60 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ON THE WASTE OF MANUUE. 



The following; article from the Farmer's Journal, an 

 Agricultural paper published in Loncion, will show 

 ■what absurd and ruinous practices are sometimes a- 

 dopted and persevered in, merely from the force of 

 habit. It is said that the French inhabitants of Can- 

 ada, on the hanks of the Pt Lawrence, were formerly 

 accustomed to throw the manure of their cow-yards 

 into the river, or carry it on sledges and leave it on 

 the ice, in order to get it out of the way. The com- 

 munication of the correspondent of the Farmer's 

 Journal, will show that those Canadians were not 

 more slovenly cultivators than some English agricul- 

 turists, though perhaps in point of economy, the lat- 

 ter have somewhat the preference. — Ed. N.E.Farm. 



To Ike Edilor of Iht Farmers'' Journal. 



Lincolnshire. May 27. 1821. 



Sir, — " Ahout this country tliey have a most 

 execrable custom of collecting; the cow dung-, 

 and knearlin^ it up with short straw, to hiirn in- 

 stead of coals Will ye helieve me, ye fnrmers, 

 of Norfolk, &,c. that this is the constant prac- 

 tice ? No, you will sny. it is impo.isilAc ; there 

 cannot be such an application of manure any 

 lahere but amongst tlie Hottentots.''' — Farmer's 

 TotR. 



Thus wrote Arthur Young: half a century ago, 

 and witnessing as we do the improvement and 

 advance in agricultural knowledge, theoretical 

 and practical, it might have been expected 

 there was no spot in the empire where a prac- 

 tice so barbarous, and one to the proprietor so 

 ruinous, could by possibility Iiave continued to 

 exist ; yet strange as it must appear to all eves 

 except those to whom the scene has been fa- 

 miliar from their infancy, the practice is at this 

 momeDt in full activity in every villao'e in mv 

 vicinity. It will be asked, are the proprietors 

 aware of such a manufacture being carried on 

 upon their estates? Are their estates of such a 

 magnitude that their destruction day by day is 

 of no importance to them? Are they absentees, 

 who let their property to middle-men, with no 

 stipulation except that of non-alienation ? Or 

 are the agents so remiss and careless, that the 

 greatest injury and wasle may be committed 

 with impunity? These may be all answered in 

 the negative : the practice' is general upon the 

 estate of the resident and the absentees, and 

 upon those where the least infringement, or 

 supposed injury, would be visited with at least 

 heavy displeasure, if not expulsion from their 

 holdings. Yon suppose fuel is exorbitant in 

 price, and the cottager is driven by dire neces- 

 sity to say with the apothecary, " My poverty, 

 but not my will consents :"— no such thing, fu- 

 el is easy of access, and compared with many 

 counties cheap in price ; the soil is rich, the 

 rents low, and cottagers in the enjoyment of as 

 comparative plenty as in any part of the king- 

 dom. It is vile custom alone ; the practice has 

 descended from father to son, and from prede- 

 cessor to successor, time out of mind ; and that 

 which in any other district would call down 

 the well merited execrations of the agricultu- 

 rist is here not regarded, from its having been 

 constantly the habit of the country. 



In the hope that this may arrest the attention 

 of some proprietor, or agent, who possesses 

 courage and ability to abate the disgraceful 

 nuisaoce, and will rescue this district from the 



reproach so justly iterated by the intelligent | valuable sheep by worms in the head. In some 

 jierson whose detestation of the practice is leases as many as thirty were found lodged in 



o strongly, scornfully, and justly expressed in the 

 quotation above ; I subscribe myself 



A friend to Agricultural Improvement. 



SEEDS. 



Experiment, shewing the impertance of selecting the 



first ripe Seeds, communicated to the Trustees of the 



Massachusetts Agricultural Society, Sept. 1, 1805. — 



BY JAMES FREEMAN. 



To ascertain whether the ripening of seeds 

 can be forwarded, by sowing those which are 

 the earliest ripe, I have made experiments, all 

 of which have been successful, and on several 

 diflferent sorts. It will be sufficient to mention 

 one only. 



In the near 1801, I planted the case-knife 

 beau. The pods first formed, which are com- 

 monly those nearest the root, were reserved ; 

 and when the quantity of a peck was fully ripe, 

 they were gathered on the same day. The 

 largest and lairest of the seeds were planted the 

 next year, and the first formed pods reserved as 

 before. The same melhoil has been pursued 

 without any variation till the present year; by 

 means of which, whilst the bean has not degen- 

 erated m its quality, the ripening of the seeds 

 has been forwarded twenty-six days, as will ap- 

 pear from the following table. 



Planted. Gathered. No. days. 



1801, May 20, Sept. 9, 112 



1802, May 11, Aug. 21, 102 



1803, May 10, Aug. 8, 90 



1804, May 8, Aug. 4, 88 



1805, May 6, July 31, 86 



The first column denotes the time of planting 

 the seeds ; the second, that of gathering the 

 seeds, which were first ripe ; and the third, the 

 number of days which elapsed between the time 

 of planting and the time of gathering. 



As in the second and following years 1 antici- 

 pated the time of planting the seeds (by which 

 means fourteen days have been gained, in addi- 

 tion to the twenty-six noted above) to determine 



the pa^^sages leading from the nnse. Indeed, 

 every cavity of the head, having any direct 

 communication with the nostrils, contained more 

 or less of them. I have some of them in my 

 possession, preserved in spirits. The largest 

 are over half an inch long, and in shape bear 

 considerable resemblance to the common cut 

 worm, often so destructive to our cabbage 

 plants. They are encircled by ten rings. The 

 small ones are white, except the head, which 

 is black. As they increase in size they gradu- 

 ally approach to a dirty black colour. In order 

 to guard against these destructive vermin it ap- 

 peared necessary to ascertain, if possible, the 

 exact time they are deposited in the head. — 

 For this purpose I obtained the aid of a re- 

 spectable physician, and at regular periods pro- 

 cured the heads of sheep from a butcher for 

 dissection. Until the nth inst. we found the 

 heads entirely free from any appearance of the 

 worm. Those discovered on that day, bore ev- 

 ery mark of having been very recently depos- 

 ited. They were barely perceptible to the 

 naked eye ; and, although quite Iivel3', it was 

 onlv bv the aid of a magnifying glass, that we 

 could distinctly observe the characteristic marks 

 of the old worm. They were slightly attached 

 to the membrane, covering the cartilage of the 

 nose, about half way up the bead. Much doubt 

 and uncertainty exists as to the parent of these 

 worm*. The most general opinion is, that it is 

 a long, slender, black fly, something resembling; 

 the wasp. I consider this, however, altogeth- 

 er conjecture. I observe that daubing the 

 sheep's nose with tar is considered as a protec- 

 tion against this unknown enemy. What expe- 

 rience I have bad, is rather calculated to 

 strengthen this opinion. I have always made 

 free use of tar amongst my sheep ; and I do 

 not know that 1 ever lost one by the worms in 

 the head. Many of the sheep owners in (his 

 country consider them the most formidable en- 

 emy (dogs excepted) we have to contend with. 

 My present intention is to continue my exami- 

 nations, and watch their progress and move- 



what effect later planting would produce, by ments, as far as practicable. Every day's ex- 



giving the seeds more advantage from the heat 

 of summer, in the years 1804 and 1805, I put 

 into the ground a quantity of seed, about a week 

 later than that wliich vvtis first planted. The 

 event which took place, is exhibited in the fol- 

 lowing; table. 



Planted. Gathered. No. days. 



1804, May 14, 



1805, May 13, 



Aug. 0, 

 Aug. G, 



8G 



85 



As very little time has been gained in the 

 present and in the preceding year, I suppose 1 

 have now reached, or nearly reached, the nc 

 plus ultra. I delay not, therefore, to communi- 

 cate to the Trustees of the Agricultural Society 

 the result of an experiment, which co'ifirms the 

 important truth,. — ihat to ensure an early an 



periencc gives strength to the conviction, that 

 in a few years wool will be a leading article of 

 export from our side the mountain. At present 

 prices, with us, the labour necessary to pro- 

 duce twenty dollars worth of flour would pro- 

 dilce fifty dollars worth of wool. Wool can be 

 taken to an eastern market for five per cent. — 

 The flour we now send to your city, our near- 

 est steady market, is half sunk by carriage. — 

 When those facts are fairly weighed, you will 

 not think it strange, that in this section of 

 country, every thing relating to Ihat invaluable 

 animal, the fine wooled sheep, is viewed with 

 llie deepest interest. It is hoped, t'rom the 

 spirit of enquiry that now prevails, that some 

 useful facts may be elicited. Should this be the 



good crop, the seeds reserved for future sowing '^•'''^' J'°" ^^^"^ '"=?•''=.' '° 'f^'' ''■'""' ^^ '''S'*'" 



should be those, which are the first ripe, and 

 which are, in other respects, the most perfect. 



TO THF. EDITOR OV THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



WORMS IN THE HEAD OF SHEEP. 



Washington,. lug. 27, 1824. 

 Dear Sin, — During the last winter and 

 si)ringsome of my neighbours lost a number of I traordiiiary crops of wheat, rye, oats and hay 



1 am, Sir, very sincerely yours, &c. 



ALEXANDEK REED. 

 P. S. Until yesterday, we have notliad rain suf- 

 ficient to wet the ground half an inch deep, for 

 near 6 weeks. This severe drought has reduced 

 our corn cro|)s fnlly .' rd. We shall have but little 

 buckwheat and no turnips. VVe have the consola- 

 tion, however, of having got up, in line order, ex- 



