Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

surface, these roots are constantly reaching, as they elongate, fresh supplies of food. And I think I may add, as a third reason, that long manure is intrinsically better for these crops, than that which has undergone fermentation. Besides, where long dung is applied in hills and ridges, and a dry season ensues, there is not moisture enough to induce fermentation, and the manure proves injurious, rather than beneficial, to the crop. This will not happen where the manure is applied broadcast.

There is another species of manure available by every farmer, and of no trifling value, and which I am afraid does not receive the consideration it merits; I mean greensward. It has been ascertained that the vegetable matter contained in an ordinary grass lay, exceeds twelve tons on an acre. This is all convertible into food for vegetables, and is, of itself, if not wasted by bad management, a good dressing for a crop. The same rules apply to this as to other vegetable manures : they are wasted by exposure upon the surface, after having been ploughed under. It is this consideration that has led to the substitution, by many of our best farmers, of fallow crops for summer fallows,-by which, they contend, they not only save the fertilizing properties of the sod, but actually gain a crop from the soil. The ploughing for a fallow crop may be performed, upon stiff soils, in the autumn, and upon those that are light in the spring, and the ground may be rolled and harrowed, previous to receiving the crop, which may consist of corn, potatoes, peas, beans or oats. Upon light clover lays, wheat may be sown upon the first furrow, immediately after ploughing, and harrowed in. In this way the food for the crop is placed where the roots naturally search for it, secure from the wasting influence of the sun and winds. Lorrain, who I consider the best American writer upon husbandry, and the best writer upon American husbandry, advises, and I am satisfied he does it upon sound principles, that the ploughing which is to follow the fallow crop be superficial, or shallow, so as to leave the unexhausted store of vegetable food below, where it will best subserve the wants

of the second crop. Where repeated ploughings and harrowings are given, as is orinarly the case in sızmer fllows, the vegetable matter is necessarily thrown to the surface, and much of its fertilizing properties borne of by the

[ocr errors]

The principal arguments which are urged in favor of summer fallows, are, 1. That they are necessary to clear focl lands of grass and weeds; and, 2. That upon sif grounds, in particular, they ameliorate, by palverising the soil, and rendering it more light and porous. In Great Britain the first consideration may have weight; but with us Indian corn, which is a cleansing crop, and which is planted upon almost every farm, renders a resort to naked fallows unnecessary upon light soils; and upon stiff lays, the cultivated crop gets so much the start, as to be very little affected by the weeds which subsequently spring up. In reply to the second argument, it may be remarked, that stiff grounds are generally retentive of moisture, and that after repeated ploughings and harrowings they are liable to be again rendered compact and hard by heavy rains. Whereas, when the furrow slices are lapped, every furrow becomes a sort of under drain, to receive and pass off the surface water, while the decay of the roots of the grasses renders the soil porous and permeable.

Thirdly. In speaking of specific manures, I am sensible I may be charged with venturing beyond the bounds of prudence. Yet the subject is so interwoven with my views of good husbandry, that I will run the hazard, relying upon the indulgence of my hearers for the errors I may betray. I assume as the basis of my remarks, that all plants take something in common from the soil, in the nature of food; and that in addition, different species, and perhaps all species, take something specific, necessary to their developement and perfection, which other species do not require, and do not take. It is upon this assumption alone, that we can explain the natural alternation of forest trees and grasses, or account

for the manifest advantages derived from a rotation of crops in husbandry. The old variety has exhausted its specific food, and hence fails, and a new variety, requiring a different specific food, comes in. The soil, or the atmosphere,

must contain the elements of the new plant; and as vegetatation is said to be incapable of decomposing common atmospheric air, the soil must be mainly relied on for the specific food of the crop. To illustrate my views, we will say that the elements of plants, generally, and of their products, are carbon, oxygen and hydrogen, all of which abound in common dung; but that wheat, besides these, contain nitrogen. Primitive formations contain nothing that gives nitrogen; and it would consequently follow, that primitive formations are not adapted to the growth of wheat, unless artificial applications that afford nitrogen, are first made to the soil. New England, with partial exceptions, is a primitive formation, and we very well know it is not congenial to the growth of this grain. The new lands, it is true, will often produce a crop or two, while the animal matter, which centuries has accumulated upon their surface, and which abound in nitrogen, remain unexhausted. And this may likewise happen where the manures applied are such as afford the specific food, as animal matters generally, urine, lime, &c. The failure does not arise from sterility. The straw of wheat may be made to grow as large in New-England as in NewYork: yet the kernel will be small and comparatively shrivelled, for want of the nitrogen essential to perfect the gluten,— the substance which gives peculiar value, and which distinguishes this above all other grain. An extensive primitive region stretches through Pennsylvania and Maryland, contiguous to the great lime stone valley. In this lime is generally and extensively applied, and its efficacy to the wheat crop fully conceded. Clovers, and some of the other broad leaved plants, seem to find a specific food in gypsum, (sulphate of lime,) which, however, so far as my observation goes, is wholly inoperative upon wheat, rye, timothy, and some other farm crops.

The soil is the labratory for preparing the food of vegetables, and fitting it for the delicate organs which are to absorb and transmit to the roots. Heat, air and moisture are the agents by which the process is carried on, and water the medium of conveyance. It has been demonstrated by vegetable physiologists, that the fluid matters which present themselves to the mouths of plants, are taken up without discrimination, carried through the alburnum or sap wood, to the leaves, the organs of respiration, where the process of elaboration is perfected; that the elaborated or proper sap, then descends through another set of vessels, in the inner bark, depositing in its way the materials for a new circle of wood and a new circle of bark, which in the course of the season become indurated; and that the plant having retained all that is adapted to its wants, the residue is thrown off at the roots, like the excrementitious matter of animals. I shall mention one of the experiments of Proff. Lindley, in corroboration of the latter fact. He took a fresh plant with two prominent roots, one of which he plunged into a vessel of pure water, the other into water containing poison. In a short time the pure water became sensibly charged with the poison, which had been taken up by the root in the poisonous liquid, passed through the circulation of the plant, and voided by the other root in the pure water.

Letter from JOHN LOWELL, Esq. on the construction of a GRAPE-HOUSE.

Boston, Dec. 21, 1833.

DEAR SIR,

Serious indisposition, confining me to my chamber, has prevented an earlier reply to your inquiries as to the construction of my cheap grape-house. Your search would

Having seen and admired the grape-house of Mr. Lowell, and deeming his method of raising the foreign varieties of this fruit the best, if not the only successful one, which can be adopted in this climate, I wrote to him

have been vain for any publication respecting it, since none has been made. I have regretted, that I did not, when Mr. Prince first took public notice of this mode of raising grapes, give full directions as to the construction of houses upon this plan. I should have saved some time, having already furnished private description to 12 or 15 persons. My house is 50 feet long, 12 feet wide, 12 feet high in the rear, and about 2 feet high in front from the ground on the outside. In the interior, a walk 2 feet wide, about 18 inches from the front line, is dug out 3 feet deep, so as to enable the person who trims the grapes to walk without much stooping. The ground on each side of this excavated walk, is kept up and prevent. ed from falling into it, simply by planks and strong stakes, which, in such a place, will last about 20 years.

The relative height I have given will give the slope desired, which will be not far from an angle of 45°. I think this not very material, provided it fluctuates any where between 40 and 50°. The objects to be attained by a roof at least as steep as the lowest just mentioned, are 1st, greater heat in the months of April and May, when your vines most require it. 2. Security from heavy bodies of snow, and more rapidly ridding the roof of it by solar heat. 3. A diminution of

for a description of his house, for my own guidance in constructing a like one, as well as with a view to its publication.

It will not be amiss to supply some facts which Mr. Lowell has omitted, in his letter. Posts set firmly in the ground, with plates in front and rear, and rafters, constitute the frame of the grape-house. The posts are planked on the outside, and boarded on the inside, and the interval between the lining and the outside covering filled with sea-weed, the better to retain the heat, or to exclude the cold. Straw, or dry tan, would be a good substitute for the sea-weed. The glass upon the sun side occupies an area of 600 square feet, and is comprised in 28 sashes, in two ranges, which slide upon 15 rafters. There is no artificial heat applied to the house. The total cost of Mr. Lowell's building, as that gentleman informed me, was $120. The varieties of the grape which I saw in it were principally the black Hamburgh and white Chasselas. The crop was very great, and the fruit in excellent condition. Some of the finer American kinds, as Blands Virginia, &c. would probably ripen in high perfection in a grape-house, which they seldom do here in the open ground. I design to introduce 14 or 15 vines into a house of the dimensions of Mr. Lowell's, to be reduced in number as occasion may require. The American public are greatly indebted to the distinguished writer of this letter for his eminent services in promoting improvements in our horticulture and agriculture. J. B.

« ZurückWeiter »