836 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 6- 



it elsewhere, thus describes the approach to the 

 river Moorghab, or Merve, and the effects of irri- 

 gation. "By the time the sun had set, we found 

 ourselves among the ruins of forts and villages, 

 now deserted, which rose in castellated groups 

 over an extensive plain. I have observed that we 

 were gradually emerging from the sand-hills, and 

 these marks of human industry which we had 

 now approached, were the ancient remnants of 

 civilization of the famous kingdom of Merve, or 

 Meroo. Before we had approached them, we 

 had not wanted signs of our being delivered from 

 the ocean of sand, since several flocks of birds had 

 passed over us. As the mariner is assured by 

 such indications that he nears land; we had the 

 satisfaction of knowing that Ave were approaching 

 water, after a journey of 150 miles [from the last 

 habitable spot] through a steril waste, where we 

 had suffered considerable inconvenience from want 



of it." "This river was formerly dammed 



above Merve, which turned the principal part of 

 its waters to that neighborhood, and raised that 

 city to the state of richness and opulence it once 

 enjoyed. The dam was thrown down about. 45 

 years ago by Shah Moorad, a king of Bokhara, 

 and the river now only irrigates the country in its 

 immediate vicinity. The inhabitants cultivate by 

 irrigation, and every thing grows in rich luxu- 

 riance" and where the waters have been 



withdrawn, as stated above, the country is again 

 a desert, and the former habitations tcnantless 

 ruins. Another inhabited and cultivated spot in 

 the desert, is afterwards thus mentioned. "The 

 country around Shurukhs is well watered with 

 aqueducts from the rivulet of Tejend, which is a 

 little brackish, but its waters are usefully employ- 

 ed in fertilizing the fields. The soil is exceeding- 

 ly rich, and possesses great aptness of agriculture; 

 the seed is scattered and vegetates almost without 

 labor. The harvest is rich." "The inhabit- 

 ants repeat a tradition that the first of men tilled 

 in Shurukhs, which was his garden, while Sercn- 

 dib or Ceylon was his house! There is not a tree 

 or a bush to enliven the landscape." 



But these speculations however plausible, would 

 require many additional facts and proofs, to place 

 them on as sure ground, as I flatter myself the 

 earlier part of this essay has done for the cause of 

 the formation of prairies. However interesting it 

 may be to the inquiring mind to extend views so 

 far upon unexplored ground, prudence admon- 

 ishes that in that way I have already exceeded 

 the proper limits of argument sustained by known 

 and undoubted facts. 



From the Gcnescc Fanner. 

 DURABILITY OF POSTS. 



We have several times called the attention of 

 our readers to certain facts proving the much 

 greater durability of timber, and particularly oJ 

 such kinds as are exposed to damp— when the 

 trees are cut after the leaves are fully expanded, 

 and before the sap rises in the spring. It has been 

 made a question however, whether posts are more 

 durable when planted green, or after they are 

 seasoned? We believe a very common opinion is, 

 that they arc more durable when well seasoned; 

 but a correspondent in the Farmers 1 Register 



says, "my garden enclosure was erected of posts 

 while green. Several pieces remained exposed 

 until they were completely seasoned. Out of 

 these a horse-rack was constructed which was en- 

 tirely rotted down, while every post in the garden 

 remains firm." 



We suppose these "pieces" were used for posts 

 to support a horse-rack in the open ground, and 

 unprotected from the weather. We have no re- 

 collection of having ever witnessed any thing sim- 

 ilar; and we should be glad if our correspondents 

 can throw any light on the subject — remembering 

 however, that a regular detail of facts, is the most 

 satisfactory. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 HYBRID SQUASHES. 



It has been made a question whether the ef- 

 fects of hybridism are perceptible in the fruit 

 which encloses those seeds that produce hybrids? 

 That is whether a melon which has undergone 

 cross-fertilization from an inferior variety, will 

 when it ripens, be of inferior flavor, in conse- 

 quence of such process? According to the prin- 

 ciples of vegetable physiology no such deteriora- 

 tion can happen. The inference for practical 

 gardeners therefore is, that they may plant all the 

 different varieties of melons, cucumbers, squashes, 

 and pumpkins in the same quarter without any 

 apprehension that the fruit of that season will be 

 injured in the least; and if no seeds are to be saved 

 lor planting, then no damage whatever will ac- 

 crue. In other words, the first appearance of in- 

 termixture would be in the fruit which is derived 

 from such seeds. 



We give the following statement in proof of 

 this doctrine — promising that the two kinds of 

 summer squashes which we cultivate, are, 1. The 

 bush or pattypan squash (cucurbitamelopepo) and 

 2. The long running squash (cucurbita subver- 

 rucosa.~) The principal points in the character of 

 ihe first species, to which we invite the reader's 

 attention, are, the stem or vine, which, according 

 to Loudon, is only three feet long; and the fruit, 

 which is "depressed, umbonate, and tumid at the 

 edge." From this the second species diners by a 

 vine twelve feet in length, with "fruit clavate 

 [club-shaped,] elliptical and somewhat warted." 



Last spring we were very particular to take the 

 seeds of these two kinds from the squashes, 

 (which were fine specimens,) and plant them 

 with our own hands. The following anomalies 

 have occurred: from a seed of the bush squash, 

 we have a vine five feet in length which nourishes 

 a round yellow field pumpkin, now nearly ripe. 

 From several seeds of the running squash, we 

 have short stems not exceeding three feet in 

 leng'h, bearing long squashes, in the same crowd- 

 ed manner as the bush squash bears its fruit. 

 From one of the latter sort of seeds however, we 

 have a vine six feet in length, which produces 

 fruit intermediate between the long squash and 

 the pumpkin, having a thick straight neck, but in 

 other respects resembling the outline of the win- 

 ter squash. All of them are unquestionably by-, 

 brids. 



