No. 1. 



Compost Manures. — Prospects of Agriculture. 



37 



Compost Manures. 



As a general thing, our farmers do not 

 appear to be sufficiently aware of the import- 

 ance of making and saving manure ; a sub- 

 ject unquestionably of the very first magni- 

 tude, as respects the advancement of our 

 agricultural prosperity, and in which every 

 farmer, however limited his circumstances, 

 possesses sufficient facilities to enable him 

 to engage with profit. Of these facts, it is 

 presumed there can be no doubt. For many 

 years, the only manure made use of on my 

 farm, were those accumulated in the yards 

 and sties ; and without the slightest atten- 

 tion, on my part, to the operation of those 

 natural laws, a knowledge of which has since 

 enabled me, with slight expense, greatly to 

 augment the quality also of my manures. 

 Nothing is more common, than to hear indi- 

 viduals complaining that their farms are fast 

 " running out ;" that the soil, in their old 

 fields, has not sufficient depth to sustain a 

 crop, and is too poor to remunerate them for 

 the cost of cultivation. 



But why, if, as some contend, there is a 

 natural propensity in all soils to deteriorate, 

 or, as it is more popularly termed, to " run 

 out," has the soil of Great Britain gone on 

 rapidly increasing in productiveness for the 

 last five centuries] Why is it, that many 

 farms in Massachusetts, and even some few 

 in Maine, where the doctrine has numerous 

 supporters and abettors, have withstood the 

 drain upon their natural fertility, by con- 

 stant cultivation, for upwards of two hundred 

 years ? Farms of this description are by no 

 means scarce in either state ; and, although 

 cultivated for so long a series of years, are 

 now, instead of being worthless, and "run 

 out," like many of a more recent date, the 

 best and most productive in the land. The 

 fact is, nature, in these instances, has re- 

 ceived assistance, instead of being compelled, 

 as in the case of all worn-out farms, to do all 

 herself. For every crop taken from the soil, 

 a prompt equivalent has been returned in 

 fertilizing manure ; and the farm, instead of 

 being drained and exhausted of its energies, 

 has actually received an increase of strength, 

 and gone on accumulating, from year to 

 year, the constituent elements of the food 

 for plants. Shallow ploughing, and scanty 

 manuring, will, in a short time, render the 

 best land poor ; while a contrary course, if 

 judiciously pursued, will as certainly make 

 poor land good. — Far. Journal. 



Beets should be weeded when the ground 

 is dry. Three times is the general rule, but 

 a better rule is to weed and hoe just as often 

 and as many times as the weeds make head, 

 or the surface of the ground gets caked. 



Prospects of Agriculture. 



We have recently been on an excursion 

 through a large part of this county and York, 

 through the lower part of New Hampshire, 

 and parts of Essex and Middlesex counties, 

 in Massachusetts ; and everywhere the crops 

 of all kinds promise unusually well. There 

 is no exception. The winter rye, both in 

 quantity and quality, tar exceeds the crop of 

 any former year. We conversed with per- 

 sons from the west, who have just passed 

 through the greater part of Ohio, Pennsylva- 

 nia, New York, and several of the New Eng- 

 land States, who informed us that through- 

 out their journey the fields were clothed 

 with the most luxuriant crops. This is 

 (with a few unimportant exceptions) the 

 truth in regard to every section of the Union, 

 if the united declarations of the public press 

 are to be relied upon. Never was there a 

 season that promised such abundant harvests 

 since the first settlement of the country up 

 to this time, as the present. Rich fields, 

 laden with the choicest fruits of the earth, 

 and in the greatest profusion, lie spread out 

 from the borders of our own state and New 

 Hampshire on the East and North, to the 

 borders of Louisiana and Illinois on the 

 South and West, and the seaboard to the 

 Lakes ; which together with a general state 

 of health and the progress of temperance 

 and morality, call for the gratitude and 

 thanksgiving of all hearts to the Author of 

 all good. — Eastern Argus. 



From the British Gardener's Chronicle. 



Asparagus. 



A few weeks since, we reported briefly 

 the substance of a paper upon the cultiva- 

 tion of asparagus in the north of Spain, 

 which was communicated to the Horticultu- 

 ral Society by Captain Churchill, of the 

 royal marines. This gallant officer was at 

 St. Sebastian during its occupation by Gene- 

 ral Evans ; and he profited by such leisure 

 as his military duties afforded him, to make 

 himself acquainted with the natural history 

 and horticulture of Guipuscoa. We might 

 content ourselves with merely referring the 

 many inquirers who want to know how to 

 grow asparagus well, to the report just al- 

 luded to ; but in our opinion, it is much too 

 important to be passed with so little atten- 

 tion. 



Asparagus is probably the vegetable mast 

 generally admired and most seldom well 

 cultivated ; it is only here and there, that it 

 is large, tender, and delicate. In country 



