880 



NEW E N C^ L A N D FARMER 



APRIL 27, 183fi, 



bushes and balk armind it, and situated near the 

 highest pai't of the lot, was laid dry hy an nnder 

 or covered drain of about six rods in length, cnt 

 throngli llie rim of the basin, previous to ploogli- 

 il'ig ; llie other parts were drained of the surface 

 water without the use of the spade, by drawing 

 the first furrow, when striking out the lands or 

 ridges, at such places as would cut off the springs, 

 and in such directions as would give sufficient 

 fall to the water, and lead it into the main f^irrow 

 in the long swale. Considerable care was neces- 

 sary to strike out the ridges, so that when the 

 }):oughing v.-as finished, liie furrows sliould not 

 ■only have a good descent, but lead off the water 

 without further labor in opening communications 

 from one to the other. 



After the superabimdance of water was thus 

 taken off, and the ground became so solid that it 

 could be ploughed., which was in a day or two, 

 — the whole was turned over ; care being taken 

 that none of the former growth should be left on 

 the surface, but all turned undtr to the depth of 

 five or six inches ; if possible, without bringing 

 up much of the poor snl>soil. And to drain the 

 ground yet more perfectly after^it was plouglied, 

 the furrovTs were deepened by luisning the plough 

 'through them a second time, and the loose earth 

 hauled out upon th« ridges. After it became 

 Bufficiently dry lo work, it was rolled, and about 

 twenty cart i)uck loads to the acre of horse man- 

 ure, was spread froni the cart over the surface 

 -and httrrowed in. 



ITue other parts of the field having been treated 

 "in the same manner, except the draining, the 

 whole was planted with corn, in rows without 

 regard to furrows or drains except not planting in 

 them. When harrowing the corn, particular care 

 was taken not to disturb the sod, and at each time 

 of hoeing, the ground was kept as level as possi- 

 ble, except the water furrows or drains were 

 cleared of the earth that the harrow in crossing 

 them had liaulcd in, and a free passag; for the 

 water at all times maintained. At the last time of 

 hoeing, the whole field was sown with grass seed 

 and also with about half a bushel of plaster to the 

 acre. The whole crop of corn, as ascertained by 

 the admeasurement of the ears, \i'as about thirty 

 bushels of shelled corn per acre, and had probably 

 BuflTercd a diminutiou of about t'.vcntyfivc per 

 cent, from the severity of the drought at the time 

 the corn was filling out. 



In the wet or those parts of the field more par- 

 ticularly under consideration, the crop of corn on 

 the average was light, perhaps not over two thirds 

 the average of the whole field, or twenty bushels 

 to the acre, although in some places where the 

 draining was the most perfect and took effect 

 early in the season, it was very good. 



The grass seed took well, and after the corn 

 and stalks were cleared off", the field contrasted 

 finely with its former appearance. The brown 

 and sere plain, the jnossy bog and heathy knoll, 

 were clothed in green. No cattle were allowed 

 to go on it, nor was it fed at all, except a little by 

 trespass. 



In the spring of 1835, after the. ground was 

 settled so as not to poach, it was rolled to reset 

 the grass roots that might be partially thrown out 



according to common usage, not ready to cut. 

 The reclaimed land suffered the least frojn the 

 drought and gave an average of about one and a 

 ha f tons to the acre, while that of the whole 

 field was about one ton. The hay was a fair 

 mixture of Clover, Herds'-grass and Redtop. 



Immediately after the first crop was oflf, half a 

 bushel of planter was sown to the acre. The 

 second crop was principally clover, and the 

 reclaimed land at this cutting also gave much the 

 best grass, probably an average of not less than 

 two tons to the acre. The average of the whole 

 field was souiulliiiig over one and a half tons, as 

 ascertained by the jfctual weight of about twenty 

 tons sold from the field. One of your committee 

 went over the ground and viewed the crop at the 

 last cutting. It is impossible to state precisely the 

 expense of removing the stone and stumps, and 

 that of ploughing, cultivation and gathering the 

 crops of the reclaimed land, or the value of its 

 products separately, as the labor was performed 

 in connection with that of the whole field, and no 

 separate account was kept with any given part 

 of it. 



T will, however, submit the following estimate, 

 as being in my opinion not far from correct, 

 taking the average of the reclaimed land, or that 

 part of the field which before gave no valuable 

 product. 



one acre swamp. 

 1834. Dr. 1834. Cr. 



To clearing for By 20 bu. at 75c. $15 



plough $3 00 Stalks 1 

 To ploughing 3 00 



1835. 

 By 3 1-2 tons Hay 

 sold in the field, 

 at$10i>et ton, $35 



$51 



4S 



Balance creditor, $3 



To 20 loads manure 20 00 $16 



To rolling, harrow- 

 ing and clearing 

 drains 2 00 



To planting and 



cultivating corn 6 00 



To seed corn, grass 



seed, and plaster 2 50 



To Harvesting 2 00 



$38 50 



1835. 



To rolling, clearing 

 drains and plas- 

 tPiing $1 50 



To cutting and ma- 

 king two crops 

 hay ut $4 the 

 cut 8 00 



9 50 



38 50 



$4S 00 



The profit, thus far, if it may be called a profit, 

 is small, but that the l;ind is as thoroughly sub- 

 dued and weM fitted for future profit, as it would 

 have been, under the usual three years' siege 

 of plough and drag, anrl at very much less ex- 

 pense, 1 think will not be questioned. From the 

 most worthless and barren, it has become the most 

 valuable and productive jiart of the fiehl, and the 

 crops in two year.", to say the least, have paid the 

 exi-ense of the improvement. The crop the 



necessary to turn under the present sod, it can be 

 done at tniich less than lialf the expense of the 

 former operation. 



Respectfully, your most obdt. servt. 



William Clark, Jr. . 

 Northampton, March, 1836. 



by the frost, crush the corn stubs, ,ind level for the I coming year, other things being equal, will im- 

 scythe. Having a preference for early cut clover, .loubtedly be as profitable as that of the la.st year 

 It vyas mown in June, part of that on the reclaim- and i.robably valuable crops will betaken "with 



, , , , . ■ I jirobably 



ed land having begun to lodge, although the fiehl I little more than 



jpi 

 expense of gathering for 



A WAY TO GROW earlv POTATOES. — On Walk- 

 ing out the other afternoon, in comjiany with some 

 Other friends, we were caught in a thunder-storm, 

 and obliged to take shelter in a farm house, the 

 owner of which was known to one of the party. 

 During the storm, the conversation turned upon 

 ganlening, and our host gave us a |)lan for raising 

 new potatoes, which I seijd you. It may appear 

 strange, but, as he says, he has tried it, and found 

 it to answer very well. At all events, I think it 

 worthy of consideration and a trial. I give his 

 own words, so far as my recollection serves : — 



" I was getting up my potatoes one year, in that 

 fiehl below the house, when the thought struck 

 me, that by planting the smallest of them again, 

 immediately, they would grow, and I should have 

 new potatoes very early. I resolved to try the 

 scheme. 1 had no hothouse or greenhouse, and 

 was therefore to hit on a plan for keeping off" the 

 frost, which I did as follows. I chose a part of 

 the field in which I was working, and made 

 trenches alofig the toji and the sides to keep it dry. 

 I then covered it a few inches deep with litter, and 

 put on a few inches of soil, and planted the pota- 

 toes, covering them again with soil. In order to 

 keep the earth from falling down and smothering 

 them, when they began to shoot, I stuck sticks and 

 brushwood over the last layer of soil, and jjut on 

 a quantity of litter, covering the whole with soil. 

 One of my neighbors who saw me, was surj^rised, 

 and said he was sure I should have nothing in the 

 end, but I told him to come again on new year's 

 day, and we should see. We did so, and we 

 opened ths bed and found new potatoes about the 

 size of a marble; I then told Idm I would leave 

 it until the 6th of March. I did so, and on open- 

 ing it again, the new potatoes were as large as an 

 egg, exceedingly well tasted, and quite mealy. I 

 showed some to the gardeners in the neighbor- 

 hood, who would scarcely believe me, when I told 

 them how I had grown them." 



The situation in which they were grown, and 

 which I myself saw, was on the north side of a 

 hill, in the northern part of Lancashire, not on the 

 warmest situation in the world, as you may im- 

 agine. 



The idea of growing potatoes in the manner 

 above stated, is good, but my informant's mode is, 

 I think, capable of improvement. If, instead of 

 the side of a field, an old hot-bed were used, and 

 hoops placed so as to jirevent the soil from fiilling 

 down and pressing down on the young shoots, 

 which would not grow very high, as potatoes 

 when deprived of light ilo not grow so much 

 above-ground as they do naturally, 1 think early 

 potatoes might be raised without any expense. I 

 Intend to try it, at all events, and hope some of 

 your readers will do so likewise. — 'Mancuniensis,' 

 in the Baltimore Farmer. 



ift' 



Corn Rolls. — lake a quart of meal, a spoon- 

 ful of lard, and two spoonfuls of yeast ; mix with 

 warm water until the dough is quite soft. >;et it 

 in a warm place at night to ri.se, and bake it in a 

 pan or in cakes in an oven for breakfast. This 



ID general was backward, not in full bloom, and j several years to come. And when it becomes bread will bake very well in a stove. 



