Jurm^r s JHetitljlg fisit^r. 



j|i_i mtrnm. tiMM 



CONDUCTED BY ISAAC IlILI... 



'Those who labor in the earth are the chosen i-eople of God, whjse breasts he has made his pecumar Dr.po»(TE for sudstastial and ocuriNE TiHTrK." — Jefferson. 



VOLUME VII. 



CONCORD, N. H., JANUARY 31, 1845. 



NUMBER 1. 



THK IWUMER'S MOXTHl^Y VISITOK, 



pir.i.isHKii nv 



ISAAC HILL, &: SONS, 



SVEH 0\ THi: X.AS-T DAY OF EVERY MOXTH, 



At Atheniau BuililiiigT* 



^^enebal Agents.— B. Cook, Keene, N H.; Thomas 

 Wamptox, Wusliinpton City, D. C; John Mamh, Wnsli- 

 un SI. Ui»stpn, Mass.; Charliss Warren, Brinley itaw, 

 i-costt?r. Muss. 



ER^IS.— To singlr subscribers, Fi/ly CniLi. Ten per 



t, wilt be aitowi-d tu llic ptr^idii who aUnU semi mure llian 



'ubscribtT. Twelve i-opies will be sent for tlio artvanct- 



ent of Fi»-(! DoUars; twenty-five copies for Ten Dollars; 



copies for Ticeniy Dollars. 'I'bc payment in everj' case to 



. ftle in fi(ivanL';\ 



^Monrtj and subscriptions^ by a regulation of the Post Master 



•al, Jiuiy in all ciues be remitted by the Post Mastvry free oj 



I ge. 



^Ali genlleniL'U wlio have heretofore aot^d as Agents aie 

 ' 'st-d to continue their Agency. Old subscribers who 

 under the new terms, will please notify us of the names 

 .Jy on our books. 



mULY Vf^itORS 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

 Practical Iliisbandry. 



Improvement of Horn Out and natura'li/ Poor 



Tiuls, Old Fields, SfC, in the .Middle Slates. 



Land is |.oor or rich fioin varior.s causes. It 



lay 1)H poor iiatiiially, from ln^ii/;; dcpriviul of 



')(! aceuiiuilaliuii of decoiiiposcci orfraiiized mal- 



cr, hy the washiiifts of rain, tlic ovoillowing of 



!treai!is, &c., and hy its own gravelly and porous 



iiiitiire, adiifilliii:.' lln." iipwarti filtfriii^ ol spring 



Iter, as is tlie case if low gravelly Itottoms. It 



amy also he poor from the too lar^e a portion of 



irnii in its eomposiliori. IJut the most universal 



cause of |>overty of soil, is exhaustion from ovcr- 



croppiiii;, laUiii;; away always, and returniit;; 



othiiif:; as was so f^enerally the practice in old 



mes, and is too iiinch the practice now in all 



le Middle Stales. In a foritier paper 1 have ex- 



•essed theopiiiiou that a man may purchase and 



•prove a piece of this poor or worn out land 



eaper than will he the cost of removal to. and 



luchase of a piece of land in the west, especial- 



.y when the sacrifices incident to such removal 



ire taken into the accomit. I most sincerely he- 



ieve in the truth of this proposition. 13iit let ns 



(iroceed to the suhjcct — the now, not the why, 



Iliis lanii.shonid be ini|.riivcd. 



The first ohject to he attended to in the im- 

 provement of land, is the f^ridjhinj; tip anil clear- 

 in;; off every tree anil shruh that is not wanted. 

 JjCt this he done at the hegimiinsr. Allow no 

 chimps or clusters of hushes or liriars, or single 

 ones eiiher, to leiiiaiu in the field. Tlie ne,\t 

 thing is (hiching and draining of all smikcn and 

 lioggy places, if such exist. Very often the sim- 

 ile ploiigii fnrrow' will answer, hnt sometimes a 

 deep ditch must he dug. If it he deep enough, 

 a blind ditch should aUvays he preferred, so tliat 

 yon may cultivate the land over the ditch, and 

 also save your land the inconvenience of open 

 ditches. Having grubbed and ditched, and thus 

 drained the land, the iie.M object is to ascertain 

 the quality of the soil, all parts of it. ^'on may 

 ■'nd that the low places you have drained are 

 ciimpnsed of hard clay. Some of the upper or 

 higher plai,-es may he too sandy. You will in sucli 

 case, employ your carts in carrving clay to the 

 sandy parts, and return with sand to the clayey 

 paits; and be very liberal in your exchanges, loo. 

 ^ ou inay spread the clay at once, or tillow ii to 

 remain .1 w inter it) carl load heaps, and spread it 

 in tlic spring. The sand may ho spread, of 

 course, at once. All this is merely gelling the 

 land ready. A farpenter hiiilds his shop, and 



"gets 011*1" his stuff, before he thinks of "going 

 to work" lit bis trjide. So does every other arti- 

 san or mechanic. Why should a liirmer not, also, 

 before he goes to work to make money and a liv- 

 ing, first " get liis shop in order ?" Having prop- 

 erly grubbed, drained, and mixed the soil, the 

 next thing to he done is to ascertain the ipialily 

 of the whole. It most probably wants lime 10 

 ruake it complete. Take a handful here and there 

 from the whole field, say twenty handsful in all ; 

 mix them well together; then lake a handful 

 from the w iioh; mixture, put it upon a shovel and 

 heat it red hoi; then take it from the fire and let 

 it cool ; when cool, jinlverizu it into a line pow- 

 der, ami p.iiir upon it good cider vinegar ; di- 

 luted muriaiic acid is best, hut vinegar, if good, 

 will do; if it foams considerably, you want no 

 lime in the soil ; if it i\o not foam, you must then 

 apply lime. Nearly all the land in the iMiddle 

 States wants lime, and is benefitted by its appli- 

 cation. If it wants no lime, then go to work as 

 follows: plough in the liill with the deepest work-' 

 iiig plough you can afford. In the spring, sow 

 corn broadcast; and as soon as it is as high as 

 yon can well turn under with a good plough and 

 two or three horse team, turn it under well, and 

 immediately sow corn again broadcast ^ as soon 

 as that is high enough to turn under, turn that 

 also w itii a deep working plough. Geneialiy you 

 may turn under three crops in the same season. 

 In the fall [ilougli deeply in turning the last ero]i 

 of com nnilor, harrow and seed with wlieu!. 

 However poor your land may have been, you may 

 he sure of a good crop of wheat the ensuing har- 

 vest. Ill sowing the corn, about three to four 

 bushels should be sown lo the acre, ereh crop. 



If by the trial above described yon find your 

 land reijoires lime, then, before the fust plough- 

 ing, apply tweniy bushels of slaked lime lo llic 

 acre, broadcast, then plough as before directed, 

 sow the corn, and proceed as before, taking care 

 to sow twenty bushels of lime before tihuiug un- 

 der each crop of corn; sow the lime ou the corn 

 as it stands, and turn corn and lime all in to- 

 gether. Ill this way, -a first rate soil may he made 

 out of the |)ourest old field in Maryland or any 

 where else; and it will be observed that the only 

 cost is in tl'e liming and value of the seed corn, 

 except the labor. Those who cannot aftbrd to 

 expend so niucli labor and money the first sea- 

 son, can extend the time over .=:everal seasons, 

 applying say twenty or thirty bushels of lime lo 

 the acre, and turning under but one crop of corn 

 each year. 



The above may be considered a brief summa- 

 ry of I'lie whole r.rguiiie'.it ; and, it seems to me, 

 scarcely requires elucidation. Some may how- 

 ever require exj)lanation,and I therefore proceed 

 lo give them. 



A cliy soil requires only .sand ti-"''\iiko it a 

 good one, so far as conslitntion is ce:iccrned; a 

 sandy soil requires clay to make it good. TIr\- ■ 

 two elemeius of a good soil generally exist on all 

 farms; and wherever they do exist in seperate 

 places, ibey should he combined and mixed, that 

 the whole may he made ferlilc. Jf your land be 

 too clayey, and you have no sand on your farm, 

 probably some neighbor would be glad to ex- 

 change some of his sand for some of your clay, 

 doing half the hauling, and thus both farms will 

 b:! benefitted at half the labor each. Uely upon 

 it, there is more to be obtained in the improve- 

 ment of land by a judicious admixture of soils, 

 llian is generally supposed. Manuring cannot 

 supply its place, however large the quantity ap- 

 plied ; and when ouee made, the effect is perma- 

 nent, the benefit perpetual, the improvciiiciil lasts 

 Jhrt'ver. 



Low wet places are not only unproductive, but 

 they are uuiiealtliy, unseemly, and an absolute 

 loss of all ihe land so situated. If your fiirni 

 consists of one hundred acres, and twenty acres 

 of it is of this lotv and wet kind, ynii have but 



eighty acres of land. Therefore drain, by ditch- 

 ing this low land, make it productive, by adding 

 sand, iVc, where necessary, and you will in ef- 

 fect have added twenty acres to your farm. And 

 in draining, take care to avail yourself of the ad- 

 vantages of blind ditches. I do not suppose it 

 necessary to tell you how to make them — Ihe 

 way may be found in almost allagricnllural works, 

 aid they are very simple. A summary of Ihe 

 dirteient plans may be stated as follows. Dig 

 the trench as in the usual way of making an open 

 ditch, of the proper depth and capacity, 10 carry 

 off the water. 'I'hen lay, in the bottom of the 

 ditch, stones loosely packed, so that water will 

 freely [lass biaween llicm, about a foot deep. 

 Then lay upon these loose stones, larger and flat 

 ones, to keep the earth fiom filling the interstices, 

 and then return the earth thrown onl, leveling 

 the whole surface. Some, instead of stone, lay 

 in the hotlom of the ditch, braiuhes and limbsof 

 trees and shrubs, and cover these wiili earth ; hut 

 such blind ditches are obviously subject to ob- 

 struction from the decay of the wood, and thence 

 from the caving in of the superincunibcnt earth. 

 Others, in I'^urope especially, use an arching of 

 lilcs in the ditch instead of stones or hrnshwood ; 

 but this is too expensive for this country as yet. 

 Where stones can be had, a good blind ditch may 

 bemailt; permanenlly eflective by their use; next 

 to stone, brushwood is to be preferred. 



It surely cnnmit bo nece.ssary to say a word in 

 ilkistralioii of the grnhhiiig mo of all useless 

 growths of hushes, trees, &c. Never allow your 

 Itjnces lo be sheltered hy hushes or trees of any 

 kind; tliey rot the limber, and yon lose all the 

 land Ihey occupy. ''Head lands," as they are 

 called, are just so initeh deducted from your 

 measure of acres. (41ear out all such. If you 

 have no oilier c.'coi! place in jmir field, let the 

 head lands and fence corners h'' clean. 



In asccrlaining the precise qnulity of the soils, 

 you accomplish precisely what every oilier arti- 

 san does when he aseerlains his ability to do {i 

 cci tain job. Yon find out w hat the materials you 

 are to work upon arc capable of producing. If 

 in that exaiiiiuation, you find your materials de- 

 ficient in any one necessary ingredient — lime, for 

 example — you, as other ariisans would necessa- 

 rily ami inslinclively do, apply lime. If you find 

 it deficient in vegetable fibre, '&c., you apply that 

 substance, and if you find it dcficie'it in clay or 

 sand, as cither of these prenonil'iate, you afiply 

 the one or the other, as the result of the exairii- 

 natiou shall indicate. 



llavlmr |>repared the soil for the reception of 

 niaiune, tlie cheapest and mosi efficient method 

 and material for supplying iinnitious principles 

 lo the soil, is the next matter for consideration 

 I believe tiiat corn sown broadcast, as above di- 

 rected, is the cheapest, mosteffiiient and speedi- 

 est fertilizer. Some, and very many, suppose 

 that the old plan of clover laying is the best and 

 cheapest. I difl(;r with them." You can only turn 

 under a crop of clover once in two years; you 

 can by an effort turn under three crops of corn 

 in one yee.r; and I believe that each crop of corn 

 will carry as niucli nutritious matter into the soil 

 as each crop of clover can do. 



Now in this system of improvement, yon have 

 only to purchase the lime, if that be necessary: 

 you can raise the seed corn on some part of the 

 iiaiii. All the rest of the improvement is ilerived 

 li'om labor. 



Never iindertako the improvement of more 

 land than you are certain you can manage. If 

 you ex(jeMd your funds upon too large a surface, 

 you will he likely to lose the whole advantage of 

 them. Clalcnlate how much land you can work 

 well, and confine yourself to that and no more. 

 And in all your o|ierations in agriculture, take 

 care not to undertake too much. Suppose you 

 can only work ten acres well in one year, it you 



APR 2S ^^30 



