1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



555 



herds of horses, sheep and cattle of the most se- 

 lect stock, and the culture of fruit and grain on 

 a grand scale. 



The following beautiful Ode was written by John Whittier for 

 the Agricultural and Horticultural Exhibition at Amesbury. 



This day, two hundred years ago, 



The wild grape by the river's side, 

 And tasteless ground-nut trailing low, 



The table of the wood supplied. 



Unknown the apple's red and gold, 

 The blushing tint of peach and pear ; 



The mirror of the Powow told 

 No tale of orchards ripe and rare. 



Wild as the fruits he scorned to till, 



These vales the idle Indian trod ; 

 Nor knew the glad, creative skill. 



The joy of him who toils with God. 



O, painter of the fruits and flowers ! 



We thank Thee for Thy wise design 

 Whereby these human hands of ours 



In Nature's garden work with Thine. 



And thanks, that from our daily need 



The joy of simple faith is born ; 

 That he who smites the summer weed. 



May trust Thee for the autumn corn. 



Give fools their gold and knaves their power, 

 I^t fortune's bubbles rise and fall ; 



Who sows a field, or trains a flower, 

 Or plants a tree, is more than all. 



For he who blesses most is blest ; 



And God and man shall own lis worth 

 Who toils to leave as his bequest 



An added beauty to the earth. 



And, sooner late, to a,ll that sow 

 The time of harvest shall be given ; 



The flower shall bloom, the fruit shall grow. 

 If not on earth, at last in heaven ! 



INDIAK" CORK". 



Two Hundred Bushels per Acre. — It has 

 been published — and so far as we can see, duly 

 certified — that Dr. J. W. Parker, of Columbia, S. 

 C, grew, in 1857, upon his farm near that town, 

 200 bushels and 12 quarts upon one measured 

 acre of ground, and 116 bushels and 6 quarts upon 

 another acre. In the report to the State Agricul- 

 tural Society, Dr. Parker states that the seed se- 

 lected for planting was from North Carolina, and 

 denominated "Bale Mountain Corn." After soak- 

 ing it during the night in a strong solution of 

 nitre, it was planted from eight to twelve inches 

 distance in the row, covered with hoes, and the 

 ground rolled, leaving it perfectly level. The 

 land was the border of a small creek, under- 

 drained, and prepared by plowing in November, 

 and manured in December with twenty-five two- 

 horse loads of cow-house manure, plowed in and 

 followed by a subsoil plow drawn by two mules. 

 About the first of March another coat of good 

 stable and cow manure was spread and plowed in 

 as the first. Early in April, three cart loads of 

 air-slacked lime and two sacks of salt were spread 

 over each acre and lightly plowed under. On the 

 14th of May the ground was thoroughly plowed 

 with Glaze's large iron plow, harrowed level and 

 laid ofT.thirty inches apart with a shovel plow. 

 Guano and plaster were sprinkled in the furrows, 



near 200 pounds of the former and 300 pounds of 

 the latter to each acre. 



On the 14th of May the corn was plowed with 

 a long, very narrow plow, and dressed over with 

 hoes. On the 5th and 17th of June the same 

 work was repeated, each time leaving the ground 

 level. About the first of July it was necessary to 

 draw a ridge about the roots of the corn to pre- 

 vent its falling. During a protracted drought, acre 

 No. 1 was twice irrigated and acre No. 2 had the 

 water turned on it once. 



The yield of acre No. 1, as before stated, ex- 

 ceeded 200 bushels. No. 2 was part of it replant- 

 ed, which the Committee say prevented the yield 

 being as large as the other. 



True, this crop cost labor and manure, but does 

 it not pay better than the tens of thousands of 

 acres that do not yield ten bushels per acre, for 

 such are as common as blackberries all over the 

 Southern States. The land used being "sandhill 

 brushland," required the high manuring, as it is 

 not naturally fertile enough to produce such crops. 

 The secret, however, is in the underdraining, the 

 frequent plowing and subsoiiing and irrigation. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "FALL TBANSPLANTIUG." 



Your correspondent for October, under the 

 above caption, speaks of his ill success in trans- 

 planting asparagus. Allow me to state an ex- 

 perience of the opposite kind. Two years ago 

 this month I sowed some asparagus seed which 

 in the following spring came up very well. The 

 bed, however, not being made to my liking, I re- 

 moved the finest of the plants — say a hundred — 

 to a new bed which had been prepared by deep 

 digging and rich manuring. This was done last 

 October, and of the one hundred plants, ninety- 

 nine of them lived and have grown luxuriantly 

 during the past season. 



AVith regard to raspberries, my experience has 

 been that they may be transplanted at any time. 

 I have transplanted Fastolfs, every week since last 

 June, and shall put out a few mor-e some time 

 this month to fill out imperfect rows — all of 

 which I expect to see flourishing next spring. 



Ware, Mass., Oct. 1th. h. 



Give the Plow and the Hoe no Rest. 



1. In order to prevent the growth of weeds, 



2. To insure needed moisture through the de- 

 position of a greater amount of dew, upon which 

 plants so largely depend — softening the earth, so 

 that the moisture that condenses upon the sur- 

 face may penetrate more deeply, and rendering 

 it more porous for the easier passage of the at- 

 mosphere, for condensation in the cooler soil 

 below. 



3. To secure a greater absorption of ammonia. 



4. To aid in the decomposition of minerals 

 whose elements are food of plants. 



^^ Spiders have four paps for spinning their 

 threads, each pap having one thousand holes, and 

 the fine web itself the union of four thousand 

 threads. No spider spins more than four webs, 

 and when the fourth is destroyed, they seize on 

 the Avebs of others. 



