402 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JUNE sr, is3«. 



tlie rows come in in the fail; ami to be piepaieil 

 with an nlmndance of siicx-ulont (bod for them, 

 such as carrots, heets, or ruta haga, throujih the 

 winter. 'J'he slahles, too, should be w.irm and 

 comfortable. An experienced dairy woman says, 

 she finds no difliculty in making butter at any 

 time in winter, provided she heats her cream on 

 ihe stove to 72° Fah. and scalds her churn with 

 boiling water when her creain is put in. Such a 

 dairy, ou many accounts, would be managed 

 with less trouble than in the warm season. The 

 butter could be sent to market in the best condi- 

 tion ; and, if well made and known to be new, 

 woidd always command a quarter to a third more 

 than the ordin;:ry price. 



(From the Commissioner's Report.) 



ON CULTIVATION OF RYE.* 



To the Trustees of the Essex Agricullural Society : 



Ge.\tlkme.n — Having for some years past been 

 more than commonly successful in raising large 

 crops of winter rye by a process of cultivation 

 which I believe is entirely new ; I have been in- 

 duced by the suggestions of some gentlemen 

 whose judgment 1 very nmch respect, to submit 

 for your consideration a statement of the mode of 

 culture with the produce. .And th;it the success 

 of the experiment this season, may not appear to 

 be altogether accidental, it will perhaf)? be as well 

 to communicate the result of the process for tiic 

 three or four previous years. 



The land on which the experiment has been 

 conducted is situated on the Merrimack, about a 

 mile and a half east of Haverhill bridge ; and 

 came into possession of my father in 1827. The 

 soil is a sand, approaching to loam as it recedes 

 from the river. Perhaps the term idain land (by 

 which it usually passes) will better convey an idea 

 of the quality of the soil. It is altogether too 

 light for grass. The crops we find most profita- 

 ble to cultivate on it are winter rye, Indian corn, 

 potatoes, and to some extent turrvips. Oat.s might 

 probal)ly be raised to advantage were it not that 

 the land is completely filled with the we'ed com- 

 monly called charlock, which renders it entirely 

 unfit for any spring crop, cxceijiing such as can 

 be hoed. The crops of rye, on the neighboring 

 soil of the same nature, vary I believe from seven 

 or eight, to twelve or thirteen bushels [)er acre, 

 accoriling to the cultivation and their approxima- 

 tion to the river. We usually raise on the land 

 from thirteen to thirty bushels of Indian corn [)er 

 acre. Potatoes are very good in quality, but the 

 quantity is quite small ; not sufficient to t)e prolt- 

 nble were it not that the land is very easily culti- 

 ■vated. 



In the summer of 1827, we sowed three bush- 

 els of winter rye near the river, on about two 

 acres of land, which produced twenty-eight bush- 

 els. 



In 1S28, we sowed four bushels on four acres 

 of land running the whole extent of the plain from 

 the river. This piece was sowed in the spring 

 with oats ; but they were completely smothered 

 with charlock, and about the middle of June, the 

 whole cro|> was mowed to jireveut the charlock 

 fieeding. By about the middle of August, a second 

 crop of charlock having covere<l the laiul it was 

 ploughed very carefully, in order completely to 

 bury the charlock ; and then sufi'ered to remain 



* Referred to on page 394. 



until the 15th of September when we liegan sow. 

 ijig the rye in the following uiamier. .\ stiip of 

 lain! about twelve yards wide was ploughed very 

 HVrrily to prevent deep gutters between the fur- 

 rows, and the seed immediately s.^wn upon the 

 fi.rrow and harrowed in. Then another stri opf 

 the same width, and so on until the whole was 

 linished. We found the oat stubble and charlock 

 entirely rotted, and the land appeared as if it had 

 been well manured, though none had been appli- 

 ed to this part, since it had been in otn- posses. 

 si(ui. The rye sprung very quick and vigorously, 

 having eviilently derived great benefit from being 

 sown and sprouted before the moisture supplied 

 by the decaying vegetable matter in the soil had 

 evaporated to any considerable extent. Thisciop 

 produced 133 bushels. 



In 1829, the charlock was suffered to grow on 

 the land appropriated to rye, until it had attained 

 its growth and was in full blossom. The land 

 was then ploughed very carefully and the char- 

 lock completely covered in. In a short time a 

 secon<l crop appeared more vigorous than the 

 first. This also was allowed to attaui its growth, 

 and then ploughed in as before. A third crop 

 soon appeared, which of course was destroyed 

 when the laud was again ploughed for sowing 

 about the middle of September. This piece of 

 land was a parallel strip ruiming from the river, 

 and containing two acres. Two bushels of rye 

 were sowed. The crop presented a remarkably 

 promising appearance, and yielded seventy-four 

 and a half bushels. 



!n 1830, the land ap|)ropriated to rye included 

 nearly all the lighter parts of the soil, and owing 

 to a pressure of business was not attended to as 

 we could have wished. It was ploughed in the 

 early part of the summer. But harrowing to de- 

 stroy the weeds was substituted for the second 

 ploughing. This, and the unusual blight which 

 affected all the grain in this part of the country, 

 led us to anticipate a small crop. It yielded how- 

 ever fifteen bushels to the acre. 



The lauil ou vvhich the crop of rye was raised 

 the present season, had for the three or four |U'e- 

 vious years been planted with Indian corn. And 

 owing to the extent of our tillage land, we have 

 not iieen able to ap[>ly more than four or five loads 

 of manure to the acre this season. The charlock 

 W.1S sil fered to attain its growth as usual ; and 

 on the 18th and 19lh of June it was carefully 

 ploughed in. The second crop was ploughed in 

 on the 0th and 7th of August. Oii the 14th and 

 15lh of September it was sowed in the usual man- 

 ner, namely : a small strip of land was ploughed 

 and the seed sown iumiediately upon the furrow 

 and then harrowed in. Then another strip of 

 land was ploughed, and so on until the whole was 

 completed. One bushel per acre whs sowed as 

 usual. The seed was originally obtained from a 

 farmer in this vicinity, and I suppose is similar to 

 that which is generally used. We have never 

 [irepared our seed in any manner, but have di- 

 rected our atleutiou solely to the preparation of 

 the land ; and to this we attribute our success. 

 Owing to the unusual severity of' the winter, the 

 crop was consii^erably winter killed ; but recov- 

 ered very soon in the spring, excepting in the 

 midfurrows. There, as the land lies very level, 

 the water settled and so completely destroyed the 



rye that they continued bare the whole season 



This would of course cause some diminution in 

 the crop ; perhaps a bushel or two. The rye 



was reapeil at the usual season, and, as the weather 

 was favorable, immediately put into the barn. — 

 The land contained one acre antl thirteen rods 

 and yielded forly-six bushels and three pecks. A 

 rtmarkahly fine sample. 



Ln entering a claim for your premium, I would 

 ask your attention particularly to the process of 

 cidlivation. It is, I believe, entirely new ; and 

 capable of general application. 



Sowing the seed inuiiediately after the plough 

 we consider very advantageous to the crop. The 

 soil being then moist, causes the seed to spring 

 immediately, and gives a forwardness and vigor 

 to the plants which they ever after retain. 



The process of ploughing in three crops of weeds 

 before the .seed is sown very much em-iches the. 

 soil. It would be altogether unnecessary to at- 

 tempt to refute the notion, that by such a process 

 nothing more is applied to the soil, than was be- 

 fore derived from it. If one could not discover 

 by the light which Chemistry has shed upon the 

 subject of agriculture, sufficient reasons for the 

 contrary conclusion, observation, one would think, 

 would be sufficient to convince any intelligent man 

 of the fact. 



.And here I would suggest that I do not con- 

 sider the experiment as we have conducted it, 

 quite complete. To render it more so, in the 

 first place, in ploughing in the weeds, 1 would 

 not turn a furrow af"ter the dew had evaporated. 

 I liave no doubt but that a large portion of that 

 fertilizing quality in the soil, which, (during iho 

 summer months) is continually exhaled frotn the 

 earth, i.s by the dew brought again within our 

 re.Tch, and it would be wise to avail ourselves of 

 the opportunity of again burying it in the soil. — 

 And in the second place, I would by nil means use 

 a heavy roller after each ploughing. Itwouhl fill 

 all the cavities left by the plough, and by pressing 

 the soil more closely to the weeds, at once hasten 

 their decomposition and very much retard the 

 evaporation from the soil. 



But the land is not only very much enriched by 

 this process. There is, I conceive, no method by 

 which it can be so effectually cleansed. T'hree 

 times during the season, a fresh surface is pre- 

 sented to the atmosphere, and each time, as the 

 decaying vegetable matter increases in the soil, so 

 is the exciting cause augmented to make a more 

 vigorous effort. We have in this njanner gone 

 over nearly all our land which is infested with 

 charlock, atid the diminution ol the weeds is quite 

 sufficient to warrant the expectaiiou, that in a few 

 years it may be comparatively eradicated. 

 Very respectfully, 



JOHN KEELY. 

 Haverhill, September 22, 1832. 



( I- roni tlie Farmer's Cabinet.) 



ON POPULATION AND CULTIVATION. 



The progress of agricultural science during the 

 la.st quarter of a century, has occasioned many es- 

 timates of the amount of population a given quan- 

 tity of land may be made capable of su|)porting. 

 With this question is intinuilely connected that of 

 the area or nuudjer of square miles of cullivatable 

 soil a country may possess. 



Thus, an approximation may be made to the 

 prospective popidation, production, power, and 

 wealth of any country. 'J'he tendency of the 

 human mind to dive into futurity, may he satiated 

 by a fair calculation. The seals of Empire in 



