454 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



out stuff of oak timber, five feet long, and about 

 six or seven inches wide, and notching them half 

 on one side, and putting them in log-house fashion. 



When they came to the water, as was always the 

 case there on the openings, they found an abun- 

 dance of quicksand. So to stop that out they went 

 to the woods and cut a white oak tree about three 

 feet over, and cut off three feet of the butt, then 

 marked off about three inches thick around the 

 outside, and split it off into pieces like stave bolts, 

 being careful to number them so as to set them up 

 just as they grew ; then took them home, set them 

 up, hooped tfxem together — having first chambered 

 off the outside so as to shapen the lower end, then 

 let them down into the Avell, and drove them down 

 into the quicksand, a little at a time, being careful 

 to keep them to their natural place, dipping out 

 the sand from the inside, and thus settling them 

 down till the top was even with the water. 



Thus we calculated we had a foundation as firm 

 as a rock, and as durable as the everlasting hills; 

 for being under water it would never rot out, and 

 the thickness of the staves would prevent them 

 from ever moving from their place. It kept the 

 sand out perfectly, the water came in from the bot- 

 tom, and after the first six months, was as clear as 

 the crystal fountain. I deemed it good enough to 

 slack the thirst of an angel, should I be so fortu- 

 nate as to entertain one unawares. 



W. O. HOUGHTALING. 



Grand Rapids, Kent Co., Mich. 



Two weeks growth gained in autumn is two 

 weeks gained in Spring — and most important of 

 all, two iveeks gained upon dog-days, with their 

 rusting, blighting effect. Could it be said to every 

 New England farmer, and the advice heeded, sow 

 three acres of winter, and two acres of spring wheat, 

 annually, for three years, and I am sure it is no ex- 

 aggeration to say, they would all bread their fami- 

 lies, and have grain to sell. 



What necessity, the past two years or more, for 

 action .' Does it not continue ? Can your farmers 

 afford to buy flour at the rate of two-fifty to three 

 dollars a bushel for wheat, when they can produce 

 it on every farm in New England, at one dollar or 

 less, which will pay better than any other crop at 

 that price ? I had resolved never to trouble you 

 further upon this subject. I have had no motive, 

 but to benefit the farmer ; and to your excellent pa- 

 per, as the exponent of my views, I am much in- 

 debted. 



The Western farmers can see no reason, they say, 

 why wheat cannot be grown with you as successful- 

 ly as other grains, and express surprise at your ap- 

 alhy, but while you are good payins; customers, 

 they would like the privilege of feeding you from 

 their own granaries. Respectfully, H. Poor. 



JVew York, Aug. 25, 1856. 



For the New England Farmer. 



SOWING TIME. 



Friend Brown : — The Northern States — Maine, 

 Vermont and New Hampshire — should not fail to 

 get in their wheat during the first week of Sept. ; 

 Massachusetts should do lier sowing by the 15th of 

 Sept., if not earlier. Should any farmer require 

 reasons for sowing so early, we answer, and will 

 further submit a wholesome practice for him to 

 adopt. 



1 . Plow in the stubble (with manure if you have 

 it) of an exhausted mowing field . 



2. Plow deep, whether it be a tilled or mowing 

 field. 



3. Soak the wheat over night in salt pickle, to 

 destroy insects, and skim off foul seed ; see that no 

 chess is in your seed wheat. It resembles the seed 

 of twich grass. 



4. Rake the seed with ashes and lime when wet, 

 and it will come up in three to five days. 



5. Sow a bushel and a half to three-quarters to 

 the acre. 



6. Cultivate in, three inches deep, with a horse 

 plow, or cultivator. 



7. If you have no manure, sow ashes, or ashes 

 and lime, upon the field, and cultivate in with the 

 grain. 



8. Let this work be done the first and second 

 week in September. 



Early sowing, and deep planting, Ihat the roots 

 get well imbedded, are positive proofs against win- 

 ter-kill or clayey soils. To wait till the corn or po- 

 tato crop is taken off in Oct., then sow wheat, and 

 slightly harrow in, gives but a meagre chance for 

 the roots to fasten themselves against the attacks of 

 thawing and freezing, called "winter-kill," — thus, 

 being thrown out to die. 



Remarks. — We had commenced an article on 

 the subject discussed by Mr. Poor; but his is so 

 directly to the point, and so perfectly expresses our 

 own views, that we are happy to give him the pre- 

 ference. Take his advice, gentlemen, you will find 

 profit in it. 



For the Netv England Farmer. 



GIVING MEDICINE. 



If Dr. J. C. Jackson, whom you quote in your 

 paper of Aug. 16th, is correct, our medical men, it 

 seems, must either be very greatly deluded, or 

 guilty of the most "outrageous knavery." Now the 

 famous Dr. Samuel Johnson is often quoted as say- 

 ing, "every sick man is a rascal." If, then, it should 

 turn out that all who give medicine, and all who 

 are sick and take it, are either outrageous knavgs 

 or rascals, the conclusion by people of good sense 

 must be thai there is no want of bad men in the 

 world. 



Now, sir, I am an old school physician ; was bred 

 such, and have practised as such more or less for 

 thirty years, and yet I am ready, or almost so, to 

 endorse you and Dr. Jackson both, if you will allow 

 me to change one word in the doctor's statement ; 

 I wish to substitute "men educated," for "deluded." 

 I confess, I do not like the razor the doctor shaves 

 with — it is rather harsh ; but then, he does not 

 shave much too closely. 



You quote the elder Dr. Jackson, in support of 

 what you regard as a somewhat modified, or less 

 ultra view than that of the sage of Glenhaven. — 

 You might have quoted his son, whose life was writ- 

 ten by his father, and doubtless correctly written. 

 And Boston has at this moment in it other emi- 

 nent medical men, who, apart from all bitterness of 

 language or censoriousness, are not very far from 

 the same "platform." It has in it at least one re- 

 spectable medical institute — that of Dr. Brown, at 

 20 La Grange Place, where all active medicine is re- 

 pudiated, and always has been, and the success of 



