Vol. VIH.— No. -24. 



AND HORTICULTURAL TOURNAL. 



189 



liout being struck with tlie contraJictory returns 

 ismitted of the whole ; and without being con- 

 coil that there must be some hidden cause for 

 li n strange diversity in the gains of the farmer; 

 here are many instances adduced, in tliose re- 

 ■'le ts, of the same excellent management, where 

 same seed has been sown, an equal degree of 

 )r performed, with the same season, time, and 

 Ni lure employed, and one farmer has gained three 

 es as much again as was expended for letting 

 he crop, while another has scarcely exonerated 

 repaid himself for the seed ; what then could 

 he cause of the loss of the latter, and gain of 

 former.' It must, I am convinced, he attribu- 

 chiefly to the agreement or disagreement of 

 soil in which it is placed, its situation and as- 



t ; throe things of which the farmer knows 

 little, or ever takes into his calculation. 

 Nature is so bountiful that there is scarce a 



It necessary to the food of man and animals. 



near Dundee, this year ; a season which has been 

 so unfavorable to speculative plans from the lodg- 

 ing of victual in general. The machinery is erect- 



we allude to the " Genera of North American 

 Plants, and a Catalogue of its Sjjecics, to the 

 year 1817, by Thomas NlJTT.^LL," in 2 volumes. 



ed upon a carriage with six wheels, (which might! 12nio. printed at I'hiladelpha. Mr Nuttall is an 

 perhaps be yet reduced to five, as one pivot wheel Englishman by birth, and a native of Yorkshire ■ 

 would be sufficient,) and it is propelled by two but lie visited North America at an early a^e, and 

 horses harnessed to a pole behind. The instru- is now domiciliated in that country. His love of 

 ment, when at rest, presents eleven pair of open botany and mineralogy is exceedingly great and a 

 scissors, which may be increased to any reasona- 1 personal acquaintance, which his late visit to this 

 ble number, occupying a line of about five feet, country has enabled us to have the pleasure of 

 one half of the blades (the upper ones) are move- forming, has only served to increase the esteem 

 able, and cut with both edges, so that when in and respect which his writings had already taught 

 motion, the moveable blades meet those fixed on us to entertain towards him. For many years 



each side alternately, and, in this manner, pare 

 the stubble to an extent equal to their linear sur- 

 face, with great beauty and regularity. The 

 moveable blades are connected and simultaneous 

 in their action. The corn is applied to the scis- 

 sors by an apjiaratus in front similar to the sha- 

 kers of a threshing mill, but destitute of teeth 



if we choose to seek it with care, has not one and as this revolves with an easy motion, it has 

 sif diar sort calculated for every soil. Thus in clo- 1 little chance of shaking even the ripest and freest 

 !, there is a sand clover, a clay ciover, a gravel grain, the same part of the mechanism lays the 

 a chalk clover ; one that grows wel! in rich | stuff, when cut, on a revolving sheet of canvass. 

 Is, and one that would be ruined in a rich sol), 

 can grow and do well only in a poor one ; one 

 will not endure moisture, and one that only 



previous to the publication of his Flora, the au- 

 thor was engaged in visiting very extensively the 

 territories of the United .States, particularly the 

 southern and western ones. " For nearly ten 

 years," he says ill his preface to his " Journal of 

 Travels into the Arkansas territory," " I iiavR tra- 

 velled throughout America, principally with a vievr 

 to becoming acquainted with some favorite 

 branches of natural history. I have had no other 

 end in view but personal gratification ; and in this 

 I have not been deceived ; for innocent amuse- 



i|ji ivs in, wet land ; one that prefers hills, and one 

 will grow in valleys alone; one that likes the 

 and one that covets the shade. Nature has 

 1 equally bountiful in most other plants pecii- 

 y adapted to agriculture, and in which there 

 quite as many species fitted for poor land as for 

 ones, and if planted in their own soils, give 

 tifinitely greater return, and are not subject to 

 e dreadful disorders but too common to plants 

 ed in improper ground." 



7^0 be concluded next iceek. 



which, in its turn, deposits it on a swaithe in a I ment can never leave room for regret. To converse 

 very even uniform manner, making it easy for six as it were with nature, to admire the wisdom and 

 hands to follow the instrument, and jiroduce very j beauty of creation, has ever been, and I hope ever 



neat, tidy sheaves. — Fife Herald. 



will be, to me a favorite pursuit ; and to commu- 

 nicate to others a portion of the same amusement 



A writer in the Petersburgh, Va. Intelhgencer and gratification, has been the only object of my 

 alls attention to the " Tory, or Black Pea of Caro- botanical publications." 



P.EAPING MACHINE. 



he reaping machine invented by Mr Patrick 

 lich was judged worthy of a premium by 

 Highland Society, has received the most de- 

 d approbation wherever it has been brought to 

 . It is therefore with considerable pleasure 

 we mention, that an experiment as to its 

 ers has been made lately in this county, and 

 been attended with complete success. The 

 ation of the machine was anxiously observed 

 <\ select party of agriculturists, with much sat- 

 ;tion, on Mr Robertson's farm of Reedylees, 

 ilonday last, and nothing among the inventions 

 he last twentyfive years, so fertile in contri- 

 ;es on this subject, appears so likely to su])er 

 the use of the sickle and scythe. AH pres 

 igreed that the invention had been uncom 

 ly successful. It is besides an instrument of 

 execution, being capable of cutting an acre 

 hour, or from seven to ten acres ])er day on 

 most moderate computation. It is free from 

 of the objections urged against reaping by 

 bines, and to which indeed that method was 

 e with the less perfect contrivances formerly 

 ;e ; particularly that of shaking ; but the work 

 g here jierformed by clipping, the perpetual 

 itioii and loss of time in sharpening which 

 id instruments require, is quite unnecessary : 

 were the principal defects of Mr Smith's 

 liine exhibited at Markinch several years ago, 

 which was otherwise very effectual. It is 

 a very brief outline we can give of the adniira- 

 ingins invented by Mr Bell, which has per- 

 iod all the harvest work on his father's farm, 



Ima." He represents it as probably the hardiest 

 under the sun. If planted early in March or 

 April, with corn, in the fall the corn will bo envel- 

 oped with peas. It is said to afford a better 

 dressing for land than clover ; is very nutritious, 



but requires double the boiling of common peas. 



Boslnn Patriot. 



The Agricultural Society of Fredericksburg, 

 Va. have awarded a premium for the greatest 

 quantity of Cotton on an acre, viz. 1129^ lbs. It 

 has abo awarded premiums for carpets, blankets, 

 counterpanes, bedticks, cassinet, sewing silks, and 

 plaid. A girl, four years old, exhibited a pair of 

 socks of her own knitiing. 



Forty or fifty seamen, recently shipped onboard 

 the receiving ship United States, have ceased draw- 

 ing their rations of grog, and intend to apply the 

 proceeds to ])urcliasc a library for the ship. 



In 1815 there was no land communication be- 

 tween St. Andrews and St. John, N. B. and a fev/ 

 3'ears after, Mr Keleher, who now carries the mail, 



often ])ut the letter and papers in his side pocket. I" tl'c enumeration of species, he has 

 \ fortnight since, three mail bags containing about I tf'^t have been described by other authors scme- 



The " Genera of North American i)Iants" is en- 

 tirely in English ; and it appears that it was the 

 design of the writer to have arranged it according 

 to the natural orders. But out of delcrence to 

 public opinion, in a country where the artificial 

 system of Linnajus had almost exclusively been 

 studied. Mr Nuitall .idopted that method. He has, 

 howovei-, mode a gi»nt many valuable remarks 

 upon the natural orders, following several of the 

 genera, and has recommended the adoption of 

 some new ones. He has well der.„ed the charac- 

 ters of the order Monotropece, to wVich he has 

 properly referred the highly curious Pl^vospora. 

 As, however, the well known genus Pyrola, t,e- 

 longs unquestionably to the same family, the term 

 Pyrolea, might perhaps have been considered as 

 more appropriate. The characters of the genera 

 (which ho here extends to 807, exclusive of any 

 cryptogamia,) have, as may be inferred from the 

 title, occupied a greater share of attention from 

 Mr Nuttall. Me has added to the essential cha- 

 racters, those taken from the habit of the plant, 

 and he has noticed their geographical distribution.' 



uded all 



two bushels, arrived at the post office. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 

 BOSTON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 1830. 



ON THE BOTANY OF AMERICA. 



E.vtracts from an article written by William 

 Jackson Hooker, LL. D. F. R. S. E. and jiub- 

 lished in Dr Brewster's Edinburgh Journal of 

 Science. 



Concluded from page 179. 

 We come now to the agreeable employment of 



mentioning a very important work, Iioth on ac 



count of the extended nature of the publication, ! fectly new 



and of the manner in which it has been executed ; ! tany ofthissingular district iraveaiready"nppVared^ 



times made observations upon them, and added a 

 very considerable number of new individuals 

 which have been discovered by himself or his 

 friends. This book may therefore be well said 

 to form an era in the history of American botany, 

 and we rejoice that the execution of it has fallen 

 I into such able hands. 



I Mr Nuttall has added still more to his credit as 

 a naturalist and a man of most acute observation, 

 by the publication of his " Travels in the Arkan- 

 sas Territory." This was a journey accompanied 

 with great difficulty, and not a little danger. The 

 plants which he collected were numerous and in- 

 teresting, very different from the vegetation of the 

 rest of the United States, and many of (hem per- 

 Some detached accounts of the bo- 



