1S37] 



FARMKRS' REGISTER 



485 



injr port), al 30 shillings a Ion. Mr. IJoldicli took 

 considerable pains on tiiat occasion to ini|)art such 

 inlbrniaiion as he possessed respecting its use and 

 properiics. and, aniono-other things, slated the ne- 

 cessity of" leilucinix the stone to powiler without 

 bafxin'g, as it had heen ascertained thattlie action 

 of tire was decided!}' injurious to the gypsum as a 

 manure.*- He observed that there were several va- 

 rieties of gypsum, hut there is liille dili'erence in 

 their eliect as manure. The Newark he reckoned 

 as good as any. "It is,"' observes Mr. Holdich, 

 ♦'most immediately serviceable on land of a dry, 

 graveliv, or sandy nature, and is most exceedingly 

 useful to an old sainlbin layer, as has been proved 

 at, ilolkham VV here clover iiiils, having fiirmerly 

 succeeded, it will restore the crop; and lor this 

 purpose it would be proper to sow on the barley, 

 when the newly sown clover is just getting into 

 the broad leaf Probably it might not be so effi- 

 cacious on land of a limestone bottom, if the soil 

 be deep and mellow; at any rate it can da no 

 good where it is not wanted; that is to say, on 

 good soils that are plentifully dressed with good 

 larm-yard compost and pulverized bones. Lastly, 

 on a clover ley in spring, that looks pining and 

 yellow, a dressing of this powder will almost dou- 

 ble, the crop. In this case it should be sown 

 about May-day, and early in the morning, or in 

 moist weather." Mr. Loudon in his 'Encyclope- 

 dia of Agriculture,' says, "Gy[)bum has been much 

 use(i in America, where it was first introduced by 

 Franklin on his return (i'om Paris, where he had 

 been much struck with its efTects. He sowed the 

 words, ^'thishas been sown with gypsum,^^ on a field 

 of lucern, near Washington: the efiiects astonished 

 every passenger; and the use of the manure 

 quickly became general and signally efficacious." 

 /». 847. t 



"It is possible," adds Mr. Loudon, "that lands 

 which have ceased to bear good crops of clover or 

 artificial grasses, may be restored by being ma- 

 nured vvitli gypsum. This substance," he says, 

 "is found in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Somet- 

 setshire, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, &c. and requires 

 only pulverization for its preparation. — lb. p. 847. 



On the whole it appears to be most efficacious as 

 a top dressing for clover, sainlbin, or lucern crops; 

 and the quantity may var}"^ fi-om four to eight bush- 

 els an acre. 



I have heard of its being successfully applied to 

 other crops, as wheat, turnips, &c. Of the latter 

 crop I have read somewhere an account, of every 

 alternate row being manured with gypsum, and 

 that the difference between the dressed and un- 

 dressed rows was very striking. Any of your 

 readers who have tried its eflects on these and other 

 plants, will do a public good by publishing their 

 observations thereon, and at the same lime confer 

 a favor on, 



A NORFOLK FARMER. 



Norfolk, March lOth, 1837. 



* This anecdote is evidently of European fabrica- 

 tion, and its falsehood is equally evident; yet it is pre- 

 cisely such a falsehood, as will go farther, and be more 

 known and believed, than any truth yet published in 

 regard to gypsum. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



t Which opinion, as we conceive, is altogether er- 

 roneous. See Far. Reg. pp. 603, 631, vol. ii. and pp. 

 126, 260, vol. lii.— Ed. 



From tlie AnitTican Juunial ol' Science and Arts. 



ACCOUNT OF TIJE EUROPf:AN OYSTER — OS- 

 TREA EDULIS (l.INN.) 



Ancient history. — Theoystor has probably been 

 used from the earliest periods. As they lie in 

 comparatively shallow water, quickly increase in 

 numbers and size, andoflier a very nutritious and 

 refreshing food, we may reasonably supipose that 

 the aborigines of those countries where they are 

 f)und, were in iieneral well acquainted wiihihem. 

 From Aristotle we learn that the Greeks in his 

 time ate them. * It was as early as A. U. C. 

 633, that the mode of fattening them, by laying 

 them in pits and ponds, was nitroduced to Rome. 

 At that lime, one Sergius Orata first tried the ex- 

 periment on the Lucrine oyster, and as he made 

 much money by it, and his plan succeeding well, 

 ii rapidly spread into different dislricts. As Rome 

 increased in luxury, the supply from the immedi- 

 ate coasts was not sufficient, and all the shores of' 

 the Mediterranean were ransacked lor the shell fish. 

 They were frequently brought from a great dis- 

 tance, and at much expense, to be fiittened in 

 Italy for the Roman fe-asts. They abounded at 

 Abydos on the Hellespont ; t but the most cele- 

 brated appear to have been procured at Circeeum, 

 theLacusLucrinus, and from Brundusium. Much, 

 however, of the liune of these places appears to 

 have arisen li-om fashion, as we find writers of 

 difl^erent times praising as the best, those from, 

 difi'ercnt districts. The most generally esteemed, 

 however, seem to be those fi-om Rutupias, (now 

 Sandwich, in Kent, England,) and which were 

 carried to Italy in great numbers. If we consider 

 the difi^culties of land carriage, and the slowness 

 of sailing vessels in those times, we may Ibrm some 

 idea of their price, and the height to which luxury 

 in eating had attained. In latter times ihey appear 

 to have been chiefly used Ibr supper. | That many 

 difi'erent species were used is |irobable. Pliny in- 

 forms us that those fiom CircEeum (Cape Cieceji) 

 were black both in the flesh and shell, those from 

 Spain reddish, and those from Sclavonia brown 

 and dusky. II It was supposed that the fish fiit- 

 tened during the liill moon, and grew thin as it 

 waned; we are not aware ihut this has been ob- 

 served in the present day, but it may have hap- 

 pened in particular situarions, owing to the differ- 

 ence in the tides. The Roman epicures were in 

 the habit of icing thenr. belbre eating them, and 

 the ladies used the calcined shell as a cosmetic and 

 depilatory. To the doctors this fish was most 

 valuable, being recommended in a great variety 

 of diseases, and prepared in various ways ; and 

 though it could, generally speaking, do no good, 

 it certainly could do little harm. 



Modern history. — In England, the oyster fish- 

 eries are chiefly carried on at Colchester, in Es- 

 sex, celebrated for its green oysters, at Fever- 

 sham and Milton in Kent, and in the Isle of 

 Wight. They are also fished for in the Swalea 

 of the Medway, in the Tenby on the coast of 

 Wales, and near Liverpool, as well as around 

 Portsmouth, and in many of the creeks of the 

 southern coast. The best are found at Purfleet, 

 the worst near Liverpool. They are very plenli-, 



* Aristotle de Hist. Animal lib. v. cap 15. 



t Virgil, Georg. i. 207. 



i Juvenal, Sat. vi. 301. 



II Phn. Hist. Nat. lib. ix. cap. 82. 



