AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BV JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 62. NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aorioultural WAiiBHonsE.)-ALLEN PUTNAM EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 18, 1843. 



N . E . FARMER. 



DR.MNTllEE CATTLE DISEASE. 

 Our readers may remember tliat a few weeks 

 ifjo, we mentioned the sudden death of an c^c and 

 if some cows in Braintree. What the disease was, 

 10 one has been able to toll us. Last week anoth- 

 r cou- was attacked. It was supposed that she 

 nust die. But the owner boiled a large quantity 

 f hops, which he put upon her loins, and gave her 

 rst, a junk-bottle full of water saturated with salt 

 nd lime, and subeequently another bottle full of 

 'ater with salt and ashes. He left her at night to 

 ie, but found her up, in the ii\orning, and appear 

 ig as though nearly recovered. It is said that 

 lurrain is sometimes caused by sudden change, 

 hether the animal be lean or fat, from dry to moist 

 nd rich food. Such n change had been made in 

 !€ding this cow, and also another belonging to the 

 inie man, which died a few weeks ago. — Eo. N. 

 .F. 



EVENTEENTH AkNUAL RePORT OF THE PrISOM 



DisLiPLinE Society. Boston. 

 This Report contains statistics from many of 

 e State Prisons in the United States, which show 

 at ihe number of prisoners is decreasing. This 

 atifying fact ie presumed to be caused by " Wash- 

 gton Temperance Societies," and by " Reformed 

 isons." 



Accounts are given of the condition of many 

 isons, some of them being in a good state, so far 

 management, condition of buildings, attention to 

 iral and religious instruction, &c. are concerned, 

 lile others ure greatly deficient in these respects. 

 le other topics considered are the " Pennsylvania 

 stem of Prison Discipline," and "Asylums for 

 natics." The whole Report speaks well for the 

 slity and success of those devoted to the ini- 



ivenient of the guilty and unfortunate Ed. N. 



F. 



E Teacher of Health. Wm. A. Alcott, Edi- 

 tor. D. S. King & Co., Publishers, No. 1 Corii- 

 lill, Boston. 



The first No. of this work has been laid upon 

 table. We have looked it over with much sat- 



iction and marked portions of it for insertion in 

 columns. '1 his is a periodical issued monthly 



Dne dollar a year in advance. We like many of 

 Alcolt's views in regard to the laws and means 



lealth, and should be glad to see his work wide- 



lirculated. — Ed. N. E. F. 



American Text Book for Letters. Nath'l 



irborn, of Boston, has just put out this work, 

 taining not only alphabets in various forms, and 

 ied specimens of writing, but also " copious re- 

 ks on the various letters new in use, with the 

 it correct method for producing them with the 

 , brush, chisel or graver." The work is well 

 up.— Ed. N. E. F. 



SUBSOILING, DRAINING AND IRRIGATION 

 IN ENGL.^ND. 

 The advantageous effects of draining upon wet 

 soils, must bo just as great as the injurious effects 

 of too much water ; while the good effects of irri- 

 gation and warping — both merely systems of ap- 

 plying weak licjuid manure in large quantities — 

 and of the subsoil plow, as an instrument by which 

 the water is permitted to diffuse itself more gene- 

 rally through, and the atmosphere to act upon the 

 tenacious subsoil, so as to make a change, as it 

 were, in the general character of the component 

 parts of the soil, may be philosophically demonstra- 

 ted ; but this is unnecessary, for we have proof 

 positive in millions of acres before our eyes. Thus 

 the fens of Lincolnshire, Huntingdon, and Cam- 

 bridgeshire, which fifty years ago were stagnant 

 marshes, are now lu.xuriant pastures. 200,000 

 acres of the Lincolnshire fens have thus been re- 

 claimed, and in other counties many thousands 

 more, while 2.5,000 acres of the single fen of Deep- 

 ing are drained by two engines of GO and 80 horse 

 power ! Chat Moss, a yawning morass in 1820, is 

 now a golden grain-field with incipient villas; 

 while the several statements of Messrs. Dennison, 

 Craft, Graham, &c., exhibit a change from sterility 

 to fertility, and afford practical evidence of tho 

 value of the permanent improvements produced by 

 draining, warping, irrigation and subsoil plowing, 

 which are really illustrations of what these opera- 

 tions are doing for all ; the general results being, 

 that wheat in these counties is no longer a luxury 

 confined to the rich — it is. now the staff of the poor 

 man's strength — the quaking morass and the arid 

 moor now wave with the golden grain, and the 

 acre which once gave back only four times the 

 seed, now returns Irom eight to ten fold. Instead 

 too, of winter being the season of starvation to cat- 

 tle — when existence was all that could be hoped 

 for — it is now essentially the season for fat and 

 plenty; for if the turnip cultivation has given to 

 the grazier the power of increasing the quantity, 

 the skill of the breeder has equally increased the 

 quality of his stock, and this is seen in the weight 

 of cattle and sheep exhibited at Smithfield market, 

 at three different periods, viz : 

 1810: average weight of cattle, 26st. G lbs. ; sheep 



and lambs, 2 st. each. 

 18.30 : average weight of cattle, 39 st. 4 lbs. ; sh«ep 



and lambs, 3 st. 8 lbs. 

 1840: average weight of cattle, 4G st. 12 lbs. ; 

 sheep and lambs, 6 st. G lbs. 



Such, then, is a brief glance at the progress of 

 this branch of agriculture. — Hannum. 



German Silver. — Few are aware of the poison- 

 ous qualities of this compound. It is composed of 

 copper, arsenic and nickel. It oxydises very rapid- 

 ly, in contact with any acid, even slight vegetable 

 ones, and the small particles which are taken into 

 the stomacli imperceptibly, act as a slow but sure 

 poison. Pure copper spoons would be preferable. 

 Every one is acquainted with the nature ot arsenic ; 

 nickel is equally poisonous. — Selected. 



The following are extracts from a new and excel- 

 lent periodical published in London, and entitled 

 "The Gardener and Practical Florist: 



Striking Cutling.i in Charcoal — This is said to 

 have been practiced in the Royal Gardens, Munich, 

 where they use charcoal dust as they would mould! 

 I tried it myself, but I tried my own usual way at 

 the same time. I put some cutting.s into my sandy 

 compost, some into clean sand, some into charcoal 

 and some into wet moss, giving thcni all slight bot- 

 tom heat, covering them close with a small bell 

 glass, which I wiped every day inside to get rid of 

 the damp, and kept all moderately moist. Tlioy 

 all struck freely enough, but so little faith have I 

 in charcoal being bettor than any thing else, that I 

 tried it no more. Those in wet moss struck first. 

 Mem. — 1 believe that water is Ihe only requisite 

 for striking plants, and that soil is best which best 

 retains a moderate degree of moisture. I have 

 struck plenty of cuttings by only|poking the bottom 

 through a small hole in a slice of potato, and set 

 it swimming in our stove tank. 



^Tovd Propa/raiion nf Potatoes.— Altending a 

 meeting of gardeners, heard a paper read on tho 

 propagation of seedling potatoes: the writer had 

 used the same means as those for propagating dah- 

 lias, taking off the shoots and striking them in 

 small pots. By April he had sixty potted potato 

 plants on an average from each potato, and planted 

 them out: they yielded an average crop, as if they 

 had been so many sets. It was only recommended 

 for any seedling or other potato which it was desi- 

 rable to increase rapidly, without regard to trouble. 

 Mem. — A friend of mino who iiad a seedling pota- 

 to sent him to boil and give his opinion, sent back 

 word it was very excellent ; but instead of boiling 

 it, he propagated it by this method, and he had a 

 stock of the new sort of potatoes the next season. 

 But cheating play never thrives: the raiser had 

 thrown his away because it was bad, and my cun- 

 ning friend had all his trouble for nothing. |, 



frost — its Effects on the Ground. — Heard for tiie 

 first time at our gardener's meeting, that the rea- 

 son why frost so mellowed the ground was easily 

 explained. Every body knows that it does mellow 

 it, and if in ridges at the time, the frost goes through 

 it a good deal further. Tom Johnson said that 

 frost expands water one-twelfth, hence it disturbs 

 the grain, as it were, of the soil by swelling the 

 moisture. When it thaws again, the moisture''falla 

 into its proper compass and the ground is spongy. 

 Mem. — This expansion and disturbance of the 

 ground accounts for the damage done to small 

 seedling plants if exposed to frost, for it must tear 

 their young fibres; and it accounts for our seeing 

 so many with their tiny roots exposed after a frost. 



.American Flour. — An eminent baker of London 

 asserts that American flour will absorb from 6 to 

 14 per cent, more of water than English flour. 

 This is attributed to our drier and hotter climate. 



Love labor: if you do not want it for food you 

 may for physic. 



