1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



15 



LETTER FROM THE FARM. 



Concord, Nov. 27, 1SG8. 

 The Season and Crops generally — New Milch Cows — 

 Other Stock -Farm Improvem»nts — Apples, Cider 

 and Vinegar. 



EKTLEMEX : — Thcrc are few 

 things relating to the opera- 

 tions on the farm that strike me 

 more singularly than the peculiar- 

 ity of the seasons with regard to 

 the crops. For instance, on land 

 where I raised a crop of parsnips 

 ten years a^o, that was fairly estimated atSUO 

 bushels per acre, the crop this year would not 

 be 400 bushels. In the intervening years the 

 land has always been highly manured, every 

 crop carefully tended, and not cultivated with 

 parsnips. The roots ten years ago were white, 

 very free from fibrous roots, and so long that 

 the man who dug them, said "he could dig 

 post holes just about as fa^t !" They were 

 brittle and very sv/eet. This year they were 

 deficient in quantity, short, "scraggy," tough, 

 and lacked that delicious flavor which a good 

 parsnip possesses. The same remarks are 

 equally applicable to the beet crop. 



Cabbage and cauliflower were club-footed 

 on the same soil, and under the same treat- 

 ment, where abundant crops bad been pro- 

 duced before. A patch containing 100 cauli- 

 flower plants grew finely until they began to 

 head, and then seemed to remain stationary. 

 Upon examination, every one of them was 

 found to be club-footed, and the whole were 

 plucked up and^fed to cows. The club was 

 not a solid mass, but made up of numerous 

 white bunches from the size of peas to that of 

 half a hen's egg. The carrot crop was little 

 better than that of parsnips or beets. 



On the other hand, pole beans have run as 

 though they expected to win the race at an 

 agricultural fair, and seemed very loth to stop 

 when frost and snow had whitened theui. In 

 some former years, no power of manure, 

 bright suns and timely rains, would induce 

 them to run up the poles. Even if carefully 

 v/ound around the poles in the manner in 

 which they are disposed to go, and tenderly 

 tied up with strings, they would utterly refuse 

 to go-ahead, and untwist themselves and hang 

 down their heads like a lout of a boy who has 

 been detected in throwing paper pellets into 

 the faces of the girls across the school-room 

 desks ! They would not run, and did not pro- 



duce, so that the dinner-pot was rarely brought 

 into use to prepare that delicious dish, — green 

 shelled beans, delightfully seasoned with a 

 slice of sweet, salted pork ! 



The careful observer will notice these pecu- 

 liarities in the crops of the farm — but partic- 

 ularly in the garden crops — every season. 

 They are puzzling to me. I have watched 

 them for many years with all my powei'l of 

 examination and observation, and yet feel my- 

 self unable to account for them. Who will 

 tell us what peculiar conditions of the earth or 

 atmosphere cause these singular phenomena ? 

 When will the wise men of the State Board 

 of Agriculture, or the learned ones of the 

 AgricAiltural College, unravel these mysteries, 

 so that our tables shall abound in cauliflower 

 and cabbage, beets, beans and parsnips, with 

 some degree of certainty, each succeeding 

 year ? 



The crops, generally, the past season, were 

 good. Owing to cold and wet weather at the 

 usual planting time, they were got into the 

 ground late. A large proportion of the Indian 

 corn was not planted until the first week in 

 June, and much of it not until the second, ^he 

 weather continued quite unfavorable for some 

 weeks after that period, so that the prospects 

 of a corn crop were not at all flattering. Then 

 came the unparalleled hot season of middle 

 July, which not only revived the corn, but 

 brought new hopes to the mind of the planter. 

 Indeed, without this hot season, there would 

 probably have been but few fields of sound 

 corn in all this region. It brought it forward 

 with a rapidity such as was never observed be- 

 fore, and heated the soil so much as to keep 

 the crop going forward when the atmospheric 

 conditions were unfavorable. The result has 

 been a fair average, at least, of all the lead- 

 ing crops. In two or three neighboring States, 

 waere I have made brief visits during the au- 

 tumn, I find the same results. There, as well 

 as here, the statement is common that, up to 

 the 4th of July, the prospect of an average 

 corn crop was altogether discouraging. 



From the abundance of the crops some singu- 

 lar changes have taken place in regard to the 

 prices of stock. New milch cows are in unu- 

 sual demand, and bring prices varying from $40 

 to $125. Scarcely any cow that would come 

 under the term of good, sells for less than 

 $50, while most of them bring nearer $100 



