248 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



cerns, each having but a small capital, few stock- 

 holders, and operating on so small a scale, and so 

 quietly, that their existence is scarcely known by 

 half the public. It may, therefure, seem even ri- 

 diculous to assimulate to these the operaiions of 

 thegr eat and privileged, and nior.opoiv -pampered 

 banking institutions, uliicli have s^o long lormed 

 the most powerlul interest in this country, and 

 which now occupy the attention of every indivi- 

 dual, and agitate the whole conl^deracy, by the 

 magnitude oftheir operations and their power, and 

 by the baneful efi'ects ot both. But, inconsiderable 

 as may be the operaiions of the savings' banks, it 

 should be remembered that they have t^een esta- 

 blished, have proved successful, and have been 

 continually growing in number, in wealth, and in 

 extent o( operations, in the face oli and under the 

 opposing influence ol' the great banks, endowed 

 by law with exclusive privileges and immunities, 

 and guarded by law from all dangers, and penal- 

 ties of misconduct — while the poor and weak 

 savings' bardis have had no piivdeue whaiever, 

 except a mere act of incorporation. Yet these ar^ 

 constantly growing richer and stronger, while the 

 highly privileged banks have been becoming 

 poorer and weaker — and would sink at once into 

 bankruptcy, and suffer its deserved penalties, but 

 (or the government stepping in between them 

 and their creditors, to protect the banks in their 

 dishonest (adure to comply with their legal as well 

 as moral obligations. 



(To be continued.) 



I know of no plant that would answer so well, if 

 cattle would like it, and thrive upon it. 



I have no doubt that on good land it would pro- 

 duce 40 Ions per acre per armum, wiih little or no 

 expense in the%;ulture ; but I should like to know 

 liow cattle would do upon it before giving up 

 much ground to it. They do not appear to be fond 

 ofit, but that may be owing to not having enough 

 to give it a fair trial ; as many sorts of food are 

 not eaten by cattle, readily at first, which they 

 are fond of when used to. There appears to be 

 a large qnan'iiy of mucilage in the plant, from 

 which I should suppose it would be nutritious. 

 Any inlbrmation from any one who grows enough 

 to keep ptock upon ii (or any length of time, will 

 be thankfully received. 



ON OIL DREGS AS MANURE. 



From tlie London Farmer's Magazine. 



In the present day a great deal is said about 

 various kinds of manure, but that certainly niusi 

 be the best which makes the land niost produc- 

 tive. I have tried various kinds, but I find none 

 to answer so well as od dregs ; I procured ol 

 Messrs. Wake and OfHcer. of Hull, a quantity 

 last spring, to drill in vviih turnips ; I put on about 

 1^ cwt, per acre, with about 6 qrs. of ashes, and I 

 firid them to be much better than those drilled in 

 with bones ; in fiict, they are the best piece of 

 turnips I ever had, and there is none better in the 

 neighborhood. 1 have drilled about 2 cwt. per 

 acre in with my wheat ; how it will answer re- 

 mains yet to be proved. As several farmers have 

 tried oil dregs as a manure, perhaps this will 

 draw from the pen of some one more able than 

 myselfsome remarks on the subject. 

 1 am, sir, yours, 



A Constant Reader. 



N. B. The cost of the dregs was three gui- 

 neas per ton. 



PRICKLY COMFREY. 



From the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society. 

 Sir, — Allow me to inquire through ihe medi- 

 um of your magazine, whether any of your read- 

 ers have tried the prickly comfrey (symphitum 

 aspeii-mum) for soiling, on such a scale as to be 

 able to give any information as to how it will 

 answer for that purpose? 1 have a few plants of 

 it, and find it exceedingly productive, having cut 

 14 lis. of crreen food at a time from one root ; and 



For the Farmers' Itegister. 

 TO THE FARMERS AND PLANTERS OF VIR- 

 GINIA. 



yjpril 8lh, 1841. 



Friends and brethren — Will you permit one of 

 your own fraternity, without deeming him ob- 

 trusive, to solicit your attention to a subject deeply 

 interesting, not only to our own class, but to every 

 other in the community, since /AeiV prosperity is 

 so intimately connected with and dependent upon 

 ours, that neither can permanently prosper unless 

 we do so — at least in the aggregate. The subject 

 to which [ allude is, the establishment, at the city 

 of Washington, of a National Society of Agri- 

 culture. 



To such of you as are conversant with Ihe fiis- 

 tory of this vital art, both in our own and other 

 countries, it is needless to dvi'ell long on the well 

 known fact, that there is not now a civilized coun- 

 try upon earth, except our own, but what has had, 

 (or years past, eiihersuch a society, or some simi- 

 lar institution. It is equally well known, that the 

 improvement of each nation in all the various 

 branches of husbandry, has been almost stationary 

 for centuries before the establishment of such in- 

 stitutions, and rapid thereafter, beyond what any 

 one could have imagined to be possible. Even in 

 China, a country which we, in our self-imputed 

 wisdom, deem almost barbarous, agriculture has 

 always been fostered by the government, and held 

 in the highest honor, ever since there was any au- 

 thentic history of the country. Are our people 

 and cotmtry so entirely different from all others in 

 the world, that we can prosper without any resort 

 to the means which every other civilized nation 

 has deemed essential to their welfiire? 1 confi- 

 dently think not ; and, with your permission, I 

 will proceed to ofl'er a i'ew reasons to prove that no 

 country whatever is more in need of a national 

 society of agriculture than our own, if indeed 

 there be any that require it so much. 



In addition to those general arguments in favor 

 of such an institution, v;hich apply to every coun- 

 try, there are some peculiarly applicable to our 

 own, that seem to me unanswerable, and which I 

 beg leave respectfully to state. Certain causes 

 which have a strong tendency to destroy our here- 

 tofore happy union have loiig been operating 

 among us ; and, I deeply regret to say, have ma- 

 nifestly been on the increase for some years past, 

 80 that it is now quite ccmmon to bear men talk- 



