THE SOUTHERN PL AN TEE 



197 



position as the firmer ligneous fibre ; and the 

 small quantity of medullary matter they eon- 

 tain renders the whole an inconsiderable 

 means of reproduction, when taken alone, and 

 unmixed with other manures. Vegetable 

 earth or mould, depends on Vegetable organi- 

 zation. It is then the business of the agri- 

 culturist to select such plants, in connection 

 with the profits of the plantation, as oppose 

 the least resistance to the laws of putrefac 

 tive fermentation, and afford the 

 amount of nutrient constituent to the soil, of 

 which the pea stands preeminent, and seems 

 intended by nature to be the principal restorer 

 of lands in this climate. 



According to the experiments of Beccari, 

 gluten, so absolutely necessary to the perfect 

 maturity of the whole cereal crop, does not 

 form a constituent of the seeds of leguminous 

 plants. May not that vegeto-animal substance 

 be thrown off by the excretory action of the 

 roots, or remain unappropriated, with the 

 stems and leaves, to be returned to the soil 

 by decomposition, and the well known fitness 

 of the soil for wheat after peas or clover de- 

 pend on that fact ? 



Flour of good appearance sometimes will 

 not rise ; and the effect is generally attributed 

 to the mill, or an unskilful miller ; when in 

 truth the land on which the wheat is grown is 

 at fault, affording none of the material of 

 which gluten is formed, or the grain has been 

 injured by slight fermentation, the effect of 

 unskilful stacking, or other causes. The pea 

 crop in such lands never fails to restore the 

 exhausted constituents of the soil, and insures 

 a well matured grain crop. 



Plants of the same species or kind should 

 never follow each other. The wide-spread 

 ruin, common to every plantation in the dis- 

 trict, may be attributed to the planting cotton 

 after cotton, till the over-taxed soil refuses 

 longer to produce. Your committee are of 

 opinion that a judicious rotation of crops, 

 aided by ditching, subsoil ploughing and ma- 

 nuring, would speedily change the face of the 

 district — that worn-out spots and gullies would 

 disappear, and every acre of land return an 

 tmple reward to the laborer. 



There can J)e no doubt but that the pea 

 should be made the basis of that rotation. 

 The pea is of rapid growth, comes quickly to 

 pcrfe lion, and, under ordinary circumstances, 

 is a a abundant bearer; and is particularly 

 rich In those constituents on which the for- 

 mation ci flfesh and fat depends. ' It is one of 

 ;. ! iO-e plants possessing fleshy leaves, a 

 aria porous stem, and rnak-H large demand 

 the ar^ospnerc^for food. It riot only leaves 



the soil unexhausted for a grain crop, but 

 adds to its fertility. It protects the surface 

 of the ground from the hardening^ effects of 

 the summer sun, and leaves the land more 

 permeable to every fertilizing agent whir 1 .* 

 may be brought in contact with it. 



P. Moon, Chairman. 



From the Gcrmantown Telegraph. 

 THE OS AGE OKANGE. 



BY THE: PRESIDENT OF THE PHIL ADELPH 'i A SO- 

 CIETY FOR PROMOTING AGRICULTURE. 



To the Editor of the Germautow/i Tele- 

 graph. — In the report of the last meeting of 

 our Agricultural Society, it is stated I ex- 

 pressed the opinion that the Madura or Osage 

 Orange, pruned with the severity recommend- 

 ed by Dr. Warder of Cincinnati, in his address 

 on that occasion, would not be long lived. 

 My opinion, founded on the experience of 

 many years, is precisely the reverse : I believe 

 it t to be in a remarkable degree adapted to 

 hedging purposes— perhaps more so than any 

 other plant. The doubt I did express, im- 

 perfectly heard by the reporter, was, whether 

 the Honey Locust was of similar value : and 

 I do very much doubt its adaptation to hedges, 

 to which it has been applied. While on the 

 contrary the Madura has every good quality 

 to commend it : hardiness, vigorous growth, 

 endurance of the shears without disease or 

 morbid growth being induced, acrid juice 

 which protects it against the attack of insects, 

 pungent spines, and disposition to branch 

 when '"cut in"— these and other qualities indi- 

 cate it as a plant which, it might almost be 

 said, nature had designed for protecting the 

 labors of the husbandman, 



While on this subject, will you indulge me 

 with space for a few incidental remarks on the 

 original application of the Maclura to hedging 

 purposes ? During the administration of Mrl 

 Jefferson the Western Exploring Expedition, 

 known historically as Lewis & Clark's, was 

 made, and resulted, among other things then 

 considered of vastly more importance, in the 

 discovery of this tree, in the Osage country, 

 which, from its use by the Indians, they named 

 " bow wood." A few seeds collected by them 



soft 

 is on 



reached Philadelphia, and from one of those 

 seeds was produced the noble specimen stilt 

 standing in the rear of my father's old home- 

 stead on Federal street. Its pendent branches 

 md deep green glossy foliage, which no insect 

 would approach, was for many years the ad- 

 miration of all who visited the nurseries. Fc: 

 some considerable time the only mode of jfe 



