1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



557 



ticed in the columns of the Farmer. The advo- 

 cates of thorough draining may share the sur- 

 prise expressed by the Atlantic writer, that tile 

 "for sale every where" should fail to check the pro- 

 cess of depopulation that our agricultural towns 

 are undergoing, but I do not. A life in a four- 

 foot ditch, or a life in the "social centres !" How 

 long will Young America balance this alternative ? 

 Practical faith in the necessity of thorough drain- 

 ing of our old farms in New England would, in 

 my opinion, depopulate this portion of the coun- 

 try. It would "start the boots" — boots that would 

 never "forget where they had been," after once 

 standing in a ditch four feet deep — of every far- 

 mer's son, and give him an excuse for leaving the 

 old homestead, that few of the advocates of drain- 

 ing would meet by placing their sons in his place. 



Indeed, I do frankly confess that every plan 

 for draining which I see in the papers, and every 

 tile that is exposed for sale "everywhere," give 

 me the horrors. In imagination, I see these tile 

 discharging a stream of young men from our 

 farms out of all proportion to their capacity for 

 conveying water. s. F. 



Winchester, Oct., 1858. 



MUCK AND PLAIN LANDS— MOWING 



MACHINES. &c. 



In a recent letter from Lancaster, Mass., in 

 which we spoke of Dea. Chas. Humphrey's farm, 

 a mere allusion was made to several matters 

 which are worthy of more extended notice. 



A portion of his lands lie on the banks of the 

 Nashua river, are free from stone, and very pro- 

 ductive. On these his corn and oats each aver- 

 age fifty bushels per acre, and rye thirty bushels. 

 He cuts 80 to 90 tons of hay, and this year har- 

 vests about 400 bushels of corn and 300 of oats. 



On one extreme edge of his farm, Mr. H. has 

 a track of pine plain land of the very poorest 

 quality ; it has been cropt with rye and buck- 

 wheat from a time "whereof the memory of man 

 runneth not to the contrary," and without a par- 

 ticle of manure having been applied to it within 

 his recollection. Failing to find a purchaser of 

 this land, though offered at the low sum oi Jive 

 dollars an acre, he resolved to experiment upon 

 it with swamp muck, and learn whether it could 

 be brought into a fit condition for cultivation, at 

 a paying cost. As is quite often the case, at the 

 base of the plain, beds of muck were deposited 

 in large quantities, and in this instance, of an 

 excellent kind. This was hauled to the plain and 

 deposited in heaps, and to e\ cry fourteen loads 

 of muck, one load of manure from the cattle 

 stalls was mingled with it, but not until the muck 

 had become seasoned by exposure to the air and 

 frosts. The manure was thoroughly incorporated 

 with the muck by repeated plowing, so that the 

 •whole mass was in a finely pulverized condition 

 •when applied to the land. Under this treatment, 

 •we saw portions of the land covered with corn, 

 potatoes, carrots, mangolds, turnips, beans and 



apple trees. Where the dressing was spread 

 broadcast the trees appeared healthy, and the fo- 

 liage large and of good color ; but in one or two 

 rows, where the muck had been liberally applied 

 directly to the spot where the tree was set, sev- 

 eral of the trees had died. The crop of carrots, 

 mangolds and turnips, was very fine — the roots 

 being large, and clear with few fibres. The po- 

 tato crop was not so good as the root crops, but 

 better than an average crop on old land. The 

 bean vines were remarkably luxuriant, and had 

 set for a great crop, but being planted very late, 

 the frost had ruined them. The corn crop was 

 light — not more than 15 to 20 bushels an acre, — 

 but where the muck compost had been applied 

 two years it was estimated that the crop was ten 

 bushels more than where it had been applied on- 

 ly one year. This fact, we think, shows the per- 

 manent effect of muck as a fertilizer. The oat 

 crop on this land yielded sixteen bushels per acre, 

 of good quality. In consequence of the cheap- 

 ness of manuring, and the ease with which this 

 land is cultivated, there can be no doubt, we think, 

 but the net profits of the crops raised on this 

 land, are as great as those on the best lands of 

 the farm. 



Dea. Humphrey is fortunate in possessing 

 quantities of muck of a good quality, lying near 

 the spot where it is to be applied. This is not 

 always the case, and, therefore, great care must 

 be used in the selection of muck. AVe rarely 

 meet a farmer who seems to us to duly appreci- 

 ate the value of muck as a fertilizer, and who 

 avails himself of all the advantages which it of- 

 fers. But it is not so in this case, as muck en- 

 ters into all his arrangements for manuring and 

 improving his heaps of manure. One or two ox- 

 loads are distributed over the leanto floors, be- 

 hind the cattle, every working day, and the suc- 

 ceeding day thrown Into a long shed where the 

 swine run, and from thence is carted to the fields. 

 But to make it certain that there shall be no loss, 

 the "floors are tight, a little descending towards 

 one end where a tank is sunk which receives 

 whatever liquids are not absorbed by the muck. 

 This is diluted by rain-water from the roofs, and 

 then sprinkled on grass land. 



Dea. Humphrey is a man of progress, and 

 avails himself of all the helps that come within 

 his means in order to facilitate the business in 

 which he is engaged. So, as a matter of course, 

 he was among the first to use a mowing machine. 

 One that we saw in his barn, Ketchum's Patent, 

 he had used four years, with a cost of less than 

 one dollar for repairs. He informed us that the 

 machine had been managed by an Irishman who 

 had cut, as a general rule, one acre an hour, but 

 when more was needed, it was not found difficult 

 to cut at the rate of an acre in forty minutes. 



