72 



Ql\)C jTarmcr's iHontl)ln Visitor. 



success? It wants the sons to slay at lioiiie and 

 study tlieoieti('al and piaclical (arniiu!; witli a 

 diiciiniDation lliat they will do their duty ; then 

 we sliould not hear the land evil 8|iokeii o(J or so 

 many roinplaints of tlie necessity of emigrating 



to make a liviii;;. 



« » » » » 



I trust that n hrijihter day wiH ilawn upon us, 

 when Slate and county ai;ricidtural societies are 

 formed throu^'hout our hmd. 'I'liey are hej^in- 

 Iiin^ to wake ii|i the farmer to the importaiiee ol 

 seientilic a^'rienliural knowled^ie in the cidliva- 

 lioii of land. The shows and meetiiifis of the 

 societies tend to difi'nse practical infurinalioM 

 nmoiij: tlicni, and incite thern to study the hest 

 nielhoils of usirifr their manm-es, and what ina- 

 uiires they should use on their difl'erent soils to 

 produce the hest crops, and such other aiiiicid- 

 tnral iidbrmatiou as they need, leading theni to 

 expect greater results as the reward ol' their la- 

 bor from year to year. Much has heen accom- 

 plished in the few last years by the aid of these 

 societies in raising the standard of aa;ricidlure ; 

 hut there is still a f:i<*''i"'i' work to he performed 

 by the agriculturalists of our land, before it will 

 occupy the high position to which it is entitled. 

 Let us see to it, that New England has the hon- 

 or of being first in this us well as other enter- 

 jnises. S.C.CHARLES. 



Middktoum, CI. 



The new Postage Bill. — Forilie iiiforination of our 

 readers, we give in n condensed IVirra the rates of postage 

 upon letter, newspapers, and pampltlets, as regulated by 

 the new liili, by the last Congress, which goes into opera- 

 tion on the first day of July next ■. — 



ON LETTERS. 



Single letters or any number of pieces not exceed- 

 ing half an ounce, 300 miles or less, 5 cts. 

 If over 300 miles, 10 " 

 Drop letters, (not mailed) 2 " 

 For each additional half ounce or part thereof, add 

 single postage thereto. 



ON NEWSP.tPERS. 



Newspapers of 1,900 square inches or less, sent by 

 Editors or Publishers, from their offices nf publi- 

 cation, any distance not exceeding^O miles. Free. 



Over 30 miles and not exceeding lob, I ct. 



Over 100 miles, and out of the State, li " 



All sizes over 1,300 squares inches, postage sauie 

 as pamphlets. 



ON PAMPHLETS, &c. 



Pamphlets, magazines, and periodicals, any dis- 

 tance, for one ounce or less, each copy, 2 cts. 

 Each additional ounce or fractional part thereof, IJ '' 



ON CIRCULARS. 



Quarto post, single cap, or paper not larger than 

 single cap, folded, directed, and unsealed, lor 

 every sheet. 2 cts. 



Prices of Provisions. — We hardly know- 

 how to account for the present high juices 

 of everything eatable in our market. lUitter 24 

 cents per pound ; beef steak 12 cents ; roasting 

 pieces 11 do. ; poultry 10 to 18 do., and haid to 

 lie got at that ; ham 10 to 32 cents — and other 

 things in proportion. These i|uotations are liigher 

 than those of any other city in tin; Union. Why 

 it is that Boston, situated in the midst of a most 

 productive cotmtry, and couunaniling supplies in 

 every direction, should be subjected to higher 

 ])rices for jirovisions than other cities, we cannot 

 imagine. So (ar as it affords evidence that the 

 labor of the fiunier is well remunerated, we do 

 not complain ; but we suspect il is not the farmer 

 who " cuts the fat" in the way of profit. -Boston 

 Mail. 



[It is about tiine that the farmer .should get a 

 fair profit on his products,us well as other classes.] 



Foreign Pisoussions on Agricultural Subjects- 



['I'lie fi)llowing extracts, says the N. M. Farmeri 

 arc from the London Agricultural Gazette. Of 

 the applicability of any of ihc remarks to our 

 own country, wc leavt; our readers to decide; — 

 and we wotild observe here, as the opportunity is 

 fitting, thiit il is no easy matter for the editor of a 

 Strictly agrieidtiu'al paper, to select, invariably, 

 such reading for his patrons, as will be sure to 

 minister to their grutificution or lo |Moinoto their 

 interests.] 



If'ahfietJ Fanmrs' Chih.— At the late anmial 

 meeting of this Club, Mr. IJrakenridgo read a pa- 

 llor on the Causes of Failure in Clover Crops. 

 These causes, he snggcstivl, might ai'ise — 1st, 

 From the exhaustion in the soil of the food upon 

 which clover chiefly depends; and this may, in 



some degree, arise fiom clover being too fre- 

 fpiently sown upon the same land. 2d. It may 

 be attribuiable to the careless manner in wliicii 

 clover seeds are too freipiently sown upon fidlow 

 wlieats, without any preparation, by which much 

 of the seed is lost in the deep fissiues, or destroy- 

 ed by the beat of the sun, or by cold zi\(\ wot. 

 ;5d. IJy lurniiig in sheep or young beasts lode- 

 pasture upon the young clover in the autumn of 

 the first year, by which plants aic so weakei.'ed 

 as to be unable to stand the frost, wet, and cold 

 of the succeeding winter. 4th. From the luxuri- 

 ance of the grain crops under which the clover 

 has been town, by which the plaut.s of young 

 clover are weakened, and left with slight root- 

 hold. 



Keniedies suggested.— First cause: Applica- 

 tion of lime or gypsum, in the calcined slate, 

 potash, and sulphuric acid ; plowing deep every 

 time the laud is fallowed, so as to bring up a poi"- 

 tion of the sidisoil, to be pulveriseil and incorpo- 

 rated with the surface soil by atmospheric action, 

 and by culture ; laying ckiy upon, or drilling clay 

 ashes into, very light soils. 2d cause : HaVrow"- 

 ing betirire sowing the clover seed, so as to fill u|) 

 tlnMissures, and prepare a bed of ficsh mould in 

 which the seeds can vegetate. Rolling after sow- 

 ing, except in open grounds, which should also 

 be rolled befoie sowing. 3d and 4th causes — 

 Abstaining from turning in stock upon the clover 

 in the aulmiin, and from rolling with a sharji 

 roller, that is, a heavy roller of small diameter. 



Subse(]uently, a variety of opinions were ex- 

 pressed by the mend)ers present; all agreeing 

 that rolling is one great means of presiu'ving the 

 young clover plant during winter; in confirma- 

 tion of which it was slated that on those parts of 

 the field over which the carts had passed in tak- 

 ing off the grain crop, there the clover has after- 

 wards been observed to be the best. The iriajori- 

 ly of the memhers seemed to incline to the opin- 

 ion, that clover could not he grown lo advantace 

 more frequently than once in eight years; fjut 

 others maintained that by the application of pot- 

 ash, lime, salt and gypsum, (which contain the 

 chief mineral (constituents of clover,) it might be 

 grown successfully every fom- years. 



Best mode of sowing ll'heal and quantity per acre 



Mr. Johnson verbally introduced this subject 

 for discussion. He recommended drilling, wher- 

 ever it is practicable; and staled that he genejal- 

 ly plows his clover leys only 3 or 4 inches deep, 

 then rolls with a heavy roller, and harrows light- 

 ly, and afterwards drills fiom 2 to 3 hushels'per 

 acre, varying the (piantity according to the quali- 

 ty of soil and other circumstances, but never 

 sowing less than 2 bushels. He recommended 

 this mode of sowing clover leys, (to which his 

 observations were chiefly confined,) in preference 

 to pressing aiul sowing broadcast. 



Blr. Charlesworth niaintaiiied that never le.^s 

 than 3 bushels ought lo be sown; that he had 

 liiund this to answer best on his fiuin, and had 

 much ratlMU- fiml it necessary lo harrow up |iart 

 of his crop in spring, if too thicit, than have too 

 thin a crop. That he should much prefer a crop 

 th.-it he could smile at, than one wliicli the world 

 would laugh at. 



Mr. flluore was of opinion, that on good land, 

 1 1-2 bushel of seed is sunirient, as he had fomid 

 on his own farm. He drills all his wheal, and 

 sows 12 inches apart. 



The result of the discussion was a resolution 

 to the eflect that in the opiidoti of the meeting, 

 generally from 1 1-2 10 2 1-2 Imshels of whea'i, 

 according lo the (piality of land, is tiie most ad- 

 visahle quantity to be sown per acre. 



Thorn Fences. 

 Mr. Briggs volunteered n jmper on ihoin 

 fence,", ile gave it as his opinion that the com- 

 mon Thorn formed the most effectual and eco- 

 nomical fence;; and recommended that thelhoiii 

 plants should he at least five years old bcfoi-e be- 

 ing |il.-mted ; that u trench should be first dug, 

 about 18 inrhcs deep, and the width of a com- 

 tuon garden spade, in which 4 inches thick of 

 good rotten manure should be laid, and covered 

 with the top soil. Then cut the plants and set 

 them 4 inches apart in a single row, leaving 

 about 3 inches of the stem out of the gromid. 

 Afterwards, cut or clip the shoots made in the 

 fust year, both at the sides and within 10 inches 

 from the ground, and perform the same operation 



each succeeding year, early in spring,leaving the 

 liiice C) inches higher at each clipping, by which 

 means, in uboni eight years, a thick and" imper- 

 vious fence of upwards of 4 feet iii height, will 

 be obtained. 



With regard to recl.iiming or renovating old 

 .•itrui'gling Thorn-lie<lges,Mr. Briggs recommend- 

 ed that old stems should be ineked I lain in a 



trench fliig along ihe line of the fenci-, .-md in 

 parts covered with soil ; l)y which means the old 

 buried steins will take root, and put up vigorous 

 young shoots in a coutimious line, and in a few 

 jeius will form a goo<l hedge, by adopting ihe 

 same process of animal clipping as recommended 

 uith lespect to the young fiances. He also re- 

 eommeudatj that no living stems should lie left 

 as .stakes, but that all noi wanted fiir laying, 

 .■-liould he cut down lo the ground, by which 

 means a thick bottom would be obtained. 



Growing If'hent successively on the same ground. 



Mr. Briggs, the Ikjii. secretary of the Club, after 

 some interesting observations on the importance 

 of devoting more capital and labor lo land, re- 

 V(u ted to a paper w hieli lie read some months 

 ago before the Club, on growing wheat succes- 

 sively on the same ground; iind said that no 

 doubt many experienced fiirmers had smiled at 

 and ridiculed the idea, but the more he thought 

 on ihesuhjeet, the more he l(;ll convinced of its 

 feasibility. To show that he was supported in 

 the idea by high authority, he mentioned that a 

 friend of his, who attended tlie late meeting of 

 the British Association, held at York, and had 

 obtained an introduction to Liehig, bad mention- 

 ed to him whiit Mr. Briggs wiis attempting — that 

 is, the successive grow ing of wheat. " Oii," said 

 Liubig, "he will certaiidy succeed, if he restores 

 to the land what he extracts." Mr. B. also read 

 il lelter from the celebrated chemist. Professor 

 Brande, in reference to the same subject, from 

 which the folloiving is an extract : " 1 am glad lo 

 find you setting the useful example of combining 

 theoretical smd experimental, with common 

 practical agriculture. I am quite certain that if 

 you persevere in the plan you have suggested, 

 you niust ultimately arrive at very imiiortant re- 

 sults. It appears lo me absurd to say that it is 

 impossible lo cultivate the same crop upon the 

 same soil lor a succession of years. I have not 

 the least doubt that il can be done, and will bu 

 done ; and jillhougli I am not so sanguine as some 

 upon ihe subject of chemical agriculture, and do 

 not expect that its apparent jirogress will be so 

 rapid as some have anticipated, I am convinced 

 that much has lieen done, and that much is now 

 doing, towards collecting materials lor the fiuin- 

 dation of gigantic improvements in the most an- 

 cient and most import.int of all the arts, and one, 

 the scientific bejiriiigs of which have been so un- 

 accountably misunderstood anil neglected. It 

 may reiiuire many years before great things are 

 .achieved, hut 1 think that the march of science 

 in that direction has now seriously lieen begun, 

 and I cannot liel|> surmising that the rotation of 

 crops will, by and hy, give way lo systems of the 

 kind you an; now experimenting upon, and take 

 their place among the vulgar errors of the )M'es- 

 enl age." As a corroboration of the prarlieabili- 

 ly of the [dan, .Mr. Briggs inentioned thai Mr. 

 Holt, of lloibury, had grown wheal on the same 

 laud for 23 out of a series of S,") year.--, and had 

 obtained crops yielding never less than 39 bush- 

 els per acie. 



Irrigation. 



Mr. Charuock read a paper on the Benefits of 

 Irrigation, in which he brought fiuward various 

 instances of the wdiiderlul efic'cts of irrigation, 

 when properly conducted, especially in pi-t^iiciug 

 n luxuriant and rapid growth of grass, which 

 might by this measure, he cut three or four liuiea 

 during the year. In the course of the ensuing 

 discussion, it was unanimously agreed that irriga- 

 tion is a veiy useful means; but that in all 

 eases where the l.-iiid is in any degree reteiilivii 

 of water, it is iibsolutely necessary lo under-drain 

 il thoroughly before adopting the process. 



\Vi-.sTF.R.\ Currency. — The Cincinnati Adver- 

 tiser gives a curious account of the nature of Ihe 

 currency out west, befoie coined nuuiey grew 

 plenty there. In the " Quei'U City," racoon skins 

 were first used in baiter. When forts came lo 

 be built by the government, and especially after 

 the Indian canipiiigns, specie was not so scarce. 



