96 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



past, but we know not of the ilrst trial ever being 

 made in this country. If we mistake not, a trial 

 was made in England, of steam-plowing, but it 

 turned out a "failure and a humbug," as we 

 should very naturally expect. There are, proba- 

 bly, some farmers, that can use a small, station- 

 ary steam engine to grind feed, move a threshing 

 machine, straw-cutter, and wood-sawing, perhaps, 

 at a cheaper rate than by horse-power. But in 

 nine cases out of ten', we believe that the horse- 

 power is the cheapest, most eifeotual, and the best 

 power that can be used on the farm. As to car- 

 rying manure to the fields by steam-pOAver, we 

 suppose an allusion is made to Mr. Mechi, of 

 England, whose exjierimcnts, in reducing solid 

 manures to liquids, and then forcing tbem through 

 iron pipes to different parts of the farm by a 

 steam-engine. But according to the testimony of 

 many English farmers, Mr. Mechi, as yet, is 

 only an experimenter and a learner, and should 

 not be considered a teacher, until he has had more 

 experience in the business. We repeat what we 

 have often said liefore on tlds suVijcct, that we are 

 not half as anxious that steam-engines should be 

 introduced on farms to do farm-work, as we are 

 that farmers th.emselves should improve in the bus 

 inees. VV^e believe that there is already more im- 

 proved farming implements in our " Agricultural 

 stores,"' than farmers will make practical use of 

 in the next fifteen 3'ears to come, to say nothing of 

 steam-engines. We have no idea that labor-sav- 

 ing machines on farms, will so supercede hand hi- 

 bor, but tliat hand lal)or v.'ill always be in great 

 demand on the farm. It is not always a safe rule 

 to judge of improved farming throughout the 

 State, by visiting our implement stores and seeing 

 the various improved tools for farming. For it 

 is one tiling to bring out new implements, and tlie 

 next thing is to have t!iem put to use on the farm 

 Yours, &c. L. DuRAXD. 



Derby, Ct., Jan. bth, 185-1. 



F|IANKLI2? GO. PEEMIUMS. 



We copy from th.e Greenfield Gazette and Cour- 

 ier, the statement of Messrs. Stebbins, of South 

 Deerfi(!hl, Smith & Sons of Sunderland, and Pow- 

 ers, of lladley. The Gazette says "the statements 

 of these motlel farms arc very interesting, and 

 show that farming, when rightly conducted, is the 

 most profitable of all pursuits. 



It will be observed that these premium farms 

 are all small in the number of acres. That of Mr. 

 Stebbins, who took the first premium of $20, con- 

 tained forty-one acres. The amount expended on 

 his farm for labor, interest, &c., was $848 50, 

 the products $1940 25, leaving a net profit of 

 $1091 75. The following is tiie substance of his 

 statement : ' ' 



When I came in possession, in 1831, ten acres 

 of it consisted of a poor-worn out buck-wheat field. 

 In 1838,1 resolved to have a better farm. I hauled 

 on clay, at the rate of fiity loads per acre. Then, 

 I spread twenty-fiv(; loads of manure to the acre ; 

 sowed two hundred pounds of plaster ; plowed all 

 in together ; planted corn, and obtained a fair crop. 

 At the outset, I tried but three acres, Ijy way of: 

 experiment; and, after witnessing the result, Ij 

 continued until I had treated the ten acres alike. 



After corn, I planted oats, and stocked down to 

 clover. 



By use of clay and manure, I have made all my 

 land as good as the best, and increased my pastures 

 one hundred per cent, in quantity and quality of 

 feed. I have practised plowing deep and do so, 

 now, but in a different way from my former prac- 

 tice. I now plow in manure four or five inches 

 deep ; then subsoil as deep as I can run a subsoil 

 plow. I prefer tliis to running deep, in order to 

 turn up the subsoil. I commonly plant my land 

 two years in succession ; tliercl )y mixing soil and 

 manure, and pulverizing the soil for grass. In- 

 stead of oats, I raise barley, which I deem far moro 

 profitable to the. farmer. AVhere we made one 

 hundred loads of manure in 1838, Ave now make 

 three hundred and fifty loads. I haul from sev- 

 enty-five to one hundred loads of earth into my 

 barn and hog yards, annually, to absorb the liquid 

 manures, whichi consider as valuable as the solid. 

 I tliink much of hogs for the manufacture of com- 

 post manure. I have used salt witii good resalts, 

 on both grass and wheat. For old, worn out jjas- 

 tures, I recommend the free use of })laster, and for 

 fruit trees, I apply salt and lime, freely, and wash 

 often with white l-^y. 



My farm has been divided, the present year, as 

 follows : twenty-three acres of mowing ; thirteen 

 acres in corn and potatoes ; three in barley and 

 two in wheat. Sly stock consists of three pairs 

 of oxen ; three steers three years old ; five cows ; 

 seven two years' old ; three yearlings ; oneliundred 

 and fifty sheep and twenty-five liogs. ' 



The farm of Austin Smith and Sons, wlio took 

 the 2d premium of $15, contains seventy-three 

 acres, thirteen of which are in pastures. The 

 amount of expenditures was $1788 65, of products 

 $302'J 15; net profit $1240 50. They say : 



It is our practice in raising Indian corn, to plow, 

 or liarrow in manure, at tlie rate of twelve or fif 

 teen loads to the acre, and to :'.]iply a handful of 

 ashes, in the hill, at planting. We hoe four times, 

 and usually seed tlie land with clover, red top, and 

 timothy, for the next year's mowing. 



AVe have put compost manure for 1)room-corn, 

 in the Inlls, at the rate of sixteen loads to the acre, 

 until the present year ; wlicn we have applied it, 

 as on our Indian corn land, at the rate of tAvelve 

 loads to the acre. We added I'alf a spoonful of 

 superphosphate of lime and plaster in the hill. 

 We planted our broom-corn with Woodard's corn- 

 planter, and we have never known our land so 

 well and uniformly stocked as the present year. 



We prefer, for a wheat field, to turn over a rich 

 and warm clover sward. Oats, Ave have nearly 

 done raising. We plow from six to nine inches 

 deep, and loosen the soil a little deej^er each suc- 

 ceeding year. We usually make about three liun- 

 dred and fifty loads of manure, every season. 



Mr. Loomis of Whately, who drcAV a premium 

 on an apple orchard, made the following state- 

 ment : 



My orchai'd contains OA'er 100 trees, a part of 

 which Avere set in 1844, others in 1847, and the 

 reuKiiiider in 1848. The holes Avcre dug six feet 

 in diameter and about tAvo feet 'k'cp, and filled 

 witi; a compost of SAvamp muck .iud barn yard 

 manure. The trees Avere carefully set in the 

 spring of the year, Avhich I ecmsider preferalile to 

 fall setting. I have not lost a tree. 



Lkonard Loomis. 



Whately, Nov. 7, 1853. 



