1825.] 



NEW ENGLAND FAR3IEI?. 



405 



told him his beans had come up the Hrong end 

 fiisi, and that they must be pulled up and tnn- 

 ed the other way.— It is hardly necessary to ;idd 

 ' that the consequence was a total failure ot the 

 crop, both oi' stalks and beans loo. — C<il perh.i[)S 

 honest Mingo did not manage ri;,'lit. — I certainly 

 did not, according to Mr Selby ; for he says ■■' il 

 he had not siitl'ered the suckers to grow more 

 than six inches long, he might have been sure 

 of an abundant crop." 



Per dvenfure friend Selby may be induced to 

 plant a lield of a few acres on the New York 

 plan; he will then have an opportunlly to suck- 

 er his Corn as oflen a* he pleases, but 1 appre- 

 hend that he will find that it will want succour 

 that he will not be able to give, unless he pos- 

 sesses the power of throwing the Siiiys of the 

 sun, which naturally fall on three or four acies, 

 into oBe acre. 



Thy Friend truly, T. B. 



Remarks hy the Editor.— V^'e are sorry that disputes 

 should exist between our friends and coadjutors in the 

 important concerns of improv ing .\merican husbandry. 

 But sometimes collisions of opinion, like those of flint 

 and steel, may elicit light, which may prove useful. 

 "VVe have alrtady, in some obst-rvations afpendcd to a 

 former commnnication of our correspond' nt T. B. ex- 

 pressed our opinion that the mode of cultivating Indian 

 corn, said to have been adopted by Messrs. John and 

 Matthew Pratt, of Eaton, Madison County, N. Y. and j 

 detailed in our vol. II, page 326, appeared to be ohjec- 

 tlonahle. We said, (page 315 of the present volume.) 

 that in the mode of culture adopted hy Messrs. Pratt, 

 " the width between the drills was less than is com- j 

 mouly recommended or in use ; and when in addition 

 to this there were three rotes inserted in each drill, and 

 the plants but six inches apart in the rows, it would 

 seera very probable that they would stand too near to- 

 gether to produce large and sound ears." T. B. has 

 corroborated that opinion by his mathematical calcula- I 

 lion given above. Our apology for giving the original ■ 

 statement relative to the crop of the JJ. Y.- cultivators j 

 is, that it had the usual marks of authenticity, and we j 

 conceive the poet's apothegm not amiss, who says " no I 

 argument like matter of fact is." Still we may have j 

 been deceived with regard to those facts, or tome cir- 

 cutnstanccs not mentioned in the statement, may have 

 caused the result to be different from what it would be, 

 in any attempt to adopt Messrs. Pratts' mode of culture 

 ■vtiih CO other light than what the statement relative 

 to their crops affords. Their corn might have been of 

 a small kind and so suckered or pruned, (if I may be 

 allowed the expression in this case) that only one stalk 

 to each kernel planted should be suffered to become 

 more than 5 or C inches long before it was cut away. 

 And this management might, perhaps, cause the result 

 of their culture to be so different from that of the expe- 

 riment detailed by T. B. page 314 of the currect vol- 

 \ime of our paper. 



Mr Selby, (see page 361 of our current volume) in 

 adverting to the experiment of T. B. observes that " if 

 he had not suffered the suckers to grow more than 6 

 inches long, he might have been sure of an abundant 

 crop " Mr Selby, however, does not tell us that he 

 ever tried the experiment, though he says, " I have no 

 fear of planting corn too thick, provided I manure in 

 proportion to the plants, and sucker the corn faithfully." 

 But we should much prefer, in rsising corn on a large 

 scale, to adopt his own mode of culture, as stated in 

 this £ame article, tbaa setting; more than four tiiji«s the 



nnniber of plants on an acre, without further inquiry or [ niy posts carried away by the end of the axl 



experiment according to Messrs. Pratts' plan. MrScl- 

 by's observations on suckering corn Sec. appear to be 

 correct, and as they have been sanctioned by experi- 

 ence, and are of a process by which he has " uniformly 

 raised from 80 to 100 bushels of corn to the acre," we 

 must conclude that his directions may be safely and 

 profitably followed. Still we wish that Messrs. Pratts' 

 mode of culture might be again tried on a smsU scale, 

 with a small kind of corn, and attention to taking off 

 the suckers as above mentioned. 



FOR THE NEW E.Vcr.A.VD FARMER. 



EVILS OF INTEMPERANCE. 

 Mr Fessf.nden, — Confident of your sincere de- 

 volion to the cause in which you are engaged, l.j,,^, |„b„pe,<; excepting Ihc spirit, do more la 

 the hrst and greatest interest Ot our country, — " • '^ . 



confident aho of your candour, (and I hope lor 



tree, — and other similar injuries, the conse- 

 quence of loo much rum. Uul this is not all, I 

 have sometimes, after having laid out a good 

 deal of work fur tomorrow, been very much 

 disa])pointed, and sufTereil loss by one or more 

 of these day laborers making themselves sosick 

 by last night's drtmkcnness as to,be totally inca- 

 pable of labor lor one or two days. 



Such, sir, are a few of the evils of my own 

 experience ; which are enough to convince any 

 one of the eviloftlic use of ardent spirits. Bat 

 to add to this llie further conviction that persons 

 can Jo belter wilhoiil than with it, [ do assure 

 yo<i that my regular help, ivith whom I always 

 stipulate to u<e no ardent spirit, at any time, a- 

 I bout their labor, upon the same fare wilhlhe.'ic 



that of your readers also should you deem the 

 suirgeslions below worth inserting in your very 

 iiset'ul paper,) 1 venture to ofler you a few facts 

 of my own experience and observation, and a 

 few thoughts sugges'ed by these facts. The 

 subject is deeply interesting to our agricultural 

 interest.^, but by no means confined (o these, but 

 extends itself widely through the great and small 

 public and private interests of our nation, and 

 of every part of il. It is nothing less, nor other 

 than the excessive use of ardent spirits, that 

 curse of onr nation. 



But sir, neither you nor your readers need 

 feel alarmed lest you or they should be con- 

 demned lo toil through n long philipic against 

 rum, and its poisonous consequences. No, sir, 

 1 give that up as a hopeless attempt, at least for 

 me ; while 1 have eyes to see, and ears to hear, 

 and a heart to ble^-d for those dreadful conse 

 quences, in ruined, and most vvretched hus- 

 bands, wives, children, and almost whole com- 

 munities, — ruined, wrelched, in body, and soul, 

 for this world and for the world to come, — yet 

 I have not a pen to describe this tenfold ruin. — 

 I will only refer generally, to the observations 

 and reflections, of all your philanthropic and 

 patriotic readers, trusting that their philanthro- 

 py and patriotism will excite their most earnest 

 and persevering retleclions and efforts lo cor- 

 rect and remedy so great and deadly an evil. 



But I will beg your indulgence while I relate 

 a few facts which have occurred under my own 

 observation and experience in my agricullural 

 attempts, — and which have contirraed my long 

 settled conviction that farmers, who of all men 

 are at least as well entitled as any to the best 

 living that the earth can give, v\'ou!d do much 

 better without the use of ardent spirits than with 

 it^ — even in their severest and most exhausting 

 labors. 



1 think I have been uncommonly fortunate in 

 my sleady help, by the year; but when I have 

 occasion to hire extra labor, by the day, in hay- 

 ing, and harvesting, it is then that I particularly 

 see, and feel the bad efl'ecis of ardent spirits. — 

 For with such day laborers I have not yet been 

 able lo cope. Work they will not without rum, 

 — and that loo without stint, and I must either 

 yield to them or submit to lose some of my hay 

 or grain, or let it suffer, by which I still lose 

 much more than by the rum they drink. 



Bat by yielding to this tyrant, custom, I lose 

 another way ; and that is that my work is not 

 so well done, my tools and bars are broken, and 



bor in the s,\n\e time, and do it much better,- 

 and with much less fatigue to themselves ; are 

 much fre'her for labor Ihe next morning, and 

 have belter appetites to their diet. 



Noiv. sir, my rsllections from this experience 

 are Ihe following. Though I can neither do 

 without lhc<e veteran tiplers, — nay drunkards, 

 occasionally, nor subdue their inveterate bad 

 habits, in the use of spirits, — yet I will so cal- 

 culate my business as to have as little oScasioa 

 for Ihem a« possible ; and whenever my employ- 

 ment for ihem and for all mechanics and labor- 

 ers of every description will admit of the disuse 

 I will not, on any terms, furnish them ardent 

 spirits; and 1 will lend such influence as I have 

 lo guard Ihe rising generation against such des- 

 tructive habits. I will even attempt to make 

 these worse than brutes subservient to my ef- 

 forts with the rising generation, by holding them 

 up to merited contempt and reprobation. 



I forbear, sir, to notice the dreadful conse- 

 quences of this same evil habit among all our me- 

 chanics ; except to remark that it prevails much 

 more with them than with farmers, as a distinct 

 class in the community,' — and that its effects are 

 equally pernicious. But as this is a deadly and 

 increasing malady, — and as you, sir, are our 

 great agricullural physician, will you not con- 

 sider this case, and prescribe such a catholic 

 remedy as will utterly extirpate the evil from 

 the community ; — and thus confer on your coun- 

 try and the world a greater blessing than ever 

 before enriched it. W. 



SEXiECTIOirS 



FROM LATE EUROPEAN PUBLICATIONS FOR THE 

 NEW ENGLAKD FAR.MER. 



To the Editors of Ihe Farmers'' Journal, 



ON THE VALUE OF MANGEL WURTZEIa 



Essex, April Sth, 1825. 



Sir, — As the season is now arrived to gow the 

 Mangel VVurlzel seed, and to continue sowing it 

 through the next month of May, an old practi- 

 tioner wishes to suggest through the medium of 

 vour .Journal, a few hints on the culture of it, 

 which he thinks will be found useful. 



At first, always supposing the land clear, the 

 =ame quantity of manure should be bestowed as 

 for turnips. Sow from four to five pounds weight 

 per acre. The n riter has tried various methods 

 of sowing it, but prefers drilling in the seed oa 

 flat work, at twenty-seven inches' distance, be- 

 tween the rows ; that space allows free scopeJoE. 



