1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



389 



deed, it ■will be somewhat difficult for them there 

 to procure help to secure the rich harvests of the 

 season. 



Upon the whole, the world is beautiful and pros- 

 perous to most of us, and famine, in our extended 

 country and diversified climate, will perhaps never 

 visit our people. All we want to make us the hap- 

 piest and thriftest people on earth, is moderate de- 

 sires, virtuous lives, and a firm, steady and consist- 

 ent representative government— a government yield- 

 ing to all their just rights, and encroaching upon 

 none. 



For the New England Farmer. 



DEEP PLOWING. 



Mr. Brown : — As much has been said upon the 

 subject of deep plowing, perhaps it may be thought 

 superfluous to add anything farther on that subject. 

 Yet, as plowing lies at the foundation of our agri- 

 cultural pursuits, permit me to give the readers of 

 your valuable journal the result of my own obser- 

 vation and experience upon a small scale. It has 

 been the prevailing opinion among our agricultur- 

 ists, who own land on the interval bordering on the 

 Connecticut river, that it would not do to plow so 

 deep as to disturb the subsoil, consequently, most 

 of our land has ever been plowed shallow, not 

 more than five inches. Their opinion has been 

 strengthened by an experiment made some years 

 ago. A gentleman from Boston came to reside 

 here, and purchased a valuable tract of land in the 

 meadow. With a heavy team and large plow, 

 ■which he ordered to be put in up to the beam, he 

 turned up so much of the subsoil, and putting on 

 no manure, that the efi"ect was as might have been 

 expected, it killed the land, at least for a number 

 of years. Whence I concluded, as other farmers 

 did, that it would "kill the land" to plow deep, but 

 being assured by Mr. Holbrook, in some of his ju- 

 dicious remarks published in the Farmer, that it 

 would not "kill the land," I was persuaded to try 

 an experiment, cautiously beginning with one acre, 

 which I ordei'ed to be plowed two inches deeper 

 every time of plowing, until it obtained the depth 

 of ten inches. It had not, until then, been plowed 

 more than four or five inches ; but after the first 

 year, I was satisfied it was not "killing the land," 

 and had two acres more plowed in the same way. 

 The result will show whether the land is killed or 

 not. Two years ago, the three acres produced 1 13 

 bushels of rye, 37^ to the acre ; last year from the 

 same ground I raised 67 bushels of shelled corn to 

 the acre, weighing 57 lbs. to the bushel. Thus far, 

 I am satisfied with the experiment. But I ought 

 to say that I do not attribute the unusually large 

 crop wholly to deeper plowing, as there may be 

 other causes to come in for a share. 



The same ground on which the corn was grown 

 last year, was sowed to rye after harvesting the 

 com last fall, and it promises to be a fair crop, but 

 ot near as heavy as the one two years ago. 



The manner in which I cultivate my land is 

 simply this : when it is planted we use about ten 

 loads of long manure to the acre, which is plowed 

 under ; after harvest, the same ground is sowed to 

 rye, without any manure. E. c. 



JVorthampton, June, 1856. 



THE FARMER. 



The farmer is a happy man, 



He raises all he needs, sir, 

 The foremost stands of all the van, 



All occupations leads, sir. 



His cattle furnish beef enough, 



His sheep, a heap of wool, sir. 

 His children hearty are and tough. 



His coffers always full, sir. 



His barns are large and all well filled 



With hay, and corn, and rye, sir, 

 His orchards rich, his land well tilled, 



Both fruit and food supply, sir. 



His cellar in the autumn shows. 



Of roots, a bounteous store, sir, 

 He's well prepared for winter snows,— 



What could a man want more, sir ? 



His horses kept in first rate trim. 



For wagon, chaise, or sleigh, sir, 

 Are ready, now, to carry him. 



At any time of day, sir. 



His cows are many, and the best 



The country can afford, sir. 

 His butter, cheese and milk attest, 



His barns have been well stored, sir> 



His pigs are of the Suffolk sort. 



You never hear them squeal, sir, 

 Because they never are kept short. 



But filled with corn and meal, sir. 



His hens are not of Shanghae sort. 



He chooses not by size, sir, 

 An egg's an egg, and when 'tis bought 



As large a coin supplies, sir. 



His turkeys and his geese are fine, 



Of both he has a store, sir. 

 In fact, the farmer has a mine 



Richer than golden ore, sir. 



His very bees are "busy," too. 



And fill his hives with comb, sir, 

 They have as much as they can do. 



To bring his honey home, sir. 



Who would not choose the farmer's lot' 

 What though he has to work, sir ? 



Much happiness by toil is got. 

 But who would like a shirk, sir ? 



There's land enough for all young men, 



Our country is a great one. 

 Just pull up stakes and hasten then, 



Where fortunes rich await one. 



Dreic's Rural Intelligencer 



Scott's Strawberry Patch. — We had the 

 pleasure, a few days ago, to visit the strawberry 

 grounds of Mr. J. C. Scott, of Brighton, and look 

 at, and test the varieties growing in his collection. 

 There were about seven acres under cultivation, 

 and had yielded then, two days in succession, /owr 

 hundred boxes each day. These were principally 

 the Brighton Pine and Scott's Seedling ; the latter 

 a large, sugar-loaf shaped variety, very sweet and 

 high-flavored. We may give at a future time an 

 engraving of one of these varieties. 



f^" During the last seven years fourteen hundred 

 murders, it is said, have been i^erpetrated in and 

 about San Fransisco, and the city itself has been 

 burned down seven times. 



