1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



99 



roots from the soil to sustain the growth of the 

 plant, and from various causes it is drawn up 

 towards the leaves, where it is evaporated. Nov/ 

 one of these causes is the action of these sap ves- 

 sels or fibres of wood which serve as \alves to 

 force the sap upward similar to those in animals 

 in the blood vessels, (as the vegetable and animal 

 kingdom are similar.) This being the case, which 

 is, undoubtedly, in my mind, and which can be 

 proved by experimenting on trees in the sap-run- 

 ning season, it accounts for posts and stakes last- 

 ing longer set in an inverted matter, than those set 

 in an upright manner, and also for wood seasoning 

 better set up, top end down ; for the action of the 

 sap vessels (while set in this manner) aided by 

 the attraction of gravitation, drains the timber of 

 all its moisture, it becomes seasoned, and will not 

 decay, while those set in an upright manner will 

 retain their moisture, fermentation takes place, 

 hence decay. R. A. Damon. 



Bipton, Vt. 



THE FARM OF ELIJAH \iC'OOD, JH. 



IN CONCORD, MASS. 



He who manages a farm prqfitabh/, setting a 

 good example to his neighl)ors, and to the stran- 

 ger who passes by his gates, is a public benefac- 

 tor. He may make two blades of grass grow 

 where only one grew before, but if it is done at 

 a loss, he must eventually starve, and he is not 

 a public benefactor, nor his example a good one. 



He does not manage a farm projitahhj who in- 

 creases the fertility of his acres, enlarges his 

 bars?, multiplies his kine, and makes his trees 

 drop fatness, if in so doing he starves his soul, 

 breaks down his health, and brings up his family 

 about him in a state of servitude that is only one 

 degree from intolerable. 



Such a course is extravagant, unreasonable, 

 and will be ruinous in the end, no matter how 

 many shares may be accumulated in the bank, 

 mill or railroad, how many fair acres teem with 

 fertility, or how many scores of cattle and sheep 

 may graze upon the hills which the owner calls 

 his own. There is no real profit in it all. 



The farm of which we are speaking has not 

 been managed in this way, — for while the stock 

 has increased, and the rough places become 

 smooth, and while luxuriant grain and corn, and 

 grass fielis, have yielded to him their rich and 

 varied crops, and rivers of milk have been flow- 

 ing from his healthy and well-tended cows, his 

 own soul has expanded and kept progress with 

 the material things about him. The farmers'' 

 club, the lyceum, the cliurcli, the school, all the 

 social relations of life, have been cherished and 

 cultivated as well as the farm, — and this is what 

 we call profitable cultivation. For what profiteth 

 it a man if he gain a whole farm, and lose liim- 

 selfl 



Mr. Wood manages two distinct farms ; his own, 

 which he has brought to a high state of fertility, 

 principally from its own resources, and an adjoin- 



ing farm owned by a non-resident. His crops on 

 these, last season, were 20 acres in potatoes, 13 

 acres of which were planted in swamp land, in 

 process of reclamation, 20 acres in corn, 4 in 

 southern corn for fodder, 11 acres in oats, 11 in 

 rye, and cut 160 tons of hay ! He is wintering 

 90 head of cattle, principally milch cows, and 

 sold, between the first of October and the first of 

 April of last year, one thousand, nine hundred 

 and sementy five dollars wor,th of milk, and for the 

 then ensuing six months, expected to sell some- 

 thing over one thonsand dollars worth more. He 

 thinks the two farms capable of supplying $5,000 

 worth of milk annuallj'. But he sells the milk as 

 a matter of convenience, and not because he 

 thinks that the most pnfitable way of disposing 

 of it. 



Within a year he has built more than 150 rods 

 of balance and bank wall, bogged and partially 

 reclaimed fourteen acres of swamp land, and has 

 arranged to build not less than 400 rods more of 

 wall, and to reclaim 20 acres more of swamp land, 

 where young trees and bushes are now standing. 



On finding that the aggregate of his cultivated 

 land was 66 acres, exclusive of mowing land, the 

 inquiry was a natural one, whether he could give 

 so many acres sufficient manuring to make it 

 profitable to have so many at once under the 

 plow ? The reply was, that no acre had been 

 planted without its complement of thirty ox -loads 

 of manure, except the swamp land, which had 

 been planted without any. In the summer pre- 

 ceding the crops of which we are speaking, he 

 had tied up about fifty head of cattle, and to their 

 droppings he had added muck, and whatever 

 other valuable materials he could command, in 

 order to swell the heaps and add to their value. 



Mr. Wood long ago learned that his low, moist 

 lands were those which he must depend upon 

 for his grass crops, and by a judicious manage- 

 ment of them, by a thorough working of them 

 when plowed, by liberal manuring and seeding, 

 followed by a top-dressing of rich, well pulver- 

 ized compost every other year, he can keep them 

 sufficiently active to produce an average of two 

 tons per acre for ten or twelve years in succes- 

 sion. This is one of the causes of his success in 

 farming ; for from land valued at $100 per acre, 

 he gets an annual crop worth $30 for the two 

 tons of hay, and a crop of rowen which is either 

 cut and cured or fed by the stock, and worth at 

 least $8 per acre, making an aggregate of $38 an 

 acre. The cost of getting this hay is not more 

 than $5 an acre ; the interest on the cost of the 

 land $6, leaving a net gain of $27 per acre, 

 without any palpitations of heart as it regards 

 the solvency of these acres ! What investments in 

 mills, banks, railroads, or even commerce or trade, 

 are so safe and lucrative as these ? 



