1855. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



89 



drought, said that the island was about GO miles 

 from the mainland, was a perfect plain about 3000 

 acres in extent, and destitute of trees, and form- 

 erly sustained 20,000 sheep. Although it has a 

 sandy soil, it has a humid atmosphere, being sur- 

 rounded by water, the same as Great Britain is. 

 In Middlesex county the drought had been severe. 

 The soil is generally of a clayey composition, and 

 in ordinary seasons is very fertile. More profit 

 was realized last year on corn sold at 66 cents, 

 than this year at $1.05. On interval lands 

 pumpkins and squashes yielded about the usual 

 amounts and the hay crop was about equal to last 

 year. Rye was almost a complete failure, and 

 vegetables were cut short very much. Peat and 

 intervale lands were the only kinds that raised 

 profitable crops. 



Mr. Hall, of Bradford, said the Chairman had 

 remarked to him in conversation before the meet- 

 ing that pieces of land in his neighborhood, 

 (Barnstable,) manured with Bsh did not suffer 

 from drought, and he inferred from that that 

 lands not so manured were affected by the drouth. 

 Ue did not understand the philosophy of it, and 

 desired an explanation. 



The Chairman said that on the south side of 

 the Cape, at Harwich for instance, they manure 

 their lands with a shell fish called " horse feet," 

 and they never suffer from the drought. On his 

 side of the Cape these fish were scarce, and hence 

 not used. 



Mr. Flint remarked, as a curious historical 

 fact, that in the drought of 1823, fiirms upon 

 which fish were applied suffered exceedingly from 

 the drought. In regard to Nantucket, he would 

 say that farmers there make great use of the car- 

 cases of sharks, composting them, and putting 

 them upon their land. This fact might have 

 something to do in averting the effects of the 

 drought on the island. 



Mr. BucKMiNSTER, of Framiugham, said that 

 the moisture of the surrounding ocean had great 

 effect in Nantucket. In his neighborhood it was 

 found tluit if the soil was kept in motion, by 

 plowing and hoeing, that it did not suffer much 

 from the drought. On well cultivated lands the 

 hay crop did not feel the dryness much, as indeed 

 it did not throughout Massachusetts, owing to the 

 good start it got l)efore the dry season came on. 

 He urged frequent stirring of the soil, as plowed 

 land attracts moisture both from the atmosphere, 

 and from beneath. 



Mr. HiGGiNS, of Orleans, in reference to the 

 " fish question," remarked that the inference that 

 all kinds of fish would avert the drought would 

 not hold good. The " horse feet," were a salt 

 shell fish, and salt will make the soil give; but 

 any llsh of an oily nature would only operate to 

 diaw the rays of the sun, and thus aggravate the 



effects of a drought. " Horse feet " on corn op- 

 erates well, imparting some nourisliment and 

 shielding from the drought. 



The Chairman said that this species of fish 

 were proverbial as a remedy for the drought. 



Mr. HiGGiNS further remarked that on the 

 south side of the Cape, in Barnstable county, 

 farmers were at one time insane in regard to fish- 

 ing their land, but they found that the use of 

 fish only impoverished and run out tlie land, and 

 they have given up the idea. 



Mr. Flint said he had labored under a misap- 

 prehension in regard to the nature of the fish ap- 

 plied to lands ; he supposed they were all of the 

 common oily kinds. Hence his allusion lo the 

 drought of 1823. 



Mr. Merriam remarked upon the benefits de- 

 rived from frequent stirring of the soil, and high 

 manuring, as facilitating the absorption of car-- 

 bonic acid gas from the atmosphere, an ingredient 

 which enters largely into the composition oX all 

 plants. Plowing and manuring produce beneficial 

 chemical changes in the soil. 



Mr. Stockbridge, of Hadley, said the past sea- 

 son had been a remarkable one in regard to wet 

 as well as dry weather, in the Connecticut valley. 

 For years they had not had so wet a season. In 

 the spring they had the greatest freshet ever 

 known on the Connecticut ; but by the middle of 

 May it was very dry. As regards the crops in 

 general, Hampden county falls but little short of 

 ordinary years. At one time it was thought the 

 corn would come short, out on alluvial lands the 

 crop was good. Broom corn, which is a great 

 crop in that region, never yielded so abundantly 

 as this season. The first crop of hay was good, 

 though not so large as in some years ; the second 

 was light. Potatoes were not much affected, and 

 a fair crop was harvested. English wheat and 

 rye were not materiallly injured by the dry 

 weather ; the former however, was cut off by 

 blight and rust. 



Mr. Lyman, of Southampton, (Hampshire Co.) 

 Baid that in his section the potatoe vines kept 

 green better this season than for several years, 

 notwithstanding the drought, and a good crop of 

 potatoes was raised, while the quality was better 

 than the year before, and no signs of rot wero 

 manifested. Some particular pieces suffered froasi 

 the drought. A good crop of corn was gathered, 

 and the hay crop was an average one. In feeding 

 is hay the first part of the winter, he thought it 

 was not so heavy as usual and that it did uot 

 spend so well, but of tliis he could not speak de- 

 cidedly. Oats flourished well where the land A'as 

 in good condition. Still the drought was very 

 severe. He never knew so many apples to grow 

 in that county before, but they fell from tlic trees 

 early and decayed rapidly, so that growers did not 

 realize more than usual from that crop. 



