358 



Live Fences. — Decomposition of Rocks. 



Vol. VII. 



hedges, and have sent them to various 

 States in the Union, and I have never in 

 any instance, heard of* their failure. 



I have also tried the experiment with the 

 American hawthorn, or "Yankee thorn," as 

 it is called in this neighbourhood ; but this, 

 though a strong and durable hedge, is very 

 far inferior in beauty to the buckthorn — the 

 leaves becoming spotted in August witli 

 yellow spots, which give the whole plant a 

 rusty appearance. 



My method of forming a hedge, is to set 

 the young plants in a single row, about nine 

 inches apart, cither in the spring or autumn; 

 if the latter, I should clip it the following 

 spring within six inches of the ground : this 

 will cause the hedge to be thick at the bot- 

 tom, which I regard as a great point of ex- 

 cellence : after this, all that remains to be 

 done, is to keep it from weeds, and clip it 

 once a year. I consider June as the best 

 time to trim it, as it soonest recovers its 

 beauty at that season. The clipping may 

 be done either with the garden shears, a 

 hedge knife, or even with a common scythe. 



I believe, gentlemen, I have now given 

 you all the information in my power, upon 

 hedges; and I must trust to your interest in 

 the subject, to excuse me, if I have complied 

 too literally with your request, and made a 

 "twice told tale," too long. 

 I am, with great respect, 



Yours, &c, E. Hersey Derby. 



Salem, Mass., Sept. 19th, 1842. 



We recollect an observation of Dr. Darlington, in liis 

 Flora Ccstrica,lhe truth of which has been many times 

 confirmed when passing the hedges of our farm- 

 ers. " One important fact,'' says the Doctor, "applies 

 to every sort of thorn, and should be remembered by 

 all persons who may undertake hedging, — which is, 

 that if they are not carefully attended to and skilfully 

 managed, the hedges will become a nuisance, and a 

 source of vexation, rather than a benefit, and had bet- 

 ter never be attempted. With due care and skill, they 

 make a valuable and ornamental enclosure." — Ed. 



Tor the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Decomposition of Rocks. 



In a late number of the Cabinet, mention 

 is made of a person who had the resolution 

 to carry abroad and spread over his field, the 

 stones which he had gathered up in the ex- 

 pectation of ridding the land of encumbrance; 

 and the writer accounts for the injury con- 

 sequent on the removal of the stones, on 

 merely mechanical principles. In the Bos 

 ton Cultivator, for May 20th, I find an inte- 

 resting article on the subject, from which I 

 copy a few remarks. 



"More than thirty years ago, the Hon 

 John Welles concluded that rocks in the 



soil were serviceable to vegetation ; that 

 their action was chemical, and that they 

 became decomposed. Now, this opinion is 

 fully established and sustained by the lead- 

 ing agriculturists, both in Europe and Ame- 

 rica. The rains and the carbonic acid in 

 the atmosphere, take from rocks potash or 

 soda, which is carried down by these rains 

 to enrich the soil ; and hence, and for other 

 reasons, trees that are transplanted over a 

 cart-load of stones placed in the hole, thrive 

 better than those transplanted without stones; 

 and the soil taken immediately under walls 

 and mixed with a little lime, has been found 

 equal to street manure." And J. Marston, 

 in his lecture on the chemistry of agricul- 

 ture, says : " It is important to the agricul- 

 turist to understand the relation which the 

 carbonic acid of the atmosphere bears to 

 these alkaline silicates, which occur in the 

 mineral and vegetable kingdom: for, insolu- 

 ble as they are in water, they are slowly 

 decomposed by the united action of the 

 moisture and carbonic acid of the atmos- 

 phere, the latter taking the potash or soda 

 from the silica, and forming carbonates of 

 these bases. In consequence of this decom- 

 position, the rock disintegrates and crum- 

 bles down, while the soluble carbonate is 

 washed down by the rains or mists, and is 

 borne to the lower ground, to enrich the al- 

 luvial and other soils, or is carried by the 

 rivers to the sea. And in the farm- yard and 

 the compost-heap, where matters are under- 

 going decomposition, the silicates they con- 

 tain undergo similar decompositions; and by 

 similar chemical changes, their silica is ren- 

 dered soluble, and is thus fitted, when mixed 

 with the soil, again to minister to the wants, 

 and to aid the growth of new races of living 

 vegetables." 



Thus it appears, that stones act chemi- 

 cally, as well as mechanically, in the ameli- 

 oration of the soil ; and it is with reason, 

 therefore, that land valuers and surveyors 

 pay particular regard to the nature of the 

 stones of a soil ; those that are grown over 

 with mosses and other vegetable substances, 

 indicating the greatest fertility, from the cir- 

 cumstance of their being of a softer texture, 

 more easily operated upon by the carbonic 

 acid of the air and rain, and therefore sooner 

 decomposed. John Dale. 



May 2uth, 1843. 



An insect trap. — Scoop out the inside 

 of a turnip ; scollop the edge of the shell, 

 and place it downward on the earth. The 

 insects will pass into it as a place of retreat, 

 through the holes; and the beds of squashes, 

 melons, cucumbers, &c, may thus soon be 

 cleared of them. 



