286 



NEW ENGLAND FARMEtl. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, APRILS, 1024. 



FARMER'S CALEA'DER. 



IRRIGATION, OR WATERING LAND. It will be 



proper at or about this time to give a very par- 

 ticular attention to your water courses, and oth- 

 er means of watering your land. Some writers 

 advise not to admit water on grass ground till 

 late in the spring, or till the crop begins to feel 

 the effect of drought. But we believe this to 

 be erroneous. One of the iirincipal objects of 

 irrigation is to make use of water as a carrier, 

 to convey certain substances to the soil, which 

 may have a tendency to enrich it. When this 

 is in view the water should be made use of when 

 the streams are high and muddy, which gene- 

 rally happens at the time the snow is melting. 

 At that season the water is surcharged with fer- 

 tilizing particles. Moreover, many temporary 

 streams, laden with manure, or rich earth, per- 

 haps oozing from dung heaps or escaping from 

 a cow yard, may, with a little attention be made 

 to deposit their burdens in places, where they 

 would greatly benefit the land and the crops of 

 the owner of the premises. No good cultiva- 

 tor will suffer any more of the wash of his soil 

 to glide away from his premises than he can 

 avoid, before it has been arrested, and in part 

 absorbed, and forced to leave '\\.s food for planm 

 behind it. 



When water stands high in brooks, rivulets,Sic. 

 it may be carried over higher parts ofa farm than 

 could be in dry seasons, and spread where its 

 deposits are most needed. It should be made 

 to run in courses or channels, which have no 

 more descent than is necessary to prevent its 

 becoming stagnant. If water intended for irri- 

 gation moves slowlj', it leaves its riches behind 

 it ; if it runs rapidly it carries away the farmer's 

 riches with it. In the first case it is an auxil- 

 iary or purveyer, in the second a robber of the 

 soil. Perhaps horizontal furrows drawn at pro- 

 per intervals, with the aid of some implement 

 like tliat of which we gave a drawing and des- 

 cription in our first volume, (page 14,) may be 

 found useful in some cases, in detaining water 

 and preventing its passing too rapidly over land 

 Mhich is sloping or situated on a declivity. Or 

 llie system mentioned in the Code of Agricul- 

 ture may be pursued in which, " after water is 

 brought from the original stream into a new cut, 

 it is slopped at the ends, so that when the trench 

 is full the water is compelled to run out at the 

 side and flood the land below it. ISut as the 

 water would soon cease to run equally for any 

 considerable length, and would wash the land 

 out in gutters, it has been found necessary to cut 

 small parallel trenches, at the distance of from 

 20 to 30 feet to catch the water again, and the 

 same plan of spreading and dilTusing is continu- 

 ed till the water readies the main drain at the 

 bottom of the meadow." 



\V'hen the chief object of irrigation is to add 

 to the soil the substances suspended in the wa- 

 ter, it may be well, when practicable, to take 

 the water out of the stream as near its bottom 

 as possible. The water in proportion to its 

 depth will convey a larger or smaller quantity 

 of mud, and other fertilizing matter. Trunks, 

 gates, &,c. may be so cenlrived in many instan- 

 ces, as to afiord the lower strata or layers of 

 water instead of the surface of the stream. 



Much good may be effected by farmers, in 

 many situations, by making a judicious use of the 

 wash of large roads, especially early in the 

 spring. At that time the water, composed 

 chiefly, of melted snow and ice, is thick and tur- 

 bid with the manure, dropped in the snow path 

 of the preceding winter. A little attention, 

 with nothing more than a common hoe, may 

 sometimes enable a farmer to manure acres, 

 with the foul water ofa highway, with a small 

 expense of time and labor. 



MANURE. It is about time to clear your barn 

 yard, and manure your fields with its contents. 

 Having laid it near where it is to be used, you 

 will be so good as either to spread and plough 

 it in as soon after spreading as possible, or cover 

 it with earth, sods, or some other substance, 

 which will protect it from the sun and rain, as 

 well as absorb the gas or effluvia, which might 

 otherwise 



" Waste it3 sweetness on the desert air." 

 You may about as well suffer your hay cocks to 

 be bleached and washed as your manure heaps, 

 unless there is some suitable substance to coat, 

 underlay, or mix with the animal and vegetable 

 substances, which they contain. Much has been 

 said on the subject of scanty manuring our lands, 

 and perhaps the most prominent faults in Ame- 

 rican husbandry are half tilling, and deficient 

 manuring. But there may be such a thing as 

 too OTwcA manuring, and this is a fault to which 

 some wealthy and theoretical farmers are some- 

 what prone. They fill the soil so full of ve- 

 getable and animal substances that it almost 

 needs paring and burning to fit it for cropping. 

 Indian corn will bear over-manuring, or rather 

 it is almost impossible to manure too highly for 

 that crop. But when your ground is manured 

 too highly, and in the course ol'your rotations you 

 come to grass, particularly to clover, the stalks 

 or spires, where it is thinly sown will be nearly 

 as big as your thumb, and as hard as a ratan, 

 and where thickly sown it will commonly be 

 lodged, apart will be whitened or bleached like 

 blanched celery, and the greater part of the oth- 

 er part will be rotted more or less ; and in tine 

 it will require something more than the stom- 

 ach of a horse to make away with it. Notwith- 

 standing our having frequently seen and noted 

 this kind of bad husbandry, the current of au- 

 thority sets so strongly against light manuring, 

 that we should not venture to stem it, were we 

 not able to bring vp in the wake of Sir .John Sin- 

 clair. That eminent writer says [Code of Ag- 

 riculture, page 198,] " The quantity of dr.ng to 

 he applied is an important question. Formerly 

 too much mas given, and the crops surfeited by 

 abundant nourishment. According to modern 

 practice, only as much is furnished at one time 

 as will fertilize the ground, and render it capa- 

 lile of producing good crops, unHI a fresh sup- 

 ply can be administered. Formerly, from -0 

 to ;'iO tons were given, per acre, whereas now, 

 half that quantity is found to be suiTiciont.'' 



Jie very particular in spreading your manure 

 evenly, so that every portion of the soil may 

 have its due share ; and not let it lie about in 

 lum|)s as big as a horse's head as the manner of 

 some is. An experienced and judicious farmer 

 will give a pretty good guess as to the number 

 and size, and distance from each other, of his 

 heaps, in order to bestow a certain quantity on 

 an acre, and have it equally distributed. But 

 some young cultivators would like a rule to go 



by; and we will give them a table invented b 

 a Mr. Close, an English agriculturist. 



Number of loads per acre. 

 JYumher of heaps to a load, 1|2|3|4|5|6|7| 



At 5 yards distance, 193 90 64 48 38 32 27 5 



At 5 l-'2 yards distance, 160 80 53 40 32 26 23 i 

 At 6 yards distance, 134 67 44 33*26 22 19 j 



At 6 1-2 yards distance, 114 57 30 28 22 19 16 ] 

 At7vards distance, 98 49 32 24 19 16 14 : 



At 7 1-2 yards distance, 86 43 28 21 17 14 12 : 

 At 8 yards distance, 75 37 25 18 15 12 10 



Explanation of the first two rows offgurcs : 

 the preceding Table. — The number of heaps coi 

 sisting of one load each, laid at five yards di 

 tant, is 193 to cover one acre; at two heaps 

 a load 96 ; at three heaps, 64 ; at /our, 40 ; ar 

 so to the end : — each of the following rows is 

 be read in a similar manner. 



The article on the Myrica Ceriftra, Sic. in a pr 

 ceding page of this day's paper, refers to a plant bt 

 known in New England by the name of Bayberry, 

 The shrub which produces it is common in so: 

 parts of New England, growing in a wild state, 

 Whether the plant could be improved under cultiTi 

 tion, its product increased, and rendered more subn 

 vient to purposes of economy is a question worthy 

 investigation. We wish it might meet with the altt 

 lion of those who would make the most of the use; 

 products of our soil and country. 



FOREIGN. 

 War between England and Algiers, — Hostilities ha: 

 commenced against Algiers, by Capt. Spencer of i 

 British Navy, who attacked and captured an Algeri 

 Corvette, on the 31st of January last. On the 2 

 Febriiaiy the Lords Commissioners of the Admiras 

 Office, gave notice that they would ap| oint convoys* 

 aflbrcl protection to the trade through the Straits of Gr(( lill 

 tralter, &c. The causes of this warlike declaration H 

 said to be two fold — one, the refusal of Ihe Dey 

 make reparation for an insult offered to Ihe Brit 

 Consular flag ; and the other a declaration that he 1 

 resolved no longer to observe the terms of a trc; 

 made with him not to retain any Christian captivei 

 any nation, in a state of slavery. ^ 



A Lisbon article of Feb. 4, asserts that an cxpediti 

 for Brazil is in active preparation. It will consist 

 12,000 men, and will be commanded by Lord Be^ 

 ford, who has received anew his slaffas a Marshall, av 

 Commander in Chief of the Portuguese troops. 



Savage Curiosili; — No less than 137,000 copies 

 the London Observer, containing the particulars oft 

 trial and execution of a murderer, wliose name "w- 

 Thurlell are said to have been sold in London. Tf 

 paper contained no less than seven large cuts, repi 

 senting the different scenes, connected with the trar 

 action. We doubt whether any good deed, which tl 

 culprit, ill any situation or any circumstances cow 

 possibly have performed, would have excited a tithe 

 the notoriety and attention which was bestowed on tl 

 horrid affair, and the perpetrator who was guiity of 

 crime scarcely to be parralleled in the annals 

 human atrocity. 



DOMESTIC. 

 A strange animal has recently appeared in lhisnci|l| 

 borhood, (Titnton, N. J.) which has excited Ihe cfll 'fi 

 osity of many, and some alarm. His head is in form fe 

 a cat's, and his track upon the suow does not restmbl '" 

 that of any auima! known here. Is supposed to li)l* ^' 

 killed and eaten sheep — keeps mostly in Ihe open fieW 

 He does not leap fences, but climbs over as going'^i 

 stairs. The hunters have not been able with good hoi 

 ses to overtake him, and the dogs keep at a lery re ^^ 

 pcctful distance in the chase ; when he slops and lool r 

 round, they stop also. ' 



A splendid Kat of exquisite workmanship anf 

 materials, is now completing by Mr. John Hurley, i 



