Qi[)t Savnxns iilonti)hj b biiin-. 



59 



stinted. Not a great crop of (.'iini Ims been 

 grown for josirs, in wliirli this practice Ims been 

 (bl lowed. 



G. It is proved lluit corn ton thick will not ear ; 

 bnl that in some seasons it will bear lo be thick- 

 er ihan oliiers. 



7. The irnpolicvof throuini; all tlie corn pnt 



in a liiil, when' planted, loqelher, is foi 

 shown by the .snccess of planting in drills 

 siriirle kernel. — Cult. 



iblv 

 of a 



Potato Cultivation. 



'• 1/ist siniiij; Air. Whitney broke up a pirce of 

 green sward, harrowed it llioron^jlily, carted npon 

 it maiuire I'roni the yard, at the rali^ ol'lhiriy-lwo 

 loads to the acre, cross ploughed it, harrowed ila- 

 jrain, and planted it in the usual manner in hills. 

 At the proper season, after ploni;liini; between the 

 rows, the piece was well hoed, which operation 

 ill due season was repealed. In llie fall he dujx 

 from this piece, at the rate ol' three Iniiidiod bush- 

 els to the acre, which for this year, on aceonnt of 

 the rust, was considered a ijreat yielil. 



" By the side of this piece, on jirecisely the 

 tiaine quality of soil, manure liom the yard was 

 carted and spread, at the same rate of thirty-two 

 loads to the acre ; the sward was then carefidly 

 tinned over, and the furrows were laid tlal witli 

 therolhr. ISi-tween every other furrow, where 

 they came to;.'ether, (thai is, between the lir.slainl 

 second, and between the third and tbnrlh ami so 

 on,) holes two feet apart, were made with a shar])- 

 eiied stick, about three inches deep, larpe rnonudi 

 to receive the seed. Into each hole one piece of 

 potaloe was put, ami the holes filled up with mel- 

 low soil, even w itb the seneral siirfice of the fiehl. 

 There was no furtlier labor b.- slowed npon the 

 crop till the dijisinf.'-, when ibe rjuaniity proilnced 

 was a lilde over four hundred bushels to the acre. 



" Both pieces were planted with the .same va- 

 riety of sied, mostly the common white, and al- 

 so within the same week. The hitter piece bow- 

 ever canje liirward earlier, j;''^" more luxinianlly, 

 and soon cniiiplelely covered the jironnd : and ul- 

 ihoii'^li never hoed, not a weed w.is to he seen in 

 it. Before dl^'gin;.', the field had the appearance 

 of havim.' been well hoed, the potatoes having 

 raised up the ■jroiind above them.'' 



The foreiioiii'j; isan extract from a coninimiica- 

 tion of .lames A. Paddoi-k, Km\. of Crafisbiiry, 

 \ I., published in the Visitor, liir Feb. 1840, in re- 

 lation to an experinient made by .Mr. Newell 

 Whilney of that town in the previous year. 



Kver since that time llie Editor ol" the Visitor 

 h;is raised each season from 40U to 1000 bushels 

 of potatoes annually, the !.'reater part of which 

 have been enltivated after ibe iiianner above de- 

 scribed. I'pon the intervales we have never fail- 

 ed to obtain the largest crop in this way. Take the 

 sward hay land intended to be renovated for a 

 larL'er crop — s|ircad upon the ground from 25 to 

 .^0 stonl loads of good maniirt — take mie of Pron- 

 fy & iMear.s' Ploughs with the coulter culling di- 

 ug<nially into the land, .and turniiig the furrow 

 complet'dy over to the depth of about eiulit inch- 

 es, if the plough will ael mil; let the furrows cut 

 twelve iiK-hcs wide, and iii.ike every third I'lirrovv 

 a row of potatoes, thus leaving the rows at a dis- 

 tance of about three feet. Let the bole in which 

 a single common sized potato may be inserted be 

 made with some sharp instrument so the potato 

 shall be at the depth of about three inches; if it 

 be dropjied di^eper or at the liolloin of the invert- 

 ed soil, the bill ol" (lolatoes will be funned at too 

 great depth — but dropped down at the diiplb of 

 three inches directly in the interstice between 

 the turned oyer furrow, the roots of the potatoes 

 will draw all the advantage that the manure can 

 give them from the manure which lies still deep- 

 er under cover of the sod. In a season of ex- 

 treme drought, when there had been no rain for 

 nearly two months and when other fields were 

 parched and dried up, we found our field grow- 

 ing more and more green — the decomposing tiirf 

 acting wiih the manure upon it, damp and moist, 

 sending up contiunally the requisite qiianliiy of 

 limmonia for the potato crop. 



What w.as better than all the rest, there wiu'C 

 no weeds in the field, and the hoeing or stirring 

 of the surface twice in the course of the summer 

 was not so much as the hoeing once where the 

 tnanure was laid over the surface. The hills of 

 |iotaloes formed beantifidly above the sod swell- 

 ing up 118 ii" made wiih the hoe, as desciibed in 



the coniminiication of Mr. Paddock. In our first 

 field, where the bills were formed outside or 

 above the sward, the potatoes were gathered al- 

 most as easy as they would be picked up — in 

 half the time of the common digging and gath- 

 ering. But where they are plumed so deep as to 

 grow under the sod, the iligging is more labori- 

 ous than even the common hills. 



In rough, rocky ground it will be difficidt so to 

 plough the ground as to make this mode of plant- 

 ing perfect. The plough thrown out leaves a space 

 of turf unturned. On the smooth intinvales the 

 whole may be turned over, and with a plough ol 

 the perfect kind the furrow may be cut nearly as 

 straight !:s an arrow. The uninterrupted lurrows 

 laid completely over, with a snrliicc iieaily flat, 

 present a most beautiful appearance; and all the 

 manure lying iimh'r the sod that is not taken up 

 fir the present crop of potatoes, remains for the 

 benefit of future seasons. There is not n (Uul't 

 in our opinion ibut not only all the strength ol the 

 manure thus covered, but all the value of thede- 

 i-a\ing .sward, even slionid the plough never strike 

 it, comes in tor the benefit of future grain and 

 grass crops, and that even land of naturally damp 

 and heavy mould will bo lightened by carrying 

 the sward and manure (not to be stirred) to the 

 depth of eight inches. The land sufiiciently 

 drained to be cnllivattd with corn or polatoes 

 may be salcdy treated with a coat of covered up 

 ivianure next to the sward : future grass cro)is 

 will feel the benefit for years. — Ed. I'isilor. 



The soil of the coiiutry must be reclaimed. 



There is little land within the liii.ils of New 

 Hampshire that is not valuable lijrsume purpose. 

 Her ledges of rock in many cases will be liiund 

 lo be more vahiable than mines of silverand gold. 

 Much of the ground that is too rocky for the 

 plough or too porous i"or the profitable applica- 

 tion of manures, will yield an annual increase of 

 a hundred per ceiiLon its l"ormer esiimated value 

 in the growth of wood and timber. There is no 

 part of our terra firma that may be reproached as 

 useless. 



My object will be to convince sncli as are not 

 already convinced, that there is one true and sure 

 course which if the firmer pursues will assure 

 him increase ol" capital and secure biiii the more 

 certain means of a comfortable living. That 

 course is, a perseverance in the use of those 

 means which may come within his reach to ren- 

 ovate and improve his soil. 1 wish every prac- 

 tical man to keep the rule coiisianlly in mind : it 

 will in many cases carry him even in advanci^ of 

 his better hopes — it will bless him both morally 

 and physically. 



No mailer on what ground a man may happen 

 to be placed, whether the soil at present be | oor 

 or ricli, i!" it only contain inherent qualifies of pre- 

 servation that shall sulTer no labor liestuwed up- 

 on it to be thrown auay. The necessary course 

 of things in the cnltivalion of the first virgin soil 

 give^i the easy ami more fertile land a first advan- 

 tage ; I. Ill this advantage to what is called good 

 lands is by no means as great in the renovating 

 system that must succeed the exhausting system. 

 For [iroof of this fact we need not look beyond 

 what is round about us. There are lands highly 

 inoduelive and valuable from their posilinn. The 

 iDeerfield meadows in Massachusetts being allu- 

 vion formed by the backing in of the waters of 

 the Cniineclicut at the iiiiniib of the tributary 

 stream bearing llie name of the town wherB it 

 unites wilh the larger stream, have continued an 

 extraordinary feitility for more than a hundred 

 vcars, because they are every year supplied with 

 the material which liest contribules to llie earth's 

 feitilitv. Other alluvial liuiiis on the banks of 

 our rivers, having similai means of supply, will 

 always be more valuable ilian uplands that have 

 not the same advantage. But there are farms 

 having none of these advantagi^s — there are cul- 

 tivated lands lliat have been dug nut of the bard 

 rock, whose vegetable moiihl has been made in 

 part from a subsoil of cravel nearly as bard asthi 

 rock itsidf — lands thai had for year.< been aban- 

 doned because they were considered too porous 

 to retain the slrenglh of any kind of matter thai 

 could be applied to them ; — there are farms and 

 lands of this descri|)lion in various parts of New 

 England that have been niadi^ by artificial me.-ms 

 equally valuable and productive as the very best 

 natural soil of the coiintrv. — Hill's .']ili/res.i, lr<UI. 



For tlio Farinor's Monthly Visitor. 

 In your valuable paper last spring I noticed an 

 article on the preparation of seed corn against 

 the r.-n'ages of the worn', which I thiingbt was to 

 the purpose. I [irepared my corn in the same 

 manner tlait your paper statial, but was laughed 

 at by one id" my knowing neighbors. He said 

 the corn would not come up: it would rot; but 

 he wa.s mistaken. When he came lo his field 

 and mine, the worms devoured his and did inu 

 cat one s[H'ar of mine, which saved more than 

 ten times the cost of one volume of voiir pa- 

 per. E. B. 



y'lir the F.irmer's Aloiilliiy Vi.-itor. 

 Estract from my Jourual. 



lI.TINn STRAWBF.r.RIKft. 



Some naliiralists who have long observed the 

 analogy between the veget.-ihle and animal king- 

 doms have almost come lo the conclusion that 

 man is but a sort of thinking vegetable, endow- 

 ed \\\i\\ loconioiion, thought and genius, and that 

 the scale of gradation is gradual and easy could 

 we but trace it down to the most inert and in- 

 sensible of the plants that grow upon llio earth 

 V bicli we inhabit. Plants appear to have a con- 

 siderable degree of instinct or of "nature in 

 them ;'• for do we not ."ee them in darkness 

 reaidiing to the liglii ■• does not one tree avoid 

 the shade and branches of another, and rio they 

 not linn their roots to reach the lefresliiug and 

 sustaining iiKustm e that creejis along ihe ground ? 

 This is as common as for man to seek his noiir- 

 iHliment and sustenance, .-ind when we join llns 

 fact that the leaves are ihe lungs of trees and 

 plants, the analogy increases. What is it that 

 teaches the hop- |jliiiit upon selling up n long 

 pole to leave the short one, acln.illy unwind ii- 

 selfj and reach farlln'r and climb the larger and 

 more snit.ible support ? This may bo instinct 

 wilhont knowledge; but does it not appear 

 much like to the result of llionght? 



Wfi may spend our lives in the study of the 

 varieties and propensilies of plants, and our lul- 

 miraiion and wonder will but go on increasing, 

 leaving the mass of mankind whose alteiitioes 

 are bent in a d.ifi^crent direction, in that inciedu- 

 lily which may be lliu case with many of my 

 readers when they have heard my siory. This 

 incredulity in many inslanccs is to be deplored: 

 hou (hies it hting like a millstone around t' o 

 neck of genius, dampening ihe ardor and f'l K- 

 ening the heart ? What b.is been the line .■ i-d 

 experience of ulinnst every great inventor, !•'.( 

 heart-depressing derision and cold and cheerless 

 indifl^irence ? W'as not Eiilton laughed at ? "All 

 feared, none aided or understood ;" yet the whole 

 character of society, of arts, intercourse and de- 

 fence, has been changed. Franklin loo, the nev- 

 er to be i'orgotleii Franklin; when his treatise 

 upon the identity ol" elcciiicily and lightning 

 was laid before the Royal Society of Loiidmi, 

 the most learned body of men in the world saw 

 it imnoiiced at first as idle and visionary; and 

 now we iiot only hcfn-ve this, but it seems we 

 are about to talk to each other lonnil llie globe 

 by llie aid of electric wires. Siicli are the les- 

 sons ihat experience leaches of the deplorable 

 incredulity of our race : we all know that there 

 are (lying squirrels, flying fish, plants that live, 

 and grow in the air without touching the earth, 

 and yet, with such fads before lis, 1 cannot an- 

 licipate entire belief at first in the c-xMact from 

 my journal which shows that there were and 

 no douhl siill is to be found (lying strawberries 

 and of excellent tl.ivor too without cither cream 

 or sugar. 



When I was a boy iliere lived in my village on 

 the banks of the iMerrimack a widow by iIib 

 name of Siiaddoc. Her only son Joseph, from 

 venturing often upon the river in a boat, took a 

 liking lo the sea, and alier be had got bis iisnal 

 school avocation coiilil not restr.-iin the incliiia- 

 lioii to become a sailor. In spite of all that his 

 good mother could say, of what she tolil him 

 lliat her love and hojie were i-enlered in him, 

 notl.'ing wiinid slay him at home. He would 

 have hi- bi'll-mnzzled trousers, his short jacket 

 and alazed hat, and go to sea. Sad were naiiiv 

 o(" her hours: many the pure prayer she put up 

 for his preservation and safe retiiin. Al lengtii 

 when two xcarshad passed, one day in came her 

 sailor boy. How changed 1 a head taller, a real 

 Jack-tar rock in his walk, and bis complexion 

 darkened by the (irrvor of a tropical siiii. He 



