NEW GRAPES. GRAIN CROPS. 



73 



to see upon which elements of it this effect 

 depends. 



The reason why, in certain years, the influ- 

 ence of the best and most plentiftil manuring 

 33 scarcely perceptible, is that during the moist 

 and rainy springs and summers the phosphates 

 and other salts with alkaline bases, as also 

 the soluble ammoniac al salts, are entirely or 

 partly removed. A great amount of rain and 

 moisture removes, in the greatest quantity, 

 the very substances which are most indispen- 

 sable to the plants at the time that they begin 

 to form and mature seeds. The system of 

 draining, which of late has been so extensively 

 followed in England, brings the land into the 

 state of a great filter, through which the solu- 

 ble alkalies are drawn off in consequence of 

 the percolation of rain, and it must, therefore, 

 become more deficient in its soluble eflScacious 

 elements. 



Attentive fanners must have observed that 

 after a certain time the quality of the grain 

 on land laid dry according to this principle, 

 deteriorates ; that the produce of grain bears 

 no due proportion to the produce of sti-aw. 



What is more e^•ident, after these remai'ks, 

 than that intelligent farmers must sti-ive to 



give to the soil the manuring substances iii 

 such a state as to render possible their acting 

 favorably on the plants during the whole time 

 of their growth ? Art must find out the 

 means of reducing the solubility of the ma- 

 nuring substances to a certain limit — in a 

 word, of biinging them into the same state in 

 which they exist in a most fertile virgin soil, 

 and in which they can be best assimilated by 

 the virgin plants. 



The attention which I have paid to this 

 subject has been crowned with success. I 

 have succeeded in combining the efficacious 

 elements of manure in such a manner as that 

 they will not be washed away, and thus their 

 efficacy will be doubled. Owing to this, the 

 injurious consequences of the present system 

 ofdraining are removed; Agriculture is placed 

 upon as certain prmciples as well-arranged 

 manufactories; and instead of the uncertainty 

 of mere empiricism, the operations of A gricul- 

 tm-e may be carried on with security, and ia 

 place of waiting the results of our labors with 

 anxiety and doubt, our minds will be filled 

 vvitli patience and confidence. 



(Signed) DR. JUSTUS LIEBIG. 



Giessen UniversUij, 1845. 



NEW GRAPES. 



Hill-Side, near Meadville, Pa., Nov. 18, 1846. 



John S. Skinner, Esq. — My Bear Sir : The letter of Mr. Charles Sears came 

 to hand in an envelop, and with an endorsement from you. In reply — I will take 

 the greatest pleasure in forwarding, by the (irst opportunity, the cuttings of the 

 White French Grape. They shall be sent, should 1 be obliged to defer it till our 

 merchants visit New-York in the spring. They will be directed to you or Mr. 

 Greeley. I thank you most sincerely for the grape-seeds. I have not been so 

 selfish as to keep all, but made four parcels, three of which I distributed to 

 friends whom I trusted would appreciate them. 



1 might mention here that a few days since a friend of mine, Mr. Cady, (near 

 Cleveland, Ohio,) informed me that a neighbor has a valuable translucent 

 white variety of grape, which originated lately as a seedling near a store door — 

 supposed to be from a raisin seed ; so that if ever you hear of such a variety in 

 that section, you may recollect its origin when others may have forgotten it, or 

 are ignorant thereof. 



Most respectfully, your friend and serv't, JOS. C. G. KENNEDY. 



Increase in the Value of our Grain Crops. — A writer in the Boston Coarier, over the 

 signature of " .T. N. B." estimates the rise in value on the aerricultural productions of the United 

 Slates, since September 1, 1846, as follows: On the crop of Indian com (estimated at 480,000.000 

 bu.sliels) tiie advance (estimated at 2.5 cents per bushel) is ©120,000,000; on the crop of wheat the 

 advance is estimated at $oC,000,000 ; on tlie crop of oats, 816,000,000 ; lye, 836,000,000 ; on the 

 crop of hay the advance, in conse<iuencc of the increased use of com and other grains for bread- 

 stutfs, is estimated at S4.".,000,000 ; showing a total rise in value of 8273,000,000. 



To the above should have been added an estimate of the amount of the rise in the price of beef, 

 which is nnimately connected with the price of hay and of com. What was the price of beef, 

 June, 1846, as compared with June, 1847, when it was 16 to 17 cents for choice pieces? Colonel 

 Thomas Shelby, of Kentucky, had a drove of 400 bullocks to arrive in New- York the middle of 

 May, that were on the road 80 days, and cost $6,000, from his magnificent blue-grass farm to the 

 New-York markets. 

 (169) 



