1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



541 



and that in the last work of the plant, the pro- 

 duction of seed, it drives all its vital forces up- 

 ward into the seed, which is always placed at the 

 extremity of the plant. But more of this here- 

 after. 



4. Again, Mr. M. says, " My own experience 

 is, that cabbage and turnip seed can much more 

 certainly be raised than good heads of cabbage or 

 good turnips. Indeed, turnips will often refuse 

 to increase into large good bulbs, and cabbages to 

 head, but seed will be produced plentifully from 

 these worthless turnips and cabbage stumps. 

 Where does the carbon come from that produces 

 these things ? ' ' 



A71S. In all this, there is nothing very strange. 

 Just such things have been seen everywhere, 

 almost. Tliis world has produced a great many 

 cabbage-heads, and it is not strange that there 

 should have been many small ones. It is one of 

 the easiest things in the world to raise fine cab- 

 bages and fine turnips ; but it all consists just ex- 

 actly in this : a man must manure his ground with 

 good understanding. That is just the best ma- 

 nure to buy. It never fails. Thousands of small 

 cabbage-heads have been grown in soil where 

 there was a superabundance of carbon ; but there 

 was a lack of the necessary mineral elements. 

 In the same soil, seed could be grown in any 

 quantity. This in no way conflicts with the 

 ideas of my former communication. . 



Turnips, and cabbages also, throw certain min- 

 eral elements into the leaves, in large quantities. 

 In the roots those elements are less required. 

 The sprouting seed of the turnip uses its carbon 

 in its first life. The radicle, or root which shows 

 affinity with earthy matter, strikes into the soil. 

 The plume is lifted up. The leaves increase. 

 Small, fibrous roots branch out in every direction, 

 in search of food. The leaves become much 

 larger, while the root remains but a small tap- 

 root. (I speak of the common English turnip.) 

 To it we again look, and we perceive the leaves 

 to be of full gi-owth. Now begins the formation 

 of a bulb. As the bulb shows signs of maturity, 

 t!ie leaves turn yellow. They have performed 

 their office. 



I have a fact to refer to. I have observed that 

 whenever the tops wore cut ofi' before the forma- 

 tion of the bulbs, no bulbs would be formed until 

 a new set of leaves grew. If the leaves were 

 kept down, no l)ulbs would form. Here is to me 

 suiScient evidence that the carbon which helps to 

 form the bulb is largely drawn from the atmos- 

 phere. 



The further consideration of tlie subject must 

 be deferi'ed to another time, for another commu- 

 nication. A. G. Comings. 



SPIEIT OF THE AGRICULTURAL 

 PRESS. 



Professor Nash, of ximherst, is the Editor of the 

 Connecticut Valley Farmer. In tiie course of his 

 agricultural visits last September, he called upon 

 several farmers in Essex County, and among them, 

 William F. Porter, Esq., of Bradford. lie went 

 over his farm, examined his stock, implements, 

 &c., and listened to his statements with regard to 

 loss and gain and adds — 



"It will be recollected by some of our readers, 



that Mr. Porter drew the Essex Society's premi- 

 um for the best managed farm, in 1851. His 

 statement on that occasion was the best we have 

 seen. It was full of valuable suggestions, which 

 wo doubt not have been ere this the cause of simi- 

 lar improvements on other forms to those which 

 he describes in his own. In that statement Mr, 

 Porter shows the year's expenses of his farm to 

 have been $1,451,91, the receipts for the year to 

 have been $3,369,70, and thenettprofits $1,927,- 

 85. He shows also that the farm, stock and tools 

 stood him at $17,000, and that the year's profit 

 amounted to about twelve per cent, on that in- 

 vestment. In that same statement, which we 

 recollect to have read with intense interest, at the 

 time, Mr. Porter states also his belief that he had 

 that year greatly increased the productive capac- 

 ity of his farm for years to come. Time has since 

 verified the soundness of his opinion. The farm, 

 now containing 200 acres, enables him to sell 

 produce, for which his receipts are all of $4500 a 

 year. He also declares himself fully confirmed in 

 the opinion there expressed, that capital employed 

 in farming may by energy and enterprise, be 

 made to produce twelve percent, profit." 



We have known something of Mr. Porter's 

 made of management, have been over his farm, 

 and knew something of its capabilities for many 

 years before he occupied it, and have no reason 

 either to doubt his statements, or that the farm is 

 an exceedingly valuable and productive one. 



For the New England Farmer. 



GRAFTING SUlCEERS OF THE COMMON 

 PLUM. 



Mr. Editor: — What I am about to state may 

 be nothing new ; yet you may deem it worth re- 

 peating for the information of those who do not 

 know, and for reminding those who have foro'ot- 

 ten of an interesting fact in horticulture. 



During the last spring, I grafted some suckers 

 of common plums with scions of superior kinds. 

 ■The suckers were not transplanted, but grafted 

 where they grew, by the cleft-graft mode, low 

 down near the ground. The grafts were tied with 

 bass, and covered with grafting wax, and after- 

 wards gravel was placed round them on the 

 ground, so as to defend the wax from the action of 

 the sun. The scions took successfully, some of 

 them pushing very strong shoots. llavii)>r for- 

 gotten, until to-day, to examine tlie grafts and 

 loosen the ties, I found on removing the "ravel, 

 that the bass ties were undeeayed, and very much 

 constricting the small stocks and the inserted 

 part of the scions, which latter were greatly en- 

 larged just above the ligatures ; and from tlie cal- 

 lus or enlargement of the graft, as well as from 

 the stock, above and below the tie, strong healthy 

 roots were pushing out under the griivcl, so that 

 tlie scions apparently will become independent of 

 the stocks, and establislicd on their own roots ; 

 this is a favorable object, and may j)robably be 

 attained in the case of other fruit trees as well as 

 plums, by a similar treatnu>nt of the grafts. 



It is my opinion, however, that the plum tree 

 maybe propagated by cuttings, without the as- 

 sistance of grafting. I have observed, on turning 

 up the ground where branches or prunin<''3 of 



