138 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Nov. 21, 18i!S. 



as suitable as any kind, for that part of the field, 

 which has the strongest soil. 



I uisli, also, to make some enquiry, and to got 

 .S[)iiie information, through the medium of your 

 valuable paper upon the use of Gypsuui or Pias- 

 ter of I'aris. There are various and contradictory 

 opinions in tliis part of tlie country, and in the 

 ttiwn where I reside, on this subject. Some farm- 

 ers, who some years since, made an abundant, 

 a)i<l without doubt a profitable use of it for the 

 time lieing, have discontinued it altogether. Their 

 opinion is that it never enriched tlie soil ; it only 

 tended, by its action upon it to a rapid drain of its 

 most valuable properties, leaving it, after a few 

 years in a more unproductive and barren state 

 than before ; wllh this disadvantage also, a great 

 difficulty of bringing it into a state of fertility 

 again, by the api)lication of other manure. If this 

 be matter of fact, the question to be decided, and 

 on which I wish for iidbrmation is whether any, 

 and if any what kind of use of this article can be 

 permanently and profitably carried into effect. 



Any discussion on the nature and properties of 

 this article, or of its uses as a manure, and also 

 any information upon any part or the whole of the 

 above conununication will greatly oblige a sub- 

 scriber, and reader of your |)aper. A. K. 

 Vernon, Cvn. Oct. 30, 1828. 



Remarks by the Editor — The above article in- 

 vites us into a very wide field of discussion and in- 

 vestigation, which we shall not attempt fully to 

 explore. We will, however, give some remarks 

 which may, jierhaps, be useful, and will be much 

 obliged to our correspondents for further notices 

 relative to the same inquiries. 



With regard to the kinds of trees which it 

 would be advisable for A. K. to cultivate in the 

 field which he has described, it would not be pos- 

 .sible for us to say which would prove most prufit- 

 ;jble. We cannot tell what may be the actual or 

 relative prices of different sorts of timber iu that 

 ^acinity, at the time when A. K's. plantation might 

 be productive. But, we believe, that those sorts, 

 which spring up spontaneously, on any particular 

 soil, may be most easily raised by art. According 

 to our correspondent, the tindier of natural growtli 

 around his field, consists of the pitch or yellow- 

 pine, the oak, chesnut, poplar, &:c. These are 

 \aluable, the po|)lar, however, is worth, we be- 

 lieve, less than the other kinds rnumcratc>l. 



The following directions with respect to the 

 culture of the Chesnut, are abridged from the 

 works of several authors. 



Soil and site. The Chesnut flourishes on poor, 

 •gravelly and sandy soils. It is, indeed, a certain 

 and quick grower on every kind of soil, except 

 heavy clays, or soils generally wet, on which it 



makes slow progress. London says " the cliesuut 'from the parent stock, 

 prefers a sandy loam with a dry bottom ; but will , seeds of several kind 



verted, to the great advantage of the roots ; and 

 the under-soil brought up to the beneficial influ- 

 ence of the atmosphere." That it is increased 

 from nuts dibbled in Februsiry, [March in this 

 country] 3 or 4 inches deep, having been ])reserv- 

 ed during winter in sand. The quantity to an 

 acre 4 bushels," or " By grafting ; this is a more 

 certain way of continuing a good kind than by 

 nuts." 



Mr Ira Hopkins of Cayuga, N. Y. in a letter, 

 published in Memoirs of the JVew York Board of 

 ^flgrictiHure, says, " Influenced by a desire to do 

 something for jiosterity, I determined to plant a 

 field of chesnuts. Accordingly in the fall of 1821, 

 I procured about a peck of nuts, and kept them 

 very choice until the setting in of winter, for fear 

 of their being destroyed by the mice and other 

 vermin. In December I planted them four feet u- 

 part each way ; but not one of the seeds came up. 



" Determined to persevere, iu the fall of 1822, 

 I obtained about the same quantity of nuts, and 

 immediately planted them al>out four feet apart, 

 as before, and covered them superficially w'ith 

 leaves and light earth. Most of them came up, 

 and they appear to grow well. 



" I am of opinion that if farmers would take a 

 little pains in this way, they nnght, at a trifling ex- 

 pense, have a growth of timber coming on to sup- 

 ply them with fire wood and fencing stuff', when 

 our old forests have disappeared. As chestnut will 

 sprout and grow rapidly, I am told that it will do 

 to cut off" every 25 or 30 years." 



In remarking on this communication, Jesse Bu- 

 el, Esq. editor of the Memoirs, &c. observes, " The 

 following fact has been related to us as evidence 

 of the luxuriant growth of the chestnut, and its 

 power of reproducing a new growth, during the 

 natural decay of the old wood. Our informant 

 stated that when a boy he assisted his father to 

 cut down a chestnut tree, which was converted 

 into shingles, and used in covering a barn. Thir- 

 ty years afterwards he e\it down one of three 

 sprouts, which had started up from the stump of 

 the old tree, and obtained from it shingles to re 

 place the old ones, which had been laid thirty 

 y«ars bsfore on the barn. 



" Iu the interior of Pennsylvania,extensive tracts 

 are devoted to the growth of chesnut timber, in 

 the vicinity of forges and other iron works ; and 

 this timber is cut off" at intervals of sixteen years 

 and converted into charcoal. What stronger evi- 

 dence do wo want of the value of this wood, or 

 of the economy of making plantaliojis of it iu 

 time upon light or waste lands? 



"In the propagation of forest trees by seeds, the 



tiatural ()rocess by which they are produced will 



be our best guide. Some seeds become rancid 



without great care, almost as soon as they fall 



Such is the case with the 



of masinolia. The onlv 



elude the seeds of the stone fruits) should never be 

 suft'ered to become dry before they are deposited 

 in the earth. We annex Michaux's method of 

 planting the chesnut, from his North American 

 Sylvia, vol. iii. page 13. 



"After the ground has been carefully loosened, 

 with the plough and harrow, lines are drawn srx 

 feet apart, in which holes about a foot in depth 

 and diameter are formed at the distance of four 

 feet. A chesnut is placed in each corner of llie 

 holes, and covered with three inches of earth. As 

 the soil has been thoroughly subdued, the nuts 

 will spring and strike root with facility. Early 

 in the second year, three of the young plants are 

 removed from each hole, and only the most thriv- 

 ing is left. The third or fourth year, when the 

 branches begin to interfere with each other, every 

 second tree is suppressed. To insure its success, 

 the plantation should be begun in March or April, 

 with nuts that have been kept in the cellar during the 

 winter, in sand or vegetable mould, and that have al- 

 ready begun to vegetate." [to be continued.} 



■;row in any soil on a dry sub.^oil. Distribute the j way in which these can bo preserved, we are ad 



plants towards the northern boundary of orchards; | vised by Michaux, is, as soon as they are gather- 



and in larger grouj)s, over any vacant tracks, in ed, and bef )re the pulp, which surrounds the seed 



extensive pleasure grounds or parks, and to form 

 syjaciouB avenues, or a row along any out boimda- 

 ry. A great number should not be placed close 

 to a residence, as the smell of t!ie flowers is oft'en- 

 sive. Plant them [for the last time] at not less 

 than thirty feet, and thence to fifty feet distance. 

 The work eiuitled " Gleanings in Husbandry'^ 

 says the land for the chesinu " should be trenched 

 to a depth from 15 to 18 inches ; by this process, 

 i.fie upper, which is usually the best soil is sub- 



is withered, to mix them with rotten wood, or with 

 sand slightly moistened ; where they are kept cool 

 till they are committed to the ground. Others 

 are enveloped iu an acrid pulp, and a hard shell, 

 so firmly cemented as to require the lapse of a 

 year, or the violent and repeated alternations of 

 heat and frost to excite germination. Such are 

 the seeds of most kinds of thorn, (cratagus). And 

 others again which fall with the leaf, such as the 

 chesnut, walnut, butternut, &.c. (and we may in- 



From the Baltimore Patriot. 

 f ._ 



Mr. Munroe. — On reading the reports of tin 

 several committees appointed to award the premi- 

 ums of the late Cattle Show near Baltimore, I ob- 

 served that the committee on Jlsses and Mules ex- 

 press a regret that neither Jennies nor Mules were 

 exhibited, for preniiums ; I have hastily thrown 

 together my ideas of the valuable properties of the 

 Mule for agricultural employment. If you thiuk 

 them worthy an insertion in your useful and wide- 

 ly circulating paper you will please to insert them, 

 and oblige A FARMER. 



THE MULE, 



When compared with the horse for the general 

 purposes of agriculture (in Maryland) has certainly 

 many advantages. First, they are much longer 

 lived, I think I am justified in saying double when 

 put to hard service and exposed. The late Col. 

 John E. Howard, had a pair that worked thirty 

 years, at the expiration of which time he sold them 

 to a carter in Baltimore, then in good health, and 

 they performed well for many years after. There 

 are several Mules now in Baltimore county that 

 were twenty-five years old last spring, some on the 

 farm of George Merryman, Esq. and some are 

 on the farm of Micajah Merriman Esq. they are 

 now in good order and perform well — there are 

 many that are twenty years old, and have been at 

 hard work eighteen years of age that were sold al 

 public sale a few weeks ago at fifty thres dollars 

 each, besides these there are many that have been 

 at hard work from twelve to fifteen years that 

 would now sell for one hundred dollars each. — 

 Secondly, the great saving of food, which on a 

 fair calculation, 1 consider to be one third or iu 

 other words, six ears of corn is as great feed fur ;< 

 mule as eight for a horse ; in confirmation of thT>, 

 I have the opinion of Mr. Green late manager at 

 Hampton, and many others in Baltimore counts 

 who have long used the mule in agricultural jiur- 

 suils. Upon this principle, nine pounds of chop- 

 ' ped rye for a mule is equal to twelve pounds for 

 ] a horse. Agreeably to this conclusion, I will at- 

 I tempt to show what is saved in the article of food 

 'alone. If chopped rye be used the saving wdl be 

 three pounds per day, and in a year 1095 lbs. ; cal- 

 j culating chopped i-ye at one dollar per hundred. 

 ' the saving in a year will be $10 95 



Hay in proportion at five dollars per ton 2 4? 



