NEW ENGLAND FARMEH. 



Published by JOHN B. RU5SELL, jt the corner of Conjn ?<i aii.i I.imliill Sfrcits, (Six doors from the Post Office) Boston.— THO.NrAS G- FF.SSF.NDEN, Editor. 



k ■■- , _■ I .■ --,- -.--- -— ■ ' • — . - 



VOL. in. 



FR [DAY. MAY 20, 182r). 



No. 4.3. 



oKtaiNAs. coznanuzTxCATsoNS. \ 



FOR THS NEW GNCLANA FA?..\;: 



fRRIGATION". 



! h:ive ^eeti in tiie Neu- Ci'.^l.ind [•'iirnifi, •sev- 

 eral good pieces upon the subject ol Lri^al '.on. 

 Peril ips it is minoces-ary (li it inoro shoiiM be 

 ?a;il ; lint the getieriil neglect ol'lliis hrancli of 

 Imsbiiniliv, eviilt'iitly .-ilinws il»at ihfi iniportaace 

 ot" the suiiject is naLsiilficionlly felt I'i' (araiers 

 in ijcneral. 9 



I own a farm in a hilly ii.'i't of (he coiir.frv, 

 ihroiigli which rims a .small brook, which fails 

 in a very ilrv season. IJy means of (his, ! ha*e 

 irrigated iny lands lo very srreat advaiilagc. 

 Where I have car'.ed !h« water, my crops of 

 grass have generally heen dnubleu, autl insome 

 places, increased three or four fold. 



Some pieces, on which, two years ago, the 

 gr.iss was hardly wor'h mowing-, last year yield- 

 ed gras.s that lodged ; so that I tvis obliged lo 

 cut it two weeks before Ihe usual time of mow- 

 ing, and from llie same gro'ind I C'lt .a heavy 

 second crop. 



Last auiiimn, besides walering m}' lands, 1 

 aonveyed the waler so as to fill a well thai was 

 dry, by letting it spread and lill Ihe ground 

 above the well. 



A lillle practice will (each any one that wat- 

 er may be carried where those who have not 

 attended to the subject would think it impos-i- 

 ble lo convey it. Some of my neighbours h«ve 

 said that I have actually carried it vp kill. 



The process is very simple and easy, if you 

 isre provided with a proper instrument to lav 

 out the canals. They cannot be drawn with 

 any success, merely by the ?ye, nr by f;iiess. 

 The best instrument for this purpose is ;,squ ire 

 frame, about 12 inches on a side, with glass 

 tubes tilled with a liquid, except a small bubble 

 of air. These tubes should be embedded in Ihe 

 frame, and he parallel with the upper surface. 

 Tjie whole must be fup[)orled by a staff on 

 which the tVame may be elevated or depressed 

 at pleasure. 



Blit an instrument of a more simple construc- 

 tion may be made by any farmer in 20 minutes, 

 that will answer the [jurposo very well. 



Take a piece of board about 6 inches square. 

 through the cenire of this bore a hole, and put 

 in a stafl' about -1 feel long, with the lowei ciicl 

 sharpened lo stick into the tjround. Upon this 

 standard lay n larger board plained smooth. Up- 

 on this pour water and turn Ihe board so thai 

 the water will move very gently in the direc- 

 tion in which you wish to lay the canal. Tlii< 

 will give it a proper descent. 



] begin my operations by makin? a dam across 

 the stream with stone or other materials, irom 

 one. to three feet high, as (ho situation of the 

 ground requires. When I mdce Ihe dam of 

 stone, 1 lay (he largest s(one at the bottom, and 

 the second tier I draw back up stream six nich- 

 es or more, so that Ihe loiver stones may pro- 

 ject far enough to receive the llood water ivhen 

 it pitches over (he dam. This will prevent a 

 deep hole being worn out below, which niio-ht 

 clidangev tiie dam and do tthor mischief. 



I then begin the canal on the bank, keeping 

 it level and choose to make the lower side with 

 stone till I got beyond the reach of high water, 

 as earth would be washed away. If the hank 

 of the stream is a rock and too high to raise a 

 dam over it, a trough of boards or plank may 

 be laid along the side of the bank till you can 

 iind suitable ground to begin your canal. 



I set my instrument for levelling so as to 

 range with Ihe surfice of water in the pond, 

 and then by looking across it I see at once 

 where the canal must be laid. I then send a 

 man with a hoe, beginning at the upper end of 

 the canal, to make marks in the turf to direct 

 its course. These mirks, if the ground be quite 

 even, may he a rod apart, but if it be uneven, 

 they should be as niglias three or four feet, for 

 if they aro distant there will be danger of run- 

 ning the channel too liiirh or too low, and thus 

 increase the labor of making ihe canal. 



After iiaving marked out a suitable portion of 

 the ranal, 1 put in the plough so as to turn the 

 furrow down hill and carefully keeji it upon the 

 line of marks, and al'ler drawing about tivo fur- 

 rows clear it out with a hoe, and this will make 

 a canal sufficient to carry water to a great ex- 

 tent. Two men" with a team will make from 

 one to two humlred rods a day. 



This canal bemg nearly' level will not he 

 gullied out by a swi("t current. V >ri may ilam 

 il and overflow it where you pic ise ; or which 

 is better, put in the bank, at difi; rout places, 

 boards with an au2:er hole through I'lom to let 

 out such a qutinlily of water as you please. 



I'he ground below your land hmII be filled 

 with %vater, and springs will be made ot'ien ma- 

 ny rods below. To calch } our waste water, and 

 more effoctu.illy to irrigate your ground, it ivill 

 be nece-isary to have a succession of canals one 

 below another, as the extent of 3'our ground 

 seems to require. These canals lying parallel 

 to each other along the sides of your hills, you 

 may wafer your ground to a grc;jt extent. The 

 good eliects will be visible, even where (he 

 ground is not ever ploughed, for (he earth be- 

 ing filled with water, and kcjit full till the grass 

 has nearly attained its growth, it will not suffer 

 with drought. 



A loamy soil is most favourable for irrigalion. 

 .Sand and gravel are so loose, that the waler im- 

 mediately settles into them, to the more solid 

 earth beneath, and Ihe surface receives hut lit- 

 tle benefil. Canals of this kind can be made 

 at very little expense, and a very litlle atleution 

 will keep them in repair. One dollar laid out 

 in this way will with !i lillle care, yield tive 

 dollars a year forever. 



In those parts of the counlry which abound 

 with hills and with streams, the ivater rightly 

 applied, would increase the produce of our farms 

 enough to pay all our taxe?, and to defray eve- 

 ry public expense in our towns. A. 



This often hapjiens iti a very busy season of 

 the year ; and for (his purpose all (he (earns 



' for (hree or four miles round are collected, to 



, the number of 70 or 80 yoke. 



I Very olten they remove the building the first 

 Jay, not more than halfway to the place where 

 it is to stand, and a second day must he spent to 

 complete the work. 



In (his business a multitude of chains are al- 

 ways broken, cxe.a are sometimes injured or 



, killed ; men have Iheir limbs broken or lose 

 their lives. Anil what is all this for? To re- 



^ move some old building, which, when remov- 

 eil, is rot worth the team-work and damage. 



I The building is as really lost as-if it had been 



I burnt down. 



: The gr.i-tuitous help that is called in, is all 

 for nothing. It does no real good to any body. 

 The man draws the building because his team* 

 work cosJj him nothing, and he could afford to 

 give nothing lor it. 



Now ?uch a calculation is an unpardonable 

 disregard to the interests of their neigbbours. 

 It is ungenerous to ask their neighbours to give 

 in charily 70 or 8U dollars, when the real bene- 

 fit is |>erhaps not as many cents. 



There may be cases, in which it may be 

 necessary to draw buildings, and I should be 

 willing lo help a neighbour, when the advan- 

 tage was enough lo cover the whole expense. 



If the owner of the building would be so much 

 benefited that he could af!ord to hire his teams, 

 t woeid not llien object to give him the use of 

 mine, for there would then be no loss on the 

 whole ; and 1 should consider that there were 

 gooi! reasons for the removal. 



Bafore such a job is uiulurfaken, the expense 

 should be carefull}' calculated. 



If the benefit of a removal would be ^100, 

 this would pay 2-5 dollars for the mechanical 

 part of the labour, and 75 dollars for the teams, 

 and the removal would be justifiable. But if 

 the lienefit would be only "b dollars, there 

 woulil be ihe loss of the whole team-work; 25 

 dollars being only sufficient to pay the mechan- 

 ick. 



When a building is to be removed, the 

 cheapest mode of removing it should be chosen. 

 Often the cheapest mode of removing barns and 

 out buildings, is to pull them down. This may 

 not be the cheapest mode for the owner, but 

 cheapest on the whole, as il would save a great 

 expense to his neighbours in team-'.vork. 



Besides, in Ihis way of removal, the building 

 would be less injured, and an opportunity would 

 be aflorded for repairs and improvements. A. 



FOR THE NEW ENGL-IND FARMF.R. 



DRAWING OF OLD BUILDINGS. 



Two or three times a year I am called, with 

 my team to help (iraw some old buildmg from 



(Is site. 



BONES FOR MANURE. 

 Boaes are an excellent manure, though not 

 generally known ; they should however, be 

 calcined, as the animal matter will be dissipated 

 by the fire. A. St Leger Esq. had once laid down 

 to grass a lai'ge piece of very indifferent lime- 

 stone land, with a crop of grass ; and from this 

 uniformly well dressed piece he selected, 

 three rods of equal quality with the rest, and 

 manured them with bones broken very small, 

 at the rate of sixty bushels per acre. Upon 



