1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



387 



they can attend to through the day. Of course, we 

 use a horse-rake (the Independent,) with which one 

 man and horse can do the labor of eight or ten 

 men with hand rakes. Any farmer who cuts ten 

 tons of hay, and does not use a horse-rake, is behind 

 the age, and a fit subject for missionary enter- 

 prise. Horse-rakes are among the essentials of 

 respectable farmers, and not to be named among 

 doubtful implements. 



Let us hear the reports of this year's experi- 

 ments with mowing machines, and perhaps a differ- 

 ent account may be rendered in future. What we 

 want in New Hampshire is a light one-horse ma- 

 chine, and no doubt we shall see it in general use 

 before many years. 



EOOT CROPS — SOWING MACHINES — WHEEL HOES. 



I shall leave it to the principal editor to advo- 

 cate the cultivation of root crops, merely saying at 

 present, that as usual, he is in the right, and that 

 the farmers will see, by-and-by, the benefit of this 

 branch of husbandry, especially of the culture of 

 carrots and turnips. 



If the land is well prepared, rich and clean, and 

 the proper tools used, a crop of carrots is one of 

 our cheapest crops. I sow them with a machine, 

 about sixteen inches apart, between the rows, about 

 the first of June. As soon as the weeds appear, I 

 run the Wheel Hoe between the rows. This may 

 be done even before the carrots are up, if necessary 

 as the mark of the drill is plainly visible, and I 

 never use a common hoe at all about the crop. The 

 wheel hoe, I think, was invented at Danvers, where 

 they raise onions, and it is the very best hand ma 

 chine of its cost, on the farm. They are sold for 

 about a dollar and a half. I think a crop of carrots 

 or onions may be raised with one-half the labor, by 

 the use of this machine, that is required without it 

 Mr. Jona. A. Robinson, of Fremont, N. H., has 

 taken a patent upon a Hand Cultivator, which I 

 nave never used, but which is claimed to be an im^ 

 provement upon the wheel hoe, because it cuts up 

 the weeds on both sides of the row at once. 



I intend, this year, to repeat the experiment 

 which I have often tried successfully, of plowing 

 up some of my worn-out grass land, after haying, 

 and re-seeding with grass seed and turnips. I have 

 raised several fine crops in this way, sowing about 

 one pound of turnip seed to the acre, at any time 

 before the 10th of August, broadcast with the grass 

 seed. The prospect now is, that the present will 

 be a favorable season for such a crop. Try it, farm- 

 ers, as the last chance to make up for want of put- 

 ting in seed enough last spring. Ashes and super- 

 phosphate of lime, in addition to all the barn ma- 

 nure you can spare, are first rate food for the tur- 

 nip crop. 



And in connection with this subject, it may be 

 well to say a word by way of reminder, if one may 



borrow a word from the ministers, which is not 

 even in Webster, of 



THE DOUBLE PLOW. 



This is classed by many as a "new contrivance," 

 but it is figured in the English books of a half cen- 

 tury ago, though perhaps, not then used except 

 for opening drains, or the like. For turning over 

 sod, to be immediately sowed again with grass seed 

 where the land is tolerably smooth, there is nothing 

 equal to the double plow. Apply all your manure 

 in fine compost to the furrow, and harrow it in. 

 The deeper you plow the better, provided you have 

 manure enough to enrich the stratum of soil 

 brought to the surface. A good deep plowing o^ 

 sward land, with the double plow, will do more to 

 kill witch grass than any other operation. Where 

 I plowed last year, at Chester, on a piece of hard land 

 swarded with this grass, we found, on cross plow- 

 ing this year, that a large proportion of the roots 

 had been smothered to death. Naturally the roots 

 of this grass run near the surface, not usually more 

 than four inches deep, and trenching them in, not- 

 withstanding the stories about their vitality, is sure 

 death to them. By common plowing, they are 

 cut in pieces, and thus multiplied, and worked deep- 

 er into the soil than they would naturally strike. 



If some of the Bay State farmers will plow an 

 old sward of witch grass a foot deep, with the 

 double plow, next May, harrow it, roll it with a 

 heavy roller and plant it immediately, I have no 

 doubt they will confirm this my apparent heresy, 

 about this plant, which is at once, one of our bes 

 grasses, and most troublesome weeds. 



BOXES VERSUS BUGS. 



I cover my cucumber and squnsh plants with 

 boxes covered with gauze, which I find effectual to 

 keep off the striped bugs. The Maine Farmer de- 

 clares that the gauze is a work of supererogation, 

 and that a fence made of cloth or wood, six inches 

 high, round each hill, is just as good without a cov- 

 ering. I know of no better authority than the 

 Maine Farmer, and as soon as I read the article, I 

 took off the gauze from several boxes, with a view 

 to test the matter, but have not yet become satis- 

 fied whether our friend is correct or not, or wheth- 

 er his theory, as to how that kind of bugs fly, will 

 answer without a slight variation, for this latitude. 

 So far as I could observe, I was inclined to the 

 opinion, that our bugs had not read the Maine Far- 

 mer! 



Exeter, July 12, 1856. 



A Shoeing Stool for Blacksmiths. — The 

 following is a descrijjtion of a stool for blacksmiths 

 for shoeing horses, whicli I have invented and found 

 to be very convenient and useful, and I present it 

 for the benefit of the craft. 



I make a light, portal)le stool, of the form of a 

 common crutch, with one leg, and put a cushion 



