Vol. IX.— No. 12. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



93 



IS, slighlly acid taste. It imparls its taste and 

 11 both to water and alcohol. Bread which 

 aiiis it is defective in firmness, liable to be- 

 e moist, and cracks and crumbles soon after 

 g taken from the oven. 



'ffects of Spurred Rye on Man and Jlniinals. — 

 use of ergot mixed up with rye flour in bread, 

 been at difterent times, productive of fatal and 

 -spreading diseases in Silesia, Bohemia, |)arls 

 Liissia, Hesse, Lusatia, Saxony, Sweden, and 

 ice. The effects vary with the time, during 

 h it lia« been tised, and with the quantity ta- 

 in those who have eaten of it for a short 

 it produces a variety of nervous symptoms, 

 gating a disease called convulsive ergotism; 

 Ij that caused by eating larger quantities, and 

 ■ longer period, has obtained the name of 

 mrcnout crgotisTn. 



{le first or convulsive variety of the disease 

 licred in by an uneaify sensation in the feet; 

 i I d of tickling or creeping, soon followed by 

 ! I burn, disorder of the head, and trembling of 

 (lands. To this succeed convulsions, foaming 

 |e mouth, burning thirst, vertigo, and the 

 I |toms of intoxication, ending at times in mad- 



I >r stupor. Almost all those affected, as if 

 i| [jpilepsy, die. In many, the face was cover- 



I Ith an eruption resembling flea bites. In the 

 il |r cases, in the interv.ils between the fits, the 



I I te was voracious, pulse natural, as were all 

 ■ijijcretion:'. 



1 ) gangrenous form of ergotism, commences 

 tingling sensation of the part, which as- 

 a roseate hue — the pulse is generally weak- 

 id finally ceasea to beat ; then follows a 

 ^s, swelling, violet color, and death of the 

 ifc'Vith its separation in part, or entire, from the 

 ' In another variety, which has been wit- 

 in various parts of Germany, the chief 

 )m3 were spasmoilic, contraction of the 

 at first, and afterwards weakness of mind, 

 y, and dyspepsy, which, if not followed by 

 ry, as generally happened, terminated in fa- 



ll 



gangrene, 

 jtic bread used by nurses for four or five 

 Iriesup the secretion of milk. Of the med- 

 )0wer3 of ergot we have nothing to say in 

 ice. It is sufficient to remark, that they 

 be inferred from what has been said above 

 letriinental effects when nii.xed uji with al- 



nals into whose food spurred rye has large- 

 red, have, after a time, been affected with 

 rene of the limbs, ears, and tail, and inflam- 

 of parts of the digestive canal. 



From the New York Gardener. 



OCTOBER. 



,iTl judicious farmer will always so cultivate 

 i as to improve its productive powers. He 

 nure, plough and sow, with that object in 

 ».;wl No immediate profit will ever tempt him 

 ctice injurious to the fertility of his soil. 

 AJertain periods, and under certain circum- 

 he may very properly have recourse to 

 eosive nietliod of summer-fallowing. The 

 n nature of some soils imperiously demands 

 lierever the roots of quitch-grass abound, 

 no means more certain to destroy them, 

 pring, our lands are never sufficiently dry 

 laterially benefited by ploughing; indeed 

 Infrequently happens, that in order to pro- 

 iseoson a seed bed for our spring crops, we 



are compelled with the plough and harrow to in- 

 jure the productive qualities of clay or loamy soils. 

 In this country, where land is plenty and cheap, 

 and labor comparatively high, it may be good 

 farming to sunmier-fallow such land every sixth 

 or seventh year, and not ofiener, if you will ob- 

 serve a proper rotation of crops. In this you 

 should be du-ected by local circumstances, and the 

 inai-ket demand for the several kinds of grain. 



Free the surface of your land from every im- 

 pediment to good tillage, and let your crops suc- 

 ceed each other in the f)Ilowing order : — Bcin- 

 ning with a complete summer-fallow, to be sown 

 to wheat or rye ; as soon after harvest as possible, 

 plough in the stubble ; in the spring of the third 

 year, cross-plough, and plant to Indian corn ; this 

 must he succeeded the fourth year, with barley or 

 oats, and stocked down with clover, 1511)3. to the 

 acre. The grass may be mowed, or pastured two 

 or diree years, and again have recourse to sum- 

 mer-fallow. 



A practice of this kind will improve your land 

 without the expense of manure ; but it would be 

 well if you could afford a coat of stable manure, 

 once, at least, in this course ; and let that bn put 

 on just previous to the corn or barley, and imme- 

 diately covered with the furrow. 



In cultivating your garden, keep the same prin- 

 ciples in view ; but here a naked summer-fallow is 

 never necessary. The crops in your garden are 

 taken off at so many different periods, and some 

 of them so early in the season, that opportunity is 

 always gained for working the ground in the com- 

 pletest manner. 



It is a mistaken idea, that land ever requires 

 absolute rest. Let the tillage be well performed ; 

 let its productions be judiciously varied ; let suita- 

 ble manure be properly applied ; and your soil 

 will every year improve. 



Good tillage is indispensable, upon farm or gar- 

 den ; and here you will have exercise for observa- 

 tion and judgment. The same depth and number 

 of ploughiugs which would be proper u|)on some 

 land, you will find ijuite insufficient, or improper 

 upon others. All clay or loamy soils are greatly 

 benefited by fall ploughing. Tlio winter frost 

 will more effectually pulverize such land than all 

 the labor you can bestow ; besides, there is no 

 practice mora destructive of grub-worms, nor can 

 land be made fit for spring grain in any other way 

 so cheap. 



A sandy soil may be wrought in a diff^n-nt 

 manner. Here spring ploughing can be performed 

 without injury, nor docs this kind of soil require 

 the aid of frost to make it fine and light. A 

 skilful agriculturist is fully satisfied of these truths, 

 and directs his business accordingly. 



POTATOES, BEETS, a.nd CARROTS, 

 should now be raisnd from the ground. — Choose a 

 dry time for this business, and let the roots intend- 

 ed for family consumption, be stored away with 

 neatness. A proportion for winter use, should be 

 put into the cellar, and completely covered with 

 dry sand. This will greatly protect them from 

 frost, if the cellar should he cold, and retard their 

 vegetating, if warm. Besides, all these roots lose 

 much of their excellence, if expo.sed only a few 

 days to the nir, in any temperature. 



The residue of your crop may be buried upon 

 the surface of a dry spot of ground; pile tbern 

 with regidarity, and give the whole on every side, 

 a roof-like slope ; theni cover this heap with dry 



sand, an inch or two deep, over which lay a good 

 coat of drawn straw, up and down, as if thatching 

 a house, in order to carry off the water ; then dig 

 a trench around the heap, and cover the straw 

 with the earth so dug up, in a depth sufficient to 

 secure the roots from frost. 



N. B. Better make this covering unnecessarily 

 deep, than one inch too shallow ; for the least 

 frost will entirely spoil this kind of sauce for table 

 use. 



PARSNIPS. 



' In the management, or rather neglect of one 

 of our finest vegetables, than which our gardens 

 produce no richer, we see the tyranny of custom. 



' From time immemorial, our fathers in the 

 country have raised the parsnip only as a rarity, 

 to be sought for a few days in the spring. And 

 few farmers think it possible to deviate from this 

 ancient rule, and by digging that vegetable in the 

 fall, provide their tables with a very pleasant and 

 useful winter variety. By taking it up in the fall, 

 we not only gain a long use of the plant, but we 

 have it in greater perfection ; for rarely can it be 

 taken up in the spring, before it has sprouted, and 

 the inside become ligneous. Indeed all roots 

 should he dug in the fall, and if packed in a box, 

 with earth from the beds from which they were 

 taken, that the same moisture may be preserved, 

 they can be kept until quite the beginning of sum- 

 mer, possessing all their richness of juice, and nu- 

 tritious qualities.' 



COMPOST MANURE. 



The skilful gardener is always distinguished by 

 the preparation and. at)plication of his manure- 

 He never carts out this powerful substance, and 

 throws it at random about his garden ; for he 

 knows full well, that instead of a blessing, in the 

 hands of the ignorant, it frequently becomes a 

 misfortune, and the immediate parent of sterility. 



Your various plants will not all require the 

 same kind and quantity of manure. Stable man- 

 ure, in its recent state, for potatoes, turnips, &c, is 

 as good, if not better than any other. But for a 

 large proportion of garden vegetables, the first 

 summer, it will do more hurt than benefit. For 

 these, you sliould annually make ready a composi- 

 tion, and apply it when and where it may bo want- 

 ed. Now, for this pin-pose, clean out your hog-sty 

 and hen-roost, and every other depository of ani- 

 mal excrements. If these do not furnish asupply, 

 the barn-yard must contiibute the deficiency. 

 With this, when carted out, mix an equal quantity 

 of alluvial eorth, or turf-parings, taken from an old 

 pasture, or highway, and in some convenient spot 

 in the garden, make a heap thr^!e feet high, four 

 feet wide, and as long as you please. U|)on every 

 load of this mixture, spread a bushel or two of 

 lime, or house .ishes. 



Let the top of this pile be flat or a little dishing, 

 that the rain may wet it through, and to prevent 

 loss by evaporation, cover the whole a few inches 

 deep with mould from the garden. 



From a compost of this kind, most of your ten- 

 der plants will derive an early supply of food, and 

 start with strong appetites and vigorous habits. 



For cucumbers and melons, however, the fol- 

 lowing is to be preferred : 



Take rotten cow-dung, or the remains of old 

 hot-beds, one part; coarse sand, two parts; and 

 new vegetable mould, from tlecaycd tree leaves 

 three parts. This should be prepared at least a 



