NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



71 



Flax, or Linseed, is in Southern Europe a weed in 

 the ordinarj' grain crops. 



Hemp is a native of Persia and the East Indies. 



The Garden Cress out of Eg\"pt and the east. 



The Zealand Flax and Syrian Swallow show their 

 origin by their names. 



The Nettle, which sometimes furnishes fibres of 

 spinning, is a native of Europe. 



Woad is a native of Europe. 



Madder came from the east. 



Dyer's Weed grows in southern Germany. 



Safflowcr came from Egypt, 



Dill is an eastern plant. 



Hops came to perfection as a wild plant in Ger- 

 inan)'. 



Mustard and Carraway seed the same. 



Anise was brought from Egypt and the Grecian 

 Archipelago. 



Coriander grows wild near the Mediterranean. 



Saffron came from the Levant. 



The Onion out of Egypt. 



Horse liadish from the south of Europe. 



Chickory grows wild in Germany. 



Tobacco is a native of Virginia, and Tobago, another 

 species, has also been found Avild in Asia. 



Fuller's Teasel grows wild in southern Europe. 



Lucerne is a native of Sicily. ^ 



Spurry is a European plant. 



The Gourd is probably an eastern plant. 



The Potato is a well known native of Peru and 

 Mexico. 



The Jerusalem Artichoke is a Brazilian product. 



Turnips and Mangold Wurzel came from the shores 

 of the ^lediterranean. 



KohLrabi and White Turnip are natives of Ger- 

 many. 



The Carrot is by some supposed to have been 

 brought from Asia, but others maintain it to be a 

 native of the same country as the Turnip. 



The Parsnip is supposed also to be a native of the 

 same place. 



Spinnach is attributed to Arabia. 



White Millet to Greece. 



The Kadish to China and Japan. 



The Cucumber to the East Indies. 



Parsley grows in Sardinia. 



Tarragon in Central Asia. 



Celery in Germany. 



OF TREKS AND SHRUBS. 



The Currant and Gooseberry came from southern 

 Europe. 



The Pear and Apple are likewise European plants. 



The Cherry, Plum, Olive, and Almond, came from 

 Asia Minor. 



The Mulberry Tree from Persia. 



The Walnut and Peach from the same country. 



The Quince from the Island of Crete. 



The Citron from Media. 



The Chestnut from Italy. 



The Pine is a native of America. 



Horse Chestnut from Thibet. 



The Whortleberry Ls a native of both Asia and Eu 

 rope. 



The Cranberry of Europe and America. 



DRAINING AND SUBSOILING. 



Esteemed Fkiend : I drained, last April, about 

 four acres of hard clay bottom, an account of which 

 I sent to the Working Fiirmor. This land was well 

 manured, part of it subsoiled, and all planted in 

 com. The early part of the season was wet and 

 cold, and there was some difficulty in getting the 

 seed in in time. After it came up, it lingered until 

 the warm weather arrived, and then took a vigorous 

 •tart, and continued to improve rapidly until the 



crop came to maturity, which proved to be in quanti- 

 ty far beyond my expectations. 



An acre that was drained, surface ploughed, and 

 subsoiled, produced eighty-six and one half double 

 bushels of ears of sound corn. An acre that Avas 

 drained and worked in the usual way, produced 

 eighty bushels. An ac e adjoining the drained part, 

 of about the same quality of land but not so fiat, and 

 of course better calculated to raise a crop, produced 

 with the same manure and tillage, forty-one and one 

 half bushels. 



The result of this experiment surprised me very 

 much. I was not prepared to find such a difference 

 in the bushel from draining and subsoiling alone, and 

 the diaining but half finished. The drains were 

 made thirty-three feet apart, as I intended at some 

 future time to double their number. 



It now appears that when the draining is finished, 

 which will be at a cost of about $30 per acre, and 

 the groiind completely subsoiled, it will not be 

 an extravagant calculation to expect one hundred 

 bushels of corn per acre, and other crops in propor- 

 tion, if the land is well manured and cultivated. 



The cost of draining can be considerably reduced 

 by using pipes of burnt clay, and an instrument for 

 digging the drains described in the Working Farmer, 

 one of which I have had made, and intend to use 

 next spring. The result of my efforts I may com- 

 municate to the public, for fertilizing this heretofore 

 neglected kind of land seems to be so nnportant an 

 operation that all cultivators of it should be made 

 acquainted with these facts. 



These four acres one of my neighbors considered 

 as "a cold, dishy kind of land, so flat the water 

 would not run off ; and even if it would, the soil was 

 so poor that nothing could grow upon it but swamp 

 grass ; " and when he saw the number of hands em- 

 ployed in draining it, he enquired whether I thought 

 the produce would pay the expense. 



The outlay of money commenced in April, and 

 now, in December the capital is all returned, with 

 seven per cent, interest, and the land in a highly im- 

 proved condition. 



Tliis one experiment is, of course, insufficient to 

 establish a rate of profits for draining and subsoiling, 

 but it certainly offers strong inducements to perse- 

 vere in this mode of treating all such comparatively 

 worthless parts of our land. 



There are some reasons for believing that the re- 

 sult of this experiment is not greater than may be 

 expected from other land similarly situated. 



This cold, wet kind of soil, uj)on which none of 

 the small grains have ever grown to any extent, has 

 in it a large stock of food for pUmts, ready to be 

 taken up whenever the soil is divided so as to admit 

 their roots to run easily through it, and nothing can 

 so completely do this as a thorough draining and 

 subsoiling. 



The rains, passing through the subsoil into the 

 drains, perhaps, leave all the ammonia they contain 

 in the land, and thus a fertilizer is introduced to the 

 roots of the plants. Again, by draining and plough- 

 ing, the roots of plants have doubled the ch;uice to 

 extend their fibres and increase their strength. 



These facts strengthen the opinion that draining 

 and subsoiling have been the principle agents in 

 producing those extraordinary crops, and that similar 

 results may be expected from land of a like (juality, 

 treated in a like manner. B. WEBB. 



Wilmington, 10^/t \2 Mo., 1849. 

 — The Workinij Farmer. 



A preacher, who advised a drowsy hearer to take a 

 pinch of snuff occasionally at service, to keep him 

 awake, was advised in return, to put the snuff in his 

 sermon. 



