1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



49 



also contains large quantities of nitrogen, and 

 acts with much energy in hastening the growth 

 of plants. The effect of fish manure upon 

 soils is supposed to be more permanent than 

 that of most other special fertilizers. Sir H. 

 Davy states that the effects of pilchards, — a 

 very oily fish — are apparent for several years, 

 after being mingled with the soil. 



We hope our correspondent will enter judi- 

 ciously into the preparation of fish guano, 

 make a pure article, sell it at a fair profit and 

 tell the world precisely what he is selling. 

 Farmers have been so grossly deceived in the 

 purchase of special fertilizers, that they have 

 become exceedingly distrustful of everything 

 that bears the name, and often sacrifice their 

 interest rather than purchase and run the risk 

 of being cheated. 



There is no doubt but that any quantity that 

 can be produced, of a good article, will find a 

 ready demand in the New England States, if 

 sold at a fair profit to the manufacturer. 



For the Xew England Farmer. 



A VISIT IN" SUNCOOK VALLEY, W. H. 



I recently had 'the pleasure of a visit with 

 some of the farmers of this section. From 

 Concord to Pitt^fieId I rode in the stage, and 

 passed much land that is almost worthless for 

 farming purposes. These are sand}' pine 

 plains and rough stony land. Thrifty growths 

 of white birch, oak, pine, chestnut, &c., are 

 growing on land that had once been cleared ; 

 when the settlers seemed in doubt whether to 

 hold on to their clearings or let them go back 

 to wood land. I saw some good farms in the 

 Suncook valley, about Pittsiield, Barnstead 

 and Epsom, and also on the hills. 



Value and use of Forests here and in Ver- 

 mont. 



Everywhere there was plenty of wood land 

 in sight, and it Avas highly valued. I walked 

 tlftough a fifty acre wood lot on one farm, 

 where the land had been cleared and grain was 

 raised less than forty years ago. The stone- 

 heaps of the old cultivation were visible, yet 

 the owner had cut on about one-third of an 

 acre, fifteen cords of wood, that he sold in 

 Concord for $125, (from $8 to $9 per cord.) 

 This whole lot would yield $10U in marketa- 

 ble wood per acre, and also enough more to 

 pay expense of cutting and marketnig. There 

 were several pine trees worth $-o each. This 

 wood lot was part of a two- hundred- acre 

 farm tilled by Albion Locke, Esq. The whole 

 farm is valued at about SoOOO, just about the 

 value of that piece of timber, although it has 

 good fields and pastures and a good house and 

 barn. But in some of the northern counties 



of Vermont, remote from large villages, the 

 value of woodland is very different from what 

 it is in this section. In Orleans County, Vt., 

 good farming land can be bought for five dol- 

 lars per acre, in some localities, covered with 

 a good growth of large trees of maple, beach, 

 birch, spruce and hemlock, but no pine. 

 There is a limited demand for wood at $;3 per 

 cord. Last winter an energetic man with 120 

 acres of wood tried to raise some money by 

 drawing 100 cord* to the village, three miles 

 off. He paid one dollar a cord for chopping, 

 and hired a man to draw it. Including board 

 of man and team, he found that he should 

 have done better by $25 if he had let the 

 wood stand. Hence it is evident that wood 

 land cannot be cleared in that way, at a profit, 

 and if it is left standing it is starvation to the 

 owner of a new farm, as corn and wood do not 

 thrive together. However wasteful it may 

 seem to those in older sections, the true way 

 to make a farm in the wilderness is to burn 

 the wood and clear the land by fire, speedily 

 and thoroughly. This done, the crops each 

 year will pay a profit. Thus, while the man 

 who loves his wood land is living in poverty, 

 the one that cleai's his land is surrounded by 

 comforts that his fertile acres annually yield. 

 The idea that timber affects climate favorably, 

 is in some degree erroneous. It will surely 

 break the force of winds and cause them to 

 move perhaps a hundred feet above the surface, 

 rather than upon the ground. A belt of tim- 

 ber will protect from winds, but the tempera- 

 ture falls as low and storms come as often as 

 upon exposed highlands. My cattle seem to 

 think the south side of my barn the warmest^ 

 yet the many barns that have been built have 

 not turned winter to summer, nor changed the 

 climate materially It makes a very pretty 

 sentence to weave in with a glorification of the 

 steam engine anticipations of the time when 

 our acres of wood will be wanted at high pri- 

 ces, but such enthusiastic predictions do not 

 give food to man or beast ; nor do railroads, 

 as yet, transport wood from the land of plenty 

 to the land of scarcity, at a rate so low as to 

 give a great margin for profit. Three dollars' 

 worth of wood will weigh two tons, while the 

 same value of butter or wool is trifling. 



Preparation of Land for Corn — Oiling Cart 

 "Wheels. 



Mr. Locke was preparing his corn land for 

 next spring. He plows a piece of grass land, 

 and on the furrows spreads the manure made 

 by his cattle during the last winter and sum- 

 mer, which is stored in a good barn cellar. 

 This manure is harrowed in in the fall, and 

 then in the spring is harrowed mellow, and 

 the corn planted. The manure being so fully 

 incorporated with the soil, produces the best 

 results. The next crop will be wheat, with 

 which grass seed is sown. 



The cart used by Mr. L. is peculiar in one 

 respect, which is worthy of notice. In each 



