AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 62 NOllTH MARlvET STREET, (Aohicultubal Wabbhoosb.j-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



^oi.. XXI.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 24, 1843. 



N. E. FARMER. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



JORREL— ITS CONNECTION WITH ACIDI- 

 TY IN SOIL. 



JIr Put.nam — I was much gratified ivilli an ar- 

 icle in your last, upon Sorrel, from the pen of Mr 

 )arling;, of New Haven. He fortifies his positions 

 filh convincing facts within his own observation 

 nd experience. Tlic common notion that the ex- 

 itence of sorrel is proof positive of souniess in the 

 oil where it grows, is most satisfactorily exploded 

 y Mr D.'s illustrations of its fallacy. " Tlie exis- 



nce of oxalic acid in sorrel," says he, " is no 

 lore proof that the soil is sour, than a sour apple, 

 r spur grape, or sour pie-plant is proof of sour 

 oil." This is plain — and in view of the manifest 

 orrectnessof this position, it seems passing strange 

 3 me that the opinion should have been so gene- 

 ally prevalent — even among men of more than or- 

 inary intelligence — that wherever sorrel thrives, 

 ie soil must of necessity possess an undue share 

 f acidity. 



It is commonly supposed — and such has been 

 18 teaching of tho agricultural press — that the 

 pplication of unfermnnted muck to land, engen- 

 ers a growth of sorrel, because of its superabun. 

 ance of acidity ; — and I recollect reading in your 

 aper a few weeks since, a communication over 

 le signature " F.," in which the writer favors this 

 ■elief, and says, in support of its correctness, that 

 leing un ible to account for a sudden appearance 

 f sorrel in one of his fields, he consulted Dr. Jack- 

 on as to the cause, who said that he (" F.") must 

 ave applied unfermented muck to the ground — 

 'hich, tlie writer says, he subsequently discovered 

 'as the case ; and after mentioning that the sorrel 

 ontiniied in the land through two years, he adds, 

 lat he presumed '' it remained in the land till the 

 icid of the muck had become neutralized, and then 

 le food for sorrel was gone."* 



Now I wish to ask, Mr Editor, what becomes of 

 his doctrine, or how do chemists explain the mat- 

 er, if the position of Mr Darling be correct (as I 

 ■elieve it is,) that " /Ae reg-efafc/e acids (the oxalic 

 line; one,) are produced in the plants themselves and 

 iot iji the 3oil"')\ Would it not seem from this 

 hat a growth of sorrel does not necessarily follow 

 rom an application of unfermented muck? — or do 



reason from false premises ? Besides, if an acid 

 oil is so very congenial to sorrel, the application 

 >f alkaline matters to such soil, ought, upon well 

 ettled chemical principles, to render it equally un- 

 ongenial to that plant; — but such (as Mr Darling 

 hows,) is not the effect. He says he has seen 

 orrel growing in soil which had a coating of lime 

 wo Inches thick. 



If sorrel does invariably or generally follow the 

 ipplicatiun of acid matters to soil, and if this is 

 lot the effect of the acidity of such matters, what 

 ;ause for it does chemistry assign .' 



If sorrel is not a true criterion, what, (if any,) 

 are the sure indications of a preponderance of acid- 

 ity in a soil ? — such, I mean, as may be detected 

 without the agency of analysis. 



If you, Mr Editor, are unable to enlighten me 

 upon the points invoked in the foregoing queries, 

 may I ask the favor of Dr. Dana or Dr. Jackson, 

 to whom the agricultural community are already 

 greatly indebted for endeavors to promote their in- 

 terest. 



Very truly, yours, D. 



0[^The communication by " D." relates to a 

 point in agriculture upon which we are in the 

 dark. Until last summer, we held the opinion that 

 lime and ashes would diminish the sorrel on tho 

 land, ffliy we held the opinion, we hardly know, 

 but probably because we had often so read, and 

 perhaps experiences and observations, now forgot- 

 ten, had induced us to form it. But in the sum- 

 mer of 1841, we put »n hundred bushels of soap- 

 boilers' spent barilla in a heap upon a clover stub- 

 ble. In a few weeks after, the heap was taken up 

 and spread upon an adjacent reclaimed meadow. 

 This heap of spent barilla and lime, we supposed 

 to contain alkalies rather than acids — and yet, in 

 1842, the spot on which the heap had been formed, 

 gave a growth of much sorrel, and very little clo- 

 ver. This fact unsettled our opinion in relation to 

 the action of alkali upon sorrel — and it is still un- 

 settled. We know not what tosay. If the chem- 

 ists can enlighten us, we shall be very thankful 

 for their aid.— Ed. N. E. F. 



"See N. £. Farmer, of April 12— page 322. 

 tSee " " of May 17— lil page. 



For the New England Farjner. 



BUGS ON VINES. 



Mr Editor — As the bugs area great hindrance 

 to the growth of yines, I will suggest for the bene- 

 fit of my brother farmers, what I think will prove a 

 remedy. 



I noticed in a paper last year, that the writer 

 had not seen any squashes that looked aa flourish- 

 ing as a lot of marrow squashes adjoining the 

 Ocean House, Phillips' Beach, Lynn, which you 

 know is on the sea-shore. The thought struck me 

 that the application of salt or brine would effectu- 

 ally prevent the destruction' of the vine. Care 

 should be taken not to use it so freely as to de- 

 stroy the vine. I shall try it this year, and hope 

 others will do the same, and give you the result of 

 the experiment. 



A Farmer or Middlesex. 



May 15, 1843. 



We are glad to have this subject again brought 

 up. It was we, ourself, who saw the field of 

 squashes near the Ocean House. It was many 

 per cent, better than any other field of marrois 

 squashes that we saw in the course of the season. 

 We thought, too, with our correspondent, that the 

 salt of the ocean was the cause of their preserva- 

 tion. We hope our Middlesex farmer and others, 

 will try the salt or brine. We will suggest, too, 

 where it is convenient, that a little nitrate of pot- 

 ash (saltpetre,) or nitrate of soda, be used with the 



salt, for these are thought to be peculiarly favora- 

 ble to the growth of vines. Hut we have fears 

 that this method will not answer our purpose en- 

 tirely. For the great mischief is done by a fly, 

 that dcposites eggs on the stalk of the vino near 

 the ground, and these eggs produce worms which 

 in August eat the pith of the stalk and root, and 

 thus bring death. Now it may be that this fly 

 docs not like to live in tho salt atmosphere of tho 

 beach, and for that reason the vines there are un- 

 touched by it. And yet the salt which it would do 

 to put around the vines, where the fly docs live, 

 may be insufficient to keep it off. But Itt us try. 

 We tried last season to keep the fly oft' by put- 

 ting offensively smelling matters around the hills, 

 but without any benefit. — Ed. N. E. F. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



IMPROVE ALL THE LAND. 



At the sides of fields, near the wall or fence, 

 where the plow cannot be brought to work, there 

 is often a strip of land left unimproved, which, if 

 dug vihh the spade and planted with winter squash- 

 es, beans, and bush peas, would, with little or no 

 after cultivation, pay the farmer as well as any 

 other portion of his land. And this need not inter- 

 fere Viith the attention demanded by the crops on 

 the main body of the field, but can be done afker 

 their wants have been attended to, and at a time 

 when the farmer is comparatively at leisure. 



This may seem a small matter — but these littles 

 are not to bo despised. I have seen such strips of 

 headland left unoccupied by any useful growth, 

 which if improved as above suggested, would, I 

 verily believe, have yielded as much profit as ac- 

 crued from a quarter of an acre of the crops in 

 the field — supposing them, if corn, to have given 

 50, or if potatoes, 200 bushels per acre. 



I maintain that it is good policy not only to cul- 

 tivate a little land and cultivate that well, but also 

 to make every inch of that of use in the production 

 of some crop. Leave no more space than is abso- 

 lutely necessary for a due operation of heat and 

 air, and for working the crop, (and this is much 

 less, in my opinion, than is generally allowed,) and 

 let the borders of the fields be made to contribute 

 in some way to the general profit. Our acres, im- 

 proved to the best of our nbility, return ns but a 

 meagre profit — but the cases are many in which 

 this might be enhanced by practicing the sugges- 

 tions above submitted. Utilitas. 



May 22, 1843. 



Modesty Beauty is never so lovely and attrac- 

 tive, as when it is accompanied by retiring modes- 

 ty. The most beautiful flower of the garden, that 

 most attracts and charms the senses, never appears 

 so lovely as when it is beheld sweetly peeping 

 frimi the midst of its curtain of green leaves, which 

 serves partially to protect it from the sun and the 

 elements, and which renders its charms doubly in- 

 teresting and beautiful — Selected. 



