1837.] 



F A R i\I E R S ' REGISTER, 



"65 



lands in sprini;, I would recommend their being 

 cov'ered with two-horse harrows. [Ton naked pre- 

 paraiioii or oat-Iaiid, aller-bpiiiix liarrowed to a tol- 

 erably firm stale, lliey sliotild be sown or gotten in 

 with one-horse harrows. I roll seed of every kind 

 in phister — except clover. These being most eX- 

 t(Misively used and requiring despatch when the 

 time comes for seedinsr, are more conveniently 

 transported and sown in an unmixed state. If a 

 medium is used for the sake of greater regularity 

 in seeding, [ prefer saw-dust made damp, as the 

 seed mix better, and it is more portable than plas- 

 ter — which, moreover Mr. Editor, I had rather ap- 

 ply "?o/tc?i" (and not t«/iere) the clover assumes 

 three leaves. 1 consider all steeps hazardous to the 

 vitality of seed, unless when the earth is in a damp 

 and warm state for their reception — believing that 

 when the irerminatinir princi[)le is once excited, 

 the least check enfi^ebles the plant, more or less. 

 In condemning top-dressinff with coarse inanure 

 as to its elTects on wheat, 1 nmst retract so far as, 

 that in such winters as the past, it may more than 

 compensate \'ot the protection it aflbrds to insects, 

 by the warmth of its coverinsx to wheat. But this 

 is yet to be decided when the fug comes, which 

 may be apprehended in our backward crops. If, 

 however, they escape the fly, I venture to predict a 

 better yield than has been realized lor some years. 

 The wheat being less killed as far as I have seen 

 than for several past crops — owins I think, to the 

 continual wet state of the earth, during the most 

 severe weather — having always observed that a 

 dry freeze is more destructive than a moist one. 

 1 can certainly retract nothing fi-om my commen- 

 dation of plaster — lor by it I have seen converted 

 in the short space of four years, a desert into an 

 oasis — but I may add to former remarks, thai I 

 scatter it at the rate of a bushel per acre on all 

 coarse manures, before ploughing them in, and on 

 none with greater benefit than on leaves. This I 

 have found a medium throujih which plaster acts 

 with more effect than in combination with any 

 other vegetable matter — reclaiming abiaded spots 

 more readil}-, and certainly at less expense than 

 by any other inethod I have tried. I have always 

 considered ffalls (on planter lands) more effectu- 

 ally operated upon by this manure than are the 

 "unworn lands adioining. This observation was 

 first made by me in Curies' Neck, and I doubt not 

 I shall be borne out in it by one of the fathers of 

 the plaster system in V'irginia — onr hiirhly esti- 

 mab.e li'iend, J. G. JM****. As I generally graze 

 partially after the 20[h of June, and cut over some 

 of the richer portions of the clover field — having 

 attained the objects sought in ensuring the life of 

 the young crop and a fair return of the old, by the 

 first application, I am unwilling to stimulate ion 

 iiiuhly by the use of plaster on old clover — and 

 afterwards to rob the land of every (not "spice," 

 Mr. Editor, but) spire of ffrass. But let me not 

 be drawn into an exposition of my theory (if I 

 have one) on the lonsr mooted point — the modus 

 operandi of plaster. Suffice it for me, that it is to 

 the farmer, as calomel to the empiric — a Samp- 

 son — that invioporales and cures — but not one 

 which prostrates and kills. Unless as under the 

 manafrement of the (]uack (a character by the way, 

 not confined to [hf medical profession) the system 

 is first stimulated to exuberance — then depleted to 

 death! 



In any future communication to your journal, to 



which I acknowledge my duty as a member ofthe 

 farming fraternity to contribute, however lamelv, 

 I will comply wiih your reasonable request, by <jiv- 

 ing l()r what it may he worth, my proper sicrnature, 

 thouixh lor this occasion must still be permitted to 

 use that of 



RIVANKA. 



[In the forego! ni^ commvinication.our corrpspondont 

 and friend has adroitly contrivnd to bring to notice, and 

 correct sundry fypogiaphical errors, under which his 

 former piece, (in No. 9, at page .554,) was a sniierer to 

 an extent very unusual in tlie Farmers' Register. On 

 this account, we have thought it but just to give his 

 continuation a place in this number, though it arrived 

 too late for insertion, if it had been made to wait for 

 its regular turn. In decyphcring this, we hope to have 

 been more successful, as no pains have been spared for 

 that purpose.] 



SUSPENSION or TTir: pubi.tcatioiv of the 



I.IST OF PATENTS. 



The following notification, from the Journal of the 

 Franklin Institute, will serve to account from the sus- 

 pension of our publication of patents for implements 

 for agriculture and economical uses. When the gene- 

 ral publication is resinned in that work, our partial ex- 

 tracts thence will also be recommenced. But it is ex- 

 pected, and hoped, that the lists hereafter will be much 

 shorter, on account of the new patent law operating 

 to prevent the issuing of patents for the much the 

 greater part of what are called inventions, and improve- 

 ments, but which in fact are neither new nor useful. 



"Ou; readers need not be informed of the great na- 

 tional loss consequent upon the burning of the Patent 

 Office, a circumstance which will inateriallv influence, 

 for a tim" at least, the contents of this Journal. The 

 editor resides in the vicinity of that office, and his 

 danger Irom tfie fire was imminent; but his dwelling, 

 with his books and papeis, were preserved, althouHi 

 with some disarrangement of the latter; his papers and 

 notes relating to patents were, however, in a desk in 

 (he Patent Office, and of course, shared the general 

 fate of its contents. On the first moment of alarm all 

 access to that office was rendered impracticable from 

 the dense smoke with which its stair, case and passa- 

 ges \\9Vti filled, even before the fire was visible. The 

 monthly list of patents, with the editor's remarks, 

 must, at present, be discontinued, but they will be re- 

 sumed in due season, after the necessary progress has 

 been made in t'le business of the office." — Joiir. Fra. 

 Inst. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 COMMERCIAL REPORT. 



This has been the most gloomy month we have 

 witnessed in several years. The consequences 

 which have been for some time apprehended from 

 the deranged state of the money market, and of 

 domestic exchanges, betrin to be realized. 



There is a contrivance in machinerv called "the 

 governor," whose sole operation is torerrulate the 

 power and consequent motions of the other parts 

 checking or increasmg them, so that no excessive 

 impetus shall be given, nor any deficiency of ac 

 tion occur. 



