VOJj. XXI. NO. 33. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



259 



patrons and officers (if the Horticultural Society, 

 come forward — untie the purse-strings, and ehowtr 

 down your {.'old in profufion upon him who has 

 made the most wonderful of all modern discoveries ! 

 We'll stop down from the stilts. Know ye, 

 then, all yo lovers of plums, that " where there are 

 no plum trees, there are no plum tree insects." >^o 

 says the hook. And the book further says, that if 

 all we Americans, will by one united and simulta- 

 neous sacrifice upon the altar of public good, burn 

 all our plum trees, root and branch, the insects 

 will all perish in a year or two. And then we may 

 plant anew! I! Give the g'oo^c-linfj a bunch of 

 slobber grass — "poison Pally wog." 



A goose is wise enough to stoop when it enters 

 the great barn door, and the author of "Prime 

 Facts" hangs his head in apprehension that his 

 first — his "prime" remedy may not be "strictly 

 feasible." But should it so prove, his fertile inven- 

 tion can supply us with other modes of operating: 

 one is to cut off the affected branches "in the dead 

 of winter." Another is to wet the young leaves 

 two or three times and then sprinkle with lime or 

 ashes. How new! how simple! how satisfactory ! 

 jPlunis will be as plenty as milk and butter. 



Next comes the Peach tree — a delicious chap- 

 jter. Here are developed the newly discovered facls 

 latthis tree wants a warm and free soil — that it 

 s best to trim it or hen,d it down, and make it bush 

 3Ut — and that a " white grub" does it harm. We 

 jresume that all the peach-growers of this vicinity 

 (vill be astonished at these new discoveries made in 

 Sunny Hollow. The rose bug too, as they have 

 leard away up there, docs harm. 



In the next entertaining chapter upon remedies, 

 here occurs one passage so indicative of o.\peri- 

 , practical skill, and sound philosophy, that 

 he propensity to "extract" it, gains the mastery 

 ver us, and we must submit: — "Plant Ihe roots 

 f each seedling Jull ei^rht inches lower in the earth 

 han Ihe depth at which it stood in the nursery.'' So 

 ar in italics. Then, in his wisdom, he adds : " this 

 istancc down places the roots quite out of the 

 9ach of the bug and worm, and gives them a fair 

 old upon the earth and the nutriment it furnish- 

 s !" Farmers, take a lesson ; plant your corn a 

 lot deep, so that the worms can't find it! Na- 

 ire, change your course, and make the peach root 

 row eight inches lower than it does ! All ye cul- 

 vators, put seeds and roots below where bugs and 

 orms can find them. What if the upper soil be 

 ■e rii'hfst and best; — what though root, as well 

 •i branch, needs some warmth and air ; — never 

 ind ! the book says, plant them down eight inch- 

 3 deeper than nature made them grow. How 

 ise ! We wonder whether the book-maker sells 

 ees. 

 Business Prospects Brightening! — An able wri- 

 r in the Daily Advertiser, has lately been show- 

 g by statistics and logical reasoning, that the 

 oduction of cotton is too great. But the book 

 jfore us shows that tlie demand is to be immense- 

 extended. Sales will become so extensive as 

 give briskness to business in all its branches. 

 The Rose Bug is one of the destroyers of the 

 !ach tree. But the destroyer is to be destroyed; 

 id the way is pointed out. We must quote once 

 ore, in order to describe faithfully the instrument 

 'destruction: — "This is a great sheet — cheap 

 •tton factory cloth, formed so as to be spread out, 

 ii all sides beneath the boughs of the fruit tree, 

 <d something beyond the limbs ; then, if sprinkled 

 oderatelv with water, and the bugs shaken from 



the tree into the sheet, thoy will remain until ihoy 

 may be gathered up for dustniction." 



The cotton cloth : — we want to make somelhins 

 of that. Wo recommend to all the fruit-growers 

 in western New York, to get cotton cloth enough 

 to catch all the rose bugs. Let each man carpet 

 his orchard and nur.sery with it — let him then wall 

 the sides as high as the tops of the trees with cot- 

 ton aloth — and get likewise, enough for another 

 covering of the whole surface; let this be fitted to 

 draw over as a cover to his bug-trap. Thus equip- 

 ped, he can destroy the ro.^o bug, and at the same 

 time do good service to the cotton growers and 

 manufacturers, and through them to "the public." 

 This use for cotton cloth is to the nation a " Prime 

 Fact." 



We have done: — the few "extracts" v.'e have 

 made, we trust, will not " harm the sale" of the 

 book. And now. Farmers, Fruit-growers and the 

 Public, if it so please you, buy the "Prime Facts," 

 and read them with gravity if you can. — Ed. N. 

 E. Fa It. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



PIGEON MANURE. 



Mr Putnam — Dear Sir — In the New England 

 Farmer of the 8th inst., was a communication on 

 the value of pigeons to the cultivators of the earth, 

 on account of the manure which they aft'ord ; and 

 that it had been very successfully used in England. 

 The facts which were stated, brought to my recol- 

 lection a passage in the account of Sir George 

 Ouseley's Embassy to the Court of Persia, in 18U1, 

 by James Morier, Esq. The work was published 

 in London, in 1818, and I subjoin an extract, to 

 show how ancient has been the custom in the East, 

 of establishing dove-cotes for the express and only 

 purpose of giving fertility to the soil. 



''In the environs of the city of Ispahan, are 

 many pigeon-houses, erected at a distance from 

 habitations, for the sole purpose of collecting pig- 

 eon's dung for manure. They are large round 

 towers, rather broader at the bottom than the top, 

 and crowned by conical spiracles, through which 

 the pigeons descend. Their interior resembles a 

 honeycomb, pierced with a thousand holes, each of 

 which forms a snug retreat for a nest. More care 

 appears to have been bestowed upon their outside 

 than upon that of the generality of dwelling houses, 

 for they are painted and ornamented." 



" The extraordinary flights of pigeons which I 

 have seen alight upon one of these buildings, aflxird 

 a good illustration for the passage in Isaiah: " ff'ho 

 are these that Jly as a cloud, and as ihe doves to their 

 windows ')" — ch. ix. : 8. 'I'heir great numbers and 

 the compactness of their mass, literally look like 

 a cloud, at a distance, and obscure the sun in their 

 passage." 



"The dung of pigeons is the dearest manure 

 that the Persians use ; and as they apply it almost 

 entirely for the rearing of melons, it is probably 

 on that account that the melons of Ispahan are so 

 much finer than those of other cities. The reve- 

 nue of the pigeon house is about 100 temouns per 

 annum; and the great value of this dung, which 

 rears a fruit that is indispensable to the existence 

 of the natives, during the great heats of summer, 

 will probably throw some light upon that passage 

 of scripture, when in the famine of Samaria, "(Ae 

 fourth part of a cup of dove's dung was sold for fve 

 pieces of silver." — ii. Kings, vi. 25. 



"No regulations are in force against shooting 



pigeons on the wing, or in a field ; but if they aro 

 shot at when perched on a pigeon-house, then com- 

 plaints are soon made. The Persians do not eat 

 pigeons. These pigeons are of a cindery blue col- 

 or." 



Thus it appears that dove-cotes aro erected and 

 vast flocks of pigeons reared, not for food, but mere- 

 ly to obtain manure. 



Tavernier states that " There aro three thousand 

 pigeon houses in l.spahan ; for every man may 

 build a pigeon-houae on his own farm. All the 

 other pigeon-houses belong to the king, who draws 

 a greater revenue from the dung than from the pig- 

 eons ; which dung, as they prepare it, serves to 

 cultivate their melons." 



Several of our naval officers, who have been on 

 the coast of Peru, have informed me that they had 

 visited the islands whore the guano is deposited, 

 and have seen it used by the farmers. They were 

 of opinion that it was the dung of sea-birds, which 

 birild their nests and rear their young on those is- 

 lands, and after the lapse of many centuries, the 

 accumulation has been so great as to be in some 

 places fifty or sixty feet deep. 



I am very glad that Mr Kcurick has commenced 

 publishing in your paper, an account of the man- 

 ner in which gardening and farming are prosecuted 

 in Great Britain and France. Being a well in- 

 formed and experienced practical cultivator of nur- 

 sery trees, shrubs, and the horticultural and agri- 

 cultural products of this country, he was well quali- 

 fied to glean useful information abroad ; and fronfi 

 the very interesting facts he has communicated in 

 the two articles which you have published, it is evi- 

 dent that he is capable of aff'ording much highly 

 important intelligence. I hopo he will be induced 

 to extend his notes through many numbers of the 

 Farmer, and thus enrich his country by the knowl- 

 edge he has acquired, as well as by the numerous 

 valuable fruit and ornamental trees and plants 

 which he has imported. 



Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 



H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



Hawthorn Cottage, Feb. 9, 1843. 



For the New England Farmer. 



SALTPETRE FOR .MANURE— SLAVERS IN 

 HORSES. 



I sowed 75 lbs. crude saltpetre on two acres of 

 ground, immediately after the hay cut thereon on 

 2'jd June, had been removed. The grass assumed 

 a deep green color and grew rapidly till the 23d of 

 August: it was then cut, and being cured, was 

 put into the barn in the best order, — weight about 

 2 1-2 tons. 



Horses eat this hay readily, but in half an hour 

 after they commence slavering excessively. 



Oxen take hold of it greedily, but after a few 

 minutes, cease to eat, and will take no more of it. 



Pomfret, Ct., Feb. 1843. P. 



We are not ready to infer that the saltpetre caus- 

 ed the salivation. We think that this must have 

 been caused by some variety of grass. We have 

 never heard of such an eff'ect being imputed to 

 saltpetre. The slavers is a common aff'ection, and 

 saltpetre is not in very common use as a manure. — 

 Ed. N. E. p. 



Swift said he never knew a man to arrive to emi- 

 nence, who was fond of lying in bed in the morning. 



