54 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



ical action, would devour a whole household at, a 

 singl? meal. 



He sees himself constantly walking amid ele- 

 ments the most tierce and powerful, held in subjeo- 

 tion only by tlie laws of chemical affinity. Ke sees 

 too, that if this affinity were but sliglitly interrupt- 

 ed, the elements would break loose and wage upon 

 each other llie most ternnc warfare. 



Mr. Hill : — I am a constant reader of the 

 Monthly Visitor. There is no newspaper tiiat comes 

 into my father's family tiiat I read with so much in- 

 terest, and I wish I could send it into every family 

 of the State. It is only a year or two that I have 

 had opportunities of knoiying or hearing mucii a-^ 

 bout farming ; and I delight to steol an hour from 

 my academical studies to the cultivation of the field 

 — plant ornamental trees, cultivate fruit and flow- 

 ers — hear the delightful singing of the birds, and 

 learn from your paper the improved modes of farm- 

 ing — raising wheat, sheep, horses and cattle, so ne- 

 cessary for the subsistence and comfort of ujan. 



"The task of working improvement on the earth," 

 says Washington, "is much more deliglitful, than 

 all the yaiu ,oIory wliichcan be acquired by ravag- 

 ing it with llie most uninterrupted career of con- 

 quests." This is true ; it is not only much i.nore 

 delightful, but much more plausible. Agriculture, 

 the first and natural business of man, is the most 

 healthful both to the body and mind. 1 believe 

 there is no employment of life which can add so 

 greatly to the peace and prosperity of a nation, and 

 to the happiness and contentment of its inhabitants, 

 as the culture of the soil ; and there is no employ- 

 ment which oflers so certain means of acquiring 

 wealth, as rapidly, as is consistent with the enjoy- 

 ments of life, as .'igriculture. The soil of ourcoun- 

 try is peculiarly adapted to tlie interests of the far- 

 mer : it is as fertile as any other in the world. One 

 great error is prevalent upon this subject, and that 

 is, atrriculture, as the business of life, is by some 

 considered as less respectable than that of a mer- 

 chant, or a manufacturer, or lawyer. This is not 

 right. It is a profession of the highest respectabili- 

 ty and independence. It has always numbered a- 

 mong its votaries many of our most distinguished 

 citizens. Even heroes, philosophers, and stati^smen 

 have sought in rural employment, a relaxation from 

 the cares and perplexities incident to a public life. 

 The records of our own times, and especiall}' of our 

 own country, afford instances of illustrious nicn 

 who have been tlius preeminent. ^Vashington d.d 

 not think it beneath him to cultivate the earth. — 

 Jefferson was a farmer, and was not ashamed of his 

 profession. The Emperor of China claims his roy- 

 al privilege of annually holding the plough, from a 

 custom of his predecessors, which he alleges to 

 have existed 'long before the creation of the Moon.' 

 Virgil, yei^s before the Christian era, extolled the 

 pleasure of. rural life, and the happiness to be ob- 

 tained by those, who,avv'ay from the noise and bus- 

 tle of cities, cultivated their fields. Abraham 

 was a herdsmon, and Horace pronounces the hus- 

 bandman blessed. AVith such illustrious examples 

 before them, it is strange that people should hold it 

 in such a light. The ancient Romans venerated 

 the plough, and a judicious and industrious hus- 

 bandman was highly esteemed. 



There is no class in society, who have within 

 their reach so many of the elemenls of human en- 

 joyment—so many f'acilities for benefitting others, 

 as the tillers of the soil. "The firmer," says Frank- 

 lin, "has no need of popular favor; the success of 

 his crops depends only on the blessing of God."' — 

 The pleasures of agriculture are so various, and so 

 delightful to nren, that they arr not easily to be de- 

 scribed ; for in v.'hatever way it may be pursued, the 

 mind may be continually entertained with the won- 

 derful structure and economy of the vegetable 

 world ; the nerves invigorated by the freshness of 

 the earth and tlie fragraney of the air. 



Industry, intelligence and skill are indispensable 

 agents in the biisiues-j of agriculture. A thorough 

 knowledge of the views of distinguished scientific 

 writers is essential to the formation cf an accom- 

 plished cultivatoi'. Agricuiture requires a great 

 variety of knowledge, more so, indeed, tlian an-y 

 other art, and should, therefore, be studied with 

 great application. It would, I think, be more con- 

 ducive to the preservation of our facelties to ex- 

 treme old age, were thai time which is now spent 

 in indolence, or wasted in convivial pleasures, 

 spent in the cultivation of the earth. 



But I shall not attempt to instruct or advise prac- 

 tical farmers. 1 am too young to do either, and this 

 is my first communication upon any suliject. If it 

 should be deemed worthy of a place in the paper 1 

 take most delight in reading, it will be gratifying 

 to the son of 



A FARMER OF MAINE. 



Hedges. 



Governor Hill, — Dcnr Sir : — If the following 

 extracts of a letter from Mr. Samuel Cutis of Wash- 

 ington city in relation to the evergreen hedge at 

 the President's Garden are worth a place in the 

 "Farmer's Monthly Visitor,'' you are at liberty to 

 publish them. This letter was addressed to a 

 friend at Kennebunk, Slaine. 



A SUBSCRIBER. 



Wuskington, March 23, 1840. 



De.ip. Sir :— Your letter dated ICth of February 

 was not received by me till the 20th of the present 

 month, having been absent from the city tlie last 

 few weeks. Doubtless you have been expecting 

 an answer ere this. 1 hasten to give you all the de- 

 sired information in my power, in regard to the 

 evergreens used here for hedges, as are in the Presi- 

 dents Garden. This hedge is Red Cedar: it has 

 been planted ten or twelve j-ears. They are very 

 common here. 



But there are three kinds of indigenous shrubs, 

 and at least one exotic, that are well adapted 

 for the purpose. The Botanical names of winch 

 are Pinus Canadmsis, or Hemlock Spruce, Thuja 

 .Iccidcnlalis, American Arbor Vite, and Jiiiiiperis 

 Virginiimcc, Red Cedar. All these are natives of 

 our country, and the two former are admirably a- 

 dapted for hedges. If you want to make a hedge 

 of any of these, select plants about two feet high, 

 lift tiiem caref'ully and preserve the roots as much 

 as possible. Dig a trench from one and a half to 

 two feet wide and about one and a half deep. Tlie 

 soil must be well broken, to throw about the roots 

 in planting ; keep the plants in tlie centre of the 

 trench, putting them from four to six inches apart, 

 mixing the shortest and the tallest, that it may be 

 of one lieigbt. Water them as you proceed in fil- 

 ling up, that the soil m.iy adhere to the roots and 

 exclude the air. If the season is very dry, water 

 tliem frequently. It is thought to make it more se- 

 cure against large animals, to plant them inclining 

 different ways, so that they may cross each other 

 at nearly right angles. None of" ihem should be 

 topped for a few seasons, except such as are much 

 above the others in height, keeping the sides reg- 

 ular, even by clipping or shearing once a year ei- 

 ther in the month of April, or at the end of August. 



It is better to keep the top (when they have got 

 to the height desired, which differs very much, gen- 

 erally they are about seven or eight fi?et,) pointed 

 than broad. The latter method retains a ncavy 

 weight of snow which frequently breaks down, or 

 otherwise deforms them. It will take about five 

 years to form a fence sufficiently strong to keep 

 out larne cattle. But it mostly depends on the 

 size of file plants when they are set out, and on the 

 strength of the ground. 



They seldom or never die out, and there are no 

 vacancies if properly set out. But if one should 

 occur, plant a new shrub, as nearly the size of tlie 

 others as you can. As two of these are natives of 

 your climate, and even flourish wild \vith3'ou,l think 

 that a very strong as well as a very beautiful ever 

 green hedge might.be formed of them. These 

 plants may be had at Lambert's Botapical estab- 

 lishment at Philadelphia. 



Lambert raises them from the seed, but they do 

 not vegetate the first year : it requires two years 

 for tiiein to grow six inches above ground. 



You have the Junipcris or Red Cedar in great 

 quantity with you ; get plants about tiiriM- feet high 

 from tlie swamps around you and set them out as 

 directed above, and I fliink you can succeed in 

 them. 



You desire a description of'the Precidcnt's hedge. 

 It is not large; there are many others superior to 

 it. It has been (as I said before) planted abmit 

 tweU'e years ; its height is eight feet, the plant' 

 are siyne of them four and five inches through. 

 They are set out in a single line, and not inclined 

 and were put about four inches apart. No cattle 

 can get through it now. It is trimmed in April, 

 and in fact was cultivated as directed above. 

 Yours, &c. 



SAM'L CUTTS. 



Notes by "A Euliscriber" 



1. It is believed t!:at evergreen plants for a 

 hedge should not be set -:ca!'er together tiian eight 

 or ten inches. If too near they will not grow, or 

 ifthev do grow, some of tbem must die out to make 

 room for others, and tne lirdge is thereby injured. 



2. The approved course in other hedge plants is 

 to select and set the largest together, and the smal- 

 lest together. In this way the plants do better ; 

 each has its share of rain, air, dew and sun. Other- 

 wise the large and thrifty plants oversh.adow the 

 smaller ones, keep out the air, &c., the growth is 

 not uniform, and weak places are occasioned in the 



hedge. We believe this rule is applicable to ever- 

 green as wall as other plants used in the formation 

 of hed.'es; general directions for which may be 

 seen in the Glii number of your 1st volume. 



11. Five feet is sufficiently high for a fence. The 

 fence is handsomer at five feet high than at seven, 

 and handsomer, more uniform, and probably strong- 

 r when set perpendicularly in a single row, than 

 inclining so as to cross each other. Small plants 

 should be used and cut down the first or second 

 year so as to promote the growth of the small limbs 

 at the bottom, or produce new shoots. 



Fur tlie Farmer's Monlhly Visitor. 

 Potatoes. 



Much has been said and written on raisino- pota- 

 toes ; and although I am not much of a farmer, yet 

 I have taken some little pains to inform myself of 

 the best way. 



1st. I think the best land for potatoes is on our 

 side hills which is generally a deep loam and eith- 

 er moi,st. The potatoes are not so likely 'o be in- 

 jured by frost as in lower land, nor so subject to 

 blast and rust: moreover this is the nat'ural soil for 

 a great croi>. 



2d. As to manure, forty common loads is none 

 too much for an acre. If 1 had a thousand acres ot 

 land, and but forty loads of manure for my potiitoe 

 ground,! would plant but one acre if the land was 

 not rich. 



1 am acquainted with two farmers who live near 

 each other. The soil of their farms is very much 

 alike : one uses forty loads, wliile the other uses 

 eighteen to twenty loads of manure per acre. The 

 first has generally 400 bushels of potatoes to the a- 

 cre, and the last 200 to 250. This is not all the for- 

 mer gains. His land holds out several 3'ear3 for 

 other crops ; while the latter has but a small crop 

 even the second year. 



3d. The seed of potatoes ought to be changed 

 every five or six years. Even if the seed is brought 

 but two or three miles, the crop will be much bet- 

 ter. 



4th. As to planting, I think the rows ought to he 

 about three and three and a half feet apart, and the 

 hills eighteen inches or two feet apart, and the po- 

 tatoes cut for planting — a large one in three pieces, 

 and those smaller in two pieces fno small ones 

 should be planted) and three pieces put in each hill. 

 I have tried whole ones : they do not spread so 

 well, and therefore do not produce so much as cut 

 ones. I planted three 3'ears since 



2 rows with 4 pieces in a hill, 

 2 do 3 do in a hill, 

 2 do 2 do in a hill, 



2 do 3 eye end pieces in a hill, 



2 do 3 butt end pieces in each hill. 



The butt ends weighed one-sixteenth more than 

 the eye ends. 



The product was as follows, viz : — The rows 

 with 4 pieces yielded 10 bushels — many small ones. 



Rows of 3 pieces,' 10 bushels — not man}- small 

 ones. 



Of 2 pieces, 9 bushels — very few small cnes. 



The rows of eye ends, 9 1-2 bushels — many small 

 ones. 



And the two rows of butt ends, 10 1-2 bushels ; 

 and the best in the whole lot. 



I have tried it since with the same or nearly the 

 same success. 



I should not have believed the butt ends would 

 have produced the best crop if I had not tried it ; 

 for some, even many of the pieces did not appear 

 to have any germ ; and the reader has the same lib- 

 erty not to believe until he tries it. 



I saw in y-onr last Visitor some experiments of 

 Elias Frost on raising potatoes. He sa3's he plant- 

 ed ."libs. 9 oz. of eye ends, and on the same quan- 

 tity of ground planted 3 lbs. 10 oz. of the butt ends, 

 and had the best crop and largest potatoes from the 

 eye ends. Now be had ought to have cut the po- 

 tatoes so that the butt ends would have been as 

 large, and even larger than the eye ends, a« the 

 butt end has fewer germs. If he will try again, 

 and give the butt end a fair chance, he will proba- 

 bly come to a different conclusion. 



STODDARD. 



The true policy of the Farmer. 



Our esteemed Stoddard correspondent says — 

 *'If I had a thousand acres of land and but forty 

 loads of manure for my potatoc cri-ound, 1 would 

 plant but one acre, if the laud was not rich." And 

 he at once shows how the farmer gains by citing 

 the cases of his two neighbors where one plants 

 with fcrty loads and the other with eighteen to 

 twenty loads of manure to the acre. The first will 

 hardly fail to get full pay for his additional manure 

 in the first crcp, having double the quantity of po- 



