194 bushes generally grow in a better shape than rate fist, and which, he says, either by cuttings or suckers. GOURD.-CUCURBITA. In Botany, of the Monacia Syngenesia Class. The plants of this genus are very nearly allied to those of cucumis, and of them there is great variety. The course of the Arno "when young and of the Isle of Elba. properly boiled and dressed with butter and above Florence, traverses the Val de Chiana; this In pruning these bushes, observe to keep the black pepper, is a delicious vegetable." Louri-valley resembles in every respect the Val d'Arno "this fruit is of great use in long voy-which extends from Florence to the sea. It will stem quite free from shoots, at least that from ero says, ten or twelve inches from the ground, there be ages, as it may be kept several months fresh be sufficient therefore to describe the latter, in order to make the reader acquainted with the but one regular stem. I have seen them train- and sweet." ed on trellis work, where the fruit has grown and The Gourd, called Vegetable Marrow, is of whole valley watered by that river. Those I have seen did In following the road to Pistoia and Lucca, as ripened well; and it is a most desirable method a pale yellow colour. for small gardens, as they have a neat appear-not exceed from seven to nine inches in length. far as Pisa, we continue on the right bank of the pnce, take but little room, and form a good back It has only been known a few years in this arno, and follow the foot of the Appenines. For country; and, I believe, was not sold in the ests of olive trees cover the foot of these mounground to flower-borders. shops and markets before the summer of 1819;tains and their foliage conceals an infinite num and although they are of so late an introduction, ber of little farm houses, which people all the the accounts are very imperfect: but it seems base of these mountains. On the upper slope most probable that the seeds were brought in grow chesnuts, whose vigorous verdure contrasts some East-India ships, and likely from Persia, with the pale tint of the olive, and forms a nowhere it is called cicader. It is cultivated in ble crown to this magnificent amphitheatre. the same manner as cucumbers, and is said by The road is bordered on each side by cottages a those who have grown them to be very produc-scarce a hundred steps from each other; though tive. This fruit is used for culinary purposes built of brick, they have a justness of proportion Gourds were more esteemed by the ancients, in every stage of it's growth. When very young, and an elegance of form unknown in our climates. Pliny has it is good fried with butter; when half-grown, They consist only of a single pavilion, which has minutely described them as different from the it is said to be excellent, either plainly boiled, frequently only one door, and two windows, in pompion or cucumber. He says, "they are and served up sliced on toasted bread, as aspa- front. These houses are always placed at some employed for more purposes, and are more use- ragus; or stewed with rice sauce, for which distance from the road, and are separated from ful than the former fruit. When properly dress-purpose it is likewise sliced. It is often sent to it by a wall, breast-high, and a terrace a few feet ed," he says, "they are a light, mild, and table mashed like turnips: when full-grown, it in breadth. On the wall are commonly vases of wholesome food. The young and tender is used for pies. It has been highly recom-antique form, from which raise aloes, flowers, or stalks," he states, were dressed and served mended to me by many persons who have grown young orange trees. The house itself is entirely up to table as a good dish; and the fruit of it, while others speak of it as but little superior covered with vines, and in front, are swarms of those that climbed up trees, or walls, or on the to the pompion. frames of arbours, were better food than those which crept on the ground. They have of late," says this author, "been much used for pots and pitchers;" but long before, they had been used as barrels to keep wine in. Both the wild and the garden-gourd was much used in medicine by the Romans, who also employed the seeds as a charm to cure the ague. (Plíny, 1. xx. c. 3.) Gerard says, "the pulp, or meat of the gourd, used as a poultice, mitigates all hot swellings, and takes away the head-ache and the inflam-SOIL AND AGRICULTURE OF TUSCANY. purchases for a few sous the straw that she wants; mation of the eyes." than either melons or cucumbers. (To be continued.) EXTRACTS AND REMARKS On Italian Agriculture, communicated for young girls, dressed in white linen, with silk corsets, and straw hats, ornamented with flowers," and put sideways on their heads. They are incessantly occupied in preparing the fine straw which is the treasure of this valley, and of which the Leghorn hats are made. the This manufacture is the source of the prosperiEsq.ty of the Val d'Arno; it brings three millions of livres annually, which are divided solely among the women of this country, for the men do not meddle with this work in the least. Each girl tries to plait it as fine as possible, and sells the The bottle-gourd, (Lagenaria,) grows in Tuscany comprises three regions entirely dis- hats she makes herself and for her own profit ; many parts of the world to near six feet long, tinct. The Arno flowing through its smiling val- which in length of time forms her marriage porand two feet thick. The rinds or shells are ley, forms in the midst of the mountains a hol- tion. The father of a family has a right howevused by the negroes in the West-India ialands as low of which Florence occupies the centre, and er to exact from the women of his house a certain bottles, holding from one pint to many gallons. which extends south as far as Cortona, and west quantity of work in his farm, which is performed Barham speaks of one that held nine gallons; to Pisa. Near the sea, this hollow, which is fre- by women from the mountains who are paid by and the Rev. Mr. Griffith Hughes mentions quently very narrow, opens into a vast smooth the girls of the plain from the produce of their them, in his History of Barbadoes, as holding plain, that has been left by the waters. The hats, to do the work in their place. In fact they twenty-two gallons. The shells are cleared of right bank of the Arno, is bordered by the high gain thirty or forty sous a day, by plaiting their the pulp and seeds by the negroes in the follow-chain of the Apenines; the left bank extends to straw, while they can get a poor work-woman ing manner:-they make a hole at one end, into the sea, and to the frontiers of the states of the from the Appenines for eight or ten. They also which they pour hot water, in order to dissolve church. It presents an unequal, irregular sur-assert that any rough labour would harden their the pulp, which afterwards is extracted with a face, the soil of which has little fertility, and the fingers, and deprive them of the agility necessary stick, and the inside rinsed with sand and wa-air generally unwholesome; with eminences for the fineness of their work. ter, to loosen and clear away the fibres that re-crowned by ruins of all ages. These are the peasant girls of the Val d'Arno so main; they are then dried and become fit for use, The Appenine region comprises the two sixths much celebrated by travellers for their beauty, and will contain water or other liquids for a of the whole extents of Tuscany; the rich val- and whom Alfieri used to go and visit to study length of time. ley of the Arno only one sixth; the three other their language; they may truly be called Arcadi Sloane mentions one of these gourds as large sixths occupy the regions known by the name of an shepherdesses, for in fact they are not peasants, as the human body. Brown says, "the decoc- the Maremma, which we have already described; being never exposed to heat, toil or fatigue, and tion of the leaves is recommended much in pur-and of which Surina may be considered the capi- consequently always preserve their native ging clysters, and the pulp of the fruit is often tal. Thus the fertile and cultivated part of Tus- charms. employed in resolutive poultices." He adds, cany, which we have now to describe, is confined It is said that two acres of ground are sufficient that it is bitter and purgative, and may be to one sixth of its extent. We have already ex-to supply all the straw used for the manufacture used instead of the common coloquintida." hibited to the traveller a sketch of the character of hats in Tuscany. This straw is procured from Sloane and Barham describe a sweet gourd, and physiognomy of the Appenines, in which a kind of unbearded wheat, cut before it is quite which, the latter says, grow two or three feet nothing appears to the eye but vallies ravaged by ripe, and which has been bleached by the sterililong, as big as a man's thigh, is full of sweet torrents, heaps of ruins, woody declivities and ty of the soil. The spot is chosen among the calpulp that makes a pleasant sort of sweetmeat wild pastures. The same features serve in the careous hills; it is never manured, and the seed or preserve." He says, "the distilled water Appenines of Tuscany, though somewhat milder; is sown very thick. 66 is good in fevers, and the pulp applied to the the summits of the hills being less elevated, the These numerous habitations, so near each otheyes abates their inflammation." Sloane says declivities not so steep, with fresher pastures er, sufficiently show that the farms themselves "the seeds are diuretic, and made into and vallies better inhabited. But, like all the are very limited, and that property is prodigiously emulsions, temper and take off the acrimony of rest of the Appenines, the population is poor, fed divided in these vallies. Their extent, in fact, on chesnuts, and supported by the profits of the is from three to ten acres, they are situated Lunan describes the squash (melopeps,) a work which they procure by emigrating to Flosmall gourd, not exceeding the size of a mode-rence, to Leghorn, the Val d'Arno, and the mines * A livre is 20 cents,nearly. urine." directions. around the house, and are divided into compart-the happiness of its inhabitants; for the number is larger and of a much superior quality to what ments by small canals and rows of trees. These of individuals among whom this total produce is is found in the north. It is eaten here under eveare sometimes mulberry, but almost always pop-to be divided, allows but a very small portion for ry form, but especially as a flat cake, which they lar, the leaves of which serve as food for animals. the enjoyment of each. call bread, but which was the only form of them Each being a vine-plant, the branches of which In fact we have hitherto described a charming which I thought bad. As to wheaten bread, it are twisted by the farmer in a thousand different country, well watered, fertile and covered with comes from Parma, and is a great luxury, only perpetual vegetation, we have shown it divided indulged in on important occasions. Besides These compartments, arranged in long squares, into millions of enclosures, which like so many chesnuts, this Appenine people have great quanare spacious enough to be ploughed with a plough squares in a garden, give birth to a thousand vari-tities of pigeons and a considerable number of without wheels, and two oxen---ten or twelve far-ed productions-while in front of all these en-bees-and with this scanty means of subsistence, mers have a pair of these animals among them, enclosures are elegant dwellings, mantled with their population is numerous and the soil much and they employ them successively to plough all vines and decorated with flowers. But on enter-divided." They are very industrious, and their the farms. These oxen come from the Rowan ing the houses, we find a total absence of all the first and principal way of making money is exstate and from the Marenimas; they are of the conveniences of life, a table more than frugal, and cessive economy; they make their own furniture Hungarian breed, extremely well kept, and are a destitute appearance. None of these families and clothes, and they hardly want any thing more. covered with pieces of white linen, ornamented are proprietors of the house they inhabit; but-&c. p. 149. with a great deal of embroidery, and red fringe, are farmers, who pay the proprietor the half of On approaching a spot covered with rocks and almost every farmer keeps a neat elegant horse, all the crops in kind. The proprietors are fixed thorns, I beheld a flock of more than 12000 goats, which is harnessed to a little cart with two wheels, in the numerous towns in the fertile vallies of living always in the woods, and totally unacquaint neatly made and painted red; it serves for car- Tuscany; several of them possess as many as ed with a roof or habitation. These animals only rying every thing about the farm, and especially 100 farms; and a very great number have ten, approach the shepherds to get the salt, which to take the farmers to mass and to balls. On holi- twenty and thirty. The population is thus divid- they give them twice a day when they milk them days all the roads are covered with hundreds of ed into two classes, who never mix with each oth--p. 152. these little cars, flying in all directions, and con-er; the city proprietors, and the peasants who CAMPAGNA. veying young women adorned with flowers and are not proprietors.-P. 580, &c. &c. The Mal'Aria presents one of the most curious ribands. "This charming vale of the Arno, is perhaps problems to be found in the natural history of any The farmers of the Val d'Arno have not forage the most delicious country on the earth. In no country; we have stated in another part of this enough to keep cows; and therefore they only country is property more divided, in none has "Guide," where we have given a general sketch rear heifers, which they buy at three months old, man added so much to nature. He has not left a of the soil and agriculture of Italy, that the counand keep till they are eighteen, when they sell single brook, but he has constructed thousands of try of the Mal'Aria is one of the three agriculturthem to the butchers, and replace them with canals: there is not a single green turf, not one of al regions into which all Italy must be divided. younger ones. The drivers bring these heifers those natural meadows, in which the farmer in For these reasons we have judged proper to into the fairs of the Val d'Arno from the pastures of mowing them seems to receive a generous gift of sert in this place a general description of that the Maremmas. the creation: there is not a single clump of remarkable tract of country which extends along This custom arises from the rotation of crops wood-not a tree of which nature sowed the the Mediterranean from Pisa to Terracina and adopted in these vallies. There being no natu- seed or directed the antique roots-all is planted comprehends all the plains which spread from ral meadow, the leaves of hay, the remains of and fashioned by man; his presence is felt every the sea to the first chain of the Appenines.-&c. vegetables, and a little clover is the only food where, and he has multiplied his works to infini- p. 376. provided for the cattle. The rotation of crops is ty. In the horizon alone we perceive that chain of MAREMMA OF TUSCANY. not irrevocably fixed, but is most commonly as mountains which he has abandoned, as it were, The Italian writers fix the depopulation of their follows:to Providence, and where he has neglected to country and the introduction of the Mal'Aria, extend his empire.-&c. &c. p. 584. about the time of the plague in the eleventh cenThis spot (between Pisa and the sea) is re-tury; and since that period, the population has markable for containing a herd of camels, which never been strong enough, they allege, to resist have been established there ever since the time the influence of the bad air, which increases of the crusades, and were brought over to this every year in proportion as population and agriFifth do. same; clover, sown after the corn, place by a grand Prior of Pisa, of the order of St. culture diminish. Several attempts have been cut in the spring and followed by sorgo. John. These animals are made to perform all made to establish colonies in the Tuscan MaremThat is to say, six crops in five years of which the agricultural labours of this district. They ma, which have all failed by the colonies being only one is for cattle. furnish individuals also for all the showers of all cut off before the establishment gained any The sorgo is a sort of large parsnip, which af-wild beasts in Europe, who can buy a camel here fords a coarse flower of which a bad soup and po- for the moderate sum of six or seven guineas.— The soil of that tract has become sterile, and lenta* are made. seems to consist of nothing but pure Argil, the These different crops, though only once manuwhiteness of which is only altered by a mixture ed in five years, are nevertheless very fine. This of the sulphur abounding in that region. is to be attributed to the nature of the soil, which This country is too much ravaged by torrents to The country thus depopulated, having fallen is alluvial, deep and fertile; to its being cultiva- leave any space for the cultivation of corn; the into the hands of a few great proprietors, there ted with the most minute care; to the crops be- climate also is too severe for the vine, the Indian remained nothing to be done but to take advaning happily interculated with each other, and corn and for vegetables;-they confine themselves tage of the spontaneous productions of the soil; finally to the extreme vicinity of the habitations; therefore to the making of hay in all the little to let the land run to grass, and to introduce a which furnish them that chemical manure, the spots where grass will grow; and it forms, with sort of wandering tribes who should dwell here action of which escapes our senses, but which ex-beech leaves, the winter provision for the cat-only in the winter. During that season the Maperience forces us to admit. Thus this immense tle. These consist of a few small horses for car-remma is not unhealthy; and men as well as population lives on the produce of this soil so sub-riage, some sheep and goats; they also feed a cattle may roam through the wilderness with divided; but they live with severe economy, and considerable number of pigs, of an excellent quali-impunity. It did not, however, suit the farmer of never gather enough to lay up any thing in re-ty, which are fattened with chesnuts and whey. the interior country to leave his home and take serve, or to provide against a bad year; they are In summer, these animals wander over the up his abode in the Maremma. then assisted by the port of Leghorn, and the neighbouring mountains, but are put in stables therefore necessarily to be interposed, between markets of the Romagna; and they find exchanges during the winter. With the goats' and sheeps' the proprietors of the land in the interior of those in the produce of their vines, their oil and their milk, they make little hard sour cheeses, which of the sca cost, a race of wandering shepherds, straw hats. But neither the natural fertility of form a great part of the food of the inhabitants. possessing nothing but their cattle, and enigratthis soil, nor its abundant productions constitute The wool of the sheep is wrought by the wo-ing with them, according to the seasons, from the men in winter, and made into a stuff, the warp of hilly to the level country. NOTE BY A FRIEND-* A sort of food made on which is thread, and with which the whole fami- Under the conduct of these men four hundred the Appenines, of the meal of chesnuts, and in the ly is clothed. thousand sheep, thirty thousand horses, and a plains, of the meal of Indian corn, simply boiled Thus this country, without any cultivation, vast number of cows and goats are annually rearin water, when cool, cut in slices and recooked feeds its inhabitants with its spontaneous produced, for the supply of the Val d'Arno and the other with the gravy of stewed meat and grated cheese. tions, that is to say, with its chesnuts: but then vales of Tuscany where no cattle are bred. It is in fact the small Hominy of Maryland and how plentifully and how vigorously do they grow The consequences of this economy have been Virginia. on the declivities of these mountains! The fruit certainly to create a desert in the centre of Italy, First year, Indian corn, haricos, Peas or other Second do. the same; corn. Fourth do. same; corn. P. 584. THE APPENINES. strength. There came and to people it during half the year with savage 3. creatures, who wander over these solitudes like Tartars, armed with long lances, and covered with a coarse cloth and untanned hides-&c. page 379. APPENDIX the Smut. 7. To hogs in small quantities, occasionally Imixed with their food.* To collect heath clods, and other refuse, when By some it is said that poultry do not thrive waste lands are first cultivated, and instead of with Salt, though it is well known, that pigeons burning them, to mix them with layers of Salt, relish it much. so as to convert them into manure, and to try the These experiments are recommended, for the effects of that manure with a crop of turnips or purpose of ascertaining, by comparison with aniTo the paper drawn by Sir John Sinclair, on the potatoes. mals receiving no Salt, whether they thrive betUSES OF SALT FOR AGRICULTURAL 4. Experiment with Salt, as a Remedy against ter, with the addition of Salt to their food ;PURPOSES; stating the Experiments, which whether they thrive better on coarse fare ;— are best calculated to ascertain the advantages To ascertain, by comparison, whether immers-whether it improves the flavour of milk from cows of using Salt, for objects connected with Agri-ing seed wheat in water, so impregnated with Salt, fed with turnips;-whether stock in general bethat an egg, will float in it, is not an effectual come tamer and more domesticated;—and whethIf an Experimental Farm had been fortunately remedy against the smut, provided the seed beer they are more free from disease,-as the bots established, under the sanction of public authority, frequently stirred in the water, and the light in horses, and the rot, the sickness, or the scab and at the public expense, some years ago, when it grains skimmed off, and the seed afterwards was suggested, every use to which Salt is applica-dried, by having new slaked lime sifted upon it. ble in Agriculture, would, most probably, have 5. Experiments for ascertaing the Effects of sowbeen ascertained before this time; and Parliament ing Seed with Salt. would have had decisive evidence, on which to have culture. in sheept. The Sal: to be given to stock, to be either powdered and mixed with their food, or in that state put on stones, slates, or coarse cloths for them to lick,-or in large lumps so placed that the stock To sow various sorts of seed,-in particular may have access to lick them.‡ proceeded in its recent inquiries. As it is, nothing those of an oily quality, with different proporremains to be done, but to recommend a number tions of Salt, varying from equal quantities of 11. Experiments to ascertain whether Salt wil of experiments, to those who may be inclined to Salt and seed, to one sixteenth of Salt, in order direct their attention to so important an object, to to try the effects resulting therefrom, whether in be tried as circumstances are favourable to the attempt. In this way, much may be effected, pro-seed from the attacks of vermin in the ground. regard to improving the crop, or preserving the vided the experiments are conducted with accuracy, and reported to the Board of Agriculture, for the purpose of comparison and publicity. 1. Experiments on Fallows. prevent the Rust, or Blight in Wheat. To mix with the soil a fortnight before the wheat is sown, from 30 to 40 bushels of foul Salt, or from 20 to 30 bushels of pure Salt, for the pur6. Experiments on Grass Lands. pose of ascertaining its effects on the succeeding To try the effects of strewing, in autumn, six-crop of wheat; and in particular, whether it teen bushels of foul Salt, or from 10 to 12 bushels prevents the rust or blight. Also to ascertain, To sow in Autumn, from 30 to 40 bushels of of pure Salt per acre, on coarse herbage, or on raised with Salt mixed in the manure, is exempwhether a crop of wheat, sown after turnips, foul Salt, or from 20 to 30 bushels of pure Salt, peaty soils, also on grass lands covered with moss ted from the rust. per acre, on strong soil proposed to be fallowed. in spring; `and to compare the effects with lands The land to be ploughed before winter, and fre- not so treated. quently stirred in spring and summer, so that the 7. Experiments on Crops of Clover. * It is said that in Ireland, when fattening their Salt may be thoroughly incorporated with the soil, before the seed is sown. In the course of this the proportion of five, ten, or fifteen bushels per half the period they would otherwise require.— To make a compost of fine earth, with Salt, in by means of which they are found to fatten in hogs, shey sprinkle a little Salt with every meal, experiment, the following particulars to be ascerstatute acre, (the preferable quantity not being Observations by John Marshall, Esq. on the tained: 1. Whether the Salt destroys weeds and insects;-2. Whether it makes the soil more of clover, in the months of March or April, or Salt, in the London Medical and Physical Jouryet ascertained,) and to strew it on the first crop Medical, as well as Dietetic Properties of common friable, and less tough or adhesive;-3. Wheth- on the second crop, immediately after the first er it produces an abundant crop of barley, or of wheat, free from rust or blight ;-and, 4. What crop is cut, and to compare the effect of this com-nal, vol. XXXIX. No. 231. are the effects on the succeeding crop of clover, that manner. post, with parts of the same field, not treated in and the crops that follow it. Salting Hay. of † Some important information is given, of the great advantage derived from giving Salt to sheep, in considerable quantities, in the district of Craut It would be very important, to compare the 8. Experiments for ascertaining the Effects near Arles, in France. See Annals of Agricul land thus treated, with an equal quantity of the ture, vol. xxiv. and Horne's letter on the Salt dusame field, manured with lime, stating the ex- To mix Salt, at the rate of from 25 to 35 pounds ties, p. 11; also vol. i, of the Memoirs of the Roypense of each, and their relative produce; and weight of pure Salt, per ton of hay, when in the al Academy of Sciences at Paris, where there is a what would have been the expense, had the Salt act of putting it together, particularly with the haper entitled "Physical Observations on the efbeen exempted from duty.* second crop of clover, in wet or damp seasons, in fect of Salt in Fattening Cattle,” 2. Experiments on Crops of Grain and Roots. order to ascertain, whether it prevents hay from To sow, on various crops, as wheat, barley, oats, becoming mouldy, and whether it is not more ac-ed indirectly, from its great utility to the human The importance of Salt to stock, may be provbeans, pease, potatoes, and turnips, as soon as ceptable to stock, than hay not salted. Also to species. The ancient laws of Holland, ordained the seed is covered with the earth, 1 bushels of apply Salt, or brine, to damaged hay when given men to be kept on bread alone, unmixed with salt, foul Salt per statute acre, of from 10 to 12 bush-to stock, and to ascertain whether, though refu- as the severest punishment that could be inflicted els of pure Salt, on the surface, leaving it to be sed by them in its original state, they do not eat in that moist climate. The effect was horrible: washed into the soil by rain, for the purpose of it, greedily, when salted. these wretched criminals are said to have been devoured by worms, engendered in their own stoCoarse or Moist Food. machs. The lower orders of people in the inland on strong, or light soils;-3. Whether it de-with new oats, raw potatoes when first given to the same cause, being obliged to eat their potatoes To sprinkle straw with brine, also to mix Salt parts of Cornwall, suffer the greatest distress from stroys the wire-worm, grubs, the turnip fly, or horses, or clover cut later than usual, and given without any relish; and their children, who have the beetle, and other vermin destructive to crops; to horses or cattle, in order to ascertain, wheth-salt still more rarely, become infested with worms. -4. Whether it prevents scabbiness on pota-er coarse food, may not thus be rendered more lady, who had a great antipathy to Salt, and toes;-5. Whether salted turnips are less injured by the fly ;-and, 6. What are its effects on the palatable and nourishing, and moist food less in-had never taken any, nor even salted meat, was jurious. ascertaing the following particulars-1. What 9. Experiments to try the Effects of Salting after crops. A similar experiment may be tried, sowing the Salt about a fortnight before the seed, and mixing it with the soil by harrowing it in. 10. Experiments with Stock. infested by worms from her earliest infancy, during her whole life. This proves the advantage to be derived from Salt to every animal liable to To try the effect of giving Salt to stock in the that disorder, and the reason why children are following proportions: more apt to be troubled with worms, than grown 1. To horses per day, from three to four oun-up persons, is this, their taking less Salt with their food, and frequently none. This is a point, that ces. 2. To cows and breeding heifers per day, from ought to be particularly attended to at schools, three to four ounces. 3. To working oxen from three to four ounces. 6. To sheep, at the rate of two ounces of Salt and public seminaries, where great numbers of young people are collected. Where Salt cannot be had at a price within reach of the poor, salted meat, or fish, herrings in particular, should be recommended to them, more especially if they lived much on potatoes. an enemy to corruption, or putridity, that the There is reason, from analogy, to hope, that other fruits produced on the borders of the Rhone, Carey, caused the experiment to be repeated by Salt may be of use in this respect. It is so great are improved by the same application.* Mr. Henry Hendrickson, of Cecil county, MaryMr. Holinshead suggests, that every thing that land. He states that on a poor piece of land he wood employed in Salt mines, to support the roof is sown, or planted in a garden or hot-house, sowed one peck of flax seed, and one peck of Salt or sides of the mine, or the beams of wood in Salt should have a portion of Salt sprinkled on the sur-together, and that when the flax was about three warehouses, remain undecayed for ages. It is face of the ground around it, immediately after the inches high, he sowed another peck of Salt on it: natural, therefore, to suppose, that salt, judicious seed is covered with the earth. The advantage He also sowed a piece of excellent land with flax, ly applied, will likewise prevent the injury derived from the application of Dutch ashes, so and although he had a good crop, yet the flax on which plants receive from the fungus tribe, to full of saline particles, to gardens in the Nether- the poor land" was a great deal better, and pro duced more seed than the flax on the rich land." Mr. Beck, gardener, of Chorley in Lancashire, A farmer in Delaware county, to whom I men has constantly made use of Salt in his garden for tioned the fact of the utility of salt as a manure to upwards of thirty years, and he has invariably flax, told me he had tried it, and that it was plainfound it to exceed every other manure he could ly seen to be of great benefit. have used for that purpose, particularly for Mr. Deanet says that he found it, in 1786, to onions. He sowed the Salt immediately after act as a beneficial manure to carrots, when placthe seed was covered in, at the rate of about six- ed "under the surface in the centres of the interteen bushels per acre, or five pounds ten ounces vals between the rows, at some distance from the per pole or perch, or three ounces per square roots that the Salt might have time to be disyards. solved before the fibrous roots should reach it." which the disease called rust, is attributed. 12. Experiments for Improving the Quality of 15. Experiments with Composts of Earth. lands, is a full confirmation of this doctrine. before the fibres of the roots meet it. The 13. Experiments for converting the Roots and Stems of Vegetables into manure. To collect the roots and stems of weeds grow- Drilled carrots also grow well in a salted bed, Upon onions and turnips it had no effect. ing in the fields, or in hedges and hedge-rows to the Salt being laid under the surface, in the cen- farmers on the brackish rivers on our coast, find see what proportion of Salt it would require to tre of the intervals between the rows, and at some that the salt grass growing on the water's edge, convert the whole into a substance, capable of distance from the roots, that it may be dissolved when ploughed in, acts as a very excellent ma nure for Indian corn; and on the Rariton particu. furnishing food for plants. N. B. In a recent commmunication from A. larly it is a general practice thus to employ it.‡ 14. Experiments for converting Peat into a Ma- Bracebridge, Esq. of Walton on Thames, he 2. As a condiment to cattle, the utility of Salt is nure by means of Salt. states, that some years ago, the Clergyman of universally known to the American farmers, who To make a compost of peat and Salt, mixing it Holmes Chapel, who lived near the Salt Works, are constantly in the practice of giving a portion occasionally, to ascertain, what proportion of gave a favourite old mare, who was much broken of Salt to their cattle weekly. They find that Salt is necessary, to convert peat into a manure winded, some spoilt hay, that had been salted, (at the appetite is not only thereby greatly promotfor turnips and other crops. that time, Salt for agricultural purposes, was ed, their digestion strengthened, and of course free of duty). The mare had nothing else to their disposition to fatting increased; but that subsist on, but throve on that food so well, that she their health is preserved by its use. During the To make a compost, with the usual quantity of was fit to be put to work again next spring. This late war with England, when the prices offered lime, and another with Salt, at the rate of 15 or induced Mr. Bracebridge to drench some rotten for domestic manufactures rendered the multipli20 bushels per acre, and to ascertain the differ- sheep, night and morning, with strong brine, cation of Merino and other sheep an object with ence in point of expense,-in regard to the appa-after which, he did not lose one ;-they became the American farmers, they were in the habit of rent effect of the lime and the Salt, on the earth, fat, and the meat was as fine and good, as if the placing large lumps of hard Rock-Salt in various -and on the ensuing and succeeding crops. animals had never been affected. parts of pasture fields, for the sheep to lick at pleasure. It is rational to believe that the very 16. Experiments to ascertain whether the Weight See Horne's Letter, p. 14.-Annals of Agri- marked superiority in the health of every species of Butter or Cheese is augmented, by the Salt used in manufacturing either of these Articles: culture, vol. xxiv. and Memoir of the Academy of American cattle over those of Europe, may be ascribed to the general and free use of Salt. Many and whether the Farmer is indemnified by the ad- of Sciences in France, vol. i. ↑ Hints on Salt, as a Manure, by Hollinshead, give a portion of Salt daily to their horses, as a ditional Weight, for the expense of the Salt. second edit. p. 28. preservative against worms of all kinds, as well It is said, that a farmer in Cheshire, (Mr. Wea- On that account, sea-reed is such an excel-as to preserve their digestive powers. ver) who had mixed a pound of Salt with ten lent manure for onions.—If the Salt is sown after pounds of butter, found, that after working it in the crop appears above ground, it is destroyed. the usual manner, the salted butter only weighed § Hints on Salt as a Manure, by Hollinshead, 10 lb. 1 ounce; whereas, that ten pound of the p. 28. butter, unsalted, had continued of the same weight. Mr. Weaver likewise asserts, that having rubbed App.p. 182. in three pound of salt, into a cheese of 46 lb. weight, it was reduced, in six days to 43 lb.; As a supplement to the foregoing, we add the and of sprinkling the whole with Salt layer by whereas the same quantity of milk made into a following note by Dr. Mease, annexed to the edi-layer. În this way both hay and straw are rencheese that weighed on a Monday, 46 lb. without tion of the pamphlet by Samuel Parker, of dered more palatable to cattle. The quantity of Salt, weighed on the Saturday following 434 lbs. London, on the uses of Salt in Agriculture, print- fodder is moreover increased by this mixture of. A proof that salt decreases the weight of cheese. ed by Messrs. Careys' of Philadelphia. hay and straw. About one peck of Salt to the ton of hay is enough, but more will not be injuri CONCLUSION. || Husbandry of Scotland, second edit. vol. ii. NOTE. Edit. Am. Farmer. 3. The practice of salting hay has been generally adopted for 30 years or more in Pennsylvanias Hay thus treated (and clover hay particularly) may be put up with much less drying than when Salt is not used. Many farmers are in the excellent practice of mixing straw with hay, (as regularly as the hurry of stowing away will admit,) ous.. On the whole, it is hoped, that every public 4. Salt will even preserve fresh clover from spirited farmer, will try some of these experi- The utility of Salt for various agricultural pur- rotting, although put up in stacks in time of rain. ments, according as his situation and other cir-poses has long been known, and attended to in the An extensive and bold experiment was made in this way by Mr. Luke Morris of Philadelphia, at cumstances will admit of them: for the purpose United States. of proving, that the attention which Parliament 1. As a manure it was early used for flax, as his farm in Gloucester county, New Jersey, in has bestowed, on this occasion, to the interest of appears from some of Elliott's essays on hus-the rainy summer of 1804. About twenty-two the farmer, has not been misapplied. bandry, printed in Boston between 1745 and 1754: tons in two stacks were thus perfectly cured, and and Mr. Cadwalader Ford, in a paper on this subject addressed to the Massachusetts Agricultural * Do. Do. vol. 2, p. 176. On the Uses of Salt, in Gardens. This is a subject well entitled to the attention Society, and published by that body*, bears testiof the Horticultural Societies of London and Ed-mony of its highly fertilizing effects on flax. The Art. Salt. inburgh. In this place, it is only necessary to proportion which he advises to be used, is double On Salt as manure, see a pamphlet by Mr. observe, that several respectable individuals, have the quantity of Salt to that of seed. He strewed Geo. Redd, of Virginia, 1809, and remarks on it ascertained the importance of Salt as a manure the Salt at the time of sowing the seed. From by judge Peters, in Mem. Philad. Soc. for pro for fruit trees; and it is said, that the vines and three acres of flax salted he had 50 bushels of seed, and also an excellent crop of flax. * Sir Thomas Bernard's Tract on Salt, p. 278. † See Hill on Fruit Trees ;-also Sir Thomas Bernard's Tract, f. 269. The publication of Mr. Ford's paper by Mr. * Carey's American Museum, vol 1. p. 49. moting agriculture, vol. 2, p. 173. The good effect of Salt on the health of cattle, and its use in curing hay were mentioned a the Philad. edition of the Dom. Encycl. Articles: "cattle" and "hay." HOPSON. eaten greedily during the winter by some thriv-chiefly consist, yet it answered the intended pur-fequal to woad as a fermentative medium, coning steers. The hay exhaled a saccharine odour, pose, for the liquors so long as I was enabled to taining twenty times as much colouring matter, and the leaves and blossoms adhered to the stalk supply them with it, worked much freer and more more permanent than manufactured indigo, and firmly. He put rather more than a bushel of vigorous, than in the usual way; and although giving a colour unequalled by any other plant or Salt to the ton of hay. this experiment was not decisive, for want of a process. The beneficial effects of salt air and salt marsh sufficient quantity, and from the plant being too upon horses is proved by the fact, of broken-wind old when gathered, yet I am convinced by the ed horses being greatly relieved, and sometimes effect produced, that it may be used to great adcured by spending a season on the islands in the vantage. Delaware bay. Several decided cases of this nature have been communicated to me. JAMES MEASE. CHESNUT STREET, August 10th, 1819. FROM THE N. Y. STATESMAN. NATURAL HISTORY. LETTERS FROM PARIS. [The following letter contain so many curious As the indigofera is found every where in the United States, and in many places in great abundance, it would seem desirable that some experiments should be made on it, to test the superiori- facts in natural history, &c. that we beg to rety attributed to it, of which there appears to be quest attention to its compressed intelligence.LITERARY GAZETTE.] but little room for doubts, for if this were established, it would become an object of great national PARIS, April, 1822. importance, inasmuch as the colour made from it, The annual public sitting of the Royal Acadewould be superior to those obtained from Europe, my of Sciences was lately held under the presiON THE WILD INDIGO PLANT. and thereby give to the American fabrics a pre-dency of M. Gay Lussac. This meeting was not, Messrs. Editors.-While we are anxiously ference in a colour in which they are now decid- perhaps, so remarkable as those of former years. copying the manipulations of European artists edly deficient. The public of Paris must be amused, and it is in our dye-houses, we are neglecting to use an I apprehend the balls are made by simply plac-difficult to avoid producing ennui in discoursing indigenous plant, far more valuable than any ing the leaves together, face-ways, as they are on natural philosophy and astronomy. Thus the thing of the kind contained, or used in Europe. gathered: that when a ball is made it ferments, Academy always experiences some embarrassOur blue dyers began with the ash vat, described and exudes sufficient moisture, to cause an ad-ment in selecting, from the lectures which have by Berthollet, and others, and which Doctor hesion of the mass; and that this process deve-been delivered at the private meetings in the Bancroft informs us, "is so costly, as to be lopes the colouring matter, so as to enable the course of the year, that which may be best chiefly employed to dye silk." If this were the vat liquor to extract it with sufficient facility. suited to the public meeting. M. Ampere only objection, it would in itself be sufficient to This is not the only mode of preparing the plant. addressed his hearers, on the subject of the induce an alteration; but when in addition to The following extracts will prove there is consi-electromagnetic experiments made within the this we know that the colour is not so bright, or derable latitude, both in preparing and in work- last year by different natural philosophers; so permanent, as when indigo is fermented by ing it afterwards. but judging from his lecture, which indeed was some vegetable basis, containing in itself the Capt. G. Roberts, in the account of his voya- very brief, it does not appear that much addition primitive colouring matter, we shall be much ges, mentions, "the indigo plant as growing wild has been made to M. Oersted's discovery. M. surprised that this mode of dyeing has been so at Bonavista; and that the natives prepare it, on-Delambre, one of the two perpetual secretaries long continued. ly by pounding the leaves of the shrub while of the Academy, read a long notice on the sub The plant used by Europeans, from time im-green, in a wooden mortar, with a wooden pestle, ject of the comet, which is now visible in the memorial, to ferment their blue vats, has been and so reduce it to a kind of pulp, which they horizon. He stated that it could not be perceivthe isatis, or woad, which is indigenous in Eng-form into thick round cakes, or balls, and drying ed without difficulty, and that it would soon be land and other parts of Europe. It is not sur-it, keep it till they have occasion to use it for lost sight of. This is, I believe, the 25th comet prising, therefore, that it should be used there, dyeing their clothes. Mr. Mungo Park in the which Pous the astronomer has been the first to as nothing better offered itself; but in the Uni-account of his travels in Africa, says-“ that to discover, and thus he has been surnamed in France, ted States we have the wild indigo plant, grow-dye cloth of a lasting blue colour, according to the Le denicheur des comets. A notice read by M. ing abundantly every where, that possesses all practice of the negro women, the leaves of the in- Girard, on the navigable canals for the supply of the valuable fermentative properties of woad, digo when fresh gathered, are pounded in a wood-Paris, was a thing of merely local interest. M. with twenty times as much colouring matter, and en mortar, and mixed in an earthen jar, with a Cuvier pronounced an historical eloge on Duhamgiving a tint that for permanency and brilliancy strong ley of wood ashes, (chamber-ley being el who died 1816. Duhamel was the first prosometimes added) and the cloth is steeped in fessor of Metallurgy in France; yet it was found "It is well known, according to Mr. Clark-this mixture, and allowed to remain until it has necessary to send him to Germany, that he might son, that the African dyes are superior to those acquired a proper shade. When indigo is most perfect himself in that science, which, forty of any other part of the globe. plentiful, they collect the leaves and dry them in years ago, was a very new one. France is in"The blue is so much more permanent and the sun, and when they wish to use them, they re-debted to Professor Duhamel for some excellent beautiful than that which is extracted from the duce a sufficient quantity to powder, and mix it modes of fining steel; M. Cuvier remarked, that same plant in other parts, that many have been with ley as before mentioned. since M. Duhamel had turned his attention to the is unrivalled. The led to doubt whether the African cloths brought Mr. Marsden, in his history of Sumatra, says, working of mines, their produce had been more into this country (England) were dyed with in-"the indigo shrub (Yaroom) is always found in than doubled, and that France now exports medigo or not. They apprehended that the co- their plantations; but the natives, to dye with it, tals in great quantities which were formerly imlours in these, which became more beautiful leave the stalk and branches for some days in wa-ported from foreign countries. upon washing, must have proceeded from another ter to soak, then boil it, and with their hands, A report of the proceedings of the Academy weed, or have been an extraction from other work some quick lime among it, with the leaves since last year, was delivered at the same meetwoods which are celebrated for dyeing there.-of the pacoo sabba for fixing the colour. They ing. The Academy of Sciences is, of all those The matter, however, has been clearly ascer-then drain it off, and use it in a liquid state." which compose the Royal Institute, most numer tained; a gentleman procured two or three of Other extracts might be added, confirming the ous and active; and its reports always contain the the balls, which had just been prepared by the good qualities of this plant, but I think enough results of many interesting transactions. Africans for use: he brought them home, and has been made to convince the most incredulous following are some curious facts of genera! interupon examination found them to be the leaves of reader, that it may be appropriated without much est, selected from the report of the present year. indigo rolled up in a very simple state." difficulty to purposes highly valuable. M. Du Trochet observing that the stems of plants Having noticed the above article in Doctor The indigo made from the wild plant, is said to always grow in the direction in which the seeds Bancroft's incomparable work on permanent co-be of much better quality than that which is ob-shoot, he placed some seed in holes bored at the lours, I was induced last fall to collect some of tained from the cultivated, but that it does not bottom of a vase filled with damp earth, and susthe plant, not with an intention of colouring contain so great a quantity of colouring matter. pended it to the ceiling of a room, thinking by this with it, as I had no means of preparing it for that The leaves should be gathered when the plant means to force the stems of the young roots to purpose; but to use it in the woad vats in place of is in full blossom, which at three cents a pound, grow downwards; on the contrary, the roots deswill from bran and madder, to assist their fer- would be lucrative employment for country chil-scended through the holes, and the stems spoutmentations, which were weak, owing to the woad dren, and if a sufficient supply of the dried leaves ed through the earth to the top of the vase. M. being of inferior quality. I gathered nearly a could be obtained at that price, it might be ren-Du Trochet set a missletoe seed on the point of a cart load, too late in the season to obtain it in ma-dered, when manufactured ready for use, at less needle turning freely on a pivot, near which was turity, and had it boiled, and used the liquor when than the first cost of woad in England-By these placed a little plank; the root soon advanced in wanting. The plants were too old to retain much means the American dyers could be supplied the direction of the plank, and reached it in five of those succulent juices in which their value with a native article now considered as useless, days, while the needle, on which it was placed, |