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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



chinery for the growth of food has advanced com- 

 paratively little. And, backward as we are, we 

 are far in advance of most other nations. Italy, 

 beautiful, suffering Italy, needs to-day millions of 

 dollars' worth of such implements as we could pro- 

 fitably send her if she only knew how much she 

 might profit by them ; and a thousand ingenious, 

 observing, intelligent, stirring Yankees diffused 

 among her people as apostles of agricultural im- 

 provement, (especially with the schoolmaster to 

 aid them,) would do her immeasurable good, if her 

 jealous and stupid tyrants would but let them. 

 There are broad fields of effort now open or open- 

 ing to those inclined and qualified to labor for hu- 

 man progress, and prominent among them is the 

 field of agricultural improvement by machinery. 

 Let it not be neglected ; and let those who achieve 

 brilliant successes therein be duly honored and re- 

 warded. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A STRING OF ANSWERS. 



Mr. Editor : — A "Young Farmer" wishes to 

 obtain some information, in regard to reclaiming a 

 particular piece of upland, of a moist, black, loamy 

 soil. Now the best method to bring it to its 

 "wonted productiveness" would be to give it a 

 thorough plowing, for land which has "never been 

 plowed" if ever so productive, naturally, will not 

 yield very heavy crops, and the result must, of 

 course, be attributed to "bad management" some- 

 where. Manure of a light substance, such as re- 

 fuse of hay, would be best to plow in on such 

 lands. Ashes applied as a top dressing do well. 

 Swamp muck, lime and ashes as a compost are 

 generally considered beneficial, on lands of this 

 description. Many farmers are too much inclined 

 to cut all grasses out of season. Grass cut just in 

 the right time is worth 40 per cent, more at least, 

 than that which has stood until the bottom has 

 begun to dry up and decay ; but some allowance 

 must be made for very moist land and a wet sea- 

 son. Manure drawn in June "when the land is 

 dry," would do better plowed in, in most cases. 

 Grass seed sown in the spring with oats, is prefera- 

 ble among most farmers here. 



Rather moist upland, with a sandy clay sub soil, 

 has done remarkably well, in producing barley, 

 provided the ground is well manured. 



As for pasture lands, I am not prepared to say 

 what kind of grass seed should be sown to the best 

 advantage. "Variety is the spice of life," there- 

 fore, in order to fatten swine, corn would seem to 

 be the best as a general thing, but rye is also used 

 with profit, provided the "supply is equal to the 

 demand." Oiie ! jam satis. 



May, 1852. 



Flower Culture. — The most delightful and 

 healthy employment for ladies, is the culture of 

 flowers. The general superintendence of a gar- 

 den is generally found favorable to health, by lead- 

 ing to frequent exercise in the open air, and that 

 communing with nature which is equally refresh- 

 ing to the heart. The tending of flowers has 

 ever appeared a fitting care for the young and 

 beautiful. They then dwell, as it were, among 

 their own emblems, and many a voice of wisdom 

 breathes on the ear from those sweet blossoms, to 

 which they apportion the dew and the sun-beam. — 

 Southern Cultivator. 



THE STRAWBERRY. 



Hear what the Soil of the South says about this 

 fruit. We certainly should feel obliged to friend 

 Peabody, if he would have one of the largest spec- 

 imens coppered, sides and bottom, excavated, masts 

 set in, and loaded with a few hundred bushels and 

 sent to this port. We will guarantee the cream 

 and sugar to match ! Stand back, a little, gentle- 

 men, one of these may roll down and crush a foot 

 or leg ! 



We are informed by intelligent gentlemen from 

 Cincinnati, that our fruit in the Columbus market 

 averages a third larger than the best that is sold 

 in Cincinnati, and as we now write, April 25th, 

 bushels may be picked from our beds, more than 

 four inches in circumference. And if your corres- 

 pondent will, with his accustomed liberality in hor- 

 ticultural matters, offer a premium of a hundred 

 dollars, for a bushel of strawberries picked at one 

 picking, the least one of which shall measure four 

 inches in circumference, we will pick that bushel 

 and convince the Ohio cultivators that vines may 

 be dwarfed without dwarfing the fruit. * * * 

 Our vines hug the ground, and the fruit stem fre- 

 quently occupies more space than the leaves. Lid 

 you never see a fruit tree twice dwarfed without 

 affecting the size of the fruit? Why, then, should 

 you doubt the same principle in the strawberry 

 plant? * * * We repeat, what we have be- 

 fore said, and is susceptible of daily, weekly, and 

 monthly proof, that we have picked ripe fruit from 

 our vines ten months in the year, and can always 

 do it six. Our fruit commenced ripening in March, 

 and the same vines are now again in fruit and 

 bloom. 



Think of that ! Such a strawberry patch on the 

 right, a sugar plantation on the left, and a herd 

 of short horns in the distance, to furnish the cream ! 

 Talk of paradise and lands that flow with milk and 

 honey ! Give us the sunny South, and Columbus, 

 in Georgia, in particular. These are the Elysian 

 fields, and brother Peabody may expect us in his 

 precinct the first moment we can get out of the 

 furrow. 



An Irish Wood Cutter. — Last week, Mr. Bige- 

 low, of Sherburne, told a newly-arrived Irishman, 

 whom he had just employed on his farm, to go out 

 into his pasture (pointing to a pasture over beyond 

 his orchard,) and cut all the scattering pines. 

 The Irishman went into the orchard, instead of 

 the pasture, and commenced work upon the apple 

 trees. He cut down two entire rows through the 

 orchard before he was noticed. The trees were 

 fine, young, bearing trees, and the damage done 

 was estimated at $200. The poor fellow seemed 

 hardly aware of the mischief he had done, and 

 said he meant to have got them all down before 

 night. — Lowell Courier. 



Age and Perseverance. — It is a fault too much 

 practised by both sexes to indulge in listlessness, 

 and a kind of hopeless languor, at the decline of 

 life. Our energies and talents were given us to 

 persevere to the end. 



