382 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JinVE 8, 1836. 



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BOSTON'. WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUME 8, 1G36. 



FARMERS' WORK. 



Manuke. — The celebrated Lord ErsUi^ne, iti a speech 

 delivered at one of tlio aiiiuml slieep shearings at Holt- 

 haiii, in England, made tiie following remarks ; 



" If wo consider the subject of manure, we shall fjer- 

 ceive one of the most striking beauties and benefits of 

 divine ordination, and of that wisdom with which we 

 are blessed a thousand ways without knowing it. Tliis 

 very substance liad it been useless, must have accumu- 

 lated in heaps intolerably noisome and perpetually pes- 

 tilential, but by the blessings of Providence it is every 

 man's interest to remove those otherwise perpetually in- 

 creasing mountains of iilth, and by decomposition, in 

 various ways, in a great measure concealed from us, it 

 gives increase to our fields, and adds to our means of in- 

 duslry, and the reward of the husbandman." 



One of the principal indications of a good farmer may 

 be found in the skill and diligence which he displays in 

 saving and making the most of every substance which 

 will improve his soil, and increase his crops by furnish- 

 ing food for his plants. The following from the Farm Re- 

 ports of Kyle, in Ayrshire, Scotland, will shew what at- 

 tention is paid to collecting and applying ihe farmer's 

 indispensable by enlightened cultivators on the ulher 

 side of the Atlantic : 



*' To increase tlic manure raised on n firm is a con- 

 stant aim. A large portion of the straw is consumed by 

 the cattle and horses, and no hay is ever sold. A con- 

 siderable quantity of vegetable matter is collected from 

 plantations and waste places, and with ihis and the re- 

 fuse of straw, t!ie farm court and the approaches to it 

 are kept littered so as to collect the droppings of the cat- 

 tle and horses. The whole is occasionally carried off to 

 the dung heap and new litter applied. It is surprising 

 how much dung may bo produced by constantly collect, 

 ing all refuse, which if allowed to lie would soon disap- 

 pear. The horses are never allowed to pasture from the 

 first of June to the end of October; they feed in the 

 house on green food— red clover, rye and vetches. The 

 calves which are raised are also led in the same way in 

 a yard, and in the course of the pasturing season convert 

 a great deal of vegetable matter into excellent manure. 

 There are always too, at this season a few pigs fed en- 

 tirely on whey ; and by tiiis mei ns much dung is made 

 Men in summer. There is no danger of dung mtide by 

 animals in yards overheating in the warmest season, but 

 without considerable precaution stable litter will then 

 be very soon consunted away. For the purpose of pre- 

 venting its rapid fermentation, peat moss was for some 

 years used and regularly mixed with layers ; but earth 

 of any kind, or road scrapings, will be found to effect 

 lliis purpose, and in winter the gleanings of cow houses 

 will be found to answer the purpose. What is made in 

 s-pring and summer is taken to the field as often as possi- 

 ble, put up into hi-aps over which the horses and carts 

 pass, and then well covered over with earth." 



" Farmers might make valuable additions lo their ma- 

 nure by digging a hole at a convenient distance from 

 tlieir kitchen, about three or four feet deep, and suffi- 

 ciently wide lo form a tommon receptacle for the vari- 

 ous matters originating in and about the house, extend- 

 ing a paved gutter from the kitchen to it, to conduct- 

 soap suds and other useless slops into it. When it be- 

 comes offensive, the offending matter should be covered 

 with earth. That which was thrown up in digging the 



hole may be applied as long as it lasts. Care should be 

 taken to prevent the water from without from running 

 into it. The receptacle may be hid from sight by plac- 

 ing an evergropu hedge around it, leaving an opening 

 at the back fir putting in and taking out the contents.** 



Health Preserving Precadtions. — Decayed and 

 rotting vegetables, particularly rabb.iges, beef-brine and 

 other similar substances in cellars, &c. are often the un- 

 suspected causes of disease. Kvery housekeeper, espe- 

 cially at this time of the year should carefully inspect 

 his premi.ses, and see that nothing offensive or unwhole- 

 some IS left to pollute the atmosphere in or near liis resi- 

 dence. The carcasses of dead lambs, cats, rats, &c. in- 

 stead of being suffered to poison the atmosphere, and in- 

 troduce disease and death into the family of the farmer, 

 should be covered with five or six times their bulk of 

 soil and suffered to remain a few months. In this way 

 the decomposition of the putrescent substances will ira- 

 pregn.tte tbo soil with matter, which though nauseous and 

 pestilential lo animals is food for vegetables. 



It will be well to mix the soil with which such carcass- 

 es are covered with about one part of quick lime to five 

 or six |iar!s of earth ; and at the time of its removal also 

 to mix a little more quick lime with it to prevent the dis- 

 agreeable elTluvia which may arise without such precau- 

 tion. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICUL.TURA1. SOCIETT. 



Saturday, June 4, 1836 



A stated (Quarterly .Meeting of tho Massachusetts Hor- 

 ticulluial Society was hold at their Hall on Saturday, 

 June 4th, 11 o ckjek A M. 



The President in the Chair — some private business 

 was transacted. A letter was read by the Corresponding 

 Secretary, received by Jiim from Commodore Porter. 



A letter was read from the Chairman of the Committee 

 onFlowers resigning his office. The resignation was 

 accepted and the thanks of the Society weie voted him 

 for his services. A vacancy in the Committee thus oc- 

 curring. Col. N. P. Wilder was put on the committee, 

 and they were instructed to choose a Chairman. 



Mr Paine moved that a committee be appointed to in- 

 vite some gentleman of science to deliver the Anniver- 

 sary Address. A committee of three was accordingly 

 chosen, viz the President, E. Weston, Jr. T. G. Fessen- 

 den, Esq. Adjourned two weeks 



The Magic Onion. — It is sometimes called the Cana- 

 da, sometimes the tree, or top onion. This is a singular 

 plant, and deserves cultivation, not only for its domestic 

 use, but also as an object of curiosity. All other 

 plants raised in the garden are oviparous, or in other 

 words, re-produce their sjiecies from seeds or e;'gs, but 

 this alone is viviparous, and brings forth its young alive ; 

 in clusters of four or five, around the parent stalk. These 

 continue to enlarge, until their weight brings them to the 

 earth, where, if not prevented, they lake root, and the 

 malernal stalk now becomes useless, dries off, and the 

 next season, these in their turn become parents, and re- 

 produce a numerous progeny. 



This species of onion is raised with less art than the 

 other. If you would have them in perfection, make 

 your ground ready as for the other kind ; then stretch 

 a line ten inches from the alley, and with a small hoe 

 make a furrow two inches deep; in the bottom of this 

 place set the top bulbs, or infant onions, five or six inch- 

 es apart with their points or heads uppermost ; then fill 

 up the drill with the band or broad hoe. This done, 

 remove the, line back a foot, and in the same manner 



plant as many as you please. In setting out these bulbs, 

 you should not place the large and small ones promis- 

 cously together, but separate the large from the small, 

 and plant them in different rows; for the largest will 

 generally become breeders, this season, while the small 

 ones will enlarge and swell into beautiful onions, fit for 

 any use in the kitchen. 



The magic onions intended for seed, or breeders, 

 should be two years old and the largest and best of their 

 kind. They must on no account stand near the other 

 species of seed onions, for they will degenerate, and a 

 mongrel race ensue. — Yankee Farmer. 



Indian War. — Advices from Charleston to May 28th, 

 state tlial]_Gen. Scott had arrived at Augusta on his way 

 to the Creek country. Active preparations were going 

 on in Augusta, and in every part of Georgia, for the 

 campaign — the three thousand Georgians drafted some 

 time since, has been ordered by the Governor to take 

 the field. A company of United Stales troops had arriv- 

 ed at Augusta— and another from Norfolk was hourly 

 expected. The news of an engagement with the In- 

 dians is not confirmed. The report that Powell is with 

 the Creek Indians is not entitled to credit. 



Brig. GonBeal, with 500 men, returned to Calumbus 

 on the 21st of May, after hiving scoured Macon and 

 Chambers counties, during which lie had a brush with 

 the Indians, in which he killed two and took eight pris- 

 oners. He lost one man. 



Tlie latest advices from Columbus are to the 24th. 

 They state that there is not a suffioient quantity of arms 

 and munitions of war lo make an attack upon the Indians 

 who were in that neighborhood. 



The Harper's Ferry Va. Press, speaks thus despond- 

 ingly of the prospectof wheat in that district 



" It is painful to look at the blighted wheat fields of this 

 region. Early in the spring, the prospect was pleasant 

 to the eye and cheering to the heart — now, it is absolute- 

 ly ,appalling. During the last three weeks vegetation has 

 had the appearance of actual receding, and the ravaoes 

 of the fly have been so fatal, that in many places the nak- 

 ed carlh is piesented, shorn nC the rich verdure which 

 for awhile covered its bosom. The late delightful rains 

 have refreshed and invigorated other substances, but the 

 wheat is beyond redemptitm. 



The Massachu.setts State Prison has yielded a profit 

 to the State of $3,529 during the past six months. Num- 

 ber of Prisoners two hundred and eightysix. 



A Fact. There is a piece of ground in Chicago, 

 which cost in 1830, sixtytwo dollars, which has risen in 

 value at the rate of one hundred per cent per nAV on 

 the original cost over since, embracing a period of five 

 years and a half. Beat this who can — Chicago Ameri- 

 can, 



The Rev. Mr Roberts, of Ky, has recently placed the 

 whole of his fortune, about $.50,000, in care of trustees, 

 with directions that the entire proceeds shall be regular- 

 ly applied to the support and propagation of the Chris- 

 tian religion. He has, himself started to China as a 

 missionary, with no thought of ever returning to his 

 own country. 



The Detroit Daily Free Press of the 21st April, says 

 that the tide of emigration flowing into and through 

 Michigan, is unprecedented. The arrivals, for the pre- 

 vious six or eight days, were estimated at one thousand 

 persons per day. 



