VOL. XIV. VO. 86. 



AND GARDENER^S JOURNAL. 



195 



(I'r.im llic Ohiii KnrmiT.) 

 OBSERVATIONS 

 Sit THS ACTION OF PL\STKR OF PARIS, OR GYP- 

 SUM, OM VKGETATIO.X A.ND VKGETABLES. 



Havin;; jjiven rny opinion as to the oporntioti 

 of manures, 1 will now s;\ve my ohservatioiis and 

 ideas as to the action that Phitiler of Paris, (i. e. 

 Gypsnin) has on ves<vtntii)n and vcijetaldrs. 



I am aw.ire that there are various opinions as 

 To its (ipiraliiin on |))ants. Some snppnse if to 

 act alloifelher hy its septic qnalities atiil prepares 

 ■various snlistanees in the grounil for the food of 

 jilants. Tliis is believed by those who suppose 

 tliat the nonrislnrient of all vegetation is ahsorbed 

 hy the roots — others again say that it is one of 

 the richest and most powerful manures known, 

 ■without givin-; any reasons for their opinions, or 

 the cause of its elTect on the growth of plants, 

 further than that it opeiates like a!l other manures 

 tliat increase the growth of plants — others again, 

 and 1 believe they are the majority, imagine that 

 it attracts moisture from the atmosphere, which 

 they believe is the cause of its acting on plants 

 and vegetables. 



My o|)inion is, that ^i/psum, by its septic qual- 

 ities, causes a fermentation in the soil, and decom- 

 poses certaiti substances that may be in it, and 

 that it causes a gas or vapor to arise which is the 

 food of plants, and that by some chemical power 

 tliat emanates from the action of the gypsum 

 causes the plant ta perspire, for there will be large 

 drops of water on cabbages, and moisture on 

 other plants, when there is no dew ; or moisture 

 io the earth for from one to two feet in depth. 



It the year 1794 I sent from Philadelphia two 

 itieixes of ground plaster (gypsum) to my father, 

 who then resided at Muiicy in Lycoming county, 

 Pennsylvania, on a farm. (This, I believe, was 

 the first plaster sent to that part of the countiy.) 

 I requested him to have it sowed or strewed in 

 strips over a twelve acre field of clover, first to 

 strew the plaster on a strip of four rods wide, 

 and then to leave a strip of one rod wide without 

 any plaster, and so on alternately over the whole 

 piece. I also requested him to have plaster 

 strewed over the cabbage and other vegetables 

 on one side of the garden, (it was divided hy a 

 ■walk of six or eight feet wide,) and not to put 

 any plaster on the other side of the garden — 

 which he had done in the month of May, by plas- 

 tering its northern side. Business on the waters 

 of French creek and Alleghany detained me so 

 that I did not arrive Ft home until somewhere 

 about the SOth of August ; and one of the first 

 questions I asked my father was, how the plaster 

 operated. He answered, wonderfully well — and 

 that it attracted a great deal of moisture, and that 

 the cabb iges on the north side of the garden had 

 large drops of water on the leaves every morning, 

 ■Nvhile those on the south side, and where there 

 was no plaster, had not a drop. There had then 

 been for about three weeks, no rain, and the 

 weather was unconinionly dry, and no dew to be 

 seen in the morning ; and the strips where the 

 clover was plastered were quite wet, as he thought, 

 by the moisture attracted. But on the strips of 

 clover that was not plastered there was no wet or 

 moisture, and from appearances, we supposed that 

 the plastered part would produce as four to one. 



I attended to the garden and clover for several 

 days, and from appearances, I conjectured that 

 instead of attracting moisture, that it caused a 



perspiration in the plant. The weather was very 

 dry, and no dews perceptible, which convinced 

 mo that I was right, and in all that time Fahren- 

 heit's Thermonicter was not seen below 79 degrees 

 — and in the niiddl ! of the day it ranged from 84 

 to 88 degrees. 1 then had several holes dug a 

 foot and more deep, and the ground was as dry 

 as dust, therefore no moistiu-e could rise out of 

 the earth, aiul as the sky was clear, day and night, 

 there could no moisture he attracted out of th(^ 

 atmosplu're liy the plaster. I suppose that the 

 sulphur in the plaster, by some chemical operation 

 in the earth, acts upon the jilant or vegetable so 

 as to cause it to perspire and preserve it in health, 

 and which causes it to grow. In the year 1796, 

 1 had also an opportunity of seeing the operation 

 of the plaster as above described, and with the 

 same effect. Afterwards, when I lived near Ha- 

 verdcgrace, in Maryland, in the year 1799, I hud 

 the experiment fairly tried by a very skilful gar- 

 dener that I then had, and the late Col. Timothy 

 Mattack, of Philadelphia, spent that part of tlie 

 summer with me that the yellow fever prevailed 

 in that city — and he was also convinced that the 

 plaster operated by causing a perspiration in plants, 

 and all vegetables that it operated on. The Col- 

 onel was a man of talent and observation, and 

 was famous for the cultivation of carnations and 

 other flowers, and he was sU|)posed to know as 

 much about the operation of manures as any 

 man. 



The late Joseph Cooper, of Cooperspoint, op- 

 posite Philadelphia, and who had been (when I 

 was acquainted with him) a practical farmer be- 

 tween fifty and sixty years, and who was a man 

 of talent, observation and experiment, had great 

 faith in Col. Mattack's opinions respecting ma- 

 nures — and I have known Mr Cooper to send to 

 the Colonel, barrels and parts of barrels of earth 

 or mud formed by the tide of the Deleware river, 

 to be experimented on and analyzed by the Col- 

 onel. 



The Colonel, before he could he satisfied, had 

 holes dug in my garden and fields, about two feet 

 deep, and found the ground perfectly dry. Fahren- 

 heit's Thermometer, for near or about a month, 

 was not lower, at sunrise, than 81 degrees, and in 

 the course of the day it generally ranged from 84 

 to 90 degree, but more frequently to 87 to 88. 

 The vegetables in the garden and the clover in 

 the fields that were plastered, were invariably wet 

 in the mornings at sunrise, when the fields not 

 plastered had no moisture on them. This satisfied 

 the Colonel that I was correct in my opinioijs, 

 resfiecting the perspiration caused by the plaster. 

 The above is written for the plain practical 

 farmer and gardener; I have therefore avoided 

 using any technical phrases or hard words, such 

 as (carbon, carbonic acid, nitrogen, oxygen, hydro- 

 gen, phosphorus, &c. &c.) very few of which are 

 to be found in our dictionaries now in use, and 

 cannot be of any use to the plain jiractical farmer 

 or gardener. 



I now leave these pieces with the public as 

 they are, and at what they may be worth, and i 

 have a hope that they may lead to enquiry and 

 experiment in search of a great desideratum — 

 (i. e.) to find out the nearest quantity of all nja- 

 nures that are in use, to be appled to the various 

 soils of our country, so as to have the best effect 

 on all vegetation. Too little is of little or no 

 account, and where there is too much applied, 1 

 have known wheat, rye, oatSj &,c. fail, and instead 



of grain, have a great crop of straw, with light 

 and shrivelled grain, and small in cpiantity ; ami 

 also Indian corn, by using too much mannie in a 

 dry .seas<in, where ili<^ iloughing was not of a suf- 

 ficient depth and not worked very often. 



JOHN ADLU.>r. 

 P. S. Having shown the above jjiecc to my 

 friend the Hon. Mr iiarnitz, of the House of Rej)- 

 rcscntatives of the United States, whiai he com- 

 municated to me a circumstance that 1 never 

 before heard of, or ever saw mentioned by any 

 author, viz: That certain trees do grow and in- 

 crease in si/.e during the winter season, particularly 

 Apricots, Mulberries, &.C., whose diameter in- 

 creases, and of course their circumference. This 

 is new to me, and no doubt, to the comnnmity in 

 general. As he is a gentleman of genius and 

 observation, as well as a practical Agricullurisl 

 and Horticulturist, his ideas and opinions are 

 deserving of great weight with the public — and 

 though some trees do increase in size, all may not 

 do so. I tlierefore throw out this hint, that far- 

 mers, gardeners, gentlemen of leisure and others 

 may attend to this circumstance, and when they 

 satisfy themselves of the fact, it will be tim« 

 enough to exatnine into the cause of it. J. A. 



HORTICULTDRAI, REGISTER AND GaRDKNER's 



Magazine. — The second volume of this periodical 

 will commence January 1st, 1836, and will be con- 

 tinued monthly through the year. 



A nundjer of geptlemen, who possess talente 

 and experience have been engaged to contribute 

 regidarly to this work, and we think, no doubt 

 exists, of its usefulness and success. 



The contents of the January No. are J 



Art. 1. Transplanting Large Trees, or Alanton 

 Park as Wooded between 1816 and 1821. Art. 2. 

 On the Introduction of the Vegetable Productions 

 of China. By Hon. H. A. S. Dearborn. Art. 3. 

 Observations on the Origin of Specie.^, Varieties, 

 and Variations in the Vegetable Kingdom. Com- 

 municated by Professor John Lewis Russell. 

 Art. 4. On the Preparation of Flowering Plants, 

 Fruits and Vegetables, for sale. Communicated 

 by Mr J. E. Teschemacher. Art. 5. On the 

 Selection of Hardy Herbaceous Plants, suitable for 

 Ornamenting the Parterre, Border or Shrubbery. 

 Conminnicated by Mr Joseph Breck. Art. 6. 

 Cultivation and Management of the Buckthorn 

 (Rhamnus catharticus) for Live Hedges. Com- 

 municated by E. Hcrsy Derby, Esq. Art. 7. 

 Leaves from my Note Book No. I. Art. 8. Mis- 

 cellaneous Matters, hy the Conductor. Art. 9. 

 Fancuil Hall Market. 



Terms $2 per aimum always in advance. Ad- 

 dress George C. Barrett, No. 52 North Market 

 street, Boston, 



Method of curing bad Tub Butter. — A 

 quantity of tub butter was brought to market in 

 the West Indies, which, on opening, was found 

 to be very bad, and almost stinking. A native 

 of Pennsylvania undertook to cure it, which he 

 did, in the following manner: — 



He started the tubs of butter in a large quan- 

 tity of hot water, which soon melted the butter ; 

 he then skimmed it off as clean as possible, and 

 worked it over again in a churn, and ■vvith the 

 addition of salt and fine sugar, the butter was 

 sweet and trood. 



