228 



>s© sasaiir sfa^g^ ^avQsr g 9 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMliR. 



Observations on Post and Rail Fences, Stone 

 Walls ani> Living Fe>ces. 

 In 1814, 1 bought white cedar rails ( T/ny« oc- 

 cidentalis vel .iibor vita:) at $8 a 100 aiul 50 cents 

 a 100 for sharpening. Cost of a rail 8i cents, 

 and posts of tlie same .kind at $8 for 60, and 5 

 cents for mortising 5 lioles in each post ; cost of 

 a post, 18^ cents. 3 lengths of rails, set nearly 2 

 rods; 15 rails cost $1,27J ; 3 posts (omitting the 

 4th post) cost 55 cents ; expense of the niaterfals, 

 exclusive of the setting, $1,82| for 2 rods. 



Tlie posts and rails were of good cedar, of suffi- 

 cient age and of large size. Nearly all the bot- 

 toms of the posts are rotted oft", the rails considera- 

 bly worn, many top rails broken by the heavy bot- 

 toms of lazy gunners who get over the middle 

 of a length of fence, instead of getting over near 

 the post. 



In 1830, I purchased large ?awed white pine 

 rails (Pinus strobus) 2 inches thick, and 8 iuehes 

 wide, already sharpened, at §7 a 100, and good 

 chesnut jiosts [Castanea vesca,) with 4 holes each, 

 and sharpened at §15 a 100. These made high- 

 er, stronger, and closer fence than the cedar, and 

 at only Sl,29 for 3 lengths or 2 rods. 



Stone wall can be laid from 33 to 50 cents a 

 rod, provided the trench is dug and filled with 

 small stones, and the large stones are drawn and 

 laid by the trench ; but if the builder of the wall has 

 to dig the trench, and fill it with small stones, and 

 then dig and draw the large stones and lay tben7, 

 it will cost to make a good wall 4 J feet high, from 

 $2 to .*5 for 2 rods, accordingto the size, nearness 

 and difficulty of procuring the materials. 42 Vir- 

 ginia thorn plants [Cratcegiis cordata) are siifiicient 

 to set 2 rods of hedge ; 8 spare plants will be suffi- 

 cient to set in a nursery for repairs. 50 plants 

 at $5 a 1000, come to 25 cents. The ground 

 can be prepared, and the plants set at less expense 

 a rod than post and rail fence can be set or a 

 trench dug properly for a stone wall. 

 White Cedar fence a rod (exclusive of setting,) 91 J 

 Savved rails and chesnut post do (exclu- 

 sive of setting,) 64^ 

 Good 4J feet stone wall, a rod, from .$1 to 2 50 

 Hedge a rod (exclusive of preparing and 

 setting,) 12^ 

 The land for setting a hedge should have been 

 under culture the previous year. 

 Plants for setting and preparing one rod of 



hedge, 121 



Preparing land and trench, cutting, sloping, 



and covering thorns, 03j! 



1st year, 3 hoeings, and 1 clearing away 



leaves in autumn, 04 



2d and 3d years, 6 hoeings and 2 trimmings 



of side branches, and 2 clearings, 10 



4th year, 3 hoeings, one trimming of side 

 branches, cropping the tops down to the 

 height you wish your hedge to remain, and 

 one clearing away of leaves in autumn. 06 

 Allow for manuring and contingencies. 04 



40 

 If white beans or flat turnips should be planted, 

 well hoed and manured, you will get profit suffi- 

 cient to pay for the mamn"e and hoeing, and that 

 will manure the plants sufficiently and nearly hoe 

 them. 



Loudon says ' Paling ftncts are only to be con- 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



sidered in a secondary light ; for, of whatever 

 wood they are made, however substantially they 

 may be executed, or in whatever situation they 

 are placed, their decay commences the insiant 

 they are erected. Where j)ermanent use there- 

 fore is required, palings ought never to be ado|)t- 

 ed ; but for ornament in pleasure grounds, or for 

 the protection of young thorns, they are highly 

 valuable.' • 



Caleb Kirk, Esq. of Brandy wine, Del., who pos- 

 sesses and has communicated more information on 

 hedges, than any man in this or perhaps in any 

 other country, says in a letter, dated Jan. 21,1831, 

 ' Though I am not any longer a farmer, I feel 

 gratified if I can aid them in their laudable pur- 

 suits, and more especially m live fencing — which 

 occupied my close attention upwards of twenty 

 years practicalbj — my neigliborhood evinces the 

 benefit of it. 



' A small district in my neighborhood exhibits 

 the best specimens of hedging in this country or 

 perhaps in any other to be fimnd ; they have been 

 visited from a great distance, by many that are on 

 the search of making living fences, ami universally 

 admired. Our English farmers are willing to give 

 them credit. 



' I had made calculations years past, with p-ac- 

 tical knowledge of the subject and found they 

 might be completed for40 cents a rod, and main- 

 tained ever after by careful trimming annually, 

 when the shoots are young and tender, say in June, 

 at one cent a rod, though I should go over them 

 twice in the course of the summer, and save 

 labor too.' 



If the land shall have been under culture and 

 well manured for one or two years, and protected 

 from cattle, horses, sheep and hogs, were I ahedg- 

 er,with the limitedknowleilge I possess, I would en- 

 gage to find the plants, set and train them, till they 

 become a competent fence, for 50 cents a rod, and 

 make a handsome profit by the bargain. 



If the above is worthy of a place in a paper, 

 that should be read and preserved by every Far- 

 mer in New England, it is at your service. 

 Yours, respcctfullv, 



BENJAMIN SIIURTLEFF. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SALT HAY. 



I perceive in your valuable journal of the 21st 

 inst. that a correspondent hailing from Dnxbury, 

 is inquiring what is the ' efficacy and benefit of 

 using salt hay.' I must confess that I was not a 

 little surprised that such an inquiry should be ma<le 

 at this late day, and more especially that it should 

 emanate from Duxbury. I do not admit that ' fnrt- 

 ??!/ farmers on oin-seacoast spend half the summer 

 with a strong gang of workmen in mowing the salt 

 maishes, and in curing and making hay — exjiosed 

 to the wet and cold, and both night and day watch- 

 ing the tides in order to boat and secure what ap- 

 pears'to him to be a' useless commodity.' The au- 

 thor of the article alluded to must admit, however, 

 if he belongs to the town of Duxbury, that not 

 only more than one half the stock kept in that town 

 subsists through the winter season upon that 'use- 

 less commodity' — but also that more than one half 

 the cash, annually pocketed by the farmers of that 

 town, is derived from the sale of that self same 

 commodity. 



The scythe is very rarely seen in the salt marshes 

 previous to the middle of August, (when much 

 more than 'half the summer' is past and gohe) and 



Feb. 4, 1831. 



seldom does it linger in the most backward mea- 

 dows, or in the hands of the most sluggish farmers 

 until after the first of October. Furthermore, 

 this description of grass requires much less atten- 

 tion and labor to fit it fur the barn, t ban docs cither 

 English or fresh grass. If the meadow be high, 

 the grass is spread, and is untouched in ordinary 

 weather, from four to seven days, when it is turned ; 

 in wliich latter posilinn it remains for a few days; 

 when it is thrown into cocks, in which state it 

 stands until housed or stacked, at the pleasure of 

 the owner. The salt grass which is mown on low 

 meadows is generally removed in a green state to 

 the u])land, in which it undergoes the same process 

 as the former, and I he land on which it is spread 

 is greatly benefited thereby, more especially should 

 it be washed by showers of rain while thus re- 

 maining, (a circumstance which causes but triHii:; 

 if any injury to the hay). In the vicinity of Dux- 

 bury, it is the practice of farmers who are blessed 

 with this article, to stow it away in the barn, or 

 stack it, with a due mixture of barley, oat, or rye i 

 straw, each ' commodity' being much im|)roveil hy I 

 the admixture. The vilue of this description of 

 hay is greatlj' enhanced by chopping it and mix- 

 ing it with Indian meal. Some of the best team>^ 

 in the neighborhood of Duxbury are fed almost en- 

 tirely in this way. Salt hay, chopped and mixed 

 with four quarts of Indian meal per day, will keep a 

 horse, or the largest sized ox, while at hard labor 

 in fine heart and flesh, through the winter — an oj 

 of a smaller size requires a proportionably less 

 quantity for the same purpose. 



Salt meadows are also in a less degree afl^ectet 

 by heat and cold, flood and drought, than are eithei 

 English or fresh. The crop is more uniform am 

 in case of early drought, salt hay is ahiiost at 

 indispensable article to the farmer in that vicinity 

 In addition to all this, the annual expense of ma 

 nure and fences necessary for the protection am 

 cm-ing of English and fr(>sh hay is saved in thi 

 production of this species of fodder. With thesb- 

 facts staring him in the face, will your Duxbi^HJ 

 correspondent ask for further information upownl 

 the subject, or will he waste his 'time and sensed '' 

 a subject' of which he avows himself ignorant 

 The machine for cboiqiing hay above referred 

 may be procured for the trifling sum of five dolli 

 and a man may cut and prepare a daily alloj 

 ance for eight oxen in twenty minutes 



Plymouth, Jan. 24, 1831. AGRICOLA: 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



THE MIDDLESEX REPORT ON FARMSJ 



Mr Editor — Two communications signed 

 small Farmer,' having appeared in your paper, n 

 ting to a report which was signed by me as c. 

 man of a committee on farms, you will excuse 

 in noticing them, at least so far as I am perso: 

 implicated. My absence from home and the 

 of my health, prevented my asking a place in 

 last paper. 



The first article, having been sufficiently e: 

 ed by Capt. Wheeler, I shall be confined pi 

 pally to the last. That charges me with usin, 

 signature of Capt. Wheeler, and with publii 

 falsehoods, which from their nature must have beB 

 intentional, besides being contradictory to the rt 

 port. I' 



As to Capt. Wheeler's communication, itwa'* 

 handed you by himself (for so he.jtellsme) and prolj 

 bably is to be seen on your files ; and I am entt 

 indifferent, whether it shall be believed that! 



h, 



