NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



401 



NECESSITY FOR PURE AIR. 



Dr. Sjuthvvood Smith says, "that when we in- 

 spire air, it goes to the lungs loaded with oxygen ; 

 but when we expire it, it returns loaded with car- 

 bonic acid." Carbonic acid being heavier than 

 common air, does not pass off readily, but settles at 

 the bottom of our rooms, churches, &c, where we 

 are quite likely to breathe it over again unless there 

 is opportunity for a free current of air through the 

 apartment. Carbonic acid, this breath that we 

 expire, and which also comes from other sources, 

 is the gas that settles in the bottom of wells, 

 vaults and cellars, and sometimes destroys life 

 when persons descend into them. A case has 

 just occurred where three men were suffocated in 

 this gas in attempting to clean out a well. As 

 flame is not supported in this gas, nothing is easi- 

 er than to ascertain whether the well is foul, by 

 lowering a lighted candle or a lamp to the bottom. 

 If it continues to burn freely, there will be no 

 risk from foul air in descending, but if it burns 

 languidly or is extinguished, it will be unsafe to go 

 down. In the latter case, drop quick lime into the 

 well and pour over it water from the watering pot. 

 On lowering the candle again, after a few min- 

 utes have elapsed, it will be found that it will 

 burn, and the danger of descending obviated. 



The collection of this acid, then, is by the unvary- 

 ing law of gravitation, — and we must ever have it 

 with us in confined situations. How important it 

 becomes to have all our apartments well ventilated, 

 and to drink in at each inspiration the life-giving 

 air, with all its parts justly attempered by the 

 great chemist who rules it at his will ! 



again. They were three or four days earlier than 

 the Junes, and the pods were a little larger, but 

 not quite so numerous, according to the best judg- 

 ment I could form. I did not test the comparative 

 yield of the two kinds, but the whole product 

 of the 10 square rods was 17 bushels, which sold 

 readily at one dollar and a half a bushel. This 

 gives $408 for one acre, and clears the ground in 

 time for a second crop. Can our farmers, who 

 live near a market, do better than to plant a pea 

 patch 1 



Asparagus a Marine Plant. — I see a Lancaster 

 friend has started a new inquiry entirely. One 

 might suppose that the enormous quantity of salt 

 which this plant will appropriate, were pretty good 

 evidenceof its marine origin. But there is nothing 

 like facts to establish a -theory. If Mr. Siedhof 

 will give us a call, we will show him occular de- 

 monstration that it grows wild by the sea. Some 

 ten years ago, in crossing Shelter Island, in going 

 from Greenport to Sag Harbor, L. I., I remember 

 to have found this plant in the edge of a marsh. 

 A neighbor of mine affirms that it grew all about 

 the shores of Mason's Island, in the mouth of 

 Mystic River, and that he could pick enough of it 

 for a dinner in a half hour. Others affirm that it 

 grows wild near the marshy shore of Quanituc, 

 and that it may also bo found in similar situations 

 in Oxieoset, in this town. 



As to its location on the high lands in Germany, 

 it is perhaps to be accounted for in the same way 

 that we account for clam shells and other marine 

 deposits on similar hills and mountains. The up- 

 lifting of a clam bank by any force within the 

 earth, would be likely to take along the neighbor- 

 ing asparagus bed with it. W. Clift. 



Slonington, Ct., Aug. 4th, 1852. 



For the New England Farmer. 



EARLY KENT PEAS— ASPARAGUS. 



A writer in a former number of the Farmer 

 expresses the opinion that the Early Kent does not 

 require brush to run upon. It is elsewhere declared 

 in your journal that this is the best early pea gen- 

 erally cultivated in the vicinity of Bpston. I be- 

 lieve the seedsman of Messrs. Ruggles, Nourse, Ma- 

 son & Co. is responsible for that opinion. I planted 

 this season ten square rods of early peas, say six 

 rods to Early Junes and four to Early Kent. The 

 spot was a hill-side, sloping to the south-east, a 

 rich gravelly loam for surface soil, and yellow loam 

 for sub-soil. It was cropped the year before with 

 peas, celery, melons, squashes and turnips. The 

 latter were manured with superphosphate of lime 

 (bones dissolved in sulphuric acid.) The ground 

 was thoroughly spaded and manured in March, and 

 the last of the month the peas were sowed. They 

 were all brushed except a single row of the Early 

 Kents. The seed was procured of the above seeds- 

 man, and gave a growth of vines five or six feet ; 

 nearly as large as the early Junes. Whether so 

 stout vines require brushing hardly admits of a 

 question. The row that went without brush fell 

 flat, and as the under side was cut off from air 

 and sunshine in a good measure, the pods could 

 not mature as perfectly as if they had enjoyed these 

 favors. I shall not need to try the experiment 



Remarks. — The Encyclopaedia Americana says that 

 asparagus grows wild on the pebbly beach near 

 Weymouth, England, and in the island of Angle- 

 sea ; but its stem in these situations is not usually 

 thicker than a goose quill, and its whole height 

 does not exceed a few inches. A lady informs us 

 that she has seen it growing on the shores of Long 

 Island, and that it is gathered from localities in 

 that region, and sold in the New York market. 

 When Mr. Siedhof rambles with you along pleasant 

 places on the seashore, "may we be there to see," 

 and hear, also ! Our heart vibrates towards each, 

 and longs for a fuller and freer communion. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 APHIS AND ANTS. 



As the operations of these insects upon my trees 

 have caused me considerable trouble and anxiety, 

 the article in relation to them, in the Farmer, of 

 July 24th, was to me very interesting. should 

 like to know the opinions of the editor, and of 

 Prof. Harris on the Theory of "Iluber," alluded 

 to in the following article, published in the Albany 

 Cultivator, for March, 1S44. 



"Aphis of the Cherry Tree. — Iluber, in his ac- 

 count of the ants of Switzerland, says there are 

 some species which obtain their principal food 

 from the honey-like substance that is excreted by 

 the aphis— that the ants toatcli, tend, and keep the 

 aphis for its honey, as men do cows for their milk. 



