454 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[Novembeb, 
Plants and Plant Food.— Some plants are sur¬ 
face feeders, i. e.. their roots are short, usually small, and 
numerous, and only penetrate the upper portions of the 
soil, ns in the case of the onion, turnip, and the cereals, 
though the latter are perhaps medium, rather than shal¬ 
low feeders. It is easy to see that such crops must de¬ 
rive their nourishment from that portion of the soil which 
their roots penetrate, and are therefore surface exhaust- 
in". On the other hand, clover, lucerne, and the long 
roots, as carrots, parsnips, etc., are deep feeders, and ex¬ 
haustive to the lower portions of the soil. These facts 
have a direct hearing on the succession of crops, and the 
application of fertilizers. If a fertilizer is applied to the 
land, it tends downward, and its descent depends upon 
the solubility of the substance and the porosity of the 
soil. To have, therefore, the least loss and the quickest 
returns, a surface feeding crop is the one to which to 
apply the fertilizer, and this crop should be followed by 
a deeper feeder the next season, which will bring the 
sinking food to the surface again. It is in this capacity 
that the clover crop is so valuable in a rotation. It is a 
great point to keep the plant-food within the reach of the 
roots of the plant, and it can be best done by applying it 
to a surface feeding crop, and follow it up (down rather) 
by a deep feeder, the roots of which penetrate far down. 
Brick making on the Hudson River.— 
Those who fear that the disappearance of timber will 
cause a want of building material, may be reassured 
when they learn the great extent of the brick manufacture 
on the clayey banks of the Hudson River. In travelling 
from New York to Albany along the River, one may 
count over 150 yards, each of which is now making from 
20 tp 110 thousand bricks per day. In 1878, 3,226,120,000 
bricks were made, and 3,652 men employed, at an average 
of $1.25 per day. so that each man produced about 1,000,- 
000 of bricks. Haverstraw is the center of the industry, 
and 40 yards, one of which is the largest on the river, are 
worked in the vicinity. Labor-saving machinery of the 
best kind is now used, and the smallest yards employ 
these machines for molding and pressing the brick. 
mulleins.— “ What, more stately plants for the ‘ wild 
garden ’ can be found than our common Mulleins ?” is 
the highly commendatory question asked in one of 
the leading English gardening journals. “The Great 
American Velvet Plant.” is held in high esteem by the 
lovers of the beautiful, across the water, while with us it 
is ranke I only as a weed. They call it noble, with its 
“sturdy spike of yellow flowers above a wealth of bold 
foliage, all enrapt in a thick coating of grey, felted hairs.” 
We call it a coarse, stiff, ungainly intruder, unworthy the 
room which it too often occupies. This is another illus¬ 
tration of the fact that the commonness of a plant, and 
the ease with which it may be grown, affects the esteem 
in which it is held. Our common Poke Root is highly 
valued in Europe, and it is really a most stately and beau¬ 
tiful plant, which would be valued here were it costly. 
Sulpliatc of Iron for Grape mildew.— Dr. 
A. W. Saxe, of South Clara, Cal., has reported to the 
California Academy of Sciences to the effect that he has 
made a thorough trial of Copperas (Sulphate of Iron) as 
a remedy for grape mildew and grape rot, with marked 
success. A solution of Copperas, four pounds to five 
gallons of water, is made, and applied to the trunk and 
branches of the vine, they being previously scraped to 
remove all loose and dead bark. The matter is worthy 
the attention of grape-growers troubled with the mildew. 
North Carolina Experimental Station.— 
Dr. A. R. LeDoux, Chemist, in charge of this Station, has 
just sent out a Report of the investigations for the past 
year. The examinations of seeds as to their purity has 
revealed some striking mixtures ; the Dodder seed, for 
example, making up a good part of some Clover seed. 
The treatment of the Velvet grass (Holcus lanatus). show¬ 
ing that this generally considered worthless grass is of 
merit as a renovater of worn-out lands in the Southern 
States, has already been noticed by us, and is of real 
value. An analysis of the Cow-pea of the Southern Slates 
supplies what has long been needed, and gives informa¬ 
tion that can be found nowhere else. The last third of 
the Report is devoted to the analyses of fertilizers, which 
has done much to free the market of worthless brands, 
and raise the best fertilizers to their proper place. This 
portion of the work of the Experiment Station is perhaps 
that in which its utility is more directly manifest than 
In any other; for it must have already saved large sums 
to the farmers of the State, and will save still more in the 
fliture. North Carolina has a right to be proud of the ad¬ 
vanced position she has taken in agricultural matters, 
and may already be cited as an example to other States. 
It would be of untold benefit if every intelligent farmer 
In the State could have this Report and study its teachings. 
International Dairymen’s Convention.— 
A Convention of Dairymen is to he held December 9th, in 
connection with the International Dairy Fair. The rea¬ 
sons for this meeting are stated in the following call: 
“ The indications from every part of the country point to 
the great necessity for the combined effort of all persons 
interested in dairy cattle, to collect and disseminate au¬ 
thenticated records of the yields of dairy cows, to the end 
that we may with far greater precision, intelligence, and 
method than it is now possible to do, improve and fix in 
our various breeds of cattle higher and more persistent 
milking qualities, and the ability to transmit those good 
qualities to their offspring. To accomplish this purpose, 
we, the undersigned, agree to meet in Convention at the 
American Institute, in New York City, December 9th, at 
12 o’clock m., and organize an association for testing and 
recording the yields of dairy cows.” This call is signed 
by a number of the leading dairymen of the country. 
Agricultural Depression.—The British “Roy¬ 
al Commission on Agricultural Depression ” has agreed 
upon the following heads of inquiry: (1), Condition of 
farms ; (2), of farmers ; (3), of laborers; (4), la^id laws; 
(5), land tenure; (6), agricultural education; (7), condi¬ 
tion of estates; (S), agricultural statistics ; (0), returns of 
exports and imports; (10), foreign importations. Full 
and accurate answers to the many questions which fall 
under the various heads, will he of great value to others 
besides those living in Great Britain. Under the last di¬ 
vision, “ the cost of the article at the American port, the 
freight, the profits made by the several middlemen,” etc., 
will be of direct interest to us,producers,exporters,and all. 
Tea Culture iu the II. S.— Some of the daily 
papers have been very fast to accuse the present Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture with an attempt to introduce the 
culture of the Tea-plant into this country, and to treat it 
as a subject for ridicule. These papers have been, as 
they often are in all matters relating to agriculture, very 
wide of vhe mark. In the first place, whatever the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture has done in the way of encourag¬ 
ing Tea-culture in this country, was done long before the 
unfortunate appointment of Le Due, and in whatever of 
blame or ridicule attaches to the matter he has no share, 
excepting so far as he attempted to claim the honor 
or prestige of originating the idea. But is the cul¬ 
ture of Tea in the U. S. a proper subject for blame 
or for ridicule? The editors of these papers think 
that it is. Men who have devoted years of thought and 
experiment to the subject think very differently. As an 
indication that the subject is of no trivial character, but 
is worthy of serious consideration, the N. Y. Horticul¬ 
tural Society invited Mr. William Saunders, the long-time 
Superintendent of the Gardens at the Dept, of Agricul¬ 
ture, to address them on Tea Culture in the U. S., which 
he did on Oct. 7th last. Mr. Saunders, who has held his 
present position in the Dept, from its first organization, 
has been interested in Tea culture for many years. Hav¬ 
ing established the fact that the plant was quite hardy at 
Washington, and of course in all localities south of that, 
he set about utilizing this knowledge. It will be ob¬ 
served that he did not at once undertake to get up a 
“Great United States Consolidated Home-grown Tea 
Company—Limited”—with an astonishing array of fig-i 
nres and wonderful profits—on paper. But he did try lo 
show that every family south of a certain line, expending 
annually from $5 upwards for tea, could save these sums 
by growing their own tea; the light labor of picking the 
leaves, and of drying them, being done by the members 
of the family. Believing that there W'as much unneces¬ 
sary manipulation about, the Chinese methods of prepar¬ 
ing tea, Mr. Saunders has not hesitated to say that he be¬ 
lieves that in time American ingenuity applied to this 
will greatly simplify the curing of the leaf, and that ulti¬ 
mately it may become a regular crop. We think' that 
whatever of credit is due for the introduction of tea into 
this country, belongs mainly to Mr. S.; that lie has seen 
the importance of a gradual rather than a spasmodic 
growth of the industry, and wo regard the whole matter 
as one worthy of judicious encouragement rather than— 
what is too often seen—ill-considered ridicule. 
Early and Gate Sowing; of Wheat.— Prof. 
Thorne, of the Ohio State University, has been carrying 
on some experiments with the early and late sowing of 
wheat. The early sowings. Sept. 9 and 16, were injured 
by the Hessian Fly. The third sowing, Sept. 23, proved 
the best—36 bushels per acre—and the two later sowings, 
Sept. 30 and Oct. 7, were 32 and 26 bushels, a very rapid 
decrease. This single set. of experiments, so far as it 
goes, would indicate that neither the early nor late sow¬ 
ing is best, but the medium between them—late enough 
to escape the greatest ravages of the fly, and not so late 
that a poor start is made before winter sets in. 
The Western N. V. Agricultural Socie¬ 
ty’s Fair.— Feeling that the State of N. Y. was too 
large for its agriculture to be adequately represented at 
one Fair, a number of farmers and others in the western 
part of the State formed a Society, and for several years 
past have held an exhibition. This year the show was 
at Rochester, and on the same date with the meeting of 
the Am. Pomologies! Society. The Fair was held at the 
Trotting Park, grounds admirably suited to the purpose. 
Our visit was on a miserably drizzly day, when every¬ 
thing was wet and uncomfortable; still we could see 
sufficient to show that the exhibition compared favorably 
with those held by the State Society, and we learn that, 
in spite of several unfavorable days, it was on the whole 
a success. A look about the grounds at this and some 
other fairs this fall, suggests the thought that our fairs 
are quite too much the mediums of enterprising shop¬ 
keepers. If John Jones transfers the contents of his 
dry-goods shop, and Wm. Robinson carries his stock of 
hats and caps to the Fair, it may be very well to make 
known the shops of Jones and Robinson, but we fail to 
see how it helps the agriculture of Western N. Y. It 
would seem that the time had come fora proper con¬ 
sideration of the objects of our fairs, and for the managers- 
to see if they can not be conducted more for the instruc¬ 
tion and benefit of farmers than they are at present. Size 
is not always a mark of excellence. Our remarks are mere¬ 
ly suggested by. but do not especially apply to the West¬ 
ern New York Fair, which, in common with many others, 
was faulty in this respect, but ns a whole, most creditable. 
“Mr.,” or “Esq.,” or 0.— To “Inquirer,” so 
far as we have observed, the present custom in good so¬ 
ciety favors the use of the prefix “ Sir .,” instead of the 
suffix “ Esq ..” when directing a letter to any gentleman 
whose official position does not call for the Esq. While 
it is a mark of respect to use one or the other of these, 
it would be decidedly preferable, if all would adopt the 
Friends’ style, and omit any additions to the plain 
names, in addressing letters by mail to one not clearly 
entitled to the “Prof.,” or “Dr.,”-or “Hon.,” etc., be¬ 
cause all such additions, unless written very plainly, are 
likely to be taken as part of the real name, and thus ren¬ 
der the actual address less plain and conspicuous. 
Colored Cheese. —Common sense has at last tri¬ 
umphed in the matter of coloring cheese. Dairymen 
used to insist that consumers would have colored cheese, 
but it is well known that this was all a mistake. The 
extent of the mistake may be seen by the quotations of 
the latest Liverpool markets, very choice colored cheese 
35 to 38 shillings per 112 lbs., choice white cheese 36 to 
38 shillings. This fixes it on a subsiantial basis. 
The Massachusetts Horticultural Socie¬ 
ty.-!’ his Society can now well be called venerable, for 
it celebrated its Semi-Centennial Anniversary on Sept. 
12th last. The celebration was rather exclusive, so far 
-astgiving any notice of it goes. The occasion was ap¬ 
propriately marked by an address by the Hon. Marshall 
P. Wilder, one of its founders, a long time its President, 
and now, even at his advanced ago, one of its most, active 
members. Col. Wilder’s address, though prepared dur¬ 
ing a season of bodily prostration, shows no mental de¬ 
cline, but is a remarkably clear sketch of the first half- 
century of a Society, the influence of which has been 
national quite as much as local. It is enough to wish 
that, the second half century of the Society may equal in 
usefulness that which has now just closed. It is an In¬ 
stitution of which not only Boston and Massachusetts, 
but the country may be proud, ns its influence for good 
has known no local limits, but has been felt throughout 
the country, if not in all parts of the world. 
Self-Binders.— -Wire for binding sheaves by bind¬ 
ing-machines, was first used in 1874. when 50 tons were 
consumed. In 1875. 340 tons were required ; in 1876, 
2,800 tons ; in 1877. 6,500 tons ; in 1878. 14.000 tons, and a 
much larger amount, of which we have no returns, was 
used the past season. This shows a rapid increase in the 
practice of this method of securing the bundles of grain. 
Fora time, a serious Objection arose to this binding, on 
account of the bits of wire that, despite all care, would 
often get into the threshers, and if they did not injure 
the machines, they would appear in fine pieces in the 
grain. An ingenious inventor has provided a series of 
permanent magnets which attract these iron bits from 
the grain passing over them, and withdraw them. 
Building; loc-Honses,- As this is the season 
for preparing for a stock of ice, and providing a place to 
pnt it in, it may be suggested that to every ice-house, a 
cold-house for storing meats, vegetables, and fruits, 
should be attached. Various methods are used in the 
construction of these, but it may be left safely to the 
. skill of those who know'precisely what is required to sup¬ 
ply these wants. Thole that have not this knowledge 
will find many hints for their information in previous 
numbers of the American Agriculturist in nearly every 
year about this season, and doubtless in good season 
hereafter. The chief rules in building successful ice¬ 
houses are, to have a good non-conducting wall; dry 
packing, well pressed down; solid ice closely packed; 
perfect drainage with air-tight foundations : ample ven¬ 
tilation at the top. Store the ice in dry cold weather. 
