218 



Cultivation of the Locust Tree. 



Vol. VI. 



For the Farmer's Cabinet. 



Friend Libby : — 



Some of my neighbour?, who have farms 

 on a calcareous soil, and who had intended to 

 cultivate the Siiesian Beet the coming season, 

 have been alarmed at the information con- 

 tained in a pamphlet, publislied by J. R. on 

 the cultivation of that root; for he observes, 

 " In France, calcareous soils are not consi- 

 dered suited for growing- Beets." His attempt 

 to distinguish between a chalk and a lime- 



Cultivation of tlie Hiocust Tree. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Dear Sir, — I obey your call in the num- 

 ber of the Cabinet just received, and proceed 

 to give your correspondent, Mr. Hand, of 

 Cape May, the result of my experience and 

 observation on the cultivation of the Locust 

 tree. 



Fjrst, as to seed. — I have had them vege- 

 tate well, by soaking for about thirty-six 



stone soil, is futile, fox i? calcareous wffi/er| hours previous to plantnig — throwing over 



be the cause of the failure of the crops, it 

 mailers ::ol of what particular species of for- 

 mation it consists. He says, " The American 

 farmer must not be deterred from trying to 

 cultivate Beets on limestone land." What ! 

 after three years Irying, is it come to this? 

 And after having said, the material may be 

 produced in immense abundance fi-om Maine 

 to Louisiana, and from the Seaboard to the 

 Northern Mountains, are we still left to de- 

 termine the fact by our own experience I 



If J. R., " who arrives at no conclusions 

 Avithout deep research and close calcula- 

 tions," had first made himself acquainted 

 with facts and their consequences, before he 

 began to publish for the information of others, 

 he would not thus have conmiitted himself, 

 and the cause, which he professes to ujjhold. 

 Without disparagement to the character 

 which he has earned amongst his townsmen, 

 1 must be permitted to say, his observations 

 ought not to pass for much in the counlnj, 

 for they cannot result from experience. I in- 

 tend to cultivate, as I have done, the pure 

 species on a calcareous soil, depending upon 

 perfect success, if we are blessed with a fruit- 

 ful season, for I mean to plough deep, plant 

 thin, and keep clean — all that is necessarv. 

 — His observation is calculated to do infinite 

 mischief to a cause which he professes to ad- 

 vocate, and is twin to the highly injudicious 

 step, which he advertises he has taken, name- 

 ly, to import the seed of the common Mangel 

 Wurtzel, or " root of scarcity" with the seed 

 of the pure Siiesian Beet; to do which— if 

 he had called to his aid his "deep research 

 and close calculations" — he would have dis- 

 covered, was to ofier the greatest despite to 

 the culture of the pure species, which — for 

 liis information — contains about ten times the 

 quantity of saccharine matter, than is to be 

 found in the "root of scarcity." But I may 

 one day, through the present medium of 

 communication, point out the reason why the 

 French sui^ar makers — not the AgricuUu- 

 risls — find that Beets grown on a calcareous 

 Boil, are not adapted to tiie purpose o\' mchivg 

 sirgar. An Old Subscribiok. 



ii8th 1st Mo. 18-40. 



Teach by thine own example. 



boiling water, and keeping it iuKewarm. 

 The grain will swell to nearly double its 

 original size. Soaking is absolutely neces- 

 sary to insure an early growth, as it is the 

 general impression that without it, at least 

 three years is required for the seed to vege- 

 Itate, and then there is no certainty of its 

 growing; v/hereas by soaking, and planting 

 .before they dry, I have had them vegetate, 

 I and the plant two inches above ground in two 

 [months from the time of depositing it in the 

 [ ground. 



I As to the best mode of planting, and the 

 time. — I prefer planting in a nursery — to 

 have the ground well pulverized — drills four 

 feet apart and about an inch deep — the seed 

 about two inches apart in the drills, which 

 will insure a tree Vi'ith considerable certainty 

 every eight or ten inches — should the plants 

 coiue up closer, they can readily be thinned 

 with a hoe, or with a trowel taken up and 

 transplanted. The best time for planting is 

 as eai-ly in the spring as possible. I prefer 

 the nursery, because the plants for the first 

 year are more easily kept free of weeds, 

 which is necessary, as I have discovered that 

 the plant is easily smothered by weeds when 

 small — because the plat of ground beino- 

 small, is more likely to be well prepared for 

 the seed, and to have a heavy dressing of 

 ashes, lime or marl, one of which is absolute- 

 jly necessary to insure a general growth of 

 [tlie seed in any soil ; and without which, on 

 a soil to which the growth of locust is not 

 common, it will not vegetate at all. 



'J'he tree, if carcflilly taken up for trans- 

 planting at two years old, is stunted very lit- 

 tle or not at all in its growth, and if carefully 

 planted where it is to remain, not one in a 

 hundred will die. 



My advice to your correspondent would be, 

 to adopt the nursery for raising the plants, 

 and during the next two years, while the 

 trees are maturing, to prepare his " ten acres 

 of old worn out ground" for them when ready 

 for transplanting. This he can do, (as his 

 ground is already ploughed,) by giving it a 

 heavy dressing of ashes or lime early in the 

 s])ring, and tlien turning under green crops. 

 I advise this course as I know that locust 

 will not thrive in " old worn out grounds." 



