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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOVEMBER 30, 1833. 



From the Providence Repidilican Herald. 

 GO TO WORK THE RIGHT WAY. 



Addressed to Farmers. 

 I am sorry there is so much need of the ad mo- 

 nitions I am about to give. Depend upon it, you 

 do not " work it right" or you would make your 

 farms just twice as valuable as they now are. — 

 Many of you farm too much. You would find it 

 much more profitable to farm twenty acres, well, 

 than forty by halves. The last season I mad.' my 

 grounds produce at the rate of one hundred bush- 

 els of Indian corn to the acre. Is this not much 

 better than a common crop of thirty or forty bush- 

 els! You will certainly say it is, and with the 

 same breath ask how I manage to make it produce 

 so plentifully ? My land being much infested 

 with ground mice, or moles, aud overrun with 

 grubs and other vermin, I put on early in the 

 month of March, about seven bushels of salt to 

 the acre, which thoroughly destroys all kind of 

 vermin, being an excellent strong manure, and 

 ploughed and harrowed the ground over and over 

 until it becamc / completely mellow ; I then had 

 every corn hole filled with long manure, and af- 

 ter dropping my corn, (which had previously I" i p 

 soaked in warm water,) I scattered a pint of lime 

 over every hill, and then covered the whole with 

 a little mellow earth. In about a week the corn 

 began to come up plentifully, after which I nursed 

 it with the plough and hoe, every other week for 

 eight weeks, at which time it was" as high as my 

 head, and not a spire of it was destroyed either by 

 frost, grub, or birds. My other things I manured 

 and equally well, and I have been amply paid 

 for all my extra care and truuble, as I raised more 

 than twice as much per acre as any of my neigh- 

 bors, and did it in much less time. I mean I got 

 all my harvesting done two or three weeks before 

 many others. This is accomplished in a great 

 measure by redeeming time ; rising between three 

 and four o'clock in the morning, then if the day 

 be sultry and hot, I lie by from 12 to 3, and 

 rest, I then feel refreshed and able to work till 

 quite dark. This I call " working it right" 

 whereas should I lay in bed until the sun be up 

 and shame me, haunt the tavern at night, drink 

 too much whiskey, but half manure, half [dough, 

 half plant, half nurse, half harvest, and do every 

 thing by halves, I surely should not "work it 

 right" nor get half a crop. 



1 shall now conclude by giving you, for further 

 considerations, a few excellent observations, from 

 a wiser head, perhaps than my own, and hope that 

 every brother farmer will do likewise. 



" I often say to myself, what a pity it is our far- 

 mers do not work it right. When I see a man 

 turn his cattle into the road to run at large, and 

 waste their manure during a winter's day, I say 

 that man does not loork it right. Ten loads of 

 good manure, at least, is lost in a season, by this 

 slovenly practice — and all for what ? For noth- 

 ing indeed but to ruin his farm. 



So, when I see cattle late in the fall and early 

 in the spring, rambling in a meadow or mowing 

 field, pounding the soil and breaking the grass 

 roots, I say to myself, this man does not work it 

 right. 



So, when I see a barn yard with a drain to it, I 

 say this man does not work it right, for how easy 

 it is to make a yard hollow, or lowest in the mid- 

 dle to receive the moisture and all the wash of the 

 sides which will thus be kept dry for the cattle. 

 The wash and moisture of the yard mixed with 



any kind of earth, or putrid straw, is excellent 

 manure, yet how much do not our farmers lose 

 by neglecting these things, in fact they do not work 

 it right. 



When I see a farmer, often going to a retailer's 

 store, with a bottle or jug, or lounging about a 

 tavern or wrangling about politics, or quarrelling 

 with and defaming his neighbor's good name, 1 

 am certain such a man does not work it right." 

 AN OLD FARMER. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 SHEEP. 



The season has arrived for making calculations 

 as to the quantity of sheep to be kept through the 

 winter. There seems to be a great want of infor- 

 mation among farmers, respecting the value of 

 sheep sold to the butcher at this season. We have 

 already heard of sales being made at 87£ cents 

 per head. — Now the value of pelts in this market 

 is one dollar thirty-seven and a half cents. Con- 

 tracts for hams are made to liurgc amounts, at two 

 and a half cents per lb. and if we make an allow- 

 ance of six pounds of tallow per sheep, on the 

 average, we have, allowing the hams to weigh 10 

 lbs. two dollars, sixty-two and a half cents, leaving 

 the fore quarters entirely out of the calculation. 

 Do sales effected in this way divide the profits 

 equally between the butcher .aud the farmer? 



Now, as the season has arrived for making the 

 proper selection of sheep, we yvuuld again express 

 our opiuiou, that farmers wojiild find it to their 

 advantage to increase their number of long wooled 

 sheep in this section of country. — The Dishley or 

 New Leicester, says Loudqn, " is distinguished 

 from other long-woolled breeds, by their clean 

 heads, straight, broad, flat backs, round barrel-like 

 bodies, very fine, small hones, fine pelts, and an 

 inclination to fat at an early age. The Dishley 

 breed is not only superior, for its mutton being fat, 

 but also for the fineness of the grain, and superior 

 flavor, above all other long woolled sheep. The 

 weight of the ewes, three or four years old, is from 

 18 to 26 lbs. per quarter, and of wethers two years 

 old from 20 to 30 lbs. The wool, on an average, 

 is from 6 to 8 pounds a fleece. 



The Tceswater, Old Leicester aud Devonshire, 

 are all among the esteemed long woolled varieties, 

 and we will give any information respecting the 

 different breeds that may be. desired. 



From the New York Farmer. 

 SASSAFRAS TEA. 



A writer in the Farmer's Register, after stating 

 the difficulty which he has experienced in subdu- 

 ing sassafras bushes, gives the following account 

 of the exportation of the roots: 



Upon chewing the leaves, at any time from 

 their most tender and succulent state, to their full 

 maturity, they will be found full of mucilage, 

 which, it seems likely, may be of use in medicine 

 or the arts. It is well known that every part of 

 the sassafras tree has a delightful smell and pleas- 

 ant taste. The blossoms dried, and the bark of 

 the root, make a tea which IS so agreeable that 1 

 think nothing but the abundance and cheapness of 

 the material has prevented its being generally used 

 for this purpose. About twenty years ago, a trade 

 in the roots of sassafras was commenced, by send- 

 ing it from James river to England, where the 

 use of tlio tea was extendifig among the lower 

 classes. The roots commanded a good price, and 

 the trade promised to be profitable to us ; but the 



jealousy of the East India Company (as it was 

 said) caused this new trade to be quickly destroy- 

 ed, by new and prohibitory duties on the article. 

 During the few years that the exportation contin- 

 ued, the large roots of nearly all the sassafras trees 

 in my neighborhood were dug up for that purpose; 

 but as there was no difference of price offered, 

 the roots of small shrubs, (though vastly superior 

 in delicacy and strength of flavor,) were never 

 used for sale, as they are much more troublesome 

 to collect. If the purchasers had known the dif- 

 ference of value, a ton of small roots wotdd have 

 been sold for as much as twenty tons of whole 

 stumps and large roots of trees, which formed 

 nearly the whole amount of the commodity ex- 

 ported. 



SILK MACHINE COCOONS SIL.K WORMS. 



Mr. Adam Brooks, in a letter to the Editor of 

 the New- York Farmer, says, in speaking of his 

 silk apparatus, " I do not reel it all before it is 

 twisted into warp or filling, or doubled and twisted 

 into sewing silk, or for other uses, of any size or 

 twist that may be wanted — perfectly even, firm, 

 smooth, and strong, as any that can be produced 

 from any part of the world." His machines cost 

 from £20 to $30. They can be had at the New- 

 England Farmer office, Boston, and arrangements 

 will probably be made to furnish them at the Agri- 

 cultural Warehouse, 87 Washington street, New- 

 York. 



One thousand good cocoons will make one 

 pound of wrought silk. The quality of cocoons is 

 ascertained by their firmness — the thicker they are 

 the better. Mr. B. gives three dollars per bushel. 

 The least incision makes them useless for ordinary 

 purposes. It would seem a safe calculation, there- 

 lore, that 2000 worms, well attended, wotdd pro- 

 duce one pound of silk — 1,000,000 worms, 500 

 pounds, = at 85 per pound, $2,500. When well 

 reeled, it commands from 6 to 10 dollars per 

 pound. The labor required to attend 1,000,000 

 worms would be, the first week, two persons; for 

 the second, four ; for the third, eight ; for the re- 

 maining two, fifteen to twenty. Most of these 

 persons may be boys, girls, or aged women. Mr. 

 Smith, of Baltimore, estimates, from experience, 

 that a full grown tree will feed 5,000 worms. But 

 to guard against accidents, suppose it furnishes 

 leaves for only 2,000, then 500 trees will be re- 

 quired. This number may be set out along the 

 fences and about the dwelling, of almost every 

 farm in the country ; or the requisite quantity of 

 leaves may be obtained from mulberry hedges. 

 The requisito apartments for 1,000,000 of worms 

 are equal to a room 40 by 80 feet. Considering 

 the above facts, what farmer can hesitate to pur- 

 chase mulberry plants this fall ! — lb. 



HITCH TOUR HORSES. 



A case was tried last week, at Hartford, Conn, 

 which it may not be unimportant for those who 

 carelessly leave their horses unhitched in the 

 street, to hear of. It appeared that two gentle- 

 men got out of a gig, and went into a store, leav- 

 ing their horse loose. The horse started, ran on 

 the sidewalk, and against a person who was on it, 

 threw him down and hurt him seriously, so much 

 so, that he was compelled to keep his house all 

 winter. He brought an action against the person 

 who had the gig, aud has recovered $500. The 

 principal point in the testimony was as to the 

 horse being hitched, and it being proved that he 



