®l)c JTartitcr's illontl)ly bisitor. 



181 



ill siistniiiini; llie full measure of ferlilily of lanil 

 siihjcct to tliu.cro|i|)iiiS'. Ill aiolulioii roiif^istiiif,' 

 of a cIov<;i- and wheat su|)|)ly, we fiiul tliat tin? 

 ulieat alisti-acl.s lai^'e aMioiinls of pliospliato of 

 lliiie, polasli, jryiisiim, salt, >fcc,. &c., which if 

 iHilliiii^' lie adilccl lo the ."oil, exci'|it the clover 

 crop will in a li'W years reduce! any ociliniiry soil 

 to so low a point, that It cannot yield profituhle 

 I'etni'iis. The land may coiitiniie lo yield lor a 

 Ion;; time ; hut it is evident that it is losiiij; prop- 

 erties at every successive harvest, which must be 

 supplied to it, or it will eventually he exhausted. 

 'I'he true and only remedy for this, is, to ascer- 

 tain by analysis, either of your own, or the well 

 estalilished reseruches of others, precisely what 

 of the iiioi\^anic materials, such as are inherent 

 in ihe soil, and not found lo any appreciable e.\- 

 tenl in the aimo.<pliere are taken from the laud by 

 iioppiii!; or (('cdini;, and not relnrned to it by 

 slia\v maiime or olfil of any kind, and return 

 those materials to the land in sn<-h available shape 

 IIS will enable lutuie crops lo supply themselves 

 with all they require. This is indis|)ensal)le to 

 a succession of good crops and prolongs fertility, 

 and no laniier is wise wlio nesflects this practice 

 for a siiijile year, however seemiiifrly vvell his 

 adopted system may answer, which does not em- 

 brace the foregoing pracliee. — ^Imerlcan Jlgricul- 

 tttiisl. 



Look out for the Mice. 



Young apple trees are liable to be gnawed and 

 girdled liy mice at this season of the year. Trees 

 that are surronnded with iriass, or any kind of 

 litter, which can be made into nests for mice, are 

 in Kieater danger tli;in such as have nothiiur but 

 earth around their trunks. It is therefore advis- 

 able to rcniMve all such liiter before snow comes. 



15ut now the ground is covered and the right 

 course is to beat the snow down close around 

 each tree to prevent the making of nests ilieie. 

 f^hould this snow, which now {Dec. 14th) covers 

 the ground, disa|)pear before January, and be fol- 

 lowed by another storm, it may be necessary to 

 perlbrm another revolution around your trees, 

 and teach your mice that apple tree bark is for- 

 bidden food and not to be eaten in peace. As 

 Janu.ary advances iliere is but linle danger from 

 mice thai have already made no nests tliere ; for 

 lhe\ usually seek out permanent winter (|uarters 

 before January. 



We have sei-n thrifty young trees entirely ruin- 

 ed by mice, that stripped off all the bark from 

 the trunks to the height of two feet. A towiis- 

 tnaii of our own, a few years since — one of the 

 very few firmers in Fiainingham who do not 

 sniiscribe for the Ploughman — lost a number of 

 very handsome apple trees that stood by his wall 

 " w here mice do congregate." 



We think there were twenty trees that were 

 siripped to the height ol' two feet. II' he had 

 seen our warning, v\ liich we gave early in the 

 saniewinier, lie might have saved, in half an 

 hour, forly dollars worth oi' trees. But he had 

 no near neighbor to lend him the I'loiighnian, or 

 to warn him of his danger, and he was too pru- 

 dent to keep a cat, for cats must be fed in the 

 winler when rats and mice are not to be found. 



15y the way, sensible farmers always keep one 

 or two cats. We should be overrun with rats and 

 mice were we deprived of the services of this 

 useful sentinel. The practice of laying poison- 

 ous subslanees to destroy rats in a house is a very 

 foul one. If you succeed in killing one your 

 comfort is to keeji a dead rat in a bye place in- 

 stead of u live one, and your house is haiinled 

 with the scent of carrion for weeks in succes- 

 sion. 



There is no economy in living wiihont cats. — 

 They will squall and he in the way, oft times, 

 so will children, and other necessaries of a 

 family; hut yon cannot live comfortably with- 

 out a Cat. Farmers who keep good cats are 

 not in great danger from mice around trees near 

 the ihvelliiig-house. Distant trees are the ones 

 that require particidar atlention at this season. 

 The Maltese cals seem lo be bolder hunters than 

 any that are kept. They grapple with Ihe largest 

 w harf rats.— Jlia^s. Plovirhmnn. 



A Curious Fact in .loRicnLTURE. — Yester- 

 day afternoon a gentleman residing we believe in 

 this city, brought lo the managers' room of the 

 American Iiislitiile four small potatoes which had 

 been produced in the following manner. The 



gentleman alluded to, in the month of May con- 

 ci'ived that it was necessary to cut one or two 

 more branches from his grape vine, and he ac- 

 cordingly l(;ppi'd off the unnecessary branches 

 which caused iheni to bleed, and to remedy this 

 he. split a potato into two pieces, one of which 

 he stuck on the end of the bleeding branch. He 

 then tied a rag liist lo the branch, so as to cover 

 the polatoe, and keep it from tiillintr ofV, anil then 

 left it. The rag was not disturbed again until a 

 day or two since, when it was removed and found 

 10 contain a cro|) of four small potatoes, which 

 had grown li'oiii the pieces stuck on the end of 

 the branch. The: truth of the gentleman's state 

 menl is vouched for by a gentleman of Ihe high 

 est ri;speolability. — .V. Y. Evening Post. 



Gathering and Packing Frnit. 



About the autumn of the year 1S36 or '37, I 

 had some thirty or forty barrels of apples to 

 pick. 



In the orchard with some other frnit trees 

 were some Newtown pippin trees, and all in a 

 shocking slate of neglect. As it had been let 

 run wild, I set about to clear it up, and make it 

 productive. In .March I had the trees scraped 

 with a^lull hoe, to which 1 hail put a short han- 

 dle, to make it the more handy to scrape off the 

 outsifle dead bark ; after this, having trimmed 

 the boughs and branches, I sent to town for a 

 barrel of soft soap, with which I intended to 

 smear the siems and branches of the trees, but 

 when it came, judge of my surprise to find that 

 Ihe soft soap of New York is made of a little of 

 the commonest grease, very little alkali, some 

 salt, and a vast amount of water, making a 

 ipiivering jelly ; — such is the villainous com- 

 pound called soft soap in New York; — as this 

 was unlit for my purpose, I had to make some 

 myself With this in a bucket and an old 

 wliitewasli brush, I sent a man into the orchard 

 to smear all the stems of the fruit trees, and till 

 the other trees which stood near by, knowing or 

 thinking the little depredators I wished to be rid 

 of, might Imk under the bark of any tree that 

 stood in the orchard, or near it, as well as in the 

 fruit trees. It was a " bearing year," as farmers 

 call it, and there was a great crop of apples ; and 

 I had very few wormy ones. We picked the 

 apples by hand, and did not pour ihem from one 

 basket to another without putting soft hay or oat 

 straw between them. While pouring them we 

 put straw on the floor of the room in which ihey 

 were stored ; there was also straw put on the 

 bottom of each basket, and on the bottom of the 

 cart we carried them in ; all this was done to 

 keep them from bruising. After they were all 

 housed, we set lo work to sort them, rejecting all 

 which had any defects, and if damp, wiping off 

 the moistiiie. We next took each apple and 

 rolled it in coarse clean paper, any soft paper 

 will do — the paper I bought was common wrap- 

 ping paper, siravv pajier w ill answer. 'I'he paper 

 had this effect — il keeps the apples from rubbing 

 each other, and keeps them at a certain <legree 

 of moislnre, not allowing them to evaporate or 

 receive damp. In the bottom, and around the 

 sides of the barrels, a small quantity of straw 

 was placed, and ihe apples laid in, one at a time, 

 and as close lo each other as they (lossibly could 

 be, without jamming them. When the barrel 

 was filled, a little more straw was put on the top, 

 and the head of the barrel put in, with an insitle 

 lining hoop, to keep the hea>l from being knock- 

 ed in, by accident ; there was besides a lining 

 hoop put in the bottom head of the barrel, before 

 I commenced packing. These apples were put 

 up lo order, and were to go lo Sheffield, in Eng- 

 land. After taking all these jirecantions, I wrote 

 !i direction to this effect: 



" These barrels of apjiles are not to be rolled 

 or tumbled about ; if carted, or sent any way by 

 land, something is to be put on the floor of the 

 cart or wagon, so as to keep them from being 

 bruised, rattled, or jidted." 



The apples when packed in this way, were 

 tight in the barrels, and could not be made to 

 rattle wilh common usage. M. C. VV,, who or- 

 dered them, informed me that they arrived at 

 the destined place, and were all sound to an ap- 

 ple, and iniich admired \ry Ihe consignee fo" 

 their preservation ami manner of putting up. I 

 took the lesson from seeing the oranges and 

 lemons which arrive here from Spain and Portu- 

 gal, packed in the suine innnner. 



Those apples which have a close tight skin, 

 will keep the be.st for the greatest length of time. 

 Of this kind are the Newtown pippin, the Lady 

 apple, the Russet: besides, there is the real 

 Rhode Island Greening, w hich may be kept un- 

 til the May of the next year. 



If the precautions which I have laid down are 

 strictly attended to, any of these may be sent to 

 England as well as the pippin ; but the greening 

 i.s not so good an apple to keep. People may 

 talk as much as they have a mind to al)OUt tlio 

 heat and damp of ships, and so on, being the 

 cause of the apples rotting ; but who could ex- 

 pect that an apple, or any other fiuit or vegeta- 

 ble could be kept fioin it, il' jammed or bruised 

 constantly. — Farmer and Mechanic. 



Farmer's Calendar. 



Indian Corn. — It is an error to plant seed 

 from Stales further South. In a cold season on- 

 ly the seed of a colder climate will ripen well. 



Ol'ten breaking up a surface keejis a soil in 

 health ; for when it lies in a hard bound state, 

 enriching showers run off, and the salubrious air 

 cannot enter. 



Weeds exhaust the strength of the ground, 

 and if suflered lo grow may be called garden 

 sins. 



The hand and the hoe are the instruments for 

 eradicating weeds ; yet if there is room between 

 the rows for a spade it is well to use it. 



Never keep your cattle short; few farmers can 

 afTord it. If you starve them they will starve 

 you. 



It will not do to hoe n great field for a little 

 crop, or lo mow 20 acres for five loads of hay. 

 Enrich the land and ii will pay yon for il. Bet- 

 ter farm 20 acres well than 40 acres by halves. 



Drive your business before you and it will go 

 easily. 



In dry pastures dig for water on the brow of a 

 hill ; springs are more frequently near the sur- 

 face on a height than in a vale. 

 Rain is cash lo a farmer. 

 The foot of the owner is the best manure for 

 land. 



Cut bushes that you wish to destroy in the 

 summer and with a sharp instrument; they will 

 bleed freely and die. 



Sow clover deep ; it secures it against the 

 drought. 



Never [dough in bad weather, or when the 

 ground is very wet. 



It is better to cut grain just before it is fully or 

 dead ripe. When the straw immediately beiow 

 the grain is so dry that on twisting it no juice is 

 expressed, it should be cut, for then there is no 

 further circulation of juices to the ear. Every 

 hour that it stands uncut after this stage is attend- 

 ed with loss. 



Accounts should be kept, detailing the expen- 

 ses and produce of each field. 



When ail inipleinent is no longer wanted for 

 the season, lay it carefully aside, but let it be first 

 well cleaned. 



Obtain good seed, prepare your ground well, 

 sow early, and pay very little attention to the 

 moon. 



Cultivate your own heart aright, remetnber that 

 " whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also 

 reap." Do not begin farming by building an 

 expensive house, nor erecting a spacious barn 

 till you have something to store in it. 



Avoid a low and damp site for a dwelling- 

 house. Build sufficiently distant from your barn 

 and stockyard to avoid accidents by fire. 



Keep notes of all remarkable occurrences on 

 your farm. Recording even your errors will be 

 of benefit. 



Good fences make good neighbors. 

 Experiments are highly commendable, but do 

 not become an habitual experimenter. 



The depredations of birds are fully compen- 

 sated by the services they render in preying uj)- 

 011 insects. — Western ( Ind.) Farmer. 



Powdered Lime.— It is creditably asserted 

 that this if.ineral, in a calcined or pulverized 

 state, is an infallible remedy against the slug, or 

 small snail which so frequently destroys clover. 

 A very slight dressing is said to be sufficient. It 

 is a fact generally well known to agriculturists of 

 intelligence, that a very slight dressing of lime 

 will, on light soils, bring in white clover, a grass 

 tha makes the best of hay with very little im- 



