1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



499 



and the most luxuriant growth that I ever beheld. 

 They were killed by the fi-ost in the fall, before 

 malurity. The potatoes were small. 



"In coiiclusio.'i, I would menliot), that I am so 

 well pleased with the result of these experimenls 

 on a email scale, that 1 am now preparing one 

 hundred and fify cords of peat, and fifty casks of 

 Camden lime, and all the animal manure I can 

 make, to enrich as fiist as possible ni}- whole farm. 

 ^^Expansc, I get out my peat by ox-team and 

 cart. 'I'hree n)cn can, in this way, get out eight 

 cords per day, 84.00; f)rice of l;me, 81.50 per 

 cask. My peal being three and a hall' miles lioin 

 my barn, that porlicn ofit which I l»ring home, ( 

 estimate to cost me, lor carting; one dollar per 

 cord. The peat and the lime lor the compost — 

 using one third of a cask of lime to a cord of peat 

 — then, cost me, on the irrourid near the peat bog 

 — three cords of peat, B 1-50 — one cask of" lime, 

 81.50; that which I cart home, 81-00 per cord 

 moie. 



"1 intend to put about one-sixth part of animal 

 manure, but as ii cannot be [)'irchased in any ad- 

 equate quantity, it is more diflicult to fix a price. 

 The nearest place where livery stable manure is 

 sold, is lour miles ; price there, per cord, 83.00 — 

 cost of carting, 81-50, 



Five cords of peat, delivered, - 87.-50 

 Two and one third cask of lime delivered, 3.50 

 One cord livery stable manure, " 4.50 



815.50— 



divided by six — the number of cords, not estima- 

 ting the increase of quantity from the bulk of the 

 lime — gives the cost, two dollars and fitty-eighl 

 cents, delivered — or one dollar and (iliy-eight cents 

 per cord, at the peat boir. 



(Signed) Samtel Keep. 



'^jDear Sir : — Herewith are the facts, collected 

 with care, at my request, by my fit her, Samuel 

 Keep, of Lonirmeadow. My own opinion is, 

 that a new era has begun in agriculture. The 

 quantity of one-third of a cask of lime to a cord, 

 was selected in the absence of chemical experi- 

 ments, to determine how much was absolutely 

 needed to neutralize the ulmic acid, because he 

 prefers to put on ten to twelve cords to the acre 

 — and twelve cords would lake four casks of lime 

 to the acre. If lime was as cheap a« in Maine, he 

 would probably have put in more. Notwithstand- 

 ing the expense appears to be great, m_y liither 

 feels confident that he gets a better article in com- 

 post at 82-58, than the livery stables furnislies at 

 83.00, with the additional cost to him of 81-50 

 for carting, making 84.50. 



N. C. Keep." 



fourths the size of those of the multicaulis. This 

 mulberry I procured iiom Mr. J. Mason, Jr. of 

 George Town, D. C. and by a letter recently re- 

 ceived iTom him, I am informed that he has some 

 of this variety from roots, 8 leet high, and from 

 cuttings but little inlerior. 1 presume they were 

 planted on very rich soil; but its chief value in my 

 view, consists not merely in its large leaves, but 

 in its adaptation to poor soils. Any mulberry 

 which does not possess the latter quality will not 

 •suit a large portion of Maryland and Virginia, 

 My object in writing is to circulate correct infor- 

 mation, and whenever I find that I have promul- 

 gated an error, 1 hupe I shall always possess the 

 Irankness to acknowledge it. 



Layton Y. Atkins. 

 Stafford, j^ugust, 1839. 



We had received previously from another highly 

 respectable source a commendatory article on the 

 Canton mulberry, which we had declined insert- 

 ing, because, first, one each, to the same general 

 purport, had before been published, and secondly, 

 lest the piece might have been supposed to be a 

 salesman's advertisement in disguise — which we 

 woyjd be unwilling should be charged against any 

 article in this journal. A place lor the foregoing 

 piece is claimed, and of course conceded, on the 

 ground of justice, and for the correction of previous 

 error of the writer. — Ed. F. R. 



THE CANTOIV r.IULBERRY, 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



In my estimate of the comparative value of se- 

 veral varieties of the mulberry, which recently ap- 

 peared in the Farmers' Register, the Canton occu- 

 pies the third place. As its growth advances, 

 however, it appears to be more valuable, and I 

 am constrained to place it next to the morus mul- 

 ticaulis. It grows very rapidly, is easily propa- 

 gated from cuttings, and its leaves are about three- 



SOILS ENTIRELY OP LIME. 



To tlic Editor of tlie Farmars' Register. 



A valuable communication on the subject of 

 lime, one of the most interes'ing to the agricultu- 

 ral comnmnity in your Register for June, has in- 

 duced me to give you two facts relating to that 

 species of manure, stimulant, or whatever it may 

 be termed. The first five or six lines of the above 

 communication induced me to believe it would be 

 a proper moment to give them to your readers. 

 Along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, the bay of 

 Mobile, and reaching up into the mouths of the ri- 

 vers emptying into each, there are formed extensive 

 marshes, and islands entirely so. On those marshes 

 we frequently find, what are termed shell banks. 

 Those banks are at distant periods covered with 

 water, and a deposite of black earth is found more 

 or less amongst the shell which is uniformly more 

 or less mouldered. Some of those banks are not 

 covered lor many years, and in this case indicate 

 but little earthy matter amongst the shell. Oppo- 

 site the town of Mobile one of those banks is 

 found considerably elevated ; no person now living 

 knows when it was covered with water. Con- 

 taining about one and a half acre, it rises like an 

 old remains of a mound. It has been cultivated 

 lor many years ; when not cultivated, throws up 

 a singularly rank grass ; no spot of soil on the 

 Mississippi or in Ohio, Kentucky, &c., can exceed 

 it in producing annua? vegetation of any and every 

 plant — beets, cabbage, corn, or sugar cane. Now 

 all persons who have examined it are perfectly sa- 

 tisfied that there cannot exceed one-tenth of earth, 

 or deposite amongst ike lime or shell; the last, when 



