AND II O n T I (; U L T U 11 A L K K (i I S T K U . 



^ 



PUBLUjUEO by JOSEPH BRECK dc CO., NO. $8 NOUTH MARKET STRKET, (AohioulturaC Wa»«iiou»k.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 23, 1842. 



(HO. 3a. 



N . E. FARMER 



For th« New England Farmer. 



METCALF'S ROTATION FARTHER EX- 

 PLAINED. 

 Jr .^llem Pvt.vam — Dear Sir — In my commii- 

 tion lo you a tew weeks since, I stated ihat my 

 1 was " tlie common loam." By this I mean 

 it is similar to much of the land in this vicini- 

 Biit perhaps I ehould give you a more correct 

 lof tlie land upon which I wish to practice the 

 Uon then drscnbed, by saying that it is rather 

 tiff, heavy Inain ; for after lying three iir four 



in grass, it becomes compart and tenacious 

 igh when broken up and fairly subdued, it is 

 low and pleasant to cultivate. 

 'or tliis reason 1 consider it an object to keep 

 I land under the plow for three successive 

 I, with the mode of treatment before described : 

 as we cannot obtain a crop of corn or wheat 

 out ptoieing, is it not well to till our land when 

 en up, in a manner best adapted to the suc- 

 tful cultiva.ion of those crops? 

 citizen of this town, who has received premi- 

 for the best crops of corn, has, in tkose instan- 

 ()tanted upon land which was cultivated the 

 previous ; and the succeediiig year he has 

 id the land to wheat, for which he has also ob- 

 ed premiums. 



<rtai crops arc not what I am aiming after at 

 tnt ; but the gradual and permanent improve- 

 it of the soil; which by /ormir treatment has 

 exhausted. But^after the first series of crops, 

 '.icipate grciter results in the amount of pro- 



than was first obtained. 

 ■d I all the means of enriching my land that I 

 d wish, I cannot say that I should pucstie just 

 •ne; but having manure sufficient for only 

 ell part of the land I wish to cultivate annu- 

 I confine it to certain fields in rotation; and 

 •t to othir mraiis for the improvement of other 

 ona of my t'arm, the soil of which is of a differ- 

 haracter — for the farms lying upon the hills 

 mllcys of Berkshire, are made up of a variety 

 jls. 



» sowing peas upon the inverted turf the first 

 I do not mean to convey the impression that 

 im this the best way to obtain a gre:it crop of 

 : I am confident that it is not. But as I sta- 

 efore, it prepares the land for the application 

 3 manure the next year; and the amount of 

 produced will fully compensate for the labor 

 wed upon the land. 



ike the idea of not disturbing the turf when 

 turned down. For by keeping it below the 

 ce, giving it Buflicient time for decomposition, 

 ids lo increase the dapth of soil ; and to effect 

 I would plow iletp when breaking up, and not 

 lep when cross plowing the next year ; so ns 

 oid turning up the whole thickness of what 

 lefore turned down. 



correct thtory of applying manures to land, 

 ible to diffcrtnl soils, from which Ihe moil 

 I 



beneficial results may bo derired, is a great desi- 

 deratum to the farmers of New England. 



Our lamented friend and patron, Judge Buel, 

 after testing various methods in the opplication of 

 manure, found it Uie most ecnnniuical upon his 

 light «vorm soil, to spread it unfermented upon the 

 land, and turn it under with the plow. 'I'he favora- 

 ble results he experienced from this mode of prac- 

 tice, induced him to recommend it generally, as 

 will be found by perusing his writings. 



Impressed with the force of his argument — inex- 

 perienced as I was in nny regularly prescribed 

 system of farming; and being satisfied that my 

 father and others had not derived that benefit from 

 their manure which might be obtained — I adopted 

 with enthusiasm the method of plowing my ma- 

 nure under, in its raw state, at the rate of 25 cart 

 loads per acre, expecting to bring my field into a 

 high state of fertility, and at tlic same time obtain 

 profitable crops ; not considering that a different 

 soil would require a different application of ma- 

 nure. 



This experiment was made in the spring of '38, 

 and having gone through the usual rotation of 

 planting, sowing, and stocking to grass; there- 

 suit has not been what I onticipated. The crops 

 obtained were only medium, and the land is now 

 in but little better condition than when first bro- 

 ken up. I 



This, and other circumstances have led me to 

 investigate the subject of manupes more generally, 

 and though I do not pretend to have arrived at the 

 only true theory : — if what I have written, induces 

 those who have had more extensive practice, and 

 tested certain methods by experiment, to give us 

 the result of their researches upon this important 

 topic, the few thoughts I have offered will not be 

 wholly lost. 



i'our sincere friend, 



And humble servant, 



A. C. METCALF. 



Poplar Hill, Lenor, Mass., March 7, 1842. 



N. B. — Last .April I turned over a piece of land 

 which had lain for some time in pasture, and sowed 

 it to peas, and though no manure had been applied 

 for the last ten years, I obtained from the two and 

 a hilf acres 4',i bushels, the crop being dressed 

 with plaster. J^rorn another field of four acres, 

 broken up the September previous, I obtained in 



the year '39 seventysix bushels of peas actual 



measurement — no manure being used excepting 

 plaster. This crop was plowed in. 



In these two instances I sowed only two bushels 

 of peas to the 'acre ; and my fut.'ier and I were 

 both satisfied that, had we Er>wn another bushel to 

 one acre, the crop would have been increased at 

 least one quarter. A. C. M. 



Remarks by Ihe Editor. — In commenting npon a 

 former communication by Mr Metcalf, we intima- 

 ted that his rotation, (peas, corn, wheat and grass,) 

 required more plowing and working of the land be- 

 tween one grass crop and another, than would be 

 profitable generally. We still hold to that opin- 

 ion. Hut we are far from maintaining that Mr M. 



would find it advantageous to work his peculiar 

 soilless. If corn will not do well upon his sod, 

 or land newly broken up, it is good husbandry lo 

 put on a crop that will pay him well. Our expe- 

 rience has been mostly on a warm soil— gnorl for 

 corn — and thertf we can get better corn upon the 

 sod; than upon the grounil after it has been tilled 

 one year or more. 'I'liis was tried ni !&;(!). Tlio 

 sward land gave t^7 1.2 bushels per acre, while the 

 land that had been two years in roots, well manur- 

 ed each year, and was well manured in '39, gave 

 only 80 bushels. We remember this case very 

 distinctly, because we maintained in the spring, 

 thai the sward land would give the larger crop, in 

 opposition lo a more experienced cultivator, who 

 expected more corn where the land was well pul- 

 verized. 



But we ore well satisfied that no safe general 

 rules can be given upon points like this. Experi- 

 ence on each particular farm is the safest guide. 

 But in order to get this experience, or to gel valu- 

 able experience, each farmer must vary his own 

 processes. 



We have been pleased with these well written 

 communications from Lenox ; and though the rota- 

 lion of crops will not suit our own purpose so well 

 as one which lets us keep our lands more in grass, 

 or rather which would let us take them up ofiener, 

 yet his collide seems well adapted to stronger soils 

 where grass holds in well. 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE ESSEX AGRI- 

 CULTURAL SOCIRI V IN 1841. 

 We are indebted to Hon. Daniel P. King, of 

 DiiTiveis, ?.ccretary of the Society, for a copy of 

 thc^amp'.let named at the head of this article. 

 And hof ;ng to draw the attention of other societies 

 to the subject of publishing, in a permanent form, 

 their annual doings, we will express our belief 

 that the money expended by the Essex County So- 

 ciety upon their publicutioti, is as usefully appro- 

 priated as nny part of their funds. This annual 

 book, coniaiiiing the address, the reports of com- 

 mittees, dissertations upon agriculture, premium 

 list for the subsequent year, &.c. &,c., is distributed 

 among the members, is read and studied by them 

 at their leisure, on^l thus is made a vehicle of much 

 useful information. The example of this county 

 is, in this particular, worthy of imitali(m. Parts 

 of the recent number will be copied into future 

 pages of this paper. 



Earliest Food for Bees. — In a conversation the 

 other day with a worthy and observing farmer, he 

 observed that the earliest food for bees in the 

 spring, IS maple sap. He states that he has seen 

 them gather round the sap troughs, in the woods, 

 during the warm days in the spring, before the buds 

 or tiissels of the willow andothir trees and shrubs 

 had put out, sipping and making themselves glad 

 with the sweets that they find there. It wouldn't 

 be bad pinn, if a person had any maples in the 

 vicinity of his hives, to top them for Ihe use of his 

 bees. — Maine farmer. 



