1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



115 



exhausted, and in a few years will become ex- 

 tinct. On the Canada shore, where nearly all 

 the cedar is procured, the whole growing timber 

 has been cut, and they are now mining for them 

 at .5 or 6 feet below the surface of the muck and 

 masses of the swamps ; the relics of antedeluvi- 

 an epochs for aught that can be shown, and the 

 contemporaries of the mastadon and megatherium. 



If the common woods of tlie country can be 

 saturated with a cheap chemical compound, by 

 means of a hole bored in the centre or the side, 

 so as to render them indestructable, for which 

 great hopes are entertained by those making the 

 experiments, then a cheap and convenient sub- 

 stitute is iound for the post and board fence. 



In this country we shall never be able to do 

 without enclosures, as the French and other peo- 

 ple of the continent are abliged to do — herding 

 their stock of all kinds, by means of shepherds 

 and herdsmen. Labor is too dear in this country 

 to allow that course, and I trust always may be, 

 as an overplus population and low wages beto- 

 ken a depressed and poverty stricken race. In 

 the large baronial estates of England very little 

 fencing answers their purpose ; stabling imd soil- 

 ing disposes of the cattle and horses, and the 

 sheep are attended by keepers on the downs and 

 mountain. But in this country, with the whole 

 soil cut up into an average of 100 acre individu- 

 al farms, we can never dispense with that impor- 

 tant item. 



There is hardly any subject that has excited 

 more discussion nmong agricultural writers than 

 live fences, or hedges, and why in the older 

 parts of the country it has not been thoroughly 

 tried is most unaccountable. It has been pretty 

 satisft^clorily ascertained, that the quick sets of 

 the English white thorn, so generally used in 

 that country, do not succeed with us ; they are 

 attacked by a scale louse {coccidcp,) that is fatal to 

 them; and they do not acclimate well so for as tried. 



We have three or four varieties of native thorn, 

 that I conceive possesses all the requisites for 

 success. The process for procuring sets takes 

 time, but is very simple. The apple of tlie thorn 

 should be getliered in October, mixed with earth 

 and thrown into a pit about one foot deep; in the 

 course of the next summer turn them over with 

 the snovel two or three times. The spring af- 

 ter, plant them out in drills or beds ; the fall 

 preceding, the ground being well cleaned and 

 pre|)ared, and kept clean of weeds and grass. — 

 Some of the strongest plants will be large enough 

 to transplant at one year old, the balance at two 

 years. The only doubt the writer has upon the 

 sul)ject of its feasibility, is the danger of their 

 being destroyed by the field mouse, which, in 

 our cold snowy country, is a fatality to which 

 they will be liable — as the accumulation of mulch 

 and dead grass about their roots forms a conve- 

 nient receptacle for their winter quarters. 



Monroe Co., 1847. Lucius B. Manly. 



The Value of Ashes and olher Manures. 



At a recent agricultural discussion at the As- 

 sembly Chamber in Albany, Mr. Sotham made 

 the following statements as the result of his ex- 

 perience and observations : 



Mr. SornAM had not seen any experiments made by burn- 

 ing barn yard manures, but he knew that it was valuable 

 previous lo burning. The excrement of animals, mixed 

 with slaughter house manure, such as blood, liver, and re- 

 fuse of ihe bulrlur yard, mixed together, and so far decom- 

 posed as to cut out with a shovel, is decidedly the best com- 

 post you can apply to the land. 1 never saw a soil yet that 

 was not grateful for such manure when properly applied ; 

 nor do I think that such a composition can escape by evap- 

 oration when once deposited there, either on the surface or 

 mingled in the soil. I'ho rain may wash it oli' and carry it 

 lower. He had seen many able expernnents with ashes, 

 and which have proved a very valuable manure. For in- 

 slance : On many of the light soils in England, such as 

 sand, stone-brash, gravel, and light loam, much of the san- 

 fiin ie sown. iManured for turneps, the turneps feu off on 

 the land, and then sowed with barley, and the sanfoin seed 

 sowed with iha barley. This sanfoin is mown for eight, 

 ten, or fifteen years, a"ml not a particle of manure put upon 

 it. It is genera'ly grazed the last year, and then breast- 

 plowed. A thin slice <A the sod is token oti' about lialf to 

 three quarters of an incli thick ; as soon as it is dry enough 

 it is thrown togetlier in small heaps and burnt. Part uf the 

 ashes are black and a part red. They are spread regularly 

 over the soil and then plowed in very shallow, well dragged 

 with a heavy dr.ig cross-wise, and then thourougly harrow- 

 ed with lighter harrows, the soil is well pulverized previous 

 to the second plowing, then it is shallowly plowed again, 

 and the turnep seed is sown on the fresh furrow. I have 

 never seen belter cro; s of turneps than by this process, 

 and the ashes have lasted as long and benetitted the suc- 

 ceeding crops for three yeais, and sometimes longer, quite 

 as lung as barn yard manure. Now, if the principal sub- 

 stances, or orga.iized matter, that .^Ir. Howard says are 

 dissipated in the atmosphere by the burning, where did 

 these turneps and the succeeding crops get them from, if it 

 was not from the ash. I have seen two crops of turneps in 

 one field, (at A'orthouck. Gloucestershire,) one part breast- 

 plowed, the oiher manured with a heavy dressing of barn- 

 yard manure, both in the same state of cultivation previous 

 to the burning and manuring, the latter plowed three times, 

 and in a better state of pulverization than the former, when 

 the seed was sown ; still the breast-plowed piece vyas far 

 Ihe best. How is this to be accounted for, if the principle 

 of vegetation IS dissipated? I do not believe it. Another 

 instance. 1 have seen frequently and tried the experiment. 

 Planted two rows of potatoes, the soil in the same slate. — 

 To one of the rows 1 have prt ashes, the olher none. The 

 former grew luxuriently, the potatoes large and a heavy 

 crop, the latter very small and a light crop. Where did the 

 potatoes get their sustenance from if it was not from the 

 ashes ? Both had the same resources from the atmosphere. 

 The ashes could not have the power of attraction over the 

 iuDrganized matter in the e.irth. as that could be nothing 

 more than the earthy substances, or inorganized portion of 

 plants, according to Mr. H.'s representation. 'J'hisisa \ery 

 important subject, and requires much consideration. He 

 wanted no better proof than a good crop for the manure ap- 

 plied. 



We can hardly err in too often urging upon 

 the attention o'' our readers the great value of 

 wood ashes, as well as ordinary manure for the 

 improvement of crops. 



Warts on the udder and teatsof cows may be 

 easily removed simply by washing them in a so- 

 lution of alum and water. We have known this 

 application to result favorably, even after all 

 other prescriptions had failed, and the disease 

 seemed to have advanced beyond the possibility 

 of cure. Try it, and see if the remedy does 

 not prove effectual. — Selected. 



