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AMERICAN

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OF

AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE.

* CONDUCTED BY

DR. E. EMMONS AND A. OSBORN ESQ.

VOL. III.

FROM JANUARY TO JUNE.

ALBANY:

PRINTED BY J. MUKSPXL,

No. 58 State Street.

1846.

CONTENTS.

NUMBER ONE.

Page

1. Portrait of Governor Wrig;ht 1

2. Theory of Agfriculture, 2

3. Central Cavity of the Mastodon, 19

4. On the importance of deep and Subsoil Cultivation, 22

5. Resources of Orange county for Manure, 28

6. Entomology — Novel Productions, 45

7. Manures — their Application, 47

8. Reports on Geological Survey of the Province of Canada, 52

9. Annual Report of R. Cook, agent Clinton State Prison, 55

10. Copper Mines, 59

11. Critical Notices. — Notes on tlie Iroquois, Report of Ma-
nagers of State Lunatic Asylum, 68— Mr. Alger on new Lo-
calities of rare Minerals, Report of the Chemical E.\amina-
tion of several Waters for the city of Boston, 69 — The Quar-
terly Journal and Review, Report of Commissioners of the
Canal Fund of Tolls, Tonnage, and Trade of New York Ca-
nals, 70,

12. Salt— a Fertilizer, 71

13. Experiments on Sowing Corn for Fodder, 79

14. False Estimates, 81

15. Electricity in Agriculture, 84

16. Guano, 87

17. On the Cultivation of Indian Corn, 88

irr

iv Contents.

18. Soaking of Seeds in Saline Solutions, 92

19. On the Potato Di.sease, 95

20. Recent Discoveries, 100

21. Headly's description of the Girandola, 100

22. Our Social, Political and Educational System, 102

23. Horticulture, 112

24. Hogs and their trade in the United States and Europe, 118

25. Beginning of the Year in various Nations, 121

26. Planting the Cranberry, 122

27. Indian Corn, 124

28. Vegetable Oils, 126

29. Imjiortant Facts for Farmers, 129

30. Stall Feeding Cows, 131

31. The Jerusalem Artichoke, 132

32. Mildew, 133

33. On the Milk of the Cow, 135

34. Alluvial Soil of the Nile, 141

35. Gas Illumination, 148

36. Art and Science of Agriculture, 149

37. To guard Sheep from the depredation of Dogs, 155

38. Merino Sheep, 155

39. A good method of cooking Potatoes, 155

40. Editorial Noticp^s. — Corn Culture and the soaking of
seeds in Saline Solutions, The promotion of Vegetation by
Electio-Galvanic Action, 156 — Refuse of the Wood Yard,
157 — To cure fresh Wounds, A new arricle, A new locality
of Pyroxene, On the agency of Caloric, 158 — Quarterly Journal
of the Ge )logica! Society of London, Gardner's Farmers' Dic-
tionary, 159 — American Journal of Science, 160.

41. Errata 160

Contents.

NUMBER TWO.

1. Agricullural Geology of Onondaga County, 161

2. Iron Trade and Manufacture, by Ransom Cook, 193

3. Market Hill Agricultural Dinner. Improvenaents in Irish Ag-

riculture, by Henry S. Randall, 196

4. Why the East cannot compete with the West, by T. J. Car-

michael,

5. Structure of Granitic Mountains, 207

6. On the Spontaneous Changes which Organized Matter under-

goes when exposed to the action of Chemical and Physical

Forces, 210

7. The Work of Faith and Hope, 214

8. Notes on Natural History, by James Eights, 219

9. Description of some of the bones of the Zeuglodon ectoides, 223

10. Notice of European Agriculture and Rural Economy, 232

11. Structure and Classification of Zoophytes, 259

12. Darwin's Voyage of a Naturalist, 265

13. Text Book on Agriculture, 271

14. Sow Well and Reap Well, 275

15. Elements of Drawing and Mensuration applied to the Mecha-

nic Arts, 277

16. Catechism of Agriculture, Chemistry, and Geology, 277

17. A Birds-eye View of the Agriculture of different countries,

by C.N. Bement, 279

18. The Rambcuillet Merinoes, 290

19. Composition of the Marls of New Jersey, 293

20. Potato Disease,.. 294

21. Coal Ashes— Yazoo Marl, 295

22. Cultivation of Fruits, 296

23. Poultry, 298

24. Early Potatoes, 300

25. Temperature of the Soil for Planting Corn, 301

vi Contents.

26. Extracts from the Journals. — Nutrition of Plants,

Liebig's Theory, 302 — Liebig's Patent Manures, 305 — Ro-
tation of Crops, the Potato Disease, 310 — Human Fossils, a
Translation, by G. C Monell, 3J1— Galvanic Electricity,
312 — Horsford 'sand Johnson's Analysis of Red Clover, 313 —
Goadby's Preservative Fluid, 313 — Stature of Man in differ-
ent countries, 314 — Cultune of Madder, 314 — Respiration in
Man, 314— The Fore-Aim of Mammalia, 314 — Stand by
Your Own, 315— Gupo, 318— Nickel, 321— Well at Cre-
nelle, 322— Starch, 322— Lute for Joining Tubes, 322— Me-
teorological Observations, 322 — Dark color of Clouds over
Lake Ontario, 322— Fall of Lake Ontario, 323— Sudden Fall
and Rise of Lake Ontario, 324 — Comparative Snow, 324 — •
Table of Thermometrical Observations at Rochester, 325 —
Table of the amount of Rain and melted Snow at Albany, 327.

27. Editortal Notices. — Visit of Distinguished Foreigners,

328— Heigiit ot Vesuvius, 328— Reward of Merit, 328— Gra-
dual Rise of Newfoundland, 328 — Descriptive Catalogue of
Seeds, Fruits, &c., 328.

u

'J^ /xsd^^'^^

AMERICAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OF

AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE.

JANUARY, 1846

PORTRAIT OF GOVERNOR WRIGHT.

With this number we present our patrons with a fine steel en-
graving of His Excellency Silas Wright, Governor of the State
of New York. In this act we by no means wish our friends to
infer that we are treading, or intend to tread, upon political
ground. The engraving is given in obedience to the desire which
is manifested among the great body of the people to possess
works of this character; and in obedience to this desire, we in-
tend hereafter, should the Journal be sustained, to embellish it in
this manner. Mr. Wright has now attained that period of life
when the judgment and intellect have reached the highest stage
of dev elopement — when the physical, intellectual and moral man,
sustain and invigorate each other — when the hand to execute is
strong and unfaultering — the capacity to devise the greatest, and
that of doing good, the widest. It is at this period that the
character becomes national, and when what a man says and does
lives the longest in posterity, and remains a monument of his
folly or wisdom, when his earlier or later acts will be forgotten.
Vol. II., No. 1. 1

Theory of Agriculture. [Jan.,

THEORY OF AGRICULTURE.

The formulas by which men express their beliefs, are
not regarded by enlightened minds with indifference, or as
useless. It may be, that they are often erroneous ; and it may
be, too, that if not erroneous in the main, they contain errors
of minor importance. Still, few are found at the present day
who on this account are willing to discard theory, or formulas
of belief, as we have here termed them. Indeed it is impossi-
ble to throw those formulas entirely aside, and rest solely upon
matter of fact expressions, and stand substantially upon a
creedless foundation. We may indeed go farther and say that
it is impossible for us to think without becoming theorists, or
framing substantially for ourselves crude formulas at least ;
and we say, also, that to such a result all our thinking should
tend, and the more distinct and clear our theoretical views the
better ; and farthermore, if our reflections do not end in some-
thing of the kind, they are decidedly defective, and we are in
danger of losing those benefits which might accrue to our-
selves by stating in brief and comprehensive terms, what we
are authorized to believe on the one hand, and what we are
bound to deny on the other. It is true, and this we by no
means would forget, that what we have here prescribed, may
not be possible in some cases, on account of the paucity of our
facts ; or the data in our possession or within our reach may
be quite insufficient to warrant such a statement of our beliefs,
and give them an intelligible expression. Still, our aim should
be to reach this end, and this should be the object of our in-
vestigations.

We have said that men rarely think without theorizing also ;
and though many agriculturists (the class for whom our re-
marks are now intended), may deny it in words and even
speak disparagingly of theory, still these very men when
closely scanned will be often found to be theorists of the worst

1S46.J Theory uf Agriculture. 3

kind ; that is, of a class properly denominated speculators, who
never take the trouble to substantiate their views by facts. In
agriculture bare speculations are always to be deprecated, or
at least to be considered useless, for it is a complicated science,
involving considerations and subjects of a complex nature ;
and even when interrogated by well conducted experiments,
the mysteries of vegetable physiology are rarely fully removed.
This admitted, however, it does not render it improper to form
judgments expressive of our belief; especially where they are
based on observation and experiment : and even when these
fail, analogy holds out important lights by which we may
form at least rational hypotheses, provided a common sense
view of the matter in question is taken : and we are more
secure from error the closer our opinions conform to the simpli-
city of nature. This course is especially the true one, where
different opinions are entertained by distinguished men, for
past experience proves that truth is more likely to be found
upon that side which is the simplest, and where the main
points lie nearest to a straight line.

Complexity, then, so far from being an objection to the use
of that function of the mind which is termed theorizing, it is
upon those very subjects that we shall derive the most advan-
tage— and which needs it the most. It is this view of the
subject which induces us to offer to our readers the theory of
agriculture, which we have been led to adopt — views founded
partly upon the experiments and observations of others, and
partly upon facts wliich we ourselves have observed.

Our creed is not, however, set forth as above attack, or with-
out fault. All we would claim for it, is an approximation to
the true. We do, however, entertain the hope that we shall
advance to a true theory, which we doubt not, for ourselves, is
a great desideratum in agriculture. We are constrained to en-
tertain such a belief, both from what Ave know of the intellect,
and from its achievements in science. It is here that we have
a promise of a better day. We may look with pleasure at what
has been done in astronomv. as an indication of what may yet

4 Theory <f Agriadiure. [Jan.,

be done for agriculture. Here one of the early, though great
achievements, was the determination of the true motion of the
planets, from which has been deduced the universal law of
gravitation — a theory of universal application. But before this
great achievement could be effected, more than two thousand
years of observation were required. Such a period must elapse
before a just theory of the heavenly bodies could be proposed,
or before their mechanical adjustment could be understood.
Each observation must be regarded as a step to the accomplish-
ment of this end. Indeed truth, under whatever name it is
sought, whether astronomy, geology, or chemistry, or agricul-
ture, can only be attained in this way — that is, in a patient,
unprejudiced investigation. In the spirit of patience, then, we
may hope and expect that there is nothing too great to be at-
tempted, and nothing too minute, which may not be studied
with present profit, or with a prospective value.

We have said that the true theory of agriculture is difficult
of attainment, in consequence of the complicated nature of the
questions which must first be solved in our experiments and
observations. This renders it necessary that we should dis-
engage it, as much as possible, from all extraneous questions :
all those which do not strictly belong to it. We must con-
sider it in its simplest aspect. We need not regard clima-
tology, for instance, as at all connected with the theory of ag-
riculture; so there are many questions in vegetable physiology
which are strictly special, and need not be taken into consider-
ation.

A theory of agriculture, when reduced to the most general
expression, or what is the same thing, when comprised in one
or more formulas, should express the relation subsisting be-
tween the products of vegetation and the forces to which they
are due ; or to give another expression to an idea equally gen-
eral, they should express the mutual dependence subsisting be-
tween the vital functions of plants and the inorganic matters
which surround them. In such a formula would be comprised
a view of the origin of the products of organization, together

1846.] Theory of Agriculture. 5

with the variations in the products which may result from an
exposure to a variety of causes.

The rang-e of such a formula does not require that we should
know what lite is, in the abstract, nor how living organized
matter acts upon the dead, in order to assimilate it ; neither is it
required that we should determine aforehand whether life is an
independent principle, or whether it is a mere result of chemi-
cal and physical action.

With these preliminary remarks, we proceed more directly to
those points which bear upon the subject before us.

In the first place, it will be necessary to say a few words upon
the elements concerned in vegetation, by which we mean the
proximate elements, rather than the simple undecompounded
ones ; for the former are rarely, if ever, received uncombined
into the vegetable tissues. The whole number of elementary
bodies now known amounts to 54 or 55 ; but of this number
only about fourteen are of importance in vegetation. Even of
these, only a few seem to possess such a general range of affin-
ity as to be always present in a vegetable tissue. We are in
the habit of estimating the importance of a substance by the fre-
quency of its presence and the quantity or percentage in which
it enters into combination. There is sometimes, however, an
importance which is not indicated by this rule ; for instance,
oxygen, which constitutes nearly one-half of the solid matter
of the globe, has an importance above other elements, which is
not measured by quantity or universality ; thus in the execu-
tion of a function, it possesses a pre-eminence, and may be
termed, with propriety, a controlling element.

No organized being is destitute of it, neither in the condition
in which things are constituted here, can any living thing ex-
ist without it. Indeed, they seem to have been created with a
direct reference to it, and to be so subordinated to its properties
that life is conditioned upon its existence.

Carbon, too, ranks high as an element in all organized bodies.
As a solid material, it is more abundant in the vegetable king-
dom than all the rest put together ; though, in some structures

6 Theory of Agriculture. [Jan.,

its qnantity is less ; still, compounding the whole together, it
is vastly greater. It can hardly be said that in this state, and
in this condition of things, it is absolutely essential to life. Its
relations to life are certainly different, and its functions are of
a different kind. Oxygen, for example, stands in such a rela-
tion to the function of respiration, a function never absent in
any living thing, that life is at a stand, when it is interrupted.
We cannot say this of carbon, or any other solid. In this mat-
ter, v/e do not mean to be understood that there are not mutual
relations and mutual dependencies, and hence in many instan-
ces it would be improper to speak of one element as possessing
an importance greater than another.

The atmosphere, as is well known, is the great source of
oxygen. It constitutes four-fifths of its material. Water is the
great reservoir of hydrogen, where it is found in the proportion
of 15 to 85.

Sulphur, phosphorus, lime, magnesia, iron, silex, and alu-
mine, compounded with oxygen, are often elements essential to
the perfect constitution of organized matter. It is unnecessary
to speak of the distinctive properties of these substances — these
may be known by reference to any elementary work on che-
mistry. Constituted as soil now is, every element which we
have named is foimd in it. Carbon, in combination with oxy-
gen, exists as an acid in combination with the alkalies and al-
kaline earths. It is also found dissolved in rain water, in the
soil, and forms the base of all vegetable products, under what-
ever name they are known, as humus, humic acid, crenic and
apocrenic acids, peat and muck. As carbon forms so large a
proportion of vegetable matter, the source from which it is de-
rived by the growing plant, has been the subject of much
speculation. A contrariety of opinion is known to exist.

The source of carbon, according to a distinguished che-
mist, is the atmosphere ; and as the vegetable tissues are com-
posed of a very great per centage of this substance, it is main-
tained that the only adequate quantity can be found in the
atmosphere which the leaves of plants can abstract, and which

1846.J Theory of Agriculture. 7

is then conveyed, after due elaboration, to distant parts of the
individual.

The views of Liebig are based on experiments instituted
by Saussure, for the purpose of ascertaining the fact of the ab-
sorption of carbonic acid by the leaves of plants. Besides,
Liebig states that the carbon of soils, that of humus for in-
stance, is comparatively insoluble, and hence cannot be receiv-
ed into the vegetable tissue. Humus or mould, requires for
solution 2500 parts of water, converted into humic acid it enters
into combination with the alkalies and earths, and forms hu
mates of lime, potash, soda, magnesia, &,c. ; these are more
soluble than humic acid; — besides, humic acid is only soluble
when recently precipitated. When dried, or when it has been
exposed to frost, it becomes comparativeh'- insoluble. When
mould has been acted upon by 100,000 times its weight of wa-
ter the fluid remains colorless, and contains but a trace of it in
solution.

Hence, it is the opinion of Liebig, that humus, as it exists iu
the soil, does not yield the smallest quantity of nourishment to
plants.

To present the case, however, in a still stronger light. Lie-
big goes on to show by calculation, that all the salts of humic
acid which are found in the soil are insufficient to furnish
nutriment to growing vegetables ; for a Hessian acre of wood-
land produces annually 2920 lbs. of dry wood, which contains
6.17 lbs. of metallic oxides. But reasoning from the composi-
tion of the humates only, 100 lbs. of carbon will be formed in
one year on an acre of woodland, if there were no other
source of carbon than that of the soil in which they grow,
which of course makes a great deficiency of matter, for there
is really produced no less than 2920 lbs. of wood, the greater
part of which is carbon.

To fortify his position still farther, Liebig goes on to speak
of the produce of an acre of wheat, the straw of \vhich amounts
to 1961 lbs., the composition is known to be the same as woody
fibres, but the quantity of woody of woody fibre which can

8 Theory of Jigucidture. [Jan.,

be introduced into a crop of wheat straw, would be only 93 lbs.
which w^ould correspond to 63 lbs. of humic acid. So also it is
shown that the quantity of humates which can be introduced
through the medium of rain water, providing none of it was lost by
evaporation, is totally iusufficient to meet the demands of any
growing cultivated crop. A Hessian acre receives 1 7 1,000 lbs. of
rain water daring the months of April, May, June, and July, the
four months during which the matter of grown crops is accumu-
lated. This quantity of w^ater will take up and convey to the
tissue of plants only 330 parts of humic acid, since one part ol
humic acid requires 2,500 parts of water for solution.

But the same quantity of land produces 2,843 lbs. of corn, ex-
clusive of roots; 22,000 lbs. of beet, exclusive of leaves and
radical fibres; 2,920 lbs. of wood, consisting of firs, beeches,
pines, &c. ; and 2,755 lbs. of hay. One hundred parts of dry
fir-wood contain 38 parts of carbon, which amounts to 1,109
of carbon in 2,920 lbs. One hundred parts o-f hay contain 44.31
parts of carbon, equalling 1,111 of carbon in 2,755 lbs. In
22,000 lbs. of beet root there are ] ,032 lbs. of carbon, of w^hich
833 lbs. belong to the sugar, and 198 lbs. to the cellular tissue.
One hundred pounds of straw contain 745 of carbon, hence 1,961
dry straw yield 745 lbs. carbon.

From these facts Liebig founds the doctrine that humus or
mould is not the source from which plants derive their carbon,
and as the atmosphere is the only great reservoir of carbon, from
it plants must of necessity obtain this element.

To this doctrine Bousingault also subscribes. He says that*
the decomposition of carbonic acid by plants is admitted; we
have still to examine whether, in the phenomena of vegetation,
the leaves decompose the carbonic acid of the atmosphere direct-
ly, or the acid gas previously dissolved in the water which mois-
tens the ground, and thus be conducted by the way of absorption
into the tissues of vegetables, theie to suffer decomposition. This
question, wdiether the carbonic acid in the tissues, is derived from

* Rural Economy, p. 40,

1846.] Theory of Agriculture. 9

the atmosphere surrounding the leaves, or from the soil, Bou-
singault seems to consider settled in favor of the latter souice, by
his own experiment detailed p. 41 of Rural Economy. Thus in
our experiment, wliere the air contained 0.0004 carbonic acid,
after it had passed in a current over the branch of a vine in a
glass balloon, it contained only 0.0001 carbonic acid, three-
fourths of the whole quantity having been absorbed by the leaves
of the vine. He says, nevertheless, that in operating with the
same apparatus in the night, opposite results were obtained. The
air in traversing the balloon generally acquired a quantity of car-
bonic acid, the double of that which the atmosphere contained at
the same moment.

This being the fact, it appears to us to prove one thing, viz.,
a constant supply of carbon under all circumstances, by night or
by day for the soil, though it may be that it is only assimilated
during sun light; but this is not proved, for there are some facts
which seem decidedly opposed to this view: some vegetables
grow far more vigorously in the night; the hop, and especially
the pumpkin vine: the latter has been known to grow five feet
in three nights. In this instance there must have been a fixation
of carbon in the absence of light. But this is not the place for
the discussion of this point.

In the preceding pages we have seen that Liebig takes the
ground, that the atmosphere furnishes all the carbon of plants,
and his views are so expressed that most readers, if not all, un-
derstand him as saying, that the carbon is taken directly by the
leaves from the atmosphere, and that it is not introduced into the
tissues by the roots. It will be seen, too, that this doctrine rests
on what is put forth as a fact, that the quantity of soluble car-
bonous matter is totally insufficient to furnish the amount of car-
bon which is yearly taken up and fixed by any cultivated crop,
or even the amount which is fixed in a forest, consisting of pines,
firs, maples, beech and birch.

It is time now to examine the truth of this doctrine. What
we propose to prove is, that, contrary to what Liebig says, there
is an abundance of soluble matter containing carbon in the soil,

10 Theory of Agriculture. [Jan.,

in proximity to the roots, the very organs which nature seems to
have designed for taking up carbon, or nutriment, and conveying
it to the tissues of the plant. But that we may not be misunder-
stood w^e deem it proper to state that we by no means intend to
question the results of Saussure, Liebig or Bousingault in their
experiments on the action of leaves on the carbonic acid of the
atmosphere. But finding in soils and waters the nutriment of
plants, we infer it is from these sources principally that plants
derive their carbon and other matters necessary for their growth
and perfection.

In our examination of soils of New- York, as well as many
others, we have taken one or two hundred grains and infused it
for several days in five or six ounces of rain water. We then
evaporate the solution in a porcelain dish, until it is reduced to
almost half an ounce; when the evaporation is completed in a
platinum capsule ; and we continue the evaporation until the con-
tents are perfectly dry, or even browned, in order to expel all the
water in combination with the residual matter. This is then
weighed in the capsule, previously balanced, while hot; then the
capsule wdth its contents is exposed to a red heat so long as it
loses weight. The loss is vegetable and animal matter; princi-
pally the former.

Now the amount of soluble products obtained in this way va-
ries from 0.75 gr. to 2.00, sometimes more than two grains. The
soils which are known to be poor and unproductive, without ex-
ception, furnish the least vegetable soluble matter.

Now the products obtained in this way consist of crenates and
apocrenates of lime, magnesia, or vegetable acids in combination
with alkalies and alkaline earths. Crenic acid is a yellow, un-
crystalizable substance, with an astringent taste, and soluble in
alcohol or water. The apocrenic acid is brown, uncrystalizable and
astringent, but far less soluble than crenic acid. They both re-
semble the ordinaiy vegetable extracts, and are undoubtedly taken
without change into the vegetable tissues by the roots.

From these facts it follows, that the soil at any one time con-
tains a great abundance of the food of plants in a form and con-

1846.] Theory of Agriculture. 11

dition to supply, not only carbon, but the alkalies and alkaline
earths; most of which are important matters in the vegetable
economy. We see, too, that the state and condition is such as to
be well adapted to the wants of a growing vegetable; that is, in
such a state of union or combination as to supply food in a state
the best adapted for its assimilating powers. The amount of the
available soluble crenates and apocrenates is over and above
twenty tons to the acre in a depth of soil not exceeding one foot.
But farther; we have found in all our spring and well waters,
more or less of the crenates of the alkalies and alkaline earths —
also in our marls, and even in the stalagmites of caverns, though
white as snow, the same substance. A matter, then, which is so
generally diffused, so abundant in soils and in waters, and withal so
well adapted, by its composition, to the wants of vegetation, can-
not be without its use and influence in the vegetable kingdom.
Nay, farther, we say that the common-sense view of this subject,
we believe the right one, the most philosophical and most agree-
able to known facts.

Dr. Jackson informs us that he has used the organic salts with
great success in the cultivation of plants; that they promote in a
remarkable manner the growth of vegetables. Here we have
proof direct of their influence upon vegetation.

We should state in greater fullness Dr. Jackson's views of the
use and function of the organic acids, or rather salts. But as they
are found detailed in his Rhode Island and New-Hampshire Re-
ports, and also in President Hitchcock's Report of Massachusetts;
and as we expect something farther from him, we do not intend
to dwell upon this part of the subject now. We will only extract
a few paragraphs from a letter just received from him, in which
he alludes to the vegetable compounds. He says: — " Crenic acid
probably is always combined with lime in your district, as it is
often here. It is a valuable manure, but is not so rich in nitrogen
as the apocrenic. Crenic acid contains 6 per cent of nitrogen;
apocrenic 15 per cent. Crenate of lime is soluble; apocrenate
nearly insoluble, but is readily decomposable by the alkaline car-
bonates. Organic manures disengage carb. ammonia which de-

12 Theory of .Agriculture. [Jan.,

composes all crenates and apocrenates and humates, and makes
ammoniacal combinations, which are powerful manures. Even
bog iron gives up its apocrenic and crenic acids. Hence, the
benefit of manures, and of alkaline carbonates on ferruginous
soils. Soils without organic matter never have been made to bear
perfect plants with fruit or seed, all statements to the contrary
notwithstanding. I repudiate, for I know by numerous trials, that
the experiments cannot be made, for fungi and masses will inva-
riably vitiate the experiment by their growth. I could not, in
any of my experiments, prevent green mosses from growing in
granular quartz, and forming a primary mould, nor could I pre-
vent some of the roots of the plants from decaying and forming
mould. Hence all experiments on this subject are futile. In pure
water, plants soon die. In apocrenate of potash, they live and do
well, and the color gradually disappears from the brown apocrenic
solution."

The common experience of all experimenters, in regard to the
growth of fungi, in all places and under all circumstances, coin-
cide with the statements of Dr. Jackson. They plant themselves
upon the trunks of trees, living and dead, upon rocks exposed to
the sun, or in the shade, on the cold, inhospitable mountain top,
and in the mild and fertile valleys, stretching along its base; in
the deep, dark and damp mine, upon the roofs of our houses, and
in our cellars, and indeed everywhere where the atmosphere pen-
etrates, they are seen, first in a light green film upon the surface,
then in the minute branching form of miniature trees and forests,
and finally they become a thick green matting of evergreen moss;
or it may be only a dry foliaceous covering of lichen, fit for the
food of the reindeer and other herbiverous quadrupeds. They are
every where the harbingers of a more vigorous vegetation. Burn
your soil, drench it with acids, or make an artificial one of the
hard, grinning quartz or granite, and the moss and lichen will
seize upon it as their domain, and plant their rootlets upon its
surface, and bring forth their generations. Such is their hold
upon life that we may dry them till they crisp and break in our
hands, or steep them for months, still they bear it, and spring

1846.] Theory of Agriculture. 13

forth with increased vigor when we cease to torture them. In all
these facts, we see the operation of an Intelligent Cause. These
life-tenacious beings are sown broadcast through the universe of
matter, that they may preoccupy the barren fields, and prepare
for the more noble and useful generations which form our forests
and our meadows. When their office is so fulfilled, and their
functions as living orgasms finished, they die and leave their ashes
to fertilize the spot they had humbly adorned in their lives, while
their seeds or spores float in the air till they light upon some other
barren, which they may reclaim, by their humble office, to the
use of the more perfect, but less hardy tenants of the soil.
We see, then, how it is in all attempts to cultivate plants in a
soil destitute of organic matter; for in attempting it we are brav-
ing a law of nature; as the orgasms of which we are speak-
ing are invested wnth a law; the places where they plant
themselves, and which nature has given them power to do, are
the very places Avhich we select for our experiments, and they are
enabled to fulfill the law, both by their constitution, and by the
infinities with which their seeds or spores are produced.

We see another law in all these arrangements, which we can-
not forbear to mention in this place. It is the law of succession,
a law which dimly shadows forth the future — which is prophetic
of the life which is yet distant — perhaps not yet in embryo. Life,
whether vegetable or animal, begins, as we have seen, with the
little and the humble. In vegetable nature, it is perhaps a gray
speck adhering to a dry rock, or to a grain of sand, or a mite
floating in the water; these multiply and finally form a film, or
spread over a wide area. To this succeeds larger beings of a dif-
ferent kind ; it spreads wider, and is more conspicuous, and then
another species appears among them, and the process proceeds till
families and classes are multiplied; but all of the minute and
humble of the vegetable kingdom. They have congregated, and
constitute the miniature forest which we have already referred to,
as various as the maples, birches, firs, pines and walnuts of our
groves. But at this stage, the successive deaths in our miniature
forest has prepared the way for the resurrection of the woody

14 Theory of ^Agriculture. [Jan.,

stems and the grasses. Here begins a more vigorous gro\\'th; the
intertwining of roots, the firm mat which is formed, together with
the shelter and shade which is created, favors the hitherto strug-
gling efforts of nature, and she now begins to plant the soil with
species whose trunks stretch forth their limbs to the breeze.

The law of succession, of which we have spoken, or which
might be termed the law^ of progression, is much the same as that
of rotation, now familiar to all farmers; only nature begins with
the least and ends with the great — a feature which is not imitated
by man; for he has no time to convert a waste into a fruitful
field, by following nature's law strictly, the law of succession.
By the same plan the waters are peopled. The law of succession
is here as strictly followed as in the vegetable kingdom. We do
not, however, in these remarks intend to inculcate the idea that
there is an age of mosses and lichen, an age of the little exclu-
sively. The era begins with the little, it goes on till the great
are fully formed and constituted: the little live on still, and occu-
py their humble sphere, on various spots of earth, for there is still
room for them. It may be, however, that in any given period
marked by the commencement of the life of the little, and ex-
tending to a full establishment of the great, that there are closer
affinities and relationships between the products of this era, than
between those of any former or subsequent one, embracing in it
the same characteristic classes of beings. Geologists, in speak-
ing of an era of lizards, do not mean that lizards constituted the
whole of the living beings of that period. It may be, however,
that there is, as we have just said, a closer affinity among the
several orders which exist in an era than there is between the be-
ings of an adjacent era. This is a subject worthy of careful
study; yet it makes a digression here, and we now return to the
consideration of the organic matter of our soils.

The organic matter, then, in the state of humus, or more pro-
perly the state termed by chemists crenic and apocrenic acids, so
far from being inert and inactive are the main things in a fertile
soil, notwithstanding the opinion of some distinguished chemists
to the contrary. By some cause or other, which w^e cannot ex-

1846.] Theory of Agriculture. 15

plain, Liebig has inculcated the doctrine that vegetable matter, in
the form of humus, does not, in the least, administer to the gro\\'th
of vegetables. He bases his assumption, as we have seen, on the
ground of its insolubility. Now, on this point, we take this po-
sition: that in all soils which have any claim to fertility, there is
a great abundance of soluble matter at any given time, amounting
to six or seven times the weight of the heaviest crops which are
ever removed from them. This view is sustained by the quantity
of soluble matter which can be obtained from a soil by the action
of cold water alone, and not by the action of acids or alkalies.
This fact shows, at any rate, that soluble matter exists in the soil,
and that it is derived from vegetable matter, which is the precise
fact required in order to show that plants can supply themselves
with carbon, and are not necessitated to absorb it by their leaves
from the atmosphere. We do not attempt to invalidate the position
of vegetable physiologists, that leaves receive from the air car-
bonic acid. What we do insist upon is, that there is a store-
house of carbon in the soil, in the combinations we have already
given; this is sufficient for our purpose. We do know, from Dr.
Jackson's experiments, that these combinations are highly active
in the promoting of the growth of plants. We do know too, that
perfect plants and perfect seeds can be produced only in soils
which contain vegetable matter — and we think that we are war-
ranted in saying that a soil is fertile in proportion to the quantity
of organic matter it contains, and that its capabilities for the
present and the future, rest mainly upon its quantity. If it is in
small quantity, the soil is comparatively unproductive, though the
crops growing upon it have all the advantages which they have
in other cases, to absorb carbonic acid from the atmosphere.

One of the best facts of every day occurrence, which goes to
support the doctrine that plants derive a part of their matter from
the carbonic acid of the atmosphere, is, the successful cultivation
of clover by means of gypsum for the purpose of growing wheat,
by which plan the fertility of some soils is maintained a long
time. Yet even in this practice, exhaustion is to be expected in
the end, though we have soils in New-York which bear a constant

16 Theory of Agriculture. [Jan.,

cropping for 25 or 30 years. This results from the fact that the
sedimentary rocks contain some vegetable matter and iron in a state
of protoxide, which, by its farther oxidation, forms ammonia. The
most important inorganic bodies required for the growth of crops,
exist in abundance in the soil, and the underlying rock too, fur-
nishes a fresh supply as its decomposition goes on.

We have now brought before our readers the most important
facts which lie at the foundation of a consistent theory of agri-
culture. We may now sum up some of the results; first, that
vegetables derive their sustenance from the organic matter incor-
porated with the soil, or the debris of rocks, and that this organic
matter exists in the form of acids, in combination with the alka-
lies and alkaline earths. These matters are continually forming.
The organic matter or humus is oxidated slowly, and when oxi-
dated, combines with the inorganic matter of the soil and forms
with it a soluble salt. These soluble salts constitute the food of
plants. The practice in all countries, and in all times, favors this
view. Any course of cultivation which dissipates the organic
matter, tends to produce barrenness. Thus deep ploughing in
warm climates exposes too much organic matter at one time to
the action of air and other agents, and hence is found to be inju-
rious, or to exhaust rapidly. On the contrary, deep ploughing is
required in cold and temperate climates, for the chemical action
upon the organic matter is slower, and is required in order to
create abundance of food, by exposing a greater surface to the
action of oxidating agents.

In the second place, crops take some portion of their food from
the atmosphere. Without doubt it will be found that there is a
great difference among plants in the quantity which is derived
from this source.

In the third place, plants differ among themselves as to the kind
and quantity of the vegetable and mineral salts which they re-
quire; and yet it is undoubtedly true, that the losses of saline
matters may be substituted for each other; or in other words,
may replace each other in the same crop under different circum-
stances.

1846.] Theory of Agriculture. 17

The above statement, we believe, comprises the great points in
the theory of agriculture. They are points which are eminently
practical, and which conform to experience and the results of the
most successful practices in farming. In new soils, such as are
first turned up in the west, too much vegetable or organic matter
exists in the soil, or may exist. After a short period of cultiva-
tion, however, this is not the case, and even after this great sur-
plus is removed, the best method of farming consists in husband-
ing as much as possible the organic matter which remains. In
the poorer soils, those of New England for example, it is scarcely
possible to add too much to a moderately sized estate, or to any
estate ; and the great point in the husbandry of the estate is to
exhaust as little as possible, and to add as much as is possible, for
all experience goes to prove, that farming, or rather cropping,
cannot be carried on without organic matter, notwithstanding
there is at all times carbon in the atmosphere.

We have nothing to say of the mode of increasing the organic
matter of soils, nothing of composits or manures; it is the great
importance of these matters that we insist upon here.

We have been induced to dwell upon this subject at conside-
rable length, in consequence of the influence which the modern
doctrines are exerting upon many farmers. W^hen it is said that
all plants derive their entire nutriment from the atmosphere, with
the exception of two or three per cent of mineral salts, it seems to
us that plain common sense farmers are far more likely to be bewil-
dered with the doctrine, than enlightened : they had been in the
habit of seeking in the soil for the elements of fertility, and when
they have added much organic matter to their cultivated fields, they
have certainly derived benefit from it. Such has been their ex-
perience. Humus or mould, however it may behave in the labo-
ratory, is not such an intractable substance, when incorporated
with the earths, and in a moist condition. Here it is an active
agent entering into combinations with most of the inorganic mat-
ters of the soil, and forming with them food for plants. Hence
we infer, that although an experiment may be very good in the
hands of a chemist merely, yet it may stand in the same difficulty
Vol. IL, No. 1. 2

18 Theory of Jigriculture. [Jan.,

as that of gypsum and carbonate of ammonia, the latter of which
in the laboratory forms with the former sulphate of ammonia;
but in well-tilled grounds, the carbonate of lime reacts upon the
sulphate of ammonia, and there result carbonate of ammonia and
sulphate of lime.*

The mechanical condition of the soil is practically important ;
but the theory of agriculture need not complicate itself with facts
relating to this part of the subject. Whatever is done to amelio-
rate the mechanical state of the soil, must operate so as to favor
and support the general theory which we have maintained in this
article. Coldness and wetness hinder the formation of organic
acids, and their combinations; compactness, has the same effect,
by excluding air and its circulation. If too sandy and loose, due
moisture will be wanting, which is required in all cases to pro-
mote chemical action.f

It may appear to some of our readers, that we have spent too
much time in attempting to prove that plants derive their carbon
from the soil, through the roots; this may be so, still we hope
the facts we have given may be useful. There is another object
at this time in presenting in a strong light the value of organic
matter in soils, it is to prevent the injurious effects which will
follow if farmers rely upon patent mineral manures for maintain-
ing the fertility of their soils. For, however important these
manures may be, still they do not and cannot do aw^ay with the
organic. The two must go together. This position is supported
by the fact, that the gypsumed lands fail, sooner or later, not-
withstanding the clover crop is interposed to sustain them.

•Bousingault's Rural Economy, p. 334.

t When vegetable matter is immersed in water, and in a certain tempera-
ture, the chemical changes are of a different kind than where the same
matter is disseminated through a warm soil. In the former case, it is pre-
served in the form of peat, in the latter it is slowly burned.

1846.] Central Cavity of the Mastodon. 19

CENTRAL CAVITY OF THE MASTODON.

BY J. AUGUSTINE SMITH, M. D., NEW YORK.
A paper read before the Lyceum of Natural History, of New York.

Dr. Hulse procured from Orange county, and deposited in our
Museum, the head of the mastodon, which proved to be admi-
rably fitted for ascertaining the size of the cerebral cavity in that
animal. The cranium has been accordingly used for that purpose,
and has furnished for the first time, within my knowledge, the
means of determining an interesting point in comparative ana-
tomy.

The individual, it may be premised, w-as a perfect adult — was
supposed to have been above ten feet in height — and had been
found in a peaty soil. It lay so near the surface, that the year
before, a laborer, in cultivating the field, had struck one of the
bones w^ith his ploughshare. The creature is conjectured to have
lost its life from being unable to extricate itself from the mire
into which it had sunk — a mishap, by the way, that in appear-
ance, has terminated the existence of almost every specimen, of
which the skeleton has been discovered and obtained. To this
rule, however, the cases of Hackett's Town, New Jersey, are
complete exceptions. For here the remains of several of these
monstrous creatures were found in a pond, not much surpassing
in extent a large room. And, furthermore, the exhibitor of the
mounted skeleton in this city, assured me, after being strictly
questioned, that one of the animals had died with his legs drawn
up under his body, and that another had manifestly expired lying
on his back. In these instances, therefore, death could not have
been the result of sinking so deeply into a bog that escape was
impracticable.

When the skull procured by Dr. Hulse, was forwarded to the
Lyceum, at its superior and anterior surface, the outer table was
entirely wanting, but the inner was perfect. The immediate bony
covering of the brain formed a dome so flat that the cerebrum

20 Central Cavity of the Mastodon. [Jan.,

must have been much less curved than in man. The following
are the dimensions of the cranial cavity,

Length of right side, ------ 7.6 inches.

left " 8.2 "

Depth from vertex to the opening of the

foramen magnum, ------ 10.5 "

Cuvier estimates the brain of the elephant at -g\^ of the whole
animal. The ratio would seem to be far less in the mastodon,
which, if not taller, was probably the bulkier creature of the two.

The anterior lobes of the cerebrum must have been small and
much elongated, particularly on the left side, which extended .8
of an inch beyond its fellow on the right. The brain, therefore,
it is to be presumed, was not symmetrical.

The posterior surface of the cranium was complete, and, with
the exception of the ligaments of the neck, exceedingly free firom
inequalities of any kind. Its elevation was nine inches, of which
by far the largest portion was due to a separation of the two
plates of the parietal bone. The space thus formed was filled
with a multitude of cells,* very various in size, and the whole
arrangement had doubtless been adapted to afford adequate inser-
tion of the muscles destined to support the enormous head and
tusks. Beneath the sockets of those tusks, it may be mentioned,
and rising at a quarter angle, are two long, oval hollows, the uses
of which are not very apparent. But as their contents must have
communicated with the tusks at their origin, to the formation of
these last they were probably subservient.f

*The space has been ascertained in the head of the skeleton found about
the same time, in Orange county, and mounted by Dr. Prime, to be ll^ inches
(see last vol. of this Journal, page 209. — Ed.).

t No communication between these cavities and the socket of the tusks
could be discovered in the skeleton which we recently arranged, and which
we examined carefully for this very purpose. For a full description of this
skeleton with a drawing, see last vol. of this Journal,,page 203.

We noticed a remarkable difference in the size and length of these two
cavities, in the skull deposited with the Lyceum of Natural History by Dr.
Hulse. It would have beena curious question whether the corresponding
tusks exhibited any difference in size. — Ed.

1846.] Central Cavity of the Mastodon. 21

I may further state that one of the tusks had had a considerable
portion broken off, and the end of the stump had been worn
smooth. But the most remarkable circumstance respecting these
weapons was this — the points instead of turning upward, were
everted, precisely like a pair of callipers reversed. And to add
to the singularity, in the skeleton arranged by Dr. Prime, pre-
cisely the opposite curvature took place, the regular calliper form
being preserved. If to these two instances, that of Dr. Koch's in
the British Museum be added, it would seem to follow that in the
mastodon, as in rams and bulls, the garniture of the head assumed
various and fantastic forms.

I cannot conclude without adverting to the extraordinary state
of preservation in which the bones of the mastodon are found.
Judging from their appearance alone, every one would suppose,
but very few years could have elapsed since they formed parts of
living creatures. That these animals wxre contemporaneous with
our Indians, admits, I think, of no doubt; but as to the cause of
extinction in them, in elephants, horses and other extinct races,
I have no conjecture to offer.

Note by the Editor: — That this extinct race of gigantic ani-
mals in this country, was not destroyed by any great deluge or
convulsion of nature, we think will abundantly appear from the
circumstances in which . the remains are found. The single case
of the skeleton described in the last number of this Journal, found
in just the position an animal would assume which sank in the
mire, and struggled unavailingly to extricate himself, is enough
to show that the death of those found in our peat bogs and marl
beds was altogether accidental. The greatest amount of all these
races have died probably on the higher lands which they fre-
quented. But their bones, exposed to atmospheric influences,
have decayed and been scattered to the winds, so that no trace of
them is now left. We only find those which have been buried
soon after death, and that have been protected from those causes
of decay which have wasted others. It is asserted by many that
the marl possesses antiseptic properties. Others say that the tan-

22 Subsoil Cultivation. [Jan.,

nic acid of the peat is the cause of preservation. If the latter
cause were the true one, we might expect to find the bones im-
bedded in the peat in a better state of preservation than those in
the marl. Such, however, is not the fact. Those found in the
peat are always the most decayed. All these remains of the
mastodon in the United States, we believe, are found in these
recent, fresh-water deposits, and never in connection with the
diluvial deposite. We have seen but one specimen that was
fossilized. This was a portion of a lower jaw in the cabinet of
Yale College, and was evidently altered by this process.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF DEEP AND SUBSOIL
CULTIVATION.

BY A. SAUL, NEWBUKGH.

Nearly all cultivators of the soil agree, and acknowledge, that
deep cultivation, by either spade or plough husbandry, is among
the most important operations of Agriculture and Horticulture;
indeed it may be considered the basis on which the success of all
other operations depend, (presuming, however, in the first place,
that the land is either naturally or artificially drained, in all cases,
for unless excess of water be carried off, all other improvements
will be ineffectual,) and while all, or nearly all, admit its impor-
tance, a firm conviction that it is not so generally or extensively
put in practice, as it deserves to be, is the only apology I offer to
the readers of the American Quarterly Journal, &c., for trespass-
ing on their attention. In all countries where the various modes
of deep cultivation have been most extensively practised, by
trenching, subsoil ploughing, and deep ploughing with improved
implements, their advantages have been signally successful ; in-
deed, perhaps to this cause alone, more than any other, is the suc-
cess and superiority of British farming to be attributed. And
while its advantages are so manifest, in the humid and compara-
tively less varied climate of Great Britain, they doubtless are ira-

1846.] Subsoil Cultivation. 23

measurably greater in the extremely variable climate of the United
States. Every person must have observed, who has paid the least
attention to the subject, that crops grown on light, friable soils,
cultivated in the ordinary way, (say ploughed to the depth of 6
inches or less,) which look green and thriving in spring and early
summer, seldom or never yield any thing like as good, as crops
grown on stiff clay land, which often look thin and weak in
spring, but uniformly make the best growth, and the most uniform
and abundant crops. It is also the case with subsoiled land, by
incorporating the subsoil with the friable surface, it is made stiff
and retentive, as well as giving it a double depth of soil for the
roots to run into. Why is this so?

In the first case, the cultivated portion of the soil is so limited,
and if manure be applied, it is mixed with so limited a portion of
the active soil, that at the first appearance of genial weather
in spring, the effects are immediately perceptible, the roots of
the plants only ramify through the surface soil; consequently
they have but little hold of the ground, from the horizontal di-
rection they have taken, and are necessarily placed under the
influence of atmospheric changes; thus it is in spring we see seeds
and plants prematurely excited into growth, and looking well,
until dry weather sets in, when they stand still, the soil and ma-
nure in it gets dried up, and becomes inactive, and in wet weather
the subsoil being hard, will not receive water, but force it to the
surface, carrying with it all the soluble substance within its reach,
and the roots having but little hold of the ground, a little wind
loosens the plant, and it is blown out; also in spring such plants
are more susceptible of injury from being thrown out by frosts.*
Whereas in deeply cultivated land, seed sown, at first exerts the
whole of its energies in the production of roots which strike
deeply into the soil, and when they become excited are prepared
for vigorous and luxuriant growth; situated thus, it is obvious that
changes of the weather cannot so easily affect them. Thus sub-

* The above remarks are particularly applicable to seedling trees of all
kinds, with which nurserymen are very familiar. Fall-sown wheat, rye, &c.,
are also very often injured from the above causes.

24 Subsoil Cultivation. [Jan.,

soil cultivation, in a measure, renders plants comparatively inde-
pendent of the season; for if the season is dry, by encouragmg
deep rooting, and the retentive nature of soil thus cultivated, the
plants or crop cannot suffer much, as it retains for a longer time a
sufficiency of moisture; and in wet weather the depth of soil
readily absorbs the water, and conveys it to its natm-al or artificial
outlet. Of two pieces of land of equal size, and an equal quan-
tity of manure on each, the one deep cultivated, or subsoiled, and
the other in the ordinary way, the manure in the shallow cultiva-
ted lot, not having a sufficient body of earth incorporated with it
to rectify its rankness, the crop on it may at one stage of its
growth look more luxuriant, than the crop on the other lot at
the same stage of growth ; but when dry weather sets in, the or-
ganizable portions of the manure not already appropriated by the
growing plants become inactive, or more frequently are lost in
evaporation; consequently the plants become stunted, and a short
crop the result; whereas, in the deeply cultivated lot, the manure
having been rectified by mixture with a great mass of earth, every
particle of organizable matter in the manure is retained in the
ground, and is taken up by the plants as they require it; the
consequence of which is, the growth of the crop has been more
gradual and natural, and less the result of artificial excitement.

Another reason why subsoil cultivation is beneficial, is the under
soil very often contains what the upper soil requires. Take, for
example, lime; it has a tendency to sink in the earth, and is re-
tained by the subsoil out of reach of the common plough, and
when this is found to be the case, all that is necessary is the use of
the subsoil plough. There are, however, occasional dangers to
be apprehended from subsoil ploughing and trenching, as the soil
may occasionally contain noxious matter, when brought in con-
tact with vegetation, that may prove destructive; and here is one
of the instances where a knowledge of agiucultural chemistry
would enable the cultivator of the soil to proceed knowingly in
his operations, and not in the dark, as the great majority of us
are obliged to; since by chemical analysis, he could ascertain exact-
ly what the soil contained, and if the subsoil contained what the

1846.] Subsoil Cultivation. 25

surface soil required, or what was injurious to it, he would be
enabled to proceed understandingly. But though subsoiling may
not be universally beneficial, or may be occasionally attended by
injm-y, as a general principle its utility is admitted. Among the
excuses (reasons they are not) why subsoil cultivation is practised
by so few, is the expense and want of time to perform those opera-
tions thoroughly ; but when it is remembered that autumn is not
only the most convenient, but the best season for such operations,
I think there are few farmers who could not find a week, or two,
previous to the ground being too frozen, that would be more
economically and advantageously employed in this way, than
doing work that could just as well be done after the ground is
frozen, and during winter; there is not a farm in the older por-
tions of the country, that has been under cultivation for any num-
ber of years,* that one or two weeks of this kind of work in fall,
would not prove more profitable than any other in the course of
the year, and by perseveringly following it up for a few years, it
is astonishing what an amount of good land is made, and the ease
with which after cultivation may be pursued, together with the
abundant return in shape of good crops, &c. Those portions of
the farm intended for spring-planting should be that selected for
subsoil cultivation, ground intended for corn, potatoes, ruta-bagas,
turnips, carrots, beets, &c. ; it is worse than useless to attempt the
cultivation of the four latter, unless the ground is naturally deep,
or made so by breaking the subsoil to give depth of surface ; upon
this system mainly their success depends, and ground thus prepar-
ed in the fall, by manuring and subsoil ploughing, leaving the
new surface exposed to the action of the frost, &c., for pulveriza-
tion, thereby rendering it more friable for working in the spring,
by cross ploughing, scarifying, &c., these crops cannot fail to
succeed, and prove useful and profitable on every farm, and no
ground can possibly be in better order than ground thus prepared,
for wheat, &c., the next fall.

• Under this system of cultivation the worn-out soils of Virginia and Ma-
ryland, may be again restored to fertility.

Vol. n., No. 1. 3

26 Subsoil Cultivation. [Jan.,

Trenching ground by spade husbandry more legitimately be-
longs to the Horticultural department; and even in that it does
not receive that extensive patronage it demands; and as I must
have one word to say on that subject, I do not think I can do it
better than by giving in detail the modus operandi, as performed
on a piece of ground here two years ago, together with the suc-
cess attending the result. In December, 1843, a piecQ of ground,
the poorest and shallowest belonging to this establishment, the
surface soil having been nearly all washed awa}', the subsoil a stiff
clay with a great portion of slate rock, an openmg was made at
one end two feet wide by two feet deep, and the w^hole piece of
ground trenched to that depth, that is turned over, the top spit of
earth turned to the bottom and the bottom brought to the top, and
all the large rocks taken out to that depth. This may appear a
very tedious and expensive process, but there is more in the idea,
than in the reality ; and for small orchards, and fruit, and vegetable
gardens, money and time thus spent is vv'ell invested. This piece
of ground was laid up rough for pulverization by frost, &c., dur-
ing winter, and in spring, had a top dressing with a compost of
manure, muck, lime, and some coal ashes, and planted mostly with
imported fruit trees of new kinds, for specimens, to prove them,
and as is generally the case with new and rare kinds, the plants
were small and feeble, and rendered still more feeble, by a long
sea voyage; and being packed and out of the ground a longtime.
Notwithstanding all this, they nearly all lived and made vigorous
growths, when the transplanted trees in other parts of the grounds
were dying by hundreds from the very dry season of the early
part of the summer of 1844, (up to the middle of July,) which
is the most trying time for newly transplanted trees; but the great
trial was the past summer. A similar lot of trees were received
last spring, and planted on a portion of the same ground; and
during the unparalleled drought of the past summer, they not only
lived, but made considerable growth, while the newly transplanted
trees, comprising many thousands here and elsewhere, were dying
wholesale. There has been also planted on this piece of ground,
gooseberries, currants, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, &c., all

1846.] Subsoil Cultivation. 27

of which have succeeded equally well. Among the raspberries
were some canes of Fastolf imported, which produced splendid
fruit. From pieces of rhubarb roots planted in May, of the new
colossal variety, was cut stalks that received an extra prize at the
New- York State Agricultural Show, at Poughkeepsie, September,
1844, for its extraordinary size, &c. ; and it was by no means as
fine as some cut earlier in the season. The strawberries also were
much larger, better flavored, more prolific, and continued bearing
much longer, than plantations in other parts of the garden, that
were much stronger plants and better established. In a word,
everything planted on this plot of ground did not appear to be
affected in the least with the drought during the extreme dry sum-
mer of 1845; they grew vigorously the whole time, while similar
things were actually perishing for nourishment the whole country
around.

It is well known to gardeners that the soil of an old garden,
however rich from manure, &c., is unsuitable for many plants,
and strawberries are particularly so, as also turnips, potatoes and
many other things, which all run to leaves and vines, and little
or no fruit or roots, in old soils; while all must have observed
how they delight in new earth, producing fruit, &c., remarkable
both for quantity and quality. Among the reasons why plants
thrive better in soils new to them, than on soil on which they have
been long cultivated, are: 1st, the extraction from the old soil of
those mineral substances required as food by the plant, and which
are seldom returned to the land in the ordinary mode of manur-
ing, of which it may be supposed the new land has an unexhaust-
ed store, and perhaps, 2d, the accumulation, in the old soil, of
excrementitious matter from the plants grown there, rejected by
them as unsuited and injurious to their growth; all of which, by
judicious subsoil cultivation, may be made to answer good and
proper ends; for by bringing to the surface the new, fresh subsoil
containing those mineral substances, which always have a tenden-
cy to be carried that way, and retained there, and by turning to
the bottom the old soil containing these rejected excrementitious
portions of former crops, so injurious and unsuited to wholesome

28 Orange County Manures. [Jan.,

and fertile vegetation, it gets purified in due time by rains which
carry off those noxious ingredients into the drains, and leaves the
soil in a fit state to be again brought to the surface in due time,
when the new surface soil has become in the same state the old
was when turned under.

RESOURCES OF ORANGE COUNTY FOR MANURE.

The following paper was prepared as a " Report of the Committee on Ma-
nures " for Orange county. But, by accident, not being prepared at the
proper time, it is now offered to the public through this Journal, being
adapted to all the river counties. — a. j. p.

The full investigation of the subject of manures, of necessity
involves a thorough consideration of the whole art of agriculture.
We must start upon the broad principle, that all plants are living,
organized beings, dependent either upon the soil or the atmos-
phere, or upon both, for food to sustain life, and by the process of
nutrition impoverishing these sources of nutriment, and eventually
exhausting them, unless the loss is supplied by means of manures.
The science of farming then is the science of manuring — the whole
art of farming is the art of making and, using manures. They
are the food of plants, and upon the amount of food, together
with its quality, depends the amount and quality of the crop.
These are facts which are so well settled, and so extensively
known at the present day, that it would seem superfluous to men-
tion them, did not the truth stare us every day in the face, that
multitudes do not know them, and most men disregard them. In
order then, to come to as full an understanding as possible of this
subject, it is necessary, very briefly, to notice some starting points.
1. Continual cropping exhausts any soil. The plant does not
send down its roots into the earth merely to sustain its top in a
vertical direction. The roots themselves are the proper mouths
by which every vegetable draws a laige portion of its nourish-
ment from the soil. Part of this food is a portion of the soil

1S46.] Orange County Manures. 29

itself — part is furnished by organized substances decaying in the
soil, and part comes from the atmosphere, taken up either by the
leaves as they spread out their broad surface to absorb it, or
washed down by the dews and rains, to be soaked up by the long,
fibrous roots that pierce every portion of the ground. Let us
examine the substances of which a plant consists — not by a mi-
nute analysis, but only to ascertain the different classes of sub-
stances, in order to find the source fi'om which they were origin-
ally derived. To do this, we need only burn the plant. By this
process the greater portion is dissipated — driven off into the at-
mosphere— but not lost, for we can collect it all and determine
what it is. The smaller portion remains in the form of a light
ash. This is unaffected by the fire — a portion of it only is solu-
ble in water, the greater part being earthy materials, and which
are evidently derived from the soil. The portion which has been
driven away by the heat, may have been obtained from water or
air, but this cannot come from such a source. The growing
plant has extracted it from the soil, and although each successive
crop does not take away the same amount, yet the quantity is a
constantly diminishing one, because there is every year less left
for the succeeding crop to take. Thus in process of time the soil
is exhausted of these materials. The same thing is true with
regard" to a considerable portion of those substances which were
dissipated by heat. They came from the soil, and are exhausted
from the soil by the same process.

2. This analysis opens to us a second point ; a fertile soil con-
sists of two kinds of materials — the one, earthy — the other, form-
ed by the decay of animals and vegetables, in or upon the soil;
the first, called usually inorganic — the second organic. Both are
necessary to the healthy growth and perfection of a plant; but
the latter is usually found in very small quantities, and wherever it
predominates, or exists in large proportions, it is found injurious.
We should commit an enormous mistake, therefore, if we were to
infer, that because the earthy matter forms the smaller portion of
a plant, the same is the case with the soil. On the contrary, the
mineral part of the soil predominates largely in every fertile soil;

30 Orange County Manures. [Jan.,

but the solubility of the two kinds of matter, is, to use a techni-
cal phrase, inversely as their quantities — that is, the organic
matter rapidly, and the inorganic very slowly, passes into that
condition in which they can be taken up by water and carried to
the mouths of plants.

3. Plants require their food in a fluid state. The extremities
of the roots are the proper mouths. They consist of a spongy
substance, pierced with numerous pores, by which they imbibe
every thing fluid which comes within their reach. Nothing solid
can enter these pores, no matter how^ minutely it may be divided.
All the soluble parts of the soil, and all soluble substances in the
soil, are taken up by water passing through and carried to the
roots of growing plants, and passing into the circulation, all parts
which are of use in the vegetable economy are retained, and the
others rejected.

4. A plant, then, is a highly organized living being, requiring
food and care to bring it to perfection, and repaying the care just
in proportion to the amount bestowed on it.

Without multiplying points of consideration, which would only
grow upon us as we proceed, we will regard those cited above as
including all the groundwork upon which to construct a history
of manures, and their application. And without pausing to
make any artificial divisions of manures, into organic and inor-
ganic, insomuch as all organization is destroyed before they be-
come the food of plants, and they are reduced in fact to inorganic
matter, we shall proceed at once to the subject, considering every
thing as a manure which promotes the growth and perfection of
the plant. But it will be impossible to cover the whole ground
in the brief space belonging to such a paper as this. We shall,
on this account, aim at being as local as possible, and have refer-
ence principally to the ■ sources of manures which Orange
county has within its own borders, and their use and preparation.

In a county possessing all the natural advaiitages which this
possesses, it is folly of the grossest kind to undertake the cultiva-
tion of the soil, or even the restoration of worn-out lands by the
introduction of manures from abroad. We have ever been dis-

1846.] Orange County Manures. 31

posed to repudiate in the strongest terms the introduction of such
fertilizers as guano into this county, from the sole fact that the
manner of using them requires more knowledge and care than
our farmers can commonly lay claim to. Men who have been
accustomed to apply their manures by the cartload, can hardly be
persuaded to reduce the quantity to a tea spoonful. But this is
not all. The accidents and losses which occur under the circum-
stances of climate, and wet or dry weather, &c., in using these
powerful fertilizers, are a powerful argument against their use.
The single summer of 1845, will long be remembered by those
w^ho chose to neglect the resources they had at home, in order to
improve the precarious chances of foreign aid. Thousands of
tons of guano w^ere imported, and as far as can be learned, in the
ordinary farming operations, have been entirely useless. It mio-ht
as well have lain upon its original dung hills in the islands of
Africa or South America.

We would depend upon the resources which we have within
our own borders for all the improvements which can possibly be
attained for generations to come. These resources we have in
abundance, to make the fields of Orange county as fertile, and to
cover them with as luxuriant harvests as ever waved upon them.
These, it is now our purpose to examine, somewhat in familiar
detail.

1. The Farm Yard. — Here must ever be the grand hope of the
farmer. It is the place into which is collected every thing that
is thrown away as good for nothing but manure. It is the most
important spot on the farm, and according to the condition of the
farm yard, will be that of the whole farm. Several things con-
nected with it deserve paiticular mention.

Its locality. — This should not be, as is often the case, the top
of a hillock, whence all the juices of the yard can be leached off
into the nearest pond or creek. Neither if it is somewhat hollow
so as natm-ally to hold the wash, should it be carefully ditched,
as we have seen done, to drain off the wet. A place should be
selected where there is a gentle inclination to the centre from all

32 Oravge County Manures. [Jan.,

sides, forming a sort of basin, capable of containing all the wash
of the yard and stables.

Its preparation. — The bottom of the yard should be either
paved or covered with a layer of clay, well packed down, so as
to be as near as possible water tight. Into it, then, is to be
thrown all that is wasted in the house or barn. A good supply
of vegetable matter should be kept there, such as straw, weeds,
chaflf, or peat, of which we shall speak hereafter. Drains must
be made from the stalls of the cattle and horses, by which all the
urine shall be carefully brought to be mixed with the contents of
the yard. Here also must be thrown the dung from the stalls, the
hog-pen, and the hen-roost. Ever^' thing which has ever helped
to form a plant, or an animal, must be brought in here to undergo
decomposition, in order to fit it to become a plant again.

Some would advise the construction of a vat in the lower part
of the yard, into which all the liquids will flow, and from which
they can frequently be pumped and distributed over the solid con-
tents of the yard. And to this recommendation there is a good
deal of force, when all the advantages of a barn yard constructed
on this plan could be appreciated and used. Thus the repeated
application of the liquids from the vat would aid in the rotting
of the straw and litter, and the liquids would also be absorbed
and retained by the spongy' mass thus produced. The excess of
liquid would then flow back into the vat, whence it would be re-
peatedly drawn as it was required to wet the contents of the
yard, and the surplus, in the spring, could be carted out in casks,
and sprinkled over the fields.

Too little value is placed on the liquid manures of the yard
and stables. No pains are taken to preserve the latter, and pro-
vision is very often made to drain off the former. When a vat
is not used in the yard, other means should be contrived to absorb
all these liquids. Porous substances should be freely sprinkled
upon the floors of the stalls. For this purpose nothing can be
better than powdered charcoal, because it will not only absorb
the urine of the cattle and horses, but will also preserve it from

1S46.] Orange County Manures. 33

putrefying till it is put on the land. But whatever is used, it
should be added to the contents of the yai"d, to increase its quan-
tit)' and to add to its qualin". "We shall speak of peat, as usetiil for
this and other purposes, when we come to that substance and its
uses.

K the adaptation of particular manures to particular crops
were well understood, it would unquestionably be proper to pre-
serve all the various manures of the farm for their specific uses.
Thus the stable dung of horses would be applied to one spe-
cies of crop — that of the cows to another — so of the contents
of the hog-pen, &:c. But we know as yet too little of the adapt-
edness of individual maniues, and therefore the wisest plan is to
mix them all together in the barn yai^d. We make to this but
one exception, and that from actual experience as well as obser-
vation. AMien poultry are kept upon a farm they produce a
manure in their dung, which is the most powerful of all that are
made about the farmery. Its quantity is not so great as to add
materially to the amotmt in the yard, but its strength is such, that
a little will go a great way. We, therefore, advise this to be
kept distinct, and applied to corn just after it comes up, about
one gill to each hill, and mixed with the earth.

Treatment of Yard .Manure. — The contents of the bam yard
will not alwa)"s take care of themselves, and being exposed often
to great loss and injmy", it is highly important to understand how
to take care of it and prevent this loss. The great danger is
fix)m too rapid rotting, and the escape of nutritious gases. This will
take place very readily at any season of the year when manures of
this kind are thrown together in loose heaps, allowins: a free cir-
culation of air throu2:h them. Fermentation takes place — intense
heat is often produced, and the inside of the heap is often re-
duced to a half burnt state. Whilst this has been going on the
various erases which are formed escape into the air. and are lost.
The question then is, how to prevent this process from taking
place-

K the contents of the yard are kept constantly wet and trodden
down hard by the cattle, there is little danger of an amoimt of

Vol. n., No. 1. 4

34 Orange Coimty Manures. [Jan.,

decay which will materially injure the manure. A slow and even
process of rotting will take place, by which the whole will be
converted into a soft, black mass, easily broken up, and containing
a considerable portion of soluble matter. The water which soaks
it, will prevent the formation of much gas, and will absorb any
portions which may be generated, so that a mass of fine rich ma-
nure will be ready in the spring to be applied to the land. This
of course, supposes the yard to have been constantly supplied with
the dung and litter of the stables, and all the straw and waste of
feed, &:c. The care, then, to keep the manure in a good state,
when trodden down in the yard, is very little.

The case is different, however, when it must be removed from
the yard before it is applied to the farm. Some care and know-
ledge is necessary, then, in order to preserve it without great loss,
for its situation will be materially different from what it was in
the yard. It now becomes necessary to stack it carefully. This
should be done on one side of the yard, where there is slope
enough towards the middle to save all the leachings of the piles.
After a pile is begun, as fast as sufficient manure accumulates, it
should be laid on the pile in an even layer, and well packed down.
It is the access of air to the interior of the heap that produces
fermentation and consequent loss. By packing hard this is pre-
vented, whilst sufficient air is admitted to ensure a gradual and
uniform softening and partial fermentation, by which the whole
mass is brought into the same state. In the mean time the heaps
should be often and thoroughly saturated with the liquids which
accumulate in the yard or in the vats. "While the heap is form-
ing also, it may be useful, with every layer of manure, to add a
thin sprinkling of plaster or a solution of sulphate of iron, (cop-
peras) or even powdered charcoal. These substances will arrest
any gases which would otherwise escape, and save them. These
heaps may be made of any length and breadth, but should never
exceed four or five feet in depth, and should" then be covered
throughout with a layer of earth at least two inches thick, and this
should be beaten down compactly over the whole. An occasional
layer of earth or peat will be found very useful, in the process of

1846.] Orange County Manures. ,35

building up the heaps. These also should be evenly put on and
beaten firmly down.

We have spoken before of the disposition generally to neglect
the liquid manures of the yard, and to let them entirely escape.
We cannot close this part of our subject without saying that of
all the contents of the yard, the liquids are the most important.
They are the direct food of plants, holding in solution all that is
contained in manure which can be used by vegetables as food.
The liquid manure of the stables, the urine of the cattle and
horses, is generally entirely lost. This is of vastly more value
than the solid excrements of the animals, and should be saved
with great care. Of the best method of saving it we shall speak
hereafter.

Let us sum up this branch of our subject now in a few words.
The farm-yard is the great dependence of the Orange county far-
mer for the manufacture of manures. Here he must look for the
means to render his farm fertile, and in order to make it the most
sure he must waste nothing that can by any possibility be con-
verted into manure. All must be gathered into this spot, which
is the great reservoir of vegetable food. Here it must undergo
those preparatory processes which are necessary to bring it into a
state to be readily absorbed when applied to the land. In our
opinion there is no danger of manure being too much rotted, pro-
vided it is only rotted in the right way. The more nearly they
are reduced to that state in which the plant requires them, the
more powerful will be their action. It is not the slow and grad-
ual decomposition of manure, by which it affords a constant, but
at the same time scanty supply of food that makes the crop most
perfect and abundant, but a plentiful supply at all times, and es-
pecially just when the plant begins to grow, and for a little time
at least after it has begun. Then the full tide of vital action
having set in vigorously, a steady and rapid growth may be ex-
pected, resulting in a crop large in quantity and of excellent
quality.

Let us here, before proceeding to our next head, mention one
source of manure, which we have passed over — that is the privy.

36 Orange County Manures. [Jan.,

The contents of this establishment are far more valuable than an
equal quantity from any other part of the farm. In China, a
country that bears a high character for agricultural skill, this ma-
nure is held in the highest estimation, and every particle of it is
carefully saved. A little care bestowed upon it would remove all
unpleasant odor, so that it could be managed as well as stable
manure. All that is necessary is to have a box to slide in to re-
ceive it, and whenever a small quantity accumulates throw in
some lime. This will dry it and deprive it of smell, when it can
be taken out and mixed with the contents of the farm-yard.

2. The Peat Swamp. — This is the second resource of the far-
mer for manure. Orange county' is rather remarkable in this re-
spect. Formed of a constant succession of rolling ridges of land,
extending north and south, almost every valley lying between
these ridges, however small, is the depository of a peat swamp.
In some places the peat is a mere layer upon the surface — in
others it is of considerable depth. But we believe that there are
few farmers who understand what we mean by peat, and it is
therefore necessary to define it.

It is the substance known by geologists as peat, that is called
by farmers, swamp muck. It is the black, vegetable mould that
makes the surface of our swamps, and is formed whilst the ground
in these little valleys has been partially overflowed with water,
by the growth in the bottom of the water of moss, grass, weeds,
&c., and they have died from year to year and formed a bed a
little more elevated for the growth of the next year. Thus, by
alternate grovrth and decay, the swamp is gradually filled up with
this black, coally looking mould. There is no county in this
State that so abounds in this as Orange. In this county alone
there are nearly 50,000 acres of peat, which will average two
feet in thickness. What an inexhaustible source of fertility to
the farms in this county, whenever its value is_ understood.

Almost the entire mass of peat has at some time formed a part
of growing plants. It is therefore manifestly just the thing for
manure. But having grown, and died, and decayed, and lain for
hundreds of years under water, or perfectly saturated with it, it is

1846.] Orange County Manures. 37

when fresh dug in a very improper state to apply to the land. It
has not undergone those changes which fit it for being food for
plants. It requires a considerable preparation to make it good
manure. And this takes us back to the barn-yard and the com-
post heap.

No better and easier use can be made of peat than as a cover-
ing to the floor of the yard, before other manure is put there.
The yard should be prepared as directed before, and then the bot-
tom of it should have a thick covering of peat. Over this the
manure of the stables and the droppings of the cattle should be
evenly spread, in order to be trodden down and well mixed with
the peat beneath. The liquids will all be absorbed and retained
by the peat, so that whilst it is being prepared itself to become a
manure, it is also aiding in preserving other manure which would
otherwise be lost. Dr. Dana, of Lowell, says that two loads of
peat mixed with one load of stable manure will soon be converted
into a mass of manure equal to three loads from the stable. Such
being the case, it will readily appear, that when properly used in
the farm-yard, an immense amount of manure may be manu-
factured.

Where the manure is heaped up as directed above, the peat can
be employed with equal advantage. After each layer of manure
is put on and packed down, let a layer of peat be added of twice
the thickness. Let the heap be frequently well wet with the
liquids from the yards, and when completed be covered with a
thick coat of the peat, and when wanted for use it will be found
of the very best quality.

A very important use of peat remains to be mentioned, and that
is as an absorbent of the urine from the stables. Too little value
is commonly set upon this kind of manure, and it is therefore suf-
fered to waste. Yet, of all the excrements of our domestic ani-
mals, it is the most powerful when properly preserved. If col-
lected in large quantities, it would soon undergo a change, by
which a large portion of valuable material would be lost. It is
necessary therefore to use great precaution against loss. It is

38 Orange County Manures. Jan.,

commonly recommended to have tanks constructed, either under
the floor of the stables, or in such convenient place as the liquid
can easily be conducted to. These tanks are then to be filled with
charcoal or peat to absorb the liquids which flow into them. And
this is a very good arrangement, but in the construction of tanks,
conductors, &c., it is attended with unnecessary expense, which
can be easily obviated, and yet the same object be effected. To
do this, let the floors of the stables be laid so that the plank shall
be a small distance apart — just enough to allow all the urine to
flow through. Let some of them be moveable, or else doors made
elsewhere, through which the space below can be at any time
filled with peat. In this condition it will absorb the liquids as
well as in tanks, and plaster or a solution of sulphate of iron
(copperas) can occasionally be added, to prevent any waste that
is liable to occur. The peat may be taken out at any time that it
becomes saturated, and mixed with the contents of the yard or
added to the compost heaps, and its place supplied with more; or
if enough can be put in to last till time to carry it out on the
land, that may be done ; but the former plan is preferable.

One great consideration in manuring land is to supply, as far
as possible, the precise substances which are wanting. There
may be a great abundance of vegetable mould in the soil, and not
enough of those substances which constitute the ash when plants
are burned. It would therefore be unwise to apply the peat itself
to the soil. But the ashes of peat will be a capital application.
For this purpose the peat should be cut up in square blocks, and
thoroughly dried, and then piled in large stacks and burned, and
the ashes strewed over the soil. It is probable that over a large
area in Orange county, this would be the best w^ay to use the peat.
At the same time it can be advantageously applied as directed
above. Peat may very easily be converted into most excellent
manure by the agency of animal matter or potash. The former
is mentioned because an animal often dies upon the farm or in its
immediate neighborhood, whose carcass is suffered to waste in the
open air, or is buried at once, where it can never be of any use.

1846.] Orange County Manures. 39

Now, if it were cut up and mixed with a pile of peat, the whole
mass would be brought into a state of decomposition, fitting it to
become the food of a large crop.

The soap-maker will pay a shilling a bushel for ashes. After
he has leached from it a large proportion of its potash, the Long
Island farmer will send to the door of the soap-maker, often as far
as 160 miles, and pay for the leached, the same sum originally
paid for the unleached ashes. Now, if it is worth a shilling per
bushel, besides the transportation, to him, after all its soluble pot-
ash is extracted, are our farmers who make the ashes and sell it
to soap-manufacturers paid for it ? Would it not be worth more
than the shilling to them to put on their land? We have no doubt
this is true in reference to any of the long-cultivated lands in this
country, setting aside the particular necessity for particular soils.
But here we wish only to mention it as of use to decompose peat,
and prepare it for manure. One cart-load of ashes mixed with
ten of peat, and turned over a few times before it is applied,
would make a mass of manure nearly or quite equal to as much
of the best farm-yard manure, and more profitable to any farmer
than to sell his ashes for cash at a shilling per bushel.

The same use can be made of lime. It is a powerful converter
of insoluble vegetable matter into soluble. We have seen some-
where a recipe like this: — dissolve one bushel of salt, and make
it a paste with a cask of lime. After it has stood a few days, add
it to three cords of peat. Turn the mass two or three times be-
fore using.

Under this head may also be included those large accumulations
of vegetable and mineral matter in the bottom of ponds of stand-
ing water. In this matter we have a powerful manure, which is
too generally neglected. Sufficient probably collects in a large
mill-pond, to pay for drawing off the water and cleaning it out
every year. It consists not only of the vegetable matter which is
accidentally transported thither, but of the wash of soluble and
insoluble substances from the hill-sides and slopes of ground
throughout the whole district of country through which the
streams pass which supply the pond. Here they accumulate, and

40 Orange County Manures. [Jan.,

settle to the bottom of the stagnant water, and being almost en-
tirely excluded from atmospheric agency, a partial decomposition
only takes place. Of course it is better not to be immediately
applied to the soil. At the same time it contains a greater pro-
portion of soluble matter, and whenever applied its action will be
found to be more speedy, but less durable than peat.

3. Marl. — Underneath almost every peat swamp in this coun-
ty, may be found a marl bed, but these marl beds vary much in
quality and in quantity. In some places they are several feet in
depth, whilst in others they form a mere layer of lime under the
peat. In some beds it consists of almost pure carbonate of lime,
and in others this substance is but thinly scattered through the
mass. Whatever may be the character, the farmer may put it
down as a source of great fertility, if he find one of these beds
upon his farm. There are few farms here that have not a marl
bed, at least in the immediate vicinity, for we have set down the
amount of peat at nearly 50,000 acres, and the marl will average
nearly the same in extent, and probably will be found, in general,
to exceed the peat in thickness.

Marl is formed in two ways — i. e., the marl Avhich abounds in
Orange county. In the bottom of small ponds, the waters of
which contain an excess of carbonate of lime, that substance is
deposited, or settles in the form of a fine white powder. At the
same time the grass and other vegetation that grows in the same
position dies and decays, and becomes mixed with the fine carbo-
nate of lime and the fresh water shells, which abound in waters
charged with lime. Thus although the marl may be chiefly com-
posed of the fine powder, it will be found sprinkled, and some-
times largely, with three or four kinds of small white shells. In
some cases the shells compose almost the whole of the lime, and
the remainder of the marl is a coarse vegetable matter. This
substance is probably still forming in the bottom of our ponds.

Although marl is so abundant throughout the county, yet it is
a fact that comparatively few farmers know it when they see it,
and still fewer understand its uses. It will, therefore, not be mis-
spent time to examine this subject at large.

1846.] Orange County Manures. 41

Liming the soil. — Lime is an essential ingredient in a fertile
soil, yet by the pi'ocesses of tillage it becomes entirely exhausted.
This takes place either by the extraction of the lime by the roots
of growing plants, or by its being dissolved and washed down
through the soil by water. A French writer on agriculture, M.
Puvis, attempts to fix laws for the liming of lands, and supposes
that land which contains 9 or 10 per cent of lime requires no
more, but if it contains less it should be applied. That some
laws of this kind might be established, very rationally, we have
no doubt. But the impossibility of reducing them to general
practice in this county, would render them utterly useless. It
would require an accurate analysis of a soil before a farmer could
determine whether he should apply lime to it. Such a practice
would not suit the farmers of Orange. It will, therefore, be a
better general rule for them, that all land which has been sub-
jected to long and severe cultivation, needs lime. This will not
require an analysis of the soil to determine whether the land has
the 10 per cent of M. Puvis, but from the known deterioration of
land by tillage, it is certain that the lime, one of the most easily
dissolved of the earths, will be exhausted with equal pace V\ith
other substances; and when other manures are applied, lime should
also be used. But a prominent use of lime in the soil is owing
to its effects upon vegetable matters, in decomposing them. It will,
therefore, be advisable to add lime to soils abounding in vegetable
mould, without so much reference to the quantity already con-
tained. To peaty lands, after they have been drained, lime will
be eminently useful. To all lands which abound in inert vege-
table matter, the lime should be slaked and not applied in a
caustic state.

But in the marls of Orange county, the lime does not exist in a
caustic state, but in the form of a carbonate of lime. In this con-
dition, besides a mechanical action upon the soil, it acts directly
upon the growing plants, supplying them with an indispensable
portion of food. Not only does it furnish lime, but being com-
posed to a considerable amount of the shells of once living crea-
tures, it is found to contain still the remains of animal matter, to

Vol. II., No. 1. 5

42 Orange County Manures. [Jan.,

which some eminent men have attributed its principal power.
But it is evident that it also establishes the condition of the soil,
for plants require lime as well as animal matter. Thus, the Eng-
lish agriculturists have for years been applying it in great profu-
sion, and within a few years in our own country considerable use
is made of it. An eminent French agriculturist says that the ap-
plication of marl doubled the produce of a piece of ground in the
department in which he lives: " Before the application of the
marl nothing but dwarfish crops of rye were gathered, yielding
at most three for one of the seed ; at present eight for one of seed,
and that wheat, are obtained, and the good effects are found to
continue for ten and even twelve years." It would be interestincr,
but consume too much time, to quote largely the evidences of the
use of lime from those who have tested it, we therefore proceed to
the practical uses of marl.

It should be dug in the fall and laid in heaps on the land, to be
acted on and broken down by the frost before it is spread. JVIuch
of the marl of the county, such as that found in the towns of
Minisink and Wallkill, is so pure that after it has become dry,
after taken from the bed, it will easily fall into a fine powder.
But we have seen specimens of marl from the eastern parts of the
county, in Newburgh, which contains a very large amount of ve-
getable matter, and upon drying becomes hard and compact, and
cannot be reduced by any artificial means to such a state as to be
useful on the land. Hence the necessity of exposing it to the
action of frost. The water by which all the mass is filled, freezes,
and when it thaws separates the whole into a powder almost as
fine as the slaked lime. In this state, as soon as it has become
perfectly dry it should be spread upon the land. This should not
be done carelessly, but as evenly as possible. That which falls
into a fine dust without the action of frost, may be advantageous-
ly applied to fall crops and plowed immediately in, but not very
deep.

Marl may be used very advantageously in mixture with stable
manure and in the compost heap. Indeed, it may be considered
as true that this is the best way to apply all manures. It is not

1846.] Orange County Manures. 43

the liine alone which will reader land fertile. The other manures
are just as necessary, and in equal quantities, as without the marl.
Indeed, by a thorough marling of the land, it may be stimulated
suddenly to so great fertility as to become rapidly exhausted of
vegetable matter, and this has been often the case, and the farmer
has been disappointed that the effect of the marl was not more
durable. Finding his crops diminishing, he has applied more
marl, but still without effect, for what w^as wanted was the pre-
sence of organic matter in the soil. If stable manure is freely
used after liming, a continued effect may be expected.

No rule can be laid down as to the quantity of marl to be ap-
plied to an acre. Much will depend on the quality of the marl
which we have stated to be extremely various, and much upon the
character of the soil. The soils of Orange county, however, are
so uniform that if the tillage of all were equal, the same quantity
would be applicable to any portion. But from the known differ-
ence in the qualit}' of the marls, it will be impossible to lay down
any rule. There are marls in this county which contain as much
as 90 per cent of carbonate of lime — there are others again where
there is not more than 10 to 20 per cent. So that a much greater
quantit}' of the latter will be required to furnish the same amount
of lime with the former. The richest that we have seen are from
Minisink and Wallkill. In the former town are to be found thou-
sands of acres of the finest quality. It would be advisable, that
experiments should be carefully made in different parts of the
county, to ascertain the amount which is sufficient of the different
marls. Injury is often produced by laying it on so thick as to ex-
clude the air from vegetation. But we apprehend little or no in-
jury from an overdose of marl, when it is thoroughly incorporated
with the soil. There are no caustic properties to injure vegeta-
tion.

Marl will unquestionably be a valuable application to all kinds
of crops in Orange county, but to none others do we apprehend
it will be of more use than to the grass crop. It contains the
principles which are necessary to produce a rich, nutritive grass,
and in a county whose great resource has been for years the pro-

44 Orange County Manures. [Jan.,

duce of the dairy, it will be easily perceived that there is proba-
bility very strong, that these very substances have been exhausted
from the soil, and that by a free use of marl in connection with
other manures, vast improvements may be made in the peculiar
produce of the county. Marl is a great fertilizer, and there is a
great abundance in Orange county.

We have thus examined, very hastily, the three most important
sources of manure for the farmer in this county', viz: the farm-
yard, the peat-swamp, and the marl-bed. In these he has inex-
haustible sources of fertility to his farm. He need not resort to
any foreign sources — he does not want guano, nor any of the pa-
tent manures — he has all at hand that is required to give bound-
less productiveness to his soil. We might have mentioned other
manures, such as ashes of wood, and coal ashes — a capital thing
for grass — of gypsum, but it may be entirely dispensed with where
marl is used — and of poudrette, but the farmer does not need to
buy it. But we have confined ourselves to the locality for which
we write, and have shown that we need not stir from home for
manure. If we have done any thing to open the eyes of the far-
mer to his own resources, we are abundantly satisfied.

It only remains for us now to urge upon the fanners of Orange
county, what ought to be superfluous, viz: that the produce of the
soil is proportionate to the care bestowed in the tillage of it. " In
the sweat oi his brow," man must eat his bread, but God has pro-
vided means by which his labor may be diminished, and whilst he
is exposed to the influences of natural causes which oppose him,
he may grapple with them and compel nature to his OAvn will.
The earth must be tilled if it is expected to produce. Food must
be supplied to plants, if we expect them to grow. The whole
earth belongs to man, but it depends upon him whether it brings
forth enough for his support. And whilst he exhausts the soil by
cultivation, he must restore by means of manures what he has
taken away, and thus he may render the earth perpetually fruitful.

1846.] Entomology. 45

ENTOxMOLOGY— NOVEL PRODUCTIONS.

BY THO. BARLOW.

The laws of nature in the insect world, so far as the production
of its kind is concerned, are the same as in the vegetable. We
are told, by high authority, that in the creation of the world,
it was declared that every seed should "bring forth after its kind."
Whilst this is the case, there are many apparent departures,
which seem at first as a revolution of the laws, and to confound
our researches.

From the aurelia of the butterfly, I have seen hundreds of
small flies spring forth; from the pupa of the common apple-tree
caterpillar, in the cocoon, I have known a number of the common
horse flies to come; from the pupse of several kinds of moths, I
have seen various kinds of the ichneumon fly come forth; out of
all these, when regularly formed, the perfect insects, as indicated
by the various aurelias, pupse, &c., were expected. These depar-
tures arise from the fact, that the parents of the various flies pene-
trate the walls of the pupse with their ovipositors and deposit
their eggs, which hatch out, destroy the butterfly or moth, live
upon it until perfected, burst the walls of their cell, and come
forth.

I have a variety of such specimens among ray collections, which
for their novelty are very interesting. But I have one specimen,
for the production of which, I cannot account; neither can I find
it spoken of by any naturalist. It is a worm, in size and appear-
ance very much like what is commonly called the hair snake, and
between four and five inches in length. It is rather larger than
the hair snake, and of a yellowish flesh color. It was produced
by the house cricket (achata domestica).

I saw the cricket in my path, and being unusually large, I con-
cluded to preserve it; and after having it in my hand a moment,
it ejected the worm. Being surprised by the singular production,
I cast them both upon the hot earth (it being about noon of a

46 Entomology. [Jan.,

very warm summer flay), and the worm immediately coiled up
into a knot. I gathered them up again, and now have them in
my collection.

I subsequently saw an account of a similar production, in the
state of Maine, from the field cricket (achata campestua). That
was spoken of as a wonder of nature; and the question was pro-
pounded, in the same account, whether hair snakes were not thus
produced.

The cricket produces its young by depositing its egg in the
ground, which hatches out the imago in the same manner as the
family gryllidse, or grasshoppers.

Were it natural and regular for the cricket to produce such
specimens, I think it would have been mentioned before now by
naturalists, at least, when it is known that this insect has been
the studied favorite of entomologists for ages. Many lovers and
students of nature have sought to have these musical creatures
dwell and multiply in the walls of their houses, and have fed and
tamed them, to enjoy their chirping notes through the lone
hours of evening and night. Their nature and habits have been
studied, and if such a production were legitimate, I think it must
have been noticed.

This worm cannot be considered as any stage or state of the
cricket, for the latter undergoes no such change. Had it been
produced by an insect in the larva, pupa, or nympha state, I
should not have deemed it so strange; but as the production of a
perfect insect, it presents itself, as it were, as an anomaly in the
insect world, though one other instance of the kind, it seems,
has been noticed, which would indicate something of a regularity
or legitimacy. It is possible that naturalists have observed the
same, and may have spoken of it; if so, I should be pleased to
learn it.

1846.] Manures — their ^application. 47

MANURES— THEIR APPLICATION.

BY C. N. BEMENT.

On the subject of manures much has been written, and much
has been saidj still it is fertile and full of interest. The subject
cannot, in my opinion, be too frequently agitated, or brought into
view, nor too strongly urged.

When we consider how much the productiveness of our farms
depends upon the manure heap, and how much this matter is at
times neglected, a few remarks, I trust, will not be unacceptable;
and although familiar to most of you, if they stimulate any per-
son to apply them, who has hitherto neglected to do so, the object
in making them will be obtained.

The collection and application of manures, I consider to be the
grand secret in good farming. It gives us grass and grain. It is
by a liberal application of manure that extraordinary crops have
been obtained. It is consequently an object of minute attention
to collect as much as possible, and to apply it in the most advan-
tageous manner. Although there is little danger of applying too
great a quantity to land, it may be used to excess. Indian corn
is a voracious feeder, and will bear a copious dressing, but the
crops of small grain may be injured by manuring too highly.

Manuring the soil forms a grand item in farming, both on ac-
count of its expense and its need to replenish the land; it is,
therefore, very important to know the art of managing this de-
partment with the greatest economy, and preventing waste in any
possible shape.

Very fiew farmers ever have a sufficiency of animal manures
for their purposes. Hence recourse must be had to other means
for augmenting the manure heaps.

The great principle of all manures may be understood from this
fact, that whatever animal or vegetable substance dies, is con-
verted into manures for other plants in the living state, by the
natural process of putrefaction. By this process it is gradually,

48 Manures — their Applied ion. [Jan.,

but effectually, decomposed; and the parts are fitted for entering
into new combinations, and for adding to the substance of the
living plants. Thus, instead of nuisances, nature furnishes ma-
nure, and no substance whatever is lost. This is one of the beauti-
ful and admired l&ws of nature; and though we cannot investi-
gate her very minute operations, we are able, by observation, to
learn much^ and by industry to derive great advantages.

A great deal has been said about the fertility of plants. Pul-
verised earth, water, as an element, carbonaceous matter, in a
soluble state, and various gaseous substances have been success-
ively in repute; some plants have been supposed to draw part of
their food from the atmosphere, in a larger proportion to others;
and it has been thought that grain and green crops require to be
supported with food proper to each class; and that one particular
crop, on that account, exhausts the substance on which it feeds,
if too frequently repeated.

Practice has introduced more discoveries into agriculture, as-
sisted by observation, than science. At the same time, though
the man of science will not presume to dictate to the skilful prac-
tical farmer, he may not only improve, but enlighten, and even
give digniiy to agriculture as an art, by rendering it, in some de-
gree, a science also.

The application of manures depends on the natural state of the
soil, and on the purposes for which it is to be applied. Observa-
tion and experience determine how to act, and what to apply;
also how and v.^hen the application should be made. Yet it would
be of important use to the farmer, in remarkable cases, to call in
the aid of science. Many expensive trials have been made in
redeeming some soils, or turning them to useful purposes, in vain.

The farmer knov/s, or ought to know, that some soils want so-
lidity, and others have too much; that some exceed in cohesion,
others in looseness, and that a moderate degree of these properties
is considered essential to fertility. With this view sand is applied
to tenacious clay; and clay on sand and gravel. But these ap-
plications are not made in the strict order of manures; they are
mechanically w^anted, in order to give to the soils a proper con-

1S46.] Manures — their .application. 49

sistence for admitting plants to grow in them, and to push their
small roots without losing hold, and at the same time, to feed in a
regular manner, imbibing in just proportion, the moisture and
nutriment it contains without being either parched or drowned.

Putrid manures, applied in proper quantities, furnish direct nu-
triment for plants; and calcarious manures probably do the same,
in some degree; but they certainly furnish it indirectly, by re-
solving organic substances contained in the soil into a mucus, as-
sisted by moisture. At the same time these manures are always
productive of mechanical effect, in opening and deepening the
soils to v/hich they are applied.

From my own observation and experience, I have come to the
conclusion that manure, arising from animal and vegetable sub-
stances, should be exposed as little as possible to the sun, the air,
and drenching rains, and when applied to the soil be immediately
plovv'ed in. It is my opinion also that manure, when plowed in,
cannot be kept too near the surface, provided it is well mixed and
covered, that the essence will be dissolved by rain and taken up
by the roots of the plants. So extremely minute are the mouths
of plants, that the nourishing parts of manure can enter them
only in a state of solution by water.

My object and great aim is to make and get manure; and to
carry this into effect, nothing that would contribute, in the least
degree, for increasing the manure heap is thrown away. I have
always made it a practice of converting every article of rubbish
and filth about my premises, weeds and coarse grass around the
fields and fences, into manure; and have even hauled saw dust,
turner's chips, and sumac leaves, from the morocco dressers, to
bed my cattle and absorb the urine previous to mixing in the com-
post heaps. I also haul anthracite coal ashes from the city, on
which I set a high value, for a top dressing on my meadows.

But however correct and economical may be the manner of
saving and applying manure, the quantity, it cannot be denied,
still falls short of the farmer's wants. How to supply this defi-
ciency merits the deepest attention of the husbandman.

I am an advocate for compost, and for that purpose I mix

50 Manures — their Application. [J

an.

all the produce of the cattle yard, the sheep yard, the horse stable,
the pig stye, and the poultry house.

The dung of the hog, owing to the greater fatness of the ani-
mal, and nature of its food, is the richest and strongest; that of
the horse, the most heating; that of cattle, the coldest, but the
most durable. The dung of sheep, it is conceded, is quick in its
operation, and powerful in its effects; therefore the mixing of
cattle, horse, hog and sheep dung for all kinds of soils and all
kinds of crops, is always to be preferred, and the one corrects
the defects of the other, and prevents the fermenting process from
going on too rapidly.

The utility of fermented dung is proved from the little advan-
tage derived from what is dropt upon the ground, and has not
undergone that process. In the course of its being fermented also
the seeds of weeds and the eggs of insects are destroyed.

My yard is dishing, still it sometimes overflows, and w^here the
excess passes off, I caused a basin to be excavated to retain the
liquid. Near this basin, which is outside the yard, I place my
compost heap, which I commence with a layer of yard manure
about one foot in thickness; then a layer of soil, then a layer of
green weeds; then a coat of shell lime and ashes; then a layer
of turf; then a layer of horse, hog, or sheep dung; then a coat
of soil, and so on, with such materials as are available. In short,
every thing of a fertilizing nature is placed in the heap, carrying
up the sides square, until the pile reaches to the height of from
five to six feet. As the heap progresses, each layer is saturated
with the liquid which escaped from the cattle yards and then
covered with fine soil, to prevent the escape of the volatile parts
of the manure, and in the next place, to absorb ihe gases — so
that the soil used for a covering becomes itself a valuable manure
— a point long since established by the practice of many enlight-
ened farmers. After remaining a sufficient time, I cause the
whole heap to be carefully and completely turned and mixed,
throwing on liquid manure as the work progresses. A fermenta-
tion soon takes place, sufficient to destroy the vitality of the seeds
of such weeds as may find their way into the heap. After two

1846.] .Manures — their Application. 51

turnings it generally gets completely broken clown and comminut-
ed. By mixing a small quantity of salt to the heap, I have no
doubt it would add greatly to its fertilizing properties.

In this way I have added from one hundred, to one hundred and
fifty loads of good manure per year.

I have used with good success, bone dust, horn shavings, bris-
tles, salt fish, and poudrette. They are all highly concentrated
manures, and are valuable for the immediate crop, but for after-
crops and enriching the soil durably, give me the compost heaps.

I once had great faith in the use of gypsum, but after several
experiments with it, I became satisfied that it was of no benefit
on my soil; I have, therefore, abandoned its use altogether.

The understanding holds the middle ground between the exter-
nal and internal worlds — that of sense and that of spirit. The
external senses, those of sight and feel, give the understanding
the materials of which it forms its judgments of material thinos
— while the reason is the sense which enlightens us of things be-
longing to the spirit, and those truths which are absolute and of
universal acceptance. By the understanding our relations, by
means of the senses, is preserved with material objects. In futu-
rity those senses may not exist, for reason may then open a direct
intercourse with spirit, and our understanding will be enlightened
and taught by means of this intercommunication with the spiritual
world. The senses may become extinguished; but reason will
maintain the eternity of mind, and become the sense by which
' immediate intercourse is held with the Eternal — with the sfood —
the beautiful and virtuous.

It is certain that every age possesses certain characteristics —
and if we would understand the causes which have controlled hu-
man affairs, we must study those characteristics. Those character-
istics will explain to us many events which appear as anomalies,
when considered only by themselves.

( 5^ )

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

REPORTS ON THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE
PROVINCE OF CANADA.

(Presented to the House on the 27th of January 1845.)

The reports referred to in the above title are comprised in a
pamphlet of 159 pp. 8 mo. W. E. Logan Esq., is the geologist,
who is favorably known by his investigations in the coal fields
of Great Britain.

The report is not designed to embrace a full and complete ac-
count even of the labors so far as they have progressed; and
hence, is merely a sketch of the labors which have been expend-
ed upon a few isolated points in Canada and Nova Scotia, to-
gether with a brief account of tlie reconnoisance of the field
generally.

Mr. Logan gives a very clear and distinct account of the coal
fields of the United States, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The details of all that part of the report relating to the United
States, is acknowledged to have been derived from the geological
reports of New-York and Pennsylvania; and on page 53, Mr. Lo-
gan says, that in investigating each group of strata, I have usually
endeavored to determine its equivalent in the State Geological
Survey of New-York, referring to the classification of rocks estab-
lished by that survey as a standard by which a vast amount of
labor and time might be saved in Canada. Mr. Logan divides
the territory which falls under his inspection into two divisions,
Western and Eastern. The line of separation is drawn along
the Hudson river and Champiain valleys to Mlssisquoi bay, and
then to Quebec. The Western division, as connected with the
geology of Canada, Mr. Logan describes as a gigantic trough of
fossiliferous strata conformable from the summit of the coal to the

1846.] Geological Survey of Canada. 53

bottom of the lowest sedimentary formation, with a transverse
axis, reaching from Michigan to the neighborhood of Washing-
ton, a distance of seven hundred miles; and a longitudinal one
extending from Quebec in a south westerly direction to the Ten-
nessee river in Alabama. In this great trough are three subordi-
nates, in the centre of which, there spreads an enormous coal
field. One commencing on the southern borders of Kentucky and
extending north westerly to Rock river, in Illinois, is 360 miles
long, and in breadth 200. It is of an oval form, and is intersect-
ed by the river Illinois, Wabash and Ohio. It is bounded by the
Mississippi, which sweeps along nearly the whole western margin.
It covers an area of 55,000 square miles. The second coal field,
the heart of Michigan, extending one hundred miles east and
west, and one hundred and fifty miles north and south ; commenc-
ing: from the neio^hborhood of the rivers Manistee and Ausable
and terminating at the source of the Grand river near Jackson.
It has a superfices of 12,000 square miles. The third carbonifer-
ous area stretches in a north-easterly course about 600 miles, be-
ginning in the State of Tennessee and extending to the north
corner of Pennsylvania. Measured transversely, or from the north
branch of the Potomac, in Maryland, to the south-eastern corner
of Summit county in Ohio, it is 170 miles. Its form is some-
what rhomboidal, and is supposed to comprise an area of 60,000
square miles. It is traversed by the Ohio and Susquehanna; the
main trunk of the former passes through its centre, or traverse it
for about 400 miles. The latter intersects with its tributaries,
the north-eastern extremity, and denudes and lays bare the series
of rocks down to the New-York system beneath, and which of
course are exposed in their outcrops.

The most important part of Mr. Logan's report is the Append-
ix, which constitutes nearly one half of the pamphlet. It com-
prises a detailed examination of the Nova Scotia coal measures
as developed at Joggins, on the Bay of Fundy. The whole
formation has been reduced to vertical thickness, and every sub-
ordinate mass measured and described.

The formation consists of sandstone, gray, brown or drab, and

54 J^ew Puhlications. [Jan.,

slates and shales of a variety of colors, as red and brown of
various shades, together with dark colored slates in which the coal
seams are usually found. The rocks with which our readers will
be most familiar, are the gray and greenish-gray sandstones, which
are seen through all parts of the United States, in what are called
the Nova Scotia grindstones; most, if not all, are taken from car-
boniferous formations of this region.

The whole thickness of the Nova Scotia coal measures, as de-
termined by Mr. Logan, is fourteen thousand Ave hundred and
seventy feet and eleven inches. We look w^ith great interest to
the completion of this survey. This being finished, we shall then
be in possession of the geology of so much of this continent as
is embraced in the area lying between the Gulf of the St. Law-
rence and the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the plains
which border the Rocky mountains.

Such has been the spirit with which geology has been pursued
in this country, by American geologists principally, that those in
the oldest rank of observers remember when the first blow was
struck and when the first hammer was raised upon our rocks.
We groped in the dark nearly two-thirds of the time in which
geology has been pursued in this country. The most important
advance which has been made in this science, was achieved when
the geology of New- York was determined, and when the order
and arrangement of series was first exhibited. We then had, and
not till then, the key to North American geology.

We do not, however, mean to be understood, that all has been
done even in New-York, so that nothing more remains; the lead-
ing parts and principles only are settled. We have the great
outlines of our geology laid out. What remains is the work of
filling up w^ith local details, which from their nature will result
some of the most important discoveries belonging to this depart-
ment of knowledo;e.

Mr. Cook's Report on Clinton State Prison. 55

ANNUAL REPORT OF RANSOM COOK, ESQ., AGENT
OF THE CLINTON STATE PRISON.

(Presented to the Senate on the 19th of January, 1846.)

We have from the beginning taken a deep interest in the es-
tablishment of this prison. The proposed employment and the
improved discipline of its inmates, gave to this project greater
importance than belongs usually to affairs of this kind; and we
are pleased with the prospect of success which appears to await
the judicious efforts and management of the Agent. It is not our
object, however, to speak of the police of this institution, but to
bring before our readers the mode of ventilation which Mr. Cook
devised for the main building, or that part of the building which
is appropriated to the confinement of the prisoners.

No person has ever visited a jail or a prison, who has not been
half suffocated with the effluvia on first entering its walls. Hence it
has been a great desideratum ever since philanthropists began the
work of ameliorating the condition of this class of our communi-
ty, or since men have begun to think that prisoners may pos-
sibly suffer more than their crimes deserve, to find some mode by
which the offensive air might be removed. The attempts hitherto
have only partially succeeded. On this point we copy a para-
graph from the Medical Chirurgical Review, vol. 2, 1845, new
series.

" Simple as this object may appear to be, it is, as we have pre-
viously noticed, difficult of attainment, and moreover most of the
plans, especially when applied on a large scale, are so expensive,
as to be on that score impracticable."

We are happy to say, that Mr. Cook, the Agent of this prison,
has succeeded in this highly important end; for it is an end
which is unportant to community generally, but especially to all
public institutions where men are congregated. The following is
Mr. Cook's description of the plan of ventilation.

" The plan adopted for ventilating this prison, is as follows: a

56 J\^ew Publications.

pipe of sheet iron four inches in diameter, passes from the back
of each cell near its ceiling, into the centre wall, where it is sur-
rounded by masonry, and continued in the wall to its top in the
garret. The outer wall of the building, and that on the front end
of the cells, is carried three feet higher than the top of the upper
story of cells. On these two walls rest the timbers supporting the
ceiling of the hall. This elevation of the ceiling forms a pit-like
recess over the whole block of cells in the garret. In the ceiling
of the hall there is a row of ventilators eighteen inches square,
and twenty feet apart. A full supply of fresh air is received into
the garret, through openings made in the projection of the roof
over the building. The aggregate capacity of the ventilators in
the ceiling is about three times greater than that of those in the cells.

" This experiment has proved entirely successful. The fresh
cold air of the garret falls into the pit above the cells, from whence
it descends into them through the ventilating pipes ; it there meets
and mixes with the warm air from the stoves in the hall, which
readily passes through the lattice work of the cell doors. The vi-
tiated and over-heated air passes off through the more elevated
apertures in the ceiling of the hall. The prison being steadily
heated to about 60° F., the mason work of the block of cells is
of course brought to the same temperature. The cool air descend-
ing through the ventilating pipes, which are surrounded by this
warmer masonry, will of course be raised in temperature in pro-
portion to the length of pipe through which it travels. Hence the
air which descends through a pipe about eighteen feet in length,
to reach the lower cells, will enter them with a temperature high-
er than that which enters the upper cells through a pipe but six-
teen inches in length. In short, the heated air from the stoves in
the hall enters the cells with a temperature raised in proportion to
their elevation, and its heat is there counteracted by its union with
a current of descending air, reduced in temperature, and increased
in quantity in a similar proportion.

" The following sectional view of the arrangement of the cells,
with the pipes and apertures for ventilation, will assist in under-
standing the subject."

58 JVew Publications. Jan.,

Before we dismiss this report, we feel it our duty to give the
sentiments of the author, as he has expressed them on the last
page of the Report. The remarks are in our opinion of great
value, and will deserve the consideration of all concerned in le-
gislation, or in the management of those who are undergoing the
sentence of the law for their crimes.

" The convict well knows that by his sentence he is degraded as
a felon, cut off from society, and stripped of his right of citizen-
ship. That he is to be confined a given number of years at hard
labor, without fee or reward. All this he knows he must bear, and
he very naturally feels that his punishment is sufficiently severe.
But he also knows that cold, hunger, unnecessary flagellation and
all cruelty, however inflicted, forms no part of his sentence.
When, therefore he sees those in authority inflicting tortures at
which his own hardened nature revolts, he readily concludes that
himself, though a felon, is a better man than his keeper, who holds
a reponsible office. This conclusion leads him to the conviction
that merit is without its reward and promotion is obtained by vil-
lany. A belief that the world is as bad or worse than himself ;
that he is a victim of oppression, rather than a subject of peniten-
tiary reform, is soon adopted. An impatience of restraint and
a hatred of all law and its officers speedily follows. He conse-
quently leaves the prison much worse than he entered it ; at war
with his race and urged on by a desire of avenging his former in-
juries. His subsequent conviction and return to 'the prison, which
soon follows his discharge, is then triumphantly urged as a proof
that he merited the cruelties inflicted and even much more. This
routine of severity of discipline, discharges from prison and subse-
quent convictions, instead of awakening a suspicion as to the cor-
rectness of the policy pursued, seems only to have confii'med its
advocates in a conviction of its justice ; to have rendered keepers
more callous, and the public more indifferent.

That the power of kindness is the strongest known to human
nature, is too sensibly felt and too well understood by all, to be
taught as a new discovered truth. Under its and softening influ-

16 Copftei; T<ti,ns, hai/e tern disroi.frei/.

OS. l.„;,fi^-r,..\'h 19 ■

-i-

lEW YORK,

1846.] Co]pper Mines. 59

ence vice is abashed, ferocity tamed, and a man voluntarily lays
down his life for his friend. When it can be shown that harshness
and cruelty are capable of producing the same results, we may
And an excuse for discussing the propriety of adopting one, or the
other system, in prison discipline."

COPPER MINES.

1. On the Copper and Silver of Kaiveena Point, Lake Superior.
By C. T. Jackson, M. D.

2. Outlines of the Geological Structures of Lake Supei ior Mine-
ral Region. By James Eights, Mineralogical Surveyor.

3. On the Junction of the Transition and Primary Rocks of
Canada and Labrador. By Capt. Bayfield, R. N. G. S.

During the last two years, the mining region of Lake Superior
has excited unusual attention. The reports concerning the veins
of copper, whose value is said to be greatly increased by silver,
both alloyed and native, has heightened this interest, and has
created an intense desire to know more of the truth of the state-
ments which have been floating in the community. Indeed the
excitement seems equal to that which attended the lumber fever
of Maine, or that of the water lot speculation of our western
neighbors in 1836. We by no means, however, intend to convey
the impression that it is all empty speculation; for w^e have no
doubt that valuable metals are now^ found, and will be found in
greater abundance hereafter, when the country is cleared of its
dense growth of trees and underbrush, than in any other region
in this country. Even more may be true than the most sanguine
expect ; still, when we take into consideration the fact that nearly
one thousand locations have been selected for mining, we are
forced to believe that but a few only will prove valuable; and as
in most cases of the kind, the final result will be, that where one
man has made a fortune, fifty will lose money by their operations.

60 ' JVeiw Publications. [Jan.,

Our business, however, now is, to state facts and leave conjec-
ture to others. On this subject our facts are derived partly from
oral communications, and partly from the published reports of
those who have been employed as mineral surveyors in the cop-
per region. Two of these reports are before us, and we
have selected Capt. Bayfield's general observations for the pur-
pose of making this communication more complete on the geolo-
gy of the region which forms the subject of the essay.

Dr. Jackson states that the earliest accounts of the existence of
metals on the south shore of Lake Superior, date as far back as
1760. Since then many persons have partially explored those
shores, with greater or less success. Masses of native copper
have from time to time been discovered, but the most accurate
explorer of this region was Henry R. Schoolcraft, who published
an account of it in the third volume of Silliman's Journal.

Among those, however, who have examined the region of
the northern lakes, Capt. Bayfield has probably explored a much
greater space than any other individual. Lake Superior, accord-
ing to his observations, is placed in an oval basin or depression,
and is surrounded by hills, whose average height does not exceed
700 ft. ; even the highest do not rise over 2000 ft. above the lake,
whose surface is about 623 feet above, and its extreme depth
about the same number of feet below the tidal waters of the At-
lantic ocean. These hills or mountainous tracts are composed of
various granitic aggregates, in which horneblende is often a pro-
minent element. These compounds often pass into sienite and
greenstone, by the diminution of quartz, mica and feldspar, and
the increase of horneblende. The general direction or strike of
these formations is north-east. Basaltic dykes of enormous
width traverse these formations, and range up the hills for miles.
In addition to these rocks he describes various trap and amygda-
loidal rocks, which occur on both sides oLthe lake, but are more
fully developed upon its northern shore.

The minerals of the granitic rocks are schorl, garnet, amethyst,
rock-crystal, epidote, purple fluor spar, chlorite and green earth,
calcareous spar, specular iron, barytes, iron pyrites, and copper

1846.] Copper Mines. 6 1

pyrites. The trap rocks are also very rich in minerals; among
them are calcedony, carnelian, jasper, agates, various zeolites,
epidote, augite, olivine, green earth, prehnite, fluor spar, satin
spar, amethystine quartz, graphite, malachite, copper pyrites, na-
tive copper, native silver, green silicate of copper, red and black
oxide of copper.

Extent and Distribution of the Sand-stone and its Conglomerate.

According to Capt. Bayfield and Dr. Eights, this rock forms
the entire shore of the lake; it is rarely removed from its original
horizontal position, but is frequently shattered and broken by the
disrupted trap which often reposes upon it. It does not extend
itself in a continuous mass, but occurs in beds disconnected by
igneous, as well as by diluvial action, but still may be traced
from the southern to the northern shore, along which it appears in
headlands from 30 to 60 feet high. It also appears upon all the
islands.

Hence it is considered as a general formation spreading over
the basin of Lake Superior, and resting on granite, excepting
when the amygdaloids and trap are interposed, or intruded be-
tween them. The height to which it rises is not over 400 feet
above the Lake. The greenstones, trap or amygdaloids, associated
with the conglomerates, sandstone and sandstone shale, are of an
origin entirely different from the latter, and having been ejected
from below, they have brought up with them the metals which
are the objects of so much attraction; hence the position of the
metals must be, in all cases, in the vicinity of these ejected rocks :
usually at the junction of the lowest, that is, the conglomerate
and the trap or igneous beds, and sometimes the metal is dissem-
inated in the trap ; it never, however, extends into the conglome-
rate or sandstones by dissemination. One general remark seems
to be called for in this place, viz: when metals or ore occur in
sedimentary rocks, we may infer, as a general rule, that the igne-
ous rocks, or the granites and trap, are not far distant, and the
close proximity of all the primary rocks to the sedimentary, is a

62 Copper Mines. [Jan.,

strong reason for believing that the mineral region of Lake Su-
perior will prove an exceeding rich one.*

In addition to these rocks there occur reposing upon them un-
conformably those belonging to the sedimentary class, which con-
sist lithologically of cemented quartz, trap and greenstone, form-
ing a singular conglomerate. This is the lowest mass; and, in
tracing it upwards, it passes into a red or brown sandstone, mot-
tled in many places with green : it is also traversed extensively
with quartz seams which often branch out like the roots of a tree,
or else form a net work of the same material. This arrangement
imparts a singular aspect to the cliiffs when they are exposed upon
the shores. Of the conglomerate and the sandstone, into which
it passes, there are innumerable varieties, differing from each,
other: some in color, some in hardness, and others still, in the ar-
rangement of the elements which compose them.

Dr. Eights, in his communications, makes a distinction between
this conglomerate beneath the sandstone and another which he
styles a trap tuff, which is clearly of a recent origin, being really
a consolidated diluvium, w^hich consolidation, instead of being
produced by infiltration of the carbonate of lime, is really a baked
mass, or consolidation effected in later times, by igneous, rather
than by aqueous action.

*It is proper to say to those of our readers who are not familiar with
the names and characters of rocks, that trap, amygdaloid and basalt are
rocks of igneous origin ; they are, in other words, ancient lavas which were
poured forth in a molten state, from below, while the surface of the country
was covered with water. Hence they appear as filling fissures or wide
cracks, and frequently they appear to have overflowed the parts adjacent to
these cracks, which, when filled, are called dykes. These rocks have been
formed at all periods, and hence may rest upon and cut through any sedi-
mentary rock of any age. They frequently bring with them to the surface
the metals in the form of sulphurets, oxides, native or alloys. The amygda-
loid resembles most frequently a recent lava, only the pores, or vesicles, are
Generally filled with spar, or some mineral substance which has infiltrated
into them since the period of their formation : what is called greenstone, is
far less vesicular, and basalt is perfectly compact ; they have the same origin,
bat were subjected to pressure at the time of their ejection, and hence the
vesicular structure is wanting.

1846.] Copper Mines. 63

In consequence of the absence of fossils in the sandstone and
its concealment at, or near, the places of junction with succeed-
ing rocks, its age yet remains undetermined. It would seem,
however, to be analagous to the Potsdam sandstone of the New
York series, and this opinion Mr. Lyell is inclined to adopt. It
rests upon the primary, for it is not customary to separate it from
the conglomerate beneath. Capt. Bayfield's views of its place
and age are quite indistinct, and the only definite opinion which
he expresses is, that it is older than the old red sandstone — the
rock which constitutes so large a part of the Catskill mountains.
It is, however, below the Lake Huron limestone, a limestone
which is in fact equivalent to the Niagara limestone in the New
York system. This would of course make it much older than the
old red sandstone, and would either make it equivalent to the Me-
dina or the Potsdam sandstone. Our opinion is, that it is the
latter, disguised in various ways by its heterogeneous composition
and the intense igneous action to which it has been subjected.
The Potsdam sandstone, near the falls of Montmorenci, is parti-
colored and stained with copper, and at many places it is a brown
or red color, and contains iron — in other places, it is white, gray,
brown, striped, and sometimes iron-black with quartz seams, and
somewhat resembling graywacke, except that its color is much
darker.

Having stated very generally and briefly some of the facts
which relate to the rocks of Lake Superior, we now propose to
speak of them as mineral depositories, after which, we intend to
follow Capt. Bayfield back through the northwest region, that we
may lay before our readers the principal facts connected with the
junction of the sedimentary with the primary rocks, from this
lake to the Gaspe district upon the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Locations of the JYew York and Lake Superior Mining Company.

This company has leased sixty-five square miles of the mineral
lands in eight tracts, of which two are situated near Dead river,
three at Keweena point, and three upon the Great Montreal river.

64 Copper Mines. [Jan.,

The company has aheady expended over fourteen thousand dol-
lars.

Agate Harbor, on Keweena Point, and situated upon the coast,
as will be seen by reference to the map, has not been sufficiently
explored to determine its real value. Many veins of spar with
copper are seen traversing the trap and conglomerate, but the
vicinity is low and the underbrush extremely dense and difficult
to penetrate.

At Easle river, the indications of a rich minino; field consist in
the great abundance of broken fragments of rich veins, which
are profusely scattered about.

At the Great Montreal river, a great number of veins have
been discovered. These are situated, as usual, at the junction of
the trap and sandstone, or conglomerate. At one point, no less
than sixteen distinct veins have been discovered, all of which ex-
hibit masses of native copper. The matrix of these veins con-
sists of laumonite, carbonate of lime, prehnite, epidote and ser-
pentine.

The Dead River location, a vein of copper ore occurs about
four feet and a half wide. It consists of green carbonate and
sulphuret of copper, filling small interstices in barytes w'hich
constitutes the gaugue. A specimen of the ore yielded twenty-
eight per cent of copper.*

* As much interest is beginning to be felt by the community generally in the
mineral wealth of our country, the following extract in relation to the " Con-
solidated and United Mines," (at present the richest mines in Cornwall, Eng-
land) taken from the report of Captain G. \V. Hughes, of the United States
Topographical Corps, made to the Secretary of War, April 9th, 1844, may be
of some interest to our readers.

Captain Hughes, \\hile on a tour in Europe, examined attentively many of
the mines in England, and has given a very full and satisfactory report, not
only of the nature of the mines, but also the manner of working them, and
of reducing and refining the metals :

" Elevation of the surface above the level of the sea, from 200 to 300 feet ;
depth below the sea, about 1370 ; total depth of mine, 1500 to 1600 feet.
Ores — chiefly yellow copper ore, occasionally native copper, variegated copper
red oxide of copper, blue and green carbonate of copper; Tin ore or oxide of
tin also occurs, but not in very great abundance. Produce of the ores — 9|

1846.] Copper Mines. 65

At Copper Harbor a vein of the black oxide of copper has
been discovered in the conglomerate about 14 inches wide, and
has been traced fifty feet. At Hayes' Point, the chrysocolla a
gfeen hydrous silicate of copper has been known for a long time.

It is stated by Dr. Jackson that one of the most valuable loca-
tions of Lake Superior Mining Company is situated on the west
side of Eagle river, eight miles from Eagle harbor, and about a
mile and a half from the lake shore. The ore, which consists of
native copper and silver, is disseminated in the trap rock, so
thickly as to yield between ten and thirty per cent of its weight.
What is interesting, is the association of the copper and silver;
first in an alloy, and then again the silver forms a plate adherent
to the copper, without being at all alloyed with it. The cop-
per contains three-tenths per cent of silver. The vein has no
regular walls, but its workable extent is about eleven feet. It
has been traced half a mile. The yield of silver to the ton of
this ore is equal, according to Jackson's analysis, to 25/^ lbs. per
ton of silver; the copper to 1257 lbs. per ton. The above yield
was obtained from the coarsely sifted pieces; to this must be
added for the fine washings and siftings, a yield of 3,^ lbs. of sil-
ver, and of copper 250 pounds per ton. According to this
analysis, the value of silver in a ton of ore equals $568, and
the copper $241.12; value of the metal $701.12 per ton of ore.
It is proper to add that the reports from Lake Superior this win-

per centum of fine copper, average produce in one hundred parts of ore.
Depth of the principal shafts — Woolf's engine shaft, 248 fathoms; Pearce's
engine shaft, 275 fathoms. Quantity of water raised, from 2000 to SOOK gal-
lons per minute. Power employed in drainage, 9 steam engines. Average
annual expense of drainage, £12,700 ($63,500). Quantity of ore annually
produced, 16,400 tons of copper ore, and a few tons of tin ore. Produce in
metal, 1517 tons of fine copper, and a little tin. Total returns or value of the
produce in metal, £119,900 ($5S9,000). Total cost of the mines, £98,500
($492,500). Clear profit to the proprietors, £21,000 ($105,000) per annum.
Amount of capital invested, £75,000 ($375,000). Interest on capital invest-
ed 280 per centum, after paying back the original capital. Number of men
employed, about 2500 persons, of whom 1450 are employed under ground.
Manner in which the ores are disposed of, sold to the smelting companies,
and smelted by them at Swansea, in South Wales."

66 JVew Publications. [Jan.,

ter are still more flattering than they have been at any former
time; especially in regard to the prospects and value of the Pitts-
burg Company's location. We are informed that this stock now
sells at eighty per cent above par; that an analysis of the copper
recently found in their deepest workings, yields silver in value
equal to $10,000 per ton!

Leaving the region of Lake Superior, and proceeding to Lake
Huron, we are informed by Capt. Bayfield that the sandstone
with its conglomerates is succeeded by limestone; but the geolo-
gical position in the series is not clearly set forth in the treatise
before us. It is probable, however, that the upper beds of the
limestone belong in the New York series, to the Niagara group,
inasmuch as the pentamerus oblongus, is one of the fossils which
occur in the limestone; but it is at the same time probable also,
that in passing over the space between Lake Superior and Huron,
the lower limestones also exist, and that among them there will
be found the Trenton limestone, a rock which is very persistent
in this country. It is stated however, that the sandstones of Lake
Superior are wanting, and that the limestones rest directly upon
the primary rocks; excepting at or near Lake Cloche where the
quartz or sandstone is interposed between the limestone and gran-
ite.

From Lake Huron eastward, the same limestone has been traced
across Lake Simcoe to the Rice Lakes and thence on the north of
Lake Ontario to Kingston and the Thousand islands, and then
again by Bytown, Perth and Lake Chat, across the Ottawa to
Montreal and Quebec. From this statement of Capt. Bayfield,
we are satisfied that he is far too general and loose in his account
of the rocks of this region ; for when he speaks of the limestones
of the Thousand islands and the region thereabouts, we know very
well that they all belong to the lower limestones of the New
York system; consisting of the calciferous sandstone, birdseye and
Trenton limestones.

The northern shore of the St. Lawrence, from Cape Tourment
eastward to the Mingan islands, is composed of primary rocks.
While upon the southern, beds of limestone and graywacke occur.

1846.] Copper Mines. 67

The Mingan islands are limestone, and so also is Anticosti; they
have a southerly dip. From the list of fossils which Capt. Bay-
field gives, we have no doubt but that the series of limestone at
the Mingan and Anticosti islands extends upwards so as to
embrace the Onondaga limestone. We have seen a mass of
limestone from Anticosti, which could not be distinguished from
the pentamerus limestone of the Helderberg.

From the Mingan islands to the straits of Belle Isle, the coast
of Labrador consists exclusively of primary rocks, but on the east
side a sandstone is met w'ith, which passes into gneiss. It ex-
tends thirty miles along the northern shore of the straits of Belle
Isle, and forms table lands 400 to 500 feet high. This sandstone
is undoubtedly our Potsdam sandstone. On the Newfoundland
side the limestones which w^e have already referred to occur
again.

We have now occupied so much space upon these geological
details, that we deem it inexpedient to follow Capt. Bayfield in
his description of the rocks of Canada, in the Gaspe district. It is,
however, interesting to us to find the succession of the rocks so
much like New York. We see in all these facts, the uniformity of
the operation of nature ; the rocks themselves, as W' ell as the phe-
nomena accompanying them, are the same as on our own borders.
Besides, it is useful to know the great American ranges, and be
able to compare them with what falls under our own observation
at home — we can say more than this — that it is astonishing that
we can trace one series of rocks, abounding in the same organic
bodies, for thousands of miles. It is true, that the characters are
not absolutely uniform — but any geologist, w^th only ordinary
opportunities for observation, can determine the position of almost
any rock, provided he is supplied w4th some of its fossils. The
application of this kind of knowledge to the determination of the
position and age of rocks, constituted an era in geology — and it
has been, in the hands of the w^ell taught geologist, a key to the
solution of some of the most important questions in this depart-
ment of science.

68 Jfew Publications. [Jan.,

CRITICAL NOTICES.

1. — JYbfes on the Iroquois, or Contributions to the Statistics, .Ab-
original History. Antiquities and general Ethnology of Western
Jfew York, By Hexry R. Schoolcraft, Hon. Member of the
Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen, &c., &c.
Senate Document 24, pp. 285. Bartlett and Welford, Astor
House, New York.

This work, though it appears in the form of a statistical docu-
ment, yet the author has embodied a large amount of valuable
history of the Five Nations. It is written in the clear classic
style of the best historical writers of the present age; in fact,
Mr. Schoolcraft is one of those men who can write a respectable
octavo volume without saying a foolish thing, or giving utter-
ance to a silly sentiment. There are some repetitions, and some
blunders of the press, but these do not essentially diminish the
value of the work.

2. — Third Anniuil Report of the Managers of the State Lunatic
Asylum. January 23, 1846.

It appears from the report before us, that this highly important
institution is conducted with ability, and has already become
highly useful, and has the full prospect before it of fulfilling the
benevolent ends for which it was established.

During the last year, 553 patients have been in the asylum;
282 men and 271 women. Of these 293 have been admitted,
there being at the commencement of the year 260. The number
of patients who have been discharged is 268; 135 of whom had
recovered, 78 improved, 34 unimproved, and_21 died; leaving at
the end of the year 285; 143 men, and 142 women.

The whole number of patients admitted since it was opened
for their reception (January, 1843), is 844. Whole number dis-
charged 559. Of this number 320 have recovered, 139 improv-

1846.] CriticdJVotices. 69

ed, 56 unimproved, and 44 have died. 509 have been supported
by towns or counties, and 335 by their friends.

The charge at the institution for board, is $2,50 per week; for
indigent persons, $2,00.

3. — Mr. Alger 07i JVeiv Localities of rare Minerals, and the iden-
tity of species supposed to be distinct. Read before the Boston
Society of Natural History.

Of new localities for rare minerals, Mr. A. credits Phacolite to
New York, in the form of implanted crystals or calcareous spar.
Color, wax or a honey yellow, with a waxy lustre; translucent;
no indication of cleavage; hardness=chabasite, with which it is
supposed to be identical.

Yttro-cerite, has been observed by Alger in rolled masses of
limestone, from Orange county, N. Y., and associated with brucite.

Ottrelite from Sterling, Massachusetts. It is disseminated in
small, thin plates in an argillo-micaceous slate. Color, brownish
black, or grayish black; lustre, semi-metallic; opake. Identical
with phyllitc.

Dysluite is considered, from recent observations, to be identical
with automalite.

Polydelphite, Mr. Alger coincides with Dana in the opinion
that it is a variety of garnet.

Beaumontite, of Le\'y, and lincolnite, of Hitchcock, has been
shown to be identical with heulandite.

Ledererite is admitted to be simply Gmelinite; the presence of
phosphate of lime is now supposed to be accidental.

Washingtonite, of Shepard, Mr. A. considers to be identical
with ilmenite, a titanite of iron.

4. — Report of the Chemical Examination of several Waters for
the city of Boston. By B. Silliman, Jr.

This document is an able one, and though made up of dry
details, is still interesting as well as instructive.

70

JVew Publications.

U'-

6. — The Quarterly Journal and Review, JYo. 1. L. A. Hine,
Editor and Proprietor. Cincinnati.

It is a literary and scientific work combined, and has com-
menced with a vakiable number. We hope that it will be sup-
ported. It is devoted to politics, education, science, literature,
art, moral reform, labor and capital, biography and history.
Terms, one dollar per year.

5. — Report of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund of the
Tolls, Tonnage, and Trade of the Mew York Canals.

Of this valuable document, we have space only for one of its
tables.

It will be seen that there is an increase in the tolls, compared
with 1844, of $199,807. Of this increase, 1 154,294, or 77 per
cent, is on descending freight, and $45,513, or 23 per cent, on
ascending freight.

The total tonnage of all the property transported on the canals,
ascending and descending, its value, and the amount of tolls col-
lected for the ten years preceding, is as follows, viz:

Year.

Ton?.

Value.

Tolls.

1836, . . .

1,310,807

$67,634,343

$1,614,342

1837, . . .

1,171,296

55,809,288

1,292,623

1838, . . .

1,333,011

65,746,559

1,590,911

1839, . . .

1,435,713

73,399,764

1,616,382

1840, . . .

1,416,046

66,303,892

1,775,747

1841, . . .

1,521,661

92,202,929

2,034,882

1842, . . .

1,236,931

60,016,608

1,749,196

1843, . . .

1,513,439

76,276,909

2,081,590

1844, . . .

1,816,586

90,921,152

2,446,374

1845, . . .

1,985,011

100,953,245

2,646,181

( 71 )

FARMERS' MISCELLANY

SALT— A FERTILIZER.

BY C. N. BEMENT.

The value of salt for agricultural purposes, has long been
known, both in Europe and in this country, and why it has not
been more generally used is beyond my conprehension. More
than one hundred and fifty years ago, Sir Hugh Piatt, an eminent
writer of that day, speaks very decidedly of the benefits w^hich
might be derived from the practice of sprinkling salt upon land,
and calls it the " sweetest and cheapest, and the most 'philosophical
of all others." He relates the case of a man, who in passing
over a creek on the sea-shore, suffered his sack of seed corn to
fall into the water, and that it lay there until it was low^ tide,
when, being unable to purchase more seed, he sowed that w^hich
had been in the salt water, and when the harvest time arrived he
reaped a crop far superior to any in the neighborhood. The
writer adds, however, that it was supposed the corn would not
fructify in that manner unless it actually fell into the water by
chance; and, therefore, neither this man nor any of his neighbors
ever ventured to make any further use of salt water.

The same curious writer tells also of a man who sowed a
bushel of salt, long since, upon a small plot of barren ground, and
that to that day (the time he was writing), it remained more
fresh and green than any of the ground round about it.

Dr. Brownrig, who wrote more than a century ago, in speaking
of salt says, " it is dispersed over all nature; it is treasured up
in the bowels of the earth; it impregnates the ocean; it descends
in rains; it fertilizes the soil; it arises in vegetables; and from
them conveyed into animals."

In the neighborhood of the salt works, in Great Britain, the
value of salt as a manure is well known and acknowledged;
" that when wheat and barley has followed turnips, on land which

72 Farmers^ Miscellany. [Jan.,

had been salted, the ensuing crop has invariably escaped mildew,
although that disease had affected all the grain upon the lands
adjacent, on which salt had not been used."

It has been asserted that salt is the mother of all manures, as
every kind of manure is higher or lower in value according to
the salt it produces; and every kind of manure is portioned out
to the land according to the quantity of salt or nitre it is thought
to contain.

" Nothing in nature," said Hollingshead, " is so powerful as
salt to meliorate strong and stiff soils, and also to give moisture
to dry ground; it is also a certain destruction to weeds and in-
sects. Besides its efficacy on corn and fallow ground, its excel-
lent qualities, in giving luxuriance and salubrity to grass lands,
are peculiarly worthy the attention of the grazing and breeding
of cattle."

" Soils," says an old writer, " which are subject to the grub,
and must be fertilized by common dung, which is a proper nest
for the mother beetle to deposit its eggs, must be well impregnat-
ed with the brine of dissolved salt, after the dung is first cut up."

The efficacy of salt in destroying noxious weeds, grubs, and
insects, is well known, in all parts, but a dose sufficient to kill
weeds, would also destroy the cultivated crops; therefore, great
attention and caution should be taken in not applying too much
when intended to fertilize the soil.

As to the quantity of salt which it would be advisable to use
per acre, for the respective crops and upon the different kinds of
land, will be best learned by instituting a set of experiments upon
every distinct species of grain and roots. Cold, wet land requir-
ing more, and loose, light land, though it be poor, requiring less.
Four bushels to the acre, harrowed in after plowing, has been
found a sufficient quantity on most soils, for corn and potatoes,
but the best way of all others for ascertaining this point, would
be for every one to depend upon the results of his own experi-
ments.

To ascertain the exact quantity of salt which may be necessary
for the different kinds of land, and to appreciate the benefits which

1846.] Salt a Fertilizer. 73

result from its employment in all the various modes of culture
adopted in this country, will require several long series of experi-
ments; we would, therefore, suggest to the executive committee
of our State Agricultural Society, that they offer rewards to such
persons as shall give them an account of the best experiments
with this mineral substance, in the different branches of farming
and general agriculture.

The safest way for a farmer to adopt, is to use his salt sparingly
at first, and in all cases to leave a small portion of the same land
without salt, so that the real effects produced by the salt may be,
by comparison, in eveiy instance, self-evident and palpable.

That salt is an excellect manure, experience, the most satisfac-
tory of all evidences, clearly proves.

It is stated in an English publication, that " a farmer in the
county of Sussex, some years since, had a field, one part of which
was very wet and rushy, and that grass produced upon it was of
so sour and unpleasant a kind that the cattle would not graze
upon it; he tried several methods to improve it, but to little pur-
pose; at last having heard of the benefits of salt as a manure, he
determined to try that; for which purpose he procured a quantity
of rock salt, which in a random way, without any regard to the
precise quantity, he threw upon the rushy ground, fencing it off
from the other part of the field, the effect of which was a total
disappearance of every kind of vegetation. In a short time,
however, it produced the largest quantity of mushrooms ever seen
upon an equal space of ground in the country. These, in the
spring following, were succeeded by the most plentiful and luxu-
riant crop of grass, far exceeding the other part of the field in
richness of its verdure and the quickness of its growth ; the cattle
were remarkably fond of it, and though the salt was laid on it
twenty years before, this part is still superior to the rest of the
field."

An interesting detail, from the Revd. E. Cartwright, will be
found in the 4th Vol. of Communications to the Board of Agri-
culture (England), which is conclusive as to the application of
salt as a manure for potatoes. It appears from this communica-

VoL. II., No. 1. 7

74 Farmers^ Miscellany. [Jan.,

tion, that the experiment could not have been tried on a soil bet-
ter adapted to give impartial results. Of ten different manures
w^hich were resorted to, most of them of known and acknowledg-
ed efficacy, one only excepted, salt was superior to them all. Its
effects, when combined w4th soot, were extraordinary, yielding in
a row two hundred and forty potatoes, whilst one hundred and
fifty only were produced from the row manured with lime. It
was observable also, where salt was applied, whether by itself or
in combination, the roots were free from that scrubbiness which
often infects potatoes, and from which none of the other beds
(and there were in the field near forty more than made part of the
experiments), were altogether exempt. So much for foreign ex-
periments; now let us see what has been done in this country.

From the information which I have been enabled to collect, I
am inclined to believe that salt, when sparingly applied, is valu-
able as a fertilizer, and useful in destroying the grub and wire-
worm, which often injure, and sometimes even destroy whole
crops; and it has been found by experiments the past season, that
the scab, or disease which has proved so disastrous to the potatoe
crop in all sections of the country, has never been found upon
land that had a proper dressing of salt.

Judge Hamilton, of Schoharie, informed the writer that he had
found great benefit from using salt on his potatoe ground last
spring. After ploughing, he caused four bushels of salt to be
sown, broadcast, on the furrow, upon one acre of the field and
harrowed in. Potatoes were then planted. Part of the field was
not salted. Although the season was remarkably dry, the salted
acre was observed to maintain a green, vigorous appearance,
while the other part of the field looked sickly and stunted. On
lifting them in the fall, those potatoes where salt had been applied
were of good size, smooth skin, sound, and of good quality, and
yielded a fair crop, while those on the unsalted part of the field,
although the soil was full equal to that of the salted portion, the
yield was considerable less, potatoes small, and much eaten by
worms.

His neighbor had a field of potatoes on the opposite side of the

1S46.] Salt a Fertilizer. ' 75

road, soil similar to his own, who planted them the usual way,
and the consequence was, his crop was small, inferior in quality,
and most of them rotted soon after digging — they were diseased.

Dr. Bogart, who has charge of the Sailor's Snug Harbor, on
Staten Island, informed the writer that he applied four bushels of
packing salt to one acre of his potatoe ground, last spring, and
thinks he derived great benefit from it. Though the crop was not
a large one, the potatoes on the salted portion were of much
greater size, skin smooth, and free from disease. The vines were
more vigorous, remained green while those on land of the same
quality adjoining, which was not salted, shriveled and dried pre-
maturely ; the tubere small and watery ; produce less.

E. M. Stone, in a late number of the N. E. Farmer, says: —
" Last spring I tried an experiment on potatoes. I planted in my
garden fifty or sixty hills, placing the sets directly on the manure.
To about one-half of the hills I applied a table spoonful of salt,
after slightly covering the seed to prevent immediate contact. I
then finished covering. The hills so treated, yielded potatoes en-
tirely free from blemish, and of excellent quality. The produce
of the residue was badly affected by rust (or scab) and worms,
and was hardly worth harvesting."

Professor Morren also directs attention to the importance of
salt as a means of repelling the disease. He recommends the
tubers to be placed in a steep composed of 54 lbs. of lime, 7 lbs.
salt, and 25 gallons water.

Mr. J. E. Teschemacher, speaking of the potatoe disease, in
the N. E. Farmer, says: — "I think that salt, lime, and several
chemicals will destroy the disease. I prefer salt, because when
mixed in the soil, it may get into the juices, and circulate through
the whole plant. Lime, or lime-water, would do the same, to a
certain extent, but it is far less soluble than salt."

The following very interesting detailed experiment with salt,
was communicated in the 9th Vol. and 5th No. of the Cultivator,
by J. C. Mather, a very intelligent and spirited farmer of Scagh-
ticoke. He says ; — " In the spring of 1838, we broke up six
acres of sward land that had been mowed a number of years, in-

76 Farmers' Miscellany. [Jan.,

tending to plant it to corn, but observed, when plowing, that the
ground was infested with worms, (the yellow cut, or wire-worms,
and black grubs;) as we had mostly lost our corn crop the year
previous, by having the first planting almost entirely destroyed by
the corn w^orm, (above described,) we expected a like calamity
would follow the present year, unless some preventive could be
used to destroy the worms. And having frequently and unsuc-
cessfully used all the recommended remedies to destroy the corn
worms, we were induced, at the suggestion of an English laborer,
to try salt. After the ground was thoroughly harrowed, five
bushels of salt per acre was sowed broadcast, leaving a strip of
near half an acre on each side of the field, to satisfactorily test
the experiment. The whole was then planted to corn and pota-
toes. The corn on the part where no salt was sown was mostly
eaten up by the worms, and was re-plowed and planted to pota-
toes. The potatoes on the whole lot were a good crop, but de-
cidedly better where the salt was applied. I regret that we did
not ascertain by measurement the actual result. There was a very
perceptible difference in the appearance of the vines during the
whole summer. On the part where the salt was sown, they grew
larger and were of a darker green color, and continued green
lono;er in the fall than the others."

" In the spring of 1839, we spread on a good coat of manure,
and planted it all to corn, except about half an acre of the salted
land, which was planted to Rohan potatoes. The Rohans were
the best crop of potatoes I ever saw. Seed planted, 2\ bushels,
produced over 300 bushels. The largest potatoes weighed 4| lbs.
The corn was a heavy crop, but was not measured. The summer
was very dry and hot; but the corn on the salted land did not ap-
pear to suffer at all from the drouth, while the other was con-
siderably injured. The salted land appeared always moist, and
the growth of every thing upon it was very rapid. We found
great difficulty in keeping the weeds down. After three success-
ful hoeings, we were obliged in August to give it a hand weed-
ing. Spring of 1840, intended to have stocked the land down
for meadow; but thinking it too rich for oats, planted potatoes

1846.] Salt a Fertilizer. 77

without manure. Crop good. The effects of the salt still very
apparent. Adjudged to be one third more potatoes where the
land was salted."

" Spring of 1841, sowed apart of the lot to oats, the remainder
to potatoes and onions, without manure. The onions were a great
crop. The summer was very dry, but they did not suffer, while
other crops in this neighborhood, on similar soils, were nearly de-
stroyed by the drouth. The oats were a heavy crop, and much
lodged on the salted part. The clover grew well, and produced
a fine crop of fall feed. This I cannot account for, except by
supposing that the salt kept the land moist, or attracted moisture
from the atmosphere, as I know of no other piece of land in the
town that was well seeded last year; it was almost an entire fail-
ure; and the most of the land stocked down last spring has been
or will be plowed up in the spring to be seeded.

" We sowed salt the same spring on a part of our meadow?.
The grass was evidently improved, the result satisfactory, and we
shall continue to use it on our meadows."

At a farmers' conference meeting, held at Marcellus, Onondaga
county, in November last, Mr. Brown, President of the County
Agricultural Society, said, "he had used salt as a manure with
great benefit. He sows it broadcast upon wheat and grass at
the rate of three to five bushels to the acre. On grass he would
sow it in the fall — for wheat he would sow it just before the wheat
is sown. He found that three bushels of salt to the acre on his
wheat field, occasioned an increase of seventeen bushels of wheat
to the acre over that which had no salt. The soil was a strong
loam with a stiff subsoil."

Cuthbert W. Johnson, a distinguished agricultural writer,
strongly recommends salt as a manure, at the rate of from ten to
twenty bushels to the acre, to be sown some two or three weeks
before the seed is put into the ground. He says the benefits are
as follows: 1st. When used in small quantities it promotes putre-
faction. 2d. By destroying grubs and weeds. 3d. As a constitu-
ent on direct food. 4th. As a stimulant to the absorbent vessels.
5th. By preventing injury from sudden transitions of temperature.
6th. By keeping the soil moist."

78 Farmers' Miscellany. [Jan.,

It would seem from all the facts I have been able to collect,
that salt corrupts vegetable substances when mixed in small quan-
tities, but preserves them when it predominates in a mass; that
in dry seasons its effects are more apparent, and whether it at-
tracts moisture from the atmosphere, or whether it acts as a stimu-
lant or condiment, is of little consequence so long as its effects
are certain.

On account of the small quantity of salt, in weight, required
for manuring lands, it is no inconsiderable recommendation, be-
cause on that account it may with ease be conveyed to the most
rough, steep and mountainous parts, to which the more bulky and
heavy manm-es most in use could not be carried, but with infinite
labor, and at an expense far exceeding all the advantages to be
effected from it.

For a top dressing, a composition of salt and lime, 4 bushels
of the former and 12 of the latter, to the acre, has been highly
recommended for grass lands infested with moss, and promoting a
more vigorous growth of grass. Its beneficial effects on aspara-
gus beds is well known to gardeners, giving a deeper color and
a more vigorous growth to the plants.

Salt itself is considered, by some, rather too harsh in its nature,
but mixed with ashes, say six of diy ashes to ten of salt, well
mixed together, which is sufficient for an acre, and spread upon
the furrow and harrowed in. By being thus mixed, and one par-
ticle incorporates and mollifies the other, and if conveyed into the
earth by a soapy, smooth method, will prove the real emicher the
earth wants, to send forth vegetation.

Self-love and Selfishness. — The first a necessary and honor-
able regard to our personal interests, without monopolizing the
goods and comforts which others have the same right to enjoy as
ourselves. The second a desire to monopolize those things and
comforts which others have a right to. Self-love cannot be too
strong — but selfishness is mean and base.

1846.] Experiments on Sowing Corn for Fodder. 79

EXPERIMENTS ON SOWING CORN FOR FODDER.

It is not often, in these advancing days of knowledge in farm-
ing, that we find a series of experiments conducted with more
accuracy than were those which follow. I have procured them
from the son of the farmer who conducted them, and the notes
are the original ones, in the hand writing of the farmer himself.
I wish it were more common for our farmers to make accurate
memoranda of every thing they do. But to the experiments.
They are are as follows.

1. On the 1st of June, 1828, S. B. sowed in a drill bird corn,
very thick, on account of its smallness. The kernels were sown
about one inch apart, or, in other words, one kernel to one inch
square. The size of the bed sown, was 9^- feet by 3 feet. The
produce was cut on the 25th of August, and weighed 50 pounds
in the green state. The proportionate produce per acre would
be 34 2 4 tons, green fodder.

In a month after, say about the 20th of September, the product
weighed, when perfectly dry, 17| pounds, which would give per
acre about 12 tons, dry fodder. This kind of Indian corn is call-
ed bird corn, and half a pint contains 2400 kernels, or 307,200
to the bushel. One quart will sow 66 square feet, and it contains
9,600 kernels.

Rhode Island corn is next best, and contains 566 kernels to the
half pint. One quart contains 2,264, and will sow 16 square
feet.

Eight rowed corn is next, half a pint containing 580 kernels —
quart, 2,320 kernels, and will sow 16 square feet.

■ Next is flour corn, half a pint containing 360 kernels — one
quart 1,440 kernels, and will sow 10 square feet. Southern or
gourd seed corn ranks the same as this exactly.

2. Friday, May 29th, 1829. Sowed 19 quarts of flour corn
on 150 square feet of ground. It yielded 14 bundles of corn
fodder, which weighed 58 pounds. It was cut on the 8th of Sep-

80 Farmers* Miscellany. [Jan.,

tember, and secured October 4th. Yield per acre, 7 tons, 10 cwt.,
1 qr., 15 lbs.

3. Friday, May 29th, 1829. Sowed 8 quarts of southern or
gourd seed corn, on 150 square feet of ground. It yielded nine
bundles, which weighed 38 pounds. It was cut on the 8th of
September, and secured on the 4th of October. The yield per
acre was 4 tons, 18 cwt., 2 qrs., 3 lbs.

4. May 30th 1829. Sowed eight rowed white corn, on 130
square feet of ground. Gathered 12 bundles, which weighed 51
pounds. It was cut on the 8th of September, and secured on the
4th of October. Yield per acre 7 tons, 12 cwt., 2 qrs., 8 lbs.

In this experiment the quantity sown is not mentioned, but was
probably the same as in the second experiment.

5. June 12th, 1830. Sowed 3 bushels of toll corn for fodder,
on a piece of land 92 by 32 feet. Cut on the 1st of September.
Gross weight, 1 ton, 10 cwt., 0 qr., 16 lbs. Neat weight, 579 lbs.

The weather was very dry from 12th of June to 1st of Sep-
tember, which is 2 months 18 days. I am confident it was not
near half a crop. If it had been sow^n earlier it would have been
better.

I wnll here add one thing more from the note book of this far-
mer, for he seems to have been rather a curious man.

May 3d, 1832. Counted the grains or kernels in a half pint
of broom corn. They are 4,850, or 1,241,600 in a bushel.

Now how easy it w^ould be for every farmer to keep a little
note book, in w^hich he could put down any thing he does, and
preserve it for the benefit of others. It would produce habits of
confidence in himself, and encourage such habits in others. Every
boy and girl brought up on a farm, should be obliged every day
to note down every thing they do, and at night to make up a full
journal of the whole day's operations. By this course they would
become intelligent and observing.

1846.] False Estimates. 8 1

FALSE ESTIMATES.

The progress of improvement in any branch of art or science,
is usually slow and toilsome. There seems to be a disposition in
most men, to cling particularly to maxims and methods to which
they have been accustomed, and to obstinately refuse to receive
any thing new, even when its truth and utility are established by
the strongest proofs. Such is certainly a prevailing tendency in
the human mind at the present day.

The progress of agricultural knowledge and skill has conformed
to these assertions I have made. And in this, as in all other pur-
suits, the world is divided into three classes — one consisting of
the few who are ready to candidly and cautiously examine any
thing new that offers advantage to them, and adopt improvements
known to be such. A second, composed of the few enthusiasts,
whose fancy has got the upper hand of their judgment, and w^ho
are ready to receive as true, mere shadows — to build theories
upon speculative promises, and to rush madly into every innova-
tion without even probable evidence of value; — and a third, and
by far the greatest in number, consisting of the mass, who, con-
vinced of their own consummate wisdom, inherited from their
fathers, cannot be persuaded to look at an improvement, and to
whom any thing is fully condemned if it has been printed in a
book.

But large as this latter class is, their prejudices are less to be
feared than the head-long, fiery zeal of those who are satisfied
with nothing unless it is new. The former can be improved
through their imitative faculties — the latter, only by accident.
They may stumble upon something which is useful, but in their
high ambition to become original discoverers, they neglect the
opportunity to benefit by what is already known. They would
be leaders, but cannot, because they have never been led.

I am reminded here of a question I asked an officer of the
American Agricultural Association, formed in the city of New-

82 Farmers' Miscellany. [Jan.,

York, last winter, viz: — " Wliy Prof. Johnston, of Scotland, a
man eminent for services rendered to agriculture, was the only
prominent man omitted in their long list of foreign correspond-
ents?" The reason given was, that he had made no great ori-
ginal discoveries. What a reason ! No living man has done so
much for the cause, nor will in a long time to come. If Liebig
has done his thousands — Johnston has done his ten thousands.
He has reduced theory to practice if nothing more, and his works
will be read and honored by thousands to whom Leibig is, and
ever will be, a blind o-uide. He has taught the farmer to think
for himself, by opening up to him the laws of nature in a form he
can understand.

But to return. The farmer is in most cases an imitative man.
Let him be ever so much opposed to book-farming, he will do
what he has seen his neighbor do successfully. Plant along side
of him a man who conducts his farm upon improved principles,
and although he may sneer for a while, yet it will not be long
before he will begin to follow example and adopt, one by one,
the improvements he has seen.

It is often said that the enthusiasts — I have a preference for the
term visionaries — do good by their zeal. This may be true in a
measure. It might be an advantage to the agricultural interest
to kill off a tithe of the present race of farmers, and give their
business to their sons, who, being new themselves, have not ac-
quired a very strong prejudice against new things. But this is
not the course I would recommend, neither am I inclined to give
visionaries much credit for the chance good they may do. I be-
lieve that farming is to be brought to perfection by a steady
course of judicious, sober improvement; not by fiery and hast}'
measures. The wished for result will not be arrived at by aston-
ishing the man by the enormous effects of some new fertilizer.
He may open his eyes and seem surprised, but he will at the same
time thrust down his hands doggedly into his pockets, and say "I
don't believe it."

It is to the first class I mentioned, more than either of the
others, that agriculture is indebted for the rapid improvement it

1846.] False Estimates. 83

has made within a few years. They have gone on step by step,
undetered by the drones, and unaffected by the heat of the vision-
aries, and they have actually brought to pass a gi'eat deal. And
in a few years they will bring to pass much more. They will
add dignity to the occupation of farming and give it not the
character of a profession, but of a scientific art, if I may use such
an expression.

A great deal has been said about "elevating up" — to use a sort
of slang phrase — the business of farming, and placing it on a
level w^ith the liberal professions. It has always stood upon this
level. In this country, of really equal rights, it is the man, not
his trade or calling, that gains respect. The farmer who elevates
himself, will stand upon the spot he ought to stand on. Charac-
ter in a democratic people, is like water. It will seek its level.
If the mind of the man is dignified, it will confer dignity on his
calling; if it is low and mean and conti-acted, it will forever
drag down the man and his character and his occupation, as if he
had a mill-stone to his neck. So true is the line I learned at

school —

' The mind's the standard of the man.'

No — you cannot raise farming to a place of dignity and honor
unless the farmer himself does it. A man will honor or disgrace
his business according as his mind is filled with his own dignity.
He demands and receives respect, or he gives himself up to be
disregarded and despised. This is true, throughout the whole
range of trades, callings and professions in this country. The
lawyer or the physician is not respected because he is one, but
because he brings a dignity and respect to the profession. If he
does not, he grovels down with the rest of the herd Mho do not
respect themselves. This is the true philosophy of equal rights
or rather unequal rights, and stands simply thus, it is not the cal-
ling that makes the man respectable, but the man that makes the
calling respectable. I will not trouble myself with the excep-
tions found in the factitious merit attached sometimes to wealth.
It is a miserable exception.

84 Farmers' Miscellany. [Jan.,

ELECTRICITY IN AGRICULTURE.

In the latter part of the last century, experiments were made
in Engfland, which excited no little attention at the time, on the
application of electricity to the purposes of agriculture, in promot-
ing vegetation. It was considered by some, as well established,
that positive electricity hastened vegetation, and especially was
influential in bringing rapidly forward the germination of seeds.
Others, on the other hand, put no faith in these matters. The
former class, according to their own reports, succeeded in a re-
markable degree with their experiments, and produced astonishing
resuhs. But the latter class, upon repeating the experiments, uni-
formly failed of bringing any thing to pass, and decided that
neither positive nor negative electricity has any effect in increas-
ing veo:etation.

Mr. Darwin, in his Phytologia, records a number of experi-
ments and results, and he seems to have come to the conclusion
that this fluid accelerates vegetation. He states that Mr. D'Or-
mey found various seeds to vegetate sooner and grow taller, and,
what is vastly more remarkable, he found that silkworms, sup-
plied with electricity, began to spin much sooner than those which
were not. Perhaps if he had tried the effects of the fluid upon
the egg of a hen, he would have found it to hatch some days
sooner than the usual period, and domestic animals might have
been brought to maturity much earlier.

After an argument of some length on this subject, Mr. Darwin
concludes thus: — "A profitable application of electricity by the
gardener or agricultor, to promote the growth of plants, is not
yet discovered. It is nevertheless probable, that in dry seasons
the erection of numerous metallic points on the surface of the
ground, but a few feet high, might in the night-time contribute
to precipitate the dew by facilitating the passage of the electri-
city from the air into the earth: and that an erection of such
points higher in the air by means of wires wrapped around tall

1846.] Electricity. 85

rods, like angle rods, or elevated on buildings, might frequently
precipitate showers from the higher parts of the atmosphere.
And lastly, that such points erected in gardens might promote a
quicker vegetation of the plants in their vicinity by supplying
them more abundantly with the electric ether; ?/ the events of
the experiments of the philosophers abovementioned are to be
depended upon, which may at least be worth a further trial."

If there had been any thing in this project worthy of serious
consideration, in such a country as England, where nothing that
wealth can purchase to add to the productiveness of the soil is
neglected, and where there are men of abundant leisure time to
devote to the investigation of such subjects, this would not have
been suffered to drop. But it was soon forgotten. From time to
time, however, attempts have been made to revive it, but general-
ly these attempts have amounted only to a repetition of the old
experiments, and a recommendation of the same project, as that
of Darwin mentioned above. And this, without any credit to the
true author, but alw^ays introduced as entirely new.

A few years ago it was reported that cress seed which was
sown in the morning had, by the aid of electricity, been grown
large enough for dinner the same day. This seems, however, to
have been the only successful experiment, and nothing more is
heard of it till within two or three years past, when we are startled
by the announcement of an entirely new agent in agriculture, viz.,
electricity. It is announced that by the aid of this new power,
peas, potatoes, &c., have been made to grow with a rapidity al-
most equal to Jack's bean, in the nursery tale. The agricultural
papers, and even the newspapers, teem with notices of this won-
derful discovery, and the wonderful results.* It is not the trying
these experiments I would find fault with, but with the publica-
tion of the false results of experiments not more than half tried.

* Note by the Editor. — It is only proper to state that this
Journal has never given the least credit to these reported results
of electricity, as will be seen by referring to page 129, Vol. 2, in
the reply to Wm. Case, Esq., in relation to this very subject.

86 Farmers^ Miscellany. [Jan.,

Fearful of being behind the age, many agriculturists who had
turned their attention to science, added their voices to the general
cry. The prospect seemed to be very fair, that with a few point-
ed wires about his farm, a man might rob Jove of his fires and
convert them to the harmless and economical purposes of the con-
tents of the barn-yard and pig-sty, and that the immense stores of
guano must still be unused upon the desolate and barren islands
of the ocean, till this new source of manure was exhausted.

It is strange to what expedients men will resort, to avoid or
render null the primal curse — to escape labor. It is strange that
they will try, over and over again, the same hopeless projects, to
fail in the end and be laughed at. The bubble bursts at length.
It is decided that there is no certain efficacy to be attributed to
the electric fluid. It has indeed seemed in some cases, that an in-
crease of the germinative and vegetative power was obtained, but
in others, under the same circumstances, no extraordinary effects
were produced, whilst in some, it has even seemed to retard ger-
mination in seeds.

The conclusion is, that nothing is to be expected in the premi-
ses. But there is one important lesson to be derived from the
rage for electricity. In giving account of experiments, great
care should be taken to detail all the circumstances connected
with their trial, so that the effects of one cause may not be mis-
taken for those of another. It is evident from the success of some
and the failure of others, that in one case causes have been at
work which were not in the other. What were these causes?
This the conductor of the experiment, too much absorbed in
watching for the effects of electricity, has neglected to notice.

To remain forever in the field of nature, without catching a
spiritual glimpse of the invisible Author, would be an irreparable
loss to the soul, and our attainments would only reach a little
above the sensual — the perishable: we should stop short of the
possession of that crowning acquirement, rest and peace.

1846.] Guano. 87

GUANO.

It may be, and undoubtedly is, all very well and necessary for
England to import manures, and depend very much upon portable
manures to fertilize her soil. But it is not so in the United States.
We have large resources within our own borders, amply sufficient
to furnish all the manures our farmers want for years to come.

I was sorry when guano was first imported into this country,
because I believed that I could see its tendency, to make our far-
mers neglect their own resources, and because unless all things
are favorable throughout the season, it is positively useless. And
such I know has been the experience of very many in the past
season. Every thing was unfavorable. In many fields, which
were planted, the seed never came up, and the season was so dry
that what came up received no more benefit from the guano than
they would from the same quantity of pulverized stone or brick.
As far as its use in this country can be estimated, it has been a
very profitable speculation to the importers, and a losing game to
the farmer. The following facts are deserving of consideration,
and I have therefore noted them down.

1. Guano is very uncertain in its action when pure. It is a high-
ly concentrated manure, and its beneficial use will depend on va-
rious circumstances, such as the dryness or wetness of the season,
&c. In Peru the ground where it is applied is thorougly irrigated
immediately after each application of the guano, and this appli-
cation is made two or three times in the season. And the free
application of water is essential to the procuring of the eifects of
the manure. But in this country we can irrigate our cornfields
only when Providence sends us rain; and this supply is often
very precarious, as during the past summer.

2. Guano is not permanent in the soil. If all circumstances are
favorable to develop its best effects for one season, the soil has
derived no permanent improvement from it, or at any rate but
little. I have never seen any evidence of its remaining in the soil
more than the year folloMing its application.

88 Farmers' Miscellany. Jan.,

3. It is liable to great adulteration. In England, vast quanti-
ties of stuff called guano are sold, which do not contain a parti-
cle of it, but are a vile imposition, and are said to be absolutely
useless. It is a remarkable fact, that the analyses of no two
samples of guano, from the same locality, agree. This would not
be so strange, if the variations were immaterial, but they are
really important. I do not pretend to say that these differences
result in all cases from adulteration, but it is at least a good
cause of suspicion, and if in -England it is carried on so exten-
sively, there is no reason why we should not fear that the same
thing is done here.

4. The supply cannot be depended on. It took but a few
months to sweep the island of Ichaboe as clean as a floor. The
immense cliffs of guano off the coast of Peru are fast dwindling
away, and the original manufacture of it by the countless flocks
of birds in tropical regions, has ceased. A few more years at
most and all will have disappeared, and the farmer will be obliged
again to resort to his own supplies at home.

ON THE CULTIVATION OF INDIAN CORN.

In relative importance to the farmer, as food for man or beast,
the corn crop stands third in the list; wheat and potatoes only ex-
ceeding it in value.

The soil best adapted to corn, is a deep sandy or gravelly loam.
Clays of the lighter kinds, may, with heavy manuring, be made
to produce tolerable crops, but heavy clays are wholly unfit for it.

A thick clover sod, well turned over immediately previous to
planting, with as much manure, in its green state, thrown into the
furrow when plowing, is by many, esteemed the best preparation.
Some prefer, when the soil is not of too heavy a nature, fall plow-
ing, and repeating it again, once or twice, in the spring. This
is undoubtedly a good course, where the soil is of that tender
kind, which will be pretty well rotted by the first of April, other-
wise it is preferable to defer plowing until spring, and then to

1846.] Cultivation of Indian Corn. 89

plow but once, and that just previous to planting, as stated above.
This last method is in general preferable. In either case the ut-
most care should be taken to plow well, turning every thing com-
pletely under, as much of the expense, and of course profit, de-
pends on this. A heavy roller should follow the plow, as soon
after it as possible, to flatten the furrows, which is much more
completely done before the ground dries than after. Harrow
thoroughly, lengthwise of the furrows. Mark the rows one way,
with the hoe and line, and when planting draw the line across the
previously marked rows, that is, at right angles with them, and
drop the seed by it. One hand will generally drop for two to
cover. In this way, the rows are perfectly straight both ways.
This may, to some, seem uselessly particular, but let such reflect
on its advantages — more hills on an acre, greater facility for pass-
ing close to each hill with the cultivator, doing most of the work
with the horse and cultivator, and in the end cheapening the
whole process, and then the more workmanlike appearance of the
whole after-growth.

The varieties most valuable are the Button, an early 12-rowed
kind, and the large 8-rowed, which is not quite as early, and
bears a larger stalk; also many think it not as sweet, as rich, or
as heavy. Another kind, a white 8-rowed variety, by some call-
ed the Long Island corn, is perhaps a little earlier than either of
the foregoing, but it is by all acknowledged to be not as valuable
for fattening hogs or other animals.

In preparing the seed for planting, various steeps and methods
of preparation are recommended. But little confidence is placed
in the fertilizing properties of steeps of any kind; ammonia, salt-
petre, copperas or guano, pure rain water, to soak and swell the
seed preparatory to tarring, is all that is needed. The proper
place for fertilizers, or manures, is in the soil, where the roots of
the plant can reach it, after the corn begins its growth. A course
thought to be better than any other is this: Soak the seed-corn
from 12 to 16 hours in rain water, as hot as the hand can bear it,
and set in a warm place. Then, having ready some tar and
ground plaster, drain from the water about .3 quarts of the corn,

Vol. II., No. 1. 8

90 Farmers' Miscellany. [Jan.,

and put it into a pot or iron kettle. Take about one 2;ill of the
tar, put it into a small kettle with about a pint of water. Heat
this until near boiling; pour it into the corn in the first kettle, and
stir it smartly until the tar is uniformly mixed with the corn,
coating each grain with a kind of varnish. Now pour off the
water remaining in the tarred corn, draining it as completely as
possible. Throw into the corn a pint or more of plaster, and stir
it until the grains are separated, and each resembles a small ball
of plaster. Now it is ready for planting, and may be kept in a
cellar a week if necessary, and though it may slightly sprout, it
is not injured, if planted in ground freshly plowed or moist. I
have been thus particular, because some who have attempted it
have failed, from tarring without soaking, or perhaps from soak-
ing too long, or in too hot water. It has been tried by me for ten
years in succession, w^ithout a single failure, and under almost all
circumstances. When a little accustomed to it, the labor of pre-
paring the seed, in this way, is not as great as it seems to be. It
requires care, and what does not, that is worth having? Its ad-
vantages are, perfect exemption from destruction by crowds, squir-
rels, hens or any other animal that desires it for food ; as nothing
will eat it, not even hogs, when it is fed to them in this state. It
will withstand the cold rains of spring much better than corn un-
tarred, and comes up with a fine dark green color, and thrifty ap-
pearance. If it is not proof against the wire-worm, it will en-
tirely remove the necessity of those unsightly ornaments to the
corn field, the scare-crows.

The number of seeds in a hill has been previously stated.
Usually about 3i- feet apart each way, is the distance. Great
crops have been produced by double rows, by planting in drills,
&c., but these were extraordinary cases, and for general culture
the drill method is too expensive; as the cultivator can only be
used one way, and consequently much remains to be done with
the hoe. This good economy will avoid, and it is now generally
considered best to plant in rows both ways, at about three or three
feet two inches apart.

Not less than two, and often three hoeings are best. Certainly

1846.] Cultivation of Indian Corn. 91

the ground should be kept clean from weeds, and loose and mel-
low, to admit air and moisture — clean from weeds, unless we are
willing they should share the benefit of all our labors. Let the
horse and cultivator go twice in a row each way, previous to each
hoeing. A plow should never be used among corn ; nor the hills
raised above the uniform surface of the field. But let the hoe dig
deeply, and mellow and loosen the earth, where the cultivator
cannot reach. It is a very important matter with all hoed crops,
to keep the ground light and clean; and this can be done by go-
ing over the ground often, and not without.

The method generally pursued in harvesting the crop, is to cut
it up by the root as soon as most of the ears are glazed, putting
from 7 to 9 rows of corn into one row of stooks, or bunches of
corn, when cut up. This is undoubtedly the best course, as ex-
periments have proved that more weight of corn is obtained in
this way than by topping it, and husking on the hill. Still many
old farmers prefer topping, but for no other reason than that it is
more expeditiously husked. In either case, the fodder should be
secured from the weather as soon as possible, by which its value
is much increased. Levi J. Hopkins.

Troopsville, Dec. 17, 1845.

The idea of God and religion must have its roots in the very
foundation of the soul. — President Hopkins. This being so, does
it not follow that man could have attained to a knowledge of
God without a revelation? There may exist in the soul the un-
formed idea of God, and man might have lived and gone to the
grave without the maturing of the idea. But is it not possible
that without a revelation some cause might have operated by
which a train of reasoning would have resulted in proof. Thus
the principle of fire exists in gun-powder — but this may remain
for ages unchanged, and the truth in the end may have come out
from an accidental explosion. So is it not possible the idea of God
may have, or could have been developed and matured by the ope-
ration of causes incident to this state of being-.

92 Farmers' Miscellany. [Jan.

SOAKING OF SEEDS IN SALINE SOLUTIONS.

BY N. S. DAVIS. M. D.

As the next number of your valuable Journal will be issued
about the time our farmers and gardeners begin to prepare their
seed for the soil, it may not be amiss for me to send you, on pa-
per, a few of my observations on that subject. It is well known
that during the last few years, the great benefits to be derived
from soaking seeds in saline solutions, have been heralded over
the country, not only by many agricultural journals, but through
almost every newspaper in the land. Of course many of our
farmers were induced to try the experiment, and myself among
the number. The result has been precisely what I had antici-
pated, namely: that there is a little truth mixed with a great
quantity of error, in all the highly laudatory statements on this
subject. Last spring and summer, I prepared solutions of muriate
of ammonia, muriate of soda, nitrate of soda, sulphate of soda,
and nitrate of ammonia, and soaked seeds in all of them, during
various periods of time, from three to sixty hours. The seeds
soaked were corn, oats, peas, beans, melon seeds, cucumber
seeds, &c. But to make my experiments fairly, I always soaked
an equal quantity of seed in pure water, and during the same
length of time as in the saline solution. Both were then planted
side by side, in the same soil. In regard to the corn, peas, and
beans, no possible difference could be detected, either in the time
required for them to come up, or in the vigor of their growth
after they were up, between those soaked in water and those
in any of the saline solutions; provided the soaking was not
continued beyond twelve or fourteen hours. But when the soak-
ing was continued considerably longer than this, it seemed to do
positive injury; and one instance of peas, soaked in a moderately
strong solution of muriate of soda for forty-eight hours, almost
entirely failed to germinate or sprout, while those soaked the
same length of time in water, and were planted side by side with

1846.J Soaking of Seeds in Saline Solutions. 93

the others, grew vigorously. Precisely the same result was pro-
duced on the corn planted in a field by one of my neighbors, who
soaked his seed in an amraoniacal solution, as long as recom-
mended in some of the newspaper statements on this subject.
Scarcely one spear in a hill ever made its appearance; although
the quality of seed was known to be good before soaking. In
reference to the melon seeds, there was a slight difference in favor
of the saline solutions, provided the soaking was not continued
more than twenty-four hours. With the oats there was a still
greater difference, even when the soaking was continued ten or
twelve hours longer. From my own experiments, and the results
I observed from the experiments of others, the following conclu-
sions may be safely drawn. 1st. That seeds with only a thin
covering or epidermis, like wheat^ rye, corn, peas, beans, &c., are
no more benefited by soaking in saline solutions than in water;
and that if they are soaked too long positive injury is the result.
2d. Seeds having a thick covering or husk, as oats, barley, me-
lon seeds, &c., are benefited by soaking in proportion to the
amount of the saline matter the husk is capable of retaining.
But even in these cases, if the soaking is continued lonw enough
to fully impregnate the germ itself with the solution, injury is
done.

This is just w^hat sound reason, w'ithout any experiments,
would teach us. For the substance of every seed or germ is natu-
rally composed of just such materials, and in just such propor-
tions as are most favorable to healthy germination, whenever the
requisite degree of heat and moisture is applied. And not only
so, but all these saline solutions are antiseptics. That is, they
tend to prevent decay, or change, in the particles of matter to
which they are applied. But we well know that no seed can
germinate or grow, until a species of decay or change in the con-
dition of its particles commences. Hence, we contend, from rea-
son as well as experiment, that when the substance of seeds of
any kind is impregnated with such solutions, their germination or
growth is actually retarded, and sometimes destroyed. But when
the seed is enclosed in a husk, like oats, this husk may serve as a

94 Farmers^ Miscellany. [J

an.

store-house, to retain the saline matter for the benefit of the young
sprout, after the materials that nature has placed in the seed itself
are exhausted ; and hence, this class of seeds are materially be-
nefited hy judicioits soaking.

The foregoing observations are not intended to apply in any
degree to the important practice of simple washing seeds of any
kind, in saline solutions, for the purpose of freeing them from
smut, rust, insects, &c., before sowing or planting, for this is often
of very great service.

(95)

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNALS.

ON THE POTATO DISEASE.

j^ Communicated to the London Lancet by Andrew Ure, M. D., F. R. S.]

The vague and contradictory statements concerning the nature
of this calamitous visitation of Providence, as well as the direc-
tions for the treatment and preservation of the tubers, generally
impractible and preposterous, which have recently issued in vast
variety from the press, do little honor to economic chemistry. It
is needless to notice all the notions and schemes which have eith-
er officially or spontaneously been projected. Only two of these
deserve comment : the first, as coming from a great master in sci-
ence, the second, as emanating from the Irish commissioners.

Professor Liebig imagines the essence of the disease to consist
in the conversion of the albumine, a usual constituent of healthy
potatoes, into caseine, a principle which, by its great instability
of composition, is supposed to cause the potato to putrefy rapidly.
I have subjected this opinion to the test of experiment. Perfectly
sound potatoes, as also diseased ones, were sliced or grated, and
separately digested in a very dilute alkaline ley at a blood heat.
The infusions, when cool, being filtered and faintly acidulated
w^ith dilute acetic acid afforded respectively a like proportion of
caseine-looking flakes. It would thus appear, from this mode of
testing, as prescribed by M. Dumas, in the seventh volume of his
" Traite de Chimie," that sound potatoes contain as much caseine
as unsound.

Professor Liebig's plan of preserving diseased potatoes is found-
ed on the above notion, and consists in cutting them into slices
one quarter of an inch thick, and steeping them twenty-four or
thirty-six hours in dilute sulphuric acid. On this proposal I need
make no comments, as it has no chance of being practised beyond
the precints of Giessen.

In the PharmaceMtical Journal for October last, I inserted a few
observations on diseased potatoes, chiefly with the view of show-
ing, that till the putrefactive stage commences, the potato had the
same acidulous reaction as in the sound state, but that then a por-
tion of ammonia made its appearance, as was proved by its alka-
line action on litmus paper, and by its coming over in distillation.
That brief notice was written while I was at a distance from home

96 Extracts from the Journals. Jan.,

on professional business, and where I had no means of prosecut-
ing my experiments. At my first period of leisure since, I resum-
ed my inquires, and have obtained certain results which may pro-
bably be found useful, as well as interesting. Before entering in-
to a detail of them, I shall shortly describe the constituents of
sound potatoes, according to the most authentic analyses. Their
average composition in one hundred parts, according to Einhof and
Lampadius, is — fibrous matter, 7 ; starch, 15 ; vegetable albu-
men, 1 ; gum, acids, and salts, 3.5 ; water, 75. Besides these
principles, Vauquelin, by his older and more minute analysis, dis-
covered the following in minute quantities: crystallizable aspara-
gin; an azotised substance resembling gum; a resinous matter
emitting an agreeable odor when heated; an extractive matter
which blackens in the air; citric acid; citrates and phosphates of
potash and lime.

The fibrous matter of potatoes is not of the same species as that
of woody roots, but consists of a substance analogous to starch,
which swells in water, becomes transparent, dissolves for the most
part in dilute sulphuric acid, and affords gum and sugar, only by
the action of concentrated sulphuric acid. In some of Einhof 's
experiments, the gummy matter which remained after evaporating
the potato juice was saccharine, but he ascribed the formation of
this sugar to an alteration produced on a portion of the gum in
the course of analysis. Neither he nor Lampadius, nor even Vau-
quelin, found sugar in sound potatoes. There can be no doubt,
however, that, from several causes, potatoes may become sweet tast-
ed indicating that part of their starch is saccharified. Thus, by
exposing them to repeated alternations of temperature, a few de-
grees below and above that of melting ice, the formation of sugar
is so much promoted, that they grow soft with the production of a
syrup of so rich a nature, that it will not permit the potatoes to
solidify even when cooled several degrees below 32° Fahrenheit.
This curious transmutation seems to depend, at least in its origin,
upon a vital reaction; for when they are frozen very rapidly, no
sugar is formed either dviring or after their thawing; but, on the
contrary, potatoes so treated afford more starch than otherwise.

The nutritious quality of potatoes resides chiefly in the starch,
fibrine, and albumine; the latter being essential to the formation
of blood. Boussingault rates the feeding of a cow for twenty-
four hours at fifteen kilogrammes (about thirty three pounds
avoirdupoise) of potatoes, and the quantity of azote in them at
fifty grammes, or gloth part of their weight. This w^ould give
-^Lth part of azote in dried potatoes. Now, since these contain
four times as much albumine as the moist ones do, we shall have
four per cent of albumen in them, according to the above analy-
sis, which four parts contain the whole of the azote in 100 parts

1846.] Potato Disease. 97

of dried potatoes, amounting to y^th, or one and one-third per
cent. But 100 parts of albumen, according to Dumas and Ca-
hours, contain 15.75 of azote, and four will therefore contain on-
ly 0.63, being about one-half the proportion of azote assigned by
Boussingault. Having, in the course of my frequently recurring
analysis of guano, contrived a method of determining its propor-
tion of azote, even to yo o^h "f a grain, or half a milligramme, I
have recently had recourse to this method in the examination of
potatoes. When a portion of these, in a dry, pulverulent state, was
subjected to ignition in contact with hydrate of soda and lime, 0.579
of azote were obtained from 100 parts of the potato ; a number
which accords well with that deduced from Dumas and Cahours'
results as applied to the proportion of albumine in potatoes, an ac-
cordance which seems to justify my determination. Potato, in its
ordinary moist state, will hence contain about 0.015 of azote, or
one and a half parts in a thousand. To this element, and the ani-
mal principles into which it enters, th'e nutritive quality of pota-
toes is to be ascribed, while their starch and starchy fibrine af-
ford the fuel of animal temperature.

In the diseased potatoes, a portion of the starch is transformed
into sugar, and of the albumine into an acrid offensive brown sub-
stance. If such tubers as are characterized by brown spots in the
interior, and a thickened brown skin, both composed of fungous fi-
bres, be grated or sliced, and exposed to pressure, either alone or
with a little tepid water, the juice obtained will be found to have
a mawkish sweet taste, followed by a sense of pungency on the
tip of the tongue. If some of this juice be mixed with a little of
Trommer's grape-sugar test, (an alkalized solution of sulphate of
copper,) this blue-colored mixture will change into a bright or-
ange hue, slowly, in the cold, but rapidly on the application of a
gentle heat, with a deposit of protoxide of copper. By means
of a modification of that test, described by me in the Pharmaceut-
ical Journal for July, 1842, I have ascertained the existence of
about five per cent of saccharine matter in diseased potatoes;
yet by the same re-agent, which is insensible to yI^ of a grain of
sugar, I could observe none of it in a perfectly sound potato.
After satisfying myself, in this way, as to the presence of sugar
in diseased potatoes I proceeded to verify the fact by placing their
expressed juice, as also their infusion in contact with a little yeast,
at a fermenting heat of from 80° to 90° Fahrenheit, and watched
the resulting phenomena. A fermentative action soon began, and
in an hour or two became so brisk as to throw up a thick, creamy
froth, like that occurring with small beer wort. At the end of
thiry-six hours, the liquor having considerably diminished in
specific gravity, was subjected to distillation, and yeilded alcohol
equivalent to about four per cent of sugar in the potato. In ord-

98 Extracts from the Journals. Jan.,

er to obviate any chance of fallacy in these results, I requested
Mr. Scanlan to repeat my fermentation experiments on a some-
what larger scale than mine, with diseased potatoes found in his
own neighborhood, at the extremity of London, opposite to my
residence. He has accordingly made several similar researches,
with like results, of which I shall give the particulars of one only.
Two and a half pounds of the expressed juice of such potatoes as
aje now used solely for feeding cattle, corresponding to three and
one-third pounds of the entire tubers, were mixed with a small
portion of yeast, and set to ferment in half-filled bottles. The ac-
tion soon became so vigorous that the barm rose to the brim ot
the bottles. At the end of thirty-six hours, the liquor, having
become nearly tranquil, was distilled, and afforded 5000 water-
grain measures of an alcoholic liquid, of specific gravity of 0,988,
containing, by Tralle's table, eight per cent of absolute alcohol,
equivalent to sixteen of sugar. ]6-j-50:^800 grains, may be
regarded as the quantity of sugar indicated by this experiment in
three and a half pounds of the diseased potatoes, or in 23,333
grains, being nearly three and a half per cent. In other samples
I found, as above stated, results indicating considerably more su-
gar, the proportion being very variable, according to the state of
the disease. The vinous spirit produced is by no means disagree-
able in taste or flavor, and may be easily rectified into excellent
alcohol, fit for every purpose of arts, manufactures, and pharmacy.
Were it not for the oppressive laws of the excise, suflScient alco-
hol might thus be obtained this season for the uses of a temperate
people, reserving an equivalent portion of grain from the whisky
manufacture for their sustenance. The residual cake of the dis-
eased potato is well adapted for feeding cattle, the morbid juices
having been separated, and it may be so dried as to keep un-
changed for a moderate length of time.

In all the diseased potatoes which I have examined with the
microscope, the fibres of a fungus, called botrytis from its grape-
like form, or of one called uredo tuberosum; may be observed ra-
mifying round the cells which enclose the starchy corpuscles.
Now these plants, however minute, are not self-generated, but
must be produced by some seminal impregnation transported by
the atmosphere, and peculiarly adapted to fructify upon the sola-
num tuberosum. I would hence conclude, that the potato disease
is a peculiar vegeto-pestilence, diffused generally through the at-
mosphere, whose ravages have been favored by the sunless hu-
mudity of the last season, as the predisposing, but not as the ex-
citing, cause. The proximate cause again, in medical language,
or the essence of the morbid state, is the fungous inmate of the
tuber, from seminal impregnation of the stem, which so paralyzes
the vitality of the plant, that a portion of the starch and albumen

1846.] Potato Disease. 99

becomes decomposed. This vegetable distemper, like that of the
cholera, while general in its diffusion, is determined to particular
localities and plants by certain predisposing causes; yet it is in-
dependent of these, having occurred in many regions where such
causes did not materially operate. Whether it will recur, no
human being can predict; meanwhile it reads a great and solemn
lesson to the rulers of states, never better expressed than in Vir-
gil's well-known verse:

" Disciti justitiam moniti, et non temnere divos ;"

which may be translated, " Beware of obstructing the free supply
of food to your people."

Many preposterous prescriptions have been obtruded on the
public eye as to the best method of preserving the diseased pota-
toes from putrefaction. The above researches show the exist-
ence of a highly fermentable saccharine and albuminous matter in
them, which becomes rapidly operative by contact with air and
moisture. Care should therefore be taken to keep their skins en-
tire, so as to exclude the atmospheric oxygen and humidity. It
is well known that the sugar in ripe grapes undergoes no change
while the skin is entire, but the moment this is pricked, the grapes
begin to ferment, and speedily spoil. No plan is therefore more
to be deprecated than that of slicing and mashing the potatoes.
They should be placed in an atmosphere kept by chemical means
in a state of extreme dryness, which may be easily and cheaply ef-
fected by piling them upon a bed of brush-wood, dry turf, or straw,
intespersing through the pile unslaked lime coarsly bruised, and
covering the pile thoroughly at the sides and on the top from the
external elements. Since unslaked lime absorbs greedily one-
third of its weight of moisture, it will bring the air in the spaces
between the tubers into a perfectly arid state — a condition in
which no decomposition of the substance can possibly take place.
On the same principle, highly-polished steel articles may be kept
for any length of time without tarnishing in our humid climate,
provided a basin with lumps of unslaked lime be enclosed in the
case or chest containing them. Slaked lime, on the contrary,
being saturated with water, has no power of desiccation, but acts
only by its causticity, in favoring the destruction of all vegetable
and animal matter.

Activity. — I have lived, said Dr. Adam Clark, to know that
the great secret of human happiness is this: Never suffer your
energies to stagnate. The old adage of. Too many irons in the
fire, conveys an abominable lie. You cannot have too many,
poker, tongs and all: keep them agoing.

100 Extracts from the Journals. Jan.

RECENT DISCOVERIES.

At a meeting of the Geological Society in London, on the 19th
of November last, the following communications were read, as re-
ported in the jdtheiieum.

1. Mr. Lyell, on the age of the newest lava current of Auvergne,
and on shells found in gravel under the lava. The discovery of
fossils that could determine accurately the age of these newer
lava currents, is only a recent event; but during the past few
years a number have been determined, distributed in several beds
alternating with the lava. The author states the circumstances
under which these fossils were found, and mentions the species
to which they are referred. They appear in several distinct beds,
alternating with lava of various dates of eruption, and include a
great variety of mammalian remains, referable no doubt to differ-
ent portions of the tertiary period. In conclusion, the author
states that he has not yet seen sufficient reason to abandon his
idea, that the Auvergne beds generally are of the Eocene period.

2. Mr. Pratt, on the geological position of the bitumen used in
asphalte pavements. This bed of bitumen is of variable thickness,
and spread out at the bottom of a series of sandy beds, wnth some
alternating clays. It contains shells, altered by the bitumen,
which has manifestly been injected forcibly, in a soft or liquid
state. The bitumen terminates suddenly at a fault.

3. A letter was read, announcing the discovery of coal, or lig-
nite, in the island of Formosa. Specimens of this lignite were
on the table.

HEADLY'S DESCRIPTION OF THE GIRANDOLA.

The next night after the grand illumination is the Girandola,
or fire-works of his holiness, and we must say that he does far
better in getting up fire-works than religious ceremonies. This
" Girandola" does credit to his taste and skill. It is the closing
act of the magnificent farce, and all Rome turns out to see it.
About half way from Corso — the Broadway, of Rome — to St.
Peter's, the famous marble bridge of MichaBl Angelo crosses the
Tiber. The castle of St. Angelo, formerly the vast and magnifi-
cent tomb of Adrian, stands at the farther end. This castle is
selected for the display of the fire works. None of the spectators
are permitted to cross the bridge, so that the Tiber flows between

1846.] Description of the Girandola. 101

them and the exhibition. Toward evening the immense crowd
begin to move in the direction of St. Angelo, and soon the whole
area and every window and house top is Hlled with human beings.
About eight the exhibition commences. The first scene in the
drama represents a vast Gothic Cathedral. How this is accom-
plished I cannot telL Every thing is buried in darkness, when
suddenly, as if by the touch of an enchanters hand, a noble gothic
cathedral of the size of an immense castle, stands in light and
beauty before you. The arrangement of the silver-like lights is
perfect, and as it shines on silent and still in the surrounding
darkness, you can hardly believe it is not a beautiful vision. It
disappears as suddenly as it came, and for a moment utter dark-
ness settles over the gloomy castle. Yet it is but for a moment.
The next instant a sheet of flame bursts from the summit with a
fury perfectly appalling; white clouds of sulphurious smoke roll
up the sky, accompanied with molten fragments and detonations
that shake the very earth beneath you. It is the representation
of a volcano in full eruption, and a most vivid one too.

Amid the spouting fire and murky smoke, and rising fragments,
the cannon of the castle are discharged, out of sight, almost every
second. Report follows report with stunning rapidity, and it
seems for a moment as if the solid structure would shake to
pieces. At length the last throb of the volcano is heard and sud-
denly from the base and sides and summit of the castle start in-
numerable rockets and serpents, and roman candles, while revolv-
ing wheels are blazing on every side. The heavens are one arch
of blazing meteors — the very Tiber flows in fire, while the light
falling- on ten thousand upturned faces, presents a scene indescriba-
bly strange and bewildering. For a whole hour it is a constant
blaze, the flashing meteors are crossing and recrossing in every
direction — fiery messengers are traversing the sky overhead, and
amid the incessant whizzing, and crackling, and bursting, that is
perfectly deafening, come at intervals the booming of cannon.

At length the pageant is over and the gaping crowd surge back
into the city. Lent is over — the last honors are done to God by
the revealed representative on earth, and the church stands acquit-
ted of all neglect of proper observances.

An excellent water-proof polish for leather, &c. — Take 3
oz. of spermaceti, and melt it in a pipkin, or other earthen vessel,
over a slow fire; add thereto 6 drachms of Indian rubber, cut into
slices, and these will presently dissolve. Then add tallow S oz.,
lard 2 oz., amber varnish 4 oz. Mix, and it will be fit for use im-
mediately. The boots or other material to be treated, are to re-
ceive two or three coats with a common blacking brush, and a
fine polish is the result.

102 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

OUR SOCIAL, POLITICAL AND EDUCATIONAL
SYSTEM.

[Communicated ror the Qu.irterly Journal and Review, Cincinnati, by
H. A. Kidd, Esq.]

Since the achievement of our independence, America has ad-
vanced more rapidly to prosperity and powder than any nation of
people of which history furnishes us information. Within half
a century our population exhibits the astonishing increase of
upwards of thirteen millions. This may be attributed partly to the
inviting character of our climate and soil, and the numberless
natural advantages which the country affords; but it is to be
attributed chiefly, no doubt, to our wise system of government,
our humane laws, and to the energy and enterprise of the people
themselves.

In no government that exists, or that has ever existed, has there
been, in its constitutional provisions, such a regard for the natural
and inalienable rights of man; and inasmuch as no nation of
people have prospered as ours, it may be fairly argued, that no
government has been framed upon principles so well adapted to
that development of the energies of a people which results in the
greatest amount of social and political happiness.

Here w^e have no regal prerogatives, no ducal privileges, no
baronial dignities; but our constitution, framed by the wise and
patriotic Fathers of the Revolution, and subscribed to by the great
and virtuous Washington, provides for equal liberty to all; — not
the licentious liberty of the Roman empire in its decline, nor the
unrestrained liberty of the Arabic and Indian tribes of the present
day, but a liberty regulated by law, and just sufficiently restrained
to answer the purposes of beneficent government.

Unlike the monarchies of Europe, here we enjoy that distinguish-
ing attribute of freedom — the untrammeled expression of opinion;
for ours is a government, the first, perhaps, the world has wit-
nessed, built upon the immutable law of human nature — equal
rights and privileges to all.

Both in a social and political point of view, there are no grades
among our citizens. Whatever may be their individual circum-
stances, whatever may be their possessions, material or mental,
they occupy the same general level. The dignified senator and
the common laborer, aye, the president himself and the lowest of
his eighteen millions of constituents, are, in the construction of
our humane and equitable laws, compeers in all the privileges and
immunities of men and citizens — each contributing, by his suffra-

1846.] Our Social, Political and Educational System. 103

ges, his equal share in controling the destinies of the nation, and
each alike responsible to posterity for the manner in which he
discharges his duty.

As a consequence of this general responsibility, our citizens
are generally intelligent, to a certain extent, as will be found to
be the case in every government controlled by the people them-
selves. Though there are many charges to which we may be
obnoxious, it certainly cannot be said of us that, as a nation, we
are stupid; for, however much we may fall behind other countries
in some respects, we can, in the common understanding of the
people, justly claim to be far in advance of every other nation on
the globe.

Nor has this general intelligence, in the affairs of government,
been attended by injurious influences upon the enterprise of citizens:
but it has superinduced a certain energetic, business-cast of thought
which, while it leads to the acquisition of wealth, and to the at-
tainment of those solid comforts, and to some extent, of those re-
finements of taste, which are well adapted to the happiness of our
people in their individual and social conditions, is at the same
time, contributing more, perhaps, to the permanency of our insti-
tutions, than any other one cause.

History teaches us, by the nmnerous illustrations which it fur-
nishes, that tyrannies, as a general rule, never contribute to the
advancement of literary enterprises, or of moral truths; fort he
principles of a tyrannical government render necessary the im-
position of restrictions upon thought, or the utterance of it, and
the suppression of every thing which leads to the development of
man's natural and legitimate spirit of freedom. There are no
such restrictions imposed on us here. There is no wintry frigid-
ity of tyranny here to blight the luxuriance of our mental or
moral growth. So far from placing burthens upon the soaring
spirit of freedom, or of suppressing the free development of man's
nature, our government, from its organic structure, provides
especially for the unrestricted exercise of mind: and a man of
genius here, though born in obscurity, and clothed in the habili-
ments of poverty, can as loudly proclaim the great lessons of
truth and wisdom, educed by the toil of study in his obscurity,
and as certainly command for them the admiration of the million,
as he who has been born surrounded by all the appliances of
wealth and fortune, and been bred in the lap of luxurious ease.
This is a distinctive feature of our political system; and one,
which, with the natural energy of our people — all other obstacles
being cleared away by the prudent forecast of our statesmen —
must carry us to a high and glorious destiny among the nations of
the earth.

Thus much has been said generally. I now inquire, have we

104 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

been profited, to the fullest extent, by the advantages afforded by
our peculiar frame of government? Do we, in our various rela-
tions— social, 'political and educational — observe the full develop-
ment and exercise of those principles of action necessary to the
highest enjoyment of civilized life? It is to be regretted that
these questions cannot be answered affirmatively. To a certain
extent we have been profited — resulting more as a necessary con-
sequence from the inherent principles of our government than
from any meritorious exertion on the part of our citizens them-
selves,— but beyond that we have not. It is true, that excellence
in human institutions is rarely to be found in the infancy of a
government, and can be attained only by patient persevering
effort. But it occurs to me that we have not done all that we
might have done, and ought to have done, in carrying ourselves
forward to that high distinction, as a nation and a people, to
which, sooner or later, we are destined. It is to be feared that
we have lost sight of the objects of our lofty mission, and have
too far neglected to profit by the advantages so lavishly spread
before us.

Have we, in our social relations, attained to those sentiments
which should characterize an age of advanced civilization? Are
we, as individuals, governed by those principles of virtue, morality
and honor, that prepare us for refined social enjoyment, and that
fit us to become useful citizens? Sorry am I that these things are
not so; for it is only necessary to cast our eye over the super-
fices of society, to discover a multitude of pernicious influences
contaminating the sources of genuine feeling, misdirecting our
aims, and restraining, if not destroying, the enjoyment which
springs from a free, social intercommunication of our sentiments,
of whatever nature.

This state of things is to be attributed, partly, to the utilitarian,
self-aggrandizing spirit of the age; and, partly, no doubt, to the
democratic, too democratic, tendency of our institutions in their
effects upon individual conduct. I admire, and am an advocate
of democracy, properly directed and restricted. So, also, do I
admire a rich, fertile loam for a garden; but it is important, in
the former, as in the latter case, that the noxious weeds produced
by that very fertility should be carefully cut down, lest their
poisonous influence extend to those whose growth is desired.
The evils which spring from the democratic tendency of our in-
stitutions must be gotten rid of, or the numberless blessings spring-
ing from the same source, can never be realized to the fullest
extent.

This utilitarian spirit, above alluded to, has, I fear, made us
almost a nation of Shylocks — each seeking the substance of the
other — all eager for the acquisition of lucre. Not all, perhaps;

1846.] Our Social, Political and Educational System. 105

but there are few, very few, amongst us, who are not affected,
more or less, by this sordid passion — a passion which, in all mat-
ters, makes us suspicious of our fellows, corrupts the fountains of
pure affection, blunts the finer feelings of the soul, and destroys,
inevitably, all social enjoyment.

In this general race for the acquisition of lucre, a few, by one
means' or other, are successful. Those few plume themselves upon
the distinction which their possessions command for them; at the
same time that they are, on account of that distinction, objects of
envy and hate by their less fortunate competitors. Money is
omnipotent; and the wonderful influence which the possessors of
it are enabled to wield, together with the profound homage uni-
versally paid to it, has resulted, to a remarkable extent, in estab-
lishing an aristocracy of wealth — a tyranny not less arbitrary in
its rule than that of the most despotic czar — trampling under foot
all that is of real worth in mind and morals, not conibrmable to
its unjust exactions.

No such distinctions in society are recognized in the fundamen-
tal principles of our government. But, on the contrary, it is one
of its happiest features that places every member of the commun-
ity upon the same general level — leaving individual superiority to
be accorded upon the only true and just rule — superior knowledge
and superior virtue.

Virtue without knowledge is little better than useless; whilst
knowledge without virtue is dangerous in the extreme to the peace
and harmony of society; for no principle is better established,
both by the theoretical teachings of philosophy and the practical
illustrations of history, than that, in all the relations of life — so-
cially as well as otherwise — transcendant genius and extensive
information, uncontrolled and undirected by virtuous principle and
a deep sense of moral accountability, are likely to be dangerous
instead of useful to society. This brings me to the second point
which I set out to consider.

In this country all are politicians, A majority of the people
are so, to the extent only of forming correct opinions to guide
them in the exercise of the right of suffrage ; but a large propor-
tion of them are politicians from very different considerations;
with which considerations, it is feared, sentiments of patriotism
have little to do. All profess to be patriots — such a profession is
popular; and upon their popularity, they well know, depends
their promotion. With them individual gain is the sole object of
their endeavors; and, that accomplished, all else is despised or
disregarded.

Of this class, there are to be found men of such ambitious de-
signs, that they become desperadoes in politics; and, for the pur-
pose of carrying out those designs, would be ready to join in

Vol. II., No. 1. 9

106 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

measures to sever onr Union, or to apply the torch to the altar of
our liberties. To " rule or ruin," is their motto. Such men are
dangerous members of society; and but for the conservative virtue
which rests in the great body of the people, there is no telling
what might be the disastrous consequences to the harmony of
society, the integrity of the Union, and the permanency of our
free institutions. But by the history of the past we are taught
the important lesson, that public virtue may linally yield to public
vice, when the latter is constantly presented in a fascinating garb,
and uniformly sustained by the powers of eloquence.

There are others, who, not only profess to be, but really think
themselves patriots; yet who are so lured by the spoils of ofhce,
or the glitter of fame, that, ignorantly or unconsciously, they
hesitate not to do, in their public capacities, what might be, and
oftentimes is, seriously detrimental to the public interests. Such
persons — and there are many such, as the most superficial observer
must have remarked — are little less dangerous and little more to
be trusted than those who, to gain their ends, wilfully and reck-
lessly, trample upon right, justice, law and the constitution.

Such persons — as of the two classes just designated — while
they are the most dangerous enactors and administrators of law,
are, at the same time, the very men who, in a democratic govern-
ment, are most apt to succeed to high stations. " Republics," it
is said, " are ungrateful," — it is illustrated, as fully as otherwise,
by the fact that, in republics, the intelligent and virtuous, who
are ever modest and unpretending, but who are really the most
capable of serving their country, are permitted to remain in the
obscurity of private life; whilst the ignorant or designing and
corrupt, who are ever bold and arrogant, are chosen as the makers
and executors of law. Within the last few years how many
examples have we had to the contrary ? How many illustrations
in confirmation of it.

The developments of the times are exhibiting to us the import-
ance of chosing our rulers upon different principles. Corruption
in high places admonishes us of the necessity of rigidly excluding
the corrupt and vicious from a participation in the affairs of state.
The pure in heart and able in mind are such only as should take
charge of and represent the interests of a great nation of freemen.
Let them be ambitious, if it must be; but let their ambition be
such as was that of the pure patriot and eminent statesman, Ha-
milton, who, when charged with being ambitious, replied that he
was; but that his whole ambition was to deserve well of his
country. This is a noble sentiment; and one which should never
be lost sight of by those who are chosen to public stations by the
suffrages of the people. When this shall be the case, then, and

1846.] Our Social, Political and Educational System. 107

not till then, shall we realize the blessings of a government in all
respects wisely and virtuously conducted.

In recent years the fact has again and again forced itself upon
the consideration of the country, that devoted patriotism, eminent
ability and faithful public services no longer furnish any guaranty
of success to office; for no sooner are men thus distinguished pre-
sented to the people for their suffi-ages, than at them are aimed
the envenomed shafts of falsehood, calumny and detraction. Ah!
how many a noble heart, whose every pulsation was for the good
of the country, has writhed under the influence of this corrupting
viru!i ! How many a lofty genius, capable of the highest states-
manship, and which was, at the same time, the glory of the
country and an ornament to humanity, has fallen before those
deadly shafts! Such there have been in this country as in others.
They have fallen, truly; but it is consolatory to know that

•' They fell, devoted and undying."

No monumental marble is necessary to perpetuate their memories;
but their names shall ever be enshrined in the hearts of the pure,
the just and patriotic, with those of Phocion, of Tully, of Svdney
and of Hampden.

It has come to that, in this country, that it is the imperious
duty of the public man, who aspires to honors and station, to
imbue his mind thoroughly with the knowledge, and his heart
with the principles of party intrigues and management; so that
he can secure, by chicane and circumvention, that which he could
not reach by fair and honorable means. Nor is moral depravity
any barrier to success. If he should be

" Fit for , stratagems and spoils ;"

ay, and, perhaps, for treason, too; or if he should be suflSciently
obscure, from never having served his country; or, if he should
be distinguished at all, distinguished for his very insignificance,
then is he a fit individual for the highest promotion.

This is a great, a very great error in the times; and one which
must he remedied. A high standard of morals is as necessary in
politics as in our social organization; and until our politicians, in
their various capacities as public servants, rigidly conform to that
standard, it were useless to expect that their efibrts will be at-
tended by any very stable or beneficent results.

I have thus alluded to some of the evils growing out of the
present state of our social and political systems. How can these
evils be corrected? By educating the minds of the people. Let
this but be attended to, fully and faithfully, and the object is ac-
complished. No corrector of abuses, whether in the body poli-
tic or in our social organization, is half so effective as the amelio-

108 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

rating influence of literature and science. It has been said, and
truly, that " Learning ever has been, is now, and ever will be,
the grand conservative principle of civilization, of tiuth, virtue,
liberty, religion and good government." In no country have the
minds of the people been imbued with a taste for literature and
thoroBgh scholarship, but that their feelings were liberalized, their
moral sentiments elevated, and themselves better fitted for useful
citizenship. No nation has ever reached an exalied state in the
arts and sciences, in laws and morals, but was essentially a na-
tion of learning.

If, then, a marked deficiency in social virtue and political mo-
rality— destructive alike of the objects of human happiness in each
relation — is found to be the consequence of a want of learning
among the people, is it not our imperious duty to employ the
means necessary to attain this important end? But what are
those means'? Clearly the building up and sustaining institutions
of learning. In this manner alone can the blessings of education
be diffused throughout society. And to accomplish this, there
must be a correspondence of action by government and people:
our legislatures must liberally endow, and our citizens cordially
patronize these institutions. None of the states are so poor but
that even a modicum' of their means, appropriated to this wise
and beneficent purpose, would in a few years, develope itself in
results alike honorable and useful. There are hundreds and
thousands of our citizens, a tithe of whose ample means, directed
into this channel, would procure the blessings of a liberal educa-
tion to their own sons and daughters, and to those of a score of
their indigent neighbors. But the public spirit, the generous
and humane spirit, is wanting alike in the members of our legis-
latures and in our citizens. The spirit of demagogueism rules
the foi-mer ; while the spirit oi money -making rules the latter.
The former are studious of the arts, and earnest in the advocacy
of measures best adapted to the sentiments and feelings of the
" dear people," while the sentiments and feelings of the " dear
people " are much more intent upon accumulating the goods of
earth, than upon paying taxes, educating children, and enhancing
the happiness of mankind. This, I deeply regret, is found to be
generally true; — that there are many honorable exceptions I
am proud to know. A ditteront state of things must be brought
about. The people must learn that their true interests consist,
above all other things, in patronizing institutions of learning;
and they must choose such legislators as will truly and faithfully
represent those interests.

I speak not of the higher institutions only: the inferior class
of academies and common schools are all important to be sus-
tained for the diffusion among the people of the elements of

1846.] Our Social, Political and Educational System. 109

practical education, 'li In many of the states something has been
done towards the establishment of a general school system ; but
in some of those states, to their own great discredit, no particu-
lar plan has been fairly tested by its operations before the plan
itself was changed, or perhaps, every effort, looking to the per-
manent establishment of any system, wholly abandoned; whilst,
in other states, a system of common schools is attempted to be
sustained in utter neglect of the higher institutions. The attempt
fails, of course, in every instance; for it is made upon an erro-
neous principle. No system of inferior schools, however judi-
ciously framed, can exist and prosper without the beneficial aid
and fostering protection of the universities and colleges; for by
the latter are furnished at least nine-tenths,°'^if not the whole, of
those who are really competent to become common school-mas-
ters, conformably to an elevated standard of education. And
to this end — the supplying an adequate number of teachers for
the poorer classes of society, whose limited means exclude them
from the direct benefits of the higher institutions — it behooves
the legislatures of our states, under^^the weightiest obligations of
patriotism and humanity, so to endow our universities and col-
leges as to enable them to open their doors for the education of
a limited number, at least, of the poor young men of genius
within their borders. There are hundreds, nay thousands such,
who, thus deriving the benefits of a thorough education, are pre-
pared, in turn, to dispense those benefits among innumerable
others; and, perhaps, to become, in the progress of circum-
stances, in wider spheres of action, the chiefest among the bene-
factors of mankind.

The prejudices which exist in the community against colleges
and universities are as unworthy as they are unjust. The over-
scrupulous moralists and arrogant philanthropists, who contend
that they are nurseries of vice, and the sources of no good, and,
as such, oppose their existence, thereby but expose their ignorance
and narrow-sightedness. It is true, in all our colleges and uni-
versities may be found a few turbulent, idle and unworthy mem-
bers,— ten out of every hundred, perhaps, — who would certainly
be as idle and turbulent out of college as in college. On their
account are the remaining ninety, moral, discreet and studious
young men, to be deprived of the privilege of a collegiate educa-
tion, and the numberless blessings flowing from it? As well
might it be contended that the running of steam boats and rail
road locomotives is a great evil, and ought to be abandoned, be-
cause great loss of life is occasionally the consequence of it. As
reasonably might it be contended that our freedom is an evil, be-
cause it was achieved through toil and blood. As sensibly might

110 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

it be argued that the Christian religion is an evil because thou-
sands have died martyrs in its defence.

On the contrary, institutions of learning — the college and the
university — have, in all ages of the civilized world, been the
houses of freedom, — the nurseries of human rights, — and in no
country, or age, has that freedom been defended, or those rights
advocated with so much ardor and efficiency as by the learned.
So w^as it in Greece, when Demosthenes thundered his Philippics
against the tyrant of Macedon; so was'it in Rome, when Tully
raised his eloquent voice in defence of the popular rights; so was
it in England, when a Milton, a Hamden, and other similar
spirits, employed their pens and their tongues in behalf of the
violated Magna Charta of English liberties; so was it when
Kosciusko, at the head of the flower of educated brave youths of
ill-fated Poland, attempted in vain to throw off the yoke of
Russian despotism; so was it in France, when La Fayette and
his illustrious compatriots essayed, without success, to guide their
country's helm safely through the perils of regal rule, on the one
hand, and bloody Jacobinism, on the other; and so was it in our
own America, when a Hancock and Adams, a Washington and
Warren, in council and on the field, raised their voices and arms
against British oppression. Ignorance is ever the accompaniment
of despotism, as learning is that of free governments.

One of the chief impediments to the advancement of learning
in this country is, it is feared, the time-serving and unmanly
spirit manifested by our scholars themselves — by those whose
first and great care it should be to further the good cause by
every means in their power. If they, who are the recipients of
the great blessings of education, yield to the utilitarian and anti-
literary prejudices of the day, by whom is it expected the glorious
standard of literature and science will be upheld and borne for-
ward? If they are faithless to the high trusts reposed in them,
by whom are those trusts to be executed? Not, surely, by the
ignorant and vulgar — by empty-brained and soulless agrarians.
There must be a waking up on this subject by our men of learn-
ing. A heavy responsibility rests upon them, imposed alike by
duty and patriotism, to do all in their power — though it cost
them their time, labor and substance — to advance the glorious
cause of letters and sound education. It is the cause of our
country, of truth, virtue and religion. Let that cause be tri-
umphant over the land, and w^e shall witness a wonderful revo-
lution, for the better, in the characters and conditions of our
people, in whatever avocation they may be engaged. The arts
of the demagogue will be forgotten, and our politicians — pro-
moted to office upon the true republican principle of " honesty
and capability" — will vie with each other in their efforts to effect

1843.] Our Social, Political and Educational System. Ill

" the greatest good to the greatest number;" our editors, who
wield a more potent influence upon the destinies of the nation
than any and every other class of our citizens, will be selected
for their erudition and trustworthiness, and will perform their
arduous duties in a faithful discharge of the weighty responsi-
bilities resting upon them; our preachers of the gospel — casting
aside the disgraceful prejudice which, except in partial instances,
has so long kept them in ignorance, or bigotry worse than igno-
rance— will be able instructors in spiritual things, and fully com-
petent, for the execution of the sacred trusts of their high mission, to
carry forward the glorious cause of their Master; our lawyers, —
thoroughly impressed with the truth of the sentiment, " Sat cite,
si sat belli','''' which, through life, guided the action of one of
England's most learned and distinguished judges, — will patiently,
imweariedly, and in the spirit of patriotism, devote themselves
to the study and practice of their noble profession; our doctors,
disdaining quackery and empiricism in every shape, will give
themselves up, with devoted ardor, and in the true spirit of hu-
manity to the responsible art of soothing the distresses, and alle-
viating the " ills which flesh is heir to;" and our citizens, gene-
rally, while striving fairly and honestly to improve their individual
circumstances, will labor, also, to advance the common welfare
of their kind. Then, too, when the general and correct inform-
ation is diffused among our people, they will see the folly of
looking to foreign countries for our literary and scientific read-
ing. And, in this connection, however irrelevant it may appear,
I cannot withhold the expressive, that it is humiliating in the
extreme, and unworthy of the land of Channing and Upham, of
Bancroft and Prescott, of Halleck and Bryant, of Irving and
Cooper, to look to England, or any European country, for our
standard authors in philosophy, poetry, history or fiction. It is
nothing less than literary suicide; and must ever have the effect,
so long as this state of things continues (and continue it will
until our people become more generally and correctly informed),
to repress the genius and energy of our native authors.

A glorious heritage have we from the hands of our patriot an-
cestors— the freest and greatest republic upon which the sun has
ever shone.

" Land of the Free ! — beneath the Heaven

There's not a fairer, loviier clime j
Nor one to which was ever given

A destiny more high, sublime."

When we cast our eyes over the vast expanse of our country,
and behold the wonderful combination of land and water — of
mountains and valleys, of oceans, seas and lakes, and behold,
also, the multiplied and rapidly multiplying millions of enter-

112 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

prising and energetic freemen, whose habitations, stretching
north, south, east and west, reach to the uttermost limits of this
broad expanse, may we not, indeed, say with the poet, that to
no land was ever given " a destiny more high, sublime." That
destiny will surely be achieved if our mental progress should
keep pace with the increase of our population; which already
presents the proudest spectacle of political greatness the world
ever beheld. To this end, we must build up and sustain a Lite-
rature,— unlike that of the worn-out monarchies and despotisms of
Europe; — a National Literature, based upon comprehensive prin-
ciples of humanity, congenial with the spirit of our institutions,
and fully adequate to the energy, enterprise and varying condi-
tions of our people.

HORTICULTURE.

[Extract from an Address delivered by David Thomas, before the Aurora
Horticultural Society, Sept- 23, 1845.]

The colors of flowers are not more varied than their forms, or
manner of flowering. The snow-drop is a hell, the crocus a cwp.
The tiger flower appears in solitary glory, the goat's beard in
countless numbers. The English globe flower is a holloiv ball, the
globe thistle is solid to the centre. The flat blossom of the black-
berry lily, contrasts with the tube of the trumpet flower; and the
triangular iris with the circular form of the rose.

As another instance of diversity in flowers, cleome begins to
bloom at the base of the spike, liatris at the top, and dipsacus
(the teazle) in the middle, extending its blossoms upwards and
downwards at the same time; and forming, as soon as the first
florets have withered, two separate and receding circles.

It might be hard to say what spot of the earth's surface has
furnished the most flowers for our gardens; and whether that spot
is located in the eastern or western hemisphere. It is true, the
Cape of Good Hope has produced an astonishing number of beau-
tiful plants; but most of them are unavailable to us on account of
the severity of our winters: and yet so bountifully has our globe
been replenished, that there are more from colder regions than we
can find room for in our borders. Mountains- that extend far to
the south, yield us plants from their cold sides or summits. Thus
shrubs and trees from the elevated parts of Carolina and Georgia,
are generally hardy here; and even Oenothera rosea, from Peru,
abides our coldest seasons, and becomes a weed. In this way, or
on this principle, INIexico furnishes chclone barbata, Nepaul, the

1846.] Horticulture. 113

fotentilla formosa, and the same southern range of the Himalayas,
the most delicious fruit of the temperate zone — 1 mean the peach.

Plants conform by a kind of instinct, to the climates in which
they are indigenous. Thus on the approach of heat and drouth,
the tulip contracts itself into a bulb, and waits for a more conge-
nial season to resume its growth. The auricula, though an ever-
green, sleeps safely under the snows of the Austrian Alps, but
perishes without protection in the valleys below; and the holly-
leaved barberry, another evergreen from the Rocky mountains,
suffers under our milder but more variable winters. We have,
therefore, tender plants from very cold as well as from very torrid
regions.

When we considei' that soils of almost every peculiarity, have
furnished us with plants, we cannot expect all these delegates to
give up their predilections, and consent to grow side by side in
the same border. Many, it is true, will do it, perfectly indiffierent
to soil, satisfied wherever their lots may be cast, and flourishing
without abatement; but the wild lupin pines for its bed of sand,
and "• the superb lily" for its bog. The laurel, so abundant nine-
ty miles to the south, declines in health w'hen removed to our
common soil, and eventually perishes as if it were poisoned. The
rose acacia also refuses to flourish where lime abounds, unless
lifted above it by engrafting on the common locust.

Peaty earth mixed with silicious sand, seems best to agree with
such delicate feeders, though soils in w^hich peat forms no con-
siderable portion will answer in some cases. Several years ago,
I procured a Chinese magnolia. It flowered once or twice, but
became sickly, and its leaves lost their fine green. Being at a
friend's house among the sandhills of Junius, 1 told him I wanted
a bushel or two of the poorest soil on his farm; and got such as
Indian corn might grow in with pale yellow leaves and perhaps
a foot high. In the spring I removed all the earth round the
magnolia, as well as I conveniently could without disturbing the
roots, and applied the steril mass, three or four inches in thickness.
In a month or less, the leaves resumed their fine green, and it has
continued vigorous ever since.

I may remark that this barren earth acted as a manure, for the
roots spread through the same ground that they did when it
changed color. It is evident then, the plant was not poisoned,
but starved, some element essential to its health, not having been
contained in the fertile border where it stands.

When the drift or deposit of earthy matter was first left by the
retreating w^aters, it was not properly soil, for it was deficient in
those vegetable remains which in some places, and on some plants,
produce such extraordinary eflfects. We may take sand, clay,
lime, magnesia, and other minerals in due proportion; but we

114 Extracts f ram the Journals. [Jan.,

have not obtained a proper soil. The vegetable that decays on
the ground, is not entirely resolved into its original elements, but
a portion held together by a stronger affinity, mixes or combines
with the earth. Frequently, however, it accumulates in low
places, and thus forms the rauck of our woods, and the 'peat of
our bogs.

It should be remarked that muck and peat appear to differ as
much as the plants that produced them. Muck (as w^e use the
term) is chiefly formed from the leaves of deciduous trees, as the
maple and basswood, while peat is derived from bog moss and
other subaquatics. The former is mild, and an excellent manure
for Indian corn — the latter is sour, and better adapted to plants
that are not found on calcareous lands.

The farmer and the florist act from very different motives, and
select very different plants, nutriment being the main object with
one, and beauty wuth the other. From the fertile plain, and the
river flat, the cereal grasses were probably derived, as well as
those that constitute our pastures and meadows; and it is worthy
of notice that all these delight in calcareous soils. On the con-
trary, the florist has taken a wider range, and chosen his favorite
from every variety of soil: not only from plains and alluvions,
but from the cold mountain, the rugged hill, the moist valley, the
comparatively barren waste, the shady swamp, and the open
marsh. To many of these plants, however, lime is deleterious;
and a perfect flower garden ought to represent a diversified coun-
try in miniature: shade and sunshine; here a plant of fertile soil,
there a tract of bog, near it steril earth, and yonder a bed of
sand.

In arranging plants in the border, different methods have been
adopted. Sometimes shrubs and the stronger perennials have oc-
cupied the middle line, while smaller sorts, and especially bulbs,
have been set near them in little clumps. This arrangement,
however, though very economical on account of room, prevents
the necessary culture; and many kinds, such as monthly roses,
large double larkspurs, or the later sorts of phlox, suffer greatly
in consequence. Their beauty depends on their vigor; and their
vigor on the fine tilth of the ground where they stand. It is best
therefore, to leave room enough round them for the free exercise
of the spade, or the hoe.

The vigor of herbaceous perennials, however, that increase by
new stems rising closely round the circumference — may be mate-
rially assisted by division and transplanting every two or three
years; for if neglected, the central stems, owing to the confined
position of their roots, suffer from starvation, and in many in-
stances, produce no flowers. Several species of veronica, spircea,
iris, and phlox, may be cited as examples.

1846.] Horticulture. 115

Many of you must have seen, or heard of, the flowery prairies
of the west; anil have noticed the enthusiasm with which travel-
ers describe them. Now could we not get such glorious flowers
for our gardens? Yes — but most of them would grow dim befoie
the superior beauty of our old flowers. I am confirmed in this
opinion by what I have seen of them in their native localities;
and by examining herbariums of prairie plants. How then, you
may ask, is an effect, bordering so closely on the sublime, pro-
duced by such means? I answer, because they appear in masses.
The greater the multitude and the wider the space, the grander
the display; and though within our walls and fences, we cannot
equal nature, we can imitate her, for while she presents flowers
by the acre, we can do it by the square yard. The snow-drop,
crocus, hyacinth, and tulip, may all be employed for this purpose;
and when congregated have the most imposing effect.

The most important principle in autumnal planting, is to pack
the earth firmly round the roots. Unpractised hands sometimes
scrape it in loosely, smooth the surface, and leave the plant to its
fate. I am describing what happened when I commenced gar-
dening. The result was, the soil was loose, becoming like a
swamp with the late autumnal rains; and when the cold set in
severely, the freezing surface fastened round the stem or leaves,
while the water below expanding into ice, lifted that surface with
every root from its place. When it thawed, however, the earth
settled away, leaving them uncovered, to wither in the wind, or
perish by succeeding frosts.

Even tulips and hyacinths, are sometimes destroyed by the same
cause. In this case, however, the roots having taken a stiong
hold of the soil, refuse to follow the leaves which are upheaved
by the frost, and are separated. Probably this is the reason why
such plants have frequently failed on sandy soils, but I have never
known any failure of the kind, where the ground has been trod-
den down firmly over the bulbs.

This practice may prove useful in another respect. Bulbs are
sometimes destroyed in winter by mice; but as far as my obser-
vations have extended, it has always occurred where the earth lay
loosely OA'er them. Mice have no idea of digging through a firm,
compact soil.

Some shrubs whose stems are too tender to withstand our
winters, conform to the habits of herbaceous perennials; and
sending up new stems from the root, flower abundantly in sum-
mer. Of this kind is the champney rose, and lagerstrcrmia in-
dica. With a view to this result, however, they should be plant-
ed deeper than usual, that the roots may be safe from the frost.

A few herbaceous perennials, also too tender for this climate,
may be planted very deeply in the border. It is true that some

116 Extracts from the Joiirnals. [Jan.,

sorts would be smothered; but amarylli.f longifolia, from the Cape
of Good Hope, and arum dracunlus, from the south of Europe,
submit kindly to a depth of nine or ten inches, perfectly secure in
our heavy loams from frost. Other tender bulbs might be tried.
Accident has shown that the tulip and crown imperial — both suf-
ficiently hardy, however — \vill rise from a depth of more than one
foot without injury.

But the depth may be temporarily increased by turning a sod
over them late in autumn, to be removed on the return of mild
weather; and in this way, I have successfully treated polyavthus
narcissus, which is rather impatient of much cold. Many other
plants from warmer climates may be protected in the same manner.

Herbaceous evergreens require a lighter covering; for as they
continue sensitive through the winter, air and light should not be
entirely excluded. John Lowell thought that the branches of
evergreen, when used for protection, possessed a property pecu-
liarly conservative. Green moss, or chickweed, will answer as
well as the boughs of the hemlock; and treated in this way, the
auricula abides our severest seasons in safety.

Towards the close of our long winters, we watch with eager-
ness for the first flowers of the spring; and derive as much plea-
sure from the modest snow-drop, crocus, or Siberian squill, as
from the gayest production of summer. Now it would be well to
remember that the bloom of these little favorites, may be hastened
by shallow planting.

Permit me to mention another item, and I will detain you no
longer with floriculture. Sometimes we find it convenient to
transplant from the hot-bed or other place, in warm, dry weather;
and we should be sorry to see the plant wither. Well, this may
be easily prevented. Water it, if you please, and cover it with
a garden pot, having a hole in the bottom, to operate as a chim-
ney. The plant will remain fresh and vigorous in the hottest day
in summer.

Away from cities, the comfort of families depends much on the
kitchen garden. The soil ought to be dry, rich and easily pul-
verized. In this district, it is generally a heavy loam; and other
means besides the plough, spade or hoe, should be used to subdue
its stubborn nature. In all cases, it should be well drained. All
surplus water, whether on the surface or below, should be led off.
Every tendency to baking or poaching should be prevented.
Some of you w^ell understand the benefit of ridsfinff the ground in
the fall, so that the coining frosts may pass in between the parti-
cles of every clod, and thrust them asunder; but many persons
have yet to learn that the sweepings of the blacksmith's shop,
chip dirt, and the old plaster from walls and ceilings — too often

1846.] Horticulture. 117

thrown into the road — are excellent manures, and at the same
time keep the soil loose and mellow.

Carting in sand is another labor-saving operation. It will last
for ages, and prevent many a hard thrust of the spade, or stroke
of the hoe. Let me suggest, however, that a stiff soil is broken
most by coarse sand; and from observation, I incline to believe
that one load of this kind will do as much good as several loads
where the particles are very fine.

The effect of blacksmiths' cinders, when broken and applied,
and burning the soil, which I have also tried to some extent, are
both remarkable for loosening and fertilizing at the same time;
and it may afford some encouragement to reflect that these are
permanent improvements — to benefit posterity as much as our-
selves. The crops from old coal pits, burnt brush heaps, or the
sites of old buildings, will sufficiently illustrate these remarks.

The radish, like the watermelon, delights in sandy soil. We
use sharp sand and vegetable earth in equal portions; and it is so
loose that a man might easily thrust in his arm up to the elbow.
A bed of this kind would yield a full and constant supply of ra-
dishes for a family — provided a seed were dropped in, whenever
a root were drawn out; and such a bed would serve during a long
life. A frame of boards, rising two inches above the surface,
prevents the ground on the outside from intermixing.

In applying manure, one thing is important: it should be mix-
ed with the soil most thoroughly and completely — no two particles
of the one (if possible) should be without a particle of the other
between them. Why do some cultivators say that fresh stable
manure is injurious, especially in dry seasons? Because they ap-
ply it in a slovenly manner. In the summer of '41 — the dry est
for many years — I had land manured in this way, w'hich was al-
ways moist, the plants not appearing to suffer in the least; but
then it was plowed several times before planting, W'ith six har-
rowings in immediate succession.

Forty-five years ago, in this neighborhood, strawberries were
abundant in the open woods, and parties w^ent several miles to
gather them. In a few years, however, scarcely a plant was left
by the cattle; and very little w^as known of this fruit, by a great
part of our population, for it was rarely cultivated in gardens.
Tw^enty years ago in Geneva, however, I sat down at the table of
a friend which was garnished with two large dishes of strawber-
ries— one white, the other red. I had never seen so fine a dis-
play; and it did me good in more ways than one; for I have
often since seen my own table ornamented in a similar manner.

The cherry, plum, pear, apricot and peach, as well as the
smaller fruits, deserve our attention : but I have detained you too
long already to enter into particulars.

118 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

HOGS AND THEIR TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES
AND EUROPE.

The immense production of hogs in the United States, and the
heavy trade in them at Cincinnati, demand something more than
a mere superficial view of the transactions, at one point, in order
to understand the magnitude and relations of the trade. We can
furnish the commercial reader with some statistical facts, which
will serve as landmarks in taking a broad view of the subject.

In the year 1839 there w^ere in the United States, in all,
26,301,293 hogs. Of this nmnber, more than one-half of the
whole were in eight states, viz. :

Tennessee, 2,926,607

Kentucky, 2,810,533

Ohio, 2,099,746

Indiana, ], 613,608

Illinois, 1,494,254

Missouri, 1,271,161

Mississippi, 1,001,201

Alabama, 1,423,873

Total, 14,150,983

The states of Virginia, New York, and North Carolina, each
have more hogs than Illinois and Missouri ; but we have taken
the states of the west and south-west together to show the result.

Now, we want to draw two or three inferences from the num-
ber of hogs in the several states, before we compare the produc-
tion with that of Europe.

1. In the first place, hogs are fatted and nearly supported on
maize and Indian corn. They exist, therefore, in the several
states just in proportion to the production of Indian corn. Now,
Tennessee has the most, and the three states of Tennessee, Ohio,
and Kentucky, far more than any other three states, of both In-
dian corn and hogs. The twenty-six millions of hogs in the
United States can scarcely consume less than two hundred
millions of bushels of corn! They are therefore, the greatest
market for that article.

2. If we suppose these hogs to average 180 lbs. each, and to
be worth, as they are, $3.50 per cwt., then this animal alone is,
in the United States, worth one hundred and sixty-six millions of
dollars, or three times the entire cotton crop for the year 1845.
The value of swine in the state of Ohio alone, exceeds twelve
millions of dollars.

1846.] Hogs in the United States and Europe. 119

3. It is important to discover how large a proportion of swine
are annually killed. There are two sorts of consumption for
swine. One may be called the commercial, and the other the
domestic consumption. One is for family use, and the other for
commerce. Almost every farmer's family kills one or more hogs.
This is a constant drain on the increase. But on the other hand
the increase of swine is so great, that it will exceed in one year
the original stock unless checked. The main inquiry is, how
large a proportion of hogs are fatted in order to supply the provi-
sions of commerce? In the year 1845 there will have been kill-
ed at the various pork packing establishments of Ohio, about 500-
000 hogs. About 150,000 of these may be set down as from other
states. It is fair, therefore, to assume that commerce consumes,
about 350,000 hogs in Ohio, per annum. The present stock
cannot be much if any under 2,500,000. It follows, therefore,
that commerce consumes near about one-sixth part of the stock on
hand. We belive that in the United States, generally, this is
much too high an estimate; yet the figures in the western states
will show this result veiy nearly.

4. But suppose the total is really as great as the facts imply,
then it follows — a fact of great moment to the packer — that no
safe conclusion whatever can he drawn from the number of hogs
killed in one year of the real number of the stock that loill be
brought to market next year. This is obvious, if the reader will
reflect, that a given stock of hogs will nearly double themselves
in one year, and that yet the number of hogs of commerce is only
one-sixth part of the original number I This is the great source
of the constant errors made in calculating the number of hogs to
be brought to market, and the effects on the market. The truth
is, the domestic or family consumption is the great fact, and that
we cannot arrive at exactly.

We shall proceed to show the number of hogs raised proportion-
ably in Europe and America. We have before us McGregor's
Statistics, which contain a table of the agriculture and live stock of
Europe for 1828. Since then the population of Europe has in-
creased more than 10 per cent, and if we add 10 per cent to the live
stock, we shall have the full amount; for this species of stock
does not increase in densely populated countries equally with that
of other productions.

Swine of Europe.

Russia, 16,380 000

Austria, 6,050,000

Great Britain, 5,775,000

France, 4,950,000

Italian States, 2,860,000

Bavaria, 1,650,000

120 Extracts from the Journals. Jan.,

Netherlands, 1,540,000

Prussia 1,645,160

Sweden, 1,320,000

Spain, • 1,110,000

Portugal, 770,000

All other States, 2,348,000

Total, 46,278,160

To one who is acquainted with the abundance of swine, and
the facility for raising them in the United States, this table must
seem extraordinary. It shows that Russia, Austria, and Great
Britain, having a population of 120 millions of people, have only
as many swine as the United States with 20 millions!

Eight western States, with a population of 6 millions, have as
many swine as Great Britain, France, Prussia, and Bavaria, with
75 millions! The European States have not enough Indian corn
to feed them upon.

The proportion of swine between the United States and some
of the European States, is thus :

United States to Prussia, 6 to 1

" " to Austria, 9 to 1

« " to Great Britain, 7 to 1

« " to France, 10 to 1

" " to Spain, 16 to 1

Russia being a thinly populated country, and having the most
mast has the most swine; but for the converse reason, the southern
states of Europe have the least. The United States have six
times as many in proportion as Russia.

The same disproportion extends, but in less proportion, to other
animals. If the people of Europe were a meat-eating people,
they could not find a supply in their country. These animals
would be killed off in half a dozen years. But they are not a
meat-eating people. They live upon every species of vegetable,
much as the animals do.

In Ireland they depend upon potatoes. In Scotland, in no
small degree, upon oatmeal. Strange as it may seem, thousands
of people in Spain and France live in a great degree on chesnuts,
a food which is scarcely fit for pigs to eat. In some countries
they eat rye, and in Russia they mix all the bran of grain, mak-
ing a very coarse rough bread.

The pork of the western country is chiefly in demand at the
Atlantic seaports, for our commercial marine, is now rapidly ap-
proaching the largest in the world. The adventurous whaleman,
the hardy fisher for cod and mackerel, the thousand coasters, who
sail in every bay and inlet, from Penobscot to the Rio Grande,

1846.] Beginning of the Year in various Jfations. 121

all, more or less, eat pork. It serves both as butter and meat,
with the fish and potatoes which they have constantly on hand.

The demand for American pork, is on the whole, likely to in-
crease; because the class of people who eat it are increasino-,
and there is no other country to supply the demand. — Cincinnati
Inquirer.

BEGINNING OF THE YEAR IN VARIOUS NATIONS.

The Chaldean and Egyptian years were dated from the autumn-
al equinox. The ecclesiastical year of the Jews began in the
spring; but in civil affairs they retain the epoch of the Egyptians.
The ancient Chinese reckoned from the new moon nearest the
middle of Aquarius. The year of Romulus commenced in March,
and that of Numa in January. The Turks and Arabs date the
year from the 16th of July. Dremschid or Gremschid, king of
Persia, observed, on the day of his public entry into Persepolis,
that the sun entered into Aries; and in commemoration of this
fortunate event, he ordered the beginning ofthe year to be remov-
ed from the autumnal to the vernal equinox. The Brachmen be-
gin their year new moon in April. The Mexicans in February,
when the leaves begin to grow green. Their year consists of
eighteen months, having twenty days each; the last five days are
spent in mirth, and no business is suffered to be done, nor even
any service at the temples. The Abyssinians have five idle days
at the end of their year, which commences on the 26th of August.
The American Indians reckon from the first appearance of new
moon at the vernal equinox. The Mahomedans begin their year
the minute in which the sun enters Aries. The Venetians, Flo-
rentines, and the Pisans in Italy, begin the year at the vernal
equinox. The French year, during the reign of the Merovingian
race, began on the day the troops were reviewed, which was on
the first day of March. Under the Carlovingians it began on
Christmas day, and under the Capetians on Easter day. The
ecclesiastical beginning on the first Sunday in Advent. Charles
IX appointed, in 1564, that for future the civil should commence
on the first of January. The Julian calendar was called from .Ju-
lius Cffisar ; and it is the old account ofthe year which was reformed
by Pope Gregory in 1582, which plan was suggested by Lewis Li-
lio, a Calabrian astronomer. The Dutch and Protestants in Ger-
many introduced the new style in 1700. The ancient clergy reck-
oned from the 25th of March ; and the method was observed in
Britain until the introduction of the new style, A.D. 1752, after
which our year commenced on the 1st of January.
Vol. II, No. 1. 10

122 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

PLANTING THE CRANBERRY.

In its wild or natural state, the cranberry is found in wet situa-
tions; in boggy grounds, in damp sandy lands, and on the low
margins of ponds and streams. It will live and grow in compar-
atively dry soils; but it will not bear fruit without its roots are
immersed in water at all seasons of the year.

Soil and Situation. — The first object of the cultivator should
be to select the ground for his cranberry yard. Every wet situa-
tion is not suitable. The soil must either be sand, mud, peat, or
a mixture of these. There must be an abundant supply of water
at all seasons of the year. If the ground is so situated that it
can be flooded during the winter and spring, it is better, but it is
not indispensable to success. The ground must be saturated with
water, either from springs, running streams, or the drainings from
high land. On the low sandy margins of ponds the water is not
much affected by the season, a sufficient supply of moisture will
ascend, because the little spaces between the grains of sand act
as so many capillary tubes for the ascent of the water; but when
the margin is compact earth or unmixed peat, the dampness will
not on that principle rise to the surface. In a selection of a situ-
ation for his cranberry yard, the cultivator must observe first,
whether the soil is of a loose, porous character, easily permeable
to water; and second, whether there will be an abundant supply
of water in the dryest seasons. If either of these two requisites
is wanting, it will be useless for him to attempt the cultivation of
the cranberry.

Planting and Culture. — In boggy grounds it is advisable to re-
tain the top sod, and cover the surface w'ith beach sand if it can
be easily procured ; if not, with any sand that does not contain
loam or surface soil. Till recently the common method of setting
out the vines was, after the bog was covered with sand, it was
marked off in parallel rows, like a corn field, and sods of vines
set from three to four feet apart each way. The usual method
now is, to set in drills about two feet apart. The vines are sep-
arated, and only two or three upright stalks are set together, and
are placed from six to twelve inches apart lengthwise of the drill.
On w^et barren sandy land the expense of setting out the vines is
much less than on bogs.

Cuttings from any part of the stem will strike root, and may
be used where it is difficult or expensive to procure a sufficient
quantity with roots. Where vines cannot be procured cranberries
may be sown. It is not certain but that sowing will ultimately
prove the cheapest and most expeditious method. We know of

1846.J rianting Cranberries. 123

but one instance where cranberries were sown. The experiment
was successful, and the ground is now thickly set with vines.

The best time for setting the vines, we are unable to state.
The common practice has been to set them at any time when the
weather would admit, from March to November. The spring we
should think was preferable for sowing.

During the first season after they are set, vines frequently put
forth numerous runners four or five feet long. The next year the
runners put forth upright bearing stems, which produce cranber-
ries on the third year. The vines do not usually become so thick
set as to cover the ground before the fifth year.

Manure is worse than useless, and any vegetable or animal
matter that will cause fermentation is injurious. As a general rule
more barren the surface of the soil the better it is adapted to the
growth of the cranberry. The growth of the grasses in such sit-
uations will be feeble, while the cranberry obtaining its suste-
nance mainly from water and the atmosphere, grows luxuriantly
and will ultimately kill out the grasses and obtain complete pos-
session of the soil.

During the first three years it is better to pull out the grasses
than to wait for the cranberry vines to overcome them. Bushes
must be carefully removed as fast as they spring up, because if
suffered to grow they would do great injury. No other attention
is necessary, excepting that good fences must be maintained
around the vines to prevent the depredations of herbaceous ani-
mals.

Profits. — One bushel of cranberries to the square rod may be
considered a good crop from vines that have been set five years,
though we could cite particular instances in which three and four
bushels have been obtained. Raising cranberries is like every
other business in life; if a man judges rightly, is prudent and in-
dustrious, he will commonly succeed; but if he depends more on
good luck than on good management, in nine cases out of ten he
will fail. The cranberry fever is now running high among us,
and almost every man you meet exhibits some symptoms of the
disease. That fortunes are suddenly to be made by all who em-
bark in this business we do not believe; but that large profits can
be obtained from vines set in good situations, such as are above
described, there is no doubt. The experiment of Capt. Henry
Hall, Hiram Hall, and Peter Hall of Dennis; of Capt. Edward
B. Hallett and Edward Thacher, of this town, and many others
that could be named, prove that the raising of cranberries in good
situations is a profitable business.

We know that some of the opinions which we have given in
this article will militate against the theories of a few of our
friends; but we cannot help it. We have carefully examined al-

124 Extracts from the Journals. [J

an..

most every cranberry bog and yard in the county, and have care-
fully compared the information thus obtained, and we know that
our opinions are corroborated and supported by all who have had
the largest experience in the business. We do not wish to dis-
courage any from planting vines. Far from it. We say, go
ahead. All we wish is to discourage men from running blindfold
into a business, respecting which all the necessary information
can be so easily and so readily obtained. — Yarmouth Register.

INDIAN CORN.

[Communicated for the Albany Cultivator, by Lardner Vanuxum]

Of all the crops which are raised in the middle states of
the Union, none are of so much importance to the farmer
as the corn plant, not only for its valuable grain, but its leaves,
husks, and stalks, for fodder and manure; no plant w^hich he cul-
tivates being so well adapted to hold the valuable parts of the
faeces and urine of the barn-yard from the pithy structure of its
interior.

Corn, for success, requires a loose and rich soil, by which a ra-
pid growth is obtained, and is thus enabled to overcome the
changes incident to spring and its two ordinary and most power-
ful enemies, the wire-worm and the grub. The ravages of the
former, are, as we all know, below the surface, appear to be pro-
portioned to the hardiness and probable poverty of the soil,
preying on the main root, effectually preventing all production of
the grain, if not destroying the plant. The grub, on the contra-
ry, cuts off the stem near the surface; its range of destruction
more general as regards soil, but evidently feeding from preference
upon the more feeble plants, and therefore by complying with the
conditions requisite for a vigorous growth, its action is but feeble.
So also when corn is planted upon a sod recently turned under,
the grub finding still its accustomed food.

There is also another observation which I wish to have record-
ed, being important to prove, if true, or to set aside, if false. It
is the belief that the tendency of the corn plant is to produce a
greater yield of grain in northern climates, and less grain and
more leaf and stalk in southern ones; no state in the Union pro-
ducing such prodigious crops, per acre, as New- York, for exam-
ple. Should this be the fact, it will lead the farmers here, and
further south, not to force the plant after it has escaped its early
enemies, but to reserve its strength and that of the soil, to near
the time of setting; merely giving a healthy growth by moderate,

1846.J Indian Corn. 125

and not excessive cultivation, previous to that important state of
its being.

For the first years of my farming the manure was spread in the
spring, upon a sod, for corn, finishing in time to plow for plant-
ing. This plan was changed, hauling out and spreading it the
preceding autumn, plowing as before. This latter method ap-
peared to be preferable, giving not only a quicker growth to the
young plants, but evidently a better stand. I also noticed that
the effect of the manure from remaining upon the surface for so
long a period comparatively, was to make the soil loose or mel-
low, and to render the wire-worm and grub no longer causes of
uneasiness.

The good effects of covering the ground in the autumn for the
corn crop, were fully confirmed on an adjoining farm, and the
knowledge thus obtained, led to the plan which at present I pur-
sue. My neighbor commenced by hauling out the manure which
was left after preparing his wheat ground, which sufficed for only
about one third of it. He then proceeded to cover the remainder
with straw, but did not finish more than one-half of the part
which was left, leaving, therefore, a third part uncovered. The
Avhole was plowed in the spring in time for planting. It may be
satisfactory to state that the field was perfectly level, and the soil
of uniform quality throughout its extent, but thin.

From the time the corn appeared above the surface to its per-
fecting, a marked difference was manifest between the two parts
which had been covered and the part left uncovered, having ex-
amined the corn at the beginning of the growth of the corn, and
at its completion. The parts which had been covered with ma-
nure and straw, stood well, being unaffected by worms. The
color was very good, and produced a fair crop; nor could any
difference be perceived between them, as the owner informed me,
in the quantity or quality of the grain when husked, so far as the
eye could determine.

On the part Avhich had been left without manure or straw, the
wire-worm was so destructive, as to require more than once re-
planting. The color indicated less vigor, and the yield in grain
inferior in every respect.

No experiment could be more decisive or important as regards
the corn-plant, than the one related. It established two important
facts. The great advantage of covering the ground in the fall of
the year for corn; the other, that no difference could be perceived
in the crop between the part covered with straw, and the part
with manure; consequently that straw could be substituted for
manure in its culture.

It has been an object of no small importance with me in farm-
ing, to attain to certainty, quantity with goodness of crops, with

126 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

the least expense of labor, and to obtain from the farm all the
food or manure required for the various crops to be grown. That
the latter object was possible, I did not doubt, but in no way could
I accomplish it so long as manure was required for both corn and
w^heat. Had grazing been combined wuth tillage, there would
have been a sufficiency for both these crops, but the farm being
wholly arable, there was only enough for one of them.

From being engaged in another pursuit which occupied me
some years, and other causes diverting my attention from farming,
it is only within eighteen months that I have been able to make
an application of straw. My experience therefore, is too limited
to satisfy those who require comparative statistics, but sufficiently
so to induce me to believe that I shall attain my object.

The field which was planted with corn last year, was a timothy
sod, of about three years old. It was covered with straw the
preceding fall. The grass at the time of breaking it up, w^hich
was just before planting, looked better than it had at any preced-
ing spring; better than I have known old sods when manured.
The corn-crop equalled my expectations of it.

The same autumn, I also covered four acres of mixed grasses
for pasture, leaving about half an acre uncovered by the side of
it, which had been in potatoes and highly manured. The grass
next year upon the covered part was the best, and better with-
stood the various spells of dry weather which prevailed last year.

Bristol^ Pa., Jan.. 6, 1846.

VEGETABLE OILS.

The present depressed condition of the cotton growing interest
being occasioned solely by over production, it has become a mat-
ter of the first importance to have other crops pointed out and
introduced which may be profitably grown by the cotton planter.

Amongst others those plants whose seeds yield oil in sufficient
proportion may be introduced with profit and advantage. Unlike
cotton and sugar, the require no extensive and costly buildings
or machinery for their preparation for market; they are always
in demand at paying prices. It seems to be universally conceded
that those oleiferous seeds, grown in a Southern clime, are richest
in oils. Ure says: " The quantity of oil furnished by seeds varies
not only with the species, but in the same seed, with culture
and climate;" and his tables show that ivarmth of climate is
necessary to richness in oil ; they are out of the way, and may
even be sent oflT to market before the cotton picking season begins;
they will form part of a rotation of crops particularly adapted to

1846.] Vegetable Oils. 127

our farm practice; and the manufacture of oil is one that can be
advantageously introduced amongst us — requiring no immense
buildings, or other great outlay, no introduction of free and ex-
pensive operations, and the oil and oil-cake can all, or a great
part of it, be consumed amongst us. It needs but a sufficient
supply of seeds grown in the south, to cause the immediate esta-
blishment of oil mills throughout that section.

Should we have war, the price of vegetable oils will be at
once enhanced; and in such an unhappy event, as war, it be-
comes of great importance that we have a sufficient home supply
of oil, as of every other necessary of life.

The following forms part of a list of those plants which yield
the ordinary unctuous oils of commerce, as given in Ure's Dic-
tionary of the Arts, Manufactures, etc.:

Linnm usitatissum at perenne — linseed oil, 11 to 26 pr. ct.

Canabis sativa — hemp oil, 14 to 25 "

Sesamum orientale — oil of sesamum or bene, 50 "

Cucurbita pepo and melapepo — cucumber oil, 15 "

Helianthus annuus and perennis — oil sunflower, 15 "

Brassica napus and campestris — rape seed oil, 33 "

Ricinus communis — castor oil, 62 "

Arachis hypogasa — ground nut oil, 00 "

Gossvpium barbadense — cotton seed oil, 00 "

Brassica campestris oleifera — colya oil, . , 86 to 40 "

Brassica prfeccox — summer rape seed oil, 30 to 36 "

Sinapis alba, nigra, etc. — mustard seed oil, 15 to 33 "

Cucurbita pepo — pumpkin seed oil, 00 "

Madia sativa, 00 "

To these may be added, as affording abundance of oil, though
from the fleshy pulp surrounding the seed, and not from the seed
itself — the olive, olea Eueopea. There are various nuts, too,
which afford a large proportion of oil, as the walnut, almond,
beech, plum, cherry, apple, horse-chesnut, or buckeye, etc.

" Nuts contain about half their weight of oil; the seeds of the
brassica oleracea and cam'pe.r.tris, one-third; the variety called
olya, in France, two-fifths; hemp seed, one-fourth; and linseed,
from one-fourth to one-fifth.''

" In close vessels, oils may be preserved fresh for a very long
time, but with contact of air they undergo progressive changes.
Certain oils thicken, and eventually dry tnto a transparent, yel-
lowish, flacicle substance, which forms a skin upon the surface of
the oil, and retards its farther alteration. Such oils are said to
be dryincr or siccative, and are used on this account in the prepa-
ration of varnishes and painters' colors. Other oils do not grow
dry, though they turn thick, become less combustible, and assume
an offensive smell. They are then called rancidJ"

128 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

" Several fat oils, mixed with one or two per cent of sulphuric
acid, assume instantly a dark green or brown hue, and, when
allowed to stand quietly, deposite a coloring matter, after some
time. It consists in a chemical combination of the sulphuric acid
with a body thus separated from the oil, which becomes, in con-
sequence, more limpid, and burns with a brighter flame, especially
after it is washed with steam, and clarified by repose or filtra-
tion. Any remaining moisture may be expelled by the heat of a
water bath."

" Oil of colya is obtained from the seeds of hrasaica campestris,
to the amount of 39 per cent of their weight. It forms an ex-
cellent lamp oil, and is much employed in France."

" Flemp seed oil has a disagreeable smell, and a mawkish taste.
It is used extensively for making both soft soap and varnishes."

" Linseed oil is obtained in greatest purity by cold pressure:
but by a steam heat of about 200 degrees Fah., a very good oil
may be procured in large quantity. The proportion of oil usually
stated by authors is 22 per cent of the weight of the seed; but
Mr. Blundell informs me, that, by his plan of hydraulic pressure,
he obtains from 26 to 27. When kept long in a cask partly
open, it deposites masses of white stearin along with a brownish
powder. The stearin is very diflicult of soponification."

" Mustard seed oil. — The white or yellow seed affords 36 per
cent of oil, and the black seed 18 per cent." It is perfectly
bland, and is used in the woolen factory, for soap-making, etc.

" There are three kinds of olive oil in the market. The best,
called virgin salad oil, is obtained by a gentle pressure in the
cold: the more common sort is procured by stronger pressure,
aided with the heat of boiling water; and, thirdly, an inferior
kind, by boiling the olive residuum or rnarc, with water, whereby
a good deal of mucilaginous oil rises and floats on the surface.
The latter serves chiefly for making soaps. A still worse oil is
got by allowing a mass of bruised olives to ferment before sub-
jecting it to pressure."

" Oil of almonds is manufactured by agitating the kernels in
bags, so as to separate their brown skins, grinding them in a mill,
then enclosing them in bags, and squeezing them strongly be-
tween a series of cast iron plates, in a hydraulic press; without
heat at first, and then between heated plates. The first oil is the
purest, and least apt to become rancid. The volatile oil of
almonds is obtained by distilling the marc or bitter almond cake,
along with water."

Linseed, rape seed, and other oleiferous seeds, unless in a very
few large establishments, are still treated in the old manner, in
this country — by pounding in hard wooden mortars with pestles
shod with iron, as in the rice mills, set in motion by a shaft driven

1846.] Facts for Farmers. 129

by horse or steam power; then the triturated seed is put into
woolen bags, which are wrapped up in hair cloths, and squeezed
between upright wedges in press boxes, the wedges driven by a
power similar to that used for driving the pestles. The cakes
obtained by this first wedge pressure are thrown upon the bed of
an edge mill, ground anew, and subjected to a second pressure,
aided by heat now, as in the first case. These mortars and press
boxes constitute what are called the old Dutch mills, and are by
many preferred to the hydraulic press. Ure, speaking of the
different improved mills and presses in use in England says:
" Hydraulic presses have been of late years introduced into many
seed mills in this country; but it is still a matter of dispute
whether they, or the old Dutch oil mill, with bags of seed com-
pressed between wedges, driven by camstamps, be the preferable:
that is, afford the largest product of oil with the same expendi-
ture of capital and power."

For grinding the seed, a mill exhibited at the Mechanics' In-
stitute Fair, at New York, by Mr. James Bogardus, is said to be
most excellently adapted.

Castor oil is obtained by pressure, after the hull has been
rubbed from the bean. That obtained by cold pressure is best.

When treating of each species of oleiferous seed by itself, we
will enter more particularly into its cultivation, harvesting, manu-
facturing of the oil, its use and that of the oil-cake, and of the
value of the seed, oil and cake in market, so far as the knowledge
may be needful to the grower.

There is one part of the subject requiring especial notice — it is
the injustice done to the farmer by our legislators in the duties
levied upon the raw material, the seeds, and upon the manufac-
tured article, the oil.

The first in importance is Flax Seed and Flax. — JYew Orleans
Commercial Times.

IMPORTANT FACTS FOR FARMERS.

A Question of Bread. — Men have been long investigating
truths; and many important truths, as principles, are developed,
without being connected with practical purposes, or bringing
out facts by application.

Wheat is known to be the most nutritious of all grains, because
it contains a larger quantity of gluten. But I do not know that
it is generally understood, except by scientific agriculturists, that
this quantity of gluten may be varied both by climate and the
character of manure. Yet such is, nevertheless, a well attested
fact.

130 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

1. Wheat of warm climates has more gluten, is harder, and less
easy to grind. The difference between the two, in climates not
very distant, may be safely calculated thus:

Warm Climate. Cold Climate.

Starch,

56. 5

Starch,

71.49

Gluten,

U.b5

Gluten,

10.96

Sugar,

8.48

Sugar,

4.72

Gum,

4.90

Gum,

2.32

Bran,

2.30

Bran,

1.

Water,

12.30

Water,

10.00

98.58 100.49

2. The gluten of wheat may be increased by the character of
the manure used, thus:

Wheat, average crop, Gluten 19. 0

" raised on soil manured w^ith ox blood, " 34.24

" " " " " human faeces, " 33.94

« " " " " human urine, " 35. 1

" " " " " horse manure, " 13.68

" " " " " cow manure, " 11.96

From so much of the above facts as show how far climate va-
ries the quantity of gluten, it results that there is a great advan-
tage in Alabama wheat over the Northern. Now what is this
advantage as applied to practical purposes. I will explain.

Tw^o pounds of Cincinnati flour were weighed out, and to it
was added one quaiter of a pound of yeast. Tw^o pounds of
McAlroy's (Alabama) flour M'eighed, and in a like manner was
added one quarter of a pound of yeast — both were accurately
weighed in the same scales and at the same time, and both made
into loaves and baked in the same oven. The result was as fol-
lows:— The Cincinnati flour yielded a loaf weighing 3 lbs. — gain
33 per cent. McAlroy's flour yielded a loaf weighing 3.\ lbs. —
gain 55 per cent. ! The gain in Alabama flour 22 per cent. !
Or, every five barrels of Alabama flour, is equal to six of North-
ern flour.

But, says one, the Northern flour must be the better, because
look at the loaf; it is whiter and lighter. True, but let it be re-
membered, that this difference with respect to whiteness, is the
difference in the preparation in grinding; and that of lightness,
is chiefly in the absence of gluten. The quantity of the flour
may be effected by the mode of preparation and grinding; but the
quantity of the several principles composing it, cannot. The
same quantity of starch, gluten, &c., must be retained, whether
the wheat be ground in a good or bad mill. — Exchange paper.

1846.] Stall feeding Cows. 131

STALL FEEDING COWS.

We have recently noticed articles from English agricultural
publications, which would go to prove the diminished quantity
and quality of milk produced from stall-fed cows. The results
are so largely at variance from anything which has fallen within
our own observation, that we must be allowed to withhold our
faith either in their accuracy or fairness. The conclusions reached
are, that cows, which had been allowed to glean their own forage
from a lean pasture, when put up in a yard w^here they were well
supplied with fresh cut grass, gave but about two-thirds their
former quantity of milk, which was of a quality so much inferior,
as to yield but half the former aggregate quantity of butter.
Such a result we do not question, but if so, the whole premises
which gave such a conclusion have not been stated.

That there is a wide difference in the comparative value of the
different kinds of grasses does not admit of a doubt, even amono-
those of the same species. Some contain much more nutriment
than others, which have grown under other circumstances of qual-
ity of soil, difference in moisture, &c. Nothing is better settled
than that a crop of hay in some seasons is worth from 10 to 25
per cent more for use, pound for pound, than in others; owing
to excess of moisture, imperfect elaboration of the juices, and
other circumstances. To such a difference between the cut herb-
age, and such as was cropped by the animals in the pastures, al-
lowing it was of the same species, must be added, the probable
difference of the kinds of grass. On old pastures, there are usu-
ally a large number of valuable minor grasses, which gradually
intermix with the original ones sown, and which add much to
their value as food for stock. In addition to this, a highly bene-
ficial effect on the health and thrift of animals is produced, by
their being enabled to procure a sufficient variety of food. This
effect is more conspicuous perhaps in the sheep than in any other
quadruped. For them a frequent change of pasture is essential
to thrift, unless an extended range at all times enables them to
glean what is best suited to their tastes and the various demands
of the animal economy. Some plants are more highly charged
with fatty matters; others with resinous ; some saline; others with
aromatic bitter, and astringent principles. This variety, which if
the animal be allowed to select from its own, and generally un-
erring instincts, not only yield their due proportion of nutriment,
but when properly associated with others, and taken into the
stomach at the proper time, their benefit is largely augmented.

132 Extracts from the Journals. Jan.,

This is probably the true cause of the greater yield of milk of
cows while pasturing than while stalled.

The true principle of soiling consists, in our opinion, in a com-
bination of both pasture and stall or rack feeding, and where
circumstances will justify it, both should be united at the same
time. An abundance of succulent grasses, clover, pea-vines, corn
stalks, or vegetables in the yard, with free access to pure water,
with a supply of salt, lime, ashes, and sulphur, with a daily ram-
ble in the pasture for a few hours, where easily accessible, or if
not, then as often as practicable, would undoubtedly most effectu-
ally secure the greatest quantity of rich milk. — Am. Agriculturist.

THE JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE— ITS VALUE AS FOOD
FOR STOCK— CULTIVATION, &c.

[Communicated (or the Ohio Cultivator, by THOiMAS Noble.]

The artichoke is but very little known as a farm crop as yet,
and its properties and uses are not understood or appreciated as
they should he. This root possesses a strong propensity to grow.
It seems to thrive on almost every kind of soil, and is less affect-
ed by the seasons than any other crop with which I am acquaint-
ed, though the better the soil, and the more favorable the season,
the greater will be the product of this as well as other crops. Of
its ability to withstand late frosts and severe drouth, I had the
fullest proof the past season. While all other crops in this sec-
tion of country were nearly destroyed by these influences, my field
of artichokes stood out in bold relief, as if in defiance of the
worst weather that could blow ; grew on and produced a splendid
crop. As a root crop, it possesses decided advantages over all
others, in being more certain, and costing less in its production;
while in point of value or nutriment, I believe it is not inferior
to any, the opinions of some learned men to the contrary not-
withstanding.

In addition to the value of the roots, the tops, when cut in sea-
son and rightly cured, furnish a large amount of fodder, (say from
three to five tons per acre,) which is much relished by sheep,
horses and cattle; add to these advantages, it does not require
planting after the first season, and the crop may be left in the
ground all winter without any danger of injury from freezing;
on the contrary, the roots are benefited by the frosts of winter.

I have fed these roots to all kinds of stock, and they all seem
to relish them much. The two last seasons I have fed them to
my whole flock of sheep, and the effect evidently w'as to increase
the growth of wool, and cause the ewes to yield an abundance of

I

1846.] Mildew. 133

milk, as shown by the large fleeces and the fine, thrifty and vigor-
ous lambs. Previous to using artichokes, I fed potatoes in the
same manner, but I give the former a decided preference.

I have tried several modes of cultivating the artichoke. The
plan I would recommend is, to put the ground in good order, as
for potatoes or corn; then with a plow, open furrows four inches
deep and three feet apart, as straight as possible, so that a plow
or cultivator can work between, close to the rows. Then drop
the sets ten inches apart in the furrows — if large sets are used,
they can be cut into pieces of three or four eyes each, like pota-
toes— then cover with a plow, and smooth with a light harrow.

The after-culture to consist of a thorough harrowing about the
time the first plants make their appearance, followed by two or
three dressings with a cultivator on suitable intervals during the
early part ot summer — nothmg more is necessary to ensure a
good crop.

I generally leave the crop in the ground till the frost is out in
the spring; I then plow the ground and gather all the roots that
can be found, then plow again and gather again. When all are
gathered that can be found in this way, there will be enough
roots left to fill the ground with plants for a new crop. When
the young plants appear above ground, all that is necessary to be
done, is to go through with a cultivator and cut them up in such
a manner as to leave rows as when first planted. By repeating
this cultivation two or three times, the work will be done for a
second crop.

It is advisable to plant artichokes where they can remain for
quite a number of years, as it is difficult to eradicate the roots
from the ground; and, besides, the trouble and expense of replant-
ing is thereby avoided.

It will, of course, be necessary to manure the ground occasion-
ally, unless it is uncommonly rich. This can easily be done im-
mediately after gathermg the crop in the spring.

Arlington Farm, Stark Co., 0., Jan. 1846.

MILDEWS

Very few seem to be aware of the nature of that substance

called mildew. W^e copy an abstract of a lecture by Professor

LiNDLEY, of England, on the subject:

Mildew is often confounded with blight, honey-dew, &c., but
it is a distinct substance, and peculiar to peculiar tribes of plants.
It generally appears on the leaves and stems, in the form of redy

134 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

white and black spots, as a number of minute projections, or frosty
incrustations, or a brownish powder, spreading more or less rapid-
ly, till the plant is destroyed. Mildew is fungi of different kinds,
and these are divided into three classes: 1st, those which grow or
lie on the surface of leaves; 2d, those which are formed in the
interior of the stem or leaf, and produce when ripe; and 3d, those
which only attack the roots. All these seldom appear but in au-
tumn.

The first of these fungi injure the plant by preventing its respi-
ration. One of the most common of the fungi, which attack the
common cabbage, is the cyliiidrosporium concentricuin, and they
have the appearance of small white patches or specks of frosty
incrustation. The mildew w^hich attacks rose-bushes, and many
other flowering shrubs, is a kind of uredo, so called, from ura, to
burn or scorch: for it gives to the plant attacked the appearance
of being scorched. The fungus called acrosporium, monilioides,
resembles, when magnified, a string of beads, and consists of a
number of globules which, when ripe, fall, take root, and form
fresh strings, or necklaces. Sometimes tufts of these appear,
fixed to stalks, and are then called aspergillus, from their fancied
resemblance to the brushes used for sprinkling holy water. The
superficial mildew which infects the onion, and is fatal to that
plant, is called hotrytis, or bunch of grapes. The bean and pea
have a superficial mildew (uredo f aha) which spreads along their
leaves like white roots curiously interlaced.

The second class of fungi which spring from the interior of the
leaves and stems, are the most fatal. They appear in a sort of
bag or case, supposed to be formed of the cuticle of the affected
leaf These attack the oak, pine, and other forest trees; the ge-
nus is the cecidium. The cecidium pine, found on pine trees has,
when magnified, the appearance of a number of nine-pins. When
ripe, it emits a bright orange-colored powder. A mildew of this
kind attacks barley, and is very injurious. It is vulgarly called
pepper brand. The urego segetum, or smut, is destructive not
only to barley, but to wheat and oats. It destroys the grain,
which is converted into a kind of jelly, and attacks the leaves and
stems. The puccinia granmvis, which attacks corn, is formed in
the interior of the stock, and, when ripe, burst forth into clusters,
like bunches of grapes, of a dark brown color. The ergot on rye
is a well known and destructive species of mildew. It grows out
of a spike of grain, like a prolonged kernel; is long, horney and
cartilaginous. It originates in the centre of the stem. It affects
maize, and various species of grass.

The principal fungi of the third class are two, which attack the
roots of plants, and both resemble tiuffles. One of these {rhizoc-
tonia crocorum) attacks crocuses. It is called, by the French,

1846.] On the Milk of the Cow. 135

la mort du safron, and soon destroys the whole crop. The other
fungus [pen'ola tomenfosn) is found on the potatoe, kicerne, &c.
It turns the roots to a purplish hue. They are both propagated
by spawn or fibres, which cling round the roots. All these fungi
propagate rapidly, requiring only twenty-four hours to come to
maturity. One mushroom will propagate 250,000,000. Plants,
Dr. L. says, are generally most affected by superficial fungi after
a long drouth. Red ■plants are said to be more liable to mildew
than any other. Mr. Bauer has found that steeping grains of corn
in lime-water, will cure, or at least, prevent the spread of the in-
ternal mildew. There appears, however, as yet, to be no cure for
mildew in the roots, but by forming a deep trench round the in-
fected plants, and cutting off all communication between them and
the rest of the field. — Jimerican Farmer.

ON THE CHANGES IN COMPOSITION OF THE MILK
OF A COW ACCORDING TO HER EXERCISE AND
FOOD.

[Communicated to the Chemical Society of London by Lyon Playfair, Ph.D.,
Honorary Member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Read
17th January, 1843.]

This paper, although published in 1843, is not so generally
known as it ought to be, as it is one which is highly practical,
and may be advantageously studied by every dairyman. We
propose giving a full analysis of its most important facts and
principles. The object of the paper is expressed in the heading,
though it really takes a wider range than is indicated by its title.

The first point was to determine the usual composition of milk.
Boussingault and Lebel have endeavored to show that milk is
constant in its composition, when the aniiTials are fed on matters
which contain a constant quantity of nitrogen. Thus, according
to the mean of eight analyses, milk is composed of

Casein, .... 3.2
Butter, .... 4.1
Sugar, .... 5.1
Ashes, .... 0.2
Water, .... 87.4 — Boussingault.

Prof. Plaj^air agrees with Boussingault so far as the casein is
concerned, namely, that when the nitrogen in the food is constant,
the cheesy part, or the casein, will be so too; but the other ingre-
dients will vary. The experiments of Playfair were made upon
one cow, of the short horned Durham, whose condition was good.

136 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

The first experiments were merely preliminary, and were intend-
ed to determine the average quantity of milk per day. She was
then pastured in a meadow about half a mile from the cow-house.
The time of the experiments was in October. For five days the
average morning's milk was nearly 5 quarts, and the average
evening's milk a little over 4 quarts. The milk to be analyzed
was taken from the pail and well stirred.

At the first experiments, the cow was kept in the meadow upcn
grass. The first milk analyzed was the evening milk, of which
4 quarts were obtained. Sp. gravity, 1.034. 100 parts gave

Casein, .... 5.4

Butter, .... 3.7

Sugar of milk, . 3.8

Ashes, .... 0.6

Water, .... 86.5

100.0

This day the cow had much exercise, which occasions a consump-
tion of oxygen, which consumes the butter.

In the morning, the cow having ate nothing, gave 4^ quarts of
milk. Sp. gravity, 1032; which gave, on analysis.

Casein, .... 3.9

Butter, .... 5.6

Sugar of milk, . 3.0

Ashes, .... 0.5

Water, .... 87.0

100.0

It will "be observed that the amount of casein is less, while the
butter is increased.

2d day. The cow was put into the stall, but refused to eat, and
struggled much to break away and gain her liberty. She was
tranquilized by giving her a companion, when she ate 28 lbs. of
good hay and 2^ quarts of oat meal.

In the evening she gave 3.^ quarts. Sp. gravity, 1031. On
analysis it yielded

Casein, .... 4.9
Butter, .... 5.1
Sugar, .... 3.8
Ashes, .... 0.5
Water, .... 85.7~

100.0

The next morning the milk was spilled.

3d day. Cow confined in the shed; consumed 28 lbs. hay, and

1846.] On the Milk of the Cow. 137

2^ lbs. oat meal, and 8 lbs. of bean flour. She gave in the even-
ing 4 quarts=10.34 lbs. It yielded

Casein, .... 5.4

Butter, .... 3.9

Sugar, .... 4.8

Ashes, .... 0.5

Water, .... 85.4

100.0

The next morning's milk amounted to 4^ quarts. Sp. gravity,
1032, and yielded

Casein, .... 3.9

Butter, .... 4.6

Sugar, .... 4.5

Ashes, .... 0.7

Water, .... 86.3

100.0

4th day. Cow kept in the stall; ate 24 lbs. of steamed pota-
toes, and 14 lbs. of hay, and 8 lbs. of bean flour. She gave in
the evening 5 quarts. Sp. gravity, 1033. The milk yielded

Casein, .... 3.9

Butter, .... 6.7

Sugar, .... 4.6

Ashes, .... 0.6

Water, .... 84.2

100.0

In the morning succeeding, she gave 4 quarts, of the specific
gravity 1032, which yielded

Casein, .... 2.7

Butter, .... 4.9

Sugar, .... 5.0

Ashes, . . • . 0.5

Water, .... 86.9

100.0

5th day. Cow kept as before, but ate 30 lbs. of steamed pota-
toes, 14 lbs. hay, and gave b\ quarts of milk. Sp. gravity, 1030.
Analysis gave

Casein, .... 3.9
Butter, .... 4.9
Sugar, .... 3.0
Ashes, .... 0.5
Water, .... 87.1
Vol. II., No. 1. 11

138 Extracts from the Jownals. [Jan.,

The milk in the morning amounted to 4| quarts. Sp. gravity,
1030, and yielded

Casein, .... 3.5
Butter, .... 4.9
Sugar, .... 3.8
Ashes, .... 0.5
"V^'ater, .... 87.3

100.0
The food upon which the cow was fed, is composed as follows:
Boussingault. Plmjfair. Boussi72gault.

Kay. Oats. Beiiiis. Potalces.

Carhon,. . . 38.47 41.57 38.24 12.30

Hydrogen, . . 4.20 5.25 5.84 1.74

Oxygen, . . 32.51 30.10 33.10 12.04

Nitrogen, . . 1.26 1.80 5.00 0.32

Ashes, . . . 7.56 3.28 3.71 1.40

Water, . . . 16.00 18.00 14.11 72.20

The question which Prof. Playfair discusses at this stage of his
paper is, whether the butter is derived wholly from what may be
considered the free fat or oil ready formed in the vegetables con-
sumed by the cow. This is determined in the negative, for while
the whole amount of fat in the food of one day amounts only to
0.486 of a pound, the milk yielded 0.964 lbs. butter; and so in
about the same proportion during the time the experiments were
continued. It is supposed that the excess of butter, over that in
the food is formed in the animal system by the action of oxygen
on the unazotised ingredients of the food.

Another question discussed is, how it happened that the quan-
tity of butter should vary from day to day. This is accounted
for on the ground that when the cow was exercised much, either
in obtaining her food, or was hurried to and from the pasture, the
material which would have been converted into butter was con-
sumed in respiration. A supposition of this kind agrees with the
facts in this case, and also with the experience of all dairymen.
When an animal is quiet the respirations are fewer; less food is
consumed in respiration, and the animal, if not milked, fattens.
Hence, cows ought never to be diiven rapidly to or from pasture.
We see too why soiling cows increases the amount of butter —
or when they are kept in warm comfortable stables during the
winter.

The conditions necessary for the production of cheese are dif-
ferent from those which produce butter. To make butter a rich
pasture is required, but for cheese poor lands or poor pastures are
the best. The travel which the cow has to perform wastes the

1846.] On the Milk of the Cow. 139

tissues which are then converted into casein. The cow, however,
must be tempted to eat much, and her pasture must be changed
often. This plan for the production of cheese differs from that of
soiling, where much butter is the object, when the cow is to be
kept quiet and fed on rich juicy grass in the stall.

The author concludes his paper in suggesting the best methods
of preserving milk. But, in the first place, how is it that milk
becomes sour? The first change is by the action of oxygen on
the casein, which is apt to run into putrefaction, and when a
change begins in one element, analogous changes begin in the
others, which results finally in the production of vinegar. Good
butter cannot be made when the elements are oxidated ; and in
this case the casein passess into a state of putrefaction, vitiates
the butter, inasmuch as butter always contains some casein.
Sometimes so much as to possess the flavor of cheese. The prin-
cipal object in view in the preservation of milk, says the author,
and we now^ use his language, is

To prevent the commencement of this putrefaction. One
method has been termed scalding the milk, and is generally used
in dairies. It consists in heating the milk until the oxygen of the
air acts upon the casein, and forms a pellicle on its surface. The
milk should then be left to perfect repose. The pellicle excludes
the air from the soluble casein. The partial oxidation by which
the pellicle was produced, is effected at too high a temperature to
enable the decay to pass into putrefaction. When this operation
is skilfully performed, the milk remains quite good for four or
five days. But there is a risk of failure in this process, and it is
only adapted for small dairies.

The best method, which I have seen used in practice w^th much
success, seems to be to induce the acetous fermentation in the milk.
For this purpose, the cream or milk, being placed in a proper ves-
sel, should be surrounded by hot water. The heat which I find to
answer best is from 100° to 110°. A cloth may be thrown over
the whole to retain the heat, and as the water cools, it should be
removed and replenished with hot water of the above temperature.
In a few hours the cream acquires the smell and taste of vinegar.
The changes which I have described above ensue. In large dai-
ries a portion of this soured cream or milk may be added to fresh
cream or milk, which should be kept in a room possessing a tem-
perature of 60°. By adding this soured cream to the fresh milk,
we furnish an acid, by w^iich the sugar of milk is converted into
grape sugar. The curd then acts upon the grape sugar, and con-
verts it into alcohol. The latter by oxidation becomes acetic acid,
and thus the whole mass of milk is rendered sour, the casein coag-
ulated, and therefore protected from immediate putrefaction. The

140 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

butter made from such soured milk is quite sweet and destitute of
that rank taste which distinguishes our winter from summer but-
ter. But if incipient putrefaction has once begun in the milk, all
this will be of no avail, because it is communicated to the insolu-
ble casein. Milk perfectly fresh must therelbie be used. Fresh
milk soured in this way will last for many days, and give risings
of cream for a considerable time. This practice, as far as I am
aware, is not a general one, though it is well worthy of adoption.
In summer of course no such operation is requisite, as it is done
at the sacrifice of the skimmed milk. One great cause of the pu-
trefaction in milk is the want of absolute cleanliness in the dairy.
If a drop of milk fall on the table, it should be dried and washed
off w^ith care, for its putrefaction causes the evolution of a putrid
gas, and this imparts its state of putrefaction to the remainder of
the milk.

With respect to making butter, scientific explanations can be
of little use to practical men. The theory of churning is very
simple. By agitation, the globules of butter are broken, and
made to unite together into a mass. The introduction of air dur-
ing churning, aided by the heat at which the cream or milk is,
occasions the formation of lactic or acetic acid, and this coagulates
the casein, and thus assists the separation of the butter. In sum-
mer, when the heat prevents the ready coherence of the butter, a
a quantity of cold spring water thrown in, after the buttermilk
was formed, often effects the desired end. The temperature is
thus depressed, the butter rendered solid and more coherent, while
the air contained in the water aids in the formation of acid and
coagulation of the casein. The only thing, in a scientific point
of view, to attend to alter the separation of the butter, is to free
it from buttermilk or cassein. If the casein be suffered to remain,
putrefaction ensues, and the butter acquires a rank putrid taste.
Its separation is therefore of the first moment.

The cause of the superiority of certain foreign butter, which
retains its flavor and taste for a considerable time, it more due to
its freedom from casein than to any mystery in its mode of pre-
paration.

Guano. — A large amount of this manure has been used in Eng-
land, and generally with good success. In most cases in this
country it has done but little good. — Boston Cultivator.

The reason undoubtedly is the dryness of our climate, when the
article is good; but sometimes it is bad. Labor and proper ar-
rangements about the barns and sheds will usually secure a suffi-
ciency of manure for every farm.

1846.] Alluvial Soil of the Mle. 141

ALLUVIAL SOIL OF THE NILE.

The following report of the examination and analyses of the

alluvial soil of the Nile, from Korosco, in Nubia, was read before

the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, by Walter

R. Johnson, and published in the proceedings of the Society:

The specimens about to be described are the same which were
on the 21st of January last presented to the Academy, by Mr.
Gliddon, from Dr. Richard Lepsius of Berlin, then in Egypt, (see
proceedings of the Acad. vol. 2, p. 195,) and referred to the re-
porter for examination.

No. I. — Earth of the Mile taken from the summit of hillocks at
thirty feet above the ■present level of the river about a mile above
Korosco.

This earth is partly in powder and partly in lumps. In some
of the latter, distant traces of folia, or plies, marking an imper-
fect stratification, are to be seen. Along these seams fractures
often occur. Throughout the lumps are to be observed innumera-
ble cavities or spiracles of a tortuous form, giving the impression
of having been produced by some species of vermes, i'tlany of
these are lined, and some nearly filled up with carbonate of lime.
Tubes of the same material are found in a separate state, and
some plane surfaces are covered with it. The whole has a light,
spongy appearance, and the resemblance is strengthened by the
vermicular cavities, which remind one of the v;hite tubes often
found traversing masses of common sponge. Very fine micaceous
particles are distributed pretty copiously through the masses, dis-
tinctly perceptible to the eye, and clearly exhibiting their forms
under the lens. To the naked eye no ferruginous appearance is
discernible, but the microscope shows innumerable points of a deep
red color. The mud appears to have been deposited at successive,
but not very distant periods; while soft, to have been penetrated
by myriads of animalculse; then dried and baked into a solid
mass, imprisoning and destroying the animals, and forming a very
porous soil, which, on subsequent exposure to water, strono-ly im-
pregnated with lime, received so much of the latter as to fill up
many of the pores when the water came to be dried up.

Analysis. 1. The existence of roots, stems, or of any other
fibrous matter was sought for in vain in this specimen, and the
magnet separates from it, only minute quantities of magnetic
oxide of iron.

2. Fifty grains placed in a syphon-shaped drying tube in which
it was exposed to a heat of 212° for thirty minutes, and over

142 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

which, during the whole time, a current of perfectly dry air,
amounting in all to 200 cubic inches, was passed, lost by this
treatment 2.1 grains, or 4.2 per cent.

3. One hundred grains of the soil were boiled for ten minutes
in four or five ounces of distilled water, then filtered and washed.
The insoluble residuum, separated and dried, weighed 93.5 grains,
and is of a reddish grey, slightly varying in color from the origi-
nal soil. Deducting 4.2 from the loss, the part soluble in boiling
water is 2.3 per cent. To the clear solution nitrate of silver ini-
parted a slight milkiness, indicating the presence of chlorine.
Chloride of barium, producing no turbidness, implied the absence
of soluble sulphates. Oxalate of ammonia, gave evidence of a
salt of lime soluble in boiling water. Phosphate of soda and
ammonia gave no evidence of magnesia, and ferrocyanide of po-
tassium, none of iron. The liquid slowly evaporated to dryness,
left a residuum, which in the bottom of the porcelain basin sepa-
rated into a yellowish ring of crenic acid, giving the usual im-
pression, first of acidity and then of astringency to the taste, and
a central portion of w^iite crenate or carbonate of lime.

4. Another portion of one hundred grains was exposed in a
platinum crucible to a dull red heat over a lamp, by which it lost
8.65 grains, showing the insoluble organic matter to be 2.15 per
cent. The same portion afterwaixls exposed for fifteen minutes to
a nearly white heat lost in addition 5.3 grains, and became of a
light brick red color.

5. A third portion of one hundred grains finely pulverized was
placed in a green glass flask. An ounce of distilled water was
poured over it, and an open-mouthed tube containing chlorhydric
acid was inserted, the mouth closed with a cork traversed by a
small glass tube surmounted by a tube containing chloride of cal-
cium. The whole being carefully counterpoised, the acid was by
degrees decanted and allowed to act on the soil. Heat was cau-
tiously applied near the close of the operation, bringing the liquid
at length to gentle ebullition, but taking care that no pure steam
entered the chloride tube. On cooling the apparatus, the air was
allowed to pass through a second chloride tube attached to the
first, thus avoiding the hygrometric moisture of the air. When
the whole apparatus had become cool, heat was again applied,
and the boiling and cooling repeated with the same precautions,
until, on re-weighings no loss was found to occur between one
boiling and another. The final loss of carbonic acid was thus
ascertained to be 5.55 per cent.

6. Having withdrawn the cork from the flask, more chlorhy-
dric acid was added, and the boiling continued until every thing-
soluble had been taken up. The undissolved residuum filtered,
washed, and ignited, weighing 63.55 grains. It is a powder of

1848.] Muvial Soil of the JVile. 143

a lighter grey than the original soil. Minute particles of white
quartz, and some with a reddish tint, are discernible by the help
of a lens.

7. The solution filtered from the above residuum was treated
with sulphydric acid, to ascertain whether lead, copper, mercury,
tin, antimony, or arsenic, existed in the soil. A reddish white
tint, indicative of a bare trace of antimony, was all which could
be procured. The liquid smelling strongly of sulphydric acid,
the sulphur was separated, and then the solution was neutralized
with pure ammonia.

8. Sulphydrate of ammonia was added, throwing down a copi-
ous precipitate of sulphuret of iron and alumina, which was
filtered out, redissolved in chlorhydric acid, with a little nitric,
and boiled to peroxidize the iron; the solution was then precipi-
tated and boiled with pure potash, separating the iron, which be-
ing ignited, weighed in the state of peroxide 8.07 grains.

9. Having acidulated the potash liquid, it was precipitated by
ammonia, and gave of ignited alumina 2.64 grains.

10. The solution, filtered from the sulphurets, was concentrated,
treated with chlorhydric acid, the precipitated sulphur separated,
and after neutralizing by ammonia, was precipitated with oxalate
of ammonia, allowed to repose eighteen hours, then heated and
filtered. The oxalate of lime thus obtained, was, after ignition,
repeatedly moistened with a solution of carbonate of ammonia,
and re-ignited till it ceased to gain weight. The carbonate of
lime was 12.6 grains.

11. Ammonio-phosphate of soda applied to the liquid filtered
from the oxalate of lime, after the same had been duly concen-
trated, entirely cooled and neutralized by pure ammonia, threw
doAvn ammonio-phosphate of magnesia, which, separated and ig-
nited, gave of phosphate of magnesia, 5.15 grains, equal to 2.06
grains of magnesia, or 4.25 of bi-carbonate.

From the preceding operations we obtain the following compo-
sition of this soil, viz. :

Per cent

Water obtained at 212°, .... 4.20

Organic matter soluble in boiling water, . . 2.30

Insoluble organic matter, . . . . 2.15

Peroxide of iron, 8.07

Alumina, . 2.64

Carbonic acid, ...... 5.55

Magnesia, . ..... 2.06

Lime, . . . , . . .7.11

Insoluble silicates, ..... 63.55

Loss, . ...... 2.37

100.

144 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

No. II. — Specimen of the present Soil of the Valley of Korosco ,
taken at a height of three feet above the Mile.

This earth is also partly in lumps and partly in powder. The
former exhibit no marks of stratification, and so far as can be ob-
served, have no tendency to part in one direction more than in
another. The texture is open and porus, but the pores are not
filled as in No. 1, with any deposite of white matter, except here
and there a rather light gray in the intei'ior of the cavities. In
some of the lumps, minute rootlets are seen traversing the mass
in different directions. The color of this soil is considerably
darker than that of No. 1, due in part no doubt to the absence of
carbonate of lime. Ferruginous particles abound in this, as in
the preceding specimen, but those of mica are of far less frequent
occurrence.

Time has allowed me to make but a few trials to ascertain the
composition of this soil, as it was believed to be of more interest
to determine the relative characters of the oldest and of the most
recent ones, rather than that of an intermediate period. By
twice drying in the inverted syphon apparatus, and in the last
instance passing over it 200 cubic inches of air, thorouo-hly dry, it
lost 2.6 per cent. By treatment in the apparatus for separatino-
carbonic acid, and boiling five times successively to expel the last
atom of that material, using a solution of pure baryta to ascertain
when the escaping air, expelled in boiling, ceased to be mixed
with that acid, it was found that the amount of carbonic acid was
only 1.7 per cent equivalent to 3.9 per cent of carbonate of lime.
On separating the soil with the sieve, the finest portion — that
passing through the gauze sieve — was found to afford decidedly
more magnetic oxide of iron, than specimen No. 1.

No. III. — Specimen of the Earth newly deposited at Korosco, the
18tk of August. 1844.

This specimen is entirely in powder, and of a color very nearly
approaching that of No. 2.

Particles of mica are rather rare occurrence. A few minute
fragments of straw or grass are detected, and by a gauze sieve, of
which the meshes are 100 to the inch, and the spaces to the
threads as 2 i to 1 in diameter, making the open spaces j-/o^ of an
inch square only, 22 per cent of this earth was arrested. A
quantity of very fine fibrous or downy matter was also collected
by the sieve. Portions of both the coarser and the finer parts of
this soil are attracted by the magnet, 4-tenths of one per cent
being found in an average portion of it. On being washed, the
coarser part is found to be a sand, composed of quartz, red and
white, fragments of schorl, and garnets, of magnet oxide of iron,

1846.] Alluvial i^oil of the Mle. 145

a little mica, and a few fragments of tubes, such as are seen trav-
ersing the older portions of the soil already examined. This
composition indicates that this specimen has resulted from the
decomposition of primitive rocks, and that their debris has been
mixed with some portion of the anterior deposits along the river
banks.

Analysis.

1. Dried 100 grains and found the loss, 3.7 grains.

2. Transferred the same to a well closed platinum crucible, and
ignited; which caused an additional loss of 3.57 per cent. The
powder having now a dull reddish gray color, was again heated,
and with access of air, stirring occasionally with a platinum
spatula, to facilitate the complete combustion of organic matter.

By this treatment the additional loss was .13 grain, showing
the organic matter in the soil to be 3.70 per cent. To ascertain
what part of the matter was soluble, a secoml portion of 100
grains was placed in a green glass matrass and boiled for an hour,
with three ounces of a saturated solution of caibonate of ammo-
nia; the clear liquid was decanted, and a second portion of the
carbonate added, boiling as before, and in the same way a third
portion was subsequently added. The solution being acidulated
with acetic acid, acetate of lead was applied, producing when
dried, 4.7 grains of crenate of lead, equivalent to 2.28 grains of
crenic acid, and showing the insoluble organic matter to be 1.42
grains.

3. Placed the reddened powder of the first ICO grains in a mat-
rass, and poured over it an ounce of pure water and half an ounce
of pure chlorhydric acid; boiled half an hour, decanted the clear
liquid, put in another ounce of water and half ounce of acid,
boiled for the same length of time, decanted once more and re-
peated the operation — then filtered, washed carefully, ignited and
weighed the residue, found it 70.2 grains, showing that 22.4
grains of matter have been dissolved by the acid.

4. The solution in chlorhydric acid, reduced to a convenient
bulk, was boiled with a little nitric acid, to peroxidize the iron,
by which it was changed from greenish yellow to a fine deep red
color, and while still hot, precipitated with pure ammonia, boiled
to condense the precipitate, filtered, washed for more than 24
hours, and until all alkaline reaction ceased.

5. The precipitate was boiled in a strong solution of caustic
potash, until the clear liquid yielded with chlorhydric acid the
usual indications of a sufficient excess of alkali.

6. The remaining precipitate of oxide of iron was filtered and
washed for 12 hours, with hot water, separated, dried, and ignited
sufficiently long to reduce the whole to the state of peroxide,
which then weisfhed 9.18 sfrains.

146 Extracts from the Journals. Jan.,

7. The potash sohition was acidulated with chlorhydric acid,
and precipitated by carbonate of ammonia, yielding, after being
thoroughly washed, dried and ignited, 6.55 grains of alumina.

8. The ammoniacal solution filtered from oxide of iron and
alumina, was treated for phosphate of lime, and afterwards with
oxalate of ammonia, and, allowing ample time to precipitate, the
oxalate of lime was filtered, washed, converted into carbonate,
and in that state weighed, giving 6.7 grains. Converted this, by
exposure three times to a white heat, into caustic lime, weighing
exactly 3.8 grains.

9. The liquid from which oxalate of lime had been filtered,
was now with the usual precautions precipitated wuth ammonio-
phosphate of soda, the precipitate cautiously washed, and the
double phosphate ignited, giving phosphate of magnesia 5.18
grains, equivalent to 1.89 grains of magnesia.

10. To the liquid filtered from ammonio-phosphate of magnesia,
added sulph. hydrate of ammonia, and obtained calcined precipi-
tate from the .3 grain of oxide of manganese,

11. A third portion of 100 grains of the soil, treated for car-
honic acid with all the precautions of boiling the liquid, and al-
ternately cooling off ten times, until the pure baryta showed no
more carbonic acid, and the successive weighings gave identical
results, the quantity of that ingredient was found to be only 1-4
grains. Hence the soil is composed of

Moisture,

3.70 per ct.

Carbonic acid.

. . 1.40

Organic matter.

o^n ■ I Soluble 2.28
• ^-'^^'iz- \ Insoluble 1.42

Insoluble silicates, .

. 70.20

Oxide of iron.

. 8.76

Alumina,

6.55

Lime, . . . .

. 3.80

Oxide of manganese.

.30

Magnesia,

. 1.89

Phosphate of lime,

. .15

100.45
The excess is here attributable in part to the peroxidation of the
iron, which in the soil is partly in the state of magnetic oxide,
and in part to the presumed slight amount of potash still adhering
to the oxide and alumina.

Sand taken from the thermal spring of Okme, on the Southern
frontier of the Province of Bidir-el-Hagrr, on the Western
bank of the JVilc — where the temperature of the water is 131°
Fah.
This sand obviously contains the debris of granitic rocks. Par-

1846.] Alluvial Soil of the Mle. 147

tides of quartz and mica are very abundant, and the magnet takes
up a notable portion of magnetic oxide of iron. Particles of
highly ferruginous clay are interspersed among it, resembling
crumbs of bog iron ore, and leading to the supposition that the
heat of the spring is occasioned by the decomposition of pyritous
rocks, whose insoluble debris it brings in minute portions to the
surface. The gauze sieve already mentioned retains 25 per cent
of this sand including nearly all the particles of ferruginous clay.
The portion which passes the sieve, resembles, in ahnost every
particular, the sandy portion washed out of the newly deposited
soil, except of course the different degree of its fineness. Both
have particles of red and white quartz, both show magnetic oxide
of iron, the sand of the spring in the greater abundance. It is
remarked that the particles of this oxide in the portion of sand
which passes the sieve, is far greater than in that which remains
upon it, which we might anticipate, on the supposition that the
sand is brought up by the spring. The greater specific gravity
of the paiticles of oxide than that of the quartz, would allow
larger masses of the latter than of the former to be thrown up by a
current of given velocity.

Bringing together the results of the analysis of the ancient and
that of the most recent soil, we find the following composition in
100 parts.

Ancient soil. Recent depoiiit

Water,

4.20 3.70

Soluble organic matter, .

• 2.30 2.8

Insoluble "" "

2.15 1.42

Peroxide of iron,

• . 8.07 8.76

Alumina,

. . 2.69 6.55

Lime,

7.11 3.80

Magnesia,

. 2.06 1.89

Carbonic acid, .

. . 5.55 1.40

Insoluble silicates, .

. 63.55 70.20

Loss,

2.37 Ox. of Manganese .30

Phosphate of lime, .15

inn

100.45
The loss in the arialysis of the ancient soil, is attributed in part
to the combined water, which no doubt existed in the peroxide of
iron, and in part to the chloride of sodium and phosphate of alu-
mina, of which some traces were observed, but of which time did
not allow me to make a minute examination, or to repeat the an-
alysis for the purpose of an exact determination of their propor-
tion. The most striking difference between the ancient and the
modern soils is to be found in the far higher proportion of car-
bonic acid, lime, and magnesia in the former, and the greater

148 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

abundance of alumina and of insoluble silicates in the latter. The
matter soluble in water is nearly the same for both, and the oxide
of iron not widely diflerent.

GAS ILLUMINATION.

The only method of strict accuracy by which the value of an il-
luminating gas maybe determined, is by a complete chemical analy-
sis; but this is an operation of extreme delicacy, requiring far more
adroitness in minute manipulation than is possessed by the gene-
rality of gas engineers. Results, however, of sufficient accuracy
for all ordinary purposes, may be readily obtained by methods
much more easily executed; namely, P, by a photometrical ex-
periment; 2°, by determining the specific gravity of the gas; and
3°, by determining the quantity of oxygen required for the com-
plete combustion of the gas, with the amount of carbonic acid
produced. The first of these methods is the simplest; and the re-
sults it affords, when performed with care, are equal in value to
those got by the two other methods.

The photometrical processes which I shall briefly describe are
founded upon principles of extreme simplicity. Though the eye
is unable to judge with precision of the relative intensity of two
lights, yet it can determine with considerable accuracy when con-
tiguous shadows of an opaque object thrown upon a screen by
different lights are equally dark, or when two similar adjoining
surfaces are equally illumined, provided the lights are of the same
teint. If the two lights which produce these effects are equal in
intensity, obviously their distance from the screen must also be
equal; but if unequal, the most intense light is placed farthest
from the screen. Now, as the rays of light are propagated con-
tinually in straight divergent lines, their intensity diminishes in the
direct proportion of the square of their distance from their source.
Taking, as a standard, the amount of light on a screen derived
from a flame at the distance of one foot, then at two feet the light
on the screen from the same source would be one-fourth, at three
feet one-ninth, and at four feet one-sixteenth of the standard.
Therefore, if two or more sources of light are so placed as to cast
an equal light on the screen, their relative intensities are directly
as the square of their distances from the screen. The objection
to this mode is, that it does not readily admit of a fixed standard
of comparison.

The method of contrasting the shadow of an opaque object
formed by different lights was first employed by Lambert (Photo-

1846.] Art and Science of Agriculture. 149

metria, 1760), but is commonly attributed to Count Rumford, by
whom it was proposed in the Phil. Trans., vol Ixxxiv. The ap-
paratus required is extremely simple, consisting merely of a smooth
perpendicular surface of uniform color, and a rod for throwing the
shadow. Two lights which are to be compared are so placed
that, when the rod is interposed between them and the screen, the
two shadows maybe contiguous; and, so long as the shadows are
of unequal depth, one of the lights must be advanced toward, or
retired from, the screen, until an equality in depth is procured.
Suppose a wax candle at the distance of two feet, and a gas jet,
at the distance of two feet six inches, to produce equal shadows,
then, according to the above rule, the relative intensity of the
lights is as 4 to 6.25, or as 1 to 1.5625. — ParneWs Applied
Chemistry.

AGRICULTURE AS AN ART, AND AS A SCIENCE.

[Communicated for the Western Reserve Magazine of Agriculture and Hor-
ticulture, by Professor Jaeed B. Kirtland, M. D.]

The history of agriculture as a science is brief. It can date
back to no early times — the ancients knew nothing of it, and at
the present day it is only partially understood. Every succeeding
day is developing some principle not before known, and the
practical application of others, hitherto understood only in theory.

It is scarcely a generation since Chaptal and Davy wrote upon
this science, and, though learned as they were, it is now evident
that they hardly entered on the threshold of the subject.

For its late rapid advancement we are principally indebted to
modern chemistry, though it has been essentially aided in its pro-
gress by the discoveries that have been made in several branches
of natural science, particularly botany and entomology.

The distinction between the art and the science of agriculture
is strikingly manifested by the course each would take in investi-
gating the qualities of the soil.

Art employs only one sense, that of sight. In such a course of
investigation, if the soil be black and mucky, as she technically
calls it, the conclusion is hastily drawn that it is rich and strono- —
if lighter colored, yellow, brown or red, that it has less streno-th.
Such conclusions are guess-work after all, and trials at cultivation
often prove them to be erroneous.

Science proceeds systematically in such an undertaking. She
analyzes the soil, and ascertains the exact proportion of each
principle it contains. The result is certain. There is no guess-
ing in the matter.

150 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

In our experience, we have known art to commit some most
egregious errors, in regard to the character of soil. On one oc-
casion a farmer, guided by art, who despised most heartily all
science and book-knowledge on agriculture, came in possession of
an extensive tract of peat-marsh. Art at once concluded from
blackness and depth of the soil, that if the bushes and surplus
water could be disposed of, a most exuberant crop of Indian corn
might be obtained. Accordingly the mattock, spade and scythe
were put in requisition, and after much labor and expense had
been employed, several acres were brought into a condition in
which the farmer and his sons could drag a plow by dint of hard
pulling through the surface soil, the subsoil still remaining too
miry to bear up a yoke of oxen. This was cheerfully borne by
the farmer, in anticipation of the crop of golden ears with which
his toils were to be rewarded at the close of the season. His,
alas! like too many of man's golden dreams, were never realized.

The spring was warm and propitious for his labors; the seed
was planted; it vegetated and continued to grow while the ver-
nal showers and dews were abundant and a sufficient quantity of
soluble nutrition was yet unexpended on the surface of the peat.
But with the approach of the scorching summer's sun, the moisture
was evaporated even below the roots of the corn, and the stalks
withered without attaining a height of more than two feet. Mis-
fortunes are said not to come singly. They certainly did not in
this instance; for at the time the corn was perishing, from a de-
ficiency of nutrition, the farmer put fire to some piles of brush on
the margin of the field, which communicated with the sun-dried
peat. This continued to burn for several months, nearly suffocat-
ing the population of the surrounding country, and ultimately
leaving extensive excavations in the marsh that have since filled
with water and become the habitation of reptiles innumerable.

What more successful course, it may be asked, would the scien-
tific farmer have taken with this steril bog.

As a botanist, he would have recognised the accumulation of
muck to be made up, principally of a living moss — a species of
sphagnum, which is growing from year to year.

As an agricultural chemist, he would have discovered by analy-
sis that though it contains a very large proportion — from seventy
to ninety per cent of three of the ultimate elements of the or-
ganized tissues that make up the structure of vegetables, to wit,
carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, yet combined and organized, and
under the control of the living vegetable principle {vitality), they
are not in a condition in which other living vegetables can appro-
priate them to the purposes of nutrition and support.

As well might the growing corn seize upon the purslain and
other noxious weeds in a living state, and employ their proximate

1846.] Art and Science of Agriculture. 151

principles for the filling out of the young ear, as derive support
from this living, organized peat, until its vitality had been de-
stroyed, and its structure undergone decomposition.

His next step would be to eft'ect that decomposition, and in such
a manner that its proximate principles would be best adapted to
furnish his cultivated vegetables with nutrition.

On this point he need not be long detained, for science has al-
ready pointed out appropriate methods.

It may be accomplished either by fermentation with animal and
other vegetable matter, or by the action of an alkali, or by what
is preferable, a combination of the two methods, viz., fermenta-
tion in a compost heap, made up of due proportions of peat, re-
fuse vegetables, animal matter and an alkali.

The proportions best adapted are as follows:

Peat, dug and exposed to one winter's frost, . . 21 loads,

Fresh barn-yard product, 7 "

Coal, wood or peat ashes, 1 " or

Slaked lime, h "

Mix these ingredients intimately in a compact heap, Avhich
should then be covered with refuse hay, straw, leaves or turf
After a time, varying with the moisture and temperature of the
weather, a fermentation will commence which may run so violent
as to endanger the burning of the ingredients. This can, how-
ever, be avoided by turning over the heap repeatedly, or by fre-
quent waterings.

Three weeks before using it, it should be again thoroughly
forked over, and every lump broken. A slight fermentation will
follow, that must not be interrupted.-

The compost wull then appear a black, free mass, and spread
like rich garden mould. Use it weight for weight with the best
barn-yard product; it will be found in a course of cropping to
stand the comparison.*

Science is aware that these several materials, by the result of
chemical action, will furnish in about due proportion all the prox-
imate principles contained in the organized tissues of vegetables,
to wit, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen — and several of
their most important inorganic constituents, as potash, soda, lime,
phosphorus, &c., in various combinations — also of the ill effects
of furnishing any one of them in excessive or undue proportion.

Science likewise understands all the principles, brought to bear,
in the changes this compost heap undergoes.

Allow that she does! says Art; still this business of forming
compost to enrich my farm is attended with too much trouble and
expense ; I can never resort to such an expedient

* See N. E. Farmer, vol. ix., p. 46.

152 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

Science replies — You have lived for a few years on the native
richness of your soil, which was the accumulation of a thousand
yeais, from the decay of animals and vegetables. It is now most-
ly expended, and you must either adopt a scientific mode of tilling
your lands, remove to Iowa or Texas, or starve where you are.
The choice is placed before you.

To the eye of- a scientific agriculturist, ten acres of peat bog is
a more valuable appendage to one of our northern farms than
would be the same number of acres of the richest Scioto bottoms.
He views these bogs as the means provided to enrich our impover-
ished uplands, and also foresees the day that they may furnish a
portion of the fuel needed in this cold climate.

Art considers no act more meritorious than to convert them into
a potatoe field.

It is painful to see the reckless haste that is made to destroy
their character and value by drainage and cultivation.

We have known ^/^ to commit some serious blundei's in regard
to the mineralogical constitution of a soil where Science could see
her way clearly. Without stopping to notice the numerous ava-
ricious reveries that Art has been thrown into at the sight of
glistening mica, pyrites or blende, in the limited scope of our
acquaintance, we will refer to some of her errors under this head
that have a more intimate relation to agriculture.

Some years since an excitement was raised in Trumbull county,
by a report that a supply of sulphate of lime (plaster of Paris) had
been found in Ellsworth. Splendid crystals for a cabinet were
sent to the eastern states, and a distinguished professor gave cor-
rect information in regard to their being plaster. Speculative
purchases of land were made in anticipation that abundant beds
of this valuable article would be discovered in the vicinity. No
such beds have, however, come to light.

It appears that the earth in that township is mostly the detritus
of a broken down shale which contains some marine fossils, a
portion of lime and pyrites, as well as other ingredients. The
sulphur of the pyrites acted upon by the air is slowly converted
into sulphuric acid, which then combines with the lime and forms
the sulphate of lime or plaster. The process is constantly going
on at a slow rate, and beautiful crystals form in the beds of shale
and clay in the course of a few years, yet they afford no indication
that beds of plaster rock are in that vicinity.

Again, Art concludes, that if she locate in a limestone forma-
tion she is sure to obtain good lands, abounding in lime, with a
soil naturally adapted to the production of wheat. In this she
may be mistaken. A few years since, several farmei's in the Mi-
ami Valley complained that their soil was not as good as they
expected, and did not yield as large crops of wheat as their neigh-

1846.] Art and Science of Jlgriculture. 153

bors', although in the same vicinity, and in the midst of a lime-
stone formation.

A scientific examination of the soils from several localities in
the vicinity by a membei of the late Geological Board of Ohio,*
disclosed the fact that the soils of these defective farms were
made up of the detritus from a primitive region, containing hard-
ly a vestige of lime, and composed mostly of argillaceous and
silicious materials, notwithstanding the rocks beneath were car-
bonate of lime. At his suggestion a top dressing of lime was
furnished, and the lands became fertile and productive. Art would
never have suspected that in the midst of a limestone region the
cause of sterility in the soil could be the absence of that mineral.
Instances the reverse of this occasionally occur in some of the
northern parts of Ohio, which are of a different geological forma-
tion, where limestone is not found in place. As an instance, cer-
tain farms in Rockport and Olmsted, along the course of Rocky
river, in the county of Cuyahoga, are known to be more favora-
ble for the production of wheat than many of the claylands in the
same townships, though the soil presents no very flattering appear-
ance to the eyes of Art.

To Science the cause is evident; the boulders large and small,
are principally limestone, and the soil contains a large per
centage of lime mixed with clay and sand. Bad tillage and a
grasping system of husbandry are, however, rapidly exhausting,
these lands of their vegetable and animal matter, and lime alone
will not render lands fertile that are deficient in these ingredients.

When Science shall be permitted to control the operations on
these lands, understanding the matter, she will so manage as to
add from time to time to the exhausted soils, carbon, hydrogen
and nitrogen, by dressing with manure and plaster, turning in
gi-een crops, particularly clover, and by attention to a correct
routine of crops, she will be constantly raising the condition of
the soil, and at the same time obtaining productive crops in re-
turn.

Northern Ohio is becoming exhausted under the course pursued
by Art. Few farms will produce half the crops at the end of
twenty years' cultivation that they would when first cleared from
the forests. Such results are not necessary. Under skillful and
scientific management, they should yield more abundantly. We
go farther and assert that even when thus exhausted, they may be
reclaimed in five years by good management and placed in a
better condition than when taken from the hand of nature — at
the same time the cultivator may obtain annually better rewards
for his labor than he that follows the exhausting course of Art.

At such an assertion we are aware Art is disposed to express

* Prof. Locke.

Vol. IL, No. 1. 12

154 Extracts from the Journals. [Jan.,

her doubts. Science has already investigated the subject, and dis-
covered,

First, That the evil consists primarily in a deficient quantity of
lime in the soil, and after a few years of bad farming, a deficiency
also of animal and vegetable matter.

Second, That the only remedy is to supply the soil with those
deficient materials.

Mrt, at once assures us that lime cannot be procured in quanti-
ties and at a price that will admit of its being employed exten-
sively for such a purpose, and that it would be hopeless to attempt
to procure animal and vegetable matter sufficient to enrich a com-
mon farm.

Science, more calculating, takes the subject under consideration.
She ascertains that it would require from 100 to 200 bushels of
lime to effect an essential and permanent change in the quality of
one acre of our clay lands. This would cost from $25 to $50;
but that from one or two bushels of Plaster of Paris, correctly em-
ployed, would answer an equally good or better purpose. This
might cost seventy-five cents.

TO GUARD SHEEP FROM THE DEPREDATION OF

DOGS.

The American Agriculturist recommends the active, red,
sharp horned cattle of New England. First put a few active
cows with their sucking calves into the pastures with the flock,
with four or five three year old steers. Take a gentle dog into
the field with a long light cord about his neck, the cord held in
the person's hand, and then set him on the sheep. The cows
W'ill at once proceed to attack the dog in defence of their calves,
and the steers will follow their example. The sheep will retreat
behind them. A few exercises of this kind will be sufficient to
break in the steers, when the cows may be removed from the pas-
ture. They will then gore any dog who attempts to molest the
sheep. It is well known that a sheep killing dog, like all sheep
stealers, are great cowards, and will flee on the first appearance
of danger.

What food will produce the most wool. — The Boston Culti-
vator maintains that that food which contains the most albumen
is the best for sheep. Hence, peas, beans, and vetches may be
regarded as those substances in which the most material is found
which is peculiarly adapted to the growth of wool.

1846.] Merino Sheep — Cooking Potatoes. 155

MERINO SHEEP.

The Hon. William Jarvis, in a letter published in the Boston
Cultivator, maintains that the Paular Merino sheep are not in
existence, and that all those pereons who pretend to breed this
variety are either deceiving themselves or trying to deceive others.
He maintains, moreover, that it is impossible to increase the
weight of the merino fleece over 7 or 9 lbs. without injury to its
properties. This is asserted on an experience of thirty -live years.
We desire our patrons should attend to these statements; as we
have some friends whom we believe have proved that they possess
the Paular sheep, and we know, at any rate, that these sheep yielded
a fleece much heavier than Mr. Jarvis states, and that too, equal
in fineness to any Saxon in the state. It is undoubtedly true that
the light fleece of the Saxon is finer than the Merino as usually
bred, but take the best bred Merinos of this state and they com-
pare well wdth the best imported Saxons. We have in our mind
the late Mr. Groves' flock. The fibre though it may possess a
greater silkiness is not after all finer than that of the best Merino,
whose fleece is four times heavier.

A GOOD METHOD OF COOKING POTATOES.

Mr. Norton, in one of his letters published in the Albany Cul-
tivator, describes the Copenhagen method of cooking potatoes for
stock. The potatoes are well washed and steamed, and while still
hot cut or crushed by a revolving cylinder furnished with knives.
To this pulp is then added three pounds of ground malt for every
one hundred pounds of mashed potatoe. This mixture, at the
temperature of 150°, is then kept in motion for four or five hours,
or until it has acquired a sweet taste. It is then ready for use.
Its advantages are, 1. that it is richer food for milk cows than
thrice the quantity of potatoes in a raw state; 2. that it is excel-
lent food for fattening cattle and sheep, and for winter food.

( 156 )

EDITOEIAL NOTICES.

Corn Culture and the Soaking of Seeds in Saline Solutions. —
We call the attention of our readers to the article on the culti-
vation of corn, by Mr. Hopkins, and to the succeeding one on
the advantage of soaking seeds in saline solutions, preparatory to
planting or sowing, by Dr. N. S. Davis, of Binghamton. We
wish them to notice the nearly exact coincidence in their views
on this subject. Mr. Hopkins is a successful farmer and an accu-
rate observer. Dr. Davis, besides being a careful experimenter,
is also an acute observer, and is possessed of a mind accustomed
to the process of analysis When we find two persons of their
skill and judgment to agree in their views of the nature of any
proposed practice, we may with safety place confidence in the
results of their experience and observation.

In this conection, we take pleasure in observing the increased
interest with wich the maize crop is regarded. There has been in
the husbandry of this country a remarkable proneness to imitate
the English. Most of our periodicals fostered this inclination.
It seemed that writers and farmers never took the trouble to in-
quire in w^hat respects England differed from the United States in
climate. Besides they appeared to be ignorant of the fact, that
the striking features in English husbandry were forced upon that
country, and that it grew out of the physical condition of the
country itself, and is not that husbandry which would be preferred
or followed, provided it could have a choice. Let the husbandry
of this country too, be such as naturally grows out of our climate,
without any attempt to force upon it what is esteemed abroad,
without due regard to circumstances.

The Promotion of Vegetation by Electro-Galvanic Action. —
In order that our readers may understand how and to what extent
electricity may be employed in promoting vegetation, it is only
necessary that they should comprehend what takes place when a
galvanic battery is in action. Thus, when a saline solution is
submitted to it, it is decomposed; suppose it is sulphate of soda.
In this, and in all instances of a similar combination, the com-
pound will be resolved into its elements; the acid will appear at
one pole of the battery and the soda at the other. The effect

1846.] Editorial JYotices. 157

will be seen at two points only. If we apply the principle on a
large scale, to a field for instance, with a proper combination and
arrangement of plates and of the connecting parts, the effect will
be just as limited as in the ordinary battery; the development of
acids and bases will take place only at the poles. Now the only
material which will be produced in these arrangements is an
acid, or in some instances a base, as in the case of the alkalies,
when in combination with an acid. But then, these mate-
rials cannot be diffused at all; they must, from the nature of the
action which produces their development, be confined to the single
pole. Or, again, if a pair of zinc and copper plates of a con-
stant battery was used in cultivating pot or house plants, with
the negative pole on the surface of the soil and the positive pole
in the hole in the bottom of the pot, seeds, without doubt, will
germinate and spring up sooner than in pots in which these
arrangements are not made. The seeds are, or may be, supplied
with the separated elements of the salts in the soil. Nothing is
brought to the plant from abroad ; and hence, the soil is only the
more rapidly exhausted. It is possible, we say, to employ this
form of electricity to hasten the germination of seed, and may
possibly be used to a limited extent by gardners. But then the
expense of the power would more than counter-balance all the
benefits which can be derived from it. It is possible, and we
deem this suggestion the most important we have seen, that it
may be employed to revive or awaken the vitality of seeds which
have been kept for a long time, or which may have been brought
from foreign countries, and of which fears are entertained of their
life. But applied to a field, as has been proposed, we deem the
whole scheme destitute of a foundation,

JVote. — It is not improbable but plants may be rendered more
electro-negative than they naturally are; and hence, more active
in assimilating electro-positive bodies; still, this does not alter
the case, as we understand it.

The Refuse of the Wood Yard. — The best disposition which
can be made of the refuse of wood yards, is first to char it, and
then spread it either in the garden or meadow. Scrape up the
pure vegetable matters with the dirt, and keep up a smothered
fire until the whole is well charred; some portions will be burnt
to ashes, the rest will remain in the form of fine coal. By pur-
suing this mode, the farmer gets rid of dirt and the harbor for
fleas and other vermin, and obtains a valuable manure, from which
he will derive a profit for years to come.

158 Ediforial JYotices. [Jan.,

The older Fossiliferous Rocks of England. — From a recent
communication from Professor Sedgwick, we ai^e informed that
he never gave up the Cambrian system; and hence, still assigns
it a place among the sedimentary rocks of that country. The
following is a sketch of the divisions which he would make of
the protozoic formations. 1. The Cambrian Grovp. It rests
on the non-fossiliferous slates, and is of immense thickness; it
contains some peculiar species, but some of its species rise into
the succeeding division. 2. The Middle Grovp. It includes
Murchison's Lamdeilo and Caradoe rocks, and also the Wenlock
series. It therefore includes all the lower and a part of the upper
Silurian. 3. Upper Group. It embraces the Lower Ludlow,
Amestory Limestone, and Upper Ludlow rocks, including the Tile-
stone.

To CURE Fresh Wounds in horses, cows or any other animal,
requires only a proper defence from flies. Hence all the receipts
for healing fresh cut wounds are useless. That such a wound
may heal well requires merely that its edges should be brought
together and maintained in contact.

A NEW ARTICLE. — The Albany clay (tertiary), with certain
additions, is about to be employed in the manufacture of knife
handles. The article is extremely beautiful and resembles the
finest carnelian agates, and is susceptible of a beautiful polish.

A NEW LOCALITY OF Pyroxene. — A fine locality of pyroxene has
been discovered in the town of Fine, in St. Lawrence county. The
crystals though not perfectly smooth are yet well formed, and
more than a yard in length.

On the Agency of Caloric in permanently modifying the
STATE of aggregation OF THE MoLECULES OF BoDiES ; by Warren
De la Rue, Esq., Mem. Che.m. Soc. of London.— The principle
which is suggested by the fact that most, if not all, mineral bodies
undergo a change in the arrangement of their particles, even when
subjected to a moderate amount of heat, may be applied in ex-
planation of the mode in which originally soft deposites become
consolidated. An example given by the author, which was, when
precipitated, an exceeding light deposit, but on being subjected

1846.] Editorial Kotices. 159

to a heat between 200° and 300° Fahrenheit, it became exceed-
ing hard and compact; and if the cake is afterwards broken up
and ground, the particles still retain their hardness.

Chalk too, though in its natural state is soft and difficult to be
cut into slips, yet when baked it becomes hard and ceases to crum-
ble, and may be cut into any form we choose. So rocks, origin-
nally soft or in a state of mud, in order to become hard, require
only a moderate temperature, provided it is long continued.
Hence, it is unnecessary that ranges of rocks of this country
termed metamorphic, should ever have been heated to the amount
which some geologists maintain. It is even unnecessary that the
temperature should have been elevated since their deposit, so as
to char their vegetable matters, in order to become dense, solid
strata with a crystalline structure.

The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of Lon-
don.— The Geological Society now publishes a quarterly by one
of its members, subject to the seperintendence and control of the
council.

It consists of two parts, the first consists of full reports of the
original communications which are read before its meetings.

The second of abstracts of geological papers published in the
ti'ansactions of foreign societies or journals, and of analyses of
the contents of works expressly geological, both English and
foreign.

It will be perceived by our patrons, that this Journal will fur-
nish a medium through which they will obtain the earliest intelli-
gence of geological and scientific discoveries. The numbers
which have been published are of great value. Price $5 per
year. Wiley & Putnam agents, in New York.

Gardner's Farmers' Dictionary. — This work is now published
and on sale at the bookstores, where we have had an opportunity
to examine hastily its contents. The opinion which we have
formed of its merits is favorable, so far as mere technicalities are
concerned, or so far as it is a dictionary. But with that part of the
work which relates to husbandry, or, so far as it is intended as a
treatise on husbandry, we are not quite satisfied. The sources
from which the work is compiled, is ahnost exclusively European,
and the greater part of this, is English. We are sorry to see too,
that some of the wood cuts are so badly executed — that of the
saperda, the apple-tree insect, for instance; but we do not propose
to go into a detailed analysis of its contents now, we may here-
after take it up and make a more specific examination of its merits.

. 160 Editorial J\otices. [Jan.,

American Journal of Science is published on the 1st of Janu-
ary, March, May, July, September and November of each year,
in Nos. of 150 pp. each, making 2 vols, a year, fully illus-
trated with engravings, and containing a comprehensive bulletin
of scientific intelligence. Subscriptions $5 per year, single Nos.
87^ cents. Remittances to be forwarded to B. Silliman, New
Haven, Conn.

The Journal is the only one in this country which is devoted
purely to science. It has been sustainad by great effort, and it
deserves a wider circulation. The gentlemen w^ho conduct it
stand first in community for their intelligence and zeal in pro-
moting the cause of science in this country.

ERRATA.

In the signature pages for vol. //, read ///.
Page 12, 8lh line from the lop, for masses read mosses.
Page 16, 3d line from the bottom, for losses read bases.
In part of the edition, in note p. IS, last line, for presented
read preserved, and for heat read peat.

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AMERICAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OF

AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE.

APRIL, 1846.

AGRICULTURAL GEOLOGY OF ONONDAGA COUNTY.

In the New York system, the Onondaga rocks occupy a centra)
position. Below them we find the whole of the inferior part of
the system, which has been called the Champlain division, as
well as the succeeding rock, the Medina sandstone. The same
may be said of a very large proportion of the Clinton group.
Those rocks which are above the Onondaga formation belong to
the superior part of the Erie division, and the whole of that mass
of shales and sandstones which form the Catskill mountains. The
thickness of the inferior sedimentary masses below those of the
county, cannot be less than three thousand feet, and those above
rather exceed this estimate.

The base upon which the Onondaga formations repose, is the
Medina sandstone; a rock which skirts the shore of Lake Ontario
the whole distance from east to west. At the east, it is a harder
rock than the west, and furnishes but a small proportion of the

Vol. III., No. IL 13

162 JlgricuHitral Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

soil in the county of Oswego, but in Niagara its inferior portions
ai'e soft and marly, and must have contributed largely to the
formation of tlie soil in the western and middle divisions of the
state. Still, in Onondaga county, its effects are manifested rather
in the furnishing an abundance of red or brown cobble stones,
than the fine materials of which the soil is composed.

The Clinton group, which succeeds the Medina sandstones in
the ascending order, is a heterogeneous mass of rocks, some of
which are soft and shaly, and liable to disintegration; others are
hard and sandy, and resist the action of the weather with con-
siderable obstinacy. These, however, skirt the county only on
its northeastern bordere, passing through a portion of Lysander.
The same remark, in regard to the group, which has been made
of the Medina sandstone is true, that it has but little influence
upon the soil of this county.

We now pass at once to the rocks of the county, and they
merit, from their influence upon the agricultural capabilities of
this part of New York, an extended description. We shall adopt
the same divisions of the formations as those which have been
given in the New York reports. 1. The red shale; 2. The
greenish shale with hopper-form cavities, plaster beds and vermi-
cular limestone layers; 3. The water limestone; 4. Onondaga
limestone; 5. Marcellus shales; 6. Hamilton group.

1. Red shale. It is exceedingly soft throughout, except a few thin
strata of sandstone near the top: but even these fall to pieces, and
cannot be employed at all for purposes of construction. It is pro-
perly a red marl, and whenever it crops out, is generally covered
by its own debris. Its greatest thickness is about 500 feet, and
as it underlies the whole northern border of the county, it is agri-
culturally an important rock, and has contributed largely to the
formation of the soil. Its debris, as would be expected from the
nature of the rock, is argillaceous; but not excessively so. The
nature of the soil is better indicated, however, by the composition
of the rock itself: thus, the elements of one hundred grains of
the most sandy part, and the same amount of softer kinds, we
have found combined in the following proportions:

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 163

Sandy. Marly.

Silex, _ _ _ - -

68.25

68.86

Peroxide of iron and alumina, -

6.25

14.98

Magnesia, - - - - -

5.75

0.40

Carbonate of lime, - - -

10.25

9.89

Phosphate of alumina and phosphate

of the peroxide of iron, -

00.00

0.14

Organic matter, - - - -

6.00

4.50

Water, - - - - -

1.00

6.48

99.50 99.25

The sandy variety was taken from Canastota, in Madison
county; the marly from Kirkville, in Onondaga county.

Observation and the result of analysis show, that this rock
Jbrms a valuable soil. It is instructive, however, to compare the
composition of the soil with the rocks: thus, the soil of Canas-
tota is composed of,

Water, - - - - -

1.50

Organic matter, - - -

2.50

Silex, -----

85.00

Peroxide of iron and alumina,

8.12

Carbonate of lime, - - -

2.17

Magnesia, - - - -

.12

Phosphate of alumina, -

1.00

100.41

We see a great loss in carlsonate of lime, and a considerable
change in the other constituents. The analysis shows that the
sioil and rock beneath do not agree in composition, and that we
cannot rely upon a supply of lime even when the rock itself is
highly calcareous.

A practical observation of some value is, however, suggested
by these analyses; namely, that when this red marl is favorably
situated, it may be spread over the soil with advantage. It will
especially have a decided effect in improving wheat lands.

164 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

We pass now to the second division of the Onondaga rocks,
in the ascending order, by remarking that the red rock passes
into the shales which succeed, principally by a change of color;
the former becomes first green, by an increase and spread of green
spots, till finally the whole mass loses its red color and is merged
in an invariable dirty pea green. The whole mass is decompos-
able in an eminent degree, and may be distinguished by the entire
absence of organic remains — ^by the presence of hopper-form
bodies — ^by plaster, which below is in thin beds of a columnar or
fibrous structure, and above in heavy masses, which are instru-
mental in bending the strata, as represented in fig. 1. The

G. gypsum beds.

hopper-form masses are, however, found in the superior part of
the formation, and even in the immediate vicinity of the layers
which are quarried for hydraulic lime, as at Manlius square.

The lower mass, in which the thin plaster beds are exposed,
is well exhibited at the deep cut and embankments in Camillus.
At this place the rocks are exposed nearly deep enough to show
the red marl. The junction, however, is rarely to be seen, in
consequence of the great amount of debris and soil of the whole
formation. The physical changes which it exhibits are those
which appear in the successive stages from'soft to hard rocks, and
from imperfectly stratified beds to the thin, sharp, ringing layers
of the hydraulic limestones.

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 165

The composition of the hopper-form masses is as follows:

Water of absorption,

.56

Organic matter, -

5.00

Silex, - - - -

- 34.56

Carbonate of lime.

43.06

Almnina and protoxide of iron, - 13.36
Sulphate of lime, - - 1.00

Magnesia, - - - - 2.17

99.71

The red marl and the green marly rock just described, when
submitted to the action of cold water, furnish directly a quan
tity of soluble matter: thus 100 grains yield in 6 oz. rain water:

Red Marl.

Green Marl.

Whole soluble matter,

- 1.25

3.50

Saline, _ _ -

.68

2.63

Organic acids, -

.57

.87

Those rocks after they have undergone decomposition, furnish
a still larger amount of saline matter, but it is composed in every
instance of the same elements, among which the sulphates and
chlorides are the most abundant, as shown by the following
analysis:

Debris of the Shale.
WTiole amount of soluble matter, - - - 6.53
Vegetable matter, - - - - - 1.03

Saline, --_-___ 5.50

The latter consists of chlorides of sodium and calcium, sul-
phates of lime and magnesia, together with a small percentage of
alumina and silex.

It can hardly be expected, however, that rocks will be com-
posed of the same elements, but all the specimens which were
examined fiu"nished soluble matter in pure rain water without

166 ^Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

boiling, and when they decompose in dry places the debris is
highly charged with the sulphates of lime, soda and magnesia ; it
is found collected upon the shelving rocks, and appears in the form
of a gray ash.

When any of these masses, from any part lying between the
bottom of the red rock and the drab-colored limestones of the hy-
draulic series, are ignited, they become brown, and give off the
odor of burning peat: thus showing the character of the organic
matter in combination, with the rock. The condition in which it
exists, is that of crenic and apocrenic acids, in combination with
the alkaline earths. These salts are all soluble, and are obtained
in a small quantity by infusion, as has been stated. When they
are subjected to a red heat they are decomposed, and crenic acid
appears to be changed into carbonic acid; for, when treated thus,
we obtain an insoluble product which effervesces with chlorohy-
dric acid, which in its turn furnishes a precipitate with oxalate of
ammonia. It is difficult to determine the exact thickness of these
green gypseous shales, on account of the great amount of debris
which usually covers, the rock. They are, however, over one
hundred feet..

In addition to the beds of plaster, we find a singular hard rock
in thin beds, which is every where perforated with small ragged
holes, varying from the smallest perceptible size to that of a large
pea. The layers in other respects are compact and fine grained.
The masses are hardly entitled to the appellation of a rock; but
were designated' by the late Prof Eaton, vermicular lime rock.
It undergoes the same changes from frosts and atmospheric agents,
as the other parts of the formation; but not so rapidly. Its color
is dark from the presence of organic matter, and not from the
presence of iron. It serves a mechanical purpose in its place,
that of supporting the more fragile green gypseous shales or marls.
It forms less than ten feet thickness when all its layers are put
together. It contains a larger amount of magnesia than the
other parts of the gypseous rock, as will be observed by analysis;
thus, 100 parts yield:

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 167

Water, - - - - -

0.23

Organic matter, - - -

2.54

Silex,

3.30

Carbonic acid, - - -

20.62

Alumina, - - - -

5.33

Magnesia, - - - -

4.26

Lime, - - - - -

13.76

Trace of protoxide of iron, -

50.04

The plaster beds in this formation have been well described by
Mr. Vanuxem and Mr. James Hall. Their value is no where
0%'errated. We deem it unnecessary to describe them in this
place.

We now pass to the water limes, where we find a change in
the mechanical condition of the layers; they are still thin, but
less subject to decomposition. The process, however, goes on, as
is shown in the changes of color of the weathered surfaces, the
softened state of the exposed edges, and the accumulation of
earth between the beds and upon the projecting parts. The rock
is usually gray, sometimes dark, but when exposed it passes into
a drab color. The thin layers are below, the thick above, where
we find the masses which are used for hydraulic lime, of which
there are two; each of which are from two to four feet thick.
The firmness of some of the upper layers fits them for tolerable
flag stones. The position of this upper rock is usually well indi-
cated by a steep escarpment, where the out-cropping edges are
well exposed and defined.

The composition of the water lime series, though considerable
difference occurs at different places, is given by Drs. Beck and
Jackson, as follows:

Beck. Jackson.

Carbonic acid, - - - 39.80 Water, ----- 1.182

Lime, 25.24 Silicic acid, - - - 10.087

Magnesia, - - - - 18.80 Carbonic acid, - - 41.200

Silica and alumina, - 13.50 Sulphuric acid, - - 0.606

168 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

Peroxide of iron, -

- 1.25

Lime, - - - - .

. 25.087

Moisture and loss,

1.41

Alumina, - - - -

3.395

Peroxide of iron, - -
Magnesia, - - -

• 3.274
12.890

100.00

Oxide of manganese,-

- 0.606

,

Potash, - - - -

0.700

Soda, - - - - .

■ 2.182

* 100.000

One hundred grains of the powdered rock, when acted upon a
few days by cold water, dissolves one grain, of which there re-
mains after ignition .56 of a grain, leaving .44 of vegetable
matter.

From the several analyses it will be observed that magnesia is
a constant element in the rocks, from the red rock to the superior
portion of the rocks belonging to the hydraulic lime series. In
Onondaga county the series terminates in a mass about four feet
thick, whose structure is remarkably concretionary, and exceed-
ingly irregularly bedded. It is all that remains of the penta-
merus limestone, which in Albany and Schoharie counties is from
fifty to sixty feet thick. In Ulster county it is the rock employed
for cement. Several other rocks have also thinned out towards
the west, in consequence of which the Onondaga limestone re-
poses upon the thick bedded masses of the hydraulic limestones;
excepting that sometimes the Oriskany sandstone occasionally
intervenes between the latter and the former. In some places it
is indicated by the presence of a thin layer of sand only, or a
few small boulders; in others it is eighteen inches thick.

We pass at once to the Onondaga limestone, by which name
we include all the upper part which is usually separated from the
lower, and has been called the cor^iiferous limestone, or limestone
which bears hornstone. This rock is regarded as a pure lime-
stone, leaving out of view, the layers and irregular masses of horn-

•Dr. Jackson's analysis of Ulster county cement stone, in the Proceedings
of American Geologists and Naturalists.

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 169

stone which it incloses. It is gray, crystalline, thick-bedded or
massive, and filled with organic remains. It is the well known
limestone which extends in a belt from the Hudson to Lake Erie.
It forms by its hardness its own terrace, w^hich is marked upon
the north by a steep escarpment formed by the out-cropping
limestone, which is never entirely concealed by debris, as in the
more fragile rocks above and below.

The changes which have taken place in the physical constitu-
tion of the rocks of this period, are equally as great as those which
are usually called the chemical. Magnesia, for example, is no
longer found as an essential element in this limestone; the silex,
alumine and iron have also mostly disappeared, and we have a
pure calcareous rock, which resists the action of the weather.
It is, to be sure, slowly dissolved by carbonic and the organic
acids, and it is broken by frosts, but the soil is no longer rapidly
furnished with fine pulverulent matter. Between its beds, or in
its seams, w^e frequently see the green impure matter which forms
the shales below, but only in quantities suflEicient to show that
the source of those matters is not entirely exhausted. This rock
is important as a limestone for furnishing pure quick lime, and
also to agriculture; but not as much in this respect as the rocks
below, which abound in magnesia, and such as would usually be
called impure limestone.

Considered in its influences upon agriculture, we believe it is
less important than has usually been considered: a limestone is
always an excellent base for tillage, it seems to be softening or
at least ameliorating in its influences upon the soil; a better word
is drying perhaps; and this effect is due to the systems of open
joints which always traverse the superior beds. Sometimes,
however, these joints are too open, and permit the direct flow of
streams into them. This is the fact with many of the New York
limestones. Sometimes they furnish facilities for draining.

We may now pause a moment for the purpose of considering
the mechanical condition of the particles composing the rocks
which have passed under our view. From the Niagara lime-
stone, upon which the red shale and marl reposes, up to the

170 Jlgricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

Oriskany sandstone, the materials are all extremely fine; excepting
a few thin bands at the superior part of the red marl, composed
of coarsish sand. For seven or eight hundred feet then, this pro-
perty of the deposit is rather remarkable. The fineness of the
material of the rocks, however, is not such as to form an impal-
pable soil, it is still suflftciently siliceous and coarse to overcome
the adhesive properties of alumine, while the fineness is such
as to favor solubility. It is impossible to detect feldspar or mica
by the assistance of a microscope in the red or green marls, or in
either of the limestones. Their origin cannot be referred to
either of the preexisting rocks. All we can say is, that they
are the fine sediments which accumulated in the deepest part of
an ancient ocean, where organic beings could not probably exist,
on account of the gi'eat depth of water.

The Marcellus shale succeeds the corniferous part of the Onon-
daga limestone. We laave now a black rock, the composition of
which is not greatly dissimilar to the green shales. This rock is
thin bedded and fragile ; and hence the out crop is usually conceal-
ed in its own debris. The rock may be known by its position. It
is the first rock which contains septaria, a singula): kind of concre-
tion of a rounded form ; but it often assumes some imitative shape,
as that of a turtle. Sometimes they are globular, and sometimes
rounded and flattened, like a cheese. No use has ever been made
of the septaria, but there is no doubt they will form an excellent
cement. Ten or twelve feet of rough black limestone belongs
also to the Marcellus shales. In some places it is called chewed
rock, from its ragged surface. This too has a composition which
seems to fit it for hydraulic lime. The shales under consideration
are composed of the following elements.

Water,- - - - . 2.00
Organic matter, - - - 2.25

Silex, ----- 48.12
Peroxide of iron and alumina, 10.00
Carbonate of lime, - - 36.60

Magnesia, - - - - 1.00

100.07

1846.] Jlgricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 171

The passage from the Marcellus shales to the Hamilton group
is easy, and effected by a gradual increase of angular sand, or
sand which has been less washed than usual. The color is less
dark, showing a diminution of carbonaceous matter. Lithologi-
cally, the Hamilton group is composed of dark colored slate and
shale, with numerous beds of thin sandstone, and still shaly, or
rather in that condition in which the silex or sand is rarely harsh
or gritt^". Some beds are brown from the presence of iron. The
matter which increases in the ascending order is sand; and hence,
in some of the superior beds we find sandstone well developed.
We are looking at those changes for the purpose of learning the
effect on the soil. Analysis and observation both show an in-
crease in the amount of silex, the diminution of calcareous and
aluminous matter, and the almost total disappearance of magnesia
in the rocks. We ahvays however get a trace of the latter, and
we may without doubt expect its presence in all rocks, but in
such small quantities that cultivated lands whose crops are re-
moved must in a few years be deficient in it. On ascending to
these superior rocks we find that the husbandry has changed; a
grazing district has taken the place of a wheat growing one.
This change, however, may not be due entirely to changes in the
composition of the formations. The country has become decidedly
hilly. We now find steep slopes, inclined surfaces, deep ravines,
rounded hills: in fine, all the characteristics of good fields and
walks for sheep and cows, for sweet grass and pure streams of
water.

We deem it unnecessary to speak of the rocks which succeed
the Hamilton group. W^e may be permitted, however, to bring up
for once, considerations respecting the fossils of the rocks we have
adverted to and briefly described. Beginning with the red marl
and proceeding to the water lime series, we have a blank as it
regards life; but in the water lime series fossiles occur, but they
are very diflferent from those which had before existed. This
blank in the red and green shales mark an era in the history of
organic existence. Going above the water lime series, and we
are brought to another change; we leave behind all those beings

172 ^Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

which had peopled those formations, not a vestige of them go up;
.tnd so far as succeeding deposits are concerned, their places are
as vacant as though they had never existed. This period passed
and that of the Onondaga limestone ushered in, and we are once
more introduced to new forms. If those of the water lime series
or of the magnesian rocks do not altogether cease, by far the
greater portion of them have passed away, and as before, the era
is a new one in the annals of life. The shelving beaches are
strewed with beings which the waters had never before cast up.

To reach another era we have only to follow the layers of the
Onondaga limestone to that place where the black Marcellus
shales first appear. Not one of all the corals or of the molusca
pass beyond the limits of the limestone, and however strange it
may seem these shales are equally prolific in forms which are
confined to its own layers. It is not determined, however, whether
some of these may not go up into the Hamilton group; as a
whole they are limited to the walls of the shales, and the beings
which lived in the waters from which this group was deposited,
were not colonies going up from the shale.

Let us retrace our steps and see how the matter stands in re-
view. 1. We begin with a blank in the organic world, in the
era of red and green marls. 2. New forms appear in the water
lime series, which constitute a second era. 3. The Onon-
daga limestone gives us a new platform, upon which life and
tenements are built. The fourth era is that of the Marcellus
shales, and lastly the Hamilton group is entitled to the place of
the fifth. We believe that some of the estates of Onondaga
county cover the five eras of ancient life.

We are unable to give a satisfactory account of the waters of
Onondaga, though they rank among the most important in the
state. They belong, as a class, to the hard waters, excepting
those which originate in the most elevated parts of the county,
upon the hills which are capped with the silicious rocks. The
varieties of water are numerous. Among the most important are
the mineral springs, the well known salines, which, as they are
so well known, do not require a notice in this place. The wells

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 17

which are sunk in the gypseous rocks contain both saline and
vegetable matter in solution. As an example of their composi-
tion, we give the analysis of the water of Mr. Geddes' well at
Fairmount. One quart evaporated slowly to dryness, the last
part of the process being performed in a platinum capsule, gave

Solid matter, - - - - 8.72
Organic matter, - - - 1.44

Saline, 7.25

The water of the hydrant company which supplies the village
of Syracuse contains forty grains of saline matter to the gallon.
It consists of the chlorides of sodium and calcium, sulphates of
lime and alumine, with some organic matter. It is clear and
transparent, but very unfit for many domestic purposes on account
of hardness.

The saline matter consists of the chlorides of calcium and
sodium, sulphates of lime and magnesia, carbonate of lime, silex
and alumina. The organic matter gave the usual greenish preci-
pitate, with acetate of copper; but the exact amount of crenic
and apocrenic acids was not determined. These acids, however,
are very abundant in the waters of this county. Those which
issue from the green shales are the most highly charged, and in
one or two instances small lakes, whose basins are excavated in
them, are bitter. This is the fact in regard to the Green lakes
near Manlius Centre; though we are not fully authorized to state
this from a chemical examination of the waters, yet the incrusta-
tions upon the limbs of trees submerged in the water, contained
a notable quantity of crenic acid. To detect it required only a
solution of the incrustation in cold water, and the application of
acetate of copper. The same acids, and by the same method,
may be obtained from the tufa, which every where abounds in
the vicinity of the green gypseous shales; and we may probably
maintain that the lime of tufa, has been in solution by these
acids. We may even extend this view of the subject, and sup-
pose that the concreted lime upon shelving rocks and the stalac-
tites of caverns, owe their origin in part to organic acids.

174 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

The most important part of our subject remains to be consider-
ed, to wit: the soils of the county. Every one, however, who
has written upon soils finds it extremely difficult to subdivide
them into suitable classes. The ordinary divisions into argilla-
ceous, silicious and calcareous, and the different varieties of loam,
are of but little real value; and calcareous soils do not exist in
this state. The three varieties, the argillaceous, silicious or
sandy, and the mixture of the two, constituting loam, may be
found in every part of the state; but these varieties differ; the
characters of the clay as well as those of the sand differ much
at different places, and the same may be said of the loams;
there is every gradation which can be formed by mixture. In
consideration of these facts, we shall merely describe the soils
according to their geological position, and we believe that in the
formations of this county it will be useful: for instance, the soil
of the so called gypseous rocks or green shales, the soil of the
next platform of limestones, followed by that of the Marcellus
shales, and Hamilton group, are each of them distinct varieties.
The advantage of this division is, that it may be extended to
other parts of the state; and it has a more exact application to
other places which are situated upon the same belts of rocks east
and west of Onondaga, than any other divison which could be
adopted. By adopting this division, we are enabled also to keep
up the geographical distinctions; for we pass from below up-
wards, and from north to south; the soil of the red and green
shales is found in its perfection only upon those rocks, that is,
upon the second terrace above Lake Ontario, and are found occu-
pying the northern part of the county; next of the limestones,
and finally that of the shales, which carries us up to the highest
lands of the county. In a few instances we ascend at least eight
hundred feet above the Erie canaL

The soil derived from the red shale occupies necessarily the
lowest position. It may be distinguished from that derived from
the next tier of rocks, by its deep red or deep brown color. It is
more adhesive, stiffer and argillaceous. In some places it is a
brick clay, the colors of which are not always so deep as the soil

I

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 175

derived from it. The composition of the soil, the analysis of
which has already been given, indicates a soil favorable for the
production of wheat. It is durable, and produces well for years.
It furnishes phosphate of alumina and carbonate of lime, and a
small quantity of carbonate of magnesia. For obtaining phos-
phate of alumina, the most approved plan was pursuexl. This
soil has not the advantages for showing its real value as those
situated upon the next terrace above; inasmuch as it is usually
low, and is not naturally so well drained, and it will undoubtedly
be found true, that the best thing which can be done for it is, to
drain it thoroughly. An excellemt fertilizing agent is usually in
proximity, namely, peat, which by forming a compost with leach-
ed ashes, would improve it in many respects.

The soil of the green shales or gypseous rocks, belong strictly
to the same class. They are both natural wheat bearing soils.
They differ in color and tenacity; the latter, being of a light drab
and less tenaceous than the former, but it has still the body re-
quired for wheat, and probably for all purposes exceeds in value
any other soil in the state of New York. Analysis will show
the ground upon which this opinion rests. 50 grains yield,

Water and vegetable matter, - 5.16

Silex, - - , - - 36.54

Carbonate of lime, - - - 2.^

Magnesia, - - - - 1.50

Peroxide of iron and alumina, - 4.87

Phosphate of alumina, - - 0.06

49.61

Two hundred grains when acted upon by cold water a few
days, gave of

Soluble matter, - - - 1..34
Saline. - . . , ].00

Vegetable, - - - - 0.34

Another specimen, from the vicinity of the Green lakes, in
Manlius, gave of

176 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

Soluble matter, - - - 2.00
Vegetable,- - - - 0.44

Saline, ----- 1.56

The vegetable matter is crenic acid, in combination with lime.
Soda was present in almost every instance where the test* was
applied. Chlorides and sulphates are the most abundant com-
pounds in the solution, excepting the crenic salts. At first view,
the quantity of soluble matter appears to be small, yet if any one
is disposed to go into a calculation of the quantity existing in an
acre, extending to the depth of one foot, it will be found to
amount to about twenty tons. But this is only about one-fifth or
sixth of the quantity of vegetable matter which, in the process
of time, will be converted into the food of plants, and which now
exists in an insoluble state.

The soluble matter which we obtained from a field of G. Ged-
des, Esq., and which has been under cultivation for twenty-five
or thirty years, and has received no barn yard manure, was

Soluble matter, - - - 1.47 grs.

Saline, 1.18

Vegetable,- - - - 0.29

The vegetable is in the state of crenic acid, in combination
with lime and magnesia. The remainder of the saline matter
consisted of the chlorides of sodium and lime, and carbonates of
lime and magnesia. A soil which had never been cultivated, and
treated in the same way, gave

Soluble matter, - - - 1.34
Saline, - . - - LOO

Vegetable, - - - - 0.34

The soil of the latter field was grown up to middling sized oak,
chestnut, hickory, maple, butternut and bass woods, and is very
frequently the case along the range upon which Mr. G's farm is
situated, the soil is not deep; the rock in a crumbling state may

• Antimoniate of potash.

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. Ill

be reached with the plow, and in fact a large part of the soil
is only partly comminuted in this field. Plowing and exposing
it to air, is necessary to complete the physical and chemical
changes which are necessary to bring the lands to their best state.
The following analyses show the composition of the cultivated
and uncultivated fields alluded to, as above:

Cultivated. Uncultivated.

Water, - - . .

- 4.25

3.79

Organic matter, - - _

6.67

5.24

Silicates, - - - -

- 77.50

78.25

Peroxide of iron and alumina, -

7.75

8.27

Carbonate of lime,

- 1.25

1.15

Magnesia, _ _ _ _

1.10

1.20

Sulphate of lime, - - -

- 0.22

0.20

97.80 98.16

The soil along this range, embracing a belt upon an average
of two miles, extending we believe through the county from east
to west, is remarkably uniform in composition, and though the
analyses may vary in some particulars, yet they indicate but one
variety of soil. These analyses, however, are not given as com-
plete and perfect, we are still engaged with them, and hope to
add something in illustration of their composition.

The green shales, from which the soils just described owe their
origin, is composed as follows:

Water of absorption,

0.50

Organic matter, - - -

6.00

Silex or silicates, - - -

34.56

Carbonate of lime,

50.06

Carbonate of magnesia, -

2.16

Peroxide of iron and alumina.

6.38

99.66

The inorganic salts, the sulphates of lime, magnesia and soda,
Vol. III., No. II. 14

178 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

which exist in these rocks, were not sought for in the specimen
analyzed.

The limestone soil which has usually been considered the most
productive, and the one which has been supposed to give to the
soil of this region its ability to grow wheat, is, in many respects,
as valuable as that of the gypseous rocks; yet, the opinion, that
it is the best for wheat and other cereals is not, in our opinion,
founded in fact. We believe that the presence of lime in a soil
is essential for the growth of wheat, though this view is not sup-
ported by all who have spoken and written on the subject. The
diversity of opinion probably depends upon the state of the lime
and the state of the soil. A small per centage of lime is sufficient,
provided it is in the state in which it can be assimilated by the
wheat plant, and a large quantity may not exhibit an increased
fertility-, if it is not in this condition. We believe that lime, in
order to be taken up and assimilated by the plant, must be com-
bined with the organic acids, the crenic or apocrenic, or, if some
prefer another name, the hmnic acid. If lime, in the state of a
carbonate, is spread over the soil and there is a deficiency of
vegetable matter, or for some reason or other it still remains in
the condition of a carbonate, we doubt much whether its special
effects appear in the crop. On the contrary, if there is a quan-
tity, though small, of the organic salts of lime in the soil, other
cx)nditions being favorable, wheat may be grown in perfection. The
value of composts with lime and spent ashes, depend, we believe,
upon the formation of the organic salts. The old and worn out
soils are invariably renovated by composts, the new soils do not
require them, neither are the effects of composts so decidedly seen
in such soils as are derived from the gypseous rocks, in conse-
quence of the presence of the organic salts in the rocks them-
selves. Hence they do not wear out or become exhausted, like
the soils of primary formations.

The composition of the soil upon the limestones, and in this
word we include all the limestones from the top of the water limes
to the Marcellus shales, is as follows:

1846.] Agriculhiral Geology of Onondaga County. 179

Pentamrus limestone.

Subsoil.

Surface soil

Water, _ - - -

- 1.38

2.81

Organic matter,

2.72

4.59

Silex,

- 85.85

84.64

Peroxide of iron and alumina,

8.57

7.28

Carbonate of lime,

- 0.21

0.50

Magnesia, - _ -

0.05

0.16

98.78 99.98*

In these analyses the composition of the soil may be considered
essentially the same, although more lime and magnesia seems to
exist in the surface soil. The analyses were made for the purpose
of determining the quantity of lime and magnesia, and also to de-
termine whether the limestone beneath could be depended upon for
furnishing a supply of these elements. The result in this in-
stance shows less than the circumstances would lead us to expect.

The composition of the limestones w'hich furnish the soil in
part, is as follows: .

Onondaga limestone.

Water lime.

Manlius

Manlius.

Water {Jiygrometric),

- 0.46

0.31

Organic matter,

0.50

0.24

Silex, -

- 1.87

1.26

Almnine and iron, -

0.09

1.50

Phosphate of lime, -

- 0.03

0.00

Carbonate of lime, -

44.50

25.82

Magnesia,

- 2.00*

16.10

49.39 55.24

In the water lime there was too much loss, and hence there
was something defective in the process. The analyses, though
not correct, show a wide difference in the composition of the
rocks, particularly as to the quantity- of magnesia. This layer of

* The analyses were made by Mr. Geo. H. Smith, a pupil in my labora-
tory; the want of time has prevented a reexamination of the water lime.

180 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

the water lime series, from which the analyzed specimen was
taken, is not that part of the series which is used for cement.
The whole series from the Niagara limestone to the Onondaga,
show that they are strictly magnesian deposits; they show too,
that the magnesia predominates only in the soil below the Onon-
daga limestone. For cereals we regard magnesia as important as
any of the inorganic matters, and observation we believe will bear
us out in the position that all those soils which have magnesia are
decidedly preferable to those which are destitute of it.

Two hundred grains of the soil upon the Onondaga limestone,
when submitted to the action of cold water alone, dissolved 1.34
grains; of this, .68 was organic matter, and ,66 saline. It was
taken from a wheat field, in stubble, east of Manlius Square. It
evidently produced a heavy crop.

The composition of the soil upon the water limes are repre-
sented by the following analysis. The soil had been only culti-
vated for a few years, and is full of the fragments of the broken
underlying rocks:

Hygrometric water, ----- 3.00

Vegetable or organic matter, - - - 13.00

Silex, 54.00

Protoxide of iron and alumina, - - - 9. 10

Carbonate of lime, ----- 15.63

Magnesia, 4.24

Sulphate of lime, - - - - - 1.16

100.13

In this sample of soil the quantity of organic matter is greater
than usual. It was taken from the first terrace, formed by the thin
bedded water limes at Manlius Centre, about sixty feet above the
Erie canal. It is the immediate debris of fhe rock mixed with
much undecomposed vegetable matter, and is not wholly derived
fiom the rock beneath, as is often the case with the soils upon
the plain below, where the gypseous shales lie beneath.

One hundred grains of the soil of the cultivated field of Mr.

1846,] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 381

Geddes, when treated for organic matter, by carbonate of ammo-
nia, gave insoluble matter, 5.08 ; soluble, 2.06 [crenic acid).

The soils of the limestones and shales above the Onondaga
limestone are usually brown when dry, those of the gypseous
rocks are ash gray or greenish gray.

The Marcellus shales are less adapted to wheat than the green
shales below; though they have body and consistence, and when
new contain the elements essential to vegetation; but the soil is not
renewed so rapidly. The turf of meadow lands is smooth, green
and not liable to crack in dry seasons, and the plowed fields have
sufficient looseness for maize and root cultivation, without the
tightness of the ordinary clay lands. The composition of several
specimens of soil of this variety has been determined.

Two hundred grains infused for a few days in six ounces of cold
water, gave of

Soluble matter, - _ _ 1.98 grs.
Vegetable matter, - - 0.63

Saline, ----- 1.35

The saline is composed of the following elements:

Silex, .03

Alumine tinged with iron, - .25

Chlorides of lime and magnesia, .23

Sulphate of lime, - - - .12

Crenate and carbonate of lime, - .73

1.35

It ought to be stated that usually there is a loss of organic
matter during the last part of the process in evaporating the
solution, as we have seldom used the water bath, and hence in
carrying the evaporation sufficiently far that the whole may be
dried, some portions are blackened and lost. There is, therefore,
less soluble organic matter in the result than actually exists in the
soil.

Another specimen of uncultivated soil, treated in the same
way, gave

182 ^Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

Soluble matter, - _ _ 1.60

Vegetable,- - - - 0.46

Saline, - - - - - 1.15

This consisted of

Crenate of lime, _ - - .60

Silex, - . . . .01

Sulphate of lime, - - - .40

Alumina, - - - - ,03
Chloride of lime and magnesia,

and sulphate of lime, - - .10

1.15

The soil by the usual plan of analysis, gave

Water,

5.20

Organic matter, - - -

6.50

Silex,

78.25

Peroxide of iron and alumina.

7.64

Carbonate of lime, - - -

2.05

Magnesia, - - - -

0.25

98.89

This specimen analyzed was taken from the highest cultivated
field, one and a half miles east of Manlius, towards Chitteningo.

Another specimen, taken from a field of Mr. Ellis [corn field),
surface soil, gave

Water, - - - - -

4.15

Organic matter, - - -

5.06

Silex,

79.15

Carbonate of lime.

3.00

Magnesia, - - - -

0.50

Peroxide of iron and alumina,

7.00

98.86

1846.] Jigricvltural Geology of Onondaga County. 183

An uncultivated soil in Manlius, upon the same rock, gave

Water, - - - -

- 3.00

Organic matter, -

5.15

Silex, - - - -

- 78.00

Iron and alumina,

13.00

Carbonate of lime, -

- 1.00

Magnesia, - - -

trace

100.15

Some differences may be observed in the composition of the
soils of the Marcellus shales and the green shales below the
Onondaga limestone, the most important of which is due to the
diminished quantity of lime and magnesia. The soil is brown,
and so far, the color may be considered as an advantage. It is
from two to five hundred feet above the plain where the green
shales predominate. The slopes are steeper, and there is less
level meadow land and more drift, for it is rather a singular fact
that far more drift is lodged upon the terraces above, than on the
plains below, and it is not at all difficult to detect the soil of the
green shales by its peculiar color. Some districts upon the ter-
races are quite stony, and among the stones some large boulders,
and all of primary rocks. In those districts we find the poorest
soils of the county; and they are sometimes hard, stiff and wet
The hill sides when the rock is near the surface, are usually
gullied, and deep ravines are not unfrequent. The facilities for
draining are excellent on this account, and even draining appears
unnecessary. The water of the shales contains less lime and less
matter in solution. Some wells, however, sunk in them are fer-
ruginous when the water is low, from the presence of pyrities in
the rock.

Some of the sources for Mamire. — Onondaga county abounds,
as is well known, in plaster. The quantity, value and position
of this article we need not dwell upon. The other substances
which may be employed to advantage are the marls, peat and the
refuse of the salt works. A remarkable bed of marl is exposed

184 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

by a cut of the road about half a mile from the house of Mr.
Geddes of Fairmount. It resembles a pulverulent gypsum or a
gypseous clay, and it is not improbable that it was gypsum, but
has been changed to a marl {^carbonate of lime), by the decompo-
sition of the sulphate of lime into a carbonate. This marl bed
underlies several acres, and is exposed for 20 or 30 feet in depth.
Two hundred grains infused in water gave

Sulphate of lime, - - - 2.98
Sulphate of magnesia,- - 0.44

Organic matter, _ - _ ].50

By far the greater part of the mass is a fine brownish carbon-
ate of lime, and in many places would be extremely valuable as
a manure.

A concreted marl in the same vicinity, gave, in two hundred
grains.

Soluble matter, - - - .62
Saline, - - - - .24

Vegetable, - - - - .54

Some of the small streams which flow over peat and marl
beds, transfer those materials to some lodging place where they
accumulate in a very fine state of subdivision. This matter is
worthy of attention. It consists of

Vegetable matter, -

- 50.00

Silex, _ - -

27.74

Carbonate of lime,-

- 20.00

Magnesia, - - -

2.00

99.74

The mechanical state in which this debris is makes it extreme-
ly valuable for a compost. The largest accumulation was near
the house of Mr. Geddes, and was brought down the stream
running through his estate. Peat is also extremely common, and
will in time become valuable for many purposes; for agriculture
and fuel.

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 185

A specimen gave the following composition:

Vegetable matter, -

- 92.18

Soluble organic matter,

3.81

Silex, ... -

- 1.43

Alumina and iron,

1.75

Carbonate of lime, -

- 0.75

Potash, - . - -

0.06

Magnesia, - - _

- 0.04

100.02*

It probably represents the composition of peat as it usually
occurs on the great level between Rome and Syracuse.

Another source of manure, is in the refuse of the salt works,
at Syracuse and Salina. The following is the composition of the
pan scale, according to the analysis of Dr. Lewis D. Beck.

Muriate of lime, - - - 11

Muriate of magnesia, - - 4

Carbonate of lime, - - - 60

Sulphate of lime,- - - 688

Muriate of soda, - - . 237

1000
Having given the analyses of many of the soils of this coimty,

• Analyzed by Judge Ball, in the author's laboratory.

Note. — The method which has been followed in the analysis of limestone,
etc., for obtaining the phosphates, has been to dissolve in chorohydric acid two
or three hundred grains, and then precipitate the alumina, ironand phosphates
with fresh hot lime water. The precipitate, after ignition, is fused with soda,
when the mass is dissolved out by water, neutralized carefully with chlorohy.
dric acid ; when chloride of calcium is added to precipitate the phosporic acid ;
or pure nitric acid and nitrate of silver ; when the phosphoric acid combines
with the silver and forms phosphate of silver. Sometimes acetic acid has
been employed for the solution of the precipitate by ammonia, but as acetic
acid dissolves phosphate of lime, this method for detecting the phosphate -^

appears less certain than the former. From numerous failures in searching
for phosphates by all these methods, Ave have been led to believe that the
phosphates are less common than in the soils of New England, which are
derived directly from primary rocks.

186 Jlgricxdtural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

it will be profitable to pass in review some of the facts which
appear in these results. It will be observed, that lime and mag-
nesia are present in all the soils of this county. Yet neither are
present in that proportion w^hich many European agriculturists
consider a sufficient quantity; yet all the rocks are more or less cal-
careous, and some of them pure limestones. Still, even here, in
the soil which they bear, there is a decided defect, provided S or
9 per cent is a profitable dose. Some have considered magnesia
as injurious, and we believe this opinion has been maintained in
England and Scotland. The conflicting views in regard to its
effects seem to arise from the different effects which follow, where
it is in the form of a neutral carbonate, as it exists in the rocks
and soils, and those which follow from its use when applied in a
caustic state, as when a magnesian limestone is employed soon
after it is burned. Pure lime W'hen exposed to the air, air slacks
as it is termed, absorbs in the process both carbonic acid and
water. When, however, a limestone which is magnesian is thus
exposed, it remains in a caustic state for a long time, and in this
condition is decidedly injurious, or so long as it is caustic. This
fact, however, proves nothing against the value of magnesia in
husbandry, and besides we have direct evidence that it is neces-
sary to plants, from the fact too that it is obtained from the seeds of
plants by analysis. Perhaps we should not be justified in taking „
the position, that the soils of the county are deficient in lime.
We believe, however, that many of the farms even in the limestone
district proper, will be benefitted by calcareous and magnesian com-
posts; and in making those composts, w-e would recommend the use
of the impure limestones, those especially which contain a large
amount of magnesia. A practice might be adopted in many
places of spreading the decomposing rocks and shales, which
crumble when wet: all of them, judging from their compo-
sition, will be found useful. Then, again, the marls and peat are
so abundant that calcareous and organic matter ought never to be
suffered to diminish to a minimum, or below 5 per cent. By the
practice of many of the ablest farmers, they keep a very steady per
centage, in the use of clover and plaster. Such, in fact, has

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 187

been done upon the farm of Mr. Gedtles. Many additional re-
marks might still be made in regard to these analyses and the
character of the soil, but so much space and time has been occu-
pied with them that we must omit these and resume the subject
on some other occasion. They will form in their present state a
sure basis for agricultural improvement.

The subjects which remain for consideration relate to the topo-
graphy, temperatiu'e and mean annual quantity of water which
falls in this part of the state.

1. Topography. — Upon this subject it will be necessary to be
brief. The county is divided into two parts — the plain or level,
and the hilly parts. The first (which is only comparatively
so), forms the part north of the Erie canal. The latter — south of
it. The first is underlaid by the soft rocks, and in some places
has been deeply excavated and the excavations filled up with
drift, consisting of rounded stones, pebbles and sand, the ruins of
primary and sedimentary rocks which exist north of the county.
All the elevations in this part of the county are produced by
accumulations of this kind. The rocks never rise above the
general level, still they are often near the surface. The line
which divides the county into two parts runs east and west near
the Erie canal, and very frequently the canal runs along the base
of the rocky terrace which is formed by the outcrop of the water
lime series. A good illustration of this dividing line may be
observed at and near Manlius Centre. The belt of country on
the line of the canal adjacent to this terrace, and occupying a
breadth of tw^o or three miles is well worthy of a particular de-
scription, but we have only time and space to remark that numer-
ous conical insulated protuberances rise up from the otherwise
level country. These give a peculiar feature, which is rarely met
with in other sections. They are due partially to the manner in
which the soft rocks have been destroyed, some portions of which
have been preserved; and upon these preserved parts, fine gravel
and sand, and other materials of drift, have accumulated, so as to
give them a rounded condition, as though they consisted entirely of
diluvial matter. These hills though steep and rounded, like a

188 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

huge potash kettle are cultivated frequently to their tops. In some
instances we find the surface in an inverted position to the one
we have alluded to — conical excavations, or excavations in the
shape of the inside of a potash kettle. The bottoms of those are
usually perforated ; the waters which flow down the inside slopes
leak out and pass through the strata which form the bottom.
Tufa usually accumulates upon all the slopes where water flows,
and trees, leaves and twigs are every where petrified in these
deposits.

These conical depressions, however, are not always perforated,
they sometimes hold water, as in the case of the Green lakes,
which are quite deep, as is found by soundings. Section 2 illus-
trates the peculiar topograpy of this part of the county.

fig. 2.

b, one of the Green lakes, which is more than 300 feet deep. T, tufa
beds, which accumulate on the slopes of the hills, a, green shales, c, ver-
micular lime rock, d, hydrarlic limestone.

The basins which contain these small lakes may have been
formed by the removal of soluble matter, in the first place, and
may have been only a sink hole, but has been gradually enlarged
and deepened by the instrumentality of water, as a solvent, and
as a mechanical agent in breaking down and removing the soft
materials of which the sides of the basin are composed.

The county south of the Erie canal rises into rounded hills.
Those on a near inspection are formed by successive terraces,
more or less distinct, but usually rather limited. The effects of
streams upon those materials are worthy of notice, they frequently
insulate a section of country of three or four- miles square. The
important effects which follow from this insulation is, that all the
superior part is perfectly drained, and all the the surface water
flows out at the low levels, or at the place where the thin bedded
limestones meet the comparatively impervious shales. Here

1846.] .Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County.

189

numerous springs flow out, some of which are mill streams of
considerable value. The waters which flow from this plane are
hard waters, but are still palatable. Those however which pene-
trate into the green shales and flow from them, are still more
hard; and, as has been already stated, dissolve from the rock
sufficient crenic acid to impart to them a bitter taste.

In the deeper excavations which have been filled or partially
filled with drift, many of the brine springs are found and procured
by boring. In illustration of this view we subjoin an ideal sec-
tion of Onondaga lake and the subjacent formations.

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C T S hn -,7^ o 3 C

0^ QJ

P. J2

♦- 13 w »j cS

190 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

The marl beds are general, but probably quite recent deposits
in this county, having the same origin as the tufa; and the pre-
vent, to a certain extent, the direct penetration of the surface
water into these ancient drift beds.

The general slope of the country is towards the lake, or towards
the north. The streams flowing from the higher rocks cut
through their softer strata, and thereby form north and south
valleys, in extent proportioned to their size. From these slopes,
which are usually gentle, numerous springs issue, which often
render the land wet, and hence require a drainage, the main cuts
of which must run parallel with the valley.

Facts ill Meteorology. — It is important in all calculations con-
cerning the agricultural capabilities of a country, to ascertain its
mean temperature, and the mean annual quantity of water which
falls upon its surface. Very few contributions have been made
to agricultural science in these departments of meteorology, by
the journals of the day.

In this county the temperature favors vegetation, and yet we
meet with extremes even here, which is due to the height of some
parts of its surface.

The mean temperature of Pompey hill, the highest land in the
county, for 14 years, is 44°. 09. This place is found, from a
series of observations, to be the coldest place in the state, being
3°. 52 colder than the average of the state. The thermometer,
however, does not sink so low in winter, nor do the autumnal
frosts occur so early, as in the state generally. The observed
temperature at Pompey for 16 years, was 42°.91. The 44°.09
being the calculated temperature, which is due from height and
latitude. At Onondaga the observed temperature for 14 years, was
47°. 54; making a difference of temperature in two places con-
tiguous to each other, of 4°.63.

Onondaga Hollow is probably favorably situated for represent-
ing the average temperature of the lower and more level portions
of the county ; while Pompey represents that of the most elevated
The observed temperature of Auburn (in Cayuga co.), for 15
years, was 46°.86. The temperature of Lewiston (Niagara co.),

1846.] Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. 191

for 11 years, was 47°. 92. And that of Albany for 27 years,
48°.47. We give these facts thus particularly, because we have
heard it stated by a distinguished agricultural writer, that the
vicinity of Buffalo was, upon an average 15° warmer than Alba-
ny; and it is evident from general expressions, that erroneous
views prevail upon this subject. The heat of summer is very
uniform throughout the whole state, the average of which is 92°,
and only five out of fifty-five places show a difference of 3° from
the mean of the state.

The summer season in Onondaga county, reckoning from the
first blooming of apple trees to the first killing frost, is from 174
to 180 days. Its average for the whole state, is 174 days.
Long Island is longer by 12^, and St. Lawrence is shorter by 22
days, than the average of the state.

Table 1, showing the quantity of rain which fell in each month
of the year, in three important points in Onondaga county, in
1843:

January,
February, -
March,
April,
May, -
June,
July, -
August, -
September,
October, -
November,
December,

Syracuse. Onondaga. Pompey.

2.46

2.40

3.32

1.83

2.36

1.38

3.63

4.24

1.62

1.65

1.78

1.37

1.10

1.63

2.53

3.00

3.09

5.37

2.19

2.10

1.56

2.15

1.90

3.04

4.68

5.06

5.71

5.41

1.19

4.48

2.83

2.72

0.46

2.12

1.83

0.56

Whole amount for the year, - 35.18 33.81 31.38

Whole amount from April to

October, in inches, - - 16.90 15.06 19.50

192 Agricultural Geology of Onondaga County. [April,

Table 2, showing the quantity of rain which fell during the
years designated below, from 1826 to 1835.

Place.

1826.

1827.

1828.

1829.

1830.

1831.

1832.

1833.

1834.

1835.

26.67

38.09
39.13

.35.79
33.47

27.30
27.23

28.30
26.44

26.79
30.14

32 43

Pompey.

30.06

33.27

General average for Onondaga, - - 30.72

General average for Pompey, - - 31.36

The same years for Albany, - - - 39.91

The same years for Utica, - - - 40.11

The determination of the quantity of rain which falls at any
place, is essential to those who intend to employ Liebig's patent
manure, an account of which has been given in many of the
agricultural journals. The base of the manure is a silicate of
an alkali, whose solubility depends upon the amount of silex
which enters into the combination, and this amount is adjusted to
the quantity of rain which annually falls at the place; if this
amount is small, its solubility is increased by an increased quantity
of potash or other alkali; if it is comparatively great the silex is
increased. We have our doubts, however, in the practicability of
the proposed scheme, and w€ have been satisfied for a long time
that barn yard manures and composts of peat, ashes, lime and
magnesia are far the best manures which farmers in general can
employ. We do not take into view here what horticulturists, or
farmers located in the immediate neighborhood of large towns,
can do, where there is an immense quantity of refuse matters
which are produced from the various pursuits of life. But in the
interior and middle counties of New York, where there are so
many sources of the raw material for making manure, and so
cheaply too, it cannot be expected that expensive manufactured
manures can be profitably employed.

We have now lengthened out this article farther than we ori-
ginally intended, and we ask for it considerable indulgence, for
notwithstanding its gi-eat length much remains to be said to make
it complete, and to adapt it to the particular locations it is de-

1846.] Iron Trade. 193

signed for. Many facts which we have given have a direct
application to the same geological formations which traverse cen-
tral New York, but the particular applications will be better
understood by a reference to the geological map which has just
been widely distributed in the different parts of the state.

IRON TRADE AND MANUFACTURE.

BY RANSOM COOK.

There are few subjects on which we are more liable to err,
than in making estimates and predictions in regard to the product
and consumption of iron. For nearly thirty years we have
thought we had almost reached the point, where our product of
this article would equal its consumption in our country; and still,
we find ourselves farther from it at the present time, than we
have been for the last half century. That is, we are now endea-
voring to import (and shall do so, if it can be obtained at a rea-
sonable price), much more iron than at any former period; not-
withstanding the many confident predictions to the contrary.

Among the documents accompanying the report of Mr. Salton-
stall, to Congress, in 1842, Mr. W. Young says: " I have been
an iron manufacturer in this country since 1817. I was the
superintendent of the West Point foundry from its commence-
ment in 1817 till 1831. I was president of the Ulster Iron Co.
from 1831 till April, 1840." After this time we find he was
(connected with the Mount Savage works, in Maryland, and he is
unquestionably an experienced iron master; farther on he says,
" England always guards and protects every branch of trade, and
encourages her own manufactures; and this policy has given her
the preeminence she now possesses. Let our legislators adopt
the same course, and within ten years we will send bar iron to
England."

Our legislators complied, imposed all the duties asked, viz:
$25 a ton on rolled bar iron— and what is the result? "Why the
demand increases much faster than its product, and the fulfilment

Vol. Ill, No. II. 15

194 Iron Trade. [April,

of Mr. Young's prediction may be postponed until the face of our
wide country shall rival the small isle of England in improve-
ments.

In the last volume of Hunt's Merchants' Magazine, article
" iron trade," we find an estimate of the amount of iron wanted
for our rail roads alone; on which the mere duties, independent
of the purchase money, would amount to six and a half millions
dollars. True, we shall not import it this year, for we cannot
obtain it. Instead of " sending bar iron to England," we find
she cannot supply our demand, even with the assistance of all
our own manufactures; and the greatest difficulty now encounter-
ed in the construction of rail roads, is the absolute impossibility
of obtaining a ready supply of iron.

One cause of our erroneous calculations on this subject, is that
of greatly over-estimating the quantity of iron produced in our
country. In the U. S. census of 1840, the marshals were required
to give the number of furnaces, bloomeries, forges and rolling mills,
with the quantity of iron produced by each. In obeying these
instructions, the marshals give the amount of iron produced in
blast furnaces, which is pig metal; and this pig metal when
taken to a foundry and melted in a cupalo furnace, is again esti-
mated as iron produced. So if taken to a puddling furnace,
where it is reduced to wrought iron, the same result follows, for
it is again estimated. From the puddling furnace it goes to the
rolling mill, where it is estimated for the third time, as the rolling
mill is also supposed to produce iron. Then again, much of the
Sweeds, Russian and some kinds of English iron imported, is
afterwards rolled in our mills, and this too, is estimated as iron
produced in this country. The scrap iron, both the domestic and
that which is imported from abroad in large quantities, when
worked over is also estimated as iron produced. The Scotch pig
and our broken pot metal is subject to the same estimate, every
time it is melted, which may sometimes happen twice or thrice a
year.

Owing to this erroneous method of estimating the product of
iron in our country, Essex county is found to produce 2,872 tons

1846.] Iron Trade. 195

of bar iron in a year, while Rensselaer county has the credit of
producing 37,000 tons of the same article. The former county
does 'produce iron — the latter works it over. Even our cities,
according to the census are large iron producers. The city of
New York is there said to produce much more cast iron than the
county of Essex, and New Orleans is also a producer of iron.

After our own iron has been thus estimated, at three or four
times its real quantity, and is then increased by adding to it much
that has been imported, Ave see how erroneous all calculations
must be, which adopt this aggregate as the product of our coun-
try, and then compare it with our importations of the article.
Such a comparison would lead many to suppose, that we should
soon supply our own market at least. To approximate the truth
we should ascertain the quantity of iron produced from the ore in
this country, and then compare it with our importations for a
series of 10 or 15 years. Our importations have fallen off the
two last years, for the best of all reasons, because we could not
obtain it, at least without paying a most exorbitant price.

But the census furnishes us with another method for estimating
the amount of iron produced, which is less fallacious — we refer
to the number of men employed in this branch of business. We
there find that Essex county, which in this business employs more
than any other county in this state, has 415 men engaged in her
mines, furnaces, rolling mills and forges; w^hile single iron esta-
blishments may be referred to in Wales, which employ 5,000
persons. And yet, w^e sometimes hear the owner of a small
forge who cannot produce iron fast enough to supply the carts of
the city of New York with linch pins, talk of exporting iron to
England.

Although we see the product of iron steadily increasing in this
country, we should not infer from this that we are about to supply
our market with the article. Its consumption is constantly crowd-
ing upon its product ; not merely in consequence of our increasing
population, but owing far more to its application to new uses.
Nor are these confined to rail roads, mechanical machines and
agricultural implements. Its superiority for the construction of

196 Irish Jigriculture. [April,

ships and canal boats has been fully demonstrated; dwellings too,
are being constructed of the same material, and few now will
venture to fix a limit to its use. Indeed, if the past and the
present be any indication of the future, this key of the arts will
meet a constantly increasing demand, until man shall cease to
move onward in his grand march of improvement.

MARKET HILL AGRICULTURAL DINNER— IMPROVE-
MENTS IN IRISH AGRICULTURE.

BY HENRY S. RANDALL.

A great improvement is taking place in the agriculture of
some districts in the north of Ireland, by a system of means
novel, and not without interest, to American farmers. The in-
centive or impulse to these changes is given by the proprietors to
the tillers of the soil, partially by a judicious distribution of boun-
ties, calculated (and this is most wisely done) as much to appeal
to the pride — the esprit du corps — as to the pocket of the reci-
pient: and the spirit thus awakened is furthered and sustained,
as well as guided in proper channels, by the employment of agri-
culturists of science and experience to counsel and encourage the
tenants, to see that each is properly noticed and rewarded for his
improvements, — in short, to exercise all the supervision which
the tenants will voluntarily submit to. This is far preferable to
coertion through leasehold stipulations.

Foremost amongst the landlords who thus wisely study their
own and their tenants' interests, is the Earl of Gosford, whose
large estates lie in the county of Armagh. And how favorably
does this nobleman's conduct, in this particular, contrast with
that of the scores of titled ahsentees, who treat the land that bore
them as a conquered province, to be drained of its entire income
to support the dissipations of the English and continental capitals
and watering places!

Among the scientific agriculturists, who, as the employees of
the landholders, have done most to improve the husbandry of the

1846.] Irish Agriculture. 197

north of Ireland, incomparably first, probably, stands William
Blaker, Esq., the " agriculturist " (so called) of the Gosford and
some other estates. This gentleman, without claiming to have
been the originator of each detail of the system of husbandry
advocated by him, probably deserves the credit of uniting the
the several parts — practices drawn from various local systems —
into one homogeneous whole, adapted to the exigencies of the
section of country which his labors are designed to benefit. And
here let it be remarked, in passing, that the skill of the adapter is
scarcely second to that of the discoverer or inventor. The same
system, it is but a truism to say, will not work equally well under
all circumstances. To skilfully seize upon and connect, from the
great store-house of mind, or of physics, the precise materials
adapted to our own wants, is the wisdom of the wise man — the
talent of the able one.

An occasional correspondence with Mr. Blaker for several
years, has kept me in some measure advised of the results of his
labors. These are shown in the proceedings of the annual Mar-
ket Hill agricultural meeting. But before proceeding to discuss
the relative merits of the new and old husbandry, let us glance at
the organization of this agricultural association, and some of its
methods of doing business. Hints, not without value to tis, may,
peradventure, be gleaned from them.

I presume from all that has met my eye, that there is no initia-
tion fee to the association — its limits being entirely territorial
ones — the Earl of Gosford and (to a less extent) another land-
holder, a brother of Mr. Blaker's, paying all the premiums. These
are mainly of a character which makes the bounty to a great extent
an honorary one, such as splendid clocks, silver cups, &c. It
would be the easiest thing in the word to cant a little on this sub-
ject by saying that money would be more useful to the tenant.
The greatest permanent benefit the tenants derive from the system
of rewards, would be to make him a good farmer. This would
not only relieve the present wants, but, with the ordinary bless-
ings of Providence, would guard against the future one. If a
showy testimonial of his victory, like an elegant clock, or a piece

198 Jriih Agriculture. [April,

of plate, will influence him more than money to such a result,
then it is unquestionably better to oifer him the former. That
the devisers of the scheme understood well whom they had to
deal with, the result shows. I certainly have never read of keener
contests for agricultural superiority than those of the tenants
forming this association, nor, I will add, those that interested me
more. And there is another feature in this system, which appears
to work well, and which would be incompatible with money
premiums. It is this. The ownership of these clocks, etc., is
not secured by one victory. Three are necessary to that end.
The design of this, and it seems to produce that effect, is to lead
to sustained exertions. Premiums, as commonly paid, often go
to reward a more desultory effort, or " good luck." It is amusing
to learn in the reports of the committees (at the Market Hill
meeting), and in the published remarks of Mr. Blaker, the strong
exertions of the victors of last year to maintain their superiority
this. After the last whirlwind charge of the French at Water-
loo— an empire staked on the " issue of a die," and lost — Bona-
parte left not the disastrous field a more thoroughly defeated man,
in his own estimation, than some of the losers of these clocks
and cups! One brave fellow had done his utmost — but a trivial
error in a nice point had robbed him of victory. I can fancy his
look of pride humbled, of disappointment acutely felt but man-
fully borne! This was too much! Lord Gosford immediately
declared he should retain his clock — and to the victor he awarded
a still more expensive one! Before dismissing this part of the
subject, it may be well enough to remark, however, that all the
bounties or premiums are not paid in this way. Seeds, guano,
etc., for the use of the land, are from time to time distributed to
reward improvements.*

I have hitherto omitted to state the particular objects for which
these premiums arc paid. They are paid invariably, I believe,

• Large quantities of the seeds of such crops as it is considered important
to introduce and extend, are also lent out to the tenants. On the Gosford and
Drumbanagher estates, says Mr. Blaker, 42 bushels of turnip seed, 9 tons of
clover seed, 138 bushels of vetches, and 512 bushels of grass seed vpere thus
lent to the smaller tenants during the past season.

1846.] Irish Agriculture. 199

for the best managed farm, including all their crops, their proper
rotation, their adaptation to the greatest amount or maximum of
production, without unnecessary or improper exhaustion of the
soil, — stocks of all kinds, — management of manures, — permanent
improvements, such as draining, fences, buildings, &c. — in a word
the greatest improvement to the farm and the greatest profit to
the tenant. This is no doubt better both for landlord and tenant,
in the circumstances in which these parties are placed towards
each other, in Ireland, than to pay bounties on separate animals
and crops.

The size of the farms of the great body of the Irish tenants,
would strike an American farmer with surprise. Perhaps the
average would not exceed ten English acres. But do these men,
if they have families, get a comfortable living on these mere
"patches" of land? If we may trust the assertions of Mr.
Blaker, they do, — although the land is in many cases of a very
inferior quality, until improved by the tenant.

The following table will give an idea of what the land sup-
ports:

Stock on ten farms, containing 98 acres, 3 roods, 28 perches, on
Lord Gosjvrd's estate.

Stock on Farms.

No. of

•

No.

Contents of Farm.

persons

(U

en

V

o.

Rent of Farm.

a.

r.

p-

on each
Farm.

o

O

O

'a3

1)

fcc

£

s.

d.

1

9

0

33

7

4

2

11

1

8

2

8

2

20

7

2

1

2

10

7

0

3

8

3

9

7

3

2

11

9

1

4

9

1

32

6

3

2

11

18

10

5

8

2

10

5

4

2

17

3

0

6

9

2

0

4

1

4 1

2

2

11

5

q

7

10

2

14

4

1

3

2

11

18

6

8

10

3

17

6

1

2

2

12

7

2

9

10

3

30

8

3

4

12

0

6

10

12

1

15

6

1

4

6

12

0

8

Total,

98

3

20

60

4

32

2

2

26

121

12

8

200 Irish Agriculture. [April,

One-half of the above land is under flax or grain crops.

Would a single farmer with his family, in our own country,
make a living off the whole 98 acres, after paying a rent of
^£121, \2s.,Sd. ($583 90)? Unquestionably not, under any-
thing like ordinary circumstances. Neither could an equal
amount of stock be kept on anything like the same amount of
even our best lands. It will be observed that one-half of the 98
acres is under crops, very little of which reaches the stock, be-
sides the straw: Should we let the keep of the horses, heifers,
sheep, pigs, and two of the cows offset against the straw, then
we should have 30 cows kept on 49 acres of land, — a cow to an
acre and a fraction less than two-thirds of an acre!

Whence this difference in the acreable products of the United
States and Ireland? Is it in the quality of the soil? The better
class of New York lands, are decidedly superior to the 98 acres
above particularized, if we may credit Mr. Bkker, — that is, be-
fore the latter were recently made over, so to speak, by the pre-
sent system of culture. How then sixty human beings can obtain
subsistence, where in this country a single family could not (over
and above rent), is indeed surprising. True, things which the
American farmer would consider necessaries — things of course —
would be unapproachable luxuries to the small Irish tenant, even
under the ameliorating influences of a Gosford and a Blaker.*
An American farmer, thank God I can eat of meat, wheaten
bread, milk and butter (tea!), and as many varieties of vegetables
as he chooses, three times a day, and have a " chicken in his
pot " not only " on Sunday," but on any other day in the week!

• Justice all round requires that I should copy the following statement of
Mr. Blaker in relation to the holders of the ten farms given in the table.
He says : " the stock that these small farmers are possessed of shows that
they are by no means in penury. I have chosen those who are living along
the road side, and if any one has the curiosity to- visit them to-morrow, I
shall have a jaunting car ready at Mr. Ringland's, at Gosford gate, to take
them to their houses. No one, I expect, will conceive he is to meet with any
great appearance of wealth — it is up-hill work to amass riches from a few
acres of land, paying a fair rent, and rearing a young family — but I believe
every one of them will be found in a thriving condition."

1846.] Irish Agriculture. 201

More than this. He can send his children to school five or six
months in the year, until they are 16 or 17 years old, and can,
and often does, educate them to the learned professions. Great
as the difference is, however, between the expenditures — the
" outgoes " — of the American and Irish farmer, it by no means
explains the monstrous discrepancy between a given amount of
land supporting sixty persons or only six. Nor do the highest
market prices at which products are sold in Ireland explain it.
Saying nothing about the people, the amount of stock kept on the
land shows conclusively, as I have before stated, that such farmers
as those whose farms and stock are enumerated in the foregoing
table, actually obtam a much larger product per acre, than the
proprietors of the best American lands. The question again
arises, whence is it? This is best answered by considering the
system of husbandry under which they obtain these results, the
new system, as it is called, introduced by Mr. Blaker.

Mr. B. found these small farms imperfectly drained, notwith-
standing they w^ere cut up into various small plats or fields by
numerous ditches. Mr. B. introduced furrow-draining, and urged
the leveling of all the surface ditches. This resulted in a con-
siderable saving of the land, — and the whole farm, with the ex-
ception of the enclosure about the barns, &c., is thrown into one
field. The crops are then put in in " strips " across the entire
farm. This of course is followed by the practice of soiling the
whole stock. Mr. B. contends that two cows can be thus sum-
mered from the same land one would require if pastured. He
also recommends a larger proportion of roots and other crops to
be fed green, than we know anything about in this country.
This is necessary where the soiling system is pursued, and it leads
to an indefinite increase of manures. These manures, increased
by composts, and protected from the weather, are sufficient in
many instances to give a dressing to one-third of the whole farm!*

• I am sensible, on casting my eye back over this, that I have not been
sufficiently full to give a complete view of the " new husbandry." I have
written this from a sick-room — in the short intervals allowed from the cure
of the sick — and consequently with constantly diverted attention.

202 Competition of the East with the West. [April,

Such is a bare outline of the system. How much of it
would be applicable here, the good sense of each one must deter-
mine. That it has wrought a great and ameliorating change in a
portion of Ireland, under the auspices of Lord Gosford and Mr^
Blaker, there can be no doubt. It is rapidly extending in that
country. Agriculturists (some of them tenants), tutored under
the eye of Mr. Blaker, are constantly going out to take charge
of other estates, thus spreading the system far and wide. Suc-
cess to them ! Success to the poineers in this philanthrophic
work! Across the wide Atlantic, we tender them the meed of
American sympathy, and American praise. ,

WHY THE EAST CANNOT COMPETE WITH THE
WEST.

BY COL. T. J. CARMICHAEL, SING SING.

Having spent my early life in the state of Ohio, where the
farmer suffered so much for want of a market, before the days of
steam boats, canals, and rail roads, and witnessed the immense
change which these inventions and improvements have made in
the wealth and prosperity of the west, by affording a ready mar-
ket for the lighter and most valuable products of the soil, I con-
fess, I was surprised on taking up my residence on the North
river, to find the farmers here trying to compete with the great
west in the same products, instead of turning their attention to
the more bulky and perishable articles, for which they have a
good market, and against which they may defy all western com-
petition.

Now let us try my position mathematically. And for that pur-
pose, give a farmer on the Hudson river one hundred acres of the
best arable land, at a cost of one hundred dollars per acre, and a
western farmer, say in Wisconsin, the same quantity at five dol-
lars per acre — which is a full price for arable lands in that coun-
try under improvement. Now let each farm be located within

1S46.] Competition of the East with the West. 203

the same distance from navigation, and allow the expenses of
seeding and gathering of crops to be the same, and let the whole
premises east and west be put into wheat.

First the eastern farmer must manure at an expense of at least
%b per acre, and if he is very fortunate he may raise 25 bushels
per acre, or 2,500 bushels in all. This is good for 500 barrels of
flour. Take flour at $'5 per barrel and he has $2,500. Now
deduct 10 cents per barrel for transportation, $50. Now deduct
the interest of cost of one hundred acres $700, and maniu-ing
$500. and you have $1,300.

Now let us look at the operations of the western farmer, who
with the same labor, minus manuring, is sure of an average of
thirty bushels per acre — say 3,000 — which is equal to COO barrels
of flour; deduct $1 per barrel for freight, and at the same price
in market he has $2,400; deduct interest on the cost of land
$35, and he has $2,365; now deduct the proceeds of the eastern
farm, $1,300, from that of the west, $2,365, and you have
$1,365 balance in favor of the western farmer, more than the
entire proceeds of the eastern farm. Our eastern farmer asks then
what shall we do? Our fathers used to make fortunes in raising
grain? It is answered that your fathers lived in another age of
the world, and were governed by circumstances; you see the
progress of the means of transportation — you see the enormous
growth of the west — you feel the competition of that quarter in
the lighter articles — you also see the high prices of bulky and
perishable products in your market, without taking the advantage
of such a state of things. By perishable products, I mean pota-
toes, turnips, beets, carrots, cabbage, fruit, and all other vege-
tables— together with fresh beef, mutton, pork, &c.

Now let us cultivate a farm on the North river, with some of
these articles, all of which are about equally profitable. Sup-
pose the same farmer should plant 50 acres in potatoes, and the
same number in turnips, after manuring as for wheat. The
potatoe should produce 200 bushels per acre, 10,000 bushels.
These at three bushels to the barrel, are equal to 3,333 barrels,
worth at least as many dollars in market, clear of freight. Now

204 Competition of the East with the West. [April,

your fifty acres of turnips should yield 400 bushels per acre, 20,000
bushels, or 6,666 barrels, worth half a dollar per barrel clear of
freight, $3,333 ; to which add the crop of potatoes $3,333, and
you have $6,666. From this sum deduct manuring and interest
$1,200, and the balance is $5,466 from one hundred acres.

Now instead of marketing the turnips (which are a bulky
article), let us adopt the European practice of purchasing stock
in the interior of the country from the breeders, and fatten it for
the market. It has been demonstrated that sixty bushels of tur-
nips, and six hundred weight of hay properly fed, w411 fatten ten
sheep, or one cow, in the best manner for the shambles, in the
space of two months. Sheep and cattle can be purchased in the
interior of the country, in low condition, for half their market
value when fattened. This process here, as well as abroad, will
yield the farmer a liberal increase.

On my late visit to Europe, I found that they adapted their
business and products to their locations. In districts at a distance
from market, they raise grain and breed stock, while those more
convenient turn their attention to growing vegetables and fatting
stock; and it is to this practice of making two professions, viz:
fatting and breeding, that I attribute most of their success. In
farming, like every other business, a man should never have " too
many irons in the fire at once," some of them are liable to get
burned. He who turns his attention either to one branch or the
other, is the most likely to come out successful in the end. Who
employs a physician to perform the duties of a surgeon, or a car-
penter to build a brick or stone wall? And with deference I
submit to intelligent farmers, whether there is not as much diifer-
ence in the modes and rules of breeding stock and fatting it, as in
that of raising grain and bulbous roots?

It seems almost incredible to an American, that in many parts
of Great Britain and France, the farmers- pay $20 per acre rent
per annum, by the hundred acres, and yet they drive a thriving
business, by adapting their products to their location, and yet it
seldom happens that similar articles are higher there than in the
New York markets.

1846.] Competition of the East with the West. 205

I am inclined to think there is a mistaken opinion very general
among our farmers, that they should produce at least as much of
certain crops as they consume; as well may it be held, that every
farmer should doctor his family, plead his law, or preach his gos-
pel,— when he can purchase cheaper than produce, or realize a
greater income by selling one thing and buying another, why not
do so.

Men are the sport of circumstances, when
Circumstances are the sport of men.

That farmer must play a loosing game who will not adapt his
business to circumstances and location.

In connection with this subject we should not lose sight of the
different breeds of stock. One is best adapted to the dairy and
another to the shambles, but neither possess both properties in the
highest degree. And w^hile it is admitted that the Leicester,
South Down and Cheviot sheep are the best mutton breeds, yet I
see our farmers trying to compete with the west in raising Me-
rinos for wool. The Durham it is demonstrated is the best breed
for beef, on account of its size and early maturity, and we are
fatting and breeding dairy cattle, though we see the great west
flooding the country with butter, cheese and fine wool.

But in choosing breeds of stock in this country, I find great
care must be taken; we have as much quackery in this line as in
medicine. And this is one reason, I imagine, wdiy the best are
not more esteemed by our farmers; the truth is they are seldom
met with in our quarter, though so many profess to have them,
we are too often led astray by the name without having informed
ourselves as to the true form or figm'e of these animals.

I find we labor under another difficulty of quite a serious na-
ture. The United States has a great variety of climate, varying
in many respects from that of Great Britain, in its products, the
habits of the people, and modes of agriculture. These facts
should be carefully considered by the American farmer; while I
would give Europe all the credit for her fine breeds of stock, I
must insist that, aside from fatting and breeding, very little of her

206 Compeiiiion of the East with the West. [April,

system of farming is adapted to this country. And yet most of
our works on agriculture are either reprints or compilations of
British publications. I grant it is true in the main " that the
modes and rules of culture which are successful in one place will
be so in others, provided we adapt them to the varying conditions
of climate and situation,'''' but this adaptation seems to be the
trouble or difficulty we have to encounter, and hence the necessity
of a system of our own.

But while our farmers are in the habit of reading the penny
news, instead of our agricultural papers and quarterly reviews,
which may cost them from one to three dollars per annum, and
are loosing as many hundreds by bad management there is but
little hope for improvement.

Even England never woke up to this subject, until George the
III. turned farmer, and thereby made it fashionable in that country
(one of the few good acts of his life), " necessslty is the mother
of invention," and the time is not far distant when our farmers
will realize the application. What gave Bakewell his local im-
mortality and wealth, but his genius in producing an improved
breed of mutton sheep. Have our farmers less skill in this art?

Let farmers consider that book-making in the present age, both
here and abroad, has become a trade of the printer. That au-
thors think much less than they lurite, and practice less than
either. Therefore it is that their works are of so little value to
the practical man.

I think our scientific friends in this country are behind the age
in agriculture except so far as they borrow; for instance if we
we have ever had an analysis of the Indian corn or pumpkin, I
have not had the good fortune to see it. I would be happy to
know the same of the artichoke which is being introduced in the
west as a feed for sheep, but have not found either in the Euro-
pean tables. I find on experiment that the pumpkin is even
a better feed for sheep than the turnip, when ran through the
cutting machine, and every American farmer knows its utility in
fatting cattle, and that it may be grown abundantly in a field of
corn without injury to the crop.

1846.] Structure of Granitic Mountains. 207

I hope soon however to see the day when our practical farmers
in different sections of the country will perceive the importance
of thinking and writing more on their practice, with a view of
seeking information and imparting knowledge to each other; by
this means, and this only, we may soon establish an American
system, however varied may be the climate, soil, or location.

Dec. 19th, 1845.

STRUCTURE OF GRANITIC MOUNTAINS.

The form of granitic mountains is usually conical, sometimes
sharply, and sometimes obtusely conical. It is rare that they pre-
sent the form of a parabola, or a perfect dome-shaped summit;
such, however, is the form of the Brocken, in Switzerland. So
perfect and indeed so regularly dome-shaped is this mountain,
that a small house upon its summit is distinctly visible at a great
distance.

All the granitic mountains of New York belong to the sharply
conical class, and when seen at a distance appear like towering
castles.

In structm-e, or in the internal arrangement of their subordinate
masses, a great similarity exists. The Brocken, already referred
to, is described by L. Von Buch, as being formed of parallel lay-
ers of granite arranged in parabolic curves. The explanation
which is given of this singular structure, is, that it was softened
by internal heat, and then blown up like a great bubble; and it
is supposed to follow from this view, that the granite thus lifted
up from below, cannot be considered as belonging to any kind of
lava, or as a semi-fluid filling fissures from above, but that it
possessed a certain consistency which in most cases was far re-
moved fi-om the condition of absolute fluidity; and indeed the
beautiful and regular external form which the rock assumes, rend-
ers any other assumption improbable.* In our own country,

• Exposition of Von Buch's views in the Quarterly Journal of the Geol.
Society of London, p. 127.

208 Structure of Granitic Mountains. [April,

however, although the thick laminated structure prevails as in
the Brocken, still the matter composing the granitic beds can be
proved to have been forced in many instances through narrow
fissures in some other rock; which fact seems to us to prove that
there was an approach at least to a strictly fluid condition. The
great granite quarries of Maine, and many of the thick granitic
masses of Massachusetts, rest upon gneiss or mica slate; and it is
through rents in those inferior rocks, which are sometimes not
over six inches in width, that the granite has been forced in its
liquid or semi-liquid state.

Another result follows from the concentric lamination of grani-
tic mountains: the surface is always covered with immense blocks
of the material. Situated as those peaks usually are, in a high,
frosty region, the laminated masses break up and become dis-
membered by the congelation of water confined between the
masses. This, together with the rapid process of disintegration
which always goes on in the higher regions, separates farther and
farther the dismembered rocks, so that in the end, the surface
looks as if it was mechanically strewed with blocks of granite,
some leaning, some upright, others upon their broad bases, but
little removed from their original position; w^hile others are
poised upon a projecting point, just ready to be precipitated from
their support and roll down the steep. The mountains of New
York, particularly the Adirondacks, are in the state and condition
we have described. The layers of granite lie parallel to the
mountain sides, or nearly so, and might be mistaken for stratifi-
cation by one untutored in geological principles, and thus wher-
ever there is a flat surface where loose blocks of rock can repose,
there we find the accumulations we have spoken of above. Some
might entertain the view at first that those loose rocks, inasmuch
as they are frequently rounded, that they belonged to the erratic
block group of De La Beche; but an examination of the condi-
tion and character of the rocks and strata would soon determine
the fact that the loose materials belong mostly to the rocks upon
which they rest — and that they have been separated from the
parent rock by the slow process of frosts and disintegration.

1S46.] Structure of Granitic Mountains. 209

Hence it follows, that in the course of geological periods layer
after layer has been broken up — the harder parts of some remain,
while that of others has been precipitated into the lower regions.
The whole process and the whole condition of things upon these
granitic domes and peaks remind the agriculturist how the vast
strata of debris and soil has been formed which covers the plains
and hills below — the only difference is, that here the process is
more rapid. The materials resulting too from this process, find a
resting place only below and upon the champaign country. Here
too is the source of the potash and soda of the rich alluvions, and
to some considerable extent of the phosphates. The feldspar and
mica of the granite and the phosphate of lime, common in pri-
mary rocks, are transferred from a bleak and solitary region to
the mild and beautiful valleys, where they become of the highest
use to the husbandman.

It is by the processes which we have here described that un-
cultivable waste lands and deserts are made subservient to the
wants of man. In themselves, they appear to the unreflecting as
wastes, valueless to the world, which mar its beauty, and deform-
ing the face of nature, and diminishing the value of domains, and
to which opprobrious epithets have been w'ith some show of truth
and justness applied. But the intelligent and reflecting see in all
these arrangements the highest evidence of wisdom and utility.
It is in the high towering cliffs, the sharp, high peaks or domes,
that most of the fertile agents are prepared, when they are de-
tached from their combinations and brought into an available
state. It is here that Nature unlocks her storehouse of potash
and soda — here phosphate of lime and other inorganic matters,
which are essential to the existence it would seem of life, are to
be found. The tempests and storms which sweep over these wastes
conspire to the same end. The violence of nature must be ex-
erted, the lightning must flash upon the summits, the waves must
beat upon the cliff, the frost must rend the rocks, the searchino-
vapors must penetrate the masses, before they will yield their
treasures. Where could all these processes be conducted so safely,

Vol. III., No. II. 16

iSlO Spontaneous Changes of Organized Matter. [April,

so effectually, without endangering the interests of man — or where
could they be exerted at all, except in high places, and in the re-
mote and sometimes inaccessible fields of snow?

ON THE SPONTANEOUS CHANGES WHICH ORGAN-
IZED MATTER UNDERGOES WHEN EXPOSED TO
THE ACTION OF CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL FORCES.

We have had so many occasions for speaking of the organic
acids and other products derived from organic matter, that we
deem it necessary to say a few words upon these products. The
woody tissues of dead plants give origin to a class of bodies
which were formerly known under the name of Ulmine, but
which are now known to consist of several distinct substances,
differing both in composition and in their properties. To form
ulmine it is only necessary that wood should be exposed in con-
tact with air and moisture. Under these circumstances, however,
both ulmic and ulraic acid is formed. Their names imply that
they were derived from the woody tissues of the elm. The latter
is insoluble in water or alcohol, but is soluble in alkaline solu-
tions, and in its natural state contains ammonia, which may be
expelled by caustic potash, when the acid itself is decomposed.
The formation of these bodies during the decay of wood results
from the absorption of oxygen and the evolution of carbonic acid
and water. They are both brown uncrystalizable bodies, and re-
semble vegetable extracts.

The theory of the formation of these bodies, is analagous to
that of fermentation; for it is necessary in order they may be
formed, that an azotized substance should be present, which being
first decomposed communicates the action to the woody fibre, and
the albuminous juices which exist in the vessels act as a ferment.
This view is supported by the fact that~ any process or method
which prevents fermentation in any instance, prevents also the
decay of wood; for, notwithstanding wood is exposed to the ac-
tion of oxygen and water for a long time, its rotting is prevented
when it is saturated with corrosive sublimate or pyroligneous acid,

1846.] Spontaneous Changes of Organized Matter. 211

as these combine with the albumen of the juices and render them
insohible, and the wood will be protected from decomposition.
When the roots, leaves, &c., are left upon and in the soil, they
are converted into a substance which partly by their power of
absorbing oxygen are converted into a substance which contri-
butes powerfully to the growth of the succeeding race of plants,
and thereby constitute the essential element of every fertile soil.
Turf or peat, as it is usually called in this country, contains hu-
mous and humic acids; the latter is remarkable for its strong at-
traction for ammonia, so much so, that it is with difficulty that it
is separated from it by any reagent whatever.

It is found in the black turf which is submerged beneath water,
and from its strong attraction for ammonia is an important ele-
ment in the formation of composts. Two other bodies differing
from the preceding are also found in the organic matter of soils,
viz., crcnic and apocrenic acids. Their name simply implies that
they were obtained, or derived from, 2i fountain or spring. These
are azotized acids, and are also the products of animal as well as
vegetable matter. They are known to exist in the softer rocks
as the polishing slate of Germany, and from the fact that it con-
tains animal matter, it has been used for food in times of scarcity.
We have obtained the same acids from a much older system of
rocks in New York, as may be seen from the articles in this and
the preceding number.

Crenic acid is described in books as a pale yellow gummy
mass, of an astringent taste, and slightly bitter, very soluble both
in alcohol and water. Exposure to the air converts it into apo-
crenic acid, which is brown and also astringent, but is much less
soluble in alcohol or water than crenic acid.

The composition of crenic acid is represented by the formula,
N. C. 14, H. 16, 0. 12, and apocrenic acid by N. 6, C. 28, H.
14, 0. 6, from which it will appear that the latter contains more
nitrogen than the former. Now, manures have been proved to be
valuable in the direct ratio of the quantity of nitrogen they con-
tain; hence these substances possess fi-om their composition an
intrinsic value over and above those which are destitute of i^

212 Spontaneous Changes of Organized Ma'lcr. [April,

As it regards the power which plants possess for obtaining
nitrogen, it is proper to remark (hat they differ extremely, one
class, for instance, being placed a' one extreme of a scale and
another at the other extreme: thus clover, or trefoil, possesses the
power of taking it from the atmosphere, or from a source inde-
pendent of the soil, and hence it will grow in sand destitute in a
great measure of organic matter. Plants of this family or kind
belong to one of the extremes in which the power of absorption is
the greatest. But wheat is entirely destitute of this power, and
if sown where it cannot obtain its nitrogen from the soil by its
roots, it produces no seed, and the quantity found in the plant is
less than that which the seed originally contained. From this
fact, we see the adaptation of the trefoil to the cultivation of
wheat, from the ability which it has of obtaining a supply of
nitrogenous matter, where wheat could not in consequence of its
peculiar organization. We are particular in stating this fact
here, because we have too frequently heard it asserted that wheat
derived 97 parts of its substance from the atmosphere, whereas it
does not derive any part of it directly from this source, but all
from the soil. It is hardly necessary to say, that it is a subject of
great practical importance, and it is essential that correct views
are disseminated among agriculturists. It is true, however, that a
correct practice of farmers has sometimes gone ahead of correct
theory, and has sened to sustain them in it, though theory may
have been wrong.

Another interesting point, though it relates to the vegetable
physiology, rather than the nature of the process of decay, is w^or-
thy of a passing notice in this connection — it is the mode or pro-
cess of forming woody fibres, or the relation of starch to lignine.
Starch exists in grains made up of concentric layers, or layers
one within another, like the coats of an onion. To form starch,
it only requires water and carbon; its formula being C. 12, H.
10, 0. 10. Now, in a living tissue, carbon being absorbed and
carried into it, an equal volume of oxygen is given off or exhal-
ed;* the carbon is assimilated by the vital power of the plant,

•K.ane's Elements of Chemistry, by Draper, p. 652.

1846.] Spontaneous Clumges of Organized Matter. 213

and with the elements of water produces a substance partially
organized in structure, the starch globule. The transition of the
starch globule into lignine or woody fibre is supposed to be ef-
fected in virtue of mere chemical affinity; the outer layer of a
starch globule, of which we have spoken, increases in density by
condensation of the outer layer, and also by the absorption of a
portion of the water of the inner coats, a cell is formed. To
form a fibre we have only to bring together a continuous row of
stai'ch globules vrhich, coalescing in part, form a continuous tube
or fibre. The lignine or fibre thus produced is represented by the
formula C. 12, H. 8, 0. 8. Starch then, is considered the first
product of the assimilation of carbon and water, and is in struc-
ture and composition adapted for a change into wood. When,
however, starch is formed in seeds, or in other parts of plants, it is
readily converted into gum and sugar by contact wath albuminous
or fermentative principles; it then loses its organized characters.

Now, lignine is converted into ulmine in the absence of vitali-
ty in the organized tissues, by changes which are opposite to, or
contrary to those which have just been described in the conver-
sion of starch into woody fibre. Here oxygen is absorbed from
the air, and carbon is carried OiF in the form of carbonic acid,
and a quantity of its hydrogen as v/ater, and the constitution of
lignine is destroyed.

These changes are analagous to, and perhaps identical with
those which convert organized matters into manures, the substances
being actually oxygenated; and here too, practice is not at fault;
it is \vell known that composts must be turned over, and exposed
more or less to the atmosphere; and the experienced farmer knows
too, tiiat it is possible to carry these changes too far, for if the
matters become too much oxidated they are comparatively spoiled.
We see some of the effects in heaps of manure from the horse-
stable, which are often burnt. Like the cooking of food, there is
a point where the process must stop if the greatest amount of nu-
tricious matter is to be obtained, and the great desideratum in
husbandry is to know how to promote the process and carry it to
the precise point required, and there stop it. This is secured by

214 The Work of Faith and Hope. [April,

conducting the process slowly, if hastened it will most surely be
overdone. All plants derive their nitrogen more or less from the
soil, and the nitrogen here is always combined with other ele-
ments. This important substance forms one of the elements of
crenic and apocrenic acids. In the presence of strong bases, such
as lime, magnesia, &c., these combine and form salts in part.
These, as well as the free acids which may be absorbed by plants,
are slowly decomposed and the elements both of carbonic acid
and ammonia are assimilated, and they thus supply carbon, nitro-
gen and water. Showers of rain carry down to the soil also am-
monia to the roots of plants. Clay and porous bodies also absorb
it, but clay sometimes seems to be too compact to perform this
office, and hence burning has been resorted to, by which its po-
rosity is increased, and its combined matters rendered more solu-
ble.* .

We have only to remark, in conclusion, that all soils which
are intended to produce the cereals must contain the organic mat-
ter we have described in this article, and however well weeds and
innutricious matter may be found growing upon soils destitute of
them, we may assure the farmer that maize and wheat will not
reach maturity and produce grain unless they exist in the soil.

THE WORK OF FAITH AND HOPE.

Every body knows that the mind exercises a controlling influ-
ence upon the body, and yet in some cases there are many per-
sons where this influence is most clearly manifested, who are
very slow to acknowledge that certain efl^ects are really due to,
and only produced by this influence. The truth itself is of great
practical importance, and may be applied either for good or bad.

* The theory in regard to the importance of anftaonia was long ago taught
by the late Professor Eaton ; and it was a part of his regular course in his
lectures on practical chemistry to illustrate the absorption of ammonia by
carbon and other porous bodies, and make a direct application of these facts
to illustrate the mode by which ammonia was obtained from the atmosphere
by the rootlets of plants.

1846.] The Work of Faith and Hope. 215

An elderly physician of great experience was waited upon by
a person residing at a distance whose purpose was to consult him
in regard to his health. He had imbibed the impression that his
disease was the consumption, and if so, there was no remedy for
him, and he wished the doctor to be plain and frank and tell him
distinctly whether his case was one of that disease or not. . Ac-
cordingly the doctor, after investigating his case, expressed his
fear that it was possible that such was the fact; and yet that it
had not advanced so far but that it was proper to entertain strong
hopes that it might be cured. Upon this result, the patient ex-
pressed no surprise, but told the doctor that he had no hopes that
anything could cure him, when he immediately left, returned home
on foot many miles, took to his room and bed, and died in ten
days. This example illustrates what influence the mind may ex-
ert on special occasions upon the body.

A gentleman who had distinguished himself in science in one
of the middle States, had been known to say that he did not wish
to live beyond the age of forty. This gentleman died at the time
he wished. This case is one which is less clear than the preced-
ing; but still few will doubt that where a feeling exists its influ-
ence will be felt more or less by the corporeal system. Many
examples of the same kind are upon record, which go to show
the same unfavorable influence upon life.

But there are many cases of a very diflferent nature from those
we have given, which clearly illustrate, and very forcibly too, the
influence of the feelings upon the diff"erent organs. The most com-
mon is the sense of shame, which causes a blush upon the cheek ;
an unexpected knock upon the door to cause the heart to throb
and the lips to turn pale; a sudden fright to blanch the hair in
a night, and a cause of sudden joy or grief to paralyze the whole
frame, when it sinks down in death.

There is, then, a reciprocating influence between the spirit and
the body, between the mental and corporeal parts of the frame.
How much life is shortened, or how much it is lengthened by this
reciprocity of influence, no one can tell. The turbalent vicissi-
tudes, the weighty cares of life, the domestic joys or troubles,

216 The Work of Faith and Hope. [April,

either weigh down prematurely the power of the spirit and bring
the body to the grave before its time ; or, it is buoyed up and car-
ried joyfully along in peace beyond the ordinary period allotted to
the happy individual.

A great many cases illustrating the power of the mind over the
body are given in the 2d Vol. of the Medico Chirurgical Review
for 1342. We propose extracting some of them for the benefit
of our readers.

" A gentleman who had constantly witnessed the sufferings of
a friend afflicted with stricture of the oesophagus, had so great an
impression upon his nervous system, that after some time he ex-
perienced a similar difficulty in swallowing, and ultimately died
of the spasmodic impediment, produced by merely thinking of
another's pain."'

A lady accidentally swallowed a plum stone, and no doubt but
it passed into the stomach at the time; but she persisted in be-
lieving that it stuck in her throat; appropriate remedies were
tried, and the feeling after a long time subsided; but from this
date her health declined, dropsy made its appearance, and she
died. A gentleman of intellectual habits, and not mixing much
in society, was afflicted for twenty-five or thirty years with a vio-
lent tearing cough. The paroxisms would last for nearly half an
hour. When, however, he was occupied or in conversation with
friends, or at church, it never came upon him — remedies did no
good, and the only antidotes were agreeable sensations, either
from social company, or by mental occupation.

The cases upon record, however, are too numerous to be noticed
here; a few more shall suffice, and these shall relate to the influ-
ences of faith and hope. All know how hope lightens care, sup-
ports and sustains the spirit, imparts energy and perseverance to
the man, and finally brings him off a triumphant conqueror.

Bruce, the hero of Scotland, was sustained in his deepest trials
and darkest hours by having watched the effort of a spider to
carry its thread from one point of the wall to another — after many
failures it succeeded — Bruce took couiage by its succeess.

During the siege of Bredain, 1625, the garrison was upon t he

1846.] The Work of Faith and Hope. 217

point of capitulating on account of the ravages of the scurvy.
The Prince of Orange introduced a few vials of sham medicine
which were said to be an infallible specific for the disease. It
was given in drops, and produced a w^onderful effect.

Park tells us in his travels that one day in his journey through
the burning desert, he laid himself down, exhausted with priva-
tions, as he supposed, to die. He saw at that moment a flower
which reared its head above the waste. What, thought he, will
that Providence which has watched over this humble plant not
care for me who has been taught to regard Him as a heavenly
Father? His drooping spirit rose at the thought, his strength re-
turned, and from that hour his soul was fortified against despond-
ency— " Behold the lilies of the field."

Dr. Beddoes, who was a thoughtful and ingenious man, im-
agined that the nitrous oxide gas might be a specific for paralysis.
He selected a patient for trial, and gave the details to be perform-
ed by young Davy, afterwards the celebrated Sir Humphrey
Davy. The young chemist wished to ascertain the actual temper-
ature of the patient, placed a thermometer under his tongue. Being
ignorant of the nature of the operation to which he was to be
subjected in the experiment, and having imbibed the highest hopes
and expectations from his enthusiastic physician, supposed when
the thermometer was inserted under his tongue that the experi-
ment was in full blast, at once exclaimed that he felt the influence
of the remedy through his whole body. Davy was too intelli-
gent to lose the hint. He desired the patient to renew his visit
on the follow^ing day, v/hen the same ceremony was performed
with like results. The patient was dismissed cured in a fortnight.

An amusing anecdote, it is said, used to be related by the cele-
brated Dr. Gregory in his lectures. A pupil laboring under fever
and very restless, was told that an opiate had been prescribed;
but the student understood that the prescription was a purgative.
On the next visit the physician inquired whether the opiate had
procured sleep. " Opiate!" exclaimed the patient, " I understood
that it w^as a purgative, and most nobly has it operated, and I feel
all the better for it."

218 The Work of Faith and Hope. [April,

The preservative influence of faith and hope has been illustrat-
ed in a thousand instances. How often have physicians and
nurses escaped the pestilence, where hundreds were attacked who
felt nothino; of the sustaining influence of these emotions. But
if hope thus sustains and fortifies against disease, fear, the oppo-
site, unhinges the doors to that central fortress, the heart, and lets
in the consumer which wastes and destroys. The physical eflfects
of both passions are exceeding striking. In hope, the pulse liter-
ally beats high; in fear, it flags and labors in its office, and its
palsy is witnessed in the paleness of the face, the blanching of
the lip, and the falling of the jaw and relaxation of the muscles.
A sense of danger, however, sometimes rouses the latent energies,
and gives the dormant limbs activity and power. It is related
that an officer in the Indian army was confined by asthma. He
could only breathe with difficulty in the erect posture. A party
of Mahrattas broke into the camp; the asthmatic sprung out,
mounted his horse, and used his sword with great effect. A lady
affected with hysterical semi-paralysis had been confined to her
bed for years, when it happened that a fire broke out in the
house, the hitherto helpless creature rose up, rushed out of the
room, and reached the street ere she was sensible what she had
done.

The gout has more than once been cured by strong mental emo-
tions. An officer on board of a ship was cured instantaneously of
the gout by an alarm of fire. An old man, suffering and helpless
under the annual paroxysm of this disease, was instantly cured by
his son driving the shaft of his wagon through the window of his
room.

Long and continued anxiety ends either in organic disease of
the heart, or in insanity. The embarrassment of debt, and even
an inordinate love of wealth, leads to insanity. In the foregoing
illustrations of mental influence on the body, the book has been
open before us, and we have taken such cases as seemed to illus-
trate our subject. The greater part of the article, however, is
intended more for the physician than general reader, and we have
omitted at least three-fourths of the chapter. The influence of

1846.] JYotes on JYatural History, ^c. 219

the emotion of the passions on the body ought to be understood by
all. The excitation of hope and the consoling power of faith
are often the surest grounds of success to the physician in many
of the severest ills of his patients. The patient laboring under
organic lesions, may be sustained and cured when supported by
hope and faith. The hypochondriac and hysterical are cured
when these emotions find a place in their hearts, whether they
have been touched by the Mesmerist, swallowed the little pill of
homoeopathy, or wrapped in the wxt sheet of Priessnitz. Some-
thing done upon which to hang a hope, even though it is only a
thermometer under the tongue, and the heart's strength and the
nervous spark gives new life to the pallid frame.

NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY.

BY JAMES EIGHTS, M. D.

" Water, entering into its solid state, expands, as is well known ;
therefore all those portions of rock which thus become heaved
out of their original places by the formation of ice during the
night, will if their centres of gravity permit, fall when the heat
of the succeeding day liquifies the ice." — De la Beche on Degra-
dation of Mountains.

Repeatedly have I, in the spring and fall seasons of the year,
while leisurely sailing along the palisadoes on the Hudson river,
had my attention attracted to the destructive eflfects produced by
this powerful agent, upon the trap rocks, of which they are com-
posed : and oft-times, during the greater part of a long southern
summer, which I spent among the numerous islands, and lands
situated in the arctic sea, did I have occasion to remark the rapid
destruction of the heavy clusters of basalt columns which here
and there arose from amid the everlasting snows by which they
were surrounded. From these masses of basalt the falling frag-
ments were to be heard at rapidly repeated intervals, throughout
the course of the long summer day, a fact most readily to be ac-
counted for, when we take into consideration the ever-changing

220 JVotes on Maiural Histcr-j, ^x. [April,

temperature of these hi 2;h southern regions. In many places, the
energetic influences of this powerful agent were peculiarly strik-
ing, extensive masses of the rocks had been completely converted
into huge disintegrated heaps of ruin, contributing in no small
degree to the dreary and desolate effect, which everywhere pre-
sented itself to the si<2;ht. The average time of the fall of these
fragments may be computed at about once in every ten minutes,
so that its destroying energy at this place, may be duly appre-
ciated.

" Not only does sulphur thus occur among rocks, but it is also
disseminated throughout the ocean, sulphate of soda being one of
the salts constantly present in all analyses of sea water. M. Eich-
wald states that sulphate of magnesia is a common salt in the
waters of the Caspian sea." — De la Beche.

While at Bonavista, one of the Cape de Verde Islands, where
salt is extensively manufactured by solar evaporation from the sea,
I made an excursion to the works. Their method is, during gales
of wind and high tides to admit water from the sea to float over
depressed plains, or basins, where for a time it is exposed to the
influence of a tropical sun; after a deposition of the salt, the su-
perfluous water is drawn off into pits prepared for its reception.
In these pits, and in the vicinity of these salt-pans, large masses
of beautiful transparent crystals of sulphate of lime are formed,
embracing not only fragments of the trap which form the hills
and rocky portions of the island, but likewise, in some abundance,
the recent species of shells which inhabit the neighboring sea.

De la Beche considers it very doubtful if-a shark could continue
long to exist beneath considerable depths. This, in a great mea-
sure, may be true, but circumstances sometimes occur, which
would induce us to believe them capable of a much longer dura-
tion in this situation than has been generally imagined.

1846.] JVotcs on Natural History, Si'c. 221

While leaning over the vessel's side, during a most perfect calm,
in the tropical sea, situated about midway between the two conti-
nents, I discovered the appearance of a fish far down in the depths
below, lazily working its way upward toward the place where I
was standing; indeed, so distant was it, that it seemed no larger
than an ordinarily sized shad. A baited hook secured to a line,
was immediately let down until within a few inches of its nose.
This it unhesitatingly received, the attachment of the hook ap-
pearing but little to incommode the serenity of its movements, so
that in a short time it reached the surface of the sea. A bow-
line was now sent down so as to surround the body of the fish,
when, without difficulty, it -was speedily hoisted upon deck. It
proved to be a shark of a peculiar species, measuring nearly
twelve feet in length. The upper caudal fin was much elongat-
ed, and tapering; the dorsal and pectoral ones of a clean white,
differing from the general color of the animal, which was of a
deep greenish-blue. The beautiful little pilot fish was its com-
panion until its arrival at the surface, when it inomediately lefl
and placed itself beneath the counters of the ship. Two speci-
mens of remora, or sucking fish, adhered to its back until it reach-
ed the deck. On dissecting this shark, the stomach was found to
be entirely empty, not the slightest vestige of any thing like food
could be discovered. Pieces of the intestines, and likewise of the
flesh, when placed on the hand, produced a sensation nearly equal
to that of ice. Previous to this, we had oft-times remarked the
sudden appearance of one or more of this species whenever the
wind subsided and the sea became calm, and was greatly at a
loss to account for it, until the circumstances attending the cap-
ture of this individual satisfactorily proved to us, that they came
from beneath, and were inhabitants of the deep sea, never hav-
ing observed them when the surface w^ as in the slightest degree
asjitated into waves.

" M. Pouillet has observed that the gas in the swimming-blad-
ders of fish brought up from the depths of about 3,300 feet, and
therefore under a pressure equal to about 100 atmospheres, in-

222 JVotes on Jfatural History, J^c. [April,

creases so considerably in volume that all muscular effort being
unable to restrain it, it forces the bladder, stomach, and other
neighboring parts outside the throat into the form of a baloon-
shaped mass." — De la Beche on marine animal life.

This curious fact I had frequent opportunities of obserA-ing,
when on the banks of Brazil and along the Patagonian coast a
few years since. In water, sixty-two fathoms deep, we caught
an immense quantity of fish belonging to the genus Gadites,
which at these places inhabit the bottom of the sea; on reaching
the surface, they almost invariably presented the appearance here
stated. Such of them as had disengas^ed themselves from the
hook, were in a short time seen floating at the surface, being un-
able again to descend in consequence of their swimming-bladders
being thus greatly distended, and, with the neighboring parts,
protruding far beyond their throats.

Observations on the open sea and in high southern latitudes
have perfectly satisfied me that fish do not abound in either
places, and are only to be found in the greatest abundance on
soundings and along shores, in regions comparatively moderate.
In sailing from the American coast to that of Africa, and from
thence again to a high southern latitude, we found them extreme-
ly limited both as to genera and species. The flying fish we
were daily in the habit of seeing as they arose from the bows of
the ship in their flight over the sea. The parrot fish, whose
beautiful and evanescent hues in dyeing have so often been the
theme of admiration, were comparatively scarce. The shark,
with its inseparable companions, the pilot and sucking fish, only
during calms; a small species of file fish but once, and two of
scomber completes the list.

The bonita and the albicore, the two species of the last nam-
ed genus, were exceedingly common in the tropical seas. When
we reached the sixth degree of north latitude we fell in with an
immense shoal of them, which day and night kept perfect time
with the vessel's speed, until our arrival at a corresponding lati-
tude south; beyond which, we saw them no more. The appear-
ance of these fish during the night exhibits a most interesting and

1S46.] Bones of the Zeuglodon. 223

beautiful spectacle. The friction of their bodies in gliding
through the wares but a few feet beneath the surface, cause the
surroimding waters to emit a brilliancy of phosphorescence, to
such a degree, that the vessel seems to be richly imbedded in a
mass of liquid flame — not unaptly resembling a multitude of
meteors pursuing their varied courses through the night.

A circmnstance occurred which satisfactorily proved to us that
this individual shoal never left us during the whole distance, but
accompanied us as an escort to the very boundaries of their do-
main. When first discovered, the seamen were daily in the habit
of striking them with the grains from the bows of the ship : one
of them having been struck, was brought to the sm"face, when the
iron losing its hold, it escaped, bearing on its side a large ragged
wound, which easily distinguished it from its comrades in the sea.
As long as they remained in company, this individual continued
daily to be seen and recognized by the sailors as the " gentleman
with the patch."

WTien moored at the South Shetlands, we were constantly in
the habit of suspending lines around with baited hooks over the
vessel's side, but in no instance did we find them in the sli2;htest
degree molested, and the only fish that we saw durino- our stay of
several weeks was a small species of herring that fell from the
beak of an alarmed sea-bird, on being fired at in its flight.

DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF THE BOXES OF THE
ZEUGLODON CETOIDES OF PROF. OWEN.

There is no word in the English language which so appropri-
ately expresses the true character of certain phenomena and
events, or whose import conveys to our minds so much of the
profound and deep, as mystery. The first impression as it re-
gards its meaning perhaps is, that it can be applied only to
those events and phenomena whose causes ai-e so far removed
from our means of investigation, that they are above and be-
yond our reach. We believe, however, that this is not strictly

224 Bones of the Zeuglodon. [April,

true, and experience seems to justify the assertion, that many
phenomena still remain invested with the deep and profound,
though the causes of their occurrence may have been placed be-
fore the understanding in the clearest light.

It is true, that there are somethings which are mysterious so
long only as their causes are hidden from us; the tricks of jug-
glers, for instance, may be so regarded, but these are not the
phenomena which we have in view, neither are they ever of that
kind, which move the deeper feelings of the soul; they merely ex-
cite a temporary surprise.

The phenomena and events, over which hang a deep and profound
mystery, and which stand farthest advanced in the fore ground, are
those which belong to the natural world. Some of these stand out
more prominently than others, but none more so than those which
are connected with the extinction of life in the vast period of geo-
logic time. These we apprehend will never in time be less mys-
terious than they are now, for they are as much so as they were
a half a century ago, when the facts were then becoming esta-
blished, or, in the intermediate time when they began to be incorpo-
rated into the common beliefs of scientific men; and now, that
they seem about to become a part of the common stock of know-
ledge they still maintain all that they ever possessed of the pro-
found and mysterious. How much this feeling has been deepened
by circumstances we cannot say. If the low and the humble had
only been involved in the catastrophes of which we speak we
might have felt less interest in the events. When, however, it
w^as discovered that the high as well as the low", the great as well
as the powerful, had been subjected to the same law, men were
more conscious of the magnitude and importance of the facts,
and began to study with deeper feelings the phenomena connect-
ed with them.

But the interest of these phenomena de not rest alone, nor so
much, on the place which the beings themselves occupy in the
scale of existence, as on the design and end of such an ordinance.
The phenomena themselves when viewed with all the light which
can be concentrated upon them, prove that they cannot have

1S46.] Bones of the Zeuglodon. 225

happened through what is termed accident; but, rather that thej
belong to a series of changes and revolutions by which important
ends were to be secured. It is this fact which invests the ex-
tinction of life with its great and unparalleled interest, and which
throws over the w^hole series of changes connected with it, an
inscrutable mystery. It is the fact, that they belong to and are a
part of the system of changes in time, and that they constitute a
part of the history of life and organization; or, w'e may regard
them as a part of the drama of which some of the scenes have
been already acted, and like those which are now passing before
us, its grand design and moral comes out only with the winding
up of the piece. A higher reason perhaps than those indicated
above is contained in the fact, that man is an actor in this drama,
and is connected directly or indirectly with the scenes which
came and passed off the stage before his time. We are sustained
in this view when we consider that all the events and phenomena
in time have followed one another in order, and that they belong
together and constitute one system, not many; a grand unity,
which, though consisting of many parts, yet together make but
one whole or entire piece.

The matter stands thus; species high and low, the powerful
and feeble, have ceased to be, and are not now the occupants of
time in the line of their posterity. Their extinction is a part of
a system by which important ends are to be secured. Man be-
longs to the same system, and is made an actor in the drama. It
is in the combined particulars that we find so much mystery, and
which w^e believe w^ould still invest the events and phenomena,
if the ends and designs were disclosed. But these are not, and
have not yet been proposed even in hypothesis; and they are so
far from being specifically accounted for, that they stand merely
as facts; and though it may not be true to say that nothing has
been done towards their developement, still the phenomena and
events, though belonging to one system, are such that their rela-
tions to those in time, those in which man participates, that they
yet remain veiled in mystery.

With these general remarks we shall proceed to the subject

Vol. Ill, No. 11. 17

226 Bones of the Zevglodon. [April,

which we have taken some pains and incurred some expense to
illustrate. We have already alluded to the extinction of animals,
and though numerous remains of them are found in the sedi-
mentary rocks of this country, yet but few specimens of the
larger kind have been found which were so perfect that the pre-
served parts could be p' t together so as to form complete skele-
tons, except in a few instances of the great American mastodon.
Great quantities of fossil bones, however, have been discovered
in Alabama, belonging to the Zeuglodon, which is a most re-
markable animal, and which has been pronounced by Prof. Owen
" as one of the most extraordinary of mammalia, which the revo-
lutions of the globe have blotted out of the number of existing
beings." Undoubtedly, if sufficient care had been taken to pre-
serve and collect these bones together, several complete skeletons
might have been constructed, and its true position in the scale of
being: have been determined, toQ-ether with the relations which it
held to the general species composing the present fauna. As one
of the most perfect of these skeletons has fallen into our posses-
sion, we propose on this occasion to describe some of the most
important individual parts, of which we have prepared accurate
drawings. It will be remembered, however, that this subject was
taken up in the third number of this Journal, for 1845. In this
paper our design contemplated only a description of the teeth, as
we found by investigation that Mr. Owen, who had been supplied
with a few specimens of the bones of this animal, and among
them a few teeth, had fallen inadvertently into an error in regard to
their structure, or rather form, not however from want of skill or
knowledge, but in consequence of the imperfection of the speci-
mens themselves. No man living knows more of the relations
of the parts belonging to organized beings than the gentleman we
have named.

The parts of the skeleton described and-figured are the anterior
and posterior extremities of the lower jaw, two caudal and one
cervical vertebrae, humems, tibia, rib, and a tooth.

interior portion of the Lower Jaw. — PI. IL, fig. 2. The portion
contains three teeth, the terminal teeth are both broken close to

1846.] Bones of the Zeuglodon. 227

their sockets; fig. 4, a, shows a wide space which exists between
the two remaining canine teeth, between which there is a fossa h,
tor the reception of the superior canine; the superior tooth when
the mouth was closed, shut upon the outside of the lower jaw.
A deep groove passes longitudinally along the centre of the jaw, ]^
inches deep, and 1;^ wide. This portion of the jaw is 15 inches
long, and 4 inches thick at the largest end. The shape of this
piece proves that the Zeuglodon had a very long narrow snout,
and comparatively high; and in this respect is unlike the aligator
of this country, which is rather broad and flat. Fig. 2, side view;
iig. 4, front view.

Fig. 1. Tibia ? — This bone seems to be a tibia, with the large
end broken and lost. Lower articulating surface, as w^ould be
expected, oblique and flattened towards the tarsal extremity;
length, 14 inches; breadth, at the flattened part, 3|. It has a
ridge posteriorly, for the insertion of muscles. Although this
bone is broken, and its head missing, there are two perfect heads
of the hmneri among the bones, which judging from their size
would be considered applicable to this bone; their broken sur-
faces do not, however, fit each other, and the form of this long
bone seems to indicate that it is a tibia rather than a humerus.
This is particularly indicated by the sharp and tolerably high
ridge along its posterior part.

Humerus. — Figs. 5, 7. This a short thick bone, flattened at
the inferior part; lower articulating surface broken and absent.
Length of the remaining part, 13^ inches; diameter of the flat-
tened part, 5 inches; diameter at the head, 6 inches. The head
of this bone when inserted into the acetabulum is evidently far
too small, and there can be no doubt that it is a humerus, rather
than the femur; and, besides, the parallelism of the head with the
shaft of the bone very clearly designates the position it occupies
in the skeleton.

Cervical Vertebra. — Fig. 6. The cervical bones are broken;
they were enveloped but partially in the matrix, and hence have
been exposed to injury; transverse diameter of the body, 6 inches;
perpendicular 3.^- inches, and rather sharply rounded. Length of

228 Bones of the Zeuglodon. [April,

the spinous process, 7 inches. Diameter of the spinal canal, 2
inches; transverse diameter of the spinal canal, 3j inches. This
process is rather attenuated, slender and high in proportion to the
thickness of the vertebrae. It is evident from the number and
size of those vertebras that the Zeuglodon was furnished with a
long slender neck, and in this respect exhibits one of the ex-
tremes among the cetacea.

Tooth. — Fig;, 3. This is the natural size of the tooth, and is
perfect in all respects. The drawing conveys a perfect idea of
its shape and character. The serratures are sharp, and seem
never to have been used. Indeed, all the teeth of this animal
exhibit a perfect condition, which belongs only to teeth whose
office is merely that of seizing and holding its prey; or else, the
teeth of a young animal. The crowns are never worn by masti-
cation.

Base of the Loioer Jaw. — Plate I., fig. 1.* This is perhaps one
of the most interesting bones in the collection. Its height at the
coronoid process is 10 inches, and the whole length of the piece
17 inches, a, large sm-face is a mere cast, as the part at a has
the form of the hollow portion. 6, coronoid process, c, condyle,
which in comparison with the size of the jaw is quite small.
Outer surface convex; inner, concave. The four back teeth in the
jaw remain, of which the anterior one is not represented in the
engraving. In consequence of the exfoliation of the convex part
of this bone, the jaw tapers more rapidly than natural.

Small Caudal Vertebra. — Fig. 2. The body has the usual form
of a vertebra, but there are no transverse or spinous processes,
not even rudiments of them. The superior face supports two
processes, one on each side, which stand upward, backward and
outward, having a wide space between them. Their length must
have been one and a half to two inches. About three-fourths of
an inch remains. Transverse diameter, 3.^-; perpendicular diame-
ter, 2|; length measured over the superior margin 2\, at the infe-
rior 2 inches. A bony rough ridge runs longitudinally between

• The engraver not being an anatomist has turned the upper edge down.

1846.] Bones of the Zeuglodon. 229

the processes, as seen in the figure. There appears to be two
articulating surfaces at a, the base of the processes- The articu-
lating surfaces of the body have a shallow conical depression at
the centre, but adjacent to the margin they are slightly convex.

Rib. — Fig. 4. The shape and structure of the rib is quite re-
markable. The bone figured is 2 feet long, but a piece is broken
from the sternal portion. Diameter of the articulating surface
1^ inches. Transverse diameter of the enlarged part 3^ inches;
perpendicular, 2f inches. Fig. 5 exhibits a cross section show-
ing the concentric lamina, and the excentric form of the section.

Large Caudal Vertebra. — Figs. 3 and 4. Form cylindrical,
slightly concave in the centre, convex towards their margin.
Constricted in the middle with three depressions, c, a. Fig. 4,
shows the base of a broad thin transverse process. Lensth of the
bone 14 inches. Transverse diameter Sg inches; perpendiculai"
7^ inches. The entire length of the transverse process of a lum-
bar vertebra is 5 inches.

Geological position of the Zeuglodon. — In the former account
which we gave of the remains of this animal, we stated that they
were found in the superior part of the secondary deposits, in beds
which might be considered superior to the true chalk. This opinion
was founded on the fact that some of the fossils which were asso-
ciated with these remains were considered as secondary", — viz., the
Authophyllum atlanticum, Phagiostoma dumosum, Nummulites,
&,c. ^Ir. Lyell, however, states in a letter to !Mr. B. Silliman,
Jr., which is given in a postcript to the March number of the
Journal of Science, that the formation is Eocene, or in the oldest
of the tertiaiy deposits, 1. I have visited, to use his own words,
in the letter referred to, some of the principal localities where the
bones of the gigantic Cetacean (the Zeuglodon) have been dis-
covered, in Clarke county, Ala., in the fork of the rivers Alabama
and Tombeckbee, and find the geological position of the bones to
be every where the same, namely, in a white tertiary limestone of
the Eocene period, corresponding in ao;e to that of the Santee
river, in South Carolina, or of Bucks countv, in Georgia, or that

230 Bones of the Zeuglodon. [April,

of the upper part of the celebrated bluff of Claiborne in Ala-
bama.

2. The beds in which the remains of the Zeuglodon occur are
above the level of those Claiborne deposits, so well studied and
described by Mr. Conrad, in 1832-3, as containing several hun-
dred perfectly preserved species of lower tertiary shells.

3. Part of the head of the Zeuglodon and vertebrae, extending
to a length of 30 feet, were procured by Mr. Koch, in 1845, at a
place w^hich I visited four and a half miles southwest from
Clarksville, Ala., in company with Mr. Picket, w^ho assisted in
the exhumation made by Mr. Koch. But the main body of the
vertebra (as I learn from the same gentleman and other persons),
which entered into the skeleton exhibited in the United States in
1845, under the name of Hydrarchos, were procured in Washing-
ton county, Ala., fifteen miles distant, in a direct line from the
place where the head was discovered."

Only a few remarks will be offered in conclusion in regard to
this animal. When first discovered it was placed by the late
Dr. Harlan with the lizards. Subsequently Mr. Owen, to whom
specimens of the bones w^ere referred, ascertained that it belonged
to another order of animals, namely, the mammalia, and that it
occupied a position among the cetacea.

In w^hich of the subdivisions of this order it most naturally
belonged could not be determined. The teeth, however, as now-
brought out will undoubtedly aid in establishing its alliances more
closely than heretofore. It may perhaps be still regarded as a ceta-
cean of the most distant tj-pe. The length of its neck, the form of
the teeth, the shape of the pelvis and scapula, and four extremi-
ties, which are clearly in the form of paddles, certainly remove
it far outwards from the centre of the group, and places it nearer
the seals than lamanatin or dugong. One remarkable fact in
regard to the teeth is, their extreme irregularity, no two seem
to be alike. This will be seen by comparing the tooth on plate
2, with those in a former number of the Journal, and in fact
the forms of the teeth are not all given now. The canine seem

1846.] Bones of the Zeuglodon. 231

to pass into the molars by gradation, becoming flattened, and with
the fags still united, though deeply groved. This change goes
on till the perfect molar is formed, when these also vary greatly
in their crowns, &.C.

The tympanic bones were found imbedded in the matrix in
which some of the others were covered which resemble the Ceta-
cean, only they are much smaller than those of the sperm whale.
They are only three inches long, and one and a half to two inches
thick.

[To be continued.]

DROWNING.

The cause of death by drowning, is the exclusion of air from
the lungs, and not the inhalation of water, as some suppose. If
persons then who may happen to be thrown into the water, will
preserve presence of mind they may be often rescued from this
perilous position, though they are unable to swim. We may put
confidence in this assertion, because the body, when the lungs are
only partially inflated with air, is specifically lighter than water.
A person then, who would avail himself of this fact, must suffer
his whole body with his arms to be immersed; and, at the same
time, throw his head back, so as to bring his nose and mouth up-
wards. In this position he may float for a long time provided he
does not struggle, and thereby exhaust his strength unnecessarily.
If he but raises one arm above the water his face will sink be-
neath the surface of the water, hence the proper w^ay is to remain
perfectly calm, and let the body float in the position designated.
It is, however, important, when a person is conscious that he is
about to be submerged, to take two or three as deep inspirations
as possible, after having first expelled all the air possible in his
lungs; as thereby a new and larger stock of respirable matter is
secured, by which respiration may be suspended with safety a
longer period than it could be without this precaution.

( 232 )

NEW PUBLICATIOiNS.

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY
FROM PERSONAL OBSERVATION.

[By Henry Coleman, of the United Slates of America. To be completed
in 10 numbers.]

" For, in all things whatever, the mind is the most valuable and the most
important ; and in this scale the whole of agriculture is in a natural and
just order: the beast is an informing principle to the plow and cart, the
laborer is as reason to the beast, and the farmer is as a thinking and pre-
siding principle to the laborer." — Burke.

The first instalment of Mr. Henry Coleman's European Agri-
culture and Rural Economy has been issued from the press, and
received in this country. This instalment comes to us in five
numbers of nearly 100 pages each, making in all 492 pages.
About the same quantity of matter we suppose remains to be
issued. The complete work will then consist of 2 vols., 8 vo.,
of one thousand pages, with ten beautiful steel plate engravings
of cattle, sheep and horses, together with the necessary wood
cuts for the illustration of English implements of husbandry.
Thus far the mechanical execution of this work is every thing
which we had a right to expect, and of which none will find the
least fault. It is excellent. Mr. Coleman's habits and great
love of beauty and neatness necessarily resulted in what we have
said of the mechanical execution of the work. Then again, the
style, the composition, figures of speech, illustrations of ideas, are
all in keeping and in harmony with the pages of the work.

No man ever went out from this country to obtain agricultural
knowledge who took such a task upon himself (we might say re-
sponsibilit}^-, perhaps, but w^e rather say task), as Mr. Coleman ; in-
asmuch as the execution of it required that he should do something
or find out something by which money would be put into the

1846.] European ^Agriculture. 233

pockets of his subscribers; or, if this expression is too vulgar, we
will modify the expression and say, that he should at least pro-
vide for them a rich intellectual feast. It may be that both was
expected, and if so, certainly his task was quite as great as that
of an editor of a periodical.

Essentially, and to all intents and purposes, Mr, Coleman was
constituted a delegate to Europe, to observe modes and methods
of agriculture by personal inspection, and to report thereupon to
his numerous friends and to the agricultural profession in America.

The subjects of enquiry of course were very numerous, and
Mr. Coleman it seems was, in the outset, fully aware of what was
before him, as we find a long list of subjects w^hich he proposes
to investigate in his preface to the first volume. Thus w^e find
the following list of subjects of inquiry, viz: the soil, and their
relations to the different crops; manures and their applications;
implements of husbandry; the great operations of agriculture,
such as plowing, sowing, cultivating and cleaning; harvesting
and preparing the crops for use or market; draining, irrigation,
fencing; forest trees, grasses, cereals; live stock, poultry, dairy;
cultivation of silk, flax, hemp, hops, teasels, madder, woad, mus-
tard, chicory, olives, grapes, figs, wool, honey, wine, oil, sugar;
horticulture, rural architecture, conservatories, greenhouses; mar-
kets, fairs; farming accounts; agricultural labor, societies, ma-
nures, shows, schools, education, literature; the condition of the
rural population; benefit clubs, mutual assurance associations,
cow clubs, friendly associations ; niral life, morals, manners,
and customs! A tolerably wide field for one man to work in!
A prodigious range of inquiry, which when spread out into
volumes would make quite a respectable Encyclopedia.

Some of the topics which Mr. C. enumerates, and upon which
he has favored us with his observations, we propose to lay before
our readers.

The first general title which strikes our eye, is English agri-
culture, Mr. C. remarks:

" The condition of practical agriculture in Great Britain, as far
as I have had opportunity of observing it, must be pronounced

234 Kew Publications. [April,

highly improved. Many parts of the country present an order,
exactness and neatness of cultivation, greatly to be admired; but
a sky is seldom without clouds, and there are parts of England
where the appearance is anything but laudable, and where there
are few and very equivocal evidences of skill, industry or thrift.
We are often told in America, that England is only a large gar-
den, in which art and skill and labor have smoothed all the rough
places, filled up the hollow places, and brought every thing into
a beautiful and systematic harmony, and into the highest degree
of productiveness. This is not wholly true; indeed, though there
are many farms to be altogether admired for the degree of perfec-
tion to which their cultivation has been carried, yet there are not
a few places where the indications of neglect and indolence and
unskillfulness are but too apparent; and where, in an obvious
contest for victory between the cultivated plant and the weeds,
the latter triumph from their superiority both in force and num-
bers. I shall, however, most cheerfully admit that English farm-
ing, taken as a whole, is characterized by a neatness, exactness,
thoroughness seldom seen in my own country. An American
landing in Liverpool, is at once struck with the amount of labor
every where expended; the docks, and the public buildings, and
the lofty and magnificent warehouses astonish him by the sub-
stantial and permanent character of their structure. The rail-
ways, likewise, with deep excavations, their bridges of solid ma-
sonry, their splendid viaducts, their • immense tunnels, extending
in some cases more than two miles in length, and their depots and
station houses covering acres of ground with their iron pillars and
their roofs, also of iron, exhibiting a sort of tracery or net work
of the strongest as well as most beautiful description, indicate a
most profuse expenditure of labor, and are evidently made to
endure. He is still more overpowered with amazement, when
coming to London, he passes up or down the river Thames, and
contemplates the several great bridges, among the most splendid
objects which are to be seen in England, two of which are of
iron and three of stone, spanning this great thoroughfare of com-
merce with their beautiful arches, and made as if, as far as human
presumption can go, they would bid defiance to the decay and
ravages of time. If to this he adds (as, indeed, how can he help
doing it?) a visit to the Thames Tunnel — a secure, a dry, a bril-
liant, and even a gay passage under the bed of the stream, where
the tides of the ocean daily roll their waves, and the might}''
barks of commerce and war float in all their majesty and pride
over his head, exhibiting the perfection of engineering, and a
strength of construction and finish, which leaves not a doubt of
its security and endurance — he perceives an expense of labor,
which disdains all the the limited calculations of a young and

1846.] European .Agriculture. 235

comparatively poor country. He remarks a thoroughness of
workmanship which is most admirable, and which indicates a
boldness and bravery of enterprise, taking into its calculations not
merely years but centuries to come. We have in America a
common saying in respect to many things which we undertake,
that, " this will do for the present," which does not seem to me
to be known in England; and we have a variety of cheap, insub-
stantial, slight-o'-hand ways of doing many things, sometimes
vulgarly denominated " making shifts to do," which we ascribe
to what we call Yankee cleverness, of which certainly no signs
are to be seen here. In front of my lodgings, in London, near
Charing Cross, is now in the process of erection the Nelson
monument, a Corinthian column of stone, more than one hundred
and fifty feet in height, surmounted by a statue of that distin-
guished man, one of the idols of the British nation, whose name
is regarded as the brightest gem in her naval diadem. Now I
have been credibly informed that the staging alone, which is a
wooden frame, constructed indeed with admirable art, and put to-
gether with remarkable skill and strength, cost not less than four
thousand pounds sterling, or about twenty thousand dollars. I
mention these as examples of the manner in which things are
done here; and add, that agricultural operations and improve-
ments are in general conducted and finished in the same thorough
and substantial manner.

" The w^alls enclosing many of the noblemen's parks in Eng-
land, which comprehend hundreds, and in some cases, thousands
of acres, are brick walls, of ten and twelve feet in height, running
for miles and miles. The walls round many of the farms in Scot-
land, called there " dykes," made of the stone of the country, and
laid in lime and capped with flat stones resting vertically upon
their edges, are finished pieces of masonry. The improvements
at the Duke of Portland's, at Welbeck, Nottinghamshire, in his
arrangements for draining and irrigating, at his pleasure, from
three to five hundred acres of land, without doubt one of the most
skilful and magnificent agricultural improvements ever made, are
executed in the most finished and permanent manner; the em-
bankments, the channels, the sluices, the dams, the gates, being
constructed, in all cases where it would be most useful and proper,
of stone or iron. These are only samples of the style in which
things are done here. The important operations of embanking and
of draining, especially under the new system of draining and sub-
soiling, are executed most thoroughly. The farm houses and
farm buildings are of brick or stone, and all calculated to endure.

"I cannot recommend, without considerable qualifications, these
expensive ways of doing things to my own countrymen. We
have not the means — the capital for accomplishing them; but we

236 JYew Publications. [April,

might gather from them a useful lesson; for, in general, we err
by an opposite extreme. We build too slightly — we do not ex-
ecute our improvements thoroughly — we have little capital to ex-
pend, when, of course, no substantial improvements can be effect-
ed; and labor, with us, is with more difficulty obtained, with far
more difficulty managed, and requires to be much more highly
paid than here. I hope I shall be pardoned for adding, as my
deliberate conviction, that we are too shy of investing money in
improvements of this nature, however secure, because they do not
yield so large a per centage as many other investments somewhat
more questionable in a moral view, and vastly more so in respect
to the security which they offer.

" There are circumstances in the condition of things here, which
certainly warrant a much more liberal expenditure in improve-
ments than would be eligible with us. Here exist the right of
primogeniture and the law of entail, so that an estate remains in
the same family for centuries; and a man is comparatively sure
that the improvements which he makes will be enjoyed by his
children's children. Things are entirely different with us — houses
in our cities are continually changing hands, and are scarcely oc-
cupied by one life; and in the country, even in staid New Eng-
land, few estates are in the hands of the third or fourth genera-
tion in the direct line of descent. I shall not at all discuss the
comparative advantages, expediency or propriety of one or the
other system. I leave those inferences to others — my business is
with the fact as it is; and, like short leases, it has an obvious
tendency to hinder or discourage improvements of a substantial
and permant character, involving a large expense."

We have extracted the whole of this section except the first
paragraph, for particular reasons, which will appear in the course
of our criticism of Mr. Coleman's work. The subject which fol-
lows is English capital. In this section we are informed of the
immense wealth of the English nobility, an illustration of which
is furnished in the magnitude of the enterprises which are under-
taken. A certain nobleman contracts with a master builder for
the erection of four thousand substantial houses, of good size for
occupation. So it appears, on inquiry, that acres of land, blocks
of buildings, vast squares of elegant mansions, in the very centre
of this vast metropolis, are owned by individuals. Even confec-
tioners, dealers in sugar plumbs, have returned yearly incomes
which exceed one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, more than
six times the salary of the President of the United States. The

1S46.] European Agriculture. 237

rent which some farmers pay exceeds thirty-five thousand dollars.
These undoubtedly are strong cases but even admitted, we are
satisfied that the wealth of England is immense.

General appearance of the country. — We are always anxious
to know how a country looks. Upon this subject Mr. C. contrasts
our new country with old England, whose lands have been under
cultivation and produced sustenance for man since the time of Julius
Caesar and long before. The American traveler who expects then
to see girdled trees, charred stumps, smoking brush heaps, or new
black lands, in the first stage of taming and subjugation, will be
disappointed. It is true there are moors and fens, and heaths,
but upon the latter a man may cast his eye and perhaps survey at
a glance thousands of acres without a standing tree or a fence to
intercept the range of vision, yet the general aspect of the coun-
try is smooth, closely shorn and shaven. Smooth carpeted lawns,
with perhaps clumps of trees, wuth castles and turrets in the dis-
tance, is the kind of scenery which costrasts so strongly with
ours. Cultivation there is clean, like a man washed, shaved and
dressed for the Sabbath. A fact, however, which Mr. Coleman
states, and what we should by no means expect in a country so
rich, and yet so full of laborers, is that in England and Scotland
there are full 10,000,000 of acres. in heath or moor, and all sus-
ceptible of being brought into productive cultivation. This high
cultivation, however, which is generally observed, this excessive
neatness of the fields, this exact and measured culture is not only
beautiful, but, in the long run, Mr. C. considers more economi-
cal than American slovenliness. Does it take more time to lay
over the turf evenly and smoothly like the plaits in a shirt ruffle,
than to hackle it with interrupted short furrows, here gouging
out a hole and there letting the plow slide upon the top? Certainly
not. Mr. Coleman is right, and his hint to his countrymen ought
not to be lost. But alas, we learn after all that there are some
Americans in England, there are stone heaps which have lain for
half a centur)', and unsightly rubbish to boot, on farms, which it
would seem must have been in the hands of some easy quiet
Jonathan rather than under the thorough management of an Eng-
lish farmer.

238 JSCew Publications. [April,

We pass over several chapters in succession and proceed to
take up the one on agricultural population. What is the charac-
ter of the agricultural population of England? How does it
differ from our own? It appears from Mr. Coleman's notes, that
the population is divided into three casts or classes. The land-
lord, the tenant, and the laborer. The landlord is the owner of
the soil. He is the nobleman and gentleman, and is looked up
to with great deference. His lands often consist of wide territo-
ries, and in truth is divided into farms of from 3 to 8 and even
1200 acres in some instances. They are rented to farmers who
pay from five shillings the five pounds per acre, according to cir-
cumstances. The rents are paid semi-annually, in money, though
sometimes in kind.

The rent is estimated at a third of its products; but sometimes
a different rule is followed, which is, after paying the expense of
cultivation and the usual assessments, the balance is divided
equally between the landlord and tenant. But frequently no rule
is followed, and each party makes the best bargain he can for
himself.

To us, Americans, it undoubtedly becomes a question whether
a country is benefitted by this great preponderance of landed
possessions in the few. It appears, however, whatever may be
the case, good or evil to the country, that great liberality prevails
with the landlords in the expenditures for the improvement of
their estates, and that every necessary aid is rendered to the tenant
in these investments. A drawback upon the profits of the tenant,
however, exists in the taxes, which in many cases amount to a
sum equal to the rent of the land. The tithes amount to one-
tenth of every article produced, and are not now taken in kind,
but in money. The poor rates are heavy, and are paid by the
tenants.

2. The farmers. — The farmers are not Jike the farmers in the
United States; the latter labor with their own hands, the former
with the hands of others. They are described as a substantial
body of men, who are well informed, and even live in a style of
elegance and ease. They are indeed men of capital, as they

1846.] European Agriculture. 239

must be, otherwise they could not manage an estate which calls
for heavy expenditures. It seems that the amount of capital re-
quired for managing an estate, is double or treble the amount of
rent; which cannot be set down at much less than $50 per acre.
In respect to capital, then, there is a wide difference between an
English and American fanner. Two hands and a w^illing soul,
as our friend of the Genesee Farmer w^ould say, is all the capital
which is really required on this side the Atlantic to plow or graze
a farm. But with this small American capital, the farmer is
unable to wait for a market, and hence sometimes labors under
the disadvantages of strong and imperious necessity.

3. Agricultural laborers — We have said that this division of
men in agriculture is much like a cast; for it appears that the
lines of demarkation between them are strictly drau^n — the indi-
vidual moves in his own orbit, in which birth and education has
cast him.

The agricultural laborer, unlike the American, is in a low con-
dition; the greatest hardships they suffer seems to be in want-
ing food. His outward man is better off than the inward,
especially the stomach. Here, then, is a class whose great busi-
ness must be to scrape up enough to satisfy the cravings of appe-
tite; for the expectations of competency, can scarcely ever cheer
the vision of the poor laborer; if it does, it is a dream w^hen the
man slumbers, for in his w^akeful moments the barrier is seen to
be too high to be scaled, the chains too strongly riveted to be
cast off'.

Another feature in the condition of the laborer, is the division
of labor. A plowman is always a plowman, a ditcher is but a
ditcher, and a shepherd tends his flocks only, and neither plows
nor ditches. The effect is self-evident, the business is mechani-
cally well done, and the landlords and tenants reap the benefit,
while the individual from his limited capacity is bound forever to
move in the little orbit in which he was originally cast. But
after all these are drawbacks; although mechanical excellence may
be secured, he becomes a plodder, slow in his movements, with a
stiff gait and a laborious movement of his nether extremities.

240 JS''ew Publications. [April,

One of" the best examples, an instance of success as it would be
termed, in this sphere, is given by Mr. Coleman, which we con-
sider well worthy of particular notice.

" I visited one laborer's cottage, to which I was carried by the
farmer himself, who was desirous of shewing me, as he said, one
of the best examples, within his knowledge, of that condition of
life. The house, though very small, was extremely neat and tidy;
the Bible lay upon the shelf without an unbroken cobweb upon
its covers; the dressers were covered with an unusual quantity of
crockery, sufficient to furnish a table for a large party — a kind of
accumulation which, I w^as told, was very common; and their
pardonable vanity runs in this way, as, in higher conditions of
life, we see the same passion exhibiting itself in the accumulation
of family plate. The man and woman were laborers, greatly es-
teemed lor their good conduct, and had both of them been in the
service more than forty years. I asked them if, in the course of
that time, they had not been able to lay by some small store of
money to make them comfortable in their old age? I could not
have surprised them more by any question which I could have
proposed. They replied that it had been a constant struggle for
them to sustain themselves, but any surplus was beyond their reach.
I cannot help thinking that the condition is a hard one in which
incessant and faithful labor, for so many years, will not enable
the frugal and industrious to make some small provision for the
period of helplessness and decay, in a country where the accumu-
lations of W' ealth in some hands, giowing out of this same labor,
are enormous."

We should be glad to follow Mr. Coleman still further in his
account of the condition of the laboring class in England, and
especially go into a minute statement of the wages which they
receive, and of the allotment system which is designed to amelio-
rate their condition, but we must refer the reader to the work
itself for information upon these subjects. We may say without
fear of contradiction, that the evils w^hich attend English hus-
bandry, when taken in connection with entails, patents and mort-
mains are sufficiently great to stifle any complaints of our condi-
tion, though princely fortunes here were as distant as the polar
star.

In the second part, several subjects practically important to
farmers in this country are discussed with ability. First, the
quantity of seed proper to be sown is one of great interest. The

1846.] European JigricuUure. 241

quantity which may be profitably sown can be determined with
some exactness; and yet, to do this the land must be in a certain
condition — for while one would profitably receive two bushels an-
other would be overstocked and the seed lost, at least in part.
Mr. Coleman remarks truly, that there may be an excess, or there
may be too little seed sown; in either case there is a loss. The
experience of a distinguished farmer seems to go to prove that
one bushel is sufficient ; which, if true, would save the country
not less than 10,628,056 bushels; this result is founded upon a
calculation that the common practice is to sow 2\ bushels to the
acre. In this practice nearly one-tenth of the produce is con-
sumed in seed; whereas, if less quantity was sown, more room
would be given to tiller out, and the result would be an increase of
four hundred fold. The proportions of seed which the farmer
already referred to, proposes, are as follows:

Of rye 1^ bushel, Of oats 8 pecks.

Of tares \\ bushel. Of barley 7 pecks.

Of mangel wurtzel 6 lbs. Of wheat 3 pecks.

Of swedes 1 quart. Of peas 8 pecks.

Of turnips 1 quart. Of beans 8 pecks.

Of Cabbages 1 quart every three feet.
The argument for the small quantity of seed rests on the more
perfect developement of ears, and the greater size and perfectioii
of kernels. When a large quantity of seed is sown, the space
for the crop is too little when it has attained its size, and there is
a want of both air and food, and hence an imperfect development
of both ear and seed.

Another subject brought to our notice, is spade cultivation.
One thing appears to be established, namely, that land under this
culture is better prepared for all crops than when they are plow-
ed; but, in order that profit may be reaped, it is essential that
labor should be cheap; hence, in this country w^here labor is
dear, this mode of cultivation must be limited to the garden, or
at least greatly confined. Where too, there is a ready cash mar-
ket, from 8 to 10 acres can without doubt be cultivated with
profit, especially if put down to roots, and the miscellaneous pro-
Vol. III., No. II. 18

242 JsTew Publications. [April,

ducts which are always called for in cities, such as celery, cab-
bage, potatoes, beans, peas, carrots, etc.

The actual improvements hi English agriculture. — By what
method has the husbandry of England been improved and brought
to the present high condition of the art? 1. By draining, irriga-
tion and warping. 2. By attention to live stock and vegetables.
3. By improved agricultural instruments. 4. By the aids and
facilities which steam power gives in bringing the market to
every man's door, and by driving machinery for thrashing grain,
etc. 5. Increased production. 6. By the energy, activity and
enlightened labors of the agricultural societies. Especially have
these societies improved the English agriculture in giving a right
direction to farm labor, and in exciting inquiry upon proper sub-
jects, and devising the best means for securing important and feasi-
ble ends.

One subject more and we shall dismiss part second of the Eu-
ropean Agriculture. It relates to agricultural education and
model farms, and schools for the improvement of the Irish. The
accomplishment of several important objects are proposed by the
establishment of this institution. 1. To promote the cause of
education, and extend its benefits far and wide, and particularly
into those fields which are so far removed from intellectual light
that scarce a ray ever reaches them. 2. To raise up and qualify
teachers or school masters. 3. To furnish opportunities to the
young to acquire skill and knowledge in practical husbandry and
the details of farming. The model farm and school is located at
Glasnevin, three miles from Dublin, and has connected with it
fifty-two acres of land, the whole of which is under cultivation,
and a perfect system of rotation of crops. The master of the
school rents the land at five pounds per acre; this, together with
the taxes and expenses, carry it up to eight pounds per acre.
Twelve poor boys, or lads, live with hhn and devote six hours
per day in labor, in addition to which the master receives eight
shillings per week. The time, when not employed in labor, is
devoted to the study of the most useful branches of education,
such as arithmetic, geography, natural philosophy, and agricul-

1846.] European floriculture, 243

ture, in all its scientific and practical details. Enterprises of this
kind need no commendation; the good and happy influences
which they must exert in a thousand ways can never be told or
reckoned up.

The subject of agricultural schools is carried far into the part
third; indeed, it may be considered as occupying the whole ground.
For details in regard to the working of the numerous schools,
their objects, plans, &c., we must refer our readers to the work
itself We must not, however, pass by the plan of an agricultu-
ral institution for the United States, which 3tlr. Coleman recom-
mends to the consideration of its citizens. We give Mr. C.'s
views upon this subject in his own language.

" First, then, in every system of agricultural education, there
should be an institution for the thorough indoctrination of the
pupil in natural science, and in mechanical physiology, so far as
it can be made to bear upon agriculture. I have already treated
fully of what, on this topic, should be taught in an institution of
this nature.

" Secondly, there should be a model farm, vrhich sliould be ac-
cessible to the pupils, and where they might see an example of
the best management, and the best practices in husbandry. It is
obvious, however, that a single farm can present, excepting on a
small scale, only a single kind of farming; and that it w^ould be
hardly possible to find a single locality presenting any considera-
ble, or very instructive specimen of the different kinds of farming,
such as arable, grazing, stock-breeding, stall-feeding, sheep-
raising and dairying. But the particular and careful observation
even of one kind of well-conducted farming would qualify a
pupil for understanding and receiving information on every other,
whenever it came in his w^ay, or wherever it might be attainable.
Stall-feeding is intimately connected and often associated vrith
arable farming, and dairying wnth grazing. The management of
live stock, whether for work, for fatting, or for dairying, might,
in a small degree, be exemplified on every well-managed fariu.
Such an appendage as this to a school of practical instruction,
where the pupils might see and have explained to them, the very
best modes of husbandry, must be of the highest benefit. To
these should be added an experimental farm. This need not be
extensive, and it might be connected with the model farm; in-
deed, the model farm might itself be, to a degree, an experiment-
al farm. It may be said that the premiums offered by agricul-
tural societies, for various experiments in husbandry, are sufficient
to meet the public wants in this case. I admit that they have in

244 Jfew Publications. [April,

this way rendered immense benefits to the public; but there are
still wanted various trials and tests of soils, manures, grasses,
plants, implements, modes of cultivation, modes of feeding, breed-
ing, dairying, — and on the effects of temperature, moisture, heat,
frost, light and electricity, — which common farmers can scarcely
be expected to undertake, or, if undertaken, to follow out with
that exactness which is most desirable, in ortler to render the re-
sults of such experiments worthy of confidence, and lessons for
general application.

" Connected with the whole should be most extensive gardens —
first, for purposes of botanical instruction, giving the pupils an
opportunity of becoming acquainted with all the principal plants,
grasses, forest-trees, fruit-trees and weeds, which enter into their
cultivation, to the advantage or injury of the farmer; and next,
for making them thoroughly acquainted (a knowledge highly
important to them) with the cultivation of all the varieties of
vegetables and fruits which may be required for use, profit or
luxury."

" Let us suppose that it were proposed to establish such an in-
stitution in the western part of New York. Certainly no location
could, in respect to the external circumstance of soil, climate,
access, society and markets, be more favorable. A farm of five
hundred acres might be taken, on favorable terms, on a long
lease. I would under no circumstances suffer the number of pu-
pils to exceed one hundred, and perhaps it might be expedient to
restrict the number much more. Some good-sized hall or build-
ing would be requisite for public meetings, lectures or recitation-
rooms, and for a museum, library and chemical-laboratory; but I
would erect no college building for the residence of the pupils.
They should either lodge in the neighborhood, w^ith such farmers
as would be willing to receive them, or other persons who might
be disposed to provide for them; or otherwise, I W'ould erect
small farm-houses on the place, sufficient to supply the needful
accommodations; but in no case should more than fifteen or twenty
be lodged in one place; and, w^iether on the farm or not, the
lodging-houses for the pupils should be under the constant in-
spection or regulation of the governors or instructors of the insti-
tution. One or two instructors should be employed constantly
for teaching the main branches of education, and a competent
farmer should be employed to manage the agricultural depart-
ment, and to give the necessary practical instruction. Beyond
this, no resident instructors w^ill be required, — but regular and full
courses of lectures, and experiments in geology, mineralogy, bo-
tany, comparative anatomy, the veterinaiy art and chemistry, by
competent professors of these sciences, who might be employed
for these objects annually, without the necessity and expense of

1846.] European Jlgriculture. 24tb

constant residence, — as is now frequently done at our medical
schools. In this way, the best talents in the community might
be commanded, and at a reasonable expense.

" I would require, in the next place, that the pupils should be
placed in a condition of perl'ect equality, and that a certain
amount of labor should be made compulsory on all, at such a rate
of wages as should be deemed just, according to the ability of
the pupil, and the nature of the woik done. An account should
be kept for every pupil, and another by every pupil, of the labor
performed by him, which should be passed to his credit. The
farm account should be kept with faithful exactness, and be al-
ways open to the inspection of the pupils; and after the deduction
of the rent, and the necessary burdens and expenses, and some
amount kept as a reserve or accumulating fund for the benefit of
the institution, the remainder should be divided among the pupils
according to the labor performed

" Their board and lodging should be settled for by themselves,
without any interference on the part of the directors of the insti-
tution, beyond keeping the charges within a stipulated price; and
the keepers of the boarding houses should be required to purchase
at reasonable rates, from the farm, whatever supplies they might
require, which the farm would yield. A tax should be levied
upon the students for the payment of all the instructors and lec-
turers, and the use of the library, and chemical and philosophical
apparatus; and likewise to meet any extraordinary experiments
made upon the farm, with a view to the instruction of the school.
Whether it would be advisable for every pupil to have an allot-
ment for himself, either for the purpose of experiment or for the
profit, and in aid of his subsistence, would be worth considering;
remembering always how important it is to give to every man an
immediate interest in the result of his labors."

We have now given Mr. Coleman's views of an agricultural
institution at large, and though differences of opinion must neces-
sarily exist in regard to details and the minutiae in the arrange-
ments and plans, still, few we believe will dissent from the main
features which the proposed plan presents to us. We are not
fully satisfied, that model and experimental farms are so essential
to an agricultural education, while so many good farmers are
ready to communicate the results of their practice and to exhibit
the actual details of their plans to all who are disposed to ex-
amine their proceedings. The great desiderata to be secured in
an agricultural education are, first, knowledge in regard to the

246 JVeiv Puhlications. [April,

adaptation of soils, and how they may be brought into the condi-
tion to bear the crops which are the most profitable to raise.
Those of course will differ in different places; even a soil which
would bear good wheat might be, from location, more profitably
devoted to potatoes, meadow or grass, corn, etc. 2. In what way
labor may be most profitably directed, and how the proper ends
and objects of labor may be secured, and how much labor may
be expended with profit in securing a certain end, for after all a
thing which is desirable may cost too much; and, furthermore,
how much labor per day an hired laborer ought to perform. Now
these are points which neither algebra nor natural history, nor
chemistry, will teach a man, they must be obtained in the prac-
tical working of a private or public establishment; and for acquir-
ing these items of information we should prefer a private estab-
lishment; and however small these items may appear in the eyes
of some, they will be found essential and necessary to the man
who is intending to get his living and support from a farm. It
is, however, principally at a public institution that the several
branches of science must be acquired, it is only here, that facili-
ties are afforded by which progress can be made, and by which
much time may be saved.

The fourth part of European Agriculture is devoted principally
to the different markets, including those for stock, cattle, grain
and meat markets,

" The English farmers have great advantages in their markets
and exchanges; and in this matter, to s certain extent, we ought
to follow them. I do not say these markets are an unmixed
good; but the benefits arising from them, I am convinced, greatly
preponderate over the evils; and, taking advantage of the long
experience of others, some of these evils we may either remedy or
avoid. It would prove highly beneficial to our farmers if they
could have certain established markets for the sale of their pro-
duce when it is ready for sale; if prices could be fahly adjusted
and equalized; and especially if the markets could be for cash;
and that credit, in all cases excepting for very short periods,
could be abolished. It would be equally useful to them to know
where they could buy as well as where they could sell; for they
often w^ant lean or store stock for fattening, a change of seed for

1846.] European Jlgncultvre. 247

sowing, horses for farm service, young stock for grazing, and cows
for dairy use.

" With the exception of three or four of our large towns, — as
Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, — we have no established
cattle market in the country; and markets such as Brighton near
Boston, and the Bull's Head near Albany, are almost exclu-
sively for the sale of fat cattle, sheep, and swine. Our farmers
sell, as they can, to agents or purchasers travelling through the
country, and buy as they can, and where, by chance, after taking,
in many cases, long and expensive journeys, they may find the
stock which they need. In frequent cases, stock, both cattle and
swine, are driven through the country and sold to those who wish
to purchase as accident may direct. A wool fair or market, is
not to my knowledge, held in this country; nor a corn or grain
market.* In the purchase of wool, agents scour the the country,
and in general the farmers are quite at their mercy. In respect
to grain, the fai'mer carries his wheat, or other grain, to the mill-
er, or the trader, and must make the best bargain that he can. In
such case, in the first place, there is no competition; and no pos-
sibility of calculating the quantities on hand for sale; and no
mode of fixing any general or equal price ; and, indeed, no cer-
tanity to the farmer of finding any market at all. These evils
might be remedied, and a change effected, to the great advantage
of buyers and sellers, by the adoption of a system of weekly or pe-
riodical markets, wdiich prevails through England and Scotland.
Here are wool fairs, for the sale of wool, ofwhich samples are ex-
hibited; and corn and grain markets, wheat, barley, oats, rye,
beans, and peas, samples of which are exhibited, are sold; and
markets for the sale of fat cattle, and markets for the sale of lean
cattle, and markets for the sale of horses, and markets for the sale
of sheep and lambs, and markets for the sale of cheese and butter;
these markets sometimes uniting several objects, or otherwise lim-
ited to some single object."

" The great market for cattle, in England, perhaps the greatest
in the world, is at Smithfield, in London. This market is prin-
cipally for fat cattle and sheep, and for cows. It is held weekly,
in the centre, and in one of the most crowded parts, of this great
metropolis. Monday is the day of general sale for fat cattle and
sheep; Tuesday for hay and straw; Thursday is again a day of
sale for hay and straw; and Friday for cattle, sheep, swine, and

* Howard Street, in Baltimore, affords the only place in the United States
re«emblin? an exclusive market for the sale of grain or flour; and this is on-
ly attended by individual purchasers, and is not a meeting of farmers, grain
dealers and millers, coming together on particular days in the week, and at
a particular hour in the day, to exhibit samples, to collect and impart infor-
mation respecting the graiti prospects of the year, to discuss prices, and to
afford to all parties the advantages of comparison and competition.

248 J^ew Publications. [April,

particularly for the sale of milch cows, and at 2 o'clock for scnib
horses and asses. This day is not so large a market as Monday,
and embraces the cattle that were left over on the Monday's mar-
ket.

" The market opens at daylight, at all seasons of the year, and
closes at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, at which time every thing
sold or unsold must be removed. The sheep and swine are en-
closed in pens, railed in with w^ood, and containing seldom
more than fifteen sheep in a pen. The cattle, as far as the ac-
commodations will admit, are tied, by the horns or neck, to long
railings, which extend on the outside of the market place, and
likewise down the centre of the area. Between the rows of ani-
mals tied to these rails and facing each other, there is a passage-
way; and there are, likewise, open spaces behind them and be-
tween them, so as to enable the purchasers to see the stock."

We are unable to give only a fact or two in regard to markets;
the whole statement, however, is very interesting and important,
and many suggestions or considerations come up in regard to
improvements which might be effected by enterprising individuals
in our own country.

Another subject is discussed in this part of the European Agri-
culture, namely, the corn duty. A great change has taken place in
the policy of the English government since Mr. Coleman's re-
marks w^ere penned. Our author, under this head, however, dis-
cusses the policy of tariff and free trade at some length, and gives
the arguments for and against duties for protection. We give
the arguments in Mr. C.'s own language.

" 1. Arguments for Protection. — The protectionists, who are
opposed to the introduction of foreign grain, mantain that a free
competition in their own market by supplies from abroad would
so reduce the price of grain as to render its cultivation not merely
profitless, but ruinous; and that the result would be to throw much
land out of cultivation, and consequently deprive the laborer of
his present resources; and though the price of bread were reduced,
yet such would be the scarcity of employment, and the reduction
of his wages, that he would be without the means of paying even
a reduced price.

" 2. Arguments against Protection. — The opponents of re-
strictions in the introduction of foreign grain maintain, on the oth-
er hand, that from the necessities of the case, the land will con-
tinue to be cultivated; that the introduction of foreign grain will
induce the farmer to cultivate more land, to introduce improve-

1S46.] European Agriculture. 249

ments in cultivation, to bring into pioductive condition much land
which is now w^aste and profitless, and thus increasing the amount
of his crops by a more skilful cultivation, this excess will be very
much more than an equivalent for any diminution of price. The
saving of the expenses of transportation, incident to the importa-
tion of grain, from abroad, must be considered, in its very nature,
as virtually a considerable protection to the English farmer."

The subject matter of the corn law is pursued under the heads,
Moral view of the question. Patriotism and philanthrophy. Proper
ends of national policy, Bread regarded in a peculiar light, Pecu-
liar condition of the English laboring population. On the last
head Mr. C. holds the following language.

" Peculiar Condition of the English Laboring Population. —
But there are circumstances, connected W'ith the condition of Eng-
lish society, w^hich give peculiar severity to these laws. A large
portion of the laboring population depend wholly upon their labor
from day to day, for a supply. If wages were paid in kind, the
price of bread would not so much affect the laborer. If wages rose
or fell with the price of bread, the case would be different from
what it is. But this is not the case; labor is superabundant; the
competition for employment is severe; and constant employment
difficult to be procured. Land, for the purpose of growing bread
for themselves, is a matter wholly beyond the reach of the great-
er part of the laboring population. They might as well think of
getting possessions in the moon. The soil is locked up in com-
paratively few hands. It is stated confidently, that from the year
1775 to the year 1815, the number of landed proprietors in Eng-
land was reduced from 240,000 to 30,000, and that the process
of absorption has been continually going on from that to the pre-
sent time. Labor here, then, is wholly dependant upon capital.
Emigration, from the insular character of the country, is extreme-
ly difficult, and not as in the United States, where a man has only
to take his axe upon his shoulder, and find for himself a home.
Though the price of bread, therefore, should increase, the rate of
wages would not be affected; the laborer would get no more; and,
from the advance in the price of that which is indispensable to
his subsistence, his wages would virtually become of less value,
though the nominal amount remained the same. Add to this,
that the increase of the population of Great Britian is goino- on
at a rapid rate, the increase for the last year, as stated upon the
highest authority, being no less than 380,000. These considera-
tions, as connected with this subject, cannot fail to have their
weight upon reflecting and benevolent minds. Whether any re-
straint, therefore, should be put upon the supply of food to the

250 JM'MJ Publicafiovf}. [April,

people, is a matter wliicli I submit to the opinion of those whom
it concerns."

The subjects which close the fourth part are vegetable and
meat markets, and market gardens.

Market Gardeis. — To give our readers an idea of the great
amount of vegetable matter required to supply the city of Lon-
don, we quote the following passage:

" The extent of the vegetable gardens in the neighborhood of
this great city is enormous, and the multiplied facilities of con-
veyance make even remote places, now, in many articles the sup-
pliers of London. Fifty years ago, it was calculated that there
were two thousand acres cultivated by the spade, and eight thou-
sand by the spade and plow conjointly. The extent of cultiva-
tion must, of course, be at present much greater. It is said of
one individual that he had eighty acres in asparagus, and of
another that he had sixty, and that the forming of the beds was
estimated at <£100 per acre. This undoubtedly w^as under the
old system of growing asparagus, when the soil was to be taken
out to a depth of some feet, and a bed of stones placed at the
bottom, and other expensive arrangements. Now, asparagus is
grown almost as easily as carrots or celery, it only requiring to
be first grown in a nursery or seed bed, and then transplanted in
the bottom of deep furrows or trenches, made two feet distance
from each other, well bedded with manure, and the bed itself
kept constantly clean, and annually covered with a loading of
manure in the autumn, which must be dug in with a fork in the
spring. This, in three years from the seed, gives as good and
abundant a plant as under the old method of trenching and bot-
toming with stones, and laying a foot of manure on the stones.

" The amount of vegetables sent by some individual salesman,
is enormous. The principal market days are three times in a
week, but Saturday is the principal day; and it is confidently
stated — though in relating it I fear that some persons may think
the credulity of their too-confiding countryman has been practised
upon — that a single grower has been known to send, in one day,
more than nineteen hundred bushels of peas in the pod, and seven
or eight loads of cabbages, averaging eighteen hundred cabbages
each; and at another season, from the same farm, fourteen or fif-
teen hundred baskets of sprouts w^ill be sent in one day, and in
the course of the year from five to six thousand tons of potatoes.
In his account of the agriculture of Middlesex, Middleton says,
that in 1795, in the height of the fruit season, each acre of the
gardens cultivated in small fruits gave employment to thirty-five
persons, among whom w^ere many women, who were employed

1846.] European ^8gricvUure. 251

in carrying the fruit to market on their heads; and that the gath-
ering of a crop of peas required forty persons for every ten acres.
The account given of the sum of money received from the pro-
duce of a single acre is quite worthy of remark, it being the
statement of a market-gardener. Radishes, £\0; cauliflower,
j£60; cabbages, j£30; celery, first crop, <£50; second crop, jC40;
endive, j£30; — making a total of j£220, or 1,100 dollars, for the
gross produce of an acre in twelve months."

In the fifth and last part of the first volume of European Agri-
culture, we find among many others the following heads of sub-
jects: the soil, theories and operations of the soil, soils of Great
Britain, physical properties of a soil, plowing and its different
modes, improved machinery, etc. We will detain the reader a
few moments with Mr. C.'s remarks on the soil.

"The farmer's whole business, as far as cultivation is concerned,
lies with the soil ; and upon the soil, and on the skill and intelligence
with which he manages it, must depend entirely his success. The
notion, that plants receive a large portion of their nourishment
through their leaves, — although some experiments, in my opinion
not sufnciently decisive to determine the question, seem to favor
it, — appears to me about as probable as that animals receive a
large portion of their nourishment through their lungs. If they
absorb corbon and discharge oxygen by day, they reverse the pro-
cess, and absorb the oxygen of the atmosphere, and discharge car-
bon, by night; and w^hat portion of the latter in this way is as-
similated, and made to form a part of the plant, (as far as I can
understand the experiments which have been made,) does not as
yet seem to be determined. I know the confidence with which
this is affirn^ed, and, as a philosophical fact, I admit that it is of
great interest, and extremely worthy of inquiry."

" That the atmosphere contributes essentially to vegetation —
that plants derive much of their nourishment and substance from
the air, as I have already remarked does not admit of a question;
but, so far as any practical use whatever is to be made of this
fact, we must consider this nourishment as received through the
roots, and consequently through the medium of the soil in which
these roots spread themselves, and the manures by which it is en-
riched. The soil therefore, as the basis of all vegetation, is the
great object of the farmer's consideration."

" The ingenious theory of Decandolle, that the exudations or
excrementitious matter from one kind of crop unfitted the ground
for an immediate repetition of the same species of plant, seems
now to be generally abandoned. It is a well established principle,
which nractical men understand quite as well as the scientific.

252 ./Yew Puhlicalions. [April,

that a rotation of crops is indispensable to a successful agriculture;
and the theory is altogether probable that a particular crop ex-
hausts the soil of certain elements essential to its production, which
must somehow be supplied beibre a second crop of the same kind
can be grown on the same land ; but it would be extremely inte-
resting if the fact of such exhaustion, and its extent, could be more
particularly determined by a chemical examination of the soil which
has been cultivaterl. The beautiful theory ot' the great agricul-
tural oracle of the day, that certain mineral ingredients which are
always found in the ashes of plants, and \vhich are carried off when
these products are removed, and, being essential to vegetation, re-
quire to be either artificially replaced or supplied by a natural pro-
cess,— and that, the land being suffered to rest, or applied to a dif-
ferent production, the ordinary influences of air and moisture in de-
composing the rocks of the soil will renew the supply of the min-
eral elements which have been removed, — seeins to offer the de-
sired explanation; and the experiments to which this theory has
led, and which, under its influence, are now going on in various
parts of the country, must presently determine it, and, what is bet-
ter, show its proper application, and greatly simplify the process-
es of agriculture, reducing its expenses and giving comparative cer-
tainty to its results.

"The operation of air and moisture upon the soil, the effects of
light, and electricity, and frost, upon vegetation, all admit to be
powerful ; but they are as yet only partially understood, and pre-
sent subjects of the most interesting inquiry. In the progress of
science, technically so called, we have much to hope for; but in
what it has already accomplished enough has been gained to
quicken, but very far from enough to satisfy, the appetite. One
of the most eminent agricultural chemists of the present day,
Boussingault, second perhaps to no other, has said, " A great
deal has been written since Bergman's time upon the chemical
composition of soils. Chemists of great talent have made many
complete analyses of soils noted for their fertility; still, practical
agriculture has hitherto derived very slender benefits from labors
of this kind. The reason of this is very simple; the qualities
which we esteem in a workable soil depend almost exclusively
upon the mechanical mixture of its elements; we are much less
interested in its chemical composition than in this; so that simple
washing, which shows the relations between the sand and the clay,
tells, of itself, much more that is important to us than an elabo-
rate chemical analysis," This is certainly a great confession for
an eminent chemist to make.

"To exemplify the different results to which the most scientific
men arrive in these cases, I will refer both to Boussingault and
Von Thaer in respect to a simple point, the presence of the car-

1846.] European ^'Agriculture. 253

bonate of lime in the soil as essential to the growth of a crop of
wheat, on which the public mind has been so long, so generally,
and so confidently made up.

" Von Thaer says, " The richest argillaceous soil that I ever
analyzed, the fertility of which w^as regarded as of the very rich-
est quality, was taken from the right bank of the Elbe, some few
miles from its mouth; it contained eleven and a half parts in a
hundred of humus, four and a half of lime, a great quantity of clay,
a little coarse silica, and a considerable portion of very fine silica,
which could onl} be separated from it by ebullition. It certainly
possessed a great degree of cohesion, but, when moderately mois-
ened, it was not very tenacious. It was made to bear the richest
crops, as cabbages, w'heat, autumnal corn, beans, &c. ; but every
sixth year it was necessary to manure it thoroughly, and to give
it a fallow."

" On the preceding page, he says, "The richest land I ever ana-
lyzed, and which was taken from the marshes of the Oder, con-
tained 19| parts in 100 of humus, 70 of clay, a little fine sand,
and an almost imperceptible quantity of lime; but the situation of
this land was too low, and it was too damp, to admit of a correct
estimate being formed of its fertility."

" Boussingault says, " I may remark generally, that, from the
whole of the analyses of good w^heat lands which have hitherto
been made, it appears that carbonate of lime enters in consid-
erable quantity into their composition; and theory, in harmony with
practice, tends to show that it is advantageous to have this earthy
salt as a constituent in the manures which are put upon soils that
contain little or no lime."

" On the next page, he says, "M. Berthier's analysis is still far
from proving that the presence of lime in a soil is indispensable,
inasmuch as beautiful wheat crops are grown in the neighborhood
of Lisle without lime. In proof of this fact, I shall here cite the
analysis of one of the most fertile soils in the world, the black soil
of Tchornoizem, which Mr. Murchison informs us constitutes the
superficies of the arable lands comprised between the 54th and 57th
degrees of north latitude, along the left bank of the Volga as far
as Tcheboksar, from Nijni to Kasan, and stretching over a still
more extensive district upon the Asiatic side of the Ural Moun-
tains. Mr. Murchison is of opinion that this land is a submarine
deposit formed by the accumulation of sands rich in organic mat-
ters. The Tchornoizem is composed of black particles, mixed with
grains of sand; it is the best soil in Russia for wheat and pastur-
age; a year or two of fallow will suffice to restore it to its form-
er fertility after it has been exhausted by cropping; it is never
manured.

"M. Payen found in this black and fertile soil.

254 JVew Publications. [^pril?

" Organic matter, . 6.95 (containing 2.45 per cent, of azote.)
Silica, .... 71.56
Alumina, .... 11.40
Oxide of iron, . • 5.62

Lime, 0.80

Magnesia, .... 1.22
Alkaline chlorides, 1.21
Phosphoric acid, a trace.
Loss, 1.24

100.00"

" It is a little remarkable, judging from the analysis here given,
that not only is the quantity of lime extremely minute, but even
the phosphates, deemed so essential and indispensable to success,
are also absent.

" Such are the diversified results to which even the most scien-
tific are led; and they are well adapted to admonish us of the
imperfection of human knowledge, and the limitation of human
powers."

We hope to be indulged in some remarks upon the opinions ex-
pressed by the author in regard to the results of analysis, and the
importance of lime in wheat growing. The rich soils analyzed
by Von Thaer were certainly remarkable for the great quantity of
organic matter as well as lime; but passing at once to the analy-
sis of Payen which we have copied, we say, that we by no means
see from this analysis that lime may be dispensed with, and we
venture to suggest, that the lime in this case was mostly com-
bined with the organic matter, and w^hich even in the small
per centage which is seemingly obtained from the soil; still, in an
acre of land it will be found to amount to nearly twenty tons of the
salt of lime. Here too, the organic matter, with 2.45 per cent of
azote, amounts to nearly 7 per cent, these together with magne-
sia and alkaline chlorides and phosphoric acid accounts satisfac-
torily for the productiveness of this soil. We have, however,
dwelt in this and in former numbers of this Journal upon the
value and importance of organic matter in the soil, especially
when combined with the alkalies and alkaline earths; and though
the fact be admitted to its fullest extent, that some vegetables
do derive nourishment from the atmosphere, still, it ought by no

1846.] European .agriculture. 255

means to turn the attention of the farmer from improving his
farm by enriching it with all the means within his reach.

On the subject of plowing, Mr. C. gives us the following
characteristics of correct plowing.

" Whatever mode of ploughing the land is subjected to, you
should take special care that it be plowed for a winter furrow in
the best manner. The furrow-slice should be of the requisite
depth, whether of five inches on the oldest lea, or seven inches on
the most friable ground; and it should also be of the requisite
breadth of nine inches in the former case, and often in the latter;
but as ploughmen incline to hold a shallower furrow than it should
be, to make the labor easier to themselves, there is less likelihood
of their making a narrower furrow than it should be, a shallow
and broad furrow conferring both ease on themselves, and getting
over the ground quickly. A proper furrow-slice in land not in 2;rass,
or, as it is termed, in red land, should never be less than nine inch-
es in breadth and six inches in depth on the strongest soil, and
ten inches in breadth and seven inches in depth on lighter soils.
On grass land of strong soil, or on land of any texture that has
lain long in grass, nine inches of breadth, and five inches of depth,
is as large a furrow-slice as may possibly be obtained; but on
lighter soil, with comparatively young grass, a furrow-slice often
inches by six, and even seven, is easily turned over. At all sea-
sons, but especially for a winter furrow, you should endeavor to
establish for yourself a character for deep and correct plowing."

"Correct plowing possesses these characteristics: The fur-
row-slices should be quite straight, for a plowman that cannot
hold a straight furrow is unworthy of his charge. The furrow-
slices should be quite parallel in length; and this property shows
that they have been turned over of a uniform thickness, for thick
and thin slices, lying together, present irregularly horizontal lines.
The furrrow-slices should be of the same height, which shows
that they have been cut of the same breadth; for slices of diiter-
ent breadth, laid together at whatever angle, present unequal ver-
tical lines. The furrow-slices should present to the eye a similar
form of crest and equal surface; because, where one furrow-slice
exhibits a narrower surface than it should have, it has been co-
vered with a broader slice than it should be; and where it displays
a broader surface than it should, it is so exposed by a narrower
slice than it should be, lying upon it. The furrow-slices should
have their back and face parallel; and to discover this property
requires rather minute examination after the land has been plow-
ed; but it is easily ascertained at the time of plowing. The
ground, on being plow^ed, should feel equally firm under the foot
at all places; for slices in a more upright position than they should

256 JVeio Publications. [April,

be not only feel hard and unsteady, but will allow the seed corn
to fall down between them and become buried. Furrow-slices in
too flat a state always yield considerably to the pressure of the
foot; and they are then too much drawn, and afford insufficient
mould for the seed. Furrow slices should lie over at the same
angle; and it is demonstrable that the large extent of surface ex-
posed to the action of the air is when they are laid over at an
angle of 45°, thus presenting crests in the best possible position
for the action of the harrows. Crowns of ridges, formed by the
meeting of opposite furrow-slices, should neither be elevated nor
depressed, in regard to the rest of the ridge, although plowmen
often commit the error of raising the crowns too high into a
crest — the fault being easily committed by not giving the feered"
(that is, the first or marking-out slices) " furrow-slices sufficient
room to meet, and thereby pressing them upon one another. The
furrow-brows should have slices uniform with the rest of the ridge;
but plowmen are very apt to miscalculate the width of the slices
near the sides of the ridges; for if the specific number of furrow-
slices into which the whole ridge should be plowed are too narrow,
the last slice of the furrow-brow will be too broad, and will there-
fore lie over too flat; and should this too broad space be divided
into two furrows, each slice will be too narrow, and stand too up-
right. When the furrow-brows are ill made, the mould-furrows
cannot be proportionately plowed out; because, if the space be-
tween the furrow-brows is too wide, the mould-furrow^s must be
made too deep, to fill up all the space, and vice versa. If the
furrow-brow slices are laid too flat, the mould-furrows will be apt
to throw too much earth upon their edges next the open furrow,
and there make them too high. When the furrow-brows of ad-
joining ridges are not plowed alike, one side of the open furrow
will require a deeper mould-furrow than the other."

Another important subject, and which perhaps has not been
seen in all its bearings, is harrowing. In the language of Mr. I.
Allen Ransome, we are presented with the following considera-
tions.

" It is admitted, by all acquainted with the subject, that har-
rowing, especially on heavy soils, is the most laborious operation
on the farm, — not so much, perhaps, on account of the quantum
of power requisite for the draught, (though this is sometimes con-
siderable,) as for the speed with which the operation is, or ought
to be, accompanied; and yet it is frequently left to the charge of
mere boys, and sometimes performed by the worst horses on the
farm.

" If we examine a field, one half of which has been harrowed

1846.] European Agriculture. - 257

with weak, inefficient horses, and whose pace was consequently
sluggish, the other half with an adequate strength and swiftness
of animal power, we shall find the former will be rough and un-
finished, the latter comparatively firm and level, and completed in
what \vould be called a husbandry-like manner. Scarcely any
thing in farming is more unsightly than the \vavy, serpentine
traces of inefficient harrowing. The generality of harrows ap-
pear too heavy and clmnsy to admit of that despatch without
which the work cannot be Avell done; and though it is evident
that different soils demand implements of proportionate weight
and power, yet, for the most part, harrows have been rather over
than under weighted, particularly when employed after a drill, or
to bury seeds of any kind.

" Harrowing has been so long regarded as an operation which
must be attended with considerable horse-labor, that attention
does not appear to have been sufficiently turned to the inquiry
whether this labor might not be greatly reduced, by lightening
the instruments with which it is performed. Many would be sur-
prised at the moment of reduction of which seed-harrows, at
least, are capable, and, where land is clean, to see how effectively
a gang of very light small-toothed harrows may be used.

" Having noticed, in some parts of Norfolk, the perfect manner
in which seed corn is covered by a common rake with wooden
teeth, a friend of mine constructed a gang of harrows on the fol-
lowing plan, and he states that it proved the most popular and
useful implement of the kind to the farm."

We have now dwelt as long as is proper upon the published
parts of Mr. Coleman's tour. We may not have made the most
judicious quotations from the work. We have, however, we be-
lieve, given those facts which are calculated to give our readers
a glimpse of the objects of the mission, the manner and spirit in
which it is executed, and the dress in which it is clothed, for the
reader's use. We feel no desire to exhibit our skill in fault find-
ing, or in criticism. We care not whether Mr. Coleman jileases
the nobility of England or not; we have a perfect confidence not
only in the author's good taste and sense of propriety, but in his
judgment to select and fulfill the object of his mission. We have
no sympathy with those who feel disappointed in the work as
now published, and who complain and say that the objects of the
tour have failed ; we believe no such thing. The work, incur
opinion is one of the most important contributions to agriculture

Vol. III., No. n. 19

258 JVew PubUcatiom. [April,

which has been made this last half century. It is true, that it is
a contribution rather to the literature than to the science of agri-
culture; and this is what was especially wanted at the present
time. This work is particularly calculated to improve the taste
and morals, and to give the right turn to the sentiments of its
readers. It may be, that Mr. Coleman is too much of a senti-
mentalist, too much inclined to moralize incidents and occasions;
nevertheless, this feature neither mars the book nor dishonors the
occasion. JNIr, Coleman's humanity and kindness is very conspi-
cuously brought out on many occasions, and as we know that it is
no pretence, but an innate ingredient in the spirit, its utterance
no one will suppose to proceed from a feigned sensibility. Again,
the Commissioner in treating of the matters and objects which
came under his notice, adheres throughout to a plain common
sense view. He no where attempts to exhibit deep and profound
views, but aims to express himself so as to be understood. He
evidently considered that he was writing for plain and substantial
farmers, men of good common sense, rather than those who would
be ranked with philosophers. Hence, he does not dwell upon
theories, or use the language which passes with many for learn-
ing, and which would imply an extensive and familiar acquaint-
ance with modern science. Hence, the European Agricultme
is adapted to a wide circulation. Some of his subjects may be
treated in a too common place manner, and perhaps the author
might have said the same things at home and in the United States
as well as in England or Scotland. This criticism may apply to
what is said of soils, and the subjects which stand in connection
with this; and we might say that when the author takes up a.
subject for discussion his remarks which apply directly to it
are often few and confined to a very narrow compass. This we
consider one of the faults of the author. Our first quotation of
Mr. C.'s remarks, from the first part, illustrates this feature in the
work. Important things, however, are still said, and we leave
others to entertain their own opinions of what we have consider-
ed as faulty.

1846.] Structure and Classification of Zoophytes. 259

STRUCTURE AND CLASSIFICATION OF ZOOPHYTES.

By James D. Dana, A. M., Geologist of the United States Ex-
ploring Expedition during the years 1S38, '39, '40, '41, '42.
Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard. 1846. pp. 132.

In a philosophical point of view, the lower forms of life are
more interesting than the higher. It is in these, that life is ac-
companied with the simplest apparatus, and here too, it is less en-
cumbered wnth complex conditions. In the higher circles of
organization, functions are specialized, and the organs by which
they are executed are as complicated as though they were inde-
pendent machines and moved by their own inherent powers.
Notwithstanding this, they act together under the influence
of one controlling power, which presides over and unites all
parts and all functions into one system; hence the multiplied
and complex relations which are established by the structure
and organization itself, produce necessarily numerous reactions
in parts distant from those in which the disturbing causes
may have been applied. We cannot, therefore, study the phe-
nomena of life and organizations under such complicated con-
ditions with as much confidence in the results as in those simple
and less complex forms. There is too, in the higher grades far
less tenacity of life; and the hold which the vital principle has
upon the organization is so slight, that it is extinguished by a
breath. It is like the union which exists in the complex products
of organized bodies, which requires only presence, to induce cata-
lyctic actions, when the whole combination of atoms is dissolved:
or, it is similar to the arrangement of atoms in Prince Rupert's
drop; make but the slightest solution of continuity, and instantly
all that remains of a well-formed sphere of glass is a heap of
unorganized sand. Zoophytes, however, are more like the simple
molecule, they resist changes and bear up under vicissitudes which
would destroy the higher organizations; and hence experiments
designed to show the relation of organs and fianctions may be in-

260 JVevo Publications. [April,

Btituted with a greater prospect of success, than in the higher
forms of life.

Another fact which creates for them a philosophical interest
and makes them objects worthy of special study is, the position
which they appear to hold as respects the vegetable and animal
kingdoms; and indeed so perfectly neutral is the ground %\hich
they occupy that their position in the organized world was not
clearly determined until about a century ago.

Standing then, as philosophers admit, as links in outward form
at least between the vegetable on the one hand, and the animal
on the other, it is not at all surprising that they should be studied
with great assiduity at a time when such an impulse to know
pervades so extensively the intellectual world.

Mr. Dana, in his brief, but appropriate introduction, holds the
following language in relation to this class of animals:

The forms of life, under consideration in the following pages,
are appropriately styled fiower-animds. In external figure, the
individual animals closely resemble flowers, and no less so in
brilliancy and variety of coloring. Moreover, a large number of
zoophytes are so like trees and shrubs of land vegetation as to
have deceived even the philosopher till near a century since. The
mosses and ferns of our woods — the lichens and mushroom — the
clump of pinks — the twig and spreading shrub — have all their
counterpart among the productions of the sea. The ocean grove
is without verdure, yet there is full compensation in its perpetual
bloom; for each coral branch is everywhere covered with its star-
shaped animals, the " coral-blossoms."

The similitude to plants, however, is rather external and gene-
ral, and not real in actual structure. The flower-animal has its
mouth and its stomach to receive its food, and when it is digested
it is ejected. Around its mouth it has petal-like organs arranged
in the form of a star; these are called tentacles, and resemble
fingers by which its prey is seized and conveyed to its stomach.

A Zoophyte is an inarticulate animal, with a fleshy body, near-
ly cylindrical in form, having a circular disk, bordered with tenta-
cles, in the centre of which is the mouth; its body is a visceral

1846.] Structure and Classification of Zoophytes. 26 1

cavity only, but without a distinct vasculai' or nervous system, and
no senses but taste and touch. The tenement of life is here re-
duced to its lowest condition — a sort of sack, closed at one ex-
tremity, which is apparently homogeneous, and whose vitality
animates equally every particle, so that it may be turned inside
out without injury or interruption to its limited functions. To
maintain life they must remain in the element in which they live,
for upon it depends the expansion of their bodies and tentacles
and the ejection of their fluids.

These flower-animals are reproduced in three modes.

1. By o\'ules either proceeding from within outwards, or from
vertical lamellae in the visceral cavity, and which are ejected
through the mouth.

2. By buds or gemmae, which afterwards become free and in-
dependent animals.

3. By artificial sections.

Zoophytes are either simple or compound, a solitary animal,
or a cluster of animals, whose combined gro\^ih has some deter-
minate form. They may, or may not secrete a hard stony sub-
stance termed by Mr. Dana coralltcm, or what is familiarly called
coral, which is analagous to an internal skeleton, inasmuch as it is
really invested with the soft parts of the animal.

Such are the general characters of Zoophytes, whose beautiful
forms clothe the shelving shores of tropical seas, and impart splen-
dor to the marine fields which are decked with robes as gorgeous
as those of our western prairies.

Mr. Dana divides corals into two orders. 1. Order Hyproi-
DEA. 2. Order AcxixoroEA. The first embraces those corals
whose visceral cavity is a simple sac, and whose reproductive func-
tions reside only in the walls of the cavity. The second includes
those whose visceral cavity is divided vertically by fleshy lamella
and which possess in them the reproductive functions. Hence the
ovules are ejected through the mouth. The first contain the minute
polyps, and when the coral is secreted it is horny or membranous ;
they are delicate and compound, and exist in the form of little

262 J^ew Publications. [April,

cups arranged along a tubular axis. The second, actinoidea com-
prises the common coral forming animals.

Mr. Dana gives a full and admirable description of the two
orders, with cuts illustrating many of the generic and specific
distinctions.

We copy a few additional facts, those which will give our
readers a more full and perfect idea of the nature of the animals
belonging to the first order.

They have no glandular system; no special absorbent or cir-
culating system; no ovarian glands, and no distinct nervous sys-
tem. Every part seems equally a centre of organic forces, and
consequently sections made almost indefinitely still live and com-
plete the entire polyp again.

These minute beings constitute the mosses of the coral land-
scape, the carpeting of marine beds. The corals or actinoidea
are likened to the larger plants, the asters, carnation and anemo-
nes which deck the marine garden; the astreas and gorgonias
make the shrubbery.

Passing over nearly one huncked pages of Mr. Dana's work,
some parts of which we would have been pleased to have no-
ticed, had we time to furnish the necessary illustrations, w^e pro-
ceed to notice very briefly his remarks on the distribution of zoo-
phytes.

The agents which influence the distribution of all animals
operates upon these in a special manner. Heat, light, pressure,
and means of subsistence, are the agents which exert the strong-
est influence in their distribution. Heat is the most important in
giving them latitudinal range, while light and pressure determines
the limits in depth. While these causes fix bounds to species
and families they do not necessarily confine tribes of species to so
small limits.

The hydroidea are found in all seas and at great depths, as well
as at the surface.

It is in the torrid zone that the actinoidea display their greatest
numbers and beauties. The coral reefs which sometimes extend
a thousand miles, are like a thousand miles of a thick tangled

1846.] Structure and Classification of Zoophytes. 263

shrubbery. Some of the largest and most conspicuous corals, the
madrepores, are limited to the temperature of 68° F. This, how-
ever, is the winter temperature; it is what they can endure, and not
that in which they can germinate. The warmest parts of the
Pacific varies from 80 to 85°, and it is here that madrepores and
brain corals luxuriate. The depth of these coral reefs is singu-
larly small. Twenty fathoms will include very nearly all the
species of the madrepore and astrsea tribes. Temperature has but
little influence in determining this limit, as 68° F. will not be
found under the equator short of a depth of one hundred fathoms.
Light and pressure are the principal causes which bring about
this result. Pressure affects the function of respiration; the waves
which are essential to the due performance of it do not reach to a
greater depth than fifteen or twenty fathoms.

Classification. — Zoophytes constitute an order of the sub-
kingdom termed,

Radiata. — Mr. Dana's views in regard to the relation which
these hold to other animals, may be understood by the following
diagram:

I. Vertebrata.

III. Articulata.

Insecta, Myriapoda,

Arachnida,

II. MOLLUSCA.

Cephalopoda, Pteropoda,
Gastropoda, Conchifera,

Crustacea, Annelida, I | Tunicata.

I ^^^ \ IV. Radiata. I

I \^ ; Echinodermata, ',

Rotifera, Entozoa, Zoophyta, Acalephae, Bryozoa.

V. Protozoa or Infusoria.
" One of the results of the study of the animal kingdom," says
Mr. D., " has been to bring to light lines or general systems of
development branching up from the lowest infusoria to the higher
grades of life. It is not true that the forms among the lower
grades are actually copied in any of the imperfectly developed
young of the superior ; yet there is some general analogy, suffi-
cient to indicate that the former commence on the same system of
development with some of the latter, although carried essentially

264 Jfew Publications. ^April,

out of the upward line by the peculiar vital powers of the species.
The rotifera are decidedly crustacean in type. The bryozoa, or
flustroid polyps are allied to the tunicata. It is a side-develop-
ment from the imaginary line, which connects the infusoria with
the tunicated molluscs. The entozoa afford other examples, one
branch of them passing into Crustacea, through the lernaeidffi and
caligidaB, and the other into the annelida.

" These remarks are intended to support no monad or lamarckian
theory, but only to elucidate the established principle that there
are in nature certain distinct systems or types of developments.
Each species is developed with some reference to one or the other
of these systems, but, through the agency of the vital forces pe-
culiar to it — forces which, there is reason to believe, only crea-
tive power can change.

" Again, the animal kingdom is throughout a network of affilia-
tions, yet there are main trunks and larger branches, to which the
smaller anastomosing ramifications are subordinate. Systems of
3s and 5s, look pretty to the mathematical eye, and have some
foundation in nature; yet, in tracing affinities, it is better first
actually to ascertain relations, and then to map them out, rather
than force the devious windings of nature into circles large and
small."

In the foregoing notice of Mr. Dana's work, we have by no
means attempted to give anything like a complete analysis. How
much we may have desired this, the sphere in which our journal
moves would hardly permit the details which it would require.
We were desirous, however, of doing something to assist in its
circulation and make known its value to our friends; besides, we
wish on all occasions to recommend the study of the natural
sciences, to excite a taste for them, and bespeak a regard for
them in all parts of our country. It is proper to observe, in con-
clusion, that the work under consideration is merely an introduc-
tion to a still larger work upon Zoophytes, and which is, as we
are informed, illustrated by numerous colored plates.

1846.] Darwin's Voyage of a Jfaturalist. 265

DARWIN'S VOYAGE OF A NATURALIST,

Or a Journal of Researches into the JViafural History and Geology
of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H. M. S. Bea-
gle round the World, under the command of Capt. Fitz Roy,
R. N., by C. Darwin, M. A., R. R. S., in 2 vols. 12mo. Harper
& Brothers, N. Y. 1846.

We have no intention to write at this time a criticism of this
work. Our design in noticing the Journal of Researches is
the more humble one, that of recommending the work to the
public, as one of the most interesting and instructive books of
the kind which has been published for many years. In the form
in which it is presented to the public, it is admirably adapted to
the purpose of popular instruction and entertainment, and is es-
pecially worthy of a place in all the school libraries of our coun-
try. It wnll be found full of interesting matter in all the depart-
ments of natural history; indeed it would seem from the range
of observation which Mr. Darwin takes, that he is an accomplish-
ed and finished naturalist in all the several classes of investiga-
tion into which this field of knowledge is now divided. We
cannot add to Mr. Darwin's reputation or fame by any remarks
which we can make; we shall content ourselves with the above
recommendation of his researches, and proceed at once to make
some extracts from them which have a bearing upon the objects
which this Journal is designed especially to promote. We shall
first take up Mr. Darwin at the Banda Oriental with his host on
an estate at Arroyo de San Juan. We give a few passages from
the Journal here, as it will convey a better idea of South Ameri-
can farming and husbandry than any labored description which
we can give, and in connection we shall introduce his account of
a singular breed of cattle which came under Mr. D.'s observation
at this place.

18^^. — Rode with my host to his estancia at the Arroyo de San
Juan. In the evening we took a ride round the estate: it con-
tained two square leagues and a half, and was situated in what

266 JYew Publications. [April,

is called a rincon ; that is, one side was fronted by the Plata, and
the two others guarded by impassable brooks. There was an ex-
cellent port for little vessels, and an abundance of small wood,
which is valuable as supplying fuel to Buenos Ayres. I was
curious to know the value of so complete an estancia. Of cattle
there were 3000, and it would well support three or four times
the number; of mares 800, together with 150 broken-in horses, and
600 sheep. There was plenty of water and limestone, a rough
house, excellent corrals, and a peach orchard. For all this he had
been offered ^£2000, and he only wanted ^£500 additional, and
probably would sell it for less. The chief trouble with an estan-
cia is driving the cattle twice a week to a central spot, in order
to make them tame, and to count them. This latter operation
would be thought difficult, where there are ten or fifteen thousand
head together. It is managed on the principle that the cattle in-
variably divide themselves into little troops of from forty to one
hundred. Each troop is recognised by a few peculiarly marked
animals, and its number is known: so that, one being lost out of
ten thousand, it is perceived by its absence from one of the tro-
pillas. During a stormy night the cattle all mingle together, but
the next morning the tropillas separate as before, so that each
animal must know its fellow out of ten thousand others.

On two occasions I met with in this province some oxen of a
very curious breed, called nata or niata. They appear externally
to hold nearly the same relation to other cattle which bull or pug
dogs do to other dogs. Their forehead is very short and broad,
with the nasal end turned up, and the upper lip much drawn
back; their lower jaws project beyond the upper, and have a cor-
responding upward curve: hence their teeth are always exposed.
Their nostrils are seated high up and are very open; their eyes
project outwards. When walking they carry their heads low, on
a short neck; and their hinder legs are rather longer, compared
with the front legs, than is usual. Their bare teeth, their short
heads, and upturned nostrils give them the most ludicrous, self-
confident air of defiance imaginable.

Since my return I have procured a skeleton head, through the
kindness of my friend. Captain Sulivan, R. N., which is now de-
posited in the College of Surgeons.* Don F. Muniz, of Luxan,
has kindly collected for me all the information which he could
respecting this breed. From his account, it seems that about
eighty or ninety years ago they were rare, and kept as curiosities
at Buenos Ayres. The breed is universally believed to have
originated amongst the Indians southward of the Plata, and that
it was with them the commonest kind. Even to this day, those

• Mr. Waterhouse has drawn up a detailed description of this head, which
Ih ope he will publish in some Journal.

1846.] Darwin's Voyage, of a JVaturalist. 267

reared in the provinces near the Plata show their less civilized
origin, in being fiercer than common cattle, and in the cow easily
deserting her first calf, if visited too often or molested. It is a
singular fact, that an almost similar structure to the abnormal*
one of the niata breed characterizes, as I am informed by Dr. Fal-
coner, that great extinct ruminant of India, the Sivatherium.
The breed is very true ; and a niata bull and cow invariably
produce niata calves. A niata bull with a common cow, or the
reverse cross, produces offspring having an intermediate character,
but with the niata characters strongly displayed: according to
Senor Muniz, there is the clearest evidence, contrary to the com-
mon belief of agriculturists in analogous cases, that the niata
cow when crossed with a common bull, transmits her peculiarities
more strongly than the niata bull when crossed w^ith a common
cow. When the pasture is tolerably long, the niata cattle feed
with the tongue and palate as well as common cattle; but during
the great droughts, when so many animals perish, the niata breed
is under a great disadvantage, and would be exterminated if not
attended to; for the common cattle, like horses, are able just to
keep alive by browsing with their lips on twigs of trees and
reeds; this the niatas cannot so well do, as their lips do not join,
and hence they are found to perish before the common cattle.
This strikes me as a good illustration of how little we are able to
judge from the ordinary habits of life, on what circumstances, oc-
curring only at long intervals, the rarity or extinction of a species
may be determined.

Farmers of this and the New England States have complained
of the Canada thistle, and have felt that it is so much of a nui-
sance as to call for legislative enactments for its extirpation. Let
us see what kind of thistles Mr. Darwin saw on the fertile para-
pas near Mercedes on the Rio Negro: —

2\st. — Started at sunrise, and rode slowly during the whole
day. The geological nature of this part of the province was
different from the rest, and closely resembled that of the Pampas.
In consequence, there were immense beds of the thistle, as well
as of the cardoon: the whole country, indeed, may be called one
great bed of these plants. The two sorts grow separately, each
plant is company with its own kind. The cardoon is as high as
a horse's back, but the Pampas thistle is often higher than the
crown of the rider's head. To leave the road for a yard is out of

'A nearly similar abnormal, but I do not know whether hereditary, struc-
ture has been observed in the carp, and likewise in the crocodile of the
Ganges : Histoire des Anomalies, par M. Isid. Geoffrey St. Hilaire, torn, i.,

p. 244.

268 Jfeio Publications. [April,

the question; and the road itself is partly, and in some cases en-
tirely closed. Pasture, of course, there is none; if cattle or
horses once enter the bed, they are for the time completely lost.
Hence it is very hazardous to attempt to drive cattle at this sea-
son of the year; for when jaded enough to face the thistles, they
rush among them and are seen no more. In these districts there
are very few estancias, and these few are situated in the neigh-
borhood of damp valleys, where, fortunately, neither of these
overwhelming plants can exist. As night came on before we ar-
rived at our journey's end, we slept at a miserable little hovel
inhabited by the poorest people. The extreme though rather
formal courtesy of our host and hostess, considering their grade of
life, was quite delightful.

Another subject which our friends, the wool-growers, will be
interested in is Mr. D.'s description of the South American shep-
herd dogs; and we would suggest whether the same plan might
not be adopted here for breaking in our common dogs to the bu-
siness of yarding sheep. Certainly the plan appears to us per-
fectly feasible.

While staying at this estancia, I was amused with what I saw
and heard of the shepherd-dogs of the country.* When riding,
it is a common thing to meet a large flock of sheep guarded by
one or two dogs, at the distance of some miles from any house or
man. I often wondered how so firm a friendship had been estab-
lished. The method of education consists in separating the
puppy, while very young, from the bitch, and in accustoming it
to its future companions. A ewe is held three or four times a day
for the little thing to suck, and a nest of wool is made for it in
the sheep-pen; at no time is it allowed to associate with other
dogs, or with the children of the family. The puppy is, more-
over, generally castrated; so that, when grown up, it can scarcely
have any feelings in common with the rest of its kind. From
this education, it has no wish to leave the flock, and just as ano-
ther dog will defend its master, man, so will these the sheep. It
is amusing to observe, when approaching a flock, how the dog
immediately advances barking, and the sheep all close in his rear,
as if round the oldest ram. These dogs are easily taught to bring
home the flock at a certain hour in the evening. Their most
troublesome fault, when young, is their desire of playing with
the sheep; for in their sport they sometimes gallop their poor
subjects most unmercifully.

• M. A. D'Orbicny has given nearly a similar account of these dogs, torn,
i., p. 175.

1846.] Darwin's Voyage of a Jfaiuralist. 269

The shepherd-dog comes to the house every day for some meat,
and as soon as it is given him he skulks away as if ashamed of
himself On these occasions the house-dogs are very tyrannical,
and the least of them will attack and pursue the stranger. The
minute, however, the latter has reached the flock, he turns round
and begins to bark, and then all the house-dogs take very quickly
to their heels. In a similar manner, a whole pack of the hungry
wild dogs will scarcely ever (and I was told by some never) ven-
ture to attack a flock guarded by even one of these faithful shep-
herds. The whole account appears to me a curious instance of
the pliability of the affections in the dog; and yet, whether wild
or however educated, he has a feeling of respect or fear for those
who are fulfilling their instinct of association; for we can under-
stand on no principle the wild dogs being driven away by the
single one with its flock, except that they consider, from some
confused notion, that the one thus associated gains power, as if in
company with its own kind. F. Cuvier has observed, that all
animals that readily enter into domestication, consider man as a
member of their own societ}', and thus fulfil their instinct of asso-
ciation. In the above case the shepherd-dog ranks the sheep as
its fellow-brethren, and thus gains confidence; and the wild dogs,
though knowing that the individual sheep are not dogs, but are
good to eat, yet partly consent to this view when seeing them in
a flock with a shepherd-dog at their head.

To us no subject of enquiry has been so interesting as the pro-
ems by which our domestic animals have been subdued and
domesticated; and hence every fact w^hich bears upon this sub-
ject, directly or indirectly, we esteem of great importance. It is
a broad field of inquiry, and we have no time now to enter upon
a consideration of the facts even in a general manner; we, how-
ever, take the opportunity' to extract one more interesting passage
from Mr. D.'s book, which bears upon this subject, and which
contains, aside from its bearing, curious matter of fact for the
consideration of naturalists, in regard to the changes which spe-
cies undergo under the special influence of local circmnstances.
The observations are upon the cattle which have become wild in
the Falkland Islands. They were introduced here by the French
in 1764, since which time they have greatly increased. Mr. D.
remarks: —

It is a curious fact that the horses have never lefl the eastern
end of the island, although there is no natural boundary to pre-

270 JVeuJ Publications. [April,

vent them from roaming, and that part of the island is not more
tempting than the rest. The Gauchos whom I asked, were un-
able to account for it, except from the strong attachment which
horses have to any locality to which they are accustomed. Con-
sidering that the island does not appear fully stocked, and that
there are no beasts of prey, I was particularly curious to know
what has checked their originally rapid increase. That in a
limited island some check would sooner or later supervene, is in-
evitable; but why has the increase of the horse been checked
sooner than that of the cattle? Capt. Sulivan has taken much
pains for me in this inquiry. The Gauchos employed here attri-
bute it chiefly to the stallions constantly roaming from place to
place, and compelling the mares to accompany them, whether or
not the young foals are able to follow. One Gaucho told Capt.
Sulivan that he had watched a stallion for a whole hour, violently
kicking and biting a mare till he forced her to leave her foal to
its fate. Capt. Sulivan can so far corroborate this curious ac-
count, that he has several times found young foals dead, whereas
he has never found a dead calf. Moreover, the dead bodies of
full-grown horses are more frequently found, as if more subject to
disease or accidents than those of the cattle. From the softness
of the ground their hoofs often grow irregularly to a great length,
and this causes lameness. The predominant colors are roan and
iron-grey. All the horses bred here, both tame and wild, are
rather small-sized, though generally in good condition ; and they
have lost so much strength that they are unfit to be used in taking
wild cattle with the lasso: in consequence, it is necessary to go to
the great expense of importing fresh horses from the Plata. At
some future period the southern hemisphere probably will have
its breed of Falkland ponies, as the northern has its Shetland
breed.

The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horses, seem,
as before remarked, to have increased in size; and they are much
more numerous than the horses. Capt. Sulivan informs me that
they vary much less in the general form of their bodies and in
the shape of their horns than English cattle. In color they dif-
fer much; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that in different
parts of this one small island different colors predominate. Round
Mount Osborne, at a height of from 1000 to 1500 feet above the
sea, about half of some of the herds are mouse or lead-colored, a
tint which is not common in other parts of the island. Near Port
Pleasant dark brown prevails, whereas south of Choiseul Sound
(which almost divides the island into two parts) white beasts with
black heads and feet are the most common: in all parts black and
some spotted animals may be observed. Capt. Sulivan remarks,
that the difference in prevailing colors was so obvious, that, in

1846.] Text Book of Agriculture. 271

looking for the herds near Port Pleasant, they appeared from a
long distance like black spots, whilst south of Choiseul Sound
they appeared like white spots on the hill-sides. Capt. Sulivan
thinks that the herds do not mingle; and it is a singular fact that
the mouse-colored cattle, though living on the high land, calve
about a month earlier in the season than the other colored beasts
on the lower land. It is interesting thus to find the once domes-
ticated cattle breaking into three colors, of which some one color
would in all probability ultimately prevail over the others, if the
herds were left undisturbed for the next several centuries.

The few extracts which we have made will convey some idea
of Mr. D.'s mode of treating the subject which came under his
observation, and we cannot do less than recommend the work to
our readers as one abounding in curious and valuable facts; those
which are not only practical, but also suited to convey to us reli-
able information in regard to the state and condition of the Re-
public of South America, and the peculiar habits and condition of
its inhabitants.

A TEXT BOOK ON AGRICULTURE.

BY N. S. DAVIS, M. D., BINGHAMTON, N. Y.

This is a duodecimo volume of 126 closely printed pages, and
as its name imports, is a strictly elementary work. The first
twenty pages are occupied with a brief account of the impondera-
ble bodies or agents which produce changes in matter; together
with the laws that govern chemical combinations, the nomencla-
ture or system of naming, and the general classification of all
elementary substances — then follows a short account of each
elementary body that enters into the composition of soils and vege-
tables. The next two chapters treat of the formation, composi-
tion and classification of soils, and the composition of vegetables.
Then come twenty pages devoted to a consideration of " the
means possessed by man for fertilizing the soil, and rendering it
fit for the cultivation of any crop that he may desire," including
the preparation and application of manures. The chapter on the
latter subject closes with the following very just summary of the
objects to be accomplished, viz :

272 Mew Publications. [April,

" Much more miglit be written on the subject of manuring, but
it is the object of this work to present general principles, rather
than minute details. For if the farmer understands fully the object
to be accomplished, he will seldom fail to find a way to accom-
plish that object, suited to his circumstances. These objects, we
repeat, are,

" 1st. To obtain as large a quantity of organic and inorganic
manures as possible. Hence all the solid and liquid excretions of
animals, or farm stock ; all the straw, refuse hay, spoiled fruit,
decayed chips, peat, muck, &c., must be saved for the first; and
all the ash, leached and unleached; bones, dried and crushed, or
pulverized; soot, lime, plaster, &c., for the last.

" 2d. It is the soluble part of all manures that is valuable for
promoting vegetation; and as this is particularly liable to be
washed away by rains, all manures should be protected by sheds,
barn-cellars, or something equivalent.

" 3d. All vegetable and animal substances in a state of decay,
like barn-yard manure, emit ammonia and other gaseous substan-
ces, which, if not absorbed, escape into the air and are lost.
Hence this should always be prevented by the addition of dried
clay, air slacked lime, plaster, powdered charcoal, leached ash, or
even common soil."

Chapter 7th contains a detailed statement of the method of
analyzing soils and vegetable substances, together with numerous
tables, not only showing the composition of several varieties of
soil, but also the composition of almost all the grains, grasses, &c.
cultivated by the farmer. This is a highly interesting and impor-
tant part of the work. The succeeding chapter occupies near
thirty pages, and contains a description of particular grains,
grasses, &c., with their mode of culture; the rotation of crops;
connection of farm stock w4th vegetation; selection, preservation
and preparation of seeds; and propagation of plants. Following
this part of the work is an appendix of twenty very closely
printed pages, devoted to an accurate and interesting description
of the most important insects and worms which injure the crops
and fruit of the farm. This, although in the humble place of an
appendix, is by no means the least important part of the volume:
indeed, the facts here stated are worth far more to every farmer
and gardener than the price of the whole work. It will be seen
by this brief and imperfect analysis, that it is the author's design

ISIG.] Text Book of Agriculture. 273

to conduct the reader from the simplest principles of chemical
science, step by step, up to the most interesting and intricate phe-
nomena of vegetable and animal life. And hence it is remarka-
bly well adapted not only for study in academies and other
schools, but also to fill a hitherto vacant place in every farmer's
library. We make the following extracts as well for the senti-
ments which they contain, as to show the peculiarly brief and
comprehensive style of the author:

" After all that has been said through the Agricultural Journals
in this country and Europe about artificial manures, we must still
contend that not only every farmer, but also every man who has
a garden and a family, has all the materials for a full supply of
manure, more enriching and better adapted to his wants than all
the costly guano or artificial mixtures that can be either imported
from abroad or contrived at home. And that too, with no other
direct expenditare of money than the cost of a half dozen bushels
of lime or plaster annually. How the farmer, with his barn and
farm stock, may do this, we have already described in another
part of this work. But there are thousands in villages and cities
who have gardens, but no stables from which to supply them with
manure. If all such persons would, in some convenient corner of
the garden or premises, prepare a tank, or large square box, and
throw into it all the weeds, grass or other waste vegetable matter
to be found during the season in the yard and garden, with fre-
quent layers of ash from their own hearths or stoves, and occasion-
ally one of lime or plaster, together with all the bones and glean-
ings of the kitchen, all the soap-suds that is usually thrown away,
and the urine that is emptied from vessels kept in the house, they
would accumulate every year an ample supply for the garden of
the very best quality of manure. It might be objected by some,
that such a heap of decaying and fermenting materials would be
offensive and unwholesome; but the ash and plaster distributed
through it effectually prevents this, by absorbing all the offensive
gases as fast as they are formed. The heap should, of course, be
sheltered, so as to prevent its soluble and most enriching parts
from being washed away by rains."

" ' There is no profession,' says Liebig, ' which can be com-
pared in importance with that of agriculture, for to it belongs the
production of food for man and animals; on it depends the wel-
fare and development of the whole human species, the riches of
states and all commerce. There is no other profession in which
the application of correct principles is productive of more benefi-
cial results, or is of greater and more decided influence.' A truer

Vol. III., No. XL 20

274 JVeu' Publications. [April,

sentiment than this was never penned by man. And we may
add, that in no profession or employment is scientific knowledge
of more value, or susceptible of more ready practical application.
Indeed, it will be seen by the reflecting mind, that almost every
act of the agriculturist is but the performance of an interesting
chemical or scientific process. And hence the very prevalent
idea, that a knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic, is suf-
ficient for a farmer, is as absurd as to suppose a knowledge of
algebra sufl^cient to make a man a skilful physician. The great
and varied benefits to be derived from higher scientific attainments
by those engaged in the noble occupation of cultivating the soil,
would afford a fruitful theme for a separate volume, and cannot
even be touched upon here. We must conclude, then, by simply
expressing the hope, that the time is at hand when it will be
deemed of more importance to teach the youth in our schools the
composition of our soils and vegetables, and the most scientific
mode of cultivating the bread which they eat, than simply enough
of arithmetic to cypher out how much a few loaves would amount
to at a shilling per loaf."

" Concerning the first, we reply, that abundant experience has
proved it both cheaper and easier to winter stock in the stable,
than out of doors, exposed to all the storms and changes of our
inclement seasons. Indeed, so true is this, and so much better is
the condition of the stock in the spring, that the most intelligent far-
mers of the present day stable all their cattle and horses, and pro-
vide good shelter for their sheep. The stables should always be
kept well ventilated and cleanly. In regard to the expenditure
for lime, and the labor in drawing muck, &c., we would ask
which the farmer would prefer — to spend five or ten dollars per
annum for lime and plaster, and four or five days' work with a
team, to haul muck, clay or earth, to prepare the cellar, and
thereby obtain a bed of manure which will enable him to obtain,
by the same labor in cultivation, 30 or 35 bushels of wheat from
every acre which would produce but 15 before; 35 bushels of
corn instead of 20 per acre; and 300 bushels of potatoes instead
of 200; or to move on, wasting the most valuable part of his
manure, starving his soil, permitting enough of his stock to die
annually from exposure to the cold and storms of winter, to half
pay for building a good stable to keep them in; forever grumbling
about the hardness of his lot in getting but half a crop from his
fields; and finally, starving out himself, ^or emigrating to some
far off land of promise?"

" Hence the earth, the water and the air, each contribute freely
the materials necessary for the livmg plant. The first, by the
disintegrating influence of air, water, heat and cold, gradually
unlocks its inexhaustless stores of mineral or inorganic elements;

1846.] Text Book on Agriculture. 275

these combine with the geic or humic, and crenic acids of the
decaying vegetable matters, forming soluble salts; which are
dissolved by the water, and presented to the living roots for
absorption and nourishment. While the last is ever holding in
contact with the leaves and flowers its unfailing supply of caibon
and nitrogen, from the carbonic acid and ammonia which it is
every moment receiving — the first from the respiration of animals
and combustion, and the latter from the decomposition or decay
of vegetable and animal matters on the earth's surface.

And here we cannot refrain from alludins: to one of the most
beautiful illustrations of Divine wisdom presented in nature.
Every Are kindled on the surface of the earth, and every animal
that breathes, is constantly depriving the atmosphere of its oxy-
gen and supplying it with carbonic acid; while the whole vege-
table kingdom is as constantly appropriating the carbon of this
curbonic acid to itself, and emitting again the oxygen — thus for-
ever preserving the equilibrium, the harmony, and the activity of
nature's works. Of the powers of the living plant to appropriate
to itself the various elements of which it is composed, or, in other
w^ords, of the theories of assimilation, we shall speak more parti-
cularly in another chapter."

Although there are some opinions advanced in the work, not
entirely in accordance with our own, yet we cheerfully and ear-
nestly recommend it to our readers and the public generally. And
we are glad to learn from the author that a second edition will
soon be issued, on larger type, and containing accurate plates of
each insect described in the Appendix.

SOW W^ELL AND REAP WELL.

Or Fireside Education, by S. G. Goodrich, author of Peter Par-
ley's Tales. 3(/ edition. E. H. Pease, publisher: Albany.
12mo. 343 pp.

Our Journal is expressly designed for those who sow and reap;
not those alone, however, who literally scatter the grain broad-
cast over the field, and in the harvest thrust in their sickle and
gather the fruit of their toil and labor. There is a sowing and
there is a reaping in which the hand hath no part, and there are

276 JVew Publications. [April,

fruits and harvest as sure as when the husbandman sows his
corn upon the well prepared fields. We need not explain.

Mr. Goodrich, the author of the work entitled Sow Well and
Reap Well, is known wherever the young are permitted and encou-
raged to read; he has scattered precious seed over the hills of
New England, and upon the prairies of the w^est and south of our
great country; and even on the shores of Europe it has fallen,
and in his own day he has gathered the mature and ripened fruit.
The special object of the author of this work is to enforce
the doctrine, that none need expect to reap a better fruit than he
has sown. The doctrine is based upon a natural law, and is
illustrated and enforced by the common results and experience of
every day.

There is a proper time for sowing. Does the farmer sow in
autumn, expecting to gather a harvest before the snows whiten
the field ? There is a preparation of the ground: does the
farmer sow his seed upon the hard unbroken earth, or upon a
rock? The spring is the time to sow; so infancy and youth is
the time to put in the seed of knowledge. The field must be
broken up, plowed.

But there is another point; there are persons whose duty is
emphatically theirs to sow. Parents have this duty, and in them it
is paramount ; all others are but aids. Sow Well and Reap Well
is a volume, then, which is entitled to a place in every parent's
library. It is written in a style and language which is well
adapted to secure the objects of its publication; and though edu-
cation is really a subject upon which all talk and write, and talk
and write much better than they practice, still, the author has no
common place matter upon his pages, no dull chapters which
may be omitted. It may be read by the young and old, and by
its aid the former may be assisted in correcting the errors into
which he has fallen, and supply many deficiencies, which in con-
sequence of age and limited experience he may be ignorant of,
and thus avoid the mistakes and errors to which he is exposed
when left without a guide.

It is by such books as this circulating throughout our country,

1846.] Elements of Drawing — Catechism of Jlgriciilture. 211

that we hope to see the true ends and aims of life distinctly com-
prehended and as positively acted upon. And at such times as these
upon which we have fallen, do we need checks to certain evils
which are growing up in the literary and political worlds.

ELEMENTS OF DRAWING AND MENSURATION AP-
PLIED TO THE MECHANICAL ARTS.

A hook for the instruction and use of practical men. By Charles
Davies, LL.D. Author of First Lessons in Arithmetic, etc.
12mo. pp. 240. A. S. Barnes & Co., publishers: New York.

A work of this kind was undoubtedly called for, in order that
the higher elementary studies which have been introduced into
our common schools might be pursued with advantage. In the
preparation of this work Mr. Davies has been highly successful,
as he always has been in simplifying the matters treated of in the
several parts of the work; thus, in the book on practical geome-
try, he illustrates in a very familiar and simple mode the con-
struction and uses of the various scales, and also of geometrical
figures. So in Book III., all the kinds of drawing are well illus-
trated and explained.

The work is entirely practical, and particularly calculated to
prepare the way for the study of the higher branches of geome-
try; or, to supply almost every thing which a young mechanic or
farmer will need in drawing, mensuration and many calculations
which are necessary in the every day operations of life.

CATECHISM OF AGRICULTURE, CHEMISTRY AND
GEOLOGY.

By J. F. W. Johnston, M. A., etc., with an Introduction by J. Pit-
kin Norton. E. H. Pease, publisher : Albany.

The reputation of this work is so well established, that it is
hardly necessary at this late day to recommend it We desire,

278 J^ew Publications. [April,

however, to speak in its favor, were there no other reason than
this, that our agricuhural friends may know that we have not
overlooked or forgotten a valuable publication. But other rea-
sons of a different nature induce us to speak of it now; its adap-
tation to the wants of schools and farmers. It is certainly as
useful to a large class of farmers as to the pupils in schools. It
is plain, simple, and contains all the elements of agricultural
chemistry; and as much of chemistry as this work contains, must
be in his possession, if he v/ould read the ordinary agricultural
journals of the day.

Young men may take it into the field in their pockets, for in-
struction while their teams are resting in the furrow.

(279 )

FARMERS' MISCELLANY.

A BIRDSEYE VIEW OF THE STATE OF AGRICULTURE
OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.

BY C. N. BEMENT.
EUROPE.

Face of the Country. — The central part of this continent is in
general mountainous. The whole northern part, extending from
London and Paris to Razan, and comprising the northern part of
France and Germany, the Dutch and Belgian Netherlands, Prus-
sia, Poland, and a great part of Russia, is a vast plain, little ele-
vated above the level of the sea, and scarcely broken by any
considerable elevations. There are several elevated plains or
plateaus in Europe, but of no great extent. The Swiss plateau,
lying between the Jura and the Alps, has an elevation of from
1,800 to 4,000 feet. Central Spain forms an elevated table land
2,200 feet high, and the central part of Russia forms a similar
plateau about 1,200 feet high.

Climate in general. — The climate of southern Europe may be
described as mild, and that of the north severe, with long winters
and hot but short summers. The climate of the western coast is,
however, tempered by the vicinity of the ocean, and the same
cause renders it liable to sudden and violent changes. That of
the eastern part of the continent is rendered much colder, in cor-
responding latitudes, by its exposure to the icy winds of northern
and central Asia. The heat, brought by the burning winds of
the African deserts to the southern countries, is in general tem-
pered by their great exposure to the sea, occasioned by their
peninsular formation. The mountains of Switzerland, Spain,
and Hungary, also modify the character of the climate in the ex-
tensive districts which they cover.

280 Farmers' Mucdlany. [April,

ENGLAND.

Face of the Conntry. — The general aspect of England is varied
and delightful. In some parts, verdant plains extend as far as
the eye can reach, watered by copious streams. In other parts,
are pleasing declivities of gently rising hills and bending vales,
fertile in grain, waving with wood, and interspersed with mea-
dows. Some tracts abound with prospects of the more romantic
kind; embracing lofty mountains, craggy rocks, deep, narrow dells,
and tumbling torrents. There are also, here and there, black
moors, and wide, uncultivated heaths. The general aspect of
Wales is bold, romantic and mountainous. It consists of ranges
of lofty eminences and impending crags, intersected by numerous
and deep ravines, with extensive valleys, and affording endless
views of wild mountain scenery.

Climate. — England has an atmosphere of fogs, rain and per-
petual changes; yet the climate is mild. The rigors of winter
and the heats of summer are less felt than on the continent, under
the same parallel. The winds from the sea temper the extremes
of heat and cold; the changes, however, are sudden. Westerly
and southwesterly winds are most prevalent, and also the most
violent. Next are the north and northeast. The perpetual mois-
ture of the air is sometimes unfavorable to the crops, but its gene-
ral effect is to cover the whole island with the deepest verdure.
The meadows and fields are usually green throughout the winter,
and the transient snows that occasionally fall upon them are in-
sufficient to deprive them of their brilliancy. Many kinds of
kitchen vegetables, as cabbages, cauliflowers, brocoli, and cel-
lery, remain uninjured in the gardens through the winter.

Soil. — Of this there is every variety; but the common con-
stituents of the soil, are clay, loam, sand, chalk, gravel and peat.
Mossy soils are very common and extensive in the northern parts,
and here are the widest tracts of barren territory. On the eastern
coast are extensive fens and marshes. The most fertile districts
are in the centre and south. There are very large heaths and
plains, which are nearly unsusceptible of cultivation, and only

1846.] Jigriculture of Different Countries. 281

serve for the pasturing of sheep. On the whole, England may
be regarded as not naturally a fertile country.

Agriculture. — Notwithstanding the general inferiority of the
soil, England is under such excellent cultivation that the country
may be considered as one great garden. Farming, in many
parts, is conducted on a great scale, by men of intelligence, enter-
prise and capital; and the science, as well as practice, of agri-
culture is carried to a high degree of perfection. In the northern
counties, the farms are large and are leased for twenty-one years.
In the southern counties the farms are smaller, and the tenants
are often proprietors. The field pea and the tare are often sown
as a field crop. Saffron, which w^as formerly cultivated in various
parts of the kingdom, is now grown almost solely in Essex;
another singular product of Essex, is a kind of treble crops of
coriander, carraway and teazle; the two first on account of their
aromatic seeds, the other for its prickly heads, used by the manu-
facturers in raising the pap on woolen cloths.

SCOTLAND.
Face of ike Country. — Two-thirds of the country are moun-
tainous. It is generally considered as divided into two parts, the
mountainous regions called the Highlands, in the northern and
central part, and the comparatively level country in the south,
called the Lowlands. In the north the mountains present nothing
to view but heath and rock, with innumerable lakes and pools,
darkened by the shade thrown from enormous precipices; the
whole forming a landscape wild and desolate beyond conception.
In the central parts the aspect of the mountains is less forbidding.
In the south is every kind of rural beauty, hills, vales, and culti-
vated plains.

Climate. — The distino-uishino; feature in the climate is the ex-
cess of moisture. Fogs and drizzling rains prevail in most parts
for the greater portion of the year. Considerable snows fall in
winter, but are soon melted; sleighs or sledges are never used,
but the waters are sometimes so frozen as to permit skating.

Soil. — In many of the valleys or straths, there are tracts which

282 Farmers' Miscellany. [April,

are productive, but the soil is much inferior to that of England.
A great part of the country may be considered as absolutely bar-
ren. The mountains are naked, and trees of native growth are
scarce in every part.

Jlcrriculture. — The articles cultivated are generally the same as
in England. Oats are the principal crop, except in the most fer-
tile districts. Potatoes are cultivated somewhat extensively, and
in some places hemp.

IRELAND.

Face of the Country. — The surface of Ireland is almost entirely
level. The general appearance of the country is varied and
pleasant, although bare of trees. In some parts, are rich and
fertile plains, and in others gentle slopes and weaving hills.

Climate. — The climate is damper than that of England, but
otherwise similar. Westerly winds are frequent and violent.
Snow is rare in winter, and passes rapidly away. The fields
have a green appearance through the year.

Soil. — A great part of this island is covered with immense
bogs, or sterile tracts, producing nothing but heath bog, myrtle,
and sedge grass. They form a broad belt across the centre of the
island, widening towards the west. The remainder of the soil is
strong; but the moisture of the climate preserves the herbage,
and renders the land excellent for pasturing.

Agriculture. — Agriculture is very backward. The cultivators
are not generally proprietors of the soil, and studiously avoid any
permanent improvement of the land, lest the rent should be raised.
The Irish are idle, and their implements of husbandry very rude.
Wheat is not generally cultivated, and w^hat is raised is often
inferior. Barley is now common, but oats are raised in a ten-fold
proportion to that of any other grain. The Irish staff of life,
however, is another article, which is so extensively cultivated as to
confer upon this island the name of the " land of potatoes." This
root furnishes to the poor the greatest part of their sustenance.
It is remarkable that a plant, brought originally from America, and
hardly known in Europe a century ago, should now be so univer-

1846.] Jlgricvlhire of Different Countries. 283

sally cultivated in Ireland, and grow in such perfection there.
Even in the United States this vegetable is called the Irish po-
tatoe; this however is to distinguish it from the sweet potatoe of
the south. The dairy is the best managed part of Irish hus-
bandry.

FRANCE.

Face of the Country. — France generally exhibits a level but
not undiversified surface. The most level tracts are in the north.
The picturesque beauty of the hilly parts is heightened by the
rich and luxuriant verdure of the chesnut trees. In the south the
deep hue of the olive gives rather a sombre look to the landscape.
From the mouth of the Garonne to the borders of Spain, the
coast consists of a flat, sandy, barren tract, called the Landes,
extending thirty miles into the country, and producing nothing
but heath, broom and juniper. The remainder of the country is,
in general, agreeably diversified with gentle undulations.

Climate. — The air of the northern part is moist, and there are
considerable snows and sharp frosts in winter. At Paris, the
Seine is sufficiently frozen to admit of skating. In the central
part no snow falls, sometimes, for many years; frosts seldom
occur, and the air is pure, light and elastic. The harvests begin
from the latter part of June to the middle of July. The south of
France, from the Loire to the Mediterranean, is subject to violent
storms of hail and rain which destroy the crops. One-tenth of
the crop is yearly damaged by the storms. Thunder storms are
frequent and violent; they produce cataracts, which rush down
the mountains, burying the meadows under heaps of stone and
masses of mud, and cutting the sides of the mountains into deep
ravines. In most parts of France frosts are commonly late in
spring and early in autumn, which do great injury to vegetation.
The high country of Avergne is bleak and cold, and all the dis-
tricts of the Vosges are affected by the snow which sometimes
continues to fall upon these mountains as late as the end of June.

In the southern provinces the summer is exceedingly hot. The
vintage is in September. At the end of autumn violent rains

284 Farmers' Miscellany. [April,

fall ; but October and November are the pleasantest months in the
year. In December, January, and February, a strong northeast-
erly wind, called the mistral, blows, sometimes with snow, but
generally with a clear sky. It is sometimes so violent upon the
mountains as to blow a man off his horse. At Avignon, the
olive trees are frequently chilled by it. The south of France
may be characterized as possessing a mild and salubrious climate.
Montpelier, on the shore of the Mediterranean, is celebrated for
the purity of its air.

Soil. — France is generally a fertile country, but the soil varies
much in different provinces. The northeast is the richest part.
There are admirable corn districts along the Seine, Rhine and
Moselle. The hills of Champagne and Burgundy produce the
most excellent wines. The valley of the Garonne has a warmer
soil, but is less productive than that of the northern districts.

Agriculture. — Two-thirds of the population of France are
agricultural, and a much greater proportion of the cultivators are
proprietors than in most other European countries. The agricul-
tural products of the northern part of the country are corn, pulse
and potatoes ; of the southern, corn, grapes, mulberries and olives.
Besides the common grains of Europe, wheat, rye, oats, and bar-
ley, maize is also extensively cultivated. The horses and cows
are fed chiefly on clover, lucern and sanfoin, and other artificial
grasses, of which no greater quantity is raised than is absolutely
necessary. The rotation of crops is little attended to, and fallows
still hold a place in French husbandry, which is therefore propof-
tionately less productive than the English. The French are,
however, the best wine makers in the world j the principal varieties
of the French wines are those of Champagne and Burgundy; the
Moselle and Rhenish wines, so called from the rivers upon whose
banks they are produced; the hermitage of Dauphiny; and the
clarets of the neighborhood of Bordeaux.

SPAIN".
Face of the Country. — Spain is an elevated and beautifully
picturesque country. It exhibits an alternate of mountain

1846.] Jigriculture of Different Countries. 285

ridges and wide plains, every where watered by rivers and small
streams. The hills are covered with vineyards, and the valleys
display the most luxuriant vegetation. The southern part looks
like a garden in perpetual bloom. In external beauties few coun-
tries in the world equal Spain.

Climate. — This country lies in the southern part of the tempe-
rate zone. The cold is never excessive, even in the northern
parts. In the south the heats of summer w^ould be intolerable
but for the sea breeze, which begins to blow at nine in the morn-
ing and continues until five in the afternoon. The interior is so
elevated as to be much cooler than might be expected from the
latitude. The two bastiles form a raised plain nearly 2,000 feet
in height. The sky of Andalusia is pure azure and gold ; the inhabi-
tants of Seville affirm that a day was never known when the sun
did not shine upon their city. Two kinds of winds are some-
times unpleasant in Spain. The Gallego from the northwest is
piercing and cold; the Solano, a southwest wind from Africa, is
so hot as to relax the human system and produce giddiness and
inflammation.

Soil. — The greater part of the country is fertile, and covered
with a luxuriant vegetation. The fruits and plants offer a greater
variety than is afforded by any other region of the same extent.
The land is every where favorable to the cultivation of the vine.
The greater part of Spain may be regarded as naturally the most
fruitful country of Europe, but there are extensive wastes in the
interior,

Jigriculture. — The greater part of the land of Spain belongs
to the nobility, the church, the towns, or corporate bodies. The
state of agriculture is wretched, and the implements of husbandry
are very rude; hardly two-thirds of the productive soil is under
cultivation. Hemp and corn are raised in almost all the pro-
vinces; olives and the sugar cane are cultivated in the southern
parts, and in this quarter may be seen large fields of safl^ron, rice
and cotton. Every part of the country yields wine. The raising
of sheep is an important branch of industry, and the wool is dis-

286 Farmers^ Miscellany. [April,

tinguished for its fineness. The Merinos or fine wooled sheep,
pass the summer in the mountainous districts of Castile and
Arragon, and the winter in the plains of Andalusia and Estrama-
dura. They are driven this distance of nearly 700 miles in 40
days, in flocks of 10,000. The mesta or society, composed of
the owners of the sheep, has the right to drive them over the
land which lies on the route, and to feed them on the pasture
where the land is cultivated; the proprietors are obliged to leave
a space 250 feet in breadth for their pasturage. The whole num-
ber of sheep in Spain is about eighteen millions, more than half
of which migrate annually.

PORTUGAL.

Face of the Country. — This country has not so great a propor-
tion of mountains as Spain. There are two extensive plains,
that of Beira in the north, and that of Alemtijo in the south.
The coast is low in the north, but grows high and rocky towards
the south. In the wildness and grandeur of mountain scenery
Portugal is inferior to Spain, yet in general appearance it is
esteemed a more pleasant country.

Climate. — The climate is more agreeable and healthy than in
most of Spain. The air of Lisbon is famed for its salubrity, and
that city is resorted to by invalids from different countries. The
heat of summer and cold of winter are tempered by the neigh-
boring ocean. At Lisbon there are commonly 200 days in the
year completely fair. The raining days are not more than 80.
When rain falls it is very violent. If October is rainy it is not
uncommon to see the fruit trees blossom anew in November.

Soil. — Portugal is a fertile country ; the soil is light, and easily
cultivated. The mountains are mostly barren, but some of them
are covered with a fine vegetation.

Agriculture. — Portugal though rich m natural productions,
wants the cultivation of industrious hands. The wealth of the
colonies and commerce withdrew the attention of the inhabitants
from agriculture, which has been for several centuries in a low
state. Excellent fruit is raised and exported in considerable

1846.] Jigriculture of Different Countries. 287

quantities, and several sorts of wines of excellect quality are pro-
duced; the red port wine is much drank in England and the
United States. Although the country affords excellent pastures,
grazing is little attended to. Corn is raised in so small quanti-
ties that it is necessary to import it.

SARDINIA.

Face of the Country. — The country exhibits very diversified
scenery. Savoy is an Alpine country, separated by an enormous
mountain ridge from the Italian peninsula, and intersected by
lofty mountains covered with snow and ice. Piedmont and
Montserrat form the western extremity of the wide valley of the
Po. The maritime districts are mountainous, and the Island of
Sardinia is intersected by several mountain ridges of small eleva-
tion.

Climate. — In the valley of Savoy, there is often fine spring
weather Avhen the high grounds are covered with snow. In this
part, the climate is too severe for southern fruits. The valley of
Piedmont is subject to the cold northerly winds from the Alps;
yet the air is healthy and the vine flourishes. In the south the
Appenines afford a shelter against the northern blasts; here the
olive and the fruits of the south prosper. Sardinia has a hot
climate; and in the marshy spots, putrid fevers are common in
summer.

Soil. — The soil of Savoy is strong and unfavorable to agricul-
ture. The fertile earth lies in a thin strata on the rocks, and is
often washed away by the torrents. In Piedmont, Montferrat,
and the Milanese are level and rich alluvial tracts. The soil in
the island of Sardinia is extremely fertile; but the canals which
formerly drained it are neglected, and many parts have become
pestilential swamps.

Agriculture. — The arable land is held by large proprietors,
who divide their estates into small portions among farmers. The
farmers seldom become proprietors, but in general the land de-
scends from father to son. The proprietor receives half of the
product for rent and the use of the cattle which are his property;

288 Farmers^ Miscdlany. [April,

for the meadows he is paid in money. Part of the tools also be-
long to the proprietor. The farmers are in general very poor.
The landed proprietors are rich. In the Appenines and a part of
the Genoese territories, the peasants are proprietors, but their
wealth consists in chesnuts, sheep, and olives. Wheat, maize,
and other grains, rice, beans, and tobacco, are cultivated. Ex-
cellent grasses are raised, but the making of wine is not well
understood. The olive is cultivated along the coast, and Genoa
is productive in oil. Piedmont raises annually 20,000 cwt. of
silk.

LOMBARDY.

Climate and Face of the CGuntry. — The country is for the
most part level, but towards the north is broken by spurs of the
Alps. To the west of Padua are the Euganean hills, from 1,500
to 1,800 feet high, of volcanic origin. The climate is mild and
healthy ; near the Alps it is cold, and even in the other parts the
rivers are sometimes frozen in w^inter, and the southern plants are
injured by frost. The heats of summer are tempered by refresh-
ing breezes from the Alps.

Soil. — Lombardy is a level country and consists entirely of an
alluvial plain, with one of the richest soils in the world. Near
the mountains gravel is mixed with the earth, but almost the
whole tract is composed of a deep black mould.

Agriculture. — Agriculture is the chief dependence of the in-
habitants, but the implements and operations of husbandry are
very imperfect. The artificial irrigation of lands is a striking
feature of agriculture in Lombardy; the canals for this purpose
are very numerous, and water is thus employed for grass and corn
lands and vineyards, and also to flood lands sown with rice. It
is also used, when charged with mud, for depositing a layer of
manure. The lands in Lombardy are generally farmed on the
metayer or half-profit system. The landlord pays the taxes and
keeps the buildings in repair, while the tenant provides the cattle,
implements and seeds, and cultivates the ground, and the produce
is equally divided.

1846.] Agriculture of Different Countries. 28d

TUSCANY.

Face of the Country. — Tuscany is admired for its romantic
scenery. The boldness, grandeur and rich luxuriance of the
country is hardly any where equalled. The Valdamo, or vale
of the Amo, is one of the most delightful regions in the world.
One-half of Tuscany consists of mountains, producing only tim-
ber, one-sixth is composed of hills covered with vineyards and
olive gardens; the remainder consists of plains.

Climate. — The climate is exceedingly diversified. On the
mountains the snow lies for weeks, during the winter; in the
valleys it scarcely continues a day. Rain is not common, but the
dews are copious. On the Appenines, and in the delightful val-
ley of the Amo, the air is always healthy. In summer the south-
erly winds are very oppressive, and the region of the Marerama
is unhealthy.

Soil. — The vale of the Amo is rich and well cultivated. The
soil on the Appenines is strong. The coast is low, sandy, and in
parts swampy. In the southern part begins that desolate region
called the Maremmo, the soil of which consists of white clay
impregnated with sulphur and alum, and emits consequently me-
phitic vapor. The malaria, or unhealthy exhalations of this region
have obliged the population to emigrate, or swept them off by
disease. In those parts which are cultivated, the peasants from
the mountains come down to gather in the harvest, but they often
fall victims to the insidious air. This region extends from near
Leghorn to Terracina, about 200 miles, and from the sea to the
foot of the Appenines, from 25 to 30 miles.

jSgriculture. — Corn, wine and oil, are common productions.
The valley of the Amo is divided into very small farms, separated
by rows of trees or small canals. The Maremma pastures great
numbers of sheep and horses. Chestnuts are an important pro-
duction; in some parts they are used for bread.

PAPAL DOMINIONS.

Face of the Country. — This territory is intersected by the Ap-
penines. The mountains are as barren as those of Tuscany, and
Vol. III., No. II. 21

290 Farmers' Miscellany. [April,

Geno, but higher. The Campagna di Roma is a continuation of
the Tuscan Meremma, and is noted for its unhealthy malaria. It
exhibits an undulated surface, bare of trees. The Pontine marshes
are in the south. The Caesars and modern Popes have in vain
attempted to drain them.

Climate. — The climate is mild, but the moimtains are covered
with snow from October to April. The Sirocco, or hot wind
from Africa, is felt on the shore of the Mediterranean. In the
mountainous parts the air is healthy, but in the Maremma on the
coast, and in the neighborhood of the Pontine marshes, are pesti-
lential exhalations, which cause fever and ague. The northern
parts near the Po are all unhealthy.

Soil. — The soil does not differ materially from that of Tuscany.
The oranges and lemons produced in the plains of Rome are the
best in Italy.

Jlgriculture, — The lands are commonly held by great proprie-
tors. In the plains of the Po, cultivation is active, but the rest
of the country is neglected. The Romans are less industrious
than their northern neighbors. The vine and olive grow every
where. Onions are raised in immense quantities in the marshes
of Ancona. Hemp, saffron and beans are extensively cultivated.

I THE RAMBOUILLET MERINOS.

Dr. Emmons is doubtless a good Geologist, and meant to make a fair trial of
these samples ; bid how much does he know about wool and sheep. — The Rev.
L. G. Bingham, in the .Americaii Agriculturist for Jpril.

Our attention was called by a friend to an article in the Ame-
rican Agriculturist, in which Mr. Bingham complains that injus-
tice was done the Rambouillets by a writer in the February num-
ber of the same work, over the signatur-e of L. It would seem
from the tenor of Mr, B.'s remarks, that we, the Editor of this
Journal, had some hand in this matter; inasmuch as L. in the
February article laid some stress upon the examination of some
Rambouillet wool which we had made some time before. This

1846.] Rambouillet Merinos. 291

wool was from the back of Grandee, the celebrated crack buck
of a Rambouillet flock, though we were ignorant that he was of
this blood before. The writer, though we do not know him,
seems to have some advantage of Mr. B., as he has no occasion
to inquire how much we know of wool and sheep. It is true we
can lay no claim to the office of a shepherd, as the Rev. gentle-
man undoubtedly can, and certainly we entertain no envy towards
him for any superior skill which he may possess in judging of
wool, in consequence of his office. If, however, we have no
skill in judging of wool and sheep, we think we can discover
how it happens that Mr. B. is disturbed about his Rambouillets;
it is the exact measurement of the fibre, it is the test which has
been applied; or, it is the drawing of a measuring line over it
which creates the complaint and calls forth the inquiry, tiow much
does Dr. Emmons know ? But whether this is the cause or not,
the complaint is really groundless and uncalled for in our opinion,
though we have no very strong fears in regard to the result of
the inquiry. We intend, however, to teach Mr. Bingham some-
thing, and ought he not to be taught, as one who dares make such
inquiries, and should he not know too the consequences of his
unprovoked freedom. We certainly will show him, if assertion
is worth anything, that we do know something about sheep, and
the Rambouilllets too, which M^e hope will be satisfactory to the
worthy inquirer. And this is what we know, that the Rambou-
illet sheep belong to the first order, and especially those of the
flock of the Rev. gentleman, if the wool we have seen and ex-
amined is a criterion ; for, we have very rarely seen better. It is
just about the same stamp as some wool which we have measured
from a buck belonging to our friend, Mr. Sherwood, the President
of the New York State Agricultural Society. The difference be-
tween them seems to be just about this, one is a Rambouillet
Merino and the other is a Merino. If a long name is any advan-
tage to a sheep, as it seems to be sometimes to the high blooded
bipeds on the other side of the great waters, why, Mr. Bingham
has it.

Now as we have measured the two kinds of wool before us,

292

Farmers^ Miscellany.

[April,

we supposed it might be agreeable to the parties concerned to
see the result side by side, and so here it is; both kinds are mag.
nified and drawn under the same power.

Mr. Bingham's wool.
Fig. ].

i(!\

]1

\\\

I I I

II

a.

/i.

Fig. 1. c, from an ewe. b, from a buck.

Col. Sherwood's wool.
Fi". 2.

.7

6 a

f 3

Fig. 2. a, ewe; 5 rump, 6 shoulder, 7 side, 8 thigh, b, buck ; 1 thigh, 2
side, 3 shoulder, 4 rump.

We understand that Mr. Bingham's specimens of wool were
from the side. It is very beautiful; not quite so glossy as some
specimens of Saxon. It is not so entirely free from an oily sub-
stance as Mr. Sherwood's, as it stained through paper in a short
time, and is yellowish from the presence of this matter. Yet, we
repeat it, it is very rare indeed to see handsomer and more beau-
tiful wool.

Mr. Bingham inquires what treatment the wool of Grandee
received before it was measured and otherwise tested. In answer

Note. — There is a scale accompanying the measurement of other samples
of wool, in two of the former numbers.

1846.]

Jfew Jersey Marls.

293

to this, we say for ourselves, that it was very carefully used, was
neither carried in our pockets nor wallets. We received it from
Mr. Tucker, and if he had subjected it to any ill usage before it
came into our hands, he can say for himself.

And now, so far as we are concerned in the matter of the article
referred to above, w^e are satisfied; if we have failed to satisfy
Mr. Bingham that we know anything about wool and sheep, we
cannot help it, we have given him the best possible evidence in
our powxr, that we do know" something, and that is by agreeing
with him in regard to his wool. If he demurs now, we must
give it up.

COMPOSITION OF THE MARLS OF NEW JERSEY.

Surface Marl, 50 grs.

Water of absorption, — 2.15

Organic matter, 3.32

Silex, 40.07

Peroxide of iron and alu-
mina, - 3.06

Chloride of cal-
cium, .06

Magnesia, .12

Potash, .61

0.70

49.98

Shell Marl, 50 grs.

Water of absorption, - - 0.85

Organic matter, 1.86

Silex, 37.77

Peroxide of kon, 3.87

Alumina, 0.73

Chloride of calcium, — 0.50

Magnesia, 0.40

Potash, 2.85

Loss,

48.83
1.17

50.00

The latter marl is well known as a most useful fertilizer, and
probably contains phosphate of lime. They belong to that forma-
tion which is known as the green sand, and extend from Long
Island to Alabama. The green sand of Mullica Hill, N. J., ac-
cording to Rodgers, is composed of

294 Farmers' Miscellany. [April,

Silica, 52.32

Protoxide of iron, 27.56

Alumina, 8.94

Potash, 5.50

Water,- 5.42

99.74

Probably few instances are known where the soil of a country
was so completely worn out as that of some parts of New Jersey,
particularly that of Monmouh county — corn could not be grown
upon some of the lighter soils. When, however, marls came
into use the lands were speedily renovated. It is necessary, how-
ever, to select such as are comparatively free from the decom-
posing sulphurets of iron, as they prove injurious rather than
beneficial. It is singular that these beds are so perfectly free
from calcareous matter. Potash is evidently the fertilizing agent ;
and in order to determine the value of a marl it is at least safe to
submit it to analysis. It must be observed that the amount of
potash varies in different samples, and probably the potash is
more abundant in the middle and inferior parts of a bed.

POTATOE DISEASE.

To guard against this disease, select the soundest potatoes.
Plant early, on a dry soil, and manure with a compost of peat,
ashes and lime, or a due admixture of organic matter with the
alkalies.

Seat of the Disease in Potatoes. — Some maintain that it is in
the stems; others in the tuber. As it regards treatment it makes
no difference in what part the disease is seated. The cause of
the rot is just as distant as before. There is no doubt, however,
but that the perfection of the potatoe depends upon the health of
the leaves and stems, and yet the inquiry returns what has affect-
ed their health and vigor. Liebig undertakes to maintain that
the sap is changed into vegetable casein. This, however, is only

\

1846.] Coal Ash— Yazoo Marl 295

another effect, it is not a cause. If there is a want of the in-
organic matter in a diseased potatoe, it ought to be shown by
analysis; but no one has as yet shown this; and yet the most
rational way of treating the potatoe is that which will give it
the greatest stamina and vigor. We believe the cause is atmos-
pherical, that it is analagous to an epidemic, and that it will, like
an epidemic, disappear: but that it will be continued longer by
the planting of unsound seed, we have but little doubt. Many
too, if our views are right, will maintain that they have discover-
ed a remedy, and they may be confirmed in their opinions by the
disappearance of the disease; which, after all, may be merely the
effect of causes of a different character from those of the sup-
posed remedies.

COAL ASHES.

Experience has confirmed the supposed utility of coal ashes.
We should infer from their composition that they are well adapted
to clay lands, though it by no means follows that they will be
useless on lands in which sand predominates.

YAZOO MARL— MISSISSIPPI.

Our friend and correspondent, J. Ingersoll, has discovered a stra-
tum of fresh water marl, upon the Yazoo bottoms, which seem to
be made up of unios or fresh water clams. It seems to us that it
will be found a valuable substance for fertilizing lands which are
deficient in lime and other inorganic matters. It is composed as
follows:

Water of absorption, 1.68

Organic matter, 4.67

Silex, 32.91

Peroxide of alumina, 4.78

Magnesia, trace.

49.98

296 Farmers^ Miscellany. [April,

The broken shells still contain animal matter, and undoubtedly
a small proportion of phosphate of lime. It may be applied
freely to soils which have been cultivated and partly worn out.
In most cases in the application of marls of this description a free
application is required.

CULTIVATION OF FRUITS.

Currants. — The currant is so hardy, and so sure to produce at
least a tolerable crop, that usually, but little attention is paid to it.
Still it is really one of the best fruits we have, green or ripe, and
hence, should receive its share of attention.

We have found by some experience, that hoeing, manuring and
a proper trimming of the bushes is as necessary as in the cultiva-
tion of any other plant. The fruit is larger and sweeter. In the
position they usually occupy they are especially exposed to weeds,
and a large part of the bush also is shaded, so that the fruit is in
part at least imperfect and worthless. Three things then are
necessary in the cultivation of the currant. 1. Sufficient prun-
ing of imperfect stems, so as to admit light and air into the
clump. 2. The application of barn yard manure, mixed with
decomposing leaves which accumulate in a garden. It may be
applied in the spring or fall. 3. Hoeing in the spring, after the
weeds have started. They should of course be pulled up as they
appear during the summer and ripening of the fruit.

Gooseberries. — The gooseberry is subject to mildew, an evil
quite common in the best gardens, and which we have no doubt
is owing to some defect in their cultivation, and is, in part, we
believe, for want of free circulation of air. The plant is feeble
and weak, and is unable to produce a healthy fruit, which is
capable of resisting the attacks of fungi and parasitic plants.

We copy in this place the sensible and practical remarks of a
writer in the Western Reserve Magazine of Horticulture.

" As a testimony of our impression of the manner in which
the gooseberry should be cultivated not being a wrong one, we

1846.] Strawberries. 297

take the liberty of extracting from a letter of our esteemed cor-
respondent, the Hon. James Mathews, of Coshocton, 0. This
gentleman appropriates a portion of his ground, exclusively, to
what he terms his " gooseberry orchard," and in reference to
which we quote as follows:

" They are planted in rich soil composed of sand and loam,
and on a sandy foundation. First, I keep them well pruned, so
that when fruiting the sun and air may penetrate freely, and the
limbs and foliage not interfere with each other. In the fall or
commencement of winter, I cover the ground amongst the bushes
(which are planted about ybwr feet distant each way) and parti-
cularly near to them, with a good coat of coarse barn-yard ma-
nure. This I permit to remain until the first opening of spring,
or until the leaf buds are about to burst open; when I take off
the coarsest part of the manure, and in the morning when the
bushes are wet with dew, or just after a shower, I scatter over
each one a spade full of strong slaked lime, permitting as much
as possible thereof to adhere to the branches. This remains until
the weeds begin to become troublesome, when I cause the ground
to be well spaded and kept clear the balance of the season.
With this treatment I have not yet seen a particle of mildew in
the cultivation of about forty varieties which have fruited. I
have been led therefore to believe that lime is efficacious in the
prevention of mildew."

Strawberry. — We copy in connection w^ith the above, and from
the same source, a few remarks of James Allen on the cultivation
of this fruit, as they contain one or two methods of treating this
plant which is new to us.

" More than thirty years ago I commenced cultivating straw-
berry vines, and at first obtained but little fruit; and as I was
then but a new beginner, the directions of every person were well
received, and the old (and I hope exploded) doctrine of having
male and female plants set together, appeared rational to me;
and the consequence arising therefrom soon proved that my beds
produced but moderately at first, and every year after rendering
them more worthless, I plainly saw that I must know more or
abandon the business; and with me at that time I had every thing
to hope for and nothing to lose, by any experiments I could make.
Consequently I sought new kinds to commence with. The first
kind was from Philadelphia, called Scarlet Hautbois — and as I
knew the weakness of my judgment, induced me to choose the
first of May to set out my plants, when I could select such as had
branches of young fruit on them. The following year I had a
great crop for the size of my bed; and since that time I have

298 Farmers' Miscellany. [April,

always set out my plants about the first of May, when the young
fruit is about the size of garden peas or larger. When cabbage
plants can be set out and live, strawberry plants can be set out
with equal success. The first summer the vines must be kept
clean, and the runners laid aside when dressing them ; and ground
can be made to produce near one hundred bushels per acre in one
year; but the pathway between the beds must be excluded in the
measurement. Notwithstanding I never set out any but female
plants, sterile (male) plants will soon appear, which no doubt
originate from seed of berries that ripen and are trod down by the
feet at gathering time.

" I have found it a good plan to mow my beds over before the
first of August, which can be done with safety when the ground
is not too dry. And to make speed and save much labor in keep-
ing my beds clean, I make them long and narrow, and early every
spring harrow them severely. My soil is clay, with but little
sand : in a sandy soil I expect less harrowing would do — which
could be known by the quantity of vines harrowed up, and in no
case ought more than one-fourth of the vines to be removed.
After harrowing, all loose vines and trash should be taken from
the beds with a hand rake; and if the soil is not sandy, a top
dressing of fine sand, raked over, is of great benefit. If there is
any kind of strawberry that wall not produce good crops of fruit
on my plan, others must have it ; for none of that description have
been received by me as yet, and I have about ten kinds — the Ho-
vey Seedling amongst them; but that kind I have not yet fully
tried. If any one differs with me in opinion, the evidence to sup-
port the statements now made, can be annually witnessed here."

POULTRY.

Turkeys. — To rear young turkeys warm dry situations are re-
quired, and near by a runnmg stream of water; besides this dry
woods seem to be sought for instinctively by the animal itself.
A turkey very frequently hatches fifteen or sixteen young at one
sitting. When first hatched they are extremely tender, and are
injured by rains and even heavy dews. Hence, they ought
always to be placed in sunny places, where they will be kept dry.
Sometimes the hen left to herself will succeed in rearing a brood.
The artificial management of young turkeys is well described in
the Magazine of Horticulture, from which we shall extract a
passage or two.

1846.] Poultry. 299

" When young turkeys accidentally get wet, they should be
brought into a house, carefully dried by applying soft towels to
them, and then placed near a fire, and fed upon bread which has
been mixed with a small proportion of ground pepper or ginger.
It should be made up in the form of small peas. If the bread is
too dry for this purpose, it may be moistened with a little sweet
milk. Should the turkey-poults refuse to eat it, a few of these
pellets may be forced down their throats. Even heavy dews prove
destructive to them, and frost is no less injurious in its effects.
These must, therefore, be most carefully guarded against, when
the hens incubate in March, or early in April. Dry and sandy
situations are most congenial for breeding turkies, and especially
elevated situations where large woods are contiguous. A single
male turkey is sufficient for twelve or sixteen females, although
the former number is probably the safest, to prevent sterility in
the eggs, which is frequently the case with those of turkeys.
Eggs should never be entrusted to the care of a female until she
is at least two years old, and they may be kept for the purpose
of incubation till they reach their tenth year. The largest and
strongest hens should always be kept for this purpose. During
the time the hen is sitting, it becomes necessary to place footl
near her; as otherw^ise, from her assiduity, she may be starved to
death, as turkey hens seldom move from their nest during the
whole time of incubation.

Where farmers rear turkeys in great numbers, they do not in-
dulge the hen by allowing her to sit as soon as she has done lay-
ing, but keep them from her until all the other hens have ceased
to lay, as it is of consequence that they should be all hatched
about one time. When hens are unhappy during this interval,
they may be indulged with hens' eggs. Wlien they have all
ceased to lay, each of them is provided with a nest close to the
wall, in a barn or other convenient place, and each is supplied
with from sixteen to twenty of her own eggs. The windows
and doors are then closed, and only opened once in the twenty-
four hours for the admission of air, and for the purpose of feeding
the hens. They are taken off their nests, fed and replaced, and
again shut up. On the twenty-sixth day, the person who is en-
tmsted with the management of the birds examines all the eggs,
and removes those that are addled; feeds the hens, and does not
again disturb them till the poults have emerged from their shells,
and have become perfectly dry, from the heat of the parent bird;
as to be subjected to cold at this time would certainly kill them.
When the young birds are thoroughly dried, two of the broods
are joined together, and the care of them entrusted to a single
hen; and those who have been deprived of their offspring are
again placed on hens' or ducks' eggs, and subjected a second time

300 Farmers' Miscellany. [April,

to the tedious operations of incubation, in whicli case it is not
unusual for them to bring out thirty eggs. We cannot re-
commend this practice in point of humanity; for the poor hens
when they have accomplished their second sitting, are literally
reduced to skin and bone, and frequently so weak as hardly to be
able to walk.

As before hinted at, great care should be taken of the young
turkey poults; besides warmth, proper food, and shade, the nearer
they are to a pure running stream the better, as they drink a great
deal, and nothing is of greater importance to their being success-
fully reared than fresh drink. They must be carefully protected
from strong gusts of wind, and on the slightest appearance of a
thunder storm, should be immediately taken into a house. They
should get no food for twenty-four hours after they leave the egg.
Their first food should be hard boiled eggs, finely chopped, and
mixed with crumbs of bread. Curd is also an excellent food for
them. When they are about a week old, boiled peas and minced
scullions are given to them. If eggs are continued, the shells
should be minced down with their food, to assist digestion, or
some very coarse sand, or minute pebbles. They should be fed
thrice a day; and as they get older, a mixture of lettuce milk will
be found beneficial, together with minced nettles. Barley boiled
in milk is another excellent food at this period, and then oats
boiled in milk. In short the constitution of the young turkeys
requires at all ages every kind of stimulating food. W^hen about
three weeks old, their meat should consist of a mixture of minced
lettuce, nettles, curdled milk, hard boiled yolks of eggs, bran,
and dried camomile; but when all these cannot be readily obtain-
ed, part of them must be used. Fennel and wild endive, with
all plants which are of a tonic character, may be safely given to
them. Too much lettuce, however, has been found to be inju-
rious. When poults are about a month old, they should be turn-
ed out along with the parent bird, into the fields or plantations,
where they will find sufficient food for themselves. As their feet
are at first very tender, and subject to inflammation from the
pricking of nettles and thistles, they ought to be rubbed with
spirits, which has the effect of hardening the skin, and fortifying
them against these plants."

EARLY POTATOES.

To secure early potatoes cut the seed into two parts, and reject
the but end and plant the other. There is a great difference in
the time of sprouting and growing of the young shoots from

1846.] Temperature of Soil for Planting Corn. 301

these ends; besides there will be greater evenness in size as well
as uniformity in ripening. It is said that the butt end produces a
larger potatoe than the other. This rule of planting the ends
separately applies to all potatoes, early or late.

TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL FOR PLANTING CORN.

The temperature of the soil ought to reach 60° of Fah. in the
shade before corn is planted; but little danger will then be in-
curred of its rotting before germination begins, for when this has
taken place it will invariably come up, although the temperature
may be subsequently reduced. It is recommended to give it a
coating of tar after it has been slightly swollen in water. It
secures it from crows, and from certain insects. In regard to
soaking seeds it ought to be remembered that a very dry soil will
absorb the water in the seeds, and hence circumstances ou'^ht
always to determine the propriety of the practice.

(302)

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNALS.

NUTRITION OF PLANTS— LIEBIG'S THEORY.

Dr. W. Seller has communicated to the Royal Society of
Edinburgh, his examination of the views adopted by Liebig, on
the Nutrition of Vegetables; for the purpose of determining how
far these are just, and with what limitations they require to be
received.

The following propositions represent the spirit of the opinions
on which Dr. Seller comments: —

1st. That the food of plants is strictly of a mineral or inor-
ganic nature.

2d. That ammonia, carbonic acid, and water impregnated with
a few saline matters, are the sole aliments of plants.

3d. That the organic matter of soils must pass into the mineral
state, namely, into water with a saline impregnation, carbonic
acid and ammonia, before it can become subservient to the uses of
vegetation.

4th. That the saline matters and the like, which form the ashes
of plants, are, without exception, taken up from the soil, and are
in no respect the product of vegetation, as was taught in the be-
ginning of the present century.

Thus the maxims adopted by Liebig on the nutrition of plants
are of a negative character; for if it can be shewn that the doc-
trine of the nutrition of plants by organic compounds in the soil
is unfounded, then the truth of Liebig's grand axiom, as to the
mineral nature of the food of plants, is established at once.

We have not space to quote (from Jameson's Journal, No. 77)
the arguments by which Dr. Seller seeks to refute these views.
The following, alDridged from the close of this valuable contribu-
tion to science, is highly important: —

The spirit in which De Saussure so long since studied the ve-
getable economy, appears to have become dormant among bota-
nists for a good many years. They had too little faith in the
conclusions of modern chemistry to trust to it as an instrument of
research. Nor was it surprising, at the commencement of this
century, when chemistry was hardly beyond its infancy.

Chemistry, in short, must always be the very groundwork of
vegetable physiology. It must teach the number, the properties,

1846.] JVutritio?! of Plants. 303

the relations of the elements, which the vital force combines and
operates on. And had this truth been more clearly seen, and
more firmly held to, at an earlier period, it would not have been
left for Liebig at this late day to surprise the world with the an-
nouncement of the great bonds of union which so strictly unite
the operations of the vegetable economy with those of mineral
and of animated nature. For Liebig has not taught much, the
rudiments of which are not to be found in De Saussure's work.
De Saussure taught, in 1804, that plants fix carbon both from the
carbonic acid of the soil and of the atmosphere; that they fix
oxygen and hydrogen from water; that they derive their saline
matter from the soil. He knew the ammonia is contained in
some decomposing vegetable substances; but he does not appear
to have arrived at Liebig's conclusion, that it is an essential part
of the food of plants; and without affirming what Liebig so
pointedly denies, namely, that the extractive matters of the soil
are part of the food of plants, he contents himself with saying
that these " contribute in a certain proportion to the fertility of
the soil;" while he adds, in the same sentence, that "the ashes
of these extractive matters contain the same principles as the
ashes of plants."* Moreover, De Saussure notices, in particular,
that vegetable mould contains more ammonia than the wood from
which it forms; and this difference he ascribes to the effect pro-
duced on the soil by the numerous insects frequenting it.

It may be seen, then, that the spirit of the view adopted by
Liebig is not of recent date. That plants convert mineral sub-
stances into their own substance is a proposition almost coeval
with our knowledge of the ultimate composition of air, water,
and soil. And all that is essential of this proposition remains un-
challenged, even if the progress of enquiry shall graft the views
of Mulder on those of Liebig, namely, that certain azotised sub-
stances formed in the soil, which have not yet lost their organic
character, are indispensable. For if such compounds do aid in
the nutrition of plants, it manifestly cannot be otherwise than as
yeasts contribute to fermentation. The substance of vegetables
is from mineral nature. Plants metamorphose parts of the mineral
covering of our planet into organic substance. Animals dissolve
the spell bound on it by vegetable life, and reconvert this organic
matter into its original mineral condition. Thus, from air, water,
and a little soil, all organic bodies are made.

Thus, modern science realizes the happy conjecture of the an-
cients as to the number of the elements. The four elements of
the ancients are the elements of organic nature — Air, Water,
Earth and Fire, are in tmth the elements of the organic world ;

*Recherches Chemiques sur la Vegetation, par Theod. De Saussure
p. 185.

304 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

for their fire represents that warmth, the absence of which ex-
tinguishes all organic life.

A brief notice of the mode in which the numerical results made
use of have been brought out may be satisfactory, and will shew
that no exaggeration has been practised to the prejudice of the
opinion that the food of plants is organic substance.

The area of the earth's surface is roundly estimated in square
miles, by multiplying the circumference into the diameter.
24,000+8000=zl92,000,000, area of the earth in sq. miles.
192,000,000 ==38,400,000, \ one-fifth part of the earth's

) surface in square miles.

5
The number of square feet in a square mile is 27,878,400;
whence 38,400,000+27,878,400=^1,060,520,560,000,000, the
number of cubic feet of soil a foot deep, in the surface of one-
fifth part of the area of the earth.

A cubic foot of water weighs 1000 ounces avoirdupois; caH
soil twice the density of water, which is near its density; then a'
cubic foot of soil weighs 2000 ounces, or 125 pounds:

] 25+1,060,520,560,000,000,= 132,564,07 1,000,000,
which number represents the quantity of soil in avoirdupois
pounds contained in one-fifth part of the earth's surface.
The same reduced to tons is 59,180,388,839,285.
Take ten per cent of this quantity as organic matter,

5,918,038,883,928.
Take three-fifths of the organic matter as carbon,

3,550,823,320,352; or there is something more
than three billions and a half of carbon in the soil of one-fifth
part of the earth's surface.

If a thousand millions of men consume daily five ounces of
carbon each in respiration, they consume in a year 50,922,420
tons of carbon. A horse, according to Boussingault, throws off,
in carbonic acid, 6*07 pounds of carbon, or nearly a ton in a
year (-988 ton).

The horses of Great Britain, on a moderate calculation, are
estimated at a million and a half;* and the inhabitants of Great
Britain are less than a fifth part of the human race: say, then,
there are fifty times as many horses in the world as in Great Bri-
tain, and horses alone will be found to consume every year nearly
75,000,000 of tons of the carbon of organic matter.

An ox or cow converts nearly four and a half pounds of carbon
daily into carbonic acid. There are about three millions and a
quarter of cattle in Great Britain;! or the cattle of Great Britain
must consume more than three millions and a quarter of tons of

•Macculloch's Statistical Account of the British Empire, vol. i. page 284.
t lb. page 490.

1846.J Liehig's Patent Manures. 305

carbon annually in respiration; and if the black cattle all over
the earth be in the like proportion to the number of inhabitants,
these alone will consume more than 150 millions of tons of the
carbon of organic matter in a year (162,500,000).

The number of sheep in Great Britain is estimated at about
forty millions (39,648,000) MaccuUoch. Take the average
weight of each at no more than fifty pounds, the w^eight of the
whole comes to nearly a million of tons; or, at all events, since
in warm-blooded animals the quantity of carbon thrown off by
resniration in a year considerably exceeds the weight of the ani-
mals, there must be at least a million of tons of the carbon of
organic matter converted yearly into carbonic acid by the sheep
of Great Britain.

This should give, for the annual consumption by sheep, over
the whole earth, fifty millions of tons of carbon.

Hogs, rabbits, poultry, &c., in Great Britain can hardly amount
to less than half the weight of the sheep, or to half a million of
tons. It may be reckoned, then, that such animals over the whole
earth consume annually not less than twenty-five millions of tons
of carbon — thus:

Carbon consumed yearly by men 50,000,000 tons.

« " by horses 75,000,000

« « by cattle 150,000,000

« « by sheep 50,000,000

" « by hogs, poultry, &c. 25,000,000
Combustion of wood, being at half the
rate at which coal is consumed for do-
mestic purposes in Great Britain 425,000,000

775,000,000 tons.
By a reference to the paper it will be seen that many sources
of the consumption of the carbon of organic compounds are not
taken into account in the above computation; and, in particular,
that the consumption by animals in the wild state is not added.
It seems not unlikely, then, that instead of 600 millions of tons,
at which the annual waste was stated in the text, double that
quantity w^ould come nearer the truth.

LIEBIG'S PATENT MANURES.

These manures have been patented, on Dr. Liebig's behalf, in
the name of Mr. James Muspratt, of Liverpool.

The object of the invention is to prepare manure in such man-
ner as to restore to the land the mineral elements taken away by

Vol. III., No. II. 22

306 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

the crop which has been grown on, and removed from the land,
and in such manner that the character of the alkaline matters
used may he changed, and the same rendered less soluble, so that
the otherwise soluble alkaline parts of the manure may not be
washed away from the other ingredients by the rain falling on the
land, and thus separating the same therefrom. And it is the com-
bining carbonate of soda or carbonate of potash, or both with
carbonate of lime, and also the combining carbonate of potash
and soda with phosphate of lime, in such manner as to diminish
the solubility of the alkaline salts to be used as ingredients for
manure (suitable for restoring to the land the mineral matters
taken away by the crop which may have been grown on, and re-
moved from the land to be manured), which constitutes the novelty
of the invention.

Although the manures made in carrying out this invention will
have various matters combined with the alkaline carbonates, no
claim of invention is made thereto separately; and such materials
will be varied according to the matters which the land to be ma-
nured requires to have returned to it, in addition to the mineral
substances above mentioned. The quantity of carbonate or phos-
phate of lime, used with carbonate of soda or potash, may be
varied according to the degree of solubility desired to be obtain-
ed, depending on the locality where the manure is to be used, in
order to render the preparation less soluble, in localities where
the average quantity of rain falling in the year is great; but as
in practice it would be difficult to prepare manures to suit each
particular locality with exactness, such average preparation is
given as will suit most localities. In making manure according
to the invention, carbonate of soda or of potash, or both, are
fused in a reverberatory furnace, such as is used in the manufac-
ture of soda-ash, with carbonate or phosphate of lime, (and with
such fused compounds other ingredients are mixed), so as to pro-
duce manures; and such composition, when cold, being ground
into powder by edge stones, or other convenient machinery, the
same is to be applied to land as manure. And in order to apply
such manure with precision, the analysis and weight of the pre-
vious crop ought to be known with exactness, so as to return to
the land the mineral elements in the weight and proportion in
which they have been removed by the crop.

Two compounds are first prepared, one or other of which is the
basis of all manures, which is described as the first and second
preparations.

The first preparation is formed by fusing together two or two
and a half parts of carbonate of lime with one part of potash of
commerce (containing on an average sixty carbonate of potash,
ten sulphate of potash, and ten chloride of potassium, or common

1846.] Liebig's Patent Manures. 307

salt in the hundred parts), or with one part of carbonate of soda
and potash, mixed in equal parts.

The second preparation is formed by fusing together one part
of phosphate of lime, one part of potash of commerce, and one
part of soda ash.

Both preparations are ground to powder; other salts and ingre-
dients in the state of powder are added to these preparations and
mixed together, or those not of a volatile consistency may be
added when the preparations are in a state of fusion, so that the
manure may represent as nearly as possible the composition of the
ashes of the preceding crop. This is assuming that the land is
in a high state of cultivation; but if it be desired to grow a par-
ticular crop on land not in a high state of cultivation, then the
manure would be applied in the first instance suitable to the com-
ing crop, and then, in subsequent cases, the manure prepared
according to the invention would, as herein described, be applied
to restore to the land what has been taken therefrom by the pre
ceding crop.

Preparation of Manure for Land which has had a Wheat crop
grown on and removed therefrom. — Take of the first preparation
six parts by weight, and of the second preparation one part, and
mix with them two parts of gypsum — one part of calcined bones —
silicate of potash (containing six parts of silica), and one part of
phosphate of magnesia and ammonia.

And such manure is also applicable to be used after growing
barley, oats, and plants of a similar character.

Preparation of Manure for Land which has had a crop of
Beans grown thereon, and removed therefrom. — Take fourteen
parts by weight of the first preparation; two parts of the second
preparation, and mix them with one part of common salt (con-
taining two parts of silica) — two parts of gypsum, and one part
of phosphate of magnesia and ammonia.

And such manure is also applicable for land on which peas, or
other plants of a similar character, have been grown and re-
moved.

Preparation of Manure for Land on which Turnips have been
grown, and removed therefrom. — Take twelve parts by weight of
the first preparation, one part of the second preparation, one
part of gypsum, and one part of phosphate of magnesia and am-
monia.

And such manure is also applicable for land where potatoes or
similar plants have been grown and removed.

The patentee has selected the above cases, because they repre-
sent the chief of the products cultivated in this country; and in
doing so, such average preparations are given as will be benefi-
cial in most, if not in all cases, as manure, to be used after the

308 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

different crops mentioned; but manures may be prepared accord-
ing to the invention for other plants than those mentioned; and,
if desired, manures may be made with greater exactness for those
plants which have been mentioned for particular cases, if the
matters of which the plants are composed and the quantities are
first ascertained, by burning the plants and analyzing the ashes,
and then combining the manure according to the analysis. The
manure so made is to be applied to the land in quantities as great
or greater than the quantities of the elements which have been
removed by the previous crop. It should be stated that, where
the straw of wheat and other similar plants, which require much
silicate of potash, is returned to the land as manure, that is con-
sidered to be the best means of restoring the requisite silicate of
potash to the land; in which case, in preparing the manures above
mentioned, the silicate of potash would be omitted.

ROTATION OF CROPS.

A paper has been read to the Royal Society, by Prof Daubeny,
" On the rotation of crops, and on the quantity of inorganic mat-
ters abstracted from the soil, by various plants under different
circumstances."

The author was first led to undertake the researches, of which
a detailed account is given in this paper, by the expectation of
verifying the theory of De Candolle, in which the deterioration
experienced by most crops on their repetition was attributed to
the deleterious influence of their root excretions. For this pur-
pose, he set apart, ten years ago, a number of plots of ground in
the Botanic Garden at Oxford, uniform as to quality and richness,
one half of which was planted each year, up to the present time,
with the same species of crop, and the other half with the same
kinds succeeding each other in such a manner that no one plot
should receive the same crop twice during the time of the con-
tinuance of the experiments, or at least not within a short period
of one another. The difference in the produce obtained in the
two crops under these circumstances would, the author conceives,
represent the degree of influence ascribable to the root excretions.

The results obtained during the first few years from these ex-
periments, as well as from the researches which had in the mean-
time been communicated to the world, by M. Braconnot and
others, on the same subject, led him in a measure to abandon this
theory, and to seek for some other mode of explaining the falling
off of crops on repetition. In order to clear up the matter, he
determined to ascertain, for a series of years, not only the amount

1S46.J Rotation of Crops. 309

of crop which would be obtained from each of the plants tried
under these two systems, but also the quantity of inorganic mat-
ters extracted in each case from the soil, and the chemical consti-
tution of the latter, which had furnished these ingredients. The
plants experimented upon were spurge, potatoes, barley, turnips,
hemp, flax, beans, tobacco, poppies, buckwheat, clover, oats, beet,
mint, endive, and parsley.

From a chemical examination of the crops. Dr. Daubeny con-
cludes, first, that the falling off of a crop after repetition depends,
in some degree, on the less ready supply of certain of the inor-
ganic ingredients which it requires for its constitution; not but
that two crops equally well supplied by the soil with these ingre-
dients may take up different quantities of them, according as their
own development is more or less favored by the presence of or-
ganic matter in the soil in a state of decomposition.

Secondly, that it is possible that a field may be unproductive,
although possessing abundance of all the ingredients required by
the crop, owing to their not being in a suflficiently soluble form,
and therefore not directly available for the purposes of vegetation;
so that in such a case the agriculturist has his choice of three
methods — the first, that of imparting to the soil, by the aid of a
manure, a sufficient quantity of these ingredients in a state to be
immediately taken up; the second, that of waiting until the ac-
tion of decomposing agents disengages a fresh portion of those
ingredients from the soil (as by letting the land remain fallow);
and the third, that of accelerating this decomposition by mecha-
nical and chemical means.

Thirdly, that it is probable that in most districts a sufficient
supply of phosphoric acid and of alkali, for the purposes of agri-
culture, lies locked up within the bowels of the earth, which
might be set at liberty, and rendered available by the application
of the artificial means above alluded to.

Fourthly, that the aim of Nature seems to be, to bring into this
soluble, and therefore available condition, these inorganic sub-
stances, by animal and vegetable decomposition, and, therefore,
that we are counteracting her beneficial efforts when we waste
the products of this decomposition by a want of due care in the
preservation of the various excrementitious matters at our dis-
posal.

Fifthly, that although we cannot deny that plants possess the
power of substituting certain mineral ingredients for others, yet
that the limits of this faculty are still imperfectly known, and the
degree in which their healthy condition is affected by the change
is still a matter for further investigation.

Lastly, that the composition of various plants, as given in this
paper, differs so widely from that reported by Sprengel and others,

310 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

that we are supplied with an additional argument in favor of the
importance of having the subject of ash analysis taken up by a
public body, possessed of competent means and facilities for de-
ciding between the conflicting authorities, and supplying us with
a more secure basis for future calculations. — Jlthenceian, No. 919.

THE POTATO DISEASE.

The premature disease which has taken place in the potato
crop, has induced the government to appoint a scientific com-
mission to inquire into the subject in Ireland. Dr. Kane, Dr.
Lyon, Playfair, and Professor Lindley, have investigated the mat-
ter, and have come to conclusions at which most persons had long
since arrived: — 1. That the cause of the decay has been a cold
and wet summer. 2. That to prevent an extension of the decay,
the potatoes should be dug up, allowed to dry, and then kept in a
dry place. 3. That decayed potatoes may by contact or proxi-
mity affect those which are healthy— a fact well known in rela-
tion to putrefaction in animal substances. Many tubers, however,
which are to all appearance sound, are probably partly affected,
and the water in which such tubers were boiled, has been observ-
ed to have a strong odor analogous to sulphuretted hydrogen,
although the potatoes were wholesome and fit for food.

As the potato disease has extended throughout Europe, the
attention of savans on the continent has been directed to its in-
vestigation.

M. Payen has submitted to the Paris Academy of Sciences,
some specimens of diseased potatoes, and read a note on the phe-
nomena which his examination of them has presented to him.
The change seems to M. Payen to be transmitted from the stalks
to the tubercles. If a diseased potato be cut, the parts attacked
can be discerned with the naked eye by their yellow color, and
they emit a marked fungous odor; the tissue of these parts is
softened and easily separated. Very thin slices under the micro-
scope exhibit at the limits of the change a slightly yellow liquid,
which insinuates itself into the intercellular spaces, and gradually
envelopes almost the whole periphery of the cells. In the parts
strongly attacked it destroys the adherence of the cells; and this
explains the easy disaggregation of the tissue. The cells, by de-
grees invaded by the yellow liquid, preserve their grains of starch
intact. When the dislocation of the cells has made new progress,
the mass of the tissue becomes pulpy, semifluid, whitish, or of a
brown color more or less deep; a great number of the cells are
destroyed, even broken up. In this state, however, the grains of

1846.] Hu7nan Fossils. 311

starch are still intact, their substance being insoluble even in
water heated to -|- 50° ; and although with greater ease divided
mechanically, they behave with iodine, sulphuric acid, &c., as
normal starch.

M. Philipper has also directed his attention to this subject; and
attributes the cause of the malady to the state of the atmosphere
only, daring the summer of 1845. He has remarked, that the
infected tubercles kept badly; that those partially attacked quick-
ly become wholly so, and communicate the evil to the sound ones;
and that the change is more rapid if the potatoes are housed
moist, and kept in a close place. Hence the precautions neces-
sary are, to dig early, to dry well, separate the bad from the good,
house in any airy place, and reduce quickly into starch.

HUMAN FOSSILS.

BY G. C. MONELL, NEWBURGH.

[Translated from the French and Foreign Medical Review el Clinical Journal
of Hotel Dieu and La Chante, of Paris. 1824. Vol. 3, p. 451, 452.]

Mr. Fourier presented, in the name of Messrs. Julia, Fontenelle,
Payen and Chevallier, a paper concerning the human fossils of
Fontainbleau.

Do human fossils exist except in the imagination of certain
geologists ? The negative has been, and still is sustained by
many learned naturalists, who have classed among hypotheses the
most absurd, this man-witness of the deluge of Schenchzer; fossil
human bones taken from the rocks at Aix, of which there is men-
tion made by Florer of Hapellius; the petrifactions in the calca-
reous strata of ffihrringen: the petrified men found in the mines
of Brugelettes, in Hainault Beige; since found to contain the fos-
sils of many saurians, etc. The question seemed definitely settled
until toward the end of April, 1824, we announced the discovery
of a human fossil and a petrified horse, found in the large rock at
Moret, near Fontainbleau. A short time after Mr. Barruel, who
made an analysis of it, is said to have found animal matter and
phosphate of lime. This authorized the conclusion that it was
truly an anthiopolite. Notwithstanding Messrs. Cuvicr, Geoffrey
Saint Hilaire, and many other learned men, persisted in regarding
this asserted human fossil, as one of those uncertain imitations of
organic bodies, Avhich are sometimes found in nature. Witness-
ing the discussions which confused this subject, Julia, Fontenelle,
Payen and Chevallier, joined together to make an analysis of the
fossil of Fontainbleau; the result of their labors, which they com-

312 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

municated to the Royal Academy of Sciences, was, that the vari-
ous specimens which they had examined, contained besides a sort
of free stone insoluble in hydro-chloric acid,

1. A proportion of Azote varying from 0.017 to 0.014

2. " Water " 0.0115 to 0.009

3. " Silicia )

4. " Albumen, S 0.025

5. " Oxide of Iron )

6. Some traces of lime.

These chemists did not find any phosphate of lime, although it
was so stated by Mr. Barruel. The Royal Academy of Sciences
charged Messrs. Taquelin and Thenard, to make a report of the
labors of Julia, Fontenelle, Payen and Chevallier. At the session
following that of which we speak, a commission of the Linnaan
Society of Paris presented a new analysis, which is less methodi-
cal and less scientific than that of the three chemists, and con-
firms their results. After this Messrs. Vauquelin and Thenard
reported a third examination, from which it appeared that of six
fragments of the anthropolite of Moret, which they had analyzed,
one only presented traces of phosphate of lime. This new result
tended to confirm the exactness of the preceding analysis, and to
demonstrate that the human fossil of Fontainbleau is simply a free
stone to which a human form and origin has been too readily
attributed.

The editor adds in a note to the above article. We have been informed
that a company of chemists occupied at this moment in the analysis of divers
fossil bones which had been submitted to them by M. Cuvier, have already
found considerable quantities of phosphate of lime in several of them. With-
out doubt when their labors shall have terminated, these new analyses will
not carry any new conviction, or afford any type by which to know henceforth
true human fossils. As lo the animal matter found in the fossil of Fontain-
bleau, we know that the same chemists found it also in many other stones
■which they have analyzed.

Prof. E. Solly has communicated to the British Association a
series of experiments on the influence of galvanic electricity on
the germination of seeds. The seeds of barley, wheat, rye, tur-
nips, and radish were exposed to feeble currents of electricity;
the plants came up .sooner, and were healthier than those which
were not electrified. On the other hand, opposite results were
obtained by a number of experiments. Out of 55 experiments,
21 appeared to favor the electrical influence, 10 decidedly against
it, and 25 showed no effect whatever.

Prof S. stated that he felt doubtful whether the observed were
really due to electricity. — Year Book of Facts.

1846.] Goadby's Preservative Fluid. 313

HORSFORD'S ANALYSIS OF THE ASHES OF RED
CLOVER.

Parts in 100.

Potash, 12.164

Sodium, 1.414

Soda, 30.757

Lime, 16.556

Magnesia, 6.262

Phosphate of iron, 0.506

Chlorine, 2. 159

Phos. acid, 2.957

Sulphuric acid, - 0.30 1

Silica, 1.968=99.7 18

Carbonic acid, 22.930

Sand and coal, 1.244

Analysis given in the Catechism of Agriculture, by Johnson:

Amount in a 1000 lbs.

Potash, 31.00

Soda, 5.25

Lime,- 3.

Oxide of iron, trace.

Silica,- 4.

Sulphuric acid,- - 4.50

Phosphoric acid, 6.50

Chlorine, 3.50

74.75 lbs.

GOADBY'S PRESERVATIVE FLUID.

Of which there are two kinds.

1st, consists of Bay salt,

4 oz.

Alum,

3

Corrosive sublimate,

2 to 4 grs.

Water,

1 qt. or 2 qts.

The weakest preparation is first employed.

The second kind consists of

Bay salt.

^Ib.

Arsenic,

^ drachm.

Corrosive sublimate,

2 grs.

Water,

Iqt.

Insects and the fine animal tissues are beautifully preserved in

these fluids.

314 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

STATURE OF MAN IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.

The average height of Englishmen is placed at 5 feet 7| inches.
In the yeornanry it is 5 f. 1 inch to 6 f. 3 inches. In the peasantry,
as derived from army returns, it is from 5 f. 6 in. to 5 f. 7. The
French conscripts give an average of 5 f. |. The Irish are taller
than the Scotch, and the Scotch than the English. The Belgians
are of still lower stature. — Jameson's Journal.

CULTURE OF MADDER.

The value of Madder cultivated in a single province in France
(Vaucluse) is estimated at from 30 to 40 millions of francs per
annum. The fields are laid out in beds with trenches between
for carrying off" superfluous moisture. The soil is light and the
roots stand at equal distances, and must be kept free from weeds.
Madder, by means of chemical agents, affords many shades of
color, varying greatly from the original red.

RESPIRATION IN MAN.

M. Vierardt, a physician in Carlsruhe, gives the result of some
experiments on the respiration of man under different circum-
stances and at different hours of the day. After eating, it is found
that the number is increased in the proportion of 1.72 upon 14
per minute. After drinking spirituous liquor the proportion of
carbonic acid is almost instantly diminished, and this continues
for nearly two hours.

It is maintained by Mr. Ogilby that the fore-arm, or the ante-
rior extremity of the mammalia are entitled to a higher considera-
tion than has heretofore been given them, inasmuch as they are
the exponents of the habits, mental power and economy of ani-
mals. The fore-arm is the seat of the power of locomotion of
manifestation and touch. It is, however, to be taken in conjunc-
tion with the teeth in establishing the true basis of a scientific
classification. The dental system furnishes the clue to the posi-
tion which the animal must hold in the scale of being, and is the
most valuable diagnosis to a knowledge of the structure and con-
dition of the stomach and digestive system.

1846.] Stand by Your Own. 315

STAND BY YOUR OWN.

[Extract from an Address delivered before the Madison County Agricultural
Society, by Ledyard Lincklaen, 1844.]

" Among the French, on the contrary, a country life is regarded
with dislike, and followed by none who can escape it; almost all
wealth and talent is concentrated in the cities, and consequently,
a few great towns dictate in morals, literature and politics, to the
whole nation. Corrupt city morals are universally diffused, a
metropolitan excitement becomes a national movement, and a
constant succession of revolutions is prevented and restrained only
by the strong hand of centralized power.

" An independent country spirit, then, is desirable on consider-
ations of general patriotism. But motives of personal and sec-
tional interest also impel us to contribute, to the extent of our
power, to raise our country and county standing and influence.
It should be our desire, to see a county spirit prevail among us,
like that which lately brought the sons of old Berkshire, in Mass-
achusetts, home from every quarter of the land, to testify of their
attachment to the spot where they were born and bred.

"On this principle, there is one profession among us, which has
a special claim to our support. I refer to that of the country
press. A well conducted newspaper, which, instead of taking its
key in all things from some leading city journal, and merely aid-
ing to diffuse more w'idely among us notions of politics and other
subjects ready prepared for our adoption by central cliques or
associations, shall stand up manfully to defend and advocate the
interests of a particular section, and express the views of its citi-
zens, is of great benefit, and adds to the importance and influence
of that section in no small degree. Such a paper, however, can-
not be sustained without a large list of subscribers, and unless citi-
zens generally patronize the printer, and pay him too, they cannot
reasonably expect a sheet, the appearance or contents of which
will be creditable or beneficial to their village or county.

" It is often said that the city papers are afforded cheaper, and
that they give the general news of the day equally well. But the
general news is not all that we need to see in a paper. The city
journal, the Sun or Tribune, does not give you the local news of
your own district, it does not contain the advertisements of your
neighbor, or the proceedings of your meetings. In its long, vague
list of marriages and deaths, you do not find that record of the
joys and sorrows of your immediate friends and fellow-citizens

316 Extracts from ihe Journals. [April,

which your own paper regularly contains — nor, most important of
all, does it speak the sentiments of your own county.

" The exclusive circulation of city papers tends to centralize all
public opinion, to submit the feeling and action of all the land to
city dictation, and to destroy that country steadiness and indepen-
dence which it should be our pride to maintain, and which has
already been alluded to as so important to the public welfare.
Its loss, and the monopoly of influence by a few great cities,
would be a system of centralization, far more dangerous to our
permenent liberty than any which the most ultra federalist of the
last century ever projected — and its maintenance is more impor-
tant to our true interest, than the success or defeat of half of the
political measures which convulse our land.

" Let us, then, support our own presses — the organs by which
our sentiments should be expressed, and our interests defended.
Are you a whig? Then take the county paper which advocates
the principles of your party. Are you a democrat? Then sub-
scribe for the organ of your political class. Use your own pre-
ference as regards such distinctions, but let the first paper which
you make a visitor to your home, be one of those printed in your
ow:i county.

" The feeling of attachment to the country in general, is closely
allied to, and aids to produce one of attachment to a particular
spot or locality, which, as tending to maintain a fixed and stable
population, is of great value and importance. One of the defi-
ciencies in American character, caused by the extent of our terri-
tory, is the want of fixed attachment to, and preference of, a par-
ticular residence or home. To encourage such a local attach-
ment should be among our main objects, for in the prosecution of
none could more benefit accrue from success.

" Wherever men consider themselves permanently settled to
spend their lives, they at once acquire a deep interest in the
place. In acting for their own future advantage, they act for the
advantage of the country where they reside. Houses are better
built, lands are more carefully cultivated, roads are better made,
churches, schools, and public institutions of every kind are more
earnestly and liberally supported. All is done substantially and
well. The country thus benefitted and improved, attracts the best
class of inhabitants, and it becomes still more our interest as well
as our wish to remain in it, and enjoy its increased advantages.

" On this account, our national propensity to change and emi-
gration is a great difficulty in the way of our steady advance and
improvement. We are too ready to " Go West," to leave the
home where we have always lived, and the friends whom we have

1S46.J

Stand by Your Own. 317

always known, and seek new homes and new society in distant
and only partially known quarters of the land.
" With too many of us it is too true that

' Distance lends enchantment to the view — '

with too many, the farthest territory is ever thought to be the
best. First, Ohio, then Michigan, then Wisconsin and Iowa are
held up as the promised land, till already the cry is, " For Ore-
gon !" and the Pacific ocean itself scarcely confines our restless
spirit.

" It is true that there are among us many exceptions to this ob-
servation, many who hold and cultivate the farms on which they
have lived for twenty or thirty years. Such men are the main
strength of our country, and their general comfort and prosperity
form a striking contrast to the fate of hundreds who have pursued
a different course. But there are far too few of them, and too
many of a contrary disposition.

" There is no doubt, that though some may find comforts and
fortune in the far west, very many find that they might as well
have chased a rainbow, and when they have at last, alter repeated
changes and removals, reached the farthest verge of civilization —
then the same attractive haze of distance seems to hang over the
place they first left, and they remember its hundred comforts and
privileges they never sufficiently realized or valued when they
possessed them. Then it is that they look back to their early
home among the hills of New York or New England, with its
fine forests, convenient quarries, plentiful streams and pure springs,
a soil neither drowned in spring nor parched in summer, with
canals and railroads which brought it within twenty-four hours
of the sea-board, with its mills and mechanics in every valley,
good roads in every direction, its society settled and established,
churches near at hand to all, schools established and improved,
and all the other fruits of half a century of labor in a land of fine
natural capabilities — and if their new home on some remote and
boundless prairie, with its single and only advantage of a cheap
and fertile soil, does not suffer in the comparison, it is strange
indeed.

" Let us endeavor not to be deceived by every story of the
W^est, of lands that need no clearing and soils that can never
wear out — nor believe that there exists, either in W^isconsin, Illi-
nois or any where else except in imagination, a land where all
may be rich and live without labor. Let us remember that some
counterbalancing portions of evil are found mingled with the good
of every situation, and instead of looking only at the fancied
advantages of other sections of country, let us dwell more upon
the real blessings of our own. Let us discourage that propen-

3 18 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

sity to change, which constantly breaks up our society, and inter-
feres with steady, well directed occupation. Let us discourage
that spirit of dissatisfaction, which ever longs for that which
it has not, and despises and undervalues that which it has. Let
us encourage an opposite disposition — and if all other reasons
were wanting, let us stand up for our own home, simply because
it is OUR OWN. The same instinctive patriotism, which prompts
us to prefer our nation before all others, should also impel us to
prefer our State, our County, our Home, before all other states
and counties and homes.

" This feeling need imply no want of liberality toward other
sections of our country. We will do them justice, but let us first
do justice to our own. Our standing principle should be, that our
home is to be considered better than any other place until it is
proved to be otherwise, and not, as would seem to be too com-
mon, the reverse — that every other place is to be considered bet-
ter than the one in which our lot is cast, until dear bought expe-
rience shall prove to us the contrary."

GUANO.

We have been cautious in recommending the common use of
this substance for the following reasons: its beneficial effects de-
pend too much on circumstances; if the season is very dry, it is
useless; if it is applied in a dry time, the good effects will be
quite uncertain, for it is essential that it should be dissolved and
incorporated with the soil, and be brought to the roots in a solu-
tion. Other evils, too, attend the use of the substance, which
arise, however, from the application of too large a quantity; but
abuses of a substance never ought to be a bar to its employment.
If a thing is good in itself, let us use it carefully until we learn
how to avoid the evils to which it is liable. We believe, how-
ever, that in a few years the whole stock will be exhausted, and
hence cannot be relied upon by the farmers of this country as a
common article to enrich their lands and supply their wastes.
Others may think differently. The nature and composition of
guano is everything which is required for manure; at the ssme
time, it has a drawback, viz., that it is liable to spontaneous de-
composition when it is exposed to air and other atmospheric
agents by which it loses its ammonia, a very essential part of its
composition. It is not entirely destroyed, its phosphate of lime
remains, and it is still as useful as ground bones. In this con-
nection we will digress, as the subject puts us in mind of a sug-
gestion in the Farmers' Cabinet, by Chemico, of the expediency
of bringing home the carcasses of whales for manure. We do

1846.] Guano. 319

not know whether the plan is feasible or not, and yet the sug-
gestion is a good one, and well worthy of consideration. But to
return to the consideration of guano, we copy in continuation an
article in the same valuable journal we have just referred to.

" For the use of guano in this country, besides these general
reasons, there are the particular ones offered by the article itself.
Its component parts are precisely those we want for manure, and
precisely those we have in the manures usually emplo) ed, but in
a far more concentrated form. It appears from the analyses made
by many distinguished chemists, to contain everything that is
wanted to act on soils and increase their powers of producing, as
well as every ingredient contained in plants. From this it would
seem expressly designed for a strong action on vegetable life,
and expressly calculated for the restoration of worn-out soils. In
this country, as we have before said, the experiments have been
so few and on so small a scale, that we cannot bring forward
much of a practical and definite nature to bear out this opinion.
All that has been done here, however, proves it, and if we choose
to admit the success of England, there is no doubt or cjuestion on
that point. In the experiments that were made last year in dif-
ferent parts of the country, it should be borne in mind that the
season was extremely unfavorable. The drouth at the commence-
ment of the season, and the long continued and excessive heat,
would have kept back the action of any manure, more particu-
larly of one that must have moisture for its decomposition. There
was besides a very severe frost in the spring, that killed acres of
wheat and cut down potatoes and corn: this, with the aid of the
cut-worm, in some cases very much diminished the anticipated
glories of the guano. But as far as the experiments made in
East Bradford went, they prove the strong action of guano on
vegetation. The clover and the grass were both very much in-
creased; the corn which was moistened with a solution of guano,
showed itself sooner than any of the rest of the field, and ap-
peared, until attacked by the frost and worm, much the most
flourishing. For so slight an application, this was all that could
be expected; but if this had been followed up by the Peruvian
mode of throwing the guano about the roots after the corn reaches
a few inches in height, and then again when out in tassel, the
full eflfect would have been seen, and a general conclusion could
have been drawn, as respects its action upon this vegetable. But
unless each plant had been watered after these applications, the
excessive drouth would have caused disappointment, and the ma-
nure considered in fault. A gentleman near Boston, on a poor,
sterile, sandy soil, planted a few hills with the variety known as
sweet corn. A teaspoonful of guano — South American — was
mixed with the soil when the corn was sown. A second appli-

320 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

cation was made when the grain was a foot or more in height;
the earth was drawn away from the hill, and about three spoons-
ful thrown in. It was not placed near the stem, but five inches
or more from it; the trench made by the hoe, was three or four
inches in breadth and a half to two inches deep. The whole was
then profusely watered. The product is stated to have been much
beyond that which received no guano. Besides these, we know
of no experiments made on corn. We cannot appeal to England
here; but if this manure is to be used on this, our staple, more
experience must confirm its value, and the judgment of our own
people direct its application. On grass and clover, the greatest
satisfaction has been expressed as to this manure. It has been
tried on different soils; at Germantown, Massachusetts, and Ches-
ter county; in each of these districts the benefit has been very
marked. So far as the experiments in the latter region go, the
result was very remarkable, when the season is considered. They
were made without any experience but that of British farmers to
direct; the result was most satisfactory; and the question presents
itself — if this material can produce such excellent effects during
a season so entirely unfavorable as the last summer, how much
more considerable would they have been in one of more rain?
On the potato, it will be seen from the account of the experiments
made in East Bradford, published in the Farmers' Cabinet of
September, that the action of the guano was very marked. Those
plants cultivated with it came up the first, and grew far more ra-
pidly than the others, which had only barn-yard manure. The
crop of turnips was also much increased, or rather, it should be
said, was supposed to be — as there was no other ground manured
in any other way and sown with that vegetable, it is impossible
to make any comparative estimate. We have in this superficial
and unsatisfactory way, given all the positive knowledge we
possess. By others, this manure has been tried on peas, melons,
strawberries, cabbages, cauliflowers, grapes, and hot-house plants,
successfully and satisfactorily in every case, but as they do not
belong to agriculture, it will not, perhaps, be thought worth while
to notice them more particularly. As to the mode of application
and quantity per acre, we must again fall back on the experience
of England. There it has been mixed with the usual light ma-
nures: ashes, plaster, charcoal, muck, &c., and used in quantities
from one hundred and fifty pounds the acre, to four hundred: in
one case, we think as much as six hundred were put on. Our
impression is, that it is as well to apply it alone, for two reasons;
one that you then know to what to attribute the condition of your
crop; the other, that being an extremely sensitive article, it is
impossible to tell how far it may have been effected by its com-
panion. Changes and decompositions may be produced that

1846.] Mckel 321

might alter its whole character, and the guano be made to bear
the whole blame of a failui-e, that was due rather to its associates.
We would prefer to throw it on the ground in the spring, and let
it be plowed in at the rate of two to three hundred pounds of the
Peruvian, and of three to four hundred of the African. One ab-
solute essential in its use is, that the ground be moist. It will
have no effect, or but a bad one, if employed in dry weather, or
on a dry surface. We must take advantage of a storm of rain,
or exert our judgment in the anticipation of one. It is from this
necessity of moisture, that arises its extreme importance on sandy
soils — on stiff clays, it does not do so well.

" If this mateiial should find favor with our farmers, and a
regular supply can be relied on, it will produce two good effects,
the saving our barn-yard manure, and the keeping our fields free
from weeds, except such as are kindly supplied by our benevolent
but negligent neighbors. Even if guano were dearer than it now
is, and it can now be put upon our lands at about the same ex-
pense as fifty bushels of lime to the acre — the saving of labor in
the destruction of weeds, the satisfaction of seeing our fields
cleared of this foreign vegetable population, and the keeping our
tempers untried, will repay amply, even if there be no decided
additions to the crop. Besides, we have very little doubt that the
guano will be found very destructive to the insects that cut our
corn to pieces, and to all which harass us in our grains, vegeta-
bles, or fruits; at least they must be more than usually thick
skinned, to be able to bear the application of so irritating a
substance.

" In this imperfect way we have gone through this important
subject; but with such scanty materials, how could we say any
thing of much value to the practical farmer? He cannot go out
of his way to make experiments; he can place no confidence in
conjectures; he cannot afford to change the whole conduct of his
life to adopt novelties, or act upon another's imperfect experi-
ence; and in the matter before us, where he has to deal with a
thing that is literally the edge-tool of agriculture, it would be
madness to run the hazard of losing an entire crop, before the art
of managing the instrument had been ascertained and perfected."

NICKEL.

The ammonio-sulphate of nickel may be employed for giving
a silvery coating of that metal to copper. It is prepared in the
same way as the ammonio-sulphate of copper. The plate of
copper is merely plunged into the solution.

Vol. III., No. II. 23

322 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

WELL AT GRENELLE, NEAR PARIS.

The Artesian well, at Grenelle, is the deepest but one from
which water is obtained. The shaft or tube extends to the depth
of 1,794, mostly in chalk. The temperature of the water is
82° F., 31° above the mean temperature of Paris. The water
rises to the surface, and is discharged at the rate of 600 gallons
per minute.

STARCPL

It has been recommended to extract the starch from diseased
potatoes, and to be used as food. In consideration that starch by
itself is not a material which serves for the support of the animal
frame, this object is not regarded by others as worthy of consider-
ation. 100 lbs. potatoes contain 74 lbs. water, fibrous matter 8
lbs., starch 16, gluten 2 lbs. An animal fed on starch alone dies
of starvation.

LUTE FOR JOINING OF TUBES AND RETORTS.

Make a saturated solution of isinglass in acetic acid, and such
that it will set into a solid on cooling. Add a little alcohol to
prevent its spoiling. Keep in well-stopped bottles. Spread on
moistened paper cut into slips. It may also be spread on bladder
to promote its adhesion. — Bcrthier Med. Gazette.

METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS.

BY PROF. C. DEWEY.

[Extracted from the Report of the Regents of N. Y., 1846.]

Dark Color of Clouds over Lakes. — This appearance is com-
monly noticed. If a cioud lies over th^i Lake Ontario north of
Rochester, its color is dark blue, or nearly black, whether the
other parts of the concave are clouded or not. This is doubtless
owing to the less reflection of light from the water, compared
with that from the land. The appearance is more distinct in
winter, when the ground is covered with snow, as there is then a
greater difference in the reflection from water and land. I sup-

1846.] Meteorological Observations. 323

pose this dark color of clouds over a large surface of water is
common, and accounts for the description of clouds at sea.

Fall of Lake Ontario. — The water has been slowly falling for
months in this lake. The mouth of the Genesee atiords a place
for easy measurement, and the fact is certain. Not only is the
lake and the w^ater at the mouth of the Genesee river lower than
the same was a few years ago, but the fall has been considerable
in the last few months. The collector of the port has made the
following statement of the fall:

Feel. lacbea.

1845, June 1, water below top of wharf, 1 0

Sept.l, " " " 2 1

Oct. 1, " " " 2 6

Nov. 1, " " " 2 9

Dec. 1, " " " 3 1

31, " " " 3 3

The reason of this fall is, that less water has been poured by the
rivers info the lakes. It was announced sometime since that the
river at Niagara Falls was lower than ordinary. The last nine
months has been one of uncommon drought over a wide extent
of our country, and has been especially felt in the region around
the great lakes. The summer too was uncommonly warm, and
the evaporation from the land and lakes much greater. For both
reasons Lake Ontario has received less than its usual volume of
w^ater. It is seen by the measurements of the fall that it has been
much less rapid in the latter months of the year. The fall rains,
however, though considerable, were less than common, and a
continuance of the fall is to be expected till the streams shall be
abundantly supplied. An unusual amount of rain will be follow-
ed by a rise of the lakes.

It is now well ascertained that there is no regular and periodi-
cal rise and fall of the lakes. A variation in their level occurs,
from time to time, on the principle and for the reason already
given.

It might be expected perhaps that a greater evaporation should
be followed by a greater amount of rain. This is probably true
on the whole, but does not hold for any given section of country.
In Europe there appears to have been a wet summer and autumn,
while drouth rested on our land. It has been remarked that the
opposite sides of the Atlantic have different states in respect to
the quantity of rain. The drouth and heat may change the cur-
rents in the atmosphere, so that the evaporated water shall be
transferred to some other part of the world. It is more common
still that the northern and southern portions of our country have
different quantities of rain in the same season, and a dry season
at the north be attended by a wetter one at the south.

324 Extracts from the Journals. [April,

Certain it is, that the fall of Lake Ontario need not be traced
to any uncommon or mysterious agency. The operation of the
common laws of nature oti'ers an adequate and satisfactory solu-
tion.

Sudden fall and rise of Lake Ontario. — September 20th, 1845,
the water at the mouth of the Genesee is stated, suddtnly to have
fallen about two feet, from the apparent passing of the water in
mass outwards, and after some minutes to have suddenly returned
in a wave about two feet above the common level. The Adver-
tiser of this city referred to the log-book of the revenue cutter
John Y. Mason, for proof. At Cobourg, on the Canada side, the
same phenomena was observed near the same hour, and noticed
in the Cobourg papers. Only good evidence will substantiate
such a matter as fact, and the cause is probably to be traced to
winds or water-spouts, or both. There have been reports of such
phenomena before, and once as occurring in Seneca lake and
observed at Geneva.

Since the preceding facts were penned, the Daily Advertiser
has added to the evidence and added other facts. The writer
states, that the oscillations of the water on said September 20th,
took twelve and a half minutes — that the difference in the level
of the water was twenty-five inches — that the water rushed out
of the marshes and caves as well as the river, with great rapidi-
ty— the boats were lelt entirely on land for some minutes — that
at Toronto and Cobourg in Canada, the same phenomena were
observed, and that the steamer Princess Charlotte was aground
for a short time, by the dilFerence of the level greater than on
the American side of the lake, and that the cause was probably a
tornado which passed that day in a N. E. direction over Orleans
county, doing much damage, and spent itself on the lake — that
several waterspouts were seen during the storm, one of which
endangered the safety of a steamboat then on the lake. It hardly
needs to be remarked, that the cause here assigned is plausible
and adequate.

Comparative Sriow. — In the early settlement of this section of
our state, only a moderate depth of snow is said to have fallen in
the winters, while the weather was much less severe than it has
been since the country was cleared of the forest. For the last
ten years, there has been much snow during the Avinter, and the
depth has not unfrequently been from a foot to two feet in depth
at a time. February has proved a month o-f snow of late years.
It should be remarked too that more snow falls on the district
near and south of Lake Ontario, than on the tract a little farther
south. The almost daily fall of snow, caused by the vapor of the
lake, extends only a few miles from the lake.

1846.]

Meteorological Observations.

325

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The foregoing results show that there is little or no difference
between the " Mean Temperature,^' obtained by the method of
the Regents, or by taking one-third of the daily observations.
The results have been the same for years, and the two means will
not be given hereafter. By taking one-third of the three daily
observationn, taken at the hours prescribed by the Regents in
their Instrudions, it will be found to differ but very little from the
mean taken as the Regents direct. As the taking of one-third
for the mean of each day is much less labor than the other way
of obtaining the daily mean, it is respectfully suggested to the
Regents, to change the mode of taking the daily mean for that
which is the easier, simpler, shorter, and every way more econo-
mical.

It has been shown by taking the observations on the thermo-
meter at every hour, or half hour in the day, that the twenty-four
parts of those observations, or their mean, is the same as that of
the three observations at 7 A. M., and 2 and 9 P. M., or the
mean of two observations at 10 A. M. and 10 P. M.; at 6 A. M.
and 6 P. M. : 12 at noon and midnight.

184^.]

Meteoroloscical Observations.

327

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( 32S )

EDITORIAL NOTICES.

Visit of a Distinguished Foreigner. — It is expected that the
distinguished Prof. Louis Agassiz, of Neufchatel, Switzerland,
will visit this country sometime during the present season. He
will spend two years with us, accompanied with a draughtsman
and taxidermist to copy and prepare the different specimens of
natural history which may fall under his observation. He enjoys
the patronage of the King of Prussia, and possesses the friendship
and confidence of the most distinguished naturalists in Europe.

Height of Vesuvius. — As measured by M. Pentand, it is 3,864^
feet above the sea. Its height has not varied from this for many
years.

Reward of Merit. — The honor of knighthood has been con-
ferred upon Roderick Impey Murchison, F. R. S., by the Queen.
The Russian Emperor has also conferred the same honor, and
made the distinguished geologist Knight of the first class of the
Imperial Russian Order of St. Stanislaus.

The honor of knighthood has been conferred also upon the cele-
brated Polar traveller, Dr. John Richardson, medical inspector of
fleets and hospitals.

Gradual Rise of Newfoundland. — It is confidently stated that
the whole land in and about the neighborhood of Conception Bay,
is rising out of the ocean. At many places the large flat rocks
over which schooners might pass several years ago, scarcely
admit at this time the passage of skiffs.

DESCRiPTrv'E Catalogue of Horticultural and Agricultural
Implements and Tools, Seeds, Fruit Trees, Etc. : By .8. B. Jil-
len. — We find this Catalogue an invaluable book for reference
for information upon a great variety of subjects. In addition to
what is given above, it contains a listof Valuable Fruit Trees, and
a description of the best breeds of Domestic Animals. It may be
regarded as a manual for the farmer, in which he will find, in a
condensed form, a great amount of information. It is generally
known, we suppose, that Mr. Allen has established an Agricul-
tural Warehouse at No. 187 Water street, New York, to whom
we would recommend our friends who wish to make purchases of
implements, tools and seeds.

( 329 )

INDEX.

Agri( ultural Geology of Onondaga county, 161

" Dinner, 196

'• and Rural Economy, notice of, 232

" Theory of, 2

" Electricity, 84

" Art and Science of, 149

Text Book of, 271

" Catechism, 277

Birdseye View of, 279

Alger's Localities of Minerals, 69

Alluvial soil of the Nile, i 141

American Journal of Science, 160

Art and Science of Agriculture, 149

Annual Report of R. Cook of the Clinton Prison, 55

Asylum, Report of, 68

A new article — new localities of pyroxene, 158

A birdseye view of the agriculture of ditTerent countries, 279

Beginning of the year with different nations, 121

Bement's birdseye view, 279

Catechism of Agriculture, -. 277

Central cavity ot the Mastodon, 19

Clover, analysis of, 313

Copper mines, ....•••• 59

Corn culture and soaking of seeds, 157

Composition of marls, 293

Coal ashes, 295

Comparative quantity of snow and rain, 324

Critical notices, 68

Cultivation of fruits, 296

Culture of madder, 314

Dana's description and classification of Zoophytes, 259

Dark color of clouds, 322

Darwin's Voyage, 268

Description of the bones of the Zeuglodon, 223

Early Potatoes, 300

Editorial notices, 156, 328

Electricity in agriculture, 84, 312

Elements of Drawing, etc, 277

Entomology, 45

Fall of Lake Ontario, 323

False estimates, 81

Fluid preservative, 313

Gas illumination, 148

Goad by 's preservative fluid, 313

Gradual rise of Newfoundland, 328

Grenelle, well of, 322

Guano, 187, 318

Headley's description of the Girandola 100

Vol. III., No. II. 24

330 Index. [April, 1846.

Hogs and their trade, 118

Horsford's analysis of clover, 313

Horticulture, 1 12

Human fossils, 311

Important facts for farmers, 129

Indian corn, • 124

Jerusalem artichoke, 132

Lake Ontario, rise of, 324

Liebig's patent manures, 305

Lute i'or joining tubes, 322

Mammalia, fore-arm of, 314

Manures, 47

" Liebig's patent, 305

Man, structure of, 314

Marls of New Jersey, analysis of, 293

" Yazoo, 295

Market Hill dinner, 196

Mastodon, central cavity of, 19

Merino sheep, 155

Mildew, 133

Notes on natural history, 219

Notice of European Agriculture, 232

Nutrition of plants, 302

On the importance of deep plowing, 22

On the cultivation of Indian corn, 88

On the potatoe disease, 95, 310

Our social system, 102

On the milk of the cow, 135

On the spontaneous changes in organic matter, 210

Planting of cranberries, 122

Potatoes, disease of, 95, 310, 294

Prime's report on Orange county, 28

Poultry 298

Rambouillet Merinos, 290

Recent discoveries, 100

Report of Geological Survey of Canada, 52

" Cook's, of Clinton Prison, 55

" of chemical examination of several waters, 69

" of Managers of Ihe Stale Lunatic Asylum, 68

Resources of Orange county, 28

Rotation of crops, 310

Salt a fertilizer, 71

Soaking of seeds, 92

Sow Well and Reap Well, 275

Stall feeding cows, 131

Structure and classification of Zoophytes, 259

Starch, 322

Theory of agriculture, 2

To guard sheep from dogs, 155

Tolls, &c., on canal, - 70

Tables of the amount of rain and snow, 324

" '• «' " Albany, 329

Text Book of Agriculture, 271

Vegetable oils, 126

Why the East cannot compete with the West, 207

Zeu'glodon's bones, description of, 223

Zoophytes, structure and classification of, 259

AMERICAN

QUARTERLY JOURNAL

AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE.

CONDUCTED BY

DR. E. EMMONS, A. OSBORN, & 0. C. GARDINER.

VOL. IV.

FROM JULY TO DECEMBER.

NEW YORK:

HUNTINGTON & SAVAGE,

No. 216 Pearl Street.

1846.

'h

iv. Contents.

38. Economical mode of preserving cherries, 144

39. Mutual dependence between agriculture and other pursuits,. . 145

40. Shiiking of lessons a self- robbery, 150

41. Prize (arm report, 153

42. Meteorologj' of Western Asia, 160

43. Correspondence, 166

44. Theory of agriculture, 167

45. Expenses of fallening pork, 168

46. Glass milk pans, 168

47. Impregnation of violets, • 168

NUMBER EIGHT.

1. Mineral and agricultural resources of New York, 169

2. Facts which seem to bear upon the cause of the potato disease, 196

3. The New York system, 199

4. Remarks on the Taconic system, 202

5. On the elevated temperature of the waters of the Gulf stream, 210

6. Analysis of soils, 220

7. Characteristics of animals, 238

8. Insects injurious to vegetation, 244

6. American herd book, 266

10. Trees of America, 266

11. Absorbing and retentive power of soils, 268

12. Taking a journeyman, , 269

13. Fruit and fruit trees of Yates county, 279

14. Black Hawk, 283

15. Horsestealing, 284

16. Fencing,... 286

17. Fruits of Erie county, 294

18. Great profits derived from cultivating the soil, S97

19. Agrilus Ruficollis 200

20. Draining by small pipes, 301

21. Preservation of fruits, 301

22. Some chemical points connected with the feeding of cattle, . . 303

23. Potato disease , 310

24. On the management of pigs, 313

25. Absorbent powers of different earths, 316

Contents.

V.

26. Operation of septon on plants and animals, 318

27 State of Pharmacy in Mexico, 326

28. Senna, 328

29. Preparation of hyposulphate of soda, 329

30. Duflos' method of purifying crude hydrochloric acid, 329

31. Conularia vernuelia, 330

32. The laurel and the plum, 331

33. Analysis oi mineral waters, 332

34. Addison county (Vermont) agricultural fair, 333

35. Notices of books, 335

36. Adulteration of iodine, 336

DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE.

Fig, 1. ^grilus ruficollis. -^ab.

" a. Naturallength.
Fig. 2. Hessian fly, male. (Cecidomyia destrttctor, t^ .)

" b. Its natural size.

" c. Ventral view of the terminal segments of its abdomen.

" d. Its antennae.
Fig. 3. Hessian fly, female. (C destructor, p.)

'* e. Its antennae.

" f. Profile view of the head, palpi, and origin of the antennae.

" g. Dorsal view of the worm or active larva.

" h. do do " flax seed," or larva case.

" i. Ventral view of the same.

" j. Lateral view of the same.

" k. Dorsal view of the lormant larva, dissected from the larva case.

" 1. Ventral view of the pupa.

" m. Wheat stalk; sheath broken away, showing the young worms on
their way to the joint.

" n and o. Wheat stalks; sheath broken away, showing the "flax
seeds " in their ordinary situation.

A. Appearance of a healthy, (*) and a diseased (t) shoot of wheat in au^

tumn, the worms lying at §.

B. Appearances of a healthy (**) and two diseased stalks of wheat at har-

vest time, (tt) Stalk broken, from being weakened by the
worms. §§ Base of sheath swollen from worms having laid
under it, and perforated by parasites coming from those worms.
All the illustrations are magnified, except m and those following it.

AMERICAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OF

AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE.

No. VII. JULY, 1846.

RUNNING NOTES, AGRICULTURAL AND GEOLOGI-
CAL, OF A TRIP TO CARBONDALE.

BY HENKY S. RANDALL, OF CORTLAND.

On the beautiful morning of the 8th of June, I turned my
horses' heads down the east bank of the Tioughnioga, " bound
for" Carbondale, — ninety miles distant.

The valley of the Tioughnioga grows narrower, as you ad-
vance south from Cortland Village, the hills more elevated, the
soil poorer. At Marathon, fourteen miles from Cortland, it again
widens into a handsome valley, and extends thus for several
miles.

A beautiful feature in this, as in many other valleys of the
grazing regions, is the profusion of shade trees, spared from the
axe. The " weeping elm," the finest solitary tree of our coun-
try, everywhere dots the landscape. The streams too, fringed
with dense belts of low willows, wuth now and then an opening
where the water sparkles and flashes through in the sun's light —
take away that impression of hot, scorching, monotonous arid-
ness, which so often oppresses us in traversing the fine wheat
lands of the western counties, where land is too often plowed,
and too valuable, to have trees spared merely for purposes of or-
nament or shade.

No. vn. ' 1

2 Running JYotes, Agricultural and [July,

The rocks of the Portage group extend to the southern borders
of the county. They are not rich in fossils, and there are few
good exposures of them on this road. Considerable masses of
" northern drift " lie here and there, and even high on the hill
sides, where the road occasionally winds up them, exhibiting
rounded pebbles and fine gravel, formed from the Onondaga and
other northern limestones, and the red Medina sandstone. The
latter is more prevalent, particularly in surface boulders. Boul-
ders of it, of Oriskany sandstone, and of granite, extend to the
Susquehannah — diminishing however in size and frequency south.
What and when were those stupendous dynamics in operation
which caused these phenomena? Under some of these drift -beds,
seven or eight miles from Cortland, a conglomerate is forming, the
different colored lime and sandstones being cemented into a firm
rock, which clinks under the hammer.

Two miles below Lisle, (and twent}'-three from Cortland,) the
road leaves the river — which here makes a detom* to the east —
and passes directly over the hills, through the towns of Barker
and Chenango to Binghamton. In Barker, I noticed several sep-
taria by the road side, probably from the local group — the Che-
mung— which commences at the borders of Cortland, and extends
(west of the Susquehannah,) into Pennsylvania. This group is
richer in fossils than the Portage. The soil of the last named
towns is thinnish, and well adapted only to grazing, until you
strike the banks of the Chenango, five or six miles from Bing-
hamton, where a broad and fertile plain spreads out before
you.

I was annoyed to see men furrowing out, preparatory to hoe-
ing, a noble field of thirty or forty acres of corn, near Bingham-
ton, with a flow ! Here let me remark, that from a point ten
miles south of Cortland Village to Carbondale, I saw but two cul-
tivators, and they looking as if they w^re manufactured in the
days of Tubal Cain, if not by that renowned " instructor of ar-
tificers in brass and iron " himself! The " school-master may be
abroad" in these regions, but the agricultural periodicals I fear
are not, — or at least, sufficiently so. The truth is, "lumbering"

1846.] Geological, of a Trip to Carbondale. 3

has rendered agriculture a secondary pursuit, until a period coii-
paratively recent, in the pine producing regions which border on
our navigable rivers.

Binghamton is a beautiful — nay, a superb village, of three
thousand inhabitants, situated on, and near the apex of, the angle
of land, between the Susquehannali and Chenango rivers, at thf
point of their confluence. Both are fine streams, the formei
somewhat the largest, measuring forty-five rods across at the
ferry, — though it does not quite average this width for any dis-
tance.

I looked at Binghamton with peculiar interest, as here, twenty
years ago,

" I was a happy boy at Driiiy's," —

or rather, under the private tuition of the Ilev. Mr. G , now

a chaplain in the United States army, — and I had not been there
since. I could scarcely find the spot where I once lived, all is so
changed! Stately blocks of commercial buildings have supersed-
ed the scattering residences and shops. The hamlet has grown
into an incipient city. Nothing remained to remind me of " lang
syne," but the hills and the rivers I And even these had chf?nged
somewhat from the picture painted on my youthful memory. Tne
blue outline of the hills tower' not so near the sky — the rivers
seem to flow in diminished channels, — so true is it, that not only
" tempora mmantur" but that " nos mutamur in illis I " But with-
out allowing any thing for that reversion of the telescope, by
which advancing years dwindle, what youth magnified, I looked
for an island off the point, which I have a thousand times trod,
and it was clean gone — swept away by the abrasion of the rapid
currents !

It is a most agreeable feature in Binghamton that the business
part of the town, all its stores, shops, &c., are compressed into a
single district, while its fine residences lay clustered about, in
spacious shady streets, uninvaded by the din of commerce. What
more odious than to see shops garnished in front with hams,
and fish-barrels, and clouds of blue bottle flies, — all redolent of
tar, and treacle, and rum, — thrust under the windows — under the

4 Runriing jYotes, Agricultural and [July?

very nose, as it were — of a beautiful mansion! There are more
elegant dwellings, with tasty shrubberies, gardens, and out grounds,
in Binghamton, than in almost any other village of its popula-
tion, in our state.

From Binghamton to Great Bend, sixteen miles, the road fol-
lows the banks of the Susquehannah, the valley averaging proba-
bly a little more than a mile in width. It is a pleasant and
highly fertile one. When older and cleared of its pine stumps,
it will be one of the finest agricultural regions in the southern
counties. Near Great Bend is a good exposure of the rocks of
the Chemung group, on the banks of the river. They took me
by surprise, as from geological maps, I had been led to expect
the " old red sandstone " there.

The Carbondale road leaves the Susquehannah at Great Bend,
and bears in a direction a little east of south. Near New Mil-
ford the beautiful sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia,) begins to
abound. It was in full blossom, — converting many a distant
barren steep, apparently into a garden of roses. At one place
the road passed the foot of a hill belted with a coppice of young-
hemlocks — when young, and especially at this period of the year,
when the dark green of each bough is tipped and contrasted with
the paler tints of the newly grown foliage of the present season,
the finest of our northern evergreens. Every interval of the cop-
pice was filled with laurels in full blossom, and they fringed its
outer margin, and extended quite to the road side. The efi'ect
was singularly unique and splendid.

Soon after passing New Milford the " old red sandstone " be-
gins to crop out in those vast tabular masses, which characterize
this group. On reaching the high land at Mott's tavern, and
commencing the descent of the creek, which leads off towards the
Tunkhannock mountain, these tabular masses increase, and lie
thickly scattered over the surface of most of the adjacent slopes.
They usually approach a regular quadrangular form, though some
are entirely irregular in shape, and others are rounded. They are
from five to twenty-five feet square superficially, and rise from one
to ten feet above the surface of the soil. It is singular that of those

1846.] Geological, of a trip to Carhondale. 6

near enough the road to have their stratification observ^able, it
was, in a large majority of cases, unconformable, — different de-
positions forming not unfrequently three or four angles in the
same rock! The old red sandstone does not vary widely in its
lithological characteristics, from the rocks of the Portage and
Chemung groups. The greater sterility of its soils, is due proba-
bly, partly to the thinning out of the northern drift, and partly to
elevation. All these rocks are deficient in the lime necessary to
a highly luxuriant vegetation, and particularly to the more valua-
ble grains. To the two first named groups, it is partially sup-
plied by the drift alluded to.

This group is remarkably destitute of fossils. For miles my
eye sought in vain, on the constantly exposed surfaces of the
rock, for the faintest trace of a cypricardite, or those fern-like
forms found in the quarries of Montrose, — or in fact, for any
fossil whatever.

The ascent and descent of the Tunkhannock mountain occupy
four miles. Its ragged declivities give frequent proof of stupen-
dous convulsions, in its masses of rock, broken and thrown to-
gether in the wildest possible confusion. On its northern decliv-
ity, I first noticed boulders of cornstone, — those accretionary
masses of slate and lime, stained externally to a dark umber color,
which gives them provincially the name of " nigger heads."
From the southern base of the mountain to near Carbondale, it
is comparatively level.

After traveling the " New Turnpike " a few miles, you com-
mence following Fall Brook down a mountain gorge, deeping as
you advance, cut out in the " old red sandstone." Finally from
the narrow chasm, the scene of many a former robbery and out-
rage, you descry, through the tree tops, the white masses of the
"conglomerate rock" capping the adjacent summits, and looking
like the battlements of ancient castles. So great is the dip of
the conglomerate, that the rapidly descending road soon enters
upon it, and its sides are strewed with vast blocks, resembling in
size and shape those of the red sandstone before described. One
magnificent slab nearly ten feet square, and over three feet thick,

6 Running JVotes, .figriculhtrcd and [July,

lay close upon the road, inclined at an angle of about 45°, the
surface stained, by some metallic oxide probably, to a warm tint
of yellowish brown — with pebbles of quartz of pure white, and
of palish tints of yellow and pink, scattered over it in a rich mo-
saic. What a monumental slab this for the tomb of a geologist !
I detached one of the pebbles, the largest, which weighed three
pounds and a half I A quarry hard by, exhibits the rock, ranging
from a coarse sandstone to a conglomerate, the thickly imbedded
pebbles in which are of the size of bird's eggs. I picked up
several fragments drused or crusted over on one side with deli-
cate quartz crystals.

A little further on, and not four rods from the road, from which
it is hidden by laurels and evergreens, Fall Brook plunges down
eighty feet, in a chasm in the conglomerate. When the stream
is swelled by rains, the cascade must present a wild and pic-
turesque appearance.

Still passing rapidly down, — at the northern extremity of a
trough-like valley between two spurs of the Alleghany mountains,
you perceive in the centre, a village with streets and painted
buildings; — innumerable small unpainted buildings scattered, seem-
ingly promiscuously, on the adjacent slopes, amid stumps and fallen
trees; — a black rail road viaduct in the foreground high above
your head, one end resting on a declivity of the ]\[oosiac moun-
tain, the other terminating at a range of sheds and buildings
which the piled up masses of coal &c., proclaim to be the fixtures
of a colliery. Such is a coup d'ml view of Carbondale, entered
from the north.

The village contains 5000 inhabitants. Thirty stores, most of
them doing a good business, attest the amount of its trade, to say
nothing about the operations of the " Delaware and Hudson
Canal Company," who own and vfork the mines. Carbondale is,
in every point of view, a singular place. Less has been done in
it for ornament of every kind, than in any other village of even
half its size, I was ever in. It does not contain one elegant
building public or private! A lounger or a fop is not to be found
within its precincts. Every foot strides rapidly. At the hotel

IS 46.] Geological, of a trip to Carbondale. 7

where I lodged — one of the two principal ones of the place —
dinner was ordinarily dispatched in fifteen minutes! Activity
and industry are the exclusive order of the day!

The soil about Carbondale and in the adjacent country is poor,
and is considered poorer where the coal underlies it than else-
where. Bread stuffs are received principally from the Wyoming
\'alley, and salted beef, pork, &c., from the southern counties of
New York. The w^ater is good, and it is somewhat singular that
it is abundant, and gushes forth in copious springs, where the
coal has been excavated from beneath, though vegetation, under
the same circumstances, becomes obviously feebler.

The stratification of the coal basin is nearly as follows, in the
descending order, commencing at the highest summits which the
coal underlies.

Feet. Inches.

Earth, loose stones &c. on surface from — Ito 300

Clay slate, unknown thickness. - -

Coal, 7

Sandstone, — 80

Coal of an inferior quality, 5

Sandstone and slate alternating and passing into each

other, 20

Roof coal, of an inferior quality, 1 3

Coal, 8

Coal and slate intermixed, - 3

Coal, 5

Slate, 4

Coal, 1 2

Clay slate, say - 20

Conglomerate, -

The eight foot seam is the one which has been principally
worked, — though some excavations have been made in the five
foot one below.

Fourteen main galleries or " headings " penetrate the coal
strata, with a general parallelism, in a horizontal direction; and
the longest extends 1| miles under ground. They are designed

8 Running JVotes, Agricultural and [July,

to average ten feet in width, and they vary from five to eight or
nine feet in height. A wall twelve feet in thickness of solid
coal, with the exception of the openings about once in fifty feet
into the " chambers," is left on each side of the galleries, to ren-
der them secure from a fall of the superincumbent strata. At
right angles to these, are the chambers, fifty feet wide, and ex-
tending to the side walls of the next gallery, usually about five
hundred feet. These are also supported by columns of coal, at
suitable distances, twelve by fifteen feet in diameter; and wood-
en props formed of the trunks of iiees from a foot to eighteen
inches in diameter, are set up thickly between them. The entire
galleries are traversed with rail roads, with a twenty inch track,
for hauling out the coal, and each chamber has a lateral road.
There are twenty miles of rail road in the mines!

There are now one hundred and thirty-one chambers. Four
men work in each chamber, two "miners" who are contractors,
and two laborers employed by them. All the coal is excavated
by contract, at so much per ton. It is delivered by the miners at
the mouth of their chambers. The coal trucks are then hauled
out by horses or mules, weighed, "dumped" into larger cars,
and started for the Hudson river. A miner earns at the present
prices of coal, (by which the Company regulate the price of ex-
cavation,) from $1.37^- to $'1.50 per diem, and the laborers now
average about $ 1.06 per diem. The payments of the Company
are never one day behind hand. About six hundred men are
employed in the mines — fifteen hundred tons of coal daily exca-
vated and sent off — and the work continues ten months of the
year.

I have omitted to mention that the mines are drained of the
water constantly percolating into them from springs, &c., by twelve
pumps, of eight feet str'oke, and most of them with a twelve inch
bore or tube,, worked by four fourteen feet wheels, turned by a
canal from the Lackawana creek.

Those who labor in the mines are usually hale, hearty, well fed
looking men. The occupation is not considered an unhealthy
one. Fire damp or carburetted hydrogen never occurs in these

1846.] Geological, of a trip to Carbondale. 9

mines. Carbonic acid is constantly generated, but owing to ven-
tilators tunneled down into the galleries from above, and the draft
of air thus produced, it rarely accumulates to a dangerous extent in
the galleries which are worked. Accidents, considering the number
of men employed, are ordinarily rare, — not perhaps more frequent,
than they would be among the same number at work in a stone
quarry.

Few children, I was most happy to learn, are employed in the
mines, and ordinarily only as drivers. There are many schools
in the village, and the miners and laborers, I was informed on
reliable authority, very generally keep their children at them, as
much as is common among the people of our country, I asked a
muier, a fine manly appearing Welshman by the name of Maxy,
if the children of the extremely indigent, orphans, etc., were per-
mitted to attend to schools. " To be sure they are — do you think
we would see it otherwise?" — was the decisive reply.

The miners and laborers are almost exclusively foreigners, prin-
cipally Irish and Welsh. Among this heterogenous population
it would be expected, perhaps, that immorality and disorder would
prevail. Such is not the fact, apparently, to a greater extent than
in any of our manufacturing towns of the same size. I did not
see a drunken man in Carbondale. I strolled round among the
laborers' huts at twilight, and some were working in their gar-
dens, some quietly smoking their pipes in their doors, rarely more
than two or three congregated in a place, and I heard not a loud
or angry or improper w^ord — nothing like strife or confusion during
my stay.

Much of this, as well as those systematic arrangements in and
about the mines which render the Delaware and Hudson company
one of the most successful in the United States, is due the officers
of the company. A more thoroughly able, practical, and energetic
set of men can not be found. Fill these offices with pampered
sons of stockholders — hungry nephews and needy cousins, and a
few months would i^itroduce disorders of every kind — and the
company would divide no more eight per cent semi-annual divi-
dends !

10 Running Azotes, Agricultural and P^ily'

The general superintendent of the company in Carbondale, its
financier, &c., is James Archibald, Esq., who is de facto, by com-
mon consent, mayor, common council, and police of Carbondale!
The vigor and sagacity of this man — the perfect confidence which
all entertain of his strict justice and extraordinary ability, give
him an unbounded influence — and it is an influence, if the public
voice may be credited, wielded only for good. James Clarkson
Esq., superintendent of the mines is emphatically of the same
practical vigorous stamp — a man oi great strong muscles oi mind
and body! The assistant superintendents are Alexander Bryden,
Mr. Hossie, and Mr. Harris. All the oflricers are Scotchmen, ex-
cept the last named, who is a Welshman. Hossie is the indivi-
dual who was so long imprisoned in the mine at the time of the
great " fall," a few months since, and the narrative of whose perils
and final escape, seems more like the creations of a disturbed dream
than sober verities. Alexander Bryden it was who performed
such prodigies of heroism in rescuing the men shut in at the same
time. As few seem to have any very distinct impression of the
nature of the accident, or of the character of this most daring
achievement, I will repeat some of the principal incidents as I
learned them from the mouths of Mr. Bryden himself, Mr. Clark-
son and Mr. Hossie.

A point in the mines had begun to " work," in miners' phrase,
that is, to crack and give indications of an approaching " fall,"
some days prior to the catastrophe. But it ultimately came sooner
and extended over a much large space, than was anticipated.
Bryden was at the pump house, and observing an unusual com-
motion at the mouth of the mines, proceeded to ascertain the cause
of it. Men " whispered with white lips" of some terrible disaster,
but no one could give him any intelligible account of it. He en-
tered one of the galleries, and soon met three men who informed
him that a portion of the mines had fallen in, and that they had
left behind sixteen or eighteen men, who were already crushed, or
shut out forever from the light of day. They besought him to re-
tire, as there was no hope or possibility of rescuing their com-
rades. The gallant Scotchman hesitated not one instant. He

1846.] Geological, of a trip to Carbonihlc. 11

fiew along the passages, tlie roar and crash of the splitting and
grinding rocks every moment sounding louder and nearer in his
ears. He reached the verge of the " fall." The superincumbent
mountain was heaving and rending, as if an earthquake were
tearing its rocky strata. Vast masses of slate were detaching
themselves, and falling into the passages, with reports like the
loudest thunder. Into these choked passages, amid the falling
rocks, the noble hearted Scotchman rushed on. The passage is
entirely closed — no — the huge slabs have fallen so as to leave a
narrow opening in the angle formed by the floor and one of the
sides of the gallery. On his hands and knees he creeps on. Now
the opening has diminished so that he absolutely forces his way
along with his hands and feet lying nearly prostrate on his face I

About a mile from the mouth of the mine, he found the eighteen
men, in a gallery or heading where there was solid coal all about
them, and oh joy of joys! his own son was among them! The
boy had already manifested something of the stern resolve of the
sire. One of the three fugitives who had escaped, and whom
those left in the mine supposed had perished, had proposed to at-
tempt to take out a horse with him, which was also in the gal-
lery where the men were congregated. " Leave him," said the
boy — " we shall have need of him." He was already coolly
looking death by starvation in the face!

Bryden was on the point of leading out the men, when he
learned that another lay wounded in a chamber four or five hun-
dred feet off, in the most dangerous part of the " fall." Was it
his brother — was it his bosom friend — was it a wealthy or influen-
tial man, who might advance his rescuer's interests, who lay
there helpless, to die a miserable death? He was a common la-
borer— a poor Irishman. Bryden had satisfied, nay more than
satisfied the calls of duty and humanity. If the love of praise had
stimulated him, (which it had 7iot,) he had earned enough. If
the father had felt a premonition that he might be struggling for
his child, that child was found. The man was badly M^ounded,
and might only be carried out to die. Was he not bound now to
take heed for his own safety — to lead and guard his own reco-

12 Running JVotes, Agricultural and [July,

vered son back through the perilous path? Not thus did that
great heart commune with itself. With a word of indignant cen-
sure to the men for not bearing their wounded comrade with them-
selves to the gallery where he found them, he pointed out their
path, bade them escape, and then turning back, entered a path
more perilous and difficult than his preceding one. He nears the
chamber. A cry from the wounded and prostrate man, who
descried his advancing light, brings him to his side. Mangled
and helpless he could not stand, and shrieked with pain as he was
lifted up. When placed on Bryden's back, he had not even
strength to hold himself on. The former placing the flaccid arms
of the w^ounded man around his neck, and crossing them on his
breast, grasped them with one hand, his miner's lamp with the
other, and thus commenced retracing his steps! For rods he bore
him on his hands and knees! When the rocks were too low even
for this, and could not be clambered over, he partially dragged
him, and the man who was now somewhat revived, partially as-
sisted himself! Thus through perils which no man can appre-
ciate, who has not strode through those gloomy caverns, he bore
him a full mile — bore him to the light of day and to safety! —
What is the bravery of the warrior, excited by the hope of glory,

" the neighing steed and the shrill trump,

The spirit stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,

The royal banner; and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war."

to the disinterested heroism of this act! The Romans awarded a
civic crown, the highest military reward, to him who saved the
life of a citizen. He who bore it took his seat next the Senators
in the theatre, and these haughty waniors and sages rose up, and
the assembled people of Rome rose up, to honor him, as he en-
tered. Shall no testimonial perpetuate the memory of an act by
which the lives of eighteen American citizens were saved from
peril more imminent than that of the battle field, or any of those
ordinary casualties, where man risks his life for his fellow man?*

* The stateliest ballad in any language — Schiller's Diver — was written in
commemoration of an act, which, should we concede that its commission re-

1S46.] Geological, of a trip to Carhondale. 13

Alexander Bryden is about forty-five years of age. His form
though well knit and sinewy, betokens no extraordinary physical
power. A placid gray eye, a well arched nose, curling locks of
light brown escaping under his Scotch cap — intonations of voice
modulated to " more than woman's mildness" — a reserved, modest,
and entirely unassuming demeanor, are external traits which would
strike any observer; and perhaps few would see, under this un-
pretending exterior, the man who could do and dare what he has
done and dared. But there is a firmness in those gentle tones,
a deep earnestness and truthfulness — a quiet but unwavering de-
cision— an utter merging of self — a gushing tenderness of feeling,
which pervade the whole man, which would lead the deeper ana-
lyst of character to expect the legitimate manifestations of these
united traits. A high sense of duty and overflowing humanity, it
was, and was alone, which prompted his heart and his hand in
that dreadful hour.

Bryden, I need not say, is an intelligent, reading man. A mile
from the light of day, on the edge of the " fall," we talked of and
quoted Burns, — (eight miles from w^hose birth place, and in the
same county — Ayrshire — Bryden was born;) and with the gigan-
tic vegetation of pre- Adamite ages over our heads, he and Clark-
son and I discussed the theories of Buckland and Lyell, and the
" Vestiges of Creation."

The escape of Hossie, who was for two days and two nights
shut in the mines, without food or light, has already been pretty
fully and accurately recounted to the public. He is a plain, plea-
sant appearing young man — of from thirty to thirty-five years of
age — filled to the full, as the facts accompanying his escape am-
ply prove, with Scottish nerve and Scottish forecaste. The most
determined efforts were made to save him ; but while Clarkson
and Bryden and many a bold heart sought him in danger, he had
escaped to a place of comparative safety in the unbroken cham-
bers of the mines. For two hours he w^as buried to his middle,
by a mass of rubbish which caught him in one the passages he

quired an equal amount of bravery — mere animal courage — was instigated
by motives, mean compared with those which led to the one I have described.

14 Hunning Motes, Agricultural and \S\x\j,

was digging through! Another convulsion lifted up the mass, and
relieved him! I alluded to the terrifying circumstances in which
he was placed. He said that he felt no fear until he emerged
from the mouth of the mine and was in safety, — " then he did
have, and has often since had, a feeling of dread creep over him,
in thinking of them." He represents the reports when the rocky
strata above the mine split and gave way, as absolutely deafen-
ing— louder than the loudest thunder.

Eight dead bodies were taken out, and six — five men with
families, and one the only son of a widow — were left in. The Com-
pany expended large sums in attempting to rescue them, and
finally to recover their bodies — made every effort that propriety
or humanity could dictate — and gave not over the search until the
nearest relatives of the deceased surrendered all hope of discover-
ing them. And what recks it, that they sleep where their " life-
ache" ended? Is not a m.ountain as good a monument as a hil-
lock in the graveyard!

The " fall" extended over about forty acres, and strange as it
may seem, though there is only from one to two hundred feet of
earth, rocks, &c. above, (I here speak from recollection, having
made no minute of the fact on the spot,) there are no external
traces of it, excepting at one edge. The fallen chambers being
mostly exhausted of coal, will, of course, never be re-excavated.
In fact, all the old chambers, as the wooden props rot away, gra-
dually fill up with the falling masses of slate.

It was arranged that I should explore the mines, with a guide,
on the 10th, but Mr. Clarkson, with a courtesy I had no right to
expect, signifying to me that if I would defer my visit until the
morrow, he would himself accompany me, and " give me a day,"
I occupied the intermediate time in outside researches, and also in
visiting two other mines of the company a short distance from
Carbondale. With Doct. S. and Bryden I mounted a returning
coal-truck, drawn by a horse, and started for the " Powderly" mine,
two miles off. The I'ailroad passes a long viaduct on its route,
-supported on wooden props seventy feet in height. It seems to
me now, that the surface width did not exceed five feet. On it

1846.] Geological, of a trip to Carbondale. 15

we dashed with our reinless horse, the driver occasionally crack-
ing his whip " calm as a summer morning!" A keen young physi-
cian not long since, called upon to examine a fractured leg, in the
very essence of professional abstraction, dashed across this dizzy
bridge on a horse which had never before been on it! Near the
mine Doct. S. called my attention to a sharp rattle, which I at
once recognized as the angry warning of a rattlesnake — not dis-
tant probably fifteen feet from the railroad track! They are fre-
quent in the surrounding crags. Thus closely in our boutez en
avant country, does civilization — commercial enterprise, tread on
the kibes of savage life! The iron road and the rushino- car invade
the domain of the rattlesnake!

I went through portions of the Powderly mine, with my com-
panions, and for the first time saw the process of excavating coal^
With a light, straight, sharp steel pick-axe, and a rapid sidelong
stroke, the coal is detached — commencing at the bottom and work-
ing under and towards the roof Excavations are often made
several feet under at the bottom, so low that the miner lies flat on
his side, partly hidden by the overhanging coal, and in this posi-
tion plies his pick! The coal is then blasted with powder above,
and large masses are thrown down. Blasts took place within fifty
feet of us, in each of which a pound or more of powder was ex-
ploded, enveloping us in sulphureous smoke. The report and con-
cussion are but faint in those hollow subterranean caverns. Each
man, while at work, carries his light, a small tin oil lamp, with
a large wick, attached by a wire hook to the front part of his hat.

From Powderly, we walked back to the Calamite mine, (as
Mr. Clarkson has agreed it shall be christened, instead of bearing
the unmeaning designation of New Shaft,) a mile nearer Carbon-
dale, and a little off the road over which we had passed. This
is chiefly remarkable as the locality of those calamites — the finest
in the United States — which are brought from Carbondale. A
ditch was dug through a bed of shale or sandstone, (it has es-
caped my memory which,) which disclosed an innumerable num-
ber of these fossil plants, in an uncompressed state, of all sizes
from the diameter of an inch up nearly to that of a foot, exhibiting

16 Running JVotes, Agricultural and [July,

the joints and striations of this peculiar family in the most perfect
manner. In the interior of these, nodules of argillaceous iron ore
not unfrequently occur, of the size of a man's fist. Though vast
quantities of these calamites have been taken away, cart loads of
them still remain. In the mouth of the mine, over the ditch, they
still stand thickly in the shale of its sides, extending in some cases
from the roof to the floor, and all of them vertical, or nearly ver-
tical in position. When submerged, they evidently were grow-
ing on their native bed ; and they could not have been acted upon
by strong currents of any kind, when imbedded in the muddy de-
position.

On the morning of the 11th, accompanied by JVIr. Clarkson,
Mr. Bryden, and an assistant,* I entered the deserted gallery No.
3, to explore the main mines. We penetrated a mile, — searching
a multitude of deserted chambers, for choice specimens of the
gorgeous fossil Flora of the coal beds — Sigillaria, Stigmaria,
Favularia, Filices, &c., &c. In the galleries, a part of the time,
we could walk erect, but when we diverged from these, we scram-
bled, now over broken masses of slate fallen from the roof, and
now over heaps of refuse coal — often crawling on our hands and
knees — and once or twice I was fain to drag my 7iot attenuate
person, through narrow outlets and openings, by grovelling a-la-
mode serpent ! The corners of the slate, and the smooth sharp
edges of the broken coal were any thing but an anti-fraxinal
application to skin or clothing! A beautiful white fungus, re-
sembling the finest down, sometimes in the form of stalactites,
sometimes in festoons, hung dankly from the rapidly decaying
props and other wood employed in the mines. Striking a prop
occasionally with my hammer, I found most of them in an ad-
vanced state of decay. Broken ones lay here and there. When
they give way, the roof of slate, as has been before remarked,
piece by piece gradually falls in. We nought a specimen of
Sigillaria, seen a few weeks previously by Mr. Clarkson. It was
buried under tons of slate !

• Robert Eaton — whom I here name for the convenience of others, he be-
ing the only individual I know of in Carbondale, who is in the habit of col-
lecting fossils on orders from abroad.

1846.] Geological, of a trip to Carbondale. 17

I expressed a wish to witness some of the coiuusion wrought by
the great " fall," and Mr. Bryden immediately offered to accom-
pany me. Leaving Mr. Clarkson and assistant procuring speci-
mens, we threaded some choked and mouldy passages, and at length
stopped by a rough barrier of rocks — the verge of the " fall," we
stood a few hundred feet from the scene of Hossie's imprisonment,
and the graves of those who perished. Gigantic masses of slate
lay piled in wild confusion, and the glare of our lamps shot up fre-
(juently into vast and rag2;ed cavities above, from whence the rocks
had fallen, and in which semi-detached masses of enormous
weight yet hung suspended as if by a thread. The surrounding
props, many of them, were crushed and broken. Some of them
weie snapped short off, though they were green and tough at the
time of the catastrophe; — others were splintered and riven
"As the whirlwind rends the ash."

The day was sultry and close, and no air stirring. This, with
the deticient means of ventilation in the deserted chambers, since
the " fall," caused an unusual accumulation of carbonic acid.
Our lights burned dim repeatedly, and held close to the floor,
would probably have been extinguished. Once they were on the
point of going out. " Never mind," said Bryden, " there will be
time to save ourselves from the effects of the gas, and I can pilot
you out in the darkness!" Rejoining our companions, we, after
an exploration of five hours, debouched from the mines at gallery
No. 5, under the bed of the Lackawana creek.

After dinner, we entered No. 2, still more desolate and decayed
than the galleries previously visited. The props were more rot-
ten, the rail way itself falling in pieces. The drainage had
become choked, and we frequently waded in water over ancle
deep.

Immense sigillaria were every where visible. I measured one
on the roof of the gallery, which was three feet and a half in di-
ameter, and it extended unbroken for thirty or forty feet. One
has been exposed, of similar dimensions, for more than one hun-
dred feet, both extremities still passing under the slate! In the

No. VII. 2

18 Running JS'otes, JJgricultural and [July,

whole of this distance it tapered, I believe, but two or three
inches — indicating a prodigious altitude. No branches have ever
been found, going to show that the trunk was covered with leaves
alone. Not one of these, though their insertions are every where
visible on the fluted stems, escaped decomposition. Traces of
the long leaves of the stigmaria are frequently preserved, and
the Ferns seem absolutely to flourish in all the variety and per-
fection of existing species. Even the impress of their peculiar
flowers are frequently and distinctly visible. But it would require
too much space to attempt even an enumeration of the coal
plants.

A wagon load of fossils can be secured in an hour, but to ob-
tain any thing like a full suite of good specimens, is a work of
time and labor. An individual might search weeks or months to
effect it. The miners work only to the roof, and consequently
have not those facilities for obtaining and laying aside fossils, or-
dinarily supposed. They are best found in the deserted and fall-
ing chambers.. Some varieties are plentiful — others exceedingly
rare — and others are only occasionally stumbled on by accident.
Four of us — three as conversant with their mines and the loca-
lity of their fossils, as any men in Carbondale — searching a
whole day, secured some good specimens. But these added to a
stock which one of the company (Eaton) had been collecting for
me for some time previously, furnished but a small portion, and
not one-half of the varieties, of the collection which it was my
good fortune to secure. For the balance, I was mainly indebted
to Mr. Clarkson, whose collection far exceeds in extent and variety
any other in Carbondale.

A public museum should be established by the young men
of the place, comprising a full suite of perfect and massive spe-
cimens, for the inspection of travellers and men of science from
all parts of the world.

After an exploration, similar to that of the forenoon, of sev-
eral hours, I emerged, and bade good bye to the mines. The
next day I spent in carefully packing a ton of fossils, and on the
15th, commenced my homeward journey. I soon obtained a new

1846.J Geological, of a trip to Carbondale. 19

and noble view, but I paid rather dearly for it. At a fork in the
road, where I had scanned the geology better than the topography
of the place, on my previous passage, I was confused, enquired
the road, was miss-directed by a young miss standing by a cabin
at the junction of the roads, in consequence of which miss-state-
ment I took the Dundaff instead of the New Turnpike, and had
the " immense satisfaction " of climbing over a series of sharp
conical peaks for thirteen or fourteen miles, — decidedly the
hardest road for a loaded team I ever passed over! I compensat-
ed myself as well as I could with the commanding view from the
banks of Crystal Lake, a pretty little sheet of water a mile long,
on the very summit of one of the Moosiac Mountains. At its
northern extremity, a little way off from Dundaff, the eye sweeps
over a circular area, the chord of which is not probably less than
thirty miles. Ridge stretches off beyond ridge until their blue
outlines blend with and are lost in the tints of the sky. On the
other side of a deep valley, Elk Mountain lifts his solitary peak
in the north-east, high towering over the surrounding summits,
in all this region of Pennsylvania, he

" is the monarch of mountains,

They crowned him long ago."

Both going and returning, I made enquiries, particularly on the
rivers, for traces of the Iroquois tribes who once inhabited them,
such as forts, implements of war and peace, amulets, ornaments,
&c. I could find or hear of nothing which would add any thing
to the archaeological information, communicated to our legislature
last winter by Mr. Schoolcraft in his admirable report, transmit-
ting the " census of the Iroquois." Hatchets and arrow-heads
are frequently picked up on Tioughnioga, the Chenango, and the
Susquehannah, and these are nearly all that remains to show the
present inhabitants that they are not the original occupants of the
soil. Indeed, most of them seem already to have forgotten that
on their hills, and on their valleys, and on their waters, those

fierce predatory tribes once lived, hunted, fought, adored and

perished.

Cortland Village, June 20th, 1846.

20 Icebergs of the Ant-Arctic Sea. [July,

ON THE ICEBERGS OF THE ATsT-ARCTIC SEA.

BY JAMES EIGHTS.

To the voyager, whose adventurous inclination has conducted
to almost every clime and distant shore, to which the ocean rolls
its wave, there is perhaps no scene in all his wide wanderings,
that so powerfully arrests his attention, and calls forth those feel-
ings of admiration in so sublime a degree as that produced by his
earliest prospect of the polar seas. In approaching these dreary
and uninhabitable regions, the chilling influences of the land are
sensibly felt, long ere it becomes visible; but when the curtain of
mist that enshrouds its glories, discloses the sublime spectacle, all
the feebler sensations of the mind are at once lost in the all-ab-
sorbing sentiment of delight which pervades his breast.

The vast masses of snow and ice that lie piled over the uneven
superficies of the land, and the numerous icebergs that drift through
the Southern ocean, and are every where strewed along its sur-
face, are, in a peculiar manner, adapted to create feelings of awe
and admiration in the bosom of the beholder, not alone from the
majesty of the size, but likewise, by the variety of the forms and
everchanging hues that they assume, throughout the different
hours of the long-continued light in these high latitudes.

From the shapeless mass of comparatively small dimensions, to
that of some miles in extent, these icebergs are not unfrequently
seen, elevated to the height of between two and three hundred
feet above the ocean's level; they are then swept along with an
inconceivable grandeur, borne by the powerful currents, and aid-
ed by the almost ceaseless winds, they move steadily onward un-
til they finally become dissolved, and entirely disappear, in the
warmer regions much farther to the north. ~

It is almost impossible to conceive anything more delicately
beautiful than the effect produced by these icebergs, when the
sky is free from clouds, and the ocean is at rest; it is then there
can be traced, among the numerous angles and indentations by

1846.] Iceherga of the Ant-Arctic Sea. 21

which they are impressed, all those mingling gradations of color,
from the faintest tinge of emerald green to that of the most in-
tense shades of blue; and when the sky is filled with clouds —
which is most generally the case — the scene, though equally
as picturesque, exhibits a much severer aspect; these clouds be-
ing all over torn into rough and irregular patches, by the power-
ful winds that here prevail; w^hile the sun, having but a moderate
altitude, and almost encircling the heavens but a few degrees
above the horizon, pierce with its rays the numerous openings
between, and light up both cloud and ice, into a most magnifi-
cent glow. These changing hues are again brought to the eye
of the spectator, in mild and beautiful reflections, so that, through-
out the hours of the long summer day, the entire scene presents
the ever-varying aspect of a most gorgeous sunset.

But when seen amid the turbulence of cloud and storm, the
scene becomes sternly sublime. The dense masses of heavy va-
por that deadens the entire face of the heavens, and roll rapidly
along its surface, together with the dashing of the wnld waves
against the icebergs' slippery sides, sometimes sending the spray
far beyond their lottiesi tops, where, soon becoming dissipated in
clouds of silvery mist, it gradually descends and envelopes the
distant view as with a soft transparent veil of light. But it is
only when, under these circumstances, these masses of ice are
seen through the gloomy twilight of the midnight hours, that
they assume a strangely terrific aspect; their huge forms then
loom in the hazy atmosphere that surrounds them, and fall upon
the vision shadowy and indistinct, like fragmentary spectres of a
disruptured world.

These icebergs at all times derive their origin from the land;
being merely detached fragments from the huge glaciers which
every where fill the numerous valleys, and cover the hills from the
water's edge upw^ard, until they attain their greatest eminence.
These glaciers are all formed from the accumulating snows of
ages, this being almost the only form that moisture ever assumes
in falling in these elevated regions; scarcely a day occurred while
we were in the vicinity of these southern lands — even though at

22 Icebergs of the Ant Arctic Sea. [July,

mid-summer — that snows did not descend, and water congeal into
ice upon our decks.

The powerful winds which prevail in these high latitudes, act-
ing with their usual energy upon such portions of the land as are
freely exposed to their sweeping influence, have a direct tendency
in the first instance, to drift up and fill the valleys and other de-
pressions with snow, until they become almost even with the
adjoining hills; it is then, by the pressure of the enormous
weight, that it is speedily condensed into solid ice. During this
process it is, that those numerous shrinkage fissures are also pro-
duced, that are to be seen traversing the glaciers in almost every
possible direction.

In passing along the surfaces of these glaciers, the journey oft-
times becomes one of extreme peril to the incautious traveller,
from the circumstance that the fissures are not unfrequently crust-
ed over by a thin and fragile covering of snow, which readily
yields to his footstep, and suddenly precipitates him some hun-
dreds of feet below.* It is in this manner that animals some-
times perish, and when at length discovered, firmly imbeded in
the drifting ice, give rise to no small degree of surprise and va-
ried speculation.

The carcasses of penguins and seals, which in the greatest pro-
fusion inhabit the southern lands, were, in several instances, ob-
served in such positions; and it is in this way that the remains of
animals are frequently conveyed to distant shores, and deposited
in climes in every way uncongenial to their species.

From the constantly increasing w'eight of accumulating snows
above, these glaciers are silently and almost imperceptibly en-
croaching on the sea, so as, in many places, to project far over
its foaming waves. Sometimes they are seen gradually to ap-
proach from opposite directions, and eventually to bridge over
some of the narrower straits that in various places divide the
land ; in most instances, however, they are observed to encompass

• This, but to an unimportant depth, occurred to one of the officers of our
ship, and it was only after a considerable time had elapsed, and some exer-
tion on our part, that he was ultimately relieved.

1846.] Icebergs- of the Jnt- Arctic Sea. 23

the land by a series of precipitous cliffs, which have an extent
for miles together, presenting a naked wall or barrier of ice to
the sea. Huge masses of these, particularly during the season of
summer, are continually breaking off with an astounding report,
and after falling into the waves beneath are carried onward, and
constitute the vast icebergs of the Southern ocean.

These icebergs, when first detached from the land, are of a
rudely tabular form, but by the continued action of the oceanic
waters about their bases, penetrating into their fissures, and wear-
ing them away in such a manner as to destroy their equilibrium,
they suddenly topple over, and then exhibit all those strange and
imitative forms which have so often been described in most p;1ow-
ing terms, by the many voyagers whose good or evil fortunes
have hitherto led within their influence.

Embraced within these drifting icebergs, rocky fragments, va-
rying greatly in size, are not unusually to be seen, sometimes
rounded into the boulder form, but for the most part angular, and
so arranged as to present a dark striped, or partially stratified ap-
pearance, strikingly visible from the contrast of their darker
hues, with those of the lighter tints of the ice in which they are
inclasped. The origin of these last is extremely obvious, and
admit of a simple explanation. - In many places, isolated masses
of the rock that constitute the land, are observed to penetrate and
protrude far above the general level of the surrounding snows;
portions of these are almost continually falling, from the expan-
sive power of the congealing water among their fissures: these
fragments are thrown upon the indurated surface of the snows,
and are then slidden to some considerable distance from whence
they were derived; upon these the falling snows soon accumulate
to a sufficient depth to retain them in their places, until they be-
come firmly embraced within the mass. When portions of these
glaciers are detached, and tumble into the sea, icebergs bearing
rocky fragments are then produced. These fragments, like the
animal remains, are frequently borne along, and deposited in re-
gions far remote from the parent rock, from whence they were
detached.

24 Jlge of Forest Trees. [-^uly,

The largest drifting iceberg that we saw, during a period of
three months in their vicinity, was estimated at about two miles
in extent, and elevated between two and three hundred feet in the
air. Should we take into consideration the specific gravity of
ice, which allows about eight parts beneath, to one above the sea,
we will be able to form some conception of the vast magnitude
of these floating mountains. One of these larger ones was seen
drifting along at the rate of two and a half knots an hour, at
which speed, on approaching Cornwallis island — one of the South
Shetland group — it suddenly became arrested in its course, the
anterior portion grounding, and remaining attached, while that
which followed, submitting to the powerful impulse of the cur-
rent, was swept around, describing a complete semicircle ere it
again became free. Should this part of the ocean's bottom, at
any future time, be elevated into dry land by the active energies
so peculiar to volcanic regions, the impressions made by this ice-
berg would furnish to the world a highly interesting subject for
geological speculation. When agitated by the waves, these
mountains of ice are frequently rent assunder with terrific explo-
sion, scattering their fragments far and wide over the surrounding
surface of the deep. In fine weather too, they are not unusually
s?en covered with penguins, whose chattering noise is often heard
at an incredible distance over the silent sea.

AGE OF FOREST TREES.

BY S. B. BUCKLEY.

The age of our forest trees is not as great as we had supposed.
We thought that some of them had weathered the storms of at
least four or five hundred years, because here in America many
of the giants of the forest have remained undisturbed, nor can it
be truly said that our oldest trees have been destroyed by human
agency. We have very few trees that are three hundred years
old. We have lately taken considerable pains to asceitain the
ages of many in this vicinity, embracing many of the largest forest

1S46.] Jge of Forest Trees. 25

trees. The age was ascertained by counting the rings in a sturnp
of a tree lately cut clown, and the diameter of the upper surface of
the stump measured, and the results are given in the following

table:

Years old. Feet. Inches.

Bass wood, (Tilia glabra,) 66 - 1 9

Black oak, (Quercus tinctoria,) 200 2 4

White oak, (Quercus alba,) 224 2 7

" " 225 " "

Black oak, (Quercus tinctoria,) 190 2 0

Elm, (Ulmus Americana,) 215 2 4

White oak, (Quercus alba,) 230 3 0

" " (large roots,) 206(rich soil)3 1

Swamp oak, (Quercus bicolor,) 45 1 10

Shag-bark hickory, (Gary a alba) 180 1 11

White Pine, (Pinus strobus,) 183 2 8

Maple, (Acer saccharinum,) 125 2 6

130 2 4

Elm, (Ulmus Americana,) 248 4 0

The above is a fair sample of the growth of timber in this
region, embracing some of the largest trees. We do not wish to
be understood that there are no larger trees in this county, be-
cause there are without doubt some few, which we remember to
have seen, but they are very scarce. Many of the large white
oaks in this section have already begun to decay and die, to speak
comparatively, evidently having passed the prime of life and now
being in their extreme old age. On visiting a piece of ground
while it was being cleared of its wood, we found many of the
white oaks decayed and hollow to the distance of from five to ten
feet from the roots, at the same time the extremities of their upper
branches were dead. We have invariably remarked that the
largest growth on any one side of a tree from the heart wood was
always on the side which had the largest and most numerous
roots. On counting the age of an elm lately cut down we found
that the diameter from the heart wood to the bark on the south

I

26 Jige of Forest Trees. [July.

side was much less by nearly one-half than that of any other side
of the tree, but we soon discovered the cause of this — a brook
had encroached on the south side, washihg away the soil and
exposing the roots to within about two feet of the trunk of the
tree. Does not this seem to prove that trees derive a large por-
tion of their substance from the soil? However, we are aware
that it might be asserted that the greater growth on any one side
had caused the larger roots.

It will be seen that we cannot boast of any very ancient trees,
like the cedars of Lebanon, which are said to be 2000 years old.
According to Adanson, some of the famous Baobab trees in Africa
are 5150 years old, and Decandolle supposes that the cypress trees
of Chapultepec, in Mexico, are still older. In the language of
another, " It would seem that after a certain age, all trees decrease
in their rapidity of growth, a fact of some importance to be
known to planters; the oak, for instance, between its fortieth and
sixtieth years; the elm, after its fiftieth year; the spruce after its
fortieth. Of this rate of growth an interesting table has been
constructed, showing the increase in diameter of certain trees
every 10 years, from 1 to 150 years."

The prevailing growth of timber in this vicinity is the white
oak, growing on a good wheat soil.

Yates County, M. Y., June 1, 1846.

No conduct is so injurious to a cause as cruelty; erroneous opi-
nions may be entertained, differences of sentiment may prevail;
but a cause which is supported by cruelty, even if good, will
meet with just execration. To support and sustain a cause, there-
fore, a kind deportment and a gentlemanly, regard to the persons
and opinions of others, will secure the attention of opponents, and
do more to win favor than the most powerful arguments.

1846.] Mineral Resources of JVew York. 27

SOME OF THE MINERAL RESOUrxCES OF NEW YORK.

The development of the resources of a state or nation is a duty
\vhich can not be performed too early or too thoroughly; for as
soon as a nation begins to legislate or perform the functions re-
quired by a civilized people, some knowledge of the natural re-
sources of the country become indispensable. The foundation of
commerce, the elements of trade and the materials for exchange
must be sought out and extracted from their store-houses, before
wealth can flow into a nation's coffers, or capital accumulate in
the hands of individuals. Industry is excited and encouraged by
every discovery of the raw material; first, in raising it from its
beds; second, in forming and fashioning it for use; and third, in
distributing it by trade to those parts where it is required for the
purposes of life. The channels through which industry travels
diverge in all directions from the original source from whence the
raw material is extracted or drawn, and hence, a whole community
may be employed in industrial pursuits, whenever a supply of un-
wrought material is brought to light.

From these remarks it is evideht, that the pursuits of life are
controlled by circumstances and not by an independent and abso-
lute choice of individuals. The residence of a civilized people
being fixed, the pursuits of industry must be subordinated to those
natural reservoirs of wealth which are stored up in the mountains,
the sea or bowels of the earth. It may be that they are fixed
upon a plain, whose deep alluvial soil invites to husbandry and
tillage; if so, the plow is the instrument by w-hich industry
gathers and strows her wealth. It may be that hills and moun-
tains are chosen as places of residence; then flocks and herds of-
fer themselves as suitable channels by which to secure compe-
tence and independence; or, it may be mines of ores crop out
from beneath and become the productive fields of employment. It
is here, too, that the powers of nature are concentrated to move

28 Mineral Resources of JYew York. fJuly

machinery for manufactures and the reduction of the mineral pro-
ducts.

We might proceed farther in the same train of thought, and
show still more fully that the business in which men engage, and by
which competence and wealth are attained, is determined and
controlled by the constitution of the country which they have
chosen for their residence; or, in other words, that its geological
formations, and its structure controls their affairs, excites and di-
rects their enterprises and opens before them the main sources
from which their wealth is drawn. Hence it is that men do not
choose before hand, and independently of circumstances, what they
will do, and what they will pursue, so often as may at first view
appear; but, they are rather following a lead which nature opens
before them in the circumstances and conditions in which they
may be placed.

The earth is the great store-house from whence is drawn all
that is esteemed valuable and useful in this life; and although
much springs out of it by forces independent of man, still it is
rare that much can be appropriated and employed for his use and
benefit without labor and the exercise of his mind upon it; and
in order to encourage his efforts and make it possible to secure
the greatest amount of good, order has been observed in the dis-
tribution of the most important materials, those which are re-
quired for his daily use and consumption. It is no part of our
present purpose to show the importance of order in the distribu-
tion of useful materials, or to dwell upon the designs of Provi-
dence in thus furnishing what is required for sustenance in rela-
tions which may be known by observation, and which when once
discovered is an available fact for all future generations, and
w^hich in truth serve in the place of a principle to guide all farther
researches in the same channels of inquiry, but simply as an enun-
ciation of what is true, and what at the same time gives impor-
tance to investigations whose objects are the discovery of useful
materials in the bowels of the earth. It is certainly a magnificent
fact that it is so; and though it is what we ought to have ex-
pected a priori, yet, it is one which we have been very slow in

1S46.] Mineral Resources of JYew York. 29

discovering, and wliich never was admitted of the earth, until the
fact was discovered by thousands of observations made in all parts
of the world; and even now, many who in other instances see or-
der established, still have very incomplete and imperfect views of
order as established in the strata forming the earth's surface, al-
though here it is of the most importance to man; it is here that
his daily subsistence is derived; in fine it can not be doubted but
that order here is more important, so far as man is concerned,
than any where else in the universe. We deem these remarks
important when taken in connection with the subject of this pa-
per, for if it can not be shown that economical productions are
arranged in the interior of the earth in some order, the value of
systematic study ceases to be important, or at least loses one half
ol' its value. This does not, however, conflict with a fact which
will appear by and by, that certain important mineral productions
have a wide lange, and may be considered as common to many
distinct Ibrmations.

The formations of New York belong to four great systems,
marking four corresponding eras or periods in the earth's history.
The first, and most ancient is denominated primary, inasmuch as
it existed })rior to animals and vegetables, or in other words, pre-
ceded organic existence. It was a period marked by the predo-
minance of inorganic force which is every where indicated by
crystalline rocks and minerals, and though this force has never
ceased to play its part in modifying the earth's surface, still the
period when primary rocks were forming is emphatically one
when this kind of force predominated. Different varieties of gra-
nite and primary limestone, gneiss and hornblende and iron ores
were the formations which were the creations of the first periods,
01' those which preceded organic existence. The second system,
proceeding in the ascending order, is the taconic, which is also
marked by the same inorganic force, as is plainly discoverable in
the structure of the marbles and crystalline limestones and the re-
gular jointed structure of the slates of this system. It is, however,
less strongly marked, for all the members of this system carry with
them the distinct marks of a sedimentary origin, and earthy cha-

30 Mineral Resources of JVew York. [July,

racters which show that they were derived from preexisting masses
which had been ah-eady consolidated: but what is still more im-
portant, and what is particularly interesting, is, that in this sys-
tem, organic bodies first make their appearance; that during their
formation life, in its humbler condition, was first manifested, the
dawning of which indicated the future development and power of
a new order and kind. The third, or silurian, sometimes called
also the New-York system, is well distinguished from the pre-
ceding by the great abundance of organic bodies, belonging both
to the animal and vegetable kingdoms, all of w^hich, however, are
forms ranking low in the scale of organic existence; and it is only
in the superior part that we find unequivocal evidence of the su-
perior grade to which life seemed to be tending in the remains of
fish, which the strata are now known to enclose. The fourth sys-
tem in New- York is called Devonian, or old red; and seems to
be scarcely more than the prolongation of the silurian; for while
all the typical forms go up into it from the silurian, no decidedly
new types or forms have yet been discovered, except in the ichthyo-
lites or remains of fishes. Many new species and genera it is
true are found in the Devonian which are not known in the silu-
rian; yet, it is scarcely possible to discover that they belong to
new types, or are very far removed from the mollusca and conchi-
fera of the silurian. These general remarks are introduced for
the purpose of opening the way for pointing out what is peculiar
to each system, and what useful materials belong to each respec-
tively; and also in what part of each system the valuable pro-
ducts belong.

We begin w^ith the primary system and proceed in the ascend-
ing order. In the first place to what use may the rocks them-
selves be applied? In answer to this question we may remark,
that the primary formations in New York are somewhat peculiar.
The stratified rocks, such as gneiss, mica slate and hornblende, and
which in New England are fissile, and form good flagging and
good fire stone, are generally defective in those qualities which
render them suitable for construction, except for the most com-
mon purposes. In that part of New York north of the Mohawk

1846.] Mineral Resources of JYew York. 31

valley the gneiss, for the most part, is so irregularly ledded that
few if any quarries of this rock are known which are susceptible
of being wrought into good flagging stone or other works of con-
struction.

The only rock of this northern district which may at some fu-
ture time be turned to a valuable account, is the hypersthene rock
of the interior of Essex county. This rock consists of Labrado-
rite, a handsome variety of feldspar, the finest colored varieties of
which are smoke gray of various tints. This rock is susceptible
of a fine polish, and for the more expensive and beautiful orna-
ments for parlors, is extremely well adapted. It is sufficiently
hard to resist all ordinary instruments which are in use, and hence,
would retain its polish and lustre as long as most of the gems.
Hardly any thing can exceed the beauty of this stone for mantle
pieces, centre tables, or any other piece of furniture for the parlor.
We are well aware that the expense of dressing and polishing it
will be considerable; still we believe that, by suitable machinery,
it may be prepared for use at a price which shall not carry it be-
yond the means of our men of wealth and fashion. We, however,
can only speak of this material as one which may probably be
turned to good account hereafter, or, as one which will furnish a
field for labor, and a probable return of profit to ingenious and
skilful workmen.

The primary limestones. It is necessary to keep up the distinc-
tion of the limestones found associated with the granites, and oc-
casionally with gneiss and hornblende, and those which occur in
the taconic system. They may frequently be knowm, even in
hard specimens, the former being distinguished by their contain-
ing graphite and other minerals which are usually associated with
primary rocks. This limestone occurs in veins in granite in beds
beneath it, and in irregular masses in hornblende and gneiss;
sometimes apparently in beds parallel to those of the rock with
which it is associated. It is usually magnesian, and is not so well
adapted for quicklime, or for a furnace flux in smelting ores, as the
pure carbonate of lime ; neither is it suitable for marble, on account
of its coarse grain and imbedded simple minerals which it so fre-

32 Mineral Resources of J\^ew York. [<^uly,

qnently contains. It is, or may be used for lime, when free from
the latter, and when the purer limestones are at too great a dis-
tance. Thus, in numerous localities in the primary districts, this
rock becomes an important one for furnishing lime; indeed it is
believed that the whole primary district may be supplied with
lime li'om this source; or, it may be substituted for the purer sedi-
mentary limestones, when these can not be obtained. This rock
is, however, only worthy of notice in the primary districts, and it
is spoken of here to show that the important article lime may be
procured throughout the wnde primary district north of the Mo-
hawk valley. It will be foimd here an important mineral re-
source, both in building and in- agriculture, when these lands
come to be settled. Associated, very frequently, with the primary
limestone is a variety of verd antique, composed of carbonate of
lime and serpentine, mixed or aggregated in various proportions,
and in small and large masses of the latter. The usual form in
which this occurs is a gray limestone, which forms the ground or
base into which the serpentine is imbedded, or through w^hich it
is disseminated. It forms by no means an inferior marble, and
will one day be wrought, and will adorn the parlors of the farmers
and mechanics of the northern section of the state. It can not,
however, come in competition with the black marbles of Glen's
Falls or Isle La Motte; still, it must be regarded as one of the
minor resources, which, at some future time, will be brought out
by the enterprise of the generation now coming upon the stage of
life.

The most important of the mineral resources of New York are
her mines of iron ore; and in this material she probably is more
richly supplied than any other state in the Union. It is a re-
markable fact that not only is every system of rocks within her
borders supplied with deposits of ore, but they are distributed in
every great section of the state. The primary system abounds in
the magnetic and specular ores; the taconic, in brown hematites;
the Silurian in oolitic and argillaceous; the diluvial and tertiary
with bog ore. These different species of iron ores are found first
in the northern counties; the magnetic in Orange, Warren, Sara-

1846.] Mineral Resources of JYew York. 33

toga, Essex, Clinton and Franklin; the specular in Jefferson and
St. Lawrence counties. The hematites are found only in the
eastern and southeastern; the oolitic in the western. The latter
extends more than one hundred miles, or from near Utica, west-
ward, and beyond Rochester. The bog ore occurs in all parts of the
State, in small basins, from a few rods to ten or fifteen acres in
extent.

The most important of these ores is the magnetic and specular.
The former occurs in veins and beds, and in the condition of rocks
over an extent of country equal to 1,600 square miles; occupy-
ing a tract of country about the sources and tributaries of the Hud-
son river, or in that primary region which terminates near Sara-
toga south, and extends north nearly to the provincial line be-
tween Canada and New- York, and principally on the eastern
slope of the mountains lying between Little-Falls on the south
and the town of Moore on the north. The specular iron ore is
found only in a few townships in" Jefferson and St. Lawrence,
the most important of which lie in Gouverneur and vicinity, and
which furnish ore for the Parrish iron works at Rossie. The
greatest accumulation of magnetic ore at any one locality is at
Adirondack, in the township of Newcomb. We have on several
occasions attempted to determine the quantity of ore at this place,
by measuring the veins or the parts of the exposed beds, and we
have found that from 6 to 700 feet in width and between 2 and
3,000 feet in length of bodies of ore are exposed, or merely con-
cealed by a thin layer of soil. But we have satisfied ourselves
that the exposed beds are but a small part of the masses which
exist near the surface; for in the immediate neighborhood of the
bodies of ore at Adirondack it is very frequently exposed by
blasting off a few feet of rock; and so frequently does this happen,
that the whole valley, which is six or seven miles long, seems to be
underlaid with ore. We may then regard the ore at this place as
a rock formation, and which may be quarried as a rock and work-
ed out in open day, for an indefinite period. Hence it M'ill be
observed, that the amount of ore is incalculably great, and we
have no occasion to sit down and ascertain when it will probably

No. VIL 3

34 Mineral Resources of JYew York. [July,

be exhausted, if worked at a certain yearly rate. The calcula-
tion how much ore might be consumed yearly must have regard
to the fuel of the surrounding mountain and valleys, which fortu-
nately are now covered with primeval forests. It seems to be an
important fact, for the iron manufacturer in New York, that so
much forest and wild land should remain till the importance of
the ores of this section of country should be in a condition to be
appreciated. Had it been settled as early as was designed by the
original proprietors of its lands, the finest and best parts of the
wooded country would have been cleared long ere this. This ore
is now known to rank with the best and finest in the world, having
been proved by recent experiments to be adapted to the manufac-
ture of steel and the most important parts of machinery, where
strength, hardness and durability are required. The experiments
by which its value has been tested were of the most unexceptiona-
ble kinds, and they have also been performed by persons whose
experience entitles them to the highest confidence; and hence it
may be set down as certain that we have abundance of ore in
New York, which will soon be employed in the manufacture of the
tools and machinery. It is diflftcult, if not impossible, to esti-
mate the value of the ore of Adirondack; but we have often made
a rude estimate of one of the mines, that which is known as the
Sandford vein. The estimate of its value is founded upon the
following data. One thousand feet of the exposed surface is 600
feet wide. This great mass may be worked to the depth of 50
feet, without any expense for drainage, and every cubic yard is
worth four shillino;s in the mine. One thousand feet in length
and six hundred feet wide and fifty feet deep, contains one million
one hundred and eleven thousand and one hundred and eleven
cubic yards; which, at the value at which a cubic yard of ore is
estimated, gives in round numbers half a million of dollars for one
mine at Adirondack. A cord of the ore" may be profitably raised
for ten shillings. The facilities for transporting the ore are quite
favorable, and it may be carried on wheels twenty miles down the
valley of the river, cheaper than fuel can be brought to the mine.
By adopting the plan of reducing the ore at points below the

1846.] Mineral Resources of JVew York. 35

mines, fuel and power for moving machinery become accessible,
and at the same time the movement is towards the market. There
is still an immense water power at Adirondack. The distance
from Lake Henderson to Lake Sandford is about one mile, and
the fall in this part of the river is about one hundred feet. The
great reservoir of water in Lake Henderson makes it a valuable
location for the establishment of works at this place, which is the
highest point on this branch of the Hudson at which w^orks can
be located; but proceeding downw^ard, the number may be mul-
tiplied to any extent which may be desirable, and to which the
ore may be transported.

It will be impossible for us to go over the whole mining region
of New York and state particularly the value of the ores as they
exist in the mine, and which will constitute hereafter a source of
w^ealth and prosperity, and which at the present time is greatly
undervalued; w^e can only speak of the mines in mass. We
therefore ask our readers to regard them rather as sources of
wealth to the next generation, when iron will be required in much
greater quantities than it is at present. In order to form a true
estimate of the value of the northern mines it is necessary that we
should consider that they are adapted to the manufacture of re-
fined iron, and that this must be the province in which New York
can compete with the iron of Pennsylvania and other coal pro-
ducing States. By refined iron we mean that which is produced
by charcoal, and which only can be employed for the manufac-
ture of steel. Most if not all the failures in making steel of the
northern magnetic ores have arisen from the imperfect manner in
which the iron had been previously reduced. It can not be ex-
pected that iron made by the Catalan forge, unless uncommon
pains is taken, will be perfect and free from particles of ore which
have escaped reduction. There are so many inducements to has-
ten the process of reduction and to cheapen the iron by this cheap
mode, that it is feared that it will still be followed by the manu-
facturer at the risk of entailing a bad character on his productions.
The Catalan forge will produce iron cheaper and faster than by
any other mode; and where the ore is in one state of oxidation,

36 Mineral Resources of JVew York. [July,

either a protoxide or a peroxide, it is the most economical of all
the processes which have been devised; yet, it is liable to objec-
tion, inasmuch as it may be very slovenly performed, and a great
amount of ore wasted. But it is the most direct, and where only
small loops are brought out, and the ore is well prepared and intro-
duced in proper quantities into the fire, very good iron may al-
ways be made, such as suitable for all ordinary purposes, and
even nail plate, horse shoes and wheel bands.

The great drawback to the iron manufacture of the north will
be found in the principle which so often moves men of enterprise,
that of making the most of present advantages, by which suffi-
cient prudence and economy will be lost sight of in the use of fuel.
The common practice in this country of sweeping down an entire
forest or a large tract, in one season, and converting the most pro-
fitable parts of it to coal is one which would be highly injurious
if adopted in the northern sections of the state. By this course
nearly one-third of the younger growth of trees is destroyed by
being broken, or cut down and thrown into heaps to rot; the soil
consequently is left to be washed off when the surface is at all
steep, and the whole field is thereby reduced, or nearly reduced to
barrenness, or a condition of poverty from which it can scarcely
recover in an entire generation. It is true that in coal making,
the additional expense which attends the selection of the ripe and
full grown timber is an inducement to cut the whole and convert
it into coal upon the spot; still, in the long run, the former course,
that of cutting only that which has reached its full growth and is
upon the verge of decay, will be found by far the most profitable.
We regret, even now, that in any parts of New England and
New York the forests are prostrated even for a wheat field, and
we deem it a waste in all the older settlements to cut them down
for any purpose whatever. They should be merely thinned out;
the young and those of vigorous growth leTt to be matured. The
pasturage which might be secured would amount to more than
would be made, in many cases, by cutting the whole. The wheat
or rye crops which may be obtained for a few years will be of
less value than the wood which has been burnt in heaps upon the

1846.] Mineral Resources of JYew York. 37

ground. Our object in introducing these remarks is to inculcate
the principle of economy in saving fuel in our manufacturing dis-
tricts, for unless a judicious course is pursued in this matter they
will be greatly crippled in their operations, at a time and period
when they will be the most valuable to individuals and of the
most importance to a community. Errors committed against our
forests are the errors of a life, and the repairs, if ever made, will
consume the life of a whole generation; but the great misfortune
is that it is rarely they are repaired but imperfectly, and often the
axe which has felled the pride of two centuries, has consigned a
handsome estate to barrenness.

We deem it unnecessary to dwell longer upon this single re-
source of wealth in New York, the magnetic ores, for we are un-
able, at the present time, to estimate its value. We know that it
is distributed over an area of sixteen hundred square miles; that
new deposits of it are coming to light every year, in all that re-
gion which gives origin to the Hudson, or on those rivulets which
feed the Champlain; and that we are far more likely to under-
rate than over estimate its importance to the citizens of this
state. We see in it one of those sources from whence the great
public works are ultimately to draw a revenue which wull mate-
rially aid in sustaining them. Besides the magnetic ores, the
specular of Jefferson and St. Lawrence, which furnishes material
for two or three large establishments in those counties, and which
not only supply a large proportion of the maleable and cast iron
in different states, for their own population, but which furnishes
also a large amount for exportation, some of which finds its way
to Rochester, and the Genesee valley and Canada, and to Boston,
where it is highly esteemed. To this we must add the hematites
of Columbia and Dutchess counties, some of which are also adapt-
ed to the manufacture of an excellent tough iron. The ore of the
western counties is confined to one formation, viz. the Clinton
group. It occurs in one or two beds. This ore is only available
when and where it crops out, or is within twenty or twenty-five
feet of the surface. Its position may be seen in the gorge below
the lower falls at Rochester. It rises to the surface near the ferry,

38 Mineral Resources of JYew York. [J^^y?

and wherever else it thus appears high above and upon the sur-
face, it may always be regarded as a valuable and important de-
posit. It will be observed, how^ever, that it dips beneath a por-
tion of the Clinton group at the rate of one hundred feet to the
mile, and that in consequence of the thinness of the stratum it can
not be quarried where it is covered W'ith more than tw^enty-five or
thirty of rock. There is, however, an immense amount of ore ranging
east and w^est between Oswego and Monroe counties. This ore is
particularly well adapted to mix with the harder ores, such as
magnetic and specular, or even the hematitic, aud would, if so
employed in this way supercede the necessity of employing other
fluxes for reduction, in virtue of its containing both lime and alu-
mine. It yields by itself about thirty per cent of iron in the large
way. If this ore was used as extensively for pigs and stove cast-
ings as it may be, it would be sufficient to supply the Rochester
market with castings for its important trade in the stove business.

From the preceding statements, in regard both to quantity and
location, or distribution of the important raw material for iron, it
will be seen that the whole of New York is remarkably well pro-
vided for; every section of this great state being furnished with
it, and in such quantities that a home supply is always at hand
at the least possible cost; and inasmuch as it is wndely distri-
buted, it performs two important functions, that of giving em-
ployment to manufacturing workmen, and a market to the farmer
for his produce, and an exchange of his grain, his butter or cheese
for this necessary article of the household and his farm.

We may now proceed to speak of materials for construction,
which, though they may not be called for as products worthy of
transportation, but still as materials which possess the properties
required in building; and even if employed only in the immediate
neighborhood of their beds are of great value, which we can only
estimate or form a conception of their worth by supposing all the
materials for construction were required to be purchased at a dis-
tance, and then brought to all those points where they are re-
quired. It is an important consideration that in New York every
part has a supply of building materials in the formations upon

1846.] Mineral Resources of JYew York. 39.

which they are located. Those sections of the State which are
most deficient in good materials for building are the eastern coun-
ties; still, even here quarries of shale and thin-bedded sandstone
might be opened, which are quite important and useful. To be-
gin, however, with the Potsdam sandstone, the lowest member of
the New York system. This occupies a large territory in Jeffer-
son, St. Lawrence, Franklin and Clinton counties, and small in-
sulated patches in Lewis, WaiTen, Saratoga and Washington
counties. It, however, furnishes one of the best and most dura-
ble stones for building which has ever been used, being perfectly
weather tight, as well as indestructible under all changes of
weather, either above or below the surface. It furnishes the
finest material for building, flagging, or any purpose for which
stone may be employed at Potsdam. Being in most cases a fire
stone, it is used for hearths of furnaces and the like, and being in
many instances a purely silicious rock, white and free from iron,
it may be, and has been employed in the manufacture of glass.
It is the best flagging stone in the northern counties.

The next series of rocks which produce materials for construc-
tion are the Hudson river rocks, or Pulaski and Lorrain shales
and the sandstones which terminate the Champlain division of
the New York system. But it must be said that the shales and
sandstones are liable to injury from the weather, when exposed.
The most durable are layers of this group which are found in
Oneida and Oswego counties, where some fine quarries have been
opened which furnish even-grained and even-bedded layers, for
grindstones as well as blocks for building. The only rocks which
fiirnish roofing slates are those of the taconic sj^stem. Hoosic, in
Rensselaer county, is the place best known for this material, and
the experience of thirty years proves it as valuable and durable
as the Welsh slate.

The next series of rocks which furnish flagging is the Clinton
group in the Ontario division. The strata suitable for this pur-
pose may be found from Utica to Rochester. The quarries near
the former place, though not of the best quality, are still important.
At Rochester, the building and flagging materials are found in the

40 Mineral Resources of JVew York. [July,

next series above the Niagara group. It is a thin-bedded lime-
stone, situate below the Niagara or Wenlock limestone and above
the green or Wenlock shales. It is quarried for ten shillings per
cord, and is the rock from which has been obtained the stone for
all the public and private dwellings in Rochester. It is an indif-
ferent flagging stone; and, as a general rule, limestones are too
uneven and thick-bedded to be employed for this use. The best
flagging which we know of, and which are calcareous, are obtained
from the Manlius waterlime series. In the eastern part of the
state this mass is too deeply concealed by the pentamerus lime-
stone, but in Onondaga county, where this rock is thin and unim-
portant, the flags may be reached and quarried to advantage.

The most valuable flags, however, are found near the superior
part of the Erie division of the New York system, near the top
of the Helderberg range. These flags are the most beautiful in
the world. They are thin and even-bedded, firm and extremely
well adapted for side walks; their evenness making it extremely
easy for walking, while their hardness gives them great durability.
Quarries of this stone may be opened from near New Scotland in
Albany county, to Madison in Greene county. The distance of
the quarries from the river varies from six to fifteen miles. Albany,
Coeymans, New Baltimore and Coxsackie are the principal points
to which this fine flagging is brought to the river. The three
last named places are points from which it is shipped for New
York and other places. The principal streets in Albany are now
being relaid with this fine rock. Some of the pieces are eight and
ten feet long and five or six wide; forming so much of the entire
walk. The old pavements of brick or stone are removed to give
place to the Helderberg flagging. The cost of this material is from
ten to fourteen cents per foot. In the quarries the strata are
nearly horizontal, and hence, when the slate and w^orthless rock is
removed, which sometimes amounts to eight or ten feet, they are
raised with facility by means of iron and wooden wedges. The
same rock is also beginning to be used for cisterns, a purpose for
which it is also well adapted. Five flat stones, cemented, form

1846.] Mineral Resources of JYew York. 41

the bottom and sides, and the sixth, with its perforation, the top,
completes the structure.

Flagging stone possessing properties of the same kind as those
just described occur also in the Catskill sandstones above. Near
the Mountain House a quarry of very fine stone has been opened.
We have spoken of this rock as it occurs near the Hudson, and of
its existence at points from whence it may be transported to mar-
ket. It extends, however, from the Helderberg to Lake Erie, and
from the Hamilton group to the top of the Catskill, as we have
already stated. Hence numerous quarries may yet be opened in
the westward prolongation of this series of rocks, and every vil-
lage, almost, may be provided with fine and beautiful walks, as
well as building material, when the layers are of a proper thick-
ness. In New York the value of a material of this kind is imper-
fectly understood. In England, stone, however coarse, is reckon-
ed as a part of the estate as much as the soil.

The limestones of New York are more circumscribed than the
flag stones; but still, many localities furnish important and valu-
able stone for construction. The lowest or oldest deposits belong
to the taconic system. The gray and white marbles of Westches-
ter at Sing-Sinn; are the most noted. These marbles are not all
equally good. The dolomitic are friable, and w^aste and break
when exposed to the weather. Sulphuret of iron often stains and
spoils large blocks, and segregated masses of silex often injures
them for polishing. Passing up to the New York system, we
find that the lowest limestone, the calciferous sandstone, is a valu-
able rock, and when blocks are well dressed it is an excellent ma-
terial for building, for locks and piers. It resists the weather,
damp or dry, warm or frosty. The best locks of the Erie and
Champlain cnnals are constructed of the calciferous sandstone.

The next limestone w^hich may, or which has been used for
construction is the birdseye. It is a pure carbonate of lime, and
ages of exposure to the weather are required to make a percepti-
ble impression upon it. It is used in Oneida and Lewis counties
for the construction of dwelling-houses. The Trenton limestone
is black and gray, the latter variety is used for building; the

42 Mineral Resources of JYeiv York. [July,

Cathedral of Montreal is constructed of this variety. It resembles
granite at a distance. The Onondaga limestone is the only one
employed for building in the Helderberg division. As it extends
from the Hudson to Black Rock, it furnishes a great amount of
building stone, as well as material for the construction of canal
locks and other public and private purposes.

The limestones which are suitable for lime, are the white and
clouded marbles of the taconic system; some varieties of the cal-
ciferous sandstone, the birdseye, Trenton and Onondaga lime-
stones; these are the most important; the best and purest lime is
made from a dark variety of the birdseye as it occurs at Chazy,
in Clinton county. The hydraulic limestones are associated with
the calciferous sandstones and limestones of the inferior part of
the Helderberg rocks. Lime for agricultural purposes is made
from the sparry limestone of the taconic system near Caldwell,
and at Barnegat, from the calciferous sandstone, where it is fur-
nished after air slacking at six pence per bushel. Three pecks
of the recently burnt lime become a bushel after it is air slacked.
The agricultural lime is all used either on Long Island or in New
Jersey. From these facts it will be seen that all parts of the
State are supplied wath limestone except the southern tier of
counties. Here an imperfect and deficient supply is derived from
beds of w^hite marl.

We might dwell at length upon other mineral productions of
New York, if it were necessary, viz., the brine springs and plaster
mines. The former, as is well known, yields an enormous reve-
nue to the state. Both sources of wealth are, however, so well
known as to require only a passing notice in this place.

In the preceding account of the mineral resources of this state
we have taken no notice of clay for brick or pottery, peat for fuel
and manure, and marl for manure and the common purposes for
which lime may be used. Some idea of the value of the clay of
New York may be formed when it is stated that from 75 to 100
millions of bricks are annually made from the Hudson river clay.
The value of the peat beds of the state is also immense ; or is so
prospectively. There are probably no less than one hundred

1846.] Mineral Resoiirces of JVew York. 43

thousand acres of peat land, varying in depth from four to twenty
feet. The average depth will be equal to six feet at least. Marl,
too, accompanies the peat and increases greatly the value of this
substance as a manure.

We have no correct data by which to determine the value of
the lime business, but in Orange it exceeds a hundred and eighty
thousand bushels per annum, and in Dutchess, at Barnegat, the
produce exceeds 1,500,000.

It appears, then, from the foregoing imperfect account of the
mineral wealth of New York, that every section of the state is
supplied with something valuable, from which her citizens may
derive advantage, and to which they may direct their energies.
In regard to their value, though we have not attempted an esti-
mate in the aggregate, or even on individual products, w^e have
no doubt of this, that time, instead of diminishing will greatly in-
crease the value of the productions which have been described in
this article. The persons, or the class who are deeply interested in
thes' productions, is the farming class, for it must supply the means
of living to those who are employed in raising and manufacturing
the products of the mineral kingdom. All business of this kind fur-
nishes a home market, which is worth a third more than a distant
one; the price of a farmer's produce is as great at home, or at
his own village, as at a distance of 25 or 30 miles, and the time,
the expense, the wear and tear of journeying for man and beast is
saved. The proper encouragement of industrial pursuits of a me-
chanical kind, and those concerned in bringing into use the raw
material of our hills and of our rocks, ought not to be forgotten by
the agricultuiist. We have seen obstacles thrown in the way by
some men in this pursuit. Prejudice against strangers, or fo-
reigners, has usually been at the foundation of this opposition. It
is true the Irish laborer, who is often employed in these laborious
pursuits, is not at first one of the best members of society; still,
may we not hope and expect that in a few years, by intercourse
with a more enlightened people, the despised laborer wnll attain
a respectable standing in society, and finally make an excellent
addition to the population of this country. The great advantages

44 Importance of correct Vegetable Analysis; [July,

■which our hilly country has over a flat or prairie country, is its
furnishing sites for hundreds of villages, all of which are small
market towns, at which the produce of a wide region is consumed;
where pork and beef, mutton and veal, corn, oats and potatoes,
fruits of all kinds, in fine where all products, from a pickled cu-
cumber to the stall fed ox, finds a ready cash sale, or a mutually
profitable barter for the mechanic's skill and labor. In a commu-
nity which we have now in view, composed of industrious and
enlightened members, of mechanics and farmers, those who bring
up from the bowels of the earth the raw material, and the farmer
who supplies food and clothing, there is no occasion to fear western
competition. It is only in our great markets, and in our great
staples, that western competition affects the value of the products
of the soil. The New-York and New-England farmers derive
their profits from many productions, instead of one great staple,
and the aggregate profits of a farm which produces butter and
cheese, pork and beef, corn and potatoes, poultry, eggs and fruit,
hay and oats, none of which have distant competitors, are equal
in a series of years to the profits arising from the great western
staples, of which wheat and flour are the principal, though wool,
corn and pork are highly important.

IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT VEGETABLE ANALYSIS;
DUTIES OF AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES, ETC.

BY DR. N. S. DAVIS, BINGHAMTON.

If a mechanic should attempt to construct a building without
knowinsf of what it should be made, he would be ridiculed for his
folly. If the chemist should mix in his crucible two substances,
the composition of which he knew nothing, it is evident that he
could know nothing of the results that might follow. So, if the
farmer places his seed in the soil without knowing the composition
of either the soil or the plant he wishes to have spring therefrom,
how shall he be able to calculate with certainty the result? True,
he may have seen his father or neighbors raise similar crops from
the same soil, and may, therefore, infer that he can do the same.

1846.] Duties of Agricultural Societies, etc. 45

But precedent here fails to be a guide, because every successive
crop changes more or less the composition of the soil; hence we
may consider it an established fact, that a correct knowledge of
the composition of soils and vegetables is as important to the judi-
cious farmer, as a knowledge of law is to the lawyer. But how are
our farmers to obtain this knowledge? If they search agricultural
books and periodicals, they will find the composition of every ve-
getable substance to be stated differently as the result of every
new analysis. See the following for instance, in regard to the
composition of red clover:

Horsford states 100 parts of the ash of red clover to contain,
of potash, 12.16: soda, 30.75: lime, 16.55.

Johnson states it to contain, of potash, 24.80: soda, 4.20: lime,
2.41.

And still another author gives it as follows: potash, 16.40:
soda, 4.00: lime, 22.40.

Again, compare the following statements of the quantity of ash
left after burning a given quantity of the different species of
grains. The first column is quoted from the 53d page of the first
volume of American Quart. Jour, of Agriculture and Science; the
second from Boussingault; and the third from Weignan and Pals-
torff:

Jsh in 100 lbs. of jSsh in 100 lb$. of Ash in 100 lbs. of

Wheat, 1.18 Wheat, 2.40

Wheat straw, .. 3.51 Wheat straw, . . 7.00

Rye, 1.04 Rye, 2.30

R>e straw, 2.79 Rye straw, 3.60

Oats, 2.58 Oats 4.00 Oats, 2.86

Oat; straw, 5.74 Oat straw, 5.10

Here we have three w^riters who make the amount of potash
contained in the ash of red clover vary from 12 to 24 per cent;
the amount of soda from 4 to 30 per cent; and that of lime from
2 to 22 per cent; while the amount of ash derived from a given
quantity of grain or grass is equally various, as seen in the table.

Further quotations might be made to illustrate this point, but
enough has been adduced to show that no positive knowledge can
be obtained from books, concerning the exact composition of

46 Importance of correct Vegetable Analysis; [J^lyj

plants. But whence come these wide discrepancies in the resuhs of
different investigators? Do they arise from imperfections in the
modes of analysis, or from actual variations in the composition of
the same species of plant when grown on different soils; or is it
owing to the analyses being made at different periods of the
growth of the plant? Doubtless all these causes have aided in
producing the result alluded to. But the perfection to which
chemical analysis is now carried should prevent the first from ex-
erting any influence in future. That the composition of the same
plant will vary to some extent, according to the composition of
the soil on which it is grown, or that one alkali may be made to
replace another in the living plant, within certain limits, is very
probable. But how far this variation may be carried, and yet
the plant be brought to full perfection, is a highly interesting
question for investigation. That the quantity of ash or inorganic
ingredients yielded by any given plant, at different periods of its
growth, varies considerably we already possess some positive evi-
dence. Thus De Saussure states that wheat straw, one month be-
fore flowering, yielded 7.9 per cent of ash; in flower, 5.4 per
cent; and when ripe with grain, only 3.3 per cent; and maize or
Indian corn presented a still greater variation. It is very possi-
ble that some of the discrepancies in the statements of different
writers concerning the composition of the same plant, may be
owing to this cause. And if so, it only proves the necessity of
accompanying every analysis with a full statement of the age
and condition of the plant analyzed; and also how easily valua-
ble facts are rendered useless and contradictory by the omission
of a single collateral circumstance. A well conducted series of
experiments for determining both the questions here alluded to is
demanded, as well by the practical bearing of the subject as by
the interests of science. Single or isolated facts in agriculture,
are only valuable when they are capable of being connected with
other facts in such a manner as to furnish general conclusions or
principles of action. Thus it is practically of no importance that
we know the single fact, that the composition of plants will vary
with the varying composition of the soil on which they grow, un-

1846.] Duties of Agricultural Societies, etc. 47

less we know the nature of such variation, the extent to which it
may be carried, and the degree of perfection to which the plant
arrives, at each step in the progress of the variation. It is true
that we may find scattered through the agricultural literature of
the present day, many facts in regard to the composition of soih
and vegetables, and many tables showing the results of analysis
by able chemists. But it is equally trae that w^e are still destitute
of that careful, exact and connected series of experiments, in re-
gard to all the varieties of soils and farm produce, in the varied
conditions of the former and the different periods of growth of
the latter, which the best interests of agriculture imperiously re-
quire. Neither can so desirable a result be gained by the labors
of a single individual, or a single school of individuals. The
very nature and extent of the inquiry requires a division of labor,
and the investigations to be carried on in different localities, and
under the direction of minds of various education. For such is
the universal tendency of the human mind to see what it most de-
sires to see, or in other words, to bend facts to the support of pre-
conceived theories, that we are seldom if ever safe in drawing
conclusions on any subject, until we have carefully compared the
results of the labors of different investigators thereon.

These observations lead us again to the inquiry how our farmers
and their sons are to gain all desirable information concerning
the nature, composition and growth of the soils and vegetables
which they cultivate? Something can be done for the latter, by
the introduction of agriculture as a study into our academies and
among the oldest classes in our district schools, and by the addi-
tion of agricultural books to our district school libraries. But it
seemed to us that our state and county agricultural societies con-
stitute the most direct and appropriate media, both for obtaining
knowledge by well conducted experiments, and diffusing that
knowledge through the whole community. That these societies
have done, and are doing much to promote the interests of agricul-
ture, there can be no doubt. But are they, to the full extent, fulfil-
ling the object of their formation? In other words, are they doing as
much as they might do, for the real advancement of agricultural

48 Importance of correct. Vegetable Analysis; [July

science and practice? It is well known that the efforts of many of
them are confined mostly to the getting up of an annual " Cattle
Show and Fair," and the annual election of officers. These exhibi-
tions have their utility ; they bring farmers together to compare their
products, and stimulate each other's ambition to excel, and should
therefore be continued. But may not their utility be greatly in-
creased by a little more attention? For instance, if every one
who presents an animal or a specimen of farm produce for exami-
nation was required to present with it a written statement of the
breed and manner of feeding in the first, and the kind and com-
position of the soil, mode of culture, manure used, &c., in the
second, how much would the interest and value of these exhibi-
tions be enhanced. And if all those accompanying articles on
which premiums were bestowed, should be filed in the office of
the secretary of the society, and published in the newspapers of
the county, we should soon not only accumulate an invaluable
store of facts, but the direct mental exercise thereby required
would have the happiest effect in promoting a more thorough
education throughout the farming community.

But let these things be as they may, there are three points that
should receive the particular attention of every county society in
the state, viz.: first, an exact knowledge of the origin and compo-
sition of the soil, and farm products growing therefrom, within
their respective limits; second, a knowledge of the topography or
particular situation of the county, as respects hills, valleys, mois-
ture, dryness, marshes, streams, &c., &c. ; and third, a knowledge
of the insects and worms injurious to the vegetation, and the best
means of destroying them. Every agricultural society in the
country should have a standing committee on each of these sub-
jects, which should be required to report in writing at each annual
meeting; and, instead of bestowing all their funds in the form of
premiums, each society should reserve a small amount to defray
the necessary expenses of these committees. The first committee
should always contain at least one good chemist, who should care-
fully analyze every unusual specimen of soil or unknown vegeta-
ble. The second should have the services of a good geologist;

1846.] Duties of Agricultural Societies, etc. 49

and if their duties were faithfully performed, in pointing out the
formation of different localities, the necessity and best mode of
draining, &c., the knowledge thus obtained, taken in connection
with that presented by the former committee, would lead to greater
improvements in farming than all the cattle shows for half a cen-
tury. Indeed we have seen money enough expended in injudi-
cious ditching in a single year to defray the expenses of an in-
vestigating committee for three times that length of time. And still
greater losses are sustained by wholly neglecting fields that ought
to be drained. The third committee would be one of no less in-
terest or importance. Insects and worms are annually attacking
the crops and fruit trees of the farmer. And the injury they pro-
duce, often before their presence is known, or any remedy applied,
is not unfrequently very great. As a sample of this we may men-
tion the total destruction of the plum and cherry trees, in many
orchards, during the last few years, by the plum weevil, or rhync-
henus nerupha. A vigilant committee in every county, to watch
over and investigate every thing of this kind, would annually
save the loss of thousands of dollars worth of property in the state.
And yet the direct pecuniary gain derived from the labors of
such committees would constitute but a small share of the benefits
which would result to the farming community. The stimulus
which they would give to intellectual pursuits and the cultivation
of science, in connection with agriculture, would be of incalculable
advantage. For agriculture, like every other human employment,
can only be improved by improving the minds that control and
practise it. I know it will be said that the proposed committees
and investigations are impracticable, for the want of men in every
county suitably qualified for the work. But the rule, that the
supply is in proportion to the demand, is as applicable to men as
to articles of trade. Let the agricultural community make the
demand, and men of science will soon supply their wants. And
not only so, but the example will no sooner be set, than we shall
find the sons of our farmers as anxiously striving to qualify them-
selves for leading members of these investigating committees, and
thereby becoming as proud of the position of scientific farmers,
No. VII. 4

50 Fertilization of Plants. [J^^J?

as they now are to leave the plow for the office of some lawyer
or doctor. The truth is, there is a universal propensity in man
which makes him desirous to exhibit his intellectual acquirements
in some way. Hence it is, that the well educated young man
almost uniformly desires to enter into some profession, rather than
to engage in agriculture or the mechanic arts, although he may
know that the labor required in the former will be twice as great,
and the profits less than in the latter. Consequently, if we would
ever confer the benefits of science on practical agriculture, our
agricultural associations must not only exhibit bulls, sheep, corn,
&c., but they must enter on a scientific examination of their work,
and call for direct intellectual labor, and thereby take advantage
of that principle of our nature to which we have alluded.
Bingharnton, June 25th, 1846.

FERTILIZATION OF PLANTS.

BY PROF. J. DARBY.

The effect of the pollen on the pistil of the flower is called
fertilization or fecundation. It is the end of a long series of
arrangements so related as to aim at this express result. The
structure of the flower seems in all its parts to be so adjusted as to
ensure under given circumstances the contact of the pollen tubes
with the embryo sac. It is in fact the great end of vegetation,
the reproduction of individuals.

There is no topic in vegetable physiology of more interest to
the phytologist, or of more importance to the agriculturist and
gardener than fertilization. From the former it is receiving his
best efforts, and from the latter it ought to receive sufficient at-
tention to be understood in its relation to the influences that may
aid or injure its operation, and to the condition in which it takes
place, as in this function lie all the hopes of the agriculturist and
all the intei'ests of the cultivator of flowers. The gardener, it is
true, has for a long time been acquainted with tlie practical op-

1846.] Fertilization of Plants. 51

eration of fertilization, as the splendid hybrids that adorn our
gardens abundantly testify.

It is our intention to lay before the readers of the Journal, the
present condition of science in relation to this subject. We shall
state as concisely and clearly as possible, the views of the most
eminent cultivators of this department of vegetable physiology,
and give our own views where observation or experiment have
enabled us to decide.

The subject of fertilization may be very appropriately discussed
under three heads.

1st. The production and constitution of the pollen grains, or
fertilizing powder.

2d. Its application to the stigma and means of contact with
the embryo sac.

3d. The effect of the pollen on the ovules.

1st. The production of pollen from a mass undistinguishable
from surrounding substance may very easily be traced. There is
a period in the growth of a bud, when the calyx, corolla, stamens
and pistils are in every essential respect exactly alike, and they
differ in no respect from the buds. This of course is a very early
stage of its development, yet they bear marks of embryo leaves.
The peculiar hidden impulse or power which guides their future
development has not yet been felt. The presiding agency that
checks the elongation of internodes, that moulds the outer whorl
into a rough and firm covering, that decks the adjacent circle
with the gaudy colors of the rainbow, and forms the slen-
der filament and knob-like anther, and fashions the recepta-
cle of the future seeds in the centre is yet dormant. If we
examine, by means of a good compound microscope, a bud at an
early period of its development, we shall find the whorls of small
bodies that are to become the future stamens, consisting of cellular
tissue of the same kind as that which composes the other whorls.
No indication of their future destination is at all to be discovered.
If we watch the progressive development of the bud we shall
very soon observe that the different whorls of organs are destined
to different functions. If we keep our attention directed to the

52 Fertilization of Plants. [July,

second whorl from the centre, in flowers where four regular
whorls are developed, we shall observe the breaking up of the
cellular tissue of the interior and forming cavities on each side of
a middle line which continues unaffected. These cavities are
filled with a fluid, or semi-fluid substance, which is to undergo
reorganization and become developed into the peculiar organs
that constitute an anther and its contents. A later examination
will show us that a layer of small compact cells have been form-
ed as a lining to the cavities, and that the cavities themselves
are filled with large cells, much larger than the original cells
which were broken up. These large cells are the generating
cells of the pollen. At first they are filled with a semi-fluid sub-
stance which soon becomes turbid with minute grains, which as-
sociate in groups, forming granular nuclei. These nuclei increase
in size and take on a membranous covering, and become pollen
grains. As these enlarge the mother cells disappear, yielding
their own bodies for the nourishment of their offspring. The
perfection of the pollen grains requires not only the consumption
of the mother cells, but much of the material that enters into the
anther itself, bringing into operation one of those beautiful exhi-
bitions of skill and design, which are so profusely scattered
through every department of nature's works. The lobes of the
anthers are covered by an epidermis like other parts of the plant,
but beneath this epidermis is one or more layers oi Jihro cellular
tissue, which extends over the interior of the lobes, with the ex-
ception of a line, usually running from the base to the summit of
the anther, which is not covered by this tissue. The cells that
compose this tissue are made up of an elastic fibre, enclosed and
confined by a membrane. This membrane is absorbed to perfect
the pollen grains, and it is the last portion of the anther absorbed,
so that when the elastic fibres are freed from this confinement,
the grains of pollen are perfect, and ready to enter upon the
functions for which they were produced. As soon as the fibres
are free, they exert their elasticity upon the walls of the anther,
and by their combined action split the anther along the line of
the cells, and expose the pollen to the action of external agents.

1^46.] Fertilization of Plants. 53

These pollen grains are the fine powder seen so abundantly in
some flowers. Under the microscope they are seen to be, usually,
of a spheroidal shape, and with a smooth surface; but from these
characters there are numerous departures, assuming in different
plants a great variety of form and surface. The contents of these
grains is called fovilla. It is a fluid holding in suspension vari-
ous kinds of molecules, one variety of which we need to notice.
They are the largest bodies seen in the fovilla, and more or less
cylindrical in form. They are recognized generally as the im-
mediate agents of fecundation. They have by some been en-
dowed wuth independent vitality, and have been said to exhibit,
under particular circumstances, vital motions. But neither of
these hypotheses is probably correct in the sense in which their
authors apply it. With regard to their vitality as independent
bodies, we know but little or nothing. But the motions they ex
hibit are the result of physical, and not of vital forces.

The coat of the pollen grains consists of two membranes at
least; the outer one unyielding without being ruptured, and com-
paratively firm, giving form and color to the grain. The inner
one is very yielding, and will extend itself into tubes without
any lesion. The grains are exceedingly hygrometrical. When
placed on a moist surface, or in contact with water, they absorb
moisture rapidly by endosmose action, and swell very much, and
become nearly spherical, whatever their previous form might
have been. The outer membrane gives way usually at the point
in contact w4th the moist surface, and the inner membrane pro-
trudes from the aperture in the form of a tube, which is filled
with the contents of the grain. These are the 'pollen tubes.

2. The necessity of the contact of the pollen grains with the
stigma, in order to the production of seeds, possessing vitality, is
abundantly proved by experiment and observation, and may be
most certainly inferred from the care which nature takes to bring
about this contact in every case in which seeds are produced.
The ancients seem to have had very imperfect notions with re-
gard to the nature of the stamens and pistil, and of the functions
they were destined to perform. We cannot consider the question of

54 Fertilization of Plants. [July,

the use of the pollen as settled much before the time of Linnaeus.
Tournefort denied the fertilizing power of the pollen, and con-
sidered the stamens simply as organs of excretion. Vaillant, in
1716, a pupil of Tournefort, demonstrated the necessity of the
pollen in fertilization, and Linnaeus, twenty years after, rendered
the idea more universal, that the pollen was the fertilizing mat-
ter. For a century the generally received opinion was, that the
stamens corresponded to the male organs of generation in ani-
mals, and the pistils to the female organs. This is the most pre-
valent idea at the present time, although it has met with many
powerful opponents.

Schelver in 1812 advanced the singular idea that the falling of
the pollen upon the stigma, so far from impregnating the ovule,
only tended to hasten the decay of the surrounding parts, so that
the whole force of the plant might be directed to the nourishment
and perfection of the ovules already impregnated.

Turpin, in 1820, promulged the idea that the stamens were
only rudimentary pistils, and the grains of pollen rudimentary
ovules. These notions found few or no advocates, and they have
already received their merited doom.

Were there any doubts remaining in the minds of botanists on
the subject, a work published by Gaertner, in 1844, would en-
tirely dissipate all lingering doubts. His numerous and well con-
ducted experiments, set at rest this subject of so much interest.
The contact of the pollen with the stigma or with the ovules,
must take place.

The arrangements which nature makes for the accomplishment
of this result, plainly show its necessity. In the great majority
of cases the agents used to bring the pollen to the stigma are the
wind, insects, and relative position. Linnaeus remarked that those
flowers in which the stamens w^ere shorter than the pistil, were
nodding, so that when the anther opened,-the pollen by its gravi-
ty would fall upon the stigma, and that those flowers were erect
in which the stamens were the longest, so that by the operation of
the same force the same end w^ould be accomplished. In cases
in which this simple arrangement could not avail, other circum-
stances are introduced to bring about these essential phenomena.

1846.] Fertilization of Plants. 55

In the nettle tribe, laiicacecE, when the flower first expands,
the filament is rolled inwards and the anther is near the centre
and base of the flower, when all is perfected, the filament sudden-
ly straightens itself, and the anther opens and a cloud of pollen
is diffused in the air, to light upon the stigmas in the neighbor-
hood. After the disengagement of the pollen, the stamen, as
though exhausted by the effort, lies down flat in the bottom of
the calyx.

In the recently expanded flower of the rue, ruta graveoleus,
we observe eight or ten stamens lying horizontally in the bottom
of the flower. Each stamen, one by one, and in an unvarying
order, raises itself, and brings its anther against the stigma, dis-
engaging at the same time its store of pollen. After it has thus
paid its tribute, the stamen slowly returns to its former position,
and soon withers away, having accomplished the end of its crea-
tion. Prof. Wydlei", of Berne, has published a memoir on the
physiological condition of this regular and curious arrangement of
the rue.

Our kalmia affords an interesting object of observation in this
respect. When the flower expands, the anthers find themselves
engaged each in a little cavity in the bottom of the corolla. To
extricate themselves w^ould seem impossible, but the filament
curves up, as we should curve up our arm if our hand was lying
on a flat surface, and we wished to bring it nearer to us, and thus
draws the anther from its confinement and raises it to the stigma.
The above are the common and some of the particular modes
adopted by nature to bring the pollen to the stigma.

The stigma is usually the summit of the style. It is a glutin-
ous, moist surface, consisting of naked, spherical cells, there being
no epidermis over this portion of the plant. When the pollen
grains fall upon this surface, they are retained by the viscidity,
and the moisture affords the means of producing the pollen tubes.
These when emitted, which is usually from the under surface of
the grain, penetrate the loose cellular tissue of the central portion
of the style, and enter the cavity of the ovarium and the foramen
of the ovule.

56 Fertilization of Plants. [July,

Some plants have appeared to offer exceptions to these general
principles, and have presented difficult problems for solution to
the phytologist. The order Asclepiadeae presents examples of
this kind. The pollen in this order is enclosed in sacs which do
not dehisce, and which have the suture towards the stigma. How
the pollen could act in a close bag, presented a question difficult
of solution. This enigma remained unanswered till about 1830,
when several observers noticed that the pollen emitted tubes, and
that they passed through the suture of the pollen sac, and entered
the stigma and passed to the ovarium, as in all other cases, thus
adding another unanswerable argument in favor of the necessity
of pollen in fertilization.

Besides cases in which arrangements to bring the pollen to act
on the ovules, we might adduce many cases in which the ovules
themselves were arranged in a peculiar manner, to facilitate the
entrance of the tubes into the foramen, but what we have given
is sufficient to show the importance nature attaches to the accom-
plishment of this object, and she permits no obstacle to defeat her
design.

Although it is very generally admitted that the pollen is essen-
tial to fertilization, it is not as generally admitted that it acts by
impregnating an ovule existing in the ovarium. The German
physiologists generally advocate a diffijrent theory. Schleiden of
Berlin, Endleicher of Vienna, and linger of Gratz, are the prin-
cipal supporters of the new theory, who agree in the main points,
but differ in some of the details.

Endleicher says: " The pistil of the plant is not an organ that
can be compared to the female sexual organs of animals; it nei-
ther furnishes the germ or embryo destined to the propagation of
the species. It is simply an organ in which the embryo germ is
borne, to develop itself and come to maturity. The embryo is the
extremity of the pollen tube, which after having traversed the
cellular mass between the stigma and placenta, penetrates into
the cavity of the ovule by the mycropyle and arrives at the sum-
mit of the nucleus. It traverses the tissue of the nucleus, follow-
ing the intercellular passages, and attains the summit of the em-

1846.] Fertilization of Plants. 57

bryo sac. It pushes before it this part of the sac, which, in yield-
ing to the pressure forms a cavity in which the extremity of the
tube is buried. The part of the pollen tube buried in the embryo
sac passes successively through all the degrees of organization to
that which constitutes the embryo."

This is the outline of the German theory, given in the words of
its founder, as nearly as a translation can do it. It will be seen
that by this theory the stamen is alone the organ of reproduction,
and the pistil only acts as a kind of nurse to protect and nourish
the embryo committed to its care. Endleicher modifies the above,
by supposing the fluid substance of the stigma to fecundate the
pollen and make the pollen tubes penetrate to the ovary, linger
thinks the pollen grains are fecundated before their emission from
the anthers.

In France, England, and the United States, these views have
been but badly received, and we believe the Linneean notions of
fecundation almost universally prevail out of the German states.
It would be impossible to give within any moderate limits the
reasons for these various opinions, and considering the purposes
for w^hich this article w^as written, not desirable.

Whichever theory we may adopt, w^e should not be led to infer
that the quantity of pollen could- exert any influence over fecun-
dation; that is, we do not see why one pollen tube might not as
effectually impregnate one ovule as though all the neighboring
ones were subjected to the same influence. But this does not
seem to be the case in some plants, at least. Koelreuter says that
fifty to sixty grains of pollen are necessary to fecundate the thirty
grains of the hibiscus trioneus, and that no fewer will do it. Gaert-
ner has made experiments on this subject, which seem to lead to
the same result. He experimented on the malva Tuauritiana, the
purple, ivy-leaved mallows, of the gardens. There are ten stig-
mas, and a single grain of pollen on each produced no eifect.
The flower fell off" without any impregnation. Two grains on
each stigma, or twenty to each flower, produced no effect. Thirty
seemed to stimulate the organs, as the calyx remained on, persist-
ent, but no grains or seeds were produced. Forty to each flower

58 Fertilization of Plants. [Ji^ilyj

produced grains, but they were very small, yet perfect. They
germinated and produced the characteristic flowers of the species,
from which the pollen was derived, which was different from the
species to which it was applied.

It would seem that a portion of the pollen was expended in
some other way than in the direct act of fertilization. Perhaps
the singular phenomenon of the elevation of temperature during
impregnation, may be in some manner dependent on the action of
the pollen. Although this phenomenon is not proved in all cases,
and in fact in comparatively very few, yet it would seem to be
probable that the imperfection of the instruments might be the
cause. The thermo-electric needles of M. Bicefuerel have ope-
rated very satisfactorily in the hands of Schultz, Broghniart, and
Dutrochet; and we may hope that by some such means this ele-
vation of temperature during fertilization may be proved to be a
universal fact.

Experiments on the subject are very liable to be vitiated by
the unnatural circumstances under which the subject for experi-
ment is placed. In experimenting on the tomato in relation to
its fecundation, during the winter and early spring, the plants
were of course grown within doors. They grew vigorously and
bloomed abundantly, but fertilization did not take place at all.
The pollen was abundant on the stigma, but no pollen tubes were
emitted, and of course the flowers decayed, turned yellow, and
fell off. We suspected the cause of failure, and after allowing
the plants to bloom and cast their fleece till they could be re-
moved into the open air, they were put out, and every flower that
opened after such exposure on examination was found to contain
pollen that emitted tubes, and then undisturbed produced fruit and
seeds. In this case the atmosphere in which they grew was too
dry, and the stigma did not yield moisture enough to burst the
pollen grains, as they would burst readily-on a wet surface, under
the microscope. Similar causes of failure may be frequent, and
we may be assured that unless the natural conditions of the plant
are supplied, it is in vain to expect perfection in vegetation.

3. The effect of the action of the pollen on the embryo is im-

1846.] Water, its Properties and Uses. 59

mediate and decided. The whole flower shows at once that fecun-
dation has taken place. Some parts wither very rapidly, while
others increase and expand with uncommon vigor. The calyx is
sometimes adherent with the ovary when it increases and grows
wuth it. The corolla soon fades and withers. The stamens,
style and stigma, having accomplished the end of their existence,
wither away. The ovarium, containing the impregnated ovules,
becomes the centre of all the vital energies of the plant, to perfect
the seeds committed to its care. In many plants we see them
laboring for a long period to provide food for the perfection of
the seed. The common beet spends the first year of its existence
in providing food for the perfection of its seeds of the next, and
so of many other plants.

WATER, ITS PROPERTIES AND USES.

Water is a compound of two gases, oxygen and hydrogen.
Although existing when pure, only in the form of gases, yet in
nature they are never found pure, and consequently never in this
form. They are always either combined with each other in the
form of water or with some other- substance. In w^ater they al-
ways are united in the proportion by weight of eight parts of
oxygen to one of hydrogen, or by volume, one of oxygen to two
of hydrogen.

Nearly three-quarters of the surface of our globe is water.
The vast oceans that surround and separate the two great conti-
nents, are themselves equal to about two-thirds of that surface.
But the large inland lakes and seas with the numberless lakes
and rivers that intersect the land in all directions greatly increase
the amount. From this great quantity we should naturally be
led to expect corresponding uses. These are indeed great and
various, and, in agriculture alone, quite indispensable.

The uses of water are two-fold — chemical and mechanical.

1. Chemical. From the well known composition of plants —
about 90 per cent being carbon, oxygen and hydrogen — it will

60 Water, its Properties and Uses. U^h',

be perceived at once that water is capable of affording two highly
essentive elements of the vegetable s}"stem. We find in fact more
than one-half the weight of all vegetables, when freshly gather-
ed, is attributable to this fluid. Whether it is all actually exist-
ing in the plant as simple water may be questioned, but the two
gases are there and in precisely the proper proportions to form it.
Thus starch, gum, woody fibre, sugar, &c., all proximate princi-
ples of vegetable matter, may be regarded as compounds of car-
bon and water, for they consist of carbon united to ox}'gen and
hydrogen in just the atomic proportions to form water.

During combustion of vegetable matter, a certain variable por-
tion of the bulk escapes as water. This may be seen by holding
a glass vessel as a tumbler, perfectly dr)', over a fire or burning
lamp or candle. The fluid will immediately be seen collecting
upon the inside of the vessel.

Now it is admitted that the water in these instances may be
generated by the process of combustion, by the direct union of
the erases. The hydroo:en was there, and beinsr burned in the at-
mosphere which contains oxygen would be converted into water,
even if none of this latter gas were existing in the plant. But it
must not be forgotten that there was a quantity of ox}'gen
just suflficient, with the hydrogen, to form the same amount of
water, and we are only able to account, rationally, for the dispo-
sal of this, by supposing it to be united with the hydrogen, and
being already in the form of water in the plant before it is
burned.

A trifling experiment will seem to demonstrate this to be the
fact. If a small stick of wood is subjected to the action of sul-
phuric acid, the water is separated, by its action, from the woody
fibre, and charcoal is the residue. This result is owing to the
powerful affinit}' existing between this acid and water.

It is not then certain that the water, which growing plants ab-
sorb and appropriate, is changed in any respect, in entering into
the composition of the body of the vegetable, but may be still the
same, though having but its former sensible properties and its
fluid form by union with a third body — carbon — and we may

1846.] Water, its Properties and Uses. 61

safely consider those proximate vegetable substances, which con-
sist of carbon and the elements of water, as actually compounds
of carbon and water.

Water is then a highly essential part of the vegetable economy,
and enters largely into the composition of plants. Its chemical
relations are however far more extensive than we have thus far
seen. Almost every change which takes place in the soil or in
the plant in preparing food or appropriating it to these purposes
of nourishment, are more or less dependant upon this fluid. In-
deed without this, or some other substance capable of supplying
its place, all solid matter must remain almost unchanged and in-
active. It is to its solvent power that the vast and varied changes
constantly taking place around us and within us are owing.
Let us examine for a few moments this power.

Water is capable of absorbing gases and many solids. Oxu"
readers need not be informed, in this age of scientific knowledge,
that the food of plants is mostly derived from the air and earth in
a liquid form, and that that portion which the roots absorb from
the earth is necessarily liquid. The leaves may imbibe gases, as
such — the roots cannot. Here water is absolutely necessary to
render them available as food. The power of absorbing different
gases varies much. Thus water will absorb more than its own
bulk of carbonic acid, and more than six hundred times its bulk
of ammonia, and is thus capable of supplying a large amount of
food to growing vegetables. In the form of rain descending from
the clouds it absorbs the gases which have mingled with the at-
mosphere, and carries them down to the roots of plants. In this
manner it purifies the air for our use, while it affords nom-ishment
to the vegetable world.

It is not in the form of water alone that it is capable of ab-
sorbing these gases, but it is found that in the form of ice and
snow it absorbs them with astonishing rapidity. A certain quan-
tity- of ammonia is generally found in freshly fallen snow. This
fact was first noticed by Liebig, and has since been confirmed by
numbers of others. The quantity will of com"se vary with the
amount of that o-as in the atmosphere at the time of the falling

62 Water, its Properties and Uses. [July,

of the snow. The portions of snow which fall first through the air,
will of course absorb the most of the ammonia, and consequently it is
found that those portions also nearest the ground contain the most.
The stimulating properties of this gas as food for plants, are well
known, and if the idea be true, which is a very common one
among farmers, that grain grows under snow, it may be owing to
the presence of this gas, carried down to the roots by the first
snow that melts, and absorbed by them. Other gases are also
absorbed by snow.

It will not be out of place here, to notice some other effects of
ice and snow upon vegetation, and the soil. Snow forms a cov-
ering for the grain fields of the farmer, of a kind which is almost
if not entirely a non-conductor of heat. Thus the temperature of
the surface of the earth is maintained in a uniform condition, and
the delicate texture of young plants is not exposed to the sudden
and fatal mutations of temperature which destroy them if unpro-
tected. This is owing to the non-conducting properties of the
snow as well as to the fact that it is light and porous, and con-
tains air, which is also a body almost incapable of conducting
heat.

Plants in the temperate zone are not liable to be destroyed by
mere intensity of cold. The cause of their being winter killed, is
their being exposed to great changes of temperature, by which
the fluids of the vessels are suddenly expanded and burst. If a
plant is frozen and then thawed out by the application of cold
water, there is no danger of destroying its life. In this way
plants which lie all winter under a mantle of snow, are safely
thawed by the gradual melting of the snow, before they become ex-
posed to the warm rays of the sun. But in winters, during which
little or no snow falls, vegetation is constantly affected by the
warmth of the sun, and again exposed to the intense cold of the
winter night. These changes of temperature destroy them.

Water possesses a peculiar property, during the process of
freezing, which is of great use in agriculture. Unlike other
bodies, it does not follow the law of contracting by decrease of
temperature. It observes the law till it sinks to the temperature of

1846.] Water, its Properties and Uses. 63

40 deg. Falir., when it begins to expand, and continues to do so
till it is frozen. We do not stop now to inquire the cause. We
would only refer to the practical use of this fact. And this is
principally in the renovation and reproduction of soils and the re-
ducing of rocks to a fine state preparatory to tlieir being convert-
ed into soil. The pores of the earth, baked and packed by the
heat of a summer sun, become in autumn replenished with water,
which freezes, and by its expansion breaks up the soil, and ren-
ders it porous and fine. All the parts are separate from each
other, and being finely divided are reduced to a condition for the
more ready control of the chemical affinities which are to reduce
them to the state of a fertile soil.

The crevices of rocks are permeated by water, and its smallest
openings absorb that fluid, which freezes and cracks them, and
breaks down the solid material into small fragments, or even into
a fine powder, reducing it at once to almost the condition of a
soil. This is the result of the simple mechanical action of water
during the process of freezing. Its agency does not end here. No
chemical change, w^th very few exceptions, can take place with-
out the presence of water. It brings the materials into a fluid
state, the state most favorable for the action of chemical aflSnities.
It is largely composed of oxygen, a substance whose affinities
have an almost infinite range, and by these two attributes it is en-
abled to reduce the rocks from which soils are formed into the
elements of vegetable food ; but its offices extend still farther. By
the growth of vegetables in the soil, these elements are exhaust-
ed, and here w^ater again is of use to restore the action which is
to renew fertility and restore productiveness. In relation to ma-
nures the case is the same. Buried in the soil, and unw^t by this
fluid, they might lie for ages unchanged. It is by the decomposi-
tion brought about by the agency of water, that they are rendered
available as nutriment to growing plants. So that, whether as
the medium through which the food is conveyed to the roots of
vegetables, or as the origin of those changes which prepare the
food, water is an indispensable agent.

The effects of water in its different states, upon the tempera-

64 Water, its Properties and Uses. [July,

ture of the earth and atmosphere, is a matter of considerable im-
portance to the agricultm-ist. It is a law well understood, that
by evaporation of water, cold is produced, or rather heat is ab-
stracted from other bodies in the vicinity. It is ow^ing to this
principle that many soils are called cold, and these are the soils
which consist largely of clay, and retain the water which falls
upon them, giving it oif to the atmosphere by a gradual process
of evaporation. The soil which is dry is in a condition to absorb
the genial rays of the sun, and become warmed for the proper
growth of vegetation, whilst in wet soils the sun's heat is all ab-
sorbed by the water, and is expended in converting that water
into vapor, with which it ascends into the air. There may be no
other difference in the two soils of neighboring fields than this,
and one will produce nothing but moss, and coarse grass, and
weeds, whilst the other w^ill be highly fertile. From the pre-
sence of too much water, the temperature of the one is kept so
low that decomposition of the materials of food does not take
place, and if it does, there is not heat enough to sustain the vital
energies of the plant.

This cause is the origin of the immense bodies of peat which
occupy the low grounds of so large a portion of this country.
Carried with water whilst the vegetable matter is collecting, the
cavity becomes gradually filled with a soaked and spongy mass
which soon becomes dry, but only undergoes a partial rotting un-
der the water. Such places, although the surface may be dry a
portion of the summer, can never be made productive as long as
they remain wet.

Here then, a practical rule suggests itself, and which has been
worth more to the agricultural interests of some entire nations,
than all the other aids that science has offered. We refer to
draining; not to the old-fashioned ditching which was once call-
ed draining, but to the thorough drying of the soil, by thorough
draining, which has been practised in Britain to the almost entire
renovation of agriculture there. Thousands of acres which be-
fore were considered as good for nothing, have been reclaimed
and made among the most productive lands of that kingdom^

1S46.] Water, its Properties and Uses. 65

What would be thought in this country of a man who would buy
a farm of 130 acres, and have immediately dug on it eighty or
ninety miles of drains'? And yet such is not by any means a
solitary fact in England.

This process may not be as extensively necessary in this coun-
try as in Great Britain, and yet there is no soil which is not im-
proved by making it of such mechanical condition as to readily
discharge any superfluous water which may otherwise stagnate
upon it. This is perfectly consistent likewise, with the doctrine
of irrigation, where the water from running streams is made to
flow over the land and saturate it. If the soil in this case be not
perfectly permeable to the water, so that it may readily pass
through, more injury than good will be the consequence. The
iatention in irrigating land is to flow it with water holding in so-
lution salts and gases, and decomposed matter of organic origin,
part of which substances will be deposited in the soil. All
water of creeks or rivers or springs, is charged with the soluble
substances of the soil and rocks over which it passes, and the
gases of the earth and air. These are all conveyed directly to
the roots and into the circulation of plants.

Another effect of water in regulating the temperature of the
air, may be found in those countries which lie contiguous to large
bodies of water. Maritime countries — islands of the sea — in-
deed all lands near large waters, have always a milder climate
than more remote ones. The fact is well known that the banks
of our large rivers for some distance interior, are protected from
early frosts by the heat given out by water during the process of
freezing.

A fact may be mentioned here of some little singularity, and
depending upon this cause. In the fall of the year, at evening,
when the ground freezes for the first few times, it will be found
that a thermometer suspended a few feet above the earth's sur-
face will indicate a degree of heat from 1^ to 3° above the freez-
ing point, so rapidly is heat given out by freezing water.

The atmosphere is always charged with the vapor of water,
and thus aids vegetable life and serves important purposes in the

No. VII. 5

66 Rain in WiUiamstown. [July?

economy of plants. Some have thought that they required water
only to live and thrive. This, however, is not so. And yet with-
out it, the hopes of the husbandman would fail. It is the great
agent in supplying plants with food, and as we have seen is
itself a large constituent of all vegetable matter.

AMOUNT OF RAIN IN WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS., IN 1845.

You have, once or twice, requested some statistics, relative to
the amount of water which annually falls here. It is not until
rather recently that I have obtained results altogether satisfactory,
taking the whole year together. During the warm months the
depth of rain can be easily estimated; but in the winter, or when-
ever the moisture falls in the form of hail or snow, the precise
quantity can not be ascertained so easily. My present method,
and one which appears to answer the purpose very well, is to
bring the water into a green-house attached to my study. A
single pane of glass is taken from the roof, and a tunnel insert-
ed. The lower surface of this, being constantly exposed to the
warm air of the room, melts the snow and sleet, as they fall. In
this way the difficulty above referred to is obviated. I have mea-
sured the quantity which has fallen in a graduated tube. I should
a little prefer to let the water fall into a vessel attached to one
arm of a balance, and thus find its weight. At present, however,
I adopt the other method. I will now give a comparative view
of the quantity of w^ater which fell here during the year 1845.

January, 80 inches. July, 136 inches.

February, — 63 " August, — 93 "

March, 72 " September,- 122 "

April, 49 « October,--- 57 "

May, 62 " November,- 92 "

June, 49 " December,- 75 "

The largest quantity, at any one time, was on the evening of
the 18th of September: comparative number, 44, nearly as much

f

1846.] Rain in Williamstovm. 67

as during some of the months. This fell in the course of an hour
or two, accompanied with sharp lightning.

It will be seen, from the table, that the spring months were
comparatively dry. The month of June also turning out dry, ve-
getation began to suffer after the middle of that month. This was
relieved, here, by heavy rains early in July; but south of us,
through Berkshire, at least the southern towns, the drouth was
excessive. Springs and wells were dry which have not failed for
thirty years.

I will now give the perpendicular depth which fell during the
year, 37,489 inches.

These facts are at your disposal, and if at any future time you
wish for similar statements I shall probably be able to furnish
them, and shall be happy to do so.

Yours respectfully.

A. HOPKINS.

William's College, July, 1846.

( 68)

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS.

Abstract of the Returns of the Massachusetts Agricultural Socie-
ties : pp. 198, 8vo.

Statistics of the Condition and Prospects of certain branches of
Industry in Massachusetts, for the year ending April 1, 1845 :
pp. 391, 8vo.

The volumes the titles of which we have copied above, are the
first of a series of volumes whose publication has been authorized
by acts of the legislature. The first volume contains or is made
up of abstracts of the doings of the state and county agricultural
societies, and embraces a variety, as well as a great amount, of
useful information on husbandry in general. The object of the
law requiring the publication of matters of this kind is highly
important and useful, as it is only by this mode that practical in-
formation on the best modes pursued by the profession, or in the
respective branches of husbandry can become at all widely disse-
minated.

Both publications were prepared by the Hon. J. G. Palfrey, Se-
cretary of the Commonwealth. We propose enriching our
columns with extracts from these works.

The most complete report is that of the Essex County Agricul-
tural Society. The first committee's report relates to the economy
of plowing with double teams, in which they give it as their opinion
that those plows are the best which lay the furrow slice flat
and even, especially where the ground is to be laid down to grass.
The plowman should not attempt to cut a furrow slice wider than
the plow was intended to cut.

Another committee recommends plowing with a single yoke of
oxen, and to cut a furrow less deep, and if advisable to increase

1846.] Agricultural Statistics. 60

the depth to employ a second pair of cattle before a subsoil plow.
A single pair of cattle with one man can plow one acre of land
in four hours, or two acres in one day. The premiums for plow-
ing are limited by the Worcester County Society to single teams,
without a driver.

Subsoil plowing is finding favor with the societies, and it is
considered that Howard's plow, with a double wing, is an im-
provement, as it gives steadiness without increasing materially the
draft.

The premiums which were awarded for dairy cows belonged to
the native breed. The following is a statement of the produce of
the cow receiving the first premium of the society. She belonged
to Henry Cressy, of Salem, and was six years old. She calved the
21st of May, and gave milk as follows:

From 21st of May to 21st of June, l,4691bs. 4oz.

21st of June to 21st of July, 1,264 0

2 1st of July to 21st of August,- - - 1,127 8

21st of August to 21st of Sept.,- - 956 8

Total, 4,8 ITlbs. 4oz.

It required 19 pounds of this cow's milk to make 1 pound of
butter. She was kept mostly on grass, but received during seven
weeks two quarts of shorts per day.

The second premium was awarded to Warner Averill, of Ips-
wich. This cow was six years old, and gave on an average
through 4 months, 35 pounds of milk per day. After she calved she
received two quarts of meal per day for about six weeks. During
September she received one quart of rye meal every night.

A seven year old cow belonging to W^illiam Williams also re-
ceived a premium. She calved Feb. 6, 1845. This calf was sold
to the butcher for ten dollars when six weeks and three days old.
After the calf was taken from her she gave from 14 to 15 quarts
of milk per day for about four months. In September she gave
8 quarts per day. The first two weeks after she calved she gave
10 quarts per day more than the calf could suck.

70 JVew Publications. [Juljj

On the Dairy.

Butter exhibited for premiums was in pound lumps, in tin cases
or boxes, so constructed that the whole was kept cool by lumps of
ice in the centre box.

The process for making the first premium butter was as follows:

The milk was strained into tin pans, in which it stood from 36
to 38 hours. It was then skimmed, and the cream was then put
into tin pails, standing on the bottom of the cellar. A little salt
was put into the pails before the cream, and stirred when cream
was added. It was the practice to churn twice a week. The
buttermilk is worked out by hand, without the addition of water.
The buttermilk being thoroughly worked out, the butter is imme-
diately salted with 1 oz. of ground rock salt to the pound, and
after 24 hours is reworked, packed in layers of five pounds each,
and salt sprinkled between them.

The second premium butter — the process pursued was to strain
the milk into tin pans, and place it in a cool stone cellar, where it
stood from 36 to 48 hours, when it was skimmed and the cream
put into stone pots. Churn twice a week. When churned, the
buttermilk is drawn off, and the butter washed twice with cold
water. A mixture of rock salt and sugar is used in the propor-
tion of one-fourth pound sugar and three-fourths pound salt, and
one ounce of the mixture used for every pound of butter. After
24 hours the butter was reworked, and weighed in pound balls.
The tin marketing boxes have ice coolers in the centre.

The third premium butter was made as follows: The milk
strained into tin pans and placed in a cool cellar. Previous to
churnintr it is lowered into the well and cooled. It is then churn-
ed, after the churn is soaked over night in cold water. The Ran-
dall cylinder churn is recommended. Churning once a week.
Buttermilk removed wholly by the hands, and is never rinsed
with cold water. The next day it is worked into pound lumps
for market. It is salted with about three-fourths ounce salt to
the pound, to which is added some sugar and saltpetre.

The fourth premium butter was made as follows: The milk
was strained into pans in which it stands from 24 to 36 hours in

1846.] Agricultural Statistics. 7Jr

a cellar; the cream is kept in tin pails; churning performed once
in four days in the early part of the season, and once a week in
the latter part. The cream is strained through a cloth into the
churn. The time required for churning averages only seven mi-
nutes. The butter is put into an earthen pan and water added
and repeated till the buttermilk is thoroughly rinsed from the
butter, or until it returns colorless. The butter is then worked
over. Then it is put into an earthen pan and salted with one
ounce of salt to a pound of butter. It is afterwards worked over
again, piece by piece, and made into balls and put into the cellar
till sent to market. One cow made from 20th day of May to the
20th day of September, 211 pounds and two ounces butter.

The fifth premium butter was made much as above. Water was
employed in forcing the butter from the buttermilk. It was salt-
ed with one ounce of salt and one-fourth ounce of loaf sugar to
the pound.

The Essex society awarded one premium on bog or swamp
land, which had been reclaimed. In connection with this award
the committee make the following important suggestions, and re-
commend the employment of a competent person to make a sur-
vey of bog and swamp lands with the view to the best mode of
reclaiming them. They say that some meadows are flooded with
springs from the neighboring high lands, others from springs
coming up from beneath; some are simple basins with hard, im-
pervious bottoms, and others still are combinations of the above,
and hence considering the variety of causes which combine in
producing swamp land, they recommend that these lands in the
county should be surveyed by a competent person who may dis-
cover the best and cheapest means of meeting any particular
case.

We find a statement of the cost of clearing an acre of swamp,
which may be of some value to some of our readers. One acre
partly covered with stunted bushes was cleared by the proprietor,
afterwards the stumps and hassocks and leveling was performed
by contract for $20.00. It was afterward covered M'ith loamy
gravel to the depth of one inch, requiring five days' work of two

72 J^ew Publications. [-^uly,

men and a boy and two yoke of oxen. This work was done in
the winter when the snow was two feet deep. A light dressing
of manure w^as then added, and sowed to grass April 15. The
crop of grass the first year was only one and a half tons. The
second year it was three tons of prime quality.

Premium on Fruit Trees in the JYursery.

This was awarded to Joshua H. Ordways, of West Newbury.
The following statement contains a valuable account of the mode
pursued by him in planting and rearing his nursery. The soil is
a hard gravel and slate, sub-soil clay. This was plowed in the
autumn eight inches deep, after corn, and two loads of fine barn-
yard manure on the surface and harrowed smooth. Then drilled
three feet apart, into which was scattered pumice. The seed
came up well and were hoed several times, during which the un-
healthy saplings were removed. At two years old they were
transplanted (first cutting off the tap root) in rows four feet apart
and ten inches from each' other. Those of the same size and
vigor were set together, or in the same nursery. In August they
were budded after the T mode on the south side of the tree, for
reasons obvious to any one.

It is recommended in manuring nurseries that it be spread
upon the surface, and not plowed in. Compost is preferred of
hog or barn-yard manure and muck or turf. The manuring may
be required once in three years. Does not recommend much
pruning, and transplants trees early in the spring.

Accompanying the transactions of the Essex agricultural soci-
ety, is a statement of the mode of composing a compost heap, by
David Wood, of Newbury.

46 loads of strong manure, principally from the hog yard.

71 do. salt meadow sods.

8 do. loam, top soil, from the road side.

5 do. lime and hair from the tan pits.

6 do. decayed chips from a ship yard.
2 do. anthracite coal ashes.

15 do. potato vines.
2 do. refuse sizintj.

1846.] Agricultural Statistics. 73

2 do. carcases of dead horses.

2 hogsheads of urine.

10 do. of soap-boiler's ley. The whole forms 150 loads of
well-rotted matter, which has been made at an expense of $50.
[Any thing organic may be used in the compost heap.]

Another mode of manufacturing manure is given in the Mid-
dlesex county society's transactions, by Augustus Tuttle, of Con-
cord. From 50 to 100 loads of peat are thrown into the lane
leading from the barn-yard to the pasture, and over which the
cows pass. This, when pulverized by their treading, is taken
into the cellar of the barn, when it is mixed with the droppings and
urine of the stock. Ashes and lime, as well as fresh mud, are
also added at times.

Worcester Society.

A premium is awarded to Moses Gill, of Princeton, for the best
native bull calf of six months, and weighing 600 pounds. He
has had only his mother's milk, and she has been fed on grass.

Butter. — The committee recommend strongly to the farmers
due attention to the choice of cows, frequent change of pasture,
sufficient salt for the stock, pure water — kind treatment — system-
atic milking and speedy straining of the milk after the milking,
&c. Premiums on carrots were awarded to Orrin Fairchild and
D. Waldo Lincoln. Mr. Wheeler grew carrots successfully on a
piece of land for three years, which is an unusual course — yield-
ing the first year 361 bushels, at a cost of $78.75. The
second, 710 bushels, at a cost of $85.25, with the nett pro-
fit of $92.25. The third year, 736 bushels, at the cost of $ 135.00,
valued at 25 cents per bushel.

Mr. D. W^aldo Lincoln raised at the rate of 710 bushels of
carrots to the acre, weighing 56 pounds, at the cost of $28.75,
on one-fourth of an acre. Mr. Fairbanks grew on 68 1 rods 181
bushels, of 56 pounds, at a cost of $19.48, valued at $50.68,
leaving a profit of $31.20.

Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin Agricultural Society.

The committee on stock, eulogizes the ox for his usefulness to

74 J\'ew Publications. [July,

the New England Farmer, and gives him a preference over the
horse. The first premium bull was a full blooded Durham, three
years old, and weighed 2010 pounds.

The Hampden agricultural society gave four premiums on milch
cows: the first to G. W. Sizer, who stated that during seven days
in June, his cow gave 426 pounds of milk, averaging 61 pounds
per day; greatest quantity 66| pounds: keeping, hay and grass,
with one quart of bran per day. (Not informed what breed she
is of) Carlton Thayer's cow winning the second premium, gave
63 pounds per day from the 10th to the 20th of June, and 45
pounds from the 10th to the 20th of September. Josiah Brown-
ell won the third premium. His cow produced 60 pounds from
May to the 20th June, and 40 pounds from the 20th August to
the 20th September. Keeping hay and grass alone. Miner
Hitchcock's cow produced 55 pounds of milk per day on grass
alone during the month of June, and 17^ pounds of butter from
10th to the 21st September. Other excellent cows were exhibit-
ed, one of which belonged to Dr. W. H. Cleveland, of Spring-
field, and which furnished milk which sold in sixteen months,
amounted to $234.55.

Another receipt for compost, and cost — 135 bushels of leached

ashes, 62 cents per load, $6 25

40 loads shell lime, 8 00

10 loads of peat, 6 25

1^^ cords of chip dirt, 2 50

6 hogsheads of refuse liquor from paper-mill,-- 3 00

38 loads cost $33 25

For making poudrette, the gentleman says, take a hogshead or
barrel with dry peat and add old fish brine and unleached ashes,
and saturate with human urine. It is considered the best and
cheapest manure which is ever used, being adapted to every kind
of soil.

Berkshire Agricultural Society.

The Berkshire Agricultural Society held its fair on the 1st and
2d days of October in 1845. The first day is devoted to the ex-

1846.] Agricultural Statistics. 75

hibition of animals, domestic manufactures and agricultural im-
plements. The plowing match came off on the morning of the
2d; after which the address was delivered, by the Hon. Asahel
Foote of Williarastown, the president of the society.

Jjgricultural products. — There is a growing spirit to cultivate
wheat; and it is the opinion of the committee that it may be cul-
tivated with success. Seven pieces of winter wheat were entered
for premium which were apparently as good, in berry and yield,
as the same crop at the west. The secret of success is considered
by the committee to consist in sowing upon a warm quick soil;
summer plowing; fall cross plowing; early sowing, and to seed
heavy, using two bushels of seed to the acre. The same plan to
be followed mainly in the cultivation of spring wheat. Mr. Mil-
lard, of Egremont, received the first premium for winter wheat.
The piece was five acres, and was judged would yield 30 bushels
to the acre. It was well filled, clean and of a heavy growth. It
was summer plowed, cross plowed in the fall; had a light top
dressing, with fine manure; sowed in September, with two bushels
of seed to the acre. Five crops of meslins were offered. These
were considered valuable bread stuflfs. Many consider barley a
valuable crop for provender, and the best for stocking land. Five
pieces w^ere viewed, which would yield from 40 to 60 bushels to
the acre. Twenty-eight pieces of corn and fourteen of potatoes
were offered for premium. The committee were particular in ob-
serving how many hills to the rod, and the quantity each rod pro-
duced. Abstract below: the opinion expressed is that about 34
or 36 hills is the right number.

Table of potatoes. Table of corn.

Cases. No. of hills. Bushels. Quarts. Cases. No. of hills. Bushels. Quarts.

36 2 00 32

35 1 08 31

50 3 00 40

29 1 07 50

44 * 2 00 45

"40 2 16 24

44 2 24 30

06

09

01

06

10

06

16

76

JWio Publications.

[July,

Cases. No. of hills.

Busliels.

Quart-i.

Cases. No. of hills.

Bushels.

Quart

44

3

06

31

08

36

2

08

29

14

44

2

03

37
30

17
15

25

0

29

36

12

33

12

35

16

42

17

42

18

31

22

38

17

36

19

The cost of reclaiming a swamp, wet land, covered with bogs,
stump and hard hacks, was as follows:

For 22 rods of underdrain ditch, $'8 80

Cutting brush and burning, 12 00

Plowing and harrowing, - 5 36

$26 16
By ashes obtained, 11 00

Cost. $'15 16

The land, which was valueless before, is now considered to be
worth $75 per acre. Another swamp was cleared at an expense
of $40 per acre, and is now worth $100.

Herd's Grass Seed. — On this the committee remark justly, that
every farmer should raise or save his own grass seed, as much
as his oats. Thorough and liberal stocking is recommended
strongly.

Plowing Match. — The plowmen are required to plow quarter
of an acre, in 50 minutes. Work well done is encouraged and
rewarded rather than speed. An ox team once plowed a quarter
of an acre in 25 minutes. The rule is that the furrow slice should

1846.] Agricultural Statistics. 77

be five inches deep, and not over eleven inches wide. Deeper
plowing is recommended. The time varied from 40 to 50
minutes.

Plymouth Agricultural Society.

This society offered premiums for the most extensive forest
trees of any kind suitable for timber. These were claimable in
1845. Two claims were entered, and two were awarded, the
first to Hon. Morrill Allen of Pembroke, and the second to Mr.
Pardon Keith of West Bridgewater. Remarkable success seems
to have attended the efforts to cultivate forest trees, inasmuch as
the soil was perfectly worn out, and almost worthless. The
gr-owth has been rapid. The result of both experiments is such
as to demonstrate that all the sandy plains and barren fields may
be sown with the seed from forest trees, the white birch, white
and yellow pine, locust and white oak, all have succeeded. Seed
may be sown in the fall, and left upon the top of the soil. It is
said young pines are injured by pruning the living branches.

The committee on produce awarded a premium of $15 to B.
Hobart, of Abingdon, for the best field of winter wheat. Produce
22 bushels to the acre. Land was well prepared, but the com-
mittee express some doubts as to. the profitableness of the crop,
except in rich lands. A premium was awarded to Daniel Alden,
of Middleborough, of $8, for oats. The yield as given under oath,
was 71 bushels!! to the acre. Soaked the oats 24 hours in water
and then rolled them in ashes. Two bushels and three pecks
were sown to the acre and forty-seven rods; less seed than far-
mers generally use.

Three premimns were awarded on corn. The produce of the
first, weighed 59| lbs. to the square rod; of the second, 55| lbs.;
of the third, 48| lbs. to the square rod. The potato crop which
received the first premium, equalled 320 bushels to the acre.

Statement of Joseph Kingman of the mode and cost of reclaiming
a quantity of swamp land, on which the soil or muck was from six
to fifteen inches deep, resting on a hard pan of gravel clay. The
field was stony.

78 JVew Publications. [July,

Digging out the stones and removing them, $25 00

Sixty-five rods ditching, 12 00

100 loads sand, and spreading, 12 00

25 " compost, 13 00

Grass seed, 1 50

Sowing and bushing, 1 00

$64 50

The pieces contained one acre and nineteen rods; cost per acre,
$56.90.

Statement of Henri/ Alden on Salt as a Manure.

Mixed April, 1843, two small loads of barn manure, with the
same quantity of peat and one bushel of coarse salt. Another
heap mixed without the salt. These heaps were put on to two
pieces of land of 20 rods each, planted with corn and potatoes
the 18th of May. The corn failed and did not come up well.
The salted potatoes were dug in October, and w^eighed, making
14 bushels and 5 pounds. Those not salted amounted to 12 bushels
and 56 pounds. The next ground which was salted broad cast,
produced 2 bushels and 3 pecks on salted ground. On the same
on unsalted, but the oats were 4 pounds heavier to the bushel.

Where grass land had been salted, the hay weighed, - - 156 lbs.

Unsalted, 133 "

Statement of Paul Hathaway on the Cost of Subduing a
Foul Pasture abounding in bushes and stones.

12 days work with 5 yoke of oxen, $22 00

8 days labor and 1 yoke, 12 00

Cost the first year, $34 00

Labor the second year, 37 00

The whole cost of subduing 2 acres,_3 quar-
ters, 8 rods, $71 00

Statement of Leonard Hill ori his Corn Crop of one acre.

Plowed May, 1845, eight inches deep; spread 3.\ cords of good
stable manure, and plowed it in; then furrowed it, three feet apart;

1846.] Agricultural Statistics. 79

in the furrows put two cords of the same kind of manure, and then
planted in hills twenty inches apart, three or four kernels of the
large white smutty corn, on the 13 — 15th Maj ; June 10th hoed,
and 20th second time; topped the stalks, middle of September, as
it did not stand up well. Expense :

Plowing, $2 75

5^ cords manure, - — 22 00

Hauling on and plowing, 4 50

Planting, 4 75

Seed corn, - — 42

Hoeing, 4 75

Killing weeds, 75

Topping stalks, 2 00

Harvesting, -- 8 00

Total, $49 92

Yield, 118 bushels — Value, $76 65

Stalks, 10 00

Butts, 8 00

$94 65
49 92

Profit of one acre, ------ $44 73

Josiah Whitman raised 103 bushels of corn upon an acre, at a
cost of $55.

Value, at 60 cents per bushel, $61 80

Corn fodder, 12 00

$73 80
55 00

Profit, $18 80

Barnstable Society.
Farms. — Successful cultivation of a small farm, by James H.
Knowles, of Eastham. It contains 20 acres, two of which are

80 JVew Publications. [July,

covered with salt works. Produce of 8 acres under cultivation in
1845: Corn, 90 bushels ; rye, 85 ; oats, 100 ; potatoes, 150;
besides beets and other roots. The remaining 12 acres produced
12 tons of English hay; one acre of which yielded 4 tons and 166
lbs. Pastured 15 head of cattle and 2 horses. Has made this
year 418 loads of manure, by composting loam, muscles, mud, rock
weed, peat, sea weed, and mixing therewith one cask of lime.

Statistics of the Condition and Products of certain branches of
Industry, for the year ending April 1, 1845.

Massachusetts has a territory of 7,500 square miles, which is
divided into 309 towns. Returns of the products of the various
kinds of industry were received into the Secretary's office on or
by the first day of October, for this year. These returns seem to
be as complete as it was possible to be procured under existing
circumstances. The errors which probably exist in the tables are
probably not very important. They represent a less amount of
capital and a product less than is realized by the owners, arising
from a mistaken notion that the intentions of the government in
procuring the returns were to form a basis for taxation.

The population of the Commonwealth is 737,700; that of Bos-
ton, the capital, 93,383. There are are 14 towns whose popula-
tion is about 5000; 4 of about 10,000; 1 of 15,000 (Salem); 1
of 20,000 (LowelJ). Most of the population reside in country
towns and villages, whose population is above 1000, and less than
4000.

Of the 737,700 people in Massachusetts, it appears that 152,-
766 are employed in some mechanical industrial pursuit. This
number is set down as hands employed, which in some cases
would have been returned as operatives. The capital invested in
these pursuits is $59,145,767; whose value in the returns is stated
at $114,478,443.

1846'.] Agricultural Statistics. 81

The number of cattle is 276,549 Value, $5,327,199

Horses, 65,181 3,451,118

Sheep, 354,943 558,284

Swine, 104,740 9 17,435

Asses and Mules, 47 2,785

Total, 801,460 $10,256,821

The business which employs the greatest number of hands is
the shoe business; there are 45,877 persons in this manufacture
alone, the whole value of which is returned at $14,799,140. The
cotton manufacture, or manufacture of cotton goods of all kinds,
employs 20,710 hands, w4th a capital of $17,739,000, whose va-
lue is stated at $13,193,449. In the manufacture of calico, 2,053
hands are employed, with a capital of $1,401,500, in value
$4,779,817. In woollens, 7,372 hands are employed, whh a
capital of $5,604,002, and in value $8,877,478. Value of wool,
$365,136; silk, $151,429. In the whale fishery, 11,378 hands
are employed, with an invested capital of $11,805,910, in value
$10,371,167; and 7,866 hands in mackerel and cod fishery, with
a capital of over a million of dollars; in the manufacture of palm
leaf hats and braid, &c., 13,311 hands are employed, whose value
is $1,649,496.

Value of Exports.

Domestic produce, $7,756,396. Foreign produce, $2,594,634.

Value oj" Imports.
Domestic and foreign produce, $10,351,030.

In American vessels, $18,150,295

In Foreign vessels,- - - 4,630,729

Total, $22,781,024

The following objects were encouraged by offers of premiums
by the societies of the state. Bulls, milch cows, heifers, working
oxen, steers, fat cattle, greatest number of working oxen from any
one town, horses and colts, sheep, swine, plowing (double teams;
single ox teams) horses, subsoil plowing, effects of subsoil plow-
ing, management of farms, reclaiming wet meadows, subduing

No. VII. 6

82 J\"ew Publications. [July,

tushes in pastures, irrigation, experiment in manures, turning
crops as a manure, preparation of compost manure, application of
of compost manure, application of sea weed, butter, cheese, honey
and bee hives, maple sugar, grain crops, root crops, bean crop,
hay crop, hay seed, fruits and vegetables, cranberries, forest trees,
fruit trees, live fences, mulberry trees and silk, cocoons and silk,
introduction of new and valuable grass, comparative value of
crops as food for cattle, fattening cattle and swine, experiments
for determining the proper distance to plant corn and potatoes,
implements and inventions, domestic manufactures.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF
PATENTS.

This valuable document has been placed upon our table, and
we intend to notice hereafter those parts which we deem the most
important to our readers. It is a full and able statement of mat-
ters relating to patents. We should, however, advise that some
discrimination should be used in the selection of agricultural in-
formation, and that abstracts from communications upon the sub-
jects of farming be made still less voluminous than they appear in
this year's report. Thus we would recommend the omission of
all newspaper matter which is incidental or is merely conjectural.
Of this kind of conjectural matter there is too much. Notwith-
standing these objections, which by no means are injurious to our-
selves, the document is extremely valuable, and we hope that
Congress wull still permit the Commissioner to issue his report as
heretofore.

We have space only for the following summary of the Commis-
sioner in regard to the potato disease and its proposed remedies:

1st. That all the detailed appearances cannot be considered as
legitimate effects of any one cause.

2d. That many of them are merely accidental, and that their
presence or absence would prove nothing as to the nature of the
cause of that evil with which they are associated.

3d. That we have reason to believe that the cause itself, and

1S46.] Report of Commissioner of Patents. 83

its mode of development, have often been ccifonnded together, or
mistaken one for the other.

4th. That there is great reason to doubt whether the immediate
effects of the latent cause have been so far subject of observation,
that an accurate and sure opinion can be formed respecting it.

5th. That, whatever be the cause, there are different stages of
its development — degrees of its power ; and that these tlepend
on a variety of adaptations in the circumstances of the crop.

6th. That the rapidity oi development also corresponds with the
aid derived from extraneous circumstances; and hence some, if
not all of the evil results may be remedied.

7th. That it is doubtful whether any remedy suggested has
been sufficiently tried to enable us to pronounce it a certain or
sure one.

8th, That it is important to study more accurately the influence
of soil, seed, culture, temperature and condition of the atmosphere
on this crop; and that it is only by a series of carefid and discri-
minating observations that we can clearly decide on the probable
origin and most fitting remedy.

9th. That many of the preventives or checks recommended
have, in their favor, so good proof of a degree of efficacy, that, till
better are discovered, they may be safely adopted, suitable regard
being had to the similar or different circumstances of their appli-
cation.

We believe there has been, as usual, injury sustained to the
potato crop of the United States by the prevalence of ordinary
and common causes, such as must be expected, more or less, every
year. We do not doubt, also, that there has been an extraordi-
nary loss of this valuable product; but whether it be owing to
some before known cause, which, from the peculiarity of the sea-
son or some unknown circumstances, has exerted an unusual in-
fluence, and thus a new development, or to some hitherto unexpe-
rienced cause till within a short period past, we cannot say.
Whatever it is, its progress is not yet fully traced, and it is only
till more light is shed on the subject that we can confidently pro-
nounce in favor of any one theory; and it seems probable that
there is a combination of the views that have been suggested ne-
cessary, in order to account for its various phases, as we cannot
resolve all the great features into one, entirely independent of all
others. It so happens, however, that we have it in our power to
make a comparison as to the aspect of the evil among ourselves,
and in those countries where it has prevailed.

(84)

FARMERS^ MISCELLANY.

RURAL LIFE.

BY C. N. BEMENT.

The first wish of childhood is rural happiness; nor is that ever
lost sight of, except where some turbulent and restless passion
depraves and hurries away the soul. In every period of life it
animates virtuous and ingenuous minds. The idea of a rural
retreat in the evening of his days, accompanies the mechanic to
his shop, the merchant to his counting-room, the lawyer to the
bar, the physician to the sick bed, and the divine to the pulpit,
who sees, even there, his earthly paradise upon the confines of
heaven, and hardly wishes to enter the celestial mansions by any
other path.

The middle age, when the effervescence of youth is over, when
the body retains its strength, and the mind enjoys its greatest
vigor, is the period best adapted to the useful labors of agricul-
ture; but unfortunately this is also the age of ambition, which
hurries us away from the peaceful path, where every step is
strewed with flowers, to lose ourselves in the endless mazes of
politics. But the intriguing politician and the wordy orators of
the present day will be buried with their principles and their par-
ties in eternal oblivion, when the man who has introduced a new
plant, or eradicated a destructive w^eed, who has taught us to im-
prove our domestic animals, or to guard against the ravages of
noxious insects; who has invented a new implement of husband-
ry, or simply determined the angle the mould-board should make
with the plowshare, will be remembered with gratitude, as the
benefactor of society.

In almost all professions and pursuits of city life, the majority
are looking forward to the day when they shall have acquired

1846.] Rural Life. 85

property sufficient to enable them to leave the cares and anxie-
ties of business, and purchase peace and enjoyment in rural re-
tirement. Many favorites of fortune, in our city, have acted
wisely in making secure what they had gained, and have retired
to the country. Some have selected places on the banks of the
noble and majestic Hudson, while others have retired to the more
quiet and secluded shade, of hill and dale, darkened forests and
golden fields; around their dwellings the delicate and gay of
Flora's kingdom have displayed all their beauty and richness; the
cool and refreshing shade, the luscious and fully ripened fruit, the
growing grass, the waving fields of golden grain, the bleating
flocks, the lowing herds, have all lent their aid in the purchase of
happiness. But, alas! a void is often felt in the restless heart of
the possessor, and this feeling too generally prevails. The active
merchant finds the routine of country life too dull, he must either
return to the city, run the risk of mercantile speculation, or he
must support a house in town for occupancy in the winter months.
In nine cases out of ten, they often lose all and die in want. But,
let me ask, why is it that country life is so insupportable to fami-
lies grown rich in the city? Has rural scenery lost its charms?
No: not to those of properly cultivated minds.

Within a few years the occupation of a farmer has been ele-
vated in general estimation; a residence in the country has be-
come more desirable among those w^ho have accumulated fortunes
in other pursuits, and a taste for useful and ornamental culture
evinced, which are full of promise for the future.

The enjoyment to be derived from a residence in the countiy
depends principally on a knowledge of the resources which a farm,
however small, is capable of affording. The benefits experienced
by breathing air unconfined by close streets of houses, and uncon-
taminated by the smoke of chimneys; the cheerful aspect of vege-
tation; the singing of birds in their season; and the enlivening
eff^ect of finding ourselves unpent up by buildings, and in compa-
ratively unlimited space, are felt by most people; but it requires
some little knowledge of the process or decline of vegetation
throughout the year, and of rural nature generally, to be enabled

86 Farmers^ Miscellany. [July,

to derive much enjoyment from the recurrence of the seasons, and
their influence on plants; and much more knowledge of vegeta-
tion, botany, natural history, and the art of husbandry, to derive
the greatest amount of advantage which a farm and garden are
calculated to afford.

The common idea associated with a residence in the country,
is that of profit; that an income should be realised from all ex-
penditures there made. But why, it may be asked, make this
distinction, so unfavorable in its effects, to the prosperity and im-
provement of the country? Are the splendid edifices, costly fur-
niture, and luxurious indulgences in cities, sources of income?
Are they not rather intended to administer to the comfort and
gratify the taste of the proprietors, without any regard to the cost,
or any expectation of revenue? Why, then, should it be urged,
that such investments should yield an income, because the loca-
tion is on the border of a river, in the midst of a forest, or em-
bowered in some secluded vale? The answer is difficult. Yet
on the other hand it can be shown that a less extravagant ex-
penditure in the country will produce infinitely more interesting
and imposing results. It is not in buildings that money should
be expended. The more simple and neat their structure, the bet-
ter will they comport with our laws of distribution of property,
the genius of our government, and the habits of the people,
Here architectural taste should be guided by economy. It is the
improvement of the grounds which surround the establishment
that is so much required, to render the country desirable as a
place of residence. Here it is that wealth, and intelligence and
taste can do much, can produce such striking effects, and contri-
bute, more to the enjoyment of life, than it is possible to accom-
plish in the midst of a city, even by the most lavish expenditure.

Is not a garden, entensive grounds, umbrageous walks, verdant
lawns, and sparkling cascades, quite as interesting objects as the
massive walls of brick and stone, which are wedged in continu-
ous ranges, in the thronged and dusty streets of a city ? Is not
the distant landscape, whether radiant in the rich and various
tints of vernal luxuriance, or clad in the gorgeous draperies of

1S46.] Rural Life. 87,:

autumn — the melodious concert of the birds — the sunset splendors
of the western sky — the congenial serenity of summer's bland and
dewy eve — quite as elevating to the mind, soothing to the soul,
and congenial to the heart, as sublime and inspiring as " the stir
of the great Babel," and the deafening surge of the living deep,
which resounds through all her gates?

There is a great deal of enjoyment to be derived from perform-
ing the different operations of gardening and farming, indepen-
dent altogether of the health resulting from this kind of exercise.
To labor for the sake of arriving at a certain result, and to be
successful in attaining it, are, as cause and effect, attended by a
cei tain degree of satisfaction to the mind, however unimportant
the results obtained.

It is not only a condition of our nature, that in order to secure
health and cheerfulness, we must labor, but we must also labor in
such a way as to produce something useful or agreeable. A man
who plants a tree or sows a grass-plot in his yard, lays a more
sure foundation for enjoyment, than he who builds a wall or lays
down a paved walk.

To dig, to hoe, to plow and to rake, are not operations requir-
ing much skill; but their value consists in preparing for crops, or
in encouraging the growth of crops already coming forward.

One of the greatest of all the sources of enjoyment resulting
from the endless variety which it produces, either by the perpe-
tual progress of vegetation which is going forward in it to matu-
rity, dormancy, or decay, or by the almost innumerable kinds of
plants which may be raised in even the smallest gardens. Even
trees are undergoing perpetual changes throughout the year; and
trees change also in every succeeding year, relatively to that
which is past, because they become larger and larger as they ad-
vance in age, and acquire more of their characteristic and mature
forms.

Those who are partial to the country — and where is the man of
genius who feels not a pride and delight approaching to ecstacy
from the contemplation of its scenery, and the happiness which
its contribution affords? — those who have paid attention to the

88 Farmers' Miscellany. [July,

process of agriculture, and view its occurrences with interest;
who are at the same time alive to all the minutiae of the animal
and vegetable creation ; who mark " How nature paints her
colors, how the bee sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet,"
will derive from the study of nature a gratification the most per-
manent and pure.

Writers of all ages have been lavish of their praises of a coun-
try life. The pleasures of rural nature are consistent with every
period of our lives; and they certainly approach the nearest of all
others to those of the purely philosophical kind.

But let us for a moment point out the causes that render a
country life unequal to anticipation.

For those who have been accustomed to the activity and soci-
ety of a city, a retired country seat, however beautiful and desir-
able the situation for rural scenery, is not calculated to afford the
expected enjoyments. There are very few minds that can be con-
tinually pleased and contented in communion with inanimate
objects, and the brute creation. The frequent company of our
fellow creatures, the numerous offices of friendship and duty at-
tending the compact of society, must still form a considerable
portion of daily incidents, independent of those of our own family
circle, in order to keep up the elasticity of the mind, and the
vibration of hope and fear. If, then, the frequent presence of our
neighbors is necessary to brighten up the countenance, in choos-
ing a country residence, he who had spent most of his days in the
city should not locate himself on some lonely bank of the Hudson,
but in some little village, in which live a good parson, a learned
physician, and an intelligent schoolmaster. It tends very much
to deprive a long storm of its tediousness, by stepping into the
doctor's now and then, for a little chit chat; or having the cler-
gyman, wife and daughter, to run over at a slack of rain, and
keep up the zest of social life, while roars the howling wind and
rain without.

Another reason why a country life often fails of being agreea-
ble, is, a deficiency of a cultivated and scientific acquaintance
with the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Some knowledge of

1846.] Rural Life. 89

physiology, a degree of familiarity with the terms and classifica-
tion of botany, and knowledge of the habits and anatomical struc-
ture of animals; all, or much of this should be acquired previous
to leaving the city, where the facilities for such information, in
part, are incomparably greater than in the country.

It is not my intention or desire to damp the sanguine expecta-
tions of young men, but there are sedate and reflecting minds,
even among such, who will profit, as they go along, by experi-
ence, and take caution from the mistakes of others, their neigh-
bors; rural pursuits will also become agreeable to such, and a
strong inducement to reside in the country, and at the same time
afford employment and livelihood to those about them. Besides,
to such persons there is a constant variety in looking after the
trees, shrubs, fiuits, and crops, &c., which they plant, and see
grow and flourish under their care; and which are presenting
themselves always under some renewed form, rendering agricul-
ture the most agreeable and least tiresome of human pursuits.

Unless a man has a fortune at his command, sufficient to bear
him through, (when he may be at liberty to please himself,) let
him not be led into whimsical or extravagant expenses; neither
should the man of fortune deceive himself by visionary profits,
estimated or anticipated, and which are not to be realized.

" Agriculture," says an ancient writer, " is the most certain
source of domestic riches. Where it is neglected, whatever
wealth may be imported from abroad, poverty and misery will
abound at home. Such is and ever will be the fluctuating state
of trade and manufactures, that thousands of people may be in
full employment to-day, and in beggary to-morrow. This can
never happen to those who cultivate the ground. They can always
by industry, obtain at least the necessaries of life, and the fruits
of their own labor."

90 Farmers^ Miscellany [July,

LETTERS ON THE ADAPTATION OF FARMING TO
CIRCUMSTANCES.

BY AGRICOLA.
LETTER No. I.

Gentlemen, — An article which appeared in the April No. of
your Journal has arrested my attention, on the impossibility of the
East offering any competition to the West in the ordinary pro-
ducts of the farm, and if I had time, I should take pleasure in in-
vestigating the matter at large, in some important points which I
think the author of that communication has neglected. The fact
is a very important one, that farmers in the middle and eastern
states are wasting their energies, and throwing aw^ay their re-
sources, in the hopeless effort to produce the same articles that
are grown in the new states, and to sell them in their own mar-
kets at a price which will fay the interest on the value of their
land — then, the expense of cultivation — and lastly, the cost of
getting them to market — and after all this, yield a fair profit.
These four particulars must strike you, as they perhaps often have,
as obstacles of no small magnitude in the way of the eastern
farmer.

The greatest of them is unquestionably the first, and is fairly
and satisfactorily examined, quite at large, by your April corres-
pondent. Col. T. J. Carmichael. In fact, he has done justice, as
far as possible in the short space he employs, to all these hind-
rances, and it really strikes me that if our farmers would now
" think on these things," a change of immense magnitude would
be brought about.

It seems to be a settled conviction in the minds of all our ag-.
riculturists now-a-days, that, if a farmer does not grow a certain
article for the market, yet, if he is a consumer of that article, he
must at least grow as much as he consumes. No idea can be
more false, nor founded upon more fallacious grounds, as may be
shown in very few words, not in the shape of argument, but ap-
peal to every man's own practices in his pursuits. It would be

1846.] Letters on Farming. 91

considered very ridiculous for a farmer to tan his own hides, and
make his own shoes, simply because he is obliged to wear them.
There was a time when oiu' farmers' wives carded and spun and
wove, oftentimes, the materials for their husband's coat and pant-
aloons. But they did it because they were obliged to, and be-
cause they could do it cheaper than they could buy the materials.
There are few or none who do this now, and they w^ould be set
down as possessed of little prudence or economy if they were to
do it. They would be throwing away their time, w^hich could be
employed to better purpose. They would be throwing away the
materials, which they could sell for more, in proportion, than they
are worth in their homespun fabric. They know they can sell
the material, and employ their time and labor in the production of
other things, which will purchase the clothing they used to man-
ufacture, and will leave them a handsome profit. This is a view
of the case perfectly on a parallel with the farmer who continues
to raise, at the present day of universal and far-reaching compe-
tition, an article of food simply because he is a consumer of that
article. He is infinitely more foolish who grows an article for
market, when he can buy it cheaper than he can grow it, or can
raise an article w^hich he can barter for it, at a large profit. As
well should the cotton manufacturer be also a manufacturer of
linens, and woolens, and silks, only because he wears shirts and
pantaloons, and his wife and daughters wear dresses of the latter
material.

Must you sow no wheat? Not a bushel. No rye? None. No
corn? No, nothing that another can raise cheaper than you,
while at the same time you can raise on the same amount of land
anything else which will purchase all you w^ant of these and
leave you a profit. If you do, you show a lamentable want of
- foresight, and it is not to be wondered at that you are not making
money, and that your farm is getting behind hand. You need not
run away to the west to avoid the evil, as so many have already
done. You have the ability — the skill — all but the enterprise —
to revolutionize your business and put yourself at once in the way
of becoming a rich and thriving farmer. And how? That is

92 Fanners' .Miscellany. [July,

the question we are about to answer, and we hope to do so in a
way to open your eyes to the truth.

The products of a farm must be adapted to the peculiar circiun-
stances under which it is situated — its value in monev — its conti-
guity to, or remoteness from market — the cost of growing, and
the price in market, &c. And here is the point where our lead-
ing, or would be leading men in agriculture, have missed the
mark. I have already made it sufficiently manifest that, because
a man owns a farm and cultivates it, is no reason why he should
raise every product which will grow under his latitude. Better
by far would it be for him, if he would grow some one product
which would pay him.

The character of the soil — its chemical and mechanical pro-
perties, are important to be known and understood, but the cha-
racter of the market is a matter of greater moment. By the
proper application of manures, and good cultivation of the soil,
a man utterly unversed in the science of the thing, may gather
large crops and remunerating ones, if he has an eye to the mar-
ket he is to sell in, otherwise he will find it a losing game. It
should be the object of leading men, to show the practical farmer
the true extent and the proper bearing of his resources, before
anything else. If, in the state of New York, the same efforts
had been made to induce farmers to adapt their labor and skill to
the circumstances under which they live, that have been made to
induce them to become scientific men, we should now probably
see a large part of the state a garden, compared with its existing
barrenness. There has been too much loose and indefinite and
unpointed direction to the business of farming, for a few years
past. Instead of pointing out distinctly the direction in which
the labor of the farmer can be applied so as to be most produc-
tive; instead of investigating dispassionately the condition under -
which the farmers in the different parts of this widely- extended
country are placed, all efforts to improve his position and to ad-
vance the art have been a sort of vague inducement to him to try
to increase and improve himself in the production of those very
articles in the production of which he has to compete with new

1846.] Letters on Farming. 93

soils and cheap lands, and every other disadvantage. It appears
to me that the first step to make our farmers improve, should be
to persuade them to give up the growing of such articles, and
enter upon the cultivation of such as they have a manifest and
real advantage in. And what are these articles ?

In answering this question, I might enumerate a long list of
what may be called perishakle products of the soil, which I think
will exclude all our grains, and the growth of wool, and in con-
nection with them I would also include the raising and fattening
of animals for the butcher, and perhaps, collaterally the growth
of the mulberry and the raising of silk worms. I say collateral-
ly, because I think this business may be made profitable to the
farmer, as a secondary occupation for his family during hours
which they can readily spare for the care of worms, without in-
tefering with other avocations, and that in at least some cases, it
may be a valuable addition to the labor of the farm to fill up ac-
tually vacant time, when the farm is devoted to such objects of
culture as do not fill up the whole time. Such will be preemi-
nently the case in the instance of farming under the necessity" of
circumstances which I am about to mention, and which it strikes
me is the species of farming adapted to the Hudson river valley,
and the other great valleys and thoroughlares of this eastern part
of this continent, which have ready — easy — and rapid communi-
cation with the great markets of the country, and especially with
foreign markets. But I am an Orange county man, and I am
looking now principally at the interests of the river valley in
which I live. If my views appear to those farmers who live in
other sections as applicable to their condition and circumstances,
it is the easiest thing in the world for them to apply the sugges-
tions, which I can assure them they are fully welcome to, with
the wish that they may profit by them. But, gentlemen, my pen
is somewhat like my tongue, and I have overrun more room al-
ready than I intended to use in saying all I had to say when I
sat down. I will say the rest in another letter.

j\^eioburgh, July 1, 1S46.

94 Farmers' Miscellany. [July,

LETTER No. 2.
In my last I spoke of regulating farming according to the cir-
cumstances in which a farmer is placed. In this I will not in-
clude the character of his soil, for he may make his soil what he
pleases. Yet this might be, and actually is a circumstance of
considerable importance. But I shall have special reference to
the farmer's proximity to market, including of course the value of
his land and the cost of producing. And these circumstances
alone should demand a serious consideration in the mind of any
man who makes the Hudson river the means of transporting his
produce to the market in the city of New York. It has been de-
monstrated, I think, that he can not grow wheat and offer any
reasonable competition to the west. He may live by rasing it,
and that he could do if he had no market. But his object is to
sell and make money, and he should not be content to do this at a
disadvantage. What then shall he grow?

I must divide my answer in order to suit my circumstances.
And in the first place a large portion of the early vegetables
which are consumed in the city of New York are brought from a
great distance, compared with many places on the river, where
they might be grown to advantage. There is scarcely a little
village, or landing place, which has not its market vessels, run-
ning a week or oftener, to market with the products of the neigh-
borhood. Whenever, then, the place is in such proximity to the
city that vegetables can be gathered in the afternoon and sent to
market by day light next morning, a considerable portion of the
land and the industry of the inhabitants should be diverted to the
growth of such articles as are now raised in the gardens about
the city, to be sold as green vegetables.

I know that some will open their eyes in alarm, and tell me
at once that I will have the market glutted and the produce all
thrown into the river. I will have no such thing. A contin-
gency of this kind may happen, that if all were to enter upon
this branch of husbandry at once, the first year might exhibit a
glutted market, for the population of our large cities are not pre-
pared for a sudden expansion in the quantity of any article of

1846.] Letters on Farming. 95

food. But as soon as it is ascertained that the amount in market
is greater, and for sale cheaper, the demand will be increased, and
prices will again become firm and profitable. The fact now is
that far less of wholesome vegetables, in the spring of the year,
find their way to the large cities than the health of the popula-
tion demands, and \vith the health are implicated still more im-
portant considerations, of morals, &c. A vastly increased quan-
tity might be consumed, and would be, if it were to become so
plenty as once to become more necessary than it now is. The
city of New York now depends for its usual supply of fresh vege-
tables for its vast populace, upon the few acres of ground culti-
vated for this purpose in its immediate vicinity. It is capable, with
advantage, of absorbing a much larger amount, and it would af-
ford a profitable and endless market for thousands of acres of land
within sixty miles.

Again, the supply of articles for winter food is gathered from
all parts of the country. The production of these is not even con-
fined to the state, but they are brought from the far west, and with
all the apparent abundance there is actual need for more. When
we see the single article of potatoes alone, brought from all parts
of this country not only, but even imported from Ireland and France,
we ought to be stimulated to greater energy in our agricultural
affairs. If the fields in the Hudson valley, now bearing a pro-
fitless and foolish harvest of wheat and rye, were planted with
this great staple, as it may be called, the growers would find their
pockets heavier after they send their produce to market this fall.
See Col. Carmichael's article in April No. for proof But I
have what appears to me a far more important and profitable
article to mention, and that is fruit. The raising of fruit for
the supply of our great markets at home is a business of no lit-
tle consequence, and it is not half done. Half do I say? The
beginning is hardly made. Look for a moment at the quality of
fiuits with which the markets are supplied. They are by no
means of the best character. Thousands of barrels of poor fruit
are, every year, sold and bought in the city of New York alone,
because the purchasers can get no better. Good fruits are always

96 Farmers' Miscellany. [July,

saleable. The market is never glutted with them. There is never
enough. I have heard Doctor Underbill of Croton Point relate
his experience in the cultivation of the grape for the New York
market. His friends endeavored to dissuade him from going so
largely into the enterprise, for fear of glutting the market. But
he was too farseeing for that; and he has not been disappointed,
the fact being known that good grapes could be had, and there
are not yet enough to supply the demand, though the doctor sells
many thousand dollars worth every year. The people only want
to know that they can get good fruit, and it seems as if the more
you send to market, the more is wanted. There is no such thing
as glutting the market now-a-days. Suppose our large cities will
not consume all: suppose such a thing to happen; what will be
the consequence? Simply this: the communication with Europe
is so speedy now, that many fruits, deemed now too perishable to
send so far, would be exported to England and other countries in
a fine state of preservation. To some of our good fruits the mar-
ket of the world is open, and the quantity to be consumed is un-
bounded.

I wish therefore to call the attention of farmers on the Hudson
river, every one of them, to the cultivation of the best fruits they
can raise. There is no sort of danger of overdoing the matter.
The whole river valley would not grow more than can readily be
sold, and no crop can be raised w^hich is so profitable. The ob-
jection urged by many that trees are slow in growing, and that it
will be a number of years before they become productive, is no
argument against me. The diflSculty may be obviated in many
ways, which will suggest themselves to the mind of any thinking
man; as by going gradually into the business; by growing those
kinds which come soonest to maturity, and soonest fail, in the in-
tervals of those kinds which are intended to form the permanent
orchard; or by connecting with the business some other kind of
husbandry, which becomes immediately profitable. In any of
these ways, and in others which will suggest themselves, the dif-
ficulties may all be obviated.

I know of no branch of husbandry which can be so profitably

]S4(i.J The Dairy. 97

connected with fruit crowino: as the silk business. I can not en-
ter into its consideration at large, here, but I will say that while
his fruit trees are growing, the farmer will find it profitable, and
afterwards he can give it up to his wife and children. I hope to
say more about this hereafter, and also something in reference to
the duties of young farmers in entering upon this business. I
shall feel gratified if I have been the means of opening the eyes
of any one to his interest. The truth is, agriculture on the Hud-
son river will never pay as it ought, till it is conducted with
strict reference to circumstances. And I am satisfied that here
fruit growing ofifers decidedly the greatest profit. Yours.

AGRICOLA.

JYeioburgh, July 4, 1846.

THE DAIRY.

Most of the cheese of this country is made by guess, and yet
much excellent cheese is made. Still proportions may be deter-
mined which shall not only increase the product, but improve the
quality. Every one who opens a book on chemistry, learns that
every kind of compound matter is made up of elements combined
in certain definite proportions. Every substance in the mineral
kingdom and every manufactured material in the arts, which has
homogeneity must be composed of certain elements united in ex-
act proportions. So cheese being a homogeneous compound, its
elements must be as exact in kind and proportion, as water, mar-
ble, or any other natural production. The natural productions
however, differ among themselves in certain particulars, W'hich it
is important we should briefly notice. Some are fixed and stable
and may remain the identical thing forever; while others, not less
definite and fixed in their elements, undergo changes and be-
come in a short time, things entirely different in kind and in pro-
portion from what they originally were. Bodies derived from or-
ganic matters, are the most liable to undergo these changes, and

No. VII. 7

98 Farmers' Miscellany. [July,

hence it is a great desideratum to discover by what means they
may be fixed and preserved in the state and condition we wish.

A cheese for instance may be formed of proper materials, and
yet if placed in certain circumstances will undergo those changes
which will entirely destroy it. In cheese making there are two
great objects to be studied; first, how to make it, and second, how
to preserve it.

1. How to make cheese. The preliminary points to be attend-
ed to are, to secure quiet cows whose milk is easily obtained. It
should be milked into clean pails and strained as soon after milk-
ing as possible through a strainer covering the tub, and properly
supported on a ladder. In small dairies where only one cheese is
made per day, of from 30 to 35 pounds, the milk remains over
night in the tub, and the cream which rises in the night, is skim-
med for butter. The morning's milk is afterwards added. The
milk being procured it ought to be immediately set for the cheese.
The first step in the process is to bring the whole to the tempera-
ture of 85° Fah. If it is raised to 90, the cheese may be too hard.
If however it is designed for distant markets, it will be safer to
raise it to 88, or perhaps even 90. In June, July and August, if
the morning's milk is strained into the night's milk without much
delay, the temperature will be very nearly right; but usually
from 10 to 20 quarts of milk, sufficient to make a cheese between
28 and 50 pounds, must be warmed over coals, or what is better
with a w^ater bath sufficiently to raise the temperature of the
whole to 85°. The proper temperature to which this part
must be raised, may be determined by calculation on the principle
that two liquids in equal quantities, and of the same kind though
of different temperature, if mixed will produce a mean of the two.
Ninety-eight degrees is blood heat, and hence when the liquid is 85
it will still feel cool. The dairyman ought to be cautious and
not suffer a blaze to pass up around the kettle, as it may impart a
bad taste lo the milk in consequence of burning it.

After the temperature is obtained, the next step is to add the
rennet, and it is still a desideratum in cheese making to determine
hwmo uch of this substance is required for any given amount of

1846.] The Dairy. 99

milk. Unfortunately there is a diversity of practice prevailing,
and th is part of the process is left to the judgment of the maker.
A piece of rennet one inch square, infused in a wine glass of wa-
ter will fetch 35 lbs. of curd. This is not, however, the mode
usually adopted. The following mode of preparing rennet is
commonly adopted in Berkshire, Mass. Saturate two gallons of
boiling water w^ith good salt, let it stand, cool and settle, and
pour off the clear and infuse two rennets for two or three weeks,
when it is fit for use. Of this liquid two table spoonsfull will
bring 35 lbs. of curd. When added it requires very thorough
stirring in order to secure a perfect and speedy mixture, that the
rennet solution may act upon the whole of the milk at once. It
must now stand and remain entirely undisturbed until the curd
has sufficient consistence to be cut. When this consistence is
sufficient, the knife passes through with some resistance, and
leaves the curd distinctly divided and showing the whey between
the cuts. It is cut by transverse strokes into squares of 2 and 2\
inches across. It must remain still longer, to allow the perfect
separation of the whey, during which the curd continues to con-
tract and grow firm. When pieces can be lifted up without break-
ing, a strainer is pressed down upon the curd and the whey rises
up; a pail full may be dipped into a brass kettle and heated to
about blood heat, or perhaps to 100°, when it may be poured
over the whole curd. This causes a still firmer curd. If it is
slightly brittle, the whey may soon be dipped off preparatory to
salting. The quantity of salt is about a tea cup full for 15 lbs. of
curd, or, to be more exact, one pound of salt for sixty pounds of
cheese, after it is cured. This is the Herkimer county rule —
though some diversity of practice exists in the best dairy dstricts.
In England (in Gloucester) the salt is not mixed with the curd,
but put upon the outside, and about 3^ lbs are used to 100 lbs. of
cheese.

In our dairy districts the curd is salted and then broken fine in
the hands after the greater part of the w^hey is dipped out. This
practice is objectionable, as the squeezing to which the curd is
necessarily subjected removes a portion of the cream, and hence it

100 Farmers^ Miscellany. [July,

would be better to tear it to pieces by some machine than subject
it to pressure in the hands. When the curd is broken fme it is
then placed upon the strainer, where the whey is suffered to drain
out; it is afterwards gathered up, surrounded with the cloth, and
placed in the hoop for pressing, when it is necessary to attend to the
evenness of the press, that the cheese may possess a uniformity of
thickness. The time which a cheese ought to remain in the press
varies with the size. One which will weigh 35 lbs. should re-
main two days; one of 60, three days; and one of 100, four or
five days.

It requires turning twice a day, morning and evening, at which
time the cloth should be renewed. Care should be taken in re-
moving it to preserve the surface of the cheese entire. The cheese
being taken from the press is far from being finished. It requires
to be turned daily, and rubbed over with melted butter, in which
a Small quantity of annatto has been dissolved. The whole is put
on by a soft cloth, by carefully going over the whole cheese. If
too much butter is used, the cheese does not cure so fast. What
is required is to fill up inequalities, free the surface from in-
cipient mouldiness, and procure a smooth surface. The cheese
room should have a temperature of 55° or 60°, and be kept per-
fectly clean, and dry as possible. It is necessary to keep it dark,
on account of flies, but a free circulation of air is always impor-
tant. Where cheese have not been pressed sufficiently, or where
the curd has been scalded too much, holes are common, and whey
leaks out; in such a case it is difficult to prevent the fly from de-
positing its eggs. When skippers are found they must be cut out
and removed, and the vacant place filled with a mixture of fine
lime and butter or tallow, and the place well coated over with the
usual dressing. In warm sultry weather the dairyman must attend
to his cheese room incessantly; a neglect of one day might spoil
or injure several hundred weight of cheeser The business is labo-
rious, and is better suited for men than women.

The secret in making rich cheese depends upon the success in
preserving in mixture with the curd the cream, for the cream of
the milk is not coagulated by the rennet, and hence more or less

1S46.] The Dairy. ■ 101

of it runs out witii the whey and is lost. When this is the case
the cream will be found upon the whey, and may he skimmed off
and made into butter and used for diessino; the cheese. It is more
oily than butter made from common cream, and hence is better
adapted to this use than common butter.

When rennet is added to cream it thickens it slightly, and the
small quantity of milk which is necessarily mixed with it appears
in small coagulated granules. By standing, the thinner parts se-
parate, but no farther change takes place in the cream than what
is observed on the instant that the rennet is added, which amounts
only to a slight thickening. Now the cream which rises upon
the milk during the night, when both morning and evening milk-
ings are mixed for the cheese, ought be to skimmed off. It would
be no saving to the cheese to let it remain; it would, most of it,
flow out with the whey, and we believe that it is only the cream
which remains in the milk which goes into the cheese. Hence
it would be of no use to add cream to the milk, notwithstanding
the fact that it is estimated that one pound of cream will make
two or two and a half pounds of cheese; the true quantity being
proportioned to the care wuth which the curd is broken for the
press; and we may add here that in working it, it should be cut
fust with great care, making even cuts without tearing; and that
it should not be cut till it has firmness enough to keep itself in
sharp square pieces into which it is divided; it being understood
that the cream is retained mechanically merely in the coagulated
mass, hence, in a certain stage, the rich matter might be squeezed
out entirely, for the tendency of casein, or cheese, is to come to-
gether by itself, to the exclusion of the other proximate principle,
the butter.

We have dwelt now upon some of the essential points in cheese
making at considerable length, with the hope of benefitting
some of ovu- readers, who may be in the midst of their harvest.
Cheese are cured by drying. To secure it from injury during this
process it is indispensable it should have been pressed, so as to
expel the whey; otherwise, it will remain in a leaking state, with
a moisture inside, which w^ill prevent its drying; and what is

102 Farmers^ Miscellany. [July,

more impart to it a tendency to decomposition. Large cheese,
even if pressed properly, consume a long time in diying, and are
extremely liable to undergo decomposition in the centre; hence
cheese, it seems to us, are full large enough when they weigh 60
to 65 pounds, and for small families still better at 30 pounds.
They ought to stand on clean dry shelves, in an airy room, with a
current of dry air passing through it. Daily turning and dressing
is indispensable, until near the close of the season.

We will sum up, in conclusion, with the following important
hints:

1. Rooms for cheese should be cool, dry and perfectly clean:
temperature not over 60°.

2. Milk to be strained immediately after milking.

3. Milk should be set at 85° of Fah., and the less scalding of
curd the better; it will affect the rich part, the butter or cream,
and make the cheese puffy, or else too hard and tough.

4. Cows should never be driven home by dogs for milking, or
they should not be worried and run by dogs or unnaly boys: they
should be milked as soon as possible after they are yarded.

5. Cows should not be fed upon rank grass; fine herbage or
coarse herbage will do, so far as the flavor of cheese is concerned.
Hilly pastures, with running water, are better than meadows for
the dairy; and much as farmers hate the white daisy of such pas-
tures, it is good for cheese, as we know from observation and the
experience of our early days.

6. Let not the dairyman be very anxious about Durham cows.
Our native breed will make as much cheese, and as good as the
Durhams taken together. Good cheese does not depend at all
upon the breed.

The law of obligation is a necessary constituent of our moral
nature. Its existence is proved by the inward impulses, perhaps
by conscience: it is supported by the kind feelings of benevo-
lence. It has a reflex operation — we feel that others have
claims.

1846.] Mr. Green and JVeighh&r Soles. 103

MR. GREEN'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF AND OF fflS
NEIGHBOR SOLES.

In the month of May I bade farewell to bricks and mortar and
pavements and the narrow street in which I made my money,
and established myself and family in the vicinity of the pleasant
village of Grassdale. The farm of which I was the proprietor,
and intended to be the manager, had been put in complete order
by my agent. The old house had been repaired by an architect
from the city, at an expense not greatly exceeding the cost of a
new and larger one. An upholsterer, who had been sent on an
embassy thither before our departure from the city, had displayed
his skill and consulted his interest in arrangino; articles of furni-
ture in his line. A portion of the furniture of our city residence
was despatched in advance, and suitably aiTanged; so that when
we arrived we found all things in order.

But we found that which we supposed to be our wisdom in
in this matter was our folly. We had nothing to do. We had
deprived ourselves of the pleasure of putting things in order.
After a few dark " days of nothingness," my wife actually pro-
posed to turn everything upside down, in the house, that we
might enjoy the pleasure of setting them " to rights," as the
phrase is in Grassdale. But after mature deliberation this plan
was abandoned.

I found that what we had thought to be our wisdom in this
matter was our folly in another respect. I was very desirous of
being on good terms with my country neighbors. I am not cer-
tain but that the idea of being justice of the peace or having a
seat in the legislature may have mingled itself with my
visions of retirement. Now if I had come on with my furniture
and family at the same time, and had called on my neighbors for
assistance and advice, they would have rendered it copiously and
joyously. Half the men and all the women in the vicinity would
have been on the spot; every package would have been opened

104 Farmers' Miscellany. [July,

simultaneously; every article carefully examined, by all present,
to see that it had received no injury in coming. The furniture
in every room would have been put in order in outline. I should
thus have acquired a large capital stock of popularity at the out-
set. My neighbors would have retired with their ruling passion
gratified, and with ample materials for conversation for a week.
We should have had employment for a week in filling up the
outline of which I have spoken. It would have been most con-
clusively proven that we were not proud. The supposed supera-
bundance of our furniture would have been set down to the score
of our ignorance, not our pride.

Alas! that we should have foregone all these advantages — but
so it was. Our house was in order. \Miat the chambers and
closets contained could only be the subject of conjecture. I en-
tered upon my new course of life with a reputation for exclusive-
ness and pride.

Weeks passed on, and I began to think I should have to live "alone
in my glory," in Grassdale. No body came near me but a few
weasel-faced fellows, to sell me certain articles, for which I was
sure they demanded double what they were worth. If I asked
their advice for my farming operations, I perceived it was always
so framed as to involve the necessity of giving them a job. I
began to grow \Qrj suspicious, and half wished myself back in
Montrose Alley. My nearest neighbor was Mr. Obadiah Soles,
whose farm was contiguous to mine, and whose house was about
one-fourth of a mile distant. He was very industrious and ener-
getic. I had called at his house several times, both in the morn-
ing and afternoon, very sagaciously fixing on the same hours
which I should have chosen to call on a business man in the city.
I never found him in, but was always told that if I had any busi-
ness with him they would tell him, and he would come and see
me. Of course I always remarked I had no business, but merely
called to see him. I subsequently learned that he was always in
at meal times, and also from after dark till nearly daylight.

I sometimes passed him in the street, but he always seemed in
a hurry. Once as he was going by, and I stood in the street in

1846.] Mr. Green and jXeighbor Soles. 105

front of my house, he asked, without slackening his rapid pace
at all, or waiting for an answer, " Got things set prettj- much to
rights?"

During a tempestuous night a portion of my fence was pros-
trated by the wind, and my clover thereby exposed to the as-
saults of several cows, who were practical believers in the com-
raunit}^ of grass. As I looked from my window I saw neighbor
Soles drive out the cows and commence repairing the fence.
The rain fell in ton-ents, but he kept at work till the fence was
more substantial than before its fall.

I was pleased to see my clover field rendered safe from depre-
dation, and my complacency expanded itself somewhat on !Mr.
Soles. Still, with common amiability of human nature, I began
to speculate on his motives, and came to the conclusion that he
had a keen perception of his interest, and that ere long he would
entertain me with an exaggerated account of his services, accom-
panied with an exaggerated bill.

But day after day passed, and no call from neighbor Soles. I
began to think it was best to call on him, lest his bill should
" have an account with time."

Before it was convenient for me to put this purpose into exe-
cution, I was met in the street one day by Mr. Soles, who in-
formed me that my clover Avas receiving damage through want
of being cut. "■ Ah ha!" whispered my knowledge of human na-
ture, on which I prided myself, " he wants another job." Still,
as I wished to be on good terms with my neighbors, I resolved to
let him have his own way. I had made up my mind to be cheat-
ed now and then, provided it contributed to my popularity.

I thanked Mr. Soles for his information, and asked him if he
could cut it for me. " Bless your heart no," he replied, " I've
near a dozen acres of my own spoiling — all I can do I can't get
along fast enough"

" Can you tell me of any one that I can get to cut it ?"

" I can't for the life of me. I've hired every man that I could.
I guess you will have to mow it yourself. It wont do you any
hurt. It will let folks see that you are not above work. All men

106 Farmers* Miscellany. [July,

want to be on good terms with the people they ara going to live
with."

This was said rather bluntly to be sure, but kindly, and with-
out any assumption of superiority.

" What can I cut it with, a carving knife?"

" I think it is likely you are better acquainted with the use of
that edge tool than any other," and I thought he looked at the
whiskers which I had spared for years " but there is old Mr. Rod-
gers, he will sell you a scythe, and rig it for you, and will come
and show you how to mow, if his rheumatism isn't too bad. I
must bid you good day, for I'm in a great hurry" — and he shot
off like an arrow.

I was now pretty well convinced that I had made a mistake in
my estimate of Mr. Soles' character. I determined that he should
not have cause to conclude that he had made a mistake in taking
me for a gentleman. I therefore took an early opportunity to
call on him one evening for the purpose of expressing my obli-
gations to him for his kindness in repairing my fence, and of ask-
ing him for his bill. I had scarcely mentioned the subject when
he said,

" How did you know I put up your fence 1 "

" I saw you from my window."

" Well, I thought I got through with it before you were stir-
ring, as you never said any thing about it."

" I was expecting to receive a call from you."

" W^ell, I don't know but I ought to have called and told you,
but I thought I had done about my part in putting up the fence."

" I expected you would call and let me pay you for it, and that
is what I have come to do now, besides thanking you."

" Wliat do you reckon it is worth ? "

" I do not know. I shall be quite willing to pay you whatever
you think is right."

"You mean well," said he after a little pause, "but if we are
going to be neighbors, you must alter your notions in some things.
I don't blame you at the first going off. It is natural for one who
is used to living in the city where they have to pay for water.

1846.] Mr. Green and Keighhor Soles. 107

and sunshine almost, but here if you expect to be neighborly
you must drop the idea of paying and being paid for every thing.
I put up your fence because the cattle would have destroyed all
your clover before you would have been up, as I thought. I be-
lieve you do turn out earlier than I expected. I did it for sake
of a neighlx)r. I would not have been hired to work out as long
as I did in that rain, for five dollars."

I felt that I had done neighbor Soles great injustice in my
thoughts at least. I made a full confession and an apology, and
expressed the satisfaction it would give me to meet him on his
own ground.

" Don't you think " said he, " that most of the difficulties
among men are owing to their not understanding one another ?
Now we might suppose something like this. You supposed that I
put up your fence in order to get something out of you. I might
have supposed that you said nothing about it, in hopes to get clear
of paying me, and so we set one another down as rather close fel-
lows. Then my cow goes in at your gate, which I see you leave
open half the time (just put a pulley on it,) and eats up your
garden stuff. You send me a rather short word to keep my cow
at home, and I send you word back to keep your gate shut.
Things go on so, till there is a regular quarrel, and for want of a
right understanding in the beginning. Is'nt it so?"

I signified my assent by an inclination of the head, and looked
at him as much as to say, " go on." He understood me and con
tinued.

" I find it best to understand a man, and then if I find him al-
together unsound to let him altogether alone. We can't get along
without having some dealings with men who have some bad spots
in them. But if a man is altogether unsound, I let him alone
But there are some that are crooked in some things, but in the
main, are upright men. You must bear with such and try to
bring them round. If a man has only some good things about
him, you may cure him of a great many bad things. Persever-
ance in being neighborly will generally bring such a man to.
There is Salmon who lives at the fork of the roads. When he

108 Farmers^ Miscellany. [July,

First came into the place he was as surly as a bull, and as un-
neighborly as a wild Indian. He would wallow right through
y^our grass and grain, throw down fences and leave the bars down
^fter him. I thought he was about as much damage to me as a
dozen hogs would have been, if allowed to range all over the
farm. But I saw he never ran about on the Sabbath. He either
went to meeting or kept close at home. Thinks I, there is some-
thing left in him yet, so I kept on treating him neighborly and
making no complaints. At last he comes to me and says, " I've
made up my mind not to leave your bars down any more, for I
can't stand it."

"Stand what?" says I.

" Why your everlasting kindness. If you don't stop I shall
have to move away."

" I can tell you " says I, " what will be better than that."

" What 's that ? " says he.

" Turn honest man and be neighborly," says I.

Salmon studied upon it for a spell, and made up his mind.
He has been as neighborly a man as ever need to be ever since.
Now it does one as much good to tame such a man, as it does to
pay for a new farm."

W^ESTERN COMPETITION — WHEAT AND WOOL,
DAIRY AND PORK.

It is yet to be determined whether the East can compete with
the West or not. If the East had to run a parallel course with
the West, or if the general husbandry of the former ran in the
same channels as the latter, the question might be regarded as
settled. There is a fertility and space in the West, a depth of
soil extending itself far and wide, which secures years of produc-
tiveness on the one hand, and unbounded territory on the other,
and so cheap is territory that a man of wealth may own a little
kingdom, and count his miles instead of his acres, and the poor
man become the proprietor of a farm. But the East has her mar-
kets, the supply of which must come from the Eastern farmer in

i

1846.] Western Competiaoii. 109

every kind except in a few great staples. The aggregate littles
derived iiom the sale of many articles make a very respectable
amount in the purses of the small farmers. If the East, then,
cannot compete with the West, it is only in the great articles of
commerce, wheat and wool, and perhaps corn and pork; and yet,
the last articles must and will form in all cases a large item in
the products of the Eastern farmer. The expense of fattening
hogs for heavy pork is well known to our farmers. To make a
business of it would be attended with loss; but the dairyman has
his whey, sour milk, the refuse of the farm in a variety of kinds;
which if not fed to some animal would be lost. Then again by
cultivating peas and feeding them green to his hogs, the expense
of making pork may be reduced below that given by Bousingault
and quoted by our friend of the Genesee Farmer. The raising
of sheep in small flocks by the wheat grower of our Western
counties is a productive plan of husbandry, which can not be ren-
dered profitless by Western wheat or Western wool.

The wheat crop of New York in 1843 amounted to 12,479,499
bushels; in Pennsylvania, 12,219,239. New York raised 15,974,-
990 bushels of corn ; Pennsylvania, 15,837,431; Ohio raised
18,780,705 of wheat, and of corn 38,651,128. Can it be sup-
posed that at this time New York or Pennsylvania can give up
their wheat crops? If it were necessary we could prove that a
large part of New York has a soil as well adapted to wheat and
corn as any part of the West; though it is undoubtedly true that
a bushel of wheat costs the New York and Pennsylvania farmer
more labor than the Western. The wheat of these two great
Eastern states, however, cannot be dispensed with, and will and
must go into a market to supply in part the wants of the world.
But then many farmers who raise wheat might do something else
with greater profit. Hay and oats for our own markets, barley,
peas and potatoes, with mutton and small pork, young cattle and
beef for home consumption, and the endless field for fruits, is all
open, and a harvest both productive and profitable, lies before the
Eastern farmer, and no Western competition can take his stand-
ing from him.

110 Farmers^ Miscellany. [July,

The great difficulty with the body of our farmers is, that they
cannot and will not think of a new channel for their industry;
neither will they let a neighbor think in peace. If it is proposed
to go into the culture of silk or grapes, or any thing new, the hor-
rors of shipwreck are held up to him, and if language of this kind
is not used, that which is more effective is, a low species of ridi-
cule. A man sometimes hardly feels that he is a free agent, and
rather than encounter the laugh of a neighbor, or forfeit his good
standing with him for prudence and judgment, he pursues the old
way. But many have not considered the value and profits of
some branches of business, or they feel that it is doubtful whether
they can succeed. Let such look at the world before them as it
is; go to New York and see the mouths which are to be fed, and
let him consider that to-morrow they will be increased; let him
study his location, his advantages and disadvantages, and make a
satisfactory estimate of circumstances, and if he will carry out the
results of his judgment, his fortune is made. Study the history of
the last twenty years, study the times and seasons, and adapt him-
self to them, and whether he changes his husbandry or not, he
will better his condition, and make his life a contented one.

TIME FOR CUTTING HAY.

The question, when grass should be cut for hay, has been fre-
quently discussed in farmers' clubs, and it is not unusual to hear
a variety of opinions expressed. It is plain, however, that while
some diversity of opinion may prevail, it is easier to determine
when it is mature and ought to be secured, than to do it; for inas-
much as the hay hanest lasts from two to four weeks, and some-
times five, it is plain that some fields must stand longer than they
ought; so it is equally true that some may have to be secured before
the grass has reached its maturity. The seasons, too, must modi-
fy the farmers' rules; if it has been dry and cold, a spindling thin
crop of timothy or red top grows up, comes nearly to maturity, the
whole of which may be less than half a crop. If cut, a loss is
sustained; for generally rain and suitable weather for the growth

1846.] Time for Cutting Hay. Ill

of grass may sooner or later be expected; and hence, if possible, it
is better to suffer the first growth to stand until it can grow a
thick bottom. The removal of the early growth will leave a naked
surface, which is less favorable to the latter; and besides, the la-
bor and expense of cutting over the same ground twice, may be
saved. Hence circumstances will necessarily control the farmer
in his work in the hay harvest. The season must be regarded,
and in consequence of the amount of hay to be secured, some must
be cut too green, and some must stand till it is too ripe.

The time for cutting grass is when it has acquired the greatest
amount of nourishment in its stalk. This may be known by the
state of its flower. When in full blossom it is in the proper stage
for cutting, as it is at this period that its stalk has stored up the
greatest amount of nutritious mattej". Now the flow^ering of tim-
othy goes on for nearly two weeks. At the first appearance of
its flowers it is still too green; only a part of the head has its
flowers ripe. The number continually increases for a week, and
at this time if the farmer examines his grass in the morning the
field presents a rich purple hue from the long purple anthers which
hang from the heads of the gi'ass. Under ordinary circumstances
very little change takes place for a week to come — the straw
grows firmer and stronger, but at the end of the week its leaf begins
to wither and dry, and now^ a loss will be sustained in the crop if
not immediately cut. Now^ it is evident, if the farmer does not
commence his hay harvest until all his fields are in this state, a
heavy loss will be the result. Some seed will generally ripen in
the heads of timothy during the fortnight the flowering is pro-
gressing, but the crop for hay ought to be secured ere much of it
has ripened, as the ripening of the seed exhausts the nutriment of
the stalk.

Other circimistances, too, control this work to a certain extent.
Grass which has grown rapidly often lodges, and hence ought to
be cut early. Grass, if we could have a choice, ought not to be
cut immediately after a heavy rain. We are right, w^e believe,
then, in saying, that circumstances must necessarily control the
best farmer in securing his harvest, while at the same time he

112 Farmers' Miscellany. [July,

knows that bis hay will contain the most nutriment if cut when it
is in full blossom. The fiist effort of nature in ripening seed is to
create a storehouse of food upon which it can draw during this
highly important process. In grasses this storehouse is the stalk;
in beets, carrots, and many other crops, it is the root, or what is
called the root, perhaps an underground stem. Now in the case
of the beet, the root becomes entirely worthless during the ripen-
ing of the seed, and *o the stems of grasses lose their value when
the seeds begin to ripen. The wisdom of a farmer is seen as
strongly in the time and mode of gathering his harvests as in
growing large crops — for what is the use of growing much, if
the best order is not observed in savino; them.

BOXES OR PHOSPHATE OF LLME FOR A MANURE.

The difficulty, as certainly it is one difficult}', of using bones
for a manure, is the want of a mill for grinding or crushing them.
A large quantity of bone may be obtained in the vicinity of our
villages, from the small slaughter yards ; but as the farmer has no
means by which they can be crushed; they are suffered to lie
about those places as a kind of nuisance. A partial remedy,
however, may be resorted to in these cases. Procure a quantity
of oil of vitriol and subject them to its action in a tight half hogs-
head of oak, which, if the acid is diluted, will not be materially
acted upon it. Of the dissolved bones make a compost with peat.
Using peat if possible, or if not, the best of loam; that which
contains an abundance of vegetable matter. To the sulphuric acid
add bones as long as the acid is dissolved in them. The product
is a super-phosphate of lime, and sulphate of lime. The object
attained by the the addition of sidphuric acid to the bones, which
consist of phosphate of lime and animal matter, is the greater so-
lubilit)- of the materials. The animal matter is in the condition
of gelatine, and may be seen retaining the form of the bone. This
will also now undergo decomposition, during which ammonia will
be exhaled, which may be secured by the absorbative powers of
peat and sulphate of lime. When mixed with the above mate-

1S46.] Bones for Manure. 113

rials, and in a di-}' state, it may be used like guano for corn or
wheat. Ii is after all questionable whether in a series of years
there is more economy in the use of the super-phosphate. Bone,
if ground, will decompose and give its elements to the growing
crops. Its operations will last longer, but will not of course be
so effective for the first or second year. We think that there is
economy in dealing out just the proper quantity of food to plants.
We know there is in feeding animals. We seek the perfection of
the one, as well as the other, and probably there is a point
when manure may be so abundantly supplied that loss and waste
actually occurs.

The mineral phosphate of lime of our rocks can be applied and
used only by a solution in oil of vitriol; or at least, the powder
dissolves so slowly that it is a matter of great importance to bring
it to the state of super-phosphate. We have one crystal which
contains nearly a sufficient quantity of phosphate of lime to sup-
ply an acre of corn. All the phosphate of soils, however, is the
mineral phosphate; but it has been acted upon for a long time by
air, water, and organic acids; besides, it is treasured up in a more
soluble state in vegetables, which decay, and in which it proba-
bly exists in the state of a super-phosphate; but the amount is
small, and where seed is removed from the soil it is soon exhaust-
ed, and then plants must depend upon the small amount of the
unchanged mineral phosphate in the soil, unless it is supplied by
the farmer.

No. vn. 8

( 114)

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNALS.

PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING.

BY SANFORD HOWARD.

We have been several times requested to say something in re-
gard to w^hat is called " in-and-in " breeding. We are by no
means confident, however, that any remarks of ours can throw
light on the subject; though often discussed, it is still involved in
intricacy. In endeavoring to understand it, the first point to be
settled, is the precise meaning of the term " in-and-in " breeding.
It seems to be understood variously — as some suppose it to apply
to animals of any degree of relationship — others apply it to
breeding from the same family, without particularly defining the
affinity of blood which animals bred together should possess to
justify the use of the term. Thus they regard the produce of
father and daughter, or mother and son, as animals bred in-and-
in ; using the same term in this case as they would do in reference
to the produce of brother and sister. But a strict definition is
evidently necessary, otherwise the use of the term is wholly ran-
dom, and its signification so uncertain, that it conveys only a
vague idea.

What, then, is in-and-in breeding ? Sir John S. Sebright, in
a letter on the "Art of Improving the Breeds of Domestic Ani-
mals," published some years since by the British Board of Agri-
culture, considers the term to signify breeding from animals of
precisely the same blood. This is an intelligible, and we believe
correct definition. It has also been assented to, and its adoption
advocated with force, by John Hare Powell, Esq., a citizen of
our own country, who has in times past been eminently distin-
guished as a breeder of stock.

Upon the basis of this definition it follows that no course of
breeding can be strictly in-and-in, except that which results from
coupling animals of exactly the same blood, and this, probably,
can rarely happen but by an union of "brother and sister, or of
animals which were originally derived from such an union. Where
the original male and female were of different families, it is ob-
vious that the offspring does not possess the same blood of either
of the parents, but has just half the blood of each. The produce
of this offspring and either of the parents, would be three-fourths

1846.] Principles of Breeding. 115

of one of the first pair, and one-fourth of the other. The next
O^eneration, bred in the same way, would be seven-eighths of the
parent, the next fifteen-sixteenths, and so on ; the blood of one of
the original ancestors increasing and the other diminishing in this
ratio with each generation. This and similar courses of breeding
have been aptly denominated " breeding my" and the term " close
breeding''^ is also more or less applicable, according to the nearness
of relationship existing between animals coupled together, or ac-
cording to the extent to which breeding in is carried.

Having settled what is to be understood by the term " in-and-
in," we will proceed to consijler the expediency of that course of
breeding. And it may be observed in the first place, that al-
though many distinguished breeders have advocated and followed,
more or less, breeding in, or close breeding, very few, if any,
have recommended in-and-in breeding, as here defined* The
effects of the course when carried on for several generations, can
not perhaps be better described than in the language of Sebright,
in the essay above referred to. " I have," says he, " tried many
experiments by breeding in-and-in, upon dogs, fowls, and pigeons;
the dogs became from strong spaniels, weak and diminutive lap-
dogs; the fowls became long in the legs, small in the body, and
bad feeders. * * * Indeed I have no doubt but that by this
practice being continued, animals would, in course of time, de-
generate to such a degree as to become incapable of breeding at
all."

It is a maxim in physics that an effect is not produced without
a cause. Hence it is natural to ask a reason for the ill effects al-
leged to be produced by in-and-in breeding. We will endeavor
to give one, which, though not entirely original, is in some re-
spects different from any we have seen offered.

It is admitted that different families of animals have certain
hereditary tendencies. The proneness to particular diseases in
families of the huma,n race, is evidence of this. Now it is plain
that where two animals of the same blood and the same heredi-
tary tendencies, are coupled together, there would be a greater
liability in the progeny to exhibit any defect or disease which
belonged to the family, than there would be if only one of the
parents had this constitutional tendency. Hence we see the de-
fects of parents augmented in the progeny.

This we believe to be the true cause of the degeneracy which
ensues from in-and-in breeding. But let us not be misunderstood.
It is not merely the nearness of relationship which produces these

* It is proper to remark that breeding in when carried to a certain extent,
may be expected to produce re?.ults similar to those of breeding: in-and in,
that is, the consequences of the former will resemble those of the latter sys-
tem, in proportion as the blood of the animals bred together becomes simiJar.

116 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

consequences; for we can readily believe that they might follow
where the parents were not at all connected by consanguinity.
The animals might belong to families wholly distinct, and yet
their hereditary tendencies be similar. For example: let there
be chosen a bull and cow wholly unrelated, or even of different
breeds, each of which has disease of the liver to the same degree,
and each also an equal hereditaiy tendency to that disease; the
progeny generated by two such animals would no doubt have the
same predisposition to the defect or disease of the parent as if
both the latter had been of the same family. Thus the degene-
racy of offspring is not owing to the relationship, simplv, but to
the natural defects of the parents or ancestors. The skillful breed-
er will therefore select his animals for propagation with a view
of avoiding defects and increasing excellencies in the progeny.

But it may be said that excellencies as well as defects are
transmissable hereditarily; and as animals of near relationship
are sometimes found which possess certain valuable qualities in a
greater deo;ree than they are to be found elsewhere, the question
is suggested — Why not permit these animals to breed together?
This we should be in favor of to a certain extent; but the ani-
mals should be selected with judgment, and with particular care
that they have not a predisposition to important defects. It will
not do to rely on the idea that their good points will overpower
their bad ones; for as their superior points or qualities are proba-
bly the result of art or accident, (not being natural or common to
the race.) their defects will be more likely to be increased in the
progeny than their excellencies.*

The remark in relation to animals which exhibit peculiarities
not common to the race, we will endeavor to illustrate. For in-
stance, in a species of squirrels, the general color of which is grey,
we now and then find those which are perfectly white. Similar
deviations from the general color of the species are met with also
in mice, and other animals. The same thing is found in birds.
We have heard of crows which were nearly white,f and we have

•Sebright observes Ihal — " If one male and one female only of a valuable
breed eonM be obtained, the offspring should be separated, and placed in situ-
ations as dissimilar as possible ; for animals kept together are all subjected to
the eflects of the same climate, of the same food, and the same mode of treat-
ment, and consequently to tlie same diseases, particularly to such as are in-
fectious, which must accelerate the effects ofbreeding inand-in. By estab-
lishing the breed in different places, and by selecting with a view to obtain
different properties in these several colonies, we may perhaps be enabled to
continue tlie breed for some lime, without the intermixture of other blood.

t White Crows. — In an article on the " Principles of Breeeding," in another
part of this number, it is liienlionpd that white crows have been sometimes
seen Since that article was written, we have learned, through the Zanes-
ville, (0.) Gazette, that Dr. W. E. Ide, of that place, has lately received for
his ornithological cabinet, one of these rare birds, which was shot in that vi-

1846.] Principles of Breeding. 117

seen (to use a paradox) a white black-bird. Changes of form
and habits are likewise met with which are equally striking.
Animals which exhibit such deviations from the general chai'ac-
teristics of the race to which they belong, may be deemed mon-
strosities; but if it is wished to perpetuate their singular qualities,
it is obviously necessary to adhere as closely as practicable in
breeding, to the strain of blood in which these qualities are mani-
fested. If, instead of this, the animals are allowed to breed with
those which do not possess the desired peculiarity, the new traits,
having no fixed hold on the blood are soon mingled and lost in
the general current of the race which runs in a difi'erent direction.

Thus, where an extraordinary disposition to secrete fat is exhi-
bited by a particular cow and her progeny, it may become ne-
cessaiy in order to secure that quality and increase the number of
animals possessing it, to breed from near affinities. But much
will depend on the skill used in selecting the animals to breed
together, and only experience and the closest observation, aided
by good judgment, can guide to successful results.

We would not, however, advise breeding from near affinities,
except so far as may be necessary to fix some valuable quality' not
belonsrino; to the race in General. Where no superiority is exhi-
bited in a particular family, or where the individuals composing
a race are nearly similar, we can see no advantage in resorting to
the system.

In regard to the supposed necessity of crossing breeds, there are
certain vague theories which we would by no means countenance.
Some appear to imagine that breeds of animals can not be con-
tinued pure without deterioriation. This notion leads those who
entertain it, to make various mixtures in breeding:, in the hope
either of avoidinor degeneracy or creatino- improvement. We be-
lieve that the idea is not only unsound, but that, if it were car-
ried out in practice, it would be productive of incalculable injury,
by destroying the important distinctions which naturally exist
araon<T animals, and by which different species and breeds are ad-
mirably adapted to different locations and purposes.

No degeneracy is observable in animals in a state of natui'e.
Araonj the various wild races (though as has been stated, some
occasional chanq;es occur.) the principal characteristics are con-
tinued from generation to gjeneration. There is no evidence that
wild geese or wild ducks degenerate; and no person can reasona-
bly believe that the buffaloes of our western prairies need crossing,
or that they could be improved for the situation they occupy by
any foreign mixture. The same remark will probably apply to

cinitv. Tt is «ail to h^ve hslonsred to a hniod of four, two of which were
black, and two entirely white, except a dark tinge towards the tips of the
wiugs. They were nearly or quite full grown. Their parents were black.

#

118 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

the West-Highland cattle of Scotland, and to some of the moun-
tain and other breeds of sheep. Sebright has well remarked,
however, that the circumstances in which wild animals are placed,
" produce all the good effects of the most skilful selection;"* and
though it is not unlikely that they frequently breed from close
affinities, their freedom irom disease or defect probably prevents
the bad consequences which might attend such breeding with ani-
mals in an artificial state. The conclusion therefore is, that abo-
riginal races and breeds are readily continued without crossing.
With varieties which have been produced by crosses, it is admit-
ted the case is different. The original fixed habit being broken
up by the cross, their course becomes erratic, and their qualities
various. Hence the exercise of much skill is required to continue
them. " What has been produced by art," says Sebright, " must
be contined by art." — Cultivator.

LAYERING OF FRUIT TREES.

BY J. SLATER.

I am engaged in the nursery business, and it may be interesting
to some of your readers to learn my manner of propagating fruit
trees. I commenced with grafting and budding seeding stocks at
the ground. When my grafts were two years old, I commenced
with what I shall term linih layering; and as this mode of layer-
ing may not be understood by all of your readers, I will describe
it. I take the lower limbs of my grafts and bend them down to
the ground, and at that place in the limb which will be buried
deepest, I cut the limb on the under side about half way off, and
split it about an inch toward the end. I then cover it with fine
earth about six inches deep where it is cut, leaving the end of the
limb turned up out of the ground. As these limbs grow, the re-
turning sap forces out roots from the under side of the cut ; and
when the roots have sufficiently grown, the limb is cut from the
tree and transplanted in the nursery.

The time required for these layers to get well rooted, will be
from one to three years — as some varieties take root much more
readily than others. The time which writers on this business

* Speaking of animals in a wild slate, Sebright says — " The greatest num-
ber of females will of course fall to the share of the most vigorous males;
and the strongest individuals of both sexes, by driving away the weakest, will
enjoy the best food and most favorable situations for themselves and their off-
spring. A severe winter, or a scarcity of food, by destroying tlie weak and
the unhealthy, has all the good efl'ects of the most skilful selection. In cold
and barien lands no animals can live to the age of maturity, but those who
have strong constitutions; the weak and the unhealthy do not live to propa-
gate their infirmities, as is too often the case with our domestic animals."

lS46.] Layering of Fruit Trees. 1 19

have given for doing it is " late in the fall or early in the spring."
These I admit are the best times for doing the work, but I have
followed it successfully through the season. It will of course be
understood that a tree grown in this way, from the limb of a
graft, will be a graft, root and branch; and will be filled with
limbs, like other young trees, from the ground up. With these I
commence what I term tree layering. I dig trenches for my nur-
sery rows, about ten inches deep by twelve wide, and four feet
apart. I then place my layer tree in the trench, and cover it all
except the tip of each limb with fine earth. The limbs of a tree
buried in this way do not need cutting to make them take root, as
in the case of limb layering. From each of these limbs I get a
tree. They will commence growing about as soon as the tree
that is transplanted to the orchard, and are not near as likely to
die; because tliey do not have the severe exposure to the wind
and sun that the orchard tree has, and by which it is often pre-
vented from taking root.

Soon after the little trees commence growing from the limbs
thus buried in the trench, the returning sap, not liking its under-
ground journey back to the old root, throws out a set of roots
from the tender wood of the end of the limb, near the top of the
ground, by which the young tree is afterwards nourished.

When I first commenced this kind of layering, I took some of
the straight limbs that were from one to two feet long, and turn-
ed them directly up from the stock of the tree, considering them
as trees so far grown; but the wood near the butt of the limb was
probably too hard to let the roots shoot out from it; and the sap
(not being checked as in the case of the limb that was buried)
kept up its circulation M'ith the old roots. Consequently, when I
took up my trees for selling, this kind, although large and hand-
some, was worthless for want of roots. A tree that is buried in
the trench as it should be, to the ends of the limbs, does not seem
to grow at all after the young trees above it have taken root for
themselves.

Trees propagated in this way make about the same growth in a
year that those do which are grafted. My largest cherry and
apple trees of last year's growth, measure over five feet; and the
season before, I had a still larger growth. Trees grown in this
way are many of them of a medium size for transplanting at two
yeais old; yet as they stand thick in the row, and are all con-
nected in the ground, they should not be disturbed until the third
year. Then the whole row can be taken up, and the nurseryman
can accommodate his customers with large, medium, or small
sized trees; and should there be any that are crooked or too small
to sell, they can be kept to re-stock the row that has just been
cleared. The space just cleared should be filled with the same

120 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

variety, as there will many shoots come up from the fragments of
roots that are left in the ground, and will be of value to the nur-
seryman if he keeps his row filled with the same variety; but if
he does not, lie must look to it that he does not in this way get
his varieties mixed.

Trees that are propagated in this way, I think, are of more
value than many that are grafted, or budded; for where a graft
is set into a seedling stock above the ground, there must be more
or less of a defect in the tree, according to the size of the stock
into which the m-aft is set — it beino; well known that althousrh a
graft will overgrow and heal around the stump, yet the top of the
stump never unites to the wood above it. But the layer tree is
sound from one end to the other. And I believe it is often the
case that a seedling root is not sufficiently vigorous to support as
it ought some of the large fast-growing varieties. But the layer
tree will have a root of the same kind and in proportion to its
stock and top.

Again, it is believed by many (who for aught I know are good
judges in the matter), that grafted fruit will run out, or become
so adulterated as not to be known by its original name, after re-
peated graftings from one tree to another. This, as I understand
it, is because the flavor of the fruit is (although mostly yet) not
Avholly given to it by the foliage, but is to some degree affected
by the ascending sap sent up from the root. But in trees that are
propagated by layering, I see no possibility for the variety of fruit
to run out, or become adulterated by propagation.

I have heard but two objections to trees that are grown from
layers. One is that " they are all suckers, and suckers are of no
account." But the difference between a layer tree and what is
generally termed a sucker, is considerable. Another objection is
that some writer has said that layers will make dwarf trees. But
the trees will show for themselves that they are not very dwarfish.

Some nurserymen who have examined my trees and mode of
propagating them, are going to commence tree layering with trees
that have seedling roots. Such will have trouble from the shoots
that will come up from the roots of the trees they bury. When
the young trees that have started from the limbs of the tree that
is buried, have sent out roots for themselves, there will be so little
a return of nourishment from the leaves to the old root, that it
will make an effort to sustain itself by sending shoots directly up
to the air. If the old root were a graff, these shoots would be
welcomed by the nurseryman; for they too would soon send out
a set of roots near the top of the ground, and make thrifty trees.
But if the old root is a seedling, these shoots must be pulled up;
and a thrifty seedling shoot so nearly resembles some of the graft-
ed varieties that it is difficult to disting-uish between them.

1846.] Analysis of the Ashes of the Sugar Cane.

121

That nurserymen may calculate what progress can be made in
putting clown these layers, I will say to them that last fall, when
the weather was favorable, with the help of two boys (one eight,
the other twelve years old), I dug the trenches and buried layers
enough for 1600 trees, daily.

As I am fully satisfied that trees produced by layers are as good,
and can be afforded for half the price that those can which are
grafted, I have thought the above mode of propagation was worth
giving to the public. — Prairie Farmer.

[We believe that apple trees propagated by layers are not so
likely to live when transplanted into the orchard: it is an old
practice, and by it trees may be multiplied rapidly; yet, let the
purchaser see that they are taken up carefully and planted care-
fully, and it may succeed.]

ANALYSIS OF THE ASHES OF THE SUGAR CANE.

BY CHARLES UPHAM SHEFARD.

Knowing that some of your readers would take an interest in
the following results upon the ashes of the sugar cane, obtained
by Mr. Stenhouse, I have been at the pains to condense them
from a very valuable memoir published by this gentleman in a
supplementary number of the London, Edinburg and Dublin Phil.
Magazine, and Journal of Science (No. 183, Dec. 1845, p. 533),
and herewith ofi'er them to you, with a remark or two of ray own,
provided they meet your views.

1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 i 51 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 1 10 1 Hi 121

silica.

45.97 42.S)0 46.46 41.37 46.48 50.00

45.13 17.64

26.38152.20148.73

54.59

Phosphoric acid,

3.76 7.99

8.23 1 4.59

8.16

6.56

4.88; 7.37

6 20 13.041 2.90

8.01

Sulphuric acid,

6.66 10.94

4.05 10.93

7..J-2

6.40

7.74; 7.97

6.081 3.31 1 5. .35

1.93

Lime.

9.16 13 20

8.911 9.11

5.78

5.09

4.491 2.34

5.87

10.04 11.62

14.36

MnRiiesia,

3.66 9.8-^

4.50 6.92

15.61

13.0]

11.90! 3.93

5.48

5.63 5.61

5.30

Potassa,

25.50 12.01

10.63 15.99

11.93

13.69

16.97,32.93

31.21

10.09 7.46

11.14

Soda.

1.39

0.57

1.33

L64I

0.80

Chloride pota.?sium,

3.27

7.41 8.96

,10.70

11.14

16.06

0.64

Chloride sodium,

2.02 1.69

9.21 2.13

3.95 1 3.92

7.25ll7.12

7.64

4.29 2.27

3.83

Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, were very fine full grown canes from Trin-
idad, consisting of stalks and leaves, but without the roots: Nos.
5, 6 and 7, were similar canes from Berbice; No. 8 from Deme-
rara; No. 9, of full grown canes, but with few leaves, from the
Island of Grenada; No. 10 from Trelawny, Jamaica, consisting
of transparent canes in full blossom, grown about six miles from
the sea and manured with cattle dung; No. 11, of transparent
canes, from St. James', Jamaica, growing about two hundred
yards from the sea, being old rattoons, and also manured with
cattle dung; No. 12, young, transparent canes three and a half

12^ Extracts from the Journals. [July,

miles from the sea, and manm-ed with cattle dung, guano and
marl.

From these analyses, it appears that the cane for successful cul-
tivation requires a very large quantity of silicate of potassa and
also a considerable amount of the phosphates. Few cultivated
plants, except the cerealia, require so much. Wheat, or any of
the cereals, necessarily causes the removal of a portion of the
valuable inorganic constituents of the soil, such as the alkalies,
phosphates, &c., which can only be returned to it indirectly: Irut
with sugar the case is quite otherwise. Sugar is a purely organic
substance, consisting of carbon and the elements of water, all of
which can be derived from the atmosphere, and contains neither
alkalies, nor phosphates; so that if the ashes of the canes were
carefully collected and returned to the soil in an available state,
there is no reason why cane might not be grown upon the same
lands almost indefinitely.

In the West Indies, where wood is scarce, the crushed canes
are employed as fuel, under the coppers of the boiling house to
concentrate the sirup, and as the heat required is great, a large
amount of the silica and the alkalies present is converted into a
hard, insoluble glass, M'hich in this form being useless, is thrown
away. We can therefore, readily understand the reason of the
rapid exhaustion of their sugar-lands, and the comparatively slow
wearing out of those in Louisiana, where from the abundance of
wood, the cane-trash is never thus employed, and where in addi-
tion to the inorganic ingredients of the cane, the soil receives (at
least where the planter-ship is what it ought to be,) the almost
equally valuable mineral constituents of the wood itself. — South-
ern Agriculturist.

WOOL.

; The annexed article by Hamilton Gay Esq., on the growth,
preparation, packing, &c., of American Wool for the English
market, contains information which will be valuable both to the
farmer and merchant. It was elicited by the following note,
dated —

New York, May 16th, 1846.

Dear Sir — You have been engaged for'the year past in export-
ing American wools to various markets in Great Britain, and
mu.st have acquired much valuable information respecting the
manner in which our wools should be prepared for those markets.
Such information is much wanted by our farmers and wool deal-
ers; for it is evident that wool is to be henceforth an important

1846.] Wool 123

article of exportation from the United States. Allow iis, then, to
inquire, whether you will not do us the favor to write out your
impressions for the Journal of Commerce.

We are, sir, your ob't servants.

Hale & Hallock.
Hamilton Gay, Esq., 53 South street.

New York, May 16th, 1846.
Messrs. Hale & Hallock:

Dear Sirs — I have your favor of this day's date. Such infor-
mation as I can give on the subject of your inquiry, is at your
service, for the benefit of those interested.

More than one-half of all the American fleece wool exported
from the United States, of the last year's clip, was owned and
shipped by myself and by others having a joint interest with me.
The purchases were all made at the lowest point of the season,
beginning on the 1st day of September, and closing on the 25th
day of October last. The result has been a net loss of f 5,993,
and 188 bales of wool yet unsold; equal only to the fraction of a
penny sterling on each pound. Not a fleece of the wool was sold
to meet the payment of drafts drawn against it, nor was any por-
tion of it unduly pressed upon the market — and this loss arose
from causes unnecessary, easily avoided, and entirely within the
control of parties in this country.

The prices of United States fleece wool are affected very inju-
riously in foreign markets by its unclean condition. It contains
too much oil, and yolk, and dirt. - The sheep are generally w^ash-
ed with too little care, and run too long after washing before
shearing. A large portion of the wool, from this cause, must
pass through the hands of those who sort it and scour it in soap
and water, before, it is sold to the manufacturers.

The wool itself is of superior staple, and while upon the sheep
is inferior to no other in the world, of equal grade ; and it may
be safely stated, that every pound of oil, or other worthless sub-
stance, will, in the English markets, deduct from the value of the
wool cantaining it, the price at least of two pounds of wool. Eng-
lish manufacturers and samplers, before purchasing, open a por-
tion of the fleeces, and examine carefully, not only the fineness,
but also the strength of the staple, and its condition throughout.

The first important operation in preparing our fleece w^ool for
export, is to properly cleanse it before shearing. The sheep
should be washed in clear running water — the water must run
freely through every part of the fleece, and the wool and every
part of it should be pressed and worked with the hand while under
water, until the dirt and oil are removed, and the water runs off

124 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

clear. The shearing should then take place as soon as the sheep
become dry after washing.

Then comes the tying up of the fleeces.

All the loose locks, clippings and tags, and every thing un-
clean, or of an inferior quality, and the coarse wool from the
thighs, if there be any, should be wholly rejected, and the
fleeces tied up firmly, so as to keep their shape, and show, as is
customary, the best part of the fleece on the outside.

This terminates the w^ool-grower's part; but I will here re-
mark, that sheep should be kept as nearly as possible in uniformly
good health and flesh, because every portion of the staple or fibre
of the wool which grows while the sheep are very poor from dis-
ease or want of food, has so little strength as to break in work-
ing; and ii this weak growth takes place in the fall of the year,
it destroys the fleece for many purposes.

The next step is to properly sort and sack the fleeces, and direct
them to the best market. This is the merchant's part, and more
than a shipper's profit depends upon its being performed under-
standingly.

In England each manufacturer devotes his attention to one par-
ticular description of goods, for w^hich his machinery has been
constructed, and he makes no other. The makers of each kind of
goods have established themselves mostly together in some one
part of the kingdom, where they have a wool market of their own,
in which they seek for the qualities and descriptions suitable for
their purpose, and will buy no other. The broadcloth makers in
the West of England; the Worsted Combers of Yorkshire; the
flannel manufacturers of Rochedale, and those who make hosiery
in Nottingham; purchase in their several markets a supply suita-
ble only for their own machinery. So nice does this discjimina-
tion run, that the fleeces of fine wool, taken from sheep one year
old, which were never before shorn, are mostly sent to one part
of the country, and there sold to be used for one purpose, and
the fleeces taken from the same sheep the next year, are sent to
another part of the country, and there wrought into a very differ-
ent kind of goods. Thus it is of great importance that fleece
wool for shipment, before it goes on board, should be sorted and
sacked according to the grades of foreign manufacturers, and suit-
able for their purposes, in order that it may be sold directly to
them — otherwise, even if clean and in good order, it must pass
first through other hands, that re-sort it, re-sack it, and distribute
it to various parts of the kingdom at considerable expense.

The size of the bales is the next thing to be kept in view. I
have paid on large shipments as high as one dollar per bale for
"Dock Dues," without reference to the size of the bales; while
at some ports the charge is less than on6-tenth part of this sura.

1846.] Wool. 125

Custom in England gives the purchaser an allowance on each
hale called " The Draft;" but the amount thus given varies at the
different markets. I have many accounts of sales in which only
one pound weight per bale is deducted for " the draft." I have
other accounts of sales made in different places, in which 2
pounds, and 3 pounds, and 4 pounds, and even 8 pounds per
bale is deducted for " the draft," w^ithout reference to the size of
the bale. This may seem unreasonable, but it is established by
the ancient usage of the different markets, and must be complied
with. The bales should therefore be of a size suited to their des-
tination; but not too large, else they will not be lifted, but rolled
over the docks and streets. Each sack should be firmly packed
by a man inside, but never pressed by machinery, and every fleece
of weak staple carefully rejected, and those fleeces packed by
themselves.

The shipment then requires some attention.

The wool should be placed on board dry, with the sackino-
whole and clean, and should always be sent as light freight in the
upper part of the vessel. Our wool contains too much oil and
gummy matter to be placed low in the ship, with heavy weights
pressing upon it, without being in some degree injured by matting-
together.

This closes the part of the American merchant.

In illustration, I will remark that I have had two invoices of wool
sold in England at the same price, in the same place, and within
three days of each other, whose value in this country differed ten
cents per pound on the day of their purchase, or any other day since.
The one kind answered the market, the other did not, but was
greatly superior in fineness of fibre.

My own clip of w'ool, grown upon my own lands, and cut last
June, and which I know all about, I shipped to England in one
vessel, and consigned it, in two equal quantities, of equal quality^
to two different markets, about 200 miles distant from each other,
and they w^ere sold near the same time, by direction of the same
house, and after full and fair exposure in both markets, at a dif-
ference of more than seven cents per pound in price. Its quality
and condition were very superior, and just suited to the one mar-
ket, and not to the other.

Within the past year, I have sent more or less wool to every
part of England, and to Wales, and to Scotland, comprising the
various qualities grown in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
New York and Vermont. Nearly every invoice was accompanied
w^th an intimation that " It was not sent sa much with a view to
profit as to try their market, and hoping to receive in return suit-
able directions or suggestions for a better method for preparing
and shipping such wools to England." The result has been a

126 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

voluminous correspondence, giving ample details, and all the par-
ticulars required. It is from this correspondence and the results
of those actual sales, as well as from personal observation and in-
formation, that I venture the opinions already expressed. I trust
that the past errors may be avoided in the future: and I now have
done with the preparations and shipment.

■ The production of wool in the United States, until recently, has
not equalled the consumption, but the low price of grains and pro-
visions since 1840, has caused a rapid increase in the number of
sheep; which, under very favorable circumstan(?fes, may double
each three years; and they now surpass, and are likely still fur-
ther to surpass, all previous estimates. The quantity of wool be-
came so unwieldy last year, that the value fell full twenty per
cent, notwithstanding the foreign shipments, the abundance of
money, the high tariff, and the prosperous condition of the manu-
facturing interest. We now have the promise of considerably in-
creased quantities in this year's clip, especially from some of the new
States, with money more in demand, the protective policy in more
danger, and lower prices of cloths. If the home markets were
solely relied upon, wool, like all other articles, when produced in
excess, w^ould long rule low in price. An abundant supply will
hereafter enable manufacturers to purchase at their leisure, and to
choose their qualities; and henceforth prices must be regulated,
like those of cotton, in the open markets of the world. The
growing of wool in this country is receiving from year to year
more and more attention. Men's minds have been turned in that
direction. Hundreds of thousands of sheep, instead of being
slaughtered as formerly, are now annually driven from older and
cultivated lands, as fast as their increase exceeds their pasturage
to newer grounds, where they are distributed to emigrants from
the older States accustomed to take care of them, and there they
form the germs of other flocks growing up in millions. An im-
petus has thus been given which must long continue, because con-
sistent with the interests of those concerned. The room and the
inducements are sufficient. In the North West, between the Al-
leghany and the Rocky Mountains, we have a vast region stretch-
ing over the extent of empires, where the soil is composed mostly
of vegetable mould, the accumulating deposit of various herbage
from year to year since the creation. The earth contains nothing
approaching it in vastness and fertility. This deposit is a mine
of material which may be turned into wheat, only by planting
wheat upon it, or into wool only by pasturing sheep upon it. It
lies open to every hand that will partake of it. Its position is se-
cure from the desolation of wars. Its extent and quantity are
such that it must pass to other generations of men before exhaust-
ed. But like all great tracts of interior territory, the transporta-

1846.] The Cvrculio. 127

tion of its products to the ocean, and the markets of other climates,
is laborious, costly, slow, hazardous and uncertain. Wool forms
the only exception. Wool, which is worth ten times as much as
iron of equal weight, may be sent forward from the place of its
growth thirty times cheaper than wheat of equal value. The ne-
cessaries of densely peopled countries insures its steady consump-
tion. Of all the articles of commerce, wool is the most stable in
its nature, and has always been the most generally used by civil-
ized man, from times the most remote of every nation, tongue and
race. Of all the staple articles of the world, wool requires the
least labor to produce it, the least care and cost in its preserva-
tion and transportation, and is the most suitable, profitable and
reliable production for the great interior of this conntry, where la-
bor is scarce and dear, and fertile lands cheap and plenty. Hence
its growth will long continue to be a cherished interest, and the
export demand, at the prices of other countries, will last forever.

I remain, yours truly,

Hamilton Gay.

THE CURCULIO.

BY JAMES ALLEN.

If a man does not possess a comprehensive mind, or loses one
between youth and old age, he may be good and clever, but
never can be useful beyond the circle of common business. And
if I am lacking from dotage or any other cause, my unbounded
conceit can be put to the test when I make the assertion, that I
can subdue the peach worm, and destroy the plum bug, Curculio.

As much has been written on both subjects, by men of learning
and observation, they have only given me cause to believe that
they have passed round the enemy and only driven in the picquet
guards, instead of storming their Ibrtress.

It a man having young peach trees will remove the ground
early in the spring, and with a wooden paddle scrape about the
roots and search for worms, and then with soft soap, made and
kept with strong ley, soap the roots well and up the trunk about
six inches, leaving the cavity made to remain open several weeks,
and then filled up with ashes either leached or unleached, using
enough to make a mound about each tree, there to remain until
late in the fall, and then leveled down. The second year no
soaping will be needed, if it was done well the year before. But
the ashes put in mound form around the trees must be continued.

I will now leave the peach worm and pass on to that sly
" Turk," the Curculio, that destroys all plums when they are let
alone.

128 Extracts Jrorn the Journals. [July,

Lots where swine and poultry can have access is the proper
place to plant plum trees, and in ground moderately hard, plum
trees flourish best. To talk of hogs eating the fallen fruit and
destroying the bug in that way, is but theory without evidence to
support it. The most of plums are punctured when they are about
the size of garden peas, and hogs destroy more of them by tread-
ing than in any other way. But there is a remedy to save the
fruit before the injury is done.

Soon after the trees bloom, the bugs can be found on the trees
ready to commence their work of destruction when the plum
bursts the blossom cup; and at that time the fruit being young
and tender, they soon make great havoc. In proper time I make
a driver about one foot long, three inches wide, and more than
one inch thick, and circle the end to suit the round of a tree, over
which I put thick spongy leather, to save the bark of the tree and
limbs from injury; and after preparing two large white cloths,
one for each side of the tree, and spreading them on the ground,
with my driver and small mallet I jar the tree and all the limbs
well, and kill the bugs immediately. If this is continued thorough-
ly, but few bugs can escape; yet during the season afterwards all
punctured fruit should be gathered and burned. It lightens the
business for the second year. If not done, the worm escapes into
the ground, there to remain until the next spring, when it rises a
bug to commence its depredations. The victory thus gained must
be continued from year to year, and every season the business will
become lighter.

A drawing of a young plum with the enemy on it, and a semi-
circular cut made on the fruit by the bug, can be seen in A. J.
Downing's Book on Fruits, but the drawing of the plum is too
large, as the most of plums are punctured before they are one-half
inch in diameter, and many of them before they are half that size.

Where bugs have gained a habitancy, and are very numerous,
jarring trees twice a day is a very good plan, and in a few^days
their number will decrease; and the earlier in the season the bu-
siness is done, the more effectual it will be.

Persons seeing this communication, if they lose their plums
hereafter, it will be their own fault. — Western Reserve Magazine.

Road Making. — Roads may be improved by draining. Such a
result may be attained by cutting a deep ditch through the middle
of the road, running it parallel with it, for the distance required;
the ditch may be filled with stone at bottom and gravel at top.
This is the effectual remedy for muddy roads. — Ed.

1846.] Window Gardens. 129

WINDOW GARDENS.

[We recommend the following measure to the consideration of
those who may be confined to narrow apartments, or who may re-
quire profitable as well as pleasant recreation: it is extracted from
the Gardeners^ Chronicle, a paper whose high standing is ac-
knowledged by the first agriculturists and gardeners of this coun-

Believing that these gardens will prove a valuable acquisition
to lovers of flowers in England, I send the following observations
and lists of plants, in the hope of facilitating and promoting their
general adoption.

The first published account of window gardens appears to be
contained in a little work entitled " Le Jardinier des Fenetres des
Apimrtemens et des Petits Jardins,^" printed in Paris in 1823.
The author states that one which he describes existed four or five
years previously at the house of M. Gilet, Rue du Faubourg de
Temple, and he states the interesting fact, as connected with the
usefulness of those miniature greenhouses that the Cereus specio-
sissimus there flowered for the first time in France.

But it would appear, although many amateurs visited M. Gilet's
house to see the splendid novelty, they were not induced by his
success to follow his example, and the window garden seems to
have been forgotten; for ten years afterwards an engineer, of Me-
zieres, passing through Boulogne, saw one at the house of an
English admiral, and was so much struck with it that he made a
communication on the subject to the Horticultural Society of Paris,
and it was so new to the members that they referred the paper to
one of their standing committees, who made the following report
upon it: —

" The committee think this sort of greenhouse must be plea-
sing; easily constructed, although rather expensive,* and parti-
cularly adapted for a window presenting a disagreeable view." —
Annals de la Soc. d'Hort. de Paris, for 1833, p. 260.

Notwithstanding this public notice, it is only very lately that
Parisian amateurs have adopted the plan, which is the more re-
markable in a city where the taste or rather the passion for flowers
is almost universal; but the fact is proved by M. Paquet having
thought it worth while to give a figure of a " Fenetre Serre" in
his " Almanack" for the present year. He tells us, however, that
they are common in Belgium, probably at Brussels, for at Ghent,
the head quarters of horticulture in that country, they have only

* A sinsular objection to have made to so simple a structure in a country
where glass is so cheap as it is in France.
No. VII. 9

130 Extracts from the Journals, [July,

been introduced within the last two years. — Annals de la Soc.
d^Jlgric. et de Bat. de Gand, for March, 1846.

One is naturally led to compare the advantages of a window-
garden with those of a Ward's case, and probibly few amateurs
would hesitate for a moment in deciding that the form?r is beyond
all comparison the more useful of the two. It has always ap-
peared to me, that the utility of Ward's cases, when employed for
growing plants in rooms, has been greatly overrated, while it is
not possible to appreciate too highly the benefit they have confer-
red on botany and horticulture, by affording the means of trans-
porting plants by sea, with the certainty of success, from distant
parts of ♦the w^orld. A problem has thus been solved that had
baffled the ingenuity of collectors, and appeared to defy the re-
sources of science for several centuries.

But what does the amateur gain by filling his windows with
these cases? After all that has been said and written on the sub-
ject, it is a fact that very few flowering plants will thrive in
them, especially in town houses; but the great objection is that
they give no occupation; there is no gardening to be done in a
Ward's case. After the novelty is over it excites no more inte-
rest than any other article of furniture in the room, and M^henever
a few cut flowers and a basket of green moss can be obtained,
gratifying the sense of smell as Avell as pleasing the eye, it is al-
most useless.

Now one of the great advantages of a window-garden is the
agreeable occupation it affords to those amateur gardeners who
are imprisoned in towns, to invalids, and to lady amateurs, and
young people who are cofined to the house by bad weather, in
town or in the country. Watering the plants, tying up climbers,
making cuttings, and raising seedlings, shifting the plants, watch-
ing the daily progress and gradual opening of the flower-buds,
may serve to beguile many a tedious hour, and persons unaccus-
tomed to plant culture would hardly believe how much occupation,
amusement, and instruction these little gardens will supply.

It will be found a great improvement, and tend to secure a
healthy vegetation, to plunge the pots in moss and to cover them
with the same material. The green moss is in itself a beautiful ob-
ject, while it serves to conceal what is the very reverse, a collec-
tion of red garden-pots; then by keeping it wet in summer, and
dry or nearly so in winter, an atmosphere may be readily pro-
vided exactly suited to the wants of t"he plants, and the soil in
the pots is kept at all times in an equable state with regard to
moisture and temperature, protected alike from a burning sun in
summer, and from the cold occasioned by evaporation, or by radi-
ation under a clear frosty sky in winter.

The moss likewise allows the plants to be frequently watered

1846.] Window Gardens. 131

overhead, or syringed, without it; in performing these operations,
a part of the earth is liable to be washed out of the pots, which
it then becomes necessary to remove, in order that the shelf may
be cleaned.

In a French window, the glass case occupies the whole height
when the casement opens from top to bottom, or three-fourths of
the height when there is a division, as shown in the figure at p.
203 of the Chronicle. In an English window, and where econo-
my is studied, the case need only reach to the top of the lower
sash; but where expense is not an object, and if the room be
otherwise sufficiently lighted, it is advisable to let it occupy the
entire space of the window, covering both sashes. The addi-
tional height would give room for several shelves, which might
be readily got at by drawing down the top sash; but the princi-
pal advantage would consist in the ample space gained for climb-
ing plants, which might then be made to occupy not only the
sides but the iTont.

When there are other windows in the room to secure ventila-
tion, it is not necessary that the sloping light should open, espe-
cially if the window has not a southern aspect.

In most cases, where any opening is required, sufficient air
U'ight be admitted by a casement occupying a single square,
either on one side or in the top-light.

In winter it is essential that the joints of all openings should
be made air-tight by pasting slips of paper over them; in our ill-
ventilated apartments the supply of air required for respiration,
and the combustion of fuel, is obtained by allowing a cold at-
mosphere to rush through every chink and crevice about the doors
and windows, and such currents in frosty weather would destroy
the flowers and foliage of any plant exposed to them.

Before I proceed to the subject of plants adapted for window
gardens I would suggest that those who intend to adopt them
would do well to study carefully the papers of Mr. Errington on
" Winter Flowers," and those of an " Amateur Gardener," which
have appeared from time to time in the Chronicle.

In furnishing the garden it is evident that in order to produce
the best effect, the habit of the plants should harmonize with the
limited dimensions of the structure intended to contain them;
moderate sized flowers of clear and brilliant colors, delicate foliage,
and a compact habit, are the points to be chiefly attended to in
selecting the plants.

In summer and autumn there can be no difficulty in providing
an abundance of plants among the endless varieties of Pelargo-
nium, Fuchsia, Calceolaria, Verbena, and Roses.

132 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

ON THE SUCCESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF VEGETABLE
MATTER IN THE CULTIVATION OF WHEAT.

M. Mathieu de Dombasle, who is so well known in France
from his scientific researches into the means of preventing bunt
in corn, has, in a memoir on the nutrition of vegetables, endea-
vored to overthrow an opinion generally entertained by cultivators
that plants do not exhaust land except during the period of fruc-
tification; that is from the time of fecundation to that of the
ripening of the seed. This opinion is founded on the generally
admitted fact that a crop mowed just after coming into flower ex-
hausts the land much less than if it is suffered to become ripe.
Thus Clover and Tares are considered not merely as innocuous,
but in some cases even as decidedly beneficial to the land. Be-
sides, we know that of all parts of vegetables the seeds are those
which, in the same bulk, contain the greatest quantity of nutritive
matter, and therefore, a priori, it is natural to conclude that they
require for their formation a greater quantity of nutritive princi-
ples.

To these facts M. de Dombasle has opposed others quite as well
established, w^hich tend to prove that plants draw as much nour-
ishment from the soil at the beginning of their development as at
a more advanced period. For instance, amongst vegetables con-
sidered as the most exhausting there are some which in ordinary
cultivation are not allowed to produce seed, as Cabbages, Woad,
and Tobacco; and it is agreed that in nurseries where young
plants of Coleseed and Beet are raised for transplanting, the ground
soon loses its fertility.*

M. Mathieu de Dombasle has not hesitated to attribute the
slight degree of exhaustion caused by certain green crops to the
circumstance of their leaving in the ground a quantity of roots,
which is very considerable compared with the whole mass of ve-
getation. To complete this organization, it may perhaps be use-
ful to remember that those green crops which exhaust but little,
or are beneficial to the soil, are gifted with the power of deriving
from the atmosphere the greater portion if not the whole of their
elements. In a former work M. Boussingault has made it appear
that all the vegetable matter produced in the course of a crop is
not found in it when mowed; in Clover, for example, the quantity
of organic matter remaining as an acquisition to the soil may
amount to more than 0.8 of the weight of the hay. We must
then set it down as a principle that every crop depauperates the

* It is evident that these instances are not conclusive. The point is not to
prove that young crops <lo exhaust the ground, but to inquire vviiether they
exhaust it as much as when they are allowed lo ri'ien their seed.

1846.J JVheat. 133

ground on which it grows, but that the exhaustion, which is
always clear when the crop is entirely taken away, becomes so
much the less sensible, as there remains in it a greater or less
quantity of residual parts.

The slightly exhausting effect then of vegetables before flow-
ering, is tar Irom establishing the point that during their early
stage of growth they subtract but little from the soil; the above-
mentioned facts prove the contrary, at the same time that they
seem to indicate that at this epoch the plant already holds in re-
serve, accumulated in its organs, a large portion of the matter
which at a later period wmII concur in the formation of the seed.
We know, for example, that vegetables taken up after fecunda-
tion yield seed notwithstanding, when they are kept in a proper
state of moisture.

When a vegetable is fecundated the reproduction of the species
is insured, for, stiictly speaking, it is effected under mere meteo-
rological influences. Proceeding from this phase of vegetable
lite, the matter accumulated is carried towaids the point where
the fruit is to be developed; the green color of the leaves gradu-
ally fades, the saccharine and amylaceous principles, and the
azotized substances, leave gradually the stems and roots. Clover
and Beet after having produced seeds can no longer be considered
as fodder, their stems and leaves presenting merely a ligneous
and insipid tissue.

In consequence of this appropriation of the succulent principles
of the roots, we understand that a full grown plant will leave
only a small residual part in proportion to what it would have
left before maturity. It is to this diminution in the organic mat-
ter of the residuum, that M. de Dombasle has attributed the ex-
haustion occasioned by crops; but does it follow necessarily from
this concentration of the juices towards a single organ, that from
the moment it commences, the air and Atmosphere cease to have
any part in the phenomena of vegetation, and that the whole
work of organization which is accomplished after flowering is
formed merely at the expense of the materials stored up in the
tissues of the plant. This is the opinion of M. de Dombasle.
Nevertheless, after flowering, the leaves preserve for a long time
their aerial functions, and the moisture which escapes from their
leaves shows that the roots have not ceased their functions.
We see that for an ill-founded opinion, an opinion entirely con-
trary, but not sufliciently justified in every point of view, has been
substituted; it was conteniled that assimilation takes place prin-
cipally during fructification; M. de Dombasle affirms that a fe-
cundated plant incloses already all the elements necessary for
maturation, and as he did not find for his defence arguments as strong
as those which^he had employed for the attack he had recourse to
experiment.

134 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

On the 26^ of June, when the Wlieat was in flower, he mark-
ed out 40 plants as equal as possible. Twenty of these were
taken, the remainder reserved for future observation. After hav-
ing cleaned and dried the 20 first plants, he found that they were
composed of —

oz. (avdp.)

Roots, 1.5

Stems, spikes, and leaves, 4.4

5.9 ounces.

The remaining 20 plants were gathered after the ripening of

their seeds on the 2Sth of August, and gave —

oz. (advp.)

Roots, .95

Straw, spike, chaff, and leaves, 3.01

Seeds, 2.34

6.30 ounces.

In becoming ripe the plants had increased by 4-lOths of an
ounce only, that is, by about l-16th of their weight. The Wheat,
therefore, had gained from the time of sowing to flowering 15-
15ths of its whole weight. If, then, it had been mown when in
flower, it would have returned to the earth by means of its roots,
a fourth of the weight of the crop, whereas, when ripe, it left in
the soil one-seventh only.

The practical inferences to be deduced from this experiment,
if correct, are important; for if it is true that a plant cut when it
is in flower contains already nearly the whole of the organic
matter which it will contain a month or two later, as regards hay
crops, it would be more advantageous to mow before, rather than
after flowering. The method recommended by certain cultivators
of multiplying the cropping and cutting of hay, on the same field,
would thus be justified — a method whose merits are veiy doubtful
in the estimation of many practical men, but which, were it well-
founded, would have the advantage, which is always of such con-
sequence in cultivation, of producing the greatest quantity of
fodder in a given space of time. Thus, setting on one side the
question of the exhaustion of the soil, which is quite a secondary
point; M. Boussingault has devoted his attention especially to
verifying the exactness of the experiment whose consequences are
so important.

He proceeded in the same way as M. de Dombasle; but to
avoid the risk of any important error which might arise from the
dessication not being perfect, he thought it best to analyse the
matters taken from the soil. In fact, analysis offers a great se-

1S46.] Wheat. 135

curits'. because, indicatins:. as it does, the absolute quantity of
carbon and azote which is found developed in crops, it is of no
consequence whether the substances containing these elements
were weighed in a state of greater or less dryness.

On the 19th of May, 1S44, he looked out for a spot where the
Wheat was as uniform as possible. 450 plants were taken,
which, freed by washing from the adherent earth, and dried by
long exposure to air,

oz. (advp.)

Produced stems and leaves. 9.7

Roots, 1.6

11.3

On the 9th June, when it was in flower, 450 other plants were
taken in the same spot, and dried in the same way, which save.

Spikes in fiower, 3.S

Stems and leaves. - 29.9

Roots, 3.5

37.2

On the 15th of August, at harvest time, 450 plants were again
taken as before, which gave —

Seed, 23.8

Spike and chaif. 5.4

Straw, 32.6

Roots, 4.2

66.0
Mean for each plant —

Difference,

Mav 19. Plant without flowers. 019S ( ^.-. -,

June 9. Plant in flower. 0S30 \ ^'^^

Aug. 15. Plant in seed, 1471 0641

Thus, from flowering to harvest, the increase of dry matter was
in a ratio of 100: 177, that is to say, that in this interval the
weight of the plant was almost doubled — a result verv different
from that arrived at by M. de Dombasle.

The analysis of these successive crops was made bv takinor as
a representative of each, proportional quantities of diflerent or-
gans. The details of this analysis are here omitted, and we con-
fine ourselves to giving the Table in which ^I. Boussingault has
established the successive increase of organic matter in the crop
from a hectare of land. (2.471 acres.) In fact the crop from the
land whence the plants for experiment had been taken was
weighed with the greatest care. First, the weight of the sheaves

136

Extracts from the Journals.

[July,

was ascertained ; the wheat was threshed by a machine, and then,
after the grain had been measured, the difference between the
weight of the straw and chaff was estimated. There was per
hectare, not deducting the seed,

Wheat, 3717 lbs.

Straw and chaff, 5914

Roots, (estimated) 661

Weight of whole crop per hectare, 10,292 lbs.

The relation of the grain to the straw and chaff is nearly the
same as that given by the 450 plants. We have a right then to
presume that the weight of the plants taken before harvest, on
the 19th of May and the 9th of June, represents, within the same
limits of error, the state of cultivation of the fields at these two
periods.

Applying, then, to the whole crop the results of the prelimina-
ry analysis, we have as the successive increa.se of organic matter,
on a hectare of land, the facts registered in the subjoined table.

♦-' u

c <u

a a,

ji

0.^3

=- <u

c

C/3

Times of Gathering.

ghto
n dri
are.

o

O

B

dj

TJ

>i

o

a a

^11

X

O

<

§1

lbs. av

May 19,

1519
5^03
42S4

566.9
2222 . 9
1656.0

88.2
359.7
271.5

781.1
3023.7
2242.6

27.3
52.2
24.9

56.2

145.1

Increase from May 19 to June 9,. .

88.9

August 15. (harvest,)

10293

3S29.I

699.9

5121. S

92.6

411.6

Increase from June 9 to August 15,

4490

1606.2

340.2

898.1

40.4

266.5

We see from this table, that if, before flowering, from the 19th
of May to the 9th of June, there were assimilated per hectare
1656 lbs. of carbon, and 25 lbs. of azote; the same principles
fixed in the plants, from the appearance of the flowers to harvest,
were 1606 lbs. of carbon, and 40 lbs. azote. Doubtless, and as
might have been supposed, a 'priori, the development of organic
matter, at first very rapid, became less so as the crop approached
maturity; but it was still suflficiently active to double nearly the
weight of the crop between flowering and harvest.

The analysis shows besides what was the progress of the as-
similation of the constituent elements of the corn during the time
of cultivation. Thus, supposing vegetation to have been uninter-
rupted from the 1st of March to the 15th of August, we have the
following numbers:

1846.]

Growth of Orchards, ^x.

137

Times of Vegetation-

Match 1 to May 19,

May 19 to June 9,

Jtine 9 to August 15,

Mean assimilation per day,

Per day and per lieclare.

c

en

0)

o

c

2 5

J2

dPrlt-s^

a

O
S

.5-0

^i;

Q 2i;

O

<

Sod

79

15.0

6.06

.264

.617

21

205.0

78.86

1. 191

4.235

56

82.0

28.67

.727

4.764

6.38

24.00

.551

2.603

M. Boussingault had collected the necessary materials for exe-
cuting a work of the same kind on leguminous plants; but the
increase of weight in dry vegetable matter was so considerable
between flowering and maturity, that the analysis became useless
for estimating the consequence deduced from the experiment un-
dertaken on the culture of Wheat, viz., that after fecundation
plants continue to fix in their tissues elements derived from the
soil and atmosphere.

GROWTH OF ORCHARDS— PEACHES— PLUMS.

We published not long since the growth of a young orchard;
we now give another instance. W^e think it is well to give these
examples occasionally, that none -may be deterred from setting
fruit trees, with the notion that it requires the long life-time of a
person for them to come into bearing. One thing the reader will
please bear in mind, and that is the cases we name are favorable
ones, the result of skill and good management, but it is no more
than others can do under favorable circumstances.

A short time ago we had the pleasure of visiting the farm and
fruit orchard of Mr. Moses Jones, Brookline. Mr. Jones is one
of the best cultivators in the country, in farming, gardening, and
fruit growing; but few can obtain so much profit from the same
extent of land. He is not only a skilful manager, but a very con-
stant and industrious worker, giving his personal and practical
attention to every department. He commenced with nothing
when he was twenty-one years of age, and he has made his pro-
perty by farming, and he now has enough — a fortune, if one
can call that a fortune which makes him independent, and af-
fords all that one needs or can enjoy. This gain of property is
in some measure from the rise of lands, but without regard to the

138 Extracts Jrom the Journals. [Ji^'b*

sales of land, considering it for cultivation only, he has a very-
handsome income.

About nine or ten years ago, Mr. Jones cut av^ay the growth
on a side hill, and set out an orchard of 112 apple trees, two rods
apart. The eighth year after he set the trees, his crop of apples
was 103 barrels. Any one acquainted with the growth of young
trees under good cultivation, knows very well that the crop will
soon be doubled, and before long it will be quadrupled. Mr.
Jones has manured and cultivated among these trees, raising va-
rious crops which have more than paid the expense of manure and
cultivation.

Thus far this appears very well, and those who neglect their
trees so that they never grow well nor become productive may
call this a great story. We recommend to such a visit to this
orchard, that they may contrast the management and success of
others with their own. But there is another important item which
we will introduce into this account, that will make the story bet-
ter still, if not greater. A few years after the apple trees were
set, peach trees were set between the apple trees in the rows, and
w^hole rows of peach trees were set between the rows of apple
trees, in the inner part of the orchard, but not on the outside.
The trees do not yet interfere, and the peach trees will doubtless
decay after bearing plentifully a few years; and in this case it
should be considered that the peach trees were set several years
after the apple trees. Had they been set at the same time, they
would doubtless have declined long before they interfered with
the apple trees.

But now as to the cost and profit of these trees, which some
cultivators would think should not be set there, if their practice
accords with their opinions. Mr. Jones gave $ 100 for 400 trees,
and some of his neighbors laughed at him for his injudicious ex-
penditure, and one remarked that he would never see his $100
again. Most of these trees, as the reader may calculate, were
required for this piece. The crop of peaches last season sold for
$400.

Mr. Jones had a number of plum trees that were large enough
to bear, but he got no fruit, whether from its not setting or from
the destruction of the curculio, we do not remember, as we write
from memory; they were among his asparagus, and having heard
that dock mud was good for asparagus, he applied it to that pur-
pose, and since then he has had good crops of plums, doubtless
from the good effects of the salt in the mud.

We measured some apple trees in Mr. Jones' orchard that were
only 11 years old that were one foot in diameter, and have doubt-
less produced 4 or 5 barrels of fruit in a year. Mr. J. has a hand-

1846.] Chess. 139

some elm tree in front of his house which he set nine years ago;
it was then so small that he brought it some distance on his shoul-
der. It is now one foot in diameter, and of a proportionate
height. Verily the hand of so skillful a cultivator is like the
philosopher's stone, it turns every thing it touches into gold, or
into something of more intrinsic value. — Boston Cultivator.

CHESS.

BY PROF. C. DEWEY.

It hardly need be remarked that the articles on this subject in
the Prarie Farmer for last August and September, do not touch
the question whether wheat is changed into chess, as commonly
apprehended. Those cases, admitting their real existence, are in
the language of botanists, monsters. They are not the ordinary
form in which chess appears and are the only cases of the kind on
record. Wheat and chess have entirely distinct modes of growth
as their fruit is respected. Wheat bears a single spike or a culm,
long and regular; but chess grows in 'panicles or variously divi-
ded floM'n stalks, having a large number of spikelets on one culm.
If chess is altered wheat, the whole form of bearing fruit is
changed, as well as the general shape and aspect of the plant.
This form is taken by the chess and wheat before the time of
flowering. It cannot be the result of the action of any pollen, as
it exists before the pollen is formed. If chess and wheat grow on
the same root, which I should like fo see before the thing requires
my belief, and which I have always found to be separate, howe-
ver near they grow to each other, the change cannot be of the
hybrid kind. It is a change which affects the form, manner of
growth and of flowering, the nature of the leaves and especially
of the seeds. Hence, wheat and chess are placed in different
genera by all botanists, differing far more from each other than
wheat, rye and barley, do. Though wheat and chess belong to
the grasses, in the large application of that term by naturalists, so
do Indian corn, broom corn, sugar corn, &c., but they are separa-
ted far from each other by various characters and properties, and
placed in distinct genera for these constant differences.

A hybrid is the product of two species of the same genera, and
of tw'o closely related species; and the form of the hybrid is
between the two and like the two. The pollen of the one spe-
cies is deposited on the stigmas of the other. So little is the ten-
dency in nature to this effect, that florists are obliged to take
much effort to obtain it. It is the law of the vegetable world,
that " the earth bring forth grass, the herb (plant) yielding seed,

140 Extracts fronn the Journals. [July,

and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in
itself." On this law men expect to raise rye from its seed, and
wheat from its seed, and chess from its seed, and barley, and In-
dian corn, and millet, and oats, &c., from their seed. Without
such a law the culture of the earth would be abandoned. If the
different genera and species could be mingled in the manner of
the hybrid, and this mingling of the pollen of various and differ-
ent plants in the flowers of others were common, vegetation would
be one scene of confusion ; the science of botany would have no
existence, and agriculture would be preserved only by keeping
each cultivated plant entirely removed and separated from all
others. Even when a hybrid is procured, the constant tendency
of the hybrid is to revert to one of the two related species of its
origin.

If wheat turns to chess in ordinary cases, the change must be in
the germ or embryo in the seed, so that the wdiole plant shall be
changed. The change cannot be in or near the time of flowering.

The naturalist believes no such change ever takes place. To
convince him of the contrary, bring forward a plant of chess grow-
ing on the same root with a stalk of wheat, both having their
characteristic fruit. Let the connection of the roots be palpable
— no sowing or stitching together, like those two legs of a lamb
on his back, or the calf's head on a hog's body with six legs,
which have excited the wonder of the gaping and separated the
fool and his money. Preserve the real plants, roots and all, grow-
ing together on the same root; put them into the hands of some
naturalist or honest and shrewd printer who can see through a
millstone when a hole is made through it; and let the whole be
substantiated by credible witnesses. The subject, if it is to be
settled satisfactorily to those who suspect such a change to be pos-
sible, demands all this effort and security, and will place a crown
of fame on the head of the fortunate discoverer. — Prairie Farmer.

EDUCATION.

[The subject of popular education is of vital importance to the
farmers of America, and, as many of the states are now agitating
it with the hope of adopting an efficient and well-organized sys-
tem of common schools, we shall approp-riate a brief space in our
Journal to these improvements — to the new and sounder methods
of teaching which are or may be in use by the best teachers, with
occasional extracts bearing directly on the general subject. The
following forcible appeal, from an address by the Hon. Wm. L.
Dayton, inculcates a most important lesson for the young men of
our country — that of self-reliance. We ask every farmer's son to

1846.] Education. 141

read it. It at least hints at the reason why the great mass of
men know so little of common truth, even of those operations in
nature we may add, by which the fruits of the earth are pro-
duced.]

In the outset of your career I wish to impress upon you the ne-
cessity of self-reliance as essential to success in life. I do not
mean by this to inculcate that which is synonymous with mere
industry. A life-time may be spent in gathering up the thoughts
of other men. The granary may be full, and yet not a sheaf of
your own be there. The ancient mariner who crept along the
coast, guided by some mark on the land, or at best some star in
the sky, was just as laborious as he, who, before the shape of the
earth was settled, or the philosophy of Newton was known, rea-
soning from visible objects only, steered his ship boldly into the
great deep, to reach Cathay, the further India, by a western pas-
sage. It is the self-reliance of intellect, of thought, which I
would inculcate as necessary to distinction in life. And without
meaning to touch upon the province of others, whose better right
it is, to enforce our humble dependence upon a Higher Power; I
would add that such dependence from the creature to the Creator,
is daily and hourly due; that its constant acknowledgement gives
strength to our w^eakness, upholds us in every effort for the better
development of our powers. Let it not then be forgotten that the
self-reliance I inculcate in the course of these remarks, is in ex-
clusion only of that reliance w^hich feeble man places upon his
fellow.

And here permit me, in the first place, to refer to a principle of
our nature antagonistical to the exCTcise and development of this
faculty. I mean the vis inerticB of the animal, as opposed to the
intellect of the man. It is more pervading and controlling in its
effects than the vanity of our nature will readily admit. The
truth is, mankind in the mass, are indolent. How else is it that
they know so little, as a whole, of common philosophic truth? so
little of the material universe around them? They live by the
fruits of the earth, yet scarcely ask how nature works in their
production. The lightnings play, the winds come, and the raijis
descend; they see the effect, but trouble themselves not to under-
stand the cause. The sky is literally bespangled w'ith shining
bodies; some fixed, some wandering, and some shooting madly
from their sphere; they look in momentary surprise at a falling
star, then trouble themselves no further about the economy of
God's glorious universe! While these things add nothing to
sound sleep or easy digestion, the inertia of the animal is too
much for the intellect of the man. However much we may talk
of the incitements of honorable ambition, I very much fear they
only control the few: that it is want — the wants of physical na-

142 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

ture alone, which stimulate the many to exertion. These wants
are widely enlarged by a kind Providence, through the forms of
conventional life — of organized society: and each additional
want, whether actual or imaginary, gives rise to an increased
mental exertion. Thus it happens that our wants, rather than
our ambition, are the fulcra upon which the intellect of tlie mass
of society is lifted up, and the points about w^hich it revolves.
But let it be remembered that I speak of the many, not of the few
who pursue truth and knowledge for their own sakes. It is of the
latter class only that the great in literature and science ever come.
No man has distinguished himself highly, without an object above
merely bettering his condition in life. But those of you who are
farthest removed from the necessity of actual exertions to procure
your personal comforts, are in the greatest danger of falling vic-
tims to this general inertia of our nature. And to such, more
particularly, would I give the voice of warning. As a means of
success or happiness in life, the most unstable of all, is a reliance
upon the favors of fortune.

It sometimes happens that we are slow to appreciate the value
of elementary study. That we distrust the practical utility of Ae
learnino- of the schools; and where this is so, althouo-h the voice
of instruction, like " the rains of Heaven may descend upon the
just and the unjust," its fertilizing principle sinks deep only in
the one, while it runs off unfelt from the other. From those more
especially whose collegiate lii'e ends with the morrow, the last
apology' for neglect (if any such there hath been) is about to pass
away. They can no more ask themselves, of what avail is all
this? What boots it that we become learned in languages; wise
in cones, spheres, squares, and cubes? " Will it set a bone? No.
Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No —
therefore I'll none of it." A different scene now opens. Your
next step is preparation — immediate preparation, for active life.
You will soon be transplanted from beneath the parent stem; you
will have an individuality, and must stand or fall as you shall
bear yourselves in the coming struggle. Are there any who even
yet hesitate? who cast about for farther delay — further indul-
gence? Then indeed their case is almost hopeless. They enter
upon the serious duties of life with a species of " malice afore-
thought." I will not suppose it. I am willing to believe that
all are ready. Now it is, that you would make a gainful barter
by exchanging a goodly portion of all tlie genius and talent you
possess, for a part only of the unshaken confidence — the strong
self-reliance of men immeasurably your inferiors in acquirements.
Look abroad; animate creation has its lesson. The beasts of the
field seek safety and protection in their own instincts and strength.
The fowls of the air poise themselves aloft, each by the steadi-

1846.] Education. 143

ness of its own wing. The worm of the dust in its slimy track,
knows no guide save its own feeble instincts. The earth, the air,
ihe sea, " and all that in them is," have stamped upon th 'ir phy-
sical condition a law for their development, that each take care of
itself. And man, the noblest of them all ; the only created thing
which to the instincts of nature, hath added the lights of reason;
who " perisheth not as the beasts perish," he, too, for the de-
velopment of his intellectual nature, is subject to the same gene-
ral law, that each rely upon himself.

^ ■^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

But while I would thus encourage you by the example of oth-
ers to test your capacities to the utmost, do not let me be misun-
derstood. I do not urge you into a headlong impetuosity — a
rush upon the duties of life without preparation — a blind reliance
upon your own powers, in despite of the counsels of your elders.
All experience confirms the truth of the sentiment, " temeritatis
est videlicet aetatis, prudentia senescentis." Nor do I suppose
that all who hear me are to shine as stars of the first magnitude.
We cannot all be destined to an immortality of fame. But each
of you may become respectable in the several departments of hu-
man industry. This is a target within " point blank" distance;
all may reach it. Literature, and science; the healing art; the
pulpit; the bar, and the council chamber are all open. But in
each and all, at every step you must remember that self reliance
is essential to success.

In science or literature, to make a name which will live beyond
the hour, a man must do something or say something, worth being
done or said, and not better said or done before. He must add
something to the knowledge or happiness of his species. And
without the habit of self reliance, even literary men attempt
nothing serious. They are elegant triflers only. They skim the
surface of human knowledge as certain birds skim the face of the
deep, just touching a pinion to the watei- in sport, then sparkling
go away into other. But there is another of a higher order,
which self-sustained, poises itself aloft, with eye fixed, then pitch-
es from its height down, down to the very depths beneath; then
upward soars, higher, higher still, with its treasure in its beak."

Before you embark in public life, you will, if just to yourselves,
prepare yourselves by deep and careful study of the history, con-
stitution and laws of your country. This will avail you more a
thousand fold, than all that petty knowledge of political detail
picked up in magazines and newspapers; and which is current,
as a kind of circulating medium among street politicians. A spe-
cies of knowledge, which, like small change, answers only the
small purposes of life. Let your views and objects be more'libe-
ral and enlightened. You do not live in a day of revolution —

144 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

you may not be called upon to stake " life fortune and sacred
honor;" but you will be called upon to sustain measures calculat-
ed to develope the resources of your country, and advance the
happiness of your species. These are the objects of the states-
men of every age. In effecting such objects let me hope you will
move in a region above the influence of mere popular passion;
that you will never pander for present purposes to a vicious sen-
timent, but seek the ultimate good of all in sincerity of heart. If
public sentiment be right, follow it; if wrong, rectify it; but
never become its slave. " Vox populi, vox Dei,'' in its common
acceptation, aside from its profanity, is the sentiment of a dema-
gogue. A class of men w^ho bear the same relation to the public,
that the false friend of private life bears to the companion of his
social hours. They sat for their picture in the days of Cicero;
and after eighteen hundred years the coloring is as true to na-
ture, as though it were the work of yesterday.

Such men have no intrinsic value; no reliance on themselves.
They stand among their fellows like senseless mirrors in a crowd.
The world that looks upon them, sees nothing there save the
reflections of its own shifting feelings. Beware of this. Have
principles of your own; a sense of right and wrong for your
guidance. Whatever may be the present current of public opin-
ion, it will eventually hold you answerable for your own acts.
History never extenuates political profligacy by pleading the oscil-
lations of popular feeling. Your reputation in after times will
stand alone, fragrant with the healthtul perfume, or the corrupt-
ing stench of its own odor."

ECONOMICAL MODE OF PRESERVING CHERRIES.

Procure the cherries ripe and fresh from the tree, and without
any preparation, put them into a bottle or wide-mouthed jar, fill-
ing it about three-fourths full. Then pour in common molasses,
fresh and cool from the cask, until the vessel is nearly filled; cork
or seal it up air tight, and set it aside in some cool dry place, oc-
casionally shaking the vessel, in order that its contents may be
well mixed. A portion of the molasses- will be absorbed by the
cherries, which will render them sufficiently agreeable, when
made into puddings or pies, without the addition of any sugar or
syrup. The liquid which remains in the jar after the cherries are
taken out, has an agreeable flavor, and, when mixed with water,
forms a wholesome and refreshing drink. — Jlmer. .Agriculturist.

1846.] Agriculture and other Pursuits. 145

MUTUAL DEPENDENCE BETWEEN AGRICULTURE
AND OTHER PURSUITS.

[Extracts from an Address delivered before the Agricultural
Societies of Hampshire and Hampden counties, in Massachusetts,
at their Anniversary Fairs, in Northampton and Springfield, in
October, 1845, by Rev. Edward Hitchcock, LL. D., President of

Amherst College.]

The mutual dependence between the arts, manufactures, com-
merce and agriculture, will need but a few words of illustration,
because familiar to all. In order to success in any important pur-
suit, it is necessary that a man should give to it an undivided,
constant, and nearly exclusive attention. Neither the farmer,
mechanic, or merchant, can be thriving and successful, if he do
not rise up early and sit up late, and make his business a leading
object of pursuit. He cannot successfully combine two or more
of these branches of labor, unless it be as mere oversight. What,
then, could the merchant, mechanic or manufacturer do, without
the products of the soil ? and how could he obtain them, were
there not a class of men exclusively devoted to their growth ?
Take a single example. The exports of the United States, in
1835, amounted to more than 101 millions of dollars; of which
about 75 millions, or more than three quarters, were agricultural
products. Let the farmer then, cease his labors, and it would al-
most sweep commerce from the ocean, shut up almost every mer-
chant's shop, and starve out most of our mechanics and manufac-
turers.

On the other hand, let not the farmer imagine, because he is
the principal producer, that he is independent of commerce, arts,
and manufactures. His existence might, indeed, be continued
without them ; but it would be only existence as a savage ; and
of course only a small fraction of the present population of a
country could in this way even exist. Besides, they would owe
their sustenance, not to agriculture, but rather to the bounty of
Providence, which has caused the earth, in almost every land, to
bring forth spontaneously the fruits essential for the food of a
scattered population. But agriculture, properly so called, can not
exist without commerce and manufactures. The very first step in
farming, I mean the breaking up of the soil for seed, requires the
artizan's skill in the construction of tools. Without that skill,
indeed, the farmer's present comfortable, and it may be elegant,
habitation, must be exchanged for the skin lodge of the Pawnee,
the bark hut of the Hollander, or, at the most, the wigwam of the

No. VII. 10

146 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

aborigines of New England. His dress, too, if dress he cou d
obtain, must be the undressed hide of some animal; and his wife
and daughter must exchange their silks, muslins, and calicoes, for
the filthy skin of the horse, the raccoon, the bear, or the buffalo;
festooned it may be, as the ne plus ultra of savage skill, with the
quills of the porcupine, the feathers of the eagle, or bark painted
with elderberries. In his habitation, too, the nicely sanded or
carpeted floor must give place to the lap of mother earth, where
vermin, lizards and serpents, would dispute M'ith him the right of
possession. An unglazed hole in the wall must let in the storm
and the wind, as well as the light; the stagnant pool must be the
mirror before which he must make his toilet; and his glass, pot-
tery and porcelain, must give place to a wooden trencher or bowl,
wrought out by a flint. Let the farmer be thus stripped for a few
months, of all the necessaries, comforts and luxuries which come
to him through the arts, manufactures and commerce — let him,
like Nebuchadnezzer, be compelled " to eat grass as oxen, and
his body be wet with the dew of heaven, and his hairs are grown
like eagle's feathers, and his nails like bird's claws" — and he
would cease to say of his present state of comfort and happiness,
" is not this great Babylon, which I have built, by the might of
my power, and for the honor of my majesty." He would be
ready to acknowledge his dependence, if not on God, yet on com-
merce and the arts.

If it were necessary to illustrate this dependence still further, I
might mention the character and amount of the imports into this
country, in the same year for which I have mentioned the ex-
ports, viz., 1845. All the imports for that year amounted to
about a hundred and fifty millions of dollars, of which only seven-
teen millions, or one-eighth, were agricultural products. All the
rest were manufactured articles; and a large proportion of these
were doubtless consumed by the agricultural part of the commu-
nity, not as mere luxuries, but as comforts, and even seemingly
necessaries. At least, so they would appear, were the communi-
ty to be deprived of them. For our necessities usually multiply
in about the same ratio as our luxuries. The artificial wants
created by the latter soon become as clamorous as those which
are natural.

But why should I dwell on this subject? for every agricultural
fair presents us with a practical illustration of the intimate con-
nection and dependence between agrfculture and the arts. The
choicest and richest displays of mechanical skill meet and gratify
us there; and many of them, too, have been prepared in the far-
mers' families, in the intervals of leisure; so that, in fact, to at-
tempt to depreciate manufacturers would be to depreciate farmers
themselves.

1846.] Agriculture and other Pursuits. 147

The important connection between agriculture and national
prosperity is a subject almost too trite for an occasion like the
present. And yet few think of all the relations between these
subjects. The products of the soil, which result from its cultiva-
tion, are generally thought of as the only contribution which ag-
riculture makes to a nation's prosperity. This is, indeed, a main
pillar of that prosperity. But, after all, the most important ele-
ment of national character, is the character of the citizens. Now,
without disparagement to other classes, and other pursuits, the
cultivation of the soil is eminently calculated to make genuine
men; men of vigorous minds and unflinching nerve; men of stern
independence and sterling integrity, who yet bow quietly to the
authority which they have themselves delegated to others ; men
who are not tossed to and fro by every gust of feeling, but can
always be found at the post of duty, whether it be a place of
danger or safety; men, in short, who form the stable pillars of
society, and are genuine patriots, because they have a tilial at-
tachment to the soil which their own hands have cultivated, and
where their fathers are buried. Men of similar character are, in-
deed, found among all classes, and in every pursuit of social life.
But none of these pursuits are so well adapted as agriculture to
give them the needful discipline.

Now just such men as agriculture produces are needed to fill
up the ranks of other pursuits in society. For though these other
pursuits are of the utmost importance, nay, indispensable to the
prosperity of society, and therefore those who engage in them are
in a most honorable and respectable path, they are not adapted,
like agriculture, to give that physical energy and happy develop-
ment of character to the rising generation, which they need to
take the place of their fathers. Indeed, all the sedentary pursuits
in which men engage, tend rather to the deterioration of the hu-
man constitution, so that the sons of mechanics, merchants, and
professional men, can only in part fill up the vacancies occasion-
ed by death. Nay, an enfeebled constitution often compels them
to resort to agriculture to restore its lost stamina. Hence there
is needed a foreign supply, to keep the ranks full and strong in
these professions. And, where agriculture is in a proper state, it
furnishes such a supply. The discipline which the young are un-
dergoing on every w^ell-conducted farm in the land, is fitting them
to become future artizans, merchants, and professional men. Es-
pecially are they preparing there to supply the enormous demand
which the cities and larger towns are making upon the country
The fact is, that the strong mental excitement, the heavy pressure
upon time, the unseasonatile hours, the luxurious habits, and the
want of fresh air and exercise, in city life, ere long break down
the strongest constitution ; and in a large proportion of cases the

148 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

children of robust parents are feeble, and, though precocious, are
destitute of the bodily hardihood and mental energy essential to
eminent success in any pursuit. Hence such children must usual-
ly give place to youth irora the country, whose descendants in
time must yield to others from the same prolific source. Scandi-
navia was called by the historian, " the workshop of the human
race," because it poured forth such swarms into southern Europe.
Equally proper is it to call the farm-houses of the land the work-
shop of the nation. For, if this supply should be cut off, our
cities would soon be depopulated, or at least sink into weak effe-
minacy; and in fact, the locks of the nation's strength would be
shorn, and we should shake ourselves in vain. Hence, as I have
wandered over the hills and valleys of our land, and have met by
the wayside, and on the farm, or in the meanest hovel, with chil-
dren uncultivated, and even repulsive in their appearance, yet
healthy and hardy, I have often felt for them no small degree of
respect, when I recollected that probably, under that rough exte-
rior, there lay concealed the future wealthy merchant, or eminent
artizan, or distinguished scholar. The refined city beau, or belle,
may indeed smile contemptuously at the uncouth manners of the
plow boy, who, on his first trip to the city, is staring about the
streets with half opened mouth; but not unlikely that despised
rustic will one day rise far above them in w^ealth, learning, and
respectability. At any rate, such transmutations are of every day
occurrence in the city.

But let not the farmer vainly imagine, that because he furnishes
so important a part of the raw material of national prosperity,
he is independent of that prosperity. Let incompetent, or am-
bitious, or unprincipled men get the reins of government into
their hands; let them adopt measures that paralyze commerce,
shut up manufactories, discourage internal improvements, and
above all, plunge the nation into war; and the farmer will find a
worm at the root of his own prosperity and happiness. His pro-
duce will rot on his hands, his income be consumed by taxes, and
his sons, instead of rising to respectability and influence in pri-
vate life, will be made " food for pow^der." In short, he will soon
learn how intimate is the connection between his private fortunes
and the state of the nation.

The cause of education is regarded by all intelligent men, es-
pecially in a country like our own, as one of the most important
of national interests; and hence we should inquire what influence
is exerted upon it by agricultural pui-suits. An eminently saluta-
ry influence, is the decided reply. Especially is this the case in
respect to popular education, as appears from several considera-
tions. These pursuits, in the first place, afford more of leisure
for study than most others, since the hours of active toil must be

1846.] Jlgriculture and other Pursuits. 149

so much fewer than those of the waking period of the day. The
farmer, also, is ever in intimate communion with nature; and thus
an inquisitive and discriminating spirit is excited. The farmer
of experience likewise soon learns how much he may be aided by
a good education in his calling; and thus is he prompted to secure
such an education for his children. But above all, his active
habits give him so much physical vigor, that the old adage may
be applied to him: mens sana in corpore sano; a sound mind in
a sound body. He can sit down calmly to his books with little
of that nervous irritability and restlessness, and little of that
cloudiness and debility of intellect, that torment and retard so
many of sedentary habits. Those only can appreciate the value
of such a state of body and mind, who have had to struggle with
its opposite. If I may be allowed to give my own experience on
this subject, I would say, that decidedly the best time for study
which I have ever known — when the mind was the clearest and
the nerves most quiet — was the evening that succeeded a hard
day's work in hoeing or mowing. After having mowed an acre
of grass, I found my mind prepared to mow an acre of Geometry
or Astronomy; and often in subsequent days, when study was a
task, and there seemed to be a muffle over the mind, I have sigh-
ed for the return of that period, when the intellect had as keen an
edge by night, as the scythe had by day.

In correspondence with these views, we find that primary
schools, as a general fact, are better sustained and better improv-
ed by an agricultural population than almost any other. So, too,
in New England at least (with the exception of professional and
literary men), reading is more common and more thorough in
such a community. And what is read, is better digested than
among classes of society who have less of calm leisure, and learn
the art of talking rather than of thinking. For fluency in con-
versation is often in the inverse ratio of the amount of ideas in
the mind ; and men often talk much, not because they are so full
of thoughts, but because they are destitute of them, just as a
stream bubbles most which has the least water in it. The farmer,
it may be, talks less and with less grace of manner; but bethinks
more, and with more logic. For these reasons, the sons of farm-
ers are peculiarly welcome at our higher literary institutions; al-
though the inquiry there is, not whether a youth originated from
this or that profession, but whether he has the determination and
ability to be a good scholar. Young men in crowded communi-
ties, under the influence of the strong social excitements which
exist there, sometimes acquire a precociousness of manners and
of intellect, that gives promise of more fruit than is ever realized;
but when the son of the farmer presents himself, we feel much
more sure, that, though the stone be just from the quarry, unhewn

150 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

and unpolished, it Is undoubtedly genuine marble, and will repay
the labor devoted to it. Indeed, let the early history of distin-
guished men in our country, I mean our lawyers, our physicians,
our clergymen, and our politicians, and the leaders of our benevo-
lent enterprizes, be traced out, and I am greatly mistaken if you
do not find that a large majority have once followed the plow.

Of the reflex influence of education upon agriculture I might
say much. It is this indeed, almost exclusively, that distinguishes
the farmer of New England from the serf of Russia; the one,
about as low in the scale of humanity as is possible; a servile
animal, with scarcely more of intellect than the ox or the horse;
the other, an intelligent freeman, with sagacity to know what his
rights are, and with the determination to maintain them; far more
independent than the European lord, who, with all his wealth and
his castles, is a slave to his menials. The American farmer has
enough property to supply all his reasonable wants, but not so
much as to make him miserable. He knows how to take care of
himself, and is not compelled, therefore, as most of the wealthy
are, to commit his happiness into the hands of mercenary hire-
lings, or unpaid slaves. And it is his education merely, that gives
him such a proud preeminence over so vast a majority of his fel-
low men. This alone teaches him what are his peculiar advan-
tages, and how best to improve them.

SHIRKING OF LESSONS A SELF ROBBERY.

[Extract from the report of Horace Mann, the secretary of the
Massachusetts Board of Education. It contains matter well
worthy the consideration of the younger part of our readers.]

I fear that this slurring or shirking of the lesson, is sometimes
regarded in no other light than as a clog upon the progress of the
pupil ; or as an abatement from the success of the coming exami-
nation. The substance of the argument often used, as a warning
against this species of misconduct, is, that whoever leaves a les-
son of his course, unmastered, leaves an enemy in ambush behind
him; — an enemy who will, at some day, rise up to molest his
peace, and perhaps to defeat his most cherished hopes. But,
though this is a legitimate consideration, yet the subject has rela-
tions far more important. It is not so much the lesson which is
omitted, as the wrongful act which is committed. The knowledge
that is lost is an insignificant matter, compared with the trickish
habit that is gained. The avoidance of the lesson has deprived the
intellect of so much exercise, and therefore has prevented what-
ever of strength that exercise would have given; but the means

1846.] Shirkiug of Lessons a Self Robbery. 151

by which the lesson was avoided, has given exercise and strength to
motives of deception and fraud. Herein lies the lamentable cha-
racter of the deed. It is only a misfortune to be ignorant, but it
is an unspeakable calamity to be dishonest. However vigilantly
the teacher may look after the intelligence of his charge, he should
use a thousand times more vigilance in preserving their integrity.
Limited attainments are not incompatible with a high degree of
happiness; but every immoral act diminishes the capacity for hap-
piness forever and ever.

Another means of avoiding study, — and I am sorry to say I
have found no little evidence of its existence, — is, after procuring
some fellow-pupil, or other person, to perform the work which
the teacher has assigned, to present the work thus performed by
another, as the product of one's own labor. The intellectual loss
and injury of such a course are great. It leaves the mind unexer-
cised, when it was one of the principal objects of the lesson to
exercise it. It also disqualifies the pupil more and more for mas-
tering subsequent lessons. A scholar who did not get his lessons
last week, through indolence, may be unable to get them this
week, through incapacity, and next week, he may give them up
in despair. But the most deplorable quality of such conduct is,
that it is an acted falsehood; and, as subsequent lessons are mas-
tered with so much more difficulty, after the omission of preceding
ones, the power of the temptation increases, in a geometrical ra-
tio, at each succeeding step.

The cases above referred to are generally those where assistance
is obtained out of school; but the prompting of a fellow-pupil in
school, and during the recitation, ,comes under the same general
head, and incurs the like mischievous consequences. To guard
against the latter species of misconduct, the teacher should be all
eye and all ear. He should be so familiar with the lesson, that
he can devote his whole attention to the class, instead of occupy-
ing the time in preparing himself, by looking at his book, to hear
the successive answers. His eye should be on them, on their ac-
count; and not on his book, on his own account. To guard the
pupil against taking fraudulent measures out of school, he should
instruct as faithfully in regard to the object of the lesson, as in
regard to the lesson itself. The attention of the pupil should
be forever turned towards the state of his own mind. Have the
lesson, the fact, the principle, the scientific relation, been repro-
duced within himself? Are they recorded on the tables of his in-
tellect? Are they so clearly and enduringly written there, that if
the slate and black-board were broken to fragments; if the book
were to be consumed; he would still posses them as his own, —
ineilaceably inscribed on the mind? Is the lesson so luminously
recorded in his memory, that he can see it there in the darkness

152 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

of midnight, and revive it in the solitude of a desert? Every pupil
should be made to see that to transfer or to copy an answer or a
process from a text book to his own slate or paper, or to take it
from another's dictation, is valueless in the way of acquisition, of
improvement; that it is in its nature the veriest task-work or
tread-mill service ever performed. He should be made to see that
he might as well learn the art of swimming, by getting another
boy to swim for him; that he might as well increase his stature
and stiength, by employing another to eat his meals; or that he
might as well expect to gain wealth by forfeiting all his daily
earnings to the more industrious. Perhaps the most appropriate
punishment for stealing the solution of a sum from a book, or for
transferring it from another's slate, or for borrowing another's
composition instead of writing one, would be to make the offender
copy off figures in logarithms, or the letters of some algebraic
process, about which he knows nothing; or to transcribe passages
in the French or Latin language. This would be a parallel to
his own " vain knowledge," and would show him how pleasant
it is to feed upon the east wind.

But the forfeiture of privileges and of knowledge which the
pupil incurs by such a course as is above described, is not the
principal evil. It is not a loss of utility merely, but it is a de-
parture from honor and honesty. Why should not the scholar
who now cheats his teacher in the recitation-room, cheat his mas-
ter in his work when he becomes an apprentice or a clerk; and
his customers in their utensils or their goods when he becomes a
mechanic or a merchant? All great robbers began by stealing
small things; and the foulest assassins and murderers commenced
their career by inflicting petty injuries.

I fear the little departures from rectitude and truth which some-
times pervade a school, or are practised by particular members
of it, are not regarded in their true light, — as seminal princi-
ples or germs, which, if not eradicated, will grow up to maturity,
and bear the fatal fruit of falsehoods, perjuries and frauds. How
narrow the range of a school child's thoughts, compared with the
vast compass and combinations of an adult mind; how slow the
mental operations of the former, compared with the celerity with
which the latter passes from premises to conclusions, and from
means to ends! The child is obliged to commence his calculations
with visible and tangible units, and for a long time he moves
feebly and totteringly forward, constantly seeking the support of
another's hand; yet what vast and complicated schemes the same
mind, in its maturity, will project I When we thus witness the
capacity of growth and expansion, with which the intellect is
endowed, why should we doubt that the appetites and propensi-
ties have at least an equal power of expansion and activity?

1846.] Prize Farm Report'. 153

Nay, it is not conceded in every system of mental philosophy
ever promulgated, that the appetites and desires are endowed whh
an ardor and a vehemence, to which the intellect is a stranger;
and that the passions, if unregulated and unchastened, rush to
extremes infinitely more wide and more ruinous than the under-
standing can ever reach? Why then, when we find the mind
which was once so feeble, now capable of concerting vast plans
for wealth, for ambition, or other forms of personal aggrandize-
ment,— why should we doubt that the little tricks and prevarica-
tions of the schoolroom may grow up into fradulent bankruptcies,
or stupendous peculations and embezzlements? States and em-
pires are no more to the man than the toys of the nursery to the
infant; why then, should not corruption in politics, and hypocrisy
in religion, grow out of the artifices and pretexts of the play-
ground? If we would enjoy an immunity from the latter, we must
suppress the former. How much easier and safer to crush the
brittle egg than to kill the coiling serpent!

PRIZE FARxM REPORT.

BY GEO. GEDDES, ESQ.

[The specific details which are furnished in this report and the
confidence which may be placed in its statements make it a docu-
ment of uncommon value. Mr, Geddes, we know, has correct
views of the nature and capacities of his farm, not only as a M'hole,
but of the different parts, and in consequence of this knowledge
is able to adopt and carry on a husbandry suited to its capacities.
He has special reasons for what he does, and hence in the results
which follow, Mr. Geddes has not farmed it without a remunerating
profit. The formation on which his estate is bottomed is the On-
ondaga salt group, and in which all the gypsum of New York is
contained; and it is a curious and interesting fact that the owner
finds it highly advantageous to use so much plaster when it
abounds in the rocks within a few feet of the surface. In the for-
mer numbers of this Journal we have given some account of the
soils of this county and of this farm, which may be referred to
in common with this report, whh advantage.]

The following answers to the interrogatories of the New -York
State Agricultural Society are respectfully submitted:

1. My home farm consists of three hundred acres. Thirty are
in wood. About ten acres of the side hills are unsuitable for
plowing, and are only used for pasture; the remainder is under
cultivation, except what is required for roads, yards, &c.

154 Extracts Jrom the Journals. [Ju^y>

2. The soil is principally a disintegrated gypseous shale, it
being the first stratum below the Onondaga lime, running up to
and taking in some sixteen acres of the lime, which is covered
with about one foot of soil. This is in the wood lot, and fur-
nishes quarries of good stone. There were formerly a few cob-
ble stones on the surface, and one very large granite boulder. A
small brook running through the farm is bordered by about forty
acres of soil that has been deposited by the brook, and is not suited
to the production of wheat. In the valley of the brook is found
marl and peat, and at the springs that come from the hill sides
calcareous tufa.

3. I consider the best modes of improving the soil of my farm
to be deep plowing, application of barnyard manure, free use of
sulphate of lime, and frequent plowing in crops of clover.

4. Unless I am plowing in manure, I plow from six to eight
inches deep. Deep plowing upon the gypseous shales, never fails
to increase fertility. Full trials jusiiiy my speaking with confi-
dence on this point.

5. I have not used the subsoil plow, as I have no retentive sub-
soil on my farm.

6. I apply my barn-yard manure in large quantities at a time,
preferring to at once do all for a field that I can in this way.
About 50 loads of thirty bushels each, of half rotted manure to the
acre at a dressing.

My stables are situated on two sides of a square; the manure,
as it is taken from the stables, is at once piled in the centre of the
yard, as high as a man can pitch it. Sulphate of lime is put on
the manure in the stables, and the heap, as soon as fermentation
commences, is whitened over with it. My sheep are all fed under
cover, and most of their manure is piled under cover in the spring,
and rotted. As to keeping manure under cover, my experience
has led me to believe, that the best way is to pile it under cover,
when it is most convenient to do so, and only then as I am com-
pelled to apply water to the heap to rot it, unless it has received
the snows and rains out doors. The coating of sulphate of lime
will, I believe, prevent loss of gases, and in process of fermenta-
tion the heap will settle so close together, that water will not after
that enter into it, to any considerable depth, particularly if it was
piled high and came up to a sharp point.

7. My means of collecting and making manure, are the straw,
corn stalks, and hay raised on the farm, fed to farm stock, and
what is not eaten, trampled under foot, and converted as before
described, so much of it as goes through the stables. But large
quantities of straw never pass through the stables at all ; stacks
are built in the yards, and the straw is from time to time strewed
over the ground, where it receives the snows and rains, and is

1S46.] Prize Farm Report. 155

trampled by the cattle. Embankments around the lower sides of
the yard, prevent the water from running off' and confine it in
water tight pools, which are fdled with straw to absorb the water,
except so much of it as is wanted to put on the garden.

8. I make from four to five hundred loads of manure annually,
and it is aU applied.

9. Most of the manure is put on corn ground. It is drawn on
about one-half rotted, and spread over the surface, and plowed
under about lour inches deep. The reason I do not plow it under
deeper is, that I suppose I must plow deeper the next time to
bring up the earth into which the manure has been carried by the
rains.

10. I have never used lime in any quantity, excepting in the
form of a sulphate as a manure, believing that there is enough in
the soil. Sulphate of lime, I use in large quantities; fourteen
tons this year. It is sown on all the wheat, corn, barley and oats,
and on the pastures and meadows in quantities varying from one
to three bushels to the acre. All the ashes made by my fires are
used as a manure, and I think that it is worth as much as the
same bulk of sulphate of lime to use on the corn. Sulphate of
lime has been used on the farm lor many years, and in large quan-
tities, and I think it essential in my system of farming. I have
not used salt or guano as manure.

I raised this ^'feer about
77 acres wheat yielding 1,616 bushels, averaging per acre, 20.99
15.^ « corn, " 821 " 52.96

18 " barley, " 665 " 36.94

38 " oats, " 2,249 , " 56.55

2^ " potatoes, " ' 292 « 116.80

5,643
50 acres of pasture and 30 of meadow,

12. I sow at the rate of two bushels to the acre, about the fif-
teenth day of September. I summer fallow but little, and only to
kill foul stuff, and to bring the land into a good state of cultiva-
tion. A part of my wheat is sown on land that has been pas-
tured, or mowed, plowing it but once, but that done with great
care, and as deep as I can. The oat and barley stubble, as a gen-
eral rule is sown to wheat, plowing only once, having previously
fed off the stublde with sheep so close as to have most of the scat-
tered giain picked up. The plowing is done as near the time of
sowing the wheat as is practicable, and the wheat is sown upon
the fresh furrows, and harrowed in. I have tried various modes
of treating stubble, b<it none of them has answered as well as this.
What little grain of the spring crop is left on the ground is turned
deep u)ider, and the wheat being on top, gets the start of it. The

156 Extracts from the Journals. [Ju^y*

harvesting is done with a cradle. Corn is generally planted by
the tenth day of May, on sod land ; most of the manure is put
upon this crop. The corn is planted in hills three feet apart each
way; from four to six kernels in a hill, and no thinning out is
practised. Sulphate of lime, or ashes is put on the corn as soon
as it comes up. Two effectual hoeings are given to it, and a cul-
tivator with steel teeth, is run twice each way of the field between
the rows, to prepare it for the hoe. Corn plows and cast iron
cultivator teeth are entirely discarded.

At the proper time, the stalks are cut up at the surface of the
ground, and put into small stooks, and when the corn is husked,
the stalks are drawn up at once into the barn, without being
again set up. In this way they are kept in good condition, and
labor saved.

Oats or barley are sown the next spring, on this corn stubble.
Of each of these grains, three bushels of seed is put upon an acre.
As soon as the grain is up, sulphate of lime is sown. These
grains are also sown on sod land. The reason of this is, I cannot
command the manual labor necessary to cultivate one-fifth of my
land in corn, and secure it at the proper season. The rotation of
crops I attempt to pursue, is — first, corn, second, oats or barley,
third, wheat on the oat or barley stubble, fourth, clover and herds-
grass pasture — the seed sown on the wheat — fifth, meadow. But
inasmuch as certain portions of my farm are not suited to raising
wheat, and as I cannot command the force necessary to cultivate
the proportion of corn, I am compelled to modify; but I come as
near to this rotation as I can.

The usual time of sowing barley is as soon as the ground is
settled — commonly by the 26th of April. The oats are sowed
later, generally early in May.

The yield of the crops for this year has already been given, and
I think I am safe in saying, that the average of one year with
another, upon the system of rotation before given, comes up to
that of this year. The pasture will sustain two cows upon an
acre, and the hay will generally yield two tons to the acre.

13. This interrogatory has been so far anticipated, that it is
only necessary to add, that sometimes manure that is not conve-
nient to draw in the spring, is put upon the corn stubble and upon
wheat.

14. This interrogatory has been anticipated, in part. My rea-
sons for applying my manure to corn,- are, that I have better
means of destroying the seeds of weeds, and from the belief that
.corn is the best crop to take up that part of the manure that the
first crop can use, and that the manure is thus prepared for the
crops that follow. Experiments that I have made, go to show
that, coarse manure benefits the second crop as much as it does

1846.] Prize Farm Report. 157

the first — and the third crop cannot but receive great benefit from
it. The fourth and fifth crops probably do not impoverish the
soil. By this rotation, three crops are had for three plowings ;
and my experience proves that the soil increases in fertility under
this management.

15. Potatoes. In consequence of the disease that has injured
this crop, there were but two and a half acres planted this year;
the disease was very destructive to my crop last year, but thus far
nothing has been discovered of it this year. I have not been
able to discover either the cause or remedy for this disease.

16. Herds grass, at the rate of eight quarts to the acre, is sown
on bottom land. Clover and herds grass, mixed in equal quanti-
ties, is sown on uplands, at the rate of eight quarts to the acre,
commonly. Generally sow herds grass in September, when it is
sown alone on wheat: but if mixed with clover, sow it in March,
on a light snow, if possible; the sowing is done by hand. The
last spring, I sowed herds grass seed at the rate of eight quarts to
the acre, on a field of wheat that I wanted to mow. Sixteen
quarts of clover seed were mixed with the other seed and sown
on fifteen and a half acres. In the fall this field was not fed off
until the clover headed out, when it appeared finely covered with
clover.

17. I usually mow about thirty acres, and expect two tons to
the acre. This year the herds grass was killed by a frost late in
May, and the estimate made was one ton to the acre. I use the
variety of clover known as the " medium," and cut it when one-
half of the heads are turned. At this stage, a very considerable
proportion of the herds grass will be suflficiently advanced for the
seeds to mature. The mode of making the hay, is to move it as
little as possible. Generally it is put into cock. When the bot-
tom lands are stocked down, clear herds grass used.

18. There is no part of my farm that cannot be plowed, except
the side hill before mentioned. These side hills are in grass, and
are pastured.

19. I have irrigated a part of my bottom lands. For a few
years, the grass was very much increased in quantity; but the
herds grass disappeared, and a kind of grass took its place of but
little value. I now suppose that the water was suffered to remain
too long on the meadow, and thus destroyed the valuable grasses.
This meadow has been plowed up, with a view to subdue it, and
again seeded with herds grass ; when it is to be hoped a second
experiment in irrigation may be made with more skill and better
success.

The mode of watering the meadow, was by a small ditch taken
out of the brook, at a point high enough to enable me to convey

158 Extracts from the Journals. puly,

the water through the middle of the meadow. Lateral cuts from
this main ditch, with gates, distributed the water.

20. Of the bottom lands mentioned, about twenty acres were
very wet, and may have come under the denomination of " low
peat lands." This land has been thoroughly drained, with ditches
from three to five feet deep. Very heavy oats were this year
raised upon some of this land, and about one-half of my corn
was upon this description of land. The next year, the whole
forty acres are to be planted or sown to oats.

21. There have been four oxen, seventeen cows, and sixteen
head of store cattle, eighty sheep, eleven horses, and thirty-three
swine kept on the farm the past season, with the exception of a
short time. The cattle are either thorough bred, or high grade
short horns.

22. I have made no accurate and careful experiments to test
the comparative vahie of different breeds of cattle.

23. No account is kept of the butter and cheese made on the
farm, as it is mostly consumed on the premises.

24. There have been but eighty sheep kept on the farm the
past season. My flock has recently been very much reduced, with
a view to substitute pure Merinos. My sheep yielded a little over
four pounds of wool each, for the whole flock. The pure Merino
ewes, each raised a lamb, and they averaged a little over five
pounds to the fleece. I think that about ninety lambs may be ex-
pected to be raised from one hundred ewes. I have heretofore
raised mutton sheep, but have disposed of all my sheep whose
chief value was for mutton, and intend to turn my attention to
the raising of wool, as the first consideration. Two dollars has been
about the average price I have received for mutton sheep fattened
on grass.

25. There have been thirty-three swine, of grade Berkshire,
kept on the farm this year. About one-half of them have been
slaughtered. Our hogs weigh from two hundred and fifty to five
hundred, averaging over three hundred and fifty, when dressed.

25. No accurate experiments have been made by me, to test
the value of roots as compared with Indian corn. I fatten my
hogs and cattle on corn ground with the cob ; cooked for hogs,
and sometimes cooked and sometimes raw for cattle, being go-
verned in this particular by the amount of grain I am feeding. I
think corn the most economical grain I can raise to feed, in view
of the prices coarse grains usually bring In market.

27. There are about two hundred apple trees on the farm, most
of them grafted — spitzenbergs, russets, pippins, &c. — most of the
approved varieties.

28. Pears, peaches, plums, cherries, quinces, &c., are raised in
abundance for oiu- own consumption j and we have many of the

1846.] Prize Farm Report. 159

best varieties of these fruits; five or six of pears, twenty of
peaches, seven or eight of cherries, and four or five of phtms.

29. Various insects common to this country have depredcited
upon the fruit trees; the most troublesome of all. is the common
apple tree worm. Strong soap suds applied by means of a piece
of sheep skin with the wool on, attached to a pole, is the most
effectual means of destroying them. K j^. .

30. My general management of fruit trees is, to prune them
annually, keep them free from insects, and see personally to the
selection of scions for grafting.

31. I have applied leached ashes to wheat, grass, and corn
land, without being able to see any benefit.

32. Besides the mansion house, I have four houses occupied by
men that work on the farm. Two of these houses have barns
connected with them. In a central position is a grain barn, filty-
four feet long and forty wide, twenty feet high with a stone wall
under it — making; a oranary and sheds. Near the mansion house
are the hay barn, sheep barn, and a grain barn fifty-tour teet long
by thirty-four wide. Basement stories to all these buildings, fur-
nish sheds and stables for the stock; so that every animal I win-
ter, is fed all the valuable food in a rack or manger, and under
cover.

Besides these buildings, is the wagon-house, forty-two feet long,
with a basement under it ; and the tool-house, carriage-house,
corn-house, milk-house, smoke-house, ice-house, hen-house, &c.
My yards around the buildings near the mansion are all supplied
with water in tubs, sent there by a powerful force pump under
the mill, driven by the same wheel- that grinds the feed and saws
the wood.

33. The common fence on the farm is posts and boards, the
posts set three feet or more in the ground. Of red cedar posts I
have about three miles — and of other timber for posts, about two
miles. I have something more than a mile of stone wall, made
from stone quarried from the quarries mentioned. These walls
are built four feet ten inches high, two and a half feet thick on
the ground, and eight inches thick on top, having the same slant
on both sides, and laid straio-ht and strong. This fence costs me
$l.oO a rod, and I build fifty rods or more every year, upon a
system of fencing that in time will put an end to further expense.
The board fence costs 88 to 100 cents a rod. There is a consid-
erable portion of my fences of rails, mostly cedar, but no new
rails are made. As to the condition of my fences, I would re-
spectfully refer to the report of the committee on farms for this
year, for the county of Onondaga, a copy of which report is at-
tached.

34. Most of my fields have been measured, but sometimes more

#

160 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

than one kind of grain is raised in a field — and thus the amount
of ground covered by each kind of grain is not always accurately
known. All the grain raised on the farm is measured, and the
measurements entered in books kept for that purpose by proper
men. The work hired by the day is entered in these books, and
any other thing that appears of sufficient importance.

These memorandum books furnish most of the materials for a
farm-book which is kept by myself

From the farm-book, it appears that there have been nine hun-
dred and twenty-seven days' work done on the farm, from the 1st
day of April to the 1st day of November. This account covers
all the work done in drawing plaster, sowing it, drawing out ma-
nure, threshing and delivering so much of the grain in market as
has been sold, and all other men's labor on the farm. There have
been produced on the farm five thousand six hundred and foity-
three bushels of grain, aside from garden vegetables. Besides
this, sixty-six loads of hay.

As the grain is sold, entries are made in the farm-book, of the
price it brings; and that part of the products of the farm that is
kept for home consumption, is estimated at the price it is M'Orth
in market. Thus arrived at, the grain and hay raised this year
was worth three thousand five hundred and twenty-three dollars
and seventy-nine cents.

I have no means of determing the value of the pasture, fruit,
and many other things produced on the farm, nor the cost of team
work. Geo. Geddes.

Fair Mount, Onondaga Co., JY. Y., Dec. 31, 1845.

METEOROLOGY OF WESTERN ASIA.

[The following remarks on the most important features of the
climate in several places in Western Asia, are extracted from an
article communicated to the American Journal of Science and
Arts, by Rev. Azariah Smith, M. D.]

At Erzeroom, we find, as might be expected from a place in
the latitude of 40 deg., and more than a mile above the level of
the sea, a cold winter and relatively cool nights throughout the
year. The heat of summer, more particularly of the middle of
the day, is however less modified by the circumstances of latitude
and elevation than one would suppose from the mention of these
particulars alone. The extensive and nearly barren plain, which
stretches for several miles north and west of the city, has un-
doubtedly much to do in counteracting the causes of cold which
exist there, as in places similarly elevated. A remarkable free-

1846.] Meteorology of Western Jlsia. 161

dom from wind, which occurs during the winter season, serves
greatly to diminish the amount of sensible cold, and a person may
sometimes be in the open air when the mercury is very low, with-
out being at all sensible of the extreme cold indicated by the
thermometer. As it is natural to associate clouds and storms
with mountainous regions, the dry season of Erzeroom, though
not so long as that of Syria and the region of Mosul, is a feature
of its climate well worthy of mention, None of the gardens and
fields around the city, nor indeed anywhere upon the plain, are
expected to bring their productions to maturity without being-
watered by artificial means. This remark is supposed to be true
very generally of all Turkey in Asia not lying on the declivity
which looks toward the Black sea. It is true emphatically of the
mountainous region south of Erzeroom, as the writer had occa-
sion to observe when in the country of the Mountain Nestorians
in 1844. There none of the lands are considered tillable, except
those lying on the borders of streams, or where the waters of a
spring may be made to flow over them. The dryness of the soil
arises not only from the infrequency of rains, but also from the
great want of moisture in the atmosphere, there being no large
evaporating surfaces like those of our large rivers and inland
lakes. In consequence of this, the air needs only to be slightly
elevated in temperature, and it becomes greatly undercharged
with water. The nearness of the Black sea does little to supply
this want, since it is skirted along the whole southern shore with
mountains so high as to prevent, to a great degree, the passage
over them of the moisture raised from its surface. In traveling
over, and along the sides of these mountains, I have been struck
day after day, and week after week, with the difference observa-
ble in the meteorology of their two sides. Towards the north,
fogs and clouds, and towards the south a clear blue sky, were the
almost universal order of the day. Early in the morning indeed,
the view from the mountains towards the northern horizon is
sometimes singularly clear; but low beneath the feet of the ob-
server, a vast sea of clouds stretches before him, and he rarely
fets a glimpse of, what he so much wishes, the distant Euxine as
rst seen by the Ten Thousand in their signal retreat. In a short
time after the sun rises, the clouds begin to creep up the declivity-
facing the north, and soon afterwards, attaining the summit, they
pour over it towards the south, presenting a white sheet along the
mountain ridge, not unlike that of the brow of our own Niagara.
The destination of the vapory cataract of these high regions is,
however, very different from the one of water which it "so natu-
rally suggests. Hardly do the clouds pass these mountain sum-
mits before they begin to melt away and disappear in the arid at-
mosphere, which waits to receive them. Rarely, very rarely,
No. VII. 11

162 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

during the summer months, does a north wind prevail so strong
as to carry the clouds unbroken over an extended space so far in
the interior as Erzeroom. It is only when the season advances,
as in October or November, and when the temperature is such as
to give the atmosphere a greatly decreased capacity for moisture,
that the cloudy, damp and stormy weather of other mountain re-
gions begins to prevail, and the rainy season sets in.

Trehizond is remarkable for the equable nature of its climate as
to temperature, and for the predominance of moisture in the at-
mosphere, compared with some other places. The average daily
variation for the year as thus obtained being 5°, while that of
Beirut, the one which approximates the most, is about 65°. The
great moisture of the atmosphere is observed in the tendency of
every thing to rust, mould, or acquire dampness, even in the most
favorable situation, where not exposed to the direct rays of the
sun. The amount of rain which falls at Trehizond, and the great
proportion of cloudy weather are also strikir^ features compared
with other parts of Tuikey, and the remarks made in the preced-
ing paragraph will furnish obvious reasons for these peculiarities.
Its situation on the shore of the Black sea, hemmed in behind
by mountains, and having a prevalent wind from the water, either
in the form of a sea breeze or otherwise, are the causes referred
to. Only eighty -three out of two hundred and sixty-eight records
made in June, July, August and September, 1843, and only one
hundred and seventy-two out of three hundied and thirty inser-
tions in the register for the same months in 1844, were dear, and
these months, it is to be remembered, include that part of the
year when a clear sky and dry atmosphere most prevail at all the
other of our posts of observation. It has been remarked by one of
the observers at Trebizond, that the ordinary rules for predicting
changes of weather from the state of the barometer, do not seem
to hold true at Trebizond, but unfortunately we have no such re-
cords as will enable us to present the facts now alluded to.
Doubtless the vicinity of mountaius, and the peculiarity of the
winds must be the ground of the exceptions referred to; as they
are found likewise to effect equally strange and sudden changes in
temperature: for example, March 10, 1844, we have the ther-
mometer 7 1° at sunrise and 58° at 2 p.m. ; and Feb. 16th of the
same year, 48° at sunrise, 37° at 2 p.m., and 45° at 9 p.m. It may
be well also to remark that Trebizond jnS less affected by the si-
rocco than any other of the places where meteorological tables
have been kept.

Constantinople. — The climate of the capital of Turkey furnishes,
little that is sufficiently striking to merit notice in this brief ac-
count. Its situation on the Bosphorus, and between the Black
sea and sea of Marmora renders it peculiarly exposed to northerly

1846.] Meteorology of Western Asia. 163

and southerly winds. On looking over the daily observations of
a year, I find the northeasterly winds most prevalent, and that
during the whole time there were but two instances of the winds
blowing directly across the straits for the entire day, in one of
which it was from the east, and in the other from the west. The
mildness of its temperature during the winter, is greater than that
of the same latitude in tlie United States, and it is very rare to
have any considerable fall of snow; but at the same time there
are enough cold rainy days to make the weather on the whole
seem more chilly than the bracing air of New England. During
the summer there is less of rain and a greater proportion of warm
pleasant weather than is enjoyed by the middle and New England
states, but ordinarily there is enough rain to bring grain to matu-
rity without artificial irrigation. There is a common saying here,
that one must keep his best fuel until March, and it is observed
by foreign residents, that although spring seems pretty uniformly
to open in February or the first of March, with fine weather,
there are after this, several days if not weeks of the most uncom-
fortable chilly weather of the whole year.

Broosa. — The inland situation of Broosa, and its location at the
foot of Mount Olympus, — which is 7,000 feet high and preserves
snow on its top throughout the entire year, — causes a greater an-
nual range than exists at any of the sea-ports from which we have
records, though not so great as that of Erzeroom, Mosul and Oor-
raia. The effect of the sirocco is more trying and opressive
than at either of the places already mentioned, and I should think
from my limited observations, that this wind there, is for some
reason, peculiarly frequent. Stilt Broosa is considered a very
favorable climate for invalids, and crowds of people flock there
during the summer to recruit their health at the natural hot baths
with which the vicinity of the place abounds.

Smyrna. — The annual range of temperature at Smyrna is not
very great, but the average daily range, 14'', is wider than that of
any of the other places from which we have observations. Its
winter consists in a damp, rainy season, and is rarely marked with
slight falls of snow; but Americans who arrive here from Boston
during this portion of the year, uniformly feel more inconvenience
from cold than during previous winters at home, but whether this
may not be mainly owing to the change experienced on leaving
the sea, is a reasonable question, to settle which, facts are needed
that we do not yet possess. The summer of Smyrna is warm com-
pared with that of any of the aforementioned places, and on this
account, it is the more to be regretted that our records from this
place are deficient for the months of July and August.

Beirut. — The warm climate of this place is what might be ex-
pected from its latitude; and the slight annual range of tempera-

164 Extracts from the Journals. [July,

tuie, from its fine exposure to the open sea, from which the wind
prevails at all seasons of the year. The force and constancy of
the southwest wind is such as to be constantly making its impress
upon the land; the sand rolled up by the sea, is raised into the air
and driven in such vast quantities into the interior, southeast of
the city, as to form there, high ridges, which by gradual advances
of a few feet each year, are covering up trees, gardens, vineyards,
and even houses themselves when they are not removed in antici-
pation ot the calamity.

Mosul. — No one can cast an eye at the records of this place,
without being struck with the extreme heat of the weather during
the summer months. So excessive indeed is the temperature
that it will not be strange if some of the readers of this article are
incredulous with regard to the accuracy of the observations, from
which the above abstract was made. But the writer may state,
that before the place of observation was fixed upon for the sum-
mer of 1844, three thermometers were .suspended for several days
in succession, in the most eligible situations in the house in which
he then resided, (a house favorably situated too, it being on the
highest ground in the city,) and that among these a place was
chosen, which, while it was not affected by the confined air of the
court, was also in no way exposed to the direct rays of the sun,
and as little as possible to the reflected rays. Moreover, the op-
portunity was afforded of occasionally comparing the temperature
thus given, with that of a thermometer suspended in a good posi-
tion, at the country residence of the French consul, among the
ruins of ancient Nineveh ( ?), and there is therefore every reason to
believe, that local causes had very little effect on the mercury of
the thermometer with which the record was made. The tempera-
ture at 9 o'clock p. M., strongly corroborates this, as does also the
fact that the removal of the thermometer into the sun at noon,
would always cause the mercury to rise at once to 144 or 146
deg. On account of this excessive heat, all who are able, have
rooms fitted up in their cellars, where they retreat to spend the
middle of the day. The nights are uniformly spent on the flat
roofs, dew and rain being wholly unknown during the summer
season. One peculiarity growing out of this extreme heat of the
climate, was often the subject of our remarks. Contact with every
thing dry communicated the sensation of heat, our beds seemed to
have been just scorched with a w^arming-pan, and stone floors
appeared as if endowed with the power of generating caloric.
Instead of being refreshed by the cooling sensation which a change
of clothes ordinarily gives in the summer, the linen taken out of
our coolest wardrobes seemed always, on putting it on, to have
come roasting hot from the mouth of some glowing furnace.

Respecting Jerusalem and Oorrnia, not having visited those

1846.] Meteorology of Western Asia. 165

places, we are unable to give, according to the plan pursued with
regard to the other points from which we have records, any pro-
minent meteorological peculiarities. A great tendency to inter-
mittent fever is known to exist on the plains of Oormia, and may
be mentioned as one peculiarity of the climate of that place as a
mission station. The cause of this is no doubt to be found, either
in the miasmata of the city or the exhalations from the great lake
which bounds those plains on the east.

From observations made for several years by the missionaries
resident in Beirut, Trebizond and Oormia, it has been found that
by leaving those cities for the mountains near at hand, during the
summer months, they obtain a healthier and far more pleasant
place of residence. This has led to a caretul comparison between
the temperature of the plain and the places of resort on the
mountains, and in neither of these cases does the average varia-
tion exceed 7° or 8° Fahrenheit. Still, the variation in one's
feelings is very manifest, even in ascending four or five hundred
feet. While on the plain the parched and sultiy air of a sum-
mer's day seems almost insupportable, the breeze of the upper
strata of air seems to refresh and revive the spirits, and to infuse
new life into the whole system. " What is the cause of this effect
on the physical frame?" is yet a question open for investigation.
Would the residents at Oormia be refreshed by a sudden removal
to the sides of Mt. Lebanon, or to the hills back of Trebizond?
If so, as such a removal would bring them two or three thousand
feet nearer the level of the sea, it is plain that the effect is not
produced, as is commonly supposed, by the diminished pressure
of the atmosphere in elevated regions. Without doubt, differ-
ences in the electrical state of the air, will yet be found a fertile
cause of various modifications in the working of the nervous
system, but as we have thus far been unable to obtain any facts
of this kind in respect to the cases now referred to, we must leave
the question they suggest where we found it.

Receipts. — Pies. — Take four eggs, one and a half pints of dried
apples after they are saturated. Beat the eggs in a coffee cup
full of sugar, add one pint of cream and a little salt. Make a
mixture of the whole by stirring well : it is sufficient for three
pies.

Johnny Ca/ce.— Take three pints of Indian meal, half pint of
cream, half spoonful of ginger and spice each, coffee cup full of
sugar, two eggs beat together, and add half tea spoonful salera-
tus, some salt and a few dried currents or berries. The cake to
be made soft, or of the consistence of a stiff pan cake. Those
who prefer it, may omit the sugar.

166 Correspondence. [July,

CORRESPONDENCE.

We have received an interesting letter from our friend, M. de
Verneuil, in which he gives a brief account of an interesting dis-
covery which he has made in the Ohio coal field. It shows the
remarkable similarity of all the great formations of this country
to those of Europe. We make only a brief extract:

" I have made in the carboniferous formations of Ohio a very in-
teresting discovery for me, as a Russian traveler. The burrh stone,
or mill stone of this country, is a siliceous band which occupies
about the central part of the carboniferous series. This stone is
full of small cavities, similar to the impression due to a grain of
corn or wheat. These cavities, as I assured myself, have been
filled by a small animal of the class of the foraminiferffi which
the Professor Fisher has called in Russia, fusulina cylindrica.
You will easily understand the pleasure I felt to find my old tra-
veling guide. In Russia, the fusulina occupies principally the
highest division of the carboniferous limestone, and here it is con-
fined also to the coal series; but what is the most astonishing is,
that in the old continent, the fusulina is exclusively found in Rus-
sia, where it constitutes hills of two hundred feet, entirely com-
posed of them. When you come to Germany or the British
islands, the fusulina is wanting; so it seemed to us that it was a
being organized for eastern countries. Is it not interesting to find
on this side of the Atlantic our good Russian friend?"

Tesheevah Plantation, Yazoo Co., June 6th, 1S46.

Dr. E. Emmons, — I received a few days since your esteemed
favor of 28th April, containing the analysis of Yazoo marl; I also
received the first No. of the Quarterly Journal for the present year.

The analysis is very satisfactory as far as it goes, but as my
principal object was to know the per centage of lime in the marl,
I am sorry " the shelly parf^ was taken out — and must therefore
beg of you the favor of another analysis of the marl, with the
shelly part in; as I said before, the result of the analysis is satis-
factory, and has considerably raised my opinion of the value of
the marl as a fertilizer; for if the earthy part contains 10.34 per
cent of carbonate of lime, without the shelly part, I think with
it, it must contain enough to make the marl valuable, as well as
probably some phosphate of lime.

We take this opportunity for saying that we deem it unimpor-
tant to analyze the shells of a marl bed — they are rich and valu-
able on all kinds of soil. The shells of oysters and clams are
almost entirely a carbonate of lime, with but little animal matter,
and a trace of phosphate of lime. The shells of crabs and lobsters
contain from 50 to 60 per cent of carb. lime, and from 3 to 6 of
phosphate, the rest being carbonate of lime.

1846.] Miscellanies. 167

MISCELLANIES.

Theory of Agriculture. — One object of the article in this
Journal, entitled the Theory of Agriculture, was to show that the
soil contains the food of vegetables, and that, contrary to what has
been taught by Liebig and others, it is in a soluble state, or in an
available condition. We wished to bring back the attention of
agricidturists to the soil — the great storehouse of supply for the
vegetable kingdom, or the medium through which the carbon
must pass in order to gain access to the secretory organs of plants.

Dr. Lee has taken exceptions to these views, as we supposed he
would. We thank him for his favorable notice of our article and
journal, and we certainly have no objections to criticism from
him, or any other person. W'e care not where the light comes
from, if we can have it: the bed and the bushel were condemned
long ago as receptacles for light; therefore, we say, shine forth.

Dr. L. objects to Dr. Jackson's experiments with crenates of
potash and lime, because the benefit may be due to the potash
and lime alone. There is no light here, for it may be equally as
well that the crenic acid was the element of growth. But the
experiment itself shows that it was not exclusively the alkali;
the removal of the color showed that. Again, suppose that vine-
gar or acetate of potash should not benefit a crop, it would be no
proof against crenic, apocrenic acid, or their salts.

Dr. Lee objects to the Theory of Agriculture on the ground
that the combination of the crenates is such that the supply of
carbon for wheat or any other crop is impossible. He says, to
supply 100 pounds of wheat or corn with carbon at least 250
pounds of the crenates must pass through the plant. Well, if we
believe in Liebig's theory, how much air must pass through the
plant in order to supply it with carbon? Air contains one part
of carbonic acid in 2,000. Carbonic acid contains six parts of
carbon in 22 of acid. There is no greater probability of excess
of alkali in one case than of oxygen in the other. Besides, we
did not design to inculcate the doctrine that there is no other
source for carbon than the crenates. We know that carbonic
acid exists in solution in water in an uncombined state. What
we wish to be understood as the true doctrine is, that the food
of plants, whatever it may be, is absorbed by the roots mostly,
and that the soil is its storehouse; that this is eminently the
case with our cereals we believe — else why say so much about
exhaustion by crops 1 — and it is now known that it is not enough
to supply alkalies, or the inorganic matters; there must be
present also, those bodies which contain carbon in some form.
Liebig himself, we believe, has abandoned the notion that it is
sufficient to supply the inorganic matter. Practice and experi-

168 Miscellanies. [July, 1846.]

ence of all ages go to confirm the doctrine we have taught in re-
gard to the function of the root. -Why is it that lime is worthless
on soil destitute of organrc matter? — and -why is it so useful
when organic matter is supplied? We are ready to ask some
other questions when these are answered.

Expense of Fattening Pork. — We have often seen the article
in the Genesee Farmer entitled, " Expense of making Pork,"
quoted with evident approval by our cotemporaries. Let the
American farmer, however, look at the experiments of Boussin-
gault, and see if they are worth anything to us. He put up seven
swine, weighing 1691.8 pounds, and fatted them 104 days — at
the end of which time they had gained only 409.2 pounds — about
58 .V pounds each: was this increase of weight what a farmer who
understands his business would have a right to expect ? This
pork cost, according to Dr. Lee's estimate, 10^ cents per pound.

Again, Boussingault puts up nine thrifty hogs to fatten, and
they gain only 344 pounds. This is still worse — a little over 38
pounds for each hog. But admitting that Boussingault made the
most of his feed, does it cost us as much to make a pound of pork
as is here represented ? We say not. We have supposed, how-
ever, that in Massachusetts and New York it costs b\ cents per
pound — but then, in making pork, the farmer has converted matters
into wholesome food, which would otherwise have been lost.
The western farmer, however, can make money by selling pork
at three cents per pound. So we think Boussingault's experi-
ments prove nothing for us.

Glass Milk Pans are used in England. They are preferred
to earthen for these reasons: They may be washed clean without
boiling water; they stand a hea\T blow without breaking. It is
not improbable but they preserve milk better than tin, zinc, or
earthen, especially as the latter is more or less absorbent of foreign
matters. They weigh eight pounds, and cost from 3s. 9d. to 6s.
8d., according to the quality of the glass.

Lmpregnation of Violets. — Thos. S. Rulf, Esq., pointed out to
the members of the Linnean Societv', that the particular form of
the stigma was connected with the development of hairs in the
spurred petals upon which the pollen falls. The stigma is glo-
bose and the style bent, which brings the former in contact with
many moniliform hairs in the claw or the petal. It is through
these that the pollen gains access to the interior of the style.

AMERICAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL

OF

AGRICULTURE AND SCIENCE.

No. A7II. OCTOBEE, 1846.

MINERAL AXD AGRICULTLHAL RESOURCES OF
NEW YORK.

In the last number of this Journal we gave a brief and con-
densed account of the mineral resources of New York. In the
first part of the essay here referred to, we attempted to show the
importance of an early investigation of the natural resomxes of a
state, inasmuch as its prosperity is greatly promoted by investi-
gatioiis of this kind. ^Ve took occasion also to say, that the
mineral formations have much to do in directing the business and
enterprizes of life; that they fiequently move the springs of ac-
tion when least suspected; or, in other words, that it is the form-
ation and structure of the country which controls the pursuits of
men; and that their occupations are results determined by the
geological conditions of particular districts. This view of the
subject is verified by daily observation. The coal fields of Britain
and of the United States call for the labor of certain classes of men,
and furnish profitable employment for an immense amount of capital.
Capitalists, engineers, miners, draymen, common laborers, trans-
portation companies, etc., operating in all their various spheres,
merchants and dealers, all make up classes of interests directly
called into being by the peculiar formations of a district.

The earth in many ways opens a field for industry and em-
ployment, and as it were compels both capital and labor to be

No. Mn. 1

170 Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JVew York. [Oct.,

expended in certain channels. It is true individuals embark frcra
choice, yet there is a sense in which there is a controlling power
in the structure and formation of the country which effecfually
moves great classes of men in a given direction. New channels
of industry are opened by almost every discovery, the extent of
which can never be perceived at the moment it is made. A ma-
terial ^yhen first known may be useless, though abundant, and its
value comes to light only in the progress of discovery. This,
however, when once disclosed, becomes a new element of wealth,
a new road opened for the industry of classes of men, who are
ever afterwards subordinated to a sphere in life which was created
in the original constitution of the earth's surface.

The great depressions in the earth's crust are basins for the re-
ception and accumulation of bodies of water; the valleys lead
from them, and diver^in^; in all directions toward the elevated
regions, become the channels of supply to the waste occasioned by
evaporation; and upon these too we may travel and transport all
the materials which constitute its productions. In all this com-
merce is created and made one of the great pursuits of men. The
valleys and gentle slopes create husbandry, and rural occupations.
To compel the same to change and push their labors in a new
channel, we have only to place them in different formations.

The linear depression forming the Mohawk valley, and making
a channel of communication east and west for more than three
hundred miles, and connecting itself with the great lakes, and at
the same time with another north and south depression, in which
the Hudson river and lake Champlain are not only situated, but
form as it were continuous links of a single chain, and whose ex-
tremities join two distant points of the great Atlantic basin, not
only makes the state of New York what she is, but has created a
commercial metropolis of the Union, and has contributed greatly
to the prosperity of the New England and Middle States. Even
the great west feels the advantages of the physical structure of
New York. A barrier at Little Falls, or the Highlands, and the
city of New York would never have become greater than a city
of the third or fourth class of dimensions.

1846.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JX'ew York. 171

The Mohawk and the Champlain and Hudson valleys, then,
are without doubt the great channels for commerce and agricul-
tural products of the west and north. Even in the former direc-
tion it may well extend beyond the rim of the great basin of the
Mississippi, for great as the river of this valley is, foreign export
had rather, or had better pass through the Mohawk valley, as it
is brought to a port nearer the shores of Europe than if it travels
by the great river and valley of the west.

In consideration of these great channels of communication with
the Atlantic, the great highway of the nations, it seems that it is
wise and politic to extend it as far as is practicable, to make the
inland highway as broad and deep as possible, to send off from it
branches wherever the circumstances of the country require it.
The future wnll approve of this policy, for the increase of men
and the increase of the production-^, will be found to justify this
view. It is true many talk as though the state was full, and
that the height of its productions were already reached; still,
it goes on and still increases, and every census return overruns
the estimates of the previous calculations.

It is doubtful however, whether it is wise and politic to seek
for revenues in the artificial communications of which we have
been speaking. They should be pa-id for and kept in repair by
their own earnings; but after that let them be open to the use of
the world. Like other great channels of intercourse, the seas,
the rivers, the lakes, the foundation of those great works were
laid when the depths of the sea were made. They belong to the
country as much as ihe Mississippi and the great lakes; and the
commonwealth is merely an agent to open and complete a work
which was made feasible in the original structure of her terri-
tory. It is for the interest of agriculture that it should be so.
It is for the interest of the many that it should be so, as it will
cheapen food and clothing, and make the necessaries of life more
abundant. Bread should go to market with the least possible ex-
pense, and th.it liberality which benefits the many aids civiliza-
tion in its progress, and harmonizes and subdues those fcelirig^
which may under ordinary circumstances become discordant be-
tween the rich and poor.

0

172 Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JVew York. [Oct.,

We have spoken of the natural channels of communication be-
cause they constitute a part, and no small part, of the resources
of the state, without which a fertile soil and mineral resources
would lose their great value.

The mineral resources are remarkable for their distribution.
Iron ores belong to four great divisions of the state, the south,
west, north, and east, in each of which they are not far distant
from the great lines of communication already spoken of. Brine
springs and plaster belong to the central counties immediately
upon the Erie canal, or upon navigable waters. Flagging stone
of the best kind is within striking distance of the Hudson. Lime-
stone exists in all parts of the state, except in the southern tier
of counties, good stone for construction in most of the sediment-
ary rocks.

We must not, however, dwell too long upon these important
products. We now propose to take up in detail the agricultural
resources of the state. Our object mainly will be to show the
aggregate amount of the products of the farm, and how these pro-
ducts are distributed over the state.

Wheat, corn, oats, and barley, may be regarded as staple pro-
ducts, an excess of which is always raised over and above the
w^ants required for home consumption.

The quantity of wheat raised in New York in 1844-5, was
13,391,770 bushels. This amount was harvested from 958,233
acres, thus averaging for the whole state, nearly 14 bushels per
acre. The average product per acre may appear very small, but
it must be remembered that some parts of thi" state where wheat
is attempted to be raised, is not well adapted to its culture, or
else much was destroyed by the insects. Indeed large tracts of
land which formerly produced good crops of wheat, cannot now
be employed in its culture on account of the wheat fly. Hence
the average for the whole state is reduced to a low standard; for
notwithstanding repeated failures, many acres are sown under the
hope that the result may be more fortunate; but still it is no doubt
true that in the eastern counties on the Hudson, the crop is be-

1^46.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources qfJVew York. 173

coming more profitable than formerly, for some counties raise
enough for home consumption.

It may however be interesting to know the average yield in
different sections of the state. For this purpose w^e will select
several counties which may be considered fair representatives of
the section of the state in which they are situated. In West-
chester the average of the wheat crop for 1845 was 9 bushels
per acre; in Washington county, 12; Rensselaer, 8; Dutchess,
5; Columbia, 6. Proceeding to the western part of the state,
the yield of Livingston county was 15; in Onondaga county, 14^
nearly: and Monroe county nearly 19,1 bushels, which is the great-
est average yield for any of the counties of the state. In the
southern tier of counties the average yield is much less, but more
than some of the older river counties already spoken of Thus
Allegany raised 260,190 bushels on 23,600 acres of land, the
average per acre being about 11 bushels; Steuben raised 180,095
bushels on 15,365 acres, the average of which is over 11^ bushels.
In the extreme northern section of the state we find Clinton
county giving a very handsome average yield of wheat. On
6,508 acres, 114,570 bushels of wheat were harvested, which is
an average of about 17^ bushels per acre.

If we now turn to the premium crops, and compare the several
averages with them, we shall have the means of forming an esti-
mate of what the produce should be per acre. The State Socie-
ty's premium for the greatest crop of wheat was awarded to
Edward Rivenberg, of Vernon, Oneida county, who raised a little
over 55 bushels per acre. The second premium was awarded to
a crop of 55 and a fraction. The Washington County Society
awarded a premium for a yield of 44 bushels per acre, and Madi-
son county for 53^ bushels per acre. William Garbutt of Wheat-
land, Monroe county, raised an average of 26 bushels per acre for
16 years in succession. This is a good example of the produce
of this grain for several successive years. The greatest yield was
in 1833, amounting to 38^ bushels per acre.

Now it would be interesting and certainly important if we
could ascertain the cause of the diversity which appears in the

174 Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JYew York. [Oct.,

above results; for though something must be attributed to the
ravages of the wheat ily, still it is not at all probable that it is
all due to this one cause. Something undoubtedly must be found
in the soil which raises the average yield to nearly twenty bush-
els in one case, and depresses it to five or six in others. This
difference in the ability to raise wheat has been attributed by
some to the limestones, but the fallacy of this assigned cause is
evident when we compare Dutchess and Westchester counties
with Onondao;a; there beino; about as much limestone in the for-
mer as in the latter county, and beside the analysis of the limestone
soil, or the soil upon the Onondaga limestone, gives no greater
amount of lime than in many localities where limestone is absent.
When we compare however the soils of Clinton and Onondaga
and Monroe, we shall find that in each of these counties there is
an excellent clay soil, which seems to be the debris of shales con-
taining in addition to lime, magnesia also, as well as the phos-
phates of the earths, and of the peroxide of iron. This clay soil
in Clinton county is newer than in the river counties, where the
yield is quite small at present, but formerly and for many years,
probably half a century, the same soil of the river counties has
been cultivated for wheat, and has yielded its famous crops, and
now it is not at all strange that characteristics of exhaustion have
appeared.*

The quantity of corn raised in New York in 1845 amounted to
14,722,114 bushels, on 595,134 acres. This gives an average
of nearly 25 bushels to the acre. In this average as in the wheat
crop, we must regard as before the capabilities of the soil and the
soil and climate. One hundred and fourteen bushels of corn have
been raised on an acre in a section of the state not remarkably
well adapted to the crop, and fifty and sixty bushels are very fre-

* It is probable that in St. Lawrence, and perhaps in Clinton county, the
favorable yield may have been owing to the cultivation of new lands. New
lands over the whole state yield good crops of wheat; while it is only in the
western and central counties that the crop is kept up without a diminution
in the product; even some of those counties often better after twenty-five
years' cultivation — which shows most clearly their adaptation to the crop.

1846.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JVew York. 175

quently obtained, and that without much extra labor and expense
in favorable locations, or in soil adapted to the crop. It will be
interesting to see in what parts of the state there is a failure in
the corn crop so far as to diminish the product below the average
of the state. Westchester gives an average of 31 bushels per
acre, Dutchess 25, Columbia 20, Rensselaer 28, and Washington
21. The averaije of these five counties is 25 bushels.

The western and central counties, which constitute the best
wheat lands, give the following results: Livingston raised 257,346
bushels of corn on 9,922 acres, or an average of 25 bushels per
acre; Onondaga 516,496 on 19,688, an average of 26 bushels;
Monroe 453,463 on 15,270, an average of 29 ; and Erie 238,295
on 10,530, an average of only 22.^ bushels to the acre. In these
four standard counties we obtain only 25^ bushels of corn per
acre. Comparing the two districts together, it is plain that al-
though the western is superior for wheat, it is not for Indian
corn; that the river counties are quite as well adapted to this
crop as the central counties. It is, however, questionable whe-
ther the soil is really as good, and it is probable that the chilly
winds of the lakes may affect unfavorably some portions of the
western district. This conjecture may not prove true to any great
extent, as we find that the average yield of Wayne county is
26 and Orleans 27 bushels. Still it would appear that soils like
Orleans, Wayne and Monroe ought to yield an average considera-
bly exceeding that of the river counties, particularly Washington,
Rensselaer and Columbia county. The two best northern coun-
ties will be found also to compare very well with the preceding;
thus Clinton county produced 104,830 bushels on 3,093 acres, or
an average of 26 bushels. St. Lawrence 304,403 on 12,341,
which is an average of 24 to the acre.

In the southern tier of counties, Broome raised 172,703 bush-
els on 6,611 acres, which is an average of 25 bushels. Allegany
raised 101,140 on 4,845 acres, which averages only 20 bushels
to the acre.

The State Society's premium for corn for 1845 was awarded
to George Vail, of Rensselaer county, who raised 182 bushels

176 Mineral and Agricultural Resources of Mew York. [Oct.

on an acre, when shelled and accurately measured. The pre-
mium crop for Washington county amounted to 131 bushels per
acre, and another crop in the same county yielded 128 bushels
per acre. Mr. George Geddes of Onondaga county raised corn
at the rate of 71 and 80 bushels per acre on different pieces of
land, but differently cultivated. These instances may be con-
trasted with the average of the state, or of the different districts of
the state. We learn from the above also, that the eastern coun-
ties are as well adapted to the corn crop as the central and w^est-
ern. This appears both from the average yield and from the
premium crops given above, as well as in precedhig years.

It will be observed from the foregoing results, that corn may
be raised with almost equal facility in all the sections of the state,
if we except those districts whose height exceeds a thousand feet
above tide. At this height in this latitude, frost often injures the
crop. There is probably but one kind of grain which will give
so much nutriment as corn. W'heat gives muscle and strength,
and still for sustaining young animals -while growing, whether
fed in small quantities, or given to the mother, it is quite doubtful
whether it is not superior to wheat. It is richer in phosphates,
and hence supplies the material for bone. It is true it may be
regarded as an expensive crop compared with some others, and
yet will it not be found that the quantity of nutricious food in the
grain, husks, stalks, &c., pays the farmer a better profit, all
things considered, than any other grain. So far as the market is
concerned it fluctuates less, bears a steadier price, and certainly
so far as home consumption is concerned, it must rank among the
best products for fattening swine and cattle. We have even
regarded roots an inferior kind of feed for cattle and hogs, and not
by any means to be brought into competition with corn. It is
true that in feeding some care is required if fed raw in the ground
or unground state. If however it could be cooked and given in
the form of a coarse bread, it would be much safer and give a
greater return in profit. Roots in small quantities for the purpose
of giving bulk and sufficient moisture to feed are important.
The quantity of oats raised in the state of New York in 1845,

1846.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JVeio York. 177

was 26,323,051 bushels on 1,026,915 acres, averaging 25 bushels
to the acre. The variations from the average of the state are not
very great, still some sections seem to be better fitted to this crop
than others. Thus in Rensselaer county, the average yield per
acre is 28 bushels, and in Dutchess 31; Westchester 26, Colum-
bia 25, and Washington only 23. The average of these five
counties amounts to a little over 26 bushels. It will be seen on
comparison, that the western and central counties scarcely exceed
the river counties in productiveness in this crop. Thus Monroe
raised 517,789 bushels on 18,510 acres, the average of which is
27^ bushels nearly; Livingston raised 351,233 on 11,616 acres,
which is only 21 J bushels; Onondaga 825,002 on 26,506 acres,
equalling 31 bushels; Erie 637,513 on 27,312, the average of
which is 23. The average of these four counties is a little over
25 bushels, about the mean of the whole state.

The southern counties fall a little short of the others. Thus
Broome raised 331,425 bushels on 13,945 acres, or an average
of 23 1 bushels; Allegany 503,134 on 22,274 acres, which is
about 28 bushels per acre; Delaware 648,982 on 28,950 acres,
an average of 22i per acre; Steuben 635,304 on 24,356 acres,
or an average of 26 per acre. The average of the four counties
is a little over 23 bushels per acre. .

The northern counties are superior to the southern; thus Clin-
ton gives a return of 26 bushels to the acre, having raised 268,256
bushels on 9,969 acres; Jefferson 709,232 on 26,462 acres, or
an average of nearly 27 bushels; St. Lawrence averages 27
Ijushels, having raised 646,556 on 24,175 acres; Lewis averages
25 bushels to the acre, having raised 202,551 bushels on 7,923
acres. The average of these four counties equals 26 bushels.
The surface of the country, its soil and its rocks, or geological
formations of those four counties, is almost identical. Clinton has
a larger proportion of surface perhaps of tertiary clay. The same
similarity also exists in the section in which the other counties
are situated. The southern tier of counties geologically consists
of slates, shales, and sandstones, which agree in their lithological
characters. The same may be said of the river counties. The

178 Mineral mid Agricultural Resources of JYew York. [Oct.,

western and central counties arranged on a belt with Onondaga,
Monroe and Erie, are also upon formations differing but little
from each other, and hence it would appear that the average pro-
duct of the sections taken by themselves may be due to the char-
acter of the formations upon which the crop is grown.

The State Society's premium crop on oats was awarded to
Tompkins county. The produce per acre was 91 bushels and 28
quarts. The second premium was awarded to Lewis county; the
yield was 90 bushels to the acre. Eighty -six and a half bushels
were raised upon one acre in Washington county. The litholo-
gical character of the rocks of these counties is not very dissimi-
lar; in each shales and slates abound.

The adaptation of the state for barley seems to be nearly equal
throughout its whole territory. The amount of barley raised in
the year 1844, was 3,108,704 bushels. The number of acres on
which it grew 192,503. The average product was 16 bushels
per acre.

In the eastern and river counties, the average yield for Dutch-
ess, 11 bushels; Columbia, 13; Rensselaer, 17; Westchester,
18; Washington, 14. Average for the 5 counties, 14.^ bushels
nearly.

The central and western counties stand about the same: thus,
Erie raised 40,485 bushels on 3,280 acres, giving an average
yield, 11 bushels; Livingston raised 93,959 on 6,698 acres, or
an average yield of 14 nearly; Onondaga 360,421 on 18,770,
giving an average of 19 bushels; Madison 229,606 on 12,972,
the average crop of which is 17 bushels.

The northern counties are less; thus, Jefferson raised 159,872
on 11,007 acres, the average of which is 14 bushels; St. Law-
rence 48,100 on 3,118 acres, giving 15 bushels on the average
product; and Clinton of 12 bushels to the acre, though only 192
acres were cultivated for this crop. -The average of the 3
counties falls short of the average of the state 3 bushels per
acre.

The southern tier of counties grows about the same average as
the northern : thus, Broome raised only 10 bushels per acre, with

1846.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources of Mew York. 179

only 96 acres under cultivation for the crop; Chemung averaged
11 bushels, and raised 25,265 bushels on 2,244 acres; Allega-
ny, \vhich seems to stand high for this crop, raised 38,132 bush-
els on 2,098 acres, which gives the average yield of 18 bushels
per acre. Onondaga had the largest crop of barley, and there is
a greater yield of this grain in this county than in the others.
Allegany and Westchester come next.

We believe from all that appears in the cultivation of this
crop, that it is quite as profitable as wheat, and may be grown in
all parts of the state; that it is less select in the soil, and is very
generally suited to the common coarse soils of our primary rocks.
It is a good crop in New England, and is one of the most profit-
able grains raised in the more hilly and mountanous parts, as
the old counties of Hampshire and Berkshire.

The premium crop of barley was awarded by the State Society
to Lewis county, for a crop of 74^ bushels per acre. A crop in
W^ashington county amounted to 45, in Rensselaer county 52,
Madison 67, and Allegany 63, and two crops in Oneida of 63
each.

The census retiu-ns for rye are too obscure and imperfect to
admit of use. No distinction is made as it regards the kind of
rye which was raised. The whole amount however of rye har-
vested, was 2,966,322 bushels. As the returns stand, the aver-
age yield for Westchester was 9 bushels, 7 for Dutchess, 9 for
Columbia, 10 for Rensselaer, 9 for Washington, 11 for Livintrs-
ton. The premium crops of rye are certainly very great. The
Society's premium was awarded to a gentleman in Oneida who
raised 52^ bushels to the acre. A gentleman in Washington
county raised 41 bushels, and received the County Society's pre-
mium.

The buck-wheat raised in the state was 3,634,679, and the
number of acres cultivated for this crop was 255,495, giving an
average yield for the whole state, of 14 bushels per acre.

Of peas, 1,761,503 bushels were hauled from 117,379 acres;
the average yield of which is 15 bushels per acre. The crop
amounted to 162,187 bushels, the average yield per acre was
nearly 10 bushels.

180 Mineral and Jlgricultural Resources of JVew York. [Oct.,

Turnips which are esteemed very highly with some, is not a crop
which furnishes a great yield for the entire state. The quantity
raised was 1,350,332, and the average yield per acre was only
88 bushels, which must be considered as quite short of what may
be grown upon an acre when properly cultivated.

Remarks of the same kind may be made in regard to the po-
tatoe crop. For the average yield for the w^hole state is only 92
bushels per acre, while it is well-known that it is not at all difficult
to raise 300 bushels. In comparing different parts of the state
with each other, it will be found that the best wheat lands are
not the best for potatoes.

The yield per acre for Livingston county was only 87 bushels
per acre. Onondaga yielded 90, while Alleghany gave an aver-
age of 99, Jefferson 143, Clinton 137, Westchester 89, Dutchess
84, Columbia 76, Rensselaer 75, and Washington 122. Broome
county stands as having yielded less than 30, which is probably
owing to some error in the returns. Delaware, w^hich we should
expect would yield good crops of potatoes, has returned an aver-
age of only 76 bushels per acre. It is difficult to assign a cause
for the small mean for this crop, it may be that as it is a crop
which all cultivate, and requires but little skill to get something
of a return for labor, that it is neglected, and it is rarely attempted
to raise more than an ordinary crop. It is not an article sent to
market, except when the market is near, and hence it is consid-
ered of little consequence to raise more than is required for home
consumption, which is easily accomplished by ordinary tillage.

The premium crop of potatoes was raised in Lewis county, the
yield was 396 bushels per acre. Delaware gave in a crop of
324, Rensselaer 355, and Madison 426. We believe that 1,000
bushels of potatoes might be raised from an acre, if the crop was
cultivated with the same care that corn often is. It is still a
question whether the management of tbe potato is as well under-
stood as corn and some other crops, notwithstanding it is so gen-
erally cultivated.

The quantity of flax raised in the state, was 2,897,062 lbs.,
and 46,089 acres were under cultivation; the average number of
pounds per acre, is a little over 62. The river counties when

1846.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JVew York. 181

compared with the average of the state, are found to yield a
much larger quantity than is given in the returns. Thus West-
chester gives an average yield of 139 lbs., Washington 174,
Rensselaer 157, Columbia 187, Dutchess 237, and Livingston
only 67 lbs., which if this wheat county is a representative of
the state, shows that the middle and western counties are poorly
adapted to this crop, while the coarser soils of the river counties
are well adapted to it.

The greatest crop of flax raised in the state, and which received
the Society's premium, amounted to 567 lbs. per acre. The next
best was one yielding 437 lbs. per acre. The above was reward-
ed to a gentleman residing in Chautauque county.

The dairy business is one of considerable interest in the state.
It is however difficult to determine from returns which have yet
been given, what part of the state is best adapted to this business,
that is, the production of butter and cheese. In order, however,
to make an approximate determination of this matter it was ne-
cessary to convert the butter and cheese into one item. Or in
other words to estimate both products as cheese. For this pur-
pose the butter which was returned was estimated as equal to two
pounds of cheese, which product was added to the amount of
cheese returned. It was then determined from the number of
cows which w^ere milked, how much cheese each cow produced.
We have given below the results obtained by this method.

The average quantity of cheese in pounds made per cow, in
Delaware county, was 207 lbs.; in Washington, 184; Herkimer,
307; Rensselaer, 187; Dutchess, 184; Onondaga, 203; Sarato-
ga, 182. According to observation we believe these counties
are considered the best grazing sections in the state, and it will
be seen that Herkimer produces the greatest number of pounds per
cow of any section. The average for the state, estimated as
above, is only 95 lbs.

A large quantity of milk, however, must be consumed in New
York, Albany, Troy, and the numerous cities and villages, which
can not be estimated, and which must serve to reduce the ave-
rage of the state to a low amount. The number of cows milked

182 Mineral and Agricultural Resources qfJVew York. [Oct.,

was 999,490, and the pounds of butter made, 79,501,733; of
cheese 36,744,976.

The number of neat cattle was 2,072,330. Of these 334,456
were under one year, and 1,709,479 over one year. The number
of horses in the state 505,155; no distinction of age. The sheep
in the state amount to 6,443,855. Of these 1,870,728 were
under one year, and 45,053,369 over one year old. The number
of fleeces sheared was 4,607,012, yielding 13,864,828 pounds of
wool. The number of hogs in the state was 1,584,344. The
aggregate number of domestic animals in the state is 8,867,810.
This includes merely cattle, horses, sheep and hogs.

The number of acres of improved land is 11,757,276. This
embraces the aggregate for all the counties, or the whole state.
The number of farmers or agriculturists in the stale is 253,292.
Those who are eno;ao;ed in manufactures and trades amount to
138,089. These three classes embrace the great mass of active
business men. The number of merchants is 20,758. The num-
ber of lawyers, clergymen and physicians is 12,558.

The agricultural resources of New York appear in the premi-
um crops. It would not be right to rate them according to the
average product of the state, or of any one section of the state,
for these are by no means the measure of the state's ability. In-
deed it is quite probable that we may consider the ability to pro-
duce even greater than appears in any of the premium crops. In
comparing premium crops with the averages of any part of the
state, we are forcibly reminded that most of the husbandry of the
state is in inefficient hands. It Avould not be proper to consider
the defect as due to inertness, or bodily laziness, but rather to a
state of ease and contentedness in ignorance of what may be
done.

The foregoing results show us another important fact, namely,
that the profits of husbandry must be qmte equally divided; that
the advantages which are possessed in some parts of the state, are
balanced or may be set off against others in distant sections of
the state. The pasturage of Herkimer and Delaware seems to be
better fitted for making cheese than Livingston, or the wheat

1846.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JVew York. 183

counties in general. The soil of Rensselaer, Dutchess and West-
chester appears as well adapted to corn as any of the central and
western counties. Flax also grows well in the poorest parts of
Rensselaer county. In Livingston, and perhaps some other w'heat
growing counties, potatoes require to be changed frequently in
order to preserve a tolerable quality for the table. The hilly
and mountainous counties produce those of an excellent kind for
a series of years, and where corn is an uncertain crop, oats and
peas become excellent substitutes, especially for fattening swine.

In view of the foregoing results, it may be interesting to some
of our readers to see an additional statement of the yield of the
cereals in South America and some of the European countries.

It is in the temperate zones that wheat and the other nutritive
grasses find a region favorable to their cultivation. In the equi-
noctial parts of Mexico they are never cultivated below the height
of thirty-nine hundred feet. At Xalapa wheat is raised solely for
its straw; at elevations a little higher, the cereals begin to be
cultivated, and upon the table-land between Queretaro and Leon,
the wheat yields in the proportion of 35 or 40 to one. Hum-
boldt states that at Cholula, the common return is from 30 to 40,
frequently exceeds 70 or 80 to one. But the produce of the
whole country is stated at 20 or 25 to one. The Mexican wheat
is of the best quality, and enters into competition at Havana, with
that from the states. The Mexican wheat however, cannot be
preserved from decay, longer than tw^o or three years.

The following is a general statement of the yield of the differ-
ent countries according to the best authorities.

In France the yield of wheat is 6 to 1; in Hungary, Croatia,
and Sclavonia, from 8 to 10 to 1; in La Plata 12, and in the
northern parts of Mexico 17; in the province of Pasto in Santa
Fe, 25 to 1 ; in the province of Casamarca in Peru, 18 to 20
grains to 1. The cultivation of corn or maize is very extensive
in South America. It is cultivated from the coast to the valley
of Tolucca, which is 9,186 feet above the sea. Maize may be
regarded as the principal food of the Mexicans, as well as that of
all domestic animals. The fecundity of the Mexican corn is very

184 Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JVew York. [Oct.,

remarkable. It is not unusual for it to yield 300 or 400 fold;
and a harvest is re2;arded as defective in some places which yields
only 160 to 150. The general average for the equinoctial regions
of Mexico, is considered however only as 150. The weight is
less than the corn of the northern states, and has less nutritive
matter.

Rye and barley resist cold much better than wheat, and are
grown in all the higher regions to a limited extent, and generally
barley takes the place of oats as food for animals, as in New
Spain oats do not produce well. The plant cultivated in the
highest and coldest regions of New Spain is the potatoe. Some
species are there cultivated which are unknown in Europe or this
country, for example, the Solanum cari. Potatoes are grown in
Santa Fe and Quito which are a foot in diameter, and are said to
be of a superior kind.

In conclusion we may probably say that in New York an in-
creased spirit of enterprize may properly be encouraged and ex-
cited in consequence of the accessibility of excellent markets, and
the certainty that increased attention to husbandry, especially if
accompanied with an enlightened view of the department of
labor. Besides all this, the farmer may be assured that New York
furnishes as many comforts and luxuries as any part of the Union,
and that industry certainly no where in this commonwealth goes
unrewarded. Nor is there a territory, which favors so highly
health and longevity, and freedom from severe and lingering
diseases.

The peculiar nature of the wheat and other soils is of that
character which may be depended upon; the wheat soil in par-
ticular does not become exhausted by cultivation in that rapid
ratio, as those of Ohio and some of the western states. It has a
bottom which bears good crops, with little deterivation year after
year. Some portions of the county of Cayuga produces better
crops of wheat than at the first settlement of the county.

In Ohio, according to a statement recently published in the
Cleveland Herald, there has been a gradual falling off in the
wheat crop for the last four years. It may be owing to be sure

1846.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources of J^ew York. 185

to an impoverishing system of culture which may not be followed
in this state. This crop of 1842, was 25,387,439 bushels; 1843,
18,786,705; 1844, 15,969,000; 1845, 12,000,000. The corn
crop in Illinois is also falling off. In four years, according to
his statement, the crop has diminished more than one-half, a fact
which must be owing in pcirt to a diminished product of the soil.

In this state, on the contrary, the harvest of 1845 exceeded
that of 1840 by 1,438,263 bushels. From these and other facts
we infer that New York can raise wheat at a profit notwithstand-
ing the cry that the east cannot compete with the west It may-
cost more to raise a hushel of wheat in New York than in Iowa
and Wisconsin; our difference however is not so great as to leave
the farmer without profit, and as the husbandry of the state is
improving, as the expense of the wheat crop is diminished by it,
we hope to see the crop still increasing.

For the purpose of giving a wide circulation to the important
and interesting facts contained in the census returns of this state,
we are induced to publish them entire, and to append them to
this article. That some may feel that they occupy too much
space in a journal of this kind, is highly probable, but we intend
that it shall be a repository of facts which shall be useiul to the
farmer and statesman, to which each and all may refer, as occa-
sion may require. Very few persons who can read but have some-
times to refer to facts contained in statistical reports; for this
reason we given them a place in the Journal.

TABLE OF PREMIUM CROPS.

Kind.

Counties.

s = ;

a ^

lii

3 V

"S^'-S

; ^ »

Amt in
bushels.

= 2
c =

Wheat, . . .

Corn,

Oats,

Barlev. . . .

Oneida

Rensselaer, . .
Tompkins, . . .

55

182

91

74.^

52^
437 lbs
426

14
25
25
16

62
92

8
25
26 J

9

179

S9

17
25^
25.^
15.|

67

82

14
25
26
13

137

11

22.V

23

13

87

Rve ......

Flax,

Potatoes,. .

Oneida,

Chautauque, .
Madison, ....

No. vm.

186 Mineral and Jlgricultnral Resources of JVew York. [Oct.,

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1846.] Mineral and Agricultural Resources of JYew York. 195

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196 CaiLse of the Potato Disease. [Oct.,

FACTS WHICH SEEM TO BEAR UPON THE CAUSE
OF THE POTATO DISEASE.

The same week when the potato-vine exhibited the first in-
dication of disease, many trees in the vicinity of Albany were
affected in a manner similar to this plant. The leaves of several
elms for instance began to dry and grow brown upon their edges,
and in a few days it terminated in the death of those leaves, when
they fell off. Besides the elm, a few maples, horse-chesnut, plum,
bass, button-w^ood, and the vine, were affected in a manner quite
similar to the elm. It did not appear that all the individual trees
of the same species were attacked w4th this kind of blight.
Those individuals however, whose leaves were rather succulent or
juicy, were most liable to this affection.

This affection of the leaves, inasmuch as it came at the time
we were first visited with extremely hot weather, and which was
accompanied at times with a hot south w^ind, must be attributed
to this peculiar state of the weather, or to an atmospheric influ-
ence. Several elm trees, and many button-woods .have died, it
would seem from the effect of some malady which has attacked
in the first place the leaf. The operation of the malady is simi-
lar upon the potato plant. It has been observed that the most
tender leaves dry upun their edges; the dryness extends soon to
the whole leaf, but the most vigorous part of the herbage resists
the attack the longest; but as the plant itself is gradually weak-
ened by loss of the leaves, the whole herbage after a while dies.
The tree however may and does resist for two or three seasons,
the branches dying successively. The approximate cause of the
death of the leaf, seems to be a dry, hot, and parching atmo-
sphere: it may perhaps be only a predisposing cause. Real
causes of disease are obscure; when, however, antecedents and
consequents are so closely connected tis in the cases we have
been considering, we cannot refuse to give or attribute to the
phenomena considerable importance, especially when they pre-
serve the same standing and relation for several years in succes-
sion, as is the case with those affections of trees and potato
plants.

1846.] Cause of the Potato Disease. 197

We do not suppose that all the phenomena accompanying the
potato rot, as it is sometimes called, can be satisfactorily ex-
plained on the ground that it is owing to the state of the atmo-
sphere. But obscurities belong to every other hypothesis which
has been offered. We cannot tell why, during the prevalence of
an epidemic, many escape its attack. Why, too, many trees
of the same species have escaped the blight; why many fields of
potatoes remain unaffected. It is quite difficult to be satisfied
why it is that potatoes should rot merely because the leaves have
been injured in part. It is difficult to determine whether the af-
fection of the herbage of the vine is a symptom of disease merely,
or one of the causes connected closely with the decay of the tu-
ber; and it is difficult to determine, on the other hand, whether
the decay of the tuber produces the destruction of the herbage.
These are the facts, however, the decay of the latter seems to
precede the former, and the latter too is exposed to the withering
influence of hot and dry winds. This, when taken in connection
with the importance of the leaf to the life of the plant, seems to
thi'ow some light upon the subject. Tubers and roots to be
healthy and sound require healthy leaves; and whatever injures
their integrity, injures them also. This is a well known fact,
still it is after all strange that the tuber should rot; that it
should go through with regularity all the stages of a specific
disease. But here again we must admit that the obscurity is
not increased by the foregoing hypothesis. The insect and
fungus hypotheses can claim no advantages on this ground.
If plants are stripped of their leaves they usually die; they may
survive the operation once; they are more likely to survive if
the stem is cut directly off, unless it be below all the leat-buds,
as at the neck of the plant. Mowing the potatoe vines does not
kill the plant, as the stem below contains many leaf-buds; but it
is injurious to the crop under any circumstances. The fact that
it survives and sets new tubers afterwards is no objection to this
view.

We believe it will be found generally true, especially with
some varieties, that if they are highly manured and grow rapidly,
and are full of the peculiar juices of the plant, that they will suf-

198 Cause of the Potato Disease. [Oct.,

fer more from atmospheric influences than those that are unma-
nured and have grown rather slowly, upon a dry sandy soil.
Vigorous plants have more generally escaped the rot than the
feeble. We mean those of a hardy constitution. We remark
again that probably if the disease of the potatoes is caused by at-
mospheric influences, we shall discover signs of those influences
on o !ier ve etables; and if potatoes are diseased and kept dry
after the disease has commenced, its progress is stopped, at least
in many instances, as we have witnessed.

A mystery which overspreads the subject before us is the fact
that some varieties which appear quite exempt from the disease,
in some places, does not hold good in others. At first view it
seems that the same variety ought to hold out at all times and
places against the enemy. But it may be after all that varieties
like species require a particular soil to raise them to a high
standard of excellence. For instance, one variety attains its
standard of perfection in a light soil only, whereas another variety
requires a strong clay soil. They are secure from disease only
when they are cultivated upon that soil which they require, to
reach their mark or standard of perfection. Now some varieties,
like some species of plants, are not sofastidiuos in their food, and
hence do well if they have but a middling chance. The merinoes
or long reds seem to be of this class. However all this may be,
it is an important inquiry what soil is best suited to a^ given va-
riety of potato. We know that some apples, the Newtown pippin
for instance, must have a deep strong soil, and comes to nothing
when planted in a poor soil. And why should there not be the
same variety in the habits of varieties of potatoes as in apples and
other fruits.

If then the above is a rational view of the fact, it will proba-
bly be supported by observation. The first question to settle
after it is known that some varieties are more aflfected than others
is, what kind of soil do they require, or what is the best soil
to give them the perfection of the variety. Observations have
been made upon potatoes in mass, so far at least as it regards the
disease, as it has appeared upon different kinds of soil. One

18^6.] The JYew York System. 199

says that potatoes which were grown upon a clay soil were most
ciffected. Another can see no difference, the disease appearing
upon all kinds of soil alike. If observations were directed to one
variety, or single varieties, and the disease with its symptoms
and severity carefully noted, as they appeared upon different
soils, more light would be thrown upon the cause of the dis-
ease, as well as upon the peculiar requirements of varieties of the
potato.

THE NEW YORK SYSTEM.

It has been recommended by the most eminent geologists of
Europe, to avoid in geological names, or in geological nomen-
clature, those words which may be regarded as hypothetical.
Hence the word transition has been disused or gradually dropped,
and many other changes in names have been effected on similar
grounds. In consequence of the adoption of the recommenda-
tions of geologists in these particulars, other names have been
employed which express a general fact, and hence instead of at-
tempting a classification proper of rocks and formations, a name
simply has been given to a series which was derived from some
place where the series was well developed. This plan of naming
rocks has been extended also to the sub-divisions. The Silurian
system for example, is a series of rocks well developed in Wales
and the adjacent parts of England. It is a term derived from Si-
lures; an ancient race of Briltons who inhabited this part of the
kingdom. The system being established it may then be applied
to a series of rocks of the same period in different parts of the
world. As the relations of the Silurian series are known, we
may at once recall to our minds the relations also of a series of
the same age in any other part of the world; the age of the series
being determined by their organic remains, or by their position.
It appears to us however, that we need not adhere strictly to the
use of the term Silurian, when there is a considerable deviation

200 The JVew York System., [Oct.,

from the type, although the age may be that of the Sihirian of
England.

In this country we have unquestionably Silurian rocks, and
many undoubtedly will use the name exclusively; still we may
be allowed to suggest that where considerable difference of litho-
logical constitution and of the distribution of fossils exists, wheth-
er it may not be better after all to employ some other term as a
name for the system. In New York it has been often said that
the Silurian is well developed. This is probably true; perhaps
better developed or more suitable for the type of this series of
formations and of this period, than that of Siluria itself. In con-
sequence of the great differences which exist in the New York
series and Silurian, we believe that the former has a preference
to the latter. The difference may be summed up thus: 1st. It is
more expanded downwards, that is, it has important rocks unknown
to the system in England. 2d. It has important members in other
parts of it unknown in England. And 3d, very few of the fos-
sils belong to the same species; they are principally analoQ"ous
forms, being related to those of Siluria, as our living molusks are
to those of Europe. We prefer for these reasons the name New
York system to Silurian system, and as there can be no doubt of
the succession of these rocks, we believe the name may be ap-
plied with propriety to the rocks of the same age in other parts
of this country. The question w^ill unavoidably come up, where
shall the line of demarcation be drawn between the New York
and the adjacent systems? After a careful examination of the
question, w^e feel quite confident that it might be extended in this
country so as to include the Catskill division, or to extend to
the carboniferous limestone. We have no very good dividing
lines till we reach the base of the carboniferous. It is true that
we find a few fish in this country, in the inferior part of the Cats-
kill, or old red sandstone of Europe. But the molusks and conchi-
fers belong to the same types as those below. The series is a
continuous deposit here of similar matter, the succession of which
is scarcely broken by conglomerates or disturbances of much im-
portance. The extension of the New York system as proposed,

1846.] The JVew York System. 201

excludes of course the Devonian of Phillips. We have little
doubt but this last system can be made out here, as we have dis-
covered some of its forms in addition to those which belong to
the upper Silurian of Murchison; still it appears to us that geolo-
gy is simplified by extending the New York system as proposed.
It is proper to observe that Mr. Vanuxem's views led him to pro-
pose this extension in his report. We have however made these
remarks from conviction of its utility by our own observations.
By adopting this division we secure strong and palpable lines of
demarcation, and it will free us from jarring opinions where the
Devonian shall begin. There is more difficulty in fixing upon
the dividing lines of two adjacent systems, than may appear at
first sight. In the case of the Devonian, some propose to bring
it down to the corniferous, an extension which decapitates the
Silurian. Another proposes the Oriskany sandstone as its base,
or the rock upon which it shall be based. The reason for this
extension is, that Devonian fossils are found in these rocks. But
this is reckoning or levelling only one way. It would not be diffi-
cult to show that the Silurian fossils go up nearly to the top of the
Devonian series, and so often, that the whole base as proposed by
Phillips, if the matter was to be decided in this way, would be
thoroughly excised. The facts, then, as they stand now, present
obstacles to the satisfactory adjustment of dividing lines between
the two systems, and as fossils fail in establishing the line, we shall
be obliged to do one of two things, adopt arbitrarily one system and
exclude the other, or else do as has been done in other cases of
greater importance when lines were wanted ; appoint commissioners
to run an equitable boundary, paying due regard to the prior claims
of each system as they are established by anterior published and
printed documents. In England however, if priority of publica-
tion should be made the basis of adjustment, the Cambrian sys-
tem would come in for a large share of the lower Silurian rocks.
We have little doubt but that the series containino; the Bala lime-
stone, which is equivalent to our Trenton, belongs legitimately
to the Cambrian.

We have in another place shown, as we think, that one of the

202 The Tacoivk System. [Oct.,

most important, as well as the clearest lines of division in the pre-
sent Silurian system, is at the top of the Hudson river series, which
terminates at the Oneida conglomerate. But we are not disposed
to discuss the subject further at this time. We however propose
to avail ourselves of the present opportunity to repeat, that as it
regards the Silurian and Devonian systems, we should prefer ex-
tendins the Silurian to the base of the carboniferous. The ob-
stacks to this extension of the series are not insurmountable.
We do not now see that principles w411 be violated, or well es-
tablished rules broken, so far as the New Yerk rocks are con-
cerned.

As to the name which shall be employed to designate this
great series, we prefer that which has been adopted quite gene-
rally in this country, the New York system, so far as this coun-
try is concerned. The advantages arising from the perfection of
the series, and the impossibility of mistaking it for any other,
provided due care is taken in making comparisons, are quite im-
portant. The territory also, or the geographical boundaries aid
their study, each section of the state being underlaid with a well-
defined part of the system, except that adjacent to the Hudson
river and Lake Champlain, where the Taconic system appears,
and which supports some of the lower members of the New York
system. We are willing however to adopt those names or divi-
sions which have upon the whole the highest claim to favor.

REMARKS ON THE TACONIC SYSTEM.

[Containing in part the discussion upon this subject, at the meeting of the
American Association of Naturalists at New York, September, 1846.]

Some apology is due perhaps to our agricultural readers, for the
introduction of so much matter in which "many have but little in-
terest. As a general rule, we intend the interests of agriculture
shall have the principal place. We must however, occasionally
introduce matter whose bearing upon agriculture is or may ap-
pear quite distant, and in which many readers will feel that it is

1846.] The Taconic System. 203

of no use whatever to them. When this is so, all we can say is
skip it and turn over to something else.

The series of rocks termed the Taconic system by us, is the
oldest in which organization appears. For this reason they pos-
sess a peculiar interest; and certainly the enquiry what was the
construction of the organized beings which were first created, in
what condition did life first appear, and in what was it clothed,
are questions in which in common with many others we have felt
a deep interest. The solution of these questions could not be at-
tempted until the true palaeozoic base had been reached, it must
be determined what sedimentary rocks were first laid down.
The determination of this point, as experience has fully proved,
is not easy, neither can we be sure that we are always right in
our decision, for time has so changed their appearance, that or-
dinary and common indications which the sedimentary masses
give are nearly obliterated in the most ancient of the class. The
same changes affect organic atoms, when they cease to be
vivified; and when they pass from the dominion of life, they
obey forever after the laws of inorganic nature, and undergo
thereby a series of changes w^hich may end in the obliteration
of every trace of organism belonging to the former state, and
which life had impressed upon them. But as these changes
are modified by circumstances, we may often find that they have
escaped the transforming powers of dead matter, and may have
come down to us wearing some of the livery in the period in
which they lived. The first work and which must be finished
before we con attempt to speculate on the condition of the earth
in its trmisition state, (pardon the word for there must have been
a transition state,) is the determination of the palseozoic base.
To this end, we have studied with great care a series of deposits
which we consider as strictly of this character. That they are an-
terior to the rocks denominated the New York or Silurian system,
we think we have proved beyond a doubt; if so, life and or-
ganization is carried back to a period anterior to that system.

The discussion referred to, had for its object the establish-
ment of this proposition, and if our facts do not sustain us in the

204 The Taconic System. [Oct.,

position, we may despair of establishing any proposition in this
department of knowledge. We proceed to give the substance of
our remarks.

" Dr. Emmons observed at the opening of the question in regard
to the Taconic system, that it was necessary to be well acquainted
with the Champlain division of the New York system. Thence
he was led to speak briefly of these members, and especially to
point out the fact that tlje Potsdam sandstone is often absent, in
which case the calciferous sandstone becomes the inferior rock of
the series. Thus at Little Falls this rock rests on gneiss, with
w^hich it appears to conform in dip. The succession of the rocks
of the Champlain division was then given, which need not be
repeated in this place, except that in this connexion it was stated
that the superior part of the Potsdam sandstone, near Chazy, in
Clinton county, N. Y., was formed of a breccia, which contained
masses of a sedimentary limestone, an important fact, the bearing
of which could not be misunderstood by the gentlemen present.

Dr. E. then stated that the Taconic rocks were limited by the
Hoosick mountain range on the east, and by the Hudson river and
Lake Champlain on the west, and he should confine his re-
marks to this section of country, although he was aware that the
same system extended far north as well as south, and that it even
existed in Maine, Rhode Island, and the upper peninsula of Mi-
chigan. The oldest rock of this system, is the granular quartz:
a rock which was formerly ranked with the primary, but which
was clearly separable from that system, on the ground that its in-
ferior part is a conglomerate; thus proving its sedimentary origin.
Oakhill, near Williams College, supjports a mass of this charac-
ter which reposes on granite. Stonehill, an eminence just south
of the college, is composed of quartz alternating several times
with a variety of slate, containing tale, needleform schorl and
crystals of octahedral iron. The rocks of these hills conform to
those which lie west and form the Taconic range, lying between
New York, Massachusetts and Vermont. The line of demarcation
then, between the primary of the Green Mountains and the Taco-
nic rocks is clearly indicated by the conglomerate of the quartz.

1846.] The Taconic System. 205

The relations of the newer members of the Taconic system M'ere
then ilhistrated by a series of diagrams, which, as they were taken
from observation, showed very clearly the fact that the older mem-
bers of the New York system of the Champlain division repose
directly upon the Taconic slate, or some other member of this
system.

Many instances of superposition were cited, and so well estab-
lished is this statement, that it is admitted by those who reject the
views of Dr. E. ; but in order to avoid the inference which must
necessarily follow, it is maintained that the rocks have been over-
turned, and that the so called Taconic slate is merely the Hudson
river slate, or shale slightly altered, having the lower limestone
reposing upon it in an inverted position. This is considered in-
consistent with the facts on the ground, that there is not only su-
perposition, but succession; that the succession in the instances
referred to is similar to the succession that everywhere prevails
in the Champlain division, namely, first, the Potsdam sandstone,
or calciferous sandstone, birdseye, &c. ; and then Trenton lime-
stone and its slate. A careful examination of the localities proved
the succession contended for, and that the principal change of
position which the rocks have undergone, is merely an elevation,
or uplift, and the nature of this change was illustrated by refer-
ence to the falls of Montmorenci, where a force was evidently
applied below the gneiss, which brought up that rock, supporting
the whole of the Champlain division in the order in which the
members were deposited. Uplifts of this character, extend from
the Highlands of the Hudson to Montmorenci, and in no case are
the rocks turned over, but they always appear in their tnie suc-
cession, and in many instances with two and three hundred feet
of Taconic slate beneath. This fact goes to show where the line
of demarcation between the Taconic and New York system should
be drawn.

Dr. Emmons here alluded to the condition of the rocks in the
valley of the Hudson river, where the shales are comparatively
largely, and the limestones of the Champlain division are but
feebly developed; which causes much obscurity in regard to their

206 The Taconic System. [Oct.,

position; but taking the thin beds of limestone which contain the
fossils of the limestones at well known localities as way boards,
and a great part of the difficulty in regard to the Taconic system
is removed. Superposition and succession was considered, as the
main facts upon which the doctrines supporting the Taconic sys-
tem rest, yet it was farther maintained that the fossils of this sys-
tem are all different from the New York; and what is quite re-
markable, no molusk or conchifer has yet been found in it, not-
withstanding it has been examined more carefully than any other
series of rocks in this country.

Conformity of position in the masses between the Hoosick
mountain and the Hudson river was considered sufficient evidence
to prove that they all belong to one series. Those who maintain
that they are merely altered rocks of the Champlain division,
admit of course the unity of the masses as it regards the period of
their formation. The superimposed rocks of this division are
( xcepted. They appear in insulated fields, and may be distin-
guished from the rocks of the Taconic system by their lithological
characters, or the want of conformity to the latter."

To the above we desire to add a few remarks in consideration
of the importance of the subject in a geological point of view.
What was said on the occasion was designed merely as a state-
ment of those facts which go to prove directly the existence of
the rocks as an independent system. The most important fact is,
as has been stated, the relative position of the two systems; and
it is now uncontradicted, that in numerous places the New York
system, or its lowest members, are superimposed upon the Taconic.
This being the case, unless it can be shown that there is an over-
turning of the strata in such a manner as to produce an entirely
inverted position, the system must stand. Observation, however,
in no case favors this view of the question, inasmuch as where
two members of the New York system exist together, they pre-
serve the position in which they were deposited, and the only
change they seem to have suffered is simply an elevation by a
force acting beneath the Taconic slate, by which the whole is
raised above the surrounding country. We find these rocks at a

1846.] The Taconic System. 207

low leA'el, even below the level of the adjacent country, uncovered
by diluvial action. We find also the rocks preserving the same re-
lative position, and moved but little from that in which they were
originally deposited. Where movements have taken place at or
near the junction of the two systems, it has been, as stated above,
a simple uplift, and not an overturning in the mode maintained
by the Profs. Rogers. If such was the true view of the case,
either the Potsdam sandstone or the calciferous sandstone would
be the superior mass, and the Trenton limestone and its slate the
inferior. This position is never found to prevail.

Again, when the calciferous sandstone reposes on the Taconic
slate, and the line of junction exposed, the phenomena presented
prove the calciferous sandstone to have been a rock succeeding to
the Taconic slate. The brecciated mass of slate and a little
limestone prove this, and the inclosed masses of slate testify to its
anterior existence to the limestone. It is by observations of this
kind that w^e have established the succession. So the existence
of masses of a sedimentary limestone at the top of the Potsdam at
Chazy, prove the prior existence of the rock when the Potsdam
was being formed. These are all elementary facts, which we
should not be at the trouble to state, were it not that our views
have been regarded as unsound and untenable. We have had
occasion to regret, that superficial examinations only have been
made by those who have made the strongest assertions; that some
have been wedded to a theory or a nomenclature, which, if the
Taconic system is received, must require very important modifica-
tions in order to be received, or be at all applicable to our rocks.
If the Taconic rocks are but lower members of the New York
system, how happens it that not a molusk or conchifer has been
found in them, inasmuch as the New York rocks abound in them
to a remarkable extent. This very fact should have led geolo-
gists to suspect the truth of the view; for notwitstandino- their
age and the disturbances to which they have been subjected, they
contain fossils of a delicate kind, and hence it cannot be said that
they are destroyed by metamorphosis.

208 The Taconic System. [Oct.,

Again, if they belong to the New York system and are merely
the lower subdivision of it, why is it that they are so much thicker
than the whole New York system put together? How happens
it that there is withal such a great preponderance of slate? There
are naked and continuous beds of slate thicker than the whole
New York system, which may be seen under conditions which
show that there is no repetition of masses.

Why is it that the Stockbridge limestone, if it is but a repeti-
tion of, or identical with, the lower limestones of the New York
system, is underlaid and overlaid also with slate; or, in other
words, is inclosed in slate, whereas those limestones referred to
are underlaid by a sandstone? If the Taconic rocks are raeta-
morphic, where are the igneous rocks w^hich have produced the
change between the Hoosick mountain in Adams and the Hudson
river?

The preceding questions we regard important, and ought to be
answered by those who maintain the identity of the series be-
tween the Green mountain range, the Champlain and Hudson val-
leys, with the New York system.

The history of the opinion relating to the Taconic system may
not be out of place. In 1837-8, we taught in our lectures at
Williams College nearly the same doctrine which is now main-
tained by Messrs. Rodgers, namely, that the granular quartz, and
the limestones, marbles and slates of Berkshire, were but exten-
sions eastward of the lower New York rocks. We were led at
the time to adopt this view from some facts which fell under our
observation at Burlington, Vt. We attempted at the time to
work out in detail the rocks under the guidance of this doctrine.
We found, however, that we were opposed by facts M^hich could
not be interwoven together, and hence we were led to abandon it
for the one we have since published. The first hints that were
published in regard to this system appeared in Disturnel's State
Register. We were requested to write a brief article on the
geology of the state for that work. In making up our notes for
this object, we found it necessary to fix upon some general subdi-
vision of the rocks which belong to the state. We drew up an

1846.] The Taconic System. 209

abstract of the plan and submitted it to the criticism of the Rev,
Prof. Dewey of Rochester, whose knowledge of the Avhole sub-
ject entitled his opinion to great weight. Prof Dewey approved
of the division proposed in the main. It resulted in separating
the rocks in the vicinity of the Taconic range, both from the pri-
mary and the New York transition as we then called them. The
subdivisions then proposed in Disturnel's State Register, and
which were adopted in the reports of the state geologists, were,
1. Primary; 2. Taconic; 3. New York System, divided into
Champlain, Ontario, Helderberg, Erie and Catskill divisions.

It seemed that without a generalization of the geological series
of rocks, they never could or never would be understood, and it
has proved of the highest utility. Although the divisions lay no
claim to a classification, and are merely geographical, yet it so
happens that the divisions are geological also. This point we
were anxious to secure, and after an examination of the fossils as
they were then understood, we foresaw that the divisions must be
maintained nearly as they were first proposed.

Since the first idea of an independent system was struck out, it
has been our object either to confirm it, or else to learn those
facts which would destroy it. But all our observations have
tended to confirm it; and we now' consider it established upon a
foundation which cannot be moved. We have had the good for-
tune too to discover fossils in it, which carries back life and or-
ganization upon the globe far anterior to the period of the foima-
tion of the New York or Silurian system. What other discovei ies
remain in regard to the character of the organization of this ear-
ly period in the earth's history is yet to be disclosed by observa-
tion.

No. VIII. 4

210 Temperature of the Waters of the Gulf Stream. [Oct.,

ON THE ELEVATED TEMPERATURE OF THE WA -
TERS OF THE GULF STREAM.

BY JAMES EIGHTS.

It is a well known fact, that a powerful current from the In-
dian Ocean sweeps round the Cape of Good Hope, wdiere, meet-
ing \vith a similar one from the South-west, or Antarctic sea, they
unite, and flow in a northerly direction along the African coast.
After circulating through the Gulf of Guinea, it passes direct-
ly across the Atlantic Ocean, forming what is called the great
equatorial current. This current, on approaching Cape St. Roque,
the most prominent point of the American coast, separates into
nearly two equal divisions: the one flowing south, courses along
the Brazilian shore, until it is deflected from the land near
the Rio de la Plate, and is again thrown out into mid-ocean, so
as to form a great southern circular current, or stream. The
northern division, after passing into the Caribbean sea, and wash-
ing the shores of the Mexican gulf, emerges through the Florida
straits, and runs at a rapid rate in a northerly direction, giving
origin to the great central circular current, or gulf stream. A
similar circular current, but far more irregular in its progress,
may likew ise be traced in the Northern ocean, but like that of
the south, it has" its course in a direction directly opposite to the
waters of the gulf.

In accounting for the elevated temperature of the gulf stream,
the opinion has been repeatedly advanced, that the waters consti-
tuting the great equatorial current, in coursing alorig the African
coast, and crossing the tropical sea, obtained its heat from the
atmospheric influences of the warm regions through which it flows.

That this is not the case, admits of easy proof The southern
portion of this great current, that which pursues its course along
the Brazilian banks, maintains no higher degree of temperature
than that, peculiar to the latitudes through which it flows, where-
as it should possess the same degree of warmth as the waters of
the gulf stream. We then, consequently, must seek for some other
Cause, and one readily presents itself, the moment we turn our

lS4G.] Temperature of the Waters of the Gulf Stream. 211

attention to the geological features of many of the islands of the
West India group. They appear for the most part, to owe their
origin to volcanic agencies, with the exception of much of their
lower portions, particularly those situated immediately along the
sea coast; these are chiefly composed of travertin, or recent lime-
stones. This limestone is of a light yellowish color, some parts
of it being very compact, while a great proportion exhibits a
concretionary or pisolitic structure, embracing recent corals, and
comminuted shells in great abundance, which still have an ex-
istence in the neighboring sea.

This limestone has unquestionably been derived from thermal
springs, which always abound in volcanic regions, and generally
contain very considerable quantities of lime in suspension among
their waters: many of these are well known to have an existence
beneath the oceanic waves of this district, having been recorded
by numerous voyagers, from times far remote, whose duties have
hitherto led them to navigate these seas. But the most convincing
proof is in the structure of these pisolitic concretions: they are of
a spherical form, and of the size of a pea, and sometimes larger,
being composed of concentric lamina, arranged around a particle
of sand as a nucleus. Whenever one of these springs forces its
upward way through a sandy bott'om, a large number of these
particles are disturbed, and set in motion by the rapid ebullition
of the water, and are there kept .continually revolving, until they
become completely coated by these concentric lamina of lime,
and at length having obtained a sufficient weight, they again fall
by their own gravity; here a deposition of the lime having taken
place, and continuing to do so until the concretions are firmly
united in one solid mass, collecting the fragmentary corals, and
shells, that lie strewed along the bottom wherever the springs
occur. In the course of time, by the uplifting of these islands,
this newly formed limestone is brought to the light of day, and
disclose to view the appearance which they every where at pre-
sent exhibit. It is to the numerous thermal springs in this por-
tion of the globe, that I consider the elevated temperature of the
water of the gulf stream, principally to owe its origin.

212 Progressive Changes of Matter. [Oct.,

THE PROGRESSIVE CHANGES OF MATTER.

BY A. OSBOKN.

Mankind are fond of the marvellous. Wonders and curiosities
always have a tendency to excite the mind. In this age of the
woild, when knowledge among men is increasing, and when in-
vention seems to have enlarged the human mind to its utmost
capacity, we .still see men straining their intellects after higher
attainments, and seeking for new discoveries in this world of
wonders. In these pursuits the mind is credulous, active, and
unwearied. These inventions and improvements are but the
changes of matter, or a change in the application or connection
of things. The great change produced in the business and com-
merce among mankind by the motive and mechanical po^ver of
steam is caused by the connection of fire and water confined
within certain limits, and the power produced thereby applied to
machinery. Now as these new formations or combination of
things are brought out and produced to the public observation, if
of much importance they are regarded as wonders; but by a long
acquaintance with them they are. treated only as matters of fact.
So it is in relation to the changes that have been, and still
are going on among the elements of our globe. New changes,
if of any magnitude, create wonder and astonishment to the
generation of men who witness them, but subsequent races of
human beings regard them as the mere existence of things; the
previous existence and change lose their charm of the w^onder-
ful. Thus when volcanic eruptions occur, the whole surround-
ing country is thrown into astonishment and alarm; but the suc-
ceeding generations climb up the encrusted mountain without
reflecting upon the former condition and change of things, or re-
alizing the consternation of their ancestors. Our knowledge of
past changes is extremely limited; the present condition of things,
for the most ti?ne, engrossing our thoughts. These changes,
however, are not thereby divested of their interest, nor does a
knowledge of them fail to be useful to mankind.

If 46.] Progressive Changes of Matter. 213

Could the changes protluced by the labors of man be brought
within the scope of our observation, they would not fail to excite
our wonder. In a past age we penetrated the shades of the " wild
wood," and marked out, perhaps on the margin of some stream, a
territory that can be scanned by the eye from one observation,
covered with the deep dense forest, through which the wild beasts
made their paths, and where the " airy tribes of life" failed not
to charm them in the solitudes of nature. This period we conceive
to be yesterday, to-day on the location we behold magnificent
temples rearing their glittering spires higher than the primeval
trees. New life and new light breaks in upon the pathways once
trodden by forest animals. And at the same elevation and over
the same spot of ground where the " bird of wisdom" may have
perched, and during the shades of night hooted its forebodings of
the coming storm, the speculator may now repose in his chamber,
sighing over the changes in the affairs of commerce, and doling
the tempest of the coming future. Now should these changes be
regarded as a matter of fancy rather than as a matter of fact, we
may go into some city in the western country, and consult that
personage so often mentioned in the public journals, the oldest
inhahitant.

The labors of man in annihilating the ponderous forests and
spreading out cultivated fields to the light of day, would be
wonderful indeed, were not the change gradual and familiar to
us aU. A reverse order of things has at times taken place during
the history of man. Where we now traverse a wild uncultivated
country, nations may have flourished and fell. Where the " fox
looks out from the windows, the rank grass waving round his
head," the massive walls of Balclutha " rose in grandeur and
tottered in ruins."

W'hen we turn our attention more particularly to the succession
of changes in the labors of man, we find in many of them an ap-
proximation to that point beyond which they cannot advance.
In the early history of mankind intelligence was transmitted from
one locality to another by fleet pedestrians. To this mode suc-
ceeded the charioteer, and in this latter mode various improve-

214 Progressive Changes of Matter. [Oct.,

ments were made, both as it regards the vehicle and the highway.
Carrier pigeons have been employed, but this mode was limited,
and could not be of general utility. Signals placed upon emi-
nences was another mode of conveying news from one part of a
kingdom to another. The application of steam for the spread of
intelligence among men is highly important. But no change can
be made, or combinations of matter formed into new conditions,
whereby the speed of intelligence can be more rapid than that of
the magnetic telegraph. Hence we may look upon a progression
of changes in the labors of men, both as it regards the agricultu-
ral and mechanic arts. These changes occupy the human mind
with no small degree of interest. Their history is the biography
of the human family.

In the works of nature we find a succession and progression of
changes on a most magnificent scale, the evidence of which is
every where seen. The condition of things during the advance
of these transmutations must at times have presented in the light
of day, scenes beyond the conception of mortals. There are two
antagonistic forces that appear to be always disturbing the repose
of matter. Heat generated in the interior of the earth, raises up,
by its expanding power, whole districts of country, known as
continents and islands. Currents of water flowing over the sur-
face of these continents are continually bearing matter downward
to a lower position. This appears to be the great order of change
to which the surface or crust of our globe appears to be subject.
When therefore we aver that the present surface of the earth on
Avhich we live, and upon which we perform so many wonderful
labors, was at one time in the earth's history, covered with the
remnants and rubbish of broken rocks to a height of many thou-
sand feet, and perhaps miles, and in that high position rivers
flowed and cataracts foamed, we may tax human credulity beyond
its power of endurance. The configuration of the earth's surface
is now every where diversified with the river-valley and the
streamlet's gorge. These too have all been formed by the exca-
vating force of running Avater. Perhaps this latter averment may
appear more probable than the former. In following the couise

IS 6.] Progresnve Chunges of Matter. 215

of a river from its outlet to its source in mountainous countries,
we almost every where meet with its tributary streams, the banks
of which are generally precipitous. We may here begin to com-
prehend more fully the graphic linger of nature. The waters
wore their wonted pathways after the formation of the river val-
ley. When travelers of civilized nations began to visit the val-
ley of the Nile, and contemplate those stupendous pyramids and
other massive monuments of lock, it w«s somewhat difficult to
conceive from whence the materials were procured; but as these
travelers visited the upper Nile, and became familiar with the
quarries in that locality, they could see the origin of these won-
ders of the lower Nile. So time-enduring were these rocks, that
holes drilled in them for the purpose of cleaving blocks, remained
almost as perfect as when the workmen abandoned their labors.
Slabs of this material were partly finished. Although these
quarries were abandoned nearly three thousand years ago, the
remark was made that you now see where the workmen left off
laboring. In taking a more enlarged view of a river in moun-
tainous districts, as the Hudson for instance, we can see that its
cataracts have formed a deep channel from its mouth to Glen's
falls, where the waters for the time being seem to have left off
their labors. The same remark cati be made of the Mohawk river
at the Cohocs, of the West Canada creek at Trenton. The same
phenomena are seen in almost every river and rivulet on the face
of the earth. The proof that rivulets or tributaries have worn
their channels from the river valley, becomes more apparent from
the fact that the kind of material of which their banks are com-
posed, is carried onward toward the river, and most frequently
turns its channel to the opposite bank.

Before going into a detailed statement of the changes that have
taken place on the surface of the earth, we will state the order or
laws by which new formations are made. Every body whether
animal, vegetable or insect is formed from the elements of pre-
existent bodies, and necessarily implies a transposition of matter.
The tree although it grows out of the earth without any per-
ceptible diminution of the soil, yet nevertheless derives its sub-

216 Progressive Changes of Matter. [Oct.,

stance from other sources. It is but a concentration of invisible
particles by which a visible and tangible body exists, as an illus-
tration by which unseen elements are brought into visible forms.
Salt dissolved in water ceases to be visible, no trace of its el-
ements or parts can be detected by the eye. But by evaporating
the water, its presence becomes apparent. Hence we learn that
water is the solvent of saline substances. By evaporation water
is dissipated in air, and after ascending to certain heights, it is
condensed into drops and falls upon the earth. Here m'c also
learn- that the atmosphere is the solvent of water. From the above
illustrations it will be no difficult task to conceive of the trans-
mutation of things from one form to another. Hence we are to
infer that the constituent parts of a tree are principally contained
in the atmosphere. The science of chemistry and botany have
brought to light, in a measure, the manner in which these elemen-
tary substances are accumulated in the formation of a tree. A
casual observer cannot fail to notice, that the woody part of a tree
is made up of concentric rings, that each ring is formed during
the existence of the leaves of the tree, and its years by the num-
ber of these rings may be accurately ascertained. This growth
or formation of the tree has but two simple processes, through
the medium of the roots and leaves. The roots have their spon-
gioles, through which a fluid passes up the tree from the ground
to the leaf. The leal also contains its orifices or inhaling organs
by which another substance is imbibed; these two substances
combined, pass down the tree between the bark and woody por-
tion, leaving a deposit in their descent, forming through the pro-
cess of drying, the bark and woody fibre. We can therefore have
a clear and well defined idea of the manner in which a tree ob-
tains its growth. Hence we infer that the constituent parts of a
tree once existed in a fluid form and in other localities. Now
what we affirm of one tree we may aihrm of all trees, of all veg-
etable bodies that exist in the atmosphere, and we can thereby
escape all confusion of ideas in obtaining a knowledge of the
growth of a forest of trees, however extensive.

In the formation of a river there is likewise one uniform pro-

1846.] Progressive Changes of Matter. 217

cess prevailing; a process perhaps brought more within the scope
of the unassisted eye, than that of the growth of the tree. We
may have entertained the idea that the rivers which now traverse
the surface of the earth, have existed " from the beginning " in
their present form and location. Whereas from the manner in
which they are formed, the traces which they have left of their
former existence, we are forced to believe, that the generations of
rivers have been as numerous as the generations of men. The
rains supply the flowing volume of river currents. A river is
formed by a certain quantity of water and a given velocity ac-
cording to the peculiar formation of the earth's surface embrac-
ing its sources and tributaries. The proofs in relation to the ex-
istence of extinct rivers, may hereafter be given in a more detailed
statement. The present order of rivers appear to us as having
assumed permanent channels. A river is incidentally mentioned
here for the purpose of considering it as the principal agent by
which inert matter is moved along the surface of the earth. The
immense masses of earth every where abounding with all their
varied mixtures of coarse and fine material, with all their rugged
outlines, have been brought to their present condition principally
by the force of running water. Hence we learn that matter
is always liable to change its position by some physical law, and
in every change some new body is formed with new combinations
and thereby unfolding schemes of Infinite Wisdom. It may be
necessaiy to consider what is meant by a progressive change.
This is, perhaps, as manifest in the animal economy as any fact
v\-e can adiluce for an illustration. We commence with the sim-
ple formation of the univalve, and ascend the scale of organized
bodies, possessing vitility and thought, until we arrive at the
formation of human beings. Here every new body in the series
was marked by a peculiar combination of its elementary parts.
We may here distinguish a progressive change from a continuous
change. In the formation of the body of a quadruped, the con-
stituent parts of which it is composed, necessarily, as we have
before stated change their position, but during the existence of
this race of animals, for instance the horse, there is a succession

218 Progressive Changes of Matter. [Oct.,

of bodies, and a succession of changes, and this is but a continu
ation of the same link in the chain of animal life. Now when
the elements of organized bodies are formed into a human body
we obtain a new idea of animal existence, the change in this in-
stance has been progressive.

The changes that have taken place among ponderable bodies
on the earth's surface, have also been progressive. . We have be-
fore stated that the two antagonistic forces prevailing over mat-
ter, have at times formed new continents, and have wrought many
interesting changes upon their surface. We refer to the force of
heat in the bosom of the earth, and the force of running water.
The former raises whole continents out of the water mountains high,
the latter reduces them again beneath the ocean's level. These
two forces are employed in rocking the great balance beam of
nature! Hence there has been a succession of continents and of
oceans. The tendency of matter has therefore at one time been
in a certain direction, at another period it has been reversed. On
the North American continent the great tendency of matter has
been in a southern direction, in foimer ages of the w^orld it had
a northerly course. From this we are to infer that a continent
once existed in regions where the Atlantic ocean now rolls its
w^aters. The proof of the existence of this ancient continent we
may hereafter bring forward. For the present we assume such
to have been the fact. From its ruins which have been scattered
over other localities, we can see how ill adapted it must have been
for the existence of man. We have before stated that man stands
at the head of created beings. He shines pre-eminent in the
world of mind: his intellectual powers become manifest from his
labors in the material objects around him, however delicate and
frail his own physical frame may be. Constituted as he now is,
he could not have lived on the old continent. The atmosphere
being then charged with such suffocating gases and exhalations,
and the animal economy being also so numerous, venemous, and
gigantic, that had man been created at that period of the earth,
he would scarcely have survived the day of his nativity. The
subsequent emergence of continents, produced a great change in

1846.] Progressive Changes of Matter. 219

the material world. The animal races appear to have been
brought within the control of man; the air became pure and
wholesome, and new species of trees and plants now became use-
ful to man. What could he do to distinguish himself without
being associated with the present condition of things? What
could he do in this climate without the forest, the metallic ores
and the mineral substances? All these are more fully appreci-
ated in this age of continents; and appear to be well calculated
to mature the labors of his mind. We can therefore look upon
every new continent as bringing forward a new order of things.
Here we trace those two progressive lines of mind and matter,
until they centre in one point, and exclaim with the poet:

" From harmony, from heavenly harmony,

This universal frame began ;

From harmony to harmony,

Through all the compass of the notes it ran,

The diapason closing full in man."

In contemplating the changes that have taken place in the
succession of continents, the two immediately preceding are ne-
cessarily the most prominent and the most interesting to us. In
almost every location we see rocky formations, termed aqueous
rocks, distinguished from the primary by that name. In some
districts of country they lie near the surface, but are more gene-
rally seen by an out-crop upon the hill-side and upon the banks
of water-courses. Spread over these formations of rock is a loose
material (that is not indurated) called drift, from the fact that it
appears to have been driven along the surface. This drift mate-
rial is composed of the fragments and disin'egration of rocks,
and for us it is highly important to consider, for on it " we live
and move and have our being." To interest the eye and engage
the hand we are surrounded by this material in all possible forms
and composition; the massive clays, the banks of sand, and the
piles of gravel. To have brought matter to its present condition,
there must have been a gigantic force employed. In contem-
plating the forces that were actiqe formerly, in removing matter
from one locality to another, we have the most prominent views

220 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.,

of their extent in referring to that time when large masses of
primitive rocks were removed from their original beds far into
the adjacent country. These blocks are called boulders, and we
find them scattered about districts of primary formations, in a kind
of zone or belt, diminishing in size as they are the farther re-
moved from the parent rock. We sometimes meet with these
boulders upon high ranges of country; some of them are of im-
mense magnitude, weighing by estimation a hundred tons or
more, and from fiity to a hundred miles from their starting place.
This will open to us a discussion of the theory of boulders, which
in connection with the drift formation, will be our subject for the
next number.

ANALYSIS OF SOILS.

BY CHARLES T. JACKSON.

In order to ascertain the agricultural value of a soil, it becomes
necessary to examine its mechanical constitution and chemical
composition. We may notice the integrant minerals of which it
is composed while making the mechanical analysis, and thus in-
fer its geological origin, for the mineral ingredients of all soils
were once solid rocks, and the integrant minerals are rarely so
completely decomposed as to conceal their original nature.

In a mechanical analysis, w^e sift the soil in sieves of different
degrees of fineness, using always the same sieves in comparative
examinations of soils. The coarsest sieve may have j\ inch
meshes, and should be made of copper wire. The 2d sieve should
have ^\' inch meshes, and may be made of copper gauze. Sift
the soil through the 1st sieve, and weigh the gravql and grass
roots left upon it. Then sift the soil through the 2d sieve, and
weigh the sand left on that. The soil which passes through the
2d sieve is fine loam, which may be sandy, clayey, or calcareous.
The fine loam may be mechanically divided still more by stirring
it up with water, and after allowing the coarse matter to subside?

1846.] Analysis of Soils. 221

the fine slime may be peured off, and more water may be pou'^d
on the coarse matter, and by several decantations the finer matter
will be washed away, and the water will come off quite clear.
This method is very instructive, for we very readily perceive the
minerals of the soil in the clean particles that remain.

It is convenient in a mechanical analysis of soil to operate on
about 1000 grs. of the dry soil. Inspect carefully the various
minerals of which the gravel, sand and washed loam consist, for
the coarser particles are those which would become fine soil by
disintegration and decomposition, and therefore indicate the sup-
ply that may be expected. Thus mica and felspar are minerals
filled with potash and soda, and by the action of carbonic acid
from decayed plants, and the organic acids of the soil, they are
made to yield their alkaline matters and suffer decomposition.
Carbonate of lime or limestone also yields to decomposing vegeta-
ble matters and forms soluble salts. It also takes the sulphuric
acid from generating copperas as it forms from iron pyrites, and
forms gypsum, while the diminished carbonic acid either goes to
dissolve part of the carbonate of lime as a bi-carbonate, or rises
as a gaseous emanation, and is absorbed by the foliage. The
above remarks are all we have time now to add to this section ol
our analysis. Reflecting men will discover many other advanta-
ges of the mechanical examination of soils, and we leave the
subject for their consideration.

2. Chemical Analysis of Soils.

Chemistry investigates the nature of soils more minutely than
any other science, for by the chemist's art all the hidden proper-
ties are brought out and fully exposed. He deals with atoms in-
visible even to the most powerful microscopes, and the laws of
their combination are by him at once discovered. It is the ap-
plication of this science to agriculture that is to redeem it from
empyricism and guess-work; and when farmers have advanced
far enough in science to understand the work of the chemist, they
will have made a gigantic stride in the improvement of their art.
I would not endeavor to make any one believe that in the pre-

222 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.,

sent state of agricultural education that much can be expected
from the application of chemistry by raw hands. The farmer
will for some years have to work under the direction of chemists.
They cannot be expected to know enough of the science to apply
it safely themselves, much less can we expect them to leave the
plow for the laboratory.

The chemical analysis of a soil is one of the most difficult and
complicated tasks that can be given to a master in this department,
and it i? extremely absurd to suppose that any one who has not
had a thorough education in a well-organized laboratory, can
possibly make a chemical analysis of soil that will prove of any
practical value. We regard all the short-cut methods given in
agricultural papers and catch-penny publications as arrant quack-
ery, calculated to lead those who are unacquainted with the sub-
ject into great errors, or to cause a waste of time and money; for
the farmer who neglects his work and purchases materials for
analytical operations he can never perform, is evidently a loser
thereby.

Chemical analyses of soils are divided into two departments.
The first includes the determination of the mineral ingredients of
the soil, and the second the organic matters. In preparing a
sample of soil for mineral analysis, we remove the organic mat-
ters by combustion, and then have only the mineral ingredients to
operate upon. By noting the weight of the dry soil before and
after combustion, we learn how much organic matter has been
consumed, or how much the soil contained in the gross way, but
the nature of the organic matters is not learned; and that, as we
shall see, constitutes another branch of analysis.

It is usual to take 100 grains of soil dried at a temperature of
300 deg., and to burn it in a platina dish on capsules placed in a
fine clay muffle in the furnace. When all the carbonaceous par-
ticles are burnt, the capsule is M'ithdrawn and the soil is carefully
removed from it into a delicate balance and weighed. Suppose
it loses 8 grains in weight; we set down, organic matters 8 per
cent.

The soil is next digested in a glass flask with chlorohydric

1S46.] Analysis of Soils. 223

arid and water. The water being poured upon the soil first so as
to cover it, and the acid then is added, a few drops at a time.
Notice whether there is any effervescence in the flask. If so then
a carbonate of some base is present, probably carbonate of lime,
either as an original ingredient or as the product of combustion
of some organic salt of lime. This question can be settled at
once by testing some of the unburnt soil in the same manner. If
it does not effervesce with acids, then all the lime is in combina-
tion with some organic or with nitric acid. This question will
be examined farther on, when we speak of the salts in soils. he
chlorohydric acid is boiled with the soil for a sufficient length of
time to dissolve all the soluble mineral ingredients, generally half
an hour suffices to effect the solution. The acid solution is next
fdtered through double counterpoised India paper fdters, and all
the soil is washed out of the flask with boiling distilled water,
and is thrown on the filter. The filter of course is contained in
a glass funnel, with its neck inserted in a proper flask to receive
the filtered liquid. Wash the filter and the siliceous matter left
on it so long as any acid reaction is discovered in testing a drop
of the wash water at the neck of the funnel. A strip of blue lit-
mus paper is used as the test, and should not be reddened by the
wash water. The filters may then be removed, placed on bibu-
lous paper in the drying closet and dried. Then the two filters
are to be separated and burnt apart, and the outside filter ashes is
put in the weight pan, and the inner with its insoluble silicates
into the other pan, and the difference of weight is that of the in-
soluble silicates. Let us suppose it to be 85 grains; then 6 grains
of mineral matter had been dissolved by the acid, and 84 per cent
of insoluble silicates remains. The latter is to be laid aside for
farther analysis as we shall describe farther on.

We now return to the soluble mineral matters which we have
separated by the filter. This solution is to be treated with a few
drops of strong nitric acid, and it is then to be boiled in order to
per-oxidize any salt of iron it may contain. Then if, as it usually
is, it be very acid with chlorohydric acid, we add pure aqua
ammonia in excess, and heat it to simmering, and then filter on

224 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.,

double filters. Per-oxide of iron and alumina are thus collected
on the filter, and if the soil contained oxide of manganese it will
also be thrown down with the per-oxide of iron. Phosphate of
alumina and phosphate of iron are thrown down also. Wash the
filter thoroughly wuth boiling hot distilled water, and when the
soluble matters are all washed out, (as may be known by collect-
ing a drop of the liquor from the funnel neck on a piece of plati-
num foil and evaporating it to dryness) dry the filters, separate
them, burn them separately, and w^eigh; the w^eight is that of
the per-oxide of iron and alumina. This may be set down for
the present, but this matter is to be farther analyzed, as will be
described presently. The alumina and per-oxide of iron might
have been separated while in their gelatinous state, by the action
of a boiling solution of pure potash, but we should have lost the
advantage of a check weight, which is gained by weighing them
as mixed.

Having noted the weight of the alumina and per-oxide of iron
which we will call 5 grains, we have next to separate the lime
from the ammoniacal solution, filtered from the per-ox. iron &c.
For this purpose add a sufficiency of a solution of oxolate of am-
monia, to precipitate all the lime as an oxalate, which may be
known by observing when more of the oxalate of ammonia is
added, that no white precipitation is produced. When this is the
case, set the flask in a warm place, say in the drying closet or on
the furnace plate, and let the precipitate have time to form and
subside. This will generally take place in a single night. We
then filter on double equal filters, and wash and dry as in the pre-
ceding cases. Then burn the oxalate of lime at a dull cherry
red heat, and it is converted into carbonate of lime. If a higher
temperature is employed, part of the carbonic acid may have
been driven off, and if such is the case, it is necessary to add a
few drops of a solution of carbonate of ammonia to the burned
lime, and to heat it again to dull redness. The weight of car-
bonate of lime obtained is set down, and after we have determined
in what state it existed in the soil, we calculate those salts of
lime, and express the proportions as deduced from the carbonate

1846.] Analysis of Soils. 225

obtained. Let us suppose we obtained 1 per cent of carbonate
of lime. Next we have to examine the solution from which we
have precipitated the lime, and the next substance we shall find
in it will be magnesia. This is best thrown down by adding a
solution of phosphate of soda, and if ammonia is not present in
excess a little aqua ammonia is to be added and the magnesia
will be thrown down as a phosphate of magnesia and ammonia,
which requires some time to form and precipitate. Therefore
leave the solution in a warm place for twenty-four hours. The
phosphate may then be collected on a filter, as in the previous
cases, and washed with water containing a little ammonia.
This precipitate when ignited is converted into the biphosphate
of magnesia, on which it is customary to estimate 40 per cent of
it as magnesia, which gives a very close approximation to the
true proportion. Let us suppose the weight of the biphosphate of
magnesia obtained was 2 per cent; this would be equal to 0.8
per cent of magnesia in the soil. We shall have by other opera-
tions to determine in what state this substance actually existed in
the soil, and then we can calculate the salts discovered. Potash
and soda, which may have been present in the solution, we can
only determine by difference in the weight of the products offered
and that of the matter dissolved. ' We may estimate them thus
for the present, but shall have to determine them more accurately
by other operations. Let us then add up our substances, and we
shall see what we have already separated, and the difference will
be the weight of those salts which we have not yet determined.

Potash and soda, or some of their saline combinations, which
are to be sought for by separate operations, will probably com-
plete the weight of the matter operated upon.
In the present stage of the analysis we have.

Organic matters, - _ _ _ § grs.
Insoluble silicates, _ - - 84

Alumina, per-oxide of iron, &c., - 5

Carbonate of lime. - - - _ i
Magnesia, - - _ _ _ 0.8

No. VIII. 5 98.8

226 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.,

Amount brought up, _ _ _ 98.8

Substances not yet determined, - - 1.2

100.0

We shall describe the method of separating the alkalies after
completing the description of other parts of this analysis.

Let us return to the examination of the insoluble silicates and
examine the nature of the bases which are united with the silicic
acid. The weight was 84 grains. In order to effect this analysis
we have to render the silicates soluble in acids. This is done by
melting them in a platina crucible, with thrice their weight of
pure carbonate of soda. Soluble alkaline silicates being produced
we have no difficulty in dissolving the whole in water and chlo-
rohydric acid. The solution is to be made entire, and is to be
rendered acid. Then it is to be evaporated to entire dryness, in
a porcelain capsule, and the heat is kept up so long as any vapor
and fumes are given off. Then allow the capsule to cool, and
moisten the whole of the dry mass with chlorohydric acid, and
dissolve the soluble matters in distilled water. By this process
the silicic acid is rendered insoluble, and the bases which were
united with it are readily soluble in acid. Collect the silica on
double filters as before described, wash so long as any acidity
remains; and then dry and burn the filters separately, and weigh
the silicic acid while it is still warm. The weight we will sup-
pose to be 78 grains; then 6 grains of the bases has been sepa-
rated and is in the solution Avhich we have filtered. This solu-
tion is to be treated with a little nitric acid, and boiled to per-
oxidize the oxide of iron, so that it may be precipitated entirely
by ammonia. Aqua ammonia is then added to the solution in
excess beyond saturation, and all the alumina and per-oxide of
iron will be separated in the form of a gelatinous precipitate.
This is to be collected on a filter, and must be washed with boil-
ino- water for some time. Then the precipitate may be removed
from the filter with a silver or platina spatula, and is to be placed
in a large silver crucible and boiled with an excess of pure pot-
ash (potass a I'alcohol) until all the alumina is dissolved by the

1846.] Analysis of Soils. 227

alkali, and the per-oxide of iron remains of a brown color. We
ascertain when a sufficient quantity of potash has been added to
dissolve all the alumina, by letting fall a drop of chlorohydiic
acid into the solution, when a little of the alumina will be thrown
down, and if there is an excess of potash it will soon redissolve.
Collect the per-oxide of iron on double filters, and wash so long as
traces of alkali remain. Then dry and burn the filters separately,
and weigh as before described. Let us suppose the per-oxide of
iron weighs 2 grains.

We next have to separate the alumina from its potassic solu-
tion. This is done by rendering the sqlution acid by means of
an excess of chlorohydric acid, and then by adding a solution of
carbonate of ammonia in excess, which throws down all the alu-
mina in the state of a white jelly. Collect it on double filters,
wash with boiling water so long as any spot remains on evapo-
rating a drop of the filtered solution to dryness on a piece of pla-
tina foil; dry and ignite, and weigh the filters separately, and
note the weight of the alumina. Let us suppose it to be 3 grains.

We next return to the ammoniacal solution from which the
alumina and per-oxide of iron had been separated, and analyze
that. We add to it an excess of oxalate of ammonia, which pre-
cipitates all the lime as an oxalate; filter wash and ignite, and
weigh the carbonate of lime produced by burning the oxalate,
and from the weight of the carbonate we calculate the quantity
of lime that existed in the silicate. Let us suppose that the car-
bonate of lime obtained weighed 1 grain, then since carbonate of
lime contains 56.29 per cent of lime, we shall have 0.56 lime
that was combined with silicic acid in the insoluble silicate.

After separation of the lime from the solution we throw down
the magnesia by means of phosphate of soda, ammonia being
present in excess. Phosphate of magnesia and ammonia is pre-
cipitated, and after remaining in a warm situation for twelve
hours, the solution may be filtered, and the phosphate collected.
Wash, dry, ignite, and weigh the bi-phosphate of magnesia pro-
duced, and 40 per cent of it will be magnesia. If we obtained
0.6 bi-phosphate of magnesia, 0.24 would be the proportion of

228 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.

magnesia, that was combined with silicic acid in the insolcible
silicate.

On adding together the products of this analysis, if we are sure
we have lost nothing, we may by difference of weight between
the insoluble silicates employed and the sum of the ingredients
obtained by analysis estimate the weight of the alkalies which
we have not separated. It is a good plan to divide the insoluble
silicates into two equal parts by weight, and to operate on one-
half of it for the alkalies only, while the other operations are
done on the other half In that case we have to double the
weight of each product in setting down the results of the analysis.
On adding up the results of this analysis of the insoluble silicates,
we obtain pure silicic acid 72 grains.

Per-oxide of iron, - - - - 2

Alumina, _.__-- 3

Lime, ------- 0.56

Magnesia, __-_-_ 0.24

5.80
Alkalies by difference, - - - - 20

6.00

When we have to determine the alkalies in the insoluble sili-
cates, we reduce a given weight of it to fine powder by grinding
it in an agate mortar until all grittiness ceases to be felt under
the pestle, then the powder is mixed with four times its weight
of carbonate of baryta, and is placed in a platina crucible, and
fused at a white heat. The silicates are decomposed by the baryta
and the whole becomes soluble in chlorohydric acid and water.
Dissolve out from the crucible the whole mass, filter, evaporate
the acid solution to entire dryness, and redissolve in water and
filter again. Treat the filtered solution with a sufficiency of sul-
phuric acid to precipitate all the baryta as a sulphate which is
insoluble in water and acids; filter, treat the solution with a little
nitric acid, and boil; add an excess of aqua ammonia to throw
down the alumina and per-oxide of iron. Then add a solution of

1846.] Analysis of Soils. 229

oxalate of ammonia to throw down any lime that may be present.
The solution is now free from any fixed bases except the alkalies,
and may be evaporated to dryness in a porcelain capsule and re-
dissolved in water, filtered, and evaporated, and heated to redness
in a platina capsule to expel all the ammoniacal salts. There
remains in the capsule a white mass of saline matter which con-
sists of the sulphates of the alkalies. Their weight is to be as-
certained by counterpoising the capsule in the balance and then
dissolving out the alkaline salts, the clean and dry capsules being
restored to balance, and again brought to equipoise; by adding
weights to the capsule we learn the weight of the saline matters
that had been removed.

The saline solution is next to be decomposed by means of
chloride of barium dissolved in water. The barytic solution be-
ing added a little at a time, until there is no longer any precipi-
tate of sulphate of baryta. The solution is then to be filtered,
and may be again evaporated to dryness, and the weight of the
mixed chlorides of potassium and sodium may be determined.
Then redissolve in a little water and add a solution of chloro-
platinic acid in excess, and evaporate again to entire dryness,
but at a temperature not much above that of boiling water.
Pour pure alcohol into the capsule, and dissolve out the chloro-
platinate of soda, and the chloroplatinate of potash will remain
undissolved. It is to be collected on double filters, dried, and one
filter is to be weighed against the other; the ditference of weight
is that of the chloroplatinate of potash, from w^iich the weight of
the potash is calculated. The weight of the potash being known
it is easy to deduce that of the soda by difference, or we may de-
com}X)se the chloroplatinate of soda, by sulphydric acid gas, and
filter and evaporate to dryness. Convert the soda into a sulphate
by sulphuric acid, drive off the excess of sulphuric acid by heat,
and weigh the sulphate of soda, from which we calculate the
proportion of pure soda.

If any magnesia was present in the silicate analyzed, another
series of operations are required for its separation from the alka-
lies. We convert the sulphates into chlorides, as above described,

230 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.,

and then add an excess of black oxide of mercury to the solution,
and boil in a platina capsule. Then dissolve out the alkalies
and filter the solution. The magnesia is thrown down by the
oxide of mercury, and by driving the mercury off by heat we ob-
tain the magnesia which is to be converted into a sulphate by
sulphuric acid, heated to redness and weighed.

We can also analyze the insoluble silicates by driving off the
silicious matter by the acid of fluorine in the state of fluo-hydro-si-
licic acid gas. This is done by mixing the finely pulverized sili-
cate with fluor spar, and placing it in a platina crucible, adding
pure sulphuric acid (Nordhauren) which decomposing the fluoride
of calcium, disengages fluorine in combination with hydrogen, and
carries off the silicic acid in vapor or gas. We heat gradually
to redness to drive off the sulphuric acid. When the silex is re-
moved M^e dissolve the soluble sulpliates in w^ater, and most of
the sulphate of lime remains insoluble. We remove the remainder
of the lime salts with the alumina by adding first ammonia in
excess, and then oxalate of ammonia. The sulphates of the al-
kalies and of magnesia only remain in the solution, from which
they are separated as before described.

Having completed the analysis of the insoluble silicates, we
have now to return to the more complete separation of the ingre-
dients obtained from the first solution. Alumina and per-oxide
of iron, oxide of manganese, with phosphate of alumina and iron,
may be found in that precipitate. The quantity of the precipitate
is too small for the quantitive determination of all the ingredients
above mentioned, but we can make the qualatative examination,
and then by operating on another and larger lot of the same soil,
we may obtain a suflBciency for a more thorough analysis.

We may then dissolve the 5 grains of alumina, per-oxide of
iron, &c., in chlorohydric acid, and dilute with pure water.
Take a portion of the solution and add ammonia in excess, which
will reprecipitate the alumina, per-ox. iron, &c. Collect the
precipitate on the filter, and wash it; remove it to a capsule by
means of a platina spatula, treat the gelatinous precipitate with
acetic acid, which will dissolve all but the phosphates of alumina

1846.] Analysis of Soils. 231

and iron. Collect them on a filter; wash and dry them. Then
by means of the blowpipe, with boracic acid and a fine steel wire
ascertain if phosphoric acid is present by forming a phosphorate
of iron, which is a white brittle substance. (See Berzelius on
the Blowpipe.)

Take another portion of the solution, and precipitate the per-
oxide of iron, by means of a boiling solution of pure potash.
Collect the per-ox. iron, &c., on a filter, wash the precipitate,
and then re-dissolve it in chlorohydric acid, and add a considera-
ble excess of acid. Then add ammonia until the solution is satu-
rated and is of a red color, and a little per-oxide of iron is pre-
cipitated. Then add a solution of neutral succinate of ammonia,
which will precipitate all the per-oxide of iron as a succinate.
Filter and wash very slightly with w^ater containing a little am-
monia. To the filtered solution rendered neutral add a solution
of carbonate of potash and carbonate of manganese will be pre-
cipitated as a white precipitate, which collect on a filter; wash,
di y and examine by means of the blowpipe and tests. The alka-
line solution of alumina may be treated as described under the
head of analysis of the insoluble silicates.

By working on a sufficient quantity of the precipitate, the pro-
portions of phosphoric acid, ox. manganese and alumina may be
accurately determined by the above described method. And an
approximation may be made by dividing even the 5 grains of
precipitate, and working on the parts for each of the above men-
tioned ingredients.

In searching the soluble matters for alkalies, we omit precipi-
tatiftg the magnesia by phosphate of soda, and take the solution
from which we have thrown down the lime and evaporate it to
dryness and expel the ammoniacal salts. We have then only the
chlorides of the alkaline metals and manganese present, which are
separated by treating the solution with black oxide of mercury,
and boiling so as to throw down the magnesia. Then the filtered
solution will give by evaporation and a red heat in a platina
capsule the chlorides of sodium and potassium, which are to be
separated by chloro-platinic acid as before described.

232 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.,

3. Analysis of the Soluble Salts in a Soil.

We have also to determine what soluble salts exist in the soil.
It is necessary to operate on 1000 grains of the soil in order to
obtain an appreciable quantity of saline matter. We boil the
soil in distilled water, then filter, evaporate the solution to dry-
ness in a platina capsule, and heat sufficiently to burn off all the
organic matters. Then we dissolve the salts in water and test
for the acids and bases which are present, namely, for sulphates
by means of a solution of acetate of baryta; for chlorides by
means of a solution of nitrate of silver, if the solution is neutral
a little phosphate of silver may also be precipitated. The pre-
cipitate may be analyzed to ascertain if any phosphate is present.

We search for the bases of the salts on a part of the same so-
lution, namely, for lime by a solution of oxalate of ammonia; for
alumina by ammoniac; for oxide of iron by ferrocyanate of pot-
ash; for magnesia by phosphate of soda and ammonia; for potash
by chloroplatinic acid; for soda by observing if a portion of the
solution ev?iporated to dryness on a slip of platinum foil turns a
blue alcohol flame yellow.

If the nitrates are suspected to be present, observe on burning
off the organic matter if any deflagration takes place. Nitrates
of potash, soda, or lime, leave when deflagrated the carbonates of
their bases, but nitrate of ammonia leaves no solid residue. It
deflagrates very readily, and is often present in soils.

Sulphate of ammonia is to be sought for before burning off the
organic rnatter, for it would be expelled by the heat. It may
be separated by distilling a portion of the dried saline matter,
which is to be done in a tube retort; the sulphate of ammonia,
together with the muriate of ammonia, will be condensed in the
cool neck or receiver. It will form a white crust in the tube,
and may be dissolved out and tested by chloride of barium solu-
tion and by means of potash. The presence of chlorohydrate of
ammonia is determined by testing the solution, for chlorohydric
acid by means of nitiate of silver, which will give a white curdy
precipitate if chlorine is present.

Soluble silicates of potash and soda are also to be sought for

1846.] Analysis of Soils. 233

by evaporating the salts after acidulation with chlorohydric acid,
to entire dryness, and redissolving in acidulated water, which
will take up every thing but the silicic acid of the insoluble sili-
cates. The proportion in which these salts exist in soils is so
small that we are often obliged to make a solution of several
pounds of the soil before the saline matters can all be quantative-
ly determined.

To discover the gaseous contents of a soil we have only to
place a quantity of the soil in a flask and connect the flask by
means of a syphon tube with a flask containing a solution of ba-
ryta water, and from that flask a tube connects with the bell glass
of a pneumatic cistern. On boiling the soil in water, carbonic
acid is copiously extricated, and precipitates the baryta from its
solution in the state of insoluble carbonate of baryta, which being
collected, dried and weighed, will indicate the proportion of car-
bonic acid gas in the soil. The gas collected in the bell glass is
probably atmospheric air, and may be analyzed to determine how
much oxygen and nitrogen it contains. It will be found to con-
tain less oxygen than ordinary atmospheric air. I have never
discovered any free hydrogen or sulphydric acid gas in cultivated
soils, but the latter gas is often abundantly present in swamp
muck and peat soils, where per-sulphate of iron has been decom-
posed by the organic acids. The proportions of oxygen may be
learned by abstracting it from a given measure of air, either by
protQsulphate of iron, or by explosion with hydrogen gas. Sulphy-
dric acid gas may be determined by passing the gas through a
solution of acetate of lead the latter being placed beyond the ba-
ryta solution. From the proportion of sulphate of lead precipita-
ted, we can calculate the sulphydric acid gas.

4. Analysis of the Organic matters in Soils.

This is the most difficult department of agricultural chemistry,
and it has been unfortunately neglected by most writers on the sub-
ject. The processes are more easily described than executed, and
much time is required for their performance. I refer not to those
imperfect organic analyses which consist in buining the organic

234 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.,

matters in their mixed state with oxide of copper, and in calcu-
lating the gases produced, but the separation of the proximate
principles in their pure state or in definite combinations with
certain other bodies. We well know that combustion of the
isomeric bodies with oxide of copper, does not enable us to dis-
tinguish them from each other; while by other processes they
may be readily distinguished. Hence I attach the most import-
ance to the latter method.

In examining the organic matters of soils, we have to operate
on a considerable qu^antity of the soil, in order to obtain a suffi-
ciency of the matters for analysis. Generally 1000 grains of a
soil is a sufficient quantity to operate upon. We first ascertain
what matters water will dissolve from the soil by digesting the
soil with w^ater at 98 deg. F., for some days. Then filter and
evaporate the aqueous solution to dryness at a steam heat or under
the bell of an air pump with sulphuric acid placed in a shallow
dish below it to absorb the vapor. By a peculiar apparatus of
my own contrivance I am enabled to apply a steam heat in vacuo,
and thus to evaporate any solution of organic matter with rapidity.
The various salts and a certain proportion of the organic acids
are dissolved out from a soil by water. They are separated by
processes such as I shall describe farther on.

Having dissolved all that water will remove from the soil, we
next digest it in alcohol, which removes a certain proportion of
the organic acids and extractive matters. This solution is ana-
lyzed in a similar manner to that of the aqueous solution.

After removing thus all the salts soluble in water, and the or-
ganic substances soluble in alcohol, we digest the soil in a solu-
tion of carbonate of ammonia, which decomposes all the organic
salts, and takes up the organic acids, which readily unite with
ammonia, while its carbonic acid goes to the bases and converts
them into carbonates. The vessel containing the soil and car-
bonate of ammonia is slightly stopped or covered with a cap of
paper and set in the drying closet, and kept warm for twenty-
four hours at least, when the dark copper colored solution is
poured off into a filter, and more solution of carbonate of ammo-

1846.] Analysis of Soils. 235

nia is added to the soil, and the digestion is kept up so long as
any color is obtained, and the whole is filtered. The filtered so-
lution is then to be saturated, and treated with a slight excess of
pure acetic acid, and a solution of acetate of copper is added so
long as a brown precipitate falls. This precipitate is apocrenate
of copper. The solution is to be placed in a warm place and
kept at a temperature of 170 deg. F. until all the apocrenate of
copper subsides. Then it is filtered and the apocrenate is col-
lected on double counterpoised filters of India paper, and after
washing out the excess of acetate of copper, the filters are to be
dried at a steam heat, and weighed one against the other. The
difference of weight is that of the apocrenate of copper. A por-
tion of this apocrenate is removed from the paper and analyzed,
and the proportion of the organic acid in the apocrenate is deter-
mined. This analysis I shall describe farther on.

Having thrown down all the apocrenic acid, we next render
the solution slightly ammoniacal by means of a solution of car-
bonate of ammonia, and crenate of copper precipitates if acetate
of copper is in excess. If not add, drop by drop, more acetate of
copper until all the crenate is thrown down. This salt is of a
pale, greenish w^hite color. The solution is to be allowed to
stand for twenty-four hours at least, in a warm place, at a tem-
perature of 170 deg. F., until the crenate separates. Then it is
to be filtered on double counterpoised India paper filters, washed
slightly, dried at a steam heat, and weighed. Then a portion of
the crenate is to be removed from the filter and analyzed, and the
quantity of crenic acid on the filter will be known.

We have next to separate the humic acid; in order to do this,
we have first to remove all the copper from the solution by pass-
ing a current of sulphydric acid gas through the solution until all
the copper is precipitated as a sulphuret. Then after allowing
the solution to remain in a warm place over night, we filter the
solution and then evaporate to near dryness at a temperature be-
low boiling, and if possible it should be done in vacuo. The so-
lution being now free from sulphydric acid gas, we add a little
pure water and then drop in a solution of subacetate of lead,

236 Analysis of Soils. [Oct.,

which precipitates the humic acid in the state of a buff-colored
humate of lead. This precipitate is easily collected on the filters,
and is to be washed and dried at a steam heat, and weighed.
Then a portion of it is analyzed, and the proportion of humic
acid on the filter is calculated. If we now remove the subacetate
of lead from the solution by passing sulphydric acid gas through
it, we shall find that the solution is of a honey-yellow, and still
contains organic matters. Evaporate the solution to dryness in a
platina capsule, and you will obtain extract of humus, which ex-
tract I have ascertained is a compound of two distinct proximate
principles, one of which is precipitated by a solution of proto-
nitrate of mercury, and the other by nitrate of silver. These sub-
stances have not yet been analyzed or fully described.

The insoluble substance called humine I do not find in the so-
lution of carbonate of ammonia and I regard it as a product of
evaporation at too high a temperature, for it does not appear
when we evaporate at a steam heat in vacuo.

The insoluble organic matters remaining in the soil after diges-
tion with carbonate of ammonia may be called humine. It is
capable of being converted into humic acid or into the other or-
ganic acids by action of the atmosphere and slow decomposition
in the soil. Glucic and apoglucic acids probably exist in the
extract of humus, but I have not yet satisfied myself with regard
to them. I find them in brown sugar and in the sap of the ma-
ple and birch, and in saturated or " exhausted" bone black of the
sugar refinery. Bone black has the remarkable property of re-
taining apoglucic acid, and hence we obtain it most abundantly
from that substance after it has been used in refining sugar.

It should be observed that if the soil contains phosphates de-
composable by carb. ammonia, that phosphoric acid will be thrown
down as a phosphate of copper with the crenate. Hence that
acid must be sought for and deducted from the crenate. I find it
in most of the crenate of copper obtained from peat, and some-
times it is in considerable quantity, giving a darker green color
to the crenate.

In analyzing the apocrenate of copper we may either separate

1846.] Analysis of Soils. 237

the copper by mixing the pulverized apocrenate with distilled
water, and passing sulphydric acid gas through the mixture until
all the copper is separated as a sulphuret, and then filter and
evaporate the apocrenic acid to dryness; or we may burn off the
apocrenic acid and weigh the oxide of copper obtained, and by
difference in weight determine the proportion of apocrenic acid.
The same method may be pursued in the analysis of the crenate of
copper. The crenate is however much more easily decomposed
by sulphydric acid gas, and the crenic acid if collected and dried
off in a shallow glass vessel, separates readily from the glass in
the form of a thin honey -yellow scale.

Humate of lead is decomposed by sulphydric acid gas, and sul-
phuret of lead separates readily. Filter the solution, and evapo-
rate to dryness, i he composition of humate of lead may be
learned also by converting the oxide of lead into a sulphate, and
calculating the quantity of oxide of lead from the sulphate.
When these organic acids are required in their pure state for
combustion with oxide of copper, it is necessary to form these
salts a second time, in order to avoid admixture. The analysis
by oxide of copper determines the proportions of oxygen, hydro-
gen and carbon. The nitrogen must be determined by a separate
operation, a mixture of lime and soda being used, and the nitro-
gen being converted into ammonia, which is to be precipitated
by chloroplatinic acid, and calculated from the w^eight of the
chloroplatinate of ammonia produced.

The apocrenic, crenic and humic acids having been analyzed,
it is unnecessary to repeat the operation, it being only necessary
to obtain the w^ell known combinations with metallic oxides, as
above described. When a new organic substance is discovered,
it is necessary to make an ultimate analysis of it, in order to fix
its composition and to classify it among organic matters that have
been analyzed.

Apocrenic acid consists, according to Hermann, of
Carbon, - - - 62.57
Hydrogen, - _ _ 4.8O
Nitrogen, - - - 15.00
Oxygen, - . - 17.53

238 Characteristics of Animals. [Oct.,

Its atomic weight is 1698.

Saturating capacity, 5.8. — Berzelius and Hermann.

Crenic acid is composed of

Carbon, - - - 40.24

Hydrogen, - - - 7.69

Nitrogen, - - - 7.50

Oxygen, - - - 44.57

Hermann.

Its atomic weight is 1323.3.

Saturating capacity, 7.56.

Humic acid, according to Sprengel, is composed of
Carbon, _ - - 58.
Hydrogen, - - - 2.1
Oxygen, - - - 39.9

According to Mulder, humic acid from peat of Harlem lake
yields when dried at 140 deg. Cent., and analyzed.

Carbon, - - - 60.13

Hydrogen, - - - 4.75

Nitrogen, - _ - 3.61

Oxygen, - - - - 31.55

He supposes the nitrogen is derived from ammonia contained
in the peat, but it is more probable that it came from the apocre-
nates and crenates which were not separated from the humic
acid.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ANIMALS.

BY A. CAULKINS, M. D.

What are the specific characters as pertaining to man? The
infant at the breast exhibits its instincts as obviously as the colt
or the calf; but the parallelism fails as intelligence dawns and
days advance. One difference in the front rank is observable in
the phenomena of memory. The memory of the brutes is spon-

1846.] Characteristics of Animals. 239

taneous, and independent of the will; that of man is perpetually
exercised in brino-ino; forward new combinations and trains of
thought. Unfledged birds remain passive in the nest till the mo-
ther's chirp falls on their ear, when they stretch their mouths
agape for the food she has brought. Brute memory too is bound-
ed by the narrow circle of the material and visible, beyond which
the human mind is perpetually sallying, to range abroad over the
interminable vistas of fancy,

" In climes beyond the solar road."

Another diversity is the educability of man. But for man, to
what would the education of the horse or the ox amount? The
improvement at best is rather shadowy than real, a partial ex-
pansion of instinct, rather than a transformation, as in the pointer
and the pacer. The mocking bird may indeed be incited to im-
itate songs foreign to its own, but the hen, with all her care-
ful looking after her eggs, is amused with an ovoid chalk-ball.
The rabbit burrows underneath a rock, as all generations of rab-
bits have done before, and the beaver of to-day erects his dam
upon the model of the Noachic epoch. The Canary bird is a
musician by birth; the child becomes such only after repetitious
efforts and tedious application. Is there no incongruity of con-
stitution here?

Instinct may indeed along definite ranges seem almost to tran-
scend reason. The razorbill poises its egg with mechanical ac-
curacy upon a pointed rock. The duckling liberated from its
shell rushes for the muddy pool, diving and swimming with the
dexterity of the old brood, and to the consternation of its foster-
parent, the hen. The eagle pounces upon the hawk in a cycloidal
curve, the line of maximum regularity and velocity. The wasp
was a paper maker long before the primitive voyagers on the
Hoang-ho. The determination of the geometrical figure that in
its application should obviate all vacuity of space, to wit, the
sexagonal prism, and the ascertainment of the truth, that three
planes constituting a solid angle above form a roof of greatest
resistance — what costs the geometer hours of delineation and

240 Characteristics of Animals. [Oct.,

study — the bee not yet a week old accomplishes in the qnincunx

disposition of its cells. Instinct is even more weatherwise than

the Toiiicel.ian guage.

" How restless are the snorting swine!
The busy flies disturb the kine ;
The sheep are seen at early light
Crossing the mead with eager bite ;
'T will surely rain !"

Laughter has by some been held peculiar to man, but mista-
kenly. The expression is an emotional one rather, and is in
analogy with the friskiness of the dog under the caresses of his
master, and in the grimaces of the simiee, some species of which
show a decided propension to the ridiculous, and the ironical con-
tortion of ^ace in the baboon is indeed a " grin horrible."

But there is a principle of distinction to be adverted to, broad
in its bearings, weighty in its consequences. The inferior tribes
being constitutionally circumscribed by the finite circle of per-
ception, and being furthermore from the absence of an indepen-
dent volition held in vassalage by the senses, can never make an
advance beyond the most elementary generalizations. Man, au-
tomatically as it were, or otherwise through the exercise of his
will as an auxiliary, makes a per saltum stride immeasurably be-
yond, through an indefinite series of generalizations upon gene-
ralizations. Thus man and man only reflects, that is, he only
takes cognizance of his own cogitations and feelings objectively.
The sense of right and wrong, therefore, the consciousness of mo-
ral obliquity, is the peculiar inheritance of human creatures.
" Hinc me tuunt, cupiimtque, dolent que, gavdentqice.'' The dog
may sneak off to his hiding place out of apprehension of chas-
tisement, the tiger may slink away foiled by the steadfast eye of
the huntsman, but here the analogy terminates.

In consonance with such view man is seen to be invested with
imagination by eminence. The dog is never transported in his
dreams beyond the kitchen fire or the walls of the farm house;
man has " taken to himself the wings of the morning." Pug
may seize the brush and daub the wall over wuth characters

1846.] Characteristics of Animals. 241

amorphous and unmeaning, or play pantomime with his master's
razor by slitting his own weasand across, or affectedly thrum the
strings of a violin, ar " spectacle bestrid" gravely chatter over a
newspaper, and all without a solitary conception of what he is
about beyond the mere ideas of attitude and sound. Where was
ever yet seen a cow or a horse upon a terraced bluff ot a castel-
lated hilltop, wrapped in the vision of the landscape around?
How superlatively ridiculous to recite a chronicle of the Cid in
the ears of a troop O'f wild horses, or to harangue a gathering of
apes on casuistic loi'e or the moral sublime!

Another definitive peculiarity as pertaning to man, viewed as
a model rather than a formative cause, is language. Elemien-
tary sounds indeed, the vocal expressions of emotion, and; what
artificial language presupposes for its basis, are appreciable by
the mammalia in common. These effect by consonant modula-
tions of voice an intercommiunication of sentiments, interchang-
ing their joys or imparting to one another their fears. Tlie
domesticated species furthermore are soon taught to connect
familiar things with names, and to associate with simple phon-
etic phraseology, the corresponding acts. TTie parrot hails the
wayfaring man with its idle gibberish, associating a successlonal
sound with some sensible idea, but unlike the child, it never
attains to any appreciation of words in their trar^ferrable re-
lations, in respect of subject and predicate, modality of action,
time and place. What story-book reader ever mistook the
flattering echo of a parroquet for articulative intelligence? Ar-
tificial language, the medium of abstract thought, and the ex-
ponent of all the complicated generalizations of the mind, and
in such view the grandest monument of human skill, presumes
a power of analysis immeasurably transcending a mere catena-
tion of sounds whether imitative or instinctive. On such grounds,
man and the brute stand at as wide a remove as infinity and in-
finitesimality.

The idea of number involves the power of generalization in
its most abstract and absolute form, and here a chasm opens,
broad as fathomless. The motion in its inmost deCiniteness

No. VIII. 6

242 Characteristics of Animals. [Oct.,

amounts in none save man to more than plurality as distinguish-
ed from individuality, and presumes in no shape the obscurest
conception of a scheme of rotation. The baited bull is ready to
cope with one horseman but not with half a dozen; the tiger,
a match for an hunter or two, recoils before a company. The
dog at dominoes is guided by the pictorial, and not by the nu-
merical sign, for he plays indifferently either piece, being the
number sought. What elephant ever solved the simplest mathe-
matical problem, as that " two and two make four?" Now man on
the contrary, calculates not the visible and tangible only, but over-
leaping the outposts of space-time, he would scale the azure
vault above to track the cometary whirls, or range the stellated
arch of the lacteal way, till dazzled by the fadeless splendor
of their fires, or lost in the abysmal swamp of their gyrations.

Thus man by virtue of his generalising powers, as contrasted
with other orders among the host of living beings that walk the
earth, becomes invested with the prerogative of genius.

'' Indulsit communis conditor illis
Hirtum animas, nobis animum quoque."

But for the presence of man, what face would this terraqueous
Gib of ours present? Solitary wastes, arid plains, pestilent fens,
sombre forests, savage mountains and blighted fields —

" A vast, immeasurable abyss,
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild."

Here the lion would make his habitation; here the owl would
hold his court; day resounding with the panther's screams,
night echoing to the growdings of bears; trees withering under
the locust, flowers wasting before the caterpillar. But when
the crowning work of creative energy unfolded into being,
then indeed the earth first " rose out of chaos." Then the
desert was made to blossom, then the wilderness resounded
with song. What has man done; rather what has he left
undone? While other tribes succumb to opposing agencies
from without, man has signalized his birth-right by subjugating
to himself such agencies. But for him the weak had been tram-
pled down or exterminated by the strong; now the huge elephant

1846.] Characteristics of Animals. 243

and the fierce rhinoceros, under whose feet man is but a grass-
hopper, are subdued to his service or awed into distance. The
craggy mountain has been cleft asunder. The earthquake's
abysmal chasm has been arched over, the " caves of the earth"
have been laid open, rivers have been turned from their courses
and seas hedged in by barriers of walls, the turreted peaks of
the rolling clouds have been channeled with a?rial boats, the
sun himself has been spanned as with a measuring reed, and the
thunderbolt even, ictus fulmineus, has been tamed to the guid-
ance of a little hand, and sound, and thought, and speech, have
been made to sweep, with sunbeam swiftness from north to south
and from west to east, along the chain links of the liohtnino;!

The contrast widens as we look into the interior chambers of
man's spiritual frame. The pleasures of sense, the transcient de-
lights of the hour — the " being's end and aim" to other animals —
seem to man but as intercalary points in the vast cycle of frui-
tionary themes, among which his soul is fain to expatiate. Man
ever aspiring after the unseen and untried finds his solace and
encouragement in the " earnest expectation" of that future; but
where is the dog or the elephant, oi the chimpanze, that con-
ceives of a pleasure or a pain beyond the fleeting hour?

" Their raptures now that wildly flow
No yesterday nor morrow know;
'Tis man alone, that joy descries
With forward, and reverted eyes."

The inferior orders, incapable of penetrating beyond the ves-
tibule of generalization, are in consequence unequal to the con-
ception of an extraneous, impalpable, aboriginal cause endued
with personality, omniscience and ubiquity, and of the incidental
conviction of human dependence and amenability, are for like
reason unsusceptible of the experiences and enjoyments at-
taching to an existence essentially spiritual. Are they then pos-
sessed of a soul? Yes, but of a sensuous, perishable one. Has
man then no pre-eminence above a beast? " If a man die shall
he live?" Shall there be a palin genesia of the human soul in
a new theatre of existence? Nay, says the Pyrrhonist, " as one

244 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

dieth so dieth the other — the spirit (breath) of men goeth up-
ward, and the spirit of a beast goeth downward to the earth."
Where, exultingly exclaims a modern zoologist, is the soul of
the homunculus? Do we not see it built up before our eyes,
maturing with the body, decaying with its decline, and finally —
ex nihilo nihil, in nihilum redit — going with the last expira-
tory collapse into annihilation? The argument is but a soph-
ism, a post quod non. What if the soul in its existing phases
is indissolubly associated with a corporeal mechanism, is it
therefore an inseparable nonentity? Is that too much for the
Author of Being to reconstruct and modify what himself ori-
ginated and contrived? If indeed " shadows, clouds and dark-
ness" environ and obscure this heaven-born emanation — " se-
mine ab acthereo " — what shall dispel the euthanasial solace in
its prospective transmigration to the fadeless elysian of cherub-
im and seraphim, where shines that " holier light, offspring of
heaven?"

" Bright to the soul Hope's seraph lands convey

The morning dream of life's eternal day ;

Then, then the triumph and the trance begin,

And all the phcenix-spirit bursts within !"

INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION.— No. IV.

BY ASA FITCH, M. D.

THE HESSIAN FLY.
The insect wdiich we are about to consider, has for a long
period been, at times, a severe scourge, in every district of our
country. It is more formidable to us, says Dr. B. S. Barton, than
would be an army of twenty thousand Hessians, or of any other
twenty thousand hirelings, supplied with all the implements of
war. Hence it has forced itself prominently to the notice both
of agriculturists and men of science. No other insect of the tens
of thousands that teem in our land, has received a tithe of the
attention, or been chronicled with a tithe of the voluminousness

Kit/n;irrJ />iJ,'/ui ^(Trnit.rrr/Jir ^>/Mlr/rr/y . /,■"//, ■/,,!./ ,■/' l„ r, ,„///, /;

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 245

that has been assigned to this species. Our scientific journals,
our agricultural magazines, and our common newspapers, have
each accorded to it a conspicuous place in their columns. As
may well be supposed, almost every point in its history, has by
one and another of its observers, been closely investigated, and
laid before the public. Very little that is new, can therefore at
this day be embodied in an account of this species. The most
that an observer can accomplish, is to add his testimony in con-
firmation of facts that have been already announced. The most
that a writer can aim at, is to gather the various papers that are
scattered through volumes suflficiently numerous of themselves to
form a library, sift from them w^hatever they contain of impor-
tance, and arrange the facts thus acquired, into a connected and
symmetrical memoir. Such is the object of the present essay; to
carefully review the various accounts that have been hitherto
published, extract from each the items of value which it contains,
compare these with personal observations made under favorable
circumstances during the past twelve months, and with the mate-
rials thus acquired, w^rite out a history of this species, more am-
ple in its details than any that has been hitherto attempted, and
containing a complete summary of all that is known of this in-
sect down to the present day.

It is a European Insect.

For several years subsequent to the first appearance of the
Hessian fly in this country, it was universally believed to have
been derived from abroad. When, however, the severe devasta-
tions which it was committing upon this continent became known
in Europe, public attention was so strongly excited as to lead to
an extensive and thorough search for the insect there. The result
of this investigation, as given by Sir Joseph Banks in his report
to the British government, was, that " no such insect could be
found to exist in Germany or any other part of Europe." It M^as
in consequence, received as an established fact, and assented to
on all hands, that this was an exclusively American species. Of
late years, however, new light has been shed upon this subject;

*.

246 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

and we now proceed to detail the evidence which induces us to
believe that the Hessian fly is indeed a European insect.

It would appear that this insect, or one identical with it in its
appearance and habits, did exist, and commit severe ravages in
Europe, long anterior to its appearance in America. In Du-
harael's Practical Treatise of Husbandry, (London, 1759, 4to, p.
90,) and also in his Elements of Agriculture, (Lond. 17G4, 8vo.,
vol. i., p. 269,) after alluding to a worm in the root of oats, he
says, " I suspect it to have been an insect of this kind that de-
stroyed so much wheat in the neighborhood of Geneva, and which
M. de Chateauvieux describes thus: 'Our wheat in the present
month of May 1755, sustained a loss, ^yhich even that cultivated
according to the new husbandry has not escaped. A number of
small white worms have been found on it, which, after a time,
t^lrn to a chesnid color; they place themselves betivixt the leaves
and gnaw the stalk; they are commonly found betwixt the first
joint and the root; the stalks on which they fix are immediately
at a stand; they g^roi^ yellow and wither. The same accident
happened in 1732: these insects appeared about the middle of
May, and did so much damage that the crops were scarcely worth
anything.' " This account, though perhaps too brief and imper-
fect to justify a decided opinion, corresponds much more exactly
with the Hessian fly, than with any other insect of which we
have any knowledge. Acquainted with it as our men of science
in this country were, we are surprised they so readily and unani-
mously succumbed to the sentiment that the species was indige-
nous to America.

In 1788, as we are informed in the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
(art. Hessian fly, § 5,) the Duke of Dorset addressed a letter to
the Royal Society of Agriculture in France, enquiring if the Hes-
sian fly existed in that country. " The report of the society was
accompanied with a drawing of two insects, one of which was
supposed to be the caterpillar of the Hessian fly, from its attack-
ing the wheat only when in the herb; beginning its ravages in
autumn, reappearing in the spring, and undergoing the same me-
tamorphoses." From an obscurity in the phraseology of the sub-

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 247

sequent paragraph, and a reference therein to the memoirs of the
Stockholm Academy, a doubt is excited, whether the society did
not regard the Hessian fiy as identical with the Oscinis frit (Linn.)
Lat,, which infests the ears of barley in Sweden, and consequently
whether the French species was not the latter. But, as tlie so-
ciety regarded their insect to be the Hessian fly, it is somewhat
singular that its history was not investigated and distinctly re-
corded, before the announcement was so confidently put forth, that
this species could not be found in Europe.

But, more recently, clearer evidence upon this point is furnished
us. Mr. Herrick, in his valuable article in Silliman''s Journal,
(vol. xli., p. 154,) informs us, that Mr. J. D. Dana, who had been
much associated with him in making a thorough investigation of
the habits of the Hessian fly and its parasites, being on a voyage
in the Mediterranean, " on the 13th of March, 1834, and subse-
quently, collected several larva and pupse, from wheat plants
growing in a field, on the Island of Minorca. From these pupae,
were evolved on the 16th of March, 1834, two individuals of an
insect, which his recollections (aided by a drawing of the Hessian
fly with which he was provided,) enabled him to pronounce to
be the Cecidomyia destructor. ■ More of the perfect insects were
evolved in the course of the month, one of which deposited eggs
like those of the Hessian fly. In letters, dated Mahon, April 8
and 21, Mr. D. sent me five of the insects, and several of the pu-
pse. They arrived in safety, and after a careful examination, I
saw no good reason to doubt the identity of this insect with the
Hessian fly. The Mahonese asserted that the insect had been
there from time imrnemorial, and often did great damage both
there and in Spain." And further, " on the 28th of April, 1834,
Mr. D. collected from a wheat field just without the walls of Tou-
lon, in France, several pupae and one larvffi like those before ob-
tained. On the 4th of June, 1834, he obtained similar pupae
from a wheat field near Naples." We doubt whether there was
living, at that day, two persons better qualified to determine the
identity of these insects with the Hessian fly, than Messrs. Her-

248 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

rick and Dana. Testimony from such a source needs no com-
ment.

Finally, the year previous to that in which Mr. Dana made the
above examination, it appears that the wheat crops in some parts
of Germany, were seriously injured by an insect w'hich was gen-
erally regarded as the Hessian fly. M. Kollar, of Vienna, in his
treatise on injurious insects, (London, 1840, p. 119,) relates that
in the autumn of 1843, complaints were made that the wheat on
the estates of his imperial highness, the Archduke Charles, at Al-
tenburg, in Hungary, had been considerably injured by an un-
known insect, of which the following account was forwarded to
the archducal office. " Till the end of May the wheat was in
excellent condition, but about the commencement of June, the
ears began to hang down, and the stem to bend, and in a few
days patches appeared in different parts of the fields which were of
rather poorer soil than the others, with the plants entangled and

matted together, as though lodged by heavy rains More

than two-thirds of the straw was lodged in less than a week; and
the heavy rains which fell in the latter half of June, so fully com-
pleted the work of destruction, that the wheat fields looked as if
herds of cattle had gone over them. The cause of this damage
was sought for, and we soon discovered at the crown of the root
of each of the wheat plants, or at the first joint, within the sheath
of the leaf, whole clusters of pupee of an unknown insect. Those
plants, the roots of which had been attacked, died off"; and the
spot to which the insects had fastened themselves on the still soft
straw within the sheath of the leaf, was found to be brown, with-
ered, and tough, yet without any apparent wound. The straw
which had become lodged, produced small ears, with few and im-
perfect grains, which ripened with difficulty, and the straw was
twisted, and of a very inferior quality."

Nearly a hundred miles south-west of Saxe-Altenburgh, a simi-
lar account is simultaneously given by Baron Von Meninger, ag-
ricultural director of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg. According to
his report, " In the fields of Weikendorf, and other neighboring

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 249

localities, caterpillars were found which had devastated whole
fields. These caterpillars had their first abode near the ground,
in the first joint of the straw, where they were found in whole
families, in a sort of nest. The largest were about the length of
two lines. Their color was pale green, with a small black dot

above The straw became dry at the first joint, and fell

over or leaned on its neighbor. The upper part of the straw re-
ceived its nourishment from the atmosphere alone, and the ears
formed: but they continued in a sickly condition, and could only
produce small, shrivelled grains. The life of the caterpillars
(their duration as naked worms?) appeared to be from about
twenty-four to thirty days. As the straw ripened, the insects
changed their color into a brownish hue, shrivelled up, and finally
disappeared."

M. Kcillar, who seems to have known nothing of the American
history of this insect beyond what he gathered from Mr. Say's
brief account, obtained some of the diseased straw from Germany,
in which, he says, " many of the brown pupae were found. I
opened the pupse-case, and was able to determine with great pro-
bability, partly from the form of the pupae, and partly from the
unchanged caterpillar in the pupae-case, that it must be a small
fly. I only ascertained this from the minute description and draw-
ing of the insect from Mr. Thomas Say, in a North American
journal, in which a stem of wheat, with the pupae within it, is
exactly represented as I have seen our wheat.

Mr. Westwood, in a note appended to this account, says, it is
perhaps questionable whether the species, of which the above de-
tails are given by M. Kollar, is identical with Say's Cecidomyia
destructor. He even intimates a doubt whether the European
species is a Cecidomyia, for, from all that had been observed, this
genus in its pupae state, is naked, like the other Tipulidae, and
not enclosed in a case. Having himself received specimens from
Dr. Hammerschmidt of Vienna, and still in the straw near the
roots, he found the insect " enclosed in a leathery case," on open-
ing which, he discovered the larva shrivelled up and dead. Now
this nice point, so particularly noted, and so strikingly showing

250 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct,,

the acuteness of discrimination possessed by that eminent natural-
ist, we think must dispel the last lingering doubt as to the iden-
tity of the American and European insects. As will fully appear
in a subsequent part of this paper, the Hessian fly presents this
singular anomaly, that its pupae is coarctate, or enclosed in a case
like those of the other families of dipterous insects, but unlike
all the pupae of the Cecidomyians and other Tipulidae that have
been hitherto observed! The very fact, therefore, which leads
Mr. Westwood to suspect the European insect is not a Cecidom-
yia, all but demonstrates that it is the Hessian fly!

Its Introduction into America.

The existence of the Hessian fly in Europe being premised, so
many circumstances conspire to render it probable that it was in-
troduced into this country in the mode originally supposed, that
scarcely a doubt can now be entertained upon this point.

When the habits and transformations of the insect itself are
considered, it will be perceived that these interpose great obsta-
cles to its being transported across the Atlantic, at a period when
two months or more were required for the voyage. Its passing
through two generations in a year, make its continuance in any
one stage of its existence comparatively brief The first of these
generations occupies about seven months, from October to April
inclusive. This generation is nurtured at the roots of the young
plants, and there is no probability that any of these plants would
be taken up, so that the insect could thus be conveyed away.
The second generation is nurtured in the lower joints of the straw.
The worm attains maturity in May, becomes a dormant " flax
seed " in June, continues in this state till August, when the fly
comes out to deposit its eggs in September. Though most of
these flax seeds remain in the stubble when the q-rain is harvested,
numbers of them are so high in the straw, as to be gathered with
it. But they are so firmly imbedded in the straw, and enveloped
within the sheathing base of the leaf, that it must be rare that
any of them are detached by the flail in threshing, so as to find
their way among the grain, and thus with it be carried to a dis-

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 2 5 1

tance. As the flax seeds moreover, evolve the perfect insect in
August, it must be equally rare that a solitary fly comes from the
straw after that date. These facts clearly show that there is but
one mode, and but one month in the year, in which this insect
could probably have been conveyed to this country at that time,
to wit, in straw landed upon our coast in August. If landed at
a later date, the flies would have completed their transformations,
and made their escape, or perished in their confinement; if ear-
lier, there is no probability that the straw could have been of the
growth of that year, consequently it would have contained no live
insects. Our present knowledge of the habits of this insect thus
affords us a singularly accurate test, for ascertaining the truth of
the original theory respecting the mode in which it was intro-
duced.

And how do the facts furnished us by the military history of
those times, accord with what we have seen to be almost essential
contingencies to the importation of this insect? Early in July
of the year 1776, General Sir William How^e arrived on the
New York coast from Halifax, with the troops which had evacu-
ated Boston, and debarked upon that part of Staten Island which
lies within the Narrows — one of the reasons which induced him
to make this part of the continent the central point of his opera-
tions being, that " Long Island was very fertile in wheat and all
other corns, and was deemed almost equal alone to the mainte-
nance of an army." (Bisset^s Hist. Geo. III.) We are informed
in Marshals Life of Washington, (vol. ii., p. 424,) under the date
of August, 1776, that " the reinforcements to the British army
were now arriving daily from Europe." Lord Howe's strength
was hereby augmented to twenty-four thousand men, about half
of whom (as is probable from the statement, page 416,) were
ne-vvly arrived " Hessians and Waldeckers." The most of these
were from Hesse Cassel, a district but about a hundred miles dis-
tant from Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Altenburg, where, as we have
already seen, the same insect did much damage to the wheat crops
in 1833. And again, under the date of August 25, (p. 437,) it
is stated, that " on this day. General De Heister landed with two

252 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

brigades of Hessians. The next day he took post at Flatbush,"
on Long Island, about six miles distant from the main encamp-
ment on Staten Island.

In juxtaposition with this account, let us now place the state-
ment of one, who, Sir John Temple, the British Consul General
at New York tells us, "had been more curious with respect to this
insect, than any other person with whom he was acquainted."
Says Col. Morgan, {Encyc. Britan.) "the Hessian fly was first in-
troduced into America, by means of some straw made use of in
package, or otherwise, landed on Long Island, at an early period
of the late warj and its first appearance was in the neighborhood
of Sir William Howe's debarkation, and at Flatbush." So many
circumstances concur to evince the truth of tbe account here given
by Col. Morgan, to its very letter, that we think no one will here-
after hesitate to give it full evidence.

We have searched in vain for the date of the embarkation of
the Hessian troops, or the number of days occupied by them in
crossing the ocean. It is possible they may all have left Europe
anterior to the harvest. But in Germany, as in this country, as
is shown by M. Kollar's statement, the infested straw becomes
broken and tangled, and turns yellow, early in June. Had a com-
pany of soldiers needed straw for package, no objections would
have been made to their going into a field of this kind, and with
a scythe, gathering what they required, weeks before the usual
time of harvest.

We have nowhere met with but one statement, which goes
directly to prove that this insect is indigenous to this country, or
existed here anterior to the arrival of the Hessian troops. The
late Judge Hickock of Lansingburgh, N. Y., in a communication
to the Board of Agriculture in the year 1823, and published in
the memoirs, (vol. ii., page 169,) says, "a respectable and ob-
serving farmer of this town. Col. James Brookins, has informed
me, that on his first hearing of the alarm on Long Island, in the
year 1786, (doubtless, 1776 is intended,) and many years before
its ravages w^ere complained of in this part of the country, he de-
tected the same insect, upon examining the wheat growing on his

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 253

farm in his town." If this insect, observed by Col. Brookins in
1776, was the genuine destructor, it is a little singular that to be-
tray its real character, it patiently awaited some fourteen years,
to be reinforced by its kindred from Long Island, who reached it
hy regular advances made year after year — that on their arrival,
and not till then, it acquired the skill and courage to go forth and
lay waste the crops through all this section of country for several
successive years. The strong probability is, that it was some
other insect which was found by Col. Brookins.

Its Civil History and Bibliographi/.

We now proceed to adduce such facts as we have been able to
collect, respecting the devastations of this insect in different years,
or in other w^ords, to trace out with as much precision as the data
before us will enable us to do, its civil history, from the period of
its first appearance, down to the present time; and in connection
with this, to notice the different memoirs and other papers of va-
lue that have been published respecting it, so far as we have had
an opportunity of becoming acquainted with them.

Anterior to the revolutionary war, the Hessian fly was unknown
in this country. No allusion to an insect of this kind has been
found in any American work, or in the journal of any foreign tra-
veler, nor since its appearance has it been intimated that any of
our citizens had ever observed it previous to that time.

All accounts concur in stating that its first appearance was up-
on Staten Island, and the west end of Long Island. There is some
discrepancy between different writers, as to the particular year in
which it was first observed. Dr. Mitchell states {Encyc. Britan.)
that " it was first discovered in the year->1776." The ravages of
the insect, however, are so much more conspicuous and liable to
attract attention from the broken and tangled condition of the
straw as it approaches maturity in June, than they are when a
portion of the young shoots are discolored and withered in Octo-
ber, that there can be little doubt but it would first be observed
at the former period. Had Dr. Mitchell, therefore, received de-
finite information upon this point, it would doubtless have been

254 bisects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

coupled with the statement, that it was noticed at or before the
harvest in that year, and consequently anterior to the arrival of
the Hessian troops — which fact, he, confident as he was that this
was an indigenous insect, would not have failed triumphantly to
have stated. It is hence believed, that Dr. M. has assumed this
date, from the current report that this insect was introduced by
the Hessian soldiers, knowing this to have been the year of their
arrival.

From the "■ flax seeds " casually lodged in the imported straw,
only a few flies would probably be evolved, to deposit their eggs
upon the young wheat in the autumn of 1776 ; nor would these
have multiplied to such an extent in the following spring as to
attract attention at the time of harvest. But, increasing with
each successive brood, by the harvest of the following year, 1778,
we might anticipate its being observed, and by a year thereafter,
it would become so numerous, that its real character would no
longer be in doubt. And in accordance with this, we are inform-
ed by Colonel Morgan, that " the fly made its first appearance in
1778: " and Mr. Clark, who in 1787 went to Long Island ex-
pressly to gather authentic information respecting this insect, says
in his report, " on the best enquiry I could make, during my stay
there, I satisfied myself in the following particulars, namely; first,
that the Hessian fly made its first appearance there about the year
1779, so as to injure, and in some cases to destroy their crops of
wheat." An anonymous writer in Carey^s Museum, (vol. i., p.
143,) gives the same year as about the period of its discovery.

We therefore regard the year 1779 as most probably the date
when its ravages actually commenced. The crops of wheat were
severely injured or wholly destroyed by it in King's and Rich-
mond counties, during several of the following years; and each
succee ling generation regularly enlarged tlie sphere of its devas-
tations in every direction.

Quite early in its history, the important fact became acciden-
tally discovered, that certain varieties of wheat are capable of
withstanding its attacks. In the year 1781, a prize schooner
loaded with wheat, was taken in the Delaware river, and carried

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 255

into New York, whence the cargo was sent to the mill of Isaac
Underhill, near Flushing, Long Island, to be ground. Mr. Un-
derhill's own crop of the previous year having been so entirely
destroyed that he had no grain for seed, he took what he required
for sowing from this cargo, and reaped therefrom upwards of
twenty bushels per acre, whilst few of his neighbors for miles
around had any to reap, so calamitous were the operations of the
fly. To his praise be it recorded, he distributed his entire crop,
in small quantities, and at a moderate price, among his neighbors,
for seed; and all who made use of it were similarly successful.
The " Underhill wheat " at once became noted, for effectually re-
sisting the attacks of the fly, and for many years subsequently, as
we shall have frequent occasion to notice, was eagerly sought for
and successfully cultivated, where all other varieties of this grain
failed. {^Vaux and Jacobs, Clark.)

In 1786, the fly first reached Col. Morgan's farm, at Prospect,
New Jersey, about forty miles south-west of Staten Island. It
was first observed in May, and by October was so increased, that
some farmers in Middlesex, Somerset, and Monmouth counties
were induced to plow up their young wheat and sow the fields
to rye. Other fields, less injured, were allowed to remain until
the succeeding spring, when their appearance was so dishearten-
ing, that many of them were plowed up and sowed with spring
grain.

Eastward its progress would appear to have been much more
rapid than towards the west and south, for this same year it had
reached a hundred miles, nearly to the east end of Long Island,
and was detected on Shelter Island. " It was first perceived a
little before the harvest, and appeared to have come from the west
end of Long Island, in a gradual progress of between twenty and
thirty miles in a year. Before the harvest the species appeared
to be few in number, but in the fall it was found to have greatly
increased, and appeared in great numbers on the green wheat,
and was observed to do most injury to that which had been most
early sown." (^Havens, p. 71.)

Public attention was now becoming strongly directed towards

256 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

this formidable foe. The New York Society for Promoting Useful
Knowledge, issued an advertisement, requesting information re-
specting it. Two communications were soon received by them,
and were directed to be inserted in the secular papers. These are
the first published documents relating to the fly, that have occur-
red to our notice. They are copied into Carey^s American Mu-
seum (Phila. vol. i., p. 324-326). One of them, dated New
York, September 1, 1786, gives a brief but pretty accurate ac-
count of the situation and habits of the insect, particularly in the
fall and spring. The other, dated Hunterdon, New Jersey, Janu-
ary 1, 1787, after hastily alluding to its habits, proposes as reme-
dies, late sowing, on rich land; drawing elder bushes over the
young plants; and passing over the wheat with a heavy roller to
crush the worms.

In the Pennsylvania Mercury of June 8, 1787, is published a
letter from Col. George Morgan, addressed to the Philadelphia
society for promoting agriculture. He suggests the importance
of their appointing some competent person to fully investigate the
habits of the Hessian fly, and the remedies to protect from it,
after the example of the Paris Academy of Sciences, which had
commissioned Messrs. Duhamel and Tillet to enquire out the his-
tory of the Angoumois grain moth; he alludes to contradictory
reports respecting the Underbill wheat, copies the paragrahs al-
ready given, from M. Chateauvieux, as " answering in every re-
spect to our Hessian fly," and gives an account of the ravages of
the insect in his vicinity, and its habits so far as observed.

The Mercury of September 14th, contains another letter from
Col. Morgan, correcting some inaccuracies in his previous com-
munication, and giving some additional interesting items. He
says, " those who are doubtful whether the fly is in their neigh-
borhood, or cannot find the eggs or nits in the wheat, may satisfy
themselves by opening their windows at night, and burning a
candle in the room. The fly wnll enter in proportion to their
numbers abroad. The first night after the commencement of the
wheat harvest this season, they filled my dining room in such
numbers, as to be exceedingly troublesome in the eating and

1S46.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 257

drinking vessels. Without exaggeration, I may say, that a glass
tumbler, from which beer had been just drank at dinner, had five
hundred flies in it, within a few minutes. The windows are filled
with them when they desire to make their escape. They are very
distinguishable from every other fly, by their (having) horns or
whiskers."

Accompanying Col. Morgan's letter is a brief report, made by
Thomas Clark, who, at the request of his neighbors had gone to
Long Island, to gather correct information respecting the fly, and
the means of escaping its depredations. He became well satisfied
that the Underbill wheat was fly proof, and could be obtained in
any desired quantities, at the moderate price of $1.25 per bushel.
He also reports the interesting fact, that the fly had now become
so reduced in its numbers on the west end of Long Island, that
many of the inhabitants supposed there had been none the present
year, though he himself saw it there quite common still. Since
1779 their crops had been destroyed more or less every year, un-
til the present.

In 1788, a communication in Carey's Museum (vol. iv., p. 47),
from Buck's county. Pa., informs us that in the vicinity of Tren-
ton, N. J., so much as the seed sown would not be harv^ed.
Many farmers had plowed up their wheat crops in the spring, and
planted them with corn. The fly also in this year commenced
its ravages in the state of Pennsylvania. " Near seed-time last
year, many persons on the Pennsylvania shore saw the insect so
thick in the air as to appear like a cloud, coming over Delaware
river."

Following this communication, is a paper signed " a landhold-
er," who regards the eggs as laid in the grains of ripe wheat,
and sowed w^ith them; and proposes procuring seed from places
not infested with the fly, as a remedy.

Messrs. Vaux and Jacobs, farmers of Providence, Pa., in July,
1788, made a tour through New Jersey and Long Island, for the
purpose of gathering information respecting the fly, and the best
modes of withstanding its attack. Their account is published in
the Pennsylvania Packet of August 21st, and is mainly occupied

No. VIII. 7

258 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

with a description of the Underhill wheat, and a full confirmation
of previous reports respecting it.

On the east part of Long Island, where, as already noticed, the
fly arrived in 1786, it so rapidly multiplied, that the following
year many fields were nearly destroyed, and this year, the third
of its presence, the wheat crop " was cut off almost universally."
The red-bald, which was the common winter variety there raised,
and the spring wheat, were equally affected. Rye in many fields
was much injured, and a field of summer barley was wholly de-
stroyed. (Havens, p. 73.)

Wheat in large quantities, was at this period exported hence
to Great Britain. Accounts of the appaling havoc that this in-
sect was making, excited the attention of the government there,
and aroused their fears, lest so dreadful a scourge should be intro-
duced into that country, by means of the American grain. " The
Privy Council sat day after day, (says Kirhy and S pence, vol. i.,
p. 50,) anxiously debating what measures should be adopted to
ward off the danger of a calamity more to be dreaded, as they
well knew, than the plague or pestilence; expresses were sent off
in all directions to the officers of the customs at the outports, re-
specting the examination of cargoes; despatches written to the
ambassadors in France, Austria, Prussia, and America, to gain
that information, of the want of which they were now so sensi-
ble; and so important was the business deemed, that the minutes
of the council, and the documents collated from, fill upwards of
200 octavo pages." In consequence of the information laid be-
fore them, a proclamation was issued by his Britannic majesty,
on the 25th of June, 1788, prohibiting the entry of wheat, the
growth of any of the territories of the United States, into any of
the ports of Great Britain. It is very singular, that although the
entry of American wheat was thus interdicted, it was still allowed
to be stored at the different seaports, thus affording the obnoxious
insects, if any of them had been contained in the grain, a very
convenient opportunity to escape and make their way into the
country !

When the news of the closing of the British ports against Ame-

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 259

rican wheat reached this country^ the measure was at once re-
gaided as having resulted from misinformation respecting the habits
of this insect. The supreme executive council of Pennsylvania
immediately addressed a letter to the Philadelphia Society for Pro-
moting Agriculture, requesting the society to investigate and re-
port to the council the nature of the Hessian fly, and particularly
whether the quality of the grain is affected by it. The society
promptly replied, " that from every communication made to them
on that subject, they are decidedly of opinion that it is the plant
of the wheat alone, that is injured by this destructive insect, that
what grain happens to be produced from such plants, is sound and
good, and that this insect is not propagated by sowing Avheat
which grew on fields infected with it." They also refer to the
letters of Col. Morgan, and of Messrs. Vaux and Jacobs, as con-
taining the best information extant, relative to the natural history
of the insect, and the most successful method of preventing its
depredations. [Carey^s Museum, \o]. iv., p. 244.)

Dr. Currie took an active part in showing the government and
people of England, that the information which had led to the
closing of the ports against the entry of American grain, was wholly
erroneous; and in eight or ten months the government bought the
stored wheat at prime cost, kiln-dried it, and resold it at great
loss. The prohibition was taken off almost immediately thereaf-
ter. (^Memoir of Currie, ii., 65.)

The Hessian fly " reached Saratoga, two hundred miles (north)
from their original station, in 1789," says Dr. Harris, though on
what authority is not stated. Of its correctness, however, there
is no doubt. From the statements of several persons who were
residing in Washington and Saratoga counties so long ago as this
date, it appears that the crops in this district of country, (at that
day second to no other in the quantity of wheat which it pro-
duced,) first began to fail about the year 1790 or 1791. The in-
sect reached here by a regular progress from the south, coming
nearer and nearer each successive year. It continued to infest
the crops during a number of the following years, sometimes se-
verely, at others but moderately. On two or three occasions,

260 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

many of the fields in Saratoga county were entirely destroyed. I
do not learn that in this vicinity their devastations at any time
reached this extent. About the year 1803, tlieir last depredations
were committed. From that time this insect has never been ob-
served in this vicinity, that I can ascertain, until the autumn of
last year.

In 1792, the recently instituted New York Society for the Pro-
motion of Agriculture, Arts, and Manufactures, issued part first
of their Transactions, containing (p. 71-86), "Observations on
the Hesssian Fly, by Jonathan N. Havens." This is the most
valuable memoir that had hitherto appeared upon this subject, and
few of those of a later date surpass it. After sketching the ra-
vages of the fly in different years in his own vicinity. Judge H.
describes with much precision its situation and appearance in the
respective stages of its existence, showing that it passes regularly
through but two generations in a year, instead of three or four,
as anterior writers had stated. As remedies, he recommends sow-
ing none but the bearded wheats, and burning or plowing up the
stubble soon after harvest. This last important measure had never
before been proposed; Judge H. had been led directly to it, by
his close investigations of the habits of this insect.

The American Philosophical Society this year appointed from
among its most competent members, a committee (Thomas Jeffer-
son, B. Smith Barton, James Hutchinson, and Casper Wistar),
" for the purpose of collecting and communicating to the society
materials for forming the natural history of the Hessian fly."
This committee immediately issued a circular, requesting all per-
sons acquainted w ith any facts relating to this insect, its depreda-
tions, and preventives, to communicate the same by letter to their
chairman. The numerous points upon which information was
desired, were particularly detailed in an extended series of ques-
tions, which clearly indicate the importance which they attached
to this subject, and the thorough investigation which they purposed
making. It cannot but be regretted that this business, committed
to such capable hands, was not pursued and brought to a close
with the same zeal with which it was evidently commenced. We

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 261

have met with no report ever rendered by them. [Carey^s JV/w-
seum, vol. xi., p. 285.)

At this time, as we infer from a clause in the circular just al-
luded to, and also from some passages in Dr. Mitchell's address
before the New York society of agriculture; (Transactions, vol.
i,, p. 32,) the insect was becoming so rare in all the more densely
settled parts of the middle states, which had been first overspread
by it, that it was the common opinion that it would soon vanish
from the country entirely. Notices of it in the magazines and
newspapers become more rare, and it was evidently ceasing to be re-
garded with that intense solicitude which it had hitherto excited.
It was, however, with unabated vigor, continuing its progress
southward. A letter from Prospect Hill, Delaware, dated June
12th, 1792, {Carey's Museum, vol. xi., p. 301,) states that the
fly arrived there " in prodigious clouds," about the middle of the
preceding September. It describes the place where the eggs were
deposited on the young wheat, the growth of the worm, and the
perishing of all the plants, except those growing upon a rich soil,
and adds further testimony in favor of the Underbill wheat.

In 1797, Dr. Isaac Chapman, of Bucks county. Pa., prepared
one of the best accounts of this- species that has ever appeared,
containing the details of his own careful observations upon the
insect and the time of its appearance in its different stages. These
observations lead him to recommend as the most certain safe-
guards against the fall attack, late sowing, and against the spring
attack, a quick vigorous growth, to be obtained by procuring
southern seed and sowing it on a rich, elevated and dry soil. His
paper is published in the fifth volume of the Memoirs of the Phila-
delphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, a volume which M^e
regret having been unable to find in either of the largest libraries
of this state. We are therefore obliged to depend for its contents
upon second hand accounts. Dr. C. states that the fly was this
year found upon the west side of the Alleghany mountains.

The eighth volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published
this year, gives (pages 489-495) an extended article under the
head Hessian Fly, consisting chiefly of a summary of the several

262 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct,

documents laid before the privy council during their investiga-
tions.

In Dr. B. S. Barton's Fragments of the JVatural History oj
Pennsylvania, issued in 1799, the author announces (p. 23) his
intention of publishing " a memoir upon that destructive insect
called the Hessian fly." It is probable that whatever communi-
cations were addressed to the committee of the Philosophical so-
ciety, had been consigned to his hands. We are not aware that
the promised memoir ever appeared.

"About the year 1801, the Hessian flies first made their ap-
pearance in the neighborhood of the city of Richmond. We saw
but little mischief that year. But in 1S02 they were much more
destructive — 1803, they swept whole fields — about the same in
1804." {H. MClelland, Amer. Farmer, vol. ii. p. 234.)

In the year 1803, we arrive at the first notice of this species, of
a scientific nature. Dr. Mitchell, in a short article in the Medi-
cal Repository (vol. vii., p. 97, 98), entitled " Further ravages of
the wheat insect, or Tipula tritici of America, and of another
species of Tipula in Europe," states that it is now understood
that our insect is a Tipula. He alludes to the extent of this
genus, (ninety-four species being enumerated by Weber,) and
though he has often examined our insect, and bred it so as to ob-
serve its transformations, he declines giving a decided opinion
whether or not our species is different from all those that had
been described. He refers to the species " treated as a non-
descript" by the Rev. Mr. Kirby, in the Linnean Transactions,
copies its name and technical characters, and closes with the re-
mark, that whether Mr. Kirby's insect is a new one or not, it is
not the same animal which has been so injurious in this country.
Had the doctor but added a few words descriptive of our species,
he would undoubtedly be entitled to " the 1)arren honors of a sy-
nonym." Respecting the depredations of the insect at this time,
w'e learn from him, that " during the cold and dry spring of 1803
these creatures again infested the wheat more than they had done
for many years. Many crops w^ere cut off early in June, and the
ground plowed up for other purposes."

1S46.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 263

During a long interval we meet with no further notices of this
species. Its depredations would appear to have been so slight,
and public attention was so much engrossed with other affairs,
that nothing, as we have discovered, is recorded of it.

At length, in 1817, it is stated to have renewetl its ravages in
various sections of the country. In the neighborhood of New
York and of Philadelphia, it is evident that it was unusually abun-
dant, and in parts of Maryland and Virginia, it was perhaps more
destructive than it had ever been before.

It was on the 24th of June in this year, that Mr. Say read be-
fore the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences a paper en-
titled " Some account of the insect known by the name of Hessian
fly, and of a parasitic insect that feeds on it." This contains an
accurate technical description of the insect, on which he bestows
the name Cecidomyia destructor, and also of its most common
parasite, referred by him to the genus Ceraphron, and also named
destructor. This paper was published in the Journal of the Aca-
demy (vol. i., p. 45-48), issued in the course of the ensuing
month, and was followed in August by a copperplate illustration
of these insects, drawn and engraved by Mr. C. A. Le Sueur.
" A local habitation and a name" were thus conferred upon this
world-renowned species, by which it has ever since been definitely
specified and arranged in works of science.

In the American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review for
August, 1817, (New York, vol i., p. 275-279,) appeared a paper
bearing the title, " An account of the wheat insect of America,
or the Tipula vaginalis tritici, commonly called the Hessian fly."
This paper gives the substance of Judge Havens's memoir, and
professes to copy a technical name and description which had
been published by Dr. Mitchell in the JVew York Gazette of July
3d. But whoever refers to the JVeic York Gazette, will find no
attempt at a technical description, nor no name except that of
Tipula tritici, which is in one instance, casually as it were, made
use of. The word vaginalis is therefore an interpolation of the
writer in the Magazine,- and as he, at least on some subsequent
occasions, refrained from bringing this name farther into noticej

264 Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

when a fair opportunity was presented him for doing so (as edi-
tor of Hooper's Medical Bictionari/, &c.) we doubt not, when the
excitement of the day was past, he deeply regretted that he had
ever drawn up an article so derogatory to himself as that which
appears in the Magazine. We should therefore suppress all al-
lusion to this subject, with the hope that it might pass wholly
into oblivion, but that the aiticle from the Magazine has of late
years been copied into some of our agricultural journals, and has
been referred to in terms of commendation by some names of re-
spectability. With the currency thus unfortunately given to it,
it will be read by hundreds who can never see the JYeio York
Gazette, and who will thus deem that one of our most distin-
guished savans had degraded himself by a paltry attempt to fore-
stall Mr. Say in giving to this species a technical name.

Gen. John H. Cocke this year communicated his observations
to the Albemarle Agricultural Society of Virginia. Having w^ell
ascertained that the fly deposits its eggs upon the blades of the
wheat, at from a half to three inches from the central stalk, and
that these remain there four or five days before they hatch, he
recommends feeding off the crop, by pasturing sheep upon it;
thus destroying the eggs, and depriving the fly of its wonted
place for depositing them. " A King William Farmer" dissents
from this advice, and thinks covering the seed to the depth of
three inches the best safeguard against the fly. " A Frederick
County Farmer" and Dr. Merriwether oppose this, and a contro-
versy ensues, reaching through several communications in the
Richmond Enquirer and National Intelligencer, and afterwards
continued in the .linierican Farmer, till in 1820 it was brought
to a close by a valuable article from that distinguished agricul-
turist, the late James M. Garnett, (^American Farmer, vol. ii., p.
174,) accompanie/J by an illustration, clearly demonstrating the
correctness of the statements first put forth by the King Williana
Farmer. The facts thus elicited will be more fully considered in
a subsequent part of this essay.

In 1820, Edward Tilghman, of Maryland, described [.rlmerican
Farmer, ii., 235) the place and mode of deposition of the eggs,

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 257*

he having in numerous instances watched the fly in the very act
of ovipositing. At a later day Mr. T. has favored the public
with a more full and exact description of this process. {^Cvlti-
vator, viii., p. 82.) James Worth of Pennsylvania, also in 1820
minutely described from his personal observations, the situation
of the egg, its hatching, and the journey of the worm down the
leaf to its usual nidus. (^American Farmer, ii., 180.)

In the second volume of the Memoirs of the JVeio York Board
oj" Agriculture, issued in 1823, is a communication (p. 169-171)
on the Hessian fly, from Judge Hickock, who deems a fertile soil
the best safeguard. In the third volume of the same work, pub-
lished in 1826, (p. 326-338,) is a paper by the indefatigable
secretary of the board, the late Judge Buel, giving a condensed
summary of all the information respecting this insect, contained
in the accounts of Judge Havens, Dr. Chapman, and the different
writers in the American Farmer.

In 1840, Miss Margaretta H. Morris, of Germantown, Pa., in
a communication to the American Philosophical Society, revives
the theory of " a landholder," already noticed, that the egg of the
fly is deposited in the grain, and that obtaining seed from unin-
fected districts will therefore be the best safeguard. The report
of the committee upon this paper, is inserted in the society's jjro-
ceedings of November, 1840, and the paper itself is published in
the society's Transactions (vol. viii., p. 49-51). Communications
bearing upon the same subject were also made to the Academy
of Natural Sciences, in 1841, by Dr. B. H. Coates. {Proceedings
Acad., vol. i., p. 45, 54 and 57.)

In 1841, ]\Ir. E. C. Herrick, librarian of Yale College, gives
"a brief, preliminary account of the Hessian fly, and its parasites,"
in Silliman's Journal of Science (vol. xli., p. 153-158). This
paper announces the interesting fact of Mr. Dana's having met
with apparently the same insect on the shores of the Mediterra-
nean, details the writer's own accurate observations of the changes
from the egg to the flax seed state, and enumerates four different
parasitic insects that prey upon it during these periods of its existence,
by which " probably more than nine-tenths of every generation of

258* Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

the Hessian fly is destroyed." Another vahiable paper from Mr.
Herrick appears in the report of the Coinmissioner of Patents for
the year 1844, (p. 161-167,) giving a most exact and particular
history of the transformations of this insect, and a summary view
of the various remedial measures that have been proposed. Both
of these papers evince the close and patient investigation which the
writer had made, and the utmost carefulness in announcing no-
thing beyond what he had clearly ascertained.

Dr. T. W. Harris's invaluable " report on the insects of Mas-
sachusetts injurious to vegetation " was also completed in 1841.
An excellent summary of all the leading facts pertaining to the
history of this species, is given in this work (p. 421-433,) and its
generic place, upon which point Mr. Herrick, Latreille and others
had intimated doubts, is correctly settled.

The numerous agricultural periodicals of our country, abound
with notices of this insect, more or less extended and valuable.
To specify these notices in detail, at least as respects some of
these periodicals, would require a reference to almost every num-
ber issued. Wherever important facts are derived from these
sources, in the course of this essay, they are accompanied by a
particular acknowledgement in each instance: an additional re-
ference in this place, is therefore deemed unnecessary.

We close this section of our subject, with a condensed view of
the depredations of this insect in the different parts of our coun-
try, during a few of the past years; the materials for which, are
furnished us, in those valuable documents, the yearly reports of
the Commissioner of Patents.

In the year 1842, the ravages of the Hessian fly would appear
to have been quite limited. Pennsylvania suffered the most se-
verely. The wheat crop in this state is estimated to have been
twenty per cent less than it was the preceding year, and of four
different causes that produced this diminution, the fly is placed
first. Some parts of Maryland, and also of Ohio, were visited by
it. In the latter state, it appeared to be increasing so much, that
serious apprehensions were beginning to be felt respecting its fu-
ture ravages.

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 259*

In 1843, it was so abundant in western Pennsylvania in June,
that it was thought it would diminish the crop twenty-five per
cent. Through Maryland, and the great wheat-growing valley
of Virginia, it was noticed at the same time as committing great
havoc in many fields, and threatening a very decided failure in
the crop: at harvest, however, the yield was found to be much
better than was anticipated. In Ohio it was less injurious than in
the preceding year. Upon some parts of Long Island it was ob-
served, but in limited numbers.

In 1844 it seems to have been much more destructive than in
either of the perceding years, and to have made its appearance
prominently in some districts where it had been unobserved be-
fore. Thus, through all the northern parts of Indiana and Illinois,
and the contiguous parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, it did much
injury, and in many places occasioned almost a total failure of the
crops. Near Goshen, la., a person writes, the fly is taking the
wheat here at a dreadful rate, destroying some pieces entirely:
some fields have been plowed up, and corn planted therein. The
Prairie Farmer states that the wheat crop has suffered severely
in various sections by the fly. In Will county. 111., says the Chi-
cago Journal, several entire fields of both winter and spring wheat
have been destroyed by the Hessian fly. In Michigan also, it is
reported to have made sad havoc, particularly in light sandy soils.
From different places in this state, we are told as follows: "In
some cases the injury was so severe, that the farmers had to plow
up their fields and sow them over again." " There is not more
than one-fourth of the surplus of 1843, owing to the wet season
and the ravages of the fly." " The wheat crop is almost an en-
tire failure. The insects took it last fall, and the rust in the spring,
and then again the insects a second time." It is also stated that
the same enemy had made its appearance in great force at the
close of the season, in the early fall sown w^heat. From different
parts of Ohio, the crop was reported in May and June to be suf-
fering considerably from the ravages of the fly. In the vicinity
of Masillon it had never been so destructive before, whole fields
being entirely destroyed. In the neighborhood of Rochester, N.

260* Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

Y., also, the fields suffered some, particularly those having a sandy
soil, and that were early sown. On the west end of Long Island,
its ravages w^ere also bad, many farmers not having more than
half a crop. Both in the eastern and western sections of Pennsyl-
vania, the fly lessened the produce of this year. In Bucks coun-
ty it was particularly destructive. One person states, in the month
of June, that where he had expected to gather 1,200 bushels or
more, he could not now hope for 300. Though it is noticed on
both shores of the state of Maryland, the injury done by it here
appears to have been but slight.

In 1845, through those districts of Michigan, Indiana, and Il-
linois, where it committed such havoc the last year, it is said by dif-
lerent persons to have wholly disappeared. The Prairie Farmer
however, states that it was still present, doing more or less injury
all over the state of Illinois. Ohio sustained but little injury. It
is not noticed north of Maryland, in the central parts of which
state it is reported that on nearly all the light lands the Hessian
fly made serious ravages, and in many instances rendered the crops
totally worthless. In Georgia, moreover, its ravages in the coun-
ties around Milledgeville are said to have been dreadful: whole
fields were totally destroyed, and others yielded not more than a
fourth of an ordinary crop.

We regret that we have not at hand the requisite information,
for tracing with equal precision the ravages of this insect during
the present year. From such notices as we have casually observed
in the public papers, we presume that through the country gen-
erally, it has been unusually numerous. In this vicinity, some
fields have produced less than a fourth of what they would have
done, but for the invasion of the fly last autumn, after an absence
of over forty years, and its great increase in the spring. On sandy
soils in Saratoga and the north-west parts of Rensselaer counties,
several fields -were observed early in July with the wheat stalks so
" few and far between," that no harvesting of them would be at-
tempted; whilst many others had been, at an earlier period of the
season, plowed up and occupied with spring crops. In the western
section of the state, it has also been quite destructive. The loss

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 261*

from the fly alone, says the Genesee Farmer, (vol. vii., p. 251,)
will doubtless be at least 500,000 bushels. In those districts of
Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa, which are contiguous to the Missis-
sippi river, it appears to have been common, and also in eastern
Pennsylvania. From a minute in the proceedings of the trustees
of the Maryland Agricultural Society, we learn that " so great
ravages have not been committed by the Hessian fly, since 1817.
On some of the best land wheat has been plowed up, and other
portions are so much injured, that they will not be worth harvest-
ing. At least one-half of the crop of Talbot county has been de-
stroyed." And in the upper counties of Georgia, it is said, " the
fly has committed such ravages upon the wheat, as scarcely to
leave enough seed for another year."

Its JVame and Synonyms.
It is a somewhat trite but very true adage, that " names are
things," Every one who has had occasion to search through
files of our agricultural journals for information respecting any
particular insect or other malady to which our crops or herds are
subject, well knows what doubt and perplexity is often occasioned
from having two or more names used by different writers for the
same thing, and also from having two or more distinct things de-
signated by the same name. To illustrate this, let us refer to the
Patent Office Report for 1844, p. 26, where, in thirteen consecu-
tive lines, we read as follows: " Near Onondaga county the wheat

is said to be injured by the grain worm In Schoharie

we find complaints of the weevil In Schenectady county

the ravages of the fly were great In parts of Columbia

county it suffered from the maggot In Dutchess a yellow

worm in the head destroyed it," Of a truth, " what a host of
enemies!" By way of climax, we only require some wiseacre
who has never seen the insect or lived within a hundred miles of
it, to say, " Good people, you are all wrong; wheat worms is the
correct name for your insect" — and we are furnished with a tole-
rably complete list of the popular synonyms of the Cecidomyia
tritici ! But who, not intimately conversant with its American

262* Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

history, would suspect this single species of being designated by
such a profusion of terms. Who, on reading the page referred
to, of the Patent Office Report, (and it is a correct transcript of
the very words which are in popular use,) but would receive its
statements as conclusive evidence that we had in eastern New
York at least four or five kinds of destructive insects preying
upon our wheat crops. Such mistakes are the inevitable results
of a diversity of names. So important therefore do we deem this
topic, that we are induced to assign to it a distinct head.

It is very fortunate that no confusion of the kind just alluded
to, has ever existed with reference to the species under considera-
tion. Its popular name, Hessian fly, was first bestowed upon it
by Colonel Morgan, soon after its appearance on Long Island.
Some two or three of the earliest writers allude to it by the
names of Hessian bug, and Hessian insect, but these designations
were speedily dropped, and Hessian fly became universally the
only name by which it was definitely distinguished, not only in
this country, but in all parts of the world where the English lan-
guage was spoken. Even when it was by every one deemed to
be a native insect, and the epithet Hessian was therefore remarked
by different writers as most inappropriate, still it was in such uni-
versal use, that no one had the presumption to propose a different
name. Certainly, then, at the present day, when scarcely a doubt
can be entertained but that it is a Hessian species, any attempt to
foist upon it a new popular name, must prove signally unsuc-
cessful.

But, Mr. M. B. Bateham, editor of the Genesee Farmer in 1843,
and subsequently of the Ohio Cultivator, bestows upon this spe-
cies the name of " wheat-fly."* If love of novelty, or fondness
for innovation, prompted this gentleman to discard a name which
all the rest of the world had concurred in, he could not possibly

* We have been informed, by different persons, who are or have been resi-
dents of western New York and Ohio, that in familiar conversation in those
districts, the species under consideration is alluded to simply as " the fly." If
any epithet is prefixed to this, it is always the word " Hessian; " they recol-
lect in no instance to have heard it called the "wheat-fly."

1846.] Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 263*

have been more unfortunate in his selection of a new one — the
name wheat-fly having been at least fourteen years previously ap-
propriated to a different insect, by Messrs. Loudon, Gorrie, Shir-
reff', and several other writers in the British periodicals; having
been used by the compilers of popular treatises on insects, one of
which, republished in this country, has been for several years past
circulating in almost every school district of this state (Harper^ s
Family and School Library, Insects, voL ii., p. 226-228); and
having, moreover, been adopted for the same insect in this coun-
try, to omit names of less note, by Dr. Harris, in his Report — a
work so superior to any similar treatise that has ever appeared,
and embodying such a large amount of most valuable information
upon the injurious insects of this country, that it must long remain
a standard authority upon all matters of this kind.* With such
wide currency to the name wheat-fly, what must community think
the extent of the reading of that man to be, who adventures to
proclaim that this name belongs to the Cecidomyia destructor, not
to the Cecidomyia tritici! It could scarcely excite more surprise
if he was to inform us that his orthography of the specific name
tritica was correct, and that we were wrong in wa'iting it tritici.
Mr. B.'s successor in the editorial chair of the Genesee Farmer,

* We may here state some additional reasons which induced us in our for-
mer essay, to adopt the name " wheat-fly" in preference to that of " wheat-
midge," the name by which the C. tritici has been designated by Mr. Curtis
and some other recent writers.

1. The insect itself, is, next after the wholly inappropriate name of "wee-
vil," most commonly called " the fly," we believe, in all those districts where
it is most abundant and has been longest known. It is never called "the
midge." Why, then, should we speak one common name, and write another;
or have in print as the common name, what we well know is not the common
name.

2. No other insect in the world has a trivial name better established than
the Hessian fly. Both it and the C. tritici will undoubtedly continue to be
common insects in this country, and very frequently spoken of. If one is
called the Hessian JJy, and the other the wheai-midge, every person not well
acquainted with this subject, will imbibe the idea that they are very different
insects, their names being so dissimilar; whereas, they are most closely allied
to each other.

3. It has often been remarked as a great desideratum, that the technical
and common names of species in natural history, should correspond with each

264* Insects Injurious to Vegetation. [Oct.,

we perceive is partially inclined to " follow in the footsteps — " &c.
In his volume of the present year, (p. 152,) the subjoined para-
graph occurs. "In the Farmer^ s Dictionary, it is recommended
" to seed early," as a preventive against injury from the wheat-
fly." Far be it from us to accuse our esteemed friend of misquot-
ing his author. But if he will look again into the work alluded
to, he will read under the title, " wheat midge or fly" that " early
or late sowing will do little towards saving a crop; " whilst un-
der the name "Hessian fly, occurs the unquestionably bad advice
to " sow early."

The scientific name, Cecidomyia destructor, bestowed upon this
species by Mr. Say, is the only one belonging to it, neither the
name Tipula tritici, nor Tipida vaginalis tritici having any le-
gitimate claims to be retained as synonyms. Mr. Say's name
might at first view be thought liable to criticism, as being in no
wise distinctive, many other species of Cecidomyians being also
destroyers. Yet this species is so preeminent in that particular,
as to throw the injuries inflicted by each of the others quite in
the back ground. We hence think it will be conceded that the
name is signally appropriate. Placed beside it, all its kindred
are mere depredators — this alone is the destroyer.

other; or, in other words, that the common names should in all cases where
practicable, be translations of the technical names. Cecidomijia tritici, liter-
ally rendered in English, is gall-fly of the wheat; but inasmuch as this species
does not produce galls, there is an obvious impropriety in retaining that word.
Wheat- fly thus becomes the most direct translation of the technical name, that
the habits of the insect admit of. No one will maintain that wheat-midge is
a translation.

But, inasmuch as the name Jly is bestowed upon such a vast host of in-
sects, of different families, and even different orders, we by no means disap-
prove of the attempt of recent English writers to bring the word midge into
current use, as a generic or family term for all the minute species of Tipulidae.

( 265 )

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

THE AMERICAN HERD BOOK,

Containing Pedigrees of Short Horned Cattle, to which is pre-
fixed a Concise History of English and American Short Horns.
Compiled froin the best authorities, by Lewis F. Allen. Buf-
falo, press of Jewett Thomas Sf Co. 1846, pp. 240.

This is the first American herd book which has been published,
and if books are commendable in proportion to their usefulness,
over and above all the entertainment they give, this certainly
merits a high eulogium. Breeders are not only benefitted by it,
but the whole community. The number of cattle will not proba-
bly be increased by a herd book, but a better kind will take the
place of the poorer, the benefits of which extend to all who con-
sume milk, butter, cheese, or beef.

We might say many things in commendation of this work.
We shall, however, be content with saying a few; for those who
know the author, know also that he was fully competent to pre-
pare this work, and make it what is essential to its usefulness, an
impartial and faithful history of this breed of cattle in this coun-
try. The time had come when a herd book should be made; it
could not be delayed much longer without detriment to this inte-
rest, and very few men in this country were qualified for this
task, and to perform this no one would unless he was an enthusi-
astic admirer of this kind of stock, for the task would be a dry
one as any one could see before hand. We believe therefore,
that Mr. Allen undertook the work from a conviction of its want,
and was urged on to it by an inherent love for the cattle. A
spice of enthusiasm runs through all its pages, without which no
one can perform a task creditably and usefully. It contains

No. VIIT. 8

266 JVew Publications. [Oct.,

much interesting history, and matter useful to any one who has
spirit enough to keep a cow of any breed; and the bare pictures
of the animals will be \vorth the cost of the book to any one who
wishes to study the good points of an animal. We really hope
the work finds as good a market as it deserves.

THE TREES OF AMERICA,

JVative and Foreign, Pidorially and Botanically delineated, and
Scientifically and Popularly described, etc.; illustrated by nu-
merous engravings. By D. I. Browne, author of the Sylvia
of Jirnerica. Mew York, Harper^ Brothers, 1846; large 8vo.
pp. 520.

This department of botany has not been cultivated in this coun-
try so much es it deserves. Interesting as a study, and useful in
many respects to all classes of men, it has notwithstanding been
neglected. Even the humble and less useful plants are much
better known, as they are more generally studied. The carices,
a coarse family of grasses, which can neither be used for warm-
ing oneself, nor to satisfy the calls of the stomach, nor to adorn
a door-yard, have been more talked about, and even studied, than
our oaks and pines. We do not know how this neglect has hap-
pened. Our ships are cut from the forest; the materials of our
dwellings were once stately trees; the comforts of the fireside
would be unknown without wood; the chairs upon which we
rest, together with the tables and furniture of our rooms, are
made from some of our fine native trees. Still many are ignorant
of the species of trees to which they are indebted for so many
comforts. The subject reminds us of an anecdote of a clever Scotch-
man who went to get a set of curly maple chairs made from
timber of his own raising, but finding his maples were not of the
right sort, declared he should have to cut one of his Loombardy pop-
lars for his chairs. So we think that many persons politically
and religiously intelligent, would be as likely to cut a Lombardy
poplar for chair timber as any other tree on their premises.

1846.] JVewj PuUicaiions. 267

However this may be, there is a want of information on the forest
and fruit trees. Some excuse may have been made on the ground
that a good treatise, one adapted to popular use, was wanting.
It is true that information has not been accessible till now. The
work of Micheaux is expensive, and never was intended for a
work for the people, and has never circulated in this country.
Mr, Brown's Silvia Americana we believe has not circulated very
extensively, and because a taste for the study of trees has not
been cultivated. Loudon's Arboretum Britannicum is also a
large expensive work, w^hich is rarely found in this country, ex-
cept in public libraries. Mr. Brown's work takes away all ex-
cuse for ignorance of our forest and fruit trees. It is a cheap
book for the information it contains, and moreover it is well exe-
cuted by the Harpers; the form, paper, and other points essential
to a good book, are found in this volume. The author has fol-
lowed Loudon very closely in his Arhoretum. He has given the
natural class to which the species belongs, and the generic and
specific distinctions; after which there is a general and popular
description of the tree and its varieties, (with the necessary cuts)
mode of culture and uses, to which is added its geography and
history, and its legendary tales' or history, which is often of an
interesting character. The work, aside from its practical value,
is entertaining, and is a book which may be read with pleasure by
the general student.

( 268 )

FARMERS' MISCELLANY.

ABSORBING AND RETENTIVE POWER OF SOILS.

The absorbing and retentive power of soils Jhr water, is in pro-
portion to the quantity of organic matters which they contain.

The question respecting the power by which soils absorb and
retain water is deemed by most experimental chemists as one
quite important. It has engaged the attention of many distin-
guished men, as Davy, Chaptal, and Boussingault. We are not
aware, however, that any of our agricultural writers and chemists
have determined the true grounds upon which the quantity of wa-
ter is either absorbed or retained. We engaged not long since in
a series of experiments, having for their object the determination of
those powers as they exist in the soils of New York. We made for
this purpose a selection of soils to test as far as possible the power
which the different elements of a soil absorb and retain water.
Amonp- these were specimens of sand as fine as it ever exists in the
fields; stiff clays, marls, or nearly pure carb. lime. To test still far-
ther the influence of vegetable matter on the power of soils to retain
and absorb water, the same specimens were dried and exposed
over night. They were weighed in the morning, and were found
to have absorbed each about seven grains of water. From all the
facts it appeared that clay, common soil, marl, etc., when their
vegetable matter, with which they are intimately combined, is
destroyed by ignition, they possess the same power of absorption,
or of absorbing water from the atmosphere, and also of retaining
water when thus moistened or wet. The results of these experi-
ments were corroborated by specimens of matter taken from a
marsh, which when thrown out upon dry land remained a month
or more wet and moist though exposed to the summer sun. This
substance was like pulp, homogeneous throughout, and when

1846.] Taking a Journeyman. 269

analyzed was found to contain from 85 to 90 per cent of vegeta-
ble matter. It differed from ordinary peat in being composed of
extremely fine vegetable matter.

These experiments demonstrate the importance of vegetable
organic matter in a soil not simply as material for food, but as
the principal means by which water is both absorbed and retained
in soils. Water stands in the same relation to plants as blood to
animals. Unless the seed can get water, it never germinates; if
the plant cannot get water it dies. All our sands contain consi-
derable vegetable matter, and so long as it exists in them they
are capable of absorbing moisture from the atmosphere, and hence
the reason why they produce crops unexpectedly, is owing partly
t3 this cause. Organic matter in combination with sand has
greater ability to absorb than when in combination with clay.
It has the advantage of drying too more rapidly for the same
reason.

The finer the organic matter in soils is, the better is the power
both of retention and absorption. This was manifested particu-
larly in the peaty matter referred to as being remarkably retentive
of water, which could be explained only on the ground of its ex-
treme fineness.

The good eifects of frequent hoeing and stirring the soil, is
explained on the principle that a fresh quantity of vegetable mat-
ter in the soil is exposed directly to the atmosphere. The im-
portance of a thorough incorporation of organic matter with soil
is another fact of importance. The supply of vegetable and other
organic matter must be obtained from peat beds and muck swamps,
whose importance will be found to increase daily.

TAKING A JOURNEYMAN.

James Allen and John Watson were apprenticed at the same
time to a wheelwright who constructed such instruments of loco-
motion as were used in the village of Carlton and its vicinity.

270 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

They were industrious and steady lads, and looked forward to a
life of independence to be secured by the labor of their hands.

During the progress of their apprenticeship, the village of
Carlton made great advancement in civilization and refinement.
In several parlours Turkey carpets took the place of those of do-
mestic manufacture, and cane-bottom chairs, of Windsor ones.

" Mother," said little Susan, " does it hurt boughten carpets
to keep the rooms shut up? "

" No, dear, vi^hat makes you ask such a question? "

" Because Mrs. B.'s front door is always open now, and it
did'nt use to be before she got her new carpet."

Mrs. B.'s front door opened into her parlour, and the house
stood so near the street as to enable every passer by to see the
new carpet.

There was a great rage for " boughten " things in general, as
well as carpets in particular in Carlton. A stray magazine by
some means found its way into the village, and led to divers
efforts to realize the picturesque ideas bodied forth by the speci-
men of the fine arts it contained, in the shape of a fashion plate.
Ere long there was an influx of young men with broadcloth coats,
who sat all day in Dr. Bollman's office learning to be doctors.
A considerable part of the process seemed to consist in making
tooth-picks of gcose-quills. It soon began to be regarded as
ungenteel for farmer's daughters to practice the art of milking:
those who were constrained to adhere to it, changed the hour of
practice to after dark. The word servant began to be used in
the village vocabulary, though its use was chiefly confined to
those house-keepers who had always done their own work, and
whose circumstances excluded all idea of change in that respect.

Thus the village was improving in refinement, and the ap-
prentices were improving in the art of making and mending
wagons. When the term of their apprenticeship had expired,
they were well acquainted with the business at their calling.

Just at this time their master died, and the village was without
a wheelwright. The young men concluded to remain and open

1846.] Taking a Journeyman. 271

each a shop, that no other member of the craft might be induced
to come in and illustrate the effects of competition.

Watson remained in the old shop, and Allen rented one direct-
ly opposite Dr. Bollman's o.'hce. Both of them had as much
work as they conveniently could do.

Allen had a decided taste for the society of the ladies in gene-
ral, and of one in particular He was a straight, fine looking fel-
low, appeared very well dressed on the Sabbath, and was, on the
whole, very well satisfied with the impression he made on the
beauties of the village.

As his shop was directly opposite Dr. Bollman's office, Allen
could not but observe the young men of broadcloth coats and
goose-quill tooth-picks, as often as he looked across the way.
He would have preferred more agreeable objects of contempla-
tion, but at first he did not care much about it. But soon other
facts forced themselves on his attention. The young ladies of
the village were seized with a great desire of walking, and while
giving indulgence to that desire, they always took the side of the
street nearest to Dr. Bollman's office, though the opposite side
was gravelled and shaded with elms. Perhaps they were afraid
that insects would drop on -their naked shoulders, from the
branches, if they ventured under them. These facts did not strike
Allen pleasantly, nor did the frequent walks which the young
doctors took with fair damsels hanging on their aims. When
Ellen Graham was seen with them, he was greatly troubled.

This broadcloth and nothing to do every day, was a bad thing
for him. On Sunday he had broadcloth on, and was a match for
the best of them; for the rules of proportion were not strictly ad-
hered to in the construction of any of their forms. But one day
to seven was a fearful odds to contend against.

Watson used to call at his friend's shop occasionally, but he
seldom staid long, because Allen always stopped working when
he was there. This was contrary to his own practice: he could
talk and work at the same time.

" Do you see those fellows over there? " said Allen to him one
day, as he called at the shop.

272 Farmer'' s Miscellany, [Oct.,

" Yes," replied Watson, looking for the first time into the door
of Dr. Bollraan's office, " what of them? "

" There is not much of them, but they trouble me some."

"How?"

" By their noise and nonsense."

" If I worked here I guess I should make about as much noise
as they do: at any rate I don't think I should take notice enough
of them to be disturbed by them."

During this colloquy, a singular biped entered the shop. He
was quite a natural historian, being familiar with the dwelling-
place of every mink, muskrat and ground-hog in the parish. He
could have destroyed them all in a week, but he was as careful
of them as if he were their acknowledged proprietor, killing only
the increase, thus keeping the original number good. His object
in visiting the shop was to get a wagon mended on credit. He
was never known to pay a debt but once, and that was by mis-
take.

He listened to the colloquy above recorded, and learned the
state of feeling on the part of Allen towards the young scions of
medicine. He took his cue from it, and proceeded as follows to-
wards the attainment of his object. " Them fellows will make
smart doctors over there, wont they? " said he to Allen, after
Watson had withdrawn.

"Why?" said Allen.

" Because they will be so full of knowledge through and
through. You see the place to stow away knowledge is the
head; now most people take it in at the eyes or ears, which are
hard by the stowing place, but them fellows take it in at the
toes, so that it runs clean through them. See them now, there
they are at it. The books is on the table, and their feet are on
the books. They are sitting in low chairs, so that the knowl-
edge entering their toes may run down into their heads. They
ought to take out a patent for their new mode of studying." I
have already remarked that he succeeded in getting his cart
mended upon credit.

Allen might now be seen occasionally towards the evening of

1846.] Taking a Journeyman. 273

week days with his Sunday clothes on; and by this means he re-
gained his standing with the fair of the village. Ellen walked
with him several times, and passed Dr. Bollman's office without
looking in at the open door. His visits to her became frequent,
and it began to be whispered that they were engaged, or soon
would be.

They were in truth nearer to it than would be inferred, from a
remark made by Ellen to a friend, who, soon after his visits be-
gan to grow frequent, complimented her on the good looks of her
future husband. " Do you think," said she, " that I would marry
a wagon-maker? If I ever marry, I will marry a gentleman."

What a pity that Allen did not hear the remark! It would
have saved his broadcloth and his time to say the least.

Ellen's feelings ere long became to be so much interested, that
she began to wish that Allen was a gentleman. She next began
to speculate on the possibility of making him one. Finally she
concluded that it would do to marry him if he would keep a
journeyman, and call himself a carriage-maker.

She succeeded in communicating to him the idea of a journey-
man. He was willing to put it into execution; but he desired
to have the sanction of his fellow-craftsman's example. Accord-
ingly he went to see him for the purpose of sounding him on the
subject. He found him with a very large amount of work on
hand. •

" Why dont you engage a journeyman? " said Allen.

" I have one engaged," replied Watson.

"A good one? "

" First rate in ray way of thinking."

He spoke of himself, but his friend misunderstood him. He
resolved to follow at once his supposed example. He engaged a
journeyman from a neighboring township. In consequence Ellen
was more gracious, and he was tempted to put on his Sunday
clothes more frequently.

The journeyman was the very beau ideal and prince of a jour-
neyman. He was able and willing to do every thing. He felt
a far deeper interest in the prosperity of the shop than its owner

274 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

did. It was plain that with such a journeyman Allen might ab-
sent himself, and the business receive not the slighest detriment.
He thought so at least, and acted accordingly. He went to see
Ellen nearly every afternoon. He went with her to call on the
young ladies of the village. He met with the young doctors and
was invited to the office. He accepted the invitation and was
very graciously received. They sent for a large quantity of
beer just for his sake, and when the boy waited for the pay, they
made great efforts to get their hands out of their pockets to pre-
vent him paying for it, but without success.

In the mean time the journeyman had the shop pretty much to
himself. He accordingly varied his employment. A large part
of his time was spent in extracting diverse noises from a cracked
fife, with interludes of whistling occasionally, by way of relaxa-
tion he would use the axe or saw.

One day Allen was sitting by the window in Mr. Graham's
front room conversing with Ellen in a very interesting manner,
when Mr. Graham passing by the window remarked — " I've just
been down to your shop to get my wagon mended, but you were
not there."

Now this was a very simple statement of fact, but our shrewd
rough farmers sometimes convey a great deal of meaning in a few
simple words. Thus did Mr. Graham on this occasion.

" My journeyman will mend it," said Allen in reply to Gra-
ham's remark.

" No he won't, he aint there."

" I guess he has gone to ride: he will do it in the morning."

« No he won't."

" If you are in a hurry, I will do it myself to oblige you."

" I don't want it done to oblige," and he passed on. Allen
looked uncomfortable.

" Papa is cross and tired," said Ellen, " never mind it."

Allen did mind it and soon withdrew, deeming it expedient to
go and mend the wagon, which he supposed was left at his shop.
He did not find it there. He then went to Watson's where he
found it.

4f

1846.] Taking a Journeyman. 275

" When did Graham say he must have his wagon done," said
he to Watson.

" He said any time in the course of the week would do," was
the reply.

W^hen Graham went with his broken vehicle to Allen's shop
and found it closed, he went on to Watson's and found him hard
at work. " Well young man," said he, " I am glad to see you
stick to your business. It is the only way to thrive."

" It's the only w^ay for me," said Watson, not stopping his
work for a moment.

" It is the only way for any body. You hold on to that creed
and you will do well enough. But it is a creed which is going
out of fashion pretty fast."

" When must you have your w^agon? "

"Any time during the week wall do."

" Come for it on Saturday theft if that will suit you."

" Just as well as any way."

On Saturday he came for the wagon. "All right," said he, as
he examined it, and having paid for the repairs, he drove off.
Pretty soon he stopped and looked upon the ground as if in a
brown study: he then drove on again, but soon stopped and
walked back to the shop.

" If you want any money for any stock or any thing," said he
to Watson, " I have a hundred dollars or so which I have no use
for."

" I can't think of paying interest on money if I can possibly
get along without it, and I don't see but that I can."

" Don't Gibson want to sell you this shop? "

"Yes, and he charges me a high rent to make me buy; but I
w^on't run in debt."

" That is the right doctrine to thrive by, and I ought not lead
such a man as you into debt; but bless your heart do you think
that I would take interest of a man who is trying to do what you
are? When I see a man trying to get along in the right way,
and is not above his business, I like to give him a lift. I've an

276 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

interest in seeing industrious, honest, prudent men get along well.
What does he ask for the shop? "

" Two hundred dollars."

" How much have you? "

"About a hundred."

" How much charged? "

"About a hundred more; but it is not safe to get in debt on the
strength of that."

•' I know it; but you go and bargain for the shop and come to
me for the hundred."

" My old fellow-apprentice will want to buy a shop," said
Watson with a knowing look.

" What does he want a shop for? To get another journeyman
to fiddle in? I shall expect to see you before long. Good day."

From this time Allen's visits became less frequent at Graham's
and ere long ceased altogether. *

In a week or two Graham was again at Watson's shop. " Why
hav'nt you been along ? " said he.

" I concluded it was'nt best to buy till I could pay down: but
I'm much obliged to you for your kind offer."

" What is the reason it is'nt best, when you are paying twen-
ty-five dollars rent for what you can buy for two hundred? "

" It is only waiting a little longer and working a little harder,
and I can bring it about myself. Since you were here I have
had some paid in, and I have several good jobs under way. By
working nights through the summer, in the fall I can buy it and
pay for it, and owe nobody. Just as much obliged to you though
as if I had the money from you."

" You've got the real republican grit in you. You would do
for governor, and I'll vote for you yet: you can't hinder me from
doing that."

In the fall the shop was bought and paid for, and from time to
time small parcels of lumber were collected and neatly piled up
on the premises. In a year's time, a small framed house went
up; and while it was being finished, a little black-eyed girl who
had worked for Mrs. Washburn for several years, might be seen

1846.] Fruit and Fruit Trees of Yates County. 277

now and then at the store, buying crockery, sheeting, &c., and
at the cabinet maker's ordering a bureau, and tables, and chairs.
These were paid for out of her wages. When the house was
finished and paid for, she became a joint occupant of it with
Watson, and people called her Miss Watson.

If you had visited the village ten years afterwards, you would
have found the house enlarged and handsomely furnished, and
occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Watson, and several young Watsons
male and female.

Old Mr. Graham had voted for Watson, not for governor, but
for member of congress, and had the satisfaction of knowing that
his vote was not thrown away. When he was declared elected,
the old man remarked, " I'm pretty well satisfied with a country
that will put forward men like that. He never had a journey-
man in his life: he has always done his own work, and he'll do
it now in congresss, you see if he don't."

FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES OF YATES COUNTY.

BY S. B. BUCKLEY.

As climate has an important influence on the productions of a
country, especially its fruits, a few remarks on the climate of this
county will be given. Yates county is situated in 42 deg. 30 m.
north latitude, and its longitude is nearly the same as that of
Washington city. The Seneca and Crooked lakes, both of which
lie partly within the borders of this county, have an important
bearing on its climate. The Seneca lake, whose Indian name
was Canesaga, signifying beautiful water, is truly a beautiful
sheet of water, which owing to its great depth, and to its being
fed probably by springs, is never frozen over, and steam boats
ply on its surface during the winter. Fruit trees near the lake
bloom at least a week or ten days sooner than those which are
situated ten or twelve miles distant; also the wheat harvest com-
mences about two weeks before the harvest of many sections fif-
teen to twenty-five miles from the lake; so that laborers frequently

278 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

come from those parts and assist us through harvest, previous to
cutting their own crops. With us the wheat harvest generally
begins about the middle of July, but this season, which was
unusually early, wheat was cut on the 9th of that month.
Deep snows are uncommon, snow rarely falling to a depth of
more than a foot, and a large portion of the winter the ground is
nearly bare. The last winter was uncommonly severe, the snow
falling on the night of the 14th and morning of the 15th of Feb-
ruary to the depth of nearly three feet. This lasted until the
3d of March, when thawing commenced under the warm sun,
raising to life flies, and other insects of the diptera order. On
the 4th the snow was reduced to about a foot in depth, and on
the 10th spiders made their appearance, the sun being pleasant
and warm. Small spots of earth becoming visible. The 13th
the ground was bare, excepting w^here the snow had been
drifted. The snow went off so sudden, accompanied by heavy
rains, as to cause large floods on all the streams, which did
much damage in many places. On the 14th the blue birds
(Silvia sialis, Wilson) made their appearance, they being among
the feathered race with us the first harbingers of spring. The
next day brought the red-winged starling, (Sturniis predatorius)
accompanied by the friendly robins [Turdus mig7'atorius). The
20th several species of sparrows arrived, and plowing commenced
among farmers. On the 24th many insects were in motion, and
a family of caterpillars were in life upon an apple tree. For the
month of March 1846, the mean barometer was 29.3 1

Max. alt., 29.74
Min. alt., 28.75

Mean thermometer, 36.67

Max. alt., - - 61

Min. alt., - - - 6

Rain, 1.81.

Jlpril 1st. Meadow larks [Sturnus ludovicianus), turtle doves

Columha carolinensis), king fishers {Jllcedo alcyon), made their

appearance, and the pools of water were noisy with the croaking

frogs. The 4th the alder and maple w^ere in full bloom, also the

1846.] Fruit and Fruit Trees of Yates Comity. 279

blue flowers of liverwort [Hepatica triloba), and the bloodroot
(^Sanguinaria canadensis), began to appear in the woods. The
9th the grass began to wear a o-ieenish hue, elra trees were in
blossom and the barn swallow [Hirundo rufa) arrived, bull frogs
spawned, and black ants were busy. On the 12th snow fell suf-
ficient to cover the ground, but soon disappeared, and on the 15th
grass was sufficiently abundant to dispense with foddering, cattle
and sheep had required little hay since the first of April. The
21st apricot trees in bloom, also the American amber, bigereaux,
and mayduke cherries. The 24th the wild cherry [Cerasus vir-
ginianus) was in bloom, and willow leafing out. The 28th there
was a heavy frost, and ice formed on water; the sugar-maple and
ash putting out their leaves. The 30th, plum and peach trees in
bloom, also the dandelion and pigeon weed^Lithospermum ai-vense).
During the past month, the sowing of spring wheat, barley, oats,
and flax has been done, so that farmers are generally ready to
prepare their ground for planting corn. The mean barometer for
the past month is - - - 29.46
Max. alt, - - 29.80
Min. alt, - - 29

Mean thermometer, - 47.63
' Max. alt., . . - 78

Min. alt., ... 23
Rain, 94.

May 9th. Pear and apple trees were blossoming, and the
woods began to assume a green appearance. On the 21st there
was a frost, but not sufficient to do any damage. The 25th red
clover began to bloom, being earlier than usual, so that farmers
began to cut clover on the 15th June, about ten days before the
usual time. Mean barometer for the month of May, 29.27
Maximum altitude, - - .29.55
Minimum altitude, ... 28.82
Rain, 1.54.

The mean temperature of June 1845 was the same as that of
June 1846. In 1845 the first frost sufficient to kill potato tops

280 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

was Oct. 18th, and now, Oct. 5, 1846, we have had but a very
slight frost, not sufficient to kill buckwheat. There are probably
few portions of the United States that are more favorable to the
cultivation of fruit than this section. We have a great and de-
cided advantage over the southern and western states, wath re-
spect to frost, which often kills the fruit in those states. During
three years which I spent in the state of Alabama, frost killed the
peaches, so that we had no fruit two years of the three. The
fruit crop there was so very uncertain, that very little attention
was paid to its cultivation. It often happens that the warm
weather in February will cause the peach trees to bloom, and af-
terwards a cold spell in March blasts the fruit, and in large por-
tions of the western states the same circumstance often occurs,
though at a later period in the season. Through the southern
range of counties in this state, namely, in Allegany, Steuben,
Chemung, Tioga, &c., fruit is very uncertain on account of its
being nipped in the bud by frost, and I presume the same is true
throughout the mountainous region of Pennsylvania. From
which it will be seen that our fruit growers have little to dread
from competition, should they turn their attention to the raising
of apples for export. Here apples, pears, peaches, plums, cher-
ries and quinces grow in great perfection. Of apples the most
common grafted kinds are the greening, called by some the Rhode
Island greening, and said to be different by others who are ac-
quainted with the New England apple. With us it is an excel-
lent winter apple, and a good keeper, being easily preserved un-
til July. The Newtown pippin is cultivated by some, and here
ranks as a second rate apple, and hence by many it is considered
unworthy of cultivation. The Roxbury russet is fast coming into
extensive cultivation, though as yet we have but few bearing
grafts of this apple. The northern spy is fast coming into culti-
vation, and deservedly ranks among the first of our apples, both
for its late keeping, fair size, and agreeable flavor; it being the
best for eating during the month of May. The Baldwin apple
begins to attract attention, yet it is so rare that it is rather diffi-
cult to obtain grafts for insertion. The Spitzenburgs are exten-

1846.] Fruit and Fruit Trees of Yates County. 281

sive]y cultivated, and general favorites. The Talman sweeting
ranks among the best of our winter sweet apples. The yellow
swar is also cultivated and much esteemed. We have the wine
apple, which is an excellent fruit, and the Vandervere. There is
also an apple much esteemed by many called the cat head, but
different from the one described by Downing. Besides which
there are several species not mentioned in Downing's work,
which are much prized by many. Such as the King apple, dif-
ferent from the one named in the Fruits and Fruit Trees of
America, of which fine specimens were at the State fair. There
is an apple much esteemed in Canandaigua and vicinity, called
the Lacker apple. This is a seedling which is said to have ori-
ginated in the garden of a Mr. Antis of that village. It is a good
keeper, of the medium size, is subacid, and has a very fine flavor.
The land-oflSce apple is a favorite with many. This sprung from
trees planted by a Mr. Williamson, a Scotchman, and agent for
the Poultney estate, who planted them in the vicinity of Bath,
Steuben county, from which they have been introduced here.
They are of medium size, very smooth, tinged with red on one
side, juicy, slightly tart, and keep till May.

The apple-tree borer (^Saperda bivittata), has made sad havoc, to
such an extent as in some places to destroy more than half the
trees in a few orchards; however this is among careless farmers
who have suffered the insects to prey with impunity upon their
trees, while others, by destroying the insect while committing its
depredations have preserved their trees without any material
injury.

Of pears, the variety cultivated here is not near so great as it
should be — the pear tree with us being more hardy than the
apple. The harvest pear, vergalieu, butter, seckle, beurri, dick,
brown beurri, bon chretien, and several others which I am unable
to name. Our pear trees are little subject to d sease, there being
many trees in the county upwards of forty years old, maintaining
a youthful freshness and vigor.

Of the principal varieties of plums cultivated, the first and
most numerous are the green and yellow gages, blue gage, blue

No. VIII. 9

282 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

damson, West Bolmar, Washington, magnum bonum, yellow egg,
Flushing gage, and imperial gage.

The cuiculio is very troublesome in many sections, sometimes
destroying the entire crop. I have found the most effectual reme-
dy against the ravages of this insect is to let hogs run among the
trees during the early part of summer. The trees in many sec-
tions are much injured by the knots or black gum. In some
places the trees are entirely destroyed; however the growing in-
telligence among farmers and gardeners will probably soon stop
the farther spread of the disease.

There has been little attention paid to cherries among a large
proportion of the farmers in this county. The Kentish, or com-
mon red cherry, the black heart, and black mazzard being the
kinds generally cultivated. In addition to these, the mayduke,
yellow Spanish, black Tartarian, American amber, bigareau, car-
nation, white bigareau, black eagle and Elton, are fast coming
into notice.

The most common peaches cultivated, are the red and yellow
rareripe, and still more common than the preceding are several
inferior sorts, which ripen about the first of October. Within
the last two or three yeajs, thousands and tens of thousands of
peach trees, embracing the best kinds, have been transplanted.
I think that with proper cultivation the peach will be one of our
best as well as most abundant fruits. It certainly attains a high
flavor, and the trees are little subject to disease. I have bearing
trees which were planted by my father at least twenty-five years
ago. The Isabella grape succeeds well, and bears abundant
crops. I have seen branches loaded with fruit, which took root
and grew the present season from the extremities of the old
branches which had been bent down last spring and buried in the
soil.

There is a great and growing attention to the cultivation of
fruit among farmers and those who have land enough for a gar-
den. This affords good business for the nurserymen, who are
stimulated by the increased demand to obtain new varieties.
When we reflect how much the happiness of a family may be in-

1846.] Black Hawk, 283

crea'-ed by having an abundance of the choice varieties of our
different fruits, it is strange that every body does not strive to ob-
tain such comforts and luxuries when it can be done -with a little
trouble and a little expense. Yet still we have farmers who will
send to their neighbors to get plums, peaches, quinces, and other
fruits, for preserving and other use; though for the honor of our
country the number becomes less every year.

jYote. For the meteorological observations in the foregoing
article, I am indebted to my neighbor J. Tremper.

BLACK HAWK.

We recently had an opportunity to study the peculiar excel-
lencies of this horse. Mr. How^ard of the Cultivator first called
the attention of the public in this quarter to him as a valuable
stock horse; and w^e now feel bound to say, that the recommend-
ations of this good judge of horses was by no means exaggerated,
in our opinion — which we add as a suffix, to satisfy the captious,
for undoubtedly one's own opinion is his own right. Notwith-
standing the suffix, we feel justified in going farther, and saying,
that Mr. Howard's account of the horse falls short of the true and
absolute, as psychologists might say. Not that the gentleman
did not fully appreciate the horse's excellencies, but was fearful
that if his statement came up to the mark, it would be considered
an exaggeration. We care nothing, however, for such charges;
hence boldly say, that he is the best horse north of Mason and
Dixon's line; and we have no particular objection to crossing
that line: and thus you have it in full. Believe or not believe, as
you choose, it is all one to us; and we shall add no suffix as
above. When you see a horse \vhich is so near perfection, in
shape, size, bottom, intelligence, kindness, speed, and stock, that
you cannot see where it is to be mended, it is time to begin to
say that he is the best animal on trotters. He is dignified in his
demeanor, noiseless in his calls of reception, gentle in his beha-

284 Farmers^ Miscellany. [Oct.,

vior to strangers, graceful in his step under an easy rein, but the
signal given, and his rush is like the eagle upon his prey.

In the Cultivator his figure has the following defects: back a
little too concave or hollowy, chest less capacious, neck less high
at base, tail too slim and less hairy at the insertion, lower jaw
too prominent near the base. A slight cut or hollow in the
flank, which does not exist in the original. Yet it is as given, one
of the best figures of a horse which we have lately seen; but
those defects are perceptible with the figure and horse before you.

Some may say he has not size; but it is time to begin to dis-
card excess of shanks, and belly, and bone. Black Hawk is a
true breed, so it proves in his stock. His power is based upon
his chest. His hoofs are perfect, and made of a material which
holds the shoe to the last. He is owned by Mr. N. H. Hill, Boston,
but is kept upon the premises of D. Hill of Bridport, Vt., a gen-
tleman who fully appreciates his qualities.

HORSE STEALING.

Great complaint is expressed by the whole community at the
west, of the horse thieves w' ho infest the country. It is stated
that as many as twenty horses have been stolen in Kane county,
Illinois, alone. This fact shows the magnitude of the evil, and
its real extent; though probably the case of Kane county pre-
sents it in an extreme; but it shows the full extent of the liability
of the inhabitants to this kind of depredation. A remedy has been
proposed by a wTiter in the Prarie Farmer. While we are ready
to coincide with this gentleman in his views of the sin and
rascality of this species of theft, wx are -not ready to go with
him in his mode of punishment. We are not ready to return to
the old mode of punishment, that of death, for stealing even a
poor man's horses, as cruel, unfeeling, shabby and mean as it is.
We need not state the principal reason, as it lies in our own
mind, for dissenting from the writer in the remedy he proposes, it

1846.] Horse Stealing. 285

will take too much room. But we will state this, that we have
no confidence in the punishment of death as a means of deterring
from crime. If death was certain to overtake the individual for
his theft, then it would undoubtedly operate effectually as a bar
to the crime. The certainty of punishment to the extent of the
law, is a more effectual means for preventing crime. If the
thief, when convicted, was sure of being deprived of his liber-
ty for ten years, without the prospect of a pardon, it would
operate as effectually as the punishment of death, to deter
from horse stealing. We would advise to this course. Let
farmers form themselves into clubs for the detection of horse
thieves, and post up through the country, bills, advising the
community of their determination to bring to justice thieves of
this description.

When detected, let not the punishment exceed the bounds of
justice, but let a part, and the first part of the business of the
thief be to pay up from his earnings at some work, the expense
of catching him and value of the horses, if not recovered, or if
recovered, the damages they have sustained; let him pay up
those bills to the owner out of the sweat of his brow. This
will do him good — he will feef better for it — he will pay one
debt and will learn the cost. After this matter is settled up
with the injured party, let the state punish him for a violation
of the law. By this order of proceeding, we do not mean to
convey the idea that individual wrong is greater than public
wrong, or the violation of wholesome laws, but the party in-
jured is put first, because he is less able to w^ait for his pay.

We have always felt that the principle of paying up obliga-
tions of this kind have been greatly overlooked by legislators;
they have looked merely to the satisfaction of the law of the
state, while the individual sufferer is left unprovided for. For
instance, if a horse is stolen the owner must incur considerable ex-
pense to recover it at any rate. Now the uncertainty of success
in pursuit, and the certainty that nothing can be obtained at
best, for the property, is a discouraging feature in the case. But
if along with the prospect of recovering the property and the

286 Farmers* Miscellany. [Oct.,

thief, he could feel that after due time, he would have th^
means furnished of paying his expenses, and the loss of property
as in any other case of damage, it would greatly aid in an ef-
fectual and persevering pursuit, especially if means could be
furnished in case of their want by individuals. We think then,
if a thief when he enters upon his first punishment understood that
his first business was to pay up for the injury done to the party,
it would do him more good than hanging him; it would effect what
we want, that is, not the punishment of the individual, but to deter
stealing. We know, however, the imbecility of law, the perver-
sity of the heart, and the great diflEiculty of providing for the
administration of the law, and the want of human success in
overcoming and subduing the latter. Still we know that ex-
cess of punishment or provision for it in the law is injurious,
we know that many of the crimes committed upon society are
due to the customs prevailing and sanctioned by society; and
so long as this is the case, let society keep on the side of jus-
tice, avoiding the appearance of cruelty or severity in all cases.
When wealth and outward show, as it is in this country, is a
passport to society, when misfortune, which deprives one of
this passport, without regard to merit or integrity, is so com-
mon, we can hardly expect the community to be rid of thieves
and dishonest persons.

FENCING.

We have rarely given advice about fencing. The truth is we
have lived where stone and rails are plenty, and have not expe-
rienced the evils arising from scarcity of materials. We are sa-
tisfied that the kind of fence which is best and most profitable
must be determined by circumstances. Stone fence in one case
is the cheapest and best; in another, chesnut or ash rails; in an-
other, board fence; and in another still, a ditch and hedge, or
wire fence. If an ornamental fence is wanting, other questions

1846.] Fencing. 287

arise than those which spring from necessity. The important
question in fencing is to meet certain conditions. A lence of
some kind must be had, and a farmer's duty is to decide what is
best for each particular case. Where timber or stone is scarce,
a ditch with a low board fence might answer and serve until a
hedge of poplar and thorn intermixed has grown. The poplar
grows rapidly, and so does the button-wood. The truth is, that
many of our common trees, if properly headed down, wall make
quite a respectable hedge or foundation of a barrier. Hence
shrubs or trees of a rapid growth, especially those which are
hardy, and bear bending and cutting, may be selected for that
purpose.

It may not be uninteresting in this connection to give the
names and properties of the different trees and shrubs which have
been employed for hedges. Those which have taken the highest
rank are the thorns, of which there are a number of species. The
genus of plants to which these belong, is the cratsegus, a name
derived from the Greek kratos, strength. The advantages which
the thorns possess are these; they are long-lived, may be raised
easily from seed or by grafting or budding, and may be cultivat-
ed on any soil which has a tolerable depth; they are hardy and
grow with considerable vigor, and may be trained in any way to
suit the designs and wants of the cultivator. They are all shrubs
or low trees, and if left to themselves have symmetrical, spread-
ing branches, a neat small trunk, and comparative!}' a wide-spread
flat head; making a fine, close shade. The beauty of the cateegus
when in flower or fruit, is worthy of attention. The foliage is
always fine. The wood is very hard and compact.

The most common thorn is the Cratagus crus-galli, a low but
beautiful tree when left to grow by itself. It attains the height
of twenty feet in woods and favorable open grounds; though in
the latter situation it is more depressed and spreading, and forms
by itself a more picturesque object. It is found from Canada to
Florida. It is well known that its branches are formidable from
the abundance of sharp, stiflf" spines, which stand out from its
branches, and which seem to say, " hands off"." The leaves are
of a deep green, somewhat glossy above, but dull beneath. It

288 Farmers^ Miscellany. [Oct,

flowers in April or May, and bears in early autumn a small scar-
let fruit, which sometimes gives the tree a beautiful appearance.
Another Crataegus, which has been esteemed for hedges, is the
Washington thorn (C concordata), the disk of whose leaves are
cordate, ovate, with angular lobes. It has a close, compact head.
It grows from fifteen to twenty feet high, and prefers the rocky
banks of streams. It flowers about the first of July, and forms a
terminal corvmb, which in the end bear a small, flattish, globose
fruit, of a bright purple color. It is said to have been first culti-
vated by Mr. ^lain, of Georgetown, in the District of Columbia.
It may be cultivated in all parts of the Union, from New York to
Georgia.

A smaller tree of this genus, growing also throughout the
United States, is the C. punctata. Leaves are obovate, wedge-
form, glabrous above, and serrated; fioiit dull-red, dotted, plea-
sant taste, and fall with leaves.

Thorns, as already stated, may be cultivated in one or all of
the modes which have been from time to time pursued. It is ne-
cessary, however, if it is determined to form a hedge, to raise the
plants from seed, by the same practice as that which is pursued
in raising the apple or pear. When the plant is three years old,
it may be taken up, and from the roots of a single plant from ten
to twelve cuttings may be obtained. The cuttings which have
been obtained, and which ought to be four inches long, may be
planted in rows eighteen inches apart, with the thick end up-
wards, projecting from the ground one-quarter or one-half inch,
and about four inches from each other. They must be well fas-
tened in the ground, and the dirt well pressed upon them. This
mode of propagation operates like grafting, or budding, in secur-
ing the peculiar property' of the individual, either as it regards
fruit or spines.

Hawthorn (C oxyacantha), sharp-thorned Crataegus, common
hawthorn. This is the common hedge thorn of England; it
grows thirty feet high, and those of fifty feet are said to occur.
The leaves are glossy and lobed; flowers white, small, and fra-
grant; the fruit red, yellow, and sometimes black. It has ap-
peared under many varieties, among which form, color, and tint

1S45.] Fencing. 2S9

have become as various as among all domesticated trees. It is
raised from seed, which do not appear until the second year. It
requires a dry rich soil, and though it will orrow upon one which
is moist, yet it is stunted and is covered with lichens. The seed
requires to be dead ripe. These are called haws. The plant
may be raised from the roots of old trees, when they require to
be removed. In commencingr a thorn hedge it is a common prac-
tice to make a ditch and plant seed upon its border. Burton, an
ancient author, in his Five Hundred Points,of Good Husbandry,
is sufficiently explicit in his directions for making a hedge.

" Go plow or delve up. advised with skill,
The breadth of a ridge, and in length as voa will,
When spee !y quickset for a fence you will draw,
So sow in the seed of the bramble and haw."

Privet (^Ligustrum vulgure), common privet. This is a shrub
of f.om six to ten feet high. It is indigenous to Britain and Ire-
land. It grows also in this countr}". Its leaf is glabrous, eliptic-
lanceolate; flowers in white racemes, sweet scented; fruit a berry,
pu/ple; flowers in June and July. There are several varieties,
the white, yellow and green privet. Wood white, hard, and of-
ten fit for turning. It is a line plant for hedging, easily culti-
vated, but does best in a rich, moist loam. It is hardy, and re-
sists injuries which would happen to many other plants if grow-
incr under a dripping surface, as under the dropping of shady
trees and buildings, walls, &.c. It is a fine plant for concealing
naked walls, and other places which we may wish to conceal in
frequented grounds. Single trees may be formed by proper trim-
ming, by which they acquire a handsome head.

Buckthorn (Rhamus cafharticus), is a large shrub, or per-
haps a small, low tree, attaining a height under cuhivation, of
fifteen feet. Its specific name, catharticus, expresses its medi-
cinal properties. It has an ovate leaf, lightly toothed. Its fruit
is a bluish-black globular berry, with four seeds, succeeding a
yellowish-green flower, which appears in May and June. The
seeds are ripe in October, and remain on the tree after the leaves
have faUen. It is an exotic, but has become naturalized in Mas-

290 Farmers^ Miscellany. [Oct.,

sachusetts and New-York, and has been cultivated principally as
an ornamental shrub. It may be reared from the seed, or from
cuttings and layers. The situation in which it thrives best, is a
rich, moist soil, and where it may be rather shaded; but it still
grows and even thrives where currants can be cultivated. It is
highly recommended for hedges; and when designed for this pur-
pose, plants one year old are set in a row, nine inches apart;
this may be done in spring or autumn. The next spring, if set
in autumn, the plants may be clipped within six or seven inches
of the ground, for the purpose of obtaining a thick bottom. The
plants require to be kept free from weeds, and to be clipped once
a year. No plant bears this operation better, and it may be bent
into arches for arbors, or cut into any fantastic, whimsical shape,
which the ingenuity of the gardener may devise. Young plants
are tenacious of life, and hence bear transplanting and transport-
ation remarkably well. It has been trimmed in mid-winter,
without sensible injury, but had better be trimmed according to
the experience of Mr. Derby, in June, as then the hedge recovers
its beauty in a short time.

Berberris (^Berberris vulgaris). A prejudice prevails in regard
to this plant, on the ground that it is a ge minator of rust and
mildew. The prejudice is without doubt entirely unfounded and
unjust. So long as it exists, however, it is a bar to its cultiva-
tion. Mr. Buckley of West Dresden, Yates county, informs us
that he is satisfied from personal observation that no reason for
the prejudice exists. It is unfortunate that it should, as it is a
fine, valuable shrub, produces a useful fruit and is well adapt-
ed for hedges. The barberry grows from ten to twenty feet high,
in many places on Long Island. It is upright in its growth,
with obovate ciliate leaves, or ciliate serrate. It has a yellow
blossom in May and June, on racemes, something like the cur-
rant, and in the autumn oval, red, acid berries, excellent for pre-
serves. Varieties exist as to the plant and the fruit it bears. It
may be easily propagated by seeds and suckers. It requires but
little culture, and it grows rapidly, so that in six or eight years
it has attained nearly its destined height. Its arrangement and

1846.] Fencing. 291

culture for hedges requires no peculiar management. To produce
large fruit it requires a deep rich soil, and its fruits should be
thinned. It prefers a mild maritime climate, but grows tolerably
well in the mountain towns of New England.

Shepherdia (^Hippophce argentea), buffalo tree, or bush. This
is a beautiful, hardy, native shrub, of a rather unsymmetrical
form in a state of nature. It attains the height of fifteen feet,
with rather a narrow top; but cultivation gives it symmetry and
a more rounded form, and rather pendulous branches. The leaves
are long, narrow, oval and obtuse, and covered with silvery scales;
male and female flowers grow on separate shrubs. Berry scarlet,
subacid and pleasant. It is found as far north as Saskatchewan,
according to Richardson, or latitude 54. It was found by Nutall
on the borders of the La Platte and Missouri. It grows on the
Genesee at Rochester, and is quite abundant in Jefferson county,
on the banks of the lakes. It is cultivated on the grounds of
Messrs Winship, near Boston. In this vicinity it is cultivated in
hedges. It is propagated easily from seeds, or by cuttings or
suckers. It bears the knife well, and is not attacked by insects
or subject to diseas-"". We deem this plant an excellent one for
western or prairie hedges. If kept down by cutting, it becomes
close and compact. For ornament it is well worthy of attention;
its silvery green leaf and scarlet berries, give it a very pleasing
appearance.

American Holly (^Ilex opaca), is a tree, which under the most
favorable circumstances may reach the height of seventy or eighty
feet; but ordinarily it is not over half that height. It grows in
Massachusetts, near Boston, which may be regarded as its north-
ern limit. It is found south as far as Louisiana; preferring, it
would seem, a maritime region to an inland mountainous one.
It is an evergreen, with oval notched, acute leathery leaves; per-
haps the leaves may be more properly termed scalloped, and
spiny on their edges. Branches that are a year old bear in May
and June a whitish flow^er, and subsequently round scarlet berries
which remain till into winter. It is an ornamental tree, with
hard wood, susceptible of a polish. In consequence of its mari-

292 Farmers^ Miscellany, [Oct.,

time preferences, it is probably not well adapted to the prairies
of the west.

Juniper (Juniperus virginiana). This tree so far as we know
has been rarely if ever cultivated for hedges. It is, however,
employed for borders, for which it is well adapted, as it grows
thick and compact, and forms a handsome green impervious mass.
It delights in dry sunny hill sides, underlaid by limestone or slate,
but still grows vigorously on almost any soil, sandy, loamy, or
argillaceous. When growing spontaneously by itself, it often
sends out long, slightly curved branches at base, which shortens
upwards, so as to terminate in a point, which form the apex of a
perfect cone. Many such trees may be seen upon the Hudson,
upon the dry banks near Coeyrnans and New Baltimore. In a
landscape, the form may be too mathematical for picturesque ef-
fect; still it is a beautiful object, and is well adapted for pleasure
grounds and rural scenery. It grows to the height of thirty feet
and more, but belongs to the smaller class of forest trees; when
young, it is less symmetrical, and the leafyness is more open and
spinous than the older trees. From the seed it attains the height
of two feet or thirty inches in about three years. It does not bear
transplanting so well as many trees shrubs; when young, however,
there is no difficulty in transplanting it. The advantages of this
tree for a hedge, is that it sends out long, strong branches below,
which when interwoven, form an impenetrable barrier to hogs,
and all sorts of cattle.

Lombardy poplar. A writer in the September number of the
Prairie Farmer, recommends this tree for hedges. It is made from
cuttings set nine or ten inches apart, and as it is a tree which
grows rapidly, it is supposed will form a fence in a few years,
which will resist cattle. It must have been remarked, however,
that this poplar appears best when young, that" it is rather a weak
tree or breaks easily, and is liable to early decay. Still, it may
be possible to make a fence of it, we shall be glad to see it turned
to some good account at last. The willow would undoubtedly
form an equally good hedge, and have the same recommendation,
that of growing fast. In the poplar, we suppose it is designed

1846.] Fencing. 293

to plant the slips so near together, that the trunks of the future
trees will become the main barrier to cattle. It then operates as
strong stakes driven into the ground.

We have described very briefly in the foregoing pages the most
important trees which are cultivated for hedges. As different
parts of the United States differ in climate, soil, and other cir-
cumstances, it is important to ascertain what kinds may be re-
garded as best adapted to a given section of country. We can-
not state so clearly as we wush, the facts bearing upon the matter,
but observation has supplied us with a few, which may be useful
to some of our readers. In New England and New York there
is little necessity of planting hedges. A farmer may or he may
not; materials for fencing are sufficiently abundant and accessible
to supply the demands. It may, however, become a matter of
taste, and hence the inquiry will arise, what plant is sufficiently
hardy and at the same time ornamental to meet the case. In the
first place it is proper to say, that a hedge properly grown and
trimmed is really ornamental, but one imperfectly stocked and
but half trimmed is no ornament at all ; it is no better than hedge
fence behind straggling bushes. Therefore it must be settled be-
forehand that a good one only is worthy of a moment's thought.

In New England and New York, leaving out of the catalogue
the foreign hawthorn, the Cratcegus crus-galli, or common thorn,
and the shepherdia seem to be the best adapted to the soil and
climate. To these may be added the Ilex opaca, for the milder
and more maritime parts of New England, and the shepherdia for
western New York. The privet grows well in Berkshire county
and hence for orna:menting the grounds in the vicinity of dwell-
ings, for concealing or covering naked walls, &c., may be em-
ployed at will The shepherdia is a western plant, and one of
the finest shrubs our country produces, and this we should recom-
mend for the west as superior both for ordinary fencing and or-
namental hedging. It seems to delight in rather sheltered and
warm, dry exposures, on the high banks of rivers and lakes. It
may be it will not do as well on the prairies as we expect. A
hedge formed of the shepherdia, with the gate-ways arched and

294 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

ornamented with the Michigan rose, would form' one of the most
perfect gardenesque landscapes possible at the season of flow-
ering.

FRUITS OF ERIE COUNTY.

BY LEWIS FALKE.

This county lies partly upon three of the principal groups, or
geological formations that stretch along through Western New
York, namely: the north portion is intersected from the Niagara
river, east, including Grand Island, by the Onondaga salt groups,
a narrow strip of a few miles immediately adjoining this on the
south, commencing at the immediate debouchure of Lake Erie
into the Niagara, about four miles wide, and widening in its pro-
gess east, to six or eight miles at the county line, is of the On-
ondaga limestone formation, while all that portion lying south of
Buffalo belongs to the Marcellus shale.

This county, too, is bordered on the w^est by Lake Erie, and
the Niagara river its outlet; whose salubrious waters temper the
atmosphere, thus retarding the early influences of a precocious
spring upon the opening of our fruit buds, till the season is suffi-
ciently advanced for their vigorous growth; and even then, pro-
tecting them by its moistened influences from the frosts that often
are so fatal a few miles in the interior; and in the autumn so
modifying the low temperature and sudden frosts, as to give the
fullest maturity to all the fruits which flourish in this climate.

Fruit trees flourish perhaps equally well in nearly every part
of the county, with proper cultivation, and the following varieties
may be termed as well established: the apple, plum, cherry, pear,
quince, peach, apricot, nectarine; not to mention the smaller gar-
den fruits, as the gooseberry, the current, the raspberry, the straw-
berry; also the melon, and the vine.

Were I to distinguish, however, on which of the formations all
of these fruits flourish in the greatest luxuriance, I should name
those located on the loamy soils of the salt group, as first in ex-

1846.] Fruits of Erie County. 295

cellence; those on the limestone formation next, and those on the
shale subdivision as inferior to the others, although usually good;
but such as are situated immediately within the influence of the
lake and river, as decidedly superior to other localities in their
respective geological divisions.

As to the fruits themselves, they flourish more or less, accord-
ing to their kind, the particular locality on which they are placed,
and the care with which they are treated; but as I presume you
refer only to the hardy fruits of our climate, 1 shall confine my
attention solely to such. First, then, of

The Ap'ple. All the varieties which grow north of the High-
lands on the Hudson river, flourish in great perfection with us.
Even the Newtown pippin, which is remarked by some pomolo-
gists not to come to full maturity in w^estern New York, ripens
well on the warm soils of the salt groups, and near the Niagara.
Among the most prominent and excellent of our apples, may be
named in the order of their ripening, the yellow harvest, Wil-
liams' favorite, sweet bough, golden sweeting, early lustre, belle
bonne, Jersey sweeting, gravensteen, rambo, Holland or fall pip-
pin, seek-no-farther, Belmont or waxen apple, Rhode Island green-
ing. The various family of russets, swar, Spitzenberg, Baldwin,
yellow belflower, blue pearmain, Tallman sweeting, northern spy,
&c., &c.

Until within five years past, our fruit has been perfectly free
from worms, with which it is now sometimes infected at the core,
but not to such extent as to essentially injure the crop. No fairer
or finer flavored apples can be found, than those produced on the
borders of our great waters, where the crop was never knoivn to
fail in a season of bloom, and our fruits are generally good
throughout the county.

Pears flourish equally well with apples, and are subject to the
same general remarks; all kinds producing well, that have been
introduced — many varieties of which, are of the choicest descrip-
tion, from the eastern, and our local nurseries. The white doy-
anne, (or virgalieu,) the pear of all others, par excellence, to my
taste, flourishes with us in the highest perfection.

The Quince, grows and produces well in the salt and lime

296 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

groups. I have seen few which were grown on the higher and
moister soils of the shale. In the deep clayey loams near the
Niagara, finer specimens can hardly be found, than are there pro-
duced. The orange quince is the variety usually preferred and
cultivated.

The Plum here riots in all the luxuriance of a favorite soil,
and a genial climate, and in our strong clayey loams, when un-
disturbed by the curculio, its only enemy as yet, its burdens are
prodigious. All the finer kinds — and they have mostly been in-
troduced— flourish in high perfection.

The Cherry in all its varieties, grows luxuriantly, and produces
abundant crops, of the finest developed fruit. A strong gravelly or
sandy loam is its favorite soil; but it grows vigorously, and bears
well in the clayey loams of the salt groups and limestone.

The Peach, the Apricot, and the JVectarine, are less luxuriant
in their growth, and prolific in bearing, than the fruits already
named. The humid and cool breezes of our lake, particularly
during the night, keep the temperature too low to mature and
ripen these fruits to their highest perfection. An uninterrupted
summer heat is required for their yW^ development, which, in this
immediate locality is denied them. At Lewiston, and near Lake
Ontario, some twenty-five miles north of this, and below the raoun-
tain-ridge at some 300 feet lower elevation, those fruits flourish
in great perfection. With us they do tolerably well in sheltered
positions. In the warm, sandy, and gravelly loam, on the north
end of Grand Island, in the Niagara, are peach and apricot trees
more than 20 years old, 10 inches in diameter, in perfect health,
and bearing abundant crops every year, without the slighest care
or cultivation. Probably a more congenial spot for the stone
fruits does not exist in the same latitude, than this island affords.

The Grape in all its varieties grown in this latitude, thrives
vigorous and healthy, but a protected and sunny position is re-
quired for ripening its fruit perfectly, owing to the same influ-
ences that affect the peach. The earlier kind usually ripen well
in almost any exposure. The choicer European varieties, how-
ever, need the aid of glass, and high cultivation.

The smaller garden fruits, already enumerated, are cultivated

1846.] Profits of Cultivation. 297

with us in great luxuriance and perfection. Perhaps as success-
fully as in any other part of the United States, and by many peo-
ple in great abundance, and of the choicest varieties.

Many excellent, and some extensive apple orchards now exist
in the county, and in the neighborhood of Buffalo, which is a
good fruit market. Very considerable plantations of the choicest
fruits are in progress. Two extensive nurseries are erected "with-
in a mile of the city, containing probably in the aggregate, half
a million trees of all kinds of fruit common to the climate, and
of their choicest varieties.

On the whole, Erie may be called, when compared with the
counties generally of the state, a fruit county of the first class.

GREAT PROFITS DERIVED FROM CULTIVATING
THE SOIL.

The public mind not unfrequently becomes as much excited by
the large sums of money that have been, or may hereafter be de-
rived from " tilling the ground," as it frequently does in some
flour speculation. Not many years since, very scientific as well
as practical estimates were made in relation to the profits to be
derived from an acre of land in the culture of silk, and that cal-
culation determined the sum to be at least $1,300. Hence arose
the fever for mulberry trees, then followed a chill, and soon a to-
tal extinction of both. Not long since, the hemp fever raged in
many localities, and after throbbing for a few years the excite-
ment subsided. And now even at this day the many annual fairs
throughout the land, are bringing to light many interesting results
in the labors of the farm: interesting, because any pursuit becomes
interesting, when a great profit is derived from a little labor or a
small expenditure. We have reports from the committees ap-
pointed at the fairs, from which we learn that 100, 120, or 150
bushels of corn has been raised upon an acre of land, followed of
course by a premium. Then comes 10 or 1200 bushels ol beets,

No. VIII. 10

298 Farmers^ Miscellanr/. [Oct.,

or rutabagas, 5 or 600 bushels onions, &c., thereby showing th ^.t
the land yields at least $50 per acre nett profit.

In the Albany Cultivator for September, of the current year,
we have a statement of a still greater sum of money derived from
an acre of ground, and we give the items below, as taken from
that periodical.

100 bushels of potatoes, sold at 4^. ... $50.00

32 do corn in the ear, 3^. .... 12.00

65 do onions, 4s 32.50

13 do carrots, 3s 4.87

8 do parsmps, 45 4.00

7 do beets, 3s 2.62

800 cabbages, 3cts 24.00

Horse radish sold for 42.00

Fruit do 10.00

Pigs fed on refuse of garden, ...... 26.00

$207.99

This statement we have no reason to discredit, and those who
have raised the above articles, will see what the quantity in bush-
els may be obtained from an acre of land in a high state of cul-
tivation. But it must be conceded that $207 is a great return
from one acre of land, with only $1.50 worth of lime applied an-
nually. It is apparent, therefore, that the same ratio Will for 100
acres of land, give the profit of $20,700.99. We will consider
what influence this statement ought legitimately to have upon
the farmers, relative to their mode of culture. The average num-
ber of acres embraced in the respective farms, may be put down at
about ICO acres each, and say that each farm contains 60 acres
under cultivation. Now by a mere possibility, one farm might
be made to yield $200 per acre, but it could be by no means
made to extend to all farms, even in the vicinity of Albany. The
cultivated lands in this section of the country, do not average
$10 per acre profit, including the expense of tilling. It is appa-
rent, however, that the lands in this countiy in the farming com-
munity, are far from being in a high state of cultivation, that

]846.] Profits of Cultivation. 299

most of them are capal3le of yielding twice the quantity that they
now produce. Farmers wull not, however, abandon the raising
of the staple articles of the country, although gardens with a
smaller quantity of land, may obtain a much larger profit per
acre.

Farming now has become an integral part of the commerce of
the land, and the policy in tilling the ground is to make money.
The object is not merely to obtain a livelihood, although that may
be the piimary motive, but not the engrossing one. A person
who engages in the trade of making shoes has an object in that
pursuit beyond supplying his own family with that article. Eve-
ry business enterprise, whether professional, mechanical or agri-
cultural, has an object in view beyond a nieie daily competency,
the accumulation of wealth. Speculation, however, in a spiral
form, will at times creep into these pursuits, and men will be
captivated by its charms. To gain in a few days Avhat it would
require years of labor and patience to obtain, is always desirable.
Hence farmers at times, on seeing the wonderful success of the
merchant, have sold their fanns and engaged in merchandize.
So merchants, mechanics and professional men have returned the
compliment, and become farmers. Not all, however, for the sake
of gain.

Again, the science of chemistry has in modern times disclosed
some interesting facts in relation to vegetable physiology, and
these new discoveries Jiave startled that adventurous class of our
fellow citizens distinguished as scientific agriculturists, and hence
there has been a scrambling across lots to gain the citadel of
wealth. That the organization of animals and of vegetables
may be learned in the form of a science, is on all hands readily
conceded. It is the anatomical science of the gardener and the
herdsman. A knowledge of this science, embracing as it does
the proper food for plants and animals, will beyond all doubt aid
the farmer in bringing them forward as the objects of his care
and interest. But his practical knowledge in these matters will
be his safest guide. And although much has been said about
farmers adhering to the customs of their fathers, yet we ought

300 Farmers' Miscellany. [Oct.,

not to abandon the usages of past experience. Many valuable
trails in husbandry have been handed down to us from our vene-
rable ancestry. That many valuable improvements in the busi-
ness of farming have of late been made, we all acknowledge
The causes of bad husbandry do not arise from want of capacity
or knowledge among men in that branch of industry. Most far-
mers have correct views of good farming, and it only wants an
enterprising spirit to prevail among them to render their lands
more productive. We now have two classes of farmers, the prac-
tical and the scientific; and farming will never be carried to its
highest state of perfection until these two branches of elementary
knowledge shall be possessed by the same individual.

A. 0.

THE AGRILUS RUFICOLLIS. ^

BY PROF. S. S. HALDEMAN.

PL I, Jig' 1. This little insect, so hurtful to the raspberry,
is about three lines long; black, minutely punctured, thorax and
front brassy; front with a vertical impression; a wide shallow
impression across the thorax posteriorly, and another at the base
of the elytra. In this particular case, the knowledge of the ap-
pearance of the insect is not essential, as far as the means of pre-
venting its depredations are concerned, although it is ahvays in-
teresting to know whence an injury proceeds.

In its larva state, Agrillus ruficollis lives at the expense of the
cultivated Rubus (raspberry), in the heart of which the pupa may
be found in the month of May, the imago appearing in June.
The larva bores between the wood and bark, injuring the plant,
and causing a wide, unsightly excrescence. ~ It next penetrates to
the pith, which it traverses for two or three feet, finally excavat-
ing a cavity in which it undergoes its transformations.

It is probable that the larva feeds during summer and autumn,
and passes the winter in the pupa state. The diseased stems are
readily recognizable, and should be cut out and burnt in autumn,

1846.] Draining — Preservation of Fruits. 301

or early in the spring. The perfect insect is sometimes found
upon the native Rubus villosus, which renders it probable that
this genus of plants constitutes the natural food of the larva.

DRAINING BY SMALL PIPES.

The practice which is getting into fashion of draining lands by
small pipes, those of an inch bore for example, seems to us to be
of questionable utility. The expense of ditching, and of securing
properly the perfection of the whole work warrants the utmost
care in securing the ultimate object, that of a free underground
passage, which will admit of the escape of the water at all sea-
sons, and which will not be liable to obstructions by the entrance
of a mouse or some other small object, which may happen to get
into the tube. When deep draining is an object, it is of still greater
consequence to have a large and free passage, especially in clay
lands, for in these cases the percolation of water through the pas-
sage must always, under all circumstances, be slow, and unless
the rapidity of the descent of the water through the compact
ground be promoted, the benefits of the drainage will not be fully
obtained. Hence, while farmers are incurring the expense of a
deep ditch, it is not best on economical grounds, to attempt to
save a little by contracted, narrow pipes, which will be liable to
be clogged by slight obstructions.

PRESERVATION OF FRUITS.

Two essential points require attention in preserving fruits: 1.
An equable and cool temperature. 2. A dry atmosphere. As it
regards the effects of frequent changes, experience proves that few
organic bodies can resist decay under changing circumstances.
A cool atmosphere is best adapted to the integrity of composition.
A diy atmosphere also preserves organic bodies from decay.
This is exemplified in some parts of Texas and South America,

302 Farmer'' s Miscellany. [0 :t,,

where meat is readily preserved, thoiigli the country is warm if
not hot. The fluids simply evaporate, and leave the harder parts
to dessicate. Such changes, however, cannot take place in fruits;
their fluids undergo fermentation, which precedes decay. Hence
if the atmosphere is dry it will not be sufficient to preserve them,
they must be cool also, and kept below that point of temperature
which favors fermentation. Apples sometimes sweat, as it is
called, which is moisture condensed upon them from the atmo-
sphere. Apples or pears wrapped in separate pieces of porous
paper and placed on shelves in single layers, is undoubtedly one
of the most secure methods of preserving them. The cellar ought
to have a gravelly bottom, and an apartment divided off in the
coolest and least frequented part, and seldom opened. If they
become moist they should be wiped dry and replaced; but if
wrapped as directed this will seldom occur. The importance of
assorting fruits need not be dwelt upon. It is worse than useless
to put up bruised fruit for winter.

( 304 )

EXTRACTS FROM THE JOURNALS.

SOME CHEMICAL POINTS CONNECTED WITH THE
FEEDING OF CATTLE.

BY WILLIAM PROCTOR, YORK, ENGLAND.

One of the greatest physiological distinctions between the ve-
getable and animal kingdoms consists in the different food they
respectively require for their nutrition and growth — the latter
consuming organized materials for that purpose; whilst for the
former division, unorganized and mineral matters effect the same
end, and become converted into organic substances necessaiy ibr
the support of animals. In this manner, dependent upon the pro-
perty it possesses of converting inorganic material into organic
food, does the vegetable prove subservient to the animal king-
dom by affording it food for growth and sustenance, assimilated
by the organs of plants into albumen, gluten, and casein, from
carbonic acid, the refuse of animal respiration; from the nitrogen
of the air, and from the minerals. A little consideration will
show that the difference between the nutrient principles of plants
and animals is more real than apparent; in fact that they are
identical. Liebig divides the substances of which the food of
man is composed into two great classes: I. Those into which
nitrogen enteis as a constituent — azotized. 2. Those into the
constitution of which nitrogen does not enter — non-azotized.
The individual substances, according to the above arrangement,
stand thus:

I. Vegetable Jllhmieii (as the kernel of nuts, &c.); vegetal le
fibrin (or gluten, as in wheat); vegetable casein (or legumin, in

peas, beans, &c.) Exactly identical in composition are, animal
albumen (as white of egg); animal fijrin (principal part of ani-
mal muscle); animal casein (entering largely into the composi-
tion of milk.)

II. Fat, starch, gum, various kinds of sugar, alcohol, &c.

Chemical and physiological research have shown, unquestiona-
bly, that among the above substances, the pro\'imate prinriples of
animals and vegetables, those alone can afford support to an ani-
mal which contain nitrogen, or belong to the first division; and

304 Extracts fronn the Journals. [Oct.,

that more or less of such is required for that purpose according as
it is deiicient or abounds in nitrogen as a constituent. It would
far exceed the limits of this paper to speak in detail of the vari-
ous modifications of these azotized constituents. Suffice it to say
that albumen, fibrin, and casein, whether of animal or vegetable
origin, are identical.

Mulder has established the existence of a proximate principle
common to them all, as their basis: to this substance he applies
the name protein — the difference between the compounds being
simply in the presence of small and varying quantities of sulphur
and phosphorus. For the composition of protein, Mulder gives
the empirical formulae — C40 H3, N5 0,2 (that is, 40 carbon,
31 hydrogen, 5 nitrogen, and 12 oxygen.) If Pr. is made to re-
present this substance symbolically, the following formula will
give an approximation to, if not the true composition of the
proximate azotized elements of nutrition:

Albumen (of blood) - - - 10 Pr.H-2 S+P

Fibrin, 10Pr.+ S+P

Casein, 10 Pr.+ S

In the above, S and P respectively represent sulphur and phos-
phorus. We now pass on to the second division, the non-azot-
ized elements of nutrition.

For the due discharge of its various functions, it is essential
that the animal body should be kept at a certain temperature un-
der whatever varying circumstances it may be placed; this is
ibund to be in man from 98 to 100 deg., and in cattle about 100
deg.; slight variations in the standard are found in the various
grades of the animal kingdom, according to the habits of the in-
dividual and the functions it has to dischai-ge, as well as its mode
of life.

This important end is attained by respiration. Respiration in
a chemical point of view, is simply the union of oxygen from the
air with carbon contained in the blood. This process of olow
combustion of carbon in the lungs is continual, and thus is afford-
ed the due amount of heat to the animal economy. Despretz has
shown that 1 oz. of carbon by combustion (that is, union with
oxygen) evolves 14.207 deg. of heat; Boussingault takes, as a
mean, the daily consumption of carbon by- man to be 14 oz.
Now 14X14.207=198.898 deg. of heat given out by man in 24
hours; and by deducting from this the loss of heat by vaporiza-
tion of water through the skin and lungs, we have left about
146.380 deg. of heat for the various purposes of the animal eco-
nomy (Liebig). Thus, then, it is evident that the amount of heat
developed bears a simple proportion to the amount- of carbon
consumed by oxidation in the lungs, and this will be dependent

1846.] Feeding of Cattle. 305

upon many and varying circumstances. In an easy respiration
the quantity of air taken into the chest of a man is about 15 or
18 cubic inches; in winter th€ air, being condensed, will con-
tain, bulk for bulk, more oxygen than in summer, when the air
is expanded; this remark applies with an equal degree of truth,
to warm and cold climates. In addition to a numerous train of
modifying causes dependent on the preceding facts regarding the
consumption of oxygen, numerous others exist dependent upon
peculiar circumstances under which the animal may be placed.
4-11 motion is attended with accelerated respiration, and conse-
t]uently the formation of an additional amount of carbonic acid;
and it has already been shown how temperature influences this
process.

It is, then, to support this important function that the non-
azotized elements are employed in a great measure; the residue
serves another purpose, namely, the foimation of fat, of which we
have to speak presently. The preponderance of carbon in these
proximate elements, over their other constituents would point
them out as the most fit for the purposes of respiration. Their
constitution is thus:

Fat : 10 C+10 II+O
Starch : 12 C-f 10 H+10 0
Sugar : 12 C+9 H-f 9 0
Alcohol : 4 CX6 H-f 2 0

It remains for us now briefly to consider the chemical and phy-
siological relations of fat.

Fat is a peculiar substance deposited in all parts of the body,
in the cells of the cellulcir tissue, and apparently requiring no
special structure for its formation. It is composed of three fatty
acids, namely, stearic, margaric, and oleic acids, in combination
with a peculiar organic base, (glycerine.) These acids vary in
different kinds of fat; the first abounding in the hard, the second
in the soft, and the third in the liquid fats and oils. Some fats
contain peculiar substances, as that of the brain which contains
phosphorus.

Some difference of opinion exists regarding the production of
fatty material in the animal economy. The French chemists
seem inclined to consider that all the fat found in the body is de-
rived from the substances taken as food .containing fat; in fact,
that fat is furnished to the system ready formed. The gramini-
vorous tribes take it in ready formed with their food, and carnivo-
rous animals, in whom, however, it is usually very scanty, derive
it from them; therefore, certainly, directly or indirectly, the fat
of an animal is derived from the fats, oils, wax, kc, more or less
of which exists in our vegetable food. But as it is an undoubted

306 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.,

fact that the quantity of fat in an animal is by no means always
proportional to the quantity he derives from his food, we are led
to conclude that the power of producing fat, exists as well in the
animal as vegetable world. While oats contain as much as 5.6
of fatty matter, turnips contain scarcely any, yet animals speedily
fatten on them. Again Boussingault has shown. that in the pro-
cess of fattening pigs, more fat is formed than is found in their
food. Mulder remarks — "The opinion that fats may readily be
produced in the animal body from the food, is strongly supported
by the facts that some fats are actually and necessarily produced;
for instance, fats of the brain, cholesterin, cetin, and many other
peculiar fats. Now, if fats are produced in the animal body, it
must be either from other fats, or from other substances, such as
starch. Both processes are the same, in so far as in every case
there must be a rearrangement of the elements. In a scientific
point of view, therefore, there is nothing unlikely in the opinion
that animals are able to produce tat." Liebig is another oppo-
nent of the doctrine, and brings forward most pow^erful reasoning
to support his view of the subject. He considers fat to be pro-
duced from the starchy and saccharine matter consumed by ani-
mals; all excess of these principles not employed in the produc-
tion of heat by the combustion of the constituent carbon in the
lungs, is taken into the circulation and converted into fat, being
found as such in the blood, and is finally deposited in the fat
cells.

This view accords, in a similar manner, with many well estab-
lished facts connected with the feeding of cattle; if an animal is
fed with highly azotised food, it becomes full of flesh, especially
if at the same time sufficient exercise is taken to consume the car-
bonised materials by respiration; but if on the contrary, substan-
ces rich in starch or sugar, or other non-azotised principles, are
employed for food, little flesh is acquired, but abundance of fat,
and this is more particularly the case if rest is enjoined with the
use of these materials, inasmuch as by such a plan of proceeding
less carbon is employed in the lungs, and more left at liberty to
form fat. Thus, then, by placing an individual under circum-
stances where he consumes less oxygen, a greater quantity of fat
is developed; such circumstances are found in the stall-fed animal
where deficient exercise and diminished cooling are equivalent to
a diminished supply of oxygen, and less waste is consequently
experienced by motion, and increased efforts to preserve the ani-
mal temperature. Another interesting fact has been pointed out
by Dr. Playfair, that the lungs of the good feeding breed of cattle
are of small capacity, giving us this inference, that respiration is
in them reduced, as it were, to the smallest capacity.

It is impossible in short limits to follow Liebig through his

1846.] Feeding of Cattle. 307

abstruse but interesting course of reasoning; but it is de^'''^! 1^^ to
show how readily the non-azotised principles may become fat.
If, for example, we take for the purpose of illustration, starch. If
from this substance we subtract one equivalent of carbonic acid,
and seven of oxygen, we have left the elements of fat, thus: C,2
H,o Oio — (C 0,-{-0 7)=zC,, H,o 0; if by pecnliar processes
in the animal organism, fat is thus formed by a separation of ox-
ygen and carbonic acid, then it is probable that these latter sub-
stances are not given out in the free state; in fact we know they
are not; but that they meet in the system with other substances,
with which they possess the property of entering into combination.

" Whatever views," writes Liebig, " we may entertain regard-
ing the origin of the fatty constituents of the body, this much at
least is undeniable, that the herbs and roots consumed by the cow
contain no butter; that in hay or other fodder no suet exists; that
no hog's lard can be found in the potato refuse given to swine;
and that the food of geese or fowls contain no goose or capon fat.
The masses of fat found in these animals are formed in their or-
ganism; and when the full value of this fact is recognized, it en-
titles us to conclude that a certain quantity of oxygen, in some
form or other, separates from the constituents of their food; for
without such separation of oxygen, no fat could be formed from
one of these substances."

Great interest has lately been excited on the question of fat-
tening cattle, in consequence of the importance which has been
attached to it in connection with the question of the repeal of the
malt tax. It has been argued that the agricultural interest would
be materially benefitted by such repeal, as under such circumstan-
ces malt might be then advantageously used for the fattening of
cattle. But before giving up a revenue of more than twenty
millions dollars, afforded by the tax on malt, government deter-
mined to test the question experimentally, and accordingly em-
ployed Dr. Thompson and Dr. R. Thompson to examine the mat-
ter. Their report on the subject contains results of an extremely
interesting character, both as regards the comparative value of
malt and barley in the production of milk and butter in the cow,
as well as the production of fat in animals.

Before a determinate conclusion can be formed of the relative
value of these two substances for the preceding uses, several im-
portant facts must be undei stood and borne in mind respecting the
relation of malt and barley to each other. 100 parts of barley
dried at a temperature of 212 deg., leaves 90.54 of dry matter;
that is, loses nearly 10 per cent of moisture. The dried specimen
consisting of C 46.11, H 6.65, N 1.91, 0 42.24, ash 3.09=100.
The quantity of N (nitrogen,) would indicate about 12.25 per
cent albumen.

308 Extracts from, the Journals. [Oct.,

By the process of malting, barley undergoes a peculiar change,
that of germination. Barley is steeped in water, and then ex-
posed to air in thick layers, at a moderate temperature, and fre-
quently turned; this produces germination of the seed; the process
is then checked by drying in a current of warm air as soon as the
sprouts have acquired a length about equal to that of the seeds;
they now constitute malt. The essential change which is caused
by "these processes, so far as regards our present purpose, is the
production of a peculiar substance, diastase, in all probability at
the expense of the fibrin of the grain, by which the amylaceous
portion is partly converted into dextrine, (a modification of starch)
and finally into sugar.

During the process there is a considerable evolution of car-
bonic acid, produced from the carbonaceous portions of the barley,
uniting with the oxygen of the air; this consumption, and other
losses during the process, by steeping, &c., cause a diminution in
the weight of the grain, amounting to about 13 per cent. After
malting, the two substances thus stand in relation to their proxi-
mate constituents:

Barley. Malt.
Gluten _ - - 3 1

Sugar - - - - 4 16

Gum - - - - 5 14

Starch - - - - 88 69

100 100

The total loss which barley sustains by malting, (Thompson is
quoted,) amounts to more than ]9 per cent. But as bailey con-
tains 13.1 per cent, and malt 7.06 of water, 6 parts out of the 19
per cent are water, so that there is actually only lost 13 solid
matter. Thus, water, 6; saline matter, 0.41; organic matter,
12 52=19. The elementary constitution of malt, is as follows:
C 44.78, H 7.06, N 1.62, 0 44.76, Ash 1.77=100.

In a few words then, by malting, in reference to barley: the
soluble salts are much diminished, so that a larger quantity of the
former grain would be required to produce the salts necessary for
animal "purposes. The quantity of nitrogen is also inferior, and
hence in equal weights the nutritive power of _malt must be less
than that, of barley. The carbon is also lessened in quantity,
while the starch and gum is diminished, and the sugar increased.

Havino- briefly considered the chemical difference w^hich exists
between malt and barley, w^e return to Dr. Thompson's practical
experiments. These were performed on two lean bullocks, three
years of age, and as near as possible the same in constitution.
The weight of one bullock, A, was 9 cwt. 7 lbs.; of the other,

1846.] Feeding of Cattle. 309

B, 10 cwt. 106 lbs. Both were fed on the same kind of fond,
exxepting that the same amount of barley was given to one, and
malt to the other. Hay was found to be essential, for when bar-
ley and malt were given alone, the animals loathed it and left it
unconsumed. In the first instance, 6 lbs. of barley were given
to A, and 6 lbs. of malt to B, a quantity which was speedily raised
to 9 and then 12 lbs.; a quantity beyond this couldnot be safely
used. Experiments were carried on in this manner with these
animals, trora the 1st to the 14th of October, and the quantity of
food consumed, was, by

A of Barley, 198 lbs. ; of Hay, 312.7769 lbs.
B of Malt, 198 lbs.; of " 311.75 «

Under these circumstances the increase of weight in the animals
was by A 109 lbs., by 90.5 lbs. In another trial with similar con-
ditions, A gained 55, and B 44 lbs.

Among many trials by Dr. Thompson regarding the production
of milk, &c., in cows, one is peculiarly applied to our present
purpose: 100 lbs. of mixed barley, hay and grass, produced 8.17
lbs. of milk, and 1.95 lbs. of butter, and the animal gained 80
lbs. in weight; but when 100 lbs. of malt and hay were given,
the produce was, of milk, 7.95 lbs., of butter, 1.92 lbs., and a
diminution of 42 lbs. in the weight of the cow.

These experiments (noticed in the Gardners'' Chronicle, April
4, 1846,) show in every respect the advantage of barley over
malt for feeding cattle; that it is superior, used comparatively
with malt in sustaining the weight and strength of animals. This
diminished power in malt is apparently to be sought for in the
lessened quantity azotised and saline miatter; as alluded to previ-
ously, these two classes of substances are so essential for the nour-
ishment and reparation of the body, that without them in a due
and proper proportion the system cannot be preserved in a healthy
condition, and fit for the discharge of the duties it has to perform.
In order to employ malt advantageously and economically for fat-
tening, it should weight for weight show an effect decidedly su-
perior to barley; for not only (leaning out the question of duty,)
is it more expensive, on account of the cost of production from
the raw grain, but the processes to which it is submitted cause a
considerable diminution of weight, so that 100 parts of barley are
equivalent to about 87 of malt; this loss of valuable material for
our present purposes is, it is true, attended by increase of bulk,
yet it is not by bulk but by weight that we must estimate for the
purpose of feeding.

Dr. Thompson thus writes of malt: — "The only advantage
which it seems to hold out in cattle feeding, is the relish which
it gives to a mash, but as this depends entirely upon the sugar

310 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.,

which it contains, and which has heen produced from the starch
of the barley, it is obvious that the same flavor may be imparted
by the addition of an equivalent amount of molasses or sugar,
should it be considered expedient." — London Gardeners'' Chron.

THE POTATO DISEASE.

BY JAMES CAIRD.

As all the facts bearing upon the cause of the potato disease
are interesting at the present moment, I send one or two which I
think have not been previously observed A plot of early potatoes
were cut over some weeks ago, before the disease had anywhere
in this district I'eappeared, and while the shaws were perfectly
green and healthy. At that time the tubers were quite sound,
and continued so till a few days ago, when suddenly many of them
became diseased. Another plot from which the shaws had been
cut about the same time, but which were dug soon afterwards,
and left on the surface to ripen, remain still perfectly sound. This
seems to indicate both that the disease does not originate in the
leaf or stem (for in this case the stems were entirely cut otf be-
fore there was the slightest manifestation of disease in either stem
or tuber), and that it originates in the tuber only under certain
circumstances, for in the one case where the potatoes were left in
the ground, they became diseased; and in the other, where they
had been dug before the disease appeared, the disease did not de-
velop itself The constitution of the potato seems lor a time to
have become weakened; some of the tubers growing from the
same set may be more predisposed to disease than others; these,
under certain unfavorable circumstances of atmospheie acting
upon the soil, become diseased. In this state the weakened tis-
sues of the tuber are a fit receptacle for parasitic life, which,
while it is the consequence and not the cause of the disease, by its
rapid development materially hastens the decay of the plant. The
fungus beginning in a single diseased or weakly tuber spreads
rapidly up the stem, filling up in its progress the respiratory or-
gans of the plant, and at the same time putting a stop to the de-
scent and consequent formation of fibrous tissues in every tuber
at the same stem. A due supply of carbon is necessary for the
formation of fibrous tissue to strengthen the frame of the potato,
and it is elaborated from the atmosphere and transmitted to the
tuber by the healthy function of the leaves and stem. This ela-
boration of carbon cannot take place without the aid of sunlight,
and, both last year and this, the disease made its appearance in

1846.] The Potato Disease. 311

the leaf during a continuance of, or immediately after dark an I
wet weather. Before this took place last year many of the tubers
had arrived at a tolerably ripe state and withstood the disease,
while the rest, being without their due supply of carbon or fibrous
tissue, had not strength to resist it. But those which last year
withstood the disease, and those even in many districts in which
it did not manifest itself at all, had, from want of sunlight, re-
ceived too small a supply of carbon into their system, and the
seed of this season everywhere was consequently predisposed to
disease. The result has been that under similar favorable circum-
stances of dark and moist atmosphere the entire crop oi'the coun-
try has now become diseased. Last year the disease was four
weeks later in manifesting itself, but last year was a later season
by four weeks than this; besides that, the seed used this year
was, for the causes already stated, more readily affected. The
fact that the disease last year did not manifest itself on some parts
of a farm, while other parts of the same farm, equally exposed to
sunlight, did not escape, may ajise from this: that those parts
which did escape (generally mossy), from their sponges and per-
haps antiseptic nature, gave a drier and safer bed to the tuber,
which consequently remained sound, and the stem and leaves con-
tinuing green, a longer time was given for the elaboration of car-
bon on the subsequent appearance of sunlight.

But even in the most favorable positions this process appears
to have been imperfectly performed ; for this year neither moss-
lands nor the seed from moss-lands have escaped. When a par-
tial failure takes place in any of the grain crops, the extent of it
is not observed till the crop is being thrashed out; but in the case
of potatoes the universal decay of the haul n causes forebodings
perhaps needlessly great. Last year nearly half the crop was
saved, and this year, bad though appearances are, it is hoped the
loss will not be total. Next year the potato will be still more
predisposed to disease, and the failure will be still greater should
the season prove unfavorable. But should the season, on the con-
trary, be in the latter part of it clear, sunny, and dry, we may
hope that the tubers will receive such an accession of strength as
may restore them to their former hardiness. This country has
often sustained severer losses by the partial destruction of the
grain crops from unfavorable seasons than it has ever yet suffered
from the ravages of the potato disease. A succession of bad grain
crops has more than once been experienced, caused by dark and
moist weather more readily affecting the produce of seed, which
itself was never properly matured. And this predisposition to
disease continued till a succession of sunny seasons for a time
altogether dispelled it. The early part of this season was clear
and sunny, and the crop of early potatoes, then ripening, received

1846.] The Potato Disease. 312

a due supply of carbon and were perfectly sound. But the dark
moist weather which preceded the general appearance of the
disease on the later crops, occurred at the time when sunlight
was of the greatest consequence. Yet, notwithstanding the pre-
sent unfavorable appearance of the crop, it does not follow that
the potato is to disappear from the vegetable world, but on the
contrary we are entitled to hope that a succession of good years
will yet restore it to sound and healthy vitality.

Lime has been recommended as an antidote to the disease, but
the following facts disprove its efficacy: — One field of potatoes
on this farm was heavily limed immediately before the potatoes
were planted; .about an acre of it was limed after the shaws were
a foot high. The disease appeared at the same time over the
whole field. On another field lime had been applied last year,
on alternate ridges, one ridge receiving about three times the or-
dinary dressing (at the rate of 300 bushels per acre), and the next
ridge receiving none. The ridges were 30 feet wide, and 12
Potato drills were planted this spring on each. The disease ma-
nifested itself a week earlier on the limed than on the unlimed
ridge, and the greater decay of the shaw on the limed ridge con-
tinues still quite evident to the eye. In all these instances the
newly cut set had been dusted with quicklime when in prepara-
tion for planting. Another part of the field was planted with
seed, dipped, when fresh cut, in a weak solution of sulphuric acid
( 1 part acid to 80 of water), according to the recommendation of
Professor Johnston, but without averting the disease.

The practical conclusions I would venture to draw are these —

1st. That after the stem had blackened and decayed, the tubers
do not grow larger, and should as soon as possible be raised and
stored; lor though the healthiest tubers might keep equally well
in the soil, those which are predisposed to disease are more liable
to be attacked when left in it.

2d. That cutting off the haulm does not appear in any degree
to prevent the disease, whilst, so long as it remains green, the
haulm is of essential consequence to the healthy functions of the
plant. [Our correspondent does not appear to have tried pulling
up.]

3d. That the soundest seed will be likely to be obtained by
leaving the tubers in the ground during winter, inasmuch as
thereby all the weakest will ceitainly be destroyed and only the
strongest and healthiest left; and it may therefore be advisable to
leave a portion undug, and to suffer the total loss of the partially
diseased for the sake of securing the soundest tubers for seed.

4th. That the application of lime to the soil or seed seems to
have no influence in averting the disease.

When the potato is taken up it is of the utmost consequence

1846. J On the Management of Pigs. 313

that it be properly stored; and at the risk of lengthening out a
letter which has already grown too long, I beg to mention a me-
thod which I adopted last year with a diseased crop, on a consi-
derable scale, and with perfect success. A headland of the potato
field was selected, to which the potatoes were carted as they were
taken from the ground; they were there piled up to a point be-
ginning with a base of 3 feet in width, then carefully thatched
over with drawn straw to a depth of 6 inches. A small diain
about 6 inches deep was then dug along the entire length of
both sides of the pit, into w^hich the rain water from the thatch
fell, and was by it carried away. For about three weeks after
the pit was made the thatch was opened at intervals of three
yards all along the sunny side of the pit, on fine days, and these
openings were carefully closed again before night. On the ap-
pearance of frost the whole side of the pit most exposed to the
influence of frost wind received a further covering of about six
inches more thatch. This, during the last mild season, was a
sufficient protection. Early in the spring when the whole pit
was overhauled, the potatoes were in excellent preservation; the
diseased ones very dry and firm, and the sound, to the eye, per-
fectly so; while there was not beyond the average of former
years of completely rotten potatoes. This crop was raised from
stiff" coarse land, taken up in dropping weather, necessai ily with
much moist clay adhering to the tubers, it was pitted as it came
from the ground without picking or selection, and after being pit-
ted in the manner already mentioned, nothing farther was done
till spring. In this manner I kept with safety from 200 to 300
tons of potatoes. — Agricultural Gazette.

ON THE MANAGEMENT OF PIGS.

There is probably no animal so much libelled, so unjustly de-
nounced as filthy, so preposterously accused of what he is not
guilty of as the pig. To say " as drunk as a pig," is an unde-
served stigma upon his character for temperance. Is there alco-
hol left in the brewer's grains after the smallest of the small, the
table and the lamen-table have been extracted therefrom ? As
to his proverbial dirtiness, look into his stye and see if his habits
of cleanliness are not of a superior order to those of most other
domestic animals. To be as " stupid," as " ignorant," &c., is
contradicted by the fact that a considerable number are regularly
perambulating the provinces in caravans as learned professors for
enlightening the country " raws" at fairs.

No. VIIL 11

314 Extracts from the Jonrnals. [Oct.,

To speak seriously, there is, perhaps, no animal in a dorae^'ic
point of view more valuable than the pig, and after a life sp?
in quietude and contentment in a space of ground many animi
would pine and die in, his whole carcase, even those portions
which in other farm produce are thrown away or thought little
of, are all rejoiced in as luxuries, and then his jolly sides form the
finest and best pieces of furniture in the dwellings of a large por-
tion of the inhabitants of this happy land.

There is in the economy of raising and feeding pigs a vast im-
provement required in practical management. The usual con-
struction of the sty is bad, commonly placed so as to fill up some
vacant corner, often in a situation where the eaves of some higher
buildings drip into it; this with imperfect drainage from the sty,
and the dung kept for days, sometimes weeks inside this place of
confinement, render these dens any thing but what the animal re-
quires.

It is the management of breeding that is most defective, there
being generally no system, no order or regularity attempted.
The sow is put lo the boar at all seasons of the year, and the pro-
geny often come into the world untimely. The productions of
this animal might be regulated with periodical exactness, which
would be beneficial to the stock, and advantageous to the feeder
and breeder.

Suppose a row of sties, one sow in each, for they should be
constructed small. We will begin the year in November. The
boar may be put to each sow during the month (probably during
the latter half of the month), the period of gestation will end in
March, early in the month ; the season is then favorable for the
growing progeny. After an interval of 10 weeks (a sufficient
S'lace of time, and longer than is required for the litter to get
away), the boar is again put to the sow at the end of May; this
second litter will fall in the next September (a good and seasona-
ble period), and the young get away the following November, to
follow out the system for another year. The advantages here
are, the seasonable periods of gestation, and the growth of the
young; the uniformity of coming in together affording a saving of
time and labor and attendance. The food should be prepared for
the different stages of the sow's requirements; in the early part of
her time turneps, Swedes, grains, &c., for the November period;
and green vetches, or any ockls and ends of growing produce, for
May and some following weeks. More generous food is required
as the time of farrowing approaches; and good living, such as
oatmeal, pollard, &c., when the young require nourishment.

The most remarkable contrast between this animal and the
sheep, cow, &c., is in the produce of its young, for while the lat-
ter are confined to one or two, except in rare cases, the former

1846.] On the Management of Pigs. 315

averages when full grown not less than ten or twelve, often more.
If, therefore, number be of value, the intrinsic worth of this animal
is very superior to other breeding stock.

It is a common practice, but a mistaken notion as to the profit-
able advantage of the system, to let a young sow have but one
litter, and then being fattened she is of the same age as those
generally killed for bacon, and quite equal to them; this is true,
but for the first litter, on account of her age, the produce is small
in number; it is only upon arriving at mature age that the proli-
fic powers of this creature are shown, and that too for a series of
years; being then not equal in quality as bacon to a younger ani-
mal, but fully making up for loss in quality by size.

The aptitude to fatten is a marked peculiarity in this branch of
stock, and to secure its speedy and effectual attainment, it is ne-
cessary to provide dry lodging — the advantages of a well-drain-
ed sty can only be known from practical experience; the habit of
the animal, in the excrements being found- in one spot, generally
the lowest ground, plainly indicate that nature intended him to be
cleanly to thrive, and thrive he will to a degree under such cir-
cumstances calculated to content and delight his feeder.

Perhaps one of the most interesting scenes in rural life is the
working man's care of, and attention to, his pig and his sty. It
is only in the Irish cabin that our hero is the principal member in
the family circle, and takes his meals as such; with the English
cottager he is kept in his proper station in life, and with consist-
ent treatment. To keep a pig is to this man a point of distinc-
tion to arrive at in his sphere, it is the line of demarcation be-
tween the industrious peasant and the poor laborer between po-
verty and daily bread: the possession of the treasure is to him a
rise in the affairs of life, it has a cheering influence upon the in-
mates of the cottage circle, and a commanding influence in his
own private circle of friends. And when some kind neighbor
leaning over the sty, asks how the pig goes on — before any in-
quiries are made after the family — the self-satisfied response of
" Why, he's thriving" — displays a fervency of good feeling and
of thankfulness. Long may thy hardy sons of toil, oh, happy
England! possess this time-revered reward of their honest labors.

There is no doubt but that the object here descanted upon is
one of the most valuable productions in agricultural affairs. As
food it is a longer relished article, and a more general diet in this
country than any other animal food, and yet the creatuie itself,
like other useful dredges, is not looked upon by the million in a
respectable comparison with his brethren of the yard and the fold;
although he may be treated contemptuously while living, yet the
most fastidious fancier of his vulgarity will condescend to partake
of his dried haunches, and will, like the over-scrupulous Maho-
medans, at length " eat up the hog." — Jlgricultural Gazette.

316 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.,

THE ABSORBENT POWERS OF DIFFERENT EARTHS.

BY PROF. LESLIE.

[On looking over some old papers communicated for the Annals
of Philosopky, for ISOI, we stumbled upon an interesting paper
on the absorbent power of earths, by the celebrated Prof. Leslie.
We were perhaps more interested than we should have been, had
we not recently been engaged in experiments of a similar cha-
racter. We were pleased to find Prof. Leslie's observations of
clays and soils which have been ignited, to agree with our own. —
Editor.']

Mr. Leslie, who is deservedly known to the world by his pho-
tometer and hygrometer, has applied the latter instrument to some
investigations hitherto neglected by those who have studied the
affections of different bodies to humidity.

Having discovered that animal and vegetable matters, like the
saline and deliquescent substances, attract humidity by a force al-
together distinct from capillary absorption, he was induced to try
whether the earthy bodies under the same circumstances, would
not exhibit analogous properties. These experiments, of which
we shall give a short account, led to the conclusion, that all earths
and stony bodies eminently attract moisture from the air, and this
with different degrees of force, modified also by temperature,
which affects the measure of all cojubinations.

The experiments were made in the following manner: the
earths to be examined, grossly pounded, were dried thoroughly
before a good fire, and afterwards kept secluded in phials from the
air and moisture, till they were perfectly cool. They were then
spread upon a saucer, in which was placed a hygrometer, and the
whole covered with a small receiver. In a few minutes the in-
strument marked the highest degree of dryness produced; whence
was deduced the desiccating power of the included earth, or its
attraction for humidity. In this mode the following results were
obtained, at the temperature of 16 deg. Centigrade:

Freestone, - - - - 37 deg.

Fine sea-sand, - - - -~ 40
Marble, ----- 47

Common clay, - - - - 68

Sea-sand lately cultivated, - - 72

Sandy schist, - - - - 75

Bog earth, . - . . 77

Rotten whinstone, - - - 78

Garden mould, - - - SO

1846.] Msorbent Po2vers of Earths. 317

Marble and quick-lime, Mr. Leslie observes, produce nearly the
same effect, and in general no ditl'erence was observed between
the simple earths and their carbonates. The argillacious and si-
licious earths difler widely in their absorbent powers, but the cul-
tivated soils appear to possess this property in the highest degree.
Sea-sand, which gives only 40 deg., is by a few years' tillage,
capable of producing a dryness of 72 deg , and garden mould that
of 80 deg., an etiect not ascribable, as Mr. Leslie observes, to the
action ol manure, as the effect of this substance alone, when exa-
mined, was inferior to most of the earths. Speculating on these
facts, Mr. Leslie observes, that manures may peihaps be consi-
dered rather as stimulants in the process of vegetation; the atmo-
sphere may afford the carbonaceous matter or food of the plants,
whilst the earth affords expansion to the fibrils of the roots, and
supplies them M'ith the aqueous element.

Torrification appears to diminish considerably the powers of
the earth to absorb humidity. Clay roasted in a strong fire, from
68 deg. gave only 35 deg. by the hygrometer, and being urged
by the heat of a blacksmith's forge, gave no more than 8 deg.
The same was observed with regard to whinstone, an effect which
cannot, Mr. Leslie says, be ascribed to an incipient vitrification,
for sandstone which had undergone violent ignition, shewed a
similar change of property. The affections of the simple earths
for moisture present some curious results. They are presented by
Mr. Leslie, as follows, the temperature at the time of observation
as before:

Carbonate of strontian, - - 23 deg.

Carbonate of barytes, - - 32

Quartz, - - - - 40

Marble, 70

Carbonate of Magnesia, - - 75

Alumine, - - - - - 84

The great difference betw^een the dessicating power of strontian
and that of the other earths, is veiy singular, and affoids another
pioof, if such were wanting, of its being a distinct and indepen-
dent earth.

It might be expected, that mixtures of the simple earths would
produce intermediate effects; which is not, however, the case.
Equal parts of silex and clay gave as much as the latter singly.
Bet the quantity of absorption must be distinguished from the
intensity. Strontian, barytes, and silex, are quickly saturated
with moisture, whilst magnesia and alumine continue to imbibe
it for a long time. Their effects in mixture depend on these
qualities combined, the alumine still attracting moisture after the
silex has ceased to act.

318 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.,

The effects of the compounds of the simple earths are, however,
stiil more remarkable, since they surpass greatly that of their in-
gredients, and clearly demonstrate that the affections of these
bodies for moisture depend less on their peculiar nature than on
their mechanical condition. Thus sea-sand gives 70 deg., whin-
stone 80, though it consists one-half of silex, and the other of
alumine and oxide of iron, in nearly equal parts.

Whatever tends to harden them diminishes their effect, and the
contrary. Thus quartz urged in a forge gives only 19 deg., but
the same powder, after being soaked a week In water, gave 35
deg. The process, says Mr. Leslie, by which nature gradually
softens, divides, and disposes stony bodies to absorb moisture, is
beautifully illustrated in the instance of whinstone or basalt. A
piece of solid whinstone gave 80 deg. by the hygrometer; ano-
ther piece, rotten and crumbling, gave 86 deg.; but another por-
tion of the same rock, already reduced to mould, gave 92 deg.
The ameliorating effects of culture are exemplified in sea-sand.
Fine sand caused a dryness of 70 deg., and collected from a sheep
walk near the beach, 78 deg.; the same sand lately brought into
cultivation, 85 deg.; still these effects are inferior to garden
mould, which amounts to 95 deg., and to which decomposed
whinstone approaches the nearest.

Mr. Leslie insures a plentiful and easy harvest to such as may
be inclined to pursue these investigations, which from their im-
portance and application to rural economy merit particular atten-
tion. It is to be hoped they will be resumed and prosecuted with
that success which has hitherto distinguished the researches of the
author of the preceding enquiries. — JYicholso7i's Journal, ISOL

OPERA.TION or SEPTON ON PLANTS AND ANIMALS.

BY DR. SAMUEL L. MITCHELL.

[Opinions of 1796, as promulgated by Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell,
on septon (azote) and its compounds, as they operate on plants
as food, and on animals as poison; by which it is manifest that
the Doctor has forestalled many of the popular and scientific doc-
trines of the day, and for which due credit ought. to be awarded.
It is in the form of a letter from Dr. Mitchell to the Rev. Dr.
Henry Muhlenberg, of Lancaster, Pa., dated New York, Oct. 24,
1796. The letter to be sure is rather long, but it is well worth
reading, and many of our subscribers may not be able to procure
the work in which it is published. We therefore give the com-

1846.] Operation of Sept on on Plants and Animals. 319

munication as published in the transactions of the old State Ag-
ricultural Society of New York, for 1798, vol 1, p. 245.]

The letter which you wrote me from Lancaster, on the 5lh
of June, would not have remained unanswered so long, had I
not been engaged in making a tour through the state of New
York, by an appointment of an agricultural society, which I was
prevailed upon to accept. You observe that gypsum has been
found in Pennsylvania near Lake Erie, in laige quantity; and
I have the satisfaction to inform you, I have received beau-
tiful speciments of transparent lamellated gypsum, said to be
found plentifully in Onondaga county, in the state of New York.
The powder of gypsum does w^onders in the interior part of our
country; for I know not whether I should be extravagant if I
told you that the proper use of it doubled the productions of the
land.

But I am not disposed, at this time, to discus the subject of
gypsum with you. There is another manure, which, though
exceedingly abundant and active, has been strangely overlooked
by most persons. On account of its connection with the life and
health of plants, and the diseases and death of animals, it merits
an eminent share of attention. Some observations and reflec-
tions on this subject, which occurred to me during my late ex-
pedition, shall form the remaining part of this reply to your last.

In my letter to Chancellor Livingston, of February, 20, 1796,
an attempt was made to shew that plants had the power of de-
stroying pestilential fluids, and of rendering the atmosphere,
which had been contaminated by them, healthy. It was stated,
that the septon (azote) was taken up as a nutrient material, and
retained in the vegetable economy: while the oxygene was dis-
charged, and, in company with caloric and light, renewed the le-
spirable portion oi the atmosphere.

I shall now prosecute the inquiry a little further, and go into
some practical details relative to this sort of manure. This task
1 the more readily undertake, as I find the experienced and ac-
curate Mr. Kirwan, a copy of whose valuable production has
been sent us from the British board of agriculture, has made no
mention whatever of the septous principle (azote) as a manure.
(The manures most applicable to the various sorts of soils, &c.
London, 1766.) This letter, then, may be considered as a
supplement to Mr. Kirwan's pamphlet.

What I have to remark will be comprised under three heads:
1. That animal manures contain septon (azote.) 2. That plants
nourished by such manures, contain it also; and, 3. That hence
may be derived a principle elucidating the use and operation of
such manures.

320 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.,

1. The whole history of decaying animal substances tends to
prove the abundance of septic (azotic, nitric) ingredients they
afford. The urine and excrements of neat cattle and sheep, the
soakings of dunghills, the earth of horse stable and cow houses,
the soil of graves, and generally speaking, animal relics, and
putrefying carcasses of all kinds, afford every one of them septic
(nitric) acid. This acid is composed of septon (azote) and oxy-
gene. Water aids the formation of this acid, by promoting in-
testine motion among the decaying materials, and by its own
decomposition furnishing any quantity of the principle of acidity
which may be wanted. And, when formed, water acts as a ve-
hicle to convey and apply it to the various substances it meets
with.

Accordingly, this product of animal decomposition being
yielded plentifully by the materials collected in yards and along
streets, filters through the earth in cities, and taints the waters
of their wells, most of which, especially in large and long set-
tled spots, are found, by experiment, to contain it, either sepa-
rate or combined with fixed vegetable alkali, in the form of a
septite of ■potash (nitre). It must be hence apparent, that the
water of such wells ought not to be employed for the domestic
use of washing, cooking or drinking; but that, in well regula-
ted societies, aqueducts should be constructed for bringing water to
towns from springs or sources considerably distant. This branch
of public economy, which was so diligently attended to by the
ancient Romans, is considered, by American municipalities, as of
small importance. They had rather offer a yearly sacrifice of
hundreds of citizens to the demon of pestilence, than make the
most easy and obvious of all public provision for withering away
such pollution. I have often thought the fixed labor of a great
deity of antiquity very applicable to the considerable towns in
the United States, which n;iay be considered as so many Augean
stables, requiring the waters of a river to be poured through in
order to cleanse them.

In like manner, stagnant lakes are vitiated (Bergman Analys.
Jlqitar. § 4.) by animal and vegetable products; while ponds,
marshes and puddles, are still more highly impregnated with si-
miliar extractive and septic matter. The fertilizing effect of
such waters on plants, as far septic principle is concerned, may
be easily observed, in meadows moistened by these fluids, where
grass and other plants possess great luxuriance. The unhealthy
operation of such exhalations on animals is observable, when,
after the evaporation of these waters, too great a proportion of
septic vapor rises for the neighboring plants to decomjiose. Our
und itched morasses, and undrained swamps, reeking occasionally
with pestilential flames, would reniind me, if I had a disposition

1846.] Operation of Septon on Plants and Animals. 321

to indulge classical allusion, of the need there is of another Her-
cules to overcome another Achelous.

The connection there is between malignant distempers and
dirtiness has been already remarked by Tilibt, [Avis au penple,
Si'C. ch. ii., § 7 and 8) and among the peasantry of Europe.
Septic ^substances, the offal of slaughtered animals, the rel'use of
housekeeping, are when mingled in due quanties with the soil,
justly ranked among the best fertilizers. The impregnation of
land around houses and barns long occupied with such materi-
als, is the acknowledged cause of its superior productiveness.
While these manures are mixed with earth in such quantity as
to promote and not overpower vegetable life, their noxious eiflu-
via are repressed, or their virulence counteracted by the media-
tion of plants. The instrumentality of these classes of animated
beings seems to be intended to keep the great balance of nature
in equipoise, and prevent either scale being overloaded with ma-
terials destructive of animal life. But it nevertheless sometimes
happens, that in cellars, and around country dwellings, in pig-
styes and cow-pens near the house, there are accumulated great
quantities of excrementitious and corrupting substances, which,
if seasonably carted away, tend eminently to fertilize the fields,
and promote the growth of vegetables; while, at the same time,
by remaining, they render the house foul and unhealthy, by the
extrication of septic vapors. Neatness and elegance are thus
found to be as conducive to good health as to good husbandly.
On considering the matter, it appears evident, that the effluvia
f om the neighborhood of dirty cottages and mean huts, in the
country, are of a like nature with pestilential fumes which in-
sinuate themselves into foul and unventilated tenements in cities;
and tlie reason is apparent, wherefore, as penury is generally
associated with ignorance and nastiness, and often with indolence,
these distempers rage with such tremendous violence among the
poor.

When I see a farmer permit such unwholesome substances to
collect around his habitation, I cannot help reflecting on the
danger which awaits him. The manure, which ought to have
been carried away and spread over his lots, serves, as it lays,
but to make his family sickly, to disable his laborers, and lead
him to the dubious and expensive routine of physic; and as in
common life, as well as in logic, one blunder leads to another,
the want of crops, and the consequent failure of income, drive
him to mortgages, judgments and executions, those fatal expedi-
ents of law.

In like manner do I lament the indiscretion of tenants contend-
ing in our cities, which of them shall obtain, at a high rent,
from the distant landlord, a pestilential stand for business!

322 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.,

With the view of bettering themselves, they venture, at all haz-
ards, amidst the poisonous exhalation:^ of the neighborhood. By
and bye they are visited by distempers; and as they are honest
and sober citizens, having no uneasy conscience to reproach
them for their sins, they piously consider the affliction as a mo-
nition from heaven to try their virtue. Their sense of constancy
and firmness forbids them to fly from the scourge of the Lord,
and thus they religiously stick to the infected spot ! What is the
true interpretation of such conduct, but that both the farmer and
the trader, obstinately persisting in the means of self-destruction,
are guilty of a sort of suicide 1

It is a fact, long ago established, that great cities are the
graves of the human species. It is a truth of almost equal im-
portance, that the foul habitations of country people are nurse-
ries of pestilential distempers. The street manures of cities con-
sist of pretty much the same mateiials with the yard manure
collected about farm houses. But are unhealthy for a similiar
reason. The costly exertions of the cit, to amass septic materials
of all kinds, and from all quarters, to found his building upon,
amounts to the same thing with the supineness of the ru.stic
sluggard, who neglects to remove them from his door.

If further proof was wanting of the real nature of these ma-
nures, it would be easy to state, that, besides the affinity of septic
compounds with water, they have a strong attraction for other
bodies. With potash and soda, of which large quantities are
daily poured into the streets with the soap suds employed in
washing, and from other sources, the septic acid for the septites
of potash, (common salt-petre) and of soda (cubic nitre). With
lime, which, from measuring, carting and building, is sprinkled
plentifully along the streets, as well as in the moitar of walls
and the cielings of rooms, it form the septic of lime (calcarious
nitre). And with clay it forms the septite of argil, (nitrite of
alumine). By these several ways are pestilential vapors kept
down and prevented from exercising their deadly effects upon
animals, except in cases where they are produced in quantity too
great for the enumerated substances, and others with which they
have a proneness to combine, to attach and neutralize.

2. There will be no great difhculty in showing, that septon
(azote) is one of the component materials of certain vegetables.
If it can be made evident what plants especially abound with it,
we shall be furnished with a clue, leading us to the true use of
the manures containing it. From an analysis of plants we have
become acquainted with several of their component paits, and
thence are enabled to form some judgment concerning the quali-
ties of the manure best adapted to such and such particular kinds.
There is good reason to believe, that particular manures ought to

1846.] Operation of Septon on Plants and Animals. 323

contain inoredients of the same nature and quality with those
which the plants so manured, are found by analysis to consist of.
By proceeding in this manner, there can be rarely a mistake
made in the application of manure. It is observable in the order
of creation, that certain vegetable bodies approach more than
others towards animal nature. The presence of septon (azote)
is the circumstance in the composition of organized being, which
particularly denotes animality, or the approximation to it. Sep-
tic manures, being of animal derivation, ought therefore, if they
entered into the constitution of plants, to make such as are
nourished by them, take on somewhat of an animal nature. Let
us now examine how this principle accords with facts. A fa-
miliar example may be taken from wheat. Wheat is most bene-
fitted by manures that contain septon. Street manure, door dirt,
and well mixed barn yard compost, all of which abound with sep-
ten, are among the best manures for that vegetable. And the
efficacy of wood ashes in making ground capable of producing
great crops of that grain, is probably owing, if modern conjec-
ture is true, to the septon (azote) composing a part of the alkali
it contains. Some of the swamp manures will also produce
good harvests of wheat; but others of them, though they cause
a sufficient growth of straw, fail to fill the seed in the ear. The
straw is large and heavy enough, but the grain is scanty and
light. The reason appears to be this: Where the swamp ma-
nures happen to be charged with the septic matters, derived
from animals, or from vegetable substances that approach toward
animal nature, they will produce plentiful crops of wheat; but
w^hen they consist merely of decayed plants, they are incapable
of elaborating the grain in ihe head. The cause of this can
easily be investigated by attending to the analysis of wheat. Mr.
Parmentier, (Le Farsait Boulanger, &c. page 26,) assures us of
the presence of septon in the miicotis parts of meal; and he
affirms, that the glutinousYtoriion affiards products quite similar to
animal substances. (Ibid. p. 24.) If, then, the land upon which
wheat grows, contains a scanty quantity of seption, the seed will
be poor and light in proportion to the deficiency of that article
of food in the soil. Yet, in this very ground, the roots of turnips
and radishes may thrive exceedingly; and so may other plants
that do not employ septon as an article of their diet.

The same views of the subject inform us why funguses grow
up on dunghills and in pasture grounds when the excrementitious
discharges of animals are dropped. That they are nourished by
septon, appears from their analysis; which proves them to con-
tain it.

Although these considerations might appear conclusive as to
this point, the evidence does not rest here. Facts of a very strik-

324 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.,

ino- nature present themselves relative to the growth of plants
on nitrous (septic) soils. In general, vegetables growing in such
soils, are remarked to become very large, and to get ripe early.
And as they are soon ripe, they are soon rotten. Tobacco, in
such situations, is very luxuriant, and quickly matures, but is
very apt to rot on its passage from America to Europe; and too
much seption in it seems to give it the bad quality of going out
very readily after it is set on fire for smoking. Potatoes grow
rapidly and large, but will keep only for a short time; sugar
canes grow very rank, and are soon fit for cropping, but must be
manufactured speedily, or they spoil, and even with the earliest
care and best attention, afford, under such circumstances, sugar
and molasses of a quality below middling. (Stubbs. 3 Low-
thorp's Abridgement, p. 554.) Cabbages, for the same cause,
ripen too soon, corrupt in the head, and last not long enough for
winter use.

What Pliny relates on the cultivation of the Helvanic vine,
(Nat. Hist. lib. xvi. de gener. Vitium,) confirms the same princi-
ple. " There is no vine," says he " which is less accommodated
to the soil of Italy; the grape which it bears is clear, small and
very apt to rot; and the wine it affords will not last longer than
a year; but thee is no plant that thrives better in poor land."

If these ideas are just, then the d cay of such vegetable sub-
stances ought to be attended, under certain circumstances, with
the production of septic or pestilential fluids. This too is the
fact. Cabbages, putrefying in a cellar, have been known to ren-
der a house unhealthy. Corrupted coffee has been charged with
emitting pestilential effluvia enough to desolate a neighborhood.
The like may happen from rotten Jtaa', henif, potatoes, onions, and
in short, all other plants \vhich have dejived septon, or the prin-
ciple of putridity, from the soil in which they grew. It is pro-
bable, that rotten wheat contributed, with other causes, to ren-
der the vicinity of a certain store in New York, during the pes-
tilence of 1795, peculiarly unwholesome. The dispute, whether
pestilential effluvia proceed from animal or vegetable putrefac-
tion, seems thus reduced to its proper principle. When vege-
tables, containing septon, go into putrefactive decay, mischiev-
ous gasses may exhale from them, having the qualities of animal
productions. When this is not the case, collections of putre-
scent vegetable matter, as in peat mosses and bogs of turf, emit
no particularly offensive miasma to vitiate the surrounding air;
but, on the contrary, the water draining from such places is often
potable and good.

3. There now occurs an obvious explanation of one of the ope-
rations of lime as a manure, when mingled with dung and soil.
The common opinion has been, that it promoted the putrefactive

f

1846.] Operation of Seption on Plants and Animals. 325

process of animal and vegetable matters, and thus made them
more fit for absorption and nutrition. This may be the case: but
there is yet another effect which has not been generally attended
to. Calcarious earth combines with the septic acid into a septite
of lime (calcarious nitre), and thus becomes a very valuable ma-
nure; and at the same time, by its attractive power, ii prevents
the evaporation of that fluid in the form of pestilential steam. I
believe, likewise, it has a further use in retaining the septic sub-
stances longer on the land, and thereby lengthening out their fer-
tilizing elTect. Old walls and rubbish, abounding with the sep-
tite of lime, frequently answer valuable purposes, as manures.
Lime, in its simple state, destroys vegetation. Before it is fit to
promote the growth of plants, it must be combined with some
neutralizes Its combination with carbonic acid (fixed air), is
the most frequent; but in dunghills, and heaps of manure, a more
common compound is formed with the septic (nitric) acid. By
this connection, both the lime and the acid are deprived of their
causticity, and preserved upon the land a sufficient duration of
time, to undergo that gradual decomposition, by the vegetable
economy and other causes, which favors the production and
growth of other plants.

How far the other septites may be operative as manures, is not
wholly ascertained. Doubtless they possess no inconsiderable ac-
tivity. It seems to be agreed among the learned, that the word
translated nitre in the Bible (Prov. xxv., 20; Jer. ii., 22), does
not mean the saltpetre of the moderns, but the mineral alkali
(soda). Yet some ambiguity besets the text of Virgil (I. Georg.
v., 194), as to the precise thing he meant by the nitro sometimes
employed with the lees of oil, as a steep to prepare seed for sow-
ing. The following facts will render it probable that septic or
pestilential fluids are sometimes very abundant in the atmosphere,
and disposed to combine readily with such substances as have an
attraction for them; and that consequently in both the cases just
referred to, the nitre might have been a septite.

" Nitre," says Querlon, JYot. ad Plin. JVat. Hist., lib. xxi., ch.
10), " is a salt belonging to all the parts of the terrestrial globe,
inhabited by men, by animals, or by insects; for I have often ex-
tracted very pure saltpetre from the little holes in walls which
served as lurking places for spiders. Animal exhalation seems to
be the means employed by nature to produce nitre, which, on that
account, is never produced either far below or above the surface
of the earth; and usually has for its matrix rotten plaster, similar
calcarious matters, &c."

In many parts of the state of New York, much of the fixed ve-
getable alkali is extracted from wood ashes. The interior coun-
try, as well as the capital, is occasionally severely afflicted with

326 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.,

pestilential distempers, as was the case in the summer and autumn
of the current year. At some of the potash works, such was the
amount of septic fluids in the surrounding air during this season,
that the alkali concreting on the outsides of the leach tubs, from
the leakage through the staves, attracted enough of them to con-
vert it to saltpetre. Such a fact is of the utmost weight and im-
portance, and of itself establishes the basis of most interesting
deductions.

From the copiousness of septic products, it is apparent, they
incommode animal life wherever they are sufficiently concentrat-
ed; they become incorporated with metallic, earthy and saline
bodies, wherever they can find them; and they extend their influ-
ence to unknown limits over the vegetable creation.

Here, however, I must conclude with soliciting your assistance
to ascertain some points which appear to me of no inconsiderable
importance, both when considered as speculations in science, and
as viewed in connection with the practical arts of agriculture and
medicine. What are the efl^ects wrought upon plants by the sep-
tites of potash (common nitre), clay (alumen nitrosum), and soda
(cubic nitre) considered as manures?

As I oflfer to join heart and hand with you in pursuing these
inquiries, and have made some arrangements on my farm for the
purpose, it is almost superfluous in me to observe, that I remain
with unabated esteem, Yours, &c.

STATE OF PHARMACY IN MEXICO.

In the 13th Number of Travels and Descriptions of Countries,
by Widenmann and Hauff"-Cotta ( 1837, p. 67,) are contained, a
few observations on the state of medicine in Mexico. In reading
these through, and more especially in perusing the description of
the proceedings of the government against quacks and unlicensed
vendors of medicines, every honest pharmaceutist must wish to
see this class of men treated in the same way in every other
country as in Mexico.

The medical authorities in Mexico, are annexed to the Min-
istere de ITnterieure. The Protomedicat, as it is termed, consists
of a president, a dean, a fiscal, and five menibers, all doctors of
medicine, with a secretary and an usher.

Their duties consist in superintending the examinations in me-
dicine; in the inspection of the conduct of all medical men; to
see they confine themselves to the legal limits of their profession;
in the direction of medical studies; in the inspection or visitation
of the apothecary shops; in the direction of the medico-politi-
cal measures in case of epidemics; in putting the laws into exe-

1846.] State of Pharmacy in Mexico. 327

cution against quacks and unlicensed vendors of medicines of
every description, who are to be rigidly prosecuted, and, in case
of conviction, punished with fines, banishment, or imprisonment
with hard labor;* lastly, in sending in monthly repoits of the
state of health of the previous month to the government, the re-
ports being themselves founded on the observations and notes to
be forwarded by all medical men in actual practice to the Pro-
tomedicat on the subject.

The medical men are arranged under the usual heads of phy-
sicians and surgeons, (the two classes being rigidly distinct,)
accoucheurs and apothecaries.

Physicians must be graduated doctors of medicine, but before
they are permitted to practice, they must pass an examination
(state examination) before the protomedicat. If they are found
duly qualified, they are bound by their oath to act in every case
according to the best of their abilities and their consciences; to
abstain from the performance of all surgical operations, unless
they have passed the examination in surgery and not to prepare
or dispense! medicines, much less to keep an apothecary shop;
further, not to take their own relations — even the most distant —
under their treatment; to attend the poor gratis; to be content
with moderate remuneration from the rich; and lastly, to promote
the fulfilment of all religious duties on the bed of sickness and
death, or they subject themselves to a fine of 10,000 maravedis
(about $32) for each case, in which one of their patients, by
their neglect, dies without having received the sacrament. The
law holds them, moreover, responsible for every culpable neglect
of the duties of their profession.

The apothecaries are, in the first place by law, subjected to a
rigid examination, and then to a periodical visitation of their
shops, beyond the precincts of which no medicines are allowed to
be prepared.

They are bound to reject all prescriptions not signed by a legal
practitioner, to abstain from all medical and surgical practice,
and never to quit their shops without leaving an approved and
duly qualified substitute.

All their assistants must be acquainted with Latin, and capable
of compounding medicines accurately and quickly, according to
prescription and the directions of the Spanish Pharmacopoeia.
No one is permitted to open a shop or to take one, in a place
where his father or father-in-law, son or son-in-law, are estab-
lished in medical or surgical practice. — C/iem. Gazette.

* A plan which would answer very well in all other countries.
t Then there are no dispensaries in Mexico ! Happy land.

328 Extracts from the Journals. [Oct.

SENXA.

BY X. LANDERER.

The senna plant is chiefly indigenous in Ethiopia, Arabia Fe-
lix, Abyssinia, Xubia, and Senaar. The Arab tribes who occupy
themselves with this branch of commerce pay not the slightest
attention to the cultivation or manaorement of the plants. Tha
senna plant attains the height of eight or ten feet, and afiords
some protection from the heat of the sun to the inhabitants of the
desert and to the caravans. The harvest of senna begins about
the end of September. The Arabs then cut nearly all the
branches off the tree, leaving the stems bare, and allow them to
lie exposed until the leaves becrin to fade. The branches are now
collected in bundles and exposed on high ground or rocks that the
air and sun may dr^" them as quickly as possible. When the
leaves are dry the branches are laid in heaps and beaten with
sticks to shake the leaves off. The leaves obtained by this pro-
cess are not damaged, and consequently fetch the highest price,
amountino^ to about double the sum given in the bazaars for the
broken senna. As all the leaves are not separated from the twigs
by this process, the branches are, in some parts of Nubia, placed
on a clay floor and camels are driven over them to effect the total
separation of the leaves, which are by these means broken into
pieces and found mixed with small portions of the twigs.

Another variety" of senna, characterized by the large size of
the leaves and their green color, is brought from the interior of
Africa. It is sold at a high price by the name of Mekka senna.

The senna {sinamiki) collected in various parts of Africa, is
packed in Imen sacks on camels and conveyed by camels to the
shores of the Nile, where it is transferred to the boats, and thus
brought to Cairo and Alexandria. In these two capitals there
are sinamiki magazines, to which the bales are conveyed to be
unpacked and again carefully sorted.

Within the last two years the senna trade has been thrown
open, but it has latterly again become a government monopoly.
The refuse and dust generated by the sorting of the leaves is not
met with in the European markets, as it is kept for home con-
sumption. An intentional adulterationof senna with other leaves
in their native country' is out of the question, for the slightest
adulteration is there punished as a capital crime. The small pods,
which are rarely found mixed with the leaves because they are
carefully picked out, are in ver>' general use in the countries
where the senna grows. In the bazaars of Constantinople and
Smvrna two varieties are met with — an Egyptian and a Tripo-
litan variety. — Pharm. Journ. from Rep.fur die. Pharm.

1846.] Hyposulphite of Soda — Hydrochloric Acid. 329

PREPARATION OF HYPOSULPHITE OF SODA.

BY M. V. LEGRIP.

The author (rives the following as a good and cheap process u
the preparation of hyposulphite of soda, now so extensively em-
ployed in taking Daguerreotype images : —

Take of Subcarbonate of soda - - 730 } arts

Sulphur 45 "

Water 1500 "

Mix the sulphur first, with a small quantity of the water, and then
add the soda dissolved in the remainder of the water. Introduce
the mixture into two two-necked bottles, which shall not be mo.e
than two-thirds fdled, then,

Take of Clean iron filings - - - - 1,500 parts
Sulphuric acid,"(sp.gr. 1.845) 3,000 "

Put these into a flask capable of holding two or thice times
the above quantity. Allow the mixture to cool, and the first por-
tion of disengaged hydrogen to escape, then place the flask on a
sand-bath, and by means of tubes of rather large diameter, convey
the gas, first into a washing bottle, and then through the two-
necked bottles containing the solution. The heat appplitd to the
flask should be gradually increased, so as to pioduce a legular,
but not too rapid evolution of gas.

The process having continued thus for ten or twelve hours, may
be stopped. The solutions contained in the two bottles are to be
mixed together, filtered, and evaporated, so as to yield crystals of
hyposulphite of soda.

The flask will contain sulphate of iron, which may be dissolv-
ed out and crystallized. — Ih. from Journ. de Chimie Med.

DUFLOS' METHOD OF PURIFYING CRUDE HYDRO-
CHLORIC ACID.

MM. Hensler and Riegel have tried this method, and found it
to answer well.

Mix fifteen pounds of crude hydrochloric acid with five pounds
of water and one ounce of sulphate of iron; expose the mixture to
the air for some time, and when clear pour it into a retort, and
distil, at a moderate heat, three-fifths or ihree-fouilhs.

The product of distillation is clear, colorless, of a proper de-
gree of concentration, and quite pure. In the neck of the retort
a yellownsh white sublimate will be observed. — lb. from Pharm.
Central Blntt.

( 330 )

MISCELLANY.

CONULARIA Vernn"lm. n. s. Emmons.

Description. — Quadrangular, tapering, forming a pyramid with
an oblique base; sides and angles unequal; the lour angles equal-
ly grooved or sulcated; triangular faces or planes undulating and
marked in the middle by a faint sulcus; faces ornamented by close
papillated ridges, distinct upon the middle and basal extrendty,
but obsolete towards the apex; papilla hollow, and slightly elon-
gated longitudinally, equal; cuticle formed of two coats; inferior
closely grooved, but papillae indistinct or wanting; linear ridges
parallel, in two sets upon each, slightly convex; convexity to-
wards the base, forming at the middle of each face a single un-
dulation, which marks the place of the facial sulcus.

Observations. — This conularia is nine inches long, and three
inches broad at base; the broadest face is two inches, and the
narrow, one and a quarter wide at base. The small end is three
fourths of an inch wide, and nearly flat. It is in the form of a
compressed, oblique angled pyramid, with two obtuse and two
acute alternating angles. It appears to be destitute of septse, and
the cuticular covering extremely thin, and the papilla indistinct
to the unassisted eye; the faces appear finely lined.

Geological Position and Locality. —
^i§' Carboniferous limestone of the river Des-

moines, Iowa.

Fig 1, shows the appearance of the
papillated lines towards the basal ex-
tremity, and slightly magnified. Fig. 2,
the lines as the papillae are becoming
obsolete towards the apex. It appears
quite probable that fhis change is due
to age, or it may arise from accident,
as friction, etc.

Fj

1846.] The Laurel and the Plum. 331

THE LAUREL AND THE PLUM.

A writer (Mr. J. I. Thomas) in the first No. of the Horticul-
turist, p. 34, remarks that the laurel {^Kabnia latifolia) will not
flourish on a limestone soil, and that this has been proved by an
eminent horticulturist of this state. He goes on to state that this
plant will not flourish in soils containing carbonate of lime. Act-
ing on this belief, soil was procured from ravines which it was
supposed were free from this substance by filtration, which it
had been subjected to for centuries. Plants of the laurel being
placed in this earth were found to grow and flourish remark-
ably well

In regard to this matter, though we have never found our
friend D. Thomas practically in error, yet in this case he is theo-
retically so. We were furnished with a specimen of this artifi-
cial soil, and found about the same proportion of carbonate of
lime as exists generally in western soils.

The difficulty in cultivating the kalmias and rhododendrons
lies in the nature of the root, which spreads widely in a loose
soil abounding in vegetable matter. In transplanting, the roots
are usually injured, and are set in a soil too compact and too poor
in vegetable matter, and if exposed to the sun it invariably dies.
The difficulty in cultivating kalmias then is not so much the pre-
sence of carbonate of lime, as in the want of a proper quantity of
loose vegetable matter to absorb and retain sufficient water natu-
rally. A deeply shaded location is another requisite to success.

It is a mistaken opinion too, that the soluble matters filter out
of soils when covered by forests. It is one of the beneficial influ-
ences of forest trees and wild shrubs, to maintain soluble matter
near the surface.

Again, a correspondent of the Horticulturist, p. 132, (Mr.
John M. Ives) remarks, in speaking of the black wart on the
branches of the plum tree, that he has cut out at least fifty ex-
crescences, and has not been able to detect a single worm or in-
sect. And in another place farther on, "My opinion now is, that
it is caused by a diseased state of the sap," and illustrates the re-
mark by reference to the excrescences on the Azalea in the spring,
which he attributes to extravasation of sap. Now the probabili-
ty is, the writer has not looked for insects at the right season.
He will find the larva of an insect in the excrescence of the
plum in September. It is then mature or nearly so, and may al-
ways be found in the excrescence which has been formed during
the preceding summer. There is no question, then, as it regards
the cause of the black wart upon plum trees, neither is there as
it regards the juicy excrescence upon the Azalea; both result from
the perforation of insects. In the dry black excrescence the in-

332 Miscellany. [Oct.,

sect has escaped; in the fresh one at the proper season it may
always be found.

ANALYSIS OF MINERAL WATERS.

A few bottles of water from a spring in Saratoga was recently
brought to us for analysis. Having made the necessary qualiative
tests, we were satisfied that it was worthy of a careful examina-
tion. By the most approved processes we found it contained the
following substances;

Pint.
Chloride of sodium, > _ _ 33.712

Bicarbonate of soda, - - - - 3.856
Bicarbonate of lime, _ _ - 17.728
Bicarbonate of Magnesia, _ _ _ 5.248
Hydriodate of soda, - - - - 1.500

52.044

Specific gravity, 1.039. /o -.

'I he most lemarkable fact brought out by this analysis is the
large quantity of iodine it contains, amounting, as will be seen,
to 12 grains in a gallon. We were able to obtain a decisive
test of its presence in one ounce of water. This spring is also free
from iron. Tincture of nutgalls, after standing twenty-four hours
produced merely a green color, of the solution, and the salt when
evapoiated is perfectly white. This spring, it seems to us, is
quite an accession to the mineral waters of Saratoga. It has a
remarkably pleasant saline taste, in which iodine or something
like it may be perceived. For bottling it is equal if not superior
to the Congress spring' — remaining perfectly transparent, a brown
ferruginous sediment never appearing. It will also be found an
excellent remedy for scrofula, and indeed as we understand has
proved decidedly useful in several cases. This is explained by
the iodine of the water. As the water is so excellent, especially
for bottling, we advise the owners to call the spring J\^ew Con-
gress Spring.

It is situated a few rods north of the Iodine spring. The wa-
ter retains its carbonic acid a much longer time than either of the
springs of Saratoga, and hence remains quite pungent two days
after the coiks have been drawn from the bottles. For this rea-
son we have no doubt the salts, as represented above, are in the
state of bicaibonates. We understand that Mr. George Dexter
ot this place (Albany) keeps a supply of this water on sale.

[Will our exchange papers copy the above. — Ed.^

1846.] Addison County Agricultural Fair. 333

ADDISON COUNTY, VERMONT, AGRICULTURAL FAIR.

Through the kindness of Messrs. William S. Goodrich and E.
R. Wright, the secretaries of the day, I am enabled to forward
you some account of this fair, which was held on the 18th Octo-
ber, inst. Many things were exhibited to give interest to the
occasion, w^ithout application for premiums. The following is a
list of animals entered in competition for premiums, namely, one
7 year old bull, two 3 year old, two 2 year old, seven 1 year old,
and one 6 months calf; total, 13 bulls. Twelve dairy cows, two
cows and calves, six 2 year old heifers, and nine yearling heifers;
total cows and heifers, 29, and calves 2. One pair of 7 year old
oxen, six 5 year old, six four year old; seven 3 year old steers,
and five two years old; total 50. Total horned cattle, 94.

Besides these, not offered for premium, one pair of beautiful
cherry-red fat oxen exhibited by Mr. Santbrd of Cornwall, I
believe, and one mammoth ox, very superior for size, by Mr.
Barnes of Addison.

There were exhibited for premiums, five pairs of matched hor-
ses, and three stallions; seventy-one breeding mares and colts,
four breeding mares, fourteen 3 year old colts, sixteen 2 year old,
thirteen 1 year old, and five sucking colts; in all of horses 107.
There was but a small exhibition of swine, probably from the
difficulty of getting them on to the ground. There was one very
superior boar pig 6 months old, from Bridport, exhibited by H.
Hamilton, for which a gratuity of one dollar was given, as he
was too young to come within the rules for competition.

There were two specimens of winter wheat exhibited, one a
specimen of Gen. Harmon's white flint, and the other was said to
weigh 70 lbs. per bushel. One specimen of the muhicaule rye, of
very superior quality. A great number of varieties of seed corn,
among which I noticed a superior kind of garden corn, called the
calico corn, said to make flour that cannot be distinguished from
wheat flour, either by the eye or taste; one other variety of field
corn, eight-rowed, that is said to yield greatly, having five ears
on a stock, and very early.

Under the head of miscellaneous articles w^ere squashes, pump-
kins, sugar beets, carrots, potatoes, Alabama mustard, waterme-
lons, specimens of cocoons, geese, fowls, hats, onions, and withal
Mr. J. M. Weeks' perfect apiary. Two valuable merinoes were
also examined by the committee of this department; making a
total of 55 varieties, besides many others not entered for premi-
ums.

The number of sheep was not so large this year from the con-
sideration that the managers offered no premiums for lots of one
hundred ewes and lambs, as they did last yeai; so that at the last

334 Miscellany. [Oct.,

year's fair there were exhibited about two thousand sheep; this
year not so many, but a very superior selection, as follows: Me-
rino bucks, 27 ; Merino lambs, 87 ; Merino ewes in pens of 5
each, 65; Merino ewes in pens of 25 each, 125; Merino lambs
in pens of 25 each, 125; making a total of merinos of 304.
Saxony and grade bucks, 12; lambs, 45; total 57. Saxony and
grade ewes in pens of 5 each, 40; do. in pens of 25 each, 75;
total, 115. Lambs in pens of 25 each, 50. Total Saxony, 222.
Making the total of sheep, as reported by the secretaries, 526.
In addition to these, as I happen to know, there was exhibited
about 40 superior sheep by Mr. Prosper Ellthorp of Bridport,
both merinoes and Saxony, and Saxony grades, that through
mistake were not reported; making the total of sheep entered for
premium, 566.

There were five plows, two harrows, two cultivators, and two
one-horse wagons entered. Five lots of butter, two of cheese,
eio-ht boxes of superior honey from Weeks' perfect apiary, and
four lots of maple sugar, in which more especially the mountain-
ous parts of Vermont abound, so that as a state it falls short of
only one state in the Union in the quantity of sugar manufac-
tured, and that is Louisiana.

In the rooms fitted for the exhibition of household manufac-
tures, there were exhibited upwards of fifty specimens. This
barely showed what might be done in that department, and if all
the ladies that were there would the next year bring something
themselves, and not come as mere spectators, there would surely
be a rich display of household manufactures.

There were 17 lots of fruit, including 30 varieties of apples, 7
of pears, 1 of quinces, and a great variety of excellent grapes,
principally from Mr. Smith's garden in Whiting, where a choice
variety of fruit trees, of all kinds, and almost every variety of
grape may be procured, by such as wish to engage in horticul-
ture.

I have now given you a slight view of what was presented at
the fair for competition. It appears that |301.10 were awarded
for premiums; |l02 on sheep, $S6 on horned cattle, $46 on
horses, $15 on swine, $18 on household manufactures, and $14
on butter, cheese, maple sugar and honey. The towns that were
most successful in competition at this fair, ai'e the following:
Bridport took the highest amount of premiums, being $58.50,
and excelled in sheep, $38.50 of the above being for sheep; of
which Mr. Prosper Ellthorp received $19.50, more than any other
man for sheep or anything else; and the greater share of $13,
which another man took was for the stock of Mr. Ellthorp's stock
buck. Shorehara came next to Bridport, receiving $48.60, and
excelled in sheep also, receiving $31.50 of the above on sheep.

1846.] Buttonwood Fungi Fruit. 335

Addison excelled in working oxen and steers, taking almOvSt all
the premiums, and $5 for the five best yoke of oxen, from that
town. Cornwall excelled in swine, and took most of the premi-
ums on the few that were presented. The sucking colts in Brid-
port, the stock of Black Hawk, took both the first and second
premiums; since which the one that took the first premium, be-
longing to Mr. Hill, has been sold into central or western New
York, for $ 1 10, though badly marked, the purchaser remarking
that he would have given $200 had he been free from any white.
He purchased two other sucking colts of the same stock; one of
D. W. Jewett, for $100, and the other of Mr. Hill for $65. A
cow belonging to Mr. Solomon Allen, of Panton, kept on grass
two weeks in June, produced 35 lbs. of butter. Another in
Whiting produced 29 lbs. 3 oz.; and another inBridport 28^ lbs.
The field crops are reported at the first of January, and premiums
awarded thereon at the annual meeting, so that this is but a part
of the year's operations of our County Agricultural society. The
subject is taking a deeper hold of public confidence. The socie-
ty has recently held its third annual fair, and never were there so
many of all classes out to witness the exhibition. Four years
ago, our legislature appropriated a certain sum to the encourage-
ment of agricultural societies, to be distributed among the coun-
ties, on condition that they would organize an agricultural society
and raise a sum equal to their share given by the state. Most of
the counties have gone into the measure, and there is a fair pros-
pect that the agricultural interests of the state will be greatly
subserved.

Yours, &c. D. L.

Life and Vigor returning to the Buttonwood. — The button-
wood in this vicinity exhibits signs of returning vigor, and many
which seemed to be nearly dead will recover.

Potato Fungi.— We have received from our friend Dr. Fitch
a pair of fine fungi which grew in a potato hill, and which re-
semble potatoes so closely that they were so considered. We
may figure and describe them in a future number.

Unripe and Worthless Fruit in the Albany Market. — The
fruits which have appeared this season in this market, have been
generally unripe. Peaches, until they had been in market three
weeks, were generally unfit to eat.

336 Miscellany. [Oct.,

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

The Horticulturist and Journal of Rural Art and Rural Taste.

Edited by Ji. J. Downing; Proprietor, Luther Tucker, Esq.
This work we regard as a valuable addition to our stock of peri-
odicals. Its appearance indicates, and the support it receives
proves the progress of good taste, and greater interest in the or-
namental branches of husbandry.

Resumption of the Annals of the JYeio York Lyceum.

We are happy to see this excellent publication revived. The
papers which are contained in the last numbers are valuable contri-
butions to science. This, together with the Journal of the Phila-
delphia Academy ofJYatural Science, and the Transactions of the
Boston JVatural History Society, form a great body of American
scientific matter. Silliman^s Journal is more general and more
popular in its aims, and fills of course a wider field. It is pub-
lished with great regularity, and contains all foreign discoveries
which it gives in admirably condensed forms.

The following is a list of our standard monthlies, which are
received in exchange. Albany Cultivator, American Agricul-
turist, Boston Cultivator, JYew York Farmer and Mechanic,
Spirit of the Times, Genesee Farmer, Prairie Farmer, Ohio
Cultivator, Farmer'' s Cabinet, Southern Agriculturist, Horticul-
turist, American Journal of Insanity. Several other periodicals
which we should be happy to exchange with.

Books Received.

Brown's Forest and Fruit Trees of America.

American Herd Book, by L. F. Allen.

Randall's Incentives to the Study of Geology.

Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, Nos.
4,5,6,7.

Molusques Vivants et Fossiles, 1 livraison.

Paleontologie Universal des Coquilles, etc., V liv., par Alcide
D'Orbigny.

ADULTERATION OF IODINE.

M. Herberger draws attention to the fact that with the present
high price of iodine sophistications are uncommonly frequent.
Thus he found in one sample native sulphuret of antimony. But
the adulteration with artificial graphite is far more deceptive ;_ it
may, however, be readily detected by driving off the iodine
at a gentle heat, and subsequently raising the temperature with
access of air. In one instance the author found no less than 51
per cent, of graphite. — Pharm. Journ.

^.