1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



427 



many of them worked to an age when growth has 

 long ceased, that is, after the period when the food 

 consumed by them contributes to their growth ; and 

 many of them killed as calves, at a period when 

 growth is most rapid. Great Britain slaughters, 

 annually, two million head of cattle, of an average 

 weight of 600 pounds ; France slaughters annually 

 four million head, all of an average weight of 240 

 pounds. At ten cents a pound, the butchers' meat 

 of two millions of British cattle would pay a hun- 

 dred and twenty miUions of dollars; while the 

 butchers' meat o'f four millions of French cattle 

 would pay ninety-six millions of dollars. 



But that I may avoid wearying the reader with 

 statistics, it may be said in a few words, comparing 

 the total production of the two agricultures, that 

 while France, as a whole, produces ten dollars an 

 acre, England proper produces twenty dollars. 

 The animal produce alone of an English farm is 

 equal to, at least, the total produce of a French 

 farm of equal area — all the vegetable production 

 being additional. Taking the three jmncipal kinds 

 of domestic animals, sheep, oxen, and pigs, the 

 English obtain from these four times more than 

 the French do in meat, milk and wool. Compar- 

 ing the Avheat raised in France, with all its acres, 

 it does not average more than two bushsls to the 

 acre ; comparing all the wheat raised in England 

 to all its acres, it averages four bushels to the acre. 



But the most striking feature, in comparing the 

 two agricultures, is that \^hile the animal produce 

 of England is greater in value than the vegetable 

 produce, the animal produce of France is less than 

 half the value of the vegetable produce. This is a 

 most instructive statement to farmers of every 

 country : for it may be laid down as an axiom in 

 agriculture, that when the animal produce of the 

 country is equal, in value, to the vegetable, its ag- 

 riculture is prosperous, and when the animal falls 

 far short, in value, of the vegetable ])rodace, its 

 agriculture is in an unsatisfactory condition. We 

 have seen in Ireland how poor its agriculture was, 

 and the fact stood before us, that its animal pro- 

 duce was far below its vegetable, in value ; we see 

 the same thing in France ; while in England, we 

 find a rich agriculture, accompanied by the fact, 

 that its animal produce is greater in value than its 

 vegetable. The reason is plain enough, to wit, 

 that the great means of increasing the fertility of 

 che soil are the manures of domestic animals. If I 

 could write but one lesson on the door-post of eve- 

 ry farm-house in the land, it would be this : — "It 

 is live stock which makes an ungrateful soil availa- 

 ble." Agricultural societies, farmers' clubs, wise 

 and grave men in legislative halls, assemble to dis- 

 cuss the subject of manures, and memorialize, re- 

 specting guano islands ; and it is well, and wise 

 suggestions are, doubtless, made ; but this lesson 

 should be, first, inculcated on every farmer, that he 

 must first of all bring his farm and his live stock 

 into such a condition, and into such a relation to 

 each other, that his live stock shall be in propor- 

 tion to the number of his acres, and in such a pro- 

 portion, that his annual animal produce on his 

 farm shall at least equal the vegetable in value ; 

 then, if he have not manure enough, or knows not 

 how to make it, or hov/ to apply it, to the best ad- 

 vantage, "let him consult the brethren." This les- 

 son may, perhaps, be neglected on new western 

 lands, during the brief days of their virgin fertility ; 

 but it cannot be ignored long in northern countries 

 without sad results. M 



LENGTH OF TREE PvOOTS. 



The practice adopted by many cultivators of fruit, 

 shows that the distance to which the trees extend 

 their roots is but very imperfectly comprehended 

 or understood. We allude more particularly to the 

 practice, of digging or loosening small circles of 

 earth at the foot of the trunk, or of working the 

 soil up mellow but a short distance off. We have 

 recently made some measurements to prove the 

 length of the roots of the peach tree. A number 

 of young trees of equal size, and all of the same 

 variety, (the Tillotson,) were set on a piece of ground 

 of uniform quality, at the same time. They were 

 equally cultivated for two or three years, and grew 

 alike. For the past two years, the ground has been 

 allowed to become covered with grass, which has 

 been pastured ; but near one side of the orchard, a 

 heap of old straw, manure, &c., has been deposited 

 l",ut has not been worked into the soil, consequently 

 all the fertility which the roots have obtained has 

 soaked into the soil. The trees are now about two 

 and a half inches in diameter, and ten feet high to 

 the tip of the highest branches. 



The following are the effects of the heap of ma- 

 nure and litter, already described. The tree which 

 stood within two feet of this heap, and whose roots 

 could freely extend under it on one side, has made 

 a growth of shoots the past season, more than four 

 feet and a half long. The next tree, seven feet off, 

 had grown over two feet. The third tree, fifteen feet 

 off, made a growth of fourteen {7iches. The fourth 

 tree, twenty-three feet oft', and all others at greater 

 distances, made no growth more than about eight 

 inches. The fourteen-inch shoots weighed about 

 triple the eight-inch shoots, and the two-feet shoots 

 fifteen times as much, those which grew four and a 

 half feet about seventy times as much. 



This experiment jiroves conclusively, that trees 

 ten feet high will send off" their roots in search of 

 nourishment to a distance of fifteen feet, and what 

 they thus get on one side only, or through about 

 one-fourth part of their roots, will increase their 

 shoots to triple weight. Consequently, if a tree of 

 this size stood in grass, a circle of fertility thirty 

 feet in diameter, or fifteen feet distant on each side, 

 would greatly increase its thriftiness ; decidedly 

 more, according to our own experiments, than if a 

 circle only four feet in diameter were dug about 

 the foot of its trunk. 



If the circle of fertility were only fourteen feet in 

 diameter, or approached within seven feet, the re- 

 sult would be quadrupled, according to the prece- 

 ding experiments. 



Altogether, these results show the great impor- 

 tance of broadcast cultivation, and that young trees 

 only ten feet high, and two and a half inches in di- 

 ameter, even if placed thirl}) fed aparl,ha.\e already 

 extended their roots so for as to meet together. 



An experiment was made by the celebrated Je- 

 thro TuU, to determine the length of the roots of 

 the turnip. A piece of hard and sterile ground was 

 selected, and an oblong space dug out of it, about 

 a foot wide at one end, and eight feet wide at the 

 other. This space was filled with rich earth, and a 

 row of turnips^ planted along the middle. Those at 

 the narrow end were smallest, and they continued 

 to become larger all the v,-ay to the wide end, show- 

 ing that the roots from the bottoms of these bulbs, 

 extended four feet each way. Doubtless the fibres 

 from the roots of most weeds and other plants are 

 quite as long, and if so, the fallacy is evident of the 



