A treatise on agriculture; comprising a concise history of its origin and progress; the present condition of the art abroad and at home, and the theory and practice of husbandry. To which is added, a dissertation on the kitchen and fruit garden

A TREATISE

A G R I C UJ L T U R E;

COMPRISING

A CONCISE HISTORY OF ITS ORIGIN AND PROGRESS ; THE

PRESENT CONDITION OF THE ART ABROAD AND

AT HOME, AND THE THEORY AND

PRACTICE OF HUSBANDRY.

TO WHICH IS ADDED,
A DISSERTATION ON THE KITCHEN AND FRUIT GARDEN.

BY JOHN ARMSTRONG.
WITH NOTES BY J. BUEL.

NEW-YORK:
/

HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET

1840

<S4

MAIN

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by

HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.

PREFACE.

AFTER Gen. Armstrong had retired from public to
private life, and turned his attention particularly to
rural pursuits, he wrote the following treatise on
agriculture for the Albany Argus, then conducted
by the subscriber. To give it to the public in a less
perishable shape than the columns of a newspaper,
it was afterward published^* book form. The ob-
ject of General Armstrong was " to contribute his
aid," to use his language, " in giving to the study
and practice of agriculture a new and increased
impulse throughout the state ; and he supposed
this could be best done by exhibiting concisely the
origin and progress of the art, its present condition
abroad and at home, and, lastly, the theory and
practice in relation to it which have arisen out of
the present philosophical attainments in Europe."

At a subsequent period, at our request, the gen-
eral wrote two essays, one upon the kitchen,
and the other upon the fruit garden, which were
published in the second and third volumes of the
Memoirs of the Board of Agriculture. As there
were but few copies of either the treatise or the
memoirs printed, the circulation was, of course,
A2

667855

VI PREFACE.

limited, and the supply inadequate to the demand.
Now that a taste for agricultural information and
agricultural improvement has become more gen-
eral, and that these writings are not to be found
in the market, the subscriber has been induced to
unite them in one volume, and to subjoin such
notes as a lapse of twenty years has, in a meas-
ure, rendered expedient, on account of the im-
provements which have, during that time, been
made in rural economy ; and, in preparing this
new edition, he is persuaded that he is rendering
an acceptable servic^to the agriculturist and to
the community at large.

J. BTTEL.

Albany, June, 1839.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Of the Rise and Progress of Agriculture . . . Page 9

CHAPTER II.

Of the actual State of Agriculture in Europe . .13

CHAPTER HI.

Theory of Vegetation 33

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Analysis of Soils, and the agricultural relations between
Soils and Plants 46

CHAPTER V.

Of practical Agriculture and its necessary Implements . 52

CHAPTER VI.
Of Manures ; their management and application . . 58

CHAPTER VII.
Of Tillage, and the Principles on which it is founded . 67

CHAPTER VIII.

Of a Rotation of Crops, and the Principles on which it is found-
ed 72

CHAPTER IX.

Of the Plants recommended for a course of Crops in the prece-
ding chapter, and their culture ..... 77

CHAPTER X.

Of other Plants useful in a Rotation of Crops, and adapted to our
Climate 105

Viii CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XL

Of Meadows Page 113

CHAPTER XII.
Of Farm Cattle 122

CHAPTER XIII.
Of the Dairy 133

CHAPTER XIV.
Of Orchards J41

CHAPTER XV
Of the Kitchen Garden 150

CHAPTER XVI.
Of the Fruit Garden 217

A ',.,.,

ON

AGRICULTURE.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OP AGRICULTURE.

THE origin of this art is lost among the fables of
antiquity, and we have to regret that, in the present
state of knowledge, we are even ignorant of the
time when the plough was invented, and of the
name and condition of the inventor.* When, there-
fore, we speak of the beginning of the art, we but al-
lude to certain appearances which indicate its exist-
ence, and the employment given by it to the minds,
as well as to the hands of mankind. Such were
the artificial canals and lakes of Egypt. Menaced
at one time by a redundancy of water, and at an-
other by its scarcity or want, the genius of that
very extraordinary people could not but employ it-
self, promptly and strenuously, in remedying these
evils, and eventually in converting them into bene-
fits ; and hence it was, that, when other parts of the
world exhibited little more of agricultural knowl-
edge than appertains to the state of nature ima-
gined by philosophers, the Egyptians thoroughly un-
derstood and skilfully practised irrigation, that most

* This invention has been attributed to Osiris. See Millet's
Gen. Hist.

10 AGRICULTURE :

scientific and profitable Branch of the art.* Like
their1 PVVR Nile'., tjitfir; population had its overflow,
whiclx Colonized '.Carthage -and Greece,! and carried
with it the Jaleftt. and. intelligence of the mother
cpuijtry, • <^hk 'fairer £)f', these states, though es-
s<ehtrarTy cbrnmerddl, 'Md its plantations; and so
highly prized were the agricultural works of Mago,
that, when Carthage was captured, they alone, of
the many books found in it, were retained and trans-
lated by the Romans. A similar inference may be
drawn from the history of Greece ; for assuredly
that art could not have been either unknown or
neglected which so long employed the pen and the
tongue of the great Xenophon.f It must, however,
be admitted that, of the ancient nations, it is only
among the Romans that we find real and multiplied
evidences of the progress of the art ; facts substi-
tuted for conjectures and inferences. Cato, Varro,
Columella, Virgil, and Pliny, wrote on the subject,
and it is from their works we derive the following
brief exposition of Roman husbandry.

The plough, the great instrument of agricultural
labour, was well known and generally used among
the Romans, and was drawn exclusively by horned
cattle. Of fossil manures we know that they used
lime, and probably marl^ and that those of animal
and vegetable basis were carefully collected. At-
tention to this subject made part of the national re-

* The best practical illustration of this opinion is found in
the Valley of the Po, where " every rood of earth maintains its
man."

t The Egyptians might have sent some colonies into these
countries ; but the commonly received opinion is, that the Pe-
lasgi first settled Greece, and that Carthage was founded by a
company of Phoenicians under Queen Dido.

J Xenophon wrote several treatises on husbandry, and gave
public lectures on it at Scillonte, whither a weak and wicked
government had banished him.

§ For the first part of this assertion we have the authority of
Pliny ; for the latter, the practice of their colonies both in Gaul
and Britain.

ITS RISE AND PROGRESS. 11

ligion ; the dunghill had its god, and Stercutus his
temple and worshippers. Their corn-crops were
abundant ; besides barley and far,* they had three
species of wheat, the robus or red, the siligo or
white, and the triticum trimestre, three months or
summer wheat; they had, besides, millet, panis,
zea, and rye, all of which, producing a flour conver-
tible into bread, were known by the common name
of frumentum, corn or grain. Leguminous crops
were frequent ; th£ lupine, in particular, was raised
in abundance, and, besides being employed as a
manure,! entered extensively into the subsistence
of men, cattle, and poultry. The cultivation of
garden vegetables was well understood, and employ-
ed many hands ; and meadows, natural and artifi-
cial, were brought to great perfection. Lucerne and
fenu-gree were the basis of the latter; and pease,
rye, and a mixture of barley, beans and pease, called
farrago, were occasionally used in the stables as
green food. Their flocks were abundant, and formed
their first representative of wealth, as is sufficiently
indicated by their word pecunia. Vines and olives,
and their products, wine and oil, had a full share
of attention and use. The rearing of poultry made
an important part of domestic economy ; nor were
apiaries and fishponds forgotten or neglected.

Such was the husbandry of Rome when Rome
was mistress of the world ; and it was to this illus-
trious period that Pliny alluded, when, speaking of
the ancient fertility of the soil, he remarked, " that
the earth took pleasure in being cultivated by the
hands of men crowned with laurels and decorated
with triumphal honours."

* Of this last there were three kinds, neither of which is now
cultivated.

i The lupinus albus of Linnaeus : " many other vegetables
are used for this purpose, particularly the bean, but they do not
answer as well as the lupine ; when this is heated in an oven,
and then buried, it forms the most powerful of all manures." —
T. C. L. Simonde. Tableau de V Agriculture Toscane.

12 AGRICULTURE '.

If we pause for a moment to glance at the civil
institutions of this wonderful people, we discover
how soon and how deeply it entered into their poli-
cy,,not merely to promote, but to dignify agricul-
ture and its professors.* When Cicero said that
" nothing in this world was better, more useful,
more agreeable, more worthy of a free man than
agriculture,"! he pronounced not only his own opin-
ion, but the public judgment of his age and nation.
Were troops to be raised for the defence of the re-
public, the tribus rusticus — the country or farming
class — was the privileged nursery of the legion.J
Did exigencies of state require a general or dictator,
he was taken from the plough. Were his services
to be rewarded, this was done, not with ribands or
gold, but by a donation of land.^

With such support from public opinion, it was
not to be supposed that the laws would be either
adverse or indifferent to this branch of industry ; we
accordingly find the utmost security given to the
labours of the husbandman ;|| no legislative inter-
position between the seller and buyer; neither
forced sales nor limitation of prices, and a sacred-
ness of boundaries never disturbed ;^[ fairs and mar-
kets multiplied and protected against invasion or
interruption,** and highways leading to these every-
where established, and of a character to call forth
the highest praise and admiration, ft

* Tanus and Numa were deified for services rendered to ag-
riculture.

f Cicero de Officiis, 1. ii.

t This continued till the time of Marias.

§ As much as he could plough in a day.

|| To cut or destroy in the night the crop of his neighbour, sub-
iected the Roman to death.

1T Terminus was among their gods.

** Assemblies of the people on days designated for fairs, and
on subjects other than those of trade, were not lawful.

ft The Appian Way yet remains the wonder and reproach of
modern times.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 13

Nor were these regulations confined to the proper
territory of Rome ; what of her own policy was
good, she communicated to her neighbours ; what
of theirs was better, she adopted and practised her-
self. Her arts and arms were therefore constant
companions : wherever her legions marched, her
knowledge, practices, and implements followed ;
and it is to these we are to look for the foundation
of modern agriculture in Italy, France, Spain, &c.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE ACTUAL STATE OP AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE.

THIS is very different in different states, and even
in different parts of the same state : its greater or
less degree of perfection depending on causes phys-
ical or political, or both. Where a state, or part
of a state, from soil, climate, manners, or geographi-
cal position, draws its principal subsistence from the
fishery or the chase, as in the more northern parts
of Europe,* agriculture will not succeed ; when a
state is from any cause both essentially maritime
or manufacturing, as in England,f or principally

* Is not the author somewhat at fault here ? Norway is the
only country in the north of Europe where the business of fish-
ing is extensively followed, and it is only in the portions of that
continent, so-far north as to be unfitted by climate for agricul-
ture, that wild animals abound.

f The agricultural condition of Great Britain, and particularly
of Scotland and of Prussia, has been greatly changed and im-
proved within the last 20 years ; and even Prussia has apparently
commenced in earnest in enlightening her agriculture, by estab-
lishing schools of scientific and practical instruction. The great
Prussian school of Moegelier, under the direction of Von Thaer,

B

14 AGRICULTURE.

manufacturing, as in Prussia ;* where public opin-
ion has degraded manual labor, as in Spain, Portu-
gal, and the Papal territory ; or where laws villa-
nize it, as in Russia, Prussia, Poland, Hungary, &c.,
&c., it is in vain to expect pre-eminent agriculture.
These principles will receive illustration as we go
along.

I. in the Campania of Rome, where, in the time
of Pliny, were counted twenty-three cities, the trav-
eller is now astonished and depressed at the silence
and desolation that surround him. Even from Rome
to Trescati [four leagues of road the most frequent-
ed], we find only an arid plain, without trees, with-
out meadows natural or artificial, and without villa-
ges or other habitation of man ! Yet is this wretch-
edness not the fault of soil or climate, which, with
little alteration,! continue to be what they were in
the days of Augustus. " Man is the only growth that
dwindles here" and to his deficient or ill-directed in-
dustry are owing all the calamities of the scene. J

one of the most enlightened agriculturists of the age, aided by
the instruction in agriculture which is now given in the normal
and primary schools of that kingdom, has already produced a
wonderful improvement in Prussian agriculture. The march of
improvement in Scotch husbandry, in the present century, has
probably not been surpassed in any country ; while in England,
at no time has there been greater or more wisely directed efforts
for improvement than within the last few years. Instead of
manufactures depressing, it would seem that they now operate
as the strongest stimulant to agricultural improvement, by of-
fering a ready home-market for the surplus products of the soil,
both of raw materials and provisions. This also appears to be
true with regard to our country. — J. B.

* Although great attention has been given to manufactures in
Prussia within the last half century, still it is too much to say
that she is "principally manufacturing." Agriculture is un-
doubtedly, by far, the most important interest.

t The climate of Italy is now warmer than it was in the Au-
gustan age, which Buffon ascribes to the draining of great tracts
of swampy land in Germany.

t " Un Romain meme le plus indigent rouglroitde cultiverla
terro." — Bosc. The poorest Roman would blush to cultivate the
earth.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 15

Instead of devoting themselves to the hardy and
masculine labours of the field, the successors of Cato
and of Pliny are employed in fabricating sacred vases,
hair-powder and pomatums, artificial pearls, fiddle-
strings, embroidered gloves, and religious relics ! They
are also great collectors of pictures, statues, and
medals — " dirty gods and coins" — and find an ample
reward in the ignorance and credulity of those who
buy them.

II. How different from this picture is that of Tus-
cany ! where the soil, though less fertile,* is covered
with grain, with vines, and with cattle ; and where
a surface of 1200 square leagues subsists a popula-
tion of 950,000 inhabitants, of which 80,000 are ag-
riculturists, f It may amuse, if it does not instruct,
the reader, to offer a few details of a husbandry
among the most distinguished of the present age.
The plough of northern Europe, like that of this
country, has the power of a wedge, and acts hori-
zontally ; that of Tuscany has the same direction,
but a very different form. With the outline of a
shovel, it consists of two inclined planes sloping
from the centre, and forming a gutter and two ridg-
es. This instrument is particularly adapted to the
loose and friable texture of the soil. A second
plough of the same shape, but of smaller size, fol-
lows that already described, and, with the aid of the
hoe and the spade,J throws the earth, already bro-

* " Two thirds of Tuscany consists of mountains." Vol. viii.,
p. 232, Geographique Mathematique et physique. See also Forsyth's
remarks, p. 80, where are detailed the principal causes of her
prosperity. "Leopold," says he, "in selling the crown lands,
studiously divided large tracts of rich but neglected land into
small properties. His favourite plan of encouraging agriculture
consisted, not in boards, societies, and premiums, but in giving the
labourer a security and interest in the soil, in multiplying small free-
holds, in extending the livelli or life leases," &c., &c.

t Tuscany, including the islands belonging to it, is stated to
have a superficial area of about 8000 square miles, and, by the
last census, somewhat more than 1,300,000 inhabitants.

t It is among the most important covenants of a Tuscan lease,

16 AGRICULTURE.

ken and pulverized, into four-feet ridges or beds,
on which the crop is sown. The furrows answer a
threefold purpose ; they drain the beds of excessive
moisture, ventilate the growing crops, and supply
paths for the weeders.

The rotation of crops employs two periods of dif-
ferent length ; the one of three, the other of five
years. In the rotation of three years the ground
is sown five times, and in that of four years seven
times, as follows :

1st year, wheat, and, after wheat, lupines :
2d do. wheat, and, after wheat, turnips :
3d do. Indian corn or millet.
1st year, wheat, and, after wheat, beans :
2d do. wheat, and, after wheat, lupines :
3d do. wheat, and, after wheat, lupinella : [an-
nual clover].
4th do. Indian corn or millet.

In the Syanese Maremna, where the lands want
neither repose nor manure, the constant alternation
is hemp and wheat, and the produce of the latter is
often twenty-four bushels threshed for one sown.

It will be seen from this course of crops, that the
principal object of Tuscan agriculture is wheat ; of
which they have two species, the one bald, the other
bearded ; both larger than the corresponding species
in other countries of Europe ; convertible into ex-
cellent bread and pastes, and probably but varieties
of that Sicilian family which Pliny describes as
yielding " most flour and least bran, and suffering no
degradation from time." It is harvested about the
middle of June, and, when the grain crop is secured,
the ploughing for the second or forage crop begins ;
which, besides lupines, lupinella, and beans, often
consists of a mixture of lupines, turnips, and flax.
The lupines ripen first, and are gathered in autumn ;

that one third of the ground shall be actually worked with a
epade.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 17

Cihe turnips are drawn in the winter, and the flax in
the spring.

Besides the application of ordinary manures, the
lupine is ploughed down when in flower ; a practice
that began with the Romans : Columella says, u of
all leguminous vegetables, the lupine is that which
most merits attention, because it costs least, employs
least time, and furnishes an excellent manure" The
culture of this vegetable is different, according to
the purposes for which it is raised ; if for grain, the
ground has two ploughings and twenty-five pounds
weight of seed to a square of a hundred toises [about
640 feet] : if for manure, one ploughing is sufficient.
Like our buckwheat, its vegetation is quick and its
growth rapid ; whence the farther advantage of sup-
pressing, and even of destroying, the weeds that
would have infested any other crop. In the neigh-
bourhood of Florence, they are in the practice of
burning the soil; which they do by digging holes,
filling them with fagots, and raising the earth into
mounds over them. The fagots are then inflamed
and burned, and with them the incumbent earth,
which is afterward scattered, so as to give to the
whole field the same preparation.
I III. " The countries," says Arthur Young, " the
most rich and flourishing of Europe, in proportion
to their extent, are probably Piedmont and the Mi-
lanese. We there meet all the signs of prosperity,
an active and well-conditioned population, great ex-
ertions, considerable interior consumption, superb
roads, many opulent towns, a ready and abundant
circulation, the interest of money low, the price of
labour high ; in one word, it is impossible to cite a
single fact that shows that Manchester, Birming-
ham, Rouen, and Lyons, are in a condition equally
prosperous as the whole of these duchies." Their
population is stated at " 1,114,000, and the territory
at little more than two millions of arpens (acres).
Wheat, rye, Indian corn, flax, and hemp, the vine
B2

18 AGRICULTURE.

and the olive, the caper and the cotton-tree, with
all kinds of garden fruits and vegetables, are culti-
vated here : the soil knows no repose, and much of
it yields annually and uniformly two crops of grain
or three of grass."* These are the miracles of ir-
rigation ; not a drop of water is lost. Besides the
permanent supplies furnished from lakes, ponds,
rivers, creeks, and springs, even the winter torrent
and summer shower are everywhere intercepted by
drains and led to reservoirs, whence they are dis-
tributed at will to the neighbouring grounds.

In 1770 an agricultural school was established at
Milan, consisting of 220 boys, who were instructed
in theoretical and practical husbandry. This insti-
tution has escaped the notice of travellers ; and we
are unable to say whether it has or has not fulfilled
the intentions of its projectors.!

IV. Switzerland has 1444 square leagues of sur-
face,{ and presents an assemblage of mountains,
one rising above another, until the summits are lost
in masses of snow and ice, which never melt. This
short description sufficiently indicates the character
of both the soil and the climate ; yet, unpropitious as
these are, we find a population of 1242 inhabitants
to each square league ! " This is, perhaps, the
country of the world which presents the most hap-
py effects of an industry always active and per-
severing. The traveller who climbs her mountains
is struck with admiration when he beholds vine-
yards and rich pastures in those places which be-
fore appeared naked and barren rocks. The traces

•

* Geographique Mathematique, &c., article Italic.

i Since this treatise was written, we have notice of the estab-
lishment of agricultural schools in Prussia, France, Ireland,
Russia, and in most of the German States ; and a school, upon
a very broad and liberal basis, is in contemplation in England.
— J. B.

t The superficial area of Switzerland, as its boundaries were
established by the Congress of Vienna, has been differently es-
timated from 14,000 to 18,000 square miles.

STATE OP AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 19

of the plough are perceived on the border of pre-
cipices where the most savage animals do not pass
without danger ; in one word, the inhabitants appear
to have conquered all obstacles, whether arising
from soil, position, or climate, and to have drawn
abundance from a territory condemned by nature to
perpetual sterility."*

V. The classical reader will remember that Spain
was the garden of the Hesperides of the Roman
writers ; by which was meant the combinations of
a fine climate, a rich soil, and an active, intelligent
agriculture. To this state of things even the em-
pire of the Goths was not fatal ;t and that of the
Moors rendered it still more distinguished. In their
hands the plains of Valentia were cultivated through-
out, with the utmost care and skill ; and where their
wheels, reservoirs, and drains of irrigation yet re-
main, the soil continues to yield the richest and
most abundant products. In Catalonia, Navarre,
Galitia, and the Asturias, many species of the an-
cient agriculture are yet in vigour, because "the
leases are long, and the landlord cannot capriciously
violate them" The same causes are followed by the
same effects in the three districts of Biscaya, Gui-
poscoa, and Alava. " In running over these, every-
thing one finds is animated by the presence of lib-
erty and industry ; nothing can be more charming
than the coasts, nothing more attractive than the
culture of the valleys. Throughout the 30 leagues
that separate Bedassos from Vittoria, every quarter
of an hour we discover some well-built village or
• comfortable cottage. "{

* Geographique Mathematique, article Helvetia.

f It appears from Varro, De re rustica, and the letters of Gas-
siodorus, that the Goths introduced into Spain the subterranean
granaries called sillos, and the art of irrigation. The former are
now exclusively used in Tuscany ; and Cato's precept, " Prata
irrigua," &c., shows whence their knowledge of the latter was
derived.

£ Burgoing's Modem Spain, vol. i.

20 AGRICULTURE.

How different is the aspect of the other provinces !
In these not more than two thirds of the earth are
cultivated; and " it is not uncommon to travel eight
and ten leagues together without finding a trace of
human industry. In the district of Badejoz alone
is a desert twenty-six leagues in length and twelve
in breadth.* Ten of the fourteen leagues that trav-
erse the duchy of Medina Sidonia consist alto-
gether of pasturage. There is nowhere a vestige
of man ; not an orchard, not a garden, not a ditch,
not a cottage to be seen ! The great proprietor ap-
pears to reign, like the lion in the desert, repulsing
by his roaring all who would approach him. But,
instead of human colonies, we encounter troops of
horned cattle and of mares, wandering, self-directed,
over plains to which the eye can discover no bound-
ary or barrier, and which brings to one's recollec-
tion the days when the beasts shared with man the
empire of the earth."f

" Even when the plough is used, it is little more
than a great knife fastened to a stick, that just
scratches the surface. The grain is threshed by
horses or mules driven over it, or by means of a
plank studded with nails or flint stones, and drawn
across it.J With even this miserable culture, the
land in Andalusia yields considerable crops ; yet are
the inhabitants too lazy or too few to gather them
together.J This is done by Galiegos, who are the

* Borde's Itineraire de 1'Espagne, vol. iv., p. 30.

t Burgoing. Spain has been long renowned for its horses.
The Romans, in settling their pedigree and illustrating their
swiftness, called them " the children of the winds."

t Swinburne's Travels, vol. i. A Spanish peasant, who has
earned or begged enough for the wants of the day, will refuse to

earn more, even by running an errand. Striking as this fact is,
it does not so well illustrate Spanish indolence as the following
anecdote from the same pen : In the great sedition in Madrid,
which ended in the defeat of the king and the disgrace of his
minister (the Marquis des Suillas), and in its most fervid mo-
ments, both parties retired about dinner-time to take their nap

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 21

labourers of Spain." We need scarcely remark,
that in a state of agriculture like this, the peasantry
cannot be either well fed or well clothed. " The
mountaineers live principally upon roasted acorns
and goat's milk, and those of the plain (from Barce-
lona to Malaga) on bread steeped in oil, and occa-
sionally seasoned with vinegar."*

It is wide of our subject to examine the causes
of the degradation which marks the agriculture of
Spain. Well-informed writers have ascribed it to
the expulsion of the Moors and Jews, to the weight
of taxes and imposts, to the mesta or common right
of pasturage, to the discovery of America and its
consequences, to the effect of climate, and the ill-
judged charity of bishops and convents, but princi-
pally to the great manorial grants and unequal divis-
ion of the soil which followed the conquest. " We
often find six, eight, ten, and even fifteen leagues of
extent belonging to one master. The nobility and
clergy possess nearly the whole country. One
third of Spain belongs to the families of Medina
Celi, D'Alba, De 1'Infantado, D'Aceda, and to the
archbishops, bishops, and chapters of Toledo, Com-
postella,Valentia, Seville, and Murcia. A great pro-
portion of these lands remain untilled and untenant-
ed, and those which are let in cortijo or farms are
double or treble the quantity that can be occupied
in tillage,"!

VI. The agriculture of Portugal has been sub-
jected to the same evils as that of Spain, to which
may be superadded her connexion with Great Brit-
ain, under whose policy she has become a raiser
of fruit instead of grain.

VII. France is probably the country of Europe

or miridiana, after which they returned to the combat with new
vigour and enraged fury. If habits can thus control the passions,
to what important uses might not a wise legislation turn them?

* See preceding note.

f Le Horde's Itineraire de 1'Espagne, vol. i.

22 AGRICULTURE.

which most unites the great desiderata of an ex-
tended and profitable agriculture, fertility of soil,
mildness of climate, a dense population, an en-
lightened government, and facility of exportation.*
Within her ancient limits, she boasts a surface of
more than one hundred and fifteen millions of ar-
pens, and a population of twenty-two millions of
inhabitants.! The following tables will show, in a
compressed form, the nature of her soil and the
uses to which it is put :J

GEOLOGICAL TABLE.

Arpens or Acres.

Alluvial and other rich soil . . . 26,159,340

Chalky do 13,268,911

Gravelly do 3,261,826

Stony do 18,128,660

Sandy do 7,553,956

Stratum of clay, with a light covering of

sand, called landes .... 21,879,120

Granitic and other mountains . . . 25,261,946

AGRICULTURAL TABLE.

Arable land 63,600,000

Vineyards 4,764,960

Woods 15,931,850

Natural meadows 5,464,800

Artificial meadows 6,332,100

Lakes, marshes, wastes .... 19,400,049

Total, .... 115,493,759
From the average of a number of statistical tables

* The natural advantages of France as to soil, climate, &c..
are doubtless great ; and her agriculture, and the condition of
her rural population, have been much improved since the revo-
lution ; still, as a whole, her soil is by no means as well culti-
vated as that of Belgium, Tuscany, England, Scotland, and,
probably, some parts of Germany.

t The population of France, by the last enumeration, was
about 32,000,000.

J See Geographique, &c., vol. vi., art. France, p. 13, and
Young's Tour through France.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 23

made by the Abbe D'Expillyt and others, it appears
that in 1777 the agriculture of France was not only
sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants, but
produced a surplus for exportation ;* and though it
be universally admitted that her condition in this
respect is not less prosperous now than it was then^
still it cannot be dissembled that her husbandry has
many defects :

1. A supposed resemblance between the earth
and animals gave rise to fallows : because men and
horses required repose after labour, it was supposed
that, after cropping, the earth also required it. Faith-
ful to this absurd analogy, the French landlord binds
down his tenant by lease not to crop the soil more
than three years out of four ; which, in effect, is to
consign to barrenness or weeds one fourth of the
whole arable land of France yearly !

2. There is not a sufficiently fixed or steady pro-
portion between arable and pasture land. The pro-
duction of grain is the great object of culture, often
with too little regard to the nature of the soil,
and generally without any to its improvements.
" Where pasturage is scanty, where natural mead-
ows are bad, where artificial are rare, and root hus-
bandry little extended, cattle cannot be either nu-
merous or well-conditioned ; and as without these

* The products of agricultural labour were, in these tables,
stated at 114,552,000 L. T. Those of manufacturing labour at
128,015,000.

t The effects of the revolution of 1789 on agriculture are no
longer doubtful. The suppression of tithes, of the exclusive
privilege, of the chase, of every species of corvee (labour perform-
ed by tenants for landlords), of taxes or rents, and of rights of
commonage, was among these effects ; and if to these we add the
division of the great landed estates of the nobility and clergy, there
can no longer be any skepticism on this point. No truth is bet-
ter established than the advantage of small farms over great, so
far as the public is concerned. The Roman latifundia (military
grants) destroyed Roman agriculture.

24 AGRICULTURE.

there can be no manure, so without manure there
can be no abundance."*

3. The land is generally worked by farmers
hired for that purpose, or by renters on short leases ,-f
which in neither case betters the condition of the
soil ; the one having no interest in improvements,
and the other too small a one to justify any ex-
pense in making them.

4. A good rotation system, adapted to the soil and
climate, is not absolutely unknown, and may be
found even in whole districts (as in French Flan-
ders), but much too rarely. We have seen wheat
and fallows alternating for years, and wheat and rye,
hemp and rye, and many others equally ridiculous.

5. To the eye, more than one half of France is a
common, without fences of any kind, excepting gar-
den or park walls. Can there be order, economy,
or security under such circumstances? Can the
police and the gens d'armes be sufficient substitutes ?

VIII. Holland, though essentially commercial,
has, from causes rarely occurring, become also
highly agricultural. To the descendants of Dutch-
men, the following description of her industry, in
this respect, cannot but be acceptable. It is from
the pen of an excellent judge and faithful narrator. J

* French agriculture has undergone great changes since Her-
bin wrote. The large estates have been mostly cut up into
small ones by the events of the revolution, and are now farmed
by small proprietors : the culture of the sugar-beet, and the al-
ternation of crops, have succeeded the old system of culture ;
cattle are consequently more numerous and better conditioned ;
a national central agricultural society, with numerous auxiliary
societies, has been established ; men of science have applied
their learning to the improvement of the soil, and the govern-
ment has been actively engaged in encouraging this great branch
of national industry, by giving liberal bounties to those who dis-
tinguish themselves in making improvements.— J. B.

t Herbin's Statistique general de la France, vol. i., Introduc-
tion.

t M. Yvart, Professor of Agriculture at Elfort. See his In-
troductory Address to his Class in 1806.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 25

" Their rotation of crops always begins with the
culture either of some leguminous plant or profita-
ble root, and generally with the potato, as the best
preparative of the ground. Whatever may be the
grain which follows, whether wheat, rye, &c., &e.,
it is generally sown with red clover ; and, where it is
not, the stubble is ploughed in immediately after
harvest, and a crop of turnips taken, and either con-
sumed on the ground or housed for the winter. A
single department (that of Zealand) obtains, by the
culture of madder alone, an annual profit of six mill-
ions of florins, nearly three millions of dollars ;
while that of Brabant boasts its twenty thousand
beehives; in a word, this commendable nation,
upon an extent of surface not exceeding seventeen
hundred square leagues (the greater part of which
has been redeemed from the ocean), counts two
hundred and forty-three thousand horses, seven
hundred and sixty thousand horn cattle, about a mill-
ion of sheep, from ten to twelve thousand goats,
four hundred and eighty-nine thousand hogs, and
about three millions of poultry of every species.
Their stock of manure is necessarily great, and is
both well understood and well managed."

IX. Physical and moral causes operate against
the existence of a productive agriculture in Den-
mark and Sweden; and these are, severity of cli-
mate, poverty of soil, and vassalage of tenants.*
Their resources are also alike, and exist principally
in manufactures and commerce, and in mines, for-
ests, and fisheries.! Tne former boasts fine pas-
turage and cattle in Holstein.

* To give to despotism the air of freedom, the serfs of the
crown in Denmark were liberated at the revolution, but the ex-
ample was neither approved nor followed.

t These remarks as to climate, soil, and productions, are ap-
plicable to Sweden, but not to Denmark. The climate of the
latter country, in consequence of the insular situation of a large
part of it, is by no means as severe as its latitude might seem to
indicate. The writer of this passed the winter of 1812 at Co

c

26 AGRICULTURE.

X. Under the common name of Germany we in-
clude Prussia, Saxony, Austria, Wurtemburg, and
Bavaria, and shall say a few words of each calcu-
lated to give a general idea of their husbandry. It
was not to be expected that the great Frederic of
Prussia (so devoted to national glory and strength)
would disregard the interests of agriculture ; and
the less so, as in theory he considered it " Les ma-
melles de Vetat" the paps of the state. We accord-
ingly find him employed in draining marshes of
great extent,* in filling them with industrious colo-
nists, and in converting barren sands into fertile
fields, by placing his capital in the midst of them.
But, among these good works, he forgot that the
hands of the labourer, to be efficient, must be free ; he
found the peasants slaves, and left them such.

The Saxon peasant, on the other hand, is free,
and protected by the laws ; he holds his farm on
lease, which he sells or transmits to his children at
will : and this is the principal cause of the flourish-
ing state of Saxon agriculture. In Lusatia, a differ-
ent legislation produces different effects; but, for
some years past, the government and great proprie-
tors have concurred in changing the vassalage of the
peasants into a mild and salutary dependance. Sax-
ony is remarkable for its grain products, and Lusa-
tia for its stock; the latter counts four hundred
thousand head of sheep of the Merino race.

Geographers give to Austria and her dependan-
cies 1065 leagues in circumference. In a surface
of this extent there is necessarily a great variety,
as well of climate as of soil ; but, in general, both

penhagen, and did not at any time see sufficient snow on the
ground to make good sleighing. Much of the soil of Denmark
is highly productive in wheat, rye, pasturage, &c. She has
few manufactures, or mines, or forests, and, since her separation
from Norway, no extensive fisheries.

* In the Dollart, what was lost by the sea was regained, and
the marshes on the Netz and the Warth, at Friedberg and in
Pomerania, were drained, and the country rendered habitable.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 27

are favourable to agriculture. " In the districts of
the Inn, of Lower Stiria, of Istria, and of Carniola,
the land is of good quality, well cultivated, and very
productive. In the last they have two crops in the
year ; sowing buckwheat on wheat or rye stub-
ble, and millet on that of hemp and flax. They
everywhere cultivate Indian corn, and in Stiria (as
in Virginia) it forms the ordinary bread of the coun-
try." In Bohemia, Moravia, and Galitia,* the soil is
uncommonly rich, and, under proper management,
would be very productive. Austrian Silesia is less
fitted for the production of grain, but excels in for-
age and cattle. Hungary, Transylvania, and Croa-
tia abound in every species of agricultural produce.
Their flocks and pasturage are not inferior to those
of the Ukraine ; and wheat, buckwheat, Indian corn,
millet, rice, hemp, flax, and tobacco, yield immense
harvests to very small degrees of labour. Yet is
agriculture far from being in a flourishing condi-
tion! Writers on political economy ascribe this
fact principally to two causes.

1st. The degradation and oppression of the la-
bouring part of the community ; and,

2d. The want of convenient commercial outlets
for the produce of the soil.

We shall find in Hungary a striking illustration
of the correctness of this opinion. " The Populus
Hungarians" — Hungarian population — is divided into
four estates, the magnats, the nobles, and the cler-
gy, who possess all the lands, and the " misera con-
tribuens plebs" — the wretched contributing people —
who, besides tithes, rents, and corvees, pay all the
taxes. This miserable populace is composed of the
burghers and the peasantry, of which there are
three kinds, slaves for life, temporary slaves, and a
third sort called liberae, emigrations, who, as their
name indicates, have locomotive powers and rights.

* Geographique Math.

28 AGRICULTURE.

Of the condition of this people since the year 1764
(and before that period it was much worse), we
may form an idea from the edict of Maria Theresa,
called the urbarium, or law of contracts between
landlord and tenant, by which it is declared that
corporeal punishment, inflicted by the master for in-
solent words or conduct, shall not exceed twenty-
four strokes with a cane for a man, and the same
number with a switch for a woman. Nor is the
commercial condition of this people better than the
civil ; they are not only obliged to take from Aus-
tria many things which they could obtain in other
places of a better quality and at a lower price, but
they are also compelled to carry to Vienna the pro-
ducts of their own soil and labour, where their sale
is embarrassed and their value lessened by heavy
and oppressive taxes. The same remark applies
to Galitia, whose natural outlet is the Vistula or
the Nieper ; but of these she is not permitted to
avail herself, and, like her sister kingdoms, is com-
pelled to seek the markets furnished by the Dan-
ube and Trieste. " The consequences are obvious ;
the tenant works only to satisfy hunger, and the
landlord is satisfied with little more than * victum et
vestitumj "* food and clothing.

The amount of lands annually cultivated in Ba-
varia is one million one hundred and sixty-five
thousand acres, which produce about six millions
of bushels of grain, of which two millions are sur-
plus. The Palatinate (one of the dependancies of
Bavaria) is also very productive. The route between
Heidelberg and D'Armstadt, called the Bergstrass,
traverses one of the finest districts of Germany, and,
perhaps, of Europe ; where are seen extensive vine-
yards, vast meadows, and fertile fields, producing
wheat, barley, tobacco, madder, rhubarb, turnips,
&c., &c. In the year 1799, all the electoral pos-

* Geog. Math., vol. iv., article Hungary.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 29

sessions within the circle of Bavaria, contained
199,000 horses, 160,000 oxen, 465,000 cows, 961,000
sheep, 320,000 hogs, and 378,000 goats. Yet are the
Bavarians, compared with the inhabitants of the
north of Germany, half a century in the rear. The
people are extremely ignorant and fanatical : like
the people of Rome and Lisbon, they sacrifice much
time to processions and fetes, and, like them also, are
slaves of the vilest appetites. Debauchery is no-
where more flagrant than in Munich.*

Wurtemburg is ranked among the most fertile and
well-cultivated countries of Germany. The mount-
ainous parts produce potatoes, oats, hemp, and flax ;
the less hilly abound in wheat, spelts, rye, buck-
wheat, Indian corn, and barley ; and in the valleys
we find tobacco, and madder, and vineyards in which
the grapes of France, Cyprus, and Persia succeed
perfectly. Apples, pears, &c., are of common pro-
duct and of excellent quality.f

XI. It has been justly remarked, that, to know the
state of husbandry in any country, you have but to
examine the instruments employed, the succession of
crops, and the condition of labourers. Tried by these
tests, the agriculture of Russia will be found to be
in a state of great degradation. The plough (called
soka) which is commonly used is very light, of sim-
ple construction, and only calculated to enter the
ground one inch and a half; the harrow consists of
one or more young pine-trees (whose branches are
cut off about eight inches from the stem), steeped in
water to add to their weight, and tied together. With
such miserable instruments, each drawn by a single
horse, the farmer scratches the ground without al-
ways covering the seed, which is no doubt the rea-
son that in dry seasons their harvests are very bad.J

* Geog. Math., &c., art Bavaria. Compare the productiv<
ness of Bavaria with England ; the comparison is in favour c
the former.

t Idem. t Pallas, pages 3 and 4, vol. i.

C2

30 AGRICULTURE.

In the best soil, their succession of crops is of eight
years ; two in barley, two in oats, two in winter rye,
and two in spring rye. Lands of less fertility are
sown two years out of three, and mountainous tracts
one year in three, when they are abandoned to
weeds until rest shall have reinstated them. " To
manure them would, in the opinion of a Russian
peasant, make them poorer;* and therefore he suf-
fers his dunghill to accumulate into a nuisance,
while he goes on to clear and exhaust new fields."
" The grains raised are rye, spelts, barley, millet, and
oats, which, from want of sufficient roads and mar-
kets, are often low priced, as are also horned cattle
and horses : an ox selling for a rouble and a half, a
cow for one rouble, and a horse for three roubles."!
To this wretchedness we must add (what, perhaps,
occasions much of it), that, throughout the civilized
part of Russia, the labours of agriculture are per-
formed by slaves confounded with the soil, and
bought and sold with it. In a great portion of the
northern section of this vast empire, agriculture is
unknown, and the chase, the fisheries, cattle, and
reindeer, furnish the only means of subsistence.

XII. The climate and soil of the United King-
doms of Great Britain and Ireland are particularly
favourable to husbandry; nor is her geographical
position less auspicious ; placed, as she is, on the
longest line, and amid the most important markets
of the Continent of Europe. If to these advantages
be added the laborious, enlightened, and enterpri-
sing character of the nation, we cannot but expect
results the most favourable to agriculture : yet is
the fact notoriously otherwise. To show that this
opinion is neither hasty nor unfounded, we must en-
ter into details which may not be unprofitable.

* Pallas, vol. v., p. 60.

t A silver rouble is equal to five livres French, or nearly one
dollar Spanish, and this is the rouble here meant. The paper
rouble is one fifth the value of the silver.

STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE. 31

The surface of England is estimated at 37,265,853
acres, which are distributed as follows :

In pasturage 18,796,458

In tillage 11,350,501

In cities, towns, villages, &c., and roads and canals 3,454,740
Lands fit for pasturage or tillage not cultivated 3,515,238
Lands unfit for cultivation .... 2,148,921

Of the arable land, the following annual disposi-
tion is made :

In wheat and rye 2,000,000

In pease, beans, and buckwheat . . . 2,000,000

In barley and oats ' 4,000,000

In fallow, or in turnips or cabbages » . 3,400,000

The lands in wheat and rye yield, on an average
of ten years, three quarters* per acre, or 6,000,000
quarters ; yet is there an annual deficit in England
of 1,820,000 quarters, which must be drawn from
foreign markets. f

There is certainly nothing very flattering in this
view of English agriculture ; but it may be said to
be one of statists and politicians, and probably un-
derrated. Let us see, then, what their most eminent
agriculturists, as Young, and St. Clair, and Dick-
son, and Marshal, say on this subject : " A very
small portion of the cultivated parts of Great Britain
w, to this day, submitted to a judicious and well-con-
ducted system of husbandry, not, in fact, more than
four counties (Norfolk, Sussex, Essex, and Kent) ;
while many large tracts of excellent soil are managed
in a way the most imperfect and disadvantageous ."J

* Twenty -four bushels. — J. B.

t The sufficiency of the harvests in England to supply the
wants of her population depends on the character of the seasons.
When these are favourable, she imports very little foreign grain ;
and, in proportion as they are. unfavourable, she is obliged to
resort to supplies from abroad. For the last twenty years her
average annual importation of breadstuff's has been much less
than the deficit here given.

t See the Introduction to Dickson's Practical Agriculture,
2d vol., quarto.

32 AGRICULTURE.

Nor is her management of cattle better. " Con-
sidering the domestic animals in a general way,
we find each species, and almost every race, capa-
ble of great improvement, and, with few exceptions,
the sheep much neglected. In some districts are
whole races of cattle capable of improvement, with-
in a reasonable time, in the three great objects which
they are expected to yield, viz., milk, flesh, and la-
bour."* We now add some of the causes to which
this defective husbandry has been ascribed : " to
enumerate all would be impossible, from their num-
ber and complication."!

" 1st. The commons, or unenclosed grounds, which
in many places amount to near one half of the whole
arable land, and which are submitted to the most ab-
surd and ruinous system of culture. "J

" 2d. The terms, amounting to personal servitude,
under which many of the lands are held."

"3d. The shortness of leases given by corpora-
tions, civil and religious, and by individuals, and
which seldom exceed three, Jive, or seven years, ex-
cepting in the counties of Norfolk, Sussex, Essex,
and Kent, where, with great advantage to both land-
lord and tenant, they are frequently extended to
twenty-one years."

" 4th. The tithes in kind, paid by the farmers to
the church ; a tax highly vexatious in its character
and oppressive in its effects : and,

" 5th. The poor tax, which has become enormous,
and of which the yeomanry pay three fourths. Of
this tax it has been truly said, that it is a powerful
instrument of depopulation; a barbarous contri-
vance for checking all national industry. "§

* Marshal, vol. iv., p. 575.*

t Dickson's Practical Agriculture.

% Idem.

$ Young's Tour through Ireland, vol. ii., p. 302.

* Since Marshal, Dickson, and Young wrote, England has
done more to improve the breeds of cattle and sheep, except the
fine- woolled, than any other nation or country. — J. B.

THEORY OF VEGETATION. 33

To these causes, assigned by British writers, may
be added the increase at population common to every
nation of Europe, and which, in Great Britain, is be-
yond all proportion greater than the progress of
agriculture ; the augmentation of cattle, which occa-
sions that of pasturage, and the diminution of til-
lage ;* the establishment of great farms at the ex-
pense of small ones, and the multiplication of parks
and pleasure grounds ; and, lastly, attractions of great
cities, and the continual draughts made upon the agri-
cultural population for the army and navy, and for
commerce and manufactures.!

CHAPTER III.

THEORY OF VEGETATION.

VEGETABLES may be regarded as the intermediate
Jink in the great chain of creation between animals
and minerals. The latter grow by mere chymical
affinity, and by additions, sometimes analogous to
and sometimes foreign from their own nature ;
while plants, like animals, have an organization that

* Mr. Hume quotes with approbation an author who com-
plains of the decay of tillage in the reign of Elizabeth, and who
ascribes it to the increase of pasturage, in consequence of the
restraints imposed on the exportation of grain, while that of
butter, cheese, &c., was free. The history of Europe, if read
with an eye to public economy, furnishes abundant proof that
the greatest obstructions to agriculture have arisen from the in-
terference of government.

t Our author's account of the agriculture of England evi-
dently relates to the state of things in that country some fifty
years ago ; and, with this understanding, it is interesting as
showing more strikingly the extent of the improvements of every
kind which have been made since.

34 AGRICULTURE.

enables them to receive their food, digest and as-
similate it to their own substance, reproduce their
species, and maintain an existence of longer or
shorter duration. Thus far the learned are agreed,
but at the next step they differ.

What is this food that gives to plants their devel-
opment, and maturity, and powers of reproduc-
tion? Lord Bacon believed that water was the
source of vegetable life, and that the earth was
merely its habitation, serving to keep plants up-
right, and to guard them against the extremes of
heat and cold. Tull, on the other hand (and, after
him, Du Hamel) pronounced pulverized earth the
only pabulum of plants, and on this opinion built his
system of husbandry. Van Helmont and Boyle op-
posed this doctrine by experiments : the former
planted and reared a cutting of willow in a bed of
dry earth, carefully weighed, and protected against
accretion by a tin plate, so perforated as to admit
only rain and distilled water, with which it was oc-
casionally moistened. At the end of five years the
plant was found to have increased one hundred and
sixty-four pounds, and the bed of earth to have lost,
of its original weight, only two ounces. Boyle pur-
sued a similar process with gourds, and with a sim-
ilar result. Notwithstanding the apparent conclu-
siveness of these experiments, their authority was
shaken, if not subverted, by others made by Mar-
graff, Bergman, Hales, Kirwan, &c., &c. The first
of these showed that the rain water employed by Van
Helmont was itself charged with saline and other
earthy matter ; Bergman demonstrated this by anal-
ysis, while Kirwan and Hales proved that the earth,
in which the willow cutting was planted, could ab-
sorb these matters through the pores of the wooden
box which contained it, and that a glass case could
alone have prevented such absorption. Hunter,
finding that oil and salt entered into the composi-
tion of plants, concluded that these formed their

THEORY OF VEGETATION. 35

principal food, and accordingly recommended, as
the great desideratum in agriculture, an oil compost.
Lord Kaimes attempted to revive the expiring creed
of Lord Bacon ; but finding, from Kale's statics, that
one third of the weight of a green pea was made up
of carbonic acid, he added air to the watery aliment
of the English philosopher, but entirely rejected
oil and earth, as too gross to enter the mouths of
plants, and salt as too acrid to afford them nourish-
ment. Quackery, which at one time or other has
made its way into all arts and sciences, could not
easily be excluded from agriculture. Hence it was
that the Abbe de Valemont's prolific liquor, and De
Hare's and De Vallier's powders, &c., &c., wereJoe-
Iteved to be all that was necessary to vegetanon,
and found the more advocates as they promised
much and cost little. But before the march of
modern chymistry quackery could not long main-
tain itself; and from the labours of Bennet, Priest-
ly, Saussure, Ingenhouz, Sennebier, Schaeder, Chap-
tal, Davy, &c., &c., few doubts remain on this im-
portant subject. These will be presented in the
course of the following inquiry.

I. Of earths, and their relation to vegetation.

Of six or eight substances which chymists have
denominated earths, four are widely and abundantly
diffused, and form the crust of our globe. These
are silica, alumina, lime, and magnesia. The first is
the basis of quartz, sand, and gravel ; the second of
clay ; the third of bones, river and marine shells,
alabaster, marble, limestone, and chalk ; and the
fourth of that medicinal article known by the name
of calcined magnesia. In a pure or insulated state,*
these earths are wholly unproductive ; but, when de-
composed and mixed,! and to this mixture is added

* See Gisbert's experiments on pure earths and their mixtures.
See also Davy's Elements, p. 156.

f In this respect nature has been neither negligent nor nig-
gardly, if (as Fourcroy asserts) the purest sand be a mixture of

36 AGRICULTURE.

the residuum of dead animal or vegetable matter,*
they become fertile, take the general name of soils ,
and are again specially denominated after the earth
that most abounds in their compositions respective-
ly. If this be silica, they are called sandy ; if alu-
mina, argillaceous ; if lime, calcareous ; and if mag-
nesia, magnesian. Their properties are well known :
a sandy soil is loose, easily moved, little retentive
of moisture, and subject to extreme dryness ; an ar-
gillaceous soil is hard and compact when dry, tough
and paste-like when wet, greedy and tenacious of
moisture ; turns up, when ploughed, into massive
clods, and admits the entrance of roots with great
cdHblty. A calcareous soil is dry, friable, and po-
rBp water enters and leaves it with facility ; roots
penetrate it without difficulty, and [being already
greatly divided] less labour is necessary for it than
for clay. Magnesian, like calcareous earth, is light,
porous, and friable^ but, like clay, when wet, takes
the consistency of paste, and is very tenacious of
water. It refuses to combine with oxygen or with
the alkalies : is generally found associated with
granite, gneiss, and schist, and is probably among
the causes of their comparative barrenness.!
quartz, alumina, and sometimes of calcareous matter. Specu-
lative geology is romance, and does not merit the name of sci-
ence ; yet is science obliged to borrow her theory of soils. The
alternation of heat and cold, moisture and dryness, decomposed
the mountains of primitive, secondary, and tertiary formation ;
rains, and the laws of gravity, brought these broken parts from
places of more to those of less elevation ; where, by mechani-
cal mixture and chymical combination, the present substrata
were formed. But these were yet naked and unproductive,
when the Cryptogamia family (mosses and lichens) took pos-
session of them, and in due time produced that vegetable matter
which made the earth productive and the globe habitable !

* Dead animal and vegetable matter, in the last stage of de-
composition, give a black or brown powder, which the French
chymists call terreau or humus, and which Mr. Davy calls an ex-
tractive matter ; this is the fertilizing principle of soils and ma-
nures.

t The opinion is general among the chymists of Europe, that

THEORY OF VEGETATION. 37

In these qualities are found the mechanical relations
between earths and vegetables. To the divisibility
of the former it is owing that the latter are enabled
to push their roots into the earth ; to their density,
that plants maintain themselves in an erect posture,
rise into the air, and resist the action of winds and
rains ; and to their power of absorbing and holding
water, they owe the advantage of a prolonged ap-
plication of moisture, necessary or useful to vege-
table life. But, besides performing these important
offices, there is reason to believe that the earths con-
tribute to the food of vegetables. This opinion rests
on the following considerations and experiments :

1. If earths do not contribute directly to the food
of plants, then would all soils be alike productive ;
or, in other words, if air and water exclusively sup-
ply this food, then would a soil of pure sand be as
productive as one of the richest alluvion.

2. Though plants may be made to grow in pound-
ed glass or in metallic oxydes, yet is their growth
in these neither healthy nor vigorous : and,

3. All plants, on analysis, yield an earthy pro-
duct ;* and this product is found to partake of the
earth that predominates in the soil producing the
analyzed plant. This important fact is proved by
De Saussure.

FIRST EXPERIMENT.

Two plants (the pinus abies) were selected, the
one from a calcareous, the other from a granitic
soil, the ashes of which gave the following pro-
ducts :

Granitic soil. Calcareous soil.

Potash .... 3.60 ... 15
Alk. and mu. sulphates 4.24 . . . 15

magnesian earth is not only barren itself, but the cause of barren-
ness in other sbils in which it may abound, unless saturated with
carbonic acid. See Bosc, Tenant, and Davy.

* Davy says this never exceeds one fiftieth of the whole pro-
duct.

D

38 AGRICULTURE.

Carbonate of lime . 46.34 . . . 63

Carbonate of magnesia 6.77 ... 00

Silica .... 13.49 ... 00

Alumina . . . 14.86 ... 16

Metallic oxydes . . 10.52 ... 00

SECOND EXPERIMENT.

Two rhododendrons were taken, one from the
calcareous soil of Mont de la Salle, the other from
the granitic soil of Mont Bevern. Of a hundred
parts, the former gave fifty seven of carbonate of
lime and five of silica ; the latter, thirty of carbon-
ate of lime and fourteen of silica.

THIRD EXPERIMENT.

This was made to determine whether vegetables,
the product of a soil having in it no silica, would,
notwithstanding, partake of that earth. Plants were
accordingly taken from Reculey de Thoiry (a soil
altogether calcareous), and the result was a very
small portion of silica.

These experiments, says Chaptal, leave little, if
any doubt, that vegetables derive the earthy matter
they contain from the soil in which they grow.*

II. Of water, as an agent in vegetation.

Seeds placed in the earth at a temperature above
the freezing point, and watered, will develop ; that
is, their lobesf will swell, their roots descend into
the earth, and their stems rise into the air. But
without humidity they will not germinate ; or, if de-
prived of humidity after germination, they will per-
ish. When germination is complete and the plant
formed, its roots and leaves are so organized as to

* Schaeder maintains the doctrine, that the earths found in
plants are created there by the process of vegetation. His essay
on this subject was crowned by the academy of Berlin in 1801.
His experiments were the first to determine the different quan-
tities of silica found in different kinds of grain.

t Moisten a bean in warm water, and detach the skin that
covers it, and it readily divides into two parts ; these are called
lobes.

THEORY OF VEGETATION. 39

absorb water. The experiments of Hales prove, that
the weight of plants is increased in wet and dimin-
ished in dry weather ; and that, in the latter, they
draw from the atmosphere, by means of their
leaves,* the moisture necessary for their well-being.
Du Hamel, and, after him, Sennebier, has shown,
that the filaments that surround the roots of plants,
and which have been called their hair, perform for
them in the earth the office which leaves perform in
the atmosphere ; and that, if deprived of these fila-
ments, the plants die.

It would be easy, but useless, to multiply facts
of this kind, tending to establish a doctrine not con-
tested, but which, after all, does not assert that water
makes any part of the food of plants. On this point
two opinions exist ; the one, that this liquid is a
solvent and conductor of alimentary juices; the
other, that it is itself an aliment, and, at the same
time, a purveyor of vegetable food. The first opin-
ion is abundantly established. Water, when char-
ged with oxygen, supplies to germinating seeds the
want of atmospheric air ; and, saturated with animal
or vegetable matter in a state of decomposition, or
slightly impregnated with carbonic acid, very per-
ceptibly quickens and invigorates vegetation. The
second opinion is favoured by some of De Saussure's
experiments. On these Chaptal makes the follow-
ing remark, which expresses very distinctly an ap-
probation of the doctrine they suggest : " The enor-
mous quantity of hydrogen, which makes so large a
part of vegetable matter, cannot be accounted for
but by admitting, in the process of vegetation, the
decomposition of water, of which hydrogen is the
principal constituent ; and that, though there is no-
thing in the present state of our experience that di-
rectly establishes this doctrine, yet that its truth

* Bonnet's experiments show, that it is the under surface of
the leaf that performs this function. The upper surface has a
different office.

40 AGRICULTURE.

ought to be presumed from the analysis of plants,
and the necessary and well-known action of water
on vegetation."

III. Of air, and its agency in vegetation.

A seed deprived of air will not germinate ; and a
plant placed under an exhausted receiver will soon
perish. Even in a close and badly ventilated gar-
den, vegetables indicate their situation; they are
sickly in appearance and vapid in taste. These
facts sufficiently show the general utility of air to
vegetation : but air is not now the simple and ele-
mentary body that the ancient chymists described
it to be. Priestley first,* and Lavoisier after him,
analyzed it, and found that, when pure, it consisted
of about 70 parts of azote, 27 of oxygen, and 2 of
carbonic acid. In its ordinary or impure state, it
is loaded with foreign and light bodies; such as
mineral, animal, and vegetable vapours, the seeds of
plants, the eggs of insects, &c. Is it to this aggre-
gate that vegetation owes the services rendered to
it by air 1 And, if not, to how many and to which of
its regular constituents are we to ascribe them1?
This inquiry will form the subject of the present
article.

All vegetables in a state of decomposition give
azote; and some of them, as cabbages, radishes,
&c., in great quantity. This abundance, combined
with the fact that vegetation is always vigorous in
the neighbourhood of dead animal matter, led to the
opinion that azote contributed largely to the growth
of plants ; but experiments, more exactly made and
often repeated, disprove this opinion, and show that
in any quantity it is unnecessary, and that, in a cer-
tain proportion, it is fatal to vegetation.

In hydrogen gas plants are found to be variously
affected, according to their local situation ; if in-

* See Priestley's Experiments and Observations on different
kinds of Air begun in 1767.

THEORY OF VEGETATION. 41

habitants of mountains, they soon perish; if of
plains, they show a constant debility; but if of
marshy grounds, their growth is not impeded.

Carbonic acid is formed and given out during the
process of fermentation, putrefaction, respiration,
&c., and makes 28 parts out of 100 of atmospheric
air. It is composed, according to Davy, of oxygen
and carbon, in the proportion of 34 of the former
to 13 of the latter. It combines freely with many
different bodies ; animals and vegetables are almost
entirely composed of it ; for the coal which they
give, on combustion, is but carbon united to a little
oxygen, &c. Priestley was the first to discover that
plants absorb carbonic acid; and Ingenhouse, Senne-
bier, and De Saussure have proved that it is their
principal aliment. Indeed, the great consumption
made of it cannot be explained by any natural pro-
cess excepting that of vegetation. On this head
we cannot do better than digest the experiments of
the last of these chymists into a few distinct pro-
portions :*

1. In pure carbonic acid gas, seeds will swell, but
not germinate. 2. United with water, this gas has-
tens vegetation. 3. Air, containing more than one
twelfth part of its volume of carbonic acid, is most
favourable to vegetation. 4. Turf, or other carbona-
ceous earth, which contains much carbonic acid, is
unfavourable to vegetation until it has been exposed
to the action of atmospheric air, or of lime, &c.
5. If slackened lime be applied to a plant, its growth
will be impaired until the lime shall have recovered
the carbonic acid which it lost by calcination. 6.
Plants kept in an artificial atmosphere, and charged
with carbonic acid, yield, on combustion, more of
that acid than plants of the same kind and weight
growing in atmospheric air. 7. When plants are
exposed to air and sunshine, the carbonic acid of

* Recherches chymiques sur la vegetation/chap. ii.
D 2

42 AGRICULTURE.

the atmosphere is consumed, and a portion of oxy-
gen left in its place. If new supplies of carbonic
acid be given to the air, the same result follows ;
whence it has been concluded, that air furnishes
carbonic acid to the plant, and that the plant fur-
nishes oxygen to the air. This double function of
absorption and respiration is performed by the green
leaves of plants.* 8. Carbon is to vegetation what
oxygen is to animal life ; it gives support by puri-
fying the liquids and rendering the solids more
compact.

IV. Of light, heat, and electricity, and their agen-
cy in vegetation.

When deprived of light, plants are pale, lax, and
dropsical ; restored to it, they recover their colour,
consistency, and odour. If a plant be placed in a
cellar, into which is admitted a small portion of
light through a window or cranny, thither the
plant directs its growth, and even acquires an un-
natural length in its attempt to reach it.f These
facts admitted, no one can doubt the agency of
light in vegetation ; but, in relation to this agency,
various opinions exist ; one, that light enters vege-
table matter and combines with it ; another, that it
makes no part either of the vegetable or of its ali-
ment, but directly influences substances which are
alimentary ;J and a third, that, besides the last ef-
fect, it stimulates the organs of plants to the exer-
cise of their natural functions. §

Without doing more than state these opinions,
we proceed to offer the results of many experi-
ments on this subject. 1st. That in the dark no ox-
ygen is produced, nor any carbonic acid observed ;
on the contrary, oxygen is absorbed and carbonic
acid produced. 3d. That plants exposed to light

* This was a discovery of Sennebier.

t It is by a knowledge of this fact that gardeners bleach chic-
ory, cellery, &c.
t See Fourcroy, vol. viii. § See Chaptal on Vegetation.

THEORY OF VEGETATION. 43

produce oxygen gas in water. 3d. That light is es-
sential to vegetable transpiration ; as this process
never takes place during the night, but is copious
through the day ; and, 4th. That plants raised in the
dark abound in watery and saccharine juices, but
are deficient in woody fibre, oil, and resins ; whence
it is concluded that saccharine compounds are
formed in the night, and oil, resins, &c., in the day.

When the weather is at or below the freezing
point, the sap of plants remain suspended and hard-
ened in the alburnum ;* but, on the application of
heat, whether naturally or artificially excited, this
sap is rendered fluid, is put into motion, and the buds
begin to swell. Under the same impulse, through
the medium of the earth, the roots open their pores,
receive nutritive juices, and carry them to the heart
of the plant. The leaves being now developed,
begin and continue the exercise of their functions,
till winter again, in the economy of nature, sus-
pends the operation of the machine. Nor is the ac-
tion of heat confined to the circulation of vegeta-
ble juices; without vapour (its legitimate offspring),
the fountain and the shower would be unknown ;
nor would the great processes of animal and vege-
table fermentation and decomposition go on. With-
out rain or other means of ameliorating the soil,
what would be the aspect of the globe * what the
state of vegetation 1 what the situation of man ?

The universal diffusion of electrical matter, found
in the air and in all other substances, furnishes a
presumption that it is an efficient agent in vegeta-
tion. Nollet and others have thought that, artifi-
cially employed, it favoured the germination of
seeds and the growth of plants ; and Davy " found
that corn sprouted more rapidly in water positively
electrified by the voltaic battery than in water neg-
atively electrified."! These opinions have not es-

* Knight's Observations, &c. f Davy's Elements.

44 AGRICULTURE.

caped contradiction, and we do not profess to decide
where philosophers disagree.

V. Of stable manures, and of lime, marl, and gyp-
sum, and their agency in vegetation.

We have already said that vegetables in the last
stage of decomposition yield a black or brown pow-
der, which Davy calls " a peculiar extractive matter
of fertilizing quality" and which the chymists of
France have denominated terreau* This vegetable
residuum is the simple mean employed by nature to
re-establish that principle of fertility in the soil
which the wants of man and other animals are con-
stantly drawing from it. It was analyzed by Hes-
senfratz, who found it to contain an oily, extractive,
and carbonaceous matter, charged with hydrogen ;
the acetates and benzoates of potash, lime, and am-
moniac ; the sulphates and muriates of potash, and
a soapy substance, previously noticed by Bergman.
Among other properties (and which shows its com-
bustible character) is that of absorbing from atmo-
spheric air its oxygen, and leaving it only azote.
This was discovered by Ingenhous.e, who, with De
Saussure and Braconnet, pursued the subject by
many new and interesting experiments, the result of
which is,

1. That the oxygen thus absorbed deprives the
terreau or extractive matter of part of its carbon,
which it renders soluble and converts into muci-
lage; and,

2. That the carbonic acid formed in the process
combines with this mucilage, and with it is absorb-
ed by the roots of plants.

If we put a plant and a quantity of slackened
lime under the same receiver, the plant will perish,
because the lime will take from the atmospheric air
all the carbonic acid it contains, and thus starve the
plant. Vegetables placed near heaps of lime in the

* De Candolle and Macaire call it humus, and Dance and
others geine.—J. B.

THEORY OF VEGETATION. 45

open air suffer from the same cause and in the
same way ; but though lime in large quantities de-
stroys vegetation, in small quantities it renders it
more vigorous. Its action is of two kinds, me-
chanical and chymical ; the first is the mere divis-
ion of the soil by an interposition between its parts ;
the second, the faculty of rendering soluble vegeta-
ble matter, and reducing it to the condition of ter-
reau.

The mechanical agency ascribed to lime belongs
also to marl and to ashes, and in an equal degree ;
but their chymical operation, though similar, is less.*

Gypsum is composed of lime and sulphuric acid.
Mayer was the first to present to the public a series
of experiments upon it in its relation to agriculture.
Many chymists have followed him, and a great va-
riety of opinion yet exists with regard to its mode
of operation. Yvart thinks that the action of gyp-
sum is exclusively the effect of the sulphuric acid,
which enters into its composition ; and founds this
opinion upon the fact that the ashes of turf, which
contain sulphate of iron and sulphate of alumina,
have the same action upon vegetation as gypsum.
Laysterie, observing that plants whose roots were
nearest the surface of the soil were most acted
upon by plaster, concludes that gypsum takes from
the atmosphere the elements of vegetable life, and
transmits them directly to plants. Bosc intimates
that the septic quality of gypsum (which he takes
for granted) best explains its action on vegetation ;
but this opinion is subverted by the experiments
of Davy, who found that, of two parcels of minced
veal, the one mixed with gypsum, the other left
by itself, and both exposed to the action of the sun,
the latter was the first to exhibit symptoms of pu-
trefaction. Davy's own belief on this subject is,

* Vegetable ashes are lime combined with an earthy saline
matter.

46 AGRICULTURE.

that it makes part of the food of vegetables, is re-
ceived into the plant, and combined with it. The
last opinion we shall offer on this head is that of
the celebrated Chaptal. " Of all substances," he
says, " gypsum is that of whose action we know
the least. The prodigious effect it has on the whole
race of trefoils (clover), &e., cannot be explained by
any mechanical agency, the quantity applied being so
small ; nor by any stimulating power, since gypsum,
raw or roasted, has nearly the same effect ; nor by
any absorbent quality, as it only acts when applied to
the leaves. If permitted to conjecture its mode of
operation, we should say that its effects being great-
est when applied to the wet leaves of vegetables, it
may have the faculty of absorbing and giving out
water and carbonic acid, little by little, to the grow-
ing plant. It may also be considered as an aliment
in itself; an idea much supported by Mr. Davy's ex-
periments, which show that the ashes of clover yield
gypsum, though the clover be raised on soils not nat-
urally containing that substance."

CHAPTER IV.

OP THE ANALYSIS OF SOILS, AND OF THE AGRICULTU-
RAL RELATIONS BETWEEN SOILS AND PLANTS.

WE have seen that the earths have a threefold
capacity ; that they receive and lodge the roots of
plants, and support their stems ; that they absorb
and hold air, water, and mucilage, aliments neces-
sary to vegetable life ; and that they even contrib-
ute a portion of themselves to these aliments.
But we have also seen that they are not equally
adapted to these offices ; that their parts, texture,

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 47

and qualities are different; that they are cold or
warm, wet or dry, porous or compact, barren or
productive, in proportion as one or the other may
predominate in the soil ; and that, to fit them for dis-
charging the various functions to which they are
destined, each must contribute its share, and all be
minutely divided and intimately mixed. In this great
work nature has performed her part ; but, as is usual
with her, she has wisely and benevolently left some-
thing for man to do.

This necessary interposition of human industry
should obviously begin by ascertaining the nature
of the soil. But neither the touch nor the eye, how-
ever practised or acute, can in all cases determine
this. Clay, when wet, is cold and tenacious ; a de-
scription that belongs also to magnesian earths :
sand and gravel are hard and granular ; but so also
are some of the modifications of lime : vegetable
mould is black and friable, but not exclusively so :
for schistous and carbonaceous earths have the same
properties.

It is here, then, that chymistry offers herself to ob-
viate difficulties and remove doubts ; but neither the
apparatus nor processes of this science are within
the reach of all who are interested in the inquiry,
and we accordingly subjoin a method less compre-
hensive, but more simple, and sufficiently exact for
agricultural purposes, and which calls only for two
vases, a pair of scales, clean water, and a little sul-
phuric acid.

" 1st. Take a small quantity of earth from differ-
ent parts of the field, the soil of which you wish to
ascertain ; mix them well together, and weigh them ;
put them in an oven heated for baking bread, and,
after they are dried, weigh them again ; the differ-
ence will show the absorbent power of the earth, or
the quantity of water which it contained. When
the loss of weight in 400 grains amounts to 50, this
power is great, and indicates the presence of much

48 AGRICULTURE.

animal or vegetable matter ; but when it does not
exceed twenty, the absorbent power is small, and
the vegetable matter deficient.*

" 3d. Put the dried mass into a vase, with one
fourth of its own weight of clear water ; mix them
well together ; pour off the dirty water into a second
vase, and pour on to the residuum in the first vase as
much clean water as before ; stir the contents, and
continue this process until the water poured off is
as clear as that poured on the earth. What remains
in the first employed vase is sand, silicious or cal-
careous.

11 3d. The dirty water collected in the second vase
will form a deposite, which, after pouring off the
water, must be dried, weighed, and calcined. On
weighing it after this process, the quantity lost will
show the portion of animal and vegetable mould con-
tained in the soil : and,

" 4th. This calcined matter must then be carefully
pulverized and weighed, as also the first deposite of
sand, but without mixing them. To these apply,
separately, sulphuric acid, and what they respect-
ively lose in weight is the portion of calcareous or
aluminous earths contained in them. These last,
again, may be separated by soap ley, which dis-
solves them."t

Here, then, is the light we wanted. By knowing
the disease, we find the cure. Clay and sand qual-
ify each other ; either of these will correct an ex-
cess of lime ; and magnesian earth, when saturated
with carbonic acid, becomes fertile.

But entirely to alter the constitution of a soil,
whether by mechanical or other means, is a work
of time, labour, and expense, and little adapted to
the pecuniary circumstances of farmers in general.

* See Davy's Elements.

t This method of analyzing soils is that described by M.
Bosc, member of the Institute of France, &c., and recommend-
ed to French agriculturists.

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 49

Fortunately, a remedy cheaper, more accessible,
and less difficult, is found in that great diversity of
habits and character which mark the vegetable
races. We shall, therefore, in what remains of this
chapter, indicate the principal of these, as furnish-
ing the basis of all rational agriculture.

1st. Plants have different systems of roots, stems,
and leaves, and adapt themselves, accordingly, to dif-
ferent kinds of soils : the tussilago prefer clay, the
spergula sand ; asparagus will not flourish on a bed
of granite, nor muscus Islandicus on bne of allu-
vion. It is obvious that fibrous-rooted plants, which
occupy only the surface of the earth, can subsist on
comparatively stiff and compact soils, in which
those of the leguminous and cruciform families
would perish, from inability to penetrate and divide.

2d. Plants of the same or of a similar kind do not
follow each other advantageously in the same soil.
Every careful observer must have seen how grasses
alternate in meadows or pastures where nature is
left to herself. At one time timothy, at another
clover, at a third redtop, and at a fourth blue grass
prevails. The same remark applies to forest trees;
the original growth of wood is rarely succeeded by
a second of the same kind ; pine is followed by
oak, oak by chestnut, chestnut by hickory. A young
apple-tree will not live in the place where an old
one has died ; even the pear-tree does not thrive in
succession to an apple-tree, but stone fruit will
follow either with advantage. "In the Gautinois,"
says Bosc, " saffron is not resumed but after a lapse
of twenty years ; and in the Netherlands, flax and
colzat require an interval of six years. Pease, when
they follow beans, give a lighter crop than when
they succeed plants of another family."*

* The ill effect of a succession of crops of the same kind was
not unknown to the Romans. We have proof of this in the fol-
lowing passage of Festus : " Restibilis ager fit qui continue
E

50 AGRICULTURE.

3d. Vegetables, whether of the same family or not,
having a similar structure of roots, should not succeed
each, other. It has been observed that trees suffer
considerably by the neighbourhood of sainfoin and
lucerne, on account of the great depth to which the
roots of these plants penetrate ; whereas culmifer-
ous grasses do them no harm.

4th. Annual or biennial trefoils prevent the escape
of moisture from sandy and arid soils, and should
constantly cover them in the absence of other
plants ;* while drying and dividing crops, as beans,
cabbages, chicory, &c., &c., are lest jilted to correct
the faults of stiff and wet clays.

5th. When plants are cultivated in rows or hills, and
the ground between them is thoroughly worked, the
earth is kept open, divided, and permeable to air, heat,
and water, and, accordingly, receives from the atmo-
sphere nearly as much alimentary provision as it gives
to the plant. This principle is the basis of drill hus-
bandry.

6th. All plants permitted to go through the phases
of vegetation (and, of course, to give their seeds), ex-
haust the ground in a greater or less degree ; but, if
cut green and before seeding, they take little from the
principle of fertility.

7th. Plants are exhausters in proportion to the length
of the time they occupy the soil. Those of the cul-
miferous kinds (wheat, rye, &c.) do not ripen, if
sown in the fall, under ten months, and during this
period forbid the earth from being stirred; while,
on the other hand, leguminous plants occupy it but
from three to four months, and permit frequent
ploughings. This is one reason why culmiferous

biennio seritur farreo spico, id est aristato, quod, ne fiat solent,
qui pradia locant, excipere."

* The "sterilis tellos medio versatur in aestu"— the bare
earth turned up in midsummer — of Virgil, shows the opinion
he entertained of a husbandry that left the fields without vege-
tation.

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 51

crops are greater exhausters than leguminous ; an-
other is, that the stems of culmiferous plants be-
come hard and flinty, and their leaves dry and yel-
low, from the time of flowering till the ripening of
the seed, losing their inhaling or absorbing facul-
ties, circulating no juices, and living altogether in
their roots, and on aliments exclusively derived
from the earth ; whereas leguminous or cruciferous
plants, as cabbages, turnips, &c., &c., have succu-
lent stems, and broad and porous leaves, and draw
their principal nourishment from the atmosphere.
The remains of culmiferous crops also are fewer
and less easily decomposed than those of the legu-
minous family.

8th. Meadows, natural and artificial, yield the food
necessary to cattle, and, in proportion as these are mul-
tiplied, manures are increased and the soil made better.
Another circumstance which recommends meadows
is, that, so long as they last, they exact but little
labour, and leave the whole force of the farmer to
be directed to his arable grounds.

9th. Grasses are either fibrous or tap-rooted, or both.
The remarks already made in articles 1, 2, and 3, ap-
ply also to them. Timothy, redtop, oat-grass, and
rye-grass, succeed best in stiff, wet soils. Sainfoin
does well on soils the most bare, mountainous, and
arid ; lucerne and the trefoils (or clovers) only at-
tain the perfection of which they are susceptible in
warm, dry, calcareous earth.

10th. The ameliorating quality of tap-rooted plants
is supposed to be in proportion to their natural duration ;
annual clover (lupinella) has less of this property
than biennial (Dutch clover), biennial less than sain-
loin, and sainfoin less than lucerne.

llth. Any green crop ploughed into the soil has
an effect highly improving ; but for this purpose lu-
pines and buckwheat (cut when in flower) are most
proper.

12th. Mixed crops (as Indian corn and pumpkins,

52 AGRICULTURE.

and pease and oats) are much and profitably employed,
and with less injury to the soil than either corn or oats
alone*

CHAPTER V.

OP PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE, AND ITS NECESSARY IN-
STRUMENTS.

WE begin this part of our subject with a few re-
marks on the instruments necessary to agriculture,
which may be comprised under the well-known
names of the plough, the harrow, the roller, the
threshing-machine, and the fanning-mill.

I. Of the Plough.

' It is among the inscrutable dispensations of Prov-
idence, that the arts most useful to man have been
of later discovery, of slower growth, and of less
marked improvement than those that aimed only
at his destruction. At a time when the phalanx
and the legion were invented and perfected, and
when the instruments they employed were various
and powerful, those of agriculture continued to be
few, simple, and inefficient.

Of the Greek plough we know nothing ; and the
general disuse of that described by Virgil and Pliny
furnishes a degree of evidence that experience has
found it incompetent to its objects. With even the
boasted lights of modern knowledge, scientific men

* The good effect of these mixtures was known to the an-
cients, from whom the practice has descended to us. What a
picture of fertility and abundance have we in the22d chap., 18th
book, of Pliny's Natural History : " Sub vite seriturfrumentum,
mox legumen, decinde olus, omnia, eodem anno, omniaque ali-
ena umbra aluntur." Under the vine is sowed grain, shortly af-
terward pulse, then garden vegetables, all in the same year, and
sheltered and cherished by each other's shade.

PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 53

are not agreed upon the form and proportions most
proper for this instrument. As in other cases, so in
this, there may be no abstract perfection; what is
best in one description of soil may not be so in an-
other ; yet, as in all soils the office of the plough is
the same, viz., to cleave and turn over the earth, there
cannot but be some definite shape and proportions
better fitted for these purposes, and, at the same
time, less susceptible of resistance, than any other.

This beau ideal, this supposititious excellence, in
the mechanism of a plough, has been the object of
great national as well as individual research. In
Great Britain, high prizes have been established for
its attainment ; and in France, under the ministry of
Chaptal, 10,000 francs, or $2000, were offered for
this object by the agricultural society of the Seine.
In both countries the subject has employed many
able pens ; those of Lord Kaimes, of Mr. Young, of
Mr. Arbuthnot, of Lord Somerville, and of Mes-
sieurs Duhamel, Chateauvieux, Bosc, Guillaume,
&c. It is not for us, therefore, to do more than
assemble and present such rules for the construc-
tion of this instrument as have most attained the
authority of maxims.

1st. The beam, or that part of the plough which
carries the coulter, and furnishes the point of draught,
should be as near that of resistance as possible ; be-
cause the more these are approached, the less is the
moving power required. Even the shape of the
beam is not a matter of indifference. In the old
ploughs it was generally straight, but a small
curve is now preferred; because it has the effect
of strengthening the coulter by shortening it.

3d. The head of the plough is the plane on which
it moves. This should be concave, because that
form offers fewer points of friction, and, of course,
less resistance. Between the beam and the head is
an angle, on which depends the principal office of
the plough ; the making, at will, a deep or a shal-
E 2

54 AGRICULTURE.

low furrow. If you wish a deep furrow, diminish
the angle, and vice versa : but this angle should in
no case exceed from 18 to 24 degrees.

The resistance made to the plough being produ-
ced less by the weight of the earth than by the co-
hesion of its parts, it is evident that the head should
be shod with iron, and rendered as smooth as pos-
sible. This remark applies equally to the soc and
to the mouldboard.

3d. The soc, in its widest part, should be larger
than the head. It has different shapes in different
countries. In some is given to it that of an isosce-
les triangle ; in others, that of the head of a lance ;
in Biscay, that of a crescent ; and in Poland, of a
two pronged fork. But, whatever be its shape, it
should be well pointed and polished, enter the earth
with facility, and cut it easily.

4th. To the mouldboard some workmen give the
shape of a prismatic wedge ; others make the up-
per part convex and the lower concave : while
many make it entirely flat. In stiff soils, the semi"
cycloid is the form to be preferred ; and in loose, fri-
able soils, the semi-ellipsis* The iron mouldboard
has great advantages over the wooden, particularly
when it, the shear, and the soc, form one piece, as
in the ploughs of Mr. Cook.

It is a general opinion, that a heavy plough is
more disadvantageous than a light one ; because
the draught of the former, being greater, will be more
fatiguing to the cattle ; but the experiments of the
agricultural society of London establish a contrary
doctrine, and show that, in light grounds, the labour
is more easily and better performed with a heavy
than with a light plough.

5th. The coulter is a species of knife inserted in the
beam, and so placed before the soc as to cut the sod.
It is susceptible of being raised or depressed at will.

6th. The handles of the plough ought to be made
* See Arbuthnot on Ploughs.

PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE.

55

of some kind of heavy wood, that they may operate
as a counter weight to the head, the soc, and the
mouldboard.

To these remarks we subjoin two sets of experi-
ments, made with the most approved French and
English ploughs, that of Guillaume and Small's
Rotheram plough improved, which furnish a means of
comparison between the best ploughs of Europe and
those of this country.

The resistance (stated in these tables) was meas-
ured and ascertained by a dynonometer, a machine
indispensable to those who would make correct ob-
servations on the relative advantages of different
ploughs.

THE FRENCH PLOUGH.
Resistance in pounds.
1st experiment

3d '. '. '.

4th "...
5th « . . .

Average

IL The Harrow. — This is of different kinds ; the
triangular and the square, the single and the double.
But, of whatever form, its uses are the same ; to
smooth the field after ploughing, to break and pul-
verize the clods, and to cover the seed. These
uses sufficiently indicate the propriety of employ-
ing two in succession ; one of heavy frame, with
few and long teeth, like the Scotch break; the
other of lighter construction, with more and short-
er teeth. Our own experience leads us to believe
that the common harrow covers the seed too much,

THE ENGLISH PLOUGH.

Resistance in pounds.

200

1st experiment

360

240

2d

380

200

3d

480

220

4th

460

220

5th

400

6th

400

080

7th

420

8th

386

216

9th

440

Divided by 9)3720

Average . . 413

56 AGRICULTURE.

because small seeds will not vegetate at a depth
greater than three inches.

III. The Roller is a cylinder of heavy wood, turn-
ing on gudgeons or on an axle, and placed in a
frame, to which is attached a shaft ; it is of differ-
ent dimensions, but need not exceed that which
may be drawn by one, or, at most, by two horses or
oxen. This instrument is indispensable in good
husbandry, yet it is rarely used in ours. Its offi-
ces are threefold ; to render loose soil more com-
pact, to break the clods on stiff ones, and, on both,
to compress the earth after seeding, so that it be
everywhere brought in contact with the grain. It is
also usefully employed in reinstating the roots of
meadow grasses, loosened and raised by the alter-
nate freezing and thawing of the ground, and, with
a similar view, may be passed over winter crops
early h} the spring.

Its clod-breaking and pulverizing property is
much increased by surrounding the roller with nar-
row bands of iron, two inches broad, three inches
thick, and six inches apart ; or by studding it with
iron points resembling harrow teeth, and projecting
three or four inches.

IV. The Threshing-machine is of English inven-
tion, and may be well enough adapted to the taste
and circumstances of rich amateurs, but not at all
to those of farmers in general. Our objections to
it are three : the first cost, which is great ; the
quantum of moving power employed, which is equal
to that of six horses ; and the number of hands re-
quired to attend it, which is not less than four.*
We have seen, in France, a machine for the same
purpose, but of much simpler structure, called the
*' Rouleau de depiquer" which is only a fluted cylin-
der ; yet, simple and cheap as this was, it could not

* This opinion of the value of the threshing-machine will,
we presume, meet with but little favour among our wheat
farmers.

PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 57

maintain itself against the more ancient instru-
ments, the flail and the horse. Still it is to be
hoped that new experiments may succeed better,
and abridge the manual labour usually given to this
branch of husbandry, and that the mechanical genius
of our own country, which is not inferior to that of
any other, may be the first to combine power ajid
cheapness in this machine.

This hope is probably suggested by the descrip-
tion of a new invented threshing machine now be-
fore me, and which I may be permitted to trans-
cribe from the letter of the inventor. " The ma-
chine I have built is three feet wide. One horse
will thresh, with much ease, as much wheat as can
be laid on it by one man (the straw to be taken
away by another), say from fifty to one hundred
bushels in a day, and the saving of grain will pay for
the labour ; for I think that, with good attendance,
not a particle of grain can escape with the straw.
The expense of the machine will be from fifty to
seventy dollars, exclusive of the moving power,
which is a wheel about ten feet diameter on an up-
right shaft, to which a lever is fixed to hitch the
horse. Within this main wheel a small one should
be made to work, about two feet diameter, on a
shaft carrying a drum four feet wide. With this
simple gearing, and drawn by a horse that walks
well, the machine will give about eighteen hundred
strokes in a minute, and, if fully attended, will, with-
out hard labour for the horse, thresh a bushel every
three or four minutes."

V. The Fanning-mill. Other things being equal,
the cleanest wheat is most easily preserved, and, on
manufacture, gives the best flour and in the largest
quantity. These considerations offer inducement
enough for the employment of this machine, which,
besides doing its business well, saves a great deal
of time. It is too well known to require descrip-
tion.

58

AGRICULTURE.

CHAPTER VI.

W MANURES ; THEIR MANAGEMENT AND APPLICATION.

THE principle of fertility (the result of animal and
vegetable decomposition) is, as we have seen, sus-
ceptible of solution, and in this form becomes the
aliment of that artificial vegetation which is the
work of man, and which leaves so little on the
earth to compensate for the great deal which it
takes from it. In a course of years, therefore,
there will be an actual loss or subtraction of mat-
ter, useful or necessary to the growth of plants,
and which can only be re-established by manures of
vegetable or animal origin. The most approved
methods of preserving and applying these must
therefore be among the objects most important to
the agriculturist ; and that the reader may better
understand the reasons of the practice we mean to
recommend, we begin the discussion with Kirwan's
analysis of stable manures.*

il

1

i

~

i

•g

1'3C

j

0

1

3

s

I

sbts

j§ ( Cow dung ) QJ

3.75

1.20

0.15

2. 4

0. 6

92.80

«*S \ Horse dung > .>
2 f Sheep dung I «»

10. 2
25. 0

1.50
10.28,

0.50
29. 0

3. 0

29. 0

0.21
0.72

89.77
68.00

* Tull and Du Hamel's doctrine, that frequent ploughings
and sowings superseded the necessity of manure, is no longer
held by any well-instructed agriculturist. The maxim of Oliver
de Serris is much better founded. " Le bien labourer, le bien
fumer, est tout le secret de 1'agriculture." Till well and manure
well is the whole secret of agriculture.

MANURES. 59

The elementary parts of these manures, as ex-
hibited in this table, sufficiently indicate the mode
of preserving them. When dropped in the fields and
in small parcels by cattle, they exhibit no signs of
fermentation, nor undergo, in that state, any degree
of chymical decomposition ; but, when brought to-
gether, and frequently wetted and subjected to the
action of atmospheric air, they are speedily dis-
solved and give out much gaseous matter. To pre-
vent the escape of these soluble and volatile parts,
two things are necessary : 1st, that the dung be col-
lected in a reservoir of convenient size, and walled
and paved with stones ; and, 2d, that a layer of sand
or earth be occasionally spread over the surface of
the dung. The former will prevent filtration, and
the latter retain the gaseous matter so useful in
vegetation, and, at the same time, augment the quan-
tity of manure. To prevent an excess of moisture,
which always retards, and sometimes prevents de-
composition altogether, the reservoir should be
covered.

The application of manures is a subject of more
difficulty, and has given occasion to some dispute.
The controverted points are,

1st. Whether short or long dung, or, in other
words, whether dung thoroughly rotted, or that
which has but begun to rot, is most advantageous.

2d. Whether dung used superficially, or ploughed
deep into the ground, is most profitable.

3d. Whether extraneous matters admitted into
the dungheap are useful or otherwise.

4th. Whether stable manures are best applied di-
rectly or indirectly to wheat crops.

5th. At what time manures are best applied ; and,

6th. In what quantity.

We shall discuss these points separately and
briefly; and,

1st. Which is to be preferred, long or short dung ?

The discordance in practice, as well as in opinion,

60 AGRICULTURE.

prevailing on this question, induced some scientific
men to institute a series of experiments, having for
their object a full and regular solution of it. With
this view, parcels of dung (long and short) were
taken from the same stables on the same day, and
applied to crops of the same kind growing on the
same fields. The result perfectly conformed to the-
ory, and was similar in all the experiments. Those
parts of the field to which the short dung was ap-
plied gave the best crops the first year ; but those
on which the long dung had been laid gave the best
crops the second and third years ; a fact which au-
thorizes the conclusion, that, if we wish to obtain
one great crop, the rotted dung is best ; but when
we look to more permanent improvement, the long
dung is to be preferred.

2d. Which is the better practice, to spread ma-
nure on the surface, or lay it deeply under the
ground T

In favour of the former practice it has been con-
tended, that the distribution of the dung could be
more equally made on the surface with a spade than
under ground with a plough;* and for the latter,
that all tap-rooted plants, entering far into the
earth, require it to be laid deep ; while those with
fibrous roots will be sufficiently benefited by its
exhalations. Both modes, however, are obviously
bad. We have seen in the preceding article that
dung, to become the aliment of plants, must under-
go a decomposition ; and that, to the production of
this, the combined action of air and water is indis-
pensable. But, if the manure be buried deeply, this
action cannot reach it, and the dung remains a ca-
put mortuum. On the other hand, if spread super-

* The English are said to have a machine attached to the
drill that goes before and distributes the manure at the neces-
sary depth. In planting potatoes we make a bed of dung for
the plant. Why not apply the same reasoning and the same
practice to all seeding of the ground 1

MANURES. 61

ficially, the rains dissolve and carry away many of
its juices, while the sun and the wind evaporate the
rest. These considerations lead to the true rule on
this head, which is to lay it three or four inches be-
low the surface of the soil. At this depth, if short
dung, its action will be most vigorous in all direc-
tions ; and if long dung, a greater depth will, as al-
ready suggested, completely destroy all action.

3d. Are extraneous matters, as horns, hoofs,
bones, shells, feathers, leaves, weeds, &c., &c., to
be admitted into the dung-heap ?

There is, perhaps, nothing in either theory or
practice so obviously right, that it may not be dis-
puted. The principal objection made to these mat-
ters is, that they do not decompose equally ; and
that those ingredients of the heap which are slow-
est in decomposition, retard others, which, if left to
themselves, would be more forward in this process.
This objection is without weight ; for we have seen
that long or unrotted manure, though its effect be
prompt, is, upon the whole, more favourable to cul-
ture than that which is rotted. The difference 'of
time in decomposition is therefore no evil, and the
augmentation of the mass is a great good ; besides
that, some of these offals are the most powerful
manures. Horns and hoofs are compounded of al-
bumen and gelatine ; bones, of the phosphate and
carbonate of lime and gelatine ; shells, of carbonate
of lime and animal matter ; and feathers and hair,
of albumen, oil, &c., &c. Applied to the roots, they
forward the growth of fruit-trees more than any
other species of manure.

4th. Whether stable manures are best applied,
directly or indirectly, to wheat crops 1

The practice, on this head, is different in different
places. In France, as in all other countries where
fallows are in use, the dung is applied directly to
the wheat crop ; while in England, where the rota-
tion system is established, it is applied to the sum-
F

62 AGRICULTURE.

mer crop, which immediately precedes that of the
wheat.

The objection to the French practice is, that the
weeds brought into the field by the manure start
with the grain, and do as much harm as the dung
does good. Nor is there any sufficient answer, that
I know of, to this objection. The English practice
is, therefore, much to be preferred ; because, besides
the advantage of exchanging a fallow for a summer
crop, it permits you, while that crop is growing, to
destroy the weeds that otherwise would have infest-
ed your fields.

5th. At what time of the year are manures best
applied ?

The most approved rule on this head is to apply
the winter dung wholly to potatoes, flax, and corn ;
that of the spring, to cabbages and beans ; and what
may be afterward collected, to turnips ; and,

6th. In what quantity ought we to apply them ?

The quantum of manure to be applied to the acre
must necessarily depend on the staple of the soil.
If entirely exhausted of vegetable mould, a great
deal will not be too much ; but there is a possibility
of erring in this respect, even with regard to poor
soils. Where an excess of manure exists, the crop,
whatever it be, runs into stalk and leaf, and the
effect on the flavour of the vegetable is bad ; a fact
which the experience of all who have tasted the
cabbages and turnips raised in the poudrette of Paris
and London can abundantly establish. Even mead-
ows, which are least liable to injuries in this way,
may be too much dunged. What cultivator of ob-
servation has not seen his cattle turn with disgust
from herbage the most luxuriant in appearance, but
growing out of masses of manure ? This circum-
stance suggests the advantage of going over our
meadows in the fall, and breaking up and distribu-
ting such lumps of dung as may be found in them.

The preceding remarks were confined to stable

MANURES. 63

manures. What remains to be said applies to lime,
marl, vegetable ashes, ashes of earth, and green
crops ploughed into the ground.

It will be remembered that the action of lime, as
a manure, is owing to its causticity, or power of
dissolving animal and vegetable substances ; and to
its quality of absorbing carbonic acid from the at-
mosphere. These properties render it peculiarly
useful in composts, or mixtures of dung, peat, and
earth; a mass of which, disposed in alternate lay-
ers, is no doubt the perfection of this branch of
husbandry.* It is also applied without any acces-
sary, and with great advantage, to marshy grounds ;f
to those having in them the remains of shellfish ;J
to natural meadows, and to all soils abounding in
vegetable mould. On those of a different character
it must be cautiously used as to quantity, and, in-
deed, on any soil, an excess of it will completely
destroy the fertilizing principle ; an effect constant-
ly observed near mortar beds.

The time of using it is liable to less uncertainty.
On wheat it should be sown as soon as the grain
shows itself, and on meadows late in the fall, and
after the cattle have been turned off.

Marl, being a compound of clay and lime, has the
properties of the latter, and produces similar effects,
but in a smaller degree. Hence it is that the quan-
tity of it given to the acre is much greater than
that of lime. The English practice is to spread it
over a field to the depth of three or four inches.
This is done late in the fall, to the end that frost
and rain may break down and pulverize it.

The properties of ashes, whether derived from the
combustion of animals, of vegetables, or of fossil

* These might be formed in narrow lintals, inclining from
the stable.

f After they have been drained.

j There is much of this description of land on the bays and
creeks of the Chesapeake.

64 AGRICULTURE.

coal, are nearly the same, and resemble those of
lime and marl. They powerfully attract and hold
moisture and carbonic acid, and they hasten the de-
composition of stable manures, or other vegetable
or animal product. Their action is most favourable
on wet and cold soils, and as a top-dressing to nat-
ural meadows and turnip crops.

The practice of paring and burning the surface of
the earth has been much used, and warmly recom-
mended by the Irish ; and in their land of bogs, as
in the marshes of Holland, where infertility arises
from excess of vegetable matter, it may be useful;
but to burn the surfaces of sandy, gravelly, or even
of dry clay soils, would be to lose sight of all sound
theory.

Soils in general may be divided into two kinds,
sand and clay. The defect of the one is want of
cohesion between its parts ; that of the other, an
excessive or superabundant cohesion. But vegeta-
ble matter is, as we have seen, a remedy for both ;
and to accumulate this is the constant endeavour of
every enlightened agriculturist. Yet are we advi-
sed to destroy this vegetable matter by fire, and to
substitute for it a small portion of ashes, as more
favourable to vegetation than the soil itself! But
in what will these ashes differ from those found in
our chimneys, and of which enough may be had T
In nothing, excepting that they may possess some-
what more alkaline salt ;* a circumstance which, if
the subsoil be not charged with oily and animal mat-
ter, will be more injurious than useful.

* De Saussure's experiments prove, that the stems of trees
(other things being equal) produce less of this salt than the
branches, the branches less than the twigs, and the twigs less
than the leaves. M. Perthuys has formed a table of the relative
alkaline products of plants and trees. By this table it appears
that the leaves and stems of Indian corn give to the quintal eight
pounds thirteen ounces, those of oak one pound five ounces, and
those of pine five ounces.

MANURES. 65

But, besides the consideration of getting so lit-
lle, and that little of such equivocal character and
use, what do we lose by the process 1 If we ap-
proach these little kilns, we find them emitting a
black smoke, which cannot be entirely consumed ;
and our eyes and noses are assailed by some stim-
ulating and ammoniacal matter, which is fast es-
caping, and which so far alters the atmospheric
air in the neighbourhood as to render it difficult of
respiration. Need we add that this is the animal,
oily, and gaseous matter essential to the vegetable,
and highly important to vegetation! It may be
that the ashes obtained may give one or two good
crops of turnips; but even the advocates of this
practice admit that, " it ruins the land for an age ;
and hence it is that in England, tenants are restrain-
ed from paring and burning, especially towards the
close of their lease."*

Clay burning is a different operation, and made
with different views ; not for the production of ash-
es or salts, which may operate chymically, but
merely (by the application of heat) to alter the tex-
ture of the soil ; to give to it an artificial division
and porosity ; to render what was cold warm, what
was wet dry, and what was compact granular.
But a small degree of heat will not produce these
effects ; for, unlike the stems and roots of plants,
clay is not itself combustible ; and, to bring it to the
brick state, the heat applied must be long, contin-
ued, and great : hence it follows, that the practice
becomes objectionable on the score of expense, and
the more so as burned clay has no possible advan-
tage over the much cheaper substances of sand,
gravel, and pounded limestone. The operation of
all is merely mechanical, and exactly in proportion
to the quantity used.

Our partiality for green crops ploughed into the

* See Cobbett, part second, p. 168, " Year's Residence in the
United States."

F 2

66 AGRICULTURE.

ground as manure has been sufficiently indicated,
and it is now only necessary that we mention the
plants best calculated for this purpose. At the head
of these we place buckwheat, as well on account of
cheapness as effect : cheapness, because the price of
the seed, which is the only additional expense, is
below consideration ; and effect, because this plant,
while growing, is, from its umbrageous form, a
great improver of the soil, both by stifling weeds
and preventing evaporation ; and, when ploughed
into the ground, none decomposes more rapidly,
nor has any a more powerful effect in keeping the
earth loose and open to the action of light, heat,
air, and moisture, all of which are indispensable to
vegetation. " I know no plant," says Rozier, the
great French agriculturist, " that furnishes a better
manure, or which is sooner reduced to vegetable
mould, than buckwheat." When cultivated with
this view, the usual quantity of seed ought to be in-
creased, and the time of sowing hastened, so as to
enable you to have two crops of manure the same
season, and before the sowing of wheat.

The lupine (one of the leguminous family) has
been long and profitably employed as a manure in
Spain, Italy, and the southern province of France.
Columella directs that " it be sown in September,
about the equinox, so that it may attain, before
winter, a growth that will enable it to resist wet and
frosty weather, which it particularly dreads." I
need not remark that these directions are not cal-
culated for this climate, and that the seed-time for
the lupine here is the 20th of May. The properties
which recommend it as a manure are nearly the
same as those which belong to buckwheat. It is a
quick grower, and has numerous, large, and succu-
lent leaves. While growing it subsists principally
upon the air, and, when buried, decomposes entirely
and rapidly.

The pea tribe has the next place in this list ; but,

TILLAGE. 67

though not better adapted to the end than buck-
wheat or lupine, it is more capricious than they, and
requires a soil of better staple and more prepara-
tion. The seed is also more expensive. Of this
tribe the yellow vetching (lathyrus pratensis) is the
species to be preferred.

Turnips have been cultivated in England with the
same view, but the practice has yielded to another
and better (which, however, is not suited to our
climate), , feeding them off in the winter and on the
field.

CHAPTER VII.

OF TILLAGE, AND THE PRINCIPLES ON WHICH IT 18
FOUNDED.

TILLAGE has three objects: 1st, the raising of
plants, whose seeds, stems, or roots may be neces-
sary or useful to man and the animals he employs ;
2d, the improvement of the soil, by laying it open
to those atmospheric influences which increase its
fertility ; and, 3d, its destruction of weeds or plants
which rise spontaneously, and are either altogether
unfit, or fit only in a small degree, for the nutrition
of men and cattle, and which, if left to themselves,
would stifle or starve the intended crop.

In fulfilling either or all of these objects, it is evi-
dent that the surface of the earth must be broken
and divided into small parts, so that it may furnish
a bed and covering for the seeds sown, enable the
plants to push their roots into the soil, and draw
from it a portion of their subsistence.

To accomplish this leading intention, the division
of the soil, various means have been employed. Fos*

68 AGRICULTURE.

sil, animal, and vegetable manures, as well by their
mechanical action as by their chymical properties,
promote it; as do sand, pounded limestone, and
water, as in the culture of the rice ; but it is to the
spade and the plough we must look for that degree
of efficiency, without which the earth would have
remained a desert, or would become one. Of these,
where the scale of labour is small, as in garden cul-
ture, the former is to be preferred ; but, in farm-
ing, the greater expedition of the latter gives it a
decided advantage. Our remarks, therefore, will be
confined to the operations of this instrument ; and
particularly to such as have given occasion to dif-
ferences in opinion among practical farmers.

1st. At what season of the year, spring, summer, or
fall, is ploughing best performed, in relation to division
and improvement of the soil, and the destruction of
weeds ?

The more scientific opinion is in favour of fall
ploughing ; because to the action of air and moist-
ure it adds that of frost, whose septic or dividing
quality is second only to that of the plough itself.
In clay soils this preparation should never be omit-
ted ; because on those the action of frost is great-
est, and because one ploughing of this kind may
save two in the spring, when time is everything.*
In this operation, however, we must not forget to
ridge as well as plough; and care must be taken
that our furrows have sufficient declination to car-
ry off surplus water. With these precautions, clay
ground will be ready early in the spring for another
ploughing ; and the decomposition of the sod and
weeds turned down in the fall will be nearly, if
not altogether, complete.!

* The marsh bean grows best on a fall ploughing ; and oaf*,
well harrowed, will, on such ploughing, give a good crop with-
out other culture.

f Without water there is no decomposition, and much water
checks and prevents it

TILLAGE. 69

In dry and warm soils' these advantages are less ;
but still the time gained for spring work is a suffi-
cient inducement to a practice that economizes, not
merely labour, but the productive powers of the
earth also, by soonest enabling us to shade the soil
with a growing crop.*

2d. What number of ploughings, preparatory to a
crop, is necessary or proper ?

The Romans were in the practice of multiplied
ploughings. This appears as well from the precepts
of Cato as from the opinion of Columella, that " til-
lage, which does not leave the earth in a state of
dust and render the use of harrows unnecessary,
has not been well performed." Tull and his disci-
ples carry the doctrine still farther, and believe that
frequent ploughings enable us to dispense with even
the use of manures. This, however, is extravagant :
it is certain that the plough can do much, but it is
equally certain that there is much it cannot do.

Agriculture, like other business having profit for
its object, is a subject of calculation ; its labour must
be regulated by its end ; and the moment the expense
of this transcends the profit, it may be improvement,
but it ceases to be farming. When, therefore, we
hear of six ploughings preparatory to a wheat crop,
we conclude either that the plough will soon stop,
or that it belongs to one of the dilettanti, who thinks
it beneath him to count the cost. In our own prac-
tice, we find that spring crops of the cereal gramina
succeed best on one fall ploughing, well ridged and
furrowed, and with one cross-ploughing in the
spring; and that spring and summer crops of the

* Those who have any doubts about the importance of shade,
have but to look at the effects of a brush-heap, or other collec-
tion of small bodies admitting air, heat, and moisture, during
the spring or summer months. Under such collections he will
find a much more vigorous vegetation than in the uncovered
parts of the field : the cause of this effect is that the brush pre-
vents evaporation.

70 AGRICULTURE.

leguminous and cruciform families form the best
possible preparation for winter crops, and render
unnecessary more than one additional ploughing.
After all, any proper answer to this question must
necessarily be qualified by considerations of soil,
weather, season, crop, and culture ; influences which
cannot but exist in all cases, and over which we
have no control. Wheat, for instance, requires
more preparatory ploughing than rye, and rye more
than oats. Clay ground demands more tillage than
calcareous earth, and calcareous earth more than
sand. Wet or dry weather makes frequent plough-
ings, according to circumstances, either useful, in-
jurious, or impracticable ; and the shade of a horse-
hoed crop is, perhaps, in itself, of more importance
to that which succeeds, than would be the fallowing
of a whole summer.

3d. What depth of ploughing is most to be recom-
mended ?

This question, though less complicated than the
last, requires, like it, an answer qualified by circum-
stances. Tap-rooted plants require deeper tillage
than others : fall ploughings may be deeper than
those of spring, and spring than those of summer.
If the vegetable soil be deep, deep ploughings will
not injure it ; but if it be shallow, such ploughings
will bring up part of the subsoil, which is always
infertile, until it receive new principles from the atmo-
sphere. " They who pretend," says Arthur Young,
" that the underlayer of earth is as proper for ve-
getation as the upper, maintain a paradox, refuted
both by reason and experience."

Where, however, it becomes part of your object
to increase the depth of the surface soil, deep
ploughing is indispensable ; and in this, as in many
other cases, we must submit to present inconve-
nience for the advantage of future benefit. But even
here it is laid down as a rule, that, " in proportion as

TILLAGE. 71

you deepen your ploughings,you increase the necessity
for manures."*

" From six to eight inches may be taken as the
ordinary depth of sufficient ploughing."! And,

4th. Of the different modes of ploughing (level or
ridge ploughing), which is to oe preferred ?

This question admits no absolute answer. We
have already suggested the use of the latter mode
in stiff, heavy, wet clays ; and, in our opinion, all
ground in which clay predominates, whatever be
the culture, should be made to take this form: be-
cause it powerfully tends to drain the soil, and car-
ry off from the roots of the growing plants that su-
perfluous water, which, left to itself, would seri-
ously affect both the quality and the quantity of
their products.J In sandy, porous, and dry soils,
on the other hand, level ploughing is to be prefer-
red ; because ridging such soils would but increase
that want of cohesion which is their natural defect.

A loamy soil, which is a medium between these
two extremes, ought, in a dry climate, to be culti-
vated in the flat way, that it may the better retain
moisture ; and in a wet climate, in ridges, that it
may the sooner become dry.

* Young. t Idem.

$ It has been objected to ridge ploughing that it accumulates
the good soil on the crowns of ridges, and impoverishes the
sides and furrows. These objections are obviated by narrow
and low ridges, which alternate every crop with the furrows.

72 AGRICULTURE.

CHAPTER VIII.

•

OP A ROTATION OP CROPS, AND THE PRINCIPLES ON
WHICH IT IS FOUNDED.

To this branch of our subject we invite particu-
lar attention ; because, in our opinion, it forms the
basis of all successful agriculture. Whatever pains
we take, whatever expenses we incur, in collecting
instruments of husbandry, in accumulating and ap-
plying manures, and in tilling the earth, all is to
little purpose, unless to these we superadd a succes-
sion of [crops, adapted to the nature of the soil, to the
laws of the climate, and to the physical character and
commercial value of the article raised. Pease will
vegetate on wet cotton, and wheat in pure sand ;
Indian corn will grow in high northern latitudes,
and the apple may be found near the equator. We
have seen sainfoin struggling in wet clay, and aquat-
ic plants on the top of an arid mountain ; but all
indicated the violence done to nature, and present-
ed only specimens diminutive in bulk and deficient
in quality. The influence of markets on the value
of produce is as little to be denied as that of soil
and climate. In the neighbourhood of great cities
table vegetables are of much more value than wheat
or rye ; but, remote from markets, wheat and rye
have the advantage, because, being more valuable in
proportion to bulk and weight, they bear better the
expense of transportation.

With this general view of the subject, we pro-
ceed to examine, 1st, the practice of Europe ; and,
3d, the rotation best adapted to our own soil, merid-
ian, and markets. And,

1st. Of the practice of Europe.

ROTATION OF CROPS. 73

It was long since discovered* that the soil, when
left to itself, was never either exhausted, or tired,
or idle ; but that, however stripped or denuded by
man and the animals he employs, it hastens to cover
itself with a variety of plants, of different and even
opposite characters ; that some of these have a ten-
dency to render the earth more compact, while
others have the effect of opening and dividing it ;
that some, from peculiar structure of roots, stems,
and leaves, derive most of their nourishment from
the earth ; while others, differently formed, draw it
principally from the atmosphere ; and, lastly, that
in these voluntary products there is a continual
and nearly regular succession of plants differently
organized. These observations, carefully made and
no longer doubted, and others leading to the same
or similar conclusions, first suggested the useful-
ness of taking nature as our guide, and of conform-
ing our artificial crops to the rules which obviously
governed her spontaneous productions. The effect
was such as was expected, and for more than half
a century the rotation system has formed the true
test of agricultural improvement in every variety
of soil and climate. Whenever it has been adopt-
ed, the art is found in a state of prosperous progres-
sion; whenever neglected or rejected, it is either
stationary or retrogade. Yet, in the face of a fact,
carrying with it such conclusive evidence, the bulk
of agriculturists continue to resist this cheap and
obvious means of improvement, and pertinaciously
adhere to a system (that of fallows) which con-
demns to annual sterility one fourth part of the
earth; and which prefers four months' unproductive
labour to abundant harvests and nutritious crops !

* Virgil, who was a philosopher as well as a poet, appears to
have thoroughly understood this branch of natural history :
" mutatis quiescunt fcetibus arva." The true repose of the earth
is in a change of its productions.

74 AGRICULTURE.

But from this display of folly let us turn to one of
wisdom.

On the rotation system, the whole arable part of
a farm is divided into four, six, or eight fields, and
subjected to a course of crops denominated,, accord-
ing to the number of these divisions, the short, the
medium, or the long course. In constructing these
courses, however, whether long, middling, or short,
the utmost attention is paid to the nature of the
soil, viz., in all soils more wet than dry, more com-
pact than porous, more bard than friable, the course
is made up of the following plants : Wheat, oats,
buckwheat, the graminal grasses, beans, vetchling*,
clover, cabbages, and chicory. In soils of an oppo-
site character, dry, porous, and friable, the plants
from which to choose are rye, spelts, barley, pota-
toes, turnips,* lupines, Indian corn, clover, sainfoin, and
many of the pasture grasses. In loams, which are
nearly an equal mixture of sand, clay, and decom-
posed vegetables, the choice of plants is much en-
larged ; embracing what is more peculiarly proper
for both sand and clay, and having, besides, the fol-
lowing plants from which to select: Rice, millet,
sorghum, or African millet, lucerne? indigo, co-tton,
hops, tobacco, madder, hemp, flax? &€.., &c.. The fol-
lowing cases will sufficiently illustrate the princi-
ples on which they rest, viz., Never to- select for a
crop plants not adapted to the soil ; and never, in any
soil, to permit two crops of the same species or kinds to
follow each other.

2d. Of the rotation best adapted, to our QWH soil,
meridian, and markets.

Previously to entering upon this subject,, it may
not be amiss to glance at the practice hitherto prev-

* We here speak of the white turnip. The Ruta Baga, or
Swedish turnip, is classed by French agriculturists among the
products of strong, substantial clay soils. In the next chapter
we shall speak of the culture of some particular plants, and,
among these, of the Swedish turnip.

ROTATION OF CROPS. 75

alent among us. What this was in 1801 may be
seen in the answer of an English gentleman and
traveller (Mr. Strickland) to certain queries of the
British Board of Agriculture in relation to the state
of husbandry here. After remarking that New-
England was not a corn country, and had little to do
with the plough, and that New- York was then, and
would continue to be, the granary of America, he
proceeds to divert his British readers with the fol-
lowing details : A< The usual course of crops in this
state (New-York), is, first year, maize (Indian
corn) ; second, rye or wheat ; third, flax or oats ; and
then a repetition of the same as long as the land
will bear anything ; after which it is laid by to rest.
A Dutchman's course on the Mohawk is, first year,
wheat ; second, pease ; third, wheat ; fourth, oats or
flax ; and, fifth, Indian corn. In Dutchess county
the rotation is, first, wheat ; second and third, pas-
ture without seed-; and, fourth, Indian -corn, or flax,
or oats, or mixed crops.4' Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and Maryland may be classed together,
from a resemblance of climate, soil, and -mode of
culture ; and here we have, " first year, Indian corn ;
second, wheat ; third and fourth, rubbish pasture.
Clover is, however, beginning to be introduced in
some such course as the following : First, wheat ;
second, Indian corn ; third, wheat ; fourth and fifth,
clover."

Two exceptions are noticed, however, to this
system : 1st. In the German settlements in Penn-
sylvania, where, from more attention or more skill,
" the wheat crop averages eighteen bushels to the
acre, where twenty-Jive bustiels are frequent, and
instances of thirty not wanting : andj'Sd. In the pen-
insula of Maryland and Delaware, where the rota-
tkxn of Indian corn, wheat, and rubbish pasture has
reduced the average produce to six bushels per
acre ; in some instances not more than two bushels
are obtained,* and much is so bad as to be ploughed up

76 AGRICULTURE.

" In Virginia the usual crops are Indian corn and
wheat alternate!}*-, as long as the land will produce
them ; and, in parts where tobacco is cultivated,
several crops of it are taken in succession, before
any grain is sown. No one states the average of
that extensive flat country in Virginia, lying below
the head of tide- water, at more than Jive or six
bushels ; and in those fertile and beautiful valleys
among the mountains, in which ignorant cultivators
have not yet resided sufficiently long to have en-
tirely exhausted the soil, the produce may not be
less than twelve bushels the acre."

These specimens of agricultural skill will not be
adduced as proof of the favourite national position,
that " we are the most enlightened people on the face
of the globe ;" and the less so, as a lapse of eighteen
years has not entirely weaned us from ancient
habits ; for neither on the Maryland peninsula, nor
in Eastern Virginia, is there any material alteration
in their mode of culture, excepting what may have
arisen from the fact that, having no more fresh land
to exhaust, they are now obliged to recur to old field,
and are, of course, annually suffering the new and
increased penalties of former improvidence. On
the western shore of Maryland, in the northern
parts of Delaware, and in Pennsylvania, New-Jer-
sey, and New- York, the state of things is better ;
clover has been substituted for (what Mr. Strickland
calls) rubbish pasture, and the root husbandry is
encroaching on summer fallows ; which we regard
as a decisive step towards a regular and judicious
rotation of crops.

After this brief statement of the past and present
state of home agriculture, let us anticipate the fu-
ture. We cannot believe that, favoured as we are
with a temperate climate, a productive soil, an in-
quiring, reflecting, and independent yeomanry, and
civil institutions which favour and protect all the
developments of industry and genius, we shall long

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 77

remain behind the serfs of Tuscany, the tenants of
England, or the peasants of Flanders. But, to rival
these, we must follow their example ; we must mul-
tiply the means of subsisting cattle ; because these
will, in their turn, give manures, and manures will
quicken and invigorate the soil for the production
of -articles of the greatest value and the highest
price. It is on this simple basis that we offer the
following tables of rotation of crops, adapted to our
own circumstances :

Medium course in sandy soils : 1st year, potatoes
dunged ; 2d, rye, with turnips after harvest consu-
med on the fields ; 3d, oats and clover, or barley
and clover ; 4th, clover ; 5th, wheat, with turnips
after harvest consumed on the field ; and, 6th, pease,
or lupines, or lentils. We have, by this course,
eight crops in six years, and five of these ameliora-
ting crops.

Medium course in loamy soils : 1st year, pota-
toes dunged ; 3d, wheat, with turnips as in the pre-
ceding course ; 3d, Indian corn and pumpkins ; 4th,
barley and clover ; 5th, clover ; 6th, wheat and tur-
nips as before. In this course we have nine crops
in six years, five of which are ameliorating crops.

Medium course in clay soils ; 1st year, -oats with
clover ; 2d, clover ; 3d, wheat ; 4th, beans dunged;
§th, wheat ; «6th, the yellow vetchlkig.

CHAPTER DL

OP THE PLANTS RECOMMENDED FOR A COURSE OP CROPS
IN THE PRECEDING CHAPTER, AND THEIR CULTURE.

THESE are wheat, rye, barley, Indian com, oats,
buckwheat, pease, beans, turnips, potatoes, cabba-

78 AGRICULTURE.

ges, clover, and chicory : but we shall take them in
the order in which they stand in the proposed rota-
tion of crops ; and,

I. Of the potato.

This plant is a native of America, and, like other
valuable things, has had violent enemies and zealous
friends. When first introduced into France, it was
subjected to the imperfect methods of analysis of
that day, and, being supposed to yield some delete-
rious matter, was even proscribed by the govern-
ment. But time, which rarely fails to do justice to
the injured, has re-established the character of the
potato there ; and with the increased reputation
of being the " manna of the poor"* of standing as an
article of food next to bread ,f and far before cab-
bages, carrots, or turnips ;J and yielding, by the
acre, a crop of greater profit and more nutritive
matter than either wheat or barley. § Nor is this
its whole praise ; for, besides its value as food, it is
of all vegetables that which, from the number,
shape, and size of its roots, forms the best prepara-
tion for subsequent crops. || Of this valuable plant
botanists count more than sixty varieties and twelve
species, which, for agricultural purposes, may, how-
ever, be reduced to three; the red, the white, and
that called by the French the quarantaine, or forty
days' potato. The last is the least prolific; but

* Dictionnaire de 1'Industrie, art. Pomme de terre.

f By the experiments of Vaugelin and Percy, 80 parts out of
100 of bread are nutritive ; of the potato, 25, or nearly one
fourth.

| " Six chilogrammes de pommes de terre equivaloient 50
chilogrammes de navet." — Vvart. Six kilograms [the kilo-
gram is 2 Ibs. 3 oz. 5 dr. avoird.] of potatoes are equal to 50 kil-
ogram* of carrots.

§ 200 bushels, a medium crop per acre of potatoes, are, at 3*.
per bushel, equal to seventy five dollars ; and a medium crop
of wheat, 15 bushels per acre, at even 16s. per bushel, is but
30 dollars ; difference per acre, $35.

il Parmentier of the French Institute.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 79

may, notwithstanding, deserve the preference with
cultivators near great cities, since, besides being the
first in the market, they may be made to give a
second crop. The other two are supposed to affect
different kinds of soil ; the red preferring clay, and
the white sand or loam. Of the former there is a
variety more productive than any other of either
species, and which is known, and, we think, de-
graded, by the name of the hog potato. Of this
variety, without any peculiar care, we have raised
one hundred and eight bushels on one quarter of
an acre.

Two ways are employed to propagate the pota-
to ; 1st, by sowing the seed ; and, 2d, by planting
the root. By the former method we obtain new
varieties or revive old ones ; but, as it requires three
years to bring these to perfection, it follows that the
other method, which continues the species you
plant, and in the perfection in which you plant them,
is alone resorted to for a crop. The product is
small, or great, or enormous, according to the fer-
tility of the soil and the labour bestowed upon its
cultivation. We have never seen a larger product
from the acre than four hundred bushels ; but there
are records of high authority which give much
larger crops ; and frbm which, in justice to our sub-
ject, we offer the following extracts :

" At Altingham, in England, a sandy soil gave
700 bushels per acre. At Kirklatham, a similar soil
gave 580 bushels ; and a blach rich loam, 11G6
bushels."*

We need hardly remark, that such immense pro-
ducts were procured only by the most careful and
well-timed cultivation, which we shall now proceed

* See vol. xiii., p. 114, of the British Annual Register. Some
persons have imagined that, by cutting the flowers of the potato,
the crop may be increased, and analogy forms the opinion. The
procreative powers of the plant are thus diverted from the ap-
ple and concentrated in the bulb.

80 AGRICULTURE.

to indicate under three different heads : 1st, the
preparation of the soil ; 2d, the choice of plants and
mode of planting ; and, lastly, the treatment of the
growing crop.

1st. Of the preparation of the soil.

Give your field intended for potatoes a good fall
ploughing, and in ridges if the soil be clay. Leave
it rough and open to the influences of the frost du-
ring the winter, and as early in the spring as you
discover in it the marks of vegetation, harrow and
roll it. When the weeds show themselves a second
time, carry out your manure, cover the fields with
it, and plough it under. If the quantity of manure
be insufficient to cover the whole surface, apply it to
the furrows only ; and if, as may happen, it be even
insufficient for this purpose, then furrow both ways,
manure the angles of intersection, and set your po-
tatoes in them.

2d. Of the choice of plants and mode of plant-
ing.

Some economists begin by paring the potato,
and planting only the skins; others, less saving,
cut the potatoes into slices, leaving a single eye to
each slice ; and a third class, almost as provident
as the other two, are careful to pick out the dwarfs,
and reasonable enough to expect from them a pro-
geny of giants. These practices cannot be too much
censured or too soon abandoned, because directly
opposed both by reason and experience. In other
cases we take great pains, and sometimes incur
great expense, to obtain the best seed. In the cul-
tivation of wheat we reject all small, premature,
worm-eaten, or otherwise imperfect grains ; in pre-
paring for a crop of Indian -corn we select the best
ears, and even strip from these the small or ill-sha-
ped grains at the ends of the cob ; so also in plant-
ing beets, carrots, parsnips., and turnips, the largest
and finest are selected for seed. The reason of all
this is obvious. Plants, like animals, are rendered

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 81

most perfect by selecting the finest individuals of
the species from which to breed. Away, then, with
such miserable economy ; and, inetead of planting
skins, or slices, or dwarfs, take for seed the best
and largest potatoes, those having in them the most
aliment for the young plants;* place them in your
furrows ten or twelve inches apart, and cover them
carefully with earth.

3d. Of the treatment of the growing crop.

As soon as the potatoes begin to show themselves
weeds will also appear ; a good harrowing will then
save much future labour, and the injury it does the
potato will be little or none. In a short time an-
other weeding will become necessary; but your
crop having now obtained some inches in height,
you can no longer safely use the common harrow ;
but, instead of this, the small one of triangular form,
so made as to accommodate itself to the width of
the intervals. This labour may be occasionally re-
peated, if necessary, until the potatoes begin to
flower, when the horse-hoe must be substituted for
the harrow. The effects of this instrument (the
horse-hoe) are to extirpate the weeds, to divide and
loosen the soil, and to throw over the potatoes an
additional covering of earth.

The harvesting and preserving of potato crops
are processes well known in this country. With
regard to the latter, however, we would suggest
whether stacking potatoes on the surface of the soil,
and with a narrow base, is not a better mode than,
burying them in the ground. Fifteen bushels will
be enough for one stack, which must be well cov-
ered with straw and earth, and trenched around its
whole circumference, to carry off dissolving snows
and rain-water.

II. Of rye.

* The interior of the potato forms the feaula, which subsists
the young plants.

82 AGRICULTURE.

This grain, though of the same family with wheat,
is less valuable. A bushel of rye weighs less, and
gives less flour, and of worse quality, than a bushel
of wheat. Still there are circumstances which, as
an object of culture, may give it the preference ;
1st, it grows well in soils where wheat cannot be
raised ; 2d, it bears a much greater degree of cold
than wheat ; 3d, it goes through all the phases of
vegetation in a shorter period, and, of course, ex-
hausts the soil less ;* 4th, if sown early in the fall,
it gives a great deal of pasture, without'much even-
tual injury to the crop; and, 5th, its produce, from
an equal surface, is one sixth greater than that of
wheat. These circumstances render it peculiarly
valuable for poor soils and poor people, for mount-
ains of great -elevation, and for high northern lati-
tudes-t

Its use, as food for horses, is known as well in
this country as in Europe. The grain and straw,
chopped and mixed, form the principal horsefood
in Pennsylvania ; and in Germany, the postillions
are often seen slicing a blapk and hard rye bread,
called benpournikel, for their horses ; and the same
practice prevails in Belgium and Holland.

Its conversion into whiskey is a use less appro-
ved by reason and patriotism.

The species of this grain cultivated here are two,
the black and the white ; for spring rye, though often
mistaken for a species, is but a variety produced by
time and culture, and restored again to its former
character and habits by a similar process.f

* We have seen a field bear rye several years in succession
without manure, and the last crop was much the best. This
fact is one of tliose which tend to discredit theory.

t Without rye the northern part of Russia would be scarcely
habitable.

t Spring rye, sown in the fall, will give a tolerable crop ;
winter rye, sown in the spring, a very bad one : which shows
tkat the nature of the plant requires a slow rather than a quick
vegetation.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 83

According to the course of crops detailed in our
last chapter, potatoes, in a sandy soily precede rye.
The ploughing, harrowing, and manuring given to
that crop, will therefore make part of the prepara-
tion necessary for this. After harvesting the pota-
toes, crossplough the ground, and sow and harrow
in the rye ; taking care, as in all other cases, that
the seed be carefully selected and thorougly wash-
ed in lime-water, as the means best calculated to
prevent the ergot ; a disease to which it is most lia-
ble, and which is supposed to be occasioned by too
great humidity.*

Rye is not exempt from the attacks of insects,
but suffers less from them than either wheat or bar-
ley. Whenever the straw of winter rye becomes
yellow, shining, or flinty, and circulates no more
juices, nature gives the signal for harvest, and no
time should be lost in obeying it. " Cut tivo days
loo soon rather than one day too late" was among
the precepts of Cato ; which, if adopted here, would
save much grain, terminate the harvest about the
10th of July, and give abundant time to turn down
the stubble and sow the crop next in succession.

III. Turnips.

These are said to be natives of the seacoast of
the north of Europe, where they are found growing
spontaneously. There are eight species and many
varieties ; but, as they have all the same character
and uses, and require nearly the same treatment,
we shall only speak of the white turnip and the
yellow.

Two methods of cultivation have been pursued,
according to the plan either of turning them down
as manure, or of consuming them on the field or in
the stable by sheep or cattle. In the first case, the
harrow is used instead of the plough ; and, even upon
light, porous soil, is a pretty good substitute. The

* See Tessier on the Diseases of Plants.

84 AGRICULTURE.

seed is sown after the harrow, and too frequently
left to its own protection. In the other case, the
plough is first used, and after it the harrow ; a
method much to be preferred, as the difference of
crops will more than pay the difference of labour,
the only advantage claimed by those who advocate
and adopt the first method.

Our own practice is to plough in the stubble, har-
row the ground lightly, and sow the turnip-seed in
the quantity of two pounds to the acre. This al-
lows something for insects and something for waste.
When the plants are generally above ground, give
them a light covering of ashes, which, by quicken-
ing the growth of the plants and leaching on their
leaves at the same time, better protects them against
the fly than any other means practicable on a large
scale with which we are acquainted.* When the
plants attain the height of four inches, we set the
horse-hoe to work, running a furrow the whole
length or breadth of the field, and returning with
another at the distance of three feet from the for-
mer, and so continuing the work till the whole is
laid off into beds of that width. What we lose by
this method is only the seed buried by the horse-
hoe ; what we gain is the manure created by the
young plants ploughed in between the beds, and
the advantage of being able to weed and work those
left standing for the crop. This part of the labour,
which immediately follows the horse-hoeing, is ex-
peditiously performed by two men travelling in the
furrows, one on each side of a bed, and employing
themselves in thinning and hand-hoeing the surplus
plants. These operations of ploughing and weeding
may be performed a second, and even a third time,
with advantage.

* On a small scale, water in which potatoes have been boiled
is believed to be very useful in protecting cabbage, turnips, and
other plants from the attacks of the fly. We are in a course
of experiments which will determine how far this remedy may
be relied on.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 85

If we determine to plough in the crop as manure,
we should do it while the ground retains a tempera-
ture favourable to the decomposition of the plants,
and before the frost has diminished the volume or
altered their juices. If, on the other hand, we de-
cide on feeding off the crop on the ground, it is but
necessary to turn in our sheep upon it, under such
restrictions as will limit their range and prevent
waste ; and, indeed, that nothing may be lost, hogs
should be made to follow the sheep. If, however,
feeding in the stables be thought more advisable
(and it certainly better economizes both food and
manure), the turnips should be drawn, topped, and
stacked ; interposing between each layer of them
one of coarse hay or other barn-rubbish, and cap-
ping the whole with a few bundles of clean long
straw. Though less nutritive than either potatoes,
carrots, or cabbages, the turnip is found to be par-
ticularly useful to stall-fed cattle, correcting, by its
aqueous qualities, the heating effects of corn, oats,
br rye meal.

Our acquaintance with the yellow turnip (or ruta
baga) is but beginning. Mr. Cobbett's experiments
have, however, been very successful, and tend
much to recommend the plant in preference to the
white or common species. That, of the two, it is
the more compact, the heavier, the more nutritious,
the less apt to become stringy, and the more easily
preserved, are facts not to be contested. In both
France and England it is rising in reputation, and
perhaps only wants time to get into general use
here. To this article we will but add an extract
from the work of M. D'Edelcrants (of Sweden) on
the ruta baga.

" Its root is milder and more saccharine than
that of the other species, particularly when boiled.
Its flesh is harder and more consistent ; which bet-
ter enables it to withstand frosts, and to keep from
one year to another. Its leaves extend horizon-
H

86 AGRICULTURE.

tally, and may be stripped off from time to time, as
wanted for forage, without injuring the product of
the root ; which, on good soil, gives to the acre, in
Sweden, 350 quintals ; and, even on poor soil, a
good crop. We sow half a pound of seed about
the beginning or middle of May, which will give
plants enough to fill an acre. Transplanting is
performed about the last of June or first of July.
To set out and water 5 or GOO feet in a day is the
task of one man or of two women. One or two
hoeings augment the product much. The harvest
is made about the first of November, and the tur-
nips are covered in ditches, or dry caves or cellars,
for winter use."
IV. Of Barley.

It is probable that bread was first made from this
grain. The Jewish scriptures speak only of barley
loaves ; the gladiators among the Greeks were call-
ed barley-eaters; and Columella says (like our In-
dian corn and beans in the Southern states) that
barley was the food of the slaves. Among the Ro-
mans it was first employed as a food for man, and
afterward for cattle.* The same qualities which
recommended it then, have since diffused it more
generally than any other grain ; it is found to
be better adapted to different soils and climates ;
less subject to the attacks of insects, and more
easily preserved. In times of scarcity it is a good
substitute for wheat, and at all times yields the
beverage known under the name of beer, ale, or
porter. It is, besides, a food on which cattle do
well, and horses arrive at their greatest possible
perfection. f

The species of this grain most in request are two,
Kordeum, Distichum (two-rowed barley) and Hor-

* This use grew out of the belief of its nutritive and invigor-
ating qualities.
t See Buffon on the horse of Arabia. Vol. xxii., p. 195.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 87

deum Caeleste (naked barley). The former is pre-
ferred in England, and, as we believe, in France.
M. Parmentier ascribes to it all the good qualities of
the other species, and much greater productiveness.*

Of the latter species, the nations of the north who
are most in the habit of using barley as the basis
both of food and drink, speak highly. f But among
us, who cultivate it only for the last purpose, this
species has less credit, and is even considered the
worst from a belief that, after being dried, it malts
imperfectly or with difficulty.

Though not so nice in relation to soil as either
wheat or rye, still barley prefers a loose, warm, and
moist, though not wet, soil, and even grows re-
markably well in sand (where we have sowed it), in
succession to turnips, either ploughed into the
ground or consumed on the field.

Other things being equal, the spring crops which
are first sowed give the best and largest products.
The moment, therefore, that your soil is sufficient-
ly dry, begin ploughing, and at a depth not less than
six inches, since the roots of barley enter the
earth more deeply than those of any of the other
cereal graminae. If the soil be well pulverized [as
it ought to be after turnips], a second ploughing
•would be a waste of time and money :J proceed,
therefore, to sow your barley broadcast,^ and cov-

* He states it to be double as much.

f " Hordeum caeleste Norvegis gratissimum, quoniam cere-
visiam generosam, praebeit." The naked barley, most grateful
to the Norwegians, as affording to them their generous beer. —
Mitterpacher, Elemen. rei rust., page 312.

J The Romans had two maxims on the subject of expense,

which it would be wise in us to adopt : " Those profits are to be

preferred which cost the least ;" and again, " Nothing is less

-'profitable than very high cultivation." " Nihil minus expedire,

* "quarn agram optime colere."

$ Mr. Young's experiments show that there is something in
the constitution or habits of this grain to which the drill or row
husbandry is not accommodated. Even isolated grains weeded
and hoed, did not do better than the same number in broad cast.

88 , AGRICULTURE.

er it with a short-toothed harrow. The last opera-
tion will be to sow and roll in your clover- seed,
destined to become the next crop in succession.

V. Of Clover.

The Trifolium Agrarium of Linnaeus is found
growing spontaneously in many places, as is suffi-
ciently indicated by the names given to it ; as
Dutch clover, Spanish clover, clover of Piedmont,
clover of Normandy, &c., &c.* It is about two
centuries since it first became an object of agricul-
tural attention as forage, while its ameliorating ef-
fects on the soil, produced by its peculiar system of
roots and leaves, was a discovery of modern date.
It is now generally sown with barley, or other
spring grain of the culmiferous kind, and rarely by
itself. The advantages proposed by this practice
are three: 1st, the preparation given to the soil for
the grain crop, which is exactly that best fitted for
the clover : 2d, the protection given by the barley
to the young clover against the combined effects of
heat and dryness ; and, 3d, the improved condition
in which it leaves the soil for subsequent culture.
In this practice, however, a less quantity of barley
must be sown than usual, because, without ventila-
tion, the clover plants will perish. To this condi-
tion two others must be added, which are indispen-
sable to a good crop : 1st, that your seed be good ;
and, 2d, that it be regularly and equally sown. The
tests of good seed are, its comparative size and
weight (the largest and heaviest being always the
best), its plumpness, its yellow or purple colour,
its glossy skin, and, lastly, its cleanness or separ-
ation from other seeds and from dirt.

The human hand was, no doubt, the first ma-
chine employed for sowing seeds. The difficulty,

* A seed of Holland clover, of the same volume with one of
Normandy clover, weighs one seventh more. See Gilbert on
Artificial Meadows.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 89

however, of scattering them equally over every part
of the field, soon attracted notice, and engaged me-
chanics in devising something which should better
answer that purpose. China was the first to produce
anything at all commensurate with this object ; and
it was not till the seventeenth century that this, or
some similar invention, was introduced into Europe
by Lucateo, a Spaniard, who, meeting no encour-
agement at home, transmitted his real or pretended
discovery to London. Here, as has been conjec-
tured, it served as a model for the sowing-machines
of Tull ; and from 1750 to 1770, the mania on this
subject was at its height; but from that period to
the present it has been gradually subsiding, and the
hand is now generally restored to its original func-
tions.

The quantity of seed to be given to the acre
should, in a great degree, depend on the soil ; if
this be rich, ten or twelve pounds are sufficient ;
and if poor, double that quantity will not be too
much. The practice of mixing the seeds of timo-
thy and rye grass, &c., with that of clover, is a bad
one, because these grasses neither rise nor ripen at
the same time. Another practice, equally bad, is
that of sowing clover seed on winter grain before
the earth has acquired a temperature favourable to
vegetation, and when there cannot be a doubt but
that two thirds of the seed will perish.

By the time your barley or other covering crop
is harvested, your clover will be sufficiently estab-
lished to live alone ; and, if not pastured* to brave
the ensuing winter, and during the next summer to
repay your labour by two abundant crops of grass
or hay.

The period in the growth of clover at which it

*• If the crowns of young clover roots be nibbled or otherwise
wounded, the roots die. Sheep and horses (both of which bite
closely) should, therefore, be particularly excluded from clover,
unless intended for pasturage only.
H 2

90 AGRICULTURE.

is most profitably cut and used, presents a question
much discussed and variously answered ; because
depending on extraneous and local circumstances
(such as the state and proximity of markets, &c.),
which cannot fail to vary the results in the hands
of different persons, and even of the same person
at different times and at different places. There
are, however, some general remarks which belong
to the case, and which ought not to be omitted in
even this brief view of the subject.

1st. Clover cut before it flowers abounds in water,
has in it but. little nutritive matter, and is even apt
to produce indigestion in the cattle fed upon it.*

2d. The stems of clover cut after seeding are
hard and woody, arid no longer hold the leaf: and,

3d. All plants, when permitted to seed, exhaust
the soil ; and to this rule clover is not an exception.

From premises furnished by these facts, we would
conclude that the short period between the flower-
ing and seeding of clover is that in which its use
would be most advantageous, whether regarded as
& forage or as an ameliorating crop.

When seed is the principal object of culture, we
cannot do better than adopt the practice in Hol-
land, where the first crop is cut before it flowers,
and the second is reserved for seed.

The largeness of the stems, the number of the
leaves, and the aqueous quantity of both, render it
a difficult business to make clover grass into hay ;
and the difficulty is not a little increased by the
brittleness or disposition of the drying grass to fall
into pieces during the process of handling. To
meet this case, two supplementary means have been
employed, which enable you to house or stack clo-
ver in a much greener or less dry state than would
otherwise be safe. The one is to scatter over each

* This effect of clover (which we call hoving) is prevented
in Alsace by watering the cattle before giving theiii clover, be-
cause a certain quantity of water prevents fermentation.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 91

cartload, while stowing away for keeping, two or
three quarts of sea-salt : the other, to interpose be-
tween two layers of clover one of clean straw. By
the first method, the whole mass is made accept-
able to cattle ; by the second, the quantum of nu-
tritive forage is increased ; and by both methods the
clover is effectually prevented from heating*

The next step in our system is to plough in the
clover stubble as a preparation for the succeeding
crop.

VI. Of Wheat.

This grain, so useful to man, because forming so
large a portion of his subsistence, is happily found
to adapt itself to a great variety of soils and cli-
mates. It grows vigorously in clay, in loam, in
calcareous earth, and even in sand, when aided by
manures, or in succession to pease, vetches, clo-
ver, &c. To the north it is found in the frozen
regions of Siberia ; and in the south, under the
burning sun of Africa, it yields, according to the
declaration of Pliny, more than one hundred fold.f
In ancient Rome, its use, as a food for man, soon
superseded that of barley and rye ; and in modern
Europe it is denominated corn, by way of eminence.

Of this invaluable grain there are four species,
-•distinctly marked and generally acknowledged, viz.,
many-headed wheat,{ Polish wheat, spelts, and

* The more modern, and, we think, far better way of making
•clover hay, is to put it into small cocks as soon as it has become
dried or wilted in the swaths ; and to leave it so for thirty or
forty hours, when it will be found sufficiently dried, on being
opened and spread to the sun an hour or two, to take to the barn
or stack. In this way it makes the most and best fodder, and is
cured with the least labour. — J. B.

f " Tritico nihil est fertilius : utpote cum e modio, si sit ap-
tum solum, quale in Byzacio Africae campo, centum quinquageni
modii redden tur." — XVIII. L. Nat. Hist. Pliny. Nothing is
more productive than wheat ; for a bushel of this grain, sown on
a soil adapted to it, as that of the plain of Byzantium, in Africa,
will yield a hundred and fifty fold.

$ This is the Triticum Compositum of botaniwa, called wheat

92 AGRICULTURE.

common wheat. We shall speak only of the third
and fourth species, because with the others we have
little practical acquaintance ; and,

1st. Of Spelts. This species and its principal va-
riety (Triticum Monoicum) is much cultivated in
Germany and Switzerland. Deprived of its husk,
the grain is smaller than that of common wheat, but
yields a flour of finer quality, and better fitted for
the purposes of pastry.* Two other circumstances
recommend it; it withstands the attack of insects,
and will grow in poorer soil and with less prepara-
tory labour than the fourth species.

2d. Common wheat has many varieties, some of
which are bearded, and others bald ; some oval, and
others round or square ; some yellow or red, and
others white ; some soft, and others flinty ; acci-
dents arising from culture and climate, and not, as
we believe, the result of an organization uniformly
and essentially different.

With regard to the culture of this plant, we shall
confine ourselves to the following points : the prep-
aration of the soil, the choice and preparation of
the seed, and the time and different modes of sow-
ing or planting it.

1st. Of the preparation of the soil.

Products of much value to man can only be ob-
tained by corresponding degrees of labour. The
sugar-cane, rice, and wheat, are more valuable than
oats, buckwheat, or turnips, and require more la-
bour and expense in their cultivation. Indeed, un-
der the old system of fallows, the degree of both
bestowed upon a wheat crop was enormous. Two
years and five or six ploughings were sometimes
given to this preparatory culture ; but, on the new
plan of a rotation of crops, the necessity for this

of plenty, miraculous wheat, (fee., yielding largely, but, on manu-
facture, giving much bran and bad flour.

* The bread of Frankfort, Nuremberg, &c., so much boast-
ed in Germany, is made from spelts.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 93

is in a great degree obviated, and two ploughings
of a clover lay are in general amply sufficient.
Still this takes for granted that these ploughings
are well performed ; that no clods are to be seen ;
and that the field presents an unbroken surface of
mellow and finely-pulverized earth.

2. Of the choice and preparation of seed.

Seed should be taken from some fine crop of the
preceding year* which shall have ripened thorough-
ly and been well preserved. This, after passing
two or three times through the fanning mill, should
be carefully washed in clean water, and again in
water in which a quantity of fresh lime has been
slackened ; or, if lime cannot be had, in which clean
and recent wood ashes have been leached. This
washing, as we have already suggested, should
never be omitted: because, besides detecting the
shrunk or shrivelled grains, and many seeds of
other plants which will float on the surface of the
water, it entirely removes the dust of smut, rusty
&c., and thus prevents their propagation, f Our

* A great variety of experiments show that wheat preserves
its germinating faculties under circumstances apparently very
unfavourable, and that it may even be sown to advantage when
several years old, after a slight degree of malting in the sheaf
or the stack, and after having been subjected to a high degree
of artificial heat. We mention this fact, however, not to invite
to a selection of seed-grain of either of these descriptions, but
to assure the farmer that, where better cannot be had, he may
employ even such, without apprehending a total loss of his
time and labour.

t Smut, charbon, and rust in grain, were, according to the old
philosophy, attributed to storms, or s'ome other particular state
of the atmosphere ; but Messrs. Tillet, Tessier, B. Prevpt, and
Decandolle, have shown, that the two former of these diseases
are produced by an intestinal parasite, of the uredo or mushroom
family, the progress of which is much promoted by humidity
and shade. Analogy favours the opinion, that rust owes its ori-
gin to the same cause. The remedy for all is the same ; wash
your seed-grain thoroughly in lime water, roll it in plaster of
Paris, and sow it in the fall, before the cold and wet weather
begins, or in the spring after it has ended.

94 AGRICULTURE.

next step in this process is to roll the seed in pul-
verized gypsum.

3d. Of the time of sowing wheat.

On this head there is a diversity both in practice
and opinion. Some prefer early, others late sow-
ing : some sow in the full, others in the wane of
the moon, &c.

Theory is certainly on the side of early sowing ;
since it gives time for the roots of the grain to es-
tablish themselves before winter; and experience
proves that grain early sown throws up more lat-
eral stems than that which is sown late.

Of lunar influences we know very little, except-
ing that they extend to the waves of the ocean ;
which probably first gave rise to the opinion held
by M. Toaldo and other philosophers, that the at-
mosphere, which is only another and more fluid
ocean, and which has much to do with the health
and diseases of animals and vegetables, is also sub-
ject to these influences. But the calculations of
M. de Place prove that the effect of lunar influ-
ence on the atmosphere does not make a difference
of one line and a half on the barometer, and that it
is wholly insufficient to account for those great
agitations of the atmosphere which have been sup-
posed most to affect vegetation.

4th. Of the different modes of sowing wheat.

These are two, the one executed with the hand,
the other with a sowing machine, of which we have
already spoken. The latter has been advocated on
the ground of economy, employing less seed, and
distributing what it does employ more equally.
Nor will it be denied that, when wheat is very high
and labour very cheap, there may be a saving in the
use of this machine ; but in all other circumstances
the comparison is in favour of the other method, as
it requires less time and fewer labourers, and as the
waste and irregularity imputed to it are, in hands
practised and steady, reduced to little or nothing.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 95

A third method of propagating wheat, viz., by
transplanting the suckers at regular distances from
the seed-bed into another prepared to receive them,
has been practised on a small scale, and is found to
yield abundantly ; but it is so embarrassed with ex-
pense as to render it entirely unfit for general use.

Of the produce of wheat very different accounts
have been given. To the extraordinary fertility of
Byzantium, already mentioned, Pliny adds that in
Leontium, in Sicily, its produce was one hundred
for one ; yet Cicero, who had been quaestor of that
island, asserts that the produce of Sicily was but
ten or twelve for one.* To conciliate these high
and opposite authorities, M. Yvart has supposed
that the product mentioned by Cicero was an aver-
age one of the whole island ; and that that report-
ed by Pliny was the result of one or more trans-
planting experiments ; an opinion rendered probable
from the fact that the parent stems and their off-
spring had been sent to Rome by the procurator of
Augustus.

Some calculators have supposed, and on data not
easily refuted, that the maximum produce of this
grain over the whole face of the globe, and in a
series of any ten given years, will not exceed six
bushels reaped for one bushel sown.f

VII. Of Pease.

The pea is a native of the southern parts of Eu-
rope, and is found growing spontaneously in the
western parts of our own continent. The family
is a large one, containing several species ; but of
these the field-pea alone comes within the scope of
our present purpose. Of this there are two varie-
ties, denominated, from their colour, the gray and

* Orat. contra Verrera.

t The reader will remember that, on our plan, turnips follow
wheat as they do rye, and without any difference in cultivation.
See article 3d of this chapter. To repeat what we have said
there would be useless.

96 AGRICULTURE.

the green; both productive, and, when separated
from the skin that surrounds them, a food of excel-
lent quality for man, wholesome, nutritive, and
pleasant ; and for cattle, whether in a dry or green
state, much to be recommended. Sheep, cows, and
horses are particularly fond of them ; and hogs are
more promptly and economically fattened on a mix-
ture of pea and barley meal, in a state of acetous
fermentation, than with any other food.

The structure of the roots would indicate that
pease are an exhausting crop ; and it is on this evi-
dence that in Europe they are admitted only in
long, or six years' rotations ; but if we examine the
leaves, in regard to both number and form, we shall
probably find reason to modify this opinion, and to
allow that, by stifling weeds, by checking evapora-
tion, and eventually by their own fall, they ameli-
orate the soil, and render it more favourable to sub-
sequent crops.

Following turnips in the rotation we are now dis-
cussing, the preparatory labour for a pea crop is not
great. One, or, at most, two ploughings, will be
sufficient. Sowing, as a general rule, ought to fol-
low ploughing without loss of time ; and care should
be taken that the seed be not laid too deeply. The
two methods, row and broadcast sowing, may be
indifferently pursued. By the former the seed is
economized, the product increased, and the soil bet-
ter tilled; but not, as some have supposed, with
such decided advantages as to outweigh the saving
in time and labour, of the latter.

The length and feebleness of the stems of pease,
and the little tendrils they throw out for support,
indicate the advantage of mixing with them other
plants of more erect growth, which may prevent the
pease from falling and lodging. For this purpose
rye, oats, and beans have been selected, and with
great advantage.

This crop is employed either in a dry or in a

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 97

green state ; between which every farmer will se-
lect according to circumstances. If the market for
pease be brisk and high, he will harvest, thresh, and
sell the grain ; if, on the other hand, pease be low
and pork high, the moment the pods fill he will turn
in his hogs upon them, and with the following ad-
vantages : 1st, the hogs will feed and fatten them-
selves, without any additional interposition of his
labour ; 2d, no part of their manure will be lost ; 3d,
the remains of the crop, refused by the hogs, will
be given back to the soil ; and, 4th, the rooting of
these animals, which in other cases is an injury,
will in this be a benefit.

VIII. Of Indian Corn.

This is a native of South America, and was in-
troduced into Europe in the 16th century ; where it
is known by the names of wheat of Turkey, Indian
wheat, Spanish wheat, &c.* Its productiveness and
other good qualities have brought it into general
use ; for it is now found in every part of the globe
where its cultivation is not forbidden by the cold-
ness of the climate. With proper culture, it grows
well in a great variety of soils; but prefers old
and rich pasture-grounds, artificial meadows, warm
loarns, and moist vegetable mould.

There are many varieties of this grain, denomi-
nated from its colour, number of rows, and differ-
ent periods of ripening. The white and the yellow,
of eight and twelve rows, are the varieties general-
ly preferred.

Corn, from its bulk, its prolific character, and sys-
tem of roots, must necessarily be a great feeder,
and draw much of its supplies from the earth;
whence arises the rule that it ought not immediate-

* This is the Zea of the botanists. In what does this differ
from the zea or semen of the ancients ? The favourite dish of
the Romans was alica ; and " Alica fit e zea, quam semen ap-
pellavimus"— Alica is made of a grain called semen.— Plin. 18
LjSat.Hist.

I

98 AGRICULTURE.

ly to follow or to precede any other cereal crop ;
and that it should not be found oftener than once in
six years in the same field.

The seed should be taken from the finest ears of
the last year's crop, and from those growing on
stems which have had the largest number of ears.
After steeping it twenty-four hours in a strong so-
lution of nitre, it should be planted.*

There is some difference of practice, without any
great difference of result, in the modes of planting.
Furrows are sometimes made at the distance of
three or four feet from each other, and in one direc-
tion only, and in these the seed is placed fourteen
or sixteen inches apart. At other times the field is
furrowed both ways, and the seed dropped and cov-
ered at the points of intersection ; while, again, two
rows of beans or potatoes, or mangel wurzel, are
sometimes interposed between as many rows of
corn. This last practice is most conformable to
theory; but the other methods generally prevail,
and pumpkins, beans, or turnips form the under
crops.

Whatever method be adopted, the time of planting
is that at which the earth first acquires the warmth
necessary to vegetation, and which is sufficiently
indicated by her spontaneous productions. If we
plant earlier, the seed is apt to rot ; if later, the
ripening of the crop is hazarded.

No crop, while growing, requires more attention
than corn, and none better repays the labour be-
stowed upon it. The objects of this are two : to
extirpate weeds, and to keep the earth loose and
open to the influences of the atmosphere. As soon,
therefore, as weeds begin to show themselves, the
surface of the field must be well harrowed. Plas-
tering is the next operation, and may, at the dis-

* See in Judge Peters's Notices to Young Farmers, the effect
of this solution on com crops.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 99

tance of a few days, be repeated with advantage.
The weeds will now reappear, when the triangular
harrow, accommodated to the width of the inter-
vals, must be employed. This, drawn by a single
horse, will do its work expeditiously and well. The
plough called the cultivator, with a double mould-
board, follows the harrow,* and is itself followed
by the hand-hoe, which alone can perform well the
last and great operation of hilling^ the corn. The
first effect of this is to enable the grain to form new-
joints near the surface of the earth, whence will
issue lateral roots, fitted to receive an additional
quantity of aliment necessary or proper for the
plant.]: Care rrtust, however, be taken to flatten
these little mounds of earth, so as to make them
better recipients of water.

Corn is sometimes cultivated with a view only to
the forage it may yield ; in which case it is gener-
ally sown broadcast, at the rate of ten bushels to
the acre, and cut green, while its saccharine quali-
ties most abound. We are told by Bosc, that in the
volcanic soil of Vicenteri, in Italy, corn managed
in this way gives four crops in the year. As a dry
forage, it is a great resource in warm climates,
where natural meadows are rare, and artificial near-
ly unknown. In the eastern parts of Virginia, it
furnishes the principal stock of horse fodder, and
in our northern latitudes is a useful supplement to
clover, timothy, and red-top hay.

The produce of corn is much affected by weath-

* The implement now termed cultivator, or horse-hoe, is of
recent introduction among us. We have it of various patterns,
and it is coming into extensive use in the culture of hoed or
drilled crops, in place of the plough.— J. B.

f Hilling corn is becoming an exploded practice, as being
rather prejudicial to the crop than otherwise.— J. B.

$ Bonnet was the first to make this observation ; but, if the
reader wishes to see a full illustration of it, we refer him to the
Memoir of M. Varennes de Fenillis, who has proved that the
crop is increased M3th merely by hilling.

100 AGRICULTURE.

er. If this be hot and dry, the leaves, stems, and
ears are all diminutive ; if wet, the leaves and sterns
are abundant, but the ears deficient and often dis-
eased ; if both wet and cold, no ears are produced;
while, on the other hand, if it be moist and warm,
more particularly when the grain is flowering, the
crop will be excellent. To produce this combina-
tion is not within the reach of human industry.
All, therefore, that agricultural foresight can effect,
is to interpose a few days between the planting of
different parts of the crop, so as to multiply the
chances of favourable weather.

IX. Of Beans.

Of these there are several species, which, to oc-
cupiers of clay soils, are of the utmost importance,
because in them beans thrive best, while, at the
same time, they greatly ameliorate and fit them for
wheat and oat crops. The species most recom-
mended are the Heligoland,* or small horsebean
of England, and the white bean.f The former is
vigorous, hardy, and productive, and an excellent
food for cattle ; the latter is more delicate and nu-
tritive, and much employed as a food for man.J

If beans are made to commence a course of
crops, as they may very properly do, they ought to
receive the dung of the year; which, as in the case
of potatoes, should be spread over the surface of
the field, and ploughed in without loss of time. The
moment the spring frosts are over, the planting
should take place, in rows or in hills, as described
in the last article for corn; and throughout the

* The Heligoland, and other beans of the vicia family, are
not found to do well with us. They grow and blossom, but do
not fruit well.— J. B.

t This, as well as the China and other beans of the genus
Phareola, are profitably grown on sandy as well as on clay soils.
— J. B.

t Pythagoras forbade his disciples the use of beans. Whence
we may conclude that the Greeks cultivated only the horse-
bean, or bean of the marshes.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 101

whole course of vegetation, the crop must be kept
free from weeds : a condition, if well observed, that
will secure an abundant produce.*

X. Of Oats. .,,;,„..

Oats is among grains wKai qxg i^s,is arh<pih^' an-
imals, very little respected, but very extensively
employed. The lem$ av^na of jC^v^id, 4RcL fhe' her-
iles dominanlur avena of Viigil/show 'the degress,
both of use and abuse, with which it was regarded
by the Romans. In modern times, a great literary
authority! describes it as food for Scotch men and
English horses. It is probably this its state of deg-
radation among poets and philosophers, that deter-
mined the botanists of Europe to give to America
the honour of having produced it. Mr. Adanson
found it growing spontaneously in Juan Fernandez ;
whence the philosophers wisely concluded that it
must be a native of Chili ! But in this conclusion
they appear to have equally forgotten the laws of
nature and the decisions of history ; for the quota-
tions with which we began this article show that
oats were cultivated in Italy many centuries before
the existence of America was known to any Euro-
pean, and few are ignorant that Chili is among the
hottest and driest regions of the globe, and that
oats perish in dry and hot climates.

Of the many different species or varieties of this
grain, the black and the white are those which best
deserve cultivation, because most hardy and pro-
ductive. In the poorest soil, and with the smallest
possible labour, they give something ; but because
they do not give much, in circumstances under
which other grains would give nothing, we infer
that the grain itself is a poor one, and, at the same
time, a great exhauster of the soil. We owe to
Mr. Dranus a series of experiments and calcula-

* In a favourable season, under good management, the white
bean gives thirty for one.
t Dr. Johnson. j 2

102 AGRICULTURE.

tions which overturn this opinion, and demonstrate
that " oats, in rotation, under proper culture and in
good soil, are not less profitable than wheat or rye ;
thaCJrfsr beaVisJ ^caj?ba*ge]s, or potatoes, it yields
great fcrops, ami $iat "if • exhausts less than other
grains ^Avjarch.pccupy.the stfii. a greater length of
•Cj"mfe^>*. && {a;pTolecfo]*Y<ef%Qlover or other grass
"seVds, With some* of* whicn it should always be
sown, it is second only to barley.

XL Of Cabbages*

These have been long known among us as a gar-
den vegetable, but are rarely met with in field cul-
ture ; a fact the more extraordinary, as in England
they have been very extensively and profitably em-
ployed in that way for more than half a century.

The species most recommended are the early
Salsbury and York, the great Scotch, the Drum-
head, the Cavalier, and the green Savoy. Mr. Cob-
bett has remarked, with much good sense, that the
species best for man are also best for cattle ; and
that, on this ground, the last of those mentioned
should form the principal part of our cabbage crop.

The seed of early cabbages, as the York and the
Salsbury, should be sown in hotbeds about the
middle of February; and that of winter and fall
cabbages in the open field about the 15th of May.
The bed selected for the latter should be of good
soil and well ventilated ; that is, exposed on all
sides to the influences of the air, and without arti-
ficial shelter. When the plants rise, they should
be sprinkled with unleached ashes or gypsum, and,
if attacked by the fly, may be slightly and tempo-
rarily covered with branches of elder. If the weath-
er be uncommonly dry, a little watering may be

* It is doubtful whether cabbages will ever constitute with
us a field crop for feeding stock, since the introduction of ruta
baga, beets, and carrots, which are found to be more certain
and abundant crops here than the cabbage, and are more easily
preserved for winter use.— J. B.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 103

proper ; but much of this should be avoided, because
plants, like animals, may become topers, and will
then drink more than will be useful to them.

The transplanting of early cabbages should not
be delayed beyond the 12th of May, nor that of the
late kinds beyond the first of June. An acre of
ground will require about six thousand plants.

The preparation of the soil for this crop is exactly
that described for potatoes, and which, therefore,
need not be repeated here. When the manuring,
ploughing, and harrowing are finished, strike your
furrows from east to west, four feet apart ; place
your plants in these, twenty inches from each other,
and do not forget so to press the earth as to bring it
in contact with every part of the roots.

The advantage of this crop will be best seen by
contrasting it with another, hay for example. If
we get a ton of timothy per acre, we think we do
well, and are satisfied ; yet, if this acre had been
well worked and manured, and planted in cabbages,
it would, according to Mr. Young, have given you
more than thirty times the weight of the hay. Why
not, then, prefer the cabbages to the hay <*: Our cat-
tle, it may be said, will not like them so well. Hear
what the same author says on this head : " Young
cattle go through the winter well on cabbages ; ewes
and lambs thrive on them ; fatting oxen improve
faster on them than on any other food, and never fall
'Off, as they sometimes do on turnips ; and milch
cows do better on cabbages, six to one, than on
hay," &c. But the difficulty of preserving them
through the winter may be great. Not half as great
as that of preserving potatoes ; for a frost that will
convert these into dirty water, will do cabbages no
harm, and may even do them good. Mr. Cobbett
preserved them through a Long Island winter, and
had them sound and fresh in the month of May,
and by a method equally cheap and expeditious ; re-
quiring only a plough, a few leaves, straw, or brush,

104 AGRICULTURE.

and some shovelfuls of earth : " and here," says
he, " they were at all times ready ; for to this land I
could have gone at any time, and have brought
away (if the quantity had been large) a wagon-load
in ten minutes."

XII. Of Buckwheat.

This excellent grain is a native of Asia, whence
it was carried to Africa, and thence by the Moors
to Europe. In France it yet retains the name of
sarrasin.

The species of it in cultivation are two, the com-
mon and the Tartarean (Polygonum Tartaricum of
Linnaeus.)* This last species is highly extolled by
Professor Pallas and others. It ripens earlier, and
produces more than the common species ; but, on
the other hand, it shells more easily, and has in it
an unpleasant degree of bitterness.

Cattle, hogs, and poultry are particularly fond of
this grain, and no food fattens them more promptly.

Being entirely destitute of gluten (the animo ve-
getable part of wheat), it is not convertible into
bread, but, made into batter and baked into cakes,
it forms a very tolerable substitute. Another great
advantage of buckwheat is, that, with a small de-
gree of labour, it thrives well in the poorest sand or
gravel ; and in clays which are only slightly moist,
it gives a good crop, and never fails to leave them
loose, friable, and clean. To the clay-land farmer
this property is invaluable ; and, to make the most of
it, he should remember that this labour-saving grain
ought to have more of attention and liberality
than is generally given to it ; for if, under the hard
treatment and in the by-places where it is now
cultivated, it yields so much and works these im-
portant effects on the soil, how greatly would its
usefulness be increased, were it made to follow
pease, beans, cabbages, or potatoes, in regular rota»
tion and on a large scale.

* Called also Indian wheat.— J. B.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 105

We have already spoken of it as a manure ; and
we take this occasion to quote from a late editor of
the Theatre d'Agriculture of 0. Serres, the follow-
ing passage : " We cannot too much recommend,
after our old and constant practice, the employ-
ment of this precious plant as a manure. It is
certainly the most economical and convenient the
farmer can employ. A small quantity of seed, cost-
ing very little, sows a large surface and gives a great
crop. When in flower, first roll and then plough it
in. Its shade, while growing, destroys all weeds,
and itself, when buried, is soon converted into ter-
reau."*

The experiments of M. Vauquelin show that, of
one hundred parts of buck wheat, fifty are carbonate
and sulphate of potash, and carbonate of lime.

CHAPTER X.

OP OTHER PLANTS USEFUL IN A ROTATION OF CROPS,
AND ADAPTED TO OUR CLIMATE.

THESE may be brought under three classes ; those
which yield a colouring matter, those which yield
oil, and those whose bark is convertible into cloth-
ing. Of the first are madder, saffron, and woad ; of
the second, poppy, colet, and palma Christi ; and of
the third, flax and hemp.

I. Of Madder.

Madder is the erythros of the Greeks, and the ru-
bia of the Latins, so called from its imparting a red
colour to wool and leather. It is cultivated in the
Levant, in France, in Flanders, and in England ; but
nowhere more extensively or profitably than in

* Vegetable mould.

106 AGRICULTURE.

Holland. The province of Zealand is principally
occupied with it, and the little island of Schowen
alone gives annually one thousand tuns of the root.

The species generally cultivated are two, the
Azara and Izari; names by which they are called
in the Levant, whence the seed is generally import-
ed to Europe, and preferred to that raised in more
northern latitudes.

The soil most proper for this plant is a rich loam,
and the manures fittest for it the sweepings of streets
and gutters, and mud of ponds.* It is remarked in
England that it succeeds better after a grain than
after a grass crop. The preparatory labour should
be performed in the fall, leaving a single ploughing
only for the spring, which, like those that preceded
it, should be as deep as possible. The planting
should follow without delay. In the Levant they
form beds, alternately, of unequal elevation ; one
high, the other low ; on the latter the madder is
planted,! and in the autumn of the second year the
surface of the higher bed is scattered over that
which is lower ; and by a similar process the next
year the lower bed is raised six inches higher than
the other. By this management the earth retains
sufficient humidity for the growing plants.

In transplanting madder, care must be taken to
preserve the buttons which attach themselves to
the roots, and that the roots themselves be ten
inches apart in the rows, and their crowns not more
than two inches below the surface.

The greatest duration of the plant is six years,
but three is the permitted term; as, after that age,
the roots lose in colour and soundness what they

* Young's works.

t Madder requires more moisture in its first stage than is
ordinarily furnished by rains and dews. Thence arose the meth-
od of raising the plants in a seed-bed, where they might be
watered at will, and afterward transferred to the place where
they were intended to grow.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. 107

gain in bulk. At three years a single root has been
found to weigh between thirty and forty pounds ;
and, the larger the root, the less does it lose, in pro-
portion, by depreciation.*

When the roots are taken up, they are suspended
under cover for ten or twelve days to dry. During
this time much of the water of vegetation is evapo-
rated ; the plant becomes soft, and is then subjected
to the heat of an oven from which bread has been
taken. After a second baking it comes out dry and
brittle ; and to disengage from it the earth, the small
fibres, and the outer skin of the root, it is lightly
threshed with a flail, after which it is fit for grinding.

Of Woad.

This plant, till 1756, was much employed, and fur-
nished the finest blue colour ; and, in the opinion of
some dyers, is even now very profitably united with
indigo, giving to the colour imparted by it more in-
tensity as well as duration. The maturity of the
leaves, which are the only useful part of the plant, is
announced by their drooping, and by the yellow col-
our which they take. At this signal they must be
stripped from their stems, housed, and left in mass
till, freed from the water of vegetation, they begin
to macerate by their own weight. They are then
to be washed and reduced to a paste ; after which a
fermentation takes place, and the fecula shows it-
self and forms a black crust, which is not to be bro-
ken, because necessary to prevent evaporation.
When the fermentation has subsided (which may
be known by the diminished stench), the mass is
pounded and formed into balls for use. The soil
and preparation indicated in the last article for mad-
der are most proper for woad.

Of Saffron.

This plant is culivated only for the stigmata of
the flowers, which give a yellow colour and are

* In large roots this loss is 6-7ths, in small ones 7-8ths.

108 AGRICULTURE.

employed in dyeing and in gauche painting. It suc-
ceeds best in a rich, friable, black earth, or in one
of a dark red or chocolate colour. Some writers
have remarked that the roots, which are bulbous,
grow to the greatest size in the former of these
soils, and that the flowers attain the highest perfec-
tion in the latter. The manure best adapted to it is
old and thorougly-rotted dung.

After being well ploughed, rolled, and harrowed,
the ground intended for this crop is trenched, and
the roots placed in the trenches nine or ten inches
apart. So soon as the flowers appear, which al-
ways precede the leaves, the soil about them must
be lightly hoed. When fully blown, and while wet
with dew, they are taken off carefully with the hand
and spread upon boards to dry. The stigmata are
then separated from the styles, after which they are
ready for market.

Of the Poppy.

The poppy is among the most important of the
oil-giving plants, as well for the value as for the
abundance of its produce. The oil is altogether
found in the seeds, and does not partake of any som-
niferous or other deleterious quality, as some per-
sons have supposed. It is often mixed with olive
oil, and, so long as it is fresh, it is equally pleasant
and wholesome. It is much used in France, Hol-
land, and Germany, in salads. Its only fault is,
that, if long kept, it becomes thick and viscous. The
plant is annual, and requires a good and well- labour-
ed soil. The seeds should be taken from the ripest
and largest capsules of the preceding year; should
be sown early and thin, and in broadcast ; because,
if thickly sown, the plants rot, and, if sown late,
they are injured by a too rapid vegetation. The
fall of the leaf, the dying of the stalk, and the brown
colour of the capsules, indicate the time for harvest-
ing the crop. These last are carefully gathered
and dried, and the seed separated from them.

PLANTS AND THEIR* CULTURE. 109

Of Cole.

Cole or rape is a variety of the cabbage, the seed
of which yields an oil very useful to the arts, and
renders the plant of great importance in agriculture.
Its general management does not differ from that of
any other variety of the kind. When the seed is
ripe, it must be carefully gathered and separated
from its chaff. The plantations of cole in Flanders,
and particularly in the neighbourhood of Lisle, Has-
brook, and Douay, and on a part of the Escant, are
immense. They generally follow a crop of well-
dunged, well-laboured potatoes, and are followed by
one of wheat.

Palma Christi, or the castor-oil plant, and the rici-
nus of botanists, has been cultivated in this state ;
but whether profitably or not we do not know. Its
seed gives an oil fit for lamps, but principally em-
ployed as a medicine. The cultivation of this plant
has been tried in the southern parts of France, but
not on a large scale, as it was found to require much
ground and to give few seeds, which ripen only in
succession. In Carolina the stem attains the height
of ten or twelve feet, and a diameter of four or five
inches. As an ornamental shrub, the palma Christi
is much to be recommended.

Of the Sunflower.

This plant is a native of Peru, and is cultivated
in Europe principally for the seeds, which give a
large proportion of oil, of much use for domestic
purposes. It requires a good soil, well manured,
and thoroughly worked and cleansed. The seeds
should be sown one foot apart, and in rows two feet
asunder. In France the stems are employed for
fuel and peasticks, and the leaves for fodder.*

Of Flax.

Flax is of Asiatic origin, and, from its hardiness
and usefulness, is generally diffused over the globe.

* See Crete de Paleuil on the Sunflower.
K

HO AGRICULTURE.

No plant undergoes a greater change in the hands
of labour, and few, if any, better repays the labour
bestowed upon it.* It is cultivated for two differ-
ent objects : for the fibre which surrounds the stem,
and which is convertible into cloth, and for the
seeds, which yield an oil very important to the arts.
These different purposes have been supposed to be
best promoted by different kinds of seed and differ-
ent kinds of culture. In England it is believed that
the seed of this country gives a flax of greater
length and of finer fibre ; and that the seed of Me-
mel or Rigaf produces a coarser plant and a greater
quantity of seed. We doubt, however, the correct-
ness of this distinction, and think ourselves support-
ed by experience, as well as theory, in placing the
difference less to the account of any peculiar qual-
ity of the seed, than to the greater or smaller quan-
tity of it sown ; for we have invariably observed
that, if flaxseed, wherever grown, be sown thinly,
the stem is shorter, the fibre coarser, and the seed
more abundant, and vice versa. This difference
will necessarily be increased by different modes of
culture. The row husbandry, admitting of more
ventilation, will hasten more the maturity of the
plant, and increase the quantity and quality of the
seed; whereas the broadcast method will, on the
other hand, retard the maturity of the plant, length-
en the stem and the fibre that covers it, and, in the
same proportion, diminish the quantity of seed.

Flax may be made to follow potatoes very advan-
tageously ; and we have seen the practice of sowing
it with a crop of that kind earnestly recommend-
ed.}

The time for harvesting flax depends on the con-

*How wonderful the difference between the raw material
and Brussels lace !

t The flaxseed of Riga is broad and flat, and of a darker
colour than that of this country.

t See 2d vol. Varla's Husbandry.

PLANTS AND THEIR CULTURE. Ill

siderations suggested above. If seed be the princi-
pal end of the crop, your harvesting ought not to
begin till this is completely ripe ; whereas, if the
fibre be your main object, pull the flax two or three
weeks earlier. Flax thus prematurely pulled is
called white flax, and makes the finest thread. The
exhausting quality of this plant is generally admit-
ted, and has been long known. Pliny says of it,
that it burns and degrades the soil in return for the
nourishment it receives from it.*

Of Hemp.

The cultivation of this plant need not be attempt-
ed on soils which are not naturally or artificially
very rich. They who possess the former will of-
ten find the culture of hemp useful in reducing the
staple of the soil to that medium quality which is
best fitted for the production of grain. In some
parts of our own country hemp has been cultivated
many years in succession, before this effect was
produced; and in Italy, in the neighbourhood of
Bologna, after centuries of cultivation, the rotation
continues to be wheat and hemp alternately, and
without fallows. So also in the environs of Ter-
monde, near Brussels, the usual rotation is hemp,
flax, and wheat.] It is, perhaps, to those favoured
soils we ought to look for the best mode of culti-
vating this very useful and profitable plant. " Du-
ring the first year," says M. Simmonde, in his Pic-
ture of Tuscan Agriculture, " the field intended for
hemp is laid flat by the small Tuscan plough in the
months of August and September. This is follow-
ed by the great plough, which reinstates the four-
feet furrows, and throws up the intermediate earth
into ridges. The manure is applied to these in the
spring; after which the hemp-seed is sown and

* " Ut sentiamus, nolente id ferre natura, urit agrum deteri-
oremque etiam terrain facit." Nat. Hist., 1. xix.

t Francis de Neauchateau's State of Husbandry in the sena-
torial of Brussels.

112 AGRICULTURE.

the ground harrowed. This crop, like that of flax
should be weeded when about four inches high."

Of Swallow-wort or Milkweed.

This is the asclepias Syriaca of the botanists, and
not improperly called the cotton of northern lati-
tudes. Its cortical fibre yields a fine, soft, and white
thread, and the pods a silky material, usefully em-
ployed in waddings and in hat-making, &c. " There
are few plants," says Sonnini, " the culture of which
unites more advantages, or which is more worthy
the attention of farmers. In Silesia it has made
considerable progress ; and experience shows that
in a middling, or even a bad soil, it gives a product
eight times more valuable than the finest crop of
flax or hay. It requires a strong and moist soil,
well laboured and manured, and may be propagated
by seeds, by suckers, or by roots. The row hus-
bandry is the most proper for it, and in the course
of three years the intervals between the furrows
will be completely filled up by new and multiplied
shoots.

Of the plant called New- Zealand Flax.

This is the formion tenax of botanists ; the leaves
of which, by maceration in water, yield a fibre re-
markable for beauty and strength. We owe to M.
Labillardiere a series of experiments, the result of
which shows that the strength of flax being 11, that
of hemp is 16 1-3, and that of formion 23 5-11. In
the hot countries, of which this plant is a native, it
is found on the seashore, growing sometimes in
wet or marshy soils, and sometimes in arid sands.
M. Thouin has succeeded in naturalizing it in the
north of France, which gives reason to believe that
it may be made to succeed in this climate.

MEADOWS. 113

CHAPTER XL

OP MEADOWS.

THESE are either natural or artificial ; the former
containing only plants of spontaneous growth, the
latter those selected, sown, and cultivated by man.
The better to keep this distinction in view, we shall
speak of them separately ; and,

I. Of Natural Meadows.

These have been classed by botanists according
to their elevation; and have thence been denomina-
ted high, middling, and low. But as this principle
fails altogether to indicate their agricultural charac-
ter and properties,* a better one has been found in
their relative moisture; whence they are denom-
inated dry, or moist, or wet. The products of these
have been carefully and skilfully analyzed in Ger-
many, in Italy, in England, and in France ;f and the
result shows that wet meadows contain a smaller
number of the different species of plants, but a
greater number of those which are either useless
or injurious; and, on the other hand, that moist
meadows contain a greater number of the former,
and a smaller number of the latter. The following
simple table exhibits, at a glance, the present state
of knowledge on this important part of our subject :
Whole number of Plants

in wet meadows, 30 ; useful 4, useless or bad 26.
Do. in dry meadows, 38 ; do. 8, do. 30.

Do, in moist meadows, 42 ; do. 17, do. 25.

* We often find bogs on the tops of mountains, and arid sands
on the banks of rivers.

f See " Observations mac'e by the Agricultural Society of
Great Britain," and " Memoires sur 1'Agriculturo du Bouton-
nais," &c.. &c.. per M. Dumont de Coursit.
K 2

114 AGRICULTURE.

The agricultural labours suggested by these facts
are of two kinds : the eradicating of useless or per-
nicious plants, and the continuance and multiplica-
tion of those which are good. The first of these
objects is promoted by mowing the meadows be-
fore the seeds of noxious plants ripen, by pasturing
them once ift three years with sheep, horses, and
cattle in succession; by harrowing them in the
spring and fall ; by weeding and hoeing them ; and,
lastly, by sufficiently draining those that are wet.

Many pernicious plants are annuals, and are kill-
ed by the first of these operations. A similar ef-
fect is produced by the second ; the harrow, or scar-
ificator, will best destroy mosses or other weeds
whose roots are fibrous and superficial ; the hand-
hoe will extirpate such tap-rooted plants as resist
the harrow and are refused by cattle ; and draining
will expel all worthless aquatics.

Of these remedies, the last may require some ex-
planation. Meadows are wet from different caus-
es ; from obstructions, accidental or permanent, to
the course of rivers ; from occasional inundations ;
from high and uncommon tides ; from neighbouring
springs, issuing sometimes above and sometimes
below the level of the grounds you wish to drain ;
and frequently from others rising up within the
meadows themselves. In the first case, the reme-
dy is obvious, and consists altogether in removing
the obstructions ; in the second and third, embank-
ments, as in the Mississippi and Delaware, will ex-
clude the flood ; and in the fourth and fifth, the cure
lies in creating a surface of lower level than that
of the meadows to be drained, or in raising the
water to a level above that of the meadows, and
carrying it off by raceways or canals. The former
of these methods is to be executed by ditching, or
by digging through the subsoil into sand or gravel,
whence the water will find a subterranean passage.
The latter is effected by enclosing the springs with-

MEADOWS. 115

in walls, and permitting them to rise to the level
of their own source. It is evident, however, that
if these be not higher than that of the meadow, the
experiment will fail.*

The second object, viz., the multiplication and
continuance of good plants, will be ensured by scat-
tering in the fall or spring, or both, after the har-
row or scarificator, the seeds of useful grasses,f
particularly upon places rendered raw or bare by
the harrow or the hoe ; by covering the meadows
in the fall with straw, dung, lime, or marl ; and in
the spring, with plaster of Paris or ashes ; by fold-
ing or parking sheep or horned cattle during the
summer, and while the ground is hard, on places re-
quiring manure ; by foddering on such places during
the winter ; and, lastly, by irrigation. This last and
most efficient method of bettering the condition of
meadows is sometimes characterized by the dura-
tion of its means, and sometimes by the mode of
applying them. In the first case, it is called tem-
porary or permanent, as the stream it employs may
be the one or the other. In the second case, it is
denominated filtration or submersion, according to
the effect produced. If, for instance, the surface
be only wetted by running water, it is called filtra-
tion ; but if entirely covered with water, in a state
of rest, it is called submersion. These different
modes have some principles common to both, arid
some peculiar to each. The common principles
are,

1st. Such command of water as will cover the
largest surface with the least labour and expense.

2d. Muddy water (the effect of loosened soil and
heavy rains) is most favourable to vegetation, be-

* See Anderson's Essays on Agriculture, vol. i., p. 119, &c.

t In selecting these grasses, care should be taken to employ
those most resembling the spontaneous growth of the field, or,
in other words, those which flower and seed at the same time
with this spontaneous growth.

116 AGRICULTURE.

cause, besides giving the necessary moisture, it fur-
nishes a considerable portion of alluvial matter.

3d. Water charged with sand or gravel, or con-
taining iron or vitriol, or of a temperature very hot
or very cold, is unfavourable to vegetation, and
ought not to be employed, until, by standing in res-
ervoirs, it deposites these injurious matters in the
one case, and in the other acquires the temperature
of the atmosphere.

4th. Clay and calcareous soils require less water-
ing than others.

5th. Irrigation is of less importance in northern
than in southern latitudes ; and,

6th. In cold climates, or in situations of much
elevation, irrigation is most usefully employed in
the spring and autumn; and in hot climates and
sandy soils in the summer.

The principles peculiar to the two modes may
be collected from the following brief detail of the
labours necessary to each. In irrigating by sub-
mersion, the first and great labour is to make a dam
of ^euch strength as shall resist the volume of water
by which it may be pressed ; of such height as will
raise the water above the level of the ground you
wish to overflow ; and of such structure as will en-
able you to discharge the water it collects promptly
and entirely. The signal for doing this is the rising
of air-bubbles from the bottom of the pond, which
never takes place until a decomposition of the
plants below begins. In winter, this tendency to
decomposition is corrected by cold; and the sub-
mersion may, of course, be continued for weeks
and months, and the water permitted to freeze, not
only without injury, but with great benefit to the
plants, particularly if they have been closely pas-
tured in the fall.

Filtration is a process requiring, in general, more
labour and science than the other; because, besides
a dam to raise a sufficient head of water, you must

MEADOWS. 117

have your canal of derivation, your reservoir, your
cuts or ditches, and, lastly, your fosse or pit of dis-
charge, which, to be useful, must be well construct-
ed and judiciously placed. The canal and reservoir
will necessarily occupy the highest ground, and be
proportioned to the quantity of water to be conduct-
ed and retained ; the cuts or ditches, supplied from
the reservoir, will be parallel to each other, of near-
ly equal descent, but of diameters diminishing in
proportion to their length, so as to give to the water
the same swiftness it had when its volume was
greatest. Stops or gates must be made in the cuts
or ditches in such number as may be necessary so
to pond the water as to make it overflow the lower
sides of the ditches, and at such points as will, from
the shape of the ground, diffuse it most generally. In.
this way, small streams, occasional showers, and
dissolving snows may be turned to great account,
and with this additional advantage, that they require
no reservoirs, and little, if any, draining, and only
cuts or ditches formed with a plough or a hoe.

A third kind, compounded of the two others, is
sometimes seen in Europe, where the water, after
being employed in irrigating the sides of hills, is
brought upon flats for the purpose of inundation, or,
more generally, for that of forming reservoirs, from
which it may again be raised by machinery, such
as the noria of the Moors, or the hydraulic ram of
~ "ntgolfier, &c.*

I. Of Artificial Meadows.

We have seen that natural meadows abound in
plants either useless or pernicious ; and that it is
among the principal labours of agriculture to eradi-

* Whoever may have occasion to study the two subjects
(draining and irrigation), either separately or in connexion, can-
not do better than consult the Hydraulic Architecture of Belli-
dor, the Hydraulics of Dubuat, M. de Ourche's General Treatise
on Meadows, Defue on the Embankments of Holland, and Rich-
ardson's Agriculture.

118 AGRICULTURE.

cate these, and to substitute for them others of
greater product or better quality. It was probably
this process which first suggested the idea of arti-
ficial meadows, or those composed only of plants of
our own choosing, and alternating with grain or root
crops. And it cannot be doubted that, if the grasses
selected be good in themselves, adapted to the soil,
and carefully culivated, we thus arrive at the high-
est possible degree of perfection of which this
branch of the art is susceptible ; because, besides
having only wholesome and nutritive forage, we double
its quantity, and, at the same time, put the soil in a
state to give us a series of good subsequent crops.

France claims the credit of having been the first
to discover the value, and to introduce the practice
of this new system ; and it may not be amiss to col-
lect some of the reports of her writers on the agri-
cultural changes wrought by it. " If," says Yvart,
" meadows be the nerve of good husbandry, it is,
above all, to artificial meadows we must apply this
great truth. The state of those cantons which have
adopted the new system is now as brilliant as it
was before wretched and miserable. Alsace has
put on a new face since the introduction of clover,
and wheat crops have been increased more than
one third. The village of Sebach, under the old
system, bought annually 180,000 pounds of forage,
and now sells 150,000. The canton of Virien, which
gave formerly only rye and buckwheat (and poor
crops of these), now gives abundant crops of fine
wheat. This is altogether owing to clover and gyp-
sum. The same remark applies to the department
of Doubs. In the department of the Seine and Ouse,
the four year rotation is adopted, of which clover
is the basis, and more than doubles the produce for
exportation. In Varenne, the soil of which is a
poor sand, the same effect is produced by sainfoin
instead of clover. In a canton of the department
of Loiret, M. Sageret has doubled his income by

MEADOWS. 119

the introduction and culture of lucerne." It would
be mere waste of time to multiply quotations on
this head. Few men of our own country who have
had their eyes open for some years past, but must
have seen the wonderful effects produced by plaster-
ed clover ; and if there be any who resist these evi-
dences, or are insensible to them, they must be far
beyond the reach of instruction. We hasten, there-
fore, to another and important part of our subject,
the choice of grasses for artificial meadows. Those
most recommended by the experience of all coun-
tries are lucerne, sainfoin, and clover of the legu-
minous family ; and timothy, oat-grass, ray-grass,
and meadow fox-tail of the gramineal.* We shall
say a few words of each, and, 1st. of Lucerne. — This
plant is a native of Media, whence its Latin name
Medica. It was well known and highly esteemed
by the ancients, uniting in itself many valuable quali-
ties, as early fitness for use, great productiveness
and duration,! and juices the most nutritious and
acceptable to cattle. In the south of Europe it still
maintains this high reputation, and in our southern
climates would entirely deserve it ; but of its suc-
cess here we have doubts, founded on the fact that
all attempts made to introduce it, and coming with-
in our own observation, have failed. Two condi-
tions are, however, indispensable to its prosperity
in any climate, and these are a rich soil and careful
cultivation. In wet, or stony, or stiff ground, it does
not thrive. Its long tap-root must plunge into the
earth without obstruction, otherwise the plant suf-
fers and dies prematurely. 2d. Sainfoin. — This

* Of the grasses here named, sainfoin is found not to succeed
in the United States. We have not the chalky soil in which it
thrives best, and our winters are considered too severe for it ;
and the ray or rye-grass is not well adapted to our hot summers.
Neither seem to be congenial to our soil and climate. — J. B.

t " Tante dos est ejus ut eum uno situ tricenis annis duret
medica." — Plin., Nat. Hist. Such are the valuable properties of
lucerne, that it will flourish for thirty years onlhe same spot.

120 AGRICULTURE.

grows well in Europe as high as the 51st degree of
north latitude. A species of it is found growing
spontaneously in the Pays de Calais, which shows
itself earlier than the more common or Spanish spe-
cies. Its produce is less than that of lucerne ; but
the quality of its herbage, whether green or dry, is
better. Sheep are particularly fond of it. It affects
high, dry, naked, white, cretaceous soils ; amelio-
rates the condition of these, and holds them better
together than any other plant. The following ex-
tract may give both instruction and encouragement
to those who would cultivate this plant : " In Cala-
bria, sainfoin is sown upon wheat or other stubble,
which is then burned, and the ashes made to furnish
a covering for the grass-seed. In the spring, with-
out other care or culture, the field is found covered
thickly with sainfoin, and converted into a fine
meadow. This grass crop is cut and fed between
May and August, when the ground is ploughed for
grain, of which the crop is generally very abundant.
But the advantages of this husbandry do not end
here ; for, after the grain is harvested, the earth re-
sumes its covering of sainfoin, which, in this way,
is continued forty years and more, admitting every
second year a crop of fine wheat."* 3d. Like sain-
foin and lucerne, clover is of the leguminous family,
and, though less productive than the others, has
one advantage that gives it a decided preference,
viz., its growing well in a great variety of soils. In
gravel, in loam, in alluvial and calcareous earths, it
does well ; and we have already seen that in poor
and sandy soils it doubles the income of those who
employ it, as well by increasing the quantity of for-
age, as by putting the ground into a state to yield
many and abundant future crops of grain. Still
there are soils, stiff, cold, and wet, in which it does
not succeed, and in which it ought to give place to

* Grimaldi on the agriculture of Calabria.

MEADOWS. 121

the gramineal family. 4th. Timothy. — This grass, in
Europe, is called herd-grass, cat's-tail, or phleum
pratense (the botanical name) ; but, as the plant is
of Yankee origin, we have chosen to retain the
Yankee denomination. Its reputation abroad was at
one time very high, and in moist grounds deserves to
be so at all times ; but, being very tardy in showing
itself in the spring, it has in many places fallen into
disuse. 5th. Ray or rye-grass, to the good proper-
ties of timothy, superadds that precocity which tim-
othy wants. " We have seen," says Gilbert, " in
the canton of Basle, rye-grass five feet high on the
first day of June ;" and M. de Courset assures us
that he has obtained " three cuttings from it in one
year." Sheep are found to prefer it in the spring
to any other plant ; and the shepherds of Spain have
a proverb which very energetically expresses its
nutritive qualities : " Bouccado van ventrado," a
mouthful is a bellyful. We particularly invite the
attention of farmers having clay, or other moist or
wet soils, to the cultivation of this and the two fol-
lowing species of grasses. 6th. Oat-grass, the Ave-
na elatior of botanists, was first cultivated in 1754,
and, having been committed to a good soil, the re-
sults were highly favourable. It was accordingly
recommended as yielding abundance of forage, and
of a good quality : and that the first cutting might
take place as early as the last of March. Though
new and extended experiments have in some degree
diminished this reputation, still enough of it is left
to render this grass a favourite with every scientific
agriculturist. 7th. Of the meadow fox-tail there are
four species, but we shall speak only of the Alope-
curus pratensis, which, of all the grasses we have
mentioned, is the tallest, the most vigorous, and
the soonest fit for pasturage or the scythe. Its
hay appears to be of a better quality than that of
the gramineal grasses, because equally relished by
cows, horses, and sheep. It is only, however, in
L

122 AGRICULTURE.

soils neither too moist nor too dry that it attains
the perfection of which it is susceptible.

What remains of this subject may be referred to
the general principles of tillage, and the particular
preparation necessary for clover crops, both of
which may be found in the preceding chapters.

CHAPTER XII.

OF FARM CATTLE.

THESE consist of horses, mules, cows, oxen,
sheep, and hogs. It is not the object of this chap-
ter to discuss the relative value of animals of differ-
ent kinds, nor to explain the principles on which an
individual of either kind is preferred to another in-
dividual of the same kind, but merely to indicate
the uses of each, and the modes most approved for
giving extension and value to these uses. And,

I. Of the Horse,

Of this animal naturalists admit but one species,
but many and widely different varieties, which are
again subdivided under the denomination of races.*
At the head of these, by common consent, stands
the horse of Arabia, and after him the Persian, the
Barb, the Andalusian, and the English. His flesh
not entering, like that of the ox, into the general
and ordinary subsistence of man,f he is valued only

* Bake well and others have shown that you may multiply
these races at will. By selecting two individuals of any given
shape, size, and colour which you may prefer, you secure a
progeny having all the qualities of their parents. This obser-
vation applies as well to horned cattle and hogs as to horses,
and might be usefully taken as a rule of conduct in this country.

t Horseflesh is eaten by the Negroes of Africa, the Arabs,
Tartars, and occasionally by the Chinese. Page 213, vol. 22d,
Buffon's Nat, Hist.

OF FARM CATTLE. 123

for the beauty of his form, the nobleness of his car-
riage, the rapidity of his march, and the strength,
spirit, and patience with which he bears the heavi-
est burdens and the most excessive fatigues.

Of these powers some curious and extraordinary
instances are recorded. The couriers of Russia
travel from Petersburgh to Tobolsk, a distance of
19° 26m., in twelve days. Their rate of travelling
is, of course, about oneJiundred miles a day. What,
in equestrian phrase, is called a great mover, will,
without pressing, trot 640 yards in 80 seconds, and,
if pressed, will go over the same distance in 50 sec-
onds. In the first case, the rate of moving is 5 feet
3 inches per second, and in the other 8 feet 5 inch-
es. The Roman horses, probably descendants from
Barbs, ran at the rate of 27 feet the second of time ;
and the British horse Childers is said to have run
at the rate of 45 feet 5 inches ; and Stirling, an-
other British horse, at the rate of 82 1-2 feet per
second.* This may be regarded as the maximum
of horse speed.

The ordinary load in France of a four-wheeled
wagon, drawn by six horses on a pavement, is
10,000 pounds; that of a cart, drawn by four hor-
ses, 5500. With these loads they travel 10 leagues
a day for six weeks together. A single horse has
been known to draw 500 pounds at the rate of 140
yards in 112 seconds ; and on the pavements of Lon-
don a single horse has drawn 6000 pounds for a
short distance, and 3000 for a considerable distance,
and with facility. This appears to be the maximum
of horse power in drawing.

* British Zoology for 1763-4. In Peru are two races of hor-
ses (originally Andalusian) well worth the attention of the rich
amateurs of the United States. The names by which these
races are known are the Parameros and the Aquaiillas. See Ul-
Joa's Voyage, tome i., page 370. In Chili also is a race which,
for beauty, action, and hardiness, may be compared with the
horse of Arabia, and with this advantage, that they are very
cheap, while those of Arabia are very dear. See Molina's Nat.
Hist, of Chili, page 505, et seq.

124 AGRICULTURE.

Under the pack or saddle, 300 pounds is the or-
dinary load for a horse ; but, according to M. Thi-
roux, a dragoon horse carries 340 pounds. This
includes the weight of the rider and of his arms,
accoutrements, and baggage. The well-known ex-
periment of Marshal Saxe shows the maximum of
horse power in this respect. He directed that a
strong and vigorous horse, while in motion, should
be loaded until he fell. The effect was not produ-
ced until the load amounted to 1200 weight.*

II. Of the Mule.

This is the well-known product of a jack and a
mare, or of a horse and a jenny, the name given to
a female ass. Their advantages over the horse
are, that they are more patient of hunger and heat;
less nice or delicate with regard to their food ; sus-
tain better, and for a longer time, fatigues of all
kinds ; carry heavier burdens ; are more sure foot-
ed ; less liable to sickness, and live to a much
greater age. In Italy and Spain they are much
employed in harness, and in the mountainous parts
of those countries for the saddle. Their value and
qualities, however, depend principally on the size
of the jack : if he be large, active, and strong, his
progeny will be proportionably valuable. Nothing,
therefore, can be more ill-judged than employing
small jacks. f

III. Of the Cow and the Ox.

It was long supposed that this animal was a na-
tive of Europe, and that the Auroch, found wild in
the forests of Poland, was the type of the species.
The researches into comparative anatomy of Cu-
vier have overthrown this theory, and men of sci-
ence now substitute for it another, viz., that the
cow is a native of Asia, and has thence been trans-

* See Fourcroy (of the corps of engineers) on the powers of
the horse, quoted by the Nouveau Cours d'Agriculture.

t The asses of Arabia, Egypt, and the Barbary Coast are the
best In Sicily is a race of inferior size, but of great powers.
See Sonnini's Supplement to Buffon on this animal.

OF FARM CATTLE. 125

lated to other parts of the globe. Be this fact as
it may, her uses are so many, so various, and so
important, that we cannot hesitate to transfer from
the horse the distinction bestowed upon him by an
eloquent writer of the last century, and to pro-
nounce the cow " the noblest conquest made by maw."*
During two thirds of her life, which may be pro-
tracted to twelve years, she is annually producing
her species, and during the same period yielding an
abundant supply of that beverage so universally
known and so generally acceptable ; a beverage so
happily adapted, from its compound nature (part
animal and part vegetable), to all ages and condi-
tions, to the young and to the old, to the poor and
to the rich, to the sick and to the sound ; and which,
in its concrete forms of butter and cheese, has, in
all civilized countries, become an article of the first
necessity. Nor is her value diminished by death;
for, having been fatted and prepared for market, her
flesh forms our most savoury and substantial food ;
her tallow, in the form of candles, supplies the ab-
sence of natural light ; her skin, wrought into leath-
er, furnishes shoes and other articles rendered ne-
cessary by habit or custom ; her horns are convert-
ed into combs and lanterns ; her blood is essential
to the refinement of our sugars ; chymistry draws
from her hoofs important uses ; her hair is made
to pad our collars and saddles, and, by entering into
the construction of our buildings, adds to their
beauty, comfort, and solidity. If in her progeny
(the ox) strength and speed be less combined than
in the horse, it will be also remembered that his
subsistence is cheaper, and his labour more contin-
ued and persevering ; that he is, besides, less liable
to accidents which diminish his value, and that he
may even become lame and blind without eventual
loss to his owner : for, when prepared for the sham-

* Button's Nat. Hist., vol. 22.
L 2

126 AGRICULTURE.

bles, like his parent, he gives us beef, tallow, &c.,
and those of a superior kind. How important, then,
is it that this useful animal should be multiplied,
and that pains should be taken to ameliorate the
breed. In England and in Holland, wealth, enter-
prise, and philosophy have combined to exalt the
character of domestic animals, and the effect has
been to create many new, artificial, and more per-
fect races. These are examples we ought to fol-
low, and these are the countries which can best en-
able us to do so.

It has, however, been found that, in temperatures
either very hot or very cold, the bulk of the cow is
diminished ; and though it is by no means verified
that animals secrete milk in proportion to their size,
still, on other accounts, the largest cows may justly
be considered the best. Treatment, or the quantity
and quality of food, has a still more decided influ-
ence than climate on animal growth and develop-
ment, and hence it is that, when the cows of Eng-
land, Holland, or Switzerland are transferred to pas-
tures less abundant or nutritive than those in which
they have been reared, or are otherwise put on short-
er allowance than that to which they have been ac-
customed, their qualities degenerate, and their pro-
geny with them. The lesson that these facts incul-
cate cannot, we believe, be mistaken, and will not,
we hope, be overlooked.

IV. Of Sheep.

Of the different races of sheep, we shall speak
only of two, those of Spain and England ; because
in them are best united the two great objects for
which this animal are reared, wool and/ood.

The sheep of Spain, generally known under the
name of Merinoes, are composed of two classes, the
travelling and the stationary. The former of these
is ag^in divided into two distinct races, called the
Leonese and the Sorian ; while the latter, composed
of a number of degenerate breeds, are denominated

OF FARM CATTLE. 127

Charras. The Leonese and the Sorian winter in
Estramadura, and are never parked or housed, ex-
cepting for fifteen days of each year, at the Esqui-
leos, or shearing houses, near Segovia. After this
operation, their march to the mountains begins in
two columns ; the one to old Castile and the king-
dom of Leon, the other to the province of Soria,
and, subsequently, to Navarre or the Pyrenees.
The preference of the Leonese to the Sorian is suf-
ficiently established by the fact that the wool of the
former sells for one fourth, and sometimes for one
third more than that of the latter. But even in this
pre-eminent race there is a marked difference be-
tween the different troops composing it ; those of
the late Prince of Peace, of Nigretta, of Montaco,
of Peralez, of Fernando Nunez, and of I'lnfantado,
are particularly distinguished by the fineness, and
what, in technical language, is called the nerve of
their wool.*

The policy of Great Britain was early directed to
the amelioration of sheep. It is, however, to Hen-
ry VIII. and to Elizabeth that the praise is partic-
ularly due of importing into England sheep of the
finest Spanish races ; of promulgating rules and reg-
ulations for their proper management ; and, lastly, of
commencing that prohibitory system, which has se-
cured their continuance, and, what is of still greater
importance, the exclusive fabrication of the wool they
produce. It was not, however, in the power of laws
entirely to abrogate, or even materially to alter, the
effect of climate. That of England did not so much
favour the production of fine as of long wool, and
hence it is that the wool of that country is not so
remarkable for the former as for the latter of these
qualities. But in all cases, when our object is to
unite the two great products of wool and flesh, it is
to the English breeds we should look for the best

* The Saxon sheep of the Merino family were not known to
us when this treatise was written. — J. B.

128 AGRICULTURE.

means of doing it. The flesh of the pure Merino
is neither so abundant nor so well flavoured as that
of the mixed races, and, when brought to the great-
est perfection, the quantity of his wool is less. His
carcass, when prepared for market, does not exceed
10 pounds a quarter, and the average weight of his
fleece will not rise above four pounds ; whereas the
best English races give 25 pounds the quarter, and
fleeces weighing 7 and 8 pounds each.

V. Of the Hog.

The wild boar is considered the type of this spe-
cies, of which there are several varieties. The most
distinguished of these are the Asiatic or Chinese hog,
the European hog, with long, broad, and pendant ears,
and the Solipede, or horse-hoofed hog of Sweden.*
As this animal is principally useful as food, the im-
provers of the species have aimed only at forming
a race which, with the least expense and in the
shortest time, should acquire the greatest bulk and
the highest degree of fatness. It is on this princi-
ple that the Chinese hog, which fats promptly and
easily, but which attains only to a small size, is with
great propriety mixed with the hog of Europe, which
acquires a much greater bulk, but is proportionably
slow and difficult of fattening. The result of this
mixture has been many improved races, at the head
of which stands the hog of Parma, and those known
in England by the names of the Bakewell and By-
field breeds. f

The weight of the hog at eighteen months or two
years of age (taking for granted a regular and suf-
ficient nourishment), varies from two to four hun-
dred pounds. Buffon mentions a hog killed in Eng-

* This is the Sus angula indivisa of Linnaeus. Aristotle was
the first to mention this species, and, after him, Pliny. Linnaeus
says, it is common in IJpsal and other cantons of Sweden.
Amenitat. A cad., tome v., page 450.

t The Berkshire has since come into notice, and has obtained
a decided preference over other varieties. — J. B.

OF FARM CATTLE. 129

land which weighed 850 pounds. Sonnini, his com-
mentator, mentions another, killed in France, which
weighed 990 pounds ; and Mr. Jefferson, a third, kill-
ed in Virginia, which reached the enormous weight
of 1200 pounds.*

The value of the hog is increased by their natural
fecundity, which much exceeds that of any other spe-
cies of domestic animal. This subject was thought
worthy the pen of Marshal Vauban, who left behind
him a manuscript calculation of the offspring of a
single sow. The paper was read in the Institute of
France some years ago, was heard with great inter-
est, and gave an enormous result, but not sufficient-
ly recollected to be stated here.

As, from the constitution of the human mind,
there have been skeptics on all subjects, little and
great, so on this we find some doubting whether the
hog did not, from his insatiable appetite, consume
more during his life than the amount of his value at
the time of his death. These doubts could not fail
to engage calculating men in ascertaining this point.
Their experiments show a profit of eight dollars on
every hog reared and fed to the age of two years,
by persons having no farms, and obliged to buy ev-
ery article going to their nourishment. How much
greater, then, the profits of those who have the
means of subsisting them on grasses and roots,
which cost only the labour of raising ?

To these specific remarks upon different animals,
we now proceed to add a few observations on the
breeding of cattle, and a brief view of the general
principles on which the fattening of such of them as
enter into the subsistence of man more peculiarly
depends. And,

1st. Of the breeding of Cattle.

It rarely happens that the breeders of cattle are
the fatteners of them. The first of these employ-

* Notes on Virginia.

130 AGRICULTURE.

ments seems more particularly to belong to those
•who, other circumstances being favourable, are re-
mote from markets ; the second to those who, from
local situation or navigable streams, are convenient
to markets. In the breeding business two condi-
tions are indispensable to its success: 1st, that the
sires of each species be well chosen, because their
qualities and appearance have much more influence
on the character of the offspring than those of the
females ; and, 2d, that, during pregnancy, the fe-
males be abundantly fed, and otherwise subjected
to no hard or injurious treatment.*

2d. Of the fattening of Cattle.

The objects in fattening cattle are two, the increase
of tallow, which is an important article in domestic
economy ; and the improvement of the fleshy or mus-
cular parts ; the lean meat of fat animals being better
flavoured and more nutritive than that of poor ones.
The means of effecting this object are either living
vegetables, or those which have been cut, dried,
and stored for use. Under the first head are the
whole family of the grasses, and under the second,
grains, roots, pease, and beans. When we resort to
the first, the only care necessary is, that the provis-
ion of plants be both abundant and nutritive. Up-
land pastures, where they unite these conditions,
best fulfil this intention ; but the fat of cattle thus
fed, though better distributed (the effect, as we be-
lieve, of exercise), is less in quantity, and of an in-
ferior quality. The second mode, which is called
stall-feeding, is more difficult and expensive, and re-
quires great attention to the repose of the animal,
to his cleanliness, and to the caprices of his appe-
tite. In England, where this business is most prac-
tised and best understood, they envelop the head of

* The inhabitants of the Boullonois, in France, employ the
mare instead of the horse for all agricultural purposes ; because,
besides labouring the soil, they give yearly a foal, which they
sell at eight months to the graziers at Normandy.

OF FARM CATTLE. 131

the fattening animal in several folds of woollen cloth,
so as to deprive him, in a great degree, of the pow-
er of hearing, and altogether of that of seeing. The
doors of his stable are opened but once a day, to
change his litter, and his food and drink are given
through loopholes opening into his manger, which
are afterward immediately closed. With respect
to feeding, the first rule is to give little at a time
and often ; because experience has shown that ani-
mals that eat much in a short time do not fatten so
well as those which eat less at a time, and more
slowly and frequently. The second rule is to begin
the course with cabbages and turnips ; then to em-
ploy carrots and potatoes ; and, lastly, Indian, oat,
or barley meal, the marsh bean, or the gray pea.
These aliments ought to be varied five or six times
a day, and oftener if convenient ; and, instead of
always reducing them into flour, there is an advan-
tage in sometimes boiling them. A little salt, given
daily, is very useful, and for drink clean water, but
neither frequently nor in great quantity. Warm
water, by its temperature, most favours ^ digestion,
but, if long continued, will enfeeble the stomach. It
ought, therefore, to be employed only towards the
end of the term. The fattening is complete when
the superficial inequalities of the animal, whether
muscular or bony, are filled up ; when his body pre-
sents only a round and smooth surface ; when he
becomes drowsy and inert, dislikes motion, and
is apparently insensible to everything about him.
These are the signals for death, and the sooner you
inflict it after their appearance the better; for,
should the feeding be farther urged, you run the
risk of inducing the disease called the melting of the
grease, or, in more scientific language, the reabsorp-
tion of it by the blood, which is always fatal.

They who are at all acquainted with the subject
on which we write, need hardly be told that there
are many circumstances independent of food, clean-

132 AGRICULTURE.

liness, and quiet, which influence the fattening of
cattle. We shall mention them sepatately, and add
a few words to each in explanation.

1st. Constitution. — If this be not sound and heal-
thy, no care or expense will be sufficient to cor-
rect it. The animal will want appetite, or have too
much of it, and what it eats will not better its con-
dition.

2d. Alteration. — The flesh of unaltered males is
hard, fibrous, and ill-flavoured, and that of females,
not spayed, far inferior to the flesh of those which
have undergone that operation. Where either are
early and completely altered, the animals become
more docile, less restless, and fat with great facil-
ity.

3d. Temperature. — Whoever makes the experi-
ment will find that this consideration is very impor-
tant. The cold of winter, the heat of summer, and
the capricious character of the spring, are all ad-
verse to the fattening of cattle, though perhaps not
equally so. The autumn, on the other hand, long
and temperate, is the true season for that business,
not only from the greater abundance of food which
is then to be found, but because the transpiration
of the animal is then first checked, and immediately
converted into tallow. And,

4th. Age. — Tallow is formed from the surplus
nourishment given to animals beyond that necessa-
ry to their mere physical development ; whence it
follows, that those which have not attained their
full growth are fatted with difficulty, and only by
extraordinary means. Calves, for example, c?rfi
only be fatted by great quantities of milk, to which
must often be added eggs, barley, oat meal, or the
flour of beans and pease ; and with all this abundance
and selection of food, they yield little interior fat
or tallow. Wliereas oxen, at six years of age, with
correspondent treatment, give large quantities of
that article. Old cattle are also, from loss of teeth,

DAIRY. 133

debility of stomach, or other internal disorganiza-
tion, difficult to fatten. These facts sufficiently in-
dicate what, on this head, ought to be our practice ;
to fatten cattle as soon after they have attained their
growth as possible. Oxen generally attain their
growth at five or six years, and sheep and hogs at
two.

CHAPTER XIII.

OP THE DAIRY.

THE business of the dairy, besides its connexion
with the subject qfc the last chapter, is too impor-
tant in itself to be omitted in any professed trea-
tise on Agriculture. We shall therefore consign
what we have to say upon it to the present chapter.
A few preliminary observations may be proper.

Milk is the well-known basis of all the operations
of the dairy. Few things have more engaged the
attention of chymists. Boyle, Boerhave, Hoffman,
and Macquer, all (tie old school and many of the
new,* have employed themselves in detecting its
constituent parts, and in establishing their several
proportions. In the first branch of the inquiry they
have sufficiently succeeded, and we accordingly
know that this very important fluid is principally
composed of an oily matter, of curd, of an essen-
tial salt called sugar of milk, and of serum. But,
in the other branch of the inquiry, so various have
been the results of experiments made on the milk
of different animals, and of the same animal at dif-
ferent times, that it continues to be the reproach
of chymistry; and we have now before us the ac-

* Haller, Brisson, Deyeux, Parmentier, Fourcroy, &c., &c.
M

134 AGRICULTURE.

knowledgment of M. Perthuys, of the French In-
stitute, that " to determine these proportions with
the necessary exactness is impossible." Fortunate-
ly, however, the pride of science is more affected
by this failure than the interests of agriculture.

Milk is reducible to two species : that of rumina-
ting animals, and that of animals which do not ru-
minate. Milk of the first description abounds in
cream and in curd, that of the other in sugar and
whey ; and it is on this distinction that the milk of
cows, sheep, and goats is principally employed for
the purposes of the dairy, while that of mares and
asses is, with similar propriety, yielded to the ser-
vice of medicine.*

Observation has shown that this secretion is much
influenced by circumstances of weather, of aliment,
and of age. A stormy day lessens its quantity and
alters its quality; bad or deficient food has a sim-
ilar but greater effect, and the fact is well known
that very young and very old cows give poor milk.
Mild weather, on the other hand, promotes the se-
cretion, and soft, nourishing aliments, easy of diges-
tion and in sufficient quantity, make it redundant.

A fact established by the labours of Messrs. De-
yeux and Parmentier, and long before known to the
dairy maid, is, that the milk first drawn is serous ;
that that which succeeds is less so, and that what
are commonly called strippings are nearly all cream.

Having premised these facts, we proceed to the
business of butter-making, the theory of which is
reducible to the following heads :

1st. Butter is found suspended in milk, in the
form of a white and liquid oil. This suspension is
the effect of the saccharine matter and the curd,
which are among the component parts of milk.

* The medical uses of asses' milk have come down to us
from Hippocrates and Galen. The milk of mares is only estab-
lished in the pharmacopoeia of Tartary, where, according to the
reports made by travellers, it is food, physic, and brandy.

DAIRY. 135

' 2d. In a state of repose and in a cool tempera-
ture, this oily matter separates itself, in a great de-
gree, from the serum and curd, mounts to the sur-
face, and there forms a pellicle of greater or less
density.

t3d. When in contact with atmospheric air, it
draws from it a portion of oxygen, and thence ac-
quires a yellow colour and a disposition to harden.

4th. Agitation and pressure are necessary to sep-
arate it from the serum and curd which may have
mounted with it. And,

5th. To correct its tendency to decomposition,
which first shows itself by a rancid smell and taste,
it must be subjected to the action of heat, or a por-
tion of the muriate of soda must be incorporated
with it. From this theory of butter-making, it will
be easy to deduce the rules necessary to practice.

1st. The formation of cream is, as we have seen,
a process of nature which we best promote by giv-
ing to our dairies a northern exposition ; by keep-
ing them perfectly clean ; because filth, besides other
mischief, is predisposed to fermentation, and is, of
course, productive of heat ; and, lastly, by so form-
ing our pans as to make them narrow at the bottom
and wide at the top, to the end that they may offer
to the atmosphere the largest possible surface.*

2d. The separation of the butter from the milk,
with which it is still connected, is our own labour,
and must be carefully and thoroughly performed.
This is called churning, and ought to be only a mod-
erate and continued agitation. If the movement be
too slow or frequently interrupted, the effect intend-
ed is not produced ; and if hurried and violent, the
cream is too much heated, and yields a white and
curdlike butter. When this operation is well per-
formed, the butter is found adhering to the staff and
flyers of the churn, is of an agreeable taste and col-
our, and of a certain degree of consistency.

* See, in Fourcroy's Chymistry, vol. ix., the effects of cover-
ing milk-pans.

136 AGRICULTURE.

3d. To increase this last, and more perfectly to
discharge the milk from the butter, the latter is
again subjected to frequent pressure and washing in
cold water, which, readily uniting with the milk,
carries it along with it.

4th. What now remains is to employ the means
necessary to its preservation. These are of two
kinds ; a small portion of common salt, well dried
and pulverized, may be wrought into the mass, and
distributed as equally as possible; or the fresh mass,
subjected to a demi-fusion, will throw up a frothy
and feculent matter, which must be carefully taken
off, and which, if neither evaporated nor skimmed
in this way, nor absorbed by the salt in the other,
would produce the rancidity of which we have al-
ready spoken. The butter of Prevalais, the finest
in Europe, is prepared after this last mode. The
secret was long and well kept, but was at length di-
vulged by M. Tessier, about the year 1809.

Of cheese-making.

The curd of milk is known to be the basis of
cheese, and the theory of making this may be brought
under three heads.

1st. Turning the milk, or separating the curd from
the other constituents of milk, by a chymical pro-
cess, or by permitting it to separate spontaneously.

2d. Expressing ivhat remains of these from the curd
by mechanical means ; and,

3d. Seasoning the mass, by the introduction of
some matter of conservative quality, as muriate of
soda, sage, balm, aromatic clover, &c., &c.

These principles maybe much varied, and, under
different managements, will produce cheeses of
very different species, which may, however, be gen-
eralized as follows :

1st. Those in the fabrication of which the coagu-
lation of the milk is spontaneous. This species re-
tains a great degree of softness, is peculiarly liable
to decomposition, and is therefore used in a shor*

DAIRY. 137

time after being made. Such is the cream cheese,
and the cheeses of Viry, Mont Didier, and Mont
d'Or.

3d. Those which have been deprived of their se-
rosity by means only of compression. Such are
the cheeses of Holland, of Cantal in France, &c.
And,

3d. Those to which have been applied, not only
the action of the press, but of fire. Such are the
cheeses known by the name of Gruyere, Parmesan,
and Cheshire.*

Of these different species it is our intention to
speak only of the second and third, because these
form the cheeses of commerce, and have most con-
nexion with the public interest.

Turning the milk, which is the first step in the
process, may be effected by many different sub-
stances, such as vegetable acids and astringents ;
but the matter generally, if not universally employ-
ed, is either the second stomach of the calf or its
contents, which are called rennet. A portion of
either put into the milk, which must be left in a
state of repose, will in a few hours produce the de-
sired separation. The quantity of rennet employed
is not, however, a matter of indifference. If too
much be used, the curd will remain in parcels, with-
out consistency, and altogether deprived of the
cream of the milk. If, on the other hand, the quan-
tity employed be too small, the separation of the
curd from the serum will not be complete. The
exact quantity necessary is an affair of experience,
which only a number of trials on different portions
of milk enables one to regulate and adjust. A cir-

* The Schabzieger (cheese made in Switzerland) is of a dif-
ferent kind. Instead of the curd, the Swiss employ the sedi-
ment of the serum, and macerate in it a few of the leaves, stems,
or seeds of the trifolium oderatum, or blue clover. It is this
which gives to the Schabzieger its peculiar and highly aromatic
taste and smell.

M2

138 AGRICULTURE.

cumstance of still greater importance, but of less
difficulty, is that of determining the character of
the rennet. If this emit any strong or disagreeable
odour, it is bad, and should not be employed, as it
will infallibly communicate to the curd its own of-
fensive qualities.

As soon as the curd is separated, it must be bro-
ken into pieces, so that the serum, which is now col-
lected into little cells, may have the means of es-
caping. By this operation the curd is reduced to a
paste, which acquires coherency as fast as the fluid
is separated from it. This paste is now put into
moulds, and compressed until a farther portion of
the moisture is expelled. When this effect is pro-
duced the curd is again divided, squeezed by the
hand, replaced in the moulds, and subjected to heavy
weights, which expel the last remaining drops of
the whey. If the weather be warm, the cheeses
will swell and cavities appear on their surfaces;
an effect of the disengagement of air, which is the
sign of interior fermentation, and the signal for re-
moving the cheeses to the drying room, and begin-
ning the application of salt to their surfaces and
sides. This application must be continued daily,
and the cheeses be turned as often, so that the salt
be equally distributed throughout them. If they
present a dry surface, they should be wetted with
salted whey ; and if a frothy appearance, they should
be carefully wiped and the outer rind scraped with
a blunt knife. They will soon acquire the neces-
sary hardness and the proper colour.*

In these operations we have described the mode
of making cheeses deprived of their serosity by
compression only. What we have yet to say ap-
plies to those in the making of which fire is a ne-
cessary agent. The milk destined for these is

* The Italians employ saffron, and the English the bixa, to
colour their cheeses. These are only expedients to make new
cheese pass for old in the market .

DAIRY. 139

placed in a boiler and on a moderate fire ; the ren-
net is then applied, and the milk stirred without in-
terruption. The moment the action of the rennet
becomes apparent, the boiler is taken from the fire
and the contents left undisturbed. A coagulation
soon takes place, when a portion of the serum must
be removed, and the remaining portion be left to
boil the curd, which is seen floating in distinct par-
cels or lumps. The boiler must now be replaced
on the fire, and the mass be continually stirred
until the curd takes a degree of coherency. When
this effect is produced the boiling is complete, and
the curds, collected into masses, are taken from the
serum and committed to moulds. The press is now
employed and the salt applied, as in the preceding
directions. During three weeks or a month, the
moulds are gently and gradually tightened, and, so
soon as a superabundant moisture appears on the
surface of the cheese, the salting is discontinued.*
Various means have been used to improve the
qualities of cheese, besides those employed in the
process of fabrication. Though we give little credit
to these devices, still, as others may have more
faith than ourselves, it may not be improper to men-
tion some of them. The most simple and most
easily employed are, rubbing them with oil, with
butter not salted, with the lees of wine, and some-
times enveloping them with linen dipped in vinegar,
or in new hay moistened with warm water. An-
other, more compounded and not so easily obtained,
has fallen within the scope of our reading. It is
given by M. Chazotte, inspector of mines to the
Duke of Parma, who says of it " that cheeses the
most dry and of the worst quality, if moistened daily
for twenty or thirty days with a liquor composed of
strong vinegar and alkalized nitre, and which en-
tirely resembles the foliated earth of tartar, known

* This appearance shows that the absorption of salt is com-
plete.

140 AGRICULTURE.

to chymists and physicians, will become excellent.'7
What on this head is suggested by our own expe-
rience is, that, if not made better, they are assured-
ly best preserved by dark apartments, neither very
dry nor very humid, and by shelves or tables fre-
quently washed, and not containing in them any res-
inous matter.

Of the residuum or whey left after cheese-ma-
king.

This is not without its uses, and some of them im-
portant. The medicinal virtues of whey have been
long acknowledged and much celebrated, and ap-
pear to be beyond even the reach of time, which
has neither abated their force nor diminished their
fame ; for, when all other remedies fail, the modern
valetudinarian, like the ancient, is dismissed to
mountain air and whey diet. The lives of literary
men furnish many striking instances of its nourish-
ing as well as its medicinal properties. Boerhave
persevered in the use of it, to the exclusion of other
food, for many months; and Ferguson for many
years. Its effect in fattening hogs is universally
known. This nutritive property exists in the mu-
cus sugar with which it abounds ; the extraction of
which has long employed the science and industry
of the Swiss cantons.*

* See Liechtenstein and Rocol on the sugar of milk. The
maximum of its quantity l-28th ; the minimum l-60th. Scheele
has shown that this saccharine matter differs essentially from
the sugar of canes. See Fourcroy's Chymistry, vol. ix.

ORCHARDS. 141

CHAPTER XIV.

OF ORCHARDS.

THESE are generally composed of apple, pear,
peach, and cherry trees. The apple has been known
from the most remote antiquity, and, from the names
given to it, would appear to have been a native of
many different countries.*

About the close of the 15th century, the varieties
of this fruit in Europe were multiplied to the num-
ber of forty-six,! and it is not to be doubted but
that four additional centuries have much increased
this amount. While, however, the line was length-
ening in this direction, it was shortening in another ;
for, according to the philosophy of the present day,
vegetables, like animals, perish not only individu-
ally, but by whole races. J

The uses of the apple are various. Besides those
of the table, it yields the well-known liquor called
cider, which is again convertible into brandy. We
have, in our country, orchards which annually pro-
duce from five to eight hundred dollars. In the
view of profit, therefore, fruit is an important ob-
ject to the agriculturist.^

* The Syrian, Scanian, Pelusian, &c. About one hundred
years before Christ, the Romans began to call them after par-
ticular men who had been instrumental in removing them ; as
the Appian, or Pomme D'Apiof the French, after Claudius Ap-
pius.

f See Olivier de Serres.

j See Davy's Elements.

§ One of the most important uses of the apple in the present
day, and to which it was not formerly applied, or but partially,
is the feeding and fattening of pigs and other farm-stock. For
this purpose alone, apple-orchards now constitute one of the
most profitable objects of farm culture.— J. B.

142 AGRICULTURE.

The pear is less difficult with regard to soil than
the apple-tree. We have seen it grow well in light
sand ; and a part of Normandy, called Bocage, the
soil of which is a stiff clay, is renowned for its
pears, and for a liquor called Perry, made from
their juices.*

Oliver de Serres counted sixty-two varieties of
the pear ; and, according to the treatise of M. Van
Mons, published in 1808, the number then cultivated
in Europe amounted to more than six hundred. Of
these we shall name a few, in the order in which
they ripen. The Muscat 1'Allemand, in May ; the
St. John and the Bergarnot of Holland, in June ; the
Petit Muscat and the Cuisse Madame, or Jargonelle,
in July; the Salviat and the Bon Chretien d'Ete
Musque, in August ; the Beurre Gris, in Septem-
ber ; the Bergarnot Suisse and Messire Jean, in Oc-
tober; the Bon Chretien Turc and the fall Berga-
rnot, in November ; the Chasserais, the Beurre
d'Hiver, the Merveille d'Hiver, the Vergouleuse, the
St. Germain, and the Sarrussin, in December.J

* When made without the addition of water, Perry is an ex-
cellent liquor, and keeps well in bottles.

f We offer this list as a direction to those who may wish to
obtain the best succession of crops, and have therefore retained
the names under which they are known abroad.

J The pears here named belong to the old catalogue ; the
quality of the new kinds, named by Van Mons, not then being
known to us. The new varieties have since been introduced and
fruited, and have added much to the value and variety of this
fruit. We recommend the following, embracing mostly new
varieties, as a better selection than the one named in the text.
They should be added to old collections, and in new plantations
may be advantageously introduced as substitutes for old, and,
in many cases, degenerated varieties. Beginning with the early
varieties, we recommend the Citron des Carmes, Jargonelle,
Summer Rose, &c., ripening in July and August ; the Belle et
Bonne, Vergaleu, or White Doyenne, Flemish Beauty, Neill,
&c., as ripening in September : the Autumn Bergarnot, Aston
Town, Capiaumont, Beurre d'CEil, Duchesse d'Angonleme, Ma-
ria Louise, &c., ripening in October; the Forello, GJout Mor-
ceau, Napoleon, Colmar, &c., ripening in November ; the

ORCHARDS. 143

The cherry-tree is said to have been first brought
to Europe by Lucullus, from Asia Minor. A Ger-
man amateur (the Baron de Truckless) has brought
together, in his garden in Franconia, sixty-five spe-
cies of it. Besides the raw fruit, the cherry is much
employed in confitures, and gives also three liquors
in much request, the Kirschenwasser of Germany,
the Marrasquin of Venice, and a distilled but unfer-
mented liquor of the Rhine, having nothing in it
spirituous, and retaining only the watery and aro-
matic parts of the fruit. The cherry-tree dreads
cold or wet soils, nor does it succeed well in those
which are either hot or dry. Its outer skin differs
in its organization from that of other trees ; the
fibres are longer and stronger, and sometimes so
bind the woody part as to obstruct its growth.
Hence the practice of making shallow and longitu-
dinal cuts through the outer bark ; a practice, how-
ever, which, like pruning, ought to be skilfully per-
formed, otherwise the wound becomes gummy,
chancrous, and incurable.*

The peach-tree is a native of Persia, where it
grows without cultivation. Its varieties are very
numerous, all of which are much influenced by cli-
mate and soil. In Europe it is only in the south
of France, in Italy, and in Spain, where you find
peaches that have reached the perfection of which
this fruit is susceptible ; and in similar climates here
we may, no doubt, have fruit equally good. Our
own climate (that of New- York) does not appear to
be favourable to its production. Our trees are often
sickly, and our peaches generally sour and watery,
and entirely destitute of that aroma which forms
the great excellence of this fruit. After these gen-,

Nelis, Passe Colmar, Bezi Vait, Beurre d'Aremburgh, &c.,
ripening in December; the Easter Beurre, Beurre Ranee,
Chaumohtelle, &c., as late winter and spring pears; and the
Cattilac, Chaptal, Bezi d'Hui, as good baking or stewing
pears. — J. B.
* Cut only the outer or circular bark.— J. B.

144 AGRICULTURE.

eral remarks, we proceed to what is more particu-
larly the object of this chapter.

It has been said, and, we think, with much good
sense, that " every farmer ought to raise his own
trees," because, besides the risk, inconvenience,
and expense of bringing our plants from abroad, we
have, in pursuing that mode of supply, to encoun-
ter the tricks and blunders of nurserymen, and the
ill consequences which follow a want of analogy
between the soil in which the plants were raised
and that to which they are to be transferred. The
first step, therefore, towards obtaining a good or-
chard, is to create a good nursery. The situation
most favourable for this is a piece of level ground,
defended from cold and violent winds either by
natural or artificial means, and which, in composi-
tion, is neither wet nor dry, and of only middling
fertility. This condition of the soil is a circum-
stance of much importance, and ought to be rigor-
ously observed, because the vessels of young trees
growing in rich soils take a size proportioned to
the quantity of sap they receive and circulate ; and
if their situation be changed for the worse, the
quantity of the sap being necessarily diminished,
the vessels become rigid and unhealthy, and unable
to carry to the extremity of the branches the nour-
ishment required by them. The ground, selected
on these principles, must be securely fenced, thor-
oughly ploughed and harrowed, freed from stones
and the roots of perennial plants, and then thrown
up into three or four feet ridges, on which you will
sow and cover your apple and pear seed, and plant
your cherry and peach stones. It will now be use-
ful to roll the beds for the purpose of bringing the
soil and the seeds everywhere into contact ; after
which they may be covered with clean straw for
the winter. In the spring your young apple and
pear-trees will show themselves, and afterward
your cherries and peaches. The treatment to all

ORCHARDS. 145

will be the same : they must be thinned to the dis-
tance of fifteen or twenty inches from each other,
kept perfectly free from weeds, and, if the weather
be hot and dry, occasionally watered. They re-
quire only a repetition of this process, with the ad-
dition of a little careful pruning, till they have at-
tained the height of seven or eight feet, when they
are fit for grafting.* It is generally known that by
this operation we continue any given species of
fruit ; but a fact with which the public is less ac-
quainted is, that if the graft be also grafted, the
product is improved both in quantity and quality ;
and, it is to be presumed, will continue to improve
under every new and similar operation. Grafts, to
be well chosen, should be taken from wood of the
present year, from young and healthy races, and
accommodated to the future use of the fruit. If,
for instance, your object be cider-making, you will
take your grafts from the crab or the redstreak ;f
and if for barrelling, from the pippin, the Spitzen-
berg, the greening, or the Swaur. As we only
speak of grafting incidentally, it will not be expect-
ed that we should go into a dissertation upon that
art, nor to elucidate the many divisions and sub-
divisions which technical men have made of it.J
It is enough for us to say, that, of all these different
modes, the scion and the slit is the simplest and the

* Budding is generally preferred to grafting in nursery estab-
lishments, because it gives a longer season for propagating, is
more expeditiously performed, more certain, especially with
stone fruit, and may be performed upon stocks a year or two
earlier than grafting. Budding should be performed when the
stock is from the size of a pipestem to the size of the little fin-
ger.—J. B.

f The redstreak is no longer with us in a healthy condition ;
it has degenerated. The Harrison, winesap, pippin, and crab,
are our best cider fruits. — J. B.

J The two grand divisions are by approach and by scion. Their
varieties and sub-varieties, nearly a hundred, are known by
the names of ancients and moderns, as Varro, Virgil, Columella,
Maiherbes, Duhamei, Bosc, Michaux, &c., &c.
N

146 AGRICULTURE.

best. When your grafts have acquired some inches
in length, it may be well to rub off all the buds
which have pushed below them on the stem, and
perhaps a few of those which have appeared above
them ;* and if the grafts themselves put out any
lateral shoots, spare them till the succeeding year,
when you are called to regraft such as have failed,
and to furnish props to those which are feeble, or
crooked, or ill-directed.

Planting is the next operation in the process ; but,
as some preliminary measures, on which its suc-
cess will much depend, are yet untouched, we will
begin with these ; and,

1st. Of the soil chosen for your intended orchard.
It is generally admitted that fruit-trees do well in a
warm, friable, moist, and deep soil ; that they suc-
ceed but indifferently in one that is cold and stiff,
and that they altogether fail in one either very dry
or very wet ; but a fact less known, though not less
established, is, that the subsoil has a powerful in-
fluence on the health and prosperity of plants. If
this be rock, or what is called hardpan, whatever
be the surface, the tree and its fruits are much de-
teriorated ; nor will the remedy, sometimes resort-
ed to, of cutting off the pivot or plunging-root, and
leaving the tree to subsist by those which are mere-
ly lateral, be sufficient. It may palliate, but it does
not cure.

3d. Next to soil, exposition is most important. In
this climate northern and western expositions are
bad ; because the tree has least time for vegetation,
its juices are less concocted, and it is itself most

* Many grafts are annually lost by removing the upper buds,
shoots, and limbs. It throws too much nourishment into the
graft, which dies of repletion. Having omitted in the text to
say anything of the different stems employed in grafting, we here
remark, what all amateurs in fruit-trees ought to know, that sci-
ons, whether of apple or pear trees, grafted on quince stocks,
give fairer fruit and much sooner than if grafted on apple or
pear stocks ; but the trees are short-lived.

ORCHARDS. 147

exposed to the action of high winds. These re-
marks will sufficiently indicate why eastern and
southern expositions are favourable, and ought to
be preferred. But the rule these facts suggest can-
not be made absolute, since many persons occupy
only the northern and western sides of hills. In
these situations, therefore, the course most appro-
ved by theory and experience is, to plant only trees
which are late in forming or maturing their fruit.

3d. The preparation of the soil is not to be neg-
lected, and any summer crop in rows and well cul-
tivated forms a good one. With these remarks we
return to our general head of planting.

The form in which your trees stand is not matter
of indifference. The quincunx is recommended as
giving to them that position which is relatively best ;
but the caize (straight lines intersecting each other),
better admitting the movements of the plough, is gen-
erally preferred. Whichever of the two be adopted,
the holes indicated in a former part of this section
must be made accordingly, and ought to be six feet
wide and as many long, and two feet deep. The
advantages of these will abundantly repay the extra
labour they require, as we find by M. Chalumeau's
experiments on peach-trees, from which we make
the following extract : " Four peach-trees, resem-
bling each other, as to size and vigour of growth, as
much as possible, were planted : No. 1 in a hole
three feet square ; No. 2 in a hole two feet square ;
and Nos. 3 and 4 in holes eighteen inches square.
The soil and exposition similar. No. 1 has every
year given the most abundant crops, and the rela-
tive sizes of the trees now are as follows : the stem
of No. 1, 18 feet high and eight inches in circum-
ference ; that of No. 2, nine feet high and five and a
half inches in circumference ; No. 3, six feet high,
and three inches eight lines in circumference ; and
No. 4, five and a half feet high, and three inches in
circumference." Here is a difference between the

148 AGRICULTURE.

largest and smallest of five inches in circumference
and 12 1-2 feet in height ; a most decisive proof of
the advantages of trenching.*

When the holes are thus prepared, and at a dis-
tance not less than 30 feet from each other, and a
portion of the soil, is mixed with marl, the mud of
ponds, or bog-earth, returned to them, you may be-
gin to take up your young trees from the nursery ;
and, in doing this, you must be careful not to wound
or otherwise injure their roots or their bark ; nor
must they suffer any topping or pruning. Three
hands are necessary to planting ; one to place and
range the trees, and the others to fill in the remain-
ing part of the earth, mixed as above mentioned.
It now only remains to fix short poles (technically
called tutors) near them, to which they may be tied,
and by means of which their true vertical position
may be preserved.

The year after planting, and in the month of Feb-
ruary,! when there is no circulation of sap, you will
do well to begin to give to the heads of your young
trees that form which you wish them ultimately to
take. The more circular you make them, the better,
always taking care to lop off those branches which
do already, or may hereafter, cross others having a
proper direction. This proper direction will be gen-
erally horizontal, but with a slight curve ; an opin-
ion requiring, perhaps, a little explanation. All
straight branches produce what are usually termed
gourmands, or gluttons, giving little if any fruit
themselves, and exceedingly exhausting the tree.
Curved branches, on the other hand, rarely produce
gourmands ; and, when the season is favourable, give
much fruit. The observation of these facts, made

* The apple, pear, and cherry, occupying more room than the
peach, require proportionate trenches.

t The last of June, after the tree has made its first growth,
and is charged with elaborated sap, is recommended as the best
time for performing this operation.— J. B.

ORCHARDS. 149

long since, and probably growing out of the man-
agement of espaliers, first suggested the practice of
bending straight branches by artificial means. The
effect entirely justified the theory ; these straight and
barren branches, bent into nearly half a circle,*
changed their character with their shape, and be-
came very productive. But there is a time for this
as for all other things, and, unless the experiment be
began about the first of July and continued to Sep-
tember, it will fail, because it is only within that
period that fruit buds are formed. f

As your trees advance in age, they will require
vruning. Suckers must be removed, and dead and
dying limbs taken off. For this purpose a hand-
saw, a chissel, a mallet, and a gardener's knife, are
the instruments to be used : all others must be pro-
scribed, and particularly the axe, which, in the hands
of folly and ignorance, has been so mischievous to
fruit-trees. Wounds, if large, should always be
covered from drying winds, from moisture, and even
from air. In gummy trees, as the peach or the cher-
ry, this precaution is indispensable, and the neglect
of it a disgrace, since the best covering is that com-
posed of cow-dung and clay ; materials costing no-
thing, and always at hand.

On this subject we have but one other rule to
give, and that is, to open the ground about the roots
of your trees in the fall, to the influences of the air,
rain, and frost. The last of these, besides promo-
ting vegetation, destroys many insects in the chrys-
alis state, which, if left undisturbed, would in the
spring be very injurious. Another part of the same
rule is to cover with straw, in the spring, the ground
you make bare in the fall ; the object of which is to
prevent evaporation by intercepting the rays of the

< * More than half a circle will obstruct the circulation of sap
and destroy the limb.

t The circulation of the sap is then slowest. See Art. Cour-
bure, Nouveau Cours d'Agriculture, vol. iv.
N3

150 GARDENING.

sun, and thus securing to the roots the moisture ne-
cessary to their welfare.

CHAPTER XV.

THE KITCHEN GARDEN.

THE first page of history informs us that, imme-
diately after the creation, man was placed in a gar-
den, " to dress and to keep it." Nor will the wis-
dom of this designation be doubted by those who
duly consider the effects, moral and physical, of the
occupation it enjoins. " Emollit mores, nee sinet
esse feros," is an observation of great antiquity and
acknowledged truth ; to which might be added oth-
ers of equal authority and importance, viz. : that it
expands the mind, strengthens the body, tranquil-
lizes the spirit,* and begets habits of order, dili-
gence, temperance, economy, and observation.!

Thus recommended (apart from its pecuniary

* Lord Bacon calls it " the purest of human pleasures, the
greatest refreshment to the spirits of man, without which build-
ings and palaces are but gross handiworks."

f Of those among the ancients who may be considered as
authorities, Cicero is perhaps alone in regarding the retirement
of rural life as tending rather to relax than to invigorate the
mental faculties. — De Orat., i., 2. Pliny, on the other hand, re
marks, " Experieris non Dianam magis montibus, quam Miner-
yam inerrare." We need scarcely quote the well-known decis-
ions of Horace and Virgil. " Scriptorum chorus omnis amat
nemus, et fugit urbes." " Rura mihi et regni placeant," &c.
The controversy, after all, is one of words ; for besides that
there may have been some peculiarity of mind in Cicero, calling
for an uncommon kind or degree of stimulus, it must not be
forgotten that his great and distinguishing talent could only
receive development and exercise from the presence and agita-
tions of a crowd.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 151

profits), it will not be thought extraordinary that
gardening, considered both as a science and an art,
should have engaged the attention of able and learn-
ed men, who, at different times and in various lan-
guages, have written upon it. To collect and
methodize their remarks and experiments, to illus-
trate their different doctrines, and to adapt the whole
to our own climate, soil, and social condition, form
the leading objects of the present work.

Another important, though a secondary object, is
to bring what is known and necessary on so copious
a subject into the smallest compass, persuaded, as
we are, that the highest service that can now be
rendered to science is to shorten and illustrate its
processes, and thus render attainable by many what
otherwise would be known only to few.

Gardens are technically classed under five heads :
the Kitchen Garden, the Fruit Garden, the Flower
Garden, the Botanic Garden, and the Landscape,
commonly, but improperly, called the English Gar-
den. These have many principles in common, but
some which are peculiar, and they consequently
call for different kinds of culture, and different sorts
and degrees of knowledge in the cultivator. We
shall treat here only of the two first named ; and
begin with the Kitchen Garden.

This is the description of garden most important
to man, because employed in the production of ar-
ticles of the first necessity, and common to every
class of society. Several conditions are, however,
necessary to enable it to fulfil this intention. Such
are, sufficient fences, a good soil, a favourable ex-
position, and abundant water. The first, to be suffi-
cient, ought to have the property not only of ex-
cluding the depredations of man and beast, but that
also of shutting out vermin, and even some of the
tribes of larger insects. The second should be
deep, rich, friable, and moist (not wet), because this
description of soil is best adapted to the mass of

152 GARDENING.

garden vegetables, and not positively unfriendly to
any. The third should have an inclination to the
south and east, as this exposure will best secure
that temperature both of the earth and of the air
which is most favourable to vegetation ; and of the
fourth we need only remark, that it is emphatically
called the life of plants.*

The size and shape of this species of garden are
not indifferent, but admit no positive rules for their
regulation, because depending on circumstances
rarely alike in two cases ; the nature of the ground,
and the wants or ability of the occupier. On these
heads, therefore, we only say that a parallelogram
and a square are the forms most approved, because
most susceptible of a cheap, and easy, and regular
arrangement into beds ; and that two acres\ devoted
to the culture of table vegetables will furnish an
abundant supply for even a large family.

With these few preliminary remarks, we proceed
to what is more peculiarly the object of this branch
of our work, viz., an enumeration of the articles
selected for garden culture, and the means best cal-
culated for bringing them to that degree of perfec-
tion of which they may be respectively susceptible.

THE ARTICHOKE (Cynara Scolymus). The proto-
type of this race is a native of the south of Europe,
and rarely to be found in northern climates, except-
ing in botanical collections ; the varieties produced
by culture are much preferable to the parent plant.f

* Water impregnated with minerals is not merely useless,
but injurious to vegetation. Such is often the water found in
wells, and sometimes in rivulets. River and rain water may
always be safely employed, as well from their constituent parts
as from their temperature. Every garden should have a pond to
receive and hold rain water.

t The author, doubtless, would include potatoes, and esculent
garden vegetables of every kind in this estimate.

% Miller considers the globe artichoke, which he calls the
Cynara Hortensis, as a distinct species from the Cynara Scoly-
mus, and rests his opinion on the difference between the two

KITCHEN GARDEN. 153

These varieties are numerous, and take their dis-
tinctive names from their colour : as the green, the
red, the violet, and the white. The first of these
(the green) is the best, as well on account of its
larger size, as its better flavour and greater ability
to resist cold and wet weather; the constant and
most formidable enemy of the whole family.

This plant is propagated in two ways, by seed and
by suckers ; by the former when it is desired to ob-
tain new races, and by the latter when we wish to
continue old ones. The first method is occasionally
practised by amateurs, and is that by which the
plant may be soonest naturalized, and made to attain
its highest perfection. The second is preferred by
practical men seeking immediate profit, and risking
as little as possible on experiments.*

If the first method be adopted, select sound and
fresh seeds, and, in the month of February, sow
them in pots filled with rich and mellow earth, and
plunged in a hotbed. Each pot may receive three
seeds. The young plants will soon show them-
selves, and, by watering and ventilating them at
proper times and in a moderate degree, will be fit
for transplanting in April. If the second method be
preferred, after having carefully uncovered and
cleaned the stems of the mother plants, take from
them, with the hand, as many sprouts or suckers
as may be wanted, remembering that those near-
est the heart are the best ; and taking care also to
crop the sprouts close to the stem, and always be-
low what gardeners call the nut, and without chafing
or otherwise injuring the fibres which surround this,
and which are destined to become the roots of the
future artichoke.

Such are the two modes of obtaining plants, to

in relation to bulk and to shape. The later, and, we think, the
better opinion is, that this difference is the effect only of culture.
* The average loss of plants from the seed-bed is one half,
that from suckers only one tenth. — Cours d'Ag.

154 GARDENING.

which we now add the subsequent management
common to both.

In hot and dry climates, the soil best adapted to
the artichoke is that which is most retentive of
moisture, and vice versa. In our own particular
climate, which may be regarded as a medium be-
tween the two extremes, a soil neither very wet nor
very dry is to be preferred. A portion of this, of
such extent as the required number of plants may
render necessary, which has been previously and
thoroughly worked and manured, should be raked
smooth, and so scored, both lengthwise and across,
as to form a number of beds or squares of three feet
— in the centre of each of which a hole is to be dib-
bled and an artichoke placed — remembering, how-
ever, before you do so (if the plants are seedlings),
to pinch off the tap or pivot root,* and to leave
as much of the native soil as the lateral roots will
hold together, and (whether seedlings or suckers)
to press with your hand or your dibbler the earth
into close contact with the buried part of the plant,
leaving only the heart uncovered. When this is
done, sow rows of lettuce seed in the intervals be-
tween the artichokes ; which, besides giving an ad-
ditional and useful article to your crop, will best
protect from the ravages of the grub that which is
your primary object ; for many observations concur
in showing that, where the grub has the power of

* The facts on which this theory rests are two. 1st. That it
is the peculiar office of the pivot to give sustenance to the stem
and leaves, and of the lateral roots to supply the suckers and
heads, which are the things we want. Now if the pivot be re-
moved, the lateral roots acquire an increased vigour, and the
head is made better in proportion. " M. Feburier, of Rennes,
planted two rows of artichokes, the one with pivot roots, the
other deprived of them. The former threw out leaves so long
and numerous, that it became necessary to thin them ; but their
fruit was neither abundant nor fine, while the latter grew well,
and gave fruit much better and earlier than the other." — Cours
d'Agri., art. Artichoke.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 155

choosing, it never fails to prefer the lettuce to the
artichoke.

The processes of watering and hoeing are next in
order of time, and are either multiplied, or decreas-
ed, or discontinued, according to circumstances.
The rules which regulate these labours are two : if
the weather be dry, and you wish to hasten the ma-
turity of the fruit, you must hoe often and water
every other day. If, on the contrary, the weather
be wet, and you have other beds to draw from for
the supply of the current year, hoe seldom and do
not water at all ; and by this management you may
either quicken or retard the progress of the plant.

To have large artichokes, you must leave only one
sprout to a stem ; and in this case, the taking off the
surplus suckers should not be delayed beyond the
first week in July. If, on the other hand, you dis-
regard the size of the fruit, you may leave the plant
to regulate its own products as to number. The
maturity of the fruit is indicated by the opening of
the scales, and we must be careful to take it before
the flower begins to show itself; and in doing this,
to cut it close to the ground, leaving no stump to
impoverish the root. It is a practice not uncom-
mon to dig and loosen the earth around the roots
in the fall of the year, and in dry and warm winter
climates the practice is not a bad one ; but in ours,
where frosts are severe and snows frequent, it would
be highly injudicious, as earth recently dug absorbs
and retains moisture more, and, consequently, freezes
sooner and deeper, than that which has not been
worked for some months preceding ; a remark
which, by-the-way, calls us to the consideration of
the best means of preserving the outstanding plants
during the winter.

Various means have been employed for this pur-
pose. That which is most commonly used is, after
stripping off the dead or decaying leaves, and trim-
ming down the sound ones to three or four inches,

156 GARDENING.

to open trenches around the plant, and to draw up
about it the earth furnished by these. This is again
covered with long dung or stable litter, so as entire-
ly to exclude rain, and snow, and frost. But, in ma-
King these provisions against cold and wet weather,
we must not forget that it is possible to be careful
over-much ; for if the mounds of earth and litter be
large and close, we expose our plants to suffocation
from want of air ; to exhaustion from a continued
vegetation, and to scorching from the fermentation
of the covering matter, which, if the weather be wet
and but occasionally warm, seldom fails to occur.

To obviate these difficulties, it has been proposed
that the mounds be gradually formed ; that the first
covering be merely a wrapping of long dung, and
that the additions made to it be conformed to the
weather, leaving openings in all cases on its south-
ern side for the purposes of ventilation, and in no
case permitting the covering to exceed two feet in
thickness.* But even this mode of treatment is not
free from objection ; for, first, the direct application
of the dung to the plant will always alter its flavour,
and very much degrade it ; and again, the capri-
ciousness of the weather does not generally give
either warning of its changes, or time to accommo-
date ourselves to them : they often take place in
the night, and often (whether in the night or in the
day) under circumstances which prevent us from
giving to the plant the additional covering it may
require. Two other methods, therefore, not dis-
similar in themselves, have been suggested ; the
one, to employ hollow cylinders of earthenware,
covered with a tile or piece of slate, and of capa-
city sufficient to embrace the plant ; the other, to
form caps of straw (such as are used for lodging
bees), and having a moveable top of the same ma-

* This suggestion is M. Thouin's ; the writer of the excel-
lent article on the artichoke, to be found in the Encyclopedic
Methodique,

KITCHEN GARDEN. 157

terial.* To the last method we see no room for ob-
jection : in application it is easy, requiring no skill
and little labour, while the material and workman-
ship are both cheap and durable, and their property
of excluding rain, snow, and frost, not to be doubted.

Every gardener who understands his trade will
take care to set apart a few of the finest heads of
his own crop for seed ; but as the stock is upright,
and the head so formed as to receive and hold wa-
ter, it often happens that the seeds rot. To prevent
this, the stems of the plants so set apart should be
tied to stakes driven into the ground near them, and
gradually bent, so as to give to the heads that de-
gree of declination that will be sufficient to carry
off the water that may fall upon them.

When well managed, the artichoke will give fruit
four or five years in succession ; but, to avoid acci-
dents, new plantations should be made every year.

In some parts of Europe, as in France and Italy,
the taste for this vegetable is excessive, and much
beyond what it merits on the score either of nutri-
tiousness or flavour. Of this partiality the garden-
ers avail themselves, and by employing the varie-
ties which ripen soonest and latest, contrive to keep
the plant in the market (in its natural state) seven
or eight months of the twelve ; and means are then
employed to prolong its use, by converting it into a
comfit. In this country the taste for it is neither
common nor great ; and as the culture is expensive
and not always successful, we have doubts whether,
to gardeners who cultivate for the market, it is de-
serving of much attention.

ASPARAGUS (Maratimus Officinalis). Of this plant
there are ten species, one of which only is an ob-
ject of garden culture, arid to this botanists have
given the name prefixed to this article.

* The earthen cylinders have been proposed by M. Bosc, of
the French Institute, and the straw caps by M. Feburier, of
Rennes.

0

158 GARDENING-

Vegetables which have been long cultivated have
in general many varieties; but to this law the as-
paragus appears to be an exception, having, as we
believe, but two, and these differing from each other
only in volume. They are found growing sponta-
neously in high northern latitudes, near the mouths
of great rivers, where the soil is annually covered
with a new coat of alluvial matter. The natural
life of an individual plant does not exceed five years ;
but, left undisturbed in its native bed, it rises in the
spring, ripens its seeds in the summer, and in au-
tumn sheds them on the soft and rich surface which
the spring floods have prepared for them : and in
this way continues to propagate the race from one
century to another.

These facts could not have been either long ob-
served or much considered, without suggesting the
kind of treatment which would be most proper for
the plant when transferred to an artificial bed ; yet
the modes indicated for this purpose have been very
different, and, like other things of even less conse-
quence, have given rise to much and warm discus-
sion. Of these disputed points the principal are,
whether sowing or planting gives the most profit;
whether plants of one, of two, or of three years
are to be preferred; whether the seedbed should
be as rich, or less so than the plantation ; and, last-
ly, whether this (the plantation) should be formed
on the surface of the earth in its natural state, or
on an excavation filled up with new and better ma-
terials.

The first of these questions appears to us to turn
principally on convenience. If we can postpone the
use of the plant for a year or two, sowing is to be
preferred; because the crop it gives (other things
being equal), though later in coming, is more abun-
dant, of better quality, and of longer duration ; but
if our supply must be prompt, planting is best, for
by this mode we no doubt soonest obtain the fruit,

KITCHEN GARDEN. 159

The same or similar considerations influence the
second question ; but there are others which affect,
and which may be thought sufficient to decide it.
Roots of three years will not only give fruit sooner
than those of one or of two years, but their fibres
being harder and roots more numerous, are better
able to sustain the violence inseparable from trans-
plantation, and the other accidents (such as heating
and chafing) which often accompany it, particularly
if the roots be brought from a distance.

With regard to the third question we would only
remark, that the translation of seedlings from the
nursery to the plantation always forms a crisis in
their health and character, during which they are
best supported by giving to them an increased stimu-
lus or nutrition. But if the seedbed be as rich as
that of the plantation, the transferred plant has no
support of this kind ; and hence it is that, though it
may not perish, it will not thrive.

The last question may be considered as one alto-
gether of means or ability in the cultivator ; and as
among our readers there may be both poor and
rich, we will give a sketch of both methods, the
saving plan, and that which, though more expensive,
is decidedly better.

First Method. — Manure the square (allotted for
asparagus) largely, in the fall of the year, with well-
rotted dung. Trench it to the depth of twenty or
thirty inches, and leave it in a rough state during
the winter. As early as possible in the spring, cov-
er it with two or three inches of manure, and dig it
to the depth of ten or twelve inches, taking care
to mix the earth and the dung intimately together.
The square being now dug and manured, level and
smooth its surface, divide it into beds of four feet,
drill these lengthwise with the spade or the hoe,
and in the drills (which may be a foot apart) sow
your seeds sparsely, or plant your roots, as the case
may be, at the distance from each other (in the

160 GARDENING.

rows) of fourteen inches. If you sow, cover the
seed with an inch of good soil ; and if you plant,
cover the roots to the depth of three inches with a
similar soil. No other crop should be sown in these
beds, and weeds should be carefully taken out by
the hand from time to time. On the approach of
winter, mow off the young asparagus, and cover the
bed with stable litter. In the spring, rake off this
covering, and keep the beds clean and loose during
the summer. Continue the same process till the
third year, when you may begin (but sparingly) to
cut the plants for table use. Formed and managed
in this way, and manured every third year after-
ward, an asparagus-bed will last ten or twelve
years.*

Second Method. — In the summer or autumn pre-
ceding your sowing or planting, divide the square
intended for asparagus into four feet beds, marking
the angles by stakes, and leaving alleys between
the beds of 1 1-2 or 2 feet. Excavate the beds to
the depth of twenty-six inches, and if you find the
bottom cold, and clayey, and retentive of moisture,
sink it half a foot deeper. Lay on this six inches
of coarse gravel, or stones, or both, and on these
place a layer of equal depth of tanner's bark or
chips, brushwood, weeds, horns, hoofs, or any other
slowly-decomposing matter, vegetable or animal.
Over this spread another layer, composed of cow
and horse dung mixed, to the depth of twelve inch-
es, and on the top of all replace the surface soil you
have thrown out, adding to it as much well-rotted
dung as will entirely fill up the excavation. In this
way you proceed to form the remaining beds ; and,
when all are finished, level and rake them, and re-
move the poor soil thrown out in trenching. As
early in the spring as the temperature of the weather
and the state of the ground will permit, dig the beds

* American Gardener.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 161

ten or twelve inches deep, and work into them as
much well-rotted dung as will bring them to the
level of the alleys (for they will have sunk consid-
erably) ; after which, rake and smooth them, and
trace out with the spade or the hoe four small
trenches on each, not more than one inch deep ;
and in these sow fresh, and large, and well-ripened
seed, and so sparsely, that, when the plants rise,
they will not be found nearer together (in the rows)
than fourteen inches. Draw an inch of mould over
the seeds, and then roll or tread the rows, so as
to press the seed and the earth everywhere into
contact.

If, on the other hand, you prefer planting, select
roots of one, of two, or of three years, remember-
ing that " the white are only to be employed, and
that those of a violet or livid colour are always
hollow and unproductive."* In putting these down,
your trenches must be deep enough to receive the
roots and a covering of three inches. The crowns
of these roots must be placed upright, and the pattes
[or fingers], as they are sometimes called, spread
and directed downward ; for on their taking this
direction (to the food provided for them) the pros-
perity of the plantation will principally depend. It
now only remains to cover them, and that should
be done with three inches of good fresh mould. In
winter the plants may be left to themselves, as
many experiments show that, in beds constructed
in the way and of the materials we have described,
they are never injured by frost ; and farther, that, if
the surfaces of such beds be entirely exposed to its

* Duchesne, Prof. Nat. History, Versailles. Another remark
of this author is, that the male plants are much more profitable
than the female, and that, therefore, whether we sow or plant,
the number of seeds in the one case, and of roots in the other,
should be double the number usually employed ; and that, at the
time of flowering, when the sexes can be readily discriminated,
the females should be destroyed.
02

162 GARDENING.

action, the crop will be less liable to the attacks of
insects the ensuing spring.

In the month of March or April (during the whole
existence of the plant) the beds must be carefully
forked and dressed, and kept clear of weeds.* Oc-
casional waterings are necessary till the third or
fourth year, when the plants will be sufficiently es-
tablished to do without them ; but it is at this epoch,
and in some degree as a substitute for watering, that
you must cover your beds with three inches of ad-
ditional earth.

With regard to the cutting of asparagus, it may
not be unnecessary to remark, that this should not
be done till the third year, and then but sparingly
and late in the season ; and that it should be discon-
tinued the moment you find the buds dwindling in
size and diminishing in number.
! It will be readily perceived, that the modes of
cultivation we have indicated are those only which
furnish the article in its natural season ; but as win-
ter asparagus, like winter roses, takes an increased
value from its rarity, it remains to say something of
the method technically called forcing-. The first step
in this process is to procure a supply of three-year
old plants (for none else are fit for the purpose),
and the next to have a hotbed of proper tempera-
ture ready to receive them. You now trench its
surface lengthwise, and by drawing the earth to the
side of each trench, you form ridges, against which
you set the roots, at the distance of two inches apart,
the buds upright, and the fingers spread as directed
in method second. They are then to be covered

* It has been lately asserted, and with sufficient confidence,
that a pickle of salt and water, of the ordinary strength for pre-
serving meat, may be very usefully applied to asparagus beds in
the spring. The effects ascribed to it are its stimulating power
upon the crop, and its tendency to destroy the seeds of weeds
and of insects lying near the surface. Experiments on this
subject should be multiplied, and with pickles differing in strength
and quantity.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 163

with mould, and the glasses to be replaced on the
frames, and, when the buds begin to show them-
selves, they must have a second and similar cover-
ing.

; The ventilation, first of the bed, and subsequently
of the plants, has distinct rules, requiring the strict-
est observance. With regard to the former, the gen-
eral direction is, to give to the bed as much air as
possible, without permitting the earth to be either
frozen or chilled ; with regard to the latter, so soon
as the buds show themselves through the second
covering of mould, ventilate every day, and through-
out the day if the weather be good ; but during the
night, whatever may be the state of the weather,
keep your glasses down, and constantly covered
with straw matting.

Though we have thus far taken for granted that
the temperature of the hotbed is a proper one, still, as
accidents sometimes occur in that respect, and of a
character and with effects directly opposite to each
other, it may not be amiss to remark that, for ten
days after the roots are put down, the degree of
heat in the bed must be carefully watched, lest it
be too great ; and, if found to be so, holes must be
immediately bored, with a stake of two or three
inches diameter, into the fermenting mass from
without, and other similar holes into the earth di-
rectly below the roots ; and when, by these means,
the heat is sufficiently moderated, the holes are to
be carefully stopped. On the other hand, should
the heat be found insufficient or to decline too rap-
idly, a moment must not be lost in giving a new
lining of fresh and hot dung to the sides of the bed.
The common method of ascertaining the degree of
heat in these cases, is to run down a sharp-pointed
stick between the roots, and, if it become suddenly
and greatly heated, or heated in a small degree, or
not at ail, the conclusion is drawn accordingly. For
ourselves, we have found the finger a very safe ther-

164 GARDENING.

mometer, and having this advantage over any other,
that it is sure to be always at hand.

In four weeks the plants will be fit for use, and,
if well managed, will give buds for three weeks to
come. But it may be useful to notice, that the
mode of taking these differs from that used for
plants raised in the natural way. If you employ a
knife, you cannot fail to destroy many young plants
(on account of the closeness with which they stand
to each other) ; but the mode by which you do least
mischief is to thrust your finger down along side
of the bud. and break it off at the root.

We shall close this article with the description
of a method practised in France, which will prob-
ably be new to most of our readers, and which, we
think, may be usefully employed as part of the hot-
bed method just described. We quote from the
N. Cours d'Agriculture, art. Asperge. " M. Sequen,
of Baz-Sur-le-Seine, introduces the bud, the day it
shows itself, into the neck of a broken or cracked
bottle, through which it alternately mounts and de-
scends until it completely fills the whole cavity.
One of these plants is sufficient for a dish, weighs
14 oz., and is as tender and well flavoured as the
buds taken in the ordinary way. The neck of the
inverted bottle is pressed into the earth as far as it
will go, and other means employed to keep it up-
right ; a condition necessary to the success of the
experiment."

The BEAN (Faba), a genus of plants according to
Tournefort and Jessieu, and a species [of Vicia] ac-
cording to Linna3us and other botanists. Olivier
found it growing spontaneously in Persia, and con-
siders it a native of that, or of some neighbouring
part of Asia.

The ancients had many ridiculous prejudices in
relation to this vegetable. In Egypt, to look at
it was an act of uncleanness. In Greece, Pythag
eras forbade its use ; and at Rome, the Flamen Di

KITCHEN GARDEN. 165

alis was not permitted to name it. This proscrip-
tion is differently accounted for by different writers.
Clemens Alexandrinus ascribes it to a supposed
property in the bean to create barrenness in animals ;
and Theophrastus superadds a similar property in re-
lation to vegetables ; while Cicero accounts for it by
alleging that it " disturbed the mind, and obscured
the faculty of divination by dreams." It has, how-
ever, surmounted all these prejudices, and has long
been in general use, either in a green or dry state, in
every part of the world.

Of the species we have mentioned, the horsebean
is supposed to be the type, and has many varieties,
known in different places by different names, as the
Julian, the Mazagan, the Toker, the Sandwich, the
Spanish, the green Genoa, and the Windsor. Of the
Kidney bean (the Phaseolus Vulgaris), the varieties
are still more multiplied, as they alter, when planted
near each other, by reciprocal fecundation. La
Buriays, in his La Quintanie, enumerates sixty, and
M. Bosc says that, in the garden of M. Gavoty de
Resthe, he had seen four hundred.*

But, however multiplied the races, the character
and habits of the plants continue to be nearly the
same. They all affect a strong, substantial, moist
soil, well dug and abundantly manured ; and the en-
emies they most dread are late and frosty springs,
and early and hot summers. These circumstances
cannot fail to attract the attention of the cultivator,
and the more so as they involve a practical contra-
diction ; for as the one invites to late planting, so
the other would appear to forbid it. The only
remedy, in this case, is to regulate our labours, not
by the almanac, but by the temperature of the
weather and the earth, which will never deceive us.
When these begin to favour vegetation, and not be-
fore, dig and manure your ground thoroughly, and

*.N. Cours d' Agriculture, art. Feve.

166 GARDENING.

(after smoothing the surface and forming the drills)
begin by planting the Toker, broad Spanish, and
Windsor, and subsequently the Mazagan, early Lis-
bon, long pod, white blossom, and green Genoa, the
former four inches apart in the rows, and the latter
half that distance. The effect of this management
will be to secure a succession of fruit, according to
the different degrees of precocity in the plants ; and
to make the varieties which bear cold the best the
first, and those which are least injured by heat the
last in the series.

The kidney-bean, being more sensible of cold
and wet weather than the preceding species, must
be planted later. Its varieties are divided into two
races; the climbing and the dwarf (scandens et
thumilis), the former requiring poles to support
them, the other requiring no support. Of the first
of these races, the most approved are, the Prague,
the Prudhome, the altogether-yellow, and the red ;
and of the second, the Dutch, the Laon, the yellow,
and the Swiss.* After the preparatory labour in-
dicated above, the climbers should be planted in
groups (four or five together), with a pole, well fixed
in the earth, for them to mount upon ; while the
dwarfs should be placed in rows, at the distance of
two or three inches from each other, and carefully
covered. Squares of these (the dwarfs) may be
planted from April till August, according to the
taste and convenience of the cultivator.

The last species we shall mention and the latest
to be sown, is the Lima bean, which ought not to
be hazarded before the frosts are completely over,
and then committed only to a rich, warm, and well-
laboured soil. It is usually and best cultivated
(like all other climbers) in what gardeners call hills,
composed of rich mould, and separated six feet from

* A new variety of climbers, called the Horticultural bean,
has lately come into notice, much admired for its rich flavour
and prolific properties.— J, B.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 167

each other. Four or five beans, and two or three
stout poles nine or ten feet in length, are sufficient
for each hill. When the beans begin to run they
should be trained to mount the poles, for it is only
by doing so that they will receive that degree of
air and of sunshine which is necessary to the pro-
duction of their fruit.*

Our remarks thus far have been confined, or
nearly so, to the sowing of the bean. Those which
follow apply to its management after that work is
over, and are common to the labours necessary or
useful to the whole family. When the plant has
attained the length of three or four inches, the earth
about its roots should be loosened with the hoe, and
a fresh portion of it drawn up to the stem. The
rule for subsequent labours is to hoe again when
the flowers begin to show themselves, and a third
time about a month after the second hoeing; but
the better practice is to take as our guide, in this
respect, not the condition of the plant, but that of
the soil and of the weather ; and, whenever the latter
is dry and hot, or the former hard, or baked, or in-
fested with weeds, repeat the hoeing ; remember-
ing that it is not easy to commit ahy excess in this
way ; and, in general, that the oftener the work is
repeated (unless the weather be wet), the finer and
more abundant will be the crop.

When the bean is sufficiently in blossom (which
is taken for granted as soon as the lower or first
formed pods begin to swell), it is a practice not un-
common to pinch off the tops of the vines; the ob-
ject of which is to prevent the plant from having
more pods than it can bring to perfection, and to
render better those which are left, by giving to them
a nutriment which would have otherwise gone to

* The Carolina bean is but a variety of the Lima, and is
therefore to be managed in the same way, with the exception
that, being less in volume, four feet between the hills give suf-
ficient room for it.

168 GARDENING.

the support of a useless portion of stem. But of
this practice, and of the theory on which it is found-
ed, we may be permitted to doubt, because it does
not appear to follow that, when the growth of a
plant is checked or suspended in one direction, it
will not exert itself in another as injuriously to the
crop as any increased length of stem would have
done. Every day's experience shows that, if we
pollard an apple-tree, we indeed stop its growth up-
ward, but that, instead of sending its surplus juices
to the support and enlargement of the fruit (as this
practice supposes), it hastens to throw out lateral
stems or suckers, which give no fruit whatever.
Our creed therefore is, that in the vegetable econ-
omy, certain juices go to the production of stem,
and certain others, more elaborated and of a differ-
ent quality, to that of flowers and fruits ; and that,
whether desirable or not, the art of giving to either
a destination different from what nature intended, is
yet to be discovered.

The bean, of every species or variety, is exempt,
as we believe, from the depredations of insects ; but,
left for seed or winter use, it often suffers from
very dry or very wet weather ; the one diminishing
the bulk, and hardening and shrivelling the skin ; the
other rotting the bean, and, when it does least mis-
chief, altering its flavour. For the former, frequent
watering may be a cure, but for the latter there is
perhaps no remedy.

In the neighbourhood of cities, the dwarf varieties
are often cultivated in hotbeds, but the product is
always of a very inferior kind ; for, of the whole
catalogue of table vegetables, none is more apt to
take a disagreeable flavour from hot and fermented
dung (which is the basis of these beds) than the
bean; Of this process, therefore, we only say, that
it differs in nothing from that already described for
forcing asparagus.*

* N, C. d'Agriculture, art. Feve.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 169

The BEET (Beta) is of the family of the Cheno-
podees, and contains five species, two of which, the
Beta Cycla and Beta Hortensis, are objects of gar-
den culture. The former is what the English call
the Maratime beet, and the French the Poiree.
Some botanists have regarded this as the type of the
genus, while others consider it a product of cultiva-
tion. Its varieties are two, the tall and the Dutch,
which are used for the same purposes ; the leaves
as salad, or as an ingredient in soups, either alone
or mixed with sorrel ; and the roots as food for cat-
tle, and particularly for hogs.

Of the second species there are five varieties,
which take their names from their colour or size ;
the yellow, the white, the large red, the small
red, and the white with red veins. It is to this
last variety that M. Commeril has given the whim-
sical name of Scarcity, though its products per
acre is greater than that of any other garden vege-
table.*

Like all other garden plants, the beet is nutritive
in proportion to the saccharine matter it contains.
Of the varieties we have named, the yellow has the
most, and the white veined with red the least of
this matter. Yet the experiments of M. Deyeux
prove that colour has less to do with this produc-
tion than culture. " Two beds," says he, " of sim-
ilar soil, and laboured alike, were sown with beet-
seed of the same variety. One of these was high-
ly manured with well-rotted dung, the other had no
manure of any kind applied to it. The beets grown
in the former were large, but, on analysis, yielded
no saccharine matter, while those grown on the
latter gave the ordinary quantity of sugar."

Margraff f was the first to extract from the beet

* See Arthur Young on the product of the beet, and a me-
moir of M. d'Aughbigny, in the 16th volume of the Transac-
tions of the Agricultural Society of the Seine.

t About a century ago.

P

170 GARDENING.

a marketable sugar, or what is called the sugar of
commerce. Achard followed in the same track,
and with a success that led him to believe that it
might be afforded at the low price of five or six
sous the pound ; but later experiments, more care-
fully and scientifically made, under the direction of
the French Institute, demonstrate that this product
can never come into competition with sugar made
from the cane.*f The saccharine mucus in which
it abounds, and the disposition it has to vinous fer-
mentation, has, however, long since suggested an-
other employment of it, that of making brandy;
and hence it is, that in countries in which the
vine does not prosper (as in the north of Germa-
ny), great quantities of it are distilled into an ardent
spirit.

The cultivation of the beet, whatever be its spe-
cies or variety, is the same. Having prepared (by
a thorough digging) a square of loose, rich, and deep
soilj (which has been well manured the preceding
fall), divide it into beds of four feet width ; score

* It may not be amiss to mention here the process for ma-
king sugar from the beet, ascribed to Professor Gottling, and
detailed in the 1 6th volume of the Bibtiotheque Brittanique. " To
disengage the saccharine matter from the rnucus, which pre-
vents it from crystallizing, cut the roots into long slices, and as
thin as possible, and dry them on tiles in a stove. When thor-
oughly dry, put them for some hours in a small quantity of cold
water. The sugar will pass from the beet to the water before
the slices are softened, and may be again separated from it (the
water) by evaporation and crystallization. If we attempt to dry
the beet in the open air, many of them will rot ; and if you put
them in an oven, you run the risk of baking them. The residu-
um which this process leaves is useful for cattle, poultry, &c."

t This prediction has not been verified ; for in France beet
sugar has come into serious competition with that made from
cane, in consequence of the manufacturing process being greatly
improved and simplified, and the whole of the saccharine mat-
ter being now extracted from the roots. — J. B.

t Yet Mr. Cobbett recommends sowing beet-seed in the fall,
like parsnips, and says the frost cannot injure them !

KITCHEN GARDEN. 171

these lengthwise about an inch and a half deep, and
one foot asunder ; drop the seeds* into these rows
thinly, and draw over them a light covering of the
surface soil, trodden down with the foot.

As the beet is easily affected by frost, the plant-
ing of the main crop should be delayed till the mid-
dle of May. A month after, or so soon as the
plants have put out three or four leaves, thin the
rows so as to leave the young beets at the distance
of twelve or fourteen inches apart ; and if there be
chasms in the rows, as will sometimes happen from
bad seed or unskilful sowing, fill these up with the
surplus plants. The intervals between the rows
should at the same time be thoroughly cleaned from
weeds, and the oftener this operation is performed
and the ground stirred during the whole course of
vegetation in the plant, the larger will be the pro-
duct and the better its quality. In dry weather,
and during the infancy of the plant, watering is in-
dispensable.

Some writers have proposed raising the beet in
seedbeds and transplanting it ; but experience for-
bids this practice, as the fact is well established
that, other things being equal, the transplanted beet
is never so fine as that which has been left undis-
turbed ; a remark, by-the-way, which applies gen-
erally, perhaps universally, to tap-rooted plants.

As soon as vegetation is over, which always oc-
curs after the first hard frost, take up the plants,
expose them a day or two to the air to evaporate

* The same author attributes the forking of beets, not to
stones or clods, as is generally done, but to working and ma-
nuring the ground around their roots, which, according to his
theory, attracts one side of the root to the right and the other
to the left, and never stops till it gives the plant two legs to stand
upon instead of one. How happens it, then, that in deep, rich,
loose soils, whatever be the labour, there is no forking, and that
in stony or cloddy ground, though little worked, there is so
much of it ? This subject will be found fully discussed in the
N. C. d'Agriculture, art. Beterave.

^72 GARDENING.

their surplus moisture, and then house them care-
fully. This is best done by putting them in layers
in a dry cellar, and interposing between them a
slight covering of sand.

A few of the largest and finest roots should be
kept for seed. Twenty of them, set out in the
spring and occasionally laboured, will give nearly
a bushel of seed.

THE CABBAGE (Brasica) is a genus of plants con-
taining several species, of which the cabbage, prop-
erly so called, and two or three others, are objects
of garden culture. It is only of the first (to which
botanists have given the name of Brasica Oleracea)
and its varieties that we mean to speak at present,
and of these there are more than fifty ;* some of
which differ so entirely from others as to have puz-
zled the savans in finding for them any common
character.! To extenuate, if not to extinguish, this
reproach to science, M. Duchesne has ingeniously
divided them into six races, distinguished by the
parts which severally render them objects of culti-
vation, viz. :

The Oleracea, cultivated for the seed, which gives
an oil ;

The Viridis, for its open and upright long and
broad leaves ;

The Capitata, for its leaves, in a round or flat and
compact form, called a head;

* When Brussonnet was at the head of the great national
garden at Altfort, in France, he had collected more than fifty
of these varieties.

t " Le chou, dont les varietes sont si nombreuses (j'en ai vu
cultiver simultanement plus de cinquante) et si differentes les
unes des autres, qu'il est impossible de leur assigner un charac-
tere commun, est une plante annuelle originaire des bords de la
mer. "— PARME NTIER.

The cabbage, of which the varieties are so numerous (I have
seen more than fifty different kinds cultivated together), and so
unlike each other that it is impossible to ascribe to them a com-
mon character, is an annual plant, originally growing on the
borders of the sea.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 173

The Coliflora, for its branches, buds, and flowers ;

The Rapa-Brasica, for its root ; and

The Napus-Brasica, for its stem.

With the first and last of these varieties we have
nothing to do, as they belong exclusively to field
culture. We begin, therefore, with

The Green, of which there are many sub-varieties,
called by different names, as borecole, Jerusalem
kale, Scotch kale, Brussels sprouts, Cavalier, &c.,
&c.. some of which are red and others green, some
curled and others smooth, but agreeing in two cir-
cumstances : the open erect leaf, and a power of
resisting frost much beyond that of any other vari-
ety of the family. It is this last circumstance that
particularly recommends it ; for a frost that would
be destructive of head cabbage will make kale
better. This fact determines its use in garden cul-
ture, which is always for winter and spring greens.

Head cabbage, like the preceding, is subdivided
into races, distinguished from each other by the
smoothness or curl of the leaf, and by the colour
of the flower. Of the smooth-leafed and yellow-
flowered race, the most approved varieties are the
early dwarf, the early York, the early Bonneuil,
the white Alsace, the red cabbage, and the Stras-
burg or Quintal.* Of the curled sort, the early
Milan, the Milan taper, the golden, and the green
dwarf Savoy, are the best.

The Cauliflower. — The organization of this race
differs considerably from those we have mentioned.
In them the juices are principally determined to the
leaves, whereas in this they are directed to the ped-
uncles, producing a mass of branches and buds
equally tender and delicate. Of this race there are

* In the cultivation of the cabbage (and in this they appear
to 'have been very successful), the Romans particularly aimed
at giving to the plant great size. " Caule in tantum saginato,
ut pauperie mensa non capiat," says Pliny. " The cabbage of
euch size that the dish would not hqjd it."
P 2

174 GARDENING.

two varieties : the cauliflower proper and the broc-
coli, each of which has its sub-varieties. Those
of the former are the hard (called also the English
cauliflower) and the tender. The first, being occa-
sionally very productive, would be exclusively cul-
tivated, did it succeed equally well at all times and
in all places ; but its capriciousness makes the cul-
tivation of the second sort proper, because, though
this may sometimes give little, it will always give
something. The sub-varieties of the broccoli are
two, the common and the Maltese? distinguishable
only by the number, the bulk, and the colour of the
flowers. f

Turnip Cabbage. — Like the preceding, this has its
peculiarities ; for, after attaining its ordinary height,
the leaf falls, and the stem swells to a circumfer-
ence of many inches, enclosing a succulent, nutri-
tious, and agreeable matter, for the sake of which
the plant is cultivated. {

Races so different in appearance and in the laws
which govern them, may be supposed to require
different kinds and degrees of culture : but what of
this is common to all forms not only the larger, but
by much the most essential part of the treatment.
We shall, therefore, speak first of this, and then of
the less important particulars in which their man-
agement may differ.

Every variety of cabbage grows best in a strong,
rich, substantial soil, inclining rather to clay than
to sand ; but will grow in any soil if it be thoroughly
worked and abundantly manured with well-rotted
dung. As soon, therefore, as the ground designed
for the crop has been thus prepared, and offers signs
of spontaneous vegetation, the planting of early cab-

* Now generally denominated " Kohl-rabbi," or " turnip-root-
ed cabbage." — J. B.

t The common terms now given to the broccoli by gardeners
are the White and Red Cape.— J. B.

% Some of the bulbs get to be twenty-three inches in circumfer-
ence, and weigh twelve pounds." — M'Mahon, page 317.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 175

bages should begin. But without plants this cannot
be done, and these are only to be had from a hotbed
prepared in January or February (as for asparagus),
and sown with the seeds of cauliflowers, of broc-
coli, and of the early sorts of the head cabbage.*
When the plants are two or three inches high, they
should be removed to another hotbed of lower tem-
perature and larger surface, where they should re-
main until transferred to the open air, and to the
bed where they are permanently to stand. The
time for doing this (as already indicated) is when
the earth, by its spontaneous productions, discovers
the warmth necessary for vegetation. To do it ear-
lier would be to risk your plants, and not to do it
now would be to fail in your intention of having
early cabbages. The time of this last transplant-
ing is also that for forming seedbeds in the open
air for your winter supply.f As in the former case,
the plants, when two or three inches high, must be
removed to beds prepared for them, and thence, be-
tween the 1st and 20th of June, be transferred to
their permanent beds. No vegetable bears trans-
planting better than the cabbage. The advantages
resulting from it are shorter and stouter stems and
larger heads, which rarely burst or run to seed.J

The act of planting should be performed care-
fully. Holes of sufficient depth and width should
be dibbled, for the smaller sorts of cabbages at the
distance of two feet and a half, and for the larger
sorts of three feet every way. In these the plants
should be placed up to their lower leaves,^ and the

* M'Mahon advises sowing the seeds of the early sorts in
September, in the open air, transplanting them to hotbeds in
November, and pricking them out in the spring.

f We have found that from the 25th to the 28th May is early
enough to sow winter cabbages and broccoli. If sown earlier,
they mature too early, and many of the heads of the cabbage
break open before winter, and the broccoli runs to seed and
waste unless there be a market at hand. — J. B.

J See Millar, Beriays, M'Mahon, &c., &c.

$ The turnip cabbage is an exception to this rule. The
earth must only be brought to the bulb.

176 GARDENING.

earth brought closely about the roots, which is best
done by pushing down the dibbler at a small angle
with the plant, and then bringing it up to it with a
jerk. This leaves no chambering (as gardeners call
it), no vacancy between the plant and the soil.

The state of the weather when these operations
are performed is not a matter of indifference, and
has been a subject of controversy; some recom-
mending dry weather, others wet. As in many
other disputed cases, the truth lies between them ;
that is, moist weather, which is neither dry nor
wet, and is precisely that which is best for putting
out cabbages, or any other vegetable. We ought
not, however, to wait long for even this most fa-
vourable state of the atmosphere, since, with a little
labour, we have the means of making up for its
absence. If the weather be dry, water green and
head cabbage plants once a day; and cauliflower,
broccoli, and turnip cabbage plants twice a day,
till they have taken root. Without a good deal of
water, the last is apt to become stringy and even
ligneous ; and in Spain and Italy, where cauliflow-
ers and broccoli are finest, they are generally plant-
ed in trenches, on the very margin of little rivulets,
natural or artificial.

The three last-mentioned varieties require more
of manure and labour, as well as of water, than the
others ; and in this circumstance consists the prin-
cipal difference of treatment in the cultivation of
them. The most successful method with the cau-
liflower race is to place them in trenches two feet
and a half from each other, and on layers of equal
parts of earth and cow-dung thoroughly mixed to-
gether. Whenever weeds encroach upon these, let
them be well hoed ; and, whenever hoed, let fresh
earth be brought up to the plants. For head cab-
bage, hoeing and earthing once a month is the ordi-
nary rule.*

* Once or twice a week is preferable. — J. B.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 177

The modes of preserving these varieties through
the winter are also somewhat different. The open-
leaved sorts may be left where they have grown,*
and used as wanted. Head cabbage may be set in
cellars, or buried in holes or trenches in the gar-
den, and covered with straw and earth; cauliflow-
ers must be housed in cellars or barns, and hung up
by their roots ; and broccoli, which does not bear
this treatment, may be left in the garden,! and man-
aged in the way last suggested for head cabbage.
The stalks of the more common species are worth
preserving ; and, when set out in the spring, give
sprouts,! which furnish an excellent and well-timed
article for the table.

A few of the best plants of each variety should
be kept for seed ; and, in setting them out, care
must be taken to keep them as far apart as possible.

THE CARROT (Daucus). — This genus comprehends
several species, the principal of which is the Dau-
cus Carota. Of this there are three varieties, the
white, the orange or yellow, and the red : having
perhaps different qualities in different soils and cli-
mates, as we find the white preferred in Italy, the
yellow in France, and the red in England. Abbe
Rozier says of the white variety, that " it is less
injured by humidity than the others;" which, as is
justly remarked by the compilers of the Cours d' Ag-
riculture, would be a good reason why it should be
preferred in England, or in some of the northern or
western provinces of France, but a very bad one

* Even the open-leaved sorts are better to be buried in trench-
es. A hard winter will utterly destroy them in the open ground.
— J. B.

| In France, the winter management of the broccoli is ex-
actly that of the artichoke. See Parmentier and the Phytolo-
gie Uriiverselle of Jolyclerc.

J It has been suggested that cabbage sprouts, taken off like
suckers from artichokes, and planted, will give good heads, and
sooner than they can otherwise be obtained ; but of this we
have ourselves no experience.

178 GARDENING.

why a preference should be given to it in Italy,
where the climate is remarkably dry. Many wri-
ters speak of a fourth variety, the round or turnip-
rooted carrot of Holland ; but M. Thouin considers
this form of root as a mere imperfection in the
plant, arising from a stiff subsoil, which prevents
its penetrating into the earth.

The carrot, like the beet, contains much saccha-
rine matter, but of a quality less valuable, as it can-
not be made to crystallize. An extract may, how-
ever, be taken from it, which forms no bad substi-
tute for honey.

The culture of the carrot does not differ at all
from that of the beet. The seeds (from their long
and hairy covering) are apt to catch and hold fast to
each other ; and should therefore be well rubbed
with sand, and separated before they are sown. If
the plants come up too closely, thin them, leaving
twelve or fourteen inches between them. They
will be the finer, not only from the increased space
to grow in, but from the greater room which such
space affords for the hoe or the hook.* They are
taken up at the same period as beets, and, like them,
are preserved through the winter in cellars or root-
houses made for the purpose.

A few of the roots put out in the spring, when
the frosts are over, will give abundance of seed.

CELERY (Apium Graveolens). — Of this there are two
species, the branching and the turnip-rooted. Some
botanists have conjectured that the latter (which is
sometimes called Celeriac) was only a variety of
the former; but Millar points out distinct character-
istics, and asserts that, in the course of many years

* M.Trolli advises, for the last weeding, the employment of a
hook of two teeth, 15 or 16 inches long. He says that, weeded by
this instrument, the carrots are remarkably improved. As soon
as the tops are fully out, no farther weeding is necessary, as
these will suffocate everything growing under them, and pre-
serve by their shade the necessary humidity in the soil.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 179

cultivation, these have never disappeared. The
roots of the one are short and thick, and, in the
process of vegetation, throw up tall and erect
branches ; while those of the other have the shape,
and, in favourable situations, the size of a turnip.
The leaves of this last species are shorter than those
of the other, and its top, instead of rising upright,
spreads horizontally. The essential property, which
renders the plant an object of cultivation, is its fla-
vour, which is alike in both species, and existing in
all their parts, roots, branches, leaves, and seeds.
Of each species there are several varieties, taking
their names from colour and organization ; as the
red, the solid, the hollow, &c., modifications, as we
believe, entirely of culture.

Celery is said to be a native of the marshes of
Italy ; a fact which sufficiently indicates the warmth
and moisture necessary for its proper treatment
here. Sown in the spring and in the open air, the
seeds, like those of all the other parsleys, will be
slow in germinating ; whence it follows that, to have
early plants, we must resort to the aid of artificial
heat. A hotbed, such as that mentioned under the
head of asparagus, will supply a whole neighbour-
hood ; but one of cheaper form may be found in
a couple of flower-pots of the larger size, filled with
good soil, and kept in a room moderately warmed
during cold weather. If the apartment has a win-
dow of southern or eastern aspect, the pots should
be placed before it, so as to give them light and air
as well as heat. With the aid of water a little
warmed, the seeds sown in the pots will show them-
selves in a fortnight ; and in four weeks more will
be fit to set out in the garden. The success of the
experiment thus far will, however, greatly depend
on the sowing ; for, if this has been done with a
heavy hand, your plants will come up tall, and feeble,
and diseased ; whereas, if sparsely sown, they will
rjse strong^ healthy, and verdant, and will J^ear the

180 GARDENING.

subsequent transplanting with little, if any, injury,
As soon as the frosts are over, this last operation
begins ; and to meet it, a trench or trenches, accord-
ing to the quantity of the article required, must be
cut from east to west, remembering to throw the
displaced earth on your right hand, and in such way
as to form an additional protection against the north
wind. On the bottom of the trench must be placed
a layer of well-rotted dung, wood ashes, arid garden-
mould, thoroughly incorporated, and on the surface
of this set your plants (trimmed down to about six
inches in length), at the distance of six or eight
inches from each other. Care must be taken to fix
the roots, and to keep the young branches closely
together, the better to prevent any portions of earth
from lodging between them ; after which, they must
be watered frequently and abundantly.* The next
business is to earth them. Some of the French
horticulturists direct this to be done at a single op-
eration, and not till after the plant has acquired its
full size ; but the more approved method is to do it
gradually and at different times. The objects to be
obtained by this operation are two : 1st, to alter the
colour of the plant from green to white ; and, 2d, to
render it more tender, sweet, and succulent, by
shutting out light and heat, and preventing dryness,
which give it an acrid taste, and render its fibres
tough and hard, and even woody.

* In planting out celery, as well as cabbages and other plants,
we have successfully adopted Cobbett's plan of transplanting in
fair warm days, and, if the ground be dry, it is not the worse.
The plants are carefully taken up, well grouted, that is, their
roots dipped in mud of the consistence of porridge, planted in
the after part of the day, and watered at evening. By the grout
they become saturated with moisture, and, placed in a warm
soil, they in a few hours send forth their radicles, revive and
grow. By transplanting in this manner we have seldom found
it necessary to water a second time ; and the plants rarely fail
to obtain an early and good growth, without ever being covered
to protect them from the sun. We prefer transplanting this way
in a clear hot day, to doing it i& a wet and cool one.^-J. B.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 181

The Abbe Rozier has suggested that the whole
labour, delay, and risk which unavoidably attend
transplanting, might be saved by preparing trenches
as above described, and sowing the seeds in them
directly ; but though obviously the best method in
climates of the south, which admit sowing in Feb-
ruary, it is by no means clear that it would be
equally fitted tor ours, where culture in the open
air does not begin till April. Coming, however,
from so high an authority, the plan may be worthy
of an experiment; and, if even successful in giving a
crop for winter use, it would no doubt tend to sim-
plify and abridge our labours.

We need scarcely remark, that it is of the culture
of the branching or upright celery that we have been
thus far speaking, as the turnip-rooted sort requires
neither trenching nor earthing. Both species are
preserved through the winter in the same way,
either by covering the plants where they grow with
boards and stable litter, or by setting the roots in
sand, in the corner of a dark and moderately warm
roothouse or cellar. Plants which have been
kept in the former way are the fittest for giving
seed, and should be preferred for that purpose.
When this (the seed) is ripe, it separates easily
from the chaff, and should then be rubbed out by
the hand, put in paper bags, and hung up in a dry
and ventilated room for future use.

SUCCORY (Cichorium). — But two species of this
plant are cultivated in gardens, the Intybus and the
Endivia; the one for medicinal purposes, and the
other for the uses of the kitchen. Of the last, which
alone falls within the scope of our work, there are
several varieties, the best of which are the endive,
properly so called, the Celestine, and the always-
white. The first of these is the most prolific, and
the second the most tender and fittest for salads.

In stiff clays and poor sands succory is a feeble
plant ; in dry soils it becomes tough and disagreea-

182 GARDENING.

bly bitter; and in ground manured with fermenting
dung, or too abundantly, its flavour is both altered
and degraded. The soil most favourable to it is a
light, and fresh, and moist loam, thoroughly dug,
moderately manured, and copiously watered. This
last circumstance is not only essential to its germi-
nation and development, but is the best remedy
against the disposition, always shown by the plant
in hot weather, to run into seed. An auxiliary
means to secure this end is to tie up the heads so as
to give them the form of a cone, which, by-the-
way, is the method also employed for bleaching the
plant. This is done by two tyings (one near the
roots of the leaves, the other near the tops or
points), and which should be made in succession,
and at the distance of a few days from each other.

The seeds of this plant are generally and best
sown in small beds. When the plants attain the
height of three inches, transfer them to the place
where they are to stand, and set them in rows at
the distance of ten or twelve inches apart. Keep
them free from weeds, water them frequently, and,
when full grown, tie up the heads, or cover them
with earthen pots reversed. The first and the last
crops (those of spring and autumn) are best, but,
with proper care, good ones may be had at midsum-
mer ; in this case, however, your plantation must
have a northern exposition. After tying, keep the
heads erect, for such as lean are apt to burst.

The green curled endive is the best for fall plant-
ing, being the hardiest of all the different races.
The winter management of this plant does not dif-
fer from that of celery.

CORN (Zea). — This is a native of America, was
cultivated from time immemorial by the aborigines,
and was introduced into Europe about three centu-
ries ago. After a cultivation so long continued and
so general, the great number of varieties it now pre-
sents cannot be thought extraordinary. These are

KITCHEN GARDEN. 183

distinguished from each other by the colour or the
size of the grain, the number of rows on the cob,
the length of time they respectively take in ripen-
ing, and the degree of hardness acquired by them.
Some are white and others black, some yellow and
others brown, red, or violet, &c. Some have cobs
twelve inches long, studded with twelve rows of
large grains, while others have only six rows on a
cob three inches long, and covered with grains
even smaller than peppercorns. Some are five
months in ripening, while others ripen in forty
days; and, again, some are hard and even flinty,
while others are soft and succulent, and cannot be
long preserved but by means of artificial heat. It
so happens that, of this great variety, the sorts least
valuable in commerce are those most sought after
in garden culture, viz., the small, from its ripening
soon, and the soft, from its greater tenderness and
sweetness. It is, therefore, of these last varieties
only that we shall speak.

Observation has shown that, in raising Indian
corn, something is gained, 1st, by taking your seed
from plants which have each ripened two or more
ears ; 2d, by rejecting the grains growing on either
extremity of the ears, and employing only the cen-
tral grains ; and, 3d, by steeping these in a solution
of nitre for twenty-four hours before sowing. With
regard to this operation (sowing), one of two modes
may be adopted ; either score your ground (which
we take for granted has been well dug and manu-
red) at the distance of three feet and a half both
ways, and plant at the points of intersection (three
grains at each), or score only one way (east and
west), at the distance of four feet, and plant in the
rows single grains eight or ten inches from each
other. Hoe every ten days after the corn shows
itself till it begins to set, and at each hoeing draw
;up a little earth round the roots of the plants ; this
is what is called hilling, and is a necessary part

184 GARDENING.

of the treatment. Pulverized gypsum, applied in
small quantities to the hills at the first and second
hoeings, is found to be useful. The same remark
may be made of wood ashes, used in the same way,
but in larger quantity. To supply seeds for the
next year, cut off the tops of a few of the best
plants the moment the ears fill.* The effect of
this is to let in the air and sun on the ears, and, at
the same time, to concentrate in these the remaining
juices of the plant.

THE WATER CRESS. — There are two plants of this
name, belonging to different genera ; the Cardamine,
of the Cruciform, and the Hortensis, of the Passerage
genus ; the first includes two useful species : the
water cress, and the cress of the meadows; the
other has several varieties, as the golden, the cress
of Brazil, that of India, that of Mexico, that of Para,
all better than the parent plant, and between which
there appears to be but little choice. The qualities
and uses of both kinds are the same ; their taste is
hot and piquant, and they are principally employed
in the composition of salads. Lasteyrie tells us
that in Germany great pains are taken to propagate
the water cress, and gives the following account of
their mode of doing it : " The water (says he) most
favourable for its production is that in which it grows
naturally, and which in winter preserves heat enough
to prevent it from freezing. The situation on which
to form a cress plantation ought to have a little slope
or inclination ; because water, in a state of repose,
alters the flavour of the plant. Having chosen the
place, it is formed into heights and hollows alter-
nately ; the latter are destined for the cresses, and
the former for the culture of other plants. The
size of the hollows is made to depend on the quan-
tity of water you can bring into them, and the de-

* Decidedly a bad practice. Cut up the whole stock, or
leave the whole to mature the seed. Either mode is better than
topping.— J. B.

KITCHEN GARDEN, 185

tnand for the article to be raised. If the soil of the
hollows is not sufficiently rich, better earth must be
brought to amend it ; and, if the bottom be marshy,
you throw over it some inches of sand. Your next
step is to cover it with water for some hours, after
which you drain and sow, or plant. At the end of
a few days you let in the water and drain as before,
and continue these processes until the cresses ap-
pear, if sown, or until they have taken root, if plant-
ed. The quantity of water let in is always to be
regulated by the growth of the plant ; for, though it
cannot live but in water, it will not bear to be long
covered with it. Planting is always surer than sow-
ing, and is therefore preferred. The time for this is
either March or August. The distance between the
plants should not be less than ten or fifteen inches.
Moving the earth about their roots with the hoe,
from time to time, is useful ; but for the rest (hav-
ing once taken root), no farther care is necessary.
A cress plantation is in full bearing the second year,
and lasts a long time. When it begins to fail, it
may be renewed by taking off a foot of the surface
soil of the old beds, and replacing it with good and
fresh earth. In winter the beds are covered more
deeply with water, which protects the plant against
the frost."

The same writer informs us how they manage
their cress plantations near Paris. " Having there
(he says) no running water, they cultivate it in the
neighbourhood of wells, and water it every day.
The cress vegetates promptly, but becomes acrid in
its taste. They accordingly prefer sowing to plant-
ing, because, if cut when only six inches high, and
treated in all respects as an annual, it has least of
this pungency."

THE GARDEN CRESS requires a moist and well-la-
boured soil, and, if possible, a cool and shady situa-
tion. The north side of a wall or fence is its true
place in a garden, and, if frequently and abundantly
Q 2

186 GARDENING.

watered, it will there arrive at all the perfection of
which it is susceptible.

CUCUMBER (Cucumis). — This genus of plants in-
cludes many species, varying in foliage, and in the
size and shape of their fruit. The more common
and useful of these are the bouquet, or cluster cu-
cumber, and the white, which are best fitted for
frames ; the yellow and the parrot, which are most
robust, productive, and best flavoured, and the green,
which, being nearest the wild state, is the fittest for
pickling. In our climate, this plant is raised in every
description of soil, and with a small degree of labour.
The ground being dug and smoothed, line it into
squares of six feet. In the centre of each dig a
hole about fourteen inches deep ; fill this with well-
rotted dung, and sow on it five or six cucumber
seeds ;* cover these with mould, and, when they are
grown to have a rough leaf, select two for each hill,
and draw out the remainder. You have now to
choose between three methods of treating the plant,
each of which has many and warm advocates. 1st.
Permitting it to regulate itself with regard to the
production and the length of the stem; 2d. The
pinching system, which, by shortening the stem,
compels it to push lateral branches ; and, 3d. The
plan of Rozier, which, by burying the runner at
short distances, avoids the hazard of pinching or
cutting, and, at the same time, obtains new roots
from the buried joints. Of the three methods, the
last has, in our opinion, the preference; but, as
others may come to a different conclusion, we will
point out the time, the mode, and the effect of short-
ening the stem. Soon after the plant acquires a sec-
ond rough leaf, you will discover about the foot of
it a bud which, if left to itself, would become a run-
ner. This must be pinched off, taking care, howev-

* Twenty is a better number. Plants can be more readily
diminished than increased, and seeds cost little or nothing.— -J. B.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 187

er, not to wound the joint from which it proceeds.
The effect of this pinching will be the production of
side shoots, which in their turn must also be pinched
off, leaving only two eyes on each, destined to be-
come future runners, and so to be conducted that
they will not shade or crowd each other.

The sowing, of which we have here spoken, can-
not be safely made in our climate till the 10th of
May. For the fall and pickling crops, you must
sow the first or second week of July. The treat-
ment of these is in all respects like that prescribed
for the first crop in the open air, excepting that the
pinching part of it is altogether omitted, as at this
season the vigorous vegetation (which this opera-
tion is intended to correct) is much diminished.

It now remains to say a few words with regard to
early cucumbers. To obtain these we must have
recourse to artificial heat ; and with the less reluc-
tance, as, of all plants, the cucumber, is that with
which it best agrees. To this end, therefore, scoop
out as many large turnips as you propose to have
hills ; fill these with good garden mould ; sow in each
three or four seeds, and plunge them into a hotbed
(as described in the article Asparagus). When the
runners show themselves, spare them, or pinch
them, or bury them, as you may think best, and on
the 10th of May transfer them to the beds where
they are to stand. The advantage of the scooped
turnip as a seedbed over pots or vases, will now
appear, for, instead of the ordinary difficulty of sep-
arating the mass of earth and the "plant from the pot
which contained them, and without injury to either,
we reinter both pot and plant, and even find in the
one an additional nutriment for the other. The sub-
sequent treatment does not differ at all from that of
plants sown and cultivated in the open air.

A debate has long existed on the preference to be
given to old or to new seeds, and which, like many
others, appears to be interminable. The Abbe Ro-

188 GARDENING.

zier and his followers think that the most vigorous
plants, of all species and kinds, are the best ; and
accordingly prefer new seeds, because more likely
to produce such than old ones : while, on the other
hand, their opponents maintain that plants may have
too much vigour as well as too little ; and that,
whenever an excess of vigour exists, according to
all vegetable analogy, it shows itself in the produc-
tion of stems and leaves, and not in that of flowers
and fruits ; whence they conclude that old cucum-
ber seeds (like those of all the rest of the cucurbi-
taceae family) are better than new, because less vig-
orous. The best practical use to be made of this
controversy is to sow old seeds in the spring, when
vegetation is most powerful, and new ones in July,
when it begins to abate.

GARLIC (Allium). — A genus of plants found grow-
ing spontaneously in very different and even oppo-
site climates. Jollyclerc says it grows without
care in Sicily and in the south of France, and the
continuator of Cook's Journal informs us that it was
found in the open fields and forests of Kamschatka.
Its species are many. Lamarck mentions thirty-
nine, and Wildenow fifty-eight, the principal of
which are the onion, the leek, the eschalot, and the
cive.

The onion is the Allium Cepa of the botanists, and,
like other plants which have been long subjected to
cultivation, has many varieties, distinguished by-
colour, size, and taste, and one of them by organi-
zation (the Canadense), which carries its fruit on its
head in the place of flowers. Of these varieties
the red is the largest, but most acrid ; the pale red
and the yellow are less in size than the red, and
somewhat milder ; but the white (of Spain and
Florence), though the smallest, are the mildest, the
soonest fit for use, and the best for keeping. They
are eaten like apples, and without any wry faces.
On analysis, they are found to possess less of those

KITCHEN GARDEN. 189

elements (oil and sulphur) which give to the com-
mon onion its peculiar taste and smell. Light and
frequent waterings have the effect of diminishing
this odour.*

A rich moist sand is the soil most favourable to
the onion ; and " when to this," says Bosc, " we
can add a long and hot summer, their development
is prodigious. I have seen them a foot in diameter,
and have heard of others which were larger. But
itjj to the south of France, to Sicily, to the isles of
Greece, and particularly to Egypt, where we must
go to see the onion in its most improved state."
In clay or stony soils, or pure sand, the onion does
not prosper ; it becomes small and acrid, and expe-
rience shows that fermenting or half-rotted dung is
by no means favourable to it.

It is propagated either by the seed or by the
bulbs, f In the first case you sow in shallow drills,
twelve or fourteen inches apart, cover with mould,
and when the plants come up, thin them, so that
they may stand three or four inches from each oth-
er. The sooner this is done in the spring after the
earth has acquired a temperature favourable to ve-
getation, the better will be your crop. It only re-
mains to keep the earth loose and clean about the
roots, and, if the vegetation be too vigorous, to
break down the tops, so as to determine the juices
to the bulbs. In the other case you employ the
small and half-grown onion of the preceding fall/
instead of seed. In this consists all the difference
of the two modes. The Canadense variety is, we
believe, always managed in this way.

To preserve onions, of whatever variety, through
the winter, they are best formed into ropes (tied to
each other), and kept in a dry and moderately warm

* Cours d'Agriculture.

t The Tartars propagate them by cutting. They slit the bulb
downward, and leave to each cutting a portion of the fibrous
roots. Cours d'Agriculture.

I

190 GARDENING.

cellar. A few of the largest of these are set out in
the spring for seed ; and, when this is perfectly ripe,
the stems are cut and the seed left in the capsules
for use ; as experience shows that, preserved in
this way, it retains its germinating power much
longer than if threshed immediately after ripening.

The leek is the Allium Porrum of the botanists,
and a native of the southern parts of Europe. In
Spain it has become one of the scourges of agricul-
ture, as the fields are literally infested with it. Mn
no country is this plant eaten alone, excepting per-
haps in Spain, and the more southern provinces of
France; but in many countries it is employed in
the composition of soups. The culture of it resem-
bles entirely that of the onion, excepting only that
it requires more water. Of its many varieties we
have seen only the long and the short. The former
is the milder of the two ; the latter the more bul-
bous, acrid, and hardy.

The eschalot (Allium Ascalonicum) is said to be a
native of Palestine. Of this there are three sub-
varieties, two of which are generally found in gar-
dens, the large and the small. The bottoms of
these, when the plant is ripe, is composed of sev-
eral bulbs of different sizes, under a common cov-
ering, the larger of which are taken for culinary
uses, and the smaller kept for planting. The cul-
ture of these bulbs does not differ from that of the
I common, or of the Canadense varieties of the onion.

The cive (Cepula) is a small plant much used in
soups and salads. Of this there are three sub-
varieties, the Cepula Minor, Cepula Britannica, and
Cepula Major. The bulbs of all grow in clusters,
and the plant is usually propagated by separating
these into small tufts (half a dozen of the roots to-
gether) every third or fourth year, and setting them
out in borders or in beds eight or ten inches apart.
The leaves only are used, and, to have these tender,
they must be cut often. In the fall and on the ap-

i

KITCHEN GARDEN. 191

proach of frost, clip them close to the ground, and
cover the roots with dung or stable litter. They
require little if any other care, and will last many
years.

LETTUCE (Lactuca). — Of the native country of this
plant we are not sufficiently assured. Lamarck
thinks that the Quercina of Linnaeus (a product of
an island in the Baltic) is the type of the genus,
while Rozier regards the Scareola of the same au-
thor as entitled to that distinction. Of the known
species there are twenty-one ;* the most remarka-
ble of which are the Capitata, the Romana, and the
Spinosa. The first and second are found in all
kitchen gardens, while the third is rather a medici-
nal than a culinary plant, and principally useful for
its narcotic powers, which are said to be little in~
ferior to those of opium. The varieties of the Cap-
itata and Romana have, by long culture, been mul-
tiplied to the number of one hundred and twenty,
and are separated by lines so nearly imperceptible
and so difficult to characterize, that botanists have
found it convenient to arrange them into series, the
principal of which are, 1st, the Head Lettuce ; 2d,
the Curled Lettuce ; and, 3d, the Lettuce with open,
straight, and erect leaves. These are again sub-
divided by gardeners, according to the season most
favourable to the plants respectively, as spring,
summer, fall, or winter lettuce; and as this view of
them is likely to be best known and most useful,
we shall employ it in what we have to say on the
subject.

The varieties known by the names of the brown
Dutch, Capuchin green, and grand admiral (being
the most hardy), are those which should be sown
in the fall, to remain in the ground through the win-
ter, and vegetate early in the spring. If the soil be

* Brisseau Mirbel. One of these species is American (Lac-
tuca Elongata of Dr. Muhlenberg).

192 GARDENING.

clayey, the beds should be thoroughly manured and
dug in the month of October, and thrown up into
four- feet ridges, well trenched, and with an inclina-
tion on one of their sides or corners to carry off
superfluous moisture. The seed should now be
sown and covered with a short-toothed rake, and
subsequently, as the frost approaches, with a light
layer of stable litter. This should be removed in
the spring, and the surfaces of the beds loosened
with an iron-toothed rake. The first vegetation
that shows itself will be that of the lettuce, and, if
too thickly sown, the surplus plants should be taken
up, and set out in rows for head-salad. In warm
and sandy soils the treatment is the same, with the
exception that the trenching and ridging will be un-
necessary : but, in every kind of soil, the precocity
of the crop will be best assured by a temporary wall
of straw or cornstalks, held together by a few stakes
and wattles, and so placed as to protect the beds
from north and northwest winds.

The varieties most approved for spring culture
are the white, the green, the spotted coss, the Sile-
sia, the Great Mogul, and the India ; for summer
use, the white Dutch, the imperial, the Aleppo, and:
the green Egyptian ;* and for that of autumn, as
already stated, the white coss, the brown Dutch,
the grand admiral, and the New-Zealand. We need
scarcely remark, that the straight-leafed sort is best
cultivated in broadcast, and does not require trans-
planting, but that the curled and head lettuce cannot
succeed without it. In summer culture this may be
especially necessary, as the lettuce, like the cab-
bage, has at this season a strong propensity to run

* Millar says that the white coss obtained the preference over
all other branches of the family till the introduction of the
green Egyptian. This is probably the variety mentioned by
Oliver and Brugiere as forming the delight of the Egyptians,
and which among them is eaten by all ranks at all hours. See
Memoire sur 1'Egypte.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 193

to seed, which can only be effectually checked by
transplanting. The plants should stand at the dis-
tance of ten or twelve inches apart in the rows.
The curled sort, when the heads begin to spread,
should be tied up, and will then blanch finely; but it
must also be noticed that the effect of this compres-
sion is to hasten the progress of vegetation, and, of
course, to precipitate the seeding.

All the varieties of the three series will grow well
in hotbeds, but the Romana species is preferred for
this culture, 1st, because it bears squeezing or
crowding the best, and, 2d, because, by throwing up
erect leaves, it occupies less room under the frames
than either of the other sorts.

THE MELON (Cucumis Melo). — This is one of the
many useful and delicious presents furnished by
Asia to the rest of the world. There are but two
species ; the melon with a rough or embroidered
coat, and that with a thin and smooth skin. The
first is called the musk, from its peculiar flavour,
and the other, from its thin and abundant juices,
the watermelon. Of each of these species there
are many varieties, differing in shape and size, and
in the colour of the rind and of the flesh. The most
approved of the muskmelon species are the cante-
lope, the citron, the nutmeg? and the Persian ; and
of the watermelon, the Carolina, the Maltese, the
Candia, and the Chat6 or Egyptian.*

Both species and all the varieties succeed best
in a hot climate and sandy soil, and in these their
culture is easy and alike, and their product abun-
dant ; nor is it to be complained of here, where our

* Prosper Alpin says that he has seen watermelons so large
in Egypt, that three or four formed the ordinary load of a cam-
el. Of this species there are seven known varieties, according
to Brisseau Mirbel. The Chate is one of these, and the Egyp-
tian mode of using it is to make a hole in the side, through
which, by means of a stick, they reduce the pulp to a liquid.
This is then poured into a cup and drank.
R

194 GARDENING.

summers are frequently long, and hot, an 1 dry. To
succeed in raising them for market, the Honfleur
method, as described by M. Calvel, may be employ-
ed. Select a spot well defended against the north
wind, and open to the sun throughout the day. If
such is not to be found in your garden, create a
temporary and artificial shelter producing the same
effect. At the end of March, form holes two feet in
diameter, and distant from each other seven feet
and a half; fill these with horse-dung and litter, or
a mixture of mould, dung, and sand. At the end of
twenty days, cover the holes which have been thus
filled with hand glasses. When the heat rises to
36 of Reaumur, sow the seeds four inches apart ; and
when the plants have acquired two or three leaves,
pinch off the end of the branch or runner.* This
will produce lateral branches, which must again be
pinched off so soon as they respectively attain the
length of ten inches. When the plant has out-
grown the glass, the latter becomes useless and
may be removed ; but, should the weather be wet or
chilly, substitute coverings of clean straw for that
of the glasses, until the young plant becomes strong
enough to bear the open air. Two or three melons
only are left to each vine, and under each of these
is placed a slate, without which the upper and under
sides will not ripen together. Two months are re-
quired to mature them. The people of Honfleur at-
tribute their success in melon-raising to the sea va-
pour which surrounds them, and to the saline parti-

* There is much controversy among gardeners and savants on
this point ; nor are the pinchers entirely united in opinion how far
this practice should be carried. Some content themselves with
taking off the cotyledons when the plant has acquired three or
four leaves, while others take off the principal branches at the
first eye above the fruit, and suppress all the secondary branch-
es, male flowers, and tendrils. " These operations," says M.
Bosc, " are founded in bad reasoning. A cutting which sup-
presses two thirds of the plant at once cannot fail to disorgan-
ize what remains."

KITCHEN GARDEN. 195

cles contained in it ; an advantage to be anywhere
commanded by dissolving a little salt in the water
employed to moisten them.

If we want melons at a period earlier than this
method will give them, we must employ a higher
degree and longer continuance of artificial heat ; in
a word, we must resort to hotbeds ; and in these the
point most important, and, at the same time, the
most difficult of attainment, is to secure a certain
degree of heat, and no more, throughout the whole
process. To lessen the difficulty in this case, gar-
deners who understand their trade make choice of
those varieties which have the thinnest skins and
the least bulk; as experience proves that, other
things being equal, they require less heat* than
those of thicker rinds and greater size, and are, of
course, less subject to some of the accidents to
which this species of culture is exposed. In choo-
sing the seeds, those of the last year are only to be
used, because they are of quicker vegetation than
old ones, and, accordingly, best fulfil the intention of
the hotbed, which is to give early fruit. Another
practice conducive to the safety of the plants is to
sow the seed in small pots, and then to plunge them
into a hotbed. If the heat be deficient, they are, in
this case, made no worse than they would have
been if sown directly in the bed ; and if it be ex-
cessive, it is only necessary to raise the pots, with-
out in the smallest degree disturbing the plant.
These things being premised, it only remains to
show what ought to be the subsequent management
after the seed has been sown and the pots placed
under the frames. One of the most important points
now to be observed is sufficiently to ventilate the

* No one is ignorant that surfaces augment as the squares,
and that solids follow the proportion of cubes. If, for instance,
the surface of the melon be four, the quantity of its matter will
be eight ; and if the surface of another melon be nine, its matter
will be equal to twenty-seven.

196 GARDENING.

bed, as well before as after the plants show them-
selves. This should be done at midday and in sun-
shine, and as often as a necessity for it shall be in-
dicated by an accumulation of steam under the
glasses. At night these (the glasses) should be care-
fully covered with matting. These two prelimina-
ries (ventilation in the day and covering at night)
being carefully observed, your plants will soon show
themselves in a vigorous and healthy state, and
may be kept in that condition by a continuation of
the same means, and by moderately moistening the
earth when it shall appear to have become too dry.
The water employed should be of the temperature
of the air under the frames ; and, to secure this, it is
well to keep a supply of it in a pot placed in a cor-
ner of the hotbed. In about a month, the plants
thus raised will be fit for transferring to a second
and larger hotbed, constructed like the preceding,*
with the exception that the mass of dung must now
be greater, and that, after earthing, the bed should
not be less than three and a half or four feet in
depth. The plants, with the earth in which they
grow, are now to be taken from the pots ; an opera-
tion in which practice only will make us expert, and
which consists in placing the neck of the plant be-
tween the first and second finger of the left hand,
reversing the pot, and gently striking its sides until
the earth be disengaged. The discharged mass is
then placed in a hole previously prepared in the
square, where it is intended the plant shall ripen and
produce. The male flowers should not be disturb-
ed. When they have fulfilled the intentions of na-
ture, they will fall of themselves ; and if the branches
be vigorous and long, stretch them carefully over a
level surface, and bury every fourth or fifth joint.
This is best done by means of a wooden crotchet.
The objects of pinching or shortening the stem are

* See article Asparagus for the formation of hotbeds.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 197

thus completely fulfilled, without any of the risk
which attends that operation, and with advantages
peculiar to this method ; since, wherever the plant
is buried, new roots are formed for the better nutri-
tion of the stem and the fruit. Melons should be
permitted to acquire a bulk not less than one inch
in diameter before you venture on reducing their
number, arid no reduction of the leaves should be
made at any time ; for from the size, number, and
thickness of these, and the smallness and little ex-
tension of the roots, it is evident that this plant de-
rives more of its nutriment from the atmosphere
than from the earth. If the weather be dry, multi-
ply the hoeings, but water sparingly, as many ex-
periments show that water alters the juices of the
fruit, and that, though it may augment its quantity,
it never fails to degrade its quality. The ripeness
of the muskmelon is known by its colour and its
odour, and by the drying of the stem where it at
taches itself to the fruit.* The watermelon fur-
nishes neither of these signs, but affords another
peculiar to itself, a hollow sound on being struck on
the rind, the result of an actual hollowness, begin-
ning and increasing with its maturity. The seeds
of both species are best preserved by drying in the
shade, and in a portion of their own juice.

EGG PLANT. — MELONGENA (Solanum Melongena of
Lin.).— Of this plant the principal varieties are the
long purple and the long yellow, each of which
has a sub-variety which is round. Like other plants
of tropical origin, it requires a dry soil and warm
weather, and with these advantages grows vigor-
ously and bears abundantly. To have early plants,
sow the seeds in a hotbed towards the end of March,
and, as soon as the frosts are over, transfer the young
plants to the open ground and a southern exposure.

* When fit to pick, the stem will separate from the fruit by a
gentle pressure of the thumb. It will be in best eating condi
tion the following day. — J. B.

R 2

198 GARDENING.

Keep them clean, and water them (if the weather
be dry) often, but lightly. To have a succession of
this fruit throughout the summer, you must occa-
sionally renew the sowings. A few of the largest
plants should be left for seed, and when the fruit be-
gins to rot is the time for taking it. Cut off the
plant and dry it in the shade, for seed immediately
removed from the pulp is rarely good.

The family connexions of this plant (the Sola-
nums) have made some persons question its salubri-
ty, but, as we think, without reason. If in certain
cases it prove indigestible, of what fruit may not
the same be said, particularly if eaten to excess ?
The general impunity with which our southern
neighbours use it, even habitually and largely, is
in itself a sufficient guarantee of the safety with
which it may be, occasionally and temperately, em-
ployed here.

MUSTARD (Sinapis). — Two species of the mustard
are objects of garden culture : the black, which is
cultivated for the seed, and the white, which is a
good substitute for spinach, and which is sometimes
used with pepper-grass as an ingredient in salads.*
Both species grow well in a great diversity of soils,
and with a small portion of labour ; but the richer
the soil and the greater the care, the more vigor-
ous will be the plants.

If the seed of the first species be our object, we
should remember that, as the pods do not either
form or ripen but in succession, we must not delay
our harvest until all have been matured ; as in this
case we should lose the seed soonest ripe (which
is always the best), for the sake of preserving that
which is later and worse. The best rule, therefore,
is to pull up or cut off the crop as soon as the stems

* In Spain, and throughout the south of Europe, the seed of
the white species is preferred for the fabrication of mustard ;
because giving a whiter and milder flour than the seed of the
black.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 199

become yellow, and carry it into the barn, where it
may remain, covered with straw, for a month. At
the end of this time it will be fit to thresh ; and this
should be done on cloths, and not with flails, since
these would bruise and break the seed ; but with
bunches of rods. Passed two or three times through
a -fanning mill, it will be lit for use; and the sooner
it is used after cleaning, the better mustard it will
make.*

The MUSHROOM (Agaricus of Lin., Fungus of Tour.).
— The latter of these botanists numbers not fewer
than seventy-five plants of this genus, differing from
each other in colour, in smell, and in the size, form,
and number of their heads or chapeaux ; and With-
ering, if we do not mistake, makes them to amount
to more than two hundred. To describe, or even
to name them, would be an unprofitable task, and
entirely beside the object of the present work ; as of
the whole number, the Agaricus Campestris, or Fun-
gus Sativus Equinus, is the only species admitted
into garden culture.

This plant is propagated from the seeds only:
which are threads or fibres of a white colour, found
in old pasture grounds, in masses of rotten horse-
dung, sometimes under stable floors, and frequently
in the remains of old hotbeds. They are also al-
ways to be met with on the growing plant, some-
times on the upper, at others on the under surface,
and oftener in the interior. Their extreme small-
ness makes them difficult to detect ; but, by placing
the plant on ice, and enclosing it for a day or two,
they may be readily discovered, and will be found
to be semeniform, and in this respect differing from
the seeds of all other vegetables, and even raising
a doubt whether the mushroom does not partake
more of the animal than of the vegetable charac-
ter. Nor is this fact the only one that warrants

* Its duration seems to be limited to two years ; older than
this, it is rarely good. — Bosc.

200 GARDENING.

the suggestion ; s nee, on analysis, it is found that
the product of the mushroom is almost altogether
animal ; whence it is that those botanists, who are
tenacious of what is called the natural order, make
it the first vegetable link in the chain, as zoologists
make the polypus the last in the animal series.

Another suggestion, of more practical importance,
is that, whether animal or vegetable, the mushroom
is often poisonous ; either from some quality inhe-
rent in itself, or from some adventitious matter (such
as the larvae of insects) being imbibed and held by
its spongy surface. On this head there has been no
want either of inquiry or of admonition. Natural-
ists, in succession, from Pliny to Parmentier, have
investigated the subject, and come to nearly the
same conclusion, viz., "that many species of the
mushrooms are active poisons,* and that the best
are dangerous, as well from the total want of any
general rule for distinguishing between the good and
the bad,f as from the tendency of all to produce in-
digestion.'^ In despite, however, of these sage dis-
coveries and councils, the mushroom continues to
be eaten, and even to be a favourite ; for, not con-
tented with the abundance of the article provided
by nature at a particular season, means are employ-
ed to have it at all seasons, and it is of this culture
we have now to speak.

Prepare a bed early in October, either in a corner
of the hothouse, if you have one, or of a dry and
warm cellar. The width of the bed at the bottom
should not be less than four feet, and its length pro-

* Geoffroi, Paulet, and others.

t " It has been said that the mushroom which it is safe to
eat is distinguished from the bad by a membrane which sur-
rounds the footstalk. This sign is, however, the less sure, as
this membrane is found to belong to a species the most danger-
ous." Phytalogie Universelle, vol. ii., p. 161.

J Parmentier on Poisonous Mushrooms. Strong vinegar and
emetics are the surest remedies against the effects of these.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 201 •

portioned to the quantity of spawn provided. Its
sides should rise perpendicularly one foot, and should
afterward decrease to the centre, forming four slo-
ping surfaces. We need hardly say that the mate-
rials of the bed at this stage of the business must
be horse-dung, well forked and pressed together, to
prevent its settling unequally. It should then be
covered with long straw, as well to exclude frost
as to keep in the volatile parts of the mass, which
would otherwise escape. After ten days the tem-
perature of the bed will be sufficiently moderated,
when the straw is to be removed, and a covering of
good mould, to the depth of an inch, laid over the
dung. On this the seed or spawn of the mushroom
is to be placed in rows, six inches apart, occupying
all the sloping parts of the bed, which is again to be
covered with a second inch of fresh mould and a
coat of straw. If your bed has been well con-
structed your mushrooms will be fit for use at the
end of five or six weeks, and will continue to be
productive for several months. Should you, how-
ever, in the course of the winter, find its productive-
ness diminished, take off nearly all the original
covering, and replace it with eight or ten inches of
fresh dung and a coat of clean straw. This, by
creating a new heat, will revive the action of the
spawn, and give a long succession of mushrooms.

The flavour of this vegetable is highest in the
button state ; when the heads attain to the diameter
of an inch, they are still good, and most profitable
in the market ; but, when fully developed, they are
not worth picking.

PARSLEY (Apium Petrosilinum). — A native of Sar-
dinia, according to Jollyclerc, and, according to
Bosc, an article without which the cook could not
exercise his trade.* There are three or four varie-

* " Oter le persil d'entre les mains d'un quisinier c'est presque
le metra dans 1'impossibilile d'exercer son art."

Take away the parsley from the cook, and you make it im-
possible for him to practise his art.

202 GARDENING.

eties, the fine, the curled, the variegated, and the
large-rooted. Of these the curled is the most deli-
cate, but most apt to degenerate. The large-rooted
is the hardiest, least liable to change, most abun-
dant in foliage, and quicker in renewing itself.
These circumstances give it the preference.

Parsley will grow in almost any soil, but prefers
that which is light, and fresh, and rich. It is best
sown in the spring in a well-laboured bed, manured
with old and thoroughly rotted dung, and in rows
sufficiently far apart to admit the hoe and the
weeder. The cultivator must not be out of pa-
tience at the slowness with which it shows itself.
It seldom appears before forty days, and not always
at the end of that term. Hoeing and watering are,
however, all it requires after it does appear. The
leaves are cropped in the fall, and hung up in bun-
dles for winter use. If the soil in which the plants
grow be stiff and moist, the roots ought to be cov-
ered in the fall, otherwise there is a risk of their
being thrown out by the frost.

PARSNIP (Pastinaca). — Of this there are five spe-
cies, but one of which (Pastinaca Sativa) is admit-
ted into the garden. This has two varieties, the
round or turnip parsnip, and the Siam, neither of
which is much known.

Like other tap-rooted plants, the pastinaca thrives
best in a rich, deep, friable soil, growing in the
drills where it was originally sown, and undisturbed
by transplanting. The rows should be twelve or
fourteen inches apart, and four of these in a bed,
and the plants themselves should not stand nearer
together than eight inches.

The first crop may be sown in March, as no de-
gree of cold injures either the seed or the plant ;
but the seedtime of the main or winter crop need
not begin till the first of June, as enough of the sea-
son will then be left to mature it, and as the hard-
est frosts but make it better. It is evidently a plant

KITCHEN GARDEN. 203

of northern origin, contains much sugar, is very nu-
tritious, and merits more both of cultivation and
use than it has received.

The PEA (Pisum) is a native of the south of Eu-
rope, of which, according to Linna3us, there are four
species, and according to Millar six, while other bot-
anists recognise only two (the field and the garden),
and some even contend that the latter of these is
merely a variety of the former, produced by culti-
vation. What these naturalists better agree in is
the arrangement of the whole family into two
classes, those having coriaceous pods (tough and
parchment like), and those having pods tender and
edible, like the pea itself. These are again subdi-
vided into dwarfs and climbers, and, for more prac-
tical use, into early and late pease. Of the for-
mer, in their order of ripening, the most approved
sorts are, the early frame, early Charlton, and
golden Hotspur, and of the latter, in the same or-
der, the large marrowfat, the white Rounsevil, the
Spanish Marotto, and large imperial.* The dwarfs
are generally employed in hotbed culture, which,
however, succeeds badly, and is neither worth at-
tending to or describing, and the less so as early
crops may be more^certainly had by sowing in the
fall in sheltered situations, and covering in the win-
ter with a layer of leaves, and another of long sta-
ble litter loosely applied, to keep the leaves in
their places. After the earth acquires a temper-
ature favourable to vegetation, your pea-sowings
should be made once a fortnight to keep up a regu-

* The dwarf sugar, the dwarf Spanish, and Leadman's dwarf,
may be usefully interposed between these. These dwarf vari-
eties are all excellent, the last, perhaps, more prolific than any
other of the family. In France the varieties of early and late
pease are different, or, at least, called by different names from
those we have mentioned. The series of both sorts there are,
the Michaux of Holland, the baron, the Blois, the cluster, and
the forty days, which are early ; and the nonpareil, the Laurens,
the Swiss, the Eul Noir, and the Calmart, which are late.

204 GARDENING.

lar and successive supply. A loose and warm soil
is most favourable to this vegetable, which, by-the-
way, is neither improved in quality nor quantity
by stable manure. The soil of Clichy, and of Point
de jour des Colombe, &c., &e., in the neighbour-
hood of Paris, is a pure sand, principally devoted
to pea-crops, and yielding these most abundantly,
without the application of dung, new or old. What,
however, is essential in their treatment is, frequent
hoeing, and occasional watering if the weather be
dry, and seasonable propping for the tall sorts,
which ought to be completed by the time the plants
get to be three or four inches high. All the varie-
ties of this last description of the pea require double
the room given to dwarfs. The rows in which they
stand should not, therefore, be less than four feet
apart, and they should grow in these six inches
from each other, and their covering should not ex-
ceed two inches, nor be less than one, according to
the nature and condition of the soil in which they
are sown. We need scarcely remark that the dif-
ferent varieties should be cultivated apart.

Like other vegetables, the pea is susceptible of
considerable improvement, by the simple means
of marking the finest plants of each variety, and
keeping them for seed. Wilson's frame and the
Knight pea have been formed in this way, and af-
ford sufficient proof of the wonders produced by a
very small degree of observation and care.

The general relish for the pea has induced the
employment of means to have them on the table
the year round. The methods in use for this pur-
pose are two. According to one of them, the pea
is subjected to the action of boiling water for two
or three minutes, when it is withdrawn, cooled in
fresh spring water, dried in the shade, and, lastly,
hung up in paper bags in a dry and well-aired closet.
The other process is later and perhaps better ; in
this the pease are put into bottles, which are after-

KITCHEN GARDEN. 205

ward hermetically sealed, and subjected to the ac-
tion of boiling water for fifteen minutes. In both
cases the pease require boiling a second time in the
ordinary way to make them fit for the table ; and,
when preserved according to the first method, a
great deal of boiling ; Bosc says twenty-four hours.
All the varieties are not found to be equally fit for
this process ; the Michaux of Holland and the Cal-
mart are those exclusively employed in France.

PEPPER, RED (Capsicum}. — This is the Annual
Pepper of the botanists, of which there are two
species, the Grossum and the Frutescens, the latter
of which we have only seen in hothouses.

Like other natives of southern climates, the cap-
sicum requires a warm soil, and, if sown early, a
good deal of dung and a favourable exposition. The
seeds may be placed in rows three feet apart, or in
hills at the like distance from each other. In dry
weather the plants require watering, and, in all
kinds of weather, weeding and hoeing. The seeds
are best preserved by running a string through the
pods and hanging them up in a dry garret.

THE POTATO (Solatium Tuberosum). — Of the sixty
varieties of this vegetable, two are particularly rec-
ommended for garden culture ; the one from its
precocity (ripening in forty days), and the other
from its excellence. This last is most generally
known by the name of the yam potato, and is so
called from its great resemblance (in taste) to the
vegetable of that name.

The hardiness of this plant enables it to grow in
any soil and under very negligent culture ; but the
soil most propitious to it is a rich loam, and the
more hoeing and hilling it gets before it flowers,
the better will be your crop. In gardens it is best
placed in rows three feet apart. Gypsum applied
to the leaves of the growing plant will be found
useful.

The POTATO (sweet) is a species of convolvulus,
S

206 GARDENING.

originally from Asia, making great part of the food
of tropical latitudes, and occasionally cultivated as
far north as Long Island. Of its many varieties
three only are known to us, and these take their de-
nominations from their colour. The red is the ear-
liest, the yellow the sweetest, and the white the
largest. In the sandy and humid parts of South
Carolina, all these races attain to a considerable
size. On Long Island they are small and (what is
more to be regretted) very inferior in the nutritive
and agreeable qualities which distinguish the fruit
when growing under more favourable circum-
stances.*

This plant is easily cultivated, and, whether it
gives us fruit or not, its beauty is such as will well
repay us for the trouble of raising it. Score the
square intended for it (which should have been pre-
viously well dug and manured) both ways, and at
the distance of four feet each way, and place and
cover the seeds at the angles of intersection. When
the plants rise, keep them clear of weeds, and, as
in hilling corn, draw up the earth well about the
roots.

The PUMPKIN is a species of the Cucurbita.
Among its varieties are the Maltese, the Barbary,
the Iroquois, and the white, which is the winter
pumpkin. f The culture of all is the same. They
are less nice than cucumbers and melons with re-
gard to soil, and will grow in any dry and well-la-
boured earth. The best time for sowing them is
between the 15th and 25th of May.

The RADISH (Raphanus Sativus). — Of this there are

* Parmentier analyzed the sweet potatoe in 1780. The re-
sult was sugar, amidon, and an extractive matter ; but he well
remarks that " these principles vary with the age and variety of
the plant, and with the soil and climate in which it grows."

t Many new varieties have been recently introduced, and
among the best is the Valparaiso, known under different names.
— J. B.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 207

two species, distinguished only by the shape of
their roots ; that of the one being long, and that of
the other round. The principal varieties of the for-
mer are the early, the salmon, the red, and the
large, which last has no characteristic colour.
Those of the latter species are also distinguished by
their different colour and size ; some are large, oth-
ers small ; some are white, others black ; some are
ash-coloured, and others are pink and purple. All
require a similar soil (loose and rich) and a careful,
seasonable, and cleanly cultivation. The sowings
of the radish, like those of spinach and lettuce,
must be frequent. " Sow every fourteen days" is
the common rule, and it seems to be a good one,
and founded on the known disposition of the plant
to run promptly to seed.

The RADISH [horse] (Cochlearia Armoriacia). —
This plant is one of six species having the common
English name of spleenwort or scurvy-grass. It is
generally propagated by cuttings or offsets taken
from the crown of the parent. plant, and having each
a bud, and set in a trench ten inches deep and four
or five inches apart. The cuttings are then covered
with mould, and the surfaces of the trenches kept
clean and loose. The plants will soon take root,
and, after doing so, will fear no rivals.

RAMPION (Campanula). — Two or more species of
this plant are cultivated for purposes merely of dec-
oration ; as the pyramidal, the peach-leaf, the mir-
ror of Venus, &c. ; but that which alone interests us
is the Hortensis, and which, from its abundant mu-
cilage, is regarded as both nutritive and refreshing,
and an excellent ingredient in salads. The seed is
remarkably small, and should be sown thin in the
month of June. It requires little, if any, covering,
and germinates best in a loose, moist soil, and shady
situation.

ROSEMARY (Rosmarinus Officinalis). — The leaves
of this plant abound in aroma, and are employed in

208 GARDENING.

soups and sauces. It is, besides, the basis of the cel-
ebrated liqueur called La Reine de Hongrie, and is
yet more famous for giving to the honey of Nar-
bonne its acknowledged superiority. The tops of
the branches furnish an essential oil, which, accord-
ing to the experiments of Proust, contain much
camphire. It is propagated by cuttings and suck-
ers. " Planted in the month of March six inches
apart, and inserted two thirds pf their lengths in the
ground, they will take root freely, and by the month
of September be fit for transplanting wherever they
are destined to remain."*

RUE (Ruta Graveolens). — This plant is a native of
mountainous and arid regions, and, so far as we
have any acquaintance with it, exclusively medici-
nal ; but, having obtained a place in the kitchen gar-
den, it is not for us to reject it. As with other ar-
ornatics, a light, and warm, and dry soil is that
which agrees best with it. It is propagated from
cuttings and offsets planted in March or April, and
kept clear of weeds throughout the summer. Its
beauty is much increased by lopping the branches
close to the earth every fourth year.

RHUBARB (Rheum). — Most of the known species of
this plant are of Asiatic origin, but the two which
alone enter into the food of man (the Rhaponticum
and Undulatum) are natives of Thrace and Russia.f
The stalks, which are the parts used for culinary

* M'Mahon.

f Several new varieties, if not new species, of this plant,
adapted to culinary uses, have recently been introduced. Among
those most worthy of culture is the giant, the leaf stems of
which grow upon rich soils to the size of six and seven inches
in circumference, and give a leaf a yard in diameter. Those
who are fond of pies and tarts cannot obtain a more convenient
article for these than the rhubarb, from March to September;
for, placed in a tub with earth in autumn, and set in a cellar or
basement kitchen, and merely watered, the roots will send forth
an abundance of stalks, which may be used early in March, —
J. B.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 209

purposes, grow to the length of twenty-four inches,
and acquire the thickness of a man's thumb. Strip-
ped of their outer covering, they yield a substance
slightly acid,* which is much admired, and employ-
ed as an ingredient in the composition of puddings
and tarts. Cobbett supposes that a hundred wagon-
loads of these stalks are annually sold in the markets
of London, at a shilling sterling per bunch. f

The rhubarb is propagated sometimes from seeds,
and oftener from offsets from old roots. J It re-
quires a soil dry, and rich, and well-laboured. Two
years are necessary to render it fit for use, but,
once established, it will last a century.

SAGE (Salvia Officinalis). — This is one of the hun-
dred and more species of Salvia enumerated by
botanists. It has many varieties, the most impor-
tant of which are, the large-leaved, the curled,^ the
three-coloured, and the variegated. They are all
propagated alike, by seeds, by suckers, and by por-
tions of old roots, and grow well in any soil not
positively wet. Till three or four years old, they
have a healthy and agreeable appearance, forming
full and regular tufts; but after this period they
lose the central branches, and even become ragged
and broken on their edges. The treatment already
suggested for rue might be useful for sage. Under
it the roots would probably renew their vigour, and
throw out new and healthy shoots; but of this the-
ory we have no experience.

SALSIFY (Tragopogon). — This is a native of the
southern mountains of Europe, has been long cul-

* The stalks, like the roots, yield, on analysis, sulphur and
lime.

t American Gardener.

j The best mode is to propagate from seeds which ripen in
July. If then sown, the plants may be put out three feet apart
the next spring, and will give a good crop the second summer af-
ter transplanting.— J. B.

§ This is made a distinct species by Wildenow, under the
name of Salvia Tomentosa.

S 2

210 GARDENING,

tivated, and has several varieties, of which it is un-
necessary to speak. Deep and humid soils are most
favourable to its production. After the preliminary
labours of digging and smoothing, the square in-
tended for it should be formed into four-feet beds,
and the seeds be sown and covered in rows eight,
or ten inches apart. This should be done as soon
as the frosts are over in the spring, for the earlier
the sowing the finer will be the crop. Two hoe-
ings, and frequent watering during dry and hot
weather, are indispensable. It is only in the au-
tumn that the plants attain to their full size. In
mild climates they winter where they grow, like
parsnips ; but in cold regions they must be taken
up and preserved in roothouses or cellars, under
coverings of sand or litter. Plants intended to give
seed should be left to winter in the ground where
they have grown, and be there protected by leaves,
straw, &c.

SALSIFY BLACK (Scorzonera Hispanica) affects the
same kind of soil, and requires the same kind of
culture and management as the preceding kind, and
is of the same family.

SAVORY (Satureja). — Of this plant Millar describes
nine species, but two of which come within our
views, and which are denominated from two of the
seasons, winter and summer. The former is a per-
ennial plant, and is propagated from seeds or slips ;
the latter is an annual, and is propagated from seeds
only. For either process, sowing or planting, April
is the time. Neither sort is nice with regard to
soil ; and it is said of one of them (the winter spe-
cies) that it grows best in barren sands and bleak
situations.

SEAKALE* (Crambe Maratima) is a native of the
seashore, growing vigorously in sands occasionally

* We have found by experience that good seakale, like Frank-
lin's whistle, costs more than it is worth. We have given up
its culture.— J. B.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 211

inundated by salt water. When the head of the
plant first shows itself, it is white, and tender, and
well-flavoured, and not inferior to asparagus ; but,
after reaching the light and the air, it soon becomes
green and bitter, and quite unfit for the table. The
natural condition of the plant would appear to in-
dicate the best mode of cultivating it, and that the
bed destined for it should be pure sand, moistened
by a solution of salt ia water ; but we have on this
head the assurance of practical gardeners, that, in a
well-manured and thoroughly dug loam, the seakale
does even better than in its natural bed.* This
plant is propagated by cuttings and by seeds,
and most surely by the former ; but the quality of
the product is inferior to that given by the other
mode.f In case of planting, your beds must be so
prepared as to receive each two rows of the slips,
which are to stand fourteen inches apart (in an up-
right position), with their crowns .not more than
one inch under the surface. In five or six weeks
they may show themselves above ground, and du-
ring the second year, if kept free from weeds and
occasionally watered, will be fit for use. If sowing
be preferred, after labouring the ground thoroughly,
form a number of hills as for Indian corn, and sow
in each six or eight seeds. Should they all vege-
tate, they may be reduced to two, which you will
manage in the way prescribed for the cuttings. In
November, whether your bed has been filled with
plants or with seedlings, be careful to cover them
with a thick coat of well-rotted dung; and so
soon in the ensuing spring or summer as you find
them pushing through this covering, put over each
a garden-pot inverted, having first stopped the bot-
tom-holes.;!: The signal for cutting is when the
plants have risen about three inches above the sur-
face.

* M'Mahon. f Idem. Millar.

I The object in doing this is to exclude the light, for under
its influence the plant becomes green and bitter

212 GARDENING.

THE SKIRRET (Sium Sisarum of Tournefort). — This
is called by Millar the Water Parsnip, and is found
growing spontaneously in many parts of England,
in moist or wet grounds. There are six species,
but one of which is cultivated in the garden. The
root, which is the only edible part of the plant, is
long and fibrous, wholesome and nutritious ; but to
some palates it is disagreeably sweet. It is propa-
gated indifferently from seeds or from cuttings,
though Millar prefers the latter, as furnishing roots
of greater size and better quality. April is the
month most proper for either operation, sowing or
planting. In both modes the culture is in drills,
taking care that the plants be not nearer than four
or five inches to each other. The soil in which it
succeeds best is a loose, moist loam ; and the cul-
ture and subsequent management do not differ from
those already described for parsnips.

SORREL (Rumex Acetosa of Linnceus). — Of this
plant there are four species, distinguished by the
shape and size of their leaves, as the pointed, the
obtuse, the round, the large, the small, &c. All
soils not positively dry or wet are adapted to this
vegetable ; nor do they require more than a light
dressing. It is propagated as well by cuttings as
by seeds. In the former case the slips are put
down in the fall, and in the latter the seeds are
sown in the spring. In gathering it, many garden-
ets cut off an entire tuft close to the ground ; but a
better method, because more favourable to repro-
duction, is to crop the outer leaves first, always
leaving the central ones to be last taken.* We need
scarcely mention that, besides culinary uses, sorrel
furnishes an acid salt, much employed in taking out
stains from linen, and that the roots yield a beauti-
ful red water, known in medicine as a sudorific. f

* This is the practice of the gardeners of Paris.
I Bosc.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 213

SPINACH (Spinachia). — Of this there are but two
known species, the Fera and the Oleracea ; the one
a native of Siberia,* the other of Persia.ft It is the
latter only that is known in garden culture, and of
it there are four varieties, distinguished by the
shape of their seeds, and the greater or less abun-
dance and size of their leaves, as follows : Spinach
with sharp-pointed seeds and small leaves : spinach
with round seeds and small leaves; spinach with
pointed seeds and large leaves ; and spinach with
round seeds and large leaves, commonly called
spinach of Holland. The first of these varieties is
recommended by its hardiness ; as it stands the win-
ter better than either of the others, and is, of course,
to be preferred for fall sowing. The third gives
most foliage, and is fittest for spring culture. The
fourth unites, in a great degree, the advantages of
the first and third, bearing the winter well, and pro-
ducing an abundance of foliage. If, therefore, we
cultivate but one of these varieties, this is the one
which we ought to prefer. The soil most proper
for spinach is a moist, rich loam, well dug and well
manured. The seed should be sown in drills six
inches apart, and lightly covered. For fall sowing
the middle of October is a good time ; and for the
spring crop the seed should' be sown the moment
you are able to get it into the earth. To the for-
mer a light covering of straw, during the winter,
will be useful. According to the opinion of the
French physicians, this plant is not only food, but
physic ; and is hence emphatically called " Le balai
de 1'estomac" — the broom of the stomach — sweep-
ing and deterging every hole and corner of that or-
gan, without giving pain, or in any degree inter-

* Phyt. Univer., art. Epinard. -f Olivier.

J The New-Zealand spinach has been recently introduced.
It is an excellent pot-herb ; but, being natural to a warmer cli-
mate, it does not come forward till warm weather, and until
other garden productions are in abundance. — J. B.

214 GARDENING.

rupting the ordinary avocations of the persons using
it. It may be useful to remark, that, to have the
full benefit of this nutritious and curative vegetable,
the spring and summer sowings should be made
every month, and that those of the latter should
have a shaded or northern exposition, as otherwise
they will run rapidly to seed.

THE SQUASH is a species of the cucurbita, and
seems to be the link that connects the melon with
the pumpkin. According to Millar, this species is
very inconstant in its appearance, rarely preserving
the same form three years in succession, sometimes
taking that of a shrub, and at other times that of a
vine. Our own experience does not warrant this
reproach.* The Bush and the Bell varieties appear
to us to be sufficiently distinct, nor have we noticed
any proneness in them to exchange characters.
With regard to soil and culture, those which are
fittest for the pumpkin are also most propitious to
the squash.

THYME (Thymus) is of a species embracing not
less than twenty varieties, but one of which (the
common or cultivated) comes within the plan of
our work. This is generally found in gardens,
sometimes in tufts, and sometimes in rows; but,
however placed, always growing best in poor, light,
and warm soils. In those which are cold, stiff, or
moist, it does not thrive ; its branches become rag-
ged, its leaves few, its flowers faded, and their pe-
culiar aroma is less strong. When cultivated under
circumstances more propitious, it requires a change
of place every fourth or fifth year. All the parts of
this plant, but particularly the calix of its flower,
yields an essential oil, yellow and odorous, and

* The pumpkin and the squash seem to be first cousins, and
consequently will intermix, and produce an infirm progeny.
They should be kept apart. The vegetable marrow is a new
and superior variety ; good both in its green and matured state,
whether for summer or winter use.— J. B.

KITCHEN GARDEN. 215

highly charged with camphire. In the kitchen it is
used as an ingredient in sauces and stuffings, and
in what are technically called forced meats. The
plant may be propagated either by seed or by suck-
ers, and requires only to be kept free from weeds
or grasses.

TOMATOES (Solanum Lycopersicum). — This plant is
of the same family with the potato, and, like it, is a
native of Southern America. It has several species,
two of which fall under our notice as garden vege-
tables, and are distinguished from each other only
by a difference of size.* The smaller of these is
held to be the parent plant, and has the advantage
of ripening sooner than the other, and better resist-
ing cold weather. To have an early crop, sow the
seed in a warm and dry soil, and sheltered situation,
in October,! and cover the bed with straw or stable
litter during the winter. For summer and fall use
sow again in May, and water freely. If the soil
and situation be favourable, and the culture proper,
the product will be great. Bosc says, " J'ai vu de
ces pieds qui couvraient une toise de terrain, et qui
fournissoient plusieurs centaines de fruits. "J The
distance between the plants should not be less than
two feet.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE (Helianthus Tuber osus) is a
native of the mountains of Chili, and a species of
sunflower, having roots somewhat resembling pota-
toes in bulk and shape, and more nearly approach-
ing the artichoke in taste. Its nutritive principles
are less abundant than those of the potato, carrot,
&c. On analysis it yields neither sugar nor amidon,
and is not susceptible either of the panary or the

* The varieties are now numerous, and differ in size and
colour. — J. B.

t They may as well be sown in a hotbed in April. The plants
will attain sufficient size to be planted in the open ground as
soon as the season will permit. — J. B.

J I have seen as many of these plants as covered a space of two
yards square, producing several hundred heads of fruit.

216 GARDENING.

vinous fermentation. It is, however, recommended
by its hardiness (fearing neither cold, nor heat, nor
drought) and by the cheapness of its culture ; for, if
once committed to the earth, it calls for no additional
care ; continuing itself, and spreading and flourish-
ing in the midst of rivals and enemies. It is this
last property which renders it so precious to the
agriculturist as a permanent hog-pasture ; and the
more so, as it will accommodate itself to any de-
scription of soil, though that most congenial to it
is a deep, moist, or marshy loam. Like the potato,
it is propagated by cuttings.

The TURNIP (Rapa). — This plant is of the cabbage
family. But, unlike its relations, it requires a loose,
warm, and dry soil, either sandy or calcareous ; and
as a manure, wood ashes rather than dung. There
are many varieties, four of which are common to
garden and field culture, viz., the Dutch, whose ve-
getation is most rapid, and, of course, fittest for early
crops; and the Swedish, the green, and the purple
top, which do not succeed unless sown late, and
\vhich, on this account as well as on account of their
greater solidity and less evaporation, are the most
suitable for winter use. Turnip seed is generally
sown broadcast ; but the experiments of Lord Town-
send have clearly established the preference of the
row or drill method, as well for a greater economy
of time and labour, as for a better and more abun-
dant product. The time of sowing, as already in-
dicated, will depend on the variety selected. If the
Dutph, sow early ; if the ruta baga, sow about the
1st of June ;* and if the green or purple top, do not
sow till the last week of July or first week of
August. After sufficiently covering the seed, press
it down with a heavy roller; the object of which is
not merely to bring the earth and the seed into con-
tact, but to protect the rising crop against the fly, as
many experiments concur in proving that these in-

* The 15th or 20th is preferable.— J. B.

FRUIT GARDEN. 217

sects are much multiplied by leaving the surface of
the earth loose and pervious, and much diminished
by rendering it close and compact.

The only variety of this plant made better, or,
rather, not made worse by transplanting, is the ruta
baga. A few feet square will give a sufficient num-
ber of plants. Draw and set these about a foot from
each other, on ridges three feet apart. Keep the
plants free from weeds during the whole course of
their vegetation, and you will rarely fail to have an
abundant crop.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE FRUIT GARDEN.

NEXT to bread corn and culinary esculents, tne

Sroducts of this description of garden holds the
ighest place on the scale of table economy. As
articles of food and drink, ripe fruits and their pre-
pared juices are equally wholesome and pleasant ;
and in many complaints are auxiliary to medicine,
while in others they serve as substitutes for it.
Every portion of ground, therefore, set apart for
the purposes of horticulture, should contain a few
fruit-bearing trees and shrubs of the more common
and useful kinds (as apples, cherries, peaches,
&c.), to be placed in the borders of its northern and
western sides, where they will least interfere with
ocher products, and even be useful in defending
these from high and cold winds. But in all cases
where the occupant has room for an exclusive fruit
garden, this ought to be preferred, as possessing
many advantages over the mixed kind, and particu-
larly that of giving to trees and shrubs the soil, ex-
position, culture, and arrangement best fitted for
their several kinds and species. To the end, how-
T

218 GARDENING.

ever, that either plan may be pursued according to
the taste or convenience of the cultivator, we shall
take up the list of fruit-giving plants under the com-
mon and technical division of kernel and stone fruits,
berries and nuts; and, under separate heads, indi-
cate the soil, exposure, &c., &c., most proper for
each.

The APPLE-TREE (Malus)* — Of the many fruit-
trees in cultivation, this may be deemed the most
important ; not only from the great abundance, di-
versified character, and numerous uses of its pro-
ducts, but from the small degree of care and labour
required in its culture, and the uncommon facility
with which it adapts itself to a great diversity of
soils, climates, and situations. One of its varie-
ties (the crab) is a native of our own forests ; but
the cultivated sorts among us have all been deri-
ved from Europe, as those of Europe were originally
derived from Asia Minor.

No general catalogue of the varieties of the ap-
ple-tree has ever, so far as our reading extends,
been given to the public, nor is it probable, from
their great and increasing multiplication, that any
successful attempt could now be made at their
enumeration and description. In the time of Pliny
twenty different sorts were known at Rome, whence
they gradually spread themselves over the other
parts of Europe. It was not till 1572, according to
Stow, that they appeared in England. In 1629,
Parkinson enumeratedy?/ty varieties growing there ;
in 1650, Hartlib counted two hundred; and in 1822,
London offered a list of two hundred and forty ap-
proved sorts then selling at the London nurseries. ft

* Linnaeus places it in the family of pears, and thence denom-
inates it Pyrus malus ; but Millar and others regard it as a dis-
tinct genus.

t Encyclopaedia of Gardening.

% The varieties in the London Horticultural Garden alone
exceed fourteen hundred, and this collection comprises but a
part.— J. B.

FRUIT GARDEN. 219

In choosing between so many varieties, old and
young, though disappointment would perhaps be
impossible, still selection might not be easy ; and
in this view it may not be amiss to furnish the
reader with a short list, in a tabular form, of those
sorts which stand highest in horticultural estima-
tion, for the hardness and productiveness of the
tree, the excellence of the fruit, and the variety of
uses to which this may be applied.* (See next page.)

It was perhaps a comparison between modern
and ancient lists which first suggested the idea that
" the varieties of the apple-tree have but a limited
duration, and that they disappear by whole races."
The Moil, the Redstreak, the Musts and the Golden
Pippin, the Stire and the Fox Whelp, according to
the observations of Knight,f are rapidly declining ;
and some recent facts warrant us in the belief that
our own Spitzenberg is fast hastening to its end.

Before the discovery of this law of nature, little,
if any, attention was given to the propagation of
the apple-tree by modes other than those which
perpetuate a favourite race ; and hence it was that
scions, buds, layers, and cuttings, were long and ex-
clusively employed. But this practice is now con-
siderably qualified, and many horticulturists and am-
ateurs are engaged in producing new varieties from
the seeds, and from a commixture of the farinas of
sorts whose merits are already established. J Of

* Such has been the improvement in the apple, that not more
than one half of these varieties would now be ranked in the first
class of fruit. — J. B.

t Treatise on Apple and Pear Trees, p. 15.

j The credit of this discovery is due to Mr. Knight, the dis-
tinguished president of the Horticultural Society of London.
On this point, however, there are skeptics, and of considerable
name. Williamson and Speechley consider the deterioration of
the apple-tree as accidental, not uniform ; as the temporary ef-
fect of weather, not that of a settled law of nature ; and, there-
fore, that " genial summers will restore to old trees their ordi-
nary health and duration." — Hort. Trans., vol. iii., p. 291 ; and
Hints, p. 188.

220

GARDENING.

to* "3

S CD

O O O g i

^ ^

H2 1-lCUt.

o O

p p

FRUIT GARDEN. 221

these different methods of propagation, the first we
shall describe is that

By seeds, which has two objects ; the supply of
stems, on which to ingraft or inoculate old and fa-
vourite races ; and the production of varieties which
shall be entirely new. In the first of these cases,
sound and thriving stocks are necessary ; and these
are only to be had from the seeds of apples grown
on healthy and vigorous trees.* In the other case,
it is not enough that the parent plant be sound and
thriving; it should possess those properties also
which the cultivator is most desirous of giving to
his orchard : such as bearing abundantly, giving its
fruit early in the season, or of a fine flavour, or col-
our, or size, &c., &c. The observance of these
rules is indispensable to the success of all experi-
ments made of this method ; and is so because the
rules themselves are founded on an immutable law
of nature, that vegetables, like animals, transmit their
properties, good or bad, to their offspring.

The culture of the seeds, whether intended for
stems or for fruit, will be the same for the first
year. Sow them in autumn, in beds of light mel-
low earth of middling quality ; cover them an inch
thick with garden mould; and, at the end of the

Table Apples.— Junating, Prince's Harvest, Bough, Summer
Queen, Early Pearmain, Summer Rose, Codling, Maiden's
Blush, Hagloe Crab, Catiline, Romanite or Rambo, Fall Pippin,
Doctor Apple, Wine, Late Pearmain, Burlington, Greening,
Bellflower, Newark Pippin, Pennock, Michael Henry, Spitzen-
bergh, Newtown Pippin, Priestley, Lady Apple, Carthouse,
Tewksbury, Winter Blush.

Cider Apples. — Hewes's Crab, Grayhouse, Winesap, Harrison,
Styre, Roane's White Crab, Gloucester White, Redstreak,
.Campneld, American Pippin, Golden Rennet, Hagloe Crab,
Cooper's Russeting, Ruckman's Pearmain.

There are propagated in our nurseries several new varieties,
obtained from seeds, worthy of cultivation. — Editor.

* The usual method of employing the pumice from a cider-
mill is very slovenly, and necessarily rejects all discrimination
between good and bad, sound and unsound stems.
T2

222 GARDENING.

year, thin the plants to the distance of a foot from
each other. Such of them as are intended for graft-
ing or budding may remain in the nursery till these
operations have been performed ; but those cultiva-
ted with a view to new races should be transplant-
ed, and in rows ten feet apart every way.* Left to
themselves, they may be slow in producing fruit ; a
circumstance which has engaged artists in a search
after means which should bestow upon them an ar-
tificial precocity. These divide themselves into two
classes : such as operate exclusively on the soil, and
such as apply directly to the plant. If the young
tree abound in leaves, branches, and suckers, with
a bark green, smooth, and shining, the remedy will
consist in removing from its roots a portion of the
original earth, and substituting for it a soil contain-
ing less vegetable food; such as sand, gravel, or
schist, &c. If, on the other hand, the tree be
small arid weak, having little foliage arid few branch-
es, and a bark rough, (dry, and spotted, there is rea-
son to suspect that its want of fertility is occasion-
ed by a want of nourishment, and we must hasten,
by reversing the management just laid down, to give
it an additional supply of food. As belonging to the
second class of means, we may enumerate partial
decortication, piercing, wiring, grafting, pegging, cut-
ting a portion of the roots, &c., but all depending on
the same principle, " the obstruction, in a greater
or less degree, of the descending sap." Of these,
the first (which has got the name of ringing) is the
most ancient and best recommended. The Romans
were well acquainted with it,f and Du Hamel revi-
ved its use in France about the year 1733,J whence
it extended itself to Holland and Germany.^ The

* Encyclopaedia of Gardening,
t Virgil and Columella.

j Memoires de L'Academie des Sciences, 1788.
$ Works of Dederich and Diel. Darwin's Phytologia de-
. scribes and explains it, yet. it was considered as a new discovery

FRUIT GARDEN.

practise, however, never became general; probably
from discovering that the intended effect was not al-
ways produced, and that, in other respects, the tree
was injured by the process. Still, as some of our
readers may wish to make the experiment for them-
selves, we subjoin the following directions : " Cut out
with a knife a ring of the outer and inner bark. If
the tree be large, the excision should be made in
the branches ; but if small, in the stock. In apple
or other trees bearing kernel fruit, the wound should
not be larger than will fill up in two, or, at most, three
years ; and in peach or other stone-bearing fruit, in
one year."* The time for doing this is early in the
spring, and before the sap begins to circulate, as the
rationale of the practice takes for granted that, " by
preventing the descent of this below the ring, you
accumulate a force above it, which shows itself in
the production of fruit buds."

Another means of effecting this object is men-
tioned by William* (the discoverer of it), and con-
sists altogether in leaving the plant to throw out
lateral shoots, with little, if any restraint. By pur-
suing this method, " the leaves soon take that pecu-
liar conformation which is necessary to the produc-
tion of blossom buds ; and seedling apples give fruit
in four, five, and six years, instead of eight, ten, and
even fifteen, as is the case by the usual method of
planting close and pruning to naked stems. "f

2. Of propagation by Cuttings. — Every variety of
the apple-tree may be propagated by this method,
and will give the finest fruit in the smallest com-
pass for many years.J§ But it does not follow that

by the London Horticultural Society as late as 1817! (See a
paper from Dr. Nohden in the Transactions of that year.) And,
what is hardly less extraordinary, Hemphill, a German clergy-
man, claims the discovery as his own in 1815 !

* Hort. Trans., vol. i., p. 108. See a paper on Ringing, by
Williams.

t Idem., p. 333. t London's Encyclopaedia.

$ So far as our experiments indicate Loudon is wrong. Cut-

224 GARDENING.

ail the varieties adapt themselves equally well to it.
Cuttings of the pippin, of the rennet, of the pear-
main, and of some other tribes, do not succeed with
the same facility as those of the codlin races ; and
between these there is some difference. The vari-
eties known by the name of the White, the Keswic,
the Burknot, and the Carlisle, are best fitted for it, as
they produce roots sooner and in greater abundance
than the others.

Whatever variety we employ, care must be taken
in selecting the cuttings. Shoots growing on top
branches are not so good as side shoots ; and, other
things being equal, the nearer these can be got to
the ground, the better they are, having in them more
of the living principle. Another rule is to choose
those having an oblique or horizontal direction, rath-
er than such as grow perpendicularly. A cutting of
eight or ten inches will be sufficiently long ; but, as
the power of putting forth roots is found to reside
principally in the joints, and as these are formed of
woods of different ages, we must remember to give
to the cuttings a portion of both : and hence the rule,
" to leave to one of six or eight inches of the wood
of the present year, an inch or half an inch of that
of the last year."

The time for planting is that of the full flow of
the juices, as it is then that, being most strongly
determined downward, they will soonest form that
callus or ring which is destined to become the ba-
sis of the future roots. Nor is the manner of plant-
ing them a matter of indifference. When your holes
are ready, put into the bottom of each some hard
substance (pieces of crockery are the best), and so
set your plants that they shall rest on these, and
not on the earth ;* after which, fill up what is left of

tings cannot be depended on for propagating the apple by any
mode which has been tried in our climate.— J. B.

* "The Orange and Ceretonia, &c., if inserted in a mere
mass of earth, will hardly, if at all, throw out roots ; while, if

FRUIT GARDEN. 225

the holes, and press the ground closely about the
plants. They must now be covered with hand-
glasses, shaded in hot weather, and watered and
ventilated occasionally and moderately. In August
the glasses may be dispensed with, and in October
the cuttings should be transplanted to the nursery.

3. Of propagation by Layers. — This mode was
probably suggested by observing the habits peculiar
to some trees and shrubs (as the laurel and the cur-
rant), of pointing their branches to the earth ; where,
finding an habitual moisture, they strike root, and
become distinct plants. In imitating this natural
process, the artist notches the lower side of the
branch he employs, buries it in the earth three or
four inches deep, and keeps it down by a wooden
crotchet. As this is done before the descent of the
sap, the notch operates like a dam or obstruction
to the descending juices, and forces them into a
bulbous form and granular substance, whence are
emitted a mass of roots necessary to the infant
plant. When these are sufficiently formed, that
part of the branch which binds them to the stem is
severed, and the layer taken up and transplanted.

4. Of propagation by Suckers. — This mode is never
employed but to obtain a supply of stems, on which
to ingraft dwarfs and espaliers, and is, of course,
confined to the Paradise and Creeper varieties. All
that it requires is to dig up the plants, to give a por-
tion of root to each, to shorten the stems to a fourth
or a half of their natural length, and to set them
out in nursery rows.

5. Of propagation by Scions. — These are parts of
living trees, which, when inserted in others of the
same nature, identify themselves with them, and
grow as if on their parent stems. The objects to

inserted at the sides of pots, so as to touch them, they seldom
fail of becoming rooted plants. T. A. Knight succeeded well
with the mulberry in this way." — Encyclopaedia of Gardening,
p. 444.

226 GARDENING.

be obtained by this operation (which is called graft-
ing) are four, viz., to preserve and multiply varie-
ties of known and acknowledged merit ; to improve
the qualities of the fruit ;* to hasten fructification
in trees slow in bearing ; and, lastly, to render bar-
ren trees fruitful.! The general rules which guide
in the operation are to unite varieties of the same
nature, as apples and quinces, or apricots and plums,
&c., &c. ; to seek a resemblance in the flow of the
juices and the permanence of the foliage, between
the scion and the stock ; to take the scion from lat-
eral shoots, and from the last growth of the wood,
and at a proper season (which is during the winter) ;
to unite exactly the inner bark of the scion to that
of the stock, and to do this when the sap of the lat-
ter is in full motion. The age of the stocks is reg-
ulated by the character they are to bear : if intend-
ed for full standards, they should not be less than
three years old; if for half standards, two years
old; and if for dwarfs, one year old. The same
rule appears to have determined the elevation at

* Lord Bacon's opinion, that the office of the stem is merely
passive and subservient to the scion, is received with much
qualification by professional horticulturists. Millar asserts that
" crab stocks cause apples to be firmer and sharper, and to keep
longer; and that breaking pears put on quince stocks give
gritty fruit ; while melting pears, on stocks of the same kind,
give fruit highly improved." Neil thinks " the qualities of the
fruit are partially affected by the character of the stock on which
it is placed." Thouin necessarily holds the same opinion, as he
recommends grafting on a graft as a great improvement of the
fruit ; and Loudon, in his Encyclopaedia, gives it as the settled
opinion " of all practical men, that the nature of the fruit is in
some degree affected by that of the stock."

f Encyclopaedia of Gardening, p. 783 ; and M'Donald's Ex-
periments. If trees comparatively or absolutely barren be
headed down, and receive two or more scions, the roots and
stems, having now less to do, will nourish the grafts well, and
soon enable them to bear fruit. But, besides this effect of in-
creased nourishment, we must remember that grafting, like
ringing, predisposes to the production of fruit-buds by the ob-
struction it gives to the descending sap.

FRUIT GARDEN. 227

which the scions are to be inserted ; as it is the
general practice to graft standards at six feet from
the ground, half standards at three feet, and dwarfs
at six or eight inches : but both Millar and Knight
recommend low grafting in preference to high, " in
all cases where the durability of the tree is an ob-
ject with the cultivator ;" and our own experience,
though comparatively small, is decidedly with them.

6. Of propagation by Buds. — This method is a
modification of the former, and differs from it only
in this, that in grafting we employ a shoot already
matured into wood ; and in budding, a shoot in em-
bryo. The rules which govern in this case are to
select buds from lateral shoots only, and from the
middle of these in preference to either extremity ;
to take them in moist or cloudy weather, or (if this
condition of the atmosphere do not exist) early in
the morning or late in the evening, as at these times
the perspiration of the leaves being least active, the
buds will suffer least by the operation. If, after re-
moving the woody part (which comes off with the
shield), you discover a hole or opening under the
bud, it is unfit for use, having, in technical language,
lost its root. If, on the other hand, the bottom be
sound, lose no time in inserting it in the stock on
which it is destined to grow ; and in doing this, pre-
fer the north to the south side of the stem, and
smooth and shining bark to that which is dry and
spotted; and be particularly careful to cover the
edges of the shield with the bark of the stem, and
to tie with double ligatures ; the one intended mere-
ly to keep the bud in its place, the other, and up-
permost, to obstruct, in some degree, the ascent of
the sap.*

The time for budding is from the first of July to
the last of August ; but the true criterion in this
respect is the condition of the bud, and of the bark

* Encyclopaedia of Gardening.

228 GARDENING.

adhering to it. When the first is full and verdant,
and when the last separates readily from the stem,
the operation cannot be ill timed.

7. Of propagation by mixing the farinas of different
sorts. — This mode (which, by-the-way, is only a
qualification of the first) is of late discovery, and
has not yet been much practised. We are, howev-
er, assured that it has already produced many new
and excellent varieties ; and, according to Loudon,
it consists " in cutting out the stamens of the blos-
soms to be impregnated, and afterward, when the
stigma is mature, introducing the pollen of the other
parent." By this process the discoverer (Mr. Knight)
has obtained the Downton, red and yellow Ingestrie,
Grange, Brindgwood, and Siberian pippins. The four
first named of these were produced by crossing the
orange and the golden pippin ; the fifth by crossing
the golden pippin and the golden Harvey ; and the
sixth by crossing the Siberian crab and the pear-
main.* The only important rule laid down for this
method is " to select for crossing those varieties
whose qualities most nearly resemble each other ;"
as many observations show that where the differ-
ence between the sorts employed is great (even in

* This, and another seedling from the same parents, called
the yellow Siberian, are, according to Knight's test (the specific
gravity of the juices), the best cider apples yet known ; " the
gravity of the one being 1079, and that of the other 1085, water
being 1000."— Loudon's Catalogue of Apples.*

* Subsequent, probably, to Loudon's publication, the specific
gravity of the juice of the Downton pippin was ascertained to
be 1080. Mr. Knight also produced, in 1807-8, two new varie-
ties, the Siberian Harvey and the Foxley Apple ; the first affording
the heaviest juice ever known, it being 1091 : that of the latter
was 1080.— See Knight on the Apple and Pear; also" Hints"
fyc., by W. Salisbury.

The celebrity of Mr. Knight's new varieties of apples induced
me to send to England for them in 1823 ; and I have now grow-
ing in my garden the Downton and Grange pippins, the Siberian
Harvey, Foxley Apple, and some others not named above.— Ed~

FRUIT GARDEN. 229

point of size), the new variety produced is not valu-
able.* We subjoin to these remarks, and in illus-
tration of them, an experiment of this mode, made
by a distinguished Scotch agriculturist (M'Donald),
as given in the Encyclopaedia of Gardening, page
783. " In 1808 he selected some blossoms of the
Nonpareil, which he impregnated with the pollen
of the golden and Newton pippins. When the ap-
ples were ripe, he selected some of the best, from
which he took the seeds, and sowed them in pots,
which he placed under a frame. He had eight or
nine seedlings, which he transplanted into the open
ground in the spring of 1809. In 1811 he picked
out a few of the strongest plants, and put them,
singly into pots. In the spring of 1812 he observ-
ed some of the plants showing fruit-buds. He took
a few of the twigs and grafted them on a healthy
stock on a wall, and in 1813 he had a few apples.
This year his seedlings yielded several dozens, and
also his grafts ; and he mentions that the apples on
the grafts were the largest."

Having indicated the varieties of the apple-tree,
and the means of continuing these and of produ-
cing new ones ; the selection to be made among
them, and the points in which their management
may differ, we proceed to what, in this respect, is
common to them all, viz., transplanting, pruning,
training, thinning, and, lastly, manuring, or other-
wise altering the condition of the soil.f

Of Transplanting. — This process is sometimes
repeated twice or thrice before the tree is perma-
nently placed, and, in the opinion of Knight, never

* Mr. Kline, the anatomist, &c., holds the same doctrine in
relation to animals.

t The French make a distinction, and justly, between V amende-
ment and Vengrais, for which we have no corresponding terms
which sufficiently illustrate the distinction. Ploughing, harrow-
ing, irrigating, and leaving in fallow, are among the amendemens
(improvements) : animal and vegetable matter, under some of
their many modifications, constitute Vengrais (manures).

230 GARDENING.

to its advantage, and often to its injury. Our own
practice is to work the stocks as soon as they have
attained the diameter of an inch in the seedbed,
and transplant once and permanently; believing
that, though repeated removals may hasten the pro-
duction of fruit, they retard the general growth and
development of th ; plant, and sometimes form a
crisis in its health from which it never recovers.

The rules which govern in this operation are as
follows : Take up the young trees with as little in-
jury to the roots as possible, and replant them with-
out any avoidable delay, in holes not less than three
feet square,* and thirty feet apart ; give them the
same depth and exposition they had in the nursery;
bring the earth and the roots into full contact, and
water freely till the young trees give evidence of
having taken root anew. The time for this opera-
tion is during any mild weather in the spring, before
the sap has got into motion; or in the autumn, after
its circulation has ceased. f

Of Pruning. — This branch was originally confined
to the removal of dead, or diseased, or fractured
•wood ; but the discovery was soon made that
branches might do mischief from their position as
well as from their unsoundness : and hence the rule,
" to retrench whatever intercepts the rays of light, or
prevents a due ventilation of the tree" The next step
in the art was to take off redundant branches; as
frequent experiments proved that, by lessening the
quantity of wood, that which was left was made
more productive. A third discovery followed : that

* For the advantage of this practice, see Cours d'Agriculture,
art. Pecher.

t Each of these seasons has its advocates ; one set forbidding
fall planting, because the high winds of the winter shake and
fatigue the young trees ; the other spring planting, because a dry
and warm spring will destroy them. Our own practice is to
employ both seasons indiscriminately, and experience justifies
this course.

FRUIT GARDEN. 231

straight or perpendicular shoots gave little and bad
fruit ; while those pushing at angles less than 45 de-
grees,* gave fruit abundantly and of a good quality :
and hence the rule, "for rigorously suppressing water-
shoots and gluttons^ and for encouraging side-shoots
growing horizontally" or nearly so, in relation to the
parent stem. An extension of the principle of this
rule was found to be usefully applied to side-shoots
themselves : and hence the practice " of heading
these down, so as to give to the direction of their future
growth new and artificial angles ,-" for, by obstructing
the flow of the sap, and compelling it to travel more
slowly, you compel it also to throw out more blos-
soms, and, consequently, to give more fruit.

To these remarks we subjoin a few others on this
head.

1. Young trees, if of moderate growth, should be
pruned early in the spring ;f if of luxuriant growth,
later in the season.

2. Established and bearing trees are best pruned
in the fall ; the operation, performed then, strength-
ens the tree, and tends to the production of blossom
buds.

3. Superfluous and ill-placed buds may be rubbed
off at any time ; and no buds pushing after midsum-
mer should be spared.

4. The number of shoots to be retained must be
limited by the nature of the tree, the size of the

* Cours d' Agriculture, art. Courbure.

f From some years' experience in summer pruning, say late
in June and early in July, we are disposed to give it a prefer-
ence over autumn or spring pruning. At either of the latter
periods the tree is divested of foliage, and the wounds are ex-
posed to the drying and corroding influence of the sun and winds ;
and the accustomed flow of sap in the spring induces the growth
of a multiplicity of new sprouts. At midsummer the wounds
are shielded by the foliage, the flow of sap is moderate, and the
caubium, or elaborated sap, which is then most abundant, soon
covers the lips of the wounds, and prevents disease and decay.
— J. B.

232 GARDENING.

fruit, and that of the head. Trees which produce
only on young spurs (as the apple-tree), require a
larger provision of this sort than those which give
fruit for several years in succession on old spurs.

5. In choosing between the shoots to be retained,
other things being equal, preserve those which are
lowest placed, and, of lateral shoots, those which
are nearest to the origin of a branch.

6. The retained shoots should be treated accord--
ing to the class of fruit-trees to which they belong.
If to that which bears on distinct branches and on
old spurs, they should be shortened as little as pos-
sible, or not at all ; if to the class which bears on
the last year's wood only (as the apple, apricot, pear,
cherry, and plum), they should be shortened alter-
nately, year and year about, so as always to furnish
a proper supply of bearers ; and if to the anoma-
lous class which bears on both kinds of spurs, the
treatment should be of the mixed kind, partaking of
the modes severally prescribed for the two other
classes, and in proportion as the shoots may indicate
a greater or less assimilation to either of these.*

7. Shorten strong shoots one fourth, and feeble
ones one half.

Of Training. — Many observations led to the be-
lief that, though the apple tree, Jjhen left to its nat-
ural form and bulk, possessed ¥ts greatest vigour
and productiveness, and was in the condition fittest
for large and permanent orchards, still that in other
forms, and on feebler stems, and under a treatment
in all respects more artificial, it may be made to
give fruit of an earlier sort, of a larger size, and of
better appearance. Of this important discovery

* Some gardeners are in the practice of heading down old and
much decayed apple-trees within a few inches of the ground.
Forsyth was the first to recommend this practice, on the credit
of many experiments made by himself, which prove that trees
so managed may be restored to vigour and fruitfulness.— See his
work on Fruit Trees.

FRUIT GARDEN. 233

horticulturists were not slow in availing them-
selves, and, as in many similar cases, even abused
it ; for hence came the whole family of dwarfs and
monsters, so fashionable in the days of La Quinteny
and D'Andilly, and of which some specimens may yet
be found in different parts of Europe. However, as
experiments multiplied, and science and good taste
increased, a medium size, and forms less foreign
from vegetable nature than those of the lion and the
stag, the distaff and the urn, were brought into use,
and established as most proper for garden culture.

In forming these (to which have been given the
names of the half standard, the pyramid, and the
espalier), the labour necessarily begins in the nur-
sery. The stock of the crab, the paradise, or the
quince, is grafted two, three, or four inches from
the earth, with the variety you wish to propagate.
In the spring of the second year after grafting, one
of two methods is employed to form the head ; ei-
ther by shortening the shoots which may have
pushed from the graft, or the graft itself to the third
or fourth eye from its root. In either case, a growth
of more vigorous shoots succeeds, from which you
select your main or leading branches ; always taking
care to reject those which are spongy and over-
grown, or feeble and wiry.

The future management of the tree will necessa-
rily be regulated by its destination. If intended for
a standard, your labour will be principally confined
to the removal of dead or dying, and redundant
wood ; and " to the thinning and shortening the ex-
terior parts of the branches, so that the light may
everywhere penetrate into the head, without any-
where passing through it."* If, on the other hand,,
you mean that your tree shall be a pyramid, the or-
dinary mode of giving this form consists in making
the oldest and lowest branches the longest, and in

* Encyclopaedia of Gardening.
U2

234 GARDENING.

shortening the upper and younger growths gradual-
ly to the top. But against this practice we are ad-
monished by a British writer of considerable au-
thority,* who says that, " when applied to apple, or
pear, or other trees which produce their fruits at the
extremities of the last year's wood, the conical form
is both absurd and ruinous ; since, to produce or pre-
serve it, we must necessarily destroy a large pro-
portion of fruit-buds." The terms of this position
are, however, too broad ; for, though the objection
be good against the old or ordinary method of pro-
ducing this shape, it fails altogether against the shape
itself, provided any mode of producing it be found
which shall leave the fruit-buds untouched ; and that
such mode does exist, we learn from another writer
of the same nation, and of equal, if not higher au-
thority, f " If," he says, " the graft you employ be
inserted with its point (or terminal) bud perfect, the
branches will range themselves horizontally and in
series, and, without violence, produce all the effects
(as to shape) which have hitherto been produced by
pruning and training." The espalier form, if that be
desired, is produced by selecting two healthy shoots
the second year after grafting, which, when spread
out, like the ribs of a fan, against an open frame,
and filled up within by lateral shoots, present two
surfaces, the one in front and the other in rear, for
the production of fruit. The knife in this case is
only used in keeping these surfaces clear of dead,
or unhealthy, or fractured wood, and in removing all
shoots other than those growing laterally.
With these several forms may be associated the

* Nicol.

t Hayward's Principles of Gardening. An additional author-
ity in favour of the pyramidal form is the practice of those em-
inent botanists, Thouin and Bosc, in the national gardens at
Paris (the Jardin des Plantes and the Luxembourg). It is, be-
sides, the form generally adopted, if we mistake not, in the
schools of botany.

FRUIT GARDEN. 235

artificial shelter of walls ; which, from many experi-
ments made in the most crowded parts of our cities,
are believed to be useful in maturing fruits of many
kinds, and especially to such as are of southern ori-
gin and delicate constitution, as the peach, the nec-
tarine, the fig, &c. The rules which apply to this
branch of the art are few and simple, and will be re-
served for a future subject (the peach-tree), as one
to which they better apply than to the apple-tree.

Of Thinning.* — In using this term, we confine
ourselves to the removal of superfluous leaves and
fruit ; an operation which, though proper and use-
ful, must be cautiously performed ; as, in the vege-
table economy, the office to which the leaf is des-
tined is very important : being the supply of the
Elant with that portion of its subsistence derived
•om the atmosphere. We know of no purpose,
therefore, that will justify us in stripping off any
considerable part of the foliage, unless it be that of
maturing fruit and wood, which, from constitutional
defects or a faulty situation, would not otherwise
ripen. Peaches, pears, grapes, and some varieties
of apples, occasionally come within this description ;
and though the process may not be equally indispen-
sable to them all, yet all are undoubtedly improved
by it. The rule which governs in this case is, " to
remove such leaves as shade the fruit, so soon as
this has attained its full size, and begins to lose its
green colour." To do it earlier would impair the
growth of the fruit ; and to do it rigorously and at
once, would arrest that of the retained shoots:
whence it follows that " the thinning must be grad-
ual, and at two or more different times during the
space of five or six days."f If the leaves of wall-
trees hang longer than usual, they should be brushed
off, the better to ventilate and ripen the young wood ;

* Encyclopaedia of Gardening.

t Not applicable, or, if applicable, seldom or ever practised on
the farm.— J. B.

236 GARDENING.

but, in doing this, we must be careful to brush up-
ward and outward, and never in the opposite direc-
tions, as in that case we could not fail to injure the
retained buds.

Thinning the fruit is also an important operation ;
since, if properly managed, it has the direct effect
of improving both the size and the quality of what
is left, while, at the same time, it betters the condi-
tion of the tree, and adds greatly to its longevity.
Few persons have been such negligent observers as
not to have remarked the proneness in apricot, nec-
tarine, peach, and plum trees, to set more fruit than
they are able to ripen. It is true that this exces-
sive bearing will in some degree cure itself, but al-
ways at the expense of the tree and of the fruit it
actually ripens ; whence the economy of anticipa-
ting nature, and relieving her from the labour of
sustaining a useless and abortive progeny. But,
as in the case of superfluous leaves, this thinning
should be performed cautiously and at different
times. " If the fruit be thickly set over particular
parts of the tree only, begin by taking off one half
from such parts ; and if every part of the tree be
crowded, take off the same proportion from the
whole." Revise it again in June, and finally in Ju-
ly ; taking off, at each of these revisions, such as
may be usefully spared. On healthy and full-bear-
ing trees, one apple of large size to every square
foot of the superficial contents of the tree, is con-
sidered a just proportion ; that is, a space of fifteen
feet by twelve may be allowed to ripen two hundred
apples ; and if the fruit be small, this proportion may
be increased a third part.* " Many persons," says
Nicol, " may think that thinning to this extent will
be excessive ; but I wish such to be convinced of
the propriety of doing so by comparison. If they
have two trees of a kind, healthy and well-loaded,

* Encyclopaedia of Gardening.

FRUIT GARDEN. 237

thin the one as directed, and leave the other to it-
self. It will be found that the tree which has been
thinned will produce an equal or greater weight of
fruit, and this incomparably more beautiful and high-
er in flavour. The operation should be over by the
time the fruit is half grown ; for, if delayed till they
are nearly full grown, and beginning to swell off for
ripening, the mischief will be already done, both to
the tree and to the fruit which is retained."

Of Manuring, and otherwise altering the condition
of the soil. — We have said that apple-trees grow
well in a great variety of soils ; but it by no means
follows that they affect all soils alike. A substan-
tial loam, whose substratum is dry, is that in which
they thrive best ; and a circumstance which is not
discouraging to the agriculturist is, that, should he
not find such ready made to his hand, he can him-
self make it without much expense of time or
money. Its elements are cheap and abundant,
being sand, clay, and vegetable or animal matter in
a state of decomposition. Equal proportions of the
first and second of these, and a smaller quantity of
the third, will give a soil of great power and dura-
bility, requiring only occasional supplies of mould
to reinstate what of that may be taken from the
mass by successive croppings. This mould is it-
self created by a mixture of various substances, as
dung, ashes, leaves, weeds, lime, marl, &c., fre-
quently turned and thoroughly rotted, and to which,
in this condition, has been given the technical name
of compost. A biennial dressing of this, applied to
the whole surface, with an annual and careful cul-
ture of some esculent plant between the trees, will
bestow on the latter all the advantages that, in our
climate, can be given by labouring and manuring
the earth.

Apple, like other fruit trees, have their enemies
and their diseases. All excesses of heat or cold,
wetness or dryness, are unfriendly to them ; some-

238 GARDENING.

times wholly destroying their fertility for the sea-
son, at others seriously injuring it, and occasional-
ly, though rarely, disorganizing the trees them-
selves. Many insects also prey upon them, attack-
ing their leaves, blossoms, fruit, bark, or roots ; of
which the Aphis laenigera,* the curculio, the scara-
beus, &c., are the most common and injurious;
nor, unfortunately, do we know any specific remedy
against these evils. f But, after all, may not our
own negligence be considered as the most fruitful
source of many others of a similar kind? How
often do we find the bark of fruit-trees covered and
coloured with parasites, in the form of mosses, and
lichens, and smut, which a small degree of labour
and a little whitewash would entirely and promptly
remove. J How patiently do we look on and see
the ravages made on their leaves and fruit-buds by
caterpillars of different names and appearances,
when, if we visited them at daybreak, all would be
found at home and asleep, and entirely within our
reach ? And, lastly, how various and fatal are the
wounds inflicted on stems and branches (under the
name and pretence of pruning) when left open, as
they generally are, to the alternate action of air,
and frost, and sunshine, without giving them even
the cheap and simple covering of St. Fiacre 1$

* The Eriosorna mali of Leach. This insect forms the excres-
cences called galls on the stems and branches of trees. " W.
Salisbury gives an engraving of it, as it appeared through a mag-
nifying glass, eating its way into the roots of a tree ; and another
of the same insect in the bug state, which he believed to be the
male." — Loudon, p. 788.

t Watering, fumigation, &c., are the remedies usually pre-
scribed ; but, in our opinion, " a judicious management of the
sub and surface soil, culture and pruning, are the things luost
to be relied upon." — Idem.

t The best wash for the apple-tree is a strong ley, to be ap-

Slied to the trunk and larger branches with a brush, early in
une. It destroys both parasitic plants and insects. — J. B.

§ A mixture of cow-dung and clay is called in France (that
land of saints) " the ointment of St. Fiacre ;" and is, in the

FRUIT GARDEN. 239

The PEAR-TREE (Pyrus communis) was not un-
known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and
grows spontaneously in the forests of Europe as
high as the 51st degree of north latitude. It differs
from the apple-tree in its greater tendency to a py-
ramidal form, in its being more slow in arriving at
a bearing or productive state,* and, lastly, in its
living to a much greater age.f

The hardiness of the tree and the excellence of
its fruit have recommended it to general cultiva-
tion, as might be inferred from the very great num-
ber of its varieties. These, which in the time of
Pliny amounted to thirty, have since increased to
three hundred ; and, if Van Mons is to be credited,
to even double that number. From this long mus-
ter-roll of names we shall select a few, in their nat-
ural order of ripening, which stand highest in pub-
lic estimation for dessert and culinary uses, and
which may be made to supply our tables from
July to March : The Green Chissel, the Red Musca-
dine, the Avorat or Muscat Robine, the Royale d'Ete,
the Green Yair, the Beurre Rouge, the Messieur Jean,
the Crassan, the Colmar, the Vergoleuse, the Wondet
of Winter, the Poire d'Auch, the Brown Beurre, the
Muscat VAllemande, the Winter St. Germain, and the
Bon Chretien.^

As these varieties do not reproduce themselves
from the seed ; as the plants furnished by layers,

opinion of the best horticulturists of that country, a more effi-
cient covering for the wounds of trees than the complicated and
much-vaunted mixture of Forsyth.

* Generally from 15 to 18 years. — Cours d' Agriculture, art.
Poirier.

t Knight asserts, that the variety called in England the Bar-
land has existed from the beginning of the 17th century, and
conjectures that the Tanuton Squash, (an older variety) was first
known in the beginning of the 16th.

| Du Hamel divides the varieties known in his day into two
classes, and considers them all as proceeding from the fecunda-
tion of the wild pear by the quince.

$ See our note on orchards, p. 009.— J. B.

240 GARDENING.

cuttings, and suckers are very indifferent ; and as
seedlings are slow in giving their fruit, it follows
that the pear is principally propagated by scions
and buds. These are placed on quince or pear
stocks, according as taste or interest may invite to
early and small crops of fine quality, or to later
and more abundant ones of inferior character. In
the former case, the stem of the quince must be
employed, and in the latter that of the common
pear, and without any material difference in the
operation, excepting that " the feebler the stem, the
nearer to the earth should be placed the scion or
the bud."

Notwithstanding the hardiness ascribed to the
pear-tree, we know not any of the kernel class more
readily or sensibly affected by particular conditions
of the atmosphere. A moist and cold spring, a wet
summer, and a rainy autumn, are alike unpropi-
tious to it. In either of these cases, the fruit which
does not rot is watery and tasteless, and when all
take place, the evil extends to even a second year ;
as, according to the observations of Coursette,
" long-continued moisture rarely fails to convert
fruit-buds into wood-buds."

The second year after budding or grafting, the
plants may be removed to the places where it is in-
tended they shall stand ; and as the manner and
time of doing this do not differ from those already
prescribed for the apple-tree, we may spare our-
selves and our readers the trouble of a repetition
of our directions on those heads.

With respect to exposition and soil, though the
pear-tree may be made to grow anywhere, still it
will succeed badly on the north side of hills or in
stiff dry soils, and still worse on those which rest
on a wet subsoil. Some of its later and finer vari-
eties require and deserve a deep substantial loam,
occasionally refreshed with a dressing of well-rot-
ted dung, and some of the best aspects the garden
can furnish.

FRUIT GARDEN. 241

Cultivated as standards and pyramids, the young
trees should be left in a great degree to regulate
their own shape ;* and if interference become prop-
er at all, it should be conducted under two rules,
" to keep the middle of the head pretty open, and
the sides well balanced. "f Trees of other forms,
and intended for walls and espaliers, require more
labour and management, and a degree of both sum-
mer and winter pruning ; the former of which con-
sists in rubbing off all fore-right, ill-placed, super-
fluous, or spongy shoots, before they become so
hard as to render the use of the knife necessary ;
while the latter (performed during any temperate
weather between November and April) is conduct-
ed on the general rule " of sparing all such well-
placed and thriving laterals as maybe necessary for
preserving the form given to the head of the tree,
and of cutting away all others close to the branch
from which they grow." If the older wood be dis-
eased or redundant, cut this away also, or short-
en it down to some healthy and promising shoots.
The retained branches, if growing against a wall or
trellis, should, after each pruning, be laid down and
nailed, with as much extension as can conveniently
be given to them.

Mr. Knight's mode of training the pear-tree is to
leave on the young stock two lateral branches on
each side. When about six feet high, he transplants
the tree early in the spring, and inserts grafts on
» each of the laterals, " so that two of them shall
push from the stem about four feet from the ground,
and two others from the summit, the ensuing year.

* Knight remarks that, in general, very little pruning is re-
quired for pear standards or pyramids ; but that there are sorts
which form heads resembling those of apple-trees, and that for
these pruning may be beneficial.

f To produce a well-balanced tree, shorten the wood of the
deficient side, and leave the other to itself. For the reason of
this rule, see a note on the art. Apple-tree.

242 GARDENING.

The shoots produced by these grafts, when about
a foot long, are to be trained downward, the lower
ones almost perpendicularly, and the upper ones
just below a horizontal line, and so placed as to
distance that the leaves of the one will not at all
shade the other. Continue this mode of training
the second year, and in the third you may expect
an abundant crop of fruit."*

When an old tree becomes unproductive, one of
two methods should be adopted : either to cut it
down within eighteen inches or two feet from the
ground, and train up anew some selected shoots
which may have pushed from the stump (which is-
the method of Forsyth), or "to take off at its base
every branch which does not want at least twenty
degrees of being perpendicular, and all spurs from
such other branches as, by this rule, will be left.
Into these (the retained branches),, at their subdivis-
ions, and at different distances from their bases-
quite to their extremities, grafts must be carefully
inserted, which, when they attain sufficient length
(say twelve inches), must be trained downward be-
tween the branches, as directed in the preceding

paragraph."!

The enemies and diseases of the pear-tree being
those of the apple-tree, we refer the reader to what
has been said in relation to them in the preceding
article.

The QUINCE (Pyrus cydonia) is a native of the
southern and eastern parts of Europe, where it is-
much cultivated for its fruit, which, though not eat-
able in a raw state, is readily converted into a mar-

* We have varied Mr. Knight's phraseology a little, having
substituted the form of a precept for what he has given in that of
an experiment.

t Forsyth's objection to the practice of cutting off old spurs,
viz., " that it brings on the canker, and renders the fruit small
and spotted," would admonish us against the employment of
this method, had it not been adopted and recommended by Mr
Knight.

FRUIT GARDEN. 243

malade, and an excellent dry paste, to which is giv-
en the name of catignac. The stem is also employ-
ed for the reception of apple and pear grafts, and
has the property of giving to the fruit it bears great-
er precocity, an increased size, and an improved
flavour , but with this drawback, that " the quantity
is small, and the product short-lived, as the age of
the tree seldom exceeds ten or twelve years."

The varieties of the quince are four : the pear
quince, the apple quince, the mild, and the Portuguese ;
of which the last should in all cases be preferred,
being hardier, handsomer, and a better bearer than
the other sorts, and, what we consider as no small
additional recommendation, being also more tena-
cious of its fruit, which rarely falls from mere ri-
pening.

Like the other varieties, this is propagated by
seeds, layers, suckers, and cuttings. The first give
the finest plants ; but the process is so slow as of-
ten to exhaust our patience, and thus raise against
it formidable objections. Still, as some may wish
to make the experiment for themselves, it may not
be improper to remark, that, when seeds are em-
ployed, they should be fresh and plump, and sown
in a bed of light and moist soil, having a southern
aspect. After vegetating in the spring, the plants
should be thoroughly hoed, and the ground about
them kept clear of weeds till the second year, when
they may be removed to the nursery, where, with
the care ordinarily given to this department of the
garden, they will do well, until transplanted to the
places where they are permanently to stand.

Layers from the quince do not always succeed,
and hence it is that they are seldom employed; but
this is not the case with cuttings, which, placed in
a soil and situation proper for them (moist and sha-
ded), rarely, if ever, fail. Taken in the spring, they
are set out in the nursery at the distance of fifteen
or eighteen inches apart ; and, if intended for pear

244 GARDENING.

or appAe stocks, are grafted early the ensuing year.
In this case the (eil dormant, within a few inches
of the earth, is the species of graft ordinarily em-
ployed. But it is not to be forgotten that, from
causes not obvious in the present state of our knowl-
edge, some of the varieties of the pear submit qui-
etly to this operation, and even thrive under it, while
others will not survive it. Of the former descrip-
tion are the Vergoleuse and the Beurre ; and of the
latter, the Bon Chretien, Bergamot of England, Sal-
viati, the pound pear, and the Quenois.* The rea-
son assigned by naturalists is the difference of
strength between the stem and the graft, or, in
other words, the feebleness of the quince stock.
But what has a tendency, at least, to lessen our
confidence in this theory is, that the Vergoleuse
and the Beurre are both placed among the hardy
varieties, and yet do well on sterns of this kind.

In propagating for stocks, remove the lower
shoots, and preserve the stem clean as high as the
graft. When the fruit of the quince is the object
of culture, train the stem to a rod or stake until it
reach the height of four or five feet, or, in other
words, till it be able to support itself. The time of
planting, mode of bearing, and general culture, are
those already described for apples and pears.

The ALMOND-TREE (Amygdalus). — Of the six or
seven species of this tree known to botanists, there
is but one that would at all repay the expense and
trouble of cultivation here, and this is the Amyg-
dalus communis, or common almond.f Its varie-
ties, which amount to six or eight, are distinguish-
ed by some quality of the shell or of the fruit, as
the hard and the soft, the bitter and the sweet ; or
by names arbitrarily given, as the peach,J the pis-

* Cours d'Agriculture.

+ All the different species are natives of Asia and Africa.

t This variety is supposed by Knight to be the Tuberes of
Pliny, produced by dusting the stigma of the almond with the
pollen of the peach.— Hort. Trans., vol. iii., p. 4.

FRUIT GARDEN. 245

tachio, the cornichon, and the sultana. Of these,
the last and the sweet almond of Du Hamel and
Forsyth are the sorts most esteemed.

Like the apple, &c., the almond-tree is propaga-
ted by seeds when new varieties are sought for, and
by buds when old ones are to be continued. Graft-
ing is rarely practised, and never with good effect,
from the loss of gum inseparable from the wound
it inflicts. Whence it follows that, in moist soils,
the plum stock, and in dry soils, that of the peach
or of the bitter almond-, are employed as stocks.

The best time for sowing is in the spring ; and
the seeds selected should be those which have been
taken from ripe fruit, and carefully buried in some
dry and cool place, to prevent evaporation. When
put out in the nursery they should be placed with
the sharp ends downward, in rows two and a half
feet apart, and kept free from weeds. As soon as
the young plants show themselves, cover them du-
ring the hot weather with straw, and, when four or
.five feet high, inoculate ; when they are three
years old, transplant them into the fruit garden or
the shrubbery, as you may think best. In either
place, annually labouring the earth around the roots
will be useful.

The cultivation of this tree, under circumstances
favourable to it, is vejy profitable ;* but it must not
t>e dissembled, that in our climate, whether northern
or southern, it does not succeed. In the former,
the early production of its blossoms (which always
precede the leaves)! greatly expose it to frosts, the
slightest of which are sufficient to destroy it ; and
in the latter, from causes not sufficiently explored,
'"the fruit falls," as we are informed by Bosc, "be-

* " The profits of this culture in the south of France ar<e not
so great, but more certain than those arising from the culture
of the olive." — Bosc.

t There is but one exception to this, the sultana, a sub-vari-
ety of the tender shell.

X2

246 GARDENING.

fore it ripens." With us, therefore, the manage-
ment of the tree, both with regard to soil and expo-
sition, must differ from that ordinarily prescribed ;
and, instead of giving to it a dry and warm sand, a
southern aspect, and a wall to reflect the heat, we
must be careful to employ means which shall have
the effect of retarding vegetation. These are. bud-
ding on the plum instead of either the peach or the
almond stock ; avoiding a southern aspect ; planting
in a soil poor and moist, and always in the open
air, and without the shelter of walls, fences, or hills ;
exposing the roots to the action of the frost during
winter; covering them with a thick coat of straw
during the hot days of the spring ; and, lastly, an-
nular excisions made in the bark.

The APRICOT (Prunus). — The origin of this tree
has been somewhat contested. On the supposition
that it was a native of Armenia, the botanists have
called it the Prunus Armeniaca. Pallas, however,
claims it for the region of the Caucasus ; Grossier
for the barren mountains west of Pekin ; Thunberg
for Japan ; and Regnier for the banks of the Niger ;
while Olivier finds it growing spontaneously, with-
out care or culture, in Asia Minor and in Persia.
The date of its introduction into Europe is not bet-
ter ascertained than its origin ; but the presumption
is that this was very remote, as the tree was known
in Italy in the time of Dioscorides, and was culti-
vated in France (as we learn from Thouin) when
that country was a Roman province.

As in the case of other fruit-trees long subjected
to cultivation, its varieties are numerous ; and many
of them so imperfectly distinguished from each
other, that their imputed differences sometimes es-
cape the observation of even practised horticultu-
rists. The varieties best ascertained and most es-
teemed, are,

1. The early, principally recommended by its pre-
cocity, and by the circumstance that the stones

FRUIT GARDEN. 247

never fail to give fruit resembling in all respects
that of the parent tree.

2. The Angumois, distinguished by the oblong
form of its fruit; by a flesh rich, juicy, and slightly
acid; and by the abundance of its aroma. This
tree attains to great perfection in the southern parts
of Europe, thrives best in a calcareous soil, and in
an open and thoroughly ventilated situation ; bears
badly the neighbourhood of walls, and entirely re-
fuses the discipline of the espalier.

3. The common, recommended alike by its vigor-
ous growth, its hardness, and productiveness. The
fruit is, howeuer, less rich and less aromatic than
that of other varieties.

4. The Dutch.— The stem of this, if left to itself,
is apt to be feeble or diseased ; and hence it is that
we generally find this variety grafted on plum
stocks. Its fruit, like that of the Angumois, is
nealy spherical, juicy, and high flavoured, and (when
the tree has a good exposition, and is otherwise
well managed) attains to a considerable size.

5. The Portuguese. — The fruit of this sort is small
and round, but abounding in juices, and very high
flavoured.

G. The Alexandrian gives a fruit particularly adapt-
ed to confitures and marmalades ; as its own sugar
is nearly sufficient for its preservation. The objec-
tion to the tree is its precocity and tendernesss, as
it blossoms early, and blights under the smallest de-
gree of frost.

7. The Breda is an excellent variety, does well in
England, and would probably do better here. The
fruit is large and round, of a deep yellow colour,
with a pulp soft and juicy. The tree is a great
bearer, especially in the standard form, to which it
seems to be particularly adapted.

8. The Brussels gives a fruit of medium size, in-
clining to an oval form, the flavour fine, and the pulp
not liable to dryness or toughness. The tree is a

248 GARDENING.

great bearer, and, like the apricot of Breda, is well
adapted to the standard form.

9. The Moor Park or Peach, rarely, if ever, met
with in this country ; a fact the more extraordinary,
as many circumstances conspire to give it a decided
preference over all the other varieties. The tree
is large, vigorous, and hardy, and is propagated like
the kind first named, from the stone, without risk
or trouble of grafting or budding; it does well either
as a standard or espalier, and gives fruit in great
abundance and of an excellent quality.*

The apricot is multiplied in various ways, but
principally by seeds and budding. If we employ
the former of these methods, not a moment should
be lost after the fall of the fruit in placing the
stones in the, earth ; nor should we omit for a single
day to water them after they are planted. With-
out an observance of these rules, the pits or seeds
shrivel or become rancid ; and in either case, the
power of germination (which in the apricot is nat-
urally feeble) is always impaired and often destroy-
ed. Sow also in the lines and at the distances at
which the trees are permanently to stand, whether
as wall fruit or standards; for, by so doing, the
plants will have more and stouter roots, be better
assured against high winds (which always fatigue
and often destroy them), give their fruit sooner, and
escape the many hazards of transplantation.*)-

We have just suggested that the stone of the
apricot is slow in giving signs of life ; and we may
add that, when it does give them, it requires several
years to render the plant strong, healthy, and pro-
ductive. This last is probably the circumstance
that 'has decided nursery-men in favour of the other
(or budding) method of propagation, as by this they

* Catalogue-makers unite in giving this variety .the prefer-
ence.— See Loudon, &c., &c.

t Manage this as we may, still there is a hazard in it,. and
•particularly so with regard ,to the -apricot.

FRUIT GARDEN. 249

obtain fruit in half the time necessary in the pre-
ceding process. Almond or plum stocks are gen-
erally employed for stems ; and of the latter, those
of the two varieties called the Cerisette and St. Ju-
lian are the most approved. Knight, however, pre-
fers budding the Moor Park on the common apri-
cot ; and gives as a reason for doing so, that, " thus
managed, he finds the trees do not become debili-
tated or diseased as when budded on plum stocks.*

In selecting plants from the nursery, take those
of three years in preference to such as are either
older or younger ; and those having a single stem
to such as have two branches. On this last point
Forsyth goes so far as to recommend lopping off
one branch where the tree may happen to have
two : " as," he adds, " if both be retained, the mid-
dle space between them will be naked."

Apricots are often trained against walls (for the
general reason of sooner and better maturing the
fruit) ; and, when so managed, will no doubt bear
much earlier than in the standard form. But to this
process there is a serious objection, arising from
the frequent and severe pruning which it renders
necessary, and the ill effects of this on the health
and longevity of the tree. On the other hand, if set
out and managed as standards, though much of this
injurious discipline will be avoided, and though in
the result we shall have abundant fruit and of fine
flavour, still we are compelled to wait long for it,
generally eight, and sometimes ten years. Influen-
ced by these considerations, the well-instructed hor-
ticulturist takes a middle course ; plants his apri-
cots in a border ; leaves them, in a great degree, to
regulate themselves as to shape ; uses the knife
only to get rid of dead or diseased wood ; rubs off
the fore-right and superfluous buds while in a her-
baceous state, and trains the retained shoots to a

* Hort. Trans., vol. ii., p. 19.

250 GARDENING.

trellis, so placed as almost to touch the south side
of the wall. By these means he secures the advan-
tages of both methods, and, at the same time, either
entirely avoids or so qualifies their defects, as to
render them of little importance.

The fruit is often attacked by flies and wasps, and
is best protected against these by nettings. Insects
do not appear to do much injury to the tree itself,
probably owing to the roughness of its bark and the
coriaceous nature of its leaves.

The CHERRY-TREE (Cerasus). — This, like most of
our other fruit-trees, is a native of Asia, and was
first brought to Italy from the town of Cerasunt*
by the Roman general Lucullus. Its cultivated va-
rieties are about forty in number,! and are divided
by the French botanists into three races, to which
they have given the names of the bigarrotier, the
griottier, and the guignier. The fruit of the first is
distinguished by its hard and fleshlike substance ;
that of the second by its juiciness and tenderness ;
and that of the last by its comparative sweetness.
Subjoined is a list of such of the varieties (placed
in their natural order of ripening) as may be most
worthy of attention: The May Duke, the Early
Black (a cross made by Knight between the Graf-
fian and the May Duke).{ Ronald's Large Black
Heart, Frazier's Tartarian, the Elton (another new
variety produced by crossing the Graffian and the
White Heart), the Bleeding Heart, Harrison's Heart,
the Cerone, the Black Gean, the Florence, the Amber
Heart, and the Morello.

The cherry-tree is propagated both by seeds and

Hence the generic name of Cerasus.

t The Luxembourg Catalogue contains forty-two.

j Hort. Trans., vol. iii., p. 212. " The cherry sports more ex-
tensively in variety when propagated from seeds, than any other
fruit that I have subjected to the experiment, and probably is
therefore capable of attaining to a higher degree of perfection
than it has yet reached."— Knigh* •klwtt Trans., vol. ii., p. 138

FRUIT GARDEN. 251

suckers when stems are wanted ; by seeds alone
when new varieties are required ;* by scions when
you have to work on old subjects ; and by buds
when your trees are young. If intended for dwarfs,
bud your plants at two, and if for standards, at four
years of age. The spring succeeding this operation
is the time for transplanting, which should be done
carefully, and in the manner prescribed for setting
out apple-trees. The fashion or form of the trees
will direct the distance at which they are to stand
from each other : between standards this should not
be less than thirty feet ;f and between pyramids and
espaliers not less than twenty.

Though in our climate all the varieties of the
cherry-tree do well as standards and pyramids, and
are, therefore, generally and properly cultivated in
these forms, still it may be useful to remark that
two of them, the May Duke and the Morello, when
trained against walls, give fruit not only of greater
precocity, but of much finer flavour ; a circum-
stance in which they differ, not only from other va-
rieties of their own racesybut from fruit-trees of all
other kinds. J

As the cherry grows on small spurs, pushing from
the sides and ends of two, three, and four year old
wood, and as the procession of new buds is con-
stant, it follows, as a general rule, that " the knife
must be sparingly employed ;" and as a particular
one in relation to wall-trees, that " bearing branches
are not to be shortened if room can be found for
extending them."§ These rules, however rigorous-
ly executed, must not prevent summer pruning (which,

* The seeds employed should be taken from ripe fruit, com-
mitted promptly to a_bed of sand, and kept in a dry and cool
place till the spring, when they may be set oat in rows two and
a half feet apart.

f Millar thinks the distance should be forty feet.

j Nicol.

$ Abercrombie's Art of Pruning.

252 GARDENING.

as already stated, consists in rubbing off redundant
or ill-placed buds), nor that of winter, if confined to
the removal of fractured or unsound wood, or
branches too much multiplied or crossing each oth-
er.* The nature of the Morello will, however, ren-
der it an exception to the general rule here recom-
ijiiended; for, instead of bearing, like other varie-
ties, on two, three, and even four year old wood, its
fruit is generally produced on shoots of the last
year, and rarely, if ever, on even two year old wood.
Whence it follows that, with regard to this variety,
our aim in both summer and winter pruning ought
to be " a removal of old and a provision of new
bearers."

In renovating an old tree pursue Forsyth's meth-
od ; shorten it to a stump not more than 18 inches
high ; remove the old soil from the roots ; replace it
with that of upland pasture, on a layer of stone or
some other impervious body, two feet below the
surface, and encourage a single shoot.

Cherry-trees in general are not much affected
by insects. Of this class the red spider is their
greatest enemy in England ; and in Scotland an in-
sect called the black beetle, which Naismith found
the means of killing " by burning under the trees a
mixture of pitch, orpiment, and sulphur, and then
giving them a good washing with the garden en-
gine." Birds are here a more potent enemy; and
the best remedy against them are old fishnets
thrown over the trees, clapboards, scarecrows, and
fusees.

The PEACH-TREE (Amygdalus Persica) is a native
of Asia, and was first brought to Rome during the
reign of the Emperor Claudius. f A circumstance
worth remarking in even our short notice of its his-

* Caledonian Memoirs, vol. i, p. 427.

t Mentioned byColumella (in his work on Gardens), and also
by Pliny.

FRUIT GARDEN. 253

tory is, that the product of the species or variety
then introduced was believed to be poisonous, and
gave to the tree a very bad reputation, which yield-
ed, however, to experiments more carefully made,
and to the acknowledged fact that in Egypt, where
also it had become an object of culture, the fruit
was equally wholesome and delicious.*

The early botanists divided this family into two
classes : the one giving a fruit with a downy skin,
which they called a peach ; the other a fruit with a
smooth skin, to which they gave the name of nec-
tarine. But as it was soon ascertained that the same
tree did occasionally produce both sorts at the same
time,! later writers have rejected the distinction, and
considering them as the same fruit, have arranged
them simply into the downy and the smooth with
a free-stone, and the downy and the smooth with
a cling-stone.

The sub-varieties of both classes are numerous ;
and, as they afford much choice, the selection be-
tween them ought to be made with care, and under
two leading views : 1st, to secure a succession of
fruit throughout the season ; and, 2d, to do this by
employing the sorts which will best adapt them-
selves to the climate. In making up the following
list, we have, therefore, taken only those sub-varie-
ties which, under different modes of cultivation, have
succeeded in latitudes even higher than our own.
1st, the Early Purple (Pourpre hative of Du Ha-
mel) ; 2d, Grosse Mignone ; 3d, Belle Chevreuse ; 4th,
Royal Chariot ; 5th, Double Mountain ; 6th, Bellegarde

* Knight conjectures, and with great probability, that this
first importation to Rome was the Swollen Almond, which is
known to contain much prussic acid. Olivier brought the Wild
Peach of Persia to Paris ; where, on cultivation, it gave fruit
much resembling the Avant Peche Blanche, or what the English
call the White Nutmeg.

t See Salisbury's short account of nectarines and peaches
produced on the same branch, in vol. i., p. 103 of the Hort.
Trana.

Y

254 GARDENING.

orGalande; 7th, Late Violet; 8th, Royal Kensington ;
9th, the Incomparable, or Pavie Admirable ; 10th, the
Pavie Rouge de Pomponne ; llth. the Yellow Admira-
ble, or peach having the apricot flavour : and (of the
nectarine tribe), 12th, the Elruge ; 13th, Fairchild^s
White; 14th, Temple's; 15th, the Scarlet; 16th, the
Early Newington; 17th, the Late Newington; 18th,
the Golden; 19th, the Red Roman; and, 20th, the
Brugnon d^Ilalie*

All these varieties are continued by budding, and,
as in other cases, new ones are obtained by sowing-
the stones ; in doing which, we ought not to forget
that, like oil-giving seeds in general, those of the
peach require to be earthed as soon as they are
separated from the pulp. In their second year (if
wall trees be required), such of them as are des-
tined for stems are budded close to the earth ; and if
riders or standards be wanted, three, four, or six feet
higher. In the spring following, the first shoots
from these buds should be headed down to four,
five, or six eyes, for the purpose of producing two
upright and leading branches, and as many laterals,
with which you begin to give to the head the form
you intend it shall ultimately take. We need scarce-
ly remark that, on this point, the doctors in horti-
culture are nearly as far apart from each other as
are those of medicine in relation to the origin and
contagiousness of yellow fever. But believing, as
we do, that our object will be best fulfilled by turn-
ing aside from these discussions, we shall content
ourselves with a brief notice of two forms, which
in our opinion are at once the simplest and most
scientific. The first of these (the standard), as we
have already observed, is nearly the natural form of
the tree : requiring no interposition of art, if we ex-
cept the removal of dead, or dying, or superfluous

* We have excluded from this list the White and the Red
Nutmeg, and the Early Ann, because recommended only by
their precocity. * ^

FRUIT GARDEN. 255

limbs, and an occasional supply of wood (if this be
wanted) to keep up a well-balanced head. It is also
that form in which the tree succeeds best in hot cli-
mates ; and in such it ought always to be employed.
But in northern latitudes (where the heat is neither
long-continued nor great), the fruit of the standard
peach-tree is rarely seen in perfection : it may be
large, and juicy, and well coloured, but it will always
be deficient in that peculiar flavour, that aroma which
is its true characteristic, and without which it is but
an ordinary fruit.* To supply, therefore, as far as
may be possible, without the aid of fire or glass, that
high temperature in which the peach delights, we
must resort, first, to the use of walls, which, be-
sides protecting the tree from high and cold winds,
concentrate the rays of the sun on its stem and
branches, and on the earth which surrounds and
nourishes its roots ; secondly, to the amelioration
of the soil, by giving to it both warmth and dry ness,
should it be deficient in these qualities ; and, thirdly,
to that mode of training " which exposes to the
light the greatest surface of leaf in the shortest
space of time,t and, consequently, best promotes an
equal distribution of the sap." For accomplishing
these three objects, the rules are to construct your
walls of stone, or brick, or wood, and of a height
from 12 to 15 feet ; to lay out, on the eastern and
southern sides of them, a border 10 feet wide, work-
ed to the depth of three feet, and manured with a
mixture of ashes and peat, or bog earth ;{ to plant
in this (2 1-2 feet distant from the wall) your young
trees, furnished with two leading branches, and pre-
senting a figure not unlike the letter Y ; to bring
down these branches to a position nearly horizon-

* To show the effect of climate on this fruit, Bosc says that
he has eaten peaches at Verona, compared with which " the
celebrated Clingstone of Montreuil (the Pomponne) would be
regarded as an abortion."

t Knight. f Loudon.

256 GARDENING.

tal, and subsequently to train them upward, paral-
lel to each other, as high as the top of the wall, and
directly against its side, to which, throughout their
whole length, they are to be securely fastened by
woollen straps ; and, lastly, to encourage side-shoots
from these leaders, so as to fill up with bearing wood
the intermediate space between them, and such ex-
terior space on the wall as may be thought proper
and practicable. To this form is given the techni-
cal name of the Wavy or Curvilinear Fan; and it is
obvious that, in preserving as well as in producing
it, the use of the knife cannot be dispensed with.
Be careful, therefore, in May and June, and occa-
sionally in the succeeding months, to remove water
shoots, and all ill-placed, redundant, or diseased
buds; and again, at the fall of the leaf, to cut away
with a sharp knife, and close to the branches on
which they grow, such new shoots as will not read-
ily accommodate themselves to your design, or as
may be unnecessary to it, and also all such old wood
as may be useless or troublesome.*

The general rules for thinning leaves and fruit
(prescribed under a preceding article) must be care-
fully observed in the treatment of peach-trees and
nectarines, as they are known to have an uncom-
mon degree of proneness to overbearing, and as the
discipline we recommend will, besides giving an
improved fruit, tend directly and greatly to fortify

* Knight's method of pruning, in "high, cold, and wet»sitiia-
tions," and by which he secures good crops when even the sea-
son is unpropitious, may be found useful in our climate. " In-
stead," he says, " of taking off a large portion of the young
shoots in the spring, and training a few only to a considerable
length, as is the general practice, I retain a large number of the
shoots, and pinch off the minute and succulent points to the
length of one or two inches. By these means I obtain spurs
which lie close to the wall, and give as strong and vigorous blos-
soms, in even cold and wet situations and weather, as are pro-
duced by the old method under circumstances the most favour-
able."— Encyclopaedia of Gardening, p. 456.

FRUIT GARDEN. 257

the trees against the attacks of their numerous en-
emies. Of these the Acarus, Cherines, Aphis, and
Thrips (an insect hardly perceptible to the naked
eye), are the most common, and are best expelled
by water and tobacco smoke. It is, however, the
curculio, or grub (as we call it), that may, from its
pre-eminence in mischief, be regarded as the de-
stroyer of the peach. Its attacks ordinarily begin
in the stem near the surface of the earth ; and, if not
arrested, will soon terminate in the roots, where it
riots on the gum exuding from the many wounds it
inflicts. The remedies resorted to in this case are,
first, the application of boiling water to the roots ;
secondly, a similar application of unslacked lime,
in the proportion of one quart to a tree ; thirdly, re-
moving the surface earth, and substituting for it tan-
ner's bark; fourthly, removing the earth, as in the
preceding case, in the month of November, and ex-
posing the roots to the action of the frost during
the winter; and, lastly, encircling the lower part of
the stem with straw, and thus compelling the insect
to begin his attack so far from the ground, that he
will be unable to avail himself of its shelter before
the coming on of winter.

The diseases of the peach-tree are as numerous,
and often as fatal, as the depredators just mention-
ed; and are known to horticulturists under the
names of the honey-dew, mildew, canker, spots, &c.
The first of these yields to the flower of sulphur
sprinkled over the tree ; but the most efficient cure
for all of them is the removal of the soil about their
roots.*

The PLUM-TREE (Primus domesiica) is a native of
different parts of Europe, has been long cultivated,
and has, of course, many varieties. Of these, the

* Kinment's experiments, made in 1811, 12, and 13, show that
the last of these diseases is the effect of too much vegetable
food, and that, by reducing the quantity of this, the diseased
trees will recover.

Y2

258 GARDENING,

best recommended are the Precoce of Tours, the
Early Damson of Provence, the Green Mirabelle of
Italy, the St. Catharine, the White Perdrigon, the
Imperatrice, and all the Gages, blue, violet, and
green.

The St. Catharine, the white Perdigon, and the
gages, are propagated by seeds, the products of
which never fail to give plants differing in nothing
from the parent stem;* while the other varieties
can only be kept up by budding or grafting. f Where
trees are of more than four years' growth, the latter
of these operations is preferred ; and on all under
that age, the former is thought best.

Argillaceous soils, neither habitually wet nor oc-
casionally inundated, and of medium quality, are
those which best agree with the plum-tree. Where,
from previous culture or accidental causes, the earth
has become either very rich or very poor, the tree
does not succeed. In the one case, its vigour is di-
rected only to the production of wood and foliage ;
and in the other, its growth is feeble and its life
short. In favourable climates it should always be
cultivated as a standard, and will then require only
a little annual labour about the roots, and the re-
moval from the head of dead or dying branches ; but

* This is, at least, a doubtful conclusion. Plants, like ani-
mals of the same genus, will mix and produce new varieties, as
is amply proved by artificial fecundation ; and the gages, we be-
lieve, form no exception to the general law. We have, in sev-
eral instances, seen and tasted fruits, grown from the pits of the
gage ; but we have never seen in any of these fruits an exact
resemblance to the female parent. They have been of various
colours, shapes, size, , and flavour, although grown from pits
coming from the samcj tree, according, as we supposed, to the
character of the male parent. — J. B.

f The Muscle, the St. Julian, and the Cerisette, are varieties
raised from seeds or suckers, as stems on which to bud and graft
other plums, &c. With this exception, all other suckers should
be removed as soon as they appear. If you postpone this busi-
ness till winter, the wounds you then inflict will ensure you a
double crop in the spring.

FRUIT GARDEN. 259

in northern latitudes and cold situations, the espa-
lier form (as practised near Paris) may be not only
useful, but indispensable. This differs in nothing
from the ordinary mode but in pruning less severely.
The cultivators at Montreuil, instead of shortening
the branches to three or four eyes, leave them fif-
teen or twenty feet long, and lay them down in such
way as shall soonest and most completely enable
them to cover the frame to which they are at-
tached.

With regard to product, "few and fine" is the
general maxim. The thinning discipline must not,
therefore, be omitted ; because it is that which will
best fulfil both parts of the rule. (See on this head,
article Apple-tree.)

The gum and canker are the diseases most com-
mon to the plum-tree, for which heading down is
the best remedy.* When wasps attack the fruit,
they are most effectually kept off by nettings.

The CRANBERRY (Vacc inium macrocarpum) . — This
plant is a native of our own country, and merits
more attention than has been given to it, as the ex-
periments of the late Sir Joseph Banks prove at
once the facility and the profit of making it an ob-
ject of garden culture.f

Growing naturally in swamps and bogs, it has
been too hastily concluded that it would not succeed
but in grounds " often inundated and always wet."
But that this belief is erroneous can no longer be
doubted, as we learn from London, an eminent
practical writer, that " the cranberry can always
be made to thrive on the margin of a pond ;" while
the experiments of Salisbury (an amateur of the art)
demonstrate that " it will even bear abundantly in
pots filled with bog earth, and placed under the

* Abercrombie.

t On a bed eighteen feet square, he raised three and a half
bushels, Winchester measure.— See Hort. Trans., vol. i., p. 71.

260 GARDENING.

shade of a hedge or fence."* In the first of these
cases, enclose a portion of the pond by stakes, fill
the bottom with stones, and on these place a stra-
tum of bog earth, raised to the ordinary level of the
pond, and upon this plant a few cranberries. The.
runners will soon and completely cover the bed, and.
your harvests will be both abundant and regular,
never suffering either from weather or insects. In
the other case, select or make a hollow, and within
it form a bed of bog earth, set your plants upon
this, and shade them on the south and east with
some quick growers, as Indian corn, or the butter
bean, &c.

The CURRANT (Ribes rubrum). — It is only of this
sort and its varieties that we shall speak, as the
fruits of the other species are rarely, if ever, admit-
ted to the table. This plant is evidently of north-
ern origin and habits, very indifferent to soil or sit-
uation, and regardless of weather ; growing wher-
ever planted, and never failing, when tolerably cul-
tivated, to give a plentiful crop. The varieties of it
are principally distinguished by colour, as the White,
the New White, and the White Crystal, the Large Red,
the Cluster Red, the Champagne Pale Red, and the
Dutch Pale Red. These are all propagated alike by
seeds, roots, and cuttings, but generally by the last
mode, which does not at all differ from that pre-
scribed (in the next article) for the gooseberry.
The only farther object of art in the management
of this plant, is to keep the head (which is much
disposed to become bushy) pervious to the sun and
air, the stem clean, and the roots unencumbered
with suckers.

The GOOSEBERRY (Ribes grossularia). — Though re-
ally a native of Piedmont, this plant maybe regard-
ed as a British production, as it is only in England
and Scotland where its cultivation is well under-

* See Hort. Trans., vol. ii., p. 96.

FRUIT GARDEN. 261

stood and attended to, and where the fruit is held in
high estimation, or deserves to bo so.*f

Its varieties are very numerous. In the London
nurseries are no less than one hundred different
sorts, and in those of Lancashire (where the cul-
ture is most general) three hundred; some of which
are early, others late ; some large, and others small ;
some abounding in flavour, and others entirely des-
titute of it. In our brief catalogue we shall be gov-
erned altogether by the uses to which the fruit is
destined, and shall therefore indicate only three
sorts, the Warrington or Manchester Red, employed
for the dessert ; the Early Wilmot Red, famous for
tarts and sauces ; and the Walnut Red, recommend-
ed by its quality of keeping or preserving better
than any other variety of the family.f

Like other fruit-trees, the gooseberry may be
propagated by seeds, suckers, cuttings, &c., but the
last is the mode generally adopted. In this case
the cuttings are taken from bearing shoots, placed in
the nursery eight or ten inches apart, and trained
to the height of a foot with a clear stem, excepting
three or four buds at the top, which must be left to
form the future head, and which, when they have
pushed a few inches, must be radiated at an angle
between forty and forty-five degrees. When the
roots are sufficiently formed, the plants may be
taken up and placed in rows in the border or square
intended for them, at the distance of six feet be-
tween the rows, and four feet from plant to plant.
An annual labour about the roots is necessary, and,

* This fruit is also of very large size and fine flavour in some
parts of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

t In Italy, France, and Spain, the plant is scarcely known,
and very little esteemed; nor does it attract much attention in
Holland and Germany.

i If a larger collection be thought desirable, it may be had
on good terms and in excellent order from J. Whalley of Liver-
pool.

262 GARDENING.

unless the soil be uncommonly rich, a yearly dress-
ing also of stable manure or peat earth. Too
much shade is oppressive to the plant and injurious
to the fruit, but a degree of it is useful to both, and
is best obtained by sowing rows of the Jerusalem
artichoke between those of the gooseberry. When
the heads become crowded, all cross and water
shoots growing in their centres must be pinched or
cut off; and if the smaller berries also be 'removed
early in the season, the result to the crop will be
favourable ; but, in performing the first of these op-
erations, we must remember that the summer
shoots in general must not be touched.

Caterpillars of different names, the white, black,
and green (larva of the Tenthrendinida), are the
\vorst enemies of the gooseberry. Most of these,
when full grown, descend into the earth, and remain
there for the winter. This habit suggests the most
probable mode of destroying them. Some horti-
culturists accordingly lay hot lime around the roots
of the plants ; others saturate the surrounding earth
with boiling water; others with the urine of cows;
others dig into the earth seaweed or grass, sprinkled
with a solution of salt and water; and J. Tweedie
" pares off three inches of the surface earth, which
generally includes the eggs of the caterpillar, makes
a deep trench, and places this at the bottom, where
the temperature is such as to prevent the eggs from
hatching." Various washes have also been devised
for destroying the larva while above ground and on
the plants ; but, in the opinion of Loudon, with lit-
tle if any success. " Hand-picking," he says, " how-
ever tedious it may seem, will in the end be found
more certain and cheap than any other mode."

The GRAPE-VINE (Vitis vinifera). — This species of
the vine (the only one of which we mean to speak)
is believed to be a native of Persia,* whence it has

* See Michaux, Olivier, and Sickler. The last of these wri-

FRUIT GARDEN. 263

been spread over many different regions. Indeed,
climate alone appears to have prescribed boundaries
to its diffusion ; as in Europe we find it successfully
cultivated between the 25th and 52d degrees of north
latitude, and rarely, if ever, with much advantage
beyond these limits. Under favourable circumstan-
ces, it attains to a great size and age.*

Having been cultivated at least from the time of
Noah, its varieties are so multiplied as to set even
enumeration at^efiance :f a fact, after all, of little
importance to our present object, as it is only a
very small class of these varieties, and a still smaller
proportion of this class, that comes within the scope
of the present work. The following is a list of the
sorts which, in our opinion, are best adapted to the
climate, and fittest for the only use we mean to make
of them, that of the dessert : the Chasselas of Fon-
tainebleau, the White do., the Violet do., the Black Mus-
cat of Jura, the Black do. of the Po, the White do. of
do., the Muscat of Alexandria, the Malvoisie of the
Po, the Red Hamburg, and the Sweetwater.

ters has given a very curious and learned account of the progress
of the Grape-vine from Persia to Sicily, by the way of Egypt
and Greece, in his work entitled Geschichte der Obs. Cult., vol. i.

* Pliny speaks of a vine 600 years old. Bosc says there are
several in Burgundy 400 years old ; and Millar, that " a vineyard
is young at 100 years." A vine at North Allerton (in England)
covered one hundred and thirty-seven square yards ; another at
Hampton Court, one hundred and sixteen ; and a third at Val-
entines (in Essex) one hundred and forty-seven. "The Hamp-
ton vine ordinarily produces 2200 bunches, averaging a pound
each ; and one of its branches measures one hundred and four-
teen feet in length." — Encyclopaedia of Gardening, p. 843.

f The most successful attempt yet made at an enumeration
of the varieties of the vine may be found in a Spanish work by
Don S. Roxas Clemente, Librarian of the Botanic Garden at
Madrid. Among the many good things done, or attempted by
Bonaparte in France, was the bringing together in a single gar-
den (that of the Luxembourg) all the varieties of the vine to be
found in that country. The work began in 1801, under the par-
ticular directions of Chaptal and Bosc ; and in 1809 three hun-
dred sorts had been collected, cultivated, and classed. We have
heard with regret that the work was not completed.

264 GARDENING.

Like many other plants, the vine is propagated :

1st, By Seeds, when new varieties are wanted,
and most generally by two processes, one of which
consists 4' in approaching two or more sorts so near-
ly together as to produce a promiscuous impregna-
tion ;"* the other " in cutting out the stamen from
the flower of the variety to be impregnated, intro-
ducing the pollen of that with which the cross is to
be made, and, finally, by dusting the stigma with the
ripe anthers." The former is the method of Speech-
ley, and the latter that of Knight.

2d, By Layers. — This method is little practised,
because, though plants so raised give their fruit most
promptly, they are both feeble and short-lived.

3d, By Scions. — These are never resorted to but
to cdrrect errors. When the varieties originally
planted are bad or unfruitful, grafting is the remedy ;
and though the operation be not uniformly success-
ful, still it succeeds often enough to recommend the
experiment. And,

4th, By Cuttings. — This is the mode generally
employed, and that which best deserves to be so.
The cuttings are of three kinds : the long (12 to 18
inches), the short (about half the length of the pre-
ceding), and the single eye.\ The first and. second
have each a portion of the wood of two years ; and
the third has but wood enough of the last year to fur-
nish the germe of a single bud. The first of these
methods is that of the Continent of Europe, and has
much and long experience to support it ; the last is
an English novelty, with little to recommend it, and
probably growing ont of the easier management of
short sets when raised in pots and hotbeds, according
to their system. One quality is, however, indispen-
sable to cuttings of all kinds, whether long or short ;
and that is, that " the wood composing them be solid

* See Treatise on the Vine.

t Mitchell suggested, and Speechley recommends this spe*
cies of cutting.

FRUIT GARDEN. 265

and compact, round and short-jointed, and that the
eyes or buds be large and prominent.* Cut in the
autumn, they must be carefully buried until the en-
suing spring, when they may be taken up and plant-
ed where it is intended they shall permanently re-
main.

Many appearances indicate that the vine is indif-
ferent to the nature of the soil in which it grows,
as it is found to live and thrive in limestone clay,
in chalk, in gravel, in granite, in schist, in earths
charged with the oxyde of iron, in the rubbish of old
foundations, and even in the midst of brick pave-
ments and castle walls. f Nor, judging from a first
and cursory view, should we suppose it to be more
nice with regard to exposition, as it may be found
growing under many different aspects, and on every
possible variety of surface. Still these appearan-
ces are deceptive, and yield to the evidence of many
facts, carefully collected by horticulturists, which
prove that, notwithstanding this general power of
adaptation, the vine is particularly sensible to the
influences of soil and exposure, and that, under even
slight changes or modifications of these, it becomes
more or less fertile, and gives its products earlier
or later, or with juices more or less abundant, sac-
charine, and well-flavoured. In strong, rich soils,
its growth in wood and foliage is vigorous ; but the
fruit ripens slowly, and is comparatively tasteless. f

* The soils which in France are most generally assigned to
vineyards are, 1st, limestone clay ; 2d, gravelly clay, as at Nis-
mes, Montpelier, and Bourdeanx ; 3d, granitic soil, which gives
the wines called Cotes Rotds, Hermitage, and Taville, &c. ; and,
4th, chalk, as in Champagne.

f See Treatise on Fruit-trees by Hitt, and Laurence on the
Fruit Garden. Rozier paved his vineyard at Bezieres. The
vine mentioned by Hitt grew in the foundations of Belvoir Cas-
tle, and that spoken of by Laurence grew out of the wall of an
old castle twenty feet from the ground.

^ The Clovego estate, famous for the finest description of
Burgundy wine, changed masters during the revolution, and
•was, out of mistaken kindness, or from a desire of doubling the

z

266 GARDENING.

In soils, whether rich or poor, resting on a hard,
impervious subsoil of rock or of hardpan, or on
one often or habitually wet, the plant is feeble, diffi-
cult to rear, short-lived, and never productive ; and
on the north sides of hills, and in the neighbour-
hood of large masses of wood and water, it does
not thrive. It is only under southern and eastern
aspects, and in soils light and warm, and of a me-
dium quality as to strength, that the vine attains
that degree of perfection of which it is susceptible.*

It is this last-mentioned circumstance that directs
us in the choice and application of manures, and
which forbids those of a heating quality, or of any
quality in large quantities. The fresh mould of old
pasture land, the scrapings of streets, and composts
composed of stable litter; the leaves of trees, weeds
in a green state, and animal remains of all kinds (as
hair, skins, feathers, bones, &c., thoroughly rotted),
and applied in moderate doses every second year,
form the most approved practice on this head.

The vine, from the length and pliancy of its
branches, is subjected to very different forms, some
of which are no doubt dictated by mere fancy, and
others by a long experience of their usefulness.
Of the last we shall mention,

1st. The dwarf standard, which is that exclusively
employed in large vineyards in the northern parts

quantity of the crop, abundantly manured. The consequence,
as might be expected, was a larger produce, but a diminished
price.

* This delicacy of constitution alone enables us to explain
the cause of the great differences found in vines of the same
sort, cultivated in the same way, and growing even within sight
of each other. The Lafite wine is only found on a farm not
exceeding in size 300 acres. The Ostrian, &c.. is the produce
of a tract not much larger. The Verdelho grape gives genuine
Madeira only in the island of that name, &c., &c. An external
mark of a soil fitted for the vine is said by Switzer to be the
production of brambles. " Where," he says, " these grow, the
vine never fails."

FRUIT GARDEN. 267

of France and Germany, and which consists in re-
ducing the plant to a bush of two or three shoots,
and keeping these erect by a stake. The shoots
will each give two or three bunches within fifteen
or eighteen inches from the earth, and are naturally
succeeded by others, which in their turn become
bearers.

2d. The prostrate or creeping form, by which the
vine is trained over the ground like a melon or cu-
cumber. This was early noticed by Bacon, and has
been since recommended by Vispre, " as least ex-
pensive and troublesome, and best calculated for ri-
pening the fruit, by placing it within the sphere of that
heat which is emitted by the earth during the night."

3d. The espalier form, by which the leading and
lateral branches are trained against an open frame
or trellis, and in such way " as to expose the lar-
gest surface to the action of the sun in the shortest
space of time." And,

4th. The wall espalier, which differs in nothing
from the preceding but in having behind it a solid
structure, and the additional heat reflected by it.
This form is often met with in Europe, where the
southern, eastern, and western sides of farmhouses
and cottages are made to supply the walls, and do
it very completely. In gardens, the structures in-
tended to produce the same effect are of two kinds :
the one rising to the height of fifteen and even
twenty feet, made of stone or wood, and meant to
protect the taller kinds of fruit-trees ; and the other,
of similar materials, but not exceeding six feet in
height, and calculated for bushes and dwarfs.
Speecnley says the vine does well on the latter;
arid we are instructed by Williams, of Pitmaison,
how best to derive advantage from the former.
" To fill up," he says, " the intervals between the
trees, plant vines, train them horizontally under the
coping of the wall, and, by inverting and inarching
their branches, find means to occupy every vacant

268 GARDENING.

space." "I have," he adds, " within a few years
past, gradually trained bearing branches of a small
black cluster grape to the distance of near fifty feet
from the root, and I find the bunches every year
grow larger and ripen earlier, as the shoots con-
tinue to advance ; for, according to Knight's theory
of the circulation of the sap, the juices become
richer the farther they pass through the alburnum :
whence it follows that trees and vines give blos-
som-buds in greater quantity and perfection in pro-
portion as- the branches are long, and that even the
extremities of these are best furnished with, flow-
ers and fruit."

As pruning is essential to all these forms, though
not in the same degree, it may be proper to make a
few remarks on this subject. And, first, the knife,
in its application to the grape-vine, is not used till
the second year, when the plant has pushed three
or four shoots. Two of these (generally the low-
est) are selected for bearers, and shortened down
to the fourth, fifth, or sixth eye from the root, while
all others are entirely removed. This is done in
the autumn after vegetation is over, and forms the
whole of the first year's pruning. In the subse-
quent spring, and so soon as the buds have pushed,
follows what the French call enbourgeonement, and
the English disbudding, and which consists " in rub-
bing off all fore-right and lateral shoots, which, if
retained, might crowd or cross the bearing branch-
es, or otherwise obstruct the form intended to be
given to the vine." Suckers are also to be care-
fully removed, and with them axillary buds and
curls, and such of the roots as may run within eight
inches of the surface. The third year's pruning
will be the result of a careful examination, 1st, of
the two leading branches, and the young wood they
have respectively produced ; and, 3d, of the surface
(whether of wall or of trellis) which it is your in-
tention to cover. If these be in just proportion to

FRUIT GARDEN. 269

each other, the knife is unnecessary but to remove
dead or diseased branches ; but if the growth of the
shoots be feeble, or if some be feeble and others
vigorous, in both cases the knife is the remedy;
shortening all, in the first case, to five or six eyes
each ; and in the other, the feeblest only. Future
prunings will but be repetitions of this ; and, as a
general rule, every pruning must be followed by a
thorough digging of the earth about the roots of the
plant.

The insects most injurious to the grape-vine are
the red spider, which is best expelled by frequent
waterings ; and the thrips, and one or two sorts of
the cocci,* which may be destroyed by smoke.
The best protection against the blue fly is furnished
by bottles filled with any kind of sweet liquor, and
hung up among the vines ; and horsehair bags will
completely defend the fruit against the attacks of
wasps and garden birds.

The FIG-TREE (Ficus), (classed by horticulturists
among the berries), f is a native of Asia ; and in all
hot climates may be made an important object of
cultivation. In Greece and in the Ionian Isles it at-
tains to the size of an apple-tree, bears its foliage
throughout the year, and is remarkable for hardi-
ness and longevity. Even in climates less propi-
tious to it, it retains the last of these qualities. One
brought to England from Aleppo in 1643, by Dr.
Pocock, is yet living and vigorous ; and another, in-
troduced by Cardinal Pole more than a century
earlier (1525), is said to be in the same condition. J
The species of it are very numerous ; but of this
long list we shall speak only of the Ficus Carica, or
common fig, because it is only from the cultivation
of this that we may have anything to hope. Nor of
its varieties do we know more than six that can
probably be acclimated on the banks of the Hudson,

* Hesperidum and Adonidum.
t Loudon. J Idem.

Z2

270 GARDENING.

These are, the Long White, the Yellow or Angelica,
and the Violet, cultivated near Paris ; and the Black
Ischia, and Black and White Genoa, which ripen in
England.

All the varieties of the fig are propagated by
seeds,* suckers, buds, scions,f and layers ; nor is its
propagation by crossing unknown to the horticultu-
rist ; but this can only be effected by planting two
varieties near to each other, as no means have yet
been discovered for extracting the male organ of
the fig without destroying the female. Of these
different modes, however, those by cuttings and lay-
ers are most frequently employed and best recom-
mended. In the first case, select in the autumn
eight or ten inches of young wood, with one or two
of old attached to it, from the shortest jointed and
most fruitful boughs ; bury these during the winter
in a bed of sand ; and in the spring, plant them in
a border of fresh and warm loam, against the south-
ern or eastern side of a ten-foot wall.J Layering
here does not differ from the process of the same
name employed in other cases : shoots of two or
three years are laid down in the spring, and a single
summer will be sufficient for the formation of roots ;
after which, sever the young plant from the old, and
set it out as directed for cuttings.

In hot climates, as in the case of the peach, the
standard is the form most approved ; but in climates
like ours, the stellate fan is that which offers the
strongest assurance of success. § It is produced by
training to a single stem, encouraging lateral shoots,
and bringing these down in succession, so as to pre-
sent a figure nearly circular, and so low as to give
it the benefit of a reflected as well as a direct heat.||

* Loudon. t Idem. t Idem.

§ " Fan training from two branches is bad, gives only wood
and leaves." — Idem. Bosc says, "Keep the branches short,
low, and spreading." See also Hort. Trans., vol. iii,, p. 307.

|| Knight's method does not materially differ from this. He

FRUIT GARDEN. 271

We have already suggested, in relation to other
trees, that their mode of bearing ought, in a great
degree, to regulate our method of pruning them;
nor is the remark more applicable to the apple or
the peach than to the fig tree. We need hardly in-
form the reader that this last blossoms twice in the
year ; first under the spring, and again under the
summer flow of the sap ; and, where the climate,
&c., is favourable, matures two crops in the season,
on two distinct sets of young shoots. Whence it fol-
lows that the management which shall tend most
directly to multiply shoots or bearers, is, in rela-
tion to this tree, that which is best. Now many
experiments show that, if you shorten a branch of
the fig-tree with a knife, the tree will exert itself
only to recover what it has lost ; and, of course,
that you will but have a single shoot instead of the
one you have removed : whereas, if you substitute
breaking for cutting, you will, instead of one, have
several shoots, and, consequently, a larger propor-
tion of fruit. Hence the rule, " to cut when you
want to lessen the bulk of the head, and to break at
ten, twelve, or fifteen inches from the stem, when
an increased quantity either of wood or of fruit is
your object." These remarks do not, however, su-
persede the more general rules for removing dead,
or diseased, or redundant branches, or for such
other use of the knife as may be necessary in giv-
ing form to the head; and the less so, as the plant
is among those which bear cutting without injury.

Any soil not positively wet, provided it be annu-
ally dug and triannually manured with stable litter,
will suit the fig-tree. But a more laborious and ex-
pensive operation is necessary to protect it against
hard and frosty weather. With this view, the prac-

encourages lateral shoots from a single stem, and trains them
horizontally, or even downward, close to the wall ; by which
he avoids a too great abundance of wood, matures that which
he retains, and escapes injury from frost. — Hort. Trans., vol.
iii., p. 307.

272 GARDENING.

tice in France is to bury in the earth all such limbs
or parts of limbs as can be brought sufficiently low ;
while in England they cover the tree with matting,
or straw, or branches of evergreens. Either method
may be usefully adopted here, remembering, as a
general principle, to make the covering as light as
may be at all consistent with the object.

We have said above that the natural habit of the
fig is to give two crops in the year ; the latter of
which, in hot climates, is found to be the best : but
the result with us will be different. The spring
shoots only will give fruit here, and must be retain-
ed ; while all embryos showing themselves after
midsummer should be carefully rubbed off. The
effect of this will be, not merely to disencumber the
tree of fruit that would not ripen, but to turn the
surplus energy wasted upon it to the preparation of
new embryo figs for the succeeding year.*

We cannot dismiss this article without saying
something on the artificial method employed, even
in hot climates, of improving and ripening the fig,
and to which has been given the name of caprifica-
tion. This process consists in placing on the trees
a few spring figs, in which the Cynips has depos-
ited its eggs. From these multitudes of gnats will
issue, and in their turn puncture the crop of fall
figs, and thus increase their flavour, and quicken,
as is believed, their maturity. Such was former-
ly the practice in the Levant; while in France
they pricked the fruit with a quill or straw dipped
in olive oil or brandy, and in Italy with the point
of a knife medicated in the same way, on the sup-
position that any small wound inflicted on the fruit
would have an effect similar to that of the sting of
a gnat. These practices are, however, no longer
as general as they have been, and, like others
founded on doubtful principles, are fast yielding to

* Swayne on the management of the fig in the open air.

FRUIT GARDEN. 273

a better philosophy. " How," says Bosc, " can the
larva of the Cynips improve the fig, otherwise than
the larva of the Phalaena improves the apple 1 And
who would be desirous of having a crop of worm-
eaten apples, merely for the pleasure of eating them
a week or a fortnight earlier1?*

The fig-tree is liable to few diseases, nor is the
fruit much injured by the attacks of insects. In
England the red spider, and in France a species of
fcoccus, to which is given the name of ihe Jig-louse,
are regarded as its worst enemies. The first is got
rid of by watering and smoking the tree ; and the
last by rubbing the stem, branches, &c., with a
coarse cloth.

The MULBERRY (Morus). — The species are two,
the White^ cultivated for its leaves only (which form
the food of the silkworm), and the Black, a native
of our own forests, and well meriting our attention
for its fruit, recommended as it is by its highly aro-
matic flavour and cooling subacid juices, which,
like those of the strawberry, are not susceptible of
the acetous fermentation, and, of course, particu-
larly proper and useful for rheumatic and gouty pa-
tients, f

This tree is propagated by seeds, suckers, layers,
cuttings, and scions. Those from seeds are suppo-
sed to give the largest berries, but at such an ex-
pense both of time and patience as to deter most
cultivators from the experiment. Suckers are liable
to the same objection, though in a somewhat less
degree; and grafting, except by approach, rarely
succeeds. J Layers and cuttings are, therefore, the
modes generally employed ; of each of which we
shall say a few words : and,

* Olivier, speaking of caprification, says, " It is a tribute paid
by man to ignorance and prejudice ;" adding, that the practice
is going fast into disuse, even in the Ionian Isles. — Travels in
the Ottoman Empire.

f Encyclopaedia of Gardening. £ Hort. Trans., voL i., p. CO.

274 GARDENING.

1. Of Layers. — To obtain these, erect a scaffold
under any fruit-bearing tree, and on this place pots
or boxes filled with earth, to receive the branches.*
These will root sufficiently the first summer ; after
which, they may be transplanted to the nursery, and
trained to a single stem. When four years old, take
them up and place them where they are permanent-
ly to stand. Plants thus managed will give fruit the
second or third year after the last planting.!

2. By Cuttings. — These may be eight or ten inches
long, with a small portion of the preceding year's
wood attached. Plant them in any mild weather
of the spring or autumn, in rows nine inches apart,
leaving only one or two buds above the ground ;
cover the bed with half rotten leaves ; give it a lit-
tle water if the weather be dry, and transplant the
next season into the nursery. Their future treat-
ment will be the same as that of layers. Millar
suggests the rearing of cuttings in pots plunged in
a hotbed ; but in this experiment Knight and others
have failed, and recommend, instead of it, to plant
the cuttings in autumn under a south wall, where
they remain till April, when they are to be taken up,
placed in pots, and transferred to the hotbed. " In
this situation," says Knight, "they will vegetate
strongly, and emit roots in such abundance, that
not one cutting in a hundred, with proper attention,
will fail." A mellow, fertile loam is the soil in which
the mulberry succeeds best, and the standard is the
form generally given to it ; but the experiments of
"Williams and Knight give reason to believe that the
fruit would be improved were we to train the tree
against a south wall, in either the horizontal or stel-
late form.J

In pruning the mulberry we ought to aim at two
things : diminishing the luxuriant growth of the tree,

* Knight, f Idem.

t Loudon. Hort. Trans,, vol. ii., p. 92, and vol. iii., p. 66.

FRUIT GARDEN. 275

ind increasing, at the same time, its disposition to
)ear fruit. Fortunately, both objects are readily at-
tainable by partial decortication ; by tight and long-
continued ligatures round the branches ; by ringing,
as already described ; and with better effect and
greater facility, by training the branches perpen-
dicularly, or nearly so, downward.* The time for
>runing the mulberry is in the spring, because it is
,hen you can best distinguish the blossom buds from
)thers. Pinch off every barren shoot, and shorten
jvery bearing one (not wanted to cover the wall) at
he third or fourth leaf; it being well known that
,he bud immediately below the point where the
>ranch is shortened will give fruit the following
year.

The RASPBERRY (Rubus). — Of this plant there are
wo species, subjects of garden culture : the Ideus,
>ropagated for its fruit ; the Odoralus, for its per-
ume and its rose-coloured flowers. It is only of
,he varieties of the former that we shall now speak.
These are, 1st, the Wood Raspberry, giving a fruit
mall and sweet, increasing in size, but diminishing
n flavour, under cultivation. 2d, the large common
Raspberry (both red and white), giving good fruit,
and a great deal of it, if favourably situated and
well managed. In rich and shaded soils it loses
much of its flavour; and in those freely manured
with stable dung, becomes disagreeable to the taste.
3d, the Large Red and the Large White Antwerp, de-
cidedly superior to the preceding sorts, but more
troublesome, as they are not productive but when
laid down and protected from the winter frosts.
And, 4th. the Cane Stock, regarded on the whole as
the fittest for the main crop.

This plant is a native of cold and mountainous
regions, and, of course, succeeds best when placed
on the north sides of hills, or in borders a little

*• Hort. Trans., vol. hi., p. 63. No tree submits to this form
more readily, or to more advantage, than the mulberry.

276 GARDENING.

shaded. A soil loose and moist (not wet), and oc*
casionally and lightly manured with the surface
mould of old pasture land, is most favourable to it.

Like other plants which perpetuate themselves
by suckers, as the Annana, the Jasmin, the Bread
Fruit, &c., the raspberry soon becomes infertile;
and hence the rule for setting out new plantations
every seventh or eighth year. This is done by seeds
and cuttings, but better and more generally by suck-
ers, taken up in the fall or in the spring, and set out
in well-laboured trenches four feet asunder, and at
the distance in these of two and a half feet apart.
If placed nearer together, they crowd and injure
each other ; and if farther removed, they lose the
advantage of the shade they would otherwise mu-
tually furnish.

The raspberry, when left to itself, remains long
barren, or productive only in leaves and wood ; but,
so soon as it acquires a sufficient number of lateral
branches, its fertility commences. To hasten this
effect, therefore, is the great desideratum in the cul-
ture of the plant ; and the knife is accordingly em-
ployed freely and annually, in removing the old
wood, and in shortening the young to one third of
its length. Of the retained and shortened shoots,
not more than five should be left to a bush ;* and if
they be either of the Antwerp races, they should be
carefully covered with earth on the approach of
winter, as otherwise the effect of the frost will
much impair, if it does not entirely destroy, their
fertility for the ensuing season.

We need scarcely add, that, though hardy, the
raspberry, to do well, must be kept from weeds.

* Loudon. J. C. Kecht ( Versuch der Weinbau) produces ber-
ries at Berlin much larger than are known elsewhere, by train-
ing a single stem to the height of 8 or 10 feet, and vigorously re-
moving all suckers. This is directly opposed to the theory of
shortening the stems for the purpose of producing side-shoots ;
without which, it has been generally thought that the plant could
not be made productive.

FRUIT GARDEN. 277

The STRAWBERRY (Fragaria). — Of this there are
several species, the principal of which are the Pine,
the Single-leaf or Monophy lla, and the Chili, natives
of South America ; the Carolina, the Scarlet or Vir-
ginian, and the Wood, natives of North America;
and the Hautboy, and Alpine or Prolific, natives of
Europe. Of these, the Alpine and the wood are
best propagated from seeds, as in this way they
never fail to reproduce themselves, and give fruit as
soon, and of a finer quality, than the offsets. The
other species are more readily multiplied by run-
ners ; which, as they take root at every joint, and
grow the more vigorously the more they are cut,
necessarily furnish a great abundance of plants.

When seeds are used, we must be careful to em-
ploy fresh and well-ripened fruit, mashed in the
hand, and mixed with a little mellow earth, and
sown in rows three feet apart. When, on the other
hand, runners are employed, they must be taken off
near the ground, divided into sets, planted in rows
as in the other case, and occasionally lightly shaded
and watered, until they give evidence of having
taken root, which they rarely fail to do very prompt-
ly. In both processes, the ground must be kept
loose and clean, and moderately manured with com-
post dung.

With regard either to general or special rules in
this case, we cannot do better than to make the read-
er acquainted with the method of Mr. Keans, of
Islesworth, an English fruit-gardener, who has cul-
tivated the strawberry with uncommon success.
"In preparing the ground," says he, "if new and
stiff, trench it ; but if the subsoil be of an inferior
kind, simply dig it, and place the dung at the bot-
tom : if, again, the soil be good to the full depth,
bring the bottom spit to the top, and the top spit to the
bottom, and place the dung between the two. The
month of March is the best time for planting either
seedlings or runners, and remember to make your
A A

278 GARDENING.

plantations of these, and never from old plants.
Sow in beds of three or four rows, with alleys be-
tween the beds to walk and work in. When the
planting is finished, keep the bed free from weeds,
and permit no crops between the rows. When the
runners begin to show themselves, cut them away
at least three times in the season ; and at each cut-
ting dig the ground between the rows ; and as of-
ten, cover the surface with a sprinkling of clean
straw,* for the purpose, principally, of preventing
evaporation. One of these cuttings must be done a
short time before the fruit ripens, and will have a
powerful effect in strengthening the root ; and, at
the second digging, work into the rows a little half-
rotted dung."

To these remarks, which apply to all the varieties
alike, Mr. Keans subjoins a few specific notices as
follows :

" 1. For the Pine strawberry the best soil is a
light loam, though no other strawberry will bear a
strong loam better than this. This is the sort from
which it is most difficult to obtain a good crop.
Particular care must be taken that they are planted
in open ground; for in small gardens they grow
strong, but seldom bear fruit, in consequence of being
shaded by standard trees, and, under walnut-trees in
in particular, they run altogether to leaf. In planting
pines I keep the beds two feet apart, and put the
plants eighteen inches from each other in the rows,
leaving three feet alleys between the beds. The
first year of the pine is the best ; the second gives
a good crop, but the third gives less.

" 2. The Scarlet must be treated like the Pine,
excepting that the rows may be a little nearer to-
gether, and the alleys between them a little less.

" 3. The Hautboy thrives best in a light soil well
supplied with dung ; for excess of manure does not

* It is from this practice that the plant derives its name.

FRUIT GARDEN. 279

drive it into leaf like the pine. In other respects,
the culture is the same as for the pine. There are,
however, many different sorts of Hautboys : one
has the male and female organs in the same blos-
som, and bears freely ; but the sort I prefer is the
one which contains the male organs in one blossom
and the female in another. The fruit of this is of
the finest colour, and of far superior flavour. Care
must be taken that there are not too many male
plants in the bed ; for, as they bear no fruit, they make
more runners than the females. One male to ten fe-
males is the proper proportion for an abundant crop.

" 4. The Wood strawberry is best raised from seed
fresh gathered, sowing it immediately in a bed of
rich earth. When of proper size, I transfer the
plants to other beds, where they continue till the
next March. They are then planted out in beds
and rows, and at the distances before described.
And,

" 5. The Alpine or Prolific must always be raised
from the seed, sown in a bed of rich earth. When
of proper size (which will be in July or August),
the plants are put out in rows, at the back of hedges
or of walls, in a rich, moist soil ; the rows two feet
apart, and the plants twelve inches from each other.
My Alpines this year, and thus managed, are bear-
ing most abundantly ; and so much so, that, in gath-
ering them, there is not room for the women to set
their feet without destroying many. In quickness
of bearing the Alpines are before all other sorts, as
they give their fruit within a single year ; whereas
the others do not bear under two years."

In gathering the fruit, employ only dry weather.
Berries taken early in the morning and late in the
evening keep the best, but those picked at midday
have the most perfume. Pinch off the calyx and
one quarter of an inch of the peduncle with the
berry.

The WALNUT (Juglans regia). — This tree is sup-

280 GARDENING.

posed to be a native of Persia, and of the southern
side of Mount Caucasus, and yields a nut which
holds a considerable place among the dessert fruits,
and which has been recommended, as far back as
the time of Pliny, as a safe and powerful vermi-
fuge.* Its varieties are the Oval, the Large French,!
the Tender, and the Thick-shelled.

To obtain these, Millar and Forsyth recommend
sowing the nuts in a nursery, keeping them clean,
and leaving their maturity to time, without any in-
terposition of art to hasten their productiveness.
But Knight and others have succeeded so well by
inarching and budding, that these methods may be
considered as having nearly superseded the older
and slower modes of propagation. In employing
the former (inarching), your young plants, growing
in pots, are raised to some branch of an old bearing
tree, and grafted by approach. A union takes place
in the summer ; and in the fall you detach the scion
from the parent stem. In the other case, the pro-
cess is equally sure and less troublesome. Many
minute buds, almost concealed in the bark, will be
found near the base of the annual shoots. These
must be taken in preference to those which are
fuller and more prominent, and inserted near the
summit of the last year's wood, and, of course, near
the base of the annual shoots. "Thus managed,"
says Knight. " they will be found to succeed with
nearly as much certainty as those of other fruit-
trees, provided the buds be in a more mature state
than those of the stock into which they are set."

The walnut-tree grows well in many different
soils, but does best in a deep, sandy loam, resting
on a dry subsoil. It is often employed as a screen
for other and more delicate fruit-trees, in which
case it is arranged on the northern and western side

* The Spaniards grate the nut into their tarts, &c., probably
with a view to its supposed medicinal quality.
f Before 1562 it was called the Gaul or French nut.

FRUIT GARDEN. 281

of the garden. Its diseases are generally the result
of accident, and it has few, if any, enemies among
the insect tribes.

The CHESTNUT (Fagus castanea) is a native of Sar-
dis, and, it is said, was first brought to Europe by Ti-
berius Caesar. Be this fact as it may, another, of
which we are. better assured, is, that the tree has^
been long naturalized in Italy and Spain, and that'
in these countries it contributes an important article
to the food of man.

Like the walnut, it was long propagated by sow-
ing the nut; but the shorter process of grafting (as
already detailed under the preceding article) may
be advantageously substituted for this. The exper-
iments of the late Sir J. Banks and of Mr. Knight
demonstrate that " the Spanish chestnut succeeds
readily, when grafted in almost any of the usual
ways ; and that, when the grafts are taken from
bearing branches, the young trees blossom the suc-
ceeding year."*

The soil most proper for the chestnut is a sandy
loam, on a dry subsoil. With regard to situation,
it does well in northern and western borders ; but,
as its shade is unfriendly to any vegetable growing
under it, the better method is to give it a square by
itself.

The FILBERT (Corylusavellana). — This is the com-
mon hazelnut improved by cultivation. Its princi-
pal varieties are, the White, the Red, the Barcelona,
the Cosford, and the Long Cob, all of which are prop-
agated alike by suckers, by layers, and by seeds.
When the last of these modes is employed, sow the
nuts in October or November, and keep the plants
in the nursery till they are two years old; after
which, set them out, and manure and dress them
occasionally. But the better method of propagating
them is that by suckers. These are taken up in

* Hort. Trans., vol. i., p. 61.
AA2

282 GARDENING.

the fall or spring, and planted out in rows, at the
distance of ten or twelve feet from each other,
where they undergo several severe and successive

Erunings, for the purpose "of hollowing out the
ead into the form of a punch-bowl, and of deter-
mining the whole nourishment of the tree to the
production of the fruit." Williamson is, however,
of opinion, that the severity of this discipline de-
feats itself, and is, in fact, the reason why the plants
give no fruit three years out of five. Instead, there-
fore, of a rigid adherence to the Maidstone practice,
he recommends " that the trees be left in a great
degree to their natural growth and shape."

In some parts of England, the filbert forms an ob-
ject of very profitable culture, giving, per acre, on
an average produce of five years, five hundred
pounds' weight of nuts.

The maturity of the fruit is indicated by the
brown colour of the nut and the husk, and the readi-
ness with which these separate. Braddick's method
of preserving the fruit, by putting it up in airtight
casks, is no doubt the best. The filbert is neither
often nor seriously attacked by insects. The eggs
of the curculio kukans are sometimes deposited in
the germen, where, when matured, they subsist
upon the kernel. The only cure for this is to de-
stroy the nuts which are so attacked, and with them
the larvae, before they attain the fly state.

14 DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWEI

LOAN DEPT.

This book is due on the last date stamped below, or

on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.

DEC 9 9QR7 O4

RECtii'/ED

NO!/ PR '67 -4PM

i r> A Ki T"%era*r

667855

At

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY