254 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 



that an orchard considered worthless, has, in pro- 

 portion to the number of trees produced more and 

 better fruit than any other in this county, more uni- 

 formly productive, and is still in a healthy condi- 

 tion. The vacant places when purchased were filled 

 with young trees now in full bearing. But one tree 

 has died in seventeen years, and that in the winter 

 of 1854-5, after the drought of the preceding sum- 

 mer which was very destructive to trees of every 

 description. 



This may look like too much work, but if any 

 farmer will try the experiment, call his land and 

 old trees $1000 per acre— charge his manure and 

 all labor to expense account — sell all the products, 

 and after fifteen years' experience he will find a bal- 

 ance of profit equal to any other part of his farm 

 and probably much greater. C. Goodrich. 



Burlington, Vt., March, 1856. 



Remarks. — We have referred to the remarks 

 made upon treating an old orchard, and really can 

 find nothing that looks like "a mistake." The oc- 

 casion did not call upon us to go into minute details, 

 as you have done, and done well. In most cases, 

 • we are obliged to leave a great deal for the further 

 inquiry and good sense of the operator to find out 

 for himself. 



TIME TO PLOW. 



It is often difficult to know when to plow. If 

 ground is moved when wet, it often remains in very 

 hard and compact lumps. If we wait until the 

 ground is dry, so much work is brought together 

 that it cannot be done in time. A few common 

 sense thoughts may aid in this matter : 



1. Sward ground may be plowed when much 

 wetter than any other, without causing it to be 

 hard on drying. 



2. Sandy and gravelly land is much less injured 

 by handling when wet, than clay or clay loam. 



3. The plow is not half as bad for wet ground 

 as the harrow for several reasons. In plowing, the 

 team tread on the broken ground far less than in 

 harrowing. The action of the plow is different. 

 The one raises up and turns over, the other drags 

 down and presses together. So true is this, that 

 ground thus harrowed will soon become a mass 

 of brick-bats, and remain so for years. Ground 

 may be plowed when pretty wet if you will let it 

 remain untouched afterwards, till dry and warm, and 

 by this treatment it will be fit for sowing sooner 

 than if not plowed. 



The same principles will apply to spading and 

 raliing. Ground may be spaded up when considera- 

 bly wet, if you lay down each spadeful carefully, 

 and be sure not to touch it with the spade or with a 

 rake until it is thoroughly dry. But if each spade- 

 ful is knocked do^vn with the spade, and as soon as 

 the surface crumbles, is raked until it is beautifully 

 smooth, the air will be to a considerable extent 

 excluded, and the whole ground be hard and diffi- 

 cult to till during the whole season. Plowed or 

 spaded, the ground, if wet, should be left as loose 

 as it can be left, that it may dry rapidly and crum- 

 ble easily, and the case must be a very urgent one 

 which will justify putting the harrow or the rake 

 upon it till it is dry. Then it will break down easily 

 and remain light and easily tilled through the en- 

 tire season. — Dr. Reed, Pittsfield. 



For the New England Farmer. 



APPLICATION OF BARN MANURES. 



My general practice has been to keep manures 

 as dry as possible until it is to be used, and for 

 this purpose I have built leantos to my stables. 



My mowing and tillage land (fifteen acres) is a 

 mixed medley of dry, sandy, gravel loam, heavy 

 loam and swamp muck. When I first occupied the 

 farm eighteen years since, it Avas what was usually 

 called "run out," having been rented for several 

 years, and the crops sold or carried off; now I 

 know of no land more productive in this pictur- 

 esque valley of the Deerfield river. The course 

 pursued has been the following, beginning with the 

 uplands. 



In the spring, ])low as much greensward as I can 

 manure thorovghly. I have uniformly plowed a 

 little deeper than any of my neighbors, and take 

 more pains to plow well, but detest a flat furrow. 

 The manure is spread on the surface as evenly as 

 possible, in its raw state ; from twenty to forty cart- 

 loads to the acre, and thoroughly harrowed, plant- 

 ed and thoroughly hoed three times. The corn is 

 cut up and taken off" early in October, and the 

 ground sowed with rye, and seeded in the spring to 

 ten quarts timothy and two of northern clover. I 

 usually mow thi-ee years, then plow again as be- 

 fore. 



Last spring I adopted the method generally rec- 

 ommended by scientific farmers of plowing in 

 the manure on the whole of my planting ground, 

 in three separate patches, composed of four differ- 

 ent kinds of soil, and all in good heart. The result 

 was that I had a smaller growth of corn than I 

 have had for several previous years. I shall plow 

 in no more manure at present. 



The swamp lands after being thoroughly drained, 

 one part was plowed and planted with corn, man- 

 ured with green horse manure, and afterwards 

 seeded ; another part was covered with about one 

 hundred bushels of loamy sand to the square rod, 

 manured and seeded with grass and oats ; and an- 

 other part plowed and seeded in the sod in August. 

 This last method I consider the best. 



I occasionally spread green manure on moist 

 mowlands, and after bushing and rolling, sow a 

 bushel of gypsum to the acre ; the same on my com 

 lands also as soon as the manure is spread. The 

 manure that is made during the summer by plow- 

 ing occasionally the droppings of the barn-yard 

 with what had been carted in the previous fall, is 

 spread on such part of the mowland as is not to be 

 disturbed by the plow, as soon as is convenient af- 

 ter haying, the sooner the better ; when the yard is 

 to be filled again with either sandy loam or muck, 

 the ichich to be decided by the quaHty of the land 

 for which it is intended. P. Field. 



E, Charlemont. 



Hydraulic Rams. — Mr. R. A. Gesner, of Sa- 

 lem, Oregon, asks the editor of the Country Gen- 

 tleman some questions relative to the Hydraulic 

 Ram ; and as his reply may be of sernce to some 

 of our readers, we subjoin it : — 



Three feet fall, in thirty feet, as in the instance 

 mentioned, will be ami)le to operate a water-ram to 

 advantage, and raise the water to fifteen feet as pro- 

 posed, or to any other desired height, if it be five 

 times this elevation. The ram will not be likely to 

 succeed, however, with a driving-j^ipe less than one 



