534 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



As the existing law of the land fixes the 1st of 

 next January as ihe limit of time lor the bani<s 

 to pay specie, we have a ri^ht to infer Irom the 

 law, and rroni the silence of the bank authorities 

 to the contrary, that on that day they loill truly 

 resume specie payments, and of course ihat their 

 noies will then be at par with specie. (Whatever 

 we may lear or believe to the contrary is nothing to 

 the purpose.) Now, on September 1, the notes 

 of these banks are depreciated at least 3 percent, 

 below the value of specie. If then, on this day, 

 an individual has discounted by the bank a note 

 for ^100 due January 1, for a real business trans- 

 action, and lo be paid at maturity, he will in 

 fact get but ^97 lor his $100 (deducting tlie loss 

 by depreciation,) and on his note will be paid to 

 the bank ^100, at its maturity. Besides thus 

 paying the legal and proper interest (at 6 per cent, 

 per annum) of .$2 for (he use of the 4 months 

 loan, the borrower pays, 3 percent, more in depre- 

 ciation, or 5 per cent, for 4 months, equal to 15 

 per cent, per annum, lor the loan of $100. And 

 if the rate of depreciation were 5 per cent, as it 

 was but recently, or 10 per cent., as at an earlier 

 time, the process would be the same, and the 

 usury increased in proportion to the greater rate 

 of depreciation. This business of lending depre- 

 ciated bank notes by a bank, as lawful money, 

 at their noniinal amount, has been declared by a 

 judicial decision in Mississippi, to be usury in 

 the legal sense, and the lenders to be subject to 

 all the penalties of usury. There can be no 

 doubt of the correctness of the general principle 

 of this decision and its universal appiicabiliiy ; 

 but we do not undertake to say whether the parti- 

 cular interlerence and indulgence of the law of 

 Virginia may not have effectually screened the 

 banks Ironi the danger of loss Irom these usurious 

 irunsactions. 



PLAN TO REMOVE STUMPS. 



From the Western Farmer and Gardener. 



Mr. Editor : — Although I am not myself a 

 practical larmer, yet I love to see all the operations 

 on a farm carried on with neatness and economy. 

 I own a small farm of two hundred acres in 

 Champaign county ; and when 1 purchased it, 

 the fields were greatly disfigured and encumbered 

 with dead trees standing, and vviih stumps, i 

 wish that I might have the pleasure of your com- 

 pany over the [arm, or indeed at the house ((or 

 every field can be seen from the door) to show you 

 the excellent condition which it is now in. There 

 is scarce a stump or bush to be seen, except some 

 very handsome shade trees purposely left lor shel- 

 tering the cattle in the heat of summer. 



The removal of these stumps has been accom- 

 plished by a very simple and economical process, 

 which I will attempt to describe, in the hope that 

 it may be beneficial to those who have their lands 

 encumbered with trees and stumps. Procure a 

 dry red-elm lever, about twenty leet long, and 

 about six to eight inches in diameter — a good 

 stout log chain, with two yokes of oxen ; this is 

 all the machinery that is necessary. The mode of 

 operation is thus : wrap the log chain around 

 ihe stump a little above the ground, and make 



what is called a log-hitch ; lay the lever horizon- 

 tally on the ground, the large end next to the 

 chain and against the stump ; make the other 

 end of (he chain liist to this end of the lever, 

 drawing the lever tight against the stump; the 

 cattle are hitched to the small end of the lever, 

 and driven around the slump in a circle, of which 

 the lever is the radius. One revolution of the ox- 

 en around the stump will generally twist out the 

 largest of them ; but should not the power thus 

 applied be sufficient to move the stump, the side 

 roots may be uncovered and cut partly off'; after 

 this is done, the stump will be easily removed. 

 You will find this plan much preferable to any 

 '' patent stump extractor" thai you may have 

 seen puffed in the papers. D. L. 



ON THE EXTERMINATION OF NUT-GRASS. 



From the Southern Agriculturist. 



Mr, Editor:— T)o yon know nut-grass? And 

 do you know how to get rid of itl Without 

 waiting for your answer 1 will tell you. Hoe it 

 from the beginning lo the end of the season, at 

 such short intervals as to prevent the upper vege- 

 tation from coming to maturity, i. e. from flower- 

 ing. Your enemy, if he have been in long pos- 

 session of his ground, will wage a hard contest 

 with you for the greater part of the season, in- 

 deed you will be frequently tempted to believe 

 him invincible ; but towards the end of the cam- 

 paign, if you have continued your attacks with- 

 out wavering, you will perceive his courage and 

 strength drooping, and by the end o( it, that he 

 is fiiirly on the retreat. But on the opening of 

 the next campaign you will again see him, though 

 in diminished numbers and in scattered positions. 

 If you recommence your attacks, and continue 

 the same practices as before, about the 10th or 

 15th July, you will receive his final capitulation. 

 I have in this manner exterminated a great deal 

 of nut-grass. 



The best way of hoeing this grass is to chop it 

 an inch or so below the surface, and go over it 

 once in every three or lour days. I have never 

 tried the plough expressly for this purpose, but 1 

 have no doubt that it would be equally efficaceous 

 — perhaps more quickly so. Indeed, I regard the 

 plough, when steadily used, as the most certain 

 eradicator of the nut-grass, while as to the joint- 

 grass it is the best means in the world for propa- 

 gating it. The reasons in both cases are, 1 think, 

 too plain to require explanation. As to facts, we 

 know that in the section where the plough is the 

 common and chief implement, nut-grass is un- 

 known, except in yards or inclosures, where the 

 plough never comes ; while joint-grass is the 

 universal and growing pest. 



The nut-grass shoots up in the spring from solid 

 tubers, or nuts. The roots immediately after 

 developing a certain length of leaf, form a little 

 below the surface of the ground an enlargement 

 or tumor, from which radiate on every side two 

 distinct kinds of offsets — one a small black filiform 

 radicle on which the nut is formed eubsequenlly 

 to the inflorescence — the other a whitish succulent 

 brittle sprout, which after running a little way 

 horizontally comes up another plant, which com- 

 mences imniediatelv to dc the game as the first 



