2d0 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



May 



and I advanced the same theory you advance 

 in your remarks, but the experiment tells me 

 that theory and practice do not always a2;ree. 



I also used Cumberland, Alta Vela, Brad- 

 ley's, Rhode's, Glasgow, E. F. Coe's, and A. 

 Coe's superphosphates at the rate of 14 poumls 

 to 140 hills. The increase was from 50 to 80 

 per cent. — each kind paying for itself at least 

 twice, and some three times. 



I can raise more corn from one dollar's 

 worth of good superphosphate than from the 

 best half cord of barnyard manure I ever saw\ 

 I would also say to Mr. Grow that I shall 

 plant four acres of corn this season and use 

 nothing but "special fertilizers" in the hill, 

 and shall expect to get from 45 to 50 bushels 

 good sound corn to the acre. 



The ground on which I tried the experi- 

 ment was an old bound out field which I lately 

 purchased, and has not had 15 loads of ma- 

 nure for the last 30 years. The end of it on 

 which I tried these experiments, gave on an 

 average 46 bushels to the acre. The other 

 end was manured with sheep manure at the 

 rate of 12 cords per acre, witfi night soil com- 

 post in the hill. This proved no better, al- 

 though any one seeing the corn before it was 

 harvested would have said that it was a third 

 better. 



The phosphated end required but two cul- 

 tivatings and one hoeing. The manured end 

 required two cultivatings and two hoeiogs. 

 jManure will make weeds grow as well as corn. 



Now I don't wii^h to be understood that I 

 ignore the use of barnyard manure ; on the 

 contrary I contrive every way to make and 

 save all I can. My cattle are stabled every 

 night through the year, and well bedded with 

 any thing I can obtain, such as leaves, loam, 

 dried muck, &c. It matters little what it is ; 

 anything to absorb the liquid. 



Af er my corn is off next fall, I shall cart 

 on the manure at the rate of 8 or 10 cords to 

 the acre and plow it in ; the next spring, cul- 

 tivate and sow with wheat, seeding to timothy 

 and clover. By this method I get better 

 wheat and better grass, and the land will hold 

 out longer, than by the old method of apply- 

 ing the manure to the corn crop and then 

 seeding down with v/heat. Slill this course is 

 well enough, if farmers will manure liberally 

 enough, but this is not apt to be the case 

 among many farmers. The quantity of the 

 manure is so small, or the quality so poor, 

 that the corn gets it all, and there is nothing 

 left for the wheat, and it proves a failure. 

 Whereas, if the corn had been raised with 

 some special fertilizer, and the same amount 

 of manure had been applied to the wheat, a 

 paying ciop would have been the result, and 

 the hay crop would be double. 



By adopting some such course as this, many 

 of the worn out farms might be brought to a 

 high state of cultiva'ion in a short time. The 

 wheat crop in New JIainpshire can be doubled 

 in three years, and there is no reason why a 



larger portion of New Hampshire farmers 

 should not raise their own wheat, and at a 

 handsome prrfit. S. C. Pattee. 



Warner, N. II., March, 1869. 



For the Kew England Farmer, 

 CULTIVATION OF THE tTKAWBEESY. 



Thinking that some 

 readers of the Far- 

 mer, like myself, 

 may be interested in 

 small fruit culture, 

 I venture to give my 

 experience, more 

 particularly with the 

 strawberry. I have 

 been engaged in the 

 small fruit culture 

 twelve years, and 

 claim that in New 

 England the busi- 

 ness is yet in its infancy, when compared with 

 New York, New Jersey or Pennsylvania. 



It is not my design to enter upon a treatise 

 on varieties, or their adaptation to particular 

 soils, but will confine myself to those kinds 

 which have best succeeded with me. I prefer 

 the following method of cultivation. Plant 

 three rows two feet apart, with the vines at 

 the same distance from each other in the row, 

 then leave a space of five feet, and so on, 

 leaving a space of five feet between each three 

 rows. On this plan the cultivator can be used, 

 saving much labor. It also leaves a space for 

 the pickers. After picking, apply a dressing 

 to the paths, cultivate it in, and they will soon 

 be covered v;ith vines. Then break up two 

 feet in width of the middle of your three rows 

 for the pickers next season. By this mode of 

 culture runners will need but little cutting. 

 For this style of culture I should select Down- 

 er's, Wilson's, Large Early Scarlet, and Agri- 

 culturist. 



For high, warm soils, and for what is usu- 

 ally called hill culture, the plants are set one 

 foot apart in the row, and the rows at such 

 distance that the cultivator can be run between 

 them. Plants are not allowed between the rows. 

 If a few of the best plants are saved between 

 the hills for fruiting, it soon becomes row cul- 

 ture For this mode of culture I should select 

 Agriculturist, Wilson's, Cutter's Seedling and 

 Russell's for high ground ; Triomphe de 

 Gand and Jucunda for lower land. 



Select a piece of land which has been planted 

 the year previous. After ploughing, give it a 

 good dressing of stable manure — or muck that 

 you are sure is good will do, — and cultivate it 

 m. Stable manure for this purpose should be 

 well decomposed, as no raw material directly 

 applied to your strawberries will pay fjr itself 

 except as a top dressing in the fall or winter. 

 It is ofcen remarked the more manure the more 

 fruit ; but in some cases 1 find the more ma- 

 nure the more vines. 1 have grown 750 boxes 



\ 



