324 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



a cold bath, which his improved manner took good 

 care to avoid in future. 



A sheep-killing dog has been made too much 

 ashamed ever again to look a sheep in the face, 

 by tying his hind leg to a stout ram on the brow 

 of a hill, while the flock were quietly feeding at 

 the bottom. The ram being free, and in haste to 

 rejoin his friends, tumbled and thumped Master 

 Tray so sadly over the stones and gullies, that he 

 was quite satisfied to confine himself to cooked 

 mutton thereafter. 



Man's reason was given him to control "the 

 beasts of the field and birds of the air," by other 

 means than force. If he will bring this into play, 

 he will have no difficulty in meeting and overcom- 

 ing every emergency of perverse instinct or bad 

 habit in the dumb things by his superior cunning. 

 — American A Qriculturist. 



WATER— WATERING GROUNDS. 



Pure water is composed of fifteen parts hydro- 

 gen and eighty-five parts oxygen. But this is not 

 true, precisely, for other substances are held in 

 solution by water, besides the two above named. 

 It may, however, be the exact proportion of these 

 two constituents, which compose very nearly the 

 whole of Avater ; though the proportion may be 

 somewhat varied in the differents kinds of water. 

 This is so important an element in the vegetable 

 process and economy, that a few lines in relation 

 to it cannot be amiss in our columns. Highly 

 beneficial in some forms and certain quantities to 

 vegetation, water may yet be positively injurious 

 in others. Water in minute quantity is favorable 

 to combustion, as we often notice the blacksmith 

 moisten his coal, though in excess it quenches it. 

 So it is with air. The blowing of the breath, or 

 of a bellows, kindles a fire, while the same blast 

 will extinguish the flame of a lamp. Thus water 

 and manure also may be given in such excess to 

 plants as to be positively injurious. 



Rain water is considered the best for watering 

 grounds by reason of the principles with which it 

 becomes saturated in the atmosphere. It is soft, 

 easily dissolves soap, and is best for cooking. 

 This might easily be collected by the farmer into 

 cisterns, and used as occasion requires ; though by 

 long keeping in cisterns it loses some of its valua- 

 ble qualities. Where it ia practicable, a better 

 way would be to collect it by gullies in some low 

 spot in the garden, forming a small reservoir or 

 pond to be used as needed. Rain water is sup- 

 posed to be better for watering, when it has run 

 over the ground than when it falls from the clouds. 



The waters of rivers and running brooks flowing 

 over the surface of the ground are very good, and 

 supposed to be better the farther they have flowed 

 and the greater their volume. Small rivulets may 

 contain oxide of iron not sufficiently decomposed, 

 or other matters injurious to vegetation, which is 

 not the case in larger bodies of water, or likely to 

 be. 



Stagnant waters exposed to the sun and air be- 

 come filled with animal and vegetable matter 

 which though injurious to man, is highly salu- 

 brious to plants, and is therefore very good for the 

 purpose of watering. 



Spring water is apt to be too cold for some veg- 

 etables, and should stand exposed to the warm 

 air in vessels before applied. As it is frequently 

 conveyed a long distance under ground before 

 coming to the surface, its character is of course va- 

 ried by the kind of earth through which it has 

 passed, and may be beneficial or injurious accord- 

 ingly. 



Well water is considered the least beneficial to 

 vegetation, though perhaps it is more used than 

 any other. Well water, that is soft, good for 

 washing, will, if kept standing some time in ves- 

 sels exposed to the air, be good for plants. Well 

 water or other containing gypsum in solution is 

 hurtful to them, and should not be used. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PRACTICAL FARMING— NO. 4. 



CORN CULTURE. 



Mr. Editor : — I suppose that almost every man 

 who lives on a farm calculates that he "knows 

 how to raise taters and corn, without looking into 

 any of your garbled books and papers ; for he 

 learned of his father, and he knew how as well as 

 any body ;" but be that as it may, I believe in im- 

 provement, and in order to make all we can, it is 

 just as necessary to report a failure as it is if we 

 succeed ever so well ; that others may not fall in- 

 to the same error. 



Last spring I planted one acre and a half to 

 corn. An acre of it was to potatoes the year be- 

 fore, and the other half acre to corn. The half 

 acre was manured with green manure the year 

 previous, and last year I used well decomposed 

 manure in the hill, applying no other in any way. 

 I put a smallish shovelfull to a hill. On the 

 acre I put about twenty loads of green manure ; 

 plowed it in about five inches deep, using none in 

 the hill. No lime or ashes were used on either. 

 250 lbs. of gypsum Avas used. It was all in one 

 piece. That on the half acre was considerably the 

 best. The whole was extremely light, yielding 

 only fifty baskets of ears. The reason of the fail- 

 ure, I think, was the absence of the phosphates, 

 and might have been supplied by the use of lime, 

 gypsum or ashes. If others have had similar re- 

 sults, please report. S. Tenney. 



N. Raymond, Me., May, 1852. 



A Missouri Farm. — There is a farm upon the 

 prairie, near St. Louis, owned by Ligerson & 

 Brothers, (who seem to understand that to make 

 money by farming, money must be invested to be- 

 gin with,) comprising one thousand acres in one 

 field, fenced with posts and rails, a mile and a half 

 square, and containing 150 acres of corn, 40 acres 

 of strawberries for the St. Louis market, 30 acres 

 of flowers, 50 acres of peach trees, and 2(10 acres 

 of other fruit, among which are 2,5(10 pear trees, 

 200 acres of mowing, and 30 of pasturage. One 

 row of pear trees is three-quarters of a mile long, 



