FARMERS' REGISTER— CURING CORN, &c. 



173 



that in the living subject they must necessarily be 

 contained in specific cells provided for their recep- 

 tion, and that they can form no part in the process 

 of nourishing and developing the plant. There 

 are certain local secretions which can only be se- 

 parated from the general admixtures in the sap by 

 chemical processes ; such are the various vegetable 

 acids and alkalies, the origin of which is not at all 

 understood. In the ashes of plants also we find 

 variable quantities of different earths, metals and 

 salts, all of which have been introduced in solu- 

 tion with the water absorbed by tlie roots. A sup- 

 position which has been made, that some of these 

 materials may be the direct produce of an effort of 

 vegetable life, is wholly untenable, and their pre- 

 sence is clearly to be accounted for on the princi- 

 ple of their absorption in a state of solution. It is 

 a more delicate question to determine, whether 

 these materials ought to be considered as merely 

 adventitious, and unnecessary to the health of the 

 plant, or whether their })resence is really benefi- 

 cial to it. When received into the system, tliey 

 are conveyed by the sap to the leaves and surface 

 of the stem, where they are always found to be de- 

 posited in greater abundance than in any other 

 parts of the plant ; which arises from the constant 

 exhalation of the water in which they v.ere dis- 

 solved taking place there. Hence, the annual fall 

 of the leaf secures a constant discharge of these 

 earthy matters from the plant, and a renewal of 

 those organs takes place, whichotherwise must ul- 

 timately have become choked by them. 



Having completed the account of the various 

 processes into which the great function of nutrition 

 maj^ be separated, some account is given of the 

 progress made in the annual growth of a plant 

 during each of the four seasons. 



In " winter" the vital action remains nearly 

 torpid. A continued but feeble absorption takes 

 place at the root, sufficient merely to supply the 

 slight degree of exhalation still carried on by some 

 of the organs seated towards the surface. In 

 " spring," the increased temperature is the great 

 stimulant to the vital excitability, and the bark 

 now begins to attract the sap towards it, and a 

 fresh current proceeds from the roots. The for- 

 mation of new radicles and spongioles adds in- 

 creased vigor to this flow of the sap, and the im- 

 mediate consequence is, the developement of the 

 buds. Independently, however, of these stimu- 

 lating causes by which the vital energies of the 

 plant are roused to action at the return of spring, 

 it should seem that there is a special law of vitali- 

 ty, predisposing the plant to make these efforts af- 

 ter certain periodic intervals. Their success also 

 depends, in a great measure, upon the conditions 

 under which the plant has been jjlaced during the 

 previous year. During the " summer," the func- 

 tion of nutrition gradually diminishes in the inten- 

 sity of its action. By the " autumn," the leaves 

 have become choked by the earthy particles de- 

 posited in them ; their fall commences, and the 

 true sleep of the individual takes place. This, as 

 is well known, is the best season for transplanting, 

 when the juices are stationary, and the new fibrils 

 have not yet been developed on the roots. 



In explaining the mode in which the young 

 branches and roots are developed, it is to be no- 

 ticed that the former expand throughout their 

 whole length, while the latter are increased by 

 successive additions at their extremities only. Du- 



ring the process of developement, something like 

 periodic returns of intensity has been remarked, 

 and it is stated that these efforts are twice accele- 

 rated and twice retarded every day, but the account 

 wants confirmation. 



OBSERVATIOIVS Orf CURING CORN AND FEED- 

 ING OF catti.e; by B. Nicnlau. 



[During our excursion into Georgia we several 

 times heard of the excellent management of Mr. 

 Nicolau, and it would have afforded us much 

 pleasure to have called on him. Our time did 

 not permit, and we asked the favor of Mr. Cou- 

 per to request him to become a contributor to 

 the Agriculturist, and the following has been 

 politely furnished in pursuance of this request. 

 We regret, that he sliould have thought that his 

 practice so much resembled that of others, as not 

 to require particular notice; with due deference 

 we think otherwise. The practice of any plan- 

 ter who renders his old fields as profitable as his 

 new, must be worthy of particular notice, and 

 we still hope, Mr. Nicolau will do us the favor, 

 of communicating it in detail]. — £V. So. Agr. 



Uopeton, J/pril 17, 1833. 



Dear Sir, — The accompanying statement has 

 just been handed to me by Mr. Bernard Nicolau, 

 who resides in the Buffalo, in reply to my request, 

 that he would furnish you an account of his system 

 of planting. He thinks his practice, except in the 

 greater use of the plough and a greater attention to 

 manuring, so much like that generally adopted by 

 others as not to require any particular notice. He 

 conceives that he has derived important advanta- 

 ges from pursuing the mode of cutting his corn 

 and penning his cattle, which forms the subject of 

 his paper. I can adduce my own experience in 

 favor of the penning system. The sulaject is not 

 new ; but its successful application by a practical 

 man and a good planter, may recommend it to an 

 insertion in your journal. Mr. N icolau is a French 

 gentleman, who presents one of the best specimens 

 of a good agriculturist that this section of the 

 country offers : and has done much with very limi- 

 ted means. He has accomplished what is still 

 more rare, in rendering by a judicious system of 

 manuring and rotation of crops, his old lands as 

 profitable as his new. 



With great esteem and respect, I am dear sir, 

 your obedient servant, 



J. HA3IILTON COUPER. 



Notes on Fodder and Cattle. 

 Fodder. — The greatest difficulty for farming 

 in this part of Georgia is the procuring of fodder. 

 The only source of it that I have as yet discovered, 

 is Indian corn, and when managed as I have learned 

 to do, by the information obtained from "Taylor's 

 Arator," and the third volume of the "American 

 Farmer," it yields a great deal of it, not only for 

 horses which are too nice to eat any part of it but 

 the grain and blades, hut feroxen and cows, which 

 eat all the tops and shucks. For several j^ears I 

 have tried to save both in the comriion icay with no 

 success, and it is only since I have followed the 

 plan laid out by the farmers of Virginia, that I 

 have attained my object, viz. to have fodder enough 

 to support thirty head of grown cattle for two 

 months in the fall (September and October,) with 

 thirty acres of corn. My manner of saving it is 

 this. 



