226 



N £ VV E N G L A iN i ' l< A ii IVl K [{ , 



JAN. 27, ISIO. 



very minute isortions, and be soon exliausted. If 

 liine be a constituent of wheat, aiid is not in the 

 soil where we attempt to raise that crop, we mrist 

 furnish lime by art, or wheat will not grow. Or 

 ff native lime exists in the soil in small cjuantities, 

 the land may bear wheat ti I the lime is exhausted, 

 and then become incapable of producinj,' that plant 

 till afresh supply of lime, marl, pulverized bones, 

 or SI. me other calcareous substance is added. 



Mr Young, of Nova Scotia, an able English 

 writer on agricultural topics, says, " It cannot be 

 denied, that since the jdentiful use of lime has 

 been adopted, lands in Europe will produce wheat 

 which otherwise were incapable of bearing it; 

 aiid he quotes several instances in favor of this 

 assertion. Dr Anderson likewise gives an account 

 of a fielil which had a tofi-dressing of lime for 

 the purpose of raising wheat ; but the lime by 

 acci(lent, was not applied to a small riatch of the 

 field, and in that patch there was no crop, while 

 every part to which lirfje was applied produced 

 wheat luxuriantly. It would be easy to adduce 

 many more instances to show that lime, in Great 

 Britain, is considered not only useful but indis- 

 pensable to the production of wheat. 



A consideration of these premises has induced 

 some persons to suppose, that, by the judicious 

 use of lime or other calcareous substances, such 

 as marl or plaster of Paris, wheat may be as well 

 raised in New England as in the Western States. 

 The subject is certainly of great importance, and 

 we are glad to learn that the raising of wheat has 

 been recently revived with good success in some 

 parts of the valley of the Connecticut river. 



Another imi)ortaut improvement in the practice 

 of modern husbandry consists in the manner of 

 ploughing sward land, or land grown over to grass. 

 This grass, including the matted turf or fiod made 

 by the interwoven texture of its roots, is capable 

 of finnishing much valuable food far plants, pro- 

 vided it is buried in the soil, a7>d not disturbed till 

 it is rotted or decomposed. Yet the mode of tilling 

 such land has been to cross-plough and harrow the 

 surface which has been broken vp, as the phrase 

 y, with a view to ar-nble crops, in such a manner 

 that the vegetable matter contained in the sod 

 should be turned out and wasted above ground, 

 by heat, air, and moisture, instead of beinc trea- 

 sured in the soil to supply the wants of vegetation. 

 in this way our cidtivators in former times had 

 taken great pains to impoverish themselves, and 

 their misdirected industry, worse than useless, has 

 been positively detriinental. A more rationr.l and 

 scientific mode of management is now beginning 

 to be prevalent, which is well described in the 

 following extract from an "Address delivered be- 

 fore the Middlesex Society of Husbandmen and 

 Manufacturers, by Elias Phinney, Esq." 



" In May, the field having lain three years to 

 grass, aud the crop of hay so light as to be worth 

 not more than the expense of making, with a view 

 of ascertaining the quantity of vegetable matter 

 upon the surface, I took a single foot square of 

 greensward, and after sefiarating the roots and tops 

 of the grasses from the loam aud vegetable mould, 

 it was found on weighing to contain nine ounces 

 of clear vegetable substance, giving at that rate, 

 over twelve and a quarter tons to the acre. This 

 convinced me of the importance of taking some 

 course by which this valuable treasure might be 

 turned to good account. That a great |)art of this 

 mass of vegetable matter is exposed to useless 

 waste b^ ,the usual mode of ploughing, cross- 



p'.oughing, and harrowing, must be obvious to any 

 one. In order, therefore, to secure this, as well | 

 as the light vegetable mould at or near the surface, 

 which is liable to waste from the same causes, I 

 had two acres of the greensward of this field 

 turned over with the plough as smoothly as pos- 

 sible. After removing the outside slices into the 

 centre of the plough-'and, and thereby effecting 

 the double purpose of covering the vacant space 

 in the middle, and preventing ridges at the sides 

 and ends, the field was rolled hard, with a loaded 

 roller, by which the uneven parts of the furrow 

 were pressed down, and the whole made smooth. 

 It was then harrowed lengthwise of the furrows, 

 with a horse harrow, but so lightly as not to dis- 

 turb the sod. Twenty cart-loads of compost man- 

 ure, made by irnxing two parts of loam or peat 

 mud with one of ''stable-dung, were then spread 

 upon each acre. It was then harrowed again, as 

 before, and the poorer part of the soil which had 

 been turned up and remained on the surface was 

 thereby mixed with the compost manure. Corn 

 was then planted in drills upon the furrow, the 

 rows being at the usual distance and parallel with 

 the furrows. At hoeing time the surface was 

 stirred by running a light plough between the rows, 

 but not so deep at this or the subsequent hoeing 

 .as to disturb the sod. What Mr Lorrain calls the 

 ' savage practice' of hilling up the corn was cau- 

 tiously avoided. As the season advanced, I care- 

 fidly watched the progress of my corn-field. In 

 the early part of the season it did not exhibit a 

 very jiromising appearance ; but as soon as the 

 roots had extended into the enriching matter be- 

 neath, and began to expand in the decomposing 

 sward, which had now become mellow, and more 

 minutely divided by the fermentation of the con- 

 fined vegetable substances beneath than it possibly 

 could have been by plough or hoe, the urowth 

 became vigorous, and the crop, in the opinion of 

 those who examined the field, not less than sev- 

 enty bushels of corn to the acre. As soon as the 

 corn was liarvested, the stubble was loosened U]) 

 by running a light horse-plough lengthwise througli 

 the rows, fh" ourfece then smootHerl with n bush- 

 harrow, and one bushel. of rye, with a sufficient 

 quantity of herd's grass and red-top seed, to the 

 acre, was then sowed, the ground again harrowed 

 and rolled. The crop of rye was harvested in 

 July following, and the two acres yielded sixty 

 nine and a half bushels of excellent grain, and 

 over five tons of straw. The grass sowed with 

 tlio rye took well, and the present season I mow- 

 ed, what those who secured the crop judged to be, 

 two and a half tons of the very best of hay from 

 each acre. 



"Thus with one ploughing, with the aid of 

 twenty cart-loads of compost manure to the acre, 

 I have obtained two crops of grain, and stocked 

 the land down to grass." 



Another modern improvement in agriculture, 

 which has proved of much importance, consists 

 in an acquaintance with the theory and the suc- 

 cessful practice of systematic Courses and Rota- 

 tions of Crops. A Course of Crops is a series of 

 products following each other in a determinate 

 succession on the san)e ground for a certain num- 

 ber of years, after which the same round is re- 

 newed in the same order. A Rotation of Crops 

 consists in two or more courses repeated in the 

 same order. 



M. Macaire, in a uiemoir inserted in the trans- 

 actions of a Literary Society. iti Geneva, has de- 



veloped some physiological facts relating to this 

 subject, from which the following is a transcript. 



" A judicious rotation of crops is known to be 

 I matter of great importance. One kind of veg- 

 etable (a) will grow and flourish well in a soil 

 from which another kind of vegetable (b) has just 

 been gathered, while an attempt to raise another 

 crop of the first vegetable (a) or a crop of a third 

 vegetable (c) immediately alter the first (a) in the 

 i-ame soil, will be attended with little or no suc- 

 cess. * * » 



" The true explanation of the necessity of a 

 rotation of crops appears to be founded on the 

 fact stated by Bergmann, and more fully exposed 

 by Decandolle, that a certain portion of the juices 

 which are absorbed by the roots of the plants, are, 

 after the salutiferous portions have been extracted 

 by the vessels of the plant, again thrown out by 

 exudation from the roots and deposited in the 

 soil. It is probably the existence of this exuded 

 matter which may be regarded in some measure 

 as the excrements of the preceding crop of vege- 

 tables, that proves injurious to a succeeding vege- 

 tation. The particles which have been deleterious 

 to one tribe of plants, cannot but prove injurious 

 to plants of the same kinds, and probably to those 

 of some other kinds, while they may furnish nu- 

 triment to another order of vegetables." 



The author proved this theory by experiments 

 which we have not room to give in detail. In 

 one of these, alter cleansing and washing the roots 

 of plants thoroughly, lie placed them in phials 

 with a certain quantity of |)ure water. After they 

 had put forth leaves, expanded their flowers, and 

 flourished for some time, by the evaporation of the 

 water, and the use of chemical re-agents, he as- 

 certained that the water contained matter which 

 had exuded from the roots."* 



Among the means of agricultural improvement 

 of comparatively tnodern origin, few ha\e proved 

 more efiicient and usefcd than Agricultural Socie- 

 ties, Exhibitions, or, as they are commonly called, 

 Cattle Shows. At assemblages and collections of 

 fhis kind, the farmer mav ohfjiin ocilar demon- 

 stration of improvements, which he would hardly 

 believe possible, from hearsay evidence, or any 

 printed statements. . He sees the finest breeds 

 of cattle, both native and imported, and learns 

 by what means he may improve his own breeds 

 of domestic animals. He views specimens of 

 different sorts of vegetables, some of whicli arc 

 not so gencral'y cultivated as thoy might be, to the 

 great advantage of the cidtivator. Improved agri- 

 cultural implements, by which the labors of the 

 husbandman are at once rendered lighter and 

 more efficient, are here soliciting notice. But it 

 is useless to enlarge on the advantages which 

 result from these institutions, which are now firm- 

 ly founded on the basis of public opinion, tested 

 by ample experience of their utility, and sanction- 

 ed by the approbation and usages of the most 

 enlightened nations. 



*See some valuable remarks on the subject of Rota- 

 tion of Crops, by Anthony Ci.lliiiiiore, Esq., read befuia 

 the Plymouth County Agricultural Society, and. pub- 

 lished in the " New England Farmer," vol. xiii, p 21" 

 et seq. 



Competition — It is cheap travelling between 

 New Haven and New York at the present time. 

 Twentiiftve cents is all that is asked for a jassuge^ 

 by some of the boats on the route I. 



