ISJSW EIVGI.AND FARMER. 



■UBLISHED BY GEO. C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (AT THE AGRICULTURAL WAREHOUSE:" 



rox.. xzix. 



-THS. G. FESSENBEN, EDITOR 



BOSTO W, •VyEDM-BSPAY EVSXrinrC, BECEMBER 24, 1834, 



XVO. 24:. 



COMMUNICATION. 



For the New England Farmer. 



e:ari.t corn and -wheat. 



[By Hon. Samuel Lathrop.] 

 or Sir : 



The Farmers living in the valley of Connecticut 

 er, have within a sliort period, greatly extend'd 



cultivation of wheat beyond that of former 

 irs — a considerable proportion, probably the 

 aler part, is sown after corn. We have suf- 

 ;d great inconvenience and sustained some loss 

 m the impracticability of getting oft" our corn 

 season to sow the ground. Grain sown very 

 ! is more liable to be winter killed, and more 

 losed to blast, than that which is sown in its 

 per time. It has repeatedly, happened with 

 , and I have not been behind all my neighbors, 

 t I have not been able to get through the wheat 

 fing till after the middle of October. This is 

 te too late to e.xpect a good crop. The busi- 

 s ought to be completed in September, and if it 

 Id be done by the middle of that month, I 

 ik we sboidd be more certain of success. 

 u the summer of 1833, I was conversing with 

 ge Buel of Albany on this subject, when he 

 irmed me that for a number of years, he had 

 ivated a kind of corn, which was about a fort- 

 it earlier than the kind most commonly used, 



that he thought it equally profitable for culti- 

 on. In consequence of this information I pro- 

 ?d my seed corn of him last sprijig, and planted | .Mthough I am 

 itbei- this seiLsion. Tho crop has cxcecdef.' m^y 

 sctations. I never had a better one from the 

 e quantity of land, and it came to maturity 

 e time earlier than other fields of corn in the 

 iiity. I think it will prove a valuable species to 

 :e who wish to sow their land with wheat. In 

 nary seasons, it will have become sufficiently 

 for harvest by the iniddle of September. It 

 L species of the twelve-rowed corn, but the 

 vth of stalk is very small, compared with the 

 Ive-rowed corn which I have been accustomed 

 lant — not exceeding one half the weight, of 

 rse, the exhaustion required to sustain an equal 

 iber of stalks is much less. This species of 

 I will bear planting much thicker, than any 

 •r kind of field corn, which I have ever culti- 

 d. — I this year planted the hills three feet apart 

 directions, intending to have three stalks 



oth 



ach hill. But it may be planted three feet by 

 and a half, and then the ground will not be 

 e shaded than it is with the corn generally 

 id here, when planted in squares of three and 

 If feet. The ears set low on the stalk, grow 

 good size, anil the grain is heavy. I think it 

 i valuable for use, as any other kind of this 

 1 — and from the fact that it will bear planting 

 lick, I believe that I can secure a larger pro- 

 , than from any other that I have ever tried, 

 the circumstance that gives it its chief excel- 

 e in my estimation, arises from the fact, that I 

 gather my corn in season for the sowing of 

 at. In the most unfavorable season, the wheat 

 be sown iu September, and in very favorable 

 3ns, early in that month. 



I am very respectfully, yours, &c. 

 Samdel Lathrop. 

 'Mi Springfield, Oct. 23, 1834. 



From Loudon's Gardener's Mogazine. 

 TERRESTRIAL, RADIATION, &c. 



On the Effects of Terrestrial Radiation on the Proeesses of 

 I'egrtation ; and some .iccoant of the Chinese Method of 

 propagating Fruit Trees. [By J. Murray, Esq.] 

 Of all the sciences, it will be granted, on every 

 hand, none is more connected with horticulture 

 than that of chemistry. It is indeed its sun and 

 centre ; and, without the a|)plication of chemical 

 laws and phenomena to horticulture, its principles 

 remain unknown ; the pursuit is a species of rude 

 chance game: not to mention the world of life 

 and interest which a correct knowledge of tlie 

 chemistry of vegetation can impart to the cultiva- 

 ted intellect. The physiology of plants, or the 

 i.iws and phenomena of vegetation, forms one of 

 the mostinterestingand beautiful domains of chem- 

 ical science. In saying thus much, however, I 

 would not be understood as underrating the im- 

 portance of meteorological i)henomena, which rule 

 the atmosphere in its temperature, barometry, and 

 bygromctry. These are essentially connected with 

 the rise, progress, and decay of vegetation, or its 

 full establishment in the attitude of healthy luxu- 

 riance. Above all, (though a question too lightly 

 esteemed) is the electrical condition of the atmos- 

 phere, and the electrical relations of individuals 

 which constitute the living mass of vegetatioii. It 

 is to be regretted that the practical gardener dis- 



■ards every instrument save the thermometer 



far from denying it a place, and 

 i;iat un important one in tlie scale of nsei'uluiiss, i 

 mean to assert that the hygrometer and aerial elec- 

 troscope may safely dispute with the thermometer 

 the point of priority. At the present time, how- 

 ever, it would be premature in me to allude to a 

 series of experiments now in progress, and which 

 promise curious and interesting results. I may 

 safely, however, venture to say that the laws and 

 phenomena of radiation, too little attended to in 

 even the science of horticulture, are in many in- 

 stances the very hinges on which the success of 

 an abundant and mature crop of fruit depends. 



In the present communication, with your per- 

 mission, I shall supply a few remarks connected 

 with the cultivation of the vine in this country' (in 

 the open air,) as elucidating scientific principles 

 which I am engaged in carrying into effect, as I 

 am anxious to bring the question before our read- 

 ers as early as possible, to enable them, should 

 they approve of my reasoning and plan of pursuit, 

 to follow out into practice the principles now pro- 

 pounded for their consideration. To this I shall 

 add a few observations on the Chinese method of 

 propagating fruit trees; and I may avail niystif of 

 a future opportunity to transmit a model uf an im- 

 provement I have made in the machine emplnyed 

 to enclose the ball of earth and confine the newly 

 formed roots. 



It has been shown that the cooling juocess of 

 radiation, by which the temperature of the sur- 

 face of the earth is lowered so considerably, differs 

 materially on the inclination of the hill compared 

 with the bosom of the valley. Mr. Daniell, indeed, 

 states, on one occasion, a difference amounting to 

 30 deg : that is to say, the thermometer on the in- 

 clined surface maintained a higher temperature by 

 30 deg. than another placed on the horizontal or 



level plain of the adjoining valley. This differencn 

 IS certainly enormous ; but it is proved beyond all 

 doubt that a slope, an inclined bank for instance, 

 radiates less by many degrees than the surface which' 

 is altogether horizontal. Indeed, I think we may 

 collect abundant [u-oofs of this important fact, 

 among the mountains and the valleys of Italy. On 

 the plains of Piedmont, the vines which are suf 

 fered to attain a considerable altitude on lofty poles 

 planted as their sujjport, are detached from ilioBe 

 poles towards the approach of winter, and pros- 

 trated on the earth, where they are secured from 

 injury by the straw. This treatment protects thetn 

 from the effects of the intense though short winter 

 which reigns on the jdains of Piedmont; for, even 

 at Turin, the water in my room has been congealed 

 into a solid mass of ice throughout its entire ex- 

 tent. The^ olive succeeds in Tuscany; but tho 

 almond, pomegranate, and plants of the Citrua 

 family flourish but imperfectly; and yet on tlia 

 acclivities of the amphitheatre of tho Appenines, 

 which forms a semicircle round the magnificent 

 city of Genoa, you find that the pomegranate, the 

 lemon, and the orange mature Jitir fruit and lux- 

 uriate. Even the imperial city is indebted for liei- 

 (lalm branches to the palms which succeed in the. 

 open air at Nice. Now, the only dilTerence in 

 these circuinslances consists in a reduction of tho 

 loss sustained by radiation, and the attempered in- 

 fluence of thn sea-breeze, which more than couii- 

 terbalan-r' tl",; increase of warmth imparted by tho 

 sualKmrn." u a ti.JrK southern clime: perhaps even 

 the excellence of Monte Sotnma wines may have 

 something to do with the acclivity on which the 

 vineyards are planted. To my vision, fruit trees 

 planted on terraces, and rising one above llie other, 

 in amphitheatricul form, appear beautiful ; but thi» 

 'las become, I snpijose. unfashionable. In 



suppose, 



liecause it 



happens to be a g(;m from the antique. Now rest- 

 lessness in search of something new, however ab- 

 surd, is incessant. The ancients appear, in thin 

 respect, to have known what they were about ; 

 and I must frankly confess that, in my estimation, 

 they acted wisely, and had the better of us, and 

 that we are decidedly in the rear. To this cause 

 I attribute tho remarkable fertility of the Land of 

 Judea iu fonrier times. Its susceptiliility is sufB- 

 ciently apparent, and there still remains existing 

 vestiges of this mode of cultivating the flanks of 

 the valleys, or the sides of the diversified hills of 

 Palestine, to a considerable altitude. It is slill, how- 

 ever, very questionable, whether low walls, con- 

 structed of brick, or of stone and mortar, quite 

 vertical, would succeed so well as the surface of a 

 calcareous or sandy soil, at an angle, for example, 

 of 45 deg. A sandy soil absorbs heat, and coti- 

 linues heated, because sand is an indifTureiit radi- 

 ator, and is, moreover, a non-conductor of caloric 

 (heat); so that vines, &c., in contact with such a 

 surface, would be more than comjiensated for the 

 temperature they would lose through the medium 

 of radiation; which would also be attenuated from 

 the inclination of the plane. 



At St. J\Iary's Isle, the seat of Earl Selkirk, near 

 Kirkcudbriglit, I remember to have seen a beauti- 

 ful illustration of my views, in the case of pear- 

 trees pinioned to trellis-work on such an inclined 

 surface as I have described ; and I have always un- 



