50 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



AVG. 19, f840. 



looked upon it and received instruction." We 

 should do injustice to the unnamed person to 

 wlioni we refer, to call him a slothful min — for it 

 is tar from the case, as he rises early and toils late, 

 and is ever busily engaged ; but he was not wise 

 in attempting to cultivate rnnre ground than he could 

 take care of; and after he had commenced the 

 task found that he " could not atTord " to hire ad- 

 ditional help for a few days. But by this time we 

 are ofTof our friend's farm, and will return and say 

 a word about his crop of 



Indian Corn. 

 Ilis principal crop of about six acres, is the same 

 variety that he has planted a number of years back, 

 with twelve rows similar to the Dntton, excepting 

 it is rather earlier. It is found that this variety 

 grows a little later every year, and to all appear- 

 ance will soon be no better than the common corn. 

 There is no danger but that it will fully ripen this 

 year, and the present prospect is that there will be 

 an extra heavy crop. In another field we saw the 

 Brown corn, which seems to answer its description 

 well. We found it was at least a week earlier 

 than the other. It was planted in hills about three 

 feet distant each way, and the prospect for a good 

 crop is as flattering as with the other variety. 



Subsoil Drain ing. 



In the corn field we were shown a section which 

 was formerly wet, cold and unproductive, that had 

 been reclaimed by under draining and now produc- 

 ed corn as luxuriant and promising as any portion 

 of the field. 'I'lic drains were cut three feet deep 

 and filled up with stones two feet, those on the bot- 

 tom so laid as to give a passage for the water ; the 

 stones are then covered with earth and all levelled 

 oflT. We did not ascertain the expense per rod, as 

 it was done at odd jobs and no calculation made; 

 but whether the expense was more or less, it has 

 converted a sterile piece of gro^'sd into a fruitful 

 field. 



The crop of hay has been abundant, and as the 

 weather was very fine during the season of haying, 

 it was made in the best possible manner. In one 

 section of the farm we were told tiiere was about 

 fifty tons of hay designed for the market. 



The drought which has been so severe in many 

 parts of the country, has not done so much injury 

 in this region as was anticipated. The pastures 

 suffered a little, and early potatoes and some other 

 productions of little conseiiuence, comparatively 

 speaking, were somewhat injured ; but upon the 

 whole, the prospects of the farmer fur a bountiful 

 harvest were never brighter. 



Our readers have had a full account of Mr Pliin- 

 ney's piggery by himself: it will not be necessary, 

 therefore, to say any thing more upon this depart- 

 ment, only that his hogs were never in better con- 

 dition at this seaso:i of the year than thej' are at 

 the present time. We hope, not only for him, but 

 for the sake of all our farming friends, that pork 

 will bring a little higher price than it did last year. 



With these few remarks we take leave of this 

 interesting farm for the present, wishing its intelli- 

 gent proprietor continued success in his agricultu- 

 ral iniprovemeute, and hoping that his good exam- 

 ple will be more generally followed by our farmers. 



J. a 



A farmer should never let his wood house be 

 empty during the summer, else ho will have to use 

 green fuel in winter; and he who does this has not 

 mastered the A B C of domestic economy. 



ing more grass, more stock may be kept, and that 

 increases the quantity of animal manures. 



The policy of raising so many acres of corn on 

 reduced laud, must be abandoned. When more 

 buckwheat can be raised on the acre than is ob- 

 tained of Indian corn, it should be substituted for 

 corn in a great measure, for it requires not a sixth 

 part of the expense to produce it — and when buck- 

 wheat is raised for its grain, if proper care be taken 

 to sow something with il that may be turned in for 

 a green crop in June, the land will prove more 

 productive, year after year. 



On the wet and clayey lands of that district of 

 country buckwheat may be sown. Such lands may 

 be treated as wo treat our grass lands of that 

 character at the north. They may be turned over 

 in autumn and seeded down again directly to grass. 

 — Albany Cultivator. 



GREKN MANURES— BUCKWHEAT. 



Manures cannot be conveniently catried to all 

 parts of a large plantatiim. They sh iud therefore 

 be applied to the fields near where they are made, 

 and the more distant fields must be enriched with 

 green crops. Tares arc much used for this pur- 

 pose in Europe, but whether ihese would grow as 

 rank and as rapidly in our dry climate, we are not 

 certain. We think they have not been extensively 

 tried. 



Oats have been sometimes sown to be ploughed 

 in, but they give only a small layer when the latid 

 is poor. Rye will grow on poor soils, but we 

 must use much seed, or we must let it grow tall, 

 else we have but little to bury with the plough. 



Round turnips form a good green croo for th? 

 plough, but they wdl give no top in poor ground. 

 Indian corn has been recommended and partially 

 tried. This is not more exhaustiug than oats or 

 rye, and no fields not worn down low, probably no 

 green crop would furnish more matter to ho cov- 

 ered by the plough, than this one. But on quite 

 exhausted land this would not answer our p\irpose, 

 and the quantity of seed necessary for such a pur- 

 pose, would be four or five bushels, quite an objec- 

 tion with economists. 



Buckwheat is a grain that will grow on most 

 poor soils. It delights most in dry locations, a soil 

 inclined to gravel or sand. It has many qualities 

 that reconunend it higlily as an article to be grown 

 for the purpose of filling the soil with vegetable 

 matter, of which it has been much exhausted in the 

 states of which we have spoken. 



In the first place, it will grow and produce a 

 handsome layer for the plough, on lands that will 

 produce nothing else. In the second place, we do 

 not find it an exhausting crop. We can raise it 

 many years in succession on onr poor lands with- 

 out any manure, and we very couunonly save fif- 

 teen or twenty bushels of the grain from an acre. 

 This plant has a very small, fibrous root, and is 

 easily pulled up by the hand. It has also a large 

 branching top that never could get its support from 

 this root. It has therefore probably greater facil- 

 ities for procuring nourishment from the atmosphere 

 than most plants have. 



All theory and all experience unite in showing 

 that this plant takes less from the soil than any 

 other of the same size. In the next place, it has a 

 rapid growth, six weeks, in Massachusetts, boing 

 long enough to bring it in full blossoui, when it 

 should be ploughed in. Three crops may there- 

 fore be turned under in one season in Virginia, 

 and then it will be early enough— (Sept. 1st) — to 

 sow down with grass seed. 



Another advantage attends the raising of this 

 for grain or for green crops, the expense is not great. 

 It usually bears the same price as our best corn, and 

 is worth <)uite as much for fattening animals, and 

 one bushel of seed is enough for the acre. When 

 it is raised for the purpose of saving the grain, we 

 often sow but half a bus'iel. The straw is also 

 greedily eaten by the young cattle and by horses — 

 colts may be wintered on it. Yet we have known 

 large piles of the straw to be burned in the field 

 where it was thrashed ! 



None of the various grasses are great exhausters 

 of the soil, and grasses must form one of the series Coiiiion.— Where potatoes are boiled for hogs, 

 of the rotation of crops. When lands arc kept the water in which they are boiled should never be 

 half the time in j.rass, the roots fill the soil with given them, but thrown entirely away, because it 

 vegetable matter that turns to manure directly on j contains delctereous or poisonous properties—a 

 being turned by the plough, and, by means of rais- j 'i'Ct which is not generally known. 



H.^RVEST1NG POTATOES. 



Never commence harvesting your potatoes till 

 they have come to full maturity, or till the frost has 

 killed the tops down. While the tops are green, 

 the tubers are growing and improving. In digging 

 them, use cither the plough or the potato hook. As 

 soon as they are out of the ground let them be pick- 

 ed up. Never pernut them to remain out in the 

 sun or air hmger than you can possibly help. I 

 am well aware that this direction is at once in op- 

 position to the rule of many farmers, which is, to 

 allow their potatoes to remain out in the sun, dry- 

 ing as long as they can, and yet have them picked 

 up on the same day day they are dug, in order that 

 as much of the earth as possible may cleave off 

 from them. This is very bad management for po- 

 tatoes designed for table use ; because it renders 

 them strong, or acrid in taste. 



Every attentive observer has noticed that that 

 part of tlie potato which happens to be uncovered 

 in the hill, changes its color to a dark green. This 

 portion is very much injured in taste ; in fact it is 

 unfit for use, because it has imbibed from the at- 

 mosphere deleterious qualities. As soon as pota- 

 toes are dug and exposed to the light and air, this 

 change begins. Every attentive observer has also 

 noticed that potatoes are of the best flavor and 

 quality after they have come to maturity and while 

 they are yet in the ground. The longer they are 

 dug and exposed to liglit and air, the more of this 

 liigh flavor is gone, till it is wholly lost, and tliey 

 become unpalatable and unwholesome. Potatoes 

 that remain all winter in the earth where they grew, 

 are in excellent condition for the table in the 

 spring. In view, therefore, of all these facts, let 

 us prescribe a rule in harvesting the potatoes, 

 which will tend to perptttuile through the whole 

 season these excellent qualities. As soon then as 

 practicable after digging, remove the potatoes de- 

 signed for the table to a dark bin in the cellar. 

 After depositing thus the whole crop, or as many 

 as are designed for the table, cover them over with 

 earth or sand, and they will retain their excellent 

 qualities till they begin to sprout in the spring, 

 and require to be removed. Wlien shipped for sea, 

 they ought to be put into casks and covered with 

 sanA.—Mb. Cult. 



