1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



475 



healthiness of the stock ; and I believe the thor- 

 oujih drainage of a single swamp in any locality 

 will be an important means of improving the 

 healih both of the population and stock connect- 

 ed with it. 



Mr. Beattie. — It is apparent that animals have 

 more comfort and thrive better on dry lands 

 than on wet. 



1 am aware of instances where marsh lands 

 have been dried, and all the disagreeable and in- 

 jurious effects arising from the swamps removed, 

 such as frosts, fogs and blights, &c. These lands 

 have been again allowed to become wet, and all 

 the evils formerly complained of have returned. 



Where undrained lands produce bad herbage 

 for the food of stock, and their ir)fltience in the 

 neighborhood are injurious to crops that produce 

 the food of man, they must of necessity be inju- 

 rious to the health of the population and stock, 

 independent of the injurious influence of the 

 atmosphere, which cannot be so easily deter- 

 mined. 



J/?'. Neilsov. — In the Altcar Meadows, belong- 

 ing to the Earl of Sefton, a low level district 

 about eight or ten miles north of Liverpool, a 

 ■water-wheel was erected about five years ego, for 

 the pur{)ose of relieving the land from inunda- 

 tion ; and though thorough-drainage has been 

 very little adopted, the inhabitants speak of the 

 increased salubrity of the locality, while the 

 equally increased fertility of the land has created 

 a marked improvement in the condition of the 

 stock. In my own neighborhood, some low flat 

 land of a stiff clay soil, and lying extremely wet, 

 ahvajs had a scouring effect on the young slock 

 turned on it in the spring; and no application of 

 manure produced any alteration. It was drained, 

 and, without any other change in the manage- 

 ment, the same species of stock throve on it ex- 

 tremely well. 



This is easily accounted for ; the wet prevent- 

 ed the manure from fermenting, and fostering 

 that species of herbage best calculated to pro- 

 mote the vigorous growth of animal substances, 

 and the land became covered with a verdure un 

 suited for that purpose. 



The withdrawal of the water produced fermen- 

 tation ; the aquatic plants were superseded by a 

 more food-producing species, carbonic acid gas 

 was more speedily absorbed, and, instead of the 

 exhalations of the marsh, a purer oxygen was 

 evolved, increasing both the salubrity of the at- 

 mosphere and the condition of the stock. 



I have also had several opportunities of wit- 

 nessing similar effects in the West Indies, and 

 particularly in British Guiana, where I resided 

 several years. The surface is almost a dead flat, 

 lower than the sea at high water, and drained 

 only at considerable expense by large sluice- 

 gates for each estate, which are opened each pe- 

 riod of low water. 



When an estate is abandoned, this is neglected, 

 and its neighborhood is invariably the first to suf- 

 fer on the approach of an epidemic ; and I have 

 known instances of the course of a fever thus pro- 

 duced being checked, and materially altered, by 

 the neighboring lands being drained, an altera- 

 tion considerably accelerated by a small quantity 

 of lime, in a finely powdered state, being distribu- 

 ted on the lands during a windy day. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 GEAFTIKG NATIVE! GBaPE STOCK. 



Dear Farmer : — I see by your Marblehead 

 correspondent that he has found the same trouble 

 with niyself in raising native grape vines from 

 seed. About teri years ago I ])lanted some grape 

 seed, and have been waiting to see what varieties 

 I should get, and I found that the largest and 

 most thrifty vines, altjiou^h they blossomed full, 

 never set a grape, and by comparing tliem with 

 those that bore fruit, I found they would never 

 bear. Last spring 1 got some cuttings that were 

 three buds long, and in May, after the vines had 

 grown leaves as large as dimes, I cut the vines 

 ofl' so low that two or three inches of dirt could 

 be put on top of the stock ; then I split and 

 grafted the same as in apples ; if the stock is 

 small, a string tied round the top will help hold 

 the scion fast till it is grown in It is better to 

 have a stock three-fourths or one inch in diam- 

 eter, and then nothing but dirt will be needed. 

 No wax should be used. My vines have now 

 grown over eight feel in length, with side shoots 

 four feet long, and still they are bound onward. 

 I have not cultivated them this year any, except 

 to take off the suckers, and these will netd look- 

 ing after every week ; and yet there are leaves 

 on them that measure 12 inches wide and 13 

 long, and the vines would in two years, if at- 

 tended to, cover friend G.'s arbor. I would not 

 destroy the roots till I had grafted them. I think 

 thej' will soon be valuable fruit-bearing vines. 



A. J. Dodge. 



Francestown, N. E., Aug., 1859. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 TOP-DHESSIWQ. 



"It is an excellent time to apply composted manure as 

 a top-dressing immediately after the hay is carried from 

 the field, as the young grass will grow up and cover it in 

 a few days. 



If this work is not already done, it should be, befrre 

 the grass ceases to grow, so that the autumnal rains sh .11 

 moisten the maniu'e and carry its fertilizing properties 

 among the roots." 



The above, Mr. Editor, you will perceive, is 

 copied from your editorial. Had you added, — if 

 your land is already in a good condition, so that 

 the grass will grow up immediately and cover it, 

 or if you are sure it will rain immediately after 

 spreading your manure, and for several days to 

 come, until the fertilizing properties are all washed 

 from it into the soil, or if your manure is com- 

 posted of materials that are purely inorganic and 

 will not evaporate, then you would have driven 

 the nail where it is said Noah drove the first 

 nail, (if nails be drove,) when he built the ark, 

 and I should have been saved the mortification 

 of sending my poor composition before the pub- 

 lic. As it is, permit me to offer an amendment 

 to your proposition, in which I will endeavor to 

 give my own experience, corroborated by science, 

 as I understand it. 



I have learned, by experience, that the best 

 time to apply manure as a top-dressing to grass 

 lands, is late in autumn or in winter, so late that 

 the manure, after being spread upon the surface, 

 will remain most of the time in a congealed state 



