365 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAT 16, 1838. 



(For the N. E. Farraer.j 



BONE MANUJRE. 



Roxbitnj, May 5, 1838. 

 IMn Editor — 1 liave been requested to slate my 

 opinion ami experienpe as to the value of bones, 

 and especially crushed hones, as manure. It al- 

 ways gives nie pleasure to see the progress of Ag- 

 riculture in our country, anil the recent though 

 tartly iuiroduclioii of the practice of applying hones 

 as niaiuu-e is among the proofs of that jirogress. 

 As to ir;y opinion, it would be presumptuous in 

 tne to fortify the authority of every European and 

 American writer, for the last century, by my hum- 

 ble suggestions. The Rev. Henry Column, has, 

 in a late treatise, summarily stateii the general 

 opinion and experience on that subject. In the 

 sentiments expressed in that treatise, I fully coin- 

 cide, ex(-ept, that my experience does not support, 

 but goes to contradict one suggestion made by 

 Mr Colman to wit: " that on wet and heavy soils 

 they will not answer." My experience goes to 

 show, that it is eminently useful in wet soils, though 

 I have never tried it on heavy or clayey ones. 



Although I should think my opinion of very 

 little weight on this subject, yet as there is at pres- 

 ent a very limited use of bones, and (lerhaps some 

 degree of incredulity as to the extent of their value, 

 I cheerfully state, at large, my own personal ex- 

 periments which have been extensive, and of con- 

 siderable duration. About 10 years since the Hon. 

 Mr Ellis of Dedham advised me to try hones upon 

 my wet meadow, coulidently assuring me, tliat I 

 should find theuv very useful, and that they would 

 materially increase the crop. But I, like most 

 otiier of US old farmers, was averse to new, and 

 untried experiments, and neglected his advice. 

 The following year he earnestly repeated his ad- 

 vice, and 1 as ohslinalehj failed to adopt it. Soon 

 after the second advice, I saw a plain farmer 

 carting liy my door a loail of ox's head bones with 

 a five cattle teatn. My conscience smote me for 

 my neglect of Mr Ellis's advice, and I stopped the 

 driver, and the following dialogue took place. — 

 " Pray, friend, how far, where, and for what pur- 

 pose are you carting those bones ?" "To the edge 

 of Dedham, about eight miles from lience, and to 

 spread on my wet meadows." '' Did you coine 

 down em;)()/ and for no other i)ur|)ose ?" "Yes, 

 I came down solely for this load." " How much 

 did you pay for them ?" " Two dollars and fifty 

 cents." "Have you tried the experiment before ?" 

 "Often, and my neighbors have tried it." "How 

 long do the good efiects last ?" " I should say six 

 or seven years." " Well, you think yourself well 

 paid for a day's work for self, and large team, and 

 the price of the bones by the good effects on your 

 wet meadows .-" " To be sure I do, or I should 

 not come for them so fur, you may depenil." 



We parted, and the following dialogue took 

 place between myself, ami ine, though inaudible. 

 What a negligent and obstinate fool I am ! Here 

 I have read during ftu-ty years in the most approv- 

 ed English and French writers, on Agriculture, of 

 the great value of hones us manure ; an enlight- 

 ened farmer of my own vicinity advises inc to try 

 them, and I have neglected the trial. Now liere 

 is an uneilurated farmer, much holder than I am ; 

 surely, if he can afford to cart bones 8 miles, and 

 come down with a large em[)ty team to fetch them, 

 1 can afford to send 50 or a 100 rods for thorn, 

 and I blushed for my negligsnce, and sent, at 

 once for 6 or 7 loads of them. I have applied 



them to my wet meadows for seven years last past, 

 and I can aflirm, that 1 know of no manure so 

 beneficial, of equal cost, still, in the coars? state, 

 in which we then procured them, they were not 



applicable to upland cultivation. But having 

 heard in the spring of 1837, that there were bone 

 mills set up in New York, I was upon the point 

 of importing a ton of hone dust for experiment, 

 when I heard that my neight)or Nahuin Ward 

 had commenced- crushing hones for manure. I 

 inunediately sent for 20 bushels, and tried them as 

 follows :— On suumier squashes in the hill with 

 rich earth ; on string beans, also mixed with earth. 

 In the former I applied them to the holes, in which 

 the squash seeds were sown about a shovel full to 

 each hill ; for the beans, they were sown in the 

 drills. I tried them also on beets and carrots, in 

 drills, on all my winter squashes. On dahlias, on 

 orange trees, on grape vines, and many other 

 things, and I etin safely afJirtn, with great and 

 imiform success. They are an exceedingly pow- 

 erful stimulant, full as much so, as slaughter 

 house, or horse manure. If I am asked, whether 

 they are as diwable as the last, I should .say, no. 

 It is quite impossible, that they should be so — but 

 on lauds deficient, or as mine are, wholly destitute 

 of lime, they may be more permanently useful. 

 For my land, gypsum or plaister of Paris, pro- 

 duces as great and visible effects as it does in any 

 part of the interior country, on grain crops, and on 

 clover, and lucerne. JOHN LOWELL. 



MANAGEMENT OF COLD FRAMES 



For Protecting Caulijlower and Cabbage Plants 

 diring the Winter. By E. Sayers. 

 In order to complete the series of framing hith- 

 erto published, I shall conclude by the manage- 

 ment of cold frames, which although out of season 

 I hope will be found useful to those who are de- 

 sirous to protect esculent vegetables, through the 

 winter for early planting. 



In order to have caidiflowers and cabbage early 

 in the spring it will be proper to plant and pro- 

 tect them through the winter in cold frames. 



The seed may he sown in the kitchen garden 

 about the middle of September ; and the plants 

 pricked out into the frame.^ the latter end of Oc- 

 tober in the following manner. 



Place a three light frame or more, on a south 

 border protected liy a high fence or other means 

 or any well sheltered situation, on the level sur- 

 face, or if a little rise the better; the frame is then 

 to be filled with compost with a portion of coarse 

 sand to within 4 inches of tlie glass; this done 

 the (ilants are to be dibbled or pricked into the 

 compost 2 inches apart and lightly watered to set- 

 tle the earth about their roots. In this situation 

 they aro to remain until the frost sets in ; when 

 the sashes may be closed of a night and taken off 

 in the day, in such a manner as to merely keep 

 out the frost ; the more hardy they are kept the 

 better at this season, by which the severe weather 

 will not have so great effect on them. When 

 the winter sets in severe, the frame may he lined 

 on every side with leaves or horse manure to keep 

 out the frost. 



The frame will require to be covered of a night 

 tmd in very cold weather of a day time ; but in 

 mild changes air may be admitted and the plants 

 worked l)etwcen with a small hoe, to refresh the 

 soil and disturb any insect that may breed among 

 tbeni. 



This treatment may bo continued until March 

 when the plants are to be forwarded for planting 

 out in the open groutid by regularly covering and 

 giving air to cause the plants to vegetate previous 

 to their removal. 



WINTER LETTUCE. 



In the beginning of August, some Imperial 

 Cabbage Lettuce seed may be sown for winter 

 use, in the kitchen garden department. When 

 the plantsare of a pro|)er size for planting, a frame 

 may he prepared in the same manner as for a cab- 

 bage ; when the plants are to he dibbled 12 inches 

 apart each way into rows. The frame will now 

 require regular attention ; by covering of a night, 

 giving air of a day ; and, every method is to lie 

 taken to grow the lettuce to a full size, before the 

 winter sets in severe, as after that time, their 

 growth will be difficult. The frame will require 

 to be protected, and every way managed as direct- 

 ed for cabbage plants. Great caution must be 

 taken to keep the lettuce as dry as possihie, as the 

 least moisture from rain or otherwise will rot out 

 the heart and eventually spoil the plants. Frames 

 properly managed in this way, will give a supply 

 of lettuce through the winter, and until the spring 

 crop is in use. 



WINTER CAULIFLOWERS. 



Where frames can be spared, an early supply 

 of cauliflowers may be obtained by forwarding 

 some plants in the fall, and flowering them in the 

 spring. The seed may be soivn early in July, in 

 the kitchen garden, and every way managed as 

 directed in that department for flowering. It will 

 be prudent to plant more than is wanted for the 

 frames in this manner, as the long mild weather 

 in the fall often is the cause of some of the plants 

 coming to maturity, in whicli case they are gen- 

 erally very accejitable. 



In the beginning of November, the frame may 

 be placed precisely the same as for the cabbage 

 and lettuce, into which the cauliflowers are to be 

 laid in, in a slanting manner, with their heads to- 

 wards the north ; the frame may be in this man- 

 ner stowed full in every part. The management 

 of the frame will require to be in every respect 

 attended to, as the cabbage and lettuce ; until the 

 spring, when the plants must have all the air that 

 can possibly be admitted to them in order to pre- 

 pare them for flowering. As the season advances, 

 the frame may be ke|)t more warm, and when the 

 earth gets dry, it will be requisite to water them, 

 in order to swell the flowers to proper and iiand- 

 some size. 



By this mode, good cauliflowers may be ob- 

 tained late in April or early in May. — Hort. Reg. 



Silk Mancfactort. — The Democratic Maga- 

 zine, in the second of a series of articles upon 

 cotton, of which the two published numbers 

 evince great talent, incidentally notices the origin 

 of the culture of silk. Before the revolution, a 

 royal filature had been maintained in Georgia for 

 the purpose of maintaining the manufactories of 

 England, but this was broken up during the war. 

 Dr Stiles, President of Yale College, who died in 

 1795, turned his attention to the subject at the 

 close of the war, and distributed seeds of the mill, 

 berry, and silk worms among ladies and clergy- 

 men of his acquaintance. • His assiduity was the 

 germ of the silk manufacture, which now, unpro- 

 tected, yields an annual product of hundreds of 

 thousands of dollars. 



