136 



iJI)e iTarmcr's illoutl)l» bisitor. 



coin, and is well pleflpetl with the results. We 

 «aw a fielrl ot' corn that hnd been ilresseil with 

 this manure, which gave great promise, anil ap- 

 peared the stoutest on the place. Two hundred 

 pouixls to the acre had been used, nii.xcd with 

 two loads oC meadow muck two or three weeks 

 before application. It was scattered along in the 

 drills, and the corn plumed ; and notwithstand- 

 ing the guano had been so reduced by the muck, 

 it was still so strung as to kill nearly half the 

 corn. He believes guano to be a powerful and 

 cheap manure, but requiring skill in the applica- 

 tion. 



A cold grape-house was shown tons, in which 

 was a large crop of Black Hamburg and other 

 grapes, that were free from mildew. They liad 

 been .syringed once with sulphur water. 



Mr. P. has the Ayrshire breed of cattle, of 

 winch he has some very handsome full and n ix- 

 ed bloods. He does not esteem the Durhams. 

 Ttie cows are kept in the barn at night and fed 

 with green fodder. The cow house is well ven- 

 tilated. Meadow muck is thrown on the floor to 

 absorb the liquid manure, and afterwards thrown 

 into the cellar. Mr. P's cows originated from 

 animals imported by the Mass. xVgricultural So- 

 ciety. From what we have learned from Mr. 

 Phinney and other gentlemen who have tried the 

 Ayrshire breed, we are confident that they are 

 well suited to our cliinate, and when mixed with 

 our fine Devon breed, will prove an invaluable 

 acquisition to our country. 



Mass. Society for promoting: Agriculture. 



We learn that the Trustees of the State Soci- 

 ety have concluded not to offer any premiums 

 for the present season— and that they have ap- 

 propriated funds and sent an experienced agent 

 to Europe to select the best of the Ayrshire and 

 Devonshire breeds of cattle that can be procured 

 —and if any other breed, remarkable for their 

 milking qualities, should be thought by the agent 

 to be an advantage to the coimtry, Ije is author- 

 ized to make the purchase. The Trustees hope 

 thereby to piomole the agricidlural interests of 

 the Commonwealth as substantially as they could 

 have done by tlie offer of premiums. — jV". jE. Far. 



Bone Dust on Pasture Land. — Tbene is, 

 |)erhaps, no county in England where the pas- 

 ture lands (particularly the poorer soils) have 

 been so much improved during the last ten or 

 twelve years as in Cheshire; and this principal- 

 ly by the application of what is termed bone dust. 

 This extraordinary manure has a peculiar effect 

 upon the poor lay land pasture; for, on the appli- 

 cation of boiled bones, a sudden change takes 

 place in the appearance of the fields, and in- 

 stead of the carnation leaved or pink grass, 

 which so much abounds on this kind of land, a 

 luxuriant herbage presents itself, consisting of 

 red and white clover, trefoil, and other grasses, 

 of which the cattle are so fond that they eat iq) 

 almost every thing before them; even thistles 

 and rushes are very much eaten off by the stock 

 after the pastures have been bone dusted.— j)/r. 

 Palin on Cheshire farming, in the English Jlgricul- 

 lurul Sociely^s Journal. 



Milking Compost. 



The importance of manure to the farmer is so 

 apparent, that the manner of increasing it in quan- 

 tity and quality, without reducing the value of 

 the saitie, becomes a matter of interest to all who 

 arc engaged In ngricidlurc ; and it is a well es- 

 tablished fact, that manure can bo njore i)rolita- 

 bly used as a coiiqiost, than in any other way. 



My attention was particularly drawn to the 

 subject of making compost manure, about five 

 years smco, for at that time 1 could not purchase 

 stable manure, without paying more for it, than 

 the real benefit derived fiom its use. About that 

 tmio, I built a barn 80 feet long, by 40 feet wide 

 with a cellar under the whole of it, and I then 

 began making the compost in a way that proved 

 more profitable than I had previously found. 1 

 began by fixing troughs in the cellar, under the 

 holes where I put down the manure, with hogs- 

 heads placed under the same toreceive the urine 

 from the cattle, and when full, 1 placed a bed of 

 loam and peat mud and emptied the urine on to 

 it, and set them again. 



I have always kept hogs in my barn cellar, and 

 for the last three years, have kept two yoke of 

 oxen, eevcn cows, ono bull, and two liorGes, 



through the year. I tie up the cattle in the barn 

 every night to save the ni:mure; and in addition 

 lo the above, I have usually winiered fiom twen- 

 ty to twenty-five head of' yoiiug and fiit cattle, 

 and oxen. 



For the last two years, 1 have adopted a new 

 mcthiid, which J think is better than any other 

 that I have tried. I have always kept at hand 

 |ileniy of good loam and peal mud, both in my 

 Imrn-cellar and barn-yard. J have windows 

 opening from the cellar into the yard, through 

 wliich i put ilown most of the loam and mud, 

 and [ilace it under the holes where the manure is 

 put dow n, and after it has remained there about 

 one week, J spread it over the hog styes in the 

 cellar, which are 80 feet long by twenty-four feet 

 wide ; hut before spreading the loam or mud, I 

 sow corn on it, which will cause the liogs to root 

 and turn the wliole over. 



So valuable do 1 consider urine for compost 

 manure, that I have barrels placed in my sheds 

 to receive the urine from the house, which are 

 emptied on to the manure heaps when lull ; aiul 

 also, 1 have plauk tioughs made on runners, pla- 

 c'-d under two privies, and when they are partly 

 full, I hitch on a yoke of oxen and draw tliem lo 

 the barn cellar, and bury tlie contents in the loain 

 and mud. 



At intervahs of a few weeks, I mix in lime, salt 

 and plaster, at the rate of about one bushel each 

 of lime ami salt and a bushel of plaster to a cord 

 of compost. Lime aids the fermentation, and 

 the salt and plastei', 1 believe, have beneficial ef- 

 fects on most of my lands. 



I always fork over my manure very light before 

 using it, and cast it out of the cellar and yard 

 twice a year. 



There can be no better economy in the making 

 of compost niiinure, ihan by adopting a course 

 of usiuir the urine of cattle to the best advan- 

 tage. Filling up the hog |>ens with loam and 

 mud at about the same lime, and allowing it to 

 remain until it is wanted fur use, does not, in my 

 opinion, answer so good a piu pose a.s putting the 

 loam, &c. in as fast as it becomes saturated with 

 urine. In the one way, your compost is well 

 mixed with the droppings and urine of the cattle, 

 and in the other the dioppings are all on the top 

 before it is forked over, and but partially satura- 

 ted with the mine. 



The urine of cattle, I think, possesses as strong 

 and enriching (]nalities, when properly applied 

 to loam or mud, as their droppings. 



Peat mud can be easily rotted and fit lor mak 

 ing compost, by digging the same in the summer 

 or fall of tlie year, throwing it into inoderaie 

 sized heaps and allowing it to freeze and thaw 

 during ilie winter. — Capl. .ihcl Moore's Statemenl 

 to the Committee of the MiddUsex (.Mass.) Sociely. 



From the Boston CuItiv;itor. 



Farm of Rev. Morrill Allen, Pembroke. 



Last week, we had the pleasure of visiting this 

 veteran farmer, who has long been before the 

 public tiy his communications, by his useful ser- 

 vices in the examiiialiou of farms for ihe Slate 

 Agriciiltmal Society, anil as supervisor for the 

 County Society, his zeal and activity in the cause 

 of agriculture at our meetings at the Slate House, 

 and above all, by his successful practice, by which 

 he has shown thtit farming is prolilable, not only 

 ill procuring a sustenance, but in the accumula- 

 tion of property. 



-As we have oflcii published various modes of 

 farming as practicr<l by Mr. Allen, il will not be 

 necessary to go iiiici piuiiculars now. lie coni- 

 rnenced somi^ Ibrty years since, by puichasing 

 fifteen acres in a rough and unprodiiclive slate, 

 not yielding in all a ton and a half of hay. He 

 has since made additions to his farm till it is large 

 enough for profit or pleasure. 



When he purchased these lands, in some places 

 they were wet and overgrown with bushes, and 

 on high lands, stones, brambles, bushes and 

 sveeds abouniled, as may now be judged in some 

 places by hmds adjacent. From less than an 

 acre, he took stones to build (illy rods of wall, of 

 which fence there was not a rod on the place 

 when he cunmienced. Ho has cleared the land 

 of stones, and put them in good substantial walls 

 — drained the wet lands, destroyed the worthless 

 productions, improved and fertilized the soil, and 

 now iiiBtead of the rough, rugged surface, with 

 coarse worthless products, the eye rests with do- 

 light on beautiful, cmoolb, mid wqII fenced fields, 



covered wiih luxuriant herbage, affording a re- 



muiieraiiiig profit fur all expenses. 



.Mr. .Mien litis long bieii in the practice of im- 

 proving his grass hinds, [ articiihirly those that 

 are wet, by inverting the .-ud, applying manure, 

 and sowing down to grass again, late in summer, 

 or very early in the fall. Every lew years heap- 

 plies a top-dressing of compost manure, and in 

 the course of eight or twelve jears, he ploughs 

 and seeds down again. In thisuay ho gets good 

 crops. He tills but little, as he depends on sell- 

 ing hay as the most profitable crop; and as only 

 a |jart of the crops are consumtd on the place, 

 it rciiuires skilful managemeiil to keep np the 

 fertility of the soil without the ))urcliase of ma- 

 nure. 



Mr. Allen, hy his induslry, economy and skill, 

 has acquired a liaiiilsome property byfiirming; 

 not only a competency, but enough to make one 

 inile[)eii(lent, or rich, fn rural regions. This is 

 the best commentary on his practice. He re- 

 ceived only a small salary for his clerical ser- 

 vices, and he has not accumulated property by 

 the ri.se of laud, for he ptiiil for his first purchase, 

 in its rough sttite, nearly as much as its estimated 

 value now; nor has he probably had the advant- 

 age of a capital to commence with, as he pur- 

 chased his first piece of land on credit. 



Of late, Mr. Allen has been |*rchasing lands 

 and setting them with forest trees, which is at- 

 tended with good success. He now has several 

 tracts of land planted in trees that are in a flour- 

 ishing condition, anil which promise to be a good 

 investment. 



From Mr. A.'s useful coniuiunirations on lariii- 

 ing, and the various agricultural ofHces he basso 

 honorably filled, he has long ranked with the 

 first agriculturists in our country, and will has 

 he deserved this dignified station. Though con- 

 siileralily ailvanced in years, his mind is still vig- 

 orous, retaining the Ireasured experience of 

 nitiny year.*, and still discriminating with sound 

 judgment. Long may 4ie live in the happy 

 enjoyment of the proceeds of his worthy labor, 

 and a lilessiug to the agriciiltmal commuity 

 whose cause he has so zealou.sly and ably es- 

 pouseil. 



Farm of Horace Collamore, Esq., Pembroke. 



Mr. Collamore is an exeellenl farmer. We 

 lately had the pleasure of looking over the scene 

 of his operaiions; and it is only necessarv to 

 contrast his well walled, even, beautiful, and pro- 

 ductive flelils, with the coarse rough lands ad- 

 juining, lo see what has been accomplished hy 

 industry and skill. One piece of laud which was 

 covered with shrubs, swamp whortleberry bushes 

 and cranberry vines, is now as h vel and smooth 

 as any mower couhl desire, and yields a good 

 crop of grass, although it has not been ploughed 

 for about 20 years, but is lop-dressed once in 

 three or four jeais. In ploughing this laud, it 

 was so hard and so full uC roots that it required 

 a team of lueiity oxen and one horse, uith a 

 plough too heavy for one pair of o.xen to haul 

 cm/jtj. 



Mr. Collamore has reclaimed wet laiuls, and 

 he has improveil rough high lands that were ex- 

 ceedingly stony. In most cases, it cost most to 

 improve the high lands, and they do not gener- 

 ally yield so much grass as the low lauds, with 

 the same manure. He till.s but little, as hay af- 

 fords more profit than cultivated crops. He 

 thinks that grain crops are exliaiisling, and that 

 many fai niers in .Massachusetts niMiage to dis- 

 advantage ill liiisin;,' grain, wliich is cheap, in 

 consequence of the large qiiantilies brought from 

 the West, «hih' hay, luo bulky to bear transpor- 

 tation, generally cu'iimands a good price. 



Mr. Collamore has so well subdued and skil- 

 fully draineil his wet lands, that they furnish large 

 crops of grass with a moderaie quaulily of ma- 

 nure, and the sioncs removed from his highlands 

 served an excellent purpose as a durable fi'iice. 

 He has purchased lands several times, paying a 

 fair price, and has made a considerable, and in 

 some cases large expenditures in rechumiiig and 

 improving them, but he gels a liiir lemuneralion, 

 showing that farming, rightly managed, atfords a 

 liiir profit lor the investment of capital, and ex- 

 penditure of labor. 



Mr. Colhimore is trying various experiments in 

 agriculture, and as they are enndurted with judg- 

 ment and exactness, tlicv are worthy of no small 

 consideration. |Jc •.•; muking one tjiis season on 



