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NEW ENGLAND EARMER. 



Scioto valley was comparatively destitute of lime, 

 and was not generally considered good wheat soil. 

 It was chiefly remarkable as a good soil for corn. 

 The best corn grounds are not good for wheat. 

 The necessary amount of lime to be applied to 

 wheat lands cannot be determined by any specific 

 ride. The best wheat lands so far as ascertained, 

 show never more than 2 per cent, of lime ; and if 

 it is true that one soil contains two per cent, of 

 lime, he should have no hesitation in saying that 

 wheat can be produced to advantage. In the 

 great wheat soils in Russia, it had been ascer 

 tained that there is but little lime — and the same 

 fact has been discovered in regard to the richest 

 wheat growing section of New York — Seneca 

 county. 



Mr. Bardwell, by way of explanation, said that 

 farmers in his vicinity always soaked their wheat 

 in a strong brine, and rolled it in air-slacked lime 

 before sowing it. 



Mr. Hubbard defended the theory of applying 

 lime to lands on which wheat is cultivated and 

 gave instances where it had been done in Mary- 

 land with great effect. 



Mr. Proctor, of Danvers, next spoke and changed 

 the topic of consideration to that of the culture of 

 hay, in which he said there was great room for 

 improvement. He did not believe the average 

 yield of mowing lands throughout the State would 

 exceed one ton per acre, and thought it could be 

 doubled by deep plowing and the application of 

 such manures as can be found upon the farm. 

 He mentioned the result of this course in the 

 case of Mr. Clapp, of Greenfield, who, from a lot 

 of six acres increased his crop from 6 tons to 26 

 tons — [Mr. Hubbard said that he understood Mr. 

 Clapp's statement to be, that from 7 acres he got 

 6 tons to the acre or about 42 tons in all.] This 

 was done by the introduction of the subsoil 

 plow and good manuring. Mr. Proctor also 

 spoke in regard to improving pasture lands. It 

 can be done either by carrying on plaster or by 

 deep stirring. He had known crops on pasture 

 lands to be doubled by simply setting out locust 

 trees. 



Mr. Sprague, of Duxbury, gave his experience 

 in raising corn. It was, he found, the most pro- 

 fitable crop he could raise on his 'land. The yield 

 is from 40 to 80 bushels per acre. Forty cents a 

 bushel, he thought would pay him for raising 

 corn, as well as 75 cents for rye, or $1 for wheat. 

 He did not believe lime was a manure. It did 

 not benefit his land. The best grass in his vicini- 

 ty is the "Burden grass." In cultivating his 

 ground for hay, he applies his manure to the sur- 

 face. With a top-dressing onco in three years, 

 there would be little difficulty in keeping grass 

 lands in good order. 



Mr. Motley, of Dcdham, produced some sta- 

 tistics showing that the hay of Massachusetts 



growth used in Boston, was not a fifth of the 

 amount used. The rest comes from Maine and 

 New Hampshire. He had sent to Maine to get 

 some information in regard to the raising of hay 

 there. The answer he got was — that the average 

 yield is about 1£ ton per acre; expense of making, 

 $2,50 per ton ; screwing and hauling $2,75 per 

 ton ; the land is kept up eight or ten years and is 

 considered worth $00 per acre. Other investiga- 

 tions had convinced him that the yield of hay had 

 not diminished in Massachusetts as fast as in the 

 other New England States. The only State in 

 New England which leads us in the proceeds of 

 the hay and dairy, is Vermont. He contended 

 that Massachusetts is not going behindhand in her 

 agricultural products. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 TRANSPLANTING POTATOES. 



Mr. Editor : — My first experiment was in 1848, 

 and was merely to ascertain whether the potato 

 could be transplanted successfully or not. The 

 result was, a couple of bushels of fine, nearly 

 ripened potatoes, by the middle of July. The 

 next year I prepared to plant the whole of my 

 land in a similar manner. I planted the middle 

 of March under glass, such as is used for forcing 

 lettuce, and cucumbers. I also had a small glass 

 grapery, which I used for the same purpose in ad- 

 dition to raising grapes. I removed about 3 inches 

 of the top soil and placed the seed in it, as close 

 as they would lie together and then replaced the 

 soil ; the middle of April the plants were about 

 3 inches high, and I now prepared to put them 

 out into the garden, in the usual way of manur- 

 ing in the hill ; the plants can be taken out of the 

 bed with a shovel, and by keeping them dry at 

 this time, they easily separate. I now placed 

 them in the hills on the manure, and at this time, 

 as frosty nights are not over, I hilled the earth en- 

 tirely over the plants. In 4 or 5 days, the plants 

 were bursting through the top of the hill, which 

 served for the first hoeing. The sprouting bed 

 being now clear, I planted squash seed in it, and 

 in May, transplanted them into the spaces be- 

 tween the rows of potatoes, at proper distances. 

 About two-thirds of the land was thus set out 

 with squash plants. In May, I also planted pota- 

 toes on my grape border, as before, for transplant- 

 ing. These were the black, the others, the white 

 Chenango, and when 5 or 6 inches high, transplant- 

 ed them into the spaces between the rows, on the 

 other part of the garden. 



On the 3d of July, I commenced digging the 

 first crop of potatoes, and hoeing the second at the 

 same time. By the end of July, the ground was 

 cleared of the first crop of potatoes, which I sold 

 in Salem market at 2 dollars a bushel, and they 

 were retailed as high as $4. The squash vines 

 now had possession of the ground, from which I 

 took in the fall a very large crop of squashes. 

 And now comes the 2d crop of potatoes, which 

 were fully equal to the first, in point of size and 

 quantity, but affected with the rot , which the 

 first escaped. Specimens of the two crops I sent to 

 the Agricultural Exhibition at Salem, for which I 

 obtained a premium. The next year, 1850, I pre- 

 pared to experiment on a more extensive scale. I 



