334 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 1, 1S33. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 1. ISSS. 



FARMER'S WORK FOR MAY, 



lAtceme. Columella estimated this plniit as the 

 choicest of all fodder because it lasted many years, 

 and bore being cut down four, five or six times a 

 year. It enriches, he says, the land on which it 

 grows, fattens the cattle fed with it, and is often a 

 remedy for sick cattle. Columella's observations 

 were adapted to the climate of Italy, and lucerne 

 is not so productive in colder countries. Loudon 

 says, though lucerne was so much esteemed by 

 the ancients, and has been long cultivated to ad- 

 vantage in France and Switzerland, it has yet 

 found no great reception in England. If any good 

 reason can be given for this, it is, that lucerne is 

 a less hardy plant than red clover, requires three 

 or four years before it comes to its full growth, 

 and is for these and other reasons ill adapted to 

 enter into general rotations. 



The soil for lucerne must be dry, and inclining 

 to sand with a subsoil not inferior to the surface ; 

 unless the subsoil be good and deep it is not fit 

 for lucerne. The ploughing should be deep and 

 thorough, and English writers advise to hury a 

 coat of manure a foot below the surface. Such is 

 the practice in Guernsey, where lucerne is highly 

 estimated. 



Capt. J. SwETT, of Roxbury, has cultivated this 

 grass to good advantage. In September, 1831, this 

 gentleman sent a sample to the Mass. Hor. Soc. 

 and observed, " This grass is of the fourth crop 

 this season, and according to my estimate has pro- 

 duced at the rate of about 3000 lbs. per acre each 

 crop when cut and dried. I have raised this 

 grass the last three years and find that my horses 

 and cows like it much. I prepare my land in the 

 following manner: have it ploughed twice, har- 

 rowed well, and all the weeds and rubbish taken 

 from the land, then sow about 30 lbs. of seeds to 

 the acre." 



The quantity of seed made use of in Europe is 

 from 15 to 20 lbs. to an acre, though Mr. Swett 

 thinks more would be better. The Hon. Robert 

 R. Livingstone has cultivated lucerne with much 

 success. He advises, as the result of his experi- 

 ments, 1. Never to sow on ground which is not 

 perfectly pulverized. 2. Not to sow till the ground 

 has acquired a degree of warmth friendly to vege- 

 tation, viz. in May. 3. To sow with no crop that 

 will probably lodge. 4. If sown with buck wheat 

 to apply no gypsum or other manure till the wheat 

 is ofi". 5. If the quantity sown is small and the 

 farmer can aflbrd to lose a crop, to give the 

 ground one turn in the autumn, another in April, 

 harrowing fine, and a third the beginning of May, 

 and then if the weather be mild and warm bow, if 

 the ground be in perfect tilth ; otherwise give it 

 another ploughing. 



When lucerne turns yellow it should be mowed, 

 and the plants will come up free from disease. 



For the Nm' En^hml Farmer. 

 BTEW SORT OP GRASS SEEDS. 



Mr. Fessenoe.v. Sir. — I send you the grass 

 seed I spoke to you of. It came to mc from 

 France, under the name of " Spanish Grass." It 

 is a clover, but the flower differs much in form 

 from our red clover, though the color of it is the 

 same as ours. Your obedient servant, 



T. H. Perkins. 



We are much obliged by this favor, and are 

 hapi)y to perceive that the generous donor of an 

 elegant Mansion House, for an Asylum for the 

 Blind, does not overlook the interests of cultiva- 

 tors. The seeds are of a kind new to us, and of 

 which we have not been able to find any account 

 in books on agriculture. We should be glad to 

 distribute them in small parcels to such farmers 

 and gardeners as would undertake their culture. 



Improved Potatoes. We have received a pres- 

 ent of a Barrel of Potatoes, which were grown by 

 Benjamin Cooper, of Camden, N. Jersey. These 

 are much better, as seed potatoes, than those 

 which are raised further north. Potatoes are im- 

 proved by taking the seed from the south. Indian 

 corn by taking the seed from the north. Mr. 

 Cooper's potatoes are not only very good, but 

 coming from the south, and from the best selec- 

 tions, arc still better for seed, than use. We will 

 give them in small parcels, to any persons who 

 wish to cultivate them. 



A Durham short hoiii Bull. A magnificent bull 

 of the improved Sliort horned breed may be seen 

 for a few days in a small building on Union Street, 

 near the city scales. He is said to be " the most 

 splendid animal of the kind ever exhibited," and 

 ^vc have never seen his superior. He was raised 

 in Greenland, N. H. is owned by Mark Pearce, 

 Esq. of Portsmouth, and is exhibited by Mr. Amos 

 Sheldon, Inspector of Beef, for the State of New 

 Hampshire. Call and look at him. 



The Genessee Farmer states that "Mr. J.Buel, 

 of Albany, has, at our solicitation, consented to 

 aid us in the Editorial department of the Farmer, 

 far as his other avocations will permit." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HOWARD'S PLOUGHS. 



Mr. FESSE.NnEiN, — I feel it my duty to the public 

 as well as just to the mechanic to bear testimony 

 to the excellence of Howard's Ploughs. I fear 

 their comparative value is not generally understood 

 so much as it should be. I have followed the 

 Plough for 44 years and have used those of almost 

 evei-y description. I began to use Howard's Ploughs 

 nineteen years ago, and I have been struck not 

 only with their superiority over every otherplougli, 

 but with the improvements which he has made in 

 his own invention. I have purchased two of these 

 Ploughs this spring, and now state that by the use 

 of them I have saved in labor, strength of team 

 and time, one-third of what was formerly required 

 to do a day's work. And I advise every farmer 

 who has an old ])lo\igh of other manufacture, to 

 throw it aside and parchase a new one of How- 

 ard's latest improvement, and a few days labor 

 will satisfy him that he has made no sacrifice — but 

 a very considerable saving. A Farmer. 



HORTICULTURE. 



There is now in flower, in the garden of George 

 Robertson, Esq. Ardgovan Square, a splendid spe- 

 cimen of the Crinum Amabile. The plant is a 

 native of the East Indies, and measures one foot 

 eight inches round the stem ; leaves from three to 

 four feet long and six inches broad ; flowerstalk 

 three feet long ; the flower is one foot six inches 

 in circumference ; umbel flowers at the top one 

 foot eight inches diameter ; the flower changes 

 from a crimson to a beautifid pink color, which 

 surpasses that magnificent exotic, the Dorinnthis 

 Excelsia, which the late Mr. Henderson, gardener 

 at Woodhall, w'as so successful in flowering. — 

 Greenock Advertiser. 



TO ALLAY THIRST. 



Maxy facts testify the action of cutaneous or 

 external absorption. It is proved by direct exper- 

 iment that the human hand is capable of imbibing, 

 in a ipiarter of an hour, an ounce and a half of 

 warm water, which, for the whole body, is at the 

 rate of six or seven poimds per hour. An interest- 

 ing narrative is on record, of a ship's crew, who 

 were exposed for several days in an open boat ; 

 they had consumed all their water ; they had no 

 fluid of any kind which they could drink ; they 

 soon begun to suffer from thirst; the feeling at 

 length became intolerable, and the drinking of sea 

 water was soon found to increase it to intensity. 

 When nearly exhausted, they were exposed dur- 

 ing several hours, to a heavy shower of rain. As 

 soon as their clothes became thoroughly wet their 

 thirst began to abate, and before the rain had 

 ceased, their thirst was gone. They did not fail 

 to profit by this experience. From this time, 

 cnili man, as soon as he began to feel thirsty, dip- 

 ped his shirt in the sea-water, and wore it next 

 his skin, which had the invariable effect of remov- 

 ing his thirst, the absorbents taking up the parti- 

 cles of water, but rejecting the saline matter 

 dissolved in it. 



ITEMS OF INTELLIGENCE. 



An earliii|uakc occurred in llie ishmd of Si. Christopher on 

 tlic nighl ot'lhc ytli of February, and frequent shocks occurred 

 for eight subsequent days, during which lime the inhabitanls 

 were kept in a slale of conslanl terror. All Uie stores in Si. 

 Christopher's were closed, and many of the residents fled for 

 protection on board the vessels in Ihe liarbor. Also, many 

 dwelling-houses, stores, &c. were much injured in Basseterre. 



Lighting a City. It is proposed to light Ihe cily of Philadel- 

 phia by the erection of a tower for burning tar and anthracite 

 coal. It is believed by Ihe projectors of the scheme, " Ihal, 

 with tar and coal, burnt at a proper elevation, aided by suitable 

 reflectors, a light might be obtained at less than one half lh» 

 present cost of lighting the city, which would equal the light 

 occasioned several years since by the burning of Masonic Hall, 

 which shone through the windows of Col. Powell's country-seat, 

 on the west side of the river Schuylkill, lo that degree Ihat a 

 person read a newspaper in Ihc darkest part of the room," &,c. 

 Perhaps the lime is coming in which a large city will be lighted 

 bv one blaze, and warmed by one fire. 



t^uecessfid application of Anthracite Coal in generating Steam . 

 It has for some time been understood in this cily, that Dr. Nott 

 had introduced imporlaut improvements into Ihe furnace of 

 Messrs. H. Nott & Co., in Washinglon Street, and that Ihe 

 boilers there made use of, were so constructed and adjusted, 

 as not lo be destroyed by the action of an anlhracile coal fire. 



Having examined for ourselves the reported improvcmenls, 

 we think it but justice lo say ihat we are entirely convinced of 

 Iheir utility and importance, as we think every reasonable man 

 will be who will take the trouble lo examine them. 



An opinion has somehow extensively prevailcii, that anthra- 

 cite coal was unfit for generating steam, on account of its not 

 producing the requisite flame. But aftsr having seen extensive 



