236 



N i^ \V 



ENGL A N D FAR M E R 



JAN. ar, 1841. 



Fur the N. E. iTiiiinc^r. 



ORGANIC MATTERS IN OUR SOILS. 

 Mr Put.nam — Dear Sir — I was smnewhat sur- 

 prised on taking up the last number oi' tlie North 

 American Review, to find thit the views published 

 by Professor Hitchcock on the above subject, were 

 still maintained. 



1 had supposed that since the discovery of the 

 crenic and apocreiiic acids in the soil, that the in- 

 dejinitt and imkscrihahlt cotupound called geine, 

 had been consigned to the shades, as having been 

 merely the step usfd by the laborers in the field of 

 agricultural chemistry, in advancing that science to 

 its present position. 



I am sorry to see geine slill gravely advanced 

 as a siu.|ile substance, with known chemical pow- 

 ers, instead of giving it its true name and charac- 

 ter, that of a mere name, given by M. Berzelius to 

 a substance, the composition of which he had not 

 been able to discover. 



This substance has been proved by the most 

 rigid chemical examination, to consist of the crenic 

 and apocrenic acids, combined in different propor- 

 tions. 



It seems now as absurb for a chemist to use the 

 term of geine, as it would be for a student in alge- 

 bra to express his results by the unknown quantity 

 which has enabled liim to obtain tliem. 



Though a system of analysis has been published 

 which was founded on the hypothesis of geine, it 

 was sometime since, and the gentlemen who then 

 advanced those views, may liave since changed 

 their minds upon the subject, but the author of the 

 reviews to which I have referred, whom we have 

 every reason to suppose is impartial, should be able 

 to bring forward some facts, in support of a theory, 

 which he has advanced in the present state of the 

 subject. 



Though I am aware, sir, that you prefer ii see 



With respect to the time of transplanting, it 

 may with proper care be done anytime. Yet tliere 

 is a hest time, but iWicii this is, seems to beheld 

 different by various cultivators. We do not decide 

 nor aim to doit. We will, however, state, that we 

 transplanted evergreens every month, commencing 

 in May and finishing in November, (except .\ugust,) 

 with cnhVe success. Slill the time which we pre- 

 fer is, when they are in most vigorous growth; for 

 at that time, less care is necessary, in taking a por- 

 tion of the soil with the roots than at any other pe- 

 riod. Those we removed the latter part of the 

 season were from low lands, and we generally se- 

 lected such as had sprung up from old moss-cover- 

 ed logs, the soil a sufficiency of it, being easily 

 removed with such. Evergreens should in no case 

 be pruned, as their low branches form an important 

 item in their beautiful growth. The horrid prac- 

 tice of taking off the tops of trees, is yet too com- 

 mon. They can never acquire a large beautiful 

 growth when this prevails, and we should almost as 

 soon think of cutting off a favorite calf's head in 

 order to have it rrrow without eating, as of reducing 

 a tree to a stump in order to make it live. 



What a luxury to the traveller are trees by the 

 wayside. Travelling with a friend, during some 

 of the sultry days of last .Tuly, in the river region 

 of Columbia and Duchess counties, (N. Y.,) we 

 had full opportunity of testing their utility, for we 

 passed more than one long row of large beautiful 

 cliorry trees, rendered still more pleasant by the 

 rich fruit clustered upon tliem, of which the own- 

 ers made us as welc;ome as to the water from their 

 wells. Here was a double luxury — agreeable 

 shades to screen us from the sun as we paised 

 along, and cheering fruits to refresh our parched 

 lips. Were such hospitalities extended over the 

 country, what a lovely land it would be. And how 

 easily such improvements might be effected ! In- 

 dividual action in a few years would accomplish 

 the whole. Let individuals who have commenced. 



en by paths, and unspotted by a patch cleared here 

 and another there, with but little probability of • 

 succeeding growth upon them. Where woodlands 

 have cleared patches in them on which grass is be- 

 ginning to show itself, we would recommend set- 

 ting locusts, and in a .short time such places will 

 become well wooded. W. B. 



Mount Osceola, 184L 



your columns filled with practical matter, I consid- „^ ^^^ ^„,, „ ^^^^^^^ seeing their good works," must 



er the present subject to have so important a bear- 

 ing on very many of the every day operations of 

 the farmer, that I trust you will pardon the length 

 of my observations. M. B. W. 



[Upon the subject here noticed we are not quali- 

 fied to express an opinion. We willingly insert 

 the communication, because we infer that it comes 

 from a laboratory where analyses are made with 

 great exactness Eu.] 



For the New England Farniur. 



TRANSPLANTING TREES. 

 This has become a thrice hackneyed subject, as 

 we are well aware, yet we know of no better way 

 of awaking the public interest in it, than by keep- 

 ing it continually before the people. Such an in- 

 terest we are happy to see increasing, and at the 

 same time we have hofies tliat it will become gene- 

 ral. The great reason, if we mistake not, why 

 every body does not put out at least one tree, is, 

 that through mismanagement, many who do it lose 

 their labor. For ourselves, we can see no reason 

 why a tree properly transplanted should die any 

 more than a cabbage. The care which is reciui- 

 eite to one, will insure success with the other; and 

 he who successfully plants a tree, |)lants an object 

 which he and his contemporaries may admire all 

 their days, and leave for the admiration of future 

 generations. 



eventually follow in their train. 

 Mount Osceola, 1841. 



W. B. 



For the New England Farmer. 



WOOD AND WOODLANDS. 



As long as sunuiier and winter, cold and heat 

 hold their appointed seasons — as long as shins float 

 on the ocean, iiien build houses or manufactories 

 and furnish them, or ride in carriages, so long tim- 

 ber lands will be an object worth preservation. 

 And the experience of each succeeding year goes 

 to prove more fully that their preservation is a 

 matter of growing importance, if we have any re- 

 gard to the comfort or convenience of those who 

 are to succeed us in the drama we are now acting. 



Practice with regard to them seems about as va- 

 riable as the number of individuals adopting it, so 

 that if a right way is known it is not in all cases 

 pursued. The habit most generally prevailing, of 

 going into woodlands and selecting the oldest and 

 decaying timber, has its objections ; for where it 

 is pursued, a great quantity of smaller trees are 

 necessarily destroyed in felling it, and more in 

 getting paths about in different directions, by which 

 means the land in a few years becomes thinly 

 clothed. So that on the whole we are inclined to 

 think that the most judicious way of managing 

 woodland is, to cut olT all as circumstancs require ; 

 then a new and even growth will spring up, unbrok- 



From the Farmer's Cabinet. 



HESSIAN FLY. 



Discovery believed to have been made in relation Ui 



the Hessian Fly. 



A paper presented to the American Philosophi 

 cal Society by Miss Margaretta H. Morris, of Ger 

 mantown, and relating to the above mentioned sub 

 ject, was subsequently ordered by that body to bi 

 published in their Transactions. As, however 

 some time will elapse before the appearance of thi 

 number of the Transactions wliich will contain he 

 paper, we have thought that we could better servi 

 the agricultural readers of the Cabinet by extract 

 ing the information given in a journal recentl; 

 authorized by the Society to be published by its sec 

 retaries, in an abridged form and of earlier appear 

 ance. In the proceedings just printed for Novem 

 her and December, 1840, we find the subjec 

 mentioned, in some paragraphs of which we her 

 subjoin a copy. 



"The committee, consisting of Mr Nuttall, M 

 Lea, and Dr. Coates, to whom was referred a con^ 

 munication by Miss Margaretta H. Morris, on th 

 Cecidomyia destruclor or Hessian Fly, reported i 

 favor of publication, which was ordered accordingl; 



" The committee express the opinion, that slioul 

 the observations of Miss Morris be ultimately proi 

 ed to bo correct, they will eventuate in consider: 

 ble benefit to the agricultural community, an' 

 through it to the public. Miss Morris believ( 

 she has established, that the ovum of this destriu 

 five insect is deposited by the parent in the seed i 

 the wheat, and not, as previously supposed, in lli 

 stalk or culm. She has watched the progress i 

 tl:e animal since June, 1636, and lias satisfied he 

 self that she has frequently seen the larva withi 

 the seed. She has also detected the larva, at vi 

 nous stages of its progress, from the seed to bi 

 tween the body of the stalk and the sheath of ti 

 leaves. In the latter situation it passes into tl 

 pujia or flaxseed state. According to the observ; 

 lions of Miss Morris, the recently hatched Ian 

 penetrates to the centre of the straw, where it ni; 

 be found of a pale greenish-white semi-transpare 

 appearance, in form somewhat resembling a silj 

 worm. From one to six of these have been four 

 at various heights from the seed to the third joii 

 They would seem to enter the pupa state about tlj, 

 beginning of June. 



" This fly was not observed by Miss Morris 

 inhabit any other plant than wheat. 



"To prevent the ravages of this destroyer of tl 

 grain, it will be proper to obtain fresh seed fro 

 localities in which the fly has not made its appea' 

 ance. By this means the crop of the tollowii 

 year will be uninjured ; but in order to avoid tl 

 introduction of straggling insects of the kind frc 

 adjacent fields, it is requisite that a whole neis 

 borhood should persevere in this precaution for U 

 or more years in succession. This result was o 

 tained, in part, in the course of trials made by J 

 Kirk, of Bucks county, Pa., with some seed wht 



