JNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUIJMSIIKI) n\ \\'II.I.IAM NICHOLS, llOCiKUS' lilill.DINOP, CONCr.l'.SS STRF.r.T, (FOUIITH l)(K)R FROM b>'l'ATE bTIU.il'.) 



^'oi.. 11. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, APRIL 3, 1821. 



No. .36. 



CommunicfltcKS, 



lOR THE NEW ENOI.AND FAR3Ii:R. 



M.\ni,F 



Consists of calcareous niatlpr, clay and eanil, 

 some two of tliese earths, (of which lime or 



quicker than clay in ;i liquid ; and will scratch 

 glafs, which clay will nol. 



It is a reinarkahle tad in the economy ot na- 

 ture, that the indi£;enous plants of every coun- 

 try, are precisely those which are best adapted 

 to furnish the proper sustenance to its animal 

 population, and to satisfy its medicinal want 



ed to clays ; and clay maries to sands. In both 

 les they correct the defects of the soil; by 

 iderina: if, in the first, less adhesive; — and, 

 the latter, less open and porous. 

 The earths are not the food of plants. They 

 nstitute the stomach, analagous to the sto- 

 ii-.h of animals, in which vegetable and animal 

 ,tter is received, digested, and. with the aid of 

 e leaves [lungs] assimilated to vegetable chyip 

 d blood. The best soil for this digestive pro- 

 ss is that. in which the three above nimed 

 rths are suitably blended. 

 A sandy or gravel soil is called hu:-gry. 

 •cause it digests rapidly, and dissipates the 

 3d committed to its bosom. Hence preen 

 Dps. or IVequrnt manurings, are neces-'.ry fc 

 mtinue it healthy and productive. Such soils 

 defective in clay and calcareous matter. 

 heir texture may therefore le improved, and 

 eir fertility increased, by the appliciition of 

 »y marie ; or, what is the same, by clay 

 d lime separately ; though these materials are 

 and most pure, and best blended in the sul)- 

 «nce of marie. The quantity should be pro- 

 •rtioned to the natural deficiency of these ma- 

 rials in the soil. From eight to one hundred 

 ids per acre have been applied, in one or two 

 ■essings ; and their beneficial effects have been 

 lown to continue thirty years. All the sand 

 ills of Norfolk, England, have been marled 

 Bayed]. Calcareous matter, combined with 

 'Iphuric acid [oil of vitriol] is usefully appli- 

 1 to soils in the form of gypsum, or plaster of 

 iris ; as is also powdered lime-sfone and chalk. 

 »th calcareous. I am induced to believe that 

 ither wheat nor sainfoin grass will thrive in 

 soil destitute ot calcareous matter, which is 

 e condition with most of our sands. 

 A stiff moist clay is called cold, and is un- 

 iendly to the finer grasses, as well as grains. 

 5 texture is too compact to permit the roots to 

 {tend freely, and its temperature ton cold, to 

 UTV on the digestive process sulTiciently rapid 

 r the I'lants which grow upon its surface, 

 ind and lime, orsilicious marie, loosen its lex- 

 re. render it permeable to heat, kc. and pow- 

 fully assist to concoct the food of vegetables. 

 Mario may be known by the most ordinary ob- 

 rver. The ap])lication of a mineral acid, and 

 ren of good vinegar,will cause an effervescence. 

 'his is the operation of fhe acid upon the lime. 

 s silicious and argillaceous properties may be 

 scertained by the sight and feeling, by the aid 

 f water, or of glass. Sund subsides or settles 



alk is always one) in various proportions. , ^^ j,^ ,.,,,„ ^^,j. soils.— every district gene 



he blue clay marie is !ree from sand. Chy ' ^jilly affords the means ot producing ferlilifv. 

 .rleisalso sometimes of a yellowish white. Hence the clay maries generally underlay sands; 

 llowish grey, or a brown or red cast. _ 1 he , _.,„^ ^,^^,1 ^,^j g.,^,, ^.^^.y^ „,^g( ^^^^^^ -^^ j,,^, 

 II marie seldom contains clay, '"''chistus or , ^gi^,^,,^^^^^,, „, ^j ^^,j i,, addition to the 



me marie, sometimes sand and sometimes clay , ^^-.^^ ^, ^^^^i, s^ij^tanccs which are calculated 

 eponderates, generally the former. 1 he sand ,g increase fertilitv, every thing that grows up- 

 ~rle, whether shell or schistus, should be ap- ^^ „^g ^^,,,^_ ^^.p,.y p^,,,j^,^ ^C nni„,.,f„n,, ,,^g^. 



table matter, is reduced to air and water, by the 

 chemical operations of nature, and1t».these forms 

 become the food of new plants, to noiirish ani- 

 mals. It is a truth calculated to teach humility, 

 that the animal, the vegetable, and the putrid 

 mass of dung, are found on chemical analy- 

 sis, to be very nearly alike, and that in the na- 

 tural order of things, they constantly nourish, 

 feed, and produce each other. " Nothing is 

 nourishment for a vegetable but what enters in- 

 to the permanent composition of a vegetable. 

 Nothing is nourishment for an animal but w hat 

 was originally a vegetable." Man is enjoined 

 to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. He 

 finds the most noble incitements to duty scatter- 

 ed around him, and he is seldom disappointed in 

 obtaining the rewards, competence and health, 

 which industry promises to her votaries. But 

 I have another remark to make as to the food of 

 vegetables. How scrupulously careful is the 

 farmer of his grain, hay and roots, which are 

 destined to nourish and fatten his animals ; and 

 vet how thoughtless and inattentive as to the 

 food of liis plants! Vegetable and animal sub. 

 stances are suffered to waste in his fields and 

 yards, unmindful of the havoc which the rains, 

 winds and sun are daily making upon them ; 

 ivhile a moiety of his fertilizing materials, the 

 urine of his stock is altogether lost. He will 

 not sufi'er the flocks of his neighbors to rob his 

 own of their food ; yet he sees with but fee,- 

 Ide efiorts to jirevent it, his plants plundered by 

 pestiferous weeds, of the food which is essen- 

 tial to their health and vigor. 



TEACH TREES. 

 1 beg leave to add, to the prescriptions which 

 yon pubiibhcd in a late Farmer,* for destroying 

 the worms at the roots of peach trees, the two 

 following. The modus operandi of both will be 

 readily understood. 



1. Hot water, turned from the nose of a tea 

 kettle, upon the trunk, a little above the ground 

 ivill destroy them without injuring the tree. It 

 may be done in June and October. I think this 

 has been recommended by Judge Peters. 



2. Put a peck of old slacked, or ellofe lime 

 about each tree in August.! 



i am surprised thai neitlier correspondent noi- 

 editor, in the article alluded to, have enjoined 

 the propriety of cultivating nnUj the good, that 

 is, the early jieaches : for in our northern lati- 

 tude the name is nearly synonimous. We sel- 

 dom have heat enough in the latter part nf Sep- 

 tember and October to mHture this fruit should 

 it escape frost, however line the variety may be 

 in a warmer climate. One tree of an early I'.ind, 

 is worth a hundred of late ones. This fruit is 

 very much like Jeremiah's figs. 



1 tiiiuk the peach worm is not the apple worm, 

 nor do I think it a borer. The first never pe- 

 netrates the :2)ood but burrows and feeds on the 

 inner bark of the trunk and roots. The borer 

 penetrates and lives upon the wood. 1 hiive 

 found it in the apple, quince, plum, sugar ma- 

 ple, hcrse chesnut, and particularly in the lo. 

 cust [robinia] but always in the wood, when 

 in a full growa state.* When the leaf bud of 



•■ Vol. ii. pages 241, 242. 



+ NOTES nv THF. EDITOR. The Hou. John LowFi.i. 

 has recommended the same remedy against the Can- 

 ker-Woim. Mr. Lowell says " I had understood lli^t 

 Mr. Josiah Knapp, of Boston, was induced to try the el- 

 fect o/ air-slacked lime, lie put it round one of his 



trees iu the spring of 1814, and I have been assured, 

 not only by him, but by another respectable friend who 

 examined it, th:it it was fully successful. The tree 

 was in a small garden in Boston, surrounded with oth« 

 cr trees, which were fiUtd with the worms, and this one 

 wholly escaped, except that -•. few appeared to have at- 

 tacked lis extremities, where they were ii.terlocl;<d 

 with o'.her trees. I mentioned this fact to a Rhode Isl- 

 and gtntlenian, who informed me that, in that State, 

 theyi -id used the rubbish collected from the breaking 

 of fl-.:<. and it had effectually prevented the lise of the 

 insect. I resolved to make the experiment or lime en 

 an extensive scale. .*s the insects ii^<^ »a the fall, i 

 determined to put the lime on in autumn, for this 

 purpose 1 had the turf dug in around sixty, apple-trees, 

 and the earth laid smooth. I then took three hogs- 

 heads of effete or air slacked lime, and strewed it an 

 inch thick round my trees, to the extent of about two 

 or three feet from the roots, so that the whole diameter 

 of the opening was from four to six feet. I tarred 

 these trees as well as the others, and although I had 

 worms or grubs on most that were not limed, I did not 

 catch a single grub on those that were limed. I do 

 not speak with confidence ; 1 am, however, strongly en- 

 couraged to believe the remedy perfect." — JVassachu- 

 srll.^ ^gricullural Refosilory. See likewise Thachtr''s 

 OrchardisI, page 92. 



It is a fortunate circumstance that, although the in- 

 sects which prey not only on our fruit trees, but so of- 

 ten blast the hopes of the farmer in every department 

 of husbandry differ so much in their varieties— their 

 genera, species, kc. &c. that the most scientific ento- 

 mologist can scarcely describe them, nor trace nor iden- 

 tify them through tlieir dJ.Terf nt forms and modes o( ex- 

 istence, yet the same or similar remedies will destroy 

 any or all of them. Lime, soot, wood ashes, tobacco 

 juice, leaves, or decoction of elder, scrip suds, salt, 

 salt petre, &c. are all antidotes against all kinds of in- 

 sects which infest every kind of vegetation. A know- 

 ledge of the dift'erent kinds of those devourers, their 

 habits and metamorphoses is useful by teaching us how, 

 and when to apply our specifics. Some insects are 

 best assailed in the egg, or nit, some in the larva, worm, 

 or caterpillar, some in the pupa, or chrysalis, and some 

 in the perfect insect. Put, generally speaking, we be- 

 'iieve any of the above applications will prove fatal to 

 any of the tribes in any stage of their existence. 'Jhe 

 dltiiculty consists inromnig at the enemy ; and to ob- 

 viate that a knowledge of entomology is useful and in 

 many cases indispensable. 



* The insect, however, which it is thought to have 

 proved most fatal to the locust tree, in Kew England, 

 we believe, is not the same with the Oorcr, which de- 

 stroys apple trees, and is described by Mr. Prince, as a 

 small, white, ringed worm, about three quarters of "an 

 inch long, with a dark colored Ixcad." The locust-tree 



