EVIOOBE’S BUBAL fJEW-VOBKEB 
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<J}icltt dfrop. 
NATURAL DISSEMINATION OF SEEDS. 
BY O. H. PECK. 
That was a wise provision of nature which 
multiplied the fecundity of plants to such an 
extent, that to a person unacquainted with 
nature’s laws, it seems almost beyond belief. 
That a single plant should be found by close 
calculation to produce the almost incredible 
number of 880,000 seeds is a fact that will 
cause surprise in the minds of many, yet, that 
computation has been made with a single 
plant of tobacco, and it has been thought by 
some, that a single stalk of spleen wort would 
produce at least one million of seeds. Let 
one given to mathematics calculate the regu¬ 
larly increasing progression of the number of 
seeds in a single plant of tobacco merely to 
the fifth generation, and can he help wonder¬ 
ing why the whole earth is not covered with 
tobacco plants and become a smoker’s para¬ 
dise. 
Were it not that there are many causes 
which tend to neutralize in part this aston¬ 
ishing fecundity, its very excess would prove 
injurious to its healthy reproduction. Nature 
declines to place oil seeds in a condition 
favorable to their germination ; many are 
devoured by birds, many animals and even 
man himself finds much that is nutritious in 
f i'll its and seeds, and in this way incalculable 
number 4 of them are destroyed. 
The dissemination of seeds is not confined 
to one agency, bill, to many. The natural 
dispersion is favored by many circumstances. 
Take for instance the pericarp of t he impa- 
tiens (Touch-me-not); it. consist* of one cell 
with five valves and dispenses its seeds with 
an elastic jerk; should you accidentally 
touch it when ripe, it will instantly burst 
open, and the valves springing quickly from 
the stem, will coil themselves up in a spiral 
form, discharge the enclosed seed and (scatter 
them, promiscuously around. In this in¬ 
stance seeds could not be conveyed any great 
distance ; but where distance of dispersion is 
required, nature is always furnished with a 
resource. A common mode, and perhaps one 
of the most common modes by which seeds 
are conveyed from the plaeeof their growth, 
is through the instrumentality of animals. 
Many seeds are furnished with hooks or 
hairs, which serve as a medium of attach¬ 
ment, to the bodies of animals, which acci¬ 
dentally come in contact with the plant, in 
their search for food or water. The animal 
carries it about until it is again detached by 
some accidental cause, when finally it is com¬ 
mitted to the soil. 
Nature has other agencies more powerful 
than animals. The wind disperses seeds to 
great distances. Seeds of mosses, lichens and 
fungi float insensibly in the air and arc car 
ried miles from their plaeeof growth. Some 
seeds are furnished with an attached wing, 
as will be found in the case of the fir tree, so 
that the seed in falling from the cone or cap 
sole, is caught by the wind and carried to' a 
great distance ; other seeds are furnished 
with down, as in the case of the dandelion, 
thistle and other plants of the class sy agene¬ 
sia ; the down is so large and light in propor¬ 
tion to the seed it supports, that a light 
breeze wafts it afar off, and at the time of 
their ripening their seeds, great numbers of 
them are seen floating through the atmos¬ 
phere. 
Seeds of the maple, elm and ash are fur¬ 
nished with a membraneous wing, which 
when it becomes separated from the tree, the 
wind catches and drives before it. 
If all accounts arc correct with regard to 
the great distance by which seeds have been 
conveyed through the agency of water, this 
element then lays claim to ft dispersion of 
seeds to greater distances than any other 
agency; seeds which accidentally fall into 
the mountain stream are washed down to 
the valley below. Rivers winding through 
extensive countries and traversing the con¬ 
tinents of th5 world convey seeds many hun¬ 
dred miles. On the southern shores of the 
Baltic have been found seeds which grew in 
Germany, and the shores of the Atlantic are 
visited by seeds which grew in the interior ol' 
America. Fruits indigenous to America and 
the West Ladies have been found on the 
shores of Europe, having been driven across 
the ocean u distance of two thousand miles. 
Thus it will be seen t hat nature's laws are 
not only perfect, but there is wisdom in all 
her regularly organized forces—a wisdom far 
above the reach of man ; the wisdom of a 
Divine Being who overrules and governs for 
good. 
Melrose, June 1873. 
THINNING POTATO TOPS. 
Potatoes, if planted in good soil, produce 
very strong, slant vines, which must neces¬ 
sarily take a great deal *»f strength from the 
potatoes. How would it do to remove a por¬ 
tion of the vines from each hill that has a 
larger share than the rest ?—P. u. 
The larger and stronger the stems and 
leaves, the better and larger, as a rule, are 
the tubers. The great mistake which many 
potato raisers make in forming a theory as a 
guide to culture, is in supposing that the 
tubers are. produced upon the roots, when, 
ui fact, they are nothing more or less than 
lateral branches of the main stems of the 
plant, which issue above the roots. The 
tubers are not formed until the stems have 
become strong enough to throw Oil lateral 
subterranean branches, these receiving as¬ 
similated sap from the leaves, swell up into 
a thick, fleshy mass, known as a potato. 
There are, no doubt, instances of abnormity 
in the growth of potatoes, and the stems and 
lea ves are out of all proportion to the quan¬ 
tity of tubers produced, but we should doubt 
the value of pruning even in such eases, but 
if you have any curiosity in this direction, 
tiy the experiment upon a few rows and 
settle the question practically. 
-- 4 -*-*- 
APPLYING PLASTER TO TOBACCO. 
A correspondent of the Rural Sun, near 
Clarksville, Tenn., writes :—“ Having been 
using land plaster for two years on tobacco, 
I have thought it might not prove uninter¬ 
esting to give a few facts about it. J used 
about three peeks to the acre of 3,500 hills— 
putting about a tablespoonful on each plant 
and sprinkling it with the Angel's over the 
bud and leaves. I put it on at topping time, 
but think that the best result would be 
obtained by putting the plaster on as soon as 
the tobacco has spread the hill. The cost i 
about seventy-five cents per acre. The in¬ 
crease in pounds from plaster was, by my 
experiments, about ten per cent.; the im¬ 
provement in quality about five per cent. 
There was no apparent advantage in size 
over the tobacco that had no plaster on it. 
The advantage was in the thickness and 
richness of the leaves. There was a striking 
difference in the color of the tobacco while 
growing. While tobacco treated with land 
pL i .cr was a very dark green color, that in 
adjoiniug rows without the plaster, was a 
mu ‘li paler color. The land-plastered t .bc*\- 
eo is inclined to cure a dark mahogany color.” 
-444- 
FIELD NOTES. 
Orchard Gross.—Will some of your read¬ 
ers be kind enough to tell me how to save 
orchard grass seed, and how long it ought to 
stand after it is hi bloom before it is ripe 
enough to save. I want to Save some for my 
own us 3 , as I have to pay from 30 to 35 cts. 
per pound for it here. 1 have a piece that, was 
sown two years the past spring, mid the clo¬ 
ver is running out. J donl want tO plow it 
up ; how will I manage so as to increase the 
clover '! The grass is from three to four feet 
high and in full bloom. Please answer.—W. 
T. T., Salisbury, N. C. 
Red Jioch Potato. — 1 have heard much 
talk of a new kind of potato called the ‘‘Red 
Rock.” Does any one know where it is 
raised ? 1 am told they originated in Canada, 
and have been raised to a considerable ex¬ 
tent in New York State. There are only two 
farms In this section where they are grown, 
and these only enough to plant three or four 
hills for seed. By the description given of 
them, it is a very excellent potato to cook, 
and an enormous yielder. Will some one, 
having them for sale, advertise.—w. a. i\ 
English Cluster Hops. —Having seen an ar¬ 
ticle oil Hop culture by your correspondent, 
will you please inform me where the En¬ 
glish cluster plants can be obtained, and at 
what price f When should the plants be set 
out, spring or fall, late or early, or will either 
dj >How many feat apart should they be 
planted. Should the soil be rich, mid do they 
need much care or weeding ! How large or 
high ami thick should the hop poles be ; mid 
when the hops are harvesiea, should the 
poles be removed.—G. W. Seii 1 , M. D. 
Tteyl'jiding Corn .—We see it stated by a 
corn cultivator that he always replants corn 
if he has to remove a hill to dp if, ‘‘because 
he lias observed that in peculiar seasons the 
tassel of the first planting dries up before it 
has fertilized the silk on the ear, and that the 
replant beiug later is just of the proper age 
to perform the duty not performed by the 
tassel of t.hcfirst planting.” it is not our ob¬ 
servation that nature is so faulty in providing 
for fertilization as all this amounts to 1 
Potatoes for Seed. —We see it asserted by 
“ a prominent potato grower” that ‘'the eye 
of the potato goes clear to the heart, and 
that a piece containing any portion of t his 
sprout will grow just at- well as though it 
contained the eye proper.” We should like 
to hear whether any one has tested this 
theory or not. 
cJjjtrut (Bcoiumtir. 
HOW TO BRING UP FERTILITY ON EX¬ 
HAUSTED LAND. 
In Connecticut, especially, it is said the 
soil is run down to the lowest poverty. . In¬ 
quiries are frequent respecting the means to 
regain plant food ; and there are numerous 
varied methods recommended ; but some 
would cost more than buying good soil; 
others would lose the purchaser any benefit" 
for two or three years, and tlie growing of 
clover, the favorite idea now, cannot be of 
much use to plow in, became, even with 
plaster, ashes, &c., to start it, there is no 
stamina to produce any quantity. In En¬ 
gland it, is the usual and almost universal 
practice to fetch up any light soil which has 
been exhausted, by using the reliable fer¬ 
tilizers for roots uud eating them on tlie 
ground with sheep, which to further enrich 
their droppings, tiiey will feed with grain ; 
but the consumption of roots in this way is 
not understood in America, and the New 
England climate would only permit of its 
being done in t he autumn ; and as sheep and 
hurdle* or other means of distributing the 
manure and urine are not at hand, this will 
not be adopted, and thus other courses must 
be resorted to. 
With all respect to those who are so in 
favor of plowing under clover, that must be 
grown first, and any exhausted soil will not 
grow enough to do any good, therefore When 
by other means clover is produced the l oots 
are sufficient fur the food of the ensuing crop 
without sacrificing that wliich would be 
worth $50 or more per acre as hay. 
When land has been completely worn out 
by the straining of the muscles and the 
studied direction of every contrivance ema¬ 
nating from the brain of men whose whole 
thought is employed in I in ning every particle 
of support within roach into the next, harvest, 
it requires a kind of reverse in the manage¬ 
ment, as for years it has been suck, cultivate 
and suck again, and naught is left; thus a re¬ 
verse system would be for a mun to buy good 
improving animals, say sheep, and buy fond 
for thorn which they would pay for eating, 
and by keeping them on this poor land it 
would soon become rich. 
Mr. Johnson, who is so often referred to, 
continually bought sheep which were only ( 
half fat, and by high feeding not only gained 
all the extra weight made, but the frame 
wliich lie purchased was worth so much 
more, too, because ripe mut ton is worth so 
much more per pound than lean, scraggy 
carcass. Depend upon it, any man who gets 
interested in high feeding as a means of high¬ 
ly fertilizing his soil, will learn to buy in such 
localities and markets as to insure a liberal 
profit; and a good stock farmer, whether he 
breeds and works his own raising through to 
the butcher, or if he buys well-bred animals 
from those who have not the heart to fatten 
anything — and there are hundreds who 
grudge everything belonging to them, even 
their own offspring, enough to eat, or at any 
rate of that which is good — then either the 
breeder or the purchaser will do well by him¬ 
self and his farm. 
Poor, thin men ! poor, thin cows, sheep, 
&c.! poor, thin land, poor in pocket and 
poor in ideas I whereas a fertile brain might 
make a jolly sort of man, with contented, 
heavy cows and sheep, good, rich land, pocket 
well liued and ideas ever flowing to devise 
ways of turning more and more of the good 
things of the earth into mutton and beef, 
into butter and wool, &e. Trembling, faint¬ 
hearted meu cannot be made to see how 
much cheaper manure is bought by fatten¬ 
ing animals on the land. 
A Working Farmer. 
■- 44-4 - 
TREATMENT OF MANURES. 
I have lately become a reader of your 
paper and I am not aware as to what discus¬ 
sions may have been lind heretofore on the 
subjects of manure and its application. I am 
convinced, however, notwithstanding what 
your columns may have elicited, that, these 
subjects are not by any means exhausted. I 
have studied manures for several years and 
made some few experiments; but I am 
obliged to acknowledge that I am green in 
these important matters. Ido not wish to 
impose upon t he good nature of the Rural 
fraternity, and, therefore, will introduce my 
inquiries by giving a brief statement of my 
own opinions (for perhaps they are nothing 
more). 
In the. first place, I believe all manures 
should be composted. Horse-stable manure 
left uneomposted in a pile, soon bums up if 
kept thy, and soon lea dies out if kept wet. 
Green cow manure hardens and bakes land 
manured with it. Hog manure is too strong. 
Horse manure is generally considered the 
best; but in addition to the objections above- 
stated, in regard to it as it is too otten treat¬ 
ed, I may say it is too volatile. All these are 
good manures ; but how shall we economize? 
It is my opinion they should be composted 
immediately. As soon us a Curt, load of ma¬ 
nure can be scraped up about any one, or all 
combined, of your stables, cart it to the 
place, where it is to be used next season 
(twelve months hence). The pile must be 
shedded over. The pile of what? That is 
just the question. We have selected the site 
and erected our lubratory; now for the 
operations. Every time a load of manure of 
a ny kind in added, a covering of leaf mold, 
rotted wood or rich dirt must he spread over 
it. To this pile you may add waste of every 
kind—hay, straw, weeds, green or dry, vege¬ 
table*, k iteben, laundry and dormitory water. 
Keep the whole mass damp and warm 
enough to ferment . Leaelied ashes limy he 
added, uud strong ashes or lime be mingled 
with all green vegetable matter added to the 
heap. Neither of these articles will injure 
the general mass when isolated by the layers 
of dirt, &e. After remaining in this condi¬ 
tion for half the year, the whole pile should 
be thoroughly worked over, and the working 
should be repeated occasionally. At this 
time a new heap should be commenced, lo 
undergo tlie same treatment. 
Most farmers would he surprised to find so 
large and so rich a supply of available fer¬ 
tility as this plan would yield. Top-dressing 
is growing in popular favor, and I am not 
aware than tiny other plan would yield the 
same amount of manure in so good a condi¬ 
tion for use in this way. Manure used as a 
op-dressing is nearly lost unless it is thor¬ 
oughly decomposed, and I know no other 
method to decompose it without sustaining 
a. like loss. It is true it is not a quick stimu¬ 
lant ; but this is seldom required. A quick 
st imulant to the soil is like brandy to man— 
soon followed by bad effects. 
The time is surely coming when tlie rich 
(but fast diminishing) yields of the country, 
which are now hauled to the cities to be con¬ 
densed and then poured into the rivers or 
buried, will tie gleaned up and returned to 
the fields which produced them, and which 
are suffering hi consequence of the loss. 
Ed. S. 
-- 444 - 
CANADA THISTLE. 
I write to gain a little information con¬ 
cerning the best method by which the Canada 
thistle can be extirpated. If you, or any of 
tlie readers of your valuable paper, can in¬ 
form me, i shall be very glad. They are get¬ 
ting to lie quite plenty here, as some of my 
neighbors have a great many, and they are 
rapidly spreading, and will soon make acres 
of the most valuable of our land worthless 
unless soon killed out. Is there any time to 
cut them that will kill the root ? If any one 
can answer from experience, please do so. 
All of my experience goes bo prove that plow¬ 
ing through them only cuts the roots and 
causes more to spring up, and in many cases 
carries roots to other parts of the field on the 
plow. I do know that cutting them when 
they are just up—that Is, by taking a stick 
and pushing them dowu and then filling up 
the cavity with salt, will in time kill them, 
if persevered in, as they will keep coming up 
around, and if one has but a small patch can 
be pursued very easily, and then sheep can 
be turned on, and they will gnaw them into 
the ground ; but salting is a very slow, diffi¬ 
cult and somewhat expensive way when one 
has many to contend with. I shall be glad 
to hear from any one on the subject.—B. J. 
A., Southern Wis. 
We have- never faffed to get rid of them by 
summer fallowing :—Turn over the sod the 
last of June, harrow thoroughly, plow again 
middle of July, harrow again and plow and 
harrow again middle of August and seed 
with wheat or rye, timothy and clover. Mow 
the grass three years, cutting it before any 
stray thistle blossoms or when it is in blos¬ 
som' It is not difficult to clean a farm of 
Canada thistles in this way. 
--- 4 - 4-4 - 
ECONOMICAL NOTES. 
Wants to Know How to Build cm Out¬ 
side Cellar.—I desire to build a cheap yet 
substantial cave in my lot, near the house, 
for the purpose of storing apples, celery, tur¬ 
nips, cabbage, and other vegetables, lor safe 
keeping during the winter and at the same 
time have it easy of access. Our present cel¬ 
lar is entirely too warm. Con any of your 
read si's furnish me a good plan?—W. D. O., 
Rock Creelc, Pa. 
Suit us a Fertiliser— G. A. M. aslcs some 
one who has had experience in its use to toll 
how salt is used and the best advantage as a 
fertilizer. 
