184 



€l)e iTarmcr's iHontl)li) l)isitoi\ 



email or large pstntes, may safely entrust to tlifir 

 inotlier earlli, In tlie way of improvements by re- 

 claiiiiiiif; waste lands, and thoroiif;lily cullivaliiif,' 

 their old fields, any reasonable amount of capi- 

 tal, and well hope for a rich return. Allhouf;h I 

 purchased my land at a price considered very 

 liif{h, and have hired all my libor at the rale of 

 from eiyhty-three cents to one dollar a day for 

 the hiborofa manor yoke of oxen, yet 1 am 

 confident that I shall receive a liberal return 

 of principal and interest for all 1 have expended. 

 I paid for the field of about seven and a half 

 acres about ninety dollars an acre, in May, 1844. 

 1 cut upon it that year six tons of hay, and last 

 year ten tons, and by the year alier next, I have 

 no doubt that I shall get fifteen tons at least, as 

 my ten tons this year grew upon about five acres. 

 I had hoed crops, and an acre of stumps and 

 bushes upon the rest. 



Thus far my field has returned me just about 

 the amoimt expended, without interest on the 

 first cosi, and the heavy expenses have been al- 

 ready incurred upon land which will yield a full 

 crop of hay with little expense for years. ] pro- 

 pose at some future day to furnish you with an 

 accurate debit and credit account with this field ; 

 provided always, it results favorably, otherwise 

 I may not wish to expose myself. I will now 

 report the progress I have made upon one acre 

 of meadow, a part of my fiehl, and to all appear- 

 ance the worst part, when I purchased. It con- 

 sists of black swamp mud from six to twenty- 

 four inches deep, lying upon a thin stratum of 

 clay, which rests upon white sand. Jn some 

 places and where there is most mud, the clay is 

 not more than two or three inches thick. Wlien 

 1 purchased, the land was full of spring water, 

 and completely covered with hassocks. It bail 

 been partially but by no means sufficiently dram- 

 ed by a former owner, and had been twice let 

 out to be plowed "by the job," but the contrac- 

 tor failed in each instance to turn a decent fur- 

 row, and the experiment was abandoned. 



After opening suitable ditches, so as to keep 

 the water in them a foot and a half below the 

 surface of the soil, I agreed to give a neighbor- 

 ing fanner twelve dollars to break uji the acre. — 

 He attempted it in September 1844, at first with 

 four yokes of oxen and a large cast iron plow, 

 but we soon found that unless we (ilowed at 

 least a foot deep so as to go tmder the hassocks, 

 we could not go at all, and that we could not cut 

 with that plow a furrow wide enough to turn 

 over, and soon abandoned the idea of doing any 

 thing without a much larger plow. We then 

 procured a very large old-fashioned plow, made 

 to be used in making roads, which we found 

 vvoidd do the work handsomely, turning a fur- 

 row nearly two feet wide ; but our team was too 

 weak, and we gave up for that day. In October, 

 with six yoke of heavy oxen and six men, part of 

 them with axes and bog-hoes to remove old logs 

 and stumps which came to light in abmidance, 

 we again set in our plow, and considering that 

 it was the worst piece of land ever plowed in 

 Exeter, we made good work of it, and finished 

 it the third day. In that state it remained imtil 

 the next spring. 



During the winter, Mr. Uuckminster, editor 

 of the " Massachusetts I'loughman," was here to 

 deliver a lecture upon Agrii!ulture, and exam- 

 ined my land. The tiirrows having been washed 

 by the fall rains, pjesented to the view a com- 

 plete mat of hassock roots, cut oft'eveidy by the 

 plow, and resembling on a large scale ati old 

 worn out shoe brush. 



Mr. IJuckminsler told me, and what was still 

 worse printed it in his paper afterwards, that J 

 might have plowed it with two yoke of oxen 

 with a proper plow, and moreover, that I ought 

 to have laid it down to grass that lidl, and that I 

 should have great ditVicidty in snbdning it, in the; 

 way I was going on. I have not his i>aper by 

 me, but I think i give his idea. 1 thought then 

 I knew better about my own land than hiuj man 

 who had seen it but on(-e, and have seen lio reas- 

 on to chanso my opinion since. On the 1 lib 

 and 15th of June, 184,1, alier working one day 

 vvilh fom' oxen atui a cullivaKu- upon ii, I plant- 

 ed about half of it with potatoes, which yielded 

 a large crop, but were nearly destrojcd by the 

 rot. As we dug the potatoe.-", we" levelled the 

 ground with hoes, and afterwards raked it with 

 common hay rakes. The part not planted, was 



levelled with bog-hoes, and we removed about 

 twenty-five cart loads of sods, allhongli lor the 

 most part the original furrows have never been 

 disturbed. 



After making it all level, we spread upon it 

 about twenty-five loads of soil niixed with what 

 manure was made from February to October by 

 one horse, cow, and hog in my barn-cellar, which 

 receives all the wash from the sinks, and all oth- 

 er substances which go to mtike mamire. We 

 then cleared the ditches anew, filled up the 

 holes made by the cattle and carts in teaming, 

 and finally sowed it the third day of October, 

 and raked in the seed, herds grass and red top, 

 and rolled it with a garden roller by hand. 



The grass came up beaiilifully in a very few 

 days, was not at all injured by the winter, nn<l 

 the crop to the acre was about two tons, although 

 it was sowed so late, or so thick, I am not sure 

 which, that the greater part of the herds grass 

 did not head at all. A tiiore level or beautiful 

 piece of land I never saw than this was last sum- 

 mer, and 1 have no doubt that it will next sea- 

 son produce as heavy a crop of grass as any acre 

 in the town. My estimates of the value of the 

 manure and crops, with my account of the ex- 

 penditure for labor, are as follows: 



Paid for plowing (.'S'i.50 more than I 

 agreed as my neighhor had a bad bar- 

 gain) $14.50 



Planting potatoes — hoeing — and seed 10.80 



Labor of oxeu and men, in hauling 

 manure, and in digging and levelling, 30.14 



Grass seed 2.25 



Manure, say 35.00 



$92.69 



Deduct potatoes that did not rot $15.00 

 25 loads of sods at my barn 12.50 



27.50 



Leaving the expense of getting the 

 acre fairly into grass $65.19 



Now although I paid a high price for iny la- 

 bor, and lost my cro[) of potatoes, and operated 

 on a tract of land for which I paid nearly $100.00 

 which would be valued in ordinary situations 

 at less tlian $10.00, I have not lost by the ex- 

 periment, for the land will doubtless pay for 

 several years to come, the interest of $300, at 

 least, without expense, and will never be worth 

 less than $200.00. 



Your report or Mr. Brown's statement in re- 

 gard 10 my method of transplanting apple trees 

 is not so accurate as it might be. 



1 |)retend to some skill in planting trees, and 

 may write you an article on the subject at some 

 future day. I made an excavation for each tree 

 sir feet in diameter, instead of four as yon have 

 it. I should be unwilling to stand as authoiily 

 for placimr a tree in any less space than that, 

 under ordinary circumstances. 1 have however 

 written more than you can conveniently find 

 space for in your paper, and will spare you for 

 this time. If in your wanderings next summer 

 you will visit my house, I shall he happy to re- 

 new our conversations wliicli have usually been 

 upon subjects connected with agriculture, and 

 assist you in obtaining information interesting to 

 your readers. 



With much respect, yours, &c., 



HENRY F. FRENCH. 



Irrigation. — The wonderful fertility of Egypt 

 is, perhaps, more universally recognized tli.an 

 that of any oilier portion of the globe. For 

 more than three thousaml r/cars the lantls inundat- 

 ed by the annual overllow of the Nile have con- 

 tinued to produce the usual crops without any 

 artificial restoration, by manure or otherwise — 

 the natural irrigation of the Nile still serving to 

 maintain the productive power, without any p<'r- 

 cepiiblo impoverishment or diminuiion of fer- 



tilily. 



Ill 



Wateuino Cattle. — Many farmers suller a 

 loss by not providing good and coveiiient wiiter 

 for their cattle. An animal that is compelled to 

 go half a mile over a slippery road, anri chased 

 perhaps by ilogs, cannot gain in flesh by the op- 

 eration. If a cow has to travel twiius a day half 

 a iiiiK; to water, and reliun,she tiavel two miles 

 a day ; or ten cows perform twenty miles of trav- 

 eling per day, and two thousand miles each win- 

 ter. 



From the New Orleans Delta. 

 The Sugar Crop of Louisiana. 



It is estimated by compelent judges that ihe 

 crop of sugar in this Stale will exceed the crop 

 of last year by at least nne hundred thousand /logi- 

 heads. The (piantily of molasses, of this crop, 

 will even exceed that of the sugar, as compared 

 with the product of last year. Owing to the 

 lateness of the summer, and llie continuance of 

 warm weather, the yield of llio cane will not, 

 for some time, be as great as was to be expeciecl 

 from the appearance of the crops, and conse- 

 cjueiilly the quantity of molasses will be very 

 great. The present weather is uiipropitioiis, be- 

 ing too warm, but slill those who .ire rolling 

 make a good yield, but of ordinary quality. — 

 Many planters have not yet commenced grind- 

 ing, thinking their cane too green, and desiring, 

 when they do commence, to make the largest 

 possible amount of sugar out of their crop. 



Notwithslanding, however, Ihe unfavorable- 

 ness of the wealher, the extensive character of 

 the crops and fiiluess of the cane, tlironghout 

 Ihe State, will I'ully justify the calculation of 

 the produce of this season. Two biuidred and 

 forty thousand hogsheads is an estimate which 

 no one regards as extravagant. At the rate of 

 .$50 per lihd., (lower, we believe, than a fair av- 

 erage,) this will give the splendid sum of twelve 

 millions of dollars as the value of one single 

 agricultural product of twenty-three parishes of 

 the Slate. Of these twenty-three parishes, 

 which contribute this immense addition to the 

 wealth of the country, there are but fourteen in 

 which sugar is the leading or principal product. 

 In St. Landry, Calcasieu, Lafayette, Vermillion, 

 Avoyelles, Rapides, West Feliciana and Pointe 

 Coupee, sugar is cultivated to a limited extent, 

 cotton and corn being the chief products, and 

 grazing an extensive employment of the |)eople. 

 Deducting two millions for the sugar produced 

 in these parishes, which is no doubt an extrav- 

 agant Cidculalion, we have fourteen parishes 

 which produce ten millions of dollars' worth of 

 sugar. 7'his, too, it must be borne in inind, is clear 

 projit to the planters, as the molasses pat/s all ex- 

 penses. Wiiere, in the whole Union, can you 

 find fourteen counties, of less than an average 

 po|>ulalion of eight thousand souls, produciiiir in 

 one single branch of agriculture an amount 

 equal to the probable yield of the sugar crop 

 of this year ? 



Whilst upon this subject, we would notice the 

 successful efforts of those planters who broke 

 through the old and now exploded idea that su- 

 gar could only be produceil on an alluvial soil, 

 and below the latitude of Baton Rouge. In ev- 

 ery case where it has been tried, the exjieriment 

 has succeeiled a<lmirably. On the high grounds 

 back of Baton Rouge, several magnificent sugar 

 plantations have lately been opened. Those of 

 the Messrs. Perkins, Kleimpeier, and others, 

 have now been in operation lliree or four years, 

 and have never failed to yield fine crops. Tliia 

 year, iMr. W. R. Barrow, w ho has long cultivated 

 one of the largest coiton plantalions in the Slate, 

 situated some twenty miles above Rayou Sara, 

 on high, rolling ground, devotcil his labor and 

 capital to the production of sugar, and has now 

 a noble crop, which he has already commenced 

 taking otV. Still higher up, near the Red River 

 Cnt-oli; Mr. Leiloux has a \ery large and well 

 matured cro|i of sugar, «hicli he is also now en- 

 gaged in grinding. On Red River, too, many old 

 cotton planters have gone largely into sugar, and 

 .are raising immense crops. Tbi'se experiments 

 have opened a new and large field lor the pro- 

 duction of sugar, which we have no doubt will 

 altract capital and enterprise from various parts 

 of the country, and in a few years make tlio 

 product of sugar in Louisiana nearly equal to 

 the demand in the United Stales. 



I'rom another article in the Delta on the ag- 

 ricultural prospects and riches of Louisiana, wo 

 extract the following : 



Wo saw, in the space of the one hundred 

 miles we travelled, more agriculinral wealth than 

 can be seen in travelling live times that distance 

 along any other stream, or any oiher public 

 higlnvay in the world. We saw an almost unin- 

 terrupted cane-field from New Orleans to Baton 

 Rouge, of the average depth of two miles. And 

 siichcnne! Oh, it is a glorious sight! Such a 



