FARMERS' REGISTER 



313 



The cultivation of green esculent vegetable crops 

 cannot be too strongly urged upon our farmers. We 

 shall never reach an improved husbandry until we get 

 into a regular system of rotation of crops ; and green 

 feed for our winter feeding forms a part of that rota- 

 tion. Condiment? or esculents of this sort are as im- 

 portant for our cattle as potatoes and other vegetables 

 ■are upon the farmer's table. The condition of our 

 cattle, and especially our young stock and our milking 

 stock, would be groatly improved by them. This 

 green feed can be produced in many cases at a less ex- 

 pense than long feed. It makes, from the exact culti- 

 vation r^^quired, an excellent preparation br grain ; 

 and it supplies under proper management, "rectly and 

 elliciently the means of enriching our farms, and of 

 increasing their productiveness in a rapid ratio. 



H. C. 



Note (c.) — Draining. 



According to the testimony of Mr. Kennedy, for- 

 merly M. P., and Mr. James Smith of Deansfon, 

 England, the author of this system of draining and 

 inventor of the subsoil plough, before a committee of 

 the British Parliament, these drains where tiles are 

 used, are sunk to a depth of twenty-four inches, and 

 where stones are used, are sunk to a depth of thirty 

 inches; the object in each case being to stir the ground 

 in the course of improvement with the subsoil plough, 



neral open drains. We have a very large amount of 

 peat land in the state, which is capable of being thus 

 redeemed and made some of the most productive ia 

 the state. By the estimation of the learned geolo^-i- 

 cal surveyor, there are more than 80,000 acres or 125 

 square miles. One of the most remarkable examples 

 of this sort of improvement may be found detailed in 

 the appendix to the third Report of the Agriculture 

 of Massachusetts. This was made by Mr. Timothy 

 H. Brown, of Saugus, and deserves particular atten- 

 tion. An account of it is given likewise, in the Re- 

 ports of the Essex Agricultural Society for 1838-9. 



There seems to me no reason why the introduction 

 of the Deanston system of improvement, thorough 

 draining and subsoil ploughing, may not be introduced 

 among us in particular localities, to as great advantage 

 as has been done in Scotland. H. C. 



Note {c .) — Irrigation. 



A very skilful enterprise of this same kind, on a 

 smaller scale, has been undertaken in Medway, which 

 promises the best results. Here a considerable stream 

 has been dammed and carried in a canal round the 

 whole field of several acres, so as to be allowed to 

 flow upon them over the bank at the pleasure of the 

 owner. Two other examples of irrigation are to be 

 seen, one in the upper part of Dedham, and one in 

 Chelmsford, which, though on a small scale, have been 



to the depth of sixteen inches, without disturbing the I eminently successful. Our improvements are verv 



tiles or the drain. When stones are used the ditch is 

 sunk to the depth of thirty inches ; small stones are 

 then thrown in promiscuously to a height of twelve 

 inches; and then a sod of two or three inches thick, 

 inverted, is laid over the stones to prevent the dirt fall- 

 ing in and stopping the passage of the water ; the top 

 is then filled up and the field left smooth. The centre 

 or main drain into which the cross drains empty, is 

 .sunk to the depth of thref feet. These drains are du- 

 rable and effectual. Tiles have not been used among 

 us; but nearly twelve years ago, I made several hun- 

 dreds of rods of these covered drains with small rough 

 stone, as above described, in order to drain a wet fi 'Id. 

 The drains continue to operate well to this time. The 

 value of the land was increased ten-fold; and the in- 

 creased crops soon paid the whole expense of the im- 

 provement. These drains are entirely out of sight ; 

 but I would advise, whenever they are made, that their 

 distances and direction should be accurately bid down 

 in a plan of the farm, that they may easily be found in 

 case of interruption. 



In England, the improvement is not considered as 

 complete, until, after the land is drained, the whole 

 field is by a gradual process, loosened with a subsoil 

 plough to the depth of sixteen inches. The land is 

 first ploughed to the depth of six inches and a crop of 

 oats is taken ■, it is then ploughed again and subsoiled, 

 if I may use the expression, to the very top of the 

 drain, care being taken not to bring much of the sub- 

 soil to the surface at a time, but the top and the lower 

 soil are intermixed by a gradual process of cultiva- 

 tion. Other crops are then taken from this land, which 

 is cultivated and manured in the usual manner; and 

 the products are enormously increased by tiiis process. 

 I shall give more full details in my third Report of the 

 Agriculture of Massachusetts, now in the press. 



H. C. 



Note, (d.) — Redemption of Peat Meadovs. 



Some most beautiful examples of the success of re- 

 <leeming lands bj' draining, especially bog meadow, 

 are to be found in Saugus, Lynn, Lexington, Framing- 

 ham, Groton, and other towns in this state. In these 

 cases, lands which were of little value, are now brought 

 into most productive fields, yielding five or six hundred 

 bushels of potatoes and three to four tons of hay per 

 acre besides other crops. These, however, are in ge- 

 Voh. VIlI-40 



humble compared with those referred to by Mr. Web- 

 ster; but they are creditable and encouraging. The 

 struggling steps of infancy must be taken belore we 

 can move with the firm gait of manhood. The en- 

 riching qualities of water are far from being properly 

 appreciated. In such circumstances as described, it 

 is by no means a simple substance; and it effects an 

 essential purpose in holding in solution the nutriment 

 of the plant with which it mixes in its passage over 

 the soil and percolations into it. H. C. 



Note if.)— The Bean. 



The bean (vicia faba.) — "The bean is a valuable 

 field plant, as affording food for live stock and in part 

 for man. The varieties of the bean are two, garden 

 and field beans, the white and the gray beans. The 

 best soils for beans, are clay and strong loams. On 

 such soils they generally succeed wheat or oats, but 

 sometimes also clover lays. Turnip soils or sands are 

 by no means proper for them. The climate most fa- 

 vorable to the bean is one neither very dry nor very 

 moist ; the first brings on the fly ; and the last pre- 

 vents the setting of the blossoms. The flour of beans 

 is more nutriti\'e than that of oats, as it appears in the 

 fattening of swine." Dr. Darwin thinks them a cheap- 

 er provender for horses than that of oats ; but being 

 of an oily nature, more difficult of digestion than oats, 

 and he would therefore hesitate in giving them the 

 preference for this object. 



The bean is considered as an exhausting crop ; but 

 on at-count of the clean cultivation which is given to 

 it, it often favorably precedes wheat. My ov/n expe- 

 riments in the cultivation of the English field bean, 

 which I have tried two or three years, resulted in dis- 

 appointment, as they were in every instance destroyed 

 by a little black fly. This is the great enemy with 

 which they have to contend abroad. Forty bushels to 

 the acre must be regarded as a large yield. From 

 twenty to thirty-five is more common. 



The cultivation of the white bean among us, is pur- 

 sued to a very small extent and in a very slovenly and 

 negligent manner. Land that is under a curse, and 

 considered fit for nothing else, is usually selected for 

 a crop of white beans ; and a farmer would as soon 

 think of dressing his children in peacock's feathers 

 as of giving any manure to his white beans. The 

 result 13 exactly what, under such circumstances, is to 



