VOL. XIV. NO. 1 



■8. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



13) 



'l"nK MOVING PLANT. — Tlic followiiis; intciTStiiifr 

 notice of tlic Movinir Plant aiipoiirs in No. 122 '<>' 

 Mannd's Botanic Garden, a woik rcjilete with iii- 

 foi'inatioii on sncli snbjects. 



" '1 his plant was, fonnerly, called Hedysaruni 

 gyrans; and the i)oculiai- property of continual 

 motion which it3 teniate leaves possess, has inter- 

 ested naturalists ever since it was noticed by the 

 youiiiser Linn;eus. In a letter to his friend Wu- 

 tis, he says, 'I have raised a very wonderful 

 plant this year, in my garden. It is a now species 

 of lledysarnni, from Bengal. 'J his plant has a 

 s|iontaii(ons motion in its foliage, which seems 

 almost voluntary. Vou are aware that various 

 parts of the vegetable body, especially those sub- 

 Bcrvient to impregnation, can be so stimulated by 

 the touch as to exhibit some kind of movement. 

 You know, also, the motions of some kinds of 

 Mimosa and Oxalis, as well as of the Diona;a 

 muscipula, arising from the touch of any extrane- 

 ous body, or from agitation of the wind. But the 

 plant in question is not affected by either of the 

 causes. Whether in the open air, or in a close 

 room, it spontaneously moves its leaflets, now one 

 way, now another, one, two, or more at a time ; 

 not all at once, nor all in one direction ; and this 

 takes p!ace, whether the air be serene or rainy. 

 It bas not yet flowered, but I expect that event in 

 the course of the autumn. '1 he plant requires 

 great heat,' Instances of incomprehensible action 

 like this, can but awaken the attention of the most 

 apathetic. 1'he irritability of such plants is better 

 known, especially that of mimosa pudica, or hum- 

 ble ])lai)t, whose leaves shrink from the touch, the 

 cu.'ture of which may be recommended to the 

 curious amongst our young friends. Seeds are 

 easily obtained, and an efficient hot bed during 

 BUmmer, in which the plants should be constantly 

 kept, will sufficiently mature them for the purpose 

 of showing their sensitive peculiarities. This is 

 a property which advances the vegetable towards 

 the animal kingdom, just as instinct advances the 

 brute towards the human species." 



Reahixo calves. — The following is the gen- 

 eral method of rearing calves i'j Britain, and dif- 

 fers not materially from that followed by Bake- 

 well, the great cattle breeder. 



" The calves sucked for a week or fortnight, 

 according to their strength ; new milk in a pail 

 was then given a few meals; next new milk and 

 skim milk mixed, a few meals more ; then skim 

 milk alone, or porridge made with milk, water, 

 ground oats, &c., and sometimes oil cake, until 

 cheese making commenced, if it was a dairy farm ; 

 after which, whey porridge, or sweet whey, in the 

 field, being careful to house them in the night, 

 until the warm weather was confirmed. Bull 

 calves, and high-bred heifers, however, were suf- 

 fered to remain at the tile until they were six, 

 nine, or perhaps twelve months old, letting them 

 run with their dams, or more frequently less val- 

 uable cows, or heifers." 



Horn ail Mr Editor: A few days since an 



old gentleman (a farmer) called on me. I invited 

 bim to peruse youf paper and see if he would like 

 to subscribe for it. Among other things in No. 

 17, page 134, we noticed an account of the horn 

 distemper in cattle, and its remedies. Now the 

 greatest object in view is to prevent diseases, if it 

 can be done, and he is very confident he knows 



one very simple anil easy for this disorilcr ; so 

 confident is he, that ho says for the future be 

 shoidd bo willing to ])ay for every creature that 

 shall die with the Horn .\il, if people will follow 

 his direction. He says, if from one to three inches 

 be cut off" a calf's tail before they are a week old, 

 they never will Iiave the Horn Ail, let their treat- 

 ment be what it may, worked hard or kept poor. 

 He says, the first time he sees calves he clips 

 their tails, and during more than twenty years' 

 observation he never knew a creature to have the 

 Horn Ail, when his directions had been followed. 

 For one, I have considerable faith in the story, us 

 all cattle which I have known to have the Horn 

 Ail are, at the same time, what is termed tail sick ; 

 the end of tlie tail becomes soft, spongy and hol- 

 low. — " L. H. " in the Maine Farmer. 



The aloe. — The Great American Aloe, though 

 not uncommon in its ordinary state amongst us, 

 yet rarely gratifies the'lovcrs of nature's great pro- 

 ductions, even in its natural soil and climate, by 

 ilisjjlaying its floral honors, and in our climate 

 such exhibitions are very rare indeed. We were, 

 therefore, much |)leased to have the opportunity 

 of inspecting one of the finest that perhaps has 

 ever expanded its blooming crest in this country. 

 It is now on view at Butehouse, Old Brom|i'ton 

 (Viscountess Dillon's.) This surprising jilant, as 

 we have been informed by H. Bryant, the garden- 

 er, has been known in that establishment for sev- 

 enty years, and that it was brought from South 

 Carolina, in 1760, by the gentleman who occupied 

 the cottage previous to the Marquis of Bute, who 

 built the present mansion. The stem was grown 

 about twenty feet within seven weeks, and the 

 bunches of flowers, all of which are near the top, 

 are twenty in number, of a bright yellow color, 

 forming globular shaped masses, the individual 

 parts somewhat in the shapei of the woodbine 

 without its curvature, each mass being about 50 

 inches in diameter. It is rich in honey, which 

 actually drops from it in the inornings, and the 

 incessant visits of the bees prove that there is 

 much business to be done in their line. The stem 

 at its lower extremity is about six inches in diam- 

 eter, gradually tapering to about half that size, and 

 about seventeen feet from the base commence the 

 first bunches of flowers, and in proportion as the 

 circulation of its juices ascend, so the lower parts 

 decay, and the thick fleshy leaves which form the 

 plant, as we see it ordinarily, become dry and lose 

 their color; the lowest go first, and this effect 

 gradually ascending to the flowering head that 

 droops at length, and the flowering Aloe is no 

 more, for it never vegetates again. This one has 

 been a fortnight in bloom, and, if the weather 

 should not break, it may c"ntinue ten days or a 

 fortnight longer, but that will be the boundary of 

 its existence. — London paper. 



Premiums — We learn that at the eighth annual 

 Fair of tlie American Institute held at New York 

 on the 19th ult. and several following days, the* 

 Misses Stark, of Dunbarfon, N. H. received a val- 

 uable silver medal for the best specimen of Silk 

 Twist, and that Mr George Page, of Keene, ob- 

 tained a premium for his ingenious Mortising 

 Machine. 



The object of the Institute is the encourage- 

 ment of agriculture, commerce and the mechanic 

 arts, and, in a word, of American industry, skill 



and ingenuity in all useful employments comicct- 

 ed with the arts of civili/.cd society, 'i'lie instil u- 

 lion invites comiielition from all partsofthe rninii, 

 and is conducted on the most broad and liberal 

 princi])les. Its Fairs are held every year, in Oc- 

 tober, in the city of New York. — JV. H. Pal. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICUI-TURAl, SOCIETY, 



F:uurJay, Nov. 7. 

 ExniniTros or fkuits. 

 apples. 

 From R. Planning, Salem, Haskell's sweet ; red 

 Doctor or Dewitt, and orange or line a| pie. 



From J. Warren, Weston, Cat apple, Linen 

 Pole, Mungo Park, Puffer, African Prince, and 

 Drap d'Or. 



From Bezaleel Taft, Jr., Uxbridge Tift's sweet- 

 ing. 



From R. Cheney, Manchester, Conn, two sort.5, 

 naujes Linknown. 



peaks. 



From the farm of Gorham Parsons, Byefield, 

 Winter Nelis, or La Bonne Malinoise — excellent. 



From R. Manning, Coffin's Virga'ieu, Messirs 

 Jean, and Beurre Diel — large, hand.someand ex- 

 cellent. 



From S. Downer, Dorchester, Burgermcester, 

 Forelle or Poire Fruite, and Bleeker's Meadow. 



From Dr Alden, Randolph, a wilding. 



From E. Bartlett, Dorchester, name unknown. 



Pears from Mr Lowell and Mr Downer, not in 

 eating, to be reported hereafter. 



grapes. 

 Bland's Virginia, Catawba and Isabella; fine 

 bunches, well filled, and perfectly ripe, from open 

 culture, from the Botanic Garden of Messrs C. & 

 A. J. Downing, Newburgh, New York. 



For the Committee, B. V. French. 



[For the New England Farmer] 



Vegetables, large, curious akd valuable. 

 — Mr Fessenden : Sir, as you are fond of receiving 

 accounts of the ^big wis,' 1 send you a desci^itiou 

 of one of that order. Stephen Maine, Esq., of 

 Hartland, Vl. raised this season an English turnip, 

 which, when divested of its top, weighed 9 lbs. 

 and 3 ounces, its circumference being 2 feet 10 

 inches and 7-8ths of an inch I 



Hartland, Oct. 31, 1835. 



[We have at our office a motley collection of 

 lusi naturtB, viz. : two beets, which weigh 35 Ibs.j 

 pumpkins of every variety, the Siamese, Connec- 

 ticut, La Plata, &c. ; an extraordinary large Val- 

 paraiso squash ; a clump of potatoes, 13 in num- 

 ber, all from one seed ; an English turni|i, from 

 Kensington, N. H. which weighs 11 2-10tli3 lbs. 

 and measin-es 33 inches in circumference ; an- 

 other turnij), which weighs 10 lbs. ; and lastly, a 

 carrot, from Hingham, which weighs 4 1-2 lbs. 

 All those who are curious in such matters, all 

 admirers of Nature, and all those who delight to 

 trace her in her mysteriousness, are informed that 

 they will be admitted to our exhibition free gratis.] 



In the vineyard of Mr Sidney Walker, of 

 Brinchleyville, N. C. a Scuppernung grape w^as 

 found this season, weighing two hundred and 

 fourteen grains, and measuring over four inches 

 in circumference. 



