418 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



attribute to their being transplanted berore the sap 

 had ceased to flow. This remark applies particu- 

 larly to the Hewe's crab, which coniinues to grow 

 later in ihe lall ihan any other apple tree. Some 

 kinds did not euller at rill, while ihe greater part ol 

 oihers perished. The comparaiive eflects ol' the 

 dung and mud are observable in this plan- 

 tation. 



No. 8.— In th& month of October 1806, at 

 the same lime with the preceding experiment, I 

 planted about one hundred and eighty apple trees 

 on a piece of ground ploughed for, but not sowed 

 with, oats the preceding spring. The holes were 

 dug, and the trees manured with stable dung, 

 precisely in the same manner with No. 7. The 

 Boil was much sandier than either of the fields 

 mentioned in numbers 6 and 7. The groundvvas 

 full o( weeds and very rough. In the following 

 epring ii was manured with ashes, and planted in 

 corn. Forty of the trees had been procured from 

 a distant nursery, the soil ol which was so stiff as 

 to cause much injury to ihe roois in digging or 

 rather grubbing iliem ; they were extremely short 

 EO as to leave me liiile expectation of their grow- 

 ing in my light soil. Notwithstanding all the>e 

 ob3t;icles the trees, thouiih planted on the 2A\\ of 

 October, from being under cultivaiion have gene- 

 rally grown finely, and at present exhibit a lavo- 

 rable appearance, few of them having perished, 

 and those few principally from the field mice ; but 

 the.<difference between the mud and dung is here 

 also very perceptible. 



From the result of the foregoing experiments I 

 infer, that trees planted without manure in the 

 holes, and the roots covered with the surlace earth 

 with an external covering of mellow mud or rich 

 mould, is the best mode lor the first year. That 

 if the ground is poor, stable manure is ihe least 

 proper kind to be used, being from its nature least 

 able to resist (he destructive effects of our summer 

 droughts, and affording a shelier to vermin equally 

 pernicious in the winter, particularly in light 

 soils ; that rich earth or river and meadow mud 

 ameliorated by (rost or putrelaciion, either in its 

 simple state, or mixed with ashes, lime or perfect- 

 ly rotten dung, is of all others, alier the first year, 

 the best dressing, to bespread on the surlace and 

 ploughed in. That cultivation is essential to the 

 growth of orchards, which thrive in proportion to 

 the degree of it which they receive. 



I have, under a full conviction ofthe correctness 

 of these opinions, this lall planted another orchard 

 of four hundred and eighty trees, one halfof Eu- 

 ropean, and the other halfof American kinds, in 

 a light, sandy soil, with two cart-loads ol meadow 

 mud, spread in a circle of about 10 feet diameter 

 round each tree on the surface ofthe earth. This 

 ground I mean to cultivate in corn and other fallow 

 crops for two years, when I hope the trees will be 

 sufficiently established to admit of winter grain 

 and clover. This is the mode 1 prefer from my 

 past experience, and I have little doubt ofits com- 

 plete success, especially if the further precaution 

 of digging once or twice round each tree in each 

 season is attended to (whether the ground be 

 sown with grain or clover) lor two or three years. 

 It may not be amiss here to mention, that I do not 

 include buckwheat in the pernicious list of grains, 

 because it keeps the ground in a loose state, and 

 ripens at a season of the year when no injury is 

 produced by it to the trees ; and from its peculiar 



growth and color, I doubt whether buckwheat 

 ripening even in July, would produce a sufficient 

 degree of reflected heat to be injurious to an or- 

 chard. I am, dear sir, with sentimenis of esteem 

 and respect, your obedient servant, 



Wm. Coxe. 



SOME ACCOUNT OF THE GREEN-SAND EARTH 

 OF GLOUCESTER AND SALEM COUNTIES, 

 NEW JERSEY, AND THE EFFECTS AS MA- 

 NURE. 



By the Editor. 



The New Jersey green-sand earth, and the be- 

 neficial and wonderlul efi'ecis produced by its use 

 as manure, have long been subjects of interest 

 and curiosity lo every person accus'omed to read 

 or to hear ol ihe progress of agricultural improve- 

 ment in the United Siates. There were other 

 additional reasons, (which will be obvious to a\\ 

 readers of the past volumes of ihe Farmers' Re- 

 gister,) which made me take especial interest in 

 this subject, and to seek inlbrmaiion thereupon, 

 as I have done for a long lime past, Irom every 

 source oHered by publications. Still, all such in- 

 lbrmaiion, taken together, seemed to me loose and 

 vague, and deserving but little confidence; while 

 the reports and statements ol" practice deemed 

 most authoritative were manifestly erroneous, to 

 my judgment, and st-rving to deceive, in their 

 reasoning from lacts, even if the liicts themselves 

 could be relied upon. The only truths which 

 seemed certain, and these taken in the general, 

 were that the green-sand earth of New Jersey 

 was valuable as manure, had been extensively 

 applied, and had in very many cases produced 

 great improveiBent to the land and profit to the 

 i larmers. The error or deception which was in- 

 I directly (and perhaps undesignedly,) but not the 

 I less certainly conveyed, by the general and com- 

 j bined purport of all the published statements con- 

 ; sisted in the omitting to state the particular ex- 

 j cepiions to the above general positions — and 

 I which exceptions, even belbre my having any 

 direct evidence or even report ol their occur- 

 rence, I was well convinced did exist, and were 

 important in every aspect. And much more ol 

 delusion had been produced in Virginia, through 

 the high, though unmerited authoriiy of the geolo- 

 gical report of that state, by its author's assuming 

 the received opinions of the leriilizing efiects of 

 the green-sand earth in New Jersey as entirely 

 applicable to the green-sand earth and the soils of 

 Virginia. In advance of or absence of all facte, 

 this would have been a legitimate and fair in- 

 ference. But not so, as it was made and has 

 been long persisted in, in opposition to all existing 

 testimony of known lact.^, or in neglect, or omis- 

 sion and contemptuous disregard of all known 

 lacts and practical experience. 



Deeming, from every thing yet read, that there 

 would be no means of obtaining the correct in- 

 lormation desired except by personal examination, 

 I determined to visit the green-sand region of 

 New Jersey; and lo make this personal inspec- 

 tion, and to have opportunities lor making per- 

 sonal inquiries, formed the sole objects of a jour- 

 ney from my distant place of residence. 

 Even when on my journey, and when making 



