? No. 2. Successful Gardening, ^-c. — Celebrated Oahs of England. 61 



From the Cultivator. 



Successful Gardening— Produce of One 

 Acre. 



The capability of our soil is but partially 

 jnderstood. With skilful management, it 

 nay be made to yield great burthens and 

 srofitable returns, where good markets are 

 ivailable. A few days since, a person — I 

 an not allowed to give his name, for fear 

 lis landlord will raise his rent ! — gave me 

 ;he following as the produce of one acre of 

 and within one mile of the capital, in 1845. 

 The soil is a tenacious clay, and has been 

 cultivated as a garden for many years, but 

 aever considered remarkable for its fertility. 



It must be remembered that prices ranged 

 iiigh last year, which will account for the 

 ^reat amount received for the articles, viz., 

 in round numbers : 



$207 99 



No manure was applied except what was 

 made by the pigs ; but the great produce is 

 ascribed to the use of oyster-shell lime, at 

 an expense of one dollar and fifty cents per 

 year for three years. " It was wonderful," 

 he says, " to see how the ground would 

 heave and swell after every rain.". 



Lime, for agricultural purposes in this 

 section, has not been very extensively used. 

 Judge Buel tried some experiments with the 

 Helderburg stone lime, but could never per- 

 ceive any beneficial results from its applica- 

 tion, and therefore abandoned its use. Pro- 

 bably if he had tried it in a clay soil, the 

 results would have been different. 



In Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland, 

 lime has been pretty extensively used, and 

 the lands have been nearly quadrupled in 

 value in consequence. In advertising a 

 farm for sale, as a recommendation, the 

 amount of lime recently applied is particu- 

 larly set forth, as well as the proximity of 

 limestone. 



It is not generally known, I believe, that 

 a kiln for burning oyster-shell lime has been 

 erected within a few years in the south part 

 of the city, by Mr. Warner «& Sons, where 

 it is afforded at six cents per bushel. 



I am informed by the proprietors that their 

 sales have increased very considerably for 

 the past year, and their future prospect is 

 quite flattering. Many of our farmers have 

 been experimenting with lime, and appear 

 well pleased with its operation. Several 

 thousand bushels have been taken down the 

 river to enrich the soil, and it is hoped that 

 those who have tried it, whether successful 

 or unsuccessful, will communicate the re- 

 sults through the medium of the Cultivator, 

 for the benefit of others. 



There is one fact that has been communi- 

 cated to me, which is entirely new, in regard 

 to the action of lime, and that is, its effects 

 are greatest in a lime soil or lime region. 

 Can our chemists account for this] 



C. N. Bement. 



Bement's Amer. Hotel, Albany, Aug., 1846. 



Celebrated Oaks of England. 



We copy from an English publication the 

 following brief sketch of some of the most 

 remarkable English oaks of which we have 

 at present any record. It probably will be 

 both curious and interesting to some of our 

 readers. 



" The oldest oak in England is supposed 

 to be the Parliament oak — from the tradition 

 of Edward I., holding a parliament under 

 its branches — in Clipstone Park, belonging 

 to the Duke of Portland — this park being 

 also the most ancient of the island ; it was 

 a park before the conquest, and was seized 

 as such by the Conqueror. The tree is sup- 

 posed to be 500 years old. 



"The tallest oak in England was believed 

 to be the property of the same nobleman; it 

 was called the 'Duke's walking stick,' was 

 higher than Westminster Abbey, and stood 

 till of late years. 



"The largest oak in this country is called 

 Calthorp Oak, Yorkshire ; it measures 78 

 feet in circumference, where the trunk 

 meets the ground. 



" The ' Three Shire Oak,' at Workshop, 

 was so called from its covering part of the 

 counties of York, Nottingham, and Derby. 

 It had the greatest expanse of any recorded 

 in this island, dropping over 767 square 

 yards. 



"The most productive oak was that of 

 Gelono?, in Monmouthshire, felled in 1810. 

 Its bark brought 200 pounds, and its timber 

 670 pounds. 



" In the mansion of Tredegar Park, Mon- 

 mouthshire, there is said to be a room 42 

 feet broad, and 227 feet long, the floor and 

 wainscots of which were the production of 

 a single oak tree, grown on the estate." — 

 Farmer iSf Mechanic. 



