214 



NfiW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Jan. 18, 1832. 



Boston, Wednesday Evening, Jan. 18, 1832. 



QUARTERLY REVIEW. 



Lilly & Wait have this day le-pubUshed the 

 Quarterly Review, No. 9^, whicli is filled witli 

 elaborate articles on the following subjects : — 

 Croker's edition of Boswell's Life of Johnson — 

 Archbishop of Dublin's Lectures on Political Eco- 

 nomy — Royal Geographical Society — Jones on the 

 Distribution of Wealth and Sources of Taxation — 

 Jlonk's Life of Doct. Beutley — Papers relative to 

 East Indian Spasmodic Chokra — Moore's Life of 

 Lord Fitzgerald — Directions in Case of Pestilence 

 — Reform Question. Repubhshed (luaiterly at 

 Boston, at l*5 per annum. 



Extract of a letter from a correspondent in Mancliester, England 

 dated Nov. S3, 1831, to the Publisher of the New England Faimer! 



' I have lately had the pleasure of attending 

 Scotson's Great Sale of Improved Short Horn 

 Live Stock at auction, near Liverpool, wliich was 

 attended by fanners of every grade lioin Earls, 

 downward, and dressed in every fashion I ever 

 recollect to have seen. A great entertainment was 

 given, in which true old English bos|>itality was 

 exhibited in a favorable manner. I herewith 

 transmit you a catalogue, with the prices brought 

 by each animal. Tlie ])rices of Cows ranged from 

 £10 to £20 sterling each ; two years old Heifers 

 from 9 to £27 ; Yearling Heifers from 5 to £11, 

 and one for £22 ; Heifer Calves from £4 10s. to 

 £6 10s. ; Bull Calves from 10 to £20 ; Bulls from 

 11 to £15 — and one tine animal) " Young Magnum 

 Bonuin," roan color, 2 years and 5 months old, by 

 Heber, dam by Brampton, for £^7 ; Steers from 9 

 to £15, and one very large beef steer, red and 

 wlxite, 3 years old, for £50. Th^re were eighty 

 anunals sold, as you will perceive by the cata- 

 logue, which you will keep, as it may.be of inter- 

 est to breeders of cattle.' 



Extract of a letter from a corrospnnde* in G:ilway, N. Y. to the Edi- 

 tor of the New England Farmer. 



' Permit me just to say incidentally, that a Town 

 Agricultural Society has been recently organized 

 in this place, and that hopes are entertained by 

 numbers of our best cultivators, that if they can 

 bring their operations fairly into com parison, with 



those of their brethren in vai-ious se 

 country, they shall not suffer dt:e|)ly 

 trast. In the construction jind use of 



they expect to beai" away ihe i.alm — tnd jx'rhaps 

 will contend stoutly for the ci-'tlit if pi-oducina 

 the greate.st amount of proiit in tiie ( uUivation of 

 a few of the leading crops — such as ci ru, potatoesj 

 flax, &c.' 



tions of the 

 by the co 

 the ])loiigl 



convenience. For three years past all my shoes, 

 even of calf skin, have been so served ; and have 

 in no instance admitted water to pass through the 

 leather. 



METHOD OF MAKING LEATHER IMPER 

 VIOUS TO WATKIJ. 



Mr Fessende.v — The following mtood of pre- 

 serving boots tight agauist water, niiy be rflied 

 on as infallible, as I know from eight years' expe- 

 rience. It is used almost nniversaJly l)y New 

 England fishermen, and has been for more than 

 one hundred yeais. 



A pint of boiled linseed oil, half a pound of 

 mutton-suet, six ounoes of clean bees-wax, and four 

 ounces of rosin, are melted and well mixed over a 

 fire. Of this, while warm, not so hot as may burn 

 the leather, with a brush, lay jjlentifully on new 

 boots or slioes, when they are quite dry and clean. 

 The leather is left pliant. Fisiiennen stand in 

 their boots in water, hour after hour, without in- 



From the New Yort Farmer. 



ON THE CHOICE OF SUITABLE LAND 

 FOR FARMING. 



Ma Fleet — The remark will, at first view, 

 strike most persons as a kind of contradiction in 

 terms, that the very richest land is not that on 

 which farmers liave the best success, and yet notli- 

 ing is more certain. The first quality of landiis 

 generally considered to be river alluvion ; next |to 

 this, the richest upland, such as a fat and tenk- 

 cious loam ; then a sandy loam, or sand and clay ; 

 and finally a dry gravel. Of all these descriptions 

 of soil, 1st, 2d, 3d and 4th, the last is that pn 

 which we generally find the best farmers, not onjy, 

 but the most successful farming. I have traverspd 

 most parts of the United States, from Maine to 

 North Carolina, and between the great westtrn 

 Lakes and the Atlantic, and have evenwhfre 

 seen proof of the correctness of these remarks.— 

 The first choice of land in the settlement of evcfy 

 new country, talcing the qualities as designatid 

 above, is always in the numerical order, as tb^ 

 stand ; and the 4th, after some 20 to 60 years, 

 always becomes, except in some very rare cas^s 

 of river alluvion, the first, and the whole order is 

 reversed ! Tliere may be particular exceptions, 

 hut as a general remark, the above observations 

 will be found, on the strictest examination,, to ute 

 sanctioned by general facts. Such was the cas^ 

 in the early history of the settlement of this contiJ, 

 nent, such it has been, in every part of the coun- 

 try, and such it still is, as settlements advance, 

 everywlicre. One generation succeeds another, 

 the second iuvari,d)ly adopting iliflerent views from 

 the first, if continuing to reside on the same land ; 

 and yet all other.s, all of those who are uninstruct- 

 ed by personal experience and observation, or very 

 nearly all, advance to the wilds with the old fash- 

 ioned errors of opinion ! Were we to omit taking 

 into consideration the grounds of this mistake, the 

 general perseverance in it would seem to imjily a 

 strange ^vant of prudent foresight, or even a want 

 of common understanding. Let us examine this 

 matter a little, for it is one of very general im- 

 portance. 



Laiads in a state of nature, wild lands, to wliich 

 so large a proportion of the young men resort, for 

 future farms, if clothed with timber, forest trees, 

 present very delusive appearances, such, exactly, 

 as would be Ukely to mislead the judgment. — 

 Excepting only the river alluvion, univei'sally 

 sought as of the first quality, almost without look- 

 ing at the soil, the three other quaUties are found, 

 the second and third, covered with a thick deposite 

 of vegetable matter, leaves, partly decayed, ' soft as 

 an binder bed,^ ' black as my shoe.^ Such is the sur- 

 face. On tearing up some handfuls of the ground, 

 this is well blackened of course, and little is thought 

 of looking for the sub-soil, as those invariably 

 do, who liave once been deceived by black muck, 

 and these soft beds of leaves. Brooks are plenty 

 in such woods, though they will be scarce, on the 

 same land, when opened to the sun, and the blan- 

 kets and bed of leaves are removed, so as to dry 

 the surface of the groimd. 



On the 4th quality of land, the dry and warm 

 gravel, there is none of this great store of slowly 



rotting leaves, because they rot rajiidly, and fires 

 often burn them up, the land being dry ; and 

 brooks, and springs, are even more scarce than 

 they will be when the woods are destroyed. The 

 gi-ound, having its surface uncovered, and the 

 woods generally more open, present an appear- 

 ance of nakedness, especially after having passed 

 over black muck lands, shrouded in leaves. With 

 an allowance for the far greater frequency of fires, 

 to burn off the leaves, and to destroy much of the 

 growth of wood, keeping the woods more open, 

 this land is condemned for liarrenness, and the 

 laiul of mnci is chosen, all blanketed and carpeted 

 with leaves. AVe may, on reading this, admitting' 

 it to be a true and faithftil outUne or delineation, 

 all agree that we would act more wisely, and yet 

 99 in a hundred of us, uninstructed by experi- 

 ence, would probably choose the carpeted land, as 

 99 in a hundred have done before, in all parts of 

 the United States. I would not, and did not, but 

 my father did, much to his regret, and I had the 

 benefit of his experience, as well as my own, hav- 

 ing been bom and bred on one of those carpeted 

 farms. 



Land, that is cold and wet, may bear immense 

 growths of trees, as of the elm, ash, hasswood, 

 birch, beech, maple and hemlock ; and having a 

 very thick shade, the ground will be cold, and wet, 

 and the leaves must, of course, decay very slowly. 

 Hence the carpeting, which is invariably a sure 

 indication of either cold or wet land, or of both. — 

 If of both, it never will make a farm for grain ; 

 and grass, for pasture, and for hay, which grows 

 on such land, is always very inferior in richness, 

 to that grown on land that is warm and dry. The 

 difference is very great. The most nutritious 

 irrass grows only where the land is so dry, and 

 warm, that it must be sown fi-cquently with seed, 

 in order to keep uj) the sward. This i»what I 

 call a medium soil, good, alike for grass and grain. 

 Oil which I should no more expect cro])s of grass, 

 except from .seed, thiui of grain. One acre of 

 such ground, in pasture, or meadow, will keep as 

 much stock as one and a half, or even two, or 

 three, of your black muck cold and wet grass land. 

 The appearance, to lie sure, in pasture, will be 

 very different. The grass may be very long, in 

 your wet, cold land pasture, but very poor feed ; 

 in the other, it will he far more nutritious, short 

 and sweet, like a welf told story. 



With land that is dry and warm, the good Iius- 

 bandman may always succeed in getting good 

 crops. He may even make the soil as fertile as 

 that of the very richest of land, and far more sure 

 in its crops. Good husbandry constantly enriches 

 the soil. But it is almost impossible to do this, 

 with hind naturally cold and wet. It has not 

 warmth enough, of temperament^ to be sensitive to 

 kind treatment, but is like some men, so phlegmatic, 

 a8 to otfi'r no princi])lc of life to act upon. Heat, 

 ■•ind cold, are always antipodes. You can never, 

 by the utmost kindness, overcome natural antipa- 

 thies. The very cause of the muck, which mis- 

 leads so many in the choice of lauds, is a natural 

 coldness in the soil, where leaves are preserved 

 from decay, by cold, and by wet, not moisture, but 

 an excess of wetness. Such lands, when cleared, 

 will produce grain crops, while the muck lasts, 

 and is rotting- by the power of the sun, but is 

 sterile, ever afterwards, unless covered with a new 

 soil, made artificially and at more expense than 

 the cost of warm and good land. This can be 

 effected by trei'icli-i>loughing, imderdraining, quick 



