224 



FxVRMERS REGISTER— APPLE SEED. 



from llie soil ; and (houf;h tlie vegetables liaving 

 tlie smallest system of leaves will proportionally 

 most exhaust the soil of common nutritive matter, 

 yet particular vegetables, when their produce is 

 carried off, will require j)ecu!iar principles to be 

 supplied to the land in which they grow. Strawber- 

 ries and potatoes, at first, produce luxuriantly in 

 virgin mould, recently turned up from pasture ; 

 but in a few years they degenerate, and require a 

 fresh soil. Lands, in a course of years, often 

 cease to afTord good cultivated grasses ; they be- 

 come (as it is popularly said,) tired of tl-.em ; and 

 one of the probable reasons for this is, the exhaus- 

 tion of the gypsum contained in the soil." 



The poicers of vegetables to exhaust the soil of 

 the principles necessary to their grow th, is remark- 

 ably exemplified in certain /tmg-uses. Mushrooms 

 are said never to rise in two successive seasons on 

 the same spot; and the production of the phenome- 

 na called fairy rings, has been ascribed by Dr. 

 Wollaston to the power of the peculiar fungus 

 which forms it, to exhaust the soil of the nutri- 

 ment necessary for the growth of the species. — 

 The consequence is, that the ring annually ex- 

 tends ; for no seeds will grow where their parents 

 gi-ew before them, and the interior ])art of the cir- 

 cle has been exhausted by preceding crops ; but 

 where the fungus has died, nourishment is supplied 

 for grass, which usually rises within the circle, 

 coarse, and of a dark green color. 



j4 rotation is unnecessary, according to Grin- 

 sethivaite ; and, in a strict chemical sense, what he 

 asserts cannot he denied. His theory is a refine- 

 ment on the common idea of the uses of a rotation 

 stated above ; but by giving some details of the 

 constituent parts of certain grains and certain ma- 

 nures, he has presented it in a more clear and 

 striking point of view than has hitherto been done. 

 To apply the theory in every case, the constituent 

 parts of all manures and of all plants, (1st, their 

 roots and leaves ; and 2dly, their seeds, fruits, or 

 grains,) must be known. In respect to manures 

 this is the case, and it may be said to be in a great 

 degree the case as to the most useful agricultural 

 plants ; but, unfortunately for our purpose, the 

 same cannot be said of garden productions in ge- 

 neral, though no branch of culture can show the 

 advantage of a rotation of crops more than horticul- 

 ture, in the practice of whitli it is found that 

 grounds become tired of particular crops, notwith- 

 standing that manures are a})plied at ))leasure. If 

 the precise effects of a rotation w^ere ascertained, 

 and the ingredients peculiarly necessary to every 

 species pointed out, nothing could be more inte- 

 resting than the results of experimental trials; 

 and whoever shall point out a simple and econo- 

 mical mode by which the potato may be 'grown 

 successively in the same soil, and produce annu- 

 ally, neglecting the effects of climate, as dry and 

 well flavored tubers, or nearly so, as they gene- 

 rally produce the first and second years on a new- 

 soil, will confer a real benefit on society. That 

 wheat may be grown many years on the same soil, 

 by the use of animal manures, or such as contain 

 gluten, Grisenthwaite's theory would justify us in 

 believing chemically ; and it ought to he fairly 

 tried by such cultivators as Coke and Curwen. 

 Till this is done in the face of the whole agricultu- 

 ral world, and the produce of every crop, and all 

 the particulars of its culture accurately reported on 

 annually, the possibility of the thing may be as- 



sented to from the premises, but will not be acted 

 on; and, in fact, even the best agricultural che- 

 mists do not consider that we are sufficiently ad- 

 vanced in that branch of the science to draw any 

 conclusion, a priori, very much at variance with 

 general opinion and experience. It should always 

 be kept in mind, that it is one thing to produce a 

 crop, and a different thing to grow crops with 

 profit. 



The principles of rotation of crops, are thus laid 

 down by Yvart and Ch. Pictet, ( Cours camplet 

 d'jfgricvlture, articles z/ssolement , and Succession 

 de Culture i and Traite des jlssolemens. Paris, 

 8 vol.) 



The first principle, or fundamental point is, that 

 every plant exhausts the soil. 



The second, that all plants do not exhaust the 

 soil equally. 



The third, that plants of different kinds do not 

 exhaust the soil in the same manner. 



The fourth, that all plants do not restore to the 

 soil the same quantity, nor the same quality of ma- 

 nure. 



The fifth, that all plants are not equally favora- 

 ble to the growth of weeds. 



The folloiving consequences are drawn, from these 

 fundamental piinciples : 



First. However well a soil may be prepared, it 

 cannot long nourish crops of the sa_mekind in suc- 

 cession, without becoming exhausted. 



Second. Every crop impoverishes a soil more or 

 less, according as more or less is restored to the 

 soil by the plant cultivated. 



Third. Perpendicular rooting plants, and such 

 as root horizontally, ought to succeed each other. 



Fourth. Plants of the same kind should not re- 

 turn too frequently in a rotation. 



Fifth. Two plants, favorable to the growth of 

 weeds, ought not to succeed each other. 



Sixth. Such plants as eminently exhaust the 

 soil, as the grains and oil plants, should only be 

 sown when the land is in good heart. 



Seventh. In proportion as a soil is found to ex- 

 haust itself by successive crops, plants which are 

 least exhausting ought to be cultivated. 



Influence of rotations in destroying insects. — 

 Olivier, member of the Institute of France, has 

 described all the insects, chiefly tipulas and mus- 

 cas, which live upon the collar or crown of the 

 j-oots of the cereal grasses ; and he has shewn that 

 they multiply themselves without end, when the 

 same soil presents the same crop for several years 

 in succession, or even crops of analagous species. 

 But when a crop intervenes on which these insects 

 cannot live, as beans or turnips, after wheat or 

 oats, then the whole race of these insects perish 

 from the field for want of proper nourishment for 

 their larva. (Mem. de la Societe Rotjal, et Cen- 

 trale d'^gr. de Paris, vol. vii.J 



APPLE SEED. 



The best time to sow apple seeds is in autumn, 

 immediately after they have been taken from the 

 fiuit; for if delayed till spring, the greater part will 

 be found to have lost their germinating power. 

 But if it is determined to keep them, they must 

 be mixed with sand and closed from the air; this 

 occasions considerable trouble, if the pippins of dif- 

 ferent varieties, as they always should be, are pre- 

 served distinct. {^New- England Farmer, 



