416 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



no expenditure more economical than the pur- 

 chase of an abundant supply of clover seed. One 

 peck per acre is not too much — we have found a 

 half bushel to yield an increase worth much more 

 than the additional cost of the seed. But a heavy 

 seeding alone will not answer the purpose, unless 

 the soil is in a proper condition." 



YARDING SHEEP ON FIELDS AND PASTURES. 



I notice in your issue of July 11th, an article 

 headed "New Plan for Top Dressing," by "Li. H. 

 C," Braintree, Vt. The com-se he recommends 

 must result in enriching his fields at the expense 

 of his pasture. Now, my dear sir, I am induced 

 to pen this article that j'ou, being a sentinel on the 

 watch-tower of agriculture, may warn your thou- 

 sands of subscribers against adopting his plan. 

 Our pastures grow poor full f^ist enough, without 

 taking from tkem that which belongs to them and 

 giving it to other portions of the farm. The plan 

 of "H. H. C." for a pen or yard is a good one, so 

 Air as that goes. But I think his location of it is 

 extremely bad. I would suggest that he and all 

 other farmers make a portal)le pen in their pas- 

 tures, and never at night remove from it any of the 

 stock kept there, except those you are absolutely 

 obliged to. We may travel over the New England 

 States and not find one old pasture in a hundred 

 that will keep one-fourth the stock it did fifty 

 years ago, owing to the system of robbery that has 

 been carried on. Let it be stopped as far as possi- 

 ble, and at once, or soon we shall have no pasturing. 



Many farmers may say, we cannot keep our til- 

 lage up unless we yard at night. This is a mis- 

 take. There are very many other ways to do this. 

 The cheapest, easiest and best is my method ad- 

 vertised in your paper. The reason is my combi- 

 nation of chemicals is such that they grasp the 

 fertilizing properties of the manure and hold it for 

 vegetation, not allowing it to escape in the air. 

 The chemicals are all fertilizers, and the combina- 

 tion increases their properties four-fold. 



JosiAH Clark. 



Manchester, X. H., July 13, 18fi8. 



Remauks. — What our correepondent saj's of the 

 condition of our pastures will not be disputed by 

 the farmers of New England. But we have no 

 knowledge of his "combination of chemicals," ex- 

 cept that furnished by his advertisement and by 

 the statements of individuals and societies in his 

 neighborhood, who have tested it. 



SPECIAL FERTILIZERS FOR SEEDING DOWN. 



Gentlemen : — I write to the Farmer for advice. 

 All farmers, ])y occupation, are brothers, and I 

 hope are willing to impart information to others. 

 I have a piece of meadow in grass, about'two acres, 

 which lias so run out that I want to plough it and 

 seed it down. I have top-dressed it every year 

 with compost manure, but still it needs seeding. 

 Now the question is, what fertilizer shall I use? 

 Barnyard manure is out of the question. 1 have a 

 bed of peat muck, which I use quite extensively, 

 combining it with other fertilizers. Wood ashes 

 is good, l>ut cannot be obtained in large quantities, 

 Fisli guano is good, but it is difficult to be got this 

 time of year. What saj' you to the ammoniated 

 Pacific guano ? I want something that will enrich 

 as well as stimulate. Will the FAUMEU'or some 

 of its valuable correspondents come to my help. 



I wish to ask your correspondent, Mr. Ilavmon 

 Northrop, if the revolving horse rake on wheels, 

 will rake clean where the hay is very thin, and also 

 what is the price. I wish advertisers would give 



the price of their machines when they so highly 

 recommend them. I went to a neighboring town 

 to sec Chandler's horse hoe. I found the man and 

 talked with him about it. I had got to go 100 

 rods or more to see it, but when he told me the 

 price was $50, 1 said I did not want to see it. 



Elijah Gunn. 

 Montague, Mass., July 13, 1868. 



Remarks. — How many such questions as that 

 of our correspondent in relation to his meadow we 

 could answer if wc only knew of some cheap 

 available substitute for barnyard manure ! And 

 how we could make our own farm shine, and how 

 we could fill up the guant old "weasel-skin," if we 

 possessed that knowledge ! The scientific man, as 

 well as the practical farmer, is seeking for such a 

 substitute in the minerals of the earth and the gases 

 of the air. The isles of the sea are explored, 

 the bowels of the earth are mined, the crucible 

 of the chemist is consulted, — but "what say you" 

 to this or that panacea for the woful "goneness" 

 that our soils complain of, is a hard question 

 to put to the "editors of the Fabmer, and they 

 hand it over to the "brotherhood." But first 

 "gather up the fragments that nothing be lost." 

 Are your cow-yards and pig-pens furnished with 

 dry muck and other absorbents ? Are all the 

 "Pacific," "ammoniated" solids and liquids from 

 the sink-spout and elsewhere made to leaven as 

 large a lump as possible of your peat muck ? if 

 your meadow has been top-dressed every year, a 

 very little manure harrowed in with the "seeding 

 down" may, with the aid of the decomposing sod 

 beneath, ensure a good "catch" and a good growth 

 of grass. We have known a great improvement 

 in the crop where no manure was used. But it is 

 better to use a little than none, as a very small 

 quantity seems to encourage .wonderfully the 

 the young grass In its first attempts to grow. 



As Mr. Northrop only expressed his opinion of 

 the rake alluded to, we think it incumbent on its 

 manufacturers to advertise the public as to its cost 

 and efficiency. 



RECLAIMING A CRANBERRY MEADOW. 



Mr. Editor : — I have two or three acres of bog 

 meadow which are valuable as a cranberry mead- 

 ow, and bj' the side of it I have much land of 

 the same kind well adapted to cranberry culture — 

 with the exception that it is covered with brush. 

 How can I get rid of the brush ? Some of my 

 neighbors think that, after mowing and burning 

 the bushes, the meadow must be dug over with a 

 bog hoe in order to kill the bushes, as the surface 

 is too soft and the mud too deep to bear up oxen 

 and plough. I have been thinking of the follow- 

 ing process : First mow the bushes close to the 

 ground, in August, and as they get dry burn them. 

 As the bushes are quite a heavy growth they will 

 make a very hot fire, which will kill all the stubs 

 to the surface of the ground ; then as there is plen- 

 ty of sand near by, and the meadow is flowed dur- 

 ing winter, cover the surface with six or eight 

 Inches of sand. 



My opinion may not be correct, but it appears 

 to me that eight inches of sand pressed down with 

 a roller would smother or prevent all sprouts from 

 coming to the surface ; admitting, however, that 

 they do sprout and penetrate the surface, could it 



