^iftilS 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. IV. 



BOSTON, MAY, 1852. 



NO. 5. 



RAYNOLDS & NOURSE, Proprietors. „,„^„ „„^„ r „ „ FRED'K HOLBROOK, ) Associate 



„ r. ii SIMON BROWN, Editor. npKOV „ r , DE , 1 .-„ l T '(associate 



Office.. ..Quincy Hall. ' HENRY F. FRENCH,) Ediiors. 



FARM WORK FOR MAY. 



Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger, 

 Comes dancing from the east, leads with her 

 The flowery May, who from her green lap throws 

 The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. 



Hail, bounteous May ! that dost inspire 



Mirth, and youth, and warm desire; 



Woods and groves are of thy dressing, 



Hill and dale both boast thy blessing ! 

 Thus we salute thee with our early song, 

 And welcome thee, and wish thee long. — Milton. 



May is always a busy month, but cold winds and 

 storms occupied so much of April that but little 

 could be done by way of preparation for planting 

 and sowing. But if the work of the farm is re- 

 duced to a system, so that the business which 

 needs it most shall be attended to first, a great 

 amount of labor may be accomplished in the month 

 by two or three pairs of stout hands urged by ear- 

 nest hearts. Vegetation will undoubtedly be very 

 rapid. The intense cold through the winter and 

 its long continuation in the spring, has given plants 

 great sensibility, and they will burst into life with 

 wonderful rapidity. The lateness of the season 

 will find the sun running high and warming the 

 ground so raadily that the seeds will sprout and 

 be up, perhaps, as early as in warmer seasons — so 

 that there is no room for discouragements, but 

 plenty to be up in the morning with the lark, and 

 improve each hour to the best advantage. 



Plowing. — Split the Indian hills ; plowing the 

 fields one or two days before planting or sowing 

 them is better than a longer time, if the land is 

 ordinarily dry. Sward land intended for corn is 

 improved by a good coat of grass turned under, so 

 that the longer it is left the better, if in season for 

 the corn. The best crops of corn we have seen of 

 late years were where a large portion of the ma- 

 nure had been spread and plowed in, and before 

 dropping the corn a small amount of good compost 

 added to the hill ; this gives the kernels an early 

 start and supports them until the roots finds sus- 

 tenance further off. 



Grain. — As soon as the ground is sufficiently 

 dry to fall into fine particles upon being plowed, 



sow oats, barley and other grains. When it is to 

 be laid down to grass, be generous with the seed — 

 we mentioned tins last month and now urge it again 

 — one bushel of red top, twelve quarts of herds grass 

 and six pounds of clover is not too much to the 

 acre. The difference in the crop for four or five 

 years will pay more, eaclf year, than the extra 

 cost of the seed ; and the thickness of the grass 

 from the seed you sow will keep out wild grasses 

 and weeds. 



Corn. — Some persons are becoming dissatisfied 

 with this crop. It can scarcely be doubted, how- 

 ever, that it may be raised with profit in every 

 part of New England. We think the dissatisfac- 

 tion arises from the attempt to cultivate too much ; 

 the manure being spread over so much ground as 

 scarcely to be felt by the plants. The result of 

 such cultivation is twenty to forty bushels to the 

 acre, instead of forty to eighty as it should be. 

 We think the fodder on an acre of good corn will 

 well nigh pay the expense of* cultivation, if it is 

 properly preserved. And with high cultivation 

 the land is in condition after the corn crop to bring 

 two or three tons of hay to the acre for some three 

 to six years, with the application of slight top 

 dressing. 



Grafting. — The earlier this is done in May the 

 better. If you have old healthy trees they will 

 yield you a return for working them over and cul- 

 tivating them much quicker than you can possibly 

 get it from young trees. A large, sound, old ap- 

 ple tree, though producing nothing but crab-ap- 

 ples, is worth fifty dollars, if it stand near home 

 and convenient for cultivation ; some are worth 

 twice that amount. Now is the time to act upon 

 it. We have seen a tree from which, we have 

 repeatedly been informed, more than twenty 

 barrels of marketable apples have been taken in a 

 single year. It is a Baldwin, and bears more or 

 less, every year — but has every advantage which 

 high cultivation affords. The modes of grafting 

 are well understood — we will only add — what 



