39 
pends, for its development, and the maturation of its 
fruits, upon,the unobstructed agency of light and air. 
Hence it should not be planted below its natural depth 
in the soil nor shaded by other trees, nor encumbered 
by shrubs,' weeds or tall grass. Water is the medium 
by which food is transmitted from the soil to the 
plant, and is required, therefore, to be always present 
in the soil to ensure the growth of plants. In trans¬ 
planting, matie your holes as deep and broad, not as 
the roots require when transplanted, but as they are 
likely to extend the first season after being transplant¬ 
ed, and fill this hole, as you put in the tree, with rich 
surface mould, or at all events the lower stratum, 
which the roots are destined to penetrate in search of 
food ; tread the earth firmly around’tiie roots, when 
they are covered, to bring it in complete contact with 
them, and to prevent the evaporation of moisture, 
which latter evil will be further prevented by spread¬ 
ing some coarse litter upon the surface about the stock 
of the tree. Two or three potatoes may be thrown 
in about the roots, before they are covered; and a 
bucket of water, thrown in when the hole is partially 
filled, will tend to bring the earth in contact with the 
roots, and supply needed moisture. The transplanting 
of evergreens should be delayed till the new growth 
has commenced, in this the latitude the last of May. 
Samuel Preston on the Apple. 
We find in the second volume of the Memoirs of 
the Philadelphia Agricultural Society, an interesting 
letter from this old acquaintance, on the culture of the 
.apple tree, Mr. Preston was an early settler at Stock- 
port, in the county of Wayne, Pa.; he planted much 
orcharding, and personally superintended its manage¬ 
ment. From this letter we abstract the following- 
hints: ' 
A loose gravelly soil Mr. P. believes is best adapt¬ 
ed for an apple orchard, a high and airy situation, and 
a north aspect, as most secure from the late frosts in 
the spring. He recommends that horse dung and lit¬ 
ter be spread around the tree, to keep the ground 
loose, and free from sod, and, he might have added, 
to prevent evaporation of moisture, in a dry time. 
The trees whose fruit was affected with the bitter rot, 
Mr. Preston caused to be stripped of their bark from 
the roots to the limbs, at mid-summer, a practice 
which we have seen successfully performed to reno¬ 
vate trees that had become cankered and mossy. This 
operation prevented the ; bitter rot upon the fruit, 
though it injured the vigor of the trees. We think 
a better, and perhaps the., be’st mode, of giving health 
and fruitfulness to apple treeq, on dry bottom lands, 
is, to take off the ross, and moss, with a hoe, or other 
instrument, and then to wash the body with a strong 
ley, late in May, or early in .Tune. This destroys in¬ 
sects, and imparts health and vigor. His mode of de¬ 
stroying the caterpillar, was to go early in the morn¬ 
ing and twist their nests out of the tree with a stick 
or pole. The Pickering brush is better. He recom¬ 
mends the planting of natural trees, and that they be 
grafted with choice fruit when they have attained a 
good size—and commends the seek-no-further—now 
considered but a second rate apple. He sowed plas¬ 
ter under a part of his trees—.a frost followed;—the 
blossoms were all destroyed, save upon the trees under 
which the plaster was sown. He thinks the plaster at¬ 
tracted the moisture, and prevented frost. This we 
doubt. 
From Mr. Preston’s experiments in grafting, we 
abstract the following: He inserted grafts which 
came from England and France, which generally 
grew. Pie received plum grafts from Esopus, in mid¬ 
winter, which had come from Holland. He laid them 
in his cellar till the proper time for inserting them, 
and they grew well. He made cuttings the 15th Sep¬ 
tember, carried them two days’ journey in his pocket, 
till they were much shrivelled, preserved them till 
grafting time under a sod, then grafted them, and they 
all lived. He cut grafts in October, kept and grafted 
them in the same way, and they all failed to grow. 
Grafts were cut and sent to him in June, when the 
laeves were nearly of full size—they grew and did well. 
He took grafts from Albany in March, preserved them 
carefully, inserted them properly, and yet only two out 
of many lived. 
Rotation of crops .-—There need not be a stronger 
argument adduced, in favor of the system of alternat¬ 
ing crops, than a condition which is generally insert¬ 
ed in the Scotch leases— prohibiting the tenant from 
taking two white crops, i. e. of small grains, in succes¬ 
sion, from the same field—because such repetition 
tended to impair the intrinsic value of the land. 
Long Manure .—“Were the practice general, [of 
using dung in its unfermented state] it would add 
above twenty millions sterling to the produce of the 
kingdom.” So said Arthur Young. This should be 
received here with the qualification, that it should be 
always applied to Indian corn, potatoes, and other 
hoed and autumn-ripening crops. Unfermented ma¬ 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
nure, when applied in any quantity, is prejudicial to 
the small grains generally, and to all crops which ri¬ 
pen their seeds at mid-summer ; but it is not prejudi¬ 
cial to the crops we have named, or others, which ri¬ 
pen their seeds in autumn. The farmers of Schoha¬ 
rie, Otsego, Oneida, Madison, &c. who are in the ha¬ 
bit of summer yarding their dung, under an impres¬ 
sion that it improves, like wine and cheese, by age, 
need not be afraid of hurting their corn and potatoes, 
by feeding these crops with long manure, and to them 
the remark of Arthur Young, applied under our limi¬ 
tation, may be turned to vast profit. 
On the use of Gypsum. 
There is not any longer doubt, in our mind, of the 
advantage of applying gypsum to all our meadow 
lands, in the spring, which are beyond the influence 
of marine atmosphere, and which are habitually dry. 
There are instances recorded, to be sure, of its not 
producing perceptible benefit the first year, and some 
instances where it did not seem to operate even the 
second year, and yet it ultimately developed its ferti¬ 
lizing properties. 
We do not design now to discuss the question, how 
gypsum does operate—but to inquire and state, from 
the facts within our reach, to what crops its applica¬ 
tion is particularly beneficial—on what soils its ef¬ 
fects appear to be greatest—how much should be ap¬ 
plied to the acre, and at what season it is best appli¬ 
ed. We are satisfied, that if the value of gypsum was 
better known, it would be much more extensively used 
than it is ; and that the more it is used, the greater 
will be our agricultural surplus. 
Gypsum, according to Chaptal, consists of 
Pure calcareous earth, or lime,. 30 parts, or 33 
Sulphuric acid,. 32 “ 43 
Chrystalized water,. 38 “ 24 
100 100 
It requires from 450 to 500 times its weight of wa¬ 
ter to dissolve it. When pure, it does not effervesce 
with acids ; it is insipid in taste, and free from smell. 
A simple mode of trying its quality, consists in putting 
a quantity of it pulverized into a dry pot over the fire, 
and when heated it gives out a sulphurious smell. If 
the ebullition, or bubbling, which then takes place, is 
considerable, the plaster is good ; but if it is not, it is 
considered indifferent; and if it remains motionless, 
like sand, it is not thought to be worth any thing. Its 
colour is white, gray or blue. Its effects, in benefit- 
ting agriculture have been greatest in Germany and 
in the United States. Its benefits in Great Britain 
and France have been less certain. 
The soils upon which gypsum operates most beneficial¬ 
ly, are the light, dry, sandy and gravelly. Upon soils 
containing little or no vegetable matter, its effect is 
trifling ; but if these lands are dressed with dung, the 
gypsum then produces a great effect; and the dung- 
being present, the poorer the land, the greater its be¬ 
nefits. It seldom produces any sensible effects upon 
wet grounds, and frequently none upon stiff clays.* 
The crops which are most benefitted by gypsur, ^ are 
the clovers, lucern, Indian corn, peas. There are 
some few cases noticed of its being found beneficial to 
wheat, and other small grains, but it is the general re¬ 
ceived opinion that it does not operate directly on 
these. But gypsum may be made indirectly benefi¬ 
cial to all crops which are grown upon a clover lay, 
by causing a greater growth of clover, which becomes 
food for the crop which follows, and which is abun¬ 
dant in proportion to the rankness of the previous clo¬ 
ver. Its effects upon turnips is doubtful; and some 
will not allow that it is beneficial to potatoes. Davy 
lays it down as a fact, that it is most beneficial to 
those plants which always afford it on analysis; and 
the small grains are not found to contain it at all. 
Many instances are given where its application has 
doubled and tripled the clover crop. 
The quantity which should be applied to the acre is a 
point quite unsettled ; and it should probably be varied 
according to soil and circumstances. John Taylor, of 
Virginia, and Judge Peters, of Pennsylvania, concur¬ 
red in opinion, that on lands where it w^s applied an¬ 
nually, one bushel an acre was an ample dressing. In 
Europe it is recommended to dress with or five or six 
bushels an acre. We have generally sown but a bu¬ 
shel ; but last spring, by way of experiment, we dou¬ 
bled the dressing on a portion of a meadow, and found 
the grass there much the heaviest. It is advisable to 
try it in different quantities, and to note the result of 
each, as a guide to future practice. 
The time of applying gypsum is generally in the 
spring, sometimes as late as May or June. The writer 
of British Husbandry recommends, with much plausi¬ 
bility, that the gypsum be applied to clovers semi-an¬ 
nually, viz. soon after the crop is mown, in summer, 
and in the spring, just after the plants have begun to 
shoot. We will be thankful for memoranda of any 
experiments that may have been made in this practice 
in our country ; and also, whether it produces a better 
* See communication of Mr. Bayard. 
effect when laid on in dry, than in wet weather ? The 
work from which we have just quoted, dwells with 
emphasis on the importance of having the gypsum at¬ 
tach to and remain upon the leaves of the young 
plants—-knd repeats the charge to sow it when the 
leaves are wet with dew, or with a recent light rain, 
—and never just preceding or during a rain. Prof. 
Low says, that mineral substances, as powdered lime 
and gypsum, are absorbed through the pores of leaves, 
when scattered upon them. A watery temperature, 
it is alleged, at least arrests its effects, and seems to 
suppress them altogether if the gypsum has been cal¬ 
cined, a process which it is sometimes subjected to, 
to facilitate its reduction to powder. Burning, how¬ 
ever, merely expels the chrystalized water, without 
otherwise altering the gypsum, the strongest heat not 
being sufficient to expel the sulphuric acid. When 
applied to tillage crops, it should be either sown broad¬ 
cast in spring or scattered upon the hills or drills of 
the growing crop. Upon the principle quoted above, 
the latter would seem to be the better practice in re¬ 
gard to hoed crops ; though our mode of applying it 
to corn has been to sow it broadcast before the ground 
is harrowed for seeding. When applied at the rate 
of five or six bushels to the acre, the effects of a dress¬ 
ing have sometimes continued some four or five years. 
The most common practice is to sow it annually, up¬ 
on the crops and grounds likely to be benefitted by it, 
and to sow it in quantities from one bushel to two bu¬ 
shels on the acre. 
To determine the capacity of gypsum for absording 
moisture, an ounce and a half, in fine powder, was ex¬ 
posed to the air during three foggy nights, and after¬ 
wards carefully weighed, when it was found to have 
gained not quite half a grain in weight. This fact 
overthrows the theory, that plaster is beneficial on 
account of its capacity and tendency to imbibe mois¬ 
ture from the atmosphere. 
The benefits of gypsum are so palpable in our coun¬ 
try, upon clover and some other crops, and indirectly 
upon nearly all, that we cannot but hope these re¬ 
marks will serve to extend its use upon our farms, and 
to induce many to try it, who are experimentally ig¬ 
norant of its fertilizing powers. 
Economy of Manures. 
Parkhurst, an eminent British farmer and agricul¬ 
tural writer, who resided some years near Baltimore, 
in speaking of our economy in manures, says, that 
“The farm yard manure in that country (the United 
States) is of little value; for it is ill-managed, the straw 
weak, and the generality of the horned cattle so poor, 
that their dung is light and worthless.” 
Now if this charge be true, as there is too much 
reason to believe it is, let us not scold at the exposure 
of our fault, but set to work in earnest to remove the 
reproach, by making our straw stronger, our cattle in 
better condition, and our manure, consequently, more 
abundant and valuable. 
An advantage of a calcareous soil. —Calcareous soils, 
and soils dressed with lime, are stated, in British Hus¬ 
bandry, to possess the advantage of guarding the 
sheep which graze upon them from the rot, and also 
from the foot-rot. 
The new lands of Kentucky wearing-out. 
“ Injudicious cultivation for a series of years,” says 
the Franklin (Ky.) Farmer, “has robbed much of the 
soil of Kentucky of its freshness and fertility ; and 
her agricultural sons must now either content them¬ 
selves with more sparing crops than repaid the labors of 
their fathers, or seek for richer and more fruitful fields in 
the far distant west or south.” Kentucky became a 
state, we believe, in 1791. If fifty years “injudicious 
cultivation,” has sufficed to impoverish the so late fer¬ 
tile soil of that state, it affords but another evidence 
that our system of husbandry is wretched bad, and 
shows the necessity of a prompt and thorough change. 
The Flemish soil is generally light and moist, and 
much of it was absolutely incapable of growing farm 
crops in its natural state. Yet the skill and industry 
of the Flemings have rendered it the most productive 
agricultural district in Europe; and its fertility is still 
on the increase. Houston, a distinguished British 
agricultural writer, has shown, that the Flemings get 
twice as much produce from their lands annually, 
partly by double cropping, as the English get from a 
like quantity. That country has been improving in 
its agriculture for eight hundred years. “ In the Pays 
de Was in Flanders,” says Sinclair, “the soil was 
originally a barren white sand, which by a slow but 
sure process has at last been converted into a most 
fertile loam.” The county of Norfolk, in England, 
but a few years ag'o, was perhaps the least productive 
district in England ; but by judicious management it 
has now acquired a fame in husbandry, which, in the 
words of the author just quoted, far surpasses that of 
other districts far more fertile. “Necessity is the 
mother,” not only of “invention,” but of industry; 
and hence, in poor districts, where nature has done 
least, we find men doing most; and hence rich lands 
