298 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



thing seen beyond a piece of parched soil quivers Turnips. — In the course of^the month, when- 

 through the heated air. ever the surface is sufficiently moist to start the 

 The Garden still has its beauties— as it ever has seed, sow turnips. The old adage runs— 



where it lias received a considerate care, — but we 

 cannot stop to particularize them now. The sol- 

 emn woods are now inviting, where the Whet- 

 saw, the Brown Thrasher and Cherry-wink, make 

 them vocal with their peculiar notes. Boys read 

 Izaak Walton with a new relish, and explore the 

 brooks that take their courses through the mead- 

 ows or dim woods, and throw the careful bait to 

 the speechless trout in the dark water by the 

 bank, or under some ancient and massive root. 

 Silently as the panther approaches his prey, they 

 move along — now stepping upon a bunch of moss, 

 or a tuft of grass, for the trout's ear is as quick 

 to note a footfall on the walls of his castle as an 

 Indian's, put to the ground. 



The Hayinf/, the Harvesting, the Weeding, the 

 care of Stock, and the thousand nameless things 

 that press upon the farmer in July, leave him 

 but little time for visiting or study ; but there are 

 hours for good-nature and pleasant social inter- 

 course with one's own family and the neighbors, 

 and, if rightly improved, will produce a crop as 

 valuable as the crops of the fields. 



The Hoeing. — This imjwrtant operation must 

 not be neglected. The lodging grass, early m 

 July, is a strong temptation to take the scythe in 

 hand instead of the hoe — and it may be well to 

 do so for short periods ; but no man of ordinary 

 means can aiford to neglect his hoeing ; it has 

 cost him too much labor of himself and team, and 

 too much for seed, to omit the cultivation of a 

 crop ibat needs it. If he allows weeds to crowd 

 and rot his plants, or a hard and repulsive sur- 

 face to return to the skies unappropriated, the 

 fructifying dews which Heaven has in kindness 

 sent, he will not reap abundantly where he has 

 sown. It is among the first errors of the farmer, 

 not to tend thoroughly the crops he has put in. 



Haying. — Grass cut in the morning, spread im- 

 mediately, turned at noon, and cocked before the 

 ,dew falls, will rarely need, in good weather, 

 more than a mere opening of the cocks the second 

 day. A load of fence rails would be about as ac- 

 ceptable to a well-fed cow, as much of the herds- 

 grass that is carried to the barn. It is spread in 

 the interise sun, and exposed to the wind till it is 

 brittle, jaiceless and liarsh as wire. In our opin- 

 ion, twice as much hay is spoiled by over-drying, 

 as there is by not being dried enough. 



Clover hay should be cut in the morning, lay 

 in Bwath until four o'clock, then turned upside 

 down. The next afternoon gather it with a three- 

 tined fork into cocks, and let it remain two nights 

 more, when it will be sweet, the leaves all re- 

 maining on the stems, and the whole will be eat 

 en by the cattle and prove highly nutritious. 



"The 25th of July, sow turnips, 

 Wet or dry " 



But we have found that a moist condition of the 

 surface had more efifect in inducing germination 

 of the seed than the day of the month. After 

 considerable experience and a pretty extended 

 observation, we are still of the opinion that the 

 root crops may be cultivated by most farmers 

 with a decided profit. The great cost has been 

 in keeping down the weeds — otherwise they are 

 not difficult crops to manage. They are easily 

 got in, and may be cultivated with a horse or the 

 wheel-hoe, without any difficulty. Would it not 

 be a good plan to use the same piece of land for 

 a succession of years for these crops, never allow- 

 ing a weed of any kind to go to seed upon it, and 

 enriching it with manure as free from seeds as it 

 is possible to get it ? If such manure is plentifully 

 applied in the fall, and plowed under 10 or 12 

 inches, there will be no complaint that the root 

 will not flourish on the same soil. Where the 

 weeds do not come, carrots, beets, parsnips or 

 turnips may be profitably cultivated. 



For the New England Farmer. 



DOUBLE PLOW. 



Dear Brown : — 1 have to-day tried the sod- 

 and-subsoil or double plow on the old home- 

 stead at Chester, and as this is the first ex- 

 periment I have witnessed with this implement, 

 in that good old town, I hasten "to make a note 

 of it." 



The land was sward, full of witchgrass, and 

 stony underneath, as all the land here is, al- 

 though it has been plowed a hundred years or so, 

 and the boys have "picked rocks" on it annually. 

 The plowman doubted whether his three yoke of 

 small cattle could "put through" so lai-ge a plow, 

 in such land, but he succeeded in finishing his 

 stint of above an acre before night. 



Several judicious neighbors looked on, and our 

 unanimous conclusion was that no other plow could 

 run with the same team to tliat dejith — ten inches 

 full, — and that no other jilow with any team 

 could do the work so well. The plow is Ruggles, 

 Nourse, Mason & Co.'s largest size. No. 35^. 



The double plow is the thing for the hard and 

 stony land of Rockingham County, not in new 

 land", but in the common old fields. We believe 

 that no more team is required to draAV it tlian 

 the single plow, and nothing can put the witch- 

 grass out of sight, like it. 



Yours, H. F. FnENcn. 



Chester, N. II., May 10, 1855. 



Coal Ashes for Peach Trees. — Will those who 

 have not otherwise disposed of their coal ashes, 

 place a half bushel around each of their peach 

 trees, in the form of a little mound, and let it 

 remain through the summer, as the best manure 

 for the trees, and as a remedy for the borers. 

 In the fall dig it into the ground. 



