Vol. 1— No. 23. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



181 



ny persons have tried the plan, but have rea- 

 ped no benefit. The common fox-grape, 

 hardy as it is, imparts none of its hardiness 

 to the foreign grape which is grafted on it. 

 If it be a black Hamburgh, or a Malaga 

 grape, the mildew and red rot will attack it 

 fjuite as soon, and as unresistingly, as if it 

 »rew on its own stock This proves, be- 

 yond a doubt, that the sap-vessels transmit 

 the sap to the different parts of a plant, in 

 proportion as the parts are adapted to receive 

 it. If a white Frontignac be engrafted on 

 :i common fox-grape, the roots do not sepa- 

 rate the aliment which is presented to them, 

 so as to suit the nature and wants of the two 

 kinds of grapes. The nutriment rises with 

 the sap, and each part of the different 

 grapes abstracts from the rising fluid such 

 portion of it as is adapted to its use. It is 

 therefore in the organic structure of the 

 plant that we must look for the cause of the 

 phenomenon. 



We are told that after submitting any sec- 

 tion of a plant to the different chymical anal- 

 yses, every part of it can be reduced or al- 

 tered, or made to disappear, excepting that 

 portion which is called fibrine, which, when 

 all the other parts have been abstracted, is 

 the residum. It is perhaps owing to the pe- 

 culiarity of this fibrine that the difference 

 in plants is so perceptible ; and that although 

 a very intimate connection may take place 

 between two plants by means of budding or 

 grafting.yet no further union can occur than 

 what is seen in the regular continuity of sap 

 vessels. The bud which we insert, howev- 

 er, only adheres by a glutinous ligament, 

 which unites the under part of the bark of 

 the bud, to the wood of the limb in which it 

 is inserted. 



But a crowd of matter rushes upon me at 

 once, and you are in danger of having a 

 long treatise on the physiology of plants be- 

 fore you are ready to hear it. I must there- 

 fore, for the present, turn to the practical 

 part of my subject, and tell you that if you 

 set a good cutting of two feet length in the 

 place where yow intend that a grape shall 

 grow, it will take root and thrive better, and 

 bear sooner, than if you plant a single eye, 

 or even if you put a rooted yearliug there. 

 A good cutting is that which is taken from 

 the vine nearest to the stem. It should in 

 all cases be two feet long, as the droughts 

 of summer and the frosts of winter are very 

 bard on rootless plants. The branch of a 

 very thrifty vine, which is three or four years 

 old, will often grow to the length of fifteen 

 feet. I have at this moment the branch of 

 a red Muscadel, which is twenty feet long, 

 the growth of one year ; and yet, healthy as 

 the vine is from which I intend to cut this 

 branch, I shall not take more than two cut- 

 tings from it, and those I shall get from the 

 part which was attached to the vine. All 

 above these are good for nothing, as the 

 wood does not come to sufficient maturity. 

 ■Mr. Thorn says that nursery men are not a- 

 ware of this circumstance, and therefore of- 

 ten lose a great many yearling grape vines 

 in consequence of laying down cuttings of 

 unripe wood — Oir Neighborhood. 



Frqra tho New-Eugland Farmer. 



FORM OF A ROLLER. 



Mb. Fessenden — Having lately seen two 

 or more descriptions of Rollers in the Far- 

 mer, I will try to give you the description 

 of one I lately saw in Lancaster County, 

 Pa. at the farm of a friend of mine, and 



which he says is the kind most approved of 

 in parts of Chester County, Pa. A stick 6 

 feet long and from £0 to S6 inches in diame- 

 ter is to be bored through with a five inch 

 hole ; then by placing blocks in each end, 

 find the centre of each hole, and describe a 

 circle on each end of the stick, as large as 

 it will admit, from which dress it round and 

 smooth, and then with across cut saw it in 

 two, which gives you two pieces of 3 feet 

 each in length ; next prepare a good piece 

 of wood ior an axis, dressed rouno, and one 

 fourth of an inch less than the hole bored, 

 and long enough to run through both pieces 

 and secure in the frame with a tenon of two 

 by four and three fourth inches on each end ; 

 on one end is to be left a shoulder, inside of 

 the tenon, and on the other a piece of board 

 as a washer to keep the roller clear of the 

 frame in working. The frame consists of 

 two pieces before and two behind, and one 

 on each side ; into the latter of which is put 

 the axis after having the two parts of the 

 roller and the washer put on. A tongue is 

 secured to the two front pieces of the frame 

 with stay chains to prevent strain in turning, 

 and a sheath and rings for breast chains on 

 the end, and a pin hole at the proper place 

 for a double tree, but where oxen are used, 

 nothing but two pins near the end of the 

 tongue is necessary ; and no iron is used in 

 the construction, except the stay chains and 

 sheath. A box for giving it additional 

 neigh'., or for gathering stones, may be pla 

 ceo either over the top, or, as is often done, 

 to k uien the tongue, on the hind part of 

 the tiaine. The advantage of having the 

 roller in two pieces is, that it turns easier, 

 and without dragging the ground, as in a 

 short turn the pieces move in opposite direc- 

 tions. 



It is said to work admirably. — My friend 

 told me that in cash laid out, his roller costs 

 $3 : the stuff he had of his own and took 

 no account of hauling it. He had a car- 

 penter one and a half days, whom he assis- 

 ted, and paid for also boring. If the fore- 

 going description has not been already giv- 

 en, and you think it will be of any use, you 

 may publish it. 



A Pennsylvania Subscriber. 



May 2, 1831. 



From the New-Eugland Farmer. 



FARMER'S WORK FOR JUNE. 



LUCERNE. 



We believe that the frequent complaints 

 of the failure of lucerne in this country 

 might be traced to the tenderness of the 

 young plants, and the soil becoming monop- 

 olized by want of thorough culture the first 

 season. Yonng's Calendar for June, says, 

 "The lucerne drilled in the spring, will 

 now want attendance. It will not be advi- 

 sable to horse hoe it the first year, because 

 its great tenderness will not bear any acci- 

 dental evils that may arise in the operation, 

 but the hand hoe should be kept diligently 

 at work ; the land kept throughout this 

 month perfectly free from weeds, and the 

 surface well broken by hoes, to prevent any 

 degree of binding. While the men are hoeing 

 they should never omit to stoop and pluck out 

 such weeds with their lingers as grow among 

 the plants in the rows : this is highly neces- 

 sary ; for if they are left they will injure 

 the young lucerne much. Whoever culti- 

 vates the grass, must absolutely determine 

 to spare no expense in the eradication of 

 weeds. There, is no plant will bear the 



neighborhood of weeds so badly, and espe 

 cialiy while it is youn?. If the hand hoe- 

 are applied in time and often enou-gb.the ex- 

 pense will not be great ; but if, through sa- 

 ving, you defer it till they are gotten mucl. 

 ahead, the crop will either be lost, or the ex 

 pense of clearing enormous. 



KILL CATERPILLARS. 



It is strange that the owners of orchard? 

 should permit caterpillars to overrun their 

 fruit trees, when a little time and attention 

 might rid them of tho nuisance. A rag 

 fastened to the end of a long light pole, 

 well wet with strong soap suds, and applied 

 to the nest is an approved, cheap and effi- 

 cient remedy. Care should be taken to at- 

 tack the insects when they are in their nests, 

 either morning, evening, or in cloudy wea- 

 ther. 



TOTJNG FRUIT TREF.3. 



Sir John Sinclair observes in the Code of 

 Agriculture, " It cannot be too strongly in- 

 culcated that to permit young fruit trees to 

 bear fruit too early, is to do essential injury 

 to their future fruitfulness and duration." — 

 The fruit should, at least on young trees, be 

 thinned by plucking it carefully by hand, till 

 there is no more left than will be sufficient 

 to serve as a sample of the product of the 

 tree, and show whether it would be desira- 

 ble to engraft it. 



PESTRUCTION OF INSECTS. 



In the progress of preparing tobacco foi 

 use, a liquid is finally expressed from it, 

 which is very cheap, and highly destructive 

 to animal life. This mixed with from three 

 to five parts of water, is found to be an ef- 

 fectual remedy for the aphis, caterpillars, 

 and other insects of every description. 



TAR FOR SHEEP. 



We have been assured by a gentleman, who 

 kept a large flock of sheep, that, during the 

 season of grazing he gives his sheep tar at 

 the rate of a gill a day for every twenty 

 sheep. He puts the tar in troughs, sprin- 

 kles a little fine salt over it, and the sheep 

 consume it with eagerness. 



SALT FOR CATTLE ASD SHEEP. 



All domestic animals, which subsist on 

 green and fresh food require salt. It is rec- 

 ommended to keep it under cover, in such a 

 situation that cattle and sheep may have re- 

 course to it at pleasure. Those cattle, how- 

 ever, which have not been accustomed to so 

 free an use of salt should be brought to 

 it by degrees. We have been informed by a 

 practical farmer that in giving salt to his 

 cattle and sheep, he mixes it with unleached 

 wood ashes. To this composition his cattle 

 and sheep always have access. He thinks 

 it increases the appetite and improves the 

 health of the animals. 



COPPERAS WATER FOR SEED CORN. 



We have several times adverted to contra- 

 dictory testimonies relative to the benefits o;" 

 a solution of copperas for soaking seed corn. 

 We recently conversed with an intelligent 

 farmer, who assures us that he has used the 

 solution for several years and found it a per- 

 fect antidote against the wire-worm, or red- 

 worm, an insect which attacks the seed eorn 

 under ground before it vegetates, — Thatlasi 

 season, he planted a part of a field with 

 orn prepared with copperas water, but not 

 having enough prepared to finish the piece, 

 a few rows were planted with corn, without 

 any preparation. Most of the latter was de- 

 stroyed by the wire-worm, but the prepared 

 corn wholly escaped. He says, however, 

 that the splution of copperas is not a prefe-- 



