53 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



gratUnj; or budding would (as is commonly sup- 

 posed) prevent the growth of thorns on trees dis- 

 posed to bear them, I inoculated a young honey- 

 locust tree with two buds, one lirom tlie extreme 

 end of a limb of an old iree, the other h'om a 

 thorny little limb otits own, near the ground. The 

 first of these had no spines, the other was very 

 Tuil of them. From this experiment, I infer, 1st, 

 that grafting and budding have no influence on the 

 propensity of trees to bear thorns ; secondly, that 

 certain trees seem, by nature, to be provided with 

 spines about the body and lower limbs, to protect 

 them from being barked or otherwise injured, and 

 possibly, to protect their fruit from vermin. Among 

 the fruit-bearing limlis, however, there is no need 

 of ihoin?, and if buds or twigs are procured from 

 these, lor ingrafting on seedlings, the trees thus 

 produced are liee of thorns. 



ROOT FEEDIXG. 



To Ihe Editor of llic Farmers' Register. 



Kins William, Jan. 20th, 1841. 



Do urge on your readers the importance to 

 them of going more largely into the root crop this 

 year. I, together with several of my neighbors, 

 cultivated last year several acres of them, eugar 

 beet, mangel wurtzei, and rufa baga, and succeed- 

 ed" well. We all give the decided preference to 

 the sugar beet as food for milch cows. The butter 

 and milk are rich and fine, but we have not as yet 

 made any accurate experiments in feeding them. 

 My overseer brought a cow with him to my 

 house about Christmas, v/hich he informs me 

 was fed plentifully upon short corn and fodder all 

 last fall and winter up to the time she came here, 

 and since his removal, she has eaten nothing but 

 about three pecks of sugar beet per day, and Ihe 

 usual long food ; and upon this feed has doubled, 

 and more, the quantity of milk, beeides a consider- 

 able improvement in quality. I feed once a day 

 on Pteamed roots, and once on raw, and am 

 not prepared to say which is best, as they are 

 greedily eaten whether cooked or raw. 



We arc gettinir in a stock of the far Himed 

 Berkshire hogs hereabout, and are well satisfied 

 with them as fir as our acquaintance extends; 

 I have owned a pair about eighteen months, and 

 have readily sold all the pigs I could spare at good 

 prices. 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OF THE COCOOKS OF 

 THE "two crop white"' SILK-WORMS, 

 AND OTHER VARIETIES. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 Stafford Co. Va., Jan. 25th, 1841. 

 1 have recently made numerous experiments 

 in reeling cocoons produced by the " two-crop 

 white," and '• mammoth sul[)hur" silk-worms, 

 from which I have ascertained that the former 

 yielded on an average, from cocoons of fair quality, 

 8 ounces of reeled silk to the bushel, and the 

 latter 14 ounces. These facts lead me tochanse 

 the favorable opinion hitherto entertained of the 

 "two-crop white." I am now convinced that 



they will bring the culturist in debt who operates 

 with hired labor, while the sul|)hur and other good 

 varieties will show a handsome profit. 



The comparative value of the varieties above 

 named may te slated thus : 

 Cost of producing one bushel " two-crop" 



cocoons, S2 00 



Reeling the same, 1 50 



Deduct eight ounces raw silk, 



$3 50 

 2 67 



Loss, 83 

 Cost of producing one bushel sulphur co- 

 coons, §2 00 

 Cost of reeling, 75 



Fourteen ounces raw silk, 

 Profit, 



^2 75 

 4 67 



$1 92 



The pea-nut silk-worm is said to yield on an 

 average sixteen ounces of silk to the bushel, but, 

 as yet, my experunents with this kind, have not 

 been made on a scale large enough to form accu- 

 rate conclusions. 



The above named facts, however, show that 

 the success ofsilk-culture in Virginia, and through- 

 out the union, may depend on the varieties oJ'silk- 

 worms selected. 



Respectfully your's, 



Laytopj Y. Atkins. 



KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS SUPPOSED NOT TO BE 

 THE SAME WITH GREEN SWARD. GrASSES 

 FAVORED BY CALCAREOUS SOIL. JVIeLILOT. 



December 5th, 1840. 



I have just received the November number of 

 the Register, and find it asserted, that Kentucky 

 blue grass is identical with jooa viridis, or our com- 

 mon greensward. Now. personally, i pretend to 

 know notliirig about this matter ; but a gentleman 

 in this viciidiy, well qualified to judge in the case, 

 declared to me some lime ago, that he knew they 

 were not the same. He said, at the same time, 

 something about the fluwer-stem of the Kentucky 

 blue grass being joimed, and that there were, oc- 

 casionally, some bunches of it to be lound on tho 

 banks of the Appomattox. He was speaking of 

 ihe blue grass of our lime-stone valley, where he 

 has resided much, and. doubtless, ihis is the same 

 blue grass with that of Kentucky. I mention this 

 not for publication, but to prevent your hastily 

 settling the question, as I find in a note to S. D. 

 Martin's communication to the Southern Cultiva- 

 tor, you set down Kentucky blue grass as " irreen 

 sward." The poa viridis [or poa prateneis] is cer- 

 tainly an American grass, and so much resembling 

 that called " blue grass" beyond the Blue Ridge, 

 that it must take a botanist to say, whether they 

 be not the same. Our "blue grass," poa com- 

 pressa, has a flattened flower stem, and is really 

 blue. I think the subject important, and that pos- 

 sibly, on particular investigation, you will find the 

 western blue grass another indigenous American 

 grass, closely allied to the greensward. 



Among the many benefits to your tide-water 

 region, in the commencing agricultural era, from 



