1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



281 



laborious and expensive. But our springs here 

 are so shorf that we cannot do it all in this way.] 

 So we plow some in the fall, si^read the manure 

 on the furrows in the spring, and harrow it in. 

 Find that manure used in this way makes the first 

 crop better than when plowed under, but does not 

 sustain grass as long. By cultivating only one 

 year, and plowing under the manure we get good 

 crops of hay from five to ten years, while oats in 

 two or three years would exhaust the manure and 

 soil too. The land we plant is seeded down the 

 second year. As plenty of clover grows from 

 seed in soil or manure, we generally sow only 

 herdsgrass. We use but little manure as top-dress- 

 ing to grass land, believing it more economical to 

 plow it in. 



We compost manure by carting into the yards 

 one hundred or more loads of muck. Although 

 wo have no swamp or bog-meadow, we consider 

 ourselves fortunate in the possession of the best 

 beds of muck we were ever acquainted with. 

 About one liundrod acres of our form is what is 

 known in Vermont as ^^ intervale'''' — lying on Leach 

 Stream, near its junction with the Connecticut 

 river, fifty acres of which ai-e annually overflowed 

 in the spring, by the melting of the great body of 

 snow that accumulates on the hills, which are still 

 covered by primitive forests, and frequently in the 

 fall also,. In the depressions of this low land we 

 find valuable materials for manure. The "bed" 

 fi'om which we arc now supplied is nearly circular, 

 some five rods in diameter, and ten feet deep in the 

 centre. It is composed apparently of vegetable 

 matter entirely, no sand or gi-it being perceptible 

 The beneficial efleet of this muck, plowed in just 

 as it came from the bed, has been distinctly per- 

 ceptible after twelve successive mowings. Our 

 neighbors, who can purchase manure at the vil 

 lage, one mile distant, for one dollar a load, are 

 ■willing to pay us twenty-five cents a load for our 

 muck, and say they can make manure with it fas- 

 ter and cheaper than by purchasing and drawin_ 

 In the fall we will put into one of our yards, say, 

 one hundred loads of muck ; during the winter 

 twenty head of cattle are yarded upon it, but sel- 

 dom fed there, and in cold weather are out of the 

 barn but a short time each day ; during the sum- 

 mer twelve cows are kept in the yard nights, and 

 in the fall, one year from the time it was put in, 

 and with no additions except the droppings of the 

 cattle, wc have a compost which is worth more for 

 crops than stable manure. 



Our stock, this winter, consist of seventeen three- 

 years old steers, twelve cows, four oxen, and three 

 horses. Sold one cow a few days since for $o2, 

 and reserve lier calf. ^V'e give our cattle a "fod 

 derin"" in tlie murniug before light ; when that is 

 licked up they are turned into the yards, and the 

 stables cleaned ; after tlicy have drank and aired 

 themselves the cattle are jiut into the barn and fed 

 Just before niglit they are again let out, and tl e 

 stables cleaned for the night. They are fed in the 

 evening. Stock, especially young cattle, require 

 more care here than in milder climates. We have 

 some days every winter when it is not safe to leave 

 our calves in tiit^ yard for an hour, if we would 

 not have their feet and horns frost bitten. This 

 year we have sonu; twelve or fourteen tons of hay 

 more than our stock will consume. Hay is worth 

 ten dollars, which is high for this place. 



We employ both oxen and horses ; prefer oxen 



for hauling manure, wood and hay, horses and 

 oxen for breaking-up, and horses fur raking hay 

 and most other kinds of work. 



A\'e make butter and cheese for our own fami- 

 lies, and ij;150 to $200 worth for sale. Find it 

 quite profitable to raise pork at present prices. 



For fencing, we consider boards with cedar 

 posts, which are plenty here, the cheapest. 



ur only orchards are maple trees. Least spring 

 wc made something over 2000 lbs. of sugar. For 

 samples of which, the Massacluusctts (Jhari table 

 Mechanic Association awarded us a diploma, last 

 fall, and the Editor of the Fanner a handsome 

 "acknowledgment." As this "harvest" occursin 

 a comparatively leisure scas(jn of the year, wo re- 

 gard it as the most profitable brancli of our busi- 

 ness, in favorable seasons. We commence about 

 the first of April, with the snow often three feet 

 deep (by measure, not guess) and end the first of 

 ^lay, when the snow is pretty much gone. Back 

 a short distance from the Paver, much sugar is 

 made in May, in which month snow-shoes arc 

 sometimes used in gathering sap. 



Although apples and many other kinds of fruit 

 do not succeed well here, and corn will not ripen 

 so as to make good yellow meal oftener than about 

 one year in four, yet we have currants, raspl)erries, 

 &c. in profusion, and a growth of oats, buckwheat 

 and potatoes perhaps not equalled in Ncav Eng- 

 land. Good farmers here i-ais9 from seventy-five 

 to one hundred bushels of oats per acre, from 20 to 

 40 of buckwheat, and before the prevalence of the 

 disease, from 300 to 500 bushels of potatoes were 

 frequently raised on our intervales. Wc esteem 

 oat straw as valuable feed for stock. It grows 

 here as high as a man's shoulders. By sowing 

 from 4 to tj bushels per acre, we get a fine straw 

 that is readily consumed ))y cattle, especially if 

 the grain is cut early and tlie threshing is not 

 done too carefully. Last winter, from December 

 10, to February 15, we kept thirty-eight yearlings 

 entirely on oat straw, and although they might 

 not appear quite as plump as though fed on hay, 

 we thought they did rather better in the summer 

 than hay-fed yearlings generally do. Perhaps the 

 straw, or the grain in it, maybe more favorable to 

 the growth of bone, than hay is. 



A few years ago the farmers of this section were 

 far from market — in fact, very much "out of the 

 world." But now the railroads have, for all prac- 

 tical purposes, brought the Brighton and Faneuil 

 Hall markets up to "Canada Line," — and greatly 

 increased the value of all we have to sell, as well 

 as of that of the land on which it is raised. 



SlM.NER Fi.ETCUKR, 



Tuos. S. Flbtcuer. 

 Canaan, Vt., April, 1854. 



IREIGATION OF GARDENS. 



From repeated expniments we are induced to 

 draw the conclusion tlsat next to manure, the 

 great prime mover in successful culture, there is 

 nothing more important to vegeUible growth in 

 many cases than irrigation. Practical gardners 

 regard it as indispensable, and a large share of 

 their success depends on copious watering. 



Some interesting instances, which have recently 

 occurred, may be worth stating. Two rows of 

 raspberries stand on ground in every respect alike, 

 except that ono receives the drippings from a 



