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NEW ENGLAND FARMJER, 



JULY 31, 1S33. 



A coarse frame is muilc with crutches tor double 

 banking. 



Your obedient servant, John M. Phillips. 



Note. The plan here laid down by our cor- 

 respondent, lias been successfully followed for 

 many years, and we have been shown potatoes 

 kept more than a year by him, in these cellars. 

 Our readers will recollect that another of our cor- 

 respondents experienced great benefit from the use 

 of smoke in his cellars, and from all we can learn, 

 we are inclined to believe that they may be kepi 

 longer in a sound state by following these rules, 

 or similar ones, than any other mode in common 

 practice among us. — Eil. So. Agr. 



From the Columbia Sentinel. 

 ON GYPSUM AS A MANURE. 



Last week we ventured some observations on 

 the proper time for sowing gypsum. This week 

 we propose to go into a consideration of the ques- 

 tion of the usefulness of gypsum as a manure. — 

 There is the more necessity for this, from the fact 

 that a controversy is now going on upon this .sub- 

 ject in the Genesee Farmer — one contending for 

 its use, another denying that it is ultimately benefi- 

 cial to the soil after a few applications. If we turn 

 to the ninth volume of the Agricultural Maga- 

 zine, we will see that comparative trials were 

 made between this and other manures, on a sto- 

 ney clay, mixed with a little loam, to ascertain 

 the best manure for wheat. " A five acre field 

 was divided into five equal parts, exactly an acre 

 in each. They were equally well ploughed and 

 laid down to wheat, after being manured as follows; 



On No. 1 was sown 6A bushels of gypsum. 



On No. 2 was put a compost manure, consist- 

 ing of lime, rich earth, and dung. 



No. 3 was manured by yarding cattle on it. 



On No. 4 stable dung was thinly spread. 



On No. 5 lime prepared from oyster shells was 

 sown. 



The product was from 

 No. 1, forty bushels, 

 No. 2, thirty-six bushels, 

 No. 3, thirty-five bushels, 

 No. 4, thirty-three bushels, 

 No. 5, thirty bushels. 



The seed wheat was of the best Sicily kind, and 

 weighed G2 lbs. per bushel — the product weighed 

 63 lbs. per bush." 



Next follow eight different experiments of the. 

 effects of gypsum on the different grasses, ex- 

 cepting clover. In all cases the quantity of land 

 was the same, and the soil as much alike as pos- 

 sible. The result uniformly proved that the pro- 

 fits were from 1-4 to 1-2 greater than where none 

 had been used. On clover the benefits were still 

 more marked. The gypsum used yielded per acre 

 a product of hay equal to . • . 15 



The ungypsumed only equal to . 5 



The gypsumed yielded in seed per acre a product 

 equal to ...... 30 



The ungypsumed yielded in seed only 5 1-2 



The experimenter adds — " The invariable result 

 of the several experiments, which are faithful- 

 ly and he trusts correctly stated, he thinks in- 

 contestihly prove that there is a most powerful 

 and subtle principle in this tasteless stone ; but 

 by what peculiar agency or combination it is ca- 

 pable of forcing vegetation in such an instanta- 

 neous and astonishing manner, time reserves for 

 others to unfold." 



From the above experiments, it is distinctly as- 



certained that gypsum produces its greatest ef- 

 fects on clover. Time and experience have con- 

 firmed this fact, and it is now generally under- 

 stood that as manure it is not so beneficial to 

 the narrow-leaved as it is to the broad-leaved 

 plants, such as clover and corn. Besides the 

 above experiments the general observation of far- 

 mers is conclusive on this point, and we could 

 quote abundance of authority in proof of this po- 

 tion. I have seen one half of a field which had 

 clover growing in it sown with plaster and the 

 other part remaining unsown. The eye could 

 distinctinctly trace the part sown from the part un* 

 sown. First, from the increased size of the one, 

 and next, from the sickly and yellow appearance 

 of the other. The line of demarcation was so ob- 

 servable, that the cause of it was a frequent 

 source of inquiry. But this is only one among 

 many similar instances. My own experience 

 and that of my neighbors fully bears me out in 

 the opinion likewise, that clover, to come up well 

 and do well must be aided by having the ground 

 sprinkled with plaster as soon after it sown as 

 practicable. This is an experiment which I 

 have frequently made, and have long since looked 

 upon as a settled principle in farming. 



Previous to the use of plaster and clover as a 

 manure, (for they ought to go together,) what is 

 now called the best land in this vicinity might 

 have been purchased for less than $3 per acre ; 

 and I have heard of several purchases being 

 made at less than one dollar. Now this land is 

 made to yield the interest of $100 per acre, free 

 of expense, — is constantly improving, and there 

 are no farmers who thrive so well as those who 

 are the most lavish in the application of these 

 two manures. I verily believe, deprive them of 

 the use of clover and plaster, and their farms 

 would degenerate, if not as low as formerly, still 

 so much so as to make their cultivation very un- 

 profitable. Plaster does not do its maximum of 

 good without it is sown on clover ; and clover 

 will not grow luxuriantly unless it is sprinkled with 

 plaster — they mutually aid each other, and when 

 both are freely used they are a mine of wealth to 

 the farmer. It is not because he has large crops 

 of clover for hay, but this clover being turned 

 under by the plough, is the best possible coating 

 of manure that his fields can have to bring him 

 heavy crops of wheat, corn and oats ; not rye — 

 his land is too good for it — it is too cheap a pro- 

 duce when wheat, which is more profitable, may 

 as easily be raised. It is principally indirectly 

 therefore that gypsum is so valuable as a manure. 

 We are perfectly willing to concede that its good 

 effects are not so distinctly marked as formerly ; 

 the poverty of the soil made it then so peculiarly 

 grateful to it that it at once yielded a hundred 

 fold. Now the quality of the soil having mate- 

 rially improved by its frequent application, they 

 are not, of course, so observable. It ought to be 

 enough for us that crops are growing more and 

 more abundant. It is the proof that something is 

 at work in farther fertilizing the soil. 



The sowing of gypsum has produced another 

 and great revolution in farming, and materially 

 lessened the labors of the farmer. It is by making 

 it unnecessary for fields to lay a season to fallow, 

 by which not only the use of the land is lost for 

 the season, but you save the labor of ploughing it 

 two, and often three times, for a subsequent crop 

 of wheat. How much simpler and more profita- 

 ble the process now. One year you sow your 



field with oats, barley, &c, in the spring, at the 

 same time you put on your clover seed and plas- 

 ter. The Subsequent year you have a fine field of 

 clover, enough to cover the ground completely, 

 and affording abundance of food for your stock for 

 grazing. Von fatten them at the same time that 

 you fatten your soil. The coining autumn the re- 

 mains of the clover are turned under with a single 

 ploughing — you sow on your wheat — apply your 

 drag, and your work is done. The chance is, you 

 will have a much better crop than by the old 

 method of frequent ploughing and fallowing, even 

 if you have added to your fallow land a thin cover- 

 ing of stable manure. When clover can be made 

 to grow so thrifty as to crowd out all other plants, 

 which is frequently the case, it is the best prepara- 

 tion that our soil in the present state of firming 

 can possibly have. But it must have only one 

 ploughing. The clover lay well turned over, must 

 be permitted to remain there according to modern 

 experience, and a heavy crop of wheat or corn is 

 almost the invariable result. A. 



From the Gcnessee Farmer. 

 CANADA THISTLES. 



In No. 9, page 66, of the present vol. of the 

 Genesee Farmer, I gave an effectual receipt for 

 destroying that pest to agriculture, the Canada 

 Thistle, and which in its application may be said 

 not to cost any thing, for it prepares the thistle 

 patch in a most capital manner for a luxuriant 

 crop of wheat. I would again call the attention of 

 my brother farmers to the subject, and to convince 

 the most skeptical of the complete efficacy of it, I 

 will relate one case among many where it has been 

 attended with complete success, and where they 

 may go and examine for themselves. 



Mr. Daniel Wilson of Covington, in this county, 

 (Genesee) having seen the beneficial effects of the 

 method, as practised by my brother on his farm, 

 (and described as above referred to) resolved to try 

 it ou a most incorrigible patch of it, that had been 

 surrendered up to the thistles for twenty years, and 

 which were extending themselves in all directions, 

 threatening to take entire possession of the farm. 

 Pursuant to the directions of my brother, in the 

 summer of 1832, he commenced ploughing them, 

 and he found the roots of the thistles forming a 

 complete mat or basket work, thickly crossing 

 each other in all directions and to unknown depths. 

 He ploughed the ground at regular intervals of four 

 weeks for four successive times, when after the 

 fourth ploughing, there was not a thistle to be seen, 

 and the ground was in fine tilth for sowing wheat, 

 loose and nice enough for any garden vegetables, 

 and now, July 1S33, there is a most luxuriant crop 

 of wheat on the old thistle bed, and not a solitary 

 thistle has been found, although it has been care- 

 fully examtieu' by those interested in testing its ef- 

 ficacy. • • 



I cornet but hope that another season, all afflict- 

 ed with this most troublesome of all weeds, will 

 try it, and by following the course, and doing the 

 work thoroughly will drive it from the land. 



Le Roy, July 9, 1833. Thomas Tufts. 



IMPROVED HARROW AND SEEDING MA- 

 CHINE. 



We experienced much gratification last even- 

 ing, in examining the model of an Agricultural 

 Machine, for which a patent has lately been taken 

 out by Capt. James D. Woodside, of Washington, 

 the inventor. It is a revolving Cylindrical Har- 

 row, with a contrivance for casting seed of every 



