266 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



' MARCH », 1836. 



tioii, fertilizing, in proportion to its size, either a 

 small quantity or a large tract of land. 



13th. Improvement suggested in the practice 

 OF Irrigation. 



"In some recent publications on the snhject of 

 irrigation? hints are suggested for the fartjjer ex- 

 tension and improvement of that operation. The 

 first is, that of watering land by machinery. If 

 the land he put in a proper form for ii'rigation, 

 and supplied with a good stream, at jiroper sea- 

 sons, there can be no difference, from the method 

 of getting it on the surface ; and if all others cir- 

 cumstances are equally favorable, the same fertility 

 may be expected from water thrown up by a drain 

 mill, as that which runs from a brook. A cheap 

 and effectual power for the raising of water, in 

 sufficient quantities to flow about ten acres at a 

 time, would be an invaluable acquisition ; for a 

 productive water meadow is probably the true, 

 mark of perfection in the management ef a farm. 

 The other suggestion is, that of employing ma- 

 chinery to throw up not oidy fresh but even sea 

 water for irrigation. It is well known how much 

 all kinds of stock are improved by salt marshes 

 and how beneficial to them is a moderate quantity 

 of saline matter. There are many parts of the 

 kingdom where by the aid of machinery, these 

 advantages might be obtained at a moderate ex- 

 pense." 



In a treatise on " British Husbandry," publish- 

 ed under the superintendance of the " Society for 

 the Diffusion of Useful Knowleilge," in vol. 1, 

 chapter 34, after noticing the advantages of irriga- 

 tions, on page 533 may be found the following 

 ' summary ' : — " Taking into consideration all these 

 circumstances, there can be no doubt that the im- 

 provement of land by irrigation is of the very first 

 importance, and should never be neglected wher- 

 ever practicable ; that is to .say, wherever the 

 elevation of the land will allow of the water being 

 flowed over it, and afterwards drained off; for, in 

 such situations, any kind of ground, be it ever so 

 poor, may be benefitted to a degree that will more 

 than repay the charg^. Most small rivulets on 

 the sides of slopes may bo dammed sufficiently 

 for the purpose at very slight cost ; and where no 

 impediments are occasioned, either by the inter- 

 vention of the holders of neighboring property, or 

 hy nulls upon the stream, the operation will not 

 alone add to the immediate value of the estate, 

 through the |)rofit derived from that portion of the 

 farm so improved, but also from the facilities 

 which it affords to the -other branches of hus- 

 liandry ; among which, perhaps not the least is 

 the saving which it thus occasions of all manure 

 upon the irrigated land ; for not only is the ground 

 maintained in its fertility solely by the application 

 of water, but the sheep which are fed upon it are 

 invariably folded upon the arable." 



If a fact can be established by the testimony of 

 two or three witnesses, I think that I have conclu- 

 sively shown that the artificial use of water on 

 land is highly beneficial in England and Scotland, 

 and I claim that the evidence ju-oves much more ; 

 if irrigation is useful in the humid atmosphere of 

 England, is it not certain tiiat good husbandry 

 requires the practice of it in this country.' where 

 our climate is not so moist, and rains not so fre- 

 quent. To me the inference is irresistible, and I 

 should be willing to rest the case here, was I not 

 able to cite some authorities of our own country. 

 Having already occupied so much space in e.xtracts 



from different agricultural books, I shall only 

 refer to the authors, whose characters are probably 

 all well known to the Judge. I would ask him to 

 consider the evidence of Deane, whose testimony 

 has been considered for many years as entitled to 

 imy)licit credit. I would call his attention to the 

 " Farmer's Assistant," compiled and published in 

 his own vicinity ; to Drown's " Compendium of 

 Agriculture," and to the several volumes of the 

 "New England Farmer." There is also in the 

 seventh volume of the " Agricultural Repository 

 and Journal," published by the Massachusetts Ag- 

 ricidtural Society, a valuable communication on 

 the same subject from the late General Hull, which 

 would well repay a republication., 

 (To be continued,) 



The Committee ap|)ointed by the Trustees of 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, on " Vege- 

 table and Grain Crops," respectfully offer the fol- 

 lowing Report. They award — 

 To John Smith, of Westminster, in the county 

 of Worcester, for his most extraordinary 

 crop of Oats, being on one acre and one 

 eighth of an acre, 99 3-4 bushels, or 88 

 bushels and two thirds to an acre, $20 



To William Carter, of Fitchburg, county of 

 Worcester, for his crop of Barley, 58 

 bushels on one acre, $20 



To Henry Sprague, of Barre, county of Wor- 

 cester, by way of gratuity, on his fine 

 crop of Barley on a field of four acres and 

 seventyfour rods, 226 bushels, being 50 

 1-2 bushels on an acre, $15 



To Payson Williams, of Fitchburg, for his 

 crop of Potatoes, 515 bushels on one 

 acre, $20 



To the same person for his crop of Black 

 Sea, or Smyrna Wheat, sown second 

 week in May, 35 bushels, of 60 lbs. to 

 the bushel, (awarded as a gratuity, as 

 no premium was offered on Spring 

 Wheat,) $20 



The committee would, as usual, recommend 

 that the statements of the claimants, in their own 

 words, be published in the New England Farmer. 

 The committee ask leave again to express their 

 regret that the premiums offered by the Society 

 should have commanded so little attention from 

 our able and ))ractical agriculturists. The only 

 claim made under the head of Vegetable Crops, 

 has been on potatoes, and that by a farmer of 

 great merit, who in years past entitled himself to 

 the premium nearly as often as all other claimants 

 put together. Of grain, the crops of oats, barley, 

 and wheat exhibited, have been very respectable, 

 but there has been little or no competition. As 

 to carrots, common beets, mangel wurtzel, sugar 

 beets, parsnips, ruta baga, common turnifis, cab- 

 bages, not a single application has appeared, nor 

 for dry peas and beans. The committee can 

 think of but few ways of accounting for this. 

 One reason may be that the quantity required is 

 too great; another may be that labor is too high ; 

 a third probably is that most of these vegetables 

 to be used for cattle have been little thought of 

 among us till of late years, and all im|)rovements 

 in husbandry, if not considered as innovations 

 unworthy of notice, come into general u.se with a 

 tardy pace. But still another cause suggests itself, 

 and which your committee hope and trust is the 



most conunon of all, and that is, that our good far- 

 mers, although they raise large quantities of vege- 

 tables for their .stock, do not deem it worth the 

 pains and labor of making them known, the pre- 

 miuius notwithstanding. If what is last assigned 

 be true, — while it is gratifying to reflect that the 

 object of the trustees is in some good measure 

 accomplished, — it seems to afford a reason why 

 the premiimis might be discontinued as nearly 

 useless. 



That vegetables for cattle to a considerable 

 extent are provided by good farmer.s, (| articularly 

 in the vicinity of Boston and other places, where 

 milk in winter is in greater request,) far beyond 

 what was formerly done, is quite obvious to every 

 observer, and that it ought to be done to a much 

 greater amount, must be thought desirable by all 

 who take into view our long winters, and that, in 

 the absence of vegetables, our cattle get no succu- 

 lent foorl, but barely subsist on dry hay, and this, 

 a great part of it, of a coarse and ordinary qual- 

 ity. The committee can do no more than to 

 recommend an increased attention to this part of 

 husbandry ; not only as it will be showing kind- 

 ness to the poor animals, but as affording profit far 

 exceeding the expenditure. 



It has occurred to your committee, that as the 

 experiments for crops of corn, potatoes, barley 

 and rye, have been numei-ous for years past, and 

 the various modes of culture minutely set forth by 

 the claimants, and published in pamphlets and in 

 the N. E. Farmer, and little more information can 

 be expected or perhaps needed, as to their culti- 

 vation, it may be well to discontinue the premiums 

 on those articles, and to devote the means of the 

 Society to other objects, such as rotation of crops, 

 and the best management of farms, and the greater 

 improvements of breeds of animals by importation 

 and otherwise, &c. T he articles of Indian corn 

 and potatoes and grain, as before mentioned, are 

 so necessary to every family throughout New 

 England, and we are and always have been so 

 much in the habit of raising them, that their cul- 

 tivation will naturally be attended to without pub- 

 lic encouragement, and can now be done with the 

 aid of all the skill that particular experiments can 

 furnish. 



These remarks, however, your committee would 

 not be understood as applicable to joheat. This 

 article of bread stuff has been found of late to suc- 

 ceed much better than formerly in Massachusetts, 

 and to have become a more certain crop, owing 

 mainly perhaps to new kinds which have been 

 introduced of this grain. As there is no S])ecies 

 of bread stuff of which we import com|)arably so 

 much, as flour, the conmiittee think it will be well 

 to encourage the growth of wheat by handsome 

 premiums. It will be seen that Mr Williams, of 

 Fitchburg, has received pr .niiums last year and 

 this, on a species of wheat little known here, called 

 Black Sea, or Smyrna wheat. It is sown in the 

 spring and much esteemed. Another kind, called 

 Gilman wheat, introduced some years ago, is raised 

 with success and to considerable extent in New 

 Hampshire, and Massachusetts. It should be 

 remembered that a bushel of wheat is worth com- 

 monly two bushels of rye, while the same quantity 

 of one as the other is generally raised on the acre. 



Work The great excellency, the infinite su- 

 periority of our government consists in this : it 

 sets everything in motion. Agriculture, manufac- 

 tures and commerce, go forward with energy. 



