THE CULTIVATOR. 
35 
8th. year 1 day’s work trimming and clean- 
. 
9th. do. 
do.. " 75 
10th. do. 
do. 75 
lllh. do. 
do. . 75 
12th. do. 
do. 75 
13th. do. 
do.. 75 
Expense of six years,.... - 
$29 25 
The foregoing process has produced such a hedge as is 
exhibited in the drawing, taken from a section of one thir¬ 
teen years old, now in good condition and improving, be¬ 
coming more dense every year; and, so far as I am able to 
form a judgment, I am of the opinion, that seventy-five 
cents annually applied to the trimming, will keep it in that 
form perpetually, not being yet able to discover any thing 
to form an idea of dissolution upon, in any reasonable 
time, therefore sufficient to ground a confidence of dura¬ 
bility. 
The calculation on this section of sixty perches, will af¬ 
ford data to apply to any quantity of greater extention; 
and the annual expense on this, after the seventh year, is 
uniform, and may be considered to continue so, for as long 
a time as they are regularly attended to, which will apply 
.to any extent, at one cent and a quarter per rod or perch 
of sixteen and a half feet. 
If the writer of those observations had commenced hedg¬ 
ing with the knowledge now obtained by experience, one- 
half his labor would have been saved. 
The expense of a fence made of timber, say post and 
rail, which is the most common in the vicinity of this place, 
is seventy-five cents for each pannel of a four rail fence, 
to those who have their fencing to purchase and the labor 
to pay; that is, seventy-five dollars for one hundred pan- 
nels, that, compared with the same length of hedging, 
places the case, for a perishable material, with thirteen 
years of the time gone,.$75 00 
And for a hedge growing better every year,. 29 50 
Leaving,.$45 50 
as a balance in favor of sixty peiches and ten feet distance; 
what that will amount to on a large farm, I shall leave to 
the owner’s calculation. 
I may further remark, the labor of making live fence can 
be done by weak hands, if rightly directed; my plashing 
was done by a man seventy-four years of age. The mak¬ 
ing of rads and handling them requires a person in the prime 
of life, and it is laborious in every stage of the process of 
erecting wooden fences; besides the destruction of much 
valuable timber, which, in some neighborhoods, is a heavy 
tax on the owner. 
Each neighborhood may make their calculations of fen¬ 
ces made of timber; according to circumstances attending 
the hedge, calculation may be relied on, if the rules and 
remarks foregoing are strictly attended to, and will apply 
to either kind of thorn; but it was the “ Virginia parsley 
leafed thorn,” of Marshall’s catalogue of forest trees, that 
was preferred, and which growls spontaneous, from this 
place to the south as far as the Mississippi; and I have no 
doubt of it thriving in a northern latitude, seeing no bad 
effect from the winters of our Delaware climate, although 
I had a section plashed in the midst of winter to prove the 
consequence. 
The hedge may be considered as made in seven years 
from time of planting, as it is only trimming, that is requir¬ 
ed afterwards; which amounts to one cent and a quarter 
for each perch of distance; the quarter may be thrown off, 
if the clipping is never omitted in due time , as it lessens 
the labor; a rule that will apply through every operation 
in husbandry, and should never be forgot, while twenty- 
five per cent is saved, often fifty. 
Broad-tailed Sheep. 
[From Livingston’s Treatise on Sheep.] 
“ The race of sheep that I shall next notice, is one that 
is more extensively diffused than any other, since it is 
found throughout Asia and a great part of Africa, as well 
as through the north-eastern parts of Europe. I refer to 
the broad-tailed sheep. (Ovis arieslati-caudata). These 
differ as the ordinary European race in the nature of their 
covering. In Madagascar, and some other hot climates, 
they are hairy, at the Cape of Good-Hope they are cover¬ 
ed with coarse harsh wool; in the Levant their wool is ex¬ 
tremely fine, or in other words, they are adapted to the 
necessities of the people by whom they have been changed 
from their wild to their domestic state. These sheep 
are generally larger than those of Europe, in which cir¬ 
cumstance only, and the form and size of their tails, they 
differ from them. The broad-tailed sheep are of three 
species. In the one the tail is not only broad, but long, 
and so weighty, that the shepherds are compelled to place 
two little wheels under it, to enable the sheep to drag it. 
These tails are said sometimes to weigh from forty to fifty 
pounds. Another species have the tail broad and flat, but 
not very long, covered with wool above, but smooth below, 
and divided by a furrow into two lobes of flesh; these are 
also said to weigh above thirty pounds: I should not how¬ 
ever estimate the weight of those which I saw in the Me¬ 
nagerie at Paris, at more than ten or twelve pounds. In 
some species a small thin tail projects from the centre of 
this fleshy excrescence. The composition of this excres¬ 
cence is said to be a mixture of flesh with a great pro¬ 
portion of fat, and to be a very delicate food; but the ani¬ 
mal has little other fat, the tail being in him the reposi¬ 
tory of that fat which lays about the loins of other sheep. 
In cold climates the fat of the tails resembles suet; but. in 
warm ones, as at the Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar &c. 
it is so soft that when melted it will not harden again. 
The inhabitants mix it with tallow in certain proportions, 
when it assumes the consistency of hog’s lard, and is then 
eaten like butter, or used for culinary purposes. JVatu- 
ralists imagine that this excresence is owing to some cir- 
comstances in the food of the sheep, which makes the fat 
fall down from the loin into the tail and thus occasion 
this monstrosity. I do not, however, think this probable, 
since th e prodigious extent of country through which this 
race is propagated, must render the iood as various as the 
climates in which they are bred. I rather think it owes 
its origin to the art of man, grounded on some of those 
sports of nature, which in all domestic animals, afford a 
basis whereon to engraft his whims. 
It may be asked to what end would man cultivate this 
deformity, and that, too, through so extensive a region as 
to forbid our attributing it to whim or fashion? may not 
the shepherd who first observed this Lusus Natures in 
his flock have concluded, that he had made a very valu¬ 
able acquisition, since he not only had a sheep that gave 
him as much wool, milk or flesh as the rest of his flock, 
but a tail, which, in addition, gave him a comfortable 
meal, or what is still more valuable among savages, 
plenty of grease for his toilet and his kitchen. This cir¬ 
cumstance alone would make him attentive to cherish and 
propagate the deformity; and the rather as he must soon 
have found that it was attended with another important 
advantage; the sheep being more unwicldly, would be 
less apt to stray or return to/ its savage state; an object of 
considerable importance in the early state of society.” 
Rohan Potato. 
[From the Gardner’s Journal.] 
We have had occasion to mention this potato in a man¬ 
ner to draw public curiosity strongly towards it. We sub¬ 
join, therefore, the account given of it in the Edinburgh 
Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. Some of these pota¬ 
toes have been raised by Mr. Thompson, of Catskill, and 
by Judge Buel, of Albany, who received some tubers 
through the kindness of Mr. Thompson. The circum¬ 
stances under which they have been cultivated here, were 
not altogether favorable; and the yield not so great as re¬ 
presented in the Journal from which we quote, but suffi¬ 
ciently remarkable to indulge sanguine expectations of 
their extraordinary productiveness. Their value for eat¬ 
ing has not been ascertained. Their value for stock is 
undoubted. The Agricultural Commissioner was able, 
through the politeness of Judge Buel, to obtain a few 
plants; and others by purchase, which he will take care 
to distribute among those who will give them a fair trial. 
We learn that Messrs. Breck & Co. have the promise of a 
small quantity for sale, from Catskill, which may be ex¬ 
pected as soon as the season will admit of their transpor¬ 
tation. 
The Rohan Potato, a new variety. —The following is 
an extract from a letter written from Geneva, of date 25th 
April, 1834, by Prince Charles de Rohan to M. Jacque- 
mot-Bonnetont, Nurseryman, Annoney, in the Ardeche. 
“ I send you, through my friend M. ltoinilly, the potato 
which I promised you; and to which my name has been 
given in this country. The history of this potato is not 
less singular than the potato itself. He who obtained it 
from seed four years ago shews it, but will not give it to 
any person; he has retused it to King William." He has 
cultivated it in a little walled inclosure: he only wishes 
to see it in perfection, and the seed of the following year. 
He makes them to be taken up in his presence; keeps 
them under lock and key, and to be cooked for himself 
and cattle before his face. It is at great risk that I have 
been able to procure tw T o tubers. This exclusive amateur- 
having learnt that I had got some cactuses, which he wish¬ 
ed much to have, begged me to give him some. I wished 
no money, but very much to have some of his wonderful 
potato. He gave me two of them, and made me give mv 
word of honor that I would never send any of them to 
Holland, Belgium, England, Prussia, or Germany. Hap¬ 
pily he has not thought of Switzerland nor France; for 
without this omission, I could not have had the pleasure 
of offering these to you. 
“ This is the mode of cultivating this potato: The earth 
is dug to the depth of twenty inches; make the distance 
between the holes four feet, and put two or three eyes, or 
sets, in each hole. Earth up frequently. The stalks, 
reaching six or seven feet in height, must be supported 
on transverse stakes. The .kind being late, the tubers, 
which are very farinaceous, should only be taken up about 
Martinmas, when the stalks wither. 
“ To give you an idea of the extraordinary produce of 
this potato, I give three examples at random. M. E. Mar- 
tail, at Alias, gathered last autumn tubers weighing 13 lbs. 
7 oz., 11 lbs. 9 oz., and 9 lbs. 13 oz. M. de Montet, a 
proprietor near me, asked me for tubers when I could not 
give him more than a single small tuber having four eyes 
He weighed it for curiosity, and found that it wanted a 
few grains to make half an ounce. However, this small 
tuber being planted, produced 4S 1-4 lbs. The Attorney 
of the Abbey of Auterive, canton of Fribourg, to whom 
I had given two tubers two years ago, and who, delighted 
with his first harvest, after having eaten and given some 
to his friends, planted the rest, and obtained last autumn 
six double-horse loads and eight scuttle-fulls. It is not 
the largest tubers which succeed best as seed.”— Le Cul- 
tivateur, Journal des Progres Agricoles. 
Orchard Grass; 
Its value, and advatitages over Timothy or Clover. Re¬ 
marks on its culture, and seed. Poa viridis, or Green 
Grass. 
Sow Orchard Grass; if in autumn, harrow it in with 
your winter grain. Some prefer sowing it in the spring. 
Much depends on the soil and season, and you can try 
both modes and periods, to enable you to form the best 
opinion. This grass will be permanent, when clover (with 
which it is a profitable companion,) fails. It is, on up¬ 
lands, preferable to timothy, which is a great exhauster— 
yields but one crop of hay, and little or no pasture, on dry- 
soils, thus leaving the field bare of cover, and exposing it 
to the exhaustion of the sun and winds; whilst orchard 
grass, by its quick and repeated growths, affords a cease¬ 
less cover and defence. 
By thus recommending Dactylis glomerata, for perma¬ 
nent pasture and hay, it is not intended to cast the least 
reflection on the clover culture. This is now so common¬ 
ly practised, and its uses so generally acknowledged, that 
it is unnecessary to dwell on its excellent properties. But 
the clover is fugacious, (short lived,) and the orchard grass, 
sown with it, endures in uninterrrupted vigor and useful¬ 
ness; when clover, in dry seasons particularly, is burned 
or shrivelled, or has entirely departed, having lived out its 
short period of existence; or having been prematurely de¬ 
stroyed by frosts, to which it is often a victim. The clo¬ 
ver and plaster are so congenial, and the improvement of 
the soils suitable for them so universally known, that any 
detailed notices of them would now be superfluous. 
Raise your orchard grass seed, and do not spare it on 
your fields. Thin sowing throws up tufts, detached and 
coarse. You buy, in the shops, much chaff', and little seed; 
insomuch that a bushel weighs only from fourteen to six¬ 
teen pounds, at best, and some much less, barely sufficient 
for an acre. It should be sold by weight, and not by mea¬ 
sure. No grass seed can be raised more plentifully and 
cheaply; and yet the expense of purchasing, has deterred 
its more general use. 
It will be difficult to keep an old weedy farm long in 
grass; and the plough must, therefore, be oftener used 
than a clean farm requires. Yet with composts, as top- 
dressings, and destruction of weeds, wonders may be per¬ 
formed" in a grazing system. But when the old sod is 
broken up, time, as well as good husbandry, with proper 
courses of crops, must be afforded. No winter grain should 
be s<Avn the first season of breaking up old grass lays. 
The stirring and culture of that and the ensuing year, are 
necessary to insure the complete destruction of weeds and 
other unprofitable vegetation. 
If you should be so fortunate as to conquer weeds and 
peats, and obtain a clean cover of the poa viridis, or green 
grass, which will not grow unmixed in all soils; it is not 
to be told how long your fields, wdth top-dressings, will 
continue without being disturbed by the plough, if scarifi¬ 
ed, when surface-bound, by a proper instrument. This 
grass appears to be native, though not peculiar, to this 
country; and it must, according to general experience, 
grow spontaneously. 
Plants spring up in soils in which they are indigenous, 
without previous seeding. The experiment of cleaning 
by tilling, and meliorating by manure, worn out lands, and 
suffering them to throw up grasses spontaneously, has de¬ 
cisively succeeded, so as to insure valuable crops of the 
appropriate kinds; which finally established themselves, 
after contending with intruders for a time. White clover 
seems most universally native; but this grows better in 
some, than in other soils. 
Those who do not attend to the laws of nature in this 
regard, suppose that they can, with plenty of manure, 
force plants in any soil; but this is a great mistake. Gorg¬ 
ing land wdth dung, for any product, is expensively ruin¬ 
ous. There is no surer mode of first deteriorating and 
finally destroying, any plant out of its natural soil, than 
that of lavishingly dunging it. And this misapplied ex¬ 
travagance, is injurious to plants, either of rich or poor 
soils. The latter are, however, the soonest killed by high 
dunging.— Tudge Peters. 
Agricultural Chemistry. 
\\ IF 'rom the American Farmer.] 
The great Linnaeus, has almost given animal life to ve¬ 
getables, by his wonderful system of classification, and the 
eccentric Darwin, would fain give them passions like hu¬ 
man nature; but it has been reserved for modern chemis¬ 
try to discover, that vegetables possess a most refined 
taste, a wonderful discrimination in the selection, and the 
most active chemical powers in the preparation of their 
food. It is in vain to search for any single article as the 
“ food of plants;” their tastes are as various as the taste of 
man; they invariably seek for those things which they like 
best; and if they cannot find them, they will take what 
they can get. Indian Corn in the vegetable kingdom, is 
like swine in the animal; it feeds indiscriminately and vo¬ 
raciously on all the food it can procure, and its growth and 
product is in proportion; while the more delicate mint is 
satisfied with water alone, from which it. extracts itssmall 
portion of food. The seed of a vegetable may be consi¬ 
dered the magazine or granary in which is contained the 
germ of the future plant, and a requisite supply of food to 
support it. In establishing itself in the earth, the germ in 
many comparatively large seeds, is so small, as to escape 
the power of the naked eye. What then is the vision of 
man, when compared with that power which creates in an 
invisible seed, an embryo plant, perfect in all its parts, 
perhaps an hundred times smaller than the seed itself? 
The grain preserves and defends the germ from injury un¬ 
til placed in its proper sphere of action. The earth then 
furnishes food to it, by its power of absorption, which it 
natually exacts as soon as it comes in contact with mois¬ 
ture. When it has taken in a sufficient quantity of water, 
the germ commences its operations by decomposing a part 
and appropriating to itself the oxygen, it gains strength and 
bursts its cell—it now finds itselt in presence of earth and 
air.* It puts forth its fibrous roots in quest of more sub- 
* It is usual to confine the presence of the air to the earth, 
but tillage extends it beneath the surface from one to twelve 
