1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



53 



per, it may be discussed njore Hilly at a future 

 time. 



N. II. 

 [There are abundant proofs derived from experi- 

 ence, in Virginia, that marling is no less beneficial to 

 cotton, than to other market crops : and besides, there 

 is another important and a peculiar benefit to cotton, 

 in this region. By the marling making the earth 

 warmer, and the growth of the cotton plants more for- 

 ward, the crop is matured earlier than one equally 

 heavy, on land otherwise manured, and not calcareous; 

 and thereby much good cotton is made from pods that 

 would otherwise be caught unripe, by frost. This par- 

 ticular effect, however, would be of less importance in 

 the warmer climate of South Carolina.] 



From the Genesee Farmer . 

 RECOVERING FROSTED PLANTS. 



It is well known that the injury caused to plants 

 by early spring frosts, is not owing so much 

 to the direct action of the cold, as to the sudden 

 application of warmth afterwards. London nur- 

 serymen iiave availed themselves of the know- 

 ledge of this fact in recovermg plants affected by 

 frost during the night. Their practice is simply to 

 sprinkle them copiously with cold w^ater be'lbre 

 sunrise. This produces the same effect as the 

 application of cold water to a frozen limb — ab- 

 stracting the frost so gradually as to produce no 

 injury to the affected parts. 



From the Genesee Fanner. 

 ROTATION OF GARDEN CROPS. 



It is well known that nearly all cultivated crops 

 exhaust the soil; and that most crops if continued 

 in yearly succession on the same piece of ground, 

 grovv more feebly, degenerate, and become more 

 subject to disease, unless the soil is constantly en- 

 riched by enormous quantities of manure, and 

 even this is not always sufficient to prevent those 

 evils. It is also well known that these difficulties 

 are prevented with far less expense of manuring, 

 by an alternation of different crops, by wdiich 

 plants of the same or similar nature are not 

 cultivated in immediate successsion, but recur 

 at as distant intervals in the course as circum- 

 stances will allow. Thus, in grain crops, the 

 leaves bemg small, nearly all the nourishment 

 goes to the formation of. the seed; hence all plants, 

 where seed is the principal product, should never 

 succeed each other. Eut they may succeed, or 

 be succeeded by, those plants whose principal pro- 

 duct is leaves, as green crops of clover; also such 

 plants as cabbage, and others of a similar kind. 

 As plants exhaust that part only of the soil which 

 comes in contact with the roots, a spindle root, 

 such as a beet or a carrot, may draw abundance of 

 nourishment from land, the surface of ivhicli has 

 been exhausted by short or creeping roots. Again, 

 crops consisting of plants whose mode of growth 

 or cultivation tends to the production of weeds, 

 should not immediately succeed each other. Hence 

 hoed crops may follow those sown broadcast, as a 

 means of preserving the land clean. 



Rotation of crops is especially necessarj^ in gar- 

 den culture, because here the expenses of cultiva- 

 tion are considerable, and as the crops are gene- 

 rally heav^y and valuable lor the amount of land 

 occupied, a greater difference results from good 

 and bad management, than in common field cul- 

 ture. 



The following course for garden rotation is 

 given in M'Intosh's Practical Gardener: 



1. Brocoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and savoys. 



2. Common beans, French beans, and peas. 



3. Carrots, beets, and parsnips. 



4. Turnips, early potatoes, onions, leeks, &c. 



5. Celeiy, endive, lettuce, &c. 



The author of the above named work, further 

 adds. "It is found in practice, that celery consti- 

 tues an excellent preparation for asparagus, onions 

 and cauliflowers. 



"■Turnips and potatoes are a good preparation 

 for cabbages or greens. 



"Brocoli or cabbages are a good preparation for 

 beans or peas. 



"Cauliflowers prepare ^vell for onions, leeks, or 

 turnips. 



"Old asparagus land affords a good preparation 

 for potatoes or carrots. 



"Strawberry, currant, gooseberry, and raspber- 

 ry, for the same. 



"Turnips give a suitable preparation for celery 

 or endive; and peas, well manured, are a good 

 preparation tor spinach, &:c." 



RESULT OF THE PETITION OF THE AGRICUL- 

 TURAL CONVENTION. 



The last session of the legislature of Virginia was 

 not closed until when well advanced into its fourth 

 month ; and would not then have been ended, but for 

 the near approach of the next elections of members — 

 which is the only effective limit, and term of the dura- 

 tion of the sessions, which noiv exists. The petition 

 of the Agricultural Convention for some legislative aid 

 to the diffusion of the knowledge, and promotion of the 

 interests of agriculture, was presented on January 14 : 

 was referred to the Committee of Agriculture and Man- 

 ufactures, and ordered to be printed, (as usual with 

 the most important papers,) for the use of the mem- 

 bers — which, whether viewed as a compliment, or oth- 

 erwise, the result has shown was a useless and worth- 

 less measure, and not deserving the very small expense 

 required for the printing. Time passed away without 

 any action, any consideration, or any manifestation of 

 a desire to act upon, or to consider the petition, or its 

 objects — and it soon became evident to its most zealous 

 movers and advocates, that nothing would be done in 

 accordance with its prayer. From our long establish- 

 ed opinion of the character of the legislative proce- 

 dure of Virginia — of the description of persons who have 

 long guided or controlled it — of the means by which 

 such dignities are usually gained — and of the kind 

 of qualifications best suited to keep possession of 

 them — for all these reasons, we had but faint hopes of 

 any efficient and serviceable enactments for the ad- 

 vancement of agricultural knowledge — or indeed for 

 the practical promotion of any of the great and impor- 



