No. 1. 



A Covering to the Ground useful. — TJie Alpaca. 



25 



grow grain during several consecutive years 

 in the same ground, even when it is fertile 

 and manure is abundant, owing to the al- 

 most insurmountable difficulty of destroying 

 weeds. The fallow was justly considered 

 the most efficient and economic means of 

 getting rid of these. For this purpose fal- 

 low crops, as they were called, were intro- 

 duced. Peas, beans, vetches, were at first 

 the only plants used as fallow crops. 



However, it was soon perceived that the 

 fallow crops occasioned a very sensible dimi- 

 nution in the produce of corn; to counteract 

 this inconvenience, recourse was had to a 

 surcharge of manure; but as this cannot 

 always be obtained, it was necessary either 

 to reduce the cultivated surface or to appro- 

 priate a certain amount of meadow. Still 

 the fallow crops had this advantage, that 

 they enabled the farmer to derive from land 

 a greater amount of produce in a given time 

 without prejudice to the raising of corn. 

 Hence the plan of turning the fallow to ac- 

 count was soon generally adopted. 



The introduction of clover so modified the 

 system of fallow crops as at one time to in- 

 duce the belief, that the point of perfection 

 had been attained in agriculture. This was 

 when it was ascertained that trefoil, which 

 had hitherto been only cultivated in small 

 enclosures, might be sown in spring upon 

 corn land, and occupy next year the place 

 of the fallow in the triennial rotation. Tre- 

 foil, so far from exhausting the soil, was 

 found to give it new fertility, and the suc- 

 ceeding corn crop yielded a plentiful har- 

 vest. — Bou&singaulC s Rural Economy. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



A Covering to the Ground useful. 



Dear Sir, — In all the essays I have seen 

 on the application of manure, no account has 

 been made of the advantage the soil receives 

 from a covering. I have noticed that a spot 

 covered by a board, a pile of rails, a heap of 

 stones — in short, no matter what, on remov- 

 ing the encumbrance which has occupied 

 the ground for two or three months, and 

 cultivating it, it is found much better than 

 the adjoining land. Observe a forest tree 

 standing in a field — if of tolerable size and 

 thrifty, it will impoverish a quarter of an 

 acre or more, yet the same kind of trees 

 will grow close together and vigorously in 

 the forest, where their leaves form a close 

 covering to the ground, and at the same 

 time the soil will be improved. Acting on 

 these suggestions, I have for some years put 

 my manure on clover in the spring, which I 

 designed to turn under for wheat in the fall, 

 giving the land the benefit of the covering 



of both the manure and the clover during 

 the summer; and I think a given quantity 

 of manure does more good to my land in 

 this way than in any other that I have ap- 

 plied it. I state these things to you. Sir, 

 that the attent on of scientific men may be 

 turned to this question. Does not a cover- 

 ing act so as to prevent the escape of am- 

 monia and other substances beneficial to the 

 soil ! Yours, &c., 



Henry Van Dyke. 



Kingston, N. J., June, 23ril, 1845. 



Spare the Birds. — Travellers in the north 

 of France cannot but perceive the almost to- 

 tal absence of birds in that district. The 

 country is open and rarely broken by a 

 hedge-row; and thus shelter being denied 

 them, they seek more favoured spots. The 

 effect is as obvious as it is injurious, for 

 there is no limit set to the ravages of the 

 caterpillar, or the destruction of the grub. 

 The Pontia rupee, or small cabbage butter- 

 fly, swarms to an extent which must be 

 seen to be believed. The Scarabceus milo- 

 lant ha, too, ^ies in myriads; and there are 

 no rooks to follow the plough. — Eng. paper. 



The Alpaca. 



lis naturalization in the British isles con- 

 sidered as a national benefit, and as an 

 object of immediate nlility to the farmer 

 and manufacturer : by Wm. Walton. 



For most of our cultivated plants, and, in- 

 deed, for many of our domestic animals also, 

 we are indebted to other countries. With 

 regard to the former, the history of their in- 

 troduction is, in many cases, well established 

 in detail ; but it is so long since the latest 

 of them — the potatoe, the turnip, or the man- 

 gel-wurzel, or carrot, for instance — was first 

 cultivated in our country, that farmers have 

 fairly settled down into the belief that they 

 must make the best of the subjects they have 

 on hand, for that Nature has nothing further 

 in her stores suited, in our climate, for the 

 wants of man or beast. And with regard 

 to the latter, the introduction of the very 

 latest, dates so much further back, that we 

 must estimate the prejudice as stronger still, 

 which scouts at the idea of any further ad- 

 dition being made to our stock of domestic 

 animals from the lists of other countries. Of 

 course, in speaking of this universal preju- 

 dice, we allude simply to the generality of 

 those who at present occupy and cultivate 

 our soil, and who form their opinion, proba- 

 bly, without very well knowing the grounds 

 upon which it rests. 



There is very probably, notwithstanding 

 the general notion to the contrary, that a 



