THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



173 



Flonghiug. 



The following extract Jioiii Chaptal's Agiiciil- 

 tuiul Clieiiiisti-y, shows the necessity of working 

 u crop, especially during a tirouglit: 



" The air may be considered as a vehicle, con- 

 stantly loaded with a qnantity of water in va- 

 pour, of which the coolness of the night causes 

 it to deposit a part upon the earth. Tlie surface 

 of the ground and the leaves of plants are often 

 moist In the morning: the return of the sun, and 

 the heat of the-day, evaporate this liquid, to he 

 deposited again at sunset, and during the night; 

 thus, by an alternate movement, detern)ined by 

 the changes in the temperature of the atmos- 

 phere, at different periods of the twenty-four 

 hours, water is constantly applied to plants, to 

 preserve them from the excess of heat, wliich 

 would wither and dry up their organs. 



'• The aqueous vapors suspended in the air 

 begin to be condensed and precipitated at sun- 

 set, and with them is deposited the greatest part 

 of the emanations which have arisen from the 

 earth during the day ; these exhalations, though 

 beneficial to vegetation, are almost always inju 

 rious to man, and it is not without reason thai 

 he fears and shuns the night damps. In south- 

 ern climates, where the heat of the sim is more 

 intense, and rains less frequent than in the north- 

 ern, vegetation is supported by the dews, vvliich 

 are very abundant. In order that the dews of 

 night may produce their best efiecls upon vege- 

 tation, it is necessary that the soil should unite 

 certain qualities, which it does not always pos- 

 sess. 



" When the soil is hard and cpmpact, and 

 forms, by the action of the air, an inqienetrable 

 crust, the dew is deposited upon the surface, and 

 evaporated by the rays of the sun, svilhout hav- 

 ing moistened the roots of the plants or softened 

 the earth around them : so that, of the organs 

 that serve to convey nourishmeni to the plants, 

 the leaves are the only ones benefitted by the 

 dew, while the roots, which are the principal ve- 

 hicleg of nutriment, when the plant is fully de- 

 veloped, are not in any degree benefitted by it. — 

 It is necessary in such cases that the soil sliould 

 be softened, lightened, and divided, so that tlie 

 air may convey the water with which it is charg- 

 ed to the roots of the plants, and to every part 

 of the earth surrounding them, to a certain depth ; 

 thus the plant can imbibe, through all its pores, 

 the roviving moisture ; and that which it received 

 by its roots is more lasting than that which it 

 absorbs in any other way, because the roots be- 

 ing sheltered from the rays of the sini, evapora- 

 tion takes place less rapidly, and the moisture is 

 retained, whilst the leaves are speedily dried by 

 the heat. Besides, that earth which is most ea- 

 sily afiected by the dews yields most readily to 

 the action of the roots, whether it be to fix the 

 plant firmly, by their extension, or to draw fiom 

 the soil its imtritive properties. 



"This explains in a natural manner the origin 

 of a custom observed by all agriculturalists, and 

 of which all acknowledge the advantages. When 

 vegetables, such as peas, beans, potatoes, and 

 other roots, are sown in fiu-rows, at eq'ial dis- 

 tances from each other, the soil in the intervals 

 is hoed or dug with the utmost care, and iIjus 

 rendered light, sofi, and favorable to the air; 

 whilst at the same time weeds, which would be 

 hurtful to the cultivated plants by depriving them 

 of nourishment afforded by the ground, are de- 

 stroyed, and the soil rendered more fit to receive 

 the rain and convey it to the roots. 1 do not de- 

 ny that these benefits are real, but I hold them 

 to be secondary, ami subordinate to the advantage 

 derived from opening access to the air, and per- 

 mitting it to deposit its dews ujjon the roots, and 

 upon the earth in contact with them. 



" I have uniformly observed the effects of this 

 method to be equally speedy and favorable in 

 the cultivation of beetroots, and I have never 

 employed any other to restore their vegetation to 

 its freshness, when they become yellowish and 

 drooping ; in three or lour hours it will become 

 a beautiful gieen, and the leaves spread them- 

 selves out, although no rain may have fallen ; 

 and this often- when-the soil had not contained a 

 single weed. I have observed the same effect 

 produced upon the other culinar}' roots. 



" In the South of France, where it hardly ever 

 rains during the summer, the foot of each setting 

 of the vine is laid bare, by digging around it a 

 circular trench, deep and wide enough to con- 



tain, uncovered, the stump, and the radicles pro- 

 ceeding fiom it ; and the opening is speedily 

 covered over hy the leaves and branches. It is 

 evident that this method has no other advantage 

 than that of fiiciliiating the access of the air to 

 the roots, that it may deposit there the dews with 

 which it is more abimdantly charged than in cold 

 climates.— If it were not thus, this practice would 

 expose the vines to be dried up by the scorching 

 heat of the sun." 



Cheap Steaming Apparatus. — Amidst a va- 

 riety of expensive and conqilicated machinery 

 for steaming food for cattle, 1 beg leave to make 

 mention of one which has long been found fidly 

 to answer the purpose, and which might be erect- 

 ed for one quarter the cost of some of those late- 

 ly invented, with large pretensions. It is merely 

 a cast-iron boiler with a cover, fiom the top of 

 which rises a tube of wood or iron, perpendicu- 

 larly at first, then turns and enters a wooden box 

 having a perforated false boitoni — the steam rises 

 through the holes in this false bottom and mixes 

 with the potatoes, &c. while the condensed steam 

 and water which may issue fiom them, drops 

 through the holes and lodges on the solid bottom 

 of the box, from whence it may be let off oi ca- 

 sionally, by means of a tap. A box 8 feet long, 

 5 wide, and 3 deep, will serve for steaming in 

 one hour a quantity of jiotatoes sufficient for the 

 daily supply of fifty cows. The cover of the 

 boiler should be furnished with a valve, and the 

 bo.x must have a tight lid, with a valve also, 

 which might be merely a square trapdoor, going 

 on hinges — say a foot in length and width — and 

 falling into a shoulder or groove. The cover 

 must he made to lift off for the convenience of 

 emptying and filling again, but it niight be made 

 steam-tight, or sufficiently so, by laying cloths 

 several times folded on the edge of the box be- 

 fore the lid is fixed, which may he kept down by 

 a couple of uprights of wood, extending to a 

 cross beam, or perhaps to the roof or f3oor above. 

 Nothing can be cheaper or more convenient than 

 such an apparatus, the iron boiler being at all 

 times ready for other purposes, by merely remov- 

 ing the cover having the tube, and substituting 

 for it any other. I agree with a correspondent, 

 that the time will be when we shall no more 

 k of feeding our cattle with raw food than 

 ourselves. S. JONES. 



Farmer's Cabinet. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Poke Root. 



In the Visitor for September, 184], is a com- 

 munication relating to the use of Poke Root in 



ime diseases of Hogs. We should like to know 

 whether the writer has reference to the common 

 poke of our meadows (veralrim) or what is gen- 

 erally called garget. 



We should think the Indian poke given in this 

 way a hard dose for man or beast, and should 

 advise the trial of it to be made on a small scale 

 at first. But we presume the vvriter has refe- 

 rence to the plant generally called garget, in this 

 vicinity. Will he give us a little further infbr 

 matiou on the subject? 



Shaker Filtasre. 



The St. Johnsbury Caledonian announces the 

 death at Barnet, Vt., Nov. 17, of Capt. William 

 Bachop, aged 60 years. This gentleman was 

 one of those noble Scotch furniers of Caledonia 

 comity, visited by the editor of the Monthly Vis- 

 itor in Sept. 1840. He obtained premiums five 

 times fiom the Society at Boston for the best 

 butter ever exhibited in that market. Twice he 

 had the pi-emiuni of §100, and three times pre- 

 miums of §50. Mr. Bachop was a native of 

 Scotland, and came to this country, when he was 

 fourteen years of age. He had been settled on 

 his farm thirty-seven years : this farm consists of 

 about five hundred acres of beautifully fertile 



I on the westerly margin of one of those 

 lakes which are so fre(iuent among the hills and 



intains of New England : nearly one half of 

 the farm still remains in the original f<:rest. Mr. 

 B. has been during his whole life a hard laboring 

 man, engaged generally every week day of fiiir 

 weather in his own fields. He had worn out the 

 first rudely constructed dwelling peculiar to all 

 new settlers, and had erected in its place, front- 



a beautifiil prospect on all sides of the lake, 



ouae of granite, whose iiitcricr is the resi- 



dence of easy hosiiitality and elegant and polish- 

 ed manners in a family of well educated sons 

 and daughters. Mr. B. enjoyed, amidst the lalior 

 and enterprise which procured all the means of 

 ease and comfort, as well as the man who had 

 heired a property of millions, all the happiness 

 that can be expected of this world ; and is now 

 gone to that brighter abode where all that is good 

 and worthy while here is destined to congregate. 



Signs of Rain.— The air, when dry, I believe, 

 refracts more red, or heat-making rays ; and as 

 dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are again 

 reflected on the horizon. I have generally°ob- 

 served a coppery or yellow sunset to foretell 

 rain ; but, as an indication of wet weather ap- 

 proaching, nothing is more certain than a halo 

 round the moon, which is produced by the pre- 

 cipitated water; and the larger the circle the 

 nearer the clouds, and consequently the more 

 ready to rain. — Sir Humphrey Davy. 



Wet Lands. All low retentive soils should 

 be drained ; for no vegetation can be wholesome 

 where the roots of the plants are continually 

 soaked in water. Meadows thus situated, if drain- 

 ed, would have a sweeter, more nutritious herb- 

 age, and more of it— the coarse, sour grasses, 

 which now abound there, would give place to bet- 

 ter varieties, and a new fiice would he put 

 such meadows. Corn and small grain [ 

 situated, should by all means, be drained, as it is 

 utterly iinpo.'^sible that these grains can prosper 

 when subjected to continual immersion in water, 

 and it is equally plain, that any manures applied 

 ' the crops are, by being water-soaked, deprived 

 of large portions of that nutriment, which in a 

 drier soil would be taken up by the growing 

 plants. 



Again, the loss in winter grain, arising from 

 spewing up and freezing, would be greatly "dimin- 

 ished by judicious draining, and the efticacy of 

 manure increased in a corresponding ratio. Heat, 

 air, and moisture, are essential to healthful and 

 vigorous vegetation, hut how can these ends he 

 utjiined in a soil which is wet nearly the entire 

 year .' In no way ; for nothing can advantageous- 

 ly grow in land in a state of mortar. To secure 

 to your crops a chance of reniHuerating you for 

 your expense in their culture, yon must give them 

 those three great essentials, and that can alone be 

 done by laying your ground dry. Under-draining, 

 though it costs most at first, is the cheapest and 

 most durable in the end, therefore, underdrain 

 your wet lands, and thus lay the foundation of an 

 enlightened system of improvement.— .^men'can 

 Farmer. 



ut upo 

 lids till 



Preserving Ice.— Much has been said of late 

 on the efficacy of sawdust for [ireserving ice, from 

 which it might be inferred that there is some \>e- 

 QwWav anti-thaw principle or property in sawdust, 

 which is not found in other materials. The fact 

 is, 1 hat the excellence of sawdust for this pur- 

 pose consists not in the substance of which it is 

 composed, as in the peculiar form of its grains, 

 which admits of a large proportion of inter- 

 vening air, which is a bad conductor of heat 

 H hen confined ; and the only use of the saw- 

 dust, is to prevent its circulation. It may be 

 kept a long time enclosed in a box made of thick 

 pine plank ; but the solid wood will not so 

 thoroughly exclude the caloric of the surround- 

 ing atmosphere as an eijual quantity of confined 

 air between two thin partitions of wood. Let 

 a box be made of very fine pine boards, arranged 

 in a succession of four or five |)artltions half an 

 inch apart extending round and over the entire 

 tube, and ice may he kept in it through the sum- 

 mer season, without sawdust or any otiitr mate- 

 rial. — J\rew York Mechanic. 



celebrated Dr. Buchan 

 X or seven hours sleep is 



Early Rising.— The 

 says in his writings, "Si 



certainly sufficient, aiid no one ought to exceed 

 eight. • To make sleep refreshing, the following 

 things arc requisite : to take sufficient exercise in 

 the open air ; to avoid strong tea or coffee ; to 

 eat a light supper ; and to lie down with a mind 

 as cheerful and serene as jiossible. I hardly ever 

 knew an early riser who did not enjoy a good 

 state of health. It consists with observation, that 

 all very old men have been early risers. Tiiis is 

 the only circumstance attending longevity, to 

 ' ich I never knew an exception." 



