1838.3 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



77 



be at the, same tiine well thai the debouchures of 

 all our preat rivers were examined, lest at the 

 mouths ol' the Spey, the Dee, the J)on, the EsU, 

 and the Tweed, mio:ht lurk localities equally ac- 

 cessible to the embanker, and equally unlooked- 

 for, or more, than in the Tay or Forth thirty years 

 since. 



I( the harbors on both sides of the Forth be 

 examined, as low down as Duidoar on the one 

 side, and Crail on the other; and those on the 

 Tay down to Broughty Ferry; those on the Esk 

 to INlontrose and Ferryden, lar^je quantities of silt 

 will be found accumulating; in each of them, quite 

 as impalpa!)le and fine, and probably, if li'eed of 

 salt, as lertile as those deposited and taken in 

 higher up the rivers. It is probable, then, that 

 lands might be embanked much flirther out in 

 these estuaries than seems at present to be sus- 

 pected, by much the greater part of the argilla- 

 ceous flocculi which the river bears along with it 

 being actually carried out to sea. 



The various embankments hitherto completed 

 have been constructed by those manifestly little 

 acquainted with hydraulic engineermg, with little 

 concert amongst the proprietors, and without al- 

 most any recognition of general principles, or sys- 

 tematic plan of procedure. Many anomalies are 

 consequently apparent in the now finished works, 

 and many cases of useless expense and annoying 

 inconvenience have arisen, which it would have 

 been raosi desirable and not difficult to have 

 avoided. 



On these and on many other grounds, which 

 must be apparent, but to enter into a detail of 

 which would be much too tedious for the present 

 memoranda, it seems most important that som?^- 

 thing should be done in the way of a historical ac- 

 count of all the embanking operations of any im- 

 portance in Scotland, whether for the purpose of 

 merely defending lands previously existing, but li- 

 able to periodical iimp.dations, from tides or river 

 freshes, or for the purpose of obtaining and in- 

 closing accumulations of silr, which, but tor the 

 skill and industry of man, would have been whol- 

 ly swept away. 



From tlie Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 

 ON THE PROPAGATION OF THE APPLE-TREE. 



In the number of this .Journal for September 

 1837, I observe the following statement, among 

 the Miscellaneous Notices: — 



^'Propagation of apple-trees. — A new plan for 

 increasing plantations of apple-trees has lately 

 been carried into extensive practice by the horti- 

 culturists of Bohemia. Neither seed nor grafting 

 is required. The process is to take shoots fi-om 

 the choicest sorts, insert them into potatoes, and 

 plunge both into the ground, leaving but an inch 

 or two of the shoot above the surliice. The po- 

 tato nourishes the shoot, while it pushes out roots, 

 and the shoot gradually grows up and becomes a 

 beautilul tree bearing the best fruit, without requi- 

 ring to be grafted. Whatever may be the success 

 of the undertaking, its novelty at least is an in- 

 ducement to give it a lair trial." 



I beg leave to remark that six or eight years 

 ago a similar statement was published. It was 

 not then represented as a general practice, but 

 i»erely as the successful operation of an individu- 



al in Bohemia. In consequence of the publication, 

 I immediately made the experiment. I look cut- 

 tings of various apple-trees, and inserted each cut- 

 ting in a potato, and planted the potato and cut- 

 ling, leaving only an inch or two of the shoot 

 above the surface. The consequence was that 

 the potatoes did grmv, but the apple-tree cuttings 

 did not grow, ll then occurred to my gardener, 

 James Sn.iih, who had long been employed as a 

 nurseryman, that we should have sliced off the 

 (>yes of the potatoes. Next year this was done 

 and the experiments repeated, but the potatoes 

 still grew, but not the apple cuttings. The experi- 

 ments were tried, not only in the country, but also 

 in the back ground of a house in the New Town 

 of Edinburgh, but in no instance with success. 



It has since occurred to me that to complete the 

 experiment we ought to have boiled the potatoes, 

 but this was not done and had not been suggested 

 by the publication which mentioned the practice. 

 In the meanwhile, so far as raio potatoes are con- 

 cerned, my opinion necessarily is, that the plan of 

 rearing orchards by cuttings inserted in potatoes 

 ma)', for aught 1 know, succeed in Bohemia, but 

 it wont do for Scotland. I do not recollect wheth- 

 er we made a trial with turnips instead of pota- 

 toes, although I remember we at one time talked 

 of trying turnips. Most people are no doubt 

 aware that there is a species of apple-tree which 

 can be reared fi'om cuttings, like a willow or a 

 poplar, and produces sweet apples without en- 

 grafting. I have two of these trees in bearing. 

 I got the cuttings from Mr. John Geddes of the 

 Verreville Works, Glasgow. They were taken 

 from a tree that had been removed from the col- 

 lege garden, and that tree was said to have been 

 propagated from a tree belonging to the Monaste- 

 ry of A berbrothock.* The apples are rather small, 

 round, and may be eaten from the tree, being 

 quite sweet. 



NOTICE OF AN EXPERIMENTAL FARM IN 

 FRANCE. 



B]/ Col. Le Couteur. 



It is situated, in a beauiilltl and fertile countr}', 

 well wooded and watered, but cultivated by the 

 Breton li:irmers just as their lathers tilled it 200 

 years since. The college or experimental farm 

 appears like a garden in a smiling wilderness, so 

 fiiras culture goes. I rose at four in the morning, 

 in order to witness the whole course of labor in 

 this interesting institution. 



There were from 80 to 90 students under the 

 superintendence and tuition of a director, a pro- 

 lessor of agriculture and agricultural chemistry, a 

 veterinary surgeon, and an agricultural implement 

 maker. At half past four they took a slight re- 

 past, and as the clock struck five, all were employ- 

 ed; some in harnessing the horses and oxen, 

 others in carting ont and properly disposing the 

 implements in the field, others set to hoeing, 

 others weeding, some ploughing, some hay ma- 

 king, in a word to all the various labors of the 

 season. 



* The Arbroath Oshnor Original Apple, here alluded 

 to, is a well known variety. It may be added, that 

 all the burr-knot and codlin tribes of apple-trees grow 

 freely from cuttings. — Edit. 



