VOL. XVI. wo. 38. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



221 



int there is probaljly no iiiiicle tliiit will exceed 

 fie cai-boniite of lime ; a solution of two pounds 

 nd a quarter of this carbonate in sixteen gallons 

 f water, repeated a few times, upon cucumbers, 

 lelons, squashes, or other garden vegetables, will 

 xpel the little destroyers that infest them, for- 

 'ard their growth, and much increase their quan- 

 ty. One of the Shakers recently told me, they 

 ad been in the habit of buying the best of the 

 'homaston lime, which with the transport cost 

 lem at least three dollars the cask ; of breaking 

 id slaking it and mixing it with mud collected 

 cm bogholes or turfs from the side of the high- 

 ays, in the proportion of four or five casks to an 

 iindred common ox-cart loads ; and after due 

 rmentation and mixture, they have found this 

 )mposition not less valuable than an equal quan- 

 :y of the best stable manure. It is said the sow- 

 g of lime, slaked or unslaked, directly upon the 

 •ound, will not produce the same good effect as 

 hen diffused in a heap of compost; the first ef- 

 ct of the litne is too much heat — it parches 

 tlier than fertilizes. 



I am aware, gentlemen, that I am but a tyro in 

 e business of farming, and that I address many 

 ho understand that business too well to he in- 

 •ucted by my experience. Born and educated 



first upon a small farm, 1 find 1 can do every 

 ing I learned to do before I was fourteen years 

 age: what I had not learned as a farmer at 

 at time I find it extremely hard now to learn, 

 can of course weed in the garden, hoe in the 

 Id, rake and spread hay, and do a variety of 

 ch matters ; but when I eome to use the scythe 

 the sickle, or pitch a load of hay, I will confess 

 you, gentlemen, my inferiority. Having since 

 vas fourteen, learnt a part of the mechanical 

 de of a printer, and in the space of twenty 

 ars have set probably as many types as any 

 ler individual in the State ever did in the same 

 le, you will excuse me if I say that the passion 

 my old age is rather for the cultivation of the 

 I than a return to the compesing stick. I have 

 nticli better appetite for the veitetables that have 

 )wn before r.iy eyes and under my own cultiva- 

 n, than I should have for them if derived from 

 Y other source ; and I would rather enjoy the 

 ift of a farm — if it were possible for me to 

 ke farming profitable — than to live on the gains 

 t niiglit be derived from a printing ofiice or 

 m any other office. 



\ know there are old farmers who feel they 

 le a right to laugh at the theories of such far- 

 rs as I am likely to be. I have been laughed 

 in this way during the last year. Some tew 

 irs ago twenty or more acres, comfirising the 

 ncipal part of what is called the " Frog Ponds " 

 lated between my present ilwellmg house and 

 rrimack river, fell into my hands. The land 

 these frog ponds was property in common : it 

 3 often flooded so that it wassu|)posed no fence 

 dd stand there. The cows of the village were 

 there from the moment the grass was cut till 

 Iter, and from the disappearance of snow till 



month of June. It was only about two months 

 tiie year that the grass had any opportunity to 



w ; for years, the two principal streams cros. 

 g the main street of this village run directly 

 3 the frog ponds mitil they should overflow in 

 ■eshet. The consequence was that the bottoms 

 I shores of the ponds were a quagmire, and 



cold water from the streams prevented the 



wth of any valuable crop in the low grounds 



near them. The wearing of the river and a little 

 excavation for the last two years had taken the 

 cold streams into the river befere they arrived at 

 til! ponds; hut a New England rum dislillery 

 sending down the refuse of poison, in an uvcrliovv 

 of the freshets, had been as destructive to the 

 grass near the ponds which it had touched as to 

 the lives and health of those who had consumed 

 the liquid fire. The distillery also has been got 

 rid of, as some will contend through the efforts of 

 the total abstinence societies, and as others sup- 

 pose from that excellent public sentiment which 

 is fast expelling drunkenness with no better aid 

 than that of good example. J first attempted tlie 

 improvement of fencing in that portion of the frog 

 ponds which fell to me by inserting deep in the 

 ground upwards of an hundred rods of chesnut 

 posts about ten feet apart, and nailing to them 

 with spikes, spars twenty and thirty fi-et in length. 

 My more experienced neighbors a.ssured me this 

 was an expense thrown away, and that the fence 

 never would stand. ]t did however stand thro' 

 the ire and freshets of the first winterand spring ; 

 Uie next year I tried one day's deep ploughing 

 with a heavy team, and directed during my nh- 

 sence at Washington the ground to be planted 

 with potatoes. 1 was told that nothing valuable 

 could be expected from breaking the turf of that 

 I tind. But it turned out, I believe, to be the most 



productive field of potatoes on the intervale this 



day's ploughing was an acre and a half, and upon 

 It was produced very near four hundred bushels 

 of potatoes which sold last year for one hundred 

 and fifty dollars. The whole expense of plough- 

 uig, cultivating and harvesting, probably did not 

 much exceed fifty dollars. 



The last season was very dry, and the turnino- 

 of the water from the frog ponds left several o'f 

 them entirely destitute of water. Covered vs 

 was much of my land with bushes and trees from 

 the size of a pipe stem to that of a man's body, I 

 was anxious to extirpate them : For this purpose 

 they were cut down with the axe and scythe and 

 burnt, an<l nine acres of thegiound including por- 

 tions of what had been the ponds were turned 

 over with the plough ten inches deep ; cutting 

 the roots of water bushes asunder, and turning 

 from the bottoms of the ponds large quantities of 

 hlyroots. Where the bushes did not grow the 

 turned up ground, composed of decayed vegetable 

 and alluvial deposites, was rich as a "bed of man- 

 ure. In addition to this, I ditched the lesser 

 ponds above to the larger ponds below, and all of 

 them into the river, so that the water in all of 

 them should fall to its level as the river fell. I 

 was not disappointed in the effect of the ditching, 

 lor the ponds fell and left little water or ice \n 

 them during the last winter. I now and then 

 heard remarks from my more ex[ierienccd neigh- 

 bors, that 1 was not treating the land right, mid 

 that I should do worse than get my labor for my 

 pains. The last spring as soon as the snow was 

 eff and the frost out of the meadows, I set my 

 men about carting manure which I had purchased 

 at the stable. They had proceeded so far as to 

 carry on near the river five, and near tile larger 

 pond, three good sized loads of stable manin-e, 

 when the rain swelled the Merrimac to a freshet 

 higher than had occurred for the last ten years. 

 That portion of the manure near the river was 

 nearly all swept off. When the waters were first 

 assuaged before the flood had entirely gone down, 

 I supposed the predictions of my friends in rela- 



tion to sweeping of}- fences, soil, manure, &c. had 

 been verified. Gradually I discovered when the 

 water fell entirely, that only about ten rods of my 

 fence had gone down the stream, and this I after- 

 wards reclaimed, and set over again, beating 

 stones down beside the posts in a manner that I 

 think will withstand another such flood. The 

 piles of manure next to the pond likewise disap- 

 peared ; on examination I found they had not 

 been carried off, but were covered up by an allu- 

 vial deposite some three or four inches deep, as 

 W.-.S the entire ploughed ground, farthest from' the 

 river ; while not only the manure but the earth of 

 the furrows neare.'W the river were taken off leav- 

 ing the fibres composing the roots of the interval 

 grass like the warp of a weaver's web. The wa- 

 ter had the efl^ectof hardening the whole ploughed 

 surface nearly as hard as solid dry clay mortar. 

 The water continued so high that I found it im- 

 possible to carry on more manure in season for 

 planting. The land was harrowed twice over, 

 and softened at each operation upon the top of 

 the sod ; it was furrowed and planted as fast as 

 the water fell. The last planting of corn was on 

 the 12th June; and from thi-i I gathered on the 

 ISth September ripe ears of corn, which are traced 

 up and preserved. The crop of corn was not so 

 large from the impervious nature of the turned 

 up roots on the furrows as might be expected. — 

 This fall as fast as the coin was taken off, I have 

 applied twenty stout loads of manure to the acre 

 — spread and ploughed it in, cutting through the 

 old furrows and turning up the decayed sward. — 

 The land appears to be rich and mellow, and will 

 without doubt be in excellent condition for a crop 

 of corn for the next year if the water shall be 

 low as usual — for oats or Indian wheat, if the 

 spring freshet shall continue late. I may be dis- 

 appointed in my anticipation ; and I will concede 

 my more experienced neighbors to be the best 

 judges, if that part, of this land which obtains the 

 alluvial deposite, and which has been covered 

 with water and flags and bushes from time imme- 

 morial, shall not produce two tons of good En- 

 glish liay. tbi the acre. 



(To be continued.^ 



Sdgar Beet tor Cattle An old farmer 



recommends a more general use of the French 

 Sugar Beet for cattle, as it improves the quality of 

 milk. Their use as food for his cows produced 

 a great improvement in the quality of the milk, 

 which was perceptible in two days after the cows 

 heran to feed on them. 



This root, the pure white, a good deal resem- 

 bbs the Ruta Baga in shape and size, anil it is 

 thought by many that it will keep better and that 

 it is heavier than the Mangel Wurtzel. 2 1-2 lbs. 

 are sufficient to seed an acre. — Yankee Far. 



A LARBE CROP OF Mangel WoRTZEi During 



the last summer while on a visit to Mr George 

 Beltzoover's farm, we were very forcibly struck 

 with the fine appearance of a crop of mangel 

 wurtzel, so much so that we were induced a few 

 days since to inquire of him their product, and 

 were highly gratified to learn that they had yield- 

 ed 30 tons to the acre, which at 60 lbs. to the 

 bushel is 1000 bushels per acre. 



Mr Morrison, of Concord, N. H. realized this 

 season from a piece of ground 8 feet square, vege- 

 tables, &c., to the amount of over $42. 



