1335.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



107 



that the plant in question is one which we have long 

 known as a very troublesome weed in wet meadows 

 kept for mowing. The only doubt as to the identity 

 of the two, arises from our never having known the 

 weed on dry land. It grew well on a piece of marshy 

 meadow subject to be covered (though rarely,) by 

 high tides, and so saturated with spring as well as tide- 

 water as to be unfit for any thing but meadow. The 

 abundance of the plants, the fruitless trouble of grub- 

 bing which they caused, and the remarkable beauty of 

 the silky wings of the seeds, all served to attract much 

 attention at the time — though, as some years have 

 since passed, our recollection may not be perfectly 

 accurate. But what we then deemed the most impor- 

 tant quality of the plant, is not noticed in the descrip- 

 tion above. The bark of the stalk is like that of 

 hemp and flax, and was thought to be superior to 

 either; and even when stripped after exposure through 

 all the winter, possessed so much strength, that we 

 formed the opinion that the plant would be valuable to 

 be cultivated for this product. But its supposed unfit- 

 ness for dry soils, and the trouble of tillage on wet 

 ones, prevented any action on that opinion. Some of 

 our correspondents who are better informed will oblige 

 us by stating whether this plant is the Asclepias Syri- 

 aca, and whether the strength, and fineness of the fibres 

 of its bark, and their fitness for being made into cloth, 

 have ever attracted notice. 



Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants states that plants 

 of the genus Asclepias "thrive best in peat or any very 

 light soil." If peat in its natural wet state is meant, 

 it adds support to our opinion of the most suitable soil 

 for this plant. The third species named above, A. 

 Pulchra, water silk-weed, may be the kind we knew.] 



From the Franklin Mercury. 

 PALM LEAF HATS. 



The braiding of these hats is an important and 

 increasing business, which has sprung up within 

 ten years past, and which is doubly valuable in 

 consideration of its moral influence, inasmuch as 

 it otters a remunerating doftiestic employment for 

 thousands of our industrious country women. Few 

 are aware of the extent to which the manufacture 

 is carried on in the country towns. In Ashby in 

 Middlesex county, according to the Yeoman's 

 Gazette, 50,000 hats are braided annually, for 

 which the braiders (more than half of whom are 

 girls and small boys) receive between six and 

 seven thousand dollars. This is not a high com- 

 pensation ibr the amount of labor bestowed; but 

 the advantage is that this labor may be bestowed 

 at odd times, and by those who might otherwise 

 remain unemployed. In Petersham and Barre, in 

 Worcester county, great numbers have been 

 made. We have been told that a single commis- 

 sion house in New York, sold hats made in that 

 county in one year, to the amount of ninety 

 thousand dollars. The southern market was for 

 a great while the principal outlet; the sales have 

 fluctuated considerably, and the prices have been 

 gradually coming down. Recently, large quanti- 

 ties were shipped to France and sold readily and 

 with profit, at one quarter of the rate at which the 

 English had been in the habit of selling an article 



not as handsome, though rather more substantial. 

 The French government have somewhat checked 

 the trade, by imposing a duty of one franc (about 

 twenty cents) on the finer kinds of these hats; 

 the consequence is, that the common ones are 

 now principally sought for export. 



In this county the business has been prosecuted 

 to some extent. A dealer in this town, who com- 

 menced a few weeks since, has already a hundred 

 and fifty braiders employed. In Shelbume and in 

 other towns we believe that a considerable number 

 are made. 



From the Tennessee Farmer. 

 CURING CLOVER HAY. 



As the season for curing clover hay in many 

 parts of the country will probably have arrived, 

 before our number for May can reach many of 

 our subscribers, we have thought it desirable to 

 insert in this number some directions respecting 

 the mode of curing it. We give the course to 

 which we have been accustomed, and add an ar- 

 ticle from the Albany Cultivator on the subject, 

 which we particularly recommend to the atten- 

 tion of our readers, and we earnestly begthemtotest 

 the mode therein recommended, by actual experi- 

 ment, and to apprise us of the result. If that 

 mode will succeed with us, to the extent described 

 in the article, it is, we have no doubt, greatly to be 

 preferred to the one, which we describe — and that 

 we know- to be incomparably superior to the old 

 mode, still practiced by some. 



Clover hay should never be scattered out of 

 the swath, because, in addition to the labor lost 

 in scattering and again raking up, the hay is there- 

 by greatly injured. Indeed, if the weather be 

 favorable for curing, neither timothy nor any other 

 kind of hay should be scattered, because, the less 

 any grass is exposed to the sun and air in the pro- 

 cess of curing, the greater will be the value of the 

 hay, and the less the labor required. 



Let the clover lie in the swath untouched, un- 

 til about two-thirds of the upper part be sufficient- 

 ly cured, which, in good weather, will, if the swath 

 be tolerably heavy, be effected in eight or ten 

 hour,s; if the swath be light, in a proportionably 

 shorter time: when thus cured, turn the swath bot- 

 tom upwards with the fork, an operation speedily 

 performed. Let it then lie exposed to the sun un- 

 til the under side be cured, which will be, accord- 

 ing to the thickness of the swath, in from four to 

 six hours, then throw three swaths together in 

 windrows, and commence hauling in, the wagon 

 running between two windrows and loading from 

 each, "it can hardly be necessary to observe, lhat 

 all these operations must be performed after the 

 dew has dried off. It is to be recollected, that clo- 

 ver will keep with less drying than almost any 

 other grass. A common test is, to take up a bunch 

 of the hay and twist it, if no juice exudes, the 

 hay may be hauled in with safety — we have often 

 hauled in clover cut in the morning, in the evening, 

 and always the succeeding day, unless prevented 

 by bad weather — sprinkling every layer of hay 

 with salt, at the rate of 12 or 15 lbs. to the ton, or 

 interposing a layer of dry straw, from 6 to 12 

 inches thick, between every two layers of clover 

 of the same thickness, will be found a great pre- 

 servative; and especially the latter mode will ena- 

 ble the farmer to put up the hay in a far greener 



