1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



567 



Cabbage. — Gather these and turn them on 

 the head to drain for a few hours, and then put 

 in trenches or in the cellar. I have found them 

 to keep best when put in the cellar, to set the 

 roots in the ground and the heads close to- 

 gether. Have known them put in trenches, 

 head down and the heads covered four or five 

 inches with soil ; but they should be buried in 

 well drained, dry soil ; when so done, they 

 come out nice in the spring. Harvest before 

 hard freezing weather. 



Cold Framics. — Look to these and see that 

 they are properly ventilated and aired, that the 

 plants may be sufficiently hardened ; protect 

 with mats cold nights ; and when freezing 

 weather comes on cover with mats, straw or 

 leaves, to exclude frosts till spring; ventila- 

 tion is necessary, 



CoMrosT. — The more the better. For some 

 soils a cord of nuu^k or peat composted with 

 ten to fifteen bushels of hard wood ashes, with 

 half a bushel of refuse salt, will make an ex- 

 cellent fertilizer ; now is a good time to pre- 

 pare it. 



Currants. — Provide for an increased pro- 

 duction by mulching with manure to be worked 

 into the soil in spring. Gooseberries should 

 be treated similarly. Make cuttings of each, 

 to plant out in spring, if not already provided 

 for, and if an increase is desired ; pack them in 

 sand in the bottom of the cellar where they 

 will neither dry up nor keep too moist. 



Flowers. — Who says, I do not love flowers ? 

 Provide lor early kinds by planting early blos- 

 soming bulbs, if not already done ; lift dahlias 

 and other tubers and bulbs that require stor- 

 ing during winter, and store in the cellar. 



Grape Vines. — This month is the best time 

 for pruning the grape vme ; cut back all the 

 last growth except three or four eyes, lay 

 down the vine and give a slight protection of 

 earth or litter. It is better to set new vines 

 in the spring, or rather, such has been my ex- 

 perience. 



Mice. — Any rubbish or tall grass left where 

 they will find a harbor will pretty surely be 

 occupied by these little destructives, from 

 which they will emerge to ruin shrubs, trees, 

 &e, ; see that they have no such haibor. 



Parsnips — Are better for remaining in the 

 soil through winter. A few may be dug and 

 put in earth in the cellar for winter use, if de- 

 sirable. 



Rhubarb. — Cover the crowns with a good 

 coat of manure to be dug into the soil around 

 theui in spring. 



Strawberry Bed. — A slight protection to 

 the plants during winter is of advantage in the 

 fruitfulness of the following season ; spent 

 tan-bark, straw or forest leaves are good for 

 covering ; the limbs of firs, or like evergreens, 

 will answer a good turn. 



Turnips. — Late ones may safely remain till 

 there is danger of the ground freezing so as 

 to prevent their being pulled. Pull and store 

 in the cellar ; packed in sand they keep fresh- 



er than if only kept in boxes, barrels or in 

 piles. Wm. IL White. 



South Windsor, Conn., Nov., 18G7. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CAEBONIC ACID. 



As an appendix to what the Farmer has re- 

 cently furnished its readers in rela,tion to this 

 very common and important gas, 1 have thought 

 that the following remarks might not be with- 

 out interest to a portion of your readers. 



In an article entitled "How Plants Grow, 

 No. 3," and published in the Farmer of July 

 20th, 18G7, we find the following:— 



"Carbonic acirt gas is somewliat licavier than 

 common air, and tends to accumulate in the lower 

 strata of the atmosphere, thus wetind it in valleys, 



pits and wells And the simple fact 



that carbonic gas is heavier than atmospheric air, 

 would cause all animal life to cease from the earth, 

 had not some compensation been found. This 

 compensation consists in the withdr'awal of this 

 gas from the air by the vessels of growing plants. 

 As we ascend into the atmosphere carbonic acid 

 is less abundant." 



While penning the above the writer seems 

 to have forgotten the well known law of the 

 equal diffusion of intermingled gases of differ- 

 ent specific gravities. And many readers are, 

 no doubt, surprised to learn that the accumu- 

 lation of carbonic acid in some valleys, pits and 

 wells, is due to the superior specific gravity of 

 the gas, and not to local causes in active opera- 

 tion where the gas abounds. And indeed it is 

 difficult, on the theory of gravity, to account 

 for the facts, that in some valleys, pits and 

 wells where there is a scant vegetation, or 

 none at all, the air is in its normal pure condi- 

 tion. If any one should perchance inquire 

 why such eminent explorers and philosophers 

 as Humbolt, De Saussure and Liebig did not 

 discover one of the probable reasons "why 

 plants thrive with less vigor in elevated situa- 

 tions," I answer, they did not know that car- 

 bonic acid, by the mere force of gravity, left 

 the upper strata of the atmosphere, and that 

 "as we ascend into the atmosphere, carbonic 

 acid is [proportionally] less abundant ;" as 

 will be seen below. 



The following statements of some of the 

 most eminent physicists are in striking contrast 

 with our hrst (juoted paragraph : — 



"These accumulations (viz., in some valleys, pits 

 and wells,) happily never take place, except when 

 there is some local origin for the carbonic acid; 

 as for example ^\heu it is generated by fermenta- 

 tive processes going on at the surface of the 

 ground, or when it issues directly from the earth, 

 as happens at the Grotto del Cane in Italy, and at 

 Pyrrnont in Westphalia. There is no real founda- 

 tion for the opinion that carbonic acid can separ- 

 ate itself troin the great mass of the atmosphere 

 and accumulate in a low situation by the mere 

 force of gravity, yuch a supposition is contrary 

 to the well known tendency of gasscs to diffuse 

 themselves equally through each otlier. It is also 

 contradicted by observation, for many deep pits 

 contain pure atmospheric air." — Turner. 



"The experiments of De Saussure have proved 



