No. 6. 



The Ploush in the Garden. 



171 



preventive of the rot in potatoes. This it 

 does by absorbing- the extra quantity of car- 

 bonic acid, wliich is highly infectious, and, 

 unless its power is destroyed in some way, 

 diseases the plants. Any person who so de- 

 sires, can satisfy iiimsclf of the fact tiiat 

 charcoal possesses this power, by referring to 

 the letter of R. L. Pell, of Pelhani Farm, 

 Ulster county, N. Y., to Hon. H. L. Ells- 

 worth, dated December 18th, iy44, and pub- 

 lished in the Report of the Commissioner of 

 Patents, page 241. 



It may as well be mentioned, that as char- 

 coal possesses the power of condensing am- 

 monia, it would be an excellent thing to use 

 about stables, &c. By always keeping it 

 dry, after it has absorbed all the ammonia it 

 will absorb, until you wish to apply it — to the 

 wheat plant for instance just after it has 

 blossomed, a valuable end may be gained, as 

 the wheat plant may then have the kind of 

 manure it wants, just at the time it is most 

 needed for the purpose of forming gluten. 



To prove the position I have taken in the 

 foregoing, that charcoal is highly useful to 

 farmers, I select the following article from 

 a newspaper which has recently come into 

 my hands. It shows conclusively, that ex- 

 perience fully sustains the theory. 



" Value of Charcoal. — From the following 

 experiments in the use, this year, of char- 

 coal on wheat lands, its value will be duly 

 estimated. Field No. 1 — 20 acres, .50 bush- 

 els of coal per acre, 25 bushels of wheat per 

 acre. No. 2 — 4 acres, no coal, 5 bushels per 

 acre, and badly rusted. No. 3 — 15 acres, .50 

 bushels of coal, 25 bushels of wheat to the 

 acre. No. 4 — 25 acres, 50 bushels of coal, 

 35 bushels of wheat to the acre. No. 5 — 15 

 acres, 25 bushels of coal, 25 bushels of wheat. 

 No. 6 — 8 acres, no coal, 5 bushels of wheat. 

 No. 7 — 6 acres, no coal, 3 bushels of wheat. 

 The soil and culture were precisely alike, and 

 the grain was sown in April and May. The 

 soil abounds in lime and organic matter. 

 The coal costs S30 per 1000 bushels, ground 

 in a common bark mill." 



Chemico. 



Wilkcsbarre, Nov. 1st, 1845. 



From the Farmer and Mechanic. 



The Plough in the Garden. 



Ten years experience in this country has 

 convinced me, that an entirely different sys- 

 tem of gardening should be pursued to that 

 of Europe. In England, those who employ 

 good gardeners, have generally a noble es- 

 tate, descended from their ancestors, and to- 

 gether with it, an abundant income, to keep 

 the estate in first-rate order. Here, where 

 fortunes have to be acquired, generally by 



personal industry and perseverance, it is not 

 to be supposed that proprietors under these 

 circumstances will be so lavish of expendi- 

 ture. It appears to me then a mistake to 

 lay out grounds after the plan of English 

 proprictois. The first expense may not be 

 grudged, but the after expense of keeping 

 the place in repair is always so. I believe 

 brother gardeners will bear me out in the 

 assertion, that in nine cases out often, there 

 is an unwilliniinoss to allow sufficient help, 

 or means, to keep places in anything like 

 order, either in England or here. The con- 

 sequence is a disgust, rather than pleasure, 

 on the part of both gardener and employer. 



To obviate these difficulties, then, I would 

 propose, that the vegetable garden, at any 

 rate, should be without box-edgings and gra- 

 vel-walks, and so situated as to be easily 

 worked with a plough, cultivator, &c. — a 

 square or oblong is always best in form — 

 and instead of the old fashioned four-quarters 

 and subdivisions into beds, and alleys, for 

 each kind of vegetable, let there be a con- 

 tinuous row of each, the whole length or 

 breadth of the garden, sown or planted, say 

 two and a half feet apart, and worked with 

 one horse and cultivator, or plough v/ithout 

 mould-board — a garden so worked will be 

 found profitable, the bulk of the work being 

 done by a farm labourer, it gives the gar- 

 dener a little more time and opportunity to 

 attend to t!ie multiplicity of other matters 

 that must not be neglected, and which oc- 

 cupy an immense amount of time, care, and 

 attention, seldom noticed by his employer. 



The objection to the plough in the garden 

 on account of want of depth, is happily done 

 away with, now that we have the subsoil 

 plough — a plough that ought to be much 

 more general in use. I noticed some fine 

 ones at the Fair. 



I know that gardeners generally have a 

 prejudice against the plough in the garden, 

 and till within a few years, I was among the 

 number — but I can tell them, from five years 

 experience with the plough, that it is far the 

 easiest, most expeditious, and quite effectual ; 

 I raised good crops, and spent by far the most 

 pleasant five years service in my life — plea- 

 sant, because by means of the plough, I could 

 get crops in season, and my work always he- 

 fore me. Very respectfully yours, 



G. K. 



Newark, October 14tli, 1845. 



Peach Worm — A sharp penknife, or a 

 sharp wire is the best preventive for the 

 worm. The insect insinuates itself under 

 the bark of the tree, where ordinary poison- 

 ous applications will not reach it 



