^JTI 



CJl^AND FARMER. 



Published h;i John uTRussell, at M>. 52 ATorlh Market Street, (at the AgHcallural Warehouse).— Tium as G.Fessi::,ben, Editor. 



VOL. VIII. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1830. 



No. 52. 



i®S!isaiirsra®iiaa©igr3(j 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



, the leaf. If not, 1 cannot tell liow. The fact is, 

 I locust roots sweeten the soil and increase the 

 Igrowtl) of grass among them; tlicy also make 

 I the same grass more palatable to cattle. 



This tree, valuable on so many accounts, has 

 I a most destructive enemy in the borer. I send 



CULTURE OF LUCERNF- GRASS. 



BIr FESSE.NDEji — Having through your valu- 

 able journal, in successive years, recommended , „„„ • . ■ , , ^ , . . 

 the culture of lucerne grass, I feel it to be a ?^ ' '" " P'"='' « S'^"'Plo of this insect. One of 



duty to state all which my e,\perience and infor- 

 mation enables me to do, on the subject. There 



cannot be a more responsible duty, than that "of j 



them was found today in the heart of a tree an 

 inch in diatnetor. — He was descending the tree, 

 md had advanced four or five inches, eating or 



recommending a new .species of culture. No per- "^''""^'"'5 "early all the heart from his place of 

 - • ■• .. ' entrance to his nest 



son feels this responsibility more than I do. It is 

 cruel, lightly, and on trivial grounds, to lead others 

 into error. I waited, therefore, si.\ years, before I 

 ventured to recommend the culture of lucerne, a 

 plant far more valuable than any species of clover. 

 My own experiments have been much more ex- 

 tensive, since I last addressed you ; and they are 

 more favorable to tlie culture of the lucerne, than 

 any former ones. On land like my own, I will un- 

 <lertake to say, the lucerne will in common years, 

 yield more hay to the acre, than any other grass. 

 I this year had a piece sowed with lucerne and 

 tall meadow oat gras.s, in equal quantities, that is, 

 in such proportions as to equalize the product of 

 each, to wit, 12 pounds of lucerne, a bushel of tall 

 meadow oat seed. It produced three tons to the 



another was wise enoug 

 to ascend the tree. His chips fell down in large 

 qjantities as he bored them, and the passage was 

 left Ojien. 



We must destroy this borer, or lose our most 

 useful forest tree. It has been proposed to hook 

 hiin out with a crooked wire. 



I know this 'Leviathan' may be taken with 

 a hook. But the objection to this mode is like 

 that we formerly had to the use of the flea powder. 

 That was certain death to the flea but you must 

 first catch him and make him eat it. 



Some kind of wash may be discovei-ed that 

 wil ke ep at a distance the fly that is supposed to 

 dejosit her nits in the tree. I think the lye we 

 ha^e used these fifteen years for apple trees would 

 iio: answer the purpose— for the worms are found 



acre, made into hay on the 30th of May. The , 



lucerne is now fit to cut again, being nearly 4 feet '" T""? "7""' ' '°'^ ^"'^ '^ perfectly smooth. 



high, in rich spots, and three feet on an average I - "^ >"f'>niiation on this subject M'ould confer; 



With me, it succeeds on all soils except moist onts ' '^''°' °" ^ ^""''ii" ""^ ""'^*'- 



Yours, &c, 



WM. BUCKMINSTER. 



Framinghitm, Jxily 10, 1830. 



05= The Massachusetts Society for the Promo 

 tion of Agriculture have offered a inemium of 

 fifty dollars ' for a mode of extirpating the worm 

 that attacks the locust tree, which shall appear to 

 the satisfaction of the trustees to be effectual '— 

 Ed. JV. E. Farmer. 



I ought to say, however, that many persons have 

 failed in cultivating it. From what I can learn, 

 it is best adapted to warm, gravel, or sandy loams 

 which have a sufficient strength to yield good crops 

 of (dover the first year after manure. 



Eoxbury, June 23, 1830. J. LOWELL. 



N. B. The hay from lucerne is far superior to 

 the best clover, which I have ever seen. It is 

 more green than any other hay, and it retains its 

 leaves in drying almost as well as the culmifer- 

 ous grasses. 



YELLOW LOCUST TREES. 



Mr Fessenbek — One of the most useful for- 

 est trees within my knowledge is the Yellow Lo- 

 cust. Its timber is of the most solid and dura- 

 ble kind ; its growth is most rapid ; and it enrich- 

 es the soil on which it grows. 



On our light loamy soils, one hundred trees to 

 the acre would add to the productiveue.ss of the 

 soil in pasturage, while their wood for timber or 

 for fuel would yield us another profitable harvest. 



An instance of its rapid growth was lately no- 

 ticed on the farm of Mr John Fames of this 

 town. A sprout from a young stump grew six- 

 teen and a half feet in one summer. It is not 

 uncommon in good land to witness a growth of 

 eight and ten feet. 



The roots of the locust have a sweet taste, and 

 this sweetness is probably communicated to the 

 soil and enriches the vegetation underneath the 

 ree. 



But, says one of my doubtful neighbors, do 

 the 



REMARKS ON VEGETABLES. 



rue. 



That man, who is blessed with reason, should 

 study the virtues and powers of plants is natural ; 

 but that animals should be aware of their efficacy 

 is truly astonishing ; and of this the rue affords a 

 curious instance. The weazel will eat rue as a 

 preservative, when h(5 hunts for rats, or before he 

 fights with them ; and in hot countries, where ser- 

 pents are found, the weazel will eat rue before at- 

 tacking them, to prevent, as is supposed, the effect 

 of poison. 



The leaves of rue were formerly used as a 

 pickle, being first boiled and then preserved in vin- 

 egar : they were not only esteemed a good sauce 

 for meat, but to warm a cold stomach, and to re- 



their own growth, but also great quantities from 

 the south of France ; this ihey pack in cases, and 

 take out to China, where, for every pound of sage 

 they get in exchange four pounds of tea ; the 

 Chinese prefering it to the best of their own tea. 



The French make a pickle of the young sage 

 leaves. In this country it is principally used as a 

 seasoning for strong meats, sausages, ducks, &c. 

 It was formerly thought a great improvement to 

 cheese : 



Marbled with sage, the har<i*ning clieese she pregged. — Gat. 



But this practice is nearly discontinued. It u.^ed 

 also to be eaten with bread and butter. 



Coles recommends the planting of rue among 

 the sage, to keep toads away from this plant; this 

 reptile having as much aversion to the former vege- 

 table as predilection for the latter. 



SAVORY. 



Savory was used by the Romans in acid sauce 

 or as a kind of spice to give warmth to Ipttuce, and 

 other salads ; and it was certainly a more rational 

 way of taking tfiis hot acid herb, than the present 

 method of using it, to give heat to our already too 

 inflammatory dishes. 



SORREL. 



It is acid and cooling ; grateful to the stomach, 

 quenches thirst, allays the beat of choler, and is 

 an excellent anti-scorbutic. It tempers the circula- 

 tion of the blood, ami thickens, or sweetens, accor- 

 ding to circumstances ; it is said to bo good in pes- 

 tilential or intc.-^dii'.ig fevers. 



It is generally used boiled, as a sauce for roast 

 meat, particularly veal and i)ork ; and it is an e.x- 

 cellcnt substitute for apple sauce with winter geese. 

 It should, like spinach, be put into a sauce pan 

 without water, except that which bangs to the 

 leaves in washing it, should be boiled slowly ; and 

 then be beat up with a small piece of buuer, and 

 served at table as spinach. It becomes more ex- 

 cellent when the yolks of eggs and cream are add- 

 ed to the butter. 



The best sorrel (called French sorrel) is a na- 

 tive of Provence, and may be known by the leaves 

 being nearly round. The French botauists dis- 

 tinguish thirty varieties. 



In France there are few soups or sauces made 

 without a portion of sorrel ; and so much is it es- 

 teemed in that country, that they take the greatest 

 care to have a store preserved for winter use. It 

 is a common saying among the French, that a 

 good housewife is known by her pots of sorrel. 



In the vegetable markets, as well as at the doors 

 of the green-grocers in Paris, the picking of sorrel 

 is as common as the shelling of peas in London. 



SPINACH. 



Spinach eaten freely, is laxative, diuretic, and 

 cooling; it has no hurtful quality, nor does it give 

 nutriment ; but is said to be good for those to eat 



lieve a dim sight 



The wild rue is of so powerful a nature, that it j who iiave beTJi debarred from meat, when first they 

 often sends out va|)ors tha twill even scorch the take to it a"-ain 



face of those that look close on it. 'Among all culinary greens,' says Tragus ' spi- 



SAGE. nach is, in my oi)inion, the ?nost laudable and grate- 



The Chinese express their astonishment that the ful; whence it may be eaten in almost all kinds 

 Europeans should come to them for tea, when we of diseases. It is very serviceable in feverish dis- 

 roots communicate sweetness to the soil .'j have what they think so superior. The Dutch orders, and is proper for all persons, who are subject 

 How do they first obtain it .= Perhaps they get it have long been in the habit of drying sage leaves I to costiveness ; in the first by allaying the heat 

 from the atmosphere, by the absorbing power of | to resemble tea, for which they collect not only I though it be of a hectic quality; and for aged 



