AND HORTICULTUUAL REGISTER. 



VOli. XIX.l 



PUlILrSHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warehodbe.) 

 BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1840. 



[NO. ». 



N. E . FARMER 



RHODE ISLAND AGRICULTURE. 



Wo continue our e.vlracts from Dr Jackson's Re- 

 port of the survey of Rhode Island. 

 Report of the Crops, Sfc. raised onike Rivulet Farm, 

 in Cranston, 1839. 

 The land consists of 15 acres under tillage, 

 75 

 15 

 25 

 30 

 50 

 10 to 15 

 5 to 10 

 Stuck. 



15 cows, $570 



1 bull, 25 



1 pair of large o.^ien, IGO 

 a heifers, 50 



Produce Raised and Sold. 



Corn on 3 acres, average quantity, 58 hush, to the 



acre, $150 



' 5 ' injured by the August gale, 60 



Barley and oats, 4 acres, 33 



Potatoes, 3 acres, 450 bushels marketable, 150 



' 50 ' for feeding cattle, 13 



in graziijn-, 

 clover meadows, 

 watered ' 

 river ' 



in wojd, 

 peat bog, 

 unreclaimed. 



2 horses, $110 



21 sheep, C3 



18 head swine, 108 

 Turkeys, geese, &c. 44 



Beets and carrots, valued at 25 

 Fruit, (not sold.) 



1800 lbs. pork, sold from 7 to 8 cents per lb. 130 



Pigs raised, 22 



' sold, 8 



Lambs, 18 sold at $3 each, 54 



Calves, 14, ' $5 50 each, 77 



Profits in carting wood cut on the farm, 48 



7 tons of hay sold, $18 per ton, 126 



5 ' unsold, 70 



1455 lbs. butter sold, at from 26 to 33 1-3 cts. 



per pound, 380 



Butter and milk used in family, 30 



Premium received on butter exhibited at the 



Rhode Island cattle show, 15 



Received for improvements on the farm, 48 



Received for boarding laborers, 32 



$1470 

 Expenses. 

 Two hands, each 7 month.'?, at $12 1-2 per 



month, $175 



1 boy, 7 months, 35 



Paid for labor in getting hay, 26 



1 hand in winter 5 months, at $8, 40 



1 boy, do. 10 



Board of laborers reckoned at $1 per week, 130 

 Grain, potatoes, and hay seed, used in the spring, 60 

 Salt for m:inure, 10 



Salt for dairy, 6 



Taxes, 28 



Blacksmith's bill, 24 



Balance, from which deduct rent of farm and 



family expenses, 936 



$1470 



The farm was not fully stocked, being unwilling 

 in the spring to pay the liigh prices demanded for 

 neat cattle. 



I. A. GARDINER, Tenant. 



In reply to your inquiry, what experiments in ag- 

 riculture have you made .' we reply, that on this 

 farm we have made many : some successful and 

 some otherwise. We will give you as brief a de- 

 tail as possible of some of them. We irrigate a- 

 bout twentylive acres of upland, mostly tlie sloping 

 sides of hills. The water used is from .springs 

 that rise on the farm, on the highest land. We 

 formed a reservoir by the erection of a dam, and 

 are therefore enabled to retain nearly all the wa- 

 ter that collects in the day and run it on to the 

 meadows in the night, preventing the grass from 

 being scorched or wilted as it would be if put on 

 in the heat of the day. We carry a portion of this 

 water to our barn yards, to our hog pens, and also 

 to our dairy house, where we have put in a water 

 wheel for the purpose solely of aiding the dairy 

 maid in the process of making butter, and find a 

 very considerable labor saved. We intended to 

 have used the water power in churning tlie milk 

 daily, instead of the cream, in the manner practis- 

 ed by some of the western farmers. We tried the 

 experiment, and found no difficulty in the process, 

 and the butter was excellent, but the quantity fell 

 short so materially that we abandoned it. 



VVe tried the experiment recommended by some 

 Pennsylvania farmers, that of setting the milk part- 

 ly under ground, and letting the water constantly 

 run round the pans of milk by setting them into ex- 

 cavated shelves. We found that the milk would 

 keep sweet longer and the cream was equally as 

 good, if not better. But here again we found a di- 

 minution : so much cream would not rise on the 

 milk. We therefore continue the old mode. 



This experiment convinces us, that a milk room 

 should stand separate and apart from any other 

 building, be of good size and height, well ventila- 

 ted, and shaded with forest trees, and be used sole- 

 ly for that purpose. 



We have tried the experiment of flooding land. 

 We built a dam on a small river that runs through 

 the farm, on the sides of which are what is termed 

 interval or river meadows, (about thirty acres,) and 

 by flowing back we cover the whole extent, and 

 keep them flowed from November to April, when 

 we draw it ofl^and find slime and mud deposited on 

 the surface that enriches it, and our crops of grass 

 have increased thereby both in quantity and quali- 

 ty. We cart sea weed a distance of from four to 

 six miles, and we think we find our account in it 

 when properly used. It should be spread in hog 

 pens or yards, small in extent, and coarse sand, 

 (the best is found on the sliores,) mixed with or 

 spread over it, which will be by this preparation, 

 converted into fine compost by the swine being 

 yarded upon it. We derive another advantage in 

 putting the sea and rock weed into our hog yards ; 

 they will feed considerably on it, and it serves to 

 make them healthy and prepares them for fattening. 



We use considerable impure salt in our compost- 



ing. VVe purchase the sweepings of the vessels 

 holds in which it is imported, and consider it a 

 cheap, valuable, material for the purpose. 



Some of our neighboring farmers cart salt water 

 from the sea shore, a distance of several miles, and 

 think it better than to let their teams be idle. This 

 they spread on beds of loam, and it is thereby very 

 soon converted into a black mould. 



We salt our river meadow hay, putting from two 

 to three pecks of fine Liverpool salt to the ton, and 

 we tliink we are thrice paid for so doing; firslly, 

 in the time saved in curing the hay ; secondly, in 

 its increased value ; and thirdly, in the salting of 

 the cattle which are fed on it. Besides, we find 

 that low meadow hay when salted, will not deteri- 

 orate if kept several years, and we believe it im- 

 proves by beiiig kept two years. 



We had dug some peat for fuel, and used it to 

 some advantage ; but until we heard the sugges- 

 tions you made of the possibility that our worn out 

 soils might by the aid of peat be restored, we had 

 not tried it to any extent as a manure. We have 

 since opened a bed on the farm and dug out about 

 100 loads, at an expense of about 15 cents per load, 

 with which we mixed ten tons of animal manure 

 and six casks of Harris rock lime, which cost in 

 Providence, $1 25 per cask. The frost pulverized 

 it, and we found it this spring in a good state for 

 spreading on our meadows, and to use on our corn 

 and potato fields. On the meadows we have al- 

 ready ample evidence of its utility. 



We have experimented with menhaden fish. For 

 the first and second year they appeared to be a ben- 

 efit, but afterwards we found the land less produc- 

 tive than it was before the fish was put on, and in- 

 deed in some places almost barren. 



We are of opinion that fish operates on the land 

 like the free use of ardent spirits on the system of 

 the laborer, who, while the excitement is on, is en- 

 abled to do more work ; but when it is gone is left 

 in a torpid and enfeebled state. 



Farm Report of tVm. Peckham, S. Kingstown,1839. 



Farm consists of ploughed land 12 acres, graz- 

 ing 25, mowing 7 1-2, salt marsh and beach 9, or- 

 chard 3 1-2, wood 24, peat bog and unreclaimed 

 swamo 4 1-2. Soil, loam underlaid by sand, and 

 gravelly loam. 



Crops. 

 100 bushels, 20 bu. to the acre. 



Corn, 



Barley, 



Oats, 



Potatoes, 



Carrots, 



Beets, 



French turnips. 



Hay, 



Salt marsh do. 



25 

 125 



270 

 12 

 12 1-2 ' 



110 

 10 tons, 

 2 ' 



Other Produce. 



25 ' 



301-2' 

 180 ' ' 

 425 < ' 

 600 ' 

 550 ' 

 1 3-4 tons. 



900 lbs. Milk, estimated 733 gal. 

 205 ' Pumpkins, 20 loads. 



Gross amount of all produce, $486 57. 



Pork, 

 Butter 



