1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEIMER. 



367 



urged," and farmer Greeley of the New York Tri- 

 bune, who affirms that do garden or orchard should 

 be planted unless trenched or ploughed at least two 

 feet, holds that "deep ploughing is a remedy for 

 the woes of our country." The New England 

 Farmek also believes in and advocates what it 

 calls "deep ploughing." Is your question, then, 

 answered in the affirmative ? We think not. 

 Whether eighteen inches are better than twelve, or 

 six, or four, depends on circumstances. However 

 desirable a deep rich soil may be, it may be that 

 he who hasteth to plough deep without regard to 

 the character of the subsoil or the amount of ma- 

 nure he can apply, "considereth not," like old 

 Solomon's man that hasted to be rich, "that pover- 

 ty shall come upon him." Still we believe that a 

 gradual deepening of the furrow slice is desirable 

 on most of our old fields, and on many of them 

 quite necessary. The celebrated Mechi, of Eng- 

 land, ascribes his success in the cultivation of 

 heavy clay soils to deep ploughing and heavy ma- 

 nuring, and yet he cautions against turning up too 

 much of what be calls "the villainous subsoil," 

 even on such land ; while on loose, sandy or grav- 

 elly soils he advises "compression" instead of 

 deep cultivation. If there were a bed of manure 

 twevle inches below the surface, or a strata of 

 the "green marl" of New Jersey, perhaps "the ad- 

 vantages of deep ploughing could not be too 

 strongly urged ;" but if instead of a bed of manure 

 or of a subsoil as good or better than that at the 

 surface, there is a layer of hungry sand, washed 

 gravel, or a pavement of boulders, little perhaps 

 would be said in favor of a two-foot furrow after a 

 fair trial. The fact is, that in ploughing, as in all 

 other operations on the farm, circumstances and 

 common sense must govern. 



RAVE. FOR cow FODDER. 



In the Farmer of May 23, is a communication 

 over the signature "N. S. T." on corn fodder for 

 soiling. I agree with him as far as he goes. But 

 he has said nothing of the best feed between the 

 first frost and winter. I have for a few years past 

 planted rape for green feed, after the frost has cut 

 corn. It is first-rate feed as long as it can be had 

 for snow. Say two and a half or three feet by 

 eighteen inches is about the right distance to plant 

 it, which may be done any time in June, the 

 sooner the better, however. The seed is the same 

 that is sometimes fed to birds, and may be had at 

 the seed stores in Boston. Rape makes the best 

 butter of anything I ever fed to cows. It wants rich 

 land. It won't grow on land without manure. 



Westboro', Mass., June 14, 1868. W. S. Grow. 



Remarks. — This plant which is largely grown in 

 Europe, belongs to the cabbage or turnip family, but 

 it never heads like the fonner, and its roots are of 

 little value compared with the latter. It is fre- 

 quently called coleseed in England, and ««w<<e in 

 France. Its seed is rich in oil, and the whole 

 plant is extremely valuable as green food for cattle 

 and sheep. The plants survive the winter in Eng- 

 land and produce seed the second year. There are 

 several different varieties of the rape. On heavily 

 manured land it grows to a height of six feet. Mr. 



Blackie, an English writer on agriculture, remarks, 

 "I am almost afraid to say that I believe, with the 

 addition of some straw, an acre will keep thirty 

 head of cattle in full milk for a month." 



NEW ENGLAND PIONEERS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. 



The following bit of history of two young men 

 from New England fell in my way some time 

 since, and I think it worthy of preservation. 



In the year 1749, the head waters of the great 

 Kanawha River that lies immediately west of the 

 Alleghany mountains, in what i"? now West Vir- 

 ginia, was discovered ; and from the reports of that 

 rich country, abounding with. game and fish, many 

 visitors were attracted there the following year, 

 \7!j0, and among others two young men from New 

 England, by the name of Jacob Marlin and Stephen 

 Sewell. They were so captivated with the country, 

 and with the Buffalo, Elk and smaller game which 

 they found there, that they remained over winter, 

 though near a hundred miles from any white set- 

 tlement. Here they were found in the spring of 

 1751 by a surveying party from Eastern Virginia, 

 the Lewises and others ; but then living some eight 

 miles apart. Mr. Lewis inquired what could have 

 induced them to separate in the absence of all 

 other human beings, and was told that a little dif- 

 ference of opinion had caused the separation. At 

 this time, however, a better understanding existed, 

 and they were sufficiently friendly to salute each 

 other with "good morning, Mr. Marlin," and "good 

 morning, Mr. Sewell," when they chanced to meet. 



The location of these young men, during that 

 winter has ever since retained their names. Mar- 

 lin's camp was on one of the finest bottoms on 

 Greenbrier River, and a post office there is called 

 "Marliu's Bottom." This "Bottom" has been cul- 

 tivated in corn and wheat for about one hundred 

 years, and that without manure or rest, and still 

 produces from fifty to eighty bushels of corn to the 

 acre. The writer, himself, has seen about eighty 

 bushels to the acre. 



Sewell's shelter was a large ledge of limestone 

 rocks, near a tine spring, and the neighboring 

 stream is called "Stephen Hole Run" on the pub- 

 lic records of all the lands on that water. Both of 

 these localities are in Pocahontas County. During 

 the year 1751 Sewell went some forty miles further 

 west and was killed by the Indians on a mountain 

 known on the map of Western Virginia as "Sewell 

 Mountain," and a post near the place of his death 

 bears the name of "Sewell." 



During this surveying expedition of Col. John 

 Lewis, in 1751, his party at one time became seri- 

 ously entangled in an almost impenetrable jungle 

 of the Green Brier bushes, and hence the name of 

 Greenbrier River has attached to the stream on 

 whose rich intervales these briers grew so luxuri- 

 antly. J. H. R. 

 Wesi Virginia, June 1, 1868. 



TIME AND MODE OF MAKING HAY. 



Esteemed Friends :— Being a subscriber to the 

 New England Farmer, and looking to it for in- 

 struction, I hope to see more definite instructions 

 as to making hay. I have several articles before 

 me recommending very early cutting, and not 

 making as much as is generally done ; but none of 

 the writers state whether they use salt or not. 



I intend to cut earlier than usual, make two 

 days while the hay is green, and put four quarts of 

 slaked lime and salt, equal parts, per ton ; after 

 the grass is nearly ripe, I propose to get in the hay 

 the same day it is cut. Now if there is a better 

 way I would be glad to learn it, as hay is our most 

 important crop, and how to get it, the most impor- 

 tant question in farming. 



Does steam from heating hay tend to draw 



