VOL. XVI. NO. 18. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



i41 



By the use of iliein, Ulid constantly drenched with 

 water, rniiy lie freed from rushes, and prepared 

 for yieliling clover and other plants of good kinds. 

 Wood ashes possess the douhle property of 

 nmending a wet and clayey soil, by dividing and 

 drying it, and of promoting vegetation liy the salts 

 they contain." 



The Rev. HFrCohnan in his interesting account 

 of the snccessfnl system adopted and pursued hy 

 Mr Stimson of Galway, in Saratoga county, thus 

 speaks of the use of leached ashes on that farm, 

 and the opinion of the owner on their actual val- 

 ue : " Mr Stimson manures his land only once in 

 six years, excepting the application of plaster to 

 his corn. He allows five loads of harn-yard ma 

 nure, and three of leached ashes to the acre, au<l 

 this is always spread upon the ^iurface after plougii- 

 ing for the first crop.and either harrowed or plough- 

 ed in by a very light ploughing. « * # * 

 He deeins leached ashes a most valuable manure, 

 and much to be preferred to that which is. iin- 

 leached, which he considers as having at first a 

 tendency to force the land, but in the end to im- 

 poverish it. Next to leached ashes, he considers 

 lime the best manure for land." Mr "timson's 

 course of farming is as follows : 1st year, wheat 

 manured; 2d, corn plastered; 3il, flax, rye or bar- 

 ley ; 4th, clover and herdsgiass ; 5th, clover and 

 herdsgrass ; 6th, pasture ; then manure as tibove, 

 and wheat. 



In no part of the United St.-ites has agriculture 

 and horticulture reached a greater degree of per- 

 fection, than on some parts of Long Island ; and 

 this conversion of sandy plains into the most fer- 

 tile of soils is, by those who are acquainted with 

 the history of that region, attributed mainly to 

 leached ashes, purchased at New York, and the 

 various landings on North River. Dr Williams 

 says, the favor with whi'-h they are viewed there 

 is the result of experience, and adds: "1 know of 

 many thousand acres on the Island which were 

 once too jjoor to pioduce even mullens and rib 

 grass, which now cut from one and a half to two 

 tons of clover hay per acre, and this has all been 

 done by buying leached aslies, at from twenty to 

 thirty two shillings per fourteen busliels,and cart- 

 ing them from one to ten miles. I therefore con- 

 clude that leached ashes are a good manure, and 

 if properly applied, will be invaluable even in 

 Western Nevv York."' In a valuable pajier on 

 this subject, by E. L. Hommedieu, piddished in 

 the N. York Agricultural Society's Transactions, 

 he says, " That leached ashes are found best to 

 succeed on dry loamy lands, or loam mixed with 

 Band. It is here considered as the cheapest ma- 

 nure that can he procured. Ten loads of this ma- 

 nure on poor lands, will- jjroduce ordinarily 25 

 bushels of wheat, the value of which exceeds by 

 five dollars, the expense of the manure, and the 

 five dollars pays for the expense of labor in the 

 crop. The laud is then left in a slate for yield- 

 ing a crop of hay of between two and two and a 

 half tons per acre, which it will continue to do 

 for a number of years. No manure continues so 

 long in the i;round as ashes." 



We tliink the opinions and experience of the 

 eminent farmers we have given above, abundant- 

 ly sufficient to establish the fact of the value of 

 leached ashes as a manure, and also incidentally 

 to illustrate the kind of soil on which it is most 

 effective ; and we trust the attention of farmers 

 (avoralily situated for its use, or on farms which 

 may require it application, will make a thorough 



experiment of its effects in the interior, and report 

 the residt. It has, we believe, been hinted, that 

 as nature is made up of a system of balances, and 

 as gypsum is found to be nearly valueless on the 

 sea coast, while it is all important in the country, 

 so ashes may be effective on the coast, owing to 

 the combinations effected by the salts containe<l 

 in them and those of the sea air, while from this 

 cause in the interior, they njust of course be in- 

 ert ; but this reasoning will most probably be 

 found entirely incorrect. 



One principal reason why leached ashes are 

 so valuable as a maimre, appears to have been 

 mostly overlooked, and that is, the quantity of 

 lime they contain. This substance is placed in 

 considerable quantities at the bottom of the vats 

 or leaches in all asheries, to facilitate the labor of 

 working, and is thrown out with the ashes. This 

 fact, taken in connexion with the one that a large 

 portion of alkaline matter must remain in all ash- 

 es after leaching, accounts for the benefit they 

 render to wet sour soils, by neutralizing such acid, 

 and promoting the decomi)osition of vegetable 

 matter, which in such earths, always proceeds 

 slowly, while at the same time they prevent the 

 adhesion in the soil, and enable the roots of plants 

 to seek their sustenance freely. On light, s.mdy 

 soils, they give consistency, and by the existing 

 action of their still abundant salts effectually pro- 

 mote vegetation. 



The best mode of a[)pIication appears to be, to 

 mix it with the surface of the earth, where it will 

 be slightly covered by the operations of sowing or 

 planting. A Pennsylvania correspondent of this 

 pa|>er says : " I put a small handful of leached 

 ashes into each hill of corn, at the time of plant- 

 ing, ami I tliink this way better than to put ott 

 the hill after the corn has come up. Leached 

 ashes for this purpose, are not worth as much as 

 unleached, yet with the latter, the corn was far 

 better than in that part of the field where no ash- 

 es was applied." A writer in an eastern journal 

 affirms, from his own exfierience, that a bushel of 

 ashes is worth as much to the farmer as a bfishel 

 of corn, and advises his l)iethen to apply rheir 

 ashes to their corn, flax, or grass, in preference 

 to selling them at eight or ten cents per bushel. 



Mr Mehart,-:— Sir ; As all farmers attempt to 

 raise hogs either for their own use, or for market ; 

 and many farmers do both, for be it known by all 

 that raising of swine is a very profitable business, 

 although pigs are very mischievous. Some far- 

 mers undertake to put them in close pens where 

 they can do no harm, and if great pains arc not 

 taken with them, they will get very poor ; but 

 some will ask what they are to do, for their pigs 

 will in a few days destroy more than they are 

 worth, by rooting up their corn, potatoes, wheat, 

 &c. iMany far iiers also coinplain of ,lheir old 

 hogs rooting up their meadows, clover fields, and 

 in short almost ruin their land by rooting ; this 

 has caused some farmers almost entirely to quit 

 raising swine, although they are very fond of their 

 meat ; such farmers acknowledge that they are or 

 would be very profitable, if they were not so bad 

 to root their lauds, &c. Some farmers have un- 

 dertaken to put rings in their hoes noses, in or- 

 der to prevent them from rooting. However well 

 this plan may do, it is very troublesome and some- 

 what costly too, to have rings made for a number 

 of hogs, 1 will therefore give a sidistitute for ring- 

 ing, and a much better and cheaper plan : it is 



taken from the New England Farmer. A Mr 

 Tubb, an English breeder of stock, has recom- 

 mended a mode of dealing with these mischiev- 

 ous animals: it consists siiiply in shaving off with 

 a razor or sharp knife, the gristle on the top of 

 the noses of young pigs. The place soon heals 

 over, and the pigs are thus rendered incapable of 

 rooting. I have tried the plan, and believe that 

 it will answer a good purpose. I have no doubt 

 but what it will interest most of the readers of tho 

 Ohio Farmer; if you thirds so, you can let them 

 have it, but if you think otherwise, 1 submit. 



I am ever yours, &c. 

 Ohio Farmer.] Anthony J. Crisp. 



Fodder todr Cows. — It is had econon>y to al- 

 low cows to lose flesh in the fall. There is loss 

 every way — loss of milk — loss of value, if yon 

 wish to sell — and equal loss, if you winter the 

 animal yourself. She must he recruited in cold 

 weather, and consequently under unfavorable cir- 

 cumstances, or she comes out poor and compara- 

 tively valueless, in the spring. Jt will cost less to 

 keep her in good condition, when once she is so, 

 than to raise her after she has run down — aiid 

 then, all the milk you get more, is clear gain — 

 besides your cow is much less exposed to disease 

 — and if she should chance to get 4ier leg broken, 

 she is beef. It is good economy, as a general 

 thing, to keep cows and oxen constantly fit for 

 beef In order to do this, as grass grows short, 

 or frost bitten, unless you have plenty of roots, 

 pumpkins or a|i|)les, they should be fed with hay, 

 once a day at least. My cows eat more than one 

 third as much hn}', or other extra fodder, in Oc- 

 tober, as in January. And they need it. Lnst 

 year, I commenced foddering them about the mid- 

 dle of Sept. — Vermont Farmer. 



Good Crop. — Mr Sewell Wesson has just har- 

 vested from a field near this Village, containing 3 

 and a half acres, the following fair crop : 

 215 bushels (in ears) of corn, 

 4500 large marketable pumpkins, 

 150 bushels of potatoes, 

 6 bushels of turnips, and 

 1 bushel of beans, 

 which if sold at the price these articles now com- 

 mand in this village, would bring about $190. — 

 A large number of small pumpkins were left in 

 the field. The land is new — having been plough- 

 ed only twice. Ye down-easters, ye drillers on 

 the rocky mountains of New England, what think 

 ye of this.' Herein "Old Oakland," the farmers 

 can plough up the wild land one season, the next 

 — why, it's an old field, rich and smooth, yielding 

 crops like the above. — Pontiac Cou. 



Grain, of each species, produces, when ripe, 

 nearly the Ibllowing quantities of meal, or house- 

 hold flour, ami bread, per bushel, viz: 



Wheat, if weighing CO lbs. of flour, 48 lbs. of bread — 64 lbs. 

 Rye, " 54 " 42 " 56 



13arley, " 43 " 37 1-2 " 60 



Oats, " 40 " 22 1-2 " 30 



Tame ducks are very useful for destroying the 

 black caterpillars, grass -hoppers, slugs and snails, 

 that infest turnip fields, into which they may be 

 very advantageously turned, as they will devour 

 vermin without injuring the crops. 



Dr Chapin of Detroit raised a beet 25 inches in 

 circumference, and weighing 20 lbs. 



