314 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APRIL 10 t<<39'. 



require a small quantity of salt from similar rea- 

 sons. 



Grass lands in the interior have their crops much 

 augmented and also improved in flavor, hy sprinkling 

 salt over the soil. 



In short, whenever we wish most fully to develop 

 the foliage of plants and to render them more rich 

 and palatable to animals, saline manures may be 

 advantageously used. 



In central France some very satisfactory e.xper- 

 .iments have been made upon this subject by Prof. 

 Le Coq of Clermont-ferrand, and he finds that 

 common marine salt in the proportion of from l.iO 

 to 300 pounds to the acre, according to the soil, 

 using most on humid tracts, exerts a most beneficial 

 influence. He advises the application of saline 

 manures in small quantities, applied at two succes- 

 sive periods after the first foliage and before inflo- 

 rescence. 



I shall have occasion hereafter to present the 

 farmers with the result of this physiologist's re- 

 searches, and have not time now to enter more 

 fully into details, sufficient having been said to 

 serve as data for experimental trials. 



Lifle is the most useful of all our mineral amend- 

 ments to soils, and by proper applications it may 

 be rendered of immense value to the husbandman. 

 Our peat bogs, by easy operations, are capable of 

 furnishing materials for replenishing the vegetable 

 matters as they are exhausted, and of serving as 

 absorbents to retain saline matters possessing great 

 fertilizing powers. I have an abundance of facts 

 on this point, and numerous chemical analyses of 

 soils, showing the improvements 'which are to be 

 made in their cultivation. They are, however, too 

 numerous here to recapitulate, and they will be 

 fully stated in my Third Annual Report on the 

 Geology of Maine, now ready for the press. 



I congratulate you and the country on the new 

 impetus which agriculture lias received in its pro- 

 gress, by the combined researches of enterprising 

 farmers and their scientific co-laborers. All im- 

 portant as is this greatest and first of arts, it can-, 

 not fail to delight every philanthropist to discover 

 undeniable proofs of its rapid advancement and 

 increased respectability as a department of human 

 labor. 



The time will come when distinguished scientific 

 farmers will hold a high rank ui the consideration 

 of mankind, a raok belonging to them not only for 

 their practical improvements, but for the elevated 

 standing which they give their noble art. 



Rural labor will be sweetened by the refined 

 pleasures of science, and the field will present to 

 the opened eyes of the farmer new worlds to con- 

 quer, while his'o%vn intellectual and moral powers 

 will be enlarged and improved by the contempla- 

 tion of phenomena at once revealing supreme in- 

 telligence, unbounded goodness, attributes of Divine 

 Power everywhere present in nature and calculated 

 to excite our admiration and love. ' 



Yours most respectfully, 



C. T. JACKSON. 



[Kor the New England Karmer-l 



Dedham, .Ipril 1, 183'J. 

 Mr Editor — In the communication below there 

 is a notice of the Morus Expansn, by my friend, 

 D. Benedict, Esq., of Rhode Island, to whom Isold 

 a variety of mulberry trees last fall. I have never 

 had any personal experience with the Morus Ex- 

 pansa, but as a tree suited to our New England cli- 



mate, I believe it has high claims, which will be 

 noticed in my fulure publications. 



Respectfully your friend and serv't, 



J. H. COBB. 



J. II. Cobb, Esq. — Sir : The last edition ofyour 

 Silk Manual I have perused with interest and satis- 

 faction, and most cheerfully recommend it to all 

 who are desirous of information on this new and 

 interesting subject. Your account of the origin 

 and character of the different kinds of mulberry 

 trees, especially of the far-famed Midticaidis, is 

 new and interesting. But there is one variety of 

 trees, and in my opinion, one which in the end will 

 be found the best of the whote, not excepting the 

 exuberant Multicaulis, especially for northern lati- 

 , cudes, I was surprised to find you have entirely 

 omitted. As tliere are but few of them yet in the 

 country, it probably has not come under your ob- 

 servation, as it was not familiar with rne until less 

 than a year ago. 



The Morns Expnnsa is the botanical name of 

 the tree to which I refer. 



Late last spring, by the recommendation of Wil- 

 liam Prince &, Sons, and as a matter of experiment, 

 I took a hundred of them from their nursery, which 

 the year before were imported from France.. They 

 had stood in Prince's garden one winter, and the 

 same in ipine, without any shelter or protection, 

 and all have lived as well as our native trees, hi 

 one season some of them grew from four to about 

 eight feet trees, and to all appearance they will 

 grow to any height desired. The leaves are the 

 largest of any variety which I have seen, except 

 the Multicaulis ; they are very glossy and thick, 

 and very agreeable to the worms. I fed worms 

 enough the past season to grow upwards of three 

 hundred pounds of cocoons, and in tlie course of 

 my feeding, used all the varieties of leaves at pres- 

 ent grown with us, and none of them were eaten 

 more greedily or cleanly than those of the Morus 

 Expansa. I intend to increase my stock of this 

 variety, and am fully satisfied that as their superior 

 excellence is known, they will become favorites 

 with the cultivators of the mulberry tree for per- 

 manent use, as none of the precautions are needful 

 for this species of tree, which the Multicaulis in 

 cold regions now does, and in all probability will 

 continue to require. From what country or lati- 

 tude the tree originated, or when it was introduced 

 into the country, I have not yet ascertained. As 

 you are a student in these matters, ~in your next 

 edition which I hone mav soon be called for, you 

 will confer a favor on the public, to give this ex- 

 cellent tree a place in your historical detail, and 

 call their attention to its superior claims. 

 Yours, respectfully, 



DAVID BENEDICT. 



Pawtitcket, R. I. March 23, 1839. 



We proceed in the publicationof Premium Farm 

 Reports — intending to give them to the public with 

 as much despatch as the state of our columns ad- 

 mits. They will be read, we are persuaded, with 

 much interest. We give them without regard to 

 any order, as is most convenient; but we shall 

 very soon wind off" the worsted. The subjoined 

 account is from Mr Fay, in Southboro,' who receiv- 

 ed a gratuity of fifty dollars. H. C. 

 ,/} Schedule of Peler Faifs Farm, situated in South- 

 borough, in Worcester county, Mass., 1838. 

 Question 1. .Answer — one hundred and fifty 

 acres. 



2. It consists of loam, gravelly loam and grav- 

 el, and the under stratum a clay gravel. 



3. The best method of improving my land — the 

 plough is decidedly the best 



4. I till about eighteen acres, and I put twen- 

 tyfive loads of manure to an acre on that which I 

 plant with corfi and potatoes. 



5. I apply it both in its long or green state and 

 in compost. 



G. I do both spread and plough in the manure 

 put upon fields to be planted with corn and potatoes 

 and also put it into the hills. 



7. My method of cultivating green sward is by 

 ploughing it at any part of the year and of fre- 

 quently harrowing the same the year previous to 

 its being planted. 



8. I mow from thirty to thirtytwo acres of up- 

 land and averaging two to two and half tons to an 

 acre. 



9. I irrigate about four acres, commencing 

 about the first of May, and allow the water to flow 

 about one month, and I think I get about one-fourth 

 more in quantity, and the quality not as good. 



10. I do manure the land that I irrigate, and a 

 part of my other land that I mow, once in two 

 years, and I put twelve loads of compost manure 

 to the acre. 



11. I have mowed about ten acres of land not 

 suitable for the plough, and the quality of the hay 

 very ordinary, and producing more than five tons 

 upon the same the present season. 



12. My method of reclaiming my low land has 

 been to dig out the stones and then to smooth or 

 level the same, and give it a top dressing of loam 

 or gravelly loam or gravel and then compost ma- 

 nure, and by seeding of herds grass, red top or clo- 

 ver, and roll in the same. On bog or peat meadow 

 I never have performed any operations. 



1.3. I have planted nine acres of corn the pres- 

 ent season''; my method of preparing the ground 

 has been, of ploughing the same fine in the sprino-, 

 then harrowing it, then carting on my manure and 

 spreading it, then ploughing in the manure fine, 

 and then rolling the land where it will admit ifnot 

 busiiing it. Six acres of it I have cultivated inthia 

 way, by putting ten loads of long or green manure 

 to an acre, and fourteen loads of compost manure 

 in the hills, and planted the same in hills three feet 

 and six inches apart each way. And on the three 

 acres in addition to the ten loads of longer green 

 manure to an acre, I spread fifteen loads of com- 

 post manure to an acre by putting the loads be- 

 tween the long or green manure, and ploughirlg in 

 the same and not manuring it in the hills ; Mils 

 four feet and six inches apart from east "to west, 

 and three feet apart from north to south. I soaked 

 about one half of my corn in water about twenty- 

 four hours and rolled the same in gypsum ; the 

 the other half I planted dry without any prepara- 

 tion. When I planted my corn I put a table spoon- 

 ful of gypsum into each hill, and when the corn 

 had come up I put six bushels of wood ashes, lime 

 and gypsum around the corn upon the hill, in the 

 proportion of one half ashes, one fourth lime and 

 one fourth gypsum to an acre upon the said nine 

 acres. I used the cultivator instead of the plough 

 among my corn and hoed the same three times, and 

 made the hills of a small flat form. 



.14. I have planted five acres of potatoes the 

 present year, four acres of which I ploughed the 

 land fine in the spring, then harrowed it, ploughed 

 it the second time fine, th^en spread twenty loads of 

 compost mantire on the acre and harrowed it in 



