Vol. 6.— No. 31. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



24Ji 



a sheep would have stanoil before this improve- that nature observes the same method in plants, 

 ,,,g,](. aa in animals, in the mother's womb. Many sorts 



Little more thair fifty years ago. Clumber Park, I of seeds will continue good for several years, and 

 which belongs to his grace the Duke of Newcas- ' retain their vegetative faculty ; whereas others 

 tie, and cont'^iins no less than 4000 acres of land, | "ill not grow after they are one year old. This 

 was a black, dreary, unproductive heath, within | ditference, is in a great measure, owing to their 

 the limits of the ancient and extensive forest of j abounding more or less with oil ; as also to the 

 Sherwood. Aliout 17()0, the genius of agriculture ] nature of the oil, and the texture of their outward 

 liglited upon lliis desolate waste — a magnificent covering. All seeds require some share of fresh 

 mansion was built by the noble owner— the heath ' air, to keep the germen in a healthy state ; and 



disappeared :2000 acres were planted — which I where the air is absolutely excluded, the vegeta 



now exhibit the agreeable appearance of thriving ■ tive quality of the seeds will soon be lost. But 

 limber of very large dimensions, and the remain- i seeds will be longest of all preserved in the earth, 

 ing 201)0 acres, under a spirited and intelligent provided they are buried so deep as to be beyoni 



system of husbandry, yiel.l excellent crops of dif- 

 ferent grains and grasses ;— besides other live 

 stock, the ^heep fed on a district which halt a 

 century ago was perfectly barren, amount at least 

 to -1000 anniuilly. — Lon. Q_uar. Review. 



E.droctal from Deane's New England Farmer. 



the influence of the sun and showers ; since they 

 have been found to lie thus buried twenty or thir 

 ty years, and yet vegetate as well as nevv seeds 

 How the vegetative life is so long preserved, by 

 buryipg them so deep, is very difficult to explain ; 

 but as the fact is very well known, it accounts for 

 the production of plants out of earth taken from 

 ^ ! the bottom of vaults, houses, &c. In the coiiiinon 



SEEDS OF VEGETABLES, method of sowing seeds, there are miiny kinds 



The last product, by which their species are which require to be sown soon after they are ripe: 

 propagated, being frequently all ihe trmt of a ^^d there many others which lie in the around a 

 plant, but sometimes only a part included in the y^ar, sometimes two or three years, before the 

 plant. Every seed contains a plant in embryo, pi^,,, ,.o,„^s ^,p_ Hence, when seeds brought from 

 The embryo, aliich is t'le whole future plant in distant countries are sown, the ground should not 

 miniature, is called the germ or bud ; and is root bo disturbed, at least for two years, for fear of de- 

 ed in the cotyledon, or placenta, which makes its gtroying the youna plants. 



involucrum, or cover. The cotyledon is always As to the method of preserving- seeds, the dry 

 double ; and the middle, or common centre of th3 tin^ig ^.-e best kept in their pods or outer cover 

 two, is a point or speck, namely, the embryo plan- j^gg . bat the seeds of all soft fruits, as cucum- 

 tule, which being acted on by the warmth of the bers, melons, &c. must be cleansed from the pulp 

 sun and of the earth, begins to pvotude Its radicle anj murilaire which surround them; otherwise 

 or root, downwards, and soon alter, Us pluraula, the rottinir of these parts will corrupt the seeds. 



ly by exposure to air. But if such seeds are 

 sown when the earth is cold, they will rot in the 

 ground. 



or bud, upwards ; and as the requisite heat con 

 tinues, it draws nourishment by the root, and so 

 continues to unfold itself and grow. The two co- 

 tyledons of a seed, are a case to the little embryo 

 plant ; covering it up, and sheltering it from in- 

 juries, and feeding it from its own proper sub- 

 stance; which the plantule receives and draws 

 to itself by an infinite number of little filaments, 

 which it sends into the body of the placenta. The 

 cotyledons for the most pi^rt abound with a bal- 

 sam disposed in proper cells ; and this seems to 



HORN DISTEMPER. 



This is a disease of neat cattle, the seat of whicfi' 

 is ill their horns. Cows are more subject to it 

 than o.en. It does not attack hulls; artd steers 

 and heifers, under three years old, have not been 

 known to have it. The distemper gradually con- 

 sumes the pith of the horn. Sometimes it is in 

 both horns at once, but more usually in one only. 

 The disease is discoverable by the coldness, or 

 loss of the natural warmth of the horn ; by dul- 

 ness of the eyes, sluggishness, loss of appetite, 

 and a disposition to lie down. When the biain 

 is affected, the cattle will toss their heads, and 

 groan much, us if in great pain. To effect the 

 i-ure, the horn should be perfor.ited witN a nail 

 giinblet, throu;;h which the corrupted thin matter 

 will be discharged, if care be taken to keep it 

 open. By this boring, which should be nearly 

 horizontal, or in tlie depending part of the horn, 

 and two or three inches from the head of the ani- 

 mal, the cure sometimes is completed. When it 

 proves otherwise, a mixture of rum and honey 

 with myrrh and aloes, should be thrown into the 

 horn with a syringe ; and be several times repeat- 

 ed, if the disease continue. For a more particu- 

 lar account, see a letter from the Hon. C. Tufts, 

 Esq. in the first vol. of the Memoirs of the Acade- 

 my of Arts and Sciences Ibid. 



WEIGHT OF CATTLE. 



In the Picture of London, for the present year, 

 it is slated, that about the year 1700, the average 

 weight of oxen killed for tlie London jnarket, wag 

 370 pounds ; of calves, 50 pounds ; of sheep, 28 

 pounds ; and of lambs, 18 pounds. The average 

 wcigrht at present is — of oxen, SOO pounds ; calves 

 140 pounds ; sheep, bO pounds ; and lambs, 50 

 pounds. The whole value of butcher's meat, as 

 sold in Smilhfield, is about eight millions sterling. 



When seeiis are gathered, it should al.vays be 

 done in dry weather ; and then they should be 

 hungup in bags in a dry room, so as not to deprive 

 them of air. 



The seeds of plants exalted by cultivation al- 

 ways furnisli large and improved varieties ; but 

 the flavor, and even the colour of the fruit seems 

 to be a matter of accident. Thus a hundred seeds 



of the golden pippin will all produce fine large Jf'hite Weed has a five cornered stalk. The 

 leaved apple trees, beiring fruit of considerable I leaves are jagged and embrace the stalk. The 

 ,size; but the tastes and colours of the apples flowers are discous, large, rahiated. The ray is 

 be oil brought to its greatest perfection, while it frou, each will be different, and none will be the : white, and the disk yellow ; the seeds have no 

 remains tumid, and lodged in these repositories, game in kind as those of the pippin itself Some 'down. It flowers in June, and is perennial in the 

 One part of the composition of this balsam is oily ^in be sweet, some sour, some bitter, some mawk- i roots. 



and tenacious, and serves to defend the embryo jgh, some aromatic, some yellow, some green, | When this weed has gotpossession of the ground, 

 from any extraneous moisture ; and, by its viscid- go^e red, some streaked. All the apples will, : no good arasses grow with it; because, per- 

 ity, to entangle and retain the fine, pure, volatile however, be more perfect than those from the | haps, the roots bind the soil in snch a manner as 

 spirit, which IS the ultimate production of the seeds of the crab, which produce trees all of the to cramp other roots. Or being a stronger feeder 

 plant. This oil IS never observed to enter into ga^e kind, and all bearing sour and diminutive [ it deprives other roots of their food, 

 the vessels of the embryo, wnich are too fine to fruit. When it is in its green state, neither neat cattle 



admit so thick a fluid. The spirit, however, be- jt has been recommended when seeds are in- nor horses will eat it. But if it be cut while in 

 ing quickened by an active power, may possibly tended to be sent a great distance, or it is wished blossom, and well dried for hay, the cattle will eat 

 breathe a vit;l principle into the juices that near to preserve them a Ion? time, to wrap them in ab- it freely in winter, and live well on it. The crop 

 ish the embryo, and stamp upon it the character sorbent paper, and surround them by moist brown I however is always thin and light. If it is mowed 



' ' ' sugar. j late, or not well cured and preserved, the hay will 



Mr Humboldt has found, that seeds, which do ] be of very little value, 

 not commonly germinate, become capable of ger- ! Dunging the ground is an enemy to this weed , 

 minating when immersed in oxygenald murinlicWnA it is said that pasturing with sheep kills it. — 

 acid gas mixed with water. If the liquid be a lit- i But to conquer it eflectually, there can be no 



that distinguishes the family ; after which, every 

 thing is changed into the proper nature of t.iat 

 particular plant. Now when the seed is commit- 

 ted to the earth, the nlacenta still adheres to the 



embryo for some time, and guards it from the ac- „ „ _ 



!!!L''I f°r'_°".M°'/.'.'' *'''■, ''"'' .7'''" P'''^P"f "id tie wtrmed7it wil'l'quick'en the vegetation of seeds better way than to use the land in tillage, for ho- 



surprisingly. Creases thus treated exhibited ed crops, several years in succession. 



purifies the cruder juice which the young plant is 



to receive from the earth, by straining it throui;h ger,„;i„'" three hours. Seeds which were more 



its own body. This it continues to do, till '.he 

 embryo plant being a little enured to its new tie 

 ment, and its root tolerably fixed in the ground, 

 and fit to absorb the juice thereof, it then periih- 

 's, and the plant may bo said to be delivered ; so 



than an hundred years old, were also made to; Curiosity. — The Middletown. (Conn.) Gazette 

 vegetate by those means. mentions, that in cutting- an elephant's tusk at a 



Old seeds may likewise be made to germinate comb factory in that city, a few days since, two 

 by immersing them in water nearly boiling hot, iron bullets were found imbedded in it — the sur 

 for about half a niinute, and cooling thera sudden- ^ face of the tusk being perfectly smooth. 



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