VUl,. XVI. .\o. p. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



"4| From the Farmer's Cabinet. 



<! — 



i„ FREQUENT STIRRING OF THE SOIL. 

 ;[.l A bonk has lately fallen into my liandii, entitled 

 ;iij<' Observations on Husbandry," by Edward Lisle, 

 uij residinjr.in the county of Hampshire, (Eng.) a part 

 wof the kingdom which has always ranked high in 

 ,j|lho estimate of agricultural knowledge: printed in 

 „ the year 17.50. In his chapter on plowing, the au- 

 Jthor says: 



,, "The ancient writers on husbandry lay a very 

 |()great stress on making the ground fine by frequent 

 ,'plowings: the Romans conceiving that they could 

 f. not give their lands too much tillage, especially if 

 , it be of a rich nature, so as to hold water; then it 

 ; oii;'lit to lie turned up so often and reduced to so 

 tine a powder that the track of the plow-share may 

 be scarcely distinguishable in it. The sun and 

 air lire thus enabled to operate iully upim it, by 

 . which llie soil is benefited more than by a coat of 

 dung. Besides, the water sinks more easily through 

 pulverized earth, so that the roots of the jilants are 

 , in less danger of being suffocated by too much 

 iioisuire, or of becoming injured and destroyed by 

 he cold. And there is this further advantage in 

 t— by admitting the air more plentifully into the 

 vessels of the roots, it gives them a freer respira- 

 tion, which is no less necessary to plant.,- than to 

 iniinals. Those, therefore, labor under error who 

 ancy that the turning and stirring of land frcquent- 

 y in the winter, before it is employed for a crop, 

 rauses it to exhale and spend itself; there being, 

 n truth, no compost or dre.'ssing comparable to this 

 :oritinual motion, for it evaporates the malignant 

 Nipurities of the imprisoned air, loosening the parts 

 iiid giving deliverance to these seminal salts and 

 udiinents, which, wherever latent, are free to move 

 1 ind exert themselves : more benefit is thus ascribed 

 I repeated stirrings, opening and ventilating the 

 harth, than to dunging. But if to pulverize" the 

 oil were the only end in plowing the land, without 

 egard to opening it to thej emanations of the sun, 

 I frosty winter fallow would do this and make it as 

 Viable as a summer fallow ; but the difference is 

 jreat, for the sun, as has been already said, im- 

 iroves the earth as much as dung does ; therefore 

 he more you open the land to the influence of thu 

 un by plowing, the greater the benefit. But bene- 

 icial as is the practice of repeatedly stirring the 

 oil, it is better to omit it altogether than to turn 

 ip the ground while it is wet, and in a state of 

 nortar, or even when it is only partially wet, after 

 . long season of drought ; for if you touch it while 

 n this wet and dauby condition, there will be no 

 vorking it after for the whole year— it must lie 

 iseless; and ifyou plow it up when the surface 

 inly has thus been thoroughly wetted, it will be 

 rijured lor three years after. The best season for 

 itirring the land is, certainly, when it is neither 

 00 wet or too dry, for by too much moisture, k 

 ■viil stick together and be like mortar; and after a 

 ong drought, and though a little moistened at the 

 op, the plowshare will either not be able to peno. 

 rate it at all, or if it should enter, it <vill not ren- 

 ler it fine, but turn it up in large clods, \jhich will 

 le a continual hindrance to the ne.n plowing, and 

 :t last be left unbroken and in impenetrable Tumps 

 m the field ; and add to this, the part which lies 

 leepest is always the least fruitful. Avoid work- 

 ng your land when it is cold and wet, and in a 

 ew years it will become marvellously sweetened, 

 leahhy and kind to all crops, and you will obtain 

 • dominion over the weeds and natural grasses of 

 he soil." 



45 



From the Farmer's Cabinet. 



FLOWER-POT BEE-llIVE. 

 Mn.EDiroR,_After all that has been said and 

 written on the bee-hive, and the praise-s which 

 have been sung in favor of the palace of several 

 stories, the non-swarming, self-ventilating, moth- 

 I preventing, life-preserving structures, to the tune 

 of more tlian twenty dollars a-piece, perh:ips there 

 is one which will at length take the lead of all, in 

 the march of bee-breeding, and that is the common 

 gardfnjlower.pot! It is strong, warm in cold and 

 cool in hot weather, cheap, simple, convenient, and 

 particularly neat in appearance ; it is only necessa- 

 ry to take one of the largest size for a InoeJwg-pol, 

 and when it is desired to add to the hive, to choose 

 one of the next size, the mouth of which shall ex- 

 actly fit the bottom of that below it, and open the 

 hole ; and immediately it becomes an elegant and 

 neatly finished compartment, which mirrht'ln this 

 way be ad.led to, forming a pvramid of'most exact 

 structure and elegant proportions, to anv hei<»ht re- 

 quired. A hole of entrance could be'easiFy cut 

 in the edge of the lower pot, or two holes pretty 

 near together may be better ; it mijht be placed 

 close to the bottom board, or raised half an inch all 

 round by small wedges, which might be preferable 

 in hot weather—any how you might wish to fix it 

 —and all, comparatively, at a very trifliiio- ex- 

 pense ; then taking away the upper pot, in cLe of 

 Its becoming full, requiring only a cork with which 

 to stop the hole of communiciilion with the lower 

 pot. Now, I calculate this plan ofa hive will 

 prove better adapted for the health of the bees than 

 many highly finished domes of expensive work- 

 rnanship, which, I have reason to know, the bees 

 do not value n cent; for, after being at the ex 

 pcnse of erecting one which I thought would win 

 the heart of the most fastidious bee that was ever 

 created, and placing in it a swarm of the present 

 season, they immediately left it; hut beincr deter- 

 mined that they should stay, nolens volens they 

 were returned, merely to give them another oppor- 

 tunny to show that they were determined to have 

 thoir own way : after this they were olaced in a 

 common home-made box, where they are industri- 

 ousand happy. A person who has fifteen hives 

 told me this day, that his strongest swarm inhabits 

 the half of a. salt-meat barrel, the only substitute 

 for a hive which he possest at the swarmino- of the 

 bees, but which they have since filled with the 

 choicest honey. Now as I have taken no patent 

 for ihejlower pot hive, it is at the acceptance of 

 any of your numerous readers, only requestinc 

 those who make trial of it, to afford the editor the 

 means of judging of the flavor of the h.mey made 

 in an earthern pot instead ofa box, which I have a 

 notion will be found very superior. 



John Stakket. 

 June 19, 1842. 



If ho cuts but ten tons of hay to sell, and the 

 whole brings him a hundred dollars, or ten dollars 

 per ton, he grumbles that he has not more hay. 

 If the crop the next year is such that he may cut 

 double thi* quantity of hay for market, and sells 

 for one hundred and ten dollars, or five and a half 

 dollars per ton, ho grumbles that the price is so 

 low. 



Farmers, ye who indulge it, why grumble.' Re- 

 member the unchanging truth, '• the greater the 

 supply, the less the price," not only of your salea- 

 ble articles, but those of all others. Grumbling 

 will make the matter no better, while it makes 

 your disposition grow worse. Then do not grum- 

 ble. Better, when your crops are large, thank 

 God for the same: and if you cannot thank him 

 for a small crop, thank hiin then for the proceeds 

 of it. Don't, don't grumble. Give thanks, O ! 

 give thanks ; in all things give thanks. 



Jonathan. 



SALT. 

 At the request of the Editors, Mr. John C. Ma- 

 ther, of New York, furnishes the Cultivator with 

 the result of his experiments with salt as a manure 

 In the spring of ]S;J8, he sowed five bushels an 

 acre on land well broken and harrowed, which was 

 much infested with the cut-worm, leaving a strip of 

 half an acre on each side of the field unsalted, to 

 test the experiment. The worms were destroyed, 

 and the corn and potatoes manifestly better on the' 

 salted than the fresh land — This superiority has 

 been continued to be manifested in throe succes- 

 sive crops since. In time of drought, the salted 

 land has exhibited a continued moisture as mani- 

 fested in the verdant green of the ve<Tctable 

 growth. Mr. Mather also states that he lias°sowed 

 salt on his meadows with such satisfactory results 



as determine him to continue its use Farmer's 



Cabinet. 



IFrom the New England Ploushl.oy.] 



GRUMBLING. 



There is altogether too much grumbling in our 

 world; and a good share of it_^is to be found where 

 we ought to look for it the least— in the abode of 

 the farmer. It is not universal, but too general. 

 II there is a prospect of a small crop, so that the 

 crop will bring a high price in market, the farmer 

 too often grumbles at the little crop. If the crops 

 are large, ho grumbles because the price is low. 



Dysentery — As the season h at hand when all 

 classes of citizens are liable to be afflicted with 

 Dysentary, Diarrhea, &c., we deem it our duty to 

 make public the following simple and efficacious 

 remedy, which had been known to us for several 

 years, and which we have repeatedly used with 

 complete succe.ss. It is simply to take a tumbler 

 of cold water, thicken it with wheat flour to about 

 the consistency of thick cream, and drink it. This 

 is to be repeated several times in the course of the 

 day, or as often as you are thirsty; and it is not 

 very likely you will need to try it on the second 

 day. We have not only used it in our own case, 

 but we have recomniendod it to our friends in ma- 

 ny instances, and we never knew it to fail of ef- 

 fectinga speedy cure, even in the worst stages of 

 dysentery. It is a simple remedy, and Costs noth- 

 ing. Try it, all who need it.— Fanner's Gaxetk. 



Fruits oj Drought. Who ever knew a very dry 

 season but was followed by a fruitful one ? Last 

 year the soil had time to rest and regenerate her 

 powers, under a drought, and this year every spe- 

 cies of vegetation is rank. Corn, grain, and pota- 

 toes all look exceedingly well. And what is bet- 

 ter news than all the rest, we hear of little or no 

 damages by the weevil amongst wheat, or by 

 worms or flies amongst other crops. Maine this 

 year will hardly need to go to New York to mill. 

 We shall bread ourselves, if nothing happens to 

 destroy the present hopes A*. E. Ploughboy. 



