270 



Preservation of Apples, Roots, SfC. — Surface Manuring. Vol. V. 



close all up as quickly as possible, after tak- 

 ing out as many as would be required for two 

 or three days' consumption. Depend upon it, 

 it is the fresh air which brings on fermenta- 

 tion, and is more than one half the cause of 

 the complaints we have, of the bad effects of 

 feeding sugar-beets to cattle on the com- 

 mencement of spring. 



I am led to this subject, at the present time, 

 by observing, that at the exhibition of the 

 New-Haven County Ag. Soc, in October 

 last, Mr. Foote, of Bradford Co., Conn., pre- 

 sented some apples of the growth of the year 

 previous, 1839, and that they were greatly 

 admired for their beauty and perfect preser- 

 vation. Mr. Foote observed, they were kept 

 without any extraordinary labour or pains on 

 his part; he merely put them into an unco- 

 vered bin in his cellar, which is made secure 

 from frost — of course out of the influence of 

 the atmosphere ; and in the spring, instead 

 ofopening his cellar for the admission of fresh 

 air, in fine weather, as is usually the case, he 

 keeps all closed tight, as in the winter ; the 

 consequence is, that his apples keep sound 

 throughout the summer ; and he has no doubt 

 that the admission of fresh air in the spring 

 is the sole cause of their decay. Will those 

 who are so fortunate as to have a store of 

 roots for winter and spring food think seriously 

 of this, and make a fair experiment, for the 

 satisfaction of themselves and those who have 

 experienced the disappointment of their hopes, 

 in the preservation of the sugar-beet for spring 

 cattle-feed. Potatoes have been kept sound 

 and good for two years, by depositing them 

 at the bottom of a dry well ; and it is reason- 

 able to expect the same result from the same 

 practice, when applied to the preservation 

 of a root, which, from its saccharine quality, 

 is more likely to run into fermentation than 

 any other crop that is grown. The coming 

 spring will afford an excellent opportunity 

 of putting the matter to the test of experi- 

 ment. 



James Cornly. 



Delaware Co., Penn. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



On Surface 3Ianuring. 



Sir, — If it be true, that plants can take 

 manure into their system when in the form of 

 water only, then assuredly, a great portion of 

 the manure which is turned down by the 

 plough is lost, to say the least of it ; oflen- 

 times, however, the roots of the plants, which 

 are by these means embedded in it during the 

 time of the putrifying process, are seriously 

 injured, being found decayed and quite rot- 

 ten ; witness the instance recorded at page 

 86 of the Cabinet for October last, where a 



whole plantation of cherry trees were de- 

 stroyed by burying at their roots, at the time 

 of planting, a thick mass of stable manure, 

 every tree dying by poison in the third year 

 after planting. The juices of plants must 

 become vitiated by such gross food, and the 

 theory that rust in wheat and various other 

 diseases are occasioned by this poisonous mat- 

 ter, is in all probability correct. It should, 

 therefore, be laid down as a maxim, never to 

 manure for a crop of grain, but to give all 

 that can be obtained to green and root crops 

 destined for the food of cattle. 



Then comes the question as to the pro- 

 priety of applying it to the surface only for 

 these crops ; and I am very strongly of opi- 

 nion that it is the carbonic gas which is of 

 service to vegetation, and is destined by its 

 weight to descend and perform that office, 

 while the hydrogen, which has possibly been 

 employed in the formation of that or some 

 other necessary ingredient, passes off by its 

 levity, after its presence is no longer neces- 

 sary, escaping into the atmosphere to perform 

 again the destined round ; and it would, in 

 all probability, be foimd injurious rather than 

 otherwise, were any attempt made to confine 

 it in contact with the plant, after its neces- 

 sary office had been fulfilled — according to 

 the theory contained at page 134 of the Ca- 

 binet, vol. .5. And I am led to think very se- 

 riously on this theory, from the circumstance 

 of the necessity of waiting until the poison- 

 ous gas has escaped from a newly-made hot- 

 bed, before any plants or seeds can with 

 safety be consigned to it : besides, the very 

 observable difference there always is between 

 the smell of the gas which rises from a fresh- 

 made hot-bed, and that which is evolved after 

 it has become sweet — as it is termed — by eva- 

 poration, goes strongly to corroborate the 

 truth of the theory, at least so it appears to 

 me. 



Cowper, in his inimitable " Task," has a 

 few lines so applicable to this subject, that I 

 cannot refrain from copying them. Speak- 

 ing of the newly-made hot bed, he says, 



" Thrice must the voluble and restless earth 

 Spin round upon her axle, ere the warmth. 

 Slow-gathering in the midst, through the square mais 

 Diffused, attain the surface: when, behold! 

 ./} pestilent and viost corrosive steam, 

 Lil<e a gross fog Bceotian, rising fast. 

 And fast condensed upon the dewy sash. 

 Asks egress, which obtained, the overcharged 

 And drenched conservatory, breathes abroad, 

 In voUinies wheeling slow, the vapour dank, 

 And, purified, rejoices to have lost 

 Its foul inhabitant." 



J. Douglas. 



Berks County. 



By industry and frugality, we develope our 

 resources, and are not compelled to become 

 debtors to all who will trust us. 



