1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEaCER. 



257 



be seen. My nearest neighbor cultivates po- 

 tatoes ploughing deep ; planting on mellow 

 bottom, and covering good depth, and has had 

 no rotten potatoes for forty years. Planted 

 the Sebec last year ; had fine large yield ; not 

 a rotten one. Another man, two miles off, 

 had the same kind rot badly, as did also the 

 Mercer, and several other kinds of early po- 

 tatoes. Planting near the surface, and light 

 covering causes many thousand of bushels to 

 rot. Lying too long in the sun and air when 

 first dug, or when brought out of the cellar, 

 has a bad effect on a future crop by increasing 

 the liability to rot. The use of small ones 

 for seed will cause them to decrease in quan- 

 tity, size and quality. 



New ground, or that which has lain long to 

 grass is most favorable to a good crop of po- 

 tatoes. In deciding what is needed to restore 

 old ground to its former fertility, consider 

 what has been taken from it in the wheat, 

 corn, flax, buckwheat, potatoes, or beans. 

 Among other substances I have used and seen 

 used for the purpose, are bone dust, if good ; 

 ' forest leaves and decayed woods mould ; turf; 

 hen manure ; castor pumice ; wood ashes ; sea 

 manure ; shell lime and sahne matter. An- 

 other thing of much value, but little thought 

 of, is to be found on the margin of the sea, 

 rivers and ponds. There for ages the fine 

 rich compost has floated and settled from barn- 

 yards and cultivated fields. I have seen such 

 produce fertility equal to the best yard ma- 

 nure. Yard manure, the great staple, is not 

 alone sufficient in all cases for crops. Stone 

 lime is good, but it takes six months or a year 

 to prepare it. Fish manure will produce mon- 

 strous crops, but without yard or other ma- 

 nure it spoils the land. Lime, followed by 

 clover, and the roots ploughed in, will bring 

 land into high fertility, produce fine crops, and 

 the best of fruit and vegetables and kill in- 

 sects. From your old friend, who this day 

 completes his four score and fourth year, in 

 good health. Phineas Pkatt. 



Deep River, Conn., Jan. 28, 1868. 



Remarks. — The foregoing communication 

 of our venerable friend indicates a more ac- 

 tive mind and firmer nerves than most men of 

 his age enjoy. Every word of his communi- 

 cation is plainly written, each letter being well 

 formed, and the hair and heavier strokes are 

 graceful and smooth. 



For file New England Farmer, 

 FABMEKS' TALK ON" PEWCING. 



The following abfctractof thediscussiori of the Irasburg, 

 Vt., Farmers' Club on the subject of Fencing is fur- 

 Dlsbed by their Secretary, Z. E. Jameson, Esq: — 



Wm. L. Jameson regarded the subject of 

 fencing as important on account of its cost and 

 its necessity. In some places the citizens try 



!■ to get along without fence, as at Vineland ; 

 I and here in Vermont we could do without 

 road fences better now than in former years, 

 as cattle and sheep are not now allowed to run 

 in the roads. He preferred rail fence for 

 durability. If it is well put up it will stand 

 well on land where posts heave. Still he 

 makes a good deal of post and board fence. 

 He sharpens and drives the posts. He likes 

 the fence built at the village where the post is 

 set upon a stone and held in place by irons set 

 in holes drilled in the stones. Where stones 

 are plenty, wall is a good fence ; or half wall, 

 with posts at intervals to which nail a couple of 

 boards. He does not use bars, but makes 

 gates of light timber, with a wheel at each 

 lower corner that runs upon planks. Such 

 gates open easily and are better than bars to 

 drive cattle through, and are superior in other 

 respects. 



E. P. Church had built nearly all kinds of 

 fence and believes that made of cedar rails the 

 best. He would make the rail fence straight, 

 — the ends of the rails being placed between 

 two stakes which are kept together by a 

 wooden yoke or a wire. He has board fence 

 on clayey soil, but the posts heave out, the 

 nails are broken, and it needs frequent repairs. 

 He thought we should not fence our tillage 

 land into small lots. The time will soon come 

 when we shall not pasture our fields. We 

 should have some small enclosures where any 

 animal can be kept secure. He regai'ded 

 brush or tree fence through woodland as the 

 poorest kind of fence, as it needs repair 

 every spring. As to gates and bars, he pre- 

 feiTed bars, and has not a gate on his farm. 

 Gates are almost always out of order ; the 

 wind breaks them, and they cannot be opened 

 when the snow drifts or is deep. He had one 

 at a barn yard that was always a bother. He 

 raised it up so as to swing over the snow and 

 then the calves would crawl under. It would 

 get loose in windy nights and slam back and 

 forth, and he had to go out and chain it up. 

 He threw it aside and made bars. He mor- 

 tices the proper number of bar-holes, or cuts 

 notches in the side of the post and nails on a 

 cleat. His bars are sawed 1^ by 5 inches. 

 He slips them back very quickly, and does 

 not take them out. 



[Our cattle-market reporter wishes us tosaytliat 

 after having watched, for several years, the. opera- 

 tion of various styles and patterns of swinging and 

 sliding stock-car doors, or gates, — all of which are 

 liable to be clogged by frozen manure in -ninter, 

 and to get out of order at all seasons, — he finds 

 that the plan of neat bars which slide back, as sug- 

 gested by Mr. Church, give by far the best satis- 

 faction to the drovers, who are always in a hurry 

 to unload their stock. — Eds. Farmer.] 



Z. E. Jameson thought that the perfect 

 fence is a tight board fence, made of inch 

 boards with a cap board on top of the posts 



