58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



AUG. an 



increased the crop of stalks, but not much tliat of 

 corn. I fouiid this would not ilo, and as I liad not 

 manure to spread on a large field in one year, 1 

 came to the conclusion to manure a small one ; 

 and I carted on and spread twentyfive loads on 

 one half an acre — on another three acres I put on 

 nine ; and I raised ns much corn on iht half acre as 

 / did on the other three ains. I soon afterwards 

 joined the R. I. Society for the Encourai;ement of 

 Domestic Industry, and heard an excellent address 

 delivered to the said society, by the Hon. Tristam 

 Burgess, from which I received much instruction. 

 My neighbors soon termed me " the book farmer," 

 said that I was following up book recommenda- 

 tions, putting all my manure on to one small lot, 

 and that I should soon have no farm to manage ; I 

 nevertheless persevered, and put 50 tons per acre 

 on my corn land, and 1.5 tons per acre on my mead- 

 ows, when I laid them down to grass, until I had 

 12 acres prepared in that way ; since which, I have 

 received two premiums from the said agricultural 

 society ; one for 102 bushels of corn raised on one 

 acre, and one for a large crop of potatoes. Pre- 

 vious to making the improvement I cut hut five 

 tons of hay on my farm, and I now, and have for 

 tlie last twelve years cut upwards o'- thirty tons of 

 English hay yearly. A few years since I cleared 

 lip and underdrained a cold wet swamp of several 

 acres, which until tlien had been considered of lit- 

 tle or no value. It now produces yearly two tons 

 to the acre. The last season I cut on another lot 

 of one acre, over three tons, and the hay for one 

 year sold in maikct would pay the whole expense 

 of labor on the same. I believe I am on the road 

 to still further improvement, and am waiting with 

 Bonie impatience for your report of the state survey, 

 and as I am informed by one ef the state commit- 

 tee of this survey, that the agricultural part of the 

 survey thus far, can be considered no more than 

 introductory, I presume our legislature will have 

 it completed two or three years hence, when I hope 

 to give you a more detailed account. 



I remain yours, very respectfully, 



GIDEON SPENCER. 

 Warwick, .'Ipril 4, 1840. 



Report of the Farm of Joseph Childs, Porfsmoulh. 



Farm consists of ploughed land 21 acres; pas- 

 IG 1-2; orchard 2 1-2 ; total 4G 



Crops. 



300 buiilielson91-2acres. 



ture (i ; mowing 

 acres. 



Indian corn. 



Rye, 32 ' 21-2 



Peas, sold green, 100 ' 1-2 



Potatoes, 800 ' 4 



Onions, 24000 bunches, 1440 ' 21-2 ' 



Mangel wurtzel, 200 ' 3-4 ' 



French turnips, 200 ' 1-4 ' 



Hay, 25 tons 16 1-2 ' 



Onion seed, 80 lbs. 1-4 ' 



Other Produce. 

 Apples, 75 bushels. 2000 lbs. beef. 



Pumpkins, tons. 2000 lbs. pork. 



Cabbages, 200 heads. 300 lbs. butter. 



Isabella grapes, 5 bush. 



Stock, gross value, .$385 ; viz : 2 horses, 2 ox- 

 en, 5 cows, 12 hogs, and 40 domestic fowls. 



The cost per acre for the cultivation of each 

 crop, 1 have no means of ascertaining. I use about 

 850 large ox-tart loads of manure per year, made 

 from fish, sand, sea weed, green weeds, and the 



barn yard and hog pens. For two years past I 

 have put into the compost ten casks of lime, which 

 I think has proved decidedly advantageous. I al- 

 so spread upon the land from 2C0 to 300 barrels of 

 fish, and 300 bushels ol spent ashes. The char- 

 ges for labor in 1838, which I think will be the 

 same this year, were $504, exclusive of the labor 

 of myself and my wife, who do as much as can be 

 expected from persons seventyone years of age. 



(Questions. — (See Judge Durfee's report.) 



1st. I change my seeds often, and practice a 

 careful rotation of crops with everything except 

 onions. 



2d. Have used lime to some extent for two years 

 and think it does well. 



3d. I use 30 or 40 bushels spent ashes per acre, 

 yearly, for onions and grain. They do best for 

 dry land. 



4th. Have no peat. 



5th. [Not answered.] 



6th. Have used fish for 20 years, and think 40 

 barrels spread on an acre, equal to eight cart loads 

 of common manure. 



7lh. I use 30 to 40 loads of sea weed yearly, in 

 the hog pens, mixed with sand, dir', and all the 

 green weeds I can collect. The compost is spread 

 upon the onion and potato fields. 



8th. I have not. 



9th. T soak seed wheat two hours in strong 

 brine, and mix lime with it while wet. This pre- 

 vents smut, and assists the growth of the wheat. 



lOth. Onions are the most profitable crop at pre- 

 sent : potatoes come next. 



11th. This year, onions sold, delivered in New 

 York, for 50 cents per bushel ; rye .f 1 16 ; wheat 

 $1 50 ; and potatoes 28 to 33 cents. 



12lh. My cattle are stalled in the winter. There 

 is no floor to the stables, but they are provided 

 with sufficient litter, sand, &c. to absorb all the 

 liquid manure. 



General Remarks. 



I conceive there is a great deal of useful infor- 

 mation to be obtained from tlie diflTcrent agricultu- 

 ral journals. In our state, the land has generally 

 been hard worn by constant cropping and light 

 manuring. Much, however, may be done by every 

 fanner, to restore fertility to his soils and increase 

 their productiveness, if he will make good use of 

 all his resources. Let him employ all hands every 

 leisure moment in collecting weeds, leaves, and 

 every article of which manure can be made, into 

 compost heaps for spring use. Let him keep his 

 crops carefully cleaned of weeds during summer, 

 and after the early crops are got in, keep the weeds 

 close, to prevent their going to seed, either by 

 ploughing them in or removing them to his hog 

 pens, and he may rest assured of a rich re vard for 

 his labor and care, in the increase of his crops. 

 (To he continued.) 



Cure fur sore hacks or galls in horses. — Rub 

 white lead in sweet oil until a good paint is made, 

 and apply a coating of this to the injured place. — 

 Milk will do where the oil is not to be had. It is 

 one of the effective applications. Some for the 

 same difficulty use a solution of vitriol in water, for 

 a wash; but in most cases the white lead is to be 

 preferred Mh. Cull. 



RECENT INTRODUCTION OF VALUA- 

 BLE PLANTS AND GRAINS. 



The most valuable plants and grains which now 

 engage the industry and minister to the support of 

 three-foutths of the world, are of comparatively 

 recent introduction. Whilst the olive, the millet, 

 and the silk, may be traced back to the ages of an- 

 tiquity, the articles which now feed and clothe the 

 inhabitants of the civilized world, have been more 

 recently discovered by men of science, and brought 

 into cultivation by the skilful agrictiltutist. A 

 single generation has only passed away since a 

 liandful of rice, and a few seeds of cotton, were 

 sown in (Charleston, as a curious, and no doubt, re- 

 garded by many as an idle experiment. They are 

 now such important staples, that they engage the 

 commerce, and regulate, in a considerable degree, 

 the monetary system of the world. The Irish potatoe 

 which has been of ti.e greatest consequence to 

 mankind, was not known in Europe till the days of 

 Raleigh, and found its way into Eiigland by a ship 

 wrecked on the coast of Lancashire. During the 

 many severe famines to which Great Britain has 

 been subject, there is no exaggeration in asserting 

 that the lives of millions of human beings have been 

 preserved by this vegetable alone, it is but a little 

 more than a century since the first coffee tree was 

 brought to France, from which all of the trees in 

 the West India islands have originated. The 

 original sweet oranf;e tree, from which all the vari- 

 eties of that fine fruit in Europe and America have 

 been derived, although a native of China, was 

 shown but a few years ago at Lisbon. The writer 

 of this article, has plucked fruit from the original 

 tree, which produces the Sickle pear now cultivated 

 both in Europe and America, as the finest variety 

 of this fruit in the world. The tree, he believes is 

 still growing in one of the meadows in the vicinity 

 of Philadelphia. Nor is it in the power of any 

 government, by its strictest enactments to prevent 

 the dissemination of fruits, plants and seeds. If 

 the ingenuity of man cannot accomplish it — the 

 birds, the winds and the waves, will effect it. The 

 cocoapalm is now growing on the sands of Florida 

 the nut having been floated from Cuba by the waves 

 of the sea. The sea grape, the shore plum, and 

 moie than a hundred other species of West India 

 plants, not omitting the mahogony, have been car- 

 ried thither either by the winds or the birds. '1 he 

 white headed pigeon is known to visit Cuba every 

 day, whilst it is breeding along the Florida coast, 

 and thus becomes a courier and a planter between 

 the island and main. The severity of the laws of 

 that exclusive and extraordinary people the Chinese 

 could not prevent the productions of their soil from 

 finding their way to other lands — nor could the 

 rigor of the Dutch and the burning of their super- 

 fluous spice trees prevent the dispersion of their 

 cherished aromatic plants. The tea shrub of China 

 is now cultivated in Java by men smuggled from 

 Japan, and also flourishes in the vicinity of Charles- 

 ton — and the spice trees have found their way to 

 the islands of the West Indies and of the Pacific 

 Ocean. — Southern Cabinet, 



Milk. — 18 cows kept by Adam Antony, of North 

 Providence, R. I., give 593 gallons of milk per year. 



A senseless, rich dressed dandy may be compar- 

 ed to a cinnamon tree — the bark is worth more 

 than the body. 



He that spares when he is young, may spend 

 when he is old. 



