Notices. — North America. 327 



length of time, either on land or at sea. A considerable trade in com- 

 pressed hay is carried on between Northambi in America, and India. 



Extract of a Letter from Mr. William Hall, late of Ewell, Surrey, and now 

 of Wanbro, Edwards County, Illinois. Communicated by William 

 Stevenson, Esq. : — 



" I shall devote the remainder of this letter to giving you some accounts 

 of my practice of gardening in this country, as well as my short experience 

 of it under this climate will allow me. The accompanying plan of my garden, 

 {.Jig- 59. page 331.) though rude, is accurate; and the position of every tree 

 and crop distinct^ marked, and it may serve to give you a tolerably correct 

 idea of the place itself, always bearing in mind, that the upper end where 

 the house stands (a) is elevated thirty feet above the lower, towards which 

 it slopes with a gradual descent. The worm-fence, {fig. 58. page 342.) 

 with its multiplicity of ragged angles, gives it a rough appearance, and 

 could 1 have introduced the stumps, which had all trees standing on 

 them when we came, and are from one to three feet in diameter, you 

 would have thought it still more so. These stumps are still very nume- 

 rous, particularly at the upper end; the vineyard alone {d) contains forty- 

 two of them. Though a great impediment to cultivation, they are not 

 perceptible when the crops get up, and the fence itself, if clothed with vines 

 or fruit-trees, might not only support great quantities of fruit, but be ren- 

 dered very ornamental. The part intended for the kitchen-garden, you will 

 see, consists of three borders, one of eleven feet wide, and eight chains long, 

 on each side the centre path, and a wide one at the bottom, two rods broad 

 and six chains long. This form is preferred to a square of the same contents, 

 as being more convenient for cultivation by the plough ; as affording the con- 

 venience of a shady or sunny border, (an object of importance in this cli- 

 mate,) and also for the introduction of four lines of espaliers, by which you 

 perceive the borders are bounded ; a double row of strawberries is planted 

 along the lower lines, which, perhaps, you might have been puzzled to make 

 out without this explanation The six squares contain half an acre each, 

 except the two upper ones, which are encroached upon by two rows of 

 vines, and will most probably be wholly occupied by them as soon as I dis- 

 cover what kind of grape best suits this soil and climate : but this I must find 

 out by my own experience, for settlers in a new country can have no benefit 

 from that of their predecessors. These half-acre squares were projected with 

 a view to experiments on the cultivation of flax, hemp, cotton, tobacco, 

 indigo, and various other productions to which this soil and climate are 

 adapted, and particularly to the raising of seed-corn and grasses. To none of 

 these articles have I hitherto applied them, except to the raising a supply of 

 seed-oats of which I had last year an acre from about a tea-cupful of seed, 

 which I received from Mr. Taunton, and which were labelled " Georgian," 

 but perfectly resembling a good sample of potatoe oats. I am glad to say 

 that hitherto they have not degenerated. Had the Spring barley come in 

 time for sowing last year, I should most likely have had a square occupied 

 with it next year; however, it comes up well, and I must wait a year longer 

 before I get enough to sow a square. 



" My vines thrive well ; they are planted in rows seven feet apart and five 

 and a-half between each plant, and trained upright to stakes seven feet high. 

 This 1 understood to be the general method in the vine countries ; of course 

 the vines must be pruned very low, and the fruit grow near the ground. I 

 feel almost convinced this is not the best way here, several of my vines 

 having made shoots twenty feet long last year. I consider it preferable to 

 plant them twelve or fifteen feet apart, and to train them as espaliers, 

 keeping always two bearing branches on each side of the former year's 



