392 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 7. 



sides, another sixth, and of their best ground, in 

 crops of commerce, which consume a great part 

 of their manure, and which are exported almost 

 entirely. This prodigious result is, without doubt, 

 owing in part to a greater extent of good soil than 

 is found elsewhere; but it is principally owing 

 there, as well as in England, to the regular use ol 

 calcareous manures. As we have seen, more than 

 two-thirds of this country [the North] belongs to 

 the class of soils not calcareous, to the argilo-sili- 

 cious plateaux, and makes use of lime, marl, or 

 ashes of all kinds. 



47. After this great result of increased produc- 

 tiveness, that upon health, all hough applied to 

 the least extents of surface, would be most pre- 

 cious. Upon one-sixth of our country the popu- 

 lation is sickly, subject to intermittent and often 

 iitlal levers, and the deaths exceed in number the 

 births. Well! upon this soil without marshes, 

 calcareous manures would bring a growing popu- 

 lation, more numerous than that of our now 

 healthy parts of Ihe country — and as labor would 

 offer itself from every side, these regions, made 

 healthy, would soon be those, where the people 

 would be most happy, the richest, and the most 

 rapidly increasing in numbers. 



48. If we are not under an illusion, the calca- 

 reous principle and its properties upon the soil, 

 form the great compensation accorded by the Su- 

 preme Author to man, in condemning him to till 

 the earth. Three-fourths of our soil seem not to 

 produce, except by force of pain and labor, the 

 vegetables absolutely necessary for man. On all 

 sides, and often beneath this surface so little, fa- 

 vored, is found placed the substance necessary to 

 the soil, to render it as fertile as the best, ground, 

 to enable the cultivator to use. for his profit, the ve- 

 getable mould which it contains and has been ac- 

 cumulating for ages — and to cause the entire soil 

 to be covered by a population active, moral, and 

 well employed. And this precious condiment, this 

 active principle of vegetation, is only needed to 

 be applied in small proportions, to obtain products 

 of which the first harvest often compensates for 

 all the labor and expense. And to complete the 

 benefit, insalubrity, winch afflicts the infertile soil, 

 disappears; the new population finds there at. the 

 same time, strength, riches, and health. There, 

 without, doubt, is one of the most happy harmo- 

 nies of the creation, one of the greatest blessings 

 with which the Supreme Author has endowed the 

 laborious man who is devoted to the cultivation of 

 the earth. 



INQUIRIES RESPECTING SUMACH. 



To ihe Editor of the Formers' Register. 



Baltimore, Sept. 12, 1835. 



Some yea"s since the attention of the agricultu- 

 ral public was invited, in the American Farmer, 

 to the practicability of turning to valuable account, 

 the sumach, which grows spontaneously, and in 

 great abundance, in the middle, states. What a 

 lovely ornament to our lawns, if planted and cul- 

 tivated to its attainable size. Its cool delicate 

 green leaf, and the lively contrast of its red berry! 

 If it were only brought from the East Indies at 

 the cost of some guineas a plant! I do not know 

 to what extent that reference to the subject attract- 

 ed the notice of the people of Maryland, where 



the plant is to be seen on every road side; but 

 passing lately through that, picturesque and de- 

 lightful region of your slate from Warrenton to 

 Charlottesville, I observed quantities of the plant 

 in a course of preparation for market, and the dri- 

 ver of the stage assured me that many poor peo- 

 ple made three or four dollars a day by gathering 

 and curing it.* I could not learn from him pre- 

 cisely what parts of the plant, whether leaves on- 

 ly, or leaves and stems, were gathered, nor how 

 long it. takes to cure them, nor how they were pint 

 up for, and sold in market, so I determined to ask 

 you to look into the subject, if you should deem it 

 of sufficient importance, and to give some practi- 

 cal hints for those who would avail themselves of 

 an article which requires no labor of cultivation, 

 and which by those who may deem it of insignifi- 

 cant value, will not be denied to the hands of 

 those whose circumstances may lead them to ga- 

 ther it for sale. 



In the south, where slave labor is employed, 

 and farms so extensive, the proprietor relies only 

 on a few great staples, whereas, in New England, 

 and among the Dutch, "every little makes a 

 mickle;" so that the. northern husbandman, act- 

 ing on the principle that "take care of the pence, 

 the pounds will take care of themselves," would 

 ask nothing easier than to rear a family and grow 

 rich on the waste lands, and head lands, and the 

 offal of a Virginia estate. Tell us about the su- 

 mach. 



j. s. s. 



[The sumach is used in the process of preparing 

 morocco leather. Our correspondent will find some 

 account of it at page 152, Vol. I. of th : Farmers' Re- 

 gister. We suspect that he heard a greatly exagger- 

 a ;d report of the profits of the gatherers.] 



From ihe Farmer and Gardener. 

 SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



Mr. Editor — In your valuable "Farmer" for 

 June 2d, I notice a few remarks on "wintering 

 sheep." The importance of this animal as re- 

 gards flesh, and fleece to our comforts, is prover- 



*In travelling, (through a new district especially,) 

 I make it a point if I can, to get by the side of the 

 driver; and much it is to be desired that our stage 

 coaches were better fitted, as in England, for that in- 

 dulgence. You have a better view of the country, and 

 few men are to be found in any station so ignorant but 

 that you may entract information or entertainment: 

 and moreover I always find that by studying anil in- 

 dulging the humor of the driver, you may always get 

 a mile an hour more out of him. Am I under the 

 blade of the village chronicle, with my life in hands, I 

 always make Mm talk, and learn more of the place and 

 its characters, than a fine gentleman would tell you in 

 a week. But compliment on the importance of his 

 vocation — how necessary to the comeliness of the dan- 

 dy, and to the comfort even of the most slovenly of 

 mankind — praise the light, skilful, and renowned 

 handling of his razor, and with "a marvellous control 

 over facts," he will amuse you with all he knows, and 

 a little more. The most important facts in natural his- 

 tory have been gathered from the unlettered plough- 

 man and the roving hunter. There are in fact lew 

 men or books, from which something may not be 

 learned by those who have the philosophy to feel, and 

 the wisdom to acknowledge, that in the midst of light 

 we are yet in darkness. s. 



