186 



NE,VV ENGLAND FAHMEK. 



[Jan. 7, 



potatoe or small nub of corn, and at the same \ of June 1 824, 1 plonglied a small p\ccd of green- 

 lime take no notice of a large dropping of cow 'sward, rather light, harrowed it wilh a short- 

 manure near his kitchen door. It is a great and ^ toothed harrow, sowed one peck of oats, the 



instructive command, — 

 and let nothing be lost." 



Of late years, since the words soiling of cattle 

 have been so familiar, I had a particular wish 

 to know how late in the season it would answer 

 to sow barley and oats, and particularly millet. 

 1 read several authors on the subject, but none 

 seemed to exactly come up to the point. I wrote 

 to the I-ditor of the New Enirlanil Farmer on 

 the subject of Millet, who very politely <>ave me 

 some valuable information, and advised me, as 1 

 understood him, to find out myself, and commu- 

 nicate it to others.* Accordingly, near the last 



About the 20th of July, 1 took off a piece of 

 Spring rye, rather more than an acre, the laud 

 of a sandy kind, and in pretty good heart. I 



Pick up the fragments, remainder with flat lurni|is, harrowed again, and | ploughed in the stubble as soon as was conven- 

 rolled it with a large roller — and then gave it a, lent, an<l attended my other small farmin'^ busi- 



[remarks by the editor.] 

 * We believe that our correspondent did not under- 

 stand us as regards the passage alludtd to. The article, 

 to which it is presumed he has reference was published 

 in our paper, vol. ii. page 315. By that article inform- 

 ation was requested relative to a particular crop of iMil- 

 let, raised on the Farm of the Hon. Josiah Quincy. It 

 was not convenient for the Editor to leave his office, and 

 go into the country for the purpose of making personal 

 inquires, relative to that crop. We were, however, so- 

 licitous to oblige our correspondent as far as it could bt 

 done, without neglecting other duties, incumbent on us, 

 which made it necessary to remain at our post. We ac 

 cordingly published an article on the subject of the cul- 

 ture of Millet, written by Col. John Hare PowEr,, an 

 eminent and scientific agriculturist of Pennsylvania ; 

 and referred our correspondent to several other articles 

 on the same subject, which had previously been publish- 

 ed in our paper ; and concluded our notice as follows. 

 '•We should be glad to receive some account of the 

 culture, application &c.of this plant, as well on the farm 

 of the Hon. Mr Quiucy, alluded to above, as on the es- 

 tates of other New England cultivators, and shall ever 

 be happy to publish all Ihe information on the subject 

 we can obtain." That is we gave and referred to all 

 the information on the subject which we could give on 

 the spur of the occasion, and promised to give more as 

 soon as we could obtain it, without i-elinquishing other 

 and indispensable pursuits for that specific purpose. 



With regard to the soiling of caltle, we agree with 

 our correspondent that for certain purposes, and to a 

 certain amount it is useful, and particularly for worlcing 

 oxen and horses. The following remarks of the Hon. 

 Mr Lowell, which were published in the Massachusetti 

 Agricultural Repository for June 1823, are well worthy 

 the attention of every cultivator who proposes to put 

 this improvement in practice. 



" Some persons have doubted the applicability of the 

 system of soiling to our country. By soiling, we mean, 

 (as some of our readers may not be acquainted with the 

 term, which we must confess i» a barbarous one, having 

 no sort of connexion wilh its real meaning) the feeding 

 cattle either in the barn or barn-yard thro' the summer 

 months with fresh cut green food. Mr Quincy has very 

 fully and very satisfactorily proved that it can be profi- 

 tably done in our country — that its cost, compared to 

 Its usffulness, is very small. 



" We agree, hiiwever, with many farmers, tliat it is 

 not girnera//^ applicable to our present state of agricul- 

 ture. It is of great use where fencing stulT is dear — 

 where grass is of great value — where cultivation is car- 

 ried to great perfection— where population treads very 

 close on the heels of production. But in our countiv, 

 «ven in the populous parts of New England, (we say it 



top-dressing with (ilaster. The season being 

 rather dry, the crop was as good as 1 had a right 

 to expect, but rather light. The oats were cut 

 the fore part of September, and made several 

 fodderings for my small stock 



ness. On the 26thof Jidy, after levelling it with 

 a light harrow, sowed part of the field wilh fiat 

 turnips, and rolled it with ahorse roller. It be- 

 ing very ilry, I had no expectation that the seed 

 would sprout Onlil we had some rain. On the 



In the beginning of July I took off a crop of 31st, I sowed 3 pecks of oats, soaked and ohs 



hay, and ploughed a small piece. The sward 

 was thick, and had been mowed for several 

 years, and manured \vith plaster of Paris at that 

 season. It was very dry with us. it jdonghed 

 extremely hard, but a good iron ploughjinswer- 

 ed the purpose. It was first rolled, and then 

 harrowed, as above. On the morning of the lOlh 

 it looked like rain — put on a small coat of ma- 

 nure — sowed one peck of oats which had been 

 soaked in warm water, and coated with plaster 

 of Paris. The remainder ivas sowed with tur- 



tered as before. On the 2d of August, 1 sowed 

 the remainder of the field with 2 quarts of mil- 

 let.t About this time, we had several small 

 showers of rain. The seeds were soon up, and 

 grew finely. The rye that was scattered out, 

 seemed to take the lead. The most forward 

 heads were in blow by the middle of .September. 

 By this time, the mystery was unfolded, as it 

 respected sowing millet late for green fodder. 

 The first frost entirely killed it, Ihe seed part 

 had just appeared in sight. However, 1 had 



4iip seed, harrowed lightly, plastered and rolled the [)!easure of ploughing it in for manure and 



had a satisfactory crop of oats, the first of which 

 I cut the 15th day of October. By this time the 

 seed plants had just a[ipearod in sight ; the re- 

 mainder by the 20th of this month. In conse- 



wilh a horse roller. The oats, in conseqtience 

 of the ground and weather being warm, were 

 soon up and grnwed at a great rate, but soon 

 sutfcred by the drought. On the whole, how- 

 ever, they gave me a satisfactory crop, which 

 was cut from Ihe middle to the last of Se[)tem- 

 ber, and fed out green to my milch-cows. I ob- 

 served sornc Indian corn, which came u[) with 

 the oats, and grew at a great rate, which almost 

 induced me to believe, that if I had planted the 

 whole with Indian corn, about 6 inches l)y 18, 

 one corn in a hill, and hoeil once, 1 should have 

 had a larger crop of green fo<lder, and more 

 profitable, after deducting the expense. That, 

 however, is yet to be tried. 



with great respect tor the gentleman who has called 

 our attention to it,) we doubt whether it can be adop- 

 ted with great advantage, except on lands in the vicin- 

 ity of great cities, or on farms reduced to a state of great 

 improvement and high cultivation, or on very small 

 f^rms, where it is invaluable, p'or example, to myself, 

 its value is beyond calculation. But my next neighbcr, 

 has a rocky pasture, to subdue which, to any tolerable 

 state, for any sort of cultivation, would cost the whole 

 value of his farm — but it makes excellent pasture land. 

 The cattle thrive admirablyainong the rocks and shrubs 

 of this stubborn pasture, which will never be cultivated, 

 till our country shall count as China does, its 270 mill- 

 ions of souls. 



" Immense woods and pasture grounds exist within 

 50 miles of Boston, which can be used in no way so pro- 

 fitably as they are now used, for pasture. Till Iheycue 

 taken up and cultivated, soiling will be limited, 7nust be 

 limited, only to small cultivators, or great expeiimental 

 farmers. If it be asked, why are not these waste pasture 

 lands taken tip for cultivation ? my answer is they are 

 not wanted— -^they will not pay the price of reducing 

 them to cultivation. They will remain as they are, till 

 New England shall have its half a dozfn Manchesters 

 and Birminghams, and then soiling will become, and 

 never till then, extensively in use." 



A v.aluahle communication on the subject of soilir!/; 

 from the Hon Josiah Quincy was published in the Mas 

 sachusetts Agricultural Repository, vol. vi. No. 2 and 

 No. 4. This is too long for insertion in onr paper, at 

 present, but we hope hereafter to give it, at length, or 

 such an abstract, as may give our readers an outline o' 

 Ihe process as pursued by Mr Quincy. 



quence of hard frosts and cold northerly winds 

 I thought they had become nearly stationary.— 

 They appeared to please my milch cows much, 

 and had a tendency to keep them out of the 

 mowing-land ; and it seems to be the wish of 

 every farmer in this quarter not to feed his ^ 

 mowing land as close as the common prflclice 

 has been ; that is, to turn in their stock as soon 



as the last load of hay is out of the meadow. 



This is a mode of management generally con- 

 demned ; and almost as generally practi.-ed, and 

 I suppose always will be practised, until my 

 brother farmers can raise a force sufiicient to 

 break through the strong stone wall of tradition. 

 Should there be any one in Ihe same predica- 

 ment that I have been in upon these subjects 

 and can glean anything from this to his advan- 

 tage, my wishes will be fully answered. 



A SUBSCRIBER, 



HUNGER AND THIRST. 

 In famine, life may be protracted, wilh less 

 pain and misery, by a moderate allowance of 

 water ; for the acrimony and putrefaction of the 

 humours are obviated by such dilution, and the 

 lungs are furnished with that moisture which is 

 essential to Ihe performance of their functions. 

 Fontanus relates the history of a woman who 

 obstinately refused to lake'any sustenance, es- 

 cept twice, during the space oi'dfty days, at the 

 end of which period she died. But he adds tl)at 

 she used water byway of drink, though in small 

 quantity. Redi, who made many cruel experi- 

 ments to ascertain the effect of fasting on fowls, 

 observed, that none were able to support life be- 

 yond the ninth day, to whom drink was denied ; 

 whereas, one indulged wilh water, lived more 

 than twenty days. Many other instances might 



t (four correspondent had turned to Ihe first volume 

 of the New England Farmer, pi.ge 277, to which we re- 

 ferred in our notice of his former communication, h« 

 would have found that it was the practice of Col. Pow- 

 eltosow Millet from the 1st of May to the 20th of June. 

 Sowing it so late as the 2nd of August must, in common 

 cises lead to its destruction by the frosts of autumn. 



