NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. HUSSELL, NO. Si, NORTH MARKET STRIiET, (at the Agricultural Warkhouse.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOI^. XI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 7, 1832. 



NO. 17. 



Communication 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MrFessenden — Last May, my father noticed 

 ihat tlie bark of a thrifty young apple tree, of the 

 inferior kind of Russeting, we.s dead to ahout si.v 

 inches ahove the ground. He examined it care- 

 fully, and found the girdle entirely dead — but the 

 tree put out as usual and was soon well tilled with 

 young fruit, which led to many subsequent exam- 

 inations, both by himself and others, and not a par- 

 ticle of live bark or wood could be found upon the 

 tree, in the space I have mentioned. The fruit 

 went on to maturity, and was gathered as usual 

 this fall, of good size and quantity. All the ujj 

 per part of the tree appears as if in a state of 

 healthy vegetation, though the leaves have fallen 

 rather sooner than on other trees in the vicinity. 

 That the entire tree will perish lliis fall, I suppose 

 there can be no doubt. Whether this fact will 

 present anything new in the phenoiucna of nature 

 to your readers, I am ignorant, as I am not a hor- 

 ticulturist by practice or study — if it will not be a 

 repetition of an old story, you will make such use 

 as you please of the fact U|)on which you can rely. 



Respectfully your friend and servant. 



CHARLES H. LOCKE. 



Octoher-29, 1832. 



P. S. — In many orchards in Billerica, apples 

 are unusually abundant. iMy father has tnorc, ali'J 

 finer fruit in his little orchard, than on any for- 

 mer year. 



Remarks by the Editor. 

 We coincide in the opinion with our corres- 

 pondent that the tree he metitinns will eventually 

 perish. But trees are sometimes stripped of bark, 

 with little or no apparent injury. In such cases 

 however, we have always understood that the de- 

 cortication ought to take place in June, when the 

 process is most easily performed, and nature can 

 most sjieedily renew the covering, which is neces- 

 sary to the continued existence of the tree. 



A G R I C i: L T U R A I, ESSAYS, ?f o. II, 



THE IMPORTANCE OF MANURE. 



Too much cannot be said upon the subject of 

 manure. The vast importance of this article lias 

 not been sufficiently attended to by farmers in gen- 

 eral, although it is the principal source of their 

 riches. Without it, after all their care ar<d labor, 

 they can have but miserable crops of grass, flax, 

 corn, &'c. A man must plough, hoe, mow, rake 

 and hire, more on poor, than on rich land and it 

 ■will take a much greater number of acres to sup- 

 port his family comfortably. And it requirps the 

 same quantity of seed, is much harder to till, and 

 is taxed the same as rich land ; and after :ll pro- 

 duces not one half the profits. Every armor, 

 therefore, who wishes to reap the fruits of his la- 

 bor and care ; to improve his lands and iicrease 

 bis substance ; and to live easy some futu'e day, 

 should carefully attend to the increase of lis ma- 

 nure. 



And here I would observe, that the ho;-stye, 



poperly attended, will be found to be one of tin 

 rrcatest and richest sources of this important arti 

 (le. AInjost any quantity may bo obtained from 

 it; provided the farmer will he as careful to feed 

 the stye, as the swine confined in it. All kinds of 

 veeds, potato lops, straw, |)omace, broken peat, 

 ilrossing of flax, butt-stalks, roots and vegetables 

 ol every kind, will soon become the richest of ma. 

 lure, when thrown into the hog-stye. Three or 

 bur swine in this way, will make twelve or fifteen 

 oads in a year; the value of which, where dung 

 IS scarce and dear, will be four pounds at least. 

 Several judicious farmers of my acquaintance, are 

 persuaded that the greatest profits in keeping 

 swine, arise from their styes. A small proportion 

 if this manure, mixed with soil and rubbish, woidd 

 le seen in a field of potatoes, or of Indian corn. 

 \nd the quantity to lie made in one stye, wellsup- 

 )lied with weeds and other vegetable substances 

 ;hrough the year, is almost incredible ; some have 

 said, that "forty loads" may he obtained in this 

 ivay, from ten, or twelve swine, in one year only. 

 \nd great quantities of excellent manure for dress- 

 ing grass land, may be obtained by ploughing, or 

 tutting up green sward two or three inches thick, 

 ky the sides of roads, walls, &:c, and laying it in 

 leaps, grass side down, for eight or ten months. 

 \ little lime mixed with it, would render it fit for 

 use much sooner. 



One would think, that a fanner who mows over 

 three or four acres of land, naturally good, but 

 ■worn down, and which yield not more than fifteen 

 qr twenty hundreds of hay — who cultivates as 

 inany acres of Indian corn, on a soil equally as 

 good, but starved and exhausted, and which return 

 him sixty or seventy bushels only; when he looks 

 into the fields of his neighbor, which are not bet 

 ter, if quite so good, in point of soil, but which are 

 richly manured, and yield three times the crops 

 yearly, must be convinced of tlie vast importance 

 of manure; and of the amazing advantages to be 

 (i«rived from this great and capital article in the 

 cultivation of the darth. The Chinese, who may 

 hk styled a vast nation of farmers, as agricultm-e is 

 tlleir most honorable and their principal employ- 

 ment, pay the greatest attention to it. The urine 

 of families is all carefully saved ; and the refuse of 

 erery kind of vegetable substance which the earth 

 produces, througli their labor and care, is made to 

 contribute to reproductions. And, as very little 

 cnn be done in the farming line, ni the Slates of 

 new England, without manure, excepting new 

 tends, which from the general deluge have in- 

 creased in richness, by the falling of leaves, and 

 other substances scattered on their surfaces, it 

 ought to be considered and attended to most care- 

 fully. And there can be no judicious farmer 

 pmong ns, who does not endeavor to obtain large 

 quantities of this article, in proportion, if possible, 

 to the proposed cultivation and improvements of 

 the next year. 



We read, that the lands of the rich man brought 

 forth plentifully, but this was not merely because 

 the possessor was rich ; for, the lands of the 

 wealthy, will be no more productive, than those of 

 the poor, if tfaey neglect to manure and cultivate 

 them properly. The truth is, a plenty of manure, 



and a judicious, seasonable cultivation, will soon 

 put a new face upon almost any lands whatever. 

 And if farmers in general would pay more atten- 

 tion to thn increase of their manure, they wonhl 

 experience a decrease in their labors, and receive 

 a much greater profit from them. A few acres of 

 good land richly manured and highly cultivated 

 would support their families comfortably. And 

 there is scarcely any soil, but which, by these 

 means, would give a prudent man a decent living. 

 And that farmer in this state who will not give liis 

 attention to this subject, cannot reasonably expect 

 any great profits from cultivating the earth, nor to 

 become respectable in his profession. 



From tLe New York Farmer. 



REARING POULTRY IN MEXICO. 



Sir, — I cannot embark for Campeachy with- 

 out relieving myself by telling you not a cock and 

 bull', but a cock and chicken story, which may be 

 of service to those farmers who supply our mar- 

 kets with poultry. 



The fondness of Spaniards for eggs and chick- 

 ens appears to be inherited to the full extent by 

 their American descendants, as at every Indian 

 but which I have stopped at in Mexico, I could 

 get one or the other in default of everything else 

 in the eating line. It is true they are not very 

 scrupulous about the nundier of feathers which 

 covers the poltilo, nor of the days it has been free 

 from the sb li. ; ;it then you know you can eat the 

 more of them aiul pay accordingly. But to return 

 to my story. Diuing the rainy season, the rivers 

 of the state of Tabasco overflow the banks, and 

 the little eminences become so many temporary 

 islands, to wiiich all terrestrial animals retreat for 

 shelter. On these little mounds, too, the inhabit- 

 ants place their huts, and it is fine sport to go 

 hunting in a canoe from one islet to another all 

 over the country. Monkeys, parrots, peccaries, 

 snakes, in sliort, all animals of a tropical climate, 

 may be found in the same congregation. 



One afreninon, in the month of October, 1828, 

 in company with the Vice-Governor of the slate, 

 I entered one of those huts aforesaid, to take 

 some refreshment and rest, when I observed be- 

 fore the door a large cock with three or four 

 dozen of chickens around him, engaged in all the 

 occupations usually appertaining to the hen, and ap- 

 parently very proud of his office. Neither man, wo- 

 man, child, I'ig, nor hen would he suffer to molest 

 his little ones in the slightest degree, and he would 

 occasionally cock his eye up towards the birds of 

 prey in the air with a menacing gesture, as much 

 as to say, "and yon too had better keep at a re- 

 spectful distance from my spurs." The following 

 was the account of this phenomenon given me by 

 my companion. Col. Estrada. 



" The cork is chosen to hatch the eggs, on ac- 

 coimt of his superior size, and to lake care of the 

 chickens, on accoimt of his superior -etrengtli, 

 while the hen is thus left to continue filling other 

 nests. To qualify him to take her place, he is 

 first rendered intoxicated by swinging him over 

 and over in a hammock, under which tobacco is 

 burnt to keep bim enveloped in the smoke, /.s 



