No. 3. Productive Farms. — Rust, Blight, and MiMein of Wheat 



87 



It is well understood that the manure is 

 found only along- those portions of the coast 

 that are continually dry, and where rain 

 scarcely ever falls. On all coasts similarly 

 situated, the manure will be found ; but be- 

 yond, even although the birds may be as 

 abundant, no true guano can be expected, 

 but only the insoluble parts. 



The coast of Peru is admirably situated, 

 being' the boundary of an interminable sweep 

 of the Paciiic Ocean, as a restintr place for 

 sea-birds, where they may form their nests 

 and raise their young ; but under these cir- 

 cumstances they are intolerant of any inter- 

 ruption, and leave the islands as soon as an 

 excavation is made for manure. — JStw York 

 Farmer and Mechanic. 



The boiling or steaming of dry food, and 

 even of potatoes and turnips, is recommended 

 by many as an economical practice. Pro- 

 fessor Johnston believes the general result 

 of the numerous experiments which have 

 been made upon this subject in various parts 

 of England, is in favor of this opinion in so 

 far as regards fattening and growing stock. 

 It seems a more doubtful practice in the case 

 of horses which are intended for heavy and 

 especially for fast work — though Stephens 

 in his Book of the Farm, says that even for 

 these animals, the use of steamed food is 

 coming into use with extensive coach con- 

 tractors. 



Productive Farms. 



To a person not familiarly acquainted 

 with the history and statistics of English 

 husbandry, the extreme productiveness of 

 the farms of that country will appear in- 

 •credible. Nearly nine-tenths of the culti- 

 vated lamds in Great Britain and Ireland, 

 are rented to tenants, who pay, usually, 

 from four to five pounds sterling per acre, 

 annual rent. Where is the farmer in this 

 country, who could live under such a bur- 

 den'? Here a farm comprising a hundred 

 acres, is often rented for one hundred dol- 

 lars, and even at this rate the tenant has a 

 hard task. The cultivation, even where 

 there are a large number of acres in grass, 

 will little more than pay the rent and taxes; 

 but in England the result is widely different. 

 The tenant who there pays £5 per acre 

 annual rent, and finds all appliances, obtains 

 not only a comfortable living, but in many 

 cases wealth, from tlie prosecution of a bu- 

 siness which here, with like burdens, would 

 doom him to want and misery. 



In 1811, Irwin estimated the produce of 

 ozie English farm of eight hundred and 



ninety acres, at £8,578, or $i38,000 ! The 

 quantity of manure applied was 13,746 

 one-horse cartloads in one year, and 10,250 

 the next! Now admitting the rent of this 

 farm to be §12 j)er acre, and the cost of 

 manure and its application $12 more; and 

 if to this sum we add, for interest, or ex- 

 penses, taxes, and the various contingent 

 expenses of cultivation, &c., §^12 more, we 

 shall find, upon striking the balance, that 

 there will remain a profit of SIO the acre, 

 amounting in the gross aggregate to the 

 sum of .§^10,000 clear gain to the tenant in 

 a single year! 



In the vicinity of Ix)ndon, a hay farm, 

 comprising one hundred and sixty acres, 

 was rented. The rental in this instance, 

 was ^\2 per acre, amounting in the whole 

 to $;1,920 per year. A very heavy expen- 

 diture was required for manure — probably 

 as much as many a New England farmer 

 would have been willing to give for the 

 land, and yet the tenant succeeded, and has 

 since become wealthy, and with no other 

 income than the produce of his farm. 



In Ireland, a poor man hi;ed an acre of 

 land, erected his cottage, purchased manure 

 and farming tools, and the first season cleared 

 all expenses, and had a balance of j£8 left. 

 And yet that Irish peasant, in addition to 

 the expenses and outlays above enumerated, 

 had a church tax to pay, and to be at the 

 expense of purchasing his own seed, and 

 maintaining a family of four besides himself 

 and wife. The frugality of the Irish pea- 

 santry is proverbial. But there was some- 

 thing more than mere frugality at the bot- 

 tom of this man's success. There was 

 thorough cultivation — a thing which in 

 New England may be said to be wholly 

 unknown. This is the mystery, and the 

 only one. That Irish peasant, with like 

 exiienses, would have starved here on forty 

 acres with our cultivation. — Western Farm- 

 er and Gardener. 



Rust, Blight, and Mildew of Wheat. 



A correspondent of the Weekly Intelligencer, who 

 signs himself C. A., and dates from Philadelphia co., 

 makes the following remarks iu relation to wheat. — Ed. 



Our philosophers have theorised, and our 

 farmers have descanted, upon the origin and 

 cause, and efltct of blight or rust, upon the 

 stalks of wheat. 



Of the effect, it is apparent that the pro- 

 per juices of the plants are absorbed by some 

 foreign subst;ince, which prevents the proper 

 ripening^of the grain. 



Our naturalists tells us that the blight is 

 a plant of a parasitical nature, endowed with 

 all the functions of growth and regeneration 



