SflBm* 



AND GARDENER'S- JOURNAL. 



^ 



PIIHLISIIED BY JOSEPH HRKCK & CO., NO. 52, NORTH MARKET Hl'REET, (Agsicui.tural Warkhodse.) 



VOL. XVI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBEIl 27, IS.ST. 



NO. 25. 



^^m.^^w&'sw^^iL:, 



ADDRESS, 



slivered before the Berkshire Agricultural Society, at tlieir 

 twenty -seventh Anniversary, Oct. 15, 1837. 



B y J . B O E L . 



(Continued.! 



The object of tlie farmer, in tlie manageinpiit 

 Ills faiiiiiiig opeiiitions, slioiiM he, firt^t, to oh- 

 in the greatest return for tlie capital and lahor 

 ! e.xpcnds ; ami secondly, to do this withont ini- 

 liring the fertility of the soil, or the intrinsic 

 line of his farm. To effect these object.s, three 

 ominent rnles siiould be ol).served : 'I'he liist is, 

 ep your land dry ; or in other words, free from 

 I siiperflnons nioistnre. The second rnle is, — 

 ep your land clean ; or in other words, free from 

 Beds. And the third is, — keep your land rich ; 

 in other words, return to it, in the form of ina- 

 ire, all the refuse animal and vegetable tnatters 

 hich the farm afibrds. 



Keep your land dry. — The imjiortance of drain- 

 g is not duly appreciatefl, nor its practice well 

 ideistood, among us. Although water is indis- 

 nsable to vegetation, too mneh of it is as linrt- 

 I as too little. It is necessary to the gennina- 

 m of the seed, to the decomposition of the veg- 

 iblo matter in the soil — to the transmission ot 

 3 food from the soil to the plant — to its circn- 

 ion there, and to the maturity of the product. 

 1 these useful purposes are defeated, where vva- 

 i" remains in the soil to excess — the seed rots, 

 \3 vegetable matter which should serve as the 

 >d of the crop, remaiu.s insoluble, in conse- 

 encc of the alis<>nce of heat and air, which the 

 Iter excludes; or, if the seed grows, the |)lant 

 sickly, for want of its proper food, and there is 

 nseqnently a virtual failure in the harvest. It 

 not from the surface oidy that we are to deter- 

 ne whether land is sufficiently dry to support a 

 nithy vegetation ; but we are to examine the 

 rface stratum, into which the roots of the plants 

 netrate, and from which they draw their food, 

 this is habitually wet — if it grows marshy plants 

 if water will collect in a hole sunk fifteen in- 

 es below tlie surface — the land is too wet for 

 Itivated crops, and means shoulil be adopted to 

 ider it more dry. From my partial acquaiii- 

 ice with this County, 1 feel assured that nuicli 



your best land is rendered unfit for tillage, or 

 ! growth of the finer grasses, by reason of the 

 ;ess of water, which passses or reposes upon 

 I subsoil, unnoticed by the cultivator. These 

 ds are denominated cold and sour, and they 

 ly are so. Cold, sour lands are invariably wet 

 ds below, if not upon the surface. But if the 

 jerfluous water was judiciously conducted off' 



efficient underdrains, (for the construction of 

 ich, you possess the best of materials iu abun- 

 ice,) these lands would be rendered warm and 

 eet, and highly productive, and the outlay would 

 repaid by the increased value of two or three 

 ihe first crops. Wet lands are generally rich 



lands, abiundiug in vegetable matters, which wa- 

 ter has preserved from decomiiosition, but which 

 readily become the food of [lants, when the wa- 

 ter, is drawn off". Let me imagine a case, which 

 r a-n sure will bo foimd to exist in many parts of 

 your county. . There is a slope of a bill, half a 

 inilo in extent, terminating in a fiat 40 rods wide, 

 through which a brook meanders. 'J"he soil on 

 this slope, and in this flat, is of a light, porous 

 quality, ^ix to twelve inches deep, reposing on a 

 subsoil im|iervious to water, as clay, rock or hard- 

 pan. J5y soil, I mean the upper stratum, in which 

 vegetable matters arc blended with the earthy ma- 

 terial, and which constitutes the true pastuie of 

 plants. Near the top of this slope, all along on a 

 horizontai level, or [lerhaps Invver down, spouts 

 or springs burst through the subsoil, a thing very 

 common iu hilly districts, the waters from which 

 finding an easy passage through the loose soil, 

 spread and run down the slope, and upon the sub- 

 ioil, and through the fl.it, till lliey find their level 

 in the brook. A thermometer plunged down to 

 the subsoil, will indicate, at midsummer, a tem- 

 perature probably not greater than 60 , whereas, 

 to grow and mature many of our best farm crops, 

 we require a heat in the soil of 70 or 80 . How 

 shall we remedy this evil, and render this land 

 profitable to the occupant? Simply by making 

 an untlerdrain or drains, in a gently inclining di- 

 rection, a little below llicse spouts c^r springs, and, 

 if practicable, somewhat into the snbs(jil. These 

 will catch and conduct off the spouting vvaters, 

 and by laying the lower i^lane dry and permealde 

 to heat and air, develope all its natural powers of 

 fertility. 



I will -supjiose another case — that of a flat sur- 

 face, underlaid by an impi^rviou.s subsoil. This 

 is rendered unproductive, or diflicult to manage, 

 by stagnant water.s. The rain and snow waters, 

 penetrating the soil, are arrested in their down- 

 warrl jiassage, by the subsoil, w.hich not having 

 slope to pass them off, they here lemaiu and i tag- 

 nate, and ["Utrefy, alike |)rej'ndieial to vegetable 

 and animal licahh. The mode of draining such 

 grounds, and of rendering them productive and 

 of easy management, is, first, to surround the field 

 with a good underdraru, and to construct a suffi- 

 cient o[)en drain from the outlet to carry off the 

 waters. Then with the plough, throw the land 

 into ridges of twenty to thirty feet in breadth, ac- 

 cording to the tenacity of the soil, in tlie direction 

 of llie slope, and sink an imderilrain in each of 

 the furrows between the ridges, terminating them 

 in the lower cross drain. The materials of the 

 the underdrains, which are gei'erally slones, should 

 be laid so low as to admit of the i'ree passage of 

 the plough over them. Tlie superfluous water, 

 by the laws of gravitation, settle into these drains, 

 and pass off', and the soil becomes dry, manage- 

 able and productive. An acquaintance called 

 upon a Scotch farmer, whose farm had been un- 

 derdrained in this way, and being informed that 

 the improvement cost sixteen dollars an acre, tile 

 having been used, remarked that it was a costly 



improvement. « Yes," was the farmer's reply, 

 " but it costs a deal mair not to do it," which he 

 illustrated by pointing to an adjoining farm, like 

 situated, which had not been drained, and was: 

 overgrown with rushes and with sedge gras.s, and 

 then to his own fields, teeming with luxuriance, 

 and rich in the indications of an abuudaut har- 



Vi'St. 



I have dwelt upon the subject of draining with 

 more detail, because I have personally realized 

 its benefits, and am sure it may be extensively 

 gone into with the certain prospect of reward. 



Keep your land clean. — -Weeds being generally 

 indigenous, or well acclimated, are gross feeders 

 and exhaust the soil more in proportion to their 

 size than cultivated crops. We should consider 

 that farmer a reckless manager, who should suf- 

 fer strange cattle to consume the food prepared 

 for his farm stock. How much more is he de- 

 serving the name of an economist, who permits 

 his crops to be robbed of their food, and conse- 

 quently stinted in their growth, by-thistles, daises, 

 dock and pig-weed .' 



An idea prevails with some, that weeds, by the 

 shade they afford to the soil and to crops, prevent 



the exhalation of moisture in times of drought. 



Precisely the reverse is the case. They exhaust 

 the moisture of the soil in proportion to the sur- 

 face of their leaves and stems. Some planis, it is 

 affirmed, daily draw from the earth, and e^xhale 

 from their superficieE, more than their weight of 

 moisture. 



Keep your land rich This is to be done by 



manuring, by pasturing, and by alternating crops. 

 ^dostof this County, 1 believe, is devoted to cat- 

 ti-Vand sheep husbandry, for which it seems well 

 ad'apted ; and these branches of husbandry afford 

 ample means of enriching the soil and enlarging 

 the grai« and root crops. Cattle and sheep make 

 manure — manure makes grain, and grass, and 

 roots — these in return feed the family, and make 

 meat, milk and wool ; and meat, milk and wool 

 are virtually money, the great object of the far- 

 nier's ambition, and the reward of his labors. — 

 This is the farmer's magic chain, which, kept 

 bright by use, is ever strong iind sure; but if bro- 

 ken or suft'*ed to cori>ode by neglect, its power 

 and efficiency are lost. 



You possess all the earthy elements of a good 

 soil — clay, sand and lime. It i^?/oi«- province, 

 and your duty to husband and apply the vegeta- 

 ble, and most essential element of fertility — ma- 

 KURKS. These are as much the food of your 

 crops, as your crops are food for your cattle, or 

 your family ; and it is as vain to expect to perpet- 

 uate good crops without manure, as it would be 

 to expect fat beef and fat mutton, from stinted 

 pasture or buckwheat straw. We see then, that 

 manures are the basis of good husbandry, wheth- 

 er we have reference to tillage or cattle farms ; — 

 and that tillage and cattle reciprocally benefit each 

 other. 



It results from these facts, that a farmer should 

 till no more land than he can keep dry and clean, 



