146 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



VOL. I. 



fold way, for the purposes of agriculture : 

 namely, l)y giving shelter to slock ; by break- 

 ingr the currents of winds; and by commu- 

 nicating a degree of warmth, or softness, to 

 the air in calmer weather. 



Nor ought it to be altogether kept out of 

 view, that the retaining, and judiciously ar- 

 ranging a portion of growing timber on a 

 farm, confers a richness, and picturesque 

 beauty on the landscape. We have seen 

 some lands, on which nothing was sought 

 for but profit and shelter, where the greatest 

 beauty was produced by adopting thissystem. 

 Where, however, trees for shade may be 

 requisite for agricultural purposes, they 

 should be sufficiently open to admit a free 

 circulation of air. For this purpose, trees 

 with lofty stems, and large heads, pruned to 

 single stems, are preferable. To shelter live 

 stock, the skreen should be open at the bot- 

 tom. Otherwise, it is injurious, rather than 

 beneficial. The blast not only acquires ad- 

 ditional current, but snow is liable to be 

 blown through, and to be lodged in drifts on 

 the leeward side, to the annoyance and dan- 

 ger of sheep that have repaired thither for 

 shelter. 



occasionally till the time of sowing, the frost 

 having full power on them during this time. 

 After the plant begins to grow, the weeds and 

 grass is to be kept out, and the ground mel- 

 low, similar to a nursery of appletrees, until 

 the plants are one or two years old, when 

 they are to be transplanted into the place for 

 the fence. P. 



Ch ster Co. Nov. 9, 1836. 



{To be Continued.') 



liive Fences. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet: — 



Sir. — I wrote to you some time since on 

 the subject of Live Fences, and stated where 

 I supposed the berry could be procured, and 

 the method by which the seeds could be 

 separated from the other parts of the berry. 

 The object of this communication, is to state 

 the process by which the seed is managed 

 before sown, which is different with different 

 persons; the principal object aimed at by 

 all, appears to be for the frost to act sufficient- 

 ly on the stone or hard part of the seed, to 

 open it, so that the germ may vegitate when 

 the seed is sown the ensuing spring, and not 

 to operate so powerfully as to endanger its 

 vitality. Some place the seed in a box with 

 a hole or openings in the bottom, and a thin 

 layer of sand or earth on the top of the seed, 

 and place the whole so that water may run 

 from the roof of a building, whenever rain 

 falls during the winter, which passes through 

 the whole and out at the bottom; this, witii 

 the frost of the winter, prepares the seed, 

 which may be sown about the same time as 

 flax, (say I'Jaster) in a strong mellow soil, 

 sufficiently thin, for the plants to grow to the 

 height of a foot, without materially injuring 

 each other. 



One person, who has generally succeeded 

 well, places the seed as aforesaid, but with- 

 out the earth or sand on them, in the shade, 

 about the middle of February, and is careful 

 to keep them moist, by pouring water on them 



Drilling. 



The improvement made by the great sav- 

 ing of seed in modern practice is very great. 

 It is certain from experiments, most satisfac- 

 torily authenticated, that about one-third of 

 the seed which was formerly used, and in- 

 deed is still in most places, is fully sufficient. 

 In general it produces a better crop than the 

 whole quantity. In the old husbandry or 

 broad-cast method of sowing, it is usual to 

 allow from twoto thrcebushels of seed-wheat, 

 as the season happens, to a statute acre ; but 

 in drilling or setting, it is found that from 

 three to five pecks is quite sufficient; so that 

 the difference between the two modes of 

 planting amounts, at least, to a saving of one 

 bushel and a half per acre. If then these 

 new modes of planting all sorts of grain were 

 equally adopted, the saving would be an addi- 

 tion to the year's produce, a tenth or twelfth 

 of its whole amount. The farmer, therefore, 

 who in any one year might plant one hun- 

 dred acres of wheat in the new method, 

 would save at last one hundred and fifty 

 bushels of seed. If the savings of seed then 

 on one humored acres would be one hundred 

 and fifty bushels, how amazing would be the 

 amount of the quantity saved on all the til- 

 lage lands of this country. 



The improvement in planting has all the 

 prejudice of the farmer to contend with. He 

 has been used, perhaps, almost a century, to 

 sow his land with wheat at the rate of two 

 bushels and a half per acre, and at harvest 

 too frequently has observed he has not half a 

 crop; from which he hastily concludes, that 

 if he had sown but half the quantity, small 

 as his crop was, it would have been but hall 

 as great. His land is frequently in very im- 

 perfect tilth, very rough, and full of large 

 lumps; however, the seedsman scatters the 

 seed on the surface, and in harrowing, apart 

 is covered so deep as never to appear, ano- 

 ther is never covered at all, but is picked up 

 by the birds; so that it frequently happens 

 that not one-third of the seed ever vegetates 

 and arrives at maturity. But in planting by 

 hand, every grain is placed at the intendec 

 depth and distance and not one in a thousand 

 miscarries. The mode of planting has beer 

 in use several years in this country as wel 



