Comes quivering on the platter." brought from France with me, I have been able" I am very glad you have," said Drew, Your obedient servant, N. HERBEMONT. THE HAUNCH OF VENISON. FROM THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. At Number One dwelt Captain Drew, Sung small upon a pension. Tom Blewit knew them both-than he Of culinary knowledge; Benson to dine invited Tom: A host who "spread" so nicely, But, cre he reached the winning-post, THE FARMER, BALTIMORE, FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 1822. This experiments, let them rather adopt the motto, opere et fide. PRICE CURRENT-CORRECTED WEEKLY. Flour from the wagons, $6 75-Wharf do. sales cash, same as last report, $6 50--Best white Wheat $1 50-Common white $1 40 to $1 45-Red 138 to 140 cts.-White corn 77 to 78 cts.-Yellow 75 cts-Rye 70 cts.-Oats 40 to 45 cts.-Bran per bushel, 15 to 17 cts.-Shorts, do. 20 to 22 cts.Plaster of Paris per ton, $3 50 cts.-Shad, No. 1, trimmed $8-No. 2 do. $7-No. 1, untrimmed, $7-No. 2, do. $6-Herrings No. 1, $2 75 to $2 87 cts.-No. 2, do. $2 50 to $2 624-Whiskey 33 to 34 cents-Soal Leather per lb. 25 to 27 cts.-Skirting, ditto 30 to 2 cents.Upper whole side, $3 to $4 25 cents-Candles mould per lb. 15 to 17 cts.-Dipped, do. 13 to 14 cts.-Spermaceti, 35 cts.-Beef, fresh, per lb. 8 to 124 cts.-Pork, 6 to 9 cts.—Veal, perlb. 6 to 10 cts.-Mutton per lb. 6 to 8 cts.-Lard per lb. 12 cts.-Butter lb. 31 to 37 cts-Cheese per lb. per 12 cts.-Eggs, per dozen, 124 cts.-Hickory wood $4 50 to $5-Oak, do. $3 to 3 50—Pine, do $2 25 to $3.-Tar, North Carolina, $2 25-Rosin, $2 25-White pine boards per M. $10 to $30 Bees wax, per lb. 37 to 40 cts.-Salt, Liverpool coarse, per bushel 50 to 55 cts.-Turks Island, 65 to 70St. Ubes, per bushel, 53 to 55. MARYLAND TOBACCO-Fine yellow, $20 to $35 --Good do. $15 to $18-Fine red and spangled, $15 to 18-Good red, $8 to $12-Common Tobacco, no demand. VIRGINIA TOBACCO-A few hogsheads have been sold the last week for $7 to $8 50. AUDLEY FOR SALE. I will sell the ce on which I reside called AUDLEY. In this number we commence the publication of an historical account of "FRUITS KNOWN IN GREAT BRITAIN, by HENRY PHILIPS," under the persuasion that it will prove highly entertaining and useful to a great portion of our readers It is a species of reading that may be put with advantage into the hands of the children of our subThis fine estate is situated in the healthy and scribers, whether sons or daughters; and there is no medium through which a benevolent mind is amus- very fertile county of Frederick in Virginia, 13 ed or instructed with so much gratification, as miles from Winchester, 10 from the Shannondale by the agency of our children. Information de- Springs, 55 from Alexandria, about the same disrived in this way is accompanied by the delight- tance from Washington, and 75 from Baltimore. ful reflection, that in the very act of acquiring it It contains 1600 acres of first rate limestone land, we are fostering curiosity, the main spring of about 1150 cleared, the balance covered with very mental improvement heavy timber. As the extracts will be continued through a The improvements are a brick dwelling house great many of our succeeding numbers, it might containing eight rooms and a large saloon. A be apprehended that they would become tedious Barn 60 feet by 40, and all other buildings neceswere it not that the subject necessarily divides sary for domestic comfort or convenience. There is one mill within two miles of the farm, itself into chapters, none of which will exceed one within three, and two within four, the last two one page. upon the Shenandoah river, and one or them A work on the same plan has been published by the same author, on culinary vegetables, which we are endeavouring to procure, in the supposition that it may be used in the same way that we propose to use the one whereof we have here given the introduction. FINE FRUIT. worked by it. The river is navigable for boats during a considerable portion of the year. A line andria to Winchester, passes within fifty yards of stages running three times a week from Alexof the farm, and about three-fourths of a mile from the house. Snicker's Gap, at which point the turnpike road leading from Alexar dria crosses the Blue Ridge, is distant about four miles, BatIf it had been possible to exhibit a variety tletown at which place there is a post office, and of cherries, received from our friend Mr. Willis, through which the stage passes on its route to of Oxford-our readers would have seen in them, Winchester is distant about 2 miles. an ample justification of all we have said about The proprietor confidently believes, (and in this his care and skill in the management of some of opinion he is supported by all who have seen our most valued fruits-we regret that they Audley,) that fertility of soil, and advantages of were not at hand in time for our agricultural ex-situation, render it decidedly more valuable, and hibition. Some were forwarded by Mr. W. to more desirable than any other farm of the same the President, as a rare specimen of improved and size in the State of Virginia. perfect fruit, and were truly worthy of their des- A more particular description is deemed unnetination. Many farmers have good fruit, but cessary as, any person disposed to purchase will these cherries show how susceptible good is of of course spend a day or two with me in exambeing made better, by constant and judicious at-ining the property. A small sum only will be retention. The time we give to such objects is quired in cash, and upon the balance the purchanever misspent, even though we may not invaria-ser upon giving satisfactory security can be indulbly succeed. The studies and labour they re-ged with a credit of six or seven years. I will quire, are in themselves pleasing, and no farmer give immediate attention to any inquiry by post. should be deterred by the occasional failures in WARNER WASHINGTON. No. 14.-VOL. 4. HORTICULTURE. POMARIUM BRITANNICUM, AMERICAN FARMER-BALTIMORE, 28th JUNE, 1822. An Historical and Botanical account of Fruits known in Great Britain, by Henry Philips. -Second Edition. 105 inwardly or outwardly; the bark is frequently used ple that was ever seen in Greece. Suidas informs in garga risms, for the relaxation of the uvula, us that the answer was given by an oak. Homer and for sore mouths and throats. An extract has also delivered the same account; and as it made from the bark is said by some to be equal to was generally believed to proceed from the trunk, the Peruvian bark.-Chambers. it is easy to conceive that the priestess had nothing The gall nuts of the oak, are of many kinds, more to do than to hide herself in the hollow of this but they have all some medicinal virtue. I learn oak, and from thence to give the pretended sense from Pliny that they were used by the Romans to of the oracle, for the distance the suppliants were The Oak Tree-Quercus.-In Botany, of the Mo-colour their hair black. obliged to keep, was an effectual means to prenoecia Polyandria Class. John Ellis, Esq. discovered that acorns can be vent the cheat from being discovered. During the THE acorn, which is the fruit or nut of the oak preserved in a state fit for vegetation for a whole war between the Thracians and Boeotians, the lattree, was the food of the ancient Britons, and par-year, by enveloping them in bees wax : other seeds ter sent deputies, to consult this oracle of Dodona, ticularly of the Druids, who, says the historian, may be conveyed from distant countries, by the when the priestess gave them this answer, of lived in caves and hollow trees; their food was same means. which she doubtless did not foresee the conse (Continued from page 97.) acorns and berries, and their drink water. The The ancients thought, that of all trees, the oak quence, "If you would meet with success, you name of Druid seems to be taken from the Greek was made first; and that among men, the Arca- must be guilty of some impious action." The deword dps, an oak. They thought whatever grew dians were born first; and that is the reason why puties suspected that she prevaricated with them on the cak was sent from heaven, and nothing was they were compared to the oak. in order to serve their enemies, from whom she held so sacred by them as the mistletoe of an oak; It seems that in ancient times, the oak tree was descended, resolved to fulfil the decree of the and they believed it to be the favourite tree of the was not venerated by the Heathens only, as oracle; and therefore seized the priestess and Deity. it appears there were oak trees in the temple of burnt her alive, alleging, that this act was justifiathe true God, for the bible informs us that Joshua ble in whatever light it was considered; that if "wrote the commandments and the precepts of she intended to deceive them, it was fit she should the Lord, in the book of the law, and that he took be punished for the deceit; or, if she was sincere, a very great stone which he put under an oak, they had only literally fulfilled the sense of the which was in the sanctuary of the Lord." oracle. Content with food, which nature freely bred, On wildings and on strawberries they fed; Cornels and bramble-berries gave the rest, And falling acorns furnished out a feast.-Ovid. Acorns were not the food of the Britons only. The inhabitants of Chios (in ancient times) held out a In the valley of Mamre, which was in the beau- On Mount Lycæus, in Arcadia, was a temple of long siege, having no other food but acorns. tiful country of the tribe of Judea, where Abra- Jupiter with a fountain: when rain was wanted, it Acorns are eaten to this day in Spain, where ham was visited by the angels who announced to was thought that it would be obtained of the god they long remained a delicacy at the desserts. him the birth of Isaac, stood an oak, that became by throwing in the fountain a branch of the oak Cervantes often mentions them in his Don Quix-celebrated as the tree under which Abraham of-tree. otte; but the Spanish acorns are certainly of alten went to repose and refresh himself. Bayle Socrates swore by the oak, perhaps because this sweeter nature than those of England. says, that this oak was said to have existed under tree was consecrated to Jupiter. In times of scarcity and dearth of corn, they the emperor Constantius. There was an oak near Priene, a city of Ionia, have been ground and baked into bread, both in It was an oak that caused the death of the son near which a thousand Samians were killed by the this country and in France; but the taste of it is of David in the battle of the wood of Ephraim: Priennians. From thence came the custom that rough and disagreeable, and indeed acorns are said" And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule the women of Priene had to swear by the darkto be hard of digestion, and to cause head-aches went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and ness of the oak, because they had lost, in this and flatulence. his head caught hold of the oak, and he was ta- place, their fathers, their husbands and their sons. The study of botany, and the encouragement ken up between the heaven and the earth: and The veneration that the ancients had for the oak, given to agricultural and horticultural pursuits, the mule that was under him went away." gave rise to the Greek and Latin proverb " Speak have so wonderfully improved the state of this A peri-wig maker in the town of Lewes, in Sus-to the oak;" which signified, speak in good securicountry, that what in early ages a king would have sex, made use of this story to recommend the sale ty. They had also another proverb on the oak; feasted on, the beggar now refuses; and the acorn of false hair. He had a sign painted on the front when they spoke of persons they did not know the is scarcely known as affording nourishment to the of his shop, representing the rebellious son of Da-birth of, it was said they were born of an oak, human species, even among the wandering vagrants vid hanging in the oak by the hair of his head, because the ancients often exposed children in the who pitch their tattered tents, and cook their scan- with this whimsical couplet below; hollow of trees. ty fare beneath the branches of the trees that produce them. O Absalom! unhappy sprig, It was an oak-tree also which cost Milo of Cro "It is sup Lucan compares Pompey to an old oak, hung with superb trophies. Should there remain any persons so ignorantly The oak is a tree of slow growth, requiring a obstinate, as to exclaim against the study of bota- tona, the most celebrated wrestler of Greece, and century before it will arrive to its full perfection. ny as useless and uninteresting, let their plentiful who was always the conqueror in the games, his Pliny, in his Natural History, states, that hard by desserts be furnished with a scanty supply of life. He possessed prodigious strength. It is re-of Ilius, which were planted from acorns when the city of Illium, there were oaks near the tomb acorns, and their wine be exchanged for the beve-lated that he held a pomegranate in his hand so rage of their forefathers; and soon would they firmly, without hurting or smashing the fruit, that Toy was first called Ilium. He also says, "the join in the praise of this science, and of all those no person could open his fingers strait, so as to take great forest Hercynia is full of large oaks, that who have given their time and talent to improve it from him. He would put his naked foot on a quoit, have never been topped or lopped." the health, and add to the luxuries of man, by this greased with oil, and whatever effort was made it been there since the creation of the world, and posed," adds this naturalist, "that they have interesting and beneficial study, which, next to was impossible to shake it. His confidence in his (alastronomy, carries our thoughts to heaven, and most supernatural) strength was fatal to him, for (in regard to their immortality) surmounting all causes us to join the Psalmist in his exclamation, having once found in his way an old oak-tree, nearly and spread so far within the ground that they miracles whatever. The roots of these trees run "O Lord, how wonderful are thy works, in wisdom opened by wedges, which had been forced by the hast thou made them all." hatchet and hammer, he undertook to finish the fell-meet each other, in which encounter they make Before the Conquest, the wealds of Sussex ing of it, by the power of his arms alone; but in the such resistance, that they swell and rise upwards (which is the largest valley in Europe) were one effort he undid the wedges, and his hands were to a great height, in the form of arches." In continued forest from Hampshire to Kent, princi-caught by the two parts of the oak, which joining some instances, he says, they were so high and so pally of oak trees, that were only valued for the together again, he was unable to liberate himself, large that a whole troop of horsemen could ride number of swine which the acorns maintained. and was devoured by the wolves. upright through these natural portals, in order of Acorns are but little used at present, except to battle. The famous forest of Dodona, in Epirus, confatten hogs and deer; they are sometimes given to sisted of oaks that were consecrated to Jupiter; Linnæus mentions fourteen species of the oakpoultry, and would be found an advantageous food this was one of the most ancient oracles, of which tree; Miller extended them to twenty; and Aiton for fowls, were they dried and ground into meal. we have any particular account. Herodotus gives describes forty-five varieties of this tree. The In medicine, a decoction of acorns is reputed two accounts of the rise of this oracle, one of most common of the English oak produces the good against dysenteries and colics. Pliny states, which clears up the mystery of the fable, viz: acorns close to the branches, without any stalk: but that acorns beaten to powder, and mixed with that some Phoenician merchants carried off a the most esteemed for ship building is found growhog's lard and salt, heal all hard swellings, and priestess of Thebes into Greece, where she took ing in the Wealds of Sussex and Kent; and this cancerous ulcers; and when reduced into a lini-up her residence in the forest of Dodona, and tree often produces its acorns with foot stalks as ment, and applied, stay the bloody flux. there, at the foot of an old oak, erected a small long as the cherry stalk. Young says, "Oak is Every part of the oak is styptic, binding and chapel in honour of Jupiter, whose priestess she the staple commodity of Sussex, which, from the useful in all kinds of fluxes and bleedings, either had been at Thebes; and this was the first tem-remotest antiquity, has been celebrated for the O growth of oak; it is estimated that not less than Part of an oak-tree, twenty-feet in circumfer- In our next we shall give, as connected with the from 170 or 180,000 acres are occupied by this ence, was drawn out of the Thames in September, foregoing, an article from Thornton's Family Hertimber, the quality of which is acknowledged by 1815, near the ferry at Twickenham, with great bal, on the medical and other properties and uses navy contractors preferring, and in all their agree-difficulty, by twenty-four horses: it is known to of the oak. It would have been inserted now, but ments stipulating for, Sussex oak. This author have laid in the river one hundred and fifty years. that we feared the reader would disrelish so much adds, that the soil is so naturally adapted to the The timber of the oak-tree is so well known, in one paper on one subject.-Edit. Amer. Far. growth of oak, that if a field were sown with and so justly esteemed, for a variety of purposes, furze only, and the cattle kept out, the ground that it would be superfluous to state the whole of would, in a few years, be covered with young oaks, them. without trouble or expense of planting. Although the late long war has, in some degree, thinned this country of Oak-trees, stili we have many oaks left of extraordinary great age and bulk, and the sturdy oak, A prince's refuge once, th' eternal guard FROM THE NEW HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT. In building ships of war, one great advantage To every farm a plat of land should be approis, that it seldom splinters, which caused foreign-priated solely for a garden; and if you have ers to attribute our naval victories to the excellency but one, it should contain at the least a quarter of our timber; but the late war [not the one with the of an acre, but double that quantity may be usewicked yankees,] has given so many proofs of fully cultivated. It ought to be sufficiently large our defeating our enemies with ships of their own to raise many of the useful and various kinds of building, that they must now acknowledge that vegetables and fruits, which contribute to the the bravery of a British sailor is as firm as the sustenance, comfort, and pleasure, of life; if heart of an English oak. there be a surplus, and no market for the vege It was not until we had manufactured into fur-[tables, they may with advantage be given to catniture all the curious woods of the New world, tle, horses, and swine. The garden should be Phillips. that the transcendant splendour of the English contiguous or near the house, not only for the The celebrated oak in Hainault Forest, Essex, oak was brought to any degree of perfection by purpose of having it under the eye of the owner, known by the name of Fairlop, is thus mentioned the late Mr. Bullock, of Tenterden-street, and but to save time in its cultivation and the daily by the late Rev. Mr. Gilpin: “The tradition of other eminent cabinet makers. Mr. Penning, of gathering of its products. In Bloomfield wood, near Ludlow, in Shropshire, is an oak-tree belonging to Lord Powis, the trunk of which, in 1765, measured sixty-eight feet in girth, thirty-two in length, and which, reckoning ninety feet for the larger branches, contained in the whole 1,455 feet of timber, round measure, or twenty-nine loads and five feet, at fifty feet to a load. 64 the country," says this ingenious writer, "traces Holles-street, Cavendish-square, who I am in- To render a garden secure it should be encloit half way up the christian era. It is still a noble formed has been the most successful in the choice sed with a good fence, and to make it productive tree, though it has suffered greatly from the de-of this wood, has lately wrought up some old it must be dug deep and well manured, and the predations of time. About a yard from the oak-trees of such matchless beauty, that one set weeds destroyed, particularly in the early seaground, where its rough fluted stem is thirty-six of dining-tables brought him the unheard-of price son of the year till the vegetables have taken feet in circumference, it divides into eleven vast of six-hundred pounds. This far exceeds any deep root, and by their vigorous growth covered arms, which oversptead an area of three hundred thing of the kind we read of, even in the luxuri- the ground. The labour and care necessary for feet in circuit; beneath this shade an annual fair ous days of the Romans, although Pliny says, this purpose will consume but a small portion of has long been held on the 2d of July: but no "Our wives at home twit us, their husbands, for the season: much of the labour may be done booth is suffered to be erected beyond the extent our expensive tables, when we seem to find fault when little else would be attended to, and the of its boughs." with their costly pearls." residue performed by children who otherwise "There is at this day to be seen," says this au- would do nothing but contract habits of idleness, thor, a board of citron wood, belonging former- injurious to them in future life. A garden well ly to M. Tullius Cicero, which cost him ten thou-managed, is an ornameut and a source of profit, sand sesterces; a strange circumstance, as he was but if neglected is a reproach and a loss to the not rich." He also mentions a table that belonged owner. Improvements in horticulture with us to Gallus Asinius, which sold for eleven thousand are of recent date; even in England, as Dr. sesterces, which is about equal to £70 of our mo- Pristley observes, "the great convenience of a ney; and he particularizes à table of citron-wood kitchen garden can hardly be said to be known In the vale of Gloucestershire, near the turn-which was made in two demirounds, or half cirthat came from Ptolemæus, king of Mauritania, before the reign of Elizabeth." pike road between Cheltenham and Tewksbury, cles, joined together so cleverly, that the joints yet it yields such a rich variety of sauce as renThough a garden affords neither bread or meat, stands the Baddington oak, the stem of whose could not be discovered: the diameter of it was ders less of either necessary, and at the same trunk is fifty-four feet and some of its branches four feet and a half, and three inches in thickness. time gives a higher relish to both. A free use of extend to eight yards from the body of the tree. It is related that they set great store on woods of the culinary vegetables, raised in a well improvThe famous oak, Robur Brittannicum, in Lord curious grains: some there are mentioned with ed garden, contributes much to the economy, Norrey's Park, at Prescot, was computed to be able to shelter between three and four thousand curling veins, which were called tigrina (tiger support, and health of a family. There are but men. Dr. Plot, in his Oxfordshire, tells us of an oak tables); others panthernæ (panther); and some few countries who have made equal progress near Clifton that spread 81 feet from bough-end to the peacock's tail. But those of the highest va- the people live so much on Animal food as we are described waved like the sea, and spotted like with us in the useful arts, in which the mass of bough-end, and shaded 560 square yards. In Worksop Park, the Duke of Norfolk had an lue were of the colour of honey-wine, with shin-do; and there are few countries where the exoak which spread almost 3,000 square yards, and and glittering veins, or lamprey-veined, run- pense of living, except taxes, is greater than нear 1,000 horse might stand under the shade. ning across. I have ventured to make this digres- with us. I know we have the means of good liI have been favoured with the particular dimension, having seen within these last few years oaking in our power, and it is right that we should of such various grains, that out of them the freely enjoy them; but it is a subject of inquisions of the large oak that was felled on the Gelin's whole of the above-mentioned, and many other whether we do not consume more animal and estate, in the parish of Bassaley, and within four curious representations, might have been selected.ess vegetable food than our health, or our commiles of the town of Newport, in the county of The bark of the oak-tree is a most valuable ar- fort requires. It is certain that animal food Monmouth, in 1810, as communicated by the Earl ticle for the purpose of tanning; and it is by the contains much nutriment, and affords strength of Stamford to Sir Joseph Banks. aid of this bark, that our English gardeners are to those who live upon it; but when taken in able to supply us with pine-apples, and other fruits moderate quantities with a due proportion of vepeculiar to the hottest climates. Body of the tree, ten feet long tained Dead limbs 450 ft. 1850 126 48 loads and 26 ft.-Quantity of Bark, 65 cwt. and 16 stacks of wood. getables, it will be more useful, more healthy, and afford more ease and pleasure. The oak principally used for wainscot, &c. is brought from Dantzic and Norway. Whoever reflects on the products which culThe evergreen oak (ilex) is a native of the tivated gardens afford, will be satisfied that the 2426 ft, or south of Europe, and is planted merely to ornaprofits of the land, as well as the labour applied ment our gardens and plantations: this variety to them, are amply repaid; and that our farwas introduced into England in 1581, and is found mers too much neglect their cultivation. If we Four men were three weeks and two days in to grow in great perfection on the banks of the have no gardens, or what is almost as bad, if felling and stripping the tree. There were 85 Thames, west of London. There is an oak of we do not cultivate and improve those we have, pieces of square or hewn timber: the squarers this description in the grounds belonging to the we must live without a great portion of the were three weeks and four days in squaring it. Bishop of London's palace at Fulham, more than richest vegetables and the most delicious fruit One pair of sawyers had been five months in fifty feet high, and eight feet in circumference. our climate yields. We do not sow or plant sawing the tree, and had not finished when this ac- conclude it was planted by Bishop Compton, who ecunt was sent. (Mar. 6th, 1811.) introduced many new plants and forest trees from The tree was purchased by Mr. Thomas Harri-North America and other parts of the world. con for one hundred guineas. (To be continued.) them in our fields, and if we did, neither the richness of our soil or the culture would produce them in perfection. If our gardens have not been grossly neglected, they will afford us, ear ly in the spring before the frost of winter is dis- are treated with neglect, their fruit will dege-drank very good currant wine to which nonsolved, fresh parsnips of a rich saccharine nature. nerate, and in a short time be no longer cogni-dy or other spirits had been added. Currants Later in the season, but as soon as vegetation zable as the same." have more juice and are more acid in some years will permit, our beds of asparagus will yield a| The fruit which a good garden will afford is a than in others, and some sugar is sweeter than supply of one of the richest and most delicious luxury, of which every farmer may often partake, others; the quantity of sugar should therefore be pot herbs or greens, that our country affords and that with small expense-it requires the la-varied, but ought never to exceed the proportion and with due care will continue that supply for bour and care of a few hours only in the week I have mentioned. a considerable time. Early in the summer, and during the season of vegetation. Such fruit of In treating upon the subject of gardens, I have through the autumn, we may have a sufficiency itself will make a better and more wholesome from the brevity I prescribed to myself, omitted of beets, carrots, peas, and beans, and before supper than roasted beef or poultry; it will a consideration of the medicinal herbs and roots mid-summer squashes and potatoes; and autumn make a poor dinner rich. Much of our fruit, which we may raise, and the important uses to will ripen the onions for use. A portion of these particularly the quince, is capable of being which they may be applied. I have said nothing vegetables, as well as others not enumerated, preserved for a long time in such a manner as upon the beauty and fragrance which beds of should be preserved in the cellar for the use of to vie with the sweet meats of foreign climates, flowers display; or what is more important, the the family in the winter. Though potatoes, which we sometimes purchase at the expense of pleasure and utility which a well stored garden strictly speaking, belong to the field, and should more money than is necessary to raise the fruit affords to the lovers of botany. My sole object principally be raised there; yet I have assigned in our own gardens, and to make those which are was to suggest hints upon the use and importance them a place in the garden; but I do this only equally as good. The medicinal uses to which of a kitchen garden. To those already suggested for the use of the family before those in the field our fruit may be applied, and the comfort and I will only add, that I believe few errors are are ripe. In a garden the ground under fruit relief they will administer to the sick, enhance more common with farmers, in the management trees, if properly manured and carefully mana- their value. of their gardens, than shallow digging, sowing ged, will yield potatoes; and so far from injur- But there is another species of fruit, which their seeds too thick, and neglecting the weeding ing will benefit the trees, by destroying the grass has not been mentioned, that ought to be rais- of them in the early season of gardening. and weeds, and keeping the ground open and ed in every garden. Currant bushes may be loose. Potatoes thus raised afford an additional raised with ease, and preserved with little laprofit from the same land, and what is of more bour for a long period. I have never been able importance, they save the time and labour of to raise them from the seed, though I have sevetravelling to the field to gather them for daily ral times attempted it; but they may be multi use. CINCINNATUS. FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL plied by dividing the roots, or what is much easi-An Essay on the advantage of manuring with green crops. By S. W. Pomeroy Esq. first Vice President of the Society for promoting agriculture in Massachusetts. The fruits which may be raised from vines er by simply setting the slips into the ground.are convenient for the family, and some of them They ought to be set in rows, each bush from ought to grow in every garden: such as cucum-three to four feet from the other, so as to admit bers, melons, and grapes. The cucumber is one the sun, the air, and the hoe freely between That eminent chemist, Sir Humphrey Davy, of the most useful, and in the heat of summer, them. And if the ground is kept open, well ma- who has shed so much light on the practice as when dressed with vinegar, salt, and pepper, is nured, and the grass and weeds destroyed, they well as on the philosophy of Agriculture, observes, the most cooling and the most wholesome sauce will yield abundantly. Their fruit is wholesome that "land when not employed in preparing food that our tables afford. I am sensible that some to eat and a gelly may be made from them that for animals, should be applied to the purposes of people have a prejudice against this fruit, ari-is not only pleasant and agreeable to the pa- the preparation of manure for plants; and that, sing from an opinion that it is unhealthy. A long late and stomach, but useful in inflammation of this is affected by means of green crops, in conseand a very free use of them has convinced me the throat. But the most important use to quence of the absorption of carbonaceous matter that they are salutary, and have a tendency to which currants can in my opinion, be applied in the carbonic acid of the atmosphere. That, in promote and preserve health. "Cucumbers," is that of making wine. Currant wine allays a (naked) summer fallow a period is always lost says the celebrated Dr. Willich, "are a whole-thirst and promotes digestion, and when careful-in which vegetables may be raised, either as food some, gently opening and cooling fruit which ly made and properly managed, is far superior to for animals or as nourishment for the next crop.” may be of considerable service to the consump- that which is sold for good Malaga wine. It may The rewards offered by the board of Trustees tive." Melons are the richest fruit our climate be made with small expense-the actual cost of of the Massachusetts agricultural Society for yields; and grapes may be raised of a fine fla- it does not exceed fifty cents a gallon, at a fair more than twenty years successively, for the best vour. These vines may all be cultivated with little price for the labour, the sugar and the brandy experiments on ploughing in green crops for malabour and great success, and they require but used in it. It requires but a small piece of land nure, appear to be still unclaimed; there is of small plats of land. Our ill success proceeds to make sufficient wine for the use of a fa- course good reason to believe that the practice is from not properly manuring our land, not keep-mily; my bushes usually produce fruit suf- very limited in the Commonwealth. To shew ing it clean, and suffering our vines to stand ficient for more than two gallons to the square the advantages that result from such a system, too near each other. The holes in which cucum-rod. If farmers would duly consider how elsewhere, the following is transcribed from a bers and melons are planted should be three cheap and pure this wine is, and with what ease letter that addressed to John S. Skinner, Esq. feet apart, and large and deep, they should be they could make it, I think few of them would of Baltimore, the able and zealous Editor of filled nearly full with manure from the hog-stye, neglect the culture of the currant, or exchange the AMERICAN FARMER, and which appeared mixed with mould, and but few seeds put in the produce of their fields and their dairies for in that paper last November. each. The best cucumbers that I raise is from imported wines. Sound policy requires them if Among the various plants applied as green seed planted the first of June; but melons should they consult their ease and happiness to live, as dressings for the restoration of worn out soils, be planted earlier. far as may be, on their own productions. This the WHITE LUPIN stands pre-eminent in those A portion of the garden should be appropria- is the direct road to security and practical inde- climates that will permit their growth between ted to the growth of fruit trees; such as pears, pendence. the periods of harvest and seed time." That a quinces, peaches, and plums of various kinds. My method of making wine is to gather the trial may be made with them, I have forwardThe pear and the plum tree is better suited currants as soon as they are ripe; to put one ed half a bushel of the seed, which I trust you to the cold, and suffers less from it than the quart of water to three pounds of currants and will cheerfully distribute for the benefit of our These were sent to me peach. The former should be placed to the let it stand thirty six hours in a vessel in the cel- Southern brethren. north, and the latter to the south; the hardiest lar. I then extract the juice from the currants from Fayal; and the following account, which I tree would then protect the tenderest against by a press made for the purpose, strain the li- have collected, of the effects of their culture, the inclemency of the season. Our climate is fa- quor clean and add to it two pounds of good brown will, at least, serve to convince us, that "the vourable to the growth of fruit trees, and when sugar to every three pounds of currants. After Earth ever subservient to the wants of man," well cultivated they will yield a plentiful crop stirring the liquor till the sugar is nearly all when exhausted by his insatiable demands, reof delicious fruit. It is important to select trees dissolved, I put it into a clean cask, and when quires from him but a little mechanical aid, to that will yield fruit of a good quality and fine it is sufficiently fermented I add one gallon of enable her still to spread his walks with flowflavour. But fruit trees, as well as orchards, brandy to every seven gallons of the wine, stir it ers and his table with plenty.' The island of must be pruned, the ground manured and kept well, and after a few hours exclude the external Fayal though in the same parallel of latitude open, and the catterpillars and other insects des- air from the liquor. In March it will be fit to with Maryland, is subject to a temperature seltroyed. "It ought," says a late writer, "at the bottle; or you may preserve it in a sound state on dom above 80, or below 50 degrees of Farenheit. same time, to be recollected, that as the im-the lees for a considerable time, or what is bet-The soil is thin, and incumbent on scoria and proved and most delicious fruits have a me ofter, by putting it into another cask. This may other un-decomposed volcanic substances; but careful cultivation, and are derived from origi-not be the best mode of making wine, but it pro-naturally exceedingly fertile. For a long perinals of very ordinary character, so if the trees duces such as is good and wholesome. I have od of time, every part accessible to the plough, has been in tillage; and, with the exception of there are within our reach, that can be sucess-without manure it feeds millions in some counselected patches shifted for flax, under alter-fully applied. tries, from soils little better than blowing sands. nate crops of wheat and Indian corn, (the latter CLOVER is unquestionably one of the greatest Those soils inclining to loam, that produce a being the chief food of the labouring classes.) improvers; but a season is lost by its applica- rank stubble, are said to be enriched by a sucSuch a system of severe cropping; the resources tion. There is another objection-weeds and cession of ripened crops; and it is a fact within for manure very limited, and without the advan-wild grasses that rise with it, the first season, my own observation, that on the alluvial banks tage of improved implements or modes of cul- ripen and shed their seeds; the effects of which, of the Connecticut, rich friable loams, which ture, caused a visible deterioration of the soil; are severely felt in the succeeding tillage rota-have been exhausted by repeated, unmanured, the crops lessened from year to year; partial tions. crops of Indian corn, have been in some meaimportations were resorted to; and the well BUCK WHEAT has been most used in this sure restored by two or three successive crops of born of the island became seriously apprehen-country for green dressings; and doubtless with rye. If it will do this with the dry stubble, sive of the most distressing consequences. good effects on summer fallows for winter crops; what may we not expect from it green, when “Providentially, some 15 or 20 years since, but, besides not coming on early enough for buried rampant and succulent in the soil? the White Lupin was introduced from Italy, and spring crops, it often leaves the land foul with its In order to ensure a sufficient growth, in season though it came by accident, to a people strong-own seeds; and is allowed, on all hands, to be a to plough in with Indian corn and most of our ly bigotted to old practices of husbandry, the great exhauster. root crops, rye should be sown the beginning or cultivation soon became general. I am aware that an opinion generally pre-by the middle of August, and much thicker than "The wheat and corn are harvested in August, vails that, if plants are cut in the milk, as it when intended for a crop of grain. If it gets too the land is soon after ploughed and Lupins sown is termed, or ploughed in before they ripen forward before winter, it should be fed down on the surface, or but slightly covered, at the their seeds, that the soil is not exhausted! I with light stock or mown. Winter rye sown earrate of two bushels per acre. In February they presume this theory is founded on the supposi- ly in the spring grows rapidly, and will generalflower, and are then turned in with the wheat, tion, that while the stalk and foliage are green, ly arrive at sufficient stature in season to be corn or flax in their several rotations. By this the supplies are drawn from the atmosphere; turned in as manure for ruta baga. Rye ploughmanagement a progressive improvement of the but so soon as they become shrivelled the seeds ed in when in full flower and millet sown, which soil has become apparent: there are no longer are perfected with food exclusively from the soil. it will bring forward with great luxuriance, and apprehensions of famine; a very redundant popu- This reasoning is plausible, and possibly cor- that in its most succulent state, turned in for lation subsists; and besides supplying 10,000 on rect as to certain classes of vegetables, but the wheat, may be one of the best fallow preparations the neighbouring island of Pico, where scarce position should in all cases be admitted to a very for it that can be devised; and is probably the any thing but the vine is cultivated, a surplus is limitted extent. cheapest and most convenient process to restore often sent to other islands, and in some instances The hum of bees in a field of buck wheat, an exhausted soil. At the same time it should to LISBON! and the flavour of the honey from the hives in be considered, that gypsum acts more power"Lupins are ranked by Gardeners among the the vicinity, afford strong presumptive proof that fully on soils thus prepared. hardy annuals, but I am not able to say what the atmosphere does not alone produce such sweet I have been induced to submit the foregoing degree of frost they will bear. From a single results! remarks, not only from an impression that such experiment I am led to believe that, owing to There is another consideration that should go- a system, as has been imperfectly suggested, will the droughts to which our climate is subject, not vern us in the selection of plants for the object tend to increase our products immediately, and much advantage will be derived by sowing them in view. It cannot be doubted, but that the soil ensure a progressive improvement of the soil, on summer fallows as a dressing for winter crops. contains, not only materials suited to particular but from a firm conviction, that it is one of the Their application to spring crops, in those sec-vegetables, but that several species require the most efficient resources that the farmers of Newtions of our country where they can be grown same principles to furnish their food. Now England can command, to enable them to meet in season for that purpose, will probably become from an experiment, well defined, twenty years the crisis that awaits them; and for which, perthe first object of experiment." ago, with oats cut in the milk, and from constant haps, they are not fully prepared. The culture of crops to plough in for manure, observation of the effects of their culture on my By the noble efforts of the State of New York, is by no means a modern practice. The Ro-neighbour's land since, I feel a thorough convic- those fertile regions in the west, near four hunmans, 1800 years ago, according to Pliny, culti- tion that they exhaust the soil of those materi-dred miles from navigation, will soon be (apvated and applied Lupins for manure in the als or principles necessary for clover and other proximated for every useful purpose and prosame manner precisely as they now are in Italy, grass, to a degree very destructive to those all-duce the same effect, as if they were within forand in Fayal.* But this plant is supposed to be important crops. ty miles of the Hudson,)-And I apprehend that unsuitable for our climate:-we should not des- And such have been my impressions that their the question cannot be too soon propounded— pair, however, of finding a substitute. deteriorating effects on the soil would be lasting, How is the Massachusetts farmer to meet in the It has been asserted by Sir Humphrey Davy, that a few years since, I restricted a tenant, in a market on equal terms, the mass of agricultural "that it is a general principle of chemistry, that lease which he now holds, from sowing oats, productions which will then inundate the shores in all cases of decomposition, substances combine even to cut in the milk, under a penalty of an of the Atlantic? much more readily at the moment of their dis-increased rent of ten dollars an acre,-I wish to Is it by Canals in an uneven confined territoengagement, than after they have been regular- be understood, that these observations are meant ry, on which the most profitable staple is graly formed. And in fermentation beneath the soil to apply solely to dry soils-such as are suita-zing? We have no inland seas mingled with the fluid matter produced, is applied instantly, ble for Indian corn or wheat-and in our dry mighty rivers, to feed levels through rich alluvieven while it is warm, to the organs of the climate. al tracts of an hundred miles in extent! No in plant, and consequently is more likely to be effi- MILLET is a plant, the cultivation of which is exhaustable reservoirs of brine, within twelve cient than in manure that has gone through the increasing, and as an important article for fod-feet of the surface, seven times stronger than process. He also remarks, that it may be doubt-der, or for soiling, will probably within a short the waters of the ocean; and from which the ed whether there is as much useful manure at period be more fully appreciated, that seems whole Atlantic seaboard may be supplied with the end of a clean (green crop) fallow, as at well adapted, to sow on summer fallows for the heavy article of SALT as cheap and of a purthe time the vegetables clothing the surface winter crops, or to turn in late in the fall to er quality than can be obtained from any part were first ploughed in. That the action of the enrich the land for the ensuing spring tillage of the world! Neither do our mountains afford sun upon the surface of the soil, tends to disen- or other spring crops. Of the exhausting pro- those valuable and ponderous minerals, the transgage the gaseous and volatile fluid matters that perties of millet I am ignorant, but from the portation of which on canals, contribute to the it contains; and heat increases the rapidity of bulk of the stalk and foliage, it must make main support of those costly undertakings in Eufermentation; and that in the summer fallow large draughts from the atmosphere, and copious rope!* (with green crops) nourishment is rapidly pro- returns to the soil. The cheapness of the seed *The canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson, duced, at a time when no vegetables are present is much in favour of its extensive application. capable of absorbing it.” Of all the vegetables that may be best substi-240 miles on its line, not a single yard of rock is 363 miles, will probably be finished in 1823. For tuted for the Lupin, RYe, in my opinion, is the necessary to be removed! The average cost of most promising. This plant, too much neglected the whole canal is estimated at $13,800 per to produce food for brutes, but, what is to be mile. The expenditure for canals in Englamented, too much cultivated to furnish poison land average $22,000 per mile. The Middlesex for men; possesses all the ameliorating proper- canal is said to have cost $17,000. Mr. Gallatin ties for the soil, that we are accustomed to de-supposed the medium cost of canals in America * See Pliny's Nat. Hist. Book 17, chap. 9. rive from any of those belonging to the legumin- would amount to $31,000 per mile. book 18, chap. 14-27. ous tribe. Rye, withstands severe drought; and American Review for January, 1822. Art, xii. See North Such expositions shew the importance of selecting plants that will arrive at sufficient stature and succulence, in season for spring crops; and it may be well to enquire what vegetables |