JNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BV WILLIAM NICHOLS, ROGERS' BUU^DINGS, CONGRESS STREET, (POUllTH DOOR KROM STATE STREET.) 



L. n. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1824. 



No. 23. 



following^ valuable commuuicalion will be highly 

 stly ap]iri ci;il<-d by the geoil seuse of American 

 rs. It will meet \»'ith more attention, and carry 

 A greater weight ofaulliorili/hom the important 

 tauce that the writer has not given us the spe- 

 ns of theory^ but the results of practice. It is a 

 nvarnished matter fact of relation of what a cul- 

 has done, the means, expenses, and profits at- 

 a particular mode of husbandry, and certain ro- 

 of crops in a light sandy loam, 

 lope Mr. Uii'F.i, will pardon us for printing the 

 article with his jinwic attached, notwithstand- 

 le objections which he stated. An anonymoux 

 will make less impression, and produce less be- 

 :her things equal, than one which has the signa- 

 a well known, and respectable author: and we 

 ken it for granted that Mr. Bucl has no insur- 

 ble objection to lending his name to his disin- 

 l and patriotic efforts to benefit the community. 



FOR THE KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ite of the expense and profits of cultivating 

 ere of sand loam under two different courses 

 rops. 



EXPENSE— FOUR YEARS COURSE. 



First Year. 



Is of long manure, 30 bushels 



75 cents ... J22, ."iO 

 )ne day spreading the same - 50 

 ng Jl, rolling or harrowing 25 



1, 25 



slanting - - . . 1, CO 



arrowing and weeding $1, boy 

 orse 25 cents - - - 1, 25 

 loughing and farthing or hilling 1, 00 

 itting and binding - - 1, 50 

 day carting off and stooking 1, 50 



tusking and cribbing 80 bushels 



Fourth Year. 

 2 days cutting one acre clover, 

 •t do. making hay and carting in 



Rent at 5 dolls, per aun. 



Total expense in 4 years 



PRODUCE. 

 70 bushels sound corn, at 50 



cents - - . |35^ 30 



10 bushels soft do. 26 cts. 2, 50 

 4 loads stalks, at $2, 50 10, 00 



1, 00 



2, 00 



$3,00 

 20,00 



25 bushels wheat at 1 , 25 

 2 loads straw, at 2, 50 

 200 bushels turnips at 18 c 



31,25) 

 5, 00 } 73, 

 ts. 37, 50^ 



, 30 

 5 



30 do barley, at 62 1-2 cents 18, 75 

 2 loads straw, at 2, 50 5, 00 



3 tons hay, at 12, 50 

 Feed of aftermath, 



Total value of products 

 Deduct expenses 



37, 50 

 3,00 



3,75 



40, 50 



I!)5, 50 

 85, 35 



•using stalks . . - 

 seed 12 cts. 1 bu.gypsum 50 cts 



2,00 

 50 

 024 



1 team half a day harrowing 

 ground ----- .50 



do. ... ],00 



wheat and harrowing in - - 62^^ 

 eeed, at$l, 25 - -1,56 



Second Year. 

 ntting and binding wheat - 1, 00 

 alf a day drawing in do. to barn 75 



25 bushels at 6 cents per 

 1 1,56 



$33, 621 



ig and harrowing stubble 1, 25 

 nip seed and sowing, 88 cents, 



*ing in do. 25 cts. - 1, 12s 



manure and spreading same 7, 66 



loeing and thinning turnips 2, 00 



tiling and topping - - 3. 00 



56, 99J 



Third Year. 



Jghing ... 1,0 



ifls seed barley - . - 1, 



iver seed at 10 cents - J, 



arley and seeds, half a day -'5 



g both ways ... 50 

 g V.arlpy $1, drawii>g in75 cts. 175 



; 30 bushels at 4 cents - ^20 



$15, 031 



$6,70 



Profit - - . . $110, 1 



or|36, 66 per annum. 



FIVE YEARS COURSE. 



First Year. 



liKlIan corn, as above - - - 33 62-*- 



Se€Q7id Year. 

 V.'hcat - - - - 6, 99 1-2 



10 lbs. clover seed and sowing ], 121-2 



Third Year. 



Hay, as above - - 3, 00 



10 loads manure to be spread en lay 7, 60 



1 ploughing and 2 harrowings - 1,50 



1 lb. rula baga seed - - 62|- 



Drilling in same ... 37! 



1 weeding, four days - . 2, 00" 



1 dressing with cultivator or plough 25 



4 days pulling and topping . 2, 00 



Fourth Year. 

 Fifth Year. 



$17, 41 



Barley, as above 

 Clover, as before 



Rent 5 years, at $5 



Total expense 

 PRODUCE. 

 1st Year, corn, as before 

 2d Year, wheat, do. 

 3d Year, clover, do. - 40, 50 

 400 bushels rata baga, at 



12 1-2 cents 50, 00 



6,70 

 3,00 



25, 00" 



$93, 851 



57, 50 

 35,75 



4th Year, barley 

 5th Year, clover 



Produce in five years 

 Deduct expense and rent 



Profit 

 or $30, 83 per annum. 



$90, 50 

 23, 75 

 40,50 



$248, 00 

 93, 85 



$154, 15 



1 have omiltcd (o charge for threshing corn 

 and pitting ruta b:iga, and to credit for turnip and 

 ruta baga tops, which may offset against each 

 other. Two bushels of gyp.sum should also be 

 charged, which is sown upon the two clover 

 crops in the five year course. 



It may be well to remark, that potatoes are 

 embraced with Indian corn, in llie first year of 

 each course ; and that so far as the demand will 

 Warrant theircuiture, they are more profitable, 

 and less exhausting, than corn. 



The above estimates are predicated upon my 

 own practice for the last five years, and are a'; 

 accurate as my memoraDdums and memory will 

 enable me to make them, except in regard (0 

 the price of labor, which is perhaps too low, 

 though it corresponds with average prices. 



The propriety of appropriating light loams 

 and sands to convertible husbandry, that is, to a 

 succession of grain, grass and root crops, is ap- 

 parent from several considerations. Such soils 

 will seldom give more than two good crops of 

 grass, or grain, in succession, without expensive 

 manuring or lop dressing. Hence they are not 

 profitable for permanent grass or tillage. But 

 uoder good management, and a judicious rota- 

 tion of crops, they may be made to improve in 

 quality, and to excel in profit: because they can 

 be managed with half the expense in labor that 

 is appropriated to stiff and adhesive soils under 

 tillage. The history of Norfolk husbandry, af- 

 fords a demonstration of these truths. Flanders 

 exhibits a yet more striking evidence of their 

 correctness. These two district-*, which are 

 mostly com|)osed of sands and light loams, sur- 

 pass all others in neat and profitable husbandry. 

 In both, a rotation of crops is the basis of im- 

 provement. In both, summer fallows are near- 

 ly abolished ; and only resorted to to cleanse a 

 foul soil. In Norfolk, it is a general rule, never 

 to take two while crops (such as wheat, rye, 

 barley or oats) in succession*; while the Flem- 

 ings are equally scrupulous in the observance 

 of the maxim which enjoins that no field shall 

 lay more than ten days without a crop.t A late 

 traveller remarks, that he saw in a large field, 

 in Flanders grain harvested, and the stubble 

 ploughed and sown with turnips the same day. 

 I will subjoin a few observations on each of 

 the crops embraced in my system of rotation. 

 And 



1. Indian Corn. This not only gives more 

 food to man, and to beast, than any other grain, 

 but it gives more to the soil, in the form of ma- 

 nure, where the stalks are fed in a well con- 

 structed yard, .as they ever should be. It is less 

 exhausting than other grain ; first, because of its 

 broad and expansive system of leaves, which 

 draw largely upon the atmosphere for food ; and 

 second, because, under my method of culture, 

 it is cut before the leaves cease to perform ihis 

 office, aud consequently before the grain de- 

 pends for its nutriment wholly upon the soil, 

 It is peculiarly adapted to a loose, warm soil. 

 Although a profitable crop, on such a soil, when 



* Young. 



t Radcliff '3 Flemish Husbandry. 



