16-2 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



NOV. 24, 1*41. 



prejudice in men's minds aijainstwhat is new, or at 

 least what men suppose to be new. 



I will liftre give such reasons and proofs for the 

 Biip])ort of the principles of tillage above described, 

 as did occur upon the one year's trial which I made. 



After my land was prepared and plowed into 

 ridges, it was planted with cabbages, carrots, tur- 

 nips, onions and beels, and a furrow plowed otf 

 from each side of the ridge, and then plowed on; 

 and this being repeated four or five times from 

 spring to fall, the event was, the weeds were killed, 

 the ground grow fine and mellow, clods and knots 

 broken and reduced to du^t; the plants put out nu- 

 merous roots, spread and grew very finely; all the 

 ground was mellow, not only the furrows which 

 were plowed, but also the comb or ridgn in the 

 middle, as it was narrow and so exposed to the air 

 and dew on three sides, it was struck through, 

 grew mellow, and received as much advantage by 

 the tillage as that part of the ridge which was 

 plowed off and on. The land being plowed deep, 

 there was a great quantity of fine earth prepared 

 to receive the dews and salts of the air, and suffi- 

 cient room for the roots to spread and branch out 

 on all sides, so that every thing grew apace and 

 were large, although there was no Uuns; applied: 

 the same land would produce in the ordinary way, 

 carrots no bigger than a common candle ; in this 

 tliore were many eight, ten, and some twelve in- 

 ches in circumference; they were so large, that 

 three ridges of fifteen rods long each, two rows on 

 a ridge, produced more tlian twenty bushels ; so 

 an whole acre's product, yielding in the same pro- 

 portion, would be two hundred and thirty bushels ; 

 )iad the three ridges yielded no more than twen 



its growth. It is intended to intervene between 

 the last crop of the four-course system, which is 

 generally wheat, and to be eaten, and the land 

 plowed and worked for a crop of turnips. It is 

 equally applicable to all kinds of rotations, and 

 would well precede a fallow or a crop of rape. 

 As it is generally upon farms where the four-course 

 system is pursued, that spring feed is most wanted, 

 the writer will confine his observations to that ro- 

 tation. 



" So soon as the wheat is cut in the autumn, the 

 plow should be set to work. This may be done 

 even before it is carted, during the mornings of 

 harvest. A single plowing is given, and a very 

 slight dressing of any kind of short manure. In 

 some cases where the farmer lays on his manure 

 in the autumn, for turnips the ensuing year, it 

 might be belter to lay it on before the plowing. It 

 should be remembered that the sligiit dicbiiiig 

 should not all be considered as given to the rye; 

 in reality it becomes incorporated with the soil, 

 and more intimately mixed with it than by the or- 

 dinary mode of spreading it on in the autumn, and 

 any part of it which the rye may abstract, will be 

 more than compensated by the droppings of the 

 slock, and the carbonic acid gas which they evolve 

 while consuming it; and which the soil more readi- 

 ly absorbs in the spring than in any other part of 

 the year, evaporation going on at that period to a 

 much smaller extent than in any other. 



The seed must be sown upon the plow. seam 

 broadcast, at the rate of 2 ]-2 bushels |)er acre, and 

 if of that year's growth so much the better, as it 

 is earlier and more certain of germination. To 

 this a peck of rape seed per acre should be added. 



ty bushels, hcsidi'S the greater increase of the crop, for although the latter is not able to stand a win- 



it is done cheap and with more case, as tlie horse 

 plow performs the work with more expedition than 

 it can be done by hand, so it is done much better 

 for the present crop, and also mends and enricheth 

 the land, and prepares it for future improvement. 

 It is easier this way, to raise five bushels of car- 

 rots t.'ian one in the common way. I also tried 

 this method of tillage with turnips planted in a 

 single row ; by the middle of June they were sur- 

 prisingly large; as I did not weigh or measure 

 them, I am not able to give a perfect account of 

 them. 



GREE.N FEED IN THE SPRING. 



Many farmers in the vicinity of this city whose 

 pastures are poor, feel the want of a more succu- 

 lent food for milch cows in the month of May than 

 can ordinarily bo obtained. Two or three years 

 ago, we heard the question started, whether winter 

 rye might not bo profil.nbly resorted to for supply, 

 ing this deficiency. Neither the inquirer nor we 

 could see any reason why this grain might not 

 well be employed for the purpose in question. We 

 have not forgotten the matter, and it is in our pre- 

 sent plans to sow rye among Indian corn next Ju- 

 ly, where we shall cultivate without hill, and in 

 the following spring feed on soil with the rye. — 

 That the course promises success, is rendered pro 

 bable by the following paragraphs taken from i 

 prize essay, by Matthew M. Milburn, contained in 

 vol. ii. part 2, of the Journal of the Koyal Agricul- 

 tural Society of England : 



" It is the intention of the writer now to state 

 his experience, and offer his recommendation of a 

 crop embracing several advantages peculiar to it- 

 self. It is that of rye, oaten in the early stages of 



ter when the frost sets in early and severe, in many 

 cases it will get sufficiently vigorous to resist any 

 ordinary frost, and will much improve the feed in 

 the spring. Should the rape not be sown, a peck 

 of winter tares per acre will improve the feed, or 

 an additional peck of rye may be added ; as a ful- 

 ler bite and excited growth in its early stages will 

 be secured — a point gained when wanted to de- 

 pasture, although it might be injurious if sown for 

 a crop. 



In cultivating rye as feed, there need be no 

 fears entertained of its becoming ' winter proud,' 

 for as that only affects the ears of tlie corn, it is a 

 circumstance of no importance, and therefore the 

 earlH>r it is sown the belter able it is to resist the 

 early frosts, as well as having a better cover and 

 more leed when wanted. When sown it should 

 be thoroughly harrowed, but not rolled — a double 

 with a pair of fine harrows is sufficient, and the 

 6ur.''ace weeds should be gathered off, or the whole 

 raked with the hand, which will nioro elliciently 

 cover the seed. An advantage is gained to the 

 soil by this plowing, which cannot be obtained 

 when the land is sown with the vetches. The an- 

 nual weeds on the old surface are prevented from 

 running to seed, and a new surface is exposed to 

 the air and frost. 



The rye will be fit for consuming the last week 

 in .March or the first in April, or if allowed to re- 

 main until the middle of the lattor month, it will 

 carry a grratcr quantity of stock. After it is iho- 

 roughly eaton up, it should be freed, and by the 

 first week in May will afford another pasture of 

 fine young nutritious feed ; at least, in ordinary 

 seasons. It is bad management, though sometimes 

 practiced, to allow the rye to remain uneaten until 



will become much less palatable and useful. By 

 consuming it young it is much more valuable, and 

 the succession crop equally so as the first. 



The second crop being consumed, the plow 

 must be put into operation, and the soil prepared 

 for the succeeding crop; ami the advantage of its 

 cultivation — by no means a small one — is, that it 

 interferes with no other crop. 



Rye has the decided advantage of being capable 

 of resisting any conceivable degree of frost, and 

 when even the hardy wheat is carried olT hy an un- 

 genial season, it will escape injury, and even thrive. 

 At this time (Feb. 21, 1840.) the writer has a plot 

 growing for feed, which would now affnrd more 

 eating than almost any mixture of artificial grasses 

 in the middle of April, and that on a thin light soil 

 not worth more to rent than 25s. |ier acre. 



It should be remembered that this interferes with 

 no operation of husbandry, and prevc.its no cropi 

 so that no rent of land or other extras are to bi 

 reckoned — the plowings would be nearly the san* 

 if the rye were not sown. Nothing is better re« 

 lished bv stock at the season when it is intended 

 to be used ; a guide by no means unsafe as to itti 

 nutritious qualities, and which is borne oot by thd 

 condition of the stock feeding on it. 



To recapitulate the advantages of its cultivation 



1. Provision of excellent green food is made Bt 

 a season of the year when of all others it is moHf 

 wanted. 



2. It is produced without sacrificing any portioi 

 of the usual rctations«pur6ued on a farm, and witM 

 little extra labor, nor does it interfere with tha 

 management of any preceding or succeeding cropi| 



3. It will grow on any soil, but is especial^ 

 calculated for poor loose sand, when every othai 

 green esculent is more or less uncertain. 



4. It will bear any degree of frost to which oi 

 climate is subject, and is sufficiently hardy to deM 

 the effects of the coldest situations in the counti| 

 being there cultivated instead of wheat for a ci 

 crop necessity. 



5. It is as inexpensive or more so than any gnkt 

 or leguminous plant. 



C. It is readily consumed by stock, cspcciall] 

 young animals. 



7. It improves rather than deteriorate the soil 

 upon which it is grown. 



TO PREVENT THE GIRDLING OF TREES 

 BY MICE IN WINTER 

 We find the following paper among the Memoij 

 of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, puj 

 lished in IglO:— 



To the Hon. John Lowell, Esij.— Sir — The v( 

 great destruction of fruit trees, occasioned by mi) 

 and moles, during the winters of the two or ihl 

 last years, has made it an object of the utmost il 

 portance to discover the host means of prcvcntil 

 the mischief, or to invent a remedy for the e\ 

 alter it has taken place. SSo prodigiously hav( 

 these pernicious vermin multiplied of late, in sotni 

 places, as to threaten the destruction not only O' 

 fruit trees, but also of forest trees, and the gra»i 

 of our best mowing fields. During the winter 

 1808 and ISO'.!, they were known in some cases 

 attack a whcde copse of small trees, leaving scat 

 ly one ungirdled ; and in many mowing fields, 

 glitter almost the whole surface of the ground, 

 acres together, with their burrows and paths. 



tead of molesting only the small tn'es in our ( 

 the seed-stalk begins to shoot, for in Uiat case it 1 chards, as usual, they have of late completely 



