500 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



wise the roots would be destroyed. The effect of 

 this manure is incredibly rapid. In a few days, the 

 growth of the plant is doubled. If the manure 

 be repeated the second time, but in smaller quan- 

 tity, a rich harvest is certain. At least the product 

 will be threefold that which would have been ob- 

 tained from the unmanured soil. The hacienda 

 of the valley of Chancy have, during the last fifty 

 years, consumed annually from thirty-three to thir- 

 ty-six thousand bushels of guano from the islands 

 of Chincha and Pisco. The price of a bushel of 

 colored guano is one dollar and a quarter, and the 

 price of the white, from two to three dollars. The 

 price has recently undergone many fluctuations in 

 consequence of the great exports to Europe." 



Owing to the extremely concentrated character 

 of this manure, great care is required in using it. 

 Many who have applied it to their crops, have ex- 

 perienced highly disastrous results, fi-om a total 

 misconception of its nature, and have therefore de- 

 nounced it as not only utterly valueless, but in the 

 highest degree pernicious. That it is a most pow- 

 erful and salutary manure when judiciously applied, 

 no one who has witnessed its effects, or reflected 

 upon its character and origin, will be disposed to 

 doubt. 



For the New England Farmer. 



METEOROLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. 



I have been permitted to copy from the record 

 of Meteorological Observations, kept by Mr. Lam- 

 son, of Salem, Essex Co., Mass., successor to the 

 venerable Dr. Holyoke, (whose data were kept 

 with so much accuracy for more than fifty years, as 

 to have become classical authority in tliese matters,) 

 the following facts, showing the quantity of rain 

 and snow, for the last /en years. 



RAINS. SNOW. 



47.81 inches 40.60 inches. 



39 30 inches .36 60 inches. 



37.13 inches 41.75 inches. 



&6 03 inches 43.75 inches. 



41.95 inches 41 00 inches. 



43.14 inches 63.50 itches. 



51.04 inches 47.75 inches. 



41.74 inches 55.00 inches. 



42.40 inches 43.00 inches. 



46.16 inches <6 00 inches. 



1847. 

 1848. 

 1849. 

 1850. 

 1851. 

 1852. 

 1853. 

 1854. 

 1855. 

 1856. 



Average for ten years... 43. 33 inches 41.14 inches. 



Amounting to eighty Jire inches nearly. 



It will be seen, from an examination of the fore- 

 going table, that the quantity of rain or snow that 

 falls in a year, usually ranges between 40 to 50 

 inches, and that there is about the same quantity of 

 each. How it may have been the present season, 

 I am not at present prepared to say ; but I think 

 the quanlity of rain fallen since the first of April 

 will be found greater than any year, for the last 

 ten years. If any one can answer this inquiry, 

 with confidence in their accuracy, I should like to 

 be informed. I have entire confidence in Mr. 

 Lamson's observations. His accuracy is only sur- 

 passed by his modesty. J. w. P. 



South Danvers, August 8, 1857. 



^F° The Rochester Democrat states that Joseph 

 Phelps, of Ontario county, has given $25,000 to 

 found a professorship in the new College at Libe 

 ria. 



For the New England Fanner. 



THINGS IN ESSEX COUNTY. 



Mr. Brown: — Dear Sir,— Following your ex- 

 ample, I will endeavor to give you a sketch of my 

 rambles, yesterday, in company of the Committee 

 on Farms, in their autumnal visit. Messrs. Choate, 

 Proctor, Loring and Jaquith were present. To the 

 regret of all, that prince of good fellows, the knight 

 of the wheelbarrow, was not there — not having 

 returned from his arduous labors at Louisville. 



We first called at the Danvers town farm, under 

 the care of Mr. Page, the intelligent superintend- 

 ent. Here was instruction of the best kind, such 

 as springs up naturally, without any forced effort. 

 Some of the crops on this estate, have been gath- 

 ered, and will compare well with the best of the 

 kind I have known. Others are still growing with 

 great luxuriance and beauty. If seventy bushels of 

 Indian corn to the acre are not harvested there, I 

 shall lose my guess. Here, too, we learned that 

 the hand of the destroyer had been laid — more 

 than three-fourths of all their swine, 60 in number, 

 had been cut down in the course of a few weeks, 

 by that unexplained distemper, the hog cholera. 



After a hospitable entertainment by Mr. Page 

 and lady, we wended our way to the magnificent 

 farm of Gen. Sutton, consisting of 400 acres — with 

 all the arrangements and conveniences that long 

 experience and liberal appropriations could pro- 

 vide. Here we found the General just returned 

 from the arduous duties of the camp; and after' a 

 week of toil, he was not exactly in the mood to 

 took to the concerns of his farm, and I understood 

 it was arranged for the committee to call again, 

 when the crops shall be fully gathered in. 



We proceeded on our way to those models of 

 successful culture, the Messrs. Ware, of Marble- 

 head — halting for a moment at the noble estate of 

 Dr. Loring, of South Salem, one of the Committee. 

 All were rejoiced to find the doctor so far recov- 

 ered from the severe rub he experienced in the use 

 of his mower, that he could enjoy the view and the 

 excursion. 



Upon entering the fine cultivated grounds of Mr. 

 Ware, the first olrject that greeted the ej e was eight 

 acres of onions, yielding at least estimate, 500 bush- 

 els to the acre, now ready for the harvest. We un- 

 derstood the proprietor to say they would not be 

 sold until they would command one dollar per 

 bushel. On the same farm are at present growing 

 three hundred barrels of winter apples of the finest 

 varieties. The other crops that have been gath- 

 ered, or are to be gathered, are in equal proportion. 

 Some idea of the profits of farming in this worn- 

 out corner of the Old Bay State, can be found from 

 these statements, which we have the best reason to 

 beheve are not over-estimated. 



How happens it that such crops are grown ? The 

 grand secret of them is vigilant attention to the 

 preparation and application of fertilizers. The 

 Messrs. Ware's grounds border on the bay, where 

 there is constantly rotting inexhaustible material 

 for manure — of which they understand how to 

 avail themselves to the best advantage. Even on 

 the Poor Farm, first visited, we understand, there 

 are annually made 200 cords of first quality man- 

 ure. The corollary from all this is, "he that by 

 his crops would thrive, must take care to provide 

 the material to keep them alive." * *. 



Essex County, Sept. 15, 1857. 



