VOL.. XXI. IfO. 47. 



AND HORTICULTITRAL REGISTER 



371 



1841, the field was equally dressed with sea-weed, 

 and four acres staked off. Two of these acres 

 were plowed twelve inches deep, with two horses, 

 and two of them eitjliteen inclies deep with four 

 horses. 



These portions, managed otherwise in every re- 

 spect alike, were planted with potatoes of the Don 

 variety, and when the plants appeared above the 

 grounds, it was soon evident that those on the deep 

 plowed land liad greatly the advantage. Upon 

 iiftinw the potitoes, it was found that tlie land 

 plowed twelve inches deep, produced fiftyseven 

 bolls per acre, and that plowed eighteen inches 

 deep, yielded sixtynine bolls per acre, being a dif- 

 ference of twelve bolls per imperial acre of four 

 cwt. each. In the deep tillage, also, the potatoes 

 were larger, more cqal in size, and fewer of them 

 of a green color than in the other division of the 

 field. 'l"o the account of his experiment, Mr Jaf- 

 fray added some general remarks on the nature 

 and advantages of deep plowing. 



The chairman made some observations on the 

 necessity of obtaining a greater number of experi- 

 ments in deep plowing than have yet been made, 

 to enable us to determine whether such a process 

 is at all times advisable in a thin gravelly soil. 

 Ho had himself tried it in such a soil, and the re- 

 sult was unfavorable. — Chester (Eng.) Far. Herald. 



F.ARMS AND WORKSHOPS. 



The time is coming, if not already here, when 

 farms and workshops will be no less valued as in- 

 stitutions of learning, than for producing beef, po- 

 tatoes and cotton — or coats, plows, and spinning 

 jennies, and every variety of food, clothing, and 

 implements ; not merely for acquiring a knowledge 

 of agriculture and the mechanic arts, but of the 

 whole circle of sciences and of useful knowledge, 

 embracing all branches of mathematics, natural 

 ■ history, political economy, history, biography, man- 

 ners and customs of nations, &c. 



Facts, literally without number, prove as far as 

 facts can prove, that any young man or woman 

 can acquire a far better education, in connexion 

 with some productive employment, as a means of 

 support — entire support — board, clothes, tuition 

 and books — than can possibly he acquired under a 

 mere mental employment. Not merely n better 

 ; physical education, but intellectual and moral— a 

 sounder mind in a sounder body. 



Some have supposed that Mr Burrit, the learned 

 blacksmith, is a prodigy : not so ; — he merely il- 

 lustrates a great principle (better, perhaps, several 

 principles,) of human nature and of human happi- 

 ness. It is, that when one member rejoices, all 

 the others rejoice with it ; and when one member 

 suffers, all the other members suffer with it. He 

 himself scouts with contempt the idea that genius, 

 ( capable of high attainments, is conferred upon a 

 favored few, and modestly cites the twentyone first 

 years of his own life, in connection or in contrast 

 with the nine last years, as proof of his position. 



The plain truth is, that the way is open and the 

 means abundant and at hand, for learned black. 

 smiths to become scientific lecturers, through the 

 length and breadth of our land. And not learned 

 blacksmiths merely, but learned printers, coopers, 

 hatters, tailors, shoemakers, and learned mechanics 

 wherever any mechanics are to be found; and 

 learned farmers in still greater numbers. Why 

 not ? Are not all farmers and mechanics experi- 

 menters in science ? Does not every mechanic. 



in every operation ho performs, apply, and of 

 course illustrate, some principle of science ? Is 

 any other man a scientific experimenter on so large 

 a scale as the fanner ? Which of the natural sci- 

 ences does he not use in his business .-' 



What is in the way, then, of all our farmers be- 

 coming learned farmers.' of all our mechanics be- 

 coming learned mechnnins ? And suppose they 

 were — what then ? By their intclligenoo and vir- 

 tue, they would form a foundation for our republi- 

 can institutions, and for the liberties of our rcpub- 



lie, as immoveable as the everlasting hills Hoi- 



brook's Self Instructor. 



CULTIVATING GROUND WITHOUT MA- 

 NURE. 



The following is from the London Gardener's 

 Chronicle, edited by Professor Lindley : 



" Wonders will never cease While our agricul- 

 turists are eagerly discussing the comparative ad- 

 vantages of particular soils, and studying the theo- 

 ry of manures as propounded by Sprengel and 

 Liebig, a countryman of these distinguished pro- 

 fessors comes forward to proclaim that their labors 

 are vain ; for, if we are to believe him, he has dis- 

 covered the art of growing luxuriant crops on the 

 poorest land, and without any manure whatsoever ; 

 and the cost of the process is so trifling, that for 

 the acre of wheat or maize, it does not exceed five 

 pence sterling ; and for rape, cabbage, &c., 

 amounts to only about half that sum. 



At first, we were disposed to consider such ex- 

 traordinary pretensions as an effusion of quackery, 

 and entitled to little or no credit ; but our incre- 

 dulity has been somewhat shaken by ihe numerous 

 and respectable attestations which the author has 

 appended to his pamphlet, and which tend to prove 

 that his method has been practiced with success, 

 during the last twelve years, in various parts of 

 Germany and Holland. Thus the certificates from 

 Vienna, dated 1829 and 1830, declare that Mr 

 Bick's process, which would seem to con?;ist in 

 some preparation of the seed, ' renders all dunging 

 unnecessary, is applicable to the poorest soils and 

 to all sorts of plants, and imparts to them a won- 

 derful degree of vegetation and fullness ;' and they 

 give the results of the experiments in the imperial 

 garden of the Chateau ; from which it appears that 

 wheat raised from seed sown by Mr 15. had larger 

 ears and more grains than that produced from un- 

 prepared seed ; that the barley showed ears with 

 full rows, and a large number of grains ; while 

 that from unprepared seed had only two rows and 

 a small proportion of grains on each stalk ; and 

 the Indian corn exhibited a far greater number of 

 much stronger and thicker heads. 



At Budingen, again some plants of the sunflow. 

 er, treated according to Mr B.'s method, grew to 

 the height of ten to eleven feet, with woody stems 

 of eight and a half to nine inches in circunil'erence. 

 Ten or twelve potato plants, of a large yellow sort, 

 called Marbiiger, yielded each, on the average, 

 thirty good sized tubers, with stem and branches 

 seven feet long; and maize, which grew partly 

 singly and partly in rows, had from two to five, and 

 in some instances as many as eight and nine heads. 



These crops were obtained in the garden of 

 Count Isenburg; and we are further assured by 

 the certificate, to which are attached the signatures 

 of two burgomasters, the court gardener, a grand 

 ducal councillor, and other official personages, that 

 they were raised in ground but partially dressed, 



and in the midst of tall weeds. The trials of this 

 method in Holland, made in the summer of 1H;M, 

 were attended with results not less n.slcinishing. 

 Prepared wheat and rye, though sown thick, gave 

 ."JO to (iO, and cren 80 stalks from one grain; and 

 a plant of barley bi>re 8 large ears. Buckwheat 

 rose to 4 12 and 5 feet ; llnx had 4 and .'5 stems 

 from one seed ; and Indian corn grew from 'J to 10 

 feet in height with 4 to 5 heads, from a single corn. 

 The green crops were equally luxuriant." 



Liebig's Agricultural Cliemistry teaches us that 

 nm»io)ita ia the great stimulant to the growth of 

 plants. .\i one of the late agricultural meetings 

 in Boston, Dr. C. T. Jackson suggested that seeds 

 might bo coated with sumo guimny substance, and 

 t.hen rolled in guano, enough of which would readi- 

 ly adhere, to produce all the effects ascribed to 

 those foreign prepared seeds — their preparation 

 being a secret. 



A mere teaspoonful of guano, applied to a newly 

 struck rose cutting of a few inches in length, had 

 been sufficient, by the following spring, to produce 

 a bush of some si.x feet in height. It is the re- 

 ceived opinion that the nourishment of vegetable 

 life is derived from the atmosphere A'ewark Mv. 



Jlcid on Jf'ood — its effect on Salt and Butler. — 

 It has been frequently remarked by those who are 

 in the habit of packing butter, that that kept best 

 put down in stone; the next best, in oak or white 

 ash firkins,the wood of which had been boiled sev- 

 eral hours previous to working, and that butter 

 packed in firkins of unprepared wood, frequently 

 acquired a strong and disagreeable flavor, which 

 seriously injured its quality. The reason of this 

 has not been generally under.=tood. Mr Moir, of 

 Scotland, has been instituting a series of experi- 

 ments on the subject, which appear to have thrown 

 some light on the matter. He found that most 

 kinds of wood contained considerable quantities of 

 pyrolignic acid, which decomposes the salt with 

 which it comes in contact. The linden, or bass- 

 wood, was the only wood he found entirely free ; 

 but the other kinds he experimented upon were 

 easily freed from the acid by boiling three or four 

 hours, well pressed under water. It is evident 

 that firkins made of staves prepared in this way, 

 would be decidedly improved, and as the preserva- 

 tion of butter in a sweet and pure state, is an im- 

 portant matter to the dairyman, we think iniich 

 would be gained by a proper attention to the ves- 

 sels in which it is packed Selected. 



Influence of Vegetation in the Formation of Soil. 

 — Beside rocks, vegetation itself contributes to 

 the formation of earth : thus upon the most naked 

 rock some imperceptible lichens first establish 

 themselves, which act upon the rock, ai?d contri- 

 bute, with the atmospheric influences, to decom- 

 pose it. Soon this first decomposition mingled 

 with the remains of the first vegetation, forms a 

 small bed of vegetable mould ; then other stronger 

 plants grow, such as the large lichens, the mosses, 

 the grasses, &c., whose more powerful action and 

 more considerable remains, increase with greater 

 rapidity, the eartliy bed, and at last convert it into 

 an arable soil. Such, we have reason to believe, 

 has been the first ni(;de of formation upon a great 

 number of regions, and if we still see naked rocks, 

 it is because their abrupt situation has prevented 

 the establishment of any vegetation. — Farm-House 

 of the 19lh Century. 



