230 



NEW EXOLAND FARIMER. 



[Feb. 10, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1826. 



PLASTER OF PARIS. 



Col. Taylor, fornierl3' of Virginia, an eminent „(,( dissolve in spirits of salt, as limestone will : 

 scientific and practical agricultnrist, observed, Lof jg ji lialfso hard i-s limestone. 5. Us colour 

 in substance, liiat he sowed of plaster from three) and crystalline jippearance distinguish it from 



over Ihegroiind as a top dressing. Suppose you ' cured by the public approbation, as evinced by 

 were askedvif a slone brought you is gypsum ?j'i'e early disposal of tlie llrst edition, the author 

 1. Gypsum can be scratched by the nail, scrap- j's encouraged to prepare for the press a new 

 ed by a knife, ground by the teeth. 2. It will 



pecks to one bushel the acre. Sown on clover 

 in the Spring it benefits it considerably. He sup 



edition, containing many improvements and con- 

 siderable additional matter. This little volume 

 will not be found deficient in any re(]iii5ite to 

 gratify the wishes of those who may be desirous 

 to select the most advantageous and eligible 

 method of cultivating the finest fruits, and of 



clay : nor does it give a clayey odour when 



breathed upon, unless clay be mixed with it. 4. 

 posed itto be a valuable ally, but by no means} Powder it, boil it to dryness, with four times its| I'reparing the valuable liquors which they are 

 a substitute for manure— that there should be in- . weight of pot or pearl ash. Wash out all that | known to alVor.l. Much attention has been bes- 

 tervals of two, three, or four years between ap- ; hot water will dissolve : the remaining powder | totved also, in forming a correct catalogue of the 



plying it to the same land — that its effect is (jl" the alone be gypsum) is carbonate of lime." 



Dr Gorham of Boston coincides with Dr Cooper 

 in opinion, that gypsum is a manure of stimulus. 

 In a paper read before a society in Boston, and 

 published in the Mass. Agr. Repository, vol. iii. 

 No. 2, he gives it as his opinion that " when the 

 plaster of Paris is applie_d to the seed, it stimu 



graduated by the quantity of vegetable matter in 

 the soil on which it is sown — that all crops are 

 ultimately improved by its improving the soil, 

 even when its effects are not immediately visi- 

 ble. 



M. Cannolle, a French writer, observes that 



plaster operating chielly on the absoibent system I lates the little rod, the action of the vessels is 

 of plants, its effects are not bke those of manures | thus increased, absorption goes on more rapidly, 

 buried in the soil, \vhich act principally on the: ;\nd it requires more nourishment in a given 

 roots. The quantity of plaster spread upon the I tinie than in ordinary circumstances ; the cnn- 

 land is so trifling, that it can have little effect on , sequences are a quick growth and an enlarge- 

 the soil. "1 speak irom experience, l^lasler | ment of the organs,"' &.c. Sir Humphry Davy, 

 buried in the earth where sainloin has been , however, supposes that plaster composes a part 

 sown, has produced no visible alteration, whilst i of the substance of certain plants which cannot 

 the same quantity of jlaster over the same sur- | grow to perfection without that part ; and that 

 face of sainloin, has pi oiluced the mo'l beautitui its application is useful to all soils of which it is 



most approved varieties of fruits, with the pe- 

 culiar qualities which they possess, that the 

 purchaser may with facility make his selection 

 of such as are in the highest repute among our 

 most experienced connoisseurs. It has been a 

 primary object to compress the whole in so small 

 a compass that the price of the book may not be 

 enhanced, while its contents shall be rendered 

 no less completely adapted to the use of our 

 farmers and cultivators, than any similar work 

 which has hitherto been offered to the public."' 



The Mystei'ies of Tnide, or the Great Sotirce of 

 Weailh : containing Fecipes and Patents in 

 Cliemistry and Manufaciurts ; Zi-ilh Practical 

 Observations on the Useful Arts. By David Be- 

 nuin. 



This book treats on subjects of much import- 

 vegetation. ; not niilurally a constituent (lart. liut we have I ance to the Artist, the Manufacturer, and the 

 " From this experience, so urifnrm in the ap-{ not room for further examination of the theories Economist. The directions for the various 

 jdication of plaster, I am led to believe that one i which have been broached resjiecling its moflej processes recommended as producing beneficial 

 must consult as well the nature of the soils as ^ nf operation. 



Gypsum has been highly recommended as a 



the kinds of (dants to which we apply plaster. 



Thus, whatever may be the soil on wliirli c!ov-i manure for potatoes. The i.otatoes, just before 



er, lucerne, and sainfoin naturally fiourish vigoi* 

 ously, or with that vigor which encourages us 



planting. sh,ould be wet. and then rolled in pul 

 verised plaster; and a handful of plaster appli- 



to apply manure, there is no risk in applying ed immediately after the first and second hoeing 



to the leaves, and scattered over the hill. 



USEFUL BOOK.S. 

 We are much gratified by perceiving that a 



plaster. 



" It is to be remirke<l that plaster operates on 

 plants in a <lirect ratio to the size and number 

 of their leaves. I have spread plaster on land 

 where sainfoin was mixed with the common ' second edition of that useful work, Thacher''s 

 grasses which compose our n^eadows. The .'"lenVan Orc/((iriii4<, has lately been jiublished. 

 growth ct the sainloin and wild honeysuckle has ; We have heretofore (=ee New England I-'armer, 

 been beyond comparison greater than that of the I vol, i. page 2oO) spoken in favourable terms of 



common e^ra 



It is to this cause I attribute this treatise, and would here observe that the 



the failure of succe.ss on grass ground chiefly 

 filled with common grasses. I have a lield ofl 

 lucerne separated from a natural meadow only 

 by a brook. 1 have greatly increased the lu- 

 cerne by the (daster. whiUt the effect of a like 

 quantity on the adjoining grass l.iiul, was scarce- 

 ly if ot all perceptible."' 



Dr Cooper of Phiiadelpliia s;ivs, "Gypsum is 

 not part ot' iUe fn-xl of plants : it is n manure of 

 stimvlus : exciting the organs of the plant to 



stronger action. It will iioi answer bevond tw o i be ^>^ use by developing the vieivs of the author 

 aod a lialf bushels io the acre; one and a hall) and the Uiilure of the improvements which he 



second edition apjiears to us wh it it [)urpoits to 

 be, '• much improved.'" The first edition was 

 recommended by the officers of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural Society, and has met with the 

 approbation of the (lublic, made apparent by its 

 r.ipid Sale. It may now be considered as a work 

 o] establislied reputation, and of course any at- 

 tempt from u^ to recommend it to public atten- 

 tion would be superlluous. 



effects in the Arts, appear to us to be definite, 

 perspicuous, and well adapted to the purposes 

 fgr which they are presciibed. 



The value of a work of this description de- 

 pends in a great measure on its accuracy, and 

 the certainty with which the alleged results are 

 pioduced by the means which are directed by 

 the author to be made use of But it often hap- 

 pens, that incidental circumstances, such as va- 

 riations of temperature, of the strength of mate- 

 rials in mixtures, some obtrusive and unobserv- 

 ed foreign substance, like magnesia in lime in- 

 tended for manure, or some oversight in the op- 

 erator may cause failures in the process, which 

 in other hands, by apparently the same means, 

 would have iuHy succeeded. In such cases the 

 recipe is i ondenined as worthless. « hen in tact 

 the cause of the failure may be found in the mis- 

 tak>s i.f the operator. 



Mr Bern, in appears (o Iiave anticipated some 

 evils of this descrijilion, ami observes in his 

 preface " some who should honor his l.diors by 

 a perusal, by calling in question the truth of a 

 lew particular facts, processes or opinio.is, might 



The following extract from the preface may j k'e apt to pa's sentence upon the whole. The 



considerutions conjoined with a desire of becnin-» 

 ing practically accpiaintcd with several of ihe 

 bushel is belter. It will not answer on wet, or j has iiilrnduced into the second edition. ] chemical arts, inducted him on many occasions to 



swHmpy, or clayey soils. It should be scattered " The American Orchardist having been hon-j seek for information at its ultiraalely genuine 



