542 



FARMERS' REGISTER— FARMING, &c. IN NEW YORK. 



" the earth contains loo much sulphur and should 

 " not be used except Iturnl and reduced to ashes." 



The account continues and rehites circumstances 

 in proof of its merits, as a manure; but, 1 pre- 

 sume the ahove extract is sutticient to show that it 

 is something very analof!;ous to fossil or mineral 

 coal, if not coal itself. I do not know the proper- 

 ties of the Virginia coal; but if it is higidy bitu- 

 minous, as tliat described above, it is highly pro- 

 bable that the immense quantity which is now 

 unsaleai)ieon account of its being too much broken, 

 may prove an invaluable source of manure. Its 

 effect on various qualities of land may easily be 

 tried. It appears to me, to be well worth the trial. 

 You must observe, that the above extract was 

 written near a hundred years ago, and that the ex- 

 periments that have been made since, an account 

 of which can best be obtained from that country, 

 may give a somewhat diiferent view of the merits 

 of the substance in question. 



Fj'om the circumstance of the great and uii- 

 doulited value of the Dutch ashes, and of the par- 

 ticular name "sea a,skes," by which they are 

 known in France, &c. J should form a favorable 

 opinion of Mr. HoUert'scom.posed manure, lis 

 having marine salt as one of the ingredients must 

 approximate it to the Dutch ashes w hich are made 

 of brackish peat, and it is believed that the beds of 

 coal, some of them at least, were originally beds 

 of peat. The houille 1 understand, contains many 

 vegetable impressions. All these indications seem 

 favorable for experiments in a country Avhere coal- 

 mines abound ; but I would go farther, and pro- 

 pose experiments lieingmade on the sea coast, and 

 wherever the sea has foi-med salt marshes. Is it 

 not possible, nay probal)le, that these salt marshes 

 which are many of them, of no' value at all, are 

 nevertheless an immense source of wealth .'' A 

 foot or two or more in thickness, might be cut into 

 square lumps, dried, formed into kilns and burnt, 

 which would most probably make a manure light 

 and rich enough to be carried hundreds of miles 

 by water carriage, and after awhile by rail roads. 

 The marl, shells, &c. are too heavy and bulky to 

 be carried as far as ashes might be, and by means 

 of both, nearly the whole country, from the sea- 

 board to the mountains, these included, might be 

 permanently benefitted, and our Atlantic country 

 induced to retain its inhabitants by finding at home, 

 either a fertile soil, or the means of rendering it 

 so. The preventing a too great emigration from 

 any country is, I think, an object of the utmost 

 importance, and every proper means should be 

 used to put, at least, limits to it. 



N. HERBEMONT. 



PERSIAN METIIOO OF 3IANAGING SILK ^VORMS 



From Goodsell's Genesee Farmer. 



The Asiatic method of managing silk-worms is 

 preferable to that formerly practised on the Ak- 

 tourba, where much time and expense were wast- 

 ed in feeding the silk-worms with gathered leaves, 

 Avhich soon decayed, and rendered the frequent 

 shifting of their beds necessary. The Persian or 

 Boukharian rears his mulberry-trees, to about six 

 feet high, which they attain in four or five years, 

 he then begins to loj) their lops and branches, 

 which are given to the insects, as soon as they 

 have sufficient strength, by placing them gently 

 on their beds. By this means th.e "shoots remain 

 fresh and succulent, and the worms devour them 



even to Ihcir woody fibres, so that no part of the 

 nutritive foliage is wasted. As these insects are 

 every day supplied with food, the leafy branches 

 gradually form a kind of wicker-work, through 

 wliich the impurities pass, so that the cheerful 

 worms preserve the requisite cleanliness without 

 trouiile to the cultivator, and speedily obtain a vigo- 

 rous state. In this manner they are contmually 

 supplied with leaves, till they prepare to spin, when 

 small dry brush wood is placed in all directions over 

 the leafless branches: on this the worms spin their 

 silk. Two persons, an adult, who- lops the bran- 

 ches, and a child who collects them, arc thus ena- 

 Idcd quickly to procure food for a great number of 

 silk-worms. 



Tiie mulberry-free, in our climate produces new 

 shoots twice in every summer. These shoots 

 acquire, in the same year, the firm consistence of 

 wood. In Persia and Boukharia, where the sum- 

 mer is longer, and the vegetation more vigorous, 

 the shoots may be even cut twice a year. The tree, 

 by this method of cutting, always remains low, 

 and produces a greater number of young shoots 

 from its trunk, as well as from its branches, every 

 suiiseque'nt year. 



By stripping them of their leaves, however (on 

 the contrary), many branches wither and not only 

 the buds are lost, and much foliage wasted ; but 

 tiie worms receive less nourishment, as the leaves 

 sooner decay. It has been remarked, in the silk 

 establishment near Aktourba, that ihe worm, when 

 compelled by necessity, eats leaves of the Acer 

 TATARicuM, w hicli resemble those of the mulber- 

 ry-tree. 



SULPHURIC ACID SPRINGS. 



The second number, vol. xv. of .the American 

 Journal of Science contains an account by Prof. 

 Eaton, of certain springs of water, impregnated 

 with sulphuric acid, in the town of Byron, Gene- 

 see county, N. Y. One of the springs emits a pe- 

 rennial stream, sufficient to turn a light gristmill, 

 and is ,so acid as to coagulate milk. The fact is 

 the more remarkable, as but two otlier instances 

 of the kind are known, and both of these in volca- 

 nic regions. 



For the Farmers' Register. 

 SYSTEM AND PRODUCTS OF FARMING IN CO- 

 LUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



To Hill Carter, Esq. of Shirley, Va. 



Sir, — As a farmer who feels a deep interest in 

 the successful prosecution of his business, I take 

 the liberty to address you. Through Mr. Rufiin's 

 Register, I have become acquainted with your ex- 

 cellent management of the Shirley farm ; and al- 

 though I have a northern, you a southern loca- 

 tion, and there are hundreds of miles bet\veen us, 

 yet as we follow a common pursuit, we must both 

 feel interested in its further advancement. Asa 

 farmer then, I acknowledge myself deeply indebt- 

 ed to you for your valuable communication, for I 

 find in it, that good farming upon similar soils is 

 very much alike, whether it is conducted in New 

 York or in Virginia. I confess that heretofore I 

 had not put a proper estimate upon southern farm- 

 ing ; from the descriptions I had so frequently 

 heard of the poverty of the soil, and the distress of 

 its inhabitants consequent upon it, I thought the 

 south was one barren sandy waste, with hardly a 



