44 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R 



Arc II, 18tl. 



IMPROVEMENT OF PEAT OR FEN SOILS. <'f r'cf'ness to tlie iimmire. The land is clayed 



Peaty soil is composed of an excess of ve{reta-p'^''y seconJ course, or once in six years. The 



ble matter in a sponie-lil<p state, holdinj; an excess 1 *^™P^ °" ''"^ P"'"' °^ ""^ "^^^^ f*"" "^ <=1"'''' °" '^'^ 



average, to 70 bushols of oats, and 4(1 of wheat 



Tliis system has been used for many years ; the 

 soil lias lost its blackness, is now of a greyish col- 

 or, and has become a fine, friable, deep loani!* — 

 Morton on Soils. 



IMPROVEMENT DY PARING AND BURN- 

 ING THE SURFACE. 



It is said that the plan of paring and burning 

 the surface injures land which is not calcareous, 

 and that it increases the fertility of calcareous 

 soils. Wo have not seen any injury arising from 

 this practice, but on the contrary have witnessed 

 great advantages from it in every kind of soil. 



It destroys all the roots and seeds of noxious 

 plants, and kills the slugs and all other insects, 

 with their eggs, that are amongst the turf 



It is said, however, that burning disengages the 



carbon in the soil, and that it flies off into the at- 



.lowingandfallowmgtooof this Uiospherc; but «c think from its heavy nature, 



of water, which is the chief cause of its growth. 

 It is therefore capable of improvement, till it is de- 

 prived by thorough draining of the water it thus 

 holds like a sponge. 



There is a largo portion of iron and tannin in its 

 composition, which must also be got rid of: it is 

 generally, however, but of little value for arable 

 culture, till the texture of it be altered by the appli. 

 cation of clay, silt, gravel, lime, or any other heavy 

 tenacious substance, which gives a firmness and a 

 body to it. 



Black peaty soil is never profitably employed as 

 pasture, as sheep do not thrive well on it. 'J'he 

 milk of cows pastured thereon is thin and watery ; 

 hence a good dairy cannot be found on this soil. 

 Inbreeding them there is great risk; and stock 

 brought from other soils do not feed well ; it is 

 therefore .much better adapted for arable culture. 



The continual 

 black mould or fen land produces a minute divi 

 sion of the roots of couch, which so abounds in 

 the soil, that the land is stocked with plants for the 

 next course, unless the season bo so dry that they 

 can bo all picked out of the ground; but this is a 

 very difficult task, for, from the softness of the soil, 

 the horses' feet send down below the reach of the 

 plough, a portion of the couch at every footstep ; 

 80 that fen land, in its natural state, without being 

 hardened by the application of clay, defies the ut- 

 most exertion of the most industrious farmer to get 

 quit of the weeds. Nothing will enable the farmer 

 to destroy the weeds, the couch, the hariff and the 

 chickweed, and many others, so well as a constant 

 system of claying, once in six or eight years at 

 farthest. 



In the extensive fens in Lincolnshire, the black 

 mould lies on clay or silt; and in some instances, 

 within one or two feet of it. 



As an alterative, this clay is lifted up and spread 

 over the soil ; and, when well incorporated with 

 the black peat earth, it forms a most productive 

 soil, and yields the most luxuriant crops of oats, 

 wheat, cole and turnips. The best and most pro- 

 fitable mode of cultivating black peaty or fen land, 

 is first by a fallow, to get it perfectly clear for 

 cole or turnips. This crop ought to be consumed 

 on the ground by sheep, in the early part of the 

 winter; and in January or February at farthest, 

 the surface should have a covering of clay. 



When this is dry enough, it should be ploughed 

 and sown with oats ; then with wheat as a crop for 

 the following year ; with clover for the fourth crop, 

 which may be made to hay or cut green for horses, 

 and after being well dunged and sown to wheat 

 for the fifth crop, then fallow for cole or turnips 

 succeeds and then clayed as heforc. Thus, by 

 claying once in every course, it is calculated to 

 produce one, if not two quarters of corn more per 

 annum than without it. The average produce, un- 

 der this mode of culture, is equal to eight quarters 

 of oats and four and a half of wheat. 



MrWingatc's plan is perhaps more profitable 



that it is more likely to fall to the earth, and again 

 incorporate with the new soil. 



The ashes of burnt soil are said to be best, when 

 they are blackest ; black ashes are produced by 

 slow coiiibustinn ; and red nshes, by a strong fire. 

 The burnt surface, when mixed with the soil, makes 

 it work more easily, renders it more friable, and 

 less tenacious ; and tends to make strong, thin, 

 sterile, clay soils less tenacious, and more produc- 

 tive. The vegetable matter, which was burned, is 

 (juickly converted into an enriching property, 

 which in some soils may lie dormant for ages. — 

 Wherever there is an excess of inert vegetable 

 matter, the destruction of it by fire is most bene- 

 ficial ; the ashes, being mixed with the soil, pro- 

 duce large crops on land which before was unpro- 

 ductive ; burning, therefore, destroys the inert veg- 

 etable matter, and converts it into a valuable ma- 

 nure. It is a good practice to give newly burnt 

 land a dressing of lime when there is no calcare- 

 ous matter in the soil, as the farmers do in Somer- 

 set and Devon, when they convert waste hind into 

 tillage ; they plow the lime in with the ashes, and 

 sow the land to turnips. — Ibid. 



SMUT IN WHEAT. 

 Every suggestion and experiment calculated to 

 aid in preserving the great staple of our country 

 from the ravages of insects and the diseases to 

 which it is subject, should be fully communicated 

 to the public. The following is an extract from a 

 letter from a corrcspondeut in Chester District, S. 

 C, relative to the preparation of seed wheat ns 

 practiced in his vicinity. The fact mentioned is 

 worthy of a trial. — .'Imer. Farmer. 



'■Mr E(lilor-~]B it generally known that bluo 

 stone dissolved in water at llie rate of one pound 

 to 4 or ."i bushels of wheat, will entirely prevent 

 the smut, provided the wheat be soakod from 1'2 to 

 24 Hours ill the water thus prepared; there should 

 be no more water than is necessary to iinmerse the 



, • • r wheat properly. After being thus soaked, the seed 



than the above He fallows for cole or turnips should rot come in conUct with smut again by be- 

 after the land has been well cleaned and dunged, in<r put into a su.ulty ba-r 



and this crop is eat off with Bhnep on the ground. °. By uenting whcat^in this way, wo of this 



It is then clayed and sown to oats, after which neighborhood get rid of smut; and when wheat is 

 is s crop of wheat for the third year, the whole of nolsor.ked in blue stone, we invariably have smut, 

 the straw is consumed by oxen, wiili a portion of which is a great drawback on what little we raise 

 oil cake along with it, which gives a great degree of this crop." 



For the N. E. Farmer. Jci 



— ■ it. 



EARLY SUPPERS.— No. II. Itt'i 



The hour of five may possibly be a better hour I* 

 for supper with farmers, than that of six, provided ' 

 they dine by about twelve; hut if dinner is not '"' 

 taken till one o'clock, it brings the dinner and sup- '•'' 

 per too near each other. • 



The stomach is muscular, and all muscular or- *' 

 gans need their seasons of rest. During workings* 

 hours in the summer, the laborer usually givesi '" 

 this organ very little time for repose. First, thei "" 

 breakfast; then, before that is fairly digested, thei *" 

 luncheon ; thirdly, before the stomach has fairly "•' 

 disposed of the luncheon, the dinner ; and fourthly, " 

 either an afternoon luncheon, or a late, heavy sup- '"■ 

 per. The only time the stomach has for rest, tlien,. "! 

 in this way, is, during the nighL '" 



Now, if we do not come in from our labor untill ■ 

 half past seven or eight o'clock, and if we theai " 

 take a hearty supper and go almost immediately toi "' 

 bed, the stomach often has no rest during the •'•' 

 whole night; for it has become weakened unduly *• 

 during the day, in three ways ; first, by being kepti '" 

 so closely at work all day long, as not to have any "■• 

 of those little intervals of rest which it ought tO' 'i'' 

 have had ; secondly, by great heat, and by other 

 natural causes; for heat, profuse perspiration, and 

 every thing else which fatigues us and weakens ' 

 our bodies, especially our skins, weakens also — by i 

 what is called the law of sympathy — our stomachs : i 

 thirdly, by having this heavy load imposed upon it > 

 at a time when it is poorly able to bear it; — for * 

 what farmer does not know that both himself and ' 

 his horses may bear up in the morning with I mhIs i 

 which would be quite too much — if indeed tlioy • 

 Avould not crush them — at evening ? 



But this giving an org.in no rest during the ' 

 night, is injurious to the whole system no less than 

 to the poor, jaded, tired stomach itself. Unless the 

 individual is made, as we sometimes say, of brass 

 or iron, he gets many a feverish feeling and many? ', 

 a distempered dream by it during the night. Some- 

 times he dreams that a rock detached from somt 

 neighboring mountain, is ready to roll upon him — 

 or a furious animal or dangerous serpent is in pur 

 suit of him, while he himself, attempting to escape 

 finds himself powerless. Occasionally, in person: 

 not so strong, or predisposed to apoplexy, nighl 

 mare, as it is called, comes on, and in a few cases 

 a stroke of palsy or apoplexy. Many an individu- 

 al, not.only farmers, but others, has died in thit 

 way, belwcen ten or eleven o'clock in the evening 

 .ind one or two in the morning. Perhaps there is 

 not an individual of fifty years of age, who cannot 

 if he has been an observer of such things, remem- 

 ber one or more deaths of this sort. 1 can recol 

 lect nearly a dozen. 



But suppose we escape all this, and sleep sound- 

 ly : in this case, too, we pay a pretty troublesom«A»ii 

 penalty for our evening transgression of the law ol Mi 

 life. We wish to rise very early in the morning 

 hut lo ! the bright beams of the sun are in our bed«^ ai 

 cimiiibers long before we arc awake. And wheO K 

 we awake, we are but half awake. There is ■ iet 

 feeling of not having slept enough; and many lu 

 lime have I heard the laborer say, in these circu 

 stiiiices, that he felt more fatigued than he dilfii 

 when he went to bed the night before. 



Perhaps he tries to open hia eyes, but they art 

 glui'd together. He rubs them, and tries again 

 but cobwebs seem to hang over, and dust to fii 



1 



