FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. BARRETT, NO. 32, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural VVarkhouse.)-T. G. FESSENDEN. EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 20, 1833. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the New England Famier. 

 AGRICCI^TURAI. ESSAYS, JV O. XVIII. 



Potatoes. Tlie liest grow hi a dry soil, but a 

 wet one will yield the most. Plough deep, and 

 the more pulverized the earth, the bett(!r the croj) ; 

 except the green sward, which produces at one 

 ploughing, the greatest crop of any land. Poor 

 land, well cultivated, will yield 100 bushels per 

 acre. Hogs dung, mixed with a great proportion 

 of straw, rubbish, &e. excellent manure for them. 

 As they will grow almost any whi>re, they are apt 

 to be neglected; but no crop will pay the farmer 

 better. Cut seed better than whole ; a middling 

 potato will give si.v pieces, with oue, or two eyes 

 in each piece: and any part, even the rind, and 

 heart will produce, put three pieces in an hill six 

 inches apart, and cover them deep. The shooting 

 part of a potato like a tree; the bntt end of it, 

 the stumj) — therefore cut length wajs as much as 

 you can, in hoeiug do not earth them iip too much, 

 and let the last hoeiug be when they >rc in blos- 

 som ; when parboiled, very good for swine, not so 

 good raw — they increase milk in cows. A gen- 

 tleman in Nova-Scotia used to wash, nnd cut 

 them, and give them in plenty to his fattcrtag cat- 

 tle : he informed me, that a bushel would Hake a 

 pound of tallow in a creature so fed. \ 



Sow. If she will not call for the male, Vive 

 her a little bit of rennet. Feed her a few day&ie- 

 fore she pigs, plentifully; it will prevent her de- 

 vouring them. She should pig in Maixh or April 

 if the pigs are to be reared. 



S.EEDS not natural to the climate degenerate — 



By the Editor. 

 PEAT FOR MABIURE. 



A FRIEND has obliged us with an Agricultural 

 Tract, originally published in Edinburgh, entitled 

 " Directions for Prepwing Manure from Peat." 

 As there are few topics of more importance to 

 Auierican Husbandry than that which would teach 

 farmers to convert a substance so abundant as peat, 

 into food for plants, we shall transfer the more 

 material parts of the Essay to which we allude to 

 the pages of the JVew- England Farmer. 



In the Preface, the autlior informs that his ob- 

 ject is to announce to Scotch farmers a discovery 

 of considerable importance to them, — that com- 

 mon peat, fit for fuel, was convertible into a jiu- 

 trescent manure, equally powerful as farm-yard 

 dung in the cultivation of the ordinary crops; and 

 giving instructions for conducting and accomplish- 

 ing the process requisite for that purpose. The 

 process consisted generally in bringing on the pu- 

 trid fermentation in peat-earth, (otherwise naturally 

 in a very gradual and nearly iujperceptible state of 

 decay,) by the inteimi.vture of not less than oue- 

 fourtli part of farm-yard dung, and then giving to 

 the compound, time, massiness, and turning, so as 

 to favor or regulate the fermentation much as in 

 an ordinary dunghill. In this way it was confi- 

 dently stated, that after making all reasonable allow- 

 ance for evaporation and waste of every descrip- 

 tion, the farm manure of Scotland might be tripled, 

 wherever there was access to peat fit for good fuel, 

 and time, industry, and attention bestowed for con- 

 ducting the preparation with tolerable accuracy. 



Since the communication was made, the prepa- 

 ration has been amply subjected to the test of ex- 

 perience in most quarters of Scotland ; and, as far 



should be changed annually, if only from one 

 field to another. A considerable distance b(5tter. »^ ''"^ ""''""" '^^" '^^^ ^''^ nowhere failed, except 

 Flax, and most early seeds, carried 100 miles i "'''"'^ compliance with the directions concerning 

 north, do well— late ones carried as far south, do, " '"'^'^ ^''''" S^°^^b neglected, 

 well also. Corn, barley, oats and seeds of all ^f""" '''««'' ''"'' «°™*= °t^"^'" Prefatory remarks, 

 kinds, should be changed every year; it will pay '''^ ''"^''°'" Proceeds with 



the farmer fourfold for all his trouble in doing it. ' Directions lor making Compost Dunghills from 

 Sheep. Buy them, and indeed all cattle, fron1 j ^^"* *^""*' '*^'"'='' ''"*'<' ''«'=" "^"'^ '"^ Meadowbank 

 a soil poorer than your own. Buy large boned '" Mid-Lothian, and been found to stand cropping, 

 ones, with long, fine, greasy wool. Dry land good ^^''«t''«'- "^y Corn (gram) of all sorts. Hay, Pasture, 

 to feci them on, and so are salt marshes. They Tares and Potatoes ; and whether on Loam, Thin 

 go with lamb 20 weeks. One male sufficient for ^''*>^' S^"'^''' °'" Gvavel, at leas* equally well with 



20 ewes, or more. Propagate those which have 

 large bodies, with long, silky wool. Shady pas- 

 tures, and free from l)ru.sh, best for them. The 

 more a sheep drinks the faster he fats. Once fat, 

 kill them, never will be so fat again. Wash them 

 in a warm day, in the middle, or last of June. 

 Let them run three or four days in the pasture, 

 and sweat in their wool, before you shear them: 

 and then avoid pricking and cutting them. If a 

 cold rain falls soon after shearing, house them 



Fai-m-yard Dung 

 I It is proper to state in the outset some general 

 Facts concerning the preparation of Manure, which 

 Bvery practical farmer should be acquainted with. 

 1. All recently dead animal or vegetable matter, 

 if sufficiently divided, moist, and not chilled nearly 

 D freezing, tends spontaneously to undergo changes, 

 ihat bring it at length to be a fat greasy earth, 

 which, when mixed with sands, clays, and a little 

 phalk or ])ounded limestone, forms what is called 



Black wool is never so strong, nor fine, as white. '^"='' '°'""' °'' S^rden mould 



Salt-hav may be cut one d.iy, cocked the uext,i ^- ^" vegetable matter, when amassed in quan- 

 and housed the third— throw straw between each "'''^^' ""^^'^ changes are at first attended with very 

 layer, in the barn. A iiortion of it excellent fori considerable heat, sometimes proceeding the length 

 cattle in the winter. 1 of inflammation, but which, when not exceeding 



_^ blood heat, greatly favors and quickens the changes, 



I have known men grossly insulted in their af- both in animal matter, and the farther changes in 



fairs, depart peased, at least silent only because vegetable matter that are not sensibly attended with 



they were injured in good language, ruined in ca- ''le production of heat. The changes attended 

 reses, ami kissed while they were struck under with heat are said to happen by a fermentation, 

 the fifth rib. — South. named from what is observed in making ale, wine, 



or vinegar, i-mioks or ace/ous fermentation, and pu- 

 trefactive fermentation from what takes place in 

 dead animals, damp grain, bread, &c. 



3. Besides moderate moisture and heat, and 

 that division of parts which admits the air in a 

 certain degree, circumstances which seem to be 

 necessary to the iiroduction of these changes, stir- 

 ring or mechanical mixture favors them ; and a 

 similar effect arises from the addition of chalk, 

 pounded limestone, lime rubbish of old buildings, 

 or burnt lime brought back to its natural state ; and 

 also of ashes or burnt coal, peat or wood, soap leys, 

 soot, sea shells, and sea-weed. And on the other 

 hand, the changes are stopped or retarded by pres- 

 sure or consolidation, cxcludingair,by much water 

 especially when below the heat of a pool in sum- 

 mer ; by astringents, as tan ; and by caustic sub- 

 stances, as quick lime, acids and pure alkalies, at 

 least till their causticity is mollified, by combina- 

 tions with, and consequently probable loss as a 

 manure, of a part of the animal and vegetable 

 matter to which they are added. 



DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A COMPOST OF PEAT. 



Let the peat-moss of which compost is to be 

 formed, be thrown out of the pit for some weeks 

 or months, in order to lose its redundant moisture. 

 By this means it is rendereif the lighter to carry, 

 and less comjiact and weighty, when made up with 

 fresh dung for fermentation ; and accordingly, less 

 dung is required for the purpose, than if the prepa- 

 ration is made v ith peat taken recently from the pit. 

 The peat taken from near the surface, or at a con- 

 siderable depth, answers equally well. And the 

 more compact the peat, and the fitter to prove 

 good fuel, so much the more promising it is to be 

 prepared for manure. 



Take the peat-moss to a dry spot, convenient for 

 constructing a dung hill, to serve the field to be 

 manured. Lay the cart-loads of it in two rows, 

 and of the dung in a row between them. The 

 dung thus lies on the ana of the compost-dunghill, 

 and the rows of peat should be near enough each 

 other, that workmen in making up the compost 

 may be able to throw them together by the spade. 

 lu making up, let the workmen begin at one end, 

 and at the extremity of the row of dung, (which 

 should not extend quite so far at that end as the 

 rows of peat on each side of it do,) let them lay a 

 bottom of peat, six inches deep and fifteen feet 

 wide, if the ground admits of it. Then throw for- 

 ward, and lay about ten inches of dung above the 

 bottom of jieat ; then add, from the side rows, 

 about six inches of peat ; then four or five of dung, 

 and then six more of peat ; then another thin layer 

 of dung; and then cover it over with peat at the 

 end where it was begun, at the two sides, and 

 above. The compost should not be raised above 

 four feet or four feet and a half high, otherwise it 

 is apt to press too heavily on the under part, and 

 check the fermentation : unless the peat when di-y, 

 be very putly and light; and then {i much greater 

 height is desirable. Neither should it be much 

 lower, otherwise it will jirove wanting in com- 

 pactness, and soon also if the weather is very dry, 

 in the moisture required for the ingredients of 

 which it consists, to act chemically on each other. 

 When a begiiming is thus made, the workmen will 



