1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



59 



Ti-ith whom the bet was made accompanied him 

 m a carriage, and the pedestrian, at the end of 

 the journey, was in better condition than the 

 horse or his driver. This accords with all expe- 

 rience. The human frame becomes inured to 

 wholesome and proper exertion, and the biped 

 gains strength under it, in a greater degree than 

 any quadruped. "We have no objection to dumb 

 beils, and other paraphernalia of the gymnasium. 

 But none of these contrivances are half so bene- 

 ficial as the use of our natural means of locomo- 

 tion. 



The people of this republic have the largest 

 continent in the world to travel over, and are, as 

 a nation, the greatest travellers. But while the 

 rail, the river and the horse carriage are all used 

 to the utmost, v>e walk less than any civilized 

 people under the sun. A man, no matter how 

 much his leisure, or how great his need of econ- 

 omy, would be thought very poor, or next to in- 

 sane, who should use his feet for a journey. He 

 would, at the very least, be set down as eccen- 

 tric or a humorist. Where time is valuable, or 

 strength is to be husbanded for active employ- 

 ment, it is well to take advantage of public con- 

 veyances. But if Americans would prescribe to 

 themselves what John Bull calls his ''constitu- 

 tional walk," we should gain in strength of mus- 

 cle, and banish or diminish the common com- 

 plaint, dyspepsia. Athletic games are well in 

 their way, but one cannot always get up a crick 

 et or rowing match. The consent of others is 

 required, whereas, to walk briskly and habitual- 

 ly, it needs only that we overcome our own iner- 

 tia, and diabuse ourselves of the notion that a 

 horse's legs are better than a man's. 



No motion calls more of the muscles into 

 healthy play than walking — not gliding like a 

 ghost, with arms motionless, but pushing along, 

 with a hearty, springy swing. Nothing more ex- 

 hilarates the whole man than a current of air 

 created by his own brisk movements. If this 

 exercise, so conducive to health, and so readily 

 taken, v/ere more in fashion and in favor, we 

 might meet the doctors with an independent air ; 

 a,nd as to the nostrum-mongers, starve them into 

 taking up a more useful avocation. — Philadel- 

 phia Gazette. 



For the New England Farmer. 



AH" EXCELLE2JT CROP OF ONIOITS. 



]Mr. Euitok : — It may recur to the memory of 

 some of your readers, that in the course of last 

 spring, L furnished for the columns of the Far- 

 mer the measurement of several huge mounds of 

 manure, which I found standing on the farm of 

 Mr. Setii Hathaway, of this town. In that ar- 

 ticle, I intimated that I should keep an eye on 

 the crops of Mi-. Hathaway during the season, 

 with the viev/ of reporting at some future time 

 how such manuring paid. I would, in general, 

 remark on the result of this high manuring, that 

 the returns were proportional to the outlay, the 

 crop of potatoes in particular being remarkably 

 heavy. Of the onion crop, I have now before 

 me the weighed yield of half an acre, which I 

 think will be on all sides conceded to be a credit 

 to his skill and industry. Number of pounds of 

 onions marketed from a measured half-acre of 

 land, 17,575 ; which, at fifty pounds to the bush- 



el, would make 351 <^- bushels, or at the rate of 

 703 bushels to the acre ! Who will take the palm 

 from Mr. Hathaway ? J. J. H. Gregouy. 



Marblehcad, Dec. 15, 1858. 



ROOTS CA.NNOTGROW "WITHOUT 

 LEAVES. 



It is a well-known and well-settled principle 

 in vegetable physiology, that no part of a plant 

 can grow without the assistance derived from the 

 leaf, which decomposes and re-arranges the crude 

 materials of the food of plants, and thus forms 

 new wood. 



For this reason, a very simple and easy way to 

 kill a patch of Canada thistles, or any other weed 

 whose roots spread wide and extend deeply into 

 the soil, is by keeping the tops cut off or the 

 leaves smothered, so that no food can be fur- 

 nished to the roots below. A few months of star- 

 vation in summer will destroy the plants. 



For the same reason, clover or any other plants, 

 will extend the grov;thof their roots more rapid- 

 ly and freely if a larger top is permitted above 

 ground than if closely pastured. 



The following statement, not wholly new, from 

 a source that we cannot at this moment give, is a 

 further corroboration. The "curious circum- 

 stance" mentioned, exists the same v/ith any oth- 

 er plant, as with clover : 



"Agricultural Experiment. — A curious cir- 

 cumstance connected with the growth of clover 

 is, that by cutting the clover twice and removing 

 all the hay, a much better wheat crop is obtained 

 than by feeding it off by sheep, even if some ar- 

 tificial food is used. This is owing to the fact 

 that the growth of the roots of clover in the land 

 is in exact proportion to the growth of the leaves 

 in the air. Each leaflet that shoots upward sends 

 a radicle or root downward. If the leaflet be 

 bitten off or destroyed, its radicle ceases to grow. 

 It therefore follows that grazing clover by sheep 

 materially diminishes the amount of vegetable 

 matter accumulated in the soil by the roots, and 

 consequently the produce of the succeeding crop." 



The above is sustained by the following: 



"A friend of mine in Northamptonshire had a 

 field of clover ; it was divided into two portions ; 

 both were cut at midsummer, and one part was 

 then fed off with sheep, and the other left to grow 

 till September, when it was again cut, and the 

 hay removed. Equal portions of the several 

 pieces were then compared. Where the clover 

 had been cut once and fed off", he got 35 cwt. of 

 clover roots per acre. Where he cut twice, he 

 got 75 cwt. ; there being a difierence of two tons 

 of vegetable matter per acre." — Country Gentle- 

 man. 



Table for Measuring Land. — The attention 

 of the reader is called to the Table for the Meas- 

 urement of Land, which we give in another col- 

 umn. We think it will be found, not merely con- 

 venient, but exceedingly useful to all classes of 

 farmers. It was prepared at our suggestion, with 

 great care, by one of the clerks of Messrs. Shedd 

 & Edson, Civil Engineers, 42 Court Street, Bos- 

 ton, at a cost of not less than twenty-five dollars. 



