132 THE CULTIVATOR. 
WEEDS or AGRICULTURE.—No. II. 
6. Hariff. Known also by the names of Goose tongue, 
Cleavers, Cliders, Catch weed. Goose grass, fyc. 
Galium aparine.—Linn. 
Botanical Description. —Stem weak, branching', 
aculeate backwards. Leaves 6-8 in a whorl, linear lan¬ 
ceolate, mucronate, with the keel and margin rough with 
reflexed prickles. Fruit with hooked bristles. 
This is a very scrambling weed, and runs to the length 
of four or five, or even eight feet, increasing in weight 
of branches and foliage, as it obtains the light, and gets 
through whatever it grows with. It is usually found in 
deep, loose and mellow soils, especially those which are 
moist. It is seldom troublesome in clay soils. 
This weed, where it abounds, is one of the very worst 
kind. It increases excessively on loose deep soils, when 
once introduced. The flowers are white, small, and nu¬ 
merous, being situated on axillary and terminal pedun¬ 
cles. The seeds are didynous, roundish, with a channel 
on one side, as if rolled up. They are exceedingly 
rough, and adhere to whatever woolen stuff they touch, 
so as not to be easily dislodged. They are also heavy 
enough to resist dressing, and large enough to escape the 
screen. They are, moreover, the toughest of all seeds, 
and hence millers may well object to them, for if they 
be numerous, “ they will almost make the stones whis¬ 
tle.” In samples of oats they are abominable; horses 
can scarcely grind them. 
The best mode of destroying this weed, and indeed all 
annuals is, to encourage the seeds to vegetate and then 
to kill them with the plow. It may, however, be useful 
to some, to show by what rotation it may be effectually 
subdued. Suppose a quantity of this weed to grow with a 
crop of oats; after harvest, as rains come on, the scat¬ 
tered weeds will vegetate on the surface. This will be 
much encouraged by getting off the stubble and harrow¬ 
ing; and when the opportunity occurs, the land should 
be plowed a shallow tilth and again harrowed. Much 
surface rubbish may now be raked and carried off, and 
the land may then lie till spring. After spring seeding, 
plow this piece a seed furrow, pitch and harrow it: 
clean it from twitch and roots, and let it lie to be green 
over with annuals. It may then be manured, and the 
manure plowed under. After a little harrowing and 
hand-picking the twitch, the land may lie till you choose 
to sow it; the best crop is rape, if the land be light, 
which should be sown rather late, and perfectly well 
hoed and cleaned. The crop may be stocked with sheep 
in February, but it should not be eaten too close down. 
The surface, as the spring advances, is to be kept clean 
with hoes, and the rape is to stand to be threshed; after 
which the surface must be discharged of the stalks by 
pulling, and the land may be sown with wheat at once 
plowing. This crop may be cleaned with a little exer¬ 
tion, by weeding; and in the spring the land should be 
sowed with the best mixture of grass seeds that can be 
procured. Though light land does not suit wheat, espe¬ 
cially as to quality, yet depth and penetrability of subsoil 
will generally give you produce enough. It grows too 
tall and flaggy, and is easily brought down with wind and 
rain; but if it be clean it will make good seed for other 
soils; and you can by no other means obtain so much 
profit, without deteriorating the soil, by any other rotation 
of the crops. 
The same views might be beneficially extended, as 
they apply to the cultivation of dry black-mould land, of 
deep texture, having some dry peat remaining and a clay 
bottom, too far below to be plowed up, except in spots 
and patches. This land will by no means lie profitably 
in permanent grass, neither can any four fields of it be 
rendered convertible, because the continuance of plow¬ 
ing pulverises the soil to dust, and the encroachment of 
the couch requires much exertion to master it. 
The usual rotation in the drier part of fen lands, is ei¬ 
ther from paring or burning the grass surface for rape, 
eaten off with sheep, to oats the second year, and wheat 
the third year; or Heligoland beans after rape and wheat 
the third year. If with the wheat, the land were re¬ 
turned to grass, no fault ought to be found; but the cul¬ 
tivator will not part with the arable system so soon. Af¬ 
ter wheat he goes to fallow, and here begin the powder 
and the weeds. Fourth year fallow, rape; oats the fifth 
year, and then wheat and grass seeds. No management 
on earth can subdue weeds on light deep soils upon such 
a plan. Those which naturally prevail in the soil, and 
such as may be sown with the crops, are perfectly tri¬ 
umphant. Horse hoeing is here impracticable, the soil 
being so light; hand hoeing and weeding have been fol¬ 
lowed, to the expense of five or six and twenty shillings 
an acre, without being able to clean the crop. The 
mode adopted is to get a thick crop of corn if possible, 
and when the crop is a foot high or more, to put weed- 
ers in it, who break off and crop and batter down the 
biggest of the weeds, and leave the others to contend 
with the crop as nature and the season may rule. As to 
hariff, where it abounds, they sometimes drag the crop 
(if wheat,) with a horse drag. Sometimes the weeders 
make themselves short rakes, and scratch and tear the 
crop in pieces, as well as the weeds. These methods 
never did much good; for that which pulls the corn, 
away, opens the path for weeds to grow again. Where 
patches of this weed grow through a thick crop of wheat 
in the spring, nothing better can be done than to crop off 
the superior shoots within the wheat leaves, and leave 
the wheat crop as entire as possible, to smother the 
plants below. 
But after a great deal of experience, which I have had 
in the cultivation of dry-bottomed and deep black mold 
lands, I recommend short rotations of cropping between 
longer intervals of grass lay. Nothing else can subdue 
the weeds, which are so numerous and rampant in such 
soils. 
7. Black Bindweed. Climbing Buckwheat. Also 
called in some places Bearbind, or simply Bindweed. 
Polygonum convolvulus.—Linn. 
Botanical Description_ Stem long, climbing, an¬ 
gular, somewhat rough. Leaves petioled, oblong, has¬ 
tate-cordate, with the lobes spreading and acute. Flow¬ 
ers in lax spikes, octandrous. Styles three-cleft. Seg¬ 
ments of the perianth bluntly keeled. 
This annual is found in cultivated grounds in various 
parts of the United States. It is often a companion to 
the preceding: in the same soils in which it has been in¬ 
troduced by sowing, it runs to as great a length, getting 
above the corn that is laid and covering the crop by 
patches. The flowers, which appear in various districts 
from June to September, are white or reddish, and are 
arranged in terminal interrupted spikes or racemes. 
The seeds are brown, triangular, hard and smooth, and 
are quite as nutricious as buckwheat. They are heavy 
and large enough to resist dressing, and in wheat sam¬ 
ples are objected to for the same reason as those of 
cockle. In oafs they are really no objection to the buy¬ 
er, horses being very fond of them. The farmer, how¬ 
ever, has good reason to stand in fear of this weed, on 
account of the destruction which it brings to his crops, 
and the injury done to the samples. 
8. Shepherd’s Needle. This is also known in Eng¬ 
land by the names of Venus’ comb, Needle chervil, Beggar’s 
needle, and Crow needles. 
SCANDIX PECTEN.-LlNN. 
Botanical Description. Fruit nearly smooth, with 
a bristly edged beak. Umbels simple, solitary or in 
pairs. Bracteas jagged. Petals indexed at the point. 
This is a bushy and troublesome annual, especially in 
barley crops. It flowers from June to September. The 
seeds are long and bent, of a rough texture and brown 
color. They are seldom seen in samples of wheat, be¬ 
ing a little short of growth; but barley, being mown, 
must necessarily be infested if they be in the crop, for no 
dressing can separate them. 
This weed has not been introduced to any extent into 
the United States. 
QUEEN BEES—-LICE IN POULTRY HOUSES. 
Friends Gaylord & Tucker —On looking over the 
Cultivator for this month, I observe, under the head 
“ Queen Bees,” that Henry Palmer denies the existence 
of a queen bee. Remembering a circumstance which 
occasioned me to have a different opinion, I will relate 
it for the information of inquirers. 
I had two swarms of about equal age and strength; one 
of them swarmed twice; the other had the appearance 
of being ready to swarm when the first swarm came out 
as above; and although the bees continued to be outside 
for two or three weeks, yet no swarm came off. One 
morning as I was looking at the two swarms, which 
stood near each other on the same stand, admiring what 
coul be the cause of the difference, out came the queen 
bee (according to the description I had read of them T ) 
from the hive that had swarmed twice; and having no 
wish for that to swarm again, and apprehending there 
was a deficiency of queens in the other hive, I caught her, 
and placed her at the door of the said hive, where she 
run in, and in about an hour, a very large swarm came 
off, which was hived and did well. 
I also noticed in the same paper, sassafras wood and 
leaves, recommended to prevent poultry from being in¬ 
fested with what is called hen lice, which I approve and 
use; but a more effectual method of killing these insects, 
is to burn the hen house, I had almost said; I proceed as 
follows: I take a bunch of hay or straw, tie it to a pole 
of suitable length to reach the highest part of the hen 
house; this I set fire to, and while blazing I move it 
gently around the walls, roof, and roosting places, which 
I repeat about three times during the warm season; at first 
I used the precaution to keep a pail of water by me, but I 
now find it unnecessary, as it is done effectually without 
any risk. I speak from twelve years experience, and 
remain your friend. Rob’t Sinclair. 
Clairmount Nursery, near Baltimore, July 11, 1842. 
ST. MOOR FARM. 
Editors of the Cultivator —Distinction is natural 
to the pride of man, and it should be the peculiar care 
of the tillers of the soil, to allow the well earned claim 
to it of every member of this noble employment, who 
has improved the art, added to the mass of information 
on the subject, or set an example worthy the imitation 
of a neighborhood, a county, a state, or a nation. 
The extraordinary results of judicious management on 
the farm, designated by the name at the head of this arti¬ 
cle, in a brief period, well deserves to be recorded in the 
pages of the “ Cultivator,” the chronicle of the Agricul¬ 
turist. This farm contains about 1,400 acres, and is the 
patrimony of Philip St. Geo. Ambler, Esq. the present 
proprietor. When he took possession of it, it consisted 
of little else than abrupt red hills, abounding in gullies, 
many of them very formidable in extent. These hills 
were separated, with three or four exceptions, by narrow 
vallies of great original fertility to be sure, but which 
for many consecutive years had been the receptacle of the 
earth washed from the adjacent hills, which had buried 
the generous soil far too deep for the touch of the plow 
share. Situated in a tobacco country, the land had been 
cleared wherever the soil was found adapted to this plant, 
and much injury had been thereby done to the conve¬ 
nience and appearance of the fields. The buildings were 
all in the most dilapidated condition—more than a third 
of the open land had been turned out—the stock of all 
kinds had deteriorated, and the crops were barely equal 
to the support of the farm. This state of things continu¬ 
ed until 1834, when Mr. Ambler employed Mr. James 
F. Satterwhite, of Goochland co. Va., to whom he con¬ 
fided the exclusive management. Mr. Satterwhite in¬ 
troduced the five shift system—three horse plows—and a 
liberal use of clover seed and plaster. As soon as cir¬ 
cumstances permitted, he commenced making manure, 
and has ever since been applying this indispensable, in 
immense quantities. This system, with the exercise of 
extraordinary judgment in the management and appli¬ 
cation of the labor on which he relied, indefatigable 
perseverance, untiring zeal, and unremitted attention, 
have in eight years rendered this farm one of the most 
productive highland farms in Virginia. 
In 1834, the crop of wheat including seed, amounted to 
six hundred bushels. In 1839, the crop, exclusive of 
seed, (upwards of 300 bush.) amounted to two thousand 
six hundred bushels; this latter quantity was actually de¬ 
livered in the mill. Every part of the farm, not in cul¬ 
tivation, is now covered with luxuriant grasses. The 
crops of tobacco, corn, and oats, have increased in pro¬ 
portion. The stock of all kinds, (especially the cattle, 
sheep, and hogs,) has improved as rapidly as the land; 
and a very handsome brick dwelling house has been 
erected during Mr. Ambler’s recent tour through Europe, 
which commenced in August, 1839, and terminated in 
September, 1841. 
Whatever may be thought of these results, in sections 
of our country where agriculture is more advanced, they 
are admitted to be unequaled in this vicinity, and therefore 
are thought worthy of record in your valuable periodical, 
by a farmer in the neighborhood, who is also your 
Lynchburg, Va. April 20, 1842. Subscriber. 
PREPARING FOOD FOR SWINE, &c. 
Among the various modes of preparing food for fatten¬ 
ing swine, I do not recollect seeing in “ The Cultivator,” 
the favorite plan of the writer of this note, viz: That of 
having all kinds of meal from grain intended for fatting- 
hogs, instead of boiling or steaming, put into water in 
vats or tubs of sizes in proportion to the number fatting, 
and there remain until fermentation takes place, before 
feeding out to the swine—not giving any meal to hogs 
or pigs, until this acid fermentation is observable. In 
this state I have never known swine to become cloyed 
by overeating, however freely fed. On farms where 
cheese is made, I have found, as I apprehend, not only 
a safety but profit in putting the new whey into the vat 
where this process was going on. The consistency 
of this preparation, I think, should not exceed that of 
good cream. In this way I have seen swine fatten faster 
than from meal given in any other form, and seen less 
marks of food having passed the animal undigested, 
which is often visible when food of a farinacious kind is 
freely given, unprepared; and I may add, according to my 
experience, (though on a very limited scale,) the most 
profitable. 
The Yankees of New-England have long since disco¬ 
vered, that the point of an old scythe, rendered unfit for 
mowing grass, by long usage, or broken by accident, 
sixteen or eighteen inches long, attached to a handle of 
wood, at right angles, or somewhat obtuse, serves all 
the purposes for cutting up corn, that the more formida¬ 
ble machine proposed by our Virginia farmer would— 
and almost without expense. A Farmer of R. I. 
CULTURE OF POTATOES. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —Gen. Beatson’s expe¬ 
riments, (page 109 current vol. of the Cultivator,) in 
planting potatoes, show decisively that potatoes planted 
six inches deep yield the best; how can that be done un¬ 
less the ground is plowed six or eight inches deep, as I 
stated in my article to you some time ago should be done? 
Your correspondent L. B. L., under the head of Philo 
Commentator, seems greatly surprised at my plowing the 
enormous depth of six or eight inches. From my prac¬ 
tice, I am satisfied that manure should be mixed well 
with the soil, to the depth of six or eight inches, for po¬ 
tatoes; but for winter grain it should be left near the sur¬ 
face, and a less quantity will answer; but where I am 
located, winter grain is not profitable, wheat is an un¬ 
certain crop, and rye is not worth raising. The average 
value of an acre of good potatoes here, for several years 
past, has been eighty dollars; they are raised for the 
New-York market. I sold my crop last fall for $1,12£ 
the barrel, (the barrels returned,) that being forty cents 
the bushel. I raise the mercers, the rohans will not sell 
in the New-York market, and the kidneys will not grow 
here. I plant one potatoe in a hill, about the size of a 
hen’s egg; 500 will make a bushel, if they are planted 
two and a half feet apart in squares; that will make about 
7,000 hills to the acre, of course it will take 14 bushels 
to plant an acre; too much seed produces small potatoes, 
the marketable size is more profitable than a greater num¬ 
ber of bushels of small ones, as we do not raise them for 
feeding cattle or hogs; we feed out the small ones only, 
and the fewer we have of them the better. Different 
soils and locations require different management, and we 
must not expect one system of farming will answer every 
where; our soil and location must be considered before 
we commence the operations of agriculture. 
Yours, &c. Tyler Fountain. 
