334 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



drain, of nine times less capacity, or of four inches 

 in diameter, or proportional to the house, of from 

 three to six inches, keeps perfectly clear. Even 

 three inch drains convoy away the refuse from 

 middle-sized houses, and keep perfectly clear, whilst 

 the lariicr permeable brick drains, which are usually 

 charged three times the price, are choked up." 



" Mr. Hoe, the surveyor of the Holborn and Fins- 

 bury district of sewers, who led the way in system- 

 atic improvements in the form and construction of 

 main lines of sewers in the metropolis, recently, at 

 our suggestion, made experiments on the rate of flow 

 of water through the common brick drains for 

 houses, as compared with the rate of discharge 

 through earthen-ware drains of the same capacity, 

 and with the same run of water. The general results 

 which he gives are, that, through the earthen- ware 

 tubes, the rates of discharge are increased to an im- 

 portant extent : in the smaller and more frequent 

 forms to the extent of more than a third. In other 

 words, an economy of one third the quantity, to 

 obtain the same result, is effected by them, and the 

 general efficiency of the drainage in ordinary runs 

 proportionately augmented, as will appear, at a 

 greatly reduced price. 



" The following are examples : — 



" Table of Comparative Run of Water through Brick 

 iJrains and Glazed Pipes. 



— First Rep. Met. San. Com'rs." 



Mr. Caldwick, of London, has received, from Swit- 

 zerland, a pipe which has served for drainage five 

 hundred years without injury or obstruction, under 

 the pressure of a great head of water. 



These are facts of great value, and should be well 

 and strongly impressed upon the public mind. We 

 have been intending to prepare a set of rules on these 

 subjects ; but Dr. Stevens's suit our views so well, 

 that we prefer using his. There is but one defect in 

 them, and that is the absence of all reference to filth 

 and unclcannoss. Families that have dirtier habits 

 than a free hog (and there are many such) may 

 attend to all the thirteen rules given above, and still 

 be sickly. If there is any one vice for which society 

 should extend no pardoning gifts, it is the wicked- 

 ness of unclcannoss. Those guilty of it should have 

 no vernal bloom nor autumnal fruits to bless their 

 cheerless filth. — Family Visitor. 



OVER-CROPPING. 



This is the leading vice of agriculture in this por- 

 tion of the Southern States. The small and neat 

 farm — that is, the farm small enough in all its ar- 

 rangements for the management of the force which 

 cultivates it — is the "angel's visit" of Southern 

 husbandry. One meets with but few such farms, 

 and meets with them far apart. Instead of farms 

 where every thing appears in complete order and 

 arrangement, one often meets with those widely- 

 spread tumble-downs, where disorder and derange- 

 ment are tumbled together in every variety of con- 

 dition ; and this arises principally from over-cropping. 

 The maxim of agriculture, that the productions of 

 the earth must ever be in proportion to the tillage, 



seems generally to be neglected, or not known in this 

 part of the state ; for, to frame a maxim from the 

 system mostly pursued, the productions of the earth 

 are in proportion to the quantity of surface to which 

 the appearance of tillage can be given. In every 

 department of agriculture, our whole section of state 

 is in a condition of comparative infancy. Can it be 

 said that the production of any article is carried up 

 to the capability of the soil and climate ? The farmer 

 who throws into the shape of cultivation a wide sur- 

 face, which he merely ploughs and hoes, while his 

 mind is as free as vacancy from any thought about 

 the nature of the soil, which he takes as nature gives 

 it, and of the different circumstances of climate that 

 may weary his labors and shorten his crops through 

 the existence of some radical deficiency in the soil, 

 or in the system of culture, may say he raises what 

 he consumes, and sometimes what he sells ; but he 

 owes to God more thanks for a good season than he 

 owes to himself for the exercise of skill and judg- 

 ment. To obtain as much as possible from the num- 

 ber of acres one man can cultivate, and to cultivate 

 no more than may be made to yield the most profit- 

 able quantity it is capable of yielding, should be 

 strictly regarded by every farmer as the worthiest 

 object of his study and his labor ; for the best course 

 of preparation, the best adaptation of soil wliich the 

 manoeuvres of cultivation can oppose to the vicissi- 

 tudes of climate, and the perfect quantity and best 

 quality of that quantity per acre, must remain un- 

 known and unenjoyed until we become content to 

 cultivate less space, and to exert in the premises 

 more practical science and experimental knowledge. 

 A heavy crop from a high state of fertility and cul- 

 tivation, is always the only advantageous one. It 

 shows the skill and industry, properly applied, of the 

 fanner who produces. It shows the practicable ex- 

 tent of agricultural development. In short, it is an 

 example creditable and profitable to him who exhib- 

 its it — worthy of imitation and rivalry, and highly 

 beneficial to the agriculture of the state. No farmer 

 complains of this kind of a heavy crop ; it is a real 

 benefit, and a source of much pleasure. But a crop 

 which is a heavy crop because it occupies a greater 

 number of acres than the cultivator can manage, 

 under a system of culture thoroughly adapted, is 

 commonly no better than the wilful cultivator of 

 such deserves to have. — Mobile Herald and Tribune. 



ACCLIMATIZING EXOTIC PLANTS. 



Let no one imagine he will successfully acclima- 

 tize an exotic plant without paying strict regard to 

 the circumstances of the plant in its native habitat ; 

 such, in part, as situation, aspect, elevation of site, 

 temperature, humidity, time of flowering, seasonal 

 changes, &c. 



These circumstances must be all more or less 

 studied by whomsoever would successfully acclima- 

 tize exotic plants. A plant may be a native of a 

 country warmer than our own in some degree, yet 

 if its native situation be a moist height, or shady 

 mountaii\ side, we should undoubtedly do wrong in 

 placing it in a dry, hot, sheltered situation in this 

 country. 



On the other hand, a plant may be a native of a 

 colder country than our own, yet if its native situa- 

 tion be a sunny, sheltered, and dry one, and its sea- 

 son of flowering late, it would surely be wrong and 

 profitless cultivation, in this country, to place it in a 

 dull, damp situation ; which, were we to look to the 

 only one circumstance of its coming from a colder 

 country, we would naturally do. Again, a plant 

 may be, or may seem to be, from such a cool or native 

 habitat, as to feel our summer sun too strong and 



