382 



NEW ENGLAND ExVEMER. 



Aug. 



mowing by machinery in the natural ivay. We stones in the road. They ought to be kept raked 

 have seen accounts of holiday experiments at out. Public sentiment should demand it. Ire- 



West Chester, at Dedham, at lladley, at Sprin 

 field, &c., — all of which are well enough in their 

 place — but what we want to know is, are the ma- 

 chines so constructed, that real farmers can find 

 it for their advantage to purchase them and do 

 the work upon their farms ? That they can be 

 made so as to cut and spread the grass perfectly 

 where there are no obstacles in the way, has 

 often been demonstrated, but what kind of ma- 

 chine will do this best, remains to be proved. 

 We hope the experiment now going on, will ere 

 long do away with all doubts in the matter. One 

 of the greatest difficulties in the way of just de- 

 termination is, the want of good fidelity in the 

 structure of machines. When the chcapeniny 

 ■process begins to be introduced, then the reliable 

 character correspondingly disappears. *. 



July 11, 1855. 



For the New England Farmer. 



member that dry summer how vigilantly Good- 

 man went over the roads again and again, with a 

 stout garden rake, and cleared out the loose 

 stones. It was a small job, and brought great 

 comfort to all. I thank him here for his consid- 

 eration. 



Is it not safe to judge of the intelligence and 

 prosperity of a community by the roads they tra- 

 vel? I tliink so, and go in for elevating the stan- 

 dard in our good town. w. d. c. 



Concord, N. H., July, 1855. 



HIGHWAY WORK. 



In Concord, Mass., the highway tax is paid to 

 the collector, as are other taxes. Formerly it 

 was the custom to have the taxes worked out, or 

 stood out, as some said, and many did. 



By the present system, the person who has 

 charge of the roads in a certain district may com- 

 mence his repairs on the highways as soon as the 

 frost is out of the ground, and cart his gravel so 

 that it w^ill settle immediately, and make a fine 

 road at once. When A, B, and C, had to be 

 called upon, the hook must be first prepared, so 

 that the surveyor could tell what taxes were due. 

 This generally came along in midsummer, when 

 the roads were as dry as meal, and the less done 

 on them the better. 



It seems as if all could see the great economy 

 of the present ai-rangemcnt. The intelligent sur- 

 veyor hires his two good men, takes team enough 

 and the right tools, and works when and where 

 it is needed. Before, we used to have at times a 

 great party out. The roads would be plowed up 

 at the sides, and then men strung along to shovel 

 the rich loam or sand into the ruts. The trav- 

 eller dreaded to come upon such a piece of mend- 

 ed (!) ways. It was a sore spot for a long time. 

 It was a fortunate year for our district when 

 my neighbor Goodman was surveyor. We had 

 the roads in trim that year, let me tell you. He 

 commenced in March. He opened the water- 

 courses, and drained the deep ruts of the floods of 

 standing water which helped the wheels to wear 

 down continually deeper. He then carted coarse 

 gravel, and filled the ruts with shovels from tilt- 

 ed carts Avith great dispatch. The gravel stuck 

 in the wet ruts, and soon became firm as the ev- 

 erlasting hills. 



There is gravel enough in our district for all 

 the roads in the United States. It is a little 

 harder filling it than the yellow dirt beside the 

 road, but Goodman said nothing but the best of 

 gravel should he spread on tlie road, if he went 

 half a mile for it. Nobody ever before discovered 

 that several high ridges in the very roads them- 

 selves were excellent gravel, and could be removed 

 with a two-fold advantage. 



Mr. Brown, nothing disturbs my spine and tem- 

 per more than to go jolting over loose cobble- 



WOOD LAND. 



Fifteen acres of wood and timber land will 

 furnish a farmer his ordinary timber and wood for 

 two fires. Ten cords of wood suffice for any man 

 to keep two fires the year round, provided he has 

 tight rooms and good stoves. We have kept two 

 fires, since the first of November, in two large 

 rooms, and have not yet burned three cords of 

 wood, and we can assure you that we like a good 

 comfortable fire. The farmer should commence 

 on one side of his lot, and cut the wood clean as 

 he goes. In this manner the young shoots come 

 up alike, as they receive the sun alike. Now 

 say there are thirty cords of wood to an acre ; 

 if he cuts ten cords of wood a year, it will take 

 him three years to cut off the wood of a single 

 acre, and it will take him forty-five years to cut 

 the wood off from his lot of fifteen acres. At 

 the end of forty-five years, he may go back to 

 the first acre he cut, and cut thirty cords to the 

 acre. On our ordinary upland, wood will grow 

 to thirty cords to the acre in thirty years. 



Thirty-four years since, we recollect of assist- 

 ing in clearing fourteen acres of wood land, and 

 getting the same into winter rye. After the crop 

 of winter rye was taken, it was pastured for a 

 year or two, and then suffered to grow up. The 

 growth was white oak, yellow oak, red oak, 

 chestnvit and maple. Seven years since, that 

 same rye field was cut over, and there was not a 

 single acre of it but produced thirty cords to the 

 acre ! And this in twenty-seven years ! — Ano7iy- 

 mous. 



For the New England Farmer 



TO OWNERS OF OAX AND PINE 

 SHRUBS. 



Editors of the Farmer : — One word of sug- 

 gestion, if you please, to the owners of the small 

 patches of oak, walnut and pine shrubs, which 

 are seen so frequently on the borders of Massa- 

 chusetts villages, on the plains, and the declivi- 

 ties of the hills. These objects, which now strike 

 the eye so disagreeably, however small and un- 

 couth, may be made the most attractive feature 

 of the scenery. 



In proof of this, let me give you my own ex- 

 perience. I owned, four years since, within a 

 short distance from this village, about six acres 

 of the most unsightly land in the neighborhood, 

 a mass of rocks and stumps, shrub oaks, shrub 

 pines and shrub walnuts. By trimming away in 

 the beginning all the shrubs except one upright 

 shoot, and digging all the old stumps away, I 

 have a young grove to beautify rather than de- 



