THE FARMERS' IIEGISTEU. 



99 



Finil ihenibic contents of the bulk of ears in 

 feet. JMulliply tliem by 8 ami cut oil' liie two 

 ri>rlithnii(i figures and you have the barrels ol' 

 slielieJ roni. Thus : 



12 loiiij. 



11 wide. 



132 



(3 deep. 



792 cubic feet. 

 8 



62,36 equal 63 bushels of shelled corn. 

 Yours, very truly, 



John Lewis. 



[We regr«t that the calls so courteously made 

 above upon our information must be unavailino:. 

 "We only know from former observations and 

 trials, (made more by accident than design, and 

 not worthy to be named as experiments,) ihattlie 

 proportion of grain to a barrel measure of ears, 

 even of the same kind of corn, was variable, and 

 often fell below half the measure of ears. It 

 seems reasonable that corn produced in great per- 

 feciion, or on the best soils and with tlie best sea- 

 sons, should have more grain in proportion to the 

 cob, than under reverse circumsiances. We shall 

 be glad to obtain facts and opinions on this sub- 

 ject from any of our better informed readers. — Ed. 

 Farmers' Register. 



VARIETY AND EXTE.VT OF VEGETABLE MFE. 



From the Dr. Rogefs Brirl^'ewater Treatise on Animal and 

 Vegelablu Physiology. 



If we review every region of the globe, from 

 the scorching sands of the equator to the icy 

 realms of the poles, or from the lofty mountain 

 summits to the dark abysses of the deep ; il" we 

 penetrate into the shades of the forest, or into the 

 caverns and secret recesses of the earth ; nav, ii' 

 we take nn the minutest portion of stagnant wa- 

 ter, we still meet with lile in some new and unex- 

 pected form, yet ever adapted to the circumstan- 

 ces of its situation. The vegetable world is no 

 less prolific in wonders than the animal. Plere 

 also, we are lost in admiration at the never-ending 

 variety of forms successively displayed to view in 

 the innumerable species which compose this king- 

 dom of nature, and at the energy of that vegeta- 

 tive power which, amidst such great differences of 

 eitnation. sustains the modified life of each indi- 

 vidual plant, and which continues its species in 

 endless perpetuity. It is well known that, in all 

 places where vegetation has been established, the 

 germs are so intermingled with the soil, that 

 whenever the earth is turned up, even from consi- 

 derable depths, and exposed to the air, plants 

 are soon observed to spring, as if they had been 

 recently sown, in consequence of the germination 

 of seeds which had remained latent and inactive 

 during the lapse of perhaps many centuries. 

 Islands formed by coral reefs, which have risen 



above the level of the sea, become, in a short 

 time, covered witli verdure. From ihe materials, 

 of the most sterile rock, and even (iom the yet 

 recent cinders and lava of the volcano, nature 

 [)repares the way for vegetable existence. The 

 slightest crevice or inequality is suffi''ient to arrest 

 the invisible germs that are always tioaiing in the 

 air, and afibrcls tiie means of sustenance to dimi- 

 nutive races of lichens and mosses. These soon 

 overspread the surface, and are lollovved, in the 

 course ol" a lew years, by successive tribes of 

 plants of gradually increasing size and sirengtli ; 

 till at length the island, or other favored spot, it* 

 converted into a natural and luxuriant garden, of 

 which the productions, rising Irom grasses to 

 shrubs and trees, present all the varieties of the 

 fertile meadow, the tangled thicket, and the 

 widely-spreading forest. Even in the desert 

 plains of the torrid zone, the eye of the traveller 

 is often relieshed by the appearance of a lew hardy 

 plants, which find sufficient materials for their 

 growth in these arid regions ; and in the realms of 

 perpetual enow which surround the poles, the 

 navigator is occasionally startled at the prospect 

 of fields of a scarlet hue, the result of a wide ex- 

 panse of microscopic vegetation. 



From Uie American Farmer. 

 ADDRESS, 



Delivered before the Queen Anne's County Agiicultu- 

 ral Society, at its annual meeting, in July last, by 

 Wm. Carmichael, Esq. 



At our last meeting I was requested to deliver 

 an address, and I propose to submit some subjects, 

 which I deem worthy of your consideration. 



The object of this association is to advance ag- 

 riculture and to improve our lands. To that end 

 it would be desirable to ascertain the original fer- 

 tility of our soil, but on this subject we have but 

 little information. The first settlers were too much 

 occupied by their immediate wants and personal 

 comfort to leave memorials of the quality of the 

 soil in its early occupation ; and tradition upon 

 this, as upon all other subjects, is very uncertain. 

 Some reasonable deductions may be made from ita 

 products, of which, irdbrmation may be derived 

 fiom the legislation of the stale, and the records 

 of our county police. We learn from these, that 

 the first crop cultivated as an object of merchan- 

 dise, was tobacco, (equally pernicious to the soil, 

 and to the human constitution,) which continued 

 the staple crop till the revolutionary war ; a period 

 of more than one hundred years. The grain 

 grown in our infant settlements was for d.Tmeslic 

 consumption. Fresh lands grow the finest tobac- 

 co, and they were gradually cleared with a view 

 to this crop, and cultivated till they were incapable 

 of profitable production. New clearings were then 

 made for this object, and there are perhaps but few 

 of our arable lands which have notundeigone this 

 scourging cultivation. When none remaineil to be 

 cleared. The planters, of necessity, resorted to the 

 lands previously exhausted, to which they applied 

 the manure collected on the farm. As population 

 increased and trade expanded, bread-stufis came 

 into demand, and lands which would no longer 

 produce tobacco, were appropriated to the growth 

 of grain under the three-field system; under which 



