644 



F A R M i-: R S ' REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



grew on stiff ground, required more time consi,der- 

 ably to mellow, and come Jo perfection, tiian that 

 that grew on light land. Havinij proceeded thus 

 far to speak of lohacco, I shall add one or two 

 things more. The planters diM'er in their judg- 

 ments about the time of planting, or pitching their 

 crops : some are ihv pitchinir their crops very early, 

 others la'e, without any distinction ol'the nature of 

 the soils ; and 'tis ilom the different eH'ects that they 

 find, m that, sometimes early, sometimes the late 

 planting succeeds : but they have not the reason to 

 judge of the cause, to consider the accidents of the 

 year, and the difference of the soils. In sandy 

 grounds they need not strive so milch for early 

 plant iny, the looseness of the earth, and the kind 

 natur'd soil, yieldiuir all that it can, easily and speed- 

 ily, and sand retaining the heat, makes the p'lanls 

 grow fiister. But in stiff soils, if the crops be not 

 early pitch'd, so that during the season of rains it 

 have got considerable roots, and shot them some 

 depth, if early droughts come, it so binds the land, 

 that the roots never spread or shoot deeper, or fur- 

 ther than the hill that they are planted in : for 

 they plant them as we do cabbages, raising hills 

 to set every plant in, about the bigness of a com- 

 mon mole-hill : observing this on the plantation 

 where I lived, that it was stiff ground, I advised 

 them to plant their crops as early as possible ; and 

 in onler thereunto, I tried several ways to further 

 the plants ; but not to trouble you with the several 

 experiments that I made, in reference thereto : what 

 I found most advantageous was, by taking an in- 

 fusion of horse-dung, and putting thereon soot, 

 and then my seeds ; this 1 kept forty eight hours 

 in an ordinary digestive heat. I had two beds left 

 me to sow. in the midst of those the people sow'd, 

 and the quantity of seed that they generally allot- 

 ted to the same quantity of ground ; when I sow'd, 

 I mix'd ashes with the seed, having decanted the 

 liquor, that the seed might sow the evenner. The 

 effect was, that my plants came up much sooner, 

 grew swifter, and I had five plants for one, more 

 than any of the other beds bore ; I left the coun- 

 try shortly after, and so no certainty of the final 

 result. There be had various accidents and dis- 

 tempers, whereunto tobacco is liable, as the worm, 

 the fly, firing to turn, as they call them, French- 

 men, and the like. I propos'd several ways to 

 kill the worm and fly, as by sulphur and the like ; 

 but had no opportunity to experiment it : I shall 

 set down that I had most hopes of which, per- 

 haps, may give a hint to others to try and improve. 

 Tobacco-seed is very small, and by consequence, 

 EG is the young plant at first, that if gleamy 

 weather happen at that time, it breeds a small fly, 

 which consumes the plume of the plant; now it 

 being early in the year when they sow the seed, 

 viz. about the fourteenth of January, they cover 

 the ground, to secure, as well as they can, their 

 tender plants, from the nipping fiosts, that may 

 happen in the nights; they cover them only with 

 a few onk-leaves, or the like ; for straw they find 

 apt 1(1 iiarbour and breed this fly : I therefore would 

 advise them to smoak straw with brimstone, once 

 in two or three nio-hts, and so they might cover 

 them securely, with that which would preserve 

 them infinitely beyond the covering with oak- 

 boughs; indeed, I would advise them to keep pe- 

 culiarly so much of their Indian corn-blades, which 

 they gather for their fodder, for this very purpose, 

 being as I conceive, much the best, there bein"- no 



chafl' to foul their beds, and prejudice them when 

 they should weed them. What they call firing, 

 is this: when plants are of small substance, as 

 when there has been a verj' wet and cold season, 

 and very hot weather suddenly ensues, the leaves 

 turn brown, and dry to dust : the cause I conceive 

 to be hence: the plant being feeble, and having a 

 small quantity of oyl, which makes the more solid 

 part of the plant, the earth being suddenly heated 

 by the sun's fiercer beams, the roots are rather 

 scorch'd and dried up in the earth, than nourish'd ; 

 so that the plant consisting only ol" watery parts, 

 is consumed, as it were, by fire : sometimes hope- 

 ful plants, when by a suddain gust some master 

 veins are broken, if suddain heat ensues, they 

 likewise fire: for being not come to maturity, and 

 being deprived of the supports of life and vegeta- 

 tion, they likewise perish, are dried up, and fall to 

 dust. French-men, they call those plants, whose 

 leaves do not spread and grow large, but rather 

 spire upwards, and grow tall ; these plants they do 

 not tend, being not worthy their labour. Were they 

 so critical, I believe, they might have great guess 

 what plants were most likely to turn French-men, 

 by observing whether the roots of the plants run 

 downwards, as those whose branches are aptest 

 to spire upwards: for though I have not made 

 positive proof thereolj I have something more than 

 bare fancy for my conjecture. I have puli'd up 

 some of these French-men, and compar'd them 

 with the roots of some other plants, and found 

 them much longer than others; and 'tis observea- 

 ble, loose soils, and sandy ground, are more sub- 

 ject thereto than the stifl' land. The country of 

 itself is one entire wood, consisting of large tim- 

 ber trees of several sorts, free fi'om thickets or un- 

 der-wood, the small shrubs growing only on lands 

 that have been clear'd, or in swamps ; and thus it 

 is for several hundreds of miles, even as far as 

 has yet been discovered. But that shall be reserv- 

 ed 'till another opportunity. 



Extracts from the Journul of the Franlslin Institute. 



LIST OF PATENTS ISSUED IN MARCH, 1836, 

 FOR IMPROVEMENTS OF MACHINES, &C. TO 

 BE USED IN AGRICULTURE, OR DOMESTIC 

 ECONOMY. 



With remarks, by the Editor of the Journal of the 



Franklin Institute. 



For making Vegetable Extracts ; Thomas Close 

 and John C. Standfbrd, Rye, West Chester coun- 

 ty, New York, March 18. 



"The process consists in forcing through the 

 cut, bruised, or powdered, particles of vegetable 

 substances, a volume of steam, water, or other 

 liquid, under and by a pressure, varying in inten- 

 sity, according to the nature of the substances to 

 be acted upon." 



This patent is not taken for any particular form 

 of apparatus ; but a descri[ition is given of one 

 whicfi is considered and claimed as new. The 

 pressure is to be continued for a longer or shorter 

 period, accoiding to the nature of the substance to 

 be acted upon, and it is said that "the coloring 

 matter, taimin, and other soluble partsof the wood 

 or vegetable substance will be innnediately and 

 perfectly extracted, and with the use of a much 

 less quantity of water, and in much less time than 



