Published hy John B. Russell, at M. 52 Mrth Market Street, (oveTlh^^g^^lUral Wa.e/^ou.ej.-THOMATGTF^^I^DEN, £A7or 



V OL. VII. 



A G R I C U -L T U R E. 



BOSTON, Friday, January 9, 1829. 



No. 2.5. 



AGRICULTURE. 



Written for the Conversation- Lexicon, by the Editor of the 

 Hew Eligliind Farnior. 



(Concluded from page 185.) 



AGRIcnLTURE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The tenitory of tlie United States is very ex- 

 tensive, and presents almost every variety of soil 

 and clinjate, which the earth aflbrcls. The agri- 

 culture of this wide spread coinitry emhraces all 



'the products of European cultivation, tog-ether > .. - - 



with some, (such as sugar and indigo) which are ' fl'.""'":' ^e cut oft" that they may l)U 

 rarely made objects of tillage in any part of Eu- 

 rope. To give a full descrijxion of the agricul- 

 ture of these states would reipiire a large votunie. 

 We shall confine ourselves to such sketches fs we 



.may deem of most practical importance to those I . . - - -^- 



•who are or intend to become cultivators of North ! "*'" P'eces. Those which require to be made 

 American soil. , shorter are cut in pieces nearly of a length, drawn 



The farms of the Eastern, Northern, and Mid- i ^•^S'^'l'^'" ^Y o^en, piled in close heaps and burnt, 

 die States consist, generally, of from 50 to 200 '''^serving such trees, and logs as may be needcil 

 acres, seldom rising to more" than three, and gen- j *"'' ^'^"°'"" t^'e lot. The heating of the soil so 

 •crally falling short of two hundred acres. Every i ^'"^^"'"y^ "'*' S^een roots, and the ashes made by 

 farm is enclosed and divided either by stone walls *'" ' "" 



the ground, on smooth stone posts or pillars, 

 which rats, mice, or other vermin cannot ascend. 

 With regard to the best manner of clearing for- 

 est-land from its natural growth of timber, the fol- 

 lowing observations may be of use to a " first set- 

 tler." In those jiarts of the country where wood 

 is of but little value, the trees are felled in one of 

 the summer months, the earlier in the season the 

 better, as the stumps will be less apt to sprout, 



and the trees will have a longer time to dry 



The trees lie till the following spring, when the 

 limbs, which do not lie very near the ground 



the belter. 



Fire must be put to them in the driest part of the 

 month of May ; or if the whole of that month 

 prove wet, it may be applied the beginning of 

 June. Only the bodies of the trees will remain 

 after burning, and some of them will be burnt 



or rail fences, made of timber, not many hedges 

 having hitherto been cultivated. The buildin- 

 first erected on a " new lot," or a tract of landuSt 

 yet cleared from its native growth of limber is 

 what is cdleJ a log-bouse. This is a hut or^ab- 

 in, made of round straight logs, about a foot in di- 

 ameter, lying on each other, and notched in at 

 the corners. The intervals between the logs are 

 filled with slijw of wood, and the crevices, gener- 

 ally stopped with mortar, made of clay. The 

 fire-place commonly consists of rough stones, so 

 placed as to form a hearth, on which wood may 

 be burnt. Sometimes these stones are made to 

 assume the form of a chimney, and are carried up 

 through the roof, and, sometimes, .a hole in the roof 

 is the only substitute for a chimney. Tiie roof is 

 made of rafters forming an acute angle at the 

 summit of the erection, and is covered with shin- 

 gles commonly split from pino trees, or with bark 

 peeled from the hemlock, (pinus canadensis.) 



When the occupant, or " first settler," of this 

 " nevr -land'' finds himself in "comfortable circum- 

 stances," he builds what is styled a "frame- 

 house," composed of timber, held together by ten- 

 ons, mortices and pins, and boarded, shingled, and 

 •clap-boarded on the outside ; and often painted 

 white, scuietitncs red. Houses of this kind gen- 

 erally contain a dining room and kitchen, and 

 throe or four bed-rooms on the same floor. They 

 are rarely destitute of good cellars, which the na- 

 ture of the climate renders almost indispensable. 

 The fann-buildiugs consist of a barn, proportiori- 

 Od to the size of the farm, with stables for horses 

 and cows on each side, and a threshing floor in 

 tlic middle ; and the more wealthy farmers add a 

 cellar under the barn, a part of which receives 

 the manure from the stables, and another i)art 

 serves as a store-room for roots, &c. for feetiiij.' 

 stock. What is called a corn-barn is likewise 

 very common, which is built exclusively for stor- 

 ing the ears of Indian corn. The sleepers of this 

 building are generally set up four or five feet from 



the burning are so beneficial as manure to the 



land, that it will produce a good crop of wheat or 



, Indian corn, without I'loughing, hoeing, or manur- 



If new land be in such a situation that its nat- 

 ural growth, may turn to betttu- account, whether 

 for timber or fire wood, it wi!l be an unpanlonn- 

 ble waste to burn the wood on the ground. But 

 if the trees be taken oft', the land must be plough- 

 ed after clearing, or it will not produce a ciop^of 

 any kind. 



The following remarks on this subject are ex- 

 tracted from some observations by Samuel Pres- 

 ton, of Stockport, Pennsylvania, a very observing, 

 experienced, and judicious cultivator ; which were 

 first published in the JVeio England Farmer, an ag- 

 ricultural paper, printed at Boston, Massachu- 

 setts. 



Previous to undertaking to clear land, Mr Pres- 

 ton advises ; 



« 1st. Take a view of all large trees, and sec 

 which way they may be felled for the greatest 

 number of sm:dl trees to be felled alongside or on 

 them. After felling the large trees, only lop down 

 their limbs ; but all such as are felled near them 

 should be cut in suitable lengths for two men to 

 roll and pile about the large trees, by which means 

 they may be nearly all burnt up, without cutting 

 into lengths, or the expense of a strong team to 

 draw thjiii together. 



" 2d. Fell all the other trees parallel, and cut 

 them into suitable lengths, that they may be read- 

 ily rolled together, without a team, always cutting 

 the largest trees first, that the smallest maybe 

 loose on the top to feed the fires. 



" 3d. On hill-sides fell the timber in a level 

 direction ; Then the logs will roll together; but if 

 the trees are felled down hill, all the logs must be 

 turned round before they can be rolled, and there 

 will be stumps in the way. 



" 4th. By following these directions, two men 

 may readily heap and burn most of the timber, 

 without requiring any team ; and perhaps the 

 brands and the remains of the log-heaps may all 



be wanted to burn up the old fallen trees. After 

 proceeding as din^cted, the ground will be clear 

 for a team and sled to draw the remains of the 

 heaps where they may be wanted round the old 

 logs. Never attempt to either chop or draw a 

 large log until the size and weight are reduced by 

 fire. 



" The more fire heaps there are made on the 

 clearing, the better, particularly about the old 

 logs, where there is rotten wood. 



" The best time of the year to fell the timbej-, 

 in a great measure depends on the season's being 

 wet or dry. Most jieople prefer having the tim- 

 ber fallen in the month of June, when the leaves 

 are of full size. Then by spreading the leaves 

 and brush over the ground, (for they should not 

 be heapetl) if there should be a very dry time the 

 next Mrfy, fire may be turned through it, aii.l will 

 burn the leaves, limbs, and top of the ground SO 

 that a very good crop of Indian corn and pump- 

 kins may be raised among the logs by hoeing ; 

 after those crops come off", the land may be clear- 

 ed and sowed late with rye and timothy grass, or 

 with oats and timothy in the sjiring. If what 

 they call a good burn cannot be had in Pday, keep 

 the fire out, until it can be had in some very dry 

 time in July or August ; then clear it oft' and sow 

 cither wheat, or rye and timothy, harrowing sev- 

 eral times, both before and after sowing ; for after 

 the fire 1ms been over the ground, the sod of tim- 

 othy should be introduced as soon as the other 

 crops will admit, to prevent briav.s, elders, tire 

 cherries, &c. from springing up from such seeds 

 as were not consumed by the fire. 



" The timothy should stand some four or five 

 years, either for mowing or pasture, until the 

 small roots [of the forest trees] are rotten ; then 

 it may be ploughed, and the best mode which I 

 have observed is to jilough it very shallow in the 

 fall ; in the spring crossplongh it deeper, harrow 

 It well and it will produce a first rate crop of In- 

 dian corn and potatoes, and the next season pro- 

 duce the largest and best crop of flax that I have 

 ever seen, and be in order to cultivate with any 

 kinds of grain, or to lay down again with grass. 



" These directions are to be understood as ap- 

 Jilying to what are generally called Beech-lands— 

 an,l the cho[iping may be done any time in the 

 winter, when the snow is not too deep to cut low 



stumps, as the leaves are then on the ground 



By leaving the brush spread abroad, I have known 

 such winter choppings to burn as well in a dry 

 time m August, as that which had been cut the 

 .suiumer before." 



The agricultural implements, and farmin- op- 

 erations of the United States, are, in most ,,articH- 

 lars, very sumlar to those of Great Britain. Cir- 

 cumstances, however, require variations, which 

 the sagacity of the American cultivator will 

 lead him to adopt, often in coutrjijliction to the 

 opinions of those who understand the. science bet- 

 ter than the practice of husbandry. . In Europe 

 land IS dear and labor cheap, but in the United 

 States the reverse is the case. The European 

 cultivator is led by a regard to his own interest to 

 endeavor to make the most of his land; the 

 American cultivator has the same inducement to 

 make the most of his labor. Perhaps, however, 



