no 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



in the cellar, especially in mild vveaiiier, will heat 

 and produce unheal thj' exhalai ions, lo ihe prpjudice 

 of those who reside in ilie iiouse. 



The present is not a good season for construct- 

 ing barn cellars, but it is the time lo think about it, 

 as many feel the want of this necessary conve- 

 nience to the farm ; and they should give their at- 

 tention to the subject, examine iiovv others con- 

 struct them, when there is an opportunity, that 

 they may he prepared to execute this work with 

 discretion and desj)aich when they undertake it. 

 Perhaps some o(" your correspondentb can give us 

 some directions on this subject that will be profita- 

 ble. Some farmers object to raising roots on ac- 

 count of the labor of ieeding in cold weather; if 

 they will prepare to store them in the proper place, 

 which tiiey can do at a small expense, their objec- 

 tion would he obviated. 



MAGNIFICENT CONSERVATORY. 



From tlie Gardener's Magazine. 



One of the most magnificent structures in Eng- 

 land has been lately erected by the Duke of J)evon- 

 ehire at his beautiful residence at Chalsworth. It 

 consists of a large tropical conservatory. In general 

 design, it may be compared to a cathedral, with 

 central aisle and side aisles. The entrances will 

 be at the ends, through porches, which will be 

 treated as green-houses. When the whole is 

 completed, it will cover an acre and a quarter of 

 ground. There will be a carriage way through it, 

 which will form part of a general drive through 

 the pleasure grounds. It will be heated by six 

 fires, all of which, and the means of access to 

 them, the places for fuel, &c., will be under ground, 

 and the chimneys carried in a tunnel, up the side 

 of a hill, to the distance of nearly a furlong, so that 

 there will not be the slightest appearance of artifi- 

 cial heating, or smoke, or sheds, &c., either within 

 the house, or exterior to it. The conservatory is 

 situated in an open part of a lofiy wood, in nearly 

 the centre of Ihe pleasure-grounds, and is unques- 

 tionably the largest structure of the kind in exis- 

 tence, or on record. The whole is under the di- 

 rection of Mr. Paxton, by whom it was designed. 

 It vvasj probably, nearly or quite finished the past 

 fall. 



INJURY TO CORN FROM STRIPPING THE 

 LEAVES FOR FODBER. REMARKABLE 



FERTILITY, AND CHEMICAL COMPOSI- 

 TION OF SCIOTO BOTTORI LANIJ. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Nelson, Dec. IGth, 1839. 

 I have this year made an experiment to ascer- 

 tain the loss occasioned to the corn crop by taking 

 off the tops and blades at the usual time. Eight 

 rows at the gathering the fodder (September) 

 were left untouched, extending from one end to 

 the otlier of a field of filiy acres. Four rows on 

 each side of the eiirlil extending in the same man- 

 ner through the field, and on ground in every 

 res[)ecl the same, liad the blades pulled and the 

 to|)s cut. The corn when matured was earelully 

 gathered, put in scparuic parcels, t^tripped uf tlie 



shuck and measured. The corn which retained 

 its blades and lops to the last furnished 17^ barrels 

 of measured ears ; ihe other eight rows which had 

 been stripped yielded 16 barrels. A bushel of 

 each was weighed, but there was no apparent dif- 

 ference by steelyard. The loss sustained by taking 

 away the blades and tops is by this experiment 

 within a small fraction of 12 per cent., being 11 

 barrels and ||-. This however is not all ; the land 

 is deprived of an exceeding rich manure in the 

 blades and tops, as will occur at once to those who 

 have observed the places where blade and top 

 slacks have stood ; a manure that goes far towards 

 aflbrding an equivalent lor the draft made from the 

 land by the crop. I have a field, on the Scioto in 

 Ohio, from which forty successive crops of corn 

 have been taken, nothing but the grain however 

 having ever been removed. The ground has 

 sustained but little diminution in its product, ex- 

 cept where the soil has been abraded by freshets 

 on a few spots. This culture has been forced by 

 peculiar circumstances of" position in relation lo 

 the river, and the kind of labor used there, but ia 

 about now to be changed, as those difficulties are 

 overcome. I am sure no land could have borne 

 such a system where the lops and blades were 

 taken off ; but the limits of a letter would not 

 afford space for my reasons. 



I left at your office in Petersburg, last June, a 

 specimen of soil from the field here mentioned, 

 and a specimen from some ground yet covered 

 with wood immediately adjoining, also a third 

 specimen from land that had yielded crops for the 

 last ten or twelve years, from the vicinity, and of 

 the same formation. An examination of these 

 specimens, by one (like yourself) skilled in the 

 analysis of soils, might lead to interesting results. 

 Yours, with high respect and regard, 



T. Massie, 



The specimens of soils from the Scioto bottom 

 land referred to above were marked by Dr. Massie 

 as follows : 



"No. 1. Virgin soil, still covered with forest. 



No. 2. Soil a few years cleared and cultivated. 



No. 3. Soil from a prairie that has borne forty 

 consecutive crops of corn. The land lies near the 

 confluence of the Scioto with Paint Creek, and has 

 many evidences of having been fbrmerfy the bot- 

 tom of a lake." 



Upon being carefully examined for carbonate of 

 lime, No. 1. contained none ; and No. 2. barel}' a 

 trace, if indeed any at all. Our correspondent 

 will merely in this see confirmation of our doctrine 

 of " neutral soj7s," and not infer that these soils 

 are destitute of lime in some other form, though 

 containing none in that of carbonate. 



No. 3, (the prairie soil, of such enduring fer- 

 tility,) from 500 grains, tiied in Davy's pneumatic 

 apparatus, yielded 24 oz. measures of carbonic 

 acid gas, indicating the presence of 48 grains of 

 carbonate of lime, or very nearly 10 per cent. 

 Uul tiiere was evidence that a large proportion of 

 this carbonated earth was not lime, but magnesia; 

 though wc had not the means to determine the 

 proportions uf each of these carlhs. This is a 



