406 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



that the New Mexican white flint corn was com- 

 mon about here, until I planted it. At the time of 

 writing this, it stands from five to six feet high in 

 my garden, with no ap])earance of the "spindle," 

 with a !)road, heavy, dark green leaf, looking very 

 much like our southern corn planted here; leaf of a 

 darker green color. It certainly presents a very 

 beautiful appearance while growing in the garden ; 

 of course, I cannot speak of its merits "in the pot," 

 as yet, but it has the reputation of being most ex- 

 cellent cooked in its green state, or when dry, 

 ground into meal and used the same as our common 

 Indian meal. 



Before closing, a few words in regard to the 

 dwarf white podded beans. These I planted too 

 early, about the middle of ]May, just before the 

 long rain we had at that time, and I expected the 

 seed would rot in the ground. But they came up 

 well. The color of the seed, a brownish black, 

 smooth, and shining. The leaf and stem of the 

 plant quite dwarfish, and of a ])ale or light green 

 color, presenting a very delicate appearance. A 

 profu'e and early bearer. Pods of a yellowish white, 

 I should say cream color, when cooked as snaps. 

 We had our first mess from them the early part of 

 this week ; they have no strings to them, very ten- 

 der, and a peculiar pleasant taste; worthy of a fur- 

 ther trial, and will undoubtedly prove themselves 

 a valuable addition to our already extended list of 

 beans. More anon. Norfolk. 



July I9th, 1856. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 



HOW TO SAVE AND MAKE MANURE. 



Mr. Editor : — I have in my little place, (and I 

 recommend it to every one who is building a 

 house) a reservoir laid in cement, into which all my 

 drains run, from privy, kitchen, ^c, and also the 

 water from one side of my roof after passing through 

 the privy vault. In this way I make a great deal 

 of liquid manure, which 1 have been in the habit of 

 pumping out and putting on my little half acre of 

 grass, trees, shrubbery and garden, with large wa- 

 tering pots, and also of ])umpinginto a cart load or 

 two of loam hauled for the purpose. Every spring 

 I clear out of my cellar and back yard a large heap 

 of well sifted coal ashes, from furnace and range, 

 which it has sometimes been a bill of expense to 

 me to have carted away. Now I want to knov/ ifi 

 it would make good manure to mix this ashes half 

 and half with loam, and pump my hquid manure 

 into it. (a.) 



Can any of your scientific readers tell me wheth- 

 er hard coal ashes contains ingredients in a suffi- 

 ciently active state to absorb the ammonia of the 

 hquid, or would any other chemical change be pro- 

 duced which would convert what I have always 

 supposed to be an inert and valueless material into 

 an active fertilizer ? Have any of your readers ev- 

 er tried a similar experiment with hard coal ashes ? 



Jidy, 1856. Suburban. 



Remarks. — (a.) We have no doubt, whatever, 

 that such a mixture would be a highly valuable 

 manure. Plenty of evidence has been given that 

 coal ashes alone is a valuable fertiHzer, and when 

 mingled with the other materials mentioned, the 

 v/holc must be among the best. 



For the New England Fanner, 



"THE CLOVER YEAR." 



It is a common remark of the rural population, 

 "this will be memorable as the clover year." Pass- 

 ing through AVorcester county and the eastern part 

 of Hampshire, a little more than a week since, and 

 though very familiar with this region for the last 

 twenty-five years, I never saw so much clover, red, 

 and white, as at the present season. The air is 

 fragrant with the perfume, and the mowings and 

 pastures vocal, as it were, with the hum of the va- 

 rious species of bees, actively employed each shin- 

 ing hour in gathering honey so profusely secreted * 

 by the trifoliums. 



Had the farmers generally served or applied plas- 

 ter, ashes, guano, or any of the artificial manures, 

 they would have remarked, "the effect is wonder- 

 ful !"' The clovers, though not grasses, are very 

 successfully cultivated with them. White clover 

 for pasturing should be mixed with other grasses. 

 Pure clover jiastures, when fed by sheep, have been 

 known to induce disease. Hence the importance 

 of mixing with the grasses, whether the white or 

 red, or any other species of the genus, trifolium. 



On a comparison of the nutritive matter, of equal 

 quantities of the clovers, white and red, it apjiears, 

 that the white is inferior, the proportion being 5 

 to 4. 



It is said by Sinclair, an English writer on the 

 subject, that the produce of clover is usually very 

 great after a very severe winter, and inferior after 

 a mild winter. 



It is a common remark among the farmers, that 

 land when it produces clover readily, or as it were, 

 spontaneousl)', is in a good condition for any crop. 

 I heard the best farmer in the Connecticut valley 

 say a few days ago, "I never sow clover seed when 

 I seed down apiece of land, only Timothy. There 

 is clover seed enough in the soil." 



Said an M. D., "we shall have a hard winter." 

 "Why, how do you know ?" "Because there is so 

 much red clover to furnish the honey bee with an 

 extra amount of honey." "But, sir, did you know 

 that the honey bee does not work on the red clo- 

 ver ?" "No !" "It is said by the best Naturalists 

 and most careful observers that they do not." — 

 Thus was explained the sign of a hard winter. 



RUSTICUS. 



For the New England Farmer. 



STRAWBERRIES-COAL ASHES. 



The present season my crop of strawberries has 

 been unusually abundant, the size of the fruit large, 

 and the quality in every way satisfactory. For the 

 information of your readers, I will give you a brief 

 account of my treatment of the vines. My beds 

 were mostly renewed last year and the year before, 

 and are a mixture of Boston Pine and Hovey's 

 Seedlings. During the last summer and autumn 

 great pains were taken to keep them free from 

 weeds, and each plant in a hill by itself. For this 

 purpose they were often hoed, and the runners cut 

 off. In the fall I covered them with old hay and 

 litter from the garden, but put on no manure. — 

 When the snow was a foot deep in March, by way 

 of experiment, I had a coating of hard coal ashes 

 put on the snow and the beds. This, as the snov/ 

 melted, sifted dov.n on the plants, and M^hen the 

 ground was dry the coarse particles were raked ofH 



