90 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
every outer circle, and about two or three years for the 
complete lignification of the innermost. 
The respective vessels of the vegetable system are 
adducent and reducent, or arteries and veins; the arte¬ 
ries or sap vessels may be seen by the naked eye; the 
veins or returning vessels bring back the elaborated sap 
from the leaves to the liber for the new layer of the 
existing year. 
The lymphatics lie immediately under and in the cu¬ 
ticle ; immediately below these lie the adducent vessels 
or arteries; they are the largest of the vegetable vessels, 
rise from the root and communicate nutriment in a per¬ 
pendicular direction. Interior to these lie the redu¬ 
cent vessels or veins; which are softer, more numer¬ 
ous, and more minute than the arteries. 
This double set of vessels is possessed of an oppo¬ 
site power, and acts in an opposite direction, the one to 
convey the sap or vegetable blood forwards, and the 
other to bring it backwards ; being thus sufficiently able 
to establish a circulatory system. 
It should be observed, that the matter of fibrine, or 
the principle of the muscular fibre which exists in ani¬ 
mals, also exists in vegetables. Dr. Hales cut off the 
stems of vines in the spring, and by fixing tubes on the 
stumps, found that the sap rose in many instances to the 
height of thirty-five feet. Tubes have been fixed to the 
large arteries of animals, as near as possible to the 
heart, in which the blood did not rise higher than nine 
feet. 
Plants are also possessed of cutaneous secornants or 
perspiratory vessels; and in many plants the quantity 
of fluid thus discharged is very considerable. Dr. Hales 
in a very accurate set of experiments determined that 
the sunflower threw off or perspired nearly half its own 
weight in twenty-four hours. 
Plants, nevertheless, do not appear to have the smallest 
basis for sensation, admitting that sensation is the re¬ 
sult of a nervous system. The vessels of plants do not 
appear to possess any muscular fibres, yet we have evi¬ 
dent proofs of the existence of a contractile and irrita¬ 
ble power from some other principle; and a variety of 
facts occurring in making it higljjy probable that it is by 
the exercise of such a principle that the different fluids 
are propelled through their respective vessels; we have 
abundant proofs also that a contractile power may exist 
independently of muscular fibres in the animal system. 
In what part of a plant the vital principle chiefly exists, 
or to what quarter it retires during the winter, is not 
known, and we are equally as ignorant in respect to 
animal life. The plant yearly thrives and increases in 
bulk, puts forth a new progeny of buds, and becomes 
clothed with a beautiful foliage of lungs for the respira¬ 
tion of the rising brood; and with a harmonious circle 
of action, that can never be too much admired, furnishes 
a perpetual supply of nutriment, in every diversified 
form, for the growth and perfection of animal life, 
while it receives in rich abundance, from the waste of 
diminuation, and even decomposition of the same, the 
means of new births, new buds, and new harvests. 
Thus every thing lives, flourishes and decays ; every¬ 
thing dies, but nothing is lost: for the great principle of 
life only changes its form, and the destruction of one 
generation is the vivification of the next. Yours, &c. 
S. W. JEWETT. 
Great return of capital laid out in agriculture. 
Metuchen, N. J. June, 1839. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—In conversation with a gen¬ 
tlemen, recently returned from England, who has had 
opportunities oif visiting some of the best farms m the 
most improved agricultural districts of that country, 
and whose judgment in all matters pertaining to the 
soil is well matured both by study and practice, I was 
surprised to hear of the enormous difference in the re¬ 
sults of agriculture between that country and our own. 
As an instance of the profits generally derived there, by 
men who commence farming, without any acquaintance 
with the practical department, but with only that know¬ 
ledge which may be acquired by study, and judgment 
based upon observation of the methods and practice 
pursued by others, he stated, that he had visited a rela¬ 
tive, who six years since, leased a farm of six hundred 
acres, at a yearly rent of seven hundred pounds, equal 
to about three thousand five hundred dollars. Now this 
to us would appear a good price to pay for the purchase 
of the same amount of land. Yet it was no more rent, 
than ordinary good land would readily command there, 
at that time. But by many who were not so well ac¬ 
quainted with the much ridiculed theory of agriculture, 
who had not applied themselves to the study of those 
sciences which are requisite to a correct and judicious 
management of any soil, and who were in fact ignorant 
of the very nature, and qualities of the soil, they were 
themselves laboring to obtain a competence from; by 
many such, the undertaking was thought, owing to the 
previous occupant’s ill success, as next to folly itself. 
Not so with the present lessee. Although he had never 
“ held the plough, or driven,” and perhaps to this day, 
has not yet “ fretted the skin from off his maiden palms,” 
yet from acquired knowledge of the properties, and capa¬ 
bilities of every soil, when treated according to the man¬ 
ner indicated by its qualities, and by a liberal system of 
feeding as well as cropping that soil, he has been ena¬ 
bled not only to pay the apparently enormous rent above 
mentioned, but also, to reap a rich reward for his en¬ 
terprise. 
For the first two or three years, he sunk annually 
about fifteen hundred pounds; but this was expected, 
as from the situation in which he found the land, the 
most lavish expenditure was required,, to bring it up to 
that state of productiveness which he knew it to be ca¬ 
pable of. Yet this was willingly afforded; not with 
that blind recklessness with which many of our gentle¬ 
men farmers commence operations, but with strict at¬ 
tention to the aptness of his measures, and with the 
view constantly before him of their future and lasting 
benefit to the soil. And while liberality was the ruling 
sentiment in all his operations, yet a just economy both 
of ways and means, was never lost sight of. I have 
given you as yet, only an idea of part of the expendi¬ 
tures; I will mention a few more, that when the profits 
are named, they may not seem disproportioned, or that 
the whole system may not appear too chimerical to en¬ 
courage gentlemen of capital to pursue it in our own 
country. Among other items he mentioned, that it cost 
him every year about two hundred and fifty pounds, 
one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars, for oil cake, 
and that he yearly made use of two thousand bushels of 
bone dust, the cost of which was of no consequence, as 
he would have it at any price. That into his barn yard 
there was carted every morning, a large two horse cart 
load of straw, and that he used a root slicer that with 
two men, would cut three bushels of turnips per minute. 
These few particulars may enable the initiated to ac¬ 
count for the success attendant upon his undertakings, 
and to understand how, in favorable seasons, he mana¬ 
ges to make one thousand pounds, or five thousand dol - 
lars nett profit from a farm of about six hundred acres. 
Culture of Corn. 
Setauket, Suffolk co May 18, 1839. 
Judge Bdel —Sir—For some time I have thought of 
offering my mode of treating the corn, which I consider 
the most important among the grain crops; and the 
springing of the young plants prompts me again to sub¬ 
mit it. Whether manure has been spread before plough¬ 
ing or only placed in the hills afterwards, I adopt the same 
practice. As soon as Ihe corn has got up, so that the rows 
or lines can be distinctly seen, I run the plough through as 
near to the hills as may be without displacing the plants, 
to the depth of five inches, throwing the earth from the 
hills; if moles or mice are plenty in the field, both ways, 
if not, only one way. The rows are then gone over with 
the hand hoe, the hard surface or crust immediately 
about the plants stirred and broken, and the contiguous 
weeds or grass destroyed: this is the first dressing. Af¬ 
ter about ten days, set in the plough in the same man¬ 
ner as before, if it has been ploughed through only one 
way; if both, reverse the furrows and let the hoe be 
used to loosen the earth about the plants, and to draw 
a little fresh soil to the hill, at the same time eradicat¬ 
ing all weeds and grass near the plants. Now we have 
ended the second lesson, and will be ready at the pro¬ 
per time for the third and fourth, or more, as the soil or 
season may require, with the cultivator or harrow to 
break down small hillocks or ridges, and to keep a soft 
surface between the rows, that will absorb the showers 
or dews, when a hard surface would be but little be- 
nefitted, taking care at each time, to draw a little new 
mould to the hill, yet leaving it at the last dressing with 
a wide square hill, but slightly elevated. This little rise 
about the corn hill will help to support it at the autum¬ 
nal gale, and will not turn the showers off to the injury 
of the crop. This management may seem not exactly 
orthodox; but I fancy I derive some advantages not to 
be obtained by the use of the harrow or even cultivator 
alone. Those mischievous miners, the moles and mice, 
are more effectually opposed in their operations, a deeper 
and softer bed is prepared for the roots to strike into, 
and greater extent of surface is exposed to be heated by 
the sun’s rays; which is in effect protracting the sum¬ 
mer a week or ten days, time enough not unfrequently 
to save a crop. A common saying with our farmers is, 
corn only wants hot weather; and the fact is notorious, 
that a fair crop of corn may be obtained by nice manage¬ 
ment, in a season so dry that any other grain crop would 
fail almost in toto. The harrow and cultivator scarify 
the ground, but do not lay itApen with a bold incision, 
nor leave the corn hill on jaf prominent ridge or hillock 
at the commencement of growth, when nothing but heat 
seems necessary to the vitality and health of the plants. 
If it be objected, that by this use of the plough we as¬ 
sist the escape of vegetable food, in the form of carbo¬ 
nic acid gas and volatile alkali, I reply it may be so, 
to the amount of six or eight per cent, an inconsidera¬ 
ble matter compared with the accelerated maturity of 
the crop. Should you deem these remarks of conse¬ 
quence enough for insertion in the Cultivator, they are 
at your service. Respectfully yours, 
ARCH. JAYNE. 
The Silk Business. 
Goshen, May 12th, 1839. 
J. Buel, Esq.—Dear Sir—The silk business seems to 
be on the advance in this country. Rapid indeed has 
been its progress within the past six years, if we con¬ 
sider the quantities of trees raised, as a part of the busi¬ 
ness. 
As almost every one has an opinion of their own, this 
opinion, if founded on personal observation & experience, 
might be worth committing to paper, especially as there 
is so much yet to be learned upon the subject; I have 
taken the liberty to trouble you with a few of my thoughts 
upon the subject, presuming that you will not suffer 
anything to have a place in the columns of your paper, 
which would not tend to promote the end for which it 
was designed. The business of making silk in this 
country, will undoubtedly, at no very distant period, be 
a great one. Many of our best farmers, who are now 
deterred from engaging in the business through igno¬ 
rance or fear of the expenses incident upon a new busi¬ 
ness, will, when they see from the experiments of their 
more enterprising neighbors, the ease with which the 
operations are performed, that it is as simple as almost 
any branch of husbandry, and more than all, that if 
properly managed, it yields a rich return from a small 
investment, be much more ready to engage in it. Yet 
at the commencement of the business, some judgment 
and foresight is necessary, more especially in the se¬ 
lection of the right kind of trees. 
The white mulberry is a good hardy variety and pro¬ 
duces silk of good quality, but the quantity of foliage 
it produces to the acre is much less than that of some 
other kinds. 
Immense quantities of the morus multicaulis have 
been grown in this country, but I suspect more for the 
purpose of speculation, than from any desire to promote 
the manufacture of silk. I had occasion not long since 
to take a journey into Massachusetts, on business, and 
while in Amherst, I became acquainted with Mr. Timo¬ 
thy Smith, and several other intelligent gentlemen, en¬ 
gaged in the silk business. Mr. Smith, I considered, as 
the most candid man I conversed with, and who has 
been in the business the longest. He commenced in 
1832, with the white mulberry, found that the leaves 
made good silk, but the quantity of foliage produced to 
the acre was small. He then successively tried the mul¬ 
ticaulis, Canton, and Alpine, which he pronounced only 
a variety of the Canton. He gave a decided preference 
to the two last varieties, alleging as his reasons, that the 
quantity of foliage to the acre from Canton trees, 'was 
nearly as large as that of the multicaulis, while the leaf 
of the former seemed to be more palatable to the worms, 
and did not create disease amongst them, as the leaves 
of the multicaulis did, owing to the quantity of mois¬ 
ture in the latter. The Canton proves to be a much 
hardier variety than the multicaulis, as he has proved 
by actual experiment, that they will stand our winters 
while the multicaulis will not. Other experiments and 
observations which I have not time nor room now to de¬ 
tail, convince me that the Canton tree is the best adapted 
to our northern climate, and when the rage for buying 
up multicaulis cuttings, at 4cts. a bud has in a measure 
subsided, and the business of making silk begins to 
claim a share of public attention, this tree will be more 
sought after. 
I have a piece of ground very mellow, but not very 
rich, which I intend to sow with ruta baga. Would it 
be a good plan to sow to buckwheat and turn it under 
as food for the turnips? Yours with respect. 
__ CHAS. STR ONG. 
Bloody Murrain. 
Black Locust Grove. Mo. May 3, 1839. 
Hon. J. Buel —Sir—I will now give you (and if you 
think them worthy of it, through you to the public) my 
own observations and experience about the “ bloody mur¬ 
rain .,” a disease I never heard of among cattle till I 
moved to this country. I have tried the “ tar,” sir, to 
my own satisfaction.* It may have cured some cattle, 
but not one of mine, for I have lost six head of valua¬ 
ble cattle in the last five months with it, and I tried tar 
on all that I could get to in time to do any thing with, but 
one, and it has failed, entirely failed, to do any good. 
Indeed, sir, I have come to the conclusion, that there is 
no specific for it; but like cholera, some few cases may 
be cured, but ninety-nine out of one hundred will die. 
It is a most painful, dreadful disease; those that dis¬ 
charge the blood through the urine and bowels, suffer 
much less pain (though no less fatal) than those that 
bleed internally; and I believe the best preventive is 
regular feeding, and not too sudden a change of food. 
Now for my reasons for thus believing. 
In the first place, the spring and fall are the times in 
the year it prevails most; the poorest or fattest are the 
most liable, though some exceptions, both as to time and 
the order they are in. Last fall I had a very fine heifer 
(one that had taken the premium at our fair,) in fine 
order which was the first of mine that took it; she ran 
in a lot through which I was hauling corn to the cribs, 
and while we were unloading she would usually gather 
up the falling ears, and I would throw her the nubbins. 
On the next first day of the week, she did not get any 
corn, as the grass in the lot was thought sufficient. On 
Monday following she died. In the last of February I 
had two steers that died. It being wet, the cattle did 
not eat their food clean, consequently they did not re¬ 
ceive their usual quantity of aliment; and being weaker 
than the most of my other cattle, they were kept off, 
and consequently became excessively hungry. I then 
had another heifer that I prized very highly. In order 
to save her, as she was getting poor, I had her fed an 
extra meal, and the very next day she died. Here I 
had ample opportunity to try the tar, for from day light 
till night (and the night before she was well, at which 
time I began to give her the extra feed,) I had her to 
operate on, but to no purpose. Well, sir, when grass 
came and would afford a good bite, one of my neigh¬ 
bors had a bull which he had kept upon dry food. I 
wished to get some of his calves, and obtained the use 
of him ; turned him on my pasture, quit giving him dry 
food, and in three days he died. So, then, I conclude 
that too sudden a change from dry to green, or from 
green to dry, will produce it; hence its prevalence in 
the fall and spring. Or permit a fat animal to get very 
hungry, or a poor one to get very hungry, or unusually 
* Mr. Smeally wrote us, after the insertion of his commu¬ 
nication, recommending tar, that it had failed with him in 
some subsequent experiments, which we forgot to notice,— 
Cond. 
