140 



€l)c Ihrmcr's itTontl)!]) faisitor. 



Dutch IlUbbundry. 



The foumlatioii upon vvliicti llie asricultiire 

 ,f I5i;li.'iiiiii rests, i.s ill',- ciillivalioii ol •■liivir, 

 vhieli seems in(li!;eii()iis, .siiioe none of tlie nio.-l 

 ncieiit rei-onls noliee ils iniiodiiclion, bill s|)eak 

 .fit as familiiiHy as of Imy or oats, ll is inoliu 

 .1} (roiii tliis coiiritiy tliat llie plant in qneslioii 

 as I.een, tlioiiKli bnt recently, slowly, anil Ijitli- 

 rlo, only partially inlroilnceil among the lunners 

 .1" Uermanv, Fiance ami Great Britain. The 

 ■lover in Ffamlers is sown in every sort ol gram, 

 .n wheat, rye anil winter harley, in the spring ul 

 the year, when the hiailes of those plants iiavu 

 ai-qnireil a growth of three or four inches ; ami 

 with oats anil summer barley at the same lime 

 with those seeils. It is also often sown with Hax ; 

 anil in fr«"ieial the crops frrown between lho.se 

 plants are more luxmianl than when sown with 

 the cerealia. It IVeiiiently happens, when sown 

 with flax, that clover yields a heavy cro|> a lew 

 months after it is sown ; two still more ahmiilanl 

 crops the next year, ami sometmies even three: 

 anil if, as il occasionally happens, it be siittered 

 to stand another year, it will yield one heavy 

 crop, and afterwards good pasture lor Ciiltle, till 

 it is plongheil np to receive tlie seed of wheat, 

 which usually follows it. The original strength 

 of the plants which yield such ahundanl nour- 

 ishment, is nmlonhleilly due to the care taken in 

 jnilveriziiig tlie soil by frequent plonghiiigs and 

 anil harrowing.s, to the careful extirpation ot all 

 weeds, and to the copious stores of inanire laid 

 on the ground, and its complete amalgamation 

 with the soil ; hut the successive harvests which 

 the plants yield are attributed, and with ap|)arent 

 ])robahility, to the top-dressings which are be- 

 stowed upon them. The toii-ilressings admiu- 

 isteied to the young clover consist either ot rot- 

 ten yard dung, lime, pigeons' dung, coal, or na- 

 tive tinf ashes, and are laid on as soon as the 

 plants begin to exteuil themselves over the 

 ground. Sometimes the plants are refreshed 

 nilh liquid manure. 



These manures, though administered to the 

 clovci-e, as fiir as they can be obtained, are fouud 

 far inferior in powers of fertility to that substance 

 wiiii'h is most generally usimI, and the effects of 

 which, (orni the llienie of the praises bestowed 

 by all who have witnessed the lielgian hushand- 

 rv. The turf a^hus of Holland are sown by the 

 hand on the clovers, in quantities varying from 

 eighteen to twenly bushels to the English acre. 



This small quantity produces a most surpris- 

 ing and almost magical etf'ecl. Within a few 

 weeks after it is sown, a li'dd where none, or but 

 slight straggling plants were to be seen, becomes 

 covered with a most abundant herbage. The 

 parts of a field sown with these ashes, at the first 

 mowing, show their ellicacy in a most striking 

 irianiier ; the clover being freiinenlly a foot 

 higher on such part.s, than on those where its 

 sowing had bei'ii oinitteil. • These ashes ;ire 

 fouud superior in efticacy to such ua are niaili.' 

 from the turf commonly used for fuel in Flan 

 di-rs, insomuch that one-third of the quantity 

 is deemed sufficient lo afford a great productive- 

 ness. 



These ashes arc brought from Holland by the 

 canals to Brussels, whence they aie conveyed by 

 land carriage to the difl-jiiuit I'aums where they 

 lire applied. Long practice has so convinced 

 the Flemish farmers of thi.'ir benelit, that a com- 

 inou proverb in the patios of the country, may 

 be thus translated : " He that buys ashes for bis 

 clover, pavs nothing ; hut he who does it not, 

 pays double." They are freqiiiully fetched from 

 the canal by per.-ons who have lo carry them 

 forty, or even liliy miles by land. 



The abundance of the clover prodnced from 

 the soil of Fhindcrs, enables the cultivalor to 

 lliaiutaiii a great nunilier of cattle, principally 

 covvs, the dniig of which is managed with an at- 

 tention and caro which are highly worthy of imi- 

 .talioii. and contrihiiles to maiut.iiii in a slate of 

 high fertility that soil which yii'lds the most ex- 

 hruisliiig mips. " The firiners (says the .\bbe 

 ]\laiiii) supply till,- want of straw in the following 

 manner : The peat or sods which are cut from 

 the heath, are placed in the stables and cow- 

 stalls as litter for the cattle. The ground inidcr 

 them is dug to a certain depth, so as to admit a 

 considerable qiuiniity of these peat sods, and 

 fri.'sh ones are added as the feet of the cattle Ireai 

 tliein down into less compass, 'i'liese coinpo, 



so many beds of iii.innre, tlioroughly impregnated 

 with the urine and dung ol the cattle. The inix- 



lure produces a compost of excellent (|Ualit;|^ for 

 fertilizing ground where corn is to be sown"." — 

 Encyclopedia Brilannka. 



Cauada Thistle. 



U'e have tried various ways of destroying the 

 Canada thistle, and the cheapest and most eifeci- 

 ual mode is to put the laud in grass and mow il. 

 They generally disappear the second year. 



The last volume of the Transactions of the 

 New-York State Agricullural Society contains a 

 very elaborate and able prize essay by A. Ste- 

 vens, on the Cauada thistle, giving its history, 

 description, habits, various modes of destruction, 

 and an account of numerous experiments for 

 destroying it, and their results, showing that both 

 success and failure have at difierent times and 

 places attended every ineans used lor its destruc- 

 tion. The author draws the following deduc- 

 tions :— 



" From a collation of what others have done, 

 and Irom the experiments above detailed, the 

 followiiii' conclusions may be deduced. 



" Whatever will effeciually exclude the plant 

 from the light and air will destroy it. 'I'his may 

 be done by ploughing, in some Si/ils, and in oth- 

 ers, by a close grass sod. I'longhing, if repeated 

 frequently in soils where the root does not de- 

 scend htivoiid the reach of the ploughing, will, 

 in dry seasons, always destroy the thistle, and 

 often in moist ones. In soils which are light, 

 deep, rich, friable, and of course permeable to 

 the air, and are in some measure always moist, 

 ploughing will always fail. 



" Wherever a dense sod can he formed, the 

 thistle may be destroyed by seedling. The grasses, 

 wherever they are adapted to the purpose, will 

 he found the easiest ineans of destruction ; al- 

 ihough not so rapid as ploughing, hoeing, salt- 

 ing or burning, where these latter are available. 

 " In all uplands, where the soil is of a deptli 

 admitting the root to be reached and affected in 

 its whole extent by the plough, hoe, fire or salt, 

 the thistle may be destroyed by these means, and 

 they will be found the most rapid ones. 



"In all bottom lands, where the root descends 

 deep and the soil permits of access of air, neither 

 the plough, hoe, fire nor salt, will destroy the 

 thistle : here the grasses should be ajiplied, and 

 will bq. found the best destroyers. 



"jVlowing will destroy those parts of the this- 

 tle which have thrown up flowering stalks ; and 

 will not in the hast affect those which have not. 

 Mowing should take place, when the plant is in 

 bloom. 



" Whatever limits the thorough application ot 

 the means of destruction, will proportionally di- 

 miiiTsh success: hence it will be found dilKcull, 

 in very stony grounds, ever to eradicate the this- 

 tle ; the plough cannot etii-ctually reach its roots, 

 ami such groniid is rarely a good grass bearer. 

 Salt and sheep, with the scythe, will be found 

 best for stony grounds. In grounds filled with 

 slumps, where the soil in rich, and will grow a 

 dense sod, the grasses will be best, and in such 

 the plough should not bo used, as it will not 

 eflijctnally reach all the roots. Fences that ob- 

 strnci the ajipliialion of the plough or hoe should 

 he removed. 



" If it he desirable to destroy the thistle by the 

 grasses, it will be found best to make the laud 

 rich by manure : this will force the grass, and 

 enable il more readily by vigorous growth to kill 

 the plant. And ill the application of all reme- 

 dies, care should be taken to reduce the soil by 

 proper ciillivalion to a fine lillli, that all the 

 seeds of the thistle in the ground may germi- 

 nale, and not lie dormant. The seed is very 

 hardy, and escapes all tlie ordinary means of 

 reacliing the plant, exciqit lire. 



" Pncdiitioniinj (idricc — In regions infested with 

 the Canada lliisth-, u hen new lauds are to be 

 cleared, let the under brush ami rubbish he 

 cleared out, and the ground sown to gra.ss. When 

 the grass has well taken root, and a soil is form- 

 ed, the trees may be cleared oil', and the thistle 

 u ill not appear. 



When the ihistlo first appears, attack it at 

 on-e ; it may then he easily destroyed: if neg- 

 lected, il will become a formidable enemy, and 

 I lime and patience and iiiuch labor will he rc- 

 piired to sulnlin; it. 



" Conclusion. — If this essay shall induce even 

 one farmer lo attempt the eradication of the this- 

 tle, a good will be done by it ; if it direct atten- 

 tion to the subject and stimulate to action, the 

 object of the writer will be attained." 



The designation of the annoying plant, called 

 "Canada thistle," comes from the fact that it 

 came into the New-England Styles by the first 

 intercourse of winter traders with Canada, who 

 brought the seed along in the hay and grain 

 with which their horses were fed. Il is a differ- 

 eiil genus of the old thistle of the same species, 

 being much more liable to spread. When it first 

 came along from the north forty or fifty years 

 ago, we remember it was cause of great alarm 

 to the farmers in the interior of Massachusetts 

 upon the hard granite soil : they supposed, from 

 the facility with which it planted itself, that it 

 would soon run out every thing else in the pas- 

 ture anil mowing fields. Although a very annoy- 

 ing and vexatioua pest to the noses of cattle and 

 in mowing and grain fields, it has turned out to 

 be far less troublesome than had been antici- 

 pated. 



We find the Canada thistle to prevail much 

 more in the limestone soils than among the gran- 

 ite rocks : it is much more common in Vermont 

 than in New-Hampshire, and is far more diliicult 

 to be eradicated from the better soil of Connecti- 

 cnt river valley, than from the poorer lands upon 

 the Merrimack. Here, by a little attention in 

 cutting ott' the vile weed with a scythe, or closely 

 depa:«tiiriiig a lot, the trouble is soon got rid of. 

 The thistle, as well as the raspberry, the black- 

 berry, the blueberry and strawberry, is natural to 

 much of our first cleared lands : all the vegeta- 

 ble annoyances will speedily disappear on the 

 proper treatment and cultivation. The Canada 

 thistle is far from being formidable for any lengtli 

 of time In ihispart of the State. The people in 

 Vermont and al the north send us sometimes 

 the seeds of the Canada thistle mixed in the 

 clover and herdsgrass seeds brought hero for 

 sale ; but it runs out in about the same time the 

 artificial grasses disappear. We think the ap- 

 pearance of the Ciinada thistle to any great ex- 

 tent 10 be a mark of inattention and slovenly 

 farming. Now and then, in a late journey lo the 

 north, it pained us to see the thistle extensively 

 mixed in much new and fertile land willi luxu- 

 riant wheat and oats. In open and permeable 

 soils it is very apt lo Seed itself along the road- 

 ways, and from thence extend itself to the adja- 

 cent fields. The Legislatures of some of the 

 States liuvH made it the duty of the road-survey- 

 ors to take steps for eradicating them — in some 

 instances it is made the duty of every farmer to 

 mow them doun in the highway passing bis 

 premises while in the bloom. The New-Vork 

 Agricultural Society has done well lo offer and 

 pay a preminm for the best essay on this sub- 

 ect. — Ed. T'istlor 



Blackbkrry SvaiT.— The following is the 

 recipe lor making the fiimoiis Blackberry Syriiji. 

 No family should \>r> without it ; all who try it, 

 will find it a sovereign remedy for bowel com- 

 plaints : — 



" To two quarts of blackberry juice, add half 

 an ounce each of powdered nutmeg, ciniiamon 

 and alspice, and a quarter of an ounce of pow- 

 dered cloves. Boil these together to get ihe 

 strength of the spice.s, and to preserve the berry 

 juice. \\ liile hot, add a pint of fonrlh proof 

 French brandy, iinil sweeten with loaf sugar. 

 Give u child two leaspooufiilsj three times a day, 

 and if the disorder is not cliecked, add to tlio 

 qnanliiy.'' 



