1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



119 



the least difficulty in making them grow without 

 turnips or milk. I have killed three within a few 

 weeks, from twelve to fifteen months old, that 

 averaged over 350 pounds each, and I do not 

 think they ever tasted milk, except from their 

 mother, or turnips, and yet they cost me eight 

 cents a pound. I admit that hogs, and all other 

 stock, will do better on a variety of foad. I use 

 corn, rye, shorts, rice-meal, and such refuse po- 

 tatoes, apples and other stuff I have, that will not 

 sell or do to use in the family. 



We have as good a set of farmers in Hollis 

 as you can find in the State. They have drawn 

 premiums for their farms, their nurseries, their 

 crops, their teams, almost always where they have 

 tried. They have almost all of them tried roots, 

 and after a few years given them, up, and I ven- 

 ture to say, that the gentleman that raised 2500 

 bushels this year will not raise 2500 bushels a 

 year ten years from this time, or in 1868. 



Our late townsman, William P. Saunderson, 

 Esq., was as good a farmer as there was in the 

 State, and for the last fifteen years has been in 

 the milk business, where roots will tell, if any 

 wnere. He went into the root crops largely, 

 raising English turnips, ruta bagas, sugar beets, 

 carrots, &c. ; but after a careful trial of at least 

 twelve years, he gave them all up. In apprais- 

 ing his estate, last week, not three bushels of 

 roots, potatoes excepted, of all kinds, were found 

 in his cellars. He has taken premiums for his 

 farm, his nursery, and various kinds of produce, 

 yet he gave up the root culture, and spent his la- 

 bor, his manure and his best land to increase his 

 corn, oats, wheat, apple and hay crops. 



I do not believe that it will pay to boil potatoes, 

 turnips, apples or any of the roots for stock or 

 hogs, when wood is worth $4 or So per cord ; but 

 ■when it is not more than $1 or $2 a cord it may 

 do. Nor will it do to compare our farming, where 

 labor is so high, with the farming of England, 

 Ireland or Scotland, where labor costs compara- 

 tively nothing, and where they cannot raise corn. 

 If they could raise from 30 to 100 bushels of corn, 

 in England, to the acre, you would not hear much 

 of their turnip crop. People should raise what 

 their climate is best calculated to raise to profit, 

 as their great crops. 



One man tells me he kept some young cattle 

 through, on corn fodder, straw and turnips, and 

 they came out well. I have kept my young cat- 

 tle "through, on corn fodder and meadow hay, for 

 years, without the turnips, and they came out 

 well. I prefer to use a part corn fodder for my 

 oxen and cows, to all English hay, and they do 

 better on it, and the cows give more milk. 



Eollis, Dec. 25, 1858. E. Emerson. 



comparatively in minute quantities, on some soils, 

 produce a remarkable effect, on other soils but 

 little. 



While one substance, applied alone, produces 

 little or no eff'ect, a mixture of two or more may 

 give rise to striking differences. 



Phosphoric acid, lime, and some form of or- 

 ganic matter, are essential constituents of such 

 a mixture as shall everywhere and under all cir- 

 cumstances produce a marked, beneficial effect 

 on old, worn-out land. 



Sulphuric acid has a beneficial effect on legu- 

 minous plants. 



SCIENTIFIC CONCIiUSIONS. 



Scientific experiments, as well as theoretical 

 hypothesis, have established the following posi- 

 tions. We believe they may be set down as ag- 

 ricultural truths : 



Substances, rich in nitrogen, increase the ver- 

 dure, lengthen the straw, and promote and pro- 

 long the growth of plants. 



Lime generally shortens the period of growth, 

 strengthens the stem and hastens the time of ri- 

 pening of both corn and root crops. 



Saline substances, applied alone, and even, 



PSIZE ESSAY ON MANUBES. 



We have before us, and have perused with a 

 lively interest, an Essay on the Preparation and 

 Application of Manures, by Doct. Joseph Rey- 

 nolds, of Concord, Mass. This essay was pre- 

 sented to the Massachusetts Society for the Pro- 

 motion of Agriculture, and received their highest 

 prize of one hundred and fifty dollars. 



The essay commences by stating that Salts, 

 Gases, Acids and Water are all essentials, and 

 then proposes the inquiry, IJoio many of these el- 

 ements are necessary to constitute a manure ? The 

 subject oi Liquid Manureis also introduced, and 

 ably treated. The author says — 



The saving and use of liquid manures is deserv- 

 ing of more attention than it has yet received 

 in this country. It is easy so to arrange the stalls 

 of cattle, as to receive their urine into troughs 

 under the floor, and to convey it into a cistern in 

 the cellar, or outside of the barn. This may be 

 pumped into a water-cart, to which a sprinkler is 

 attached, similar to those used in watering the 

 streets. If it is pumped in through a strainer, the 

 sprinkler does not become clogged, and it may 

 be rapidly conveyed to the field, and distributed 

 as a top-dressing, upon grass or grain, with im- 

 mediate effect. When the soil is not deficient in 

 carljonaceous elements, there can probably be no 

 better top-dressing applied. It is not as perma- 

 nent in its effects as the solid excrement, but 

 more immediate, and it may be applied twice a 

 year upon grass, with less expense of labor than 

 one dressing of solid manure. The cost of the 

 necessary apparatus for saving and distributing 

 it, is small. As a top-dressing for a fieW where 

 turnips are to be grown, it is very excellent. As 

 a top-dressing in the spring, or during the sum- 

 mer, for pasture lands, it is perhaps superior to 

 any dressing that can be applied. If the undilut- 

 ed urine is thought too strong, it may be easily 

 diluted in the field, if water is at hand. 



The Application of Manures has received con- 

 siderable attention, and the writer has given 

 many facts, and offered suggestions that will 

 prove of high value to the attentive reader. He 



says — 



One great necessity for applying manure in 

 our climate, is, that plants may be forced more 

 rapidly through all the stages of their growth, 

 since if left to themselves, the season would not 

 be long enough to bring them to perfection ; and 



