1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



199 



found 10 be an excellent article for manuring light 

 and dry eoils, though ot little advantage to those 

 of a clayey description. This article may be ap- 

 plied on the proper soil with advantage to any 

 crop, and its eflects are immediate, though rarely 

 of long continuance. As the coast-side lands ot' 

 the island are, in every case, of superior fertility 

 to those thrtt are inland, we may attribute this su- 

 perior fertility to the great quantity of manure 

 found upon their shores after every storm or high 

 tide, whereby the resources of the ocean are in a 

 manner brought forward ibrthe enrichment of the 

 lands locally situated for participating in such 

 benefits. The utmost attention has long been 

 paid to the gathering and laying on of this valua- 

 ble manure ; and, from the extensive line of British 

 shores, both of the main sea and of the numerous 

 estuaries which indent, and as it were divide the 

 main land, an immense quantity of sea-weed 

 must annually be collected from them. 



Sea-weed is applied at all seasons 1o the sur- 

 face, and sometimes, though not so profitably, it 

 is mixed with unrotten dung, that the process of 

 putrefaction may be hastened. Generally speak- 

 ing, it is at once applied to the soil, which saves 

 labor, and prevents that degree of waste, which 

 otherwise would necessarily happen. Sea-weed 

 is, in one respect, preferable to the richest dung ; 

 because it does not produce such a quantity of 

 weeds. Some have thought, that the weeds upon 

 land, which has received dung, are produced by 

 seeds mixed with the dung; but it is reasonable 

 to presume, that the salts contained in sea-weed, 

 and applied with it, may be the real cause of the 

 after-cleanliness. This may be inferred from the 

 general slate of coast-side lands, where sea-weed 

 is used. These lands are almost constantly kept 

 in tillage, and yet are cleaner and freer from 

 weeds, than those m inland situations, where corn- 

 crops are not so often taken. 



Clay-soils are not so much benefited by sea- 

 weed, as those of a light nature; but whether 

 this is owing to the properties of clay being un- 

 friendly to the admission of the salts contained in 

 sea-weed, or to soils of that description being ge- 

 nerally in a state, when this substance is thrown 

 ashore, which physically unfits them for partici- 

 pating of benefit from the application, is not com- 

 pletely ascertained. The fact, however, is cer- 

 tain, that clay-soils are little benefited by sea- 

 weed, though perhaps the poaching of carts and 

 horses upon them, in wet stormy weather, may 

 in some measure, be assigned as the true cause 

 why the same benefit is not gained. When 

 dung is carted out on clay-soils, in a wet state, 

 we know, that the advantage fiom it is not so 

 great, as when the surface is in condition to 

 bear the pressure of the carriages; though, from 

 that result, no person would be justified, in main- 

 taining, that these soils were constitutionally dis- 

 qualified to receive benefit from dung. When a 

 coast-side liirm contains mixed soils, the best man- 

 agement is exercised, by applying sea-weed to 

 dry, and dung to clay-land. In this way, the full 

 advantage of manure may be obtained, and a 

 farm so circumstanced is of infinitely greater va- 

 lue, with respect to manuring and laboring, than 

 one which contains so much variety. 



It has lately been suggested by Sir John Sin- 

 clair, Bart, and other eminent agriculturists, that 

 sea-weed poesesees a virtue not formerly assigned 



to it; namely, that it is eminently beneficial in 

 preserving wheat from being mildewed, which, 

 were the fact sufficiently ascertained, would be an 

 addition to our stock of agricultural knowledge, of 

 great importance. Where sea-weed is applied, 

 there can be no doubt that the soil is thereby 

 greatly strengthened, becoming firmer, and, of 

 course, better adapted for preserving the roots of 

 the plant from injury, and for furnishing a regular 

 supply of food. This length we can salely go, as we 

 believe that such an opinion accords entirely with 

 the general sentiments of agriculturists. Think- 

 ing, however, that mildew proceeds entirely from 

 a diseased atmosphere, we are at a ioss to find 

 out how sea-weed, at the root of the plant, can 

 act as a preventive against that disease, in any 

 other way than what is already mentioned ; that 

 is, by consolidating the surface, and giving great- 

 er strength to the plants, in consequence of which, 

 they are enabled to resist the unheallhiness of the 

 atmosphere. Comparing the operation of sea- 

 weed with that of dung, it will be Ibund that the 

 effect of the latter is to loosen the soil, and to 

 make it more friable ; consequently, as always 

 happens, fields, which have received the greatest 

 quantity of dung, are always most susceptible of 

 mildew. 



THE EDITOR OF THE GARDENER S MAGAZINE, 



The two last numbers of Loudon's Magazine 

 contained nothing of interest, unless it may be the 

 Ibllowing advertisement, which exhibits a very 

 different condition of agricultural editorship in 

 England from that of our country. Mr. Loudon 

 is evidently "in clover," compared to his over- 

 worked and under-paid editorial brethren in this 

 country. We could, (and perhaps may,) present 

 some strong and amusing contrasts to the state of 

 things indicated by this advertisement, in some of 

 the heavy demands made upon our time, and la- 

 bor of body and mind, by persons who are not 

 even known, and whose names are sometimes not 

 even given, and who seem to think that we are 

 not only competent, but that it is our province and 

 duty, and our pleasure, to fiirnish information and 

 advice, at any expense of labor, not only on mat- 

 ters of general interest to agriculture, or of special 

 interest to friends, acquaintances, or subscribers, 

 but also to those who have no claim on any one of 

 these grounds. — Ed. Far. Reg. 



jidvertiseinent. 



Since Mr. Loudon commenced the ^Gardener's 

 Magazinc\ he has had numerous applications 

 made to him (many of them anonymously), by 

 the readers of his works, lor opinions on plans and 

 elevations, or other designs ; and for lists of trees 

 and shrubs, ornamental or fruit-bearing, for parti- 

 cular purposes, &c. &c. These applications have 

 considerably increased since the publication of the 

 'Suburban Gardener,^ and as they begin to occu- 

 py more of his time than he can afford to spare 

 gratuitously, he has thought it right to state that, 

 in conformity with the practice of other authors 



