258 



FARMERS' REGISTER— RAILWAYS, &c. 



the same phenomena may take place relative to 

 age, i. e. that there may be varieties which blos- 

 som and bear seeds, and the'growth of which con- 

 sequently diminishes at different ag;cs. This ap- 

 pears very probable, since we frequently see 

 larches, firs, birches, &c. trees which had tlieir ori- 

 gin in a cold and elevated country, bear seeds in a 

 low, dry and warm country, after having scarcely 

 reached the age of ten or fifteen years, and ten or 

 fifteen feet in height ; and the growth of which af- 

 terwards becomes sensibly slower. 



From this observation we may conclude that 

 the trees of cold climates produced from seeds ga- 

 thered in dry and level countries will degenerate 

 after many years to dwarf trees, shrubs, bushes, 

 &c. which will scarcely ever be of any value as 

 farest trees. Every attentive cultivator of forest 

 trees will have already noticed similar examples, 

 which Avill justify this conclusion. 



From all that precedes, I deduce for the rearing 

 of timber trees this general law: It is necessary 

 to procure, as far as possible, the seeds from a cold- 

 er climate, and a colder and stifler soil tlian the 

 climate and soil of the country on which you wish 

 to rear these trees. 



One of the best things for cultivation in the 

 sandy lands of the provinces of Limburg, of An- 

 vers, and of Nortliern Brabant, is undoubtedly 

 the sylvan pine, [pin sylvestre.} According to the 

 rule just above, the seed gathered in this dry and 

 barren country sliould not be xised, but ought ra- 

 ther be brought from a colder country, or from 

 some place, the soil of v.hich is colder and stiffer. 

 Since sometime back, in France and elsewhere, 

 the preference is generally given to the seeds of 

 the pine from Riga, Norway, Scotland, Hague- 

 nan, &c. and the rule which it is my wish to es- 

 tablish, has thus been followed by us, but without 

 our having been able to justify this preference by 

 reasonable motives. We have been content to re- 

 gard the pines of this country as a particular spe- 

 cies or variety. 



The fir epicea (a northern fir,) and larch, are 

 suitable to be reared in the mountainous lands 

 of Ardennes. If we used the seed which grows 

 in the dry and. and sandy parts of Limburg, An- 

 vers, and Northern Brabant, we would raise no- 

 thing but dwarf trees, which at the age of twenty 

 or thirty years, perhaps, would be covered with 

 mosses, and the growth of which would after that 

 become more slow, and would soon afterwards de- 

 cay. It is our interest then to bring these seeds 

 from still colder climates and better soils, and from 

 countries in which these two trees grow larger, 

 viz: from the Alps, Switzerland, the Tyi'ol, the 

 mountains of Hartz, the Black Forest, and Nor- 

 way. 



The rule which I wish to establish will perhaps 

 become very useful in introducing into this coun- 

 try foreign fbi'est trees, for it is very probable that 

 the little success with which we have met in this 

 important part of the cultivation of forest trees is 

 occasioned principally by choosing unsuitable coun- 

 tries from which to bring the seed. 



[The foregoing communication well deserves the at- 

 tention of all thinking farmers. If Professor Bronn's 

 opinion is correct, we may make it operate beneficially 

 on the practice of every farm, either for the correction 

 of common errors, or die introduction of positive im- 

 provements, or for both. Very many cases of the pro- 



per application of this theory will readily occur, of 

 which 1 will mention a few rnlyas examples. 



We frequently" change our seed wheal, cither from 

 choice or necessity, and obtain new supplies from other, 

 and ptrl;aps very different soils — and we decide on the 

 comparative prcducliveness of any two kinds, most ge- 

 nera ly, by their growth, as they stand in the field. 

 Yet, according to the foregoing theory, the greater 

 length and bulk of straw may be expected from seed 

 that will yield a deficient crop of grain. By attending 

 to the rule ofTered, we may make profitable selections of 

 seeds from every single field, by taking from the warm 

 and light soil, if we want the best product of grain, cr 

 the cold and backward, if the crop is of a kind to be 

 most profitable in proportion to it's whole bulk. Another 

 necessary deduction is, that the farmers of Lower Vir- 

 ginia ought often to procure new seeds of clover and 

 other grasses from the mountains, or the northern states, 

 to renew the original bulk and value of those crops, 

 and to jDrevent their becoming more productive in seed 

 than in hay. " And the reverse operation will be equally 

 beneficial as to.vvrheat and other grains, of which the 

 mountain and northern farmers ought frequently to ob- 

 tjp.in a new stock of seed from the plains and from the 

 south. But even if such considerable changes are not 

 attempted, a less degree of benefit may be obtained by 

 attending to these rules within the limits of almost 

 every farm. 



A striking proof of the truth of Professor Bronn's 

 opinion of the influence of climate on seeds is present- 

 ed in the diflercnt times of maturing of the timothy 

 grass of America and the cattail grass of England. 

 These grasses are in appearance, and in every respect 

 precisely the same, except that the English grass is 

 about two weeks later in matming than the American, 

 when both have been sov.n together on the same soil. 

 -Mr. Strickland m,adc the trial, and states the result in 

 his observations on the agriculture of the United States, 

 reported to the British Board of Agriculture. This dif- 

 ference, which was so fixed, and appeared so remarka- 

 ble to the observers, is completely explained by Profes- 

 sor Bronn's theory, applied to the temperate and moist 

 summers of England, and the mor.e heated air and 

 dryer soils of the United States.] 



Roads asid Mailivfiys, 



CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH THE IN- 

 TERESTS OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 Now; that Baltimore is piercing the Valley at 

 its eastern end, and the inhabitants of the Shenan- 

 doah are likely to extend the road from Winches- 

 ter to Port Republic* and Staunton, it is time for 

 Virginia -to arouse, and to abandon, for a time, a 

 scheme, in which her own citizens have no confi- 

 dence, and to which, there is, at present, the most 

 decided objections, from the tardiness with which 

 it must proceed. For, while Virginia is talking 

 about hoiv the James is to be improved, and is 

 really ignorant of the way in which it is to be done, 

 Maryland is preparing to be speedily shaking hands 

 with the inhabitants of the western end of the Val- 

 ley and of Tennessee, and making Baltimore the 



* See Crozet's Reports in American Farmer. 



