148 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 



BY HE.Vr.Y COX,MAN. 



In the beauty and pictiireeqneuess of its scene- 

 ry, in its universal salubrity, in the fertility of its 

 alluvial lands, in the abundant and equal distri- 

 bution of the means of subsistence and the com- 

 forts and luxuries of life, and in the improved 

 intellectual, and moral character of its (joj.ulation', 

 their good institutions and orderly habits, perhaps 

 there is no more favored spot on the earth than 

 the valley of the Connecticut, from its mouth to 

 its source^ a distance of more than three hundred 

 miles. The traveller, in this charnjing region, is 

 continually delighted uitli mountain and river 

 scenery, with hi'ls clothed with the richest ver- 

 dure and meadows almost oppressed by their 

 abundance, with a succession of beautiful and 

 populous villages and towns, engaged in the va- 

 rious pursuits of agriculture and ujanufactures, 

 and of extensive, well cultivated and fertile farms, 

 illustrating in the most striking manner the say- 

 ing of the wise man, that " the hand of the dili- 

 gent maketh rich." The roads are tine; the 

 accommodations in general excellent, and the 

 traveller, who is neither selfish nor captious, who 

 is willing to be pleased and can find a benevolent 

 pleasure in contemplating a scene of almost un- 

 mixed rural prosperity, can no where find in a 

 favorable season a more grateful and delightful 

 tour: but that he may enjoy it fully, we beg leave 

 to recommend to him to take it leisurely, and by 

 veasonable stages, by day-light, and in o;.en car- 

 riage, and not expect to estimate it justly by get- 

 ting into a stage coach and hurrying through it 

 by extraordinary urging and compensation to the 

 drivers, with the rapidity of an express on a mis- 

 sion of life and death. 



My own residence is at the confluence of the 

 Deerfield with the Connecticut, and my remarks, 

 therefore, will relate to the country and cultiva- 

 tion above this point, though tije best cultivated, 

 the most populous, and the wealthiest parts of the 

 eountry lie below this. Yet this must be taken 

 «nly as a general remark ; for there are some very 

 fertile lands, very superior farms, and of very fine 

 cultivation, in various places on the whole course 

 of the river. The Charlestown valiey, the New- 

 bury ' Ox Bow,' and the Lancaster valley, are as 

 picturesque, as fertile, and, to a degree, (thouifh 

 they are not so pojiulous,) as well cultivated as the 

 magnificent valley of Northampton. 



The crops cultivated are various, and the land 

 IS capable cf any cultivation which the climate 

 will admit. The products principally relied upon, 

 however, are grass, Indian corn, potatoes, wheat, 

 rye, oats, flax, hope, broom corn and buckwheat; 

 and the raising of stock, the j)roduce of the dairy 

 and wool. ' 



KOV. 18, 1836. 



time on the sauie land. This gentleman, and 1 

 should rely much upon his judgment, thinks that 

 a rotation of crops is as necessary in this case as 

 in others ; and advises, therefore, that hops should 

 not be gathered on the same land for more than 

 three years in succession. 



BnooM CoR.v is not much cultivated more than 

 twenty mi!cs above this on the river. 'J'he far- 

 meis who attempted it, were deterred from jjursu- 

 ing it, either from ignorance of its proper manage- 

 ment, or from the great de|)ression of its price 

 three years since. With those who have cultiva- 

 ted it the present year it is likely to prove a most 

 profitable crop; ninety and even one hundred 

 dollars have been given, in some instances, for the 

 standing crop, the purchaser taking all the risk of 

 the season and the labor of gathering upon him- 

 self The return of seed this year, on account of 

 the early frost, will probably be very small. The 

 expense of cultivation and ijreparation for the 

 market is more than double that of Indian corn. 

 The yield is various, from 500 to 1000 lb<. ; the 

 product in seed is. equally various; in good years 

 it will pay a very cousiderable part of the expen- 

 ses for cidtivalion. It requires, however, a long 

 season to bring the plant to maturity; a frost will 

 destroy the plant when young, and it will not, like 

 the Indian corn, sprout again, after being once 

 nipt by the frost. The introduction of paim leaf 

 brooms, which are now made in considerable 

 quantities in some parts of Massachusetts and N. 

 Hampshire, may in some measure affect the sale 

 of corn brooms, but are not likely to supersede 

 them ; and there is little doubt that" the crop will 

 long remain a profitable one, subject, however, to 

 the usual fluctuations of the market It is an im- 

 portant consideration, that the crop, when well 

 secured, is not perishable, and may be kept any 

 length of time without deterioration, to wait "a 

 profitable sale. The value of the seed is about 

 two-thirds that of oats, and, mixed with corn or 

 oats, it is useful for any kind of stock. 



of neat cattle and sheep, but I am not able to d 

 termme its relative value. The use of oil ,m 

 for this purpose is universally approved by thu 

 well skilled in these matters. I have not fou; 

 any particular advantage from its use in fatleni: 

 swine ; and persons, who have more extensive 

 tried it for this object, have complained of its gi 

 ing an unpleasant taste to the meat. 



Hops — The cultivation of hops is carried on 

 to a limited extent. On this subject I have en- 

 tered at large in a former communication in the 

 New York Farmer.- The crops, the present year, 

 are likely to be very small, one farmer haviii" ob- 

 tained only 500 lbs. on groun.I, upon which hist 

 year he obtained 1600 lbs. This is not, however 

 without exceptions ; one farmer in Westminster' 

 this being the first year of gathering, w 



Buckwheat.— This is but little cultivated, and 

 that only on j.oor gravelly soils. It is so little 

 attended to that I am not able to ascertain the 

 ordinary returns. It is deemed of great value for 

 bees, and those who would have their ' stores well 

 filled ' with honey, are advised to cultivate at least 

 a small quantity of it, solely for their benefit. It 

 is beneficial, likewise, as a green manure to plou-'h 

 in when in flower. It fiirnishes a great amoimt 

 of herbage; and my own ex))eriments in this way 

 have satisfied me of its utility. 



Flax.— Of this very little is cultivated, except- 

 ing that here and there a farmer raises a small 

 quantity for thread in his family. The extensive 

 and daily extending use of cotton, seems likely to 

 almost entirely supersede the use of flax. It is 

 no doubt; a considerable exhauster of the land' 

 (if, under the new theory of Candolle, this term' 

 be any longer allowable,) but it will do to repeat 

 it on the same soil about once in five or six years. 

 The seed coinmamis a ready and high price 

 which is likely to advance rather than decline '; 

 and it cannot be a poor crop if raised only for the' 

 seed, where from ten to fourteen bushels of seed 



above 800 lbs. to the acre. He calculates that Th. I """! "l".'^- ""',']■ "" '" '""'' 



cultivation and gathering inclucUrairev en •"" , "'""' ''■°'" "" ""'"• '^^^ ^^^'k or flax, 



will not fall short of fif^y' dfc fer ere ' T ^l '" -''';.--.'"-' ''"'^ l-y «"• '"- dressing and' 

 general impression is, tha hops, if rop rhattcTd 11 /,, ' ""''^ ^l-'i--^'^ l-ve fully satis- 



ed and ma. i will do wel forluM,' u '"• °^ '",»'■'" '"'^^"'"^'^ °^ the seed, given 



ao well lor an indelmite | either in a boiled or raw state, for the fattenincr 



RvE — Rye is not very extensively grow 

 excepting occasionally as a first crop on new 

 cleared land, where the yield is from fifteen 

 tweiityfive bushels to an acre. It was former 

 very much cultivated, esiiecially when tlie bus 

 ness of rum distillation was largely carried on, ar 

 farmers at the distillery could obtain a high ar 

 cash price for their product. But since these fir. 

 of destruction have been generally cxtinguishe 

 m these parts of the country, the demand for 

 has greatly lessened. It is applied by many pe: 

 sons, with great success, to the feeding of swir 

 and cattle. Some farmers in my neighborhooi 

 to whom 1 recommended the last year to make i 

 accurate observation as they could of its effect 

 when applied in a mixed fbrm to the feeding t 

 neat cattle, speak of it in the most favorable term; 

 J he Shakers, in Canterbury, N. H. speak ver 

 highly of it to mix with Indian meal, half an 

 half, for their swine, and say they should prefe 

 to give a quarter of a dollar more per bushel fo 

 rye to use in this way than to use clear India 

 meal, 'j hey are, in general, in all these matter 

 exact observers, and may "be regaided, in all mat 

 ters of agricultural and domestic economy, as th 

 highest autliority. An intelligent farmer in .Maid 

 stone, holds it in the same estimation for feedinj 

 swine ; and Levi Lincoln, of Worcester, Mass., a 

 good a farmer as he has proved himself to be wis. 

 and patriotic and just as a magistrate, has inform 

 ed me of his use of it for fattening swine will 

 great success. 



Tlie dairy farmers in Cheshire, Mass., who, ii 

 the excellence and amount of their products, 'an 

 perhaps surpassed by none in the country, an 

 accustomed to give rye meal to their cows in th, 

 Spring, as they believe, to great advantage. Thej 

 have their cows come in, if possible, in March 

 and begin to make cheese by the first of April 

 From this time, until the pastures aflxjrd a full 

 bite of grass, they give to each of their cows about 

 four quarts of rye meal once a day. Indian meal 

 they believe, has a tendency, when given in con- 

 siderable quantities, to dry the cow, but rye meal 

 greatly promotes the secretion of milk. Their 

 experience is of great value ; for nothing can ex- 

 ceed the neat and admirable management of some 

 of the cheese dairies, which I have visited in this 

 place. The practice of the Flemish farmers is, 

 likewise, to give their milch cows daily a ' white 

 drank,' which is rye meal mixed with water. 



Many of the fields of rye, which I passed in the 

 upper part of the valley, were black with ergot or 

 spurred rye. 'J he true cause of this disease in 

 rye is not well ascertained. Some have ascribed 

 It to a wet spring followed by a very hot summer, 

 but that has not been the case this year. It would 

 seem in some measure ascribable to too sudden 

 anil luxuriant a growth, when the sap is forced 

 too violently, and bursts the vessels of the grain. 

 The substance itsell', the diseased grain, is very 

 deleterious and poisonous, and it ought to be 

 known is as pernicious to brute animals as to liu- 

 man. 



