270 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 5 



liud. Pill file bud about iialf aa inch beneath the 

 surface of the ifruiind. 



I have pat out 35,000 cutlinirs of the multicau- 

 lis, and as I hope to iret an abundance of leaves 

 this summer, have also procured 23.000 eir!:!:^ from 

 Hartlbrd, and as soon as we ^et through ihe corn- 

 plantinij. shall pul up a cocoonery. The business 

 is maUmtr « £jood deal of" noise here; and, if" 1 suc- 

 ceed, there are dozens who will iniiuediatelv" follow 

 suit." 



ON SPRING WHEAT. 



To the Eilitor of tlio Farmers' Register. 



For some years |iast, the wheat crop has been 

 so liable to failure, that it is natural our farmers 

 should endeavor to devise some expedient to 

 obviate it. With this view, several experiments 

 have recently been made with spring wheat ; and, 

 as far as I have heard, th:e result has been quite 

 encourajjino;. It is sincerely to be hoped that fu- 

 ture trials may be equally successful ; but, in the 

 climates of Viruinia and Maryland, I am unable 

 to satisfy myself that it can be cultivated to per- 

 manent advantage. The present season has been 

 one of peculiar character; the atmosphere has 

 been dry and cool, and so eminently conducive to 

 the gradual advancement and maturity of the 

 cro[), that the harvest has been more abundant bj^ 

 many fold, and the irrain of better quality, than 

 could have been anticipated by any person a {'ew 

 months ago. Hud this season been like the last, 

 or vice versa, the results of each would have been 

 entirely different. Our springs are frequently hot 

 and moist; and if, under such cu'cumstances, the 

 wheat be retarded beyond the usual period of ri- 

 pening, either by being too thin, or by being sown 

 too late, or by being of" a late variety, that potent 

 leneniy, the rust, is sure to lay his hands upon it; 

 and, in a few davs, a whole field will sink under 

 •the attack. In New York and New England, the 

 climate is very different. The harvest is prolonged 

 to a much later period, than with us ; and they 

 ■have no scorching suns to dry up the sap prema- 

 iturely ; or, when combined with excessive mois- 

 ture, to induce the rust. The .spring wheat is, 

 therefore, much more likely to succeed in a north- 

 ern laiitude than with us : indeed f"rom the char- 

 actej- of a northern winter, it is altogether proba- 

 ble that spring sowing may be the most profitable. 



Another circumstance has combined with the 

 favorableness of the season, to render the product 

 of spring wheat more flattering. It is a well 

 known fiict that vegetables raised from northern 

 seed, arrive at maturity in a much shorter time 

 than it would require I'or the same varieties when 

 introduced from the south. 



My remarks are not intended wholly to discour- 

 age the growing of sprins wheat, but merely to 

 caution against sowing it too extensively another 

 year; which many might be tempted" to do in 

 consequence of the success they have just had. 

 If, after the experience of several years, it 

 shall be found to be as productive as winter grain, 

 it may then, very properly, in a measure, take the 

 place of the latter; but until the advaniases of 

 spring culture shall be established, I would res- 

 pectfiilly suggest to my brother farmers the pro- 

 priety of not relying too much upon it. 



A Practical Farmer. 



from tlie Farmers' Magazine. 



POINTS IN CHEMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRT- 

 Cl :>TURE. — SOILS. — No. 1. 



Plants are mainly indebted for support to the de- 

 composed remains ol' things at one time possessed 

 of life, and wiih which the surface of" the earth is 

 found to be impregnated. The decay of" vegeta- 

 bles and animals is thus contrived to minister to 

 the sustenance of organization. Life is produced 

 by dissolution. By one of the most beautiful, yet 

 sim|)le, of processes, the adult plant calls the germ 

 into existence, and ai'terwards furnishes the sup- 

 plies which are to bring it to maturity. Nothing 

 is wasted — nothing is misapplied. The produce 

 of one year goes to form the harvest of the next. 

 The herb returns to the dust from which it was 

 derived, only to rise in renewed beauty when the 

 appointed season shall call it from its tomb. Hence 

 the words of" Pope — 



" See dyin£j vegetables life sustain. 

 See fife dissolvin2^ vegetate again." 



" Ever changeful, ever new," the plant is al- 

 ways in perlection. So soon as it has attained the 

 limit assigned to it by nature, it ceases to cumber 

 a soil that it can no longer adorn. It then becomes 

 subject to the laws of chemistry ; its elements se- 

 parate and slowly form the combinations already 

 mentioned, which, in no long time, become con- 

 stituents of succeeding crops. 



" All, to re-flfoiirish, fades : 



As in a wheel, all sinks, to re-ascend." 

 The value of a soil for the purp(ises of agricul- 

 ture, may be judged of in one of" three ways — by 

 the quantity and quality, or the crop which it af- 

 fords on being sulijected, for a series of years, to 

 cultivation ; by the nature of the herbages, which 

 is spontaneously yielded by the ground ; or by the 

 quantity of requisites for the support of vegetation, 

 which it may be found, on chemical analysis, to 

 aftbrd. With the first method we have, for obvi- 

 ous reasons, nothing to do in an article like the 

 present. The second is apparenth' a mode devoid 

 of difficulty, and easily had recourse to on all occa- 

 sions ; and, as the question as to the extent of its 

 utility is interesting, from the attention that has of 

 late been turned to it, we shall, for the moment, 

 confine ourselves to an examination of" its excel- 

 lencies and defects. Though it is a test that has 

 been resorted to by agriculturists from the earliest 

 ages, little ol" any consequence was knovi^n by the 

 ancient tillers of" the ground, regarding the con- 

 nection between the prevailing material of a soil 

 and its spontaneous produce, further than that, in 

 the words of" Virgil — 



"All grounds not allthings bear; " 



and their observations were limited to the almost 

 regular occurrence of plants of a larger growth, 

 such as the alder, the ash, the myrtle, and the vine, 

 on soils of particular texture and composition. 



Of late years, considerable attention has been 

 drawn to the subject in this country, owing to the 

 premiums offered by the Hiirhland Society for 

 communications on the nature of soils, as indicated 

 by plants ; and, as was expected, much interest- 

 ing information has been obtained. Several of 

 these essays have been published by the Society. 

 All are good, and form the vehicles of something 

 valuable ; but two are, in particular, worthy of 

 consideration, as containing the result of much pa- 



