532 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



means of protecting his trees for the coming sea- 

 son, my practical exjierience, though hastily pre- 

 sented, may possibly prove of some value to him. 

 The question again retui'ns, can our trees be pro- 

 tected from the ravages of the canker worm ? I 

 believe they can ; and that by a very simple remedy, 

 which, with your permission, Mr. Editor, I will pre- 

 sent in the next number of the Farmer. 



J. J. H. Gregory. 

 Marhhhead, Mass., Oct. 4. 



THE DEW. 



The following quotation from Dr. Wells on dew 

 is highly instructive : " I had often smiled in the 

 pride of half-knowledge at the means frequently 

 employed by gardeners to protect tender plant from 

 cold, as it appeared to me impossible that a thin 

 mat, or any such flimsy substance, could prevent 

 them from attaining the temperature of the atmos- 

 phere, by which alone I thought them liable to be 

 mjured. But when I had learned that bodies on 

 the surfoce of the earth became, during a still and 

 serene niglit, colder than the atmosphere, by radiat- 

 ing theii- heat to the heavens, I perceived imme- 

 diately a just reason for the practice which I had 

 before deemed useless. Being desirous, however, 

 of acquiring some precise information on the sub- 

 ject, I fixed perpendicularly in the earth of a grass 

 plot four small sticks, and over their upper extre- 

 mities, wliich were six inches above the grass, and 

 formed the corners of a square, whose sides were 

 two feet long, I drew tightly a very thin cambric 

 handkerchief. In this disposition of things, there- 

 fore, nothing existed to prevent the free passage of 

 ail* from the exposed grass to that which was shel- 

 tered except the four small sticks, and there was 

 no substance to radiate downward to the latter 

 grass except the cambric handkerchief. The shel- 

 tered grass, however, was found nearly of the same 

 temperature as the air, while the unsheltered was 

 five degrees or more colder. One night the fully- 

 exposed grass was eleven degrees colder than the 

 air, but the sheltered was only three degrees colder. 

 Hence we see the ])ower of a very slight awning to 

 avert or lessen the injurious coldness of the ground. 

 — HunVs ElenifManj Physics — Bohi's Scientific 

 Library. 



" PLOWING m DROUGHT PHILOSOPHI- 

 CALLY CONSIDERED," 



Editors Soittiiern Cultivator : — In the June 

 number of your paper is an article with the above 

 caption, and as you invite your " practical and ob- 

 serving readers " to give their opinion on this im- 

 portant subject, you have here the opinion of one 

 who is not a practical tiller of the soil, and who pro- 

 fesses to know no more of the matter than can be 

 learned by observation and reflection. The present 

 season has no doubt caused many to philosophize 

 on this subject, and among others the writer, who 

 has arrived at a very different conclusion from your 

 correspondent " J." This conclusion is, that in a 

 dry season, the surface of the ground (say one and- 

 a-half inches,) should he thoroughly pulverized, but 

 that d^-tp plowing is injurious. 



The pulverizing of the surface answers the pur- 

 pose of mulching, and prevents the moisture of 

 the soil below from evaporating ; while deep plow- 

 ing is injurious, because it breaks the roots of the 



crop, and causes the moisture of the soil, in which 

 the i)lant gets its nourishment, to evaporate. 

 Though there seems to be an inconsistency in this, 

 it is only an apparent inconsistency, which vanishes 

 when we reflect upon the manner in which the mois- 

 ture is abstracted from the ground. The evapora- 

 tion takes place at the surface, and the moisture 

 from below is brouglit to the surface by capillary 

 attraction. Now think of the degree of porosity at 

 wliich this attraction will go on and the matter is 

 plain. This hint will be suliicicnt for those acquaint- 

 ed with the laws of natural philosophy. " J.'s" crust, 

 which he seems to value as a retainer of moisture, 

 I consider to be just the reverse, unless it covers a 

 layer of vei-y porous dry soil, or is impervious to 

 water. Another objection to the crust is that it 

 prevents the air from circulating under the ground, 

 as well as it would if it were broken. 



But to ex])ress the idea without philosophical 

 terms, one may easily test the matter by a simple 

 experiment. Fill three boxes six inches deep with 

 earth, and pour over them equal quantities of 

 water, enough to wet the earth thoroughly. Then 

 pack the earth in one box, leave two undistuiiied ; 

 (they will be in the condition of plowed land after 

 a good rain, while the first will be in the condition 

 of unplowed land.) As soon as the crust forms 

 and becomes dry, break it to the depth of one and 

 one-half inches on one of the two and leave it on 

 the other. If my theory is right, the packed box 

 will dry first, the one with the crust pulverized last. 

 If we add a fourth box, and stir it from the bottom 

 occasionally, it would show the effects of deep plow- 

 ing. The boxes, of course, should be exposed day 

 and night. — Southern Cultivator. 



MISTRESS STRONG ATH AM' S CHURN. 



Speaking of churns, we have never seen any oth- 

 er labor-saving contrivance in that department, that 

 for practical convenience and utility could compare 

 I with that of Mistress Strongatham, a notable Eng- 

 'lish housewife, whose acquaintance we had the 

 pleasure of making in one of the rural districts of 

 New York some years since. Having occasion to 

 ! call upon her one summer morning, we found her 

 occupying her huge chintz-covered rocking chair, 

 rocking and knitting as though the salvation of the 

 family depended upon the assiduity with Avhich she 

 applied herself to these occupations. Not that she 

 was uncivil or unsociable liy any means, for the mo- 

 ment we had taken the proffered chair she set in 

 with a steady stream of "talk that was as instructive 

 as it was entertaining, for besides her admirable' 

 qualities as a housewife the lady possessed rare con- 

 versational powers. 



During our call she directed one of her daugh- 

 ters to some duty in a distant part of the house, 

 adding, "I would attend to it myself, but I tnust 

 fetch this butter." Now, we had known something 

 of the process of "fetching butter" in our early 

 days, and the idea of a snow-white churn and an 

 irksome expenditure of elbow grease was as natu- 

 rally associated with it in our mind, as Avas the 

 compensatory slice of new bread and butter after 

 the achievement of the victory. We therefore cast 

 our eyes about us involunfcuily for these indica- 

 tions, but we looked in vain. Of either churn or 

 churning there was no more appearance than might 

 have been seen in Queen Victoria's drawing-room 

 any day in the week. Our curiosity was excited, 



