TO'!-. XI v.NO. 15. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



in 



Vfgetabi.e Diet. — There cannot be a doubt 

 tbat tbo diet of tlie Irish is highly favorable to vi- 

 vncity and talent. It is stated in the Code of 

 Henltli, that " vegetable food has a happy influence 

 on the mind, and tends to preserve a delicacy of 

 feeliritr, a liveliiie.-'s of imagination, and an acute- 

 ness of judgment, seldom enjoyed by thof e wlio 

 live principally upon animal food. The latter is 

 belter calculated for those who labor with the body ; 

 but the celebrated Fr.mklin ascertained that a veg- 

 etable diet promoted clearness of ideas and quick- 

 ness of thought, and that a transition from vegeta- 

 ble to aninnl food produces injurious effects. A 

 friend slates that he has more than once selected 

 from his tenant's children a boy remarkable for 

 that sinartness of intelligence so couuiion in the 

 Irish youth, while in the capacity of errand boys 

 on the farm, or helpers in the stables, and before 

 they became pampered with better food than their 

 parents' cabin afforded. Tlie lads were at first 

 lively and intelligent, and displayed a degree of 

 shrewdness e.xceeding what is generally met with 

 from youths of a more e.\alted walk of life in Eng- 

 land. But he invariably found that in proportion 

 as these boys were better fed, they relaxed in ac- 

 tivity, became dull and stupid ; and he is confident 

 the chonge in disposition sprung from the effect of 

 chuug(^ ill diet, and was not owing to corruption ot 

 mind from their intercourse with the other ser- 

 vants. In fact they lose all that vivacity of man- 

 ner so inherent in the Irish boys, whether born in 

 the vast bog of Allen, or in the dry and rocky coun- 

 ties of Mayo and Galway. He is therefore in- 

 clined to think that the character of the people 

 does not depend so much upon climate or soil, as 

 upon food, for no part of the globe can differ more 

 than these parts of that kingdom. 



A potato diet is found greatly to improve the 

 quality of the blood. Hence roasted potatoes have 

 been successfully employed as a specific against 

 the sea scurvy, when other remedies have failed. 

 — Sir John Sinclair. 



Bone Dust for the Cultivation of Grain. — The 

 exportation of bones from Germany to England, 

 constitutes a singular epoch in the annals of com- 

 merce. Myriads of tons have been already export- 

 ed without glutting the market, or causing a ces- 

 sation of the demand. In the North Sea, mills 

 have been erected to pulverize tlieni. This bone 

 powder or bone dust wiis long ago exclusively ap- 

 plied to the purposes uf hot houses by German hor- 

 ticulturists; but the English, emboldened by tlieir 

 riches, have extended its use to general objects of 

 agriculture, and fertilize, by these expensive means, 

 their cold, humid, :uul poore-t land; and have 

 thus brought the iiphinds of Nottinghamshire, the 

 western parts of Holderness, &.c.., into the highest 

 state of cultivation, both in point of extent and in- 

 tenseness of fertility. There is, consequently, a 

 proverb " that one ton of German bone dust saves 

 the importation of ten tons of German corn." As 

 Malta formerly co\ered her naked rocks with for- 

 eign soil, so doe.s Engl md now fertilize her clay 

 and sandy heaths with German bones. Near the 

 sea coast even the churchyards are robbed of their 

 venerable relics, which is only ironically excused 

 by rendering the German bone trade popular. An 

 agriculturist, being rendered altimtive by this vast 

 exportation, institutrd privately some comparative 

 experiments, the results of which prove that bone 

 dust acts in the cultivation of ground, as compared 

 to the best stable manure, J. In respect of the 



quality of corn, as seven to five. 2. In respect to traverse it in various directions, without being sen- 

 quantity, as five to four. 'i. In respect to the du- sible of this fact; and in consequence of such lia- 

 rability of the energy of soils, as three to two. It jbility to suffer, the land in many districts is cold 



produces several collateral advantages: I. It de 

 strovs weeds. 2. It diminishes the necei'sity of 

 suffering the land to he fallow. 3. This concen- 

 trated manure, or substitute for manure, is more 

 easy of conveyance, less laborious to spread, and 

 can with facility be applied to the steepest vine- 

 yards or other inaccrssible lands, either mountain- 

 ous countries or wet meadow land. 4. It renders 

 agriculture practicable without cattle breeding, 

 grazing, &,c.—Iiejjertory of Invenliom. 



STAGNANT WATER. 



and poor, as lanil not freed from stagnant water 

 always must be. 'I'he hard pan lands which cover 

 so large a portion of the country, may be named 

 as belonging to this class, though some of these 

 contain more clay than others, and are therefore 

 more shallow and difficult to work than others, 

 where the subsoil, although still too retentive, lies 

 deeper, and is therefore not so irijurioui as the first 

 kind is well known to be. 



Much of this hard pan, when freed from its 

 stagnant water, drained and ploughed, will become 

 very fertile and productive; indeed there is nocase 



Of all the causes that contribute to render soils j^ ,yi,icli a soil cannot by sufficient labor and ex- 



poor :uid worthless, we believe there is none more 

 active than stagnant water, on the surface or im- 

 mediately below. Such soils are invariably close 

 and teracious, and commonly ipiite unproductive. 

 Where there is a retentive subsoil, the surface 



pense, be made precisely what is desired. The 

 native earths that go to constitute soils, the clay, 

 sand, and lime, iu themselves do not make a soil 

 productive ; properly mixed and proportioned they 

 constitute a base for the action of the vegetable 



m- 



generally abounds in clay, is difficult to work, and ■ ^nj animal manures, and the various salts or sti 

 gives a loss reward to labor than almost any other. '< ukting agents, that excite the organs of plants to 



vigorous action, and ertable them to make these 

 secretions from the matter furnished them, to be 

 appropriated to the growth of the plants. Man, 

 then, has only to do what nature in some cases has 

 the surface for even a short period, for the roots of i herself done ; that is, to proportion the several in- 

 a plant cannot penetrate a soil freely, in which the LreJients that go to make a productive soil, that 

 density is such that rain water does not freely sink the desired result shall be' attained. Chemical 

 through it to the natural drains in the subsoil, be- analysis has- here come to the aid of the agricnl- 

 low the ordinary range of the roots of plants. | t,,rist, and shown him precisely the proportion of 



This is owing to the stagnant water held by it, as 

 ncmc of the valuable plants can flourish in- a soil 

 so constituted. Land is liable to injury from this 

 cause, on which water during wet weather rests on 



Water is essential to the growth and perfection of 

 plants, but water that does not circulate, or which 

 exists in too great quantities, is fatal to thi'in ; and 

 the first thing to be done, is to free soils frona this 

 incumbrance, if we would give it prodnctivooess, 

 and render it easy of culture. 



It is from these well known effects of stagnant 

 water, when on the surface, or witfiin reach of the 



the earths, and the nature of the ingredients that 

 are necessary to make a soil fertile, and the causes 

 that tend to advance or retard such a consumma- 

 tion. Where water is too abundant, it must bo 

 removed by draining ; where the soil is too com- 

 pact, it must be loosened by deep or subsoil 

 ploughing ;. where the proportion of clay is too 



great, sand must be addeil until it is sufficie.itly 

 roots of plants, that the necessity of draining arises, i friable : if lime is absent, it must be added ; if 

 and which system of operating, when fully carried , animal or vegetable matter be wanting, it must be 

 ""I' ""'"fT^^ changes the ^character "f lands j s„p|.ijed ;. and if the soil is too, light and porous, 



day will' be found a remedy most effectual. 



Whatever difference of opinion, therefore, may 

 be entertained of the best methods of freeing land 

 from stagnant water, there can be no reasonable 

 diuibt of its propriety or necessity. To llie farmer 

 who has lands wet, cold, and difficult to cultivate, 

 we would say, free your soil from all stagnant wa- 

 ters to the depth of eighteen or twenty-four inches; 

 loosen it to that depth, either at once or gradually, 

 and there will be no difficulty, under a judicious 

 course of cultivation, of producing on lands now 

 of little value, all the most important products of 

 agriculture. — Mbnny Cultivator. 



submitted to such a course. .Manures applied to 

 soila abounding in stagnant water, can produce 

 little effect ; the salts they contain are diluted, and 

 cannot produce that action, or circulation of atoms, 

 which appears absolutely necessary to productive- 

 ness. In clay, or in stagnant water, where sub- 

 stances are not e.v posed to heat and atmospheric 

 agencies, decomposition is slow. Every farmer 

 knows that manures produce much more effect on 

 loam, gravel, or drained clay soils, than on those so 

 retentive as to have water on or near the surface. 

 Draining them, and a>ration, or the exposing the 

 soil to atuiosfihcric action, to the influence of the 

 sun and air by deep ploughing, seems to be the 

 only thing that can be relied on to correct this 

 serious evil. 



Instances indeed occur in which the wetness of 

 land is produced by springs, which rising from the 

 earth, spread over it ; but in far the greatest num- 

 ber ot cases, the stagnant water is owing to a re- 

 tentive subsoil, that prevents th'! escape of such 

 water as falls upon it. In either case, however, 

 the remedy is the same ; and in the language of 

 Morton on Soils, complete and perfect draining; is 

 the foundation of all improvement in husbandry, 

 and it should, therefore, be the first step we take in 

 attempting to improve or ameliorate the soil. 



A very large proportion of the lands in this 

 country, are of that class that suffer more or less 

 from the accumulation of water. No person can 



Curing Haius, — A correspondent of the Far- 

 mer's Cabinet gives the following method of pre- 

 serving hams : 



I turn my barrel over a pan, or kettle, in which 

 I burn hard wood for seven or eight days ; keeping 

 a little water on the head of the barrel, to prevent 

 it from drying. I then pack two hundred weight 

 of ham in my barrel, and prepare a pickle, by put- 

 ting six gallons of water in a boiler, with twelve 

 pounds of salt, twelve ounces of saltpetre, and 

 two quarts of molasses. This I stir sufficiently to 

 dissolve the salt, &c., and let it boil and skim it. 

 I then let it cool and pour it on my ham, and in 

 one week I have smoked ham, very tender, of an 

 excellent flavor, and well smoked. 



