VOL,. XVII mi*. 36. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



285 



!na of the animated world to refute or confirm the 

 news herein contained. 

 Mr Darwin states that his attention was called 



the subject of his communication by !Mr Wedge- 

 vood of Staffordshire, who showed him several 

 ields, wliich a few years before, had been covered 

 vith lime, and others with burnt marl and ciiiders. 

 These substances are now bttritd sci'cral inches be- 

 leulh the surface, though the fields h ive remained 

 mdisturbed since they received the top dressings. 



Previously to fifteen years since one of the fields 

 Tas waste land ; but at that time it was drained, 

 larrowed, ploughed and well covered with burnt 

 nar! and cinders. It lias not since been disturbed 

 md now supports a tolerably good pasture. The 

 section liere was, turf half an inch thick, mould 

 .wo inches and a half, a layer one and a half inch 

 Jiick, composed of fragments of burnt marl, (con- 

 ;picuous from their bright red color, and some of 

 :onsiderable size, viz. one inch by half broad, and 



1 quarter thick,) of cinders and a few quartz peb- 

 oles mingled with eartli ; lastly, about four and a 

 lalf inches beneath the surface was the original, 

 jlack, peaty soil. Thus beneath a layer nearly 

 four inches thick of fine particles of earth, mixed 

 with some vegetable matter, those substances now 

 Dccurred, which fifteen years before, had been 

 spread on the surface. Mr Darwin states that the 

 ippearance in ail cases were as if the fragments 

 lad, as the farmers believe, worked tlicmselves 

 down. It does not, however, appear at all possible 

 that either the powdered lime or the fragments of 

 burnt marl and the pebbles could sink through 

 compact eartli to some inches beneath the surface 

 iml still remain in a co?ilinuons layer. Nor is it 

 probable that the decay of the grass, although add- 

 ing to the surface some of the constituent parts of 

 the mould, should separate, in so short a time, the 

 fine from the coarse earth, and accumulate the 

 former on those objects which so lately wore strew- 

 ed on the surface. Mr D. also remarks, that in 

 fields near towns, which did not appear to have 

 been ploughed, he had often been surprised by find- 

 ing pieces of pottery and bones some inches below 

 the turf; in a similar manner on the mountains of 

 Chili he had been perplexed by noticing elevated 

 marine shells, covered by earth, in situations wbere 

 rain could not have washed it on them. . - 



In the spring of 183.5 a boggy field was so thick- 

 ly covered by sand that the surface appeared of a 

 red color ; but the sand is now overlaid by tlirec 

 quarters of an inch of soil. About eighty years 

 ago a field was manured with marl ; and it has 

 since been ploughed, but it is not known at what 

 exact period. An imperfect layer of the marl now 

 exists at the depth, very carefully measured from 

 the surface, of \'2 inclies in some places, and 14 in 

 others, the difference corresponding to the top and 

 hollows of the ridges or butts. It is certain that 

 the marl was buried before the field was ploughed 

 because the fragments are not scattered through the 

 soil, Jnd constitute a layer, which is horizontal, and 

 therefore not parallel to the undulations of the 

 ploughed surface. No plough moreover, could 

 reach the marl in its present position, as the fur- 

 rows in this neighborhood are never more than eight 

 inches in depth. Thus in eighty years the marl has 

 been covered with a bed of fine earth averaging 

 13 inches in thickness. 



The explanation of these circumstances, as sug- 

 gested by Mr Wedgewood to the author, although 

 it might at first appear trivial, he did not doubt was 

 the correct one, viz. that the whole is due to tlie 



digestive process by which the common earth worm 

 is sup])orted. On carefully examiniti'r between the 

 blades of grass in the fields above described, the 

 author found that there was scarcely a space of 

 two inches square without a heap of the cylindri- 

 cal castings of worms. It is well known that 

 worms swallow ear by matter, and that having sep- 

 arated the serviceable portion, they eject at the 

 mouth of their burrows the remainder in little in- 

 testine-shaped heaps. 



The worm is unable to swallow coarse particles, 

 and as it would naturally avoid pure lime, the fine 

 eartli lying beneath either the cinders and burnt 

 arl, or the powdered lime, would, by a slow pro- 

 :-ss, be removed, and thrown up to the surface. 

 This supposition is not imaginary, for in the field 

 in which cinders had been spread out only half a 

 year before, Mr Darwin actually saw the castings 

 of the worms heaped on the smaller fragments. 

 Nor is the agency so trivial as it at first might be 

 thought, the great number of earth worms making 

 up for the insignificant quantity of work which 

 each performs." 



Any one may satisfy himself of the immense 

 multitudes of these creatures that are at work in 

 nearly every field, meadow and pasture, by careful 

 observation in the spring.* Not unfrequently in 

 two or three nights, in favorable weather for their 

 operations, a large tract of land will -be covered 

 entirely by their ejected matter. Observing, some 

 years since, the vast number of little earth heaps 

 that had been formed in a single night, and that 

 not a single worm was to be seen in the day time, 

 I provided myself with a lanterH on a dark drizzly 

 night, and was surprised to find the whole surface 

 of a large yard literally covered w-ith them. It 

 was absolutely impossible to cross the yard with- 

 out crushing thousands of tliem to death, provided 

 however, you walked with as little noise as possi- 

 ble, for by stamping the foot, every worm over a 

 considerable area disappeared in an instant. 



Thus we perceive what insignificant agents are 

 employed in the economy pf nature in effecting 

 important modification.s in the condition of nearly 

 the whole superficical covering of the earth. These 

 facts have hitherto been disregarded and it is not 

 improbable that their value is as yet very imperfect- 

 ly appreciated. O. M. 



REPORT 

 of the Committee of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society on Vegetable and Grain crops. 

 The committee of the trustees of the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural Society, " On Vegetable and Grain 

 Crops," recommend that premiums be paid to the' 

 following persons, viz. 



To John Moorebead of Marshfield, co. of Plymouth, 

 for his crop of carrots — G32 bushels on one 

 acre. $30 



To Jona. F. Southwick of Uxbridge, co. of 

 Worcester, for his crop of Ruta Baga — 825 

 bushels to the acre. 30 



•An ingenious and observing friend informs me that he 

 has never seen the earth worm in new or uncultivated 

 fields. Is this fact universal ! 



This fact I believe is not universal. I think I have 

 seen them in new lands ; though the places in which 

 they are most commonly to be met witli and in greatest 

 al)undance, are places that are surcharged with rotten 

 manure and decayed vegetable matter ; and especially, if 

 such places abound in moisture, as in places where soap 

 suds and tlie wash of the house is thrown. It is their 

 well known habit to come to the top of the ground in the 

 evening after a warm rain ; possibly because they can 

 then work to the greatest advantage. 



To Amos Shelden, of Beverly, co. of Essex, 

 for his crop of Indian corn — being 80 bush- 

 els on one acre. $30 

 The statements in these cases, the committee ad- 

 vise to have published as a part of this report. 



i\ir John L. Cooper of Sheffield, co. of Berk- 

 shire, offered a claim for the premium on winter 

 wheat — 35 4-5 bushels, which was found inadmis- 

 sible from the want of a certificate as to the quan- 

 tity of land — an essential document. 



Air Tristram Little of Newbury, presented a 

 claim for the preimum for the "greatest quantity of 

 vegetables for borne consumption and not for sale." 

 The quantity was too small in tJie opinion of the 

 committee, to merit the premium. 



The same gentleman sent in a statement of a 

 small experiment as to compost manure, — which 

 we consider too small to attract the public notice 

 much, and not minute enough to deserve a premium. 

 The committee regret, as they have done for 

 years past, that so few of our intelligent agricultu- 

 rists have made application for the handsome pre- 

 miums — more than twenty in number — offered by 

 the society for vegetable and grain crops. They 

 wonder at it the more as the past season proved a 

 bountiful one for all grains, and for all vegetables 

 excepting potatoes. A great portion of the arti- 

 cles on which premiums were projjosed, now enter 

 into the common husbandry of the state as food for 

 animals. Tliis almost total absence of claims the 

 committee have reason to believe is ©wing more to 

 inattention to the advertisement of the society, 

 than to -any other cause. 



The statements of the several claimants detail- 

 ing their method of cultivation will follow without 

 delay. 



J. Moorebeads account of Carrot Crop, 



Marshfield Nov. 12th, 1838. 

 B. Guild Esq — Sir — I send you the amount 

 of a crop of carrots raised by me the pres- 

 ent season on one acre of land, which was planted 

 with carrots in 1837. The produce was elevim tons 

 and one half. I planted the same piece the present 

 season with carrots ; the manure used was a mix- 

 ture of barn yard manure and kelp ; the quantity 

 was 50 loads of one horse. I carted out my manure 

 about the middle of May, I spread my manure and 

 ploughed about the 24th and 25th of May. Began 

 to plant June 1st — finished June 7th. I hoed my 

 carrots first time from June 27 to July 2d. I be- 

 gan to weed July 3d, finished weeding July 20th; I 

 began to weed 2d time July 24th, finished weeding 

 August 9th. I harvested my carrots from Novem- 

 ber 5 to November 13, the carrots were dug up 

 and put in small heaps and carefully separated 

 from sand, and all of them weighed in Fairbanks' 

 patent hay scales ; the produce was thirtyfive thou- 

 sand four hundred pounds ; the seed sown was the 

 common carrot, excepting about 100 bushels of the 

 blood red carrot, thesa were planted in drill i 14 

 inches apart on a perfect level surface. 

 Submitted with respect, 



JOHN MOOREHEAD. 



Hams cannot be kept with ease or certainty un- 

 less the flat bone near the centre of the inner side 

 which joins on the other bones of the ham by a 

 ball and socket, be first carefully removed. Where 

 this has been neglected, although every other care 

 has been taken, failures and loss have followed. 



