THE FARMER'S MONTHLY TISITOR. 



179 



fermented manure ia best witli a proportion of lime 

 or ashes ; but differ as to its application. 



It is recommended by some, to apply the manure 

 in the furrow made for the purpose of drilling in 

 the seed, and ridged by turning two furrows on to 

 the manure, and sowing on to the ridge : others 

 recommend spreading the manure broadcast, and 

 ploughing it under, and sowing on the level in 

 drills. I think the latter method will be found pre- 

 ferable in practice, it being less labor and the ground 

 not so liable to be impaired by drought. 



Further, writers all seem to agree, that the best 

 method of cultivation is by drilling them. They 

 vary as to width, from twenty inches to three feet, 

 — probably a medium would be preferable. I cul- 

 tivated a small piece of Ruta Baga last year, one 

 third of an acre only ; it was a piece of good land 

 inclining to a clay loam that had been to grass .sev- 

 eral years until the year previous, when it was 

 ploughed and cropped with potatoes ; last spring 

 we ploughed it early, harrowed it, and about the 

 twenty-sixth of May ploughed it again, and fur- 

 rowed two and a half feet apart, manured in the 

 furrow with ten ox-loads of mixture of green ma- 

 nure and swamp-muclc of about equal parts ; cov- 

 ered the manure with eartli,and sowed on the ridg- 

 es. We limed them several times the first ten or 

 fifteen days after they came up to protect tiieni 

 agaiijst the ravages of the small garden fly, &c., 

 for the want of better implements we tended them 

 principally with the hoe. We thinned them to 

 the distance of from five to eight inches apart, and 

 the vacant places were filled up by transplanting 

 from the supernumerary plants. They were not 

 harvested until late, when it appeared there were 

 two hundred and twenty-five bushels, of fifty-six 

 pounds each, being at the rate of six hundred and 

 seventy-five bushels to the acre. The exact ex- 

 pense of cultivating, harvesting, Ac. cannot be es- 

 timated, as it was intermixed with other farm-work; 

 but I am of the opinion, it must have been some- 

 thing more than we usually bestow in cultivating 

 the same quantity of ground with potatoes. 



I do not hesitate to say, that the profits to be de- 

 rived from the culture of tiie Ruta Baga, are suffi- 

 cient, if correctly appreciated, to insure it a place 

 in the field of every cultivator in this county. 



Mangel Wurtzel, 



It would seem (if confidence can be placed in 

 the best agricultural writers,) is better adapted to 

 our soil than Ru'.a Baga. I find in the third vol- 

 ume of the Complete Farmer, the following 

 remarks under the head of Mangel Wurtzel. 

 "The soil for these roots should be a loam inclining 

 to clay in good tilth, well manured, and made to a 

 good depth." Jonathan Powell, Esq. Corres- 

 ponding Secretary to the Pcnnsijirania Agricultural 

 • Society, in giving an account of his mode of culti- 

 vating this crop, says, "My soil was not naturally 

 strong ; it has been gradually so much deepened as 

 to enable Wood's plough No. 2 drawn by four ox- 

 en, to plough fourteen inches deep. Fresli barn- 

 yard manure was equally spread upon the surface, 

 and ploughed under in the early part of April in 

 quantities not larL'er than are generally used for 



Eotatoe crops in tills county." And under the same 

 ead, wc find the following; "The soil on which 

 Messr.?. Tristram Little and Henry Little, ofNew. 

 bory, Massachusetts, raised their premium crops in 

 1824, is a cl.iy loam. " 



It appears from the above remarks, that the clay 

 ' loam is the proper soil for the Mangel Wurtzel; 

 if that be a iact, very many of our farms arc not 

 wanting in land well adapted to their culture. 



The method of culture recommended is very 

 similar to that of the Rutp Baga; with the addi- 

 tion of deep ploughing. .And further, tlrey are ad- 

 mitted to be preferable fur fattening cattle and feed- 

 ing milcli cows. It also ai>pears that this root is 

 more productive than the Ruta Baga: as the 

 . "Quantity to an acre, tiic premium cop of the 

 Messrs. Little was thirty-thic-e tons ten hundred 

 weifrht and fourteen pouuds to an acre." Col, 

 Powell's was much larger. 



With the above authority and facts in view, I 

 « would cheerfully recommend this root to your at- 

 tention and trial. 



Rotation of crops on high stony land. 



Much has been said of the value and practical 

 ntility of rotation of crops. I have examined va- 

 rious authors on this subject with some degree of 

 attention, and find but little that seems to be valu- 

 able, as it does not appear to be well adapted to our 



' situation. It is recommended by several writers, 

 to continue a rotation of crops for a sei-ies of years, 

 by alternating with roots or corn and small grain. 

 Hut it would seem that this system cannot be car- 

 ried into profitable effect, except in the neighbor- 



•• hood of large towns, whore manure is readily ob- 



tained ; or on the rich and fertile alluvial soils in 

 the valleys of some of our large rivers. 



For every cultivator must be well aware, that it 

 will not be found profitable to cultivate his farm 

 for a series of years, with a rotation of root and 

 small grain crops, without a constant supply of 

 manure, which in general cannot be adequately ob- 

 tained. And wesliould tlien neglect our grass crops, 

 which I deem first in importanre lo the farmer. 

 Perhaps the rotation that most farmers now actu- 

 ally pursue ]s not very defective ; — that is, to 

 plough annually a suitable quantity of their mow- 

 ing land, that bears the least grass immediately af- 

 ter haying, cropping it the following year with po- 

 tatoes orsome otlierkintl of roots. Second year with 

 corn, when care should be taken to spread a suffi- 

 cient quantity of green manure to put it in suitable 

 tilth for grass. Third year with wheat or some 

 other kind of small grain, wlien it is or should be 

 seeded down with grass. We would recommend 

 twelve quarts of herds grass seed, and four pounds 

 of clover to the acre ; or omit the clover and add a 

 small quantity of red top, and it will generally pro- 

 duce grass well for six or seven years. 



Maple Sugar. 



Whilst others are trying experiments with the 

 Beet, let us endeavor to apply ourselves to the bu- 

 siness of making sugar from the Maple. And we 

 can see no possil>le reason why the manufacture of 

 sugar from the Maple cannot be so far systematiz- 

 ed and perfected as to make it profitable. Most 

 farmers at the time maple sugar is made can attend 

 to it without derangement of their other business. 

 It is the opinion of numerous gentlemen well qual- 

 ified to judge, lliat there is a sufficient quai.tity of 

 sugar trees in this county to furnish an adequate 

 supply of sugar and molasses for the use of the 

 inhabitants of the county. 



And further, 1 am credibly informed, that the 

 small number of fifty trees may be made profitable 

 when well managed. If so, those gentlemen who 

 have from three to six hundred trees, and attend to 

 them, must find sugar making a lucrative employ- 

 ment. 



Manure the life of the Farmer. 



Manure and its application-^ may well be termed 

 the true philosopher's stone of the farmer. With- 

 out manure it would be aliuost in vain to cultivate 

 the soil, which would soon become cvhausted, and 

 afford a very trifling rcmnnerntion. If then ma- 

 nure is of so much importance, it is of the first 

 consequence that we make u^~c of all the means 

 within our reach, to increase it in quantity as well 

 as quality ; and this may be done in various ways. 

 In the first place, it is highly important that our 

 barn yards be so situated and constructed as to re- 

 ceive and retain the wash from tlie barns, sheds, &c. 

 Also there should be a good hng pen with a suita- 

 ble yard: and care should be taken to replenish these 

 reservoirs with mud from the swamp, cleaning of 

 old ditches ; loam from the brink of the field or sides 

 of the road ; leaves from t:ie wood lots, potatoe 

 tops, and every other vetfet^'ble substance within 

 our reach, tliat is not valuable for other purposes. 

 These various articles, especially swamp mud, 

 when saturated with the salme matter from the 

 barns, &-C. and mixed with the manure during the 

 summer, become a valuable compost. And further, 

 we should never dispense with having a sufficient 

 supply of good water in tlie barn yard for our stock, 

 as it is not only a great saving of manure, but flesli 

 to the animals, and is far less labor than to let them 

 stroll to a distant spring or brook. Swamp mud, 

 properly fermented with lime, is said to make a ve- 

 ry active and valuable manure. 



The Governor of New Hampshire in an address 

 before the members cf tlie Merrimack County Ag- 

 ricultural Society, Oct. 1837, obsi-rres, "One of the 

 Shakers recently told me, they had been in the 

 habit of buying the best of Thomaston lime, which 

 %vilh transportation cost them at least three dollars 

 a cask; of breaking and slacking it and mixing it 

 with mud collected from bog-holes or turfs from 

 the sides of the highways, in proportion of four or 

 five casks to an hundred common ox-loads; and 

 after due fermentation and mixture, they have 

 found this compo.^ition not less valuable than an 

 equal quantity of the best of stable manure." If 

 the above remarks are correct, (and no doubt they 

 are, as I find them corroborated by various writers 

 on this subject) it is an easy and cheap method of 

 obtaining manure, and well adapted for top dres- 

 sing. 



The Hon. John Welles of Boston, who has 

 made several experiments with lime in the prepar- 

 ation of compost manure for a top dressing, recom- 

 mends that it bo prepared hy first placing a layer 



unslackened lime, and so continue until the materi- 

 als are used up; and in twelve or fourteen days, 

 shovel it over and it will be fit for use.' This gen- 

 tleman made use of lime in proportion about one 

 casks of Thomaston lime to five loads of loam or 

 mud, and he has for more than twenty years annu- 

 ally made use of lime "for agricultural purposes 

 to the extent of more than one hundred casks." 

 He further says, "To my surprise I found the effect 

 produced to be equal to what is usual from common 

 compost manure." Lime as a top dressing on 

 a wheat crop is undoubtedly valuable on many 

 kindf of soil, especially when there is a deficiency 

 of calcareous matter. 



Benjamin Cutler, Esq. informs me that he has 

 made use of lime at the rate of twenty bushels or 

 more to the acre, as a top dressing, by sowing it on 

 in a fine pulverized state, when the wheat was a 

 few inches high, and considered himself well re- 

 mnuerated in the wheat crop. The Hon. Levi 

 Fisk observed to me, that he used two tierces of 

 Thomaston lime last sprmg by sowing it on nearly 

 two acres of wheat, leaving a small piece in the 

 same field unsown, and is confident he realized 

 twenty-five per cent, more wheat in consequence 

 of the lime. 



The above and other similar experiments, are 

 conclusive evidence in my mind of the importance 

 and value of lime as a manure. 



Application of Manure. 



The method of preparing and applying manure 

 must in 7ome measure depend on what our inten- 

 tions are for the present and the following crop. 



The compost or other manure that is carted out 

 and lefl in large heaps in autumn, to be used the 

 following sjiring for corn or roots, should be brok- 

 en up, with an iron bar as early as possible in the 

 spring, and when the frost is out shovel it over, 

 and mix it with about one third green manure, that 

 of sheep is preferable. Fine slackened lime may 

 be added with profit at the rate of one bushel to an 

 ox-load of manure, and in about five or six days it 

 will commence a fermentation, when it will be fit 

 for use. 



Wiien the intention is to prepare land for a wheat 

 crop, and stociting down to grass the following 

 year, there can hardly be a doubt but tlie better 

 system is to apply seven or eight cords of green 

 manure to the acre, as early as the season will ad- 

 mit, and plough it lightly under, as the gases, 

 while fermentation is going on, will tend very 

 materially to enrich the soil. 



The above quantity of manure with twenty loads 

 of compost put in the hill or furrow on an acre, 

 will generally place land in such tilth, as to insure 

 a large crop of corn or roots the first year, a good 

 growth of wheat the second year, and a profitable 

 crop of grass for six or seven years after. 



The most gratifying earthly occupation. 



With the blessing of Heaven this association has 

 it in their power vastly to increase the means of 

 subsistence in this county, without diminishing the 

 comfort if its inhabitants, so that ere longour bills 

 and valleys shall be seen smiling with an increase of 

 verdure and fertility. The spread of agricultural 

 information will have a tendency to spread indus- 

 try and promote virtue ; so that an increase of pop- 

 ulation will not be an increase of vice and misery. 



And while that increase will give strength and 

 energy to our government against external ene- 

 mies, it will unite together a more impenetrable 

 ]?halanx, to maintain our rights and liberties against 

 the encroachments of usurpation and tyranny. 



Alexander the Great fancied that if he could but 

 conquer the world he *^hould be able to turn the 

 stream of happiness to its fountain, and then drink 

 to his satisfaction. Rut what was his mortifica- 

 tion and disappointment, when he found all was 

 wormwood and bittf rnesi^. 



We need not inquire why it is that so Hsany men, 

 after faithfully serving their country, and discharg- 

 ing their higli duties with fidelity, retire to thecul- 

 tivation of the s)il to spend the evening of life. 

 If agrfculture has so many charms over all other 

 employments, as to induce the man of power, am- 

 bition, wealth and pleasure, as well as the great 

 and good, in all ages, to engage in it, in the even- 

 ing of life, devoting the remnant of their days, to 

 rural scenes, realizing satisfaction and comfort ; 

 ought we not to be grateful to the Giver of all good 

 that so pleasant an employment has fallen to our 

 lot, leading us far away from the turmoil and bHstle 

 of public life ; the perplexities and anxieties of 

 many other professions. And may we be excited 

 to redoubled exertion in extending scientific acd 

 practical information, on the great subject of agri- 

 culture, for the benevolent purpose of benefitting 



of mud or loam a« the ease mav be, then a layer of' the mass of the people, and renderings them happy. 



