154 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



Farm Lmpleme.vts. — To use that old plow longer 

 is bad economy ; repairs have already come to 

 more than the original cost, and still, it is an old, 

 ricketty plow. It always did " run to land'' too 

 much, and always will, perplexing tlic plowman 

 and fretting the team. It has a radical defect, 

 past al' cure of inventor or mechanic. Do not 

 workwitli heavy, uncouth implements — they drag 

 down the body like a perpetual sorrow upon the 

 mind. Boys often acquire a disgust for Airming, 

 merely from the use of the miserable implements 

 placed in their hands. The lighter the tool, the 

 better, if strong enough for the work for which 

 it was intended. The workman who* uses his 

 shovel to pry up a stone, and breaks it, should be 

 required to pay for it, and the next time, if not 

 incorrigi!ily lazy, he Avill probably use the bar. 

 Use light rakes, made of good material, and so of 

 hoes, spades, scufHers, and all other implements. 

 We have beaten the English in the construction 

 of our agricultural implements, in their adapta- 

 tion to the work required of them. Use the 

 Wheel Iloe, by all means — it costs less than two 

 dollars. 



Crops. — Have you assigned the particular crops 

 to your fields ? 



Plowixo. — "I am determined to go one inch 

 deeper this spring than I did last." Well, that 

 is a capital resolution — carry it out. Do not be 

 in haste about plowing the wet, heavy land, be- 

 cause the sun, wind, and evaporation will bring 

 it into suitable condition for planting, or sowing, 

 quicker than you can. 



KiTCDEN Garden. — If you have brought for- 

 ward plants in hot-beds, you may transplant 

 to the open ground this month early cucum- 

 bers, melous, cabbages, cauliflowers, lettuce, 

 radishes, &c. ; but they must be watched and 

 protected if the nights are too cold. Clean out 

 the strawberry beds, the currants, raspberries, 

 and gooseberries. Stick down cuttings plentiful- 

 ly of such fruits as you wish to projjagate. The 

 cherry cutting will grow if put down in a moist 

 and shady sj^ot. 



Flowers. — Encourage the women and children 

 to cultivate a few flowers, by preparing a suitable 

 .place and procuring the seeds or roots. Depend 

 upon it, they will bring smiles upon your lips 

 and radiate your own heart before the summer 

 closes. 



Fruit Trees. — All kinds of fruit trees and for- 

 est trees should be transplanted before the leaf 

 buds shall have come out. The reader is referred 

 to former volumes for the mode of proceeding. 



Plant Early. — Prepare to plant early, while 

 the soil is moist and light. Do not believe the 

 doctrine that it is better to sow carrots late, in 

 e-rder to save weeding, for it is better to pull weeds 



than to keep plowing, and then find the seeds re- 

 fuse to come up. We never fail of a good crop of 

 carrots when they are sowed the last of April or 

 early in May, as the season may be, and then 

 taken good care of afterwards. 



Poaching. — The stock should not traverse the 

 mowing fields in Aj^ril, when the ground is soft 

 and spongy. Many a man feels cross^ — if he don't 

 swear — in haying time, owing to this slovenly 

 practice. 



For the New England Farmer. 



USE OF GUANO. 



I will give my experience in the use of this ar- 

 ticle as briefly as possible. Last spring, I took 

 equal parts of guano and plaster, and mixed 

 t!iem with five parts of soil Furrowed for corn, 

 put a sliovelful of compost manure in each hill, 

 levelled it, and dropped in a handful of the mix- 

 ture, covered it with one inch of earth and plant- 

 ed it with corn. It came up badly, except where 

 the land was quite moist, where it came up well, 

 grew well, and ripened well. Think the guano 

 was beneficial. Pumpkins grew enormously. 



Broke up a pitce of ground for potatoes, and 

 put the same mixture in the hill, without other 

 manure, as its application for two years previ- 

 ous had caused the potatoes to rot. It proved a 

 failure. On a portion of the same piece, I plant- 

 ed the pea-bean, furrowed the ground and strewed 

 into the furrows a small quantity of cpuipost, and 

 also the guano mixture. The crop was the great- 

 est 1 ever saw. AVhere the mixture was prepared 

 on a spot of winter-killed grass, the weeds came 

 up and grew exceedingly rank. I placed the 

 mixture around some plants in the garden after 

 they were up, without any visibL; effects. 



Inferences. — Tiiat such plants as contain a large 

 amount of the phosphates in thvir composition, 

 will be benefited by guano. That it should be 

 buried more than two inches in this hot and dry 

 climate. That the fiirmer who has a small ma- 

 nure heap, may use it in limited quantities with 

 advantage. That it will not pay to use alone. 

 That it is better for starting than for ripening a 

 crop. Tfiat I should again use three or four times 

 as much plaster as guano in the mixture, esjjecially 

 on lands remote from the sea-board. That it is a 

 poor article, if it will not make the nose tingle 

 and the eyes moist on smelling it, when a lump 

 is broken open. That I should not in any case, 

 mix it with ashes. Finally, that the farmer must 

 make his own manure. I can neither add to, 

 nor subti-act from this article, till I know more 

 about it. N. T. T. 



Bethel, Me., Feb. 17, 1855. 



Effects of the Winter. — A note from Mr. 

 J. F. C. Hyde, the well-known Newton Nursery- 

 man, says, "There is no prospect of any peach- 

 es with Us ; every bud tliat I examined was killed. 

 It has been a very hai'd winter for grain and 

 grass that was sown late. Nursery trees have 

 been thrown out by the frost more than they gen- 

 erally are. I find roses and many other things 

 winter-killed." 



