198_ 



AND HORTICULTURAL RtGISTER. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DEC. ai, 1818. 



Boston, Wednesday, December 21, 1842. 



CHARMING UNCERTAINTIES. 



Stiipfd work fanning would be, if we all knew tlie 

 best way and time of performing all the oppintions. It 

 would then be mere drudgery— toil for the limbs and 

 rotliing more. Hard times most surely would come to 

 us, editors, were all points pertaining to husbandry, set- 

 tled and understood. But luckily, no such disaster is 

 likely to occur very soon. 



We shall not go back to old files to find and point mil 

 the volume and number, and thus forlily our pusitions, 

 but we will name a few of the things which memory 

 brings up as being still controverted. 



In reference to the potato crop, such questions as 

 these are still in dispute : Is it best to spread the ma- 

 nure over the whole surface of the land, or to put it in 

 the hills.' Is it best to put the manure above, or below, 

 the seed ? Is it best to plant the seed whole or to cut 

 it .' Shall one plant in hills or in drills .' Shall he put 

 his seed deep in the ground, or quite near the surface.' 



So of Indian Corn it may be asked, Shall we put it in 

 hills or drills.' Shall we manure in the hill.' Shall 

 we earth up, or keep the surface flat? .Shall we take 

 out the suckers.' Shall we top the stalks? Shall we 

 let the crop stand until it is ripe, or shall we cut up and 

 stook ? 



Shall we best keep our tilled lands fmoist in times of 

 drought by frequent stirrings, or by letting them alone? 



Is cooked or uncooked food best for swine ? Are ap- 

 ples of any value as food for swine or caitle ? 



Is native or foreign slock most profitable ? &o. &a. 



We might extend the string of questions, to which A. 

 would answer yes, and B. say no. The communications 

 found in the various agricultural journiils of the country, 

 thow that all thiise and an indefinite number of other 

 questions are yet unseltled. We trust that some of 

 them will forever remain unsettled. Fur it must be 

 true that difference in soils, atmospheric influences, and 

 other mailers, will require different modes of treaiment 

 lo make lands give out the largest crop that skill can 

 o'jtuin from them. A. may ascertain to his perfect satis- 

 faction that certain modes of tillage are the very best for 

 his soil : this conclusion may be perfectly just. B. may 

 find and prove to himself and others, that modes the op- 

 posite to those of A., are best for him These two dif- 

 for in opinion and inpraciice, but both are correct and 

 judicious. The opinions and experiences of both .-ire 

 valuable to the agricultural community : C. canjget some 

 instruction from A., and D. will profit from knowing 

 what U. has done. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Now, in your season nf comparative leisure, we should 

 bo glad lo have any of you who are accustomed to read 

 our paper, send ati account of your own doings and ob- 

 scrtalions. Sind inquiries also. Lei us hear from you. 

 It is not our habit to make pressing applications lo indi- 

 viduals to furnish matter for our columns. We like 

 better to liave Ihe contributors' free offerings. When 

 ihey copie as such, we always welcome them. We do 

 not give this invitation to each and all of you, with any 

 feeling that we have a claim upon you to write ; but the 

 more you will do in that way, the more interesting, pro- 

 bably, will be our pages : for this reason we ask. If you 

 send any thing of Interest, remember that you gratify 

 nut us alone, but each one of our many hundred readers. 



Be not deterred in any case from communicating your 

 experience or observaiions for publication, because they 

 coincide with the published conclusions of others, and 

 are therefore destitute ofnoi'eliy. It is the concurrent tes- 

 timony of many witnesses upon any point that serves 

 to take from it its uncertainty and establish its truth. 



Such views as these rIiow that most farmers may have, 

 in the variety of soils on their own farms, a book ever 

 open before them, and one that cannot be understood 

 without years of study and observation. A little "book 

 farming"— a little acquaintance with what others have 

 done and are doing, will help him by way of suggestions 

 and hints. The more the properties of soils and ma- 

 nures and the wants of crops are studied into, the great- 

 er, perhaps, should be the variety of modes and opera- 

 tions. There is a charm in the unsatlled stale of the 

 many tliousand questions— it keeps the mind at work, 

 and leads lo e.Mended and useful observations, which 

 may ultimately conduct to truth. 



In the iimrning think what thou hast to do, and at 

 night ask thyself what thou hast done. 



SNOW BIRDS. I 



Here is a flock of them under our window, busily en- 

 gaged in pecking the seeds from weed and flower stalks. 

 'Iliey look plump, contented and happy. The fallin" 

 snow interferes not with their enjoyments; and their 

 seeming scanty food keeps them round and full as litile 

 aldermen. Innocent and happy little gleaners: — How 

 wonderful is the creating and sustaining skill of Him 

 who formed you to find enjoyment amid cold and snow, 

 and to make a rich and ample repast upon the stems that 

 slick up through the earth s while covering. 



CROW EXPERI. VI ENT— IMPORTANT INQUIRY. 



To the Editor of the New England Farmer : 



Sir — I, in common with your readers generally, I pre- 

 sume, have been both entertained and instructed by your 

 published details of experiments made by you the past 

 season, in processes and means of cultivating the earth. 

 There is one experiment, however, which you proposed 

 lo make, ("and in which I feel no litile interest,) whose 

 success you have not yet reported. As your inleniion 

 to make the trial was publicly announced, I have ex- 

 pected its result would likewise be as publicly given. If 

 you had forgotten the matter, this gentle "jog" lo your 

 memory may ha of some service to your readers, by 

 eliciting the important facts which the case involves. 



You will remember that some time last spring or 

 early summer, you slated in the Farmer, that several 

 ciows had located themselves for the season of business, 

 by the side of your cornfield— and furthermore, thai, be- 

 lieving the service they would do you in the destruction 

 of insects, would fully repay for whatever depredations 

 they might commit in the e.xereise of their coin-stealing 

 propensities, you should not disturb Ihem, but let them 

 keep their selected quarters. 



Now I am very desirous to learn how this benevolent 

 experiment of yours resvUed, since it may have settled 

 one, and not the least important, of the many disputed 

 questions in agriculture. And having wailed patiently 

 in the hope that you would state Ihe facts attending the 

 trial, (even though it might bo at the expense of a lillle 

 mortification,) and you not having seen fil, either through 

 forgetfulness or some reason best known to yourself so 

 to do, 1 am emboldened by your apparent good nature 

 and candor, (evinced in your statement of a certain " ex- 

 traordinary" potato crop, of which you were the produ- 

 cer,) to ask you thus publicly, and I trust respectfully, 

 how tkc crow experiment resulted? And in makin" the 

 inquiry, I disclaim being actuati;d by any less frivolous 



motive than a desire to know if, (as 1 have never be 

 lieved,) there is any thing of wisdom or profit in treat 

 ing wilh civility and forbearance those black-hiied an. 

 no less black-hearted pilferers and disgrace of the feath 

 ered tribe, yclept crows— toward whom (though I ca 

 applaud your humanity,) / cannot but act in the spirit c, 

 the lex tnlionis, so long as they manifest such an ut;e 

 disregard of the laws o(meum and tuum. If your expe 

 rinient, however, has demonstrated that these trouble 

 some outlaws may be bought to respect one's rights, then 

 if the price be not too high, I shall most gladly pny ili 

 tribute, in lieu of resorting to the " murderous saltpetre. 

 Wilh high respect, I. KILLEAI. 



Hull, Dec. 14, '42. 



ITTThank you for the "jog," Mr " Killem." Whei 

 we stated that we should not disturb the said crows, w. 

 said also that we should feed them. We did so : thej 

 ale nf what we gave them, and they did no harm to th 

 cornfield. So much for the experiment, to you, Mr " ; 

 Killem,'' from "HkH." There 's the whole story. Hov 

 mortified we are ! Who would have believed, wickei 

 as the world is, that in all the vast multitude of dweller 

 in the populous town of " Hull," there could have beer 

 found one single heart so hard and black, as to kill th< 

 innocent and glossy crow ;— and also to altempt the bar 

 barous outrage of taking our life by " mortification [' 

 temporal mores! 



What seer, gifted with prophetic s'ght, gave you youi 

 name, so descriptive of your disposition ? Cruel, fiiith- 

 less, murderous man ! Rightly was you named '• I Kill 

 em." Kill 'em, then, if such is your innate and clier 

 ished propensity — but we 'II feed 'em again. 



Quere.— How many ciows does " Hull" hold ? We '1, 

 supply 'em with corn next June, at so much per head, 

 Come, make us a generous offer : we should like some 

 "grand speculation " about these times. 



0°The inquiry of " A Grower," relative to the ro. 

 port of the Massachusetls Horticultural Society, (or De- 

 cember 3d, is not understood. If he will explain hia 

 own question so that we can perceive what he wants, 

 WB will then give him the best answer we can. 



Jl Solemn Fact. — It is not poverty eo much as pretence, 

 that harrasses a ruii:ed man — the struggle between a 

 proud mind and an empty purse — the keeping up a hol- 

 low show that must soon come to an end. Have the 

 courage to appear poor, and you disarm poverly of itg 

 sharpest sling. — Phila. Times. 



It is common to say, that a liar will not be believed, 

 although he speak the truth; the converse of this propo- 

 sition is equally true, but more unforlunate ; that a man 

 who h.ns gained a reputation for veracity will not be dis- 

 credited, although he should ulter Ihat which is false J 

 but he Ihat would make use of a reputation for veracity, 

 to establish a lie, would set fire to the temple of trutli 

 wilh a faggot stolen from her altar. — Lacon 



Custom is the law of one description of fools, and fash- 

 ion of another ; but the two parties often clash. Cus- 

 tom looks to things that are past, and fashion to thing» 

 that are present, but both of them are somewhat pur- 

 blind as lo things ihat are to come. Of the two, Fashiim 

 imposes the heaviest burden, for she cheats her votaries 

 of their time, Iheirforlune, and their comforts, and repays 

 ihem only with ihe celebrity of being ridiculed and de- 

 spised— a very paradoxical mode of remuneration, yet 

 always most thankfully received ! — Ihid. 



Falsehood is often rocked by truth, but she soon out 

 grows her cradle and discards her nurse — Ibid. 



