Vol. XI.— No. 12. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



93 



filled with iiioisluie, than the undisturbed ground Pannia was buried nearly eighteen inches, and it 

 in its vicinity, let him continue a disbeliever. still keeps its place. 



But there is another mode, and it is one which i I had planted Jlrum dracunculus from the south 

 1 have never seen suggested, by which I appre- of Europe at the usual depth for lilies, but it was 

 liend the stirring of the surface, and niaUing it [destroyed liy the frost. I was then advised to 

 li^ht and porous, is beneficial in great droughts. It | plant at the depth of eight or nine inches, which 

 is this: light ])orous bodies are bad conductors h;is proved to be sufiicient, for it has safely with- 

 of heat: perhaps because they have more uir i stood our hardest winters, although the border is 

 between their interstices. The facts are familiar | rased several inches. In trying such experi- 

 to us. Metallic bodies acquire an intense heat un- [ mnits, however, with Amaryllis or Pancratium, I 

 der the rays of the sun, so do stones in proper- 1 W)uld recommend a border of heavy loam enrich- 

 tion to their density. The earth when very com- | ei by vegetable earth, either sunk or on a level 

 pact, will become exceedingly hot, but garden wth the general i^iufuce. 



loam, which is very porous, remains cool at noon- Shrubs which are annually killed to the ground, 

 day, two inches below the surface. I believe, ' and then produce flowers on Jtalks of the present 

 therefore, that moving the surface, and keeping it yar's growth, become in effect herbaceous peren- 

 in a light and porous state, enables it to resist Wie nals. 1 have several plants of this kind which 



heat of the gull's rays, that the air between the par- 

 ticles of earth communicates the heat more slow- 

 ly than the particles themselves do, when in close 

 contact. 



Such is my theory : but I am an enemy of theo- 

 ries, I always distrust them, I look only to facts ; 

 and having observed that a slijht covering of half 

 an inch of sea-weed would preserve my strawber- 

 ries from drought, which can only arise from its 

 lying so loose on the surface, I have been led to 

 infer, that the undoubted fact, that soil in a loose, 

 pulverized state resists drought, is owing to the 

 same cause, to wit, the slowness with which the 

 heat of the solar rays is communicated to the roots. 

 But be the theory sound or unsound, I am per- 

 suaded that every farmer will find that the free 

 use of his plough and hoe, in times of severe 

 drought, will be of more value to him, than as 

 much manure as that labor would purchase. I 

 have been always convinced from my experience 

 as an horticulturist, that the great secret in culti- 

 vation consists in making the soil porous. In rais- 

 ing exotic plants we know it to he true, and our 

 flower pots are always supplied with soi,the 

 most porous which we can obtain. The farmer 

 may borrow light from an occupation whici he 

 looks upon with disdain, but which serves tc elu- 

 sidate and explain the secrets of vegetation. 



J.L. 



suffered from the frosts of last winter, but which 

 hive become reconciled to a climate widely dif- 

 firent from that in which they indigenously grew. 

 Cenista tincloria and Hypericum hircinum, on 

 salks which have i-isen this spring from the 

 gound, have long since presented their beautiful 

 yellow flowers; and Lagerstramia indica under 

 smilar circumstances is m-w covered with deli- 

 fate purple blossoms. Vitex agnuscastus is pre- 

 jaring for a similar display ; and several China 

 rjses scarcely retain the habit of shrubs. D. T. 

 Sth mo. 8, 1832. 



741hs. 7oz. and estimated at 591,000 grains. This 

 year Mr Lance of Lewishan, bad been trans- 

 planting wheat, and in every instance the root 

 transplanted is better than those reniaininir in the 

 seed bed. He also divided a root in February 

 which then contained 14 straws; it was separated 

 into 7 roots; they are now, June !(!, in nundier 

 170 straws, and nearly all out in ear; many of the 

 ears are 6 inches long, and appear as if they would 

 yield 70 grains in each ear. This would make 

 11,900 grains from one. There are many minor 

 straws not taken into this account. Many of the 

 transplanted roots contain 40 and 50 straws, and 

 are six feet high, with some ears that are seven 

 inches long. The soil into which it was trans- 

 planted is an alluvial sand, which has had a 

 top dressing of chalk. Transplanting offers em- 

 ployment for redundant laborers. 



From the Geaesee Farmer. 



EXOTIC PLANTS. 



There are two kinds or classes of exotic pants 

 from warmer climates, usually kept in green Idus- 

 es, which may be safely trusted in the open bader 

 with a very little care, viz : 1. Bulbs that jear 

 deep planting, and a temperature in winter aiout 

 the freezing point. 2. Shrubs that flower, ifter 

 having been killed to the ground, from a stak of 

 ihe present year's growth. 



In a sunk border, deeply planted, I have had 

 Amaryllis longifolia several years without susfiin- 

 ing the least injury in winter, although it is iidi- 

 genous to the Cape of Good Hope; and a fluist 

 of great experience is of opinion that several eth- 

 er species of that fine genus, might be planed 

 along side in the same border with every prospct 

 of success. 



It is surprising from what a depth soine stroig 

 bulbous or tuberous rooted plants will portruce. 

 Some years ago, in autumn, by accident, a Cro\ n 

 Imperial was covered by a mound of earth tvo 

 feet deep ; yet in the spring it forced its way ip- 

 ward, and has continued ever since to flower ai- 

 nually. By the same mound the root of a 



From the American Farmer. 



AUTUMN STRAWBERRIES. 



We know not whether the following fact is 

 ommon or not, but it certainly is a new thing to 

 its. In a field containing great quantities of com- 

 mon " old field" strawberry plants, which bear 

 abundantly every spring, we have found about a 

 dozen plants now (20th September,) just ripening 

 thiir fruit. The plants differ in no respect froin 

 the common ones. These ))lants are all situated 

 within a few feet of each other, and on carefully 

 examining the field, we can find no others now in 

 fruit or flower. The questions that naturally 

 suggest themselves are, whether these plants have 

 been forced by some peculiarity of the season to 

 bear a second crop of fruit, as is often the case 

 with apples and cherries, or retarded in their first 

 crop ; or are they a new variety produced from 

 seed, with the pecidiar and valuable property of 

 bearing fruit in autumn ? None of the plants ap- 

 Jiear to have borne fruit this year, nor are there 

 any runners as yet visible, either old or young. 

 It would seem that the circumstance is not caused 

 by any peculiarity of the season, as these plants 

 are surrounded tliickly with others which show 

 no signs of such an effect. We shall carefully 

 transplant them for the purpose of ascertaining 

 whether this be a periuanent character, or a mere 

 vagary of nature. 



British Cattle. — A century ago, our cattle from 

 the inferiority of their leed, were not one half, 

 sometimes even not one third, of their present 

 weight. It is computed that England and Wales 

 now contain, at least, five million oxen, and a mill- 

 ion and a half of horses, of which about a million 

 are used in husbandry, 200,000 for pleasure, and 

 300,000 are colts and breeding mares. The num- 

 ber of sheep is about twenty millions, and eight 

 million lambs. The number of long-woolled sheep 

 is about five millions, their fleeces averaging 6 or 

 8 lbs; and of short woolled sheep fifteen millions, 

 the weight of fleece averaging from 3 to 3^- lbs. 

 The whole quantity of wool annually shorn in 

 England is from eighty to eightyfive million of 

 pounds. The Merino were introduced about the 

 beginning of the present century, and were im- 

 l)orted in large numbers after our alliance with 

 Spain in 1809. The great pasturage counties are 

 Leicester, Northampton, Lincoln, and Somerset- 

 and for butter and cheese, Cheshire, Gloucester- 

 shire, and Wiltshire. The import of butter and 

 cheese from foreign countries is checked by du- 

 ties, but these are important articles of Irish com- 

 merce with England. 



ON TRANSPLANTING WHEAT. 



In the " Philosophical Transactions," vol. 58, 

 there is a statement of Mr C. Miller, of Cambridge, 

 who sowed some wheat in June 1766, and in Au- 

 gust a plant was taken up, and separated into 18 

 parts, and replanted. These plants were taken 

 up and divided in October following, and planted 

 separately to stand the winter ; which division 

 produced 67 plants. They were again taken up 

 in March, and produced 500 plants. The number 

 of ears thus formed from one grain of wheat was 

 21,209, which gave 3J pecks of corn, weighing 



•^gt- of Sheep.— The age of sheep may be known 

 by examining the front teeth. They are eight in 

 number, and appear during the first year, all of a 

 small size. In the second year, the two middle 

 ones fiill out, and their place is supplied by two 

 new teeth, which are easily distinguished by being 

 of a larger size. In the third year two other 

 small teeth, one from each side, drop out and are 

 replaced by two large ones ; so that there are now 

 four large teeth in the middle ; and two pointed 

 ones on each side. In the fourth year the large 

 teeth are six in number, and only two small ones 

 remain, one at each end of the range. In the 

 fifth year the remaining small teeth are lost, and 

 the whole front teeth are large. In the sixth 

 year the whole begin to he worn, and in the ser- 

 enth, sometimes sooner, some fall out or are 

 broken. 



Last year Mr Joseph Perkins of Newbury, 

 raised 646J^ bushels of onions on an acre of land. 

 This vegetable has not been denounced, we be- 

 lieve, by the physicians, though it may have been 

 by the fashionables. 



The Middlesex Mutual Insurance Company 

 will receive no application for iasurance from per« 

 sons habitually intemperate. 



