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     THE FARMERS DEPARTMENT. 
     
    
   
   
    
     From the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     STIRRIJVG THE EflRTH fl RELIEF 
     
     AGAINST DROUGHT. 
     
    
   
   
    
     This is a trite subject, and one, which we are 
     
     aware has been long since settled by intelligent 
     
     cultivators in all countries- It is very familiar 
     
     to gardeners, and the cans of the very supe- 
     
     rior reductions ofgardens over field culture 
     
     may e attributed in part to the more frequent 
     
     application of the hoe and spade. Yet it is true, 
     
     that a very great number of farmers deny the 
     
     proposition, and disapprove the practice. They 
     
     think it dangerous to plough and hoe, in the 
     
     time ofextreme drought and heat, while our own 
     
     experience of twenty years has convinced us, 
     
     that it is much superior as a remed , against 
     
     drought, than watering 1n the limite manner, 
     
     in which that must always be applied. There 
     
     has never been a season in our memor in 
     
     which there was greater necessity for the 
     
     application of all remedies against drought 
     
     than the present. The drought was not only of 
     
     longer, duration, but it took place, when plants 
     
     were the least able to resist it, not having sent 
     
     their roots in quest of nourishment far, wide, 
     
     and deep. The early foliage, also, is more ten- 
     
     der, and more liable to wilt under a scorching 
     
     sun and a drying wind. 
     
    

    
     In this extraordinary season, I had a small 
     
     patch of early potatoes planted in a warm and 
     
     sandy soil purposely to procure an early crop; 
     
     the soilwas, at least, three quarters pure sand, 
     
     mixed with some food for plants among the 
     
     sand. The severe droight threatened a total 
     
     loss of the crop. The potatoe stalks were fee- 
     
     ble drawn up, scarcely larger than goose quills, 
     
     an I expected every day to see them wither; 
     
     all hopes ofa crop were abandoned. I thought 
     
     that they were the fair subjects of a desperate ex- 
     
    

    
     eriment. On one of the hottest and driest 
     
    

    
     ays, I gave them a thorough ploughing, pas- 
     
     sing the plough four times through each row; 
     
     first ploughing two furrows from the bills, as 
     
     near the roots as possible, without throwing 
     
     out the seed potatoes, and then returning the 
     
     loam, or earth, instantly back by two other 
     
     furrows. No rainintervened for ten days. In 
     
     three days after, the potatoes changed their 
     
     color. they started afresh as if they had re- 
     
     ceived the benefit of ample showers, while not 
     
     a drop of rain had fallen. 
     
    

    
     The dews. which were abundant, settled upon 
     
     the new turned earth, while before the plough- 
     
     ing, no moisture had been apparent. 
     
    

    
     The last fact, though it cannot have escaped 
     
     the notice of the most careless cultivator, has 
     
     not been as yet explained. We can easily see, 
     
     that a soil, rendered porous, would more rea- 
     
     dily and easily convey its moisture to the roots. 
     
     Itbecomes li e a sponge, and is readily per- 
     
     meable, or rather readily permits the moisture 
     
     to pass between the particles. But it is not 
     
     yet understood why it attracts the moisture. 
     
     Perhaps, however, it may be owing to its pro- 
     
     seating a much greater surface to the moist air 
     
     of the night. The fact however, which is what 
     
     most concern: us, is settled. Perhaps some of 
     
     the experiments of our distinguished country- 
     
     man Dr. Wells, a physician of London, who 
     
     rendered himselfdistinguished by his remarks 
     
     on dew, may tend to explain this fact, though 
     
     it is not my purpose to examine the theory. 
     
    

    
     Every man who feels an interest in the ques- 
     
     tiol, can satisfy himself, at once, by stirring a 
     
     small piece ofearth in a time ofsevere drought, 
     
     and if he does not find it in the morning more 
     
     filled with moisture, than the undisturbed 
     
     ground in its vicinity, let him continue a 
     
    

    
     isbeliever. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     THE BRITISH AMERICAN. 
     
    
   
   
    
     But there is another mode, and it is one 
     
     which I have never seen suggested, by which I 
     
     apprehend the stirring of the surface, and ma- 
     
     king it light and porous, is beneficial in great 
     
     droughts. It is this ; light porous bodies are bad 
     
     conductors of heat, perhaps because they have 
     
     more air between their interstices. The facts 
     
     are familiar to us. Metallic bodies acquire an 
     
     intense heat under the rays of the sun, so do 
     
     stones in proportion to their density. The 
     
     earth when very compact, will become exceed- 
     
     ingly hot, but garden loam, which is very po- 
     
     rous, remains cool at noon-day, two inches 
     
     below the surface. I believe, therefore, that 
     
     moving the surface, and keeping it in a light 
     
     and porous state, enables it to rent the heat of 
     
     the sun’s rays, that the air between the parti- 
     
     cles of earth communicates the heat more 
     
     slowly than the particles themselves do, when 
     
     in close contact. 
     
    

    
     Such is my theory: But I am an enemy of 
     
     theories,l always dstrust them, I look only to 
     
     facts; and having observed that a slight cove- 
     
     ring ofhalf an inch of sea-weed would pro- 
     
     serve my strawberries from drought, which 
     
     can only arise from its lying so loose on the 
     
     surface, I have been led to infer, that the un- 
     
     doubted fact, that soil in a loose pulverised 
     
     state resists drought, is owing to the same 
     
     cause, to wit, the slowness with which the heat 
     
     ofthe solar raysis communicated to the roots. 
     
     But be the theory sound or unsmind, I am per- 
     
     suaded that every farmer will find that the free 
     
     use ofhis plough, and hoe, in times of se- 
     
     vere drought will be more value to him, than 
     
     as much manure as that labor would purchase. 
     
     I have always been convinced from my expe- 
     
     rience as an horticulturist, that the great 
     
     secret in cultivation consists making the soil 
     
     porous. In raising extotic plants we know it 
     
     to be true, and our flour pots are always sup- 
     
     plied with soil, the most porous which we can 
     
     obtain. The farmer may borrow light from an 
     
     occupation which he looks upon with disdain, 
     
     but which serves to elucidate and explain the 
     
     secrets of vegitation. 
     
    
   
   
    
     PLANTING TREES, &c. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The following method of planting 'or 'trans- 
     
     planting fruit trees are recommended by Euro- 
     
     pean writers. 
     
    

    
     Planting with balls.—By removing a plant 
     
     with its roots attached to a surrounding ball of 
     
     earth, it continues in a growing state, without 
     
     receiving any or but very little check from its 
     
     removal. This mode is often practiced, more 
     
     particularly with the more delicate and choicer 
     
     kinds ofexotics, both trees, shrubs, and her- 
     
     baceous plants, and occasionally with many of 
     
     the fibrous-rooted flowering plants, both annuals 
     
     and perennials, even in their advanced growth 
     
     and flowering state, when particularly wanted 
     
     to supply any deficient compartments, or when 
     
     intended to remove any sort of tree or plant 
     
     out of the proper planting season, as very late 
     
     in spring, or in summer. The most difficult 
     
     tribe of plants to tranSplant, when in a grow- 
     
     ing state are bulbous roots, which succeed with 
     
     difficulty, even when removed with balls at- 
     
     tached. 
     
    

    
     Planting by mudding‘ in, is a German prac- 
     
     tice in pianting fruit trees, particularly suita- 
     
     ble to the dry sandy soils of that country, and 
     
     sometimes adopted in similar situations in Eng- 
     
     land. The pit being dug out, the mould in its 
     
     bottom is watered and stirred so as to form a 
     
     mass ofmud about half the depth of the pit, 
     
     the tree is then inserted, and its roots worked 
     
     up and down in the mud, so as to spread them 
     
     as much as possible equally through it. More 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     £0.14 
     
    
   
   
    
     mud, previously prepared is poured in till the 
     
     pit is full, which is then covered with d;- 
     
     earth, raised round the stem, but hollowed in 
     
     the middle, so as to form a basin round it, 
     
     stem, and finally covered with litter, (matched) 
     
     and ifa standard, it is fastened toa stake to 
     
     protect it from winds. Diel, a scientific Ger. 
     
     man author, assures his readers, that trees 
     
     planted in this way in spring, thrive better- 
     
     in cold situations than those planted in the or. 
     
     dinary way in the preceding autumn; and 
     
     that though it occasions considerable trouble, 
     
     it should never be neglected in spring or u. 
     
     tumn He found italso particularly usefulinthc 
     
     case of planting fruit trees in pots. (Obs. Oran. 
     
     gerie, 81c. vol. ii.) Pontey alluding to this mode 
     
     says. “ planting in a puddle occasions the soil 
     
     speedily to firm, not only too hard for the roots 
     
     of the plants to spread, but also so far as perfect. 
     
     ly to exclude water."—Rural Improt'er, p. 89. 
     
    

    
     “ Planting,r byfiring with water is an excellent 
     
     variety of the last species. It has been suc~ 
     
     cessfully practised by Pontey, and is thus des- 
     
     cribed by him. The hole being made, and the 
     
     tree placed in it in the usual manner, the root 
     
     is then slightly covered with the finer parts of 
     
     the soil, the tree being at the same time sha. 
     
     ken, as is common. to settle the earth among 
     
     its roots. Water is then applied by a common 
     
     gardening watering pot, by pouring it upon the 
     
     soil with some force, in order to wash it close 
     
     to and among the roots of the plant. But this 
     
     can only be done effectually by elevating the 
     
     pot as high in the hands as it can be covenient- 
     
     ly used, after first taking off the nose. It will 
     
     be obvious, that for such purposes a large pan 
     
     with a wide spout is to be preferred. The hole 
     
     is then filled up with water as before, which 
     
     usually finishes the business- The foot is ne. 
     
     never applied except in the case of bad roots, 
     
     which sometimes occasion the plants to be left 
     
     a little leaning. In such cases, the application 
     
     of the foot slightly. once or twice, after the 
     
     soil has become somewhat firm, (which general- 
     
     ly happensinless than an hour) sets the tree 
     
     upright, and so firm as to require no staking.— 
     
     Ibid p. 89. 
     
    
   
   
    
     British Cattle.—A century ago, our cattle 
     
     from the inferiority oftheir feed, were not one 
     
     half, sometimes even not one third of their 
     
     present weight. It is computed that England, 
     
     and Wales now contains, at least, five million 
     
     oxen, and a million and a half of horses. of 
     
     which aboutamillion are used in husbandry, 
     
     200,000 for pleasure, and 300 000 are colts and 
     
     breeding mares. The number ofsheep is about 
     
     twenty millions, and eight million lambs. 
     
     The number of long woolled sheep is about 
     
     five millions, their fleeces avaraging 6 or 8 lbs. 
     
     and ofshort woolled sheep fifteen millions, the 
     
     weight of fleece averaging from 3 to 3 1-4 lbs. 
     
     The whole quantity of wool annually shorn 
     
     in England is from eighty to eighty-five million 
     
     ofpounds. The Merino were introduced about 
     
     the beginning of the present century, and 
     
     were imported in large numbers .after our al- 
     
     liance with Spain in 1809. The great pastu- 
     
     rage counties are Leicester, Northamton. 
     
     Lincoln, and SomerSet; and for butter and 
     
     cheese, Cheshire, Gloucestershire, and Will- 
     
     shire. Theimport ofbutter and cheese from 
     
     foreign countries is checked by duties, but 
     
     these are important articles of Irish com- 
     
     merce with England. a) 
     
    
   
   
    
     Age of Sheep—The age 'of sheep may be 
     
     known by examining the front teeth. They are 
     
     eight in number, andappear during the firstyear, 
     
     all of a small size. In the second year, the 
     
     two middle ones fallout, and their place is sup- 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
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