1:^0 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



NOV. 1, 1837. 



stand in Massachusetts. As the clinintB difl'ers, 

 perhaps a lonjrer time would lie necessary to de- 

 rive the jfrealest profit from our wood kinds in 



this Htate. If ihe course here sugfresied should 

 bear the test of experience, tlie im|iorlaMce of care- 

 fully securinj; liy good fences, our wood lots, from 

 the depredations of cattle, must be ajiparent to 

 all. No farmer, who wishes to |ircserve his wood, 



Indeed, he 

 might with comparative propriety, allow them to 

 range his corn field." — Bangor Mechanic and 

 Farmer. 



Extracts from the " Report of the Trustees of 

 the Kennebec County Agr'cultural Society, at the 

 semi-annual meeting, held in Winthrop, August 

 30, 1837." 



" In our colli climate, where fuel is almost as 

 necessary for comfert as food, sufficient attention 

 is not paid to economy, in its use, nor is there 



proper care bestowed upon the preservation of! will allow liis cattle to roiiiii the lot 

 our woodlands, and the growth of young trees. 



The expense of fuel in most families nearly 

 equals that of bread now, and still, owing to the 

 amount consumed, and the want of care in the 

 preservation and growth of wood, it is constantly 

 diminishing in quantity and increasing in price. 

 And without some salulary reform, the time is not 

 far distant, when it will be almost out of the pow- 

 er of the poor man in our cold winters to procure 

 sufficient fuel to keep his family comfortable. — 

 More altentiim should be given to the construc- 

 tion and finishing of dwelling houses, and more 

 pains taken to procure such apparatus for warm- 

 ing them, as shall most eflecliially secure the ben- 

 ■efit of the heat in Ihe apartments designed to be 

 warmed. Yankee Tiigenuity has been directed to 

 this subject, and already accomplished ;iiuch in 

 the saving ef fuel. Kut with all the improvements 

 niad(!, large quantilic;s of fuel are, and will contin- 

 ue to be needed in our climate, and it becomes 

 us to look %vell to the fioiirces of our future sup- 

 ply- 

 While some farmers are wisely managing their 

 ^voodlands, not only to [ireserve but increase the 

 growth, the course of procedure with a large ma- 

 jority, is in many respects erroneous. 



One of these errors, is the practice of going 

 through the lot, and felling the largest and oldest 

 trees, thereby seriously injuring those adjacent, 



partially thinning the forest, and yet not sufficient- 

 ly to let the sun's rays down upon the earth that 

 .the young tiees Will start up and flourish. 



It is another most injurious practice among.'fwr- 

 iners to allow their cattle to roam their woodlantls, 

 .browsing, breaking and treailiiig down the young 



growtli. 



Riiuoing fires are another cause of destroying 



wood. They cannot always be prevented, but in 



many cases might be with proper care. Now to 



remedy these defects in management, it is neces- 

 sary (irsl, that the owners of wood lands sboiitd 



be more fully impressed with their value and die 



importance of their preservation and increase. — 



To guard against the S|. reading of fires, let tlieir 



favorite food, the rubbishy be cleared out as iiuich 



ns possible, and either useil for fuel, ot burnt at n 



time whet) the lot will n< t be endangered. I'o 



secure a thrifty young growth, let the owner when 



cutting wood for use or market, take care to cut 



every tree of any considerable size and clear ofl' 



the rubbish. This cyiirse will let the sun fall di- 

 rectly upon the ground, and a thick, thrifty young 



growth will supply the place of tlie old. iVIiich 



information upon the subject may be gained from 



the experience of the farmers of iMassachusetls. 

 One of your Trustees of the last year, tiavelling 



in that State, made the manageiiKUit of their wood 



lands an object of his attention, the result of which 



was altogether in tavor of the course here recom- 

 ded. lie was further informed that after cutting 

 off the second growth, the siiccee<ling was tliicker 

 and more thrifty than the second. For that rea- 

 son fiom ten to fifteen years is generally thought 



to be a sufficient time for the second growth to 



(Selected for tlie New England Farmer.) 

 ROTATION OF CROPS. 



" It has been observed that no branch of hus- 

 bandry requires more .sagacity and skill, than a 

 proper rotation of crops, so as to keep the ground 

 always in heart, and yet to draw from it the great- 

 est jiossible profit. So prominent a place does it 

 hold in the art of agriculture, that no better crite- 

 rion can be found on which to estimate the merits 

 of a farm ;r, than the course of crop))ing, which 

 he has adopted. The great art of cultivation con- 

 sists in the maintenance of the land, at least in 

 sound condition, and without impoverishing it, if 

 it cannot be enriched. The. main object of all ro- 

 tations, should therefore be to establish such a se- 

 ries of crops as, by preventing the too frequent 

 recurrence of any one of those which are consid- 

 ered exhausting, shall guard against the di^si| a- 

 tion or loss of those component paits, or qualities 

 of the soil, which seem peculiarly adapted to the 

 growth of each, and in the abundance of which, 

 consists its fertility. 



"The lantl, to use the farmers phrase, 'grows 

 tired ' of a repetition of the same crops, and refu- 

 ses to reproduce them in former abundance, 

 though it will yield un niiiple return of others of 

 a different species. (It is not, in fact, solely by 

 exhausting the soil, that certain plants deteriorate, 

 if planted in the same ground year after year, for, 

 were this the case, manure would renovate the 

 ground ; but it fails to do so, and thus if peas or 

 wheat, for example, be grown repeatedly on a 

 piece of land, the farmer may manure to whatev- 

 er extent he chooses, his crops will dwindle and 

 become poorer and poorer.) From this it has 

 been conjectured, that some particles of the soil 

 are adapted to the nourishnunt of one kind of 

 vegetables, and others to another : though, from 

 their effect lieing more perceptible, on the pro- 

 duction of grain than of leguminous plants, it has 

 been presumed ihat the exhausting properties of 

 the former are partly to be attributed to the great- 

 er ex[)osure of the ground to the influence of the 

 sun, when bearing them, ! nd that the niclioratii^g 

 con.sequences of the latter, arise, in a great meas- 

 ure, from their shade: as well as the large leaved 

 vegetables derive considerable portion from the 

 atmosphere, while corn, wheat, barley, rye, and 

 oats, seem to draw their support entirely from the 

 earth. 



" Whether these hypotheses be well or ill-foun- 

 ded, experience — that surest guide in farming op- 

 erations — has demonstrated that land, in the com. 

 mon course of tillage, cannot be kept in heart, 

 without a frequent change of crops. Wheat is 

 known to exhaust the land more than rye ; rye 

 more than barley ; and barley more thnn oats. 



•' The various systems of cultivation may be di- 

 vided into two classes : the one, chiefly confined 

 to the culture of grain ; and the other comprehen- 



ding the alternate culture of gniin and roots. Un- 

 der the old system of farming, the land was crop- 

 ped with grain until it was partly exhausted, and 

 was then left to recruit itself under natural pas- 

 ture ; hut after the introduction of turnips, and 

 the culture of other roots as field crops, the alter- 

 nation of grain and vegetables was adopted from 

 Flanders, where it is the invariable method to car- 

 ry an alternate crop for man and beast ; and it 

 was found tliat Ihe land was bolh preserved from 

 the baneful eff'ects of over-cropping, did not de- 

 mand such frequent periods of rest, and, tliroi.gh 

 the means of feeding live stock, could be more 

 abundanly supplied with manure. 



" in cultivating the ground, two objects ought 

 always to he kept in view : first, to obtain from it 

 the greatest quantity of the most valuable pro- 

 duce; secondly, that this produce be obtained im 

 such a manner, as may least exhaust the earth ; 

 or, in other words, that the care of the farmer, 

 whilj prompted by regard for his immediate ben- 

 efit, be so guided by discretion, as not to dry up; 

 the sources of future and more lasting advanta- 

 ges." 



(Selected for the New En*land Farmer.) 



Use of Limk. — Certain acids and acid combi- 

 nations often exist in soil or subsoils, and produce 

 infertility. Lime, by forming new comhinations 

 with these bodies, frequently neutralizes their ef- 

 fects. Thus, if sulphate of iron, (known to exist- 

 where sorrel grows) or copperas, which is a com- 

 bination of sulphuric ac id with the oxide of iron 

 exists in the soil, ami lime be applied, the limt 

 will combine with the sulphuric acid of the cop' 

 peras, and form gypsum or plaster of paris, ano 

 thus coTivert in'.o fertilizing matter, a substancf 

 which in excess is injurious. — Low's Agriculture 

 page 62. 



Milch Cows should be well kf.I'T. — Tlu 

 keeping of cows in such manner as to make then 

 give Ihe t'reatest quantity of milk, and with tin 

 greatest clear profit, is an essential point of econ- 

 omy. Give a cow half a bushel of turnips, car- 

 rots, or other good roots per day, during the sl> 

 winter months, besides her hay ; and if her sum 

 mer feed be such as it should be, she will giv( 

 nearly double tiie (piaiitity of milk she would ap 

 ford, if only kept during winter in the usual man 

 ner, and the milk will be richer iuid of bettei 

 quality. 



The carrots, or other roots, at nineteen centi 

 per bushel, amount to about eighteen dollars. — 

 The addition of milk, allowing it to be only thref 

 quarts a day for three hundred days, at three centi 

 per quart, amounts to twenty seven dollars. I 

 should be remembered loo, that v\ hen cows an 

 thus fed with roots, they consume less hay, ant 

 are less liable to several diseases, which are iisui 

 ally the effects of jioor keeping. — Farmer's Jlssil 

 tant. 



We have been shown by John Gordon, Esq. o 

 this city, large handsome early garden stone tur 

 nips, which were sowed on the first day of Au 

 gust, and some very large potatoes lhat were plant 

 od on the 12th of July. Let no Inrmer complaii 

 that our seasons are too short for raising gooi 

 crops, when with proper allenlion, such fine spec 

 imens are produced in only a part of the seasoi 

 Mr Gordon is a man of science, and practical! 

 skilled in agriciillure. — Yankee Far. 



