FARMERS' RL:GISTER— NEW METHOD OF CROSSING A RIVER. 



675 



best crop, on the land thrice j,Ioughed. I could give 

 here a reason lor this, but I wish to be short, and 

 only state some ofthe uitficullies to the theory "that 

 heat is a great destroyer of land." If 1 were go- 

 ing to select a farm, I should doubtless preft;r one 

 that lay well to the sun, or that had a southern as- 

 pect. Some pei'sous have supposed that covering 

 land so as to preserve it from the heat of the sun 

 is the cause of its producing: this seems to be the 

 opinion of Mr. W. "Take a piece of plank" says 

 he, "12 inclics square — |)iace it on a gall; let it re- 

 main lor one year, and then sow seeds on the place 

 covered by the j)lank, and on the conterminous 

 earth, and )ou Avill Cind the plants on the space 

 covered by the plank, n:uch more vigorous than 

 their neighbors," &c. That this will be the case, 

 does not i)rove that the exclusion of heat is the 

 cause. It may be observed, that the ground under 

 such a covering as that, becomes loose, consequent- 

 ly is penetrated by all that is enriching in the 

 gases — and not being exposed to baking rains, is 

 always ready tor this food which nature proviiles 

 so liberally. " The conterminous earth is hardened 

 by exposure without culture. For exam|)le, let a 

 road run through a rich piece of land, and in pro- 

 portion as it is trod by man or beast, will its sterili- 

 ty appear. One way to bring it to produce woidd 

 be to cover it, as this would doubtless loosen it in 

 finie. Another way would be by culture, and the 

 better it was broken up the sooner it would return 

 to its original state. 



Again he says, "make the richest earth into 

 bricks,'' &c. It may not be in the burning of the 

 rich land that the nutritious principle is destroyed, 

 but in ihc preparation for burning, viz. making it 

 into mortar first. Let Mr. W. take rich earth in 

 a dry state and calcine it. and scatter it on his land, 

 he will not only find it sprout seed, but bring it to 

 pertection — especially if there be c;dcareous earth: 

 and he would find the ashes valuable in ])roportion 

 to the quantity of calcareous earth. On the other 

 hand, if he will take even lime itself', (I mean 

 slaked lime,) and make it into mortar as bricks are 

 prepared, and then burn it, he will find it lose its 

 virtue almost altogether. His reasons for fall 

 crops not injuring lands equal to sjjring and sum- 

 mer crops, do not fully satisf}^ my mind. Oats in- 

 jure lands, I humbly conceive, for other reasons 

 than he gives. And now for my theory — or shall 

 I call it theorem, for it is well established. »SV/r- 

 ring land loct is the greatest destroyer of good land 

 imaginable. When land is put in oats it is too of- 

 ten the case that it is stirred wet in the spring, (so 

 it is with corn land) and this produces sterility, and 

 is ascribed to oats, when the blame lies somewhere 

 else. Again, the seeds of weeds Avhich ripen 

 in fall, and are scattered over the surface of the 

 earth, and of"ten have vegetated at or before the 

 time of ploughing for oats, consequently they are 

 turned under and destroyed, and there being no 

 more seed to cover the earth after the oats are 

 sovvm, the land is thus lefi bare when the crop is 

 taken off, which leads to the conjecture, that oats 

 erapoverish land. The weeds on the wheat land 

 grow from seed not disturbed in the spring, and 

 accounts for the abundance of them on wheat 

 lands in the fall. If land then was ploughed at 

 the same season for oats as for wheat, and only 

 liarrowed in the spring, there would be more 

 weeds left on oat land: and if oata would stand 



the winter and be put in when wheat was, we 

 should have as mimy weeds after oats as wheat, 



I hope nothing I have said will in the least give 

 offence to J. R. W., with whose communications 

 I have been very much pleased. 1 would be un- 

 derstood as suggcsling a lew things for farthercon- 

 sideration only, and not as a critic. If a person 

 were to take a quantity of clay (1 mean clay that 

 has at least one-tenth calcareous earth in it) and 

 calcine it, it will become a fertilii-icr of the soil; but 

 if you take the same kind of clay and make it into 

 mortar and calcine it, you will find it useles.s. 



JAMES FIFE. 



From liuriics's Travels in Bokhara, 

 KEW METHOD OF CROSSING A RTVEU, 



The mode in which we passed the Oxus waa 

 singular, and, I believe, quite peculiar to this part 

 of the country. W^c were dra\vn by a pair of 

 horses, who were yoked to the boat, on each bovv, 

 by a rope fixed to the hair oi" the mane. The bri- 

 dle is then ))ut on as if the horse were to be 

 mounted; the boat is pushed into the stream, and, 

 without any other assistance than the horses, is 

 ferried directly across the most rapid channel. A 

 man on board holds the reins of each horse, and 

 allows them to play loosely in the mouth, urging 

 him to swim; and, thus guided, he advances with- 

 out diflioulfy. There i.s" not an oar to aid in im- 

 pelling the boat; and the only assistance fi-om those 

 on board consists in manoeuvring a rude rounded 

 pole at the stern, to prevent the vessel from wheel- 

 ing in the current, and to give both horses clear 

 water to swim. They sometimes use four horses; 

 and in that case, two are fixed at the stern. These 

 horses require no preparatory training, since they 

 indiscriminately yoke all that cross the river. One 

 of the boats was" dragged over by the aid of two 

 of our jaded ponies; and the vessel which attempt- 

 ed to follow us without them was carried so far 

 down the stream as to detain us a whole day on 

 the banks, till it could be brought up to the camp 

 of our caravan. By this ingenious mode we cross- 

 ed a river nearly half a mile wide, and running at 

 the rate of three miles and a half an hour, in fif- 

 teen minutes of actual sailing; but there was some 

 detention from having to thread our way amonw 

 the sand banks that separated the branches. 1 

 see nothing to prevent the general adoption of this 

 expeditious mode of passing a river, and it wouId_ 

 be an invaluable improvement below the Ghate of 

 India. I had never before seen the horse convert- 

 ed to such a use; and in my travels through India, 

 I had always considered that noble animal as a 

 great incumbrance in crossing a river. 



From tlie Horticultural Rpgister. 

 OIV THE CULTIVATION OF ASPARAGUS. 



Having had considerable experience in the cul- 

 ti\'ation of asparagus, and been so far successfiii 

 as to raise it nearly two inches in diameter, or be- 

 tween five and six inches in circumference, some 

 of which I exhibited at the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, in the spring of 1833, and which 

 obtained the Society's premium for the largest and 

 best asparngus: having, also, lor several years past 

 sold in Quincy market from seventeen to twenty- 

 five cents the bunch, when the same sized bunches 

 of the common kind ^\■ere selling from six to ten 



