100 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



serve the interests of our readers. The extract 

 wliich wo make says — 



"As to your being book-farmers, that may be 

 opinion rather tlian a matter of fact. I asked an 

 eminent agriculturist (a man of discrimination 

 and sound judgment, wlio has been President of 

 one of the most thrifty county societies in this 

 State, and as such reflected honor upon himself 

 and the society,) which paper published in this 

 State, he would recommend a farmer to take to 

 aid and assist him in his calling ; he answered 

 without hesitation. The New England Farmer. 



THE POTATO DISEASE. 



The Rev. Lyman Smith, of Charlotte, Vt., 

 writes us that he has prevented the rotting of po- 

 tatoes l)y sprinkling the tops with ashes, as soon 

 as they made their appearance, a table spoonful 

 to each hill, and after hoeing applying the same 

 amount again. The ashes were applied immedi- 

 ately after a shower, or upon a heavy dew. After 

 such applications he has had no rotten j)otatoes. 



THE WHITE DAISY. 



Joseph W. Newton, Norwich, Vt. The best 

 way to kill out the ivhitc daisy is to plow deep, 

 manure well, and cultivate carefully. Where the 

 plant is not very thickly set it is often weeded out, 

 but it requires considerable patience and per- 

 severance. Cattle will not feed it down, and 

 standing in the grass fields, you cannot cut it when 

 m bloom, so as to injure it, nor poison it with 

 salt or any other nostrum that we know of. The 

 plow, manure and hoe, with some new plant in- 

 troduced, will gain you the victory. With re- 

 gard to your other inquiry. We consider clover 

 the best plant to plow in as a green manure. 

 Turn it under, not when in its most green and 

 succulent state, but when the heads are turned a 

 little brown ; that is, when it first begins to de- 

 cline. Sinclair says an acre when in flower, 

 yielded him 20,418 pounds, containing 717 pounds 

 of nutritive matter. Theroots are neirly as valu- 

 able as the top. 



Levi Shed, Hillshoro'', .N H. Plow your 

 meadow as deep as you can with two pair of oxen, 

 early in August ; pulverize it with the cultivator 

 and harrow into as fine a tilth as possil)le ; ma- 

 nure with barn manure if you can — if not, apply 

 300 pounds of guano per acre," broadcast, and 

 harrow in with the seed. An application of ashes 

 would l)e higiily beneficial. Would it not be bet- 

 ter to take up one or two acres each year, and 

 work and manure thoroughly, than to attempt 

 more? 



Farming in New England. — The especial atten- 

 tion of the reader is called to the article of "D. 

 C," in this number, and to other papers which 

 will follow this on the same subject. The writer 

 is well informed on the topic he has chosen, and 

 writes with such directness and force, that his ar- 

 ticle will be read with both pleasure and profit. 



SECOND AGRICULTURAL MEETING, 



At the Statk House, Jak. 24, 1854. 



Subject. — Is the Increased Culture of Indian 

 Corn worthy the attention of the Farmers of this 

 Commonwealth ? 



The meeting was called to order by Mr. Flint, 

 Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, who stated 

 that the Governor was prevented from being pres- 

 ent by indisposition, but that hcAvould take pleas- 

 ure in attending whenever his health would per- 

 mit. 



Whereupon Mr. Seth Sprague, ofDuxbury, 

 was called to the chair ; ]\Ir. Sprague announced 

 the subject for discussion, and oiFered a few re- 

 marks thereon. 



The subject of the cultivation of Indian Corn, 

 he said , was one of great importance to the far- 

 mers of Massachusetts. It is a native product of 

 our soil, and has always been a principal crop 

 with our farmers. We could cultivate it with 

 greater profit than at present, were it not for the 

 facility with which it can be raised in the great 

 Mississippi valley, where it costs not more than 

 fifteen or twenty cents per bushel. Yet we have 

 the advantage'of transportation in our favor, which 

 keeps corn here as high as fifty or sixty cents per 

 bushel. 



We have much to learn in regard to the varie- 

 ties to be planted, as well as regards the modes of 

 culture. There has been a great advance in this 

 respect within a few years. The crops have been 

 doubled ; we must plant less, manure and culti- 

 vate better. Corn he considered one of the best 

 materials for fattening cattle he knew of, proba- 

 bly better than oil cake. Nothing imparts more 

 strength and power of endurance to cattle. 



[^Ir. Flint suggested to the meeting whether it 

 would no*t be desirable to have lectures not exceed- 

 ing three-quarters of an hour each, at these meet- 

 ings, on practical subjects, to be followed by dis- 

 cussions ; stating at the same time that the State 

 Board of Agriculture had voted to furnish $100 

 to defray the expense of the lectures, if they were 

 desired by the meeting. 



Mr. Simon Brown advocated the measure, and 

 moved that the Executive Committee secure lec- 

 turers for such occasions as they saw fit. 



The motion was carried.] 



The discussion was then resumed, liy Dr. Rey- 

 nolds of Concord, at the invitation of the Presi- 

 dent. He said, Johnston's table of the nutritive 

 matter yielded per acre, when cultivated in differ- 

 ent crops, if reduced to data con-esponding to the 

 crops yielded by our soils in New England, though 

 Bomewhat different from his results, cannot fail to 

 throw some light upon this subject. 



Johnston takes thirty bushels of corn to the 

 acre as the basis of his calculation. But land 

 with us that will yield 25 bushels of wheat or 50 

 bushels of oats, w^ill yield 50 bushels of corn. Our 



