VOL. XVII N'> .13. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGLSTER, 



251 



le derived from all substances capable of such 

 ernieutation. It is the intoxicating principle of 

 iquors, and few nations have been found so rude 

 IE not to have found some means of producing it. 

 \lcohol is produced principally by tlie distillation 

 if wine, molasses, and grain. The product of the 

 irst is brandy, the second rum, and the third whis- 

 :ey or gin. Alcohol is of much use in the arts, 

 ut it has, by its general use, produced a most un- 

 .appy eftect on the happiness and morals of multi- 

 udes. Perhaps greater quantities of distilled 

 pirits are used by the nations that border on the 

 5altic than in any other part of the world, and 

 ere they are principally produced from the distil- 

 ition of potatoes. Pure alcohol consists of hydro- 

 en J3.70; carbon 51.98 ; and oxygen .34.32. 



^llgae. One of the families of plants into which 

 jinnasus divided the vegetable kingdom. They 

 re defined to be plants of which the roots, leaves 

 nd stem, are all one. The remains of algae are 

 bundant in a fossil state in the shale of many 

 arts of New York, and their decomposition may 

 ave contributed to the fertility of the strata in 

 'hich they exist. 



JllkaU. A substance usually extracted from 

 lants ; and distinguislied by the following proper- 

 es : It has an acrid and corrosive taste and pow- 

 r ; it changes vegetable blue to rreen, red to a 

 urple, yellow to a red brown, and purple reduced 

 y an acid to its original color. It is most used in 

 le arts of neutralising acids. It is the best known 

 I the shape of potash, and soda. These unite 

 ith oils and animal fat, and form soap. Lime is 

 assessed of alkaline properties, which gives it its 

 ■incipal value in many cases. Alkaline substan- 

 ;s have been divided into volatile and fixed; the 

 )Iatile being known as ammonia, the fixed as pot- 

 di or soda. Modern chemists have divided them 



to 3 classes : 1, those with a metalic base com- 



ned with oxygen, potash, soda and lithia ; 2, that 

 hicli contains no oxygen, as ammonia ; and 3, 

 ose containing oxygen, hydrogen and carbon, as 

 :onita, circuta, morphia, &c. 



JlUuvion. Land deposited by the action of riv- 

 •s ; either at the mouths in lakes or the sea, or on 

 e banks in their passages to these receptacles. 

 Dustituted as it usually must be of the richer and 

 jhter parts of the regions drained by tlie river 

 at deposits it, it is the most fertile of soils, and 

 e most valuable, when it can be drained, or ren- 

 ted secure from floods. Nearly the whole of 

 olland is alluvial. In this country the vast tract 

 1 both sides of the Mississippi, for a great dis- 

 nce from its mouth, is of this character; but 

 fing to its annual submersion is of comparatively 

 .tie value. Perhaps there is no river in the Uni- 

 d States in proportion to its length and volume, 

 at has so much valuable alluvion on its borders 



the Genesee. 



Alumine. One of the earths most important to 

 e agriculturist, and entering largely into the 

 imposit'on of all rocks, clays, and loams. It was 

 rmerl'y termed argil, or argillaceous earth, but 

 r H. Davy's discoveries led to the belief that it 

 IS a metallic base combined with oxygen. It is 

 und nearly pure in the Corundum ; porcelain 

 ays and kavlin contain about one-half of this 

 irth, and it may be obtained pure from the alum 



commerce, by chemical processes. Alumine is 

 e principle that gives the peculiar tenacity and 

 lastic nature to clays ; rendering them heavy and 

 ipervious to water, in proportion to the quantity 

 nfined in them. Alumine has a great affinity for 



water, hence clay lands are usually more cold and 

 wot, and more difficult to cultivate than those into 

 which it enters in less proportions. Its presence 

 in soils is, however, absolutely nece.ssary to jirevent 

 porosity ; and when combined in due proportion 

 with the other principal earths, it constitutes one 

 of the surest ingiedients of a fertile soil. Much 

 attention has of late been paid to the amelioration 

 of clay soils, and of all the methods tried, thorough 

 draining has proved the easiest and most effijctive. 

 When clay land is drained, its texture is changed ; 

 and the plants it naturally produces, as well as 

 those it is made capable of producing, are of a 

 higher and more valuable kind. Alumine is of 

 much use in the arts ; it is extensively employed 

 as a cleansing powder ; as a mordant in dying ; 

 and is the basis of bricks, crucibles and porcelain. 

 (To be continued.) 



CFrom the Genesee Farmer ) 



ON WINTERING CALVES. 

 .Mr Tucker, — To winter calves it requires the 

 first rate of care and attention to have them live 

 and do well through our long and dreary winters. 

 I believe the best method to winter calves, is to 

 stable them. It requires much more care and at- 

 tention to winter calves out in the storms, and they 

 will need more food and are more liable to freeze 

 than they would be if they were stabled in a warm 

 stable. The most of farmers in this vicinity, keep 

 their calves out in the coldest place they can pro- 

 cure, and say they will do better than in a warm 

 stable wiiere the storms cannot beat upon them and 

 fill their hair full of snow and ice. I know of a 

 great many farmers in this section, that always 

 have the first rate of calves, and on asking them 

 the cause of having so much better calves than 

 their neiglibors, they will tell you they stMbled them 

 winters. Such men will always have good cattle, 

 and it does not cost them half as much as it does 

 those who winter their calves in the coldest place 

 they can produce in their barn yards, thinking they 

 will do better than to have a warm and comfortable 

 stable to lay in through the long and cold winter 

 nights. There are many farmers in our country 

 that pretend to raise calves by letting them go to a 

 stack of hay, tiiat was stacked for the purpose in 

 the summer, and there the calves are obliged to 

 gnaw upon the stack to obtain sustenance, until 

 there is danger of the stack falling upon them ; 

 then the farmer is obliged to remove them to an- 

 other, and so on through the winter ; and when 

 spring arrives, the calves are almost reduced to 

 skeletons, (scarcely able to walk.) Now calves 

 kept in this way, cost more and will not look half 

 so well when spring comes. A great many far- 

 mers pursue this method because it saves labor, 

 and a great deal of trouble too. Some suppose 

 calves need no water in the winter, but in my opin- 

 ion, they need water as much as our cows or oxen. 

 If there is no water in the lot where farmers keep 

 their calves, they ought to have a trough, and carry 

 them water at least once a day. When calves are 

 once winiered through, there is no danger of them 

 in future ; they will thrive and grow into money as 

 fast as anything a farmer can have. There is no 

 easier way for a farmer to enjoy a pleasant and 

 quiet life than to raise stock. All that is required 

 of him is to see that his cattle are well taken care 

 of, and have plenty to eat. Nothing looks so 

 handsome as to see in the spring of the year, a lot 

 of calves, and all in good condition to thrive through 



during the summer. If calves are well taken care 

 of in winter, there is no danger but what they will 

 look fine in the spring, and make far better cattle 

 v.hen they arrive at three years old. The begin- 

 ning is what decides the future life of calves, if 

 the farmer commences aright, and keeps his calves 

 from the cold storms of winter, he will have good 

 calves and good cattle too ; and will not cost the 

 fanner any more than if he had turned his calves 

 out to a stack and let them obtain their sustenance 

 as well as they could, and if they weathered through, 

 well enough, if not all the same. 



Thus we can see the ditferent opinions that far- 

 mers pursue in our happy and prosperous country 

 upon wintering calves, and after all there is only 

 one true and just method of wintering calves, to 

 have them look handsome and in a thriving condi- 

 tion when winter has passed away, and spring has 

 come with all its attendant beauties. W. S-. T. 



South Venice, .V. Y. Jan. 15, 1639. 



(From the Meclianic and Farmer.) 

 PENOBSCOT FARMING. 



The last number of our paper contained a report 

 of the committee on crops of the Penobscot Agri- 

 cultural Society. From this report, and the state- 

 ments of cultivators connected with the same, it 

 will be seen that the last season fortytwo bushels 

 and nine quarts of good wheat, was raised on one 

 acre and two and a half rods ; one hundred and 

 ninetyfive bushels of sound ears of corn, twenty 

 bushels of beans and two cords of pumpkins raised 

 on two acres ; eighty bushels of oats on one acre ; 

 two hundred bushels of ruta baga turnips on one- 

 fourth of an acre; four thousand three hundred 

 and twentyfive pounds of carrots on one-eighth of 

 an acre. These statements, which may be relied 

 upon, prove beyond a doubt, the excellent quality 

 of our soil, and the certainty, that by persevering 

 industry and intelligence, our farmers may compete 

 successfully widi those of any part of New Eng- 

 land, if not with the most favored of the western 

 States. 



We ask the attention of our readers to these 

 statements, and would propose the question wheth- 

 er it is wortln while to leave a soil thus productive 

 in a land of healtli, good roads, schools and a settled 

 and cultivated society, for a land of indefinite hope, 

 wi Jiout the blessings which New England posseses 

 in its established institutions. 



Massachusetts Horticaltural Society. 



Saturday, Ffh. 2, 1839. 



EXHIBITION or FLOWEIIS. 



Mr Wm. E. Carter, of the Botanic Garden, Cam- 

 bridge, presented three seedling Camellia japonica, 

 viz. : 



No. 1. A single flower of good color (crimson) 

 slightly variegated with wliite. 



No. 2. Similar to the English Ammoneflora. 



No. 3. Variety Lawrencia, a fine double flower; 

 rose colored spotted with white. With the lover 

 of delicate things, and with the ladies particularly, 

 we think this variety must be a favorite. 

 For the Committee, 



S. WAUvER, Chairman. 



There were upwards of 18,000 packages of do- 

 mestic cottons exported from Boston to various for- 

 eign ports, during the year 1838. 



