546 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



of brush, and- two shillings per bushel for seed, we 

 have, for the product of an acre $65,00. 



Allowing one thousand pounds, which is not un- 

 common, and one hundred bushels of seeds, and 

 we have as the product of one acre, $93,30. 



The expense of cultivation differs not essential- 

 ly from that of Indian corn. It may be a little 

 more. The amount of manure required is less. It 

 exhausts the soil far less than Indian corn, or po- 

 tatoes. I know of plats of ground, which have 

 been planted with broom corn more than twenty 

 years in succession, and their owners tell me, that 

 they produce more now than at first. 



It will be seen from what I have written, that 

 with suitable soil and climate, broom corn may 

 easily be produced ; and that, ordinai-ily, it is 

 among the most remunerative crops raised in New 

 England. 



It should be borne in mind, however, that there 

 is but a limited demand ; and, whenever the sup- 

 ply exceeds the demand, it becomes a losing busi- 

 ness. Hence, the fluctuations in the market. 

 When the farmers in Ohio engage in the cultiva- 

 tion of it, as they occasionally do, the business is 

 ruined in Massachusetts. Last season, brush was 

 brought from Ohio and sold at Northampton, for 

 three dollars per hundred. We cannot grow it for 

 that. One word about plows and I am done. 



Messrs. Ruggles, Nourse, Mason & Co., whose 

 skill, untiring industry and eminent success in im- 

 proving and perfecting agricultural improvements 

 should commend them to every tiller of the soil, 

 have prepared a plow with special reference to 

 broom corn stubble. With an ordinary plow, it is 

 found difficult to cover the stubbs. If left exposed 

 they are troublesome, rendering it difficult to cul- 

 tivate the lands or to reduce it to a sufficiently even 

 surface to seed for grass. This plow is so con- 

 structed as to cut and cover eighteen inches, and 

 if necessary, twenty-one inches. The rows are or- 

 dinarily three feet apart, seldom more. With this 

 plow, every second furrow will cut and cover a row 

 of stubbs, leaving the surface smooth and burying 

 the roots where they will no more annoy the cul- 

 tivator, but nourish the succeeding crop. This 

 plow has been tested in several of the river towns, 

 on broom corn land, and found to accomplish all 

 that was designed. I would recommend it to broom 

 corn tillers, and feel confident they will find it for 

 their interest to be possessed of tins labor-saving 

 machine. R. k. h. 



THE FARM OF B. V. FRENCH. 



I had the pleasure a few days since of visiting 

 the farm of B. V. French, Esq., of Braintree, ten 

 miles south of Boston, on the Old Colony Railroad. 

 It consists of about 180 acres. Some of it is yet 

 in the condition in which the drift agency left it, 

 covered and filled with bowlders. This shows what 

 the whole was before Mr. French had the manage- 

 ment of it. Large portions, however, I should 

 think much the larger part, are completely re- 

 claimed, and what a change ! From the most un- 

 seemly, it has become the most lovely. The man, 

 who has wrought the transformation, must be set 

 down as a public benefactor. My stay with Mr. 

 F. was short, and he, as such a man of course 

 must be, was much engaged. I cannot therefore 

 give statistics of his farming operations. But such 

 quantities of fruit, apples of every variety, pears, 

 peaches, plums, melons, and more than I can 



name ; such crops of every description ; such ani- 

 mals, horses, oxen, cows, and swine of the choicest 

 breeds ; such an amount of labor going on, and all 

 so orderly, so perfectly reduced to system ; every 

 thing, from the flower garden to the large corn- 

 field, and from the strawberry patch to the great 

 orchard with its tempting fruit in almost boundless 

 profusion, so as it should be, as a gentleman of 

 taste would wish it, and as an economist would 

 say it ought to be ; such combinations of beauty 

 and utility ; I never saw the like ; whether Adam 

 and Eve did in Paradise, is more than I know. 

 Nothing pleased me more than the kind and re- 

 spectful intercourse between the master of the 

 premises and those in his employ. There was an 

 exhibition of mutual confidence and fidelity which 

 was truly admirable. In a meeting between Mr. 

 F. and his leading men in the evening, at which 

 I was permitted' to be present, the whole doings of 

 the day were brought into review, and everything 

 was arranged for the next day, so that every man 

 on the place must have known his duty, and no 

 time could be lost by the men waiting for each 

 other, or waiting for orders from the employee. 

 The farm, so far as reclaimed, is enclosed in lots 

 of from one to three or four acres, by stone walls. 

 The walls are built in the very best manner, and 

 extend from 3 to 4 feet below the surface, to at 

 least 5 above. Gates are placed between the street 

 and the lots, also in the cart path from one lot to 

 another. These, as well as every thing else, are 

 of the most substantial construction, plain, but 

 neat as can be imagined. After riding and walk- 

 ing with Mr. French over much of the farm, as we 

 came to an eminence, whence nearly the whole 

 could be seen, he addressed me, as nearly as I can 

 recollect, in the following language. I only wish 

 I could give his emphases. "When God created 

 our first parents, he put them into a garden. In 

 that garden were all manner of trees, pleasant to 

 the eye, and fruits good for food. And why did he 

 put them into a garden 1 That they might dress it 

 and keep it. They were to see every thing pleasant. 

 and to enjoy every thing good; and they were to 

 work. I have always thought that to make a 

 garden and to dress it and keep it, was the pleasant- 

 est thing a man could do in this world. When I 

 was in the city, I sighed to be in the country. 

 Since 1817 I have been trying to make a garden. 

 I have made mistakes. Some things I have had to 

 do over again. In some I have been fortunate, 

 and in others unfortunate ; and here it is ; from 

 this point, you see what I have done." 1 left him 

 with the belief that he is a happy man, and witli 

 the wish he may long enjoy the fiuits of his enter- 

 prise. I might add that Mr. French is a member 

 of our State Board of Agriculture, one from whose 

 example, though not all could safely imitate, yet 

 all could learn much that is useful. We cannot 

 all do as such men do, but we can all do better for 

 what they do. — Hampshire Express. 





f3P° The Secretary of the Hampshire Agricultur- 

 al Society, J. W. Boyden, Esq., will please accept 

 our thanks for a complimentary ticket to attend 

 the late Exhibition of that Society. Numerous 

 engagements prevented an attendance. 



|3P The better animals are fed, and the more 

 comfortable they can be kept, the more profitable 

 they are, and fill farmers work for profit. 



