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REMEDY

AGAINST TRESPASSERS UPON TIMBER, &c.

For the more effectual preservation of the rights of land holders, the legislature of this State at the January session 1831, enacted the following law; which we believe is not generally known. As

its provisions are convenient and salutary, we place it before our readers:

CHAPTER LXX,

"A SUPPLEMENT to the Act entitled, “An act providing for the punishment of certain crimes and misdemeanors."

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware, in General Assembly met, That if any person or persons shall wilfully and unlawfully pluck, pull or gather, and take and carry away any Indian corn of another growing, standing or being on the stock and attached to the freehold or soil; or if any person or persons shall wilfully and unlawfully remove take and carry away any post, or posts, rail or rails, board or boards, or other materials from any fence of another, or if any person or persons shall wilfully and unlawfully fell, or cut down any oak, hickory or other tree or trees, or any sapling or saplings of another;—or shall wilfully and unlawfully fell or cut down, and take and carry away, any oak, hickory or other tree or trees, sapling or saplings of another-or shall wilfully and unlawfully fell or cut down any oak, or other tree or trees, or any sapling or saplings of another, and bark or skin the same, and the bark thereof shall take and carry away; or shall wilfully and unlawfully bark or skin any oak or other tree or trees, or any sapling or saplings of another, standing or growing in the soil and attached to the freehold; or shall wilfully and unlawfully bark or skin any oak, or other tree or trees, sapling or saplings of another, standing or growing in the soil and attached to the freehold, and the bark therefrom shall take and carry away, without the consent of the owner of any such Indian corn, posts, rails, boards, or other materials, oak, hickory or other tree or trees, sapling or saplings had and obtained-Every person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour, and upon conviction thereof, in the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace and Gaol Delivery, shall forfeit and pay to the State a fine not less than five dollars, nor more than two hundred dollars, and may also be sentenced to suffer imprisonment for a term not exceeding two months, if the Court shall deem the circumstances to require such additional punishment.

Passed at Dover, January 21, 1831."

At the trial of an indictment against Stepney Jackson, at the October term 1835, of the court of General sessions of the Peace for Kent county, it was held by the court, that it was no defence for a trespasser to prove, that he acted under the authority of a tenant

in possession of the land, by lease from the owner; and further, that the tenant himself was equally amenable to conviction and punishment for a violation of the law, as other trespassers.

When the only remedy for trespass was by civil action, many escaped punishment altogether, because it was impossible to enforce a judgment against them by reason of their want of property upon which an execution could act; and thus loss was added to loss, in the attempt to enforce the rights of the owner of the land. Besides, before this law was passed, a man might actually detect a trespasser in the very fact of committing depredations upon his property, and be wholly without remedy, because of the rule of law, in civil cases, which prevents him from being a witness in his own cause. Here he can be a witness for himself, for the punishment. has reference only to the offence against the public. This act does not take away the civil process for damages, but both actions may subsist at the same time.

The preservation of timber is becoming of more and more importance in our State. The moral crime of trespass by a person having no claim to the land he despoils, is equal to that of larceny; and its commission should be always followed by conviction and punishment.

AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE.

BY DR. HUMPHREY.

The proportion of cultivated land is considerably greater in France than in England; owing partly to the different policy of the two governments, and partly to the different modes of living in the two countries. The French eat twice as much bread as the English, and the English three or four times as much beef and mutton as the French.

In England, the farmers own but very little of the soil, and the peasants none-the land being nearly all held by great proprietors. In France, the actual cultivators of the soil own a great part of it. The departments are cut up into an immense number of farms, and of course, most of them quite small. With industry and economy, the French peasantry are able to subsist quite comfortably, but the greater part of them have very little to spare. The agriculture of the country is said to be in a prosperous condition, and I can easily believe it is from what I saw as I passed hastily through it in the month of June. The crops were certainly very fine, and there were many unequivocal proofs of good husbandry. Still, France does not compare at all with England, in scientific and practical agriculture, nor in the beauty and affluence of its rural scenery. The best husbandry in France, is in the south and in the north. In the former, the agriculturist is aided most by the innate good

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ness of the climate, and in the latter, by skill in the rotation of crops.

Wheat is the grand agricultural staple of France, as well as of England. Some districts through which you travel, seem to be almost covered with it. I am quite sure that I never saw so much in any single day of my life, as from Rouen to Paris.

Next to wheat, rye is more extensively cultivated than any other of the small grains in France. As we approached the capital, I saw more of it than I had taken notice of any where else; not in great unbroken fields, but in small patches, many of them less than half an acre, and separated by narrow ridges thrown up with the plough, at the time of sowing. Barley is not very generally nor very well cultivated. The French do not want it. They like their own wines better than English beer.

The sugar beet which was introduced by Bonaparte, when the victorious fleets of Britain were blockading the continent, still furnishes most of the sugar which is consumed by the French people. The quantity of beets manufactured in 1835, according to the Minister of Finance, was 668,946,762 lbs., and in 1836, 1,012,780,589 lbs. The value of the sugar from the harvest of 1835, was 30,319,340 francs; and of 1836, 48,980,000. The number of manufactories was 542. This is probably a great saving to the country even in time of peace, and it renders France entirely independent of all the rest of the world in time of war. How we at the North shall succeed in making our own sugar, is yet to be proved. The beet flourishes well upon our soil, and I see not why the manufacture may not be carried to any extent, which the demand shall hereafter require.

It is but lately, that the French have found out the value of turnips for feeding cattle and sheep; and even the potatoe, that most valuable of all the farinacious roots of high latitudes, has not long been cultivated, even as a garden vegetable, in France. But at present, vast quantities of potatoes are grown in the provinces of Poitou, Normandy, Limosin and the Isle of France, and in less quantities in other districts.

The vineyards of France are estimated at about 5,000,000 acres, or one-twenty-sixth part of the territory; and they are so exceedingly productive, that the grapes form, it is supposed, about onesixth part of its produce. They are commonly planted on rocky and inferior soils. The general outline of cultivation is as follows. The vines are planted promiscuously, from two and a half to four feet. About the middle of January they receive the first cutting. In March the ground is dug. In April and May the provins or tender sprigs are planted. In June, the steps, or shoots, are hoed and tied to stakes with straw bands The vines are hoed again in August, and the vintage takes place in September or October. The Champaigne grape vine, it is said, will last fifty or sixty years. It is never allowed to grow more than a foot and a half high, and is pruned about the end of February, pruned again and tied or proped

up in April or May; pared and tied in June; second trimming in July; third trimming in August; vintage in September or October. In Champaigne, the grapes are put into a press, and the juice is obtained by two or three quick turns of a screw. "In Provence, the method of pressing is very rude and simple. A man, and commonly two or three children pull off their shoes, and jump into the vats, where they trample on the grapes till all the wine is pressed out." I need not say that immense quantities of wine are exported from France every year to England and to the United States; nor that if nine-tenths of it were mingled with the waters of the ocean, before it reaches either country, the loss to merchants and underwriters, would be great gain to consumers. What well man in a hundred who drinks wine, needs it? Who does not know, that "wine is a mocker," as well as that "strong drink is raging?”

From the Farmer's Cabinet.

APPLICATION OF MARL.

On reading the last number of the Cabinet, I perceive that your readers in the lower part of Delaware, and the Eastern shore of Maryland, where the green sand or marl abounds, are desirous of being informed of the best mode of applying it as indicated by the experience of our New Jersey farmers. It may perhaps save those who are inclined to try it, some trouble and expense, to be informed that every known method of application seems to have been resorted to; and that which has been found to answer best, is to use it as a top dressing on sward or grass grounds; the effect is immediate and great, being scarcely to be believed, excepting by those who have been spectators of its effects. The quantity applied to an acre of good marl is from six to twenty tons; a bushel weighs about a hundred weight; of course, a ton is about twenty bushels; more may be applied without any apprehensions of injury, but from twelve to fifteen tons per acre is a good dressing, though some have applied twice that quantity. Spread it evenly over the surface of the grass ground in the fall, winter or spring, or whenever you have most leisure, and when done you need not give yourselves any further trouble about it; nature will do the rest, and your reward will be certain and great, if your marl be good. Whenever you plough down your grass ground, which has been thus marled for corn, or any other crop, you will see the effect of it strikingly exhibited in the subsequent crops. It has frequently increased the fertility of the soil more than ten fold, and some crops are believed to be much improved in quality as well as quantity by its application.

The great weight of the marl causes it to sink in the earth, and if it should be ploughed in on its first application, there is some danger of losing part of the good effects of it, by its being placed

too remote from the roots of the plants intended to be nourished by it.

It is now agreed on by all, that the fertilizing ingredient of this valuable substance is potash, and the benefits derived from its use are directly proportional to the quantity of it contained int s composition. EVESHAM.

April 20, 1838.

From the Genesee Farmer.

THE OAT.

The oat, Avena sativa of the naturalist, is a grain very useful, and better adapted to the northern climate than any other plant that has been used for bread. It is chiefly confined to the more moist and cool portions of the American and European continents, being scarcely known in the south of France, Italy or Spain; or in the southern parts of the United States, or in tropical countries. Of all the cultivated grains, oats are the easiest of culture, and the most certain and prolific in its product. The varieties of oats are very numerous, and some of them are very distinctly marked, and as in the case of wheat, there seems no reason why new varieties may not be produced at pleasure.

Mr. Loudon, in his Encyclopedia, enumerates the principal varieties cultivated in Scotland and England as follows; and from his work we have copied the figures of two of these varieties, illustrating as much perhaps as any, the most marked peculiarities of this valuable plant.

The white or common oat, is in the most general cultivation, and known by its white husk and kernel.

The black oat known by its black husk, cultivated in England and Scotland on poor soils.

The red oat, known by its brownish red husk, thinner and more flexible stem, and firmly attached grains. It is early, suffers little from winds, and makes good meal, and suits exposed situations, and late climates.

The Poland oat, known by its thick white husk, awnless chaff, solitary grains, short white kernel, and short stiff straw. It requires a dry warm soil, and is very prolific. The black Poland oat is one of the best varieties, and sometimes weighs 50lbs. per bushel.

The Dutch oat has plump, thin skinned, white grains, most double, and the large one sometimes awned. It has longer straw than the Poland, but in other respects resembles it.

The potatoe oat, has large plump, rather thin skinned white grain, double and treble, and with longer straw than either of the last varieties. It is preferred to all others in England, for land in good

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