350 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



which the earth ought to be pressed, for there ' 

 the fibres are ; anil if they do not touch the earth * 

 closely, the plant will not thrive. To know, 

 whether 3'ou h;ive fastened the plant well in ' 

 the ground, take the tip of one of the le;ives ol 

 the plant between your finger and thumb ; give 1 

 a pull ; if the plant resist the pull so fir as for j 

 the bit of leaf to come away, the plant is prop- 

 erly fastened in the ground ; but, if the pull j 

 bring up the plant, then you may be sure that [ 

 the planting is not well done. The point of [ 

 the stick ought to twist and press the earth up 

 close to the point of the foot ; so that there be 

 no hollow there. Pressing the earth against the 

 stem of the plant is of little use."* The same 

 writer directs to " choose a dry time for your 

 transplanting, for this reason ; if your plants are 

 put into wet ground, the setting stick squeezes 

 the earth up against the earth in a mortar like 

 state ; the sun comes and bakes this mortar into 

 a hard glazed clod ; the hole also, made with 

 the stick is smooth upon its sides, and presents 

 an impenetrable substance to the roots and fibres 

 of the plant, and thus the vegetation is greatly 

 checked ; but when plants are set in dry earth 

 the reverse of all thiii is true, and the fresh 

 earth will supply moisture under any degree of 

 drought." 



In procuring seed for raising young cabbage 

 plants, great care should be taken that it be ob- 

 tained from the most perfect plants of the dif- 

 ferent kinds, and such as have seeded without 

 any other variety of the same tribe blowing 

 near them. The plants intended for seed should 

 therefore be set out by themselves, at a distance 

 from others. New seed should be preferred, 

 as it vegetates quicker, and is more to be de- 

 pended on, 



Cabbage plants are very liable to be attacked 

 by insects. The grub, or black worm, in the 

 night, eats off the stalks just above th* ground, 

 and buries itself in the soil as soon as the sun 

 rises. Dr. Deane says a little circle of lime, 

 or rock-weed round the plant, will preserve 

 them, and recommends digging for the worm 

 near the place which shews the marks of its 

 ravages, and destroying it. Some recommend 

 whipping the plant with green elder bushes. 

 Scalding the hills, and then enclosing them with 

 boards, bark or shingles, would be an effectual 

 but a troublesome mode of securing the plants. 

 The Economical Journal of France gives the 

 following method, which it slates is infallible, 

 to guard not only against caterpillars, but all 

 other insects which infest cabbages or other 

 vegetables. '• Sow with hemp all the borders 

 of the ground where the cabbage is planted ; 

 and, although the neighborhood be infested 

 with caterpillars, the space enclosed by the 

 hemp will be perfectly free, and not one of the 

 vermin will approach it." A gentleman told 

 us that he preserved his cabbage plants per- 

 i'eclly free from worms, bugs and tlies, by dib- 

 bling small holes in the ground near the plants 

 and tilling the holes with water which had been 

 poured boiling hot on elder leaves and suffered 

 to stand till cool. If Ihis is always -effectual, 

 nothing cheaper or easier of application can be 

 devised. The following is recommended by a 

 foreign journal. " Take a pound and three 

 quarters of soap, the same quantity of flowers 

 of sulphur, two pounds of puff balls, and fifteen 

 gallons of water. When the whole has been 



' .\mcrican Gardener, par. 26(. 



well mixed, by the aid of a gentle heat, sprin- 

 kle the insects with the litjuor, and it will in- 

 st.intly kill them. Salt, sowed over the ground 

 in moderate quantities, will destroy insects and 

 prove beneficial to vegetation. Too much salt 

 will injure vegetation and render the g. jund 

 barren for several seasons, and so will too great 

 a quantity of dung, or almost any other manure. 

 Sir John Sinclair says that salt in small quanti- 

 ties is useful as a preventive again=;t insects ; 

 and it was ascertained by a series of experi- 

 ments by the Kev. Dr. Cartvvright, detailed in 

 communications to the Board of Agriculture, 

 that a mixture of salt and soot was preferable 

 to any other manure. Eight bushels to an acre 

 has been applied in England on sour rushy land 

 with a beneficial effect. One half that quantity 

 would probably be sufficient in most cases, and 

 we have no doubt would prove an effectual an- 

 tidote against insects of all kinds. 



Ci.EAxsE YOUR CELLARS. — If you wish to live 

 out half your days, be careful not to be in the 

 habit of breathing the gasses of putrefaction, 

 vegetable or animal. We do not pretend to 

 say whether a parcel of rotten and rotting po- 

 tatoes, cabbages, turnips, and other vegetables, 

 decaying in a cellar will produce what is called 

 yello'j) fever or not. But a kind of fever may 

 be manufactured from vegetable or animal pu- 

 trefaction, which may prove as fatal, though 

 perhaps not quite so rapid in its progress, as 

 the genuine plague of the West Indies, or the 

 Levant. Beef brine, or pork brine, suffered to 

 stand too long, becomes very offensive, and 

 whatever offends the sense of smelling is inju- 

 rious to the health. We have been assured by 

 physicians of eminence, that they have every 

 reason for believing that bilious or typhus fevers 

 of a malignant and fatal kind, have originated 

 from sources of this description. Dead rats or 

 mice, in a wall or ceiling, are detrimental te 

 health, as well as offensive. We very much 

 doubt whether any thing effectual can be done 

 to counteract the effects of their effluvia, unless 

 the substances themselves can be come at, and 

 removed. The following has been recommend- 

 ed as an effectual mode of freeing a room from 

 the offensive smell occasioned by a dead rat or 

 other animal ; — " Take a small earlhen vessel 

 or gallipot, into which put a little salt petre, 

 more or less according to the size of the room; 

 pour upon this a sufficient quantity of sulphuric 

 acid [oil of vitriol] so as completely to saturate 

 it, and shut the room up closely for an hour, in 

 which time it will be found to be perfectly free 

 from the offensive smell." 



Dr. Thomas Cooper gives the follovving di- 

 rections for purifying apartments of noxious air : 

 " Some common spirit of salt may be kejit m 

 one bottle, and some manganese in another ; 

 the manganese may be strewed on a plate or 

 large saucer, and this may be placed over boil- 

 ing water, a chafing dish of coals, or a small 

 lamp ; the spirit of salt may be poured on the 

 manganese, when the chlorine gas will be ex- 

 tricated by the heat. It will be prudent to go 

 out of the room and avoid the fumes, which 

 bring on very obstinate coughing. After a short 

 time, the room may be ventilated, and then 

 washed, and white washed." 



COL. JAQUES' BREED OF CATTLE. 

 In our paper of the 19th ult. p. 302, we took 

 some notice of the iinvrovcd breed 0/ cattle, own- 



ed by Col. Jaques. of Charlestown, and the salj 

 of a bull, which formerly belonged to that g, 

 lleman, to the Montreal Agricultural Society 

 for the sum of ]^500. The Canadian Couran f'T 

 of the 3d inst. has copied the notice alluded to ",' 

 and accompanied its insertion with the follow ; 

 ing remarks, which shew that the introductioi ' 

 of that species of stock into Canada is consider " 

 ed as an acquisition to the Province. '°[ 



'■ The attention which is paid to select thi 

 be-t breed of stock, wherever they can be found •" 

 will render very great advantage to the couri 'f! 

 try ; it is true neat cattle are plentiful, but the; '"' 

 are very light, and a small ox requires the sam( ' 

 care to raise and fat as a large one, but canno '' 

 yield the same profit. Therefore it is but jus ' 

 lice to remark that the efforts of our Agricul 1 

 tural Society to import so fine a Bull of th« 

 short-horn or Teeswater stock, with a view t< III 

 improve our breed of cattle, deserve grea 'i'» 

 commendation. Time has demonstrated tha ?" 

 the farmers must turn their attention to raising !«i 

 of good stock, and give up the idea of a contin i' 

 ued aration. If a view is taken of the article: 

 imported into this Province, which can be fur 

 nised by the farmers, it will be perceived tha 

 tbe most profitable part of farming is engrossei 

 by the Americans, the duration of which de 

 pends on our own exertions." 



Since writing the above, we have seen ai 

 article in the same paper of the 10th inst. set 

 ting forth the good qualities of this breed 

 cattle, from which we extract the following: 



"• This animal has by far exceeded in appeal 

 ance, and apparently good qualities, any expec ;* 

 lation of them that could have been anticipatec 

 and as it may afford some gratification to thos 

 who feel an interest in the object contemplate 

 by his introduction into the country, to be mad 

 acquainted with his pedigree, they offer th 

 fpllowing as a statement of it, which they Ih 

 lieve, from the most particular inquiry, to b 

 perfectly correct. 



" Eclipse was sired by the full blooded Eng 

 lish bull Coelebs, the property of Samuel Jaque: 

 Esq. and is out of the English cow Flora, bot 

 of which were imported from England, whe 

 young, by Cornelius Coolidge, Esq. in 1818. 



Eclipse was calved 3d July, 1821 ; he is th. 

 third calf from Flora, and obtained the firs 

 premium from the Massachusetts Agriculturs 

 Society, at Ihe Brighton Show, in October Ia8l 

 then only 15 months old, and weighed 1243 lb« 



Coelebs is a direct descendant from the firs 

 blood in England ; his grandsire was the famou 

 bull " Comet," that was sold at the public sal 

 of Charles Collings, Esq. at Ketton, in 1810, si 

 years old, for lOUO guineas ; his sire the " Herl 

 cules," from a first rate Holderness Cow* 

 Mr. Mason's, of Darlington ; his grandame frorl 

 Sir H. Vane's stock ; his dame got by the note 

 bull Wellington, the property of Mr. Collings.' 



The breed is remarkable for its mildness 

 temper, and possesses the three most desirabltl 

 qualities, viz. in affording the greatest quantitji 

 of Beef, Tallow and Milk. 



ili 



ai 



:11 



*The Holderne?s breed is celebrated for giving; i 

 *reat quantity of Milk, and the cows generally gi»« 

 from 24 to 36 quarts per day. — Rees^ CycUpedia. 



0:5°" Col. Jaques has still on hand, for sale 01 

 to let, at his residence in Charlestown, three 

 half-blooded bulls, one year old this month, froi 

 first rate native cows, sired by Coelebs. 



:,1 



