1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



469 



have made over 10 per cent per annum on the whole 

 investment, anri will still become more productive, 

 by the daily improvements going on, even if the 

 works should not be lurther extended. 



Shareware $'100 each;— and there have been 

 paid in 184 cash shares. The works may be ad- 

 vantageously increased, from one hundred to one 

 hundred and filiy shares per annum, until the 

 wiiole amount needed is taken up. 



For statements showmg the range of the ther- 

 momeier and quantity of rain, (or a series of years 

 at Key West, see American Almanac for 1838.* 

 F. A. Browke, Pres'f. 

 A. Gordon, Secry. 



INFLUENCE OF THE STOCK ON THE GRAFT. 

 AN ERROR CORRECTED. 



From the Fanners' Cabinet. 



Sl7% — In my paper on this subject inserted in 

 Cabinet, No. iO, page 311, I state in favor of the 

 position (argmneni 10) that I had read in some 

 British publication, of "the orange grafted upon the 

 pomegranate at Malta, giving fruit which was red 

 iiiside." This supposed fact was repeated to me 

 ten years since by a commercial friend who had 

 resided at Malta !br some Ume, and I stated it to 

 Mr. Loudon, oI'London, editor and author of many 

 useful publications on agriculture and horticulture, 

 who declared the circumstance impossible, by rea- 

 son of the two trees being of different genera. f 

 As I deemed it important to ascertain the truth 

 on the subject, I requested Mr. Winlhrop An- 

 drews, Consul ol' the United Slates at Malta, to 

 inquire into the subject, and I am pleased to slate 

 that he has been enabled to dispel all doubt on it, 

 by a communication dated July 12, 1838, from 

 Professor Teralii, of the University of Malta, and 

 author of some works on botany. This gentle- 

 man, after noticing the general prevalence of the 

 error in question, says "our blood or red-colored 

 orange is nothinit more than a specie.- ci' < cr •■om- 

 mon orange, as botanically called 'citrus auranti- 

 um,' derived from a tree accidentally planted in 

 earth abounding in oxyde of iron, which, in a part 

 of thei.?!and is not unconmion, and the same being 

 afterwards propagated by grafting, served to pre- 

 serve the variety of the species, while it has not 

 the power to change its nature." 



The general prevalance of the error may be 

 known from a fact mentioned to me by Mr. An- 



* Nofe by H. P. — As good if no* batter facilities for 

 makino; salt exist at numerous Keys, the whole dis- 

 tance from Cipe Florida to the Tortufjtis. In this bu- 

 siness, with few laborers, capitalists coidd profitably 

 invest from ten to twenty millions of dollars ; for so 

 long as the evaporation of sea water can be carried on 

 at all in the United States north of 28° of latitude, 

 it must yield at least 100 per cent, more in the latitudes 

 of the Florida Reef; and hence the cultivation of these 

 Keys will receive an additional stimulus. It is only 

 with reference to its indirect promotion of agriculture 

 that I should be pleased to see salt manufactories estab- 

 lished along the whole course of the Florida Reef. 



1 1 was aware of the objection which, for the reason 

 stated above, might be made against the alledged f;ict, 

 and quoted two analogous facts fiom the correspon- 

 dence of Linnnpiis, published by Sir Tames Edward 

 ■ Smvth. 



drevve, "that in three publications which recently 

 came under his observation, two in Italian and 

 on.'^. in Englishj the authors have entertained the 

 same opinion on the subject in question, the or- 

 igin of which is now satisfactorily explained. 



The weight which I wished to attach to the 

 supposed botanical anomaly (in argument 10) 

 must now be given up, but I thitdv enough more 

 are adduced ol" undoubted authority to prove the 

 influence of the stock on the graft, and its fruit. 



It was Brydone of England, in his very plea- 

 sant book of "Travels thruugh Sicily and Malta," 

 published so long since as the year 1771, that first 

 gave currency to the vulgar belief of the Maltese 

 of the red flesh ol' the orange being the result of 

 that tree being ingrafied on the pomegranate slock; 

 but It is very probable that, with the majority ol' 

 mankind, who cannot see the refutation of the er- 

 ror, it will maintain its ground, like the prevalent 

 one in the United States, respecting the flovvering 

 of the American aloes only once in an hundred 

 years. James Mease. 



May 2.5, 1839. 



an economical BOILER. 



To till' Editor of tlie f'"armeis' Register. 



Si. Stephens Hill, Fauquier, 

 May, 1839. 



In the 12th number of the Gth volume of your 

 valuable Register, there is an account of ''cooking 

 grain lor stock," taken from the 'Farmers' Cabi- 

 net.' To persons of any reflection or experience, 

 the value of cooking grain for (i\ttening cattle and 

 hogs, feeding milch cows and liu'm cattle and stock, 

 must be evident. The apparent trouble, delays 

 and expense, of employing machinery generally, 

 deters the unthinking from trying the methods pur- 

 sued in those countries where the value of time, 

 labor, and fuel is best, and I may sa_v, in com- 

 parison with the southern states, only known. 



Tlie amount of white and slave labor which 

 was transferred from this state from the year 1833 

 to '38 inclusive, was immense; and lor the same 

 space there was a great decline in the products of 

 agriculture, and the income of the farmers. We 

 made, compared with former times, no crops /or 

 market during that period ; yet, the value of labor 

 has risen from 75 to 100 per cent. This is to be 

 accounted for in tiiC diminished number of laborers. 

 Such being the fact, there is, then, not only a mo- 

 tive, the result of new notions of rtonomy arising 

 from the gener.d condition of the countiy, but a 

 necessity for adopting such plans, in our agricultu- 

 ral and household management, as will save time, 

 labor, fuel and food. Superadded to these and 

 other causes of the immedia'e decline of the pro- 

 fits and great interests connected with the cultiva- 

 tion of the earth, are the multiplied demands upon 

 our incomes for the support of the ever-varying 

 fashions of the da\^, and tlie high prices of all arti- 

 cles, whether ol necessity, comfort, taste or luxury. 



Thus circumstanced, v.'hal does prudence sug- 

 gest to the farmers of V^iiginia? There can be but 

 one reply. We must adopt a system fjf improved 

 economy, in the use of time, labor and capital. 

 The cooking of grain for stock constitutes an im- 

 portant item in this system. The preparation of 

 food by cooking is a matter of greater consequence 



