FARMERS' REGISTER. 



565 



farmer Kliyogg, the Swiss, says, that wheat shoots 

 strongest when there is an interval between the 

 time orfilougiiing and sowing, but that barley \s 

 most vegetative when ?o\vn immediately after the 

 plough.* One of" my neighbors, intendmg to sow 

 wheal on clover-lay, ploughed up the clover a 

 week or two belijre seedingtime, and then gave 

 it a second ploughing across, and sowed wheat 

 upon it ! Vast numbers of the roots of the clover 

 were turned up, and were left standing erect above 

 ground all over the field ! Here was unnecessary 

 hibor, a useless and even injurious ploughing, by 

 which the manure from those substantial roots, 

 and a nrood part ol" the green crop, was lost to the 

 crop of wheat. 



" JMr. Singleton of Talbot, a gentleman entirely 

 to be depended upon, says, vviiilc. walking in Iiis 

 wheat-field, lie was surprised to find that the crop 

 was much superior on the worst part of the field, 

 ivhere the soil was the poorest and thinnest ; it be- 

 ing taller, with stronger straw and larger ears. 

 This part of the field had been in clover, which 

 was /ifjice moH'/i, and, in August, it was broken 

 up and sown with wheat the first of September: 

 the other part, the best land, had the clover broken 

 up in March for tobacco, but this crop being laid 

 aside, the land was repeatedly ploughed in the 

 summer as a fallow, and sown also on the fir,-t of 

 the same September with wheat — the yield from 

 which was fourteen bushels and a half per acre, 

 when tlie part which had been twice mown and 

 but once ploughed, gave twenty-four bushels and 

 a half per acre ! This difference is great, if we add 

 the value of the clover crops, and deduct the ex- 

 pense of the summer ploiighings, and abundantly 

 proves the supeiiorily of wheat on one earth." 

 EoaiUKD Cross. 



SEPARATION OF MME FROM MAGNESIA. BY 

 J. W. DOBEREINER. 



Translated for the Journal of the Franklin Instihite, 

 from the Journ. fiir Praktische Chemie. 



If anhydrous chloride of magnesium be treated 

 in contact vviih air, oxyiren is absorbed, and (he 

 chlorine abandoned. 'I'his decomposition, that is, 

 the transformation of chloride of magnesium into 

 magnesia, is now prompt and complete when 

 chlorate of potash is used instead of air. 



This property renders the sep^iralion of lime 

 from magnesia very easy. Dissolve the compound 

 of these two bodiec (e. x. dehmite, &c.) in Iiydro- 

 chloric acid ; evaporate to dryness ; heal ihe dried 

 mass in a plalina cai)side till the acid vapors clear, 

 and add to il, urging the heat to commencing red- 

 ness, small portions of chlorate of po!a?h, until 

 there is no further disengagement of ch'orine. The 

 remaining mass is ihi-n composed of chloride of 

 calcium, magn'^sia, and chloride of potassium, the 

 separation of which is easily efl^ected by treating 

 ihe mixture with water, filtering ihe solution, pre- 

 cipitating Ihe filtered licjuor by carbonate ofsj- 

 da, &c. 



* This is easily accounted for; wheat roots deep, 

 but barley forms its roots near tlie surface, and sub- 

 sides with the earth, without injury. 



TROPICAL PRODUCTS OF THE FLORIDA 

 ISLETS. 



Extract from llie Magazine of Ilorticultiire. 



July 12. — The mail schooner Hayne has ar- 

 rived with your June number of the Maofazine. 

 1 had hoped to see in it some extracts from my 

 manuscript in your hands, especially under the 

 headings of" Tropical Products of South Florida," 

 wliere every thing is tropical: not merely its bo- 

 tany, but its zoology, is exclusively tropical phy- 

 tology. Conchology, icthyology, ornithology, are 

 tropical subdivisions of its tropical zoology. I re- 

 new and extend my proffers of gratuitous collec- 

 tions at Indian Key, as long as I remain there. 

 Mr. Howe writes In hiii nephew at Lowell, Mass., 

 that he will supply barrels of products to his order, 

 in Charleston or iS"ew York. He will also send 

 to you by the present packet, on her return, some 

 ripe fruit of ihe Manilla mulberries, of the second 

 crop this year. You have already some berries of 

 the first crop, in February, and you will soon have 

 some berries of the second crop in June or July. 

 The fig trees do bear two full crops on this coral 

 rock ; but the present crop of the Manilla mulber- 

 ries is our first evidence that they may also bear 

 two annual crops. You will perceive that the 

 sum and substance of his desires, and of my de- 

 sires, embrace the speedy emigra^;^)n of agricul- 

 tural settlers of virtuous habits. We mutually 

 wish to exhibit solely the facts, which should ex- 

 cite immediate emigration of sober cultivators of 

 profitable plants. The pre-emption laws of Ihe 

 United States have sufficed for the settlement of 

 all our other new territories, and would have suf^ 

 ficed for the settlement of South Florida, had it 

 not been subjected to the monopoly at Key West, 

 ever since the exchange of national flags in 1822. 

 Nevertheless, the first emigrants next autumn, 

 from October to December, can probably employ 

 themselves in Ihe propagation of the Manilla ?\.k 

 mulberries and the sea-is.'and cot'on shrubs, be- 

 cause the cuttings of the former, and the seeds of 

 the latter, can be obtained cheaply and abundant- 

 ly. I have obtained, expressly for gratuitous dis- 

 tribution, six bushels of select seeds, of ihe finest 

 sea-island cotton, and they will be planted at in- 

 tervals this summer, lo create an ample supply for 

 all emigrants in the autumn or winter ensuing. I 

 have lo use the words of the north, called autumn 

 and winter, although we have not the seasons of 

 the nor:h. 



To iilustrale how little our national senators are 

 acquainted \Aiih the climate and soil of South Flo- 

 rida, I refer you to the opposition of Hon. C. Clay, 

 of Alabama, to the congressional act for the intro- 

 diiciion and propagation of tropical plants : "For 

 auirht he knew, the irrantees might select a town- 

 ship valuable enouirh f)r the cultivation of sea- 

 island cotton." Indeed! he was not aware that 

 every acre of Ihe calcareous earth of South Flo- 

 rida is the most valuable in the world, both in soil 

 and clim;ile, for the cultivation of sea- island cotton. 

 He was not aware that Ihe grantees could not select 

 a single acre vvhich was not valuable enough for the 

 cultivation of sea-island cotton. He did not know 

 that sea-island cotton was introduced into the 

 south'vn stales from the neighboring Bahama 

 Islands. He does not know that on the Florida 

 Keys il is a perennial plant of many years' dura- 

 tion — that Mr. Howe lias plants at Duck Key from 



