no 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



two members, Messrs. Rusk and Custis, and of- 

 fered two resolutions, whicli were adopted, and 

 then the society adjourned until to-morrow at 

 nine o'clock. 



SECOND day's session. 



The business to-day has been the election of 

 officers, and a long discussion upon the subject 

 of the Chinese Sugar Cane. Mr. Tencii Tilgh- 

 MAN, of Baltimore, was elected President ; B. B. 

 French, of Washington, Treasurer ; and Ben : 

 Perley Poor, of Massachusetts, Secretary. The 

 Vice Presidents of the Society remain generally 

 as they were last year. The discussion on the 

 sugar cane and its products was harmonious and 

 interesting. Dr. Loring, of your State, took 

 an active part in it, and although I did not en- 

 tirely agree with his views, am happy to say that 

 he distinguished himself as a ready tactician and 

 a fluent and agreeable debater, and left an impres- 

 sion of what he may do at some future time, per- 

 haps, in another sphere in the federal city. An- 

 other session of the society is to be holden to- 

 morrow. 



The weather is soft and delicious ; the fashion 

 and beauty of our broad country seems to have 

 concentrated here, in spite of all disasters, eith- 

 er financial or commercial. The Court side of 

 the Avenue is thronged, and, what is wonderful, 

 age is elastic and fresh again ; the lame halt no 

 more, the blind see, the disconsolate rejoice and 

 ai"e glad, while each one seems to outvie the oth- 

 er in an eifort to show that time and care and sor- 

 roio have never touched them, and that they mean 

 always to bloom in perennial freshness and youth ! 

 Some general topics I must touch in another let- 

 ter. Truly yours, Simon Brown. 



Joel Nourse, Esq. 



MEADOW LA.ND.~MAWURB. 



The best dressing for meadow land is ashes and 

 bone-dust ; and if it is dry and gravelly, a top 

 dressing of marl muck is first rate. The muck 

 should be dry, and placed in heaps in the fall, 

 and left to be decomposed for the frosts of win- 

 ter. Leached ashes, marl and mud are all first 

 rate for gravelly land. When farmers know that 

 110 lbs. of leached ashes furnish as much phos- 

 phate as 507 lbs. of the richest manure, they will 

 stop selling their asiies, and apply them to their 

 land. If old bones can be procured, a mixture 

 of four bushels of ashes to one of bone dust is 

 better than either separate. Land producing one 

 ton per acre, has, by this application, been made 

 to produce three tons. Mud and ashes are also 

 a good mixture, in tlie proportion of six or eight 

 bushels to the cord of mud. If leached ashes are 

 used, the proportion should be about one of ash- 

 es to three of mud. For this mixture the mud 

 should be dry, and placed in heaps in the fall. 



For clover meadow, plaster or gypsum is jier- 

 haps the best top-dressing. The ashes of an acre 

 of red clover contains no less than three bushels 



of gypsum. This shows that its presence in the 

 earth is necessary to the growth of clover. A 

 bushel or two to the acre will often double the 

 crop, and add more than twenty times its own 

 weight to it. Four pounds of gypsum will pro- 

 duce one pound of nitrogen, and every pound of 

 nitrogen increases the crop a hundred pounds ; 

 provided, always, tlie land is suited for clover 

 and plaster. 



The value of manure depends on the amount 

 of nitrogen it contains ; and plaster fixes it and 

 detains this gas, which would otherwise escape 

 into the atmosphere, and give it out for the use 

 of the plants, when wanted. The plaster is not 

 the manure, but a reccptable to hold the manure 

 arising from the decomposition of animal and 

 vegetable matter. — Ohio Farmer. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 YOUNG MEN AND THE FARM. 



Mr. Editor : — While looking over your num- 

 ber of Nov. 21st, my attention was arrested by a 

 rejoinder to an article on the aforesaid subject, 

 which was written by me, and published in your 

 paper, issued Oct. 30, vol. 12, No. 44. This 

 "Farmer's Son," who wishes to "propound a few 

 questions to the author of the above article re- 

 ferred to," could not have cast his lines in more ac- 

 ceptable places, as it is quite agreeable to me to 

 answer his propositions. 



I am first asked, "would you advise one to re- 

 main on the old 'old farm,' and with the 'old 

 man' to cultivate the productive vineyard of God, 

 which he gave to us for an inheritance ?" If you 

 can remain with your father, without any incon- 

 venience to either party, do so. If I ask you 

 what the chief aim of man is by nature, and the 

 chief end, also, you will at once say happiness. 

 Then, where can you better find this appropriate 

 stimulus, than with your father and mother, and 

 that "bonnie lassie," as it seems to be a matter of 

 fact in your case ? Where will you take more 

 comfort than in your old home, with her Avhom 

 you love ? It is not to be expected that a large 

 family of children, both boys and girls, are to 

 "get married" and "settle down" on "father's 

 farm." I did not mean to convey any such idea, 

 I admit, that women are obliged to toil "year in 

 and year out." This ought not to be so. It is 

 the duty of every man to alleviate the labors of 

 the opposite sex. "There Is a fine colt in the sta- 

 ble, I must take care of it or I shall not get my 

 $200." "I have a pair of steers In the barn, also, 

 and I must take extra care of them, or I shall 

 surely lose the first premium ;" and thus with all 

 that he has of properfi/. But, is there occasional- 

 ly one word said about the wife, mother, daughter, 

 or of the household affairs ? Men are to blame 

 about these things. Do they, as often as they 

 should, "fill the wood box," bring the water, and 

 relieve them of thousands of "lifts," when they 

 can as well as not ? Perhaps this coming cold 

 weather you will sit "behind the stove," your 

 wife will say, "John, please help to lift this large 

 kettle into the sink." "O, dear, I must go and 

 card the 'colt !' " Why, how hard your wife tries 

 to get that kettle up ; finally she has a pain in the 

 side, but you exclaim, "she'll get over it to-mor- 

 row." Is it any wonder that your young and 



