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"Unstratified, or Rocks of igneous origin.-Occurring in masses, having been protruded in a melted state from below.

"The arrangement into these two classes is here adopted, as appearing to possess the highest probability, from the present state of geological facts and researches.

"Primitive Stratified.-Inferring from multiplied facts, it has been supposed that at the formation of the globe, the chemical affinities of the different elementary metals and gases having been permitted to come into action at the surface, the primitive strata appear to have been arranged by the agency of water, according to their gravities in concentric layers, forming the first hard envelop or crust betwixt the superincumbent water and atmosphere, and the interior; their crystalline structure is considered to have been principally caused by the heat of the fused masses of granite which afterwards came in contact with them. Their period of formation is considered to be prior to the creation of organic beings, as they contain no petrified remains.

foregoing specimens and remarks, it is hoped, will make more plain
the rationale of the general cultivation of the soil. Thus, among
many other deductions, it is obvious-
"1. That plants should have a regular supply of available food.
Hence the primary advantage of thorough drainage, in retentive soils,
as it enables plants readily to take up that food which the old system
only lays before them, and then leaves them to pick a scant subsistence
in regions of constant chill and suffocation.

“2. That_pulverization, by ploughing, &c. highly promotes the growth of plants; as it affords their roots a free range, increases the power of retaining water by capillary attraction, and thus ensures a more extended and regular supply. Deepening the soil and using the subsoil plough powerfully augments the same advantages; this last improvement at once converting the adverse and retentive subsoil into a drain in time of wet, and a reservoir in time of drought, and ultimately into good soil. "The Primitive Unstratified.-The combustible elements being thus "3. The replenishing the soil with organic matter, in the shape of pent up, as it were, under the first envelop, and having but partial ac-manure, is absolutely necessary for the production of the extractive cess to water, perhaps through the still porous strata, yet enough for juice for plants. Naturally they furnish this for themselves, by decay ignition and expansion, and hence, in melted masses, upheaving, twist-of their previously existing substance; but, in cultivation, as continuing, and protruding through the primitive strata, shifted them in many ed cropping and carrying off the produce, without manuring, would cases from the horizontal to their present nearly vertical position; and soon reduce their fare to earths alone. thus elevating a great part of the earth's surface above the circumfluent water, caused the first dry land and mountain chains.

"Secondary Stratified. In this arrangement are included all the rocky strata that have been deposited since the first breaking up of the primitive, many fragments of which are imbedded in the earlier formations; these strata are of partial extent only, and appear to have been formed in the beds of seas and oceans now laid dry. They contain many petrifactions, and are more earthy in aspect than the primitive. "The Secondary Unstratified, are those rocks the results of succes. sive eruptions which have taken place since the creation of organic beings till the present time. An extended projection of these in a time of intense volcanic action is considered to have been the proximate cause of the deluge, by elevating the bed of the ocean and depressing of the primeval land. They often occur in veins as well as masses, which gives them the appearance of beds, but when traced out they are found soon to pass up or down into a different stratification.

"Alluvial Strata here includes the more recent formations caused by the breaking down and decomposition of previously existing rocks, by the agency of water and air, and which rest upon and form a cover to the rocky strata.

"4. That the value of soils must depend much on their power of retaining the essential nourishment, and serving it out liberally, and yet with economy, as vegetation requires it. Heavy clays retain, but do not part with it liberally. Light sands and gravels neither retain nor serve it out with economy. By daly mixing these, the requisite power is communicated in the most perfect manner. Clay and sand are often found not far distant. Lime assists in either case; and by attention to constituent parts, other strata may be made available; so that in many cases this fundamental improvement of the constitution and texture of soils may be easily effected, yielding a greatly increased ratio of production, with a decreased ratio of outlay. "Arrangement of Soils.-Agreeably to their constitution and texture, in reference to the last mentioned powers and to cultivation, being the chief practical points of view, soils are arranged into"1. Heavy.-Tenacious and adhesive in texture, heavy to work.— Spec. clayey.

"2. Medium.-Betwixt heavy and light, exercising the due medium in nourishment, medium to work in part, but in whole requiring least labor and expense.-Spec. medium.

"3. Light.-Open and porous in texture, light to work. Spec. sandy, gravelly, peaty.

"An advanced stage of fertility of any one of them is the loam of that kind or name. In describing any soil the comparative degree of fertility may be given, thus:-Poor clayey soil, clayey soil, and clayey loam, and so on of the others, giving also the kind of subsoil. When chalk abounds, the term chalky or calcareous, and when oxide of iron, the term ferruginous is included; and in a full description, the degree of

"Subsoils.-The stratum immediately underneath the soil is either retentive, not permitting water to pass through freely, as clay, close beds of rock, &c. or porous, permitting water to pass through freely, as sand, open rocky, &c. A knowledge of the constituent earths of the different strata, becomes, in the department of subsoils, of very great importance to the cultivator, as it would enable him at once to discriminate what may, and what may not be taken into the soil free-depth, dryness, or wetness." ly; thus the red calcareous or limy sand, is very like the red silicious sand; and farmers removing from a district where they had taken up the former to their great profit, have, in another district, taken up the latter to their great loss.

PLANTING.-No. III.

The following memoranda, regarding the gathering, preserving and sowing the seeds of forest trees, we trust will be found useful to all: "Earths alone, according to most physiologists, are of little other MAGNOLIA.-The cucumber tree (M. acuminata) is indigenous in the use to plants than as affording a medium for fixing themselves by their southwestern counties of New-York. It is ornamental and grows to roots, and for distributing their proper nourishment. The mixtures of the size of a timber tree. Its wood is used in cabinet work and by the these earths are various, as the rocks and minerals, by whose decom-house joiner. The seed ripens in September, and should be sown as position and crumbling down, they have been produced. Silica, exist- soon as ripe, in a well prepared peat and sand soil; and if not then ing chiefly under the modification of sand, alumina under that of clay; sown, should be mixed, when dry, with dry peat earth, and in this way and lime, as chalk, or carbonate, constitute the principal earths; mag-kept or transported. The other species of the Magnolia are either nesia and iron oxide in lesser quantity; other oxides and salts, in this merely ornamental or are too tender for our latitude. general view, not particularized.

66 Organic matter alone, or decaying vegetable and animal matter, being the principal source of nourishment to plants; the excessive ac cumulation of vegetable matter, however, in cultivated wastes, forms, with water, inert peat, occasioning barrenness.

"Water, having in solution extract, or juice from organic matter, being the nourishment absorbed by the roots of plants, in some degree as animals feed by their mouths, while at the same time they inhale with it air, as animals by their lungs. Part of it is in a sponge, which is only half charged, to show the manner in which soils should hold the solution, in order that plants, not naturally aquatics, may avail themselves of it; holding it by what is called capillary attraction -the soil being moist but not wet. The necessary air is excluded when soils are saturated with water, and when too dry, there is no solution-no food; in the one case plants are starved, in the other, are drowned.

“Earths, organic matter, water and air, or proper active soil. The

* De Candolle is of opinion that the function of transmitting air attends through the whole of the vascular system.

LINDEN (Tillia) or lime, or bass wood. There are two American and several European species of this tree. The red twigged, and some other European species, are extensively employed to embellish our towns and country seats. Sow the seed in autumn, in a shady border of light moist soil. The Linden is extensively propagated by layers. For this purpose the bole is taken off at the surface of the ground, which causes a multiplicity of sprouts to spring from the stool, and the second year these may be laid, will take root, and may be taken off and planted.

MAPLE (Acer)-The sugar and soft maples are the most common and best to plant. The latter is one of the most rapid growing and hardy trees of our forest. The seeds of the first may be gathered in autumn, and immediately sown, in a bed of light mould; or, which is better, mixed with double their bulk of pulverized earth, laid upon the surface, and covered with an inch or two of mould, till the succeeding fall, and then sown-as they seldom grow before the second year. The seeds of the soft maple ripen in the last of May. If sown immediately after being gathered, they will vegetate quickly, and make plants the same season ten to twenty-four inches high. Both kinds seed abundantly.

WALNUTS. (Juglans)-This genera includes the Maderia nut (J. Regia) black walnut (J. nigra) and butternut (J. cinneria.) Preserve the seed carefully and sow early in spring. The black walnut is peculiarly suited for planting. It grows rapidly, and makes a valuable material for the best cabinet and joiner's work. It abounds in western New-York, Ohio, &c. It has grown with us nearly 40 feet, from the seed, in fourteen years. The juglans does best in a moist soil. We shall speak particularly of the mode of preserving seeds in our next number. HONEY LOCUST (Gleditschia triacanthos) is indigenous in the west, grows quick, and is readily propagated by seeds, which are best preserved in their pods, and sown in the spring. This is hardly worth raising, except for ornament or hedges, and even for the latter purpose its usefulness is not yet fully established.

COMMON LOCUST (Robina psuedo-acacia.)-Sow at the time of planting corn, in drills two feet apart, in well prepared ground, having first swelled the seeds by pouring upon them scalding water. This is one of the most profitable trees that can be propagated. It multiplies readily by sprouts, grows rapidly on most soils, and is highly valuable in naval architecture and for various purposes of the farm. It will bear cutting over every twenty or twenty-five years. ASH (Fraxinus.)-The white and black are the most common and valuable, and both have abundance of seeds. The first prefers a dry, the latter a moist soil. Gather the seed as soon as ripe, in autumn, and dry in a cool airy loft. Sow in April in a bed of well prepared mould; the plants will appear the following spring; or, sow immedi. ately when fresh gathered, and many seeds will vegetate the ensuing spring. The timber of the ash is extensively used in the mechanic arts, and for farm purposes. We are sorry to add, that some white ash of our planting have been attacked and destroyed by a borer, or

worm.

OAK (Quercus)-There are many valuable American species. A rich loam, with a clayey subsoil, brings the oak to the greatest perfection, but it may be profitably cultivated in almost any description of soil, except boggy and peaty. Sow the beginning of November; or if deferred until spring, spread the acorns upon a cool dry floor, to prevent their sprouting or heating.

BEECH (Fagus) Abounds in most of the northern states, is much used in the mechanic arts, and affords excellent building timber and fuel. Sow in autumn or spring, in a sandy soil. The seeds often require protection from field mice and other vermin.

Note well, that all seeds of trees, not sown when gathered, should be dried in an airy situation, before they are packed for transportation or spring use, and some require then to be packed with dry sand or peat earth, lest they become rancid, and lose their germinating power. CHESNUT (Castania)-The only forest species are the common and the Spanish, and the latter is believed to be too tender for this latitude, though it succeeds well on York Island. The growth of this tree is rapid, and the uses to which the timber is applied on the farm are various and important. Large tracts are appropriated to its growth in Pennsylvania for charcoal. It will bear cutting over once in fifteen years for this purpose. A friend informed us, that a chesnut tree was cut, in his youth, to supply shingles for a barn; that when the shingles were decayed so far as that the barn required re-shingling, the sprouts which had grown from the old sump had grown so large as to furnish shingles for this purpose. A sandy loam produces the chesnut in the greatest perfection, though it grows well in clayey soils, if free from stagnant moisture. The seeds may be sown in early spring, and may be preserved in dry earth during winter. Michaux recommends that they be kept in earth in a cellar, where they will sprout before planting time.

PLANE (Platanus) or button wood tree. Sow the seeds immediately after they are gathered. The plane is also propagated by layers or cuttings. It prefers a moist loam, and grows rapidly. ELM-(Ulmus)-The seed of the elm falls from the 20th to 30th May. It should be immediately gathered and sown in drills, in well prepared soil. It often grows 18 to 24 inches the first year. We have gathered the seed of the elm, soft maple and plane tree (the latter of the preceding year's growth) on the 25th and 28th of May, sown immediately, and had fine plants the same season.

WHITEWOOD (Lyriodendrum tulipefera) or tulip tree, is one of the most magnificent trees of our forest, whether we regard size, or the beauty of its foliage and flowers; and it is also a valuable timber tree. We lately measured a log of this tree at Lockport, and found it 6 feet 2 inches in diameter. Michaux speaks of one which measured 22 feet 6 inches in circumference. The seeds may be gathered and sown like those of the linden.

CONE-BEARING TREES.

These are the pines, firs, larches, &c. which may be beneficially cultivated in plantations, in belts or clumps, for shelter, ornament or timber. The larch and Scotch fir, in particular, are extensively and profitably planted in Great Britain and Flanders, for forest timber. The

Beeds are enveloped in the scales of the cone, where they are best pre served till wanted for use, but from which it is difficult to extract some kinds of them. If thrown into an oven of moderate temperature, the scales open, and the seeds are separated with a flail. But where this is done, the seeds should be afterwards gathered in a heap, and slightly sprinkled with water, that they may imbibe the moisture of which they have been artificially deprived, and which seems essential to the preservation of the vegetating principle. To extract the seeds from some of the large compact cones, it is common first to split them into halves or quarters, by driving a spike or sharp piece of wood into the pith of the cone, at the butt end.

FRENCH AGRICULTURE.

Agricultural improvement is receiving a new and vigorous impetus, from the active labors of eminent men in science and practice, associ ates of the Royal and Central Society of France. Science has been long made subservient to the improvement of the manufacturing and mechanic arts of that country; but it was not until recently that asso ciations of learned men directed their knowledge to the improvement of her agriculture, the primary source of national prosperity and greatness. In the sitting in April, M. Passy, minister of commerce and public works, presiding, prizes were awarded to the amount of several thousand francs, for improvements in agriculture, as for draining, for works, memoirs and observations on the veterinary practice, for plantations of the mulberry tree, and on various agritultural improvements, Among the prizes awarded, we observe mention made of the splendid work on agriculture, 2 vols. quarto, of Olivier of Serres, an edition of which has been printed at the expense of the society. A gold medal was awarded to M. Graux, for having obtained, in his flock, a new race of sheep, with soft glossy wool, which he has succeeded, by continual pains for six years, to preserve and multiply in its purity.

The prizes advertised for future competition, indicate an enlightened policy, which looks to the substantial improvement of French agricul ture. They embrace, among other, the following objects:The introduction, into the different cantons, of new species of nutritive herbage.

Biographical notices of theoretical farmers, cultivators or writers, worthy of being better known for the services they have rendered to agriculture. Translations of foreign works of merit on domestic and rural economy, For memoirs, &c. on veterinary medicine, and on irrigation-and for artesian wells.

For plantations of the apple and pear into cantons where they are not grown; for plantations of mulberry trees; for draining; for nurseries and plantations of cork trees; and for the propagation of good species of fruit trees by means of nurseries. To the last object, a prize of 1,000 francs and two gold medals, are to be awarded in 1848. For the discovery of a simple and cheap means, within the power of small cultivators, to preserve wheat from the attacks of insects, a prize of 1,000 francs. For the discovery of means to arrest the ravages of insects in grain already attacked, 500 francs. For good observations upon the natural history of these insects, medals of gold, silver, and works on agriculture.

The prizes offered for improvements in the beet culture, and the fabrication of beet sugar, as stated in our last, amount to eight or ten thousand francs. The franc, our readers will recollect, is about 18 cents.

From the report of M. Bodin, vice-secretary, we make the follow. ing extracts, which may afford useful hints to our exclusively wheat or tobacco farmers:

stuffs, of wheat, above all, considered as the almost exclusive means "In times not very remote from our own, the production of bread of human subsistence, was, so to speak, the only object of agriculture, and that was an object not always actually obtained. Even yet, in many quarters, the idea of agriculture is associated almost exclusively with the plough; with waving fields of wheat; with harvests ready to fall beneath the sickle of the reaper. Artificial meadows were then unknown. Stock was rare, because the spontaneous herbage on which their chief dependance was for subsistence, was rare also. The pota. to, still neglected in many places, was far from being supposed capable of furnishing a fifth part of the subsistence of a great nation! The introduction of esculent roots was then very far from being regarded as the commencement of a struggle with grasses and grain, in which the former are already half victorious. The soil exhausted by the too rapid succession of the crops of corn, was fast tending to the lowest degree of sterility.

But in the labors, as in the institutions of mankind, the evil often makes its appearance by the side of the remedy. The reduction of the price of wheat, accruing from its almost exclusive cultivation for human subsistence, became so excessive, as to counterbalance the ef fect of all that had been previously attempted for the amelioration of

agriculture. When we consider this reduction of price accompanied || mach well, in order to make it go down. After receiving this medi. with the consequences which have sprung from it in our own times, it cine it must be made to walk about, until such time as the swelling may well be made a question, whether we ought rather to regard it as begins to subside. an evil or a blessing; or rather as a fact inherent in the nature of things, than a result which should excite any profound inquietude?" Draining. The importance of under-draining, to health, where lands • "Agriculture, then, if it would avoid the periodical phenomenon are flat and possess a retention subsoil, to say nothing of the benefits to which I have alluded, and from which it has suffered so extensively, which draining imparts to culture, is well explained in the following must seek other sources of profit than the culture of bread stuffs extract, which we make from M. Puvis. alone." "The water with which the soil is inundated, not being able to es "The beet root has come, at length, to sanction the scientific pre-cape in any direction, [the surface being level, and the subsoil too comdictions which were made of its capabilities, and the hopes to which pact for its passage down,] remains there [upon the subsoil] in a state they gave rise are in a rapid train of realization. The beet root is at of stagnation, the general principle of the corruption of water. It last becoming a great, an incalculable source to French agriculture forms them in the soil a kind of interior marsh; the sun and the dry. and industry, and never, of all the plants of the earth, has any vege-ness of the air exhale a part. These waters, motionless, diminished, table produced for France and Europe, so extensive and so beneficent heated by the san in the warmth of the long summer days, ferment, a revolution. I will not repeat here all that has been said upon this become altered, and are sometimes so much corrupted as to become result. It is but fifteen years since Vicompt de Morel Vende, present- black. They are then an unwholesome drink for men; and at the ed the beet root, which had just then been so warmly recommended for same time the exhalations of a soil impregnated with corrupted water, its properties, by Chaptal-presented it, I say, as the best possible becomes unhealthy, as those of the borders of marshes, of ponds, and substitute for following, in a quadriennial succession of crops; and of all lands temporarily inundated and which the summer sun strikes that skilful agronomist (agronome) thus combined the universal im- upon, after the waters are drawn off. Thus among the inhabitants of a provement of our agriculture with the fabrication of indigenous sugar. district, in the midst of an atmosphere mixed with deleterious exhalaIf then, we would improve our land and our culture, we ought to culti-tions, numerous intermittent fevers occur, without the necessity of the vate the beet, even if it yielded us none of the rich product of sugar. appearance of any marshes or ponds in the country." It is, therefore, that the Royal Society of Agriculture has deemed that it was rendering a signal service to the country, in seeking to propagate the culture of the beet root-in making it a general and common property of the soil, where natural circumstances would permit, and in introducing, even to the smallest rural establishments, by the aid of processes which experience ought to simplify still more, the fabrication of indigenous sugar."-[See for the entire report, Journal of the Ame-1 in 10 arrive at 80 years of age, of the general population of London rican Institutes for June 1836.]

DISEASES OF SHEEP, &c.

Effects of Temperance. We find from the Register of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, that as a consequence of their temperance, one-half of those that are born, live to the age of 47 years; whereas Dr. Price tells us, that of the general population of London, half that are born live only two years and three-quarters. Among the Quakers, only 1 in 40. Never did a more powerful argument support the practice of temperance and virtue.

For the foot rot in Sheep.-Take alum, green vitriol and white mer- Potato Hoe.-We are much pleased with a new cast iron malleable cury, the first in the largest proportion; dissolve them in water, and potato hoe, or hook, manufactured and presented to us by Messrs. after the hoof is pared, anoint it with a feather, and bind on a Thorp and Adams, of Oak Hill, Green county. It has four prongs, rag all over the foot. The Middlesex shepherds use the green vitriol which are round, and equally well adapted to digging potatoes, or to alone, after pounding it fine. Others again anoint with a feather dip-hoeing or loosening the earth about gardens or field crops. These ped in aqua fortis, or weak nitric acid. The drovers to Smithfield car-hoes are for sale at Thorburn's, at 50 cents each. ry a bottle of this with them, to apply to lame sheep. It hardens the hoof, and enables the sheep to travel better. Another mode is to spread 3 or 4 inches slaked lime over a floor, pare the sheep's feet well, and turn them into this house, where they may remain for a few hours, and then be put into a dry pasture. The treatment may be twice or thrice repeated.

To prevent the foot rot.-Keep the sheep in dry pastures, and if stony the better; examine them often and carefully; and when any fissures or cracks, attended with heat, make their appearance, apply oil of turpentine and common brandy. When these do not avail, wash the diseased part, and pare as close as possible without drawing blood, and apply some of the caustics above named. In all cases it is of great consequence that the animal be afterwards exposed only to a moderate temperature-be invigorated with proper food, and kept in clean, early, dry pasture.

To prevent sheep from catching cold after being shorne.-Rub them with water saturated with salt, or plunge them into sea water. To cure the scab.-Sir Joseph Banks gave the following prescription to the Society for the encouragement of arts: take 1 lb. of quicksilver, lb. Venice turpentine, pint oil of turpentine, and 4 lbs. hog's lard; rub them in a mortar till they are well incorporated. Then begin at the head of the sheep, proceed from between the ears along the back, to the end of the tail; the wool is to be divided in a furrow till the skin can be touched, and as the furrow is made, the finger, slightly dipped in the ointment, is to be drawn along the bottom of it, where it will leave a blue stain on the skin and adjoining wool. From this make similar furrows down the shoulders and thighs to the legs, and if the animal is much infected, two should be drawn along each side, and the ointment applied in all.

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NOTICES OF CORRESPONDENCE, &c. Ribwort.-L. S. who dates at Salisbury, complains of the "southern plantain," as a nuisance in his grounds, and asks us how it can be got rid of. We presume our correspondent alludes to the ribwort plantain, (Plantago lanceolata,) a hardy plant, with a tuft of long ribbed leaves springing from the crown of the root, and a long tap-root. We know of no other mode of getting rid of this, than by destroying the plants separately, as we do dock. But the evil, if we apprehend aright the plant alluded to, is not so great as our correspondent imagines, inasmuch as the plant is often cultivated on account of its herbage, in damp moist grounds, where it thrives best. Arthur Young cultivated and recommended it. Anderson says it is well liked by horses and cattle, and yields a very good crop in rich ground tending to dampness. It abounds in the irrigated meadows of Lombardy; and is highly commended both there and in Yorkshire as a pasture grass. It affords a nutritious hay, particularly for cows, which are also advantageously fed upon the green crop in May. Upon dry grounds its growth is stinted.

Saxon Bucks.-S. C. Scoville, of Salisbury, Vt. wishes to sell 100 Saxon bucks, which he states to be of the best stock, the clip of which has been sold at $1 per pound. Gentlemen who have inquired of us for these sheep will address Mr. Scoville.

Cortland Marl.-Mr. N. Gillet, of Cortlandville, is informed, that the analysis, in our last, was of his brick, or lower specimen, of marl. Barley.-M. B. Mason, of Montpelier, Md. asks our opinion of the practicability of substituting barley for rye in his farm crops-and whether barley can be advantageously grown on corn ground, &c. The best soils for barley are light rich clay loams, it neither doing well in stiff clay or light sand. The product is greater than that of rye, on soils adapted to its growth. The spring barley is alone cultivated here; we of course can say nothing of the winter species. Our princiceed well, and this doubt would seem to be removed by the fact, that barley is among the principal farm crops in Persia, and Asia Minor, where we believe the temperature is warmer than it is in Maryland.

To cure the measles in swine.—The existence of the disease can only be known by the animal not thriving or fattening like the rest. Put into the food of each hog, once or twice a week, as much crude pounded antimony as will lie on a shilling. This is very proper for any feed-pal doubt is, whether Maryland is not too far south for the crop to sucing swine, though they have no disorder. A small quantity of the flour of brimstone will be found of great service, if occasionally given to swine. But the best way is to prevent disease, by keeping their sties clean and dry, and to allow them air, exercise, and plenty of clean straw.

Cure for cattle swelled with green food.-Give of dose of train oil, which, after repeated trials, says the Farmer's Magazine, has been found to prove successful. The quantity of oil must vary according to the age and size of the animal. For a grown up beast give a pint, which must be administered with a bottle, taking care to rub the sto

Rape.-D. S. Davies, of Saratoga, asks for directions in cultivating the rape. Rape, colza, or cole seed, (Brassica campestris, of De Candolle,) is an important article in Flemish husbandry, though but little cultivated in Britain, and not at all in the United States. It is cultivat ed on account of its seed, which is crushed like lintseed, and the oil expressed in like manner. The cake is generally thrown into the urine cisterns, where it becomes a valuable material as manure. The haulm,

after the seed is threshed, is burnt for the ashes, which are considered chine may be soon saved in measurement, as it completely strips the of treble the value of other ashes, used as a manure. As rape is bi-ear of every kernel. Besides, it may be worked in a room in the ennial, it is doubtful whether it would withstand the cold of our win-evening, when thrashing with horses or the flail would be entirely out ters. It is sometimes sown broad cast, but generally in seed beds, in of the question. August or September, and in the latter case planted with dibble in October, in the seams of the furrows of fresh ploughed ground, so as to have the plants stand one foot apart each way. The crop is cleaned in autumn, and again in the spring; it is pulled rather green, and the seed ripens in the stack.

By means of a spiral spring and screw, it may be graduated for large or small sized ears.

They need only to be known to be used; and a person might as well think of eating soup with a fork, as to shell corn the old fashioned way, after seeing one of these in operation. The above cut represents one of Adriance's patent iron frame machines, manufactured at Poughkeepsie, and kept for sale at the Agricultural Repository of Mr. William Thorburn, No. 317 N. Marketstreet, corner of Maiden-Lane, Albany. Price $15. Double ones, with wooden frames, $16, delivered at the store. Having used one of the above and tested its qualities, I cheerfully recommend them to the public. CALEB N. BEMENT.

Three Hills Farm, August 15, 1836.

Madder.Jas. Eaton, of West Winfield, who cultivates this crop, is convinced, from experience, that it is best to let it stand four or five years. A single hill, thus left, afforded him eight pounds nine ounces of the best ground madder. An acre, he says, will contain 1,200 hills, thus affording, at this rate, 10,000 pounds. Mr. Eaton will take up a crop in September, and will furnish seed (offsets,) at $3 per bushel. The Borer.-We have received from L. U. Lawrence, of Hudson, a specimen bug, in its larvae or caterpillar state, becomes destructive to the peach and quince trees, and we suspect the apple, by entering near the ground, and perforating the wood. The specimen sent us in the THE GRAIN WEEVIL. Saperda bivittata of Say. Prof. Say, in a letter to the conductor, in Mr. J. BUEL-I have lately become acquainted with your very use1825, states that he has 130 species of this family of insects in his ca- ful periodical the Cultivator, and have become one of your patrons. binet. The insect leaves the pupa and becomes perfect in the latter I observe in your number for the present month a communication on part of April, and the eggs are soon after deposited at or beneath the weevils, signed "A Miller and subscriber," which induces me to throw surface of the soil. The professor recommends the application of out a few observations or remarks on the subject, which, if worth inbricklayer's clay around the base of the tree, as a preventive, and states serting, you will give a place in your paper. In the year 1806 I was that it has been successfully employed by Mr. Shotwell. Lime and under the necessity of repairing my dwelling-house; whilst the meashes, we think, by their caustic quality, will equally serve as a pre- chanics were at work, we were obliged to resort to the barn to eat our ventive. We are very much in doubt whether the specimen sent us is meals. Previous to which the barn was pretty thoroughly cleaned, out, the peach borer, though we recognize it as the apple borer, and a Sa- the floor was scrubbed, the timbers swept, the poles turned over, the perda. It may have been caught in a strange garret. ground under the floor and bay scraped out, and all the litter taken out Ants A Salisbury, Ct. correspondent, complains that himself and that could be got at, which had been accumulating for several years neighbors are very much pestered with large black ants, and also to previously. During several years prior to this cleaning, my barn had some extent by the small red ones, and requests that some one will been infested with weevil to an alarming extent; after the cleaning, as prescribe a remedy that will prevent the incursions of this army of I have mentioned, the weevil were constantly on the move, crawling thieves. Ants cohabit in numerous parties, and maintain a sort of re- over the table and dishes in every direction. I put my wheat and rye public, like bees, and like them to collect and lay up provisions for harvest in the barn that and every succeeding season since, and have time of want. The readiest way to destroy them, is to turn scalding not, from that time to this, (which you will observe is thirty years,) water, from the nozzle of a tea-kettle or coffee-pot, into their haunts. seen a weevil about my barn, and I am fully convinced that any barn Or, put four ounces of sublimate into two gallons of water, and with aor mill may be cleared of weevil by cleaning, but it must be well done. painter's brush, wash the shelves and walls which they frequent with Hamptonburgh, July 25th, 1836. the solution. A mixture of quick-lime and soot, strewed upon the shelves they visit, is said to keep them off. In the south, we are told, they are very troublesome; and that the only effectual mode of preserving provisions from their depredations, is to place the latter upon a table, and to set the legs of the table in small vessels of oil, so that the ants cannot get access to it.

CORRESPONDENCE.

ADRIANCE'S PATENT CORN-SHELLER.
MR. BUEL-Sir-Of all the labor-sav-
ing machines yet offered to the public,
Green's Straw Cutter and the Corn
Sheller stand pre-eminent.

The Corn Sheller is one of the most
convenient and useful implements that
the practical farmer has in use. Vari-
ous machines for this purpose have been
invented, from the handle of the frying.
pan and fire shovel, up to the machine
figured above; the most improved and
best adapted for common use, as it is
quite simple in its construction, and du-
rable in operation, being made of iron,
and no way liable to get our of order.
A man to turn and a boy to feed it,
will shell from twelve to fifteen bushels
per hour. On a trial, to ascertain how
much could be shelled in a certain time,
two bushels of ears were shelled in
three minutes. By substituting a pully
or wheel for the crank, it may be at-
tached to a horse power, and a much larger quantity may be shelled in
in the same time. It is so light and portable, that it can be moved
from place to great ease.

There are various kinds, and some on the same principle of the above, differing only in the frames being of wood instead of iron. There are, also, double ones, with wooden frames, shelling two ears at the same time.spoda TATOOL

I have used one to shell my corn, and was much surprised, from the rapidity with which it operates, that it does not injure the kernel; and, judging from what little experience I have had, the expense of the ma

A. B. W.

ENEMIES OF THE WHEAT CROP. MR. BUEL-Dear Sir-As the section of country in which I live is peculiarly a wheat country, and owing to which the farmers here have particularly devoted their time and their talents to the cultivation and improvement of that crop, as affording the greatest profit from the least labor and expense, you may well suppose that a considerable degree of anxiety will be felt about every thing that involves the safety and stability of this important article of agriculture and consumption.

So far as I have been able to discover, there are three kinds of insects, committing altogether a considerable damage to the wheat crop in this neighborhood, whose operations, though known, are as yet without the reach of any adequate remedy. The species which has caused the greatest mischief, is the wheat fly, (Cecidomyia Tritici) whose mode of operations, so far as I have been led to observe, differ materially from that laid down in your paper as characteristic of this insect. Cultivator, vol. 1st, page 124, is the following-"It lays its eggs within the glumes of the florets, in clusters varying in number from two to ten, or even to fifteen, and the larvae feed upon the grain. They are produced from the eggs in the course of eight or ten days; they are at first perfectly transparent, and assume a yellow colour a few days afterwards; they travel not from one floret to another, and fortyseven have been numbered in one. Occasionally there are found in the same floret, larvae and a grain which is generally shriveled, as if deprived of nourishment; and although the pollen may furnish the larvae with food in the first instance, they soon crowd around the lower part of the germen, and they in all probability, subsist on the matter destined to form the grain." Page 158, speaking of the same insect, "the progeny being hatched in the ear, feed on the grain. They are very small, from ten to fourteen being sometimes found in one grain, and are distinguished by being of a bright orange colour. They do not extend beyond the grain in which they are born, but several grains being thus consumed on one ear, the damage done is often considerable."* I have examined a number of heads of wheat affected by this insect, some the lower part, some the middle, some the top, and some the whole of the head being killed; but have in no instance discovered more than one larvae in a floret; the grain being in all cases perfectly sound and full where the insect was found, and where the grain had began to shrink the insect was not found, and the grain remained perfectly sound, there being no indications of its having been eaten or stung; the rachis exhibiting the same unaltered sound appearance. This examination was

* A true description.—Cond.

sample.

made with a microscope, and no causes were discernable that could-whole fields having been winter killed. The produce this season is lead to the destruction of the grain but the sting in the glume where rated from twenty-five to thirty-five bushels per acre, and of choice the egg was deposited. I have not before seen this insect in this place, and feel a considerable anxiety lest it should become a permanent evil; This wheat deserves the attention of agriculturists in every section in which case it will become necessary to devise some plan for counte- of the country, as it has not failed in any instance. racting its ravages. Will you please to solicit information from your Your obedient servant, correspondents, where the wheat-fly has been of longer continuance, whether they increase their ravages or not, from year to yeer.*

Another enemy we have in our wheat fields, is a worm whose greatest size, so far as I have observed, does not exceed one-quarter of an inch in length, and about as large round as a common knitting needle. I have never seen any account given of this worm, by naturalists or agriculturists, or of the injury it does to wheat crop. I will state to you the manner in which this worm conducts its operations, so far as they have come under my observation. Two or three weeks before the wheat is headed out, I have discovered just above the first lower joint, a worm about an eighth of an inch in length, and as large round as a cambric needle; on examining the straw I found that the worm had been hatched about half way between the two first joints of the stalk, immediately under the fine silky lining of the straw, and had worked its way under this lining down to the first joint, (the wad growing larger and larger,) and there burst from its covered way into the hollow of the straw. The worm here appears to deposite its eggs, from one to three, into the sap-circulating organs of the straw, and they are forced along above the second joint, about half way to the third, where a second generation of worms are hatched out, who work their way as the first had done, under the silky lining down to the joint, and there deposite a new set of eggs, to be carried above the third joint, producing a third generation of worms; each generation rising one joint in the straw above the other, till they have reached and passed the last joint, (which supports the wheat head,) and here they cut off the straw completely, leaving the leaf which surrounds it entire, which supports the stalk, and in consequence the head of wheat, and the straw above the last joint immediately dies. This last and fatal operation to the wheat, is performed by the worm in from one to three weeks after the wheat is headed out. The worm then escapes from the straw, between the leaf and the dead stalk, having first deposited from five to thirty eggs along on the inside of the straw, between the upper joint and the head. Here terminate my observations upon this worm, and I shall be thankful to you for farther information respecting it, if it is known to you, and the means of destroying it. I shall prosecute my examinations yet farther, and if possible, discover the perfect insect, if the worm is not it.f The next and last ravager is the Hessian fly, whose depredations, however, are rather slight; but from the number of larvae that I have found in the wheat, I am led to believe that they will be much more numerous and destructive another season, unless some seasonable remedy shall be devised, and applied, to destroy the eggs that are to produce the next generation of flies. As there are so many conflicting opinions respecting this fly, and the want of a uniform and correct knowledge respecting it, it is very desirable that the farmers should be made fully acquainted with all its operations, and the most approved method of ridding our land of its ravages. Will you confer upon the agricultural community the benefit of all the authentic information in your possession on the subject of this fly.‡

If it will not be taxing you too much at once, I wish to inquire of you whether there have been experiments tried that has settled the question of the origin of chess in wheat; it is a subject that has produced considerable speculation, without establishing any uniform and settled opinion respecting it.

With feelings of sincere regard, yours, &c. Pittsford, July 19th, 1836.

EDWARD WILBUR.

ITALIAN SPRING WHEAT.

J. BUEL, Esq.—I have the pleasure to inform you that the crop of Italian Spring Wheat through this and the adjoining towns, is remarkably fine, while our winter wheat crop has, in most cases, failed

*The wheat worm has increased its ravages, where it has appeared, for two or three years at least.-Cond.

If we know the character of this insect, it is also found in some of the grasses, as well as in grain, as the timothy, the poas, &c. Its presence is indicated by the head of the grain or grass prematurely turning brown. The injury it does is comparatively trifling.

The facts are well authenticated, that there are two generations of this insect in a year, the eggs of the first being deposited the last of April or beginning of May, and of the latter the last of August or beginning or September; they are hatched in a few days, and the insect changes to a chrysalis state in about four weeks after the eggs are deposited. To guard against the fly in the fall, do not sow until the period of laying their eggs is past, say the first of October. To guard against it in the spring, sow on dry and good soils, so as to ensure a vigorous growth. It is affirmed by many, that the egg of the fly is deposited on the kernel of the seed, and sown with it, and that soaking in pickle, and rolling in lime, will destroy the seed both of the Hessian fly and of smut. See Memoirs of Board of Agriculture, vol. iii. p. 326 to 338.-Cond.

Rome, August 15, 1836.

BENEFIT OF PLASTER.

J. HATHAWAY.

MR. BUEL-I have long been prejudiced against plaster, but have recently been convinced of its utility on dry loam and sandy soils; the benefit on corn is great. Last season part of a field I planted the seed was rolled in plaster; the difference could be seen for half a mile, through the season. It was full one quarter larger than where no plaster was used. The present season I have made the same experiment, and thus far see the same results, except on damp or clay land. A few days since a neighbor of mine, who gave his name for your excellent paper, showed me the effect produced on an old grass lay, a red rock, or slate soil; bringing in an abundance of both white and red clover, where there was none before. The plaster was put on as late as May. The effect, I think, would have been greater had it been sown two or three months sooner. Yours respectfully, Northford, Conn. July 13, 1836. JOHN S. LINDSEY.

UTILITY OF SAVINGS BANKS IN THE COUNTRY. J. BUEL, Esq.-I was much pleased to see in the last number of the Cultivator, an interesting article from your correspondent G. T. E. C. "demonstrating the utility of Country Savings Banks," for there is no demonstration equal to successful experiment. I was not aware that a trial of them had been made in the country, though long convinced in my own mind of their practicability as well as utility, and I am more and more impressed with the conviction of the great importance of such institutions to the community. I am no advocate for a miserly, penurious or nigggrdly disposition to hoard up wealth in any classall should enjoy in a rational way what their income will allow. But I am in favor, Mr. Editor, of habits of economy and prudence in the expenditure of money, and of saving for future emergency, all beyond necessary wants, particularly in those who are dependent on the labor of their hands for the support of themselves and families. In this country, where laborers are in great demand, and consequently wages high, a young man who commences life with well formed habits of industry and economy, is sure, with the blessing of health, to build himself up, if not a fortune, at least a competency; and to all such the savings bank would come in aid, and would also induce hundreds and thousands of others to save what they otherwise would squander; and when such views prevail good citizenship is almost certain to follow. Let an individual see that his best interests are identified with that of the community around him, and he will be the last to countenance, much less be instrumental in raising riots and mobs, thus setting the laws at defiance. I will venture to say that the names of few, if any of those who have kept our cities in constant agitation, and alarm, by unlawful combinations, disgraceful riots, midnight conflagrations and murders, are to be found on the books of savings banks as depositors. No, sir, the persons who occasion all these disturbances are not the prudent and industrious, but the idle, the profligate, the frequenters of the grog shop, the theatre, the gaming table and the brothel, those who, having nothing of property or character to lose, imagine they will be gainers by the commotions they get up in society; and the actors of such scenes are not confined to cities, they not unfrequently show how low and degraded they can render themselves even in our otherwise happy and peaceful country.

Could all our young men, and young women too, be persuaded to enrol themselves on the side of temperance, in its most extended sense, and to forego all superfluous and unnecessary expenditures, soon, very for the support of their inmates would have passed away. soon the necessity for jails and prisons, and poor-houses, and TAXES W. W. J.

With much respect, yours,
Hamptonburgh, July 25, 1836.

N. B. Our wheat and rye harvest in this section will be light, considerably below an average crop. The prospect for tolerably fair crops of corn has materially brightened, potatoes promise well, oats and grass remarkably fine.

GREEN'S STRAW CUTTER.

DEAR SIR-I last fall bought one Green's Straw Cutters, of Mr. Be ment, Albany. I had a stock of horses and horn cattle of about 35 head. I cut all of my hay, and also my straw, and when cut (fo horses, oxen and cattle that were not worked, and for cows which did not give milk) the hay and straw cut was mixed together about hal and half, (which is conveniently done,) and then fed to my stock ir mangers under my sheds. They ate it all up clean-there was not bushel of the cut fodder wasted during the winter. For my working

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