354 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 16, 1838. 



ciety's gold or silver medals, in lieu of the pecu- 

 niary premium annexed to tlie several articles. ^ 

 That if any competitor for any of the Society s 

 premiums shall he discovered to have used any 

 •,lisin?enuo«s measures, hy which the olijects o 

 the Society have been defeated, such |)er,soM shall 

 not only forfeit the premiums which may have 

 been awarded to him, hut he rendered uicapahle 

 ■of beiiiff ever after a competitor for any of the 

 ■Society's premiums. 



Time of paying Premiums .—TUe Treasurer 

 will attend on Thursday, the 6lh of Decemher, at 

 12, 1\I. to pay all premiums awarded. 



All premiums not demanded within six months 

 after they shall have been awaide.l, shall be deein- 

 ed to have been generously given to aid the funds 

 of the Society. 



Bv order of the Trustees, 

 ' PETER C. BROOKS, ^ 

 WILLIAM PRESCOTT, | 

 E H. DERBY, } CommitUe. 



JOSIAH QUINCY, Jr. | 

 ELIAS PHINNEY, J 



April, 1838. 



(Original Communications ) 



To the Editor of the JV. E. Farmer : 



Dear Sir— In the Farmer of March 14, 1 ob- 

 served a statement " of facts respecting a bed of 

 carrots cultivated in Westborough the last summer 

 by Mr George Denny." As the season lor sow- 

 ing carrots is just at hand, permit me through 

 your columns to suggests few enquires to Mr 

 Denny or his amanuensis in relation to a " few 

 facts" that are not contained in the statement 

 above alluded to. The " brief summary " states 

 that " .Voout one third of the laud was manured 

 with 7 loads of manure ;" but nothing is said of 

 the quantity of manure applied the previous year. 

 If Mr Denny would inform us how much manure 

 was put upon the same land the previous year, 

 the kind and quantity of crop raised upon it, and 

 the amount of labor expended upon it we might 

 be able to judge much more accurately of the ex- 

 pediency of raising carrots. 



Were I to put 100 loads of manure upon one 

 acre of mellow land this year and plant it with 

 potatoes and should obtain but 200 bushels, my 

 neighbors would consider me rather unsuccess- 

 ful. But should 1 put a small quantity of manure 

 upon the same land next year and sow it with 

 Ruta Baga or Mangel Wurlzel and obtain 6 or 8 

 hundred'bushels (which is no greatcrop) and then 

 slate in the newspaper that 1 raised such n crop 

 and that at 40 cents per bushel, they would amount 

 to $240 or $320, and without but very little ma- 

 nuie too those who would not Unow the circum- 

 stances nor lirice of the roots, uiight reasonably 

 consider it an extraordinary crop. 



The fact is, Mr Editor, such one sided state- 

 ments as are often imposed upon the printer and 

 the public are in my opinion injurious to the farm- 

 ing interest. Mr A. or Mr B. states through the 

 columns of a newspaper that upon poor land with 

 little or no manure he has raisorf a tremendous 

 great crop of this, that or the other vegetable; a 

 young farmer sees the statement and being am- 

 bitious determines to try the same course, fails al- 

 together in his crop, scolds about the Printer and 

 Book farmers, throws aside his agricidtural jour- 

 nal as useless trash, and follows the track of his 

 Father and liis Father's Father. 



Let the truth, the ,vhoh truth be told, and the 

 Farmer may gieatly benefit his brother farmer by 

 making experiments and communicating the re- 

 sults to e;jeh other. 

 May 7, 1838. 



We insert with great pleasure the above letter 

 We think the inquiries all pertinent, and the re- 

 marks just ; and we respectfully ask the favor of 

 our correspondent at Westboro' to reply to them 

 as fully as his convenience will admit. 



We beg leave however to remind our corres- 

 pondent H. that he is disposed to ludd the editor 

 of a public paper to too strict a responsibility.— 

 Where communications are given on the authority 

 of others, and e.s])ecially where dates and names 

 and places are distinctly stated, the editor is not 

 answerable for any facts asserted or any state- 

 ments made unless he voluntarily assumes such 

 responsibility, and just as far as he doesthis. We 

 do not mean by this remark to impfy any distrust 

 of the credibility of our Westboro' correspondent 

 or of the correctness of his statement. We pre- 

 sume he is able and ready to answer for himself, 

 but we mean to say that the responsibility in such 

 eases, whatever it may be, rests wholly with the 

 person who makes the statement. 



We have often called the attention of farmers 

 to the great importance of the strictest exactness 

 in all their operations and experiments. Agricul- 

 ture is i)articnlarly a science of facts. Theories 

 are abnndaut but we particularly distrust them. 

 But that facts should be useful to others, and ex- 

 periments made to serve as guides, all the partic- 

 ulars of soil, aspect, seed, manuring, preparation, 

 cultivation, harvesting, measuring, &.c. should be 

 fully stated. In these particulars different cases 

 are so different from each other, that serious dis- 

 appointments occur where all the circumstances 

 aie not fully given. Facts, exact statements, de- 

 tailed experinients are interesting and highly in- 

 structive ; and we promise our brother farmers 

 that they shall always be welcome to our journal. 

 — Ed.- 



Havipion, Feb. 26, 1838. 

 Mr Editor — Having about six acres of mow- 

 ing huid that has become as the phrase is "hound 

 out" and being desirous of keeping it on grass as 

 much as possible. Will you or some of your cor- 

 .■es|iondents inform me whether it would not be 

 good policy to turn it over in the spring, roll and 

 harrow it, spread on manure, and sow oats and 

 grass seed taking care not to disturb the turf. 1 

 do not wish to plant the land, as it woiiUltake too 

 long to get it into grass. If you know of a better 

 course to pursue will you inform me through 

 the medium of your valuable paper and greatly 

 (,l,ljj,e A Sdescriber. 



P. S. My land is a black loam upon a hard pan, 

 consequently inclined to be quite wet in the 

 spring. 



The above communication was accidentally 

 mislaid and we offer this as an apology for our 

 apparent neglect. We fear our answer may now 



be too late to influence the operations ;• but the 

 management proposed and the style of the com- 

 munication show conclusively that our advice is 

 not jiarticularly needed. 



We know several pieces of land similar, as we 

 judge from the description, to the one in question, 

 where the mode here proposed to be pursued 

 has been followed with great success. Our cor- 

 respondent suggests that he shall "plough, roll 

 and harrow, and then spread on manure." We 

 should prefer to plough, then spread the manure 

 on the furrow, then roll and harrow, &c. Unless 

 there is a great abundance of manure at hand, we 

 do not advise to burying it deep in the soil ; at 

 the same time if left upon the surface, much of its 

 efficacy will undoubtedly be lost. Its best effects 

 will be experienced when it is well intermised 

 with the soil, by which we mean the vegetabli 

 mould ; and accessible to the influences of ligh 

 and heat and air. Something in this case wil 

 depend upon the kind of plant cultivated. Tap 

 rooted vegetables, which descend deeply into th' 

 earth, require a deep soil, which is loosened am 

 enriched as deepl| as the root is likely to go dowr 

 But the grasses and cereal grains which sprea- 

 their roots laterally and horizontally, require thf 

 their feed should be nearer the surface. 



In respect to the case in hand wo should fai 

 ther advise our correspondent, if he will allow i; 

 to use the word advise though we design only t 

 suggest and not to dictate, that he should cut h 

 oat crop green for fodder ; and not suffer it to i 

 pen. The crop of grain if ripened will not w 

 believe compensate for the exhaustion of the lani 

 where it is to be continued in grass. Farmer 

 within our own observation are almost unanimoi 

 in the opinion that oats are a poor crop, wil 

 which to lay down land to grass; but the gre 

 objection to them is obviated when they are c 

 green for fodder. 



We cannot doubt under the plan proposed, tb 

 the field of our correspondent will be renovatt 

 and yield abdndantly ; and should life be s|)ari 

 and circumstances admit, we shall be most hapi 

 to learn the result. On other subjects likewi; 

 we should be equally glad to hear from him.-E 



ON THE GERMINATING OF SEEDS. 



Seeds oft('n fail to grow; and the seedsman 

 often faulted, for vending bad seeds, when t 

 seeds are really good, and when the cause of tin 

 not growing is owing to the gardener or plantt 

 To induce germination, moisture, atmospheric a 

 and a certain temperature, are indis|iensable; ai 

 it is also requisite that light he excluded from t 

 seed, until the nutriment in the seed is exhausti 

 or until the root can <lraw nourishment from t 

 soil. The first effect of the air, heat and moisti. 

 upon the seed is, to change its properties — to co 

 vert its starch into sugar — into a sort of mil 

 pulp, the proper food of the embryo plant. If 

 this stage the seed becomes dry, its vitality is I 

 lieved to be destroyed ; but if these agents i 



