1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



19 



or ten acres, are enclosed by stone walls, formed of 

 email etonea gathered from the land, and sur- 

 mounted by posts and two rails. The cultivation 

 exhibited an exemplary neatness, as in but a 

 single instance did I remark any weeds or briars 

 growing near the fences ; and these had been re- 

 cently mowed. 



Mr. Stimson is highly systematical in his farm- 

 ing, and pursues a determined rotation of crops, 

 beginning usually with wheat, then corn, barley, 

 clover, and herds grass two or three years; then 

 frequently depastures his fields for one year, after 

 which they are again subjected to the plough, fol- 

 lowing the same rotation as before, excepting that 

 corn is sometimes a first crop after the land is bro- 

 ken up; and flax sometimes takes the place of corn 

 or barley in the rotation. 



He manures his land once only in six years, ex- 

 cepting the application of plaster to his corn. He 

 allows five loads of barn manure, and three of 

 leeched ashes, to an acre; and this is always spread 

 upon the surface after ploughing for the first crop 

 and either harrowed or ploughed in by a very light 

 ploughing. In ploughing, he never permits the 

 plough to go deeper than three inches; the sod is 

 turned over flat, and then rolled, it being his great 

 object to keep all the vegetable matter on the sur- 

 face. In the ploughing for the second crop in the 

 rotation, the sod being completely decomposed, is 

 turned, and affords a fine soil for the ensuing; crop. 

 Though a good deal of the. manure is in this way 

 lost by evaporation, yet he considers this loss as 

 much less than that which is occasioned by bury- 

 ing it under the sod. He deems leeched ashes a 

 most valuable manure, and much to be preferred to 

 that which is unleeched, which he considers as 

 having a tendency at first to force the land, but in 

 the end to impoverish it. Next to leeched ashes, 

 he deems lime the best manure for land. The 

 opinions of so intelligent, experienced, and suc- 

 cessful a farmer, are certainly entitled to the high- 

 est respect, and we shall not undertake to theorize 

 on the subject; but the subject is still matter for ex- 

 periment, and deserves the most careful and philo- 

 sophical investigation. 



Wheat is generally the first crop in the rotation, 

 in which case it is usually sowed in the autumn; 

 and harrowed in at the rate of two bushels to the 

 acre. His average crop is from thirty to forty 

 bushels per acre. This year (1832) he has sixty 

 acres in wheat. Of Indian corn, his average pro- 

 duct is about five thousand bushels. He assured 

 me that for the last ten years it had exceeded the 

 average rate of one hundred bushels to the acre. 

 He plants an eight rowed kind, with a small ear, 

 on the ground where he has had wheat, in hills 

 two feet eight inches apart each way; the places of 

 planting being accurately marked out by a simple 

 machine with four teeth, like a rake, and drawn 

 by a horse, which marks the piece to be planted 

 in one direction, and then crosses these marks at 

 right angles. Four stalks only are left in a hill, and 

 it is ploughed slightly, or harrowed twice. Some- 

 times plaster is~applied to the hill, at the rate of 

 about five pecks to an acre. He is of opinion that 

 too much manure may be applied for any crop ex- 

 cepting corn. This cannot be manured too highly. 

 Owing to the unfavorableness of the season, his 

 corn, much of which had been planted twice, 

 seemed quite small, and in his opinion would 

 hardly yield him a third of the usual crop. 



Potatoes are planted by him at the same dis- 

 tances aa his corn, and on the outside of his corn- 

 fields. At the second hoeing of his potatoes, he 

 takes pains to open the top of each hill with the 

 foot, and to put a hoefull of dirt directly on the cen- 

 tre, by which means the sun is admitted to the po- 

 tatoes, which he deems likely to contribute very 

 much to the increase of the crop. This simple op- 

 eration is in accordance with Mr. T. A. Knight's 

 lately broached views of the great importance of 

 light and air to the productiveness of the potato 

 crop; but in a partial experiment, I have not my- 

 self perceived any sensible advantage from it. 

 His average yield of potatoes is about five hun- 

 dred bushels to an acre; and he raises yearly about 

 two thousand bushels. 



Flax is likewise a valuable crop, of which he 

 calculates to obtain at least twenty bushels of seed, 

 and four hundred pounds of flax; commonly more 

 than this. His flax fields, which he was then 

 pulling, with a platoon of sixteen men, exhibited 

 a most luxuriant growth. After the flax is pulled 

 and rotted, he has it cleaned and prepared for 

 market, for two and one-half cents per lb. What 

 he usually obtains over six cents per pound for 

 flax, will pay for the cleaning of it. He is of 

 opinion that it will do to repeat flax on the same 

 land once in six years. Barley, or rye is another 

 crop in his usual rotation, and ordinarily follows 

 corn. Barley he considers as much the best crop 

 with which to lay down his land to grass. 



His plan of laying down his land to grass is to 

 sow the grass seed at the time he sows his barley, 

 at the rate of 3 lbs. of clover seed, and 4 quarts of 

 timothy or herds grass. His crop of grass ave- 

 rages about two and a half tons to an acre. He 

 feeds many of his mowing fields until the 10th of 

 June. His grass, as I saw it, was quite ripe, and 

 farther advanced than we are accustomed to have 

 it at the time of mowing; and this, perhaps, ac- 

 counts for his practice of cutting his grass in the 

 morning, and housing it at. night of the same day, 

 which he informed me he frequently did. The 

 proper time of cutting grass, as with reference to 

 their nutritive properties, is a subject which has not 

 received all the attention which it deserves. Ac- 

 cording to chemical analysis, some grasses are 

 much more nutritive after their seed is perfected, 

 than when cut in the flower. It is the reverse 

 with other grasses. In respect, for example, to 

 timothy or herds-grass, (Pheum pratense,) ac- 

 cording to Sinclair's table annexed to Davy's Ag- 

 ricultural Chemistry, it is said that "the nutritive 

 powers of the straws simply therelbre exceed those 

 of the leaves in proportion as 28 to 8; and the 

 grass at the time of flowering, to that at the time 

 the seed is ripe, as 10 to 23; and the latter math 

 to the grass of the flowering crop, as 8 to 10." 



Mr. Stimson mows his grass land usually two 

 years; and pastures it the ensuing year. This 

 completes his rotation of six years, and he then 

 begins the same course again. Thus, 



1, Wheat — manured. 



2, Corn — plastered, 



3, Flax, rye, or barley. 



4, Clover and herds grass. 



5, Clover and herds grass. 



6, Pasture. 



His potatoes are usually planted round his corn 

 fields, three or four rows on each side, so as to render 



