224 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



Pleasures and enjoyments for leisure hours, hooks, 

 papers, lyceum lectures, and debating clubs, for the 

 long winter evenings, and the most approved meth- 

 ods of intellectu il culture, have l)een recommended ; 

 and "farmers' sons" have discussed the subject 

 whether they had better remain at home on the 

 farm, or seek a situation in the city, where they can 

 enjoy privileges not found in rural districts. And 

 even farmers' wives have made some useful sug- 

 gestions in your valuable paper. 



But it occurs to me that households are rare in 

 which the farmer, his wife and sons, comprise the 

 whole family. It is true that compared with the 

 sons, the daughters are considered by the lords of 

 the soil as quite insignificant beings. Now, Mr. 

 Editor, / (being one of the latter class) do not ex- 

 pect to convince you or your readers that I am of 

 equal importance in the world as my brothers ; or 

 that my claims to consideration and interest should 

 be mentioned the same day as theirs. Bui having 

 been a reader of the Farmer sometime, I have often 

 hoped and vainly looked for some article indicating 

 the best course for the class of which I am a repre- 

 sentative to pursue. 



There is a large family of us, some already are 

 come to years of maturity ; we have many wants to 

 supply, and the respected head of our family has so 

 many calls for his surplus funds that there is next 

 to nothing left for the gii'ls. Now shall we stay at 

 home and be content with the limited means and 

 advantages afforded us, or shall we leave the homes 

 of our childhood, tear ourselves away from brothers 

 and sisters, and from parents, when we most need 

 their council? Shall we stick to the farm-house 

 kitchen, and assist in lightening the task of our 

 mother, or shall we leave her to toil alone, while 

 we seek from home some of the few employments 

 which are open to females ? 



Now, sir, if you or some of your able correspon- 

 dents will advise us ; and also among the few kinds 

 of employment, which is to be recommended, or 

 least objectionable, you will greatly oblige 



A Farmer's Daughteu. 



Ipswich, March 9, 1857. 



For the New Eiif^land Fanner. 



AGEICULTUilAL EEPOETS. 



Mr. Editor: — As I am a friend to equal ])riv- 

 ileges, (and 1 trust you are,) I would like to make 

 a few suggestions and inquiries as to our State Ag- 

 ricultural Reports. I suppose we all help pay for 

 them, and if that be so, I think we are all entitled 

 to our share of them. Let them be distributed 

 among the towns in proportion to their number, 

 and go to make up a library, that would be free to 

 all. I would say, also, the same of the Patent Of- 

 fice Reports. The practice of sending them to in- 

 dividuals, is, I think, wrong, for the most of them 

 lay idle on some ricli man's centre table, that is 

 able to pay for his books, and by so doing the 

 working farmer seldom sees one. 



Perhaps you may say they would lend them ; no 

 doubt some would, but I do not leel like borrow- 

 ing what I help pay for, I am well aware that some 

 will say that it is not to be expected all can share 

 alike, and neither do I, but when it can be done I 

 hoi)e to see no objections. You say you are very 

 much indebted to books for your knowledge of 

 farming. "Would it not be better for Town Agri- 



cultural Societies to expend a part of their funds 

 in books for a library, so that when we meet win- 

 ter evenings, to talk about farming, w'e could ex- 

 change books, and all that are disposed, would have 

 an equal chance for them ? I think our town Ag- 

 ricultural Societies are much better calculated to 

 do good than our State or County Societies. Every 

 town ought to have one, and a good library, and 

 then they would be to agriculture what our com- 

 mon schools are to other seminaries of learning. 

 Leominster, March, 1857. Justice. 



For the New England Farmer. 



NEW WAY OF PLANTING CORN- 

 BOEERS. 



Messrs. Editors : — Having travelled somewhat 

 extensively in this and some of the neighboring 

 States, in disseminating agricultural literature, with 

 an eye open to all the new ideas and improvements 

 that have been introduced in those localities, I flat- 

 tered myself that there was nothing new to be seen 

 or heard in regard to the cultivation of Indian corn ; 

 but, on calling upon Mr. Reuben Loud, of East Ab- 

 ington, a few days since, I found that I had reck- 

 oned without my host, as he had tried the follow- 

 ing described experiment, with complete success : 



The land upon which the experiment was made 

 was a lowish piece of greensward, such as in most 

 parts of New England is infested with yellow wire- 

 worms, which, I understood some of Mr. Loud'a 

 neighbors to say, had always been the case with 

 this field, som.etimes the worms destroying nearly 

 the whole crop. Beginning upon one side, a fur- 

 row was turned fieldwards, a foot or more in width, 

 which of course covered the unplowed land to the 

 same extent. A furrow was then turned to the 

 back of this, leaving six or eight inches in width of 

 grass uncovered, on which the manure was put in 

 hills about three feet apart. The corn can be put 

 above or below the manure. The manure was cov- 

 ered with dirt from the furrows. 



In commencing for another row a strip of about 

 fifteen inches in width was left untouched until the 

 hoeing time, Avhen it was split in two, by the horse 

 plow, one-half being used to bank up each side, 

 with grass-side down. The corn was hoed but once, 

 and three-fourths of an acre produced sixty-five 

 bushels of good corn in the ear. The hills may be 

 made much nearer, or the corn 'may be plant- 

 ed in drills, and the manure put upon the top. 

 No inconvenience was suffered from worms, except 

 where the corn was planted on the broken sward, 

 when it was found to have been invariably injured 

 by them. There was a saving in labor of a good 

 share of the plowing, all the harrowing and furrow- 

 ing out, and more than half the hoeing; but it 

 might be advisable to hoe more than once. A 

 Michigan plow would be the best for the above pur- 

 pose. 



Mr. John Orcutt, of South Weymouth, informs 

 me that he has effectually prevented the ravages of 

 the borer in young trees of all kinds, by tying a 

 piece of cotton cloth six inches in width, around 

 the bottom of the tree, about the first of June. 

 Cost, about one cent per tree. A number of peo- 

 ple in West Abington, neighbors of Mr. Orcutt, 

 corroborated the above, by saying that they had 

 profited much by following Mr. O.'s example. 



Abington, March, 1857. McSES M. Fiske. 



