78 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
Attend to the Wood Lot. 
In reference to the expediency of thinning 
out wood-lots, opinions differ. Some wood men 
hold that a forest should not be touched with 
the ax except when it is purposed to sweep the 
whole down. After this is done, say they, we 
may clean up our ground for crops, or may let 
a second growth of timber spring up. Others 
hold that a lot may be judiciously thinned every 
year or two, and thus renew the timber gradu¬ 
ally, without ever cutting down the whole. For 
an old.forest, where the trees have nearly made 
their full growth, and where there are only a 
few young trees, and they quite small and poor, 
thinning out will do very little good. The old 
and middle aged trees have grown tall and slen¬ 
der, and have got their character formed beyond 
much improvement. Their roots are small and 
run near the surface of the ground, and if we 
take away the surrounding trees, these slim and 
unanchored sons of the forest will be sure to 
topple over. And then, the few young trees 
will grow not nearly so fast, and never become 
so vigorous and handsome as they would in a 
more open situation. The better way then is to 
cut off the whole race, and begin anew. If the 
lot is fenced in, and fares and cattle kept, out for 
several years, the young wood will make a vig¬ 
orous growth, and a new thrifty forest appear 
with marvellous rapidity. 
But suppose the wood-lot is a comparatively 
new one, the trees from fifteen to twenty feet 
high; then by all means thin out. For, when 
in mixed woods, trees are allowed to grow up 
indiscriminately, there will always be more 
than the ground can well sustain. Their roots 
will ramify in every direction, filling the soil 
with a massy net work, crowding and exhaust¬ 
ing each other. Thin them out judiciously, 
and then there will be pasturage enough for the 
roots of all. The trunks and tops of those left 
will be better formed than they could otherwise 
be. A writer on forestry says that “ in raising 
a plantation for timber, the approved rule for 
hard wood trees is, to leave a space around 
each tree equal to one-half its height; and for 
resinous trees, a space equal to one-third its 
hight. This should be kept in view from the 
moment the thinnings commence.” 
From this same source, and others, we learn 
that in Germany this matter is regulated by the 
government. Competent and educated agents 
are appointed, who see to it that no forest is 
destroyed through wantonness or neglect. They 
plant new woodlands, first plowing the fields 
selected and sometimes fenced in, and sowing 
the seeds of various trees. The crooked and 
feeble seedlings are pulled tip the second year, 
and good vigorous ones are supplied in their 
places if necessary. In about ten years a radi¬ 
cal thinning is made, only enough trees being 
left to just shade the ground. In this work of 
tilling the land and thinning the forests, a mul¬ 
titude of the peasantry find occupation, who 
would otherwise suffer for want. Shade is in¬ 
dispensable to the growth of the seedlings of 
many, indeed of most of the forest trees. When 
a forest is to be cut down, and re-seeded with the 
same kind of timber, the thinning out is carried 
to that extent, that but a few of the most sturdy 
and most fruitful of the monarchs of the forest 
are left. The ground then being cleared and 
prepared for the seed, as soon as a good mast is 
had, the new forest is sown—and the old trees 
stand a few years to protect the young growth. 
Probably we should not like to have the gov¬ 
ernment interfere with our forests, but the fore¬ 
going will show how much woodlands are val¬ 
ued abroad, and how deserving they are of in¬ 
telligent care. Our own interests and those of 
our posterity are concerned in this thing, and 
we should give it our best consideration. 
Pickling Wheat and Other Seeds. 
Hewitt Davis, says, in the Agricultural Ga¬ 
zette, that his practice for many years was to use 
copperas, arsenic, and other mineral poisons, for 
preparing wheat for sowing, as a means of pre¬ 
venting smut, burnt ear, etc. But having lost 
a valuable lot of turkeys which accidentally got 
into a newly sown field, he was led to think fur¬ 
ther on the subject, and came to the conclusion 
that the benefit of pickling was mainly due to 
the cleansing during the pickling and washing. 
He has since found that the washing of grain in 
plenty of water floats off the impurities, and 
light imperfect grains, and is just as effective as 
the former pickling.... The editor recommends 
soaking the grain in a solution of Glauber’s salt 
(sulphate of soda), which can be purchased 
cheaply. The grain is -afterwards dried off with 
dry lime.... .M. Leluz-, of France, advises to 
soak wheat seed in a bime, made by dissolving 
at the rate of one pound of Glauber’s salts to a 
gallon of hot water. A gallon of this is poured 
over each sack of wheat s< ed and about 2 lbs. 
of fresh slaked lime thoroughly mixed in to dry 
it off. The action of the salt and the lime is 
to destroy the smut and other fungi, while 
both together form an efficient fertilizer. We 
commend this method for preparing Spring 
wheat seed, and also for Winter wheat. The 
Glauber’s salt (sulphate of soda) is very cheap, 
and can be bought in small quantities for a few 
cents per pound. It is sold in New-York, at 
wholesale for one cent a pound, or even less. 
Potatoes—Small or Large, Whole or Cut. 
“ Big, and the but end, by all means,” says 
one. “ Cut potatoes, if you want to economize,” 
says another. “It is of no consequence,” says 
a third. “ They will rot any way,” says a fourth. 
There is a great variety of practice which 
shows that this very useful vegetable will bear 
more abuse than almost any other crop grown 
upon the farm. The writer has tried almost all 
methods and has settled down upon whole pota¬ 
toes, an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, 
as, on the whole, the most desirable for seed, 
taking into account the immediate crop and 
the future welfare of the tubers. If we look 
merely at the immediate crop, we can doubtless 
get more from a given amount of seed to cut 
them into single eyes, than to plant them whole. 
But we have very strong suspicion that this cut¬ 
ting weakens the stamina of the plant, and if 
followed up with any variety for a long series 
of years would run it out. We ought to follow 
such a method, \ r we can discover it, as will keep 
the plants in the highest health, and make the 
crop sure and remunerative. 
We have grown good potatoes from the small¬ 
est seed, a half inch or less in diameter, but it 
was only upon very rich soil and with extra 
care. The objections to using large potatoes 
whole, are the extra expense for seed, as it re¬ 
quires from twelve to fifteen bushels to the acre, 
and the over stocking of every hill tending to 
produce a great many small potatoes. The me¬ 
dium size removes these objections, furnishes 
just about seed enough, stocks the hills suffi¬ 
ciently, and praserves the health of the plant. 
This practice we have followed for several years 
and on the whole, it gives the best results. 
If we admit the theory to be correct on which 
the practice is fqunded, it would not follow that 
it would in every case preserve the crop from 
disease. Almost every variety has been subject 
to cutting and to disease for many years, and no 
one can be perfectly sure that he plants a sound 
healthy tuber if the size is every thing desirable. 
If the constitution has been weakened in any 
way it is much more likely to be injured by the 
hot, wet weather of August, than a strong plant 
would be. The universal prevalence of the rot 
is probably owing quite as much to the treat¬ 
ment of seed, as to soil and climatic influences. 
Hints on Tobacco Culture—No. I. 
STARTING THE PLANTS. 
Without stopping to discuss the moral ques¬ 
tion of tobacco using, we will only treat of its 
agricultural bearings, and here is a wide field. 
Exhausted acres once most fertile, impover¬ 
ished farms and plantations which a few years 
ago teamed with luxuriant growth, whole 
counties and sections of States ruined as to 
present prosperity, testify sadly to the results of 
the wrong culture of this poisonous plant. This 
is a matter of history and fact. We hold that 
these results need not have been, and need not be. 
Tobacco, properly cultivated, offers the far¬ 
mer a very quick way of turning manure into 
money. The temptation is to turn also the fer¬ 
tility of the soil into money, and thus exhaust it. 
Few crops will bear to grow upon the same 
land year after year; with manure enough, to¬ 
bacco may be thus raised, and as this saves 
labor, it furnishes powerful temptation to labor¬ 
sparing farmers. It never ought to he cultivated ex¬ 
cept in a regular rotation. As a cleaning, crop 
it is valuable, for it will neither endure weeds, 
nor will they grow in its shade. It requires 
high manuring, thorough tillage, and freedom 
from water in the soil—so that soil on which 
good tobacco has been raised, is easily prepared 
for almost any other crop. 
The best soil is a good deep loam, and the 
best situation one not exposed to early Autumn 
frosts; first-rate corn land is good tobacco land. 
If broken up from sward, this should be done 
the Autumn previous, though by plowing early 
and repeatedly before the time of setting out the 
plants, the land may be well subdued, even if 
taken up in the Spring. There should be an 
application of manure equivalent to 40 or 50 
two-horse loads to the acre—the coarser half of 
which should be turned under 7 to 9 inches deep, 
and the rest afterwards be placed on the surface, 
and plowed or otherwise worked in. 
The Seed Bed must be prepared and sowed 
by the middle of April, in the warmest and best 
place on the farm—allowing about a square rod 
for each acre intended for tobacco. This bed 
should be deeply spaded, richly manured, and 
it is an excellent plan to lay on a mass of brush 
and dry litter and burn it, before smoothing and 
raking over the bed. This destroys weed seeds, 
adds fertility in the ashes, a dark color in the 
charcoal, and makes a most friendly preparation 
for the fine seeds. The seeds may be sprouted 
before sowing, by mixing them with fine earth, 
moistening, and setting a few days in a warm 
place. This is advisable only in late sowing. Use 
a large thimbleful of seed to the rod, if you are 
sure of your seed. It is always best to prove 
the seed by previously sowing a little in a pot 
