148 



(2;i)c i'avmer'B iHmitl)li) Visitor. 



to four sfCtioiis, and maimied as follows: tsi 

 sci-lion wiih fish ; 2<l, kelp; 3il, stable inamire ; 

 •llli, !;iiaiio. On llie tliree first sections, Ilie 

 manures were spread upon tlie sward and inrn- 

 ed Milder; the seclion where the {.'iiano was ;ip- 

 plied, WHS Kiriied over witliDiil n:anuie, and the 

 corn dressed willi the •^uanosuoji after it had ap- 

 peiiied above ground, and a seeond dressin;; giv- 

 en at the hist hoeiii}:, at the rate of 300 Ihs. lolhe 

 acre. Forty loads lo the acre of stable inannre, 

 were applied to tlu' section dressed with ihal 

 substance: the ipiaiility of kelp applied was in- 

 definite, the ground having been well covi re<l 

 with it, without coniiling the loads. Fish were 

 applied at the rale of 10 loads, of 13 barrels 

 each, lo the acre. Taking the field as a whole, 

 it gave the appearance of a remarkable heavy 

 crop. The section inaiuired with kelp look 

 the lead; that willi fish, next; that with stable 

 manure, next ; and the section with gnano, be- 

 liiiid the whole. 'I'lie fpiality of the soil of the 

 difl^erent sections was nearly etpial, excepting 

 llial which was i,'uaiioed, which had the appear- 

 ance of inferiority. The corn on this .section, wc 

 were informed by the lineman, looked very un- 

 promising in the fore part of the season, but was 

 now evidently gaining more rapidly than that on 

 either of the other sections, and ho said it was 

 impossible lo make a jnsl comparison until after 

 harvest. 



On a mowing field, we saw the effects of fish 

 that had been apidied since the grass was cul. 

 The contrast between that portion of the field 

 which had been " fished" and that which had not, 

 was very striking, in the deep green luxuriant 

 growth of the al'lermalh on the one, and the rus- 

 set brown, dead-like appearance of the other. But 

 who can (lescribe the odor which came from thai 

 field ! M\ the old fish-oil stores on Long Wharf 

 combined, woiiUI not produce the like, or any 

 approach to it : and then the swarms of large 

 green flies that covered the fences and trees! — 

 The placue of flies in Fgypt, could hardly have 

 exceeded them in numbers. The decaying fish 

 furnished ihem a rich feast. Luckily, this sec- 

 tion of' the farm is remote from any human 

 dwelling. But however unpleasant this vile 

 smell from the lotting fish may bo to a stranger, 

 a person soon becomes accustomed to it, and as 

 the unpleasant gases arising from the decompo- 

 sition of the fish are said not to be injurious to 

 lieallh, and as this manure will double or treble 

 bis crops, the farmer should not be deterred from 

 using it by the disagreeable character of the 

 smell. 



We noticed a small p:itcli of corn in another 

 place, that had been matinrrd with guano in the 

 hill, anil afterwards received a fish to each hill as 

 a top-dressing: ihe corn was of the deepest 

 green, and of the most luxuriant growth. 



We have often heard it asserted that fish ma- 

 iinre, after exciting (lie land to produce one or 

 two heavy crops, leavers it in an exhausted stale. 

 This opinion is at variance vviih w hat we witness- 

 ed on a pasture that had been "fished" fp.ur years 

 since. We compared il with a pasture adjoin- 

 ing, both originally of the same ipiality of soil, 

 or difiering but little. The pasture that had been 

 " fisheil," vvas thickly coated with fine grass, and 

 notwithstanding the di'onght, still produced the 

 best of feeil. The neighboring pasture was dri- 

 ed up, mossy, and apparently of little value. An- 

 other pasture was shown to us, which had been 

 manured with fish nine or ten years since, and 

 before the application was almost worthless : it 

 has since produced excellent feed, and is now in 

 "uod lii'arl. These results would .seem to show 

 that fish maiiure is not so evanescent as it has 

 been represented by writers and others. 



Mr. Webster said he considered one load of 

 fish was equal lo three lo:i(ls of stable manure, 

 and aflervvards appealed to his head fiirmer, tor 

 his opinion upon the subject, who thought a 

 load of fish cipial in value to five loads of stable 

 manure. 



Sea weed is nsed in the pipgery an<l barn 

 yards, and every means of increasing manure 

 ironi these sources, apjiear to he availed of! 



Leached ashes has been useil to some extent, 

 ami proves a valiaihlc nianiue on the; light soils 

 which com|)Ose a part of Mr. Webster's farm. 

 On a U'li ;u're lot of very light land, .'JOUO bushels 

 of l''.uglish lurnips were raiseil last sea.son, with 

 no other manure than leached ashes, and at an 

 exjieuse of only 73 dollais. About lour acres of 



the same lot were sown down to clover, and the 

 balance with oals, for the purpose of ploughing 

 in when green, to enri<-li ibe soil. A very light 

 dressing of guano was given these fields. The 

 oats were so promising that Mi-. Webster altered 

 his mind with regard to their disposition, and 

 concluded lo let them stand and mature; and on 

 this very light soil, with no other manmnig than 

 leached ashes last yciu' and a small (uiaiitity ol 

 guano this, we now beheld, ready tor llie cradle, 

 a heavy crop of oats. The clover on llie other 

 part of the field covered llie ground and was 

 soon lo he ploughed in, as was also llie stubble 

 of the oats, fiir seeding down to rye. 



A tract of ten acres, of ihc same <|uality of 

 soil, was covered with a vigorous growth of huck- 

 M heat, which the ploughmen were engaged in 

 turning under, preparalovy to rye. Anollier large 

 strip was devoted lo beans, and four or live acres 

 to rnta baga, sown broadcast, and nol sufKcienlly 

 advanced in growth to enable us lo form an opin- 

 ion of the probable result of the harvest. A lot 

 of three or tour acres was devoted to mangold- 

 wurtzel and sugar beets. In some parts of the 

 field the crop had been thinned by the worms, 

 and causes allribiiled to the season or the seed — 

 but the plants generally w ere thick enough to en- 

 sure a heavy yield. ' Anolber large seclioii was 

 (leveled to English luriiips, which, of course, had 

 not yet begun lo make much show. 



Fifteoii or iwcniy acres of the liU'in are devo- 

 ted to roots, which are ti-d lo the stock in winter. 

 Last autumn and winter, a lot was led off the 

 ground by sheep, according lo the English prac- 

 tice. 



Spring wheat has generally succeeded well on 

 this farm, but the present season has lieen rather 

 unfavorable. Samples that we examined from 

 the crop stored in the barn, (liil not indicate a 

 very heavy yield; the grains did not look so 

 plump as samples we have seen fVoni ibis tlirn 



The yield of English hay this season has been 

 eslini;iled at about 200 tons. The salt hay is 

 mostly let out to farmers back from the shore, 

 to cut on shares. The marshes yield about the 

 same quantity of hay as the uplands. The qual- 

 ity of the uiaisli hay v;o'ies; some of il is almost 

 equal in value to good English grass, while some 

 is fit only for bedding or manure. 



The farm apjiears to be well stocked with a| 

 pies, pears, peaches, plums, grapes, ifcc. .\mon 

 the apples we noticed the High-to|i Sweeting, 

 variety that may be found on about every finiii in 

 Plymouth county, and in some orchards there 

 appeared lo be an over slock of ibis ancient and 

 highly esteemed ap(ile ; but we are sorry to say 

 there is hardly a thrifty tree to he seen ; the va- 

 riety seems to he on the decay. 



'I'he slock on Mr. Webster's fitrm, taking it 

 all logclhei, caiinol be surpassed by any in the 

 State. The last season he wintered ninety head. 

 The cows are generally of the Ayrshire breed, 

 either full-blooded or mixed. They originated 

 from a cow imported by the Massachusetls Agri- 

 culiural Society, and a bull iinporled by Mr. W. 

 This animal is finely proiiortioned, silky, short 

 haired, and equal to any creature of the kind we 

 have ever seen. The cows are also beautiful, 

 and give abundant evidence of iheir superiority 

 in the quanliiy of milk they produce — having 

 aveniged, in the first of the season, 20 quarts 

 each per day. He has eight milch cows of this 

 breed. Wo saw in a pasture at some distanc(! 

 tiom the house, 10 two-year old heifers, of Ibis 

 blood, that could h.-irdly be excelled in point ol 

 symmetry and general beauty, having the glossy 

 hair and admirable, mixture of colors peculiar to 

 this breed. 



For working oxen, Mr. Webster prefers the 

 Devon breed of which he had leu or twelve 

 yoke, ill excellent order, besides stems, lie ha<l 

 sent a drove of till oxen lo the Brighton murke,i 

 a fi'w days previous lo our visit. 



Of sheep, he has the celebrated South Down 

 and Leicester breeds, — more esteemed tiir llieir 

 exci'llent mutton than tor their wool. Wethers 

 are iiurcliased at Brighlou market, in aiiimnn, 

 and k<'pt through the winter on tin nips, hay, ami 

 a little grain, and when fiilted in the spring, sold 

 lo the hulchi'r. This has proved i" be goml hus- 

 bandry, afiiirdiiig some profit, and incnasing the 

 manure heap. 



The Mackay breed of hogs is now tin' only 

 sort kept on the tiirm — lliu Berkshire h.iving been 

 tried and discarded. 



We conclude tliis hastily penned and imperfect 

 account of our most agreeatile visil to this exten- 

 sive and well-conducted farm, by reiiiaiking, lliat 

 llie interest taken in .Agriculture by such men as 

 Ml. Webster, Mr. Clay, Mr. Van Biiren and .Mr. 

 Calhoun — all of whom are engaged, and are 

 proud lo he, in llie cuUiire 'of the earth — is a 

 scathing rebuke lo those weak-minded or wrmig- 

 ly educated persons, who look, ur affect to look, 

 with conlenqit upon, and lo consider as degrad- 

 ing, the noble occupation of the farmer. And 

 iruly gratifying is il to see men <if such signal 

 abilities and exalted repiile, though ditTi-ring in 

 politics, uniK'd and ardently devoted in the great 

 cause of agriculture — the basis of national weallh 

 and national prosperity — and whose tiillowers 

 consliliile alike in |ieace and war the main bul- 

 wark of' the country's welfare and security. 



From the N. E. Farmer. 

 Great Yield of Corn Fodder. 



[We are indebted lo Capt. Randall for llie liil- 



lowing detailed .iccoiint of his extraordinary 



crop of corn, a paragraph respeciing which was 



copied into our last fiom one of the city papers.] 



.\f!c liedfonl, Sept. 30, 1S4.1. 



Mr. Brkck — Dear Sir — You riquested me to 

 give you an account of the proiliicl of a field of 

 corn sown broadcast, that you saw when at this 

 place last summer. I should have done il ere 

 this, bin absence from home must be my excuse. 

 Col. A. D. Hatch — that miui of all men tin- news 

 — has given some account of the cio|i, in the 

 Boston papers. I received a letter last evening 

 Iroiii a friend, wishing me lo give him all the 

 pariiculars, the amount of the yield, liow thp 

 ground was prepared, ipiantity and kind of seeil, 

 &c. And as I have been getting all the tiicis to- 

 gether, 1 will L'ive them to yon. 



1 will first stale to you the condition of the 

 land when I took possession of ii in March, 1842. 

 There were 2 acres and about ,32 rods : it vvas 

 very full of rocks and small stones, and had been 

 ci'o[iped by anliqiie liiriiiiug, until it would not 

 produce provender sutiicietil in one year lo feed 

 a pair of sheep during that space of lime ; and 

 such was ils condition in .Inly, 1844. .\l lliat 

 time, 1 put it out to clear up and wall by contract; 

 and my specifications provided that every slone 

 that a plough would hit al a depth of leii inches 

 below the surface, should be removed by men 

 Ibllowing the plough, with iron bars, and tlial the 

 ground should he grubbed up lo the walls to that 

 depth. The contractor plouglie<l the land one 

 toot deep, harrowed il twice with a heavy jointed 

 harrow, picked up and carted off all the stones, 

 and finished his work as (ler contract, and to my 

 satisfiictioii, about the middle of .\pril. 1 llicii 

 had th<^ laud ploughed across the old- liirrows by 

 .'1 hca\y (lair of o.\eu and one horse, Ibllowed by 

 two pairs ol' oxen on a subsoil plough, that run 

 oil an average Ki inches deep, with men fol- 

 lowing with iron bars, to remove any stones hit 

 by llie subsoil plough. After thus plougliing, the 

 ground was well harrowed by a heavy-jointed 

 harrow, the teeth of which are (U inches long, 

 and the stones all picked up and c:uted off. 

 Thirty-five tons of manure wi'ic then luil on lo 

 the acre, and iinitbrmly spread. Said manure 

 vvas the droppings of 20 bead of cows and one 

 horse, all well fed, and the manure was deposit- 

 ed in the barn-cellar, where all the liquid m.inure 

 was received and W(dl commingled by hogs. 

 This nuinure was turiie<l iiuiIim' about seven inch- 

 es, and the ground again well hairoH ed, by ihe 

 harrow alluded to, and the small stones picked 

 up. 



Ten bushels of white flat Maryland corn were 

 then sown broadcast on the piece, and once har- 

 rowed as above, and stones again picked up. 

 The cnltivalor was then run over the ground; it 

 was then bushed with a heavy hush-harrow, and 

 finished h) rolling with a roller weighing 2730 

 lbs. 



I find by a bill of labor, that the work was fin- 

 ished May loth. One rod squ;irc w;is carefidly 

 measured, and cut where it was the smallest, and 

 wcighcil by a patent balance. 32.5 lbs. One rod 

 sipiare, where it was of miditliiiif cpiality, weigh- 

 ed .3!KI lbs. One rod scpiaro where il was of ics( 

 qiialitv, weiijhcd ■l.'iO lbs.; giving an average of 

 3e8 llis. to tiie rod, and 31 80-2000 tons to the 

 acre. 



The corn was cut in the morning by .a scythe, 

 and one load called lo u field in iho aflcrnoon, 



