1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



435 



For the New England Farmer. 



LETTEB PKOM MR. HOLBROOK. 



Abortion in Cows— The Universal Plow— A iine Corn Field— Su- 

 perphosphate of Lime— Another field of Corn under different 

 treatment— An Old Pasture Revived— Effects of Bone Dust, 

 Guano, and Unleacbed Ashes. 



Mr. Brown -.—My Dear Sir — I hoped to spend 

 a day with you ere this, and to have a pleasant 

 chat upon various topics, but one thing and 

 another has come up to prevent. I have several 

 interesting matters in reserve, i6 discuss with you 

 ■when we meet again. Many things present them- 

 selves to one of an observing mind, in the course 

 of a season upon the farm, which much engage 

 his thoughts, and about which he likes to talk 

 with a friend who feels an interest in them kin- 

 dred with his own. I often think how much we 

 should enjoy, if we could easily and frequently 

 meet together, and canvass the various subjects 

 of agriculture which our meeting would of itself 

 naturally bring up. You doubtless remember 

 how unconsciously we have neared the midnight 

 houi", on those occasions when we have sat down 

 •together for an evening's agricultural talk. _ If 

 one could only write on these subjects, by him- 

 self, half as well as he can talk them, prompted 

 and excited by conversation with a friend, there 

 might be something done. But although these 

 occasional social meetings,- when we live down 

 months in moments, have an important after in- 

 fluence in directing and shaping our views and 

 thoughts, they also have aspects of a nature too 

 etherial and exalted to be long detained in this 

 dusty life of ours. 



Among our topics when I was last at your 

 house at Concord, I remember was that of Farm 

 Stock, and the difficulty that has appeared among 

 the cows in your locality, where numbers of them 

 are kept together. I afterwards received a polite 

 invitation from the Secretary of your Farmers' 

 Club, to be present at a meeting of the club, 

 when this matter would come up for discussion ; 

 but much to my regret, I could not comply with 

 the invitation. Have you found the cause of the 

 difficulty ; and if so, why not publish a statement 

 about it in the Farmer "? 



I presume you used the Universal Plow upon 

 your farm again last spring, and lent it to some 

 of your neighbors to try ; and I hope it worked 

 as satisfactorily as at our trial of it at your place 

 last fall. Several persons in this section have 

 used the plow, changing it variously for stubble, 

 lap and flat furrow, sod, and sod and subsoil 

 plowing, and are well pleased with it. It was a 

 long and perplexing study to originate and com- 

 bine in a simple way the various parts of this in- 

 strument, but there is a wide variety and a qual- 

 ity of plowing to be got out of it, which I ti'ust 

 will suit the farmers, and prove an economical 

 convenience for them. 



I have been rambling to-day among the fields, 

 and have found some things which interest me 

 so much that I will mention them to you. I first 

 looked at a field of corn belonging to my friend, 

 Richards Bradley, Esq. It is a remarkable 

 and interesting sight, especially considering the 

 condition of the land a year ago, and the contrast 

 between its present product and that of the sur- 

 rounding unimproved land. Mr. Bradley pur- 

 chased quite a tract of land last year, in very low 

 condition, but naturally of a good loam soil, 



which he intends to improve for tillage purposes. 

 Certainly, judging from the success of this first 

 efi"ort, the whole tract will in a few years be made 

 to "blossom as the rose." 



This corn-field consists of between three and 

 four acres of the poorest part of the land pur- 

 chased. It had formerly been much reduced in 

 fertility by shallow plowing and severe cropping 

 with rye and other grain, and for a few years 

 past was allowed to. lie in pasture, and had cov- 

 ered itself with a light sward of grass and moss, 

 interspersed with sweet fern, scattering shrub- 

 pines and other bushes. Last November the land 

 was broken up, nine inches deep, with the Uni- 

 versal Plow rigged in sod and subsoil fashion, 

 and drawn by four cattle, — the plowing being 

 handsomely executed and all the vegetable growth 

 well buried. In the spring the field was dressed 

 with twenty-five two horse loads, or about four- 

 teen cords, of stable manure to the acre, which 

 was spread broadcast and turned under from 

 four to five inches deep, with a light steel plow, 

 so sharp on its cutting edges as to shave off' a 

 thin furrow without pulling up the sod that had 

 been buried in the fall. The ground was then 

 lightly harrowed, and marked out in rows one 

 way, three and a half feet apart, and the hills 

 were made two and a half feet apart in the rows. 



About a common table-spoonful of superphos- 

 phate of lime was placed in each hill, and the 

 corn was dropped directly upon and in contact 

 with it. A few rows, however, were planted with- 

 out superphosphate, and a few others had as 

 much as a single handful of it applied to each 

 hill, by way of experiment. The corn generally 

 came up well, and has grown with remarkable 

 rapidity ever since. The ears stand thickly, and 

 the stalks have a deep green and healthy appear- 

 ance. There has been no drought, high wind nor 

 storm as yet to injure the corn, and there is every 

 prospect now that the yield of corn and of fodder 

 will be quite large, — sufficient to more than pay 

 for all that has been done to the land, leaving it 

 in a highly improved condition for succeeding 

 crops. The best corn is where a spoonful of su- 

 perphosphate was applied in the hill ; the poor- 

 est is where none was used ; and where a hand- 

 ful was applied, the corn that came up and sur- 

 vived is now stout and good, but so large a dose 

 of the fertilizer rather prevented the corn from 

 coming up as evenly and well as where a less 

 quantity was applied ; and the large dose some- 

 what injured the young, delicate roots of the corn, 

 and considerably retarded its growth for several 

 weeks. 



The land had heretofore been plowed only 

 about four to five inches deep, and had been se- 

 verely taxed to that depth. Last November it 

 was broken up about twice as deep as ever be- 

 fore, which brought up four or five inches of soil 

 to cultivation that had never seen daylight, and 

 which seems to operate upon the corn like fresh 

 soil. The plowed land changed color very per- 

 ceptibly soon after it was turned up, and before 

 winter set in it was of a darker hue, by several 

 shades, than when first plowed. 



My walk next brought me to one of my own 

 corn-fields, which I have been observing pretty 

 closely all summer. The land was heavily ma- 

 nured this season, with fine rotten compost, 

 which was plowed under the turf, say about sev- 



