NEW ENCilLrAWD FAMMEM. 



Publishe d by John B. Russell, at JVo. 5 2 J^Torth Market Street, (at the Agricultural Ifarehouaej—lHowAS gTfe^^e^ei,, Editor.' 



VOL. VII. 



AGRICULTURE. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1829. 



No. 41 



FOR THE NEW ENGF.AKD FARMKK. 



GYPSUM, MOISTURE IN PLANTS, &c. 



Mr Fessenden — In your papt-r of the 2d of 

 January last. No. 24, you Uave given us an excel- i 

 lent essay on the " Use of Gjjpsum in Asfriculture," \ 

 by J. Buel, Esq., written for the ATeic York Farm- ' 

 er ; and to illustrate his opinion as to its absorbent [ 

 and retentive qualities as to moisture, he has given 

 us one of Johnson's tables, exhibiting tlie absorb- 

 ent and retentive powers of diflerent substauces. 

 And, although he has sufficiently demonstrated I 

 that it does not absorb and retain moisture equal I 

 to other manures, and has come to the most rea- 1 

 sonable conclusions, and given the best advice and j 

 directions as to the use of it, yet it should seem to I 

 have the quality (where the soil is suitable) of 

 procuring moisture to the plant, from the general 

 opinion that crops dressed with it do not suffer so 

 much by drought. And Mr B. himself says that 

 it is not good on moist grounds, but gives another 

 reason why it is not. A gentleman of the Slate 

 of New York, who had been long in the prac'ice 

 of using it, assured me that a field of corn dressed 

 with plaster would have the dew dropping from 

 the leaves of the plants much later in the day 

 tlian one immediately beside it without jKaster, - 

 though in other respects equal, and even when 

 there was but little dew, the first would be loaded ! 

 with it ia the morning, when the other would be ' 

 dry. i 



Tiiat gentleman, or some other, who has works 

 on philosophy and science to resort to, would, no 

 doubt, be doing a service to us green firmcrs, in 

 general, by informing us also whether they have 

 any other moisture than that wlwch is furnished 

 them by rains and dews, and A-om what depth 

 they are capable of drawing up that moisture, 

 after it has soaked into the earth ? And if they 

 have any and what assistance to draw it up for 

 them after it has settled beneath their roots, at 

 limes when there is no rain.* And whether the 

 water is by any and what means drawn up from 

 the level of the springs which furnish our Wflls to; 

 the surface of the ground, supposing that surface ' 

 be 16 or 20 feet above said springs ? f Or if ^ 

 plants on land, having a clay subsoil, or bo;tom, ' 

 are furnished with any other moisture than that 

 which comes of rain and dews; and whetheisuch 

 soils are the best in general both in wet anl dry 

 seasons ? { A knowledge of these facts vould ' 

 assist to correct or confirm many various ophions 

 respecting soils and situations, breaking ip of 

 ijard pans, &c. 



Nicholson's Encyclopedia of Arts, Ame-ican 

 edition, under the head of Evaporation, inforns us 

 of some experiments tried in Manchester, Eng-' 

 land, by Mr Dalton and Mr Hoyle, in 1796, o as- 

 certain the quantity of water raised by evajora- 

 tion in a year, and estimates the amount to be rom 

 these experiments from 30 to 35 inches, praluc- 

 e<l from rains and dew, or something like the 

 quantity that falls in a year. But we are Uit in- ' 

 formed whether that evaporation or any pariof it I 

 was supposed to have been raised from the level I 

 of the springs under ground, or the rains asthey ! 



fell and soaked into it. § If from the latter only, 

 their afiparatus was set too deep in the ground 

 (3 feet) to have received Inucli from light show- 

 ers as they nuist ' have eva|)orated before they 

 coidd have soaked down that depth, and a great 

 part of heavy rains nmst have run off after satu- 

 rating the surface. II Besides it does not seem 

 probable that the evaporation, in the summer 

 months, and in the raining season would be near 

 so rapid at that depth under ground as it would 

 near the surface. Neither are we informed how 

 far the level of the springs was below the sur- 

 fice, or what the soil, or subsoil, or bottoin was 

 where the experiments were tried. 



Yours very respectfully, 

 Bridgeport, March 17, 1S29. B. 



I Remarks by the Editor.— * The atmosphere al- 

 ways contains water, held in solution, which may 

 be absorbed by soils and plants, as well as pre- 

 cipitated in rains and dews. The quantity of 

 water which exists in air varies with its tempera- 

 ture. The warmer the weather the greater the 

 quantity of water, which the air contains. This 

 water may either be absorbed by some substance, 

 which possesses a stronger affinity for water than 

 is possessed by the air which holds such water in 

 solution, or it may be condensed into vapor, fog, 

 or clouds ; or being entirely separated (iom its 

 menstrum, it will be precipitated in rain or dew. 

 The power of soils to absorb water from air is 

 much connected with their fertility. When this 

 power is great, the plant is supplied with moist- 

 ure in dry seasons ; and the effect of evaporation 

 in the day is counteracted by the absorption of 

 aqueous vapor from the atmosphere. Sir Humph- 

 rey Davy says " I have compared the absorbent 

 powers of many soils with respect to atmosi)her- 

 ic moisture, and I have always found it greatest 

 in the most fertile so]h:'—Ag'ricuttural Chemistry,^ 

 p. 128, Philadtlphia edition. 



I The leaves of living plants possess, likewise, a 

 power to absorb moisture from air. Some vege- 

 tables increase in weight from this cause, when 

 suspended in the atmosphere and unconnected 

 with the soil. The house leek, different kinds of 

 aloe, &c. will grow when suspended from the 

 ceiling of a room. Sir Humphrey Davy says " In 

 ! very intense heats, and when the soil is dry, the 

 life of plants seems to be preserved by the absorb- 

 ent power of their leaves : and it is a beautiful 

 : circumstance in the economy of nature, that aque- 

 ous vapor is most abundant in the atmosphere 

 when it is most needed for the purposes of life ; 

 and that when other sources of its supply are 

 cut off this is most copious." — Ibid p. 144. 



There is a difference in soils not only as res- 

 pects their power to attract moisture from the at- 

 mosphere, but also with regard to their power to 

 retain moisture. If this were not the case we 

 should not find the variety of wet and dry soils 

 on the same level, same latitude, exposure, &c. 

 which actually exists. 



t Perhaps something may be effected, in draw- 

 ing water from a considerable depth beneath the 

 earth's surface, or the level of the springs by ca- 

 pdlary attraction. But every particle of air has its 

 molecule of water attached to it by a slight affini- 



ty, which it is ready to deposit on plant, soil, or 

 other substance, which has a stronger aflinity for 



said water than the air to which it is attached. 



Of course there can be no necessity for drawing 

 water from a level with the springs, perhaps 16 

 or 20 feet, when every particle of soil or plant \% 

 in actual contact with air, a substance which al. 

 ways CDirtains more or less water in solution. 



\ " The soils that are most efficient in supply- 

 ing the plant with water by atmospheric absorp- 

 tion are those in which there is a due mixture of 

 sand, finely divided clay, and carbonate of lime, 

 common lime with some animal or vegetable mat- 

 ter : and which are so loose and light as to be 

 easily permeable to the atmosphere. With respect 

 to this quality, carbonate of lime and animal and 

 vegetable matter are of great use in soils ; they 

 give absorlient power to the soil without giving it 

 likewise tenacity. Sand, which also destroys te- 

 nacity, on the contrary gives little absorbent pow. 

 er." 



The power of plants to absorb moisture from 

 the air may account for the appearance of dew 

 tlropping from corn, which had been dressed with 

 plaster, as mentioned by our correspondent above. 

 It was not the minute quantity of plaster existing 

 in the iilants, which enabled them to attract and 

 retain dew, but the luxuriance of their vegetation, 

 which was caused by the gypsum. 



§ The evaporation in the ex|)eriments alluded to 

 had no connexion with springs, as it emanated 

 from a. vessel with a tight bottom. 



II The bottom of the vessel was three feet be- 

 low, but the tofi level with the surface of the 

 earth. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



GRUBS IN PEACH TREES. 



Copy of a Letter from M. Parmentier, to the Pres- 

 ident and Members of the Horticultural Society of 

 the Clly ofJVew York. 



5 Hortioullural Garden, 

 • ( Brooklyn, L. 1. Jan. 26, 1S26. 



Gentlemen — As it would be desirable to know 

 and try every possible means that can diminish the 

 destruction of peach trees by grubs at their roots, 

 I take the liberty to communicate all that experi- 

 ence among vaiious friends and neighbors has 

 brought to my knowledge. 



In New Jersey they make use of rotten fish, 

 put in the spring at the roots of the trees. I have 

 seen beautiful peach trees which I was told were 

 thus freed from worms. This remedy presents 

 another advantage ; the rotten fish being a very 

 good manure. 



A gentleman of respectability, of Brookhne, L. 

 I., who had purchased 4 peach trees from me, 

 placed round two of them coal ashes, which were 

 thus happily preserved. But the others suffered 

 the ordinary depredation. The above means re- 

 ceive confirmation in France, and in England 

 where they use the soot of the same combustible, 

 and also of wood to destroy the white grubs ; the 

 soot of these substances being very acrid. This is 

 a convenient and easy remedy, which might be 

 generally used, and I have adopted it for many of 

 my trees. 



