1SS5.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



253 



broomstraw to hold the soil together, and there is 

 a perpetual dividing and crumbling of particles of 

 earth, and a vast quantity of this "real estate" is 

 really hastening off to the sea. Such a "removal 

 of the deposites 7 ' is producing waste and want in 

 the land. It is for the want of nature's covering, 

 that galls become gulleys — cultivation never made 



fulleys. Bad cultivation, to be sure, will assist; 

 ut good cultivation will not prevent the bad ef- 

 fects of freezing. Nature clearly shows that the 

 mode of defence against this destructive agent, 

 cold, is the covering of the surface. The next 

 after the growth of sedge, is the old-field pine. 

 Here nature aims at something more than a nega- 

 tive good: soil improves somewhat under this thick 

 warm evergreen shelter, so secure against the ac- 

 tion of frost. Nature surely abhors nakedness as 

 much as she abhors a vacuum! 



With some practical inferences, I shall con- 

 clude. 



In the first place, I infer that the best mode of 

 shielding the soil against the action of" winter, is 

 the great desideratum. Throwing your coarse ma- 

 nure over the surface, would contribute to this end. 

 So would brush and other offal of your new- 

 grounds. It also points out the great advantage 

 of raising those grasses which would not only 

 protect the soil against heat, but cold also. 



Secondly. Galls and gulleys must be healed by 

 covering them effectually against the action of 

 frost, and diverting the rain waters from them by 

 protectors. Never suffer any place naked of soil 

 to be naked of clothing or covering. For cold in 

 winter, is like old Harry Lee was in war: it makes 

 for the weak points. It will be nibbling at such 

 places through the whole winter, and they will be 

 increased every year. What with the growing 

 of Yankee collections and winter freezing, I think 

 Old Virginia is dying not a very lingering death. 



Thirdly. I infer that it is best to plough land 

 in the spring; that plant beds should be covered 

 during winter, and also garden spots; as keeping 

 out the cold quickens the vegetating principle, and 

 gives a forward growth to plants. 



Fourthly. I infer that there is no necessity for 

 the four-shift system, the grand promoter of emi- 

 gration, sending off more than would an annual 

 insurrection. If our fields were kept well covered 

 with vegetation, and coarse litter, there would be 

 no need of so much rest. The monopoly of land- 

 ed property now increasing, and shoving out many 

 of the laboring people to the west, is a serious 

 matter to Virginia, and it arises in some measure 

 from the idea, that it. takes a longer lime to make 

 land rich, and it must be done by rest principally. 

 If this notion remains with us long, the bone and 

 sinew of the state will be driven off, and who will 

 be left behind? A few of the genteel with their 

 many shifts and many diggers' will have more high 

 blood than high pluck, more bowels than brains; 

 and will in less than a half century, (if they breed 

 at all,) by marrying (but not loving) their rich 

 cousins, fill the land with halt, withered and blind, 

 which would take another pool of Siloam with an 

 ana;el to trouble it, to make them whole again. 



The view I have taken, suggests the necessity 

 of covering the soil around the roots of grape 

 vines, valuable shrubs, and fruit trees. Does not j 

 the close observer of nature see how she covers I 

 the roots of trees with leaves, full time enough to 

 guard against winter? j. r, | 



^ From the Penny Magazine. 



OS THE HATCHING OF POULTRY. 



In the hatchingof poultry, asin most otherthings, 

 nature is the best guide. The hen and duck, if left 

 to themselves, find some dry, warm, sandy hedge 

 or bank, in which to deposite their eggs, forming 

 their nests of leaves, moss, or dry grass. In this 

 way the warmth is retained when the bird quits 

 the nestfor the momentsshe devotes to her scanty 

 and hurried meal. The good housewife's mode is 

 the reverse of this. She makes a nest, or box, of 

 stone, brick, or wood, and fills it with clean lonf 

 straw. By this means, less heat is generated by 

 the hen, and that which is produced quickly es- 

 capes in her occasional absences; — the eggs arc 

 chilled and addled, and frequent failures ensue in 

 the expected brood. To obviate this, the best mode 

 is to put at the bottom and sides of the boxes of 

 the henhouse, a sufficient quantity of fine, dry 

 sand, or of coal or wood ashes, lining them with 

 a little well-broken dry grass, or untwisted hay- 

 bands, or moss, or bruised straw. Wood-ashes 

 have been found to be the best, as they produce 

 the effect of destroying the fleas by which poultry 

 are so much infested; and that this will not be dis- 

 agreeable to them is evident from the propensity 

 which they have to roll in heaps of dust, or of 

 ashes of any kind. An experienced rearer of poul- 

 try adopted the method above described during a 

 long course of years and scarcely ever met with a 

 disappointment. 



From the Franklin Mercury. 

 A PROFITABLE CROP OF MULBERRY PLANTS. 



A Northampton gentleman planted last year a 

 half-paper (costing twenty-five cents) of the Mo- 

 ms Multicaulis, or Chinese Mulberry. The seed 

 occupied a lew feet square of his garden, and the 

 plants came up to the number of about two hun- 

 dred and forty. For these plants he has repeated- 

 ly this season been offered twenty-five cents each. 

 The principal reason of this, however, is that the 

 seed originally procured of this species of mulber- 

 ry has all been consumed, and there is not much 

 probability that any more good seed can be pro- 

 cured from the same quarter; and some years, of 

 course, must be elapsed before it can be procured 

 from the native trees. Other parcels of this seed 

 have been obtained from China 6ince the first was 

 imported, but none of them have produced any- 

 thing, having without doubt under the influence of 

 the proverbial jealousy of the Chinese been sub- 

 jected to some process, which, without affecting 

 the appearance, destroyed the fructifying princi- 

 ple. 



[The foregoing is a striking illustration of how 

 many losses and disappointments will be sustained, 

 before it is generally known that no reliance can be 

 placed on the seeds of the Chinese mulberry for pro- 

 ducing the same kind of plants. The several trans- 

 lated articles on this subject, which have been given 

 in this journal, if regarded, would serve as very im- 

 portant instructions to those who seek to propagate 

 this tree. If indeed it is true, (as alleged above) that 

 the Chinese have destroyed the germinating power of 

 the seeds before selling them, by the intended fraud 

 they have rendered a service: as it is better to be dia- 



