i^!)e iTarmcr's itIonli|{w bisiior. 



sects i.lial (iCleii deslrnvoiie luilf of llie (irsi iil.iiit- 

 ili^ of i-oVii ; it cniisL'S nil eiiily ami nipiil giowtli, 

 tliiit, fveii if suwcii nitliei' lute, i-i|>eiis liie grniii 

 lielbro llic liost ii|)|)';iii-s. It |>rcseivcv- oilier L'raici 

 tVoiii mildew, 113 well lis liaviiiif as ijooil an efiuct 

 on it. For coin, mix oik; cijjiilli uitli old Warn ina- 

 iiure, to lie placed in the liill witli the eorn. For 

 oilier grain, sow it broad-cast al'ier |ilon;;liiii;r, 

 uiiil harrow it in \vitli the ^rain, one third to one 

 hair more ijrain will he the aveiag« diflcrence 

 iherehy. 



HojIE AFFEU'rio>?. — The heart has intiiiories 

 that caiiiint die. The roiij;!) rules of the world 

 laniiot oMiicrate ihein. They are memories of 

 home, early home. There is niagic in llie very 

 BOiind. There is the old tree niider which the 

 liilhl-liearted hoy swiiiif; in many a summer day; 

 there is the house where ho knew a parent's 

 love, and fmitid a parent's protection — now there 

 is the room in which he roniprd ivitii his broth- 

 er or sister, luii^' since, alas I laid in the church- 

 yard ill which he iiiiisi soon be j;atliered, over- 

 sliadowed by yon old cinirch, wliiiher with a 

 joyous troop like himself he has tillcn followed 

 ills parents to worship wilfi, and to he.ir the irood 

 old man who gave him to God in baptism. Why 

 oven the very school-honse associated in yoiitli- 

 tiil days with thoiiijlits of fernle and tasks, now 

 comes h.tck lo pleasant reniein iirances of many 

 an attachment there formed, many occasions that 

 called forth some generous c.\lii';ilion of the traits 

 of human nature. There he learned to tell sowie 

 of his best emotions. 'J'liere, perchance, he first 

 met the being who, by her love and tenderness 

 in after life, has made a hoino liir himself hap- 

 pier even than ihnt which childhood knew. — 

 There are certain feelings of humanity, and 

 those too among the best, that can find an ap- 

 propriate jihice lor their exercise only by one's 

 own fireside. There is a sacredness in the pri- 

 vacy of that spot wliicii it were a species ol' des- 

 ecration lo violate ! rie who seeks wantonly to 

 invade it, is neilher more nor less than a villain ; 

 and hence there is no surer test of the debase- 

 ment of morals in a community, than the dispo- 

 sition to tolerate in any mode the in an w ho dis- 

 regards the sanctities of private life. In tlie 

 turmoil of the world, let there he at least one 

 spot wlieri the poor man may find aftection that 

 is disinlerested, where he may indulge ii coiifi- 

 ilence that is not likely to be abu.sed. 



"THKFAItMER OF Mou.NT Ver.no.n." — VVash- 

 tiigton was passionately fond of iigriciiltnre. Its 

 inijirovement was ever «ilh Iiim an object of 

 paramonnl regard. Virginia can boast of few 

 sons to whom her agriciilline has been more in- 

 debted ; lew who have assiste<l in promoling its 

 interests to a gr^-ater e.xleni or with the manifes- 

 tation of a more ardent and patronizing zeal. — 

 The following account ol bis liirming operations, 

 will serve lo exhibit ihe Father of his country in 

 his true light. '' The farm of General Washing- 

 ton at Mount Vernon, contained 10,000 acres of 

 land in one body — equal lo about ]5 square 

 miles. It was ilivided into fiirins of convenient 

 size, at the distance of i, IJ, 4, and •) miles from 

 his mansion lioiise. These fiirms he visited ev- 

 ery day in pleasant weather, and was constantly 

 engaged in iiiakin<; experiments for the impiove- 

 nienl of ngriciiltnre. Some idea of the extent ol 

 his tiirming operations may he foined tioin the 

 follouing laets: in I7!^7, he had oOO acres in grass 

 HOwed-dOO bushels of oats— 700 acres with wlieat, 

 and as much morn in corn, barley, potaioes, beans, 

 peas. &c., and 150 with tnrni|is. His stock I'ou- 

 sisted of 140 horses, ] ]f5 cows, 2'J5 working oxen, 

 heifer.s, and steers, and oOO sheep. He constant- 

 ly employed 250 hands, and kept 24 p'lows going 

 (hiring the whole year, when the earth and the 

 slate of the weather Wdiild permit. In I7tf(i, he 

 slanghtered 1.50 hogs, lor the use of 1 

 niid provisions for hi 

 he had great regard. 



liis family 

 i ne^Moes, for w hoso comfort 

 '—Maine CuU. 



PitESF.RVi.NG EciGS. — At one of the Farmers' 

 Meetings in Boston last winter, Col. Thayer gave 

 his mode of preserving eggs, as follows": Take 

 a quart ol' salt and three quarts of lime, and add 

 water till the whole, stirred np and dissolved, is 

 of the consistency of cream ; then put in the 

 ego.i. . 



The Mas^, Ploilgliinan givis ihe followin:' 

 lioin a Sherburne correspoiulent : 



To one peck of lime put one pound ol' alum, 

 and make a sohnioii as j'or Hliile washing. I'nt 

 ihe tip end of the li'^'^ down to prevent the yolk 

 adhering to ihe side, then iill up the vessel that 

 contains the eggs with tin? :.-o|iilioii to cover them 

 completely. In a few days ihe bine will bccoine 

 dry, then fill the cask with sea «aler, or brine of 

 the same slrengih, to be kept moist. 



History of the Mercer Potato. — That va- 

 riety of the potato known in some sections of the 

 country us the Chenango or Pliiladel|iliia, in oth- 

 ers as the Mercer, in otiiersstill, as the '■ Mtshnn- 

 ic," (corrupted from Neshanoc,) has perhiqis been 

 more generally cultivated for several years past 

 than any (fther kind. Tin Farmer's Cibini;! gives 

 the history of this jiotato, which is suhstanlially 

 as follows : In the year 1773, a fiimily of the name 

 of Gilkey, came from the comity of Derry, in 

 Ireland, and settled in VVesimorelaiul coiiniy, 

 Pennsylvania. In November, I7;)7, two members 

 of this fimily, John and James Udkey, removed 

 to Mercer comity. Pa., and setlird about "2 miles 

 east of Neshanoe creek. In 1801, or 180'3, John 

 Gilkey planted a qiianlity of potato-halls, (or 

 seeds,) from red, blue, white, and other varieties 

 of [loiatoes. From the [lolaloes produced from 

 these balls, Mr. Gilkey selected the variety above 

 named. 'I'hey were soon alter cultivated and 

 brought into notice near Philatlelphia. and from 

 thence have been disseminated over the whole 

 country. This history was written by James 

 Gilkey, brother of John, who picdiiced the pota- 

 toes. Ill all aeeoimt of the origin of this pota- 

 to published a few years ago, it is stated that John 

 Gilkey \va.s educated for a Catholic |)riest, ami 

 that ha was an exile from the Iviierald isle, &c., 

 which his brother says is incorrect. — Cidlivnior. 



From tl:e Geiiesso Kni-rner. 



Small Productive Fakm.-t-I raised, the past 

 year, fnjm 30 acres of land, 700 bushels of pota- 

 toes, 80 luishels of barley, MT> bushels of heels, 

 15 hnshels of w heat, 10 bushels of beans, 4 tons 

 of moued oals, G tons of Fjiiglish hay, 10 tons of 

 meadow hay, 40 bushels of (;orii, 20 hnshcds of 

 carrots, 75 chickens and turkeys, and a great va- 

 riety of garden sauce. 



I have killed one hog-, weighing 390 Ihs., made 

 400 pounds of butter, kept three cows, a pair of 

 oxen, two heifers, two steer.*, eight sheep and 

 four bogs. I have been on the place but two 

 years, tiiid have laid six acres of land to grass; 

 Ihe land a clay loam easy to work. I have no 

 convenience for my hogs lo graze, neither do 1 

 believe it economy, for Ihe extra manure that can 

 be made by yarding them will pay the extra 

 feed. I mix lime witii my conipo.-.t, and plaster 

 my corn, potatoes and grass. 1 sort my potaioes 

 before sale, and by that means save half a peck 

 per bushel, which would he lost to me if not 

 sorted. Finally, J'cook every thing 1 give my 

 hogs, and feed warm, and keep unrm. 



A. T. ATKINS. 



From tlie Lontion Ciurdener^' Chronicle. 

 Experijneuts with nianuies. 



From the oiimeroiis experimcnls which have 

 been made with difterent manures in various 

 parts of the kingdom, on almost every variety of 

 soil and silnatioii, it is reasmiablc to hope lli.it hv 

 a i-omj.aiison of the lesiihs olMaiiic-d by these 

 means, ue may arrive at something near the 

 truth, and be enabled to form an estimate of the 

 ralative value of the substances thai may have 

 been made the subject of investigalion. It is 

 with the view of assisting in this important work, 

 that I iransiuil you the liillowiuc details of some 

 experimeiils made at (y'arclew, in ISJ:}, for the 

 piir|)Ose of testing on a small scale, the merits of 

 certain manures, when applie.l as a top-ihessing 

 lo growing crops. 



I'he sulijects selected for experiment were — 1, 

 nitrate of soda ; 9, sulphate of soda; Ij, gnauo; 

 4, sulpliiile ol' aimnonia ; 5, drainings liom the 

 liirmyard. 'j'he .-oil, a Wvv lii;lit loam, miNVigiii:: 

 about a foot in depth, on a yellow cl.iyey subsoil, 

 inters(iersed with spar. It liiid been well man- 

 ured the previous season, and cropped with lur- 

 iii|i.<. Alter these were removed, the ground was 

 [iloughed and (irepared for barley, whiirli was 

 sown in the lalliu- part of April. On the loth 

 .May, the inanureswere apjdied, the tenth pan o! 

 an acre being allotted for each experiment. 



1. JV'trale of >ioi!ii. — The qitatility used was 



•Si lbs., which is .-It the rale cd' about:} cwt. per 

 ere. It was sown by haurl wiib the utmost care. 

 Liitle or no eli'ect was observable for some time 

 afti'rwards, owing, no douhl, lo the iiiinsually 

 cold \vet weather, by which vegetarion geneiallV 

 was \fry much retarded. IN'o sooner, liowever, 

 did it become \iariii and simn.v,tliiin a ehim;.e ^\ai 

 apparent, not only in the more rapid grovMli of 

 the )daiit,<, wliich soon oiilsii ipped tlios<^ around 

 them, but also in the color (d' their st<uis i.iiil 

 leaves, which were alike remarkable, both for 

 their greater size and the rich deep green they 

 Laibseqiienily assumed. During llie season, this 

 plot maintained its fine healthy appearance, from 

 which I was led to infer that nitrate (d' soda 

 would prove a most valuable manure ; but iho 

 result was very dift'ereut to what I anticip;ited ; 

 the weight ol'tlie produce being, in straw, I'll) lb.--, 

 in. grain, 178 lbs., equal to o7a bushels per acre, 

 and less In Gi bushels per acre than any in ihe 

 series. 



I was not prepaied llir fiicli a diireronce he- 

 tween the weight oi the grain ami siraw in this 

 experiment, and those of the others, and I am 

 quite at a loss to account (or the deficiency. The 

 only way in which 1 imuiiine it to have" arisen, 

 was from the plants having been stimnlaleil .by 

 the application to become more succulent and 

 vascular, than they would ha\e been under oilier 

 circumstances; so lliut «heii they arrivcil at ina- 

 tiirity, and were cut and dried, the straw and 

 griiin lost in weight more than their hulk and ap^j 

 pearaiice would otherwise have led ns to expict. 



2. Sulphate pf Soda. — The same quantity, 33i 

 lbs. of this salt, was used as in No. 1. Being 

 pulverized, it was sown by hand, as the preceed- 

 ing; and lo the same cause may be ascribed the 

 slowness of ils action, no efi'ect being percepliblu 

 until warm weather made its appearunce, when 

 ils effects become nearly us striking as in ihe 

 |>revioiis expel imeiil. The plants' iicqiiiied a 

 dark healthy green color, and were upon iho 

 whole nearly as tall and luxuriant as those treated 

 with niirate of soda ; but here again ihe produce 

 was less than expected, the weight of straw being 

 2G4 lbs.; of grain 2!5 lbs., measuring 4 bushels 

 and 3 gallons, which is at the rate of 431 bush- 

 els per acre. In so far, therefore, as '.\e nay 

 judge from the result of these two eApeiiiiKUits, 

 it would seem as if neither the niiratu nor sul- 

 phate of soda were aiLpted for using on thin, 

 light soils. It is perfectly true that tliey act in 

 some way as a stimulant lo the growing plant, 

 as shown by llie places where they have been 

 used, being of a (lark brahhy green. 



3. Guiini). — The conflicting statements Mhich 

 have appeared from lime to lime respecting the 

 |)ioper (lu.iiility which ought to be applieii of this 

 manure, and llie failures that have occurred from 

 using it too lioiinlifnily, induced me to use u 

 uiucli smaller proportion of it than is now recom- 

 men.led, bin uoi withstanding this, ils e Heels were 

 truly reinarkalde; I'or, idlhotigh only KIA lbs. 

 were sown dry ever this alloimi nt, which is ,:t 

 the rate of about ]A cwt. per acre, it could readi- 

 ly he distinguished during Ihe growing season 

 from any other [lari of ihe field. The corn tiller- 

 ed well, and appeared thicker than in Nos. 1 and 

 2, and although somewhat shorier, it was in olh- 

 er respects equally stiongimd heahhy, and of u 

 rich, deep green. Ii di-serves lo be noticed thai, 

 at the limeol' binding i p the grain, the workmen 

 remarked what appeared to ihem to be a diilcT- 

 cnce ill the weight of the sheaves, coinpared 

 wiili those in Ihe first and second plots, nhicli 

 Ihey had prijviously b(nmd np, and the leMilt 

 showed an increase over the nitrate of soda, of 

 no less than 81 lb.-', of srra\>, and 74 lbs. of gr.-rm; 

 Ihe weii;lit of ihe siraw being 280 lbs., of grain, 

 252 lbs., etpial to 5 buslads, or .50 bushels per acre. 

 Hei-ides ibis experiment, I have made several otl:- 

 ers uiili giiaiM in a liijiiid slate, on vegetables in 

 the kitelieii garden, all ol which have satisfied 

 m: that this manure, when nnadulterated, is one 

 of the most po^^■erfnl that can possibly be em- 

 ployed, lis eiii-cts are visible in Ihe course of 

 eight or ten (lays alter its appliealion. For on- 

 ions, c(dery, and the cabliage tribe, it surpasses 

 all manures. 1 had porli(ms of each of those 

 vegetables Wat-red wiili guano, without lieiiig 

 made a\vare of tin! particular spots so trealed, 

 and at the end of the week I had no difliridty in 

 poiniing out every spot where the guano bad 

 I.'cen ii.sed. 



1. Sii,'ph'i.k of A!ivmnia.~\ iii\\uV\ qu;:iiliiy of 



