Vol.VIlT.— No.50, 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



895 



Extracts from ' Hints addressed to the Farmers of 

 Essex Count;/. Published in Transactions of the 

 Essex Jlgrictdtui-al Society, for 1829. 



'Whatever may be said of other countries and 

 climes, the inhabitants of Essex county have no 

 just reason to complain of the location which 

 Providence has assigned them. Whoever traver- 

 ses this county will sea perhaps, as few marks of 

 poverty as in any parts of the country, which have 

 been as long settled, and fewer than in many parts, 

 whose settle riient has been more recent. If lie 

 does not find many examples of great wealth es- 

 pecially in our rural establishments, he may observe 

 numerous indications of thrift, comfort, and sul)- 

 stautial independence, and the reasonalde rewards 

 of enterprise, perseverance, frugality and industry. 

 The general aspect of the country i^ diversified 

 and broken, and on tliat account favorable to 

 health. On u comparison of the bills of mortality 

 in those places, where they have been so kept that 

 this comparison could be properly made, as in 

 Ipswich, forexainple, with Breslaw, in Europe,* a 

 place deemed the most healthy on the continent, 

 the result was greatly in favor of the longevity of 

 this country. We should not know where to look 

 for a population more respectable for its general 

 intelligence, public order and good morals. These 

 are eminent blessings, and should produce grate- 

 ful contentmeut, and a rational use of our advan- 

 tages. 



We have no extraordinary fertility of soil ; no 

 rich alluvion ; no deep intervale on the borders 

 of the streams by which the country is watered. 

 We have little sandy soil, but a great deal of a 

 thin, hungry, gravelly surface, and a consider ible 

 e.xtent, in scatle.~ed |)arcels, oflow and wet swamps 

 abounding with peat and capable of being drained 

 and converted into productive meadow, at an ex- 

 pense if well managed, which may be fully remu- 

 nerated by two or three of the first crops. Be- 

 sides this we have considerable quantities of supe- 

 rior land ; a good sod resting upon a clay or hard 

 pan and retentive of the manure which is put upon 

 It. Our bogs and swamps in the interior of the 

 country furnish abundant means of increasmg our 

 manure and enriching our uplands ; and as a large 

 part of the country is washed by the sea, the 

 grounds in its vicinity are benefited by the saline 

 atmosphere ; and the means of greatly increasing 

 their fertility by muscle bed and sen-wreck are 

 within our reach. Of these advantages many of 

 the farmers in the neighborhood of the ocean avail 

 themselves, and the products of some of the farms 

 of the country, both in the interior and on the sea- 

 board, are highly creditable to their industrious 

 and intelligent cultivators. 



We have authentic statements, by which it ap- 

 pears that the following amount of crops have been 

 raised at different times in different parts of this 

 bounty : — 



Of Wheat — 24 bushels, and 26 bushels to the 

 acre.f 



Of Indian Corn— 70 bushels ; 72 bushels ; 71 J- 

 bushels; 90|^ bushels; 93| bushels: 105 bushels, 

 6quarts; 110 bushels ; 113J bushels; 115 bush- 

 els ; 117J bushels.J 



• Memoir of American Academy, vol. 1. p. 565. 



t The average produce of wheat and rye in Great Bri- 

 tain is 18 bushels to the acre. See Armstrong's Treatise 

 on Agrisulture, page 31. 



{ Mr Burnham's crop of 117^ bushels was rated at 50 

 lbs. to a bushel. Messieurs Littles' of 115 bushels at 56 

 lbs. to a bushel. Rating Messieurs Littles' crop at 50 lbs. 

 per bushel it would be equal to 134 bushels to the acre. 



Of barley— 50 bushels ; 511 bushels; 52 bush- 

 els and 18 ipiarts. 



Of Potatoes— 5 18. J bushels. 

 Of Carrots — 489 "bushels ; 8G4 bushels; and 

 878 bu.shels, at 56 lbs. per bushel ; and 900 bushels. 

 OfAlangel Wurlzel — 924 bushels ; and 1340 

 bushels to an acre, at 56 llis. ])er bushel. 

 Of Ruta Baga — 688 bushels. 

 Of Beets— 783 bushels. 



Of English Turnips— 630 bushels ; 687 bush- 

 els ; 672 bushels; 751 bushels; 814 bushels. 

 Of Onions- 651 bushels.* 



We know of a lot of six acres from which 

 thirty tons of Hay, actually wei.^heil, were gather- 

 ed in one season ; and another field of about fiu-ty 

 acres, from which, according to the statement of 

 respectable and disinterested individuals, the year- 

 ly crops have averaged more than one hundred 

 and twenty tons, or three tons to an acre. We 

 ran jioint to a small dairy establishmentf the f)ro- 

 duce of which, when all circumstances arc con- 

 sidered, is probably not surpassed in the state, 

 where seven of our native cows, with no extra 

 feed whatever, have averaged a yield of 160 

 lbs. — each of butter in a season ; and another,t 

 where, with high feeding, five cows have produced 

 208 Ihs. in a season to a cow. 



We may likewise refer to the Salem Alms 

 House Farm as an example of successful husband- 

 ry, which for the size of the farm is not surpassed 

 in the coimtry. We admit that they have every 

 advantage botli of labor and manure : but it is 

 honorable, so successfiilly to avail themselves of 

 these advantages. We here subjoin an account 

 of the last year's produce, (1829) which, as we have 

 received it from the clerk of the establishment, 

 may be entirely relied on ; ' the same being as 

 near the quantity (iroduced as can be ascertained, 

 without actual weighing and measuring.' 

 75 tons English hay. 

 600 bushels corn. 

 4000 " potatoes. 

 200 " barley. 

 500 " turnips. 

 200 « beets. 

 600 " onions. 

 100 " carrots. 

 50 " pease in pod. 

 30 " beans do. 

 10 tons squashes. 

 10 " j)umpkins. 

 300 dozen cabbages. ' 

 200 lbs. sweet marjoram. 

 300 " sage. 



200 " balm and other herbs. 

 40 " garden seeds, various sorts. 

 50 bushels cucumbers. 

 3 tons melons. 

 100 bushels radishes. 



Broom corn for 12 dozen brooms. 

 500 roots celery. 

 300 fowls. 

 11600 lbs. of pork. 

 10 calves. 

 200 cords of manure. 

 Apples, plums, peaches, cherries, &,c, but few 

 — say 10 bushels. 



STOCK KEPT ON THE FARM. 



O.ven average number, 10 



Cows " " 10 



Horses " " 2 



Bull " " 1 



Hogs of all ages 80 



35 acres of ground were cultivated. 



50 " " mowed. 



This farm contains now, probably, about 110 

 acres, several of which being ledge are incapable 

 of cullivation. 



These statements are honorable to the County; 

 and if any persons would see what judgment, in- 

 dustry, and perseverance can effect under almost 

 every disadvantage, let them visit the farm of Icha- 

 bdd Nichols, Esq. on the Salem Turiq>ikH, a place 

 so aptly denomiiuited by a traveller 'the abomina- 

 tion of desolation ; ' where in the midst of rocks 

 and bogs, upon which a man nmst have had the 

 courage of a hero, to look with the thoughts of 

 subduing them, we find productive meadows, and 

 well cultivated fields ; and a milk establishment 

 of upwards of thirty cows, alike creditable to the 

 jierseverance, and productive to the pocket of its 

 indefatigable proprietor. 



* The above statements are (o be found in the memoirs 

 of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society and the Re- 

 port.<i of the Essex Agricultural Society. 



t Of Jesse Curtis of Marblehead. See Report on the 

 Dairy for this year. 



t Of Jesse Putnam of Danvers. See Report of Essex 

 Agricultural Society for 1826. 



ORIGIN OF DISEASE. 

 I tell you honestly what I think is the cause of 

 the complicated maladies of the human race; it 

 is the gormandizing and siufting, and stimulating 

 their organs (the dige.stive) to an excess, thereby 

 producing nervous disorders and irritations. The 

 state of their minils is another grand cause ; the 

 fidg ting and discontenting yourselves about what 

 can't be helped ; pa.<sions of all kinds — malignant 

 pas.sions pressing u|)on the mind, disturb the cere- 

 bral action, and do much harm. — Aherncthy. 



ONIONS A CURE FOR DROP.SY. 



A Glasgow paper states, that a boy in that neigh- 

 borhood, afflicted with drojisy, had been entirely 

 cured by eating onions. ' He eats onions every 

 day, and is now walking about.' 



Stciss Emigrants. — The American ships the 

 Great Britain and the Oxford, lately sailed from 

 Havre for New York, having a large number of 

 Swiss agriculturalists on board. Seven or eight 

 ships have already, within tlie last month, carried 

 away from 500 to 600 laboring and industrious 

 men. It is pleasing to observe that these Colon- 

 ists, on their arrival at Havre, so far from despond- 

 ing, manifest, on the contrary, an air of gladness 

 and hope so seldom to be met with, on the counte- 

 nances of other strangers about to leave their 

 country. Far from being reduced by want to ex- 

 ))atriate themselves, most of these Swiss ]>roceed 

 to the United States for the sole purpose of turn- 

 ing to greater advantage the capitals they have 

 acqinred at home by persevering industry and ex- 

 treme economy. A good many of them are 

 known to possess from 30,000, 40,000 even to 

 80,000 francs (.« 15,000.) The cash which they 

 have exchanged for bills, from merchants enjoy- 

 ing their confidence, proves the truth of this fact. 

 They travel in wagons, containing sometimes as 

 many as from 25 to 30 individuals, from their 

 Cantons in Havre. On the road they have no 

 other lodging or shelter but these wagons which 

 on their arrival, they sell, together with their 

 horses and gear. — London Paper. 



Industry is sometimes poor; because, as the 

 prophet Haggai says, she puts her wages into a 

 purse with holes. 



