NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



365 



by no means a difficult matter. In the first place, it 

 ought to be your object to get all the manure you 

 can. Therefore, instead of permitting the stock to 

 spend the whole of the day in winter idle in the field, 

 or chased up and down the road by vagrant curs and 

 idle urchins, keep them in the yard, which should 

 be of sufficient extent to allow them room for exer- 

 cise, and thus you will have their excrements secure 

 in your possession. Let your hogs be at work in 

 turning over the refuse of the premises, such as 

 weeds, leaves, sods, &c., that you have thrown in 

 the pens, and converting it into excellent manure. 

 A clever pig can in this way be made to earn a good 

 part of his living. You must, in the next place, try 

 to save what you have got, and to increase its bulk. 

 The dung ought not to be spread over the whole 

 yard, but, on the contrary, to be gathered in a heap, 

 or heaps, so that no greater portion may be exposed 

 to atmospheric intluences than is absolutely neces- 

 sary. Instead of leaving it to suft'cr from sun and 

 rain, keep it in the cellar of your barn, or in a shed 

 which can be made with rough boards at a trilling 

 expense. If you cannot give it such protection, then, 

 at least, cover it over with muck or loam, to retain 

 the rising gases. Where the urine that falls in the 

 cattle sheds is not conducted to a cistern or tank, it 

 may be absorbed by some fresh earth, forest leaves, 

 or refuse litter. The mi.xture of these materials with 

 the dung and urine is beneficial rather than injurious, 

 as fermentation is thereby moderated, and the loss 

 of the most important parts is prevented, so that the 

 whole quantity becomes of nearly an equal value. 

 By following up this course for a few weeks, you 

 will be surprised to sec how easily and cheaply you 

 have increased the bulk of your manure heap, and 

 in the coming harvest your heart will rejoice in the 

 prospect of a well-filled garner. To every agricul- 

 turist in the land, we say, in the, language of good 

 old father Cato, " Study to have a large dunghill." 



C. C, Jk. 

 Hawthorn Hedges, N. J., Oct. 17, ISJO. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NEW ENGLAND AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Editor: Permit a Xcw-Yorkcr, who has just 

 returned from a tour through a portion of New Eng- 

 land, to express, through the columns of your jour- 

 nal, the gratification he has experienced at witness- 

 ing the improvements in agricultural and rural 

 matters, which have taken place there in the last 

 four or five years. Although Nature has not been so 

 lavish in her bounties, and has not bestowed upon 

 your portion of the earth so rich and fertile a soil, or 

 such facilities for its cultivation, as are enjoyed in 

 other parts of the Union, a substitute has been pro- 

 vided, in the industry, intelligence, and enterprise of 

 your people ; who have converted your rocky and 

 barren wastes into productive and fertile fields, and 

 introduced a system of culture in many places 

 highly successful. 



To one who has been accustomed to look upon the 

 larger farms of Central and Western New York, and 

 to witness the agricultural operations there carried 

 on upon a more extensive scale, and who has re- 

 cently Iravelled over the vast prairies and expanded 

 plains of the Great West, your New England farms 

 do indeed look small, and seem pinched and con- 

 tracted. Instead of broad wheat and corn fields, 

 such as Ave see in the west, not less, in some in- 

 stances, than two to four Inmdred acres in a single 

 field, your little patches look small indeed. But as 

 an offset to all these seeming disadvantages, you 

 have a ready market in your own inuncdiate neigh- 



borhood, prices double those obtained by the western 

 farmer, and, what is of still greater moment, you 

 are favored with all the advantages of society and 

 social position. You have churches, schools, and all 

 the institutions calculated to improve and elevate 

 the minds of your citizens, almost at your own 

 doors — privileges whicft are denied, to some extent 

 at least, to many citizens in the new states. 



In the cultivation of the soil, even in New Eng- 

 land, where, if any where, perfection ought long ago 

 to have been reached, there has been, it ajjpears to 

 me, evident improvement. The crops are better, and 

 the farms look better, than in former years. In many 

 places the stones have been converted into fi-nce, 

 the bushes have been destroyed, and fields heretofore 

 worthless rendered productive and profitable. But 

 the changes which strike a str.anger most forcibly, and 

 which are giving to many of your towns an appearance 

 of beauty seldom equalled, are to be observed in the 

 vicinity of the cities and larger villages. The rapid 

 multiplication of fine country residences, the taste 

 and beauty with which the surrounding grounds are 

 laid out, and the fine order in Avhieh they are kept, 

 have given to New England a reputation wider than 

 her limits, and highly creditable to her citizens. In 

 this respect she is far in advance of other sections 

 of the Union, not perhaps in the magnificence and 

 expense of dwellings, but in the simple good taste, 

 harmony, and keeping, which are every where dis- 

 played. 



The exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable 

 Mechanics' Association closed before I reached lios- 

 ton, so that I was deprived of witnessing a show 

 which is spoken of, on all hands, as highly creditable 

 to the institution and to the state. Y'ou can hardly 

 appreciate the regret experienced on account of my 

 inability to reach Boston in time to witness the ex- 

 hibition. As a small recompense, and determined to 

 see some of the sights, I found my way into the 

 weekly show of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 

 ciety, at its hall in School Street. Although disap- 

 pointed in the quantity of articles on exhibition, the 

 exceeding beauty and apparent excellence of the 

 fruits on the tables made up for any defects, and I 

 left the hall impressed with the fact that you need 

 not go beyond your own neighborhood for the finest 

 fruits. Such peaches, grapes, and pears it has sel- 

 dom been my good fortune to see, and I doubt not 

 they would have tasted far better than they looked. 



Not the least agreeable was that portion of my 

 stay in the city devoted to an examination of tfie 

 agricultural implements in the extensive warehouse 

 of llugglcs, Nourse, Mason, it Co., in Quincy Hall. 

 Such a collection can hardly be found elsewhere in 

 the country ; and to those gentlemen is the highest 

 credit due for the great improvements in this branch 

 of industry. Eor nothing has the intelligent farmer 

 greater cause to be thankful, than for suitable, appro- 

 priate, and neatly-made implements, increasing as 

 they do, not only the pleasures, but the profits, of 

 agricultural labor. 



I fear, Mr. Editor, that the object with Avhich I 

 commenced this article has led me into a longer talk 

 than was contemplated, or than you can find room 

 for in your columns ; if so, I can only promise not to 

 trcspas's again. Kespectfully yours, 



Rome, N. Y., Oct. 18, 1850. 



SfiiSTiTi-TE FOR Soap. — A late French author 

 recommends potatoes, three fourths boiled, as a 

 substitute for soap, in washing hands. The use of 

 this jirevents chapinng in cold weather, and retains 

 the skin soft and healthy. 



