No. 144. J 429 



bushels to the acre will destroy all weeds, kill coarse grass, and 

 in fact all vegetation for a time, but when the reaction takes place 

 the ground will be found perfectly sweet, and capable of pro- 

 ducing superior crops of any description, provided the necessary 

 chemical ingredients are present, and cattle will seek the portion 

 of land so treated in preference to all others for several years af- 

 ter, lii gardens it will prevent crops from clubbing; placed in 

 water containing cut flowers it induces them to look bright and 

 flourishing, long after those in water without salt have faded. 

 Cuttings intended to be sent to a distance should always be kept 

 in salt water before they are packed. I close my remarks by as- 

 serting, that lime and salt are indispensable to the fertility of all 

 soils, and by the eternal evaporation from the mighty oceans, 

 salts are distributed over the whole earth, and carried by God's 

 rain to the roots of all plants. 



Washing fruit trees with alkali, being one of the subjects of the 

 day, Mr. Pell remarked, that the alkalies, potassa and soda, are 

 extensive products of the mineral kingdom, but are never disco- 

 vered in a pure state, but combining acids — the first, potassa, 

 with carbonic acid is known as the soda of commerce ; the second, 

 soda with carbonic acid, as pearl ash. Either potash or soda 

 form an admirable wash for the trunks of trees, destroying all in- 

 sect life, and causing the epidermis to fall off, leaving the trunk 

 perfectly smooth, soft and green, and causing the tree to assume a 

 beautiful appearance. He generally made use of strong soaps, 

 applied to the tree with a whitewash brush, immediately after 

 scraping them thoroughly. After the first heavy rain the potash 

 finds its way to the roots, and assists nature to form the fruit. 



DETEKIORATIOtV OF THE FRUIT ON LONG ISLAND 

 Thomas W. Fields, Brooklyn: 



After several years of acquaintance, merging occasionally into 

 the labor of investigation, the writer is forced to believe that the 

 vaunted supremacy of Long Island in fruits and farms is a myth. 



The native soil of the Newtown pippin refuses to yield any 

 longer the exquisite juices and rare perfection that distinguish 



