HE FARMERS DEPARTMENT. ADAPTIN G PLANTS T0 SOILS.

The following valuable remarks, from the

of Mrs. Agnes lbbetson a lady celebrated

or her agricultural and economical skill are

extraote from the Bath and West of England Society's papers.

I have been lately much employed in en- deavouring to show that all plants should be divided, disposed or placed according to the difl'erent soils, congenial to their habits, from which they originally proceed, and that it is to the total inattention to this circumstance, that we probably owe the very strange and contra- dictory results constantly to be found in all agricultural reports. No person can read with attention the late accounts delivered to the House ofCommons, respecting the growth of corn throughont this kingdom, without being struck with the contradictory returns trans- mitted ofthe whole; and without being con- vinced that there must be some hidden cause for such a strange diversity in the gains of the former; as there are many instances adduced in those reports of the same excellent manage- ment, where the same seed has been sown, an equal degree oflabor peformed, with the same season, time and manure employed, and one far- mer has gained three times as much again as was expended for pulling in the crop, while ano. ther has scarcely exonerated and repaid himself for the labor ant seed; what then could be the cause ofthe loss of the latter, and the gain ofthc former? It must, be chiefly i am convinced, ow— ing to the agreement or disagreement of the plant with the soil in which it is placed, its situ- ation and aspect; three things of which the farmer knows but little. or ever takes into his caICulation. He has but one way of putting in plants. loading the eath with manure. But to adapt the plant to the soil fro.n which it ori- ginally came, tomi't also the mmure to both that they may exactly agree, and not injure the vegetable; that the situation of the plant may be consulted, With respect to humility anl dryness; and that to complete the whole, the aspect also miy be fitteJ, so that the plant that love: the sun miy be expose! to it, while that which prefers shade may receive it: these are attentions truly wanting to our agricultural

system, asl hope to show.

Ithas been a subject of considerable inquiry among agricultiirists, as in what consists the food ol'plants. Some have attributel it to wa- ter, some to earth, and others to air. To all these sources vegetation is intebte l; the fertilizing principle of all m inures is referable to the extractive mitterarisin: from dec'rn- oosed animal and vegetable recrements, and in .his state soluble in water, which is the car- ying medium into the vegetable substances. (Vegetables in general will not growin pure -arth, or pure water, some plants are so org-a» iized as to reqiure only mechanical support

in the soil, abstracting their nourishment rain the atmosphere by means oftheir leaves: , "rhilst others from their roots depend upon he soil for their support. Although many

lants will grow in dilforent soils, yet they ave all their favourite ground; ant itis more , asy to accommolate the plant to the soil thin ’isdapt the soil to the plant. By knowing erefors. what sort of plant the farmer is ning to put in, he may ofcourse be regulated .’ lith respect to the quantity and specie ' fma~ fl - lire required. the aspect wanted, and 'e de- -esof humidity and dryness requsit, .rthe

‘ ant. All plants cams Originally trolls pe-

' .i

THF BRITISH AMERICAN

culiar earth; either from clay, sand. gravel. chalk, or teams formed from a mixture of some of these, or from a verp wet or dry soil; 89d though many plants wi I grow inditferently in several species of earth, yet the have all their favourite ground, that which they evidently pre- fer. Now to make the soil fit for the plant, is certainly a very expensive thing; but to adapt the pla'gfito the soil, is not only an easy and expedi s mode, but one which requires labor, infinite less assistance in dressing, seed, and care of every kind. It is true that all Cultivated plants demand some manure. because nature gives not salt and oil enough in. any earth, to do without some artis- tance of this kind; but the plant that is natu- ral to the soil requires infinitely less than that which is adverse to it, and may therefore be cultivated at a quarter of the expense. Now nature is so bountiful, that there is scarcely a plant necessary to the food of man and ani- mals, that, if we choose with care, has not one peculiar sort, calculated for every soil.

Nature has been bountiful in plants pecu- liarly adapted to agriculture in which there are quite as many species fitted t'orpoor (and, as for rich land; and il'planted in their own soils, give an infintely greater return and are not sub- ject tothose dreadful disorders tout too common to plants dplaced in improper ground. 1 have repeate ly traced maladies arising from this source, that tainted the means of life in a ve- getable: and being constantly accustomed. when I heard of any extraotinary crop, to proceed to the place, and inquire thoroughly into the causes and management made use of by the farmer, lhave generally founl the success to proceed from accitentally putting the plant into that groiint from which it ori- ginally issued, ant inmnring it accorlin; to the quantum ofjuices it received from the earth and with that matter likely to forma proper co:npoiint, adapted to its wants, in short, at- tenlin: to the right rules of vegetable econo- my. anl the com non process of niture.

But [ am sorry to sav. that, in mmuring the innumerable farms. direrrrly situilet, l have but too often fiunt this order reversed; the chalk plant put in sand. thes and plant in clay and so on: ant Wlllt is still more, the wa- tery plant put in dry grount, and the dry ve- getable in a Wet soil; not in all these cases they cannot fail ofinaking a very bild crop. A plant accustomed to a poor soil, placed in a good one, rols; while the one w‘iich prefers a rich loam, is starved in a poor one. A clayey plint piitin Sl'll, is blown out of the etrth, for want of those rercnn'vc powers the root is used to; while the sand plant, placel in clay, lecoys at the root fun the nntor moisture whichit cannot berir. The chill! plant, also placet in gravel. is letrovol bv its own acili 1y, which is no loozermSi'nd, for most plants. ifthe firmer do not grutge the mikin: of the soil, he imycsrtainly do it, but it can never answer in point of expense. It is a strange mistake, ant a most fatil one. that almost all, eyen some ofonrbest gentlemrnftrmm fall into. VIZ: 'iit. oiiiit niiir: loo highly. Now this is so completely the cause of innume- rable failures. that [am most anxious to can. sure the practice. It always reinin ls mo of the accozinlgiven by Miller, of what was done in the Weslln'liet, when some botanists were lesirons ofbrinzing over some tine plants of the cache species. 'l‘ney iaquiret not what the plants wera,butwholly inattentive to their being- rock plants, they put them into tubs ofthc rich- est soil they could procure; the plants all died,- but this was looked upon as an accilent, ant the same process again followed. when one of

ll‘i’

easks breaking they concluded that the plants

its. so

must die, as the earth had left them; and fling. ing on them some dry sand which happened to be in the way, ordered the casks down to th. hold, when to their great astonishment in. plants so treated lived. while those in the other cases died as usual. This opened the eyesofth. gardeners with respect to rock plants; but to this day sand plants, instead of havin a poor soil, generally receives a rich one. Photo is not a more ruinous etl'ect than that produced on the plant ot'a poor soil placed in rich ground.

From the Philadelphia Album.

A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE DIS. BASES OF CA'I‘I‘LE.

The internal disorders of cattle may with propriety, be divided into two classes.

First, those of the organs subservient to di. gestion and chylification; secondly, those of the sanguiferous system, or blood vessels. The former may be cured by means ofthe three sim. ple prescriptions l have alluded to; the latter by the fleam. In both, however, th ‘ animal’s diet is an object of the greatest importance; for to what purpose would it be to remove the accu. mutated matter which occasions the disordered state of the digestive organs, were the animal siill kepton the samediet which produced it, or what benefitcould be expected from reliev. ing the vitalorgans when oppressed by a re. dundancy of blooJ, if the animal were after. wasz allowed to feed at pleasure, and form as much blooJ again. in a short time, as that which hat been drawn off?

In the treatment ofthe disorlers of cattle, attention to feeding is an essential object. and is equally, or more important, as a means of prevention; for itis not too much to assert, that nearly all their disorders originate in in:- proper inanagemznt as to fee ling. A morbid susceptibility, or a predisposition to disease, only be propagated by negligence in breeding, an may be protuced by taking animils from their native soil and climate, and placing them in colder situations; for cold and moisture are at. ten poWerl'nl agentsiii lessening- the vital power, 'rl'ld especially that oftlie digestive organs. Still the principle. a-it often the tin noliate cause of their disorder, is improper feeling. The most fruitful source ofdisease in cattle, ant espe- cially m‘lch c in. is bil hay,‘ ant even such as is by miny consideret tolerabl good. The fibrous parts of such hay gradual y accu. mutate between the leaves of the third, or foli- ated sto'nach; here they are compressed from time to time, not become mittet together. and being detained by numerous papillao. with which the surface ofthc leaves is covere 1, produces at length a morbid condition ofthc fourth stomach. not often of the bowels also. The most com- mon symtom ofthis state of the digestive or. gins is named the yellmoo; from the milk in one ofthe quarters of the utter, becoming of a yellow color, and stringy, as it is termed, that is, mixed with S'nlll filamentous coagula, or curds, often offensive in small ant taste, and sometimes streakel with blunt. Tue acri- rniny of the milk causes aswellin: and hard- ening ofthe quirtor: and unless it is drawn ofl‘several times a day, it often so initiates the cellular texture of the utter, as to terminate m suppnration, and an obiiteratioo of the re- ceptacle, or quarter, as it is on on only namod. 'IliieOpenin; drench never fails ofcziring' this disorder, ifgivan in season, anl one dose is sufficient: after taking it the animil mtist be kept at grass, as that food, and the exercise

' Unwholesom water is often a cause of disease In

cattle, especially inilch cows.