5G2 



Roads, Cottages, Flowers, ^-c, in Eixgland. 



Vol. XL 



it is reduced to the size of marbles and less, 

 then take stone lime and reduce it to powder 

 by slacking it with water; mix equal por- 

 tions of it and ground charcoal intimately 

 together, and apply the mixture immediately 

 at the rate of ten bushels to the acre. It 

 would be well to put more than the usual 

 quantity on those places where the wheat 

 looks very luxuriant, and less than the usual 

 quantity where the wheat is poor and slen- 

 der. Or, take four bushels of good hickory 

 ashes, or five bushels of good oak ashes, or 

 more than five bushels of weaker ashes, to 

 five bushels of ground charcoal to the acre. 

 The ashes and lime will not only benefit the 

 wheat crop, even if it is not exposed to the 

 rust, but also the succeeding crop — while 

 the charcoal will do good as long as the 

 ground is cultivated and it remains there, as 

 it never decays, and is always useful. It is 

 the most valuable fertilizer that we have, 

 and is worth more than its weight in gold. 

 I could give you many instances of its won- 

 derful—nay, astonishing — powers, but my 

 limits here will not allow me. One bushel 

 of salt of any kind — say salt from the beef, 

 pork, or fish barrels, or the rock salt used by 

 graziers — reduced to powder, and added to 

 five bushels of ground charcoal and mixed 

 intimately, applied to an acre, will be as effi- 

 cacious, if not washed away by heavy rains, 

 as the other preparations. 



The soda of the salt, the potash of the 

 ashes, and the lime unite with the carbonic 

 acid, and render it unfit for the use of the 

 fungi, and strengthen the wheat plant so as 

 to enable it to assimilate the carbonic acid 

 and ammonia — while the charcoal absorbs 

 both the carbonic acid and ammonia, and 

 prevents the wheat from becoming surfeited 

 with them. It holds these gases subject to 

 the action of the wheat, and if the wheat 

 at any future time finds itself in want of 

 carbonic acid and ammonia — if its roots be 

 in contact with the charcoal, they will draw 

 that held by it. Thus the charcoal performs 

 two very important services, and hence its 

 great usefulness. 



Lime that has been air slacked, will not 

 answer in place of that which is fresh slacked, 

 as it has already become partially, if not 

 wholly neutralized, by having already ab- 

 eorbed carbonic acid, and therefore cannot 

 neutralize the carbonic acid which is injuring 

 the wheat. 



The proper time to apply the before men- 

 tioned preparations, is just about the time 

 the wheat is in full blossom, as that is the 

 time at which the surplus of carbonic acid 

 begins to work the injury. The mode of 

 application is to put them in a bag, and 



walking up and down the furrows, sow them 

 as you do grain. 



If the season is such that much carbonic 

 acid and ammonia is formed just at the time 

 the wheat is most liable to be injured, it may 

 be necessary to repeat the application at an 

 interval of, say two weeks or less. And a 

 very bad season may require the applications 

 to be repeated several times. These opera- 

 tions, however, will not only save the grain 

 from rust, but will make fine, large, full 

 heads of plump wheat, and will also be use- 

 ful to the succeeding crops — particularly the 

 charcoal. Care must be taken not to sow 

 the preparations too thick in one place, for 

 they may kill the plants. A top-dressing of 

 ground charcoal at the time of sowing the 

 wheat, harrowed in with the wheat, and 

 rolled over with a heavy roller, will be found 

 fiighly efficacious in preventing the rust. It 

 should be put on at the rate of twenty-five 

 bushels to the acre. 



The preparations I Iiave recommended are 

 very efficacious in preventing the smut in 

 wheat. Chemico. 



Koads, Cottages, Flowers, Ac, in Eng- 

 land. 



The perfection of the roads in England, 

 has been the theme of every traveller through 

 that richly cultivated country. The travel- 

 ling by coach on the great thoroughfares 

 through the kingdom, has been greatly di- 

 minished since railroads have been con- 

 structed. In many parts of the kingdom, 

 however, the coach is still in us^o, and tome 

 idea may be formed of the ease and comfort 

 of that mode of travelling which was form- 

 erly the pride and boast of every English- 

 man. Over their level and smooth roads, it 

 is certainly one of the most delightful me- 

 thods of travelling in fine weatiter. A seat 

 upon the box with the coachman, who is 

 usually intelligent and free to converse with 

 a traveller, and well acquainted with the 

 history of persons and places of interest on 

 his route, renders this a very pleasant me- 

 thod of seeing the country, and learning the 

 incidents which interest a stranger. The 

 coachman has nothing to do with the horses 

 until the time arrives for starting. He ex- 

 amines the team, sees that all is right, 

 mounts his box, and is off at the rate of ten 

 miles an hour, v;hich I found the usual speed 

 on all their roads. When he arrives at the 

 place for changing horses, his lines are 

 thrown down, and he enters the public 

 house, where he is the great man among the 

 hangers on, and as he receives notice that 

 all is ready, mounts his box again, and is off. 



