50 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Arc. 18 ! 41. 



This hour is more pnititabic for refloclioii than an | first place the soil is mil naturally congenial l<i the 

 hour of (l(.zing over some book or newspaper he- j growth of a wheat crop, and a preparation of it 

 fore breakfast: it is a trrand exercise both of mind I will be attended with irrenter expense than most 



and body. We gather the day's experience from 

 every man we meet who has the wisdom to rise 

 early: we are soothed with the carols of the robin, 

 the lark and other birds, whose early music is wast- 

 ed on the air while indolence is asleep. Ilettec- 

 tion has a jflorious opportunity ; and as we write 

 for two newspapers — for the farmer and the politi- 

 cian — we hope the early hours thus spent may 

 please our readers as much as it fills our heart 

 with gratitude to the Creator of such a world." 

 JVew Haven Famitr^s Gaz. 



From the Boston Cultivator. 



ON RAISING WINTER RVE. 

 Mr Editor — Ah winter rye, in many of the 

 towns of this State, is an important and profitable 

 crop to the cultivator, and as 1 have seldom seen a 

 communication on llie best mode of produciu;^ it in 

 your useful paper, I thou;,'ht I would offer a few 

 hints on the subject, growmg out of forty years' ex- 

 perience and ob>ervatioii made on the practice of 

 others. 



Winter rvc will grow in many of our back towns 

 requiring but lilllo labor, and frequently a good 

 crop /nay be obtained without manure, and frequent- 

 ly tiie soil will be benefited by the operation of 

 plowing and harrowing, especially in old bound 

 out pasture laud. One great reasun why so many 

 have poor stinted crops is, that they sow their seed 

 at an iuiproper season ; and another is, that the 

 ground sowed is not properly prepared: almost 

 any kind of land will produce it, if not loo wet and 

 cold. I have seen fine crops grow on hard whor- 

 lli'berry hills, on sandy plains, and on the intervals 

 of our large rivers. The most numerous failures 

 of crops (in favorable seasons) I have witnessed, 

 have been owing to plowing and sowing too lute 

 in the season : it is not uncommon to see a man 

 plowing and sowing a hard tract of pasture land 

 as late as October or November ; — such a man 

 may have the promise of a blessing, but it will not 

 come in a crop of rye. Others commit a loss er- 

 ror by sowing tlioir seed in July, and if it should 

 not head out the first season, they stand a better 

 chance for a crop than the late sowers. Those 

 who raise the best rye on old pasture ground, plow 

 in June, with a good plough, turn small bushes, 

 grass and weeds all under, let the ground take the 

 beni'fit of the atmosphere until the twentieth or 

 laiit of August, then harrow thoroughly, sow the 

 seed half bushel or three pecks to the acre, then 

 harrow again till the ground is well pulverized, 

 and the seed well covered in the soil. 'I'hen fence 

 olT cattle, sheep, and every " creeping thing" that 

 will eat rye, aurl if there is a failure of a crop, he 

 will not have to bring his own negligence to ac- 

 count. 



Now burnt lands, and lands under cultivation, 

 may be sown later, but if not sown hofiirc the mid- 

 dli; of September, the rye will nut fill so well. An 

 other advantage derived from sowing rye in Au- 

 gust, is the opportunity it gives the farmer of seed- 

 ing his land to grass at the same time, which will 

 benefit his pasture enough to compensate for the 

 exhaustion caused by the crop of rye. 



Few farmers in this vicinity will attempt to 

 grow wheat under the discourogiiig circ.umstunces 

 which at the present time exist among us. In the 



farmers will bo willing to incur, when the remu 



neratiou will be so uncertain. In the next place, 



eat flour is anri has been so cheap, and is like- 



sides were unfit for mess or clear pork — too thi 

 and only fit for bacon. The first improvement wi 

 had was the little chunky China hog — a perfect 

 mass of lard — hams light and too fat — though thfr '"Z^ 

 waste of offal was trifling. Tlie next we had wal^ 

 the large Warren county hog, requiring years to 



ly to continue so, that there is not much doubt but mature, and then coming to us of an enormoui _ 



— anal .,■ 



the farmer would realize a greater profit from hi 

 labor in the cultivation of rye than of wheat, on the 

 most of our soils. 



A good crop of winter rye may be obtained from 

 soil where wheat under the same culture would not 

 pay for harvesting. I am confident that our soils 

 are destitute of some principle or property beside 

 lime, which is essential to the profitable cultivation 

 of wheat, and cither from want nf ekill or from our 

 situation in regard to the sea coast, or some pecu- 

 liarity of climate, or defect of soil, many far- 

 mers after repeated attempts have, for the want of 

 success, directed their eff'orls to the culture of crops 

 which promise tlieiu a better compensation. Still 

 I hope every able farmer will experiment upon his 

 soil, and discover, if possible, the ingredients which 

 are lacking, and supply them, and fit his land for 

 a profitable crop of wheat, and the public will con- 

 sider him among the benefactors of the agricultu- 

 ral art. 



The above observations in regard to wheat, are 

 made with particular reference to a large propor- 

 tion of towns in the county of Middlesex. 



mimingtun, Mass., JiityX, 1841. S. B. 



(lJ=Rye may be raised on very poor land if it 

 be well tilled and sown as above directed ; but 

 wheat must have a rich soil. We think the pover- 

 ty of our soils is one great reason why we cannot 

 raise wheat to advantage. We must recruit them 

 by Cultivating grass and hay, and when they be- 

 come rich enough we may grow wheat if we please. 



Crass seed should be sown with the rye in pas- 

 ture grounds by all means ; the clover seed, how. 

 ever, should not be sown so late as September; it 

 may be sown on the snow. 



Lands are never made richer by taking off a 

 crop of rye without applying manures. The bush- 

 es in a pasture may bo killed, and more feed may 

 be obtained fur a year or two by ploughing, and 

 taking off a crop of rye. 



'/hen grain is the prncipal object of the farmer 



weight — great waste of offal — the hams too 

 and badly shaped, as was also the shoulder — andl 

 the sides, nevertheless of their great size, weraP 

 thin in proportion. They were still a great im^ 

 provemcnt. The crosses of these and the Russii 

 and Byfield, in the hands of some of the more jiidl 

 cious breeders, produced a very excellent Img, a 

 we wlio were the purchasers, were anxious for a 

 improvement on the unprofitable woods hogs usuull 

 ly raised 



Though as I have remarked, so long engaged ii 

 the business of packing, I had paid but liltle at 

 tention to the breeding of hogs, though alwayi " 

 keeping a few of the best I could find, on my farm 

 and improving them to the best of my ability. I{ ' 

 was not until some of the part-bred Berkshires wen 

 brought to us from Butler and Warren counties 

 that 1 was struck with the great improvement the] 

 were, on any thing I had yet seen. The perfec 

 manner in which they were fattened — their extraor 

 dinary length of body, and the thickness of th< 

 side meat — their small, yet thick, fleshy shouldei 



the great wei>;lil and handsome form of thei| 



lianis — the great yield of lard, and little waste a 

 offal, either of inside waste, or head and bone 



proved to me that they were a s etiiing entirel] 



different and altogether superior to any other bred 

 within iny knowledge. On making further inqiii^ 

 ry respecting them, 1 found them equally advauta 

 geoiis to the farmer and drover, as to the porki 

 packer. Prolific and easily kept; maturing early 

 and faitening kindly to as great weights as wcr<i 

 desiroble; stamping iheir own chararter strongly 

 on any other breed with which they might be cross- 

 ed ; and travelling well to any reasonably distantlLi 

 mark 



I had before this been breeding hogs for sale,) 

 and seeing at a glance the great advantage it was 

 going to be to me in my packing business, to have 

 such a hog as the Beikshire in general use, 1 at 

 once eng.iged in it largely. 



True it is that I cannot give up my fnrin ami my 



e will be obliged to fence off that part of the I ,jpn,i,,j, ^^j capital, to the breeding of fine stock,. 



field which he sows — but if his object is to enrich 

 his pasture land, and to double his feed, he need 

 not make any fence — his cattle may feed i>n the 

 rye — and it will furnish them with an early bite in 

 the spring. In this way he may make his lands 

 richer without the use of manure. — En. Cult. 



I'rnni llic Western Farmer. 



MEDIUM SIZED vs. LARGE IIOUS. 

 Mn EniTOB — You are aware that I am now, and 



without a prospect of making money by it; bul 

 that was the secondary object I had in view, 

 pork-packing business was of the first impurtanci 

 to me. I saw and dreaded the efforts that wei 

 made to introduce an extremely lar^e hog inl( 

 Kentucky, for I had about this time transferred nv 



j pork business to that Slate, and had gone to ver; 



! "real expense in erecting an extensive estahlish- 

 inciit back of CoviiigUm, and intended making my 

 entire purchases in the State. We can mukr no 

 use in this market, ol animals weighing Irnm |(iO 



have been ever since 1820, extensively engaged in | to (iOO pounds, even though they may be 

 pork-packing in this city ; and I feel th.-it I may I 

 without presumption, lay claim to not a little ex- 

 perience in the business. It is fully as uiucli to 

 my interest, and that of every one else engaged in ' 

 curing pnrk for market, as the interest of the far- | 

 mer, that the very best breeds of hogs should be 

 scattered <iver the country. 



When 1 first rntered into the business, the pork I 

 brought to UH was produced l'n>m the same misera. 

 ble race yet tu be found through much the greater 

 part of the West. It yielded us little lard, and the 



A\ l":.t. 



ted. A hog ol the proper form and quality of ;il, 



that matures at ten or twelve months old, »•< t<~ to 

 fallen propi'rly, and then weighs fnim UOl) I ■ MI'O 

 [louiuls, is the sort for which we will give tln' Iiil.'Ii- 

 e>l price, because it yields us the greatest pmiit. 

 .\nd most assuredly it will also pay the farmer lo st. 

 We have no population lo supply, that will ciu- 

 Slime large, coarse, indiffercnlly cured meat. Oi 

 principal demand is for city and family use, bol 

 liere and in tin- cities of the south and east. 'I h( 

 hum is with us the most valuable part of the ho| 



