vol.. XIX. NO. 33. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



253 



vailiniT [jrriss of our salt marslies, we receive fiotii 

 nature without knowing how to aid In its increase. 

 One liiindred pounda cut July ]6th, gave sixty 

 pouiuii;. 



The Jilack grass (Juncus bulbosus) grows prin- 

 cipally H'liere the water is freshened by streams 

 from the uplands. It is the most valuable salt 

 grass we have and but little inferior to upland 

 grass, we know no means of artificial increase. One 

 hundred pounds, cut July ]8th, gave tliirtyeigut 

 pounds. 



VVe have too far trespassed on the time of the 

 readers to do more than allude to some of those 

 grasses which have been introduced and proved 

 unsuitable for our culture. 



The Wild Oat grass (Avena elatior) with the 

 Rye Ray or Durnel grass with which it is said to 

 be confounded, are often seen in our pastures and 

 meadows, but animals seldom toucli them. They 

 have a strong woody fibre and afford little nutri- 

 ment, tiiough well spoken of south of us as well as 

 in Europe. 



The Burnet scarcely shews itself for a year and 

 then disappears. 



The Succory has been praised by Mr Arthur 

 Young, that distinguished agriculturist, who sent it 

 to Gen. Washington. It has been introduced here, 

 is disliked by cattle, and has become one of the 

 most troublesome intruders in our fields. These 

 with the St. Foin and Lucerne and many others 

 have passed away and seem to have ceased with 

 us to excite expectation. Of the Orchard grass or 

 cocks-foot (Dactylis glomcrata) the trials 1 have 

 witnessed do not enable me to speak so decisively 

 as one of the trustees, Mr Prince does, who ap- 

 proves of it. It may be considered as in a course 

 of experiment. 



My desire, sir, in the preceding, has been to aid 

 in exciting an attention to the best means of cul- 

 ture for our grass lands. The process of sowing 

 grass seeds was far from universal within the re- 

 collection of many in this country and is lamentably 

 insufficient now. Its neglect has been complained 

 of even in Europe. It has been contended that 

 nature would furnish according to her own capaci- 

 ty the power of increase in this particular. Thus 

 the soil was to be furnished with the means of pro- 

 moting vegetation by labor and art. But here 

 these were to stop, and the stimulating principles 

 were to evaporate and be wasted, and one or two 

 good crops lost in waiting for this slow process. 



15ut Ihe blindness of this doctrine is vanishing 

 before the light and improvement of the present 

 age. VVe learn from experience that the earth 

 presents to industry and skill her ceaseless efforts, 

 and never j-auses but from our neglect. 



Subjoined is a table showing the loss of weight 

 in drying grasses. The White clover of 18"22, was 

 taken in the shade. That of 1823, from a light 

 warm soil exposed to the sun. The Red clover in 

 182:5, was taken in the first year of its product, in 

 close growth, and for that reason falls short of 

 1822. The Salt grass of 1822, was, I have reason 

 to suppose, a second growth, which accounts for 

 the difference of the two years. 



100 lbs. of green White clover gave — 17^ 



' ' Red clover 



' ' Herds grass 



' ' Fresh meadow 



' ' Salt grass 



' ' 2d crop or English Rowan 



' ' Corn stalks 



100 lbs. of Spiked Oat grass gave 

 ' ' Red Top 



' Rhode Island 



' ' Couch grass 



' ' Marine Black grass 



50 

 46 

 40 



48 

 38 



For the New England Farmer. 



CAN MEAL HE COOKED BY STEAM.' 

 Allen Pu inam, Esq. — Sir — When conversing 

 with you in December last, you stated to me ymir 

 doubts in regard to the use of steamers, as far as 

 respects the scalding of meal, and expressed a de- 

 sire to learn the result of the experiments I might 

 make. I am now fully satisfied that your doubts 

 are correct, and begin to bo dissatisfied with my 

 steamer, as I think I shall be with all that are on a 

 small scale, and have some thoughts of disposing of 

 mine for another purpose, and trying Mott's Agri- 

 cultural Furnace. 



I see by the N. E. Farmer of this week, that 

 the corn [the " Hartwell "] of which you spake to 

 me as coining from Southbridge, has been receiv- 

 ed. If Messrs Breck & Co. can spare me a bush- 

 el, and you will be kind enough to name it to tlem, 

 I should be glad to have it. W. C. C. 



Providence, /an. 28, 1841. 



deserve, and that rigliteously, to be consulted in 

 such matters. — Yat^hct Far. 



Great Yield. — In the Ithaca Chronicle we find 

 the following statement of the amount and value of 

 production from one fourth acre of land in that vil- 

 lage, ciiltivaled by Mr Aaron Curtis, who furnish- 

 ed it fur publication. 



150 bushels of onions at 50 cts. 



600 heads of cabbages, at 5 cts. 



50 bushels of beets, at ."iO cts. 



$70 

 30 

 25 



$125 



SUITABLE DRESS. 



The labors of the farmer are nearly all such as 

 require a free use of the limbs, especially the arms ; 

 cast off, then, those useless, inconvenient bands of 

 the shoulders — those braces; let the lower gar- 

 ments be made short, so as to button close above 

 the hips; lengthen the vest — a coat to meet them 

 — the expense of the latter being nearly or quite 

 saved in the former ; and when you go forth to la- 

 bor, lay aside the outer garment, and nothing re- 

 strains the free use of the arms, save the loose 

 shirt. In mowing, raking, or pitching hay ; in 

 cradling, reaping, binding or handling grain to the 

 the barn ; in shovelling, chopping, threshing, fenc- 

 ing, draining, ploughing — in short, in almost any 

 labor the farmer has to perform, such an arrange- 

 ment of his dress would aid him much — how much, 

 he cannot know until he has tried it. I have long 

 proved it by experiment, and, although out of fash- 

 ion, shall still continue it. 



Again — it is thought because the farmer shovels 

 manure, holds the plough, drives the team, and 

 does a hundred other things, that therefore he must, 

 of course, be constantly dirty, not fit to be seen; 

 but it is not so : a shovel is made to handle the ma- 

 nure with, and following the plough or driving 

 the team, n.ay be done without getting dirty, if one 

 is suitably dressed. Every farmer should have a 

 frock — a sort of over-all, to put on outside his vest 

 or coat, as the weather may require, coming just 

 below the knees, and buttoning in front, with a 

 belt around the waist, two pockets, in which to 

 rest his hands, when not immediately engaged — a 

 great luxury — to be made of cotton for summer, 

 and woollen for winter. Such a frock is put on or 

 off without trouble ; there is no putting over the 

 head, and it catches all the Hying dust that comes 



120 sugaj beet seed produced 1,125 lbs. of beets, 

 or 22 1-2 bushels, occupying 1 1-2 rod of ground, 

 yielding at the rate of 2,400 bushels per acre. Such 

 crops as the above, and those produced by the edi- 

 tor of the Maine Cultivator, Mr Drew, on his acre 

 of land, prove the profit of cultivating but a little 

 land, and doing it well, in a most forcible manner. 

 —Jib. Cult. 



Good Crops in Old Connecticjit .The New 



Haven Register says that Mr Wilmot, of West 

 Haven, the past season raised two hundred and 

 seventy bushels of corn and ten bushels of potatoes, 

 on three acres of land ; and the Bridgport Standard 

 states that Mr Ellsworth raised on a single acre of 

 land, two hundred and forty bushels of ears of Dut- 

 ton corn. — lb. 



Law against Tobacco. — The following blue- 

 law it is said, was enacted by the colonies of Con- 

 necticut and Massachusetts, as early as 1630 : 



" Be it enacted. That no person under the age 

 of 20, nor any other not already habituated to it, 

 shall use tobacco until he has brought a certificate 

 from a physician, stating that it is necessary for his 

 health, when he shall receive a license from the 

 Court. Those who have already addicted them- 

 selves to this obnoxious weed, are hereby prohibi- 

 ted from using it in company, at their labor, or on 

 their travels, unless they are at least ten miles 

 from any house; and that only once a day, under a 

 penalty of sixpence for each offence, of which the 

 constables are requested to give information to the 

 District Court. For the fourth breach of the law, 

 the offender shall be imprisoned and kept at hard 

 labor for a time specified, when his tongue shall be 

 burnt through with a red hot iron." 



Rapid Increase of Animals. — Naturalists who 

 have spent much of their lives in the study of very 

 small insects, and who have used the most power- 

 ful telescopes, relate wonderful stories of their 

 rapid increase. A scorpion, they say, will produce 

 Co young at a time ; a common fly will lay 144 

 eggs; a leech 150; a spider 170 ; a female moth 

 1100 ; a gall insect 5000. 



One naturalist found 12,000 eggs in a lobster; 

 6000 in a shrimp. Another found 21,000 in a lob- 

 ster. An insect like an ant has produced 80,000 

 in a day. Leuwenhoeck computes 4,000,000 in a 

 crab. 



from rubbing against the team and elsewhere, and 



leaves the clothes at the end of the week as clean A new kind of wheat has been introduced into 

 almost as they were on the Monday morning. It ' South Carolina, which is selling rapidly at .*5 a sin- 

 saves ?huc/i in a cleanly man's feelings; more in gle head ! The Albany Cultivator says it is an 

 the wear and tear of garments, and most of all in I old humbug in a new dress. It is now called Santa 

 the labor and patience of the women, who of course, Fe, or Osage wheat. It " can't come in." 



