2d 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



rOK THE KEW ENGLA5D FARMER. 



Silver Lake, Susquelianna Co. Pa. 

 Aug. 4, 1823. 

 Dear Sir, 



I have received and read the first volume of 

 the N. E. Farmer. If the work shall be contin- 

 ued with tlu spirit and intelligence with which 

 it has hitherto been conducted, it will be of 

 great service to the farmers of the U. States. 

 It is very gratifying: to see that agriculture is 

 becoming a fashionable pursuit among those who 

 desire to mingle pleasure with profit — the /«- 

 cunda et iiionea ; and that it is taking the rank 

 in our country, to which .t is entitled by its great 

 national importance. Agricultural papers are 

 ■very i s lul in aiding this, by the detail of well 

 authenticited facts, to prove the best mode of 

 culture ; by the publication of scientific essays 

 on the s ibject; and by making agricultural men 

 acquainted with eacU other, urging them to per- 

 severance in their labors, and shewing them the 

 interest which is taken in the objects of their 

 pursuit. 



I perceive by your poets' corner, that you 

 have not abandoned the muses. 



Quo semel est irabuta recens, strvabit odorem 

 Testa diu. 



A taste which nature has planted deeply, is 

 not easily lost. Indeed, when we met at our 

 literary friend D's, many years ago, if 1 had 

 been told that you would publish a work on Ag- 

 riculture, I should have expected it to be pure- 

 ly Virgilian, that you would begin with Quid 

 faciat Itetas segetes,* and that all your crops 

 would be measured by dactyls and spondees. 



It would give me much pleasure to contribute 

 to your work, as you desire ; but your pages are 

 already well filled with original and selected 

 matter; and you have among your correspon- 

 dents many who are much belter practical far- 

 mers than I am ; and experiments, and their re- 

 sults, are what farmers seek. 1 might, however, 

 suggest to them, as a very important part of 

 their communications, the necessity of noticing 

 \\\e kind nf soil \i\>on which their experiments 

 are rnade. A scientific farmer can tell, from a 

 specimen of earth exhibited to view in his stu- 

 dy, what crops would grow best on it, as easily 

 as a geologist can say among what particular 

 kinds of rocks certain metals are to be found; 

 and a farmer without science, may easily learn 

 to distinguish the dilferent kinds of soils, which 

 are designated by the FL'lative proportions of 

 their component parts. To plant m clay that 

 which grows best in sand, or vice versa, is an 

 useless expenditure of labor; and a little atten- 

 tion to this subject, would frequently prevent 

 the loss of both time and money. 



In No. 17 you have quoted from Judge Coop- 

 er's notes to VVillich's' Dopjestic Encyclopedia, 

 that " there are many districts of Pennsylvania, 

 perhaps tlie best pasture land in it, that do not 

 contain a particle of lime stone. Such lor in- 

 stance as a great part of Luzerne, and llie Beech 

 Country, comprehended between the north east 

 branch of the Susquehanna, and the south line 

 of the state of New York and the Delaware 

 river. There is no finer grass country." 



The greater part of the " Beech Country" 

 mentioned by the judge, constituies now the 

 county of Susquehanna, and deserves the char- 



\VUat makes the harvest pleuliful. 



acter which he gives of it as a grass country. 

 It receives its name from the prevailing timber; 

 but that is considerably mingled with hemlock 

 and sugar maple, and in less abundance with 

 birch, ash, chesnut and cherry. The inhabitants 

 are principally from the' eastern states. The 

 settlement has been very rapid. Fifteen years 

 ago it was a wilderness. It is now tolerably well 

 settled; but land is still cheap; that which is 

 unimproved may be had from three to six dol- 

 lars, and farms are sold at from eight to twelve 

 dollars per acre. The country is remarkably 

 healthy and well watered. The soil is a sandy 

 loam generally about eighteen inches deep, in- 

 cumbent on a subsoil which is formed of extreme- 

 ly fine siliceous sand and alumiue, very compact, 

 and here called " hardpan;" a name, I believe, 

 of N. England origin, for 1 do not recollect to 

 have heard it elsewhere. This kind of subsoil 

 is found in Pennsylvania wherever the beech, 

 maple and hemlock are the prevailing kinds of 

 timber, and its power of retaining water, is a 

 great cause of the kinds of timber which grow 

 on it, as well as of its fertility as a grass coun- 

 try. 



Sir John Sinclair prefers a porous subsoil, and 

 considers a retentive one as injurious to the 

 crops. This opinion is contradicted by the 

 American Editor of the Code of Agricluture, 

 who says that the finest grass lands in New 

 England have only a thin coat of loam on a stiff 

 clay ; and that, on such soils, there is no loss of 

 manure byNfiltraticn. Perhaps both parties may 

 be right in their respective situations; for in 

 many parts of England and Scotland, for which 

 Sir John's work is particularly calculated, the 

 farmer has to guard against excess of moisture, 

 while in our country we suffer from the want ol 

 it. Col. Powel mentions (see No. 35 of the N. 

 E. Farmer,) that " the English farmer wisely 

 contends with the evils produced by too much 

 rain, while the American husbandman should as 

 anxiously guard against his most formidable en- 

 emy, drought." 1 believe this has not been suf- 

 ficiently attended to by American I'armers. 



In our climate, a soil which is best adapt- 

 ed to absorb moisture, when resting on subsoil 

 which prevents its filtration and waste, is the 

 one best calculated for grass, oats, and broad 

 leaved crops. It has been observed by one of 

 the best intbrmed English writers on this sub- 

 ject, that " in wet climates crops exhaust the 

 soil less than in dry ones;" and that " the same 

 quality of soil is more productive in a moist than 

 in a dry climale." A difference equal to that 

 between a moist and a dry climate, is made by 

 the dillerence between a retentive and a porous 

 subsoil ; especially if he who possesses the for- 

 mer, shall, according to the advice of Col. Pow- 

 el, in the tillage of his land, endeavor to protect 

 the soil from the great exhalations occasioned 

 by the sun of our climate. 



As it would be useful to agriculturists to ob- 

 tain analyses of different soils, which have been 

 found to be peculiarly adapted to raising of par- 

 ticular kinds of vegetables, I send you an anal- 

 ysis of iHt soil and subsoil of our beech lands; 

 and perhaps jou may draw others from some ol 

 your correspondents. It is to be observed, that 

 the soil and hardpan submitted to the tests were 

 in the state of nature ; that is, taken from a part 

 of the land lately cleared of its timl>er, which 

 had neither been ploughed nor manured. The 

 soil was takeu a foot below the surl'ace. 



Soil or Vegetable mould 

 Silica, 67,8, 



Alumina, 7,8. 



Carbonate of lime, l^ 



Oxide of iron, 



Vegetable and auima! matter lost by ) 

 ^ calcination, ^ 



fflagaesia, 



7, 



8,9. 

 6,2. 



Hardpan 



73,6 

 12,? 



4,"? 



98,7. 

 1,3. 



100. 



It will be seen by the above that the soil i 

 not quite, as judge Cooper says, " without a pai 

 tide of limestone;" but that it contains a ver 

 small portion of lime. The hardpan appears t 

 contain twice the quantity which is (bund in th 

 soil ; and as ! have seen carbonate of lime throw 

 out of a well in this neighborhood, it is prob; 

 ble that there is limestone to be found deep i 

 the ground. But this does not affect the vege 

 tation. 



It has been suggested by a friend, and I thin 

 with much plausibility, judging from the sim 

 larity of the constitutions of the soil and subsoi 

 that the former has been made from the latte 

 by the action of the frost, and extends to th 

 depth which the frost penetrates in severe vvii 

 teis. This opinion is strengthened by the cu 

 torn of masons in laying the foundation of buili 

 ings here, who never think it necessary to g 

 deeper than to the hardpan. When the latter hi 

 been turned up, and exposed to the action ■ 

 Ihe air and frost for one or two winters, it 

 found to produce grass very abundantly. 



As 1 believe there are some parts of the ea 

 tern states where the subsoil exists, 1 would 1 

 glad to be informed, through your paper, of tl 

 nature of the superincumbent soil, and of tl 

 crops which are considered best adapted to 

 1 am, dear sir, your friend and servant. 



R. H. ROSE. 



From the Vermont Republican. 

 The usual method of making board-fence, 

 to put the posts firmly into the ground, and th. 

 attach the boards to them in a direct line. B 

 to this species offence there has ever been o 

 grand and insurmountable objection, viz. — Tl 

 posts in a short period will rot in the grour 

 and the fence becomes frail and decays. I ha 

 recently discovered a kind of board fence whii 

 completely obviates this material objection, a 

 must beg leave to recommend it to the comni 

 nity at targe. Perhaps around your gardens a 

 near your buildings, where beauty or elegan 

 is so far an object that you would prefer to bui 

 a new fence every six or eight years, than 

 have a crooked one, the ordinary board fen 

 would better comport with your feelings. B 

 around your distant lots where you have not 

 ing but Interest to consult, and where a perma 

 ent and lasting fence is required, the one 1 ? 

 about to propose is by far preferable. In til 

 first place, it is the better way to cut the lu' 

 i'or your boards and posts in the summer, wh ' 

 the bark will peel, as it is ascertained (bat tii 

 ber cut at this period, will last much longer th 

 iliat cut in the winter — and an additional indue' 

 ment to cut it at this period is the value of 1 1 

 bark, which, in case of the hemlock particular! 

 will amply repay you for the trouble of cutti 

 and peeling. The logs thus cut, after dryi 

 until the ensuing winter will become light, a 

 be carried to the miil with much more ease a 



