7(3 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



All vegetable raaltcris valuable us 

 Manure. 



Every tliiiiq; llmt grows or is produced from the 

 earth possesses the quality of fructilicition of the 

 earth. Many articles tliat are tlirown away as use- 

 lesB are still valuable and worthy of preservation. 

 We have often seen tiirowii upon piles of stone, or 

 upon the side of roads, or into streams where it 

 will be swept fit of sight, the pomace of apples af- 

 ter cider is extracted ; and it will not be denied 

 that applied in its crude stale this poinace may be 

 injurious to any crop. But deprive it of its acidi- 

 ty by suffering it to lie a year or more, and we are 

 induced to believe from the nature of its composi- 

 tion that whatever of the substance shall be left 

 may be valuable as manure. 



It is tlie general opinion that the bark and chips 

 of white and yellow pine, spruce, and perhaps 

 hemlock, poison the soil where they are sutlercd to 

 lie. Thev may at first, on account of their cold, 

 sour or acrid nature, injure or at least not benefit ve- 

 getation; but we are quite sure when the acidity or 

 bitterness shall pass ofTand llie vegetable substance 

 shall change by decomposition, llie soil where it 

 lies will be essentially renovated. 



In proof of this we will relate a case of appli- 

 cation of the refuse tan from hemlock bark — an 

 iirticle whioli iias been considered so useless in its 

 •■rude state as to lie moved away from all vegetable 

 j>r"v.-th. I-lon. Nathaniel S. Berry, at Bristol vil- 

 i.ii^fe in the County of Grafton, has attached to his 

 homestead on the north side of Newfound river a 

 small lot of land, the more elevated part of wliich 

 was a sand bank, being blown down to the annoy- 

 ance of the inhabitants upon the highway below at 

 every rise of the north wind in volumes of dust. 

 It occurred to him for experiment, having a large 

 quantity of the simple tan of hemlock bark which 

 had laid for some years in his tan-yard, that he 

 would apply it to this mere sand bank. He remo- 

 ved to the space of something like half an acre say 

 a hundred loads of the consuming, rotten tan ; and 

 cffercd to one of his neighbors the crop upon the 

 ground if he would attend it. The first year the 

 crop of corn upon the sand was even better than 

 upon the apparently more rich and better cultivated 

 ground near if ; and wliat is worthy of remark is, 

 thut the application of tan has not only imparted 

 great fertility to llie ground, but has entirely chan- 

 ged its appearance, making a black and rich loam 

 where there was before a yellow, sterile sand. 



Gov. I. Iln.i. : — 



Dear 6VV, — 1 recollect when you delivered the 

 address before the Merrimack County Agricultur- 

 al Society one 3Tar ago last October, you made the 

 following remark respecting the exhibition of a 

 Bample of Black sea wlieat by Thomas Ames, Esq. 

 of Canterbury. You said, as near as I can now 

 recollect, 'that if no other benefit resulted from this 

 annual Fair tlian the exhibition of this wheat, each 

 member present ought to think himself well paid 

 for his day's attendance.' 



And now, to show that yon were not wrong in 

 your opinion, I give you th« following facts, viz; — 

 I purchased last spring two bushels of this kind 

 of wheat at the high price of two dollars sixty-fonr 

 cents per bushel. One bushel I sowed on an acre 

 of land the lOtli of May, and harvested from the 

 tame last fall twenty busliels, worth at least two 

 dollars per buslifl. After deducting all expenses, 

 the |)rofits were $'22,83. 



I disposed of tlie other bushel to a farmer in 

 Deerfield, who sowed one acre better prepa-ed with 

 manure than the above, and he raised thirty-three 

 bushels. 



How many others were profited by the exhibi- 

 tion of wheat that day, I am not enabled to say. 

 In my opinion I'anners generall}' do not value these 

 exhibitions as liiglily as they ought. Every farmer 

 of the county of Merrimack should have his name 

 enrolled as a member of this Societ3' before anoth- 

 er autumn ; and not only be a member, but be able 

 to present somelliing yearly to make the day inter- 

 esting and useful. 



I will only add, that if the attending of agricul- 

 tural exhibitions is important to the farmer, then 

 the taking of good agricultural papers must be 

 more so, as they oftener make their visits, and can 

 be read when most at leisure. I am happy to hear 

 of your success in the jniblieation of the ** Month- 

 ly Visitor," for it certainly deserves patronage. 



C 



Concord Silk Farm, April 23,1S;^0. 



has the appearance of early ripening as that of the 

 smaller Canada corn ; and tlie cob indicates earlier 

 sountiness tiian the twelve ruwed Dutton corn. 

 Planting ground this year that is earlier prepared 

 on account of being lighter, we have selected 

 tiiree Uinds of corn, viz. — -tiie Brown forn raised 

 on Winnepiseogee lake, which is eight and ten row- 

 ed and larger kernel tlian any kind we have yet 

 seen ; tbe Duttoyi coniy wliicli is large and long 

 eared of twelve or more rows; and the Deerlng 

 rorriy which is above described. We venture to 

 pretermit the present season tlie smaller Canada 

 corn, which we planted almost exclusively last 

 year, because the ground planted is drier and bet- 

 ter fitted for the corn crop, and because the signs 

 indicate that we shall have a good corn season in 

 Nev/ England. 



Mr. Caleb C. Hall, of Boscawen, will accept 

 our acknowldgements for a bag of white '* Penn- 

 sylvania pole beans" represented to be of an excel- 

 lent quality for early shelling, or for cooking after 

 ihey have become dry. The best method for these 

 and all otlicr beans with running vines is to place 

 the poles in the ground at the same time the beans 

 arc planted. 



Russell Tubes, Esq. of Deering has our thanks 

 for a large trace of fine seed corn: the cars of 

 this corn are eight rowed — filled out well at each 

 end,compactto the cob, which is delicate and small 

 in diameter and of more than common length. It 



From the Philadelphia Farmer's Cabinet. 



Hoei n^Corn. 



TIic objects of hoeing and working the soil a- 

 bout corn, are, first, to destroy all weeds; and se- 

 condly, to loosen the soil at the surface, that it mav 

 the more readily absorb dews and rain which fall 

 upon it, and prevent the evaporation of moisture, 

 which takes place much sooner where t!ie soil is 

 hard, than where it is kept loose and mellow. The 

 pracVice so prevalent, of deep cultivation by tlie 

 plough between rows of corn is not to bo recom- 

 mended. If the ground has been properly prepar- 

 ed before planting, when not too wet, it will not 

 need this additional loosening. After the corn has 

 arrived at the usual size for hoeing, the soil should 

 only be disturbed at the surface. For as the plants 

 increase in size, they send out long fibrous thread- 

 like roots in all directions, which branch every 

 way, and run all over tbe ground; and it is through 

 these thnt they receive a large portion of their 

 nourisliinent. 



Hilling corn we would always disapprove, al- 

 thougli it is very commonly practised. Not un fre- 

 quently in performing this operation, all the loose 

 mellow earth is scraped away from between the 

 rows and heaped up round tbe plants, forming a 

 sort of roof about them, throwing off the rain, 

 which runs down into the liard soil thus laid bare 

 at the bottom of the furrows, which the first dry 

 weather bakes to the last degree of hardness, so 

 that the roots can receive no moisture here, and 

 little within these artificial pyramids. A reason 

 is assigned in favor of hilling, — that it makes tlie 

 corn stand firmer and more erect and is less liable 

 to be broken down by the wind. This may be the 

 case when the plants are small and do not 

 need any such help : but when they attain a 

 height of several feet and are loaded with leaves 

 and ears, it nmst be evident that a lllth' loose earth 

 piled about the roots is totullv insntlicent for such 

 a purpose. It is the strong bracing roots which 

 radiate from tlie stock which are to support it 

 there ; and to bury those roots deep under the sur- 

 face while tlicy aregrowin^^, and thusshut out from 

 them both heat and air, and render them weak and 

 tender, would only help to bring out the very thing 

 we wisli to prevent. 



It is important to farmers that this subject be 

 well understood ; for a little knowledge may save 

 many weary steps, and be the means of an abnnd 

 ant crop in the bargain. But if any farmers doubt 

 the accuracy of our reasoning, we would request 

 them to test it by experiment: by ploughing and 

 hilling higii one part of their corn, and using the 

 cultivator and applying tiK? same amount of labor 

 in mellowing the flat surface of the other, and then 

 measure the results. 



Froiti the Penm-'ylvanin Intelligencer. 

 The Silk ISusiiiess, 



We are not engaged directly or indirectly in the 

 Silk business — the only interest we feel in it is that 

 which every friend of American manufactures, in- 

 dustry and prosperity, ougiit to feel. Hence we 

 speak without having in view a private "specula- 

 tion,"' when we declare it to be our opinion that 

 the business will do a vast deal of good in our 

 country, by furnisliing employment to many poor 

 people of both sexes, and by keeping in the United 

 Stales an immense amount of money which now 

 annuaJly goes out of them. The " morus muJti- 

 caulis fever-" as it is called, is now happily raging, 



and the best effects will flow from it. Many persons 

 sneer at *morus multieaulis,' and perhaps shrewdly 

 warn their neighbors against "burning their fing- 

 ers;" but they who sneer are they who are ignorant 

 enough of the tree and silk business to deserve to 

 be sneered at. Indeed many cannot comprehend, 

 for lack of knowledge, why it is that there is so 

 much excitement all at once on the subject of silk; 

 the matter, however, is easily explained. With oth- 

 er varieties of the mulberry it requires sic years to 

 produce an orchard from whlcli to feed worms; 

 whereas, an orchard of morus muUicanlis can be 

 reared almost in six zpccks, and in addition to this 

 property of the plant it multiplies exceedingly well 

 — at least twenty per cent, and frequently in a 

 much heavier fold. The present high prices of 

 the tree cannot be expected to hold out more than 

 two or three years at farthest — they are fictitious, 

 and must ultimately fall, because the increase will 

 in a short time fully meet the demand. Many for- 

 tunes have been and will be made In the business 

 of growing trees for sale, and the man must be ve- 

 ry unfit for any dealings wlio can contrive to lose 

 at it: for when the time arrives that he cannot dis- 

 pose of his trees at least at prices to save himself, 

 he can realize a profit by using them for the feed- 

 ing of worms. For this reason the present "spec- 

 ulation" (and it is a speculation) in the tree grow- 

 ing business, may be regarded as singularly fortu- 

 nate for the country — it must end, not in a general 

 bursting of the bubble, but in the roaring and teed- 

 ing of worms and the reeling of silk for home con- 

 sumption and for exportation also. 



We cut the tollowing calculation from one of 

 our exchange papers: — 



" Suppose that out of fifteen millions of inhabi- 

 tants in the United States, one million of them com- 

 pose that useful and worthy class called farmers. 

 Suppose again that only one half of them would 

 devote six weeks every ye-ar to raise a few thou- 

 sand silk worms. Persons well acquainted with the 

 art of silk growing will assure you that the poor- 

 est farmer, having a house, however small, and an 

 industrious wife, may, with the least trouble and 

 without any extra expense, give a crop of at least 

 100 lbs. of cocoons. This minimum obtained from 

 500,000 farmers throughout the Union, would give 

 us an annual production of 50,000,000 Ibg. of co- 

 coons, or an average of 6,250,000 lbs. of raw silk, 

 which, at the low jtrice of ^A a pound, would re- 

 alize an annual production of ^'25,000,000 ! 



"This is not an extravagant calculation, nor one of 

 those ridiculous exaggerations which are often met 

 in certain speeches and addresses, in which tho 

 most fantastical prospects are offered to a credu- 

 lous audience. It is a calculation founded on what 

 happens in every place where the culture cf silk is 

 considered a branch of husbandry and a source of 

 general welfare. 



" In Italy you could hardly find a peasant, in the 

 months of May and June, whose hut does not con- 

 tain from 50,000 to '200,000 silk worms, by which 

 he will be able to pay the rent of his dwelling and 

 many other expenses incurred during the whole 

 year. There is no doubt that what is done on a 

 small scale by the poorest and most ignorant labor- 

 ers in Europe might be easily and extensively un- 

 dertaken by American farmers, whose resources 

 and better accommodation would afford greater 

 facilities and better success." 



The Weslevan Ckntenarv Fund. — \Vc learn 

 through the Nev/ York Commeroial, that the col- 

 lections towards the centenary fund of the Meth- 

 odist Cliuroh of England Iiad reached up to the Ist 

 of March, the immense sum of £J(JU,000 ($710,- 

 400!) At tlie close of February, tbe general com- 

 mittee decided thai it was expe-dientitt oikh,' to form 

 a committee of appropriation. This committee 

 consisted of the president and secretary, and manj' 

 of the treasurers and secretaries of the several 

 funds of the connexion, together with aaiumberof 

 the senior ministers and frentlcmen from various 

 parts of the kingdom. After a long deliberation 

 the following was the result of the ajipropriatlon; — 

 1. F.irtwo Institution Houses, X55,0u0 ; 2. Mis- 

 sionary preiuises in Loudon, 2)3,000; IL Missionary 

 Supernumeraries, widows and orphans, 21,000; 4. 

 Purchase of a Missionary slilp, 3,000 ; 5. Outfit, 

 stores, insurance, &c. 3,"0(,0 ; 0. Chapel loan fund 

 in England, 35,000; 7. -do. do. Ireland, 2,000; 8. 

 Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove sclfools, 5,700 ; 

 9. Auxiliary fund debt, l,r)00 ; 10. New auxiliary 

 fund, 9,000; 11. Expenses, &c. 1,800 — being 

 jC1()0,000. The committee farther agreed that out 

 of the sum which may yet be received, £5,000 be 

 appropriated for a centenary monumental chapel In 

 Dublin, and the like sum for the Wesleyan day 

 bchools. 



