400 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



source of more enjoyment than wealth can bring — 

 they have security for the future. They plant and 

 sow in faith, and with full assurance that the har- 

 vest will not foil. Railroad and bank stocks may 

 rise or fall, the market for theu* o^vn produce may 

 be high or low, war or peace may prevail, free-trade 

 or high duties may triumjjh, but they know that 

 " God giveth the increase," and that they and theirs 

 are dependent on Him alone. Young men make 

 haste to be rich. They forsake their "paternal 

 acres," and strive in doubtful paths to outstrip the 

 fickle goddess. Fortune. As age brings reflection, 

 and juster views of the tnie objects of life, most 

 men place a higher value on the peaceful pursuits 

 of agriculture. The repose and serenity of a far- 

 mer's life have charms for them, beyond riches, and 

 all the pleasures wealth can buy. 



Lideed, it is rare to find a merchant, or success- 

 ful mechanic, who has in early life left his rural 

 home for a life in the city, who does not look for- 

 ward with pleasant anticipations to the day, when 

 he shall return once more to his native hills, or at 

 least to the occupation of a homestead, where his 

 children may imbibe true ideas of the dignity and 

 independence of a Hfe on a farm. 



This may seem a trite and common-place subject. 

 We claim no originality for these thoughts, but it 

 would seem that now, when wars are desolating the 

 earth, when prices are paid in our markets that 

 would indicate that famine must somewhere prevail, 

 it would seem that now, both the farmer himself, in 

 his independence of other men from the vicissitudes 

 of hfe, and all others, in their dependence on him 

 for daily food, might see and feel, what more than 

 all else we would impress on all, that Agriculture is 

 the foundation of national prosperity, and that the 

 position of the farmer is entitled to be that of the 

 highest honor. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LABOR-SAVING MACHINERY. 



The precautionary remarks of the editor of the 

 Massachusetts Ploughman, in the paper of July 28, 

 on the use of Mowing Machines, are well calculated 

 to arrest the attention of farmers of less practical 

 experience, and to awaken the inquiry, ivho is right ? 

 If it be true, as is asserted, that an individual will 

 cut /our acres of grass in a day, with a scythe, then 

 there would seem to be no occasion for applying 

 machinery to this purpose. Such indi^^dual labor 

 has not come to our observation — two acres in a 

 day being the extent that Ave have known to be 

 mown by a single man. We had supj^osed that a 

 machine, properly operated would cvAfour times as 

 much as a man, and quite as well. In fact, we are 

 entirely confident that ten or twelve acres, contain- 

 ing as many tons, can readily be cut in a day, by a 

 single machine. This we know to be true, because 

 we have seen it done the last week. 



But, says the experienced editor, we tried one of 

 these machines that came from Philadelphia, with 

 the power of a pair of oxen, and it was "no go" — 



we had "to hitch on a horse to help it along." We 

 can only say, that the machine he tried could not 

 have been such as are now in use ; because no one 

 has occasion to halt for a moment, in the use of one 

 of these machines, where the grass does not exceed 

 two tons to the acre. We have never witnessed a 

 stoppage of a machine by reason of the burden of 

 grass. The editor further says, that two of his men 

 will cut as much grass in a day, on fair labor, as 

 one of these macliines. In this we thinli the editor 

 mistaken, — and that they will not cut more than 

 half as much. We agree with the editor, that there 

 is need of much improvement in these machines, to 

 commend them to general favor ; that they should 

 be lighter, so as to be operated with less power ; 

 that they should be made of better materials, so as 

 to be in less danger of breaking or gi\dng out in 

 the fields ; and if possible, that they should be so 

 made, as to be sold at half their present prices. — 

 These improvements being adopted, Ave cannot 

 doubt that mowing machines A\dll ere long come in- 

 to general use. A Looker-On. 

 July 28, 1855. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MURIATE OF LIME. 



Mr. Editor : — I noticed in your valuable jour- 

 nal an advertisement of muriate of hme. As some 

 of your readers may not know the value of this ma- 

 nure, I have taken the liberty of sending you a few 

 lines upon the subject, Avhich, if you thinli Avorthy, 

 you can insert in your paper. 



This article has been already noticed in some of 

 the journals of the day, as the best article for the 

 destruction of the canker Avorm, Avliich has commit- 

 ted such ravages upon our fruit trees during the past 

 season. This is, however, only one of its vrrtues. 

 The soil of meadow lands contains a large propor- 

 tion of humic acid, Avliich is one of the principal con- 

 stituents of peat, muck, and dift'erent kinds of de- 

 cayed vegetation. The heat of summer and cold of 

 AA-inter alike render this acid insoluble ; in this state 

 the nutritive matter cannot be absorbed by the 

 plant. It is necessary, then, in cidtivating meadoAV 

 lands, or in making a compost Avith peat-muck or 

 vegetable matter, to add some corrective, Avhich will 

 make tliis acid soluble, and capable of being assim- 

 ilated by plants. The best chemists and vegetable 

 physiologists tell us that the muriate of hme and 

 the aOvali formed from wood ashes, are the proper 

 correctives. As the former is cheapest and easiest 

 to be obtained, of course it is preferable. 



Liebig, one the first agricultural chemists of the 

 age, tells us that this salt (muriate of lime) retains 

 all the ammonia Avhich falls to the earth in the rain, 

 consequently, if it is applied to the land in the foil, 

 by spring it has not only its oaati fertilizing proper- 

 ties, but has received and is constantly receiAing, 

 an additional projoerty, and the one Avhich has ren- 

 dered guano of so much value as a manure for so 

 many years past. 



For grass lands this is probably the best manure 

 Avhich has yet been discovered, and Avherever it has 

 been used the jield has been very abmidant. Much 

 more might be said of the value of this article, but 

 I think sufficient has already been said to shoAv that 

 it is worth trying, and tvhy it is so. If this should 

 meet your approval, Mr. Editor, I may send you 

 more on a similar subject. G. I. F. 



Charlestoivn, Aug. 1, 1855. 



