62
AGRICULTURAL.
DANIEL LEE, IW. D., Editor.
SATURDAY JULY 16, 1S».
THE STUDY OF GRASSES NO 4.
SWEET SCENTED VERNAL GRASS.
(Ant/u>xnnthum odoratum.)
*• Lot the earth,
Put forth the verdant grass, herb yielding seed,
And fruit tree yielding fruit after her kind,
Whose seed is in herself, upon the earth.
He scarce hail said, when the bare earth till then
Desert and bare, unsightly, unadorned.
Brought forth the tender gross. whose verdure clad
Her universal face with verdant green;
Then herbs of every leaf, that sudden flowered,
Opening their various colors, and made gay
Her bosom, smelling sweet”
Milton.
Os all the grasses that yield an agreeable fla
vor to butter, and the Hesh of lambs, kids, deer,
and neat cattle, there is probably no one quite
equal to the Sweet-scented Vernal Grass. It is
now generally known that the delicious butter
made in the vicinity of Philadelphia owes its
peculiar aroma to pastures in which the Anthox
anthum odoratum abounds. It is a hardy pe
rennial; its natural habitat being pastures and
meadows. Dairy cows and other stock do not
like it alone; but mixed with other grasses, they
eat it more freely; and it is only a little less nu
tritious than orchard grass, timothy, foxtail, and
rye grass which have been already briefly no
ticed. Stilling fleet was one of the first to re
commend the use of this grass to improve the
flavor of English mutton. Venison and other
meats are now seasoned as it were with that
favorite condiment, while the flesh is forming.
That both the fat and lean in the flesh of hogs
and poultry are sensibly affected by the charac
ter of the food consumed, almost every one
knows; while but few have studied the subject
sufficiently to be familiar with the art of pro
ducing the finest beef, butter, lamb, and venison
in the world.
It is the fragrant volatile oil which escapes
from the sweet-scented vernal grass that im
parts the very pleasant odor to new made hay.
This species "is indigenous to the British
Islands, and is one of the earliest spring grasses,
being in blossom before the first of May in
in England. It is one of the very few plants
which, both in their green and ripe state, yield
benzoic acid. Its name anthoxanthum, or yellow
flower, is derived from the circumstanco of the
valves of the calyx being sprinkled over with
minute yellow dots, and is supposed to yield its
rich fragrance from the connection of these dots
with its benzoic acid. Wilson, one of the latest
and highest authorities in British agriculture,
says; “It constitutes a part of the herbage of
almost all varieties and situations of natural pas
tures ; yet though habituated to every’ kind of
soil, and though found in meadows and on
mountains throughout England, Scotland, and
Ireland, it attains perfection only on soils which
are deep and moist.”
This grass yields less seed than most others,
and it generally sells at a high price. A quart
or two to the acre, mixed with other grass seeds,
answer a good purpose.
Kentucky Blue Grass. —(Poa pratensis.) —
This is the common June grass of New York,
where its reputation is small as compared
with its fame in Western Virginia and Kentucky.
For some reason, it appears to do better in the
climate of the District of Columbia than farther
North. On the right kind of soil, we believe
that it will grow as well in Georgia as in the
vicinity of the federal metropolis, where the
writer has had an opportunity to study it more
or less since 1847. Mixed with orchard grass,
red top, rye grass, red and white clover, it will
make a capital wood’s pasture on rich land
which is not too much shaded. “ The Sunny
South” ought to abound in the finest parks in
the world; and the Field and Fireside will la
bor faithfully to teach every element of success
to such of its readers as may love noble forest
trees, scattered to admit more sunshine than
shade, and thereby be more fully and beauti
fully developed—love nature’s carpet of thick,
soft grass, and the kine, the sheep, the deer,
and the horses that may luxuriate on the sweet
herbage prepared for them. No one expects a
profit from the cotton plant unless he properly
cultivates it; why then should any expect an
income from grass in a beautiful park, or a
glorious meadow, without some labor and agri
cultural skill ? Half the work performed to kill
grass in cotton and corn fields, would, if wisely
employed to make grass a staple product, yield
twice as much money as any hoed crop. It
. is generally the part of wisdom to work with,
not against nature.
Blue grass, and all others most desirable for
stock, grow best on lime-stone land. This fact
suggests the necessity of marling or liming all
soils where one has reason to fear a lack of
the calcareous element. Wherever irrigation is
practicable, nothing will pay better than to
water both pastures and meadows. This
will operate as a top dressing of rich manure.
There are twelve indigenous species of poas
iu England; and no fewer than sixty species of
this genus have been introduced there from
other countries. The smooth-stalked meadow
grass, ( Poa pratensis) affects the dryest situa
tions. Poa nemoralis is a woods grass that is
much cultivated. Poa nervala is a native of
this country, and was first introduced into Eng
land in 1812. It is a valuable plant.
Poa trivudis is also extensively cultivated.
The Poa annuo, inhabits all kinds of situations
in almost all parts of the world, from the sea
level up to four thousand feet above it. In dif
ferent cliirfates, it flowers throughout the year,
and is relished by every kind of herbivorous
animal, whether bird or brute.
One of the most important facts established
by the experiments of Sir George Sinclair.
and described in his Ilortus Gramineus Wolmm
ensis is the social habit of different species of
grass. He says: “If an acre of good land is
vxs&d mb yxbssxins.
sown with three pecks of rye-grass, and one peck
of clover, or trefoil, four hundred and seventy
plants only will lie maintained on a square-foot of i
such land; if a larger quantity of these seeds is j
sown, whether of these two species or any other :
two, the extra number of plants vegetated .
(which will certainly appear at first, if the seeds 1
are good,) will decay in a short time, and leave
blank spaces to be filled up with weeds, or spuri- !
ous grasses, or in fact plants of a different species,
supplied, from manure or in neighboring hedges. ■
But if; instead of two species of grass, from
eight to twenty different sorts are sown on the
same soil, a thousand plants wili be maintained
on the same space, and the weight of produce in
herbage and in hay increased in proportion.’’ —
Subsequent experience sustains the above views ;
on this interesting subject. God intended that \
many grasses of different genera should grow
very close together, for the support of animals. :
Rich land, in native forest, produces trees, not j
all of one species or one genus, but oak, poplar, I
walnut, and even coniferous trees, on the same
soil. No farmer shoidd ignore this law of diver
sity in establishing a system of agriculture.—
He should make kind nature his friend and pa
tron. In a word, art and science can conquer j
nature in no other way than by obeying her di
vine laws.
CUTTING FENCE TIMBER.
A practical farmer, in a communication to the
Germantown (Pa.) Telegraph , advances a pecu
liar theory in regard to the period for cutting
timber intended for fences, especially for posts.
The prevalent opinion in regard to the best time
is, when the timber is most free from sap, and
the very worst time is when it contains the
most sap. This practical farmer referred to en
tertains the very opposite opinion. On one oc
casion he cut down some excellent white oak in
the month of February, and set it out in fence
posts, and after this he cut down the same kind
of timber in the month of May (when it contained
most sap), and set it out into posts also. The
former posts lasted only six years; the latter en
dured twenty-two years.
This correspondent also advocates the cutting
of timber for rails about the month of May, when
it contains most sap. He says if timber is cut for
rails when the sap is running, the bark then
strips oft', and the rails made immediately, they
will last one-fourth longer than if cut at any other
time and have the bark left on. The inside bark of
the wood is the first to decay and rot; being of
a porous nature it contains air and water, which
carry the process of decay into the wood. When
the bark is peeled oft", the sap soon dries and
prevents decay. All experience goes to prove
that the bark should always be peeled from
chestnut or other rails, in order to render them
durable; this is well known to every fanner,
but it will hardly be conceded that the best time
for cutting rail timbers is when it contains
most free sap. Xhis is a practical question, how
ever, which can only be decided by experiments,
and it is one of no small importance, as a vast
outlay is caused annually for repair of decayed
fences.— Scientific Apierican.
All farmers will admit that the durability of
fences is a matter of sufficient importance to
justify a lengthened discussion of the causes of
early decay, and of the best means of prevent
ing it. As suggested by the Scientific Ameri
can, it is the removal of bark from rails split in
May at the North, and the drying' of the sap
wood, that retards the rotting process in after
years. Young, old-field pines, pealed and dried,
last five times longer in fences or bars than the
same trees cut and used with the bark on. In
dependently of drying, timber is most durablo
when cut at full maturity of the tree; and where
that is not practicable, it is best to fell trees after
the leaves fall and before new begin to swell in
the fall and winter. At this time, when vegetable
life is dormant, the cells and tubes of the plant
contain more solids in the shape of starch
(which is insoluble in water), than in the spring,
when this solid becomes dissolved sugar, as is
seen in the sap of the maple, walnut, and ash.
Millions of pounds of maple sugar are made every
spring at the North, drawn from sapwood,
which after the buds are developed will yield no
sugar whatever. It is the partial or complete
exclusion of air and water by solids and by drying,
that protects the tissues of wood from chemical
decomposition. To cover wood with a coat of
paint, to whitewash it with lime, or to apply
melted tar and fine sand, are so many contriv
ances to fill the outer cells of wood with a
solid to exclude air and water. If the starch
and oil in most seeds, as in our common corn,
were soluble in water, nearly every germ would
perish in passing from one year to another, or
from autumn to spring. At the right time, sub
stances in seeds that have been perfectly insolu
ble v. hile the germs were torpid, become solu
ble, and circulate freely through the pores in the
cells of the embryo plant. Similar aliment per
vades all healthy sapwood, so that a bud may
start from any part of a trunk, and grow into an
infant limb at the expense, not of the soil, nor of
the atmosphere, but of dissolved solids in the
cells of the tree where the bud grows. The solids
and liquids in timber trees ought to be studied
for the light they throw on the rotting of fence
posts, rails, and wood generally.
——
WHEAT IN MARYLAND.
The Cecil (Maryland) Whig says the farmers
below Elkton are cutting their wheat, and the
crops will be the heaviest for many years.
—m
A Finger Cut off and Put Back. —A
gentleman named Rix, employed at N. B. Lee's
stables, had the misfortune to cut oft - his left
fore-finger in a straw-cutter on Thursday last.
The knife which severed the finger was revolv
ing at a rapid rate, and the member was cut off
as closely as tliough there had been no bone to
intercept its progress. After sustaining the in
jury, Mr. Rix walked down stairs, and left his
finger up stairs among the straw. Mr. Lee went
up immediately, found it, and applied it to the
stump, where ho held it untill Dr. Galt arrived,
who dressed the wound and secured the finger
in its place, where it has subsequently grown,
and with the exception of one stiff joint is likely
to be as good as ever.
Persons having a finger or toe cut off, should
give the severed part a fair chance to grow on
again; as clean cut surfaces unite with great
facility in healtl.y systems.
agricultural geology.
Few sciences are more interesting, or more
instructive to the intelligent fanner than that of
agricultural geology. It makes him acquainted
with the tme origin of all soils, and enables him
to judge of their peculiarities, adaptations and
natural defects with confidence and success. It
therefore deserves to be studied as a part of the
professional education of all who aspire to the
honor of being scientific cultivators of any crop
whatever. Surely something may be done to
suit the pkfnts grown to the soil, and to adapt
the soil to the natural requirements of the crops
cultivated. All plants flourish better in one
kind of earth than in another; and the rewards
of both tillage and stock husbandry depend in a
large degree in finding the natural habits and
wants of agricultural plants, and in skilfully re
moving any defects of soil to adapt the land to
the uses of profitable agriculture.
Most farmers have seen rocks cast off thick
scales of stone from their surface after cold
freezing weather in winter: and they have seen
these scales finally crumble down into fine or
coarse sand, and into much smaller particles cf
clay. Rain water, and atmospheric gases, with
out anv assistance from frost, are known slowly
to disintegrate the exposed surface of all rocks,
and gradually form that loose earthy matter
which almost everywhere covers the globe we
inhabit. Soils are formed mainly of the ruins
of different rocks, but partly of the remains of
plants and animals that have lived and died on
the earth. Although nothing would seem to be
more confused, and unintelligible to the common
mind, than the character and composition of
mountain masses of rock, extended as well over
plains and valleys as in hills and more elevated
spines, yet the laws of great Nature are as uni
form and perfect in dealing with vast continents,
islands and oceans, as with the planets and suns
that fill the universe. All organised beings,
both plants and animals, are equally obedient to
natural laws, which act in perfect harmony with
those of the mineral kingdom. Hence, geology
and minerology. as illustrated by analytical
chemistry, form the basis of scientific agricul
ture. At another time we will develop to the
unlearned farmer all the elementary principles
of agricultural geology; at present we wish to
apply these principles to the practical purpose of
indicating the character of a small area of a
few hundred acres, known as “flat woods,” ly
ing mainly, if not exclusively, on the farm of
Hexry Hull, Jr., Esq., of Athens—the farm be
ing some ten miles East of Lexington, in Ogle
thorpe county.
In largo districts of Georgia, South C'aroli na,
and other States, characterised principally by
red clay, soils are formed from disintegrated
rocks in situ, or “in place.” The railroad from
Augusta to Athens runs one hundred miles or
more through the naturally thin, poor soils of
this geological formatiou. If one passes below
Augusta into Burke and Jefferson counties he
soon reaches, after leaving Richmond county, the
Tertiary strata, on which soils of an entirely
different character exist. In all the northern
States nothing like the soils from Athens, Ga.,
to Raleigh, N. C., can be found except in patch
es ; for the Drift deposits thero cover the rocks
from which these southern soils are derived.
The Drift is wholly wanting in this latitude,
and results in rendering millions of acres of our
common red lands peculiarly liable to wash and
become barren. They are poor naturally, but
we must take another opportunity to give an
analysis of their primitive minerals, and to
point out why they are so thin and poverty
stricken.
The “Flat Woods” on Buffalo creek, which
runs some two miles or more through Mr. Hull's
land, reveal sedimentary rocks that belong to a
far more recent geological age than those of the
surrounding country; and they have produced
a soil, and to some extent, forest trees and other
plants, peculiar to the locality. For grain and
cotton culture, these flat clay lands would re
quire pretty thorough under-draining; but for
meadows and pastures, a few open ditches, in
addition to the clearing out of natural water
courses, will suffice to remove all stagnant water
from the subsoil, and probably render the ground
highly productive. It is possible that there may
be at first an excess of the salts of iron and alu
mina, such as copperas, and alum, in parts of
these basins; but this excess, if present, will
soon be removed, provided the drainage is per
fect. This done, one may have, for unknown
ages, model meadows and pastures, by simply
treating the land with common decency. We
are happy to know that these natural grass
lands are the property of a gentleman who has
both the means and the disposition to turn them
to the most useful account in rearing fine stock,
and producing hay for market. We saw on
the premises several superior mares and colts,
the former were purchased in Virginia and
Kentucky, and the latter are the produce of the
farm. We expect to see sheep husbandly and
stock-growing generally, prosper in old Ogle
thorpe in the liand3 of gentlemen who will soon
learn how to make a thousand blades of grass
grow, where one is now permitted to grow. We
spent a night and morning with Ex-Governor
Gilmer, who has a fine collection of minerals, a
good library, a beautiful lawn and meadow, a
fifty feet barn nearly filled with good hay, dairy
cows and pastures, which we shall notice in a
separate article. Governor G. evidently believes
in the otium cum dignitate of the Roman orator,
and does not regard it as the chief end of man
to kill grass and kill himself in the idolatrous
worship of the almighty dollar.
— i i **■
A Mine of Axtimoxy. —The St. Clairsville
(Illinois) Gazette says that a vein of antimony,
two feet thick and almost solid, has been discov
ed within two miles of St. Clairsville. Antimony
is one of the ingredients of type metal—worth
about forty cents a pound—and it has been sup
posed that it was only to be found in Germany.
TEE SOUTHERN FIELD AND FIRESIDE.
While the success of the Field and Fireside
has been most gratifying to all connected with
the paper, it may not I te amiss to say that a
Weekly Journal, so large and so expensive, will
impose a heavy loss on the publisher unless it
attains a correspondingly large circulation.
Time will give such a patronage, if deserved;
but it is in the power of the friends of this new
literary and agricultural enterpise to double the
subscription to the Field and Fireside at once,
and thereby enable the proprietor to pay for all
needful agricultural and literary contributions,
and thus produce a paper that will be an honor
to the South. The agricultural editor and wri
of this paragraph, has all confidence in the ul
timate fruitfulness of this new Field for his
professional labor; and he trusts that every
one who recognizes the wisdom of trying to pro
mote Southern agriculture and horticulture, will
find new subscribers, and associates in this great
work. It deserves the best efforts of its friends
to correct every defect in our present agricultural
economy; and this can be done better through
the agency of a first class Weekly Paper than in
any other way. Give the proprietor a paying
subscription list, and we hazard nothing in say
ing that his truly home-like Field and Fireside
will become one of the most respected, and
lasting of Southern institutions. Our grateful
acknowledgements are tendered to such as liavo
already interested themselves in extending the
circulation and usefulness of this new journal of
Southern agriculture. It is our purpose to make
it more worthy of the great interest to which it
is devoted; and we respectnilly ask the friends of
improvement to assist us in developing the
boundless resources of our happy and prosper
ous country. Every reader will render the South
a patriotic service by considering himself an
agent to increase the subscription to the paper,
and act accordingly.
——
[Written for the Southern Field and Fireside.)
CURE FOR EPILEPSY AND CONVULSIONS.
Dr. Lee: Dear Sir: I have thus headed this
article for your very valuable journal, that it
might call attention of those who are afilicted
with these distressing as'well asdangeious dis
eases, to a plant to tie found in Middle Georgia,
and the Western States, and growing in woods,
near the base of trees, or in shady places. It
grows in great abundance in Greene county, of
this State, and should be now gathered, roots and
all, dried in the shade and pulverized and placed
in a bottle kept tightly corked, and it is ready
at all times of the year for use. After describ
ing the plant, I will give directions how it should
be administered, the tea of which is a good
tonic and nervine, and has cured very many per
sons who have suffered severely from the alxive
complaints. The remedy is not new, but may
not lie generally known. Description of plant:
Order IS, Ericaceae genus 29 monotropa. sp. 1
uniflora, Indian pipe, Birds-nest Fit root.
It is a singular herb, several plants often
grow from the same root, each steam bearing a
single blossom on the top, and without leaves;
the plant grows two to three feet high, stem
furnished with sessible, lanceolate semi-trans
parent leaves.
The whole plant is similar to the thistle, which
might be taken for it.
Directions for a child six to ten years old:
Make a tea, and give a wine glass full three
times a day before meals, until it affects the
head: then stop for three days, and commence
again as before, and in a short time a cure will
be effected. In warm weather a small quantity
only should be made for each day, as it soon
sours. In chronic cases, it would be better to
add four or five drops of the oil of valerian,
(yellow lady slipper) to each dose; or the better
way, to drop the oil on a lump of sugar. Tins
swallow, and drink the tea after it.
Its operation upon the system appears to be
in harmony with the laws of auimal life, giving
tone to the nervous system, and hence is useful
in all cases of nervous irritation, hysterical af
fections, spasms, fits, and all derangements of
the functions of the brain; so states Dr. 11. How
ard. .
When the patient is taken with convulsions,
I have witnessed happy results from an imme
diate application to the head, of cold water, or a
c’oth wet and applied with the same, and at the
same time, a warm poultice of mush, sprinkled
with a little mustard, placed on the stomach, and
a bottle of warm water to the feet. After the
convulsion is over, give the patient, six grains
quinine, and in two hours six grains more; then
go on with the above treatment. In children it
frequently occurs from worms; if so, pink root
and senna, or some other vermifuge, should be
given to expel them. Yours
Charles Pemble.
—
From the Greenville Mountaineer.
LOSS FROM PICKING FODDER.
Mr. Editor :—I promised you a statement of
the result of an experiment made to ascertain
what loss corn would sustain from being deprived
of its blades at the usual time of taking fodder;
and, also, whether cutting the corn at the roots,
after the blades become dry to the ear, would
lessen the product.
Twelve short rows, as near equal in appear
ance as could be found in the field, were set apart
for the experiment. Os the twelve rows, No.
one, four, seven and ten were left with the blades
on until they- were genetally dry to the ear, and
bn some stalks even to the top, then cut up at
the roots and “ shocked” on the field until the
other corn was gathered, then hauled in and
shocked from the stalk. No. two, five, eight
and eleven were left with the blades on: and
No. three, six, nine, and twelve were stripped
of their blades as late as is usual with us. Now
for the result:
No. one, four, seven and tbn, when shelled
measured four pecks, one gallon, two quarts and
one pint, and weighed seventy and a half lbs.
No. two, five, eight and eleven, measured four
pecks, one gallon, two quarts, and one and a
half pins, and weighed seventy-one and a half
lbs.
No. three, six, nine and twelve, measured
four pocks, half pint, and weighed fifty-five lbs.
The fodder that was taken from the last num
bers was carefully cured and kept to itself, and
weighed eighteen pounds, which, added to the
corn from which it was taken, amounted to
seventy-three pounds, but one and a half pounds
more than the corn alone from which no blades
were taken, and two and a half pounds more
than that cut up at the roots. This experiment
proves conclusively to my mind, what I long
since believed, that by pulling fodder we de
prive the corn of the weight, or very nearly so,
of the fopper when cured. And furthermore,
that we would l>e tetter employed in making
hay than in taking fodder from our corn. I ne
glected to mention in its proper place, that the
com was all well, and equally dried tefore being
measured and weighed.
Geo. Seaborn.
Pendleton, S. C. Kov. 21,1846.
The name of Geo. Seaborn will command
confidence wherever known; and we reproduce
his instructive letter to impress on the public
the necessity of reforming the ted practice of
pulling com fodder. If the blades are removed
early enough to make good forage, the injury
done to the corn is even greater than the value
of all the fodder obtained; for a pound of com is
worth nearly two pounds of the best fodder for
forming the blood of any animal. It Ls not too
late now to sow com in drills for making fodder
this fall on rich land.
CRAM B KKRY CULTURE.
We have no doubt that this largely imported
fruit may te cultivated in all the upper part of
Georgia and South Carolina. The Germantown
Telegraph has the following communication on
Cranberry culture :
The American Cranberry (Oxycoccus Macro
carpus) is so familiar to us all that a detailed de
scription of the berry would be useless; but of
the many thousands who enjoy this racy fruit,
very few know whether it grows on trees, bushes
or vines ; and fewer still have any idea of the
extent to which it is cultivated in some sections
of our country ; of its increased consumption in
the United States : nor of the quantities annu
ally exported to England.
The market value of this berry ranges from
three to six dollars per bushel, varying of course,
as do all other fruits, with the supply and de
mand. but rarely even in the most productive
seasons, falling before three dollars.
The American Cranberry is divided by grow
ers and dealers into three varieties —the Bell, the
Bugle, and the cherry.
Although the cranberry will grow on almost
any soil where the water is not more than a foot
from the service, yet experience has proved that
the soil best adapted to them is nothing more
nor less than plain beach sand, entirely free from
any- matter, either animal or vegetable—in fact,
this terry may te said to live entirely on air and
water.
Peat is found to be well adapted to this berry,
but requires some care in preparing, owing to its
liability to break and crack in hot weather; this
may te obviated, however, by taking off the
turf and grass, leaving the surface exposed to
the action of the weather for a year, after which
it becomes light and porous, and fit for the re
ception of the vines.
The cultivation of this berry being as yet
quite recent there exists considerable dif
ference of opinion as to the most suitable time
and best methods of planting.
Sod planting was the plan adopted by the first
cultivators of this vine, and consisted of simply
removing sods of wild ground to ground pre
pared to receive them. Experience soon taught
them, however, that in removing a sod thus,
they not only planted vines, but also a host of
noxious weeds and grasses, which gave them
much trouble to extirpate.
Planting separato vines has been found to be
the most efl'ectual plan, and although it consumes
more expense than sod planting, yet from the
absence of weeds and the lino chance for the
vines to spread, the cultivator finds himself am
ply repaid for the increased outlay.
Cutting-planting has been adopted by some ns
the most economical plan; and as the plant sends
out long runners, sometimes to the length of five
or six feet, it is self-evident that the first cost of
the cuttings must te small. The cutting should
be about six or eight inches long, and should bo
planted by thrusting the middle into the earth
with a dibble, permitting a few inches of each
end projecting, so that when it takes root you
have two plants instead of one.
Another plan of propagating by cuttings, is to
cut the vines into pieces of about two inches in
length, for which purpose a common haycutter
may be used, and sowing them broadcast on
ground prepared for them, and then harrowing
them in as you would wheat or rye. Or, and I
think it preferable, planting them in drills at such
distances as will permit cultivation with the
plough for the first two years. These small cut
tings will soon take root from the point where
the root joins the stem, and will send out run
ners the second year after planting.
The distances of planting must te regulated
by the nature of the soil; if liable to weeds you
must give yourself room to work among the
vines ; but if you are planting on plain beach
sand, the closer your plants are, the better, for
the great object in forming a cranberry yard, is
to have the entire surface covered by a thick
mat of vines as soon as possible.
The time of planting generally adopted, is in
the spring, as in this case the roots are not so
liable to be thrown out by the winter frosts ;
say from the fifteenth of April to the first of
June.
There seems to be many and adverse opinions
as to the proper location of cranberry yards, but
il seems to me the nearer wo npprorch to the
examples given my Nature, the nearer we will
be right.
Many efforts have been made to cultivate the
cranberry economically an uplands, but so far as
my observation extends, without success; for
where there is an absence of a plentiful supply
of water during the summer, the vines die.
Meadow lands, which are low and moist, free
from stagnant water, and somewhat sheltered
from storms, may be considered the best loca
tion.
A position where the yard can be flooded in
winter is very desirable, as the vines, when ex
posed to very severe weather, are liable to be
winter killed down as low os the roots, which
throw them back in bearing fora year; besides
which it is sometimes desirable to flood them
them during the season to prevent the attack of
the worm, which in some localities are quite de
structive.
A nacre of vines, properly cultivated and well
matted will produce at least two hundred and
fifty bushels of berries; in some instances a
yield of four hundred bushels per acre has been
obtained, but this is above the average, and may
not bo relied on.
Two hundred and fifty bushels of terries, at
the lowest price of three dollars per bushel, gives
us seven hundred and fifty dollars ns the pro
duct of one acre, which, I think will compare
very favorably with even a California gold mine
and will I hope, induce many of your intelligent
readers to make a visit to New Jersey, where
there are large tracts admirably suited for its cul
tivation. on which are now growing wild vines
enough to stock a county.
