166 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



populations will aiford for farm produce, will call for 

 a New England agricultural system. What will it 

 be? New England minds will work out that ques- 

 tion. But is it not clear that before we have, or 

 when we have a system of our own, we must so far, 

 follow England, as to have a race of sheep of our 

 own, of which meat will be the chief and wool the 

 accessary product, and which will produce a large 

 weight of meat at an early age ? Must we not have, 

 also, a good and fixed race of milch cows — a preco 

 cious race of cattle, giving a great weight of butch' 

 er's meat ? Must we not have a fixed rotation of 

 crops ? Must not the culture of roots be a part of 

 it ? Must we not feed many cattle, and have much 

 manure to make our agriculture profitable ? Must 

 we not, in one word, study, though we may not adopt 

 the English svstem ? M, 



For the New England Farmer. 



MEASUREMENT OF CROPS. 



The uncertainty and want of uniformity, in the 

 different modes of determining the quantity of pro 

 duce on a given quantity of land, makes it very de- 

 sirable that some uniform mode of measurement 

 should be adopted. 



Take for instance Indian corn, a crop more exten 

 sively cultivated than any other. This crop is usu' 

 ally estimated by the bushel. But what is a bush- 

 el ? The statute defines it to be a measure contain- 

 ing a certain number of cubic inches — and it further 

 prescribes the number of pounds a bushel shall 

 weigh. These would seem to be hmits sufficiently 

 precise : — but experience shows that corn gathered 

 before it is fully ripe, will shrink from twelve to 

 twenty per cent, before it is fit for use. It is com 

 mon in some places, Plymouth County for instance, 

 to select out a part of a field that will yield an aver- 

 age product of the whole, and to mark off" an exact 

 rod, and to gather the corn that grows upon this, 

 and to multiply this by 140, and thus ascertain the 

 quantit}- upon an acre. 



A few years since, 75 lbs. weight in the ear was 

 estimated a bushel ; of late 85 lbs. gi-een corn in the 

 ear is estimated a bushel. It is apparent that all 

 such estimates must be essentially modified by the 

 kind of corn raised — the state of dryness when gath- 

 ered and weighed — the size of the cob — always 

 supposing the purpose of those measureing to be 

 equally honest. 



Remarks of like character will apply to almost 

 every variety of crop grown. I would respectfully 

 suggest, that some definite and certain mode of 

 measurement should be prescribed, either by the 

 Board of Agriculture or by the Legislature, and that 

 the same should be required in all the counties of 

 the Commonwealth that presume to use the money 

 of the State as rewards of culture. Essex. 



Feb. 19, 1856. 



Remarks. — This should be done- 

 attend to it if "Essex" does not? 



-but who will 



For the New Ensland Farmer. 



OC?" The Wool Grower and Stock Register, 

 only fifty cents a year, T. C. Peters, Editor, pub- 

 lished at Rochester, N. Y., is the best work, devo-jy^ce of"Nature"whaTthe"humankii^irto7he w 

 ted to sheep husbandry, in the country. It is print- 1 er,— an ornament and a defence. w. D. B. 



ed well, handsomely illustrated, and all right. Concord, Mass., 1856. 



ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 



I understand "Ornamental Gardening" to refer 

 to that department of rural affairs which relates to 

 the laying out, an-anging and embellishing of 

 grounds. It is beginning now to be pretty gener- 

 ally understood that the farmer may have a home 

 that shall be extremely attractive. The means are 

 within the reach of the humblest, if he have the 

 taste. 



Suppose the house to be located a little back from 

 the highway, it is out of the dust, and safe from the 

 gaze of the staring traveller. Is there not land 

 enough in the world, that a few rods maybe allowed 

 for ornament in front of one's home ? 



It seems in accordance with good taste, that the 

 grounds in front of one's house should be occupied 

 with ornamental trees and flowers alone. A mis- 

 taken practice is to introduce almost every variety 

 of fruit in beautiful confusion. But the foreground 

 in the home picture is like the parlor in character. 

 It should be neat, clean, trim — as elegant for the 

 guest to walk through as the parlor to sit in. Now, 

 fruit trees will not permit of the neatness and order 

 that can be maintained with forest trees. Fruit 

 trees require a/u'fljysthat the ground should be cul- 

 tivated and annually enriched. Forest trees, when 

 once growing \-igorously in decent soil, allow of an 

 unbroken turf — Nature's own beautiful carpet. Fruit 

 trees do not admit of such shapes as are natural to 

 forest trees. They scatter blossoms over the grovmd 

 in Spring, and in Autumn, litter the ground with 

 imperfect and decaying fruit. The limbs bend and 

 droop over needed avenues, to be propped by fence 

 rails, or old slabs. 



It is best to have forest trees by themselves, and 

 fruit trees together, also. An elm will dwarf any 

 fruit tree in the vicinity, and is an expense and an 

 annoyance in cultivated grounds anywhere. By the 

 roadside, in lanes, and public squares, it stands un- 

 rivalled as the proudest of trees. The sunny side 

 of one's home, it stands the most grateful of guar- 

 dians ; so tempering the scorching heat of the sum- 

 mer's sun that the dwelling is deliciously cool 

 through the day, and is a place for rest at night, in- 

 stead of an heated oven to suffer in. 



When the cold weather comes, and the sunshine 

 IS needed for health and comfort, the elm flings 

 down it awning and waits for the right season to get 

 up a new one. 



Now instead of planting deciduous trees (those that 

 shed their leaves in Autumn,) on the south side of 

 the house, some mistake by setting evergreens. 

 These afford a poor shade in summer, when the 

 sun is nearly vertical, and obstruct the desired 

 warmth and light when the sun runs "low" 



It is very obvious where evergreens belong. Their 

 place is on the north side of a dwellmg. There, 

 their thick lower branches check the fury of the cold 

 winds, and are a great protection. 



I do not mean by any means to exclude fruit 

 trees from the grounds, but these should occupy a 

 compact, regular lot by themselves. They may oc- 

 cupy and become a part of the kitchen-garden ; not 

 of minor importance to the forest trees, but only 

 occupying, like the kitchen, a more retired position. 



I have spoken only of trees. They are to the 



