424 



N E W ENGLAND FAR M E R 



JUNE 34, 1S40. 



For the N. E. Fiirmcr. 



THE POWERS or WATER. 



Mr Colmax — In some preceding letters I liave 

 dwelt long on the general value of water, imi the 

 means of attracting it tVoni the air, and of ecuno- 

 mising it, by ponds and irrigation, on the earth. 

 But on reflection I am tsensible thut I have not 

 eaid enougli on this important subject, to satisfy 

 my inquisitive countrymen, who always ask for the 

 reason of things. This inquisitiveness is the high 

 road to knowledge, and lUglit to be ercouroged 

 from infancy through life. No reasonable man, 

 especially in Amerioa, should rcKt sati.<tied with 

 bare facts, when he has the means of penetrating 

 to causes. It would bo well for us that wo should 

 carry this spirit of enquiry into our laws, morals 

 and politics: may I not add religion also.' Can 

 any .system of religion he worthy of reasonable crea- 

 tures, where reason is excluded, and the utility is 

 not apparent ? 



It will be asked, probably, by many who do not 

 understand the cinnposition of water and its powers 

 over other substance^, how it can play so great a 

 part in the composition of vegetable substance and 

 life. To such enquirers I will hi-re state what is 

 alioady familiar to vegito-phisiologists. There is 

 a very ingenious apparatus at the ends o the roots 

 of all plants for attracting water from the earth ; — 

 the leaves, also, have a similar power, and still more 

 important functions. The root, in absorbing water, 

 takes in various substances which water holds in 

 Bolution, and transmits the whole through the ducts 

 and cellular tissues of the plant, up to tlie leaves, 

 which are ihe lungs of the plant, and qualify, by 

 the aid of the air and light of the sun, these vari- 

 ous substances for vegetable aliment; asthe chyle, 

 which is the essence of animal food, is by the aid of 

 our lungs, and the air, prepared for animal nourish- 

 ment. When the vegetable fluid is thus carried 

 up, and prepared by the leaves, it then descends in- 

 to the plant, depositing each article in its appro- 

 priate place. 



As the decomposition and analysis of vegetable 

 substance discovers various ingredients, minerals, 

 oils, salts, &-C., they must have been carried there 

 by the air, or the w.ater, or by both. They could 

 not penetrate the roots without the aid of water 

 any more than dry salt could penetrate meat with- 

 out the aid of moisture of some sort. There is one 

 substance which, as it appears to be the basis of 

 vegetable construction, is worthy of particular no- 

 tice. It is cilled carbon, or charcoal. Every one 

 may see that vegetable substance divested of its 

 aqueous, oleaginous, resinous and volatile parts, by 

 the tempered action of fire, makes charcoal — that 

 is, charcoal only remains. This is the frame-work 

 of the vegetable kingdom ; therefore carbi n, or tlie 

 constituent of that frame-work, is' well worth our 

 attention. 



This carbon is brought up in the water from the 

 earth, as well as obtained from the nioistuie of the 

 atmosphere. It is blended with other substances, 

 all which are necessary for the nourislunent of the 

 plant; but it cannot escape, and take its appropri 

 ate place in that formation, until that little wimder- 

 ful elambic, the leaf, has decomposed the mass of 

 composite fluid in which it is contained. When 

 this decomposition and distillation takes place, the 

 oxygen gas with which it is combined in tlie water, 

 is let loose, flies ofl', and the carbon is then free to 

 taT<e its place in the vegetable body. 



Now as this principle of carbon, in the state of 

 carbonic acid, is abundant in the air, or more prop- 

 erly, perhaps, in the water of the air, the useful at- 

 traction of water from the air must be apparent, 

 since it brings with it so important a part of vege- 

 nblenourishment. Those who have not looked into 

 these matters, and who might have doubted of so 

 much of vegetable aliment coming from water, will 

 now begin to understand its importance; and may i 

 be inclined to believe the stoiy i tnld in a former i 

 letter, about my point o crop in Prjncc. 



It may be asked by the uninitiated, for whom I - 

 now writ'-, hnw this water gets into the air; carry- j 

 iug with it minerals, oils, resins, salts, carbon, &c. 

 And here we may conto iiplate with grateful admi- I 

 ration, tlio wonderful resources and fruitful means 

 of nature; all tending to what we finite beings call j 

 ends : but which are, really, nothing but links in i 

 that great, circular, endless chain, which envelopes 

 ns and all things. The heat of the sun attenuates 

 the water of rivers, ponds, lakes, and the ocean; 

 and reducing it to vapor without decomposing it, 

 chemically, renders it light enough to float in the 

 air, from whence it descends by being cooled again, 

 or whence it is attracted by the leaves of trees, and 

 green vegetables generally; or from whence it 

 may be abstracted by some other means, at the 

 command of man, as we are lately informed by Mr 

 Espy, the new prnfessor of meteorology. 



I will now refer my readers back to my former 

 remarks on the importance of keeping the ground 

 generally, and more especially highlands, well cov- 

 ered with living vegetation, and of close cultiva- 

 tion rather than frpani/cf/ cultivation. I may expa- 

 tiale at another time on close cultivation; for I 

 am now informed that several useful experiments 

 have been tried on the relative yield of small and 

 large quantities of ground, ivhere the same quanti- 

 ty of manure has been used on each. But these 

 experiments, I understand, were made principally 

 with a view to the saving of manure; whereas, 

 there are various other considerations worthy of 

 notice ; such as taxes, fencing, interest of money 

 on a large field, the waste of time and shoe leather 

 in going over it, ploughing, reaping, &,c. .And 

 all tiiese considerations, without mention of the 

 advantages of more moisture, and its vegetable 

 contents attracted from the air by a system of close 

 cultivation. 



I will conclude this letter by reminding your 

 readers of a still more abundant source of vegeta- 

 ble nourishment, whose importance may now be 

 more apparent, since they now understand what 

 water is, and what are its powers, combined with 

 leaves and light. 



If your readers give but a moderate share of 

 credit to this supposed power and value of water, 

 will they allow the smallest brook to pass over, or 

 the smallest pond to stagnate cm their land, without 

 depositing some of their rich treasures ; without 

 paying that tribute to enlightened industry which 

 is its just due ? I trust, sir, they will not; and 

 that your wide circulating paper will refresh the 

 land with fruitful showers and fruitful streams of 

 knowledge in all its branches; for society itself, 

 with all its attributes, is but one great farm, on 

 which we are all destined to dig, and plant, and 

 harvest home, to consume and be happy. 

 Vour friend and humble serv't, 



WM. FOSTER. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CANKER WORM. 



Raising fruit is of first rate importance among 

 objects pursued in procuring the pleasures of taste 

 and the real comforts of life. 



Riding in the car from Ibis city to Worcester, I 

 could not without pain look on the apple trees, stript 

 of their agreeable foliage and atlired in the badges 

 of desolation. I ain confident this intrusion of an 

 unsparing enrmy may be easily and promptly re- 

 sisted at the threshhold. I will venture myself at 

 the straits of Thermopylse and sustain an onset 

 from the whole posse comitatus. 



Now, brother t'armers, I have tried some experi- 

 ments and find those which consume the least time 

 and produce the greatest effect are most to be priz- 

 ed. How long do you think it will take you to fix 

 a syringe of convenient calibre to exercise with 

 most adroitly .-' Now when you have done this, 

 place yourself on the windward side of an apple- 

 tree and dip the proboscis of your syringe into a 

 bucket of water saturated with lime, and discharge 

 the contents into the air so that they may fall upon 

 the leaves, and the whole enemy vvill immediately 

 decamp, leaving the rightful owner in quiet pos- 

 session. I have tried the experiment on various 

 worms that invade the trees, and have not known it 

 fail of producing an expulsion. 



It is extremely probable that a decoction of to- 

 bacco or any powerful narcotic, or bitter substance, 

 will be attended with the same result. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



CANKER WORM. 



Mb Breck — It has occurred to me that a saving 

 of labor and expense may be made by those who 

 prefer tarring for the protection of their trees, to 

 the new mode of leaden or tin troughs filled with 

 oil. 



Place round the trunk of the tree, from 3 to ,5 

 feet from the ground, a tin collar, nearly horizontal, 

 .5 inches wide, the inner edge cut in strips and 

 turned up vertically, to fasten to the trunk by small 

 nails: stulfthe space between the collar and the 

 trunk with tow, cotton or similar substance. Tar 

 the under side of the collar: it will last long, will 

 not run on to the tree, and can be renewed with 

 ease. The cost would not probably exceed 4 cents 

 per tree. Respectfully, ' L. X. 



Dorchester, 18/A June. 



P. S. — This plan will answer for i rchards and 

 for trees with grass round them, and appears to me 

 in every way more effectual than the German meth- 

 od, which Mr Vose detailed in your last number. 



Employ your leisure in some active virtue, and 

 melancholy will be a stranger to your breast. 



To preserve Hams for Summer use. — Take a dry 

 cask, put a good layer of coarse salt in the bottom, 

 and then put down a ham — cover that with coarse 

 salt, and put down another ham, and so on till the 

 cask is full or the hams all deposited. Set the 

 cask in a cool, dry place, and whnncvera ham is 

 wanted, take it out, and it will be every way as 

 clean, clear from vermin and all other impurities, as 

 when put down. This is attended with very little 

 trouble or e.xpense, as the salt is not at all injured 

 for any other use in the fall. My cellar being a 

 very dry one, we put the cask of hams in a cool 

 place in that; but a damp cellar would be apt to 

 dissolve the salt. The hams should be well dried 

 before being put down. — Vorr. Albany Cult. 



