228 



THE GENESEE FAR3IER 



July 23, 1S3L 



t OMMl'NICATIONH. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



DURATION OP VEC4ETABLE LIFE. 



From \ultali a Introduction to Systematic and Physio 

 logic. I Botany, 1827. 



Selected by D T. 

 " Tlie display of vegetable vitality, is in many 

 instances, periodical. In those plants, which we 

 indefinitely term annuals, the whole period of ex- 

 istence terminates in a few months, and from the 

 seed alone, is then to be obtained a new genera- 

 tion of the species. But in our perennial plants, 

 trees, and shrubs, which often die to the ground, 

 or cast oft" their leaves at the approach of winter, 

 though the motion of the sap is arrested by the 

 influence of the cold, and the generation of the 

 year perishes ; yet besides the seed, nature has 

 here provided an ample source of regeneration in 

 The innumerable buds, formed and ingrafted in the 

 alburnum or sap-wood of the root or stem ; by 

 this means, at an early season of the year, an in- 

 variable supply of vegetable beings are as plen- 

 tifully produced as required by nature. The buds 

 of each tree or plant containing within themselves 

 individually, all the rudiments of so many dis- 

 tinct vegetables, may be transferred by ingraft- 

 ment or growth in the earth, and thus form as 

 many distinct individuals, each again subject ad 

 Infinitum to produce an additional ingrafted pro- 

 geny of buds and branches. The numerous buds 

 of each tree, nourished through the common me- 

 dium of the trunk and branches, perish after de- 

 velopement and maturity, and are succeeded a- 

 new by another generation of ingrafting or pro- 

 truding buds, for which they have provided by 

 the deposition of the alburnum. The growth of 

 every tree as well as herb, is then strictly annual 

 and the trunk is produced by a curious junction of 

 dead and living matter. The rings of wood which 

 may be counted in the transverse section of a tree 

 not merely indicates its age, but the number of 

 distinct generations of spontaneously ingrafted 

 individuals, which it has sustained. In the ani- 

 mal kingdoms, among the order Mnluscis exam- 

 ples of this kind of aggregation are not uncom- 

 mon, where many animals are inseparably con- 

 nected and nourished through a common medium. 

 This agamous race of plants are always similar 

 to the parent from whence they have originated 

 as we all know by the process of budding and in- 

 grafting; TO SAY THAT THESE BUDS OR GRAFTS 

 PARTAKE OF THE AGE AND ACCIDENTS OF THE 

 TRUNK ON WHICH THEY WERE EVOLVED, IS IM- 

 PROBABLE, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE, AS THEY CAN, IN 

 FACT, BE INFLUENCED ONLY BY THE STOCK TO 



which tiiey are last transferred." Intro- 

 duction p. 219 — 221. 



vegetables throughout Western New- York. In 

 addition to these,wc have hones said to have been 

 brought from a lake, in Scotland, which has the 

 property of turning wood to stone, or of petrify- 

 ing it. From the stratified appearance of these 

 hones, and a conceived resemblance to the heart 

 and sap of the walnut tree, it is aifirmed that 

 walnut is the only wood made use of for this pur- 

 pose, and that by using such pieces as are part 

 sap and part heart-wood, the different sides of 

 the stone possess different qualities, — one being 

 finer than the other. 



As the localities where these petrifactions are 

 found, are visited often by scientific men, I should 

 like to be informed what are the peculiar proper- 

 ties of the waters that have this wonderful effect 

 upon animal and vegetable substances, and what 

 length of time is requisite for the completion of 

 the change. As this word is to be met with in 

 so many scientific works, I think the definition 

 ought to be better understood, for the benefit of 

 common readers. 



Professor Eaton, in describing birdseye mar- 

 ble, says, " the natural layers are pierced trans- 

 versely with cyhndric petrifactions, so as to give 

 the birdseye appearance when polished." Per- 

 haps Professor Eaton, or some of your correspon- 

 dents will give me the proper definition of the 

 word petrifaction. C. D. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



I would inquire, through the medium of you 

 paper, whether the word petrifaction, as it is used 

 at the present time, has the same definition or is 

 intended to convey the same idea which it former 

 ly did, viz — The conversion of any substance to 

 stone. It appears to me that many of our scien- 

 tific writers have cither given the word a new sig- 

 nification, or are much mistaken in the subjects 

 examined, to which they apply it. We often see 

 accounts from some tourists oftheir having exam- 

 inee! many curious petrifactions, stich as fish and 

 frogs at Trenton Falls; petrified wood at Chitte- 

 nanjo; trilorjites i ncrinites, and other animals and 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Mr. Editor — I wish to know which is the 

 proper time for budding fruit trees, shrubs, &c. 

 and the surest and most economical way of hav- 

 ing it done. 



By giving me some directions through your 

 paper, you will much oblige a Subscriber. 



In answer to the above inquiry, we would ob- 

 serve, that the proper time for budding any kind 

 of fruit 'tree, is when the buds are perfectly for- 

 med upon the scion or kind you wish to cultivate, 

 when the bark separates freely from the wood of 

 the stock in which you wish to insert them, — to 

 be done in the morning before breakfast, or at 

 evening after you have returned from your work, 

 (unless you have nurseries to inoculate) and 

 when your knife is sharp ; — and the proper per- 

 son to perform that operation is — yourself. 



SELECTION.-*. 



ESSAY ON MANURES, 



Presented to tht C eshire, N. H. Agricultu- 

 ral Society, in 18s£3, by Luke Howe, 

 F.SQ., for which a premium was awarded by 

 said Society. ' 



CoocIuuVd from page 223. 



In what slate of fermentation, it is most 

 profitable to put manure into the soil, or 

 whether any be necessary in farm nurd dung, 

 has of late been much discussed by scien- 

 tific writers on agriculture. Sir Humphrey 

 Davy has treated the subject with much ob- 

 servation and science, lie confirms his the- 

 ory by experiments of his own, and of the 

 most enlightened agriculturists. He thinks, 

 the pure dung of cattle, fcc. needs no fer- 

 mentation previously to its application. 



But as the dung of horses and cattle arc 

 united in the yard, with "straw, offal, chaff 

 and various kinds of litter, a slight incipient 

 fermentation, is undoubtedly of use." But 

 he says, " it is better that there should be no 

 fermentation at all, before the manure is u- 



sed, than that it should be carried too far." 

 "During the violent fermentation necessarv 

 for reducing farm yard manure to the stati 

 in which it is called short mtick, not only a 

 large quantity of fluid, but also a gaseous 

 matter is lost, so much so that the dung i- 

 reduced two thirds in weight ; and the prin- 

 cipal elastic matter disengaged is carbonic 

 acid with some ammonia ; and both these, 

 if retained by the moisture in the soil as ha^ 

 been stated, are capable of becoming an use- 

 ful food to plants." By experiments he dis- 

 covered that "soluble vegetable substances 

 passed in an unchanged state into the roots 

 of plants," and that fermentation was 

 only necessary in the preparation of vege- 

 table food to render fibrous substance- 

 soluble. The practice of our farmers is op- 

 posed to this theory. Their observations 

 have been too limited in the use of green 01 

 unfermented dung. In making similar use 

 of it as of the thoroughly fermented or short 

 muck, the effects for the first year are in fa- 

 vor of the latter. For, if recent dung ot 

 cattle be put into the hill for Indian corn, its 

 soluble and nutritious parts are too concen- 

 trated, and the mass too nearly impervious 

 to nourish and extend the radical fibres of 

 I the plants. If this dung be mixed with 

 straw, litter, etc. or horse Jung, which is al- 

 ways imperfectly digested, the process ol 

 fermentation will generate too much heat 

 for the tender fibres in some soils. But let 

 the former or green dung be mixed with 

 earthy matter and be put into the hill foi 

 Indian com, and the latter or coarse ma- 

 nure be spread, and ploughed into the soil 

 for the same crop, and also in the hill foi 

 potatoes, it will then be discovered that the 

 produce will be equally good the first year 

 and better prepared for future crops. In 

 N. H. Ag. Repository it is stated that "when 

 green dung is laid upon the field and 

 ploughed in, it is so dispersed, that it can 

 ferment but little, if any. It is said of un- 

 fermented dung, that its good effects will be 

 felt longer than those of fermented. This is 

 probably true, for during the first year aftei 

 green dung is laid upon the field it docs bui 

 little more than to be prepared for actual 

 use." The superior effects of green dung 

 in the subsequent years, being conceded ; 

 the question between us, rests upon its ef 

 fects the first year. But green dung is " pre- 

 pared for actual use" the first year. How is 

 this cli'ected ? By what other process than 

 fermentation ? — It is well understood, that 

 all that is necessary in this process is a due 

 degree of heat, moisture, and oxygen, (01 

 atmospheric air.) Neither of these is want- 

 ing when the manure is plowed into the soil, 

 For wherever these obtain in sufficient quan 

 tity, to promote vegetation, decomposition 

 will take place. The greater degree of heat 

 in the manure heap, than in the manure in 

 the soil, is generated by the process of fej' 

 mentation, but this must begin without the 

 agency of this generated heat, and when 

 once commenced, the same cause will con- 

 tinue it, as well in the latter, however small 

 the quantity, as in the former. The gradu- 

 al manner in which this process will be car- 

 ried on. will generate a slight degree of heat 

 favorable to the gei mm. iiion of seeds, and 

 will cause more of the elastic matter disen- 

 gaged to be absorbed by the soil, affording a 

 constant supply of food to plants. 



But let us resort to facts, for the effects of 

 green dung during the first year. Farmers 

 universally prefer such for potatoes. Where 



