THE CULTIVATOR. 
19 
iparts of the Soil. It seems also to possess the property ox collecting 
the acid of the air, and of forming with it a combination of great use 
in vegetation. Thus robbing the soil of its 'oily particles, it will in 
time render it barren, unless supported with manures of an oily na¬ 
ture.—Geo. Ess. p. 29. Its great use upon a sandy soil is, hy me¬ 
chanically binding the loose particles, and thereby preventing the li¬ 
quid parts of the manure from escaping out of the reach of the radical 
fibres of the plants.'— Id. 30. Upon clay the effect is different: for by 
means of the gentle fermentation it induces, the Unsubdhed soil is 
opened and divided; the manures laid on regularly, come in contact 
with every part of it, and the fibres of the plants have full liberty to 
spread themselves.— Id. 28. Although tve canbot describe all the soils 
that lime will operate beneficially upon, we can specify some upon 
which It does operate well. 1. Upon all soils, being drained, which, 
contain an abundance of ligneous or woody matter, as reclaimed’ 
swamps, and upon those containing insoluble vegetable matter, i. e. 
matters which will not dissolve in water, by reason of their chemical 
combination, quick lime will be beneficial, by rendering the inert mat¬ 
ter soluble, and fitting it to become the food of plants. 2. Upon all 
soils deficient in calcareous matter, or carbonate of lime, be they even 
stiff clays or porous sands, mild lime, or lime that has become satu¬ 
rated with carbonic acid, is unquestionably beneficial. It corrects the 
mechanical defects of clays and sands—renders manures more bene¬ 
ficial, and droughts less prejudicial. Quick lime soon becomes mild 
lime after it is commingled with the soil. As a general rule, carbo¬ 
nate of lime is beneficial upon all soils belonging to the primitive forma¬ 
tion, and to transition formations that are deficient in this earth. In 
the use of this mineral, we see the importance of knowing the con¬ 
stituents of soils. 
marl. 
Lime mixed with clay, comes nearest to marl of any fictitious body 
that we know of.— Geo. Ess. p. 28. Marl is generally a combination of 
clay and lime, as in blue and other clay containing this carbonate ; or 
of lime and sand, as in shell marl. The first is best fitted for a sand, 
the latter for a clay soil. 
MANURING 
Was held in such high estimation by the Romans, that immortality 
was given to Stuentius for the invention. They collected it from every 
source which has been thought of by the moderns, vegetable, animal 
and mineral, territorial, aquatic and marine. Animal dung was divided 
into three kinds, that which is produced by birds, by men, and by eatfle. 
Pigeon dung was preferred to all, and next human ordure and urine. 
Pigeon dung was applied _as a top-dressing ; and human dung, mixed 
with the cleanings of the villa, and with urine, was applied to the roots 
of the vine and olive. Dunghills were directed to be placed near the 
villa, their bottoms hollowed out to retain the moisture, and their sides 
and tops defended from the sun by twigs and leaves.— Enc. of Jig. p. 
25. Good farmers know how to prize and to economise the food for 
their animals—they save even the crumbs—but few, very few, are equal¬ 
ly careful of the food of vegetables, which are to feed and fatten their 
animals. What an astonishing quantity of the latter is disregarded or 
wasted upon our best managed farms. Every substance which has 
formed a part of a vegetable or an animal, however disgusting, is con¬ 
vertible into the food of vegetables. The urine of animals, which with 
us all runs to waste ; the dung of fowls, which we generally disregard; 
all vegetable and animal matters which taint the atmosphere; the filth 
about our dwellings, the refuse and slops of our kitchens, which are 
seldom husbanded; and the ashes from our hearths, all afford materials 
upon which plants live, grow and multiply their increase. Not a par¬ 
ticle of vegetable or animal matter is destructible. It may die, wither 
and rot—it may be reduced to a fluid, nay, a gaseous state—and be¬ 
come invisible to the eye—and yet it is not lost, not destroyed, however 
often it may change its form. These elements, controlled by natural 
laws, will again unite, assume an organic form, and become again parts 
of vegetables and animals. Truly “all flesh is but grass.” 
PRESERVING WHEAT FROM SMUT. 
The French chemists have multipled experiments to preserve wheat 
from the disease which is indiscriminately named blight, smut, &c. This 
is well ascertained to proceed from microscopic grains, or atoms of black 
dust, which germinate, reproduce themselves, and take possession of 
the ear. In the Bibliotliique Physico-Economique, liming, by immersion, 
is said to be the only preventive, warranted hy science, and sanctioned 
by experience. The directions given for this operation enjoin, that in 
order to destroy this germ in 4i bushels of wheat, six or seven gallons 
of water must be employed, according to the greater or less dryness of 
the grain, and from 2 lbs. 3 oz. to 2 lbs. 10 oz. of quick lime, according 
as its quality is more or less active, or to the greater or less degree of 
smut in the corn. Bale a part of the water, and slake the lime with it, 
after which add the remainder of the water. The heat of the whole of 
the liquid ought to be such as that we can with difficulty bear the hand 
in it. Then gently pour the lime water upon the grain placed in a tub, 
stirring it without ceasing, at first with a flat stick, and afterwards with 
a shovel. The litjuor should at first be three Or Four fingers breadth 
over the level of the wheat. Leave the grain to soak twenty-four hours, 
turning it five or six times, when it may be sown. 
Grain limed by immersion, does not incommode the sotver, like that 
which is limed in the ordinary way. It adheres like a varnish to the 
surface of the grain ; its germination is quicker, and, as it carries with 
it moisture enough to develop the embryo, the wheat will not suffer 
for want of rain; insects will not attack it, as they cannot bear the acrid 
taste of lime.—See Rep. of Arts, v. 34. The utility of lime in prevent¬ 
ing smut is well known to many of our farmers ; hut the mode of doing 
it by immersion, according to the above directions, has manifest ad¬ 
vantages over the common mode of using it in a dry state. 
GRAPE MET, 
The physicians of Geneva send some of their patients to the Pays de 
Vaud, during vintage, to take what is called a regular course of grapes 
—thaUs> to subsist three weeks entirely on this fruit, without taking any 
other food or drink. In a few days a grape diet becomes agreeable, and 
weak persons, and also the insane, have found great relief from sub¬ 
sisting on it for three or four weeks.— BakeweU’s Travels, v. 11, p. 206, 
We can add our own authority in confirmation of the utility of a grape 
diet. We have twice made grapes our almost entire food, from ten to 
fourteen days each time, when confined with a bilious fever. We ate 
them without stint—they were at no time ungrateful to the stomach, 
and we are satisfied they did us much good. Reader, have you planted 
a grape vine ? If not, do it the coming month. 
TO PROMOTE THE PUBERTY OF THE APPLE AND PEAR. 
John Williams planted seed in pots, in November, 1809, transplanted 
after midsummer in the following year, into the open ground—trans¬ 
planted again in the autumn of 1811, six feet apart—pruned away every 
winter the trifling lateral shoots, leaving the larger laterals at their full 
length to the bottom of the plants, and gave a good exposure to the sun. 
At the height of six feet the branches ceased to produce thorns. One 
yielded fruit at four years old, and several at five and six years.— Rep. 
of drts. 1819, p. 175. Repeated transplanting retards the growth of 
wood, and induces premature maturity in the plant—it converts, for want 
of abundant nourishment, wood buds into fruit buds. It is calculated to 
produce early bearing, but not to produce stately, long lived trees. Pre 
cocity in vegetables, as in animals, is rather indicative of short life. Fre¬ 
quent transplanting is often resorted to by the florist, in Order to induce 
plants to produce double flowers, or to produce an abundance of flow¬ 
ers, and it is found highly efficacious in the balsam, coxcomb, &c. It 
deranges the natural organization of plants, and produces monsters, a 
term applied by botanists to double flowers. It is by a process like the 
one pursued by Williams, that Knight so early obtains fruit from 
seeds, the blossoms of which he fecundates artificially, and it is to this 
that we are probably indebted for many of the fine fruits that enrich 
our tables, and for many of the gay flowers that embellish our gardens. 
THE EARTHS NOT FOOD FOR PLANTS. 
Giobert mixed together lime, clay/sand and magnesia, the true earths; 
in such proportions as are generally to be met with in fertile soils, and 
moistened them with water. Several different grains were then thrown 
into this artificial soil, which germinated indeed, hut did not thrive, and 
perished when the nourishment of the cotyledons—the lobes of the seeds 
—was. exhausted.— See. Enc. of Gard. p. 201. Hence it is neither 
earths, nor water, nor air, nor all combined, which afford the true food 
of plants—though all are essential agents in preparing and elaborating 
this food. It is vegetable and animal matters— dung —filthy dung—that 
feeds and fattens -the plants that administer to the wants and comforts 
off man and beast. 
A GOOD SOIL, 
According to Bergman, contains four parts of clay, three of sand, two 
of calcareous earth, and one of magnesia, and quantum sufficit of vege¬ 
table matter. In 400 grains of good soil, Fourcroy found 52 of water, 
sand 240, vegetable fibre 5, vegetable extract 3, clay 48, magnesia 2, 
oxide of iron 14, calcareous earth 30; loss 6.— Loudon, p. 200. The 
ability, in the farmer, to analyse his soils, would not only serve to dis¬ 
cover their defects, but would enable him often to correct them, at little 
cost, and to apply to them, with more certainty, the crops to which 
they are most suitably adapted. 
TIMBER. 
The best timber is that which is seasoned before it is cut down. If a 
tree be barked the year before it is cut down, the sap is expelled, and 
the alburnum is converted into wood in the course of the year .—Enc. 
of Gard.p. 174. 
URINE 
Is a highly fertilizing material. It may be used in the winter, says 
Gorrie, (Col. Hart. Soc. 11, 290,) on the currant and gooseberry—in 
summer upon all vegetables, diluted with two parts of water. In China 
it is solicited on the way side, of travellers, to enrich the soil. 
The Aphis. —There are many species of this insect, which infest va¬ 
rious plants; one of which is well known as the cabbage louse, and is 
