218 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



would serve to cover 52 times as much land as 

 the space dug from. Again, we see no reason 

 why the space thus dug up, and the two upper 

 strata mixed together, in the digging, should be 

 ruined, or even much injured, hy the operutioii, 

 unless by lowering the surface too rauciiy tuui 

 thereby increasing the danijer of irmridaiion by 

 freshets. The mere mixture of soil and subsoil, 

 especially when the ifiarl itself would be more or 

 less disseminated throughout ihe moss, we are 

 sure would still leave a good and improving s,oi|. 

 Besides, by a proper course oi' procedure in dig- 

 ging, and without much additional labor, the ori- 

 ginal rich surliace soil might easily be kept [)rinci- 

 pally on the top, after removal. And, provided 

 the land could be kept as dry as before, we think 

 it probable that the ground thus dug up and shift- 

 ed, would be even a more productive soil than be- 

 fore.— Ed. Far. K kg.] 



CANKER Vk^ORMS — CTIICKEXS. 



Krom tlie Farmers' GazeUe. 



Mr. Storer : — I wish through the medium ol 

 your gazette, to call the atieniion of our citizens 

 to a fact which occurred within my own personal 

 knowledge ; and if like causes produce like effects, 

 (and I see no reason in this case why they will 

 not,) a fact of importance to all Who are suffer- 

 ers liorn the ravages oi' thecanker worm. The 

 fact is this : 



In the spring of 1840, I purchased three hens, 

 which raised a brood of chickens each. When 

 my fruit trees in my garden became literally co- 

 vered with the canker worm, I thrashed them 

 with a pole to the ground, where ihey were picked 

 up by the chickens as greedily as they woyld pick 

 up corn or grain. Several times a day 1 fed them, 

 in this manner, until f had entirely cleared my 

 trees of the worms. Now, as to the result ; in 

 the month of November last, in some very warm 

 days, when the moths were crowding up the elms 

 in front of my residence by hundreds, I made 

 repeated examinations of my fruit frees in tfie 

 garden, for the purpose of preventing the moths 

 from ascending ; but to my surprise, 1 found (nor 

 could I discover) but a single moth on a tree in 

 my garden, where there had been for .several 

 successive years before, as many millions of 

 worms as there were locusts in Egypt. 



This method, I believe, will be found altogether 

 the most simple and economical, of ridding effec- 

 tually our gardens of this troublesome insect, for 

 it will be found that the chickens, while young, 

 are of immense advantage in other respects than 

 merely to clear ofi' the canker worms. The mil- 

 lions of insects of every description, which are 

 revelling in luxury on our cucumbers, our cabbages, 

 and in fact every vetreiable in the garden, at a hea- 

 vy tax upon our labor and patience, are entirely era- 

 dicated by these industrious birds. As soon as it is 

 light in the morning, and before the cut worm has 

 finished his depredations upon our beans and 

 cucumbers and retreated in safety to his bed in 

 ihe ground, they have found and stopped his 



mischief. Then again, in the winter you have 

 the pleasure of picking their bones in a fricassee, 

 or a pie, or any other method you prefer. 



But their value as a complete annihilafor of Ihe 

 caid<er worm, is beyond praise. Let a farmer 

 but set four or five coops in his orchard of a hun- 

 dred trees, and by a little, attention lor a few days 

 in cleaning the trees, his work is done for years, 

 the race is destrayed. It is, in my opinion, better 

 than all the lend pipe in ihe country, atid no 

 expense. Yours. &c., G. F. H. R. 



A^eit' Haven, 3Jarch 10, 1641. 



ox I'HE DURABILITY OF KITRATE OF SODA. 



From ttie Mark Lane Express. 



Sir, — I ol>.=ervp, in your laft paper, an inquiry 

 repeated by Mr. Symonds, as to the durability of 

 cubic-petre, as a fertilizer, which has been 

 recently mride on several occasions. There is ho 

 doubt but that its effects extc nd beyond the first 

 year of its application ; this is certainly the case 

 with saltpetre — thus Mr. Kimberley, of Trots- 

 worth, when be used it upon his clover land, 

 Ibund that i:s effects were enually great upon the 

 following crop of wheat. — Journ. -Roy. y}g. Soc. 

 vol. i. p. 276. Mr. Wilsher experienced a similar 

 result. — My I^ssay on Saltpetre, p. 30. Mr. Lee, 

 wlio successfully used it lor barley, found it im- 

 proved in an equal ratio the following crop of clo- 

 ver. — Edin. Quar. Jour, of jjg. vol. i. p. 302. 

 Mr. Oakley, of Preston, in Hertfordshire, says, 

 "it survives In the succeeding crop." — Essay on 

 Saltpetre, p. 38. It is a very erroneous conclu- 

 sion, that saline manures are speedily washed out 

 of the soil by the rain, for I ascertained some 

 years since, by very careful experiments with 

 common salt, that at the expiration of twelve 

 months, sixty per cent, of the quantity originally 

 applied remained in the soil. — Essay on Common 

 Salt, p. 156. 



I am glad to find that the use of cubic-petre is 

 extending so successfully. In some receint trials 

 on the estate of his grace the Duke of Norfolk, 

 detailed by Mr. Anderson of Oakley, the follow- 

 ing results were obtained (for an account of which 

 I am indebted to Mr. E. Purser, of New Bridge- 

 street, an extensive deafer in these powerful 

 salts) : — 



One liundred and fifty pounds' weight of nitrate 

 of soda per acre, were sown on a portion of a 

 field of clover in April, 1840 ; the remaining part 

 of the field was not manured. The clover was 

 cutonfhe6th of July; on the 11th, when in a 

 good state to cart, the clover was weighed. 



Ton, cwt, qr. lb. £ s. d. 



produce per acre, 



where the nitrate 



of snda was sown 3 1 1 20 value 41. per ton 12 5 9 

 Produce per acre, 



where the nitrate 



of soda was not 



sown - - - - 2 4 1 24 value 41. per ton 8 17 10 



Difference in quan- 

 tity per acre - - 16 3 24 In value - - 3 

 Cost of nitrate of soda per acre, and sowing - - 1 



Profit, per acre, from the use of the cubic-petre - - 1 18 11 



The benefit derived from thus increasing the 

 produce of clover will hardly ever terminate with 

 the first crop, (t is a well-known fact amongst 



