28 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



The two following articles are from a commu- 

 nication read before the New York Agricultural 

 Society at its last meeting, by H. Hickcock, Esq. 



DESTRUCTIOIV OF AVEEUS. 



The spirits of turpentine I have found a subtle 

 poison to all plants experimented upon, and among 

 others, I have applied it to milkweed, burdock, 

 and Canada thistle ; a teaspoonful dropped on the 

 stem will run down and destroy it to the ground, 

 and if the root is not, on the first trial, destroyed, 

 a repetition will be sufficient. This remedy may 

 be of particular use where weeds start up from 

 under stone walls or other inaccessible places. 



Johnswort is regarded by many farmers as 

 more noxious than the Canada thistle. It fre- 

 quently usurps whole fields to the exclusion of all 

 the valuable grasses. On some spots of land 

 covered with this weed I spread gypsum, at the 

 rate of three bushels an acre, and had the satis- 

 faction to find that the spots were soon covered 

 with a thick mat of white clover and other grass- 

 es ; while the Johnswort was fast running out. 

 It is quite possible that a less quantity of gypsum 

 per acre might answer a similar purpose. 



COMPOST. 



There are two ways of making a compost, or 

 mixture of earth with manure. Agreeably to one 

 method, a mound is formed in the barn yard or 

 near it, consisting of alternate beds of manure 

 and earth : when the manure has fermented, the 

 n)ass is turned over with the spade and partially 

 mixed. After a renewal and subsidence of fer- 

 mentation, the materials are again turned over 

 with a spade and more thoroughly blended to- 

 gether. The compost is then drawn out and 

 spread on the field. 



The other way of mixing earth with manure, 

 is much less laborious and expensive, and is 

 thought to be, in many respects, more advanta- 

 geous. The method is this. In the spring of the 

 year, draw out all the manure, including straw, 

 cornstalks, cobs and all other coarse materials 

 fit for the purpose, into the field ; spread it, and 

 turn the whole under the soil, from six to twelve 

 inches deep, with the plough. In order to have 

 the work well done, one or more persons must 

 follow the plough, and with a rake, or hoe or fork, 

 place the coarse manure in the bottom of the 

 furrow. 



When the manure is not spread over the whole 

 of the field, as in common cases, and the coarse 

 materials cover a still less portion of it, one per- 

 son is sufficient to follow the plough. But when 

 a lot is entirely covered with coarse manure, two 

 followers will be required, and even three if the 

 business is not properly arranged. The follow- 

 ing regulation vvili save the labor of one hand. 



by rendering unnecessary the passing and repassing 

 of the rakers, which the method suggested by our 

 first thoughts, would require. The first raker 

 must set in after the plough, and continue his 

 course ; when the plough has performed one 

 bout, the second raker begins his course. The 

 first raker upon completing his round will stop : 

 for he will find the furrow here filled with ma- 

 nure by his companion ; but his stop will not be 

 long, for the team will be close upon him, barely 

 allowing him to step aside and permit it to pass ; 

 when he again sets in with his rake, or hoe or 

 fork. In this way the business will be conducted 

 with great regularity and to the best advantage. 



When the manure has been thus buried under 

 ground, it is usual to plant com in the field, that 

 plants may be present to partake of the food 

 which the manure furnishes during its decompo- 

 sition, and also, to keep the field constantly pro- 

 ducing valuable crops. In the autumn after the 

 corn is gathered, the soil is turned over with the 

 plough, and with the assistance of the harrow, 

 the decomposed manure and the soil are well 

 mixed together. The compost is now perfected 

 and the field is in a state of preparation for win- 

 ter grain. 



To this method it has been objected, that 

 the gases, which first escape during the fermen- 

 tation of manure, are poisonous to plants, and that 

 their disengagement should be effected, in j)laces 

 where they could not exert their efforts injurious- 

 ly. The results of several experiments which I 

 have made, would appear to speak a diflTerent lan- 

 guage from this. 



I excavated a ^ot in my garden about a foot 

 deep, and filled it half full with clean wheat straw; 

 over this was thrown the soil which had been dis- 

 placed, and melon seeds were planted. The fruit 

 t was the largest and best I had ever raised. Upon 

 examination, I found that the straw had undergone 

 a thorough decomposition. 



Another spot in the garden I trenched, to the 

 depth of two feet, and deposited in it manure 

 from the horse stable .six inches deep, and then 

 filled the trench with the soil which had been 

 thrown out. On this bed were sown parsnip 

 seed ; when the roots had attained the size of a 

 goose quill, I dug some of them up. The roots 

 had passed straight down to the manure, and at 

 this depth, which was eighteen inches, they were 

 of two thirds of their size at the surface ; the 

 roots when dug up for the table, were rather long 

 than large, and they were excellent. 



Chinese method of Cultivating the Mul- 

 berry. — The Chinese have various methods for 

 cultivating the mulberry, all of which may be ad- 

 vantageously adopted in this country. One method 

 is as follows : — In the spring, they sow the seed, 



