398 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 7 



FISHING WITH BUCK-EYE. 



It may be already known to some of" our read- 

 ers, but it was new to us to learn tbat the shrub 

 called buck-eye was fatal to the fish of our rivers 

 and creeks. Peter Dick says he and Dr. J. M. 

 Worth Tied the experiment very successfully a 

 lew days ao;o, in a little pool of water, on the 

 Doctor's plantation of JMoinifomery county. The 

 •only preparation consisted of a basket part full of 

 the leaves, roots and balls of the buck-eye, beat 

 and bruised u[) toijether and then dipped a (ew 

 limes into the water; when instantly the fish, big 

 and little, beixan to throw themselves aimulia- 

 neousiy on the sjion'. 'I'his pool, of not more 

 than three or liiu,- rods surface, is not far distant 

 .from a creek; but there did not appear to have been 

 lany connexion tietween them, even in the times 

 ■o! hiirh water. In this way they cauu'ht 230 fish 

 in a few minutes. And some hundreds more of 

 the smaller order lay round the marijin of the 

 pool. The fish weresostupified that they nuule no 

 ;resistanre in beintr canjflit in the hand. — j-Jshho- 

 jrough (iV. C.) Citizen. 



From the Lexington (Va.) Gazette. 

 REMARKABLE ATTRACTION OF BIRDS. 



"Birds of various kinds, are .seen to fly with 

 such impetuosity ajxainst a certain house not two 

 miles east of Brownsburg, in this county, as to 

 extinguish lite instantly. The walls are stuccoed, 

 and washed with a beautiful white lime. In one 

 instance, a pair of partridges, rushed with great 

 violence against the wall, and fell dead instantly. 

 On examination, it was ascertained, that the craw 

 of both had burst by the concussion. Two doves, 

 on another occasion, met a similar fate. Larks, 

 eparrows, robin red breasts, wnh other of the 

 leathered tribe, are alike the victims of this lalal 

 encounter. The number of dead picked up, does 

 not fall short of thirty. It would appear, that the 

 exceeding whiteness of the walls destroyed the 

 instinctive sense of danger. In no case noticed, 

 has an individual escaped death, whose fiiglit was 

 directed towards the buiUHng." 



[The foregoing communication is from one of 

 the most respectable gentlemen in Rockbridge, 

 whose statements need no confirmation fiom any 

 one. We have, however, the most abundant 

 confirmation of his assertions from, other equally 

 respectable sources. We know not why we 

 shoukl not state that the house referred to, is the 

 residence of Capt, Henry B. Jones, who commu- 

 nicated the facts to our informant. Ed. Lex. G.] 



From tlie Gardener's Magazine. 

 HINTS ON RAISING ASPARAGUS. 



Hy John fVighton, Gardener at Chssey Hall. 



Asparagus, grown in the (rardens, of private 

 gentlemen, is often inferior to that raised by mar- 

 ket-gardeners. The superiority of the latter is 

 caused by tlie greatest richness of the soil, in 

 which it is raised. Market-gardeners being un- 

 der no control of masters, generally spare no ex- 

 pense in enriching their soil ; and their beds are 



more frequently renewed. But gentlemen's gar- 

 deners, not being always free to act as they judge 

 most jiroper, are often without the means of im- 

 proving the soil ; their beds are frequently old, 

 and the soil in them exhausted ; when new beds 

 are made, from the want of more materials, they 

 are generally formed in the same way which pre- 

 vailed fifty years ago. The sod is made good 

 about two feet deep, and laid out in beds lour jeet 

 wide, with paths two feet wide between them; 

 the plants being set in rows one loot asunder. 

 Treated in this manner, no asparagus will be fit to 

 cut before three years; and by that time the beds 

 will have become a mass of roots, and two or three 

 years afterwards the soil will be exhausted. 



To raise large asparagus, the soil should be 

 made good to the depth of five or six leet ; then 

 laid out in beds ii-om lour feet to six leet wide, 

 with paths between them, of the width of two 

 and a half feet. The phmts nuist be put in two 

 leet a|)art, and the stems not allowed to approach 

 each other much nearer than two leet ; or beds 

 three li?.e1 wide, with one row of plants down the 

 centre, and the plants one and a half feet asunder 

 in the rows would be preferable. It is a very 

 common error to allow too many stalks to grow 

 close to each other. If this be |)ermitied, howe- 

 ver good the soil, the asparagus is sure to be 

 small ; as the stalks, when so close, draw upon 

 each other. Weak and small stems produce in- 

 variably weak asparagus ; for it is at the bottom of 

 these that the asparagus springs. 



Happening, lately, to take up some asparagus, 

 which had been planted five years, I found the 

 roots at the depth of six feet, in a poor sandy soil. 



Cossey, Feb. 10. 



From L'E'cho du Monde Savant. 



EFFECT OF FORESTS ON THE SIZE OF RIVER 

 CURRENTS. 



M. Boussingault, in a memoir recently present- 

 ed to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, has en- 

 deavored to show the effects which tlie clearing 

 away of Ibrests has upon the force and abundance 

 of the river streams in a country. He thinks that 

 the current of water diminishes in proportion as 

 the clearings extend ; and was led to take this 

 view from observation made in America, espe- 

 cially in the lake of Tftcarigna or Valencia, in 

 V^enezuela, which has no outlet. I'his lake, in 

 fi^ict, diminished in depth as last as the forests were 

 grubbed up ; but as soon as, on account of politi- 

 cal troubles, the grubbing up ceased, the waters 

 t)egan to assume their primitive level. Similar re- 

 sults have been furnished by the Lake of Ubate, 

 in New Granada, and even by those of Switzer- 

 land. 



M. Boussingault also thiidss that clearing away 

 the liircsis h-as a direct tendency to diminish the 

 quantity of rain. In tlie provinces of San Bue- 

 naventura, of Choco, and of Esmeralda, which 

 are situated to the south of Panama, and where 

 niins are almost continual, the soil is covered with 

 thick forests; whilst towards Paita, beyond Tum- 

 bez, the Ibrests have disappeared, and rains may 

 be said to be utd<nown. This want of rain is in 

 like manner observed in all the country near the 

 desert of Sechara, and even to Lima ; yet these 



