344 Planting Forest Trees, — Slacking Lime and Churning Butter. Vol. IV. 



to a dry and healthy soil ; it will consist of 

 aquatic plants, totally unfit for the support 

 of land animals, engendering in their bodies 

 all sorts of diseases, particularly the rot in 

 sheep. 



These are the four cardinal points in the 

 science of agriculture — practise them honest- 

 ly, and debit the land with the cost, keeping 

 a faithful account of debtor and creditor, 

 without fear for the result. 



In these, there is neither uncertainty or 

 speculation ; for " while the earth remainelh, 

 seed time and harvest shall never fail ;" nor 

 will the earth ever cease to repay the labour, 

 such as above, which is bestowed upon it. 

 John Dugan. 



iiuzerne County, 22d May, 1840. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Planting Forest Trees. 



I have been for some time contemplating 

 planting a field of some thirty acres with 

 forest trees. The land is poor, and the soil 

 light and sandy; yet its vicinity to the two 

 great cities of New York and Philadelphia, 

 has induced the hope of my being able to 

 occupy it with such trees as would produce 

 a crop at the end of, say ten years, sufficient 

 to pay for interest, taxes, and fencing. The 

 idea of planting chesnut trees was suggested, 

 then locust or walnut; but having little 

 knoAvledge of the time required for such 

 trees to reach a productive size, I have con- 

 cluded to ask the advice of yourself and 

 correspondents. In England, and indeed 

 throughout the continent, the business of 

 planting forest trees is carried on to a vast 

 extent. Millions are annually planted in 

 England alone ; and the Russian government 

 is largely engaged in establishing and nurs- 

 ing up immense forests of timber, to be em- 

 ployed in future years for naval purposes. 

 However remote the prospect of any cash 

 return, yet it is very certain that forest plant- 

 ing produces a great annual profit. Will 

 some of your friends communicate at \yhat 

 ages, respectively, the walnut, chesnut, Eng- 

 lish walnut, and hickory, produce fruit, and 

 add at the same time any suggestions appli- 

 cable to the object I have in view ] Would 

 in not be advisable to plant the large French 

 chesnut, which is used in many parts of 

 France as an article of food by the rural 

 population, and which may frequently be 

 seen for sale at the corners of our streets 1 



Y. 



Philadelphia, April, 1840. 



"That which makes us discontented with 

 our condition, is the false and exaggerated 

 estimate we are apt to form of the happiness 

 of others." — Fr. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Simple Elements of Men's Agency. 



Mr. Editor, — Labour produces its desired 

 effects, only by conspiring with the laws of 

 nature. There is no commodity or thing 

 produced for consumption, which labour 

 provides in any other way than by co-ope- 

 rating with the laws of nature. It is found 

 that the agency of man can be traced to very 

 simple elements. He can do no more than 

 produce motion. He can move things towards 

 one another, and he can separate them from 

 one another: the properties of matter per- 

 form all the rest. He vwves ignited iron to 

 a portion of gunpowder, and an explosion 

 takes place. He moves the seed to the ground, 

 and vegetation commences. He separates the 

 plant from the ground, and vegetation ceases. 

 Why, or how, these effects take place, he is 

 ignorant. He has only ascertained by ex- 

 perience, that if he performs such and such 

 motions, such and such events will follow. 

 In strictness of speech, it is matter itself 

 which produces the effects. All that man 

 can do is to place the objects of nature in a 

 certain position. Mills. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Slacking Lime and Churning Butter. 



The reason of things sliould be found out. 



Mr. Editor, — All bodies, on changing 

 from a fluid to a solid state, give out heat ; 

 and when solid bodies become liquid, heat is 

 absorbed. 



The heat which is given out during the 

 slacking of lime, escapes from the water, in 

 consequence of its changing from a liquid 

 to a solid form, by its union with the lime. 

 The same effect is produced in making but- 

 ter : when the cream changes from a fluid to 

 a solid, a considerable degree of heat is pro- 

 duced. Hence the importance of turning 

 the churn slowly when the butter is about 

 formins:, so that the heated air which is ex- 

 panded in the churn may gradually escape 

 by the vent, (which should be kept open at 

 this period of the operation,) and not operate 

 to soften and injure the butter in very warm 

 weather. 



Some butter-makers put a portion of cold 

 water in the churn when the butter is form- 

 ing, in order to lower the temperature, and to 

 contract the effect of the heat, set at liberty at 

 this juncture ; but experienced dairymen say, 

 that water should never be brought into con- 

 tact with butter, either in the churn, or during 

 the process of working out the buttermilk. 

 It destroys its fine flavour, and reduces its 

 standard of perfection. The buttermilk should 

 be thorou^kli/ extracted by working, and ab- 

 sorbed by the application of a cloth in which 

 a spuiigc is inclosed, and no water used in 

 the process. 0. 



