93 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jonathan. — This is a beautiful and excellent 

 apple, of medial size, very popular in some parts 

 of New York, and .some other sections of the country, 

 but vci-y little cultivated in New England. In use 

 during the winter. We have never seen this in the 

 Uoston market. 



Domuie. — Medial size, very fair and handsome. 

 Not of a iiigh flavor, but very juicy, crisp, mild, and 

 plca.sant. Mr. D. says that it is a favorite with 

 farmers in that region, as it is a very great bearer. 

 In use during winter and into spring. We never 

 noticed but one baiTel of these in this market, which 

 we purchased, a few years ago, under the name of 

 " Cluster ; " and we kept some of them, in good con- 

 dition, till July. 



Winter Sweet Paradise. — Rather large, yellow, 

 very sweet, tender, and excellent. Comparatively 

 new, and not extensively known, but very prom- 

 ising. 



Vandevere. — Medial size, roundish, mostly red ; 

 flesh remarkably tender, delicate, and of excellent 

 flavor. Mr. D. regards this as one of the very best 

 winter apples, and these specimens would justify 

 this opinion. It seems to us that the Vandevere of 

 the W^cst must be a different fruit, for there it is not 

 considered first rate, but it is popular from its being 

 a sure bearer, while others are more liable to fail from 

 unfavorable seasons. This is occasionally found in 

 OUT market, from New York. 



Swaar. — This is a large apple, very popular in 

 some parts of New York. It is of the highest 

 quality, being of a fine flavor, and very tender and 

 fine in texture. It is singular that Swaai's, grown in 

 New England, though lai'ge and fair, and on differ- 

 ent soils, dire light and poor, and often defective at 

 the core. This is the case with all that we have 

 seen. We think a spurious kind may be cultivated 

 here. It is a large apple, and more smooth, and of a 

 paler color, than those from New York. 



Newtown Pippin, Green and Yelloic. — In some favor- 

 able locations in the Middle States, and in the West, 

 under the best of management, this &uit is tolerably 

 fair and productive, and it is of the highest charac- 

 ter, and a long keeper. In England, it is the most 

 celebrated American apple. In New England, it is 

 very uncertain, though some fine fruit may be ob- 

 tained in a long, warm season. Although there is 

 considerable difference in the form and the general 

 external appearance of these two varieties, some 

 cultivators think that they were originally one. 

 This fruit is hardly ripe enough to use. It keeps till 

 July. 



Teiokshury Winter Blush. — Very small and beauti- 

 ful ; yellow, with a bright blush. Not of the best 

 flavor, but remarkable for keeping into summer. 

 Not yet in use. This is rather smaller than the 

 Lady Apple. 



Ladies' Sweelin^. — Large, very beautiful, and of 

 the highest character. If this apple should flourish 

 in different parts of the apple region in our country, 

 it will do\ibtles3 be the most popular of all late 

 sweet apples. It is quite large, remarkably fair, 

 of a br'ght red color ; very sweet, tender, rich, and 



high flavored. It is a good grower and a good 

 bearer. Its late keeping is also an excellent prop- 

 erty. They arc now coming into use, and will last 

 till May. We find it to be a fine grower, but it has 

 not been tested in New England. 



PEAT ASHES- MARL. 



We have from Mr. Calvin Locke, of Ipswich, a 

 sample of peat ashes, of a very fine grit, that bears a 

 strong resemblance to chalk, only of a darker color. 

 Mr. L. informs us that the subsoil in the meadow, 

 from which the peat was taken, is of a greenish color, 

 cuts like butter, and effervesces with vinegar ; that it 

 had been used as a maniire for grass lands on Captain 

 Ilohnes's farm, with great succcs.?, and its effects were 

 perceptible three years after its application. 



This green substance is marl, undoubtedly, as lime 

 is indicated by the effervescence on the application 

 of an acid. It may be equally valuable, for manure, 

 as the green marls of New Jersey, which have been 

 applied to the light soils, so prevalent in that state, 

 and have effected a wonderful improvement. 



ACTION OF MANURES. 



Too much importance is usually given to the ac- 

 tion of manures, as becoming an integrant part of 

 plants. It is true, that a minute portion of some 

 parts of the constituents of manures are taken up by 

 plants, as their destructive analysis will show ; but 

 of thifi small part, its greatest proportion is simply 

 carried mechanically, by capillary attraction, into the 

 ascending tubes and io not chemically combined 

 with the plant, any more than is the water it con- 

 tains, or than are the burs Avhich sometimes become 

 matted in a cow's tail, a part of the tail. 



Still, a part may be, and probably is, combined 

 chemically with the plant, but not to the extent 

 generally supposed. The principal action of ma- 

 nures, is simply to undergo decomposition in soil, 

 and by this decomposition they are resolved into 

 gaseous bodies. These gases rise ; and as every cuisic 

 inch of solid matter contained in manure will form 

 one to two thousand cubic inches of gases, conse- 

 quently they must expand. In so doing, the ultimate 

 particles of the soil is disturbed, and thus the spaces 

 between the particles arc loosened, and admit the 

 carbonic acid gas ; the vegetable retains the principal 

 part of its bulk, which is cai-bon, and is almost the 

 entire weight of the plant beyond the Avater. 



In farther illustration of these facts, it is well 

 known, that if from a known Avcight of soil we raise 

 successive crops of grasses for many years, removing 

 half the crops, and ploughing in the other half, that 

 the soil will increase in weight, as well as in power, 

 to produce vegetables, and this, too, without any 

 manure being added. 



Suppose a piece of land is capable of producing 

 two tons of clover per acre, and that one ton is re- 

 moved every year, the other ton returned to the soil, 

 and this process continued for so many years as to 

 have yielded, for removal, fifty tons of clover. 



Now where has this immense weight come from ? 

 From the soil ? No ; that is impossible, because you 

 have more soil than when you commenced. Now, 

 as the clover has touched nothmg but the soil and 

 the atmosphere, it must have come from the one or 

 the other, and if not from the soil, why, of course, 

 from the atmosphere. — WurJdn(; Farjner, 



