Vol. 6.~No. 35. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



with those from other rocks ; and thus a soil is 

 formed extremely compound in its characters. 



From this view of the subject it appears that 

 we may expect to find as many different soils as 

 there are different rocks ; and even more. All 

 rocks, however, may be arranged into a few clas- 

 ses, and the soils resiilting from the rocks of a 

 class, will beat a general resemblance. The old 

 est and most enduring rocks, such as granite.con 

 stitute what is called the primary class ; am! the 

 soils proceeding from their decdinposition, may 

 receive a similar designation. Nearly the whole 

 of New England, e.tcept the valley of the Con- 

 necticut, is made up of primary rocks ; and this 

 same class of rocks e.xtends in a southwesterly di- 

 rection, gradually decreasing in width, through N. 

 York, Pennsylvunia, Virginia, North and South 

 Carolina, and Georgia. All the towns in the old 

 county of Hampshire, not situated in the valley of 

 the Connecticut, are based on rocks of this class; 

 accordingly we find in them all, a general resem- 

 blance ol soil. Tlie second class of rocks is call- 

 ed seconda.-y ; being newer, and generally less 

 hard and endurin;;. Tlie valley in which we are 

 situated, e.xtendina; from New Haven to the touth 

 line of Vermont, is of this description Two of 

 the most important members of this class are here 

 abundant : vi/,. the old red sandstone — whose very 

 name describes it, — and the peculiar rock, ge.er- 

 ally called trap rock, that conatitiiles the precipit 

 ous ridges of Holyoke and Tom. Secondary ro:ks 

 ate of imm"nse e.xtent west of the Hudson and 

 North West of the Alleghanies, extending ei'en 

 to the Rocky Mountains. 



The third class of rocks, or rather of soils, is 

 called the tertiary ; because they lie above ;he 

 secondary, and were therefore subsequently form- 

 ed. This class consists of regular layers, or b?ds, 

 of sand, ch y, and gravel. The e.\tensi"e sandy 

 plains, on both sides of the Connecticut, principal- 

 ly south of this village, are a good example of 

 this class. Whenever the sand is worn away to 

 a considerable depth, the clay lying underneath is 

 made visible. All that extensive level country 

 south of New York, along the sea coast, widening 

 as you advance, and embracing a large part of the 

 southern Slates, consists chiefly of the tertiary 

 class of soils. 



The fourth and last class of rocks, or soils, is 

 the alluvial. This consists of all varieties of soil, 

 mingled and spread over low grounds by the 

 agency of water. This is the richest and most 

 productive of all soils ; and our own Connecticut 

 and its tributaries, particularly the Deerfield, the 

 Westfield, and the Parmington, exhibit many in- 

 teresting tracts of this description along their 

 margins. They are scattered, too, all over our 

 country ; and the world does not furnish a nobler 

 example than is seen along the Mississippi. 

 (To be continued ) 



From Gleanings in Husbandry. 

 HOT BEDS. 



These are in general use in the northern parts 

 of Europe, without which they could not enjoy so 

 many of the products of warmer climates as they 

 now do, nor could they have tables furnished with 

 the several products of the garden, during the 

 winter and spring months. 



Made with tanner's hark. This is preferable to 

 that made with dung for all tender exotic plants 

 or fruits which require an even degree of warmth 

 to be continued for seteral months. The manner 



of making them is as follows: Dig a trench three 

 feet deep if the ground be dry ; if wet, not above 

 I six inches, and raised in proportion, so as to admit 

 'of the tan being laid three feet thick. The length 

 must be proportioned to the frames intended to 

 cover it. The trench should be bricked up round 

 the sides to the height of three feet, and filled 

 with tan, such as the tanners have lately drawn 

 out of their vats. It should first be laid in a heap 

 for a week or ten days, that the moisture may 

 drain out of it, which if detained in, will prevent 

 its fermentation ; then put it in the trench and 

 beat it down gently with the spade without tread- 

 ing it, then put on the frame with the glasses, and 

 in a fortnight it will begin to he.it, at which time 

 the pots of plants may be put into it. 



ffken made tvitli horse manure it must be fresh 

 from the stable, and both the Ion;; and short fork- 

 ed up in a hetip for a week or fortnight, turning it 

 over once or twice in that time, when it will bo 

 fit to use. Make the bed the size of the frame, 

 and cover it with rich earth, from six to ten inches 

 deep. When the bed is too hot, it may be cooled 

 hy making holes in the sides with a stake, which 

 must be closed when the beds are of a proper 

 temperature ; if too cold, line the sides with fresh 

 manure. Cucumbers thrive when the heat of the 

 mould is at .56 of the thermometer. 



Besides tanner's bark and horse manure, hot 

 beds are made with oak leaves, straw steeped in 

 pond-water two or three days, coal ashes, grass ; 

 and also grains of malt after brewing thrown to- 

 gether in a heap and well watered, to make a fer- 

 ment and heat. 



Mushroom beds are made like the ridges of a 

 house, composed of alternate layers of horse ma- 

 nure and earth, covered with litter; in the sur- 

 face of these beds, when they have acquired a 

 sufficient degree of heat, the seeds are planted. 



[From Hints for American Husbandmen.] 



On Rape — its cultivation and produce in Seed — 



lis value as Green Food for JVeat Cattle and 



Shee}). 



Bv John Hare Powel, Esq. 



Powelton, Pliiladelpliia country, 1827. 



Dear Sir, — In accordance with your request, 

 I have prepared a notice on the cultivation, uses, 

 and value of cole or rape. 



I am not aware that rape had been cultivated 

 extensively in any part of the United States, until 

 1824, when Mr. Miller and Mr. Phillips of this 

 county, obtained crops so extraordinary in pro- 

 duct and value, as to induce them to recommend 

 it to the notice of their neighbours, by the only 

 sort of evidence, which operative farmers will 

 receive. 



I have no knowledge of its cultivation, except 

 from my observations abroad. It is highly valued 

 in many parts of Europe, as well for its product 

 in seeds, as for the large quantity of green food 

 which it affords throughout the greater part of 

 the year. 



It may he sown either broadcast, or as turnips, 

 in drills — or, in beds, and be transplanted as oth- 

 er varieties of the Brassica or cabbage genus. — 

 The usual and most successful mode, is to sow 

 from two to tliree quarts of seeds broadcast in 

 June or July, when intended for green food, but 

 in August or September, when destined to pro- 

 duce seeds in the next year. 



The process of transplanting is too expensive 



in this country— the necessary hand hoeing, un- 

 less the land has been well prepared by previous 

 cleansing crops, would make rape, in the broadcast 

 system, much more troublesome, than if culti- 

 vated in rows, admitting the introduction of a 

 horsehoe. In fivourablc seasons I should not 

 hesitate, where land is cheap and labour is dear, 

 to allow it, when intended for green food, to take 

 its chance,without the aid of either hand or horse- 

 hoeing. 



It produces in ordinary seasons on rich allu- 

 vial, or other deep friable soils, from 40 to seven- 

 ty bushels of seeds, determined in quantity, 

 very much, by the accuracy of tillage and the 

 condition and nature of the land. Great care 

 and precision are necessary in harvesting the 

 seeds in June or July, of the \ear succeeding 

 that in which they are sown. When the pods as- 

 sume a brownish ca-st, and some of the seeds be- 

 come black, the crop is reaped with sickles — laid 

 regularly in handsful or ^ci/js in rows, where it 

 continues until the straw becomes fomewhat 

 white — the seeds of the colour of wl.ich we find 

 them in the shops. If they be allowed to become 

 too dry, they fa'l out on the slightest motion — 

 when carried too green, they are liaule to be heat- 

 ed. At the proper time they must be thrashed 

 in the field upon old sails or cloths, to which the 

 crop should be carried upon sledges prepared with 

 cloths, or by similar means. The seeds must be 

 carefully spreiid in small quantities in granaries 

 or on barn floors, and be occasionally moved. 



Sheep and neat cattle are e.ftrayagantly fond of 

 it — but of all plants, perhaps it is the most likely 

 to cause them to be blown. 



There is much difference of opinion as to its 

 nutritive properties in the green state. I believe, 

 that it quite equals the common cabbage, and very 

 far exceeds turnips of all kinds in the quantity of 

 nutrition it contains — in the value of the oil for 

 various manufacturing purposes, and the excel- 

 lence of the cake, after it has been expressed, for 

 cattle food and the manure of drill crops, no ques- 

 tion can be entertained. 



It is not a cert in crop — as it is exposed to all 

 the enemies which attack turnips and cabbages — 

 and is liable to be injured at the season of blos- 

 soming by mildew and sometimes by frost. 



The Season. — The extraordinary mildness of 

 the present season, is the common topic of con- 

 versation. Our giirdens and shrubberies have as- 

 sumed the appearance of spring. The prevalent 

 range of the thermometer has been from 58 to 6&, 

 occasionally it reached 70 : Green peas, aspara- 

 gu.s, tomatoes, with other spring vegetables, have 

 been in our market the whole of the past month. 

 A friend informs us that he saw growing in a gen- 

 tleman's garden in the city, many Tobacco plants, 

 thrifty and in full bloom, which had sprung up 

 since November, from roots of old plants ; also 

 Green Corn, fully fit f'r the table, grown from 

 last year's seed — Southern .Agriculturist, for Feb- 

 ruary, 1828. 



Among the peculiariiies of the season, says the 

 \Iacon Telegraph, of the 31st Doc. may be men- 

 tioned the appearance of a load of water-melons 

 in our markiU on Christmas day I They were 

 irought, we understand, from Twiggs county, and 

 -old at a good price. In the garden of Dr. Bird, 

 of this town, Strawberry vines have boon for some 

 time in blossom. — ibid. 



