358 •^ Gentle Shove to Farmers, SfC— Canada Thistle. Vol. II- 



pared, I hold it of the highest importance to 

 mix well the earthy and vegetable parts to- 

 jjother. Few persons are perhaps aware how 

 rapidly the earth facilitates vegetable decom- 

 position, and to what a surprising degree 

 it absorbs the excess of fertilizing effiuvia, 

 which must otherwise be evaporated durmg 

 the process of decomposition. This circum- 

 stance, 1 believe, taken in connexion with the 

 careful economizing of all animal excretions, 

 constitutes chiefly the great secret (I might, 

 perhaps, add alleged necromancy,) that has 

 added already so much verdure to my pre- 

 viously exhausted soil, and been so profitable 

 to me, and so surprising to my neighbors. 



No farmer can imagine, that has not tried 

 the experiment, what a prodigious quantity 

 of rich, vegetable, and fibrous earth may be 

 collected from corners and bye-places, which 

 lie out of the way of cultivation, and which, 

 from their retired position, have, perhaps, ne- 

 ver so much as attracted his notice. All such 

 refuse trash, and fibrous earths and weeds, 

 by being conveyed to his barn-yard, at inter- 

 vals, during the fall and winter, and judicious- 

 ly combined with its contents, will be con- 

 verted into a rich, fertilizing, and durable 

 manure, merely by absorbing and retaining 

 that excess of putrescent fluids and effiuvia, 

 which is otherwise lost by filtration and eva- 

 poration; that is, by soaking away and drying 

 up. W. H. 



Pittstown, Salem Co. N. J., May GOfli, 1838. 



For !lie Farmers' Cabinet. 



A gentle shove to Farmers about Boiling 



and .Steaming Food for Stock. 



Those farmers who intend to save from 

 one-third to one-half in feeding their stock 

 the coming autumn and wmter, should look 

 out in time and procure and put up a proper 

 apparatus for boiling or steaming grain, roots, 

 and cut hay and corn stalks. It will take 

 .some time to think and talk about this very 

 important, though not expensive fixture; the 

 place where it should stand, and the particu- 

 lar manner of its construction will claim due 

 consideration; and after these matters are 

 determined on, the materials must be got to- 

 gether and a workman engaged to put it up; 

 and by the time all this is done I fear it will 

 be needed for preparing the food for the hogs ; 

 so that you had better begin to think it over 

 scon, and not leave till another year what had 

 better be accomplished this season. A far- 

 mer who put up a very simple and cheap affair 

 for this purpose last fall, thinks that it saved 

 him the whole expense incurred, in fattening 

 his hogs alone. He gave them no grain that 

 was not first boiled. B. 



Men are too apt to be more concerned for 

 their credit than for the cause. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Canada Thistle-— (Cniciis Arvensis.) 



I have noticed in the Cabinet several arti- 

 cles on the Canada Thistle, setting forth the 

 injurious character of this vile plant, yet as 

 I consider it of such vast importance to the 

 farming interest to keep clear of this (of all 

 othersfmost obnoxious weed, I cannot refrain 

 from raising my voice against the further in- 

 troduction of it among us. It has already 

 made its appearance in several directions, to 

 the no small annoyance of the proprietors, 

 and if suffered to remain undisturbed, it vvill 

 continue to increase until it has taken full 

 and entire possession of the soil, to the exclu- 

 sion of every other plant, and may be handed 

 down from generation to generation as a per- 

 manent legacy. In some of the western parts 

 of the State of New York, where it has par- 

 tially taken possession, you may discover 

 many respectable tillers of the soil reaping 

 their wheat with gloves on, and binding with 

 willows ; and some fields may be seen where 

 it has become so thickly set that the owners 

 have given the ground up in despair, as not 

 producing herbage enough to feed a rabbit. 

 That this may not be the unhappy situation of 

 any land holder in our beloved Pennsylvania, 

 I would recommend the most watchful care 

 to prevent the further introduction of it either 

 by sowing or otherwise ; and landlords would 

 do well by procuring seeds themselves, and 

 not trust to their servants, who, in some in- 

 stances, may be induced to purchase seeds of 

 doubtful character, on account of the price of 

 the article. 



Considerable quantities of very impure 

 timothy seed is distributed every season by 

 traders among our country store-keepers and 

 other.', who are commissioned to sell it for 

 them ; and by this means many an honest far- 

 mer is made practically acquainted with what 

 he may in vain wish to discard. To those 

 wiio are so unfortunate as to have their 

 grounds already inoculated with it, J would 

 urgently recommend their giving it immedi- 

 ate battle, show it no quarters, but cut it oflT 

 before it has time to perfect its .seed ; then 

 procure a sufficiency of salt, not only to cover 

 the stump, but to extend a foot around it in 

 every direction, to prevent the fibrous roots 

 from the main stalk from shooting up and pro- 

 ducing new plants; this, if properly done, 

 will entirely eradicate it, and I believe it is 

 the only effectual method yet discovered. As 

 it is well ascertained that every small parti- 

 cle of the root, as well as the seed, will vege- 

 tate and produce fresh plants, it would be the 

 height of folly to attempt to destroy it by 

 ploughing; this will only distribute it over the 

 ground and increase it many fold. 



Farmer. 



