754 Tbaksactions of the American Institute. 



they were at first collected. The adjoining land had been cultivated 

 and manured in a husbandmanlike manner. It was at the time of 

 sowing when the etones were removed, and the ground on which 

 they lay had been plowed up and sown without receiving any man- 

 ure. To my great surprise, the crop on this spot was more luxuri- 

 ant and productive than on any other part of the field ; the cause of 

 which, I presume, was from the stones having sheltered the earth in 

 some degree from the sun and air, which was, by some chemical pro- 

 cess in nature, thus fertilized. From this I inferred that any sub- 

 stance that would thus exclude the sun and air from the surface for a 

 given time would render the earth more fertile. Acting on that con- 

 clusion, 1 used the veitch as a mulch, and found an increase of twelve 

 bushels per acre of wheat. 



" I have invariably observed that whenever a rick or stack of Bay, 

 corn faggots, stubble, or any other thing, has covered the land only a 

 few months, and although every particle of such matter may be 

 , taken away, that spot will be rendered more fertile than any of the 

 adjoining land, even in a high state of cultivation. IleAce I con- 

 clude, that some chemical process in nature takes place, by which the 

 food of plants is either generated, or rendered soluble in consequence 

 of the exclusion of the air. That there is a combination in the 

 arcana of nature by which the food of plants is rendered insoluble, 

 is obvious to every reflecting mind. "Without this the earth would 

 become a desert, and the waters unfit for the existence of fishes, or 

 for the use of terrestrial animals. There is also a dissolving princi- 

 ple by which a part is prepared for the food of plants, and a part is 

 washed off" the highlands and carried down by the rivers to enrich 

 the meadows below. It is in this system of the solubl§ and the 

 insoluble, that we are to find the key for unlocking the treasures of 

 the soil." 



Culture of Fokest Tkees. 



Mr. E. D. Williams, of Harpersville, N. Y. — Having two acres of 

 Iiillside too steep for ])rofitable culture, and not producing much 

 pasture, I propose to plant it to hickories, and I would know how to 

 proceed. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — Plow the ground and plant the hickory nuts in 

 rows five feet apart. Sow the nuts thickly at first and thin tliem out 

 as |;hey become crowded. Plant in autumn, and fresh nuts, for those 

 too well dried wMl not grow. Cultivate the trees for two or three 



