38 



NFAV ENGLAND FARMER, 



August 20, 1830. 



MAGAZINES OF MANURE. 



Take advantage of this warm and dry weatlier 

 to search your premises for what may be styled 

 mines of manure, such as peat, marl, nmd, &c. 

 With regard to the last mentioned substance, the 

 following observations may be of service : ' In 

 ponds and rivers the sediment is made up of fine 

 dust, together with a variety of other substances, 

 which have been wafted in the air, and have fall- 

 en into the water ; together with the subtlest par- 

 ticles of the neighboring soils, washed down into 

 tliem by rain. That is supposed to be the richest 

 mud, which is near to the borders, and which has 

 been alternately flooded and fermented ; as it 

 will f-Tment when it lays bare in some degree.' 

 • ' III rivers and in long ditches that have cur- 

 rents, there is a greater proportion of soil in the 

 mud. It has been brought down from soft, mel- 

 low lands, through which the rivers pass ; and 

 some of it doubtless from beds of marie, which 

 are often found m the banks of rivers, and which 

 readily dissolve in tiie water. 



' Some ponds are totally dried up in a hot and 

 dry summer, and all ponds and rivers are so di- 

 minished by a copious evaporation, as to leave 

 part of their beds uncovered. And these beds, 

 where there has been no rapid current, are al- 

 ways found to contain a rich mud. In some 

 ])laccs it reaches to a considerable depth. This 

 mud, though taken from fresh waters, has been 

 found to he a valuable manure ; more especially 

 for dry, sandy and gravelly soils. I have known 

 it to have as good an effect as barn dung, in the 

 cultin-e of Indian corn, upon such soils — The ad- 

 vantage of it is not found to be limited to one 

 season ; it meliorates the land for several years. 

 It restores to a high piece of ground what vegeta- 

 ble mould the rains in a long course of years have 

 been washing away from it. 



' i: is happy for the farmer that Providence has 

 prepared for him those magazines of manure in 

 all partsof the country. None but the stupid will 

 let them lie unnoticed or unremoved. When a dry 

 autumn happens, the prudent farmers will be very 

 indu.strlous in carting mud up from evaporated 

 ponds, and other sunken places in their farms, 

 and laying it on their light soils, especially on 

 high gravelly knolls ; or into their barnyards, if 

 the distance be not too great. 



' But with respect to using mud as a manure, 

 the maritime farmers have the advantage of all 

 others. For the sea ooze, which appears on the 

 flats and in creeks and harbore, along the shores ; 

 of the sPa, has all the virtues of fresh water mud, 

 with tliat of sea salt superadded, which is one of 

 the moFt important ingredients in the composi- 

 tion of the best manures. 1 might add that it 

 abounds more than any other mud, with putrefied 

 animal substances. Much of these are contained 

 in the soa itself : and innumerable are the fowls 

 and fish that have perished on flats since time be- 

 gun ; and the component parts of their bodies 

 have been inclosed by the supervenient slime. 



' Mud taken from flats where there are shell-fish, 

 or even whore they have formerly lived, is bettor 

 for inaume than that which appears to he more 

 unmixed. The shells among it are a valuable 

 liart of its composition. If it abound much with 

 shells it becomes a general manure, fit to be laid 

 on almost every kind of soil. 



' That mud, however, which is a richer manure 

 than any other, is taken from docks, and from ihc 

 sides of wharves in populous towns. For it has 



been greatly enriched by the scouring of foul 

 streets, and from connnon sewers ; as well as 

 from an unknown quantity of animal and vege- 

 table substances, accidentally fallen, or designedly 

 thrown into such |>Iaces. 



' Sea mud may be taken uj) at any season, 

 whenever the farmer has most leisme. It is a 

 good method to draw it upon sleds fiom the flats 

 in March, when tlie border is covered with firm 

 ice. I have thus obtained mud from flats with 

 great expedition and with little expense. 



' Mud that is newly taken up, may be laid upon 

 grass land. But if it be ploughed into the soil, it 

 should first lie exposed to the frost of one winter. 

 The frost will destroy its tenacity, and reduqe it 

 to a fine powder ; after which it may be spread 

 like ashes. But if it be ploughed into the soil, 

 before it has been mellowed, it will remain in 

 liunps for several years, and he of less advantage. 



' A layer of mud will be no bad ingredient in a 

 heap of compost. But it should be contiguous to 

 a stratum of lime if that can be obtained. But 

 where this is wanting, new horse dung is the best 

 substitute, to excite a strong fermentation. 



'The best method of managing all sorts of mud, 

 were it not for increasing the labor would be to 

 lay it in farm yards, and let it be thoroughly mix- 

 ed with the dung and stale of animals. When it 

 is so managed, the compost is excellent, and fit 

 for almost any soil, though best for light ones. 

 Perhaps the advantage of it is so great as to pay 

 for the increased expense of twice carting. For 

 it will absorb the stale of cattle, and retain it bet- 

 ter than straw, and other light substances.' — Geor- 

 gical Dictionnry. 



MAKING BUTTER. 



Butter is made from cream or milk by the 

 chemical union of the oxygen or vital air of the 

 atmosphere with those materials. If a churn were 

 perfectly air tight, butter could not be produced 

 within it for want of oxygen, which composes 

 about one fifth part of the air, with which we are 

 surrounded. The more free the access of air, 

 other things beirfg equal, to the contents of the 

 churn, the sooner butter is manufactured. 



A knowledge of these facts induced Mr John 

 Mears, of Dorchester, to insert a small tube in the 

 lop of his churn, extending several inches above 

 said top, and descending as far below it as is prac- 

 ticable, without impeding the motion of the dasher. 

 This tube was open at top, closed at bottom, hut 

 gave access to air by means of a perpendicular slit 

 from near the top of the churn to near the bottom 

 of the tube. The consequence of this improve- 

 ment was the accelerating and facilitating tiie pro- 

 duction of butter by about one half. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



NAPOLEON AND PASSE COLMAR PEARH. 



Thomas G. Fessenden, Esq. — It is much to be 

 regretted, that Mr W. R. Prince should have used 

 siich confident language on a topic which we shall 

 show, he did not understand ; as its tendency is to 

 unsettle established names, and to weaken the 

 public confidence in his own authority. I shall 

 use no other proof , than Mr Prince's own very sin- 

 gular note. The source of his mistake we cannot 

 divine. 



' The pear trees cultivated at Boston under the 

 name of Napoleon, are wrong, (says he) and next, 

 all the " Passe Colmar " trees which are identical 

 with the " Napoleon " there so called, are wrong 



also, as the one called the " Napoleon " is iden 

 cally the Passe Cohunr. These assertions are i 

 ventured, until after examinations made with th 

 scrupulous exactness, which doubts itself, until 

 attain conviction beyond all doubt.' 



So far Mr Prince. 



Yet this very confident assertion is founded e 

 tirely and wholly in error, and in very hasty e 

 aniiuation. 



The Napoleon, so called here, is not identica'i 

 tlie Passe Colmar; but it is identically the Na\t 

 leon figured in the Pom'ilogical Magazine. 



The Napoleon, so called here, is an autumn 

 pear, and is precisely \vhat Mr Prince describes 

 from authority. 



The Passe Colmar, so called here, agrees precisi 

 with Mr Prince's description of the true Pas 

 Colmar. As he is now our authority, w 

 safely appeal to that against himself. The Pas 

 Colmar will keep into January here — the Napolei 

 ripens in October. There is no more resemblan 

 between them, than between a St Germain and 

 St Michael's. 



How could Mr Prince know, that the two tre; 

 cultivated at Boston as the Napoleon and Past 

 Colmar, were identical ? Did he ever examii 

 them on the originally imported trees ? N'ever. 



The Boston cultivators are too diffident of the 

 own qualifications to pretend to decide ; but th 

 they do assuredly know, that they received tl 

 Napoleon and Passe Colmar from one of the mo 

 exa(-t cultivators in Europe, Mr Knight, with d' 

 scriptions from his pen, and iheir fruits (actual 

 ripened and eaten) agree with all the description 

 and, most of all, with Mr Prince's own. 



A FARMER. 



Roxhury, August 13, 1830. 



•d^ 



MASS.-VCHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOClET!t 



FLOWERS. 



Saturday, August 14, 1830. 

 Flowers of the following varieties were exhibi 

 ed at the last meeting; Hedyschium gardenerianur 

 Phlox suaveolens. Phlox paniculata, and Sagitti 

 ria latifolia, from the Botanic Garden, Cambridg 

 Two fine bunches of flowers of varieties froi 

 Messrs Winships. Bunch of flowers from yt* 

 Cowing. Fine Double Dahlias, from D. HaggeM 



STON. 



From the Virginia Free Press. 



COW CABBAGE. 

 Mr Editor — I have noticed in the last Fre 

 Press and Repository, a communication copi* 

 from the N. Y. Farmer, signed by James Tliach 

 er of Plymouth, (Mass.) on the importance of cul 

 tivating what he calls the Cow Cabbage, or cet 

 arian kail, ' the .seed of which was sent by Docto 

 James Mease. Through the politeness of tbi 

 Post Master in Charlestowii, I too received, 

 May, 1829, some of the same kind of cabbagi 

 seed (spoken of by Mr Thacher) from Docla 

 Mease of Philadelphia. The Doctor in his com' 

 munieation to the Post Master at CharlestowB 

 gave tjie plant the name of Tree Cabbage. Liv- 

 ing as I do in a more SoiUhern climate, and hav- 

 ing been more successful in raising the tree 

 Cow cabbage, than either Mr Thacher or hil 

 neighbor, ' who took up his plants in the autumn 

 and put them into his cellar,' I will, with your per 

 mission, make known, through the columns ol 

 your paper, the progress I have made in cultiva- 

 ting this new kind of cabbage, called by my old 

 Gardener, ' Wild Cabbage.' 



