60 



IS i. W ENGLAND FARMER, 



AIO. 36, rS4 0. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THK SEASON, CROPS, 

 &c., IX Mkrrimac Co., N. H. 



We conimeiid to our readers tlie follow iiif; inter- 

 esting letter from Levi Eartlett, Esq. to the Rev. 

 Mr Colinan, which would have been responded to 

 in his u.sual happy manner, had he been present to 

 receive it. He has not yet reiurned from the west : 

 Ilia prolonged stay has been occasioned by severe 

 elukness : the last accounts from him wore that he 

 WHS on his way home and his health improving, 

 and we hope soon to see liini. 



In relation to the lotter we would say, that if our 

 readers are as well pleased with it as ourselves, 

 they will ask Mr B.irtUHt to favor them with fur- i 

 llier results of his observations from time to lime, 

 and we think the farming interest would be much 

 advanced if practical farmers gem rally would give 

 us niore of their experience and observations, for 

 the mutual benefit of all. J. B. \ 



llarmr, A*. H, .Ivg. ISth, IS-10. ' 



My Dear Colvan— Knowing you take a deep 

 interest in every thing relative to agriculture, and 

 that that interest e.\tcnds too, beyond the limits of j 

 your own parish, it affords me a pleasure to com- | 

 niiinicate to you the results of niy observations in , 

 an excursion of several days of the past week, a-; 

 rtiong the farming community in a part of Merrimac 

 county, N. H. 



From the middle of May to the first of August, , 

 this section has been visited with the most severe ' 

 dl^ouglit that perhaps ever occurred so early in the 

 season, which has materially affected many kinds 

 of crnps, while <ithers Iiave pushed along with a 

 growth wholly unex|eeted. 



Oats, from want of rain, and the attack of whole 

 legions of grasshoppers, will present "a beggarly 

 account of empty " heads. By the way, 'tis just 

 fointeen years since the last great "grasshopper 

 year"": have you any data to prove that fourteen 

 years is the period of lime when literally "the 

 grasshopper shall be a burden " ? It would be of 

 great consequence if this fact could he ascertained, 

 as I know of no crop that suttera from their rava- 

 ges like the oat. Upon the years of their periodi- 

 cal returns (if they have such,) some otlicr crop 

 •night be substituted for the oat. 



Corn Upon pine and other light and dry lands, 

 up to first of July, .never .'ooked better or promised ' 

 a fairer crop • but iiic oxi'reme heat and want of! 

 jraiu caused it to g-,. f.oc/L' ; the spindle was dried' 

 so that the pollen was no.t m.ilured, and although 

 Jlie corn now shows neiVly i.is m-ual number of ears, 

 they are very imperfect,— cobs without corn, or the 

 kernels "few and far between"; hut upon the 

 stiffer and hardwood soils, perhaps the prospect for 

 an abuudaitt crop never was greater. Better 

 ploughs, more manure, care in selectini; the right 

 kind'of seed, and more thoroigli cultivation, has 

 greatly increased the ainount of corn per acre with- 

 in a few years. 



Ihave particularly examined many fields of corn 

 that will give from GO to 60 bushels per acre and 

 upwards. I saw several kinds of corn, but taking 

 ell things into view, [ must give the preiereni-e to 

 the •' Brown corn," introduced to the notice of the 

 public by Gov. Hill. 



From the high reputation the Black Sea wheat I 

 has obtained for a few years past, there was scarce- ; 

 ly any other kind sown: of perhaps n.ore than J50 

 pieces I saw, it was all of this kind, except one 

 which was the Tea wheat. Hut from the late sow- I 



;ing to avoid the weevil, and want of rain, much of 



jit did not i:i>niK up, and it did not tiller or branch 



out ; of course it was very thin, and owing to the 



fruits, to say nothing of good apples, pears, plums, 

 &c. ; handsomely furnished parlors and good col- 

 ections of minerals, shells, specimens in geology 



! wet season of '39 ind too great neglect among : and other interesting curiosities, &c. ; and tables 



farmer.s, to prevent the weeds from seedhrgtn their 

 hoed crops, almost every field of wheat was over- 

 run with weed.s, and many of them so much so that 

 they are worth more for fodder for beasts than for 

 bread for man. I believe you have a;^ great a 

 horror for weeds in hoed crops, as old • Sootie' 

 has for holy water: if so, I wish you would give 



laden with useful books and standard periodicals — 

 all goes to prove too that there is a moral and intel- 

 lectual impiovement going forward among the ris- 

 ing generation. '1 he leisure time that used to be 

 spent by the young of by-gone days in ' playing 

 button and blind-man's-buff,' or 'tripping the feet 

 to the music of the violin,' is now scarcely known 



your readers 'line upon line' till yon shall make | to the youth of the present time, only as thinffs of 



them all do as I did last year, hoe their corn five 

 times, if nothing short will eradicate the weeds. — 

 We did nut find a field of wheat that was entitled 

 to scarcely a fourth premium. I sowed upon one 

 acre on the ]'2th of May, two bushels of Italian 

 wheat, strictly upon Mr Phinney's system; and I 

 have not seen a piece of wheat that can in any 

 way be compared to it — much ol it standing meas- 

 ured 4 1-2 feet, and it gave over ^00 largo sheaves: 

 it lodged some and suffered by the rust, but it would 

 be called a prime piece of wheat even in a good 

 year. 



There is a great abundance of clover and other 

 grasses that huve lived through the d.-ought, even 

 upon the tops of two dry hillocks in the piece, to 

 warrant a heavy crop of hay next season; while 

 many of my neighbors who have pursued the old 

 course, with precisely the same kind of land, are 

 now ploughing in their stubble and again sowing 

 gra.ss seed. 



Will you be so good as to name this to our mu- 

 tual friend Phiuney, when you see him, and say to 

 him how deeply I feel obliged for the important ag- 

 ricultural information he has so kindly imparted to 

 me. 



The early planted potatoes on dry land will but 

 little more than return the seed — but later, and on 

 heavier ground, will give a t(derahle crop ; but as 

 a whole they will be very light. 



I planted four quarts of the English Horse bean, 

 imported by Mr Webster; but they could not 

 .'tand a broiling sun that carried the ii'ercury up to 

 130° : they will with me prove a total failure. The 

 several kinds of turnips he introduced will be of 

 incalculable benefit to the country : from the ap- 

 pearance of mine now, I think they will give a 

 greater yield than the ruta baga, but may noljirove 

 so good for late keeping. 1 used some of his bar- 

 ley and oats, and think them a great acquisition, 

 although 1 got them on too dry a piece of ground. 



I traversed the farm and grounds of Gov. Hill, 

 who by the way is the most industrious and hard 

 working man we have in the Granite Slate. Only 

 think how many irons he has in the fire at the pres- 

 ent lime ; — Receiver General of all Uncle Sam's 

 revenue for New Ihigland — a great iarm and far- 

 mer — editor of the Monthly Visitor and a large 

 weekly political paper — and god-father to one of 

 the great political parties of New Hampshire. — 

 There is no danger of such a man's rusting out. 

 He has made great improvements upon his farm 

 and is now reaping large crops: he has upon his 

 grounds a large and well cultivated market garden. 



It is truly gratifying to every lover of our own 

 dear New England, to witness the improvements 

 going forward among our farming community. The 

 well finished and furnished farm houses, the capa- 

 cious and solid built b irns and oiu limises, well 

 fenced and neatly cultivated fields, neat and clean 

 kept giirdens with almost every variety of escu- 

 lents and many urnaniented with flowers and small 



nther days, like high heeled shoes and hooped pet- 

 tico.Tts. 



I intended to have said something to you in re- 

 spect to the ' editorials ' in the last three or four 

 numbers of the N. B. Farmer, but have only room 

 to resp(md a hearty amen, for ' thtm '« my saitimtnts 

 exactly.' 



Yours, truly, 



LEVI BARTLETT. 



From the Farmer's Cabinet. 



MANUFACTURE OF CIDER. 



(From the papers of the late Joseph Cooj-er, Esq.) 



Cider is an article of domestic manufacture, 

 which is, in my opinion, the worst managed of any 

 in our country, considering its usefulness; and per- 

 haps the best method to correct errors is to point 

 out some of the principal ones, and then reconimei.d 

 better. 



One of the first is the gathering of apples when 

 wet ; the next, to throw them together, exposed to 

 sun and rain, until a sourness pervades the whole 

 mass ; then grind, and for want of a trough or oth- 

 er vessels sufficient to hold a cheese at a tune, put 

 the pomace on the press as fast as ground, then 

 make so large a cliecse as to take so long a time 

 to complete and press off, that fermentation will 

 come on in the cheese befi)re the cider is all out; 

 and certain it is, that a small quantity of the juice 

 pressed out after the fermentation comes on, will 

 spoil the product of a whole cheese if made there- 

 with. When either of the above circumstances 

 will spoil the cider, which I know to be the case, 

 don't wonder at the effect of a combination of the 

 whole, which is frequently the case. 



As I have very often exported cider, and sold it 

 to others for that purpose, to the West Indies and 

 Europe, without ever hearing of any spoiling, and 

 as it is my wish to make the productions of our 

 country as useful as possible, I will give an ac- 

 count of my method. I gather the apples for good 

 cider when dry, put tliein on a floor under cover, 

 have a trough sufficient to hold a cheese at once, 

 when the weather is warm; grind them late in the 

 evening, spreading the pomace over the trough to 

 give it air, as that will greatly enrich the cider, 

 and give it a fine amber color ; then early in the 

 Morning press it off: the longer a cheese lays be- 

 fore pressing off, the better, provided it escapes fer- 

 mentation until the pressingoff is completed. '1 he 

 reason is evident from the following circumstance: 

 take a tart apple and bruise one side, and let it lay 

 till brown, then taste the juice of each side, and 

 yon w ill find the juice of the bruised part sweet 

 and rich, though a tart apple. So, if sweet and 

 sour ap])les are ground together, and put immedi- 

 ately oil the press, the liquor therefrom will taste 

 both sweet and tart, but if let lie till browu^ the ci- 

 der will be greatly improved. I always taki; great , 



