AND II O R T I C U L T U R A L REGIS T G R . 



PUIU,1SHKI> BY JOSEPH BR&K it CO., NO. sa NOUTH MAllKET STRKKT, (Ao.icuitubal WA«tHooit.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBKR 21, 1841. 



[\n, ai. 



N. E. FARMER. 



ELIOT'S ESS. AYS. 

 These essays on husbandry, from whicli we liavo 

 Mdy made copious extracts, and intend yot to 

 more, were published in 1747 ; and tliough so 



wo know not where else in the English lan- 

 »ge to tind an hundred pages conUnung more 

 lod agricultural philosophy and advice than is 

 ron in tliese hundred pages of the old Connecti- 



clergynian. Below we give a portion of hia re- 

 rks upon the means of producing giiod crops 

 iout manure, or with litile manure; and though 



lands at the present tiwio require more aid from 



manure heap than Mr R. thought his might de- 

 ad, yet his leading idea, thai much stirring of 



land has similar efl'ects to those produced by 



urc, is undoubtedly sound and worthy of re- 

 mbrance : — 



I propose to set before the reader the way of 



ding our poor land and raising crops either 

 hout any dung at all, or if any be applied, it 



II be in a small quantity, tljat the expense will 



but little, compared with the coiniiion way of 



bandry. 



n this undertaking I pretend to no othp"- rrcrtt 

 that — 

 To explain the doctrine or principles of Mr 



1, in such a manner as to bo open to any com- 

 understanding. 



. To offer such reasons and proofs for the sup- 

 of these principles, as will naturally occur. 

 To direct to the perforiiianco of the work 



1 inslrumenu less intricate, more plain, cheap, 



commodious, than those used and described by 



Tull. 



'he snly way we have to enrich the land, is by 



f, or by tillage separately, or by both of them 

 ther. It is performed by dividing the earth 

 many parts, or as the common way uf speaking, 

 done by making the ground mellow and soft, 



Jiol the roots may freely pass and find their 

 er nourishment. The more mellow and fine 

 earth is made, the more roots will be sent out 

 1 corn or whatever is sowed or planted in such 

 ow land, and the more soft and mellow the 

 nd is made, there will be not only more roots, 

 they will be longer and extend farther, so that 

 corn, turnip, carrot, or whatever plant it is, 

 receive so much the more nnurishiiieiit, and 

 equently grow so much the bigger and better. 



g, or any other manure, divides the ground, 

 the parts at a distance, and so gives a free pas- 



o the roots of plants. In this action the 

 in dung hath much the same operation and 

 tas leaven or emptyings hath on dough; it 

 ;s it rise, makes it light, that is, sets the parts 

 distance. If nothing be done to divide the 

 I, and make the ground mellow by plowing, or 

 ;, or both, no crop can be expected. Sow <ir 

 t upon untillei! land, which is hard and unculti- 

 I, no corn will grow. If the earth can be as 

 divided and made as mellow by plowing, dig- 

 or hoeing, why should not tillage do without 



dung — provided the tillage bo equal or in propor- 

 tion to dung? To do this in the common way of 

 repeated plain plowing and harrowing, would be 

 too much charge and labor; for Mr Tull said, that 

 three limes plain plowing did only prepare the land 

 for tillage. There is a way by tillage alone, with- 

 out dung, to make the land fine and mellow, and 

 this way is cheap and effectual ; is done in the fol- 

 lowing manner : 



first, plow your ground plain, and plow it deep; 

 if you have no dung, you must have the more loose 

 mellow earth : when it is thus plowed, harrow it 

 well with an iron tooth harrow, let it lie a fortnight, 

 exposed to the sun, air and dews, then plow it into 

 ridges; to every ridge there must be eight furrows 

 of the plain plowing, two furrows covered, four 

 plowed, and two left open ; so that in ridge plow- 

 ing the team and plow travels but half so l-ir as in 

 plain plowing; ridge plowing will cost but half so 

 iniich as plain plowing. 



I suppose I need not give any particular direc- 

 tions coiiccrnins' plowing the land into ridges, eve- 

 ry plowman understands this, or if he doth not, he 

 may soon learn it of them that do. When it is 

 thus plowed into ridges, it is prepared to plant with 

 wheat, or cabbages, carrots, or what else you see 

 fi' tc pW"!. In what manner, ai. J vwJi "ii^.. i"- 

 strumonts the seeds of wheat, turnips, or cabbages 

 are to be planted, I shall describe under the third 

 head. I shall only add in this place that the wheat 

 is to be planted in two rows on the middle of the 

 ridge, the rows to be at ten inches distance; the 

 cabbages and turnips in one row on the middle of 

 the riilirp thp tiirntns nt 81V inrhPi dislancp frr.m 

 each other, cabbages at a foot and a half, or two | 

 feet distance ; carrots are to be planted in two rows 

 at ten inches distance ; that is, the space between | 

 the rows is to be ten inches, the carrots to be 

 planted at six inches distance one from the dlher, 

 as they stand in the line or row. 



The reader will observe, that as yet there is no 

 more tillage applied to the land than what is com- 

 mon and usual in our ordinary way of husbandry. 

 Now, what follows, 13 that in which the art and 

 mystery dolli consist ; and when it is described and 

 set before you, will appear so simple, so little, so 

 mean, that it will be to you, as Go wash in Jordan 

 was to Naamaii the Syrian. Suppose it be turnips, 

 cabbage or carrots planted in the spring, (for as to 

 what relates to wheat, the golden urain, I propose 

 to treat of that distinctly by itself,) — as soon as 

 your cabbages and turnips can be seen, weed them 

 with a small hand-hoe. The carrots for the first 

 time must be weeded with the fingers ; this is te- 

 dious work ; when tliis is done, and the plants a 

 little grown so as to be plainly seen, then take one 

 yoke of oxen, a long yoke, so long that one ox may 

 go in one furrow, and the other ox in the other, 

 and the ridge between, in the same manner as we 

 plow Indian corn ; and with n common ox plow, 

 turn off a furrow from the ridge, coming as close 

 to the plants as you can, and not plow them up; 

 you may come within two or three inches, if the 

 oxen and plow are good. Thus lake off a furrow 

 from each side of every ridge till all is plowed; 



1st it lie in this stHlc a fiirtiii;;ht or three wcoki, 

 then with the plow turn up the two furrnva to the 

 ridge ; slay about as long as before, and turn the 

 two furrows off from the ridge again ; the oftener 

 this is repeated, so much the belter: wo ordinarily 

 do it but four times ; but seven times will do better. 

 When the plants grow larger, you must keep the 

 plow at a greater distance; for if you plow as near 

 the plants as when they are small, you will cut off 

 too many roots. 



You must hoe between the rows of carrots with 

 a narrow hand hoc, lo kill ilie weeds : and to till 

 the ground between the rows, you must mind to 

 dig deop. 



Turnips, and whatever is [ilanted in a single 

 line or row, must be lended with a hand hoe while 

 the plants are young, and 'till all the weeds are 

 destroyed so that you may use the plow. I have 

 been obliged to enter into the practical part of this 

 sort of husbandry, without which I should not he 

 able to explain the principles, or doctrinal part, as 

 I proposed under the first head. 



1. This way of tilling land makes it exceeding 

 fine, soft and mellow beyond what you would im- 

 agine: this, we have slievfed already, is one thing 

 requisite and needful. 



ij. I>y uiio l.ilu^. wn open such cicds and parts 

 of earth aa never were opened befrfre, and conse- 

 quently never was touched by any root ; its whole 

 nourishing virtue remains entire: in short, it is new 

 land. Every one knows what new land will do 

 before its native and original strength and vigor is 

 consumed and exhausted by the roots of corn and 

 other plants. Thus this sort of ti'lRge '''^•b, 'i '. 

 degree, furnish us with new land. In this way 

 old things become now. 



3. In tins way of tillage we entirely destroy and 

 extirpate all weeds and grass, yea, even that stub- 

 born grass called blue grass, which is so hurtful to 

 corn : by which a whole crop is frequently almost 

 destroyed. This grass by many is called Dutch 

 grass; and probably that grass in England there 

 called Couch grass, may be the same, and miscalled 

 here Dutch, from a resemblance or likeness of 

 sound — their farmers making the same complaint 

 of it as ours do here. The destruction of weeds 

 and grass is of great advaiiUge in tillage. Weeds 

 very much exhaust the land, hinder and damnify 

 the crop: the more these robbers are destroyed, 

 the more nourishment there is for corn. 



Repeated plowing in land that is too light, and 

 the pores too large, will settle it down and close it 

 together, contract and lessen the pores, as well as 

 raise the heavy land and enlarge its pores. This 

 seeming contradiction, this blowing hot and cold 

 out of the same mouth, may be well enough recon- 

 ciled, and accounted for in a philosophical manner; 

 but so long as experience shows that all this is 

 true, it will be to no advantage to the farmer to 

 say more about it ; nor should I hove entered so 

 far into the philosophy nf tillage as I have done, 

 were it not necessary for a practical farmer to un- 

 derstand it so far as to make a judgment, and sec 

 into the reason of this new kind of tillage and 

 fanning; aad this is the more needful, as there is a 



