INEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBI 



VOL. III. 



L13IIEU BY JOHN B. RUSiSEl.L, ROGERS' BUlLDhNGS. CONGRKSS STREET, BOSTOi^. — THOMAS Q. Fi:SSF.NDF.N-, EOlT QfR. 



No. loT 



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1824. 



©riflinal CTomniumtnttonx 



THE COMMITTEE'S 



i;iC4)ort on iF.irms in E*srv. j 



The Truster? of lbs Esses A<^ricultiiriil So- 



the 



I Tlie fixTin of Mr Jacob Pfuifv, in Newbury, 

 I under tbc liireclion ot bis son, Mr Putnam Per- 

 { i.F.v, contains about lOO ncres, and is well r.ul- 



atlonlion nearly as much valuable manure can 

 be made from the urine as from the dung of 

 (he cattle. For more particular information on 



tivalod. The mode adopted by bim of (lrniiiin<r ii,is gnbjecl, the Committee would refer to the 



bis salt marches, and llic jiociiliar manner ol 

 conslnictinglbc ditches, is worthy of parliculai- 

 attention. The ditch is made wider at the bot- 



fletv having: thought that premiums '•"•>';<= i ,„,„ ,i,an at the to(.— sav about fourteen inches 

 best cullivaled firm«, romi>rehepi!m;,' H'^i-em j .^^ ,1^^ bottom and «even inches at the top.— 

 every branch ol husbandry, would tend '?'"■ | Ducbes of this kind mav be made with a ditcb- 

 lru<lnce {m,>roicmcnts — \he great obioct ol *|>e , j^,,, ,.,,;,,. .|^, PQ„,ir„r.|p,! for the purpose, 



ftistilution— more eflrclually than promn.ms tor ^^^-^^^l^j^^ .^ ihe form of the luiife used for 



Dk.nJa.min PARKEr,, of Bradford, Aaro.v Pf.p.i.fv, 

 of Boxiord, Danif.l Adams, of Newliury, Na-_ 

 Iha.mel Ff.i.tok, jr. and John \V. PiiorTOn, ot 

 Danvers. And it being; su|iposed that much 

 Xisel'ul information might be oldained by the in- 

 spection of other farins, tlian tboj^c wl>icli had 

 been entered iHr premiums, the Trustees ac- 

 cordintjly aslvised the Committee to make such 

 Jnspcclions, and diiecled that tlicir expenses 

 should be jiaid from the funds of the Society. 

 Hence the Report of tlie Committee will beex- 

 temled beyond the immediate object of their 

 appointtnent. 



In Ihe month of September last, the Commit- 

 lee vis:ted most of ibe towns in the County,! 

 and examined particularly such farms as they 

 were invited to by the proprietors. They | 

 would have been pleased to have made their 

 visits more extensive, but did not feel lliem- 

 selves at liberty to intrude upon gentlrraen 

 without an invitation. The whole nimibe* ol 

 farms that they visited is about twenty. Only 

 two ol" these were regularly entered lor pre- 

 miums. U|>on the examination that they have 

 had opportunity to make, of the stale ot agri- 

 culture in this Coiinty, they saw much lo ad- 

 mire, and some things to censure. Willi niiuiy 

 of our farmers a spirit of improvement seems 

 . lo have taken root, and bids fair lo flourisii and 

 yield an abundant harvest. There are others 

 who till their lands as their falliers have done 

 before them, — and seem not lo k> ow that any 

 other method is practicable. Tbey (xMinil 

 hedges of berry bearing bushes to grow aio\uHi 

 their fields, as if for the gratification of llieir 

 children; — their wet meadoivs to lie unjiroduc- 

 tive, for want of draining; — their swine to 

 range the roads, lo ihe annoyance of the pub- 

 lic, wliere they gather a little Ibod and waste 

 their rich manure ; — and they plant from year 

 to year (as had been done from generation to 

 generation) in the same grounds; — partly, per- 

 haps, from habil, nnd partly bscause their cul- 

 tivation is easier than others that have always 

 remained unbroken by the plough. But these 

 errc'ieous practices are fast disappearing, and 

 n spirit of enterprise and imnrovomciit is 

 taking their place. This interest will be best 

 exemplitied by h statement of a few of the 

 most prominent features that arre«icd our at- 

 tention in the farms that we visited ; mention- 

 ing those that are peculiar to each, and passing 

 by those that are common to all. The several 

 faims will be noticed iu the order they were 

 vioittd. 



ol.str'.ictions in the way of mowing and rak- 

 ing as wider ditches. They answer oven a 

 belter ]>uriiese in draining, for the toj) being 

 narrow, it is lesf liable to be filled up liy loose 

 stibslances, floating U|)on the marshes. In a 

 \erv si'.ort time the sides approach so near each 

 other, ns to alVord no obstruction whatever to 

 tiie ordinary labour upon the land; and the 

 ditches may he crossed iiy teams with perfect 

 sal'etv. By a little additional labour the top 

 sod may be taken out in such form, as to be 

 placed back, like I lie key stone to an arch ; and 

 ttiis conipletely i)rotects the ditch from being 

 tilled up, and leaves Ihe surlace of the marsh 

 . ulire. In this way natural bridges may be 

 ronslrucled in every pari, wh(;re it is necessa- 

 ry lo [>ass ; or the whole ditch may be covere 



Letters of Agricola," written by John Young, 

 Esq. of Nova Scotia, and to that valuable paper, 

 the New England Farmer, which ought to be 

 in the hands of rxtery farmer. 



The firm of Capt. Paul Kent, situate on 

 Kent's Island, (so called) in Newbury, contains 

 about 250 acres. Capt. Kent has paid consider- 

 able atlenti<m to the cultivation of root crops, 

 and is making some interesting experiments to 

 a'^cerlain their comparative value. Of those 

 that he has tried, lie prefers the common blood 



eet and the mangel wuilzel ; — but which of 

 the two he has not fully determined. From his 

 experience it would seem that there is not so 

 gieat a difference in their value, as is usually 

 estimated ;— the mangel wurlzel being gener- 

 ally considered superiotir. Capt. Kent hits re- 

 claimed several acres of his salt marsh by dik- 

 ing and ditching the same; and believes that 

 in a (ew years this will be found to be some of 

 bis most valuable limd for English grass.* At 

 present his experiment is not sufficiently ma- 

 tured to warrant an o[iinion of its utility. But 

 if it should succeed etpiiil to his expectations, 

 it will he a subject worthy particular attention 

 by Ihe fanners of Essex, who have so many 

 thousand acres of bind of this descrijition, the 

 present produce of which scarcely pays the la- 

 iiour of collecting it. The draining of the 



with bot little extra lab.nur ; and the improved I ^;,,.5V.gs ,viil also afl'ord airinexhaustible source 

 :ippe;iraiice of tlie iriarsh would \;ell pay 'or j „f if^ntprials for enriching the uplands. The 

 ■Ms labour. The value of these ditclics is | opinion of many of the farmers of Newbury 

 known to every farmer nvIio has any expert- . ;,r,d its vicini.- (and here are to be found soiue 

 eiice on the suiiject. It is said the produce ol Lf the best farmers in the counly) is greatly in 

 the buid is ol'lcii doubled and trebled, in the favour of the u«e of marsh mud as a manure. — 

 course of a few 3'ears. — 'Y\\e very line appear-| Some have found it to answer a valuable pur- 

 pose by hauling it into heaps and permitting 

 It lo lie until rotten, and then spreading it upon 



ance of 'he orch-rds on this farm, and the un- 

 usual size of Ihe fruit led to the inquiry of the 

 means by which ibis was ctfected. iMr Perley 

 attributes it princii'ally lo his mode of pruning 

 the trees. This he does every year. And 

 takes otr a much larger iiroporlion of the 

 brandies than is usually done. By pertnilting 

 the sun and air to have free access to every branch 

 cif the tree, the fnik will be richer, larger, fair- 

 er, and more 'abunrlant. This theory deri\es 

 support from the fact that the fruit on the south- 

 ern side of a tree is generally much stiperioui 

 to that on the northern. Another eflect of a»i- 

 nual prvning is to produce annual bearing ; and 

 this Ml Perley states to have been the case 

 with his trees, and those in the vicinity, that 

 have been treated in a similar manner. 



Several acres of cold; wet iTieadnn land on 

 this farm, have been reclaimed and remlered 

 productive of the best upland hay, ly ditching 

 and turning the water from il, and then using 

 the plough and harrow, without any manure 

 whatever. 



Mr Perley b:',s made some interesting exper- 

 iments upon manure ; an<l stales that he finds 

 much advantage in conveying the «r»ie of his 

 cattle, upon corajjost heaps of earth and marsh 

 mud. This is a piactice gonernlly neglected 

 by our farmers. It is believed that by [iropei 



the land. The best way, undoubtedly, is to 

 place it in a situation, where the cattle or hogs 

 will assist in destroying its texture, and enrich- 

 ing it. 



On the comparative value of root crops and 

 Indian corn as food lor swine, Capt. Kent has 

 made soine exper.ments, ;ind believes that corn 

 is much to be preferred in fattening swine. — 

 Wi- hope the .'jociety will soon be favoured with 

 a minute detail of these experiments; for it is 

 Iroiii practical men, like Capt. Kent, that we 

 derive our most solid and useful instructions in 

 agriculture. 



The farm of Gorham Parsons, Esq. in New- 

 bury, is in a high state of cultivation, is well 

 managed, and affords many illustrations of suc- 

 cessful experiments. The swine on this place 

 are among the be«t that we have seen. They 

 have long lieen Celebrated, and as a proof of 

 their excellence, the pork usually commands a 

 better price in the market, than the common 

 breeds. Tbey are fed principally on vegetables, 

 and it is the uniform practice on this farm to 



* By English grass, and English iiay, we mean the 

 mixtri plants of spire grasses, clover, herds gra^s, &c. 

 which usually grow on our btst upland*, and coBsti- 

 tiUe our merchiantable hay. 



