203 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



VOL. I. 



pal excellence is that they are calculated per- 

 manently to improve the soils to whicli they are 

 applied. — Stiti" loams are also in the same way 

 assisted by sand, and sand again by these ; but 

 neither in so great a degree as in the former 

 case. Generally it may be observed that all 

 light, dry soils are improved by being- mixed 

 with lieavy earths, and vice versa. 



Sand and fine gravel will greatly fertilize 

 the soil of bog meadows and this earth again 

 is very good manure for all upland soils. It 

 is peculiarly excellent for Indian corn when 

 applied to the liills, and is very good for flax, 

 hemp, and most other summer crops. Like 

 gypsum, it is friendly to the growth of white 

 clover. When applied to upland grasses it 

 should be laid on as a top dressing. Every 

 kind of black mud from ponds and swamps, 

 answers a somewhat similar purpose; though 

 if the mud be stili'and clayey, it should only 

 be applied to a light dry soil. 



The different sorts of marl found in bog- 

 swamp are also excellent manures for all up- 

 land soils. These earths are usully found at 

 the depth of from one to three feet from the 

 surface, and are either of a white, gray or 

 brownish color. The former is the most 

 efficacious, and the latter the least so, their 

 strength being in proportion to the quantity 

 of carbonate of lime they contain. It is best 

 to mix these earths with the mass of black 

 earth or bog dirt, thatforms the upper stratum, 

 in order to reduce their strength, and when 

 thus mixed, a load of even the weakest kind 

 is more efficacious than two of common barn 

 dung. 



Their operation as manures is similar to 

 that of the Nova Scotia gypsum, have little 

 or no effect when first applied to wheat and 

 ry e ;'but by its afterwards covering the ground 

 with a thick growth of white clover, it is then 

 rendered fit for producing largely of these 

 crops. The same may be observed of the bog 

 dirt. — Like this, these marls are peculiarly 

 excellent for Indian corn, and all summer 

 grain, and a less quantity is sufficient. They 

 may be used as top-dressing or otherwise. 



Ashes as a manure are found to be more 

 efficacious in some parts of the country than 

 in others, generally most so when applied to 

 lands near the ocean. In some parts where 

 the soil is extremely light, and the bottom 

 sand, the farmer can afford to pay twelve and 

 a half cents a bushel, while in other parts, 

 they are suffered to lie untouched about the 

 potasharies,^ 



Ashes generally answer the most valuable 

 purpose when applied to Indian corn, particu- 

 larly whore the soil is not suitable to this plant. 

 Where ihesoil is wet, cold, loamy or clayey, 

 the plants are apt to get stunned with the cold 

 rains which usually fiiU after planting ; and 

 then the ashes serve to supply the natural 



deficiencies of the soil, till it becomes fertil- 

 ized by the sun. — But where the soil is natural 

 to the growth of this plant, and there is no 

 danger of its being stunned at its outset, per- 

 haps it may be better to apply the ashes later, 

 so that ihe plants may derive the greatest as- 

 sistance from this manure, while the ears are 

 setting and forming. 



Ashes should generally be used for top- 

 dressing ; their salts lose nothing by exposure 

 to the air, and soon find their way into the 

 soil. 



Soot is much more efficacious than ashes ; 

 besides salts, it contains oil. — The soot of coal 

 is esteemed equally as good as that of wood. — 

 It is used for top dressings, and requires about 

 40 bushels for an acre. When applied to 

 winter grain it should be sown in the spring; 

 and the same may be observed of ashes. Coal 

 soot is particularly very good for meadow 

 lands which have become sour and mossy. 

 This manure, can however, only be had in 

 considerable quantities in large towns. 



Of salts, which serve as manures, the prin- 

 cipal are the common sea salt, urine, stale of 

 catile, sea water, salt petre and alkaline salts. 

 To the latter, the virtue of ashes, as a manure, 

 is principally owing. Soapsuds is in part 

 valuable on account of its alkaline salts, and 

 perhaps the neutralized oil it contains adds 

 much to its value. It is usual to throw this 

 manure away ; but this is a needless waste. 

 It may be taken in the watering pot and 

 strewed over the garden, where it will be 

 of great service as a manure and in expelling 

 insects. 



Size of Farms. 



We know not when or where the follow- 

 inf^ article on the size of farms was first pub- 

 lished. We commend it to the attention of 

 our readers, as affording some useful hints on 

 a subject of interest. 



An obstacle in the way of good husbandry 

 in the west is the size of the farms. "Very 

 generally they are too large. The cheapness 

 of land offers an inducement to the farmer to 

 procure a large tract. And the fashion being 

 set, he who has not three, four, five or six 

 hundred acres of land, is not considered a 

 farmer on a respectable scale. This thing, I 

 have no doubt, operates detrimentally to the 

 general interests of agriculture, and to the 

 mdividual disadvantage of proprietors. If a 

 man possesses the means of purchasing a 

 farm of five hundred, or even five thousand 

 acres, and then, of suitably improving, stock- 

 ing, and cultivating it, it might operate well 

 enough as regards himself. But it too gene- 

 rallyliappensthat the farmer settling among 

 us purchases land to the full extent of his | 



