NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



87 



Farmers know that a hard crust forms upon ground 

 exposed to the frosts and drying -winds of March and 

 April, and that this crust greatly retards vegetation. 

 But the great objection is, it will pull up all the 

 wheat to harrow it. Having practised harrowing 

 my wheat every spring for the last eight or ten years, 

 and uniformly Avith good effect, I feel disposed to 

 recommend the practice to my brother farmers. Of 

 late years I have been in the habit of ploughing in my 

 wheat at the time of seeding with a gang plough, 

 leaving it in the furrow. In the spring after the 

 ground has become dry, the last of A])ril or early in 

 May, I harrow lengthwise of the furrows, then cross- 

 wise, loosening up tlic ground thoroughly. I should 

 like to do this just before a rain. If the land is to 

 be seeded with clover, I sow on the seed and harrow 

 it in. This I think far more safe than sowing early 

 and trusting to the heavings of the frosts and the 

 wash of rains to cover it. Early sown clover is often 

 killed by the droughts so common in April. 



I have been amused at the earnestness with which 

 some of my neighbors would remonstrate with me 

 for harrowing my wheat. " Such a fine piece of 

 wheat," say they, " to be spoiled in that manner ! He 

 ought to be sent to the mad-house." 



And afterwards, when the crop showed for itself it 

 was not ruined, " O, it was such a good piece of 

 land, it will produce a good crop in spite of your ex- 

 periments." A field of wheat looks bad while under 

 the process of harrowing, as it is prostrated and 

 partly covered with earth ; but after a shower, it 

 starts up fresh and vigorous, like a field of corn 

 refreshed by a shower after being hoed. I have often 

 examined as to the amount pulled up, and do not 

 behcvc it will average a bushel upon ten acres. 

 Farmers, try it ; and be not frightened by the ap- 

 pearance. I never yet heard of a field injured 

 by it. MYRON ADAMS. 



East Bloomfield, N. Y., April, 1849. 

 — Genesee Farmer. 



SAVING MANURE. 



A Southern Example icorthy of Northern Tmitatioji. 

 — My friend Mr. Keeling, who keeiis that excellent 

 house at Norfolk, the National Hotel, has lately 

 bought a farm near town, which he is determined to 

 enrich ; and this is one of the methods he has taken. 

 He has all the ashes from the hotel, which are made 

 from his bituminous coal, put into a pit, and upon 

 this all the urine, soap-suds, and dish water is 

 thrown as long as it will absorb it, and the mass is 

 then haiilcd out and s])read upon the laud. 



In the jjrivy vault, he har, a layer of soil spread 

 every week, to which is added a sprinkling of plaster 

 and dissolved copperas, sufficient to absorb all the 

 ammonia. After a time, that is all taken out and 

 spread upon the land, without its being at all off"en- 

 sivc to handle. Every dead animal that comes 

 within his reach is buried in a pile of weeds, straw, 

 trash, cartli, or swamp muck, to fertilize the mass, 

 and in its turn fertilize the soil. He has lately 

 jjlanted throe thousand bushels of oysters for the u«e 

 of the hotel, the shells of which, by and by, will 

 be burnt, and spread upon the land. He is also pre- 

 paring to grind plaster, which is brought here as 

 ballast, and can be had for seventy-five cents to one 

 dollar a ton. And with these ai)pliances he is deter- 

 mined to raise grass, notwithstanding the unfashion- 

 ableness of that crop in all the south. 



Now, this gentleman is not a practical farmer, but 

 derives his ideas from reading, reflection, and com- 

 mon sense; and I leave it to any one possessed of a 

 small share of this latter commodity, to say if his 

 id( as are not of a more common-sense character than 

 many farmers have, who call themselves wholly 

 practical. — Am. Agriculturist. 



QUICK WORK. 



A friend, who doubted a statement as to rapid 

 work in knitting, was presented with the following 

 certificate by the son of the lady who certifies. It is 

 dated West Charlton, Saratoga Co., N. Y. "We have 

 not permission to use her name. And we would 

 inquire whether this rapidity of work has ever beeu 

 equalled by another. 



"This certifies that I have repeatedly spun and 

 knit one pair of men's socks, of common size, in a 

 day ; and that I have for weeks together spun and 

 knit six pairs a week." 



THE FARMER IS NOT PROPERLY ESTl- 

 MATED-WHOSE FAULT IS IT? 



It is a lamentable fact, that the farmer does not 

 occup)^ that elevated position in society that his oc- 

 cupation justly entitles him to. He is looked upon 

 as a being below the lawyer, physician, divine, artist, 

 merchant, or even a merchant's clerk. To be a 

 farmer, is to be a nobody, a mere clodhopper, a 

 digger of bogs and ditches, and dung heaps, and free 

 to wallow in the "free soil" he cultivates, provided 

 he never seeks to elevate himself above that position, 

 to what the world is pleased to term " good society." 

 Hence comes the desire of " the boys " to escape, not 

 so much trom the drudgery of their employment, as 

 from the idea that they are looked upon and estimat- 

 ed as mere drudges. 



What blindness, folly, and false philosophy is this ! 

 The result of these false premises is, that the " pro- 

 fessions " are crowded to the starvation point ; clerks 

 not only go begging, but become beggars, or worse; 

 merchants arc multiplied, and good, old-fashioned 

 labor is gone out of fashion. 



While we would give all due honor to the profes- 

 sions, the farmer, who is the producer of all, both in 

 food and raiment, that adds to the comfort and sus- 

 tenance of the human family, need not feel that he 

 is below occupations that gain their support from the 

 folly, pride, misery, or wickedness of their fellow- 

 creatures. 



K the aspiration of farmers were half so strong to 

 elevate their sons to farmers, as it is to make them 

 merchants or professional men, and, perchance, loaf- 

 ers, we should soon be taught to look to the agricul- 

 tural class for the best bred, as well as best fed, men 

 in America. — Barniim's Address. 



Agriculture. — It is an innocent pursuit, that can 

 do injury to no one. It invades no man's just rights, 

 and prejudices no man's safety, health, peace, or 

 reasonable enjoyment. It is a beneficial cn>pioyment, 

 for whoever cultivates the earth, and covers it with 

 rich and golden crops, renders it more bcautifnl ; and 

 whoever causes the earth to yield its fruits, increases 

 the means of human comfort and subsistence. 



Irrhsoi.utiox In matters of great importance, 



and which must be done, there is no surer argument 

 of a weak mind than irresolution ; to be undeter- 

 mined where the case is so plain, and the necessity 

 so urgent ; to be always intending to lead a new 

 life, but never to find time to set about it ; this Ls as 

 if a man should put off eating and drinking, and 

 sleeping, from one day and night to another, till ho 

 is starved and destroyed. — TiUotson. 



