374 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[June 17, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 1825. 



PROSPECTS OF THE SEASON. 

 It shouUl seem, so f;ir as we can learn IVom 

 newspiiper notices in different parts of the coun- 

 try, as well as from inspection, and conversation 

 with intelligent farmers in this vicinity, that the 

 season bids fair to be more productive than 

 usual. Grass, on light lands, had received so 

 much injury by the dry weather which immedi- 

 ately preceded the late timely and copious rains 

 that it will prohnhly afford but a slender crop.-- 

 Biiton lands latchi laid dozen, and adapted to its 

 cultivation, there is reason to anticipate a more 

 than medium crop. Indian corn, we are told, has 

 been rarely if ever known to be more forward 

 and flourishing in this part of the cnunlry, at this 

 time of the year. With regard to apples, and 

 other products of the orchard, and the garden, 

 we have no particular information, but hearing 

 no complaints are induced to hope that " All's 

 Well." 



IfOR THE NF.W ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dr Deane observed, [see article White weed, 

 Dearie's New England Farmer] that dunging the 

 ground is an enemy to this weed ; and it is said 

 thiit pasturing with sheeji kilU it. But to con- 

 quer it effectually there can be no better way 

 than to use the land in tillage for hoed crops 

 several ) ears in succession." The Farmer^ Ai- 

 siHant assures us that top dressings of composts 



was the seed put there in the manure that was 



ploughed in?-thisi3 possible, but Hit be so 



how does it help the matter? the seed we are 



likely to have always with us.-U has wings 



too, I believe, and who can stop it > Some think 



it may be rooted out and destroyed by mamir- 



in<r the grass land very highly. This may elicit 



grasses so rank -d^;-f;;;^,;;;^^£".^|;uU;bi;7;"tI.e;oirwill destroy it! If pasturing 



„ ,n some degree ; ^t*"'' *;«' "''^^^11 our '^and with sheep will effect its destruction, it will, in 



"f ' H Houtt'we m?4t get cfea of i -'but many cases, prove the easiest mode of annihUat- 



under the plough, we "J'--"; J^' ='^ j, ^ „ J ;„„ ,. But if the farmer has no sheep, cannot 



,h,s we --"' J°'/°",,\ral up by"h r o s\r, well till the land infested by it, with hoed crops 

 could undertake o pull It all up by m ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ 



burn It, before US ripe^-Soabundan^^ ^^^^^^ off his while weed, we should 



'ZT 'm^e I y mo ifie s" asacommon] think something might de done to prettv good 



starve, l am reaiiy uui ' ' , ;„norancel purpose, by constantlv culling it down while yet 



practical farmer, ';/;^^^--;^"J^"^ff f J^^^^^^^^^ |.een that it may be made into hay. If never 



on this subject, and '°/\°^^"lJ^7 1° P^„,,^Ler„,itted to ripen its seeds, it will at least lose 



armed against a <orm.clable ^^J ,;^°^ ^^^ ^^. f, ,ig,„,, „.,1 not claim a' patent right to the 



beating up my quarte ; •;"''' ';=>",'^7;^^^°"j! ,,,^ ^n, properly, and will not be able to 



less it at once and call "P°" " frnl -s have usp the - wines of the wind" in extending its 



Ireally likcMo know what you lea ne^^^ 



IS-caS7pi:[;t/r':l:er^S',....e- territoi, in which it has unlortunately obtained 



WHITE WEED. 



Mr Fe-senden — As you love to talk about 



every thing in the season of it— Bo for the land's 

 sake and ours, till 7is what we shall do to get rid 

 of the white weed ?— If you will just ndc or walk 

 into the country, about Boston, now, you will 

 find our mowing grounds covered and made 

 white with it. Perhaps there never was so 

 much At this season. — A more pernicious plant, 

 as reo-ards our grass crops, cannot be found, I 

 believe, unless it be the Canada thistle, and that 

 happilv is not much known to «s in thi« neigh- 

 hourhr'od. The white weed makes a most mis- 

 erable food for cattle,— good lor nothing if al- 

 ln:„ed to stand till it is ripe.— Our stable keep- 

 ers reject it, and if they did not, their horses 

 would.— It is so extremely selfish in its habits, 

 that it will permit nothing to grow near it.— It 

 occupies the whole grounil or none. — The mfilp 

 of increase 1 know not.— Still less do 1 know how 

 to effect its decrfase.—Bnl this 1 know, that il 

 is spreading indefinitely in all directions. It is 

 said to have been brought here by our ancrslors. 

 ._So we are told was the berberry, or barberry. 



Without meaiiin!: to abuse (hose good folk*, 



I wish they had Ult them holh at home.— The 

 seed of the" Charlock, or wild turnip, it has been 

 said will remain in ihe clod thirty years or more 

 and not send up a plant, while the land remains 

 in gras-s but come- up after the land is ploughed. 



Not so Ihe while weed. The seeil of this 



will remain idle in the clod for years for aught 

 1 i{(,ow, — but giving 1*0 trouble, like the wild 

 turnip, while under the plough, but it takes pos- 

 session of the soil llio moment it is laid down to 

 grass. This makes il the worse plant of the two, 

 both of theiB worthless, because if it would show 

 its headMrheie we are hoeing, instead ofsneak- 

 ing among the gr.iss — iveshnuld probably hold a 

 tlitsle with it. How to eradicate il is now the 

 (piesiion — -.iiiJ 1 am ashamed to say that 1 can af- 

 ford you no aid on which to rely at all. Some 

 h.i»e.said ploughing wil! do il. 1 wish in my 

 heart it woulil. But if so, how is it that i! cotnes 

 again, frequenlly, Ibe fii'^t year aficr laying 

 (1-uvn to gr,is9— .T.? nriy be seen this season? — 



mnm leucanthemmn. You know all about these 

 hard words 1 know, but you are no pedant, and 

 we farmers know nothing of your imms. 1 

 should not have known there were such worus, 

 but a friend opened a book at the word » white 

 weed" and there I saw them. It was a book of 



a settleinent. 



Oil the use of Lime for Preserving IleaUh. 

 Lime, as an antidote lo contagion, a preserva- 

 tive ao-ainst infection, and a means of pnrilyin<f 



" .. . .1 : II 



«ct-u ...... . *! sinks, vaults, fcc. appears 10 have received lesr 



Dr Bigelow's who they say is very clever in all .^^g^Cop ^[y^^ jt deserves. By making a proper 

 these weeds and ihings, and would put on no ap- '^^^ ^^ ^j^j^ cheap, simple, but powerful agent, 

 pearancp of pedantry, were it not your learnerij ,^„g,|,g,. ,y,;,h ;, due attention to cleanliness and 

 peoi)le abroad ami at home, pretemi Ibey ""'''' .g'n, nation, the air in jails, hospitals, ships &r. 

 not otherwise understand him. . Alter nil, 1 tike I _^^ j^^ rendered comparatively sweet and salu 



him very much.— and -.hall try to buy his books. I, .- . .;,.,„»■;, ,. i,;i„ h„. .,„,! .,.,irl.- 



It is not worth while to print this letter. \on 



can talk of this rascallv plant withoul doing thai. 

 But perhaps vou will like it,— who knows t 11 

 you should. 1 may touch v.p something else one 

 of these (lavs when it rains; but as 1 would nol 

 be lauo-hed'at by my neighbours for turning au- 

 tlior, I am det.""rmmed you shall have^no-signa- 

 tnre but that of A MIDDLESEX FAKMER. 



KF.3IARKS BY THE EDITOR. 



Our correspondent has contrived to render a 

 barren subject fertile in humour; and if he 

 bandies his hoe, and performs with his plough, 

 as well as he flourishes with his pen, he will 

 eventually eradicate every pernicious plant that 

 plagues his jiremises. We will cheerfully en- 

 list under bis banners in a war of exteTmina- 

 tion ao-ainst the vegetable land pirates of which 

 he complains. It is ycleped by the learned 

 Chrysanthnmum leucanlhemum, but it has quite 

 an ."issorlment of vulgar names, and like sotne 

 other rogues and vagabonds seems to be accom- 

 modated with an alius for every county. In 

 some places it is called White weed, in others 

 : May weed, Ox eye, &c. In poetry it sometimes 

 assumes the musical appellation of Daisy ; &. may 

 be made to rhyme uith lazy, or crazy in any 

 well written and well applied satire against ihose 

 indoleni cultivators who suffer it to encumber 

 their grounds. It is possessed of such a de 

 testable spirit of monopoly (as inlimaled by our 

 correspondent,) ihal, unle.ss il meets wish a thor- 

 ough going opposition, it appropriates Ihe fields 

 in "which it gets root-hold to its own exclusive 

 use, and starves out its more useful and credit- 

 able vegetable neighbours with apparently as 

 little compunction as good faimers feel in ex- 

 terminating grub-worms or caterpillars. 



brioiis. A quantity of i;, while hot and quick, 

 sifted every day or two, into the vaults of back 

 h«u:-e», would areally contribute not only to the. 

 comfort, but health of ihose who occasionally 

 occupy the first floor above these indispensiblcs. 

 We should ihink il a very serious malter If wo 

 were forced to eat tainted provisions, and drink 

 tilthy water, and yet are very well satisfied with 

 being compelled to take a substance into our 

 lun<TS, which would go near to poison the vilest 

 reptile that ever fed on " the vapours of a dung- 

 hill !" -'ind this we suffer when the remedy is 

 at hand, and almost as cheap as the rubbish of 

 the street ! Philosophers contend that man is 

 a rational animal, but hero is matter of fact, for 



an argument on the other side of the question. 



Th"e walls of cellars, dairy rooms, sitting 

 rooms, and indeed all apartments, much occupi- 

 ed by human beings, should be well coaled with 

 o^ood caustic lime white wash, at least once a 

 Pear. The time of its application may as well 

 be just before the heats of summer become fer- 

 vent and oppressive. In London, says Willich's 

 Encyclopedia, a society is organized for the 

 " Cure and Preservation of Contagious t'evers 

 in the iMetropolis" and they have " appropri- 

 aled a certain sum of money for purifying the 

 tainted habitations of the [.oor. Their method 

 consists, simply in washing the walls of the 

 room with hoi lime, which will render Ihe place 

 iierrcctly sweet." In the villages of New Eng- 

 land, Ihe practice of white washing the walls of 

 apartments is very common; in cities less so. 

 The walls of the apartments of our more opu- 

 lent citizens are, usually, decorated with costly 

 paper, or something else which is a proper re- 

 ceptacle for foul air, and which houWI be spoil- 

 ed by white washing; and if Ibey prefer gentil- 



