290 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



vegetables evolve a principle necessary for the exis- 

 tence of animals ; and these different classes of beings 

 seem to be thus connected together in the exercise of 

 tlieir living functions, and, to a certain extent made to 

 depend on each other for existence." Plants are great- 

 ly benefited by the application of soap suds, and other 

 liquid manures to their leaves. All plants obtain a part 

 and some plants, such as the House-Leek, Semper vi- 

 vum, and many of the mosses, derive nearly all their 

 nourishment from the air, by the instrumentality of 

 their leaves. 



But though plants may be fed by their leaves it does 

 not follow that the most eligible -ivay of feeding them is 

 to apply manure, especially in the shape of putrid gas 

 to their branches or leaves. This is manuring the at- 

 mosphere to little purpose. For one particle of gas or 

 manure imbibed by the tree, or its fruit in the experi- 

 ment mentioned by our correspondent, hundreds of par- 

 ticles were given to the winds, and went to poison the 

 air. One may as well think of feeding a man by his 

 lungs as a plant by its leaves. A man may be intoxi- 

 cated by the fumes of spirituous liquors, and cooks, it 

 is said eat very little, as their appetite is in part grati- 

 fied by the volatile particles of the provisions which 

 Ihey inhale by breathing. Yet nobody ever thought of 

 establishing an inn or ordinary, in which the guests 

 were to be regaled by the fumes of the alcohol, and roast 

 beef, and noses employed instead of mouths as purvey- 

 ors of nutriment to the animal frame. 



We have no doubt but the application of putrescent 

 substances to the bark or limbs of a tree, it may be in 

 some degree nourished. But we think it to be a disa- 

 greeable, unwholesome, and wasteful mode of manur- 

 ing the tree. A man might put a few hundred pounds 

 of hops into a well of water, and that water, 

 \ised fbr brewing, might, perhaps, require a smaller 

 quantity of hops than it would without the infusion. 

 But it would bo a very extravagant mode of obtaining 

 the requisite extract from the hop. And one may ma- 

 nure his plants by applications to the bark, the leavcsi 

 or the atmosphere near his plants. But this is not in 

 common cases an economical mode of using manure. 



the trees. I examined the crops frequently af- 

 terwards, for a number of weeks, but could per- 

 ceive no benefit from the application. The ca- 

 terpillars, to appearance, were quite as lively, 

 active, and mischievous after the experiment 

 as before. The clod was afterwards applied by 

 the hand to the nest — this proved the surest 

 and most effectual remedy that I have ever seen 

 employed. 



If the clods were placed entirely round the 

 trunk and fastened there, I doubt whether it 

 would prevent the caterpillar from ascending, 

 and I am still more sceptical as to its causing 

 them to fail from the tree. The experiment 

 however is a simple one, and its utility or inu- 

 tility can be tested at a trifling expense, and 

 without injury to the tree. 



Yours, &c. R. BRISTOL. 



BY THE EDITOR. Our Correspondent will recollect 

 that we expressed a doubt as to the efficacy of the 

 remedy against caterpillars, which we extracted 

 from a London paper ; and his statement must 

 have a tendency to confirm our doubt, or rather 

 to change doubt to unbelief. A respected correspon- 

 dent from Albany, seems to be of opinion that a large 

 sod, with the grass downwards, may preserve plum 

 trees from an insect, which causes warts or excrescen- 

 ces, ifec* Clods of grass may, perhaps, be so deposit- 

 ed in or about the crotches or trunks of trees as to pre- 

 sent barriers, which cannot be passed by such insects 

 as do not use wings, to enable them to deposit their 

 egg.=, or carry on their depredations in and upon Fruit 

 Trees. 



'Set M". E. Farmer, vol. ii. p. 282. 



Editor of the JVew England Farmer, 



Sir, — I believe there has never been any 

 communication in your valuable paper respect- 

 ing "dairy stock soiling" if any of your corres- 

 pondents who are acquainted with this impor- 

 tant branch of farming, will give a communica- 

 tion respecting the best method, their treatment 

 We have been told by an agriculturist that he found (o the stock, and such other information as they 



great benefit from manuring his fruit trees with the 

 carcases of cats and other small animals, which he bu- 

 ried near the roots of such trees. Undoubtedly this 

 practice is preferable to hanging or binding such sub- 

 stances to the linibs or bark of fruit trees. But the bet- 

 ter mode of disposing of the carcases of dead animals 

 is that recommended by Sir Humphrey Davy ; who says 

 "by covering de.id animals with five ar six times fheif 

 bulk of soil, mixed with one part of lime, and suflering 

 them to remain for a few months, their decomposition 

 would impregnate the soil with soluble matters, so as 

 to render it an excellent manure"; and by mixing a lit- 

 tle fresh quick lime with it at the time of its removal, 

 'he disagreeable effluvia would be in a great measure 

 destroyed ; and it might be applied in the same way 

 as other manure to crops." 



Editor nf the A'tw England Fanner, 



Sir, — In your thirty-third number I noticed 

 an extract from a London paper, stating that a 

 clod of earth moulded round the top of the 

 trunk of fruit trees, will effectually protect 

 them from the ravages of the caterpillar. 

 1 recollect seeing this recipe some ten or 

 twcIvR years ago. A gentleman of my ac- 

 quaintance, who had a young orchard much in- 

 fested with caterpillars, tried the experiment, 

 by placing large sods in the lowest crotch of 



may think necessary, it would confer a favor up- 

 on one of your subscribers. 



I am, kz. E. F. G. 



GREAT TREES. 



The Louisiana Journal says — " We have now 

 before us an account of a mammoth white oak, 

 cut on Mr. Sager's l;md, in Virginia, the dimen- 

 sions of which were as follows : — 



" The slump measured 4 feet 10 inches 

 across, and 11 feet C inches in circumference. 

 When dressed to haul home, 3 feet 4 inches at 

 butt, 3 feet two inches at the top, and twenty- 

 five feet long. It was ascertained to weigh six 

 tons." 



Compared with the above, we have now- 

 growing in this parish, a sassafras which mea- 

 sures 13 feet in circumference, diminishing ve- 

 ry little in size to the height of 25 feet — and a 

 yellow poplar, measuring, at the height of six 

 feet from the ground, 27 feet, and tapering 

 gradually at least 30 feet, at which height, we 

 presume, it would measure not less than 15 feet 

 in circumference. The oak of evsry descrip- 

 tion grows to an extraordinary size, but we 

 have never known any of the larger ones mea- 

 sured. 



" The great oak at Pansanger," in England, 

 is thus described in a late London paper — no | 



doubt there are many in the United States tha 

 are equally large ; for, though our country 

 called "young," we have as old trees, and 

 many of them too, as any body else — " This fs 

 vorite of Pan, and pride of our native wood! 

 is now flourisliing in its pristine vigor, at th 

 noble seat of the Earl of Cowper, in Hertfon 

 shire. The following account of its dimensior 

 was taken May 6th, 1822— Girth, 2 feet froi 

 the jround, 20 feet 9 inches; 8^ feet up, 1 

 feet t: inches ; 15 feet up, 17 feet 6 inches; 2 

 feet up, and 8 feet above the first branch, 1 

 feet ': inches. Length of the trunk, 80 feet ;- 

 heigl t of the tree about 90 feet. Diameter, 

 feet from the ground, 6 feet 11 inches. Coi 

 tents: cubic of the trunk, 684 1-2 feet — 

 one srm, 84 feet ; 29 other boughs, 371 fee 

 quartity of timber in the tree, 1139 1-2 feet, 

 iwen'.y-tiao loads, thirty-nine feet and a half. Tl 

 boushs extent to the north, 30 feet from tl 

 trunk ; to the south 58 feet ; to the east, 57 fe( 

 and to the west, 38 feet six inches. It is co 

 sidered the noblest oak in the kingdom, has d 

 a single dead branch about it, and is perfect 

 sound from the root to the top. There is ev 

 ry reason to believe that it is of great age;, 

 memory can trace it beyond one hundred yea 

 and at that time it was known as the Pansang 

 great oak. Within the last fifty years it has : 

 creased about one third in its solid contents. 

 \^KHes' Register. 



From the National Advocate. 



SALT. 

 A specimen of coarse salt manufactured 

 B. Byington, at Salina, in the western part 

 this state, has lately been analyzed in this c 

 by Mr. C. Chilton, Chemist, and is proved to 

 superior in purity to any salt ever knowr 

 this market. The following is the statem 

 of Mr. Chilton : — The specimen of coarse 

 left with me for examination, and which ' 

 manufactured by Mr. Byington, at Salina, in 

 State of New York, proves by a careful anj 

 sis to be muriate of soda nearly pure, K 

 parts by weight yielded 994 parts muriate 

 soda, 5 1-2 sulphate of lime, and 1-2 muriad 

 magnesia, without any sensible deposite of 

 soluble matter. A comparative estimate of 

 value may be obtained from the following ta 

 of results of the analysis of the different v 

 eties of salt by Dr. Henry. 

 1000 parts consist Pure Mur 



of kinds oi salt of Soda „ 



Ubes 96(|j| 



Martins 



jh 



illol 



From bay 



salt 



I St. Ube 

 <St. Mar 

 f OUron 



Boiled from 

 sea waters 



Cheshire 

 salt 



otch (common) 

 J Scotch (Sunday) 

 I Lymington (common) 

 ' Ditto (cat) 



: Crush'd Rock 

 I Fishery 

 I Common 

 ' Stoved 

 Bylingtoa's 



9S! 



964d 



935 



971 



937' 



93ffl 



98S.I 



983 

 982 

 994 



IMPROVED PATENT HORSE CHECKER. 

 Mr. 'Peter Laporte, a respectable Fre 

 gentleman, who is now a citizen of Virgi 

 brought to our office this morning, a new ll 

 of bridle, lately invented and patented by h 

 self, to render riding on horse-back, or in vi,. 

 cles, perfectly safe with any horse, whethe ,'*''i 

 vicious disposition or dangerous propensit' 



ej its 

 lie 



still, 



