382 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
formed, or the blood must obtain it through the medium 
of food. If the food is deficient, the supply must be made 
up from a waste of the bodily parts; and the consequence 
will be loss of flesh and weight, which if long continued 
may cause the death of the animal, either by finally cut¬ 
ting olf the source of heat, or so weakening the system 
that it yields to the attack of some malady. To sustain 
the animal in proper condition, then, requires a supply 
of food proportioned to the degree of cold to which it is 
exposed; and it is therefore obvious that by avoiding ex¬ 
posure to cold, we save food. 
HEDGE FOR WET GROUNDS. 
The flats or low grounds, sometimes of great extent 
which border on rivers and large creeks, may be fenced 
by driving piles cut 
from willow trees, a 
bout as large as a man’s 
wrist, into the earth 
at a distance of about 
one foot from each 
other. They are kept 
together by two poles 
running along the top, 
and alternating with 
the piles, as represent¬ 
ed by the annexed fig- 
Fig. 108. ure. The work is to be 
done late in autumn or early in spring; the stakes take root 
and grow; and by sending up lateral branches, soon for 
m a solid and permanent fence. Twisting and interweav¬ 
ing the branches, is an essential part of the operation. 
The use of a crowbar to make the holes in the earth, 
greatly facilitates the work. One hand will make, when 
the materials are convenient, from ten to twelve rods of 
such fence in a day. 
HORTICULTURAL ITEMS. 
Roses. —Some idea may be formed of the extent of the 
cultivation of ornamental plants by the nurserymen of Eng¬ 
land, from the fact, that at the ceiebrated Sawbridgeworth 
Nursery, owned by T. Rivers, a single “ quarter of dwarf 
roses budded this year, contains 80,000 plants; and that 
in the same nursery, twenty-four persons were constantly 
occupied in budding roses, during the whole of the 
month of August. 55 
Specific food of Plants —It is well known that salt 
has been sometimes recommended for the destruction 
of weeds in gravel walks, and that most plants are de¬ 
stroyed by heavy doses. There are some plants, on the 
contrary, which bear large quantities of it,—among 
which is the Polygonum aviculare , a weed well known in 
this country as well as in England, as growing in paths 
and frequented places. A gentleman in Scotland, accord¬ 
ing to the Gardener's Chronicle, in attempting to destroy 
the weeds in the drive through his park, by the use of 
salt, so increased this weed, that the road was literally 
rendered green by it. 
Transplanting the White Pine _Three years 
ago, a neighbor went half a day’s journey and procured 
about 60 young trees of the white pine, from three to six 
feet high, for the ornament of his grounds. The trees 
were taken up and set out with ordinary care, with the 
removal of no soil upon the roots. Only two of them 
are now living, and one of these is in quite a doubtful 
state, as to life or death. About the same time, the 
writer procured fifteen trees of the same species, from 
five to twelve feet high, removing with them a large 
cake of earth, (not frozen) sufficient to keep them steady 
in the wind without staking. All of them are now liv¬ 
ing, and most of them growing vigorously. 
Californian Plants —.The celebrated botanist, Hart- 
weg, has been sent out this fall by the London Horticul¬ 
tural Society, to explore the ground which had just been 
commenced some years ago by David Douglass, before 
the death of that eminent individual. Hartweg is tospend 
three years in California, aud many handsome plants 
will doubtless be added to those already in cultivation. 
FLOWER CASES.—(Fig. 109.) 
A portable green-house, called from the name of the 
inventor, Wai’d’s Cases, has lately been brought into use 
in the neighborhood of London. It consists of a box or 
trough for holding the soil, made of zinc, covered with 
a frame set with glass, high enough to admit of the free 
growth of the plants, somewhat in the shape of a bird¬ 
cage. The cases being tight, keep in the moisture; and 
the plants, though standing in a very dry room, have all 
the advantages of a moist atmosphere. The cases also 
prevent injury from sudden changes of temperature, and 
afford considerable protection from frost; they also keep 
the plants perfectly free from dust. 
There should be one hole in the bottom of the zinc 
trough to let off the surplus water. A door admits en¬ 
trance to the case. When exposed daily to a few hours 
of sun, the plants do perfectly well for iveeks without any 
attention whatever, the moisture of the soil being en¬ 
tirely prevented by the glass casing from evaporation. 
The whole may stand.upon a table, and no pots being 
needed for the plants to stand in, the beautiful appear¬ 
ance of a miniature conservatory is presented. 
The bottom should first be lined wdth broken earthen¬ 
ware, and then turfy loam to admit drainage. The hole 
for the egress of water, after being left open for twenty- 
four hours, may then be closed, having by that time, al¬ 
lowed enough to pass off. 
Such plants are said to do best as grow naturally in 
moist and shady situations. Among those which have 
succeeded finely, are crocuses, winter aconite, the vari¬ 
ous cactuses, aloes, primroses, begonias, anemones, myr¬ 
tles, jasmines. &c. 
Sir W. J. Hooker, an eminent British botanist, says in 
a letter to the inventor, {e Splendid as is the hot-house 
and green-house collection at Woburn Abbey, I doubt 
whether that gives more pleasure to the noble proprie¬ 
tors and their numerous visitors, than the beautiful little 
collection in Mr. Ward’s case, that occupies a table in 
the library, and flourishes without requiring the skill 
of the gardener in its cultivation.” 
As we republican Yankees cannot very well afford 
splendid green-houses, this must be the very thing we 
want. 
CUTTING HAY FOR STOCK. 
Mr. Thos. W. Ward, gives in the Massachusetts Plow¬ 
man, some important facts in regard to the utility of cut¬ 
ting hay for feeding cattle. He says he has for years 
practiced cutting hay for his horses, which, mixed with 
meal, he thinks far the best and cheapest feed they can 
have. He also finds a great advantage in cutting coarse 
hay and straw, which he says cattle will eat readily if 
cut fine and mixed with only a third part of good hay. 
He says, ‘ c to test the value of the cutter in point of good 
economy, I adopted the following method, viz: A fter hav¬ 
ing kept four oxen on long hay for some days, I weighed 
hay enough to keep them 24 hours. At the expiration of 
which I weighed what hay was left, together with what 
little remained in their crib, and found they had eaten 
104| lbs. of hay. Their excrement evacuated during 
the same time weighed 178| lbs.; exceeding the quan 
tity of hay by 78 lbs. They were kept in the barn al 
