TOt.. XI. NO. 39. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



229 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 CUIiTIVATIOlV OF THE WlIiLiOW. 



Little jittentioii lias been paid to the cultiva- 

 tion of this genus of trees and shrubs in thiscoun- 

 , try, farther than for shade, and perhaps, in some 

 instances, they have been set on the banks of 

 streams and dikes^ to secm-e them from being worn 

 away by the force of the water. By studying the 

 diflerent varieties of this family of plants, it will 

 be found that jiiany of them are of consequence as 

 connected with the arts. We imiiort yearly into 

 the United States, articles manufactured from the 

 willow to a large amount, most of which is done 

 by that class of laborers for whom ive. have not at 

 all times sufficient employment, or not of thai 

 kind which gives as great a profit as the manufac- 

 ture of different kinds of willow ware would. To 

 render each variety of soil, whatever be the loca- 

 tion, productive of the greatest net profit, should 

 be the constant aim of every farmer, who feels 

 that love of country, blended with a wish for the 

 welfare of every individual in it, which we hope, 

 characterizes every reader of our paper. In al- 

 most every neighborhood in our country, there 

 are particular places which appear to be peculiar- 

 ly adapted to the cultivation of willows: in short, 

 there are but few in which they may not be seen 

 already growing in greater or lesser quantities. 

 Although among those that are found thus grow- 

 ing upon the banks of small streams, or in low 

 marshy places, few of them are suitable for that 

 kind of manufacture which we have alluded to, 

 yet, as the habits of most of this genus are the 

 same, it goes to prove that where less valuable va- 

 rieties spring up spontaneously, the more valuable 

 ones would flourish were they once introduced. 

 Of all the varieties of trees and shrubs natural to 

 our climate, none are more easily propagated than 

 the willow, as cuttiugs of all lengths from a few 

 inches to ten or fifteen feet, when placed in a fa- 

 vorable situation, readily strike root and grow, 

 often making shoots of considerable length the first 

 season. When willows are once established, they 

 will continue to produce young shoots from the 

 crown each year for a great length of time, with- 

 out a])|)areut injury to the roots, although they are 

 cut away annually during the winter. The manu- 

 facture of what is generally called tinllow ware, as 

 cradles, market and work baskets, the covering of 

 many glass vessels, &c. is peculiarly calculated 

 for, and is performed mostly in EngUuul, by that 

 class of people who are collected in poor houses, 

 asylums, aud such places where females and chil- 

 dren constitute a great proportion of their num- 

 bers; and we recollect having vigited a blind 

 asylum, where many of the inmates were engaged 

 in this kind of manufacture, and were surprised 

 at the accuracy and neatness with which they 

 performed it. 



Now, our particular object at this time, in in- 

 troducing this subject, is to call the attention of 

 our supervisors, and others having charge of pris- 

 ons, poor houses, asyliuns and houses of refuge, 

 to it, as a means of giving profitable employment 

 to such inmates as may enable them not only to 

 support themselves, but to assist in defraying the 

 expenses of building such establishments. The 

 employment is such as the most delicate constitu- 

 tions may engage in with safety, and nothing has 

 been discovered attending it which has been deem- 

 ed unhealthy. If our farmers would give this 

 subject a little attention, our country might be ma- 

 terially benefitted by it, even if no more ground 



was appropriated to the growth of willows than is 

 now permitted to be covered by them. In select- 

 ing varieties for cultivation, respect should be had 

 to the use to which they arc to be applied, as no 

 one variety will be found suitable for all purposes. 

 Those intended for the frames of larger work, 

 should be such as not only grow long but their 

 thickness or diameter should be consulted — while 

 those for small articles should have length and 

 elasticity, with the least possible thickness. Three 

 or four varieties, well selected, will be found suf- 

 ficient for stocking most grounds, and the varia- 

 tions of their shoots will be found sufficient for all 

 the common purposes to wjiich they are applied. 



From, the Genesee Farmer. 

 CANADA THISTLES POTATOES. 



I HAVE read with attention and interest all the 

 numbers and articles published in the Farmer on 

 the subject of Canada thistles, but am not yet ful- 

 ly satisfied with the mode proposed by any one of 

 the writers to destroy them ; not but that I believe 

 any one of the methods proposed would destroy 

 them if put into thorough practice ; indeed I know 

 something from experience on the subject: I once 

 stocked down about ten acres to timothy, which, 

 to my great sorrow, the following season, I found 

 must have contained thistle seed, for my field was 

 well sprinkled over with them. I turned the field 

 to pasture — mowed them twice a year, (always en- 

 deavoring to do it just before a rain,) for three 

 years, which destroyed them root and branch. I 

 have since, as I have been clearing new land, found 

 small patches of them, say a hundred or two of 

 |)lants in a patch, which I have destroyed forth- 

 with by cutting oft" near the surface of the ground 

 with my knife, and by applying a moderate dose 

 of old beef or pork brine, out of an old coft'ee pot; 

 like my friend Bradley, (I claim every person as 

 my friend who is an enemy to Canada thistles, let 

 his politics be what they will,) I failed once iti 

 one of the most formidable patches I ever had, by 

 carelessly letting my sheep remain in the field 

 during the operation, which caused a second ap- 

 plication and a double dose ; for my sheep eat 

 thistles and earth below where the salt |)enetrated 

 and a most luxuriant crop sprung up the second 

 year. Now I am going to propose an amendment 

 to Mr. McVean's plan ; but in order to get at it 

 in my round about way, (I write so seldom that I 

 can't make short turns,) I find myself uhder the 

 necessity of treating awhile on the culture of ])ota- 

 toes. My object in the outset was, (as the saying 

 is,) to kill two birds with one stone, as an induce- 

 ment to destroy the thistle ; and I wish I might 

 also in my attempt to get at it. I last spring cut 

 my potatoes, and sowed them broad cast, on 

 near half an acre, on green sward, and covered 

 about ten inches deep with straw. I likewise 

 turned over about one-fourth of an acre, and har- 

 rowed it down pretty smooth, and sowed and cov- 

 ered in like manner, only deeper — I should think 

 about fourteen inches. In the first mentioned I 

 failed, in not putting on depth of straw enough, 

 for the grass grew up through it more or less ; 

 yet I am convinced that that quantity would be 

 sufficient for ploughed groimd. The crop was a 

 fair average one. The pther was uncommonly 

 fine ; potatoes were large, clean, and as fair as ap- 

 ples — grew in clusters of three to eight. Manner of 

 gathering — take an iron tooth rake, and two hands 

 w ill gather veiy fast — one rake and the other pick 

 lip. Although the season was uncominonly dry, 



there was no time when it was not sufficiently 

 moist under the straw for vegetation. 



But to return to the subject first under consider- 

 ation. My amendment is: Whenever the patch 

 of Canada thistles is so situated that it Can be 



made a potato patch of, plough it well once 



harrow it down ])retty smooth — cut your potatoes 

 in the usual way — sow them broad cast. It will 

 then perha|)s be necessary to go over the grotmd 

 and regulate them a little — some places may be a 

 little too thick, others too thin ; I think the pieces 

 of seed ought to be six or eight inches apart ; then 

 cover them with straw from twelve to fifteen inches 

 deep, which I tliiidi will be sufficient to keep 

 down, and nearly, if not quite, destroy the thistles 

 the first year. Your land, instead of being ex- 

 hausted, will be vastly enriched. The greater pan 

 of the straw used in the above process, will, by 

 stacking it up dry, be suitable for a second crop. 

 The land is left in fine order for any crop what- 

 ever. In the case above alluded to, there was not 

 a blade of grass, nor no living vegetable whatever, 

 grew upon it, except the potatoes, while the land 

 cultivated adjoining it was very foul. 



There seems to be a great apathy in farmers, I 

 believe I may say in general, in trying to destroy 

 this noxious weed. One would suppose that 

 most of them considered it wholly lost labor in 

 spending a few hours in a year in mowing them 

 down. I had occasion, in October last, to ride out 

 about eighteen miles from home, and I counted 

 by the way-side twenty-three patches of the Can- 

 ada thistle ; only six of them had the appear- 

 ance of having been mowed or molested during 

 the season. 



Indeed, I am inclined to believe that, unless 

 there can be some immediate profit grow out of 

 the attempt to destroy them, it will not be done 

 without some legislative enactment on the subject. 

 I should therefore be decidedly in favor of a law, 

 making it imperative on some person, in each 

 town, to efiect their destruction ; and at the ex- 

 pense, too, of those who permitted them to grow 

 on their lands, imlessthey would do it themselves. 



Fowhrvilh, Dec. 26, 1832. J. 



EXTRAORDIIVjUIY NERVE. 



A shopkeeper had in his cellar a barrel of gun 

 powder, in a vault with some meal, &c. His sis- 

 ter went, one night last week, to get some of the 

 latter article, and, not knowing which barrel it 

 was in, ojiened the gun-powder first aud did not 

 re-cover it. She presently after re-ascended. 

 "Where is the candle.'" said the brother. "I 

 have left it sticking up in that black sand," was 

 the rc]ily. He instantly descended, and putting 

 his hands together like a fimnel, he placed them 

 round the candle, and thus extracted it from the 

 barrel of gunpowder! When he came up stairs 

 he fainted. 



A Useful Volume. Let thy thoughts and obser- 

 vations he committed to writing every night, and 

 so, in a short time, thou wilt have a book of pru- 

 dence and experience of thy own making. How 

 many fine thoughts hath the best of us forgotten. 



A Tunp, called the Fanny Kemble, was lately 

 sold at Croydon to a florist in Chelsea for £100. 

 So great at one time was the tulip mania in Hol- 

 land that £500 has been given for a tulip, and a 

 single root was considered an ample fortune for « 

 young lady in marriage. 



