302 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AprU 4, 1832. 



£ra~Njy laiTci^iiiisra) ©iiissii^aa 



Boston, Wednesday Evening, April 4, 1832. 



FARMER'S SPRING WORK. 



Working Oxen. — It has been said, tluit laboring 

 cattle will perform tlieir spring work with much 

 more energy and alacrity, if they are fed two or 

 three times a day, with a few ears of Indian corn. 

 Some, however, prefer giving them small quanti- 

 ties of raw potatoes, which are said to be more 

 cooling than corn, and to answer the purpose of 

 physic as well as that of food. Perhaps it may 

 be well to change their diet occasionally, from the 

 roots to the grain ; and these, with regular meals 

 of good English hay, will, in ordinary cases, keep 

 their animal mechanism in good repair, and ren- 

 der them as .tctive and powerful, or thereabouts, 

 as steam carriages running on a rail-road. 



Pasture for Swine. — A lot well seeded with 

 clover is an elysian field for swine, and will fit 

 them for the butcher much quicker than you could 

 qualify a dull boy for college. Besides, if the ug- 

 ly but useful ereatnres are accommodated wiih a 

 puddle and a clover 'patch, together with the fee 

 simple of a snug and dry dormitory, in which they 

 may enjoy their nap after dinner, like other epi- 

 cures, they will be as quiet as lambs and as fat as 

 aldermen, and will need but little more waiting 

 on than if they were already in the pork barrel, 

 well saturated with rock salt of prime quality. 

 But you must not allow them all these privileges, 

 without depriving them of the natural right of root- 

 ing, otherwise they will be as much out of place 

 in a pasture as a pig in a parlor, or a bad man in 

 office. A few sweet api)le trees in a pig pastitre, 

 will add utility to ornament, and prove auxiliary 

 to other means of bringing forward its animal |)ro- 

 ducts. Swine, however, should not become "pigs 

 in clover," till about tlie first of May, that the 

 grass may have a little time to get the start of 

 their voracity. 



Top Dressing. — Lime, air slacked and well pul- 

 verized, is said to be useful as a top dressing in 

 spring, for winter grain. Ashes, too, either leach- 

 ed or dry, are very usefully applied about this 

 time, to grain or grass. Dry uuleached ashes are 

 best for manure, but leached ashes, particularly 

 soaper's waste, which has lime mixed with it, are 

 of use to accelerate and strengthen useful vegeta- 

 tion. 



Drilling: Potatoes. — We do not insist on the cul- 

 tivator's i)lanting his potatoes in the drill method, 

 especially if his land is rough, strong, or hard to 

 cultivate. In such case the old metlu)d of plant- 

 ing in hills should doubtless be preferred. But in 

 a rich mellow soil, the drill method is much the 

 most advantageous. Dr Deaue observed, as fol- 

 lows : " One of my neighbors planted in his gar- 

 den, drills, and rows of hills, alternately, of equal 

 length and equally maninx'd ; w lien he dug them 

 he found the drill rows produced twice as much 

 as the others. It is not more labor to lay the 

 dung in drills than in hills, and the labor of hoeing 

 is hut little increased." 



A British writer says, " The |)otatocs for seed 

 should be kept in a separate pit, which should 

 never be opened until the time when the potatoes 

 are to be planted, for if vegetation commences prc- 

 yious to that time, it is apt to cause the curl. The 

 sets should be placed about a foot distant from 

 each other. Many crops are spoiled from being 



|)lajited loo deep in the ground. This ought to 

 be avoided. 



The best time to plant potatoes for winter's use, 

 feeding stock, &c, is about the middle of May to 

 the first of June ; but it is good economy, gener- 

 ally speaking, to plant an early sort in early ground 

 to feed hogs before Indian corn is ripe, as soon as 

 the ground is thawed in the spring. 



TREES. 



Mr Editor — As the season to transplant fruit 

 trees is fast i'.p|)roaehing, I have thought I might 

 be doing some good, to comtiumicate to the pub- 

 he the following facts, and leave each one to draw 

 his own inferences. 



In 1824, I procured some hundreds of apple, 

 pear, plum, cherry and peach trees, from France, 

 Long Island, N. Y., and Sherburne and Newton, 

 Mass. These trees were all set out on my farm, 

 in the vicinity of Boston. The first and second 

 seasons after transplanting, I perceived that the 

 New York apple, and the French ap|)le, pear, 

 peach and plum, did not do so well as the New 

 Englanders. My French cherry did well. The 

 New York pear, peach, cherry and plum, have 

 now grown pretty well. The French apple, pear 

 and peach, and the New York apple, I pulled up 

 the last season, and threw them on my wood pile. 



O. G. 



Fruil buds, Sfc. destroyed in the State of JVeto 

 York. — .Mr David Thomas, in a communication 

 writt<'n for the Genesee Farmer, states as follows: 



" In my fruit garden, I have examined more 

 than a hundred blossom buds, of the peach, the 

 nectarine, and the apricot, and have invariably 

 found the petals, stamina and pistels, discolored 

 and dead. Of coiu'se we are not to expect the 

 trees to exhibit blossoms this season. 



" The destruction is not to be ascribed to any 

 unusual severity of winter, but to the buds bcini; 

 started by the mild weather of last autunm. At 

 that time, I observed several bulbous plants in 

 flower, which commonly continue dormant till 

 spring; and the peach buds are now found to be 

 so large, that a few more days of warm weather a 

 that time, would .probably have brought them intn 

 full blossom." 



To Restore the Germinating Power of Seed.i. — 

 The tact deserves to be extensively known, how- 

 ever torpid a seed may be, and distitute of all 

 power to vegetate in any other substance, if steep- 

 ed in a diluted solution of oxygenated muriatic 

 acid, at a temperature of 46'^ or 48^ of Fahrenheit, 

 provided it still possesses its principle of vitality, 

 it will germinate in a few hours. And if, alter 

 this, it be planted, as it ought to be, in its apjiro- 

 jiriate soil, it will grow with as much speed and 

 vigor, as if it had evinced no torpitude w hatever. 

 ^Good^s Book of jVature. 



ISABELLA GRAPES. 

 We have been favored by Mr. Jaine<i Hunewell of 

 Charleslowii, with a box of Isab lla Grapes in the finest 

 order, which had been packed down in dry siwd'ist since 

 last October, thus affording evidence that this delicious 

 fruit, if properly taken care of, can be kept till the last 

 of March. They should be spread upon a floor immedi- 

 ately after being picked in October, and dried moderate- 

 ly, before being packed. Mr. H, raised about 4^ bushels 

 from one vine, of which he packed down a tea chest full, 

 very few of which were spoiled. 



PRIZE CATTLE IN ENGLAND. 



A meeting of the Smithfield Prize Cattle Club, 

 was held at the Cjown and Anchor Tavern, in 

 London, on the 22d of December lust ; Lord Al- 

 ihrop, one of the members of the present British 

 cabinet, in the chair. 



The attendance, according to the London pa- 

 pers, was iijuch greater than usual, as the club had 

 intimated their intention of presenting Lord A!- 

 tiirop with a splendid piece of plate, for his exer- 

 tions to promote the interests of agriculture. Af- 

 ter the removal of the clotli and the routine toasts, 

 Lord .Mthrop was presented with the piece of 

 I>late, which was valued at 200 guineas, (932 dol- 

 lars.) His Lordship in returning thanks, express- 

 ed his acknowledgements. As this was a meeting 

 to promote the purposes of science, he expressed 

 his hopes that politics would not be entered upon. 

 Ills Lordship then projiosed the health of the Duke 

 of Richmond, (P. M. general,) the new member of 

 the Club. The Duke of Richmond returneil 

 thanks in a short speech. He felt great pleasure 

 in bfM'oming a mendier of the Club, which he con- 

 sidered calculated to promote the interests of ag- 

 riculture. The health of the noble chairman was 

 drank, and his Lordship proceeded to distribute 

 the prizes awarded by the judges for the cattle, 

 &c, exhibited at the last show. Among the prizes 

 aw arded, we perceive the following : — 



A prize of 20 sovereigns, in Class I., to Earl 

 Brownlow, for his, 4 years and 7 months old, Dur- 

 ham Ox, bred by his Lordship ; n silver medal as 

 the breeder of the same ; and a gold medal for the 

 best beast shown. 



Prize of 15 .sovereigns, in Class V., to Lord Al- 

 throp, for his, 7 years and 3 months old, Durham 

 Cow, bred by L. Spencer ; and a silver medal, as 

 the breeder, to the Earl. 



First prize of 10 sovereigns, in Class VIL, to 

 Mr W. Pawlett, for his three, 20 months old, Lei- 

 cester wethers; and a silver medal, as the breeder. 



Second [)rize of 5 sovereigns, in Class VIL, to 

 Lord .\lthrop, for his three, 21 months old, Lei- 

 cester wethers, bred by him. 



First prize of 10 sovereigns, in Class IX., to 

 Sir P. H. Dyke, for his three, 20 months old, South 

 Down, bred by him, who received a silver medal, 

 as the breeder. 



TO COKRESPONDENTS. 



We are under great obligations to Mr Clark for his 

 communication, commencing on the first page of this 

 day's paper. Theorists have supposed, and practical men 

 have asserted, that Farmers often are losers to a consi- 

 de ible an.ount, in consequence of cutting the stalks of 

 Indian corn at loo early a period ; but nobody had, so far 

 as we have learned, attimplcd to form any eslimale of the 

 amount of injury resulting from the practice, before Mr. 

 Clark instituted hi^ exact and conclusive experiments. 



J. AL G. has, as usual, furnished facts worth knowing, 

 and merits the thanks of all who feel a due rey;ard tolhose 

 accoirimodalions which compose the real property, and 

 constitute the stable interests of the Commonwealth. 



We are under obligations to " Rusticus," for another 

 elaborate attempt to rectify certain proceedin*;s with re- 

 gard lo" HortieuUnral Premiums," but it seems to us 

 tbesu!'jeet has been sufficiently canvassed. At any rate, 

 three sheets of letter paper, closely written on, contain 

 more matter than we can find room to display in our co- 

 lumns, unless the topics possess more interest, than is at- 

 tached to the controversy as it now stands. 



We have other favors from correspondents, which 

 though necessaiily deferred, are not forgotten. 



