VOb. XVI. NO. 53. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



4J3 



fifty years, it may be questioned whether there are 

 five iiiiles of lolerahle hedge from idipurted varie- 

 ties of thorn or liolly plants, in the United States. 

 Tlie difterenee, between the moist, temperate, and 

 equable climate of England, and the hot, dry, va- 

 riable climate of this country seems to have been 

 overlooked ; when a recollection of this fact would 

 have convinc(!d any one aiqiiainted with the phy 

 siology of plants, thai our seasons must be fatal to 

 English Iiedges. Whetlier there are any of our 

 native plants that will sup[)ly this desideratnm, re- 

 mains to l)e seen. 



Not immediately connected with agriculture, 

 but still closely associated with its prosperity, is 

 th« eft'ect of climate on roads. In England all 

 the principal roads are IMaedaniized or covered 

 with a thin layer of finely broken stone, that uni- 

 ting by its own angles forms a pavement of rock 

 impervious to water and smooth as a floor. Vast 

 sums of money and labor have bee:i spent in this 

 country in attem|)ting to give some of our princi- 

 pal roads sucli a surface, but mostly without suc- 

 cess. The frosts of our winters penetrate below 

 any coat of metal that can be applied, and the lift- 

 ing and heaving tlius produced will break up and 

 destroy the pavement annually. There can be no 

 doubt that more labor and stone broken, has been 

 applied on the Seneca turnpike between Utica and 

 Canandaigua, than on any similar road in England ; 

 yet while one is as smooth as if composed of solid 

 rock, the other for some months in the year is al- 

 most impassable. This is owing to the greater 

 intensity of otir frost ; and in constructing our 

 roads, by overlooking this difference of climate, 

 or not properly guarding against it by deep and 

 efTective draining, we have followed a system not 

 ailapted to our country. Against this additional 

 ditBciilty our lines of railroad must contend, and 

 any system of construction that shall place them 

 beyond the action of frost, will be a national ben- 

 efit. 



The worst effect which our variable climate 

 and intense cold, has on our agri<',ulture, when 

 compared with that of England, is its influence on 

 our wheat crop. Siu-h a thing as winter killed 

 wheat is scarcely known in that country; while 

 in many parts of this, especially where clay pre- 

 dominates, wheat in all seasons is more or less 

 liable to iujin-y, and in some years has more than 

 two thirds perished. The heaving out of the roots 

 of wheat and clover plants by the expansion ef 

 frost, and which is here the most fatal in the 

 spring of the year when it thaws the surface by 

 day unil freezes it by night, is something svhieii 

 agriculturalists in that country are rarely called 

 to guard against, and which of course never enters 

 into their caletdations in the preparation of their 

 soil. Here it is advisable in all cases to "uard 

 against the evil, by such a system of ploughing 

 and manuring as shall most efTectually obviate 

 the danger arising from this source. 



In reading or a<lopting the modes of English 

 farmers in the preparatioH and application of ma- 

 nure, tlie influence of climate should not he for- 

 gotten. If any thing has been established by ag- 

 ricultural chemistry, it is that all manure loses in 

 value exactly in proportion as the fermentation 

 and decomposition goes cu in the open air, Ijy 

 which most of the volatile and liner parts of the 

 manure is lost to plants. In a liigh temperature, 

 such as our summers possess, yard or stable ma- 

 nure, will ferment rapidly, and if left as it gener- 

 ally is, e.xposed to the ruin and sun, its Value an'l 



efficiency is triuch lessened. If piled in large 

 masses, as is practised by some farmers, ami then 

 allowed to stand through the summer, a custom 

 followed to some extent in England, it must be 

 remembered that fermentation and decomposition 

 goes on here with a rapidity unknown there, a 

 fact depending on the greater heat of our sum- 

 mers, and hence the more necessity of gnardin" 

 against the loss of the fertilizing gases thus liber- 

 ated. The proper place for tlie decoitiposition of 

 manure is beneath the surface of the earth ; hut 

 where it is desirable as it sometimes may be to 

 keep it over the summer for fall application, the 

 manur.! should be piled in layers alternating with 

 earth, (atid if this is partially combined with lime 

 so much the better) which will absorb the vola- 

 tile salts and parts thrown off by the decomposi- 

 tion and fermentation which in our climate must 

 take place, and the quantity and quality of the 

 manure will he greatly increased, over what it 

 would be if left to ferment in the yard, or heaped 

 but uncovered with earth. 



It appears then, that in things relating to the 

 soil alone, its preparation or amelioration, the ap- 

 plication of animal or mineral manures, or the ar- 

 tificial arrangement of crops, American farmers 

 may with safety copy the e.\am|)le of British far- 

 mers, and derive important advantage from the 

 perusal of English works on agricidture. So they 

 in general may, in all things relating to the pres- 

 ervation of crops from insects or diseases, such as 

 the grub, cutworm, blight, mildew, wheatworm, 

 &e. as these are common to both countries, and 

 the balance of experience is altogether in favor of 

 Europe. In every thing relating to wheat they 

 are entitled to a hearing above all other men ; as 

 in no country is the culture of that valuable grain 

 carried on so successfully ; and this is owing in a 

 great tnrasure to the skill and science that has 

 been brought to bear on the proiiuction of that 

 crrp. In raising cattle, and the common and im- 

 proved breeds of middling fine wooled sheep, En- 

 glish farmers are e.xceeded by none, and on all 

 these topics they may be considered as qualified 

 to instruct us. Fine wooleil sheep, however, not- 

 withstanding the pains taken with them have 

 never succeeded in England. The imported me- 

 rinoes from Spain and Saxony have deteriorated 

 and wasted away; and their place with the En- 

 glish farmer is supplied by the harder and heav- 

 ier Leicester and South Down. The ifnmense 

 quantities of fine wools used in the English fac- 

 tories, are imported from Germany, France, and 

 Spain ; and hence in the management and growth 

 of the fine wooled breeds of sheep, we have little 

 to learn from them. There is no doubt that the 

 production of fine wool is at the present moment 

 fiir better understood in the northern states than 

 in England, and there are more Saxon and Merino 

 sheep in Vermont and New Hampshire, than in 

 the three kingdoms. 



But it is mainly on those points of agriculture, 

 where cheapness of labor, and the influence of 

 climate can be brought to bear, that we find Brit 

 ish agriculture to cease from being suitable models 

 for us, and are thrown on our own resources of 

 observation an<l comparison. Because corn can- 

 not be grown in England is no reason why the 

 farmers of the United States should not plant ; 

 and on the other hand, because the whin and tlie 

 holly make a durable and beautiful fence in Eng- 

 land, it furnishes no conclusive proof that such 

 results would ensue in our country. English far- 



merB use little or no precaution against the winter 

 killing of wheat, or the destruction of roads by 

 Irost ; but here such |)recautions are essentially 

 necessary, and based on reasons, respecting whicii 

 the F^nglish farmer knows nothing from experi- 

 ence, and therefore must be illy qualified to in- 

 struct. 



A comparison of English experience in farm- 

 ing, with our, in some respects, ruder methods 

 of proceeding, must h." always advantageous, as 

 suggesting hints for improvement, and enabling 

 us to correct errors into which, for want of such 

 experience, we are prone to fall. But to infer 

 that any course, would, as a whole, be successful 

 here, simply because ii has proved so there, would 

 imply an ignorance of the causes that are opera- 

 ting to produce great difFerences in the methods 

 of culture there and here, which should nctexist; 

 causes whicli may be traced to the powerful, but 

 too frequently overlooked operations of tempera- 

 ture and climate, and whicli are therefore ever 

 acting and permanent. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



South Strafford, June 14, 1838. 



Messrs Editors — I bought a pig last fall weigh- 

 ing 90 lbs. A few days after he was brought home 

 he was taken with what I supposed to be the 

 blind staggers, he was treated as is usual in such 

 cases, say by cutting off his ears, putting salt in 

 his forehead, &c. in a few days, he so far recov- 

 ered as to eat with his usual appetite. I then 

 gave him a dose of sulphur, he continued to eat 

 well till the day he died, but pined away to a mere 

 skeleton, and became so weak that he stumbled 

 into a small pond and strangled tc death. I had 

 him carefully examined, and on taking out his 

 lights found them growing fast to his ribs, which 

 I think is never the case in healthy animals, in the 

 lights were found four worms 4 1-2 inches long 

 about the size of a common pin ; his heart case 

 was grown fast to his heart so that it was with 

 difficulty it could be separated without pulling the 

 heait in pieces. Will you or some of ycur cor- 

 respondents inform me through your paper, what 

 was this disorder ? what the cause and remedy if 

 any ? 



I would just remark here that I have taken 

 ycur paper two years and get much useful infor- 

 mation from it. There are many things known 

 and practised by some, which if made public would 

 be of great benefit to the cause of agriculture. I 

 saw an article in your paper last fall respecting 

 saving apple putiiice for cattle in winter, the idea 

 was new to me for I had always considered it of 

 little value except for pigs who got a few seed 

 from it. 1 had what was left at my mill spread 

 in a shed chamber and dried for winter's use ; it 

 was fed out the first of the winter the same as 

 grain or potatoes, and the cattle and sheep ate it 

 with as good a relish. I think 1 speak within 

 hounds, when I say it saved meat least $12 worth 

 of hay, which would havo been almost entirely 

 lost had I not seen the article before alluded to. 

 I think it would be well for farmers to write more 

 for your paper, and let each other know how to 

 make these little savings, and then the advantage 

 which will be derived will be Mutual. 



It is a fact, disgraceful to the American people as well 

 as the government, that liiere is not a single Life Boat 

 on the whole vast extent of American Coast, the most 

 dangerous and inaccessible, taking the seasons through, 

 in the coinmerci&l world. — Salem Gai. 



