3") 8 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 14, 1«34. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMKK. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 14, 1834. 

 PABMERS' AND GARDENERS' WORK. 



Bone Manure. There is no part of farm man- 

 agement of more intrinsic importance than that of 

 procuring, saving, and making the most of everj 

 substance, which will serve either for the stimulus 

 'or the food of plants. This subject has, indeed, 

 been very much discussed, but still we believe it 

 possible to suggest some ideas in relation to it, 

 which may be in some measure new and useful to 

 some of our readers. 



The value of bones for manure is not. so well 

 understood as could be wished. A writer for the 

 Gxtrrtener , 8 Magazine .is of opinion that bone-dust is 

 the best of all possible manures. He -says, "1 

 make use of all the hones I can by any means 

 (nibbing cburch-yards excepted) collect, for the 

 use of my vine and other fruit borders, also for 

 asparagus beds. For such purposes they answer 

 the most sanguine expectations. There is much 

 difference in the quality of bones." 



The Worcester Herald, an English paper, lias (he 

 following paragraph : " The use of ground bones 

 as manure, particularly for turnips, is now becom- 

 ing general In the counties of Angus and Perth in 

 Scotland. Mr. Watson of Kieler farm, neai Cupar 

 Angus, says: "The bone manure has been a great 

 blessing to the breeders and feeders of cattle in 

 this district, and, in some instances, saved the in- 

 dustrious tenant from ruin. The severe drought 

 of 18-25 did not prevent a crop of turnips with 

 bones, while all other manures failed ; and it was 

 thus the means of bringing through that disastrous 

 winter herds of cattle, which must have otherwise 

 perished for want of fodder." 



H'illicVs Domestic Encyclopaedia states that " A. 

 St. Leger, Esq. had once laid down to grass a 

 large piece of very indifferent limestone land, with 

 a crop of corn ; and from this uniformly well- 

 dressed piece he selected three rods of equal quality 

 with the rest, and manured them with hones broken 

 very small, at ijie rate of sixty bushels per acre. 

 Upon the land thus managed the crop was infinite- 

 ly superior to the rest. The next year's grass was 

 also more luxuriant, and has continued to preserve 

 the same superiority for at least eight years, inso- 

 much that in Spring it is green three weeks before 

 the rest of the held, lie also dressed two acres 

 with bones, in two different fields, prepared for 

 turnips, at sixty bushels to the acre, and found the 

 crops incomparably more productive than the others 

 managed in the common way. Upon grass-lands 

 be observed that this kind of manure exerts its in- 

 fluence more powerfully the second year than the 

 first. For whatever soil it be intended the bones 

 should be well broken, before they can be equally 

 spread upon the land. No pieces should exceed 

 the size of small niarliles. To perform this neces- 

 sary operation, he recommends the bones to be 

 sufficiently bruised, by putting them under a cir- 

 cular stone, which being moved round upon its 

 .due by means of a Jiorse, in the manner tanners 

 grind their bark, will very expeditiously effect the 

 purpose. Although boufiS of all kinds may be used 

 to advantage, yet those of fat cattle are undoubtedly 

 the best. A. St. Leger has also found it very bene- 

 ficial to mix ashes with the hones; a cart-load ot 

 the former being put to thirty or forty bushels ol 

 the latter, and heated for twenty-four hours (which 

 may he known by the smoking of the heap,) when 



the whole should he turned. Alter lying ten days 

 longer, this excellent manure will be fit for use." 



A writer for the Gardener's Magazine says, "A 

 ■rood way for gardeners to collect bones for vine 

 borders, and other purposes, is to make known in 

 the neighborhood, that they will give so much per 

 hundred weight for all that is brought to them. 

 As they are received they should be broken by 

 hammers into small or large pieces, as the effect is 

 intended to be immediate and powerful, or gradual 

 and prolonged. For distant effect, a number ol 

 bones should be buried whole ; on the same prin- 

 ciple that opium eaters envelope pills in paper, to 

 retard their dissolution in the stomach." 



The New England Farmer, vol. ix, p. 245, con- 

 tains a letter |i tlie lion. .1. Lowell to Hon. 



Thomas L. Winthrop, in which the writer makes 

 observations on an experiment he had made, prov- 

 ing the utility of bone manure for wet meadows. 

 The following are extracts from that valuable com- 

 munication : 



" A few years since, the Hon. William Ellis of 

 Dedhain recommended to me the use of the head 

 and feet bones of oxen as a highly valuable ma- 

 nure on meadow lands. He said that be had ob- 

 served in passing that I had grounds remarkably 

 well adapted for this manure. I however neglect- 

 ed this hint, though 1 constantly kept it in mind, 

 until the last year, when seeing an immense load 

 of the heads of oxen passing by, I inquired of the 

 owner for what purpose he was carting those ma- 

 terials, and he answered me to the following facts, 

 viz. That he came down a distance of eight miles, 

 with an empty team, and was carrying back a load 

 which cost him two dollars, to put on his meadow 



land. 1 fi d it was no new experiment with 



him, and that he came often for that purpose. 



" Here then I had facts. I knew the habitual 

 economy of our citizens, that they were not re- 

 markably prone to idle experiments, or to wanton 

 expenditure. 



" I entered with my very intelligent informer 

 into many particulars as to the process and effects, 

 but 1 own that 1 was more impressed with the 

 simple fact that he would devote his team and la- 

 bor for a day, and pay two dollars for his materials 

 besides, than with all bis other assertions. * 



" 1 made the experiment. Its success surpassed 

 all his descriptions. The manure brought in new 

 grasses, it encouraged and invigorated the old. * 



"The mode of application is to break them up 

 with a sledge, or with the back of an axe, and then 

 to press them below the surface with a rammer or 

 beetle." 



dryest weather, the vines never wilt, and that all 

 the heat which accumulates in these warmest spots 

 of earth in New England is necessary to bring the 

 melons to perfection. Danvers. 



Dear Sir, The foregoing remarks, made by a 

 practical observer of things, may suggest an useful 

 idea to some of your readers; and I know of no 

 better disposition to make of them than to forward 

 them for your paper. 



Your obt. servt. J. W. Proctor. 



May 3d, 1834. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 NEW MODE OP CULTIVATING MELONS. 



Mr. Fessenden — 1 noticed in the N. E. Fanner 

 some remarks on tBe Culture of Melons, from a T. 

 S. P. id' Beaverdam, Virginia, which, coming from 

 a Warmer climate than ours, may not command tin 

 attention which perhaps they deserve from our 

 New England cultivators. 



The most successful cultivator of Watermelons 

 in this town with whom I am acquainted, Mr. Wil- 

 liam Goudale, plains them on the southern side ol 

 loose gravelly knolls, diluvial] hillocks, consisting 

 almost entirely of small pebbles and sand mixed 

 with a very little vegetable mould. On this most 

 barren of soils he digs holes, uses well rotted ma- 

 nure mixed with the soil, and seldom fails ol ob- 

 taining a good crop. He says, in the hottest and 



ITEMS OP INTELLIGENCE. 



The Baltimore American Farmer is discontinued, and a 

 new paper entitled " The Farmer and Gardener, and 

 Lire Slack Breeder and Manager" was commenced on the 

 '.Uhuist. as successor to that " ancient and honorable" 

 publication. We are sorry for the loss of the original 

 Farmer, but as the present appears to be a worthy sub- 

 stitute we shall neither make long faces nor long para- 

 graphs about the matter, but proffer the same hand of 

 friendship to the Offspring, which we have ever exten- 

 ded to the Parent. 



Earlt/ Vegetables and Fruits. Mr. G. W. Lee ex- 

 hibited to us yesterday, a Muslmielon perfectly ripe, 

 measuring twenty-two inches in circumference, and a 

 quantity of potatoes, from the garden of Mr. Ephraim 

 Holbrouk at Hyde Park. They were raised without 

 any artificial heat, but of course under glass cases. — 

 This is the most remarkable instance of early vegetation 

 that has ever come to our knowledge and will afford a 

 useful hint to our gardeners as exhibiting how much 

 may be accomplished by a little care and attention. — 

 JV. Y. Enq. 



Cucumbers. We received yesterday from Mr. Camp, 

 the Horticulturist, a piece of cucumber vine, from his 

 hot-bed about six inches long, and having more than 

 fifty cucumbers set upon it. This, however uncom- 

 mon it may appear, is, we are assured not accidental, 

 but the effect of cultivation ; as many specimens of the 

 kind can be produced from the same bed at this time. — 

 Washington Intelligencer. 



Early Melons and Potatoes. We were yesterday per- 

 mitted to touch and handle, but not to taste, two fine 

 ripe nutmeg melons, one of which was twenty-two in- 

 ches in circumference, the produce of the garden of E. 

 Hofbrook, Esq. of Hyde Park, Dutchess County. In 

 the same basket also, were two or three quarts of new 

 [ml a toes, of good size for the pot. These early fruits 

 and vegetables were sent down by Mr'. H. for exhibition 

 at the Horticultural Society. The melons were as fra- 

 grant as though at their proper season. — A". Y. Com. Adv. 

 In the town of Easlhampton, two extensive button 

 manufacturers have this spring discharged from their 

 employment sixteen hundred hands, " in consequence of 

 the curtailment of business, and want of confidence in 

 the Atlantic cities." 



A family in New Haven, Conn, have made a public 

 request tluough the newspapers, that certain young gen- 

 tlemen, who have been for sometime in the habit of str- 

 enad ng the household, would have the goodness to ab- 

 stain from further inflictions. Their music is pro- 

 nounced intolerable. , 



The town of Marblehead contains five thousand in- 

 habitants, and cannot support a lawyer, the last one being 

 obliged to emigrate for want of business. Marblehead 

 has however, in former days, furnished some of the first 

 legal talents in the country. Chief Justice Sewall, and 

 Judge Story, were natives of that place, as was also Vice 

 President Gerry, and the venerable Dr. Holyoke. 



