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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JULY 31, 1833. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1833. 



FARMERS' WORK FOR AUGUST. 

 Potato Tops for Fodder. It is said that a very good 

 kind of fodder maybe made of potato tops, by spreading 

 and drying them on grass ground in the vicinity of a 

 potato-field. We are told that in the southern states 

 they reap about two thirds of the length of the potato 

 tops, and dry them on mowing land in the usual way of 

 hay-making. No damage is thus done to the potatoes, 

 provided the tops are not gathered till the potatoes are ripe. 

 In some parts of the world potato tops are used to 

 furnish food for man as well as beast. An article in 

 Loudon's Magazine, vol. i. p. 447, states that " The 

 tender tops and leaves of the potato, boiled and dressed 

 as spinage, or boiled with salted meat, are very palata- 

 ble, while the plants are not injured much by being de- 

 prived of them." We apprehend, however, that cutting 

 oft' the tops of potatoes, before the roots or tubers have 

 obtained their full growth and ripeness or nearly so, will 

 be more injurious than some may be aware of. It lias 

 been maintained by some agriculturists that the tops of 

 carrots might be cut off, as soon as the lower leaves be- 

 gin to wither, without injury to the root. But the Mass. 

 Agr. Journal, vol. iii. No. 3, p. 181-2, gives the details 

 of certain experiments made by the Hon. Josiah Qdihcy, 

 in which a certain number of beds of carrots were cut, 

 and the same number of similar beds were left uncut, 

 and the advantage was in favor of the latter about as 8 

 to 5. From the results of these experiments, Mr. Quincy 

 concluded that the carrot forms no exception to the 

 usual analogy of nature in the growth of vegetables, 

 •■ which depends nearly as much on the leaves as the 

 roots." 



From these premises we should conclude that it would 

 not be good economy, as a general rule, to make use of 

 potato tops for food for man or beast, till the tubers were 

 ripe. But where early potatoes are gathered for market 

 or domestic use, it might be well to make some experi- 

 ments with their dried tops, to test their value as cattle- 

 food. 



Stubble. Where the stubble is large and the grain is 

 cut with the sickle instead of the cradle, the ground will 

 be benefitted by ploughing it under immediately after 

 harvest. But if the stubble be permitted to stand till it 

 is quite dried, and the juices have evaporated, it will 

 then do the ground but little good. By ploughing in 

 the stubble soon after reaping, we may likewise prevent 

 the ripening of the seeds of many weeds, with which 

 stubble lands are frequently infested. 



But in the Georgics of Virgil it is insisted that burn- 

 ing off the stubble is to be preferred to ploughing it 

 under ; being more beneficial to the succeeding crop, 

 and having a greater effect in fertilizing the land. The 

 late Judge Peters of Pennsylvania was also of this opin- 

 ion. He observed, in substance, that if straw and other 

 rubbish be spread over land, and then burned off, it will 

 be of more service to tiie soil than if the same straw or 

 rubbish were suffered to rot on the ground. 



Dr. Deane observed, " With ploughs of the common 

 construction the ploughing of stubble ground is disa- 

 greeable work ; neither can it be well performed. The 

 plough is so apt to choke up, that it is more than one 

 man can do to keep it clear. Ploughs for this work 

 should be much deeper built than common ones. And 

 this work might be greatly facilitated, if a heavy roller 

 were passed over the stubble to lay it flat to the ground 

 before ploughing. When this is doing great care should 

 be taken to pass the roller the same way that the plough 

 is to go. By means of this the coulter will but seldom 

 be clogged with the stubble. If the roiling be neglected, 



a small roller annexed to the fore end of the plough 

 beam in the place of a foot, or even a foot itself, will 

 greatly help to clear the way for the coulter." 



When stubble is on stiff and stroncr land, it has been 

 thought best to mow, collect and carry it into the farm 

 yard, where it will soon be converted into manure. 



An English writer states, that " Mr. W. Curtis of 

 Lynn, Norfolk, found very beneficial effects from burn- 

 ing the stubble of oats, which were left eighteen inches 

 high fur that purpose. On a field broken up from old 

 pasture the same year, he afterwards sowed wheat and 

 oats in succession on the same ground, the stubble of 

 both which was burned in the same manner. The 

 ashes were in every case ploughed into a small depth, 

 and the verges of the field mowed to prevent accidents. 

 After the third crop of grain, all of which was abundant 

 and remarkably free from weeds, the field was laid down 

 with clover and grass seeds, and the ensuing crops both 

 of hay and grass proved infinitely finer than those be- 

 fore the ground was broken up. 



" Another piece of land was cropped for three succes- 

 sive years in the same manner as the first, to which it 

 was similar in every respect of soil, aspect and previous 

 arrangement, but in which the stubble was ploughed in, 

 instead of being burned ; the produce of each crop on it 

 was much inferior to that of the first experiment, and 

 the weeds increased so greatly, that in laying it down 

 to grass, they quite overpowered the grass seeds, so 

 much so that it was necessary to re-sow it ; and ever 

 after while Mr. Curtis held it, the grass and hay pro- 

 duced were coarse and full of weeds; and consequently 

 inferior both in value and quantity to those of the other 

 field, in which the stubble had been burned." 



In burning stubble, the danger which is to be appre- 

 hended from the spreading of the flames may, perhaps, 

 be obviated by tracing a furrow round the field, and -set- 

 ting fire to the stubble on the inner edge of the furrow. 



Fine Rose. Mr. J. P. Bradlee, of Boston, informs us 

 that he saw in the garden of Mr. Zenas Gardener, at 

 Nantucket, a Greville Rose, which had 200 distinct 

 clusters, with 30 flowers in a cluster. This superb 

 flower is 6 years old ; and it has been found that the 

 plant will not come to maturity, nor exhibit its beauties 

 under about (i years from the time it first takes root. 

 This circumstance has led some to condemn the plant, 

 who were not aw T are of tiie time necessary for its growth 

 and developement. For notices of this elegant produc- 

 tion, see N. E. Farmer, vol viii, p. !'. 



A gentleman called a*- the office of the N. E. Farmer, 

 in the absence of the Editor, and left the following no- 

 tices of a plant the properties of which it is wished 

 might be further investigated and described : 



Genista, Yellow Tloiccr, called Woodwack. Grows 

 abundantly in the Eastern part of Lynn, Mass. Said to 

 be used in France in the manufacture of fine writing 

 paper, as a substitute for linen rags. As it is now in 

 full bloom, it might be well for some of our paper 

 makers, in that vicinity to make experiments for the 

 purpose of ascertaining its value. Mr. Prince of Long 

 Island lias this article for sale at (1 shillings per root. 



Remedy against the Canherieorm. A gentleman in- 

 forms us that in Plymouth, Mass. they make use of the 

 following mixture as a substitute for tar, in preserving- 

 fruit trees against Cankerworms, viz : White Varnish, 

 Soft Soap and Whale Oil, one third of each, to be mixed 

 and applied at the times and manner of the usual appli- 

 cation of tar for the same purpose. The advantages of 

 the mixture, we understand, are that it is not so soon 

 hardened by the weather, and of course need not be so 

 often applied, and does not in the least injure the trees 

 to which the application is made. 



ITEMS OF INTELLIGENCE. 



Wheat. There will be more wheat harvested in this 

 town and other towns in the vicinity the present sea- 

 son, than in any year during the last 20 or 30 years. 

 Yet the quantity would seem very small to a western 

 farmer. There may be 100 or 125 acres of wheat in 

 Northampton meadow, but this is less than some indi- 

 viduals raise in the western' states. The wheat stalks in 

 the meadow have quite a rusty appearance, and it is not 

 improbable that the grain is some injured. Tiie wheat 

 on uplands in South Hadley and other towns is more 

 free from rust. — Korihwmp. Gaz. 



Gimblets. The yankees are in a fair way to destroy 

 John Bull's gimblet trade with this country. The new 

 twist gimblet is almost as much superior to the old Eng- 

 lish gimblet, as the screw auger is to the old pod auger. 

 There is a gimblet factory at West Whately, which em- 

 ploys 15 hands, about half of them females, and manu- 

 factures 25 gross per week. The steel is imported from 

 England in round rods ; the handles are turned out in 

 the vicinity. There is a gimblet factory in Buckland, 

 one in the northern part of Franklin county, one in 

 Keene, N. H. and one or more in Connecticut. — North- 

 ampton Gaz. 



Results of the Temperance Reformation. The average 

 number of paupers in the Lynn Poor House, for several 

 years previous to the temperance reform, amounted to 

 between seventy and eighty. Now the whole number 

 supported on the farm, is twenty-seven only. This dimi- 

 nution of pauperism is attributed entirely to the dimin- 

 ished use of ardent spirits. — Salem Gaz. 



Temperance. Extract of a letter, dated Albany, July 

 15, 18153 — published in the New York American. 



" I have just returned from a tour through Vermont 

 and New-Hampshire — led by curiosity to go thoroughly 

 through the country, in order that I might judge from 

 personal observation of the effects of Temperance efforts. 

 In the two states thus visited, the results are truly as- 

 tonishing. 



'■ The Farmers, almost to a man, have discharged the 

 unclean thing. Imagine to yourself the change. Fields 

 burdened with nature's bounties, no longer yield their 

 wholesome products a sacrifice to the hellish still, belch- 

 ing fortli again in that worst of poisons — killing body 

 and soul — but are now made to yield comfort, affluence, 

 education. The Academy has displaced the distillery. 

 Rum no longer degrades the son of the farmer below 

 the beast he rides, nor prepares a drunken husband for 

 the farmer's innocent daughter. It is doing well." 



Italian Fig Tree. Among the time-worn ruins of the 

 ancient castle of Reculver, in the island of Thanet, 

 which forms part of the county of Kent, an ancient fig- 

 Iree stretches forth its venerable arms to the breeze, and 

 attracts the attention of the visiter, not more by the 

 venerable aspect it presents, than by the historical re- 

 cords with which it is connected. This tree, according 

 to the traditions of the neighborhood, claims Italy for 

 the soil of its nativity, and Roman hands for those of its 

 first planters ; its age consequently cannot be less than 

 from 1345 to 1888 years, the Romans having first landed 

 at Deal in the summer of the 55th year before the birth 

 of our Saviour, 1888 years ago ; and having finally quit- 

 ted Britain in the year of our Lord 448, or 1345 years ago. 

 Extraordinary Fecundity. An ewe, of the Down and 

 Leicester breed, belonging to Mr. Walker of Islip, in 

 this county, bronght forth two fine lambs, and on the 

 Friday morning following, the shepherd was suprised at 

 finding two more lambs by the side of the same mother, 

 all four likely to do well. — Oxford (Eng.) Herald. 



An ewe, the property of Mr. Milliner, near Newpo't, 

 Monmouthshire, yeaned 4 Iambs, all of which are dang 

 well. — Sherborne (Eng.) Jour, 



