230 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JANUARY 29, 1S34. 



NEW ENGLAND h'ARJIKR. 

 KOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JAN. 29, 1834, 



AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION. 



There are but three sources from which man- 

 kind obtain that knowledge whiclys power, — those 

 mental acquisitions, which alone give civilized 

 man a superiority over the savage biped of the wil- 

 derness. These sources, or fountain heads of in- 

 telligence are Observation, Conversation ami Read- 

 ing. Deprived of these the mind of a Solomon ora 

 Newton would be as complete a blank as that of an 

 idiot. Of these means for furnishing minds with 

 useful ideas, probably observation and conversation 

 are the most important, though still incomplete 

 without reading. 



But in order to give observation its full effect, 

 its sphere should be as extensive as a man's leis- 

 ure and circumstances will permit. A cultivator 

 whose acquaintance with men and things is con- 

 lined to his own homestead, with now and then a 

 glance and a commonplace inquiry or observation 

 directed to the farms and their occupants in his im- 

 mediate vicinity, may possess a strong intellect, but 

 can hardly fail to he narrow minded. He cannot 

 avail himself of the many opportunities which al- 

 ways occur in the journey of life to make the path 

 plain and pleasant to those who "order their steps 

 aright." 



An English writer, in adverting to the impor- 

 tance to fanners of extended observation remarks 

 as follows : 



" Were I to name one circumstance, which has 

 within the last twenty years advanced the husband- 

 ry of this country more than any other, I should 

 fix on the practice of farmers taking their nags (to 

 use an expression of Bakewell,) to see n<hat other 

 people are doing. Men who are confined their 

 whole lives to one particular spot, necessarily con- 

 tract a too limited range of thought. Their ideas 

 flow so much in the same channel, and dwell so 

 much on the same objects that new oues, however 

 useful, make too faint an impression: nor can they 

 know what is doing by the best farmers, on soils, 

 perhaps exactly similar to their own. To take a 

 ride, for a fortnight, through four or five hundred 

 miles of country, with an eye scrutinizing every 

 thing they see, anil calling upon noted fanners to 

 make inquiries about such objeets as appear inter- 

 esting, must necessarily give a new movement to 

 their minds, a new spring to thought, and remove 

 many prejudices. If only one journey be taken in 

 a year, and that at a vacant time, perhaps June 

 would be the best season : but, as I propose that 

 two should be taken, one may as well be in Janua- 

 ry as any other month. This season will explain 

 the winter management of live stock, the impor- 

 tant objects of the farm yard, fattening beasts, 

 sheep-feeding in many branches, winter irrigation, 

 and many other objects truly interesting." 



turf cut into pieces, of about nine or ten inches 

 long, and three or four broad, which are placed in 

 a regular manner over the surface of the hot-bed, 

 itrass side downwards, and a row of peas is sown 

 upon eacli row of turf, and afterwards covered 

 with soil ; when they are fit for transplanting, no 

 more is required than to lift out the turf, piece by 

 piece, with the peas growing upon it, anil place 

 them were they are to produce their crop. By 

 ibis means the roots receive no injury, nor do the 

 plants sustain the least check in transplanting. This 

 method may be practised with similar success in 

 the raising of potatoes, beans, &c." 



which it may be fairly concluded that some of 

 this substance is destroyed bv fermentation." 



A METHOD OP REARING EARLY PEAS AND 

 OTHER VEGETABLES. 



An English Gardener states that "the method of 

 rearing peas in pots and boxes, in hot beds and 

 hot-houses, and afterwards transplanting them out 

 into the open ground, is a common practice with 

 gardeners, and often succeeds very well ; particu- 

 larly if they are not too long in transplanting 

 them ; but 1 would recommended a method not so 

 well known, as far preferable to that of pots and 

 boxes ; particularly wh»n they are to be raised in 

 a hot bed. This consists in having a quantity ol 



SEA WEED FOR MANURE. 



A friend has expressed a wish for our opinion 

 of the use of sea weed as a manure, the best mode 

 of preparing and applying it, &c. Not having had 

 much personal acquaintance with this substance, 

 or its agricultural uses, we can only give the opin- 

 ion of a competent judge on whose authority in 

 subjects ofthis kind we are accustomed to place 

 implicit reliance. The following is from Sir Hum- 

 phrey Davy's .igricttltural Chemistry : 



" Sea weeds, consisting of different species of 

 fuci alago and conferva?, are much used as manure 

 on the sea coasts of Great Britian and Ireland. 

 By digesting the common focus, which is the sea 

 weed usually most abundant on the coast, in boil- 

 ing water, I obtained from it one eighth of a glu- 

 tinous substance, which had characters similar to 

 mucilage. A quantity distilled gave nearly four 

 fifths of its weight in water, but no ammonia; the 

 water had an empyreumatic and slightly sour 

 taste ; the ashes contained sea salt, carbonate of 

 soda, and carbonaceous matter. The gaseous 

 matter was small in quantity principally carbonic 

 acid and gaseous oxide of carbon, with a little hy- 

 dro-carbonate. This manure is transient in its ef- 

 fects, and does not last for more than a single crop 

 which is easily accounted for from the large quan- 

 tity of water, or the elements of water which it 

 contains. It decays without producing heat, when 

 exposed to the atmosphere, and seems as it were 

 to melt down and dissolve away. I have seen a 

 large heap entirely destroyed "in less than two years 

 nothing remaining hut a little black fibrous matter. 

 " I suffered some of the firmest part of a fuctis 

 to remain in a close jar, containing atmospheric 

 air, for a fortnight. In this time it had become 

 very much shrivelled ; the sides of the jar were 

 lined with dew. The air examined was found to 

 have lost oxygene, and contained carbonic acid 

 gas. 



" Sea weed is sometimes suffered to ferment be- 

 fore it is used ; but this process seems wholly un- 

 necessary, for there is no fibrous matter rendered 

 soluble in the process, and a part of the manure is 

 lost. 



"The best farmers in the west of England use it 

 as fresh as it can be procured, and the practical re- 

 sults ofthis mode of applying it, are exactly con- 

 formable to the theory of its operation. The 

 carbonic, acid formed by incipient fermentation, 

 must be partly dissolved in the water set free in 

 the same process; and thus become capable of ab- 

 sorption by the roots of plants. 



"The effects of sea weed as manure, must prin- 

 cipally depend upon tfiis carbonic acid, and upon 

 the soluble mucilage the weed contains ; and I 

 Ibund that some fucus which had fermented, so as 

 to have lost about half its weight, afforded less 

 than one twelfth of mucilaginous matter ; from 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 DRAINING, TURNIPS, CHESS. 



Messrs. Tucker & Co.— Being past the me" 

 ridian of life when I first sit foot in the United 

 States a few years ago, and having taken the bath 

 of allegiance to the government, under which I 

 intend to spend the remainder of my days, I may 

 he allowed to entertain sincere good wishes for its 

 prosperity, anil hope to be excused for using the 

 privilege of offering a few general remarks in re- 

 gard to agriculture, a pursuit in which I was prac- 

 lically engaged in Scotland for thirty years. 



It is gratifying to observe from several commu- 

 nications in the Farmer, that public attention is 

 awakened in regard to the importance of two 

 branches of husbandly, which have been practised 

 with great success in Britain for at least half u 

 century, namely, draining and the culture of tur- 

 nips. Without drains a farm in Britain is consid- 

 ered to be much in a state of nature, and the in- 

 troduction of turnips into that island about 60 

 years ago, was justly considered and is designated 

 by its most eminent authors, as one of the most 

 remarkable eras in the history of British agricul- 

 ture. Assuredly there can be no good reason for 

 neglecting, in this State at least, those two branches 

 of rural economy, which perhaps more than any 

 other have been the means of improving the cir- 

 cumstances of fanners in the Old Country. In 

 regard to Turnips, however, from my own expe- 

 rience both in this State and in Scotland, it is 

 much to be feared, that very many farmers will be 

 deterred from prosecuting that branch of farming 

 from the liability to failure in their first essays. 

 This was the case in Scotland, particularly at the 

 period of its introduction. Having grown annually 

 in that country about 50 acres for 25 years suc- 

 cessively, there appeared no obstacle to being suc- 

 cessful in this State. But last year (1832) it did 

 happen that my crop failed. Having attributed 

 that failure to my ignorance of climate and other 

 circumstances, 1 sowed this year about one acre 

 of rota baga, and one acre of mangel wurtzel, and 

 had as good a crop as I had generally in Scotland 

 for the long period of years above-mentioned — say 

 three bushels a rod ; which I am at present feed- 

 ing out to cows, steers, hogs, poultry, and horses. 

 The whole roots are steamed, which, in the severe 

 winters in this State, appears to he an indispensa- 

 ble process. 



In regard to draining, I take the liberty of re- 

 marking, that it appeared to me a very singular 

 circumstance in this State, (and I have been in no 

 other) that very few open drains or ditches were I 

 made, and that the practice of ploughing into lands 

 or ridges was rarely to be seen, — circumstances 

 which satisfactorily account to an old country far- 

 mer for the frequent complaint of wheat being 

 winter killed. However, as to open drains, my 

 short experience has convinced me of the inexpe- 

 diency of these, owing to the injurious effects of 

 frost ; but I cannot imagine any cause for the 

 omission of ploughing into lands and drawing 

 cross or water furrows in all hollows and at the 

 head lands. Even in Britain, where the winter is 

 comparatively mild, open draining is now very 

 generally superseded by the under or covered mode 

 of draining ; and it is a very common thing in ma- 

 ny arable districts in that country, (where there 

 are professional drainers) to drain farms of two 



