202 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



DEC. 30 t-4 



about the year 1775, by Robert Gardner, a well- 

 sinkfr by profession, born at Kilbam, in tlip East 

 Riuinir of Yorkshire. Prior to the inlrodnction of 

 his plan of niakintr artificial ponds, many parts of 

 the Yorkshire wolds were scarcely habitable. Bi t 

 by the inoenuity and the exertions of one individ- 

 ual, the difficulties which lay in the way of the 

 improvement of an extensive district, have been re- 

 moved. They are now universally to be met with 

 in the East Riding, and are widely e.vtended into 

 the North Riding, in situations that retpiire such 

 accommodations. 



Ponds are much more elijfible than wells, for 

 ■wateiing sheep, as few shepherds like the trouble 

 of drawing water from wells ; sheep, therefore, de- 

 pending upon them, are very apt to drink ton much 

 water at one time and too little at another. When 

 the ponds are dug on the highest points, they are 

 less apt to be injured by dirt running into them. 



5. Jirtificial Rills. — In the North Riding of 

 Yorkshire, there is a tract extending for many 

 miles, entirely destitute of water, except what 

 flows along the bottoms of the deep valleys, by 

 vphich it is intersected, and little relief could con- 

 sequently be aflbrded by streams thus distantly and 

 inconveniently situated, to the inhabitants of the 

 uplands or their cattle. About the year 1770, a 

 person of the name of Ford, devised the means of 

 watering this district, by means of rills brought 

 from the springs that break out at the foot of the 

 still loftier moorland hills, that run parallel to, and 

 to the north of this tract, in some instances at the 

 distance of about ton miles. 



These springs he collected into one channel, 

 which ho carried in a winding direction about the 

 intervening tract, according to its level, and along 

 the sides of the valleys, until he gained the summit 

 ot the arid country which he wished to water ; and 

 when this was accomplished, the water was easily 

 conveyed to the places desired, and also to the 

 ponds in all the fields, over a considerable tract bf 

 ground. 



The plan of thus watering a dry upland country 

 has much merit. It is not expensive, the original 

 charge rarely exceeding 100/. per rill, while it af- 

 lords a most important accommodation to the occu- 

 pier, and the value of the pro|ierty is thereby great- 

 ly increased. Though not generally applicable, 

 this plan might certainly be adopted with great 

 advantage in some other situations. 



It now only remains to state how farm-vards 

 and fields can best be supplied with so important 

 an aiticle as water, in the abundance that is neces- 

 gary. 



H'ldcr in Farm Yards. — When cattle are fed in 

 winter on dry food, as hay or straw, no expense 

 should be spared in supplying them with a suffi- 

 cient quantity of water. It has been ascertained 

 that a bullock who has water at command, will 

 drink of it eight times a day: hence it is evident 

 that he cannot got enough, if only driven twice a 

 day to an adjoining stream or pond, It is there- 

 fore advisable, where it can be done, to bring water 

 into a cistern in the fuld yard, to which the cattle 

 may go whenever they find it necessary. The cis- 

 tern may he madi; of rough masonry, and conse- 

 quently would not be expensive. There can be no 

 doubt that cattle will improve much more rapidly 

 during the course of a winter, when thus supplied 

 with water, than if they are only occasionally driven 

 to it. 



In Derbyshire, cisterns hewn out of large blocks, 

 are not only placed in most cattle yards, but also in 



should 

 I. 



MASSACHUSEETS. 

 The population of the State of Massachusetts A. D, 

 1830, was - - . 610,014 



A. D .1840, 



311,306 



Increase in ten years, - - 129,'.292 



The population of the city of Boston A. D. 18.30, 



was - - - - 61,392 



A. D. 1840, - - . 93,470 



the fields, where the springs on the sides of the seed. I could make an affidavit to the truth of 

 hills admit of supplyiu'; thern. Many of them are this, and [ have seen the like result for at least tea 



so placed, that caitle can approach them on either successive years. Mr A , one of our thrif- 



side, and can avoid being injured by a master beasl , tiest farmers, assures me it never fails, and others 



attacking the others when drinking. For convey- speak of the same success in using it. I 



ing the water to the cistern.s, thin zinc pipes are | like to hear what other people say of it. 



sometimes used. When the water enters at one 



end of the cistern, level with the surface, and pa.-^s- 



es off at the other, from the constant change and 



agitation of the surface of the water, by this stream 



across it, the cistern is not so apt to be frozen, 



even in the severest weather, which is an object of 



much importance to the health of the cattle. 



Fields. — A supply of water is an object of the 

 most obvious importance in every field where pas- 

 turage is intended. With that view, if there hap- 

 pens to be a small rivulet in the neighborhood of 

 the lands, it may often be distributed in branches, 

 so as to water many fields. Springs, or the col- 

 lected discharges from drains, may also be applied 

 to the same purpose. All land intended for gra- 

 zing, requires to bo well supplied with water at all 

 times. 



Ill conducting water through fields, it is of ma- 

 terial importance to take care, that the slopes be 

 gentle, and not more than sufficient for easy trans- 

 mission ; as when water is conveyed down fence 

 ditches, or open conduits of considerable declivity, 

 it is too apt to do injury in its progress, by wash- 

 ing away the sides of its channels. Sometimes 

 water is collected in a field, not only for the use of 

 the animals pastured there, but also to be after- 

 wards diverted for other uses, as for threshing and 

 other mills, for irrigation, for ponds, for bleaching, 

 and similar purposes. To accomplish these ob- 

 jects, and at the same time to prevent injury from 

 this element, the drains, conduits, sluices, bridges, 

 gates and fence ditciies, require to be designed 

 with skill, and constructed with scientific attention. 



Increase in ten years, - - 35,078 



Number of bushels of potatoes raised in the stite 



A. D. 1840, - - - .5,-285 702 



Which, at 25 cents per bushel, is $1,321,425 50 



The number of cotton manufactories is 268 



For ihe New England Farmer. 



SEAWEED. 



Dear Sir — What do your friends think of sea- 

 weed as a manure ' Here, we are as much divided 

 in opinion as the judges in Martinus Scriblerus 

 were whether the three pied lior.-^es were black or 

 white. One says he can ruin the best land with it 

 in five years ; another declares that by using it he 

 can convert " Poverty Point " into another vale of 

 Evesham. At one of our harbors the only use 

 made of it is, to load vessels with it for Taunton 

 and Providence rivers, where it fetches one dollar 

 per ton ! ! At another part of our island it is used 

 with excellent effect as a top-dressing. 



I made up my mind years ago. I believe it to 

 be beneficial on all soils as a top-dressing; but 

 useful on heavy soils only when ploughed in, and 

 that even there it should be used not more than 

 one year in six. Eel grass is altogether different. 

 Ploughed in to any soil it gives for one year a bet- 

 ter crop than any kind of barn manure. 



Some years ago, before I exchanged beef and 

 pudding for soups and syllabubs — that is, before I 

 gave up farming for trade — I ploughed a field 

 which had a couple of acres of very poor land in it. 

 On a strip running through tlio middle of it, and 

 being rather poorer than either side, I ploughed in 

 ten large loads of eel grass, very rich and slimy. 

 I planted the whole with corn : that which had the 

 eel grass was at least thirty bushels to the acre : 

 that which had none, was over-estimated at the 



Number of spindles. 



Value of manufactured articles, 



Number of persons employed, 



Capital invested, 



Number of distilleries. 



Number of gallons produced. 

 Of which Boston ci>ntains 



Number of gallons produced, 

 Number of breweries, 



Number of gallons produced, 

 Of which Boston contains 



Number of gallons produced, 

 Capital invested in breweries and distillieries, 



$963,100 

 Of which invested in Boston, - .$820,000 



Total capital invested in manufactories in the 



state is $42,492,286 



665,709 



$16,578,023 



- 20,929 



$8,079,099 



.37 



- 5,177,910 



17 



4,108,042 



7 



- 429,800 

 3 



- 19.5,000 



SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 



The Farmer's Cabinet relates an instance of the 

 most successful farmii:g we have heard of for some 

 time. It is of an old, practical, hard-workinsf farm- 

 er in the neighborhood of Amherst, N. II. who 

 commenci.'d the world as a day laborer, and who 

 notwithstanding he has at various times sustained 

 heavy pecuniary losses in the investment of his 

 funds, is now worth at least one hundrtd tliuusand 

 dollars. The great secret of his success, from the 

 statement given, we should judge to be .'<i/stem, 

 which is a point, we think, in which many farmers 

 fail. There is, however, nothing which can sup- 

 ply the place of a steady and systematic n.ode of 

 doing business; without it, industry and talents 

 are oftentimes of no avail, and it is as valuable in 

 agriculture as in mechanics, commerce or manu- 

 factures. We make the following extract from 

 the article in the Cabinet: 



"This man, when thirty years of ago, by the 

 avails of his industry added to a small legacy, was 

 enabled to purchase and pay, in part, for a farm 

 of one hundred and thirty acres of land, one hun- 

 dred of which was under cultivation, but in a very 

 low state. The farm is altogether upland, with a 

 soil composed of loam, clay and sand, in the chief 

 of which the latter preponderates, the former being 

 least considerable. When he commenced farming, 

 he adopted a peculiar system of rotation, to which 

 he has implicitly adhered from that time to the 

 present, which is forty years, and his success is the 

 best comment on the worth of the experiment. 



