70 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



E. W. Bull said, if cows are supplied -with warm son to grow, and the wood which they make be- 

 "water and food they will make more milk. He rec- comes better matured and prepared to endure the 

 commended frequent changes of food. Fed on well- cold of the ensuing winter. 



cured com fodder, cows will give more milk than if: in such soils, fall sowing is often practised to 

 fed on the best of English hay. ' advantage. Onions, beets and lettuce are sowed in 



James A. Barrett said, a neighbor of his thought, September and covered with salt hay, rock weed or 

 when feeding his cows on green corn fodder, that ^ meadow hay; the mulching is removed early in 

 they gave more milk, but not so much butter. i March, and the ground between the rows stirred, 



At the next meeting, E. W. Bull said, that smce| and onions and beets are thus obtained for the mar- 

 the last meeting he had fed his cows partly with, ket in June, or early in July. Vegetables at this 



meadow hay. He got as much milk, but it was 

 not so good-flavored. The unpleasant flavor was, 

 however, easily removed by scalding the milk. 



season command nearly double the price that they 

 do later in the season. Three crops are often ob- 

 tained from the same ground. A portion of ground 



But an important question remained,_ which could: is plowed as soon as the frost is out, and a heavy 

 not be answered without a long-continued trial — " " ' " . . _ . ^_ . 



will the meadow hay sustain the cow in good flesh 

 as well, or nearly as well as English hay ? 



James P. Brown had also, since the last meeting, 

 fed his milch cows with meadow hay, cut and 

 mixed with shorts and oil meal. His cows did 

 not give so much milk, as when they had EngHsh 

 hay and the same quantity of meal in swill. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 



GARDEN SOILS. 



A good garden may be made by skilful manage- 

 ment, upon almost any soil. But the results will 

 differ somewhat according to the nature of the 

 soil ; where the soil is a moist, heavy loam, resting 

 upon a clayey subsoil, crops cannot be obtained as 

 early as upon a diff"crent soil. But by tillage 

 adapted to the nature of the soil, lai-ge heavy crops 

 may be obtained for fall and winter use. Upon such 

 soils only one crop can generally be obtained, 

 in a season. Such soils should be well drained, and 

 cultivated in beds or ridges, so that the surface wa- 

 ter may be conducted off, and not be permitted to 

 injure land already sufficiently moist. Horse man- 

 ure is the best dressing for such soils, when cultiva- 

 ted as a garden, and should be liberally supplied, 

 and well plowed in. Such land is apt to bake and 

 become hard ; consequently it requires to be fre- 

 quently stirred during the growth of the plants. 

 Such a soil is well adapted to the growth of pears 

 ftnd quinces. 



When it is an object to obtain early crops, as in 

 the cultivation of market gardens, a Hght, sandy 

 loam is preferable. When such a soil is made rich 

 by high cultivation, the crops are earlier, more sure 

 and the soil is more easily worked. Many of the 

 most productive gardens in the neighborhood of 

 Boston are made upon light sandy plains that were 

 previouslv exhausted by cultivation without man- 

 ure, and that have been redeemed by judicious 

 management. The plow is put in as deep as it can 

 be made to run, and the whole of this depth is 

 made fat by liberal supplies of warm, stimulating 

 manures. It is an important object with market 

 gardeners to get early crops, and they are able to 

 get them in such a soil, two, three and four weeks 

 earlier than in a heavy loam. This gives them a 

 longer season, and by a skilful management of suc- 

 cessive crops, they get two or three crops in one 

 season. Apple trees succeed well on such soils. 

 When the ground is enriched by high manuring 

 and the cultivation of hoed crops, the trees grow 

 rapidlv, and come into bearing some years sooner 

 than in a colder and heavier soil. They start ear- 

 lier in the spring, and, of course, have a longer sea-l 



dressing of horse manure is plowed in. Early peas 

 are planted in rows perhaps five feet apart ; then 

 radishes are sowed broadcast, and raked in. The 

 radishes are pulled before the peas are all picked. 

 Between the rows of peas are planted at proper 

 times, squashes, melons or cucumbers ; by the time 

 the vines begin to run, the radishes and peas are 

 removed from the ground, and the whole surface is 

 left in possession of the vines. Early potatoes are 

 taken oif in July and the early part of August, and 

 a full crop of turnips is made to follow. Or after 

 peas and potatoes, onions and beets are sowed for 

 the spring market. After lettuce and ri^dishes, cab- 

 bages are set for fall use. Many siich gardeners 

 start vegetables in hot-beds under glass ; thus they 

 obtain potatoes, tomatoes, cabbages and cucumbers 

 some two or three weeks earlier than by open cul- 

 ture, and the increased price amply repays them for 

 the outlay of capital and labor. 



Strawberries succeed admirably on such soils, es- 

 pecially if in addition to high culture, irrigation is 

 employed. Some of the strawberry gardens in the 

 vicinity of Baltimore, consisting of from ten to one 

 hundred acres, are made of worn-out sandy land, 

 which has been redeemed by cultivation. One gar- 

 dener in the neighborhood of Boston, receives more 

 than three thousand dollars annually for the vege- 

 tables and fruit grown upon twenty-six acres of 

 sucli land. His proximity to a ready market, and 

 to an abundant supply of manure, are cu'cumstances 

 which contribute greatly to his success. But high 

 culture, and a skilful arrangement of successive 

 crops are the essential conditions of his prosperity. 

 I do not believe he would make as much money in 

 proportion to his outlay, in the cultivation of a 

 heavy loam, although the soil is in itself much more 

 fertile. Early cro])s could not be obtained on such 

 a soil, and these are a chief source of profit. Apples 

 would not succeed as well as on a lighter and more 

 sandy soil. From four Porter apple trees on such 

 a soil, apples have been sold to the amount of more 

 than a hundred dollars in a year. This to be sure 

 is an extraordinary product, and was owing to the 

 superior quality of the fruit ; but under such culture 

 on a sandy soil, Baldwins, Greenings and Russets 

 will yield from four to five barrels to a tree, worth 

 from two to four dollars a barrel. On such a soil 

 peaches and plums thrive better than on any other, 

 and bear full crops in four or five years from the 

 stone. 



Let no man say he cannot have a good garden, 

 because he has only a piece of poor sandy land. _ On 

 such land, he can have earlier crops than his neigh- 

 bor who has a deep, rich, moist loam ; and if he 

 does not have so heavy a crop, he can have two to 

 his neighbor's one. Plow early and deep, and put 



