1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



48'; 



food of vegetables in solution when it passes the 

 mouthpiece of a plant, no doubt it also contains 

 useful matters in solution wh^n it passes into the 

 drain which is to convey it altogether away, and 

 the waste of food for plants by our drainage 

 water is a matter of considerable importance. It 

 has been most admirably investigated by Mr. 

 Wray during the past year. His results are 

 given in the following table : — 



Samples of Drainage Water 

 from Mr. Paine's very high- 

 ly manurpj field contained 

 grains per gallon of 



Samples of Drainage Water 

 from Mr. Acland's poor clay 

 contained grains per gallon 

 of 



He found that the drain of water from highly 

 manured fields nearFarnham contained eighteen 

 thousandths of a grain of ammonia in every 

 gallon ; but as much as four to fourteen grains 

 of nitric acid ; while from ordinary poor arable 

 soil in Devonshire the drain water contained 

 from three to twelve thousandths of a grain of 

 ammonia, and from one-tenth to as much as four 

 grains of nitric acid in a gallon. 



From this it appears that there is a very large 

 waste indeed of nitrogen in the form of nitric 

 acid in the drainage of very highly manured 

 fields ; comparatively little, however, in the case 

 of fields of ordinary cultivation. Whatever it 

 is, we must simply bear it as a tax upon the 

 otherwise general advantage of the practice of 

 land drainage. One very satisfactory thing ob- 

 serva!)le in the results of these experiments is 

 the comparatively small quantity of ammonia 

 which the samples of rain water contain, even 

 when compared with that present in the rain 

 water which falls upon the land. — Ayricultural 

 Qazette. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FAEMING. AND OTHEK PROSPECTS IN 

 KANSAS. 



Mr. Editor : — I am what is called here, a 

 "Boston Yankee," and I am aho a sul)scriber to 

 the JSleiv England Farmer. 



Although the New England system of farming 

 is not very applicable here, where the soil is so 

 rich, and where the plow has rarely turned the 

 rich earth to the sunlight, and where one year's 

 labor upon one acre ot ground will equal a yield 

 of five years' labor upon one acre of New Eng- 

 land soil, yet in every number of your valuable 

 paper we gather new hints, which are a great 

 help to us in our laudable efibrts to become 

 farmers. Your domestic articles, hints as to the 

 arrangement of a farm, remarks upon poultry, 

 trees, grasses, &c., are read with interest by two 

 of the old Bay State citizens — viz. : my husband 

 and myself. 



1 think I have never seen any communications 

 from Kansas in the columns of your Monthly, 

 and perhaps a letter from the fast-improving and 

 glorious Territory may be interesting to many 

 of your readers. 



Kansas is swiftly growing. The emigration 

 into our Territory this season, and the number 

 of "claims" that have been taken up and are 

 rapidly being made into farms, is almost unpre- 

 cedented. Many of the squatters are New Eng- 

 landers, just the kind we want, for they bring 

 the real go-ahead spirit, and what is best of all, 

 Free Stale principles. We don't catch a Yankee 

 here that don't have them. 



New England homes, New England comforts 

 and pleasures. New England intellect and beauty, 

 New England domestic and social life, have be- 

 come so proverbial, that to say, "That man is a 

 Yankee," perfectly establishes his identity, and 

 his acquaintance is cultivated forthwith. They 

 will trust a Yankee here, as far as they can see 

 him, and furtlier, too. 



The new Constitution has been formed at Wy- 

 andotte, and probably at the next session of Con- 

 gress Kansas will be organized as a State under 

 Republican principles. Now, Kansas is perform- 

 ing its political affairs in an honorable and legal 

 manner, and will soon take an honorable position 

 under the stars and stripes of our national flag. 



Now is the time to come to Kansas for health, 

 wealth and wisdom. Our troubles have hereto- 

 fore kept substantial men away, who did not like 

 to risk their all upon uncertainties — but now 

 ''come and possess the goodly land," for certain- 

 ty is now a free and sure word. Kansas has now 

 some excellent citizens, and next year's emigra- 

 tion will consist of substantial farmers, who have 

 sold th' ir j)roperty in the East, and will come 

 here with means to buy land, and improve and 

 (aim it on an extensive scale. This emigration 

 will bringmoncy amor g us, and hereafter produce 

 what will continue to l)ring money. 



Possessing a .^oil of unexampled fertility, a 

 climate healthy and pleasant, extending in an un- 

 dulating succession of fields of verdure hedged 

 with woodland. Kansas comprises every induce- 

 ment for a sudden and brilliant prosperity. If 

 the reports of the enraptured "squatters" are to 

 be credited, no other region presents half so 

 many inducements. 



I have written you but little concerning the 

 agricultural character, but in another number I 

 will do so, and show the New Englander how we 

 break prairies, make homes, and farm it easy, in 

 Kansas. SusiE V . 



Sumner, Kansas Territory, Aug., 1859. 



The Wheat Crop of 1859. — The farmers and 

 the entire poj)ulation of the country very natu- 

 rally feel a deep interest in the perspective mar- 

 ket value of our great staple product, wheat. The 

 crop is very large, and the quality is better than 

 for years. The yield is so great that two bushels 

 can be afforded as cheap as one last year. If 75 

 cents can be realized now, it gives the farmer 

 better remuneration for labor than $1,50 last year. 

 If the corn and potato crop had been as good in 

 proportion as the wheat and oats, we could hardly 

 have expected to have realized in the Western 

 States even 65 cents for wheat. As it is, we 

 think it is safe to calculate that the market value 

 of good club wheat will not be very far from that 

 figure, and certaiidy will not remain much below. 

 — Wisconsin State Journal. 



