No. 7. 



The Poor. — Orchards. 



223 



and the skin could be easily slipped oft' be- 

 tween the thumb and finger, and the pota- 

 toes were of little value. 



" On the first of June I planted (No. 2.) 

 another acre of potatoes, with pondrette in 

 the drill — 32 bushels to the acre. The vines 

 were not as flourishing as where the horse 

 manure was used, nor was the efl^'ct of the 

 blii^i-ht or frost as visible, though they were 

 evidently affected by the same cause. They 

 were dug about the middle of September, 

 and the yield was 150 bushels of uniform 

 size, though small, perfectly sound and free 

 from disease. They were of the Mercer 

 kind, and the seed was raised about ten 

 miles distant, in Westchester county. 



" The same seed (No. 3.) planted at the 

 same time on rich ground, with stable ma 

 nure, made large vines, but the potatoes 

 were very irregular in size, and nearly half 

 rotten. These were not dug until the first 

 of October. None of the potatoes here 

 spoken of, except those raised xoilh pon- 

 drette, were considered fit for family use. 



" For early potatoes, he planted the Mer- 

 cer of his own raising; about the last of 

 March manured them with horse dung, and 

 got a fair yield of good sound potatoes. 



" On corn the result was as in former 

 years, and when planted one or two weeks 

 later, the corn was fit to harvest a fortnight 

 earlier than that of his neighbours, who used 

 stable manure." 



Mr. Peter Hall, of Norwalk, Con., informs 

 me, that he "used Poudrette in the fall of 

 1842, with barn-yard manure, on a field of 

 wheat. The result was extraordinary — 

 yielding thirtij-ttvo and a half bushels, 

 weighing over 64 lbs. per bushel, to the 

 acre. He also used it on corn the past 

 year, 32 bushels, or eight barrels per acre. 

 Part of it was put in the hill at planting, 

 and the ballance was spread on the surface 

 previous to the second hoeing. The corn 

 was planted a week later than his neigh- 

 bours planted theirs, and was fit to harvest 

 nearly two weeks earlier; and it was be- 

 lieved from the appearance that the produce 

 was greater than upon any other field in the 

 neighbourhood. On potatoes also, its efl^ects 

 were remarked by every one who saw them. 

 Those manured with poudrette, could be dis- 

 tinguished from those treated with stable 

 manure, as they passed along the road, and 

 on digging them, very few, if any, were 

 found diseased." . 



Your obedient servant, D. K. Minor 



New York, Jan. 21st, 1845. 



The above statements have been communicated for 

 the Cabinet, and we cheerfully give them a place. It 

 is, perhaps, unnecessary to remark that the Poudrette 

 referred to above, was procured of D. K. Minor, and 



was prepared at his establishment in New York. The 

 manufactory in this city also belongs to him, and is 

 under his supervision ; and the editor entirely believes 

 that all reliance may be placed in a proper preparation 

 of the material. We were unable, last spring, as 

 many who were disappointed will remember, to sup- 

 ply the wants of our farmers: and a very brisk de- 

 mand, when the season opens, is again anticipated. 

 The reports of those who got the article at this office 

 last spring, are almost without exception, favourable 

 to its use. Of that put on wheat in the fall, we can- 

 not, of course, give any account as yet. Those who 

 wish the Poudrette— and we would like all to give it 

 a trial, either soon, as a top-dressing on their wheat, 

 or at corn planting — will please call on the editor, at 

 No. 50, North Fourth street, or forward the money, 

 when their orders will be just as carefully attended 

 to, as if themselves were on the spot. For prices, see 

 advertisement on the last page of the Cabinet.— Ed. 



The Poor. 



In a country where labour is superabund- 

 ant, and the price of land places it utterly 

 beyond the reach of those who have no 

 means to purchase, but from the scanty pro- 

 ducts of their own manual labour, the con- 

 dition of the labourer is that of absolute 

 dependance. In a condition of society 

 where artificial ranks and classes exist, and 

 where all the wealth and all the power are 

 in the possession of the upper, or, as they 

 are sometimes denominated, the favoured 

 classes, the barriers which hem in the low- 

 est class — without property, without power, 

 without education, without even a home 

 which they can call their own — are, of 

 course, impassable. In a country where 

 labour is scarce, where land is cheap and 

 free, and wherf the advantages of a good 

 education are offered gratuitously to all — 

 where no arbitrary distinctions of rank ex- 

 ist, and every man by the force of his own 

 talents and character, may occupy that con- 

 dition in society to which he chooses to as- 

 pire, it is obvious how different is the situa- 

 tion of the labouring portion. — Colman^s 

 Agricultural Tour, part 1. 



Orchards. — A writer in the Western 

 Cultivator, published at Indianapolis, Ind., 

 says, if it is worth your while to have fruit, 

 it is worth your while to have the best. It 

 is therefore better to buy at the nurseries, 

 or to bud your own trees. He also advises 

 that the ground of a young apple orchard be 

 kept in cultivation for six or eight years, 

 and that the grass be not suffered to grow 

 around the roots. Another writer in the 

 same paper, says, that an orchard of ne- 

 glected trees may be renovated by plough- 

 ing the ground, scraping the moss from the 

 body and limbs, and thoroughly washing the 

 whole trunk with urine and sofl soap. 



