AGRICULTURAL MEMORANDA.
Flax for Cambrics.—The culture of this species of flax is an object of great importance to every farmer.—The produce of a single acre has been known to bring in Flanders upwards of $380. It requires a deep and rich soil, and must be sticked or supported nearly as peas, as it grows twice as high as the ordinary flax; but the labour attending this is amply compensated by the produce.
Hops.—The essential oil of hops, obtained by distillation, and afterwards mixed with a small quantity of sugar, is found to be the best way of using that plant in brewing, and the most effectual method of preserving it for years.
Squashes.—It has been asserted, as the result of an accidental experiment, that squashes sown in the Fall will survive the frosts of winter and spring, and will ripen much earlier than any which can be raised by sowing in the spring. Those sown in the spring, and those sown in the fall, were, in the case alluded to, exposed to a severe frost; the former were killed, while the latter survived. It may be worth a more satisfactory experiment. The earliest salads, we know, are grown in this way. The same has been said of a species of beans, and even potatoes.
A Hint for Farmers.—For 3 or 4 years past Hemp and Canary Seed have sold, on an average, at 5 and 6 dolls. per bushel, in this city; and within the last twelve months the last mentioned seed (Canary) has been sold as high as 12 dols. per bushel.—The above seeds are as easily raised in this country as wheat—why then should we depend on Europe for our supply, while wheat is selling for seventy cents per bushel?
[E. Post.
Salt as a Manure.—In the history of the cocoa nut tree, by M. le Goux, the author tells us that the inhabitants of those parts of Hindostan and China, which border on the sea coast, sprinkle their rice fields with sea water, and use no other manure; and that in the interior of these countries, they sprinkle the lands with salt before they are tilled, a practice which has been followed for ages with the greatest advantage. Park says, he was informed by a gentleman in England, who had spent many years in making experiments on the employment of salt in Agriculture, "that one bushel to an acre makes land always more productive; but that a larger quantity would, for two or three years afterwards, render it actually sterile."