404 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 



The party estimated that there were not less 

 than ten peaks within a short distance ihat would 

 reach 5,000 feet; "and beside these there were not 

 less than a dozen or twenty others that appear to 

 exceed the highest elevation of ihe.Cattskili 

 group." Thus it appears that this cluster proba- 

 bly furnishes more peaks above 5,000 feet in 

 height, than all the rest of the United States; 

 though Mount Washington still deservedly wears 

 the palm. We collect i'rom various authentic 

 sources the measurements of the following moun- 

 tains in the United States. 



Monadnock, 3,-150 



tllcrh Peak of the Cattskiils, 3,718 



Ro'und Top do. 3,804 



Mansfield Mountain, Vt. 4,279 



Munroe, ^ 4,356 



Franklin, 4,711 



Madison, I White Moun- 4,806 



Jefferson, \ tain group. 5,058 



Adams, I 5,328 



Washington, J 0,237 



Mr. Redfield remarks, "Owing perhaps to the 

 lime and soda, which are constituents of the iabra- 

 doritic rock, and its somewhat easy decomposition 

 when exposed to the atmosphere, the soil of this 

 region is quite favorable to the growth of the fo- 

 rests, as well as the purposes of agriculture." 

 This opinion, so far as regards the soil, may be 

 correct, yet it is evident that the vicinity of high 

 mountains in such a northern latitude, must have 

 a direct tendency, by reducing the temperature, to 

 prevent the operations of agriculture to any con- 

 siderable extent. Air cooled below the freezing 

 point in August on the tops of mountains, easily 

 finds its way to the valleys and plains below, pro- 

 ducing early frosts, destructive to fruits and vege- 

 tables. Our impression is, that it is in tlie mine- 

 ral riches of this region, and not in agriculture, 

 that the true source of profit resides. Sprinkled 

 with lakes, covered with the densest forests, 

 abounding in the finest streams and water-fiills, 

 and possessing inexhaustible supplies of the most 

 valuable iron ore, nothing seems wanting to make 

 this mountain district the Wales of the United 

 States, and from its furnaces and forujes send forth 

 the iron, for which millions are now annually sent 

 abroad. 



AGRICULTURK OF TUSCANY. 



Extract from Siniond's Tableau. 



[Translated lor tlie Amrrican runner, by a friend in SouUi 

 Carolina.] 



XI. Sec. — On the /Issohmens. — The assole- 

 ment, or regular rotation of crops, forms one of 

 the most interesting parts of the agriculture of 

 Tuscany ; this rotation continues either during 

 three years, and then tiie ground is planted five 

 times; or four years, when it. is planted seven 

 times without ever being left in fallow. The 

 three years' course is as follows : Ist. Wheat fol- 

 lowed by lupines in the autumn. 2d. Wheat fol- 

 lowed in autumn by turnips, or any other forage 

 crop. 3d. Indian corn, millet or sagine, (holcus 

 sorgum, Linn.) The four years' course consists 



of— 1st. Wheat succeeded by French beans (ha- 

 ricots) intermixed with Indian corn. 2d. Wheat 

 with lupines in autumn. 3d. Wheat with forage 

 in autumn. 4th. Indian corn followed by millet 

 or saiiine. 



XIV. Sec. — On turningin lupines as a manure. 

 As soon as the wheat harvest is finished, the 

 ridges into which the land had been previously 

 thrown are divided into two parts, and a small 

 harrow which is called by the inhabitants spia- 

 nuccio, is drawn over each second ridge while the 

 other remains untouched until the whole field is 

 passed over. The lupine, lupinus albus, (Linn.) 

 which is sown on the fields thus prepared, is a 

 leguminous annual plant, which grows to the 

 height of two or three feet, and requires no sup- 

 port; on the contrary, although its stalk puts forth 

 a great number of branches, each is hard, strong, 

 and of a very woody fibre; the flowers, which are 

 of the size, form, and nearly of the color of those 

 of the bean, are gathered together in large clus- 

 ters at the end of each branch — and the long 

 pods which succeed them contains the lupines, re- 

 sembling large peas flattened. The lupines are 

 planted in the month of August or September, on 

 such of the ridges as have been harrowed, and 

 are covered in with the hoe. The ordinary mois- 

 ture of the plane is sufficient to make them ger- 

 minate and grow; they are, however, commonly 

 refreshed by seasonable rains which assist their 

 vegetation. The lupine is generally well grown 

 by the month of October, which is the seed time 

 for wheat, for which it is intended to prepare the 

 land. When it has grown to the height of 15 

 inches, it is ploughed in, and left to rot in the land, 

 possessing more than any other plant yet known, 

 the property of fertilizing by the decomposition of 

 its leaves. The same operation of the plough, 

 which buried the lupine, prepares the ridge for the 

 seeding of the corn, which is then covered with 

 a hoe; this operation of burning the lupine to ferti- 

 lize the earth, is what is called by the Italians the 

 sovercii or rovescii; it shows great knowledge of 

 the best principles of agriculture, and succeeds 

 wonderfully in fertilizing the earth. The pea- 

 sants sow sometimes different plants for the same 

 purpose, among others, they sow beans, but none 

 rot so thoroughly or so fast as the lupine, nor pos- 

 sess the power of fertilizing in so high a degree. 

 W hen it is heated in an oven or large kettle, so as 

 to destroy its vegetation, it becomes the most 

 powerful of all manures; it is said that three or 

 four pounds of these lupines, buried at the foot of 

 an olive tree, or a fruit tree that is decaying, will 

 restore it to all its health and vigor. Careful gar- 

 deners use it, but always in very small quantities, 

 to manure their orange trees, instead of horse 

 manure — and produce from it surprising effects. 



XV. Sec. — Haricots, or J^rench beans. — Some- 

 times instead of lupines which enrich the earth, 

 such farmers as have an abundance of manure, 

 sow after the first year, French beans, which im- 

 poverish it. They are intermixed with some 

 grains of Indian corn to support them, instead of 

 sticks and branches. The kind of beans which 

 bears the drought best, and is alone proper to be 

 planted after the harvest, is marked with an eye 

 about the germ, from which it is called faggiuole 

 dall occhio. When these are planted, the course 

 of cropping continues four years, because it is not 

 until the year following that in which the beans 



