THE FARMERS' MONTHLY VISITOR. 



155 



the yard, (say six or eig-Ut barrols,) I Iiad tlie peat 

 removed into it. The garnet colored wash of the 

 yard was rapidl)^ and entirely absorbed. . I allowed 

 it -to remain in This situation until the first of June, 

 during which time its color had changed from ma- 

 hogany to jet black. Fermentation did not take 

 pince. 



By the sucr.esaive action of the frost, lime, and 

 the wash of the y^rd, the sensilde qualitie;? of the 

 peat had very niucli changed. When first taken 

 from the boo;, it was pulpy and very adhesive — 

 could be spread like butter ; now it was a fine pow- 

 der, having entirely lost its peculiar adhesive prop- 

 erties. 



1 used the manure thus prepared, for squaslies — 

 planting fifteen rods of ground, very sandy and 

 much exposed to drought. After the manure had 

 been dropped, (one shovel full in a hill,) I sprink- 

 led a little lime in each hill, directly upon the peat. 

 Upon this, I planted the autumnal marrow squash. 

 The seeds came up well, and the plants were of a 

 healthy color. Some of the plants were entirely 

 destroyed, and all of them badly eaten by insects ; 

 the yellow bug was most destructive. The plants, 

 after they had recovered from this shock, grew 

 more rapidly than any that I had before witnessed. 

 The color of the vines, and the rapidity with which 

 they covered the ground, were most convincing 

 proofs to my mind that they were perfectly heal- 

 thy, and well supplied with nutriment. In the se- 

 vere drought which came on in the summer, these 

 vines, for many weeks, did not appear to suffer, 

 while others of a similar kind in the neighborhood, 

 were dead and dying. The result was, that not- 

 withstanding the long continuance of the drought, 

 in which nearly all our potatoes, peas, &c. were 

 killed, these squashes were preserved, and yielded 

 a middling crop. 



I also used the compost, as above, on intervale 

 land, near the Connecticut river, soil alluvial, no 

 stones or gravel — can be easily compressed, doe^ 

 not bake in the sun — lias been cultivated for more 

 tli;in one hundred and fifty years, and yields a very 

 scanty crop without manure. The compost was 

 spread over the ground, and ploughed in, at the 

 rate of nine cords to the acre of ground ; thus pre- 

 pared, I planted thirty rods with sugar beets — dis- 

 tance between the rows, eighteen inches — hill.s 

 eight inches — one seed in a hill. The seeds prov- 

 ed bad, not more than one third came up — yet I 

 liad liG bushels of beets; while above an acre of 

 the same land, manured with the best stable ma- 

 nure, at the rate of twelve cords to the acre, did 

 not produce one hundred bushels. Two rows of 

 potatoes v/ere planted next the beets; the landhcid 

 been designed for beets, and was prepared precise- 

 ly tlie same. Between these two rows and more 

 than an acre Immediately adjoining, (where alarg- 

 <u- quantity of best barnyard or animal manure was 

 used,) there was a very perceptible difference in 

 favor of the former. I also planted a few hills of 

 potatoes on very sandy land, in the latter part of 

 June. Into the hills 1 put peat, which hnd been 

 saturated with lye, from the bottom of a soap tub 

 — no lime. The tops of these potatoes, during the 

 whole drought, were of the most lively green, and 

 the most luxuriant growth that I ever beheld. — 

 "They were killed by the frost in the fall, before 

 maturity — the potatoes were small. 



In conclusion 1 would mention, that I am so well 

 pleased with the result of these experiments on a 

 small scale, that I am now preparing one hundred 

 and fifty cords of peat, and filly casks of Camden 

 lime, and all the animal manure I can make,toen- 

 •rich as fast as per-sihle my whole farm. 



E3:y^Hses. I get out my peat by ox team and cart. 

 Three men can, in tliis way, get out eight cords 

 per day, i^l.OO ; price of lime, $1.50 per cask. My 

 peat being three miles and a half from my barn, 

 ■that portion of it which I bring home, I cstiiuate 

 to cost mo, for carting, one dollar per cord. The 

 peat and the lime of the compost — using one third 

 of a cash of lime to a cord of peat — then, cost me, 

 on the ground ii A the peat bog — three cords of 

 peat, $;l.r)0 — one cask of lime, $1.50 j that which 

 I cart home, 1.00 per cord more. 



J intend to put abont one sixth part of animal 

 manure, bui as it cannot be purciiased in any ade- 

 piiate qijantity, it h more difiicult to fix a price. 

 The nearest place where livery stable manure is 

 sold, is four miles; price there, per cord, ;i|;3.00 — 

 Cost of carting, ^1.50. 



Five cords of peat, delivered, ijiT.oO 



Two and one third casks of lime, deliv- 

 ered. 3.5n 



One cord of livery stable manure., 4.5G 



)ii; 15.50 

 — ^divided by six — the number of cords, not esti- 

 mating the increase -of quantity -from the bulk of 



the lime — gives the cost, two dollars and fifty-eight 

 cents, delivered — or one dollar and fiftr-eight 

 cents per cord, at the peatbog. 



(Signed) SAiVIUEL KEEP. 



Dear Sir : — Herewith are the facts, collected with 

 care, at my request, by my father, Samuel Keep, of 

 Longmeadow. My own opinion is, that a new 

 era has begun in agriculture. The quantity of one 

 third of a cask oi' lime to a cord, was selected in 

 the absence of chemical experiments, to deter- 

 mine how much was absolutely needed to neutral- 

 ize the ulmic acid, because he prefers to put on ten 

 to twelve cords to the acre — and twelve coids 

 would take four casks of lime to the acre. If lime 

 was as clieap as in Maine, he would probably have 

 put in more. Notwithstanding the expense ap- 

 pears to be great, mv father feels confident that he 

 gets a better article in compost at $2.50, than the 

 livery stables furnish at i^3.C0, with the additional 

 cost to him of $1.50 for carting, making ?|;4.50. 



N. C: KEEP. 



In order that a plant should absorb the requisite 

 nutricient matters, it is essential that its rootlets 

 should have free play, and hence the necessity of 

 a proper texture in soils. It is also requisite that 

 the materials should be rendered in some degree 

 soluble ; and that the soil remain pennanently good, 

 it is essential that it should not be too loose in its 

 texture ; for against the opinions of some farmers, 

 I still maintain that the principal and most active 

 ingredients of manures and soils, are lost by solu- 

 tion and infiltration, the evaporation being as it 

 were but a drop in the bucket. On this point, how- 

 ever, I shall present some considerations hereafter. 



There is also another propert}"^ of soils too gen- 

 erally lost siffht of, namely, their electro motive 

 power, and their influence in this manner, upon 

 the absorbing spongioles of the radicles, producing 

 the effect called by M. EVutrochet, endosmose, or 

 internal impulse. This effect is most assuredly 

 produced by those mixtures and combinations of 

 mineral matters and salts, with vegetable humus, 

 which characterize luxuriant soils. * Here, then, is 

 a new field of research fur the pliilosophlcal farm- 

 er, vA\o will find the still small galvanic currents 

 which take place among the particles of soil, are 

 busy preparing his bread. The influence of elec- 

 tricity has long been known to hasten vegetation, 

 and plans will ultimately be adopted to bring the 

 results of the laboratory into the hot bed and green 

 house, while a contemplation of the phenomena 

 will illustrate those great natural laboratories — the 

 corn fields of the farmer. A soil consisting of one 

 kind of earth, is barren — no matter of wliat earth 

 it may be composed, whether eilex, alumina, lime 

 or gypsum. Pure v eg ctahle matter^ is aho barren; 

 but proper CO inbijintions or mixtures of three earths^ 

 ohrays produce fertility, provided the pabulum or 

 food of tlie plant he present also. Certain saline 

 matters are said to stimulate planti, and by this I 

 understand that they prnduce electrical movements 

 or endosmose, for they will act in a similar manner 

 upon dead or inorganic matter, as seen in Dutro^ 

 chet's experiments. By saline stimulants, the fo- 

 liage of plants is rapidly and substantially develop, 

 ed, owing to the absorption of carbonic acid gas 

 from the atmosphere, and the retention of its car- 

 bon, while the 0x3, gen gas is exhaled by the green 

 leaves. And since such stimuli tend only to the 

 developement of ihc foliage, and act against both 

 germination and ripening, the proper time to apply 

 such substances, is after the plant has shot up, and 

 before it begins to ripen its seeds or fruits. 



These principles are generally unknown to farm- 

 ers, and hence their unskilful application of gyp- 

 sum, salt, &c , as dressing to soils. The}' also neg- 

 lect to consider the native habitat of their plants, 

 and hence often apply the wrong stimuli. Now it 

 is evident, that since asparagus plants, onions, cab- 

 bages, and similar vegetables, are native plants of 

 the sea coasts, of those countries, to , which they 

 are indigenous, that if they are to be cultivated in 

 Boils free from saline matter, salt may be advanta- 

 geously used in small quantities, to render them 

 more luxuriant. Gypsum and sea salt have near- 

 ly the same effect upon plants, and hence when the 

 soil derives saline matter from salt water spray, or 

 vapor, gvpsum v/iU not benefit the soil, or act 

 as a stimulant upon plants. This opinion, which 

 is proved in the Prize Essay of Professor Le Cocq, 

 on saline manures, explains the fact, well known 

 in Maine, that gypsum exerts but little action upon 

 the soils near the sea coast, but does act favorably 

 >u the soils of farms situated in the interior of the 

 State, especially on thosG which contain small 

 quantities of carbonate or geate of lime. 



A black boy and girl died in New Jersey from 

 eating toad-stools, mistaking thejn for mushrooms. 



Ftoin the Genosee F;irnier. 



Hints. 



When you have finished a job of ploughing and 

 your plough is to be idle a few days, or weeks, do 

 not leave it exposed to the wciither, but put it un- 

 der shelter without delay. By doing this, you pre- 

 vent a covering of rust, which will require half a 

 day's work and a good man}' pounds of flesli from 

 your team, to wear otf. The same may be said of 

 other implements, as hoes, srythes, axes, &c. — 

 They should always, when not in use, be under 

 cover. 



Always recollect the difference it makes in the 

 business of the farmer, to say to your hired men, 

 "go and do this," or *'we will go and do this." — 

 Few things are rnore necessary, than the presence 

 and example of the farmer. 



Do not say wlicn you put a crop on a piece of 

 laud not adapted to it, or but imperfectl}' prepared, 

 that circumstances rendered it necessary. Napo- 

 leon believed that calculating forethought, and an 

 energetic will, created the circumstances for the 

 man; not the man for the cirruinstances. The 

 man has little pretention to the character of a farm- 

 er, whose plans for the culture of his several fields 

 are not made at least two years in advance. 



If you are obliged to keep your swine confined, 

 or within a limited range, you will improve their 

 condition much by giving ther.Q two or three times 

 a day, in their pen, fresh cut clover. The extra 

 manure thus made, will repay the labor neces- 

 sary. 



If the yellow bug, or cut-v/orm, is plentiful in 

 your garden, put a hen with a good brood of chick- 

 ens in a coop, and place her in the garden. Should 

 the experiment succeed, as it has repeatedly with 

 us, bugs of all kinds and worms that show them- 

 selves, will become scarce in a very short time. 

 Before liberating them from the coop, it will be best 

 to remove the hen and chickens to the barn yard 

 and allow them to remain a few days, else they 

 may do mischief by scratching. 



Those men are always found to complain the 

 most of hard times, and high prices, who add the 

 least to the productive resources of the country. 

 The farmer, who by his labor creates value from 

 the earth, rarely complains ; and need never, if he 

 diligently follows the plough. Let those who com- 

 plain, remember there is an infallible cure for hard 

 times — honest industry. 



Let those who despair of im]>rovement in agri- 

 culture, compare the present with the past, and all 

 reasons for disbelief will vani^di. Nature herself 

 is improved by man ; of this, t!ie apple, peach, and 

 potatoe, are present witnesses. Science and skill 

 will double the produce of the earth, and the sever- 

 ity of labor will be diminished by improved imple- 

 ments. 



Perhaps there is no article of general use pro- 

 duced by farmers, of which the quality, as a whole, 

 is so inferior, as that of butter. The grand fault is 

 not freeing it from the buttermilk. Unless this is 

 done, sweetness is impossible ; at least for a time. 

 Butter is a kind of animal oil ; and freed from all 

 extraneous matters, is as little liable to spoiler grow 

 rancid as lard or tallow. But buttermilk soon be- 

 comes intolerably offensive, and when left in the 

 butter renders it most unpalatable. WiP our dairy 

 women remember this? 



High winds are apt to displace the rails of our 

 fences, particularly in the spring and summer sea- 

 son. These should always be well looked to. It is 

 better to lay up a rail, than to construct a poke : to 

 repair a fence in season, than to be compelled to 

 part witli an ox or a horse at half price. Some of 

 the bitterest feud:i have arisen between neighbors, 

 from an unlucky neglect of this kind ; and if you 

 forget the rest, do not pass by the fallen rail of a 

 partition fence without replacing it carefully. 



Summer fallowing is better for wheat, on the 

 whole, than any other mode of culture. By repeat- 

 ed plouglilngs, the ground becomes pulverized, the 

 exposure of the soil to atniospheric action is more 

 complete, and the earth is bet^T fitted for the re- 

 ception of the seed. Besides, no method has been 

 found so effectual for the destruction of noxious 

 weeds, such as the Cai?ada thistle, as summer fallow- 

 ing. Ploughing, as often as the thistle roots shoot 

 out during the summer, will, in ordinary seasons, 

 destroy all plants exposed to the operation; and 

 when noxious weeds exist, should not be neglected. 



If you have bee.-,, as farmers should have, don't 

 delay making hives for them until a swarm comes 

 out, and whatever your business may be, it must be 

 la'.d aside to construct one. There are rainy days 

 incur region enough to give t-i.ne for such pur- 

 poses ; and a little fore-thought, at some times, pre- 

 vents much inconvenience at others. Ahiveshould 

 be well made, as the closer the jointa, the less room 

 fi">r millers and worms to hide. 



