No. 5. 



Chnss — Deep Ploughing. — Transplanting Trees. 



145 



of the sea, to know that they may safely in- 

 clude the Laurustinus as a shrub which will 

 succeed well in such places. Here it is 

 used in some instances as a hedge plant, 

 and in this capacity, it stood throughout the 

 last severe winter without being injured. 



The whole sylvan picture at this seat 

 forms a profitable study. The lesson is, this 

 great woodland, its beauty, the shelter it 

 gives to bleak lands, and the splendid reve- 

 nue derived from it, may be repeated else- 

 where through diligence and perseverance. 

 Nature is the same to all without distinc- 

 tion ; and if we tind her in any instance 

 wearing a richer or more valuable garb than 

 she displays over other lands similarly cir- 

 cumstanced, it is only because her favours 

 have been in that instance sought in a more 

 liberal spirit. Draining, subsoiling, and ma- 

 nuring, are amongst the petitioners whom 

 she always answers. — Gardener's Chronicle. 



Chess,— Deep Ploughing. 



An intelligent farmer of Berkley county in Virginia, 

 makes the following remarks in a letter recently re- 

 ceived from him, dated the 4th inst., although our own 

 opinion in the matter is not shaken; yet the fact as 

 stated, in regard to the chess, is curious, and adds one 

 more to that long catalogue, which has perplexed na- 

 turalists, without convincing them that nature would 

 do anything, so entirely and thoroughly out of her 

 usual course. Wheat, we believe, never yet, turned 

 to chess, and never will.— Ed. 



In order to add some information to what 

 has not yet been conclusively settled by ag- 

 ricultural writers, I would state, that my 

 neighbour, a very intelligent farmer, re- 

 ceived a beautiful sample of wheat — about 

 a pint — this fall one year since, and carefully 

 drilled it in the corner of a field, which this 

 last harvest produced 20 bushels to the acre; 

 it was the corner next his house and barn- 

 yard. I saw it just before harvest; it had 

 been drilled in four rows, 60 feet long, and 

 every particle but about a dozen heads was 

 cheat; — this experiment has conclusively 

 persuaded me that wheat will turn to cheat; 

 my neighbour accounted for it by its having 

 been eaten off late in the spring by chick- 

 ens; if this be true, it was a little remark- 

 able, that the wheat not one foot from it of 

 another variety, was a thick, regular, and 

 fine crop of wheat. 



Experiments upon deep ploughing for corn, 

 have been carefully performed, and the re- 

 sult has been that in a dry season, the corn 

 will suffer much more than when the ground 

 is left compact. I know this is opposed to 

 the general impression, but I have seen the 

 experiment this past year so clearly and 

 carefully performed, that I begin to doubt 



my former opinion, that deep ploughing was 

 essential for this crop — the soil was a lime 

 stone slate — the corn planted with a sharp 

 stick, in ground which had not been ploughed 

 for a year; its after cultivation was remov- 

 ing the weeds with a hoe. 



From the Horticulturist. 



On the Use of Water in Transplanting 

 Treesnn 



This is a practice which is condemned by 

 many gardening writers ; but is their objec- 

 tion founded on careful experiment; or has 

 the subject, like so many others, been pre- 

 judged"! Experience and reflection have 

 given me a high opinion of the use of water 

 in transplanting trees, and I will give you a 

 brief description of my method, which you 

 may take for what it is worth. 



After preparing the border for the tree, I 

 take out sufficient earth to give the roots 

 room to lie in their natural position. This 

 earth is finely pulverized. One man now 

 holds the tree in a perpendicular position, 

 with its roots in the hole, while another 

 pours two pailsfull of water into the hole, 

 and a third slowly sifts the fine soil into the 

 water, being at the same time careful to fill 

 the outsides of the hole so as to. keep the 

 water about the tree. 



This process leaves the roots exactly in 

 the position which they occupied before re- 

 moval, and it makes the earth settle about 

 them in the most perfect manner. If the 

 soil is fine, and if it is sifled into the water 

 slowly, it is deposited on every side, and 

 every part of the roots, filling all of the 

 holes and interstices, coming in contact with 

 the smallest fibre, and covering the surface 

 with perfect uniformity, like the deposits of 

 gold in galvanic gilding. 



Trees set in this manner, maintain their 

 upright position ni«ch better than trees set 

 by the ordinary method. If you take hold 

 of a tree immediately afler it is set, in the 

 way I have described, you can pull it over 

 very easily, but after it has stood a few 

 hours, it feels as if it had grown in its new 

 position. 



Finally, I am confident, from practice, 

 that the trees are more certain to live and 

 grow vigorously when water is used in this 

 way, while they are being planted. Afler 

 losing a great number of trees, I adopted 

 this plan of transplanting, and have since 

 set about five hundred, out of which I have 

 lost about a dozen, and I think most of these 

 were dead when they were removed. 



George Bartlett. 



Smithfield, R. I., Oct. 7th, 1847. 



