1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



187 



land, with no manure save a little plaster in the 

 hill and on the vines. He had tried growing 

 wood on such lands with great success. 



Rev. L. Farnham, of Boston, recommeneded 

 the application of clay to sandy soils. His father 

 had tried it with great profit. 



]Mr. Sparhawk said a compost suitable for the 

 renovation of pasture land could be made eco- 

 nomically. Liquid manure, soap suds, &c., would 

 all work in. 



Mr. BucKMINSTER had heard of the excellent 

 effect of j)laster upon grass land as near the sea 

 as Roxbury. 



Senator Adams, of Middlesex, thought a com- 

 post of manures as suggested by Mr. Spai'hawk 

 was highly beneficial for fields. 



IMr. Howard had found that plaster had oper- 

 ated favorably near the sea in the State of ]Maine. 



Mr. Felton thought there was no great diflu- 

 culty of renovating worn-out lands if they could 

 be plowed and meadow muck and compost ma- 

 nures obtained. On the hills he would let sheep 

 run, and also apply plaster. He had not been 

 generally successful in the general use of plas- 

 ter. On his farm, in Worcester county, there 

 was but one corner where it operated. 



The chairman had read of a Scotch peer who 

 set out 5000 acres of pasture to oak trees. Be- 

 fore this he had rented the land for a shilling an 

 acre, but the presence of the trees improved the 

 grass, while the timber accumulated to the value 

 of millions of dollars. 



Mr. Feltox here announced that the topic of 

 discussion at the next meeting would be, "iVca^ 

 Stock.'' The meeting then adjourned. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 YOUNG MEN" AND THE FARM. 



Before asking ''Farmer's Son" a few questions 

 that may be of use to himself and others, let me 

 beg of him to get rid of the absurd idea of men 

 and women being slaves. God intended that all 

 should earn their bread by the sweat of their 

 brow. This he will find to be the case if he would 

 succeed in any occupation. His complaint of 

 want of time for study is admirably answered by 

 the remark of a late traveller anV-l missionary in 

 Africa Avho has attracted much notice in Europe 

 lately. He says that until he was 17 he had to 

 work in a cotton-mill to assist his mother and 

 educate himself, and that while at work he stud- 

 ied Latin, &-c.,&c., proving thereby in such cases 

 as "Farmer's Son" refers to, that "where there 

 is a will there is a way." 



Now to the questions, — How many acres are 

 in the farm ? how many are cultivated ? how far 

 are you from a market? how many sons are 

 there to cultivate the farm ? have you ever 

 thought or looked about you to see in what way 

 you could make your father's farm (old man's 

 farm is too grossly disrespectful) yield twice as 

 much as it does now ? have you ever thought that 



if you can make one cow yield 60 dollars per an- 

 num, you get the interest without any risk, of 

 $1000, and if your farm will support 20 cows, you 

 have more than an average income on $20,000 

 cash and no risk ? If the hive is too small you 

 must swarm. I know of no business so likely to 

 succeed, or is at this moment more wanted, than 

 good farmers ; if they are honest, careful of their 

 tools and thoroughly understand their business, 

 they will not be like most young men who leave 

 the farm for cities, ruined or broken-hearted for 

 want of employment. Should they take a wife 

 with them, who also thoroughly understands the 

 work of a farm, is cleanly and willing, they will 

 be all the more welcome. 



When "Farmer's Son" has answered these, I 

 will try to answer him, and at the same time poke 

 a few more at him. D. c. 



RoseviUe, Del., Jan., 1858. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PUMPKINS AMONG CORN. 



Li the Fanner of February 6, in answer to cer- 

 tain queries of a correspondent, you express some 

 doubt whether "any gain is made by the intro- 

 duction of the pumpkin into the corn-field." This 

 question belongs to a class in practical farming 

 which can never be settled by theory. Careful 

 experiments, made under different and adverse 

 circumstances, can alone settle them. And it is 

 to these experiments that every intelligent far- 

 mer ought to contribute something for the gen- 

 eral good. 



The question of utility in cultivating corn in 

 the same field with pumpkins, is not by any means 

 raised now for the first time. It is older, to my 

 certain knowledge, than the "^Missouri compro- 

 mise," and may date back, for aught I know, to 

 the first hill of corn and the first pumpkin. As 

 a general rule, I am opposed to mixed crops ; yet 

 there are exceptions to all rules in farming, and 

 I think this matter of corn and pumpkins is one 

 of them. I would not knowingly, do anything to 

 disparage the value of the corn orop, for I hold 

 it to be by far the most valuable grain crop of 

 New England, and indeed of any other country 

 whose climate is adapted to it, and whose soil 

 will not produce wheat as a staple. 



I recollect very well that my grandfather had 

 all the old-fashioned prejudice in favor of raising 

 pumpkins, and would plant them among corn, 

 potatoes, and even beans, if the soil was rich 

 enough to hold out any prospect of a crop. My 

 father, on the other hand, doubted the value of 

 pumpkins, and Avas especially opposed to any- 

 thing that could, by any possibility, detract from 

 the product of his corn-field. With these opposing 

 views upon the same farm, you will perceive at 

 once that there was a necessity for trying an ex- 

 periment ; for "a house divided against itself 

 could not stand forty years ago any better than 

 it can now. Accordingly, in the year 1818, I 

 think it was, the corn-field was equally divided 

 by two or three rows of potatoes through the 

 centre, and one-half planted to corn with pump- 

 kins, and the other without. There was no per- 

 ceptible difference in the growth of the corn, and 

 when the field was harvested there was not a dif- 

 ference of three bushels in the (^uantitv on each 



