SCRAPS. 



535 



SCRAPS. 



Sf.kdling Plants and Vf-getablks. — Ag- 

 ricultural Societies, if guided by reflection, in- 

 stead of precedent, would offer to those who by 

 persevering experiment establish new and 

 valuable varieties of fruits and vegetables, ten 

 times as much as they now offer for sleek 

 Btallions and pampered geldings, and heavy 

 crops from patches of corn. 



A new variety of the potato, for example, is 

 generally considered to continue in perfection 

 not more than 14 years. Fresh varieties must 

 ihcrefjre be raised — and how few will take 

 the trouble to do it ? He who docs, and suc- 

 ceeds in supplying the place of a declining 

 peach, or apple, or potato, is a real benefactor 

 of his country, and deserves higlier reward than 

 the inventor of a new shell for dealing death 

 and destruction to the human race, which, by- 

 the-by, rarely falls upon the real authors of the 

 mischief that plunges nations into war. 



Manuuks ought to be exempt from Tolls. 

 In England, the statute of 52 George III. works 

 a general exemption from toll for the benefit of 

 Agriculture, in favor of wagon.s, carts, &c., 

 loaded with manure, as well as those going 

 empty. So our Legislatures, in granting char- 

 ters for these highways, should exempt from 

 toll, or greatly diminish the charges on loads of 

 lime, guano, plaster, and all other substances 

 when going to be used bona fide and exten- 

 sively «.s' manure. Nor would these incorpo- 

 rated monopolies lose anything in the end, inas- 

 much as the produce and population of the 

 country to be enriched by the application of 

 these manures would be increased in propor- 

 tion, and the roads and canals be thus fully in- 

 demnified and the State strengthened in num- 

 bers and wealth. 



Doctor Jos. E. Muse, well known to the 

 friends of American Agriculture as a distin- 

 guished and scientific investigator and practical 

 experimentalist, speaking of Indian corn says : 

 "The Baden has been my favorite for many- 

 years, as the most productive and mo.st heavy 

 of any kind I have ever tried. I mean the pure 

 white-flint Baden. There are several varieties 

 passing under that name, very inferior to that I 

 allude to." But the Doctor adds that last year. 

 on two measured acres, one \vith Oregon and 

 one with Baden, planted under precisely simi- 

 lar circumstances in all respects, he got ten bar- 

 rels of the Oregon, and only eight of the Baden. 



l-#~ We regret that the communication of 

 " Reuben Roadside " was received too late for 

 inaertioii in this number. 

 (1065) 



Guano — Sometimes injurious, and when.— 

 Mr. llcndle and other persons record, as the re- 

 sult of dearly purchased experience, that wliere 

 guano has failed to be beneficial, or has been 

 injurious, it has been applied in quantities too 

 powerful for the plants to bear. In a liquid 

 state half an ounce -per gallon of water, and 

 given to growing plants once a week, it never 

 fails to be productive of vigor. Five hundred 

 weight to the acre has been known to double 

 the crop of onions. 



Wheat Crop. — There is reason to believe 

 that the crop of wheat now on the ground has 

 been considerably injured by an open, freezing 

 and thawing winter, the last snows of which 

 arc fast disappearing. We have taken consid- 

 erable pains to collect the earliest and most re- 

 liable information on the subject, in order that 

 we might keep our readers duly advised in a 

 matter of so much commercial as well as agri- 

 cultural importance. The extent of the damage 

 done to wheat cannot as yet be definitely known. 

 It will be found, if we mistake not, far more se- 

 rious than usually occurs in Western New- 

 York. [Rochester American. 



We apprehend the above remarks are appli- 

 cable to a very large portion of the country. 

 One of the most reliable men in all respects, 

 writing us from Maryland, says : " What a wet 

 winter we have had ! and how adverse to all 

 farming operations " ! ! ! 



I^^ It's a tall feather in the cap of the old 

 American Farmer, the pioneer in the field of 

 American agricultural literature, to have a judge 

 .ao eminent as Doctor Muse say of it : " It is in 

 my opinion one of the best agricultural journals 

 in our wide country, whether we regard its se- 

 lections or its editorials." 



" Lau3 est laudari a laudato viro." 



Preservation of Flowers. — Among sci- 

 entific di.scoveries. we may state that Dr. Fas- 

 calc, a chemist at ^Vesteras, in Sweden, has 

 announced to the Academy of Sciences at Stock- 

 holm his discovery of a process for preserving 

 flowers in their natural condition. He sent, it 

 is stated, some roses which he assures the 

 Academy were prepared by him in 1844 — and 

 which have still all the appearance of being 

 freshly gathered. 



Prevention of the Foot-rot in Sheep. — 

 Mr. Karkeck states "that the footrot is easily 

 j)rev('nted by carting a quantity of earth in the 

 form of a mound, in the center of the yard at- 

 ta(;hed to the shed, upon wliich are occasionally 

 strewed small quantities of slaked lime." 



Grafting Clay is best made of two paits 

 cow-dung, three parts common clay, and one 

 part awns or beards of barley or other grain, 

 kneaded together thoroughly. 



