NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



197 



»t;ntleinen farmers imagine. The netl income 

 ll( our farmers is miserably small — Ihey caanot 

 «l "onl ornamental husbandry. Labor, says Wash- 

 w jton in his letters to Youna:, is every thing 

 « (h us, and land nothing. 1 do not say but you 

 t( n feed your cows near Boston, cheaper on 

 J) ots than (vith hay: 1 doubt it however: — But 

 « an raise cattle in Ohio and sell them at such 

 a ices as will ruin a root-feeder, twenty miles 



- itant from Boston. 



t " Our manufacturers are earning double the 

 • ttount of laruiers of equal capital. Govern- 

 t Bnt is paying them a bounty of 30 per cent. 

 <J their products — while the good-natured far- 

 «ierjogs on, quite contented with an occasional 

 *■ »at of spleuciid declamation in praise of rural 

 " e. 



- " 1 am doubtful as to the expediency of small 

 emiums on cattle; I think the raising of these 

 iroals may be lett to self interest. Suppose 

 u take a hint from Napoleon, and offer very 

 leral rewards for great improvements in agri- 

 Itural implements. The cast-iron ploughs ev- 



now cause a saving to the U. S. of at least 

 0.000 a year — (here is a million saved for oth- 



objects.) Our Blacksmiths have lost about 

 e third of their customers' work which was ex- 

 uded in laying and sharpening plough irons, 

 :. — We have a threshing mill in this village 

 w in use, which operates periectly well and 

 ires one half the expense of manual threshing, 

 may be transported in a wag.m — costs about 

 0. — We wonder why the Romans did noi 

 nk of stirrups ; and it is a litth.' wonderful that 

 3 cast iron plough in its present form has not 

 fore been introduced. There ought to be 

 tional premiums for great objects that would 

 cite attention through the U. S.—gl 0,000 for 

 lax dressing machine, if it brought one to 

 ht, would save half a million a year. Agri- 

 Itural labor is not up to the lights of the age 

 while mechanical labor since .'^rkwright be- 

 n to spin cotton, has been increased many 

 ndred fold. There are many processes in 

 ■ming which invite the aid of mechanical in- 

 ntions ; for instance mowing, threshing, crad- 

 g, flax-dressing, &c. Mr. Whitney of Nevv- 

 iven, made a present to the cotton growing 

 ctions of the southern States of a machine, 

 ual in value to the yearly labor of one fourth 



the black population. 1 mention it to show 

 hat remains to be done, to abridge the rural la- 

 rol" the northern and middle States. 

 '• I am, &c. 



"JAS. WADSWORTH. 

 ••' Samuel W. Pomeroij, Esq." 



Fromtht Old Colony Memorial. 



AGRICULTURAL STATEMENT. 



the Trustees ef ihc Plymouth County ^Qgricultu- 

 ral Society. 



Gentlemen, — Having several acres of boggy 

 resh Meado-ji\ I have reduced about nine acres 

 " it into good English Meadow. Previous to 

 y commencing any operations on it, it was ve- 

 ' ordinary fresh meadow, producing on an ave- 



;e about six or seven hundred of natural fresh 

 ly, of very inferior quality, on an acre, mixed 

 ilh meadow briers, mountrial, and cranberry 

 :nes, near the shores, and on the margin of the 

 reams, bushes of various kinds : all the hay 

 :tained from it would scarce pay the labor of 



getting it, and was of more value to put into the 

 barn-yard to make compost-manure, than for 

 fodder. 



1 began my improvements by clearing out the 

 natin-al stream, that the water might not overflow, 

 and kill out, or injure the English grass; next 

 laid out the meadow into lands, or bods, two rods 

 wide, from the upland to the brook, digging a 

 ditch three feet wide between the beds. Those 

 beds which were not too miry, 1 ploughed with 

 one yoke of light cattle, turning the furrows in- 

 fo the middle of the bed, and putting the swamp- 

 mud, &c. taken out of the ditches, into the mid- 

 dle of the beds, to crown them like a turnpike, 

 that the water should not stand on them. 1 then 

 chopped the whole fine, with sharp hoes, and 

 dug up the whole surface of those beds, which 

 could not be ploughed, with said hoes, and plant- 

 ed the beds principally with potatoes, believing, 

 and afterwards finding it to be necessary to till 

 the ground until I had subdued and killed out 

 the natural grass, &.c. The second year 1 plough- 

 ed and dug as before, and pl.mted some of the beds 

 with corn, and some with potatoes ; and in some 

 instances I have put a small quantity of barn- 

 yard manure, into the hills. The third year I 

 laid down the beds, by sovving oats, and grass 

 seed, generally a mixture of herdsgrass, red- 

 clover and red-top ; the oats have generally 

 been very stout, as also the grass which succeed- 

 ed ; and weighing the hay that grew on several 

 of the best beds, the last summer, (being the first 

 time ofmowing,) I found them to exceed Four 

 Tons to an acre; I did not weigh them with 

 that accuracy', nor procure the needful evidence, 

 not intending to claim a premium for hay. 



I began my operation, on an acre, which lies 

 a considerable distance from the main body, 

 about eight years ago, (as a matter of experi- 

 ment.) The ditching and digging up of the 

 same cost twelve cents per rod the potatoes on 

 the same, the first year, more than paid all ex- 

 pense, of ditching and digging the same, with- 

 out any manure. 



The second year, I planted thirty three rods 

 of said acre, with corn, and had twelve bushels 

 of good corn, besides small corn, and on the rest 

 of said acre, had 4 hundred and forty six pump- 

 kins, and good potatoes. 



Third year, sowed it with oats and grass- 

 seeds. 



Fourth year, had a large crop of clover. 



Fifth >ear, 1822, red-top and herdsgrass, the 

 whole of which was carefully weighed, and at- 

 tested to, by an uninterested neighbor, aud was 

 three tons and forty four pounds. ' 



Sixth year, 1823, after the hay was well made 

 and ready to put into the barn, I caused to be 

 weighed a number of cocks of hay, which were 

 judged to be an average of the whole, by which 

 it appeared there was on said acre, more than 

 four tons of good hay, principiilly herdsgras*. 



In the winter season, between 1821 and 1822, 

 I carted on considerable gravel, and spread it 

 on some of the beds, and am convinced, it had 

 no beneficial effect ; 1 apprehend that the soft 

 mud, at the bottom of the wide ditches, being 

 taken out and spread on the beds, would be a 

 manure far preferable to sand or gravel. 



My object in stating particularly, the produce 

 of the first acre, which I cultivated, as a matter 

 of experiment, is to satisfy other farmers, as it 

 has done myself, that English grasses, especially 

 herdsgrass, will produce a greater crop, as wel' 



as endure longer, when cultivated on boggy 

 fresh meadow, than an hard upland ; and by the 

 mode of improvement above described. Our 

 most unproductive and waste bogs and swam))?, 

 may be made, with very little expense, the 

 most productive and valuable mowing lands »ve 

 have. 



Take the whole nine acres, the two first crops, 

 viz. the potatoes and corn have paid all expense 

 of reducing the Fresh to good English JMeuf/otc 

 JOTHAM J.\COB 



Ilingliam, J\'uv. 17, 1823. 



From the New-Yorlc Evening Post. 



BEES. 

 A premium was given at our last Agri- 

 cultural Fair to Mr. Joseph Caywood, of New- 

 Cornwall, Orange county, for some handsome 

 specimens of Honey, which he exhibited, and 

 on the 3d ult. we published a letter from him 

 to th« Agricultural Society, in which he gives 

 several interesting particulars as to the improv- 

 ed method of management which he had adopt- 

 ed in relation to his bees, and in particular states 

 that "for the last seven years, I have not inten- 

 tionally destroyed a single bee." Wc were de- 

 sirous at the time, to ascertain how he had con- 

 trived to obtain the honey aud avoid the usual 

 practice of killing the insects ; but this informa- 

 tion he declined giving. We now perceive by 

 the Minerva of this morning, that the following 

 easy method of taking the honey without desti'oy- 

 ing the bees, is generally practiced in France : 

 — In the dusk of the evening when the bees are 

 quietly lodged, approach the hive, and turn it 

 gently over. Having steadily placed it in a small 

 pit, previously dug to receive it, with its bottom 

 upwards, coVer it with a clean new hive, which 

 has been properly prepared, with a few sticks 

 across the inside of it, and rubbed with aroma- 

 tic herbs: then having carefully adjusted the 

 mouth of each hive to the other, so that no aper- 

 ture remain between them take a small stick, 

 and beat gently round the sides of the lower 

 hive for about ten minutes, in which time the 

 bees will leave their cells in the old hive, as- 

 cend and adhere to the new one. Then gently 

 lift the upper hive, with all its little tenants and 

 place it on the stand from which the other was 

 taken. This should be done some time in the 

 week preceding Midsummer-day, that the bees 

 may have time, before the summer flowers are 

 faded, to lay in a new stock of honey, which 

 they will not tail to do for their subsistence 

 through the winter. 



From the Massachusetts Yeoman. 



COAL. 



Experiments have been made to ascertain 

 the qualities of the W^orcester Coal compared 

 with the Lehigh and Rhode-Island coal; from 

 which it has been ascertained, very satisfactori- 

 ly, that ours has the superiority over both. A 

 gentleman has handed us memoranda of the 

 experiments made with a peck of each sort, 

 measured with accuracy. — From these it appears 

 that the Worcester coal was wholly ignited in a 

 less time than either of the others, continued 

 burning the longest, produced the greatest de- 

 gree of heat, and had the least residuum in bulk. 

 The weight, residuum, and time of burning, of 

 tiie differeot specimeos, were as follows : 



