1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



521 



health and hilarity ring out in winter, it will con- 

 tinue to be New England. But when the little 

 farms of the snug farmers of a happy era have 

 been lost in the wild waste of a neglected hus- 

 bandry, and the multitude huddle into the little 

 villages, and despise farming, it will be Old Eng- 

 land then, with the objectionable features of that 

 land of starving workers and uneducated chil- 

 dren. 



Complain as men may of the sterility of the 

 soil of New England, it is the soil to be honored 

 and cultivated, and the soil to boast of, so long 

 as it bears an intelligent, industrious and virtu- 

 ous people ; but the land to be ashamed of, 

 when it shall cease to present its "little farms 

 well tilled," and its countless homes of intelligent 

 and fearless farmers. C. 



Eockland, R. I., 1858. 



COWIfBCTICUT KIVER VALLEY" FAIR. 



In another column, the reader may find an ac- 

 count of the late Cattle Show and Exhibition of 

 the Association with the above title. It was 

 written by Mrs. A. E. Porter, of Springfield, 

 Vt., — gives a delightful picture of the scene pre- 

 sented, and is made attractive by many graceful 

 and appropriate touches, which our poor pen 

 would have failed to impart had we been present. 



We are under greater obligations to Mrs. Por- 

 ter for the noble example to her sex, in attend- 

 ing a Farmer's Festival and inspecting objects 

 which ought to he interesting to every body, than 

 we are for the excellent account she has sent us. 

 What sort of associations has the biped been ac- 

 tomed to who said, "a Fair is no place for wo- 

 men !" Has not woman a common interest with 

 man in everything the soil produces to eat, drink 

 or wear ? Is it indelicate for her to look upon 

 the products of our fields and stalls, or to mani- 

 fest an interest in matters of the highest impor- 

 tance to the family ? In England, the wives of 

 the landlords and tenants, too, "ladies to the 

 manor born," mingle freely in all the affairs of 

 the farm, and are nearly as well acquainted with 

 the breeds of stock, loss and gain, fields, crops, 

 draining, &c. &c., as the landlord himself. It is 

 one of the leading causes why the occupation of 

 agriculture does not take a higher stand, that 

 women have not been more interested in it. 

 Women sustain everything that is good, have a 

 more just appreciation of the useful and beauti- 

 ful, than men, and by their influences keep them 

 from sinking into utter barbarism. 



How TO Examine Wells. — A method of ex- 

 amining wells to ascertain whether they contain 

 anything off"ensive has been recommended as be- 

 ing simple and yet efficient : 



"Place a common mirror over the well in such 

 a position as to catch and throw the rays of the 

 sun to the bottom of the well, which will be im- 

 mediately illuminated in such a manner, that the 

 smallest pebbles, &c., at the bottom can be dis- 



tinctly discerned, as if in the hand. The sun is 

 in the best situation to be reflected in the morn- 

 ing or afternoon of the day." 



ASHES. 

 There appears at present to be but one opin- 

 ion among practical men in relation to ashes 

 when applied as a stimulant to the soil, and that 

 is, that they are of great value. This is indeed 

 abundantly demonstrated by science, and no one 

 familiar with the developments of chemical sci- 

 ence, or with the obvious practical results pro- 

 duced by the ashes of vegetables, will, for a mo- 

 ment doubt their value as an application to most 

 soils and crops. All vegetables, without a sin- 

 gle exception, produce ashes upon incineration, 

 or burning. These ashes, however, difl'er in their 

 chemical constitution as well as in quality ; and 

 there are differences in the composition of the 

 ashes produced by the several parts, or members 

 of the same plant. To demonstrate this fact, the 

 able chemist, De Sausure, instituted a set of 

 very elaborate experiments upon the wheat 

 plant, straw and grain, and found the result to 

 be as follows : 



Of wheat straw. Of wheat grain. 

 100 parts ofas/ies contain — 



Carbonate of Potass 12.5 15. 



Phosphate of potass 5 32. 



Hydrochlorate of potass 3 0.16 



Sulphate of potass 2 



Earthy phosphates 6.2 44.50 



Earthy carbonates 1 



Silica (sand) 61.5 0.50. 



Metalic oxides, (iron) 1 0.25. 



Loss 7.8 7.59- 



All of these ingredients, both of the straw and 

 grain, are derived exclusively from the soil — from 

 terrene elements, and in order to render lands 

 fruitful in producing this crop, they must, where 

 they do not exist naturally, and in sufficient quan- 

 tity, be artificially supplied. They are the inor- 

 ganic constituents of plants. 



If we burn 7mmi(s, or the residuum of vegeta- 

 bles left after putrefaction, we shall find that: 

 many of the non-volatile, inorganic constituents 

 of the vegetable structure remain in the ashes, 

 for putrefaction is a sort of combustion, and so 

 far as the question under consideration is in- 

 volved, produces nearly identical results. The 

 ashes of wood and bark abound in these constit- 

 uents, and therefore are possessed of a specific 

 and easily ascertained value as a stimulant of 

 vegetable life. Every farmer must have wit- 

 nessed the highly beneficial effects M'hich they 

 produce on corn, beans, and the cereal grains, as 

 well as upon grass lands, and especially upon 

 pastures — upon turnips, cabbages, onions and 

 other esculent vegetables. 



They are also possessed of a very high value 

 as an ingredient in compost ; tending, by their 

 alkalescent action, to promote decay, and the 

 neutralization of acids in the mass to which they 

 are applied. 



