644 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ingly afford Ihem every i'aciiity. The importance 

 oHhe general result will easily become appa- 

 rent without further comment, and a revolution in 

 the present modes of agricultural labor is a neces- 

 sary consequence of this discovery. No tillage 

 will now be required, nor any artificial stitnu- 

 lants in manure and other more or less expensive 

 combinations with regard to soil and culture. In 

 fact, it would be tedious to enumerate the various 

 advantages that may result in practice Irom this 

 casual experiment, and therefore we proclaim it 

 simply to the world that all may profit by it." 



As this experiment can be easily tried, we hope 

 Bome of our farmers will put it to the test, and 

 communicate the result. We shall certainly try 

 it on a small 7 by 9 lot of ground, which is the 

 largest that is vouchsaliid to a dweller in the 

 city. 



GROWING POTATOES UNDER STRAW. • 



For tlic Farmers' Register. 



Some remarks in a late number of the Farm- 

 era' Kegister, relative to growing potatoes under 

 straw, induce me to make the Ibllowing state- 

 ment: 



JMany years ago, my father had a bank in his 

 meadow (near Philadelphia) which could not be 

 irrigated in the common way, on account of the 

 thin, porous soil resting on a bed of loose sand- 

 stone. The water from a fine spring had been 

 turned on, but it sunk down and disappeared. 

 Recourse was then had to flooding. An em- 

 bankment sufficient to hold all the water that 

 could collect in twelve hours, was constructed ; so 

 that, every night and morning, a tide swept over 

 the surface, and good crops were obtained. In 

 process of time, however, the flood-gate ceased 

 to perform well, and weeds of little value for hay 

 got possession of the bank. A new plan was 

 determined on. Late in spring, when vegetation 

 was well advanced, we laid potatoes among the 

 grass and weeds at proper distances, and then co- 

 vered the whole with straw about a foot in thick- 

 ness. The product was good, though the season 

 was dry; the grass and weeds were smothered 

 and destroyed ; and the year after we had a fine 

 crop of clover. D. T. 



Greaifield, Cayuga co., N. K, 11 mo. 2, 1841. 



aristida oligantha. poverty grass. 

 hek's nest grass. 



(Subject continued from p. 613.) 



For the Farmers' Register. 



In addition to the two species oi" jiristida de- 

 scribed at page 61.3 of the current volume of the 

 Farmers' Register, jf. oligantha is entitled to 

 notice as being the poverty grass of the district 

 of country above tide water. Its specific charac- 

 teristics are that the flowers are solitary and dis- 

 tant ; and the awns very much elongated, and 

 divaricate rather than contorted. It is the most 

 conspicuous and luxuriant species of the whole 

 genus. In the month of September it attains its 

 full size, which is about 15 to 18 inches in height; 

 covering whole fields of impoverished land, and, 

 apart li:om the asiociations with which it is con- 



nected, exhibiting a pleasing and wavy appear- 

 ance. It flourishes on the same soils which pro- 

 duce ^. dichotoma, ul. gracilis, A. purpuras- 

 cens, 4'c. 



When the seeds have become matured, they 

 are exceedingly annoying to persons walking 

 through patches of this grass. They insinuate 

 themselves into one's clothes, from which they 

 are with difficulty detached. When the plant 

 is in flower, it has been supposed by some farmers 

 to aflbrd nutritious grazing to stock. It is then, 

 at any rale, very tender and luxuriant. It is 

 an annual, and flowers in September. 



All the species of Aristida are doubtless includ- 

 ed in the provincial name of poverty grass : for 

 to an unpractised eye it is only by a somewhat 

 careful examination that the specific differences 

 are detected. And before the period of flowering, 

 it is still more difficult to distinguisii them. 



The range of this species is not well defined 

 by botanists. According to Eaton it is a southern 

 plant, though it is not described in Elliott's Botany 

 of Georgia and South Carolina. From the pre- 

 vious notices published in the Farmers' Register, 

 it is probably not common in the tide water region 

 of Virginia. In Chesterfield, Goochland, and 

 the adjacent counties, it is by far more common 

 than any of its congeners. T. S. P. 



Chesterfield county. 



GROUND OF PREFERENCE FOR DIFFERENT 

 KINDS OF WHEAT. SURFACE MANURING. 



Absence from home during the latter part of 

 October, and continued indisposition since, have 

 prevented our paying attention to several of the 

 past communications at the lime of their appear- 

 ance, Vv^hen comments would have been better 

 timed, and perhaps more satisfactory than now. 

 These several omissions will now be supplied. 



We entirely agree with our valued correspondent, 

 Mr. A. Nicol, in considering it an important rfe- 

 sideratum, that some of our most experienced 

 and successful wheat farmers shall present their 

 opposite views of preference for each of sundry 

 diflerent kinds of wheat as the supposed best 

 crop. And without designing to exclude, or to 

 slight such information or opinions from any other 

 source, we would especially request the opinions 

 of iVlessrs. Hill Carter of Shirley, John A. Selden 

 of Westover, and William B. Harrison of Bran- 

 don, because understanding that these gentlemen 

 prel'er diflerent wheats, and because the judgment 

 of each of them deserves high respect. We could 

 name many others from whom opinions on this 

 subject would be no less valued, but of whose 

 preferences of kind nothing has been heard. 



In our own general practice for more than the 

 twenty last years, we have adhered to the " moun- 

 tain purple straw wheaf," and, on the whole, 

 have preferred it to any other kind. Sundry othe 



