VOU XX. \0.'H. 



AND HORTICULTURAL R L G I S T E R . 



93 



ever JO liigli, lliey ilamsge tlie liodgo, if not by | Preparation of the Land. — In llie «|)rlii(; of the 



ir nliade llii-y will by their roots. If you dn | year, wo curt about I! cords of long luanuru to tlio 



tn.ii a hedj;o any, it will be stronff and tliick j ncre, lay it in hoai)», spread it upon tin- ;,'ru»H award 



the bottom, givin^j you beautiful white blossoniH and plow it in. The land i» then rollfd and har- 



id rod bernos, rowed until it ia ll<;ht and mtilluw, and planted with 



I-J. Error, and Mi.takts.-U my first hedge n.v 1^"^" «« "^"^'y '" '''" '""°" "' '' "'" '^"' *'"'°"' 

 ,d was tough sward, and not well prepared. >^>^^\^'"T!"^^!'^^-'""'"^.'T!'T""''':,!:''':T^ 

 et my large plants that were two years old, per 



nd 



nJioular ; in my second hedge, set out two year 



;cr, my land was well prepan^d, and I set my 



arling plants sloping, and it is ahead of the first 



dgo : had the treatment of both been ciiual. the 



t would have been three years ahead of the last. 



id not hoc as olten as I ought to have done, nor 



1 clear away the leaves in aufunin so well as I 



uld have done. I lost one year's growth of my 



Iga by planting two rows of potatoes on each 



e of It, the tops of which grew so lu.xuriontly. 



It they ciuiipletely co»ered and shaded the plants. 



My grand error was in cropping the tops, once 



d genorally twice n year, with the expectation 



making the hedge thicker at the bottom and 



re perfect throughout ; but it had a contrary ef- 



t, by Uirowiiig out a great nuinher of small i 



ots at the place cut ; instead of increasing the 



in stem and lower branches, and thickening the 



torn as was expected. The oftener I cropped, 



more weak shoots came out where cut, and 



ise below dwindled and perished, and the main 



n ceased to inorease. The top of the hedge 



;aine wide, bushy, and top heavy, and the bot- 



1 open, weak and destitute of branches. Those 



id not crop had large firm stems, and threw out 



ge strong suckers from their roots, and have 



de a hedge im|ienetrable to an enraged horned 



I. I ought not to have trimmed the main stems 



:r the first or second trimming, till it was six 



thigh. 



18. Recapitulation. — Prepare your land in the 



t manner ; use suitable plants of thrifty growth, 



older the better ; assort and accommodate to 



diflerent kinds of soil ; preserve all the roots, 



crop the tops, leaving only four buds ; keep a 



in your nursery ; set tliem sloping to the north, 



leave the ground a little concave about the 



ts ; keep them clear of grass and weeds, and 



a little earth to the routs at each hoeing ; clear 



ly the leaves at autumn ; trim the side branches 



efully, and leave the main stems to nature till 



y are six feet high, then crop off the tops to 



height you mean to have your hedge. It will 



k like a wedge with the sharp end upwards, and 



1 exhibit a most beautiful appearance. 



n eight years my second hedge was a sufficient 



ce for, or against sheep and cows. By follow- 



the above directions, a better hedge can be 



ed In half the time, and at ao expense of less 



n fifty cents a rod. 



In 18'I0, the result was '<!5 1-2 bushels of rye, 



sold for $1 per bushel, $'-25 50 



Ryo straw sold for 00 



Premium as above, G 00 



Total, 

 Expense of cultivation, &c. 



$40 50 

 'J 00 



From the Boston Cultitalor. 



WINTER RYE. 



>Ir Editor — Below you will find a statement 

 ur methoil of raising winter rye, together with 

 le of the results, which you may publish, or 

 )w under the table, as you feel disposed. 



>oi7. — The soil which we cultivate for corn and 

 is a strong, deep, gravelly loam, not liable to 

 ght when properly managed, nor aficcted by 



vy rains so as to injure the crops, quite ledgy 

 also abounding with small stones. 



small liandl'ul of nslies in each hill. In the siihsc- 

 quent cultivation care is taken to keep the ground 

 clean, and the surface level, without hilling. At 

 the proper .stage of the corn, before it is ripi', it is 

 cut up close to the ground and shocked, and when 

 sufficiently dry cleared from the land. A good 

 cultivator is then drawn over the ground with one 

 horse ; the rye sowed and well harrowed in: quan- 

 tity of seed, from one bushel to one bushel and a 

 pock, according to the size of the kernel and the 

 time of sowing per acre. 



Time of Soivin'r. — This ought to bo done as 

 soon as the 20th of September, and we somclimcs 

 sow before the close of the second week in Sept. 

 We uniformly suffer by a diminution of the crop, 

 if sown much later than the20tli of Sept. 



Harvestiiif:;. — Our rule is to cut when the grain 

 is so soft as to be mashed btHween the tliunib and 

 finger, or what some farmers call raw, never letting 

 it stand until ripe. 



The advantages of cutting thus early are — 

 1st. The grain is of a better quality. 

 2d. There is not as much waste in hurve.stiiig. 

 3d. The straw will weigh more, and will bring 

 a higher price in market. 



.Manner of Harvesting. — This we do with a com- 

 mon grass scythe, laying the swarth along side of 

 the standing grain at an angle of about 32 degrees. 

 We prepare a rake by tying a wide shingle on the 

 inside of the bows. After the straw has partly 

 dried, it is collected with this rake into half bunch- 

 es, and the butts evened with the shingle. If the 

 straw is large and thick, it may be cut in this way 

 and bunched up so that it would be dilEcult to tell 

 whether it was mowed or reaped, were it not for 

 the fact that it is much longer. When sufficiently 

 dry, the rye is housed and threshed in tho month 

 of .August with the flail, as the straw will sell bet- 

 ter and command a higher price threshed in this 

 way than with a machine. 



The advantages of cutting rye as above describ- 

 ed over the sickle are: — 



1st- The labor is not near as hard. 

 2d. It is done in much less time, enabling a per- 

 son to cut several acres while the rye is in its raw 

 state. 



3d. A much larger amount of straw is obtained. 

 This method has the advantage over the cradle, 

 at least where the grain is very thick and heavy, 

 and in almost all cases except where it is thin and 

 light, the work is done in a neater niannc-.,4tiJ a 

 greater quantity of straw is obtained. 



Results On lands as above prepared, we get 



from 2.') to 35 bushels of rye to the acre, and from 

 1 1-2 to 2 tons of straw. 



In 1839, we raised from 1 acre, 34 bushels 12 1 -2 



qts. of rye, which sold for $41 27 



Straw on the same acre sold for 13 GO 



For which we received the premium of itie 



Bristol Agricultural Society, ti 00 



For use of laijd and profit, $31 50 



This lust aero was not as good land as the firat 

 In 1841, the result on lands managed as above, 

 was about the same as last year. You will per- 

 ceive that the straw in one case more than paid 

 the expenses of cultivation, and in the other equal- 

 ed them. 



Yours, respectfully, 



S. M. STANLEY. 

 Jittkhoro\ .lug. 31, 1841. 



Tilt atean Plow. — We have received from J. D. 

 Wilkins, Esq., of this Parish, a communication giv- 

 ing the plan on which it was proposed to procure a 

 steam plow to work our prairies. We are glad to 

 hear that five or six persons have already subscrib- ' 

 ed liberally. The following is the proposition on 

 the part of the subscribers : — 



" We, the subscribers, bind ourselves, our heirs 

 and assign."*, to pay to any mechanic, either of 

 America or Europe, who will invent and reduce to 

 successful practice, a steam plow, that will furrow 

 ten acres in a day, eight inches deep, into five feet 

 and a half beds, at three furrows to the bed, either 

 across or around the field, in the county of Atta- 

 kapas, La., the sums ogiposite our names below ; as 

 witness our subscriptions, this 7th day of June, 

 1841." 



Mr Wilkins remarks : — 



" I have presented this plan to raise a premium 

 to induce some enterprising rational mechanic to 

 introduce a steam plow which would raise the 

 price and promote the settlement of our prairie to 

 a very profitable extent. It costs me a capital of 

 .$12,000 in negroes, teaiiis and plows, to fallow ten 

 acres of land in a day, five inches deep. With a 

 capital of ,$3,000, including the cost of the steam 

 plow, r could fallow the same land in the day, 

 much deeper. I also conjecture a steam plow can 

 be made to fallow much more than ten acres in the 

 day. I think a premium of $10,000 would excite 

 and set to work some man gifted with ingenuity, 

 and procure us the introduction of the wished-for 

 steam plow, for which our level lands are so admi- 

 rably adapted. I have only presented this sub- 

 scription to a few of my neighbors, and five have 

 subscribed a thousand dollars. Nearly every one 

 I liave mentioned it to are inclined to support the 

 scheme, and 1 think I can very easily, in my neigh- 

 borhood, procure subscriptions to the amount of 

 one third of $10,000, and if you will request Mr 

 G. L. Fuselier, above Franklin, and Col. Sparks, 

 below, to hand round a subscription paper, they 

 can soon raise their third part of the amount, each; 

 then we will advertise to the world this premium, 

 with the names of the subscribers, and the steam 

 plow, I hope and believe, will be soon forthcoming." 

 — tVanklin (La.) Banner. 



Total, 

 Expense of cultivating, threshing, &c. 



$60 87 

 11 25 



Leaving for the use of the land and profit, $49 62 



Curwen, ia his evidence before the House of 

 Commons, considers salt indispensable to the health 

 and thrift of animals ; and that its first visible ef- 

 fect on milch cows was in freeing the milk and 

 butter from all taste of the turnip. 



