vor,. xix.no. ao. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



1 5« 



lows of nauve breed, n-ivinfr nn average of 17 we.jrl.t with it o„ that very^^account, and yet an 

 |uart. of m,ll< daily ; seven hn.s, of which four old neijrhbor at .ny elbow is even now exclaiminfr, 



.re for fattening; thirtyfive Bakewell sheep, yield- " I tell yon I have tried it, and it will not do any 

 ng an average of . "5 lbs. of wool, and lambs weio-h- how you can fix it: it i.'j a" ' ' 



ng 125 lbs. at five months ; and a single horse for may depend npon." 



ight work. Fifty to one hundred chickens are 



aised for family use. 

 Receipts — The folluwing is the estimate pre- 



lented by Mr Davis, of the average value of the 



iifterent products annually sold, viz: 



Apples and cider, $500 



Hay, 200 



Potatoes, jOO 



Pork, 80 



Sheep, 75 



Grain, 75 



Wool, 25 



.*I05.5 

 No precise account was rendered the i-ommittee 

 >f the amount expended for labor and articles for 

 he farm. 



(To he coiuinueii.) 



THE CUT WORM— FALL PLOUGHING. 



Sir— How almost universal is the notion that 

 he cut-worm feeds upon the grass which is turned 

 lown on the sod late in the spring, as a seed-bed 

 for the corn crop. Now, I believe he is of a very 

 lifferenl disposition, and not likely to prefer old 



lod to new corn ; for if this were so, our friends 



iveii those who are accustomed to delay their 



)loughing for the purpose of thus feeding them 



Tould not so often be compelled to replant, for the 

 hird time, their corn crops, while such abundance 

 )fs:)d still remains in the land, preserved, too, for 

 he especial purpose of saving the crop from de- 

 itruction: depend upon it, such is not the fact, and 

 have abundant reason to know that the notion is 

 irroneous. 



I am an advocate for autumnal ploughing to tlje 

 frealest extent, especially as preparatory for the 

 wn crop on lay or old sod land, and I will tell 

 ■ou why. This lay, we will suppose, has been 

 ed by horses and cattle perhaps for several years ; 

 •nd we know that it is from the droppings of cat- 

 le that the bugs of every description inake their 

 iiests, in which to deposit their eggs or nits; and 

 every one must have observed the curious manner 

 n which the different species carry on this labor, 

 ind how, that as soon as they have accumulated a 

 ufficient quantity of dung to form a ball, they sink 

 t to a certain depth into the soil, by undermining 

 t, so as to let it drop by its own weight so gently 

 ..s not to disturb or change the position in which 

 t was carefully placed before the operation of un- 

 lermining was commenced. Now, I have no doubt 

 his ball of dung has, by some process, been ren- 

 lered water and weather-proof on its top surface, 

 .nd that, therefore, it is capable of resisting the 

 ain and frost of the winter unharmed, .sheltered by 

 uch a weather-proof, neatly-formed and elegantly- 

 ounded roof above. But the act of turning the 

 od before winter, reverses the order of this"wise 

 rrangement, and not only exposes these balls to 

 he action of the rains and frosts, but supposing 

 he top of each ball to be water-proof, it then be" 

 ;onies an impervious cup, in which the water 

 night be supposed to be retained, to the destruc- 

 ion of the egg, or whatever the deposit might 

 lave been. 



Now this theory if yoi: please, appears so feasi- 

 If, that one would suppose it might carry some 



theory, and that you 

 But t tell him 1 have found 

 that it will do, if the work be properly done ; but 

 all the land must be turned up, foi if half of it be 

 left unren.oved, it is but reasonable to expect Ihat 

 at least one half the number of nests will furnish 

 myriads o( cut worms to prey upon the corn crop. 

 And my old friend admits that he has nut been 

 over-particular in his ploughing, considering it, at 

 that season of the year, only a piece of sham work, 

 as he calls it, with the furrow slice about eighteen 

 inches wide, and not always ploughed clean or 

 turned over— a sort of raftering, as he terms it— so 

 that, from his own accovnt, it is easy to conceive 

 why he has not found autumnal ploughing effectual 

 for the purpose of destroying the cut worm. I am 

 particularly nice about this part of the business, 

 for, after ascertaining the depth to which it is ne- 

 cessary to penetrate, to turn up the dung balls, I 

 am careful to set the plough thereto, and then, by 

 not taking a ftirrow wider than F can well turn 

 over, and determining not to leave an inch of the 

 land unremoved, I am sure to succeed in my plan 

 of destroying the eggs of the cut worm, which is 

 tar better than to keep thom to feed in for spring 

 upon the sod turned down for their benefit. 



But what would we say to a gardener who 

 should argue against autumnal cultivation, with 

 the view to supply his vermin with plenty of food 

 in the spring.' Farming is gardening in all true 

 principles ; and it is a fact, that spade labor in the 

 field would relieve us from nine tenths of the evils 

 that we have at present to encounter, as is well 

 known in those countries where, unfortunately, the 

 price of manual labor is so poorly paid as to war- 

 rant its adoption. I know that to many it appears 

 almost paradoxical, how we, in this country and 

 climate, with a set of agricultural implements far 

 superior to those in use in any country under the 

 sun, contrive to do so much of our field labor so in- 

 effectually as we do ; and were it not for the notion 

 I have taken up — and which I have reason to be- 

 lieve is just, namely, that all our occupations are 

 performed too hastily— I should myself be quite 

 unable to account for it; and here is the proof: my 

 old friend at my elbow is at this moment boasting 

 of having ploughed two acres and a half a day, 

 "ploughing round and round, with a furrow about 

 a foot and a half wide, with a pair of horses, tick- 

 ling up their tails," as lie expresses it, " in a way 

 'twould do you good to look at." Depend upon 

 it, this is the cause ; but if we would give our 

 lands three times the ploughing, and four times the 

 harrowing, rolling and cleaning that they now re- 

 ceive, and all applied with five times (he care, we 

 should find the benefit resulting therefrom to be 

 ten times the value at harvest, as well as our future 

 operation. 



Now I know of no one who takes more nains in 

 the after-cultivation of his corn, than my ancient 

 friend above mentioned : he is sure to be the first 

 in all its different workings and counter-workings 

 its cross-ploughings and cross-hoeings, and it is a 

 "savor of a sweet smell," when his neighbors as- 

 sure him there is no crop in the country that can 

 compare with his ; and yet, strange to say, all his 

 other labors are neglected, his other crops are 

 grown over with weeds, which stare at you over 

 the fence as you walk along, and it is in vain to 

 look for his hills of potatoes until the weeds are 



mown off with the scythe ; for he has found that 

 no Crop, excerpt corn, will pay for the labor of clean- 

 ing! But the fact is, the management of his corn 

 crop has grown into a propensity, as Frank saya in 

 the dialogues, and Hint he must indulge in, even if 

 it be to the neglect of almost every ether duty up- 

 on the farm; and to give him time for this, all other 

 operations are Imrried and only half performed; 

 indeed, wherever the corn has failed in a hill, you 

 will always see its place occu|)ieil by some large 

 weed, which about keeps pace in growth with the 

 corn, having received with it the regular cleaning 

 and cultivation with the hoe harrow ; but it is not 

 removed, because there is no time for it ! And the 

 weeds around the sides of the said corn, are, in 

 the mean time, permitted to grow and flourish and 

 perfect and shed their seeds unmolested, because 

 there is no time for their eradication, no not even 

 with the scythe! I often think, while walking 

 over his fields with my old friend, if I were his 

 minister, I would now and then give him a touch 

 from the words, "these ought ye to have done, and 

 not to leave the other undone." 



No one can tell the advantage of superior culti- 

 vation of the soil, and the benefit to the crop from 

 the total eradication of weeds. ']"he crop is in- 

 creased thereby, not only in quantity but in quality 

 also. It has been calculated that a strong weed, 

 growing in a crop of wheat, will draw away a great 

 portion of the nourishment from six plants of the 

 wheal; thus rendering the produce inferior, both 

 in the quality and quantity — a matter of the most 

 serious importance. And Col. Smith has shown 

 by an account published in the Germantown Tele- 

 graph of the 12th of August, that merely by the 

 power of superior cultivation, he has this year ob- 

 tained a crop of most excellent hay, amounting to 

 more than two tons per acre, from land that has 

 had no manure for the last nine years. He states 

 as follows: he has a field belonging to his farm 

 which has not been manured for nine years, and 

 yet it yields, the present season, more than two tons 

 of superior hay per acre. The first six years of 

 the nine was in grass ; then corn, then oats, and 

 then grass again He attributed this unusual suc- 

 cess, on a soil only ordin-irily good, to the high de- 

 gree of tillage which it received, and the entire 

 annihilation of weeds. 



The lesson to be learnt from this is, one half the 

 quantity of manure might be saved by superior til- 

 lage and the eradication of one half the crop — the 

 weeds — that being about the proportion to the grain, 

 throughout a great part of tlie country. But is it a 

 fact that agriculture will not pay for good manage- 

 ment .' Then the cultivation of the soil is the only 

 science that will not pay a premium upon the out- 

 lay of skill and capital that may be embarked there- 

 in. 



But is this the season to plough for the destruction 

 of the cut worm, and if we would set honestly to 

 the task, there is no doubt it would be accomplish- 

 ed: lands ploughed deep and laid up dry for the 

 winter will bo benefited to the extent of a dressing 

 of manure, and can be cultivated much earlier and 

 to greater advantage in the spring: in short, ai(- 

 tumnal ploughing is the soul of good husbandry. — 

 Farmers' Cabinet. 



The Pawtucket Chronicle chronicles the fact of 

 the production of a quince on the grounds of J. T. 

 Fales, measuring 14 1-2 inches in circumference, 

 and weighing one pound seven ounces. 



