline, which enables tlie citizens of a free State properly to exercise
their powers and to discharge their duties, that higher cultivation of a
few, which fits them for the iDvestigation of the laws of Nature^ and
for determining the scientific truths upon which the arts of civilization
are founded, or that special training in the arts and professions, which
qualifies men to do good in their respective callings.

Now, if the importance of the veterinary art, and all the advantages
dependent upon it, be fairly considered, it will, I conceive, be found
worthy of the extension of a helping hand to its struggling infancy,
if not of a more permanent support.

Physicians and surgeons form a third class, to whom Mr. Blaine
recommends, under certain circumstances, the study of veterinary
medicine. It may be remarked of these that, beside the advantages
that may result to themselves from the possession of such knowledge,
they, as a body already possessed of weight and authority in the com-
munity, and able to make their influence widely felt, can bring about
reforms which can hardly be effected by other agencies. To illustrate
the point that there may be a flourishing condition of veterinary insti-
tutions, a class of educated veterinarians, and an extensive veterinary
literature, and that yet those to whom, the care of animals is chiefly
intrusted may be comparatively uninfluenced by the progress around
them, I would quote from Wilson's Eural Encyclopedia a portion of
the article on Hippopathology, (the science which treats of the diseases
of horses:) " Yet, in spite of the enormous bulk and the vast variety
of our domestic hippopathological literature, in spite, too, of the stu-
pendous additions to it which are made by French and German works
of easy access, the science continues to be incredibly little known by
the great body of the horse-owning community, and is still in a scan-
dalous empirical condition, among a considerable proportion of country
practitioners. Even if no books at all existed on the subject, a little
common sense, expatiating on the analogies between the health of the
horse and the health of man ought to rescue grooms and farmers from
the absurdities and cruelties which many of them practice in the
stable.''

A wider diffusion, as well as a further increase, of veterinary infor-
mation, is evidently required, and to insure its diffusion there is no
better way than to have its precepts and practice enforced by a large
and widely-spread number of persons, the correctness of whose knowl-
edge on such topics the public are already prepared to admit. This is
a thing which physicians are not qualified to undertake at present,
although they could become so by means of some addition to the usual
course of medical education. It has been remarked that "a good
physician has gone three fourths of the way toward becoming a good

198 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

veterinarian, but lie must go fhe otlier fourtli to become a veterinarian
at all."

As the medical sciences bave not been limited in tbeir beneficial
results to the healing of the sick only, but have^, by means of the
knowledge of the human economy -which they inculcate, thrown light
upon all questions involving the physical well-being of man, so we
are apt to expect that from the cultivation, of veterinary medicine we
will obtain guidance in many important matters which concern the
physical state of domestic animals. Every question relating to their
management, whether involving the condition of an individual or that
of a race, is a question of the mode of action of physiological laws,
and can only be satisfactorily answered by those who have made the
physiology of animals their professional study.

The strength of this position will be readily admitted with regard
to individual animals, and it may, I think, be shown that a necessity
exists for a body of educated veterinarians, to take in charge matters
that affect races and species of our domestic animals, rather than
single cases.

Our domestic animals are, to a great extent, artificial productions,
their most valuable qualities having been communicated to them by a
kind of cultivation ; thus breeds of horses have been produced far sur-
passing in size, strength, and fleetness, any animal of the species that
exists in the wild state ; the ox species has acquired in different races
great capabilities of producing flesh for the butcher, or milk for the
dairy ; the sheep is clothed with a fleece more valuable for human use
than that worn by his wild progenitor; and all valuable animals
exhibit marked alterations from the original type of the race, which
have been produced by human care and management. The extent of
this change varies much with different breeds, and its importance is
testified to by the high prices commanded by those animals in which
it is most strongly marked.

Few improvements contribute as much to the wealth of a nation as
these. The expense of feeding and of caring for an animal of good
breed is but little more than that required for a very inferior one, and
the profit derived from it, whether in the shape of labor, of flesh, of
wool, or of milk, is often very different in the two cases. A farmer
may raise a horse that will command one thousand dollars in the market,
or one worth less than a twentieth of that sum, and spend nearly the
same on either animal. In view of the strong motives which exist for
raising the finest animals only it may seem a matter of surprise that
there are so many bad ones, and that, especially among horses, where
good quality is of such great importance, the general standard should
not be higher. Thereis, however, a want of certainty and of permanency
about these improvements, which arises from their artificial character,
there is a constant tendency in the race to return to the condition
of Nature, and, where measures are taken to prevent the loss of some
one of its characteristics, it sometimes happens that those very means .
hasten the destruction of some other, or diminish very much the vitality
of the race.

The maintaining of good breeds becomes thus a struggle between
Nature and art, and the art is one that requires peculiar skill and

MEDICINES TO DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 199

knowledge to manage with the best results ; and while the intelligence
and care of a number of enterprising persons, who have been stimulated
by large profits, and possessed of considerable means, have done much
for the improvement of breeds of animals, the success thus far attained
has been attended by a host of failures and disappointments, and, in
some cases, where the greatest care and expense has been bestowed, it
is maintained, by good authorities, that a positive degeneracy has
taken place.

The difficulties in the way of making a breed of animals just what
we want it to be, and of maintaining it in that condition, are of a
complicated character, and demand for their correct solution the atten-
tion of those who can regard them from a scientific point of view, and
whose daily studies and experience relate to the animals which they
concern.

ADMimSTERING MEDICINES TO DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

TRANSLATED AND CONDENSED FEOM AN ARTICLE BY DR. WAGENFELD, OE DANZIG,

PRUSSIA.

Animals being unwilling to take medicine of their own accord, it
must be administered by force, except when mixed with agreeable
substances, for instance, with oats for the horse, and with meat or
sugar for the dog.

The horse may receive medicine in different forms ; first, as a poioder,
This is to be mixed with short fodder, especially oats, with a portion
of bran, which should be moderately moist, because he would otherwise
blow away some of the powder with his nose. Though this mode is
convenient, it can only be employed to a limited extent, as the horse
will not eat his fodder if it be mixed with medicine of a considerable
odor, or if his appetite be much impaired. Secondly, as a drink. For
instance, several salts and acids, also insoluble powders, as red bale.
But here, likewise, a difficulty becomes apparent. The horse, from an
absence of thirst in certain diseases, drinks little or nothing, so that
the medicine is not taken in the quantity desired. Thirdly, as an
infusion or potion. This form deserves to be more fully considered,
as many horses have been lost in consequence of potions being admin-
istered. If, for instance, a horse is suffering from colic, a potion is
usually given, sometimes several of them, and even veterinary surgeons
resort, especially in this case, to infusions through the mouth. Though
it is known that the infusion is not wholly without danger, because
part of the liquid might easily get in the windpipe, yet the injury that
may result is not sufficiently considered, even by many surgeons.

The application of infusions, especially in colics, has been recom-
mended, because a rapid remedy is desired, which is most likely to be
attained by mixing the medicine with a certain quantity of liquids,
and bringing it thus immediately in connection with a large surface
of the stomach and the bowels. Though these advantages are not to

200 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

be denied, yet the incidental injuries are of so serious a nature tliat it
becomes the duty of a surgeon to consider the propriety of giving in-
fusions, when an electuary could be conveniently substituted. This is
a medicinal jelly, to be spread on the tongue of the horse, for swal-
lowing. The stomach always contains a certain quantity of humidity,
serving to thin the electuaries, so that they will very soon show their
effects, though perhaps not quite so rapidly as an infusion. Vv''hen I
commenced my practice in veterinary medicine, some thirty years ago,
I had often to treat horses suffering from colic. I always administered
infusions, adapted to the circumstances of the case, giving them my-
self, and using the utmost precaution. A cure usually resulting, I
saw no reason to abandon this mode of treatm^ent. Yet, in the course
of time, I lost three patients of this sort. They were cured of colic,
it is true, but the day following, or somewhat later, an inflammation
of the lungs ensued, causing the death of the horse. At that time I
did not see clearly enough the connection existing between colics and
inflammation of the lungs ; still, I refrained from that moment from
applying similar infusions, and have not made use of them for the last
twenty-five years.

In many books, otherwise reliable, it is stated that colics of the horse
are frequently followed by inflammation of the lungs — an observation
perfectly correct ; but the cause and effect of this symptom, which, on
infusions being avoided, is of rare occurence, have neither been ex-
plained nor even anticipated.

It has been said that well-informed veterinary surgeons know very
well the danger often connected with giving infusions, but none of
them had ever, by direct experiments, disseminated a clear under-
standing on this subject until Mr. Giinther, Director of the Veterinary
School at Hanover^ did so. Yet it is to be regretted that his investi-
gations have not come to the knowledge of every owner of horses. As
long as horses were cured, infusions were principally applied, and this
has been the practice for a long time, j)ei"haps as far back as history
reaches.

Buttermilk given to horses for medicinal purposes has proved fatal,
and hence originated the belief that it was poisonous to them — a belief
which prevailed in many parts of the country, if not among surgeons,
yet to a great extent among the people. Mr. Giinther' s experiments,
however, demonstrated in what really consisted its poisonous quality.

Seven and a half pounds of buttermilk were administered to a
healthy horse, as an infusion, through its mouth. The animal^ imme-
diately after, became restless, breathed heavily, opened violently and
wide his nostrils, and exhibited, in the course of the day, symp-
toms of a severe inflammation of the lungs. The attacks, gradually
increasing in violence, killed the horse in forty hours. On examina-
tion, the lungs were found to be inflamed, but the stomach and bowels,
together vv^ith all other parts of the body, were in a healthy condition.
To another, six and a half pounds were given, through a leather pipe,
into his stomach. The animal continued, in every respect, healthy,
and after being purposely killed, at the expiration of fifty-four hours,
no disease was discovered in any part.

From both these experiments it is evident : first, that buttermilk ia

MEDICINES TO DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 201

not poisonous for horses, if it goes into their stomachs ; secondly,
buttermilk may produce a fatal inflammation of the lungs, if the
horse, on its being administered through his mouth, swallows it in a
way that part of it enters the windpipe and the lungs themselves.

The stomach only is destined for the reception of solid and liquid
substances, the lungs being capable of enduring, without injury, none
but the delicate food of the atmosphere.

Mr, Giinther made an opening into the windpipe of the horse, tlms
bringing eight ounces of buttermilk through the windpipe into the
lungs. Immediately after, the horse became restless, dropping its
head, and tripping with its feet ; it breathed rapidly, did not lie down
during the night following, refrained from eating, and exhibited all
the symptoms which were observed after the first infusion through
the mouth ; consequently, a portion of buttermilk had entered the
lungs. After a lapse of thirty-eight hours the animal was killed,
when the lungs were found to be inflamed, though all the other
organs were in a healthy condition — corresponding with the first ex-
periment.

Not only buttermilk, however, may create an inflammation of the
lungs, on being administered as an infusion through the mouth, but
every other liquid, even tepid water, may have the same fatal result.

Again, a horse received eight ounces of oil of turpentine through an
opening into the windpipe. Immediately after, it began trembling
and staggering, opened rapidly and wide its nostrils, breathed fast,
&c. On its body being opened, the lungs were found to be swollen
and inflamed, as in former experiments.

Another horse received two pounds of brandy as an infusion through
his mouth. Soon he began coughing, breathing rapidly, &c. This
case was observed for twenty-two days. He recovered to some extent,
and ate tolerably, but coughed much, had a quick pulse, looketl always
melancholy, and grew lean. On opening the body, the lungs were
found to be inflamed, all the other parts being healthy. A portion of
the brandy had evidently gone the wrong way, that liquor not being
injurious to a horse when in the stomach itself.

An ounce of oil of turpentine, and a like quantity of linseed oil,
were administered to another horse^ through an opening of the wind-
pipe. He forthwith began staggering in his walk, trembled, threw
himself on the floor, and sprang uj) again immediately; but after six
or eight hours became more quiet, took a little food, coughed, and, in
the course of the six days following, exhibited only a quick pulse,
coughed often, and did not lie down, seeming otherwise not to be very
sick. Six days and a half after the infusion was given, the horse was
killed. Part of the lungs was found to be inflamed and obdurated.
This case proves that even a small quantity of an extraneous liquid,
penetrating into the lungs, is capable of producing a dangerous con-
dition. How easy is it for such a small quantity to get into the wind-
pipe, when given as an infusion ! Even when the horse does not fall
immediately, the consequences may still be pernicious.

The application of two ounces of brandy through an opening of the
windpipe was accompanied by the same bad effects as in the former
experiment.

202 AGRICULTUEAL REPORT.

Another horse received three-fourths of a pound of well water inta
the windpipe. Much of the liquid was ejected by coughing, hut he
continued to cough, and grew lean, though eating heartily. When
he was killed, some sixteen days after, parts of the lungs were found
to he obdurated, and therefore inflamed. Such is the delicacy of the
lungs, that they are not even capable of enduring water without
injury.

Examining why infusions, chiefly as to the horse, may become so
dangerous, Mr. Glinther arrives at the following conclusions: The
horse, in consequence of his head being forcibly raised, is frightened,
and in this involuntary position must feel but little disposed to swal-
low ; he is averse to receiving a liquid which he usually finds disagree-
able ; in consequence of the coughing caused by the operation of giving
the infusion, the flap of his throat is opened, through which some
matter might easily get into the windpipe thus exposed ; the danger
is further increased, if the entire space of the mouth be at once filled
with the infusion ; and the pulling out of the tongue, which is a com-
mon practice, renders deglutition more difiicult, of course increasing
the probability of a portion taking the wrong course. Should he
be suffering at the time from inflammation of the lungs or throat, the
infusion will be so much more dangerous.

In consequence of the results of these and other experiments, the
practice of giving infusions has been banished from the Veterinary
School at Hanover, and most of the veterinary surgeons throughout
the kingdom, ranking among the best in their profession, have also
discontinued it.

It may be replied, by some, and even surgeons among them, that
they often administered potions without having experienced any inju-
ries— an assertion perhaps correct to some extent ; but injuries have
doubtless been done, even without the operators being aware of them.
There are frequent cases in which an infusion will not immediately
result in a serious disease, and after the horse has been relieved of his
original sufferings, the owner is satisfied. Yet, if coughing should
continue, perhaps for months, if the animal should have a bad breath,
and if he should grow lean, some persons may attribute such symp-
toms of lung disease to other causes than the true one — the infusions
formerly given. It is^, nevertheless, true, and many horses having so
called "rotten lungs," owe them to infusions, even if they had been
given long ago. If I may be allowed to draw inferences from my
own experience, I must contend that infusions are, in most cases, fatal,
and always dangerous.

That infusions given through the nose are far more dangerous than
those through the mouth, is self-evident. It often happens that the
horse thus treated will suffocate on the spot, and generally will die,
sooner or later, of disease of the lungs. Yet, though_ this practice
may not always be followed by fatal consequences, it will in the ma-
jority of cases, as my own experience would prove.

In fatal cases through either of these modes of administering infu-
sions, I always found the pituitary membrane of the flap of the throat,
of the windpipe, and even that of the lungs, to a great extent to be
bluish-red, but more frequently very dark-yellow, almost blackish.

MEDICINES TO DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 203

Aside from tlie evil consequences resulting from infusions, there are
unavoidable inconveniences. Several persons are required to perform
the operation, a portion of the medicine is apt to be lost or wasted, so
that the quantity contemplated does not get into the stomach ; the
bottle is liable to be broken by the teeth, so that there is danger of the
horse swallowing some of the glass ; and the clothes of the persons
engaged are more or less soiled. That infusions in diseases of the
organs of respiration are a great deal more dangerous, has already
been mentioned ; but they must be absolutely censured in cases of
tetanus, swollen tongue, inflammation of the brain, &e.

Fourthly, in the form of electuaries: These are prepared by converting
the medicinal substances, for the most part powder, into a paste, by
means of some agglutinant and cold water. Formerly, it was almost a
general custom to employ honey, sirup, elderberry-jam, or some other
sweet substance ; but at present flour is preferred, inasmuch as these
sweet substances cause the electuaries to be rather expensive, and also
impart a tendency, in warm weather, to ferment and become acid. In
some cases, for instance, inflammation of the throat, or lock-jaw, honey
may still be used, as the animal will be more inclined to swallow the
electuaries when seasoned by this addition.

Almost every medicinal substance, liquid as well as powder, maybe
made into jellies, or electuaries. Thus, if it be desired to prepare oil
of turpentine, it is first mixed with the powder, receiving afterward
some flour and water, so that it becomes a jelly simply by being stirred.
Eye-flour is best for this purpose; but wheat-flour, or even groats, may
be used. In the latter case, the jelly is less convenient to administer.
The amount of flour is not a matter of importance, as adaptability
alone should be considered, the quantity being proportioned to the
amount of the medicine itself. If there are many salts, for instance,
Glauber's, more flour will be required than if the medicine were to
consist of powders made of seeds, roots, orVorts. Some electuaries,
after standing, become too thin, on account of the salts being dissolved,
in which case they should be mixed with the requisite quantity of flour.
Again, if powders are employed, the electuaries gradually become too
stiff and crumbling, when water should be added. By flour or water,
according to circumstances, the electuaries may always be given the
form desired. A proper consistency would be such that the jelly will
not flow off the spatula, below described, nor fall when the instrument
may be reversed. Any person may prepare the jellies, after having
X3rocured the requisite medical substances.

The jelly may be applied with the hand upon the horse's tongue,
which should be pulled to some extent out of his mouth. A preferable
mode, however, is by means of a wooden spatula, the blade of which
should be from two to two and a half inches long by one and a half
wide.

In administering the jellies, one person places himself at the left
side of the horse, and seizes the halter with the noseband, so as to hold
ts head steady; or this object may be accomplished by one hand
taking hold of the back of the nose, while the lower jaw is kept by the
other. A second person, standing on the right side, draws out with
his left hand the tongue of the horse, and with the spatula applies the

204 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

jelly to the back part of it, when the tongue is immediately set free.
The horse commences a chewing movement, endeavoring, in this man-
ner, to get rid of the disagreeable medicine; in which, however, he
does not succeed, as he cannot spit. In consequence of the chewing,
&c., a great deal of saliva is produced in the mouth, thus thinning
the jelly; and shortly after he is seen to swallow. Should both his
mouth and tongue remain still, the broad end of the spatula is brought
across the fore-part of the mouth and turned like a twirling stick, by
which he is forced to chew and swallow. It is not necessary to hold
up the head of the horse after the performance, for if the jelly is well
prepared it will adhere to the tongue.

By the application of jellies, almost every other form of medicine
may be dispensed with, and all danger avoided. But little practice
will be necessary to perform the operation well. For a series of years,
I have been in the habit of using this mode almost exclusively, finding
that my patients do better than with infusions.

Fifthly, as pills. With the exception of jelly, this is the best form of
medicine. The horse receiving the pill, which is not chewed, wholly
and without loss into his stomach, the doses to be applied can always
be given accurately^ which is of great importance, especially where a
powerful effect is desired. Even the most disagreeable medicine must
be swallowed, when administered in the shape of pills. They are
usually made of several substances, which, by means of an aggluti-
nant, such as flour, black soap, &c., can be readily formed, v/ithout
adhering to the hands or changing their shape. This should be oval,
of about three-fourths of an inch in diameter, from one to one and a
half inches long. If too small, they are liable to get between the
molar teeth ; if too large, they are apt to remain in the throat.

To administer the pills properly, will require some practice. As the
horse usually tries to resist, his position in the stall is reversed. Then
his tongue is pulled out by the left hand toward the right side, and the
pill, placed at the end of a pill-stick moderately pointed, and of the size
of a finger, is introduced into the mouth, and deposited upon the back
part of the tongue, after which the tongue is immediately let loose.
Should the horse not at once swallow the pill, he should be given some
water to drink, or a light slap on his mouth, in consequence of which
he will be scared, and thus swallow it. Precaution should be used,
not to injure with the stick the palate or other portions of the back of
the mouth.

It is better to give these pills merely with the hand. The tongue
is pulled out, as above, the pill is taken between the tips of the fingers
of the right hand, and, by moving it along the palate, brought upon
the back part of the tongue, which is immediately let loose, care being
taken to prevent injury to the operator from the molar teeth of the
animal. The hand, therefore, should be kept in the middle of the
cavity of the mouth.

The '^ pill-stick," a wooden instrument, similar to a syringe, is well
adapted for giving the pills. Within a cylinder, there is a stick about
the size of a finger, and of the same length as the tube, having a
handle at the end. At the other end, the instrument, being thicker
than at the longer portion, is provided with a hollow, as a convenient

MEDICINES TO DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 2 05

receptacle for the pill. The tongue is now pulled out, the instrument
containing the pill introduced into the mouth, and the rod, which has
previously heen drawn backward, is pushed in, so that the pill is forced
into the mouth. This method is easily operated; and neither the
horse nor the hand can be injured. To facilitate the entrance of the
pill, it may be moistened with oil, soap, or even with water.

In some diseases, pills do not seem to be applicable, for instance, in
colic, as they require too long a time to dissolve in the stomach. What
duration may be necessary to reduce them to a liquid state, I do not
know ; neither am I aware that any experiments have been made on
the subject.

In case the pills become old, and therefore hard, they should not be
given, for it is to be feared that they may not sufficiently dissolve, but
pass off undigested.

Beside these, there are several other modes of administering medi-
cines; thus, liquids may be given by opening an artery, or by insert-
ing an elastic tube through the mouth and throat immediately into the
stomach. None of these latter methods should be attempted, how-
ever, by the unprofessional operator.

Cattle. — With this species of animals there is no difficulty, nor is
there scarcely any danger in giving medicines ; which, as in the case
of the' horse, may be administered in different forms:

As powder, they may be given when mixed with crushed tubers^
among malt dust, groats, oats, &c.; or, as a mixture, with the drink.
Here, too, as was remarked of the horse, this method is rarely em-
ployed, for substances of an intense odor or taste are usually refused.
Some liquids are taken, for instance, vinegar and other acids, if mixed
with their drinking water. Pills and electuaries are rarely given to
cattle, and, indeed, they may be generally dispensed with. On the
other hand, infusions deserve the preference with cattle, being quite
the reverse as to horses. The liquid is given with a common beer or
wine bottle. For this purpose, the mouth of the animal is raised and
opened a little by means of the fingers, after which the neck of the
bottle is brought in, either from the right or the left side. So simple
is the operation that it requires no further description; yet it would
seem to demand precaution, as a mistake committed in applying it
might result in a disease of the lungs. If j)Ossible, the medicine
should be given when the animal is standing, and not when lying
down, though, in the latter case, hardly anything can be feared, if the
necessary caution is employed. The head should be held horizontally;
if it should incline sidewise toward the breast, the swallowing is not
only made more difficult, but part of the liquid may be liable to get
into the windpipe, causing coughing and perhaps still worse accidents.
Furthermore, the mouth of the animal should not be held up too high;
it is sufficient that the mouth be kept a little higher than the cavity
of the throat, so as to give but a small descent for the infusion. If
too high, a portion of the liquid may get into the windpipe. It is
advisalDle to give a third or half the contents of the bottle, and then
to wait until after it is fully swallowed before more should be offered.
In inflammation of the throat and lungs, or especially in diseases of

206 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

tlie lungs, particular attention must be paid to tlie giving of medi-
cines, wiiicli ought always to be administered in small portions.

Sheep. — It is still easier to administer medicines to this species of
animals than to cattle; beside, a single sheep rarely becomes the object
of medical treatment. To give medicines repeatedly to whole flocks
is hardly practicable. Fortunately, the sheep seldom abhors even such
remedies as have a bad odor or taste ; it takes them voluntarily. The
usual form is by licking. A pulverized medicine, (sometimes with the
addition of pine oil,) mixed with an adequate quantity of groats, oats,
or kitchen salt, is laid before the sheep, by spreading the mixture
a^ually in long troughs. It may occur in this mode that some of the
sheep will lick a greater portion than they should, while others con-
sume little or none. This is, indeed, an evil, perhaps unavoidable;
yet there is no great reason to fear that a sheep will thus be perma-
nently injured, as the opportunity only occurs at long intervals. If it
be desirable to give medicine to a single sheep, it is best administered
in the form of an infusion, or even as electuaries. Some remedies may
also be given in drinking water.

Swine. — Medicines, in many cases, may be given to swine in drink-
ing water, or among the fodder. An emetic, for instance, may be
administered within a potato made hollow, or in a dumpling. In
doing this it is presumed that the hog has not yet lost its appetite ; in
all other cases force must be employed. But none of our domestic
animals show so great an opposition to compulsion as the hog. Its
violent screaming on being taken hold of, and during the performance
of the operation, increases the liability of a portion of the medicine to
get into the windpipe, thus causing all the incident evils.

The medicine should be made into an electuary by means of flour,
adding honey so as to make it agreeable to the hog. This jelly should
always be thinner than that destined for the horse, its consistency
being about that of sirup. A small spatula should be used, by which
to spread it on the tongue and palate. In many cases it is hardly
avoidable to give liquids, when great difiiculty is experienced, but it
must be overcome as well as possible. To secure the hog, requires the
assistance of several resolute persons. The animal is shoved with his
hind-part into a corner, where it must be kept tight, and if possible
placed on the hind-part. A cudgel is then brought, in an oblique di-
rection, into its mouth, which is opened in consequence of its scream-
ing. By the insertion of this cudgel, (or a short, thick piece of rope,)
the mouth of the animal is kept open. Another person then pours the
liquid with a spoon (perhaps best of tin) into the mouth, after which
the cudgel is immediately removed, so as to facilitate the process of
swallowing. This operation is repeated until the quantity of medi-
cine required has been given. In using the spoon, the interval during
which the hog does not scream must always be taken advantage of. In
many cases the liquid may be given in a less violent way. By con-
tinually scratching and rubbing the back of the hog in a gentle
manner, it will usually become quiet and lie down. During this
soothing process, a corner of the lip is drawn backward from the cheek,
and the liquid poured in through a thin neck of a bottle, or by a
spoon. Pills and stiff jellies are not suitable for hogs.

ACCLIMATION OF ANIMALS. 207

The DOG.^Tliis animal is endowed witli such a fine sense of tasting
and smelling that he does not willingly take a medicinal substance ; yet
an emetic may now and then be given by putting it into cakes or meat.
Emetics may also, in a dry state, be placed on its tongue. Pills are
fastened at the top of a round piece of wood_, or of a quill, and thus
inserted deeply into the mouth. Liquids are poured into the opened
mouth, or are still more easily given by raising the nose of the dog,
taking hold of one of the corners of the mouth, and drawing it up and
sidewise, so that a kind of pouch is formed for pouring in the liquid,
which will thus enter through the openings between the teeth. This
does not require any particular precaution, as the dog will not be
liable to swallow the liquid the wrong way.

ACCLIMATION AND DOMESTICATION OE ANIMALS.

BY DR. B. F. CRAIG, OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

There is a matter of very wide interest which, like those spoken of
in a preceding article, requires, for its successful prosecution, to be
put in the charge of educated veterinarians ; and, as a preliminary to
the consideration of it, I would ask leave to quote from a lecture de-
livered by Daubenton, the celebrated collaborator of Buffon.

"The object of veterinary science is to set forth the proper methods
■of perpetuating among domestic animals those good qualities which
they have acquired by means of the culture which we have bestowed
upon them, and to endeavor to increase still further their useful char-
acteristics. It should also aim at reducing to the domesticated con-
dition those wild animals which promise to be of service to us by
means of their labor, or of their useful j)roducts.

"There are many animals of foreign countries which might be very
useful to France, if they were once naturalized there,

"It is as practicable to tame the zebra as to have tamed the Avild ass
and the wild horse. If the tapir were naturalized in France it would
furnish, not only a new kind of butcher's meat, but an additional
article of commerce. There are many animals in America whose flesh
is very good food, such as the peccary, the cariacou, the Guinea pig,
the agouti, the akouchi. There are, in that country, armadillos, whose
flesh is as white and as good as that of a sucking pig. Attempts
should be made to introduce all these animals into France, and to re-
duce them to the condition of domestication.

"The investigations of veterinary economy need not be confined to
quadrupeds, but should be extended to other classes of animals, and to

208 AGRICULTURAL REPORT

birds. We miglit introduce into our poultry yards the greater and
the lesser bustard. The ruddock and the pilet, the grouse, and espe-
cially the moor-cock, would make very good poultry.''

After speaking of certain other birds, he goes on: '"''Why should
certain fishes be confined to particular seas and lakes ? Is it not prac-
ticable to naturalize, in the running waters of France, the umber, which
is found, at present, only in the Lake of Geneva, andthelavaret, which
is confined to the Lake of Bourget, and to that of Aigue-Bellete, in
Savoy.

"I have dwelt upon the establishment of the complete veterinary
art in order to show that^ from its relations with natural history, still
greater benefits may be derived than are now got from its relations
with medicine. Those animals yet untamed, or those known only in
foreign countries, which we can justly hope to make useful to ourselves^
should be found out, and placed in the hands of veterinarians to be
tamed and domesticated, and to be broken into those habits which we
wish them to acquire."

These paragraphs suggest considerations of greater importance than
many would at first sight be disposed to accord to them, and open a
subject where discussion might very well occupy an entire volume, but
which, from its necessary connection with veterinary science, may^
with propriety, have its outline here given.

Of all the arts by which man has acquired dominion over Nature,
that of the domestication of animals is one of the most interesting and
most important, and perhaps of all others has the most curious history.

Other arts have been, with various periods of rest, and even of retro-
gression, pretty constantly progressive during the period of man's
existence upon the earth ; and at the present time we have, it has been
remarked, with regard to most of them, not only the accumulated
results of previous progress, but an accumulation of progressive motion^
which is carrying us forward, by a sort of vis momenti, in the path of
■ improvement, each change for the better disposing us the more to seek
for and to accept further change.

The domestication of wild animals, which much necessarily have
been one of the first steps of man toward civilization, seems to have
been, at some period anterior to recorded history, carried to a certain
pointy and to have remained almost stationary ever since, until the long
absence of progress has made the veiy idea of progress difficult to be
reoeived. When the natural history of the horse, of the ox, of the
sheep, and of most other domestic animals, is examined, they are found
to have been originally natives, not of the regions in which they are
found now in the greatest perfection, but of the continent of Asia,
where, in the primitive seats of the human race, they have been reduced
to tameness, and from whence they have been carried, as companions
of man, over the rest of the now inhabited world. Although the diifer-
ent beasts of burden — the horse, the ass, the various species of ox, the
camel, the East Indian bufi"alo^ and the elephant — have doubtless been
tamed at different periods of time, yet the period at which any of them
was first domesticated is too far back for a record of it to have been
preserved ; and even among animals which are valuable only for their
flesh, or for their skins and fleece, hardly a species can be found which

ACCLIMATION OF ANIMALS. 209

lias been domesticated in modern times. Nor have tlie advantages,
often not inconsiderable, that a country derives from the wild animals
suitable for food which are found within it, been much improved on by
artificial means, although such beasts, birds, and fishes, require little
care beyond that attending their first transplantation.

That there are no animals capable of useful domestication except
those which have been tamed by our ancestors, is hardly to be imagined,
whether we form our opinion from a general view of the subject, or
from a closer examination of facts. It is quite certain that there are
those now domesticated which may, with great propriety, be carried
to places in which they are, as yet, unknown ; and, finally, it seems
highly probable and reasonable that man may assist Nature in effecting
the distribution of wild animals over the surface of the earth, and may
bring about the general spread of the valuable, as well as the extermi-
nation of the noxious species.

The agitation of the question of the acclimation and domestication
of new animal species, by Daubenton, Buffon, and others, has been
followed by some advances in later times. In 1849, a report was made
to the Minister of Agriculture of France, by Mons. J. Geoffroy St.
Hilaire, upon the naturalization of useful animals, which was published,
and produced the effect of calling increased attention to the subject.
In 1854, a more extended work on the subject was published by the
above-mentioned eminent savan^ and the same year saw the establish-
ment, in France, of the Zoological Society of Acclimation.

This society has been distinguished from its very commencement
for the activity and the success of its operations ; and, while we must
expect many years to pass before the fruits of its labors can be reaped,
there can be little doubt but that it will, in the course of time, contribute
greatly to the prosperity of the human race, and to the true glory of
the country in which it had its origin. An idea of the character of its
labors may, perhaps, best be communicated by giving an account of a
few of the objects toward which the attention of its members has been
directed.

The introduction into Europe of useful animals, already domesticated
in other parts of the world, would naturally be one of the first enter-
prises; and among such animals those of the llama tribe of South
America, which includes the llama proper, the alpaca, and the vicuiia,
have particularly engaged the attention of i^aturalists.

These animals, which are the only beasts of burden indigenous to
the American continent, inhabit the lofty table-lands of the Andes,
where they breathe a highly rarifiecl atm.osphere, often endure intense
cold, and live on a very scanty vegetation. They are valued by the
people of Peru, and of the neighboring countries, for carrying burdens,
for their milk, for their flesh, their skin, and their fleece; this latter,
and especially that of ihe alpaca, is not only in use for domestic
manufacture in the countries in which it is produced, but is also, as is
well known, a very important article of commerce. The acclimation
of the llama and alpaca, elsewhere than on their native soil, seems to
be opposed by a peculiar obstacle, arising from the fact that not only
is the temperature of the air in which they live altered by their trans-
plantation, but also its condition as to density, so that the most appro-
14 A

210 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

priate course would seem to be to plant a colony of tliem on some lofty
mountain or table-land, whence they might gradually spread downward
into the adjoining plains. Experience, however, has shown that the
pliability of the animal constitution enables the llama to thrive well
in several European countries to which it has been carried, even in the
low plains of Holland.

The naturalization of the llama in Europe was strongly recommended
by Buffon, and many animals have already been introduced in private
parks and menageries. It may, however, be reserved for the Society
of Acclimation to distribute them to a usei\il extent.

An animal which resembles the llama in the character of the country
of which it is a native, and in the variety of the uses to which it may
be put, is the yak, of Tartary and Thibet, otherwise known as the
horse-tailed ox, or the grunting ox, the Bos Posphagos of ^Elian.
This peculiar species of ox is found among the lofty peaks and plateaus
of the Himalayas, in certain parts of Tartar}^, and in the north of
China. It is called by the Chinese the washing ox, from its fondness
for entering the water.

The yak combines in itself many of the characteristics of diiferent
classes of animals. It has the general form of the ox; in some points
of its configuration, in the character of its tail, in its gait, and by its
swiftness, it resembles the horse ; it has the fleece of the sheep; the
sure-footedness and activity of the goat; and, lastly, the voice of the
pig, or rather a deep grunt resembling that of the pig, whence, doubt-
less, its name of yak. The yak supplies the place of all the above-
mentioned animals in countries where hardly any other domestic
animal is known ; it is used under the saddle, employed to carry bur-
dens, and to draw the plow and the cart, is valued as a source of milk,
for its abundant fleece, out of which a serviceable and water-proof
cloth is spun, and for its flesh when dead.

The tail of the yak is particularly noticeable for its size and beauty,
and has, in certain Asiatic countries, a symbolic importance attached
to it as an emblem of power and grandeur. The yak-tail was the
ancient standard of Turkish chiefs and kings, although, by the migra-
tion of that people westward, the name of the emblem has been changed
to the horse-tail, those by whom it is now used never having seen, and
perhaps never having heard of, the animal which their forefathers
honored so much.

About the time of the establishment of the Society of Acclimation,
a troop of yaks was sent to France by Mons. de Montigny, the French
consul at Shanghai, who had them brought to him from the northern
parts of the Chinese empire. On their arrival in Europe, some of them
were sent, under the charge of the Society of Acclimation, to the
most cold and mountainous regions of France, where they are said to
be doing remarkably well.

While thus bringing about the introduction of the domestic animals
of foreign countries into Europe, the society has not left unattempted
the great enterprise of the taming of animals never before broken to
human uses. The most favorable subjects for such attempts are to be
looked for among those genera of animals, some species of which have
been already domesticated. Now, the horse genus consists of six spe-

ACCLIMATION OF ANIMALS. 211

cies, tliree of wliicli are natives of Africa, and three of Asia. None
of the African species have been domesticated, while the Asiatics have
tamed two out of the three found on tlieir continent, namely, the horse
proper, and the ass. Very recently a new animal has been brought
from Asia, which is held to be another and distinct species of the horse
genus. Passing over, for the present, the African species, we find the
yet untamed animal of the Asiatic steppes to deserve, and to have
received, particular attention from those having in view the domestica-
tion of new races. This, the Equus Hemionus of naturalists, the
dzigguetai of the Tartars, has been but little known until recent years.
It is a denizen of barren plains, where it gleans a sustenance from
scattered patches of vegetation, passing with great swiftness from one
place to another in search of food and water. It is w^ary and timid,
and its great fleetness, in which, according to the testimony of Pallas,
and of others, it surpasses all other quadrupeds, secures it from beasts
of prey and enables it easily to outstrip the horses and dogs of the
hunter.

The Tartars, wdio are fond of its flesh, sometimes kill it by ambush
and stratagem, and sometimes secure it by surrounding it by a circle
of hunters, after the Asiatic fashion. The form of the Hemionus is
strikingly characteristic of an animal made for swift running, having
the various points of figure which distinguish the racing or blooded
horse, a figure which is produced in the horse by the efforts of art and
by careful breeding, but which belongs to the Hemionus by Nature.
Among such points may be mentioned, the large angle formed at the
junction of the head and neck, which, by avoiding an abrupt bend in
the air passages, enables the breath to be drawn with greater ease and '
rapidity than it could be otherw^ise ; the horizontal position of the neck,
which throws the center of gravity of the body well forAvard while in
the act of running ; the long and straight body, somewhat higher
before than behind ; the powerful haunches and the flat limbs, in which
the tendons are large in proportion to the bones.

The Hemionus is supposed to be the animal which, under the name
of the wild ass, is spoken of in the following terms in th6 Book of
Job: "Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land
his dwellings. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he
searcheth after every green thing. ^'

It is, of course, somewhat difficult to capture alive an animal of such
exceeding swiftness, and which keeps far aloof from the habitations
of man; nevertheless, through the influence of the French consul at
Bombay, a few of them have been taken in the deserts of the north-
western part of Hindoostan, and sent to France, where they have been
found to be quite docile as well as hardy.

An animal which occupies a much humbler position in the scale of
creation than any of the foregoing, but whose apparently insignificant
labors are nevertheless of great importance to man, has attracted con-
siderable attention from the Society of Acclimation. Beside the silk-
worm of the mulberrry, or morus multicaulis, there exist in Eastern
Asia species which live on the leaves of various other trees, such as the
oak, the chestnut, the ricimcs communis or palma Christi, &g. It has
been thought highly desirable to introduce into France, silk-worms

212 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

that can be fed on the leaves of plants which are now abundant, and
much progress is said to have been already made toward the naturali-
zation there of those of the oak and of the ricinus communis.

The deficiency of animal food among the population of France has
induced the Society of Acclimation to aim at the introduction of
various animals whose flesh is suitable for human use. Some of these
it is proposed to domesticate, and others to naturalize in a wild state,
particular endeavors being made to select those animals which would
inhabit places not suitable for cultivation, and live on vegetation which
is not used by man nor consumed by other species of game.

The variety of animals which it has been proposed to acclimate for
■ such purposes is, as may be expected, very great, and some of these
possess interesting peculiarities of structure or of character. The
South American tapir is a quadruj)ed of considerable size, which resem-
bles the hog, by its general form and by its tendency to fatten, while
its proboscis, which enables it to feed on small trees and under-brush,
assimilates it to the elephant. The tapir has been domesticated in
Brazil, and used for burdens, being able to carry more than a mule,
and being found to be a very docile and manageable animal. State-
ments as to the character of its flesh differ.

There are found in South America several small quadrupeds, inhab-
itants of woods, marshes, and pamj^as, which, it is thought, might be
introduced with similar places elsewhere, especial value being set upon
those which are allied to the hare and rabbit.

Among the many species of antelope which inhabit southern Africa,
are some of great size and of excellent flesh, such as the eland, or Bose-
laplius orcas, which has been introduced into England, and which it
has been proposed to keep and fatten in parks and forests.

We find in Knight's English Encyclopedia the following remarks
concerning this animal: "The eland is a large, heavy animal, which,
when full grown, weighs from seven to nine hundredweight, and,
contrary to the usual rule observed among antelopes, is commonly ex-
tremely fat. Its flesh is consequently more praised than that of any
other wild animal of south Africa, and the large muscles of the thighs,
in particular, are held in the highest estimation, when dried and cured,
under which form they are denominated thigh tongues. The charac-
ter of this animal is very mild, and, as it were, predisposed to domes-
tication; it is gregarious, and lives in large herds upon the open
plains and low hills, the old males generally residing apart.

"They are so gentle that a man on horse-back may penetrate into
the middle of the herd without alarming them, and pick out the fat-
test and best conditioned; and, as the old bulls are commonly chosen,
on account of their greater size and weight, it not unfrequently hap-
pens that the herd is left altogether without a male."

Mr. Livingstone says: "Our party was well supplied with eland
flesh, during our passage through the desert; and, it being superior
to beef, and the animal as large as an ox, it seems strange it has not
yet been introduced into England." After having penetrated some
distance into the interior of southern Africa, Mr. Livingston found
a new variety of the eland, with whose beauty and fine proportions he
was much impressed. The engraving of it, published in the account

ACCLIMATION OF ANIMALS. 213

of liis travels, represents it as having, in a very marked degree, tliat
rectangular outline of body whicli, it has been remarked, is the con-
figuration most to be desired in animals destined for food, since it gives
the greatest amount of flesh within the smallest surface.

Sir Cornwallis Harris remarks of the eland: "In shape and gen-
eral appearance, he resembles a gazerat ox, not unfrequently attaining
the height of nineteen hands at the withers, and absolutely weighing
from fifteen hundred to two thousand pounds. By all classes in Atrica,
the flesh of the eland is deservedly esteemed over that of any other
animal.

"Both in grain and flavor it resembles beef, but is far better tasted
and more delicate, possessing a pure game flavor, and exhibiting the
most tempting looking layers of fat and lean, the surprising quantity
of the former ingredient, with which it is interlarded, exceeding that
of any other game quadruped with which I am acquainted. The ven-
ison fairly melts in the mouth ; and, as for the brisket, that is abso-
lutely a cut for a monarch. During the greater part of our journey,
it was to the flesh of this goodly beast that we principally looked for
our daily rations, both on account of its vast superiority over all other
wild flesh, and from the circumstance of its being obtainable in larger
quantitities with comparatively less labor,"

Passing over many valuable quadrupeds, from various parts of the
world, we find, among birds, and especially among those of southern
and tropical countries, quite a number which promise to be of value,
if acclimated and domesticated. Such are the hocco, a handsome bird,
more resembling the turkey than any other domestic fowl ; the Egypt-
ian goose, already a domestic bird, and prized for the beauty of its
plumage, as well as for its more substantial qualities ; and a variety
of other species.

The most remarkable, however, of all the feathered tribe, seems to
be the golden-breasted agami, of South America, a bird whose sagacity
and domestic habits are represented as being more like those of the
most intelligent quadrupeds, than those belonging to any other ani-
mal of its own class. It is said to take the same care of a flock of
other birds that a shepherd's dog does of sheep, and to evince, like the
dog, great attachment to its master and watchfulness of his premises.
Concerning this bird, St. Hilaire writes : "The useful services which the
agami is capable of rendering, have been long since pointed out. It
is a bird, say Daubenton and Bernardin de St. Pierre, that has the
instinct and the fidelity of the dog ; it will lead a flock of poultry, or
even a flock of sheep, by whom it will make itself obeyed, although it
is not larger than a chicken. It is not less useful in the poultry-yard
than in the field ; it maintains order there, protects the weak against
the strong, stands by young chickens and ducks, and divides among
them their food, from which it keeps away others, and will not even
touch itself. No animal, perhaps, is more easily taught^ or naturally
more attached to man. But we have not been able to obtain, in this
cold climate, (Paris,) the reproduction of this valuable species. Ex-
periments made in the south of France would doubtless succeed bet-
ter." The observations on the habits of the agami, the results of

214 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

which are above given, have heen made, not onl}^ in its native country,
but also in the menagery at Paris.

Birds are of service to man, not only by reason of the flesh, the
eggs, and the feathers which they produce, but also by destroying
noxious reptiles and insects. There are certain birds in Africa which
feed upon serpents, and it is proposed to acclimate one species of such,
the secretary bird, in the French colony of Martinique, which is infested
by poisonous snakes, more especially by the lance-headed viper.

The destruction of insects by birds is a matter of great importance
to the agriculturist, and where insect-eating birds are few, insects
injurious to vegetation multiply to an enormous extent. A large num-
ber of sparrows are said to have been carried from England to one of
her Australian colonies, with the view of acclimating there a race that
would protect the crops from ravage.

The transplantation of fishes from one place to another was advo-
cated by Daubenton, and by others, especially by Lacepede, the author
of "The Natural History of Fishes;" and when we consider the excel-
lence of the flesh of certain fishes, and the great numbers of them
which lakes and rivers may, by proper management, be made to sup-
port, no class of animals would seem more deserving of such care.
The attention paid in France to these subjects has, within a few years,
led to the establishment of what is now very well known as the art of
fish cultivation, or pisciculture, it having been found that, with a little
care and expense, fish can be raised from the spawn in almost indefinite
numbers. Lakes and rivers have, by means of this art, been restocked
with species that had been almost entirely destroyed in them, and
enriched by the introduction of new ones. Those fish which, like the
salmon, inhabit the sea, but enter rivers at certain periods, will, if
taken care of until of a sufficient size, and then turned loose into the
river, seek the sea, and return to the same river the next year, having
acquired in the meantime a very greatly increased bulk.

Thus, the fish cultivator turns his swarm out to fatten in the ocean,
as well assured of their return in due time as a shepherd is of the
coming back of his flock to their nightly fold.

More lately still, it has been discovered that the ova of oysters may
be collected in large numbers on branches of trees, &c., which are
placed in the water above the oyster beds, and that the embryos, which
have thus been saved from being floated away and lost, may be trans-
planted to new beds, where they will rapidly increase in size and mul-
tiply in numbers.

The Society of Acclimation has given incidental attention to the
introduction of new vegetables, and what it has done with regard to
the Chinese sugar-cane, and other plants, has produced great practical
results more rapidly than could be expected in the care of animals, the
growth and multiplication of which is so much slower ; but its labors
in the vegetable kingdom are irrelative to our present subject.

The naturalization of foreign animals, which is a very useful and
praiseworthy enterprise in France, would be one still more so in a
country which offers so vast a field for the support of animal life as
does our own, and which possesses a range of climate and a variety of
soil so great that almost any animal might find somewhere in it an

ACCLIMATION OF ANIMALS. 215

appropriate habitation. It is no valid objection to the introduction of
a new animal species to say that those already possessed are equally
or more valuable, for one animal does not necessarily displace another,
nor are we called upon to make a choice between them ; if wild, the
one often lives on nourishment which would not be made use of by the
other, and inhabits places which the other would not frequent ; if tame,
each is found to be the better adapted for certain uses, or for living in
certain places. There is no species of our domestic animals which we
would be willing to part Avith for the sake of bestowing more undivided
attention on those that would be left ; and as we have at present no
animal, however humble, which does not possess a value, may we not
expect that those hereafter to be introduced or domesticated will also
find their apj)ropriate uses. Nor is the idea, entertained by some, that
each animal is fitted only for the soil and the climate to which it is
indigenous, and cannot retain its health and vigor after being carried
to a strange land, borne out by an examination of facts. The camel
is originally, as far as can be ascertained, the native of a cold and
mountainous country, and recent travelers have found it carrying bur-
dens over the frozen plains and through the tremendous mountain
passes of Thibet; but the same species, acclimated from time imme-
morial in Arabia and Africa, endures the fiercest rays of a tropical
sun.

Horses are to be found in all climates, from Siberia to the Sahara,
and if any difference in the quality of horses of different climates
exists, it is rather in favor of that which is most unlike their original
one. Whatever other animals man has thought fit to carry with him
from one place to another exhibit a similar power of acclimation.
Not that races can be suddenly removed from one extreme of climate
to another, without risk of perishing, or that the individual animals
who are subjected to a removal involving a considerable change always
do well ; on the contrary, of all transported, perhaps only afev/, whose
constitutions are well adapted for the new condition of things, survive ;
but these become the progenitors of an acclimated, or naturalized, race,
who perpetuate among themselves a fitness for that particular climate ;
so that, if out of a great number tried, only two are found who survive
the transportation and to reproduce their species, their offspring may
do well and multiply rapidly in the new location.

In this manner human agency may acclimate animals in countries
to which they probably would not have gone in their wild state, even
if the way had been open to them, the acclimated race being a true
variety of the animal produced by breeding from certain peculiar
individuals.

The results which have thus far attended the acclimation of the ani-
mals of the old continent on the new, give great encouragement to
future attempts. Not only have such animals multiplied rapidly in
the domestic condition^ but also, in some cases, in the wild state. Thus,
on the vast pampas of South America, the horse and the ox exist wild,
in greater numbers than on any other part of the earth, yet they are
all sprung from the few animals which escaped from the Spaniards
after their landing in the country.

Most of the domestic animals of the old continent have been accli-

216 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

mated in Nortli America witliout the least difficulty, and tlie camel,
■which, is the last importation of that kind, bids fair to do as well as
those which have gone before it.

The enterprise of naturalizing foreign animals requires to be carried
on with great judgment, both as to the species to be selected and to
the places where they are to be first located. It is a remark made by
an experienced naturalist, that not only are the animal species, from
which selections may be made, more numerous in the southern than in
the northern parts of the world, but that the acclimation of an animal
from a warm region into a cold one is more easily accomplished than
that of an animal from a colder into a warmer. Animals from a
warmer climate should, therefore, other things being equal, be chosen
in preference; and, in any country, the chief establishment for accli-
mation should be near its most southern border, a point from whence
animals may, as they become inured to the climate, spread northward.
An animal from a cold climate should, however, be carried to a warmer
with great caution ; for example, the fleece-bearing animals, from cold
mountains and table lands^ such as the llama, the alpaca, and the yak,
should be naturalized in the coldest and most mountainous districts
that are readily accessible.

A further very important care is requisite. Animals chosen for
acclimation are often exposed to great dangers at first, from the change
in climate and habits to which they are subjected, and this is more
especially the case with those which have not been previously domesti-
cated. Their death, under such circumstances, not only involves the
loss of the trouble, and expense which may have been incurred in
procuring them, but has a bad moral effect by discouraging a useful
enterprise, and creating a false impression as to its feasibility. Such
difficulties can be best met by putting the animals under the care of
men who are acquainted, not only with their habits, but also with the
proper means of preserving and of restoring their health. Under the
charge of skillful veterinarians, establishments for the acclimation of
animals might obtain them from foreign countries, watch over and
support them during the first years of their transplanted life, and
distribute their offspring to those places where they w^ould be useful in
domestic service, or where they would people those regions of country
which are unremunerative to the labors of the husbandman, or, as yet,
unsettled b}'' him.

The naturalization of foreign domestic animals is at the present day
by no means an entirely neglected subject in this country ; for^ not to
speak of other instances of progress, it is well known that Dr. Davis,
of South Carolina, has introduced into his native State more than one
valuable animal, and, in fact, may be said to have commenced there a
system of acclimation.

The domestication of wild animals is an enterprise which is closely
connected with that of acclimation, and opens a still wider field for
human progress. While the natural instincts of some animals are
such as to render it practically impossible to tame them as a race, with
many others it is very different ; and while some of those which it is
practicable to domesticate would, perhaps, not repay the trouble of
doing so^ there must remain many which would be exceedingly valuable.

FISH BREEDING, 217

On tliis point, St. Hilaire remarks: "Of tlie one hundred and forty
thousand animal species at present known, how many does man possess
in the domesticated condition? Forty-three ; and, furthermore, of these
forty-three species, ten are wanting in France, and eight in all Europe.
Can this be held to be a sufficient conquest of Nature?"

Long ago, Buffon wrote in these terms: "We should leel from this
example how great is the generosity of Nature toward us ; we use but
little of the treasures which she offers, the store of which is greater
than we can imagine. She has ^ven us the horse, the ox, the sheep,
and all our other domestic animals, to labor for, to feed^ and to clothe
us ; and she has yet in reserve, species which can supply to us whatever
is yet wanting, and which only wait for us to subdue them, and to
make them serve our wants. Men understand too little of what Nature
can do, and of what they themselves could do with Nature. Instead
of seeking out that which they do not yet know of, they prefer to misuse
whatever is already known to them."

The voice of great philosophers has thus been raised, in former as
well as in recent times, to call mankind to this path of progress, and
it would become no country more than our own to respond to the call,
and to none has Providence given greater means of doing so with effect,
or a greater prospect of advantage from such conquests over Nature.

FISH EEEEDING.

BY J. C. COMSTOCK, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

Fluellen. * * * There is a river in Macedon, and there is also, moreover, a river at
Monmouth ; * « * and there is salmons in both. — King Henry V, ./3c< IV, Scene VII.

However " goot a man in the disciplines of the wars, and in other
particularities," the brave but pragmatical Fluellen may have been,
his parallel between "Alexander the pig" and "Harry of Monmouth,"
certainly did not hold good in the "particularity" above quoted, since
no river in Macedon overdid contain "salmons." The comparison
would be still more liable to objection if made at the present day; for,
however abundant "salmons" may have been in the Wye in the time
of Henry V, their number in that river has now become so much dimin-
ished that there is serious prospect of its being at last reduced to the
salmonless condition of its Macedonian compeer, and that the actual
truth of a parallel between them will be found in the assertion that there
is salmons in neither.— (See London Quarterly Beview, January, 1857.)

This assertion is, unhappily, already literally true in reference to
most of those rivers in the eastern United States which once were fre-
quented by salmon, and is applicable alike to the Susquehanna, the
Delaware, the Passaic, the Hudson, the Connecticut, the Merrimac,
and their tributaries. The same process of extinction is gradually
going on in the rivers to the northward of them ; and even in the
British Provinces, where, until recently, salmon have been quite

218 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

abundant, tlieir great diminution in numbers witliin a few years past
has excited inquiry as to its causes, and led to tbe enactment of laws
for its prevention.

It is not probable, liowever, that the most judicious legal regula-
tions, even if strictly enforced, will ever have the effect of restoring
the pojjulation of our waters to its pristine abundance. There would
appear to be causes for its diminution which lie beyond legislation^
and which are inherent in the changes produced by the extension of
human improvements over the surfac^of the earth. We find, in fact,
that many species of animals, once numerous and important as objects
of the chase, or as furnishing food to the earlier settlers of what are
now densely-populated regions, have, in like manner, receded from the
presence of advancing civilization, and are either quite extinct or
rarely met with in the places which they formerly inhabited.

Thus, it is j)robable that the bison once extended its range as far to
the eastward as the Hudson river, and perhaps even into New Eng-
land. The wapiti, or American elk, (cervus canadensis,) once an
inhabitant of the northeastern States, and said to have been killed on
Long Island within the past forty years, is now found east of the Mis-
souri only in one or two isolated localities, if at all. The cougar,
the moose, the bear, the wolf, the beaver, the wild turkey, the Vir-
ginia deer, the pinnated grouse, have all been compelled to follow the
same law, have, totally disappeared from many sections of country
where the}^ were once common, and are gradually, but surely, losing
their residence even in those more remote regions to which they have
retreated.

The effects of the changes produced by an increase of human popu-
lation are not, perhaps, so soon perceptible in their operation upon the
inhabitants of the waters ; and it is only at a comparatively recent
date that the diminished supply of most species of fresh-water fishes
has begun to be seriowsly felt. But it is a fact, within the notice and
experience of every observing person, that streams and lakes in densely-
populated districts do not now afford the supply of fish which they
did formerly, and that this is the case even in large rivers which had,
from time immemorial, been resorted to by migratory fishes, for the
purpose of spawning. On all such rivers in this country the fisheries
are yearly declining in value and importance, and upon many of them
the occupation of the fisherman is well-nigh gone.

The building of dams across the tributary streams, by means of which
the fish are prevented from ascending to their proper spawning grounds ;
the erection of mills and factories, and the consequent pollution of the
waters by saw-dust and the refuse of chemical ingredients used in the
different processes of manufacturing ; and the disturbance of the
larger rivers by the passage of steamboats, may be properly reckoned
among the proximate causes which induce the fish to desert their
accustomed haunts. Add to this the reckless conduct of a class of
persons who should be most solicitous for the preservation of the fish —
that is, the fishermen themselves — who everywhere disregard all con-
siderations of propriety and humanity in reference to time and mode
of fishing, and it really seems a most remarkable test of the immense

FISH BREEDING. 219

natural fecundity of fislies^ that a sufficient number remain in these
localities to perpetuate their species at all.

Legislative restrictions seem entirely to have failed in checking the
improvidence and rapacity of these men ; and the difficulty of enforcing
even the most judicious fishing laws would appear to he insuperable.
Of such laws, indeed, as well as of those which respect the preserva-
tion of game, our people are exceedingly impatient, regarding them
much in the light of sumptuary regulations, and sturdily resenting any
interference with what has long been considered the free right of every
man to take fish and fowl in any way, and at anytime he pleases. It
is not too mnch, then, to say that, in every part of the country, exist-
ing fishing acts, which are intended to regulate the time and method
of taking fish, are almost totally disregarded, and with perfect im-
punity.

But there are also other reasons for the decline of our river fisheries,
in addition to those already enumerated. Tliese lie in the gradual
but perceptible changes which are taking place in the character of the
rivers themselves ; and the influence which they exert upon the result
in question is so important, and yet so little understood, that it
should not be passed in silence here. The changes alluded to are well
and clearly enumerated by one of our most accomplished American
scholars^ Hon. George P. Marsh, * in the following language: "Al-
though we cannot confidently affirm that the total quantity of water
flowing over the beds of our streams in a year is greater or less than
it was a century ago, or that the annual mean temperature has been
raised or lowered, yet it is certain that, while the spring and autumnal
freshets are more violent, the volume of water, in the dry season, is less
in all our water-courses than it formerly was, and there is no doubt
that the summer temperature of the brooks has been elevated. The
clearing of the woods has been attended with the removal of many
obstructions to the flow of water over the general, surface, as well as
in the beds of the streams, and the consequently more rapid drainage
of our territory has not been checked in a corresponding degree by the
numerous dams which have been erected in every suitable locality.
The waters which fall from the clouds^ in the shape of rain and snow,
find their way more quickly to the channels of the brooks, and the
brooks themselves run with a swifter current in high water. Many
brooks and rivulets, which once flowed with a clear, gentle, and
equftble stream through the year, are now dry, or nearly so, in the
summer, but turbid with mud and swollen to the size of a river after
heavy rains or sudden thaws. The general character of our water-
courses has become, in fact, more torrential, and this revolution has
been accompanied with great changes in the configuration of their
beds, as well as in the fluctuating rapidity of their streams. In inun-
dations, not only does the mechanical violence of the current destroy
or sweep clown fish and their eggs, and fill the water with mud and
other impurities, but it continually changes the beds and banks of the
streams, and thus renders it difficult and often impossible for fish to
fulfill that law of their nature which impels them annually to return
to their breeding place to deposit their spawn.

*Report on the Artificial Propagation of Fish, to Legislature of Vermont, 1857.

220 ' AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

The gravelly reacli, which this year forms an appropriate place of
deposit for eggs, and for the nutriment and growth of the fry, may
be converted the next season into dry land, or, on the other hand,
into a deep and slimy eddy. The fish are therefore constantly dis-
turbed and annoyed in the function of reproduction, precisely the func-
tion of all others which is most likely to be impeded and thwarted by
great changes in the external conditions under which it is performed.
Besides this, the changes in the surface of our soil and the character
of our waters involve great changes, also, in the nutriment which Na-
ture supplies to the fish ; and while the food appropriate for one species
may be greatly increased, that suited to another may be as much di-
minished. Forests, and streams flowing through them, are inhabited
by different insects, or at least by a greater or less abundance of the
same insects, than open grounds and unshaded waters. The young of
fish feed, in an important measure, on the larvaa of species which, like
the musquitOj pass one stage of their existence in the water, another
on the land, or in the air. The numbers of many such insects have
diminished with the extent of the forests ; while other tribes, which,
like the grasshopper, and suited to the nourishment of full-grown fish^
have multiplied in proportion to the increase of cleared and cultivated
ground. Without citing further examples, which might be indefinitely
multiplied, it is enough to say that human improvements have pro-
duced an almost total change in all the external conditions of pisca-
torial life^ whether as respects reproduction^ nutriment, or causes of
destruction, and we must of course expect that the number of our fish
will be greatly affected by these revolutions.

" The unfavorable influences which have been alluded to," proceeds
Mr. Marsh, "are, for the most part^ of a kind which cannot be re-
moved or controlled. We cannot destroy our dams, or provide artifi-
cial water-ways for the migration of fish, which shall fully supply the
place of the natural channels ; we cannot wholly prevent the discharge
of deleterious substances from our industrial establishments into our
running waters ; we cannot check the violence of our freshets, or restore
the flow of our brooks in the dry season ; and we cannot rej^eal or mod-
ify the laws by which Nature regulates the quantity of food which she
spontaneously supplies to her humbler creatures."

Taking all these circumstances into consideration, we are forced to
the conclusion that our public fresh-water fisheries can never be restored
to their pristine value and importance, but that they must every wltere
gradually but surely decline. In this state of things, it becomes a
matter of great interest to determine whether the supply of an article
of food so wholesome, so abundant, and so cheap, as that hitherto
afforded by these fisheries, can, in any manner or to any considerable
extent, be still maintained by the application of enterprise and inge-
nuity to waters under private control, and whether the multiplication
of valuable species of fish in such waters may not become an important
accessory to agriculture. It is true that we believe the art of piscicul-
ture likely to be of service; and it is in this aspect that we propose to
consider the subject at present.

The breeding, preserving, and fattening of fish, as a branch of do-
mestic economy, has been practiced in various methods, among various

FTSH BREEDING. 221

nations, from time immemorial. The Chinese are said to have carried
on for ages a traffic in the eggs deposited by salmon, trout, sturgeon,
and other species, at the spawning season, in places prepared for the
purpose, in rivers frequented by these fish ; the eggs thus collected
being sold and transported to different parts of the country, to be used
in stocking private waters. Among the Romans the same method was
practised, at a very early period, for peopling lakes and ponds with
fish. At a later era, the taste of the wealthy patricians for fish-raising
appears to have become a passion, and the enormous sums said to have
been lavished by them upon the construction of their ponds and the
feeding and preservation of choice varieties of fish, seem almost in-
credible.

During the middle ages, the kings and princes of Europe, as well
as all the great ecclesiastical communities, maintained their artificial
preserves, some of which were of great extent and supplied large quan-
tities of iish. A fish-pond was an indispensable appendage to nearly
every monastic establishment, and the priestly epicures were always
well skilled in its management. They took care to stock their pre-
serves with the most valuable species, which they often transported
from distant places for this purpose. There are good reasons for sup-
posing that the carp, the grayling, the charr, and perhaps other spe-
cies, were in this way introduced into English waters, when England
was Catholic. It would seem, indeed, that, in all probability, Dom
Pinchon, a monk of the abbey of Eeome, in France, was the inventor
of the process of artificially fecundating the eggs of fish. This method
of performing this operation is described in a manuscript recently
brought to light, dated in 1420, and differs little from that practiced
at the present day. The experiments of Dom Pinchon were, however,
never published, and the credit of the modern invention of breeding
fish artificially unquestionably belongs to Mr, Jacobi, a G-erman gen-
tleman who, in the year 1763, communicated to the Hanover Magazine
an interesting account of his plan for the breeding of trout by artifi-
cial impregnation of their ova. His invention, as he states, was the
result of many experiments, made during a series of not less than
forty years; and it certainly contains the substance of nearly all that
later practitioners consider essential to success. Though the process
of Jacobi attracted some attention among the scientific men of his
day, and was the means of stocking some v>raters in Holland, yet it
appears to have fallen into disuse, and to have slumbered for a long
time among those forgotten inventions which are so often claimed as
new discoveries by a succeeding age.

About fifty years later than the time of Jacobi, that is, from 1830
to 1835, a series of really accurate and scientific observations were
made in Scotland, in reference to the habits of fish at the spawning
season — habits upon which the whole art of artificial propagation is
founded. These observations would appear to have been originally
instituted by Dr. Knox, of Edinburg, who watched the process of
spawning, in the case of the salmon, and observed the progressive de-
velopment of the ova, and the growth of the young fishes after exclusion.
His hints were followed up, at about the same period, by a most acute
and patient observer, Mr. John Shaw, who devoted himself for several

222 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

years to a series of well-managed olDservations on the natural history
of the salmon, and the facts, clearly stated and thoroughly proved,
which he details in regard to the time and mode of spawning, pro-
gressive growth, migration to and from the sea, and other hahits of
that valuable fish, will always possess the greatest interest. Similar
observations were also made by Mr. Andrew Young and others, in the
Scottish rivers.

It is, however, within the past ten or twelve years, that pisciculture
has, so to speak, taken its place among the useful arts, and been ex-
tensively applied to economic purposes. The attention of the French
government was called, in 1848, to the experiments of two fishermen
of the department of the Vosges, MM. Gehin and Kemy, who had
occupied themselves for several years in breeding trout, perch, and
other species, with which they had succeeded in stocking many of the
ponds and streams of their neighborhood. The subject was eagerly
taken up by some of the most distinguished scientific men of France.
Inquiries were instituted, reports made, an approj)riation granted by
the government, and an institution established for the purpose of
hatching, rearing, and transporting fish, which went into operation in
1852, under the direction of M. Coste, a savant of distinction. Since
then, experiments have been made, with varied success, in different
parts of Europe, and to some extent in this country. It is not yet
time to pronounce positively upon the value of these experiments as
applicable to the stocking of public waters. In this country esj)ecially,
little has, as yet, been actually accomplished in this direction, and we
are unable to present definite and reliable results. But there is great
encouragement to hope that the processes of pisciculture may yet be-
come of great public benefit.

Whatever may be the result of attempts to revive the fisheries, the
stocking of ponds and streams under private control is not only prac-
ticable, but requires little more than ordinary skill and care, and there
can be no doubt that, as a matter of both profit and pleasure, it is
worthy the attention of agriculturists.

Having alluded to the main facts in the history of pisciculture, the
natural method of reproduction in fishes may be described, since it is
by imitating this method as nearly as possible that artificial propaga-
tion is most likely to succeed.

Fresh- water fishes, in reference to their time and mode of spawning,
may be divided into two classes :

1. Those which deposit their eggs in the autumn and winter, in
water of a reduced temperature, and require a long period of incu-
bation.

2. Those which sj)awn in the spring and early summer, and the
eggs of which hatch in a few days or weeks.

The first of these classes contains some of the most beautiful and
valuable of the inhabitants of the waters — those which belong to the
family of the salmon and trout, including also the several species of
shad-salmon, or white fish. Some of them migrate from the sea into
the rivers for the purpose of spawning, as the sea salmon ; others, as
the brook trout, perform partial migrations up the smaller streams,
for the same purpose; while the lake trout and the white fish deposit

FISH BREEDING. 223

their eggs on tlie sandy shallows, near the shores of the more exten-
sive waters which they inhabit. The operation of spawning, in the
case of the salmon, may be briefly described as follows :

The male and female, having paired, seek a suitable spot for the
location of their spawning-bed, in a shallow part of the stream, where
'the water runs over a gravelly and sandy bottom. An excavation is
then formed, of considerable width, by the action of the snouts and
tails of the fishes, burrowing into the gravel, against the current.
The nest having been made sufficiently capacious, the female deposits
in it a portion of her ova, and, dropping down the stream, her place
is instantly supplied by the male, who emits a quantity of milt upon
the eggs. The eggs, being thus impregnated, are partially covered by
the loose sand and gravel brought down by the current, and a second
bed is soon made, a little higher up the stream, in which another por-
tion of the ova is deposited, to be fecundated in like manner. This
process is continued from day to day, until the female has no more ova
to deposit. The process being finished, the salmon drop down into
some deeper pool, where they remain for a while, in order partially to
recover from the exhausting efiects of their labors, and then return
slowly down the river to the sea. The eggs remain until spring before
hatching, the time required for incubation being from ninety to one
hundred and twenty days. When first excluded from the egg, the
little fish measures about half an incJi in length, and presents a sin-
gular appearance. The dorsal, caudal, and anal fins are continuous,
like those of the eel, and form a kind of fringe, running from the
head to the tail. The yolk of the egg remains attached to the belly
of the fish, and communicates with the intestinal canal by a passage
through which the yolk is gradually drawn inward and digested.
During this time the young fish needs no other nourishment, but at
the end of about a month the yolk-sac becomes exhausted, and the
appetite for food begins. The growth of these fishes (the salmon and
trout) is slov7 during the first year, but more rapid during the second
and third.

The development of the ova in those fishes which belong to the
second class, viz: those which spawn in the spring and summer, is
much more rapid, and in some of them the process of spawning is
somewhat different. Thus, the perch deposits its ova in the form of
continuous clusters, attached to stones or water plants by a glutinous
film, and the young are hatched in the course of two or three weeks.
All the cyprionoid fishes (those belonging to the family of the carp, dace,
&c.,) also spawn in the spring, and their time of incubation is equally
short. The same may be said of the shad, of the difi'erent species of
herring, of the pikes, pickerel, &c., and indeed of all fishes which
spawn during the warmer months.

The following is a list of some of the most valuable of the fishes of
the United States which spawn in fresh water, classified with reference
to their times of spawning :

224 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

AUTUMN AND WINTER.

Sea salmon, (Salmo solar.)
Brook trout, (Salmo fontinalis.')
Lake trout, (Salmo confinis, &c.)
Lake wliite fisli, (Ceregonus albus, &c.)

SPRING AND SUMMER.

Pickerel, (Esox reticulatus.)
Mascalonge, (Esox estor.)
Perch, (Perca fiavescens.)
Pike-perch, &c., (Lucioperca Americana.)
Striped bass, (Labrax lineatus.)
Black bass, (Grystes nigricans, &c.)
Eock bass, &g., (Centrarchus ceneus.)
Shad, (Alosa prcestahilis.)

The number of eggs deposited by a single salmon in one season has
been estimated at from ten thousand to twenty-five thousand ; by the
perch, two hundred thousand ; the pike, one hundred thousand. Of
these, it is supposed that at least three quarters fail to become pro-
ductive, being devoured by other fishes, washed down and buried in
the mud by freshets, and exposed to many other casualties. Countless
millions of the young also are destroyed before they become capable
of propagating their species, and still greater numbers of the ova are
never deposited at all, being destroyed while yet immotive, in the body
of the parent fish, which, in most cases, is most readily captured at
the season when it seeks its spawning grounds. The object of artificial
breeding, then, is to secure the spawn of valuable fishes against the
operation of these untoward contingencies, to place it in those condi-
tions where a larger comparative proportion may become productive,
and to preserve the young fishes from the dangers which surround
them in their natural element.

The processes of artificial breeding are simple and easy, but, at some
stages, they require care and experience. The mode of impregnating
the eggs is readily learned, with a little practice. The female fish is
taken at a time when the sj^awn is mature, and is held over a shallow
vessel containing a quart or so of pure water. A very slight pressure
along the abdomen will cause the eggs, if sufiiciently mature, to fall
into the water. If they do not come away readily, the indication is
that they are not yet mature, and the fish should be preserved for a
few days, when the trial may be repeated. The object is to procure
the eggs in the exact state when they will most readily receive the
fecundating influence of the milt of the male fish. This must be
judged of by experience. After the female fish has been thus treated,
the milt is obtained from the male in the same manner. If mature,
the milt will flow readily from the fish, and will give the water a
whitish and turbid appearance. The water should be slightly agi-
tated— as well by the tail of the male fish as in any other way — whilo

FISH BREEDING. 225

the emission of the milt is taking place, so as to insure the thorough
contact of the two elements. A little practice will enahle the operator-
to perform this manipulation without injury to the fishes, which, after
their supply of eggs and milt is exhausted, may he replaced in the
pond or stream from which they were taken, and thus reserved for
breeding a second year. The milt from a single male will he found
sufficient to impregnate the ova of numerous females, hut the mixture
of it with the eggs must be effected as soon as possible after their
extension.

The eggs, after being thus impregnated, are placed in hatching
boxes prej3ared to receive them. These may be constructed in several
different methods. Those used by Jacobi were wooden troughs, with
a wire grating at either end, to keep out destructive fishes and insects,
the bottom being covered with a layer of gravel. The eggs were
strewed on the gravel, care being taken to place them so as not to lie
in heaps, and the water of a running stream was conducted through
the gratings. The apparatus of Grehin and Kemy consisted of a tin
box, the cover and sides being pierced with holes to admit the water,
and the bottom in like manner covered with gravel. The box and its
contents were placed in the bed of a stream. The French savans have
invented several improvements in the hatching apparatus, one of the
best of which is said to be the use of willow or fine wire gratings, on
which the eggs are placed, and which are suspended in the water by
means of sliding rods, thus dispensing entirely with the gravel bot-
tom, and retaining the eggs in a position where they can be more
readily examined, and are not so liable to be injured by being piled
together by the flow of water.

Durin'g incubation the eggs should be inspected daily, and those
which prove to be unimpregnated removed. These are readily distin-
guished from the others by their greater opacity, and, if allowed to
remain in contact with the rest, would soon spoil them. There is also
a minute species of parasitic mildew, which is very injurious to the
eggs, and difficult to exclude, as its spores are deposited with the
sediment of the water. In order to prevent its ravages as far as possi-
ble, the eggs should be daily cleansed, and the sediment prevented
from settling on them by means of a soft hair pencil. Where it is
practicable to do so, it is recommended to filter the water, in order to
obviate this difficulty.

It is not possible, within the limits of this paper, to give particular
directions as to the construction of hatching apparatus. The ingenuity
of almost any country gentleman or farmer will point out to him some
contrivance which will fulfill the conditions necessary for the purpose.
A constant stream of pure water bathing the eggs is all that is neces-
sary, in addition to the other precautions mentioned.

The progressive development of the embryo, as watched from day to
day under the microscope, becomes very interesting, and is fully de-
scribed in the works which will be hereafter mentioned.

After the young fishes are hatched, they should be removed to a
larger receptacle ; they need little care, however, until the ^olk-sac is-
exhausted, and they begin to require food. This may be supplied in
the form of finely-comminuted flesh or fish, the fibres of which have-

15 A

226 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

been separated by boiling. Care should be taken not to place so much
of this in the box in which the young fish are kept as to corrupt the
water.

Well cared for, young trout will attain the length of about three
inches the first year. They should then be turned into a pond, and
allowed to provide for themselves. It would be well, however, to
have for this purpose two or three separate ponds, to contain the broods
of each successive year. This precaution is required in consequence of
the predatory nature of these fishes, and the liability of the younger to
be devoured by the older. Some other species of fish, of a smaller and
inferior kind, may, with advantage, be placed and permitted to breed
in .the pond, for the purpose of supplying food to the trout.

In a region where trout are abundant, of course much of the trouble
of artificial breeding may be dispensed with^ provided a pond can be
constructed by damming the course of a stream already populated by
them. They may then be left to their natural instinct, and, if the
stream affords suitable spawning places, they will maintain the supply
of young needed each year, with no further care. But it is absolutely
necessary, for the reproduction of trout, that their eggs should be de-
posited, during incubation, in running water, highly aerated; and
hence it is that they will never increase in number while confined to
the still waters of a pond. They will neither grow well nor become
of good flavor in water rendered turbid by vegetable matter, nor where
the bottom is muddy. Clear, cool, spring water, resting on a sandy
and gravelly bottom, is indispensable to the full development of their
good qualities. In constructing a pond for the reception of this most
valuable and beautiful of all fishes, these conditions should be recol-
lected.

After the ova of fishes have been fecundated, they may be transported
to considerable distances, provided they be kept moist and cool. The
simplest method is to pack them in alternate layers (taking care that the
eggs do not touch each other) with fine sand, shaggy woolen clothes,
or aquatic plants, in small boxes. The boxes for this purpose may be
six or eight inches square by three or four deep, and care should be
taken that the contents be thoroughly moistened iDefore they are closed.
The eggs of the lake trout, the lake white-fish, and the pike-perch
have thus been brought from Ohio and Lake Ontario to Connecticut,
in perfect condition. Indeed, eggs of the salmon and trout thus
packed will retain their capacity of development for several weeks.
The eggs of those fishes which spawn in summer, however, would not
probably bear transportation so easily, but would be much more likely
to prove unproductive, after being carried long distances. Care must
be taken to admit water gradually to the eggs thus procured, especially
if they have been for several days on their journey they are liable
to be spoiled by top rapid absorption of fluid.

The introduction of fishes peculiar to one country, or to one section
of a country, into distant waters, is by this means readily effected,
suitable breeding places being provided in advance for the reception ot
the ova.

The most extensive and important operation of this kind yet under-
taken in this country has been attempted for the purpose of introducing

FISH BREEDING. 227

some of the fishes of the great lakes into waters which they did not
previously inhabit. A brief account of the measures taken for this
purpose, and which are believed to have resulted in at least partial
success, will not be out of place here.

Saltonstall lake is a very beautiful body of water, almost three miles in
length, situated a few miles from the city of New Haven, Connecticut.
It was selected as the locality of the intended experiments, because, in
position, size, quality of water and of shores, and in all other respects, it
was believed to combine the conditions most favorable to success. Like
most of the New England lakes of its class, it was already populated
with pickerel, perch, eels, and other common species. In the spring
of 1857, an act was passed by the legislature of Connecticut affording
ample protection to the enterprise, and the gentlemen concerned also
procured from the riparian proprietors grants of their fishing rights in
the lake, so that they thus acquired complete control of its waters. A
small, but constantly flowing stream, one of the feeders of the lake,
was prepared for the reception of the ova, by forming it into a series
of shallow pools, and strewing the bed with a layer of clean gravel and
small stones. The intention, in this case, was to procure so large a
quantity of ova as to be able to allow them to run the hazard of
being hatched in the open stream.

The lake trout (Salmo confinis) and the white-fish (Geregonus albus)
were the species chosen as those most likely to become readily accli-
mated, and as otherwise most valuable to the breeder. In November
of the same year the first supply of the eggs of these species was pro-
cured at a fishing station on Lake Ontario ; the trout and white-fish
being taken alive from the fishermen's nets, and the ova artificially
fecundated on the spot, in the manner heretofore described. They
were then packed in alternate layers with fine wet sand, in wooden
boxes, and the proper precautions taken to insure safe transportation.
On the ITth of November, 1857, the previous cargo, estimated at about
five millions of the eggs of the trout, and one million of those of the
white-fish, arrived at the place for which they were destined, appa-
rently in good condition. They were unpacked with great care, and
those of the trout were partly deposited in the bed of the stream, and
partly along the gravelly shores near its embouchure, in water of two
or three feet deep. Those of the white-fish were placed upon a smooth,
sandy shoal, in water of somewhat less depth, the intention, in both
cases, being to place the eggs in positions, as nearly as possible, sim-
ilar to those in which the fish themselves deposit them. During the
winter the eggs in the stream were repeatedly examined, and many of
them found to be progressing favorably toward their development ; and
in March and April, 1858, the young made their appearance in great
numbers. They were allowed to take care of themselves, and in due
time they proceeded down into the lake. It was impossible to ascer-
tain the probable proportion of the eggs which were hatched, but if
one out of every thousand produced a living fish, the result of the
experiment may be considered satisfactory.

In the month of May of the same year, about twenty millions of the
eggs of the pike-perch, (lAicioperca americana,) which inhabits the
same waters with the lake trout and other white-fish, were collected^

228 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

and transmitted to tlie same breeding-place. Two thirds of themwere
placed in the stream, and the remainder on the gravel of the lake bot-
tom. Some of those in the stream, after having been deposited about
two weeks, were found to be developing properly, and an enormous
crop of young fishes was expected; but, unfortunately, a sudden freshet
shortly afterward tore up the bed of the rivulet, and swept away and
destroyed a great proportion of the ova. What. number, if any, sur-
vived this disaster, is not known, but it is believed that some of those
deposited in the lake, and thus so-situated as to have escaped the effects
ef the freshet, must have arrived at their full development.

In the autumn of 1858 another collection of about ten millions of the
ova of the lake trout and white-fish was deposited in the same places,
and, from observations made in the spring and summer of 1859, con-
siderable numbers are believed to have been hatched. Several young
trout of this brood have been taken in the lake, and also a few of
larger size^ weighing nearly a pound each, supposed to be the produce
of the first deposit of eggs. As the white-fish does not take the hook,
its actual presence in the lake has not yet been detected. Measures
will be taken, however, in the course of the next summer, to ascertain
positively the result of the experiment as regards that species. So
confident are the gentlemen concerned, in the entire feasibility of their
project, that they intend to continue their operations until assured of
full success. They will also introduce other species of lake fish.

It is not yet time to speak confidently upon the prospect of future
pecuniary profit, as the ultimate result of these operations ; but if the
trout, white-fish, and pike-perch do become acclimated and grow to the
size which they attain in their native waters, the supply furnished by
Saltonstall lake cannot fail, in a few years, largely to repay the par-
ties concerned for their labor and expenses. The writer of this article
has felt a very deep interest in these experiments from their inception,
has been personally conversant with their progress, and has derived
much valuable information respecting practical fish breeding from the
two principal conductors of the enterprise, Messrs. Carl Muller, of New
York, and Henry Brown, of New Haven.

TRANSPORTATION OF LIVING FISHES.

In some cases it may be desirable to transport living fishes from a
distance. Whenever this is to be effected, the chances of success will
be greatly increased by the observation of a few simple precautions.
Small fishes are much more easily transported than those of full size.
To save the trouble of changing the water often, its temperature should
be reduced by placing in it pieces of ice so fixed as not to injure the
fish. A large tin can, holding from twelve to twenty gallons, with a
wide mouth, similar to those used by milk-men, is as convenient as
anything. The lump of ice may be suspended in a netting from the
mouth, the cover of which should be pierced with holes for the admis-
sion of air. If such vessels cannot be obtained, barrels, or even tubs,
may be used, care being taken to cover them with some kind of cloth
of loose texture, to prevent the water from being thrown out by the
jolting of the carriage or rail-car in which the journey is performed.

FISH BREEDING. 229

A sufficient supply of ice should be procured to maintain the water at
a low temperature. In such manner Dr. Garlicky of Cleveland, tells
us that he kept five hundred and twenty trout in a barrel of water for
eighteen hours without changing the water ; and Mr. Henry Brown
recently carried twelve hundred trout from the northern part of Massa-
chusetts to Long Island, with the loss of only two or three. The
water was not changed, and ^e trout were thirty-six hours on the
road.

When the waters from which the fish are to be brought are not too
distant, this is an easy mode of procuring material for stocking ponds.
As an instance of what may be effected by this method, in stocking
waters of considerable extent with new species, the following may be
mentioned :

In the winters of 1852-53, the black bass of the lakes (Grystes nigri-
cans) was introduced into Waramang lake, situated between the towns
of Washington and Warren, in Litchfield county, Connecticut. "They
have in that lake," writes our informant, F. D. Beeman, Esq., of
Litchfield, '^multiplied very generously. Their growth is estimated
to be about one pound a year, and they have been frequently caught
weighing five pounds and upwards. They were originally brought from
a small lake in Duchess county. New York. They are a hardy fish,
and can be readily transported from one place to another in a tub of
water, covered with wet canvas. There were less than an hundred
bass originally placed in Waramang lake ; there are now probably
millions, and they appear to propagate and flourish better than any
other fish in the waters of that lake."

The black bass has more recently been introduced into another lake
in Litchfield county, and will soon be established as a denizen of many
other of our Connecticut lakes. It is a fine fish, in every respect, and
is well worthy the attention of those who have large private ponds.
The ease with which it may be transported, the rapidity with which it
multiplies, the sport which it affords the angler, and its excellence on
the table, form a combination of qualities which render it deservedly
popular with those who know its merits, and which' should lead to its
introduction into all such waters as are suited to its habits.

BREEDING OF MIGRATORY FISHES.

In addition to the experiments already alluded to, others of even
greater interest, in some respects, are now in progress. Those which
are next to be mentioned will eventually, it is hoped, afibrd much
practical information in regard to the question whether the breeding
of migratory fishes can be so managed as to be made a source of profit
to the breeder: in other words, whether these fishes, after being reared
in private waters, and allowed to follow their instincts by going to the
sea at the proper age, will return when adult, at the spawning season,
to the place where they are hatched, in sufficient numbers to enable
the breeder to repay himself for his care of them while young, by cap-
turing and selling them when full grown. Somewhat similar experi-
ments have been made in other countries, for the purpose of settling
the same question ; but, notwithstanding the enthusiastic anticipations

230 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of foreign fisli breeders, we have, as yet, no positive and reliable
accounts by wbich to estimate their value. The importance of the
subject warrants a thorough trial, and such, we hope, it is to receive
by the means now to be described.

Messrs. U. S. Treat & Son, of Eastport, Maine, have obtained the
control of three large ponds, about twenty miles from Eastport. The
largest of these is about three quarters of a mile long, by half a mile
wide, and they all have a common outlet into the St. Croix river.
The outlet has been provided with a gate, by means of which it may
be closed or opened at pleasure, thus enabling the owners to retain
the fish in the ponds, or to allow them to proceed to the sea. The
breeding operations were commenced in the spring of 1857, at which
time a number of salmon, (S. solar,) striped bass, (Labrax limaUis,)
shad, (Alosa jprcestahilisj) and alewives {A. tyrannus) were placed alive
in two of the ponds, the salmon in the largest. The shad and ale-
wives, Mr. Treat informs us, spawned about the first of June, and in
about three weeks millions of their young were seen. The gate was
then closed, and the growth of the young fish watched in the pond for
three months, after which, a portion of them were allowed to proceed
down the river to the sea. The remainder were detained for two
months longer, when they also were dismissed to salt-water. The
number of young produced by this first spawning was estimated at
more than five millions. They had grown, when on their way to the
sea, to the length of three to five inches. The salmon spawned in the
November ensuing, and the eggs were hatched in the spring after.
Mr. Treat did not, however, succeed in detecting any of the young
until the summer of 1859, when they were above a year old. They
had then grown, he says, to the length of ten or twelve yiches, and
were changing from the trout-like appearance which characterizes
them in their first year, and were taking on the silvery coat of the
parent fish. As the lake is in some places forty feet in depth, not
many of these young salmon were captured; but enough were secured
to enable Mr. Treat to identify them. The old salmon still appear to
be in good condition, and are frequently observed. They have been
in the lake two winters and two summers. Whether they continue to
breed is not as yet known. The young salmon were also allowed to
follow their natural instincts and to proceed to the sea at the proper
season. Mr. Treat confidently expects the return of his fish — such
of them as survive the dangers of the seas — as soon as they become
capable of reproducing their species and feel the impulse of that in-
stinct which induces them to seek the fresh water for the purpose of
depositing their spawn. We shall await the result of his experiments
with great interest, and hope to be able, in some future report, to
announce the fulfillment of his anticipations. Several other important
and doubtful questions, as to some of the habits and the growth of the
species which are made the subjects of these experiments, will also,
perhaps, be solved.

BREEDING TROUT AT HARTFORD.

Mr. E. C. Kellogg, of Hartford, Connecticut, gives the following
account of his experiments. He was among the first to attempt the

FISH BREEDING. 231

artificial breeding of trout in this country, and he has conducted his
experiments with great intelligence and care. His observations in
regard to the progress of development of the embryo fishes, the best
and most certain methods of impregnation, the growth of the young
fry, and many other points of interest, have been exceedingly patient
and minute, and, when published, as they may be in the Report of
next year, will materially add to the stock of knowledge already pro-
mulgated by foreign writers, and will, we are certain, prove of material
benefit to those who desire to practice the art. At present, we have
space only for a brief notice of what he has done and what he is now
doing.

His first experiment was made in 1855, during the summer of which
year he collected a number of trout, to be used as breeders, which he
placed in a small pond in the town of Simsbury, Connecticut. A slight
dam was made near the source of the spring by which the pond was
supplied, forming a smaller pond, and at the lower side of this upper
dam a temporary hatching-house was erected, in which was placed a
box partly filled with gravel, and through this a small stream of water
was conducted. In November, the eggs were fecundated, after the
prescribed method. In the course of a few weeks it was apparent that
embryo fish were being developed in some of the eggs, and in proper
time about seventy-five trout were hatched. The fry were kept in the
box for a month or two, and were then allowed to run into the larger
pond below. In the succeeding autumn they were found with the old
fish, apparently doing well.

The next year's experiments at Simsbury failed entirely, the water-
pipe becoming stopped, so that the water froze in the hatching box.
Mr. Kellogg, however, was induced, by the convenience of having the
Connecticut river water on his premises, to make a trial of artificial
breeding in the cellar of his house. He arranged a box with several
partitions, filled it partly with gravel, laid it in a slanting position, so
that the partings formed a series of steps, and water from the public
reservoir was conducted through it. By this means he succeeded in
hatching about sixty trout during the first winter, and about four hun-
dred during the winter of 1858. He is at present directing the con-
struction of works for artificial breeding on a more extensive scale, and
on a far more convenient plan, at East Hartford. Through the liber-
ality of Colonel Colt, upon whose grounds the work is progressing, no
pains nor expense are spared to render the experiment successful. An
excellent spring, running out of a gravel bank into a ravine, furnishes
a good supply of water. Across the ravine a dam has been thrown,
raising a pond of about sixty feet in diameter and six feet in depth.
A commodious house has been built, in which are the arrangements
for hatching, and a large tank, with divisions, to hold the parent fish
at the time of spawning. A supply of breeding fish has recently beeti
provided, and a considerable number of eggs, probably three or four
thousand, have been impregnated and placed in the hatching boxes..
Every precaution which experience and ingenuity could suggest has:
been used to secure successful results, and we hope, next year, to ba
able to make a satisfactory report of these operations.

"That there is some difficulty in breeding trout artificially," write*

232 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Mr. Kellogg, ^'I think all who have experimented will allow. It is
perhaj)s somewhat difficult to point out the causes of failure, which
seem to lie principally in the uncertainty of fecundating the ova, a
very large proportion of which often proves harren, in spite of every
care and precaution. We must suppose that some one of the conditions
necessary to thorough fecundation has been disregarded or not under-
stood. There is no reason to doubt, however, that the careful obser-
vations of experimenters, each succeeding year, will overcome the
difficulty, and will lead at last to complete success.

' ' The rapidity with which fish grow with good feeding is truly sur-
prising. In the basin of a fountain in my garden a single trout has
lived during this season. For some time no care was taken to feed
this fish, it having been left to depend for its existence upon the few
insects which chanced to fall into the water, and for several months it
increased in size very slightly. After being fed daily with worms for
a few weeks, its growth was remarkable. In a single month it has
more than doubled in weight.

''During several winters I have kept in a small tank in the cellar a
considerable number of trout, and although quite thin after the spawn-
ing season, they have become fat and in excellent condition before
spring, by means of generous feeding. It is astonishing, also, to notice
how easily fish may be domesticated. Wary trout, after only a few
days' confinement, will eat readily, watch daily for their accustomed
allowance, and even become so gentle as to take food from the hand,
like chickens."

PRACTICAL HINTS TO FISH BREEDERS.

The following instructions, upon several points connected with the
different stages of artificial fish breeding, are partly the results of our
own observation, and partly condensed from an essay by Professor
Vogt, of Geneva, Switzerland, translated for Mr. Marsh's report, be-
fore alluded to. This essay contains a very great amount of valuable
and curious information, in respect to the reproduction of fishes, and
the best methods of securing success in artificial fish breeding. It is
worthy of perusal entire, by any one to whom it may.be accessible.

1. The mere contact of spawn and milt does not suffice to efiect
fecundation. To insure the production of a living creature from the
egg, the active element of the milt, which consists of moving micro-
scopic corpuscles, provided with a thread-like tail, and called seminal
animalcules, must penetrate into the interior of the egg, and there
unite with its substance. Every egg is, therefore, infallibly lost, un-
less it has thus absorbed the constituent of the male generative fluid.

2. The perfect eggs of fresh-water fish consist of an external skin,
or shell, within which, enveloped in a second thinner membrane, called
the vitelline membrane, is the yolk. The yolk is always bright and
clear, sometimes quite colorless and transparent, like water, (as in the
white-fish,) sometimes of an amber or orange color, as in the trout
and salmon. The outer coat of the egg and the vitelline membrane lie
in close contact, so long as the spawn remains in the body of the fish;
but, as soon as the eggs are deposited in the water, a rapid absorption

FISH BREEDING. 233

commences, the water penetrates throiigli tlie external coating, which
swells and becomes distended, thus leaving a space between itself and
the vitelline membrane around the yolk, this space being filled with
water. The vitelline membrane is impervious to water, so long as the
egg is in a healthy state, and its contents remain perfectly clear and
limpid. But the penetration of water into the yolk is at once be-
trayed, by its assuming a milky color ; and this is an infallible proof
of the unsoundness of the egg.

3. An orifice is observed in the eggs of most fresh- water fish, open-
ing at the surface, through which the seminal animalcule penetrates
to the interior of the egg.

4. Since the spawn can be impregnated only by the reception of the
animalcule^ it becomes of much practical importance to ascertain how
long this minute being retains its power of motion and impregnation.
At low temperatures, this power may be retained for hours, and even
days, if the milt remains in the organs in which it is secreted. The eggs
yf trout have been impregnated by milt taken from the male after it
was stiff-frozen. But, when once the milt is placed in water, the power
of moisture is very soon lost. It has been found that the animalcule
of the mullet perishes in three minutes and ten seconds ; that of the
carp in three minutes ; that of the perch in two minutes and forty
seconds ; and this in the degree of heat most favorable to vitality.
Very slight variations, above or beloiv this point, destroy the animalcules
with great rapidity. The temperature which seems longest to main-
tain their vitality is, for winter fish, like the trout, 41° to 48° ; for
those which spawn in early spring, 50° to 55° ; for those of early
summer, 63° to 68° ; and for those of hot weather, 77° to 87°.

5. It becomes, therefore, a matter of the greatest practical import-
ance to perform the processes of impregnation in the very shortest
possible time. Some operators mix the milt first with water, and then
immediately drop the spawn into it, believing that the minute currents,
formed by the absorption of water by the egg, have the efi'ect of direct-
ing the movement of the animalcule toward the orifice. It is also
supposed that the swelling of the egg, in consequence of the absorp-
tion of water, tends to close the orifice, so that the animalcule cannot
enter, after the envelope is full of water. However this may be, it is
found, by experience, that the simultaneous mixture of the milt and
the spawn is most likely to effect the impregnation of the greatest
proportion of the eggs ; and hence it is recommended, when practi-
cable, that two persons should work together^ one manipulating the
male fish and the other the female.

6. It is absolutely necessary that the ova be mature. Fish do not
deposit all their spawn at once, but usually through several successive
days, as the eggs become ripe. The operator should, therefore, use no
violence in forcing the eggs from the female ; since those which are
fully mature, and fit for impregnation, will fall from her with very
little pressure. After she has emitted that portion which is fully ripe,
she should be placed in the tank again for a day or two, when a second
portion will be ready for impregnation. The milt of a single male
is usually sufiicient for the eggs of several females ; and it may be
obtained likewise in successive portions.

234 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

7. An apparatus for enabling the fish to spawn naturally, thereby
obviating the necessity of taking them into the hand at all, has been
used in France. It consists of a sort of double-bottomed cage, the
upper bottom being an open frame-work of wire, the lower a movable
sieve of metallic cloth. It is suspended in the water of the pond, and
the male and female fish placed in it. The female, by rubbing against
the bars of the open-work floor^ emits her eggs, which fall through
upon the sieve below, and are impregnated by the male in the same
way. We are not definitely informed as to the success of this con-
trivance, but it may easily be tested.

8. After the eggs are fecundated, their hatching still requires care.
The essential points are an abundant supply of well aerated water, at
a proper temperature, removal of unsound eggs, and protection against
insects and parasitic mildew or fungus. Since light is indispensable
to the production of this destructive microscopic vegetable, it has been
recommended to keep the eggs, during hatching, in darkness. Dif-
ferent sj)ecies require different degrees of warmth. The eggs of tl^e
trout will bear a temperature nearly as low as 32°, but would be
destroyed by remaining in water as high as 55°. They require
the j)urest water; and that of a running spring, or stream, which
can be constantly renewed, is best. If this cannot be had, filtered
water is recommended. The eggs should be examined once or twice
a day, and every one which shows the least degree of disease, indi-
cated by the opaque, whitish color of its yolk, should be removed
with a pair of small tweezers or forceps. The accumulation of sediment
which would be likely to breed mildew, should be also removed, by
passing over the eggs a soft hair pencil. During the first few days of
development, the spawn should he agitated as little as possible, since it is
at this period that the foundation of all the organic processes and of
the whole structure of the fish is laid. After the eyes of the young
fish begin to be visible through the egg-shell, appearing like two dis-
proportionately large black dots, the egg is much less sensitive to rough
treatment, and may be handled, or transported to a distance, with less
risk than at any other period of its development.

9. As to the hatching apparatus, it may be said that any is good
which admits a free circulation of water, excludes rapacious enemies,
and permits ready access to the eggs, and the easy removal of such as
may become infected, A very successful operator, Mr. Knoche, thus
describes the apparatus used by him :

"For a breeding chest, I employ a stone trough seven feet long, two
fe^t broad^ and one foot deep, and provided with a wooden cover fitting
into a rabbet, and secured by a lock. To one end of the cover is nailed
a frame, whose length is equal to the breadth of the cover, and which
is four inches wide and five inches deep, forming a small trough placed
across the cover of the large one at the upper end. Within this frame
several holes are bored, through the main cover, so as to allow the
water, supplied from above, to pass into the trough. A piece of coarse
linen cloth is nailed across the frame, and through this all the water
which enters the trough is strained. Within the breeding-trough
there is a perforated box, which distributes the water received from the
frame evenly and quietly through the trough. At the opposite end of

FISH BREEDING. 235

the trough, six inches ahove the bottom, are two square holes, covered
with finely-perforated tin plate, and so adjusted as to permit the escape
of the same quantity of water as is admitted through the frame. The
trough is sunk in the ground, near a spring, which is raised by a dam
to the height of a foot, and the water is" conducted directly to the mid-
dle of the frame, on the cover of the trough, through a pipe about an
inch and a half in diameter. The bottom of the trough is filled up to
the depth of three inches with clean-washed sand, or gravel, and the
water always stands three inches deep on the sand. When the eggs
-are to be introduced^ the flow of water from the spring is shut off, and
the impregnated spawn, after standing three hours, is carefully poured
into the trough, and so distributed that the eggs are not in contact
with each other. The distribution is effected, without touching the eggs,
by agitating the water over them with the bearded end of a quill.
The trough is now closed, and left undisturted for twelve hours, after
which the water from the spring is again admitted, and kept regularly
flowing."

This process may be greatly varied according to circumstances, as
in the cellar experiments of Mr. Kellogg. Like the latter, Drs,
Mayor and Duchosal, of Geneva, used the common drinking water
from the public reservoir. They placed the eggs in square earthen
pots, arranged on the steps of a stand, like those used for flower pots.

Each pot had a small aperture in front, into which was introduced
a pipe, to convey the water to the next tier below, and so arranged as
to keep the water in all the pots one inch deep. The pipe from the
reservoir was pierced with holes, corresponding to each pot in the
upper tier ; these pots, which were about a foot square, received a con-
stant stream of about a line in diameter, directly from the aqueduct
pipe, and the lower pots received their supply from the tier next above.
The eggs hatched equally well in all ; but, from the partial exhaustion
of the air in the water in passing through the upper tiers, the eggs in
the lower tiers were somewhat longer in hatching. Other contrivances,
adapted to peculiar contingencies, will be readily suggested to persons
of ingenuity. For hatching eggs in spring or summer, flat-bottomed
earthen pots may be used, with small holes in the sides, about an inch
from the bottom, so as to admit a free circulation of water. These
may be inserted in small rafts, made of wood, and thus left to float
in the current, the rafts being secured by a cord, so that the pots may
be drawn to the bank at any time for examination. No gravel would
be necessary in these pots.

10. After the exclusion of the young from the eggs, so long as the
yolk-sac remains attached to the abdomen of the fry, little attention is
required. It is well to remove them to a larger receptacle, as a long
trough, with a foot of water, to allow them space for their movements.
A floating box may be used for this purpose, so loaded as to swim
horizontally, and moored so that the current of the water will pass
through it from end to end, fine wire net-work being fixed at each end
to prevent the escape of the brood.

11. After the yolk-sac is exhausted, the young fish require food.
Small insects and larvee form their principal natural nutriment, and
these abound in every brook and pond, so that the fry may usually be'

236 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

left to take care of themselves for awhile. The pond into which they
are admitted should he carefully cleansed, and should not contain any
of the larger fish. A small stream running into the pond, up which
the young can proceed, would he peculiarly favorahle for the prosperity
of trout. Left thus to themselves, Mr. Knoche has generally found
about half the original number at the end of the year, the rest having
perished or escaped. When little water can be commanded, and only
small artificial reservoirs can be used, feeding becomes necessary.
Small trout devour with avidity coagulated blood, boiled or dried
flesh, fragments of boiled fish, or any other animal substance which
can be divided into fine fibers, thus resembling worms while sinking
in the water.

12. It is important to determine what particular species should be
selected for artificial breeding in particular localities. As a question
of profit, it is obvious that we should breed the kinds most valued in
the market for which they are bred, commanding the highest price,
and best accommodated to the natural or artificial conditions at the
disposal of the breeder. If fish from distant localities promise a better
return than native species, they may be introduced. On these points
no precise rules can be laid down. The introduction of fish from
remote localities is not difficult. The best period for transporting the
eggs is, as already noticed, when the eyes of the embryo appear
through the shell.

13. Of the success of private operations, where the breeding is arti-
ficially conducted from the spawning to the market, an opinion may
be formed from the following statement of Mr. Knoche :

' ' For the last six years I have hatched, annually, about eight hun-
dred fish (trout) from a thousand or twelve hundred eggs. At the
end of a year from hatching, I seldom find more than half that num-
ber in the pond, the rest having perished or escaped^ probably the
latter, as it is very difficult to make a pond so tight that the fry cannot
sometimes pass out, at either the inlet or the outlet of the water. My
fish, in general, thrive well, and for the last three years my ponds have
supplied, annually, from three to four hundred artificially-bred trout,
of three and four years old, those of the latter age weighing from three
quarters of a pound to a pound."

FISH AS AN ARTICLE OF DIET.

It is generally admitted that fish supply an article of diet at once
palatable^ nutritious^ easy of digestion in most cases, and conducive to
good health. But what are their nutritive qualities as compared with
other kinds of animal food? whether different species of fish differ ma-
terially in degree of nutritive form? and whether, as food, fish possess
any peculiar or special properties? These are questions of great inter-
est to consumers offish, but to which it is even yet difficult to give a
satisfactory answer. An inquiry into these points was made, a few
years ago, by Dr. John Davy, inspector general of army hospitals,
&c., the results of which he read before the Koyal Society of Edin-
burg. Taking for granted the proposition "that the nutritive power
of all the ordinary articles of animal food, at least of those composed

FISH BREEDING.

237

priucipally of muscular fiber, or of muscle and fat, to whatever class
belonging, is approximately denoted by their several specific gravities,
and by the amount of solid matter which each contains, as determined
by thorough drying." Dr. Davy subjected portions of several species
offish, and also several kinds of meat and other alimentary substances,
to the test of very accurate processes, in order to ascertain their several
nutritive powers. The following tables show some of the results, the
fish, selected from those upon which Dr. Davy experimented, being
either common to both shores of the Atlantic, or quite similar to fishes
known by the same name among us :

TABLE I

Species offish.

Specific
gravity.

Solid matter,
per cent.

Time when
obtained.

Haddock

Hake

Pollock

Whiting

Common cod

Mackerel

Salmon

Trout

Smelt

Eel

1056
1054
1060
1062
1059
1043
1071
1053
1050
lOGO
1034

20.2
17.4
19.3
21.5
19.2
37.9
29.4
22.5
18.7
19.3
33.6

August.

October.

March.

April.

October.

March.

October

March.

June.

TABLE II

Kinds of food

Specific
gravity-

Solid matter,
per cent

Time.

Beef, sirloin

Veal, loin

Mutton, leg

Pork, loin

Common fowl, breast
Grey plover, braast...,

1078
1076
1069
1080
1075
1072

26.9
27.2
26.5
30.5
27.2
30.1

March.

November.

January.

November.

''These results," says Dr. Davy, " I wish to have considered merely
as approximate ones. Casting the eye over the first table, it will be
seen that the range of nutritive power, as denoted by the specific
gravity and the portion of solid matter, is pretty equable, except in
a very few instances, and chiefly those of the salmon and the mack-
erel ; the one exhibiting a high specific gravity, with a large propor-
tion of solid matter ; the other, a low specific gravity, with a still
larger proportion of matter, namely : muscle and oil, and, in conse-
quence of the latter, the inferior specific gravity."

Oil also abounded in the eel, and hence the large amount of
residuum it afforded.

Comparing, seriation, the first table with the second, the degree of

238 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

difference of nutritive power of those articles standing highest in each,
appears to be inconsiderable, and not great in most of the others.
Thus the salmon, the mackerel, and the eel contain more solid matter
than beef ; and the specific gravity of salmon is greater than that of
mutton. These results are certainly surprising^, and not in accordance
with popular and long-received notions.

"That fish generally are easy of digestion," proceeds Dr. Davy,
"excepting such as have oil interfused in their muscular tissue, ap-
pears to be commonly admitted as the result of experience — a result
that agrees well with the greater degree of softness of their muscular
fiber, comparing it with either that of birds or of the mammalia, such
as are used for food. A more interesting consideration is, whether
fish, as a diet, is more conducive to health than the "flesh of the ani-
mals just mentioned, and especially to the prevention of scrofulous
and tuberculous disease. From such information as I am able to
collect, / am disposed to tliiiik that they are. It is vv^ell known that
fishermen and their families, living principally on fish, are commonly
healthy — may I not say above the average? and I think it is pretty
certain that they are less subject to the diseases referred to than any other
class, without exception."

This statement is proved by reliable statistics, collected with care by
Dr. Davy, who proceeds to remark that if this exemption be mainly
owing to diet, and that a fish didt, it may be presumed that there
enters into the composition of fish some element not common to other
kinds of food. This element is believed by him to be iodine, distinct
traces of which have been found in every instance in which he sought
for it in sea-fish, though not so strongly marked in the migratory
fish, and not at all in the fresh-water fish. The medicinal effects of
cod-liver oil in mitigating, if not in curing, pulmonary consumption,
appear to be. well established, and as this oil contains iodine, the
analogy seems to strengthen the inference that sea-fish generally may
be alike beneficial.

In concluding this imperfect notice of fish culture, which we hope
to follow by a second in the next Keport, we refer those readers who
may have become interested in the subject, and who may desire to ob-
tain further information as to many points upon which the space here
accorded will not permit us to be more explicit, to two works, which
are easily accessible to American readers, and which they will find
useful assistants in practical fish breeding. They are, "A Complete
Treatise on Artificial Fish Breeding," &c., published originally in
1854, by D. Appleton & Co., New York; and "A Treatise on the
Artificial Propagation of certain kinds of Fish/' &c., by T. Garlick,
M. D., published at Cleveland, Ohio, by Thomas Brown, ISST.

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 239

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING.

BY HEKRY F. FRENCH, OF EXETER, NEW HAIUPSIIIRE.

Even a casual ol)servatioii of the operation of plowing in England
must suggest to an American farmer a series of questions for solution,
respecting both the form and structure, and the mode of use of the plow.
The plows made by Ransome and Simes, which I saw on exhibition
at the shows of the Royal Agricultural Society, and of the JSuffolk
County Society, perhaps rank as high, at present, as any plow in Eng-
land. I was informed, at the warehouses of the manufacturers, at
Ipswich, that their plow in common use as a seed plow, for two horses,
weighs two hundred and eighty pounds, and its length is twelve feet.
It turns a furrow of eight or nine inches in width, and five or six in
depth, which may be increased to one often by seven inches.

Actual experiment, at the warehouses in Boston, shows the average
weight of American plows designed for the same work, with wheel
and cutter, to be about two hundred pounds, and their average length
about seven and a half feet.

The English implement is entirely of iron, of fine workmanship and
finish, with two wheels, and is much less simple in its structure than
the American ; yet the American plow seems to be more firm and
strong than the other. Indeed, the extreme length of the handles and
of the beam of the English plow, notwithstanding they are of iron,
gives to a hand accustomed to the American implement a feeling of
insecurity, as if the material were elastic, and would not be stiff
enough to control the work were a stump or fast rock to be encountered
in the furrow. This apprehension, however, is idle in most English
fields, which for a thousand years, perhaps, have felt the pressure of
the plowshare.

But the difference between English and American plowing is fully
as striking as that between the plows. The worst-plowed field which
I saw in a summer's ramble through old England might be said, liter-
ally, to appearance, to be done better than the best-plowed field that
can be found in a New England farm. There seems to be no such
thing in England as a crooked or irregular furrow, but, however ex-
tensive the field, the work appears uniformly as straight as a line
could be laid down by a civil engineer with his instruments ; and
whether the operation be really more thoroughly performed than with
us or not, it has at least the merit of being accomplished precisely as
the plowman desires.

Our first impression upon these observations would naturally be,
that notwithstanding the English plow is more clumsy and expensive
than the American, yet that the former must have advantages of
st]*ucture, which, for use in old and thoroughly-tilled fields, at least,
more than compensate for these objections. Yet this^ however natural,
would be a hasty conclusion.

Within twenty miles of Ipswich, where Ransome's highly-finished

240 AGRICULTUEAL REPORT. ^

plows are manufactured, in a week whicTi was spent on a farm and
among intelligent farmers, in the county of Suffolk, an entirely differ-
ent plow was generally in use — an implement so ungainly, so large
and ill-fashioned, that it seems as if it must have been disinterred with
the stone coffins of the Norman knights, which occasionally turn up in
that neighborhood, or have been found in the antediluvian deposits of
coprolites, for which Suffolk county is famous.

The plow referred to is that which is usually known in English
books as the Norfolk plow, the peculiarities of which are, that it has
but one handle, and that its beam, running upward at an angle of
about forty-five degrees from the level surface of the ground, rests upon
a frame- work supported by an axle, upon which are two wheels of
about the size of the small wheels of a Yankee wagon.

This is one of the oldest forms of the plow now in use. A drawing
of it may be found in Gregory's Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, pub-
lished in England, in 1807, under the title "Husbandry."

The following extract from the same article will indicate primitive
notions which its writer entertained on the subject of plowing. They
are hardly less antiquated than the implement in question :

''Upon all light soils," he says, "'it is necessary to preserve, at six
or eight inches below the surface, what farmers call a pan, that is,
the staple at that depth should be kept unbroken, by which means
manure will be kept longer on the top ; and, in dry seasons, the less
depth the pan has, the less liable the corn will be to burn, provided
the pan consists of earth and not of rock, because the roots of the corn
will find more moisture by striking against a body of close earth than
they will in a greater depth of wallow earth, as it is evident the former
preserves more moisture in dry seasons."

A drawing of "the original two- wheeled plow," described also as
the Hertfordshire plow, may be found in the "Compleat Body of Hus-
bandry," the second edition of which was published in 1758. It does
not appear, from this edition, when the first was published, but the
engravings, said to be from original drawings, appear very ancient.
This "original two-wheeled plow" there figured, is very nearly like
the Norfolk plow^ as shown in Gregory's Dictionary, and that now in
common use in Suffolk county.

Those which I saw were of such style of workmanship and finish as
common mechanics on a farm would be likely to give to their prodw>-
tions. They certainly had no claim to the beauty of simplicity, or to
the higher beauty of scientific adaptation to the purpose of their
creation ; yet the work done with this implement, so rude and so
ancient, seemed, in the skillful hands of English plowmen, to be just
as straight and even as that performed by the polished and modern,
and more artistic product of Mr. Eansome's shops.

And thus we have the mystery of EnglisH superiority in plowing
solved, by the superior skill of English plowmen, without necessarily
admitting the superiority of English plows. A plowman in England
is a plowman always. Destined for that position from his birth, if
not long before predestinated to it, embarrassed by no hopes or aspira-
tions for a higher station in life, he takes hold of the plow-handle in
his early youth, he practices in that more equable climate almost every

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 241

day of every montli in every year of liis life, to perfect himself in this
one operation. Trials of skill, in which small pecuniary rewards, or
the praise of his employer, are accorded to the winner, for the hest
performance in the plowing match, are not unfrequent; and so, hy the
division of labor incident to large farms, and hy a manual dexterity
and accuracy which only long practice can give, the English plow-
man, with the implement, whatever its form, to which he is accus-
tomed, produces, on the particular farm to which he is attached as a
laborer, a result which challenges the admiration of all.

The question, however, between the English and American plows
of modern construction is still open : Does the weight or the length,
or does any other peculiarity of the English plow, upon the whole,
contribute to the utility of the implement?

It may be said that differences in the soil, or the condition of the
surface, render any such inquiry fruitless to us, because a plow that
may be suitable and best for old fields in England, may be quite unfit
for the newljr-cleared lands of the New World. Such, manifestly, is
the fact, but much of this New World has already been converted into
broad, clear fields, and much of our best alluvial and prairie land
becomes, by a few years' culture, as free from obstructions as the oldest
fields of Europe.

And again, as has been stated, the English plow, of w^hatever form,
is of far greater weight than any American plow, and should, there-
fore, other things being equal, possess, proportionably, a greater
strength, and so be suited to heavier work.

Had we found the American plow the heavier of the two, it would
have been at least a plausible explanation that our new lands require
a heavier and stronger implement than those of a country already
thoroughly subdued.

The very great diversity of structure of the various plows in use in
England itself has not failed to attract the attention of scientific agri-
culturists, as well as of plow manufacturers in England, for it is
manifest that the difference in the structure of the plows in use in the
different sections of that country cannot be accounted for upon the
idea that the difference in soil and crops require the use of implements
so diverse, especially when it is known that, throughout the varying
climate and soil of Scotland, there is but one form of plow in use, or
rather it should be said, there is in Scotland, in the plows in use, no
variation in principle, and but little in detail. In England, on
the contrary, with no greater variation of climate or soil, there are in
use, almost side by side, plows varying from each other in structure as
much as any of them are distinguished from those in general use in
the United States.

Although, at various times, ardent advocates for progress have an-
nounced that the plow was soon to be superseded by some implement
that shall stir the ground by forking or digging, propelled eithei" by
steam or beasts, as may be convenient, yet it is probable that an
implement which, for two thousand years, and probably much longer,
has retained its position as the first and most important agent in pre-
paring the soil for the seed, will remain in use long and extensively
enough to warrant a careful study of its structure and mode of opera-
16 A

242 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

tion. It is proposed, tlierefore, to examine some experiments that
have heen recently made in England, with a view to ascertain the
effect of the weight and different structure of the plow upon its draft.

It is a fact well known to practical farmers^ that the draft of differ-
ent plows, turning the same width and depth of furrow, in the same
field, and performing the work in substantially the same manner,
varies so much as to be plainly practicable in its effect upon the team.
The use of the dynamometer, by which the power exerted upon the
plow, or, in a word, the draft can be actually measured, has confirmed
and made definite this point, which before rested upon conjecture, or
mere estimate. It has thus been ascertained, by a trial of ten different
plows, each of a different make from the others, that the difference in
draft, in performing precisely the same work, amounted to forty-five
per cent. The experiment was made in turning a furrow with each
plow, nine inches in width by five inches in depth, in five different
kinds of soil, and noting carefully the results as shown by the dyna-
mometer. Taking the average of the five trials, it appeared that, while
the plow of lightest draft required a power of three hundred and one
pounds to work it, the plow of heaviest draft required a power of four
hundred and forty-one pounds to perform precisely the same work, and
the other eight required the greatest possible variety of power between
these extremes.

At a trial reported in the transactions of the New York State Agri-
cultural Society for 1843, page 61, it was found that the average of
resistance, or the draft of twenty-four different jdIows, tested by the
dynamometer, ranged from two hundred and ninety-eight to four hun-
dred and eighty-three pounds, showing that more than sixty per cent,
more power was required to move one plow than the other, in the
work of turning a furrow twelve inches wide by six inches deep.

In another series of experiments, in the transactions of the same
society for 1849, page 559, in a trial of twelve different plows, we find
the draft to vary all along from two hundred and ninety pounds to
four hundred and ninety-three pounds, being a difference of seventy
per cent, in performing the same work of turning a furrow of twelve
by six inches.

Surely differences so great as these in the labor expended in the use
of the most common and indispensable implement known to farmers,
call for the most careful examination of causes, and the fullest expo-
sition of principles and results.

The writer is not aware that any very reliable experiments have
ever been instituted to test, by the dynamometer, the comparative
draft of English and American plows. A statement of such an ex-
periment at the World's Exhibition at London, in 1851, is found in
the transactions of the New York Agricultural Society for that year,
but neither the width nor depth of the furrow is given, and the draft
is so great, if we are correct in supposing the words ^^ points of resist-
ance'" to mean pounds of resistance, as clearly to indicate that the
trials were not well conducted. The attention of the plow makers has
generally been turned to the form of the mold-board, perhaps more
than any other point, in their attempts to construct jdIows of easy
draft. This is doubtless an important consideration as well with

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 243

respect to light draft as to good work, but tlie system of experi-
ments under consideration seems to indicate that far less depends upon
the exact form of the mold-board, as to the draft, than has gene-
rally been supposed, and that the weight of the implement itself, and
the resistance to the coulter in cutting the furrow-slice, affect the
draft far more. And the same experiments furnish results, which
will probably be surprising to all who have not witnessed or read of
similar trials, as to the effect upon the draft, of the use of wheels
upon plows, either under the beam or sole-plate, as to the effect of the
depth of the furrow, and as to the influence of velocity on the draft.
For the sake of system and convenience of reference, the results of
such well-conducted experiments as have come to my knowledge, with
such suggestions as have occurred to me, or been gathered from reliable
sources, will be given under the following arrangement :

1. The influence of the weight of the plow on its draft.

2. The relative influence pf the mold-board, or turning process, and
of the share and coulter, or cutting process, upon the draft.

3. The influence of the depth of the furrow upon the draft.

4. The influence of velocity on the draft.

5. The influence of wheels of various kinds on the draft, and their
utility.

6. The eflect of the length of the various parts, as the beam, the
mold-board, and the handles, upon the operation of the plow.

First. The influence of the weight of the ploiv on its draft.

We are accustomed, perhaps, to regard the weight of the plow
rather as affecting the convenient and easy handling of it to the plow-
man, than as of much importance to the labor of the team. We readily
perceive that it is far easier to take from the tool-room, to place in the
cart, to take out again and* place upon the land, an implement of one
hundred pounds weiglit, than of twice that weight.

All who have held the plow know practically how much more con-
venient a light plow is than a heavy one, in setting in and throwing
out at the end of the land; and especially does a farmer upon a rough
farm appreciate this difference, where, as, indeed, on many New Eng-
land fields, the plow is thrown or lifted out, and set in, at almost
every rod of its progress, to avoid stumps, or stones, or roots of some
almost imperishable tree, felled, perhaps, a half century ago. Few,
however, will be prepared for the results which have been developed
by the experiments now on record. A little reflection will satisfy us
that the draft of the plow is composed of two elements, one of which
is the mere force necessary to move the plow, resting on its sole, in an
empty furrow, or on the surface of the ground, and the other force
necessary to cut and turn the furrow, or do the work of plowing. The
heavier the plow the greater the force necessary to move it along the
surface. In a series of experiments published by Mr. Pusey in the
English Agricultural Society Journal, it appears that the average
draft of nine different plows, in an empty furrow, was in proportion
to the weight as three to four ; that is to say, that a plow of three

244 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

hundred pounds weiglit required a force, as shown by the dynamome-
ter, of two hundred and twenty-five pounds to move it, when not at
work. By the same experiments, it appears that the average draft of
the same plows, working and turning a furrow nine inches by five,
was a fraction less than double their draft in the empty furrow. Later
experiments confirm this result ; and it may be taken as demonstrated
that, in the use of the heavy English plow, about one half of all the
force of the team is expended in moving the implement, when at ordi-
nary light work !

Weights being pat upon the plows, the trials were repeated several
times, the weights upon each plow being increased, and also the depth
of furrow.

An examination of the carefully-arranged tables given as the result
of these experiments, seems clearly to establish that the weight of the
plow is a constant element in the draft ; so that, if a plow require two
hundred pounds more force than another to move it in an empty fur-
row^ it will, other things being equal, require the same additional two
hundred pounds of force to move it when at work, at any depth, in
any soil.

Taking_, then, the draft of the plow in the empty furrow, which may
be called the surface draft, to be three-fourths of the weight of the
implement, and the weight of English plows for common work to be
that given me at the factory of Kansome & Simes, two hundred and
eighty pounds, and that of the American plows to be one hundred
pounds, we have the difference in the draft, one hundred and thirty-
five pounds, or three-fourths of the difference in weight.

When we consider that about one-half of the draft of the English
plow is expended in merely moving it, we see that, either by accident
or science, we have, in the United States, made a decided improvement
upon the mother country in the reduction of the weight of this imple-
ment. No means are afforded us of estimating their comparative
strength, but from observation and information obtained on English
farms, my impression is that the compact and simple structure of our
plows renders them less liable to break or get oiit of repair than the
best modern iron plows of English manufacture. How the greater
length of the mold-board affects the draft of plows may be better con-
sidered after examining our next point.

Secondly. The relative influence of the mold-hoard, or turning process,
and of the share and coulter, or cutting process, upon the draft.

The soil upon which the experiments^ of which the results are now
to be stated, were made is described as a deep, firm, steady loam, free
from stones — a one-year-old clover bed. The trials were made by first
measuring the draft of the plow when at work in the ordinary way,
and then by removing the mold-board, and leaving the share and
coulter to do their v/ork of cutting, without the furrow. The furrow,
in this trial was nine by six inches. The whole draft of the plow at
work was thirty-four stones. The removal of the mold-board dimin-
ished the draft only to thirty-one stones, so that three stones only, or
ten per cent of the whole draft, seemed to be occasioned by the mold-

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 245

board. The surfacG draft of this plow was twelve stones, and subtract-
ing that from thirty-one, we have nineteen stones as the labor of
cutting the furrow-slice.

Analyzing the process thus far, if those experiments are correct and
reliable, as the foundation for general estimates, we find that about
thirty-five per cent, of the labor of plowing, at the depth of six inches,
is expended in moving the implement, about fifty-five to the operation
of cutting the furrow-slice at the bottom and side, and only about ten
per cent, to the action of the mold-board, or process of turning the
furrow. It will be observed that, in these experiments the furrow is
deeper by one inch than in the former experiments, where the result
showed the surface draft to be about fifty per cent, of the whole labor.
A further statement will show that this variation in tlie depth of the
furrow will just about account for the difference between thirty-five and
fifty per cent, set down as the surface draft in the two cases.

Thus we are brought to the consideration of the third point pro-
posed:

Thirdly. The influence of the depth ofthefurroio upon the draft.

From the sort of natural desire which men have to establish some
principle, rather than because there was any evidence of such a law, it
has been supposed that the draft of the plow increases with the depth
of the furrow, in mathematical proportion, that is to say, according to
the squares of the depth.

But the investigations already made, though far from satisfactory as
establishing any principle or law of increase, are conclusive upon the
proposition that the increase of draft is far less than the proportion
named. Much depends upon the form of the plow, and whether it is
made, in these trials, to work much deeper than its design or structure
warrants.

Much depends, also, upon the subsoil, and especially upon the ques-
tion whether, in the experiments upon this point, the plow is run at
a depth so great as to strike into the hard pan, or stratum, upon
which the plow sole has, for many years of tillage, run ; and more
than all_, perhaps, depends upon the particular work in hand, whether
it be in a tough sward or in an old field. The English experiments
were tried in a clover field of one year, where there could be nothing
like the matted turf of our mowing lands. Taking the average of
their trials, with different plows, it was found that it required an in-
crease of power of about ninety pounds, upon increasing the furrow
from four inches to six, and an increase of power of three hundred
pounds to run the plow eight and a half inches deep. An examination
of the details of these trials seems to indicate, what, perhaps, might be
anticipated, that the greater the draft of the plow, in a shallow fur-
row, the less its increase of draft in the deeper furrow.

This may readily be accounted for upon the idea that the heavier
plows, used in the experiments, v/ere intended, and properly con-
structed for deeper work. From all the results yet published, it would
be fair to infer, that an increase of depth, not beyond the reasonable
capacity of the implement, involves an increase of drafts less than half

246 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

that stated in the books as the rule ; that is, according to the squares
of the depth.

FouKTHLT. The influence of velocity on the draft.

We are accustomed to associate the idea of increased speed with that
of greatly increased power. With regard to ships, canal boats, and
the like, it is considered a general rule, that in doubling the velocity
of a body moving through a fluid, that body not only impinges on
twice as many particles of the fluid, but on each of them with twice its
former force; so that the resistance increases as the squares of the
velocity. The velocity of locomotives upon railways is limited by
various circumstances, so that it is well understood that a low rate of
speed is far more economical than a higher rate. But the resistance
opposed to the plan in its work is mainly attributable to one prin-
ciple, that of friction, and it is a well established proposition that
friction is not, in general, increased by an increase of velocity.

In accordance with this principle, the results of careful experiments,
with the dynamometer, with the same teams and plows, at various
rates of speed, indicate no difference whatever in the draft of the plow,
when at work at the speed of one and a half miles, and three and a
half miles per hour. It was found, however, that although the average
draft was substantially the same, at any rate of speed between one and
a half and five miles per hour, yet that the oscillations in draft were
greatly increased, that is to say that the draft at a slow rate was more
regular than at a higher rate of speed. This is readily accounted for,
because of obstructions in the soil. A stone, for instance, upon which
the plowshare should strike with double the usual velocity, would
cause a momentary increase of draft, followed by a decrease, as the
plow should slip past it. The principle thus practically established,
that increase of velocity in plowing involves no increase of draft, is of
the highest importance, as respects the question whether slow or fast
moving animals should be employed in this work. An ox-team, mov-
ing at the rate of one and a half miles per hour, will plow an acre,
turning a furrow nine inches wide, in seven hours and twenty minutes ;
while a horse-team, moving at the rate of two and three quarter miles
per hour, will accomplish the same work in four hours, and the actual
power exerted on the plow is the same in both cases. Hence the im-
portance of employing active animals in all labor of this kind for
.which theyare suited. Slowanimals, like oxen, cannot, with or without
a load, be driven rapidly; but within the natural walking pace of the
animals employed, there seems to be an actual waste of power in pro-
portion to the increase of the time employed upon the plow, or. in other
words, the same force is exerted every moment of eight hours in plow-
ing an acre, at a given width and depth of furrow, as is exerted in the
four hours in which a horse- team ma,y perform it, at a fast walk.
There is, however, another element which cannot be estimated by the
dynamometer, or any other instrument, yet should enter into our con-
sideration of this topic. Every animal, in moving, with or without a
load, carries the burden of his own body, and it is probably true that
this burden is somewhat in proportion to his weight, and to the speed
with which he moves.

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 247

To illustrate this, we have only to look at the facts developed by the
use of the dynamometer in plowing over hills. It is found that the
draft of the plow is very little varied by plowing up or down a descent,
while every farmer knows very well that his team walks much harder
in ascending than in descending.

So if a team be driven up a steep hill without a load, the animals
obviously exert themselves more than in moving at the same pace on
level ground. The greater difficulty of ascending may be partly
accounted for upon the common principle of gravitation. In raising
himself to the top of a hill, to a position twenty feet higher than he
before stood, the animal has exerted as much power, in addition to his
effort on the levels as would be, mathematically, necessary to raise
the same dead weight the given height in the same time ; and some-
thing more may be added, for the distorted action of the muscles, and in
plowing for the disturbance of the true line of draft. Even upon level
ground, it requires some exertion for any animal to move, and this
exertion is probably proportioned, in some measure, to the rapidity of
the motion. Any calculation upon this point, based upon the difficult
theories of momentum would be of no practical value. Assuming, as
we may, upon the facts disclosed by the experiments referred to, that
the draft of the plow is not substantially increased by the velocity of
its movement, it is for the farmer to consider the natural pace of his
animals, the saving of time of his laborers, as plowmen or drivers, by
rapid work, the increased danger of injury to team or implements,
where the ground is obstructed by stumps or stones, and make the best
practical use of the developments of science made for his benefit.

Fifthly. The influence of wheels of various hinds upon the draft, and

their utility.

The greater part of the plows used in England are supported by two
wheels, one on each side of the beam, usually arranged so that one
wheel runs in the furrow an^ the other on the unplowed land, there
being a difference in their radius of about the depth of the furrow.
They are, however, separately adjustable, so as to be changed to gauge
furrows of different depth. The theory, as stated to the writer by a
farmer, who was defending the use of the old Norfolk plow with its
high wheels, is plausible enough in favor of wheels. The draft of the
plow, said he, results from its friction on the furrow-slice and on the
bottom of the furrow, and whatever v/eight rests upon the wheels is
taken from the sole of the plow, and relieves the draft so much as the
difference between rolling and dragging friction. Various trials have
from time to time been made in England with a view to determine the
influence of wheels upon the draft. Mr. Handley's trials, reported in
the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, made with four different
plows, indicated an advantage from the use of wheels of about fifteen
per cent. Mr. Pusey's experiments made the difference still greater,
amounting to twenty-two per cent, in favor of the wheels, Mr. Morton,
in a series of carefully conducted experiments, made with full knowledge
of the previous trials by the other gentlemen named, arrives at the
conclusion, that when a plow is properly set, the addition or removal
of a wheel will make no material difference in the draft. There is a

248 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

difficulty in determining this point accurately. Mr. Pusey, in his
trials, took off tlie wheels from a wheel-plow, and made the comparison
hetween that plow, thus used as a swing-plow, and the same plow used
with the two wheels which belonged to it. Now it is ohvious that a
plow properly constructed for use with wheels, and, of course, to rest
a portion of its weight upon them, might be increased very much in
its draft, by throwing that weight upon the sole of the plow, or other-
wise gauging its furrow by the mode of holding, or of attaching the
team to it, to prevent its burrowing too deep. On the whole, it is
believed that the draft of the plow can be very little effected by the use
of wheels. Most American sod-plows are used with a single small
wheel, or truck, to gauge the furrows. Sometimes this is directly
under the end of the beam, and sometimes by its side, and, so far as
gauging the furrow is concerned, is almost indispensable, but it is not
apparent why the draft of a plow should be diminished by throwing a
weight on the wheels, if the plow could be so constructed as to run at
the desired depth uniformly without such wheels.

It is manifest that with the wheels, or without, there is the same
cutting process to be performed^ which, as has been seen, causes more
than half the draft ; there is the same friction upon the mold-board,
which must cause nearly, if not quite, the same pressure and friction
on the sole ; there is the same weight of the implement to be dragged,
and, certainly, it would move more easily on wheels, if the plow were
so constructed as to rest part of its weight on the beam, when not at
work, which is not ordinarily the case. What gain that can be by so
arranging the parts that the draft of the team shall bring a weight
down upon the wheels which support the beam is not perceived, but it
seems that the force which thus bears down upon the beam were better
applied in overcoming the legitimate and unavoidable resistance of the
soil to the plow in its proper work. If the wheels are useless, it is
sufficient objection to them that they increase the weight and cost of
the implement. If they are useful merely as a gauge of the depth of
furrow, the single wheel, as being more ^simple and easily adjusted,
and as being a lesser obstacle in handling the plow, especially in short
work, seems preferable.

Sixthly. Tlie effect of the length of the various parts, as the beam,
the mold-board, and the handles, on the operation of the plow.

The English plows are, on an average, two fifths longer than
American plows. There is an obvious reason why short plows must
be used in the new lands of our country, and in the stony and uneven
lands of New England. Where a stump is to be avoided in every ten
feet, or a stone to be scaled at every rod ; where the share catches a
hinder root, and the team is to be backed every five minutes through
the day, and the plow dragged backward by main strength ; where it
is to be set in again as often as it is thus thrown out, with a precision
of aim equal to that required in rifle-shooting, manifestly nothing but
a short, stiff, strong implement can possibly be used. For such land
the long English plow has no pretense of fitness. But upon the old
fields and bottom lands, upon the prairies, after they are once broken,
there seems to be no reason why the same j)lows which would really
be most suitable on English farms should not be here most serviceable

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 249

The additional lengtli of the English plows seems to he pretty equally
distributed between the handles, the mold-board, and the beam.

Great length of handles gives greater power in controlling the move-
ment of the plow, and greater length of beam gives greater steadiness
to the draft ; yet the increased length of both these parts necessarily
increases their weight, upon the principle of the lever, the greater the
length the greater the strength to resist the power applied.

As to the length of the mold-board, it is frequently contended that
the longer the curve which turns the furrow the less the resistance,
the mold-board being regarded as operating as a wedge; but this
idea is open to many objections.

This part of the subject, however, involves so many considerations,
which belong rather to the plow-maker than the farmer, that it is
hardly appropriate for discussion here. Whatever may be the true
theory as to the length of the mold-boards, its increased length does
not necessarily involve the increase of the length of the other parts.
To the practical working of the long English plows, there is an
obvious objection in the minds of all who have seen them at work in
small fields. Horses are almost exclusively used there upon the plow,
and are harnessed one before the other, and with greater length of
draft-chains than we are accustomed to use.

As a consequence of this ''long drawn out" establishment, a wide
headland is left, utterly beyond the reach of the plow, so that where,
in America, we back up and set in our short plow close to the fence,
the English farmer sends a man with a spade to work a half day in
finishing up the land. Where labor is cheap, as in England, this is of
much smaller importance than it would be with us.

As a general summary of the matter, as to the comparative merits
of the English and American plows, it is believed that we have
improved greatly upon the models, in the lightness of our implement,
in the less cost of it, and by dispensing with their more complicated
arrangement of wheels. Whether, by shortening the whole imple-
ment about two-fifths, we have not sacrificed to our peculiar wants
upon new fields something of the nice control which the length of
beam and handle gives to the English plowman, is, at least, ques-
tionable. Whether we have gained or lost by our changes in the
length and form of the mold-board, is still undetermined, and must
remain so till botk implements are tested, in the same field, by the
dynamometer.

Finally, there can be no doubt that, generally, their plowmen have
more skill in their business than ours in New England ; and he must
be a careless observer, or blinded by prejudice, who does not see that
their labor in this important department is better performed than in
our own country.

STEAM PLOWS IN ENGLAND.

Fowler's Steam Plow.

Steam cultivation is attracting great attention among the foremost
agriculturists in England. The two steam implements which seem

250 AGRICULTURAL REPORT,

now to dispute for supremacy are Fowler's plow and Smith's (of
Wolston) cultivator. The former performs its work strictly by
plowing, the latter, as the inventor elegantly expresses it, by '' smash-
ing up" the soil, by means of teeth operating like a spade to stir,
without subverting the soil.

To Fowler's steam plow was awarded, at the exhibition of theEoyal
Agricultural Society, at Chester, in England, in 1858, the grand prize
of £500, and at Warwick the new prize of £50, in 1859, which fur-
nishes the best evidence we can have of the comparative merits of
English implements, and entitles it to a prominent place in any article
on the subject. At Ipswich, in England, on the 4th of July, 1857, I
saw in operation Fowler's steam plow. Having previously seen, at
the workshop of Ransome & Simes, the same implement, and having
had its principles of operation carefully explained, I spent several
hours with it, while actually at work upon a large field, where it had
already plowed many acres. It was, while I observed it, turning
furrows seven inches deep, by about ten in width, carrying three at a
time, and performing its work as well as it could be performed in the
usual way with horses. I carefully paced out the length of the
furrows, and measured their depth and widths, and, with my watch
in my hand, timed the ojDerations. The machine was then plowing
one acre per hour.

The arrangement was to use four plows and open four furrows at
each passage across the field, and in that way the labor accomplished
would be one third more. It is difficult, without drawings for illus-
tration, to describe intelligibly the details of such an implement, but
its general plan of operations may be readily understood. The plows
are arranged in two gangs, of three or more, one gang at each end of
a heavy framework, whicli is balanced across an axle, supported by
two large wheels, like those of a heavy gun-carriage. This frame-
work, with the plows, is drawn across the field by a stationary engine.
As it is drawn northerly, for example, in its work, the frame which
carries the plows is borne down, so as to lift the gang of plows at the
northerly end high into the air, bringing down the southerly end,
with its plows, so that they enter the soil lor plowing. The depth is
gauged, mainly, by a large wheel at each end of the framework,
opposite the plows, which wheel is, in turn, lifted into the air or
brought down to the surface, with the gang of 'plows to which it
belongs.

Two men sat upon the machine, one to guide its motion, by apj)ro-
priate machinery, the other to make signals with a flag, or do any
other useful work that occasion might require. The engine in use was
upon one side of the field, and was called a stationary engine. It was
drawn to the field by horses, but had powers of locomotion sufficient,
I think, to run itself along the headland. The jdIow was drawn toward
the engine by a wire rqi)e, which passed across the field, round a pul-
ley, made fast at the opposite headland. This pulley was held by what
was called an anchor, which anchor was in the shape of a four-wheeled
low cart or car, loaded heavily with stones. The wheels of this car
were of iron, and sharp at the edges, so that they cut down nearly to
the axle. This anchor was drawn along the headland by a windlass.

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 251

worked by a man, in a direction at right angles with tlie furrow, so
that the strain upon the pulley was at right angles with the track of
the wheels. In justice to the inventor, it should be stated that he had
already, it was said, constructed machinery, to be worked by the engine,
to move the anchor, and so dispense with the man at the windlass.

It will be seen at once that this machine could only be of practical
utility on level, clear fields, of large extent. It could only be used
upon level fields of uniform surface, because the plows are set in an
unyielding frame, and must run at the same level, thus running
deeper across a hillock, and more shoal in a small depression. They
are arranged not so as to be raised and depressed, each separately, as
the machine is moving, but the whole gang is acted upon at once.
Again, the machine would be of no use in a small inclosure, because
of the broad headlands requisite to accommodate the engine on one
side, and the anchor on the other.

It could be of little use in a field obstructed by stones, because of
the inequalities of surface produced by them, and because, if one of
the plows meets an obstruction too obstinate to yield, the power of the
engine must generally be sufficient to break the plovv^, or, what is more
common, the rope. The breaking of a plow must involve, at least, the
necessity of a delay sufficient to detach it and substitute another, and
such a delay of so large and expensive a force as we shall presently see is
employed, must be of considerable importance. The breaking of the
rope, which I was informed by the workmen was of frequent occurrence,
is soon remedied by splicing it, but is, probably, a constant source of
annoyance. As, however, it is impossible to foresee all obstructionSj
and the engine must exert great- power, it is, perhaps, best to make
the rope the weakest part of the machinery, as it is the most easily
repaired.

The force employed in this operation, as I witnessed it, beside the
engine, consisted of five men and a boy, namely, the engineer, who
remained by the engine^ a boy to carry coal, one man upon the plow
to manage it, another man, who rode part of the time on the plow,
and who ran along before it to remove pulleys or rollers over which
the rope traversed, to keep it from friction on the ground, another
man to tend the windlass and anchor, and the other to keep the rope
in place, with a crowbar, that it might wind properly round the drums
of the engine.

In estimating the value of such an implement as this, there are
certain elements always to enter into our calculations. First. The
amount of labor performed. A span of horses and a plowman would,
in England, as a regular day's work, plow one acre of such land as
that under experiment.- They would work six hours, without feeding,
and in that time complete the day's work. This is the practice, I
think, in most of England as to working horses. Six plowmen and
twelve horses would, tor six hours, perform the same work as the five
men and boy, and the engine, and all the machinery. But the engine
would not then be fatigued, but might labor on, while the horses must
rest. Stilly taking into account the liability of complicated machinery
and of so great a length of rope to accidents which must cause delay,
perhaps the steam plow could hardly be expected to be actually at

252 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

work nine hours per day, any more tlian tlie horses. Second. The
expense and time employed in moving the engine, and plow, and
anchor to the field* of operation, and placing them in position. I did
not see the engine or machinery moved with horses, hut this item is
worth a place in our estimate^ both aS' to expense and time. Third.
The cost of working, which has been already considered, but there is
to be added to the cost of the labor already named, the expense of
supplying the engine with fuel. Both the coal and water are of heavy
freight, and must be conveyed to the engine by horses and men.
Their cost, at the field, must depend so much on the locality that it is
useless to attempt an estimate. Probably an additional pair of horses
and a man would be usually employed to supply the meat and drink
of the steam giant. Fourth. The cost of machinery, and of repairs
upon it. It was said that this engine and plow could be furnished,
ready for use, at £500, or $2,500. It would require an engineer to
estimate the cost of repairs. Unless the machine could be kept in
constant use, the interest on the cost would be a heavy item, and, in
all cases, must be a constant element to be regarded. The engine
would be adapted to other farm labor, such as threshing, grinding,
and the like. Such engines are in constant and extensive use for
threshing, through England^ on large farms. The inventor of this
steam plow had taken a large contract to plow for several proprietors,
a practice which, perhaps, should be kept in view in this discussion,
though the difficulty of moving the engine from farm to farm, in this
country, would be far greater than in England, because our roads are
not so well made.

Upon the best estimate that I have been able to make, it seems to
me that Fowler's steam plow can never be made an instrument of gen-
eral practical utility, either in this or in any other country. Perhaps
a more competent person, with such data as has been furnished, may
form an estimate more favorable.

Simplicity is usually economy, in agriculture especially, and there
does not seem, upon the theory of this machine, any such promise of
performance as to compensate for the great expenditure in its struc-
ture, and the numerous obstacles to its practical operation.

Since 1857, Fowler's plow has been extensively used in England,
and may be said to be fairly introduced there, but it may be inferred,
from the tone of agricultural writers and speakers as gathered from
newspapers, that it is quite doubtful yet whether it is really a val-
uable acquisition to agriculture. Subsequent experiments seem to
indicate that my own estimate of the performance of the plow was too
large. A recent writer in the Mark Lane Express states that at one
trial, which he witnessed, the plow turned seven acres in twelve hours,
and another account gives ninety-six square rods per hour as the result
of its labor.

It is claimed, however^ that Mr. Fowler has recently greatly re-
duced the weight and cost of his machinery. The essential principle
of a stationary engine and plows or cultivators worked by means of
ropes and pulleys remains.

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 263

BoydelVs Patent Traction Engine.

The question in En-gland between stationary and locomotive engines
for cultivation seems strangely enough to be going almost by default
in favor of the former, while in this country there appears to be a gen-
eral consent that only a self-moving engine is worthy of notice. Boy-
dell's elephantine engine attracted great attention, and disputed the
prize with Fowler's plow, at the Salisbury exhibition in 1858. It
has, apparently, fallen far behind in the face of competition, and in a
respectable English journal has been lately spoken of as a mechanical
absurdity, which wears itself but hourly as it travels. This brief
condemnation is full of import to American inventors, who are giving
attention exclusively to locomotive engines, and whose chief embarrass-
ment thus fiir has been that their machines all break dov/n in every
attempt at public exhibition. A brief description of Boydell's imple-
ment may be useful to us for warning as well as example.

This engine, as exhibited at Salisbury, was operated to draw six
plows, opening six furrows across the field. It is distinguished from
the other steam plows that have been mentioned by being worked by a
locomotive, instead of a stationary engine, which works on the earth like
some huge animal, puffing and snorting, and taking along its six plows
with no apparent consciousness of effort. It possesses another pecu-
liarity : that of laying down an endless railroad track for its wheels to
run upon, and taking it up as it proceeds. Attached to the wheels of
the engine are large flat blocks, six to each wheel, like rackets on a
horse to keep him from sinking in soft ground, which are laid down
in turn by the wheel in its revolution, and on which the iron rim of
the wheel runs. This engine works about in a very intelligent sort
of way, comes to the field from a common road, drawing its tender
with coal and water, and even carries the extra clothing and dinner
of the laborers. It turns readily at the end of the furrow, stalks off
to its water tank when it is thirsty and helps itself to water, and when
it is hungry or fatigued, goes for its own coal for refreshment. It is
claimed that the same engine can draw your timber to market or the
mill upon common roads, haul in your hay and grain, work your
threshing machine, and, in short, do most of the work of the farm
instead of horses. This machine was not, at Salisbury, doing such
good plowing as Fowler's, but the quality of the work is not at present
of such importance. It is not a question of mere plowing, it is a
question as to the best mode of applying the power of the steam engine,
whether as a stationary or locomotive engine, for it is obvious enough
that when we have once found a convenient and economical power,
plows, harrows, digging machines, or anything else may be worked by
it. Boydell's engine is guided by a driver, who sets on the forward
part, while the engineer rides, like a footman behind. Three double
plows were, at Salisbury, attached to it by chains, and these were held
by three men, who walked, following and holding the plows in the
usual manner. Many of the objections to the stationary engine are
obviated by this invention. No horses are required to move it from
place to place, or draw its supply of food and water. The cumbrous

254 AaRICULTURAL REPORT.

"anclior," with tlie long ropes, are liere dispensed witli; and if the
adjustment of the plows, as used by Fowler, is found most convenient,
there is nothing to prevent its adoption, and the drawing of his plows
with this locomotive engine.

Smith's {of Wolston) Cultivator.

In the progress of all arts and sciences it is observed how principles,
at one time deemed most vital, come afterward to be regarded as of
secondary importance, and still later, again assert their original claim
to attention. Pulverization of the soil was, more than a century ago,
advocated by Jether Tull as the one essential to good husbandry, and
he even regarded manure as valuable only as assisting to pulverize the
soil by fermentation. In later years, chemistry assumed a conspicuous
position in agriculture, and many have been inclined to regard more
the constituent elements of plants and of artificial manure than the
meclianical condition of the soil, like quack doctors, whose attentions
are so much occupied by their specifics, that they entirely overlook the
condition of their patients.

But now, after the practical failure of the theories of some distin-
guished chemists, agriculturists are again disposed to regard the
physical condition of the soil as of primary importance, and the opera-
tions of drawing, subsoiling, and otherwise opening a greater depth of
soil to the action of the atmosphere, and to the roots of the plant,
engage the attention of the farmer. As land becomes more valuable,
it is found more convenient to add another seed-bed to the field by
preparing it under the shallow furrow turned by our fathers, rather
than by annexing our neighbor's farm, in the covetous desire to pos-
sess all the land that adjoins our own. And so we are looking for more
power to work our land deeper^ and to pulverize it more thoroughly.
In England, four or five plowings are considered an essential prepara-
tion for a good crop of turnips. In America, where labor is more
costly and products usually cheaper, we the more need some more aids
to our husbandry. Twig says that Romulus^ in his distribution of the
land, allotted two acres to each citizen, and that after the expulsion of
the kings it was increased to seven. Columella tells us that the patri-
monial estate on which Cincinnatus employed himself consisted of four
acres ! Yet we, whose single farms are larger than the city of Rome,
with her seven hills, are plodding along, bound to the old notion that
the plow used by the Romans, or at least its principles of operation,
must be forever preserved. Every one knows how much better is the
preparation of the garden by forking up and raking, than by turning
with plows and harrowing ; and the implement desired now in place of
the plow is a forking or digging machine, that shall, at one operation,
stir the ground to sufficient depth, leaving it as nearly as possible in
the condition of a garden bed prepared with a fork. Such a machine
has been attempted by Smith, of Wolston. At Salisbury, in 1857,
when the Royal Agricultural Society repeated their oifer of £500 for a
steam-plow, Smith was excluded from the competition by the condi-
tion which made it essential that the implement should turn the soil
over, while, as already observed, it is an essential feature of the Wol-

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 255

ston system that tlie soil should be "stirred and smashed up," and not
turned over.

At the Chester exhibition, however, in 1858, Smith and Fowler
being competitors, the j)rize of £500 was awarded to Fowler, and the
gold medal to Smith. From Dickens's "All the Year Round" we give
the best description that can be found of Smith's machine :

"Mr, Smith uses an ordinary agricultural portable steam engine, of
from eight to ten horse power, which he fixes at one corner of the
field, of from ten to twelve acres. In front of the engine is a wind-
lass, or capstan, with two drums of a peculiar shape, with a coil of
wire rope around it, and this rope is led over four anchored pulleys,
one at each corner, and along each side of the field. The windlass at-
tached to the fly-wheel of the steam engine by a driving band can be
instantaneously driven in either direction. Four different plows^ or
cultivators, are used as occasion requires. To the bow of the one in
use two ends of the rope are attached. An engine-driver, a man at
the windlass, a plowman, an assistant to shift the pulleys, and a boy,
are the staff" required. The plow cultivator begins by traveling along
the more distant side of the field, between the two anchored pulleys ;
at the end of the first journey the pulley in front is shifted, the engine
is reversed, and in thirty seconds the plow is traveling back. And
thus, by alternately shifting, bringing up each of the two most distant
anchors, strip by strip, the whole field is 'smashed up,' in parallel
lines, to the spot where the engine stands.

"His plow No. 4 consists of a very strong frame, in which are fixed
three subsoil plows, with a pair of wheels in front to guide it, and
above the center another pair, to regulate the depth. The shares for
breaking up clay soil, in autumn, are set to work six or eight inches
deep, (a depth impossible with horse-power.) The points of the shares
become imbedded in the subsoil, and the whole mass, nearly a yard
wide and six or eight inches deep, is torn from its position and more
or less mingled together, leaving, for the most part, the weeds or grass,
which it is desirable to destroy, near the surface. An implement of
greater breadth and more shares, on light and moderately tenacious
soils, has been made to move more than ten or twelve acres a day.
But, for a description of the four Wolston cultivators, those further
interested must refer to the inventor's own pamphlets and pictures.
The obvious drawback of the system consists in the loss of power by
the friction of the rope along four sides, and consequent induct friction.
Common farm laborers have been repeatedly and easily taught the du-
ties of Smith's system of steam cultivation. According to universal
testimony, nothing can exceed the quality of the work and the satis-
factory result in crops of all kinds."

It seems to be admitted that Smith's system requires two operations —
the first to stir up and break the soil, and the second to pulverize it ;
the two operations being completed at the rate of three and a half
acres a day..

It is said that Smith, before 1859, had sold some thirty sets of his
machinery to purchasers who were successfully working them.

The idea which has thus been advocated by Mr. Smith seems at about
the same time to have possessed some ingenious agriculturist on the

256 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

otlier side of the Channel. In a walk near Paris, in July, 1857, I
accidentally came upon a steam cultivator, or digging machine, in
full operation. It was a locomotive engine, with, I think, twelve
spades, or forks, working in pairs, on bent axles, from which the
spades, if they may be so called, projected at right angles. My im-
pression is, that each pair of spades struck the ground and entered it
separately, each of the six pairs successively doing its work, as the
locomotive traversed the ground, and thus forking up the soil to the
depth of six or twelve inches, at the will of the operator, and four
and a half feet wide. The machine was under examination by some
commission at the time, and I was informed that no report had yet
been made upon it, no patent secured, and that no description or draw-
ing of it could be obtained. I took a great deal of pains, afterward,
to obtain information, and, from my inability to do so, inferred that
there were reasons why the inventor desired, at present, that his ma-
chine should not be made public. I was told upon the ground that
the engine was only of three horse-power ; but its performance indi-
cated far more. It moved upon broad wheels, however, over the soft
ground^ which had been before stirred by it, and turned without diffi-
culty, at the end of the furrow. The spades, I think, were upon three
or four independent axles, and worked between the wheels of the en-
gine. Doubtless, the invention will soon be made public, and a full
description of it given to the world. With my inability to converse
on a technical subject in the French language, I could not understand
its details, and find it impossible to convey more than a general im-
pression of the working of the machine.

AMERICAN STEAM CULTIVATORS.

■ In a glance at what has been done and attempted by Americans, in
the way of cultivation by steam, we shall be struck,with the predomi-
nant idea of "going ahead." While the greatest performance claimed
for any English implement is one acre per hour, or eight or ten acres
a day, we find American machines actually plowing an acre in ten
minutes, and promising to plow sixty acres per day. With the motto,
however, which is no favorite with us, of '■'festina lente," it would
seem that more real progress might probably be made. For, we shall
see that in nearly every attempt at operating these implements the ex-
periments closed by the breaking of some part of the machinery. The
United States Agricultural Society, in their premium list for the exhi-
bition at Chicago, in 1859, offered their grand gold medal of honor
''for that machine which shall supersede the plow, as now used, and
accomplish the most thorough disintegration of the soil, with the
'^ greatest economy of labor, power, time, and money."

The medal was awarded to Fawke's Steam Plow, together with
|3,000, offered by the Illinois State Agricultural Society, in connection
with the Illinois Central Kailroad Company; and thus this implement
is placed, at once, at the head of the list of American steam culti-
vators, and claims our particular attention.

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 257

Faivkes's Steam Plow.

This is the invention of Joseph W. Fawkes, of Christiana, Pennsyl-
vania. The striking peculiarities of this machine seem to be, that it
is a locomotive, running on a large roller, or drum, six feet in diameter
and six feet long, instead of wheels, the design being to obviate the
ordinary objection to locomotives,, that their wheels cut into the soil,
and obstruct the motion. The engine draws behind it a gang of eight
plows, as shown at Chicago, though it is manifest that the number is
unlimited, and that cultivators, harrows, and other pulverisers, may
readily be substituted ; the great desideratum is, a locomotive practi-
cable on a reasonable proportion of land, and, at the same time, cheap
and durable. This machine, and Waters' s steam plow, which was its
only competitor, were both caused by the committee to run twice round
the half-mile track at Chicago, and to turn a single furrow, within the
inclosure. They were then taken to the smooth, open prairie, for final
trial. The result, as reported by the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture,
was, that Fawkes's implement plowed at the rate of one acre in seven-
teen minutes, or three and a half acres per hour, including turns, and
the work was excellent. There was some detention by clogging of the
plows, which may be easily obviated. It Avould seem that, after plow-
ing about two acres, the steam got too low for the continuance of the
experiment ; and the committee suggest some improvement as expedient
for increasing the power of the engine. The committee conclude by
remarking, that while they "^are by no means prepared to certify that
Mr. Fawkes's plowing machine has reached the degree of perfection
only to be had after much practical working on a farm, they do not
regard its several weak points as invalidating its claim to public favor,
for enough good work was done, in the two miles of furrow it run on
Friday, to prove it to have great merit."

For the benefit of those who desire an understanding of the details
of this implement, we add a description of it, by the committee of
mechanists who conducted the recent trials of steam plows at the fair
of the Illinois State Agricultural Society :

"To form a complete conception of this steam plow, let the committee
recall the appearance of a small-sized tender of a locomotive engine.
Let about half the forward portion of the sides and tank be removed.
We now have something which resembles the body of Fawkes's machine.
In the middle of the forward portion of the platform stands the upright
boiler, which is about 6^ feet high and 4 feet in diameter, the fire-box
and ash-pit being of course below the level of the platform, and the
fire-door opening forward. The boiler contains 220 l|-inch tubes,
which, computed together with the fire-box, gives 3T5 feet of fire sur-
face. Steam may be got up in 15 minutes, although twice that time
is usually necessary. The fuel may either be bituminous coal or wood.
The cylinders are horizontal, 9 inches in diameter and 15 inches stroke,
and are placed one on each side of the boiler. The pistons communi-
cate motion not to the side-wheels, but to a drum or roller, 6 feet in
diameter and 6 feet long, which, as the sides of the platform overhang
its end, is comparatively out of sight. The drum is placed about mid-
17— a

258 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

way between tlie front and back of the machine ; before it depends the
fire-box, and over and behind it is the tank ; so that when the boiler
and tank are full they nearly counterbalance each other on the axles
of the driving drum.

''This drum is composed of two iron heads or 'spiders,' and an
intermediate one; to these, thick, narrow planks, cut like staves, fitting
elosely, are bolted and form the periphery. The adhesion is, therefore^
produced by a surface of wood six feet long, which never becomes
polished, and the bearing of which is always across the grain. There
is no slipping ; the machine is started and stopped instantly ; and,
except when propelling itself a considerable distance on turnpike or
paved roads, the wear and tear is slight. This substitution of the
driving-roller for the ordinary side-wheels wonderfully increases trac-
tion, and prevents sloughing in wet or yielding soil; while moderate
irregularities of surface scarcely affect the onward march of the plow.
Another great advantage is gained by the gearing of the drum. Instead
of being attached directly to a crank on the axle of the drum^ each
connecting rod communicates motion to a pinion which turns easily,
but without shake on the axle just mentioned; the pinion interlocks
with a cog-wheel which, by a pinion on its axis, imparts motion to the
cog-wheel "bolted to the drum ; the whole being so proportioned that
six strokes of the piston cause one revolution of the drum.

' ' Increase of power and of control over the movements of the engines
are secured.

" I-n front of the fire-box is a short tapering bow of sheet-iron, which
serves as a seat for the fireman and a receptacle for fuel. The bow is
supported by a body-bolt on a truck composed of two iron guide-wheels
three and one-half feet in diameter and fifteen inches broad. The
truck moves freely like the front wheels of a chaise, and is controlled
by a steering wheel in charge of the engineer, so that the whole
machine is turned as readily and as short as a farm-wagon. The
engine is thirty horse jlower. The entire length of the machine is
about 18 feet; its weight with water and fuel, 10 tons; and cost,
including 'donkey' engine and pump, about $4,000. By this pump,
water may be drawn from a well or creek, and the tank filled, or water
forced from the tank to the boiler.

"The tank holds twelve barrels, sufiicient for three hours' running.
The plows, eight in number, are attached to one frame, which is
suspended by chains, passing over grooved pullies, in two beams,
projecting from the seat of the engine. These chains communicate to
a windlass, in charge of the fireman in front, by which a gang of plows
may be raised or lowered at pleasure, and the frame of plows is drawn
by other chains, which are attached to the under side of the frame of
the engine."

Waters' s Steam Plow.

James Waters, of Detroit, formerly of Pennsylvania, is the inventor
of a steam plow, which, at Chicago and elsewhere, has attracted much
notice. It is thus well described by a correspondent of the "Country
Gentleman : "

ENGLISH PLOWS AND PLOWING. 259

'^This macliine has four cylinders, 5f inches in diameter, the stroke
of the piston being 12 inches. The boiler, which is the one used on
locomotive engines, is 6 feet in length, with 100 flues, and can bear a
pressure 200 pounds to the square inch. The driving wheels are 10
feet in diameter, and 26 inches on the face, each braced with two sets
of iron spokes athwart each other. They are turned by means of a
pinion connected with the main shaft or axle-tree, which works into
an internal gearing of the size of the inside diameter of the wheels.
On the outside pieces or ridges of iron are attached to prevent the wheels
from slipping. There are two leading wheels, 5 feet in diameter, and
13 inches on the face. The weight of the whole machine is 7^ tons,
which is applied on the front of the driving wheels to produce a steady
motion. Two men are required to work this engine, one to steer and
the other to attend to the fire. Its working power is 150 pounds of
steam, while it can be moved with only 15 or 20 pounds. Underneath
the boiler is an iron tank and a fire-box. There is also a tender,
which is used for carrying both wood and water.

''Frye's gang plow, another Detroit invention of considerable merit,
is the only kind of plow which this machine has drawn yet. The
shares of this plow are fixed on a triangular frame, which supports
two gangs, and runs on three wheels. They are made expressly for
the prairies, and will cut a wide or narrow furrow according to their
arrangement on the frame. Mr. Waters states that the width of the
cut, counting thirteen shares, is 19 feet, and that he can plow sixty
acres a day."

At the trial at Chicago thirteen plows in three gangs were used,
hitched one behind the other, which with the engine, tender, and
water cart, made a train of thirty-seven feet in length. The machine,
after showing its locomotive powers on the track, was put to its trial on
the prairie, and made an astonishing start turning a breadth of furrows
of nineteen feet at one operation, and running three hundred feet in
two minutes, or at the rate of an acre in sixteen minutes, when the
performance came to an end by the breaking of a wheel. It seems
manifest that Mr. Waters' s machinery is cumberous and expensive,
and equally manifest that he failed at Chicago for want of care or
skill in operating his implement^ rather than in the principles of his
plow.

An obvious objection to this machine is its great length, which
renders it unfit for small fields, and the fact that it does not finish up
its work^ but leaves a strip of fifty feet in the middle to be finished by
horse-power.

By the report of the committee at the Chicago exhibition it appears
that two other substitutes for the plow were offered for examination,
but no account of the performance of either has been published. One
of these was offered by John Van Doren & Co.^ of Chicago, and is
described as '' a rotary cultivator, driven by steam and self-j)ropelling.
Beside plowing, it may be applied to other uses, such as harvesting
grain, cutting grass, and, having a pulley of suitable dimensions,
may be used as stationary power for farm machinery. This machine
was at work at various times on the fair grounds, but when the com-
mittee sent ofiicial notice that they were ready to test it in detail the

260 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

owner could nowhere be found, and no opportunity was afterward
afforded until the close of the exhibition."

The other, offered by B. F. Fields of Milwaukie, Wisconsin, say
the committee, is ''a revolving plow and seeding machine, and is thus
made: There is an outer slatted drum of iron, 4| feet in diameter and
5 feet wide, made in three sections. Inside, on an eccentric shaft, are
fixed three sets of 20 spades each, set 8 inches apart on 'spiders,' but
all turning on one shaft. As they come in turn below, the spades
project beyond the outer drum through the apertures, and the weight
of the machine (2 tons) being thrown upon them_, they enter the
ground to the depth of 8 inches. The machine turning as it travels
forward, the spades coming behind lift the earth as they emerge, and
disturb its relative position as would a spade in the hands of a man,
except that the soil is not inverted. Behind the spading apparatus,
on the back part of the frame which surrounds the whole, is a row of
ordinary drill sheaths to deposit the seed in the ground, which is fed
to them by suitable hoppers with valves."

It is fair to conclude, from the facts thus brought together^ that the
subject of steam cultivation is attracting, both in England and America,
the greatest attention. As yet, while we cannot admit that in either
country any improvement has been tested, which so combines efficiency
and economy as to give us assurance of its general adaptation, enough
has been done to give us confidence that steam, especially on our
broad prairies, must ere long render efficient aid to the farmer in
tilling the soil.

CONSTEUCTION AND AEMT^GEMENT OE HOUSE

STABLES.

(condensed from dr. RUEF]?, professor at IIOHENHEIM, GERMANY.)

As most diseases of our domestic animals originate from the domes-
tication to which they have been subjected, a condition often far
removed from the natural one, it devolves as a principal duty upon
the breeder and owner to take such care of them that this change of
life, instead of an injurious, may have a beneficial result. Attention
given to horses combines economical advantages, as feeding them in
stables is not only a saving of fodder, but, under certain circumstances,
also of labor.

The place where domestic animals are kept forms an essential con-
sideration. In all countries, not sparsely settled, and therefore thor-
ougly cultivated, animals pass a great portion of the year, and even
of every day, in the stable. This applies especially to horses, and
easily explains the fact of more care and expense being bestowed on
them than on any other domestic animals. Yet it is equally true that
the labc<r and money expended for such stables are often insufficiently
rewarded by the welfare of their occupants, because the construction

AEEANGEMENT OF HORSE STABLES. 261

and arrangement are seldom executed with a degree of information
corresponding to the importance of the matter, and for the special
reason that the necessary knowledge of architecture and diet is rarely
united in the builder.

In many cases, building a stable is left to the architect alone, who,
when provided with ample means, is apt to indulge too much in his
esthetic genius, often regardless of things appearing to be insignifi-
cant in themselves, though very important with respect to the prin-
cipal object. Such things are often neglected, because of their being
in contrast with his views of architectural beauty, and opposed to his
plans. If, however, the means are limited, as generally happens,
the building, notwithstanding the best wishes and knowledge, will
often be erected in such a manner as will not answer even the most
indispensable requirements.

On the other hand, the keeper of horses would not seem able of
himself alone to arrange his buildings, as he has commonly no knowl-
edge or experience in architecture. It would, therefore, always be best
for the proprietor and the architect to exchange their ideas, and unite
in carrying out such purposes. I have myself received numerous in-
structions from architects ; had the experience of many years in keep-
ing horses ; examined plans of stables in various places and countries ;
and have been led by my position to a profound study of the diet ; so that
I entertain no fears of architects being dissatisfied at my undertaking
to furnish some advice on the arrangement of stables. At the same
time, I hope agriculturists and owners of horses will be pleased to
receive such views as are based on my own experience.

In the first place, a stable should be protected from climatical in-
fluences, humidity, heat, cold, and winds. Again, it should afford
security from all mechanical injuries, providing even for comfort, so that
the animals, being left entirely undisturbed, may gather new strength
for the performance of their services. Atmosphere, light, and heat,
as the fundamental requirements of life, are entitled to the highest
consideration in the arrangement of stables, and in their application
they should be made capable of modification by man. The following
points, individually, seem to deserve special attention.

Location. — In constructing a horse stable, the principal front should
be to the west, so as not to be too much exposed either to the northern
winds or the hot sun during the middle of the day. If, from want of
room, any other locality must be selected, the stable should be pro-
tected from the above influences by the cultivation of trees, or shutters,
blinds, &c. It would not be at all advantageous to locate a stable
near a hill-side, or any other elevation, especially one consisting of a
loose and porous soil, or, being of rock, if the layers should descend
toward the stable, as, thus situated, the water will frequently find its
way into the building ; at any rate, the wall next the slope will be
injured ; and besides, such stables are, for the most part, humid and
unhealthy. If such a position cannot be avoided, a trench should be
dug around the stable at a distance of some four feet from the ground
wall, the bottom of the trench to be always lower than the level of the
stable floor; or a loam stamp may answer the purpose. These precau-
tions are indispensable if a creek runs near, the surface of which is

262 AGRICULTUKAL REPORT.

always, or even for a time, higher than the bottom of the stable.
Wherever the location is such that the droppings of the roof or other
waters would cause a general wetness both of the ground and the
bottom of the stable, drainage must be provided for.

Stables are often joined to other buildings ; when to dwelling-houses,
they have the advantage of being uniformly warmed. Though the
warmth evaporating from, horse stables during winter is agreeable, yet
such a close proximity is not to be generally recommended, as the
ceiling and windows of stables are not so constructed as to protect
sufficiently the human inmates from ammoniacal vapors, and as the
flies, always numerous in such situations, are very troublesome to man.
Yet there should be an easy access from the dwelling-house to the
stable, which would allow a convenient superintendence ; for especially
in rearing horses is the ]3roverb applicable : ' ' The eye of the master is
worth as much as a sack of fodder." On farms, all kinds of draft
animals are usually kept together in one stable, for the purpose of
better overseeing them and of saving time in the distribution of labor.
But there are many disadvantages in this practice, especially if the
egress from the stable is one and the same for horses aod draft oxen.
Mutual injuries would result, and an undue cooling of the stables in
winter, as oxen, on account of their slowness, require the doors to be
kept open for a longer time. An additional reason will be found in
the fact that horses require for their welfare a higlier degree of tempera-
ture in the stable than oxen.

The ground. — The ground, on which the stable is to be erected,
should be solid; especially avoiding peaty or marshy ground, other-
wise the evaporations penetrating the flooring would fill the close
rooms built above, and render the premises unhealthy. Loose ground
absorbs too much urine, which, decomposing, will generate dangerous
vapors of bad odor. In case of such improper foundation being
unavoidable, solid stone pavements, tight gutters, spouts, and drains,
must be provided.

External ivall. — The inclosure is sometimes very imperfect. Stables
on pastures are often without any walls, only a roof supported by
columns being provided as a shelter from rain and the heat of the sun.
If something better may be intended, these "sheltering huts" are
merely closed with boards, and cribs and racks furnished for the purpose
of feeding, if necessary. Nor is there much more solidity in stables
constructed of hurdle-work. The mode of building of mud, or layers of
stamped clay, has no claim to durability, as it affords no firm support
for cribs and racks, which in horse stables require to be solid. Stables
of beams and rafters, or the log-house structure, the interstices of
which are filled with moss, will keep warm, yet, being perishable,
they will not only be too expensive where timber is dear, but are also
much exposed to the danger of fire.

I have seen a stable in the form of a log-house, with filled walls,
which lasted thirty-one years. The pine logs, usually from three to
four feet long, are inserted by means of tenons in the grooves of the
perpendicular oak-columns and corner posts. To prevent the air from
penetrating through the joinings, grooves are made, both on the upper
and under side of the logs, and laths inserted in the grooves. The

ARRANGEMENT OF HORSE STABLES. 263

logs employed are usually from six to seven inches in thickness. These
wooden walls should be wainscoted, and as they are more liable to
injury near the windows, they should be carefully protected there, by
being covered with tin or painted with tar. Such buildings will be
more durable if the roofs project to a grcEit extent.

The best massive walls are those made of granite, limestone, and
sandstone. The most suitable material for building stables is tufaceous
limestone, resisting, in consequence of its porous quality, the rapid
change of temperature, retaining firmly and for a long time its plas-
tering, and being in many localities very cheap and easy of manufac-
ture. In the majority of stable walls of stone, there is an essential
evil, to be noticed in the generation of niter, in consequence of which
not only the quality of the stone is impaired, but the stable is kept
humid, on account of the hygroscopic qualities of the salt produced.
The formation of niter is explained by the unavoidable decomposition
of the excrement of animals, under the influence of humidity and
warmth, promoted by the want of cleanliness, and the properties of
the walls. Especially stones of a very porous nature, for instance,
soft sandstones containing much clay, the yellow sandstone, porous
limestone, limestone with organic remains, as shell lime in some local-
ities, mortar and loam, containing kali, favor the generation of niter.
Solid and polished limestones, as marble and granite, will not permit
the formation of saltpeter, which is also prevented by smooth plaster-
ing. All varieties of stone, however, containing lime, kali, and mag-
nesia, will, particularly when favorably influenced by the want of
cleanliness, warmth and humidity, form saltpeter. But as this forma-
tion is confined to a certain distance from the surface of the ground
and the wall, special regard must be had that the lower portions of the
wall most exposed to humidity should be built of the best and densest
material.

Ceilings. — ^Vaulted ceilings of brick or stone afford the greatest
security against fire; they keep warm in winter and cool in summer;
prevent the falling of filth from above, and permit no vapors to pene-
trate into the upper portion of the building ; but on account of the
side pressure caused by the vault, they require stronger walls, and are
therefore expensive^ both at the outset and in reparation. Besides,
the vaults allow only imperfect ventilation. Wanting good and dura-
ble stones, the ceilings must be plastered, but on account of the differ-
ent parts of the vaults not being uniformly warmed and moistened,
such ceilings will soon crack and fall. Owing to this variation of tem-
perature, vapors will collect on certain parts of the vault, and fre-
quently fall in drops from the ceiling in winter, so that either some of
the animals will be molested, or portions of the stable will always be
damp and impure.

If it is intended to make a cheaper ceiling, it must yet be remem-
bered that solidity is important, so that neither the dwellings that
may be above the stables shall be molested by the vapors from below^
nor that the beams and rafter shall thus be affected. If there is fodder
stored away above the stables, it will also suffer from these vapors,
and the filth, dust, and offal of hay falling through the ceiling will

264 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

render tiie skin of the horses impure, cause itcliing, and even in some
cases, disease of the eyes.

Ceilings made with gypsum are unsuitable, as they will not last
long ; the wire and nails which support them rusting off, and allow-
ing the material to drop, so that the animals will be dangerously
excited, or even considerably injured. The advantages of plastered
ceilings, in preventing vapors from penetrating, may also be secured
by making them oblique, grooves being formed in the rafters, into
which boards are obliquely inserted, so as to render them durable and
easy of reparation. As better security against fire and the penetration
of vapors^ they may receive at the top a layer of mud mixed with
gravel, or of loam with chopped straw. They will thus, also, retain
a greater degree of warmth. The loam may be spread above to a
height equal with the rafters, if the upper room is intended for storing
away fodder ; or there may be a common flooring, the space between
which and the oblique ceiling to be filled with a non-conductor of
heat, for instance: ashes, awns of barley and chaff. The filling up
will keep warm, without being liable to catch fire, as many believe ;
for a fire may even be extinguished by means of chopped straw and
chaff.

It should always be kept in view to prevent the beams of the ceil-
ings from becoming rotten, a thing which so often happens. Some,
are of opinion that this object could be accomplished by shutting off
the beams from the space of the stable by another ceiling, and thus
protecting them. But it should be remembered that air and humidity
are not so easy to be kept off, and that they will still penetrate through
the joinings of the lower ceiling. The injurious consequences of these
vapors will be more apparent when they are confined, as is indeed the
case if the rafters are wainscoted both above and below. Should a
current of air, however, be permitted to pass through, the ceiling
would become too cold, and the vapors, precipitated too freely, would
destroy the wainscoting. Were awns or chaffs, which would keep
warm, put between, the air would still penetrate, thus moistening the
beams ; and in this case also, on account of insufiicient change of air,
they would be destroyed.

The worst method of constructing a ceiling is that of wainscoting
by means of nails; it will soon be destroyed, the nails not being
durable.

Others are of opinion that the beams could be better secured by
leaving them perfectly free at the ceiling ; they put on, therefore, a
wainscoting above, or, for the sake of cheapness, small boards from
one rafter to another, upon which they make a flooring of loam, or,
still better, of gypsum. This kind of ceiling is very suitable when
it is intended to keep fodder above the stable.

The stables should never be of such height as to prevent their being
perfectly warmed. The destruction of the beams of- the ceiling is
merely caused by their becoming thoroughly moistened, a circumstance
produced by too strong a cooling of the air saturated with vapors.
Any stable in which the upper layers of atmosphere, being otherwise
always the warmer, are rendered so cold that the watery vapors are
precipitated, (in fluid form,) must, on the whole, be too cool. A

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 265

height of ten or eleven feet would seem to he most suitahle where not
more than six horses are kept.

The floor. — The part of the floor on which the horse stands may he
constructed in a different manner from the passage-way. The former
must he convenient for resting, and strong enough to hear the long-
continued pressure of the hody of the animal ; it must also be so con-
trived as to prevent the accumulation of impurities.

As to the direction of the surface of this standing-place frequent
mistakes are made. From over-care to secure the flowing off of the
urine, the descent is often made too sloping, being five per cent., and
even six per cent. Thus the horses are placed on a declivity, requir-
ing a continual strain of the muscles of the limbs and back; the
animals become tired in the stables, instead of resting; and their
joints grow diseased, showing excrescences, barbels, defective posi-
tions, &c. Horses not shod, and colts, will, on a sloping floor, use
to excess and wear away the front part of the hoof, while the proper
standing parts are so little employed that they cannot sufiiciently
expand, thus becoming goat-hoofed and heel-bound, as indicated by
too upright a position in the pasterns and fetlock, known as ' ' goat-
footed."

Whoever may observe horses in such situations, will find that, if
possible, they choose an oblique direction, so as to gain a horizontal
position for the length of their bodies. The care employed for the
flowing off of the urine is, in most cases, not founded on perfect rea-
son, because the males only would discharge their water within the
stand, while the mares would wet the stand but little. Besides, with
horses receiving no green fodder, this discharge is not so copious as to
cause so much anxiety about drainage. At the same time, if there is
always litter on hand, as it should be in a well-arranged stable, no
water will flow from the stand.

A descent of the floor of from one to two per cent, is most suitable;
horizontal stands not answering the system of the body of the horse,
which is generally somewhat higher behind than in front ; such con-
struction, therefore, shoving the over-weight of the hind part toward
the front or forepart of the animal. But in the passage-way a hori-
zontal floor is the best, the objection being with regard to cleanliness ;
therefore, it may be a little arched, with a descent of from two to three
per cent.

The material of the floor often consists merely of earth, or of loam
beaten down ; or it is a barn-floor, composed of loam mixed with iron
scales and blood; again, a floor is made of gypsum, or four and a half
parts of gravel with one of hydraulic lime.

There are, however, some floors unsuitable for stables. Loam mixed
with sand, so often employed, is too liable to crumble. It would be
better to use pure, uniform, and well-worked loam, which should be
applied to a thickness of from 8 to 10 inches, and well beaten. A
layer of hydraulic or black lime, two inches in height, on the mois-
tened surface of the loam would contribute so much to the solidity of
the floor that it would for a long time resist the tread of the horses.

Another good floor may be formed of seven parts of peat ashes,
finely sieved, and one of slaked lime. Both substances are made with

266 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

water into a stiff dough, wliicli is put on and stamped, either alone in a
large quantity^ or on a common loam floor in a more limited quantity.

As all these substances are slower in drying than gypsum, the surface
requires to be frequently moistened in order to delay its drying until
the inner layers shall have become perfectly united. In this manner
the bursting and splitting of the mass may be obviated by repeated
beating and stamping. If the materials for such floors are not well
selected, or if the layer is too thin, they require frequent reparations,
and are both expensive and troublesome.

They will not last long, in any situation ; the action of the urine
softens them, and they are loosened and broken by the shoes of the
horses. They may only be applied in rather large running stables
where young colts are kept, or, if at all in others, in the passage-way,
where horses are neither too heavy, nor frequently brought in and out,
and where there is great attention paid to cleanliness. Neither are
those floors to be recommended for colt stables, where the colts are
confined to one stand.

Macadamized floors, in inclosed spaces on which there is no driving
of carriages, will never attain the same solidity and uniformity as is
observed on open roads, and are, therefore, totally unfit for stables.

Common pavements are the most durable, and therefore the cheap-
est, the price, of course, depending not only on the locality, but also
on the different kinds of stones to be used. Pavement, when used in
the stand, has the disadvantage of more rapidly loosening and wearing
out the horse shoes than on a floor made of wood. Some of the
blocks, also, will inevitably sink, causing four-sided holes or pits,
which are known to be dangerous. A pavement neglected and out of
order will produce an unequal pressure, contusions of the body of the
horse occupying the stand, &c.

For the same reason, those pavements made of rolling stones, and
which so many see fit to recommend, should never be employed. It
was thought that the sliding of the horses, so common in paved stands,
could be prevented by employing stones not larger than a fist, but it
is precisely on such, well-rounded and highly-arched as they are, that
the foot is most liable to slide. Moreover, a great deal of dirt collects
in the numerous deepenings and gutters between the stones. To a
great extent the sliding may be obviated by allowing the floor in the
stand but a very small descent, as above intimated, and by employing
a material not too hard or rough ; for instance, mixed sandstone.
Granite would be better than shell-lime. Lias-lime, or Jura-lime,
though sandstone wears off the horse shoes more rapidly than any
other variety of stones.

The best pavement both for the stand and passage-way is made of
double-burned bricks, which, after being closely laid with the high
edge on a flat stratum of similar stones, are fastened with cement. All
stone floors are, besides, liable to the objection of being a cold place
of rest for the animals, and of subjecting them, under certain circum-
stances, to catching colds^ a fact which will not so often occur on a
wooden floor, that being a non-conductor of heat. If horses are
obliged to rest on an uncovered floor, either standing or lying, their
tired muscles and irritated feet will certainly sooner and better be re-

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 267

lieved on a soft wooden floor than on a hard pavement. The disad-
vantages mentioned, however, in regard to the stone j)avement may he
removed, or at least modified, hy a good litter, so that a stone floor
may safely he recommended to all farmers provided with a sufficient
supply of straw.

Woodmen pavements are not at all suitahle for floors in the stand, as
the hlocks, heing often different in age and solidity, wear out unevenly,
leaving pits, as in the stone pavements above mentioned. This mate-
rial also readily absorbs the urine, which decomposes, producing bad
odors in the stable and decay in the wood itself. It is generally suit-
able only where carefully kept dry, and may well be applied in the
passage-way, for on such a pavement the tread of the horses is secure
and pleasant to them; nor does it wear their shoes. The stratum
below the wooden blocks ought to be porous, consisting, if possible, of
sand, so that the liquids accidentally leaking through the joinings
shall not collect below the wood ; as a preventive, fine sand is some-
times swept and strewn into the joinings. The blocks should be from
seven and a half to ten inches in height. In some large stables, this
wooden pavement in the passage-way lasted over twenty-one years,
without requiring any essential repairs.

Where, from the greater value of horses, it is the desire to arrange
everything in the best way with regard to the health, strength, and
even comfort, of the occupants of the stables, and where there is no
scrupulous regard to expense, the floor of the stand is made of boards.

These stands may be constructed in different ways. The simplest
method is to lay the boards directly on the sand or the natural ground.
Another method consists in first laying down a floor of stone, bricks,
or asphalt, which may conduct the liquids leaking from the wooden
floor into the principal channel, either by a deepening on the lower
surface, or by one or two gutters. On this water-tight floor, and in
the direction of the length of the stand, three oaken beams are laid,
upon which the boards are finally placed, so as to give them a secure
foundation. All these board stands are somewhat expensive, as they
require freqent repairs. It has been asked, which of the two methods
is the most durable, or the best? To the hollow floors it is objected
that they are dangerous to horses, whose hoofs might easier be caught
in the holes often caused by the blocks decaying through, producing
distortions of the limbs ; or, it is feared the horse will stamp through
the worn-out boards, and fracture his bones.

This stamping is not so dangerous as some may believe, for an atten-
tive keeper will, from time to time, remove the defective boards; nei-
ther will an intelligent builder construct the drains on the lower floor
of so great a descent that the foot would be injured by descending in
them. Two gutters made lengthwise, or a single flat gutter, would
be sufficient to carry off the urine leaking through the board stand.
Their descent need not exceed from five to six per cent., while that of
the board floor should be one to two per cent. ; the hollow space below
thus being but three inches at the deepest spot, provided the floor has
not been unnecessarily raised by the beams. If there is a double gut-
ter on the lower floor, the beams may be dispensed with, by construct-

268 AGRICULTURAL REPORT,

ing tlie edges of tlie gutters and tlie backs between both gutters in so
accurate a manner that the boards can be laid down flat and solid.

Some are of the opinion that boards laid down hollow are sooner
liable to rot and to be destroyed, if they only become wet from below,
and therefore they prefer laying them immediately on the ground ;
thus the whole board is always kept wet on all sides, as the water is
continually coming up through the joinings. It is said that the wood
is thus just as well preserved as if it were totally kept under water.
But experience shows that the boards are less injured by decay than
by shoes, hoofs, and sometimes even by the teeth of the horses. The
hollow floors are always clean and dry, while boards laid directly on
the ground are wet and dirty, spattering the hoofs, and often the legs,
with manure water, which is the cause of rottenness of the frog and
malanders. A board laid hollow, on an average, will keep for three
years, so that the stand may still be said to be in good condition.

In laying these boards, provision should be made that they may
easily be taken up again, either for changing or cleaning them. In
changing them, the boards occupying the forepart of the stand, and
not having been injured so much, may be substituted for those forming
the back part, which are therefore more worn. They may be cleaned
by taking up the front board and washing out the slab-floor below,
pouring a bucketful of water through the opening made by the re-
moval of the first board. This operation should take place every eight
days. All the boards, however, should be taken up once every three
months, so that the slab-floor and gutters may be thoroughly cleansed
with broom and water.

Those boards lying immediately on the ground, being always wet,
become softened, and are therefore apt to wear out faster by the feet
of the horses than dry wood of the same quality. It seems to be im-
probable that wood continually saturated with and buried in manure
water should be less liable to rot than wood accessible to air, and
therefore, for the most part, in a dry condition. To facilitate the flow
of urine through the boards, holes are made in them. This method,
however, is unnecessary, and tends to accelerate the decay of the boards.
The urine will find a way of itself through the joinings. The prom-
inent part of the shoes of horses are sometimes caught in such holes,
and thereby loosened ; besides, perforated wood is more apt to absorb
manure water.

In English stables, plates of cast-iron, perforated in the shape of a
T, are sometimes used for the back part of the board floor to facilitate
the flow of urine. Cast-iron floors will probably come into general
use in stalls, because they are easy of removal and never entirely loose
their value, as in the case with wood and stone.

As boards^ when kept dry, are durable, they may be used for the
floor of the forepart of the stall, and, closely joined, also for the back
portion. With regard to the proper material, oak is the best, but the
most costly. Beside, horses are more liable to slip on it than they
would be on soft kinds of wood. If, however, but narrow boards are
employed, or if four-cornered beams are laid across the ribs, so as to
be changed four times, or whenever their surfaces may be worn out,
the horses will not so often slip, on account of the many joinings.

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 269

Bed fir resists moisture longer than white pine. Healthy and dry
wood, which has not been cut during the running of the sap, (an im-
portant consideration in the building of stables,) should be procured.

From the preceding, it would seem that board floors are most suit-
able for light horses, whose weight will not produce much injury, and
especially for mares, wetting at most the two last boards. In addition
to this, it is thought that the use of horse shoes without points, as they
are employed in Italy, France, and England, is especially favorable to
the preservation of a wooden flooring.

In order to check the decay of wood in damp stables, it may be
soaked before use in a solution of sublimate of mercury or kyanizing.
■This method, however, is expensive. Beside, attention may be called
to the process patented by Bernett, consisting of muriate of zinc dis-
solved by iron vitriol and in water, in the proportion of one to six.
Particular attention is called to the method proposed by Miinzing, of
soaking in sulphate of manganese. In consequence of the application
of these saline liquors, the albumen of the wood, by which decay is
principally generated, is made to coagulate, so that decomposition, as
is the case in smoked meat, is very much delayed, if not altogether
prevented.

In some studs, the floors of the stalls are made of asphalt. Though
these appear to be very clean, yet there are many disadvantages con-
connected with them. Horses will crumble the material in a short
time with their shoes, making its repair difficult, as special mechanics
would be required. Horses not shod are liable to slip on this kind
of floor, notwithstanding it may have been provided with notches.
Yet, where not too costly, it may be recommended for stables of cattle.

It may be here mentioned that in England some stables have the
floors of their stalls made of gutta percha and caoutchouc. This ap-
pears to be a luxurious experiment, no doubt agreeable and beneficial
to the horses, but not easy to introduce generally.

Finally, the arrangement of stable floors deserves our full attention,
as the expense of the building itself, the health of the animals, and
cleanliness, are intimately connected with it.

Accommodation. — The space of a stable ought to be in proportion to
the number of horses. The room required for horses of every size if
nearly the same ; it would be unreasonable to take a small race as a
basis for the capacity of a stable, even if small animals were usually
kept.

A single stand should be six feet wide and eleven long, being sixty-
six square feet. Horses measuring from seventeen to eighteen hands
are rare, and require a width of seven feet, while those measuring
from twelve to fifteen may be content with five feet. If the stand?
are too narrow, there will be no convenience for cleaning or giving
food, the animals cannot rest themselves, and wear out the narrow
floor much sooner than they would a broad one. If the stall, however,
be too broad, the horse will often place himself crosswise in his
stand, be more apt to strike into the chains, and will find more occa-
sion for kicking against the horses in his neighborhood.

Should there be but one row of stands in a stable, the width of the
passage should be at least from six to seven feet, so as to allow the

270 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

"horses to turn themselves in it without receiving any injury; but,
unfortunately, the space assigned for this purpose is too frequently
only found to contain but from three to five feet, so that men and ani-
mals entering here are exposed to the danger of being kicked by the
horses occupying their stands. If the passage should lead between
two rows of stands, so that the back parts of the horses are opposed
to each other, it should be at least from nine to twelve feet wide. If
they are placed with their heads opposite each other, it would be suffi-
cient to have a fodder passage three feet wide between the two rows of
stands, though a width of from five to six feet would be better. Such
an arrangement would not only save time, but also afford security in
feeding ; it is also thought that the horses, in consequence of the lively
intercourse going on in front of them, would become less liable to
taking fright.

The height of a stable should be in proportion to the number of
horses intended to be kept. The lowest height admissible is ten feet.
It is true, there are some so low that the horses touch the ceiling with
their heads. This is a cruelty, and brings its own punishment by the
impaired health (?f the animals. The upper atmosphere in a closed
room is always the warmest, and, at the same time, the most impure;
while the floor, with its pavement and humidity, cooled through the
openings of the gutters and the draught of cold air from the door,
will be productive of cold feet. Thus, it is not to be wondered at that
the blood should rise to the head, and diseases of the brain and eyes
be produced in those stables ; for the proverb, originally designed for
man, is equally applicable to our domestic animals:

" Would you be well, and would you grow old?
Keep your feet warm and keep your head cold."

For two horses of middle size the height of a stable should be eleven
feet ; for a larger number, say from three to eight heads, twelve to
thirteen feet would be sufficient. But where there is a very large
number, as in cavalry stables, stud establishments, &c., it would be
advantageous to increase the height to from sixteen to twenty feet. A
more lotty ceiling might be considered a luxury, but a rather incon-
venient one, as it would hardly be equally warmed in winter, so that
dampness in some parts could not be prevented, or ventilation must
be avoided in order to retain sufficient heat. Many agricultural stables
admit of fodder-wagons being driven into the passage, in which case
the height must be greater than would seem to be advantageous for a
proper temperature.

If the size of a stable be not in proportion to the number of animals
kept, the stands not occupied should be filled out with straw, &c.,
and if the horses are not sufficient to produce the warmth required in
vfinter, the ceiling should be brought lower down, by extending poles,
rails, or bars, and filling the intermediate space with straw. No such
straw should afterward be used for any other purpose than litter.

Division of Stalls. — To avoid frequent troubles and even heavy losses
of animals, each horse should have his separate stall ; for even the
best-natured will at times make use of his natural weapons, and usually
peaceful neighbors will fight each other in the most violent manner,

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 271

SO that tlieir lives or liinhs are frequently risked. This division is
especially necessary with, regard to those horses of an irritable, envious,
and mettlesome disposition. Mares seem to require particular attention
in the breeding season, though they are, at other times, exemplary,
quiet, and peaceful.

The most simple separation of stands is made by inserting poles,
Avith one end between the rundles of the rack and the other fastened to
the floor. This is but a very imperfect contrivance, yet it must be
admitted that horses usually show respect for such a line of demarca-
tion, notwithstanding the lowly laid pole at the end does not prevent
them from kicking. It seems that they are afraid of getting the pole
between their feet, or that there is not so much cause for kicking, as
the two neighbors cannot so easily touch each other. The poles, how-
ever, may, according to their application, answer more or less the
object contemplated. There is an essential advantage in raising the
lower end of the poles a few feet above the ground, so that the horse,
when kicking, should strike the barrier instead of his neighbor. This
location of the poles may be effected in different ways. In stables
where there are no posts, at least no stand-posts right and left at the
end of the stands, they are suspended by traces or chains fastened either
to the ceiling or the rafter, and the forepart placed either in rings in
front or at the side of the crib, or secured by means of small chains or
hooks. These hanging poles can readily and cheaply be put up in
every locality, and have the advantage of allowing horses more room ;
besides, no stand-posts being required, the tails of the animals are not
liable to injury by rubbing. Still the room thus afforded is too ample,
and the horses, bj^ swinging the poles, voluntarily or not, come into
contact, which often incites them to kick.

It is always better to fasten the poles to the posts in the rear of the
stand, so as to allow but a limited side-movement ; the poles should be
capable of being easily raised, for it will frequently occur that the horse
will roll himself under the poles, and, in suddenly jumping up, will
strike against them, falling crosswise on his back, frequently causing
dangerous injuries; for instance, laceration of the spinal marrow, &c.
This being generally known, dividing or separating poles fastened into
the stand-posts are rarely found, or in those short stands only where
the horses are prevented by the post from rolling themselves into the
stand adjoining.

There are several contrivances for hanging the poles, the simplest of
which is the following. A groove is made in the stand-post, in which
groove the separating pole is shoved down to within three and a half
or four feet of the ground, and moved upward to a height of six feet.
To prevent the pole from falling out after it has been raised beyond the
length of the groove, a rope is drawn through the tenon of the pole.
This rope is fastened to the stand-post at both the upper and lower end
of the groove, so that the pole is held by the rope in a proper position
in case the tenon should be moved beyond the groove.

Another and well-known arrangement consists in the long iron hook,
turning itself by means of an enarthrosis at the point of its insertion
into the stand-post. This movable hook is held in an upright positiop
by a ring fastened at some higher point of the post. If the horse

272 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

happens to lie under the separating pole, the ring, by being shoved up,
detaches itself from the hook so as to hang out the pole. The movable
hook is principally intended for hanging the pole with ease, in case
the horse has struck across the pole and rides on it ; in this case the
ring is shoved off the hook, and the latter turned downward, letting
the pole and the horse down to the floor. (See figure 1, plate 2.)

As the mere poles would afford but insufficient protection from
kicking, walls of various kinds are suspended from these poles. The
simplest and cheapest are straw-mattings. Long rye-straw, somewhat
wet, is turned round the pole, and the lower ends twisted by means of
three rows of packing-thread, to a thickness of from four to six inches.
These partitions have the advantage of not causing any contusions, but
by being frequently kicked at they will soon be torn in pieces, so that
they will not answer for unquiet horses. This straw wall is only
fastened to the hind part of the pole, because it would be too soon
spoiled by gnawing if hung up at the forepart.

More durable are the wooden walls suspended from the poles, con-
sisting either of a contiguous board, or of several boards joined. They
must be provided with ledges, or made double, else they will burst
after the first kicks from a powerful horse. They are suspended from
the poles by means of leather straps or ropes, but iron bands are
decidedly preferable ; the nails, however, must be carefully driven in,
and their condition always receive attention.

These movable partitions afford the advantage of comfortably lying
down ; the horses may turn round without receiving injury, and, when
kicking, the effects and scratchings will be less violent ; yet, after
several years observations and experience, I must pronounce against
movable partitions, as the danger of horses harming each other, when
engaged in violent combats, is greater than in stalls with immovable
partitions, beside the movability is frequently the principal cause for
such combats.

Comparing both the advantages and disadvantages of movable with
immovable partitions, the latter seem to deserve the preference.
Though generally known and in use, they are rarely so arranged as to
answer the purpose. Most of the fixed partitions are too low, so that
the horses may strike beyond them, which is the more dangerous as
the partitions cannot readily be removed. The wall near the crib is
usually from four to five feet high ; toward the end from three to four
feet, and consequently there is a descent. This arrangement is explained
by the fact that the horses present a more stately appearance in a stall
low at the back part ; the height in front corresponds with that of the
crib. This structure is certainly irrational, as the protection and
insurmountable separation in the rear is of more importance than near
the crib. It would be better to have a partition-wall of at least four
feet, and of equal height throughout the length of the stall. A
grooved sill is laid on the ground, with its tenons immediately inserted
in the wall, or in a wooden crib-post in front, and into the stand-post
in the rear. Above there is a strong pole, likewise grooved, inserted
both in front and rear, to correspond with the sill. Then, there are
boards from one and a fourth to two inches in thickness, perpen-
dicularly inserted into the grooves of both the upper pole and the

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 273

sill. The boards should be rather strongs so that repairs, which other-
wise would frequently become necessary, may be saved. By giving
the partition an uniform height, an essential advantage is gained with
regard to expense, for we are enabled to change the position of the
boards, and such of them as may have been split by kicking can be
transferred to the front. Injured boards may easily be replaced by
keeping some of the same length on hand. By means of a vv^edge the
grooved pole is mortised into the stand-post, so that it can be taken
out for changing the boards. To insert the boards lengthwise,
running parallel with the grooved pole, as is done sometimes, is not
advantageous, because long wood is more liable to split, and is usually
exposed to the full force of both feet^ besides, repairs are more expen-
sive, as the boards to be inserted would require some eight or ten feet
in length.

The walls of the stalls are sometimes made by wainscoting both
sides of the grooved pole down to the sill, so as to join the side of the
pole to the board-wall ; but nailing the boards is always more danger-
ous than to shove them in the grooves. If boards are used for this
arrangement, the double-walls will become too expensive; and if light
planks are used, they will soon be demolished ; besides, the hollow
space between the two wainscotings will serve as a retreat for rats
and mice.

Most contentions being caused by envy of fodder or mutual vexations
of the animals, care is usually taken to keep their heads also separate.
In general it is deemed sufficient to prevent the horses stretching into
the adjoining stands, so that they may not bite each other, and steal
their fodder ; studs, however, of an especially irritable nature, will,
particularly in the breeding season, by the mere snuffling of a neighbor,
be incited to the most violent kicks. The top partition walls opposite
the fore part of the horse should therefore be constructed in accordance
with the necessary requirements. These tops, or ''swan-necks," may
be either solid, or of slat-work, the latter being sufficient in most cases,
and having the advantage of not darkening the stands too much. To
answer its purpose, a "swan-neck " should extend one third the length
of the grooved dividing pole, and half the height of the rack. These
portions being very liable to be gnawed when made of wood, ought
to be covered with iron. As, however, slat-work thus protected
is expensive, and as even hard wood is easily destroyed by some
horses, tops of cast-iron, without ornament, are strongly recommended.
(Figure 2, plate 2.)

Figures 2 and 3 are drawings of tops, cast at the Koyal Foundry
at Wasseralfingen, Wirtemberg. Figure 2, weighing about forty-two,
and figure 3, thirty-eight pounds, and costing three-and-a-half cents a
pound.

The slats being brittle and fragile, horses should never be fastened
to them. If any part of this division should happen to break it should
be immediately repaired, as the sharp corners and sides left by the
fracture are frequently the cause of dangerous injuries. "Swan-
necks ' ' may be fastened by inserting them in a groove of the pole and
18 A

274 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

in tlie wall and screwing them, so that in case of repairs becoming
necessary, tliey can easily be removed.

If tliere are two posts at the rear of the stand, they should be con-
structed with regard to the welfare of the horse, and not exclusively to
please the esthetic taste of the architect, as is often the case in stables
otherwise arranged with the greatest luxury. The cast-iron posts are
often provided with octagonal pedestals, adorned with various high
reliefs, against which unquiet horses, even when not engaged vfith
their neighbors, will, during the operation of cleansing, strike their
feet and hurt themselves. These posts should always be round
throughout their entire length, or, at the least, the corners should be
rounded, that the beauty of the tail may not suffer by being frequently
rubbed against them. To guard against such rubbing, either a piece
of sole leather, with inverted nails three-fourths of an inch long, or
the skin of a hedge-hog, should be appropriately fastened on the post;
or the horse may be kept off by fixing a bar at each of the grooved
poles, within the last two-thirds, the bars at the commencement being
firmly fixed to the poles, while in the rear there is a distance of half
a foot between the post and the bars of each side, the two bars con-
verging from front to rear, thus narrowing the stand somewhat in the
rear, without being an obstacle to lying down. This at the same time
renders it impossible for the horse to touch the post.

Again : The tail of the horse is often deformed, in consequence of
all parts of the stand not being even and smooth. In trying to keep
off the flies, single hairs are easily caught by detached woody fibres,
or by some joint of a chain^ and so torn off. The posts and other at-
tachments may therefore be covered with paper, or heavily oiled, thus
preserving the tail from injury when it is frequently swung in summer.
Planed columns of oak wood might serve the same purpose. Soft
wood is liable to splinter, and the lower parts soon became rough and
deformed by being kicked against. In England there are many
stables with cast-iron posts.

"Where valuable horses are kept, but of an irritable nature, frequently
kicking when being cleaned, the walls of the stands and posts should
be provided with cushions or straw mattings. In the stall itself there
should be no projecting nail, nor even the head of one. All arrange-
ments requiring many nails, for instance, tin coverings, should, if
possible, be avoided. Whoever may be unable to furnish his stable
with stone and iron, should try to protect the wood from being
gnawed by painting it with tar, or giving it a coat of bitter substances,
such as the decoction of wormwood, nut-shells, &c. The best protec-
tion consists in covering walls and wood with cast-iron or delf-ware;
this mode, however, being expensive, tin covering is frequently re-
sorted to. Zinc is preferred to iron i3late, on account of oxydizing less
rapidly. It seems to have a disagreeable taste for the tongue of the
horse, for most of them are fond of licking the rusty iron, while they
will rarely touch the zinc. An additional advantage is, it is capable
of a closer application to the wood than iron, which is always molting
and drawing the nails out of the wood, causing their heads to project so
as to frequently injure the skins, eyes, &c., of the horses. For the
same reason, straps with buckles should be avoided in fastening the

ARRANGEMENT OF HORSE STABLES. 275

"kicking boards" to the dividing pole, and every hinge about tlie
stand should be well rounded.

By extending all posts to the ceiling, the floor above the stable, as
well as the building generally, will receive a stronger support. Free
standing posts, unconnected with the ceiling or the rafters, are defi-
cient in firmness, even if they are inserted in the ground to a great depth;
by being kicked and pressed against, they soon become loose. There
is still more danger in having very low posts, over which the horse
when kicking may even jump. The lowest admissible are five feet,
being at the same time adequate to all partition stand-walls, though a
too low division is far less objectionable than a post too low, which, in
case a horse should happen to hang upon it, will cause contusions dan-
gerous to the life of the animal, A foundation of stone for the posts
would protect them from decay.

Doors. — The number of doors should correspond to th-e si^e of the
stable. Though it is not necessary to pay the same scrupulous regard
to the danger of fire in horse stables as must be done in those for
cattle and sheep, as these animals can only with the greatest trouble
be driven out from a building on fire, yet it is always advantageous to
give a stable several chances of egress ; it will not be required that all
should be opened and used for everyday purposes.

The door most in use should be on the side toward the sun, so as to
prevent, on its being opened, much cold air from rushing in, and that
the horses, on going out, shall not be made to feel uncomfortable by
the change of temperature.

If two doors are needed in a stable^ they should be opposite each
other, as the circulation of fresh air is thereby favored, without a draft
touching the animals, the space between both doors usually forming
the passage. It is best to place the doors at the narrow gable-end,
because this would facilitate the superintendence of the whole stable.
At the same time, there is not so much pressing of the animals in
going out as there would be at a door in the middle of the building.

The door should be ten feet high, if possible, so as to allow a horse-
man to ride without injury into the stable, and the width at least six
feet, so that two horses may pass at once, and that harness and saddle
shall not be damaged.

The height referred to is also favorable to the circulation of air
above. It is altogether objectionable to provide the doors with promi-
nent sills, as these give frequent occasion for stumbling, disloca-
tions, &c.

The door-posts should be round, or, at least, their edges. Stables
for colts, which are in the habit of pressing with haste and force
through the doors, should always be provided with movable cylinders,
fixed outside or inside of the edges, or, still better, to the inner side
of the door-posts. This method will prevent injury to the hips, when
the colts are driven in or out. To be really serviceable, cylinders
should be at least six inches in diameter, and six feet in height. The
precaution contemplated is often lost, on account of the axle getting
rusty, thus preventing the movement. This obstacle must be avoided
by affording ample room to the axle and the ring, and by frequent
greasing.

2t6 AGRICULTURAL REPOR*.

The door should be provided with two wings,, for a single door of
the requisite width would he too heavy, and, being often opened for ,,
the passage of men, would not allow the stable to retain sufficient
warmth during winter. If both wings were from five to six feet wide,
one of two feet and a half or three feet would afford space for a con-
venient passage. Doors from eight to nine feet in height and four in
width may answer for small stables.

A chain secured across the door- way at the height of four feet would
keep those horses which may have become unfastened from going out,
if the doors were opened in summer for the purpose of ventilation. If
intended to keep them open during warm nights, the chain must be
capable of being locked^ so as to guard against thieves. Half-doors,
or those divided in the middle of their height, Vv^ould answer the same
purpose. Doors and wings should always open outward, as most
horses, and particularly colts, would press in that direction. There
should be no self-closing doors; for if they are not made to stand im-
movable on their hinges, they v/ill produce frequent injuries to animals
and harness, on their passage. A practical arrangement for retaining
the v/armth of the stable consists in putting up inner doors, or lining
the outer ones with leather, bands of twisted straw, or cotton, or
boards of cork.

Preferable, however, and in addition to the common door, would be
a closed space in front, serving at the same time as a room for harness,
saddles, &c., and for cleansing purposes. This space may be either
under the same roof with the stable, or otherwise.

A great advantage would thus be gained in not permitting the
external cold to touch the horses immediately on the door proper
being opened.

Special regard should be paid to the manner of locking both the
outer doors and those of the various divisions of the stable. All pro-
jections, such as long latches, hooks, knobs, &c., are traps for harness
and other articles, and should be avoided. The lock itself should be
sunk in the wood-work. Whenever the doors are locked from the
outside, an ordinary bolt is usually sufficient; but, to prevent the
consequences of insecurity, the bolts within should be so constructed
as to close themselves; which may be readily accomplished by making
them of heavy iron, and, instead of a horizontal, giving an oblique
position, when their own weight will fasten them. A bolt in reach
of the horses must be provided with a stay-spring.

The space in front of the stable-door should always be level, without
holes or obstructions, because most horses, in the act of going out, are
awkward, stumbling, or wild, and therefore apt to make a misstep
and fall. In the same place, and perhaps on the building itself, rings
should be fastened for tying the horses, to cleanse them in the open
air^ when the vi^eather is fine.

Stable-windows. — Light, one of the most essential incentives of life,
promotes especially those animal operations, sensation and movement ;
while its absence favors the vegetative part, nourishment and the in-
crease of fat. Light stables render their inmates always lively, and
capable of easily receiving impressions ; while dark ones deaden the
nerves and produce laziness and unwieldy increase of fat. Aside

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 277

from these effects on tlie general organism, a glaring light irritates the
eye, which becomes diseased if long subjected to its influence. The
continued absence of light_, or too much darkness, will deaden the
optic nerve and make it insusceptible. Finally, it has been proved
by experience that a sudden transition from inactivity to great activity
can rarely be sustained without injury to the organ.

These few principles must regulate the construction of stables, and
especially the arrangement of their windows.

Kequiring of horses particularly the development of the animal part,
or power of rapid movement, we find the production of fat unfavorable,
and even directly opposed to it, and therefore must provide much light
in stables. The eye being so imj)ortant in the service required, we
must maintain the health and activity of the horse by modifying the
impressions of light. In this respect a stable should be as well sup-
plied as the dwelling of man, thus favoring general order and facili-
tating cleansing and control. As horses are for the most part fastened
to their stands, and sometimes unable to avoid the effects of the sun-
light on the visual organ, the windows must be so arranged as not to
incommode the animals.

The windows not only serve to convey light, but also air into the
stable. It is, however, known that currents of air may, under certain
circumstances, have an injurious effect on health. In accordance with
this the following rules may be laid down with regard to the arrange-
ment of windows. These should not be in front, but in the rear of
the animals ; if there is but one row of stands in the stable, this rule
is usually observed. If it should, however, be necessary to put up a
window in front of the horses, it should be placed at such a height as
to alloT\r the rays of light and the currents of air to pass above their
heads. When the building does not admit of giving the windows the
position referred to, the panes next to the eye of the horse should be
ground glass, or common glass may be thus prepared by simply rub-
bing it with emory or fine sand, or painting it with lime. Panes of
a blue tint would be still better, modifying to a great extent the effects
of the rays of light on the eye.

Eeflections from a bright surface being almost as irritating as the
direct sun-beams, the walls of the stable should not be white^ but a
pleasant color should be produced, by the addition of either yellow or
green ochre or pine soot. This should be done especially with walls
fronting the heads of the horses.

For new stables a skylight is recommended, as it also favors the
circulation of air. Side windows may then be omitted, or constructed
on a very small scale. If it is intended to procure sufficient light from
the sides, the stables will either become too high or the windows will
carry the light directly to the eyes. Stables, therefore, amply lighted
from the sides, and yet not injurious, are rarely found.

In case the windows are so low as to be reached by the head of the
horse the panes must be secured by wire-work, or a similar contrivance,
against being broken.

The material for window frames deserves special attention, as no
part of the stable is so much exposed to moisture, and, therefore, to
decay. At these places the cold and warm layers of air meet together,

278 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

producing drops of water. This dampness not onlj'- destroys the wood,
but changes its form, causing either, directly, the glass to spring, or,
indirectly, the breaking of the panes in opening or shutting, on
account of the sash being too tight.

Material not so liable to injury from dampness should therefore be
chosen for window frames. Oak wood is for the most part employed;
wood of the red fir is almost as good, though it is more apt to swell
than the oak, yet it will longer resist moisture. It would be worth
while to paint the wood about the windows with oil color, to diminish
the evils referred to. Cast-iron frames are decidedly preferable to
wooden ones, as the expense for repairs would be greatly lessened.
Tar putty is coming into general use for securing the panes. To
facilitate the replacing of the windows, after cleaning them, it would
be advisable to make the hinges of unequal length. The same
should be observed with doors. In stables, where there are sensitive
and irritable horses, fly-windows (being the first of double windows,
and covered with a texture of fine wire) and curtains should be applied,
so as to modify the light. To prevent the windows from freezing up
salt should be applied to the frames, as salt water will only freeze at
a very low temperature, which is rarely the case in stables.

Drains. — Drains for the urine of horses and other liquids occasion-
ally discharged are made in all stables; for, if the removal of these liquids
were left to natural evaporation, the atmosphere would always be sur-
charged with humidity, injurious to health ; it would under certain
circumstances become too cool; and decomposition, with its conse-
quences, bad odor, and gaseous air, dangerous to lungs and eyes^
would be produced, if those liquids were allowed to remain for some
time in the stable.

Though, in stables which are kept clean and always provided with
litter, no urine is seen flowing off for months through the existing
drains, yet drains should not be omitted, as they may be needed for
certain emergencies, as in a new method of feeding, for instance, large
quantities of green fodder.

There are usually open gutters made of paving-stones ; they should
not be so near to the stand as to catch the hind-hoofs of the horse, in
case he should back off from the crib, and should be flat, so as not to
cause the animal to make missteps in going or returning. Where there
are hollovv^ stand-floors the principal gutters in the rear of the stands
should be sunken, and therefore covered. In such cases they are, for the
most part, made of stones, cut in the shape of gutters, with a groove
above to receive the covering board. These gutter-covers are generally
provided with holes so as to alloAv the liquids to escape, and are some-
times made of cast-iron, rough on the top.

Open drains are usually preferable, because they admit of being-
easier and oftener cleansed. They are recommended for all stables
where the stands are paved, and require no j)articular expense, as they
can be made in the first arrangement of the pavement. If the gutters
are covered, they must have considerable descent, so as to cause the
liquid to fiow ofi" of its own accord. If open the descent cannot be
so great, because the gutter would become too deep in the rear of the
last stands of the row. The operation of but a slight descent in open
gutters could be easily assisted by the application of a broom.

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 279

The gutters should discharge their contents beyond the stable into the
dung place or into a special basin of dung water , not situated in the imme-
diate vicinity, but a few rods distant. The neighborhood of the dung
place increases the bad odor and insects, especially flies. Where the gutter
penetrates the wall of a stable, the opening is frequently too large, always
admitting a draft on the animals standing near. Its size need not be
more than that of the gutter itself. To exclude rats and mice, an iron
grate is usually applied. It would be cheaper, however, to widen the
sole of the gutter one foot, and deepen it five inches, either inside or
outside of the wall, and insert a small plank, so as to bring its lower
edge about one inch below the level of the sole of the rest of the gutter.
The space immediately under the edge of the little board will be con-
stantly filled with liquid, preventing vermin from entering, and still
allowing the water to run off; this arrangement will also shield from
drafts. Instead of this regulator, an iron grate may be used, extending
to the bottom of the deepening, so that their passage would still be pre-
vented, in case of a deficiency of water in the sink. The water will
thus never be checked, as the mud frequently collecting will settle
below, the grate being always kept open above. Grates applied at the
end of a gutter of equal level are liable to obstruction.

Ventilation. — Without air there is no life, or, more properly speaking,
no health without pure air. I will not now attempt to discuss the
constituent parts of atmospheric air, presuming them to be generally
known. Its consumption, however, by a horse is less known. The
lungs of a middle-sized horse draw, at one inhalation, some one hun-
dred and twenty cubic inches. In a normal process of breathing he will
consume seventy-two thousand cubic inches per hour, and one thousand
seven hundred and twenty-eight cubic feet per day.

The principal object of the consumption of this air is, by means of
its oxygen, to bring the carbon of the blood into combustion, thus
maintaining the necessary heat. The animal receives this carbon
through its food. It may be assumed that a horse acquires about nine
pounds of carbon per day, which is brought into combustion by respi-
ration. This operation requires about two hundred and eighty-eight
cubic feet of oxygen, forming but the fifth part of the atmospheric air,
so that one thousand four hundred and forty cubic feet of atmospheric
air are requisite for the process of combustion going on within the
body. The product of this is carbonic acid, which, as is well known,
is an irrespirable gas, producing by itself sudden death, and making
the air, even when mixed in a small proportion, say from six to eight
per cent., altogether unfit for respiration by animals.

Accordingly, a horse, kept in a space fifteen feet long, ten high, and
twelve wide, the usual dimensions of a stable for two horses, would
perish within a few hours , if the space were hermetically closed . Fortu-
nately, there are no buildings thus sealed. If, through the process of
respiration, by which carbonic acid and watery vapor are produced a
surplus of carbonic acid beyond the normal proportion (1.2500) should
be created, Nature herself, by her own accord, provides a proportion of
mixture still suitable for the use of the animals, by making the various
gases continually penetrate each other. Thus, an equalization of all
the different atmospheric strata is effected, which is further favored and

280 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

accelerated "by the motion of air, drafts, &c. This natural tendency of
the various kinds and strata of air to mix with each other, has a
more powerful effect than all ventilators, fans, or hellows.

The more inert watery vapors, and some kinds of gas originating
from the decomposition of the excrements, are more liable to become
stagnant, and will, even if they do not directly menace the life of the
animal, still be productive of disturbances in some organic functions,
and thus be detrimental to health.

The products of this decomposition, for instance, carbonate of ammonia
and sulphuretted hydrogen, will particularly show their effects where
manure is purposely suffered to remain for weeks^ especially in winter,
in order to use the heat, generated by the decomposition, for warming
stables, and to prevent cold air from rushing in on the removal of the
manure. But these kinds of gases, far from sustaining the jDrocess of
respiration, will, by their caustic properties, affect the animals, irri-
tating the pituitary membranes, nose and eyes. If from the equaliza-
tion referred to above, special contrivances for the circulation and
purification of air should not be ranked among the indispensable wants
of a stable, yet they would favor the preservation of health, the com-
forts and development of power of the occupants.

There has long been a desire, therefore, and several efforts have been
made, to provide stables with effective ventilation. Most of these
methods evince, at least, good intention, but too openly betray a want
of knowledge of the respective laws of Nature, I will now briefly
notice some of the most familiar methods of ventilation.

Thus, openings made in the floor, if corresponding openings be not
made above, or at the opposite wall, will have no effect, or if any, the
di-aft will generally injure the animals.

Drafts immediately l3elow the ceiling are not altogether objectionable,
as they allovv^ the air to pass out from the upper strata ; if they are not
too wide, the atmosphere carried out will not be supplied through the
same opening, so that no cold current will descend upon the animals
standing near, the air being supplied through the numerous cracks and
pores of the ]3uilding, thus not causing too great a draft. If the
openings are somewhat wide, they should not be in the neighborhood
of the horses. A simple opening like this will, however, then cause
only a brisk circulation of air, if the difference between the heat of
the stable and that outside is a very considerable one ; if the tempera-
ture both out and in is equal, an imperfect purification of air will be
produced. In these cases the restoration of air, could, without injury
to the animals, be easily effected, by occasionally opening windows and
doors.

Coleman's method of ventilation, so much spoken of in England,
consists in the tray-shaped standfloor, having a grated hole cariying
out the urine by a gutter beneath. In front and above the head of the
horse is a draft channel, leading upward, so that, by the cooperation
of the gutter and chimney channel, a change of air is continually
maintained, conveying the vapor through the chimney. This arrange-
ment has only come into limited use, because the constant draft against
the belly of the horse frequently produced colics and colds. Similar
to this case seems to be the y^ntilatipjj recommended by Henry Stephens,

ARRANGEMENT OF HORSE STABLES. 281

m his book on rural and domestic economy. According to his method,
there should be an opening in the front wall of every stand, above the
head of the horse, so as to admit the necessary quantity of air directly
to the nose of the horse. He says this method requiries several open-
ings, which need not be large. These should be covered with perforated
zinc, and, if the current of air should be even then too strong, it is
advisable to interrupt it by a board, so fastened to the wall as first to
drive the air upward before descending on the animals. Drafts at
other places of the stable are deenved impracticable by Stephens,
because the air thus admitted would, before reaching the nose, neces-
sarily pass over the body of the horse, or fall upon his limbs.

It seems that the object contemplated could not be accomplished by
this method, for the narrow and high openings will carry out the
upper strata of heated air without admitting fresh air; if the latter
should ever happen, such a current of fresh^ and, under certain circum-
stances, of very cold air, rushing directly upon the head and forepart
of the horse, could have but an injurious effect. A change of air
should always be procured in those regions of a stable where the horses
do not come into immediate contact, but where they do, equalization
of temperature, and the mixture of air may be confidently left to
Nature.

Those methods of ventilation are invariably best, which can always,
and even when the horses are in the stable, be kept in operation with-
out injury to the animals. Such are the air chimneys built joerpen-
dicularly into the ceiling, just above the passage-way, terminating
above the roof.

It is well known that the heated strata of air, being specifically
lighter, have always an upward tendency, assuming, in case they are
not cooled off, a certain flight or draft, which is brisker in proportion
to the height of the heated column of air thus put in motion. Simple
openings above (without chimneys) will therefore bring about only
imperfect motion and purification. The air which slowly moves up
through the openings is cooled too rapidly by the temperature out-
side, so that it is soon interrupted in its ascent, permitting the cold
air to rush in through the same passage. Those parts of air at a
greater distance from the openings adhere, as it were, to the ceiling,
become stagnant, and are not renovated. Quite different is the effect
of the vapor chimneys referred to, setting at first the upper layers of
air, and consequently all the rest in motion, because the draft gener-
ated by the long tube is just as strong as that produced by high chim-
neys. Vapor chimneys are sometimes used, but in their arrangement
frequent mistakes are committed ; in most cases they are too wide, if
four boards are joined to form, a conduit, as is commonly done, the
current, on account of the width, being about one square foot, becomes
too slow, for the ascending air is cooled before reaching the upper
end of the channel ; the watery vapors contained in the column will
therefore concentrate and descend as rain into the stable. Therefore
it becomes necessary to suspend a basin from the ceiling to catch the
dropping water, which is apt to overflow upon the floor and on the
animals.

But if the conduit is made narrower, perhaps half the width of the

282 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

boards and about one fourtli of a square foot, the inclosed column of
warm air v/ill rise upward with more energy, forcing up the condensed
watery vapors, which are in the act of falling back and preventing at
the same time a current of cold air from rushing in through the same
way. With regard to these ventilators, an essential advantage, usually
lost sight of, may be gained to increase their effect by surrounding
the conduit throughout its whole length with non-conductors of heat,
so that the warm air in its rising shall not be cooled too rapidly.
The advantages of such an arrangement are shown by the fact that
air channels leading through full haylofts and out at the roof do
not produce any dropping, not even in seasons of great cold. If by
the consumption of the hay, which preserves the heat, the conduit is
cooled, dropping will commence at the lower termination ; therefore,
if it leads through an empty space, it should be surrounded by straw,
or be made of double boards, and further protected against humidity
by- painting the inside with tar. The terminus is protected from rain,
snow, &c., by the application of a little roof, either of wood or sheet-
iron, or by blinds. At the point where the conduit passes the ceiling,
a valve or turning-dish should be placed so as to close the channel at
will and regulate the current.

To promote ventilation in a still more rational way, openings which
can be closed should, in my opinion, be made on the floor, at places
where no animals stand, in order to supply fresh air in lieu of the
warm air carried off; yet the doors and the cracks in the building will
frequently do this, even in a greater degree than may be required.

At the outer terminus of the channels there is always a jorecipitation
of humidity, tending to destroy the wall and the adjoining wood.
Therefore, to lead away the discharged air to some distance from the
building, by means of boards or projecting conductors, would be ad-
visable. This is especially important if the openings are just below
the roof, the wood-work of which is liable to destruction by the action
of the vapors.

Cribs. — These serve the purpose of laying short fodder before the
horses ; for instance, oats, groats, beans, and choiDpings. Sometimes,
also, they are used for receiving the drinking water. The height of
the cribs, in most stables, is from three and a half to four feet from the
floor, but it is more reasonable to adapt the height to the size of the
horse, and most suitable to let the edge of the crib correspond in its
height with the elbow of the horse. A lower position, it is true,
would be more natural to the animals in feeding, but they would too
frequently jump with their fore feet into the cribs, thus injuring the
latter and themselves. Too high a position of the edge of the crib, on
the contrary, would be inconvenient for taking food, and often cause
the fodder to be spread about, as the horses, in order to avoid the
upward stretching of their necks, turn themselves, with their mouths
filled, from the crib, thus dropping the fodder in the act of chewing.
A height of the crib equal with the withers, as it is frequently found
in stables where small sized horses are kept, favors, and even incites
to crihhing.

The width of the crib should be such as to allow even the largest
horse to use his jaws with ease to the greatest extent ; it should there-

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 283

fore be from ten to twelve inclies. The length need not be more,
strictly speaking, than the dimensions just referred to, thus giving a
circular form ; but cribs are generally made longer than would seem
necessary, because horses frequently stop eating and turn their heads
aside, thereby losing fodder, if the vessel is so short as not to receive
the droppings ; it should also be a recipient of the fodder falling from
the rack. In this respect, cribs occupying the whole width of the
stand are very suitable.

They are made either in the shape of gutters or of troughs. Their
form should be such as always to collect the fodder again by itself in
the middle, and confine it when stirred ; there should not be any sharp
angles, edges, or corners in and about the crib, because the fodder
could not be reached everywhere with ease, and the horses are liable
to hurt themselves by knocking, thus causing bony excrescences, espe-
cially on the lower jaw ; finally, the front exterior of the crib should
always be well rounded, downward, so as to render the horses unable
to remove the halter by means of the sharp edges.

Figure 4, plate 2 represents one of the most suitable cribs, having
the advantage of the edge bent back and inward, preventing the throw-
ing out of the fodder, being easier done in other cribs made either in
the shape of gutters or troughs. This crib is made of cast-iron,
in Wasseralfingen, usually weighs seventy-five pounds, and costs
about three and a half cents a pound. The only objection is, that the
angle formed by its perpendicular back wall and the rounded bottom
is too acute, so that the horses can only procure the last particles of
food by the exertion of licking them. In English stables, a sjDecial
drinking trough is usually joined to the crib and rack.

With regard to cleaning, cribs made of cast-iron, stone, or delf-ware,
and put into a frame, like a kettle into an iron hearth-plate, are very
convenient.

The material used for cribs is wood, stone, or iron. Wood should
be decidedly rejected, as it causes a great many injuries. Horses are
tempted, by its use, to crib; it requires many repairs, and gases of
bad odor and contagious substances will strongly adhere to it. The
use of oak wood renders the expense not much less than that of stone,
especially if it is considered that they require nails and sheet-iron cov-
erings, making them even dangerous for the eyes of the horse.

Cribs running through several stalls, and made of one trunk, are
expensive and Avasteful of wood ; the heart of the wood is cut out, while
the external and soft wood remains ; repairs are difiicult ; and if the
crib is of boards joined, angles and joints are produced, in many cases
giving the first inducement to cribbing. All cribs, however, running
through, should be provided with partitions for each horse, otherwise
the envy of fodder will often excite quarrels.

Stone, under ordinary circumstances, can be best recommended as best
for cribs. The only objection is that most kinds of stone are liable to a
considerable extent to wear out all objects brought frequently in con-
nection with them, for instance, the halter-chains, teeth, &c., besides,
they are not cheap.

The long stone troughs are usually wainscoted at their lower edge
down to the floor, partly to prevent injuries to the head and fore-feet

284 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

from the lower part of the trough, partly to gain a space for storing
away litter, in which latter case the wainscoting should he provided
with drop-doors capable of being locked. All these wainscotings are
decidedly objectionable, being expensive and a chosen retreat for all
vermin, rats and mice. To avoid the injuries indicated, the cribs
should be well rounded, or the empty space filled out with a wall
below. To keep litter in these places shows a want of rational arrange-
ment. They are intended to hold the straw during the day, where it
may dry, again to be used as litter for the night ; but who would select
so narrow and confined a space for this purpose? The dampness and
gaseous evaporations from the straw is for the most part such as to
injure the eyes, and the organs of respiration, with which they una-
voidably come in contact.

In countries were stones are rare, earthen or delf-ware is frequently
used for making cribs'; they are clean and neat, but very fragile ; those
made of only one piece are a matter of luxury ; but those composed of
several plates, like earthenware stoves, are more generally used ; similar
to the latter are those constructed of burnt clay, as generally used in
the northern parts of Germany.

Iron, on account of its hardness and durability, is especially adapted
for cribs. In most cases they are made of cast-iron, and have the great
advantage of preventing the horses from cribbing, of being rapidly and
easily put up, removed, or transferred, in most buildings, and of retain-
ing the greater part of their value, even in case of their being broken,
or disused as cribs. A disadvantage connected with them is, that white
horses, or such as have white marks about their heads, Avill frequently
receive a dirty appearance from the rust of the cribs, giving, in point
of cleanliness, a good deal of trouble to the hostler. To prevent oxydi-
zation several means are employed, the best still appearing to be that
of enameling, or galvanizing, but the expense is considerable.

Another means of preventing this vessel from oxydizing consists in
giving it a coat of oil, which, it is true, will not last long, if the crib
is in use. If the latter is the case, a very corrosive or injurious rust
will never be formed, this appearing only in the shape of a bronze color,
as happens in the case of rifle barrels. If, however, the cribs are not
to be used for some time, the corroding oxydization should be prevented
by greasing or painting with oil.

Cribs of stone or wood are fastened either by walls below, by fixing
them to the wall, or by placing them on wood or stone pillars. In
running stables, cribs and racks are put up in one of the corners. In
stands for mares, the foals are supplied with special cribs, rendered
inaccessible to their mothers either by a pole laid across in the corner,
below which the foals may still pass, or by cross-bars at the top of the
crib, admitting only the small jaw of the foal to take the fodder from
its reservoir.

In studs where there are many foals, the cribs may be so constructed
as to be suspended from ropes, by which method the gnawing of the
cribs can be avoided, because they are not steady, and may be drawn
up to the ceiling, after feeding, so as not to trouble the foals in their
quick movements, and to remove every inducement to crib.

In stables intended to receive cribbers, oi horses inclined to crib, the

ARRANGEMENT OP HORSE STABLES. 285

latter should be in a low position, about one foot from the floor,
because it would then be impossible for the horse to indulge this pro-
pensity ; and if he is, by being shortly tied, deprived of every other
opportunity, for instance, the dividing pole, for cribbing, then this bad
habit will sometimes in a brief period be entirely forgotten, never,
under favorable circumstances, to be resumed.

Care should be taken, in making and fastening the cribs, so as not
to leave cracks and openings, in which remains of fodder or single
grains would lodge, as this would be the first incitement to cribbing.

Racks. — These are an apparatus of grated walls, of different forms,
for the purpose of offering the long fodder to the animals, without any
of it being lost or spoiled. A loss of fodder will be caused by being
often trodden upon by the horses, and thereafter refused, besides, the
fodder will be deteriorated by becoming damp in consequence of being
breathed upon by the horses. The rack is trellised, to allow refuse,
for instance, small stones, pieces of lime, and the pericarps of colchicum
autumnale to get out of the fodder and fall through the trellis-work ;
besides it would be impossible for the horses to reach the fodder if the
racks were not grated. The space between the rundles should be from
two to three inches.

Backs are usually made over the cribs, at one and a half feet above
the edge of the crib. The object of this high position is to accustom
the horse to a fine erection of his fore part, a matter of consideration,
as it is thought^ in riding-horses, and possesses the additional advan-
tage that the particles of fodder dropping through the rundles will
fall into the crib, where they may be taken up again by the horse.
These advantages, however, partly imaginary, partly real, as they
are, are met by many disadvantages. The giving of food in such high
racks is troublesome, and can hardly be done by small persons ; the
horses, also, are sometimes injured by the fork. It is impossible to
prevent the head, mane, and eyes from being soiled by fragments of
hay and other rubbish dropping from the rack, and giving rise to
itching, rubbing, shoving off the halter, inflammation of the eyes, &c.
The racks having a high position, more fodder will be dispensed and
wasted, parts of which, for instance, straw of peas and beans, may
even be liable to fall into the ears of the horse, giving a great deal of
trouble.

These latter evils might be prevented by placing the racks some-
what back in the wall, or by bringing the front of the rack at least on
a level with the wall itself, as is often seen in stables where the fodder
is given from the barn, for instance^, on the farms in Holstein and
Hanover. The rundles in this case are given a perpendicular position,
and the back part of the wall, not being trellised, forms an oblique
plane, so as to enable all fodder to come gradually and of itself to the
horse. High racks will always be accompanied by the disadvantage
of forcing the animal, when eating, to give his head a tiresome and
unnatural position, even dangerous to his health. By this forced posi-
tion of the neck the circulation of blood is disturbed, causing perpetual
congestions in some animals, especially those so predisposed. From
all these considerations, I feel induced to advocate the position of racks
used in English stables, where they are of equal height with the cribs,

286 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

being from three to four feet from the ground. It may be objected
that this position woukl favor cribbing, and that the horses would
sooner jump into the rack, spoiling it and hurting themselves ; but if
both cribs and racks are made of iron, and not altogether too low,
these objections deserve no consideration.

The proportions of a rack should correspond to the method of feed-
ing. Horses used for agricultural purposes receiving a greater bulk
of fodder, especially green fodder in summer, necessarily require a
larger rack, than those kept for luxury alone and receiving the smaller
portion of their food in the shape of rack fodder.

The form of the rack should correspond to the crib, in case it is
placed either above or side by side with the latter. It is objectionable
to put up a long ladder-rack above a narrow tray-shaped trough of
stone or cast-iron, the former stretching its ends over the trough, so
as to let the fodder from the rack fall to the ground, both on the left
and right side. In running stables, the crib and rack are frequently
put up on different walls, or in different corners, in which case there
appears no necessity for the form and size of the rack to correspond
with that of the crib.

Figure 5, plate 2, illustrates this arrangement, made of one piece,
by Cottam and Hallen, London, or by Brandon, Paris :

It costs, when of cast-iron 69 francs.

Enameled 59 '^

Galvanized... 100 ''

Crib and rack of one piece 60 "

Enameled 79 "

Galvanized 88 "

The racks most generally in use are those in the shape of a ladder,
with rundles at narrow intervals, either running through a number of
stands, or separate for each stand. Tlie latter arrangement has the
advantage, that, if a rundle is accidentally torn off, the whole row of
horses will not be exposed to excitement and danger. The position of
these racks should be at an angle of 40° to 45° toward the wall.

Some have the rundles made movable, to^ facilitate the pulling out
of the fodder, and to diminish their tearing and spoiling. 7or similar
reasons, the racks in Holland and Belgium are provided with this
arrangement : one of the rundles can be shoved up, and has a handle
at the lower end, in the shape of a crutch handle, by means of which
the horse is enabled to move up the rundle by putting in his nose,
and to take out the fodder. (See figure 6, plate 2.) But I cannot
ascribe any great value to this arrangement, inasmuch as in most
racks of this kind, which I have seen, the rundles intended to be
movable became so tight by the swelling of the wood, or the oxydizing
of the iron, that the object contemplated could not be attained at all.
Sometimes the racks are made of small boards, inserted into the grooves
of the upper and lower ladder-beams, and in which the necessary
openings are made by a saw. (See figure 7, plate 2.)

Backs in the shape of round baskets are of late frequently made,
having the appearance of the fourth part of a large globe. They are
made of iron only, being too small for green fodder, as at present

ARRANGEMENT OF HORSE STABLES. 287

manufactured, but deserve to be recommended for stables where no
green fodder is used, because tliey are of a pleasing form^ can easily
be put up, and facilitate the operation of drawing out the fodder. (See
figure 8, plate 2.)

This rack, manufactured at the founderies of Wirtemberg, weighs
from forty to fifty pounds, and costs about three and a half cents a
pound.

The material for racks is either wood or iron. In ladder-racks, the
beams are made of oak wood, on account of their being gnawed, and
the rundles of ash, on account of its great tenacity. Eacks made
either of wrought or cast-iron are recommended for their durability,
being, this considered, not much more expensive than wooden ones,
which require frequent repairs. Those made of cast-iron must be pro-
vided with much stronger rundles than those of wrought-iron ; they
will last almost forever, while in cast iron ones the rundles are easily
broken off by being struck with the hay-fork, by an accidental blow
from the head of a horse, or by the animal being fastened to a rundle,
&c. The damages thus done can often hardly be repaired ; it is, how-
ever, always best to insert new rundles of wrought iron.

Arrangement for fastening the horses. — In this, care should be
taken that the horses may not step inside the halter-chains, or straps,
which can be avoided by putting weights at the ends of the straps.
The arrangement as indicated in figure 5 deserves special commenda-
tion, the weights being shoved u|) and down on a leading pole, serving
at the same time as a foot for the crib. These weights usually run
behind the wainscoting, below the cribs, or in a covered channel,
applied in one of the corners of the stand. If straps are used for
fastening, rollers of iron, brass, or hard wood, should be fixed at the
point of the wainscoting where the straps are shoved up and down by
the weights, for the purpose of sparing the leather. If the horse is
to be tied with but one rope, it must ho, in the middle of the stand,
and so as to allow him to lie down without lengthening the strap con-
siderably, and thus giving occasion to step inside. A leading pole from
the edge of the crib should be put up, with a movable ring, to which
the short halter-strap should be buckled.

288 ' ^ AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

SAXON MEMNO SHEEP.

Letter to his Excellency Joseph A. Wright, Minister to Berlin, from
Alexander Speck Yon Sternburg, of Lutzschena, Germany, relative
TO Saxony Merino Sheep, &c., &c. &c.

LtJTZCHENA, near Leipsig, Saxony, July 22, 1859.

Dear Sir : I have much, pleasure in giving you an account of the
method of raising sheep, together with some information as regards
the history of the Saxon merino, and other matters in connection with
the agricultural pursuits followed on this estate_, which may be inter-
esting to your friends.

You are no doubt aware that Spain is the country to which the world
is indebted for the '^ Saxon merino," the most perfect and noble of tlie
different races of sheep. It has been proved that the Spanish sheep,
more perhaps than any other domestic animal, is liable to undergo a
great change, under different domestic influences, both with regard to
size and wool ; for, whilst the original Spanish merino has deteriorated
in some countries so as to become nearly valueless, the reverse has
taken place under the influence of a climate congenial to it. Thus,
according to some historians, (Weckherlin, &c.,) the Spanish merino
was introduced into England as early as the 15th century, and is now
represented there by the south-down, or English short-wooled. In
1723 it was introduced into Sweden; yet how different now is their
progeny. In England, the rich and ever-verdant pasturage and humid
climate have developed and increased the frame and the flesh-producing
qualities, whilst the fleece has also increased in size and weight, though
at the expense of firmness and curl of hair, which constitute the j)i'0-
perties of fine clothing wool. In Sweden, the uncongenial climate has
effected the reverse, and changed the Spanish merino into a small, and
in all respects indifferent, animal. The Spanish merino was first intro-
duced into Saxony in the year 1T65, when a flock of 102 rams and 128
ewes, increased, in 1779, by 55 rams and 169 ewes was presented by
the Crown of Spain to the then Elector of Saxony — a circumstance
from which is derived the denomination of "Electoral wool," 1st. 2d,
Electa, in sorting, &c. — and by him located on his domains of Stolpen
and Lohmen. These flocks, which were of the very best breed, and,
so called, royal blood, are the source from which the whole family, not
only of the Saxon merino, but also all the fine clothing-wool sheep in
Austria, Silesia, Kussia, (Odessa,) &c., and the countless flocks of
Australia, have sprung, to the entire extinction, in some of these
countries, of the aboriginal sheep. As it happened, the climate of
Saxony proved to be extremely well adapted to these animals, for the
wool produced from them soon became renowned for its fine clothing
properties, so as speedily to eclipse the wools of Spain.

Thus, we find the exports from the respective countries of merino
wool amounted to :

SAXON MERINO SHEEP. 289

From Spain and Portugal. From Germany.

In 1800 7,794,700 pounds. 421,350 pounds.

At prices of about 10.9. per pound. 7s. per pound.

In 1814 9,234,990 pounds. 3,595,100 pounds.

At prices of about 75. perpound. 9s. BcZ. per pound.

In 1827 4,349,600 pounds. 22,001,190 pounds.

At prices of about 4s. per pound. 13s. per pound.

The proportionate quantities of Merino wool exported from these
countries were :

From Spain and Portugal. From Germany.

In 1838 1,814,000 pounds. 27,500.000 pounds.

The great profit from raising Saxon merino wool soon attracted the
attention of landed proprietors in Saxony, indolent even as they were
in matters of agriculture at that date, and the cultivation of sheep
rapidly increased in Saxony, and extended to the neighboring countries
of Austria, especially to Silesia, which, next to Saxony, produces the
merino sheep in greatest perfection, exceeding, even now, in fineness
of wool and exquisite staple, though unequal in some other respects.
At the first, sheep-breeders crossed the Spanish merinos obtained from
the Electoral flocks with the common country sheep, but the result was
a failure, and experience soon proved the advantage of breeding pure
merinos only, to the exclusion of other blood.

The time has now long since passed when the Saxon merino sheep,
into which the Spanish merino was transformed, became a type, an
animal of such fixed and permanently impressed properties as to form
a particular kind of its species, and an independent race of sheep.

The late father of the writer, Maximilian Speck, Baron von Stern-
burg, was among those whose iuterests have been most closely con-
nected with the history of the Saxon merino sheep.

Since the very commencement of the export trade in Saxon merino
wool, previous even to 1800, Maximilian Speck, of Leipsic, having
risen through industry and self-education from the very humble condi-
tion of a small village inn-keeper's son, became a merchant in the
article, and, through his establishments at London, Leeds, Aix-la-
Chapelle, and other places, supplied the increasing demand in foreign
markets. About the year 1820 he also became a l3reeder of these ani-
mals, and interested himself in their improvement. Large flocks of
them were kept by him, principally on this estate, and were subse-
quently also introduced by him on his two estates in Bavaria, though
with indifferent success. The original or parent flock continues to
be carefully kept up on this estate, to this day, though, of course, in
diminished numbers. From this flock were drawn, in 1824 and 1830,
some of the first supplies of the Australian Agricultural Society, at a
tim.e when Australia, as a wool-growing country, was still in its
infancy. The sheep were exported from this place, together with
shepherds, to the Australian Agricultural Company's possessions, on
the river Upper Hunter, in New South Wales, subsequently visited

19 A

290 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

by the writer. By desire of the Emperor of Russia, Alexander T,
several small flocks, from the parent flock here, were introduced hy
Maximilian Speck, in person, into the neighborhood of Taganrog and
Odessa, (in 1825 and 1828^) from which the vast flocks of merinos in
that part of Russia have in part sprung. Rams from this flock have,
likewise, at different times, been exported hence to the United States,
to the order of agents at New York ; and so late as last year, the
writer had the pleasure of forwarding a small flock of ten rams to
Australia, selected here in person hy that eminent stock-holder, Mr.
W. J. Browne, of Port Gamble^ Adelaide, South Australia, and of
13 Princess Terrace, Hyde Park, London, who was then on a visit to
the different sheep-farming establishments in G-ermany, and gratified
the writer by his assurance that, for pure blood and constancy, evi-
denced by uniformity and other essential breeding qualities, he had
not found this flock to be surpassed anywhere.

I now proceed to give you a short account of my method of keeping
these sheep, with attendant remarks. Their breeding being no longer
so profitable here as to induce it, to the exclusion of other stock, the
flock has been reduced for some years past to about 1,200 head, in the
proportion of about 600 ewes,- 80 to 100 rams, 250 to 300 lambs, and
the rest wethers and yearlings. These are kept in one large stable,
about 110 English yards long, 21 yards wide, and 9 to 10 yards high,
built massively of brick, with pillars supporting a roof of strong
wooden rafters, the whole forming a large, airy saloon, well ventilated
hy windows and air-holes near the top, to be opened or closed accord-
ing to the weather and the season. The rams, ewes, lambs, &c., are
all separated, divisions being contrived by sheep-hurdles, which, as
well as the whole of the stable furniture, are light and easily movable.
The hurdles are supported by stakes, which are driven in the floor at
pleasure. Subdivisions of any size can thus be made quickly within
the stable. The fodder-racks and troughs are very simple and prac-
tical, and could not be improved upon ; but it would lead too far to
enter into a descrij)tion of them here. From the roof are suspended
iron wicker-work baskets containing rock salt, necessary to keep the
animals in health, and which they can lick at pleasure. Above the
stable is contained the hay and straw loft, separated by wooden floor-
ing, covered several inches thick with beaten clay, impervious to the
exhalations underneath. From this loft the fodder is passed, through
trap-doors and slides, to the stable below. The litter remains in the
stable from 4 to 6 months at a time, sometimes attaining a height of
3 to 4 feet. Every day a little clean straw is laid down, which becomes
mixed with the excrement of the sheep, and is compressed by them
into one solid mass, forming the floor, which is perfectly dry, healthy,
and sweet. The consolidated manure thus formed is not the least of
the profits derived from the sheep. No other farm-yard manure is
•equal to it, and for turnip-crops, and especially for rape-seed, it is the
very best fertilizer, as, not being exposed to the open air, and being
well compressed, it retains its ammoniacal properties. The sheep are
■stabled all the winter, generally from the beginning of November
until the middle of April, according to the season. As soon in spring
-as the weather permits and the grass begins to grow, they are taken

SAXON MERINO SHEEP. 291

out to graze, in separate flocks, at from 9, a. m., to 12, m., and again
at 3, p. m., till near sundown. For field and stubble-grazing they
are very useful, as they keep the land clean, freeing it from weeds.
This advantage is so essential to the farmer that some of my neigh-
bors, not keeping sheep, frequently request me to take mine upon
their stubble. During the six to seven months they are stabled for
winter, their fodder consists of nothing but straw, the best of hay,
turnips, and "grains" from the brewery. Of straw, necessary to the
ruminating process, pea and oat straw are the best ; next, barley and
wheat straw. Eye straw is only given when other straw is exhausted.
At the close of the harvest, a calculation of the probable requisites of
fodder for the live stock, including the sheep, during winter, is made,
as regards the sheep, on the following basis :

One-thirtietli "part of the lueiglit of the live animal in good hay is
considered necessary, per day, for its sustenance. According to the
quality of the fodder, and its abundance or scarcity, this may be in-
creased to yV P^-i^tj 1*^* Isss than -^^ part ought not to be given.
Taking good meadow hay as the fodder-standard, a ram should receive
about 3^ p(»iaiids per day, a ewe about 2f pounds per day, yearlings,
&c., in that proportion — taking the average of a full-grown ram at
110 pounds, of a ewe at 82 pounds, the weight of each varying, accord-
ing to age, size, and condition, between 105 and 125 pounds, as
regards the full-grown rams, and from 70 to 85 pounds, as regards
the ewes. The weight of a wether varies between 80 pounds in lean
condition and 110 to 115 pounds if strong and fat for the butcher.
One pound of good meadow hay is considered equivalent to If pounds
of oat, pea, wheat, or barley straw, 4 pounds of turnips, or 2 pounds
of grain in the wet state, as daily delivered from the brewery, in
winter. When the time of stabling for winter arrives, the sheep-
master has his supplies of straw, hay, and turnips, allotted to him
on the basis of the above calculation, and he is bound to make them
serve out the proper time, under-feeding being as much guarded
against as over-feeding and waste.

Straw is served out to all the sheep, but the lambs receive, in addi-
tion, hay only, the breeding ewes hay and turnips, grain being only
given to the sheep set aside for fattening, and to the rams and year-
lings in moderate quantity. Morning and evening the feeding racks
are filled with straw, which, when "nibbled" out^ is taken away
and used for litter, a fresh supply being put in its place. Cleanliness,
sufiiciency, and due economy are the three consideratious never to be
lost to view.

Hereditary disease is unknown in my flock. Every lamb not appear-
ing quite strong and healthy is killed when young. During the
whole course of 40 years, epidemic disease has never made its appear-
ance. The mortality from incidental disease and accident does not,
upon an average, amount to more than two thirds per cent. These
consist, almost exclusively, in a lamb being now and then crushed to
death, and in death caused by rupture from distention, which, at the
time of clover grazing, has to be much guarded against, especially in
windy weather.

Each sheep is distinguished by a number, indicated by a small inci-

292

AGRICULTURAL REPORT,

sion in the ear, made by an instrument, as soon as the animal is a
year old. Early in spring, previous to the clip, and again in autumn,
tlie ewes, rams, and yearlings are carefully sorted by myself and the
sheepmaster, jointly, and the character of each sheep taken down,
thus:

Covering register.

Ewe.

Fineness.

Size and stature.

Fleece and staple.

Age.

Ram.

No. 810

Supra or L Electa,
as the case may
be.

Middle size, well
formed .

Rather long; too open
on back. Falls off
about the haunches.
Wiry character.

3 years.

To be put
to No. 4
orL

If found too old, or otherwise objectionable, the number is crossed
out, (to be substituted by a yearling,) and the animal thus rejected is
marked for fattening, to be sold to the butcher.

For the purpose of covering, I keep five standard rams, besides two
or three reserve rams. These are pent up in stalls, separately, and
thus selected: No. 1, for its great degree of fineness and bfeauty of
staple; No. 2, for the softness and mild nature of the wool; No. 3,
for its size ; No. 4, for its closeness of staple, evenness, and weight
and size of fleece; No. 5, for its evenness and length of staple.

The reserve rams are set aside for similar good points, but none are
taken for covering, the wool of which is not at least a I. Electa. The
lambs are sorted and classed at one year old. For sale, for breeding
purposes, the one year old ram is generally chosen. It ought not to
be used for covering until from one and a half to one and three fourths
years old, and is in its prime until four years old, but can be used until
seven to eight years old. At two and a half to three years old it is
full grown, and may then cover from sixty to seventy-five ewes a sea-
son, and from six to eight ewes each day during the season. The
season for covering commences about the 1st of August or September,
and lasts about a month. Ewes are not covered until two and a half
years old. At covering-time, a trial ram, having its genitals tied over
with a linen apron, is constantly admitted to the ewes, and directs the
eye of the sheep-master to such as are in season, when they are taken
from the herd and put to the standard ram previously selected for them
and indicated in the covering register kept for the purpose. The study,
of course, is to put a ewe deficient in a certain point or points to a ram
distinguished for its perfection in these points, and thus to neutralize
the shortcomings of one by the opposite extremes of the other. Breed-
ing "in and in" may be carried far with sheep, without bad efiects,
but it has its limits. I introduce fresh blood to the extent of about
five per cent, every year. For this purpose, I choose a ram, every
four or five years, iTom some other standard Saxon merino flock, most
likely to harmonize with mine. Mere fineness of hair has long since
ceased to be the principal object aimed at. What we now endeavor to
breed is, "a sheep of the greatest possible size of carcass and flesh

' SAXON MERINO SHEEP. 293

qualities, wliiclij in the merino slieep, are compatible witli fine clothing
wool properties; no sheep to be below I. (in case of exception, only II.
Electa,) and to have a fleece of at least two and one fourth pounds in
weight.''

It is an easy matter to breed for excessive fineness only. With a
flock like mine, I have this so much in my control that I could, if so
disposed, very greatly increase the degree of fineness, within three or
four years, by crossing for that purpose only. The size of the carcass
would then decrease, "in proportion, to a certain point, and the weight
of the fleece eventually dwindle down 1^ to 1 pound, as is the case
with some fine Silesian flocks. On the other hand, the carcass of the
Saxon merino sheep cannot be increased beyond a certain size, unless
at the expense of the staple, which, when the proper point has been
exceeded, invariably becomes open on the ridge of the back, and what
is called tow}^; the fleece, as it were, refusing to accommodate itself to
an undue size of carcass. The practical experience of the breeder
alone, joined to a knowledge of his flock_, can offer a secure guide in
the matter of judicious crossing.

The staff" of servants attached to my flock consists only of one sheep-
master and two assistant shepherds, besides occasional farm-hands, as
may be required. During the grazing season, indeed, our excellent
sheep dogs do half the shepherds' work, their instinct and training
being wonderful.

As regards the prices I obtain for my sheep: Ttie wethers, when
fat, bring from 21s. to 26s. each ; the ewes, fattened for the butcher,
from 16s. to 21s. each. Breeding ewes are rarely sold^ except for
export. Their price is from £2 to £5, according to age, perfection,
and fancy. Earns for breeding purposes vary from £2 10s. and £3 to
£10 each. Picked yearling rams, for exportation, in flocks of from
six to ten, or upward, £6 to £8 average price. Single rams of great
excellence I have occasionally sold as high as £20, and even £30, but
these were exceptional cases. Indeed, fancy has a great deal to do
with the prices of fine stock. Provided a flock be of undoubted purity
of blood, long standing, general excellence, and evenness of character^,
the probabilitj?- is that any good ram from it will, if crossed with ewes
from the same flock, produce sheep equal to it ; and the chances are
that a "fancy ram" from the same flock will not produce anything
superior to the other, either from ewes of the same flock, or if crossed
with others. Very extravagant prices are sometimes paid by fanciers
for individual rams of great beauty, especially where the animal is for
export ; and the foreign fancy buyer will not be satisfied of the good
quality of his purchase unless he has paid a high price for it. But,
let it be remembered, single rams of great individual beauty are gene-
rally a mere htsus naturae, a sport of nature, and often spring from
flocks having less constancy of breed and blood, and by no means very
reliable, but quite the contrary, for the reproduction of their own per-
fections. They are, in fact, show animals.

The prices I realize for my wool vary from 2s. Sd. to 3s. 2c?. Last
year I sold at 3s. Id. This year, the market being depressed, I sold at
2s. 9c?., as clipped from the sheep, locks and all. The weight clipped
this year amounted to :

294 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

From the ewes on tlie average 2 jV pounds each.

From the wethers on the average 2| "

From the yearlings on the average 2 j-^g- ' '

From the full-grown rams 4 to 6g- "

I generally sell my wool, by private bargain, to France or Belgium,
the best market for such wools, as best adapted for the fine, yet strong
and sound fancy woolens manufactured there.

I conclude by giving a short sketch of my farming estate here. It
is of medium size, consisting of about 650 English acres, of which
about 90 acres are meadow land, 60 acres park and forest, 20 acres
cultivated with hops, 20 acres yards and gardens, and the rest under
the plow. The arable land is chiefly a good sandy loam, a small river
running through the estate. It is divided into 14 principal parcels, or
allotments, of from 20 to 50 acres each, and on this division is based
a system of succession of crops. In this systematic arrangement for a
constant change of crops on the same soil or field consists the most
important improvement of modern agricultural science. Thanks to it,
the productiveness of land in this part of the country, generally, may
be stated to have been augmented by at least 20 per cent, as compared
with the old slovenly mode of farming land, still in vogue with many
of our peasantry, whom it is extremely difficult to prevail upon to depart
from the way of their fathers. Having regard to the nature of your soil,
and to your experience of it, you have so to arrange your crops as to
bring about, systematically, constant suitable changes between agricul-
tural plants of different vegetation, the rule being to cause opposites
to succeed each other, and not to bring grain twice on the same field
successively. Thus, for instance, wheat is the best possible successor,
on the same field, to rape-seed, the latter drawing different chemical
components from the soil, and imparting and leaving others most con-
ducive to a good growth of wheat. Science has laid down certain rules
in the succession of crops for the observance of the farmer, and the year,
of course, known to you, still it may be of interest to quote my table
of succession, "the law of my farm," which is never allowed to be
departed from.

i^or 1859.

Field No. 1. Eape-seed, (25 loads, of 25 cwt. each^ of farm-yard
manure, per acre.)

Field No. 2. Wheat.

Field No. 3. Potatoes.

Field No. 4. Barley.

Field No. 5. Eye, (18 loads, of 25 cwt. each, of good manure, per
acre.)

Field No. 6. Awelrape-seed, with buckwheat and stubble, turnips
before and after.

Field No. 1. Oats

Field No. 8. Turnips, (32 loads, of 25 cwt. each, of best stable
manure, per acre.)

Field No. 9. Winter or summer wheat.

SAXON MERINO SHEEP. 295

Field No. 10. Clover, for green fodder and liay.

Field No. 11. Eye.

Field No. 12. Peas.^, beans ^, highly manured.

Field No. 13. Oats ^, rye, ^.

Field No. 14. White clover, for pasturage.

In 1860, the crop, which in 1859 was on iield No. 2, will be on field
No. 1, and so on, in constant yearly rotation. I have, besides, some
land set apart for lentils, mangold- wurzel, Indian corn, caraway seed,
&c., and for lucern, a most valuable green crop in this climate. A
change of seed is frequently made, and I often import, with a small
extra cost of freight, and to great advantage, seed of the best kind
from England.

All the crops are housed in barns, stacks are only made in case of
great need. The grain is threshed by two threshing machines, one on
'^ Garrett's" principle^ the other on a Swedish model, both driven by
working oxen. The sowing is done partly by hand, partly by the
''Albanian" (American) sowing machine.

My live stock consists, at present, of about 1,150 sheep, about 62
head of cattle, (exclusive of 12 working oxen,) chiefly of the Bernese
(Switzerland) and the Allgau (Tyrolese) breed. I have lately imported
some English short-horns_, of the best blood, with which I intend to
cross, and expect a good result. I also keep about 80 pigs, of the
common country kind, as well as Essex and Yorkshire middle breed.
With these I cross the country or indigenous pig, which is rather
lean, narrow, and bony, but the flesh of which is finer than that of
the English breeds. By making one or two crosses, I produce a very
excellent pig for the butcher, (who does not like the pure English
breeds,) which fattens easily, and yet is not deficient in fine flesh. I
obtain from 36s. to 41,s. per cwt., living weight, for my pigs. This
pays me so well, that I am about to alter my arrangements, and to
make room for double my present stock of pigs.

In close connection with the farm, I have two technical establish-
ments on the spotj namely : a brick work, the clay for which is found
on the place, and which turns out 1,250,000 bricks per annum, and a
brewery, producing about 160,000 gallons of Bavarian beer per annum,
which is chiefly consumed in the neighboring towns and villages. I
need not point out to you that the grains and malt-dust from my
brewery are a most material accessory to my means for feeding the
stock, and that the refuse enriches the manure heap.

To work the whole estate, I keep thirteen pairs of horses and six
pairs of working oxen, their labor being always so arranged and dis-
posed of as to concentrate it where most required at the time. Thus,
at present, during harvest, nearly all are employed in hauling and
threshing grain and doing other harvest work. During winter, when
the earth is frost-bound, all are busy carting clay, on easy roads, for
the brick-works, and so on. One branch, or department, must always
help on the other, as best it may. I grind my own flour, bake my own
bread, and kill my own meat, and have my own coopers, blacksmiths,
wheelwright, and carpenter, on the place, so as to be independent of
the tradesman, and to have their labor at hand when required. When
nothing else is to be done, the coopers make casks in store, the black-

296 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

smitlis and wlieelwriglit work at new carts and implements ; neitlier
time nor labor is lost.

The price of land here, owing to the neighborhood of a large town,
is rather dear — from £40 to £60 per English acre, arable land. Tak-
ing this in consideration, and the value of live and dead stock, build-
ings, and floating capital, I realize, in an average of years^ a net
interest of five and a half per cent, on the capital represented by this
property, after allowing ten per cent, per annum for deterioration of
dead stock, and two per cent, on buildings. This is no great interest,
certainly, but a safe return, and combining an agreeable occupation
with an independent and comparatively inexpensive country residence.
The whole is conducted, under my supervision, by an able manager,
with a staff of under-bailiffs and servants. Minute accounts of every-
thing are kept, in sets of books arranged for the purpose, in charge
of two clerks. I may add that there is also an agricultural school on
the estate, licensed by government, where young men above eighteen
years of age can learn something theoretically and practically about
farming. It is a private undertaking, v/ith which I am in nowise
connected, except that it exists at my sufferance, the pupils j)rofiting
by what they may learn on the farm.

I shall be glad if you find anything to interest you in my letter. If
so, may it serve as some apology for its length.

Believe me, dear sir, yours most truly and respectfully,

ALEXANDEE SPECK YON STEKNBUEG.

His Excellency Joseph A. Wright,

American Minister at Berlin.

SPLEEN IN SHEEP, AND ITS PEEYENTION.

[Condensed and translated from the German.]

Different opinions prevail as to the causes, preventives, and remedy
of this destructive evil. Generally, however, little or nothing has
been done to prevent or check the disease. Many resort to medica-
ments of infusion, which process proves of no avail; others, when the
disease has made its appearance among their flocks, deny it, or pretend
to have suppressed it in its very outbreak. But all these mysteries
cannot be attended with any benefit.

For the most part, the well-fed animals are affected by the spleen or
milt-disease. They are seen dropping their heads, breathing labori-
ously, and moving their sides with great force and rapidity. They
show uneasiness and dullness, others, however, are excited, and appear
to be lively. The latter, as a general rule, are first stricken down
with the disease. According to observations made by Dr. Wagenfeld,
the skin is of a red appearance, jDassing somewhat into bluish, and the
white of the eye presents a dark-blue stroke, passing into yellowish or
brownish at the lower edge, the blood-vessels being of a dark-red
color, and inflated. Yet^ with many animals, there are no particular
symptoms of disease to be observed ; they stagger while grazing, and
fall down as dead.

PREVENTION OF SPLEEN IN SHEEP. 297

It is only by duration of the disease that the symptoms assume a
more decided character. Melancholy, want of certainty in their steps,
keeping behind the flock, abstaining from eating, dullness and loss of
all sensation, are followed by heat and dryness about the mouth,
tongue, and nose ; their ears are cold, the pulse hard, and their looks
fixed and staring. After a longer process, the pituitary membrane,
both of nose and mouth, becomes blood-red, the latter exhibiting
bloody foam, and violent gnashing of the teeth. The excrements are
mixed with blood, and ulcers make their appearance about the neck
and other parts of the body. The animals begin trembling, fall, are
seized by fits, the white of the eye becoming red, and the eye-ball pro-
jecting from its cavity. If the progress of the disease is going on still
slower, the breathing is performed in long and irregular intervals,
blood is secreted from the nose and other orifices, and the urine is of a
blood color, when death ensues, amid violent convulsions.

The disease is usually of such rapid character that often but few
minutes intervene from its supposed commencement until its termina-
tion in death. - A small number of animals thus attacked will live as
long as from ten to thirty-six hours.

This rapid progress of the disease makes it extremely difficult to
discern it, especially as the animals continue eating until they fall
down. Decomposition speedily commences, developing most offensive
odors.

The following are the results of dissection : The stomach is distended
with ofiensive gas and food ; the small intestines present an inflam-
matory appearance ; the liver is tender, and overflowing with corrupt
bile; the milt is swollen, soft, ulcerous, and often bursting; the brain
is filled with blood ; every part of the dead body emits a foul smell,
the inside of the skin being always dark, and of a bluish-red color,
caused by the blood beneath.

This plague is dangerous both to men and animals, not always,
however, evincing the same power of contagion. In proportion to the
slower or more rapid progress of the disease is the infiuence of its con-
tagious nature ; though sometimes there is nothing of this kind to be
apprehended, when the animal dies very quickly., which is the reason
why, in certain cases, only a few sheep are lost without the disease
spreading further. In a slow progress_, however, the contagion
reaches the highest degree.

Those animals which die after a slow progress of the disease should
be buried as deeply as possible, together with all their blood, foam,
and the filth hanging about them ; of those which die after a rapid
progress, the skin may be taken, but the inner side of it should be im-
mediately strewn with salt, or with lime-dust, which would be still
better.

This disease makes its appearance most frequently in the summer
months,, and oftener in warm than in cold countries.

According to observations made by Mr. Reidemeister, of St. Peters-
burg, it is generated by great heat and dryness; by dusty pastures,
and the dust raised by the wind, which the animals incessantly draw
in; by rough treatment, and by over-feeding and fattening. Previous
disorders of the abdomen may also be looked upon as among its causes,

298 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

as tlie milt, on account of its abundance of blood, is more affected tban
other organs. The principal causes, however, are found to exist in
the watering places, inasmuch as the sheep are in the habit of drinking
from stagnant and foul ponds.

In a disease so rapid in its progress, a special treatment of the sev-
eral affected animals may be out of the question, though the most
valuable may be subjected to such care. In this, we must first look at
the nature of the disease. If there are symptoms of great heat, both
about the mouth and horns, as well as a difficulty of breathing, we
should bleed the neck of the animals until they faint, pour cold water
on them for from eight to ten minutes, in intervals of two minutes
each, and put bandages around them, of the breadth of six fingers,
soaked with turpentine oil and strewn with the dust of blister-flies.
Internally, they should receive, in half a glass of water, from two to
three drachms of camphor, finely pulverized and dissolved with spirits ;
to this should be added from one and a half to two drachms of sul-
phuric acid, or, still better, some tincture of iron mixed with the water.
Of this mixture the animals should be given a dose every hour. If
there are any signs of recovery after the lapse of twenty-four hours,
the mixture should be given only twice or thrice a day until they are
completely restored. The boils should be cut and cleaned of the
matter they may contain, after which the wound is to be washed with
a mixture of water, vinegar, and kitchen salt. We must be careful
in cutting them, so that the poisonous matter may not touch either the
face or hands, which, as a protection, should previously be well oiled,
or greased.

The following rules may be laid down to prevent the disease :

The sheep should not be kept in too fat a condition.

In the summer months they should not be exposed to the burning
heat of the mid-day sun.

All running and chasing should be avoided ; they should be led,
and treated in a mild and gentle way.

They should be provided with new pastures every week.

They. should not be allowed to graze in the neighborhood of dusty
roads, frequented by carriages, so as to inhale the dust.

They should not be allowed to rest in valleys and low places, but
only on heights, where they may enjoy the comfortable breeze, undis-
turbed by insects.

To deprive the milt disease of its contagiousness, the lambs should
be kept warm in winter ; for it is the severe cold, stormy, sharp, and
changeable weather, that creates the germ, and which, if favored by
circumstances, is very apt to assume the character of contagious dis-
order during summer.

Healthy sheep should not be allowed to come in contact with diseased
ones.

Give them always pure water to drink ; the greatest advantage would
result from well-water containing iron.

At the appearance of any symptoms of disease, the sheep should be
removed from their pastures as far as possible.

They should also receive proper medicines in the latter part of May.

For this purpose a mixture should be used, consisting of one part of

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 299

wormwood, (Artemisia absinthium,) one half of juniper berries, (Juni-
jperus communis,) one part of gentian wort, {Gentiana,) one half of salt-
peter, (nitrate of potassa,) one part of kitchen salt, and one part of
hitter salt, (Epsom salt.) These ingredients, finely pulverized and
mixed with eight or ten parts of hran, must he given to the sheep to
lick.

A cheaper mixture consists of one part of wormwood, {Artemisia
absinthium,) one part of gentian wort, (Gentiana,) one half part of
saltpeter, (nitrate of potassa,) one part kitchen salt, one part of hitter
salt, (Epsom salt,) one half part of vitriol of iron, and one part of tar.
After a fine pulverization of all the ingredients, they are to he mixed
with fifteen or eighteen parts of pure loam, and well worked. Of this
mixture loaves of from fifteen to twenty pounds are formed, and dried
in a moderate warmth, when they will he put in accessible places to be
licked by the sheep.

If all these preventives prove inefiectual, the application of chloric
water is highly recommended. For one hundred head of sheep, one
part of chloride of lime is dissolved in water, and poured into the
troughs. The animals should be induced to drink the chloric water
by a dose of pure salt, given to them to be licked some hours before,

Mr. W. Keidemeister recommends the vitriol of iron as an effectual
preventive. It is to be dissolved in the water intended for drinking.
In other diseases of domestic animals, especially the atrophy of cattle,
the tumor of horses, and even the diseases of poultry, it has been
found a reliable cure.

ON THE PEINCIPAL PLANTS USED AS EOOD BY MAN.

SKETCH OP THE PLANTS CHIEFLY USED AS FOOD BY MAN, IN DIF-
FERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD AND AT VARIOUS PERIODS.

BY DR. P. UNGER.
[Translated from the German for this Report,]

Nothing has had so powerful an influence in changing the nature
of the savage as becoming accustomed to a bloodless food derived
from the vegetable kingdom. It is true, that plants contain the mate-
rials of the blood and flesh, but nutriment derived from plants is very
different from that derived from animals. Instead of a deadly struggle
for existence, the vegetable world freely yields up its best gifts without
being essentially impoverished itself. The kernel, the ripe fruity the
tender, ]mGy sprout, the marrowy substance of the mushroom, even the
farinaceous tuber and root, in their season of perfection and fitness for
the use of man, usually only precede the period of their unavoidable
decay and decomposition. That which is derived from the vegetable

300 AGRICULTURAL REPORT,

world depends upon no strife witli nature, and in tlie peaceful searcli
after vegetable nourishment, man becomes himself peaceable.

It is quite reasonable to suppose that, in moving around vaguely in
the forest and on the plains, by the sea-shore, and on the bank of
rivers, the human race should ere long have discovered some esculent
grain or nutritious root or fruit, even without taking into considera-
tion what it might have learned from the instincts of animals. This
much is certain: that with less rich endowments or gifts^ the correct
application of these materials to the necessities of his support, must
have involved many labors and dangers, and the rectification of many
mistakes.

From the various researches into the peculiarities of the vegetable
kingdom, and from historical investigations^ it may readily be shown
that no portion of the earth's surface, even though of but slight
extent, was originally entirely without nutritious plants. Neverthe-
less, it is equally certain that the original and natural distribution of
such plants was very unequal in different parts of the world, whatever
it may have since become through the aid of man and from other
causes.

The vegetable world manifestly increases in variety with a milder
climate, a warmer sun, and a less marked alternation of temperature.
It is, consequently, not to be wondered at, that, with the increasing
amount of heat in passing from the ice-encircled pole towards the
equator^ edible plants should increase in number, and their products
gain in size and palatability. The cold portions of the northern and
southern hemispheres produce few native nutritious plants, excepting
such as algae, lichens, mushrooms, and some edible berries. The trop-
ical regions, on the other hand, furnish a superfluity of farinaceous
roots, and of sweet and juicy fruits, while the pierced bark of a tree
(Galactodendron utile, H. B.) even supplies a nutritious milk. The
East and West Indies, Central America, the coast of tropical Africa,
are^ in this respect, equally favored, each in its own way.

This is not the case, however, in the temperate zone, and especially
in the warmer temperate regions of the earth. While the southern
hemisphere can claim little prominence in this respect, the northern
furnishes a large and varied series of nutritious plants, all important
to its inhabitants. It is, nevertheless, remarkable how little the
Western World can enter into competition with the Eastern in this
respect, while the western portions of the latter (South Europe and
North Africa), as also the eastern (China and Japan), are of much
less importance when compared with its middle region.

All the investigations which we have been enabled to make, in refer-
ence to the native country of our most important cultivated plants,
point unanimously to one particular district as most favored in its
position, and from which the greatest number and most important of
plants have been derived. It is that which is encircled by the great
inland seas of the earth, namely, by the Persian and Arabian gulfs,
the Mediterranean, the Black, and the Caspian seas. From the slopes of
the Caucasus, of Taurus, and of the Albors, not only do our most gene-
rally distributed fruits derive their origin, but the cereals also; and if
we are not able to detect and to recognize the progenitors of these plants

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 301

in tlieir native localities, yet history shows Armenia, Persia, Mesopo-
tamia, and Syria, to have been their cradle. Even if there were no
other mode of determining the locality of Paradise, the point of radia-
tion of all European civilization, our knowledge of the origin of the
most nutritious plants would enable us to establish its position.

It is a fact, by no means to be kept in the back-ground, that hardly
one of the plants, the products of which are used for purposes of nutri-
tion, is pleasant or palatable in its original condition. Their different
methods of culture, their transportation to portionsof the earth remote
from their place of origin, and the varied operations of Nature by which
changes are induced in size, character, texture, and chemical constitu-
tion, have, little by little, caused them to differ from the original just
in proportion as the hand of man has cared for them. This has caused
the cereals and the tuberous plants to be more nutritious, and has
rendered the vegetables of the kitchen-garden and fruits more palatable.
How great a difference exists between the wild original plants, and
those altered by the agency of man, is shown by our roots, as the
turnip, the parsnip, the shallot, &c.; and such fruits as the pineapple,
banana, grape, strawberry, &c.

Even when long-continued effort is not sufficient to effect a desirable
change in the plant, it is often possible for man to make use of
as food. Who does not know that the farinaceous root of the
Mandioca, or Cassava, (Jatropha maniJiot, L.), is not only unpalatable
but actually poisonous, on account of the hydrocyanic (prussic) acid in
its milky juices. The native, however, has for a long time obtained
a substance, by pressing out the grated root, and by washing, drying,
and toasting, which serves him for his daily bread, and furnishes at
the same time a starch (tapioca) useful for various purposes. The same
is the case with various other tuberous substances, as, for instance, the
Takka, the Dracontium polypliyllum, &c.; as also with fruits and seeds,
where portions must be removed and altered in order to render the rest
lit for use.

How simple a treatment of many of the farinaceous plants is sufficient
to prepare them for food, is shown, for example, by the Tarro root
(Arum esculentum, L.), the Breiad fruit {Artocarpus incisa, L.), the
Sweet potato Convolvulus batatas, L.), and others, which require only
to be crushed or grated to furnish daily nourishment. When the pulp of
such plants passes into fermentation, or is subjected to the influence of
fire, its nutritious qualities and palatability are increased; should
spices be added to promote digestibility, or if combinations of different
vegetable substances be effected wth materials of an animal character,
we have the first germ of the art of cookery before us. It is quite
probable that the greater mass of mankind has not gone beyond this
primitive condition of the art to its more refined modifications.

The farinaceous plants unquestionably constitute the basis of all
vegetable nutriment. Starch and different protein substances are the
most important constituents of such portions as are used for the purposes
of food. Nevertheless, an accumulation of these substances is not to
be found in all plants, and just as little in all parts of one and the
same plant. They are mostly garnered up in tubers, in roots, in the
pith of stems, in fruits,, and in seeds. These, therefore, have usually

302 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

been souglit after by man and introduced into tlie circle of his house-
hold economy, whenever this became fixed on a firm basis. The
attempt to remove the small seed-like fruit from the various graminous
plants, or to test the thick fleshy fruits in reference to their possession
of nutritious substances, was as important to man as to animals. For
this reason the seeds of the grasses, and many fleshy tuberous roots,
have played the most important part among all cultivated plants, and
their multiplication by cultivation first enabled man to produce them
in greater number in a given space, and thereby to begin his own
political and moral development.

It is interesting to observe how almost every portion of the earth
has originally possessed its own breadstuff, which has thereby charac-
terized the life of its inhabitants. While Europe derived its bread
from oats, Northern Asia from barley and wheat, and Southern Asia
from millet and rice, the Indian millet in Africa, and the Indian corn
in America were the most important plants of cultivation. Australia
alone was originally deficient in this resjoect, but the intercourse of
nations, which soon by degrees distributed all the Cerealia over the
whole inhabited earth, has also enriched this country, which seemed
to have been so parsimoniously treated by Nature.

The common oat {Avena sativa, L.), the true native land of which
is no longer known, although the region along the Danube may pass
as such, may be legitimately considered as the European bread crop.
The Celts and the Germans, as far as we can ascertain, cultivated it
two thousand years ago, and it seems to have been distributed from
Europe into the temperate and cold regions of the whole world. The
names Avena Oves, (Kussian), Owes (Bohemian), Owies (Polish), Oats
(English), have great similarity to the words Hafer and Hauer, while
on the other hand, the Tartarian name Sulu, the Hungarian Zab, &c. ,
point to a different origin from the former. Tlie Illyrians, besides the
names mentioned, had still others for it. It was known to the Egyp-
tians, Hebrews, Greeks, and Eomans.* With the introduction of
more nutritious and better cerealia, the oat became more and more
restricted to poor soils and inhospitable regions, and at the present
day it principally serves as food only for domestic animals and the
poorer class of people. In Scotland, bread is baked from it even now,
as was formerly the case in Germany. The Oriental or Tartarian
oat (Avena orientalis, Schreber) was first brought from the East to
Europe at the end of the preceding century.

Barley {Hordeum vulgare, Linn.), according to Olivier (Voyage en-
Persie, 460), in his time grew abundantly wild in the historically-
important regions between the Euphrates and Tigris. Willdenow is
inclined to place its native country towards the bank of the Samara, a
tributary of the Wolga. We are enabled to give the native land of
the two-lined or common barley only, (Hordeum disticlium, L.) with
some certainty. 0. A. Meyer found it growing wild between Lencoran
and Baku ; C. Koch, on the steppes of Schirwan, in the southeast of the
Caucasus; and Th. Kotschy, in South Persia. The six-lined or winter
barley (Hordeum hexasticJion) has been known the longest of all. The

* Plin. Hist. Nat., xviii, p. 17.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 303

Egyptians, Jews, and Indians cultivated it in the earliest times, and
grains are found in the mummies of the Egyptian catacombs. The
rice or battledore barley, {Hordeum zeocriton, L,), formerly more
abundant than now, furnishes an excellent meal, and in this respect is
distinguished among the other species. The common barley came to
Europe by way of Egypt, where, at the present day, the two and the
six-lined are still cultivated. Even in Greece, all the three kinds of
barley were formerly cultivated, {Kptdr^, Theoph., Kpcdapc of modern
Greece,) while at the present day only the common and the six-lined
barley are cultivated and used as fodder for horses. The Romans were
acquainted with the two and the six-lined barley. In connection with
the oat, it has extended its dominion in Europe to beyond the polar
circle, and near to it in Asia and America, while the cultivation of
these two CereaUa is most prevalent in the Arctic Circle, in the eastern
portion of the continent, as well as in the greater portion of the sub-
arctic zone also.

The Celtic word Secal, or Segal, as also the German Bog, Bya, and
the Sclavonic Bezi,^' used to indicate one of the most important CereaUa,
namely, the rye, (Secale cereale), point to its origin in the region be-
tween the Alps and the Black Sea. Neither the Indians nor the
Egyptians were acquainted with the rye. The Greeks received it
{Bpci^a) from Thrace and Macedonia. Pliny mentions its cultivation
at the foot of the Alps. Other species of Secole grow in southeastern
Europe and western Asia, as for instance, Secole montanum in Sicily ;
Secale villosum on the Grecian Archipelago; Secole fragile, Bieb., in
the Caucasus ; and Secale anatolicitm, Boiss. , in western Armenia and Asia
Minor. The different varieties which have been produced under the
influence of cultivation, immediately disappear in a change of the
same. At the present day its cultivation in Europe and Asia takes
place between 50° and 60°, and in America between 40° and 50° north
latitude. In Gulbransdale, (Laurgard), at 62° north latitude, I found
fields of rye at an elevation of 1,030 feet above the level of the sea, the
size of small gardens, and, like them, fenced in with boards.

Wheat {Triticum vulgare, Will.), which is the most important and
widely distributed of all bread-stuffs, according to the Grecian fable,
was originally native on the plains of Enna and in Sicily, but it is
much more probable that, like barley, it was received from Central
Asia, wdiere Olivier seems to have found it growing wild on the banks
of the Euphrates. In any event, it belongs to the longest cultivated
cerealia. Even Theophrastes was acquainted with it ; (rcopoci), pro-
bably the grained summer variety, from wdiicli the winter wheat seems
to have been subsequently develoj)ed. In a similar manner. Scripture
points to its cultivation in Palestine. Even in China it was known
3,000 years before Christ as a cultivated plant. As Isis was supposed
to have introduced wheat into Egypt, and Demeter into Greece, so the
Emperor Chin-nong is said to have introduced it into China. The
great variety of the ancient names used for indicating this plant points
to the wide circle of distribution which it originally possessed. At
the present day, wheat is cultivated in all parts of the earth, having

* Not z]jta, which means grain in general.

304 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

been taken to America by tlie Spaniards, at the beginning of the six-
teenth century.

Besides the common wheat, several other species of wheat are to be
considered as cultivated plants, although they have attained a much
more restricted distribution. Among these may be mentioned the
Triticum turgidum, L. which was cultivated even by the ancient
Egyptians, and was known to the Eomans in the time of Pliny. As
it has not even yet reached India, its native land is to be looked for
rather to the south and west of the Mediterranean than in Central
Asia.

The many- eared or Egyptian wheat (Triticum compositum, L.), is
only a variety. It is cultivated chiefly in southern Euro|)e and in
England.

Two species of wheat, Triticum durum, Desf., and Triticum poloni-
citm, L., or Polish wheat, are only cultivated to advantage in the
warmer regions of Europe.

The Spelt {Triticum spelta, L.), at present cultivated only in Europe
here and there, was met with even by Alexander the Great as a culti-
vated plant in his campaign in Pontus. Its origin in Mesopotamia
and Ham^adan, in Persia, is not doubtful ; especially as its cultivation
in these countries cannot be carried back to any very remote antiquity.
It is called oXopa in Greece, (Herodot. II., 36), and it likewise
seems to have been known in Egypt, even though at the present day
it is not found there. The German name Spalt points to its early
cultivation in Germany.

We come finally to the little cultivated one-grained wheat, (Triti-
cum monococcum, L.); this is the Kussemeth of the Scriptures. From
it the Syrians and Arabians made their bread. Its cultivation has not
extended either to India, Egypt, or Greece. Both the'Crimea and the
region of Eastern Caucasus have been indicated as the native country
of the one-eared wheat. The Emmercorn, or German wheat, (Triticum
amyleum, Serv.), has had an equally ancient cultivation : this is the
Zsiu oinoxTios of Dioscoridcs. It is cultivated more frequently ir? the
southern than in the middle portions of Europe.

Wheat occupies a broader belt than rye, and is cultivated as the
principal crop in middle and southern France, England, (where it
constitutes the chief object of culture among the cerealia), a part of
Germany, Hungary, the lands of the southern Danube, the Crimea,
and in the lands of the Caucasus, as well as Central Asia, wherever
the soil is cultivated ; along its northern border it is associated in
culture with rye, in the southern with rice and maize, (Indian corn.)
The latter is chiefly the case in the North American States, and in the
region of the Mediterranean. Wheat is even cultivated in the south-
ern hemisphere, at the Cape^ Buenos Ayres, and Chile, wherever the
climatological conditions will allow it.

While wheat is richest in gluten, and therefore the most nutritious
bread crop, rice, (Oryza sativa, L.,) although serving for the nutri-
ment of much greater numbers of men, possesses, nevertheless, a much
less capacity of producing blood. Indigenous to Further India and
the Isle of Sunda, it is extended over the whole of Southern and Eastern
Asia, as well as over Arabia, Persia, and Asia Minor ; thence it has

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 305

reached on the one side to North Africa, Egypt, and Nuhia, and on
the other to Grreece and Italy, (A. D. 1530.) Eice was already intro-
duced into China 3,000 years before Christ. The Greek words opu^ou
(Theoph.), OpoQa (Diosc), were manifestly derived from the Sanscrit
arunga and the Cingalee oortcivee, (Urui.) Even in the time of Straho,
rice was cultivated in Babylon, Susiana, and Syria. The Arabians
brought it to Sicily. It is only very recently that it has been taken to
America. In the African as well as in the American tropical regions
it is, however, less exclusively cultivated than in Hindostan, where
the people live almost entirely on rice alone.

Eice occurs in a great number of varieties, such as mountain rice,
valley rice, summer and spring rice, &c. The different kinds are dis-
tinguished not only according to their taste, but also according to their
smell.

What rice is to the Old World, maize, mahiz (Zea mats, L.), or In-
dian corn is to the New. It was cultivated there at the time of the
discovery by EurojDeans. It is probably indigenous to Central Amer-
ica, and brought by the Toltecs to Mexico. The first European set-
tlers in Pennsylvania (1584) even then found rich fields of maize.
The Indians on the Arkansas eat the green ears as their every day
food. The Peruvians bake various kinds of bread from its meal. At
the present day, maize is the most common article of nutriment of the
lower and middle classes in Peru and Central America, and the com-
mencement of its cultivation in these countries is enwrapt in the same
degree of fable as the culture of our cerealia. The Mexican Demeter,
Cinteutl, (from Cintli, maize,) like the Grrecian Demeter, was honored
with the firstlings of the fruit dedicated to her. The many varieties
which are known of the maize, as well as the circumstance that at the
present day we are unable to point with certainty to the original
species, indicate clearly a very extended period of cultivation for this
plant.

Maize was unknown to the Europeans before the discovery of Amer-
ica, and has been extensively distributed-in other parts of the world,
especially in Europe since the seventeenth century. That the wheat
of Theophrastus, a grain the size of an olive kernel, cannot be maize, ,
I consider to be well established, just as certain as it is that his i^e^a is
not maize, but spelt. In Germany, it is called Turkish wheat; in
Greece, arabositi. Neither in Egypt nor in India and China did its
culture precede the discovery of America. The cultivation of maize in
America does not extend beyond the southern tropic, although it passes
the Tropic of Cancer to the north almost to 50° north latitude. On
the western coast of Africa its cultivation is confined to the tropics,
while more to the north it is at home in all the lands bordering the
Mediterranean.

The common millet {Panicum miliaceum, L.), derived from the
East Indies and other warmer regions of Asia, has not had the same
favorable reception as rice, although yielding little to it in its distri-
bution. It was known to the Greeks and Eomans at the time of Julius
Ccesar, and is the xeyj^por of Strabo, who states that it thrives excel-
lently in Gaul, and is the best protection against famine. The Scla-
vonians are very fond of a dish of millet, (Kasha prosna.) It was
20 A

306 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

probably tbis grain and not tbe Indian millet tbat the Emperor Cbin-
nong introduced into China more than 3,000 years ago.

Another species of millet (Fanioum frumentaceum, Eoxb.), is fre-
quently cultivated for food in the East Indies. The ear millet, or the
Fennich (Setaria italica, P. B.), which at the present day is cultivated
in Southern Europe, and even here and there in Central, is of East In-
dian origin, since even the ancient Greeks knew it as eXupioc:, and the
Romans as Panicum.

The Hiimnelthau, or the manna grits (Figitaria sanguinalis, Scop.),
is of less importance. The small hulled fruit furnishes a wholesome
and palatable nutriment. Indigenous to Europe, it is cultivated here
and there on poor, sandy soils.

The common Indian millet (SorgJmm vulgare, Pers.), which was
introduced with rice by the Arabians into Egypt, is to be considered
as a characteristic plant of Africa, not because it was originally
indigenous there, but because it is principally cultivated in this coun-
try, (east and west coast, northern half to Timbuctoo ; in Abyssinia,
from the level of the sea to the height of 8,000 feet.) Although its
native country cannot be positively ascertained, it can scarcely be any
other land than India. Even in the time of Pliny* it was known in
Europe, and in the thirteenth century had extended to Italy^, and at
the beginning of the sixteenth century reached France, under the
name of Saracen millet. At the present day, it is distributed through-
out the whole of Southern Europe, and is raised to advantage in Hun-
gary, Dalmatia, Italy, and Portugal. The different varieties of the
Indian millet, however, are not well-defined at the present day. It is
doubtful whether the Sorghum hicolor, Willd. , and the Sorghum usorum,
N., are entitled to a specific rank.

To these important cerealia maybe added some other plants belong-
ing to the grasses^ as well as to other families. Here belongs the Tef,
(Eragrostis abyssinica, Link), Eleusine tocusso, Fres., and Eleusine
coracana, Gart., Fennicillaria spicata, Willd.; also, Araarantus fru-
mentaceus, Buchanf., Folygonum fagopyrum and tartaricum, and the
Chenopodium qicinoa. These, however, with the exception of the last
two genera, are confined to particular regions and are nowhere used
exclusively as an article of food.

The Ti^ {Eragrostis abyssinica, Link) is a mountain plant of Abys-
sinia, cultivated everywhere there, at a height of from 2,500 to 8,000
feet, where gentle heat and rain favor its development (in July and
August.) It furnishes the favorite bread of the Abyssinians, in the
form of thin, highly-leavened, and spongy cake. Four varieties are
cultivated of this palatable grain.

The Fagussa {Eleusine tocusso, F.) furnishes a poorer bread in
Abyssinia, and although cultivated at a height above the sea of 4,000
to 7,000 feet, thrives particularly well in hot and warm regions.
There are three varieties, with black, reddish-brown, and white seeds.
Its native country is the East Indies.

The Eleusine coracana, Gart., furnishes a grain similar to the millet

* Pliny, xviii, page 7. | Pliny, xviii, 7.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 307

in abundance of flour, altliougli inferior to tlie preceding species in
quality. It is cultivated on a large scale in the East as well as the
West Indies.

Eleusine stricta, Eoxb., is, perlia]os, only a variety of the first.

The Brush-grass {Pennicillaria spicata,Y^ .), with its numerous va-
rieties, is derived from the East Indies and distributed over Egypt and
the neighboring regions. The seeds, which are rich in flour and sim-
ilar to those of the millet, constitute ih.Q principal article of food in
several countries. Various tribes of negroes subsist almost entirely
upon it on their travels.

Buckwheat {Polygonum fagopyrum, Link) was first brought to Eu-
rope at the beginning of the sixteenth century, having been unknown
both to the Greeks and Komans. Erom the northwestern region of
the Chinese empire, whence came the great devastating hordes of man-
kind, its cultivation has extended in some unknown way to the coast
of the Mediterranean, and thence it has been still further distributed
by the Saracens, whence its name /S'arasm, grano Saraceno, hie Sarasin.
The Polish, Bohemian, and Levant names, Tatarka, Tattar, very
clearly point to its original native land and its first distributers, as
also do the Eussian, Lithuanian, and Polish terms, Gretscha, Go-yka,
Grikhi, &c. to the intervention of the oriental G-reeks. The names
buckwheat, (beechwheat,) fagina, and the other different names of this
plant, are connected either with the mode of its introduction, or are
based upon the form of the fruit.

While the buckwheat has a very extended culture in the whole of
Middle and Northern Europe, as well as in Northern Asia, in Northern
India and Ceylon it is confined to narrow limits, and is there of very
recent introduction.

The Polygonum tartaricum, L. is of the same origin as the buck-
wheat, though it is much less widely distributed, and was introduced
at a much later period into Europe. The same may be said also of
the Polygonum emarginatum, Eoth., chiefly cultivated in China and
Nepaul, the native country of which is along the borders of China and
Northern India. The Quinoa {Quinoa clienopodium, Willd.), consti-
tuted the most important article of food of the inhabitants of New
Granada, Peru, and Chile, at the time of the discovery of America,
and at the j)resent day is still extensively cultivated on account of its
rich yield. A variety, with light and more mealy seeds, has arisen in
cultivation from the original species with dark seeds, and is now raised
more than the former. It is not known at how early a period
it was cultivated, although it is remarkable that it has been dis-
seminated but little from the plateau of the Chuquito. The white
Quinoa is cultivated in Europe more on account of its leaves which
answer instead of spinage, than for the seeds, which are used chiefly as
food for poultry.

The Amarantus frumentaceus, Buchan., Eoxb., in the East Indies,
furnishes an equivalent to the Quinoa. The seeds of this plant supply
an important article of food to the native races. It is frequently cul-
tivated on the mountain slopes of Mysore and Coimbatore.

We may here mention some grasses and other plants which are here
and there used as furnishing flour in a general deficiency of other food.

308 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Among these are Glyceria fruitans, some species of Bromus, tlie
rhizome, and root of the Triticum repens, the seeds of Calla palustris,
Banunculus Jicaria, Arum onaculatum, Brionia alba, B. dioica, and
Butomus umhellatus, which, in Norway, often serves as material for
bread, and the seeds of the Croix lacrima which are used as food in
Tongatahu and Eiiwa.

Certain roots and tuberous root-like shoots are rich in starch though
not abounding in albuminous substances. To a limited extent they
serve to replace the above-named cerealia, if not to supplant them, and
may, therefore, when cultivated, serve whole nations for food. The potato
(Solanum htherosa, L.), the sweet potato, the mandioca, the yam
(Bioscorea alata) , theTakka {Tacca pinnati/ida, Forst.), and the Tarro
(Arum esculentum) . While the first three belong to America and have
been propagated thence to other parts of the world, the last three are
the true bread plants of New Zealand and of the islands of the Pacific
ocean, and may have served the inhabitants as the first means of nutri-
ment just as the root stalk of the Papyrus and Nymplic^a lotus did the
old Egyptians.

The potato {Solanum tuberosum, L.) is not only one of the most
important of farinaceous plants for America, but has become such for
Europe and the other parts of the world.

It is beyond a doubt that the potato, at the time of the discovery of
America, was already cultivated in the greatest |)ortion of the Andes
of South America, and even from Chile to New Granada, although at
that time it was not known in Mexico, and only shortly afterwards
in North America.

The potato is a sea-shore plant, peculiar to a hilly and rocky soil,
and now grows wild in Chile and the neighboring islands (Chiloe and
Chonos, about 45° south latitude) to Peru, (Lima). In this wild state
it rarely extends more than a few miles inland, and is widely different
from the present cultivated potato. Its flower is always white, its
tubers at the best attain a length of two inches, while its taste is
insipid, but not bitter. Besides the original plant of the cultivated
potato, which even in its wild state has passed into several varieties,
(according to Hooker, jr., into five varieties), there are found in the
East and West Indies still other kinds of Solanum with the tips of the
shoots thickened into tubers, as Solanum commersonii, Poir., Solanum
maglia, Dun., and Solanum immite, Dun. In the Argentine republic,
especially in the mountains of Famatina, a potato grows wild, which
at the time present is cultivated at Chilecito.

Even in Mexico, where the Solanum tuberosum was certainly intro-
duced at a late period only from South America, there are some species
of Solanum, such as Solanum demissum, Lindl., Solanum cardiopliyllum,
Lindl. , and Solanum verrucosum, Schlecht. , the latter of which produces
very palatable but small tubers.

The potato was first brought to England from Carolina in the year
1586, and found its way over the rest of Europe in the seventeeth cen-
tury ; but it was not until the nineteenth century that it obtained its
fullest reputation. At the present time, in innumerable varieties, it
sheds its blessing over all the lands of Europe to the furthest north.
I have seen a truly romantic potato field, the last one to the north,

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 309

situated upon an enormous mass of rock wliicli lay near the road
between Dalevaagan and Dalseidet, (near Bergen, in Norway.)

The mandioca plant (Jatropha manihot, L.) possesses an extremely
farinaceous root, (one variety, as already mentioned, with a sharp poi-
sonous juice, the other without it,) and may he ranked among the most
important of nutricious plants in tropical America. Pohl has shown,
however, that the two may be considered as distinct species, and has
called the first Manihot utilissima, and the other Manihot aipi. Both
species were cultivated by the inhabitants of Brazil, Guyana, and the
warmer portions of Mexico, when the first Europeans landed, and even
at that time they had passed into a great number of varieties. Brazil,
in which alone forty-six different species of manihot are found, is
undoubtedly to be considered as the native country of both the above-
named kinds, although they have not yet been found growing wild
there. Pohl has even expressed the opinion that Manihot pusilla is the
original stock of Manihot utilissima, which is, however, doubtful.

The mandioc was naturalized in the Antilles as early as the sixteenth
century, although its journey around the world, by way of the Isle of
Bourbon and the East Indies, took place at a comparatively late period.
It reached the west coast of Africa earlier, and the erroneous opinion has
even been entertained that it was transplanted from Africa to America.

Of as great, if not greater, importance than the mandioca is the
Sweet potato, (Convolvulus batatas, L., Batatas edulis, Choisy). It is
one of the most widely distributed cultivated plants of South and Cen-
tral America, and it, as an article of food, passes back to the earliest
historic period. In Brazil it is called Jetica, in Mexico Gamote, words,
the roots of which, belong to the original tongue of the country. The
name Batatas is a corruption of potato. Even upon the Antilles this
useful plant was found cultivated in numerous varieties as early as the
year 1526. Columbus brought it with other novelties to Europe, and
presented it to Queen Isabella ; the consequence was that this plant,
which is suited to the climate of Spain, was immediately cultivated
there. C. Clusius mentions that as early as the year 1601 he had
eaten it in Spain.

The sweet potato was first brought by the SjDaniards to Manilla and
the Moluccas, and thence by the Portuguese distributed over the
entire Indian Archipelago. Its names in these countries are never of
Malayan, but altogether of Castilian origin. This plant soon reached
China, Cochin-China, and India, although when and how is not
known at the present time. There is certainly a Chinese, as well
as a Sanscrit name for this plant, although this seems to be of more
modern origin. The sweet potato has been even believed by some to
be of Asiatic origin, or that the American and Asiatic plants are to
be considered as diiferent species. Neither of these suppositions is
probable on historical grounds, and on account of the fact that the
fifteen species of this genus hitherto known are peculiar to America,
four of which only have also found their way to other parts of the
world. The sweet potato has not been found growing wild by any
one, although the tropical portion of America is to be considered as
its native country with most show of probability.

The Ipomcea mammosa, Choisy, a native of Amboyna, another con-

310 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

volvulaceous plant, with edible root, is cultivated in Cocliin-Cliina,
and may be the same plant which is raised as a variety under the
name of Umara {Convolvulus clirysorhizus (Soland. ?), in Otaheite, of the
Sandwich Isles, the Eastern Isles, and Northern New Zealand.

The Arum root {Arum colocasia L.), on account of its farinaceous
tuberous roots, is one of the most important plants of the tropics. It
is very probably an Indian plant, which is cultivated in the whole of
Central Asia, in very numerous varieties, under the Sanscrit name
Kuclioo {Kutscliu). Here and there it is found running wild, though
nowhere growing truly native. It was carried westward in the very
earliest times_, and with Nelumbium speciosum, cultivated in Lower
Egypt, particularly towards the Delta of the Nile, where it is now
grown under the name Colcas, Kulkas ; while the Nelurabium has long
ago again disappeared. The Greeks meant the Nelumbium by their
xoloxaaca, supposing the root sprouts to be used as food. They were
manifestly wrong in this, however, since the root is of very little
use on account of its 'fibrous texture. The Spaniards received the
Aron root from the Egyptians, which they cultivated in the southern
portions of their country, although it become quite at home there.

We are at present unable to say, with certainty, how far the
AroideaB, cultivated in Ceylon, the Sunda Islands, and the Moluccas,
belong to this or to other species. It is also more or less doubtful
whether the Tarro or Tallo {Arum esculentum, Forst.), does not in all
probability represent the same species; a supposition which, besides
the similarity of the characteristics of the two plants, is corroborated
by the fact that the Arum colocasia, in Java, is known by the name
of Tallus, which is probably identical with that of Tallo, used on the
South Sea Islands. It is not even improbable that these islanders may
have become acquainted with this plant on their voyages to the west_,
and brought it back with them.

The Igname, or Yam {Dioscorea alata, L.), is a plant cultivated in
the tropics of the whole earth on account of the nutritious qualities of
its root, although far inferior in excellence of taste to the sweet potato.
This root is very much prized, and it often attains an enormous size,
and a weight of. from thirty to forty pounds. The Indian archipelago
and the southern portion of the Indian continent, is the starting point
from which this, the most cultivated species of Disocorea, has spread.
Thence it was first carried to the eastern coast of Africa, next to the
west coast, and from thence to America, where the names Yam, Igname,
are derived from the negroes. In the negro dialect of Guinea, the
word ''yam" means to eat.

The want of a Sanscrit name for this plant in Northern India clearly
shows that it is not indigenous there. The other species of Dioscorea,
cultivated more or less on the islands of the Indian archipelago and
the continent, are Dioscorea pentaphylla, L., D, hulhifera, L., D.
aculeata, L., and D. deltoides, Wall^ {D. saliva, L.). All of these
have their native home in the Indian Archipelago and in India itself,
and are nowhere met growing wild.

The tubers of the Tacca {Tacca pinnatifida, L.), furnish a mealy
nutriment to the inhabitants of the Society Islands and the Moluccas,
where the plant is met with both wild and in a state of cultivation.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 311

In the latter case, the tuherous root loses something of its original
acridity and bitterness. The same is the case with the sharp tubers
of Dracontium polyphyllum, L., which is also used upon the Friendly-
Islands for want of other kinds of food.

The tuberous root of the Tupinambur or Jerusalem artichoke {Helian-
ilius hiberosus, Jj.), is of less importance, America is its native country,
although it is still doubtful from what point it is derived. The name
under which it was first cultivated in Europe, at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, (Aster pericvianus tuherosus), furnishes a clue to
its probable birth-place, which is strengthened by the fact that three
other species of Heliantlius are peculiar to the chain of the Andes.
The Tupinambur is chiefly cultivated in the United States of North
America, and is very little used in Europe.

The tubers of the Oca or Oxalis tuherosa, MoL, furnish a scanty
substitute for more generous means of nutriment. The oca is culti-
vated in the Andes, from Chile to Mexico, and reaches a height of
8,000 feet. Its tubers vary from the size of peas to that of nuts, and
of no very pleasant taste. The same is the case with the Oxalis cras-
sicauUs, Zucc. {0. crenata, Jacq.), which is indigenous to Mexico,
Peru, and Colombia, as also with the Oxalis tetraphylla, Cavan., and
0. esctdenta, Hort. Berol.

It is very probable that the Oxalis enneaphylla, Cav. , indigenous to
the Malouine and Falkland Islands, as well as Oxalis violacea, L., of
Carolina, are not much better articles of food. In the same category
may be included the tuberous root of the Tropceolum tuberosum, Don.

The Ulluco or Melloco {Ullucus tiibei^osus, Loz.), a juicy plant with
creeping stem, the sprouts of which swell at the tips into tubers from
the size of a hazel nut to that of a pigeon's egg, like the sweet potato,
is also a native of the Andes of Bolivia, Peru, and New G-ranada.
These tubers are of an insipid taste, although improved by freezing.
They are still cultivated at a height of 11,000 to 13,000 feet in Popayan
and Paste, (Peru,) under the name of Oca quina. During the period
of the j)otato disease in Europe, an attempt was made to replace this
tuber by the oca, but without satisfactory results.

There is a tuberous root of Apios tuherosa, Monch, (Glycine apios,
L.), found in northern America, (Canada, Virginia,) which is some-
what similar to the Jerusalem artichoke. These taste like the arti-
choke, and like them are eaten as food and their seeds applied to the
same purpose. The mealy root of Lupinus littoralis, Douglas, is used
in a similar manner on the northwest coast.

A third leguminous j)lant, the potato-bean, (Stizolobium tuherosum,
Spgl., Doliclios tuherosus, Lam.), found on the Antilles, is remarkable
for tubers the size of a child's head. A fourth kind, the turnip-bean,
(Pachyrliyzus angulatus, Kich., Doliclios hulhosus, L.), found in the
Philippines- and Moluccas, has a root tasting like the turnip. The
seeds of the former also serve as food ; the latter is known in the
whole of tropical Asia.

I may here mention bulbs of two species of crocus. That of the
Crocus vernus, L., or spring crocus, is of little importance, as it is
only eaten by children ; but the much larger bulb of the Crocus edulis,

312 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Boiss., is brought to market in Damascus at tlie time when the bulb is
about sprouting, and is there very much prized as a vegetable. (Th.
Kotschy.)

We may here mention also the tubers of the Arrow-head (Sagitta-
ria sagittifolia, L.), and the creeping root of Nelumhium speciosum,
W., which in China, and the latter in Japan and tropical Asia, are
frequently used as food. The stalks of Nelumhium, according to C.
Von Htigel, are not dissimilar in taste to our broad beet, with a some-
what sharp after-taste.

It is a well-known fact that the mealy rhizoma of NympJiaea lotus ^ L. ,
(the Egyptian lotus,) and -piohaMj also thsit of Nymphaeacoerulea, L.,
served the inhabitants of Egypt for nutriment in the oldest times as well
as in the present day. The same is the case also in the East Indies with
the Nymphaea edulis, D. C, and in China with Euryale ferox, Salisb.

A few plants are distinguished by the presence of jelly, or by a starch-
like condition of their cellular substance, among which are various
species of Algae, or sea-weeds, and Lichens. From both these great
groups of plants mankind, driven by necessity, has been able to derive
nutritious substances from materials sometimes more or less unpalatable.

Among the Algae most common and frequently used as food, are
Ulva lactuca, Lin,; Iridaea edulis, Bory, {Halymenia edidis, Aghd.);
Laurentia pinnatifida, Lamour., (Pepper didce of the Scotch); Rhodo-
menia p)almata, Grev. (Halymenia palmata, Ag.); Bliodomenia ciliata,
Grev. (Sphoerococcics ciliatus, Agh.); Laminaria saccharina. Lam.,
the Sugar tang; Laminaria digitata, Lam., &c.; all used on the coasts
of Ireland, Scotland, and Northern Europe ; partly raw and partly
prepared. Here, also, belong the Alaria esculenta, Grev., and the
Forphyra purpiLrea, Agdh., which, under the name oi Laver, appears
on the tables of the English as a choice dish. The starch tang or Ceylon
Moss (Plocaria lichenoides, J. Ag., Sphaerococcus lichenoides, Ag.), is
also used as food, either in its natural condition or as a constituent of
the Indian bird's nests.

Among the Lichens, the Manna stalk (Parmelia esculenta, Ledeb.,
Lecanora escidenta, Spr.), occupies the first place; it grows chiefly upon
the Tartarian and Kirgese steppes of Tartary in great numbers, upon
dead, loamy soil, and unfrequented rocky cliffs, loosely attached and
consequently easily separated. When it is collected in hollows^ or
perhaps carried a considerable distance by high winds, it produces the
remarkable phenomenon of showers of manna rain ; all which has been
observed at different points quite recently, and at various times, in
Asia Minor and in Persia.

This lichen, which occurs usually in pieces the size of a hazel-nut,
is distinguished by having about 23 percent, of jelly, some inulin, and
a large proportion (about 66 per cent.) of chlorate of lime. Ground up
and baked as bread, it more or less satisfies the appetite. It is not
improbable that the manna of the Israelites was, not as Ehrenburg
believed, the expressed and hardened juice of the Tamarish (Tamarix
gallica, L. Var., mannifera, Ehrb.), but the manna lichen itself, of
whose existence in the regions of Sinai we, however, have no direct
information.

A second lichen, used both in medicine and for purposes of nutri-
ment, is the Iceland Moss (Cetraria islandica, Ach.), which is distri-

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 313

buted over the wliole nortli of Europe and America. By separating
its bitter constituents it furnishes a very good article of nourishment
in those inhospitable countries, and is sometimes converted into bread.

To the various plants already mentioned we may add the seeds,
fruit, and other parts of several plants, which although not so generally
distributed, are yet, nevertheless, not only equal to them in nutritious
qualities and pleasant taste, but may here and there excel them, such
as the Sago-palm, the Mauritius palm, the Chestnut, and similar
mealy seeds of several other kinds, as the Oak, the Bread fruit, &c.
There are also the various pod fruits, beans, peas, lentels, &c., as also
the various eatable fungi or mushroom.

The Sago-palm (Sagus rumphii, Willd.), often forms great forests
upon the islands of the Indian ocean and Moluccas, and is there easily
propagated by its suckers. The white inner part of the stem, thickly
permeated by bundles of fibers, abounds in a marrowy substance, which,
when baked into bread, furnishes a dailj" food to the inhabitants of
most of the southern and southeastern parts of Asia. This, in the form
of flour and of granules, is widely distributed in commerce as sago.
One trunk of the age of 15 years, will furnish sometimes 600 pounds
of sago. A similar use is made in the same country of the mealy sago-
2oalm, {Sagus farinif era. Lam.) Here, also, we may mention the Mau-
ritius palm (Mauritia fiexuosa, L., jr.), which on account of its pithy
stem, which contains a sago-like meal before flowering, is also called the
sago-palm — Sago-palm of South America. It grows from the mouth of
the Orinoko to the Amazon^ through the whole of Guiana, in Surinam,
and throughout northern Brazil, and even in Central America. Its red^
scaly fruit tastes like ripe apples ; and the mealy pith serves the Indians
of these countries as a chief article of food. Even Caryota urens, L.,
Corypha wnbraculifera L., and rotuoidifolia, L., Phoenix farinif era,
Eoxb., Borassus fiabelliforinis, L., Arenga saccliarifera, Lab., Elate
sylvestris, L., Sagus, rapliia, Poir., Sagus laevis, Keinw., Dracaena
terminalis, Jacq., Cycas circinalis, L., G. inermis, Lour., and C. revo-
luta, Thun.^ as also Diodon edule, Lindl., furnish more or less sago.
We may also mention Puya howplandiana, Schult., the Achupalla of
the hilly mountains of Peru and Popayan, in whose stems is found a
very nutritious pith.

The seeds of the chestnut (Castanea vesca, Gart.), when roasted or
baked^ are used in various ways for the preparation of flour and bread,
and are of much importance to Southern Europe. From its native
regions, (Asia Minor, Armenia, and Persia,) where at an early period
it served for the nutriment of the inhabitants,* it was carried to the
island of Euboa, and thence very easily to Greece, the Grecian islands.
Lower and Upper Italy, the Hesperian peninsula, and even over the
Alps, and everywhere has obtained no slight importance as furnishing
an article of food. This stately tree forms even now entire forests on
the mountains of Piedmont, Lombardy, and Tuscany, as well as of

* Xenophon states, that the children of the Persian nobility wei-e fattened upon chestnuts.
It is nevertheless probable that the chestnut is indigenous to the Himalayas, where several
species exist.

314 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Greece. In tlie valleys of tlie Waldenses, in the Cevennes, and in a
great portion of Spain, it furnishes nutriment for the common jjeople.

The Chestnut is the Jupiter's oak (^^(5c ^dXavocf), or the Euboean nut,
and with the edible oak or other eatable species of oak, probably con-
stituted the first food of the original inhabitants of G-reece. Cato calls
it the Grecian nut. Virgil speaks of it as the Kastanian nut. At a
later period, on account of its size and excellence in Sardinia, it was
called the Sardinian nut. The largest variety at the present day is
called marron in Italy.

Charlemagne commended the propagation of the Castanea to his
subjects. This tree was first brought to England in the beginning of
the sixteenth century. This variety of chestnut occurring in North
America (Castanea vesca, var. americana, Michx.) is eaten raw, boiled,
or roasted, although not depended upon as an article of food. The
Castanea pumila, Michx., the chinquapin, of the more southern States,
is also eaten there. China has a substitute for our chesnut in the
Castanea chinensis, Spgl., and Java in the Castanea argentea, Blum.,
and Castanea tungurrutj Blume.

Several species of the genus oak (Qitercics) distributed over the whole
earth possess edible fruit, which, although rendered somewhat bitter
and astringent by the addition of bitter extracts and tannic acid, may
yet, when reduced to meal and roasted^ be considered as not disagreeable.
The fruits of several kinds of oak, however, are actually sweet, and
taste like chestnuts. Among these are Quercus esculus, L., Quercus
tallota, Desf., Quercus persica, Jaub. and Spach.

That the first inhabitants of entire Greece, not merely of Arcadia,
must have derived their subsistence from acorns, before Demeter or
Ceres arrived upon the field of Eleusis with her sheaves, is intelligi-
ble in itself, as well as that it may have been principally the most
widely distributed Quercus hallota and Quercus acgilops that furnish-
■ed them their nutriment. The ^Tffbq, Quercus aegilops, L., (not Q.
esculus, L.), was therefore principally held in honor, and we constantly
find it adorning the grave of Ilios, the founder of Ilion, as well as the
renowned oracle of Dodona. The beautiful custom of the "citizen's
crown" is probably connected with the original use of the oak as a food
plant. The Quercus rohur, W., and Quercus pedicnculata, W., cer-
tainly played the same part in ancient Germany, and, therefore^ not
without reason, was considered as sacred by the inhabitants.

According to Link there are in the vicinity of Lisbon whole forests
of Quercus hallota, Desf., (actually indigenous to northern Africa,)
which constitute the wealth of the country and nourish a number of
men. The acorns are principally used for feeding swine, though they
are also eaten by the poorer people.

Besides Quercus edulis and Quercus hallota, Quercus pyrami, Kotschy,
and Quercus persica, Jaub. and Spach,, are also eaten in Southern
Europe. According to Th. Kotschy, the former is brought to market
in the Bazar of Adana, and the latter serves as a material for bread in
Southern Persia, (Laristan).

The Quercus castanea. Wild. {Q. prinos acuminata, Michx.), pecu-
liar to the Alleghany mountains of the United States, furnishes also
a pleasant-tasted fruit to the western hemisphere.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 315

The tropical regions of tlie wliole earth possess several fruits and
seeds similar in taste to the chestnut. Among the most important
of these may he mentioned Bomhax malaharicum, D. C. This enormous
tree belongs to the East Indies, has sweet and pleasant-tasted seeds,
which are used both raw and roasted. The mealy seeds of Carolinea
princeps, L. fil., indigenous to Guiana, when roasted, likewise taste
like chestnuts. The young leaves and flowers, also, are used as a
vegetable. The same is the case with Carolinea insignis, Swartz, of
the Antilles.

The seeds of 3IeUcocca hijuga, L., or Honey berry — the fruit of
which we will mention hereafter — are roasted , and also taste like chest-
nuts. The sweet, chestnut-like seeds of Cupania tomentosa, Swartz,
are also used in the West Indies. The seeds of Bliglitia sapida,
Konig, of Guinea, have also a fine flavor when cooked and roasted
with the fleshy arillus. This tree is now cultivated on the Antilles,
as is also the case with Laurus chloroxylon, Sw., in Brazil, and
Sloanea dentata, L., in South America. The pot-tree {Lecytliis ollaria,
L.), of tropical America, remarkable for its fruit the size of a child's
head, is much prized on account of its chestnut-like seeds. There are
still other species oi Lecytliis furnishing similar seeds. We may men-
tion, in conclusion, Castanospermum australe, Forst,, the seeds of which,
the size of a chestnut^ when separated from the hull, are used at Port
Jackson like the chestnut.

The Bread fruit tree (Artocarpus incisa, Linn., fil.), has been dis-
tributed from the Moluccas, by way of Celebes and New Guinea,
throughout all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, to Otaheite, but is
nowhere to be met with growing wild. It is also naturalized in the
Isle of France and tropical America. In its fruit, which is fit for
use without additional preparation, it furnishes one of the most
generous means of nutriment which the earth possesses. The rich
abundance of the fruit which a single tree supplies throughout the
entire year, makes it an inexhaustible source of life, the maintenance
of which is the care of every family. Its many varieties, among
which are several without seeds, show that its cultivation goes back
to the most remote antiquity.

The Artocarpus integrifolia, Linn., fil., closely allied to the Bread
fruit tree, is more peculiar to the western islands of the Indian archi-
pelago. On account of Its excellent fruit it is a special object of culti-
vation on the two Indian peninsulas, in Cochin China, and Southern
China. It has only been recently introduced into the islands of the
Pacific Ocean, as well as upon the Island of Mauritius, the Antilles,
and the west coast of Africa. It is scarcely to be doubted that it occurs
here and there growing wild, and that perhaps Ceylon and the Penin-
sula of Further India may be looked on as its original native land.

How far removed from those happy lands, where each Bread fruit
tree constantly represents a ripening field of grain, are those regions
of the earth where the hungering man is obliged to resort to the
scanty nutriment of the root-stalk of the ferns, or, as in Iceland, to
the root-stalk of the sand-reed (Arundo arenaria, L.), and of the
Adders wort {Polygonum historta, L.).

The pod fruits, on account of the mealy character of their seeds,

316 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

belong to the series of farinaceous substances. The great abundance
of an albuminous material, legumin, which is found in them, in
addition to the starch, places the pod fruits upon the same level with
the most nutritious cerealia, such as the wheat, &c.

Of all the pod fruits, it is probable that the bean {Viciafaba, Linn.,
Faba vulgaris, Monch.), indigenous to the southwestern banks of the
Caspian sea, has been longest known and most widely distributed.
Even by the Greeks and Komans it was considered as sacred, and it
was cultivated by the Jews. A temple dedicated to the God of Beans,
Kyanetes, stood upon the sacred road to Eleusis, he having first culti-
vated beans. The Kyanepsia, or Bean feast, which the Athenians
celebrated in honor of Apollo, was characterized by the use of beans.
The bean was an impure fruit to the Egyptians, who did not venture
to touch it. Pythagoros even forbid his scholars to eat beans. The
black speck on the white wings of the flowers was formerly looked
upon as the written character of death ; for which reason the bean in
ancient times passed as the symbol of death. The name xua/Mq; came
from xussu, as well as the Latin word Faba, from (po.vecv (Landerer).

The bean is not found in the catacombs of Egypt, perhaps for the
the above-mentioned reason. What the Greeks called 'Hhe Egyptian
bean" is not this bean, but the seed of the Nelumbium speciosum.
The bean belongs among the five different kinds of seeds which the
Emperor Chin-nong introduced into China in the year 2822 B. C. In
Abyssinia bread is baked from the bean. Many varieties have already
arisen in its culture.

Of the Lupines which grow wild throughout the whole Mediteranean
region, Lupinus hirsutus, L., alone was cultivated by the Greeks under
the name of d-eppioc:, and serves now in that country as food for cattle
and the poorer classes of people, as it did the Cynics. The Mainots
make use of it for food at the present day, and bake bread from it, for
which reason they are called Lupinophagi. The Hindostan name,
Turmas, and the Arabian, Termis, clearly indicate that this plant has
been propagated from Greece to India and Arabia. At the present
day it grows wild throughout the whole of the Mediterranean region,
from Portugal and Algiers to the Greek islands and Constantinople.

The same is the case with Lupinus albus, L., the wolf bean, and Lu-
pinus termis, Forsk. , (Mediterranean plants) ; the first distributed
throughout Italy, Sicily, and Thrace, to Southern Eussia ; the latter
found in Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, &c. Both are, at the present day,
used almost exclusively as food for cattle. The latter, however, when
cooked in salt water, and shelled, are eaten in Egypt. Both are cul-
tivated in Italy, and the wolf's bean has been introduced into the
Ehine country since the sixteenth century. The New World (in I^u-
pinus perennis, L.,) has also its wolf's bean, and its bitter seeds are
eaten from Canada to Florida.

The lentil (Ervum lens, L., ^a/05 Diosc, and ^a/^ of modern Greece)
was known to the Greeks, Jews, and Egyptians, but has been only
recently introduced into Bengal. This circumstance, and the fact
that India has not cultivated this plant at an earlier period, indicate a
more westerly native country, which may be fixed in Northern Cau-
casus and South Eussia, for the reason that the lentil, besides being

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 317

cultivated, grows wild, and is also occasionally to l)e met with, run
wild, throughout the whole of Europe.

The lentil of the present day serves the Bedouin for bread-fruit, and
a variety (Ervum lens var. abyssinica, Hochst.) has originated upon
the high plains of Abyssinia (5,000 to 8,000 feet.) Besides this one,
several other varieties have been formed in the course of time.

The pea (Pisicm sativum, L., Titaov, Theoph.), was in estimation as
a culture plant even among the Greeks and Komans ; in fact, its cul-
tivation even in India goes back to a remote period, as is shown by its
Sanscrit name, and the many more modern Indian names. The pea
is found growing wild, at the present day, upon the hills of the Isth-
mus of the Crimea, and its native country was probably originally
along the coast of the Black Sea. It was mentioned in the '^Capitu-
lare de VilUs," {Pisum mcmriscum,) and, at the present day, it has
extended in various varieties to Hammerfest and Lapland. A similar
distribution is to be assigned to the Pisum arvense, L, This species,
at the present day, is cultivated more frequently than the preceding in
Egypt, and has not remained unknown in India. Besides these, two
species of pea may be mentioned — the Egyptian pea (Pisum Jomardi,
Schrank) and the Abyssinian pea (Pisum abyssinicum, Alex. Braun) —
belonging chiefly to Africa, as also Pisum maritimum, L., and Pisum
ochrus, L.; the former growing wild on the coasts of Erance, England,
and Denmark, as far as Kamtschatka ; the latter occurring in Italy,
Portugal, Spain, and Crete, but used as an article of food only in times
of famine.

The Chick-pea, (Gicer arietinum, L._, ipej^cvdoc:, Theoph.), is an im-
portant kind of pea to the East. The Jews, Greeks, and Egyptians
cultivated it in ancient times, and it was also used as an object of
devotion, at an early period, even in India, as is shown by the Sanscrit
names. The common class of Greeks even now make use of it, both
raw and roasted, during the winter months, and employ it as a substi-
tute for coffee. It is also cultivated frequently, at the present day, in
Egypt, as far as Abyssinia, and, according to Th. Kotschy, is one of
the most generally distributed of cultivated plants on the heights of
Lebanon as well as in Spain.

This plant is represented as almost growing wild in the Caucasian
countries, in Greece, &c., and is also found run wild here and there in
the fields of Middle Europe.

The Elat-pea (Latpyrus sativa, L.), is used more as a fodder-plant in
the green condition, than for purposes of food.

Both the bean and the pea, as well as the chick-pea, were introduced
into the model farm of Charlemagne ; at present, they are distributed
over almost the entire earth.

The Kidney bean was not unknown to the ancients ; but it is scarcely
possible to refer the different kinds to those of the present day. The
Greeks cultivated Phaseolus vulgaris, L. (oo//;foc), as well as Pha-
seolus nanus {(paaioXoc:) ; and as these are only sparingly met with
in eastern Asia, and as there is no Sanscrit name for them, it is proba-
ble that they were derived from Western, rather than from Eastern
Asia.

At least a dozen different kinds of bean are cultivated in India, of

318 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

wliicli several liave their home in Southern China, in Cochin China,
&c. There is no species of bean found growing wild at the present
day in India.

Of the East Indian species of Pliaseolus which are an object of cul-
tivation, we may mention first Pliaseolus mungo, L., the bean of which,
with rice, constitutes the principal article of nourishment in the East
Indies and in China. It is also cultivated in Egypt and Italy at the
present day. A second species, Pliaseolus radiatus, L., and Pliaseolus
lunatus, L., likewise very palatable, as also Ph. tunlcinensis,'Lo-aT., of
Cochin China; Ph. max, Eoxb.; Ph. calcaratus, Eoxb. of Mysor; Ph.
aureus., Eoxb. of Bengal; Ph. torosus, Eoxb. of Nepal; and Ph. aco-
nit'ifolius. The last is mostly used for feeding domestic animals.

Certain American species correspond to the Asiatic just mentioned ;
such as Pliaseolus coccineus, Lam. (Ph. multifiorus, Willd.), Pliaseolus
derasus, Schrank, from South America, and Pliaseolus farinosus, L.
and Pliaseolus lathyroides, L. from the West Indies. The former at the
]3resent day is even cultivated in Europe.

The genera Dolichos and Lahlah may be mentioned next to Pliaseolus,
the former belonging chiefly to the New, the latter to the Old World.

The cultivated species of these are Dolichos sesquipedalis, L., from
tropical America, Dolichos glycinoides, Kunth, of Peru and Chile_,
Dolichos melanophihalmus, D. C., the native land of which is unknown,
and is now cultivated in Europe. Dolichos sphaerospermus , D. C,
comes from Jamaica. Dolichos unguiculatus, Jacq., from Barbadoes.

The species of the Old World are Dolichos sinensis, L., indigenous
to the East Indies, China, and Cochin China. Dolichos catiang, L.,
of the East Indies, and actually cultivated in Portugal and Italy.
Dolichos niloticus, Delil. (D. Sinensis, Forsk.), and Dolichos luhia,
L., of Egypt. Of the genus Lablab we may mention Lahlah vulgaris,
Sav. {Dolichos lahlah, L.), introduced from Egypt to the East Indies,
Lahlah nanldnensis, Sav., Lahlah leucocarpus, Sav., Lahlah microcarpus,
D. C, Lahlah perennis, D. C. Of all these, both the ripe seeds and
the unripe fruit are used. Soja hispida, Monch. {Sojajaponica, Sav.),
or Soy, from Japan, is cultivated in Southern Asia and Europe.

What the previously mentioned legumens are to the colder portions of
the earth the Ground nut {Arachis hypogaea, L.) is to the warmer zone.
This plant was known neither to the ancient Egyptians and Arabians
nor to the Greeks. The latter certainly did not understand this plant
under the name of apa.jo(z, which was probably a species of Vicia. It
has been cultivated a long time on the west and east coast of Africa,
and only quite recently introduced into the Mediterranean regions.
A Hindostan name alone exists for it in Asia. In modern times only,
it has been cultivated generally in China and Cochin China, which
countries it has reached in some unknown way. On the other hand,
six species of Arachis certainly belong to the Flora of Brazil, and the
older authors also mention the cultivation of Arachis hypogaea under
the name of Manduhi, Ancliic, and Mani, on which account there is
little reason to doubt its American origin. The thick tuberous seeds
are frequently eaten raw, but are very palatable when roasted. The
oil from it is excellent, and is much esteemed in India.

As I find no more convenient place for introducing those plants, which

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 319

on account of their nitrogenous constituents are particularly nutritious,
although somewhat difficult of digestion, I bring them in at the end
of the leguminous ones. I refer to the fungi, several of which^
by proper preparation, surpass all other vegetable substance in palata-
bility. Here, above all others, we may mention the Truffle, (Tuber
cibarium, Pers.), a much praised subterranean fungus, varying from
the size of a nut to that of the fist, and occurring cliiefly in chestnut
forests of Southern Europe, it was known even to the ancients {uduov,
Diosc.) To these may be added other species of truffle, such as Tuber
album, Bull., and Tuber griseum, Pers., in Upper Italy, Tuber mos-
chatitm, Bull., in France, Tuber niveimi, Desf., in Barbary, and one oc-
curring in the Arabian deserts^ of which Olivier makes mention. Of less
importance are certain morel fungi, such as Clavaria coralloides, Bull.,
CI. botrytis, Pers., CI. stricta, Pers., CI. cinerea, Bull., CI. rubella,
Schaff., CI. ametliystea, Bull., &c.; also Helvetia esculenta, Pers., H.
monachella, Frs., H. crispa, Frs., H. ramosa, Schaff., H. elastica.
Bull., H. in/ula, Schaff., H. mitra, L., Morchella esculenta, Pers., M.
conica, Pers., M. bohemica, Kromb, and M. deliciossa, Frs., Hydnum
rejjandum, L., and some other species occurring abundantly in the
European forests furnish only an unpalatable nutriment.

The genera Boletus and Agaricus are rich in esculent species. The
most important of these are: the Herrenph (Boletus eduUs, Bull.), the
Kaiserling (Agaricus ccesarius, Schaff.), the common mushroom (Ag.
campestris, L.), the mousseron (Ag. mouceron, Bull., Ag. albellus,
Schaff.), the honey dove (Ag. russida, Schaff.), the Beizger (Ag. deli-
ciosus, L.); as, also, Agaricus palomet. There (Ag. virens, Scop.), and
the Agaricus aurantiacus, known to the Eomans under the name Bo-
letus, and always occurring in the chestnut forests of Southern Europe.
It is this species which Nero called "cibus desruin," food of the gods.

Of less importance, although frequently used as food, are Agaricus
procerus, Scop., Ag. alutaceus, Pers., Ag. sapidus. Voir., Ag. esculentus,
Pers., Ag. aureus, Pers., Ag. virescens, Vevs., Ag. amethysteus. Bull.,
Ag. anisatus, Pers., Ag. tigrinus. Bull., Ag. infundibidiforr)iis, Bull.,
Ag. nebidaris, Batsch.,^^/. aro'mcdicus,'Ro(i\\.QB,Ag. tortilis. Bull., Ag.
violaceus, L., Ag. hcematochelis , Bull., Ag. ostreatus, Pers., Ag. sub-
dulcis, Pers., Ag. lactifiuus aureus, Pers., Ag. virgineus, Jacq., Ag.
eburneus, Bull., Ag. auricula. Dub., Ag. eryngii, D, C, Ag. ovinus,
Bull., Ag. aquifoUi, Pers., Ag. ilicinus, D. C., Ag. virgineus, Batsch.,
Ag. frumentaceus , Bull., Ag. castaneus. Bull., Ag. cortinellus, D. C,
Ag. caudicinus, Pers., Ag. sambucinus. Cord., Ag. attenuatus, D. C,
Ag. rubescens, Corda, Ag. solitarius. Bull., Ag. ovoideus, D. C, Ag.
leiocepjlialus , D. C, Ag. vaginatus, Bull., Ag. incarnatus, Pers.; as,
also, Boleiits ce7xus, Bull., preferred by many to the mushroom, B.
scaber, Bull., B. aurantiacus, Bull, B. liepaticus ,1) . C, B. carinthia-
cus, Jacq., and Bolyporus ovinus, Schaff. We may mention, in con-
clusion, the egg-sponge, or Pfiffering (Cantliarellus cibariits, Frs.)
Besides these fungi belonging particularly to Europe, there are other
regions of the world which are not without palatable representatives
of this branch of the vegetable kingdom. Among these, I may men-
tion a fev/, such as Boletus moschocarycmus , Kumph, Herb. Amb., 6, 9,
19; B. saguarius, Eumph, and Polygaster sampadarius , Frs.; the

320 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

former eaten as a delicacy on tlie Banda Islands_, and the latter in
Amboyna.

In the southern States of North America, upon soil recently cleared
of timber, is found the Indian potato, or Indian bread (Tuckahoe), the
gigSiTiticLy coper don (Pachyma) solidum, Grronov. , which attains a weight
of from 15 to 30 pounds, and was formerly eaten by the Indians. It
sometimes furnishes the entire food of runaway negroes.

All these fungi, with the exception of a few, belong to Europe.
Only a few, as for example the true mushroon, or champignon, the
truffle, &c., are cultivated, and thus developed into varieties. The
edible fungi may be kept, wdien dried, for a long period of time.

There is an extensive group of nutritious plants, the seeds, fruit,
and even tubers of which are characterized by a great abundance of
fatty oil. The oil in these is generally mixed with starch, gum, sugar,
and albuminous substances, and forms a kind of emulsion.

The almond, the walnut, the hazel-nut, the oil-palm, the Brazilian
nut, and the nut of Acromia sclerocarpa and Attalea compta, the pistici,
the olive, the water-nut, the seeds of Nelumbium, &c., as also the earth
almond, and several other species, belong to this category.

The almond tree {Aniygdalus communis, L., afjuybal-ri, Theoph.), with
a thick and hard, or thin and soft, shell to its kernel, like many other
species of the genus, is indigenous to Western Asia and North Africa ;
although, at the present day, it is hardly met with there in a wild
condition. It was known at a very early period to the inhabitants of
the Mediterranean regions of Syria and Palestine. The Jews make
mention of it ; and it was carried by the Phoenicians to the Hesperian
peninsula (towards Lusitania and the Baetican province). It was
sacred to Cybele, in Greece, where, even at that time, there were two
kinds there, with sweet and with bitter nuts. Phyllis hangs herself
on an almond tree, and is transfigured into it. Cato called it nux
GrcBca, from which it by no means follows that at that time it was not
propagated in Italy. Charlemagne caused amandalarios to be planted
on his estate. At the present time it is distributed over the whole of
Southern Europe, throughout Persia, Arabia^ China, and Java. In
addition to the common almond, the seeds of Amydalis orientalis, Oliv.,
Amygdcdis scoparia, Jaub., Amygdalis arahica, Oliv., and Amygdalis
agrestis, Boiss., are eaten at the present day in Eastern and Southern
Persia, and constitute an article of trade in the bazaar.

The walnut {Juglans regia, L.), characterized by its oily and yet
pleasant-tasted kernel, is referred to by Theophrastus under the name of
xdpuop, and various popular customs in ancient Grreece have reference to
this nut. The name nepar/A relates to the region whence it was derived^
and it is quite possible that Alexander the Great may have brought it
from Persia, where it was earliest cultivated.

The Eomans received their Jovis glans (Juglans) as early as the
time of the kings. The walnut^ although distributed from Lebanon
throughout all the mountain region eastward to Shiras, occurs gene-
rally as a single tree, and never forms plantations. It likewise occurs
single in southern and middle Europe, ascending in our Alpine valleys
to a height of two thousand five hundred feet. Ledebour states that
the walnut grows wild in Southern Caucasus ; others refer it to the

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 321

mountain valleys of Talyscli, where it occurs wild, and the same is-
stated of Persia and Cashmere. The walnut tree by cultivation
passes into various varieties, and is occasionally cultivated more on
account of its excellent timber than on account of its fruit.

There are various edible species of walnuts and of allied hickory-
nuts in North America, especially Juglans nigra, L. (Black walnut),
Juglans cinerea, L. (Butternut), Juglans fraxinifolia, Lam., and
Carya oUvceformis, Nutt., (Pecan nut), with other kinds of Carya, the
seeds of which are used partly raw for the table, and partly in the
preparation of oil. This is the case also with the Juglans haccata, L.^
indigenous to Jamaica, excepting that its seeds are more fitted, for
furnishing meal, on account of their richness in starch.

The oily seeds of the Cacao, or chocolate, {Theobroma cacao, L,),
possess an agreeable aromatic taste, and are chiefly used for the pre-
paration of various drinks. The cacao grows wild in the river districts
of the Amazon and Orinoco, whence it has been distributed to other
parts of Middle America, (Mexico and the Antilles), where its cultiva-
tion forms a very important branch of trade in the warm and moist
regions. Other species, such as Theohroma hicolor, H. B., Th. speciosa,
Willd., Th. sylvestrls, Mart., and Th. guyanensis,- Willd., replace the
cacao in the West Indies and South America, and like the latter are
introduced into commerce.

There are various species of Hazel nut (Corylus), the oily nuts of
which are used as food. The principal of these are the common hazel
nut, Noisette, or filbert {Corylus avellana, L.), which is distributed
over the whole of Europe and Northern Asia : the Lombardy or Lam-
bert's nut {Corylus tubulosa, Willd.), of Southern Europe, and the
Turkish Hazel nut {Corylus colurna, L.) The latter is a stately tree,
forming whole forests in its native land, (Pontus), from which it was
carried, from the Island of Thasus, to Macedonia and Thrace, and has
been distributed to Pannonia and throughout the whole of Italy. It
was brought to G-ermany in the sixteenth century by Valerius Cordus,
who received it from the Hungarian embassador in Constantinople.
The citizens of Avellum, in Campania, could not have cultivated the
common hazel nut, but the Turkish species.

The common hazel nut has already developed six varieties by cultiva-
tion. Corylus glomerata, Nois. , is only a variety of Corylus colurna, L. ,
with large early fruit.

Corylus rostrata, Ait., and Corijlus americana, Michx., wdiich grow
wild in North America, from Canada to Florida, furnish an excellent
fruit, commonly knoAvn as hazfil nuts.

Some other plants, the seeds and fruits of which are quite similar
to those we have just mentioned, are Guevina avellana, Molina, {Qua-
dria heterophylla, Pav.), the Chilian hazel nut; Cavanillesia platani-
folia, Kunth, in Colombia; Pourretioj tuherculata. Mart., in Brazil;
Anacardium occidentale, L., (the Cashew nut) ; Omphalea triandria,
Aubl., and Omphalea diandira, Aubl., in the West Indies. Also
Siphonia elastica, Pers., Aleurites moluccana, Willd., Cervantesia to-
mentosa, Euiz and Pav., in Peru; Hamiltonia oleifera, Willd., (Oil
nut), in North America; Pangium edide, Eeinw., in the Indian archi-
pelago; Hamamelis virginica, L., the Witch hazel, and Ilamamelis
21 A

■322 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

macrophylla, Pursh.; Hainamelis parvifoUa, 'Nuttall, of North America;
Canarium commune, L., in Java; Myrobalanus hellerica, Gartn., in
the East Indies ; also the forest almond of St. Domingo, Hippocratea
eomosa, Swartz, and the fruit of the Quercus virens, Ait., or American
live oak, from which the wild tribes prepare an oil, in North America.

The seeds of Cicoia guyanensis, Aubl., F armarium montanum and
P. campestre, Aubl., from Guinea, and Parinarium senegalense, Poir.,
from middle Africa, Licania incana, Aubl., and Bomhax ceiba, L.,
from South America, have much resemblance in taste to almonds.

The Brazilian nuts, or Juvias, come from a magnificent tree (^67^-
tliolletia excelsa, Humb. and Bonpl.) which has an extended distribu-
tion in the forests of Guyana and Brazil, jDarticularly between the river
district of the Orinoco and Kio Negro. The angular brown seeds of
this tree, the size of a walnut, have an oily kernel, and taste like
almonds. They soon become rancid and must be eaten fresh. Many
tribes of Indians live for a long time upon these seeds, which they
collect and harvest with great rejoicing.

The seeds of Caryocar amygdaliferum, Cav. , and C. hutyrosum, Willd. ,
called Pequi and Souari in their native region, furnish nutriment sim-
ilar to almonds, on account of their oily nature. The former is a.
high tree in Ecuador and Santa Fe de Bogota ; the latter in Guyana.
We may also mention Caryocar glahrum, Pers., and Caryocar tomeiv-
tosum, W., in Guyana, and Caryocar nuciferwn on the Essequibo.

Among the palms furnishing oil may be mentioned particularly the
oil palm {Elais guineensis, L.), belonging to Congo, and the entire
tropical region of Africa, and distributed thence to Brazil. From the
hulls of the fruit of this tree most of the palm oil of commerce is
■expressed. There are also the Acromia sclerocarpa, Mart. , and Attalea
compta, Mart., the Alfonsia oleifera, H. B., in South America^ also the
king of palms^ the cocos palm, or cocoa-nut tree, (Cocos nucifera, L.,
and Cocos butyracea, Linn, jr.) This beautiful tree, which at the present
time is distributed over all the coasts and islands of the tropics, namely,
the islands of the South sea, of the Indian Archipelago, East and West
Indies, Brazil, Africa, &c., and which seems to have mainly propagated
itself, has nevertheless proceeded from a very limited locality. The
large size of the fruit, the ease with which it is transported by means
of oceanic currents, and the influence of salt water as a condition of
germination^ are sufficient to render a great distribution possible. The
original native land of this useful tree seems to be the Cocos islands
west of Panama and the coast of Central America ; from which region
its distribution has taken place from a far remote period by means of
the equatorial current to the small islands of Duncan and Galega, and
thence to the different groups of islands of the Pacific ocean.

When the embryo is unformed the fruit furnishes sweet palm milk ;
a further development supplies a white, sweet, and aromatic kernel,
which tastes much better than almonds. And it finally becomes still
firmer, and then possesses a pleasant, sweet oil.

The oily joistacio nut {Pistacia vera, Lin.), and the Terebinth pistacio
(Pistacia terebinthus, L.), are of less moment and more limited distri-
bution. The former is obtained from a tree originally indigenous to
Persia, Bactria, and Syria^ but cultivated in the Mediterranean regions.

PLANTS USED AS FdOD BY MAN 323

The latter comes from a very large and stout tree of tlie Mediterranean
flora. Boissier lias distinguished the former, which occurs in Palestine
and Syria as a distinct species, {Pistacia palaestina.) The genuine
pistacio furnishes a pleasant food, which was liked by the ancient
Parses, for which reason this beautiful tree is frequently cultivated,
while the fruit of the terebinth {repi^cvdoc:, Theoph.) is scarcely
edible on account of its resinous taste. The tree of the Palestine
terebinth, which often attains a circumference of 10 to 12 feet, is of
importance in other respects, since it stands in the most intimate rela-
tionship to the theocracy of the Jews. The terebinths of Mamre, of
Oi^hra, Jabez, and Sichem^ have a historical renown.

Here may be mentioned the seeds of some coniferous trees, as those
of Taxus nucifera, and Salisburia adantifolia, Sm., in Japan, and the
stone pine {Pinus pinea, L.), the Siberia pine {Pinus cemhra, L.), the
cone of the pine of Norfolk island (Arcmcaria excelsa, R. Brown), and
the American Araucaria (Araucaria imbricata, Pav.) The latter is a
tree which furnishes to the Indians of Patagonia a great portion of
their nutriment. It grows from the twenty-seventh to the forty-eighth
degree south latitude — never in the low lands. It furnishes to the
nomadic races (Araucarians) the necessary vegetable nutriment, who
depend upon it the more exclusively in proportion to their distance
from the whites, and the greater or less difficulty of obtaining the
ordinary cerealia by means of trade. The nut is shaped like aij^
almond, but twice as large. A single cone will have from 200 to 3-iter
nuts, and will furnish a days' food to an Indian with the addition of
little meat. The oily seed is nevertheless not very digestible, anajj
cannot be kept any length of time, as it soon becomes of a stony hard- <,
ness. The natives, however, prepare from it a dish, which keeps a
long time.* The Catappa tree (Terminalia catappa, L.), furnishes a
pleasant-tasted, edible kernel. This grows on many islands of the
Indian Archipelago, especially on the Moluccas. The fruit is similar
to the walnut, and has from one to two almond-like kernels. It is
now cultivated in the Antilles. Similar fruits are furnished by the
Terminalia moluccana, Lam., Terminalia glahrata, Forst., in the
Society and Friendly Islands, Terminalia mauriciana, Lam., on the
Mascarenhas and Terminalia latifolia, Swartz, in South America.
Besides these, the kernels of the fruit of Incarpus edulis, Fort., Ster-
culia balanghas, L,, and St. fa^tida, L., are eaten by the islanders
of the South Seas generally.

The unripe seeds of various palms furnish oily kernels, as Cocus
arenaria, Gomez.

The Olive tree {Olea europcea, L.) is incontestibly the most important
oil-producing plant. Homerf mentions green olives in the garden of
Alcinous and Laertes, which were brought by Cecrops, the founder of
Athens, to Greece. Minerva planted it with her OAvn hand upon the
consecrated locality of her citadel, by thrusting her spear into the
ground. JSTo temple or sacred place dedicated to her is without its
olive tree. As light is kept up by means of oil, so this has become
an indication of the divine peace and of earthly blessings. Jehovah

*Poppig, Reise, i, p. 401. f Odyss. vii, 112.

324 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

himself announced his reconciliation with earth by means of an olive
branch . The olive belongs to the fruits which were promised to the
Jews in Canaan. This tree was first brought to Italy in the year 571
before Christ, and at the time of Pliny had been carried over the Alps
to Gaul and Spain. At the time of Cato, the Romans were acquainted
with only nine kinds of olives, which, however, at the time of Plinv,
had increased by cultivation to twelve, and, at the present moment,
even to twenty. The cultivated olive tree {i)Mio. yjiiepa, Diosc), was
distinguished from the wild olive (iypca d2aia, Diosc.) Willkom* is
of opinion that the olive tree is indigenous in various parts of the
Mediterranean region, Spain, and also in the southern portions of the
Peninsula. He states that the olive forest of forty square miles at the
foot of the Sierra Morena, to the south, between Andujar and Cordova,
may have been entirely planted by hand. He is also of opinion that
the olive forest, three leagues in length, situated further south, be-
tween Seville and Utrera^ to the left of the Guadalquivir', consists of
olive trees run wild, having small globular fruit possessing but little
oil. He thinks that this forest could only have sprung up in conse-
quence of the driving away of the Moors, or from the neglect of former
olive plantations, as has been the case in other instances. He thinks
himself, however, safe in stating that the hedges and forests of olives
in the southern part of Spain may have arisen from indigenous plants.
.a.T^e wild olive tree forms forests and groves, not only in the plains
of Seville, where it has certainly arisen from the running wild of
originally cultivated olive trees, but in the mountains also, as in the
Serrania da Eonda, &c. It is most frequently met with in wild sand-
stone mountains, rising to a height of 4,000 feet along the Straits of
Gibraltar, between AlgesirajS and Alcala de los Gazules, where, from
2,000 feet and upwards, it forms a principal constituent of the inde-
scribably magnificent foliage which covers that mountain.

"This office is also shared by Quercus suber, L., or Cork oak, and
Quercus lusitanica, Lam., var. baetica, Webb. On account of the ex-
traordinary wildness of these mountainSj it is entirely out of the
question that any cultivation could ever have taken place there.
Whence, also, could the massive wild olive trees come which occur in
the upper part of the mountains, for in the lower part the forest con-
sists simply of cork oaks? This fact seems to me to speak very loudly
in favor of the supposition that the olive tree has been indigenous to
Spain from the beginning."

Hence it follows that we must consider the entire coast of the Med-
iterranean, North Africa to the Canary Islands, Palestine, Syria, Asia
Minor, and Greece, as the native land of the olive. On the other
hand^ however, it is to be borne in mind that the name of this plant
has been referred among all nations to the Grecian name i^Mca, and the
Hebrew zait or sait, which renders it probable that the olive tree was
probably distributed by these two nations of antiquity from one point,
in two lines, which met again in the Iberian peninsula.

At the present time the olive is distributed not only over all the
lands of the Mediterranean, still forming an important source of the
•riches of many of them, as it was at one time the chief possession of

* Linnssa, 1854, page 702.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 325

Attica and Palestine, but it has also even transcended these limits.
The olive oil, next to the cerealia, is the most indispensable necessary
of life to the Italian.

The water nuts, or fruit of the water plants, {Trapa,) which occur in

lakes in Europe and Asia, are distinguished for an abundance of starch

and fatty oil ; although not very pleasant tasted, they are still gathered

■ in large quantities, and used as an article of food, raw or roasted, and

even ground into meal.

There are only two species of Tt'ajoa y^hich here require special men-
tion, namely: the one indigenous to India, especially to Cashmere, the
Singhara or Trapa hispinosa, Koxb., and the one occurring in enormous
quantity in the lakes of China, Trapa hicoymis, Lin.; the first is fished
■out of Wuller lake during the winter months, and the inhabitants
then obtain a harvest of such abundance that they live on it for the
entire year. It is also eaten in Lahore. The second species, Trapa
hicornis, L., called Ling in China^ is extensively disseminated in the
southern regions of the Celestial empire, and furnishes a staple article
of nutriment to the poorer classes of the people. This* is fished out in
a similar way. It has run into several varieties. Trapa cocJiincM-
nensis, Lour. , and Trapa quadrispinosa, Eoxb. , are of less value. Even
the European Trapa natans, L., is everywhere made use of, and Pliny
states that the Thracians baked bread from it.

The seeds of Nelumbmm speciosum., Willd., are used for food in
India as well as those oi Nelumhium luteum, Willd., (the yellow- water
lily), and Nelumhium codophyllum, Rafin., in North America.

The earth almond, or chufa, (Cyperus esculentus, L.,) which is found
in Southern Europe (South Spain and France) and North Africa, is
also deserving of mention. Its tubers of a sweet and pleasant taste
contain a mild fatty oil, similar in taste to nut oil, and, like the potato,
have twelve per cent, of starch, for which reason they can not only be used
as food, but also in the preparation of oil. It was employed at the
end of the preceding century as a substitute for coffee in the whole of
Germany. The separation of oil from the earth almond is too labo-
rious and expensive an undertaking, and, in more recent times, has
been supplanted by many of the so-called oil plants, such as the Kohlraps
or Colza {Brassica campestris oleifera, DC, Colza, Lam.*), (Bras-
sica rapa oleifera, DC, La navette, Lam.), the China oil radish
{BapJioMus sativus cliinensis oleiferus, H.), the flaxf {Linum usitatissi-
onum, L.), the poppy (Papaver somniferum, L.), the sunflower (Heli-
anthus annuus,X L.), the oil Madia (3Iadia saliva , Mollin[|), the Sesame
{Sesamum orientale, L.§), the Leindotter {Camelina saliva, Cranz. *!),
the Nuk {Guizolia oleifera, DC), the hemp** {Cannabis saliva, L.,
and Hibiscus canabinus, L.)

* Growing wild from the Baltic Sea to the Caucasus. Its culture started from Belgium,
and is more extensively prosecuted in Holstein

t Wild in Mingrelia.

X Indigenous to Mexico and Peru.

IJ Brought from South America, where it was cultivated a long time.

§ A common oil plant in Persia, which was used in the time of Xcnophon by the soldiers
to anoint their limbs to preserve themselves from being frost-bitten. At the present day it
is cultivated in Abyssinia as an oil plant.

"J Indigenous to Centi-al Europe, and found on the Caucasus and in Siberia; it first be-
came a cultivated plant in the mediccval ages in Germany and Russia.

** Allied to Helianthus, and cultivated in Abyssinia.

326 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

There is a fitness in treating of the plants yielding sugar after those
containing starch, on account of the fact that a majority of them contain
a mixture of starch and sugar. The principal representative of the
saccharine plants is the sugar-cane, of -which there are three species and
several varieties, all indigenous to tropical Asia, whence they have
heen distributed over the tropical regions of the whole world. At the
present time the plant is not found growing wild in any locality. The
common sugar-cane {Saccliarum q/ftcinarum, L.) is indigenous to India,
(Bengal,) and has been cultivated there from, time immemorial. This
is shown by the Sanscrit name Sarkura, from which are derived the
Arabic name SuJckar, the Grecian aax'^^ap, and the modern European
names Zucker, Sucre, Sugar, &c. The second species Saccliarum
cMne7ise, Koxb., is undoubtedly a plant peculiar to China, and has
been cultivated there independently, and perhaps still earlier than the
Indian sugar-cane. Theophrastes called sugar a sweet salt which is
produced from a tubular plant. It v/as still very rare in the time of
Dioscorides and Galen.

In the ninth century the Arabians obtained sugar from the sugar-
cane, which at that time was cultivated in Susiana, as shown by the
mill-stones used in crushing the cane which are found at the present
day upon the hills of Aliwaz, on the Kuren river. Sugar was brought
from Alexandria to Venice in the year 996. Ten thousand pounds of
sugar were used at the weddingof the Caliph Mostadi Bemvillah, (1087.)
The sugar-cane is actually a food plant, since it is chewed and sucked,
and perhaps eaten ; this is still the case in Egypt, in many parts of
Asia, on the Phillipine and South Sea Islands. During the frequent
droughts it serves as a means of assuaging thirst among the inhabitants
of eastern islands.

The sugar-cane flourishes best at a temperature of from 24° to 25°
centigrade (73° to 75° Fahrenheit), though it may be raised at a tem-
perature from 19° to 20° (66° to 68° Fahrenheit). In China the cul-
tivation of the Sugar-cane extends to the thirtieth degree of north lati-
tude, in North America to the thirty-second degree. The Jews were
unacquainted with sugar, as was also the case with the ancient Baby-
lonians. The cultivation of the sugar-cane was first extended to South
Persia and Arabia, and thence to Egypt, Sicily, and South Spain. It
reached the Mediterranean in 1420, and at a later period the Canary
Islands. Columbus carried it on his first voyage (1490) from the
Canary Islands to San Domingo. Captain Bligh took a variety from
the South Seas (Oanna d'Otaheite) to Antigua and Jamaica. At the
present day the chief supply of cane sugar comes from the West Indies,
Mexico, Brazil, Peru, and Louisiana.

The sap of some trees possess a sufficient amount of saccharine
matter to furnish sugar. The principal of these are Acer saccliarinum,
Ij., Acer nigrum, Michx., Acer ruhrum, Wangh., and Acer clasycarpum,
L., of North America. The sugar maple (Acer saccliarinum, L.),
a stately tree, growing between the fortieth and forty-third degrees of
north latitude, will furnish at least two quarts of sap in twenty-four
hours in the month of March when the flow is most rapid. The yield
of crystallized sugar, however, does not usually exceed two to four
pounds for a single tree.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 32T

There are certain roots cliaracterized by a predominance of saccliar-
ine juice, sucli as those of the Beet, the Sugar beet, the Carrofc, the
Celery, &c. , as well as the fruits of various forest and vegetable growths ;
among these may be mentioned the Date palm, the Pisang, the Pine-
apple, the Fig, the St. John's bread, the Indian fig, &c.

The original stock of the common beet (Beta vulgaris y, rapacea,
Koch), as well as that of the Ked beet (Beta vulgaris y, rapacea d
rubra, Koch), occurs wild at the present time on the sea-shore of the
Mediterranean (Greece), and grows wild in some of the islands of the
Atlantic ocean (Canary Islands). This is the common mangold (Beta
vulgaris a maritima, Koch), of which there are two sub-species, with
numerous varieties, formed by cultivation, the Garden mangold (Beta
vulgaris j^, cicla, Koch), and the Beet mangold (Beta vulgaris y,
rapacea, Koch.) It was cultivated for food by the Greeks as it is at
the present day by the Persians and natives of India. Aristophanes
reproaches Euripides with the fact that his mother was a vegetable
dealer and sold mangold. The Romans were acquainted with two
varieties. Charlemagne ordered the cultivation of the Beet (Betas) on
his estate, and from this it was distributed throughout Europe and
has extended to North America. It is easy to understand that the
number of varieties of this plant should increase very greatly, since
the species shows a great inclination to varieties even to permanent
ones. The leaves of the Beet furnish an excellent spinach-like dish.

The turnip, which is cultivated as a favorite article of food, both
for man and beast, on account of its large, fleshy root, and sweet,
pleasant taste, is derived from a plant (Brassica campestris, L.) grow-
ing wild at the present day in Russia and Siberia, as well as on the
Scandinavian peninsula. From this, in course of cultivation, a race
has been produced as Brassica campestris, L., and a second as Bras-
sica rapa, L., our white turnip, with many varieties. The cultivation
of this plant, indigenous in the region between the Baltic sea and the
Caucasus, was probably first attempted by the Celts and Germans
when they were driven to make use of nutritious roots. This was less
the case among the Greeks and Romans.

In all widely distributed plants there is an especial difiiculty in
ascertaining the primitive species, especially when no longer found in
a wild state ; this is particularly the case with the rettig and the
radish — two plants which belong among the most widely distributed
cultivated plants of Europe and Asia. It seems to be well established,
from recent investigation, that the two plants belong to two distinct
genera. The original stock of the winter rettig is (Raplianistrum mart-
timum. Gay), a plant which grows wild from the Caspian sea to Gibralter
and the coast of England, and from which the pa(pa.vtq djpia of the-
ancient Greeks, as well as the Ai'moracea of the Romans, does not
seem to difi"er.

The common radish (Raphanus sativus, L.) comes from a more remote
locality. It is probable that China may be considered as the native
land of this plant, where, as in the neighboring Japan, it runs into
several varieties, among them an oil plant.

Here also may be mentioned the horse-radish (Coclilearia rustica,
Lam., Cochlearia ar7noracea,J-i.) , the -B-eshj root of which is used both for-

328 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

food and in the materia inedica. The name Armor acea is derived from
the Pontic word Armon, by which the Komans designated our rettig,
and which has been recently applied by the moderns to an entirely
different plant. The plant originated in Southern Kussia, and the
neighboring countries . Its spontaneous growth extended from Finland
to Astr'acan and the steppes of Cumana, and even to Turkey in Europe.
The name Chren, which the Sclavonian races used to denote this plant,
accords with the German Kren, and the French Cran and Oranson,
and indicates a by no means early introduction of the plant into these
countries — a view which is substantiated by the absence of original
names of the plant in the north, west, and south of Europe.

The carrot {Daucus carotta, L.) is of much more recent introduction
as a plant of cultivation. It grows wild at the present day in the
whole of Europe^ North Asia, and North America, and the cultivated
race returns to the wild original in a very few seasons. It appears that
the G-reeks and Komans cultivated this plant in their gardens, although
not to any great extent. It will require further proof to show that the
2ta(pd7voc: dyf)co(: is the violet variety of the carrot.

As early as the seventeenth century the white and yellow varieties
alone were known ; at the present day roots are gathered of every size
and color.

There is the same relationship between the cultivated and the wild
plant in the parsnip, (Pastinaca sativa, L.), a meadow plant common
in the v/hole of Europe. The cultivation of the long, sweet, aromatic
root, in northwestern France, has already continued for many centu-
ries, during which time several new varieties have been developed, as,
for example, that with the top-shaped root. A kind of beer is brewed
from it, in Ireland, and even wine has been manufactured from it.

The Scorzonera Jiispanica, L., furnishes a very pleasant vegetable.
This plant grows wild, at the present day, in Central and Southern
Europe, and in the East ; and the slimy, sweetish roots gain consid-
erably in palatability by cultivation. The Scorzonera glasiifolia,
Willd. and Scorzonera jpicroides, L., are somewhat similar in their
properties, as are also the roots of Scorzonera Laiorentii, Hook, jr., in
New Holland. The latter is a choice dish of the natives, and might
replace the Scorzonera Jiispanica, if enlarged by cultivation. Africa
has also a sweet, nutritious root, in the Bauliinia esculenta, Burch., of
the Cape. The Arracaclia esculenta, Bancroft, furnishes a similar nu-
tritious root, cultivated in New Granada and tipper Peru on a large
scale. The native land of this plant is no longer known, nor can we
tell liow far it has been changed by cultivation.

We may also introduce here the sugar root, or skirret, and the cel-
ery. The former (Suim sisarunri, L,), obtained from the East, has
been cultivated in Europe for more than one thousand years. The
Emperor Tiberius is said to have demanded this sweet and somewhat
aromatic root as a tribute from the Germans living on the Rhine.

The celery (Apium graveolens, L.), is a sea-shore plant, occurring
on saline soil on the coast of the Mediterranean, in Greece, and in
Turkey in its original form and of a bitter taste. It seems to have
come very early into use, for Theophrastus mentions it as Ii).cvov. At
the present day, the cultivated plant is widely distributed in Greece.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 329

It is. liarclly wortli wliile to mention the root of Campanula rapunctdus ,
L., formerly cultivated as a vegetable, a plant growing wild in West-
ern and Southern Europe. The flesh of this tender and palatable root
is often eaten in the spring.

We may mention here a few other plants, such as the Evening
Primrose, Gartenrapibiizel or Eapontik {Oenothera biennis, L.), from
Virginia, and Oenothera grandiflora, Ait. , likewise from North America,
which are occasionally sought after on account of their sweet turnip-
like roots, which they acquire by cultivation. Oenothera suaveolens,
Desf., Oenothera parvifiora, L., and Oenothera miiricata, L., likewise
from North America, also furnish edible roots. All these plants, like
the parsnip and the carrot, have laid aside very little of their original
nature. The New Zealanders, and inhabitants of the Oceanic Islands,
have introduced into cultivation some only slightly-nutritious rhizomes
and stems, among which are Convolvulus turpetum, L., upon the Society
and Friendly Islands, and the New Hebrides, the soft, sweet stem of
which is sucked by the boys of Otaheite. The same is the case with
the rhizome and pith of Pteris esculenta, Forst. , Polypodium medidlare,
Forst., Folypodium dicJiotomum, Forst., and Acrostichumfurcatum, L,,
in New Zealand and on the Society Islands. The bark of Hibiscus
tiliaceus, L.^, furnishes a kind of nutriment to these poor natives in the
general want of other substances, as also the exuding gum of Avicennia
resinifera, Forst., and the ripe, unpalatable fruit of Pandanus odora-
tissiimts, L.

Among the edible root-stalks of the Ferns we may also mention
Nephrodium esculentum, Don.^ in Nepal, and Diplacium esculentum, Sw. ,
in the East Indies, chiefly used by the natives.

Among the plants characterized by an abundance of saccharine
juice, those having sweet fruit are of very great importance, as their
cultivation is usually attended with little difficulty, the yield being
very copious, and their taste much more pleasant than that of the other
sweet parts of plants. We will first mention the sv;^eet and nutritious
fruit of the Date palm (Phoenix daciylifera, L.) "In the East," says
Yon Martins, "the date tree has ever been considered the benefactor
of mankind. The life of the wandering tribes in the desert circles
around the date tree ; and the Arabian poets ascribed such high im-
portance to it that they maintain that the noble tree was not formed
with the other plants, but from the clods which remained after the
creation of Adam. ' ' The Persian enumerates 360 attributes as peculiar
to his palm, probably with reference to the career of the sun, for the
tree is consecrated to the sun, and the fruit of the date is called Sun
fruit (Belach). In the primitive mythology of the Hindoos we find
various references to this palm.

The native land of the date palm seems to have been originally in
the region along the east side of the Persian G-ulf, whence it has been
distributed in the earliest periods of commerce to Arabia, Persia, liin-
dostan, and westward over the whole of North Africa. It reached the
West Indies a good while ago.

The date palm occurs in the whole of Greece, and is particularly
abundant on the islands, although it bears fruit only at Kalamata
in the Southern Morea, and that of poor quality. Dates constitute

330 AGRICULTUEAL REPORT.

the principal nutriment for man, the horse, and the camel, in Arabia,
Persia, and Egypt. In the oasis of the desert it is the last resort of
the starving. From the great value of this palm to these countries,
and its very long period of culture, it is not to he wondered at that it
has already expanded into many varieties.

The Banana is of as great, if not greater, importance to the tropical
zone. Both in tropical Asia and America almost every hut has its
plantain tree. In the great number of different forms of plantain, the
size, form, and taste of the fruit are exceedingly different. The ques-
tion has long since been started as to how far this has been derived
from one or several species. In America there are only two especially
distinguishable forms. The Banana da terra (with long, straight,
and decidedly three-cornered fruit, on distinct stems, and with a fresh,
juicy pulp), and the Banana de St. Thome (with smaller, blunt,
roundish, and soft, sweet fruit). In tropical Asia and the islands of
the Pacific ocean the different forms amount nearly to half a hundred.
Although the Banana has not been found growing wild in America,
with any degree of certainty, various points of Asia furnish, at present^
this plant in its original form ; a fact which speaks most decidedly for
the question of its origin, as it is rarely propagated by seeds, but prin-
cipally by its suckers. Koxburgh found it growing wild on the coast
of Coromandel, Kumphius and Blanco on the Philippines, Loureiro
in Cochin-China, Finlayson on the small island of Pulo-Ubi, near
Siam, and so on to Ceylon.

The names used for this plant in Asia and America deserve a little
further attention. In America there is no indigenous name, while
Asia furnishes names in the Sanscrit, Chinese, and Malayan languages,
even to the definition of the different forms. It is very probable that
all the forms of the Banana are derived from a single stock, the original
locality of which belongs to tropical Asia, since the American and
Asiatic plants are scarcely distinguishable systematically ; and the
genus Musa is represented exclusively in Asia, and not in America.
It will also be borne in mind that the two American forms are less
connected with each other than with the corresponding Asiatic forms.
It has been asserted that bananas were cultivated in America before its
discovery by Europeans, but the historical notices on this point are by
no means unanimous, and the fact that the bananas were carried from
the Canary Islands, in 1516, to St. Domingo, is against such a suppo-
sition.

The cultivation of the true Banana (3Iusa sapientum, L.) is more
widely extended than that of the Plantain, (Musa paradisiaca, L.),
and extends from the 30° to the 35° north latitude, and in the
tropics reaches a height of 5,000 feet, though under the equator it
does not furnish ripe fruit at a height of 3,000 feet. The fruit, both
ripe and unripe, is used both raw and cooked^ and eaten with the
addition of other condiments, (when ripe nearly all its starch is
transformed into sugar), and in many tropical regions it constitutes
the principal nutriment of man.

The Banana flourishes upon the high plain of Central America at a
mean temperature of 12° Keaumur, (59° Fahr.) Upon the same sur-
face of ground it furnishes 44 times as much nutriment as the potato,

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 331

and 133 times as mucli as wheat. It is more nutritious than the bread-
fruit. In Central America it supplies to the poorer classes not only the
place of bread, but even of meat and vegetables.

The costly fruit of the Ananas, or pine-apple, (BromeUa ananas, L.),
is of by no means so doubtful an origin. It is indigenous in South
America,- and, according to the testimony of Humboldt and Von Mar-
tins, grows wild in the forests of the Orinoco, and near Bah. From
this region it was transplanted to Asia and Africa. Its American
name is Nana, and it is without a Sanscrit name. In 1592 it was car-
ried to Bengal, and probably from Peru by way of the Pacific ocean
to China. It Avas naturalized in Java as early as the year 1599^ and
was taken thence to Europe. It is highly probable that it has been
cultivated in its native land from time immemorial, as it scarcely bears
seeds any longer. Christopher Columbus became acquainted with it
on his second journey, in 1493, on the Island of Guadaloupe ; but it
was not till the beginning of the sixteenth century that some of its
fruit was brought to Europe, where it was elevated to the first rank
among all known fruits on account of its pleasant taste. Geronimo
Benzene states (History of the New World, 1568) that no fruit on
God's earth could be more agreeable. Christopher Acosta (1578) calls
the plant Ananas, and states that it was carried from Santa Cruz to
the West Indies, and thence to the East Indies and China. It must,
however, have been distributed with uncommon rapidity, since a few
years after it was tolerably well known. About this time the first ex-
periments of its cultivation v/ere made in Europe, which, however,
proved a failure. Several varieties of this plant have been developed
which vary in the shape, size, color^ and taste of the fruit. Three of
these existed at the time of the discovery of America, and a fourth has
since then been met with. It is still questionable whether these are
not distinct species. A white kind in the East Indies, which has run
wild, still contains seed in its fruit. The Ananas thrives best in Bra-
zil. In Peru a vinous drink (chica) is made from it.

The Melon tree (Papaya vulgaris^ D. C, Carica papaija, L.), or
Pawpaw, mamao, represents the bread-fruit in America, and like this
plant, is cultivated by the Indians near their huts and places of abode,
and introduced by the negroes into their gardens. It is indigenous in
Brazil, Surinam, and the West Indies (Jamaica, San Domingo), and
from these points has been taken to Congo. Its transfer to the East
Indies may have occurred even soon after the discovery of America, for
as early as the year 1626, seeds were brought from the East Indies to
Nepal. Its further distribution to China, Japan, and the islands of
the Pacific ocean, took place only in the last century. The name
Papaya is American, and there is no Sanscrit term for it. The fruit,
about the size of a child's head, resembles the melon. It has a juicy
flesh, which, however, is insipid, and can only be improved by the ad-
dition of sugar.

The Fig, {Ficus carica, L.), a moderately large tree, furnishes a
sweet, palatable fruit, which is eaten both fresh and dried. It is in-
digenous to the regions which border the lands of the Mediterranean,
in the East, namely, in Syria, Persia, Asia Minor, Greece, and North
Africa ; but has been cultivated in the same countries from time im-

332 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

memorial, even as far as Soiitlieru Germany. In the Taurus it thrives,
at the present day, with great luxuriance, at a height of 4,800 feet.

The Fig had its place as a fruit tree in the garden of Alcinous, and
has been cultivated longest in Syria and Palestine. Like the bread-
fruit tree of the South Sea Islands, it gave to the inhabitants of the
countries just mentioned their earliest nutriment, and thus formed
their tree of life. The Fig, according to Magnos, first led the way to
civilized life. According to one Grecian tradition, Dionysius Sycetes
was the discoverer of the fig tree ; according to another, Demeter
brought the first fig tree to the nurseryman Phytalos ; a third tradi-
tion states that the fig tree grew up from the thunderbolt of Jupiter,
who persecuted the Titan Syceas, whom his mother Gasa hid in her
lap. The most celebrated fig tree {ispo. guxyj) stood upon the sacred
road from Athens to Eleusis. The fig tree everywhere occurs abund-
antly run wild, but it has probably been only found really wild by
Kotschy, near Urfa, and on the banks of the northern Euphrates. The
finest figs come from Sicyon and Attica, and the sycophants, even in
early antiquity, were held in no special esteem. The fig tree, at least
the cultivated kind, was brought to Italy from Syria or Greece, and,
at the time of Pliny, was not widely distributed there, but became
naturalized in Gallia and Spain.

Among the different kinds of figs mentioned by Pliny, Athenseus,
Columella, and Macrobius, we may mention the Moorish, the African,
the Herculanean, the Winter Fig, and the black Telainan Fig.

The fig tree is mentioned among the fruit trees of- .Charlemagne,
although it could only be raised in forcing-houses '{per aricia servafo-
ria). Cortez carried the fig tree to Mexico in the year 1560. The fig is
a dioecious plant, the sexes occurring on different trees. The female
plant, which produces the fruit, is alone cultivated — the male growing
wild. The assistance of an insect, the fig-wasp, {Cynips psenes, L.),
is necessary to effect the fertilization, and to accelerate the growth and
the ripening of the fruit. Various species have been recognized by
different botanists among the cultivated figs, although all, probably,
have their native land in the regions already mentioned. There are
two species of figs which furnish edible food in Southern Persia, {Ficus
persica, Boiss.), a shrub which grows wild about Shiraz, with not very
palatable fruit, and Ficus johannis , Boiss., which is distributed in all
the mountains of Southern Persia. The fruit of the latter species, the
size of a hazel-nut, is pleasant-tasted and quite nutritious. Of the
numerous tropical species we will only mention Ficus aspera, Forst.,
Ficus granatum, Forst., and Ficus indica, L., and a fourth variety un-
named, on the South Sea Islands, esj^ecially on Tanna, with edible
fruit.

The St. John's Bread tree, or Carob tree {Ceratonia siliqua, L.),
distributed over the Mediterranean and its islands, is of less import-
ance. Its fleshy^ sweet fruit, containing chiefly gluten and sugar, fur-
nishes not only an habitual nutriment to man, but also serves as fodder
for domestic animals. The ancient Hebrews were acquainted with the
fruit of St. John's Bread, and manufactured a sweet pulp from it, and
used the remainder as food for cattle. The " husks" shared with swine
by the prodigal son of the Scripture parable Avere of this tree. The

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 666

Greeks called the fruit xspcouca, the Komans siliqua. They hrought
this as an article of trade from Africa, as is shown by the pods found
in the magazines of Pompei. This useful tree was first introduced into
Italy by the Arabians, where it still bears the Saracen name, carroba
or carruba. At the present day we have three varieties of it.

Cassia fistula, L., has a similar fruit. It is indigenous to the East
Indies, but is now cultivated in Egypt and the West Indies. The
same is the case with Oynometra caulifiora, L., of the Moluccas, and
several Mimosas, characterized by a sweet, sticky pulp, as Mimosa inga,
L. {Inga vera, Willd.), in tropical America, Inga sapida, H. B., I7iga
hurgoni, DO., Inga insignis, H. B. ; also, Frosopsis spicigera, Lin.,
Prosopsis Jiorrida, Kunth, Frosopsis fiexuosa, DC, and Frosopsis
siliquastrum, DC.

The elongated, oval-shaped fruit of Opuntia vulgaris, Mill. {Cactus
opimtia, L.)> ^'^^ ^'^® Opuntia ficus indica, Haw., belong among the
sweetish, mealy, nutritious substances. They are known, sometimes,
under the name of Indian figs, and when carefully freed from their
outer skin, furnish a refreshing, pulpy food in the warmer countries.
The former, indigenous to Mexico and Texas, has been cultivated for a
considerable period in Europe, especially in Spain, Algiers, Palestine,
Syria, and Italy, and even occurs in these regions run wild, as a hedge
plant. The same is the case, also, with the second variety, which is
indigenous to South America, and has found a new home in Sicily and
Italy. Of the other Cactacew which have mucilagenous and acid fruits,
we may mention Mamillaria simplex, Hav,r., Blelocactus communis,
Link and Otto, Cactus triangularis, L., the so-called strawberry of Ja-
maica; also, Cactus paniculatus. Lam., Cactus pitajay a, DC, Cactus
divaricatus, DC and the fig-like fruit of Cactus peruvianus, L. Fe-
reslcia aculeata, Mill., found on the Antilles, has sweetish acid_, pleasant-
tasted berries.

The Saguarro {Cereus giganteus) of the regions adjoining upon the
Grila of the United States, and south of it, (incorrectly called Fita-
liaya by some American travelers, which is C. tJiurheri,) is of much
importance in the domestic economy of the Indian tribes of the coun-
try. The fruit is eaten fresh, the sap is boiled to a syrup, called
" Miel de Saguarro," and a flour is prepared from the cleaned and
dried seeds, which have some resemblance in appearance and taste to
poppy seeds, and are contained in the fruit in great quantities. This
flour is made partly into bread, and. partly into a chocolate-like drink,
called atole.

The population of Sonora is not unfrequently obliged to subsist
entirely on the fruit of this and other species of cactus.'''

We may next mention the fruit of some of the Cucurhitaceoi, as the
Pumpkin {Cucurbita pepo, L.), the Cacumber {Cucumis sativus, L.),
the Melon {Cucumis melo, L.), the Water melon {Cucumis citridlus,
Ser.), the Bottle gourd or Calabash {Lagenaria vidgaris, Ser,), &c.
These, although generally insipid in taste, furnish a pleasant food
after proper preparation, and are used, on account of their copious
juice, instead of refreshing drinks. All these plants belong originally

Froebel, Seven Yeara' Travel, &c., 1857, page 498.

334 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

to the East and to Central Asia, and have been used from a very early
period as food for man and animals, altliougli serving this purpose
only to a limited extent, on account of the small amount of nutritious
substance contained in them. The precise home of none of them is
known with accuracy; that of the pumpkin may perhaps be Southern
Asia; of the melon, the Caucasus and the southern point of the Caspian
sea. The fact that the native plant of no one species is known grow-
ing wild, and the great number of varieties which most of them ex-
hibit, rendering their systematic determination at the present time
difficult, indicate a remote culture among the inhabitants of Western
as well as of Southern Asia. The Jews cultivated pumpkins and
melons under their kings; and it was the water melon with which
they became acquainted in their Egyptian captivity, and the want of
which they bewailed so loudly in the wilderness. The Greeks and
Eomans were acquainted with the pumpkin and cucumber, and water-
melons came with the Arabians to the west. Charlemagne ordered
cucumeres, pepones, cucurhitas, coloquintidas, (the three latter, forms
of Gucurbita pepo, L.)_, to be planted on his estates.

After the discovery of America, most of these plants found their
way to the New World, where they were distributed quickly in every
direction, and subsequently reached Australia, so that even the New
Zealanders are acquainted with pumpkins and melons.

We will next proceed to consider the different species of Leeks,
which, although used in small quantity, belong to the nutritious
plants. They are characterized by the possession of starch and sugar,
with the addition of an ethereal oil. The ancient Greeks had a great
fancy for these plants, raised them in their gardens, and used them
as a wholesome article of food. Even in our time, this taste for the
use of garlic, onions, &c. has been kept up, and an antidote found in
them for various diseases.

The Garlic {Allium sativum, L., axopooov, Theoph., Diosc), was
planted in that division of the garden called (rxopodcouec;. The dealers
in garlic {axopoooncbX-fjc:) sold it to poor people. At the present day,
the poorer class of Greeks use garlic in enormous quantities. The
avaricious gave their slaves garlic to eat. A broth of garlic and salt
(crxopooak/irj) belonged among the dishes of the ancient Greeks. In
Egyj)t, the priest of Isis could eat neither garlic nor onions. Garlic
was avoided in Kome on account of its disagreeable odor. "Allium
olet."

In all probabilit}^, garlic grows wild on the Kirghese steppes of Son-
gary, and at a very early period was transported thence over the whole
of Asia (excepting Japan), North Africa, and Europe.

It is impossible to tell whether the Chive (Schnittlaueh) , {Allium
scorodoprassum, L.), found on the islands of the Grecian Archipelago,
and perhaps growing wild, is a variet}^ of the garlic produced by cul-
tivation, or a distinct species.

The Onion {Allium cepa, L,, xpopiptuop, Theoph.), was cultivated by
the Greeks in particular portions of their gardens {xpo/j.ju'j(jj!^s^, cepi-
anae), and its sale was attended to by the so-called Cejmrius. Theo-
phrastes distinguished several species of the onion, according to the place
from which it was brought into the trade, as Cepa sardia, cnidia^

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 335

samotJiracia, sethamia, and ascalonia. The Island of Cimolus was
endowed with the surname of Onion island (xponixoouao), because
onions of remarkable excellence were cultivated upon it. Herodotus
states that, in the building of a pyramid in Egypt, the garlic, onions,
and horse radish used by the workmen cost 1,600 talents,* or 1,647,600
dollars.

At the present day, the onion is no longer found growdng wild.
It was probably indigenous from Western Central Asia (Palestine) to
India, whence it extended to China, Cochin China, Japan, Europe,
and North Africa. Soon after the discovery of America it reached
there also. The Shalot, or Allium ascalonicum, so called from the
city of Ascalon, in Palestine, seems to have scarcely a less extensive
distribution than the onion. It is not cultivated in Greece at the
present day, although it is frequently found in gardens in Istria
and Dalmatia. This plant is probably only a variety of the common
onion.

The Leek {Allium porrum, Lin., Tvpaaov, Theoph.), was also culti-
vated by the Greeks in particular gardens, and was considered as an
important article of food. It is certainly a Mediterranean plant, and
is probably only a variety of Allium ampeloprasum, L., found fre-
quently growing wild in Algiers. It has been cultivated in Europe
from the earliest times, and was known not only to the Greeks, but
to the Hebrews and Egyptians, being held sacred among the latter.
Pliny first called it Forncm. At the present day it has run wild in
many portions of Southern Europe, in vine hills and abandoned places
of cultivation.

Having thus considered the specially saccharine plants, we take up
those furnishing starch and sugar, in connection with vegetable acids.
Among these belong the sweetish-sour fruits, in which sometimes the
sugar and sometimes the acid predominates, and, by the addition of
volatile oils, frequently acquire the most varied flavor. There is an
extraordinary number of plants belonging to this division. Every
part of the world has its peculiar fruits, which, however, soon become
the common property of the whole cultivated earth. The hand of
man has worked wonders in the improvement of flavor and yield of
these plants. I have space for a rapid glance only over this rich field
in a brief mention of the most important kinds.

We will take into consideration, first, the fruits of Asia, as most
widely distributed;, then those of Europe, and, finally, those of Africa
and America.

Among the fruits belonging originally to Asia, are the mango, the
rose apple, the orange, the citron, the peach, the plum, the apricot,
the cherry, &c.

The Mango tree, {Mangifera indica, Lin.), a stout, strong tree,
found native throughout the whole of India, bears a very excellent
fruit, similar to that of the walnut, and the size of the fist, or even
larger. It is of so excellent a taste that the inhabitants of Ormez
neglect all other fruits as soon as this appears in the market. Be-

*X. Landercr on the importance of the different kinds of Allium to the ancient Greeks. —
Bestcr. Botan., Wochenblatt, 1855, No. 22.

336 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

neatli the skin, wliicli resembles that of the apple and pear, there is a
soft, reddish-yellow, juicy, sweetish-sour flesh, which incloses a large
hard kernel. The pared fruit is laid into water, in order to remove
the turpentine smell and taste attached to it. The kernel, when
roasted, tastes like chestnuts.

The mango is an anciently cultivated plant in the Indian Archipel-
ago, as is shown partly from the many different names, and partly
by the numerous varieties which have resulted from cultivation. It is
still found growing wild in Ceylon. Its distribution has extended
over India, China, Cochin China, and the islands of the Pacific ocean.
It does not seem to have reached the west. At the present day, it is
cultivated in Arabia and tropical America, and furnishes the best fruit
in Brazil.

The Eose apple (Jambosa vulgaris, DC, Eugenia jarribosa, L.),
is a tolerably high tree, with globular rose-colored fruit as large as a
walnut. The flesh has the flavor of roses and consistence of apples,
inclosing in a v/ide cavity a kernel the size of a rifle ball. The tree
grows wild, at the present day, upon the peninsula of Malacca and
in Penang. It has been distributed throughout Malabar, Ceylon, Ara-
bia, and Egypt to the island of Mauritius, to Sierra Leone and St.
Thomas. Opinion's are divided as to whether the rose apples, culti-
vated in Barbadoes and Brazil, belong to this species or to Jamhosa
macrophylla, DC.

The Jamhosa malaccensis, Wight and Arn., {Eugenia malaccensiSy
Spyl.), is similar to the preceding, with more pear-shaped fruit. Its
culture has been carried on for a long period in the Indian Archipel-
ago, where it is indigenous, and has reached to the islands of the Pa-
cific ocean and China, and, at a later ^^eriod, to the peninsula of India
and Ceylon even to the Mauritius.

Jamhosa mahava, Mer. and Lens., furnishes a pear-shaped, edible
fruit. It is cultivated on the Mauritius, and exhibits several varieties.
This is also the case with Jambolifera pedunculata, Lour. , in Southern
China, the black, sweet fruit of which is an article of trade. Here,
also, we may mention the fruits of Eugenia djouat, Perrot., of the
Philippine Islands.

I may next add a number of sweetish-sour fruits, which are more or
less distributed in Tropical Asia, but of Vv^hich we know less than of
the others. Those are: Sapindus fruticosus , Roxb., of the Moluccas,
and Nephelium liichi^ Camb., of China and Cochin China, cultivated
also in Bengal and the West Indies. The fruit of these plants is con-
sidered the best that can be brought to the table of the Emperor of
China. Nephelium longanum, Camb., of Southern China, Neplielium
lappaceum, Linn., on the Malacca and Sunda Islands, as also Nephe-
lium rimosum, W. and Arn., belong in the same category. We may
also mention the acid fruits of Schleichera trujuga, W., Schmiedelia
scrraia, D. C, IVillughheia edidis, Roxb., Greioioj asiatica, L., and
Greuia sapida, Roxb., in the East Indies. The East Indian wood
apple (Johnia salacioides, Roxb.), from Eastern Bengal, is less known
than the large and pleasant-tasting Molucca apple, (Xanthochjmusdidcis,
Roxb.), and Xantliochyinus pictorius, Roxb.

In addition to the preceding, edible fruits are furnished by Emhlica

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 337

officinalis, Gartn. {PlujllantJius emhlica, Lin.), the Mirobolane, Cieca
disticha, L., and several species of Flacorttia, siicli as Fl. cataplirceta,
Willd., Fl. sepiaria, Koxb., Fl. sapida, Roxb., Fl. itiermis, Roxb.;
also, Carisca caraoidus, L., Niehulwia ohlongi/olia, DC, Crataeva
nurvala, Hamilt., Crcdaeva religiosa, Forster, Crataeva magna, DC,
and Cicca racemosa, Lonr. , the former from the East Indies, the two
latter from Cochin China and China; as also Arduina edtdis, Spgl., in
Arabia.

The small pomegranate-like fruit of Sandoricum indicum, Cav., of
the Moluccas, the mucilaginous and sub-acid fruit of Dillenia serrata
Thunb., and D. elliptica, Thunb., oi Erioglossum edide, Blume, and
the excellent stone-fruit of Lansium domesticum. Jack., all from the
Indian Archipelago, are better and more pleasant-tasted than those
above mentioned.

The fruit of Nyalelia racemosa, Dennstedt, of Malabar, the size of
the wine grape, and the fruit of Durio zibethinus, L., the size of a
man's head, in the East Indies, and the fruit of Mimusops hallota,
Gart. (Achras bcdlota, Aub.), and Lacuma mammosmn, Gart, {Acliras
mammosa, Lin.), which have been brought from the East Indies to
Tropical America, are worthy of mention ; as also the fruit oi Blorinda
citrifolia, L., Maba major, Forst., and Solanum aviculare, Forst.,
species belonging to India and the Islands of the Pacific ocean.

The Indian tamarind, {Tamarindus indica, L.), ixirnishes a pod-fruit
in Southern Asia and Middle Africa, which is used for food and man-
ufactured into cooling drinks. This large tree is planted before the
houses in Senegal, Egypt, Arabia, and India. The acid pulp is used
in India in the preparation of a sugar beer. Tamarindus occidentalis,
DC, seems to be only a variety of the same plant.

We have now to mention some fruits of more general importance
than those already referred to.

The citrons are characterized by the predominance of an acid pulp,
the berry of which has a thick, even rind, and is divided into many
compartments. There are two varieties, those are the genuine Citron
or cedrate, {Citrus medica, L.), and the Lemon, {Citrus medico, h, limo-
nium, Lm.), together with a bastard form of citron or orange, the Lime,
{Citrus medica c, limetta, Kostel.)

It is native in Tropical Asia, and has been distributed thence in all
directions from the very earliest times. The Jew^s, who at the present
day use it on festive occasions, became acquainted with it during their
captivity in Babylon. It was unknown in Greece before the time of
Alexander the Great. Theophrastus first makes mention of it, and
states that its fruit is not edible. After the time of Pliny, it vras
brought to Italy, but was not cultivated there before the time of Palla-
dius. The custom of having this fruit among clothes in wardrobes
and chests, has continued to the present day. The Hesperian apple,
according to the mythical statements of the Greeks, was a love gift of
Gaea to the bride Hera, which she brought out at the time of her mar-
riage to Zeus. Hercules stole this golden fruit from the garden of
Hesperides, where it was cultivated only for the table of the gods, and
brought it to Greece.

Royle has met with the citron growing wild at the present day in
22 A

338 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

the forests of Northern India, although in Media and Persia, it is only
found as a cultivated plant. It is now distributed throughout the
whole of Southern Europe^ as also in America, (Brazil,) and in Congo
it is domesticated.

The lemon, which is considered by many as a distinct species, is
distinguished from the preceding only by the more oval and pointed
fruit, of a pale yellow color and very acid pulp. The lemon has been
found growing wild in the forests of Northern India by Koyle. The
Bengal name Nibii,, and the Hindostan Nimu and Limu, the Arabian
Limun, and the Italian Limone, seem to be derived from its Sanscrit
name, Nimhuka. Its cultivation in the West was introduced by the
Arabians. In the tenth century it was transplanted by this nation
from the gardens of Oman to Palestine and Egypt, and the Crusades
paved its way to Italy. At the present time it is distributed over the
whole of Asia and other parts of the world.

The bitter and sweet Oranges (Citrus aurantium a, amara, Kostel,)
Citrus bigaradia, Duham. (Citrus vulgaris, Risso), and Citrus aurantium
b, dulcis, Kostel, {Citrus aurantium, Risso), have a history going back
quite as far as the plant just mentioned. There is much probability for
the opinion that both of these varieties, which differ oxi\j in taste, belong
to a single species — the bitter orange of older, the sweet of more recent
origin. The former does not occur wild, but only cultivated in India,
its native country, and the latter is met with wild in Southern China,
Cochin China, Sillet, and Birmah. It is not difficult to refer its name
to a Sanscrit origin, Nagrunga. The bitter orange was distributed
throughout the world, as the earlier or primitive form, at a much
earlier period than the sweet orange. In the tenth century the Ara-
bians brought it to Palestine and Egypt, and into the countries of the
Mediterranean. The Arabian physicians prescribed its juice in various
diseases. All chroniclers from the tenth to the fifteenth century make
mention only of the bitter orange. The sweet orange has been culti-
vated from the earliest jDeriod in China, Cochin China, and Japan. It
seems first to have passed from Hither India to Further India, and then
extended its range by degrees through Asia into the West. The
Arabians and the trading Genoese and Venetians seem to have contri-
buted most to its distribution. It is probable that about the same time^
the beginning of the sixteenth century, the orange was met with by
the Portuguese on their journeys around the Cape to China, and planted
in their own country, which was particularly favorable to its growth.
At the present day it is distributed throughout the v/arm zone of the
whole earth, and was brought to America immediately after the dis-
covery by Columbus. Besides these two species of Citron, there are,
especially in China, Japan, India, and the Indian Archipelago, still
other species, such as Citrus Japonica, Thunb., Citrus javanica, Blume,
Citrus decumana, Willd., (the Shaddock), as well as a great number
of varieties and hybrids, of which the Citrus sinensis, Pers., the Berga-
mot {Citrus aurantium e hergamia, Kostel), Citrus nohilis. Lour., and
the Limette already mentioned {Citrus limetta, Risso.) In Citrus
cJiilensis, Molina, America has also its representative of this highly
useful tree.

The true Jujube tree {Ziziphus jujuha, Lam.), which is indigenous

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 339

to the East Indies, and the jujube bush {Ziziplius vulgaris, Lam.),
probably belonging to India, are of less importance than the fruits
just mentioned. They have a sweetish stone-fruit, similar to that of
the olive. The Ziziphus vulgaris furnishes the well-known mucilagin-
ous and very sweet red jujube berries, which are eaten as fruit in South-
ern Europe, (Spain, France, and Italy.) This plant was first brought,
shortly before the time of Pliny, from Syria to Italy, but was not
indigenous there, having been received from India, by way of Palmyra.

Next to the fruits of Asia, we may mention the fruits of certain Date
plums, especially of the black-wooded date plum {Diospyros melanoxy-
lon, Roxb.), the ebony date plum (Diospyros ehenaster, Retz.), and also
Diospyros haka, Linn., jr. The fruit of the former, which is indigen-
ous to the East Indies, is the size of a small apple; it is yellow and
juicy, but astringent and unpalatable. The second species resembles
a large apple, with a mealy, acid flesh, (ineel-appels.) The beautiful
cherry-red fruit of the Japanese, D. JcaJci, has a honey-like and very
pleasant taste; that of D. glufinifera, on the other hand, is astringent.
In the southern parts of the United States, the persimmon {Diospyros
virginiana) is a well-known fruit, exceedingly astringent when unripe,
but becoming very palatable towards the beginning of winter.

Here also belong the black jujube tree (Cordia myxa, L.) and the
Sebestan (Cordia sebestina, L,), both with mucilagenous fruit ; the
former native in the Indies, but at the present time cultivated in
Egypt; the latter belongs to the West Indies. The mangosteen (Gar-
cinia mangostana, L.) is limited to some of the eastern islands of the
Indian Archipelago, and is not cultivated to any advantage in the West
Indies. It furnishes a fruit the size of an apple, which has the taste
of strawberries and grapes, and is considered the best fruit in India.

Besides this species, Garcinia celehica, L., G. gambogia, Desp., (Cam-
hogia gutta, L.), G. morella, Desp., G. kydia, Roxb., G. purpurea,
Roxb., and G. paniculata, Roxb. , furnish edible fruit.

The Peach (Amygdalus persica, L., Fersica Vulgaris, Auct.) is one
of the most agreeable sweetish-acid fruits of Asia. It grows best in
China and Japan. Its cultivation in China goes back to the furthest
antiquity. The peach is the Tao mentioned in the books of Confucius
in the tenth century before Christ. It is no longer found wild, although
forms run wild are met with wherever the cultivation of the peach has
been carried on for any time, especially in the Caucasian country, in
Terek, Persia, Southern Himalaya, Cbina, &c. The native land is there-
fore, probably, to the northeast rather than the northwest of India,
whence it extended first to Cashmere and to Bucharia, and gradually
to Persia, Asia Minor, &c. The absence of a Sanscrit name for this
important fruit shows that its transplantation from its native land took
place before the migration of the Sanscrits.

At the time of Aristotle there were no juicy peaches raised in Greece
as in Egypt^ even upon the Island of Rhodes (to which point this tree
probably first came from Asia Minor), and where it produced at that
time only flowers and single-scattered fruit. Hence, it is probable, that
what might be considered as different species of peach, are only varieties
which all arose in the course of cultivation. Among these belong the
fruits with naked and hairy skin, {psilocarpoi and dasycarpce,) with

340 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

adherent and free-stone, (cling-stones and free-stones,) with white,
yellow, and variegated flesh, and finally with elongated, round, and
compressed forms. The peach at the present day is distributed every-
where, not only in the Old but in the New World.

The species of plums {Primus), with pleasant sweetish-sour fruit,
are very numerous. The most esteemed is the apricot, {Prunus arme-
niaca, L., Anneiiiaca vulgaris, L.) Alexander the G-reat brought the
apricot from Armenia to Greece and Epirus, from which countries it
reached Italy. For this reason it bears the names in this country,
/uYjXa dpixevcaxd, mala epirotica s. armeniaca, prcecotia. There are dif-
ferent varieties of this; some with small fruit (A. cerasince and A.
prunarioi) and some with large fruit (A. armeniacarice, amygdalince,
persicarice) , of which the latter far exceed the former in excellence.
At present^ the ajDricot occurs wild in the regions of the Caucasus, par-
ticularly on its southern slope. In Armenia, where it was probably
first cultivated^ it is found run wild. It is distributed throughout the
entire east, even to Cashmere and Northern India, and over Northern
Africa and Southern Europe. Its cultivation is most extensively
prosecuted about Damascus. A marmalade is prepared from the fruit
by boiling, which is spread upon cloth, dried, and thus brought into
the trade, (Kamerdm.)

The most generally distributed, and longest known species of i^lura,
is the common plum {Prunus domestica, L.), coming originally from
the Caucasus, and the mountains of Talysch. It is cultivated.exten-
sively in Syria, w^here it has passed into numerous varieties. It reached
Italy about the time of Cato, and Pliny speaks of ^Hngens turha
prunorum," by which he designated the numerous varieties. At the
present day the different varieties may be referred to the following
kinds: 1. The little cherry-plum, (Pnmijs cerasma.) 2. The genuine
plum {Prunus prunaria), of a little larger size; here belong the dam-
sons. 3 . The spilling or egg-plum {Prunus armeniaca) , which includes
the mirabellas and reine claude, or green-gage plums. 4. The almond
plum, {Prunus amygdalina.) And, finally, 5. The Primus persicaria.
Although the plum has been distributed over the whole of Europe, and
extended far to the north, it is little known in Eastern Asia, and it is
doubtful whether it occurs in Northern China.

The bullace plum {Prunus msiiitia, L.), which is closely allied to
the common plum, is of slight importance. It is found wild on the
Caucasus. It is difficult to decide whether it occurs wild, or only run
wild in Greece and Southern Europe. This tree has certainly not been
derived from the sloe bush.

Here also belongs the Bear plum {Prunus ursina, Kotschy), a
thorny, tree-like shrub, which grows wild everywhere on Anti-Leba-
non, the sweet, pleasant fruit of which, the size of our damson, is eaten
not only by the bears, but serves as food to the inhabitants of the
mountain regions.

Among the plums, in the most extended sense, may be mentioned
the cultivated cherry {Prunus cerasus, L.), and the wild black cherry
{Primus avium, L.) The former, growing wild in the mountain forests
of Southern Caucasus, was brought to Italy from Cerasunt, in Pontus,
after the conquest of Mithridates, (74 before Christ.) The latter is

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 341

indigenous botli in tlie Caucasus and Central Europe, especially in
Greece. Both species have passed into a great number of varieties in
the course of time, which differ most decidedly in shape, size, consist-
ency of the pulp, in juiciness, and in taste, and may he referred to at
least five easily distinguishable forms.

A small, entirely jDrostrate shrub, Primus (Cerastes) 2^'^^ostrata,
Labill., growing wild on the Alpine summits of Lebanon, has small
cherries, which, according to Kotschy, are sought after and eaten in
the entire East.

The Quince (Cydonia vulgaris, Pers.), with its large, yellowdsh, and
doAvny pear or apple-like fruit, is still native in Asia. It was known
in Grreece in the earliest times, and its fruit dedicated to the Goddess
of Love. Melus, a priest of Aphrodite, hung himself, from grief at
the death of Adonis, to a quince tree, into which he was then trans-
formed. The Quince is probably native to Northern India, (Hindu-
kusch,) and was carried by way of Ispahan and Syria to Greece. Even
Theophrastes knew a variety^ Irpoud-cov, the quince pear, and at a later
period the quince apple, with more rounded fruit, (xudcovea, Dios,) was
recognized. It was brought to Italy from Kydron, a city of the Island
of Crete. (A Cyclone, Cretan oj)2oido, unde primum advecta, Pliuy.)

At the present day the Quince is found over all the Mediterranean
regions, from Imeretea, where it occurs with fruit the size of a child's
head. It has been transported from the Crimea to Spain and Algiers,
where it quickly runs wild. It is cultivated in Kashmir and Northern
India, though in Northern China it is replaced by another sj)ecies,
{Cydonia sinensis, Thouin.)

The Medlar (Mespilus germanica, L.), although distributed through-
out Germany and over almost the whole of Europe, is not indigenous,
but only runs wild here and there. This small, rather shrubby tree,
with its top shaped apple-like fruit, is native to Northern Persia. Th.
Kotschy found it on the southern side of the Albors, at a height of
6,000 feet, as a shrub 4 to 5 feet high, and covering whole mountain
slopes. It was brought to Greece at an early period. Theophrastus
was acquainted with three varieties. At the time of Cato it was un-
known in Italy, and was first brought there from Macedonia, after the
Macedonian war. The fact that the Komans met with the medlar tree
in Gaul, only proves that it came there earlier in the way of trade.
At the present time we distinguish apple medlars with short and peaf
medlars with long-stemmed fruit.

The white and black mulberry trees (Ilorus alba and Morus nigra, L.)
possess a not unpalatable sweetish acid berry, and seem to have been
brought at a very early period from their native land. North Persia,
the Caucasus, Asia Minor, &c., to Greece. Theophrastes was ac-
quainted with the mulberry tree : his ffuxd/^cuoc; is Morus nigra, Lin. It
is only at a late period that this useful tree, which had been brought
by Lucius Vitellus from Syria to Rome, was successfully reared in Italy,
after all earlier experiments, according to Pliny, had been conducted
in vain. At the time of Palladius, and even at that of Athaneus, the
mulberry tree had multiplied but little in that country. The introduc-
tion of silk-culture under Justinian gave a new importance to this little-
esteemed tree, and from that time to the present its propagation in

342 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Western and Northen Europe, Denmark, and Sweden has taken place
very rapidly. The mulberry tree has attained its greatest extent and
variety of form in Persia, Northern India, and China. In the earlier
periods of the silk-culture, the silk-worms were fed in Italy with the
leaves of Morus nigra, and not until the sixteenth century did 3forus
alba take its place. At the present day both species have run into a
considerable number of varieties.

We have now to mention a fruit which is cultivated more on account
of the application of its sweet juice in the manufacture of drinks than
as an article of food. I refer to the wine-grape. There is no uncer-
tainty as to the native land of the grape, {Vitis vinifera, L.) The
southern part of the Caucasian mountain chain, Armenia, and the
South Caspian region exhibit it at the present day in its original form,
as a tall, climbing plant, twining about the trees with small and but
slightly-palatable berries. The numerous varieties which have been
developed from this plant in the course of cultivation show a long-
continued influence of most varied circumstances. The history of the
cultivation of this plant would be one of the richest, and, perhaps,
most interesting possible, since its manifold phases have certainly
depended, in part, at least, upon the nature and mode of life of the
plant itself. Its distribution towards the west has far surpassed that
towards the east, (North India and China.) Its introduction into all
parts of the world has contributed only to the multiplication of its pe-
culiarities. At the present day wine is pressed from the wild grape
on the banks of the Orontes.

The other species which occur in Africa, America, &c., and are
likewise made use of, I cannot refer to here for want of space ; never-
theless, the group indigenous to North America (Vitis lahrusca, Lin.)
increases in its extent of cultivation from year to year, and has already
produced a small number of varieties. Even Africa has its grape, in
a still undescribed species, which Eussegger and Kotschy found on the
Nile. It forms a low bush, the berries of which are excellent, and are
collected and eaten by the negroes as raisins.

The Pomegranate tree {Funica granatum, L.) is to be considered
rather as a plant peculiar to southwestern Asia than to the Mediter-
ranean zone of Africa. It has been announced as growing wild in the
mountains of the Atlas, and there is no doubt that Southern Europe
has received it from Africa. Nevertheless, the fact of its very ancient
cultivation in Palestine, Persia, Northern India, and its occurrence,
not only run v/ild, but truly wild in Asia Minor, Armenia, Southern
Caucasus, and Northern Persia, show that its early native land was
Western Asia. From this it has been distributed, eastward, to
Northern China, but principally in a western and southern direction.
According to Athena3us, Aphrodite first planted the Pomegranate on
Cyprus and in G-reece. It experienced its first cultivation in the
district of Sidai. The fancy of the Greeks derived this fruit from the
blood of Dionysius Zagreus. It was known in Egypt, and cultivated
even in the time of Moses. It was raised in the gardens about
Carthage. Darius Hystaspes* eats of its fruit. Homer makes mention

* Herodot. iv, 143.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 343

of it as existing in the gardens of Alcinoiis. The Eomans brought it
from Carthage to Italy, for which reason they called its fruits Blala
punica. Pliny enumerates nine different kinds of Pomegranate, which
at the present day have multipled very greatly. When wild, it is a
shrubby plant with not very large fruit, but by cultivation it attains
the size of a tree, the fruit of which is as large as an apple, and
possesses a pleasant acid pulp. Three principal varieties are dis-
tinguished, namely, with sour, sub-acid, and sweet fruit. The
inclination it has to run wild seems peculiar to this plant ; for even
at the borders of its distribution to the north, as, for example, in
Southern Tyrol and Southern Switzerland, it is met with run wild, as
also in Spain, Southern France, Greece, and Abyssinia.

We may here mention a few more sweetish-acid fruits of the Old
World, even though of no greater importance. Among these are
several Palms, such as Zalacca edulis, Keinw. {Calamus zalacca,
Gartn.), of the islands of the Indian ocean; Elate silvestris, Ait.,
likewise found in the East Indies, and Arenga, saccharifei^a, Labill.
These fruits, partly in a ripe and partly in a half-ripe condition,
furnish a pleasant-tasted article of food.

I may further mention Celtis australis, L., the sweet, honey-like
fruit of which serves as an article of food in Southern Europe, North
Africa, and the East, also several species of Elceagnus, and our native
Elder {Samhucus nigra, L.) The olive-like fruit oi Elceagnus angusti-
folia, L., especially in Turkey and Persia, is large, and pleasant
tasted, on which account it is sought after, and even occurs dried, in
commerce. This is less the case with Elceagnus orientalis, L., E.
arhorea, Roxb., and E. conferta, Roxb. The fruit of the Philippine
oleaster {Elceagnus philipjjensis , Perrot.) has the taste of the best
cherries.

Only a few species of fruits are peculiar to Africa, and those have
been brought from that country as the common property of cultivators.
We may mention first all the edible Jew Thorn, or the African Date
plum, the Lotus of 'the ancients {Ziziplius lotus, Lam.), a shrub, the
roundish, purplish fruit of which, having the appearance of sloes or
olives, and a sweet taste resembling figs or dates, constitute the Italian
Jujube berries. This shrub is chiefly found in Tunis, but has been
distributed into the interior of Africa. This plant was described by
Polybius. According to Theophrastes, the Xioroq was so common on
the island of the Lotophagi (Zerbi) that a Roman army_, on its way
to Carthage, was nourished several days by its fruit. Homer also
mentions this attractive fruit, from which Ulysses succeeded, only by
violence, in turning away his companions. At the present day this
fruit is used in the smaller Syrtis, and is called by the Arabians Nabha,
and the bush Seder. It is not known when this tree was brought
to Southern Europe, where it is cultivated at the present time.

Western Africa has its Clirysohalanus ellipticus, Soland., and Chr,
luteus, Sab., corresponding to the American Icaco plum.

Of a less extended distribution are Anoncc senegalensis, Juss., ScJimi-
delia africana, DC, which occur along the entire extent of the coast
of Senegambia, and Greiuia megcdocarpa, of Guyana ; as also the Pear
tree of Guinea, Salacia senegalensis, DO. The fruit of the African

344 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Mammey tree {Mammeo, africana, Don.) The pleasant-tasted wine-like
fruit oi Sapidus senegalensis , Poir., called the Cherry of Senegal, and
the fruit of a Bursera, (Safu,) which is cultivated everywhere in Congo
along the villages, are more highly prized. The fleshy fruit of Pappea
ccqjensis, Ekl. and Zeih., of the Cape, the seeds of which furnish oil;
the orange-yellow berries of Strychnos spinosa, Lam., only edible in
the ripe state, and the berry-like fruit of Sodada decidua, Forsk., in
Egypt, and even the fruit of the Baobab, Adansonia digitata, L.,
furnish only a scanty nutriment. Another fruit which deserves men-
tion, on account of its butter-like fruit, which the natives of Sierra
Leone make use of, is Pentadesma butyracea, also Dialium nitidum,
Guill. and Perrot.

Balanites aegyptiaca, Delil. {Ximenia aegyptiaca, L.), a tree with
edible fruit, is also peculiar to Africa. It is abundant in Nubia, from
20° N. latitude to beyond Sennaar, and at a very early period was
transplanted to Egypt. It was brought by the negro slaves to St.
Domingo from Senegambia, where it is likewise found. The fruit is
sweet; the seeds contain oil. The Hypliaenethehaica, Del., indigenous
to Upper Egypt, (Dongola,) furnishes but a scanty flesh. It is eaten
only in cases of need, although, according to Kotschy, beer is brewed
from it. The fruit of Ficus sycamorus, L., the Asses fig, is not of
much greater value. It has a somewhat aromatic taste ; is brought
to the market in Cairo, and is eaten throughout the entire East.
Kotschy has frequently eaten, in Fazokl, a fruit of Diospyros amoena,
Wall., which has a taste similar to chocolate. The best native
African fruits, one not dissimilar to our peach, is that of Paranarium
senegalense, G-uill. and Perrot., a tree distributed from Senegal
throughout Africa to Fazokl. The fruit of Detarium senegalense, Gmel. ,
is also similar to the preceding. It has a greenish, mealy flesh, of a
sweet taste, although somewhat sharply acid. It is eaten in great
quantity, both in Senegal and Eastern Africa (Fazokl).

Europe furnishes only a small number of sweetish-acid fruits. Of
these the apple and pear are of most importance. 'Others are species of
Sorhus, Crataegus, and Cornus, some kinds of Pihes and Vaccinium as
also various Bosaceae (Fragaria, Biibus.) Both the pear (Pyrus
communis, L.) and the apple tree {Pyrus malus, L.) are native in the
mountain forests of temperate Europe, as also in the Caucasus. The
pear tree in Balkan even forms large groves, while elsewhere, like the
apple tree, it is more or less solitary. These two plants, with small,
acid, and bitter fruits, have been an object of cultivation from time
immemorial. They have been altered in the most varied manner,
and now furnish the most palatable and enduring of fruits, which are
eaten both fresh and dried, and in many regions furnish an abundant
subsistence. Both pears and apples were raised in the gardens of the
Pheaecians,, and Thasos was celebrated in ancient times on account of
the excellence of its pears. The primitive festival of the BalLachrades
of the Argives with the wild pears (ajf^oac) has reference to this first
article of food of their forefathers. The Jews were acquainted with
greatly improved varieties of the pear, but the Romans first occupied
themselves more closely with its cultivation, and produced numerous
varieties, among which we may recognize, in part^ the kinds of apples

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 345

and pears of tlie present day. Many of these, as for example Malum
appianum, were introduced by Appius from Qreece,

If we review the progress of the cultivation of these two fruit trees
we find that Theophrastes knew three kinds of pears and two of
apples ; Cato knew six kinds of pears and seven of apples ; Pliny knew
forty-one kinds of pears and thirty-six of apples ; Palladius knew fifty-
six kinds of pears and thirty-seven of apples.

Since then, owing to the constant efforts of cultivators, they have
increased more than thirty-fold, so that at the present day we are
acquainted with over 1,500 varieties, often differing extremely from
each other in the size, form, taste, and consistence of the fruit.

At the present day neither the pear nor the apple occurs wild in the
East. Landerer* states that the wild pear tree grows in G-reece, par-
ticularly in the Morea, on the driest declivities of the mountains, as. a
small shrubby and thorny plant, and that the fruit is by no means
pleasant. Between Shiras and Ispahan, Kotschy found a village with
large plantations of pear trees, but was not able to ascertain with
certainty whether they were the same as our Pyrus communis.

With reference to the apple, it is remarkable that in the entire East
only summer apples are cultivated, never the kinds which can be kept
over winter.

The common pear, from its naturally wide circle of distribution,
would necessarily receive a great variety of appellations. The Celtic
word Peren will serve as the primitive word for the greater portion of
Middle, Southern and Western Europe ; and even the Grecian arriroc,
which was constantly used for the cultivated form, may have been de-
rived from it. The names used by the Sclavonic nations, as well as
those of the Persians, Arabians, and Chinese, among which this has
been cultivated, are very different from these.

The apple tree, of less extensive distribution, has nevertheless a
more universal primitive name, which consist in the root Ah, Ap), Al,
Av, whence also is derived the latin word Malum, which differs little
from the G-recian ixr^lsa. The Sanscrit, Arabian, and Chinese words
for the apple are entirely distinct from those just mentioned.

It maybe mentioned, in addition, that besides this species oi Pyrus,
the East possesses still other indigenous, partly shrubb}^, and partly
tree-like species, the fruit of which is eaten to some extent. Among
these may be mentioned Pyrus glabra, Boiss., in Southern Persia, and
Pyrus syriaca, Boiss., a tree exceeding our pear tree considerably in
height, the mellow fruit of which is used as food in the autumn.

The Service apple, (Serines domestica, L.), indigenous in the mount-
ain forests of Southern Europe, and even cultivated here and there, is
of much less importance. The Romans were acquainted with four dil-
ferent kinds of it.

The wild service berry (Crataegus terminalis, L.^ and Crataegus
aria, L.), both found in the mountain forests of Middle Europe, and
the Azarole, (Crataegus azarolus, Willd.), in the middle Mediterranean
region, are of equally little value. Crataegus frilobata, Labill., found
on Lebanon, comes likewise in the same category. The small berry-

*Oesterr. bot. Woclienblatt, 1856, p. 355.

346 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

like fruits of a pleasant flavor, and tasting like pears, according to
Kotscliy, are frequently collected and brought to market in Damascus,

To these insignificant fruits may be added the Cornel cherry, (Cornus
mascula, L.), though much more widely distributed than they are.
Homer and Theophrastes mention this hard-wooded tree, which grows
very abundantly in Thessaly and Macedonia, as well as in Asia Minor.
The cornel was at one time preferred for the shafts of lances to any
other wood. The Komans used its fruit fresh, dried and put up in
salt, and fed swine with it, as was the case formerly in the regions of
the Rhine and Moselle. There are several varieties of it, among
which there are even some with yellow fruit.

Diospyros lotus, L., a woody shrub of Southern Europe and North-
ern Africa, has a fleshy and not unpleasant fruit somewhat like the
sloe. A vinous drink is prepared from it in many places.

As many species of Pdhes are peculiar to EurojDC, it may be well
supposed that the Eed currant {Pdhes ruhrum, L.) and the Gooseberry
(Bibes grossularia, L.) are likewise indigenous here. In fact, the
former species has a distribution extending over the whole of Northern
and Middle Europe, and reaching even to Kamtschatka and the whole
of northern North America. This berry was not known to the Greeks
and Eomans, and it seems that it first made its appearance in our
gardens in the middle ages. The currant was cultivated earlier in
Northwestern France than in England, where it first appeared without
a name at the end of the sixteenth century. The names gardes, grades,
and gradilles, in Normandy, certainly had their origin in the Celtic
word gradiz, meaning sour. The name Bibes seems to owe its origin
rather to the Scandanavian Bisp and Beps than to the Arabian Bibes.
In Italy, where the currant is little cultivated, it is called Uva di
fratri, which has reference to a monkish origin. The "Masterly Book
of Medicine and Plants, 1497,"* of Johannes Tollat, of Vochenberg, is
the first botanical work in which the currant occurs under the name of
Bibes joanis. The French name Groseille d'outremer, and the name
Baisin de mare (Meertriibli), used in Switzerland, may be easily ex-
plained.

The parent plant of the Gooseberry is the Bibes uva crispa, L., very
common in Europe, although the gooseberry itself actually occurs run
wild escaped from gardens. Its distribution extends furthest towards
the north. In England, four hundred varieties are known, differing
very much from each other in color, size, taste of the berries, &c. The
cultivated gooseberry, as well as the currant, has become widely
known in North America. The names Grossularia and Groseille are
probably derived from the German Krausbeere or Krausebeere. The
Celtic, Breton, and Sclavonic names are entirely different. A still
undescribed species on Lebanon and Herrnon, according to Th. Kotschy,
furnishes palatable fruit to the inhabitants of the mountains.

The genera Fragaria and Bubus furnish smaller acid fruits. Three
ispecies of Strawberry occur in Europe, the fruit of which furnishes a
delightful dish : these are the common strawberry {Fragaria vesca, L.),
the garden strawberry {Fragaria elatior, Ehrh.), and the hard straw-
berry {Fragaria collina, Ehrh.) The first of these is the longer known

*Sprengel, Gesch.,i, p. 297.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 347

and most widely distributed plant, tlie two otliers are rarer and only
occasionally met with. The forest and garden strawberry are culti-
vated everywhere, though not for a very long period. Numerous
varieties have arisen from them, differing from each other in size,
color, and quality of the fruit.

At the present day the Scarlet strawberry (Fr. virginiana, Mill.),
the Pine apple strawberry from Surinam {Fr. grandifiora, Ehr.), and
the Chilian strawberry {Fr. chilensis, Ehr.), are also cultivated in
gardens.

The Blackberries belong to our native fruits, while the greater
number of the species of liubus furnish only slightly valued fruits. The
Piubus idaeus, L, or Raspberry, and the Cloudberry, peculiar to the far
north, Buhus cJiaonaemoncs, L., as well as Buhus arcticus, L., are much
esteemed. The first species is cultivated in our gardens at the present
day, and is mentioned even hj Palladius as a garden plant. Both
Strawberries and Easpberries lose their pleasant taste by cultivation
in hot regions.

Various species of Vaccinium furnish a not unacceptable fruit in
certain countries, owing to the very great number of individuals dis-
tributed over entire forests, heaths, and moors. Their fruit is used
both fresh and dried, and cooked in various ways, and is even employed
in the preparation of drinks. Among them may be mentioned the
common Heathberry {Vaccinium my rtillus, L.), the Moorberry {Vacci-
nium zdginositm, L.), the Cowhevrj {Vaccinium vitis idoea, L.) The
American Cranberry, Oxycoccus macrocarpus, furnishes a berry which is
highly prized ; it grows abundantly in boggy and peaty places in the
Northern United States and British America, and is beginning to be
cultivated very successfully. The Sandberry {Arhutus unedo, L.),
without any peculiar taste, is a small evergreen, growing in Southern
Europe and Middle Asia ; it has fruit resembling strawberries, which
ripens in the second year, becomes first yellow and then red.

Australia is still very sparsely provided with fruits. The most
useful indigenous fruit tree is the peach-like Quandang, {Fusanus
acuminatus, R. Br.) Of less importance are the fruits of Santalum
kinceolatum, R. Br., Mesemhryantliemum aequilaterale, Haw., and M.
praecox, Mill., Leptomeria pungens, Mill., and L. acerha, R. Br.
Samhucus xantJiocarpa, Mill., Nitraria billardieri, DC, and several
species of Exocarpus, Leucopogon, and Lissanthe. The berry-like fruit
stem of F. cupressiformis, Sab., are particularly remarkable, as also
the berries of Coriaria sarmentosa, Forst., a shrub growing wild in
New Zealand, The New Zealanders use Isesides this the berries of
Dracaena indivisa, Forst.

America, on the other hand, furnishes a much richer supply of
pleasant-tasted acid fruits. We may first mention the Cashew tree,
caju, acaju {Anacardium occidentale, L.), a large wide-spreading tree
of the family of Terehinthaceae. The fruit consists of a pear or
cucumber-shaped fruit stem on which is a large brown nut. The two
are used both raw as well as coolced, and made into dishes. The fruit
stem when ripe has an acid taste, and the kernel, when peeled and
roasted, tastes like chesnuts. The natives of Brazil often go to war
with each other on account of this fruit, and the conquerors establish
themselves about the trees till the fruit is all consumed. The tree is

348 ' AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

indigenous to the West Indians, Central America, Gruyana, Peru, and
Brazil, and is cultivated there also.

The Portuguese transplanted this useful tree as early as the sixteenth
century to the East Indies and Indian Archipelago. All its names
point to an American origin. Its existence on the eastern coast of
Africa is of still more recent date, while neither China, Japan, or the
islands of the Pacific ocean are acquainted with it. Its fruit stem is
sometimes longer and sometimes shorter, varying with the influence
of cultivation. In the Asiatic plant the stem is always shorter.

The American Mammey tree, {llammea americana, L.), sixty to
seventy feet in height, is one of the finest trees of the Antilles, with
its pyramidal crown, the largest berries of which, from three to seven
inches in diameter, furnish a much prized fruit. The outer and middle
epidermis are leathery and tough, the iimer skin hitter, while the
yellow pulp is more spicy and palatable, and is used raw, and prepared
in various ways. Though it is cultivated in the West Indies, experi-
ments have not been made to propagate it more extensively.

The fruit of llammea emarginata, Sess., is eaten in Mexico.

The Avocado Pear, or Abacate, (Persea gratissima, Gart.), is the
most highly prized fruit of Brazil. It is like a large pear, with a green,
leathery rind, and tender, juicy flesh, which incloses a hard nut, like a
walnut. The flesh, made into a sauce, with citron juice and sugar,
has a delightful taste. One fruit is sufiicient for three or four persons.
In itself the flesh is insipid, but tender and soft, tasting like artichokes.
Moritz Wagner says it may be called vegetable butter, as it melts upon
the tongue. This very large tree flourishes only in the warmer
countries of Brazil. Its real native country is Central America,
Mexico, and the northern part of South America, whence it has been
distributed by cultivation to the Antilles. It seems to have been culti-
vated longest in Mexico under the name of Aliuaca. It has been
naturalized on the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius since 1758.

The guavas of America are of much importance for the abundance
of their yield. The pear guava (Psidium pyriferum, L.), is distin-
guished from the apple guava (P. pomiferum) by the shape of the
fruit, that of the former being pear-shaped, that of the latter being
globular, and varying from the size of a plum to that of an apple,
and resembling an orange. Under the firm leathery shell, there is the
soft flesh which passes inwards into a beautiful rosy-red pulp, inclosing
numerous small kidney-shaped, hard seeds. The fruit of the first-
mentioned species tastes like strawberries and raspberries ; that of the
latter is somewhat bitter, but, with the addition of sugar, becomes
very palatable. At the present day, it is not decided whether these
two plants are of one species, or mere races or varieties ; though there
seems to be more reason for the latter than for their specific distinc-
tion.

Both forms belong to the tropical main land of America, from Mex-
ico to Brazil, and have, probably, been carried thence to the West
Indies. The trees are thin-stemmed and rather low, but bushy; and,
at the present day, grow wild or run wild in many places, especially
in the vicinity of settlements. They were first distributed in various
directions by birds and beasts, which eat their fruit greedily, and drop

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 349

the seed undigested. Their cultivation has been carried on by the
primitive inhabitants of those countries from time immemorial, as is
shown by the fruit, which is frequently without seeds. This plant
first reached the East Indies through the agency of the Portuguese
and Spaniards. It is remarkable that Psidimn jpomiferum has been
propagated there more than Psidium pyriferum. It is only recently
that the guava has extended to China and the Philippine Islands ; and
it has, thus far, advanced neither to Japan nor to the islands of the
Pacific ocean. It has only recently been introduced on the west coast
of Africa and the Island of Mauritius.

It is uncertain whether Psidium sapidissimum, Jacq., with its dirty
yellow fruit, the size of a plum, is a variety or not of Psidium pom-
iferum, of which, besides, there are numerous varieties. The other
species of Psidium, such as Psidium aromaticum, Aubl., Ps. cattley-
anum, Sabine, Ps. grandiflorum, Aubl., Ps. guineense, Sm., and Ps.
lineatifolium, Pers., have likewise edible fruits, but are not much
known.

We may here also mention the large egg-shaped fruit of Grias cau-
lifiora, L., the anchovy pear of the West Indies.

Our cherry is replaced in Southern America by the Pitanga {Eugenia
michelii, Lam.), indigenous principally in Cayenne, as well as by the
Jabuticaba (Eugenia caidifiora, M.) The fruit of the latter is the size of
our oxhart cherry; and, under the tender black epidermis, there is a
white, soft, and even juicy flesh, in which are two or three seeds. It
is inferior in taste to our cherry. In Brazil, it ripens at the end of
winter, (September, October,) and, as it is the only fruit which can be
had fresh at that time, is very much esteemed. Both species have
been planted on the Antilles, and even introduced into the East
.Indies.

Eugenia Jlorihunda, West., and Eugenia brasiliensis, Lam., also
furnish edible fruit.

Another fruit, the size and shape of our plum, the ibametara, or
Spanish plum, is obtained from a tree {Spondias mijrobalanus , Jacq.,
Spondias purpurea, Ij.) \f\\\c\i grows wild in the forests of Jamaica,
and is cultivated in the northern regions of the tropical parts of Brazil.
The natives eat the sweetish acid flesh, prepare a sauce, and manufac-
ture drink from it.

Another species of the same genius (Spondias dtdcis, Lam.) is found
on the Friendly Islands. The tree is 50 feet high, with a straight
trunk the thickness of a man, and bears clusters of large, oval, golden
yellow, stone fruit, like pomegranates, the fleshy putamen of which is
sweet and palatable, and reminds one of the pine-apple. The Spondias
tuherosa, Aruda, and Spondias lutea, Lam., (Spondias momhin, Jacq.),
in the West Indies, also furnish edible fruit.

The Icaco plum (Chrysohalanus icaco, L.) is also worthy of mention.
This tree-like shrub, with its fruit similar to the damson, grows wild
as well as cultivated in the forests along the shores of South America,
and on the wet coasts of Carolina. It has been introduced from Africa,
where it occurs from Senegal to Congo. The fruit is made into pre-
serves, and brought to Europe.

The common Sapodilla or Zapota (Sapota acJiras, Mill., Achras sa-

350 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

yota, L.) furnislies a much-esteemed fruit. The tree is 50 feet high,
with an expanding crown, and is still to be met with in its wild state
in the forests of Venezuela and the islands of the Antilles. Although
it has been long ago introduced into the gardens both there and in
South America, it has but recently found its way to Mauritius, to Java,
to the Philippine Islands, and even to the Indian continent. The
medlar-like fruit, of a milky, quince-like taste and form, is a much-
esteemed fruit in the whole of tropical America. There are several
varieties of this plant.

The genus Anona is rich in species furnishing very pleasant fruit.
They belong, with the exception of a single species, Anona senegal-
ensis, Juss., already mentioned, exclusively to America, whence they
have been distributed to other parts of the world. The following spe-
cies may be mentioned more particularly :

The Sugar Apple {Anona squamosa, L.) has a conical or pin-shaped
fruit, (whence it is called Pinhain Brazil,) with a greenish, imbricated,
scaly shell. The flesh is white, full of long, brown granules, very
aromatic, and of an agreeable, strawberry-like, piquant taste. In
Costa Kica it is the most valuable fruit of the country. It is uncertain
whether the native land of this tree is to be looked for in Mexico or in
ihQ plains along the mouths of the Amazon. Von Martins found it
forming entire forest groves in Para. Its cultivation in tropical Amer-
ica and the West India Islands undoubtedly goes back very far. It, of
course, could not be otherwise than that so useful a tree should be trans-
ferred to the Indian Archipelago just as soon as trade with these two
parts of the world was established. Accordingly, it was carried to
Cochin China, China, the Philippines, and throughout the whole of
India with very great rapidity, so that we should be in. doubt whether
it was actually introduced, and was not really indigenous, had we not
sufficient grounds to substantiate its American origin.

A second species is the Anona muricata, L. This tree bears a large,
fleshy, juicy, and well-flavored fruit, of a sweetish acid taste, like Bihes
nigrum. It grows wild on the Antilles, (Barbadoes, Jamaica), but in
Surinam has only escaped from gardens, and is cultivated in the whole
of Brazil, Peru, and Mexico. In Jamaica the fruit is only sought
after by negroes. The plant has quite recently been carried to Sierra
Leone.

Botanists are not agreed as to whether Anona asiatica, L., which is
cultivated in Cochin China, is to be referred to this or to the following
species.

The third American species is the Anona reticulata, L., with brown
berries the size of a man's fist, which constitute a highly-prized fruit.
It is native to the forests of the Antilles, especially to Barbadoes and
Jamaica, but it is cultivated in Peru and Brazil.

The Anona cherimolia, Lam., originally from Peru, seems to be nat-
uralized only in the mountains of Port Koyal, in Jamaica. Venezuela,
New Grenada, and Brazil only know it as a plant of cultivation. It
has been carried to the Cape de Verd Islands, and to Guinea.

We may mention, also, in conclusion, A^iona paludosa, Aiibl., a
small tree, the height of a man, growing upon marshy meadows, with
elongated yellow berries the size of a hen's egg, which have a juicy

PLANTS USED AS FOOD FOR MAN. 351

flesli. Also, Anona palustris, L,, in the West Indies and South
America, with fruit the size of the fist; Anona punctata, Aubl., from
Cayenne, with palatable fruit of a reddish, gritty, and granular flesh ;
Anona longifolia, Auhl., also found in Guyana, has round fruit, the
,size of the fist, the flesh of which is excellent and is very much prized
by the Caribs ; Anona cinerca, Dunal; Anona mucosa, Jacq., in the
West Indies and Guyana; and, finally, Anona tripetala, Ait., from
Peru. The fruit of the latter, known as the Cherimoyer, the size of the
fist, with white, sweet, and pleasant-smelling flesh, is ranked among
the best in the land. (Poj)pig's Travels, xi, p. 135.)

Some other acid fruits are furnished by Sapindus esculentus, St. Hil.,
Sterculia cliica, St. Hil., and Sclimidelia edulis, St. Hil., in Brazil;
JRheedia laterijiora, L., in the Antilles, as also Malpighia punicifolia,
L. (Antilles cherries), and Byrsonima spicata, D C.; also, Melicocca
hijuga, L., Hancornia speciosa, Gomez, and Couma guyanensis, Aubl.
The gooseberry-like fruit of Melastoma arhorescens , Aubl., 31. fiaves-
cens, Aubl., M. guyanensis, Poir^ 31. spicata, Aubl., M. succosa,
Aubl. (the Coca Henriette of the French), and 31. tococoj, Ders., are of
little value, as is also the case with the berries of Ainbelania acida,
Aubl., of Guyana, of Fuchsia 7'acemosa, Lam., and Fuchsia denticu-
lata, Kuiz and Pav., of South America. The same may be said of the
fruit of Podophyllum peltatum, L., Podophyllum callicarpum, Eafin,
the May apple of North America.

We may also mention the Persimmon or Date plum {Diospy7VS
virginiana, L.) of North America, already referred to on a previous
page. Its fruit can only be used in a perfectly ripe state, when it is
of a pleasant sweetness and quite nutritious. Previous to this it is
excessively astringent. Drink is made from it. It is also found in
the gardens of Europe. Cerasus virginiana, Michx, and Cerasus cepol-
lin, D 0. of Mexico, are species, the latter of which is frequently
cultivated on account of its pleasant taste.

The acid fruits of a few paims, such as Corypha cerifera, Arrud.,
and 3Iauritia vinifera. Mart., of Brazil, belong in this connection.

The group of nutrimentitious plants to be last mentioned is charac-
terized less by the presence of one or other vegetable substance, than
by a mixture of starch, gum, sugar, wax, albumen, &c., to which
here and there may be added various peculiar vegetable principles.
These are the green garden vegetables, such as species of cabbage,
kale, spinach, lettuce, asparagus, artichokes, &c., which are used
sometimes in the leaves or young shoot, sometimes in the flowers, as
they contain a proportionally small portion of nutriment. They are
seldom eaten raw, but are cooked up in combination with other sub-
stances.

A peculiar character is given to those nutrimentitious plants by the
no small amount of vegetable acids, alkalies, and earths which they
contain. Among these may be mentioned malic acid, oxalic acid,
potash, soda, lime, and magnesia, which make their use, in connection
with meat, particularly advantageous, on account of their tendency to
render the latter more digestible and soluble. The amount of nutri-
ment of the green herbaceous parts of plants is still more scanty, and,
strictly considered, they have little to entitle them to the name of escu-

352 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

lent vegetables, sucli, for instance, as the leaves of Ranunculus jicaria,
tlie beech, &c. ; and it is somewhat astonishing that these could ever
have been used as nutriment for man, except in time of famine.

The youngest shoots and the young leaves of various palms, though
in reality limited to the tropical zone, furnish most important and pro-
ductive esculent vegetables. The principal of these is the cabbage palm,
called, alsOj cabbage tree {Euterpe carihcea, Spgl., Areca oleracea,
Jacq.) This stately palm, 200 feet in height, is native in the whole
of the West Indies. The "cabbage," prepared in various ways, forms
a pleasant dish ; as a preserve, it has even found its way to Europe.
Three other species, Cocos oleracea, MsLvt., Euterpe oleracea, Mart.,
and EiUerpe edulis, Mart., indigenous in Brazil, are likewise known
on account of their cabbage. The Palmetto (Chame7vps palmetto) of
the southern United States is also made use of for a similar purpose.
The mountain cabbage and the manico palm, upon which Schomburgk
lived almost exclusively for weeks, on the banks of the Oronoco, prob-
ably belongs to one of these species.

The Old World, also, has its cabbage palm. Among these, may be
mentioned the cocoa tree, the young top of which contains a succulent
mass, which is sweet and tastes like hazel-nuts, and is considered a
choice dish wherever it occurs. Other cabbage palms are Areca glan-
dceformis, L., and Areca humilis, L., found in the Moluccas, and Sagus
raphia, Lam., in Malabar and Guinea ; also, Coryplia umhraculifera.
L., (7. rotundifoUa, Lam., and Caryofa urens, L.

Australia, also, in Coryplia australis, and New Zealand, in Areca
sapida, Soland, have nutritious cabbage palms.

Even the Date palm, the fruit of which is so useful, is here and
there robbed of its soft top and leaf-buds, which the Arabians and
Persians consider one of the choicest dishes.

A very important dish is furnished in the regions of the Blue Nile
by Ilusa ensete, Bruce. Although the fruit of this plant is not palat-
able, and rarely eaten, the young stems, on the other hand, furnish a
better article of food. The white marrowy portion, freed from the
rind and cooked, has the taste of the best wheat bread, and dressed
with milk and butter, supplies a very excellent, wholesome dish. The
plant occurs even in the Egyptian antiques, and seems to have been
more widely distributed at an earlier period than at the present day.
Large plantations of it occur at Maitsha and Goutto, (Gondar?)
according to Bruce.

We do not often meet with a plant exhibiting so many forms in its
variations from the original type as the Cabbage {Brassica oleracea.,
L.), the different races and varieties of which may be estimated at 30
or more. No kitchen-garden in Europe is without it, and it is dis-
tributed over the greater part of Asia, and, in fact, over most of the
entire world. The original plant undoubtedly occurs wild at the
present day on the steep chalk rocks of the sea province of England,
and on the coast of Denmark, (Seeland,) and of Northwestern France ;
and it is a question whether this marine plant did not at one time
have a much wider distribution when the climatic peculiarities of
Europe were different from what they are now. Other species of
Brassica, very nearly allied to the preceding, such as Brassica halea-

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 353

rica, Kiclil., Brassica insularis, Moris, and Brassica cretica, Lam.,
belong to tlie Mediterranean flora, and it is perhaps possible that
some of these species, likewise introduced into tlie gardens, and estab-
lished as cultivated plants, may have mixed with each other, and thus
have assisted in giving rise to some of the many races cultivated at the
present day.

It is very remarkable that the European and Asiatic names used for
different species of cabbage may all be referred to four roots. The
names Kopfkohl, Cabus, Cabbage, Kappes, Kraut, Kapost, Kaposta,
Kapsta (Tartar), Kopee (Bengal), Kopi (Hindostan)^ have a manifest
relation to the Celto-Sclavonic root Cap, or Kap, which in Celtic
means head. Brassica of Pliny, is derived from the Celtic, Bresic,
(cabbage.)

The Ceito-Germanico-Greek root Caul may be detected in the word
Kaol (Breton), the Grecian xauXcov of Theophrastes, the Latin Caulis ;
also in the words Caulx, Cavolo, Caou, Kolil, Kale, Kaal (Norwegian),
Kohl (Swedish), Col (Spanish), Kelum (Persian) ; finally, the Greco-
Germanic root Gramb, xpdp.^-/], passes into Krumh, Karumb of the Ara-
bians, and probably into the German Kraut, which originally indicated
the cabbage plant, but subsequently became a generic name.

The want of a Sanscrit name shows that the cabbage tribe first found
their way at a later period to India and China. Even in the time of
Thunberg it was wanting in Japan,

The young shoots of Brassica cretica, Lam., were formerly used in
Greece as a dish.

Brassica carinata is allied in habit to Brassica nigra ; it is found
wild in Abyssinia, and is also cultivated there ; although it furnishes
very poor cabbage, not to be compared with ours.

It seems pretty well established that our Lettuce (salad), Lactuca
sativa, L., is not a true species, but rather a variety of Lactuca scariola,
L., indigenous to the Southern Caucasus and the neighboring regions,
and thence distributed over the whole of Europe to Altai. The lettuce
plant is no where found wild, though continually met with run wild.
The ancient Greek cultivated two varieties, L. capitata and L. crisjpa,
and lettuce was known to the Persians in the time of Cambyses. It is
called dcda^ by Dioscorides, and it even now belongs among the most
prized dishes of the Greeks. The common people are satisfied with
raw lettuce, eaten with a few olives and a piece of bread and cheese.
Pliny was already acquainted with all our most important varieties of
the cultivated j)lant, especially L. capitata, L. crisjja, L. laciniata, &c.
The Eoman family of the Lactucini was noted for its lettuce beds,
(Romani quidem in Valeria familia ob diligentem lactucarum curam
Lactucini appelant. Plin. , 19,4.) At the present day the lettuce plant
is distributed, not only over the whole of Europe and Asia (Cochin
China, Northern China, and Japan), but also over all other parts of
the world. Schultz, quite recently, has been inclined to recognize the
parent plant of Lactuca sativa, L., in specimens brought by Th.
Kotschy, from the savannas of Cordovan.

The origin of the Endive [Gicliorium endivia, L.) is somewhat doubt-
ful. It is a widely-distributed |)lant, but is distinguished from the
closely allied chicory or succory {Gicliorium intybus, L.) chiefly by its
23 A

354 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

annual, or at most biennial cliaracter. Although distributed over the
whole of Europe and Northern Africa (Egypt), its original plant may
be sought for with less probability of success in the Mediterranean than
in India, where Cicliorium cosnia, Ham., is certainly the same plant, and
met with about Patna and Kamaon, as well as in Nepal, growing wild.
The varieties divaricata, humilis, and nana may be considered as the
result of cultivation.

This plant, unknown to the early Greeks, is at present cultivated
and eaten in Greece. The young shoots, as well as the leaves, are
boiled and eaten with vinegar.

The chicory (Cicliorium intybus, L., xcy^copcov of'Theophrastus) is a
plant of as wide or even wider distribution than that just mentioned.
The young leaves are used as food. Here and there only it is cultiva-
ted largely on account of its root, as, for instance, in Egypt, probably
as far back as the time of Pliny. The dried root is frequently used in
France and Germany as a substitute for or addition to coffee.

The samphire (Crithmum maritimum, L.) is a salad plant much
prized in the entire East, as well as in Greece. It is cooked and used
in sea voyages as an anti-scorbutic. Dioscorides mentions a xpcd/jtou.
Whether this plant is the above-named wild plant, or, as Landerer
supposes, the latter is rather the xpd/jLJ^Tj dalaaaia of Dioscorides, I will
not here attempt to decide. Grecian fable narrates that the Krambe
arose from the tears which Lycurgus, priest of Jupiter, shed when he
beheld his slain child.

Bunias Erucago, L., Senebiera coronopus, Poir., and Senebiera nilo-
tica, D C, are of less value. The first is used by the poor in Italy,
the second in England, and the third in Egypt.

We may here mention a few plants allied to the above, such as Zillia
myagroides, Forsk., (Bunias spinosa, L.)^ Crambe maritima, L., and
Crambe tataria, Jacq. The former, occurring in the deserts of Egypt,
furnishes only a poor dish on account of its spiny leaves, though it is
used by the Arabians for lack of something better.

Crambe maritima, L., (Sea hail), growing upon the sandy shores of
the East and North sea, and the Atlantic ocean^ and of the Mediter-
ranean sea, is more fitted for the purposes of nutriment. Even this,
however, by the ancient Eomans, was considered an indifferent article
of food. When cultivated, and the young shoots are protected against
the sun, it is like asparagus, and quite as good as this or cauliflower.
The plant is chiefly cultivated in England.

Crambia tataria, Jacq., is a plant of the steppes of the region along
the Lower Danube, Dnieper, and the Don. The root is fleshy and
sweet, the thickness of a man's arm. It is eaten raw as a salad in
Hungary as well as cooked, the same is the case with the young shoots of
the stem. It is called Tatar kenyer (Panis tataricus), probably, be-
cause the Hungarians became acquainted with it in Tartary. In time
of famine, it is used as bread in Hungary. It is probable that it
was the Cliara caesaris which the soldiers of Julius Cassar used for
bread.

The spinach (Spinacia oleracea, L.), a much-esteemed green vege-
table, is probably native in the regions between Caucasus and the
Persian Gulf, as also another species of the genus, Spinacia tetrandria.

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 355

The cultivation of this plant in Persia and Arahia, undoubtedly took
place in the time of the Eomans, and it was thence distributed over
Europe and Eastern Asia. The Arabian name for spinach is Is-
fdnddsch, the Persian Ispanj, the Hindostan Is/any. Neither the
Greeks nor Romans were acquainted with it. The Dutch spinach
{Spinacia glabra, Mill.), is a variety of the common kind, produced in
the course of cultivation. Of less importance are the green plants of
the Fortulacca, and numerous species of dock, such as Bumex scutatus,
L., a, acetosa, L., and H. patiejitia, L.

The Portulacca or Purslane (Fortulacca oleracea, L.), the ovdpd-prj
of Theophrastus and Dioscorides, is a very widely distributed plant of
the Mediterranean, occurring everywhere, and readily entering the
loose soil of the gardens. According to Landerer, it is used as a salad
in Greece, with oil and vinegar, and is also kept for a longer period in
salt-water and vinegar.

A much more extended use is made of a species of Purslane, the
Leiuisia rediviva, Pursh., growing in North America. This plant,
which occurs in great abundance on the western side of the Eocky
mountains, especially in the valley of Columbia, is collected by the
natives, who carry its dried root with them on their wanderings, and
use it cooked like arrow-root to very great advantage. A man in full
health and vigor can be supported merely by the daily use of not more
than two or three ounces.

The Canadian hunters and servants of the Hudsons' Bay Company,
have long since learnt its use from the natives. (W. J. Hooker, Bot.
Miscellany, vol. 1, p. 344.)

The different species of dock, rich in oxalate of lime, and therefor<?
of an acid taste, are entirely wild plants raised here and there in gar-
dens. The longest known, perhaps, is the common garden dock,
Bumex patientia, L., which Pliny designated Bumex sativus ; at the
present day B. scutatus and B. acetosa, are more used than the first
mentioned.

Here also may be mentioned the borage, (Borago officinalis,) which
is characterized by the possession of a great amount of acetic, sul-
phuric, and nitric phosphoric salts, as well as of chloride of potassium,
and, therefore, frequently used as a salad. The plant, native to the
east, has been distributed throughout the whole of southern and mid-
dle Europe, even in the humblest gardens. It is also cultivated in
North America and Chile.

The leaves of certain species of Oxalis furnish similar sourish, edible
dishes, such as Oxalis cernua, Thunb., from the Cape of Good Hope,
Oxalis plumieri, Jacq., from the Antilles, and Oxalis zonata, DC,
in South Africa, cultivated at the present day in Belgium; Oxalis
crassicaidis , Zucc, (0. arracalia, Don.), already mentioned on account
of its nutritious tubers, and Oxalis esculenta, Hort. Berol., furnish an
excellent dish from their leaves.

The Corchorus (Corcliorus olitoiHus, L.) is a plant of the kitchen
garden, the leaves of which are cooked like our spinach, and serve for
food in the tropical regions of the earth. It is cultivated throughout
the whole of Egypt to Cordova.

Other species of Corcliorus, such as 0. tridens, L., C. acutangidus,

356 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Lam,, C. fruticulosus , Vis., native in Sennaar and Cordova, are tliere
used, as well as Cor chorus oUtorius.

Tliere are still some other plants to be mentioned, wliicli, althougli
for the most part growing wild, or partly cultivated, are used as vege-
tables. Among these belong SpilantJius oleraceus, L., eaten as a salad
on the Mascarenhas, in the East Indies, and South America, and called
the cress, of , Para, as well as SpilantJius hrasiliensis, Spgl., applied to
a similar purpose in Brazil.

A few Cichoracew, such as Tragopogon porrifolius, L., Tr.pratensisy
L., Leontodon taraxacum, L. (dandelion), Sonchus oleraceus, L., &c.,
are hardly worth mentioning here, though their leaves are used, both
raw and cooked, as greens. The latter is eaten as a salad in New
Zealand and on the Friendly Islands.

The field or JRapunsel salad {Valerianella olitoria, Monch,) is well
known throughout the whole of Germany.

New Zealand has its spinach plant in Tetragonia expansa, Murr.,
which is not only distributed over the entire archipelago of the Pacific
ocean and Japan, but has also been introduced into Europe. A second
species, Tetragonia lialimifolia, Forst., which is as good as the first, is,
nevertheless, not used in New Zealand as on Tongatabu,

A good many acid vegetables are used as salad, as well as the sweet-
ish and bitter-sweet. Among these belong some species of Ranunculus
and the plants known as cresses in Europe and other parts of the world.

Besides the young leaves oi PMnunculus Jicaria, L., which are eaten
here and there in Europe, another species of Ranunculus is brought to
market in north Persia, Ranunculus (Ficaria) edulis, Boiss. It is called
morcli-serdag (egg yolk), on account of the yellow color of its flowers.
The small tubers, together with the young stems and leaves of the
blossoms, serve as food. With these, according to Th. Kotschy, there
appears in the bazar in Teheran, as a vegetable, the Uolag of the Per-
sians {Allium latifolium, Jaub. and Spach.) This grows on the Alps.
The Avhole of the young plant is considered a delicacy, and is used as
an addition to rice (in a pilau.) Ui^tica dioica, L., is used by the
Northern Persians, as well as by the Europeans. The best known cress
is the garden cress {Lepidium sativum, L.), which, originating in the
East and Egypt, is cultivated in Europe. It is mentioned by Dios-
corides under the name of Kapdajjov. Lepidium oleraceum, Forst., is
used in New Zealand as a spinach, particularly by seafarers, while
Lepidium piscidium, Forst., of the lower oceanic islands is useless as
food, on account of the great sharpness of the leaves, although it is
employed in the caj^ture offish. Iberis nudicaidis, L., and Cochlearia
danica, L., with the garden cresses, are similarly employed.

To these we may add the native Cardamine amara, L., and C. jjra-
tensis, L.^ as well as C. nasturticioides, Bertero, in Chile. Nasturtium
officinale, E. Br., is much esteemed in France. It loses its bitter taste
by cultivation. The Indian cress {Nasturtium indicum, D.) has also
found its way into the gardens of France. Other cresses are furnished
by Tropoiolum majus, L., and Tr. minus, L., from Peru, as also by
Chimocarpus pentapliyllus , Don, {Tropoiolum pentaphyllum. Lam.), in
Brazil and Chile.

The Atriplicece and Chenx)podicece are richer in esculent species than

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN. 357

tlie preceding. The Orache (AtripUx hortensis, L.), which is native
in Tartary, has long ago been introduced as a kitchen vegetable in
Europe, and has already, here and there, run wild. It was known to
the G-reeks as Azpdipa^iq (Dioscorides). TJieligonum cynocrambe, L.,
{Kovoxpdfi^-f], Diosc), indigenous to Europe, is also used here and there
as a vegetable. The same is the case with (7/ie?iopoc?mm album, L.,
Gh. viride, L., Ch. hybridum, L., Ch. bonus Jienricus, L., and Ch.
rubrum, L.

The Strawberry spinach, or blite (Blitum capitatum,'L., and mV-
gatum, L.), is also more or less known. Even its insipid, strawberry-
like fruit finds consumers.

Basella alba, L., is an East Indian spinach plant; and the roots of
Basella tuber osa, H. B., serve as food in Colombia.

The species of Amaranthics, such as Am.arantJius ascendens, Loisl.,
A. prostratus, Balb., and A, sylvesto^is, J)esf., are used ^ among us,
although AmarantJms polygonoides, Lin., in Further India, is used only
by the poor people. The younger shoots of the hop (Humidus lupulus,
L.), likewise have a very limited application.

Some other plants of the Oceanic Islands and New Holland may be
mentioned, especially in the southern part of the latter (Victoria),
which are used as an antiscorbutic spinach. Doctor Miiller mentions
the following : Tetragonia inermis, Trigonella suavissima, Tetragonella
imjjlexicoma, and several species of Cardamine, also Nasturtium ter-
restre, and Laurentia spicata. Forster refers to the use of Dracaena
terminalis, L., JDracceena indivisa, Forst,, Boerhavia erecta., h., Por-
tulacca lutea, Sol., and Solanum viride, Soland., upon the Society
Islands and in New Zealand as kitchen vegetables.

The fruits of some of the Solanacece are of great importance as
kitchen vegetables, especially the egg plant and the tomato plant.
The former (Solanum esculentum, Dun.), {S. melongena, L., p. p.), is
a plant of Southern Asia and the Indian Archipelago, of very ancient
cultivation, although no longer met with there in a wild state. It
came by way of the East to Europe, even in the time of the Komans,
and has been distributed over its entire southern part. It is culti-
vated at the present day on the western coast of Africa and the Islands
of Mauritius likewise, and has become an inhabitant of America since
the eighteenth century.

To the Egg plant may be added the Tomato, (Lycopersicum escu-
lentum, Mill.,) which is certainly an American plant, like most of the
species of Lycopersicum. Although cultivated at present in the East
Indies, its cultivation there dates only from the discovery of America.
The names. Mala peruviana and Pomi del peru, indicate still more
decidedly its trans- Atlantic origin, and it is very probable that this
plant was cultivated in Mexico at a very early period. At the present
day the wild, original plant has disappeared from America, and even
the form found on the Gallapagos seems to be only a stunted cultivated
plant.

Two other plants, which in all probability belong to the western
hemisphere, must not be passed over, although they have there a quite
limited culinary application, they are the well-known Phytolacca de-
candria, Lin. (Poke berry), and Ph. esculenta. Van Houtte. The

358 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

former, originally from JSTortli America, its probable native land, lias
been distributed througbout Mexico, Brazil, the Sandwich and Atlantic
Islands, and the region of the Mediterranean, even to Switzerland. It
is used at the present day as a vegetable in the United States, and its
young shoots are considered almost equal to spinach. It is doubtful
whether Ph. escuUnta is originally from Mexico or the East Indies ;
and it is only in more modern times that its leaves have been used as a
spinach. (A. Braun on Phytolacca esculenta, a new edible plant.
Verhand. Gartenhau-Vereins, xxi, 1, 1852.)

In conclusion^ I may mention Asparagus, the Artichoke and the
Gondelia, several species of Malvacem, the Caper, and the interesting
Cabbage of Kerguelen's Land, and some other less known and less
widely distributed vegetables.

There are several species of Asparagus belonging to the Mediterra-
nean regions. Of these the true Asparagus {Asparagus officinalis, L.)
furnishes a very excellent and much prized dish, and may, by cultiva-
tion, be brought to great perfection. It is a plant of the sea-shore
and river-banks of Southern Europe, the Crimea, &c. It is not found
either wild or cultivated in Greece. Only the young, juicy shoots are
used, which, when cooked, are soft and sweetish, and have a charac-
teristic taste from a peculiar principle, asparagin. It is raised exten-
sively at the present day in North America.

The common Artichoke {Gynara scolymus, L.) is also a Mediterra-
nean plant, and probably only a variety of Gynara cardunculus, L. , pro-
duced by cultivation, which is native to the Mediterranean, the Islands
of Greece, and to Sardinia. The ayMonoq of Dioscorides is not this
plant, but Scolymus maculatus, L., the young leaves of which, when
cooked, serve as a vegetable. Only the undeveloped flower-head of the
artichoke, especially its much thickened parts, is used, and it furnishes
a much prized dish. This plant is only cultivated in Greece, although
it is sometimes met with wild, escaped from gardens. The varieties
produced by cultivation differ in having larger or smaller, round and
oval, armed and unarmed heads.

Gondelia tournefortii, L., a thistle occurring abundantly in Pales-
tine, is similar to the artichoke. The young plant, especially the thick
stem, with the young and still undeveloped flower-heads, is brought
to the market of Jerusalem under the name of Gardi, and sought after
as a vegetable. (Kotschy.)

The unripe and still green capsule of the Okra (Ahelmoschus escu-
lentus, Guill. and Perrott, Hibiscus esculentus, L.) is rich in mucilage,
and, therefore, very nutritious ; when cooked, it is frequently used as
a vegetable. It is native to tropical Africa^ and has been distributed
as a plant of cultivation from Chartumand Sennaar, and over Egypt to
Palestine and Syria, and has become naturalized in America. Its
Arabian name, according to Kotschy, is Bamia; the American, Gombo,
Gobo, Ochro.

The unripe capsule oi Ahelmoschus longifolius, Medik^ originally an
American plant, at the present day replaces the preceding as an arti-
cle of food in tropical Asia.

The flowers of Ahutilon esculentus, St. Hil., (Sida esculenta, Steud.),
which are used cooked in Brazil^ are of less moment.

PLANTS USED AS POOD BY MAN. 359

The following plants of tlie same family are used as vegetables in
difierent places: Hibiscus cannabinus, L., of tropical Asia, at present
cultivated in Senegal; H. Jiirtus, h,, H, micranthus, h., H. furcatus,
Eoxb., and H. radiatus, Cav., used both in Bengal and the East
Indies; S. Jiculneus, L., cultivated in Egypt; H. sabdariffa, L., from
Guinea, cultivated now in the East Indies and America ; H. digitatus,
Cav., from Guinea; and H. macidatus, Desf.

We may also mention here two other plants, Malva verticillata, L.,
in China, and Malva rotundifolia, L., used formerly as a vegetable in
Europe, but at present more in China and Lower Egypt. Even Pyth-
agoras thought much of this spinach; and among the Greeks, as well
as among the Eomans, it was at one time much esteemed. 3Ialve and
Asphodell were raised at Delos for the temple of Apollo, as a symbol
of the first nourishment of man. At the present day the young shoots
are used as a salad in Southern France and Italy.

Indifferent greens are furnished by the young shoots and leaves of
some species of Epilobmm, as Epilohium angustifoUum, L., Up. latifo-
lium, L., Ep. tetragonum, L., &c., although sufficing for Northern
Asia and Iceland. The same is the case in Iceland with the fleshy and
saline leaves oi Arenaria peploides , L., or Sandwort.

The preserved flower buds of the Caper bush {Capparis spinosa, L.)
have received a wide distribution as a vegetable. It was known to the
ancient Greeks, and the renowned Phyrne, at the first period of her
residence in Athens, was a dealer in capers. The Capparis herhacea,
Willd., and 0. ru-pestris, Sibth. and Smith, are also used for the same
purpose, as well as the Spartium scoparium, L., of Germany, and the
Zygophyllumfahago, L., in Northern Africa and Syria.

In conclusion, I will mention a few other less widely distributed
and little known green vegetables. Among these are EupJiorhia edtdis,
Lour., of Cochin China; E. pilulifera, L., of the East Indies; E. hirta.
L., Plukenetia cornicidata, Sm., and Apocynum indicum, Lam., from
the Moluccas; Codiaeum cJirysosticton, Rumph., from Hither India;
Osyris japonica, Thunb., from Japan. Also several species of Cissus,
with their acid leaves, such as Cissus latifolia, Vahl., C. quadrangu-
laris, L., and C. crenata, Vahl., of the East Indies; C. rotundifolia,
Vahl., and C. ternata, Gmel., from Arabia; Cleome cuneifolia, Mtihlb.,
and CI. speciosa, H. B., the former of North, the latter of South
America; Gynandropsis pentaphylla, DC, is used as a vegetable in
the East and West Indies; Cassia sopliora, L., and Cassia esculenta,
Sweet, in Amboyna; Bauhinia racemosa, Vahl., in the East Indies;
B. lingua, DC, on the Moluccas; Trigonella escidenta, Willd., in
Bengal; and Trygonella platycarpos, L., in Siberia; Bombax ceiba,
L. , the Cotton tree, and Bombax septenatum, Jacq. , of tropical America,
and Agave americana, L., the leaves of whicli, when cooked, furnish a
palatable and easily-digested food.

The cabbage of Kerguelen's Land {Pringlea antiscorbutica, R.
Brown) is similar to our cabbage, in the shape and tendency of the
.eaves to form a head. It was first discovered by Cook, in his first
voyage, and subsequently by Hooker, jr. It was found again in the
Antarctic voyage of Captain Ross, and is used to great advantage as
a pleasant anti-scorbutic by the sailors. It grows abundantly in every

360 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

part of the island to an elevation of one thousand four hundred feet,
although particularly luxuriant and fitted for food as a sea-shore plant.
The young leaves have the taste of cresses or mustard, only somewhat
more pungent.

The preceding enumeration of nutrimentitious plants, wliicli I have
endeavored to make as complete as possible, omitting nothing of im-
portance, will enable us to take a general survey of the vegetable sub-
stances used as food in different parts of the world. The number of
different kinds of plants in this category amounts to nearly 800, which,
could be very considerably increased by adding those plants and vege-
table substances which are only used here and there by man, and then
chiefly when driven by hunger, such as the bark of trees, the acrid
tubers and roots, the sprouts and leaves of various kinds of herbs,
insipid and unpalatable fruits, &c., such, for instance, as the tubers
of Chaeropliyllum bulhosum, the plant of Salicornia Jierhacea, the fruits
of the Haw, Bramble, and Sloe, of Hippopliae rliamnoides, the Beech-
nut, &c.

If we bear in mind, liowever, that we are far from being acquainted
with all the nutritious vegetable substances which are, or may be,
drawn by man into the circle of his domestic economy, we may estimate
the entire number of such species of plants at 1,000. Now, allowing,
on an average only 10 to 12 varieties of cultivation to each species, we
will have 10,000 different kinds available for his wants.

If we follow still further the facts mentioned above in detail, it is
evident, as we remarked at the beginning, that the nutritious plants
were originally distributed over the whole earth, and that the western
hemisphere, as well as the eastern, had its peculiar vegetable products
at the service of mankind. It will, however, be seen that the distri-
bution of nutritious plants is by no means uniform, but that, on the
contrary, certain parts of the earth are particularly favored, while in
others they occur but sparsely, and in many regions are almost entirely
wanting. This must necessarily have influenced very much the dis-
tribution of the human race over the earth, and its increase and accumu-
lation in particular regions.

If we investigate this condition of things still further, by marking
down upon a map of the earth the different nutrimentitious plants in
their original localities, or in the ideal central point of their distribu-
tion, and represent the different varieties by particular symbols, we will
obtain a very intelligible idea of the primitive condition of things, from
which many important conclusions may be deduced.

If we now compare the two hemispheres, eastern and western, to-
gether, it will be seen that the eastern has a great preponderance over
the western, so much so that, with the addition of New Holland and
the islands of the Pacific ocean, it contains almost three times as many
nutritious plants as the western. The following table will elucidate
this more clearly :

PLANTS USED AS FOOD BY MAN.

361

Comparative table of the richness of the eastern and loestern hemispheres

in nutritious plants.

Nutritious plants.

c.o

Number of nutritious plants.

1) .1i

•5 S

Amylacea, (starch plants)

Oleosa, (oil plants)

Dulcia, (sugar plants)

Acidula, (acid plants)

Salina, (saline plants) ,

Total

237

213

145

191

151

122

770

565

45
45
29
62
23

204

It is a remarkable fact, that nutritious plants are accumulated together
in a linear direction, both upon the eastern as well as upon the western
hemisphere. If we draw a line from the Moluccas to Ireland, by far
the largest number and most important nutritious plants are seen to
have originated along or in the direction of this line. Into this line
fall the nutritious plants of the eastern archipelago, of Hither and
Further India, of Nepal, Persia, Armenia, the Crimea, Greece, Italy,
and Central Europe. The regions exterior to this belt of land furnish
only a few species, and these mostly of little value, such as China,
Japan, Central Asia, and the eastern and western coast lands of Africa.
The coast of North Africa falls in part into this linear belt, ranging
from southeast to northwest.

New Holland, New Guinea, &c., take their place as the most inhos-
pitable portions of the earth.

The same law of distribution, although less prominently exhibited,
exists in the western hemisphere. A similar line runs from Brazil,
by way of Guyana, Peru, Ecuador, Central America, the West Indies,
and Mexico, along which are accumulated by far the most important
and influential nutritious plants. The species peculiar to North America,
Chile, &c., are only of inconsiderable moment.

The result of our investigation is so remarkable that I cannot refrain
from considering the hromatorial line as of the greatest importance in
respect to the history of cultivation, and as a road which, while leading
the wandering man along a sure path, renders it possible for him to
accomplish the great problem of his existence here below ; he advances
towards greater perfection. In fact it is this and no other line, upon
the extreme point of which the history of cultivation of the ancient
world takes its starting point, and along which the nations penetrated
victoriously, by degrees, into the heart of Europe.

How far this idea is to be applied to American humanity, I may not
venture to assert, since at present only loose fragments are known to us

362 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of the earlier history of cultivation in that country ; nevertheless, such
a connection with the line of vegetable nutriment seems to he clearly
indicated.

By whatever path, and with whatever assistance, man may progress
to a condition of high moral and physical development, this much is
certain, that food, and particularly vegetable nutriment, must have
the greatest influence upon the attainment of this great object.

ART OE GOVEMmG THE SAP.

BY M. P. JOIGNEAUX, EDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE "FEUILLE DU CULTIVATEUIl, "

PARIS.

[Translated by C. A. Alexander, of Washington, from the " Journal Mensual de I'Acade-
mie Nationale Agricole, Manufacturiei-e, et Commerciale, Paris.]

A cultivator who gives himself no concern about the circulation of
the sap in vegetables is not more in his place in the midst of the fields,
than an engineer of a locomotive would be in his, who knew nothing
of the properties of steam. The rejoinder, it is true, may be made
that ignorance of physiological laws is very pardonable in the cultiva-
tor, since men of science are by no means of accord with regard to
the course of the sap. In effect they range themselves in two diiferent
camps, one admitting the descent of the sap, the others denying it;
but what imports to us the divergence of their hypothesis, if, as far
as practice is concerned, they correspond to observed facts, and termi-
nate in the same results ?

Now, this is precisely what happens. Both equally satisfy us, and
if we here adopt the theory of the descent of the sap, it is because it
is the most widely diffused, and for no other reason.

We say then, the roots take up the liquid manure, which becomes
sap, and ascends through the body of the plant, chiefly through the
alburnum, is retarded awhile in the upper part, becomes modified and
thickened, and then descends from the top towards the roots, depositing
in its passage a new layer of alburnum. It is the blood, the life of
vegetables.

It is the sap which makes the wood and the leaf — which makes also
the fruit ; the wood and the leaf, when it circulates in abundance and
with force ; the fruit, when its circulation is slackened, whether natu-
rally, or in consequence of the obstacles we oppose to it. Knowing
this, we comprehend, of course, that the art of governing the sap is
of the greatest consequence to the cultivator. According as he governs
it well or ill, it will give good or bad results. The pruning of trees,
grafting, the culture of pot herbs, as well as culture on a larger scale,
are subordinated to this principle.

Have we not slayers of trees, who end by killing outright their
most robust specimens without obtaining any thing from them, while
the skillful orchardist rears and keeps them long in a bearing condition.

ART OF GOVERNING THE SAP. 363

Have we not kitchen gardeners wlio, so to speak, do what they
please with their herbs, while others succeed only by chance, and can
never be sure of anything? Why is this? Because the one has
learned to manage the sap, the others know nothing about it.

Here and there, in ]3rofessional books, we are supplied with judicious
indications, but the writers do not attach themselves sufficiently to
those little practical details in which consists the skill of the cultivator, •
but which escape the attention of scientists.

Now these little details interest us most ; they form the principal
object of the present article.

Let us commence with trees. When we have to do with subjects
which are too vigorous, giving every thing in wood and nothing in
fruit, we naturally infer that there is excess of health, and that it is
proper to proceed with them as we would with sterile animals; in
other words, let blood and put them on diet. Every enfeebled or suf-
fering tree, plant, or animal is determined to the reproduction of
itself. Hence we deal roughly with our barren trees ; we make them
suffer in diiferent ways. Some retrench the roots, and thus cut off a
portion of the channels which receive and distribute the sap ; some
drive nails into the trunk; some make holes with the gimblet as
physicians puncture with the lancet. So much for the violent means.

The cultivators of the new school, if we may be allowed the expres-
sion, have recourse to procedures less energetic in form, but quite as
sure in the result. To make a tree bear they content themselves with
binding down the branches, with compressing the boughs against a
wall or stake, with pinching the extremities. All this is perfectly
known, but the reason of these little operations, it appears to us, is
not so clearly comprehended.

The explanation, in a few words, is this : When you bend a branch
down, you strangle, to some extent, the sap-bearing vessels at the
point of curvature, at the same time that you withdraw the branch
from the vertical direction which is favorable to the motions of the sap.
Thus, this nutritive liquid no longer circulates so freely; there is a
retardation of the developing process, and hence a determination to
reproduction, that is, to fructification. When you tighten a bough
against an espalier, you necessarily crowd the young alburnum, and
thus choke the channels of the sap, and hence the same effects. When
you pinch the end of a leaf-bud, you equally interfere with the flow of
the nutritive juices, and disturb the functions of the tree, causing the
bud to develop into a spur, which will produce flower-buds the next
season; or by destroying a considerable number of leaf-buds, and thus
checking the normal vegetation, you produce the same result with the
buds that are left. And, as by thus depriving it of sap, you may
convert a leaf-bud into a flower-bud, since the flower is in some sort
but an abortive leaf, you may equally, by furnishing too much sap to
the flower-buds, develop them into wood and leaves.

Would you have a proof? Cut close a subject charged with shoots,
and you will see the greater part of those shoots changed into sterile
branches, instead of fruitful ones.

When you practice close trimming, that is, when you remove much
wood, the roots of the tree continue to supply sap, as if they had still

364 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

to nourish tlie parts cut away. This sap, being no longer entirely
used up, since you have diminished the number of the branches which
it fed, will turn aside, right and left, to form new wood, or else perish
for want of issues,, under the bark. Three fourths of those who un-
dertake the trimming of trees never think of this. They cut and
prune at random, with very questionable benefit. But who is in fault ?
Those, undoubtedly, who will not give themselves the trouble to pop-
ularize the "most elementary notions of arboriculture. Say, then to
our pruners: The amount of water, joined to the soluble matters of
the soil, makes the amount of sap. We have more of it, therefore in
moist than in dry soils ; more in crops watered than in those not
watered ; more in a damp than a dry climate ; more in a tree grafted
on a seedling with thirsty roots than in one grafted on the quince^
with temperate roots. This being understood, it is clear that we ought
to modify our practice in pruning, according to the nature of the sub-
ject and the climate. If there is no inconvenience in trimming a little
close such trees or plants as have little vigor, there is much in pursuing
tlie same course with those of great vigor. If it is easy to stop a
gentle rivulet, and lead it aside in trenches and streamlets ; it is diffi-
cult, on the other hand, to dam up a torrent.

When you have an impetuous sap, you will have no fruit; and it is
not by cutting away largely that you will prevent this impetuosity of
the sap. You will turn it aside, and nothing more. In such case,
then, restrict yourself to light trimming, and endeavor to moderate
the circulation by bending the boughs and branches from a vertical
position, and rubbing off some of the buds. In this way, a certain
amount of embarrassment and obstruction may be produced ; the sap
will moderate its course, and fructification will ensue. From this ob-
servation has arisen the idea of the annular incision, which consists
in removing a ring of bark from the lower part of limbs, in order to
make them produce fruit. By removing these rings, we produce diffi-
culty and retard the descent of the sap. Both wood and fruit form
more rapidly; but at this game we discount largely on the life of our
trees, and alter the quality of their products.

What has been said of trees applies, necessarily, to flowers, to pot-
herbs, and to plants of a higher culture. Would you have an instance?
the small periwinkle, which, you know, at least by name, does not
easily produce seed. Tournefort, one day, bethought himself of forcing
it to do so, and succeeded, by placing a specimen of the plant in a pot,
where its roots were straitened for want of room. Philip Miller, in
England, took a different course with the same plant, and obtained
satisfactory results, by moderately pinching the leaves at the base. In
what concerns the kitchen- garden we should daily take account of the
sap. Should our cabbages appear to grow too vigorously, so that their
leaves seem more disposed to spread than form heads, it will be advisble
to cleave their stalks through and through, and often three or four
times during the course of their vegetation, as has occurred in our own
practice during the past year, when, in vegetables of this species, a
tendency to uncoif instead of heading manifested itself, in consequence
of a superabundant flow of sap. The practice, too, of shortening the
tops of our beans and peas, has it not, for its end, a slackening of the

ART OF GOVERNING THE SAP. 365

circulation of the sap^ thereby to procure a greater development and
precocity for the pods? Undoubtedly; but this can only be on condi-
tion that the pinching of the beans and peas be judiciously calculated,
for, if we practice it at random, we shall by no means obtain the desired
result. They tell us to pinch our peas above the second flower, and
rightly; but, as they tell us no more, some gardeners, and many
amateurs, wait until the peas acquire four stages of flowers before they
suppress two.

Thus, effectively, they do pinch above the second flower ; only, by
operating too late, they practice, without being aware of it, that short
and close pruning which impels the sap to form rapidly new branches
and leaves. Had they, on the contrary, removed but a slight portion
of the stalk when it had just passed the second range of buds, the dis-
posable sap vfould not have been considerable, would not have had the
force to send out vigorous branches, and would have distributed itself
among the neighboring flowers. As a general rule, then, suppressing
the tops of ]3lants is not, necessarily, conducive to fructification, except
on condition that it be done in moderation. If you remove too much,
you practice what is equivalent to close pruning in trees abounding in
sap, and promote the production of leaves. It is not enough to trim;
you must trim in due time and measure.

In cutting the vines of our gourds and melons (courges) we usually
proceed without reason, and, of course, without success. We ought
to cut above the fruit first formed, instead of leaving several to form
with a view to making a choice. If it happens that the finest of the
number is nearest the base, we are forced to remove a long piece of the
vine, that is^ to employ close pruning. We wish a very large specimen,
and we operate so as to produce leaves and branches. In our own
practice we prefer bruising the vine a little above the fruit and covering
the bruised part with earth. In this way there is no complete sup-
pression of the sap-bearing vessels, but only a slackening of the
circulation.

In knotting the stalks of the onion and the garlic, do we not see an
attempt at governing the sap? We thereby comjoel it to moderate its
flow. So, too, in giving a twist to the seed-vessels of the beet and the
purslaine, we hasten the maturing of the seeds, which, in France,
would often take place too slowly, if the sap were allowed its free career.
The same end is gained by straining the stems in two or three places
against stakes in such a way as to strangle somewhat the channels
of the nutritive juices. With a similar view, would it not be advisable
to diminish the height of our kidney-beans, that, by obliging the stems
to fall and curve backward, we might procure, not only an earlier,
but, probably, also a more abundant product?

When the heads of cauliflowers attain the size of one's fist, we par-
tially break the leaves which surround them, and superpose those
leaves on the heads ; then, in proportion as others are developed, we
break the tops of these, also, until all are passed over, and the head
of the plant is completely hidden. By merely doing 'this, the head is
screened from the light, and kept white and tender.

Gardeners know this ; but it may be doubted whether they generally
know that such breaking of the leaves moderates the impetuosity of

366 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

tlie sap, and renders a large part of it disposable for tlie growth of the
head, which is, consequently, better developed than under ordinary
circumstances. The breaking is tantamount to what may be called long
pruning in trees ; while, in place of breaking, if we took the leaves
away, we should have the equivalent of close or short pruning, and a
result entirely opposite. The stalks would grow upward, and the
heads would open to grow upward also. An example maybe observed
in the Island of Jersey, where the cabbages for feeding cattle attain an
extraordinary height, simply in consequence of the daily gathering of
the leaves nearest the base. If cultivators had an idea of the art of
governing the sap, they would beware of cutting, either in whole or
in part, the vines of their potatoes, in order to preserve them from
disease, or to increase their size. When they cut them partially, the
sap develops a multitude of small shoots, to the prejudice of the tubers ;
when they cut them entirely, they put forth no more shoots, but lose
a prodigious quantity of sap, which moistens the ground and marks
the place of each cluster. The tubers do not profit by it; the sole
result being a great number of them, of the size of a hazel nut. We
have, ourselves, made trial of both these kinds of close pruning, not,
however, with the least expectation of benefit, but simply to have our
mind disabused of all the nonsense which is emitted on the subject of
agriculture. Eeason condemned these experiments, and the result
condemned them just the same. We approve of pinching the stalk
of the potato, when the buttons disclose themselves, because it is a
means of producing a pause in the rise of the sap, without much dis-
turbance, and of determining the formation of tubers, which does not
commence until after the complete development of the tops. But we
greatly prefer bending to pinching. And why ? In order to develop
the underground branches or tubers.

By bending the branches above ground, we embarrass the flow of
sap, and may be sure that a part of it will be employed in producing
buds beneath ground. If you desire precocity, use this means: bend
the stalk, and keep them in place with a lump of earth. It is as if
you were told, whenever you wish a bud to develop itself quickly and
surely, bend the bough a little above that bud, in order to retard the
sap at that point. It is precisely what is done in the vineyard at
Thomery to establish the second tier or line of an arbor or trellis.
The curvature of the leading branch, above a bud of good appearance,
develops that bud, and produces the desired result.

Enough has probably been said to evince the importance of the
subject we are engaged with — a subject which we here only indicate,
but which will furnish, we doubt not, sooner or later, the matter of
some special treatise.

The art of governing the sap does not interest alone the gardener
and the orchardist ; it concerns, in an equal degree, agriculturists
on a larger scale ; for it is "certainly with the sap that they are dealing
when they mow crops which grow too vigorously, or pasture young
meadows to make them thicken, or roll the cereals to suspend awhile
their vegetation, or top their corn and beans, or pinch their tobacco.
And, in these difierent cases, gross blunders may be committed in
default of an intelligent apprehension of the reasons of the operation.

FARM JOURNALS. 367

PAEM JOURNALS.

BY JOHN L. GOW, OF WASHINGTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

It would seem to be demanded of the agriculturist, above all other
professions and trades, that he should keep a daily record of facts imme-
diately connected with his business, for various and important reasons.

The farmer's field is an extended one, full of varied and diversified
knowledge, in itself continually suggestive of theories fruitful of exper-
iment, and coextensive with the ages and development of man.

Natural philosophy and chemistry are essentially the handmaidens
of agriculture. Who can estimate the value of the improved plow over
the clumsy implement of the olden times ; of the present reaper and
mower, the thresher and cleaner, over those of fifty or a hundred years
ago ? Who can say what will be the result of future chemical discov-
eries? Yet, important as these matters are to the farmer, he cannot
be expected to devote much time to them. It is rare, indeed, that he
may become a chemist such as Liebig, but he should read "Liebig's Or-
ganic Chemistry, in its Application to Agriculture and to Physiology ;' '
and then, by a record of his own experience, faithfully set down, he
may be able not only to verify the truth of the experiments of others,
and so improve himself, but also contribute his share to the advance-
ment of the art and science of agriculture.

The advantages of daily journals have been declared by the practice
of distinguished men, and, were it necessary, we might obtain many
great names as authority for our suggestions ; we shall refer to but one
instance, that of our own Washington. It, was not only in his first
public employment, his embassy through the wilderness to French
Creek, in his Braddock campaign, and during his glorious national
career as commander-in-chief of the armies of the revolution,, that his
daily journals were accurate, useful, and interesting, but his methodi-
cal habits induced a continuous record of home concerns, his farm and
plantation labor, the rotation of his fields and crops, and of all those
things which he wished to remember, exhibiting the exactness as well
as comprehensiveness of his mind, and his devotedness to system in all
his private as well as public affairs. There is also an advantage in
such records to the farmer's family, in a literary point of view.
Young men, and even children, participating in them, become more
and more interested in the matters of the farm, not only learning to
write, (which of itself is important,) but at the same tune to express
any particular subject or event in proper ideas and words, thus estab-
lishing the character of business men, and acquiring that happy
faculty which, with many, is the labor of years — to write clearly and
forcibly. At first a duty and labor, this practice will soon become an
easy habit, a source of gratification to the individual, and of interest
to others.

Let us examine the subject more minutely. All our farmers are
deeply interested in the subject of timber, cut or to be cut, for various

368 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

necessary and indispensable farm purj^oses. Timber at times is unex-
pectedly durable, and again as unaccountably perisbable. As there is
no effect without an adequate cause, we naturally seek that cause when
we find remarkable differences. Is the durability of fencing materials
produced by the time of cutting the timber, the state of the saj) at the
time, or the age and size of the tree? Has the moon's phase at the
season of cutting anything to do with it? Is it a combination of any
or all of these things, perhaps also united with the period of setting
the posts or splitting the material? Or is there a more hidden cause
proclucing the results? We should be likely to obtain satisfactory
answers to these questions, did every, farmer keep an accurate record
of his timber-cutting, even to a tree, and the purpose for which it was
required. The journal of a single farm, where much timber was used
for thirty years, would throw great light upon the subject; and how
much more satisfactory would be the result if every intelligent farmer
were a contributor to the general information.

^'On the score of economy," says the "Ohio Farmer," "much
depends on the time trees are cut, whether to be used for timber or
fuel. That which is cut from the middle of July to the last of August,
will last twice as long for timber fences, and be worth fifty per cent,
more for firewood, than that which is cut in the fall or winter. Cut in
July or August, the last running of the sap, it seasons through quickly,
becomes hard and firm, and will bear far more hard usage than that
cut at any other season ; seasoned immediately, it is not subject to be
eaten by worms, nor destroyed by dry rot, but will remain sound for
years."

Now all this may be true ; but how many farmers can verify it by
their experience as reliable?

Had we the recorded life-time experience even of twenty farmers —
of every fence and building, every roof and sheep-shed, the aggregate,
by comparison, would surely go far to settle all dispute upon this sub-
ject, and no doubt reveal important facts not generally known, as to
fencing and carriage materials, utensils, barrels^ hoop-poles, and the
cutting of underbush.

Again, it is believed by many that the phases of the moon have a
direct efiect upon the results of spreading manure, setting fences, lay-
ing shingles, planting gardens, &c. Followers of these signs say that
potatoes, carrots, beets_, &c., productive from the root, should be de-
|)osited during the dark of the moon, and corn, beans, peas, melons,
&c., growing above ground, in the light of that orb. They tell us,
also, that beef and pork killed in a particular phase of the moon, will
shrink in cooking, and otherwise will swell. Much of this, no doubt,
is exceedingly ridiculous; but what is the true course for a wise man
to pursue in regard to it?

" There are more things in Heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamed of in your philosophy."

Then, should not every farmer assist in verifying or disproving these
assertions by his own notation of facts and results, and, if certain con-
sequences do follow certain acts, instead of laughing at the signs, let
us patiently explore the occult causes.

FARM JOURNALS. 369

You have liacl, I will suppose, an unusual good crop of wlieat. Your
son, ten years after, desirous of like profit, inquires, "Did you manure
the field? What kind of manure? What quantity? When spread?
What time did you sow? What quantity of seed? What had heen
in the field before? What time did you harvest?" &c. You reply:
"It was not written down, and all these things have escaped my
memory."

Again, in elucidation of our subject, live stock is one of the means,
and no inconsiderable one, in a farmer's available income. This, of
course, includes neat cattle, horses, sheep, and swine. It is true, when
we see the kind of cattle raised by some farmers, we should suppose the
whole a matter of chance. Others, again, adopt a different view of
the matter, and make money, too, by their views.

It is generally admitted that some breeds of neat cattle are prefer-
able for form., some for milk, some for facility of fattening, some for
docility, and some for the greatest combination of all these good
points.

Let us suppose a farmer has a cow, (accidentally obtained,) extraor-
dinary for quantity and quality of milk, beautiful in form and color,
easily managed and milked, and readily fattened when no longer fit
for the dairy, he would like another of equal properties. Now, were
this a race-horse, or even a good common stallion, he could find out all
about the pedigree of the animal without difficulty_, but as it is noth-
ing but a cow, although really ten times more important to the farmer
than any race-horse that ever existed, he can discover no records on
the subject, simply because farmers fail to note down every calf, bull,
and cow, and the crossing of breeds, &c. Therefore, he must look to
chance for the next cow to supply her place. If it be true that it costs
no more to rear a good animal than a bad one, (and some say it costs
less,) then should farmers know all about their stock, and keep a
record of the kinds and crossings. These are but examples of many
things equally iinportant.

Still, it maybe said by some that these are small matters, too minute
to deserve the attention required. True, they are individually so, but
our whole life is given in minutes, and the success of our lives and
business is, in the main, dependent upon what appear, separately con^
sidered, to be trifl.es.

, Again, we may be told, to journalize all the circumstances of a
farm would be troublesome, the work of a lifetime. True, also; but
remember you have a lifetime to do it in ; and as to the trouble, it will
only be one until habit makes it a pleasure, and its utility shall become
so obvious as to prove a ten-fold recompense were it a continuous
trouble.

Were our young farmers induced to observe, record, and study the
affairs of the farm — were they to learn the true nature of the profession —
how elevating, in a moral point of view, as a philosophical as well as
a mechanical pursuit, and thus how dignified, how independent is
farm labor, we should have fewer young re en forsaking what they call
"its drudgery" and "degradation" for the learned professions, thus
throwing away the pearl of independence for the apparently easy life
24 A

370 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of tliose who will tell you that success v/ith them is toil unremitting,
harrassing and oppressive, to which, in comparison, "holding the
plow" is a holiday.

EXPERIMENTS ON PAW PAW SPIRITS.

[Extract of a letter from Dr. Charles T. Jackson.]

Boston, October 11, 1859.

I have completed my experiments on the paw pav/ spirit you sent
me, and find that it is very easy to' prepare a perfectly pure spirit from
it hy means of Atwood's patented process, viz: by the aid of the per-
manganate of potash and redistillation.

I have a sample put up to send, which you will find quite pure spirit^
and free from all fusil oil and acids.

Mr. Atwood now resides at the Kerosene Oil Works, at Williams-
burg, Long Island.

In the Smithsonian Eeports on recent improvements in the arts.
Booth & Morfitt, 1857, p. 182, you will find another method of de-
priving spirits of fusil oil, which is not subject to patent.

MODE OF PURIFYING ALCOHOL, ETC.

[Patented by Luther Atwood, of Boston, Massachusetts, August 23, 1853.]

The nature of the invention consists in "destroying, by chemical
means, the fusil oil and odorous oils found present in alcohol and
alcoholic spirits. These oils, derived from the various matters which
have been fermented in obtaining the alcohol and alcoholic spirits, are
more or less abundant in such manufacture, and are dsitinctive of the
source from which each kind of alcohol or spirit wS,s obtained. The
principal oil has been long known by the name of fusil oil, or amylic
alcohol, which is also mixed with other bodies, such as acetic acid and
butyric acid, and ammonia, ibrraiug compounds more or less volatile.
Besides these compounds, there are present in some alcoholic spirits
volatile oils which are fragrant and give names to the spirits. These
oils interfere with the uses of alcohol for many purposes ; thus, in the
preparation of chloroform, alcohol being used which contains fusil oil,
there are a variety of products formed, having this oil as their bases,
existing as ethers mixed with the chloroform, rendering it unpleasant
or dangerous in its most important application. In the jDreparation
of perfumes, alcohol containing fusil oil cannot be used as a solvent,
from the action which the oil and its compounds exert on the essential
oils used to give delicate odors. More generally, for officinal use, ordi-
nary alcohol confers a repulsive odor when used for preparing tinctures
and extracts. I am aware tliat alcohol has been partially purified by
distillation and the use of charcoal and hypochlorite of lime, (Ca. 0. X
CI. 0.,) but the best samples contain notable proportions of fusil oil
and ethers.

EXPERIMENTS ON PAP PAW SPIRITS. 371

"To enable others skilled in tlie art to use my invention, I will pro-
ceed to describe my method, which is founded on the oxidating power
exerted by manganic acid and permanganic acid on the oils and ethers
found in alcohol. I take of finely ground manganese oxide thi'ee
pounds, nitrate of potash or nitrate of soda five pounds, in a state of
mixture, and slowly melt them in a crucible, continuing the heat until
the melted mass passes from a fluid to a stiff, pasty mass.

"When cold, the mass must be powdered and kept dry for future use.
It contains manganate of potash or soda, or gives permanganates of
these bases, with excess of potash or soda and earthy impurities. Man-
ganates and permanganates, however obtained, may also be used instead
of the crude compound thus formed. In either case, I have found that
these agents act on and destroy the oils present in common alcohol and
alcoholic spirits rapidly, forming valerianic and other acids, which
unite to the base of the manganate used, and may be removed. For
every gallon of alcohol, of 85 or 90 per cent., I use two ounces of the
manganic compound, dissolved in eight ounces of water, and add the
solution to the alcohol while the whole is briskly agitated. This pro-
portion is the average quantitj'- required for common alcohol , but so
much should be used as is sufiicient to destroy the odor of the fusil oil,
and the purified alcohol must then be distilled from the matters dis-
solved and suspended in it by gentle heat. In purifying alcoholic
spirits of proof strength, such as rum, whisky, &c., I add the fine
powder of the manganic compound in successive portions, agitating
the whole rapidly, until the odor of the fusil oil disa|)pears, and then
distil the purified spirits. The manganic and permanganic acids,
although combined with strong bases, are decomposed by the fusil and
other oils, even when a great excess of alcohol is present. Pure alcohol
is, on the contrary, slowly changed into acetic acid, and should an
excess of the manganic comjDound be used, acetic acid would be pro-
duced, with loss of alcohol. The valerianic, butyric, and acetic acids,
produced and previously existing, are left after the distillation com-
bined with the potash and soda."

DISTILLED LIQUORS AND FUSIL OIL.

[From Booth& Morfitt, "On recent improvements in the Chemical Arts," page 182. Smith-
sonian Report.]

To free them readily from fusil oil, Peters recommends a hogshead,
with a false bottom, to be half filled v^ith well-ignited charcoal, the
top of this to be strewed over with ten pounds of boneblack and five
pounds of black oxyde of manganese, and the whole to be filled up with
charcoal. The hogshead is to be filled with brandy, whisky, &c.,
which is to remain in it for three days, and then drawn off. That
which first runs off cloudy is to be redistilled, but this operation v/ili
not be again required. The vessel thus prepared will last twelve to
fifteen months.

B72 AGRICULTURAL REPOR*.

VEGETABLE EIBEU.

VEGETABLE FIBER, CONSIDERED WITH REFERENCE TO ITS STRUCTURE
AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES.

BY GEORGE C. SCHAEFFER, M. D.

Althoiigli the general structure of vegetable fiber has long been
known, it is only within a few years that the rapid advances made in
the science of vegetable anatomy, aided by improvements in the mi-
croscope, have cleared up much that was doubtful, and given us
definite notions upon points which have a direct application to the
processes of the arts. But few writers on vegetable anatomy have
studied the subject with immediate reference to its technical applica-
tions, and it is only since the year 1852 that we have been furnished
with minute and correct representations of the principal varieties of
vegetable fiber.

The increasing want of paper-making material has stimulated the
study of this subject, which, however, with few exceptions, has been
attempted in the wrong direction, that is from a purely empirical
point of view. The result has been^ mainly, a revival of old and well-
known processes, with immaterial alterations.

Our present object is to give an outline of the chemical properties
and of the minute structure of vegetable fiber, a knowledge of which
we consider as absolutely necessary before considering the technical or
economical questions which may arise.

Owing, however, mainly to ignorance of the subject upon which we
are about to treat, the economical questions themselves have been often
misstated, and real advancement in the arts has been prevented by
the unfavorable impression produced by the useless solution of such
misstated questions. For instance, it is unwise and useless to attempt
to supersede a well-established staple by another not fitted by nature
to take its place. Long-continued agricultural and commercial rela-
tions cannot readily be overturned, even when they have not some
well-founded reason for their continuance. The attempt to supersede
cotton by the ultimate fiber of flax is a case in point. This project
originated in England, more than a century ago, and, strangely enough,
the efibrt to revive it has generally been prompted by purely social
considerations. It requires but little knowledge of the respective
structure of the two substances to understand that it is at least un-
profitable to spoil good flax in order to make a poor imitation of
cotton.

Again, many kinds of fiber might advantageously be used in cord-
age or in textile fabrics, and it must be evident that there would be no
economy in breaking up such material at once to j)aper stuff, which might
be made more readily and cheaply from the worn-out cordage or rags

VEGETABLE FIBER. 373

from the same fiber. It is needless to multiply instances of this kind
of misapplication. The true policy seems to be this: to introduce new
materials to supply a demand for which they are directly fitted, and to
leave existing materials to be used as before.

As questions which may be usefully considered, we will cite the fol-
lowing :

It is desirable to ascertain what fibers may be obtained from the dry
regions of the Western plains, which, while favorable to such plants,
are incapable of yielding any other profitable product of the soil.

Again, in some instances it may be found advantageous to increase
the variety of fibrous substances produced in any given region, for cir-
cumstances which might prove disastrous to one crop might prove
beneficial to another, and with this security the fortunes of whole dis-
tricts would not be risked, as it were, upon the cast of a single die.

Another matter of great consequence in the economical consideration
of fiber, is the difference between the supply from plants of spontaneous
growth and from those which must be cultivated. Fibrous materials
of spontaneous growth, for the most part, can only be brought to us from
abroad; for, although the amount of uncultivated land in the United
States may be large, it is not often' that such lands abound in fibrous
plants. The great plains of the West and the salt marshes of the sea-
coast will probably be found the only parts of our territory from which
a spontaneous growth of fibrous material of any kind can be obtained
in great quantity. Every now and then we hear that some one of our
common weeds has been found to furnish a good material for paper
stuff ; but if we stop to estimate the quantity furnished by each plant,
it will often appear that the product of a whole State would be re-
quired for one issue of our large daily or weekly papers. When we
come to the cultivation of fibrous plants, the character and q uantity of
the product at once decide the question of profit. It is not every plant
which is capable of regular cultivation, or of attaining, in a cultivated
state, the luxuriance of its spontaneous growth. Many of our weeds
owe their great abundance, in certain localities, to some peculiar in-
gredient or condition of the soil, which cannot be easily or economically
produced at pleasure.

Such are some of the points of view from which the economical con-
siderations in regard to fiber should be made.

THE VEGETABLE CELL.

Cellulose. — We now proceed to the examination of the structure of
vegetable fiber, which, like every other part of the plant, is made up
of cells, and upon the shape of these cells and their mode of attachment
to each other, the character of the fiber depends. Of common fibers,
cotton is the only one formed of a single cell. As the cell is the ulti-
mate organic element of all fibers, the study of its nature becomes the
foundation of all real knowledge of this subject.

Every living cell is an entirely closed bag, or vesicle, whose external
wall is formed of a substance called cellulose, identical in composition
with starch.

Test for cellulose. — Starch is readily recognized by the blue color
produced with a solution of iodine. This color, however, is not formed

574 AGEICULTURAL REPORT.

in cellulose by iodine alone, but the addition of sulphuric acid or of
chloride of zinc readily brings it out. An exception to this reaction
is found in the cells of some of the lower plants, which cannot, by any
means, be made to give the blue color; nevertheless, analysis has
shown that their chemical composition is identical with that of ordi-
nary cellulose.

Chemical properties of cellulose. — The study of the chemical proper-
ties of the material of the cell wall is of the greatest importance to
the arts. On the present occasion Y\^e must restrict ourselves to a few
of the most striking, which, however, are those most often brought
into use. For the demonstration of these properties we may employ
clean cotton wool, old well-washed rags, of cotton or linen, or white
paper made of cotton or linen, without the addition of mineral matter;
materials which are so nearly pure cellulose that we may safely experi-
ment upon them, instead of the substance more carefully prepared.

Although the more powerful chemical reagents have more or less action
upon cellulose, one of its most remarkable properties is the resistance
offered to the action of substances commonly considered as "corrosive."

Action of sulphuric acid. — The action of sulphuric acid (oil of
vitriol) is remarkable, producing a series of changes of a very curious
character. The first of these changes has already been referred to, as
that which enables cellulose to give a blue color, with a solution of
iodine, just as starch does. This change, however, is apparently but
a mere transition to another condition, and the peculiar property only
continues in the presence of the acid, for on the addition of water the
blue color disappears, and cannot again be produced without a second
treatment with acid.

If concentrated sulphuric acid is used in these experiments, the
action becomes too violent to be observed in its successive stages ; and
if large quantities of material are employed, without the projjer pre-
cautions, heat is produced, the cellulose is charred, and a new and
different series of reactions commences.

When concentrated sulphuric acid, to which about one half its bulk
of water has been added, is used, the cellulose swells, and is changed
into a somewhat gelatinous mass, so that the individual cells become
cemented or fused together. If the action is then arrested by the
addition of water and some alkaline substance to neutralize the re-
maining acid, the cellulose is still found wdth the same chemical com-
position as before, although its physical properties are quite changed.
Unsized paper subjected to such a treatment assumes, when dried, a
parchment-like appearance, contracts in a remarkable degree, and no
longer absorbs moisture, as the original paper did; in fact, except
where holes occur, it has become water-proof. There will probably
be many useful applications of this process, and it is to be regretted
that the credit has been taken from the original discoverers, who long
ago published the process and their investigations upon it, by those
who have more recently chosen to re-discover what must have been
knov^rn to every well-read chemist.

The prolonged action of strong sulphuric acid converts cellulose into
dextrine, a substance soluble in water, and which is also obtained from
starch. If water is added to the product, and the whole is boiled for
6ome time, the dextrine is changed, by the further action of the acid,

VEGETABLE FIBER. 375

into grape sugar, which can be obtained pure when the acid is precipi-
tated by lime. As the whole change from cellulose to grape sugar
involves merely the taking up of the elements of water, clean linen or
cotton rags, by such a process, yield more than their own weight of
sugar. The economy of this mode of manufacturing grape sugar is, at
least, doubtful, although it has recently received much attention in
Europe. Owing to the low sweetening power of this sugar, its chief
use is for fermentation into spirit for distillation. Even the most com-
mon waste material, such as saw dust, can probably be more profitably
Avorked up into certain kinds of paper, than converted into spirit.

Action of nitric acid. — Strong nitric acid, applied with proper pre-
cautions, does not decompose cellulose, but enters into combination
Avith it in various proportions, in one of which it forms the now well-
known gun-cotton, in which the original structure of the fiber is not
visibly altered. This substance, from its solubility in a mixture of
alcohol and ether, (coUodium,) is highly valuable, affording on its
evaporation a very thin and continuous water-proof film. The appli-
cations of this useful property are nov/ numerous, in photography, in
surgery, &c.

Nitric acid, by removing other substances which may be present,
enables us often to bring out the ultimate structure of the cell wall,
which would not otherwise be visible.

Action of caustic 2^otash, or soda, dtc. — Dilute solutions of caustic
potash, or soda, do not materially alter pure cellulose, while they
possess the valuable property of dissolving nearly all of the substances
which are attached to or contained in the cell wall, excepting only
the cellulose itself. In general, all solutions of salts having an alka-
line reaction have more or less of this property. We shall show,
further on, that the solvent power of alkaline solutions renders them
almost indispensable in making paper from other material than rags.

Nitrogenous matter contained in the cell. — We have hitherto treated
of the properties of pure cellulose, but it must not be imagined that
the wall of the cell is wholly made up of this substance. Every living
vegetable cell is lined with a coating (partly solid and partly soft, or
even fluid) of a compound containing nitrogen, and liable, under the
influence of heat and moisture, to enter into decomposition, which in
turn changes the cellulose itself. As the parts containing the cells
"ripen," and cease to grow, this substance disappears, wholly or in
part. The heart wood of trees, the hairs on ripe seeds, &c., contain
less of this matter than the sap-wood or the fibers of a plant taken at
the time of active growth. The presence of such a fe'rment in freshly
gathered fiber is not to be disregarded, although it has been scarcely
noticed in technical works on the subject. The terms ''gluten" and
" mucilage" have been used very vaguely and inaccurately, to denote
both the nitrogenous matter and other substances having quite differ-
ent properties. The processes usually prescribed for the preparation
of various common fibers, such as hemp and flax, being derived from
long established experience, do, in fact, though not distinctively,
refer to the presence of such a substance. But, when these methods
are to be transferred to new materials, under quite different conditions,
it becomes necessary that we should understand the reason why such,
processes have been introduced, and if these, as in the present instance,

376 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

are not generally known, it becomes the more important that they
should be examined, in order that correct principles may guide new-
applications.

The presence of a ferment in fresh fiber is not without its use, for it
aids in producing a partial decomposition in substances which it is desir-
able to remove, and which offer less resistance to such action than the
cellulose itself. But an excess of this ferment Avill, unless it is removed
or rendered inactive, endanger the strength of the product. With
fibers drawn from plants in full activity of growth, in hot climates,
this danger becomes serious, for under such circumstances, a few hours
may do damage which elsewhere might require many days for its course.
It must be remarked, too, that many, if not, indeed, most fibers, re-
quire for the attainment of the proper degree of softness and delicacy,
to be gathered before the full maturity of the parts to which they
belong. In proportion as this period is anticipated, will the nitro-
genous or fermentiscible matter be present in greater quantity.

There are two different modes of dealing vrith this material. In the
first place, it may be temporarily rendered inert by rapid drying.
This plan is adopted in the milder climates, where such plants as flax
and hemp, not very juicy at the time of maturity, are the usual fibrous
products. The after treatment may then be commenced at pleasure,
provided that the crop, in the meanwhile, is well guarded from mois-
ture.

In the second place, this material may be removed, and at the same
time produce the desired degree of fermentation, by the action of water,
either while exposed to the air, as in the process of " dew-rotting," or
when wholly immersed in water, as in "water-rotting." This latter
process may be modified by using warm water, which hastens the
desired action, leaving it, however, under the complete control of the
operator. In this case, a thorough subsequent washing seems neces-
sary to carry every vestige of the ferment. We need not dwell upon
the merits claimed, respectively, for these difierent methods, our object
simply being to point out the common principal upon which they
depend with reference to the modifications required by new materials
under new circumstances. We may remark^ however, that very hot
water would not answer, as it would, in great part, coagulate instead
of dissolving the nitrogenous matter, and at the same time prevent the
fermentation.

It is important to observe that we may entirely avoid the necessity
for fermentation of any kind by a different mode of proceeding, the
treatment with alkaline solutions, which we shall presently notice.

Incrusting matter. — The cell w^all, besides being lined with the ma-
terial just described, is also sometimes interpenetrated with another
substance, called the incrusting or lignifying matter, and best seen in
the "heart-wood" of trees, which differs from the "sap-vfood" by the
presence of this substance. It is this which gives the peculiar rigidity
to the heart-wood, and which must be removed before the cells can be
made pliable; but forming, as it does, a large percentage of such cells,
we can easily understand the uneconomical nature of the processes
which would attempt to convert hard-wood into useful fibre. The
proper solvent for the incrusting matter is caustic alkali. A brown or

VEGETABLE FIBER. 377

yellow color is, however, imparted by this reagent, and hence the
bleaching action of chlorine must be superadded to remove traces of
color caused by small remaining portions of the substance, which would
not otherwise affect the useful properties of the fiber. Paper made
from wood may frequently be detected by the yellow color caused by
the action of alkaline substances.

To describe the properties of the matter in the cork-cells, and in the
external coating of plants^ would carry us far beyond the limits as-
signed to this article. It is sufficient to say that these can also be
dissolved and removed by alkaline solutions.

Intercellular substance. — There is, however, one substance found in
connection with most fibers, whose reactions are of the utmost import-
ance ; we refer to what is called the intercellular substance, or that
which exists between the individual cells, and holds them together.
Vegetable anatomists have not yet agreed as to its origin, although
the most commonly received opinion is that this substance is derived
from the altered remains of the original, or " mother" cells, in which
the existing cells have been formed by subdivision. But, although
there may be a difference of opinion as to the origin of the intercellular
substance, there can be none as to its chemical properties. In general,
it is readily attacked by the more powerful chemical agents, which
have but little effect, or act but slowly, upon pure cellulose. But the
most suitable solvent for this substance, in the case of nearly all fibers
likely to prove useful, is an alkaline solution, which we have so often
mentioned already as a solvent for nearly all matters found in fiber,
except pure cellulose. The nature of the alkaline substance may be
varied to suit the circumstances of the case — caustic potash, or soda,
their carbonates, the lye from the ashes of plants, lime-water alone,
or mixed with potash or soda, as well as other salts with an alkaline
reaction, have all been used for the same end. The cost of these
articles will, in general, determine which is to be employed, it being
remembered, however, that caustic solutions have the most energetic
action, and are therefore most economical when rapid and powerful
effects are desired.

In every case where it is intended to separate the individual cells,
whether for the purpose of imitating cotton by the long cells from
certain fibers, such as flax, or for making paper from parts of plants
having cells too short for textile purposes, some process embracing a
treatment with an alkaline solution must be employed if economy is to
be considered. Even in the case of fibrous bundles which are to be
merely divided for textile purposes, and not decomposed into the ulti-
mate cells, a treatment with a dilute alkaline solution may be advant-
ageous. The processes of fermentation and of bleaching by chlorine
contribute to the same end, but neither of these can be employed alone
for that purpose without detriment to the strength of the product.

There is no part of the history of fibers which more strikingly illus-
trates the general want of knowledge of the subject than that which
relates to the very process which we have been considering. A few
years ago, the announcement that flax could be converted into a matter
resembling cotton, was deemed by many the most remarkable novelty
of the age, and there can be no doubt that much money was invested

378 agricultueAl report.

in the proposed new manufacture. But Lady Moira, in the year 1775,
treated flax by a method essentially the same as that just referred to,
and specimens of the product are still in existence. . The process itself,
however, was not original with this lady, hut dates back at least as far
as 1747. So, too, with the similar use of alkaline solutions for the
purpose of separating the cells of vegetable substances for paper
making. We are informed that the attempt to use this process in the
United States, in 1830, v/as stopped on the ground of the infringement
of a patent granted in 1828. But the same thing had been patented
in England, in -1801 ; and it is well known that the same method has
been in use in China for centuries, accounts of it having been published
by travelers at various times. The published list of English patents
for paper making shows at least 50 which depend upon this method,
either alone, or combined with bleaching.

Form of the cell. — Having examined the chemical properties of the
material of the cell wall, and of the substances connected with it, we
next proceed to the consideration of the form of the cell. A great
variety of forms ma}^ be found even in a single plant, but it is only the
elongated cell which is of much importance for fiber, whether it is used
in bundles of a number combined together, as in flax, or singly, as in
cotton, or broken up, as in paper stuff".

"We may best represent to ourselves the form of such cells as they
are found in the plant, by imagining a number of cylinders, v/ith more
or less pointed ends, placed together so as to ''break joint,'" and then
compressed, until the walls of adjoining cells are brought into com-
plete contact, converting each cell from a cylinder into an irregular
prism, with a cross section, showing a somewhat polygonal outline.
Hairs, such as cotton, the down of the poplar, &c., not belonging to
the solid parts of plants, are not always angular in their cross section.

Unequal thickening of the cell luall. — Spiral arrangement. — Vegetable
fibers, however, would be very limited in their applications, if each
individual cell had a wall of equal thickness throughout; they would
then resemble rods, or bundles of rods, which would tend to untwist
when twisted, and which, having no hold upon each other, could not
easily be submitted to the operation of spinning. In fact, the hairs
of many seeds, such as the ''silk cotton" of South America, and the
"down" or "silk" of many of our native plants, although apparently
of great value, from the length of the staple and from their soft and
silky character, have proved useless for all ordinary purposes, on ac-
count of their imperfectly cylindrical shape and the uniform thickness
of their walls.

But, in reality, the growth in thickness of the cellulose is in very
few cases quite uniform, the additions which are made on the inside of
the cell being confined, mainly, to certain determined lines, or spaces
The figures produced by these unequal depositions generally enable us
to recognize, under the microscope, each particular kind of fibre, even
in the most minute fragments. But the remarkable peculiarity of
most vegetable fibers is, that the unequal depositions tend to take a
spiral direction, and consequently, when dried and somewhat shrunken,
the cells, from rods, become transformed into screws, often, indeed, of
very few turns and very fine threads, but still having sufficient ine-
quality of surface to adapt them to the operation of spinning. If the

VEGETABLE FIBER. 379

cross section of the cell is angular, or if, as is sometimes the case,
these angles are produced so as to form longitudinal ribs, it can easily
be understood that, from the action above described, the result will be
a screw of very sharp thread. An instance of this kind has occurred
to us, in examining a very remarkable Japanese paper. The fragments,
or even entire cells in this paper, were of unusual length, and evi-
dently contributed to the great strength of the paper by their angular
and somewhat spiral ribs.

Even in fibers which do not in their ordinary condition show this
spiral arrangement, it may often be made manifest by the application
of chemical reagents. In the early delineations of fiber, as seen under
the microscope, the point of which we are treating seems to have been
almost entirely overlooked, but its importance is undoubted, not only
as a means of recognizing different kinds of fiber, but as affording a
good general idea of the peculiar properties of any one kind.

Pitli cells. — We have hitherto treated only of elongated ceils ; but
there are others quite different in shape, being nearly as broad as they
are long, or, if elongated, still not pointed. In these, too, the contact
of the cells generally produces planes, so that each one has as many
facets as it has points of contact with neighboring cells. This kind
of tissue has its walls, in mdst cases, but little thickened, and from the
great number of joints has but little strength in any direction. Such
cells form the substance which we call "pith,'' and, for convenience
sake, will hereafter be designated as pith cells.

The well-known Chinese pith paper is almost the only instance of
the application of such a tissue to what might be called fibrous uses.
By a spiral cut the pith is unrolled, from the circumference inward,
into a sheet, which, by a pressure slightly crushing its cells, is made
permanently flat. The extreme fragility of pith paper is a proof of
the general inajjplicability of this tissue to the purposes of which we
are treating. But, though of itself useless, the relations of pith to
fibers is of some importance, for in many cases it surrounds and iso-
lates from other structures that which we call fiber, and by the por-
tions of it which remain adhering we may often be able to determine
the precise origin of a given specimen. Paper made from the grasses,
straw, &c., can always be recognized in this way.

The removal of pith cells is one of the principal objects to be accom-
plished by fermentation, treatment v/ith alkaline solutions, or the me-
chanical processes used in the preparation of fibrous material.

Ducts. — There is also another kind of cells, which, contributing little
or nothing to the strength of fiber, by their relative position to the
elongated cells, materially influence the character of the compound
fibers in which they are found. These are the ducts, which are formed
originally of round or prismatic cells, of some length, placed one over
the other, and separated by end ppa'titions, which are not exactly trans-
verse, but slightly inclined from the horizontal. As the cells atta,in
a certain degree of maturity, these partitions become perforated, and
each series is then formed into a continuous tube.

The walls of the ducts are variously marked : sometimes the deposit
inside is in the form of separate rings, sometimes in that of spirals,
and in other cases again pits, arranged in spirals, are found in the
otherwise uniformly thickened cell wall. The diameter of the ducts

380 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

is greater than that of any other form of cell, a matter of no little in-
fluence in certain compound iibers.

The characteristic markings of the ducts, and their mode of arrange-
ment, are of service in enabling us to determine the plant from which
they are obtained.

GROUPING OF CELLS IN FIBER.

Position of fibers in the plant. — The peculiar mode of grouping of the
cells which constitute fiber, and their position in the plant, must next
receive our attention.

* There are two great divisions of the vegetable kingdom, marked both
by internal and external chara-cters, which enable the botanist to de-
cide, with the utmost readiness, upon the proper position of any plant ;
but as these characters depend upon essential differences in the mode
of growth, the two divisions are found to differ widely in the kind of
fiber produced, and in its position in the plant.

Position of fiber in endogens. — The first division is formed by what
botanists call endogens, or inside-growers. This division is best known
to us in its herbaceous forms, such as the grasses, including the cereals,
sugar-cane, and the common cane ; also, the lily, the cat-brier, and^
in short, all plants whose leaves have parallel veins. In the south, it
is represented by the yucca, or thread-and-needle plant, the agave, or
false aloe, and by the palmetto, which, like the palms of the tropics, is
furnished with a more or less hard or woody stem. These plants do
not form a regular bark, show no rings of annual growth^, and do not
increase by continued additions on the outside of the stem, as is the
case with the woods common in our climate. Such plants show, on a
cross section, no lines, but a multitude of dots, without any definite
arrangement. In a longitudinal section, it is found that these dots
are the sections of long bundles of cells, running lengthwise through
the plant. The substance in which the bundles are imbedded is en-
tirely made up of short pith cells, and the whole growth of the fiber,
which represents the wood of other plants,, is made either by their in-
crease in length or by the introduction of new branches of the bundles
among those already formed. As the stems of such plants grow old,
not being jDrovided with the means of increasing on their circumfer-
ence, they become more and more dense from the pressure of the bun-
dles in the interior. In this condition, the trunks of endogens resem-
ble our ordinary woods in solidity, but are not well adapted to furnish
fiber, which is generally obtained from the herbaceous stalks and the
leaves of plants in this division.

Structure of the fibrous bundles of endogens. — The structure of the
fiber of endogens, as developed under the microscope, is worthy of a
somewhat extended description. The cross section of the bundles is
sometimes nearly circular in outline, more commonly oval, but often
rather egg-shaped, or even heart-shaped; and in some cases it is angu-
lar, rather than rounded. Near the center of the figure, but on one
side of it, large openings will be noticed ; these are the sections of the
ducts, which we have described above. Very commonly, there are three
of these, but the number may vary ; the arrangement, however, in
most cases, being such as to approach the form of a crescent. Besides

VEGETABLE FIBER. 381

tlie large ducts, there are smaller ones, the peculiarities of whose struc-
ture we need not stop to describe. Within the crescent thus forme i
will be found a group of small cells concerned in the active growth of
the plant, and representing those cells which, in ordinary woods, are
found between the sap-wood and the bark, and which form the tissue
called by botanists the cambium. This is generally too delicate in its
structure to resist the ordinary treatment to which fibers are subjected,
and moreover contains a large portion of nitrogenous or fermentiscible
matter. It therefore not only disappears itself in the usual treatment,
but also furnishes a material which favors the separation of the re-
maining cells of the bundle.

Surrounding the different kinds of cell which have been enumerated,
we iind the true elongated cells, which form the essential constituents
of all useful fiber. In some cases these are found in greatest number
at the opposite ends of the section, especially when its outline is much
elongated ; but in a state of maturity, the whole of the bundle is in-
closed by thickened cells of this kind.

Although the most common forms of the fibrous bundles of endogens
are such as we have just described, there are many deviations from
them, some of which have no little influence upon the character of the
fiber. In the case of thin leaves of plants in this division, we have
found that those bundles which come up to the surface depart from the
ordinary mode of structure, being, in general, more ribbon-shaped and
round in outline.

Changes produced in the preparation of fiber from endogens. — We
have sought in vain for any account of the character of the fiber which
ordinary processes produce from such bundles. Our own examination
of a large collection of specimens leads to the following views : The
ducts, large and small, and the cambium, disappear, while only the
elongated cells remain . Two different conditions may then be attained .
In one, the hardened, elongated cells form a continuous boundary to
the other tissues. In this case the result will be a collapsed tube,
nearly round, when the outer cells are much hardened, as in some of
the palms, or more or less flattened, when the external rows of cells
are softer, and the ducts, and other evanescent tissues on the inside,
form a large portion of the section of the bundle. The twist, or wind^
of such fibers will depend partly upon the spiral structure in each cell,
but still more upon the mode of arrangement of the individual cells in
the bundle. In the other case, the exterior row of cells is not suffi-
ciently hardened, or does not form a continuous boundary to the bun-
dle, and then, when the interior portions give way, the groups of
elongated cells open into a ribbon, which often has a tendency to sep-
arate into two parts.

As a general rule, the round or collapsed tubes are derived from the
older portions of the trunks, or thick leaves — the ribbons from the thin
leaves of endogenous plants. The respective diameters of such bundles
of fiber will have their influence upon the processes to which they may
be subjected, and in most cases, from their length, measured by feet
and inches, they are best adapted to manufacture of cordage, unless
divided by a further treatment into portions, which are, when spun,
fitted for the finer textile purposes.

382 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Structure of strips from the leaves and stalks of endogens. — There is
one case in whicli the structure of the fibers from endogens is more
complex than that before described. We refer to the palms, grasses,
&c., in which strips from the leaves or stalks are used, when, in addi-
tion to the proper fibrous bundles, we have also the external cells, or
cuticle, which, with its indurated and glazed surface, adds. to the
strength, while it detracts from the fineness and pliability of the fiber
produced. Material of this kind is best adapted to the uses about to be
noticed.

Textile fabrics from untwisted fiber of endogens. — While the great
length of the individual bundles of fibers of endogens best fits them
for spinning, or twisting into cordage, it also permits of a textile use
without twisting, which has numerous useful applications. Straw, or
its substitutes, furnish the best instance of untwisted endogenous fiber,
made into useful fabrics by plaiting. Again, in some kinds of eastern
matting, we find the "filling" made up of the untwisted parts of leaves
or stalks, while the "chain" is formed from a twisted fiber of a
diiferent character. On the other hand we find, in a remarkably strong
fabric from Madagascar, strips, apparently from the leaf of a palm,
woven into cloth, in which both the chain and the filling are formed
from the same material, the continuity of each being made by knotting
or tying the ends of the long strips as originally obtained from the
palm ; the evidence of the mode of union being the knots appearing at
intervals upon the surface of the cloth.

The fabric above described was contributed, through the Smithsonian
Institution, by a merchant well known for his devotion to science in
all departments, and is highly interesting even in a purely commercial
point of ViQX'f. There were two different specimens, one quite coarse
and the other of a finer texture, seeming to differ only by the degree
of subdivision of the leaf. Both of the specimens, but more especially
the finer of the two, seemed admirably fitted, by their peculiar stiffness,
to fill all the requisites of the material known as "crinoline." If the
actual commercial wants of the day had been thoroughly understood
and acted upon, we should have had, but not for the first time, the
demands of the fashions of an advanced civilization best answered by a
supply of material from barbarous nations. Kecent developments in
the world of fashion show that, in a transition state, this kind of
fabric may yet be of universal prevalence. We dwell upon this point
for the purpose of shoAving that the varying and apparent!}^ arbitrary
demands of commerce may often be supplied in the most unexpected
manner, and from the most distant sources.

But by far the most curious fabric of this kind is the piiia, (pro-
nounced "pinya,") which, although made in the East, is produced
from the fiber of the pine-apple, indigenous to the New YVorld. Under
the microscope this remarkable cloth, fine in texture, and unrivaled
by any similar product of the vegetable kingdom, shows woven but
untwisted filaments of the finest character ; and the wonder is how
such a fabric could be formed. But this difficulty disappears when we
are informed that the fibers produced by the usual treatment of the
pine-apple fibers are glued together by their ends, so as to form a con-

VEGETABLE FIBER. 383

tinuous line. Instead of visible knots, we have here what are called
invisible knots, which give to the piiia its peculiarly even character.

We have dwelt at length upon the fabrics above described for the
purpose of showing that, in a country where labor is cheap, productions
may be afforded at moderate cost, which could not possibly be made
under other circumstances at a price which v/ould not prove at all
remunerative. We must, therefore, learn that the cheap products of
the dense i^opulation of the East cannot be economically imitated on
our own soil, unless machinery be made to take the place of manual
labor, which, in the cases last named, cannot be done, in so far as we
are now informed.

Treatment of endogenous fibers. — The treatment to which endogenous
fibers must be subjected will at once be evident from what has been
said above. The bundles lie isolated in a mass of short and generally
tender pith cells. In some cases a purely mechanical process is suffi-
cient to remove the useless short cells from the fiber. Mere scraping,
In some instances, answers the desired end; sometimes the action of
rollers is best adapted to the purpose. But a complete separation of
the adhering remains of short cells cannot be attained by merely me-
chanical treatment ; maceration in water, or some degree of fermenta-
tion, is needed when we wish to obtain a neat and clean fiber. After
this, some mechanical process will be found most eiiectual in removing
the partially detached fragments of tissues which do not add to the
strength of the fibre.

Endogenous fibers of the United States. — Within the bounds of the
United States there are few native endogenous plants capable of afford-
ing long fiber except in the South and Southwest. The grasses and
sedges, the most abundant representatives of this division of the vege-
table kingdom, are, unless in the case of plaits for straw or "Leghorn,"
seldom worth much as materials for long fiber, although they may be
useful for the manufacture of paper. But the yuccas and palmetto of
the South, and the agaves of the Southwest, are capable of furnishing
long fiber of excellent quality. In fact, the arid, plains of the south-
western portion of the United States seem capable of no vegetable pro-
duction more valuable tha,n fibers of this class. From private informa-
tion we learn that much material of this kind is carried into Mexico,
while little is known in the United States of plants which, even in
their spontaneous growth, might contribute largely to our industrial
resources.

Value of microscopic examination of endogens. — The j^oint upon which
we are most anxious to insist, in this direction, is, that an accurate
knowledge of the chemical properties and of the structure of endoge-
nous fibres, as developed by the microscope, will enable us to determine,
in the most expeditious manner, the nature of the process by which
the best kinds of product may be obtained from any given plant. For
instance, from a microscopic examination we may be able at once to
show what kind of treatment vv^ill resolve the bundles of fiber into
slightly collapsed tubes, or into ribbons. In fact, the peculiar con-
ditions required by the manufacturer are not yet sufficiently well
known: and it is only by the light afforded by accurate scientific

384 AGRICULTUHAL REPORT.

determinations tliat the consumer and producer can be mutually
benefited.

Fiber of exogens — hast cells and their mode of growth. — In the second
grand division of the vegetable kingdom the mode of growth is totally
different from that last described. Here the wood cells, tolerably short,
intermixed with ducts, (except in the case of the pine family,) and
with pith cellS;, form the mass of the stem or trunk, which increases
only by new growth on its outside, and hence such plants are called
exogens or outside growers. None of the tissues of the trunk afford
long fibers, which are only found in the bark, and are commonly
known as bast cells. They are often of great length, but little hard-
ened, and form, wdth the exception of cotton, the most valuable fibers
of commerce produced in temperate climates.

The mere indication however that exogens increase by growth on their
circumference gives no idea of the way in which the long fibers increase,
and we must go somewhat into detail to make this subject clear. If we
examine the l)ranch of a linden, of the present year's growth, we will
find a central pith, and rows of pith cells diverging from this, (medul-
lary rays,) which are continued into the bark. These divergent rays
are not continuous in a vertical direction,, and it is readily seen that,
if they were, woods of all kinds would easily be separated into wedges,
meeting at the center of the trunk. Longitudinal, or rather tangential
sections show that the medullary rays are merely bundles of no very
great depth in the direction of the axis of the plants, and that they .
alternate or break joint with each other, so that the wood cells, in spite
of such interruption, give a continuous support to any end pressure,
even when not exactly perpendicular.

The '' cambium," or tissue, which is directly concerned in the mul-
tiplication of cells, lies on the outside of the wood and inside of the
bark. The new wood cells are added on a constantly increasing circum-
ference, but the bast cells are formed in the same place ; so that, while
the wood increases on the end of wedges pointing to the center -of the
plant, the bast cells are increased at the same place, and therefore in
wedges in the bark, which are increasing inwardly. If the wood, there-
fore, is exogenous, and grows outwardly, the bast cells are endogenous,
or increase inwardly. This distinction between the mode of growth of
the wood and of the bark is of the utmost importance, and, as far as
fibres are concerned, is the clue to their whole history in this branch of
the vegetable kingdom.

It would carry us far beyond our limits if we should describe the
peculiarities of the mode of growth of the bast in different plants. It
will be sufficient to say that the medullary rays are prolonged into the
bark in all cases, and that the bast is formed between their ends, con-
forming exactly to them, so that its fibers, winding first to one side and
then to the other, seem to interlace, while in reality they merely leave
a space for the ends of the medullary rays. This structure may be
readily demonstrated in the "lace bark" which is sometimes used to
tie bundles of cigars. Although apparently interlacing, vfe can easily
show that the fibres only approach and recede from each other. • It
is true that the rows of bast cells are not always continuous from
the wood toward the outside of the bark, and that pith cells intervene

VEGETABLE FIBER. 385

■between them ; but the effect of this is, simply to produce successive
layers of the hast, all having the same character.

In harks of great age, it must be evident that the hast cells constantly
increasing on the inside, and therefore, forming wedge-shaped bundles,
with the bases inward, must in time produce a disturbance and even a
rupture of the outside of the compound, structure known as bark. This
is generally the case: the bark gradually splits on the outside, and,
in some plants, the dead bast cells even hang in strips from the trunk.
But it is only in a few cases that this evident separation of the long
bast cells takes place in plants which furnish useful long fiber. If the
external portion of the bark, which constitutes an air and water-tight
covering to the tissues beneath, has disappeared, the bast cells are ex-
posed to the atmospheric agents, and undergota change by oxydation,
which not only impairs their original softness, but darkens their color
to a hue wliich is with difficulty reinoved by bleaching agents, pro-
ducing, in this respect, the same effect which always follows an imper-
fect preparation of fiber when its exposure to the air has been unduly
prolonged.

We cannot, therefore, except for coarse cordage or for paper, employ
the external, weather-stained bast ; it is only the inner and unaltered
.layers which can be used for the finest purposes ; and it then becomes
a question of the rapidity of growth of the bast, in each particular plant,
to determine how long it should be allowed to stand before taking the
crop. In trees which attain a great size, the cutting down of the tree
and stripping of the bark would involve so much labor that a limit
would soon be reached beyond which the economical production of fiber
would be impossible. It is true that in semi-civilized countries, where
labor is cheap, materials may be obtained at a low price, which could
not in other hands pay for the cost of the labor expended upon them.
But it must also be remembered that unless the population is dense,
as in India or in China, the supply cannot be kept up, even at a cheap
rate of labor. Many disappointments, caused by undue hopes excited
by plants which really do yield an abundance of fiber, can be traced to
the simple neglect of the economical question just mentioned.

But, in fact, the chief product of bast, of any consequence in com-
merce, from trees of any size, is that known by the name of "bass,"
or ' ' bast," obtained from the bark of the linden, in Prussia ; and, in this
case, the strips, of a convenient size, are directly interwoven, and. do not
undergo any process like that of spinning. The bast-mats thus made
are well known to the gardener, both as a cheap and excellent covering
for many purposes, and as affording a substitute for twine — remarkably
well adapted to horticultural use. It is not at all likely that, for many
years, the conditions of labor in the United States will permit anything
like a profitable employment of our own species of linden in a like
manner.

The cost of stripping the bark from exogens will, therefore, at once
set a limit to the production of fiber from such plants ; and' this limit
alone would long since have diminished our supplies but for other
conditions which we next propose to develop.

Bast of herhaceous plants. — Many plants of this great division of
the vegetable kingdom are herbaceous : that is, grow with but little
25 A

386 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

strength to the stem for one year, and tlien die down to the ground,
or altogether. Even perennial plants of warmer climates may, in the
milder regions of the temperate zones, become annuals. In the case
of true annuals, there is no need for any great hardening of the
woody tissues of the stem, as the sole end to be attained is a sufficient
support for the plant until it flowers and the seed ripens. Herba-
ceous stems, which die down to the ground each year, are evidently
designed for a similar, restricted end. In the case of perennials,
which_, in other climates might become, at length, woody shrubs, a
single year's growth is not enough to allow of much induration of the
wood cells ; and hence they approach nearly to the condition of true
annuals, although the tendency to produce firm wood is constantly
shown. If, under eith«r of these three heads, a plant is found which
furnishes a long and useful bast, a common and well-known mode of
treatment can be economically employed for the separation of the
fiber. The plant is exposed to the action of air and moisture, with
more or less of fermentation, until the different tissues become sepa-
rated, and even until the different cells are loosened in their adhesion.
The crude product is then subjected to the operation of "breaking,"
by which the harder and shorter woody fibers are broken, and in part
removed, while the pliability of the bast allows it to pass through the
treatment without injury. At the same time, the short and more
tender cells are also removed, the latter stages of the process differing
for different plants, all contribute to the complete separation of the
remains of the adherent and useless tissues.

Two things, then^ must concur to make a useful fibrous plant, for
not only must the bast be long, pliant, and in bundles of the proper
size, but the wood v/hich is to be rejected must be brittle, with short
cells, not much hardened or not strongly adhering together. Flax and
hemp are, in our own country, the best specimens of these favorable
conditions, but we have other plants nearly, if not quite as well
, adapted to the manufacture of useful fiber ; and other countries show
that nature has not been stinted in her supply of materials capable of
.meeting one of the first wants of mankind.

Influence of culture upon fibrous exogens. — If we have been suc-
cessful in communicating a clear idea of these conditions, the ready
conclusion must be that differences in degree, even in the same plant,
under varying circumstances, must frequently occur ; the wood may
become harder and greater in amount, the bast weaker and less in
quantity, and the necessary inference might be drawn that judgment
and skill in the culture of the plants would favorably modify these
conditions. Experience, in advance of anything like an accurate
knowledge of plant structure, has shown that this is true, at least for
our common fibrous crops. Single stalks of hemp or other fibrous
plants allowed to grow at a distance from each other, or from other
plants, would furnish but sorry specimens of fiber, if, when collected,
they were managed as the results of an ordinary crop. A single plant
invariably shows a hard woody stem, and a coarse fiber in the bark.
But when a number of plants are grown in a small space, every one
knows that they grow longer, and are more slender than when left to
themselves. In this way the strength of the wood is much dimin-

VEGETABLE FIBER. 387

islied, and the fiber of tlie bark, if less abundant, is finer and possibly
longer. If the plant has a tendency to branch, this is prevented, and
the neat preparation of fiber from a branching stem is no easy matter.

The close cultivation of cotton, okra, and other plants, which we are
accustomed to see separated from each other, would probably show a
fiber in the bark far more capable of treatment by the ordinary pro-
cesses than would be suspected by most persons. A knowledge of
correct principles is here of the greatest advantage, when new mate-
rials are concerned. The influence of soils and the details of the
treatment of the crop are beyond the bounds of this article.

Fiber of the Mallow family. — A mere enumeration of the exogenous
fibrous plants would alone form a small volume. We can here only
notice, in a genera-l way, some of the most remarkable families, or
individual plants, to which attention might profitably be directed.
The Mallow family is noted in all parts of the world for the production
of fine fiber in the bark. A great number of malvaceous plants are
natives of the United States; many of these, in the southwest, are
popularly unkftown, but a trial of their capacities will be a great public
service. Our great staple, the common cotton, is obtained from the
wool upon the seed, and is therefore not a bark fiber ; but as the cotton
is a malvaceous plant, its bark might be supposed to be a good fiber.
This has been verified, as shown by an article in the Patent Office
Keport for 1854. But the cotton, in other regions, grows to a tree,
and if we allow it to produce seeds abundantly, as it must do, to
afford an abundant crop of the wool or hair which clothes the seeds,
the .stem will, as a matter of course, become hard and woody. No
one can imagine that there would be profit in cultivating the cotton
for the fiber of thesbark, at the sacrifice of the more manageable and
valuable product attached to its fruit. But the okra, which is only
raised for its esculent, immature seed-vessels, seems much better
adapted to profitable employment in this direction. The fineness and
abundance as well as the strength of the fiber are such as to render
experiments with this plant, under close cultivation, highly desirable.
From specimens in our own collection, it would seem probable that the
quantity of fiber on a single plant might, under lavorable circum-
stances, be sufiicient to pay for the process of stripping by hand.

Fibers of the Nettle family . — The Nettle family, in all of its subdivi-
sions, produces plants abounding in excellent fiber. One division, the
Hemp sub-family, contains not only the well-known hemp itself, but
the hop, which, although not cultivated for its fiber, has been tried
for paper making. The Bread-fruit, or Mulberry sub-family,- includes
not only the different species of mulberry, but the common paper mul-
berry, and this, although not a native of the United States^ grows readily
everywhere. All of these are fibrous plants, but the last is the most
useful.

Our Osage orange of the South, has not, as far as we are aware, been
examined for its fiber, which, however, may yet be found useful.

The paper mulberry is cultivated over so large a portion of the
earth's surface that it is somewhat remarkable that no attempt has
ever been made in the United States to obtain fiber from it. In the
Pacific islands this plant furnishes the paper-like cloth known as tapa.

388 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

In Japan, China, and elsewhere, it is used for making paper of supe-
rior quality. For fibrous purposes the paper mulberry should be cul-
tivated so as to give long and slender shoots, after the manner of the
osier or basket willow. Whether the bark could be removed by break-
ing instead of stripping, is a point upon which we have no information.

If ever the culture of silk should be extended in this country, the
remains of the ordinary mulberry shoots might be used in the same
manner just described as applicable to the paper mulberry.

The Nettle family proper is, in all parts of the vforld, productive of
valuable fibrous plants. The most remarkable of these, the far-famed
"China grass," has been described by us in the Patent Office Report
for 1855, where it will be seen that the individual cells of the fiber ex-
ceed in length those known in any other plant. We have an indigenous
species of Boehmeria, the genus to which the China grass belongs, but
this seems never to have been examined. Of our species of true nettle,
(Urtica,) one, which is an introduced plant, has been employed in
Europe. In the Western States, before the cultivation of the soil for
anything bat articles of food had been commenced, unties of sponta-
neous growth were used as a substitute for flax, and we have often seen
persons who remembered the time when shirts were made from nettles.
We cannot learn whether any attempts have ever been made to culti-
vate these plants^, nor do we know even the particular species which
have been used.

Fibers of the Dog-bane family, — The Dog-bane family, in various
parts of the world, is represented by plants remarkable for their fiber.
Two species of Apocynium in the United States are rather well known,
both for their medicinal properties and for their fiber. One of these,
the A. cannabinum, or "Indian hemp," has its properties represented
both by its botanical and its common name. Experiments on the
cultivation of this plant are desirable.

Fibers of the Milkiveed family. — Nearly allied to this last is the
Milkweed family, best known by the different species of milkweed, or
silkweed, (Asclepias.) The commonest and best known of these, the
A. cornuti, (the A. syriaca of Linnseus,) often attracts attention by
the abundant and beautiful "silk" upon the seed contained in its pods.
This substance, however, has but few useful applications, for the cells
are cylindrical and perfectly smooth and even in their walls ; they are
therefore incapable of taking any strong hold upon each other, either
in paper or in textile fabrics. We do not mean to say that paper
cannot be made from this substance, for there is a specimen of such
paper ia the curious work of Dr. J. C. Schaeffer, published in 1765,
and even there it is mentioned as having been made a few years before
by a correspondent of the author. An examination of this specimen,
and the care which has been taken to preserve it from injury, shows
that it cannot possess any great strength. It is barely possible that
the action of nitric acid, or of other reagents which tend to develop
the spiral structure in the plant cell, might improve the properties of
this silk, although it hardly seems probable that the result would pay
for the cost and trouble. Used as wadding, or floss, this substance
may find direct employment, for articles of great beauty have often
been made from it.

VEGETABLE FIBER. 389

This plant has been made the subject of numerous communications
to the Patent Office, generally hy persons Avho have been actuated by
the promising appearance of the silk. Some of the correspondents
Lave desired to obtain a monopoly of the use of the plant for fibrous
purposes, an end, it is hardly necessary to say, which the patent laws
of the United States cannot accomplish. In some cases, however, cor-
respondents, with a laudable desire for the general good, have called
attention to it, under the erroneous impression that its useful proper-
ties were unknown. In fact, there is no one of our native plants which
more curiously illustrates the general want of knowledge of our own
products, which are, however, much better known and appreciated
elsewhere ; and, indeed, it can hardlj^ be possible that any other case
can be found of a similar character.

The name given by Linnteus to the common silkweed implies that
it is a native of S3a'ia, but according to our best botanists, this is not
correctj, for it has been ascertained to be "a native of this country only,"
(Grray). Yet this plant is cultivated in Europe; directions for its
treatment can be found in German works, and we have seen specimens
of the fiber prepared in Kussia. Still, v/e know of but two notices of
the bast, or bark fiber, of the Asclepias in American books. One of
these is a notice of a patent granted in 1834, to Mrs. Margaret
Gerrish ; the other, an article in a much older publication, which
shows that the true value of the plant was well understood even in the
last century, and that its product was even an article of commerce.
Unfortunately, we have not now access to the work last mentioned.
It is plain, however, that the early knowledge of the fiber of the silk-
week caused its introduction into Europe, where it has finally become
a cultivated plant, while in its native country but little is known of its
true value.

The history and an accurate description of the silkweed as a fibrous
plant would alone form a highly instructive and valuable contribution
to the knowledge of our native products.

The bast of the Asclepias furnishes a fine, long, and glossy fiber.
We have verified this fact, in Kentucky, comparing the silkweed with
the hemp, produced under the best system of culture. In this case,
however, the native fiber was taken in winter from the decayed stalks,
as they stood upon the ground where they grew without culture, while
the hemp had not only been cultivated but treated afterward with the
usual care. The fiber of the silkweek was nearly if not quite as
strong as that of the hemp, but apparently finer and more glossy,
while the quantity from a single stalk of each was nearly the same.

The culture of this plant is said to be without difficulty, and almost
every one has noticed it growing, even upon poor soils. As it is a
perennial, with strong roots, successive crops might, for a long time,
be obtained from one sowing of the seeds or planting of the roots.

We wish it to be understood that it is not our object to exaggerate
the value of the milkweed, but merely to excite an interest in the cul-
ture of a neglected native plant, which has in other countries received
more attention than it has in our own. The fiber may be ranked
between that of flax and of hemp, for textile purposes, while, if the

390 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

commercial demand for sncli uses were not sufl&cient, tlie cultivation
for paper stuff, at once, might prove remunerative.

Fih^ous plants not necessarily an exhausting crop. — In this connection
we must mention one important matter relating to the culture of
fibrous plants, many of which are supposed to exhaust the soil in a
peculiar manner. It is true that such plants do often withdraw from
the soil a large portion of soluble inorganic matter, which, if the crop
were wholly carried off, would soon leave the soil incapable of sustain-
ing a future crop of the same plant. But the fiber itself contains only
a small percentage of these ingredients, which are directly measured
by the ash. This is found in greatest quantity in the refuse of the
crop. If, then, the rotting is done upon the same field which pro-
duced the plant, many of the soluble matters' are at once restored to
the soil from which they had been drawn. The leaves fall upon the
ground, and carry back other mineral ingredients, and finally the
refuse, after breaking, restores most of the remainder. Hence, if the
ashes of the refuse are returned to the soil, there is but little left
which must artificially be added to restore its original condition.
These relations of the fiber to the plant from which it is drawn are too
little known, and yet a v/ant of such knowledge is frequently the
cause of wholly unnecessary exhaustion of the soil.

Structure of hast cells. — We have given no minute account of the
characters of bast, as the varieties are almost endless. As a general
rule, the cell-walls are rather thick, showing the spiral structure,
while the cells are longer than in any other vegetable tissue, and,
in some cases, are not simple, but more or less branching. The
thickened walls are scarcely ever filled with the rigid, incrusting
matter found in the wood-cells of the stem; hence the greater pliability
of the bast. The bundles of fiber in their section, although commonly
wedge-shaped, are sometimes semi-cylindrical, but the intervention of
rows of pith-cells, which disappear in preparing the fiber, in most in-
stances leaves the bast in flat ribbons. All of these peculiarities may,
at once, be readily determined by a microscopic examination, aided by
the proper chemical tests.

We have said but little of the wood of exogens, because it rarely
furnishes a useful fiber, except for the purpose of paper-making, upon
which we are about to make a few remarks.

Cotton, structure of the cell. — Cotton we have only mentioned inci-
dentally, because it does not form a constituent of any of the tissues
which we have described, being made up, as has been stated, of the
hairs, each one a single cell upon the seeds of the plant. The great
value of cotton, and that which distinguishes it from all known hairs
of plants, is the spiral structure of the cell-wall, recognized not only
in the finer markings upon the fiber, but by the form of the entire
cell, which may best be represented as a tube flattened until the
ojiposite sides nearly or quite meet, but with this flattening not in one
place, but in a spiral direction. Every degree of twist may be found
in cotton, some fibers being scarcely more than ribbons, while others
are very well described as screws. Upon this character, combined
with the fineness and length of the cells, the value of the fiber mainly
depends. In previous articles in the Patent Ofiice Keports we have

VEGETABLE FIBER. 391

furnisbed information upon this subject, but much yet remains to be
determined, which can only be done after a more careful study of a
great variety of specimens, and under favorable circumstances, which
have not yet occurred to any one capable of such an investigation.

FIBROUS MATERIALS FOR PAPER.

Historical notice. — The complaint that rags alone were not sufficient
to supply the wants of the paper-maker dates back at least one hun-
dred years ; and that this complaint has not been without foundation
is shown by the constant increase in the price of rags. Improvements
in the process of manufacture, and the introduction of new material,
have, at intervals, delayed this increase in price, but only for a short
time. The demand for new material for paper-making has led to
many investigations, the most remarkable of which are those detailed
in the work of Dr. J. 0. Schaeflfer, before mentioned. This book is
illustrated by a large number of specimens of paper made from differ-
ent substances in the house of the author. In making his paper the
old-fashioned pounding machine was used, and the material was only
reduced to the condition of " half stuffy the specimens are therefore
rather coarse. Chlorine, our great modern bleaching agent, being
unknown at that time, the paper presents the natural hue of the
material. In many of the specimens there is a mixture with rags, but
some of the most curious have no such addition. The leaves, stems,
and hairs of various plants, moss, algte, shavings and saw-dust oi
woods of different kinds, wasp-nests, old shingles, potato peelings,
and apparently every accessible source of vegetable fiber, were experi-
mented upon, and specimens of the paper furnished ; in one case the
mineral kingdom is made to contribute paper from asbestus.

The publication of this work seems to have given some stimulus to
this new branch of industry, and new materials have gradually come
into use. The process of bleaching by chlorine, or its compounds,
gave a new impetus, as it brought into use serviceable fibers which,
from their color, had previously been inapplicable to the manufacture
of white paper. From time to time other works with specimens have
appeared, but the modes of treatment were essentially the same as
those introduced about the end of the last century, and these, \fQ have
already shown, with the exception of bleaching by chlorine, had been
known for centuries in the East. The latest work of consequence, with
actual specimens, was published by L. Piette in 1838.

Piette mainly confines himself to straw ; but, making use of chemi-
cal agents, he has produced paper of superior quality. The specimens
are particularly valuable, as they show, not only paper from each
material unmixed, but from various intermixtures of the materials
with each other and with rags. A very slight examination of Piette's
specimens will be enough to satisfy any one that good, strong, white,
and smooth paper may be made of straw, the productions of the differ-
ent kinds, however, having peculiarities. The author does not seem to
have a very high opinion of paper made from wood, and gives, as a
specimen of the best mode of using this material, a very neat sliaving
which, at first sight, looks like a delicately tinted paper. Strange as

392 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Piette's suggestions may appear, we have in our collection a very
elegant visiting caTcl, printed in Paris, not upon paper, but upon a
tliin and uniform shaving of wood. This use of wood seems destined
to extend the meaning of the word ''shingle," from the sign to the
card.*

As an evidence of the supply of paper stuff from other substances
than rags, as far as Europe is concerned, we may state, from good
authority, that single establishm.ents use for such purpose straw, wood,
or even stable manures to the extent of hundreds of tons annually.

The manufacture of paper from straw, wood, &c., in the United
States, originated between 1828 and 1830. The first article made, in
any quantity, was a coarse and rather brittle wrapping-paper, from
straw, but an article from wood, good enough to use for newspapers,
was made about the same time. This branch of industry has, how-
ever^ made but little progress, except for coarser purposes, although
fair white paper has been made from both straw and wood. It is to
be remarked that waste rope and bagging, and fibers of all kinds, enter
largely into the manufacture of the best kinds of paper ; the modes of
treatment in all cases being essentially the same^ the source of supply
being determined by the cost.

Condition of fiber, as found in paper. — Although the manufacture
of paper from various materials has, so far as the processes are con-
cerned, attained a high state of advancement, the minute study of the
condition of the fiber in paper seems to have received scarcely any
attention until a quite recent date. So far as we can learn, the first
investigation on this subject was announced by Keissek, in a commu-
nication to the Koyal Academy of Sciences in Vienna, in 181:5, but not
published until 1852. This article is illustrated by several figures,
which correctly represent fiber, mainly flax, as found in papers of dif-
ferent qualities. In the next year Schacht published a work, in which
the fiber from paper made of various materials is well illustrated.
From these drawings, and from the descriptions of the authors, it is
easy to understand the condition to which paper stuff must be reduced,
and if our previous account of the structure of the vegetable cell is
remembered, we may, in a few w^ords, convey a correct idea of the
nature and condition of the fiber in paper, even without the aid of
drawings.

It will not be necessary, in this place, to describe the engine by
which rags, &c., are reduced to pulp for paper; it is sufficient to say
that by its action the fiber is broken, not cut, into fragments, the
length of which is but a very small fraction of an inch. If the fiber
could be divided by a clean cut, no paper could be ma,de from the
resulting pulp, for it is the rough and jagged ends of the fragments
which give the peculiar felting property to ordinary paper stuff. In-
stead of "fiber," in this paragraph, we might rather have said "cells,"
for, in reality, the peculiar kind of fracture of which we have been
speaking depends upon the breaking up of the cells; a mere separation
of the cells from each other would give, as must be evident, but a use-

* Since this was written we have learned that "chip " cards have been introduced into the
United States, and arc now on sale at the stores.

VEGETABLE FIBER. 393

less product. The material introduced into the engine is, with few
exceptions, a compound fiber, and as there is not a perfect separation
of the cells laterally, however much they may be broken in their
length, we have used the word "fiber" advisedly.

If the walls of the cell were of uniform thiclaiess, there would be
no reason why they should break with any other than an even and
nearly transverse fracture ; but if we remember the constant tendency
to a spiral direction in the thickening of the cell wall, we can readily
understand that the operation of the paper engine will be to fray the
broken ends of the ceils into strips, which will take a more or less
spiral direction, when they are free to take the most natural position.
The paper pulp being suspended in water, having nearly its own spe-
cific gravity, these frayed ends will readily resume the original turn
or twist which they had as thickened portions of the cell wall. Hence
the felting property of paper stuff, v/hich, by the intertwining of even
the smallest fragments of a cell, allows the whole mass, on drying, to
form a continuous and coherent sheet. The introduction of size, as a
matter of course,, increases the cohesion, but a consideration of this
part of paper manufacture, and its further consequences, would lead
us beyond our limits.

We have spoken of the cells as broken, but it must be evident, from
the variety of directions in which they are presented to the beating
surfaces in the engine, that they are often split ; but this does not alter
the condition of things, for the direction of the split will be the same
with that of the frayed ends. The interlacing properties, derived from
the character of the outside surface of the cell, need not be insisted
upon here, since we have already said enough upon this point.

The fineness and smoothness of the paper from any given material
depends upon the degree of comminution of the fiber, which may be
carried so far as to leave nothing but split and frayed fragments,
scarcely a single cell retaining its original diameter. The strength of
the paper, of course, diminishes with such a treatment, a fine and yet
strong fabric being only produced by a due mixture of portions of fibre
representing the two extremes of subdivision. The best condition
would be attained when each fragment, as far as possible, exemplified
the two extremes — that is, when portions of cells, retaining their
original diameter, would be furnished with a long and abundant fringe
of frayed ends. The experience and skill of the paper-maker has, in
a general way, led to the attainment of desired results, with old and
well-knov/n material, but this has been done in ignorance of the pre-
cise conditions uj)on which these results depend, and for any new mate-
rial, time and expense only can be employed, to acquire an equally
good skill and experience. But by a knowledge of the precise char-
acter of the material, obtained from microscopic examination, and by
the aid of a few reagents, a sound basis may be laid for intelligent
experiment, with a saving of both time and trouble.

Microscopic examination of loood for paper stuff. — As an illustration
of our assertion, let us suppose that a certain wood is proposed as a
material for the paper-maker. The thinnest possible cross section is
examined under the microscope, and the figure as well as the thickness
©f the wood cells, noted. The specimen is next treated with solution

394 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of iodirie, and tlien witli chloride of zinc, or dilute sulphuric acid, and
again observed. The portions colored blue will show how much of the
cell wall retains its original character, and those which are reddish-
brown show the infiltration and deposit of the incrusting matter. A
similar section is next to be treated in the same way, after having
been boiled in a solution of caustic potash, or soda. The increased
portion colored blue and the diminution of the red will show how much
•of the useless incrusting matter has been removed, and by repeating
the experiment we can soon obtain an approximate estimation of the
amount of and the cost of removing the useless ingredients. We can
also obtain a correct idea of the outline of the section of the individual
cells, whether angular, rounded, or ribbed, points which we have
before shown are of no little value. A small portion of a very thin
shaving of the wood, in a longitudinal direction, is, after boiling in an
alkaline solution, again examined. If the cells are not well separated,
we may resort to some of the more powerful reagents, or if the shaving
is, microscopically speaking, thin enough, we may use needles to tear
the cells apart. We then observe the length of the individual cells,
and, above all, the markings upon them, which show the uniformity
or spiral arrangement of the thickened portions. We are then pre-
pared to give, in accordance with what has been said above, a good
approximate estimate of the value of the wood as a material for paper-
making.

We have selected wood as an illustration, because we have not, as
yet, particularly described its structure, and because two important
points, the length of the cells and the quantity of incrusting matter,
are brought under consideration. Almost any substance, otherwise
useful as fiber, may be converted into paper, yet the relative values of
different materials may be determined by the methods above described.

Structure of wood cells. — As a general rule, the cells of wood are
short, with pointed ends, and may sometimes be even too short for
paper stuff. Interspersed among the true wood cells, Ave always find
the ducts, described above, with the single exception of the pine family,
which may always be recognized by the "disks," with a "pore" in
their center, found generally on the radial surface of the cells. In the
Coniferce, or pines, we often find an abundance of resin ; this, like the
incrusting matter, must be removed by an alkaline solution.

In the Pine family, which most largely contributes wood for the
manufacture of paper, we find notable difi'erences in the character of
the cells, and are thus able, even in fossil woods, to determine the exact
character of the plant. Without any trial, we can say that the yew
(Taxus,) and its ally Torreya, would furnish a material for paper, with
peculiar properties, derived from the remarkable spiral thickening of
the cells. Unfortunately, trees of these genera are not abundant
enough to warrant even an experimental examination.

In some woods, in addition to the medullary rays, made up of what
we have called pith cells, there is another tissue of similar cells, which
cannot be expected to add to the strength of paper stuff.

Economy of using looodfor 'paper stuff. — It is, therefore, easy to deter-
mine what sort of wood is best adapted to paper-makiag, and we have
in our collection specimens which show that the range of choice is bv

SALT IN AGRICULTURE. 395

no means limited. But another question of economy arises, which
has excited much inquiry and invention, namely, the most advanta-
geous method of reducing solid wood to the requisite degree of fineness,
for subsequent treatment. A good rule, equally applicable to the
manures of the farmer and to the supply of the paper-making material,
we would give in a few words : tise luhat others ivaste. If the thousands
of tons of saw-dust, annually v/asted at the different saw-mills in
the country, could be collected in one place, there would be no want
of material for paper of a certain quality. But as this cannot be done,
we may fairly suppose that, in some localities, an abundant supply
may be maintained ; if not, resort must be had, provided that the wood
itself is cheap enough, to mechanical means of disintegration^ which
are beyond the bounds of our present inquiry.

When grass, straw, or herbaceous plants are used for making paper,
a new matter for consideration arises. The great abundance of pith
cells in these is wholly, or in part, removed, and passes off as waste,
either in the treatment with alkaline solutions, or from the paper
engine. The exact weight of solid matter in such materials cannot^,
therefore, be reproduced as paper, and the loss must be accompanied
by a corresponding cost in the process which causes the loss. In such
cases, again, a microscopical examination of the material may afford
an approximate estimate of its value.

We would like, in this connection, to refer to a process of paper-
making in some respects quite different from that which is used among
us, yet in the East has made paper a substitute for cloth and for other
fabrics, which we manufacture at a great cost. But, without space to
describe even the specimens illustrative of this point, we must, for the
present, abstain from entering upon new matter.

In conclusion, we have to say that the foregoing is to be regarded
as the mere outline or sketch of the research of several years^ which
might, if expanded into details, have filled a goodly volume. Our
endeavor has been to give a general view of the subject, trusting it
may prove interesting, and even profitable, to the reader, furnishing
at the same time sufiicient indications of the course to be pursued if he
should be desirous of further information.

In general, we have abstained from quoting authorities as out of
place in an article of this kind. But no statement has been made
which cannot be substantiated by sufiicient authority, or by our own
demonstration. Considered as a mere sketch of what might have been
said, we mus^beg those who are well informed upon any one particular
point to remember that, if we had noticed everything by the way,
our article Avould have increased to a volume, and to believe that the
omissions which may be criticised by them are regretted by us.

IMPOETANCE OP SALT IN AGRICULTURE.

If we should ask why so enormous a quantity of this inestimable
gift of salt is distributed throughout the earth; why three fourths of
the surface of the planet designed for the home of man is covered with

396 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

it? tlie answer would be : In order to preserve tlie work of Nature, to en-
able man the more readily to sustain himself, and to make him wealthier
and better. It has become an indispensable condition for the exist-
ence of man, and his civilization. In all organic beings we meetv^^ith
two processes — that of life and that of decomposition — the latter begin-
ning its full activity after the former has achieved its end, at the
moment when organic beings are dissolved into those constituents
from which the plant was formed and nourished.

If, however, we intend to check, or, at least, delay decomposition,
we must employ acids, for we know that the Creator formed of the sea-
salt a mighty barrier against the immeasurable mass of water becoming
putrid ; we know that our stocks of flesh, grease, &c., are preserved
by the application of salt ; that cabbage-water, acids in general, and
kitchen-salt are the means employed by the agriculturist against septic
diseases in our domestic animals, and against diseases of the mouth
and feet. The separation of milk and deposit of meat will be increased
by the application of salt, thus forming an essential means for the pro-
motion of cattle-raising. By the application of salt, the fruits, espe-
cially wine, will become much better ; and even the ancients were in
the habit of throwing salt on their grounds, their vineyards, and fruit
trees. Agricultural chemistry informs us that the simplest combina-
tions through which nourishment is conveyed to plants consist in acids,
alkalies, and alkaline substances. Animal chemistry shows that free
muriatic acid and kitchen-salt form the principal constituents of the
contents of the stomach.

In a French prize paper, by Dr. Desaive, on the manifold advantages
of the use of salt in agriculture, the following results have been laid
down by the celebrated French veterinary surgeon, Grogniez:

Common salt serves as a preventive of the fermentation and heating
of hay, which has been heaped up in large stacks during wet weather.
Forty quintals of hay require fifteen pounds of salt, to be strewn
among it in alternate layers.

This effect is much better shown in straw, which, if intended to be
used as fodder, by being moistened with salt-water, may be preserved
for a long time, when it can be given to cattle instead of hay — a
method in use among the ancients.

Leaves of trees, w^ien put in ditches with salt, may be prevented for .
a long time from putrefactive fermentation, and will even make good
forage. Intelligent farmers of the Mont d' Orlyonais are in the habit
of thus preserving their vine leaves as fodder for goats. *

Fodder of inferior quality, for instance, straw, or other kinds, soaked
and bleached by rain and sun, cured too late, or become woody, may
be rendered more palatable and easy of digestion by being salted. A
pound of salt in three quarts of water is required for a quintal of bad
hay.

The sharp taste which the milk of cows usually assumes m conse-
quence of beets, turnips, and white cabbage being continually fed to
them, can be removed by salting those vegetables.

In Flanders, common salt is strewn on new and wet oats, to be fed
to horses, and, thus prepared, will not be dangerous to the animals.
The same application may also be made to hay newly harvested, to

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 397

prevent injuries when it may become necessary to feed such hay, the
moisture of which. has not been fully evaporated.

Though the bad qualities of dusty^ muddy, or moldy fodder, after
having been washed and threshed, are not entirely removed, yet, by
giving a sprinkling of salt-water, they will be diminished to a consid-
erable degree. This fact will be of advantage to the farmer whenever
he may be in want of appropriate fodder.

By means of salt, such water as otherwise could not be used for
cattle for drinking, will be rendered proper.

The great advantages to be derived from common salt with regard
to the health of cattle have been clearly shown by many experiments
made by that learned and celebrated agriculturist of Alsace, M. Bous-
singault. Cattle, by being fed with salt, receive a soft and glossy
skin, their digestion and a,ppetite are in good order, and they increase
in flesh and strength. Cows thus fed yield much m^lk, while thosQ
treated otherwise have dull skins, with rough hairs, exhibit less appe-
tite, produce a smaller amount of flesh, and yield not only an inferior
quantity, but also quality, of milk.

Manure from cattle fed with salted fodder is also, of a better quality.

Finally, manuring with salt will banish mosses and hurtful para-
sitical plants from meadows.

SOME HINTS UPON EAEM HOUSES.

(by SAlilUEL D. BACKUS, ARCHITECT, NEW YORK.)

An intelligent traveler, in passing through our country, will observe
among neighboring agriculturists, a great similarity in the modes of
cultivation adopted, in the cattle reared, the horses driven, the vehicles,
and farm implements used, the machines employed, the crops raised,
the barns erected, and the general means and manner of pursuing
their avocations, each following what is shown to be a good example,
and all agreeing in the course which their combined experience has
shown to be advantageous. But it is a frequent occasion of wonder
that a class so quick to perceive, so shrewd in judging, and so prompt
to adopt any improvement which may lighten their labors, increase
their profits, or permanently benefit their lands, should, in their own
dwellings, exhibit so great a diversity of style, construction, and real
value. There is not merely such a wholesome variety as would arise
from peculiarity of situation or disposition, but sometimes a diff'erence
so entire as to show that neighboring builders, who, upon other mat-
ters seem to think alike, have either disagreed radically respecting
the purposes for which their dwellings were to be erected, or have
failed to give those purposes a due consideration.

With all this dissimilarity of design, there are very few American
dwellings, except some of the log-houses reared for temporary use by

398 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

settlers in the forests, which do not afford more of physical comfort
than the residences of the same class of people in any other country.

Within a few years past, the attention of the higher classes in Great
Britain has been turned to the subject, and model cottages for agricul-
tural laborers have been built, under the auspices of committees and
societies, in various parts of the United Kingdom, the descriptions of
which show that vdiat are deemed essential conveniences in every
house here are there regarded as rare improvements.*

But, notwithstanding this superiority, the residences of American
farmers and planters are, as a class, far less valuable than, with infor-
mation and facilities of construction, they might be made. Some of
their best traits have been inherited from former generations, and little,
if any, progress in the right direction has been made by the present.
Indeed, it is doubtful whether, in view of the available means and
opportunities ofithe people, the earliest houses on this continent were
not better than the most recent ones. The men of our day have been
drawn into the adoption of some improvements by the progress of
invention and the arts, but in the exercise of a sound judgment, and
in careful adaptation of their means to the ends desired, they cannot
claim to be in advance of their grandfathers.

There are not many dwellings of the last century remaining without
essential modifications. Occasionally, on some New England hill, far
removed from the changes v/hich railroads bring, a venerable farm-
house may be found which tells a story of its builders well worth the
reading. There is the kitchen, where:

" "Warm by the wide-mouthed fire-place, idly the farmer
Sat ill liis elbow-chair, and watched how the flames and smoke struggled together."

That hearth was made to hold no compact cooking-stove, nor is the
fire-place designed even to burn wood economically cut with a saw.
Where wood is plentiful and labor scarce, the fire-place must be large.
The room is capacious, for there the loom, and the spinning-wheel,
and the broad settee had their places; there the family meals were
taken ; there all the household-work was done ; and that was the family
gathering place. At one end is the cheese-room, or buttery, in no
danger of too great heat from proximity to the kitchen chimney ; at
the other was the " old folks" bed-room, in a position commanding all
the approaches to the fortress ; and near it the stair-case, by which the
rest of the family ascended to the apartments where they shivered

*A "premium" row of twelve cottages was built, in 1848, in Berwickshire, all under one
roof, each house having two small rooms, an entry, and a pantry, on tjie first floor, and a
low loft, accessible by a ladder, above, the whole space inclosed being 25 feet by 17 feet.
A permanent bedstead was built into a recess in the sitting room, which it entirely filed,
somewhat like a ship's berth. There was a small out-building for each tenement, but not a
porch, or shade, or shelter of any sort, outside the walls, though the windows were dressed
with stone Gothic moldings. These cottages were specially praised for having brick floors,
"a very great improvement upon the clay floors usually met with, and, also, that they were
all raised a step above the exterior level."

The same meager accommodation is shown in dwellings of a higher class. In some farm
establishments, furnished with steam engines, mills, feed boilers, and the most complete
accommodations for the storage and preparation of provender, the housing of cattle, the
sheltering of carts, and the protection of the manure heap, the farmer's own residence has
but the two rooms and scullery below, and one, or at most two, low sleeping rooms in the
jjarrct.

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 399

througli the winter nights. In front are two " square rooms," each
with its fire-place connected with the great central chimney, one of
which, devoted to tea-drinldngs and other solemn occasions, was a
sealed apartment on other days, while the other was used as a sleeping-
room for guests, or an occasional sitting-room.

With some modifications, this, in its arrangement, was the type of
most northern farm-houses. It was simple, certainly, neither requiring
nor exhihiting much ingenuity in its design. The wants and habits
of its builders were even rude, but it met them and did it well.

In outer form and construction the earliest houses were built with
strict regard to the resources and necessities of the locality.

In New England, where timber was always abundant, and water-
power everywhere available, saw-mills were early erected, and boards
became the invariable material for covering the frames, formed of hewn
timber, put together in all its huge dimensions, from sheer avoidance
of the labor of reducing it. Men skillful in this mode of construction
showed to less advantage when attempting to form the refractory granite
into their clay-jointed chimneys, for lime was scarce and bricks were
made only in widely-scattered localities.

On the banks of the Hudson, vfell supplied with clay and lime, and
easily-broken stone, we find the walls of nearly all the old houses built
of stone or brick, or both combined,

A similar construction prevailed on Long Island and Staten Island, '
the lime used being made from shells. Such parts of walls as were
covered with wood were mostly shingled, there being little water-power
for sawing boards on the islands. In each case there was the most
judicious regard to the peculiar resources of the locality. As we come
south, we find a change in the common arrangement. Heating the
house in winter not being now the most essential consideration, the
central chimney is dispensed with, and in its place an open, airy hall
extends through the building. At each end of the house there is a
chimney, sometimes built entirely outside the walls. Shelters become
more common, too, the roof itself sometimes projecting over to exterior
posts, forming long verandas.

The shape of the house was also adapted to its materials. The
builders in stone for stability kept their walls low, and covered them
vs^ith a broad roof, of moderate elevation, affording lighted rooms only
in the gables, or obtained a second story by a double slope, (in what
is sometimes called the '^gambrel" form,) lighting it with dormer
windows. The worker in wood could carry up his frame safely as high
as he pleased, and thus two full stories. Frequently, in New England,
this elevation only extended over the front rooms, the roof, having
exalted itself for a little space, rapidly subsiding until it reached the
rear, and modestly spread its shelter just over the kitchen door. Such
houses certainly exhibited an ostentatious front, little consistent with
the meagerness of their every-day appointments, and quite at variance
with the stable, modest, hearty aspect of those which attained their
highest position by a gradual and well-balanced rise upon a broad and
firmly established basis. Whether in this respect any of them betrayed
characteristics of their builders, we may not attempt to judge, as they
have all passed away together. This is certain, that in all of them

400 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

tlie materials most suitable were selected, and used witli judgment and
thoughtfulness, to accomplisli the end desired. There may have been
an imperfect appreciation of the advantages to be sought in a home ;
and the mode of building may have been to a great degree the result
of necessity, or to some extent influenced by recollections of the lands
of their forefathers ; but it was adapted as fully as possible to the pur-
poses in view and to the means at hand.

While the general model was nearly the same, as the common wants
were similar, there was all the variety called for by diversity of situation
and circumstances. In this respect, the change to our times has been
very great. With some noticeable exceptions, among all the number-
less forms which are seen, there is little of that variety which is the
proper result of peculiarities of location, circumstances, or personal
character. With greater costliness, there is less care. With much
less of uniformity, there is more of imitation. While each man seems
to assert his freedom from antiquated customs, and his determination
to build in his own way, as every American should, the greater number
vindicate their privilege by adopting the way of some one else. The
ver}'' abundance of our resources, and the freedom of our choice, instead
of inciting to a wise discrimination, seem only to have developed an
inconsiderate lawlessness.

We cannot in this connection trace the causes and manner of the
change that has taken place, but it may be useful to consider some of
the influences that have been, and still are, at work to prevent the
improvement which we ought to see.

Chief among these has been a tendency to regard the mode of any
novel procedure, rather than its reasons ; leading to careless imitation
of inappropriate patterns. As some thinking man has partially
changed his mode of life, introducing new refinements, creating new
wants, and modifying his house to meet them, his neighbors, compelled
to acknowledge the improved aspect of his homestead, have copied the
form of his house, but have not followed the new habits of living v^hich
occasioned its adoption. His family may have enjoyments and occu-
pations not confined to the kitchen-hearth, and the house may cheerfully
make the fact known by the more prominent and spacious front apart-
ments. His imitators still make the kitchen their habitation, but it
is smaller than their old one and less comfortable, and, with them, tlie
rest of the structure is an ostentatious, superfluous, dreary waste.

Domestic habits must change among an active people. Threshing
machines and reapers have revolutionized the out-door work of farming.
The sewing machine has supplanted the spinning-wheel; newspapers,
district libraries, and cheap burning fluids, have afforded opportunities
for more rational occupation than smoking long pipes, or shelling corn
on a shovel.

It would be folly not to meet these changes* by corresponding modifi-
tions of the domicil, and it is no less so to adapt our houses to the
habits of other people, in disregard of our own. All the fashions in
building which, like waves, have successively swept over the country,
have been productive of erroneous notions and false tastes, except so
far as they have coincided with real changes in the mode of lifO;, or
improvements in material construction.

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. _ 401

Tlie departure of farm-liouses from the simplicity of tlieir true
purpose is, in great part, owing to the attempt to make them "archi-
tectural." The rambling, capacious, and home-like residence, huilt
with no object beyond the convenient, economical, and comfortable
accommodation of the household, has often given place to some formal
and pretentious structure, contributing little to either comfort or
convenience, erected in fancied conformity to some ideal model of
architectural correctness, with columns and pediments, capitals and
architraves, frieze and cornice, all according to the books, as though
it were one of a uniform lot, made by machinery, like Yankee clocks,
and sold to make room for a new stock of different pattern. As
extremes in fashion follow one another, the neighbor who builds next
afterwards has, perhaps, a " G-othic" model :

" All up and down, and here and there,
With Lord-knows-what of round and square,
Stuck on at random everywhere ;
Indeed, a house to make one stare,
All corners and all gables."

Even the veterans are not left tt> wear out their days in peace,
content in the enjoyment of their own homeliness, but the hand of
''improvement" is laid upon them ; they are stripped of their little
acquisitions of stoops and sheds, and similar matters, which for pure
convenience they have gathered round them, cramped and tortured
into reluctant regularity, tricked out with vergeboards like ruffles, and
then passed off as samples of a reformation effected by correct rules
of art. •

It is not strange that the independent, thinking man, accustomed
to judge of everything by a reasonable consideration of its design and
its results, should say: "Architecture may be very good in churches
and court-houses, but it is out of place on a farm. We want houses
to live in, and cannot afford to sacrifice our pantries, or bed-rooms, or
the chief value of our more important apartments, for the sake of
regular arrangement of windows, or an exact proportion of width,
length, and height of the whole building. I have my own notions
about my house, which I intend to carry out."

He does carry them out, but when he has occupied his new house
awhile, he finds that new notions have been acquired by experience,
which it would have been well if he possessed earlier. His doors,
perhaps, are just where they ought not to be, or his stairs are not
pleasant to climb, or in some other of the thousand things which ex-
perience would have taught him to provide against his house is not
so desirable as it might have been,

Now, both of these classes err from a mistaken idea of the real
meaning of architecture. It is supposed to be an inflexible set of rules,
made by some infallible authority, invariable in their operation, and
to be applied alike to all buildings, great or small, allowing a certain
degree of liberty in the selection of the special order or style to be
used, but beyond that giving no scope to ingenuity or originality. If
the building is not one to which the rules seem applicable, that is
considered the fault of the building, and the remedy is not in changing
the architecture, but in using less of it. To builders of this way of
26 A

402 . AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

thinking, tlie classic orders are as well defined, and their limits as
accurately marked, as the separate States on a map ; and they will
tell you the exact outline which must he adhered to in any Gothic
arch or molding as readily as describe a circle with the compass.

Now, all this is not science, but conceited ignorance. No two
Grecian buildings have been found to be alike. No one of those which
have been measured and delineated agrees with what are considered
the established proportions of Grecian architecture. Each separate
edifice was designed for its own specific purpose^ and with reference to
its peculiar location and circumstances. So far as those purposes and
circumstances coincide with ours, the buildings are as suitable for us
as for their original possessors, and no further.

In the best Gothic, of all its many styles and periods, there is still
greater variety. Not only do the buildings possess each its own
character, but in the same structure the minor details show the
peculiarities of the different artificers, so that, in some instances,
scores of capitals in the same ranges of columns, all harmonizing in
general form, show each a new design in the detail of decoration.

Says Kuskin:* "It is one of the chief virtues of the Gothic builders
that they never suffered ideas of outside symmetries and consistencies
to interfere with the real use and value of what they did. If they
wanted a window, they opened one; a room they added one ; a buttress
they built one ; utterly regardless of any established conventionalities
of external appearance, knowing (as indeed it always happened) that
^uch daring interruptions of the formal plan would rather give addi-
tional interest to its symmetry than injure it."

The original architecture of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Venice, and
Northern Europe, differ widely from each other in regard to forms,
materials, scientific construction, perfection of finish, and harmony
and grandeur of effect. But they are all true to the one principle of
faithfully employing all the means and skill possible for the very pur-
poses which, in each single instance, were to be accomplished. This
variety and adaptation, so far from being inconsistent with noble archi-
tecture, is its very life.

Correct architecture is not inconsistent with true .economy. It
demands it, as essential to all good building, although it condemns
any penny-wise parsimony, which would withhold those things needed
to give the house its greatest value, as well as the spreading of a
limited amount of means over a great space for show, instead of con-
centrating it for utility. Nor is architecture proud, even in its noblest
works, it modestly keeps itself subordinate to the great purpose, and
without condescention it takes equal delight in the humblest dwelling.

What is it? The experience of others gathered for our use — thought.
The construction of our buildings so as best to suit us, with the very
best use of the means at hand. It is, in fact, doing what we have to
do in building just as judicious men do any other important business;
first determining exactly what we need, and the means and obstacles
to its accomplishment, and then devising the best way to make our
means accomplish our desires.

*Stones of Venice, vol. 2, p. 179.

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 403

One great cause of poor building is the careless way in whicli it is
undertaken. Long preparation is made for the materials, in some
cases, and plans are early laid for meeting its cost, but to the purpose
and character of the house itself no adequate care is given. Thought,
the material more valuable than all others which enter into the struc-
ture, is scantily bestowed. How few enter into any deliberate study
of their own mode of domestic life ; what it is from month to month ;
what are its chief enjoyments ; and what its inconveniences and annoy-
ances, and the causes whence they arise ; how it is affected by the form
and peculiarities of their dwelling, and how its pleasures might be
enhanced, or its labors and discomforts lessened, by a modification of
the habitation! A still smaller number ever investigate their habits
of thinking, the origin of their opinions and prejudices, or trace the
influence of material objects, and especially of the scenes of home, in
the formation of the characters of children. Yet, without having given
this thought to it, no man can intelligently determine the first point
of size, form, or appearance of his proposed dwelling.

The farmer says: "I can spend so many hundred dollars. I guess
that will build me as good a house as Mr. Smith's." So he goes to a
carpenter and bargains for his home as he would for a cart or a plow,
though often with less deliberation. If anything like a plan is drawn
it must be done at once, so that the work can be begun without delay;
and crude and ill-digested, with little examination, and seldom any
real test of its merits, it is adopted, and the household put to constant
inconvenience for their whole lives, in order to hasten by a few days
the erection of the domicil. The importance of thoroughly studied
plans, before beginning to build, cannot be too strongly urged.
Economy not only demands that the intended building should be so
fully delineated in all its parts before its commencement, as to prevent
mistakes, misunderstandings, or omissions, in its execution; but it
also requires every part to be so carefully designed that, by no over-
sight or parsimony, shall there be an unnecessary debt of life-long
labor imposed on its occupants. Such things as apartments separated
which ought to be close together, or' doors and pantries badly located,
daily causing many needless steps to the housekeeper, year after year,
in effect levy a perpetual tax upon the occupants for the heedlessness
of the designer. If it is the time of servants which is thus consumed,
the tax is paid in money ; if of his own family, it is not less burden-
some. But the case is worse when the health is endangered, or cheer-
fulness and home comfort driven off, by such thoughtlessness.

The first step in fixing upon a design, the determination of one's
own wants, is the most difficult of all; the one requiring most time ;
the one adding most value to the house, and yet the one most neglected.
Before a man can intelligently decide what kind of house he will build,
he must know what he needs, why he needs it, and what of his neces-
sities are most imperative ; for planning of houses is but a choice of
sacrifices. No one ever yet comprised all the advantages which were
desired, some of which must, in any case, be given up. The owner
ought always to have determined in what order they shall be yielded,
before any idea of exterior size or form shall have been entertained by
him. This is requisite also in order that we may rigidly exclude from

404 AGRICULTURAL RERORT.

our plan everything that does not meet some useful purpose of our
own, for whatever is superfluous is both wasteful and positively detri-
mental.

" But," says one, 'Hhat is too strict a rule. It would cut off every-
thing that makes houses pleasant, or gives them beauty, and leave
them bare, unsightly boxes." Not so, unless you take a very narrow
view of the purposes consistent with the most perfect domestic enjoy-
ment. Not unless all is superfluity and luxury beyond sustaining an
animal subsistence and saving money. If, on the other hand, the
enjoyment of thought and feeling, the cultivation and refinements of
the intellect and tastes, are consistent with daily duty, then the house
may with propriety be made to contribute its aid to those ends.

It is for each man about to build to determine for himself what pur-
poses it is most desirable to accomplish. A few, however, of those
common to all country residences may be profitably examined in detail.

All efforts to make a pleasant dwelling will be, in a great measure,
thrown away unless its position is chosen wisely, and even then care
must be taken to overcome whatever may be its natural defects, and to
make all its advantages available.

It must, first, have a wholesome air. Observation shows that there
are few large tracts of ground in any part of the country without un-
healthy portions, and that the distance between a location where the
residents shall enjoy perfect health and one quite the reverse is often
very small. It may not be practicable to determine the reason of this,
nor the j^robability of the existence of miasma at any special point,
without the learning and skill of a medical man. If so, his counsel
should certainly be had, for it is not prudent to fix upon a site until
its perfect healthfulness is made sure.

To secure a good atmosphere, even where are no miasmatic influences,
there must be ground near the house lower than that on which it
stands, where the heavy vapors may gather by their own gravitation.
Every one has seen the fogs filling a valley like a lake in an autumn
night, completely enveloping the dwellings, and gradually ascending
till they are dissipated by the rising sun, while the residents upon the
hill-sides enjoy their customary dry and invigorating air. The same
process goes on at all seasons, though the heavy and noxious vapors
are only visible at certain times.

A site on rising ground is also desirable to secure dryness around
the house. There may possibly be farms on which there is no spot
that can be made dry and hard at all times, but it is difiicult to believe
that such a farm can be fit to live on. If there are any virtues in under-
drainage, it certainly will pay to appropriate them in the fullest man-
ner rather than suffer the inconvenience of mud, and ice, and filfcli
constantly lying in the path. There are houses where the labor
imposed on the housekeeper by muddy paths, in a single season, is
more than would suffice to make them thoroughly and permanently
dry.

The site for the homestead should be so chosen as to facilitate, as
much as possible, the labors of the farm. Some houses seem to be
located for the convenience of pedlars, so near the public highway as
to receive the dust thrown up by every passing vehicle. As the farm-

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 405

house and tlie otlier buildings adjacent are tlie center of the farm
operations, it would seem more reasonable to locate them with reference
to the work to be done and their daily use, rather than their occasional
access from abroad. A house standing a moderate distance from the
public road certainly wears the appearance of independence and home-
likeness, and indicates a family living comfortably by themselves,
beyond public intrusion. ,

Nor should the builder overlook any advantages of prospect, or
beauty of situation, which may be available, either to make his house
pleasant to its occupants, or more agreeable to observers. There are
many old residences^, and not a few new ones, located in some low and
unpleasant spot, where there is little to cheer the eye from within, and
less to render the place attractive from without, for some half-consid-
ered and mistaken notion of money-saving, when near by a site offers
the advantages of beauty which the other lacks. And generally it will
be found that the most agreeable site will be the most economical one.

There is one consideration, in connection with the matter of prospect
and appearance, that seems often to be neglected. If a railroad hap-
pens to pass in sight, its trains, as they flash by, showing nothing but
the same black engine and yellow box-like cars, day after day, people
seem to think that because they see no passengers there are none to
see them, and so put the unsightly side of their houses toward the
the track, to be seen by hundreds, and the best front toward the high-
way, traveled by a few scattering neighbors.

One of the first and most important things to be regarded in the
selection of a situation, is the supply of water for the family use. To
those who have enjoyed such advantages, it is unnecessary to suggest
the increased value given to any plot by a living spring of pure water,
in such a location that it may be readily conveyed into the house, or
be driven there by the tireless energy of a hydraulic ram. Men, who
have never known this comfort, often look with astonishment upon
what they consider the extravagant expenditures made by their neigh-
bors to accomplish this object ; but a proper estimate of the labor wasted
in carrying water from a distant spring in pails, or drawing it from
wells with a clumsy sweep, and the losses resulting from the want of
it in abundance, would show that their own course is less thrifty. If,
bowever, there is no source from which a supply can be drawn, except
by manual labor, there is no way so cheap as pumping ; and the man
who cannot have running water, is inexcusable if there is not a ser-
viceable and easy iron pump by the side of his kitchen sink, unless the
fountain on which he must depend is too distant or too low for the
successful operation of a pump. The case is then, indeed, unfortunate;
but, after all, not so bad as many contrive to make it.

If a well must be resorted to, it is worth some pains to make it a
pleasant^ safe, and comparatively easy source of water supply, nor is
it a difficult task to accomplish. A well-house may be constructed so
as not to be very burdensome in cost, though greatly superior to the
arrangement of most wells. Let it be large enough to afford a pro-
tected space on the floor for the drawer. Let it have a safe curb, and
a spout opening into a tray, where the pail may be placed, so arranged
that any superfluous water shall be conducted off without covering a

406 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

considerable area around witli mud in summer, or ice in winter. For
raising the water, the best arrangement is a counterweighted windlass
overhead, or a swivel-pulley, and two buckets. If not too far removed
from the house, this seems to reduce the inconvenience of an open well
to the smallest degree, and may be made a pleasing and ornamental
feature of a homestead.

The use of rain water for all the purposes of a family is becomino-
more common throughout the country. It has the advantages of free-
dom from earthy impurities, and a supply irrespective of location. The
roof on which it is collected must be of such material as not to injure
the water. The cistern should be large enough to hold a store for
times of drought, and the water should be filtered as it enters the
cistern, and after it is drawn from it, though the latter filtering is often
dispensed with. * Of course, with a rain-water cistern, it would be
folly not to have a cast-iron kitchen pump.

The supply of water involves the necessity of drainage. There are
hundreds of farm-houses whose back doors are passed in winter only at
the risk of falls and bruises. The latest ice which departs in the spring
is the solid mass formed by the accumulated waste of a whole season,
poured from the threshold. In summer, instead of being fragrant with
flowers, the place is redolent of evaporating soapsuds.

Now, if no other disposition can be made of this waste water than
to let it soak into the earth, it is better that it should do so elsewhere
than just under the kitchen windows, or before the entrance door. An
underground drain can be formed to a cess-pool without any great cost
or labor, if it cannot find an outlet where its contents shall enrich a
hill-side. Into this drain should lead a pipe from the kitchen sink,
and in some convenient place there should be an opening for emptying
wash-tubs, &c., both protected by stench-traps, which are only such
bends in a pipe that water sufficient to fill it shall be retained for a
little space, preventing the passage of foul air.

Provision is also to be made for carrying off the rain water which
falls on or around the house, so that it shall neither form gullies nor
stand in pools. Except in rare cases, eave-gutters seem indispensable,
even where the rain water is not conveyed to a cistern.

In many locations, the natural moisture of the soil is such that^
unless otherwise drawn off, it will descend into the cellar, which, in
that case, must itself be drained by some means to render it valuable.
So obvious a fact it would be almost ridiculous to mention, if there were
not so many cellars unnecessarily flooded year after year.

*The filtering cistern may be made with a partition wall, (a,) pierced at the bottom with
several apertures. A wall, (&,) on each side of the partition affords a space to be filled with
pure, broken charcoal, alternating with clean gravel. The
water first enters one compartment of the cistern, and is
pumped out of the other. A level is, of course, maintained on
both sides, without a violent current through the filter, or dan-
ger of overflow in heavy showers. But it is difficult to change
the charcoal, or to restore it, if displaced, except when the
water is low. A plan, better on some accounts, is to have the
rain enter the cistern through a cask or box, sunk in the ground,
having a pipe from its bottom, the orifice of which is covered
by wire gauze, or a course sponge, with charcoal kept in place
by gravel over it.

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES.

407

Another thing for which provision is to be made in every house is,
a sure and constant supply of pure air throughout the building. The
want of this is most obvious in cellars, where are natwally collected
the heavy gases and vapors from the house, to which are added many
noxious emanations from decaying vegetable matter, giving the air a
peculiar cellar-like odor. But, though the air of the cellar is commonly
dense and heavy, there may be light gases generated there, which,
ascending through the house, may produce sickness, the cause of which
shall not be understood. It is, therefore, important that every such
place should be often cleansed, and that there should be means of thor^
oughly and frequently changing its atmosphere.

Whenever water is seen to stand on walls or windows, either as
dampness or frost, it surely indicates a moist condition of the air of the
room. With perfect ventilation, this evidence of vapors should never
appear. It may not be practicable to attain to entire success, but, so
far as possible, the air of every room should, by steady changes, be
kept as pure as that outside the walls.

The steams of the kitchen and wash-room should be at once conducted
off, and never allowed to penetrate any other portion of the house.

Especially is pure air needed in sleeping rooms. It is important for
the farmer that this should be attended to in all the dormitories of his
establishment, in such a way that the supply shall not depend on the
judgment of the occupants. K he doubts this, let him spend a sum-
mer night at some road-side tavern, and when he wakes in the morn-
ing, dull and languid from sleeping in a close, hot room, let him say
whether it pays to lodge the laborers who are to do his work in such
places.

It is important, both for the maintenance of pure air and the preser-
vation of the timbers from rot, that there should be a considerable space
between the floor and the earth, under the whole extent of a house.
Such portion of this area as is requisite will be used for a cellar, and
the rest, in cold climates, should be so arranged that it may be entirely
inclosed, or opened at places for a circulation of air at pleasure. In
the Southern States it is found advantageous to have this space left
as open as possible, by supporting the house on scattered piers, allowing

408 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

a constant draft below the floors. This tends both to cool the house
and to carry off any offensive exhalations from the ground underneath.

An indispensable requisite of every good dwelling is protection
against external heat and cold. The walls, floors, and roof, must be
so tight as to exclude the winds and cut off all unwelcome drafts of
chilly air. They must, also, be so constructed as to retain the heat
within in winter, and to exclude it in summer. The chimneys and
fireplaces are to be constructed so as to burn economically such kinds
of fuel as the circumstances of the locality render most expedient.
Their position and number should be such as to accommodate all the
looms where fires are wanted.

Too little light is admitted to our dwellings. Even in those which
are brightest, the doctors say there is not enough of direct sunshine.
To prevent the fading of carpets, or for other reasons, low and small
windows, green blinds, and one or more thicknesses of curtain, are all
made use of to render our rooms as dim and dismal as possible.

We pity the palid and sickly children of poverty in cities, crowded
into overflowing tenement houses, which tower high beside narrow
alleys, where sunshine never penetrates, or sympathize with the pris-
oners sighing in dark dungeons. Why is the darkness worse to them
than to those delicate young ladies who are always thickly veiled when
they go out of doors by day, and from whose rooms the bright sunlight
is at all times studiously excluded? Their chalky countenances and
imperfect eyesight attest the results of the practice. It is said by good
authority that the superior healthfulness of the English women, and
the retention of their beauty to a period of life much later than that at
which nearly all American ladies fade, is owing not less to their ex-
posure to sunlight than to their enjoyment of the open air. Light was
the first day's work of creation. It is a sin — a sin against light — to shun
it and exclude it. Let us have large windows, and enough of them.

But, though we want light and sunshine, it is not necessary that we
should endure the latter, with its accompanying heat, at all times of
the day or year, and on every side of our dwellings. In those direc-
tions exposed to the sun's rays in the hottest part of the day there
should be some protection. A verandah shading the walls will do
much toward moderating the heat within the house. It also shelters
the windows from storms, permitting them to remain open through
summer showers, and affords a cool and pleasant place for sitting in
the evening, unexposed to the unwholesome influences of the falling
dew. Verandas have always been characteristic features of southern
houses. In more northern regions they are to be used more sparingly;
but in the right place, and to a proper extent, they are there none the
less useful or desirable.

It is always desirable to have the interior division and arrangement
such that each apartment shall be well fitted for its appropriate uses,
and that all shall be so connected and placed as to bring together those
between which passage is most frequent. It ought to be practicable to
pass from any one room to any other without going through a third,
and without waste of room in passageways. What halls are needed,
if made spacious, contribute much, in warm weather, to the coolness
and pleasantness of a dwelling, by affording through currents of air.

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 409

Tliey sliould, however, "be made so that these currents may be cut off
when desired. If too large, they add to the labor of a family, and
increase the trouble of warming the house.

Contrary to a too common practice, the kitchen is to be considered
the most important apartment of a farm house, as on the perfection
of its arrangements depends much of the comfort of a family. It
ought to be large enough for the easy performance of all the work
that is to be done there, without unnecessary magnitude. All its
accessories should be arranged around it in the most convenient man-
ner, and the whole must be adapted to the pursuits, the habits, and
the peculiar notions of the housewife. If she personally superintends
her own work, or does a large share of it with her own hands, as most
farmers and mechanics' wives do, there should be a ready communica-
tion with the ordinary sitting-room, or the one where her time is
mostly spent, that neither time nor steps may be wasted when she is
suddenly called from one room to another by her multifarious labors.
The place where crockery is washed should be near the closet where it
is kept, and not far from the entrance to the eating-room where it is
used. The pantry where provisions are stored ought to be close to the
table where they are prepared for cooking, but so far as possible cut
off from the kitchen steams, and provided with its own means of
ventilation. The secret of the ease with which some women accom-
plish so much more than their neighbors may, in part, be found in
such little plans for economizing labor as these.

If servants are depended upon for the work, it becomes necessary to
provide a storeroom, where provisions may be kept under lock. It is
better to have an entrance other than from the kitchen, with, perhaps,
a small window for the serving out of stores. It should be lighted
and ventilated, and capacious enough for convenient arrangement of
provisions, and, generally, is best located in the coolest corner of the
house. In such a household, too, it is better to separate the kitchen
from any other apartment by at least two doors.

The supply and kind of fuel will control the form of the kitchen
fire-place. Appliances for baking and boiling, with a constant supply
of hot water, are, of course, essential in any event. Whether to these
are to be added conveniences for roasting meats, and other operations
by an open fire, for boiling clothes, heating irons, &c., is a matter to
be determined before building. If the family washing is to be done in
the kitchen, as is often the case, not only the fire-place, but the whole
kitchen should be contrived with reference to it, so that the tubs, the
ironing-table, and the drying-horse, shall interfere as little as possible
with the every-day operations there carried on. But it is always
better, if practicable, even in the smallest dwellings, and frequently is
more economical in the first instance, to have a distinct room for
washing, having its own fire-place, with boiler set in brick-work, and
its own drain. This will be found very convenient for many other
than laundry affairs, which otherwise would interfere sadly with the

410

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

daily routine of tlie kitclien.* Such a room need be neither large nor
■expensively furnished.

On a dairy farm, unless so extensive as to justify an entirely dis-
tinct establishment, there will be much additional work to be done in
the kitchen, affecting the dimensions proper to be adopted, and the
arrangement of its appendages. The store-room will need to be larger,
or there must be another room specially devoted to the dairy, in a cool
position, and capable of being at the same time darkened and ven-
tilated.

A cellar is needed for the storage of many articles which must have
a cool or moist air for their preservation. Though the construction of
the cellar is seldom the subject of much care, and its qualities are
looked upon as matters of luck, there are some things worth attending
to, which will materially affect its value. Its ventilation and drain-
age have been already mentioned. In the cellar is oftenest felt the
need of a protection, which should extend throughout the building,
against the inroads of rats and mice. The division and fitting up of
this part of a house should be, with reference to convenience of getting
in provisions, without needless or dangerous obstruction to those who
shall have occasion to explore its dark recesses. The inside stairs
should be from the kitchen, or contiguous to it ; and, for facility of
frequent cleansing, there must also be an entrance on the outside,
or from a wood-room.

There are men who, year after year, leave their fuel scattered around
the house, to be wet with every rain, and only to be cut up as wanted
for daily use. As such persons will not be likely to read suggestions
for improving their mode of life, there is no occasion here to urge the
importance of wood-houses ; but the hint may be in place that the
wood-house should have a covered connection with the kitchen, and
that under its roof may be located the tool closet, outer cellar,
stair-way, and other conveniences, to the increase of both the comfort
and health of the family.

The eating-room may be considered a place where the necessary
amount of food may be swallowed with the least loss of time ; and, in

* Figure 3 is the plan of a kitchen-wing of
moderate accommodations. The kitchen itself
is perfectly symmetrical, and connects on one
side with a closet, hall, cellarway, and one of
the front rooms. On the other side are a dish
pantry, with sink, a store pantry beyond, and
a wash-room behind the side entry and back
staircase, with oven and clothes-boiler. In
this case the kitchen is relieved of much of its
most troublesome work, and would be a very
pleasant room.

Fig. 3.

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 411

this case, tlie table is very likely to be set, not in a distinct room, but
as near where the food is cooked as possible ; or, it may be recognized
as the gathering place of the family where, at regular seasons, all the
members come together to enjoy, not alone the pleasures of appetite,
but the higher and more lasting ones of social intercourse. From the
custom of the family in this respect may be judged much of their
character. If the anticipations of mealtime are connected with any
other enjoyment than such as the cattle may have, in common with
their keepers, it is desirable to make the room as pleasant as prac-
ticable, to escape the effluvia of the kitchen, as well as to avoid the
necessity of hurrying the repast to make room for kitchen-work.

The dwelling is to furnish proper apartments for lodging all the
members of the household, and such provision for the accommodation
of occasional guests as may be expedient. The amount of space devoted
to sleeping-rooms must be regulated much by the means of the builder.
There is a wide range, in this respect, from the house where each indi-
vidual occupies a separate apartment to the one in which there are beds
in all the rooms. It needs no argument to show the undesirableness
of using, at night, rooms devoted to the common household purposes
during the day. All bed rooms, whether occupied by one or more per-
sons, should be easily and safely accessible, airy, well lighted, and so
finished as to be protected from external heat and cold.

To none more than to those engaged in agricultural occupations is
the frequent use of the bath essential, on the score both of health and
comfort. The room required is so small, and the expense may be so light,
that a bath room in a farm-house seems hardly to be a matter of choice.
Of course, the extravagant conveniences of city mansions, with the
luxury of cedar and marble, carpets, and hot air, with hot and cold
water running at the touch, from silvered pipes, are not to be had
without proportionate cost, as well as great trouble in the arrangement
of the house^ and some danger from leaks. But a plain bath-tub, to
be filled, and perhaps emptied, by hand, in a small room on the ground
floor of the house, or one of its appendages,, is within the means of
a house builder. If once put in, and fairly tried, it will not be removed
hy advice of the family physician.

The first demand which ladies make, when they begin to talk about
a new residence, is for closets. They want pantries for their kitchen
implements and stores, of course. There must be large clothes-presses,
in connection with the sleeping rooms, especially those of the feminine
part of the household, for their wardrobe is expansive in these times.
Then^ there are the blankets and quilts to be stowed in the summer,
besides a thousand things which have to be kept, but are seldom, or
never used, altogether making a great deal of room for such purposes
that must be found somewhere. This looks like a little matter, but,
as usual, the ladies are right. There are few things that add more to
the comfort of a residence than proper conveniences of this kind^ and
the skill of the designer is exhibited in the economical provision for this
want as often as in the magnificence of the parlor, or the symmetry of
the exterior.

So far, we have considered only such things as pertain to physical com-
fort. All these features would be desired though the house were not to be
occupied by a single individual who had an idea or an aspiration beyond

412 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

his mere bodily enjoyment, or knew tliat life had any duties or pleasures
higher than eating, sleeping, and avoiding pain, and overmuch labor.
But there are duties as well as enjoyments of a higher nature than
these clustering around a family home. Here is the center of all the
best associations of life. Here the education of the rising family is to
be mainly conducted, and the foundation laid of the character which,
for good or ill, is to continue through life. It is important that obsta-
cles to its best development should be removed, and whatever of assist-
ance in this work may be derived from the objects of daily familiarity
should be secured. *

In this respect, the dwelling has a double function to perform — con-
tributing to the enjoyment, and aiding in the education of its inmates.

In all things it should be made as attractive and cheerful as possi-
ble. Whatever promotes convenience, also tends in this direction, but
much may be secured by attention to the apparently minor details of
arrangement.

Every point and portion of the structure should be consistent with
truthfulness. The art which obscures unpleasant features, or makes
prominent those more agreeable, which copies a natural form for its
beauty, or paints a surface a hue pleasing to the eye_, which would
otherwise be harsh and objectionable, is never out of place. But the
deceitful artifice which represents any object to be that which it is not,
or which in any way violates the most downright sincerity, ought to
be offensive to the adult, and is always dangerous to the young. It
is consistent neither with good taste nor good morals — never in oppo-
sition to each other.

The various labors and occupations carried on by the members of
the household should have apartments and accommodations suitable
to each, and so contrived that they may not interfere with one another.
The sewing of the family can be done in the kitchen, but it certainly
is not the best arrangement, if a light and pleasant room can be used
elsewhere without the necessity of entirely removing work every time
it is laid down for a moment. Such a room, if used as a family sitting
room, should have whatever advantages of pleasant prospect the site
may afford. It should be a quiet place, undisturbed by any of the
more active avocations of the family. In many families there is but one
such room, and in it those who read and those who work, and the younger
ones who try to study, as well as those who play, all are grouped to-
gether, some disturbed and confused by the noise around them, or the
rest silent, solemn, and stupid. There is no cheerfulness in this.

There was a low, brown house, on a bleak and rocky hill, just at the
outer edge of a Massachusetts school district. Its front entrance was
pcT'petually closed, but at one end the door opened directly into the
large, low, dingy kitchen, dimly lighted by a single small window,
opposite to which, stretching its huge dimensions along the side, was
the j^awning fireplace, roughly built of stone, with a blazing fire of
green wood in one end. Between the two stood the tea table, spread
with all imaginable and unimaginable farm dainties, awaiting the
arrival of the schoolmaster at his temporary home, in his routine of
"boarding round."

When the table had been removed, a stand was brought for his
ppecial service, from the best room, to hold the sputtering, dripping,

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 413

dipped tallow candle, hj whose feeble light he painfully perused his
book. The two lads, his pupils, not allowed to profit by the unusual
extravagance of two candles, were left to seek their illumination from
the blaze of the hickory on the hearth or the candle on the high shelf
above. By the same light the father whittled out rake-teeth, and the
mother patiently worked at the week's mending, only occasionally
stopping to try to still the cries of some of the younger children, who
rolled and tumbled promiscuously over the hearth, and in and out of
the capacious fireplace.

Is it any wonder that those boys dreaded the approach of evening ;
that they preferred the sunny side of the barn to the house, and the
companionship of their favorite cattle and colts to that found around
the family hearth ; or that they ranked at school among the dull
scholars; or that they learned no lessons at home?

They did learn lessons at home, however, which a long lifetime
would not efiace nor wholly counteract, but they were not such as
were read in their books by those who taught them.

It would not be so easy to draw the companion picture from the life.
May we not hope that fit subjects will be more frequently found in the
future than in the past ?

A mature and disciplined mind can be fixed upon a study, regard-
less of the confusion around ; but it is not so with children. If they
are to learn lessons at home, they should have facilities for doing so
without confusion. Generally, too, there ought to be a place where
reading or study may be pursued by the older members of a family,
without being disturbed or imposing a restraint upon the conversa-
tion or even the hilarity of those not so engaged. The room need not
be large. It might serve, generally, as the office, where the farmer
should keep his account books, his maps or plans, his agricultural
books and newspapers, and transact business with his neighbors.
Would not such a room be remembered pleasantly in later years?

A most important object is the durability of the structure — a perma-
nence, if possible, that may allow children's children to visit their
ancestral home — at any rate,, a construction so substantial that the
expense and inconvenience of great or frequent repairs may be unne-
cessary, and the evils of early dilapidation avoided. Security from fire
is also to be thought of, and effected to the greatest practicable extent.

Thought should also be given to future enlargement, that, as habits
change or condition improves, there may be room to grow, without
bursting and discarding the shell which is found too contracted.

It is not well to build without thought for the times when sickness
will claim a room for its accommodation, nor to overlook the possible
demands of social parties, occasional meetings, or even more solemn
occasions, which may gather a concourse within the walls.

The house may contribute much to that satisfaction which results
from the love of order. The value of closets, in affording "a place for
everything," has been alluded to. As this is different from "tucking
away" things, to put them out of sight, it is important that the closets
should be lighted and well fitted with shelves and hooks, even if not
large.

But this is not all. The appreciation and enjoyment of regularity,
in form or arrangement, is one of the first of the faculties of taste

414 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

•wliicli exliibits itself. It is developed in different degrees, some persons
seeming never to possess it all, and a still greater number never getting
beyond it, or realizing that it is not the rule or measure of nature or art.
A person of the former class, reared in a house in whose planning
regularity was not thought of, its rooms all askew, and its exterior
one inextricable jumble, may not be disturbed by its disorder; but one
with a sensitive disposition, though he may not understand the cause,
will suffer irritation every time his eye falls upon an object of which the
portions on either side of its center are unlike. This feeling should
be respected, both in consideration of the comfort of those whose habits
are fixed, and the unconscious education of the young. It has its
modifications and limitations, as we shall perhaps see, by and by.
There is a symmetry higher than mere regularity, such as is seen in a
magnificent elm, true in outline, but with no apparent correspondence
or similarity of form in its branches.

It is the most .perfect symmetry, combined also with variety, and
this, too, it is desirable to accomplish in the house. There are houses
with rooms all alike, in size, form, and relative position, and on a
paper plan they appear very regular and pretty ; but as no two of the
rooms are to be seen at once, the advantage of their uniformity is
imaginary rather than real. The same hint applies to the exterior.
In all these things variety is to be welcomed, when introduced by con-
venience, and is to be sought for its own sake. Even birds' nests are
not all alike, but vary with materials and situation.

Another feeling, which all experience, to some extent, but some
more keenly than others, is an appreciation of gracefulness ; the easy
manner by which some persons can do what they please, in the first trial,
in just the right way, without a superfluous motion or a hesitating one.
In buildings, this feeling is gratified by those means by which the eye
is pleasantly led along from one part to another, unoffended by harsh
contrasts, abrupt changes of form, or obtrusive features. This feeling,
too, is to be gratified, so far as practicable, but not at the expense of
decision — the expression of purpose, which may be played with, but
must not be obstructed.

And this is, after all, the chief thing to be kept in view, that,
throughout the house, in all its proportions, arrangements, and minut-
est detail, everything shall be done for a well-considered, appropriate,
and consistent purpose. Whatever is more than this is superfluous
and injurious. The house being made for the purposes which have
been named, and others of like nature, the whole external appearance
should express them, unmistakably.

It may be difficult to make grown men comprehend what is meant
by the exjjression of a house, but children understand it. How common
is it to hear them, when traveling, characterize the residences they
pass as ''staring," ''lonely," "wide-faced," &c., or to compare them
to some person peculiar in feature or costume. It is certain, that some
of the greatest faults of modern houses arise froni attempts to make
them express what is not true, by false representation of their compo-
nent material, or fictitious indications of the habits and avocations of
the inhabitants. The perfection of house-building may be considered
a dwelling that meets the necessities of your disposition and mode of
life, and proclaims to all persons what that disposition and mode of

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 415

•

life are ; that, being a cherislied and cherisliing home, it shall appear
so to all who see it.

But, says some lady: "In owr house we wish to consult beauty, and
your rules would restrict us to simple utility."

Perhaps it is best not to talk about beauty, until we understand
what we each mean by the word. But if everything about the house
is satisfactory to your own settled and well-defined feelings, is not that
beauty enough? If it is not satisfactory, and you can point out a
good reason why^ then you have shown a purpose that it is proper to
serve and to express.

Says another : "You have made no provision fot any ornament or
decoration. You would make our houses bleaker than our barns."
Look again : If ornament contributes to gracefulness, or decision, or
the expression of any other purpose or feeling consistent with your
disposition and the real uses of the house, it is not only allowable but
desirable. If, without any design, it is to be put on, it had better be
left off. It is worse than savage finery. If in any design there is
anything that can be taken away without being missed, either for its
own effect of its influence on some other member, it does not belong
there, is in the way, and should be removed.

"'But what if I am one of that kind that cannot walk between
hedges, but must make occasional leaps, just to show my vivacity and
imiDatience of restraint?" Certainly, vivacity and exuberance of fancy
are things very proper to show in their proper places, and nothing serves
its purpose better than the expression of such things in the decoration of
a dwelling. But your caprices must appear as such, and not be mono-
tonously strung around a whole house. A really witty man does not
copy jokes laboriously out of old almanacs.

"If we adopt this principle of using no feature of utility or decora-
tion but for the execution or expression of a recognized and well de-
fined purpose, what becomes of all that has been taught about congru-
ity of styles ? Shall we let all the past experience of the world go
unused?" By no means. In house building as in making your farm
machinery, it is your business to determine what you want. The
mode of supplying the wants is a matter of skill. If you attempt it
yourself, you must study and practice long and patiently, or your
work will be very improperly done. When it is done, it will be found
that others have already had to give (in part) the same expression, and
to produce the same effects. The details invented by them are suita-
ble for you, so far as the purpose for which they were invented coin-
cides with yours. As the original purposes of each recognized style of
building are commonly consistent throughout, and at variance with
the purposes of other styles, so these details are generally harmonious
when used together, and incongruous when mixed. It does not follow
that if we adopt one feature of a style, we must copy it entire. To
select and adapt judiciously to our own ends the work of those who
have gone before us, is to use it nobly ; to follow it servilely, without
adaptation, degrades it and disgraces us.

We need not understand why these consistencies and incongruities
exist between various forms, or how they operate on the mind ; but
before we attempt to separate or combine details, we ought to know

416 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

that they do exist, and what they are^ and most carefully to regard
them in all our designs.

But here comes one who complains that he does not like the idea that
his house must show how he lives, and what his business is, and asks,
"Why cannot I properly live in just such a house as my neighbor, the
lawyer?" You can, if you live in the same way; but if, while you
are plowing in the field he is dining with his guests, and while he
is studying his cases you are asleep, what propriety is there in your
building a great dining-room, or a library never to be used ? If your
kitchen is to be used for butter-making, and cheese-making, and feed-
ing a half score of farm hands, is it not better to make it large enough
for those purposes than a little thing like his, where only the cooking
is to be done ? If, however, you are unwilling the world should see
these differences ; if you are ashamed of your occupation, or, in other
words, ashamed of yourself, may not I, too, be ashamed of you?

There is one more quality to be mentioned, which is, in most cases,
the first and most constantly thought of, and that is, economy. But
the economy of construction too often obscures the economy of occupa-
tion, really the more important of the two, though neither need cause
the sacrifice of the other. Indeed, some men seem to build, not so
much to make a house, as to avoid the expenditure of money.

It is sometimes thought that nothing can be consistent with econ-
omy that does not, in some way, tend to the increase of wealth. This
is not true, if the judicious use and expenditure of money is as im-
portant as its accumulation. The cooking of meat does not increase a
man's income, but no one would, therefore, consider its cost wasted.
Neither is the money spent in what is sometimes called the ornament
of a house wasted, if it promotes the objects for which a man lives,
and for which his money is valuable to him. The question is, what,
in each man's case, are the purposes of life?

Men often hesitate to expend money for any feature of a dwelling
which will not add to its market value, if it should be sold. It is very
proper to consider the contingencies which may render the sale of a
homestead necessary, in the next generation, if not in this ; but, at the
same time, it is to be recollected, that the things which make it most
desirable for the original possessor, those which fit it to him like a
garment, are the very ones which will not suit a difierent person, and
may not, willingly, be paid for. They ought to be provided with no
expectation that they will ever return their cost, except by the greater
value of the whole house to the builder himself.

After considering the purposes of building, we come to the investi-
gation of the materials and methods of construction, by which these
desired objects are to be secured.

To prevent heat from passing in or out of a house^ the most effectual
non-conductor is confined air. Of solid substances, the most valuable
for this purpose are generally the most porous, or those having the
greatest proportion of air confined in their interstices, and the worst
are the heaviest and most compact. For this reason, sawdust, char-
coal, tan-bark, &c., are used for filling in the walls of ice-houses,
though often rendered inefficient by becoming saturated with water,
which is comparatively a good conductor. A simple, hollow space in
which air is confined between the inner and outer surfaces of a wall_, is

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 417

the most effectual and readiest mode of rendering it impervious to
lieat, and it makes little difference how wide or how narrow the
space is, if the air within is entirely exit off from escape or change.
Whether the material is wood or masonry, every good wall, where the
retention or exclusion of heat is an object, should he built in this way.
It is as essential for summer as for winter ; at the south as at the north.
Care, however, must be taken that the inner portion of the wall is not
massive enough to absorb so much heat as sensibly to affect the tem-
perature of contiguous rooms.

A warm wall will almost always be a dry one. It is frequently,
perhaps generally, thought that the moisture which stands on base-
ment, and sometimes other exterior walls, is caused by water passing
through them from the outside. A glance at a water pitcher, in a
summer day, ought to correct such an opinion. If a wall is poorly
built, it may become saturated with water, which shall escape by
evaporation from the inside, and affect the air ; or, in a severe rain-
storm, it might, in rare instances, be driven through, so as to trickle
down the inner sur-face ; but in neither case would it show in the man-
ner spoken of. If, as is sometimes said, the dampness is absorbed
from the ground, the very capillary attraction which drew it into the
masonry would hold it there. Moisture collected in this way is vapor
from the air of the room, condensed by contact with a cold surface,
and indicates both a bad atmosphere and a conducting wall. »

Thick and solid masonry, of course, only aggravates the evil. The
most damp and unwholesome rooms are found in buildings of the
heaviest construction, where the substance of the stritcture acts as a
great reservoir of caloric, receiving or giving out its supplies as the
contiguous air, at different points or hours, may be warmer or colder
than its own average temperature. This average does not differ
greatly from the mean temperature, day and night, of the different
seasons, and is considerably lower than that by day in the summer
months.

In building cellar walls, stone will generally be used, where stones
are found. They should, if practicable, be laid with a flat surface
down, and made so solid as to keep out water and rats. Where it can
be obtained readily, it will always pay to lay cellar walls with hy-
draulic cement, on account of solidity and durability. As coolness is
desirable in a cellar, there is no occasion to make cellar walls other-
wise than solid at the bottom. They will then always be just as warm
as the earth around them. So far down, however, as they are exposed
to the air, or in contact with earth liable to freeze, they may be so cold
as to endanger the contents of the cellar, and should be protected by a
coat of lathing and coarse plastering, formed on wooden strips, a little
way from the stone work.

Brick walls for cellar purposes ought, whenever practicable, to be
laid in hydraulic mortar, and, in most soils, covered with a perfect
coating of cement on the outside, as they are otherwise liable to absorb
so much water as to affect the atmosphere inside and to impair their
durability. The foundation should be level, and care must be taken
that the surface of the trench on which it stands shall not have been
broken or disturbed.
21 A

418 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

If basement rooms are to be used for other tban cellar purposes, it
becomes necessary to make the walls double. When stone is used,
this is to be done by "furring," with small wooden strips secured to
the masonry and covered by lathing and plastering. Brick walls may
either be furred in the same way, or laid as two separate walls, two or
more inches apart, occasionally bound together by cross bricks, or,
better, by small, flat iron bars ; and then, if desired, the inner wall
may be plastered directly on its surface. If openings are left into the
air space, it greatly hastens the drying of the wall, but they should
all be tightly closed when the work is done.

Such spaces are sometimes used as ventilating flues, with a total ig-
norance or disregard of their real value. Any ventilating or hot-air
pipes which may be needed may very well be inserted in such spaces,
but should be entirely shut off from the air cells. Another common
mistake in building hollow walls, is making occasional vacancies,
while the main part of the wall is solid, as though there were some
virtue in the air, which would be diffused over the whole mass. The
solid portions must be just as small as may be consistent with strength,
for even a single bond-brick will often betray its position by a damp
spot on the plastering.

Wherever hollow walls are used, whether above or below ground,
the builder must remember that their purpose is not to save materials
or cost, but to increase efficiency. He must not, as some do, make
the entire thickness the same as if it were solid, filching the material
from the middle, but must, for safety, add all the thickness of the air
space, and spare no cost in the bonding, for safety is of prime import-
ance. If properly built, a hollow wall is stronger than the same ma-
terial laid solidly. There, nevertheless, are some things in the way
of its universal adoption, and, except for the greater danger in case of
fire, the preferable mode of securing the required air space is that by
furring.

While we are below ground, let us examine the cellar bottom. If
the ground is wet and springy, it will be necessary to cover it with a
coat of concrete, made of coarse gravel and hydraulic cement an inch
or two thick. Where the soil is dry, hard gravel,, or even sand, will
dO;, if the occupants are careful people ; otherwise, it would be better
concreted, so that it may be the more readily cleansed'.

Foundations, other than cellar walls, ought always to be laid on
hard ground, and below the deepest frost, according to soil and climate.

The choice of material for the walls of the superstructure is to be
governed mainly by location. Good sense and good taste, never
inconsistent, both say it should be the most substantial which can be
procured with economy. Stone is undoubtedly the most suitable for
any permanent building, when it, and the requisite lime, can be
obtained of proper quality and wrought without too great labor and
cost in comparison with other substances. Next to this is brick. One
great obstacle to the use of stone has been the supposition that it must
appear smooth, or it would look badly; and another, the difficulty of
i'orming the heads and jambs of doors and windows. Both of these
objections are obviated by using bricks in combination with the stone,
where much accuracy of finish is required, or where openings are to be

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES.

419

covered. A simple surface of broken stone, sucli as can Ibe gathered
from the vicinity, suggests an unassuming control of the resources of
the neighborhood, which no far-fetched material can show.

Stone walls ought always to be furred, and brick walls either furred
or built hollow. It is best never to build any wooden blocks into the
masonry, but, for nailing to, a thin strip may be occasionally laid in
the mortar-joint, not more than two inches wide and less than half an
inch thick. This will hold nails and will not weaken the walls. The
ends of floor timbers are commonly built into the masonry, just as so
many stones would be, but it is better, for the durability of the timber
and the solidity of the wall, that, except on the bottom where they
rest, they should touch nothing, a little space being left above them,
and around their sides and ends.

Bricks, if used in the country, ought to be hard-burned, so that they
may be left in their natural state, as much of the advantage of either
brick or stone is lost if an external covering, demanding frequent
renewal, is required for protection. It is useless to give any attention
to outside cements, mastics, and plasterings of any name, since, while
they are most objectionable for other than structural reasons, they form
neither a permanent nor a cheap surface for exposed walls.

Next to brick in value, as a house material, is wood. Its great fault
is the liability of burning. Its durability, when properly used and
cared for, is perhaps as great as stone, in ordinary houses. There are
many old buildings composed of both materials together, in which the
wood is comparatively sound, while the stone is falling apart. It has
many advantages, among which are warmth of walls, thinness, and
lightness, and the rapidity with which it may be wrought.

There are many ways both of framing and covering wooden houses,
each having its peculiar merits and defects. The earliest method was
to construct the frame of square hewn timber, as large as could be
handled conveniently, the joints being secured entirely with tenons
and wooden pins. The braces were tenoned
into the beams and posts, and were short, the
strength of the frame depending mostly on
the stiffness of the timber. The corner of a
house framed in this style is represented in
fig. 4. The weakness of such frames results
from their apparent strength, the very weight
of the timbers employed breaking them down.
In such frames there is little regard paid to
the direction of the strain which each piece is
required to resist. Floor timbers are often
used wider than their vertical thickness. Such
floors sag of their own weight and vibrate
with every step. Houses thus made are also
sometimes blown out of the perpendicular, and
lean in a seemingly threatening manner, the
weight tending to increase their inclination.
With such timbers, however, there may be
considerable distortion without danger of ac-
tual breaking. The advantage of the method Fig. 4.

420 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

is chiefly its rudeness, few and simple tools only being used^ and
nothing but wood required for fastenings. It is cheap, where timber
is plenty, but wasteful where it bears a market value.

The other extreme is the balloon frame, 'where no timber is used in
the walls but vertical studs, of the smallest size that will answer to
nail the covering to. Eeliance is placed, chiefly, on the outside board-
ing, to keep the frame in its proper shape. Its advantages are its
small cost, the ease of handling small timbers, the rapidity of its form-
ation, and the fact that it does not need a mechanic to put it up. Its
most prominent fault is the dependence put on nails — the most unre-
liable material of all that are used, even when new — and its liability
to get out of place, and constantly grow weaker, by the corrosion of
the nails and the wearing of the nail-holes. For small houses, and
other buildings of light uses, it is a very suitable and valuable mode
of construction.

In the best frames, there is no timber used beyond what is required,
and each stick is so placed that its most effective strength is made
available, the special use of every piece being considered, and its size
and form adapted to it. Cross strains upon the wood are avoided
wherever practicable, each piece resisting either compression or exten-
sion in the direction of its length. Where stifi'ness must be relied
upon, the greatest advantage is taken of the edgewise strength of the
timber, so that where, by the first-described plan, there would be floor
timbers seven inches deep and perhaps ten inches broad, once in two
feet, in this the timber would be ten inches deep, only two or three
inches wide, and not more than sixteen inches apart. The weight is
thus far less, and the strength and stiffness far greater. To keep such
thin timbers from twisting out of place, there are bridging pieces, or
braces, spiked between them, answering a much better purpose than
an additional thickness of timber.

In this method, the timbers may all be mucli smaller than those
formerly used, and still be stronger than the heavy frames. Being
kept vertical by the braces, the studs may carry most of the weight.
As the timbers on different sides generally meet the corner-posts at dif-
ferent levels, they may be as small as four inches by eight inches, or
four inches by six inches, in many houses.

It is important that timber should be so arranged as to tie the frame
as often as possible, and always to have a lateral pressure counter-
acted by a tie.

The most common thickness of wall timbers is four inches. This,
in large buildings, is hardly enough to give all the strength of joints
which is desirable, or the greater thickness for sash rendered necessary
by the increase in the size of modern windows. Near large lumber
markets, it is always cheaper to adopt such sizes as are in ordinary
use and may be found ready prepared ; but where timber is sawn ex-
pressly for any house, at least five inches thickness is preferable. In
such cases, it will frequently save waste if all the framing plans are
drawn before the timber is cut. Care should be taken, in seasoning
it, to keep it straight ; and the drying may be greatly hastened by
frequent turning, &c.

One of the most durable coverings for a wooden house is boarding

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 421

vertically, the joints being protected by a narrow strip of batten. If
the narrow boards are used, and the joints are tongued and grooved
together, this is also one of the tightest and warmest coverings, but is
not the cheapest, and has the disadvantage that, for nailing the
boards, there must be horizontal timbering, additional to the vertical
studs required for the interior lathing, and for support of the beams
above. A modification of this kind of covering, very different in its
appearance, is made by using quite narrow planks, an inch and a
quarter thick, and omitting the battens. The same material may be
used horizontally, but is better, if so used, with rebated joints, the outer
lip being the thicker of the two, and the edges sloped a little down-
ward.

Less costly than either of these is the common horizontal clap-
boarding, of which there are two forms, one of long pieces, uniform in
thickness, except a shallow rebate at the lower edge, nailed directly on
the frame ; the other, of thinner boards, wedge-shaped in their section,
laid upon a lining of rough boards. In cost the latter somewhat exceeds
the other, but adds greatly to the stiffness of the frame, and produces
a much tighter barrier to the weather, especially if between the lining and
the clapboards, there is placed a sheathing of paper^ which is now manu-
factured for that purpose, and is quite as efficient to exclude either wind
or heat as another thickness of boards would be.

There is no more durable or warmer form of wooden covering than
shingling of the best quality, laid on boards. If proper precaution is
taken in selecting and preparing the materials, this kind of walling
does not deserve the neglect and prejudice which seems to have befallen
it^ in late years.

Where it is customary to lay either clapboards or shingles on lining
boards, walls are seldom filled in with bricks, an excellent practice,
very prevalent in many localities. By "filling in," is not meant,
however, "filling up," as some seem to suppose, who, in their incon-
siderate desire to build thoroughly, use hard bricks, and lay them
solidly, from the outer covering of the timber to the inner one, thus
destroying the non-conducting air-space, which it is the very object to
secure, and making the walls less valuable than if left with the simple
boarding.

For this use, the best bricks are the softest from the kiln, only par-
tially burned, and unfit for any other use. They should be laid on
edge, in the center of the framing, so as to leave a space on each side,
and must be secured in their place by an occasional board nailed in
between the studs.

On the inside, the laths ought to be nailed once in sixteen inches —
twelve is better — and at the corners those from both directions secured
to the same support, so that there may be none of the angle cracks,
which difigure so many good houses, in consequence of the shrinking
of timber. The double air space made by the internal course of brick-
work is useful to remedy imperfections in the outer or inner coating of
the wall. The same purpose is sometimes accomplished by plastering
roughly on laths fixed between the studs. A better way, because less
likely to be rendered defective by shrinking, while affording an in-
creased thickness of wall, very desirable at the windows, is to lath and

422 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

plaster rouglily on the studs, in the usual manner, and then nail
narrow strips of inch boards upon that surface, against each stud, and
lath and plaster again.

Where neither bricks nor sound stones can be obtained, if timber is
costly and lime cheap, a wall, answering a very good temporary pur-
pose, may be built of concrete, which is a composition of lime and
stones, so small that they are mixed into the mortar, and used without
reference to their shape or position^, the whole being formed in molds.
Such walls need furring, as much as those made of bricks or stone, to
render them warm, and must have, besides, a plastered surface exposed
to the weather. They are inferior in every respect to a rough stone
wall, and are said to be no cheaper, unless there may be a saving in
the cartage of materials.

But exposed plaster surfaces must always be a vexation, until some
cement is invented better than anything which all the centuries past
have produced. Such devices have long been common, promising
great things, deluding many, greatly corrupting public taste, substi-
tuting the fictitious and the flimsy for the true and the durable, and
each, in turn, leaving a waste of dilapidation behind it, as it has gone
out in disgrace, to be followed by another deceitful pretender of the
same character.

It is greatly to be regretted that so much of the inventive genius of
this age, both here and abroad, has been directed to the cheapening
rather than the improvement of building. One half the thought and
time and experiment which has been devoted to the production of im-
itations of stones, whose only merit, if successful, would have been
that of appearing to be something better than they really were, or
than those who used them were willing to pay for, would long ago
have given the world a method of making the floors of ordinary dwell-
ings fire-proof, and so little more expensive than wooden ones as to be
within the means of every builder.

Let the workers in iron and cements, instead of counterfeiting with
their materials more valuable substances and pushing them into uses
for which they are nowise suitable, devise some way by which the sup-
ports of floors may be made as light and as strong of iron as of timber,
and covered with a composition as elastic, as strong, as warm, and as
durable as wood, and at the same time incombustible, and both shall
be pronounced benefactors of mankind, and receive the commendations
of all lovers of good architecture, instead of their execrations. Until
something of this nature is devised, in common houses wood must be
relied upon for the supports and surfaces of floors. They are greatly
improved, but seldom, by a layer of clay or elastic mortar upon boards
placed between the floor beams. This makes them less combustible.
Similar measures may advantageously be used in the ceilings of upper
rooms, which are close to flat roofs, to protect them from heat in sum-
mer.

What shall the roof be ? If the object is solely to inclose the most
cubic space with the smallest amount of material, the flatter the roof,
and the more like a tea-chest the house is made, the better the object
will be accomplished. Happily, however, there are some mechanical
and financial obstacles to the execution of such an object. The cheapest

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 423

and most available roof-covering for isolated houses is shingling, or,
in soroe favored localities, slating, and these both require a conspicuous
elevation. The degree of slope is frequently determined by the car-
penter for the ease of reckoning the length of rafters. It ought to be
a well-considered matter^ for, more than any other external feature, it
defines the character of the house.

Upon parts of roofs it is, however, often desirable to have a much
lower pitch than is suited for shingles, if good tinning work can be
obtained. For such work, and for the gutters and valleys of roofs, the
thinnest tin of the sort called "terne" or "leaded" plate_, is consid-
ered more serviceable than the more costly kinds.

Of all the many cements introduced to notice within the last few
years for the purpose of covering roofs, none have yet had a sufficiently
long or severe trial to be pronounced perfectly reliable, and some have
most certainly been proved worthless. Probably no one of them will
accomplish what is claimed for it in all climates, but some of them
may be found valuable for particular sections of the country when
sufficiently tested. If so, they will, in many particulars, simplify the
formation of roofs, and especially of their water-courses. Most if not
all of them give an unpleasant character to rain-water, rendering them
objectionable, if cisterns are to be relied upon.

The stability of partitions is promoted by resting those in the upper
story directly upon the lower ones.

The warming of the house is a most important matter, and one which
generally requires as much consideration in a southern house as in a
northern one. The occasions for artificial heat being irregular and
infrequent, are none the less imperative. In northern houses it is im-
portant that the chimneys should be in the interior of the building,
that none of their heat may be lost. Flues are to be brought together,
as much as practicable, in order that the heat of each may increase the
draft in the others. Sometimes, too, the habits of the family and ar-
rangement of the rooms are such that a part of the summer rooms are
unoccupied in the winter season, at least for purposes requiring them
to be warmed. But it is different where a sudden, chilly change of
the weather, at any season of the year, affects people in every part of
the house alike, and fires are demanded in each room. Their use being
but temporary, the chimneys may be placed wherever they are most
convenient, and open fires, on such occasions, at least, seem to be Jiiore
effectual than any plan of close fire. In northern regions it is always
easiest to warm an upper room from below, though, for special reasons,
it may not always be expedient to do so.

Great outcry has been made against stoves, and they are undoubtedly
liable to more abuse than open fires, and are certainly less cheerful ;
but there is no reason why we should not have the advantage of their
very great economy, and still have wholesome and pure air to breathe.

And this suggests the vexed question of ventilation, which by some
seems to be considered the cure for all life's ills. We all suffer too
much from its neglect. Perhaps -we should suiFer less if it were less
misunderstood. In the first place, we must remember that, except in the
single matter of temperature, no system of ventilation, however perfect,
can give us any better air than that which surrounds our house. If it

424

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

is damp or smoky, or in any way unpleasant or unwliolesome, that
within the walls must be the same. The most we can do is to warm
it, if too cold, and to change it so frequently as to maintain a purity
equal to that out of doors. These changes may be made by blowers
and other mechanical means, out of the question in a country house,
by the force of the wind, or by the ascending power of heated air.

The old way, so much favored by the lovers of open fires, was a
combination of the last two plans. The air of the room, as fast as it
as heated, ascended the great-throated chimney, and its place was
supplied by cold winds through every crack. Nearly all the chimney
caps and ventilators in use depend upon the wind for their efficiency.
Blowing against inclined surfaces, the air is diverted upward, and thus
produces an ascending current in the pipe to which the cap is attached.
In breezy weather some of these devices operate excellently, but in a
calm, of course, they are valueless. Their fault is similar to that

Fig. 5.
FIRST STORY PLAN

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 425

which the negro found with the moon, that it only shone in light nights,
when it was not needed.

Doors and windows for summer or southern localities,, will, in suit-
able weather, always he made use of as the most simple and thorough
means of ventilation. Sometimes houses have been made, in the South-
ern States, with openings opposite to each other on all sides, through
the entire building, so that in every direction there might be through
drafts when there was a breeze. Nothing could be more delightful in
pleasant weather. Figure 5 represents the principal floor plan of a
house of this kind, built in Mississippi.*

But there are days when the outer air is too cool for comfort. Then
our fires should, if possible, be so arranged that the external air shall
be properly warmed as it comes in, and the vitiated air consumed or
carried off in a regular flow, without unpleasant currents. Its ascend-
ing power must be made use to draw it off. It is not necessary, nor
always best, to give outlets for air at the top of the room, as then it
would be comfortably warmed with much more difficulty. A flue,
formed of brick or metal, by the side of the kitchen smoke-flue, would
always have an upward current of air, which would abundantly venti-
late most kitchens, if an opening to it were made just higher than
the doors. A similar air pipe on the other side of the flue might also
draw off the foul air from the bottom of the cellar, though less rapidly.
The cellar, indeed, might be well ventilated by a pipe from near the
bottom, through which the kitchen fire should receive all its supply.
What special arrangements may best be made to render the necessary
fires in a house conducive to ventilation it is not appropriate here to
consider. They are such as will make use of vitiated air drawn from
just the proper point for feeding the fire, instead of taking the purest
in the room, as at present is often the case, and will also make all the
surplus heat of the smoke available in the formation of currents in
contiguous pipes for the same purpose. Upon the same principle are
the effects of the sun upon the roof and walls of a house to be rendered
useful. The steep sides of the roof, receiving the sun's rays in the
afternoon, absorb and radiate an amount of caloric that, if not properly
disposed of, will in summer time render upper rooms intolerable. But,
with proper arrangements, the air so heated may be allowed to ascend
between the roof and the ceilings to the highest point, and there escape,
drawing with it, to occupy the place it vacates, the heated air from
any of the rooms below with which there may be communication. In
this way the chambers under steep roofs are made more cool and pleasant
than those next to flat or low roofs, though more exposed to the sun
and less tolerable if not properly guarded.

* In southern houses it is almost always preferred to place the kitchen and servants ' rooms
in a separate building, connected with the house by a short, covered passage-way, which
may be inclosed or opened at pleasure. In this plan, the experiment of a basement kitchen
was tried. It occupied the corner under the dining-room, access to it being had by the stairs
in the rear verandah. An outside door also opened to an area under the nursery wing. A
dumb waiter, which rose in the dining-room closet, also opened below to the same area, so
that there was no direct connection between the kitchen and any other part of the house.
For additional ventilation, there was a large opening in the kitchen ceiling, from which a
wooden conductor led up between the chimney and dining-closet, and entered a flue in the
chimney near the roof. (See fig. 2 for exterior.)

426 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

But all of these means of construction are unavailable without one
other, and with that any of them maybe used as desirable. In build-
ing, as much as in almost any other enterprise, there is profit in the
possession of ready money and plenty of it. Little., miserly savings,
which do not, altogether, make a perceptible reduction in the first cost,
are the very things that take away most from the real value of a house.
Afterwards, you will wish you had obtained this true value, even at
many times the original expense.

One of the greatest and most frequent mistakes in building is, at-
tempting to accomplish too much with the funds provided. It will
not do to fix on the size and quality of your house, and also to limit
your expenditures, with ordinary judgment of the cost of building.
Nor, if a friend capable of advising you in the matter, tells you the
money is too little for the house, or the house too large for the money,
must you think he is trying to persuade you into extravagance.
Probably the truth is just the reverse. If you cannot understand why
a house no larger than the one you want should cost so much, do not,
for that reason, disbelieve the fact, if those who assure you of it have
better opportunities of knowing than yourself. It is better to be in-
formed before the money is spent, than to find it out afterwards.
Probably the reason is that you desire additions or alterations, which
seem to be insignificant, but which materially change the plan from
that which you have adopted as a standard of cost. If your purse is
limited, you must restrain your ambition. It is not wise to attempt to
get more for your money than it is worth, in ordinary circumstances.
If you try to drive hard bargains, ten to one you will be the one cheated,
and the occupants of your house will suffer for it as long as it stands,
even if in the end it does not cost you more money than it would if
fairly built at a fair price. Build well, doing what is done so that it
will last, curtailing the dimensions of the house, if necessary, to fit it
to the money to be spent, trusting to the future for enlargement,
rather than spread a little money over a great extent — none of which
will ever be worth the trouble it has cost.

Much additional value may be given to any structure in the country,
by a prudent foresight in the selection, preparation, and preservation
of materials, previous to the commencement of the actual work. In
clearing ground of stones, there may be encountered many better
suited for peculiar uses in foundations, if saved, than any which could
be found if specially sought. There are few who appreciate another
means which their own lands afford of enriching and beautifying their
edifices, without expenditure of money, in a way which money alone
cannot imitate. There is hardly a wood that grows that cannot be
used advantageously and ornamentally in its own native color in
housebuilding. The variety of these is very great. On many single
farms there may be found from twenty-five to thirty-five different kinds
of wood, all suitable for parts of the interior finish. The balusters
of stair-railings, for instance, might be not only more striking and
more appropriate, but more beautiful than any imported wood, if they
were made of different native woods in their own natural grain, and
arrans;ed with reference to the contrast of colors, A log saved from a

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 427

frnit or shade tree, when one is sacrificed for any reason, will occasion
but little trouble to lay up, but could hardly be procured on demand.

As soon as the plan of the house is so far decided on as to warrant
their purchase, the lumber and timber for its construction should be
seasoning. Too much haste in erecting the house will inevitably
show its effects in cracks and twists and gaping joints when too late
to provide an entire remedy.

In arranging and combining the means at command, so as to meet
as fully as possible the wants of the family, without waste of material
in the first instance, or causing an unnecessary expenditure of time
and labor in the future, there is much occasion for both study and
experience. As each man commonly builds but one house, and has no
opportunity to correct his errors, he is liable to encounter difficulties,
or fall into mistakes, that have troubled hundreds before him, who
have, too late, learned how to avoid them. The number and uses of
the apartments being determined, they are to be combined and ar-
ranged with reference to convenience of communication between them,
their exposure and prospects, and the exterior shape of the edifice, in-
volving the form of the roof, spacing of windows, &c. It will be seen
that there are many diverse and sometimes conflicting purposes, all
to be kept in view, and difficulties to be reconciled, that may well per-
plex one unaccustomed to the work. It is impossible to lay down rules
for designing a house, but some points to be regarded, in judging of
plans, may be designated.

The rooms should be compared with others, of nearly the same size,
devoted to similar purposes, and furnished in nearly the same manner.
Every one understands that unfurnished rooms seem to be of very dif-
ferent dimensions from the same apartments when occupied ; and the
room which, as a bed-room, may seem large, will look very small as a
parlor.

The size and shape of many rooms must be regulated by the furni-
ture that they are to contain. The bed -room must have space for the
bedstead to be placed without interfering with doors, or it is valueless.
The eating-room must, at least, have width enough for the table, with
its chairs, and passage-way on either side. If a piano is to be accom-
modated in the ]3arlor, the requisite space must be provided for it,
without crowding it upon the hearth, or closing up an important door,
or a window.

The height of stories has an important influence in determining the
apparent size of the apartments. The old houses were uncomfortably
low. Following the fashion set in cities, there is a tendency to the
other extreme, and rooms are often rendered cheerless by an unreason-
able height. Besides the useless cost involved, and the unfavorable
effect on the appearance of the house, it causes great inconvenience at
stairways. The stairs are tedious to ascend, and occupy so much
room in each story as to interfere with doors and passages. For any
house in which the largest rooms are not more than sixteen feet wide,
a greater height of story than eleven feet is seldom, if ever, advisable,
while smaller houses, and upper stories, may range from eight or nine
feet upward, the former being as low as sleeping rooms ought to be
made.

428 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

When men sit down to sketcli an arrangement of rooms, &c, , the
staircase is almost always treated as a subordinate feature, which may
he crowded into any corner, otherwise unoccupied ; and too often the
same feeling controls its actual construction. In a good staircase, the
steps will he broad and not too high, and there will be room enough
for the tallest person to pass without even a seeming danger of hitting.

The ease of stairs depends, not entirely upon the height of the step,
but on the proportion which the rise bears to the breadth of the tread.
The dimensions which, perhaps, are most suitable for country houses,
are seven and a half inches rise, and ten inches width of tread. If the
rise is increased, the breadth may be diminished, so as to keep the
product of the two dimensions, when multiplied together, near seventy-
five. These sizes must be often varied with the height and the room
which may be occupied, but, in good stairways, the rise ought to be
less than eight inches. It will be seen that the room occupied is more
than is sometimes thought necessary. If the story is ten feet high, a
straight staircase would cover a space of the lower floor more than
thirteen feet long, and require a well-hole in the second nearly eleven
feet long. To bring the head of the stairs near the center of the house,
it is common to have a platform a few steps down from the top. In
high stories, this allows more available room below, while it occupies
more of the room of the second story than if there is but one ascent.
To accomplish the same object, and to save room, winding stairs are
used, but are always to be avoided, where possible, as each step is
reckoned at twice the cost of a straight one, and is never pleasant, or
safe, after it is up.

The stairs,, forming the connection between the upper and lower
parts of the dwelling, may contribute much to its cheerful and united
appearance, by showing themselves to be easy, capacious, open and
inviting. If in sight, they always form an agreeable feature, unless
the story to which they lead is itself so uncomfortable that any sugges-
tion of it is repulsive. For saving labor, and for the protection of
carpets and furniture, a back flight, ascending near the kitchen, and
shut off by a door at the bottom, is, however, required in most country
houses.

The arrangement of doors is often such that, without some caution,
two or more, in opening, interfere with each other. But care in regard
to the hanging of them will prevent much of the annoyance. This is
a matter generally left to the carpenter's journeyman, who hangs the
doors with more reference to the right or left hand make of the latches
he has, than to any other consideration.

Attention has so often been directed to the fact that the solid con-
tents of a cube are greater than those of any other right-angled figure
of equal surface, that most people, following Loudon, and those who
have copied from him, seem to consider it an axiom, that any depar-
ture from a perfect parallelogram, in the form of a house, is at a sacri-
fice of economy. Some have carried their mathematics still further,
and urged that everything should be formed in octagons. As

appendages to single rooms, octagonal forms are sometimes both con-
venient and pleasing to the sight, especially when it is desirable to
obtain light, or views in more than one direction, or to secure entrances

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES.

429

at corners of rooms; but for an area to be divided, there is no shape
more inconvenient or wasteful than this. The rooms can have no
regular form, without the sacrifice of many triangular spaces, alike
useless, whether inclosed or not. There is little chance to place ordi-
nary furniture, the connection of room is inconvenient, the house,
externally, is as unsightly as it is possible to make it, while the
greatly increased amount of partitions usually runs its cost up to or
above that of a rectangular building of the same capacity. People
who have occasion to pack square goods, do not choose casks for the
purpose.

For the economy of building and economy of living, the general
form of houses must be rectangular, but it need not be a square nor a
regular parallelogram; because ab cis just as long as ad c,
it takes no more wall for a square house than an irregular
one of the same extreme dimensions, the floors and roof
being all the additional expense. It is therefore said that the
square one is the most valuable one for its cost. This is
not true, if the room so taken in is not needed or cannot be
used to advantage, or if the addition materially impairs the value of
the original structure.

Irregularities are frequently desirable to afford light to special parts
of the interior. The construction of the roof sometimes demands a
change of form, and sometimes it is required for the improvement of
the general proportion and outline of the building. In the little
cottage represented in figures T and 8 the entry communicates, with-
out waste of space, with each of the three rooms. If the corner in

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7. First story.

Fig. 8. Second story.

front of it were filled out, it would still be necessary to carry the
hall back as far as it now extends, so that the room would only be
useful for entrance purposes. The side window of the sitting room
would be lost, and so would the advantage of the snug corner for the
entrance and veranda. The roof would require an entire change, and
the whole arrangement and appearance of the exterior would be differ-
ent. Look at the perspective view, (figure 9,) fancy its modifications,
and say whether it would be better to make them, at the additional
cost of floors and roof, for the sake of the greater entry which would
have been secured.

430

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Fig. 9.

Tliat there sliall be the best expression of consistency and complete-
ness, the structure must be centralized. Some one prominent feature
must be above or before the rest, and first fix the attention. The
whole form must tend toward this, so that it shall seem one united
design, grown up together. In the best of the old rectangular houses
the high roof and central chimneys served this purpose. In the best
modern ones, not only the roof, but the different parts of the house,
each telling of its own purpose and use, group themselves around
some central point — central in influence rather than position, and to
the charm of simplicity and unity, add the greater charm of variety.
The two resemble each other in their development of symmetry very
much as the trim evergreen and the well-formed oak.

Every feature of a house that tells of a use, essential to the enjoy-
ment of home, may be valuable and pleasing in its exterior, and the
higher the nature of the enjoyment secured by it the more valuable
the indication. All such things are to be so arranged and exhibited
as not to interfere with each other in their effects. For this reason it
is proper to keep in view the exterior expression, as well as material
convenience, in arranging the interior.

The chief expressive features of dwellings are the windows, en-
trances, roof, and chimneys, to which may be added the verandas.

The windows are the eyes of the house, not only giving light and
cheerfulness, but telling, more than any other feature, what is going
on within. Although the form of windows is infinitely variable in the
other classes of architecture_. there can seldom be much, if any, devia-
tion from rectangular outlines in houses of the class under considera-
tion. If the walls are built of bricks, or small stones, the heads may
be arched with advantage, both in the construction and appearance.
But the requirement of light as high as possible in the room restricts
us to the low segment, as the only available form of arch, and this
varies so little from a straight line that, though the opening of the
masonry is curved, the sash is often straight. In wooden walls curved
forms over openings are manifestly not the most appropriate, being

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 431

both weaker and more costly than straight ones. But there is oppor-
tunity for much variety even with rectangular windows.

In houses, such as all have seen, with five windows on the front, up
stairs, all placed at equal distances, and four windows and a central
door below, we have what is by many considered the perfection of
regularity and order. Such regularity is of the lowest kind. The
door betokens some entrance way, but, besides that, there is nothing
to indicate the internal divisions or uses of the house, or, when look-
ing at the upper part, to fix the attention on any of the uniform
windows. A very little alteration will at once change the whole
front, and, without impairing its symmetry, give it a new character.
Let the two windows on each side of the middle be placed nearer
to each other, so that they shall always be looked on as a pair, and
the house at once is seen to have a room at each end. If the middle
window has a size or form peculiar to itself, it may also give dignity to
the center, and thus, without extra cost^ and without change of the
walls or roof, a very important expression may be obtained.

The gathering of the windows together has also served another pur-
pose. Before, the walls were broken up by numerous 0]3enings, so that
they had a scattered and restless look. Now, the breadth of the un-
broken wall-spaces is increased, and the apparent weight and solidity
of the structure, and we have contributed much to the feeling of sta-
bility and repose, which is essential to domestic quiet. The windows
may be brought close to each other, forming one double window, or
separated by a wider or narrower pier^ according to the circumstances
and the judgment of the designer, the center of the two being, if prac-
ticable, in the center of the apartment, and those of the upper story
above those of the lower.

Difference in the size and shape of windows on the same front is not
only allowable, but pleasing, when there is a good and evident reason
for the diversity, as, for instance, against stairways, the location of
which may, very properly, be shown in that way, instead of hidden by
false or useless openings, uniform with the rest in size and situation.
Windows in the different parts of the house may be almost any size,
and grouped in a thousand ways, giving great variety and expression
to the house, and at the same time contributing to variety and interior
convenience, if the whole proportion of -opening to wall-space is main-
tained, and the central points of the groups are so placed as to retain
the balance of the parts nearly as though they were all alike.

There is nothing that gives a house a more uncomfortable look than
the little, low holes under the eaves, which are sometimes called attic
windows. They give evidence that a space, too contracted even to be
more than barely endurable, is, nevertheless, occupied by somebody,
whose light comes from an opening close to the floor, rendered inac-
cessible by the lowness of the roof. A window in the gable, on the
other hand, may seem very pleasant, as it gives no evidence that the
room from which it looks out extends on either side so far as to be
uncomfortably low.

Dormer windows, if broad, on steep roofs, are really very pleasant
features of rooms that may be far more comfortable and cheerful than
many lower down in the house, but if the roof is comparatively flat,

432

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

and tlie windows are narrow, tliey afford, at best, but a sorry avenue for
the light of day; and in either case, their appearance expresses the
truth of the matter.

Figures 10 and 11 representing an alteration of a small house, illus-
trate Ihese suggestions respecting windows, and some other matters,
soon to be alluded to.

Fig. 10.

People whose knowledge of French windows, or those whose sashes
are hinged like doors, is derived from seeing them on an occasional visit
to a neighbor's, are often very anxious to have them on their own
houses, and it is with difficulty they are persuaded that they are in
anywise objectionable. Unless made very heavy, and with at least twice
the work and cost required by an ordinary sash-window, they cannot be
rendered even tolerably tight against storms under verandas. In ex-

".•^MVC'--'"'' . ?

Fig. 11.

posed situations rain will drive in, notwithstanding every precaution.
Such sashes cannot safely be used with curtains, as many housekeepers
know, by vexatious experience. Another serious objection to them is
the broad bar up and down the center, where unobstructed light is
most wanted; but in its apish mimicry, fashion has fastened the

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 433

objectionaWe feature on windows of other construction, where it is
entirely uncalled for and a nuisance.

Is it necessary to say anything of those most inexcusable lies called
sham windows ? They are confessions that the builder thinks he ought
to have placed a window where he did not ; attempts to falsify and hide
the real character of the building he was incompetent to manage.

The man who is not ingenious enough to avoid even the apparent
occasion for sham windows, wooden chimney tops, and all that sort of
falsehood, is unqualified to design a house for human habitation.

The warmth of windows may be increased by doubling the glass.
This may be done either by putting two thicknesses in one sash, or by
placing an extra sash outside in winter.

As the windows are the features chiefly tributary to the internal
cheerfulness, so the doors are the means by which communication is
maintained with the outside world. The main entrance should open
into a hall, or passage, communicating directly with the rooms where
visitors would be received. It should be spacious and accessible from
the front, for convenience, and should be sufficiently prominent to be
inviting, and appear hospitable, but not so obtrusive as to promise more
than the rest of the house will warrant. All outside doors ought to
be sheltered by porches covering the steps, so that a person awaiting
entrance may not be exposed to storm or sun. The back porches may
be very plain and inexpensive. If the doors are not otherwise pro-
tected within the building, these may very well be so constructed that,
in the winter, they may be inclosed with movable shutters, inserted
between the posts. It is best, however, that no outside doors should
open directly into any of the living rooms of the house, and in cold
climates it is well to have them shut off by an extra door from the
passages in common use. If no better provision can be made, a tem-
porary partition and door, of light frame-work covered with some
woven stuff, to be placed across the hall a few feet from an outside door,
in the winter, will contribute greatly to the warmth of the house, ancl
need not be unsightly.

The front porch, being for protection against storm, should be as
heavy and substantial in appearance as the general construction of the
whole building. It should be neither flimsy nor disproportionately
massive. Upon stone and brick buildings it should be made much
heavier, both in form and detail, than would be at all proper upon
wooden ones. It may, with great propriety, receive as high a degree
of ornamentation as any part of the structure.

Verandas, on the other hand, being simply shades, and shelters from-
the damps of evening, ought to be and appear as light as is consistent
with stability. Very unpleasant effects have been produced by con-
structing them as modified porticoes, with columns and cornices of
classic type, but horribly distorted in proportion. They are, in their
uses, unlike anything to be found in ancient architecture, resembling
awnings rather than roofs, and should be managed as a peculiarity of
our own time, Avithout attempting to follow an inapplicable model.
Porticoes carry weight of roof on heavy columns, frequently placed so
that the columns and the mass above are the main features. Verandas
carry little weight ; their supports must be far apart, and should seem
28— A

434 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

light and fanciful, the part above being a mere screen. Tlie chief effect
of verandas, architecturally speaking, is the dark shadow beneath
them.

The English seem to consider these features mere matters of orna-
ment. They may be so in that climate, but in ours are of great practi-
cal utility. Their position should be chosen with reference to their
usefulness, as well as the symmetry of the building. As a shade, a
veranda is useless on the north side of a house, but its roof is a pro-
tection against the effects of falling dew ; and in the* afternoon, when
the horizontal rays of the sun render the south or west side untenable,
the north may be a desirable resort. Judgment must be employed that
it be not too narrov/ for free use, or too high for shade, or too wide or
too low for light. An agreeable tone may be given to the light by a
delicate tint on the veranda ceiling.

Sometimes the main porch is combined with the veranda, or, rather,
the entrance is from a veranda without any distinct porch. Unless the
veranda is quite small, it is best in such cases that some change in its
form should be made, so as to render the entrance more prominent
than it can be under an unbroken line of roof.

Any attempt to give expression to a dwelling will be nearly useless
if it have a characterless roof. This is the head of the house, and,
more than all other features, gives it peculiarity. Its varieties and
effects can only be hinted at.

A flat roof, or one so low as to be invisible, may be a cover to the
building, but is not a roof, to outward sight. The house can never seem
to be finished which is apparently lacking this most imj)ortant member.
It should be so steep as to be seen at the ordinary distance at which
the house will be looked at, but the slope should not be so long as to
make the entire height too great when seen from further off; for then
the roof seems to crush and distort the building below it. If the width
of the house be very great, it will generally be necessary to have two
slopes to meet these two requirements, one steep near the walls and a
lower one further up. The upper slope may, if proper materials can
be obtained, be nearly flat.

The gables^ or the pointed walls where roofs terminate, are very
marked objects, and the roof ought to be so formed that these shall
make the central and commanding feature in the principal fronts.
The general tendency of the roof lines should be towards the center,
uniting the whole structure, and cqncentrating the attention. Hipped
roofs, where the slopes of sides at right angles to each other meet,
contribute greatly to this effect ; but gables are generally needed in
combination with them, both for light in the garret and for satisfac-
tory appearance. The form commonly built a few years ago, with a
long, unbroken roof, sloping to and from the road, with enormous
gables at each end, was the reverse of this, scattering rather than
concentrating in its effect. Gables may appropriately surmount the
projecting parts of the house, wherever an irregular form is adopted.
As the slope of the roof is to be the same on all sides_, the width and
position of projections and the form of the roof influence each other.

The cornice may be considered a part of the roof. In the simplest
and rudest construction, where thatch or rough slabs are used as a cov-

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES.

435

ering, tlie roof always projects beyond the walls, both at the ends and
sides, as the most ready method of affording protection from the
weather. Such a projection is essential to the expression of the full
value of the roof. It also suggests another idea, more fanciful, per-
haps, but one which influences every person more or less, that of shel-
tering or brooding the house. As our experience in discerning character
is mainly derived from the observation of the human face, we very
early learn to trace resemblances in other things, and it may be that
our feeling respecting cornices is suggested by the similarity to the
hair and eyebrows, which are so essential to the character of the coun-
tenance.

A flat-roofed house with a wide cornice — a form ' ' fashionable ' ' of
late — is simply a box with a cover too large for it; the two have no
peculiar relation to each other, and no apparent union. But our roof
and cornice must fit our house only. The walls must be finished for
it, and show the fact, not seeming to have been built higher and cut
down, but prepared for stopping, by belts, &c., before the roof was
reached. Then the projection must be proportioned to the height and
width of the walls, and extent and thickness of roof, so that while it
is enough for a shadow, breaking the outline, and for real protection
of the walls, it shall not seem to be in clanger of breaking off", nor
entirely stop the eye of the observer, in running up to the summit of
the house. For the last reason, the moldings of the cornice must be
easy, and the square surfaces against which their curved lines stop not
too broad. Brackets, too, though not essential, are serviceable to the

Fig. 12.

same end, and they also serve to break up the monotony of the straight
cornice lines. Unless there is some special purpose to be served by
grouping them, it is better to place them at uniform distances apart,
equally distributing their apparent and real load, than in pairs, as
some do, for reasons unknown.

Upon small and steep gables, not allowing of great projection, and

436

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

in certain styles, the same eiFects are produced by a plank liung under
the cornice, called a verge-board, which may be varied indefinitely,
either in its outline or by perforations. The faults of this kind of
finish are the liability that, instead of a substantial plank, with a visible
thickness, some thin, flimsy board will be used, of which only the front
can be seen, and that the forms chosen will not be such as to aid in the

desired effect. It is a safe rule
for those who are not artists, in
all matters of this kind^ where
figures are to be represented
by flat surfaces, to use none but
simple geometric figures, or the
graceful outlines of leaves and
other natural objects that are
themselves flat.

"Whatever features of roofer
cornice are adopted, let them
be real. Mock gables, which
are not the actual terminations
of rood's, like all other building
fictions, excite disgust with the
whole structure.

The chimneys, which crown
the whole edifice, may make or
mar its influence most serious-
ly. Fortunately, the position
which produces the best result
externally is the one on all ac-
counts most suitable, consid-
ered solely with reference to
the interior economy ; and mod-
ifications of form in the chim-
ney tops, sufficient for all or-
dinary embellishment, need
hardly make an appreciable
addition to the cost, and may,
at the same time, increase their
practical utility.

Fig. 13.
FIRST STORY.

Figures 12.

13, and 14 illus-

SECOND STORY.

trate some of these ideas. They
represent a design for a small
stone dairy farm-house, where
all the rooms are intended for
daily use.

The sitting-room, or parlor,
P (Fig. 13), and the kitchen,
both connect with the front
hall. The scullery S., dairy
D,, and store room P., are
large, and so is the kitchen.
In the second story there are
five chambers.

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. 437

The tops may sliow, by an ingenious disposition of the bricks, that
care is bestowed and variety sought even in the working of the coarsest
and most intractable materials. Placing them in central positions, so
that they shall form the apex of the general pyramidal outline, they
will be more conveniently located for collecting several flues into a
single stack, more economical in original construction, and both more
efficient and economical in the use of fuel than if built in the outer
walls.

When so situated, they seem to tell of families gathered together,
rather than dispersed to the four corners of the habitation, as always
seems to be the case in those houses, which are often seen, with lean,
tall, uncared-for shafts all around the building, rising hardly so high
as the ridge of the roof. The favorite phrase of orators, '^ around the
family hearth, '^ has something more than a figurative significance^
which is everywhere recognized. The size of the chimney tops may
also suggest either generous fires or the contrary. A small, single
flue may practically serve all the purposes of carrying the smoke from
a stove-pipe^ but it will always indicate its fuel-saving, rather than its
heating qualities. Yet, if too large, chimneys fail again, by reminding
of the overgrown and badly constructed fire-places, that carried off
immense quantities of hot-air, but produced little effect inside the
house, except in the way of cold draughts and rheumatism.

It is with chimneys as with all other parts of an edifice, if they are
to express anything it must be in a language understood by those to
whom the expression is to be conveyed. So much regard must be had
to common customs that the associations of those who are to see the
house shall aid rather than counteract your efforts. We need not,
however, yield to opinions and habits of judgment founded on a famil-
iarity with bad models of buildings, or the prevalence of a thoughtless
fashion.

Neither are we bound to make the reason for all our details, and the
manner by which they produce their effects, obvious. Thev/orld may'
read our communications without knowing how their characters were
impressed. A structure which has received the study of its builder is
worth the study of the beholder, and it is not our business to encourage
his laziness.

With wooden buildings, an important question always arises,
respecting the color of the painting. There is nothing on which it is
more difficult to communicate definite ideas, as no one in words can
describe a color so that another shall be able exactly to match it, even
with the most careful cultivation. The difficulties are greatly increased
when either party has not made this a subject of study. It is always
presumptuous to attempt the statement of rules on a matter involving
such diversity of choice. It is safe to say, hoAvever, that a clear and
glaring white is not so desirable for ''house paint" as some softer tint,
unless the sole purpose is to make the building conspicuous ; that no
somber or dismal color should be chosen ; that it should be one not
liable to fade disagreeably; that, in shaded positions, it will bear to be
much lighter than in exposed; and that the different parts of the
building should not be painted in violent contrast to each other. It is
quite customary to heighten the effect of some of the outside details,

438

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

by giving tliem a darker shade than the rest of the surface. This is,
indeed, almost necessary on a clap-boarded house^ to counteract the
effect of the horizontal lines of shadow, which, like the parallel tint
lilies of engravings, make the whole clap-boarded surface seem a shade

Fig, 15.

darker, from a little distance, than the plain parts. But it will not do
to rely on difference of color for the effect of details*, in planning them,
as all portions may sometimes be painted alike.

On the interior wood-work, two or more tints of the same color may
be used, about cloors^ &c., with very pleasing effects, if the variation
is not too great and the color not too dark. The meanest work which
ever finds its way into decent houses is what is called graining. The
only superiority claimed for it over plain painting, is the greater ease
of keeping it clean — due not to the graining, but the varnish on the
surface. This may as well be put over any paint; or, if the color of
the natural wood is desired, the paint may be left off altogether, and
the real article presented, without the disgrace of a sham. For there
is no incongruity, but a manifest propriety, in using all these mate-
rials in the same structure, if, in their own places, they each serve a
better purpose than any other could. There ought to be no attempt
to conceal their real nature, but, on the other hand, each, in its form
and finish, should be wrought in its own most appropriate manner.
If, however, stone would be better than wood for the purpose to be
served, and the latter is manifestly a substitution of a cheap and imper-
fect material for the better one, it ought not to be used at all.

If none of the harder v/oods can be conveniently emj)loyed, common
pine, if left unpainted, would be superior in beauty to the most perfect
imitation of oak or walnut ever attempted.

The colors of stone and brick, when used together, should be con-
sidered in their arrangement so as to produce harmonious variety or
pleasant contrasts, and such parts as are of wood be painted different
from both, that no one may imagine there is any attempt to imitate
either.

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES.

439

It is not intended "here to enter into any general examination of tlie
buildings of a farm, except the farmer's own residence. But the in-
fluence of these structures upon the home occupations and home com-
forts of a farmer's family is so great, that in some respects their arrange-

Fis 16.

ments a're not less important in this view than those of the house itself.
Aside from all questions of personal convenience^ there is nothing in
the whole system and policy of agriculture that can he made to con-
tribute more to the facility and profit of the labor to be performed than
the barns and other outbuildings. Their number and extent is gener-
ally not so great in this country as is deemed requisite upon the same
amount of land in Europe, although in some sections hay is housed,
and seldom so abroad. But a most common sight here is a disorderly
collection of carts, plows, harrows, sleds, and other appliances for farm-
work, exposedby the road-side or in the stable-yard to all the vicissitudes
of the weather, while such things are carefully housed in sheds specially
built for them in the improved English farmsteads. Although the
machinery which in English establishments is provided for grinding
grain and preparing food for cattle is generally not needed by Ameri-
can farmers, there are many things in which they might profit hj the
example set on the other side of the water ; but in nothing more than
in respect to neatness and orderly management, there regarded as a
matter of profit, and which here, also, would bring great accessions to
the enjoyments of country life. The same principles of design and
construction apply to these buildings that are to be observed in the
dwelling-house, and in very many respects their application will be the
same, while in other matters it will be modified by the difference of
circumstances and the peculiar demands of the structure. We cannot
refer to details, but must content ourselves with a simple indication of
some of the ends to be sought, rather than the means of obtaining them.
Whatever may be the preference respecting the use of stone for farm
dwellings, there can be no question that it is the best material for
many of the outbuildings. Many times it can be collected without
any expense beyond what would be incurred in clearing the stones
from the fields. The labor of laying walls is such as may in a

440 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

great measure be done by farm bands wben not otberwise occupied.
"Tbe wbole cost may be more tban tbat of a frail wooden structure, but
it will be vastly more durable tban tbe generality of sucb buildings.
If basements are used, wbich are required to be dry or warm, the same
precautions are to be taken as in tbe bouse, only tbat boards may be
employed instead of plastering.

If barns are constructed of wood, tbe framing must be in some re-
spects different from tbe bouse, because strains are unequal at differ-
ent times in sucb buildings. The tbin timbers, wbicb answer perfectly
for tbe walls of a bouse, would not be sufficient to resist tbe outward
pressure of bay. Sometimes, too, there are weights thrown upon
beams never designed to carry them, and unless they are much stronger
than is necessary for any duty expected of them, they may, in such
circumstances, give way and cause disaster.

Why need barns be built more than a low story from the ground
where land is of no comparative value ? It seems as though an intelli-
gent i'armer might save himself much labor in pitching bay at a time
of the year when labor is the best worth saving, by planning his barn
so that his hay need not be raised above the groimd floor.

In stables there ought to be a plentiful and constant supply of water.
If no other can be had, the roofs afford the means of collecting large
quantities of rain-water. In many situations it might be carried by
pipes to cisterns but little lower than the roof, either built on the
ground or above, from which supplies might be drawn for the barn
or house.

Light is as indispensable in stables as in bed-rooms, if proper regard
is paid to the condition and comfort of cattle. Where glass is sold
no higher than in this country, it is simply shameful to keep horses
in dark stalls to save the expense of a window.

Foul air is no more wholesome for cattle than for men, and is much
more easily got rid of in stables than in houses. To do so, involves
the necessity of neatness as a habit.

There should be somewhere a shop, where tools may be kept in
order, for making little repairs to harness or tools, without delay or
loss by neglect.

Orderly arrangement and division of the buildings, so that the litter
or stench, of one part of the barn shall not extend over parts where it
is unnecessary, can easily be accomplished, and is worth attention.
Harness should have a place where it may be kept in order, instead
of hanging in the way, behind or beside the horses ; but it need not
be in the feed-room, and it may, perhaps, be disposed of better than by
tumbling it in a heap upon a straw-cutter or in a wagon-box.

The defects of American farm establishments are, probably, most
noticeable in the management of the manure deposit. It was very
common, in certain parts of the country, to see, a few years ago — and
such things may be found, perchance, even now — barns placed directly
across the highway from the house, stables ranged along the road, and
manure heaps piled against the side of the building, where every rain,
as it fell from the roof, would drop upon them, bespattering the wall
and washing away, in offensive streams, the very substance most needed
for the fertility of the farm. But little better are the establishments

SOME HINTS UPON FARM HOUSES. • 441

wliere the stable doors are only accessible through barn yards, which
are perpetual sloughs of mud and filth. In these things, as in most
others^ the course Avliich is furthest from neatness and comfort is the
most unprofitable.

There are men who always travel with the odor of the stable clinging
to their boots, whose coming can be foretold in the distance, but whose
departure does not remove the evidence of their late presence. Their
houses, from garret to cellar, are redolent of their occupation. A
cleanly woman, in such a house, is an object of pity. Many of them
have patiently borne what was to them a serious and real hardship,
rather thafi, by complaining, incur the charge of discontent with their
proper sphere of life, as though industry and filth were inseparable !

This is entirely unnecessary. The stables may be so ventilated and
contrived, and the cattle-yards so drained,- that this nuisance may be
avoided, with profit at the barn, as well as comfort at the house. To
disregard this incessant disgust of a sensitive woman, because the
olfactories of her more stolid husband are not so acute, is scarcely less
than brutal.

If a census could be taken of the merchants and business men in
our large cities who are most active in their occupations, and the most
noted for wealth and enterprise^ it would be found that a very large
proportion of them look forward to a home upon a farm, to which they
may sometime retire from the avocations of commerce, as the goal of
their ambition. Comparatively few ever reach it_, and they only
after the habits of a lifetime have unfitted them for its enjoyment.
At the same time, the singular spectacle is presented, of whole neigh-
borhoods deserted by farmers' sons, and their places supplied by
inferior and hired laborers. What drives these young men from agri-
culture to other employments? Is it the hard work of a farm ? Most
of them encounter more labor^ physical as well as mental, than would
be necessary on the land. Is it constant work? They find no relief
in that respect who engage in trade or enter a profession. Is it the
wish for a more honorable avocation? None such exists. But is it
not the disgusting things which they wish to escape ; the disregard of
the obvious advantages, and neglect of the best means which a farmer's
life afi'ords for the development of his own better faculties, which is
seen on every hand?

Our whole subject has an economic bearing. It has, also, relations
to art and to morals, the former subordinate to and included in the
latter. It is not a mechanical topic alone, but is worthy the investi-
gation of the philanthropist and the patriot.

442 ■ AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

GREEN SOILING STOCK.

BY D. S. CURTIS, OF MADISON, WISCONSIN.

By green soiling, or "^soiling stock," is meant the practice of
keeping all tlie animals in stalls and yards, and feeding them on cjreen
food, raised and cut for the purpose, during the ordinary«pasturing
season, and then allowing them to run only in the yard a short
time daily, where they can take necessary exercise, instead of following
the old-fashioned or ordinary custom of permitting them to range the
fields or ''commons" for the purposes of pasturing in the usual man-
ner.

To present some reliable information on the practice and results of
this system, derived from observation, experience, and reading, is the
object of this paper.

Observing persons, who have had much exiDcrience in tilling the
soil, know well, that it will yield much more value of product, when
wisely manured, worked, and reaped, several times during the season,
than if cropped but once, or pastured by animals running at large.

The question then arises, will the extra product, obtained by thorough
tillage and repeated gatherings by man, remunerate the extra labor
and expense required by this process, over and above the ordinary benefits
obtained from the same quantity of land, by pasturing it with the
amount of stock which can fairly be maintained upon it, with simple
pasturage during the summer, and cutting feed for them during the
winter.

It is believed that this question can be not only demonstrated affirm-
atively, but it can be clearly shown that the system will pay, several
times over, even in the new States, where lands are cheap and plenty,
as well as in the older States, where land is dearer, and farms smaller.

FENCES AND HERDING.

In the prairie districts of the West and South, where fencing timber
is scarce and expensive, farmers are compelled to resort to various
expedients for securing the usual conveniences offences. Ditches, sod-
fences, and hedges, are the most common substitutes, all of which are^
more or less, useful^ particularly the latter, wherever the climate or
season will permit their robust growth ; but all of them demand con-
siderable labor and trouble, first to make them, and then to keej) them
in repair, while none of them are always sure to ''turn cattle," and
protect the crops. Wire fences, also, are frequently employed to ad-
vantage; but they, like the others, are more or less insecure.

On some very large plantations, fences are almost wholly dispensed
with, and, in their stead, men or boys are engaged, night and day, to
pass continually around and watch the fields ; while, on some other
farms, the stock is herded by a keeper in day time, and yarded at

GREEN SOILING STOCK. 443

niglit; and, on a very large scale, these modes are found cheaper than
making large outlay for a great quantity of fences.

But in all of these cases there must be much insecurity to the crops,
and more or less danger of losing the cattle, so that none of these
expedients can he entirely relied upon for general use in any highly
cultivated region, while boards and rails are expensive in the prairie
district. Hence, in order to obtain the largest benefits from agricul-
ture of which it is capable, farmers must adopt some other and better
system of managing their stock and lands, and herein that better way
will be pointed out.

ADVANTAGES OP SOILING.

Green soiling is the system which will admirably meet all these
wants, if generally practiced, even in the prairie region and stock-
raising districts.

To begin with : Suppose a man of quite moderate means obtains and
settles upon an eighty-acre lot, the size which generally constitutes the
smaller farms of this region ; he has a yoke of oxen, two cows, and
two or three young hogs, for fattening and for breeding. In the start,
he is able to inclose half of it, forty acres, with a fence of some sort,
which requires 80 X 4 rr: 320 rods of fence; the cheapest and most
economical kind within his reach is a ditch and sod-fence, which he
can make with his own hands, and not pay out a dollar of money ; and
if well done, will cost him one day's work for every five rods of the
fence, say $70 ; and this is the best he can do, if unable to hire help
or buy fencing stuff.

This accomplished, he yet has but one field inclosed, and this much
he could not well dispense with, unless all of his neighbors kept their
stock safely fenced in. And, with his forty acres "fenced in," he still
has no secure pasture for his cows, team, or hogs, but must let them
run out, and range the commons^, to any distance they will, over the
unfenced prairies, and waste his time and theirs in being hunted up.
This much he must submit to, the first season, upon his new farm,
unless he can procure a store of food for his stock, or make more fence
to confine them near home, but the very labor and expense required
for additional interior fences would be sufficient to pay for their neces-
sary food. And, with very little labor, he could make a temporary
shed and yard for them comfortable enough for the warm season,
which could be improved and made more comfortable on the approach,
of winter ; thus he would be economically and pleasantly provided for
until his new crops grow to his use, which need not be longer than
about the first of July, if he early sowed a small patch of oats, or
corn, (broadcast,) or millet, peas, or any other crop of whibh he may
happen to have the seed, which will furnish a cut of succulent feed in
early summer, and grow rapidly at this season of the year.

This he can mow or cradle daily in sufficient quantities to supply
hi^ animals in their stalls or yards, from which he need have no fur-
ther trouble than to work his team in raising crops, cleaning his fields,
and feeding his animals at suitable times, say three to five times a day,
as circumstances will permit. Some feed their milch cows six times a

444 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

day, and think the benefits more tlian compensate for it. This first
jjatch will last until another one, which was sowed fifteen or twenty
days later, comes on; thus a succession of feed is furnished.

Now, the case supposed, being a new farm in a new country, is one
of the worst that well could be for favorably showing the advantao-es
of '^ soiling/' But the animals are now all safe, where they will not
destroy the crops nor cause the owner vexatious loss-time in tedious
hours of looking after his strays, far away over the boundless prairies,
and the little new farm is in a condition to begin to enjoy the fullest
advantages of "soiling," in practicing which with care and calcula-
tion, devoting more labor to less land, giving the same time to care
for his stock in the stable which is often spent in chasing them, early
and late, when strayed away or unwilling to be catched, the owner
will realize greater profits, as well as delight, in his business ; and if
he will but labor nearly as hard, in hauling out and spreading the
manure saved at the stables upon his land, as he does in making his
cross-fences, he will be sure to obtain larger returns from his cows and
land than he would by the old system.

This first season past, and all the "fodder" being saved for winter
which can be on a new place, the next thing to be done is to plow and
prepare as much ground as can be well done, or the weather will per-
mit, for the following spring's crops. Then, as early as the condition
of the land will allow, in the spring (which is often as early as the
latter part of March, but still oftenor the forepart of Ajoril) a piece of
oats should be sown — at least three bushels to the acre — and be well
harrowed in ; about half an acre to each head of stock to be fed, and
half an acre for all of the hogs. This, for the two cows, two oxen, and
the hogs, will require two and a half acres. In ten or fifteen days
sow, broadcast, of corn, millet, or the like, another half acre to each
head, two to three bushels to the acre. Sorghum, buckwheat, or peas,
will be good, if the seed is at hand, to give variety of feed.

These two soiuings will allow a rich and abundant suj)ply of feed to
all of the animals for two months, at least ; the green oats to be mowed
or cradled day by day^, as the stock may need, for July, and the corn
or other crop to be cut in the same manner, as it may be needed, for
August.

But for the early part of the season — ^before these sowed crops come
on for cutting, about the last of June or first of July — the stock will
continue to be supplied by the winter feed, such as straw, hay, and
roots, together with cuttings of the earliest grass which makes its ap-
pearance large enough for the scythe, and with clover, when it is in-
troduced on to the farm.

For September the stock can be fed with the second cutting of oats
and the early grass, which, on rich, mellow land, will be pretty rank
and large by this time if it were not cut too close down the first time.
For October they can be fed on the second cutting of corn and other
crops that may be ready, together with the first cutting of those that
were sowed last. Barley, and even peas, are a good crop for late sow-
ing, which may be as late as in the early part of June, as they are
better calculated to stand the early autumn frosts than most others *
which we have named.

GREEN SOILING STOCK. 445

On deep-plowed, mellow ground, well manured, these crops will
grow on thriftily, and admit of two or three cuttings hefore the frosts
kill them in the fall.

This " soiling" on very rich fields, is often practiced hy milkmen
who keep large numbers of cows near populous cities or towns, where
they wish to feed a good deal from little land ; they sow corn or millet,
or other like crop, and about as often as once a month they mow it,
and carry the feed to the cows in their stables ; and they find it very
profitable. Their course is, as often as every ten or fifteen days, as
the feed is cut off and consumed, to re-plow and sow, after first spread-
ing all the manure from the cow stables, as fast as made, for re-cutting
and feeding. In this manner, with care and system, they regularly
obtain the equivalent of three or four rich crops in a single season, and
find that one square rod of ground furnishes an ample supply of the
richest feed for a cow one day, and maintains the fullest flow of rich
milk. And these valuable results may as easily be realized by farmers,
with the same care and effort, upon every acre of land which they will
cultivate on the soiling system ; and certainly it must be more safe
and agreeable than toiling and tugging over large fields, which are
made to produce not more than half their real capacity under the best
management.

But returning to the farm: November will be well provided for by
the last cutting of the soiling crops, together with the tops of such
roots as have been raised, and are gathered about or a little before this
time, which make a rich and much relished food for animals at this
season of the year, and promoting the yield of milk. Any excess of
feed from the several crops which may happen to exist, can be cured
and stored away like other hay or straw — all the better if mixed in the
hay with the latter — for winter "fodder."

Iii addition to these come roots as the chief and best feed for winter,
cut up with straw, hay, and stalks, and given to the animals in mix-
ture, which is sure to keep them in good heart, flesh, and milk, until
the next spring, the usual time to commence pasture, when the order
of "^ soiling" is resumed, and pursued about as pointed out above; of
course, with such modifications as experience or circumstances may
dictate ; and, like a merchant with a comfortable deposit of cur-
rency in the bank, upon which he can draw at convenience, the
farmer now has an equally rich bank upon which he can draw for sure
treasures, in the shape of the good pile of manure which has been
made during winter.

And here it will be seen that less than seven acres of land — less than
tioo acres per head — under this improved management, maintained, in
most comfortable and thrifty condition, the two cows, two oxen, and
the hogs, in both winter and summer, and with additional comfort to
the owner, there being no milking or feeding out of doors in storms,
mud, or hot sun, and no racing through fields and over the commons
for cow^s, team, or pigs.

Under the more common custom of cultivation and pasturing, from
five to eight, and even ten acres per head, is usually required to get
well through the year, with hardly half the quantity of manure saved,
and at more than double the cost and outlay of capital in land and

446 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

fences. But with tlie "soiling" system generally prevailing, farmers
really need to have no more fence than to inclose the outside or boun-
daries of the farms; with, perhaps, a handsome inclosure around the
residences and gardens, with good harn-yards adjoining the stock
stables.

FARM SUPPLY AND ROOTS.

In the meantime, sufficient ground is plowed and prepared upon
which to raise such other crops as are necessary for the farm, and the
family may need, or other circumstances may render desirable ; and a
sufficient quantity of land is sowed to o^oots, of some kind, to furnish
ample food for the animals through the winter, after and before soiling.
One bushel a day of carrots, beets, parsnips, or turnips, per head for
each animal to be fed, for about five months, is a liberal allowance,
and a safe calculation in providing roots for stock. Some of them will
eat more than that quantity, but more of them will eat less. One
bushel of roots cut up with a little straw, hay, or stalks, is all-sufficient
to keep the largest cow fat and in full milk, if kept in a warm stable,
while most of them will not eat that much ; but it is safer to provide
that quantity, if it can be done. For a working horse, one bushel of
carrots, or half a bushel with the meal of a half peck of oats, cut up
with a reasonable quantity of straw or hay, will keep him in good
heart and working condition, under fair daily labor ; many horses re-
quire even less, while very few ever need more. Carrots are the better
and favorite kind of roots for horses, and most people see7n not to un-
derstand the value of that fine root as horse feed, from their not using
it more largely, while it is cheaper than oats by half.

Both horses and cattle, supplied all the year round with this rich
succulent food, are seldom sick or ailing, but always in good flesh* and
sleek, shining coats — being never "hide-bound" — because never heart-
bound nor frost-bound.

On the above estimate, or rather well-tested data, for the five months
of December, January, February, March, and April, one hundred and
fifty bushels of roots will be required for each animal, which, at a
moderate yield, would require the product of only one-quarter of an
acre ; or, of one and a quarter acres, for all of the stock which we have
designated, on the eighty-acre farm above.

Where the land is rich, mellow, and clean, and the crop is
thoroughly cultivated, with good seed, 600 to 800 bushels of carrots
and parsnips, and 800 to 1,000 bushels of beets and turnips to the
acre, is only a good crop, and can safely be calculated upon, while a
much larger than this is often obtained, at remunerating rates, under
high culture and manuring. But the estimate above, for feeding, is
based upon the smallest yield, of only 600 bushels to the acre.

COULD DISPENSE WITH MOST FENCES. '

The interest on the out-lay for fences, with the expense for necessary
annual repairs, where a farm is as well fenced as a fenced farm ought
to be, would nearly or quite equal the cost of the extra labor of raising

GREEN SOILING STOCK. 447

and delivering the food to stock in the stalls, under a well-conducted
system of "soiling," to say nothing of the superior comfort of work-
ing with teams, plows, and other implements, in broad fields, where
there are no obstructions from interior fences and hedges, which,
moreover, cause loss of time, and waste of the valuable acres of land
which they occupy.

And, in fact, if this custom of "soiling" or feeding all stock in
stables or yards were imiversal, there would be no need of any other
fences than those along the highways and around yards, as before
suggested. It would work an admirable 7-evolution in general agricul-
tural operations, and effect a saving of millions of dollars in every
State, and even in some single counties, in the mere matter of fences
alone, which are subject to constant decay and waste, and entirely
useless, save for this one purpose of protecting crops from the depre-
dations of outside animals, and which can be so easily dispensed with,
and with no sacrifice of convenience to the farmer ; but, on the con-
trary, with absolutely enhanced comfort and profit, by avoiding the
great loss of time, of both man and team, so often suffered^ in not
having the cattle or horses on hand at early morning or other times,
when most needed. This loss, alone, during the year, with many
persons, amounts to enough to go far towards raising their summer's
feed, when judiciously applied; besides the vexation and "wear and
tear of spirit," which would also be prevented by pursuing this "better
way." All farmers who have ever experienced or witnessed the profit-
less annoyance of having teams "strayed off," just when much wanted,
and not found until the "heat of the day," and then man and beast
"all tired out," will appreciate the force of this point right keenly.
Besides, there is a pleasure in always having all the animals at hand,
whenever wanted for inspection, sale, or use, and being quiet and
gentle, from constant handling, they can be more pleasantly and care-
fully examined. This is an interesting thought to the kind and en-
lightened stock grower.

COST OP BOARD FENCES.

In many portions of Illinois and Wisconsin, the most ordinary plain
board fences cost from eight to ten shillings per rod, and even more
in many places, while often rail fences are still more costly, but
taking the lowest cost, of one dollar per rod, the expense of inclosing
any eighty-acre lot would be four hundred and eighty dollars, and two
cross-fences, one each way, throwing the lot into four twenty-acre
fields, would cost two hundred and forty dollars more — in all, seven
hundred and twenty dollars, a larger sum than the value of the land
itself in many locations ; in fact, there are many farms, in all parts of
the country, on which the fences really cost more than the worth of
the land ; of which, the annual decay and cost for repairs are about as
much as the taxes against the whole property. Now, retaining the
boundary fences, and excluding the cross or field ones, this two hun-
dred and forty dollars, with expense and waste, is saved for more
profitable investment in some other department.

448 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

DOCILITY OP ANIMALS.

As has been previously hinted at, the systematic handling, at regu-
lar times, of all the stock — cattle as well as horses, in- and out of their
stahles — so familiarizes* them to their keepers that they become pleas-
antly acquainted with each other, which affords increased confidence
in both, and thereby the animals become docile and tractable, and the
owner comes soon to understand well their wants, nature, peculiarities,
and diseases — if they have any, which is very seldom — and how to
treat them successfully. Thus, the management of stock, generally,
is reduced to a science, eliciting study, observation, and reflection, and
by thus exercising the intellectual faculties, the business becomes far
more interesting, as well as profitable.

Knowing and appreciating the animals more highly, the keeper is
moved to treat them rationally and with increased kindness, which
really constitutes him a better man and them better servants!

Were sucli the only advantages to be derived from the soiling pro-
cess to the humane lover of knowledge, they of themselves would be
rich compensation for all of the additional attention required to prac-
tice it. Besides, the stock can be more judiciously supplied_, with
more comfort to them, the food being readily selected, as to kind and
quantity, agreeably to their particular wants ; and the owner is
happily relieved from the annoyance of '^breechy" depredations by
'•'unruly" cattle, which often commit' more destruction in a single day
or night than their own worth, to say nothing of the damaging effects
to his own temper and equanimity, which, oftentimes, considerably
abridges both profits and enjoyment. This should lead to those
higher reflections and more beneficent impulses which it were well
should enter into all of our transactions, with either men or animals
who are always to be our companions or servants.

With these reflections, we will proceed to point out the more direct
and pecuniary benefits of the practice, as they have been abundantly
proved by the various experience of enlightened operators on both
sides of the Atlantic.

NINE DISTINCT BENEFITS.

We can now sum up, clearly, nine principal advantages that may
be surely derived from the faithful practice of this beautiful system of
green soiling the stocJc of the farm, besides the incidental benefits which
grow out of it indirectly, namely :

Saving of land; saving offences; saving of food; improved condition
and comfort of all the animals; larger product of milk and flesh; greater
docility of the animals; freedom from breechy depredations; larger ac-
cumulations of manure; and increased order in all the business of the
farm.

Incidental to these, will be greater cleanliness throughout the prem-
ises, there being few foul fence-corners, and no feed or manure scattered
about under foot ; a greater variety of food can be used, and everything
saved; allowing the convenience of doing more of the work by one's

GREEN SOILING STOCK. 449

self, and requiring the paying out of less money; and permitting the
sale of a larger portion of all grain and fruit, or other matured pro-
ducts that may be raised on the place, and be desired in the usual
market ; and the comfort of doing a much larger share of the ordinary
business under shelter ; and having a much larger amount of vcdue
concentrated in a comparatively smaller space, thoughout most of the
farm property and products ; as, for instance, one hundred dollars'
worth of stock or grain occupies much less space than the same value
in land or fences, and a hundred dollars' worth of wool or butter less
space than the same value of grain.

LARGER CROPS REQUIRE GREATER MANURING.

It is true, that this process of extreme cropping makes severe drafts -
upon the capacities of the soil, and requires corresponding liberality
in supplies of manures ; yet, the superior product much more than
pays for the extra requirements of manure and labor, as surely as the
well-fed horse returns better service than the poorly-fed one does.

And all experiments and observations prove that the quantity of
manures, made and secured from the stock which eats this produce,
if all properly applied to the land, is sufficient to keep up its produc-
tiveness to the highest point demanded by the system, so long as it is
pursued, and even enough to keep much more land in high tilth.

Now, taking these two propositions together — namely, that the land
thus treated and often cropped yields far more than it otherwise would,
and much more than pays the cost ; and that the stock fed upon it
produces more than manure enough to keep up the soil to this state —
we are prepared to assume, that it is more advantageous to maintain
stock on this plan than to allow them the range of much more land.
And this fact will hold true as well with large farms as with small
ones, and in new countries as in old ones ; for, in either case, capital
in lands and fences is saved to a large extent. "Soiling" will make
every acre that is used employ more labor and stock, and give a greater
return for them, besides employing both more pleasantly, than the
pasturing custom possibly can !

But, it may be declared by some, that "in new countries," thinly
settled, where there is unlimited range of pasture, it will not pay to
raise and cut crops to feed out to stock in stalls, when they can so
readily run and have what they need ' ' for the picking of it themselves."
Though this idea is generally believed and indulged by emigrants to
the new States, it is nevertheless fallacious, and is successfully answered
in previous remarks upon the netv eighty-acre farm. It will cost no more
to raise (he feed for stock on the farm at home, because there happens
to be a large range, than if it did not exist; while the cost and loss
of chasing the stock is greater than if the range were small! It is
proper to remark, in this connection, that there are some peculiarities
about the prairies of the South and West which require a different
mode of cultivation in some respects, from that commonly pursued in
other portions of the country, and which have been presented in the
volume of the Keport for 1858, at page 283, written by myself, and a
29 A

450 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

reference to wliicli may render it unnecessary to repeat them at this
time.

But we may repeat, that whatever reasonable course or policy will
secure the same return for less labor, without depreciating the capital,
must certainly he peculiarly a good system for a new country, where
labor is scarce.

HIGHER INFLUENCES OF THE SYSTEM.

"When thoughtfully considered^ it will be seen that the general effect
of this practice upon the mind of the operator will be elevating and
salutary. This branch of his business absolutely requiring constant
gentleness and order, his general habits and feelings will naturally
become imbued with similar principles and sentiments toward every-
thing with which he comes in contact, to a much larger degree than
covid be under the ordinary mode of imperfectly and carelessly culti-
vating large farms, and allowing the stock to run at large, often
trampling under foot and destroying as much good feed as they con-
sume, and subjecting the keeper often to harassment in chasing after
his half-tamed animals; his own disposition, as well as theirs, getting
badly "riled-up," interrupting his tranquillity and happiness for hours
or longer ; causing him, in some measure, to lose his kindly interest
in them ; and, as though it were a kind of natural reflex from his own
condition upon them, they do not thrive so well as they ought, but
being frightened and excited they, too, fret aivay some portion of their
thrift — serenity being as essential to the highest product of milch cows
and fattening animals, as to the enjoyment of man. The very oppo-
site from the above is the case where all the animals are quietly
secured and amply fed ; comfort and order reigns ; and there being
little or no disturbing cause to man or beast, the former seldom mal-
treats the latter; and all enjoy thrift and progress to the highest
reasonable degree.

This to some, with only partial reflection, may be deemed but a
trifling consideration ; but the more thoughtful and observing operator
well knows that no attitude of mind, in the farmer or other person,
can be productive of more enjoyment and prosperity than the steady
preservation of gentleness and serenity; it is certainly a manly, a noble
deportment, and must ultimately be as profitable as it is pleasant.

In addition to all this, the operator will uniformly find this frame
of thought and mind far more favorable for reflection and investiga-
tion into the causes of all the various phenomena which constantly
come before his observation in the pursuit of his business, and to enable
him to extract therefrom more elevated enjoyments than can be experi-
enced by the person who is constantly confused by disorder and excite-
ment from surrounding circumstances. Order and tranquillity are
eminently essential to deep and efficient thought and the successful
pursuit for knowledge everywhere, but especially so in the study and
examinations of living creatures.

Besides, many of the neighborhood quarrels and individual enmities
are engendered by damages and trespasses committed by cattle running
at largo, and often terminating in lawsuits, that subject both parties

GREEN SOILING STOCK. 451

to losses, in time and money, greater than the value of the damages
and animals combined ; all of which would have been comfortably
avoided under the general prevalence of "soiling" the animals in
secure stalls.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT.

Whatever is conducive to order and thoroughness in its operations
must be advantageous to the pursuit of agriculture, generally, in all
regions ; and to forward that object, is the sole and earnest purpose
of writing this article.

That process which increases the fertility of the soil, while it pre-
serves its productiveness, and which secures the highest remuneration
to the largest amount of labor, with the least depreciation of the capital
upon which it is employed; whatever accomplishes these ends, or any
of them, in one State, must be good policy also in any other, while
the like results follow the operation.

Now, it is well known that land, which is liberally enriched by
suitable manures, will produce much more bulk and value of succulent
feed if the crop be frequently cut off, before it ripens or matures, than
if left to attain that complete state before it is cut at all. For instance,
if a field, which is mellow and in high tilth, sowed with corn, or oats,
or millet, or other like crop, be mowed two or three times during its
growing season, it will yield at least twice as much as if cut but once
in that season. So with clover, and the ordinary meadow grasses.
This results in obedience to a pervading law in vegetable growth,
which continually strives to reproduce or perpetuate itself so long as
the season for growing will permit, and winter holds off.

If meadows are sufficiently rich, and kept annually to23-dressed with
fine manures, they will yield two to three tons of good hay at one
mowing in the season ; bu if cut three times, at periods properly chosen,
during the season, they will yield four to six tons of still better hay
than that obtained at one cutting. And instances are numerous where
even twice that quantity has been obtained to the acre from timothy
and red-top, or even blue-grass meadows. These statements are sus-
tained by testimony, both in this country and Europe, of early as well
as recent date.

There is a prevalent belief among many cultivators, that for a
''stock-farm," or to keep a large number of cattle, it is absolutely
necessary to have a large farm, or a vast tract of land; an opinion, it
is believed, not well founded, which a fair understanding of the plan
and results of "soiling" plainly shows, for it is evident that the cost
of additional land and fences demands more capital by far to pasture
large herds and flocks, than is required to cultivate sufficient crops from
less land to feed them with in stalls and yards, where no feed is wasted
and much manure is saved. The accumulation of acres increases taxes,
but their enhsinced fertility does not increase the amount of taxes.

By taking the facts^ results, and operations above elicited, and care-
fully and honestly making estimates, in comparison with ordinary
farming anywhere, it is believed that every candid inquirer will arrive
at the conclusions stated above.

462 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

SOILING AND ROOTS IN ENGLAND.

Soiling cattle has proved liigHly advantageous in Europe and the
older States of this country in all the instances where it has been
adopted, and it may also be made profitable in the new States^ even
where land is cheap and population sparse, and thereby much of the
hardest labor, incident to new settlements, be avoided ; for even the
usual labor of making the inside fences, where timber is plenty even,
can be more profitable and pleasantly appropriated in raising feed and
giving it to the animals in a proper manner ; and surely the latter
will be the lighter toil of the two !

But, to show what may be accomplished on a given quantity of land,
when the full amount of labor and manure which it is capable of re-
ceiving is applied, a quotation is made from the statement of Murwen,
a distinguished cultivator in England, a few years ago, on the subject
of soiling and rotation :

"On 894 acres of land he applied 13,700 loads of good manure on
the whole field, at a cost of $12 per acre ; he paid a rent of $12 per acre ;
and the labor, taxes, implements, interest, &c., cost another $12 per
acre; amounting to a total expenditure of $36 per acre, and of about
$31,000 on the whole farm. Then^ the value of the entire product
was, in round numbers, £8,600, or about $43,000; leaving the hand-
some profit of about $12,000 on the cultivation of the farm for the
year ; afibrding an interest on the investment of over thirty-eight per
cent, and of about $13 50 per acre;" an achievement which may be
contemplated with profit by many who seem content with $3 profit pei
acre !

Among European agriculturists, root crops have become an important
staple in their improved husbandry, and play an important part in the
"soiling" process, furnishing the largest and best portion of the winter's
feed. And there is no doubt, from countless trials, that good ground,
with proper manure and culture, will yield a greater quantity to the
acre of nutritious food for animals in roots than in any other crop,
whether for milk or flesh. Instances are numerous in this country
and Europe^ where 1,100 bushels of carrots, the same of parsnips,
and 1,300 bushels of beets and of turnips, to the acre, have been ob-
tained. In England, turnips and parsnips are the favorites; while in
France, beets and carrots are more used; and in this country they may
all be used with inestimable profits !

Besides their large nutriment and productiveness, roots possess much
value, from the fact that they can be sown and will mature later in
the season than almost anything else which the farmer raises ; even
after the ground has been cleared of some other summer "soiling"
crop, a good yield of turnips may be raised and got off before the frost
closes the ground ; and then they leave the £eld in a clean^ mellow
condition, to be used the following spring or summer, with whatever
crop it may be desirable to occupy it with. The work of digging and
gathering them is about equal to one plowing for the ground.

Having once engaged in the practice of "soiling," every farmer,
who has method and calculation enough to carry on his business sue-

GREEN SOILING STOCK. 453

cessfully, will discover, readily, such special modifications as will be
most appropriate and beneficial for bis particular case ; as what succu-
lent it is best for bim to put in for tbe particular kind of stock wbicb
be desires to feed; what lands, and bow mucb he needs to devote to
each animal ; wbat animals it is desirable for him to keep ; together
with suggestions in regard to tbe re<iuirement8 , of tbe markets that
may be accessible to bim ; but still, in regard to tbe prime principle,
that all animals should be hept up, and all feed be gathered and re-
gularly given to them in the stalls or yard, there can hardly be two
opinions ; and to convince those most interested of its truth and economy,
only needs that tbe facts and directions contained in this essay should
be thoughtfully examined, and if not satisfied, it will cost no one much
time or trouble, or subject him to the slightest danger of loss, to
make the experiment with a single animal, or on a single quarter of
an acre, or for a single season; it will not, in anywise, require a hazar-
dous or expensive experiment to test tbe- subject ; while, agreeably to
uniform testimony thus far, a highly beneficial lesson will be learned,
and the conviction be confirmed.

MR. QUINCY'S statement.

In our own country tbe most thorough and successful operator in
tbe system of "green soiling," and who may be regarded tbe father
of its practice, in New England, was the Hon. Josiab Quincy, of Mas-
sachusetts. He has been followed with admirable success by his son,
Josiab Quincy, Esq. And I cannot do a better service to those who
may desire to give attention to tbe subject, in any other way, than by
copying a few paragraphs from an essay by him, showing the results
for many years of their experiments in "soilings" from which others
can learn the general system, and make such changes in the order of
operations as their individual cases and localities and their respective
peculiarities may seem to render necessary. Mr. Quincy says :

"My farm being compact, the annoyance of having fifteen or twenty
head of cattle driven night and morning to and from the pasture ; the
loss of time in often turning the team and plow, owing to the number
of interior fences, and tbe loss of surface of good land capable of being
plowed, owing to them and the many bead lands, all drew my atten-
tion to tbe subject of 'soiling' and its effects.

"I found that European writers maintained that six distinct advant-
ages were to be obtained by tbe practice of 'soiling,' over that of
pasturing cattle in tbe summer season :

"1. It saved land;

"2. It saved fences ;

"3. It economized food ;

"4. It kept cattle in better condition and greater comfort ;

"5. It produced more milk; and

"6. It increased tbe quantity and quality of manure ;"

To the above advantages enumerated by Mr. Quincy, observation,
with some experience, warrants the addition of three more distinct
benefits that may surely be derived from a faithful practice of this

454 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

system, which have been, in part, described in the foregoing pages,
namely • *

7. Better discipline and docility of the animals ;

8. Freedom from breechy depredations; and

9. Increased order in all business about the farm.

These last three items are more particularly realized in those sections
of country where less care and attention have been given to the improve-
ment of stock, and consequently less orderly habits prevail among the
animals, and less method in the business. • Incidentally to this will be
felt the benefits of having the various animals alvv^ays at hand when
they may be desired.

Mr. Quincy proceeds: '' Satisfied in my own mind of the beneficial
effects of the practice, I adopted it in the year 1814, and adhered to it
until the year 1822, keeping from fifteen to twenty head of milch cows,
with some other stock, and with entire satisfactory success." ''From
that time, being occupied in various public ofiices, in Boston and
vicinity, I exercised no superintendence over my farm for twenty
years."

"Eesuming its management in 1847, I returned to the practice of
'soiling. ' Since then, I have kept from thirty to thirty-five head of
milch cows in this way ; so that, in my mind, my experience is con-
clusive on the subject."

He says that one acre soiled from will produce at least as much as
tliree acres pastured in the usual way, and that ' ' there is no proposi-
tion in Nature more true than that any good farmer may maintain
upon thirty acres of good arable land, twenty head of cattle the year
round, in better condition, and greater comfort to the animals, with
more profit, less labor, less trouble, and less cash advance for himself
than he at the present mode expends upon a hundred acres." He
further says : . '''My own experience has always been less than this,
never having exceeded seventeen acres for tioenty head."

"To produce a sufficient quantity and succession of succulent food —
about one and a half or two square rods of ground to each cow to be
soiled — sow as follows :

' ' As early in April as the state of the land will permit, which is
usually between the 5th and 10th, on properly-prepared land, oats at
the rate of four bushels to the acre.

"About the 20th of the same month sow, either oats or barley, at
the same rate per acre, in like quantity and proportions.

"Early in May sow, in like manner, either of the above grains.

"Between the 10th and 20th of May sow Indian corn, (southern
dent being best,) in drills, three bushels to the acre, in like quantity
and proportions.

"About the 25th of May sow corn, in like manner and proportions.

"About the 5th of June repeat the sowing of corn, as above.

"After the last-mentioned sowing, barley should be sown in the
above-mentioned quantity and proportions, in following successions,
on the 15th and 25th of 'June, and in the first' week in July, barley
being the best qualified to resist the early frosts."

In Illinois and southern Wisconsin it will often happen that the
ground will do to sow as early as the 20th of March, occasionally even

GREEN SOILING STOCK. 465

earlier, while somewhat less seed — say three bushels — will answer
fully as well. In this region, millet, Hungarian grass, sorghum, and
spring rye, have proved to be good crops for soiling ; the sorghum
being particularly useful for the late or second sowing, late in June.

Corn, too, at the West and South, may profitably be sown ten or
fifteen days earlier than the dates indicated for New England, and
will do well sown broadcast, instead of with the drill_, on mellow,
clean ground, if thoroughly harrowed both ways, and all the better
if well rolled after the sowing.

These various provisions for a variety of crops will supply food
something in the following order, viz:

"The oats, sown early in April, will be ready to cut, for soiling,
between the 1st and 15th of July, and will usually remain succulent
until about the middle of the month.

"Those sown about the 20th of April will be ready to cut between
the 15th and 20th of July, and will last nearly or quite till the 1st of
August.

"Those sown early in May will be ready to succeed the preceding,
and will last till near the middle of August.

"The corn, sown on the 10th and 25th of May and early in June,
will supply, in succession, excellent food till early in September.

"The barley, sown in July, will continue a sufficient supply of
good feed until the 1st of November, when, as sometimes before, the
tops of roots — as carrots, beets, and turnips, with cabbages — are a
never-failing resource."

Grenerally, in the southern and western regions, these crops can be
sown, and consequently will be ready to cut, ten to fifteen days earlier
than mentioned by Mr. Quincy for the climate of Massachusetts.

"Eeduced to a single statement, my experience and system is, for
the support of my soiled stock during the months of July, August,
and September, to sow in the months of April_, May, June^ and July,
equal to three quarters of an acre for each head of cattle to be soiled,
in such order as will give a regular succession of succulent food during
the three first-mentioned months.

"For their support from the 20th of May, and during the month of
June, I reserve early clover and other grass at the rate of one quarter
of an acre for each head of cattle soiled,

"For their support during the first half of October, I depended
upon the second groivth of the half acre cut over in May and June, and
the second growth of oats and corn cut over in July.

"It now remains to be shown that the cost of raising, cutting, and
distributing the food to the stock, is compensated by these savings
above mentioned. Upon this point, my own experience has satisfied
me that the manure alone is an ample compensation for all this
expense ; leaving the savings of land, of food, and of fencing-stuff", as
clear gain from the system.

"A popular objection to this mode of keeping milch cows is, that
want of exercise must affect injuriously the health of the animal. To
this European writers, some of whom have kept, in this way, large
herds, reply that they ' never had one sick, or one die, or one miscarry,
in consequence of this mode of keeping.' After more than ten years'

456 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

pursuing of this practice, my experience justifies me in uniting my
testimony to theirs on this point."

It is believed that in the West and Northwest, at least, clover, which
runs its roots deep into the mellow ground, should enter more largely
into these soiling rotations ; it brings more of the fertilizing substances
of the earth from heloiv, by its long penetrating roots, than any of the
others named ; it absorbs faster the moisture of the air and the dews ;
it acknowledges more readily the manures furnished to it, and most
kindly accepts the rankest sorts ; while it is more easily and vigorously
stimulated by plaster, or ashes, or lime, or other light top-dressings,
and grows faster than almost any other vegetable ; and, unlike most
others, it does not have to be sown every season ; then it does not ap-
pear to be affected or stinted so much by frequent cuttings ; and,
finally, is more pleasant for plowing under, when desired, than any
other, its vast amount of large leaves, stems, and blossoms enabling it
to consume from the air a larger and richer quantity of those fertili-
zers or nutriments, with which the atmosphere is bountifully charged,
than many persons seem to be aware of; which, altogether, renders
clover almost inestimable, not only for '^ soiling," but for its worth in
farming generally, when fairly appreciated and employed ; while very
few things are better relished by all farm animals, if well and early
cured, free from dust or ''sun-burnt;" and farmers would find their
account in making more general use of it ; certainly in the newer
States.

Buckwheat is also a good crop to soil with ; for, if cut while young,
it makes a very palatable food, and will quickly "sprout up" a little,
and afford an excellent ' ' green manure' ' for plowing under, on which,
to sow a crop of winter rye or wheat. This manuring with green
crops turned under, is fast becoming deservedly popular where known.

Peas, also, would make a valuable addition to the above series of
''soiling" plants in almost any region of country. They admit of
being sown very early — it should be done broadcast, at the rate of
two to three bushels per acre — as early as any of the spring crops, and
then they grow quickly for green feed, and can be readily gathered
into rows or bunches by either hand or horse rakes ; then they contain,
both the peas and haulm, a large quantity of nutriment, and are much
relished by both cattle and hogs ; and, when ripe, peas are among the
very best feed for work-horses and fattening hogs, when ground or
cracked. Then they come off early, leaving the ground in clean,
handsome condition for a final crop of turnips or rutabagas. The
same may be said of heans, as a soiling crop ; though few animals, ex-
cept sheep, will eat them when ripe, unless they are cooked, then they
are much liked by different animals, and are exceedingly nutritious,
particularly for sheep, poultry, and for fattening hogs.

These are the principal crops which can be used to advantage for
"soiling" and rotation. But, doubtless, in different localities, various
operators will find still other crops which may be found useful, pos-
sibly preferable, in this system, to some named above ; and the more,
if variety is secured, the better for the success of the operation.

From these considerations, with others which might be realized by a
more extended practice, soiling stock will, unquestionably, prove to be

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS OF PRUSSIA. 457

one of the most efficient, as it will be one of the most pleasing, meas-
ures for not only enlarging the profits of agriculture, but for maintain-
ing, as well as increasing, the productive powers of the earth ; and
that the time for the realization of a consummation so desirable is no
further distant than the time when the process shall receive that just
attention which shall make it properly understood and adequately ap-
preciated. Then the lion and the leopard, emblems of man's destruc-
tive passions, shall lie down with, that is, be in useful harmony with
the domestic animals, emblems of the productive faculties of man ; and
a child, that is, innocence and truth, shall lead them all through the
world of peace and prosperity.

AGEICULTUHAL SCHOOLS OF PRUSSIA.

Legation of the United States,

Berlin, 3Iay 15, 1859.

Sir: I send you herewith a communication from the minister of
agriculture on the subject of the agricultural schools of Prussia.

As applications are constantly made to me for information concerning
the agricultural schools of Germany, I hope you may find this com-
munication worthy of publication. In a few days I hope to be able to
forward you a list of seeds, &c., in order to have your opinion as to
the proper articles to forward you this fall from this city.*

' ' The Prussian agricultural schools are, some of them, public, and
others are private establishments, but all receive governmental support,
and, as has been indicated, are generally under governmental control.
In the first place there are four public agricultural academtes, the
purpose of which is to instruct young farmers, lolio have already a pre-
paratory knowledge, in the physical sciences, and their bearing upon
agriculture, and in agriculture itself, with its associated branches of
industry. They are each provided with a chemical laboratory, a
library, collections of natural history and natural philosophy, and a
building for the practical purposes of husbandry, in connection with
a larger or smaller quantity of land. This land is intended not only
to afford instruction, but also in time to yield a harvest of benefit from
the experiments carried on upon it, with the aid, where necessary, of
the laboratory, and including the culture of new plants and varieti^,
the results derived from different manures, the comparison of different
methods in the culture of crops and in the feeding of stock — all con-
ducted with the double object of advancing scientific truth and of
improving actual practice.

"The laboratory thus subserves an important purpose in the develop-
ment of such experiments, while it is also essential for the chemical
studies and analytical problems which form a part of the student's
pursuits, and should therefore be located in a room adjoining the one
occupied for chemical lectures. The other apparatus, particularly
such instruments as the microscope, are also of use in conducting ex-

* As this communication had already appeared in the Country Grentleman, (No. 1, toL
xiv., July 7, 1859,) it was deemed advisable to insert it as therein translated.

458 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

periments, and solving the resultant inquiries, and both, teachers and
pupils have the use of the library, the collections, models, &c.

"The oldest of the four institutions, to which this general outline
applies, is that at Eldena, in New Citerior, Pomerania. It was estab-
lished in 1834, upon an estate of the same name, belonging to the
dotation of the University of G-reifswalde, as a branch of the university.
Originally its main object was the instruction in this department of
national economy, of young men destined in after life to serve as
public officers, and its discipline still continues such as it is supposed
will best answer this particular end.

''As I understand the division of the 1,650 Prussian acres,* com-
posing this estate, 1,200 are devoted to the practical agriculture of the
farm, 314 are in meadow, 40 in pasture land, 19 in gardens and hops,
6 under water, (for ponds,) 17 in an experimental field, 2 or 3 in
nursery, while the remaining 50 are rented. The soil is pretty fertile,
and'the ground quite even. A stock is kept of 25 horses, 21 oxen, 50
cows, 2 bulls, 20 young cattle, 884 sheep, and 71 swine. From 1,500
to 1,800 cwt. of malt, it is stated, are worked up annually in the great
beer brewery; 350,000 bricks and tile for various purposes, and 300,000
draining tile are burnt in the kilns, and there is a small distillery — this
last, however, merely for the instruction of the pupils. The faculty
includes a director, (now Mr. Baumstark,) who also teaches the eco-
nomical and statistical branches; a teacher of agriculture, including
the structure of vegetables, general farm management, and account
keeping, and the history of agriculture ; a teacher of chemistry,
physics, the structure of the soil, and technology; and the administra-
tor of the farm, who instructs in practical husbandry and in the
associated arts, including particularly the care and breeding of sheep
and cattle, the culture of meadows and of farm crops. There is also
a teacher of botany, zoology, and the physiology of plants ; an assis-
tant teacher in veterinary science, the physiology of animals, and the
breeding of horses ; another in the cultivation and care of wood lands ;
a third in architecture ; a fourth in mathematics and surveying ; and
a fifth on law as connected with agriculture. The number of students
here last winter was 54, and a boarding-house was occupied by them
in the village of Eldena.

"The second of the academies occupies nearly 4,100 acres on a
public domain called ProsJcau, and includes two estates, one bearing
this name, and the other called ScJiimnitz, in Upper Silesia — having,
out of the above area, 466 acres in meadow, 33 in pasture, 25 now
designed for an experimental field, and about 20 in nurseries and
gardens, while some parts are let to private persons. The necessary
buildings were provided in 1851 and 1852. The soil is argillaceous,
with some sand and lime, and is rendered wet by springs, to obviate
which some attempts have been made at drainage. The climate suifers
from the vicinage of mountains. The stock kept includes 2,600 sheep,
20 hogs, 27 cows, and 138 other cattle, young and old, 51 horses, and
9 foals. Brewing and distilling are not done largely, but brickmaking
is extensively carried on. The teachers include Mr. Heinrich, the

*The Prussian acre, I think, is very nearly equivalent to our own.

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLS OF PRUSSIA. 459

director, and others similar to those at Eldena, and are 10 in number.
There are here Y7 students.

"Near Bonn is situated the academy of Poppelsdorf, the third on
our list, and diifering considerably from the other two, mainly in the
smaller scale on which its farm operations are conducted. The estate,
whose name it bears, belongs to the University of Bonn, and is leased
to the ministry of agriculture, under whose supervision lectures were
commenced in the fall of 1847. The farm contains 126 acres, of which
Vj are employed in experiments, a botanical garden, and a vineyard.
Its soil is of that most fertile and friable kind which characterizes the
Valley of the Khine, and it enjoys the climate of Southern Germany.
Among its crops tobacco is cultivated, but the technical professions are
not carried on, and the stock only numbers 25 cattle of all ages_, and
3 horses, with apparently neither a sheep nor a hog. There are 70
students, and 6 teachers, including Mr. Hartstein, the director^,
together with four assistant teachers. The courses of study appear
very similar to those already described. I notice, however, that in-
struction is given in the care of silk- worms and bees, and in 'hunting
and fishery.'

"Two miles from Konigsberg, in the province of Prussia, there was
opened in the fall of 1858, the fourth of the agricultural academies,
which derives its name_, like Proskau, from the public domain on
which it is located — that of Waldau — a domain covering nearly 2,000
acres, including 430 of meadow, 335 of pasture^ and 15 of garden
land. The pasture is swampy and difficult to drain; the meadow,
although good, is not yet protected from the inundations of the Pregel,
on which river it lies ; the soil is generally clayey, and the climate that
of Northern Europe. The stock number 60 horses, young and old, the
game number of cattle, 700 sheep, and 30 swine. Mr. Settegast is
director, and with four other teachers and one assistant, during the
sessions of the past winter (1858-59) has had nearly 50 students^ in-
structing them with especial reference to the husbandry of Northern
Germany and the keeping of sheep.

"There are, moreover, two private agricultural academies receiving
State support, but of quite limited means — one at Mogelin, in the
province of Brandenburg, under the direction of the son of the cele-
brated ThaeRj and the other at Begenwalde, Pomerania, until the
recent death of Dr. Sprengel, under his supervision.

"Then come what are termed ''private' agricultural schools, for the
purpose of exercising the young peasants in the best ways of performing
their labors, and to show them also why o?ie way is better than another —
to lead them to think. Consequently, the instruction given must be
adapted to the faculties of its recipients, while the number of them varies
according to the extent of the estate and the views of the owner. The
products of their labor go to the benefit of the farm, and the crops are
are either used in the institution or disposed of towards its support.
The conditions on which students are received vary widely, like the
hranches in which they must be taught, with the different localities
where the establishments are situated ; usually the State contracts with
the proprietor for the instruction of the student, during even as long a

460 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

period as ten years, and it also appoints one or more officials, as may
be necessary, in the carrying on of the school.

"Of these schools I will not copy the list; it includes no less than
18, generally with from 6 to 18 students each ; and situated four in
the province of Prussia, three each in Posen and the Khenish province,
two each in Brandenburg, Saxony, and Westphalia, and one each in
Pomerania and Silesia. One of those in Saxony, that at Bader-
slehen, is in a district where the peasants are of a more wealthy class,
and it has taken a character intermediate between the academies and
the schools, having from 60 to 80 students, and over 1,300 acres of
land. There is one in the Ehenish province which has 30 students,
and another with 25. The aggregate of all these schools is over 300.

' ' In special branches of farming there is a school at Treves for the
culture of meadows ; one at Eichsfeld, on a small scale, for flaxdressers,
and a well established garden school at Sansouci, near Potsdam^ with
12 or 14 scholars.

"And to conclude with the lands devoted to experimental purposes,
it has been already indicated that some experiments are constantly
going on in connection with the four agricultural academies, under
the general inspection ©f their directors, but having also a special
manager, who is assisted by a chemist. In addition to these, at the
large sheep establishment at Frankenfelde, in Brandenburg, where
the principal object is to preserve a pure race, and where also young
shepherds receive instruction, 40 acres are devoted to the purpose
of particular experiments, while the whole 1,700 can indirectly be
employed for larger trials. Some of the agricultural societies have
given lands, erected laboratories, and appointed chemists, quite re-
cently however, and the State is aiding their efforts with some
money, but only for a few years, in order to test the results accom-
plished. Establishments of this kind have been instituted to the
number of six, respectively by the societies of Lithuania, Pomerania,
Silesia, Upper Lusatia, Brandenburg, and the Rhenish province. The
investigations thus instituted are not regulated by any general system
of cooperation, and their results appear from time to time in pamphlets
and in the agricultural journals."

METEOROLOGY. 461

METEOEOLOGY.

METEOROLOGY IN ITS CONNECTION WITH AGRICULTURE.

BY PROFESSOR JOSEPH HENRY, SECRETARY OF THE SMITESONIAjr INSTITUTION.

ATMOSPHEKIC ELECTKICITY.

In this report, we intend to give a sketch of the general principles
of atmospheric electricity, a branch of meteorology which has attracted
in all ages more attention and has been regarded with more interest
than perhaps any other.

The vast accumulation of electricity in the thunder cloud, and the
energy exhibited in its mechanical, chemical, and physical effects, have
impressed the popular mind with the idea of the great efficiency of
this agent in producing atmospheric changes, and have led to views
of its character not warranted by cautious induction. It is frequently
considered sufficient in the explanation of an unusual phenomenon to
refer it simply to electricity. Eeferences, however, of this kind, are by
no means satisfactory, since the scientific explanation of a phenomenon
consists in the logical reference of it to a general law ; or, in clearly
exhibiting the steps by which it can be deduced from an established
principle. Electricity is subject to laws as definite and invariable as
those which govern the mechanical motion of the planetary system.
Indeed, there is a great similarity between them, and it will be seen
in the discussion of electrical phenomena, that these are referable to
forces similar to that of gravitation, and that the mathematical propo-
sitions which were demonstrated by Newton in regard to the latter,
have been applied with admirable precision to represent those of the
former.

In giving a general exposition of a subject of this kind, two plans
may be adopted : either a series of facts may be stated, and from these
a theory gradually developed by a careful induction, or we may begin
with the general principles or laws which have been discovered, and
from these deduce the facts in a series of logical consequences.
The first method is called induction, the second deduction, and they
are sometimes known by the more scholastic names of analysis and
synthesis. The first method may perhaps be considered the more
rigid, and, where a systematic treatise on a subject is intended, and
ample space allowed for its full discussion, it might be preferred; but
where the object is to give the greatest amount of information in the
shortest time, to put the reader in possession of the means through

462 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

wliicli, by his own reflection, he can deduce from a single principle,
hundreds of phenomena, and declare, prior to experiment or observa-
tion what will take place under given conditions, the latter method
will he the proper one to be adopted.

It is impossible, however, to state a principle of very general appli-
cation without employing an hypothesis or an assumption which,
though founded on strict analogy, may possibly not be absolutely
true. We adopt such an hypothesis temporarily, not as expressing
an actual entity, but as a provisional truth which may be modified or
even abandoned when we find it no longer capable of expressing
all the phenomena. All we assert positively in regard to such an
hypothesis, is, that the phenomena to which it relates, and with which
we are acquainted at the time, exhibit themselves as if it were true.

When an assumed hypothesis of this kind furnishes an exact expres-
sion of a large number of phenomena, and enables us beforehand t-o
calculate the time and form of their occurrence, it is then called a
theory. The two terms, however, hypothesis and theory, though in a
strict scientific sense of very difiVent signification, are often con-
founded and otherwise misapplied. Theory, in common language, is
frequently used in contradistinction to fact, and sometimes employed
to express unscientific and indefinite speculations. The cause of truth
would be subserved if these terms were used in a more definite and
less general sense ; for example : if the term speculation, were restricted
to those products of the imagination which may or may not have an
existence in nature ; the term hypothesis, to suppositions founded on
analogy, and which serve to give more definite conceptions of laws;
while the term theory, is reserved for generalizations which, although
they are presented in the language of hypotheses, yet really furnish
the exact expression of a large class of facts.

Hypotheses, well conceived and properly conditioned by strict
analogy, not only enable us, as we have before stated, to embrace at
one view a wider range of phenomena, but also assist us in passing
from the known to the unknown. When rightly used they are the
great instruments of discovery, giving definite direction as to the
experiments or observations desirable in a particular investigation,
and thus marking out the line of research to be pursued in our
endeavors to enlarge the bounds of the science of our day. We think
that the tendency of some minds^ instead of being too speculative, is
too positive ; and while, on the one hand, there is too much of loose,
indefinite, and consequently of useless speculation intruded upon
science, on the other, an evil of an opposite kind, is frequently pro-
duced by attempting to express scientific generalizations of a complex
character, without the aid of proper hypotheses ; and to this cause we
would principally ascribe the looseness of conception which frequently
exists in well educated minds as to the connection and character of
physical phenomena.

In accordance with the foregoing remarks, we shall make use of a
theory to express the well-established principles of electrical^ action,
and from this endeavor to deduce such conclusions as are in strict
<X)nformity with the observed phenomena. The intelligent reader who

METEOROLOGY. 463

attentively studies this theory, and exercises liis reasoning faculties
in drawing conclusions from it, will be able not only to explain many
remarkable appearances whicli would otherwise be entirely isolated,
but also to anticipate results, and to adopt means to prevent unpleasant
occurrences or to ward off dangers.

The theory which we shall adopt is that invented by Franklin and
extended and improved by Epinus and Cavendish. It is sometimes
called the theory of one fluid, in contradistinction to the theory of Du
Fay, of two fluids. The two theories, however, do not differ as much
as at first sight might be supposed, and, when expressed mathemati-
cally, are identically the same.

No part of the writings of Franklin exhibits his sagacity and his
power of scientific generalization in a more conspicuous light than his
theory of electricity. The talents to discover isolated facts in any
branch of science, although possessed by few, is comparatively inferior
to that characteristic of mind which leads to the invention of an
hypothesis, embracing in a few simple propositions, whole classes of
complete phenomena.

THEORY OP ELECTRICITY.

According to the theory of Franklin, all the facts of ordinary elec-
tricity may be referred to the action of a subtle fluid, which perhaps
fills all interplanetary space, and may be the medium of light and
heat. In order that the phenomena of electricity may be represented
by the mechanical actions of this fluid, it is necessary to suppose that
it is endowed with certain properties and relations which may be ex-
pressed in the following series of postulates :

1st. The electric fluid consists of atoms so minute as to exist between
the atoms of gross matter.

2d. The atoms of the fluid repel each other with a force varying in-
versely as the square of the distance ; that is, when the distances are
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, &c., the forces are 1, ^, -f-, j^, yV? ^^•

3d. The atoms of the fluid attract the atoms of ordinary matter,
with a force also varying inversely as the square of the distance.

4th. The atoms of gross matter devoid of electricity, tend to repel
each other also with a force inversely as the square of the distance.

5th. The atoms of the fluid can move freely through certain bodies
of gross matter, such as metals^ water^ &c., which are hence called
conductors ; and cannot move, or but very imperfectly, through other
bodies, such as glass, baked wood, dry air, &c., which are called non-
conductors.

6th. When each equal portion of space has the same amount of
electricity, and each body in it has so much of the same fluid as to
neutralize the attractions and repulsions, there are no indications of
electrical action ; and when the attractions and repulsions are thus
neutralized, a body is said to be in its natural condition.

"Zth. The electrical equilibrium may be disturbed by friction, chem-
ical action, change of temperature, &c., or in other words by these

464 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

and otlier processes tlie fluid may be accumulated in one portion of
space, and rendered deficient in another, and in this case electrical
action is exhibited.

8th. The phenomena are of two classes, namely: statical or those
of attraction and repulsion^ in which the electricity is at rest, and
dynamical, or those in which the redundant electricity of one portion
of space is precipitated into that of another in which there is a de-
ficiency.

9th. When the electrical equilibrium has been disturbed, and a body
contains more than its share of electricity, it is said to be positively
charged ; and when it contains less, it is said to be negatiA'-ely electri-
fied.

The fourth proposition of this theory was added by Cavendish, in
England, and by Epinus, in Germany, and was found to be necessary
in order to render the several parts of the theory as given by Franklin
logically consistent with each other. At first sight, it appears to be
contrary to the general fact of the mutual attraction of all bodies, but
it must be observed that when gross matter exhibits attraction it is in
its normal condition, and that since the electrical force is infinitely
more intense than that of gravitation, the latter may be a residual
phenomenon of the former.

According to this theory, there are two kinds of matter in the universe
— ethereal or electrical matter and gross, or, as it is frequently called by
way of distinction, ponderable matter. The two, however, may have
the same essence, and differ from each other only in the aggregation
of the atoms of the latter; or, in other words, what we call gross
matter, may be but a segregation or kind of crystallization of the
ethereal matter in definite masses. Each kind of matter is, in itself, en-
tirely inert, has no power of spontaneous change of place, and is equally
subject to the laws of force and motion. A mass of ordinary ponder-
able matter, when once at rest, tends to continue at rest until put in
motion by some extraneous force ; so, also, the electrical fluid, when
at rest, tends to remain at rest, and only moves in obedience to some
impulse from without. From this theoretical inference, which is in
accordance with all observation, it is an error to suppose that electricity
is an ultimate power of nature, being in itself the cause of motion.
Like the air, it is inert, and has no more tendency to spontaneous
motion than this or any other fluid which may receive and transmit
impulses, or which may have its equilibrium disturbed, and in the
restoration of this equilibrium, give rise to motion, and produce me-
chanical effects.

Perhaps some currency is given to the idea that electricity is not
subject to the mechanical laws which govern the actions of gross
matter, because it is called an imponderable agent, and has thus, as it
were^ assigned to it a semi-spiritual character. The term imponderable,
though convenient, is not properly applied, since it indicates a distinc-
tion which may possibly not exist. If electricity is, in reality, a fluid,
it might exhibit weight, could it be so isolated and condensed as to
become sensible to our balances. But whatever may be its nature, the
phenomena which it exhibits can be referred to mechanical laws ; and

METEOROLOGY.

465

it is in order that sucli a reference may be definitely made, that the
hypothesis of a fluid is adopted. For a similar reason, the phenomena
of light and radiant heat are referred to the vibrations of an ethereal
medium, and it is in this way that the laws of motion which have been
deduced from the study of gross matter, have been so successfully ap-
plied to them, and it is only so far as the facts of what are called
the imponderable agents are brought under the category of mechanical
laws, that they take the definite form which entitles them to the name
of science.

THEORETICAL DEDUCTIONS A^D ILLUSTRATIONS.

We do not intend to deduce from the theory we have presented, a
complete system of electricity, but to give such deductions from it as
will put the intelligent reader in possession of the principal known
facts of atmospheric electricity, and particularly those which relate
to thunder storms.

In the first place, if the ethereal medium, in its ordinary state of dif-
fusion, fills all space, then it must be evident that when a body is
charged with more than its natural share, a portion must be drawn
from space around, and hence what one body gains other bodies in
the vicinity must lose ; or, in other words, there must always be as
much negative excitement as positive. To exhibit this, as well as to
illustrate some of the efiects of the disturbance of the electrical equili-
brium, provide two strips of glass an inch in width and twelve inches
long, and on the end of one of these fasten, with bees wax or sealing-wax, a
piece of woolen cloth about an inch and a half long ; if the glass slips

are warmed and rubbed together as
shown in figure 1, and afterwards sep-
arated^ they will exhibit signs of elec-
tricity. If the strip of glass of which
the end is naked be brought near a
pith-ball C, suspended by a single fiber
of unconducting silk, along which the
electricity which may be communicated
to the ball cannot escape, the ball will
be attracted, and immediately after-
wards repelled. If, now, the end of
the other glass having the woolen
cloth on it, be brought near to the
same ball, attraction will take place at
a considerable distance. The one slip
of glass will constantly attract, while
the other will as constantly repel the
ball. If, however, the two glasses be
placed in contact, as they were when
first rubbed, and thus presented to the
ball, neither attraction nor repulsion
will be exhibited,
are in strict accordance with the theory we have
By rubbing the glass and woolen cloth against each other,
30 A

Fig

These results
adopted.

460 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

the electrical equilibrium is disturbed — a portion of the natural elec-
tricity of the cloth is transferred to the glass ; the latter receives a pos-
itive charge of electricity, while the woolen cloth loses a portion of its
natural share of the fluid, and assumes the negative state ; and since
the slips of glass, as well as the surrounding air, are nonconductors,
the redundancy of the one can not escape, nor the deficiency of the
other be su;^plied, and therefore the charged condition of each will con-
tinue for a considerable time, particularly if the air be perfectly dry.

When the glass plate is made to touch the ball, a portion of elec-
tricity accumulated on the surface of the former is transferred to the
latter, which has then more than its natural share ; and, since atoms
of free electricity repel atoms of free electricity, the ball will appar-
ently be repelled from the glass ; and also because there is an attrac-
tion between free electricity and unsaturated matter, the cloth, which
is in this condition, will attract the same ball. When the two slips
of glass are brought together, and presented as a whole, the attractions
and repulsions may still be considered as existing, but since they are
equal and opposed, they entirely neutralize each other, and no external
effect is perceptible.

The neutralization of the two opposite forces in this experiment,
affords an illustration of the condition of a body in its natural state.
Although it contains a large amount of the fluid, no action is produced
on other bodies in their natural condition, because the attractions and
repulsions just balance each other.

For exhibiting the most important statical phenomena of electri-
city, and for verifying the deductions from the theory, we may employ
a solid glass rod of about fifteen inches in length, and a rod of sealing-
wax or of gum shellac of the same length. If these be well dried,
held by one end and rubbed with a piece of woolen cloth at the other,
electrical excitement will be produced. Instead of a solid glass rod,
a tube may be employed, provided the interior be perfectly dry, and
well corked to prevent the access of moisture. If the end of the tube or
rod be rubbed, and afterwards brought into contact with a small ball
of pith, or of any light conducting matter, suspended by a silk thread,
the excitement will be communicated to the ball, and if the communi-
cation be from the glass rod the electricity will be that denominated
positive ; if from the rod of sealing-wax or shellac, it will be what is
called negative. Since the phenomena exhibited by balls charged
negatively and positively are very nearly the same, it is not of much
consequence which we call the positive or which the negative, j)rovided
we always apply the same name to the same kind of excitement. In
the early discovery of the two kinds of electrical excitement, that
which was produced by rubbing glass with a woolen cloth was called
vitreous, and that from the friction of the same substance on sealing-
wax or gum shellac was denominated resinous, and these terms are still
retained, particularly in foreign works on the subject.

The simplest instrument for exhibiting the attraction and repulsion
of electrified bodies, and determining the intensity and character of
the excitement, is the gold-leaf electrometer, which any person with a
little patience and some mechanical skill may construct for himself.
Different forms of this instrument are exhibited in Figures 2 and 8.

METEOROLOGY. 467

A brass wire, surmounted hj a ball of the
same metal, is passed through, the cork of a
small glass jar, or large-sized vial, from which
the bottom has been removed and its place
supplied by a disk of wood; and to the lower
end of the wire, which may be slightly flat-
tened, is attached, by means of any adhering
substance, two narrow strips of gold leaf, so
as to hang freely, "and, when unexcited, par-
allel to each other without touching.

When we wish to ascertain if a body is elec-
trified, or whether different parts of it are
charged, for example, positively to the same "^
degree, we bring in contact with the part to
be examined, a small metallic ball suspended fig- 2.

at the end of a very fine silk thread, (a fiber from a cocoon will serve
for this purpose,) and afterwards bring the small ball, which may be
called the carrier, in contact with the ball, or, as it is called, the knob of
the electrometer. The electricity of the carrier will distribute itself, on
account of the repulsion of its atoms, throughout the knob, the stem,
and the leaves of the electrometer. The leaves being the only movable
part, will diverge from each other, and will thus exhibit the electrical
repulsion to the eye. We see from this experiment, as well as from
that of the ball touched with the excited glass, that electricity may be
transferred from one body to another, and that when it is applied to the
end of an elongated metallic conductor it instantly diffuses itself over the
whole mass. In the experiment we have just described, the body was sup-
posed to have been positively electrified ; but a similar effect would have
been produced had it been negatively charged. In that case, a portion of
the natural electricity of the carrying ball would have been drawn from
it by the unsaturated matter of the electrified body, and the ball in
turn, when brought in contact with the upper end of the electrometer,
would draw from it a j^ortion of its natural electricity — the deficiency
extending to the leaves — which would therefore diverge, since, accord-
ing to the theory^ unsaturated matter repels unsaturated matter.

If we wish to ascertain whether a body is electrified negatively or
positively, we transfer a portion of its charge to the electrometer by
means of the carrying ball, and then, having rubbed a rod of glass
with a ]3iece of woolen cloth, we bring it near to the electrometer ; if the
leaves diverge further when the rod of glass is brought near, the original
charge is of plus electricity; if, on the contrary, the leaves converge,
we may consider the electricity as negative ; or the same conclusion
may be arrived at by rubbing a stick of sealing-wax with the woolen
cloth, which, becoming negatively excited, will cause the leaves in the
case of a positive charge to converge, and in that of a negative charge
to diverge.

CONDUCTION AND INSULATION OF ELECTRICITY.

By means of a simple electrometer of the kind we have just described
we may at once determine whether a body is a conductor or non-con-

468 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

ductor of electricity. If a slight charge be given to the electrometer,
which may he effected by touching the knob with a rod which has
been rubbed by woolen cloth, the charge will remain with but little
diminution for several hours, provided the air is perfectly dry ; while,
if the air is moist, the charge is soon dissipated. These facts show
that the former is a non-conductor, and the latter a partial conductor.
Dry air would be a perfect insulator of electricity, provided it were
motionless; the atoms, however, which impinge against a charged body
become electrified with the same kind of excitement, and are, conse-
quently, repelled off, their place being supplied with others, and so on
until the charge is gradually diminished and finally dissipated.

If, when the electrometer is charged in dry air, we touch the knob
with a glass rod, the leaves will be but little affected ; but, if we breathe
on the surface of the rod, the glass will become a partial conductor and
the leaves will slowly converge. If the ball be touched with one end
of a metallic wire, the electricity will instantly be conducted off. If
we make a similar experiment with a piece of dry wood, the charge
will be gradually dissipated, a fact which indicates that wood is a
partial conductor. By increasing the length of an imiDcrfect con-
ductor we shall find that the time of drawing off the charge is increased,
and in this way it may be shown that there are very few bodies vfhich
are perfect conductors or non-conductors ; that every body offers some
resistance to the passage of an electrical current, provided we increase
the length sufficiently to make it perceptible. By experimenting on
various bodies in the way we have described, we may form an approxi-
mate table of the degrees in which different substances are conductors
or non-conductors of electricity. The human body is a very perfect
conductor of ordinary electricity, since if we touch the knob of the
electrometer with the finger, the leaves instantly collapse, provided we
are standing at the time on the ground. If, however, we place a non-
conductor, for example, a cake of beeswax^, under the feet, the whole
of the charge will probably not be withdrawn but shared with the
body, and the leaves will only partially converge. It may also be
shown by the same instrument that in order to produce electrical excite-
ment by friction, it is only necessary that two dissimilar substances
be rubbed together, one at least of which must be a partial conductor.
For example, if, while a person is standing on a cake of beeswax he
place ane finger on the knob of an electrometer and another person
strike him on the back with a silk handkerchief, the leaves will in-
stantly diverge, showing that the whole body has received a charge of
electricity, which is prevented from escaping into the floor by the
interposed non-conducting beeswax.

After the introduction of furnaces for heating rooms by warm air,
the public were surprised at exhibitions of electrical excitement which
previously had not been generally observed. If our shoes be very dry,
and we move over the surface of a carpet, with a shuf&ing motion, on
a very cold day, particularly in a room heated by a furnace, the fric-
tion will charge the body to such a degree that a spark may be drawn
from the finger, and under favorable circumstances a jet of gas from a
burner may be ignited. There is nothing new or wonderful in this
experiment ; it is simply an exhibition of the production of electricity

METEOEOLOGY. 469

by friction, whicli only requires the carpet, tlie shoes, and the air to be
drj?", conditions most perfectly fulfilled on a day in which the moisture of
the air has been precipitated by external cold and its dryness increased
by its passage through the flues of the furnace. In the ordinary state of
theatmosphere^, the electricity, which is evolved by friction, is dissipated
as rapidly as it is developed, but in very cold weather the non-con-
ducting or insulating power of the air is so much increased that the
electricity, which is excited by the almost constant rubbing of bodies on
each other, is rendered perceptible. Every person is familiar with the
fact, that, on removing clothes, or shaldng garments in dry weather, the
electricity evolved by the rubbing exhibits itself in sparks and flashes
of light. The popular idea in regard to this is, that the atmosphere, at
such times, contains more electricity than at others, but these appear-
ances are not due to the variation of the electricity in the atmosphere,
but simply to the less amount of vapor which is present. When the
clothes are rubbed together one part becomes positive and the other
negative, and in dry air the excitement increases to such an intensity
that the restoration of the equilibrium takes place by a visible spark,
but in the case of moist air the equilibrium is silently restored as soon
as it is disturbed, and no excitation is perceptible.

Similar effects are observed on the dry plains of the western part of
our continent ; in rubbing the horses or mules, sparks of electricity
may be drawn from every part of the body of the animal. Persons in
delicate health, whose perspiration is feebly exhaled, sometimes exhibit
electrical excitement in a degree sufficient to surprise those who are
not familiar with the phenomena. But these exhibitions have no con-
nection Avith animal electricity, and are merely simple illustrations of
the electricity developed by friction in an atmosphere too dry to permit
the usual immediate and silent restoration of the electrical equilibrium.

DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRICITY.

The mutual repulsion of the atoms of electricity, varying inversely
as the square of the distance, gives rise to the distribution of the fluid
in regular geometrical arrangements, the form of which may be cal-
culated with mathematical precision. As one of the simplest cases of
distribution, suppose a conductor of the form of a cylinder, with hemis-
pherical ends — for example, one of wood, covered with tin foil — to be
suspended horizontally in dry air with silk threads, and, thus insulated,
to be slightly electrified by touching the middle of it with a charged
body; the atoms of the fluid, by their mutual repulsion, will separate
as far as possible from each other, and be found at the two extremities.
If the conductor were not surrounded with a non-conducting fluid, like
the air, they would be driven off by the same repulsion into space, and
thus indefinitely separated.

This inference, from the theory, can readily be proved to be in
accordance with the actual condition of the excitement^ by bringing
into contact with the middle of the length of the conductor a small
carrier ball, and afterwards applying it to the knob of the electrometer.
If the charge given to the conductor be small, scarcely any electricity
will be found at the middle; if, however, the carrier be brought into
contact with either end of the conductor, it will receive a charge of such

470

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

intensity as to cause the leaves to diverge widely from each other. If
a charge of electricity be imparted to the center of a conductor in the
form of a thin circular disc the fluid will he found, by a similar exami-
nation, in the greatest intensity, at the outer rim.

If we electrify a solid globe of metal, the
excitement will be confined to an indefinitely
thin stratum just at the surface of the con-
ductor ; for if the electricity be imparted to
the center of the gldbe along a wire through
a glass tube, the atoms will evidently separate
from each other as far as possible, on account
of their mutual repulsion, and would continue
to diverge even beyond the surface, were it not
they are stopped by the non-conducting air
which surrounds and insulates the globe. That
this inference is true may be shown by an ar-
rangement which is exhibited in Fig. 3, in which
A represents a hollow metallic globe, insulated
on a glass pillar and charged with electricity.
If the carrier ball B be let down into the in-
terior of the globe, so as to touch the inner
surface and then withdrawn without touching
the side of the hole it will be found entirely
free from electricity. If, however, it be made
,to touch the outside of the globe it will carry off
iwith it a charge which will cause the leaves of
the electrometer C to diverge in proportion to
the original quantity imparted to the sphere. A
similar effect will be exhibited if the ball be
lowered into an insulated cylinder of gauze A,
Fig. 4, which has been charged with electric-
ity. Not the least sign of excitement will
be found on the inside, while a spark may,
perhaps, be drawn from the exterior. The
same result is produced, as we shall see,
whether the globe be charged negatively or
positively.

Newton has demonstrated the following
pro|)ositions relative to the action of gravita-
tion, which are equally applicable to electrical
attraction and repulsion, or any other action
which varies as the square of the distance :

1. A particle of matter placed outside of a
hollow sphere of attracting or repelling matter
of uniform thickness, is acted upon as if all the
matter were at the center of the sphere.

2. A particle of matter (or of free electricity)
placed at any point within a hollow sphere of
uniform attracting or repelling matter, will
be acted upon in every direction by an equal
force, and will consequently be at rest.

Pig. 3.

METEOROLOGY.

471

Pig. 5.

The form of the demonstration of the first of these propositions may
be easily understood by a reference to Figure
5 . In this a represents a particle of matter
or of electricity attracted or repelled by the
hollow sphere of which the center is 0. Let
the two lines a d and a e represent the pro-
jection of a jDyramid having its apex in a,
and its base in d e, then it will be evident
that the attraction of the three sections
of the cone, one through the center, an-
other coinciding with the upper part of the
spherical shell, and the third with the lower
part included within d e, will be equal.
For, although the lower section is at a
greater distance from a than the upper, yet
its greater size just compensates for the
greater distance, the surface increasing, as
in the case of light, as the square of the dis-
tance, while the attraction and repulsion
diminish in the same ratio. For the same
reason, each of the tM'-o portions of the spher-
ical shell are equal in action to a plate of equal thickness through the
center, included within the cone ; and hence, the two together will be
equal to a plate of double thickness at the center.

If, in the same way, we suppose the whole spherical shell included
in a series of pyramids or cones, having as a common apex the point
a, and consider this series of cones made up of equal pairs, the two
members of which are on each side of the line through the center as
a h i, and a f g, then it will be clear that the resultant action of
each of these pairs of cones will be in a line through the center, and
all the action of the sphere made up of such cones the same as if it
were at this point.

That a point at the center of a hollow
sphere would be equally acted upon, in all
directions, is evident; but that the same
should be the case when the point, for
example, is at a, Fig. 6, is not quite so
clear. It may, however, be rendered evi-
dent by considering the actions of the op-
posite bases of the two cones ah c and a
d e, or afg and a h i, which, for a reason
similar to that given in the preceding
proposition , are respectively equal to each
other ; and as we may consider the whole
interior surface of the spherical shell made
up of the opposite bases of a series of pairs
of similar cones, it is clear that the particle at a will be equally attracted
or repelled on all sides, or, in other words, will be apparently unaffected
by the action of the excitement which may exist at the surface

Ti c

472 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

From the first of these propositions, it is
easy to deduce the effect of a point in dis-
charging the electricity from a globe. For if
A, Fig. 7, be the center of a charged sphere, from
which the slender-pointed conductor ah c pro-
jects, then will the action on the point a of all
the electricity of the sphere be the same as if it
were at the center ; and if we suppose, for ex-
ample, that the sphere is charged with posi-
tive electricity, then will the atoms of electri-
city of the point a be repelled by all the atoms
of the fluid of the globe, as if they were con-
centrated at A, and also the atoms of the fluid
at the point h, below a, will be repelled by all
the atoms of the electricity of the globe, as if
they were concentrated at the same point, and so on with the atoms
at c, &c. ; therefore, the atoms at the point a will not only be directly
repelled outward by the atoms of the fluid in the sphere, but they will
also be pressed outward by the repulsion exerted on each of the atoms
below, so that the whole force exerted to drive off the fluid from the
point a will be in some relation to the number of atoms in the perpen-
dicular column below this point ; and hence the tendency which must
exist in a point projecting from a charged surface to rupture the air
and to escape, and for a similar reason, when the globe is charged
negatively, to draw in electricity from surrounding bodies.

From the second proposition, we can readily deduce the fact of the
distribution of the electricity at the surface ; for if we communicate to
the interior of a globe, a quantity of electricity just sufficient to ar-
range itself in a stratum of the thickness of a single particle, it will so
arrange itself, on account of the mutual repulsion of the atoms, but if
an additional quantity is thrown into the interior, it might not appear
evident that this would also come to the surface^ since the repulsion of
the atoms already at the surface, as it would seem at first sight_, would
drive the additional atoms back towards the center ; but, from the sec-
ond proposition, the inner atoms are not affected by the outer, and,
consequently, they would separate from each other by their mutual
repulsion, as if the latter did not exist_, and arrange themselves at the
surface. That this should take place, is not difficult to understand,
when the sphere is charged with redundant electricity ; but when a
deficiency exists, the explanation has not been thought as easy. If,
however, we suppose a quantity of the natural electricity drawn from
the interior of a solid globe, then the unsaturated matter in the center
of the globe will act as a sphere, and draw into itself the electricity
from around^ and thus produce a hollow sphere of attracting matter,
which will draw again into itself from around the natural electricity,
and in this way, it must be evident, the deficiency will finally come to
exist at the surface.

These propositions, which, as we shall see, are of great importance
in the study of the theory of atmospheric electricity, can be readily

METEOROLOGY. 473

demonstrated experimentally. If we coat a large hollow glass globe
with tin foil, and insert through an opening into it a delicate electro-
meter, consisting of two slips of gold leaf suspended parallel to each
other, and a small piece of the covering of tin foil being removed at
two points on opposite sides to observe any effects produced within,
not the slightest divergence will be seen in the gold leaves, when the
globe outside is intensely charged with electricity. The same result
will be obtained when a slip of gold leaf is suspended in the interior
and electrified, either positively or negatively. It does not follow,
from these experiments, that the electricity on the outside does not act
on that of the inside. On the contrary, we must infer from the theory
that every atom of electricity at the surface acts repulsively on every
atom of electricity in the gold leaf; but these actions are equal in all
directions, and therefore neutralize each other.

The second proposition may be demonstrated by means of a charged
ball and the hollow globe, Fig. 3. If the charged ball, suspended by
a silk thread, be placed at about eighteen inches above a gold-leaf
electrometer, and the divergence noted, when the ball is removed and
its place occupied by the center of the globe to which the electricity
of the ball has been imparted, the divergence will be the same as be-
fore ; or, in other words, the action on the electrometer will be the
same when a given quantity of electricity is concentrated on a ball at
the center of a sphere, or diffused throughout the surface of the same
body. This experiment may be varied, with more striking results, by
placing the hollow globe at a given distance from the electrometer,
and then letting down into its interior until it reaches the center a
charged ball, the leaves will be seen to diverge to a definite degree ; if
the ball be now made to strike the interior surface of the globe, by
moving the suspending, thread of silk, the whole of the charge will
pass to the surface of the latter, but the leaves will exhibit the same
amount of divergence as before the transfer. The electricity which is
distributed throughout the surface of the globe produces precisely the
same effect as it did when confined to the ball at the center.

The mathematical problem to be solved, for the purpose of calcula-
ting the distribution of a given charge of electricity in a body of any
form, is to proportion the amount of the fluid in each part of the
surface, so that the resultant action on the interior of a body will be
completely neutralized. This problem^ which is simple for the sphere,
becomes too complex, even for the highest powers of mathematics, for
bodies of less regular forms than those generated by the revolution of
simple curves.

ELECTRICAL INDUCTION.

The attraction and repulsion of electricity, like those of magnetism,
act at great distances, and produce phenomena which it is necessary
clearly to understand, in order properly to comprehend the explanation
of many of the facts connected with atmospheric electricity.

For the exhibition of these phenomena, which are classified under
the name of inductive effects, we may make use of the arrangement

474

AGRICULTURAL REPORT:

represented in Fig. 8, in which A is a metallic glohe suspended in

free air by a fine

silk thread, and is
thus insulated. 0
is a long cylindri-
cal metallic con-
ductor, supported
by a rod of shellac
or sealing-wax d,
on a stand e, hav-
ing a glass stem.

N0W3 each of
these metallic bo-
dies contains its
natural share of
electricity, and, as
long as this con-
tinues to be the
same, no electrical
effects are exhib-
ited ; for although
the natural elec-
tricity of A will
repel the electri-
city of O, yet the
matter of A will
attract it with an
equal force, and
hence there will
be no perceptible
effect. Let us,
^=E^ however, suppose
that there be im-

Fig. 8.

parted to the globe A, a redundant quantity of electricity, then the
equilibrium will be disturbed in the conductor 0, the repulsion of the
redundant fluid will be greater than the attraction of the unsaturated
matter, and hence a portion of the natural electricity of 0 will be
driven down to its lower end_, and consequently the upper end will
become negatively electrified, while the lower is positive. It must be
evident, therefore, that, between the two extremes, there will be a
point near the middle which will be in its ordinary condition.

These inferences may readily be shown to be true by observing three
movable pith balls suspended by linen threads, one near the top, another
at the middle, and the third at the lower end. Those at the two ex-
tremities will diverge, exhibiting excitement at the two ends^ while the
one at the middle will remain unmoved, indicating that this point is
in a natural condition. To be assured that the upper end is negatively
electrified, and the lower positively, it is only necessary to rub a stick
of sealing-wax with woolen cloth, and to bring it in succession near
the two balls; the upper one will be repelled and the lower one
attracted ; or we may arrive at the same results by touching in succes-

METEOROLOGY. 475

sion the two extremities and the middle of the conductor with the
small carrier ball a, and applying it to the knob of the electrometer B.

If the conductor 0 be removed laterally to a distance from under
the charged globe, the excitement will disappear, the atoms of natural
electricity, by their mutual repulsion at the lower end, and attrac-
tion for unsaturated matter at the upper end of the conductor, will
cause them to distribute themselves uniformly, and to assume the
natural condition. In this experiment the fact is illustrated that all
bodies are naturally charged with electricity, which exhibits itself
when the equilibrium is disturbed by the action of some extraneous
force. If the conductor 0 is restored to its former position, the excite-
ment will be renewed, provided the globe A has lost none of its charge,
and the two pith balls will diverge as before. If the charge of electricity
in the insulated globe be increased, the repulsive action, or induction,
as it is called, will also be increased; another portion of electricity
will be impelled down into the lower end, increasing the repulsive
action at that point, and also the amount of attraction at the upper
end. The middle of the conductor, however, will still remain in a
condition of neutrality. Again, if while the charge in the globe A
remains the same, the space between it and the upper end of the con-
ductor is diminished, a greater excitement will be exhibited by the
increased divergcDce of the balls at the two extremities; for, since the
force increases with a diminution of distance, an additional quantity
of the natural electricity of the upper end will be driven down into
the lower end, and an equal amount of unsaturated matter will be left
at the upper end.

We may still further vary the experiment by lengthening the con-
ductor 0, the charge of the globe and its distance from the upper end
remaining the same, and for this purpose the conductor may be made
to draw out like the tube of a telescope. We shall find that the
greater the length, the greater will be the intensity of the effect at
each end. To understand this we have only to recollect that the
atoms of electricity constantly repel each other, and that, in the case
of a short conductor, but little, comparatively, can be driven from the
upper end, because the self-repulsion of the electricity of the lower end
and the attraction of the unsaturated matter of the upper end, both con-
spire to restore the distribution, but when we give a greater length to
the conductor for the free electricity of the lower part to expand into,
and thereby lessen the intensity of the repulsion and also remove the
free electricity further from the center of attraction of the redundant
matter, the tendency to restore the normal condition is much lessened,
and a new quantity will be repelled into the lower end from the upper,
and thus produce at that end a greater intensity of excitement. If we
increase indefinitely the length of the conductor, or, what amounts to
the same thing, if we connect the lower end of it by means of a metallic
wire or other conductor with the earth, or elongate it till it touches
the earth, then we shall have the maximum of effect. The neutral
point will descend to the earth, while the conductor, throughout its
entire length, will be charged negatively.

The effects which we have described are those which would take
place if we supposed the electricity in the globe suffered no change in

476 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

its distribntion on account of the induction ; but tbis cannot be the
case, since, in. the action of one body on another, an equal reaction
must be produced, hence the unsaturated matter in 0 will react on the
free electricity in the globe, and draw down into its lower side a por-
tion of that which before existed in the upper side, and thus render the
lower side more intensely redundant than before. This additional
quantity of free electricity in the lower side, will tend to increase the
amount of unsaturated matter in the upper part of the conductor. The
maximum effect will be produced, as we have before stated, when the
lower end of the conductor is brought in contact with the earth, which
may be considered as a conductor of infinite capacity. In this condi-
tion the self-repulsion of the atoms of the fluid in the loAver part of the
globe, and the attraction of the unsaturated matter in the upper end
of the conductor, may become so great as to cause a rupture of the in-
tervening air and a transfer of the redundant electricity in the form of
a spark from the upper to the lower body.

If, instead of the metallic conductor, we substitute a rod of shellac
or glass of the same length and diameter, under the same conditions,
no spark, or but a very feeble one, will be produced. The natural
electricity cannot be driven down on account of the nonconducting
character of the material, and while it remains at the top it repels the
free electricity of the globe as much as the matter of the globe attracts
it. For a similar reason, if a small brass ball be placed on the top of
a rod of glass and presented to the globe, but a feeble spark will be
elicited ; the inductive influence will act in this case under unfavorable
conditions, a portion of the natural electricity, it is true, will be driven
down into the lower surface of the ball, and an equal amount of unsatu-
rated matter will exist at the upper surface ; but the attractions and
repulsions will be so nearly at the same distance that comparatively
but a feeble effect will be produced. An attentive consideration of
these facts is essential to a knowledge of atmospheric electricity, and
necessary to understand and guard against the effects of the destructive
discharges from the thunder cloud.

The inductive action we have described takes place, at a distance,
through an intervening stratum of air, but the same effect is produced,
and with nearly the same intensity, when the intervening space is
occupied with glass, or any other nonconducting substance. If a disk
of wood, which is a partial conductor, is interposed, the effect will be
slightly modified, because an inductive action will take place in the
substance of this, which will tend to increase the effect in the con-
ductor 0, below.

As an illustration of the inductive influence of free electricity at a
distance on the natural electricity of a conductor^ we shall direct the
attention of the reader to an arrangement exhibited in Figure 9,
which is that of an experiment made by the author of this paper in
Princeton^ in 1845. Two circular disks of wood, a and h, each of
about 4 feet in diameter, were entirely covered with tin foil ; one was
insulated in connection with a large conductor of an electrical machine,
in the upper story of a building, the other was supported on a glass
foot in the lowest story, at the distance of about 20 feet below, with
two floors and ceilings intervening. The upper disk being charged by

METEOROLOGY.

477

tlie macliTne, the lower one was touched with the finger, so as to suffer
the induced electricity to escape
into the ground. If, when in this
condition, the knuckle was held
near the lower disk and the upper
one suddenly discharged hy a
spark received on a ball attached
to the end of a wire connected
with the earth, a spark was seen
to pass between the knuckle and
the lower disk, a similar effect was
produced when the upper plate
was suddenly charged by powerful
sparks from the machine, though
the intensity in this case was some-
what less.

In this experiment, the upper
disk may represent a charged thun-
der-cloud, and the lower one the
ground, or any conducting body
within a house. While the charged
cloud is passing over the building,
all conducting bodies in it, by this
inductive action at a distance, have
their natural electrical equilibrium
disturbed ; the upper part of each
body becoming negatively electri-
fied, and the lowerpart positively ;
and if the cloud continue in this po-
sition for afew minutes, the free
electricity of the lower part of
the conductor will be gradually
driven into the earth, through
the imperfect insulation of the
floor. If, in this case, the
lower part of the cloud is sud-
denly discharged, sparks of
electricity may be perceived,
and perhaps shocks experi-
enced, by the inmates of the
dwelling, produced by the
sudden restoration of the equi-
librium, due to the removal of
the repulsive force of the cloud
on the natural electricity of the
bodies below.

The inductive action of the
electrical discharge at a dis-
tance is still more surprisingly
exhibited, by an arrangement
shown in Fisrure 10, which Fig.io.

Fig. 9.

478 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

the writer of this article adopted during his electrical investigations at
Princeton.

The roof of the house which he occupied in the college campus
was covered with tinned iron, and this covering was therefore in
the condition of an insulated plate, on account of the imperfect con-
duction of the wood and hrick-work which intervened between it
and the ground. To one of the lower edges of this covering was
soldered a copper wire, which was continued downwards to the first
story and passed through a gimlet-hole in the window-frame into the
interior of the author's study, and was then passed out of the lower
side of the same window, and thence into a well, in which it termin-
ated in a metallic plate below the surface of the water. Within the
study the wire was cut in two, and the two ends thus formed were
joined by a spiral of finer wire a covered with silk thread. Into
the axis of this spiral a large-sized sewihg-needle d was inserted, the
point having been previously attached to a cork, which served as a
handle for removing it. With this arrangement, the needle was found
to become magnetic whenever a flash of lightning was perceived, though
it might be at the distance of several miles. The intensity of magnet-
ism and the direction of the current were ascertained by presenting the
end of the needle to a small compass represented by c. In several
instances the inductive action took place at such a distance that, after
seeing the flash-.^the needle was removed, its magnetic condition ob-
served, and another needle put in its place, before the noise of the
thunder reached the ear. In this experiment, the inductive action of
the electrical discharge in the heavens was exerted on the natural
electricity of a surface of about 1,600 square feet, and a considerable
portion of this passed down through the wire into the well. The ar-
rangement served to indicate an action which would otherwise be too
feeble to produce sensible effects.

It must be observed that the effect here described was not produced
by the actual transfer of any electricity from the cloud, but was simply
the result of induction at a distance, and would probably have been
nearly the same had the intervening space been filled with glass or
any other solid non-conducting substance. We say probably, very
nearly the same, because Mr. Faraday has shown that the inductive
effect at a distance is modified by a change in the intervening medium.

It is also proper to mention, in this place, although we cannot stop
to give the full explanation of the means by which the result was ob-
tained, that the electricity along the wire Was not that due to a single
discharge into the well, but to a series of oscillations up and down in
alternate directions, until the equilibrium was restored.

ELECTRICITY IN MOTION.

The phenomena we have thus far described relate principally to elec-
tricity at rest. Those which relate to ordinary or frictional electricity
in motion have not been so minutely investigated as the other class,
and present much more difficulty in ascertaining the laws to which
they are subjected. The discharge of electricity from the clouds, or
from an ordinary electrical machine, is so instantaneous that we are

METEOROLOGY. 479

principally confined in our investigations to the effects which remain
along its path after its transfer.

The electricity, however, which is developed hy chemical action in
a galvanic battery, is of sufficient quantity to produce a continuous
stream, or at least a series of impulses in such rapid succession that
they may be considered continuous. By employing electricity of this
kind, it has been supposed that we can study the fluid while it is ac-
tually in motion, and from the results deduce inferences as to the mode
in which some of the effects are produced in the discharge of frictional
electricity. The two classes of phenomena, however, though referable
to the same cause, are, in many respects, so different in character that
considerable caution is required in regard to inferences from analogy.
The phenomena of ordinary electricity are characterized by an intensity
of action which indicates a repulsive force between the atoms of the
hypothetical fluid, which, in some way is, at least, partially neutralized
in the case of galvanism.

Ordinary electricity in a state of equilibrium appears to produce but
a very feeble effect upon bodies in which it is accumulated. However
great may be the quantity present, no perceptible effect is perceived in
the pulse when a person is insulated on a glass stool, and charged
either positively or negatively, so long as the electricity remains at
rest. If, however, it is drawn from him in the form of a spark, then
a disagreea,ble pricking sensation is experienced at the point of rupture.
Dr. Faraday constructed a small metallic house or room, which he
suspended by silk ropes in mid air, and charged it so strongly that long
sparks could be drawn from the outside, yet not the least effect was
perceived by the persons within ; even when the air of the interior of
the house was strongly electrified, the excitement was only percepti-
ble on the outside.

It is fully established by the most satisfactory experiments that, in
all cases in which a discharge of Electricity takes place by breaking
through a stratum of non-conducting substance like air, there is an
actual transfer of matter each way between the two ends or sides of the
opening in the conductor along the path which the spark traverses.
If an opening be made in a rod, and each end terminated by a brass
ball, one of which is covered with gold leaf, and the other with silver,
a transfer in opposite directions of these two metals will be observed.
A similar effect is produced in the discharge of lightning from the
clouds, and there are several well authenticated cases on record, in
which a picture as it were of one body* has been impressed on another
between which the electrical discharge took place.

Another effect produced by the discharge which has an important
bearing upon the explanation of some of the mechanical results of elec-
tricity, is a sudden and violent repulsive energy given to the atoms of
air and other substances through which it passes, and which causes
them to separate with an explosive violence.

This may be shown by transmitting a discharge from an electrical
battery between two brass balls projecting into the inside of a glass
bulb, to the lower side of which is joined an air-tight tube containing
a small quantity of water, and opening at the end into a cup of water,
the arrangement with the exception of the balls being similar to that

480 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of an air thermometer. The moment the discharge takes place, the
water will be driven down the tube, exhibiting a great enlargement of
the volume of air in the bulb. This experiment was communicated
by Mr. Kinnersley, of Philadelphia, to Ur. Franklin. The effect
was attributed at first to heat produced by the discharge of electricity
through the air in the bulb, but although there is heat evolved in this
case, as is proved by the fact that if a number of sparks be passed in
succession^ the water does not return to its first altitude, and thus
indicates an increase of temperature, yet the principal cause is evi-
dently due to the sudden repulsive energy given to the air at the
moment of the passage of the discharge, as may readily be shown by
inclosing a thermometer within the bulb. The increase of temperature
which this indicates, will be far too small to account for the great and
sudden expansion produced. A similar exhibition offeree is exhibited
when a strong discharge of electricity is passed through a vessel like
the one we have described, filled with water. In this arrangement a
thick glass bulb may be broken with violence into pieces.

The mechanical effects produced by lightning must be attributed
principally to this cause. When a pov/erful discharge from a cloud
passes through a confined space filled with air, and surrounded by
partial non-conductors, a tremendous energy is exerted. In the case
of a house examined by the writer of this article, the discharge fell
upon the top of a chimney at the west end of the building and passing
through a stovepipe hole, traversed the space under the rafters called
the cockloft, to the chimney at the east end, and thence down to
the ground ; the force exerted was sufiiciently great to lift up the whole
roof from the top of the walls on which it rested. In like manner,
when the discharge takes place along the upright timbers of a house,
the clapboards are frequently blown off outwards, and the plaster
inwards, as if by the explosion of gunpowder.

We must ascribe to a similar action the splintering of trees by light-
ning. At the moment of the passage of the discharge, the sap or mois-
ture is suddenly endowed with a repulsive energy which resembles in its
efiects the action of an explosive compound, separating the fibers longi-
tudinally, and projecting parts of the body of the tree to a distance.
When a tree is struck by lightning the greatest efibct is usually
produced on the main stem just below the branches. A portion of the
discharge appears to be received on each twig^ leaf, and branch, and
the whole concentrated by converging towards the trunk. The repul-
sion imparted to the atoms of a. conductor is in some cases sufficiently
great to dissipate at once in vapor, fine metallic wires, and this so
instantaneously that the silk covering by which they are surrounded
for telegraphic purposes is not burned.

The repulsive energy is not alone exerted laterally, but, perhaps, in
a greater degree in the line of direction of the conductor, tending to
separate it as it were, by transverse sections. Hence, when electricity
passes through a wall into the interior of a house, a pyramidal mass
of plaster is thrown out ; a similar effect is frequently produced when
the discharge takes place between the cloud and the level earth ; a
large conical or pyramidal hole is formed, from which the earth is
thrown out as if by the explosion of a quantity of powder beneath the

METEOROLOGY. 481

surface. Sucli excavations are supposed by some to indicate a discharge
of electricity from the earth to the cloud, l3ut no conclusion of this kind
can, with certainty, be drawn from the phenomena. It simply indi-
cates an intense repulsive energy exerted between the atoms of matter
in the line of the discharge. It sometimes happens, when an old tree,
-which, perhaps, has been moistened by the rain, is struck by lightning,
instead of being rent laterally, it is broken off transversely, the upper
part being projected vertically upward. This effect, however, is not
usually produced, since the force exerted by the tree to resist transverse
breaking is generally much greater than that to prevent lateral tearing
apart.

In the passage of electricity from a charged conductor, or from a
cloud to the earth, it always follows the line of least resistance, and by
an antecedent induction, determines the course it is to pursue. This
is strikingly exhibited by an experiment devised by Sir W. S. Harris. A
number of separate pieces of gold leaf are attached to a sheet of paper.
If a discharge sufficiently strong to dissipate the gold and blacken
the paper be passed through them, its course will be shown by the
blackened parts ; and it is especially worthy of remark, that not only
are the pieces out of the line of least resistance untouched, but even
portions of other pieces are left unchanged from the same cause.
Now, these separate pieces of gold leaf may be taken to represent
detached conductors fortuitously placed in the construction of a build-

The apparently fitful course of a discharge in its passage through a
building frequently excites surprise, leaping, as the electricity does,
from one conductor to another, and sometimes descending to the earth
in several streams ; but that the discharge should leap from one con-
ductor to another, through a considerable intervening sjjace of air, is
not surprising, since its original intensity was sufficient to enable it to
break through a stratum of the atmosphere of perhaps a mile in thick-
ness before it reached the house.

Whenever electricity passes through an interrupted conductor so as
to exhibit the appearance of light, a great increase of intensity is
always manifested at the point of disruption^ as if the charge halted
here for a moment until a sufficient quantity of the fluid could accumu-
late to force its passage through the obstacle. An illustration of this
action is presented in the fact, that at the point where the lightning
leaves a conductor, and also where it is received by another conductor,
signs of fusion or of more intense action are always exhibited. An
effect of lightning described by Professor Olmsted, at a meeting
of the American Association, in New Haven, may be explained on this
principle : A row of five or six milk pans, placed in the open air on a
bench, was struck by a discharge from a cloud. The electricity passed
through the whole series, making two holes in each at opposite ex-
tremities of the diameter, or at the places where the electricity may be
supposed to have entered and gone out.

Ther§ is another circumstance connected with the discharge of elec-
tricity having an important bearing on the construction of lightning-
rods, which may be mentioned in this place. When the repulsion of
the atoms of electricity in a conductor or in a cloud, and the attraction
31 ^A

482 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

of the unsaturated matter below, become so intense as to cause a rupture
in the air, the electricity of the cloud is precipitated upon the con-
ductor, and not only restores the natural quantity, but also gives it for
a moment a redundancy of electricity, a fact which must be evident from
the theory, when we consider the distance at which the induction is com-
municated. As this charge of free electricity, for example, passes down-
the rod to the earth, it assumes, as it were, the form of a wave, render-
ing the metal negative in advance; and thus, in the transmission of
free electricity through a rod of metal, the action consists of two waves,
one of redundant electricity, immediately preceded by one of deficiency.
Hence, if a small ball, connected with the earth by a wire, be brought
near a conductor, for example, a lightning-rod, on the upper end of
which discharges of electricity are thrown from an electrical machine,
sparks may be drawn from the rod, however intimately it may be con-
nected with the earth below.

This effect was strikingly exhibited by an experiment instituted by
the author of this paper^ which consisted in plunging one end of a
copper wire, a tenth of an inch in diameter, beneath the water of a well,
and throwing sparks of electricity from a globe of a foot in diameter on
the upper end, which was terminated by a small ball. Although in
this case the conductor Avas as perfect as possible, yet sparks sui3&ciently
intense to explode the oxy-hydrogen pistol were obtained throughout
the whole length of the wire.

This effect was not due, as some have supposed, to the tendency of
the electricity to seek another passage to the earth , as may be shown
by catching the spark in a Leyden jar ; but it was solely the effect of a
transient charge of electricity passing along the surface of a conductor
from one extremity to the other.

The phenomena may be expressed generally by the statement that,
when electricity is thrown, as it were, explosively, by a disruptive dis-
charge through the air, on the end of an insulated conductor, it does
not pass silently to the earth, but tends, in part, to be given off in
sparks to all surrounding bodies. It is on this account that we object
to the otherwise admirable arrangement of Sir W. Snow Harris for the
protection of ships from lightning. Though the main portion of the
discharge of electricity is transmitted innoxiously to the ocean by means
of the slips of copper which are carried down along the mast, and
through the bottom of the vessel to the sheathing beneath, as proposed
by him, yet we consider it safer to conduct it across the deck, and over
the sides of the vessel to the copper sheathing.

It is true, the quantity which tends to fly off laterally from the rod,
is small, yet we have shown^ by direct experiment, that it is sufficient,
even when produced by the electricity of a small machine, to set fire to
combustible materials ; and, therefore, it cannot be entirely free from
danger in a ship, for example, loaded with cotton.

The atoms of electricity, in their transfer from one body to another,
still retain their repulsive energy ; and, if the discharge be not very
large in proportion to the size of the conductor, it will principally be
trcvnsmitted at the surface.

If the charge be very large, and the conductor small, it will probabl}'-
pervade the whole capacity, and, as we have seen, in some cases,

METEOROLOGY. 483

will convert into an impalpable powder or vapor tlie solid particles.
Because electricity in a state of rest is found disturbed at the surface
of a body, it was immediately assumed, without examination, that
electricity in motion passed along the surface ; but this conclusion was
supposed to be disproved by the fact that the conducting power of a
wire for galvanic electricity is in proportion to the area of the cross
section, from which it follows that this kind of electricity pervades the
whole mass of the conductor. But galvanic electricity differs from
common electricity, apparently in the exertion of a much less energetic
repulsion, and in a greater quantity developed in a given time. The
deduction, therefore, from the experiments with galvanism can scarcely
be considered as conclusive in regard to frictional electricity.

To settle this point, the author of this paper instituted a series of
experiments, which conclusively proved the tendency of electricity of
high tension, that is of great repulsive energy, to pass along the surface.
It will be sufficient to give as an illustration of this fact, the result
obtained by the arrangement represented in Fig. 11, in which A B is

Pig. 11.

a copper wire, one of the best conductors of electricity, of the size usually
employed for ringing door-bells, passing through the axis of an iron
tube, or a piece of gas-pipe, about three feet long. The middle of this
wire was surrounded with silk, and coiled into a magnetizing spiral,
into which a large sewing needle was inserted. The wire was supported
in the middle of the tube by passing it through a cork at each end, cov-
ered with tin-foil, so as to form a good metallic connection between the
copper and the iron. / and y are two other magnetizing spirals of
iron wire, on oj)posite sides of the tube, the ends soldered to the iron.
When these two spirals were also furnished with needles, and a dis-
charge from a Leyden jar sent through the apparatus, as if to pass
along the wire, the needle inside of the iron tube was found to exhibit
no signs of magnetism, while those on the outside presented strong
polarity. This result conclusively shows that, notwithstanding the
interior copper wire of this compound conductor was composed of a
material whicli offered less resistance to the passage of the charge
than the iron of which the outer portion was formed, yet when it
arrived at the tin-foil covering of the cork, it diverged to the surface
of the tube, and still further diverged into the iron wire forming the
outer spirals. We must not conclude, however, from this experiment
that the electricity actually passes on the outside of the tube. On the
contrary, we must infer from the following fact, that it passes just
within the surface. If the iron be coated with a thin covering of
sealing-wax, the latter will not be disturbed when a moderate dis-

484 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

cTiarge is passed through it, though with a large discharge in proportion
to the conducting power of the rod, the outward pressure may become
go great as to throw off the stratum of sealing-wax. This point is of
some importance in regard to the question of painting lightning-rods.
If the metal is of sufficient size to freely transmit an ordinary dis-
charge from the clouds, the condition of the exterior surface can have
but little effect, and we see no objection to coating it with black paint,
the basis of which is carbon, a good conducting material.

It is also to the same repulsive energy that we may attribute the
spreading of a discharge when it passes through partial conductors, as
in the case in which a spark from an electrical machine is transmitted
over a pane of glass on which particles of iron filings are sparsely scat-
tered. It is probable that drops of rain and partially condensed vapor
in the atmosj)here in some cases are connected with a similar appear-
ance of discharge of electricity in the heavens.

A much longer spark of electricity can be drawn through rarified air
than through that of ordinary density. The light which accompanies
a discharge in this case assumes different colors, the violet predomina-
ting. This is a fact of interest in connection with the color exhibited
by lightning, and we may infer that the discharges of a violet hue take
place between clouds at a great elevation in the atmosphere.

The electric spark, when passed through a confined portion of at-
mospheric air, is found to produce a chemical combination of its com-
ponent parts, namely, nitrogen and oxygen, and to form nitric acid.
The same result is produced on a grand scale in the heavens during
thunder-storms ; hence the rain water which falls, in the summer season
especially, always contains a considerable quantity of nitric acid,
which is considered by the chemist as furnishing a portion of the nitro-
gen essential to the growth and development of the plant, and to the
same source is referred the nitric acid in the nitrate of lime and potash
which is found in the form of efflorescence on damp ground and the
walls of old buildings. Indeed, all the nitrate. of potash from which
gunpowder is manufactured is supposed to have its origin in this way,
and the explosion from the thunder-cloud_, and that from the cannon^
are the counterparts of each other.

Again, during the transmission of electricity from an ordinary elec-
trical machine, a pungent odor is perceived, something analogous to
that produced by the slow combustion of phosphorous, which, by a long-
continued series of researches. Professor Schonbein has shown to result
from a change in the oxygen of the air. He supposes that this sub-
stance is composed of two atoms, which, by their combination, partly
neutralize each other, but which are separated by the repulsion of the
electric spark, and thus free have a much greater tendency to combine
with other substances than in their ordinary state of union. Oxygen,
thus changed, according to Schonbein, is called ozone,, and, as it would
appear, performs an important part in many of the molecular and
chemical phenomena of the atmosphere. To this increased combining
power of oxygen may be attributed the formation of the nitric acid we
have mentioned, and without such an explanation, it would be difficult
to conceive how particles of oxygen and nitrogen, which are rendered

METEOROLOGY. 485

mutually repulsive by tlie electrical discharge, should enter into chem-
ical combination.

We have seen that though metals are generally good conductors,
yet when electricity falls upon a rod of iron or copper explosively, the
energetic repulsion, which must always accompany these explosions,
tends to throw the particles off on all sides, and when the discharge is
sufficiently great, the conductor itself is dissipated in vapor. Water
is a much inferior conductor to iron, and though a large mass of it will
silently discharge a conductor, yet it offers great resistance to the trans-
mission of electricity explosively, and hence the electricity is sometimes
seen to leave a conductor, and pass a considerable distance over the
surface of Avater, rather than to force its passage through the interior
of the mass. It is, therefore, highly important in arranging lightning
rods that they should be connected at the lower end with a large sur-
face of conducting matter, to prevent, as far as possible, the fluid from
leaving the rod in the case of an explosive discharge.

ELECTRICITY OF THE ATMOSPHERE.

Having given in the preceding sections a brief exposition of the
general principles of electricity, we are now prepared to apply these
to an exposition of the phenomena of atmospheric electricity.

The origin of the electricity of the atmosphere has long occupied
the attention of physicists, and at different times they have apparently
settled down on some plausible hypothesis, which merely offered a
probable explanation of the phenomena without,leading to new facts or
pointing out new lines of research.

The earth, as is now well known, is almost a perfect conductor for
the most feeble currents of electricity, provided the contact with it of
the electrified body be sufficiently broad. The serial covering which
surrounds it, however, is a non-conductor which is capable of confining
electricity in a condition of accumulation or of diminution, and of
preventing the restoration of the equilibrium which, without the
existence of this isulator would otherwise take place.

The hypothesis was at first advanced that the earth attracted
the ethereal medium of celestial space and condensed it in a hollow
stratum around the whole globe ; that the electricity of the atmosphere
was due to the action of this exterior envelope. Dr. Hare, our coun-
tryman, has presented this hypothesis with considerable distinctness.
Without denying the possibility or even probability of such a distri-
bution of electrical excitement, we may observe that, if this electrical
shell were of uniform thickness, and we see no reason to suppose it
should vary in different parts in this respect, it would follow from the
law of central forces, that it could have no effect in disturbing
the equilibrium on the surface or in the interior of the earth ; a par-
ticle of matter remaining, as we have seen, at rest or unaffected at any
point within a hollow sphere. This fact appears to militate against
the truth of this assumption.

Another hypothesis attributed the electricity of the atmosphere to
the friction of the winds on each other and on the surface of the earth,

486 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

but careful experiments liave shown that the friction of dry air on air
or of air on solids or liquids does not develop electrical phenomena.

The next hypothesis was advanced by Pouillet ; which referred the
electricity of the atmosphere to the evaporation of water, particularly
that which contained saline ingredients. But when pure water is care-
fully evaporated in a space not exposed to the sky, no electricity is pro-
duced except by the friction of the sides of the vessel in the act of
rapid ebullition ; and when the experiment is made with salt water,
the electrical effects observed are found to be produced by an analogous
friction of the salt against the interior of the vessel. When pure water
is evaporated under a clear shy, the vapor produced is negatively
electrified ; but this state is contrary to that in which "the atmosphere
is habitually found.

Pouillet also supposed that the process of vegetation was a source of
disturbance of the electrical equilibrium, but this has not been sup-
ported by critical experiments.

The discovery accidentally made a few years ago of the great amount
of electricity evolved in blowing off steam from the boiler of a locomo-
tive, seemed to afford a ready explanation of the electrical state of the
atmosphere. It was then attributed to the condensation of the Eerial
vapor. Faraday, however, conclusively proved by one of his admi-
rable series of model experiments, that this effect was due entirely to
the friction of the water which escaped in connection with the steam
on the side of the orifice through which the discharge took place.
When dry steam, or that which is so heated as to contain no liquid
water, was blown out,,all electrical excitement disappeared; and when
condensed air, even at elevated temperatures, was discharged from an
insulated fountain, no electricity was produced.

The celebrated physicist of Geneva, Professor De la Eive, refers
the electricity of the atmosphere to thermal action. It is well known
that if the lower end of a bar of iron, or of any other metal not readily
melted, be plunged into a source of heat while the upper end remains
cool a current of electricity will flow from the heated to the cooled end,
the former becoming negative and the latter positive, and that these
different states will continue as long as the difference of temperature
is maintained. Now, according to Professor De la Eive, a column of the
air is in the same condition as the bar of metal — its lower end is con-
stantly heated by the earth, and its upper cooled by the low tempera-
ture of celestial space. Unfortunately, however, for this ingenious
hypothesis, a column of air is a non-conductor of electricity, while a
bar of metal is a good conductor, and it still remains to be proved that
such a distribution of electricity as that we have described relative to
the bar of metal can be produced in a column of air.

The foregoing are the principal hypotheses which have been ad-
vanced to account for what has been considered the free electricity of
the atmosphere. After an attentive study of the whole subject, we
have been obliged to reject them all as insufiicient, and compelled, in the
present state of science, to adopt the only conclusion which appears to
offer a logical explanation of all the phenomena, namely, that of Pel-
tier, which refers them not to the excitement of the air, but to the
inductive action of the earth primarily electrified.

METEOROLOGY. 487

The author of this theory, we are sorry to say, did not receive that
attention which his merits demanded, nor his theory that considera-
tion to which so logical and so fruitful a generalization was justly enti-
tled. Arago, in his great work on the phenomena of atmosplieric elec-
tricity, does not allude to the labors of Peltier, hut perhaps the reason
of this is that this work was not intended as a scientific exposition
of the principles of the phenomena, hut merely a collection and clas-
sification of observed facts.

Peltier commenced the cultivation of science late in life, and, since
the untutored mind of the individual, like that of the race, passes
through a series of obscure and complex imaginings before it arrives
at clear and definite conceptions of truth, it is not surprising that his
first publications were of a character to command little attention, or,
indeed, to excite prejudice, on account of their apparent indefinite char-
acter and their want of conformity with established principles. His
theory of atmospheric electricity requires to be translated into the
ordinary language of science before it can be readily comprehended
even by those best acquainted with the subject, and hence his want of
appreciation maybe attributed more to the peculiarities of the individual
than to the fault of the directors of the science of the French Academy.

According to the theory of Peltier, the electrical phenomena of the
atmosphere are entirely due to the induction of the earth, which is
constantly negative, or what, in the theory of Du Fa.y, is called resinous.
He offers no explanation, as far as we know, of this condition of the
earth, which, at first sight, would appear startling, but, on a little reflec-
tion, is not found wanting in analogy to support it. The earth is a
great magnet, and possesses magnetic polarity in some respects similar
to that which is exhibited in the case of an ordinary loadstone or artificial
magnet. This magnetism, however, is of an unstable character, and
is subjected to variations in the intensity and in the direction of its
polar force. In like manner we may consider the earth as an immense
prime conductor negatively charged with electricity, though its condi-
tion in this respect may, like that of its magnetical state, be subject to
local variations of intensity, and perhaps to general as well as partial
disturbance. It may be said that this merely removes the difficulty
of the origin of the electricity of the atmosphere to an unexplained
cosmical condition of the earth, but even this must be considered an
important step in the progress of scientific investigation. The hypo-
thesis of Peltier has since his death been rendered still more probable
by the labors of Sabin, Lloyd, La Mont, Bache, and others, in regard
to certain perturbations of the magnetism of the earth, which are
clearly referable to the sun and moon. It must now be admitted that
magnetism is not confined to our earth, but is common to other, and,
probably, to all the bodies of our system ; and, from analogy, we may
also infer that electricity, a coordinate if not an identical principle, is
also cosmical in its j)resence and the extent of its operation. That the
earth is negatively electrified was proved by Volta at the close of the
last century. For this purpose he received the spray from a cascade on
the balls of a sensitive electrometer ; the leaves diverged with nega-
tive electricity.

488 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

This experiment has heen repeated in various parts of the globe,
and always with the same result. That it indicates the negative con-
dition of the earth is evident, when we reflect that the upper level from
which the water falls must be considered as the exterior of the charged
globe, and hence must be more intensely electrified than points nearer
the center. Since the earth is^ as a whole, a good conductor of elec-
tricity, as shown by the operations of the telegraph, the electrical ten-
sion of it cannot differ much in different parts, and we are at present
unacquainted with any chemical, thermal, or mechanical action on
land of sufficient magnitude to produce this constant electrical state.
We are therefore induced to adopt the conclusion that the earth, in
relation to space around it, is permanently electrical ; that perhaps the
ethereal medium, which has been assumed as the basis of electricity, as
was supposed by Newton, becomes rarer in the vicinity and within
bodies of ponderable matter. Be this as it may, all the phenomena
observed in the atmosphere, and which have so long perplexed the
physicist, can be reduced apparently to order, and their dependencies
and associations readily understood, in accordance with the foregoing
assumption. This is not a mere vague supposition, serving to explain
in a loose way certain phenomena, but one which enables us not
only to group at once a large class of facts which, from any other point
of view, would appear to have no connection with each other, but alg o
to devise means for estimating the relative intensity of action, and to
predict, both in mode and measure, changes of atmospheric electricity
before they occur. It follows, as a logical consequence from this
theory, that salient points, such as the tops of mountains, trees, spires,
and even vapors, if of conducting materials, will be more highly excited
than the general surface of the globe, in a manner precisely similar
to the more intense excitement of electricity at the summit of a point
projecting from the surface of the prime conductor of an ordinary
electrical machine.

It also follows, from the same principle, that if a long metallic
conductor be insulated in the atmosphere, its lower end, next the
earth, will be positive, and the upper end negative. The natural
electricity will be drawn down by the unsaturated matter of the earth
into the lower end of the wire, which will thence become redundant,
while the upper end will be rendered negative, or under saturated.
That this condition really takes place in the atmosphere was proved in
a striking manner by the experiment of Guy Lussac and Biot, in their
celebrated atrial voyage, which consisted in lowering from the balloon
an insulated copper wire, terminated at each end by a small ball. The
upper end of this was found to be negative, and consequently the lower
end must have been positive, since the whole apparatus, including the
balloon, was insulated. The experiments should be repeated at differ-
ent elevations by some of our modern eeronauts, since the results
obtained would have an important bearing on the theory of atmospheric
electricity.

The same results may be shown in a simpler manner by the method
invented by Saussure. This consists in attaching a leaden ball to
a long wire covered with silk or varnish, connected by mean's of a

METEOROLOGY.

slight spring to tlie hook of an
electrometer. When this hnlb is
thrown upward so as to rise to a
considerable height in the air, by
means of a string and handle 2^,
the wire is disconnected from the
electrometer, and the pith balls of
the latter diverge with positive
electricity. That this eifect is not
due to the friction of the bulb and
the air, is shown by whirling it in
a horizontal circle round the head
— not the least sign of electricity in
this case will be exhibited ; and
that it is not charged by absorbing
free electricity from the air is prov-
ed by the fact that when the ball
is thrown horizontally no excite-
ment is manifest. The result is,
however, just such as would be
{B. produced by the induction of the
earth acting on the natural electri-
city of the wire and drawing it
down to its lower extremity. A
precisely similar effect would also be produced if the upper surface of
the atmosphere were charged with this electricity. The intensity of
the charge which the electrometer receives will depend upon the eleva-
tion to which the ball ascends, or, in other words, on the perpen-
dicular component of the wire.

The method employed by Saussure in observing the variations of the

electricity of the atmosphere,

illustrates the same principle. For this pur-
pose he made use of one of his own electro-
meters, which is shown in Fig. 12. It
consists of a bell-glass with a brass stem, D
E, surrounded with sealing-wax, and two
small pith balls, g g, suspended by very fine
wires. C B is a metallic foot, and h li slips
of tin-foil pasted on the inside and outside
of \\\Q glass to discharge the pith balls when
the electricity is so strong as to cause them

-^"T^i^^^

Fis. \f

490

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

to strike t1ie glass. To measure the electrical intensity with this
instrument, the hook A was removed, and its place supplied with
a pointed brass rod. The electrometer was first brought in con-
tact with the ground as exhibited in Fig. 13 ; then held vertically
as shown in Fig. 14, and gradually elevated until the leaves began
to diverge. He found that the height to which the instrument re-
quired to be elevated before the leaves showed signs of electricity,
varied at different times, and he estimated the intensity of the elec-
tricity of the atmosphere by the inverse ratio of this height.

The explanation of this will be readily seen by a reference to Fig. 15,

in which C D repre-
sents a portion of the
— ^^ surface of the earth neg-

ativel}^ charged, and a h
c a perpendicular con-
ductor terminated above
and below by a bulb. In
this condition the unsatu-
rated matter in C D will
act upon each atom of the
fluid in the conductor,
and tend to draw the
whole down into the low-
er bulb ; the atom a v/ill
not only be attracted
downward by the action
of the earth on itself, but
also pressed downward by
the attraction of the earth on all the atoms above it, and hence the in-
tensity of the electricity of the lower part of the conductor will be
increased by an increase in the perpendicular length of the rod. Now,
if we connect the lower bulb of the rod with the earth by means of
a good conductor, the redundant electricity of the lower end will be
drawn off into the earth and will no longer react by its repulsion on
the electricity of the rod to drive it back into the upper bulb, and
hence this will become intensely negative ; and in this condition it
will be a salient point on the surface of the earth. If, while the
appara,tus is in this condition, we could touch the upper ball with an
electrometer, it would exhibit a negative charge.

If a conductor 20 feet in length were made to revolve on a horizon-
tal axis, passing through the middle of its length so that it could
be immediately changed from a horizontal to a vertical position,
any change in the apparent condition of the atmosj)here would be
shown by the greater or less intensity of the balls, as, in succession, they
passed the lower point of their circuit ; and an apparatus in the form of
radiating conductors like the spokes of a wheel, if made to revolve, would
furnish a constant source of electricity. An apparatus of this kind
was constructed by M. Palmeri, of Italy, and might be used perhaps
with success in studying the condition of the atmosphere in ascensions.
The most convenient apparatus, however, for exhibiting electricity

Fig. 15.

METEOROLOGY.

491

by the induction of the earth, is
shown in Fis:. 16 :

that invented hy M. Dollman, and

A is a brass ball, supported on a thick brass
stem, which is insulated inside of a glass tube,
by passing through corks of gum shellac. The
apparatus is fastened to a pole, which is tem-
porarily elevated, by a windlass or the hand,
on the top of a house into the air. When
it reaches the height intended, the wire h,
connected with the earth below, is pulled,
the end of the metallic bent lever g h is de-
pressed, and the fork i brought into contact
with the stem of the globe, and thus a per-
fect metallic connection is formed between the
latter and the ground. The wire h is then
released ; the lever falls back ; the ball is cut
off from the earth, brought down, and applied
to an electrometer, and in all cases, when the
sky is clear, is found to be negatively electri-
fied. If the wire h be insulated through its en-
tire length, and terminated in a bulb at a little
distance from the earth, and a pull be given to
it by means of a rod of glass, at the instant of
contact of the point i with the stem d, the lower
bulb will exhibit a positive charge of electricity.

Fig. ic.
The arrangement will, in
fact, be precisely the same as
that exhibited in the previous
figure, [Fig. 15,] namely: a
vertical conductor, in which
the upper end is rendered mi-
nus, and the lower end plus,
by the induction of the earth.
This effect is entirely due
to induction, and is indepen-
dent of any free electricity
which may exist in the air.

The results are exhibited with __^

the greatest intensity during ^'^Fig. n. ~~

perfectly clear and dry weath-
er, and are not observed when the conductor is placed horizontally,

492

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

but with, increased effect as its upper end is gradually brought nearer
the perpendicular.

That these effects are not due to the free electricity of the atmos-
phere, is conclusively proved by the original experiments of Peltier.
For measuring the intensity of the inductive influence of the earth,
he made use of an electrometer represented in Fig. IT. In this,
^ -B is a glass cylinder, furnished with a wooden foot and a glass
cover, in the center of which is cemented a brass tube, carrying a ball
C at the top, and a bent wire / at the bottom. At the level of the
bent wire / is suspended a fine magnetized needle g, the height of
which is adjusted by the screw li. The intensity of the electricity
is measured by the divisions pointed out by the needle on the slip of
paper surrounding the cylinder. This instrument, which is very
sensitive, has been modified and improved by Dellman.

On the top of the flat roof of his house Peltier placed a flight of steps
by which he could ascend with an electrometer in his hand similar to that
we have just described, armed with a comparatively large sized polished
ball. The ball of the electrometer was held at the height say of four feet
above the roof of the house, and in this position it was touched by the
end of a wire connected with the earth below. It thus formed the
termination of a perpendicular conductor, and was, of course, negatively
electrified — the bulb more intensely than the leaves below, but the
stratum of air in which it was placed being in the same state, it exhib-
ited no signs of electricity. It was then elevated by ascending the
steps to the height of six feet above, and held by the lower plate. The
leaves in this case diverged with negative electricity because the ball
was still further removed from the earth, and the attraction of which
being lessened, the part of the electricity which was in the leaves was set
free, and ascended up the bulb by repulsion, leaving a deficiency in the
leaves. When the electrometer was brought down to its first position,
the leaves again collapsed, since there was again an equilibrium; and

when the elec-
trometer was
depressed be-
low its normal
position, the
leaves became
positively elec-
trified by the
increased at-
traction of the
earth, and in
this way the
electrometer
was made to
diverge, to
converge, and
diverge again,
by simply
changing its
elevation.
Fig. 18 is intended to illustrate the condition of the electrometer

Fig. 18.

18 is intended to illustrate the condition of

METEOROLOGY. 493

in the tliree positions, in wliicli it is supposed to be supported on
three metallic conductors of different heights. The electrometer brought
into neutral condition by the ball, is shown in the middle of the figure
at B, in which the connection of the rod with the ball is indicated by
the dotted line. When the electrometer is raised by the hand to a
higher elevation, its condition is exhibited by C, in which the greater
elevation of the rod beneath it causes a greater amount of electricity
to be drawn down, and the top of the rod and the bottom of the elec-
trometer in connection with it, to become more intensely negative, and
hence to draw down into the leaves a portion of the natural electricity
of the ball, and cause the former to diverge with positive excitement
relative to the air around.

The condition of the electrometer when brought to a lower level is
illustrated by A, in which the shortening of the conductor reduces the
number of atoms on which the electricity of the earth acts, and hence
those at the top are more pressed upward by their self-repulsion than
in the former case, consequently a portion of the natural electricity is
driven into the upper ball, and the leaves themselves diverge with a
negative charge.

The writer of this article had the pleasure, in 1837, to witness this
interesting experiment, as performed on a dry clear day by Peltier
himself.

In order that the result may be shown Avith a slight change of eleva-
tion, it is necessary that a large ball be employed, that the effect may
be multiplied by all the electricity of the large surface. When the elec-
trometer is terminated with the point of a fine needle, though this is
the best means of attracting electricity from the air at a distance, no
effect will be exhibited, altliougli the apparatus may be exposed to the
atmosphere for several hours, provided the weather is dry and the sky
cloudless.

From these experiments it appears conclusive that the positive elec-
tricity with which the air is apparently always charged in dry and clear
weather is not due to the free electricity of the atmosphere, but to the
induction of the earth on the conducting materials of which the in-
struments are in whole or in part composed.

It is not difficult to deduce from the same general principles the
apparent changes in the electrical state of the atmosphere at different
times of the day and in different hygrometrical conditions of the air.
Vapor of water mingled with the atmosphere renders the latter a posi-
tive conductor ; and when the moisture of the air extends up as high
as the upper part of the apparatus in Fig. 16, a feeble negative elec-
tricity will, by slow conduction, be diffused through the adjacent
strata, which, acting upon the ball A, will lessen the effect of
the more intense action of the earth. While the latter tends to draw
the atoms of natural electricity of the conductor down into its lower
part, and to render the upper end negative, the vapor around the
ball will tend to draw it slightly upward, and thus diminish the
effect, and lead the casual observer to suppose that the air is less
positively electrified. Peltier in this way has shown, as well as
Quetelet and Dellman, that the variations of the electricity of the
atmosphere observed from day to day, and at different times in the

494 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

twenty-four liours, correspond inversely witli tlie variations in the
amount of vapor.

The experiments we liave thus far described are intended to estab-
lish the inductive character of the atmosphere in its condition of dry-
ness and serenity, particularly during clear and cold Aveather.

We have employed movable conductors terminated by balls, which
have been of the most favorable form and relative dimensions to ex-
hibit the effects of induction. The apparatus, however, usually em-
ployed before the experiments of Peltier, were principally stationary
insulated conductors, terminated by points above, which, as we have
seen, act powerfully in discharging electricity from a body, or in
absorbing it from the surrounding medium.

If in the experiments with the apparatus. Fig. 16, the rod be term-
inated by a point instead of a ball, but feeble excitation will be ob-
served during clear cold weather, because the point exhibits so exceed-
ingly small a surface that but very little electricity can be drawn down
into the lower end, before the intensity of attraction of unsaturated
matter upwards comes into an equilibrium witli the attraction of the
earth downwards. With this instrument the observer would probably
make a record to the effect that the electricity of the atmosj)here was
very feeble, whereas if the experiment were made with the apparatus
previously described, an opposite condition would be noted. The
result, however, would be entirely different if the air were damp and
the insulated rod elevated to a considerable height, the negative inten-
sity of the upper end would be sufficient to attract a portion of the
natural electricity from the surrounding medium, even although this
had become slightly negative by the previous induction of the earth.
In this case the pointed conductor would indicate a large amount of
electricity.

The intensity of the induction may even become so great as to absorb
a portion of the natural electricity of the dry atmosphere, as in the
case of a very long wire, the upper end of which is furnished with a
series of points, and raised to a great height by means of a kite. The
points may attract a portion of the natural electricity of the air, and
thus produce at the lower end of the wire a series of sparks, following
each other, after the lapse of a certain time, at regular intervals.

From the foregoing, it will be evident that in interpreting the indi-
cations of the two classes of instruments we have described, which
may be denominated those of induction and those of absorption, we must
keep constantly in view the principles which have been explained;
and it is for want of a clear appreciation of these principles that so
much complexity has been introduced in the otherwise comparatively
simple effects of induction.

ELECTRICITY OF THE CLOUDS.

The explanation of the thunder-storm and the tornado given by
Peltier does not appear to us as satisfactory as could be desired. In
common with most of the meteorologists of Europe, he does not take
into consideration the real character of the storm, which, as we think,
has been fully established by theory and observation in this country.

METEOEOLOGY.

495

We have stated in a previous report that this consists in the rushing
up of the lighter air to restore the normal equilibrium of the atmos-
phere, which had heen disturbed or rendered unstable by the gradual
introduction, next to the ground, of a stratum of warm and moist
air. As an illustration of this disturbance, we may mention the fact
pointed out to Arago, by Captain Hessard, which he had observed in
the Alps, namely, that during great heats there takes place suddenly
at the lowest stratum of clouds, upward rushings, extending vertically
like rockets.

We shall endeavor to supply the deficiency, in the exposition of Pel-
tier, we have mentioned, and to present, on the principles of the induc-
tion of the earth in connection with the upward motion of the air, a
logical explanation of the origin and continued supply of the great
quantity of electricity developed in the meteors under consideration.

It follows, from the principles of induction, that tlie upper end of
all perpendicular insulated conductors must be electrified negatively,
and the lower end positively, since the attraction of the unsaturated
matter of the earth below will draw down the natural electricity of the
conductor into its lower extremity, leaving a deficiency in the upper
part. Now, if we admit, agreeably to the theory of Mr. Espy, that a
cloud consists in the upward motion of a mass of moist and heated air,
the vapor of which is condensed as it ascends into the colder regions,
thus forming a high perpendicular column of partially conducting
.material, it will be evident that by induction, the upper part of this
cloud vv-ill become negatively electrified, and the lower part positively,
as in the case of the conductor.
Figure 15. The intensity of
this excitement will depend
upon the length of the ver-
tical dimensions of the cloud,
which, in many cases, is ex-
ceedingly great, and also upon
the density, and consequently
the conducting power of the
vapor. The induction of
the earth being very intense,
a partial excitement of the
atoms of vapor may take place
even before the condensation
of the whole mass has reached
its maximum. If this be the
case, a transparent mass of
vapor, or that which is merely
beginning to condense into
cloud, will be electrified
throughoutits entire mass ; and
when the condensation of the
vapor has gone so far as to
render the interior a tolerably
good conductor, the electricity
the surface, as in the case of

Fig. 19.

of each atom will be repelled tj
conductor; the intensity

globular

496 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

will thu be highly increased ; and while the rushing upward of moist
air is going on, a series of discharges will take place between the upper
and lower portions of the cloud. •

It is asserted by Mr, Wise that the thunder cloud, when viewed on
one side from a sufficient elevation, presents the appearance of an hour-
glass, the upper and the lower ends spreading out almost into two
distinct clouds, as seen in Figure 19.

We find that the same form of the thunder cloud has been described
by other serial voyagers, also by Volta; and we are inclined to con-
sider it the usual one presented by this meteor, since it is precisely
that which would be produced by the self-repulsion of the upper and
lower parts of the cloud, each charged, as it is throughout its mass,
with the same kind of electricity. The middle of the perpendicular
dimensions of the cloud, as illustrated by the perpendicular conductor
Figure 15, will be neutral, and hence no tendency to bulge out at
this point will exist. Mr. Wise also states that flashes of sheet light-
ning are constantly seen at c, in the middle space ; and sometimes intense
discharges from the upper to the lower part of the cloud — appearances
in exact conformity with the views here presented.

The immense number of discharges of lightning from a single thun-
der cloud in its passage over the earth, through a distance in some
oases of more than 500 miles, indicates a constant supply of electricity ;
and this is found in the continued rushing up of new portions of moist
air, and, as it were, in the successive renewals of the perpendicular,
column with fresh materials, the electrical equilibrium of which is dis-
turbed by induction.

In the case of a tornado or water-spout, the ascending current of air
is confined to a very slender column, in which the action is exceedingly
intense ; and since it is scarcely possible that the rushing in from all
directions of the air below to supply the upward spout can be directed
to precisely the same central point, a whirling motion must be produced.
This will tend to limit the diameter of the spout, and to create a partial
vacuum at the axis of the column, in which the moist air, by the cold
of the sudden expansion, will have its vapor condensed, and a con-
ductor will thus be formed extending from the cloud to the earth.
Through this conductor a constant convective discharge of electricity
will take place, and all the phenomena described by Dr. Hare will be
exhibited.

In this view of the liature of the tornado or spout, although we adopt
with Franklin and Espy, as the characteristic of the commotion of the
atmosphere, the rushing upwards in the form of a column, on the
principles of hydrostatics, of a stratum of heated and moist air, which
had accumulated at the surface of the ground, yet the phenomena are
modified and increased in number by the great amount of electricity
which must be evolved by the simple action of the continued elevation
of new portions of a constant stream of moist air. Since the conductor,
in the case of the tornado or water-spout, extends to near the earth,
and the discharge is continually taking place, the cloud, which is
spread out immediately above, will be negatively electrified, and the
upper portion of the cloud, as exhibited in Figure 19, will be wanting.

METEOROLOGY. 497

Tlie greater or less degree of conduction of the depending spout will
vary the phenomena and give rise to the different appearances which
have been seen at the surface of the water. When the conductor does
not quite reach to the earth, visible discharges of electricity will be
exhibited, and the surface of the water will be attracted upwards.
When the conducting material of the spout touches the surface of the
water, the liquid will be depressed.

That the rushing up of the air with intense violence does take place
in the column of a land or water spout is abundantly proved by direct
observation, and that electricity cannot be the cause of this action_, but
is itself an effect, is proved by the fact, that since the column of moist air
extends to the earth, through it discharges of the fluid must be made,
which would soon exhaust the cloud, were it not constantly renewed.
In some instances the meteor has been known to continue its destruc-
tive violence along a narrow line of more than two hundred miles in
length. To merely refer this prolonged action to a whirling motion
of the air, without attempting to explain on known principles of science,
the renewed energy of the rotation, is to rest satisfied with a very par-
tial analysis of the phenomenon.

If, by the action of an elevated horizontal current of air, the upper
part of a thunder-cloud be separated from the lower, we shall have a
mass of vapor charged entirely with negative electricity, and from such
a mass floating high in the atmosphere, a new evaporation may take
place by the heat absorbed directly from the sun. The column of
invisible vapor thus produced being a partial conductor elongated up-
ward, the attraction of the earth will draw down a new portion of its
natural electricity into the cloud from which the vapor was produced,
and thus diminish its negative intensity. If, now, the upper end of
this transparent column be condensed hj the cold of the greater altitude
into visible vapor, it will form a cloud of the second order of negative in-
tensity. We shall thus have, according to Peltier, lower clouds intensely
excited with positive electricity, clouds of medium elevation either neu-
tral or slightly negative, and the highest cirrus clouds, which are
formed by the secondary evaporation we have mentioned, excited in-
tensely with a negative electricity.

Since particles of ponderable matter similarly electrified repel each
other, it is evident that the electrical state of the cloud must in some
degree counteract the tendency to condensation which would result
from the cold of the upper regions ; and also, the same action in the
lower clouds will tend to prevent precipitation in the form of rain, even
though the atoms of vapor are in a condition to coalesce into drops of
water.

It is evident, also, since the earth is negatively electrified^ that the
particles of vapor in the same state will be repelled further from the
surface, and those which are positively electrified will be drawn down.
Hence, the negative clouds will tend to retain their elevated position,
although they may be pressed downwards by descending currents.

Negative clouds may also be formed near the surface of the earth by
a detached portion of cloudy matter under a cloud more highly charged
with positive electricity _, which will cause the former, by induction, to
32 A

498 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

discharge its positive electricity into the earth, as well as a portion of
its natural electricity ; and if the upper cloud he afterwards driven
away hy the wind, the lower will he left highly negative.

Peltier states that he can determine from the appearance of a
cloud whether it he positively or negatively charged. Clouds nega-
tively electrified, according to him, are of a hluish grey color, while
those which are positively charged are white, and exhibit at the setting
sun, a red appearance.

From the foregoing considerations it must he evident that, in addi-
tion to the disturbance which is produced in the atmosphere by the
variations of heat and moisture, which we have so fully discussed in
the last report, we must take info account those that result from the
changes in the electrical condition of the atoms of moisture. Though
they may not be as important as the former, still they must modify
the conditions of the general phenomena, and no theory of storms
can he complete which does not include the effect of this agent.

On the principles we have developed, the discharges of lightning
which are exhibited in volcanic eruptions are readily understood. The
column of vapor of water, heated air, and other conducting materials,
which sometimes rise to a great elevation from Vesuvius, must be sub-
jected to the inductive action of the earth, and, consequently, the
electricity of the upper end of the column, as soon as its elevation is
sufficient to produce a condensation of the vapor, by the cold of the
higher regions, must send down to the lower part of the column a
large amount of electricity which, when the length is great, and the
ascending stream rapid, will manifest itself in discharges of lightning.
In accordance with the same principles, thunder storms have been pro-
duced in a peculiar state of the atmosphere, as it were, artificially.
About thirty years ago a farmer at Greenbush, near Albany, collected
on a knoll in the middle of a field, a large amount of brushwood, which
w^as set on fire simultaneously at different points, and, burning, gave
rise to an ascending column of heated air, extending to a great alti-
tude. The air rushing in to supply the upward current assumed a
rapid rotary motion, accompanied by a loud roaring and discharges of
lightning of sufficient magnitude to frighten the laborers from the field.
The explanation in this case is too obvious to require a formal state-
ment.

In the equatorial regions, under a vertical sun, masses of moist air
are constantly rising during the day time, and producing electrical dis-
charges to the earth. The vapor, therefore, which accompanies the
reverse trade winds in the upper region, must be negatively electrified,
while the earth in the torrid zone must constantly be receiving elec-
tricity from the clouds. From this, we may infer, that there is a
current of electricity through the earth, from the equator towards the
poles, and a neutralization by means of the air above, which may give
rise to the aurora polaris.

Arago has described the different forms of lightning under three
classes. The first class comprises the lightning which consists of a
vivid luminous line or furrow, very narrow, and sharply defined,
the course of which is not a direct line, but is that denominated

METEOROLOGY. 499

zig-zag. This peculiar form of lightning, according to Moncel, is
referable to the effect of partial, interrupted conduction, and may be
imitated by sprinkling iron filings on a plate of glass ; the bifurcations
of the discharge may also be referred to the same cause. The drops of
rain distributed through the air perform the office of the particles of
iron filings in the experiment, and the repulsion of the electricity
tending to separate it into different streams. The next class consists
of what is called ''sheet lightning," which, instead of being narrowed
to bright sinuous lines, appears on the contrary to extend over immense
surfaces. It not unfrequently has an intensely red tinge, and some-
times a blue or violet color predominates. The color, probably, belongs
to the flashes of lightning which take place at a great elevation, and
seems to illuminate lov/er clouds, and thus to present the appearance
of a broad flash.

We may also mention that flashes of lightning are sometimes ob-
served in a summer evening, without thunder, and known as "heat
lightning." They are^ however, merely the light from discharges of
electricity from an ordinary thunder-cloud beneath the horizon of the
observer, reflected from clouds, or perhaps from the air itself, as in the
case of twilight. Mr. Brooks, one of the directors of the telegraph
line between Pittsburg and Philadelphia, informs us that, on one
occasion, to satisfy himself on this point, he asked for information
from a distant operator during the appearance of flashes of this kind
in the distant horizon, and learned that they proceeded from a thunder
storm then raging two hundred and fifty miles eastward of his place
of observation.

The third class is called ''globiilpj lis-htnina;," which is remarkable,
besides its peculiar form, for the slowness of its motion. The occur-
rence of this form of lightning is very rare, and were not the phenome-
non well authenticated, we should be inclined to regard it as a delusion.
But it does not comport with the cautious procedure of true science to
deny the existence of all appearances which may not come within the
prevision of what are considered as established principles ; although
when facts of an extraordinary nature are related to us they should
not be received with that easy credence which might be due to less re-
markable phenomena, yet, after having fully satisfied ourselves of
their reality, we must endeavor to collect all the facts connected with
them, and to ascertain with accuracy the essential conditions on vfhich
they depend. Arago has given a number of instances of this remark-
able form of the electrical discharge, the general appearance of which
is that of a ball moving slowly through the aii% and sometimes, when
coming near a body, exploding with tremendous violence.

The only explanation which has been suggested for this remark-
able meteor, and which, at first sight, appears to belong entirely to
some other class of phenomena than those denominated electrical, is
that which was in part suggested, I think, by Sir W. Snow Harris.
According to his hypothesis, the ball of light is the result of what is
analogous to that which is known as a glow discharge, a phenomenon
familiar to all who are in the habit of making electrical experiments.
When a conductor connected with the earth is brought near a charged

500 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

body, particularly when the air is damp, a partial silent discharge
will take place, during which, although there may be no light percep-
tible in the space between the two, yet on the end of the conductor
connected with the earth a glow of light will appear, attended with a
hissing noise. Now, if we suppose that in the atmosphere between the
cloud and the earth there exists a stratum or current of very dry air,
while the remaining portions are in a very moist condition, and that
the silent discharge from the cloud is taking place, for example, nearly
perpendicularly to the earth, and passing through the dry stratum,
then the partial interruption of conduction as the current of electricity
passes through the dry stratum v/ill give rise to the exhibition of
light. Again, if we suppose the cloud to be in motion, this appearance
will travel with it, and the patch or glow of light will thus exhibit
in mid-air a comparatively slow progressive motion, and disappear as
if with an explosion, when a disruptive discharge takes place. This
hypothesis can only be considered as an antecedent possibility, and is
not presented as a full or satisfactory explanation; the phenomenon
itself must be more frequently observed, and the associated condition
of its appearance more minutely noted before a definite hypothesis can
be formed as to its cause.

Eecords of observations, therefore, with regard to this meteor are
exceedingly desirable ; they should, however, be made with scrupulous
accuracy, and by persons accustom^ed to scientific investigations. We
have found, from experience, great difficulty in obtaining an accurate
account of all the circumstances attending a peculiar occurrence of
nature, from those who were present at the time and witnessed the
phenomenon. It is astonishing how much the products of the imagi-
nation are mingled vnth. the actual impressions made upon the senses,
and how difficult it is to separate from the testimony of a witness, what
he actually saw, and what he unconsciously infers from the previous
crude conceptions of his mind, awakened at the instant by a powerful
association of ideas. In the transit of the meteor which passed over
a considerable portion of the United States, in November last, a large
number of persons declared that it fell in an adjoining field, or in the
water near by, although it must have been at the time many miles in
altitude above the surface of the earth.

INDUCTIVE ACTION OP THE CLOUD.

A cloud formed as we have described must produce a great inductive
effect on the earth beneath, and as it is borne along from the west in
this latitude over the surface of the ground, the intensity of the elec-
tricity of the lower part must constantly vary, on account of the con-
ducting condition of the materials at or below the surface. For
example, since water is a better conductor than dry earth, if the cloud
is moving in a line which, if produced, would cross a river, its course
will frequently be changed, and in a similar way we can explain the
fact that discharges of lightning more frequently fall on some places
than others. Although the cloud may be impelled in the same direc-

METEOROLOGY. 501

tion by tlie wind, yet tlie attraction of the surface of the water, rendered
more than naturally negative by induction, will tend to draw it from
its course. And since the induction acts at a distance through all sub-
stances, if a quantity of water or good conducting material exist below
the surface of the earth, the cloud will be similarly affected. It fre-
quently happens that when a heavy discharge of lightning passes near
a house or descends along a rod, inductive effects are exhibited which-
are more startling than dangerous.

We have seen in the experiment described in page 47*7 that an in-
duced spark was exhibited at the edge of a large disk covered with
tinfoil, in the lower story, by suddenly drawing the electricity from a
similar disk in the upper part of a house. A precisely similar ar-
rangement, but on a much more gigantic scale, is presented when a
highly charged thunder-cloud is in the zenith of a building. Now, if
the intensity of this be suddenly diminished by a discharge to the
earth, flashes of electricity and sparks from different objects Vt^ithin the
house will be observed. The explanation of this is very easy. The
free electricity of the cloud, which we may suppose to be positive,
repels all the positive electricity of conductors and partial conductors
into the ground, and renders them negative. They will be brought,
however, into this state very gradually, either by the comparatively
slow approach of the cloud, or by its increase in intensity. The fluid,
therefore, will escape into the ground without being perceptible in the
form of sparks, but when the repulsion is suddenly relieved, at least
in part, by a discharge of the cloud, the natural electricity rushes
back and exhibits itself in flashes and sparks, and even may give
shocks to persons in the vicinity. Although this sudden return of the
electricity from the earth into which it has been driven, in ordinary
cases of conductors in a house supported by bad conducting materials,
is usually attended with but slight effects ; yet it may, under certain
circumstances, produce serious accidents, particularly v/hen a person
is in good conducting connection with the earth. A remarkable in-
stance of this kind was given by Mr. Brydone, in a letter to the presi-
dent of the Eoyal Society, in 1T87.

Two laborers, each driving a cart loaded with coal, and sitting upon
the front part, ascending a slight eminence, the one following the
other at a distance of about twenty-four yards, as represented at M
and L, Fig. 20, were conversing about the thunder which was heard at
a distance, when in an instant the man in the hinder cart was astounded
by a loud report, and saw his companion and the two horses which he
was driving fall to the ground. He immediately ran to his assistance,
but found him quite dead. The horses were also killed, and appeared
to have died without a struggle. The hinder cartman had the horses
and driver of the forward cart full in view when they fell to the
ground, but he saw no flash nor appearance of fire, and was sensible
of no shock nor uncommon sensation. Each wheel was marked with
a bluish spot on the tire, as if the iron had been subjected at that
place to an intense heat, and directly under these spots were two holes
in the ground, from which the earth was removed as if by an upward
explosion. Flashes of lightning had been seen and thunder heard by

502

AGRICULTUEAL REPORT.

'Mr. Brydone also, who was in the vicinity at the time, hut these were
at the distance of live or six miles, as shown hy the time elapsed
between seeing the flash and hearing the thunder. There were no
marks, however, of the exit of the discharge upwards from the body
of the man or of the horses, or any effect which could he attributed to
a discharge immediately from the cloud. The accident was seen by
another person, from a greater distance, who was also astounded by the
loud report, saw the horses and man fall to the ground, but observed
no lightning nor fire at the time, but perceived, the dust arise at the
place. A shepherd in a neighboring field, during the same storm,
observed a lamb drop down dead, and felt at the same time as if fire
had passed over his face, although the lightning and clap of thunder
a were at great distance from him. This happened a quarter of an hour
before the accident to the cartman, and not over three hundred yards
from the same spot. A woman making hay near the bank of the river
near by, fell suddenly to the ground, and exclaimed to her companions
that she had received a violent blow on her foot, and could not imagine
whence it came.

A scientific analysis of these phenomena is given by Earl Stanhope,
on principles similar to those of induction, which we shall translate
as it were into the precise language of that theory. Let us suppose a
cloud eight or ten miles in length to be extended over the earth in the
situation represented by A B C in Fig. 20, and let another cloud D E F

Fig. 90.

"be situated between the above-mentioned cloud and the earth. Let the
two clouds be supposed to be charged with the same kind of electricity,
and both positive. Let us further suppose that the lower cloud D E F
be only so far from the earth as to be just beyond the striking dis-
tance, and the man, cart_, and horses to be at L, under the part E of the
cloud which is nearest the earth. Now, let the remote end C of the
upper cloud approach the earth within striking distance, and suddenly
discharge itself at G. The effect which would be produced by this

METEOROLOGY. 503

arrangement, at tlie moment of the cliscliarge C Gr, will be understood
by considering the condition of the electricity in the tv/o clouds, and
in the earth a moment previous to the discharge. Both clouds being-
positive, the two will act upon each other by repulsion, the free elec;;
tricity of the lower cloud will be driven down into its lower surface, and
will be accumulated particularly in the point E nearest to the earth.
The ground underneath the lower cloud, and more especially at L, where
the distance is least, will become highly negative. The natural elec-
tricity will be driven down into the ground by repulsion, and will be
retained there as long as this condition remains, but vf hen a discharge
takes place at the point C Gr, if the cloud B be a good conductor, the
repulsion at A and D will be suddenly removed, and the natural elec-
tricity of the earth will return with a rush to the surface, and pass
beyond its point of natural equilibrium, as in this case into the man
and horses. The loud report was caused by the discharge from I) to
A, which was invisible to the eye of the spectator on account of the
density of the lower cloud.

An experimental illustration of the effects produced in this case may
be readily furnished by charging two conductors, arranged in the rela-
tive position of the two clouds. At the moment a spark is drawn from
the end 0, a discharge is observed at D A. The death of the lamb,
and the shock felt in the foot of the v/oman were both produced accord-
ing to this view, by the sudden rushing up of the natural electricity
of the ground, when the repulsion in the upper cloud was in part
diminished by the distant discharge.

The inductive action at a distance which we have described, affords
a rational exposition of the effects which are perceived by persons of
nervous sensibility on the approach of a thunder-storm, and may also
be connected with the change which is said to take place suddenly
in liquids in an unstable condition, such as the souring of milk and
other substances, near the point of fermentation. But whether the
latter effects are due to the inductive action of the electricity or the
tremor produced by the thunder, has not, to our knowledge, been
definitely settled. If the effects are due to induction, it is probable
that they would be greater in the case of milk in a metallic pan resting
on the earth, than in one of glass, supported on glass legs or a thick
cake of beeswax.

PRECAUTIONS WITH REGARD TO LIGHTNING.

Men have often been struck by lightning in open plains, and since
the human body is a good conductor of electricity, from the principles
we have given it must be evident that when standing it would be
more likely to be struck than any point on the earth in the vicinity.
There is less danger in a horizontal position, particularly if the person
be resting on some non-conducting substance which would prevent the
natural electricity from descending into the earth. Near the foot of a
tall isolated tree is always considered a dangerous position, and this is
in accordance not only with facts but well-established principles. The
upper part of the tree being a partial conductor, particularly if covered
with foliage, will become electrified by induction, will attract the dis-

504 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

charge to itself, and in tlie passage of tlie lightning toward the earth
it will act with energetic induction on all surrounding objects, and
since the body of the man is a better conductor than the wood, the in-
stantaneous inductive effect of the descending bolt will be greater on
the head of the man than on the remaining part of the tree in its de-
scending course, and hence it will diverge from the line it was pursuing,
break through the air, and pass through the body of the man. To
attempt to explain this phenomenon, by merely saying that the elec-
tricity leaves the tree because the human body is a better conductor
than the wood, is to attribute to this agent prescience and forethought,
but by an application of the principles of induction, the whole is referred
to the simple action of attraction and repulsion. In the interior of a
house, the safest ]3osition we can well imagine is that of being horizon-
tally suspended in a hammock by silk cords in the middle of a room,
and perhaps the next, that of lying on a mattress or feather bed on a
wooden bedstead, the materials of which are very imperfect conductors.
It is scarcely necessary to say that if the bedstead be in the middle of
the room, at a distance from the wall, the danger will be less.

It may, perhaps, be well to dwell for a moment on the explanation
of the foregoing statement. Let us suppose a man to be standing on
a large piece of beeswax, which is almost a perfect non-conductor,
and exposed to a cloud highly charged with positive electricity A
portion of the natural electricity of his head would be drawn down
into his feet; the former would become negatively electrified and
attract the lightning of the cloud, while the latter would repel it;
the tendency to be struck would be on account of the difference of these
two actions. If the man stepped off the non-conducting wax on to the
earth, the redundant electricity which had collected in his feet would
be discharged, his head would become still more negatively electrified,
the repulsion which existed in the other case would disappear, while
the attraction would be increased, and hence the tendency to be struck
would be much greater.

Let us next consider what would take place if a man should be ex-
tended horizontally on a large disk of beeswax. In this case the upper
part of the body, or that toward the sky, would become negative, and
the lower part, or that in contact with the beeswax, would become
positive, and the attractions and repulsions would be exhibited as in
the first instance, but with less energy, because their foci would be
much nearer each other, and consequently they would act with almost
equal efiect ; while the repelled electricity not having space into which
to descend, a less quantity of it would be repelled from each point of
the upper surface. If the disk of wax were placed above the man's
head while in a standing position, it would not screen the repulsive
energy of the cloud, which, like gravitation, acts through all bodies ;
the induction would take place as before, the head would become highly
negative, while the natural electricity which had been driven down
would escape into the earth. The effect would, therefore, be the same
as if the individual were standing on the earth without the intervention
of the non-conducting material. A descending bolt would be attracted
towards his head, and if the tenacity of the beeswax were not sufficient
to withstand a disruptive discharge^ the body would be injured. It is

METEOROLOGY. 505

from a misappreliension of these principles that it has been supposed
that the protection is increased by a slight covering over the body, of
silk or feathers, or by interposing a plate of glass between the sky and
body; but it is well known that fowls and. other large birds are struck,
the slight covering of feathers affording no protection while the feet
are in connection with the earth.

From the conducting capacity of the lining of the soot of a chimney,
and of the smoke and heated air which ascends from the flue, it will
be clear that the vicinity of the fire-place during a thunder storm is
not the safest position which may be chosen in a house. A person
leaning out of an open window may also not be in a very safe position,
because the outside of the house, wetted with rain, will be rendered a
partial conductor, and a descending charge along the wall may reach
the body projecting beyond the surface. The induction is always
greater where there is a large amount of conducting material ; hence
barns filled with damp hay will be more liable to be struck than when
empty. Besides the action of induction in this case, it is generally
supposed that the danger is increased by the ascent of moist vapor
from the barn at the season mentioned ; and this supposition, which is
in accordance with scientific principles, is apparently borne out by
observation.

On the principle of the increase of induction in the collection of a
large number of conducting bodies in a given space, the assemblage
of persons in churches, or other places of public meetings, increases
the tendency of lightning to fall on the edifice. The inductive action
will be slightly increased when the audience assumes a standing posi-
tion. For a similar reason, sheep which are crowded together during
a storm are frequently killed by lightning. The fact has several times
been noticed, that when a discharge passes through a number of ani-
mals arranged in a straight line, those which are at the extremities of
the row suffer most ; and this has been observed even when the ani-
mals were not in immediate contact with each other, as, for example,
a number of horses in a series of stalls. It is probable that the heated
air between the horses may have served as a conducting medium, and
that the effect can be referred to the increase of intensity which always
takes place in the electrical discharge at the points where the air is
ruptured, or where the electricity enters and passes out.

The probability of injury from lightning, even in this country,
where thunder-storms are comparatively frequent in the summer, is
slight ; and though it may be well to observe proper precaution, yet,
on account of the small risk to which we are subjected, we should not
deprive ourselves of the gratification of observing and studying one of
the most sublime spectacles of nature ; and, indeed, we know of no
better way of overcoming the natural dread which many persons have
of this meteorological phenomenon than by becoming interested in its
scientific principles, and in studying, in connection with these, its ap-
pearance and effects.

506 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

EFFECTS OF THE INTRODUCTION OF GAS AND WATER PIPES.

Since the use of gas has "become so general in our cities as to be
considered almost one of the essentials of civilized life, a new source
of danger has heen introduced. Persons who repudiate the use of
lightning rods, because they attract the electricity from the clouds,
should reject the introduction of gas, particularly into the upper stories
of their dwellings, since the perpendicular pipes must act as the most
efficient conductors between the cloud and the earth. We say the
most efficient, because they are connected below the ground with a
plexus of pipes, in many cases, of miles in extent, the whole of which
is rendered by the induction of a large cloud highly negative ; and,
since this action takes place with as much efficiency through the roof
of a house and the chamber floors as it does through the open air,
a gas-pipe, therefore, within a house, in proportion to its height,
would powerfully attract any discharge from a cloud in its vicinity.

To obviate the danger from this source, the lightning-rod, which
rises above the top of the building, should be placed in immediate
metallic contact with the plexus of gas-pipe outside the house. If,
as is very frequently the case, the rod is made to terminate by simple
insertion of a few feet in the dry earth, while the gas-pipe is con-
nected with miles of metallic masses, rendered highly negative by
induction, the path of least resistance, or of most intense induction
from the cloud to the earth, will be down the rod to some point
opposite the gas-pipe, then through the house' and down the pipe
into the great receiver below. This conclusion, from the theory, is
fully borne out by observation. On Friday evening. May 14, 1858,
a house in Georgetown, D. C, was struck by lightning, and on Sat-
urday, the next evening, another house was struck in Washington,
on Seventeenth street, north of the avenue. The writer carefully ex-
amined the conditions and effects in both cases, and found them almost
identically the same. The houses were similarly situated, with gable
ends north and south, and attached to the west side of each was a
smaller back building. The lightning-rod of the house at George-
town was placed on the southern gable. It terminated above in a
single point, and its lower part was inserted into hard ground, through
a brick pavement, to the depth of about five feet. The lightning fell
upon the point, which it melted, passed down the rod until it came to
the level of the eaves, thence leaving the conductor, it passed horizon-
tally along the wet clapboards to the southwest cave or corner of the
house, thence down a tinned iron spout to the tin gutter under the roof
of the back building, and thus it pierced the wall of the house oppo-
site the point on the outside of the back building corresponding to the
position of a gas-pipe in the interior, after which no further effects
of it could be observed. A small portion of the charge, hoAvever,
diverged to a second gas-pipe in an adjoining room. The back build-
ing was of wood, and the passage of the charge appeared to be
facilitated by a large nail. The discharge was marked throughout
its course by the effects it produced: 1st, the point of the rod was
melted ; 2d, a glass insulating cylinder, through which the upper part

METEOROLOGY. 607

of the rod passed, was broken in pieces ; 3d, tlie horizontal clapboard
extending from the rod to the eave was splintered ; 4th, the tin of the
gutters and spout exhibited signs of fusion ; 5th, the plaster was
broken around the hole through which the charge entered the house.

The lightning rod of the house which was struck in Washington
was placed on the north gable ; the electricity left the conductor at the
apex of the roof, descended along the angle of the coping and the roof,
which was lined with tin, to the northwest eave of the main building,
thence southward along a tin gutter until it met a perpendicular tin
spout, which conducted it to a point on the outside of the back build-
ing, corresponding to a gas-pipe within ; it then pierced a nine-inch
brick wall and struck the gas-pipe, which was embedded in the wall
of the main building, at the distance of 15 inches horizontally north
of the hole which it pierced in entering the interior. A lady was
sitting with her back toward the point where the discharge entered
the gas-pipe, at the distance of 18 inches, and, though she was some-
wdiat stunned at the time, and perceived a ringing sensation in her
ears for sometime after, she received no permanent injury. At the
last meeting of the American Association, Professor Benjamin Silli-
man, jr., described two instances of a similar character, in which the
discharge from the cloud struck twice, in different years, the lightning
rod of the steeple of a church in New Haven, left the conductor and
entered the building, to precipitate itself on the gas-pipes of the interior.
The rema,rkable fact was stated, in connection with this occurrence,
that the joinings of the gas-mains, under the street on the outside of
the building, were loosened, apparently by the mechanical effect of the
discharge, and the company was obliged to take them up and repair
the damage, to prevent the loss of gas. An occurrence of this kind
might, perhaps, lead the proprietors of ga,s-works to object to the prop-
osition of connecting the end of the rod with these mains ; but they
should recollect that, if means be not furnished to prevent the danger
consequent upon the use of gas, a less amount of the article will be
consumed ; and, furthermore, that giving more efficiency to the induc-
tive action of the rod, on the cloud, by the connection we have proposed,
the tendency to a discharge will be lessened; and, finally, that, if the
connection be not formed, the discharge from the cloud will itself find
the main through the gas-pipes within the house.

There is another source of danger, of a similar character, in cities
supplied with water from an aqueduct ; the pipes in different stories of
the building, connected with the water-mains which underlie the city,
are in most intimate connection with the earth, subject to a powerful
induction from the cloud above, and therefore will attract any discharge
which may be passing in their vicinity, or even determine the point at
which the rupture of the stratum of air between the cloud and the
house shall take place. In this case the lightning-rod should also be
connected on the outside of the building with the pipes under ground, in
order that the induction through the rod should be as perfect as possi-
ble, and that the consequent attraction may confine the charge, and
transmit it entirely to the large mains, and from them to the earth.
Houses are sometimes supplied with water from the roof, collected in
tanks in the loft, whence it is distributed by pipes to different parts of

508 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

tile "building. This arrangement also tends to invite the lightning in
proportion to the perpendicular elevation of this system of conductors.
The lower ends of these are not usually in very intimate connection
with the earth, and therefore a less powerful induction takes place than
in the other instances we have mentioned. They should he placed,
however, as in the preceding case, in good metallic connection, on
the outside of the house, with the lightning-rod. The same remark
applies to steam and hot-water pipes used for heating large buildings.

The different sides of a building are not all equally exposed to
accident from lightning. Thunder clouds in this latitude approach
us from the southwest, and hence the part of the house which faces
this direction is not only more exposed to the fury of the storm, hut
also to the effects of the electrical discharge. The position, then, of
the lightning-rod on this account is not to he neglected. The soot
which lines a chimney is a good conductor, and hence the discharge
not unfrequently passes into the house along the interior surface of
this opening. But there is another circumstance which renders the
chimney still more liable to be struck, namely : the column of heated
air and smoke which ascends from it into the atmosphere when there
is a fire burning below. These are tolerably good conductors of elec-
tricity, and as they may, under some conditions, extend to a considerable
height in the atmosphere, they are sufficient to attract the descending
discharge and determine its course to the chimney. A rod should
therefore be placed on every chimney through which a column of
heated air ascends during the season of the occurrence of thunder
storms.

Among the many novel propositions which have been favored by
Congress, there was one a few years ago connected with results having
a bearing on this subject. For the purpose of lighting the public
grounds, an appropriation v/as made to erect a mast eighty feet in
length on the top of the dome of the Capitol. This mast was sur-
mounted by a lantern of about sis feet in height and of corresponding
diameter, containing a large number of gas-burners, and terminated
above by a gilded copper ball of about a foot in diameter. After this
gigantic apparatus had been erected in defiance of all the principles
of architecture and illumination, the author of this report was called
upon to give his opinion as to the effect of lightning upon it. The
answer given was as follows : Since the simplest method of obtaining
electricity from the atmosphere is to elevate a j)iece of burning tinder
on the end of a fishing-rod, the apparatus placed on the dome of the
Capitol is a collector of electricity on an immense scale, and therefore
it will probably be struck by lightning. As if to verify this predic-
tion, on the occurrence of the first thunder storm, the apparatus
received a discharge from the cloud, which fused several holes in the
upper part of the ball and indented the surface, but fortunately did no
damage to the building. The apparatus was then removed, and the
ball deposited in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution as an
interesting illustration of the chemical and mechanical effects of a
discharge of lightning.

METEOROLOGY. 509

EFFECTS OP TELEGRAPH WIRES.

In 1846 the Hon. S, D, Ingham, of Pennsylvania, requested the
opinion of the American Philosophical Society as so whether security
in regard to accidents from lightning is increased or lessened by the
erection of telegraph wires, the poles of which are placed hy the side of
the roads along which persons with horses and carriages are constantly
passing. The subject was referred to the author of the present article^
from whose report in regard to it the following facts and deductions
are given. The wires of a telegraph are liable to be struck by a direct
charge from the clouds, and several instances of this kind have been
observed. About the 20th of May, 1846, the lightning struck the
elevated part of the wire, which is supported on a high mast where
the wire crosses the flackensac river. The fluid j)assed along the wire
each way from the point which received the discharge for several
miles, striking off at regular intervals down the supporting poles.
At each point where the discharge took place along a pole, a number
of sharp explosions were heard in succession, resembling the rapid
reports of several rifles. During another storm the wire was struck in
two places on the route between New York and Philadelphia. At one
of these places twelve poles were struck, and at the other eight. In
some instances the lightning has been seen coursing along the wire like
a stream of light, and in one case it is described as exploding from the
wire in several places, though there were no bodies in the vicinity to
attract it from the conductor.

That the wires of the telegraph should be frequently struck is not
surprising, when we consider the great length of the conductor, and
consequently the many points along the surface of the earth through
which it must pass, peculiarly liable to receive the discharge from the
heavens. Besides this, from the great length of the conductor, its
natural electricity, driven to the further end or ends of the wire, will
be removed to a great distance from the point immediately under the
cloud, and hence this will be rendered more intensely negative and its
attractive power thereby highly increased. It is not, however, proba-
ble that the attraction, whatever may be its intensity, of so small a
wire as that of the telegraph, can of itself produce an electrical
discharge from the heavens, although, if the discharge were started
from some other cause, such as the attraction of a large mass of con-
ducting matter in the vicinity, the attraction of the wire might be
sufficient to change the direction of the descending bolt and draw it,
in whole or in part, to itself. It should also be recollected that, on
account of the perfect conduction of the wire, a discharge on any one
point of it must affect every other part of the connected line, although
the whole may be several hundred miles in length. That the wire
should give off a discharge to a number of poles in succession, is a fact
that might have been anticijDated, since the electricity would, by its
self-repulsion, tend to send a portion of itself down the j)artial conduct-
ing pole, while the remaining part^ attracted by the wire in advance
of itself, rendered negative by induction, would continue its passage
along the metal until it met another pole, when a new division of the

510 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

charge would take place, and so on. The several explosions in suc-
cession, heard at the same pole, is explained by the fact that the dis-
charge from the cloud does not generally consist of a single wave of
electricity, but of a number of discharges in the same path in rapid
succession, so as in some cases to present the appearance of a continuous
discharge of a very appreciable duration ; and hence, the wire of a tel-
egraph is capable of transmitting an immense quantity of the fluid
thus distributed in time over a great length of the conductor.

From the foregoing, in regard to the direct discharge, we think the
danger to be apprehended from the electricity leaving the wire and
striking a person on the road is small. Electricity of sufficient inten-
sity to strike a person at the distance of twenty feet from a perfectly
insulated wire would in preference be conducted down the nearest pole.
It will, however, in all cases, be most prudent to keep at a proper dis-
tance from the wire during the existence of a thunder-storm, or even
at any time when the sound of thunder is heard in the distance.

In case of wires passing through cities and attached to houses, they
should be provided at numerous points with electrical conductors to
carry off the discharge to the earth. These consist of copper wires inti-
mately connected with the earth by means of a plate of metal at the
lower end, extending up the pole or side of the house, and terminating
in a flat plate above, parallel to another plate of metal depending from
the wire of the telegraph. The two plates are separated by a thin
stratum of air, or some other non-conducting material, through which
the intense discharge from the clouds will readily pass and be con-
ducted to the earth, while the insulation of the wire for the purposes
of the telegraph is unimpaired.

There are other electrical phenomena connected with the telegraph
which, though frequently annoying to the operator, are not attended
with the same degree of danger to his person. These are immediately
referable to induction at a distance, and consist entirely in the dis-
turbance of the natural electricity of the wire. Suppose a thunder
cloud to be driven by the wind in such a direction as to cross, for ex-
ample, at right angles, the middle of a long line of telegraph wire.
During the whole time the cloud is approaching the point of its path
directly above the wire, the repulsion of the redundant electricity of
the former will constantly drive the natural electricity of the latter
further and further along the line, so that, during the approach
of the cloud, a continuous current will exist in each half of the line.
When the center of action of the cloud arrives at the nearest point of
the wire the current will cease for a moment, and as the repulsion
gradually diminishes by the receding of the cloudy the natural elec-
tricity of the wire will return to its normal condition by a current
opposite to that which was first manifested. Since the thunder clouds
over the greater portion of the United States move from west to east,
lines in a north and south direction are more liable to currents of
this class, which may be denominated those of statical induction.

There is another class of currents which, although they continue but
for an instant, are more intense than the preceding, giving rise to vivid
sparks, and are due to the dynamic induction at a distance of a dis-
charge from a cloud to a cloud, or from a cloud obliquely to the earth.

METEOROLOGY. 511

The greatest intensity is produced wlien tlie path of the lightning is
parallel to the line of the telegraph, and, in this case, under favorable
circumstances sparks and shocks may result from a discharge between
two clouds at the distance of several miles. In these inductive actions
there is no transfer of the electricity from the cloud to the wire, hut
simply the disturbance of the natural electricity of the conductor by
the repulsive energy exerted at a distance. As we have said before,
nothing screens this induction, for, like magnetism and gravitation,
it acts freely through the roof of a house, the air, and all other non-
conducting materials, as it probably would do through void space.
A similar result is produced on the long lines of railway, and sparks
have been observed at the joining of the rails not in perfect metallic
connection, particularly at the turn-tables.

The electrical telegraph is sometimes disturbed by other influences.
It is evident from what we have said in reference to elevated bodies,
that if a line of wire extends over a high hill, the intensity of elec-
tricity will be greater at the high points than below, particularly during
the occurrence of fogs ; the wire will tend to absorb the electricity of
the air, and transmit it from the higher to the lower portions ; also
during the fall of rain and snow on one portion of a long wire, while
clear weather exists at another, there would be a current of electricity
observed in the intermediate portion. During very warm weather a
feeble current is observed at different periods of the day, which may
be referred to thermo-electricity. It is well known that when one end
of a long conductor is heated and the other cooled, a current of electricity
will pass from the hotter to the colder extremity, and this will be
continued as long as the difference of temperature exists. Extended
lines in a north and south direction are most favorably situated for ob-
serving a current of this class. Currents of electricity have also been
observed in connection with the appearance of the aurora borealis, of
sufficient intensity to set fire to pieces of paper. But the consideration
of these will be postponed for another article.

MEANS OF PROTECTING BUILDINGS.

Although there has been much written and said in disparagement
of the admirable invention of our illustrious countryman, Franklin,
yet an attentive consideration of all the facts, even independent of
theory, fully establishes its great importance.

1st. It is well known, from general experience, that lightning di-
rects itself to the most elevated portions of edifices. Cotton Mather
declares that lightning is under the immediate direction of the "Prince
of the power of the air," because church steeples are more frequently
struck than any other objects. It is therefore evident that the preser-
vative means, whatever they may be, should be applied to the upper
portions of a building.

2d. If other conditions be the same, lightning directs itself in pre-
ference to metals. When, therefore, a mass of metal occupies the more
elevated portion of a house, we- may be nearly certain that lightning,
if it falls upon the building, will strike that point.

3d. Lightning, when it enters a metallic mass, does mischief only

612 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

wlien it quits tlie metal, and in the vicinity of tlie point at which it
issues. A house, therefore, entirely covered with metal, would he
safe, provided this covering were intimately connected with the ground,
or if the roof be covered with metal^ and this is intimately connected
with the ground by metallic conductors of sufficient size, the lightninp-
which may fall on the metallic covering will descend to the ground,
which itself is a good conductor, provided it is saturated with water.
When there are upon the roof, or in any of the upper stories of an edi-
fice, several distinct metallic masses, completely separated from each
other, it will be difficult to tell which of them will be struck in pref-
erence. The safest practice is to unite all these masses by rods or
bands of iron^ copper, or other metal, so that each of them may be in
metallic communication with a rod, which may transmit the lightning
to the damp earth.

"We thus deduce, from facts established by observation alone,
without borrowing anything from theory," says Arago, ''a simple,
uniform, and rational means of protecting buildings from the effects of
lightning. But when we refer, in addition to these facts, to the pre-
cise principles or laws of electrical action, as deduced from cautious
and refined experiments in the laboratory, we are enabled to give rules
for the protection of buildings which, when properly observed, reduce
almost to insignificance the danger to be ap23rehended from the ordi-
nary occurrences connected with the terrific exhibitions of thunder-
storms."

From what we have said in regard to the principles of induction,
and also in reference to the fact of the negative condition of the
earth, it will readily be perceived that the upper end of an elevated
conductor must become highly negative under the repulsive energy
of a positive cloud, and though it may not be sufficient in itself to cause
a rupture of the thick stratum of air intervening between the cloud and
the earth, yet if a discharge does take place within the vicinity of this
body, it will be drawn toward it, and if the conductor extends to the
earth, and is in intimate connection with the damp ground, the dis-
charge will pass innoxiously into the great reservoir. We further
know, from theory as well as experiment and observation, that the in-
tensity of attraction is increased when the conductor is terminated above
in a single sharp point. Although the attraction at a distance may be
greater on a metallic globe of a few feet in diameter than on a metallic
point, since the former is able to receive a greater amount of induced
charge, which, by the well known law of attraction, will act as if the
whole were concentrated at the center of the sphere, yet the intensity
of action of the point, and its tendency to open a passage through the
air is so great, that it is preferred in protecting a given circumscribed
space from lightning.

The question has been agitated, whether one point or a number on
the same stem are to be preferred ? But this question may be readily
settled, provided the reason for preferring a point to a ball or a globe
is legitimate, since the surface of a ball itself may be considered as made
up of an iniinite number of points, and therefore a number of points
close together must react upon each other, and thus approximate in
result the effect of a continuous spherical surface. In the case of three

METEOROLOGY. 513

points on the same stem, tlie whole amount of inductive effect which is
produced in the rod is, as it were, divided into three parts, and is, there-
fore, less concentrated than in the case of one point; and although at a
distance the effect of the three may be equally energetic, yet the one
point tends more effectually to rupture the air, and open, as it were, a
passage for the discharge from the cloud.

In reference to the subject of the termination of rods by balls or
points, much discussion took place in the early introduction of the
invention of Franklin, and the subject was elucidated by a very inge-
nious experiment made by Beccaria, in 1763, which is quoted by
Arago. On the roof of a church at Turin this eminent electrician
erected a rod of iron insulated on one of the flying buttresses. The
upper part of this rod, which was terminated by a single metallic
point, was hinged a few inches below the top, so that merely by pull-
ing a string the point could be directed horizontally, upwards or down-
wards. When the point was pulled downwards during the presence of
a thunder cloud in the zenith, the lower end of the rod gave no sparks ;
but when the point was suddenly directed upward, in a few moments
sparks appeared. When the point was downwards, the rod presented
a blunt termination toward the sky; when upwards, a sharp point. It
might be well to repeat this experiment with some slight variation in
the apparatus, in order to establish or disprove, by direct observation,
the inference from theory that a single point acts more energeti-
cally than three or four points, terminating the same rod. The sub-
stance which terminates the conductor should be such as to preserve
its form when subjected to the action of the weather^ and be infusible
by a stroke of lightning. The first requisite is found in the tip of an
iron rod gilded, to prevent its becoming blunted by rust ; but a point
of this kind, though it may protect a building from the first discharge
which strikes it, will be melted, and the intensity of its action
thereby diminished in the case of a subsequent explosion. We
now usually employ for terminating the lightning-rod, a small coAe
of platinum attached to a copper socket which fits on the top of the
rod, made conical for that purpose. Tips of this kind are now gene-
rally offered for sale in the large cities. The quantity of platinum on
them, however, is generally too small, since we have known them in
several instances to be fused by a discharge of lightning. The point
itself should be the apex of a solid cone of platinum, or of a thick
plate of that metal, fastened by screwing or soldering to the copper
socket.

We frequently see announcements in the papers of great improve-
ments in lightning-rods, for which patents have been obtained, and
among these boasted improvements have been the application of mag-
netized steel points to receive the lightning ; but this invention, like
most of the others which have been given to the public for the same
purpose, is the result of some vague analogy or sheer charlatanism. It
rests upon no foundation of observation, experiment, or theory. The
magnetization of a bar, so far as it has any effect, tends to cause
the electrical discharge to revolve around it, and to render the iron
very slightly, if anything, a less perfect conductor.

The distance from a rod measured horizontally to which the protect-
33 A

614 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

ing influence extends, is a question of considerable importance. It
has generally been admitted that the point of a lightning-conductor
protects a horizontal circular space with a radius equal to twice its own
height ; that is^ if the elevation of a rod above a flat roof be ten feet,
it will protect a circular space of twenty feet radius, or forty feet diam-
eter. But this rule cannot always be depended upon ; for although it
may be true in regard to buildings of stone or brick, with an ordinary
sloping roof covered with tiles or slate, it would scarcely hold good
if considerable masses of metal formed part of the building or the roof.
Observations have been recorded of parts of houses being struck within
the limit we have mentioned as that of protection ; but there are
scarcely any of them satisfactory in determining the point, since it
appears from the evidence that in several cases there were separate
masses of metal which formed, as it were, independent conductors, and
in the other cases there was no evidence that the rod was in proper
connection with the earth. In order to protect an extensive building,
it will evidently be necessary to arm it with several lightning-con-
ductors, and the less their height, the more they must be multiplied.

In the case of a high steeple, it may be well to establish points at dif-
ferent elevations, by branches from the main rod; for if it be true that
the rod merely attracts the lightning which has been determined by
the earth itself, or some material under the ground, the discharge, in
its passage along the line of least resistance to the point at which it
was aimed, may not be made to deviate from its direct course by the
attraction of the distant elevated point, and will strike a lower portion
of the building. Suppose, for example, a thunder cloud is on the west
side of a high steeple, and the point of attraction, which may be damp
earth, a pool of water, or other conducting material on the surface or
under the ground, at the east end of the church. The discharge from
the cloud, in its passage to the point of attraction, may strike a lower
portion of the building, the action of the elevated point not being suf-
ficient to deflect it from its course. This inference is in accordance with
actual observation. Mr. Alexander Small wrote to Franklin from
London, in 1764, that he had seen, in front of his window, a very
vivid and slender lightning discharge moving low down, without a
zig-zag appearance, and strike a steeple below its summit.

It becomes a matter of interest to ascertain whether the action of
an assemblage of conductors, such as is usually found in cities, pro-
duces any sensible effect in diminishing the electrical intensity of the
cloud, or, in other words, whether their united influence produces any
sensible diminution of the destructive effects of thunder storms. Late
researches have shown that comparatively but a small amount of
development of electricity is sufficient to produce great mechanical
effects! Faraday has even asserted that the quantity of electricity
necessary to decompose a single grain of water, and consequently the
electricity which would be evolved by the decomposition of the same
element, would be sufficient to charge a thunder cloud, provided the
fluid existed in the free state in v>^hich it is found at the surface of
charged conductors. A similar inference may be drawn from the
great amount of electricity developed by the friction of the small quantity
of water existing in steam, as the latter issues through an orifice con-

METEOROLOGY. OiO

nected with the side of the boiler. We also find that an iron rod of
three fourths of an inch in diameter, is of sufficient size to transmit to
the ea,rth without any danger to surrounding objects, a discharge
from the clouds, which may be attended with a deafening explosion,
and with a jar of thunder powerful enough to shake the building to
its foundation.

The intrepid physicist, De Eaumer sent a kite up into the air to the
height of 400 or 500 feet, in the cord of which was inserted a fine wire
of metal. During a thunder storm, he drew from the lower extremity
of the cord not mere sparks, but discharges of nine or ten feet long
and an inch broad. IBeccaria erected a lightning-rod which was
separated in the middle by an opening, the upper part being entirely
insulated. During thunder storms intense discharges darted " inces-
santly through the opening. So constant were these, that neither the
eye nor the ear was hardly able to perceive the intermission.

No physicist, says Arago, will contradict me when I say that each
spark taken singly, would have given a shock attended with pain, that
ten sparks would have numbed a man's arm, and a hundred proved
fatal. Now a hundred sparks passed in less than ten seconds, and
hence in every ten seconds, there was drawn from the cloud, a quantity
of fulminating matter sufficient to kill a man, and six times as much in
every minute. Arago calculates in this way that all the lightning con-
ductors of the building in which the experiment was tried, took from the
clouds as much lightning as would have been sufficient in the short space
of an hour, to kill upwards of three thousand men. From the forego-
ing facts and conclusions, we may infer that the lightning-rods of a city
may have some effect in silently discharging the cloud, and in pre-
venting explosions which would otherwise take place ; but we must
recollect that on account of the upward rushing of the moist air, the
electricity of the cloud is constantly renewed.

We cannot suppose that the sparks observed by Beccaria in his
experiment, and the ringing of bells by Franklin, were due entirely to
the electricity immediately received from the cloud. By the power-
ful induction of the redundant electricity of the latter and the negative
action of the earth beneath, the natural electricity of the top of the
rod, would be forced down into the earth, the point would become in-
tensely negative, and in this condition would draw from the air around
streams of electricity, and in this way a large volume of air around the
top of the rod would become negatively electrified ; and in case a dis-
charge of lightning took jilace, its first effect would be to neutralize or
fill up, as it were, this void of electricity in this large mass of air sur-
rounding and above the top of the rod, before the remainder of the
discharge could pass to the earth. The peculiar sound which is heard
when a discharge from a thunder cloud is transmitted through a light-
ning-rod may possibly be attributed to this cause.

The Smithsonian building, situated in the middle of a plain, at a
distance from all other edifices, with its high towers, is particularly
exposed to discharges of lightning, and we have reason to believe that
in as many as four instances within the last ten years, the lightning
has fallen upon the rods and been transmitted innoxiously to the
ground.

516 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

In two of the instances the lightning was seen to strike the rod on
one of the towers ; in a third, a bright spark due to induction and at-
tended with an explosion as loud as that of a pistol was perceived ; and
in the fourth instance, although the platinum top of the rod, which
was one hundred and fifty feet from the surface of the ground, was
melted, the discharge was transmitted to the earth without any other
effort than a slight inductive shock given to a number of persons
standing at the foot of the tower. In three of the cases, the peculiar
sound we have mentioned was observed ; first, a slight hissing noise,
and afterwards the loud explosion, as if the former were produced by
the effect of the discharge on the air in the immediate vicinity of the
rod, and the loud noise from that on the air at a more distant point of
its path.

The writer of this article was led to reflect upon this effect of the
rod, by a remarkable exhibition he witnessed during a thunder storm
at night in 1856. He was in his office, which is in the second story of the
main tower of the Smithsonian edifice, when a noise above, as if one of the
windows of the tower had been blown in, attracted his attention ; an
assistant, who was present, was requested to take his lantern and ascer-
tain what had happened. After an absence of some time he returned,
saying he could discover nothing to account for the noise, but that he
had heard a remarkable hissing sound. The writer then ascended to the
top of the tower, and stood in the open trap-door with his head pro-
jecting above the flat roof within about twelve feet of the point of the
lightning-rod. No rain was falling, though an intensely black cloud
was immediately overhead and apparently at a small elevation ; from
different parts of this lightning was continually flashing, indeed the
air around the top of the tower itself a]3peared to be luminous. But
the most remarkable appearance was a stream of light three or four feet
long issuing with a loud hissing noise from the top of the lightning-rod;
It varied in intensity with each flash, and was almost continuous during
the observation. Although the whole appearance was highly inter-
esting, and produced a considerable degree of excitement, yet the
writer did not deem it prudent to expose himself to the direct or even
inductive effect of a discharge under such conditions, thinking, as he
did, with Arago, that however our vanity might prompt us to boast of
the acquaintance of some great lords of creation, it is not always desir-
able to seek their presence or court much familiarity with them. The
effect in this case of the rod on the surrounding air and on the cloud
itself by invisible induction must have been considerable.

ACTION OP LIGHTNING-KODS.

The question as to whether the lightning-rod actually attracts the
electricity from a distance has been frequently discussed. It will be
found, says Sir W. Snow Harris, "that the action of a pointed conductor
is purely passive. It is rather the patient than the agent; and such
conductors can no more be said to attract or invite a discharge of
lightning than a water-course can be said to attract the water which
flows through it at the time of heavy rain." This statement does
not, as it appears to us present a proper view of the case. From the

METEOROLOGY. 517

established principles of induction, it must be evident that all things
being equal, a pointed rod, though elevated but a few feet above the
ground, would be struck in preference to any point on the surface, and
the propositions as to the space which can be protected from a discharge
of lightning is founded on the supposition that the direction of the
discharge can be changed by the action of the rod at a distance, and
the bolt drawn to itself. The true state of the case appears to us to
be as follows :

1st. An elevated pointed rod, erected for example on a high steeple,
by its powerful induction diminishes the intensity of the lower part of
the cloud, and therefore may lessen the number of explosive discharges
to the earth.

2d. If an explosive discharge takes place from the cloud due to any
cause whatever, it will be attracted from a given distance around to
the rod, and transmitted innoxiously to the earth.

A too exclusive attention to either one or other of these actions has
led to imperfect views as regards the office of the lightning-rod. On
the one hand, some have considered the whole effect of the rod is to
lessen the number of discharges in the way we have described, and
have considered it impossible that an explosive discharge could take
place on a pointed conductor. But this is not the case, as was shown
by Mr. Wilson many years ago by his experiments in London. It is true,
that when a needle is presented to a charged conductor, the electricity
is drawn off silently without an explosion, and this is always the case
if sufficient time be allowed for the electricity to escape in this way.
But if the point be suddenly brought within striking distance of the
conductor by a rapid motion, such as would be produced by the move-
ment of a horizontal arm carrying the point immediately under the
conductor in an instant, an explosive discharge will take place. In
this case, sufficient time is not given for the slower transmission of
the electricity by what has been denominated the glowing discharge,
and a rupture of the air is produced as in the action of a conductor
terminated by a ball.

It would follow from this, that, in case of a rapidly-moving cloud
across the zenith of a rod, there would be a greater tendency to an
explosive discharge on the point than when the cloud was nearly sta-
tionary. For a similar reason, if a point, connected by a wire with
the earth, be directed toward an insulated conductor, and the latter be
suddenly electrified by a discharge from a second conductor, an explo-
sion will take place between the first conductor and the point. A
similar effect would be produced if a lower cloud received a sudden
discharge from one above it, a case which probably frequently occurs^
in nature. Mr. Wise informs us that, when a discharge takes place
beneath a cloud to the earth, a discharge is seen to pass between the
upper and lower part of the cloud, represented by Fig. 19. We are
warranted from the foregoing facts, as well as from the numerous
examples in which lightning has actually beeen seen to fall upon
pointed rods explosively, and the number of points which have been
melted, to conclude that the rod, under certain conditions, does actu-
ally attract the lightning, thjough when properly constructed it trans-
mits it without accident to the earth.

518 AGRICULTURAL REPORT,

It has been denied by some that the point has any perceptible
influence in lessening the number of strokes from a cloud, but this
proposition can scarcely be doubted when we reflect upon the fact that
it is not necessary entirely to discharge a cloud in order to prevent a
rupture of the air, it being only necessary to draw off a quantity of
the fluid sufflcient to reduce it just below that which is required to
produce the explosion ; and for this effect there may be required but a
very slight diminution in the intensity of a cloud which is just at the
striking distance to prevent an explosion, particularly when we con-
sider the prodigious number of sparks which, during thunder storms,
were silently withdrawn from the cloud by the pointed rod erected by
Beccaria.

Arago has collected a large number of instances, from which it
appears that the erection of a rod lessened the number of explosive
discharges.

The campanile of St, Marks, at Venice, which from the multitude
of the pieces of iron in its construction, was in a high degree obnox-
ious to danger from lightning, and had been in fact prior to 1776,
known to be struck nine times. In the beginning of that year a con-
ductor was placed upon it, and since that time the edifice has been
uninjured by lightning.

Previous to 1777, the tower of Sienna was frequently struck, and on
every occasion much injured. In that year, it was provided with a
conductor^ and has since received one discharge, but with no damage.

In the case of a church at Corinthia, on an average four or five
strokes of lightning annually were discharged upon the steeple until
a conductor was erected, after which one stroke was received in five
years. At the Valentino palace the lightning conductors established
by Beccaria, caused the entire disappearance of strokes of lightning
which were previously of frequent occurrence.

The monument in London, although only accidentally provided with
a virtual conductor, appears to have been exempt from damage by light-
ning for nearly one hundred and eighty years.

The action of the rod, however, in diminishing the intensity of
the cloud, can only be of a very temporary character, and cannot, as
some have supposed, affect its subsequent state, or disarm it of its ful-
minating power, since its electricity is constantly renewed; a fact
sufficiently demonstrated by the observation that a thunder storm,
through its whole course of several hundred miles in extent, contin-
ually gives discharges to the earth. Notwithstanding the instances
given by Arago of the diminution of discharges of lightning after the
erection of the rod, the fact is established by observation, experiment,
and theory, that the rod does attract the lightning, and receives the
discharge not alone silently, but explosively. The points of the con-
ductors are frequently melted, and although in cases in which this
occurs, the discharge passes harmlessly to the earth, yet in some in-
stance the explosion might not have taken place had the rod not been
present.

In a house properly provided with lightning-rods, however many
discharges may fall upon it, we are well assured from full experience and
established principles, no damage can ensue to the occupants within.

METEOROLOGY. 519

There is, perliaps, no edifice in tlie country more exposed to explo-
sive discharges of lightning than the Smithsonian building. It is
situated on a plain, at a considerable distance from any other building,
at present without trees near it, except those of a few years growth^
and surmounted with nine towers, of heights varying from 60 to 150
feet. Five of these are provided with lightning-rods ; and, although
we should have advised the furnishing a rod to each tower, yet thus
far the building has escaped unscathed, although several explosive
discharges have passed down the rods.

The following instructive illustration of the action of a very elevated
conductor in transmitting a discharge from a thunder cloud, is fur-
nished us by Mr. Henry J. Kogers, telegraph engineer, who was himself
an eye witness of what he relates :

"■Jn accordance with my promise, I will endeavor to give you a brief
description of the eifect produced by atmospheric electricity at the
House Telegraph Mast, erected at the palisades on the west side of the
Hudson river, in the vicinity of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and distant
about ten miles from the city hall. New York, during a terrific thunder
storm which occurred on Friday, June 17, 1853, between three and four
o'clock, p. m., while I was on an official visit.

'' Before I proceed with the description, it will be necessary to ex-
plain that the wires of the House and Morse telegraph lines cross the
Hudson river between Fort Washington and the palisades, inasmuch
as this is the narrowest part of the river in the vicinity of New York ;
and the elevation of the land at the palisades, renders it a desirable
place for suspending the wires from one shore to the other, so as to
allow vessels. of large size to pass under them free from interruption.

"The mast to support the wire was 266 feet in length, and was
erected on the top of the columnar wall of the palisades, which at this
place is 298 feet above the river, as determined by trigonometrical
measurement. The top of the mast was therefore 564 feet above the
water, and was sufficiently elevated to allow for the unavoidable swag
of the telegraph wire, and to leave sufficient distance for vessels to pass
beneath.

' ' It was composed of three pieces of heavy timber placed one above
the other and fastened together by iron bands, to which were attached
long iron braces or guys, secured at the lower ends to the rock, for the
purpose of sustaining the mast in its perpendicular position. The
braces or guys were formed of iron rods three fourths of an inch in
diameter, and painted black. The longer or outer ones, those which
were attached to the top of the mast along which the electricity
descended to the earth, terminated about 32 paces from the lower end
of the mast, and was composed of pieces of iron rod of thirteen feet in
length, and each piece terminated in a bolt and shackle, thereby
forming a series of links 30 in number.

''Alightning-rodsixfeetlong, three quarters of aninch diameter, paiujt-
ed white, sharpened to a point, but not tipped with platinum, and secured
at its lower end to the iron band to which were attached the upper set
of guys, projected about two or three feet above the truck of the mast.
The point of the rod was at the time in the center of a cedar bush in

620 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

full foliage which had been placed there by the riggers when they
completed the mast.

" At 3 p. m. , when the storm commenced, I placed myself in the rail-
way house at Fort Washington, a point distant about three quarters of
a mile from the mast at Fort Lee, on the opposite side of the river.
From my position I could distinctly observe the gust as it advanced
from the southwest ; and from the heat of the weather and appearance
of the clouds I expected to witness heavy discharges of atmospheric
electricity, and prepared my mind to observe the effects of the storm
on the mast at Fort Lee, having frequently expressed a desire to
witness a thunder storm in the vicinity of the mast, as I felt assured
the iron rod and guys would protect it from injury.

''As the gale increased, the clouds advanced with a heavy atmos-
phere, and accompanied with frequent discharges of lightning and loud
thunder. When it approached the mast the foremost cloud assumed
the shape of an inverted cone similar to those I have witnessed in the
gulf, forming a water-spout ; and I soon observed a terrific flash of
lightning descend by the southern iron guy clearly defining its form
and every link of the guy as though it were a rod of red-hot iron ; and
this appearance continued for a least iour seconds, followed by three
or four heavy peals of thunder m rapid succession, during which time
the lightning appeared to flow in a continued stream of fire along the
iron guy, and giving off during its progress apparently as many snaps
of electricity as there were links in the guy, and which I supposed to
be caused by the resistance offered by each link to the free passage of
the electricity.

''These discharges were succeeded by a heavy gush of rain, which
obstructed my view of the palisades, but other discharges of atmos-
pheric electrity followed as the cloud rustied on its course of the North
river. The storm lasted about half an hour.

" Within 50 paces north of the mast described stood the Morse-line
mast, which is about 40 feet less in height than the House mast ; and
during the storm there was no indication of any part of it being struck
by lightning, although there is attached to it a conductor of atmos-
pheric electricity. From this, I infer that the discharge of lightning
passed to the earth along the iron guys of the House mast, owing to
its greater elevation, and its being nearer south in the direction of the
storm.

"Such was the vividness and intensity of the light which was emitted
along the guy at the time of the discharge that I received the impres-
sion that the iron was melted, and expected every moment to see the
mast prostrated by the wind, but was much surprised, on examining
the premises next day, not to find the least evidence of fusion on the
rod, or marks of any kind along its surface, to indicate the passage of
the electrical discharge.

"The palisades in the vicinity of the mast are heavily timbered, and
although the limbs of several trees are in contact with the iron guys
running from the mast, not the slightest damage was done to any of
these trees ; but about one fourth of a mile south of the mast a large
tree was shattered by lightning during the same storm.

"The mast stood about five years, and during that time, as reported

METEOROLOGY. 521

by those having charge of it, was struck at almost every violent thunder
storm that passed over the place. It was considered by persons living
in the neighborhood as a protection against lightning.

"Indeed such was the confidence in it, that the telegraph workmen
did not hesitate to take shelter during a storm in a house 15 feet square,
which was built around the mast, and in which implements, windlasses,
&c., were kept.

''Henry J. Kogers.

"Baltimore, November 30, 1853."

The facts presented in the foregoing narative are highly instructive.
The descent of the visible vapor in the form of an inverted cone is a
phenomenon which will be considered of special interest, particularly
by those who ascribe the motive power of a tornado entirely to elec-
tricity.

The continuance of the discharge during four seconds is in accord-
ance with other instances which have been frequently observed, and is
to be attributed to a series of discharges in rapid succession through
the same path.

The appearance of light along the whole course of the rods forming
the guy may be attributed to the circumstance that the metal at the
time of the discharge was covered with a thin stratum of water into
which the electricity was projected by its self-propulsion, and on ac-
count of the imperfect conductibility of the liquid, gave rise to the
phenomena observed.

This may be illustrated experimentally by discharging an electrical
battery through a slip of tin foil wetted witli a thin stratum of water.
The discharge which would be insensible along the dry metal becomes
luminous through its whole course.

While this account of Mr. Rogers clearly shows the attractive power
of an elevated conductor under particular circumstances, it also proves
the fact that an edifice may be protected from harm, provided it be
furnished with a suiE,cient number of properly constructed rods.

CONSTRUCTION OF LIGHTNING-RODS.

Electricity as we have seen page 483, tends to pass at the surface of
a conductor of a sufficient size, but it does not follow from this that
every increase of surface, the quantity of metal being the same, will
tend to diminish the resistance of the conductor to the passage of a
discharge. From an imperfect view of the subject, many persons have
supposed that merely flattenihg the lightning-rod, and thus increasing
the surface would tend to increase the conducting pow?r, but it must
be evident from the principle of repulsion, that in diminishing the
distance between the two flat surfaces, we tend to increase the repul-
sion between the atoms, which would pass parallel to the axis along
the middle of each flat side, and thus, though the surface is increased
by flattening a round bar, the conduction is diminished, and a greater
intensity is given to the electricity at the edges, tending to increase
the lateral escape of the fluid. The only proper way of diminishing
the resistance to conduction in a cylinder of metal of a given capacity, is

522 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

to mold it into the form of a hollow cylinder ; a gas-pipe, for example,
will offer less resistance to conduction than the same weight of metal
in the form of a solid cylinder ; hut we must not infer from this that a
gas-pipe an inch in diameter will conduct hotter than a solid rod of
iron of the same diameter. There is no known law of electricity which
would lead us to suppose that by removing the metal from the interior
of a rod, we increase its conducting capacity. On the contrary, when
the charge is very great in proportion to the size of the conductor, it is
probable that the discharge penetrates through the entire mass. The
rod should be of sufficicent size to transmit freely the largest discharge
which experience has shown to fall on a building. A rod of three
fourths of an inch of round iron is generally considered sufficient for this
purpose, since a conductor of this capacity has in no case been found
to have been fused by a discharge from the clouds. There is no objec-
tion on the score of electrical action to using a larger bar, or to the
same weight of metal in the form of a hollow cylinder ; indeed every
increase of diameter lessens the resistance to conduction, and the ten-
dency to give off lateral sparks.

Lightning-conductors are frequently constructed in this country with
points projecting at intervals of two or three feet through their whole
length ; this plan has been adopted from some erroneous idea in regard
to the action of the conductor, and of the proper application of points.
The essential office of the conductor is to receive the discharge from
the cloud, and to transmit it with the least resistance possible, silently
and innoxiously to the great body of the earth below, and anything
which militates against these requisites must be prejudicial. Now, in
the passage of the electricity through a conductor, it retains its repul-
sive energy, and hence each point along the rod in succession becomes
highly charged, and tends to give off a spark to bodies in the neighbor-
hood. Besides this, the irregularity in the motion of the electricity
which is thus produced, must on mechanical principles interfere with
its free transmission. The points along the course of the rod should,
therefore, be omitted, since they can do no possible good, and may
produce injury.

We may conclude what we have said in regard to lightning-rods
by the following summary of directions for constructing and erecting
them:

1st. The rod should consist of round iron, of not less than three
fourths of an inch in diameter. A larger size is preferable to a smaller
one. Iron is preferred because it can be readily procured, is cheap,
a sufficiently good conductor, and when of the size mentioned cannot
be melted by a discharge from the clouds.

2d. It should be, through its whole length, in perfect metallic
continuity; as many pieces should be joined together by welding, as
practicable, and when other joinings are unavoidable, they should be
made by screwing the parts firmly together by a coupling ferule, care
being taken to make the upper connection of the latter with the rod
water-tight, by cement, solder, or paint.

3d. To secure it from rust, the rod should be covered with a coating
of black paint.

4th. It should be terminated above^ with a single point, the cone of

METEOROLOGY. 523

wliich. should not be too acute, and to preserve it from the weather as
well as to prevent melting, it should be encased with platinum, formed
by soldering a plate of this metal, not less than a twentieth of an inch
in thickness, into the form of a hollow cone. Usually the cone of pla-
tinum, for convenience, is first attached to a brass socket, which is
secured on the top of the rod, and to this plan there is no objection.
The platinum casing, however, is frequently made so thin and the
cone so slender, in order to save metal, that the point is melted by a
powerful discharge.

5th. The shorter and more direct the rod is in its course to the earth
the better. Acute angles made by bending in the rod and projecting
points from it along its course should be avoided.

6th. It should be fastened to the house by iron eyes, and may be
insulated by cylinders of glass. We do not think the latter, however,
of much importance^ since they soon become wet by water, and in case
of a heavy discharge are burst asunder.

7th. The rod should be connected with the earth in the most perfect
manner possible, and in cities nothing is better for this purpose than
to unite it in good metallic contact with the gas mains or large water
pipes in the streets ; and such a connection is absolutely necessary if
the gas or water pipes are in use within the house. This connection
can be made by soldering to the end of the rod a strip of copper, which,
after being wrapped several times around the pipe, is permanently
attached to it. Where a connection with the ground cannot be formed
in this way, the rod should terminate, if possible, in a well always
containing water, and where this arrangement is not practicable, it
should terminate in a plate of iron or some* other metal buried in the
moist ground. It should, before it descends to the earth, be bent so
as to pass off nearly perpendicular to the side of the house, and be
buried in a trench surrounded with powdered charcoal.

8th. The rod should be placed, in preference, on the west side of
the house, in this latitude, and especially on the chimney from which
a current of heated air ascends during the summer season.

9th. In case of a small house, a single rod may suffice, provided its
point be sufficiently high above the roof, the rule being observed, that
its elevation should be at least half of the distance to which its protec-
tion is expected to extend. It is safer, however, particularly in modern
houses in which a large amount of iron enters into the construction,
to make the distance between two rods less than this rule would
indicate rather than more. Indeed we see no objection to an indefinite
multiplication of rods to a ho,use, provided they are all properly con-
nected with the ground and with each other. A building entirely
inclosed^ as it were, in a case of iron rods so connected with the earth,
would be safe from the direct action of the lightning.

10. When a house is covered by a metallic roof, the latter should
be united, in good metallic connection, with the lightning-rods ; and in
this case the perpendicular pipes conveying the water from the gutters
at the eaves may be made to act the part of rods by soldering strips of
copper to the metal roof and pipes above, and connecting them with
the earth by plates of metal united by similar strips of coi^per to their
lower ends, or better with the gas or water-pipes of the city. In this

624 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

case, however, tlie cliimneys would be unprotected, and copper light-
ning-rods soldered to the roof, and rising a few feet above the chimneys,
would suffice to receive the discharge. We say soldered to the roof,
because if the contact was not very perfect, a greater intensity of action
would take place at this point, and the metal might be burnt through
by the discharge, particularly if it were thin.

11. As a general rule, large masses of metal within the building,
particularly those which have a perpendicular elevation, ought to be
connected with the rod. The main portion of the great building
erected for the world's exhibition at Paris is entirely surrounded by a
rod of iron, from which rises at intervals a series of lightning conduc-
tors, the whole system being connected with the earth by means of
four wells, one at each corner of the edifice.

The foregoing rules may serve as general guides for the erection of
lightning-rods on ordinary buildings, but for the protection of a large
complex structure, consisting of several parts, a special survey should
be made, and the best form of protection devised which the peculiar
circumstances of the case will admit.

Various patents have been obtained in this country for improved
lightning-conductors, but as a general rule such improvements are of
minor importance.

An improvement in the form of the lightning-rod, which was recom-
mended by the French Academy in 1823, would presuppose some
important discoveries in electricity having a bearing on the subject ;
but after the lapse of thirty years, the same Academy being called
upon to consider the protection of the new additions to the Louvre,
finds nothing material to change in the principles of the instructions
at first given.

TOBACCO.

From Charles A. Leas, United States Consul

Kevel, Russia, August 25, 1859.

Tobacco is cultivated in the Russian governments of Paltowa,
Tschernegow, Saratof, Bessarabia, Charkow, Orel, Riazen, Koursh,
Kiew, &c^, portions of the Crimea, Siberia, and the Trans-Caucasian
provinces. I understand, however, that in consequence of the failure
to produce a good and profitable article, its cultivation has been aban-
doned in some of the above governments. It is all of very inferior
quality. The only place that an article sufficiently good for the
manufacture of cigars is produced, is in Bessarabia.

The government of Russia, with the view of encouraging and im-
proving the cultivation and quality of tobacco, had seed brought from
Turkey, Germany, Cuba, and the United States, and distributed it
free ; but still the experiments were not satisfactory. She then in-

TOBACCO. 525

structecl her agents in those countries to observe carefully the cultiva-
tion and all the important facts connected therewith, and transmit the
result for the benefit of the cultivator. An experienced tobacco grower
was also brought from Grermany to impart instruction. After all this,
as above stated, an article sufficiently good for cigars could not be
produced, except in Bessarabia, and that was from seed brought from
the United States. Its cultivation has been proved tp exhaust, to an
enormous extent, the strength of the soil, to renew which the strongest
manures must be used; namely, the ordinary barn-yard manures. It
is not here as profitable a crop as the ordinary grains ; that is to say,
in some of the governments alluded to the cost of transporting the
surplus grain product to the exterior is so great, that the cultivation
of tobacco takes its place from necessity, because the tobacco can be
consumed at home. But there is little doubt that when Eussia shall
have completed her great net-work of railroads, thus giving to her
people a cheap and speedy outlet for the surplus grain product, tobacco
will cease to be cultivated to any considerable extent, and the demand
from foreign countries will be increased. There is none so popular in
Eussia as the American tobaccco, and that of Maryland is preferred.

At present about one hundred and eight millions of pounds is pro-
duced per annum. None, I believe, is exported.

In 1857, 60,000,000 of pounds was imported, namely:

Poods.

From America, direct 422

.From Prussia 14,601

From Denmark 384

From Hanse Towns 51,141

From Holland 44,544

From Belgium 16

From England, direct 3,148

From France, direct 636

From Sardinia, direct 1

From Austria, direct 154

From Turkey 56,458

From West Indies and South America 376

From all other countries 576

172,457
or 30,00a English tons. -

The duty on tobacco brought into this country, is, on raw or un-
manufactured, six rubles and thirty kopecks per pood, or |308 57
cents per ton, being fifteen and nearly a half cents on the pound, or,
as will be seen by the United States census returns, over 100 per cent,
on the cost of production in America.

On smoking tobacco the duty is the same. On cigars it is about
$1 50 per pound.

There is no tobacco made or used for the purpose of chewing in this
country. Each inhabitant in the empire consumes an average of two
pounds per annum.

626 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

The land produced an average of from 80 to 100 pounds to the acre.
The price to the producer averaging from 1 to 37 kopecks per pound,
or from three quarters of a cent to about 28 cents per pounds.

From 3. Hammatt Norton, United States Consul.

PicTOU, Nova Scotia, July 25, 1859.

Tobacco is not grown is this region of country. About 100,000
pounds of the leaf are imported yearly, which is manufactured and
sold in this vicinity.

The chief articles of export from this province are coal, fish, and
potatoes. Three fourths of the exportations are to the United States.

From Daniel E. B. Upton, United States Consul at Batliurst.

This is not a tobacco producing country, and, therefore, the only
information I can furnish is as follows :

The amount of tobacco imported, according to the customs returns,
for the year ending December 31, 1858, was 497,360 pounds, of which
251,980 were direct from the United States ; 146,058 via G-reat Britain ;
79,522 via France; and 19,800 by way of G-oree, a neighboring French
port. The duties on tobacco imported, either in British or foreign
bottoms, are four per cent, on invoice cost, and a half penny or about
one cent per pound.

From S. J. Merrit, United States Consul at Nassau, Baliamas.

What amount of tobacco is j)roduced per annum I have no means of
ascertaining, but it is very small, and for domestic use only. The
quantity imported, in pounds, is as follows :

Cuba^ 1,680, unmanufactured; United States, 89,040, i. e., 60,928
manufactured, 28,112 unmanufactured; St. D.omingo, 1,792, unmanu-
factured; British West Indian Islands, 1,792, manufactured ; received
from wrecked vessels, 15,232, manufactured; total 109^536 pounds.
This is exclusive of the importations of cigars, which are as follows :
From the Spanish Islands^ 210,000; United States, 17,000; St. Domingo,
15,000; total 242,000. As to duties no distinction is made between
British and foreign bottoms. There is no export duty. Import duties
on manufactured, 14 shillings sterling per 112 pounds ; unmanufac-
tured 5 shillings sterling per 112 pounds; cigars, 4 shillings sterling
jyer 1,000, and 15 per cent, ad valorem. I have no means of ascertain-
ing the number of cigars made per annum, but it is small — probably
about 500,000. They are very poor, and will average in value about |6
per 1,000. There is no other manufacture of tobacco. Some cigars are
sold at $30 per 1,000. The average price is about $15. Very little

TOBACCO. 627

snuff is sold, and that at retail. A little over seven pounds of tobacco
are consumed per annum by eacli male inhabitant.

From Egbert Dowling, United States Consul at Cork, Ireland.

About 600 hogsheads of tobacco per annum, averaging 1,460 pounds
each, or 876,000 pounds, are imported from the United States and
Cuba, but none exported, except small quantities as ship stores, on
which no duty is charged. The duties charged per pound on unmanu-
factured leaf are 3 shillings, (75 cents,) and on manufactured 9 shil-
lings, ($2 25,) with 5 per cent, additional in each case. The price of
cigars per 100 is about 18 shillings, duty paid, (|4 50 ;) that of tobacco
prepared for smoking, per pound, 4 shillings sterling, and of snuff,
per pound, 8 shillings sterling, ($2.) The smokers in this district are
chiefly males, who consume, on an average, seventeen pounds of
tobacco per annum, or three fourths of an ounce per day each.

From Stephen Kalli, United States Vice-Consul at Odessa.

There are no means of ascertaining what has been the ratio of in-
crease or decrease in the amount of tobacco cultivated in South Kussia
since the last census, for accounts of this description are not kept in
this country.

The government of Saratoff, in which this culture is the largest,
produces about 1,800,000 or 2,000,000 pounds per annum. What the
production may be in other governments cannot be determined.

The amount imported in Odessa, chiefly from Turkey, is about
2,000,000 pounds per annum, taking one year with the other. It is
imported, also, in other ports bf the Black and Azoff seas, but it is
difficult to know the quantity, there being no publications in this
country giving such or any similar information.

The government of Saratoff exports about 360,000 pounds, and
sometimes as much as double that quantity per annum. From Odessa
there is no export.

The import duties are —

For tobacco in leaves, 14 cents per pound,
'' cut tobacco, 55| " "

'' cigars, |1 85;

Beside an excise duty, but which is not important.

The price of cigars made in Kussia is $7 50 to $37 50 per thousand.
That of foreign is $45 to $260 per thousand.

The price of the production of Saratoff is 3 j- cents to 44- cents per
pound. Of other governments it is 83-V cents to 35 cents per pound.
The average price, however, of the latter may be put down at 16 cents
per pound.

The highest price of Eussian snuff — which is of a very common
kind — is 5^- cents per pound.

528 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

The best varieties of tobacco cultivated are Turkish, called Dubeck
and Samsoun. The length of the leaves is 10^ inches, and the num-
ber of leaves to a plant 15 to 25. The yield, per acre, is about 650 to
1,3(30 pounds.

The latest frost in spring is in March, and the earliest; i^i autumn in
October; both old style.

The tobacco seed is obtained from Turkey, and the price is $3 33^ ;
from America, $2; from Havanah, $7 30 ; and from the Cape, $3 75.
It is sown in the month of March. No particular attention is paid to
the soil, only the site for a seed-bed is selected where sheep have been
pasturing. The soil is generally dug deep. The seed is sown on the
surface, and covered over lightly. It vegetates in from fifteen to
twenty days, according to the season.

No j)recautions are taken against accidents by frost or drought.

The most suitable size of plants for removing to the field is when
they have four leaves.

The soil where sheep have been pasturing is best adapted to tobacco.
Not particular about aspect — preference, however, is given to hilly
places not exposed to the north. The ground is dug deep for plant-
ing. Sheep manure is used by letting sheep pasture where tobacco is
to be planted. Their urine is also considered to be very good. Trans-
planting is performed in the month of June. G-enerally about thirteen
hundred plants are allotted to the acre. They are put in rows, one
foot two inches apart, and the space between the plants is seven inches.
The crop requires, previous to "topping," no other culture than
cleaning. The maturity of the leaves begins one month and a half
after planting. If the season is very hot_, the leaves dry in the course
of eight days; but if the atmosphere is cool, in fifteen days. G-ener-
ally they string as many leaves as they can, in order to place them on
sticks of the length of 11 feet 8 inches. The tobacco is exposed only
to the air passed through a string. No artificial heat is employed.
It is sufiiciently dried when the leaves break in the hand and can be
reduced into powder. It is only dried in the open air and in the
shade.

After collecting the crop, they proceed to strip the sticks of the
leaves, to make bundles of them. The sorting is of four kinds, and is
packed as Turkish tobacco, in bundles of from one hundred to one
hundred and fifty leaves each.

All the expenses for cultivating an acre of tobacco, ready to be
offered for sale, amount to about $40. The largest crop of an acre is
about 1,300 pounds ; the average about 900 pounds. Its greatest
value per pound is about 37 cents. It is not cultivated for seed. Eus-
sian, of Bessarabia, is sold at |1 60 per pound. The stalks are sold
to the German colonists, who cut them for smoking.

Tobacco is an exhauster greater than any other crop. It is usually
cultivated three years in succession on the same land. No attention
is paid to rotation. It is attacked by grubs, for the ravages of which
no preventives or remedies have been applied.

Land is measured in Russia by sagenes and deciatines. A deciatine
contains 2,400 square sagenes ; the acre contains 889 square sagenes.
The sagen is 7 feet, English, consequently a deciatine is equal to 2.70

TOBACCO. 529

acres. An archine is divided into 16 verslioks, and is equal to 28
inches. The pood is equal to 36 pounds, English ; the silver rouble is
equal to 751- cents. It is upon this basis that the foregoing calcula-
tions have been made.

Report of Thomas Savage^ United States Vice-Consul General.

Havana, Cuba, September 22, 1859.

The celebrated tobacco of Cuba is produced in a certain portion of
the western part, and is called Vuelta abajo. Throughout the eastern
part of Cuba the tobacco raised is only sorted into three classes, and no
effort is made to improve its quality, or even to put it up in a way to
give it a fair appearance for the purpose of insuring a ready sale at
remunerative prices. Many improvements have been introduced there :
first, in the loash or mixture with which the leaf is sprinkled before
packing ; secondly, in the selection or sorting of the leaves into six
classes ; thirdly, in the manner of making and tying the manajos or
hands ; and finally, in the form of the bales and mode of placing the
manajos in them. By means of this wa,sh, the inferior leaf of the east-
ern part of Cuba, or Vuelta arriba, acquires strength, elasticity, and
softness, (fit to twist into fair-looking cigars,) a better flavor, finer color
and appearance, and increased aroma and fragrance ; consequently it
brings a much higher price in the market. It is well known that the
tobacco raised in the district of Gibara, and brought to that port for
embarkation, is about the most inferior article raised in the island that
is ever brought to market. The price there is generally $8 to $10 per
100 pounds, in bales averaging 125 pounds ; the same article, thus pre-
pared and packed, has been obtained in Havana repeatedly, per bale,
$51 for firsts and seconds, $40 for thirds, $34 for fourtlis, $25 to $30
for fifths, 'and $15 to $16 for sixths and sevenths, as seven classes have
sometimes been sorted. In Matanzas, at a time when tobacco was dull,
$25 50 were received for 100 pounds, assortment, and at another time
S36.

From J. B. Hatne, United States Consul.

Turk's Island, West Indies, August 8, 1859.

Tobacco is not cultivated on this island or its dependencies. I have
learned from the exports of the custom-house, that for the year 1858,
three thousand eight hundred and sixty-five pounds of the leaf, costing
about $2,920, were imported for home consumption, about half of this
from the United States, and the rest from the West Indies.

Of the manufactured there were tAvelve thousand nine hundred and
ninety-eight pounds, costing about $2,585, imported for the same pur-
pose; this was mostly from England, and English ports in the West
Indies.

The inhabitants here smoke and chew on about the same average
34 A

530 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

with, tlie same number in tlie United States^ with, perhaps, a degree
of more moderation.

From Samuel W. Talbot, United Slates Consul.

Dublin, Ireland, Septemher 1, 1859.

At one period the cultivation of tobacco had made considerable pro-
gress in Ireland, the soil and climate being very favorable to its
growth ; but about forty years ago its culture was totally prohibited
by government, as it was found impossible to devise any plan for col-
lecting the duty imposed upon it, and no advantages to Ireland could
compensate for the sacrifice of the revenue, which yields five or six
million of pounds sterling annually.

About four thousand hogsheads of tobacco are imported into Ireland,
of whicli three thousand five hundred come from Virginia, and five
hundred from Kentucky, none being imported from any other foreign
country.

A duty of 3s. 2d. per pound is charged on the foreign import.

No cigars are manufactured, the four thousand hogsheads above
named being made into twist and snuff.

Cigars are sold by the pound weight at wholesale, the foreign duty
paid at 25s. per pound average, and the English-made sell at from 9s.
to 15s. per pound.

The price per pound of tobacco prepared for chewing is 3s. ^d. ; of
that for smoking, 3s. %d. ; and of snuff, 5s. per pound.

It is impossible to answer how many pounds are consumed per an-
num, or even to make an approximation to the amount.

The value is 8c?. per pound for leaf, in bond, and 10c?. per pound for
strips, in bond, the purchaser paying the duty.

Snuff is made of the stalks.

With regard to the importation of tobacco into Ireland, it should be
very dry in condition, free from blister, a good substance, and of darkest
color.

From Herbert Davy, United States Consul.

Newcastle-on-Tyne, England,

August 24, 1859.

In 1858, 62,217,705 pounds were imported from North and South
America, Germany, &c., namely: stemmed, 20,004,956; unstemmed,
39,638,824 pounds; manufactured and snuffs, 2,573,925 pounds.

In the same year, 10,504,236 pounds were exported, and to all
countries except France.

The duties charged per pound on tobacco are 3s. , and five per cent,
if cleared for home trade; if for export, no duty; on manufactured.
9s.

The price of cigars per thousand is 250s. per thousand, in bond; and
as low as 60s. ; while the greatest and average price per pound of tobacco

TOBxVCCO. 531

prepared for chewing, is 8<s. 5d., As., and 3s. 4d.; that of tobacco pre-
pared for smoking, 8s., 4s., and 3s. 4d.; and the highest of snuff per
per pound, 2s., 5s., and 4s. the average.

The number of pounds of tobacco consumed jier annum, on an aver-
age, by each male inhabitant of Great Britain, in 1853, was 19 ounces;
in Ireland, 12 ounces, being one half greater in the former than in
the latter.

The greatest and average value of pressed tobacco per pound, for
cutting purposes, is about 6s. and 4s.

Rnuif is made of the stalks.

The consumption, it will be perceived, is very great, and is undoubt-
edly increasing.

From R. S. Ne'^vbold^ Acting United States Consul.

Port of Spain, Trinidad,

September 12, 1859.

This is not a tobacco growing island, there being but a very small
quantity grown in one section of the country, and entirely for local
consumption. The greater portion of the tobacco imported into this
island is the production of the United States, and may be estimated at
between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 pounds per annum, of Kentucky
leaf.

The duty on tobacco imported into this colony is as follows :-

On unmanufactured, 9 cents per pound.

On- chewing tobacco and snuff, 12 cents per pound.

On cigars, 18 cents per pound.

The actual number of hogsheads imported from the United States in
1858 was 203, which would give 3,000,000 pounds.

From John Black, United States Commercial Agent.

Galle, Ceylon, September 29, 1859.

The cultivation of tobacco is entirely in the hands of natives, for
local consumption, with the exception of a small quantity, unmanu-
factured, exported to Stavancore.

Tobacco is cultivated chiefly at Jafnapatam, at the north end of the
island. The coarser kinds appear to be best adapted to the soil.

A few years ago experiments were made at the south of the island,
a few miles from Galle, by Europeans ; the seeds used being from
Cuba. This^ however, proved a I'ailure, and the work was abandoned.

I am unable to furnish even an estimate of the quantity cultivated,
as no revenue is obtained from this article.

Cigars are imported from Manilla and China.

532 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

From W. H. Morse, United States Consul at Cape de Verds.

In tliis group of islands only about 5,000 pounds of tobacco are
produced per annum. Sixty thousand pounds are imported, only
from the United States. There is no exportation whatever. All to-
bacco pays eleven cents per pound on importation. No cigars are
manufactured. Their greatest and average price per thousand is from
|16 to $30; and of tobacco prepared for chewing, per pound, twenty
cents. No snuff is imported into these islands. The native manu-
factured sells at sixty cents per pound. About one pound of tobacco
is consumed per annum, on an average, by each of the male inhabi-
tants. The variety grown here I cannot name. It receives no
especial care. The leaves are short and few. The temperature is
from 68° to 80°. Tobacco will grow any month during the year. It
is generally cultivated in August, September, and October. The seed
is obtained from America — the average cost being 12 cents per pound.
It is generally sown down during the rains ; but any time is proper
where the soil can be irrigated. The site selected is near houses, and
sheltered from the sun, in a rich soil. The ground is simply well
hoed, as a preparation for planting. The greatest and average value
])er pound of the leaf is from 16 cents to 10 cents.

From G. H. Goundie, United States Consul at Zurich, Sioitzerland.

Switzerland produces very little tobacco. It is only raised in one
of the 22 cantons, and there only in small quantities. I have for
several years past supplied them with seed from the United States ;
but it appears that the tobacco which I introduced in the palatinate in
1846-47 — now raised in all parts of Germany where tobacco is grown,
and called by order of the government of the Grand Duchy of Baden
" Goundie tobacco" — is greatly preferred here in Switzerland also.
It brings from 4 to 10 florins more than any other kind.

From Henry Pemberton, Consular Agent of fJie United States at Quebec,

Canada.

Only a little tobacco is grown here, for their own use, by the farmers.
220,000 pounds are imported (all from the United States) into Quebec,
3,340,000 pounds into the Canadas. A duty of 30 per cent, is charged.
The greatest and average price of cigars per 1,000 is from |5 to |80.

TOBACCO.

533

The price of tobacco, bj tlie pound, for chewing, varies from 10 cents
to 40 cents; and the price of that prepared for smoking varies from 5
cents to 20 cents. The greatest and average price of snuff per pound
is from 10 to 20 cents. Import very small. Small farmers sow the
seed for their own use in May. The tobacco stalks are ground into
snuif. A great deal of tobacco is grown in the most western parts of
Canada West, but I am not aware that any returns of the quantities
are kept. All the imported tobacco comes from the United States, and
nearly all in a manufactured form.

From L. H. Hatfield, United States Consul at Bombay.

The quantity of tobacco imported into Bombay amounts to 1,732,833
pounds per annum, and the countries from which it is imported are as
follows :

United Kingdom, Aden, African coast, America, Arabian gulf,
Cape of Grood liope, Ceylon, Hong-Kong, China, France, Manilla,
Mauritius, Penang, Singapore, Persian Grulf, Suez, Madras, Malabar,
Canara, Cutch, Groa, Damaun, Dieu, Calcutta, and Goojerath.

The quantity exported amounts to 315,733 pounds per annum, and
the countries to which it is exported are as follows :

United Kingdom, Aden, Arabian Gulf, Hong Kong, Mauritius,
Penang, Singapore, Persian Gulf, Malabar, Canara, African coast,
Madagascar, Hamburg, Suez, Madras, Cutch, Goa, Damaun, and
Dieu.

On the imports of tobacco from foreign ports, a duty of 20 per cent,
is charged on its market value, and a further duty, at the rate of 7|
rupees per Indian maund of 82.28 pounds, is levied when the same is
taken into town for consumption. Export tobacco is free, as are also
all its preparations.

The above remarks apply equally to. tobacco imported in foreign or
other bottoms.

The greatest and average price of cigars per 1,000 is as follows:

Brands.

Greatest price.

Havana

Manilla, No. 2

Trichinopoly, ]st sort
Trichinopoly, 2d sort.
Calcutta

The price of country tobacco used for chewing varies from 5 to 6
annas per pound, Avhile the American averages from 12 to 16.

The average price of country tobacco used for smoking is from 4 to

634 AGRICULTIIRAL REPORT.

5 annas per pound, and its greatest price never exceeds 6. The price
of the Americap varies from 12 to 16.

The price at which country snuff is generally sold varies from 8 to
16 annas per pound, according to quality, while Macoba and Musili-
patam bring as much as 2 rupees per bottle, of 1| pounds.

Independently of the different descriptions of tobacco imported from
various countries, the best varieties, of what is called the country
tobacco, cultivated in the province of Gujeerath and over the Ghants,
are mentioned below, in the order of their quality :

Melao, Jode, reddish-brown.

Yurtal, Merjee Ghatty^ dark-brown.

Vara, do.

Bhooka, do.

Kala, or black, do.

The last description comprises a great variety, distinguished by the
names of the towns and villages near which it is cultivated. The
following are a few of the Kala, or black:

Chachwa,

Paley,_

Dhamie,

Vursal, Khanpoor,

Dessarc, cutch,
And a great number of others, which, not being imported here, it is
not necessary to specify.

With regard to the character, dimensions, and average number of
leaves to a plant, it is difficult to give any correct information. They
depend, in a great measure, on the nature of the soil, the manure
used, and the water and climate of the country. The leaves of the
Melao and Jode are short, being about a foot long by 6 or 7 inches
broad, and very pungent in flavor. When dried, they assume a
reddish-brown tinge, and are from 8 to. 15, and sometimes more, in
number. The leaves of the Vurtal and Vara are sometimes larger,
and less pungent, than those of the Melao or Jode. The largest
leaves are 2 feet in length, by 1^ in breadth, and are generally to be
met with in one or other of the different varieties under the head of
Kala, or black tobacco. The leaves of this description are bitter in
taste. The plant, when full grown, is from 3 to 4 feet in height.
The annual yield of the different kinds varies from 2,100 to 6,000
pounds per acre, according to the information furnished by the dealers.
The following is the annual production, per acre, of each of the several
kinds mentioned below:

Melao 2,100 to 2,700pounds.

Vara 4,200 to 5,400 ''

Bhooka 4,200 to 5,400 ''

Dhamie 6,300 "

Vursal and Khanpoor, each 5,100 "

Chachwa 3,000 to 4,200 "

Paley 4,200 ''

Much additional information might be 23rocured on this subject^, and
also on various branches of agriculture, horticulture, &c. Valuable

MISCELLANEOUS. OdO

and interesting researches might also be made in this vicinity on
relics, caves, &c., of great antiquity, and geological formations; hut
it would he attended with considerable expense, and I am not in-
structed by government to appropriate anything in this way. I
would most cheerfully make such researches and furnish full reports.

Comparative statement of the fall of rain at Bomhay for the four years
past, ending September 30.

Year. Inches.

1856 n

1857 79

1858 61

1859 81

ISCELLANEOUS.

GRAPE CULTURE IN ILLINOIS.

BY JAMIS a. SOULARD, OF GALENA.

After ten years cultivation of the Catawba and Isabella grapes in
the vicinity of St. Louis, and twenty years near this city, I am con-
vinced that the high lands in the neighborhood of Galena and Du-
buque, (and I may extend this opinion to a considerable portion of the
high clay soils in Northwestern Illinois, and in the central parts of
Iowa, bordering on the Mississippi,) are much superior for the grape
culture to the environs of Cincinnati, St. Louis, or Hermann, in Mis-
souri.

There an average of one half of their Catawba and Isabella crops is
lost; even admitting, as I have been informed, that Norton's Virginia
seedling, Lenoir, Missouri bird eye, and some other varieties, have
been entirely free from the rot around Hermann and other places.

Now, on my farm, a few miles from this city, I never saw the rot in
twenty years in a little vineyard of Catawba and Isabella, and a few
plants of other varieties, except during three very wet summers, when
it exhibited itself in a sporadic form, and then only on a narrow de-
pression of the ground, where there was a great excess of moistures
during the whole summer.

In the first six years of my experiment here, I did not cover the
vines in winter. They were killed to the ground three winters. But
the three seasons they resisted, they yielded well. I then adopted the
low culture; starting new wood each preceding year from the ground,-

636 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

cutting oil all tlie old wood, covering after pruning every fall with a
one-horse plow, and uncovering in the spring with the same implement
and a six-pronged fork. This can he done very rapidly. During the
fourteen years that I pursued covering in this manner, with earth only,
I met with but one failure; it was total, however, and caused by con-
tinued cold rain and foggy weather, which destroyed the blossoms.
The ground had a very gentle eastern slope. Except this failure,
every year produced a crop ; say, four years light ; six years abundant ;
two years enormous ; one year the heaviest I ever saw, and one year
the above failure.

The yield was very large in 1857, but most of the Catawba did not
ripen well, though the berries on each bunch advanced equally toward
maturity, I never saw here uneven ripening; that is, green and ripe
berries in the same bunches, nor the vine shedding its leaves during
summer. Still, many bunches remained entirely green. My vines
were planted from four and a half to five feet apart. I found the same
unripe condition, that year, on ground similarly situated, around St.
Louis. I believe, even in that season, upon high and steep southern
declivities, though not too steep to plow well, they would have ripened
in this locality. Continued rain, cool, cloudy weather, and very wet
ground through the summer, caused their tardiness.

Covering the vines entirely with earth in the fall is indispensable to
success, for two reasons: to protect them against cold winters, and the
blossoms from late spring frosts. They should not be uncovered until
the season is sufficiently advanced, keeping the vines thus protected as
long as the vegetation of the buds will permit, without danger to the
crop. Great care should be taken at this time to examine them, on
several vines, in diiferent positions, regularly every two or three days.

I give the duration and manner of my experiments, that all may
know, how in this northern climate, I arrive at such a favorable and
generally unexpected conclusion. This locality, favored with dry, clear
summers and fells, having a pervious, friable, clay stratum underly-
ing, to a considerjible depth, our fertile light soil, affording easy per-
colation to any superabundance of water, is unsurpassingly congenial
to the perfect production of the grape. The Catawba, whether for
table or wine use, for abundance and regularity of yield, and hardi-
ness of plant and fruit, is unsurpassed in this country, among either
native or European varieties, while this neighborhood is at least equal,
and I think superior, for the culture of the grape, to any other section
of the Union east of the Rocky mountains.

From H. W. Ravenal.

Aiken, S. C, November 13^ 1859.
I am now engaged in an investigation into the characters of all our
native vines, with a view to their classification as descendants of some
or other of our pure native species. I would prefer waiting, therefore,
until I could complete my plan. I have made a beginning in a paper
which I read before the ''Aiken Vine-growing and Horticultural As-
sociation," at a late meeting, and which has been since published in

MISCELLANEOUS. 537

the ''Farmer and Planter." I send you witli this a copy. My object
in having it published now is to get the aid and cooperation of other
vine-growers, and all the information possible on the subject. On
looking it over, should you think it proper to give it an insertion, it
may bo the means of affecting my object and of obtaining additional
information.

With the view of clearing up the nomenclature of our native culti-
vated grapes, which has been brought to a state of great confusion, we
have it in contemplation by the "Aiken Association" to invite a con-
vention of vine-growers, to meet us next summer, from all quarters of
the United States,, in order to unite upon some definite arrangement,
and reduce the synonyms to some intelligible form.

PAPER ON GRAPES.

Reoxlhefore the '^ Aiken Vine-growing and Horticultural Association,"
September 15, 1859, hy H. W. Eavenel.

The grape, like all other domesticated plants long subjected to cul-
tivation, has formed innumerable varieties, differing: First, in size,
flavor, color, and time of rijoening its fruit. Second, in shape and size
of leaf. Third, in general thriftiness and vigor of growth. These
variations are, however, confined within certain limits ; and, through
all their varieties, they yet preserve their specific identity, and reveal
their parentage and origin.

There are certain bounds within vdiich Nature seems to revel in pro-
ducing changes and combinations of various forms and qualities, but
these bounds are never overstepped. ,

Species in Nature are primordial forms whose characters remain con-
stant through all time, and which are capable of propagating their kind.
Within the limits of these specific characters there may be variations.
in minor points, occurring sometimes in the wild, state, but oftener
through the effects of high culture and artificial treatment. Thus, in
the United States we have a certain number of species of wild grape.
According to the best authorities, the number is reduced to four east
of the Mississippi. From one or the other of these four species are de-
scended all our indigenous varieties. Of these there are now upwards
of one hundred in cultivation in the United States, and their number
will go on increasing, as seedlings of good Cjualities are brought into
notice. Many of them, no doubt, will prove valuable acquisitions,
either for the table or wine-making, but a large number will be thrown
aside. There is such a strong temptation to multiply varieties, either
as a source of profit to sellers of the vine, or as a matter of pride to
amateur cultivators, that the only corrective for the evil will be a .pub-
lication, at stated periods, of a list of condemned varieties, as is now
done by the United States Pomological Society, in the matter of fruit
trees.

I am not aware of any attempt to classify these indigenous varieties,
and trace them to their proper parentage, to one of the four native
species; nor, perhaps, has the time arrived yet when it can properly

538 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

be done, from tlie want of general dissemination, and the difficulty of
obtaining many of the latest varieties.

I will, however, give an enumeration of our four American species,
with the varieties of each, so far as our information permits:

NATIVE, OR INDIGENOUS GRAPES.

1. ViTiSLABRUSCA, LiNN^us. — Mx.; Ph.; Ell. Sk. Torr. & Gr.; DeCand.;

Prod.

Fox Grape. — Stem of a pale brown color, the bark more readily ex-
foliating than in the other species; and the internodes or joints rather
longer. Leaves large, three to five lobed, dark green above_, densely
tomentose or woolly beneath, the tomentum whitish or rusty. Bunches
are not very compact nor shouldered. Berries large, dark-blue, with
a thickish skin, and always pulpy, with a musky flavor. From this
s|)ecies are descended the following cultivated varieties :

Isabella or Laspeyre, Mary Isabel, Catawba, Bland's Madeira, Con-
cord, Diana^ Eebecca, To-Kalon, Anna, Hartford Prolific, Ontario,
Catawissa, Northern Muscadine, Minor or Venango, Garrigues, Stet-
son's Seedling, York, Madeira or Canby's August, Hyde's Eliza,
Union Village, Early Chocolate, Early Black, Harvard, Green Prolific,
Kilvington, Ives, Charter Oak, Schuylkill or Alexander, Shaker,
Sweet Water or Early Muscadine.

2. ViTis .^STrvALis, MiCHAUX. — Ph.; Ell. 8h.; Torr. dGr.; DeCand.;

Prod.

Summer Grape. — Stem stout and of a reddish brown, with the inter-
nodes generally shorter than in the preceding. Leaves broadly cordate,
three to five lobed, or sinuately palmate; when young, downy, with
cobwebby hairs beneath ; smoothish when old ; of a lighter green than
the preceding. Bunches shouldered and compact. Berries small,
round, black, rather acid, never pulpy. From this species are descended
the following :

Warren, (Herbemont,) Pauline or Burgundy, Guignard, Clinton,
Delaware, Lenoir, (Blade July^ Lincoln, Thurmond, Sumpter, Deve-
reux,) Marion, Traveling, Long Grape or Old House, Elsinborough,
Seabrook, King^ Ohio or Cigar Box, Missouri, Norton's Virginia.

3. ViTis CORDIFOLIA, MiCHAUX. — Ph.; Torr. & Gr.; DeCand.; Prod.

Winter or Frost Grape. — Leaves thin, smaller than the preceding,
glabrous on both sides, with broad mucronate teeth. Berries small,
nearly black, ripening late, and very tart. There are no varieties of
this m cultivation that I am aware of.

4. ViTis vuLPiNA, LiNNJSus. — V. rotundifoUa Mx.; Ph.; Ell.; Sk.

Bullace, Bullet, or Bull grape, known in Florida and Texas as

"Mustang."

MISCELLANEOUS. 639

Stem whitish, the wood more compact and close-grained than in the
other species. Leaves cordate, shining on both surfaces, somewhat three
lohed, coarsely toothed, smaller than any of the other species. Berries
in loose clusters, scarcely exceeding five or six, changing from reddish
brown to black in ripening, with a thick skin and large pulp.

The only cultivated variety is the ''Scuppernong," so called after a
lake in Eastern North Carolina, where it was first discovered. There
may be more than one variety in cultivation under this name, as the
so-called " Scuppernong" has been found in other native localities
since.

The Vitis rupestris , Scheele, is found in Texas, about the Upper Gua-
daloupe, near New Braunfels, and is there known as the ''Mountain
Grape." It is said to have been found also in Arkansas. Professor
Gray, in his description of the plants of Texas, found by Lind-
heimer, says of this s|)ecies: "It does not climb, but the stems are
upright, and only two or three feet high. The branches are small,
and the berries, of the size of peas only, are black, very sweet, and
the most grateful, as well as the earliest ripened grape of Texas."

The following comprise a list of native cultivated grapes, which I
know only by name, not having had access to any means of informa-
tion by which they may be classified. They are all, most probably,
descendants of V. labrusca or V. cestivalis, and some may be syno-
nyms of those already enumerated :

Norton's Seedling, Logan, Eock-house Indian or Waterloo, Little
Ozark, Graham, Miller's Seedling, Burton's, Early August, Sage,
Early Amber, Clermont, Jane, Harris, Long, Baldwin's Early, Louisa,
Mary Ann, Clapier, Canada Chief, Secerd's Sweet-Water, Golden Clin-
ton, Senior, Archer, Monteith, Huber.

These are names of grapes taken from various sources , and men-
tioned as native or indigenous seedlings. After being better known,
and with full opportunities for examination of their fruit, leaves, and
habit, doubtless we shall be able to classify them, and trace their pa-
rentage to one or other of the four American species.

How far the effects of high culture and the propagation of new seed-
lings from these improved varieties may cause them to deviate from
their typical state, it is impossible to foresee ; but if our botanists are
correct in their limitation of species, these variations must be within
the specific characters assigned to the species respectively.

There is one prominent character which distinguishes the grapes of
the United States from those of the eastern hemisphere, and that is in
the infiorescence. All the species of American grapes are dioecia po-
lygamous, that is, some of the vines bear staminate or barren flowers
only, and are forever sterile. Others bear perfect flowers, and are
fruitful.

All the species of the eastern hemisphere are Hermaplirodite, that
is, every vine bears perfect flowers, containing stamen and pistils, in
the same corroUa, and are fruitful. In the absence of other evidence,
this fact would be conclusive of the parentage of an unknown seedling,
whether it be of exotic or indigenous origin.

540 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

FOREIGN GRAPE,

Of the vast numlter of varieties of the foreign grapes now in culti-
vation in Europe and the United States, all are referred to the single
species, Vitis vinifera, lAnnceus, a native of the southern parts of Asia.

It has been under cultivation more than a thousand years, and was
known under many varieties hy the ancients.

Upwards of thirty years ago, when Chaptal was minister of the in-
terior, there were fourteen hundred varieties enumerated in the Lux-
emburg catalogue, obtained from France alone. The Geneva catalogue
numbered six hundred. Doubtless they have been much increased
since ; and, as in the propagation of varieties of other fruits by seed-
lings, there is no limit to the number that may be brought into
existence.

De Candolle, in his 'Trodromus," enumerates and gives descrip-
tions of eleven other species of vine from the Old World, mostly
natives of the southeastern part of Asia; but none^pf these have been
cultivated extensively. The grape of Europe is one sioecies, but of
numberless varieties.

Most of the early attempts at grape culture in this country were with
the foreign grapes; but all, without exception, have been failures.
The foreign grapes (varieties of Vitis vinifera) seem, from their con-
stitution, unfitted to our soil and climate. (I here allude to open air
culture — under glass they appear to thrive very well.) How they will
succeed when grafted upon the hardy native vine, remains to be proved.
Partial experiments, made in Florida and in this vicinity, are promis-
ing of success.

If the cause of failure is the greater humidity of our climate, graft-
ing on the wild vine will scarcely prove a corrective, as the leaf and
fruit are still ex|)osed to the atmospheric influence. If the cause pro-
ceeds from uncongeniality of soil, then grafting upon the wild stock
will most probably be successful. As this mode of increasing a vine-
yard for wine-making must necessarily be more tedious and expensive
than by cuttings, it is our policy, as well as true philosophy, to en-
deavor, by the raising of seedlings, to obtain varieties best suited to
our soil and climate.

Every encouragement should be given for the accomplishment of
this end, and our association has consulted the true interest of all vine-
growers in offering handsome premiums towards that object.

From William A. Forward, of Falatha, Florida.

Palatka, Florida, January 4, 1859.

I feel it due to Mr. Townend Glover that I should bear testimony
to his usefulness in the duties assigned him at this place.

He experimented upon my orange grove, and I consider he has
saved it. His syringing of the trees regenerated them, and destroyed
the insect, I have no doubt his remedy is a thorough one. It has

MISCELLANEOUS. 541

certainly proved so in my grove, and others in tliis town, wherever
practiced. I feel that now we have nothing to fear from the orange
insect.

From S. M. Baird, of Albuquerque, New Ilexico.

Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 16, 1859.

I know of nothing in this Territory so embarrassing to agriculture
and horticulture as insects. They swarm here during the entire grow-
ing season in quantities and kinds almost innumerable. One species
or another attacks vegetation from the root to the blossom. Wheat,
however, is free from Aveevil and the fly. It has been found nearly
impossible to grow potatoes, and many other vegetables in the Kio
Abajo, in consequence of insects, and hence the introduction here of
any means of destroying them would be a great blessing.

This is the climate and country for the alpaca and cashmere coat. I
would also call your attention to the Eocky mountain goat, or sheep,
as it is called by the mountaineers, most of whom contend that it is a
sheep, though Colonel Bonneville says it is a goat. I have seen
nothing of it except its horns, a pair of which I have known to weigh
twenty or thirty pounds. Doubtless naturalists by this time have
thoroughly examined, and properly classified it, though in the "^Ame-
rican Encyclopedia," which contains the only written description, I
have found under this name only an account of the antelope instead
of the Eocky mountain goat. With the former I am well acquainted,
even to the flavor of its meat. Old mountaineers inform me that the
latter sometimes grows to the size of three hundred or foi^r hundred
pounds, that they are very hardy ; the flesh fine for the table; the skin,
when dressed of a superior quality, and that beneath the long shaggy
hair, it produces a dense coat of wool, as fine as silk or fur, to use
their own language. The immense horns would be made useful in the
arts.

Should not this animal be domesticated, if possible? The moun-
taineers say they used to catch the lambs, or kids for pets, and they
■were easily domesticated. Through the agency of the army now dis-
persed, or rather located in the mountains throughout New Mexico,
Kansas, Nebraska, Utah, California^ and Oregon, if the object be
desirable, any number required could be ptrocured. Were this animal
domesticated, it would surely be superior to anything of the kind noAv
known. The antelope also evidently belongs to the goat family, and
I think it might be domesticated v/ithout difficulty.

Note. — It is a common error to confound the Eocky mountain sheep,
Ovis inontana, which inhabits the whole chain of the Eocky mountains
on their highest peaks down to California, and the Eocky mountain
goat, Capra americana, wdiich is also found there, and on the head
waters of the Mackenzie, Columbia, and Missouri rivers.

542 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

These animals have a numher of synonyms. The sheep have been
called "wild sheep of California/' "big-horned sheep," "big horn/'
&c.; the goat, "Antelope americana," "Antelope lanigera," "Capra
americana," &c.

Of the Capra americana, Audubon says: "The coat is composed of
two kinds of hair, the outer and longer considerably straighter than
the wool of the sheep, but softer than that of the common goat ; the
long hair is abundant on the shoulders, back, neck, and thighs; on
the chin there is a thick tuft, forming a beard, like that of the latter
animal. Under the long hairs of the body there is a close coat of fine,
white, silky wool, quite equal to that of the Cashmere goat in fineness.
The resemblance to some of the antelopes, the chamois, the goat, and
the sheep, caused it to be placed by some authors under several genera."

Of the Ovis montana: "The hair" (of the male) "bears no resem-
blance to wool, but is similar to that of the American elk and reindeer.
It i;i coarse, but soft to the touch, and slightly crimped throughout its
"whole length. The hairs on the back are about two inches in length;
those on the side, one and a half inches. At the roots of these hairs,
especially about the shoulders and sides of the neck, a small quantity
of soft fur is perceptible. The legs are covered by short, compact
hairs. The horns of the male are of immense size.

"The female Rocky mountain sheep resembles some of the finest
specimens of the common ram. Its neck is a little longer, as are also
the head and legs, and, in consequence, it stands much higher. Its
horns resemble more those of the goat than of the sheep, in fact. Whilst
the fine, erect body of the male reminds us of a large deer, with the
head of a ram, the female looks like a fine specimen of the antelopo."

From C. R. Buckalew, Minister Besident.

Quito, Ecuador, January 16, 1859.

Great importance has been attached to the cinchona tree, which
furnishes the Peruvian or fever bark. There can be no doubt that
some parts of our country are adapted to its cultivation.

It is found in Ecuador, as well as in Peru, Bolivia, and New Grena-
da, and its value as an article of commerce has very greatly increased
during the last half century. In this country it formerly sold at
forty dollars per hundred, while its present price is one dollar per
pound. These prices are in Ecuadorian currency, to reduce which to
United States money requires a deduction of about one-fifth. In Ecua-
dor the tree is found at elevations of from six to eight thousand feet,
and where the temperature ranges from 60° to 66°. But, as Hum-
boldt observes, a comparison between the climate of these regions and
others is not satisfactory, and it does not follow that the tree will not
flourish in temperatures quite difierent. Within a few years, seeds of
the tree have been sent to England and propagated, in order to be for-
warded to India. The j)lants are forwarded thither in boxes, glass-
covered, with what success remains to be seen.

The seed is diminutive, and may be sent by post to remote countries.

MISCELLANEOUS. 543

In ISTortliern Ecuador, and west of the mountains and of Quito, the
inferior kind is found. The red bark variety, which is most valuable,
is everywhere becoming scarce before the depredations of the hunters,
and, as no care is exercised in its cultivation or preservation, it may^
after some years, unless attention is turned to the subject, become
nearly extinct. The most valuable and extensive forests of the tree
are situated in Southern Ecuador, in the vicinity of Loxa, and it is
from that quarter, so far as this country is concerned, that supplies are
drawn.

Information regarding the cinchona tree may be found in Humboldt's
Personal Narrative, volume 1, page 138, and more pa,rticularly in his
Views of Nature, (Bohn's translation, 1850,) pages 280, 390, and 422,
in note.

From my position here, I enjoy peculiar facilities for obtaining the
seed of the tree and information regarding its culture, and, in concert
with the Patent Office, would take efficient steps towards its introduc-
tion into tlie United States.

From S. B. Parsons, at Lausanne.

I have been seeking for the Italian bees which I was desired to pro-
cure by the Agricultural Division of the Patent Office. I found that a
mixed breed could easily be obtained throughout Lombardy, and that
little care is taken to preserve them pure. I succeeded, however, in
finding an enthusiastic bee cultivator in Mr. Hermann, of Tamins,
who makes frequent incursions in Lombardy, and selects wherever he
can find them, the pure (^ueens of this breed impregnated by pure
males. They are easily distinguishable by a broad yellow band across
the abdomen. The proboscis is also longer, enabling them to feed on
many plants which are beyond the reach of common bees. They are
also about one fifteenth larger than the ordinary breed. A small hive
will make sixty to seventy, and an old hive one hundred to one hun-
dred and thirty pounds of honey in a season. Mr. Hermann's expe-
rience in shipping bees renders reliable his decided opinion that they
can be safely sent to America only in the autumn, and that it is essen-
tial to send them by steamer^ as they would not endure a long voyage.

I have purchased of Mr. Hermann ten hives, to be forwarded from
Havre. In order to insure their safety, I purchased old hives. I will
furnish a more detailed report on these bees, including drawings. It
will describe the best mode of educating the queens, of preserving their
purity, and increasing their number. Until spring, the only attention
these hives will require will be that which is given to ordinary bees.

It will be expedient to make no distribution before another year, as
I can describe a mode by which these large hives can be increased to
six hundred small ones, each with a queen, and each of which can be
placed in a box six inches square for more convenient transportation
over the country.

I appreciate very highly the value of these bees. I think that their
acquisition alone would have merited a special mission from America.

544 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

I am in receipt of a letter from fhe director of the botannic garden
at Odessa, in whicli he states that ''the industrial vine culture of the
Crimea is principally of well known European kinds, while there are
to he found also some varieties which are native to the country, and
some obtained from the Trans- Caucasian provinces, from China, Persia,
and the river Amoor. Of such, however, it would be impossible to
obtain five thousand cuttings in the space of one season. Tire culture
of the olive is very limited in Southern Eussia. For some time the
demand for young plants has been only from the Trans-Caucasian prov-
inces. That demand has now nearly ceased, and the nurseries have so
small a stock on hand, that they could not furnish this year more than
four hundred or five hundred plants. The remaining four thousand
five hundred can be supplied in the autumn of 1861."

This state of things renders useless any visit to the Crimea, and I
wrote him that I should not wish the vines of western Europe, as they
are already abundant with us, but that he might send as large, a part
of the five thousand cuttings as can be obtained this year, and the
remainder another season, all to consist of sorts from the Trans-Cauca-
sian provinces, from Chiva, Persia, and the river Amoor. I requested
him also to send one hundred scions of each Crimean variety of apples,
pear, cherry, currant and quince.' I wrote him that I wished the
novoli of the olive. He wrote only of plants, and I have therefore
requested him to send five hundred now, and I would write him this
winter whether the remaining four thousand five hundred would be
desired another year.

WINE-MAKING IN NEW YORK.

Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York,

January 18, 1860.

Sir : I received from the Patent Office, about a year ago, a tin case,
with two grape-vines inclosed in moss, marked " grapes from Hunga-
ry." These I set in a pot, in the latter part of February, 1859, and
early in May took them out, and set the younger and most thrifty of
t]-.e two in a favored spot on the south side of my house. By cold
weather last fall it Imcl grown two main vines, one four feet seven
inches, and the other five feet two inches ripe wood. This vine is short-
jointed ; eyes, or buds, prominent ; leaf cleft, and resembles most for-
eign grapes in appearance ; have cut away two-thirds of the ripe wood,
and distributed the cuttings to my neighbors. So far it has stood out
of doors, borne 3° Fahrenheit below zero, and appears hardy, and unin-
jured by the frosts of this winter. The other vine was old wood — at
least two or three years old ; appears like the other ; grew badly, (only
some sixteen or eighteen inches;) ripened the wood badly. Trans-
planted at the same time, (May,) but to a richer soil, in a less sunny
spot.

As to wine-making, let me add that this valley, three hundred to
eight hundred feet deep, at the head of Cayuga Lake, has always been
noted for its fruit. The vintage of this town, in 1858^ was about 1,000

MISCELLANEOUS. 645

gallons, of wliicli over 600 gallons were made by my press. Tlie result
has been some 700 to 800 gallons of wine that will compare very favor-
ably witli any of Europe or America. Especially do tlie still Catawba
and Isabella mixed compare with the bland German and French wines
brought home by travelers in their trunks ; that is, a sweet, mild,
spiritous, bland wine, suited to the sick chamber, sacramental, and table
use. If asked, as a chemist and manufacturer, from my experience now
of fifteen years in wines here, how can wine be made in Central New
York ? I should reply, that the variety made of the same grapes can be
very great_, and by the mere manipulation you can produce variety in
color and roughness and quantity of spirit. As the Catawba usually
ripens poorly, a fine wine is made here by one-third half-ripened Ca-
tawba, and two-thirds ripe Isabella, and if the manipulation has been
correctly made, cannot easily be told from the best Catawba.

Again, the manipulation can vary the quality to suit the time of sale
and use. I speak all the while of no additions of any substance what-
ever, except sugar or refined syrup. The wines soonest ripened will
not keep the best or longest.

A fine wine, ripe for use in six months, may be made by crushing
half a bushel of grapes at a time in a butter (Orange county pack-
age) firkin, with a handle (broom or hoe handle) inserted into a round
block of hard wood, sawed off square at both ends, a style I prefer, and
putting thirty gallons so crushed in a forty-five gallon alcohol barrel
for a fermenting tun. Add two pounds of sugar to the gallon, and
ferment as long as the color deepens. The moment the color ceases to
deepen, put to press, transfer the pure juice immediately to a close
cask, and let the fermentation go on as rapidly as possible. Keep the
room so hot that it shall not be over twenty days before the fermenta-
tion ceases spontaneously. Then put into a cool cellar, and when clear,
a strong red wine will result. If you have succeeded in the manipula-
tion, this wine can be used at once, and will give good satisfaction to
the palate. It is much admired for its rich, splendid colors, like Bo-
hemian red-stained glass, clear and pure. But it will not keep well.

Probably the best wine we can make in this valley of Cayuga Lake
is by the following manipulation. Use the hoe, or broom-handled
block, round, with square ends — say a piece of locust, five inches in
diameter and six inches long; crush just hard enough in your butter
firkin to mash the pulp and lacerate the skins of the grapes, but not
crush the seeds, half a bushel at a time, putting, as before, 30 gallons
into an alcohol cask, with one head out for a fermenting tun. To
every gallon add one pound of sugar, or equivalent of clarified syrup.
If sugar is used, boil in sufficient water or wine to dissolve it' — the
longer the better, before you add to the mashed grapes — making 30 or
35 gallons in your 40 or 45-gallon fermenting tun. Ferment rapidly,
by maintaining such heat that you can hear the bubbling and a hissing
sound from the tun all over the room. The color will deepen, and
then fade^ when the supernatant skins and pulp have become dingy
and muddy, and the must or liquor pale reddish amber color, put to
press, and pour the must or grape-juice into the cask, where it is to
ripen. Ferment again rapidly, so that not over twenty-five days shall
elapse before the fermentation shall cease spontaneously — that is,
35- A

546 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

twenty-five days from the time of crusMng the grapes. Put in a cold,
dry cellar, and bung uptight. Eack in February and again in April,
or just before the "sweating in" commences. Complete the "sweating
in," or the second fermentation, in fifteen days if you can — that is,
so regulate the heat that it will be over spontaneously in that time.
Allow it to clear by standing two months ; rack and let it stand one
month, and rack again, adding at this last racking as much sugar as
will suit your taste — say one to one a half pounds to the gallon. I
you have succeeded in the rackings just named, no further fermenta-
tion will take place ; and if the fermentation has been good, the wine
will be sweet enough to suit any one, at a pound and a half to the
gallon. You can pass it off to any one as the most delicious, bland,
foreign wine that can be named. In color, it is amber, or reddish
amber ; mild and bland in taste, high in its aroma, sets quietly on the
stomach, produces no flatulency, and is a wine every way worthy of
the name. Of the vintage of 1858, I treated twelve casks on this
principle, and failed only in three of them. One became vinegar, the
other two somewhat acid ; the graj)es were from five or six different
graperies. The vinegar cask was unripe Isabellas; the other two
mixed, unripe Catawba and unripe Isabella.

The New York State Agricultural Society, in 1858, took strong
ground against the addition of sugar. Tiie committee on wines call
sugared wines "cordials," and not wines. I simply add, that I have
a dozen samples made without sugar in various ways, of careful, un-
adulterated manipulation. A flat, tart, insipid, high-colored (red or
straw-colored) fluid is thus made. This wine can be remedied by the
addition of "acetic ether" and "ethereal oil of wine." If these gen-
tlemen say they add no sugar, but do add the gluten of wheat and
starch, they are probably not aware that they use sugar in disguise.

In judging of wines, and to suit the common taste, it must be re-
membered that we are not a wine-drinking people. The mass of the
nation form their ideas of wine by that used at the sacramental tables
of our churches. And in these a factitious mixture of wine, brandy,
or alcohol, drugs, and especially "acetic ether" and "ethereal oil of
wine" — an oil made from the distillation of alcohol — is the main
element that reaches the taste, and then only when excessively sweet-
ened. Hence, if a rare and choice bottle of foreign wine is care-
fully brought home by a traveler, and tasted by an American, it is
condemned. So, too, of a choice native wine in most cases. The
drugs that make the decided taste on the tongue are not there; neither
is the excess of sugar. I have known the choicest wine of Palestine
condemned as no wine at all, .ind. the Hock of Germany pronounced
as without character, because of this false opinion thus formed.

Henceforth, wine-making will assume more and more importance.
Lastly, I would add, that a market is the main demand of our valley.
Of the wines of 1858, we probably have in town over 600 gallons ripe
and for sale. With unreasonable susj^icion we can find no ready sale,
but in time this will be overcome.

I would say to the novice in wine-making, avoid putting the unfer-
mented wine in casks in a cold cellar, and thus avoid the slow fer-

'miscellaneous. 547

mentation in the cask for from three to six months. Such wines never
ripen ; we have them, thus treated, of 1854, 1856, and 1857, yet un-
ripened and acid. All our wines tend to a claret. I am inclined to
the belief that the best "stumming" of casks is to fill them with weak
lime water, and let them stand two or three weeks ; the addition of
pulverized lime stone to the mash would be useful to prevent acidity.
In my experiment it fell in crystals to the bottom of the cask in a year
to a year and a half.

EespectfuUy,

S. J. PAEKER, M. D.
Hon. William D. Bishop,

Commissioner of Patents.

From the Union Horticultural Society, Penn Yan, Yates county, New

York.

The grape commands the attention of our horticulturists, many of
Vv^hom liave already advanced far in its cultivation. In this vicinity
there have been not less than one 1,636 gallons of wine made. The
amount of grapes sold at distant markets is 10,960 pounds, and prob-
ably as much more consumed or kept for home consumption. Over
20,000 vines will be set out during the coming season in this county,
and an equal number in the neighboring country. Wine has been
made from nearly all our varieties of grapes, with varying success, as
may be expected- when inexperienced men engage in a new enterprise.
The business is extending, and is destined to become important.

The native grape has been converted into wine with good results.
The vine is hardy and thrives well, and the fruit is dark-colored, rich,
and pulpy. It is tart in a high degree. For heavy wine, it seems
admirably adapted, and its rich pulp will admit sugar without render-
ing it light and insipid. It will, no doubt, be sought for to color and
flavor wine of other varieties.

In our latitude, 42° 40", with our variety of soils and climate ; in the
vicinity of the Seneca Lake, which is about 450 feet above tide-water,
and never freezes ; also of the Crfoked Lake, 720 feet above tide-water;
with our slopes and highlands, 800 feet above the lakes, and with our
valleys and exposures to all points of the compass, we have natural
facilities to become acquainted with the habits, properties, and modes
of cultivation of every kind of grape. Such varied circumstances will
make the study pleasing and the result profitable. We have in our
vicinity the climate of the lake country and its breezes, and the climate
of the river countries, with their sunshine, frost, fogs, and mist. Near
the lakes, it is true, are places effected by fog and mist in autumn,
where the rot or mildew will be a most certain destroyer ; but at others,
only a few miles distant, fog is seldom seen, and the autumn frost is
slow to appear.

648 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

SILK CULTURE. •

By L. Constant, of Gat Springs, Austin County, Texas.

Familiar with tlie climate of Southern Europe, and for twelve years
a resident of Texas, I had my attention directed long ago to silk cul-
ture. Several attempts to import eggs, via Bordeaux, proved unsuc-
cessful, the worms having already left their eggs, when I came into
possession. At a later period I ordered from Bolzani, a silk-raiser in
Berlin, and received them in a perfect state, though transported in
winter. They were well packed in linen. Without paying them any
special attention, I kej)t the eggs, still so packed, in a drawer, from
the 1st of January to the 10th of May, without injury. At an average
temperature of 74° F. I soaked the eggs for some six hours in a
mixture of brandy and water, wiped them well with a piece of smooth
linen, and put them into a small, flat, wooden box^ exposing it to
the rays of the sun, covered slightly v^^ith a few mulberry leaves,
which, as they withered, were constantly substituted by fresh ones.
During the nights, I kept the box warm by putting some cotton loosely
around it. By this method, differing altogether from that used in
Europe — where the eggs are hatched either in rooms of an equal
temperature, or on the bosom of females — I succeeded very well. After
six days all the vigorous worms had left their eggs, appeared very
lively, and partook freely of the young leaves of Morus multicaulis.
The feeding was done on the usual wicker-work, placed in my room,
which was kept open by day and shut at night. When a warm and
equal temperature began, which lasted during the whole month of
June, it was a very favorable period to the worms ; yet I was surprised
at the extraordinary facility displayed by them in completing their
four changes, and pleased to find that, on the twenty-eighth day
after their birth, the transformation into the chrysalis had already
begun. On the sixth day after their birth I transferred part of the
worms into the open air, removing them from the wicker-work to the
mulberry trees, by fixing there the branches of those leaves already
occupied, from which they soon spread. They continued in good
health, appeared lively, and became fnore vigorous than those kept in
the room. I did not supply the former with any huts, in which to go
through the process of changing into the chrysalis ; but those ke23t in
the room were furnished with shocks made of fine straw, and sim-
ilar to small brooms, without a handle. On the thirty-second day
after their birth they had already involved themselves, or begun their
spinning. I possessed one fourth of an ounce of grains, the fourth
part of which was hatched, and the rest I threw away, so as not to
raise worms of different ages. They produced somewhat over a pound
of cocoons, which, either together with their huts or collected from the
trees, were put into a box lined with coarse linen, and j)laced in a dark
corner of the room. After ten days the insects crept out, and within
four days laid seven eighths of an ounce of eggs, which kept very well
until next spring ; but, on the occasion of a heavy rain, they became

MISCELLANEOUS. 549

wet and unfit for use, simply because the miscliief done had not "been
noticed until too late. From the close attention I devoted to them, I
found that not a single worm became sick or died in the course of their
development ; and almost without an exception they went through the
changing process with ease and rapidity. They were fond of the leaves
of the Morus multicaulis, eating them with avidity; but refused those
of the wild mulberry of this region. The worms raised in the open
air were vigorous, and their cocoons beyond all objection. The silk
was equal to the best obtained from Turin, the thread of the cocoon
being some 500 to YOO yards in length. It is my intention to continue
these experiments.

THE RADISH, AND FRUITS OP JAPAN.
By ToWNSEKD Harris, United States Consul, Simoda.

The statements in the "World in Miniature," concerning the Ja-
pan radish, are much exaggerated. It is true, that radishes are grown
in every part of Japan, but nowhere are they a principal article of
food; they are merely an adjunct to rice, wheat, and barley, which are
the great staples of the country.

I ordered the best specimens of the long radish to be brought to me
when I first visited Yedo ; the longest were less than thirty inches,
and about one inch in diameter. This radish, when dried, loses more
than three-fourths of its bulk, and looks very like a wdiip-thong.
Specimens of another kind were also brought to me. These were
shaped like our parsnip ; the largest measured eighteen inches in the
length, and fifteen in circumference, and weighed four pounds and five
ounces, avoirdupois.

All the radishes of Japan, when used as a salad, are inferior to the
garden radish of the West, being tough, and not of an agreeable flavor.
When boiled they are quite insipid, having nothing of the flavor of the
white turnip or rutabaga.

Only trifling attention is paid to the cultivation of fruit in this
country ; cherry and plum trees produce magnificent blossoms, but
bear very little fruit, and that little worthless. Peaches are far infe-
rior to those of China, being quite bitter ; and the same remark will
apply to the apricot.

I have seen only one variety of pears ; they resemble in shape and
color a russet apple, but are unfit to eat raw, and when cooked are
quite insipid. The best grapes of Japan are like the Catawba in ap-
pearance, but inferior to that variety.

The only fruit that I have seen in Japan that particularly merits
notice, is the Kaki, a variety of Diospyros, and belonging to the order
Ehenacece. It is really worthy of being introduced into the United
States. Many kinds have been brought to me. One has a skin as

550 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

thin as tissue paper, and the pulp resembles in flavor the Egyptian
fig. Another variety has a thick rind and a finer pulp, while the
taste strongly reminds me of the delicious mango of Siam and Bombay.
The tree is very ornamental, and of rapid growth ; it would, no doubt
succeed in any part of the United States south of 3'7° of latitude.
Unlike the persimmon of the United States, there is very little astrin-
gency in the skin of the fruit, and frost, which matures ihe persim-
mon, greatly injures the kaki. This fruit varies in size, but is always
larger than its American relative, and some are seven inches in diam-
eter ; it is in season nearly three months. The Japanese dry it, when
it will keep for some four months, and has a taste like that of the dried
Smyrna fig.

From Beverly L. Clarke, United States Minister Resident to Guate-
mala.

VEGETABLE TALLOW,

Known to botanists by the name of myristica sebacea, comes from a
nut about the size of a nutmeg, full of meat, which, being melted,
produces a yellowish tallow, excellent for candles, but until now very
little used or known even here. I have no doubt this article might be
collected and exported with considerable profit. It is grown upon a
bush or shrub, in its wild or uncultivated state, in immense quantities,
in the southern departments and in Vera Paz. It is susceptible of such
high purification as to resemble the finest sperm, is solid, and quite as
transparent. A sample of this production in the nuts, in the form of
tallow, is forwarded with this report.

ORCHARD-HOUSE CULTURE.

By Dr. George Pepper Norris, near Wilmington, Delaioare.

Orchard-house culture, recently introduced into the United States,
bids fair to give great satisfaction. Many varieties of fruits cannot be
grown in the open air, on account of insect pests, and this plan^ by
the construction of proper houses, will, in the course of a few years,
effect a great change in the manner of growing fruits. No work on
this subject has yet a23peared in our country, but horticulturists are
much indebted to the editor of a prominent journal on horticulture,
for republishing Mr. Eivers's book relating to it.

This mode of culture has been successfully tried in England, and a
number of houses have been constructed adjoining our large cities.
One in Philadelphia, that of Mr. Levering, is two hundred feet long,
and although but a short time in operation, has already produced the
most satisfactory results.

Orchard-house culture, with us, will probably be confined to the
peach, plum, apricot, and nectarine. The ttjee latter fruits are now

MISCELLANEOUS. 551

almost entirely neglected in this vicinity, on account of the ravages of
the curculio. Fruits of the hinds above named are intended to he
grown as dwarfs, in pots, and by a proper course of pruning and
summer pinching, with liquid manure, will succeed in producing fine
crops. A house for this kind of culture may he thus described :

Suppose one to be desired 30 feet long. Stake out the ground, 30
feet by 12 feet 6 inches wide ; place 6 cedar or chesnut posts 3 feet
deep, leaving 7 feet 6 inches above the surface of the soil. This is
for the back row. Plant another row of posts 12 feet 6 inches in
front of these back posts, to project above the ground 3 feet. Nail
strips along the top of the back and front rows, for the rafters to
rest on. The rafters will be 14 feet long, and the roof to be made
of glass, permanently fixed, in the manner adopted by all nursery-
men for their grape and pruning-houses, with two additional posts
at each side, for doors. It is now ready to board up. The front,
back, and sides should be finished with well-seasoned l-incli plowed
and grooved plank. This gives us a house 30 feet long by 12 feet 6
inches wide ; 7 feet 6 inches high at the back, (probably 7 feet 9 inches
with the back plank,) and 3 feet 3 inches high in the front. It is
nothing but a lean-to glass-roofed house, made perfectly tight, but
capable of being all thrown open, as will presently be described.

Everything will depend on the ventilation. Glass shutters, 3 feet long
by 20 inches in width, should alternate in the roof, to be raised up. The
boards along the front should be on hinges, to let down. There should
be 6 shutters, on grooves, 3 feet by 1 foot 2 inches, near the top, 2 half-
way down, and 2 at the bottom. This, with two doors, one at each end,
will give the requisite air. It will be understood that a house is desired
capable of being made perfectly tight, when necessary ; at the same time,
we can, by opening all the shutters and doors, give an abundance of air.
The walk through the center of the house is made by sinking the path
18 inches below the surface, and planking up the sides. The front
row of trees will now be placed in pots directly beneath the glass, and
3 feet apart ; the back will require to be raised according to the size
of the trees. Pot fruit trees require a strong, hot sun, with plenty of
air, and protection from cold spring winds. The cost of such a house
as I have described should not be over $120, and by careful manage-
ment may be built for considerably less. Mr. Kivers's estimate is under
■|80 for these dimensions, but is too low. Pot fruits are now for sale
by all the prominent nurserymen, with instructions how to prune and
cultivate. Five years will, in all probability, witness very numer-
ous houses of this kind throughout the country. A plan in detail will
be found in the Horticulturist, for June, 1859 [published by Saston,
New York.]

THE HANG-WORM.

Maryland Agricultural College,
Prince George's county, Maryland, December 21, 1859.
Sir: I am sorry I did not receive Mr. Chambers's interesting com-
munication to the Agricultural Division of your office until a few days
ao;o, it havinar been misdirected.

552 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

Mr. C. C. Chambers, of Flemington, East Florida, complains of the
ravages committed upon tlie cotton crop in his neighborhood by a
species of caterpillar, unknown to either himself or the planters in his
immediate vicinity, but which, from his clear and lucid description,
(the specimen inclosed in his letter being unfortunately lost,) I have
very little hesitation in pronouncing to be a species of the Oiketicus
coniferiim, commonly known in this State as the hang or drop-worm.
This name has been given to it from the peculiar habit the caterpillar
has of forming a case, and hanging suspended from the leaves or
branches of the trees and shrubs upon which it feeds. As the natural
history and instincts of our Oiketicus, or hang-worm, are most prob-
ably much the same as the Florida species, and may prove interesting
to Mr. Chambers, I will endeavor to describe them, in as plain lan-
guage as possible.

The eggs are deposited at the lower end of the hard brown envelop,
or apparent chrysalis of the female insect, and inside of what Mr. C.
terms the "cocoon," which "case" also serves as a protection for the
insect when in the soft-bodied, caterpillar state, and is formed of silk,
interwoven with pieces of stalk and leaves, upon which the caterpillar
feeds. The interior is carefully lined with a fine floss-like silk, to
protect the naked skin of the caterpillar from the rough ends of its
outer envelop. When the warm weather commences, these eggs,
having remained in the case all winter, hidden from the prying eyes
of insectivorous birds and protected from the cold, hatch, and the
young worms emerge into the case from an aperture in the anterior
part of the female chrysalis case, caused by a splitting open of the
upper part of the hard and shelly material forming the outer envelop
of the female. The young worms then find their way into the outer
world through a hole purposely left in the lower end of the leafy case,
and beginning to feed upon the tree, immediately form a minute case
adapted to their small size, from the gnawed fragments as before
stated, and which they gradually enlarge, from time to time, as^ they
grow, until the autumn, when they attain their full and perfect size ; in
the meantime merely protruding their heads to feed and six fore feet
to crawl from place to place. Still, however, they retain their case or
movable house, firmly attached to their naked bodies by means of their
hinder feet, which grasp, or retain hold of the case with such tenacity
as hardly to be capable of being dislodged without tearing the worm
to pieces. When the caterpillar of the male is full grown, it casts the
caterpillar skin and assumes the form of a pupa, in the same manner
as other Lepidojpterous, or scale-winged insects, and remains in this
state a longer or shorter time, according to the state of the weather.
It finally pushes itself out of the lower end of the case, through the
opening left purposely by the caterpillar, the minute spines on its
body facilitating this mode of exit ; and the anterior part splitting
open, a small black four-winged fly or moth makes its ap23earance,
having the body black and hairy, and wings transparent wherever the
down or scales have been accidentally rubbed off. This moth might
readily be mistaken for a fly from its singularly fly-like appearance
and transparent wings ; but, in reality, belongs to the urder oi Lepidop-
tcra, or butterflies and moths, the same m th§ cotton caterpillar and boll-

MISCELLANEOUS.

653

worm. Tlie male insect having wings, immediately seeks out, and pairs
with the first female he finds, quietly reposing in her case, which she
never leaves — this serving, at different times, first as her house, then
as her nest, and finally, as her cofi&n. Pairing being over, the male
dies, the female deposits her eggs in the case, as before stated, and
likewise dies, leaving the eggs to be hatched by the genial heat of the
next season's sun. Late in the fall, and during the winter, many
small cases or cocoons maybe seen suspended on the leafless branches,
each with a black chrysalis case protruding from its lower extremity ;
these are the cases of the males, that have undergone their transform-
ations, and paired with the females. The larger cocoons are those of
the females, and contain the dried up body of the insect, in the poste-
rior part of which may be found from seven hundred to one thousand
eggs; embedded in and covered on the upper part with a thick layer of
brownish dust, apparently composed of the down of the mother's
body. These eggs, if not destroyed, will all hatch, and in a short
time defoliate all the trees in the neighborhood, the young worms
being so light as to be carried by the wind from tree to tree, with the
greatest facility, as I have found them on almost every shade tree in
Washington, not even accepting the flat cedar. They do not appear
to be very choice in their selection of food.

I wish I could procure from him as many as a dozen cocoons, to
hatch the eggs therein contained, and compare the perfect insect with

our own, as I have already figured
one Oiketicus or hang-worm found on
the cotton plant in Greorgia, and was
satisfied that it was almost, if not
absolutely tlie same as our own Oiketi-
cus conifencm, or case-bearing hang-
worm, if I may so term it. Last year
I found two specimens on pine in
Florida, but of a much larger size,
and may probably be the same species
as that found by Mr. Chambers, as
there were cotton fields in the imme-
diate vicinity. As I have spent so
much time in describing the insect, I
must touch upon the most important
part to the agriculturist, the best

Male, with chrysalis skin Female, with head and mCanS of destroying it. As the iuSCCt
protruding. six tore feet out, crawl- „ . i , i i

ing. fastens its cocoon securely to a branch

or twig, when about to change, and as in winter, the trees here are
entirely defoliated, and these pendant cocoons, also containing the
eggs, are plainly visible, they should be torn off and immediately
burnt. Each female case, as I have before stated, contains from seven
hundred to one thousand embryo worms, and if not destroyed in time,
might increase so fast as to do much damage to the crops. I would
here remark, that this fall, I found a peculiar small black and yellow
banded Ichneumon fly, very busy depositing her eggs in these cocoons.
The parent fly deposits one or two eggs in the body of the hang-worm
inside, and hatching into pale yellowish white, footless grubs, devour

654 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

the interior of the rightful possessor of the case, leaving untouched
only the hard shelly covering of the female, in which they change into
pupae, and afterward, in the spring, gnaw their way out of the mur-
dered insect, and hrood, as perfect four-winged flies, having a slight
resemhlance to a very small hlack wasp, marked on the hind body with
light yellow hands. I regret that I have no specimens of these flies at
hand, in order to he able to describe them in a more intelligible man-
ner. I have also observed other smaller ichneumon flies destroying the
hang-worm, in a manner somewhat similar; and merely mention these
facts in order to warn Mr. Chambers not to mistake the beneficial par-
asite for the really noxious insect, should he, or his neighbors, choose
to watch their transformations and habits another season, as I hope
they will do, and report to the office the results of their experiments.
It is generally from practical planters that we learn the true history
of the insects destructive to their crops. As to Mr. C.'s theory of the
cotton caterpillar, I confess I am unable to judge about their appear-
ance, at stated intervals, like the locust, {Cicada leptendecim ;) but,
from what I have seen, am inclined to think that the seasons have more
to do with it than he imagines. A slight frost will kill the chrysalis
in its loosely-spun cocoon, and I have been unable to find either eggs
or perfect insects in the winter, not having remained the whole year
in the South.

I remain with respect, your obedient servant,

TOWNEND GLOVER.

Hon. William D. Bishop,

Commissioner of Patents, Washington.

Letter from N. H. Morague, M. D., of Palatka, Florida.

Palatka^ Florida, January 10, 1859.

Mr. Townend Glover, late entomologist of the Agricultural Division
of the Patent Office, and myself, commenced last summer a series of
experiments upon my orange grove for the purpose of eradicating the
insects; ''insignificant animalcules" as they appear to the eye unas-
sisted by the microscope, yet they were devastating my trees in such a
manner that I had almost resolved to abandon the culture.

After trying various experiments with but little success, such as
sulphur and lime, aloes and whisky, coal-tar, soda, syrup, &c., we
came to the conclusion to try Peruvian guano, and made a solution
according to the following proportions :

To a barrel of soap-suds acid a common bucket of guano.

I may here remark that the instrument used in applying these
remedies was a tin syringe, with numerous minute holes perforated in
the end ; a number of which instruments Mr. Glover was kind enough
to have made and presented to several persons in this community.
We syringed my trees once a week for a month or two, and I am happy
to say with complete success. Although my grove was literally covered
vvrith the coccus, not one can now be found alive.

MISCELLANEOUS. 556

If they return, I sliall pursue the same plan, satisfied that I shall
gain a two-fold object : first, ridding the trees of the insect, at least
for a time, and secondly, benefiting the trees very much by the wash
and drippings of the guano.

FROST.
BY WILLIAM H. BREWER.

The frosts of June of 1859 were so very disastrous to the crops of this
county that I have thought the subject of sufficient interest to record
for future reference. They were unsurpassed and even unequaled by
any that ever occurred in this country, (so far as I can ascertain,) if
we consider the great extent of territory affected, the lateness of the
season, and the magnitude of their disastrous results.

The mean temperature of the month of June was several degrees
lower than usual in most of the Northern States, and at some places
where records have long been kept, (as at Eochester,) several degrees
lower than ever before noticed.

The 4th. of the month was generally the coldest day, and at the
Toronto Observatory, (Canada,) the coldest of any day in June for over
twenty years, while similar notes came from other points. The night
was still colder, and brought a disastrous freezing frost. Snow fell
during the day at Toronto^, Niagara, Forbes, Buffalo, Syracuse, &c.
In many places in Western New York, as at Avon, the ground was
white. Scattering flakes also fell in parts of Ohio.

The mean temperature here for the day was 20° F., the evening
observation being 34° in a sheltered place. The night was perfectly,
clear ; how low the thermometer sank I have no means of knowing
accurately, but probably to about 25°, or even lower, which is 23°
below the lowest temperature for June, 1857. On the morning of the
5th a frost-like snow generally covered the ground, while the bare
surface was frozen to the depth of over one fourth of an inch, and ice
formed on the water in the most exposed positions over one fourth of
an inch in thickness. This was the frost that did the most of the
damage here and in the adjoining counties, but in some places it was
less disastrous than the succeeding ones. Probably, also, it spread
widest, having been felt over a large part of New England, where it did
but little injury. Over the most of New York it was very severe,
especially in the central and western parts, and did much damage in
Ohio and Pennsylvania — these three States suffering particularly. It
extended south to Maryland, being further south on the east than on
the west side of the mountains, affected also the most of Michigan,
much of Illinois and Indiana, Kentucky, (as far south as Lexington,)
Missouri, Wisconsin, Canada, and Iowa, probably to the Missouri
river. A diminution of temperature was felt as far as North Carolina,
and perhaps further south. In some places the frost made its appear-
ance on the night of the 3d, as in Berks county, Pennsylvania ; but
this was not usual, and even in those cases the day of the 4th was the
cold day.

656 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

In parts of New York a heavy frost followed on tlie night of the 5th,
in various places, on the night of the 6th, then, extensively on the
night of the 7th, which was severe in Northern New York. It was felt
m Vermont and Massachusetts ; I know not how wide. Again, on the
aight of the 8th it was severe in places in Northeast, especially in
Maine. On the night of the 10th, it was most severe in places in New
York ; on the 11th and 12th, there was frost here_, the first very slight ;
that of the 12th severe enough to destroy much which the first frost
had spared. In some other places ice formed of considerable thickness,
but none here. Frost followed in still other places on the night of the
13th. From this last date, the weather here steadily grew warmer,
until the 28th, when it reached 94°, about the hottest of the season, and
then cooled again until we had a slight frost on the morning of the
4th of July.

In this series of frosts, the region of greatest disaster may be defined
as a belt extending from Auburn, New York, to Columbus, Pennsyl-
vania, the northern edge of this belt curving considerably to the south,
in Western Pennsylvania, but severe damage was done outside of this
in certain localities, embracing the most of New York, north and west
of the Catskill mountains, the most of Pennsylvania west of the
mountains, the most of Ohio, and parts of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Canada. If we take its entire range,
it included also all of New England, east to the Atlantic, south to
Maryland, parts of Virginia and Kentucky, the States before enumer-
ated, west to the Missouri river, (possibly further,) and north to an
unknown distance.

The effects were generally less severe in the immediate vicinity of
large bodies of water. A slight fog rising from the Ohio protected the
immediate valley near here ; a strip along the northern shore of Lake
Erie was protected in a similar manner ; in fact, this was observed
along many other bodies of water, as Seneca and Cayuga Lakes, and
the other lakes of Central New York. But a partial exception was
seen around the southern end of Lake Michigan. In the vicinity of
Chicago the injury was very severe.

The effects of elevation and exposure were various and remarkable.
In some situations, even in this vicinity, the valleys and sheltered
places suffered least; in others, not distant, the reverse was the case.
Some fields of wheat seemed to have been frozen by the wind, which
protected others, and often localities quite near each other, suffered
very unequally.

The different states of advancement of the crops in different localities
was another cause of divers effects. At no place where the tempera-
ture sank so low was vegetation further advanced than here, hence no
locality suffered more. Throughout the country wheat was in full
flower, some fields beyond that stage, other grains proportionately
advanced, apples over an inch in diameter, and ripe cherries had been
in market from the vicinity for several days, while other fruits had
duly progressed.

It may be well to notice some of the immediate effects and appear-
ances. Corn, of course, was killed, as far as it was frozen, that which
was furthest advanced being entirely lost. Wheat was injured most

MISCELLANEOUS. 557

by freezing in the soft parts of the stalk, generally in the sheath of
the upper joint, and the stalk immediately below the head. Hundreds
of acres were thus totally destroyed, but in some cases it seemed as if
the damage had been done in the head itself, although it was rare at
harvest to find a head partially killed ; in probably ninety-nine cases
in a hundred the head was entirely killed, or escaped nearly unharmed ;
that is, produced its full number of grains, though often less plump
than usual.

From many microscopical examinations made the next and succeed-
ing days, I am convinced that the young grain and the flower could
and did stand the cold better than the succulent parts of the stalk.
Consequently, in certain cases, it was extremely difficult to tell the
extent of the damage, until about two days after. In some cases the
young grain, or ovule would have a perfectly normal appearance, and
the pollen grains preserve a natural color and shape ; yet the head be
subsequently found to be entirely killed by freezing below. In other
cases the grain and parts of the flower soon showed the injury, the
ovule becoming more pulpy, and at first a deeper blue than its natural
color, and the hairs which enveloped the plants and anthers would all
show cells ruptured or withered by the freezing.

As before remarked, it was rare to find a head with a few perfect
grains, and the rest blasted, but much more frequently the grains that
were left filled, but imperfectly, as if the stalk had but partially trans-
mitted the sap.

The other cereal grains suffered less, early barley the most. North
of us, where the grain was not so advanced in growth, much less
damage was done.

In sections of New York, where ice formed half an inch thick, and
where the wheat was but just coming in head, little, if any, injury
resulted, and better crops than usual were harvested.

Forest and other trees were much affected. A vigorous growth of
young wood had been formed, still succulent, and the more tender
parts were killed, both of the cultivated evergreens, even hardy kinds,
and the native and the cultivated deciduous trees. Of the native
forest, the white ash and locust suffered most. The former had its
leaves and fruit entirely killed, and many of the young trees died ; the
older ones put forth new foliage. The locust fared scarcely better ;
by the 10th or 12th the trees were bare, and the ends of the young
wood killed, but towards the close of the month, fresh foliage put forth,
and about the 11th of July, many put forth a second crop of flowers,
especially the younger trees. The inflorescence was much more sparse
than at the usual date, yet sufficiently abundant to be quite con-
spicuous.

Most forest trees here have produced little or no fruit this summer.
Hay was not heavy, but good, and buckwheat an unusually good crop.
Apples, such as escaped, grew well, but have shown a great tendency
to rot, even the more durable kinds.

A supposed effect has been the destruction of insects. Whether
this be the case or not, it is a fact that insects of all kinds have been
unusually sparse the past summer, especially those kinds most inju-
rious to the farmer. The wheat midge has been everywhere less

658 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

destructive than last season, wlierever the frost reached, and parts of
"Western New York have reaped a plentiful wheat harvest, the first
for many years.

The aggregate damage to the farmer of this county can now he better
estimated than hefore. Those most comj^etent to judge, estimate that,
instead of selling as usual, the county must buy at least $250,000
worth of breadstuffs ; and that the total loss to the farming interest
will amount to upwards of $1,500,000.

From William Muir, ofLdborville, Melrose Post Office, St, Louis county,

Missouri.

November 29, 1859.

The Meramee Horticultural Society of this county numbers forty-one
active members, beside honorary and corresponding members in differ-
ent portions of the Union, Its first year is nearly closed, and has been
signally successful. Conducted on the itinerant plan, its meetings are
held once a month at the houses of members in different parts of the
township.

Our first fair, at Allenton, was well attended.

I obtained from a nurseryman two small tubers of the Chinese yam,
the refuse of his season's sales, which, although late in June, I planted.
They received, no culture, except keeping down the weeds. In the
spring, when I took them out of the ground, where they had remained
during a severe winter, without mulch or other protection, they died
off eight inches from the surface, the remainder being quite good.
Their average length was twenty-six inches, circumference at the base
five inches, and weight six ounces, some being thirteen ounces. I re-
planted four tubers entire, to see how much they would increase ; cut
the others into two hundred pieces, trenched the earth three s]3ades
deep, and made a bed one foot higher than the surrounding ground.
I then planted the sets one foot apart each way, and two inches deep.
They did well, and became fully as large and heavy as the former. I
have obtained 2,500 bulbs from three quarters of an inch in diameter
to the size of a pea. The plants had no manure, and the ground had
only been three years free from timber, with a clay subsoil. A little
more culture would produce larger yams. This piece gives at the rate
of 16,335 pounds to the acre, with no labor but to weed after planting.

We have cooked the tubers in various ways : plain boiled, good —
superior to the common potato ; fried in dripping, very good; plain
baked in the oven, and eaten with or without butter, pepper, and salt,
excellent ; grated, and made into pudding, pronounced superior to sago,
tapioca, or any of the kindred articles in common use for puddings. I
intend cultivating the yam largely, and to make a series of experiments,
Vv'hich I will record and forward.

MISCELLANEOUS. 659

From Eev. James T. Barclay, Jaffa.

Apeil 12, 1859.

One large box and a barrel of seeds, &c., were this day shipped on
board the French steamer for Beirut, where my son will transfer them
to the vessel about to sail for the United States, as also another box of
articles that he has collected at that port.

Very much to my regret, the departure of the vessel from Beirut was
postponed to so late a period that vegetation was far too much advanced
to justify the transmission of cuttings, slips, bulbs, &c., although I
had procured tin cases of various capacities, and made every arrange-
ment for sending the larger portion of the articles.

Believing that hedge-plants for live-fences are very much needed in
some portions of the United States, and quite desirable everywhere, I
have devoted special attention to this subject, and am much pleased
with the result, as I trust you will be, also, on receiving the cuttings.
Finding several varieties of wheat in this country, differing very mate-
rially from each other, and a,ll, I think, superior to those at home with
which I am acquainted, I propose sending a barrel or two of each kind
from the present growing crop.

Among the varieties of grapes with which this land abounds is the
seedless species of Hebron — excellent both for raisins and wine — which
will probably succeed well in many portions of the United States, and
will accordingly be sent. The Sultan is supplied with water-melons
from Lake Gallilee, said to be the finest in the world, and of the seeds
of this variety I shall procure a good supply.

From 0. R. Buckalew, Minister Resident.

Quito, Ecuador, April 20, 1859.
I send you seeds of the following Ecuadorian plants :
l.Tliihaudia acuminata. A very beautiful shrub, of four to five
feet, found only in ravines, toward the base of Pichincha. Its flower
is tubular, elongated, crimson, but white-pointed, lustrous, and pro-
duced in clusters. The berry is globular, dark purple, pea-size, and
edible. Leaf oval, but extremely pointed, from which the specific
name. The tender shoots and young leaves are re.ddish. It is mostly
found in rocky situations, which may indicate its treatment in culti-
vation. It is not knovv^n that it is domesticated anywhere, although
among the most ornamental shrubs. Hardy and evergreen.

2. BJiexia (genus.) This is a fine, hardy shrub, of four feet, found
abundantly on Pichincha, at elevations of from ten to thirteen thous-
and feet. The flower is white, but has a red cup. The leaf is small,
wrinkled, and pretty. Evergreen.

3. Melastoma (genus.) This is one of the very finest of the Andean
plants. A hardy, evergreen shrub. The leaf is elegant in form, and
lustrous. Flower white^ small, and fragrant. The berries are pea-
size, and pleasant to eat. Height, four to five feet.

560 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

4. Alstroemeria caldasii. This plant was named "by Humboldt in
honor of Caldas, a New Granadian naturalist. It is a climber and
twiner, of eight to twelve feet, hardy and perennial. The flowers are
produced in bunches of twenty to fifty ; are orange-colored, spotted in
the inside, an inch and a half long, and are showy. They are fol-
lowed by curious pods, of triangular form, which eventually burst,
and present clusters of red berries, (the seeds,) reputed to be a dog
poison. The plant also produces tubers, by which it may be propa-
gated. I obtained the seed of this interesting plant at twelve thous-
and five hundred feet on Pichincha.

Elevation of Quito, 9,500 feet. Eange of thermometer from 48° to
69° Fahrenheit during the year.

From David L. Gregg, Consul at Honolulu, Hawaiian Kingdom.

The cotton plant or shrub is found on many parts of the Hawaiian
islands, growing wild. It is supposed to be analogous to, if not iden-
tical with what is commonly called Sea Island Cotton. About the
year 1837 its systematic cultivation was attempted on Hawaii by Gov-
ernor Kuakini, (John Adams,) but he did not persevere for a long
time, owing to the want of proper information and skill in preparing
his crops for market.

Mr. F. A. Oudinot, formerly of Kentucky, is now trying the ex-
periment of raising cotton near Lahaina, on the island of Mani.
When he took possession of his farm there, a few years since, he found
quite a number of shrubs, or trees as he calls them, in a wild state;
some, as near as could be ascertained, from fifteen to twenty years old ;
all, however, in full vigor, continually displaying their blossoms, and
at the same time opening their matured bolls. He has inclosed and
planted a small field, and, thus far, has found it to do well. In dry
seasons he thinks the shrub produces much better by " topping it."

He has furnished me with several specimens taken from shrubs
respectively five months, five and a half months, one year, two and a
half years, and fifteen years old. I take the liberty of inclosing a
small quantity from those of five and a half months and fifteen years
growth. Specimens to any moderate extent, or seeds, can be for-
warded if it should be deemed desirable.

At Lahaina, where the soil and climate are perhaps as favorable as
anywhere in the whole Archipelago, Mr. Oudinot supposes the pro-
duction may, by careful cultivation, be made to reach as high as one
thousand pounds per acre in the course of a year. This estimate may
seem high — and it is undoubtedly beyond any probable average of
crops — but I do not entertain a doubt that cotton can be produced suc-
cessfully and profitably in nearly all the sheltered valleys of the
kingdom.

The fineness of the fiber is supposed to diminish with the age of the
shrub on which it is grown. This the samples in my possession seem
to prove beyond all question.

No especial pains appears to be required in the cultivation of the

MISCELLANEOUS. ' 561

cotton slirub beyond plowing the ground thoroughly in the first
instance, and subsequently keeping it clear of weeds and undergrowth.
The distance apart at which the seeds should be planted depends, of
course, somewhat upon the nature of the soil and position.

A great proportion of the surface of the Hawaiian Islands is moun-
tainous. Not more than three eighths, at the utmost, is susceptible
of easy cultivation, and of this but a moderate part is included in
valley ranges, or so situated as to be sheltered from the strong winds
which prevail during most of the year.

This kingdom can never produce largely of anything which enters
into commerce. As yet its resources are in their infancy. It unques-
tionably possesses the elements of a fair degree of prosperity, but the
strong hand of industry is required to develop them.

WOODEN SEIOES.

Experience has shown that a number of diseases, often resulting in
impaired constitutions, and even in the loss of life, have been con-
tracted by a portion of the farming and laboring population in conse-
quence of wearing leather shoes, when engaged in their operations
during cold weather, or in wet situations. To prevent those evils to
some extent, wooden shoes are extensively worn in France and Ger-
many, They are highly recommended by the agricultural societies
and governments of Europe. Impressed with their importance, the
board of commerce and trade of Wirtemberg called a practical work-
man from France to give instruction in their manufacture. The per-
son now recommended by the board of agriculture of Wirtemberg is
Wilhelm Baumann, of Obersontheim, Oberambt Gaildorf, Wirtem-
berg. Not allowing water to penetrate, as leather shoes do, they are
naturally dryer, capable of keeping the feet warmer, prevent diseases,
by promoting the requisite and salutary perspiration, and are regarded,
to a great extent, as life-preservers, even in such cases where salt
baths, the use of wheys, and other medicaments, proved quite ineffec-
tual. There is hardly an operation on the farm and about the farm-
house in which they could not be profitably used. They are most
economical about stables, where leather shoes are exposed to the de-
structive attacks of dung-water^ in plowing, mowing, harvesting, in
doing earth-work in vineyards, chopping wood, and in marketing.
With these advantages, in a salutary point of view, they combine such
durability as to last almost a lifetime. They are light and easy to
wear, being provided with a small cushion on the ujDper side, within,
so as to obviate any pressure on that part of the foot. They are of a
neat and pleasant appearance, either of their natural color, or black-
ened or varnished. Their size is large enough to allow the wearing
of comfortable stockings; in addition to which they are provided with
leather straps. Their price ranges from fourteen to thii-fcy-six cents — •
shoes for children being still less. These advantages will certainly
entitle them to the attention of a portion of the farming, manufac-
turing, and laboring population of the country.

36 A

562 AGRICULTUEAL REPORT.

From Hon. Joseph Wright, Minister to Prussia.

United States Legation,

Berlin, llarch 22, 1859.

Sir: Yours of the 22cl of February, witli the eight boxes of seeds,
has come to hand. The Prussian minister of agriculture. Count
Piickler, who has taken charge of most of the seeds, and given notice
to all the experimental schools in anyway connected with agriculture
throughout Prussia of their receipt at his office, assures me that he
will see that they are properly distributed, and that a fair trial be
given them.

He states, also, that he will most cheerfully have prepared by the
fall a collection of such seeds as you may wish to be forwarded to your
department.

I have sent a portion of ^the various articles presented by you to the
celebrated agricultural school of Hohenheim, as well as to Hanover,
Brunswick, Saxony, and other parts of the Zollverein. I shall be
most happy to make such collections of seeds, as you may suggest, to
be transmitted next fall or early in the ensuing spring.

I have received from the Hohenheim Agricultural College, one of
the oldest in Europe, copies of their reports, exhibiting its system and
management. If furnished with a list of the agricultural colleges and
schools of our country, I will forward to you for their use these reports,
with all the statistics which I may hereafter obtain from the various
agricultural institutions in Germany. I am anxiously awaiting copies
of the last Eeports of your department.

I have the honor to be, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOSEPH WRIGHT.

J. Holt, Esq.,

Commissioner of Patents.

From A.J. Smith, United States Consul.

Laguayra, Venezuela, June 8, 1859.

I transmit to you the seeds of a few choice fruits of this country.
These are such delicious fruits that it is worth a trial to grow them,
even in a hot-house. The large seeds are from the fruit called mama,
which resembles in flavor a fine clingstone peach. I have seen them
eight inches in diameter. They are almost round, and in the market
have the appearance of the balls used at ten-pin alleys. The trees
producing them attain an immense size, and are the finest for shade to
be found in this country. The morag seed, shaped like a small shell,
is a very pleasant fruit also, and unique-looking ; the seed grows j^artly
out and partly in the fruit, and has the appearance of pods of red and
yellow pepper. The chillemoha, or cherimoya, as it is pronounced, is
certainly the most delicate in its flavor of all the fruits in the world,

MISCELLANEOUS. 563

and at tlie same time very healthy. I find, indeed, that all fruit is
healthy to a person who does not drink spirits of any kind.

These frnits would grow in Florida, Texas, or even Louisiana, if
taken care of until they start properly, when they will become very
hardy. They are found on the tallest mountains, in the greatest
abundance, and bear, in this climate, all the year round. The interior
of this country abounds with a great variety of fruits and cereals,
which would be a decided acquisition to the fields and gardens of the
Southern States. I have seen, since my arrival here, both vegetables
and animals of which I never saw specimens, even in our museums.

From Ernest Volger, United States Consul.

Barcelona, Spain, August 18, 1859.

The algaroba is a very useful tree in this country, nearly related to
the sweet locust or honey locust tree of the Southern States. Its pods
are, however, larger and sweeter, and contain more than sixty per
cent, of sugar. They are broken to pieces, when horses, mules, jacks,
and other cattle are fed on them. There is no better and cheaper food
for them, and the tree can be planted on the most sterile, rocky, and
sandy land. I remark, however, that this tree does not prosper where
it is not exposed to the exhalation of the sea. All along the coast of
Catalonia and Valencia it is never found beyond the first ridge of
hills. The shores of our Southern States would therefore be best
adapted to make the experiment of acclimatizing this very useful tree.

From William Story, of Jamestoivn, Fentress county, Tennessee.

I send you a full Account of my experiment with the Hungarian-
grass.

On the 10th of June, 1858, I received a pint of Hungarian grass
seed from the Patent Office,, and on the 11th I sowed it on a piece of
rich clay land. I at first plowed the ground with a shovel-plow,
which left the surface very rough and uneven. I then took a harrow
and ran over about one fourth of the patch, leveling the surface very-
smooth and even. After sowing the seed on all the ground, I again
harrowed the patch. The ground was very dry, and the weather con-
tinued hot for about three weeks ; consequently it was sometime before
the seed came up. When they began to appear, I was soon sorry that
I had not harrowed all the ground before sowing, for where I had
omitted this operation, but few seed came up; in the uneven places
they were covered too deep.

Notwithstanding the extreme heat of the sun, the grass grew aston-
ishingly fast, branched out beyond all expectation, looked nutritious,
luxuriant, and green, and grew about waist-high by the 1st of August.
It was headed out like millet, though seeming more vigorous and
hardy.

564 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

By tlie 10th of August, tlie heads, which were from one to six inches
in length, were all turned of a golden yellow color; and the blades,
which were very soft, long, and thick, and set on the straw from the
ground to the head, were of the same hue. I then cut it and hound
it in sheaves, like wheat or oats. After it had cured a few days, I
threshed off the seed, cleaned them neat and clear of chaff, and
measured them. I had sixty-three pints of seed from one pint sown.
I am confident that not more than half of the seed came up, and con-
sequently the sixty-three pints were the product of half a pint of seed.

I gave some of the hay to my horses and cattle ; they all seemed as
fond of it as of sheaf oats. The seed was very heavy, and, I think, far
superior to threshed oats for feed, as they appear to he more oily and
nutritious. The hay, without the seed, will probably be excellent
feed for horses, cattle, and sheep. Unthreshed, it will likely be
superior as feed to the best of sheaf oats.

In Tennessee, it should be sown about the first week in May, on
clean and loose ground, harrowed smooth before sowing, and then
harrowed or brushed after. One bushel of seed, I think, will sow
three acres. It should not be cut till the heads get yellow, if the seed
is to be sown. I recommend the Hungarian grass to be the best and
most nutritious of all grasses, and I shall rejoice when our State is
well supplied with its seed.

From 0. H. Kelley, Corresponding Secretary of the Nortliwood Far-
mers' Club, Wright county, Minnesota.

The distribution of seeds, received from the Paterit Ofiice the past
season, has resulted in the formation of one of the most efficient or-
ganizations of farmers of which our new State can boast. Having
been chosen as corresponding secretary of the same, I will describe the
plan which has been adopted for future distribution of seeds. Owing
to the small quantities contained in the parcels of wheat, oats, &c.,
making it considerable labor to save enough for subsequent trials, all
that may be received, say of wheat of one variety, is given to one far-
mer, another variety to a sfecond, and so on. At the end of the season,
and after the grain is threshed, it is to be left at the secretary's office
for the inspection of all the members of the club. If the result is
favorable, the same person has the privilege of sowing the whole an-
other season, and half the product then becomes the property of the
club, and is distributed as they see fit. So with corn, and all seeds
that may mix by being planted in too close proximity with seeds we
now raise. By this method we can keep the seed pure; and, as nearly
all our members are practical farmers, we shall take great pains to
give each variety of seeds a fair and impartial trial.

We now number some thirty members, and intend to hold meetings,
during the winter, one evening of each week, for discussions upon agri-
cultural topics. Samples of every kind of grain and other crops are
left with the secretary, at his ofiice, for public insi^ection.

With most of the seeds received the past season, our success has
been good, and may be summed up as follows:

MISCELLANEOUS. 565

Melons. — The ice-cream watermelon proved to be very fine, and is
■well worth cultivation.

The Green Citron. — This did not produce so well as we wished ; hut
will give it further trial. We have had a very poor season, as far as
the weather is concerned, for rij^ening melons, owing to much rain.

China Beans. — These did very well, ripening early.

The distribution of King Philip corn and Chinese sugar-cane has
given to the farmers of Minnesota two of the most valuable crops we
can raise. Of the corn we must speak in the highest terms ; it matures
the last of August or the first Aveek of September, and we finished
husking the first of October. With proper attentit)n, it yields an ave-
rage of seventy bushels per acre, on sandy soil ; husks very easy ; and
the meal is considered far superior to any other kind, for making bread.
It is sure to be out of the way of early frosts, and can be all housed
long before cold weather sets in.

The sugar-cane must prove a valuable gift to us. Most of it raised
this season was planted too late to allow the seed to mature ; though I
secured about a quart from my lot, well ripened. The result of an
experiment with the cane, as made by Mr. Cooley, is as follows:

He planted one acre and one fourth with cane. The greater part o
the seed was sorghum, and the rest imphee. He gives a decided pre-
ference to the imphee. His product of syrup was about 350 gallons.

A large number of our farmers will send to Chicago this winter for
seed of the sugar-cane, and we anticipate a large crop next season ; so
that, in all probability, syrup will sell in the fall of 1859 for twenty-
five cents per gallon — a price which will pay the manufacturer, as the
consumption of the article will very much increase. At the present
rates of from fifty to seventy-five cents, it is cheaper than Louisiana
molasses has been with us for several years.

Whatever prejudice may exist against the distribution of seeds from
the Patent Ofiice, many of us in Minnesota feel under great obligations
to your Ofiice for such valuable gifts.

Chufas, or Earth Almonds. — These prove to be indigenous to our
soil and climate, being found in rich bottom lands, and on the borders
of some of our marshes. The cultivated, however, are much larger
than the wild, and are eagerly sought by the gophers, which devoured
the larger share of my crop. As a substitute for cofi'ee, they are good ;
though I consider peas to be equal, and they are harvested much
cheaper. Chufas, moreover, will probably prove to be a bad plant to
spread in cultivated ground.*

Kohl Rahi. — This species of the turnip is certainly a beautiful plant
when growing, and will be valuable for feeding to stock.

Cabbages. — The numerous varieties received did well, with the excep-
tion of the Couve tronchuda. This yielded a stalk upward of two feet
high, profusely covered with leaves, but did not head. The Early
York ripens very early, and is much esteemed. The Ox-Heart is a
variety true to its name, and very plump and sound ; it is a good cab-

* Mr. Kelley has erroneously connected the wild nut-grass ( Cyperus repens) with the escu-
lent from the south of Spain, {Cyperus esculentus.) The chufa belongs to the same genus
but does not possess the power of spreading itself voluntarily.

566 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

bage. The Savoys, however, are the general favorites for winter use.

Neio White Globe Onion. — This is a finely-flavored onion, hut did not
succeed very well. It is, perhaps, better adapted to a more southern
latitude.

Salsify. — Will give this another trial next season. The root, this
year, was much smaller than an ordinary-sized parsnip.

Celery. — This will receive another trial ; needs forcing in a hot-bed.

Lettuce and Cucumbers. — All did well. Consider the curled variety
the best.

Peas. — The Early Emperor and Champion of England are decidedly
the best varieties we have yet raised ; the latter being a late variety
with us.

Victoria Pie Plant. — This produced stalks from the seed this sea-
son, some as large as those from roots in the garden seven years old.

Crimson Clover. — This was sown rather late, but grew w^ell, and the
seed matured finely. It has a large, cone-shaped head, and is of a
bright crimson color. By its rapid growth, it must gain favor where-
ever introduced.

Some attention is now given to the raising of tame grasses, as
experience of ten years here has plainly shown that it is folly for the
farmers to depend upon the marshes for wild hay. It will sometimes,
in certain localities, bear cutting two and three years in succession ;
but the second crop is generally much lighter than the first, whereas,
in other places, the first cutting is followed by a thrifty crop of thistles
and weeds of endless variety.

The new organization, the Northwood Farmers' Club, is composed
of several of the members of the old Benton County Agricultural So-
ciety, which has sunk into oblivion, owing to the county having been
divided into four new counties. To attend the meetings of that society,
many of the members were obliged to travel fifty miles each way. By
having clubs scattered through the counties, where members can meet
more frequently, and in their own neighborhoods, much more beneficial
results will follow. The office of our club will be kept open during
business hours, and we intend to have several papers on file, and a
corrected list of wholesale and retail prices of products of the farm.
Each member will also register, in a book kept by the secretary, the
amount of grain he wishes to dispose of, or if he desires to purchase
any stock, making it, at the same time, a ready place to purchase and
sell anything appertaining to the farm.

Hereafter, the success or failure with seeds from your Ofiice will be
made out in full, at regular meetings of the club, and printed copies
will be forwarded to you.

From John Danforth, of New London, Connecticut.

I received from the Patent Ofiice some California pumpkin seeds,
which I planted in my garden early in the spring, with two rows of
green corn of thirty-six hills. The pumpkin seeds came up soon and
well, ran from forty to sixty feet, and blossomed and set well ; growing
as fast as cucumbers in the month of September. The green corn was

MISCELLANEOUS. 567

cut up at the roots, and the sun admitted to the vines ; they were taken
in and harvested before frost, I had over one hundred of the finest
and best California pumpkins that were ever seen together in any of
our Northern States. Tlieir weight was about four tons, some single
ones weighing over one hundred pounds. It takes about six months
to raise them in our climate. The ground must be rich and good. I
put a wheelbarrow-load of the best hog manure into each hill of corn
and j)umpkins. I also planted some of the seed where an old hog-pen
had stood. They were neither hoed nor weeded, yet ran sixty feet,
and I took pumpkins from the vines weighing over one hundred pounds.
They sell readily in our market at two cents per pound. I will furnish
the seeds by return mail to any applicant who will send post office
stamps.

I also received from the Patent Office a paper of Boston marrowfat
squash seeds, which I planted in my garden, and raised about a dozen
of the largest and finest squashes that I ever saw ; the largest of them
weighing from forty to fifty pounds. When they were cut open, they
would smell like a ripe musk-melon. I have sold some of them at
three cents per pound. The ground was rich and manured in the hill,
which had a southeastern exposure.

F'rom 0. B. Nichols, Corresponding Secretary of Clinton County Agri-
cultural and Mechanical Association^ at Carlyle, Illinois.

December 10, 1859.

I received from the Patent Office a parcel of Tuscan wheat, for ex-
periment, in the fall of 1858. I put it in drills, 10 inches apart, and
cultivated with the hoe. On the 27th of May the rust made its ap-
pearance, and rendered it worthless ; May red, which stood only about
30 feet from it, was not affected. I also tried some white wheat, with
the same result. I did not cut either variety. An experience of 22
years of wheat raising in the prairie satisfies me that, as a general
rule to insure success, we must sow the earliest varieties to be procured
from the south. Of 22 crops, I have never lost but one, and that was
sowed on the 30tli of January.

Not one farmer among the six who tried the Tuscan wheat succeeded.

The turnip seed proved worthless, except the Yellow Malta and the
Snow Ball. The Ox-heart and Drumhead Cabbage proved first rate,
and also all three of the varieties of beets, namely, the Large Scarlet,
the White Sugar, and the Small Early Castelnaudry, Mangold wurzel
and beans were fine ; the squashes not good ; but the best of all was
the delicious nutmeg and ice-cream watermelon.

The law of Congress for the collection and distribution of seeds
should immortalize the names of every member who voted for it.

F7vm J. A. MePvTZ, Secretary of the Union County Aricultural Society,

Pennsylvania.

Organized November 13, 1852, and chartered September 19, 1857,
our present number of members is 150. The amount required for

668 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

life-memlDersliip is flO. Our other modes of obtaining funds are loj
selling admission tickets on fair days. We at present possess 10
acres of land, valued at |2,000. A fair or show is held once a year,
in October, when from |200 to |400 are awarded as premiums. The
largest ever offered were for the Ibest blooded stallion, $6; and for the
best short-horned Durham, Alderney, or Devon bull, $5. We have a
course on our ground. Every fall an account of our transactions is
published in the county newspapers.

The benefits resulting from our organization are manifest ; a feeling
of ambition has arisen, which must ultimately produce great and per-
manent good to every interest. Blooded animals, of the domestic
breeds, have been introduced, and are now being crossed upon the
common stocks. The average yield of erops has increased, and farm-
ing and the mechanic arts generally have improved.

From Charles A. Leas, United States Consul at Bevel, Russia.

June 16, 1859.
I send samples of very hardy Livonian and Esthonian wheat, rye,
and barley, which are cultivated to great advantage in this sixtieth
degree of latitude north, in a common limestone soil, and which I
think would succeed to a good growth in the northern portions of the
United States. The flavor of thiis rye, when converted into spirits,
has for many years been pronounced, in France and Germany, most
desirable for the making of wine and Holland gin. For those purposes
large quantities are annually shipped from this place.

From W. M. West, of Plattsmoutli, Cass county, Nebrasha.

January 1, 1859.

This county being mostly prairie, the scarcity of timber is our
greatest annoyance. The soil is well adapted to the production of the
various fruits and vegetables of this latitude.

The wheat crop of the past season was attacked by rust, and conse-
quently almost a failure ; the Mediterranean or Black Sea wheat being
the only variety that succeeded. Corn has yielded well, and a23pears
to be unusually nutritious. All other crops have been very good,
except potatoes, which were not more than half so productive as usual.
These results are attributable to the superabundant rains which have
visited this country for the last seventeen months.

MISCELLANEOUS. 569

The various grasses introduced here have prospered, but the prairie
grass answering all purposes, little care is taken to procure foreign
varieties. Cultivated fruits are confined to a few varieties of grapes,
plums, cherries, gooseberries, currants, and raspberries. The native
grapes of this vicinity are inferior ; but there is a variety of native
plum, some of which are worthy a place in the most select collection.
The native gooseberries are large, and entirely smooth.

The first settlement in this county was made in 1854. The first
crops were raised in 1855. In 1856, an agricultural society was
organized, which held the first fair in October of that year, and the
exhibition of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, swine, poultry, vegetables,
dairy products, and needlc-worlv would have honored some long-settled
eastern counties. Each annual fair shows rapid improvement, and we
expect to stand first in the agriculture of Nebraska.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF SEEDS, CUTTINGS, &c.

The Agricultural Division of the Patent Ofiice is indebted for seeds
and cuttings to many persons, both at home and abroad. These are
at all times acceptable, though some have been received, we regret to
state, in a condition unfit lor germination, while the greater part
would not bear transmission to distant localities. The recent erection
of propagating houses in Washington, which are under the control of
this Ofiice, will enable the department to test all contributions, to in-
crease the amount of those proving valuable, and to distribute them in
vigorous condition over the country.

It is proper, also, to acknowledge the receipt of many seeds and re-
markable products presented by successful growers. Participants
in the distributions should exert themselves to disseminate over their
own neighborhoods seeds of the best varieties raised. Should they, on
the other hand, have any new or important seeds, which they desire
to make more generally known, the Agricultural Division will take
pleasure in instituting experiments and distributing the product.

From abroad, the Ofiice has to acknowledge various favors from our
ministers and consuls, many of whom show increasing interest in
agricultural matters, and a commendable disposition in this respect
to render their residence in foreign countries materially useful to their
fellow countrymen at home.

Among numerous contributions we select the following :

1858.

March 17. — Grape cuttings from Dr. Th. Koester, secretary of Comal
County Agricultural Society, New Braunfels, Texas.

March 31. — Four boxes of grafts from IJnited States consul, Basle,
Switzerland.

April 2. — Sixteen varieties of flower and vegetable seeds from Pro-
fessor Blunee, of Calvert College, New Windsor, Mary-
land.

570 AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

July 3. — Seeds from Algiers and China from Marshal Vaillantj,

minister of war, France, per Alexander Vattemare.
August 2. — Australian wheat, (2 pints of,) yield fifty to seventy-five
bushels per acre, from Mr, William Dougherty, Berrien
Springs, Michigan.
August 5. — Two boxes of "Espirito santo" plant from C. A. Ray-
mond, purser of steamship Moses Taylor.
August20. — Venetian sumac, received -from Charles F. Loring, Aus-
trian consul general, New York.

Sept. 8. — 178 specimens of seeds, presented by the Imperial and
Central Horticultural Society of Paris, and forwarded
by Alexander Vattemare.

Sept. 11. — Plum stones, {Prunus cMccasa,) one quart, by Major H.
C. Williams, from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

October 6. — Seeds of white summer wild grape from farm of Dr. Sut-
phin, Liberty, Bedford county, Virginia.

Nov. 1. — Four bundles of wild rice from J, Volney S wetting, Ber-
lin, Wisconsin.

Nov. 9. — A can of live-oak acorns from Palatka, Florida, sent by
Mr. Glover.

Dec. 1. — Seeds of Kaki, a delicious variety of persimmon, from
Townsend Harris, consul general, Simoda, Japan.

Dec. 17. — 470 leaves and berries ofYaupan from Beaufort, South
Carolina, per Edward Ralph, jr.
1859.

April 20. — Three cans of grape cuttings from Governor Steele, of Pe-
terborough, N. H.

April 26. — A sample of wax, and seeds of wax tree (Bhus succeda-
nea) from Japan.

May 24. — Sample of cotton, coifee, sugar, India rubber, from Cerea,
Brazil, sent by United States consul at Pernambuco, W.
W. Stapp.

May 28. — Seeds from Hon. C. R. Buckalew, resident minister, Quito.

July 11. — Bottle of pawpaw brandy for analysis, from John Law,
Evansville, Indiana.

July 16. — Box of tea seed from Hon. R. K. Meade, envoy extraor-
dinary, &c., Rio Janeiro, Brazil.

July 14. — Seeds from A. J. Smith, United States consul Laguayra,
S. A.

Aug. 1. — Samples of wheat, rye, and barley, from Esthonia, ^er
United States consul at Revel, Russia.

Aug. 21. — Two cans of Berkeley county grapes, from Dr. R. McSherry,
Martinsburg, Va.

Sept. 2. — Seeds of black grape, from James Topling, Liberty, Va.

Sept. 5. — Two quarts of Roanoke wheat, from Charles Heermann,
of Hundermark, Darby post office. Pa.

Sept. 5. — Box containing bulbs, fibers, grasses, &c., from United
States consul, Cape of Good Hope.

Sept. 10. — Seeds of trees, shrubs, and plants, from W. 0. Hampton,
Mount Victory, Ohio.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF SEEDS, 5*71

Sept, 29. — Bottle of Vuelta Abajo tobacco, from United States consul,
Havana.

Oct. 20. — Keceived one barrel and two boxes of seeds^ Kev, T. J.
Barclay^ Jerusalem, Holy Land.

Oct. 29, — Sixteen samples of vegetable seeds, from S. B. Tucker,
St. Louis, Mo.

Nov. 1. — One bnsbel bag of Algaroba beans, (Carob, or St. John's
Bread,) from United States consul Barcelona, Spain.

Nov. 9. — Can of smooth barked hickory, from H. Z. Abell, Welsh-
field, Ohio.

Nov. 14. — Tree seeds from W. 0. Hampton, Mount Victory, Ohio,

Nov. 14. — Seeds from J. W. Sliaifer, Fairfield, Iowa.

Nov, 14. — Sixteen bunches of Los Angeles grapes, (2-| to 3 pounds
each,) from M. Keller, Los Angeles, California.

Nov, 28. — Strawberry watermelon seeds, from Yucatan, and spice
melon seeds, from T. N. Hornsby, Fisherville, Ky.

Nov. 30. — Velvet and crimson spinach seeds, from William New-
love, of Penn Yan, N. Y., per Charles Ketchum.

Nov. 30. — Eleven bags of dried grapes, from Dr. Henry Connely,
of Albuquerque, N. M.

Nov. 30. — One hundred cuttings of grape vine, from William Clark,
of Northampton, Mass.

Nov. 30. — One hundred cuttings of sweet-water grape, fromN. Hard-
ing, Boston, Mass.

Dec. 1. — Plum pits, from the mountains near Downieville, Cal.,
from A. T. Langton, postmaster.

Dec, 1. — Keceived bottle of pawpaw spirit, from Dr. Jackson, of
Boston, for Hon. John Law, of Evansville, Indiana.

Dec. 5.— Bundle of tree seeds, from Kobt. Howell, of Nichols, N. Y.

Dec. 5. — One hundred grape cuttings, (Dracutt Amber,) from Asa
Clements, Lowell, Mass.

Dec. 12. — Received from Beverly L. Clarke, United States minister
resident at Guatemala, box containing sample of vege-
table tallow, made from the '' Myristica sebacea]" nuts
accompanying.

Dec. 14, — One hundred cuttings, and bundle of seeds of Concord
grape, sent by Hon. E. W. Bull, of Concord, Mass.

Dec. 21. — Box of osier willow, from Hartford, Conn.

572

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

lO >-T >0 LO LO lO lO i-O lO "O lO lO lO L.O lO lO lO irj O lO lO lO kO >0 lO lO lO O "-O Lrt LO in LO lO
COQ0Q0CX)aOa3Q0O9Q0(X),73 0OCOQ0COQ0QO(X)rX)CDCO00C»Q0CO00 00 0000ODODriDQ0aO

c -^ -^" J3 JS ^ rt" I g -^ = -^^ g ^ g g G a c s !=■ a c a s^-^^^^Aj£j2

"^r r ^S!'S!^ =! i^ 3 3 ^^t^t^^r^^ tS oj td c3 c3 cS etS cS c3 ^-^ .<" ."-> a o o o a

H : • ^h5 i^ o -^ -:^ o ^ > » ,-^ - 5S o O "S '^ -^ ^ J

2mopLioQj?MPL,oa2MMpQ^SHqa!g!§l>HOpq^^

ii-

S-d

<-< o

coo

)««

IpqpqpqpqpqpqpqOOOOOOOOOOOO

■■3 P

ooboo

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

573

OOOOOOOOCOCOCOOOOOQOOOCCOOQOOO

OOCOQOOOQO OOOOCOOOCOCOOOOOCBOOCOQOCCCOajCnOOaOOOQO

^h^hP^h;^!^^;-^^:--

.^.g to cS ci

li, fi^ 1§ ^ 2 ^ ^ ^ <;

cs cS ci cri

i^<J-5'

m 1^- ^ ^ - ;> I

-S -.5 c S o

;d3 wt>-?

. 3.=! o o "

■pqwwO

rt G t:_i ^i-f;

*i & o r;

erf *J p

;P5n

■zi >*^

S o o

O M -^

<2 'S 1^

;^i"

i'hdO

J >H CD !- F

3 r" ^ n ^

y-23

■ "^^ t- ri O

,2 ^^ 5 b'tix;'^

oooooooooo

674

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

COQOCr)OOQOQOCX>COr/3<X)COQOQOQO<»OOCX)CCOOiXiOOa3CO(»QO(X)OOQ6ajcdcOCOODa5

>-. >^ >-» D a O O <D <D O V rv <U O O O O t^, •>, b.^ b>, >>,!>-. b., !>- b.^ t>. »,V s-V tV t'. tV . * ■.*.

O o S

'^'S tJO,
as

^ s^

bJ3 5;

O i^ O) *J

0! C^

;>^

bX),

o ^

£-5 Sep:

jg tH ^ m "5 -g r;

S O CS C ;^

ffi^i^^^^O^^ffiffiH^^^^cgS

Uu-2 o£ o^ a^-^ '^'^ ^ o c bc^ ;S

SFiPh

«e ts 3

O c M

H^^ =S-

'^ Or,

d^^Pi

C3 O . _

a!.S

<iP^^

- . S 2

. 1 Q)

c "C

m tS CQ B m c!

fci o

ofiooo?2oc

c ;i

odi

p- 1 p-i*k->>li,p>i>p

lOO

o -^

03 O

■13 5 > 3 fi VS
■3^ O^ S3

moo

1 • ^ a

C 3^ 3 3 3 •: — ;^^.

dooddodddodoododdoddddd

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

575

ira in lO lO lO O O O UT O O u^ u^) UO lO O lO LO i^ lO O lO lO lO in O lO lO

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOaoaOOOGOOOOOOOQOCDOOGOaOGOQOGCOOaOOOOOQO
,_,,— IT— It— II— Ir-Hi— li— IT— Ir-Hi— II— It— I^Hr-Ji— I.— Ii— IrHi— 11— 11— It— I^Hl— (1— (1— II— I

" „ ,_, ,_i CO CO 1—1 -^ 1— I r-l 1— I "-I 1— I 1— I "-< 1— I C^ C^ '

mmmmioin'omLOiooiOLO

QOOOOOCOODQOCOQOOOOOCOQOOO

bH bja bJD b/) bX) bjD

p^a,&ia.aH&.P-aiP^c^Ci- c^ntt -e.

o o o o

«i^<j<t5<;<^<iMCBi:»cciy2a2Mc»iBcoa}ajOOOOOOOSR<H 5?;R<;oooooooQQ

c.S .

o " o

c3 o

Ti m

^CL,

C O Onlli 3-S

^ il 5 o J^ -S §

5^
o s

. • - ■ ■ "O . n ;

0>i

§^ - -

b/) 2 -O j>

. , , ... _ KTi

-S'S 0:^2 « ^--^^-biS g S g g

.^ bjo W).- -=! , ,

bL-^ C o bJ3 5 ^=

^ TS

OPH<1C3MtIll>C'P^OP4PiW<)<J^^4OPWg^g0C5

CJ O O o «J

O " C3

: <i> :

.••^ :

: o

: 3 :

:H :

m :

: "o :

H i

:*-j :

ca :

.T^ .

- s .
: a :

Pi ;

: v-i ;

t3 :

. o .

^ ;

. oe •

ci :

«" :

'a! :

: o :

o :

: bj3 .

- m •

. cd C

ba :

_ S "
- c- o

EMS|

;pq

^^c

C 'g-1^'m

cs e cs .--■^i^ S C S «.S : • ^ bnS'i.rH « s=

0QW<1e^OH^^^h^Q^H<lM<^OO^pqMH<!

N. Sprink
B. Coopei
n-atio F. H

H^K

crt

<5^

PhJ2 .<| B-

l^'g

g S > C G S S- =?

^ "H :-( Lh ^ O

OOOi

C :i -JS S i

^ i-i ^ ^

iooooooooooocoooooooo UOO

i.H§-ag

3 S

oooooooooo

576

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

lO lC O O LO lO i^ L.O LO lO lO lO to O »0 LO
00 00 00 00 00 00 CO 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 QO

o lO lo uo ir; u-, in in m i-o m m

QOOOaOOOOOOOCOQOQOOOODGO

C-J CI (35
O LO irj
00 GO 00

!» O CO CO

o o o o

CJ o o o o o

O O O O OJ OJ

PPQQ QQqQQp<J>::^MQh^.>^

o ^ "*

g s d != ^ ^ =

.^t. s

-02

S 5

C 0)

O
. : : :t3 >,

• =! ii t: — ' = fx

O T= ■-

bjj

,. O M

H go

<6^

CSHH
Oi!,

002

bJD

O l- -^ • -, tu ■ o ^ -ij ^

<= bn

02.5

li o

o ■>-'

'o^^fciS: bD-„ cj'2

fa s

.a Sr^

■,z -^ -^ a

o o c o o c
'S 'S ri 'S 'tS rt

!na-3Kiw'^o5oO

S ^^

d M

N N N he N N

o o J:i^

uooo

(I, ^.^.C.S.S.C m a w 02 1

)OOOPQQQl

"S ti ti c S ■£ §'5'c'5'S tS

ooo

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

5*77

irt irt irj m o m m ic irt lo lo lo o lo lo lo Lo to lo lo lo ~ lo lo lo lO lo lo >o lo lo o "O to m '^j o o in o

QOQOO0CX3QO O0OO0OCX3 OOOOCnQOCOOOO'CDQOQOGOap '''OOOOOOQOC»OOQOQOOOQOQOQOCOCOX)QOQDaO

C Jh "^ S?

t^-o

l>^^-

— >- -2 r- 't; "^ „

CS *^ fe ^ •^ >^^ ^- r- K "

O M Ci

I> '■^ G '■^

o o p?^
-a -a V S

"3 tS a c

Ifffi

; -G oj C

lil

t_, ,_, O o C.ili ci c -c to >-< i_i o

03 aj i;

H^faO

».

„^

P^ 2

o<1

O O ci
e c o

^-^«S

C 3

;dN

S KJ 5

"-^

2 05 "^

ego

feX) o

°ffi

ffi.

m M £ S '^

J-CbJD

o r- o

(i oj «J C tg
!^0 5 02 = J

O £^T3 £ o c p

bJO^

§ § ^bi
faObjj'-^-S

O -rt
0! 13

bAS

u V 3 ra

ci-O cS "

o C

"5 5?'^
ess d g--.
S 2 S §"4^

ooooSooo '"'

C^KipOCQcQCO&SKnoO

>H t- t-. >H !h

oooooooooo

t. t, 1h !h ;- 1 ■ ■ ■ -

c VI m zQ

a s a a a

.£.S S S
'5 '3'5

«) o a> o o a) <u

W W M W « M W

c a E c c c c

Ki 03 Cj O

«J O tt)
M M W

O o O o c

2 o

Qj <u cj d) S

.S.S.S.S M

o o o o ^
53 c3 03 rt ^

2SSS-|

A.- 37

•3 M

M -BE

578

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

QOCCGOCOCOOOaOCXDOOODGOOO

OOGOOOCOCOCOQOOOQOOO'ajOOGOaOOOQOQOOOOOaD

1-1.— ii— lOocoiomicc^cjT-i.— irHi— ii-(-Hcccx)aoQO

iOi(jq

;-i It >-. ^< S-, k,

O <P U O OJ O O O O Q ^ ^ ^ ^ ^^ ^ ,^ ^ - ^

OS
00

lllp§l§

r^?

O T2

"543 ■-<

I tuoV

^ i i ! : i i i :^ i ; i i j j j i^«

fi,^Mpq0PL|h?P3fi,|I|»5pqpqpipqts:|»_]pq|:?0

CIS -C

m §

c
•S-k

i-M _Q •■-<

•- a)
'^ ^
■" O

CD C

3 c ^
0) o SK iti. •i-"^<3

S S±io -^

^-:3

=5 S." 5

"O S-5

b= 3

Oa2^0^^^QP3^^QOaQP4H^.2eL,<J

(S e o ci > K!

P-ES
i-ji-sl

o s
OS

,, w ttf

O O O O -ti ti

O O O O S S^

02 m 03 »

OQ:tt750Q;ocjci>a:)GJO(uoaj

.S.5.S.S (v!cSc!oJc3cJc3c3

ooootiiiiiKK Kill tea

tiSaatieiciricicScici

3 » M W

< 5- t-. l^

J o o ta

0000000)0

csSScsSSciS

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

579

(»CI3CX)aOQOQOQOOOCOOOCOOOOOCO(X)QOOOCO(K)OOC»OOCOCOCZ)QO(riOOCBOOC»QOCBCOaOOOQOQO(^

occ;

s s "

^ Tj '*^ "^ ^ i^

> Si^'-

i>.

e^ • : : :^->
^^•22 ^''^>^" -'Ji^'
c « cj « -S?;*^ „" o ^-^f

w :^ i^

0 h-2-

^0 =.^^?

B->'5

g SCO pL. .

5 >,J : g-S

O rn o ~

J . = ,

^M S

a)K

1-^ ., — .

-ag

^•5 =

:^p:Ji2

fa_<

hi ci "5

^^o:

• "^ : i^ . „

'-'i^c4 1: t:

00 ,00

:^^

:h :

0) M

S 5 f^

is i3 a a
a a a.Sofe^^ s .r.i.s.s 's

CO m w 50

aj M M

000

s c g
S "o "o "o

c 2 5 2
t> g g g

"o %-i 1; "o "o "3

2 <D 2 2 2 S

S C G c S c

cj ri d rt c! 3

ctf .«

<;)

rr* .

^ m

^ "

>.;:

J-H

l-l

-H

s--

!-i

cirfcScScicjCjCicdcStStrfcicScJojci

c3 c3 ci c3 ci

iKPnffiEffiWi-l^KrMKKK

580

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

CO 00 00 00 CB CO CX3 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

■rfi-Hi— tT— II— irHOOoooocoaoooioo icoi 05 oajoicntod cTcrcrarciTco

ccccsccGcacc >^ ir-^ ^ ^^ ^^^ bi bi ti ti si bi, ti

i-j H-i i-> h-, h-i >-» H» h-j i-j 1-1 1-> t-s h-j i-j H-jt-> i-j I-, I-, i-> 1-^ h-j <, <; -"q •< <5 •< <q

Q <H t3 I— I 03

O tSog rt '^

'.5 '-c-a
S > o S S

S tr o o u •

c o o M -5.^;

krf a z^ o S CD

o oj_g cj.^

CD CJ > O

■" f^ o

*=^S

C3 !-

. of^O;g g cT'-'::;

' ^.H ^ >>„-& bX)cS<5
G 52 m g 5J g S ci fe .
o OJ ir -^ -C _S^ '^ ■— p3 rS

■-^z:: ^i^ M'Trt sxti ri

O <l tn <1 <) 00 1) o o ra

02 "3

^^^-§

"O S3 T3 «

c «i s <2
S rt c

lo'll

■^ O CS O

M ffi ^ <i

§.2-
SO

. br2

• p r3

5 N

"5 o

.t:; -2 o

-G rs rH ^"^^ C!

^ H

rB bX)

bjD •
0^3

3-5 2 "^
ii o G s

M bJ3 .

;o ^

O'a

op-i

1 >->'a3

c a

:Kc»

O M <! ^ M O h4

•3 ^ cB
« rt "

o o) m O

tj o a i«

« oJ -S o .

«J S w w

bj)

M ?r sj M

S9 ra !»

O O) 0)

G G G

a ms s '-.So s s s

O-G

,3 o -G .G <v d

01 at m m

-4 roMMD3MWMM03COWM

o (DOc;oo<i;iDC'0Ja)OCJ

•- >

a> (u o <u o ■ ■ o

r/i

r/1

!1>

Iffi K ffiWffiffiKKK!

!KK

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

581

eOOOOOOO CD 00 QO 00 QO 00 00 GO 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 CO 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

co^o OC5 to uscococ^t^t^-*'^-*-"*' -^-^i-iT-Hr-ioo oooooomi-ioioirtmirttoioc^c^ cm(M

(NC0C0C5 — '— IC<C<(T< — i-ir-l.T— 1 — — — '(M — '— '— (1— IrHi— IrHlMtM (TIC*

5 C s _3

5 J "^

■1^

■nP-i

^TS

■£ S

•-H TO ^H H-H L_(

^55

ijJD fS) £

o ^

■■5 g ^ s

mOOO

^pH::3><>Hf

r^ is m t>-. C o i-Tli-l «rt > O 5> t) 01

OQ^-J"<SpqMPL,ccfepqgOCi<

o o

Ok,

o in

«j .n -^ '^

M '5 ^ .-3 ,
o -^ '5 < o

— J >H tj «

(LI >.t:J

^ij

M S S -

■oW go
2 s g J

Wi-iffii-J

>,«* rt

^"§5^

2 5 ° '^

S in m «

0) O Ti tu

^ iH r; w

■pq .

s 2 ^ t> " •

H-J •-; O <fi i^ H> OQ

h-S^

fax) tffi m m 52

2 a

HJW

ffiK

^ ^ q IH fc^ ^^

0) K C-
« ^ ^

«2 S^ M to to Oi

U k< ^

{^ t^ (D S^

ctfcjcscicscijcics

!-.

•->

►»

>•

i/j

fltj

ctf

titooa)0(Da>!Uii)<ua>HOJcti

tQ^MMffJtataWWlMCQ^toS

ffi ffi K W ffi K ffi HH hM K hC Ph E ffi hM ffi K S ffiK K K

582

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

OOQOQOOOGOQOOOiXlGOCD OOGOODOOOOGOOOOOOOOO GOQOOO QO'JOQOQOCX)

C3 ai

00 00

COoOCJOCDOO

C? lO C5 Ol O O r-H 1-H r-l O

i^^

CIh S^ O- ^ oi

1 h^ -J

[> !D

>■£ P ii ^

I-JP5

<1S

Spq

O a>

.3 ^

^ 0 g

-1^ a cits

>^^ cj o oj

2 _cj o

p, ci

H "^

s ^ °

o
• pa

, ._^ CO

ss.

^ b M f2. H I

bXI.S J Ki

t^.^

^; « ^

o . .

P-ii-ii-jh

m cj O .

o =: h-i ^ 5

000!-^(D00(D.3

' c3 cj Co Cj cd ~

^'Z \ I?. '-"^

tlfl o^

g g fc; ia g g i-^ bjo bj) 3

-o -o g" g" o y 3 "-3 ^ "^

^ Wl 6n bj) 5? ra G ^. !-. o

.S.SggS ^^t2£"
>>'^13 ^ j2 -g — ;_. -5-

«3

bJO'S

>3 !- !h ■•:! G S !-

O O M o 5^

KKKKKffiKffiW^ l^g^g^SS^S^ ;^^S ^§S§^ SS

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

583

lO O O u^ lO u;i LT lO O »0 O O O lO lO lO >0 lO O lO lO "O 1/2 lO O in lO lO lO lO lO lO O lO lO lO 'O lO lO lO ":5

QOQO (XlOOOOODQOOOOCCCQOQOQOOOaOQOOOOOOOCOOOOOaOCOQOaCQOCDQOQOOOQOQOGOQOaOQOOOQOQOCO

I— Ir-W r-1rHr— -— .-H--1-H1-HT— ir--(>-Hi— li-Hi-Hi-Hr-iT-^r-(r-Hr-Hi-Hi-Hi-Hi-Hi-Ht-Hr--lr-Ht-H,-H,-Hl-HrHrHi-^i-^.-Hi-Hi^

i-Tin Lf5 (?J (?« O LO QcT'-l rfaDOOOOOOOOOOC^CJi-Hi— Ir-J-H— I,— lOOOOOOlOCnOSOJ O^oTtM CT (M « o o o o

(M l-l (MC^ l-l r-li— Ir-lr-ll-l (^[G^ — C\!C<C^(M<:.-^1-ll-Hl-l l-Hl-lrHl-H

■^J^ ^ ci.-:^ '^ c c a s a s s-'^'^,-^ la d ci d a :si d a a d :i a ri ti a p_^p^P^ci cs a a <^

■-sp-i

-^•l>^

s.'?=§^^

.2 s^

^ ■ ■ ■

bSJ^^^ o

^'^>^

^l.^

^H^ • =

lOi

a c

i> o riS'^ ^ m

2 ciitH

hh5 K-1 oj 1^ P2 o M P-i P3 iz;

-Q 03 u v^ r*

5 ctf tu

oqOO

** "* o

.S£ - J

02,2

7J M

S>^ £P

OP3
i-s t-j <J l-l re 1-5 i-j

• ..'^ r; Uh ^" ^P-* '^

O <U

ffid

.3 :=

VI T/i m m m m

a O o m oj oj

o o O es O

0) o a

0) a) 05
S S

o CO o o

KJ O S

CQ ra

S 3

C tS W)

w M

03 O) OJ

wuvows,'v^uv^\_'_.tutuv_jwwt&roroOctjC3

S§ !§SI§^^S^CLiPL(fLiSiSSp-i5SSSpuSSS

:* c c

O M K D
S ^ ^ '

PHPnpMpHPLiPLiflipHPLiP^fLia,

c s ? s c
PUPh

E c P C

O c3 o3 O oj

584

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

lo iJi >o lO lO lo 'O o lo o lo ui lO lo o in lo lo lo lO lo lo lo lo m L'^ ui m o m o o

00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 CX) 00 GO 00 00 00 OD 00 GO CX) 00 00 <X) 00 00 OC 00 00 00 GO 00 a5

cTo'o cTcT ooooooc^-^-^-^^-*"*^T-irH00Q0 ao~QtrLfrio~ >o"io"io"cri?r

r-lrHr-lrHr-l rti-(i-(r-li-lrt,-H(M(M(7}C<:ii-lrtffi(^!Oi<r<C<(NC^ A5

0) <U 1) O O S^ K^
C C C C C ^-C"

•-» t-i t-» t-j <!

^.s^.

ci-i^O te
CO o o g 2

_: ?5 ^ >^ CS S.

s o • 5 o

'p ti P > cS

^'5= -^-

PL,

S ctj

-Sim

•r bx) .
fS.SW

S rt i

"* ■ ■ o ; ■-; :n •

. . ^^ _, >■ cd ^ ^^ m

;i: Co f O "w

^ ^ T-l k^ J5

fx;^m ga boa s g<j s

^ d 0^ -:r "

M ffi l-j H, h-j

S s

?Pbc
a '-3

O rS u ■S ■„

ty OJ tD OT O

C C "S ^ rt
JC ^ js _o -g

o o

05 QJ O 1

53 K

o q m m

'"' .^ _ii _^ _^ _i^ .^ ^^ _ii! o '^ (^ ^ _5

Ki o cd ci O G

cj (3

.2 o)

PUPh

O) 0)

t^ C '*' "^

o o'^~
o o --cJ

^ r, 05 C

m M Si cd

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

585

COQOQOCDaDQO(BC»CCQOCr)GOOOOOQOQOODQOGOODOOQOOOCDaOCCQOOOQOQDCBCOC»C»COCI3COOOQOOOCO^

bp bn hS3 bn bD bD bD bS) bD bt> bj:i*

<|<]<^<j<i<!<q<i<^<!<5coc»GOC/}tBK!!>2ajMaJCOOOOOOOOOOOCOOOOOOS3l^

. o

it'

5 o.S-asS

«-£=: q «0 fli

h-H

t-H

cTO

as ra ^ sj

P-ii-5

tri o -ti

- CL, C-
!^ "l^ t-<

K6^.

CS i- Ki .3

J CO K^ Ci ^H kJ

.3 cS

o -

u o 2
u o -S

OS"
-OS

".^-

^ .a tJV' " S o '-' CL 1^

Q- ■pqrr Hoi s^g ? s !^o•s

^ B
• c I

go,

.2 0

o o Ki n,
ti O a> '^

CI IB - O

bt)

o go

b^S-S

i-,!>0

P3x,

a §

1^
i S S ^

! "J -^ "^

fi r- l^ ^

■" P <" o

l-JCCl-ll-s

.1 M :| f

g^ S ^ c^o^.kCLi

^<s . H k> [

OOOOOGjooa^O

M o o o c

o o o too

MOQOMO .OMO

oooOiuO :o :<DhriO(uS

r/, ,^ T. ,> m ,, , u . M gj; O W (d

M M M M

OcuSooa3G>iuoo<U(i>MiDoaJKi(uajoa)o<ua)tD<U75e>MiDOoo

• ^ • Frt QJ t.1 J-* •

; 'c : '— 0) o o :

■ h . o 05 o o .

:-^ : 53 . » « :

: ^jo : -; 2 S S :

OpOOcirjcJO

D^P^P^^|a^p^P^p^^!l^P^P^P^pJ^p^illP^(a^PHp^PHp^P^PHPHP^PHP^^P^PHP^D^P^P^P^P^P^PH^

580

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

QOOGQOOOQO»XlOOQOQOOOCDOOQOQO-X> QDQDaOQOOOOOQOOOCOOjOOCOCOOOCDOOOQQD

COOOOoc;oajoooacjO

^ O tJ O O O <0 r^

S 5^

^,»o

'P^ o

-a

i-c i «! .

II'

i^==iSc.

"Ji; ^ C o " '-3 tH o ^ >-

_SJ a c3 ° .a^

' 03

o «

s ti ■= S
S oj «^ 2
o — J y^ -r

^ iZ! •-' O

J o ctf i:^ (S

<1 1-5 1-1 1^ 1-5

• J ^ • Qj • "ji;

^ M J; !—< '^'
1) p; =; ^ fe 1=^ k^' S

-ti

tx\ I

:3 2 . o

1^ s

—J c o -^ K>. 'rt -r;

m-> go go'g

faog

^ ^

T3 -a

0) 0

0 0

M 0

to K

ra E ra 00 m «
ooOcjKjRjuijgri

0000000(S00

00000

C.1 O M O 02

p: C C ? C
OiiriOKiCOri

JS^J3„-2J2 S «s (3 c! cJ

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

687

m irt lo lo lo o >o 'O lO o lO lo o o m lo o uo o lo 'O "O lO lo m lo i.t lo o lo o o o lO lo

CDQOQOCDGOOOQOQOQOQOOOODOOQO OOOOOOQOQOSOCO OOQOOOOOOOGO GOGOOOQOQOCDCXDOO

r- '^ 00 00 GO CO x

b— ( '^ '-; ^ ^ --^ ^ et ri nt -1.^

3 3 S

i 1-5 H) l-J h-J l->

c ^ -O ^

J- O O CD iJ fj; f^ ^ Ji- rt Ci S .-^ .'-^ .'-' r*^ r^ '^ '^ ^ k^

rt si ci rt P_ 5^ g. C;^

<J<j

Ofe

Cd Id :h

M^.S o

C O >H !-i

^^ O ^^

T.'i

1>^ 3

S^ S-^ c-3 5

IfeO

a =s

- ri t, u ,

■^ uj w '3 S t> S

^ < — . I

i^ o g ^.

^ J' o

c o ~

::3 W)S

I. "^
> 5^

-4->!>-'-^r^u^r u_]--oOJ50 opc^o/rTti, Oca

P^cBiS^o^uSO Kjpqc^Sb j^::e:hWQ^ccC3 OH

eiH

!h N t, t>
hH CI) C O

a;
w O

c3 rj

^ 'm -^ ,-i, «

jT? 3 ;;; =^ Tj:>3

03 S

Or;S.3-S=iHH'^ 0|5 . „ OS

-" . " "^ " K. rvi

-S St

t50o--a)^'-^oS!=0 .^Coo3:r::;Sci.-;3G(

CD ''

"^ ,^ fc» -^ rvJ P

ll^xQ^i^'

'^ra.o

fe-<c;si^c5 Ml-;

■5 S

■a o o oi o

03 TO W M CQ

- bD

f4p:5

H O O O O O
„ 'be ^ „ „ ^ „

^ .Zi Q^ O CJ O O

Ja"^ ^ ^ ;is! ii ^

O CJ Cd Ki Cj c! o3

p:i P4 Pi Pi f4 f4 Ph

cS td
Pi Pi

cj a cd

Pi Pi Pit

•T- O <1) 0) o 2

5 ^ a a c a

£ 5 S S S s
o S g g g S^

'^ y'bJJbBb/J^JJ'S

ffl .- a a a .a X)

S "H ^ '-S -3 3 x(
■-: 5 <u o o 2 0)
'^ Dh o aj o &< o
Pi M iZ2 02 CQ GQ «2

m M M m M M m

o cj (i> o o a 0)

c a a a c a a

?! ;« O

goo .^0000000

Cj ri ri ri ri ri ri

a a a a

S S S 2

pStt^tUOOOIDa!

cs ri

S S

bJDfcJJ

_a.a
OQOJ

AGRICULTURAL REPORT.

lO lO lO lO LO »0 lO LO li^' LO lO lO »0 O O lO »0 LO >i*i lO o
CDQ0Q0O00000X'00a0GOaJ'30Q0000C00Q0GOQ0Q00O

cKooooaoooQoajooQO

ooooc^cseiocjpseo

cSKitSKS:ac3ric3eSc3Kic3CCHgCCCCS

ggbcbjabp^bpji^j^

l-s 1-5 <J «1 <1 <1 <I CQ CQ

>^c

^_o

■-3 12; -o'g s '- o

r.i5^

>: S

o on^ <u M

l>^'

S.2 ^

20 .

w _ S S _r _
fe ^- c s ^ =

.. o

ll4

ri ^•

tin

w .

S 1-5

o c C"3 « ^ . .
'iB ^ o-^ '^ S S >i

,bp= S

5 c

C-C

hin

- 9

0) C3

— "o

o o

OE-iWCuO

G S" ^-S ""IS M

■cc

4J 1>.^ fe ^ :

" PhJ2 ..O

\a}

B =

^ 5

5^ 2

<!H<lMl-jQ O H, H, H hJ H-s 02 l-s H-j

-Si — ^ O M "O
O O ij O

j3 ,q ,a J K M K .

W K M K M '^

O (U ») <^" 2J O

C C S C C eS
3 IS '^^ IS S b"
t-loaJKiciKicSiioocjajtSrtcirtKi/nO

J3 ^DDTTTi3S3V3rTT'i«33
S fcj3 o o bX) b/) ac br; o Y V ^* V ^ '■^ fc^ ''^ ^ " ¥

y S > fe.S.S.S.S t> ^ >.5 fe.S.S S.S.S b fe

o) 0-3*jooocjw-^wo-.->G;oOajo3*j

.S'S

iODfcp

«2 S'ShS^ ? 3 ? S
tio bJD bJ3 bJC bij M o W) O

S.S.2.S S-2 fe.S 4

ocojiuOajiJdiS

mmmmmmmmm

INVENTIONS OR DISCOVERIES.

689

_ _ ^ _ ^ _ ^ _ lO lO O LO >0 LT lO lO LT lO "O LO O lO lO LT in lO O lO m

QOQOQOQOaOOOOOQOCOQOOOQOQOQOCOOO 0000000)000000 QOOOCOOOCOQOQOOOOO OOQOCOCOQO

o o o o o o

u u tU 3 Mh y3

-O !UH

;^ >-

^•^D. ;==.>.

^^^.o^„

^fe

. ^ |i"i~oS|| III s

^^3

o -^

hPnS

bXI C3

! CO

o s
Da =-

■ n C

. o 2

:-« c r„^

- iaSf t^

•- •'« « o

o g S ^

d rf : ci = ■ ^

2 S.

ii CM

Up.-'

• ^ 1)

^02

CO •

111

|5§g3-C5
S S^S 2.> 3 g

^ ^ ."S 3
til § gf^^

kJ '"! 3 P^ f^'

^a^ = CI

!:•>-!

"C rt

b"^

O s

<1-

c o

Ki C

> 6X)

go*

r,,5fc |kk<iJ

o — .

2 Oh

bJD^

S CLijil

?a!

o^ 2fe<i °§

Oh? ffii^HKi*?

i<^P^

O O !-. O O !-

nJ cS o cS cS 11

o o 0) oj c3

~ ■' si's £

^ ^

bjabno 6Dtij3 0 o o o
.5.S j:.

ti 0) Si
Q) o -3

^ c: , ^ '-^ ^ Gj

:i c 5f.^ S ^

~ T.a S T 3

6r^ ' bXI 9

o •— !-

tin

~ 3

d 3

r* • O

° " c 3-

c c; 3 iH

,0 C rt

^ ri o 2 bXiSjD

2 Sci - S c

•^ Or§ g ^ ^

!^ - g " " • M

g 2 ?i g-t2^ t*c

C- ri ^ 3^ cj o C erf

.S ci t2

o a 3-J2 ^ ^

cSi Oh sj O O O

ii w C ^ 3 rt
T 3 3 V— T 3

.S fe i.S'V.S ^^

d rt c; ci cS ci

o ji J; j; S £.

w sj C o o ^

^ CI

c; rt '^'5'^

bJ3

O -^ w GJ O OJ 3

mmmmmmm

a>3Hff,oa>o,OcjC

""• ^ <g, •">•—••—> - „ „

SHrC^tHlMiHt-l-fc.

c50-rtc5c3cicid(3
bfj 3 S b/J be b£ bJ3 bJD hfl
35(5333333

mmmmmuimmui

S o in 0)

;-. ^ :h :/3 en
ci 5j ri i" o
br) be bx) ?:i h

3 3 3-3-3

cqgocbE-'H

590

AGRICULTURAL REPORT,

GOOOGOGOOOOOQOQOQOCOGOOOOOOO

> 6 r^ ^>

f-^»-^Q_^0 O r- ^ *^

_; TO

>■

^■^j.r>H^^>;«^

1 cj fcn r^ T j-rt .IL r- K- _, ci: c ^_

i^ TJ a p i-;

ra^^

feP^ 03 K O Pi fe Q fL| M l> g H

C C G C o

•-! ■-' --H --H Oi

Ci M W CO W OT

^ O O O M

bl) M ijjD bJ) S i i i i i i >< X X
!_ i-, !h !-, e5 bfj bs> bo bn b£ bn-^ -^ -=«>

Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medicine
Cummlngs School of Veterinary Medicine at
Tufts University
200 Westboro Road
North Grafton, MA 01 536

October Farm

Horse Books & Ephemera

Route 2, Box 183-C

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1859 : agriculture"

See other formats