VOL. TVII. NO. 40. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



317 



erto been obtained, Mr Vasseur has designated 

 the persons who furnished the eggs of Dauphine 

 and Italy. They have real-ed silk worms from the 

 same liind of eggs in the old manner, and both had 

 complete success, but still, the weight of the co- 

 coons and that of the silk was much less. - 



By this augmentation of product, the income 

 from that branch of industry in France will be, 

 doubled. How important then is this invention, if 

 the experiments of the next year shall remove all 

 doubts upon the subject; and we know that the 

 experiment will be "extensively made, for the pro- 

 prietors of estates in the Departments Drome, Ar- 

 deche, Isere, and Van have determined to adopt 

 the apparatus of Mr Vasseur. 



But it is not necessary to wait until next year 

 to be assured that there is gained at least 75 per 

 cent, in the space which the worms occupy, besides 

 the saving in labor, while the attendants perform 

 all that is required to be done, in feeding and man- 

 aging the silk worms without changing their posi- 

 tion, and the ventilation is as perfect as can be de- 

 sired.— jE.rirac^ from the Courrur of Drome and 

 Ardeche. 



with the hoe alone, without any previous prepara- 

 tion of the ground, in the spring of the second year ; 

 but I know not how root crops could be sown with- , 

 out such preparation. The difficulty of sowing the 

 wheat or rye with or without grass seed, the third 

 season, will be still greater, inasmuch as the ground 

 would be harder from the effect of the winters 

 rains and snow ; the grains or seeds might indeed 

 be scottertd on tht surface, but they would never 

 get under it so as to vegetate. If the committee 

 1 have any process in view to take the place of p!ous;h- 

 I ing, harrowins:, Sfc, it ought to have been stated. 

 The recommendation contained in the report is so 

 manifestly absurd and impracticable, that I think 

 something more must have been intended, and hope 

 that the wanted information will be forthcoming, to 

 enlighten those who do not know how to take things 

 for granted which are not expressed in clear and 

 distinct terms. 



Yours, AGRICOLA. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



We are very happy to lay before our readers the 

 subjoined correspondence. We do not know who 

 ' Aoricola ' is, but his letter shows an inquisitive 

 and^intellitrent mind, which always augurs well for 

 improvement. Indeed without it there can be no 

 improvement. Our respected correspondent who 

 replies to him, deems his language harsh and his 

 tone rather imperative. As far as it can be ascer- 

 tained, we are to judge of things of this sort by the 

 temper of mind from which they proceed. Now 

 the language might have been more courteous and 

 yet nee'd not have lost anything in strength ; but 

 still we do not believe any offence was intended or 

 thouo-ht of We are so selfish that we should have 

 been^willing some offence should be given, if noth- 

 ing short ot°this tone would have brought out the 

 excellent reply which is here .-ubjoined. It is di- 

 rectly to the point; and confirmed as it is by prac- 

 tice as well as theory ; by long experience and 

 most careful and intelligent observation, we cannot 

 doubt that it will be received with the particular 

 attention which it justly claims. H. C. 



To THE Editor of the New E.vgland Farmf.k 



Sir— In the " Report of the Committee of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Society on Farms," 

 printed in the New England Farmer of the 20th 

 instant, there is a statement or recommendation by 

 the committee, which is unintelligible to me and 

 which one of my agricultural friends was unable to 

 explain. It is this : "Turn over sward land in 

 May, and manure it with compost, which is to be 

 mixed with the soil by the harrow or cultivator. If 

 the first crop be corn, the second should be pota- 

 toes or roots, followed by wheat or rye, with grass 

 seed or with o-rass seed alone. During all this, 

 the sod should not be disturbed, and no other plough- 

 ing but the first turnmg over of the sward. By this 

 method there will be a great saving of labor, there 

 bein^r but one ploughing for two crops, and lay- 

 ing the ground to grass." Here is a course of 

 cultivation for three years, during all whtch txme the 

 ground is to be ploughed but once, and that before 

 the first crop only. It may be possible, though not 

 a little difficult, to plant potatoes and cover them 



[Fnr the N. E- Farmer ] 

 Mr Brf.ck— Your correspondent ' Agricola ' ap 

 pears to meet with some difficulty in comprehend- 

 ing the recommendation of the committee of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Society on Farms, in 

 relation to the ploughing and management of green 

 sward. The committee are chaj-ged with recom- 

 mending a course of culture " manifestly absurd and 

 impracticable." If there be any pleasure greater 

 than that of receiving information, it is that derived 

 from a communication of it to others ; and I shall 

 not, therefore, allow my feelings to be so far dis- 

 turbed by the peculiar language used by *' Agri- 

 cola," as to deprive me of that pleasure. I will 

 only say that it would seem to rae to be a course 

 more consistent with candor, to examine a subject 

 with which he- profes.es not to be acquainted, | 

 before denouncing it as absurd and impracticable ; 

 and further, that harsh and uncourteous terms fur- 

 nish no aid either in eliciting or defending truth. 



I am willing to acknowledge that the error of 

 not being sufficiently explicit, is one which is not 

 unfrcquently made by those who undertake to com- 

 municate information on subjects with which they 

 themselves are perfectly familiar. They are too 

 apt to forget that a more particular and detailed 

 account of any process they may recommend, is 

 necessary to enable those less acquainted with the 

 subject to understand it. 



The writer of the " Report " had for many years 

 pursued the course therein recommended in rela- 

 tion to the management and culture of. swarded 

 land, and had again and again communicated the 

 particulars of the process, as well as the results of 

 his experiments, to the public He might there- 

 fore be, in some measure, excused for not treating 

 the subject as one entirely new and for die first 

 time broached to the public. The explanation, 

 however, demanded by " Agricola," I will give with 

 pleasure, glad of any apojogy for repeating what I 

 have so often stated, while there is a single farmer 

 in the community by whom the subject is not fully 

 understood. Such has been the almost magical 

 effect upon our wasted and worn out fields, of turn- 

 ing over the green sward and keeping it undisturbed 

 during the rotation of crops, that I know not how I 

 can render a more essential service to my brother 

 cultivators of the soil, than by enforcing its claims 

 upon their attention. 



" Agricola " supposes it will be " difficult to plant 

 potatoes and cover them with the hoe alone, with- 

 out any previous preparation of the ground in the 



spring of the second year," and " the difficulty of 

 sowing the wheat or rye the third year, will be still 

 greater," &c. 



In preparing the ground for a second crop noth- 

 ing more than the cultivator or harrow is necessary, 

 and these to be used in such a way as not to dis- 

 turb the soil. These will furnish a great abundance 

 of matter for covering the potatoes. The decom- 

 ' posing sod which is kept down, will bo found on 

 examining it in the second or third year of the 

 course, to be exceedingly mellow and lighter than 

 it could possibly be made by the plough, and to be 

 filled with the roots and giving nourishment to the 

 plants. Now then, if the vegetable matter and the 

 light vegetable mould which are turned and kept un- 

 der, keep the sod mellow, and all above is well stir- 

 red by the cultivator and harrow, where ia the difficul- 

 ty of finding earth to cover the potatoes planted or 

 the wheat and rye that is sown ? In this way the 

 whole mass is kept mellow to the depth of the first 

 and only ploughing, and in fine condition for the 

 growth of corn, potatoes or wheat, and particularly 

 so for what is termed a " root crop." If desirable, 

 I can see no objection to the use of a light horse 

 plough in the second and third years' cultivation, 

 provFded the plough does not go so deep as to dis- 

 turb the sod. I have, however, always found the 

 cultivator and harrow sufficient for the purpose of 

 pulverizing the top. 



Lexington, March 26, 1839. 



THE CROW AND THE WIRE WORMS. 



Mr Colman— Dear Sir— In the Farmer of the 

 6th, I see ynu insert a very interesting letter from 

 a gentleman of West Needham, giving an account 

 of°his success in raising the Dutton corn. The 

 destruction of a large portion of his crop, by the 

 tvire worm, brought to my mind a fact whicn I not 

 long since had from an observing gentleman of 

 Maine. 



Some years ago he noticed a field of grass 

 which lay between a sandy gullied road and a 

 river, to be completely destroyed by the ravages of 

 what he called the wire worm. The whole roots 

 of the green sxvard were eaten off, horizontally, 

 just below the surface, so that the turf might be 

 rolled off as in winrows. He observed the de- 

 struction with much curiosity and some apprehen- 

 sion, as his own fields lay close by, on the other 

 side of the road. Day after day, as he rode by, 

 he scared up from the sloping sides of a gully that 

 ran between the ruined field and the road, great 

 numbers of crows, who, as soon as he had passed, 

 immediately settled on the same place again. He 

 also watched the fields on the opposite side, but 

 was gratified and not a little relieved, to find no 

 traces^ of the worms there among the grass. Ap- 

 parently they never crossed tlie road. After a 

 while, there were no worms to be found, and no 

 crows to be scared from the sides of the gully. 

 Very truly yours, 



Philocorax. 



Large Return from Rohan Potato.— Mr 

 Ebenezer Stedman, of Newburyport, purchased of 

 J Breck & Co., at the Agricultural Warehouse, 

 tlie last spring, five pounds of Rohan Potato. He 

 planted them in hills, four feet apart, three eyes m 

 a hill. He thinks two eyes would be enough. He 

 states that from these he raised 525 lbs. At 20 

 cents per lb., the present price, his cropMS worth 

 $105 00. 



