TOT,. XIX. NO. 41. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



323 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



LABOR-SAVING IMPLE.VIKNTS, &c. 



»'M innovation is not improvemetit. "Strivini,' 

 to better, oft we mar wiiat's well." — Tliese arc 

 .. axioms than which few are better attested by men's 

 experience. But from the deep-rooted prejudice 

 which some persons evince for whatever is ancient, 

 it would seem to bo their opinion that no innova- 

 tion can be an improvement. This remarli is in a 

 ' peculiar degree applicable to a certain class of far- 

 mers. It is certainly a commendable practice (and 

 in none more so than in the coEnmon farmer,) to 

 distrust whatever is new, until its claims to utility 

 are rendered indisputable by the unerring- test of 

 experience. Such prudence is no less a dictate of 

 common sagacity than of true wisdom. Hut when 

 the utility and value of a new invotition intended 

 to supersede an old one, have been tried in the 

 crucible of experience and established beyond ca- 

 vi), then to reject or scorn its aid, is to e.xhibit eith- 

 er a silly prejudice in favor of what is old, merely 

 because it is old, or a parsimony unwarranted alifee 

 by true economy and self-interest. 



In no particular in rural economy, with us, is it 

 more desirable to save, than in the article of labor. 

 This, generally, constitutes the heaviest item in the 

 farmer's outsets. It is, therefore, plainly apparent, 

 that if by any new process the amount of this can 

 be abridged one third or one half, such diminution 

 will, in a corresponding ratio, augment the farmer's 

 profits. These are self-evident conclusions, from 

 which I conceive none will dissent. The sound- 

 ness of these positions being conceded, let us con- 

 sider for a moment the common plea urged by far- 

 mers (and those in easy circumstances too,) when 

 asked why they do not furnish themselves with an 

 approved labor-saving implement, that they can H 

 afford it. Now in respect to many labor-saving 

 machines, such, for instance, as the horse-rake, 

 thrashing machine, seed sower, &c., this objection 

 appears to ine to be dictated by a sort of penny- 

 wise pound-foolish economy — or it springs from an 

 obstinate blindness, self-imposed, which will not 

 let the farmer realize the fact, though it be sustain- 

 ed by " proof as strong as holy writ," that the cost 

 of the article is nothing compared with its value, 

 and will be early returned (perhaps in one season,) 

 by the saving of labor effected by its use. Take, 

 for example, (as of new Ijibor-saving inventions it 

 comes first in use on the farm,) that valuable im- 

 plement, " Willis's Improved Seed Sower." The 

 character of this machine is fully established. Many 

 practical farmers of high standing in community, 

 (among whom [ recollect particularly Judge Hayes, 

 of iVIaine,) who would not, and could have no mo- 

 tive, in deceiving their brother farmers, have attest- 

 ed the worth of this seed sower as an aid in the 

 economy of the farm. Now, if by the use of this 

 single article, as the inventor asserts, a saving of 

 one Aa//' the seed and three quarters of the expense 

 of the common method of sowing can be eS'ected, 

 and the seeds — ruta baga. mangel wnrtzel, turnips, 

 carrots, or whatever it may be — put into the ground 

 as faithfully, even better, than by the common mode, 

 would it not appear to be the part of true wisdom 

 and sound economy in the farmer to secure its aid, 

 and not to urge the poor, unfounded objection that 

 he can 't afford it, or treat it with contempt because 

 it is an innovation .' 



[ had designed, Mr Editor, to have enlarged up- 

 on this subject, and to have demonstrated by fig- 

 ures that will not lie, how much advantage would 



accrue to the farmer, who tills any considerable 

 quantity of land, by Ins availing himself of the aid 

 of this and other labor-saving inventions ol' modern 

 date ; but as I am unable at present, from lack of 

 satisfactory data, to carry out my intention, I will 

 close with the wish, that those farmeis who have 

 heretofore regarded ancient practices as perfecthe- 

 cause they were adopted by their fathers, may 

 speedily be convinced of their er;or ; and that those 

 who imagine they can H afford to adopt an improve- 

 ment in their husbandry because it will cost some- 

 thing, may soon attain a sufficiency of this world's 

 goods to enable them to say they can afford a few 

 dollars for an article which, perhaps, in ono season 

 will more than pay its original cost. J. H. D. 



For the New England Farmer. 



DECAYED TURNIPS. 



I observed in the last number of the Farmer, an 

 article from the Farmer's Cabinet, in which it is 

 stated that this disease is the consequence of a wet 

 or too retentive subsoil. That a soil of this de- 

 scription is not suitable to the cultivation of tur- 

 nips, is generally admitted ; but how does Mr 

 John Sturges account for the rotting of crops on 

 land where there is no such cause exisiting ? The 

 ^^rot.^^ popularly so called, is often found to prevail 

 on free and light soils as well as on those of a 

 more heavy texture, and indeed in situations where 

 there is no substratum for yards, and even I'ods be- 

 low the surface. The farm which I cultivate is a 

 free sandy loam, and so open that in order to obtain 

 water it is necessary to dig from eighty to ninety 

 feet. No water can be obtained in the villatre 

 shoit of that distance, but we have often had rotten 

 turnips in great abundance, even in this soil, as 

 well as on the slopes of our eminences, where the 

 soil is so light, that in order to prevent the surface 

 mould from being washed away by heavy rains and 

 showers, we have found it necessary to haul on 

 clay and muck. If Mr Sturges' theory be correct, 

 the tap-roots of our ruta bagas, like those of the 

 Ohio parsnips, must be "rather long." Again — 

 Mr Sturges assures us that the grub never attacks 

 the turnips, unless when previously diseased. Rut 

 until he proves that the tap-root of the ruta baga is 

 capable of permeating a light sandy soil, or earth, 

 to the depth of SO or 9(1 feet from the surface, and 

 of tippling upon the stas^nant (')) waters of the 

 earth's interior, I shall reject the latter theory, as 

 no less unsatisfactory than the first. H. D. VV. 



lVindham,.Me., .Ipril 5, 1841. 



The article from the "Farmer's Cabinet," refer- 

 red to by our correspondent, was as far from being 

 satisfactory to us as to him. But it was an attempt 

 to exhibit the cause of frequent losses of a crop 

 which many of our farmers wish to raise. The 

 attempt was praise-worthy. This matter of rot in 

 the ruta baga is a serious evil. If its cause can 

 be ascertained, and rules given by which the ac- 

 tion of the cause can be avoided, a great good will 

 be conferred upon our community. It will give us 

 pleasure to receive information, or oven hints and 

 conjectures, upon the subject, from any of our 

 readers. 



We have seen this rot where it was impossible 

 that superabundant moisture in the subsoil could 

 produce it: in one season it prevailed more among 

 that part of the crop which was sowed (about the 

 first of June) upon unfermented dung, than upon 

 the part manured with a mi.xture of ground bones 



and ashes. And more in each of these lots than in 

 those sowed about the first of July. This was in 

 1836; and the crop that year was not by any 

 means a failure. In lb39, we sowed upon fresh 

 manure from the barn cellar on the last Wednes- 

 day of May. Land, a light loam — subsoil dry. 

 This crop was very badly injured. We conjec- 

 tured that the failure was owing either to the early 

 sowing, or the fresh state of the manure. In ]840, 

 we sowed where the manure had been applied the 

 preceding autumn, and the same evil was experi- 

 enced. 



The season of sowing and the condition and na- 

 ture of manure or soil, it i.s not improbable, have 

 influences in increasing or diminishing this rot. — 

 But what the proper season for sowing is ? v/hat 

 the safest soil and subsoil ? what the best kind of 

 manure .' what stage of decomposition should the 

 manure be in ? — these questions our experience 

 and observations cannot answer. We are in the 

 dark. And we put the question distinctly to any 

 man who can, or to any one who Mi'/iAs he can an- 

 swer it — What is the cause of rot in the ruta baga .' 

 —Ed. N. E. Far. 



Brinsc Plowers. — The following is an extract 

 from Mr Colman's Address before the Agricultural 

 Society at New Haven : 



"The taste for flowers, every where increasing 

 among us, is an omen for good. Let us adorn our 

 parlors, doorways, and roadsides, with trees 2nd 

 shrubs, and flowers. What a delight do they give 

 to the passer-by ? What favorable impressions do 

 they at once excite towards those who cultivate for 

 their own gratification, and find, after all, their 

 chief pleasure in the gratification which they afford 

 to others ? What an affecting charm, associated 

 as it is with some of the best sentiments of our na- 

 ture, do they give to the sad dwelling places of the 

 departed and beloved? 



The moral influences of such embellishments 

 deserve our consideration. I do not mean simply 

 the substitution of such refined tastes and pursuits 

 in place of the gratification of the lower appetites. 

 This is no small matter. But another influence 

 should not be overlooked. 



Every one familiar with human life, must be sen- 

 sible that mere personal neatness and order are 

 themselves securities of virtue. As we cultivate 

 these habits, and in respect to our residences and 

 the things and objects around us, make a study of 

 rendering thern orderly and beautiful, and adding 

 to them the highest embellishments of art, our own 

 self-respect is greatly increased. Next to religious 

 principle nothing operates niore than self-respect, 

 as a safe -guard of virtue and a stimulant to excel- 

 lence." 



The only things in which we can be said to have 

 any property, are our actions. Our thoughts may 

 be bad, yet produce no poison; they may be good, 

 vet produce no fruit. Our riches may be taken 

 from us by misfortune, our reputation by malice, 

 our spirits by calamity, our health by disease, our 

 friends by death : but our actions must follow us 

 beyond the grave. These are the only title-deeds 

 of which we cannot be disinherited. — Lacon. 



Of all the passions, jealousy is that which exacts 

 the hardest service, and pays the bitterest wages. 

 Its service is — to watch the success of our enemy ; 

 its wages — to be sure of it lb. 



