22 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



end, and to cut the residue into two, three, or 

 four pieces according to the remaining numlier 

 of" eyes. Its utility is based njion the supposi- 

 tion, and I may say the fact, that where several 

 Stocks grow close together, the vegetable will 

 be of a diminutive size; and that the discarded 

 slice, which has from three to six eyes, may 

 be correctly compared to the tips and butts ol 

 an ear of seed corn, which are rejected as use- 

 less, because they produce invariably sickly 

 plants. The best potatoe soil is one which is 

 cool, moist, and light, such as is afforded by 

 swamps abounding in vegetable alluvion, and 

 well drained. The seed should not be planted 

 so deep, nor the (dants earthed so high, as to 

 exclude the salutary inflrience of air and light ; 

 but frequent stirrings of the ground, *vith the 

 plough or cultivator, are highly beneficial. 



3. Beans may be cultivated in drills or in 

 hills. Thoy are a valuable crop; and with 

 good care are as profitable as a wheat crop. 

 They leave the soil in good tilth. The China 

 bean, with a red eye, is to be preferred. They 

 ripen early, and are very productive. I culti- 

 vated beans the last year, in three diflferent 

 ways, viz. in iiiils, in drills, and sowed broad- 

 cast. 1 need not describe the first, which is a 

 well known process. 1 had an acre in drills, 

 which was the best crop 1 ever saw. My man- 

 agement was this : on an acre of light ground, 

 where the clover had buen frozen out the pre- 

 ceding winter, 1 spread eight loads of long ma- 

 nure, and immediately ploughed and hnrroived 

 the grounil. Drills or furrows were then made 

 with a light plough, at the distance of two ;md 

 a half feet and the Leans thrown along the fur- 

 rows about the 25th of May, by the hand, at the 

 rate of at least a bushel on the acre. 1 then 

 guaged a double mould board plough, which 

 was passed once between the rows, and was fol- 

 lowed by a light one horse roller, which flatten- 

 ed ilic lidges. The crop was twice cleaned of 

 weeds, by the hoe, but not earthed. The pro- 

 duct was more than forty-eight bushels, by ac- 

 tual measurement. The beans brought me one 

 dollar the bushel last fall. The third experi- 

 ment was likewise upon a piece of ground 

 where the clover had been killed. It was 

 ploughed about the first of June, the seed sown 

 like pea", upon the first furrow, and harrowed 

 in. The drought kipt them back, but about 65 

 rods of ground, on which the experiment was 

 made, gave a product of twelve and a half bu- 

 shels, the crop was loo ripe when it was har- 

 vested, and as it was cut with a scythe, I estimat- 

 ed that al about two and a half bushels were 

 left upon the ground. No labour was bestow- 

 ed upon them I'rom the time they w ere sown till 

 they vrere harvested. 



4 and 6. Peas and Oals, are lioiha prellysure 

 crop upon a sod. The ground should be plough- 

 ed in the fall, and the seed harrowed in as ear- 

 ly as possible. A neat way of putting in either 

 of these crop? is, where stones ai;d roots do not 

 interfere, to turn the furrow slice six inches 

 broad, and six deep, and lay it in an angle of 

 45 degrees upun the preceding slice. A field 

 thus ploughed, presents a continuity of ridges 

 five inches high, and six inches slope, each way. 

 Sow the oats or peas — the seed falls naturally 

 full into the cavities between the ridges — then 

 harroiv with a light seed harrow, across the fur- 

 rows. The ineijualities are thus reduced, the crass 

 upon tlieed^^c of the furrow slice perfectly smo- 



thered, the seed covered with fine earth, and it 

 comes up with the regularity of a drilled crop. 

 The Trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society, recommend oats as the best crop upon 

 an inverted sward, and as the first of a six years' 

 rotation ; and they recommend that it be cut in 

 the milk for fodder. An acre which would yield 

 30 bushels, might, if cut in the milk, give two 

 to three tons of fodder. In this way, they are 

 unquestionably the most profilalde ; and when 

 intended to be cut green, five or six bushels 

 should be sown on an acre. 



As a general rule, peas and oats constitute 

 the best fallow crop, upon cold stiff soils, par- 

 ticularly if the ground is not manured. Upon 

 loams and sands, beans, and, with manure, maize 

 and potatoes, are preferable as fallow crops. 

 \^Aincrican Partner. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SAIURDA'V, AUGUST 14, 1824. 



FARMFAVS CALFJ^DAR. 



FLAX, it is or soon will be the proper time 

 to pull your flax. Perhaps in some place? with- 

 in the sphere of the circulation of our paper 

 flax is already pulled, while, in others it is not 

 yet sufficiently ripened. But as we can not 

 adopt any one article to all places, circumstan- 

 ces, situations and capacities, some persons 

 may find it convenient not to pay much atten- 

 tion to this article, at least till the next season 

 for gathering flax. But, though our directions 

 may be "laid by on the shelf" we hope they 

 may not prove useless, (especially, to those 

 who keep files of the New England Farmer;) 

 even to those who have no immediate occasion 

 to follow our prescriptions. 



Flax, which it is intended to prepar'? by water- 

 rotting should be pulled as soon as the blossoms 

 have generally fallen off. Some think that the 

 harl is stronger at this time than it is afterwards, 

 as none of the oily particles have yet passed 

 into the seed. It is undoubtedly better for the 

 soil that it be pulled at this time, than when the 

 seed is ripe, as the longer it stands to ripen the 

 more oily particles it will draw from the earth. 

 In pulling flax, care should be tHken not to mix 

 long and short together in the same hands, but 

 to keep all of the same length together by itself 



As soon as your flax is pulled and tied up in 

 hands, it should be put into the water without 

 delay. A pond is preferable tp running water, 

 both as it is warmer, and not so apt to deprive 

 the flax of its oily and glutinous substance. In 

 four or five days, according to the warmth of 

 the water, it will be time to take it out. But 

 that the true time may not be missed, it must be 

 caretullv watche<l, and trials made by drying 

 and breaking a little of it, that so the harl may 

 not get too much weakened. 



Alter it is taken out, and has lain diipping a 

 few hours, it must be spread on a grassy spot, 

 and dried. If .»! should happen to be not water- 

 ed enough, the want may be made up by letting 

 it lie in the dews for a few nights; and if a 

 gentle rain happen to fall on it, it will be the 

 whiter and cleaner. 



The flax that goes to seed should not stand 

 till it appears quite brown, nor till the seed be 

 quite ripe. It is not necessary on account of 

 the seed, because it will ripen after pulling. 

 When the leaves are falling from the stalks 

 aud the stalks begin to have a bri^^ht yellow 



c(.li.ur, the lolls just beginning to have a brovm- 

 ish cast is the right time for pulling. 



The rind is to be loosened from the stalk by 

 spreading it on the grass to receive the nightlj 

 de.ws. When it is done enough, the rind wilj 

 apjicar separated from the stalk at the slender 

 branching jiarls near the top ends. When it is 

 almost done enough it should be turned over 

 once or twice. 



It is, we believe, the usual practice, to dry 

 the flax, by spreading it in the field immediate- 

 ly after pulling and not to house it till some 

 time in September; and then to beat out the 

 seed and Sjiread the fiax for rotting. But a writ- 

 er in the Domestic F.ncyclopedia, (from which 

 the foregoing observations are in part extracted) 

 objects to this mode of management because it 

 often interferes with fall feeding; and when 

 spread so late in the season it is "necessary 

 that it should lie tlie longer, the weather being 

 cool. Sometimes it has been overtaken by 

 snows. 



" I prefer" says the writer, "the method I 

 hafc lately gone into, as it saves labour ; which 

 is to sfvepd tfiejlax as soon as it is pulled. I do 

 it on a spot where the grass is not very short, 

 which [ireventssun burning. As the weather is 

 h»f it will be done in about ten days or a fort- 

 night. 1 then bundle and beat the seed off, and 

 lay it up in a dry place till winter." This mode 

 of^ managing flax, has not, we believe, been 

 adopted by New England farmers, and we do 

 not pretend to decide whether it would be ex- 

 pedient. We should hesitate to adopt it when 

 the saving of the seed is an object : as we 

 should be apprehensive lest the seed should 

 gertninate, or spoil, while the flax is rotting. 

 We, therefore, merely submit the subject for 

 consideration. 



TAKE CARE OF VOIR FRESH MEAT. Dr. Coopef^ 



in the last edition of Willich's Domestic Ency- 

 clopedia says, " Meat can be preserved fresh in 

 hot weather. 1. By covering it with fresh char- 

 coal powder in a cool cellar. 2. By covering 

 it with molasses. 3. By keeping it in a vessel 

 wherein carbonic acid gas has excluded the 

 common air. 4. By folding it in a cloth dipt in 

 vinegar wherein pepper has been infused. 5. 

 By wiping it dry, and enveloping it in melted 

 suet" [or tallow]. A good mode as any, per- 

 ha(rs, may be to let it down in a pretty deep 

 well nearly to a level of the surface of the wa- 

 ter, in which situation it will keep some days 

 longer tlian it would above ground. In some 

 countries meat is preserved by hanging it high 

 in the air, suspended near the top of a tall tree, 

 or a tower, &c. above the ordinary flight of in- 

 sects. Vessels at nmhor, might, no doubt pre- 

 serve meat fresh for a considerable time by run- 

 ning it up to the top of a mast. But wo are 

 disposed to guess that in most ca>ies, the best pos- 

 sible mode of effecting this object would be to 

 wrap it in stout brown paper, or coarse and 

 loosply woven cloth, and put it down, embedded 

 in charcoal, broken into small pieces but not 

 reduced to powder. See N. E. Farmer, vol. i. 

 page 275. 



FOIiKlO.N. 

 A Convention was eonrluileil brtwceii the United 

 States anil Russia on tlu- t7th .ipril last, Mr. Middle- 

 ton on thi part of the United States, and C oiuit Nessel- 

 rode and Mr. I'olitica on the part ol RiiF«ia. The 

 couveDt>»a coniiste of six. articles, ia which all the 



