90 



FARMERS' REGISTER— HINTS TO FARMERS, &c. 



bility of raising: grapes in sufficient abundance and 

 of suitable quality for making wine in this cliiriate. 

 For this purpose he selected two acres with a 

 soutliern exposure on a slightly declining hill side. 

 The holes in which the vines were planted were 

 twelve feet apart, each way, — a sassafras pole, 

 about seven feet in height, standing by each vine, 

 with latlis extending from one to the other, on 

 Avhich they are trained from northeast to south- 

 Avest. There are in all, about one thousand stocks, 

 chiefly procured of Messrs. Parmentier and Ad- 

 limi, of which the most numerous are the Catawba, 

 Constantia, Isabella, Schuylkill, Muscadel, Wood- 

 son and Cunningham, all of which have succeeded 

 admii"ably, besides nearly forty foreign varieties, 

 most of which have failed, either from the fi-osts of 

 spring, or sun or rain in summer, burning or rot- 

 ting the fruit. The experiment was an economi- 

 cal one, as tobacco or some other crop was planted 

 in the intervals, and the ploughing required by 

 that, also cultivated the vines. The holes were 

 tilled with compost, made of a mixture of stable ma- 

 nure, leached ashes and decayed wood. The vines 

 from the first v.'ere thrifty, to the admiration of all 

 who saw them, with scarce a failure, — and for 

 three years past have been very productive. Should 

 the next season prove favorable, he hopes to gather 

 enough grapes to make from five hundred to one 

 thousand gallons of Avine — besides those for table 

 use. I may hereafter give you some account of 

 an experiment of his in Avine making. 



He has also about a dozen other varieties of na- 

 tive grapes, some of Avhich he hopes will prove 

 valuable, Avhen cultivated. Your obed't serv't, 



N. FRANCIS CABELL. 



Hints to Farmers. 



From tlie Alljany Argus. 



December 19, 1832. — Tlie garden is at once a 

 source of profit, of substantial comfort, and of high 

 inlellectual gratification. Its fruits and its vege- 

 tables constitute the most grateful delicacies of our 

 tables. Its floAvers exhibit the exquisite pencilings 

 of nature, calculated to gratify our senses, and to 

 aAvaken the finer feelings of our nature. Its em- 

 ployments elevate the mind, reveal to it neAv 

 sources of delight, and give health and A'igor to 

 the body. Its charms are alike calculated to tem- 

 per the passions of youth, and to solace the infir- 

 mities of age. In fine, its pleasures afford one of 

 the best illustrations Ave can possess, of the happi- 

 ness of our first parents in their primeval abode. 

 So apt am I to couple in my mind the culture of 

 the garden with Avhatever is commendable in life, 

 that I never, in travelling from home, see a neatly 

 cultivated spot of this kind, Avithout intuitively im- 

 putmg to its cultivator the active exercise of the 

 social and relatiAe virtues. 



Half an acre of Avell cultivated garden, Avill go 

 farther towards subsisting a farmer's family, than 

 perhaps any three acres upon his farm, with the 

 further advantage that Avhile its products serve to 

 gratify a diversity of tastes, they materially con- 

 tribute to secure the blessings of health. Its la- 

 bors may be managed by those Avho are too young 

 or too old to share "in the heavier toils of the field, 

 by the female inmates of the family and the occa- 

 sional aid of tlie Avorkmen, Avithout impeding the 

 operations on the farm. My first essays at gar- 

 dening Avere made during a period of comparative 

 indigence and of active merhahlca! .^"iployrtfCnt, 



Avhich left me little but the usual hours of rest to 

 devote to my garden. My rural labor did not in- 

 fringe upon my ordinary business ; and yet I 

 managed to raise, Avith a trifling expense, all the 

 garden productions necessary for my family. My 

 zeal for improvement in this new business, attract- 

 ed the attention of that excellent philanthropist, 

 the late Chancellor Livingston, Avho encouraged 

 my efforts, by presenting me trees and scions of 

 new fi-uits, Avhich he had recently brought from 

 France. I budded and grafted, and though my 

 first efforts Avere bungling, yet I nevertheless suc- 

 ceeded, Avith the occasional purchase of plants from' 

 the nurseries, in establishing in my grounds an 

 excellent assortment of garden and orcliard fruit. 

 Thirty years experience has fully satisfied me, 

 that a garden is not only profitable, but that it af- 

 fords comforts and pleasures Avhich Avealth cannot 

 purchase. The passion for rural culture has in- 

 creased Avith my years ; and I look forAvard to its 

 employments, should my life be mercifully spared, 

 as the best conservator of health, and the prolific 

 source of future enjoyments. 



In many parts of Europe, the garden is not on- 

 ly a common appendage of the farm, but even of 

 the humble cottage ; and Avhile these little im- 

 provements effect a great economy of labor in fur- 

 nishing human subsistence, their floral decorations 

 excite peculiar interest and admiration in the tra- 

 veller, and are the theme of high commendation. 

 In Wirtemburg, Baden, and some other of the Ger- 

 man states, this branch of labor has particularly en- 

 gaged tlie attention of the governments, and foi'ms 

 a branch of education in the primary schools. A 

 knoAvledge of gardening is made an indispensable 

 qualification in teachers of schools, avIio are requir- 

 ed to instruct their pupils, in the hours of vacation, 

 in a garden Avhich is attached to ever)' district school. 



Peat Mosses and SIicll Marl. 



Jlccoiint nf t/ie Peat Mosses and Shell M'trlim Ihc estate of Dun- 

 niche?!, in the county of Forfar. Kxtracled, by permission, 

 from a Manuscript History of Peat Moss, by jlnd. Steele, Esq. 

 From the (London) Farmers' Magazine- 

 The changes that have occurred, and the revo- 

 lutions that have taken place during ages, and are 

 still in their progress, in the filling up of the val- 

 lies of the earth, cannot perhaps be more beauti- 

 fully displayed to the philosophic eye, than by ex- 

 amining Resteneth peat-moss, the property of Geo. 

 Dempster, Esq. , in the parish of Forfar. Situated 

 200 feet above the level of the sea, in a holloAV 

 from Avhich the Avater of a copious spring.hath had 

 no clear and sufficient issue, this peat-bog, consist- 

 ing of about 70 acres, must have been once a lake. 

 Indeed, that is sufficiently obvious, not only from 

 its connexion Avith a A^ery considerable lake, call- 

 ed Resteneth Loch, almost a mile in length, but 

 especially from a bed of shell marl found beneath 

 the peat, and situated immediately above the solid 

 ground. The bed of marl (of Avhich substance 

 there is also a great quantity found in Resteneth 

 Loch) is in some places 15 feet in thickness, gent- 

 ly diminishing tOAvards the margin of the moss. — 

 Its average thickness is about five feet ; but the 

 layer is very irregular. On dissolving a portion 

 of this marl in the muriatic acid, I found it a very 

 pure calcareous matter, containing only about a 

 tenth part of its Aveight of peaty and other sub- 

 stances. The shells composing the marl, many of 

 Avhich are quite entire, are of the Avater snail or 

 cochlea kind. (Helix Piitris , Lin.) 



