^\)t Ihrmcr^g iBontl)l» fai0itor. 



131 



tilize it. Wlieii used on warm, liaht soils, lie 

 recomiiiencls ihc inixi.i- it vvilh veKetijble sub- 

 stiuu-cs which still r.'taiii tlicir succuloucy, or 

 Willi earth, and especially with tiirt. 1 he^e 

 shoul.l be mixed together, heaped up m suocoss- 

 ivo lavers, pioteete.l from too free an access ol 

 air and moisteiicil when the weather is dry. 1 he 

 manure from horned cattle does not termeiit so 

 rapidlv or develope so much heat ns that (rom 

 horses. Its effect is not iherelbre so rapid, hut 

 in proportion more lastiu;.', and it may be used 

 on a L'reater mimher of crops, and crops more 

 various in their nature. From there hem? very 

 little apparent increase of temperature during' 

 decomposition, it is peculiarly adapted tor warm 

 soils; when hnried beneath tenacious, clayey sois, 

 it will produce little ..r no etfect until brought 

 into contact with air; and it appears that this is 

 effected by the tuber of the stem Uccpinj; up the 

 comimmiL-ntiou b«tweeu the air and the buried 

 niaiuire. The manure of sheep produces a very 

 rapid, strong effect, but is soon exhausted. V\ hen 

 its inoLstiire is preserved by being thrown into a 

 heap, it decomposes readily, but when this es- 

 capes, dccomposiiion takes place very slowly. 

 From its activity, and from its accelerating vege- 

 tation too much, the author thinks that it should 

 be employed in smaller ipianlities than any other 

 kind of manure; in most cases its effect does not 

 outlast the second crop, and it seems of the most 

 advantage on soils containing insoluble hiitrius 

 or vegetable mould. It appears that there is a 

 difference of opinion among agriculturists as to 

 the efficacy of the manure of pigs, and it is prob- 

 able that this arises from the difference in the 

 food that thev receive, there being a far greater 

 influence froiii this source on the manure ol these 

 animals than on that of any other: though there 

 is no doubt of its activity when every pro|ier ar- 

 rangement is made to preserve all the excrement. 

 The manure of the poultry-yard, which is very 

 little regarded, but whicli inight form lor the 

 farmer his native guano, is of the greatest strength 

 and activity. It is very different from that of 

 quadrupeds, and contains a peculiar substance 

 resembling albumen. Vanquelin, a celebrated 

 French chemist, discovered in an analysis of 

 this material, that there was a marked difference 

 between the dung of cocks and that of breeding 

 hens. In the use of this article it is essential 

 that it should be as minutely divided as possible. 



E. 



Mr Delafield was in the midst of harvest, atid 

 hi,d already gathered about sixty acres, and, 

 what is still more wonderful, this has been doiie 

 without the aid of either cradle or sickle. He 

 has a machine, sent him from Maryland, which 

 is the most expeditious reaper I ever saw. It is 

 driven by two horses— one boy to drive and a 

 man to tend the machine. Both of them ride. 

 The horses are put upon a quick walk, which 

 sets a number of cutteis in motion, and the 

 wheat falls hack upon the platliirm in handsome 

 order, as fast as the machine progresses; and 

 when a quantity accumulates sufficient for a 

 sheaf, the man in attendance shoves it off with 

 his rake. It falls smooth and even upon the 

 ground, and another is immediately formed ; and 

 so it proceeds without any trouble or difficulty, 

 until the 100 acre field is finished. There were 

 ei'dit hinders accompanying the machine, and it 

 frequently had to be stojiped, to allow them time 

 to get out of the way. It will cut 20 acres in a 

 day. 1 have never seen anything in the machine 

 line work more completely. It certainly will 

 prove of the utmost utility to farmers, both for 

 expedition and cheapness. It can now be ob- 

 tained for about $100. 



Plough with the Stags. — A farmer in con 

 versatioii with us lately, remarked, that a part of 

 his farm work was done with a pair of stags — 

 real old ring-horned, tough fellows — slow but 

 stout and willing— regarding heavy and light 

 work all alike, provded they were not required 

 to be very quick about it. In ploughing I'or corn, 

 two thirds of the field was done by them, and 

 the ploush put down to a good generous depth. 

 When this part of the field was finish'-d, the 

 stags were taken away and set to work some- 

 where else, and the balance |)lougbed with a pair 

 of horses, one of them a colt, and as a conse- 

 quence the plough could only run about half as^ 

 deep as with the other team. When the corn 

 hail been planted and hoeing finished, the farmer 

 noticed a surprising difference between tlie parts 

 of it — one portion being a foot or more the taller. 

 This difference it retained throughout the season, 

 both in growth of stalk and in earing, and yield- 

 ed far tlie most and largest ears. The line of 

 this difference run precisely where the stags left 

 off and the horses began, and the smaller corn 

 M'as on that part ploughed by the horses. 



The effects of deep ploughing, both for wet 

 and dry seasons,are these : In a season of dronglit 

 the roots reach far down into the pulverized 

 earth, and suck up the fund of moisture laid up 

 there ; if the season be wet, the surplus rain 

 sinks to the bottom of the pulverized stratum, 

 and leaves the roots to take their nourishment 

 near the surface. To meet either case, then, 

 plough with the stags ! — Me. Far. 



Reaping Machine. — The ibllowing account 

 of a new Reaping Machine, used on the farm of 

 Mr. Robert Delafield, at Geneva, N. Y., we find 

 in a late number of the Journal of Commerce. 

 If a machine, simple in construction and easily 

 managed, capable of reaping 20 acres;.per day, 

 can he purchased for SlOO, it is one of the chea- 

 pest inveistments a farmer can make : — 



From ttie Western Cultiviitor. 

 Good and Bad Farming. 



Mr. Hatch : On presenting myself as a can- 

 didate for admission into the society of your nu- 

 merous and able correspondents, 1 have conclu- 

 ded to conform to the fashion of the age, and 

 give a bit of my " experience," as a saniple of 

 my qualifications for the place desired. It runs 

 as follows: , . c 



In one of my excursions in the central part of 

 this State during the past summer, I met with a 

 little incident, that has since had a very benefi- 

 cial effect on mv mind, and I will tell it to your 

 readers, hoping that it may have the like eflect 



on them. , /. . . 



'Twas a hot sultry day in the month of August, 

 had travelled long ami hard, through an opeii 

 country, that was here and there interspersed 

 with large, ragged looking farms, with broken 

 down fences, slovenly cultivation, roofless hovels, 

 old hats, coats, frocks and all sorts of rags pio- 

 trudiu"- from the broken windows, with dirty, 

 itrnorant-looking little urchins, in almost every 

 state, approaching to entire nudity, playing along 

 the road. All betokened shiftlessness and im- 

 providence in the extreme, which formed a sad 

 contrast to some in the land that gave me birth, 

 and caused me to look forward with some anxie- 

 ty for a ])lace where I might have a reasonable 

 prospect of procuring a resiiectuble meal, and 

 enjoying an hour's agreeable discourse with some 

 of my fellows. 



About 1 o'clock P. M. I espied at a short dis- 

 tance to the right of the road, a small cottage 

 looking buildiiiff, standing in an imp.rovemcnt of 

 some thirty or forty acres, surrounded, divided 

 and subdivided, with neat, substantial picket 

 fences, with a gate in front of the house, open- 

 in-' into an ample door-yard, the first gate and 

 dcror-yard I had seen that day. Along the entire 

 line o"f fence stood, some ten feet apart, a row of 

 locust, balm of gilead and other trees, of four or 

 five years thrifty growth. A strip of the same 

 kind, about twenty rods long and ten wide, was 

 planted on the west side of the house and garden, 

 forming a thrifty little grove, that would soon 

 shield the owners alike from the chilly blasts 

 and summer's sun ; with a small orchard of dif- 

 ferent kinds of fiuit trees large enough to bear, 

 on the next side of the house. All of which 1 

 discovered in half the time that it takes me to 

 write it, and it formed such a noble contrast to 

 the cheerless abodes tliat I had just passed, 1 

 could not resist the temptation to dismount, and 

 apiily for refreshment. I walked up to the pas- 

 sage in front of the bouse, in the cool shade of 

 which sat a man about thirty years of age, read- 

 ing a periodical of some kind, by whom 1 was 

 received with a frankness and urbanity of man- 

 ners, that plainly bespoke intelligence and good 



breeding. ... n r 



Old grey was soon deposited in a small frame 

 horse barn, the cool shade of which, with the 

 sweet smelling new made hay must have made 

 him think of "the days of Auld Langsyne. 

 Returning to the house, I was soon engaged in 

 agreeable conversation with my host and his ac- 

 complished ladv,(that the hearty meal scarce in- 



terrupted,) in the course of which I learned the 

 following tiicts. 



About six years previous {being just ninrried) 

 and without much experience iu agricultiUQl 

 matters, he emigrated to that place, purchased 

 eighty acres of land, and commenced making a 

 farm, amid the evil prophesyings of nearly all 

 his neighbors. Some thought him too inexperi- 

 enced in such matters ; some thought his fiinn 

 too small— for, said they, "there's no use of try- 

 ing to gain a living off of less than two hundred 

 acres, for with all our labor and experience \ye 

 can scarce make both ends meet, so he will 

 starve to death on that little patch, that's certain." 

 Others thought he spent too much time iu read- 

 ing, for, said they, " although he is up in tolera- 

 ble season in the morning, yet he spends all the 

 middle of the day with his books, he is a com- 

 plete book worm." Others thought he spent too 

 much time in setting out trees, working in the 

 garden, making flower beds, &c. For, said they, 

 " its no use planting an orchard, it won't be large 

 enough to bear much in our day, and if it vvould 

 I don't believe this country is very good for fruit ; 

 but at all events, them are locust, cotton wood, 

 balm of gilead, &c., will be of no use, for they 

 won't never bear nothing no how." In short, 

 they looked upon his maiden attempt at Horti- 

 culture as supremely ridiculous. 



But notwithstanding all this, he had succeeded 

 beyond his most sanguine anticipations, and now 

 enjoyed comfort and competence. For, said he, 

 "although I have under cultivation but about 

 forty acres, that is as much as 1 can tend well, 

 and I really think that I get more profit from 

 that than my neighbors do from four limes as 

 much, cultivated in their careless way. And as 

 to the orchard, by keeping it clean and well 

 loosened around the trees, it is now beginning to 

 bear, though only four years old; I have also 

 plenty of cherries, plums, peaches, currants, 

 gooseberries, raspberries, &c. ; and my neigh- 

 bors begin to relisli a visit with us once in a while, 

 to partake of such varieties in these parts. 1 hey 

 beoin to suspect too, that this country is to erable 

 ■rood for iru'a, if it U'as only planted; and some 

 of the more enterprising ones are thinking seri- 

 ously of planting orchards of their own, after 

 having now lost some ten years, since the settle- 

 ment of their farms. 



" Then there are the ornamental trees, that 1 

 was to get no profit from. By loosening the 

 earth around the roots twice each season, they 

 now take care of themselves and afford a tole- 

 rable shade to my calves and sheep in the mid- 

 dle of the day, while the animals generally here- 

 abouts are piifling and blowing the little flesh 

 away, that they have been able to accumulate in 

 feeding time. Then they cost so little. I have 

 planted by odd spells, when I should have been 

 doing little else, and I would not now take a sil- 

 ver dollar apiece for them, though they never 

 cost over five cents. In fact I cannot believe 

 there is another improvement on my farm, that 

 pays so well for so small an investment, as these 

 same trees." , , , „ 



Thus he probably would have gone on tor 

 half an hour at least, about his hen-roosts, pig- 

 geries, sheds, stables, gates, gardens, &c., &c., 

 each of which occupied its appropriate place, 

 had not my impatience to know how he caine to 

 have all iliis knowledge, interrupted him. Heat 

 once stepped to a small book shelf, and laid his 

 hand on a large pile of agricultural papers, 

 among which the Western Cultivator and Prairie 

 Farmer occupied a conspicuous place. 



" These," said he, "are the direct source ot 

 my success. I came here as ignorant as any 

 'sucker' in all this Egyptian part of our btate, 

 and probably should have remained so, had not 

 a iudicious friend advised me to take two or 

 three well conducted agricultural papers. 1 took 

 them, read them, and practised from their sug- 

 gestions; by which I have stored my mind with 

 much valuable information During r«>"y /"yf- 

 long winter evenings and the middle of hot days 

 in shimmer, (while my neighbors have spent tlieir 

 time in idleness and jesting of my folly,) 1 have 

 been taking lessons from the best agriculturists 

 of the aae, which, aside from the pleasure, has 

 p oved a 'valuable investment ,n dollars and 

 S,and while they have been delving with an 

 nl.l ftshioned hoe or axe, or scratching their 

 g ound wUh a plough ill adapted to the sojl, the 

 fnformation thus acquu-e(l has enabled me to 



