232 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4 



but public utility had not yet exhausted all her se- 

 verities against him. Unfortunately tliere was not 

 a Chaptal in tlic council of the prince, and the en- 

 gineer, seeing nothing, decided again in 1834, in 

 the name of public utility, thnt Mr. Van Mons' 

 liUrsery was the sole and only point on the globe, 

 proper ibr the establishment of a gas-house for 

 lightning the city. Heaven grant that these gen- 

 tlemen may be enabled to see better for the future; 

 but it is not in their power to prevent the true 

 friends of intellectual light, and of public prosperi- 

 ty, from regarding their decision as an act of igno- 

 rance and the grossest vandalism. 



JVlr. Van Mons is actually seventy j'ears of age; 

 he has consecrated his whole, all his life, a larger 

 part of his fortune to public utility, and yet it is 

 the name oi' public lit ility, that they have slain 

 liim, assassinated him ! O age of light, how darK 

 thou art. 



In the cortlmenrement of September, 1834, Mr. 

 Van Mons, on sending me a box of pears which 

 were the first of a seventh generation, observed in 

 his letter, "when you taste these pears, the trees 

 which bore them will no longer exist." In fact, I 

 learned a few days after, that the destructive axe 

 had prostrated these trees and many others, that 

 the nursery was dishonored, lost, and Mr. Van 

 Mons frustrated in his dearest hopes, wliich were 

 to send us the products of his labor. 



It is impossible to foresee, or rather I dare not 

 express my fears as to what will become of the 

 ruins of an establishment, which wanted encour- 

 agement, which was of a nature to elevate the 

 glory of an empire.* 



Note by Mr. Poitcau. 

 Count Leiieur of Ville-sur Ance, believes with 

 Mr. Murinais and Mr. Bonnet, that the stock has 

 an influence on the seeds of the graft. During his 

 residence in North America, he saw in the environs 

 of New York a red and a white peach which 

 perpetuated their stone without variation; but 

 when he had budded the red on the while and the 

 white on the red, they neither produced fruit per- 

 fectly red. or periiictly white, the two colors were 

 mingled. 



ken with clover: a sprig here and there seemed to 

 struggle for a feeble existence. This clover was 

 never fit to make hay, and hence was never cut; 

 but it was grazed by calves each year. In the 

 summer of 1835, this lot was fallowed and broken 

 from 9 to 11 inches, and in October, sown in wheat: 

 as tlie clover was too thin it was again sown in 

 clover this spring, and the clover seed was har- 

 rowed in with a two-horse harrow with wooden 

 teeth. The crop of wheat that is now on it is re- 

 markably luxuriant, and most of it having fallen. 

 Could this great improvement have proceeded 

 from the deep fiillow, or Irom the harrowing of the 

 wheat this spring ? It must have proceeded from 

 one or both of these causes, as no other means 

 have been used, except the plaster in the spring 

 of 1833. The soil is a deep stifi'red clay. This 

 fact is communicated with the hope, that, by com- 

 paring it with the observations of others, it may 

 assist in discovering the best and most efficient 

 means of improving our land. 



W. H. G. 



Germination of wheat in ice. 



To the Editor Of the Fanners' Register. 



Cumberland cnvnty, 7 

 June 23d, IS36. 5 



I covered my ice last winter with straw contain- 

 ing nmch loose wheat. In the month of JNlay the 

 grains of wheat which hajipencd to come in con- 

 tact with ice, vegetated; and the roots extended 

 into the body of the ice, from four to six inches, 

 having a most beautiful white, thread-like ap- 

 pearance. The grain seems to have gcrmmated 

 after forming a bed in the ice: each grain was sur- 

 rounded with a small quantitj' of water. 



The stalk was bleached an inch above the snr- 

 fiice of the ice, the top green and healthy. I make 

 this comnuinication without conunent, and am 

 now convinced that grain germinates at 32° of 

 Fahrenheit scale, which has b6en denied by 

 many. 



WILI.IASI C. SMITH. 



FACT STATED OF REMARKABLE IMPROVE- 

 MENT IN LANIJ. 



To the Editor of the Fanners' Register. 



Amherst Co., Jane 23th, 1836. 



As one of the advantages of your valuable jour- 

 nal consists in collecting the ILicIs which may fall 

 under individual observation, and thereby arrang- 

 ing the data on which to form correct opinions, per- 

 mit me to communicate allict which has fallen un- 

 der my observation. 



In 1832, in extending a clover lot, I included 

 about three acres of a poor ridge, which I planted 

 in the common corn field pea, for the purpose of 

 clearing it of grass, &c. This crop scarcely re- 

 turned me the seed. That fill it was sown in 

 wheat, and in the following spring it was sown in 

 clover and plastered. The crop of wheat was 

 scarcely worth cutting, and the land was badly ta- 



* I have learned that Mr. Van Mons has been order- 

 ed to evacuate tiie whole of the land before the end of 

 Febriiaiy.* 



* As the above was wrilt-eii in IS.'il, the nursery 

 must have been destroyed in 1835.— Translator, 



GENERAL DIRECTIONS AND REMARKS WITH 

 RESPECT TO MULBERllY AND SILK CUL- 

 TURE. 



l^xtracl from the Silkworm. 



The first step of the silkgrower is io prepare 

 food for the worms; and the first in this operation 

 is to select a proper location and soil, and to make 

 choice of the kind of tree which is to produce the 

 leaves. 



The best location for any kind of mulberry to 

 feed silkworms is on a moderate declivity lacing 

 the east or northeast — the worst exposure are to 

 the south-west, the south or the west, because 



The danger, if any, of llioir being winter killed 

 arises fi-om their growth being prolonged, and 

 their substance remaining soft till kUe in autumn. 

 The southwestern, southern and western expo- 

 sures continue their growth later, because they 

 are warmer than the eastern and northeastern, 

 and the fi-ost takes them before the wood is hard- 

 ened. AVheu the wood is matured there is no 

 dunger of winter kiUing. 



The soil most suitable ll)r the nursery is a mod- 

 erately rich sandy loom, mellow, dry and friable. 

 For the trees, when, transplanted for feeding, a 



