lU 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



and buckwheat, by raising spring crops and manuring 

 them well, to be followed by wheat ; and, lastly, by 

 keeping the ground always covered, as far as possible ; 

 the good cfl'ects of whicli mode of culture are ap- 

 parent already. We are also trying to get up a 

 " Panners" Cliib," and to obtain some subscribers to 

 your paper, which we get through your agent, Mr. 

 ileed, at I.ockport. 



Eut as vour time is precious, I will not tax you 

 further at present. J. BREADING TREVOli. 



LocKrour, Feb., 1850. 



" Leached ashes and coal waste " will be useful on 

 clay loam, for corn or any other crop. These fertili- 

 zers being mild in character, they should be applied 

 to corn land in quantities sufficient to spread over 

 the whole ground, and be incorporated with the soil 

 by the plough, harrow, and hoe. This should be 

 done, i. e., the ashes should be applied, before plant- 

 ing. IJnleached ashes are most economicall}' used 

 by adding one bushel of salt, one half do. plaster, 

 with two of ashes, and adding the mixture to the 

 soil as a top-dressing for each hill, after the first 

 hoeing or weeding ; taking care not to have the salt 

 and ashes come in contact with the young plants. 

 One or two ounces, or such a matter, spread over 

 the roots of each hill, wUl be of essential service to 

 the crop. 



Leached ashes and rotting manure, mixed in a 

 compost heap, improve each other, — the carbonic 

 acid eliminated trom the dung, or decaying organic 

 matter, will render the potash, soda, and lime salts 

 (silicates) in the ashes soluble, while the alkalies 

 named will aid in forming saltpetre. (See account 

 of artificial nitre beds, in Johnston's Chemistry.) 



The only objection to the use of sulphuric acid for 

 dissolving bones is the expense of the article. To 

 avoid this, we have preferred to break up bones with 

 an old axe, pretty fine, and boil them to a powder in 

 strong lye. To this compound we add a little salt 

 and gypsum. It may then be mixed with a little 

 fine cky loam, and distributed with a drilling machine 

 over seeds of corn, carrots, beets, or other plants. 

 The compound is too caustic to be placed in contact 

 with tender germs. It is a powerful fertilizer. As 

 to quantity per acre, every man's judgment, means, 

 quantity of land, &c., must decide that question. — 

 (ienesee Farmer. 



BENEFITS OF DEEP PLOUGHING. 



Messrs. Editors : Some fifteen years since, being 

 in the state of New York, I saw for the first time 

 an agricultural paper — the Genesee Farmer. In that 

 was an article relative to deep ploughing, which I 

 perused carefully, and by it was induced to try an 

 experiment. I had previously farmed it as others 

 did, thinking that there was no way to increase the 

 product but to increase the number of acres. 



I had a field containing four acres and one hun- 

 dred rods of ground, which had been cleared nine 

 years, and had had a grain crop on it every year — 

 wheat, corn, and oats — the three last were oats. 

 The field was considered nearly worn out, and would 

 not have produced more than fifteen bushels of wheat 

 per acre. There were many large stumps and four 

 green trees on the field. The soil was clay loam. I 

 had only a single team — a powerful span of horses — 

 and a sir.gle plough, (Wood's.) I raised the end of 

 the beam three inches, and commenced ploughing in 

 June, when the ground was wet, turning up about 

 five inches that had never been stirred before, plough- 

 ing about three fourths of an acre per day. 'Ihe 

 oTOund was dug up with a spade around the stumps, 

 harrowed and ploughed shallow twice afterwards, 

 and sown the filth day of October, with two bushels 

 of velvet bearded wheat per acre. In the spring 



were sown one hundred and fifty pounds of plaster 

 where the wheat looked the poorest. The result 

 was, although much was wasted in gathering, — for it 

 shelled badly,— I had by weight one hundred and nine- 

 ty-six and one-half bushels, besides one large load not 

 threshed at the time, which would have increased 

 the product to at least two hundred and twelve 

 bushels. Since that time I have ploughed deep, and 

 the result has been invariably the same, or at least 

 doubling the crop. Deep ploughing on a soil like 

 mine will prevent the crop from suffering from wet 

 or dry weather, and is a preventive of rust, or at 

 least has been with mo, and it will not turn to weeds, 

 as much wheat does in Michigan. The editor of 

 the Michigan Farmer thinks " it is almost a miracle," 

 if a farmer here gets a good crop of wheat ; yet none 

 fail who cultivate their land properly. This we can 

 prove by many farmers in this county. 



The general system has been, ever since the first 

 settlement of this country, to plough shallow, and 

 grow wheat after wheat, without manure, or even 

 seeding to grass, until aU the food for the wheat 

 plant is exhausted; and then we are told that the 

 seasons are such we cannot grow wheat, and must 

 turn our attention to raising sheep ; but will sheep 

 thrive if we serve them as we serve our wheat ? 

 Will they live without proper food? Or will they 

 live in the water without turning to musk-rats ? 



Yours, &c., LINUS CONK 



Troy, Oakland Co., Michigan, Feb., 1850. 

 — Genesee Farmer. 



BUILDING AND BUILDING MATERIALS. 



The materials used for the construction of houses 

 are wood, brick, burnt and unburnt, iron, and stone. 

 In the first place, I shall consider wood, that being in 

 almost universal use throughout the country. The 

 advantages claimed for it by its strong advocates are, 

 its compai-ative cheapness, beauty, facility of obtain- 

 ing it, and the readiness with which it can bo 

 repaired. The disadvantages are, liability to decay, 

 also to fire, subject to heat in summer, and cold in 

 winter, its continued expense for a series of years, for 

 repairing, painting, &c. 



Here the questions naturally arise — Can the ad- 

 vantages claimed be sustained ? and do they more 

 than counterbalance the disadvantages ? 



I;et us weigh the matter and then decide. First, 

 its eheapness, to my mind, is just as " clear as mud; " 

 for it is my candid opinion that most farmers (those, 

 I mean, who have their farms and buildings in decent 

 condition) spend as much in repairing these wooden 

 structures, for a term of years, as would pay the 

 interest on good stone ones. AVTien a man sells his 

 farm with wooden buildings upon it, such as are 

 generally found in New England, it brings no higher 

 price per acre than if destitute of buildings altogether. 

 Not so with those with stone buildings, which en- 

 hance the value at once, although they may not have 

 cost more, in the aggregate, than the wooden ones. 

 This shows conclusively that the farmers themselves 

 have no confidence in their cheapness, nor in their 

 excellence. 



But, while I thus dwell at length on the merits of 

 wood, I must not forget it has also corresponding 

 demerits, as its liability to take fire, for instance. 

 This is a very serious objection in the country, as it 

 rarely happens that wooden buildings there once on 

 fire are ever extinguished, owing to the scarcity of 

 fire engines and the combustibility of the material ; 

 and, if they escape fire, the liability to decay adds a 

 bill of expense. 



Another material, unburnt bricks, has latelj' been 

 made use of at the west ; and a few buildings have 

 been erected in New York. StUl, the number ia so 



