AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



^ 



I'lIBLISUCI) l'.Y JOSEPH liKKCK &. CO., NO. 5"2 NORTH MARKP:T STREET, (Agricultural Wabehouse.)— T. G. TESSENDEN, EDITOR 



von. XVI. 



BOSTON, WEPNESl).AV EVENING, .■\UGUST 16, 1837. 



JiV. 6. 



^^sa^js-s^iLUfWi^AiL: 



Tlie follovt iiig is somewhat of a sud picture, lint 

 it is (Irauii corrcctiv, (and we fe.Ti- it is not a 

 lere fancy slsetch,) it sl.oiilil lie presented to the 

 iew of all who are welh-wisliers of agriniltiiral 

 nprovement. We must know what is wanted 

 cfore we can apply remedies. 



. fFrom the Maine Farmer.) 

 AGRICULTIIRAI, PROSPECTS OF MAINE. 



Thongli cares and duties of another kind liave 

 iverted my mind from the objects wljich tlie 

 [aine Farmer is jiarticiilarly di'siijned to pro- 

 lote, I have, in the discharge of lliose duties, 

 arned some facts wliich have a bearing on tlie 

 ibject of Agriculture. The present is a singular 

 risis with the farmers of Maine. 1 had no idea 

 ntil lately, what a revolution had taken place in 

 le situation and prospects of the Farmers of 

 laiue. 



It has been said tliat Blaine is a good stock- 

 iising country, hut cannot raise her own bread, 

 f this be true, our situation is de[)loralile, at least 

 1 this section of the country. A few facts will 

 uffice to establish the truth of this position. In 

 tkingthe valuation nf this town, we found a, small 

 ■action Ics3 tlian one swine to a family. i\ fi.ic- 

 on less than two cows. A little more than one 

 .\. Something over baTf a horse, and about 50 

 heep over and above the number exempteil from 

 Lxation. Of young stock un<ler four years old, 

 3SS than three to a family ; so that there will not 

 le, for three years to come, one neat creature to 

 acli family to sell off, and keep our nundier good, 

 ["his is a gloomy pictuie for a town, where al- 

 nost all the inhabitants get their living by fami- 

 ng. Indeed, in the foregoing estimate, I have 

 lot included the family of any person who does 

 lot own lanil, and do something at farming. And 

 ;mall as this number is, bay has been scarce this 

 spring; and as the prospect is a present, another 

 rtfinter will find us as destitute as the last. 



It is true there are gome causes which liave 

 produced this diminution of stock, which m|y not 

 [irobably soon occur again ; but some of itheni 

 must exist to some e.Ntent, unless a revqution 

 takes place in our practice of farming. 



The iucpiiry naturally arises, what has proluced 

 this result ? The severity of the two wintqs last 

 past, have done much, no doubt, to thin cjf the 

 stock. But this is not all. Less hay is cii than 

 formerly. This spring, the grass is in mait pla- 

 ces, either totally killed, or thinned out 1^ that 

 degree that there can be, with the most fa\irable 

 season, but little hay rut; and the pasturejyield 

 a scanty pittance of feed, unless where theJefect 

 is supplied by bushes. 



But aside from all these causes of a temprary 

 nature producing such a result, there are (thers 

 remaining of a fixed nature, whii'h must ppduce 

 similar results, though less in degree. 



Rut to the inquiry, what are the causes of the 

 falling ofl^ in the quantity of forase? 



In iny iq>inion, the following are some of thrm. 

 Too close feeding is one. It is a jimctice in the 

 country, generally, to feed mowing land as long 

 as imssible in the spring. Nature then exerts her- 

 se'f to the utmost of her power to produce a crop 

 of hay, and if, perndventure, the fanner is lucky 

 enough, with his dog, and wife, and children, 

 with the feeble aid of a log or brush fence, &c., 

 to keep the cattle out until haying is done, the 

 cattle then take their full swing. The very face 

 of the earth is gnawed off. Tbe pastures of course 

 are kept as short as hungry cattle can keep them. 

 The almost naked soil is ex|)osed to the action 

 [iroduced by the rays of the sun, in more cloud- 

 less skies than almost any other country. This 

 action, when the land is first cleared, carries off 

 most rapidly, the more volatile parts of the vege- 

 table sidistances in the soil. And if we may judge 

 by the indications which wb discover in the growth 

 of the sorrel, &c., in our soil, that there is not 

 carbonate of lime enough in our soils to retain 

 these substances, the .soil soon becomes unfit for 

 the growth of valuable pliints. Even the manure 

 ilropped by the cattle is left naked to the surface, 

 and its most valuable properties hie away, after 

 those drawn from the soil by the agents we liave 

 •"putioned. And this is not all ; many people 

 are so airaid o! covering their mnniire in tiie soil, 

 when spread on ploughed land, that they harrow 

 it in so lightly as to leave much of it uncovered 

 by the soil, and this follows suit with the other 

 manures and vegetable substances we mention- 

 ed. 



Nature, ever watchful and vigilant, now covers 

 the earth with such plants as will grow, aiul where 

 nothing else will flouiish, spreads a carpet of 

 moss, as the last resource to prevent absolute ster- 

 ility. 



Another cause of this result is found in suc- 

 cessively mowing our fields quite too long. In- 

 stead of breaking them up while they produce a 

 good crop of grass and turning under a liberal 

 dressing for manure, we crop with the scythe as 

 long as possible, — then turn the cattle on, glean 

 every straw, and take every leaf they c.in pick 

 up, — the sun in the mean time has free access 

 to the soil, and carries off, as we said before, 

 the volatile substances of the manure in the soil. 



A defect in seeding our lands well with grass 

 seed, has been another prolific source of injury 

 to our lands. It is very common, when we sow 

 grain with the intention of (iloughiuL' the land 

 when the grain comes off, not to sow grass seed. 

 This is a miserable pruetico, though I have done 

 so my.self ; I have seen the folly of it and forsa- 

 ken it .forever. 



A neglect of root culture, also, has had an ef 

 feet in producing this state of things. There 

 must be a revoluilon in this particular, as well as 

 some others. Imbued, so great has been the neg- 

 lect in this thing, in this section of the country, 

 that if a man plants a quarter of an acre of Ruta 



Baga, people seem astonished, as though some 

 strange thing had happened. 



These are somi; of^ the reasons which I believe 

 have produced this slate of things, and will, if 

 persevered in, render the country miserably poor. 

 But these causes seemed to be those which had 

 the most direct influi-nce in producing such a 

 stale of sterility in the production of bay ami pas- 

 turage. But I find S(une of yiuir conesp lenls 



are awake on this subject, and I hope ihcy will 

 continue iheir labcus until the public sentiment is 

 entirely corrected in this respect. 



I would observe, though 1 believe that leaving 

 the soil too naked, has generally a bad eflVct, that 

 I consider |)asluriug with sheep an (■xception to 

 this rule. Perhajis the animal oil which abounds 

 in the wool of sheep, is some of it woil<(;d into 

 the soil ; and it may be their dung and urine have 

 some ))articular jiroperties which are not volatile 

 as those in other manures. But however this 

 may be, the fact is certain, that the benefit of {heir 

 mauure is longer retained in the soil than some 

 OtblTS. • J. H. J. 



Pou, June, 1837. 



iy OUR COl NTRY. 



he immense quantities of flour, which, since 

 the rivers' and canals have been freed from their 

 icy harriers, have found their way to the cities 

 ol t^ , ,«-l)oard,.fu-ijicipaIly N'ciw Vork ~«d New 

 Orleans, must serve to convince us of the vast re- 

 sources of the west, as well as read a useful les- 

 son to those individuals, who, speculating on the 

 wants of the people, have, during the winter, re- 

 fused a fair comiiensation for bread, imd with a 

 miser-like grasp, held their flour until the lime of 

 remunerating sales is jiast. Never have the ad- 

 vantages of easy intercourse between difi'erent 

 sections of the same country been more clearly il- 

 lustrated I ban by the events of the last few months. 

 Foreign trade has, it is true, thrown a nnllion or 

 two of bushels of grain into the country, hut not- 

 witistanding this partial supply, had not these fa- 

 cililies of intercourse been created, thi; ptipulation 

 on the sea-hoard would at the present moment 

 have been in a state little short of starvation — 

 Now the surplus provisions of the great west, is 

 readily, and with mutual benefit, exchanged for 

 the ma'iiifaclures and the merchandise of tbe 

 east. 



So extensive is our country, so diversified is its 

 soil and climate, that a general failure of the crops 

 th.-ough the whole extent is scarcely to be .-ipiire- 

 heuded. Were the United Slates like Euro| e, 

 divided into siparate governmcnls, with diverse 

 and contrailictory interests, with hut imperfect 

 means of communication, and tbosi; fettered with 

 the most vexatious restrii tions, a failure in one 

 section might be attended here, as we know they 

 have been there, wiih the most disa.stmus residts. 

 But our interests are tbe same ; our laws, our re- 

 strictions, our regulations are the same ; one part 

 of our country cannot long flourish at the expense 

 of another; and w-here the wealth and happiness 



