318 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, MAY 1, 1824. 



FARMER'S CALEA'DER. 

 FLAX is not SO much cultivated in New Eng- 

 land as it should be, notwithstanding many able 

 essays have been written recommending it to 

 the attention of our agriculturists. We shall 

 give a few brief observations, stating the most 

 approved methods of oblaining this crop, and re- 

 fer our readers, who wish to avail themselves of 

 more detailed information to the able essays of 

 S. W. PoMEROV, Esq. republished in the 2d vol. 

 of the N. E. Farmer, pages 26, 36, 44. 



Flax should be sown on a moist, cool and rich 

 soil. The land should be made quite fine, and 

 iree from weeds, and therefore no new dung 

 shoufd be laid on it at the time of sowing. — ] 

 Fresh dung c:\uses weeds to multiply till they 

 nearly or altogether stifle the crop. Besides, 

 barn yard manure, applied the same season in 

 which the crop is raised, not only occasions 

 weeds to infest and choak the flax plants, but in- 

 duces the plants to lodge, and gives them a thin 

 harle. Lime, marie, and leached ashes are re- 

 commended. Your seed should be of the last 

 year''s growth. It should be " plump, oily, and 

 heavy, of a light brown color, sinking readily 

 in the water, and, when thrown into the tiro, 

 should crackle and bla:e quick. A very simple 

 method of trial is to sprinkle it thin between 

 two pieces of wet papsr, which plunge into a 

 hot-bed or dung-hill, and in less than twenty- 

 four hours the proportion that will vegetate can 

 be discerned." 



With regard to the quantity of seed to be 

 sown, there has not been, and perhaps ought 

 not to he, any uniformity of practice. In Eng- 

 land they sow two bushels of imported seed to 

 an acre. When they sow seed of their own 

 raising they allow more. If you wish to obtain 

 very fine flax, your seed should be thickly sown 

 from two to three bushels to an acre, will pro- 

 bably prove the proper quantity. But if the 

 raising of seed is an object about a bushel and 

 a half will be the right proporlion. "In this 

 country," says Mr. Pomeroy, » jt will be impor- 

 tant, at present, to sow at such a rale as will 

 ensure good crops of each ; and experience on- 

 ly can determine the exact point. It is (iroba- 

 ble that six pecks is the least, and two bushels 

 the extent that should be sown to obtain the 

 most profitable results, till the demand for seed 

 is considerably lessened." 



The Farmer''s .'hsistant a.sserts that " in addi- 

 tion to the requisites of a rich earth free of the 

 seeds of weeds and well fallowed, for obtaining 

 a good crop of flax, another requisite is that the 

 ground shall not have borne flax for as much as 

 seven years i)revious to the time it is to be 

 sown with this crop." The same author says, 

 *' when ground is folded (or raising turnips, in- 

 stead of sowing this crop for Ihe first year, lot 

 it be frequently ploughed in order to kill all the 

 weeds, and sown early with flax the next spring 

 and then with turnips after the flax is taken off." 

 Salt as manure is recommended by many wri- 

 ters as particularly t'avoral>le to the growth of 

 the flax ; the quantity applied to be about don 

 hie to that of the sedi) sown. In the Memoirs of 

 the J\'ew York Jlgricul'lUrtil Society^ vol. ii. page 

 !i2, ashes are recommended as the best manure 

 for flas. " The seed shouia*be soaked about 



half an hour in weak lye, or rather in strong lye 

 diluted with six times as much water. If it is 

 taken wet from the lye and rolled in plaister it 

 is better. Let it be sowed on land well plough- 

 ed twice and harrowed, vvhich had been planted 

 with potatoes or corn (potatoes preferable) the 

 preceding year. Just as the flax is coming up, 

 sow on two or three bushels of strong ashes per 

 acre." 



OATs. Erery farmer who keeps horses should 

 raise some oats, enough for home consumption 

 at least. Nothing, we believe, is equal to them 

 as food for horses, as they serve in some de- 

 gree as well for physic as for food. They are, 

 likewise, when manufactured into oat meal, said 

 to be an excellent article for human sustenance, 

 and although not so palatable at first, with a lit- 

 tle use arc by many preferred to the best wheat 

 flour. Many farmers find it to be a good mode 

 of cultivation to raise oats the first crop, after 

 breaking up the sward. The oats have strong 

 piercing roots, and penetrate the earth in such 

 a manner that it is easily made mellow when 

 the roots of the oats decay. Gypsum is a good 

 manure for oats. It may be sown soon after the 

 oats are harrowed in. Dean's New England 

 Farmer directs the sowing of three bushels of 

 seed oats to an acre. The Farmer's Assistant 

 says, "• probably about a bushel and an half is 

 sufficient." Banister's Husbandry says " from 

 three four bushels is the quantity necessary to 

 seed an acre, allowing a larger proportion to 

 the poor lands than needs be sown on those of a 

 more fertile nature." The same writer ob- 

 serves that " where land is intended to be laid 

 down with clover or other grass seeds, it is 

 much more eligible to sow these seeds among 

 oats than on ground sown with barley; for since 

 the land ought to be well prepared both by ma- 

 nure and tillage previous to laying it down to 

 grass seeds, such extraordinary cultivation will 

 be apt to cause the barley to lodge, when the 

 grass will grow through it, and render it of lit- 

 tle worth; or if this accident should not happen, 

 the length of the clover will occasion an extra- 

 ordinary humidify in the barley, that a longer 

 lime will become necessary for its lying abroad, 

 whereby great injury may accrue to Ihe grain, 

 if much rain should fall during this procrastinat- 

 ed harvest. These objections do not apply to 

 oats in the like predicament ; for the straw of 

 this grain being much stifTer and less poroas than 

 that of barley, is enabled to maintain an erect 

 posture against that weather, vvhich would have 

 laid flat the barley crops ; an(J if from the ex- 

 traordinary length of the grass it should be ne- 

 cessary to prolong the harvest, the oats will 

 take but little injury, though a wet time should 

 happen whilst they lie in the swarth." 



Oats are reputed to be a very good crop for 

 ploughing in green for manure. Two crops of 

 oat* have been ploughed in, the same season, 

 and produced a very good effect. They are, 

 likewise, sometimes sowed for pasture, and the 

 practice has been highly recommended by re- 

 spectable cultivators. 



THE CNITED STATES J.ITERABT GAZETTE. Tile 



first number of a perioilical work, with the above title 

 has been published by Messrs, Cummings, Hilliard & 

 Co. No. 1, Cornhill, Boston. From a cursory perusal 

 of this number, we are led to favorable anticipations of 

 its progress, provided it should meet with that degree 

 of public patronage, which is indispensable in order to 



give permanency to literary efforts, particularly those 

 of this description. The following extract from the 

 Prospectus developes the plan of the publication, and 

 the means, which are relied on to carry its objects into 

 effect. 



" We shall endeavor to give to the United States 

 Literary Gazette, a strictly national character. If we 

 do not fail in executing our intentions, it will commu- 

 nicate a distinct and accurate impression of the litera- 

 ry and intellectual condition and progress of this coun- 

 try. A large proportion of our pages will be filled with 

 reviews of works published here, either of domestic or 

 foreign origin ; every book which issues from the press ol 

 this country, and comes within our reach, shall receive 

 from us such notice as its character and pretensions de- 

 serve. We shall also publish whatever interesting Un- 

 formatiou we can gather, concerning our national lite- 

 rature, education, and public opinions. 



" Some pages of each number will be filled with 

 Literary and Scientific Inleliigence, Great care and 

 assiduity will be used to ensure to this department o) 

 the Gazette interest and value. It may be well tore- 

 mark, that our extensive connexion with booksellers at 

 home and abroad, will enable usio supply our editors 

 and contributors, promptly, with almost every new 

 publication of the kind." 



The work is to be published the first and fifteenth 

 day of each month in a quarto form, each number 

 containing 16 quarto pages. The paper, type and exe- 

 cution are of the best quality. Terms — $5 per annuni 

 Subscriptions received by the publishers. 



FOREIGN. 



Spanish papers to the llth March have been recciv* 

 ed in this city, but contain nothing interesting. Act 

 counts from Barcelona state that the Algerines wert- 

 fitting out vessels to depredate on the commerce of th< 

 British, and that they had taken several Spanish res 

 sets. The port of Algiers is closely blockaded by i 

 British squadron. 



An article dated St. Jago, Chili, Dec. 15, 1823, state 

 that there are several Spanish privateers on that co^si 

 one of whom is said to have captured the English tVlf 

 Stanmore, chartered by the Chilian East India Cooiptu 

 ny, and said to have $50,000 in specie on board, ai 

 an equal amount in cargo. A Chilian frigate has s; 

 ed ill search of her, and it is added that the Unit< 

 States' thip Franklin, Com. Stnart, has also sailed 

 quest of her ; as it is said that the Stanmore had tl 

 American Consul at Coquimbo, on board, and that 

 has been detained. 



Gen. La Fayette has lost his election to the Houi 

 of Deputies in the Department of La Sarthe. At 

 last election he was returned from two places. 



From Brazil. — An arrival at Salem from Para, o 

 firms the accounts of the evacuation of that place 

 the Portuguese and other Europeans, in consequence*" 

 the approach of 15,000 of the natives to the possessioi 

 of the city. Onboard one vessel 192 merchants, &c 

 embarked for Lisbon. 



From Porto Bella. — Capt. Bossierre, from Porto 1 

 lo informs that a letter had been received there fni 

 Panama, dated March 26th, giving information of I 

 arrival there of a vessel from Callao, with advices, t| 

 the Royal .Spanish army had made propositions to \ 

 ivar to capitulate, on condition of being sent to Pai>- 

 ma, and thence lobe expedited to Europe. 



An arrival at New York has brought French pajj 

 to the 25lh March. By those it appears that , 

 ?"rench government are about to acknowledge thel 

 dependence of Hayti, and open a commercial in| 

 course with the late Spanish South American Statesf 

 The new French Parliament was opened by the 

 in person. His speech was pacific, but as nsua 

 suchpccasions, rather indefinite. Respecting Gri 

 and Soiitli America, he observed, " I trust that thej 

 fairs of the East and of Spanish and Portuguese At 

 ica will be regulated to the advantage of the nati^ 

 and people who are interested, and to the great 

 tension of the commercial relations of Ihe world.' 

 The speech was received with lively and reiter«( 

 acclamations. 



