NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



VOL.. XI 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, NO. 52, NOETH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricoltdral WARE HonsE.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, ED ITOR. 



NO. 16. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 31, 1832. 



C o ui in n n i c a t i o n s . 



^^FOR THE NEW E.VGLAND FARMER. 



CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRY. 



SIr Fessenden ;— 



Sir — Pjyliaps some of your readers may derive 

 benefit from my experience in tlie cnltivation of 

 that most delicious of fruits, strawberries ; the 

 usual method of cultivating this plant, whether the 

 aim be (piantity or quality, 1 think should be aban- 

 doned, for I am fully satisfied fi'om my own ex- 

 perience, that the practice of planting strawberries 

 in beds of from four to five feet in width, and per- 

 mitting tlic original plants to produce others from 

 their runners or offsets, and thus letting the bed 

 become completely overrun with vines, will be 

 foimd (at least my experience has taught me 

 so) less productive than keeping them in separate 

 bunches or hills as originally planted. I have two 

 beds of this fruit in my garden ; one is not more 

 than 20 by 20 feet, and the other is a few feet 

 larger. The first contains 370 plants — 2 placed 

 in each hill ; the hills at equal distances of about 

 15 inches — planted in the spring of 1831, from 

 runners of the previous summer, and in 1832, 

 yielded me, I say it with truth and soberness, up- 

 wards of one pint from each hill ! These are the 

 Globe Hautbois. The second bed was set out Ust 

 tall, and although the quantity produced was dVi 

 so great, yet they were of superior flavor aud very 

 large ; these are the Scarlet berry. My method 

 of planting and cidtivation is this: — 



The beds were first dug in with old stable ma- 

 nure, the plants placed 2 in each hill as before 

 stated, about 1.5 inches distant. As fast as the 

 runners or offsets appear they are taken off" close 

 to the old plant — the beds kept clean of weeds 

 during the summer, and in the month of Septem- 

 ber all the old plants are cut off" with a pair of 

 shears close to the ground, and the bed is then 

 dug near a spade deep, taking care not to injure 

 the roots. I protect them during winter by pla- 

 cing hog manure all round the plants, say about 

 three inches deep, and then hoe dirt over the ma- 

 nure to prevent the action of sun and rain. In 

 the spring the manure is removed, and the leaves, 

 the growth of September and October of the pre- 

 vious fall, are all taken off" close to the ground ; 

 —" for if left, (when the plants are kept in hills) they 

 are apt to rot the summer's growth of storks. 

 In the early part of April they begin to shoot forth 

 anew — the bed is then dug as in the fall, and a 

 handful of raw (wood) ashes put round the roots 

 of each plant. The plants thUs treated grew by 

 the month of July during the past summer, to the 

 circumference of half a bushel ; and the berries 

 on the plants of each hill 15 inches apart, nearly 

 met each other, so that it required great care in 

 walking between them. I plucked two quarts 

 from this bed which averaged three inches in cir 

 cumference. The second bed was managed as the 

 first ; but the Scaidet are less productive in their ua 

 ture than the Hautbois, and being the first summer 

 of their bearing, a large yield could not reasonably 

 be anticipated ; gtrasvberries raised in this way are 

 at least double the size of those propagated in beds 



vhere the ])lants are Buff"ered to send off their run- 

 ners, and they (the former) all attain a good size, 

 vhich is not the case with the latter ; hence the 

 (juantity is as uuich or more, on the same space of 

 P'oiind, and the flavor is far superior, inasmuch as 

 tic sun has full action on all the berries, and the 

 llaiit is ten fold more luxuriant and strong in con- 

 S'quonce of the direct action of the summer sun 

 aid rain on its roots. G. K. B. 



Frankfort, Pa. Oct. 1832. 



AGRICULTURAL ESSAYS. 



Mr Editor — On looking over some old pamphlets 

 liely, I have found one entitled an JIddress to Farmers, 

 piiited at Newburyport, nearly forty years ago. It is 

 witten in a plain, concise style, and is replete with val- 

 uiblc suggestions on the subject of agriculture and good 

 hjsbandry. A manuscript note on the 3d title page, 

 !iys it was written by the late Rev. Nathaniel Fish- 

 iK, of Salem. Among the subjects discussed, the follow- 

 bg I think well worthy republication in the New En- 

 g'and Farmer. The Character of a Complete Farmer ; 

 tliD Importance of Manure; Labor Exchanging Work; 

 tie Advantages of an Orchard ; the Management of Ci- 

 der ; Keeping a Day Book ; Contracting Debts ; Cloth- 

 JL^ and Diet; Engaging in Law Suits; Good Neigh- 

 lurliood ; Education ; Remarks on the most approved 

 methods for the management of Tilling, Mowing, and 

 Pasture lands, &c. I would suggest the propriety of 

 copying one or two of the above essays weekly till fin- 

 ished. 



THE CHARACTER OP A COMPLETE 

 FARMER. 



A complete farmer is a most careful, industri- 

 ous and frugal, as well as reputable and useful 

 nan ; and unless carefulness, industry and econ- 

 (tny are united in the character, it will be an ira- 

 Jerfect one. Although a Farmer cannot live with- 

 (jut labor, by labor alone he never can grow rich 

 and reputable. Much depends upon his laying 

 mt and performing certain kinds of labor hi the 

 times and seasons when they ought to be performed. 

 i"he will not cart out his summer dung, nor plough 

 those lands in the fall, which he means to feed in 

 ihe following spring — if he will not put his seeds 

 hito the ground early, and as soon as the season 

 R'ill admit — if he will not attend to his fences and 

 tee that they are sufficient — and if he will lyt cut 

 liis grass when it is ripe and do everything neces- 

 sary to secure it in good order ; he will be perpet- 

 ually hurried from one kind of labor to another 

 and every one will be slighted : his flax will not 

 be well coated, nor his grain properly filled out ; 

 his corn will be shortened for want of being well 

 hoed, and his grass will become dead, and dry away 

 in the field. Let every kind of labor, therefore, be 

 be performed in due season. A complete farmer 

 is also a man of great carefulness and solicitude ; 

 without care, the severest labor on the best of farms, 

 will never produce riches nor plenty. If th e frfl-- 

 mer will not milk his cows in seasoii^HK that 

 they are properly tended — go to the iri^^n the 

 right time for the next year's profit ; and tl^ his 

 dairy is neatly and carefully managed, he m»la- 

 bor without ceasing, will have a small, poor jeed 

 of cattle, and never enjoy a fulness of good BBter, 

 and cheese. It is care which makes a flock in- 



crease and grow to a good size, which brings forth 

 the profits of a dairy, and which /ills the house cf 

 the farmer with gooil things. If he will not care- 

 fully inspect bis fields and meadows, and see 'liat 

 his fences are in good order, his grass and his corn 

 will be crept by his cattle : and if he will not gath- 

 er and put them up carefully and in due season, 

 he will have a short and mouldy crop. If he 

 mows, rakes, and fodders his raltle in a careless 

 slovenly manner, his flock will be pinched through 

 the winter, and become poor and lousy in the 

 spring — poor oxen too poor to do the labor of 

 the season — poor cows, with little or no milk, and 

 wretched calves and poor horses, too feeble to 

 draw, and too weak to ride with safety. If liis 

 swine, poultry and stock in general, and if his 

 carts, rakes and tools of all kinds, are not careful- 

 ly attended to, the farmer never can grow rich and 

 respectable. It is attention which gradually col- 

 lects from various sources, and covers the soil with 

 manure ; it is attention which causes the hills, 

 fields and valleys to yield their increase, and ad- 

 vances and cpmpletes the most beneficial improve- 

 ments. 



There is a third virtue without the practice of 

 which, the farmer can never attain to wealth and 

 independence : I mean economy. Without this, 

 both labor in raising, and care in preserving the 

 fruits of the carlli, are absolutely thrown iway. 

 Economy is an fxcellent virtue in anv man : it is 

 indispens-t'We ji; Oatt affairs and profeflBn of a far- 

 mer. And of this he should never be unmindful 

 when he looks into his barn, his cellar, or his gar- 

 ret, or even his pastures; to say nothing of his 

 fields, mowing lands and meadows. But farmers, 

 as well as otlier mei^ are too apt to forget, that in 

 their pursuits after riches, almost everything de- 

 pends upon economy joined with care and industry. 



A frugal, industriotis man, blessed with but a 

 common share of understanding, will undoubtedly 

 succeed and a<lvauce his interest, beyond whatev- 

 er he expected, when he first set out in life ; pro- 

 vided no singular providential evil should overtake 

 him. More is gained by saving than by hard la- 

 bor. A farm;r therefore whose utmost profits are 

 small and sirw, as he cannot grow rich suddenly 

 from his profession, should be a rigid and steady < 

 economist. lie should consider the saving he may 

 make in eva'ything ; in his fuel, tools, clothes, 

 meat, drink, rnd pocket expenses ; above all in 

 his time, which is equal to so much money in 

 hand. Every day that his iieiehbor runs down to 

 market on his horse, with a pound or two of but- 

 ter and a few eggs, if he stays at home and keeps 

 steady to his labor, he gets two, if not three days 

 the start of lim. While his neighbor wastes his 

 time and spetds his money by this imprudent and 

 trifling pursuit, he saves both time and money, in 

 dressing and improving his lands, and which de- 

 mand all Ills attention. There is no leisure hour to 

 be foiuul on a farm from early in the spring, till 

 late in the fall. Through all that whole period, a 

 good farmer knows how to spend every hour 

 profitably on his lands. He can have no time to 

 pass in idleness — in chatting with people as they 

 pass by — in making needless visits — in attend- 

 ing courts, horse races, taverns, and the like. By 

 these means the public is annually deprived of 



