NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Piihlished by JOHN B. RL'SSI',1,1.. at the loniprofCcnjv"^' am' I-in'tnH Slrprl^i. (Six Hoors from llic Pi'il OfBrt-l Ho Tton. 



FIIIDAY, JUNE 10, IS'i.-). 



-THOMAS a. FFSSF-NOKN. FniTOR . 



No. 46. 



COIWMUU'ECATIONS. | t;iinod liv the upri2;lit pins unlil the ralce is full, | last hopincr, Ihcy get a larsje sh.ire of manure 



"l whrn tli'o liorso is stopped, the r.ike is pulled ' rrom (he nuiin plnnt. 2. If Ihcy stand until the 



HORSE HAKE. 



!hnck bv the h;indles fur ennns^h to clp;ir the | hist hoeing^, thoy q;row so lai„'e ihnt they woiinil 

 points of the teeth. Then, hy be.Trintc dnivn the j the main pl.int and cause it to emit its juices. — 

 landles, the teeth are raided above tlip ivinrow,' 3. The corn will set lor cars, 10 or 12 days 

 pa=sin>r over which, they are set in, at the same | sooner. I have no fear of jdanting; corn too thick, 



Bristol, R. I. June C<, 1825. 

 P.Ir Fi^ssrN-DE.v, — As the active season of hay- 

 niakine; is fast approachins;, 1 vvnuld be^ leave 

 to recommrnd the Horse Rake to the notice of 

 farmers jfenerally, as an improvement in hiis- 

 b.indry. of great importance. At this scasim of 

 the year, it may be emphatically said that " Time 

 IS inortey.'' Latiour-savin^ machines of all kinds 

 should therefore be highly prized by the indus- 

 trious t'arnier. From experiment it will be found 

 that one man with a herse and boy with this 

 simple machine uiil perform the laliour of six 

 men. Not only is there an imniense saving in 

 labour and time, but, what is of .is much conse- 

 quence, ih" larmer by the use of this instrument 

 may get bis hay up in good condition, while 

 otherwise it would be essentially injui'ed or 

 ruined by exposure to wet weather 



lime the horse goes on imtil it i* filled ag.iin. 



When one strip across the field is raked, the 



horse is turned round and another is raked in 



the same manner, leaving the hay in winrows, 



which are finally raked in like manner into heaps 



nc rocks, as large as is desired. In tine grass 



in particular, it is always best that one man 



sliDuld f(dlow the Horse Rake with a common 



rake, to colled the scatterings that may be left. 



I have been thus p.irticular in its d-^scription, 



>ecause if the instrument )« not well made, it 



will not answer any irood purpose. 



Yours, truly, 



•! LEMUEL W. BRIGGS. 



TO THF. EDITOrL OF TH;C NEW ENGLAND FAUMEU. 



Ilartlaiul, Con. June 7, 1825. 

 Mr Fessenden — I should not have intruded my 

 illiterate performances on your columns, had I 

 not read a publication in your paper, page 314, 

 signed T. B. in <vhich yo\]r correspondent com- 

 plains tliat be was nearly ruined by a statement 

 in your paper of a large crop of corn in N. York. 

 He professed to follow the rules Ib-'t were giv- 

 en ; but there were no directions 7' vcn to .suc^-er 

 it, and probably that was not done, which is of 

 i ;<l| nportance in that mode of plan.'ing. He 

 stales that in .July, it had no shoots for ear". 



For some years the Horse Rake has been in Bv that lime the suckers woulrl be double the 



u'e by farmers on Rhode Inland, and in thi' 

 (own, and it is confidently believed that it only 

 requires the experiment to bo made, to shew its 

 utility and bring it into general use. 'It is ne- 

 ces'.iry to premise that it is on smooth mead- 

 ows, tree from stones, that it can be used to the 

 greatest advantage. — It is made in the following 

 manner. 



The liead should be of beech, birch or ash — 

 snwed slufT answers best — should be 9 feet long, 

 3 by 4 inches, tapering from the centre to ei- 

 ther exitemily. The teeth should be made o( 

 the best seasoned white enk, 27 in number, 1 by 

 2J inches, 27 inches long, and 2° inches apart, ten- 

 oned into the head horizontally with the lower 

 shoulder of the tenon, on a line with the bottom 

 of the head piece. The upfier side of the teeth 

 should be tapered to a point, the under end of 

 which should be pared a little. Six round pins 

 of white oak, 2 feet long, are (o be set perpen- 

 dicularly into the head, together with two han- 

 dles similar to those of a plough. The horse 

 is connected by a rope passing through a hole 

 at each end. The teeth should be on an exact 

 level, and (o keep them from warping it will be 

 necessary to have a piece of board morticed to 

 receive them whenever the machine is not in 

 use. Such a rake will cost from 1 to G dollars, 

 arid if housed and uell taken care of, it will last 

 an age without repair. 



AVhen^ised, the teeth pass along nn the ground 

 under the hay, and as thuy iaks it up, it is re- 



bulk of the main plant, and it is no woniler there 

 were no shoots for ears. If he had not suffered 

 the suckers to grow more than 15 inches long, he 

 might have been sure of an abundant crop. — 

 Perhaps he would have had to pull them off 

 three or lour times. If nature is not exhausted 

 by suckers, the plants will set for ears. 



Your corres[>ondent goes on to say, " by thi* 

 experiment I have learned that ar. old-fashioned 

 article, called common spn«e, ia of great value, 

 and if there was more of this article made use 

 ot", there would be a less number of dii[)es to 

 pretended modern improvements and discove- 

 ries." His " old fashioned common sense," 1 

 shrewdly suspect, is but another name for tradi- 

 tion. If he was stored with true common sense, 

 we think be would not have ost such illiberal 

 aspersions on so excellent a publicition as the 

 New England Farmer. 



1 have rondynur paper almost two 3'ears with 

 pleasure and instruction. I am a man seventy- 

 eight years of age ; and have long been a skep- 

 tick as to the propriety of folbuving tradition 

 exclusively in matters of farming. However, 1 

 have not yet seen anjihingin your journal which 

 exactly suits me, \vith regard to suckering corn. 

 1 have planted my corn 2k feet apart widthwise, 

 and one fool lengihwise, one kernel in a hill. 

 ( sucker from three to live times, and make it a 

 rule to take olTthe suckers as soon as thcj' are 

 6 inches long. This is considered important for 

 the tbllowing reasons. 1. if they grow till the 



provided ! mmure in proportion to the plants, 

 and sucker the corn faithfully. I have uniformly 

 raised from CO to 100 bushels to the acre. 



Yours, &c. WILLIAM SELBY. 



nr,7.iARiiS nv the editor. 

 Vi'e think llie Itaegning; communication will be found 

 to tie valualDle and acceptable to all who are or expect 

 to bo engaged in agricultural pursuits. The writer 

 states that he has learned by f xperience and tested by 

 practice, and of course his directions may be relied on. 

 They -are likewise consonant with common sense as 

 well as sound philosophy. Articles like the above en- 

 able lis to cany into t-ITect the principal object of our 

 paper, viz. to plare before our readers the discoveries 

 and biipiovements in .•Agriculture and Rural Economy, 

 whicli are n' may be the result of the labours and in- 

 genuity of practical as well as scientific cultivators ; — 

 and thus diffuse that knowl*dge among many, which 

 might Oilierwise be confined t« a few individuals. 



Since our paper has civculsted in Uartland, Con. we 

 do not recoUeot.haivin^ji.blished any remarks on strip- 

 ping the' siij^l^ Irom cojiii But in our fust volume, 

 raliTiost tlljMfe" years a»o]"page 390, as well as in some 

 other parlS'isl'-tbaf volume, the subject is discussed ; — 

 and the following; observations occur, which we hope 

 to be excused !Jjj-epeatin|y as the topic is of consid- 

 erable iriiporlance, and we have many subscribers who 

 do not own and cannot procure that volume, which 13 

 now nut of print. 



" It sceni'' to be a point not yet fully settled, wheth- 

 er it be best to cut ofl", or otherwise destroy {he sucker.'! 

 of Indian corn. The Fanner's Assistant tells us that 

 '*■ the growth of suckers is injurious to the crop, and 

 ought to be either pulled up or bent down to the ground 

 with earth sufficient to kill them ; and this is believed 

 to be the better way, as by this mean the principal 

 stalk is not injured by wounding." — We believe in 

 cultivating the premium crops in Massachusetts, the 

 suckers were generally taken away. In the Hon. Mr. 

 idunev/elPs account of bis raising a crop of one hun- 

 and cie\en bushels of corn to an acre, (^Mass. Agricul- 

 tural Journal vol. vi. p. 2-12) it is stated that " immedi- 

 ately after half iiiliing, the suckers were all carefully 

 cut off." Col. Valentine's statement of having raised 

 116 bushels and 26 quarts of corn to an acre, (see page 

 173 of our paper,) mentions that '' all the suckers were 

 |iul!ed out in July ; and in August all the suckers were 

 again taken away," together with the false stalks, and 

 those that were smutty." j\lr l^emuel Davis, however 

 by an experiment, which is related in our first No. page 

 8, arrived at a different result. The gentleman last 

 mentioned states that wh(n he cat off the suckers from 

 the stalks, he found " such a proportion of the juice 

 wept out where the suckc was taken off, that the 

 growth was not so large, and the ears set higher upou 

 t'ae stalk ; on the part whi re the suclters were not tak- 

 en off, the corn was thicker set and more prominent — 

 the ears set ten or twelve inches nearer to the ground, 

 and were a good proportion larger." On the whole, we 

 think that further expel iinents to ascertain the elTects 

 produced by removing the suckers are much to be de- 

 sired ; and we hope that farmers in general will pay 

 so much attention to this subject as to tak^ off or bury 

 the suckers in at least one row o," their field, and com- 

 pare its product with the next in which the suckers 

 are suffered to remain. The time and manner of per- 

 forming this operation should also be carefully noted, 



