Vol. X.— No. 24. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



18U 



I iloiilit H'lieilier it will ev.i- be found osseiitinlly 

 nocKt^saiy, wliere the Fleiiiisli ino.Je of iiiaminii>! | 

 l.otli phntifuUi) iin,\ jadkiouslij, is .luly practised. | 

 Uiidei- our coimn.ui mode of ciiliivation, a tanner i 

 U tlinUj^ht to incur a certain hazard of failure i 

 who veniures upon two cro|(s of Indian corn, in | 

 succession. This is generally true. But fur this ' 

 defect in our staple crop, although an exhausiing 

 one, good farmers will tind a reuieily. It may he 

 raised lo any extent wliere the land is judiciously 

 renovated. The evidence is at hand. The plat of 

 ground in this neighhorliood, lately owned by Ma- 

 jor Healy, and now, hy Samuel M. Bin-nside, Esq. 

 lias to mv knowledge, borne corn for more than 

 forty years in succession, wiihout perceptible 

 diminution. Some years since, I had the curiosity 

 to examine an extraordinary field of rye 

 in Berlin, (Conn.) This was a solitary inclo- 

 sure, at a distance from any cultivated farm. It 

 was waving with a luxuriant crop. I was informed 

 by the Clergyman of the town, who accompanied 

 me, that this grain had been raised in tliis field, 

 witliont intermission, lor upwards of thirty years ; 

 and that by calculation, the straw, cl.iscly packed, 

 would he more than sufficient to fill the inclosure 

 to the height of the wall. These are important 

 facts for the contemplation of the agriculturist, 

 allhougli for general use, a cliange of crops, if not 

 a rotation, may be found the best mode of culti- 

 vating his ground. 



Flemish husbandry suggests another principle, 

 which I apprehend, is too little regarded by the 

 Iiractical farmer. It is this — the importance of 

 more exclusively confmming the cultivation of a 

 farm to the productions which, under a good slate 

 of improvement, and in a marketable region, are 

 best adapted to the soil. The spirit of indepen- 

 dence, in a farmer, may work the same evils in 

 Lis own economy, as are felt by a nation pertinn- 

 ciously determined to supply every wafit from her 

 resources. In both cases, sound wi.'^l^i and true 

 policy would direct to an interchange of surplus 

 commodities, for such as are required, and which 

 might be obtained for less labor ami expense. 

 The farmer, whose land is most adapted to the 

 cultivation of grass, could economically barter 

 the excess with his neighbor, for his surplus of 

 grain. This discriminating mode of cultivation 

 will be more important when a market is found 

 for all the various productions of a firm. 



On this head it may be seasonable to reninrk, 

 that it will be found unprofilable, if not impracti- 

 cable, to force a crop against the naiinal impedi- 

 ments of the soil. A recent experiment in the 

 production of Aemp will best illustrate my position. 

 Alluvial ground, necessarily mellow, and rich, and 

 free from weeds, is best adapted for its successful 

 cultivation. This soil, thus prepared, is the valui 

 able appendage of but too few of our farms. So 

 rare is this prerequisite, and so worthless the 

 crops without it, that the expense of the labor t.f 

 the machinery, and other necessary means for 

 preparing the article for market, operating upon 

 so liiniteil a scale, must necessarily impose an 

 interdiction to its culture. Thu experiment is 

 hi<rhly commendable, and it is fortunate for the 

 community, in view of the standing of some wlio 

 have adventured in the project, that its failure has 

 tested the firmness of their nerves, rather than 

 the strength of their heinp. 



But 1 hav« lingered sa long in this enchanting 

 region of Flemish husbandry, prolific in theme 

 and digression — in displaying the blossoms, and 



depicting the fruils, which have been reared, and 

 since transplanted as exotics, lo other climes, tliat 

 but little leisure remains for ihe inquiry, how they 

 have flourished. The residue of our progress 

 must necessarily be more hasty and concise. 



[To be r.nnliiiuoil ii«Jt wppk.] 



FroJii tlie New York Farmer. 



PUMPKIN BREAD. 



Mr Flf,et — Sir — As you have in some of your 

 former numbers furnished us with directions fin- 

 making Rice Bread, Vuni Puddin?, &c, I pre- 

 sume you will not take it amiss if I call the atten- 

 tion of your readers to the value of the Pumpkin. 

 I presume there is not a vegetable on the fai;e of 

 earth, more easily raised, or thai is more produc- 

 tive ; when it is considered that they will grow 

 auiimg corn, potatoes, or on any waste ground, 

 and that the seed of one pumpkin will produce 

 cart loads of fruit. 



In the fall of 1829, I obtained the seed ofavery 

 superior [lumpkin, part of which I planted the lat- 

 ter end of June following, on ground that I had 

 raised two early crops of vegetables froin, and 

 comparatively of little value to me at that season 

 of the year. I began to gather some of the fruit 

 in October; it being extraordinary fine, I was 

 anxious to save every grain of the seed, but the 

 difticulty was how to dispose of the flesii or fruil. 

 The common method of making it up into pies, 

 woiihl have been troublesome and expensive, and 

 1 thought them to good too feed swine with. I first 

 gave some lo my friends, on condition that they 

 would save the seed, hut they did not use them 

 up fast enough ; at length my wife tried experi- 

 ments to work them up into Bread, Cakes, Pies, 

 Puddings, &c, and it was not long before we dis- 

 covered that they could be used so as to answer 

 every purpose as Indian Meal, and that our family 

 and friends considerea li preltralile lu anytliing 

 of the kind made in the ordinary way. 



The pumpkin is first deprived of the rind, and 

 jflerwards cut up in slices and boiled ; when soft 

 mougb it is strained in a colander, and mashed 

 ip very fine ; in this state it may be used up into 

 • lies, or mixed with flour for jnidding, cake, &c. 

 If it be intended for bread, it may be made up with 

 wlieaten flour in the pioporlion of one third to 

 half. The sponge must be first set in the ordina- 

 ry way with yest in the flour, and the pumpkin 

 worked in as it begins to rise. My wile's rule is, 

 to use as much pumpkins as will bring the dough 

 lo a a proper degree of stiffness without water. 

 Care should be taken ihat the pumpkin is not too 

 hot to scald the leaven. It requires more baking 

 than bread made entirely of wheal. I am aware 

 that pumpkin bread is nothing new, lint I am in- 

 formed that farmers in the country use Indian 

 meal with iheir pumpkins instead of wlieaten flour, 

 which niLkes it more like pudding than bread. 

 Those farmers that are in the habit of making 

 iheir bread with wheat and Indian, may find a 

 market for their meal more easily than for pump- 

 kins, and if they use these up into bread precisely 

 in the same manner as they do their meal, I am 

 persuadeil they will find it very wholesome and 

 palatable bread. Yours, respectfully, 



T. Bridgeman. 

 JVeio York,JVov. 21, 1831. 



Remarks. — We have eaten of Mr B.'s pumpkin 

 bread, and find it very pleasant and superior.— £rf. 

 4m, Far. 



PLYMOUTH a<;ricultoral society. 



At the lale auiiu;il meeting of the Plymouth 

 Couniy Agricultural Society, Mass. 



T/te coiniiiiUee on farm produce, reported: — 



That Abner Washburn 2d, of Bri.lgewater, is 

 entitled lo the premium offered fiir the best crop 

 of English hay, having raised 8219 1-2 lbs. of 

 well made hay on one acre of Jaiid ; there being 

 5862 1-2 lbs. of the fiist crop, and 3036 lbs. of 

 the second crop. Premium $10. 



He also raised on another acre in the same lot 

 7192 lbs. well made. 



Thai James L. Otis of Scituate, is entitled to 

 the first premium for the best crop of Rye on one 

 acre ; having raised 53 1-2 bushels on one acre 

 and 39 rods of land, which is a fraction over 43 

 bushels to the acre, • $8 00 



That Daniel Goddard of Plymonlh is entitled 

 to the 2d premium for rye having raised 43 bush- 

 els on one acre and 7 rods of land, $6 00 



Fhat Salmon Copeland of West Bridgewater ia 

 entitled to the premium off"ered for the greatest 

 quantity of potatoes raised on bis farm 1047 

 bushels, $10 00 



Also 10 the pteiniiim for the best crop of the 

 same article on one acre of land, having so rais- 

 ed 573 bushels, -$3 00 



That Thaddeus Howard of W. Bridgewater, 

 is entitled to the premium oflTered for the greatest 

 quantity of corn on one acre, having so raised 

 109 bush, and 7 lbs. $10 00 



Drying Peaches. — In a former number of the 

 Farmer, we recommended drying peaches with 

 the skins on, in order to preserve their flavor. 

 We are pleased to finil our advice supported by 

 the fidlowing useful hints from the Southern Ag- 

 riculturist. — Etl. JV. Y. Farmer. 



Two years ngo, this coming peach time, I made 

 an experiment on a small scale in drying peaches 

 witli the skin or paring on, and succeeded better 

 than I expected. I took the kind called open 

 stone, perfectly matured but not loo soft, and after 

 rubbing all Ihe scurf or down off with a coarse 

 wet cloth, divided each into halves, filled the 

 cavities with sugar, placed them skin down on a 

 portable scatfuld (which is to facilitate their remo- 

 val to anil from their drying place without hand- 

 ling the fruit): by this method the pores are so 

 closed hy the skin on one side, and sugar on the 

 other, that the delicious flavor of the peach is 

 retaineil in a much greater degree than in the 

 common way. Could drying houses, with all the 

 necessary apparatus, be established, there is no cal- 

 culating the quantity of that kind of fruit which 

 might be dried, and that, too, of a superior qual- 

 ity as respects delicacy and flavor. Proper atten- 

 tion paid to this subject, might make dried peach- 

 es as lucrative an article of commerce to our 

 country as figs to Turkey, or raisins to Spain. 



Alahama Hemp Growers and Manufac hirers — 

 It is said that some planters in the vicinity of 

 Huntsville, Alabama, are turning their attention 

 to the cultivation of Hemp, and the manufacture 

 of Cotton Bagging and Bale Rope. So far, their 

 prospects are said to be very encouraging, nettmg 

 them a much greater profit than the growing of 

 Cotton had heretofore done^ 



Snow fell at Lexington, Kentucky, on the 301h ult to 

 the depth of two or three inches, ami there was another 

 snow storai ..n the 4th instant. Th- thermometer fell to 

 4 degrees on the 6th. These facts show that the cold ot 

 that region is not much inferior to that of this vicuuty. 



