1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



09* 



for which the climate of Tennessee is nol so well 

 calculated as our more southprn states.* 



Part of our soil is an old alluvion deposite; it has 

 been brought on by ihe fame causes which have 

 covered soui3 places with pebbles. This diluvial 

 origin, nevertheless, is only attributable to a feu- 

 spots of our .--oil. If we examine the coarse par; 

 of it, we find it composed of fragments and more 

 or less water-worn pebbles of limestone and chei", 

 or hornstone perfectly similar to the. limestone and 

 the minerals which are embedded in it, which per 

 vade these counties, and this fact may be observed 

 at the lowest depth. 1 have found this to be the 

 case in the excavations made. Ibr brick clay in the 

 vicinity of Nashville, Franklin and Columbia. I 

 have never found a pebble which could be sup- 

 posed to come from a distance; sometimes the sili- 

 cious petref ictions charactei ising our limes'nne are 

 found amongst the water-worn pebbles. But wa- 

 ter-worn pebbles are of rare occurrence in our soil; 

 in some places the bones of the mastodon and ele- 

 phant, are found in it. But, although these re- 

 mains tire found in it, it does not therefore follow 

 that they have been carried from a distance. The 

 bones found on ihe premises of Mr. Thima3 Holt, 

 near Liberty meeting-house, were contained in a 

 small circuit; they belonged at least to two indi- 

 viduals, a very old and a very y^ung one.f The 

 animals, judging from the manner in which Un- 

 bones are now found, must have died on the spot; 

 if these hones were hrought there by a delude, we 

 would find them scattered and remote the one from 

 the other, at least we. would not find ihe bones of 

 two individuals in one spot; it is probable that 

 these animals have perished bolh by the same ac- 

 cident, and undergone, decomposiiion on the spot 

 where they are now found. So that there seems 

 no doubt that the soils of these two counties are the 

 result of disintegration of the strata which once 

 pervaded them. 



From the Southern Agriculturist. 



THE PRIDE OF INDIA [OR CHINA] AS A MA- 

 RT RE. 



Mr. Editor — With pleasure I comply with 

 your request to furnish you with the result of my 

 experiments on "Pride of" India as a Manure." 

 1 have tried it, as such, for three or four years 

 back — and can, with confile.nce, speak, as to is 

 great usefulness. My mode of collecting it is 

 somewhat slovenly. I suffer the leaves and ber- 



* As it si-ins that our inhabitants begin to turn their 

 attention to n.inuficturing pursuits, I would here sug- 

 gest, in lieu of cotton, to raise Rap2 seed, (Eraaica 

 oleracia arvemU, Linn) which produces an oil that can 

 be eaten, that is fit for the limp, ibr the manufacture of 

 soap, for the tanners, the fullers of cloth, and is an ob- 

 ject o" commerce in the Netherlands. The residue of 

 the grain, after the o.l is extracted, is used for fattinjr 

 cattle and hogs for their winter food, or it may be em- 

 ployed as manure, for which it is excellently calcula- 

 ted. Also, Palma christi or Castor oil bean, flax and 

 Hemp, would profitably replace the cotton: 



f In order to give an idea of the proportion that ex- 

 ists between the two Mastadons found on the farm of 

 Mr. Holt, I here subjoin the proportion^ siz 1 of the two 

 denial or second vertebra: it is as three-fourths to four- 

 fourths. 



ries of the tree to drop off in the fall, when they are 

 leathered, and put as a litter in my cow- pen. I find 

 hat cattle eat the leaves with great ap| elite. This 

 manure, when well lei I upon the land and listed 

 in, drives away all kinds of worms and insects. 

 I have tried it on a small piece of cotton land fur 

 four years, and while, at all limes my other 

 plants were, cut down and destroyed by insects, 

 I never knew one plant, growing upon the Pride 

 of India manure, to be touched. I consider the 

 tree, an invaluable one, and have accordingly 

 planted it all around my dwelling and negro 

 houses. I should, perhaps, have said, that in 

 callecting this manure, 1 mix the leaves and ber- 

 ries together. The latter contain a great deal of 

 rich oil, which may he discovered by mashing one 

 of them upon the floor. If this hasty letter can 

 in any way serve you, you can use it as you think 

 best. 



A SEA-ISLANDER. 



Mr. Editor — You ask me to say what has been 

 Ihe result of my experiment on the Pride of India 

 as a manure. I am no writer, anil must beg you 

 to excuse me if I express myself very imperfectly 

 in reference to this matter. I have never tried the 

 Pride of India upon any thing but corn, and some 

 plants in my vegetable garden. I shall tell you 

 how I have tried it with my corn, ami what was 

 my success. I always trim rnv trees, as your 

 correspondent of the January No. advises, and 

 then coilect the leaves arid berries from the limbs 

 thus lopped off. These. I put together into my 

 manure pen to rot — which they will pretty effec- 

 tually do before, spring. Wherever this manure 

 has been put, I have never had any frouble*.vith 

 grubs; my corn has never been cut down by 

 them, and I believe that you can get no insect 

 whatever to live wherever it can be smelt. As 

 an evidence of this, when I wish to get rid of bugs 

 in my bedsteads, I make a decoction of the roots 

 or leaves of this tree, and by saturating the same 

 with the mixture, I totally destroy or drive them 

 away. I have frequently had the cabbages in 

 my garden dreadfully eaten by worms — and by 

 throwing the leaves of this tree over them, ihey 

 have invariablv been totally destroyed. I have 

 never seen the, caterpillar on my plare; but 

 I hesitate, not in saying, that wherever they are 

 to be met with, the Pride of India leaves will de- 

 stroy them. The late Mr. Reynolds ofS*. John's, 

 Colleton, once told me, that one year his whole 

 plantation, on Wadmalaw, was infested with these 

 insects, with the exception of a small srof. This 

 spot was near where, several Pride of India trees 

 trrevv. and he never found the traces of an insect 

 near the cotton. If f lived on the island, and 

 planted cotton, I would, with this, manure as 

 much as possible. I consider it in richness, su- 

 rerior to any cotton-seed ever used. There is some 

 little trouble in using ihe seed for manure, inas- 

 much as it gives some inconvenience by its spring- 

 ing up with the cotton-seed; but this it does afier 

 the cotton has arrived at a pretty good height, and 

 it can be as easily cut down, as the sprouts from 

 cotton-seed manure. The corn which I manured 

 with it, produced me 28 bushels to the acre; be- 

 fore, the. same land had been yielding only 15 and 

 20 bushels, and this too, with the ordinary cow- 

 pen manure. jr. 

 JBarnwell District, (S. C.) 



