300 



NEW" ENGLAND FARMER 



MARCH aj, I>4« 



For the N. E. Karmer. 



LEATHER SHAVINGS FOR MANURE. 



Mr Editor — One of your corrcBpondenta in- 

 quires wliat is the value of a cord of leallier shav- 

 ings (Icstitiile of oil. We should suppose it would 

 he difficult to I'md a cord of thosn shavings, in any 

 maniifHctnry, tnlirely void of oil. 1 licre may, 

 however, be operations exxliisively in sole leather, 

 which would produce them. We can speak only 

 of the efficacy of the shavings in the shops of the 

 shoemaker and currier. The oil in those shavings 

 is no doubt a powerful ingredient, but cannot be 

 powerful enough to produre more than a small por- 

 tion of the effects witnessed. The gelatine of 

 skins would be generally admitted to be a very 

 effective manure ; this quality may scet;i lost in 

 the conversion of skins into leather, bnd there may 

 be so firm a roriibination o( gelatine with tannin, as 

 to defy the power of the chemist to educe from the 

 leather any thing strongly resembling the original 

 qualities of the skin. The laboratory of nature, 

 however, will often show results which that of the 

 chemist cannot. The supposed insolubility of 

 leather shavings should not operate as an objec- 

 tion against the use, more than the same siippoii- 

 tion does against the application to land of the 

 hair and hoofs of animals, feathers and wool, which 

 by general consent rank among the most powerful 

 of manures. 



We did ntit sit down to write a dissertation, but 

 to give a narration of facts. Forty years ago, we 

 purchased a .=!niall farm of a ."hoemuker, who had 

 cast the shavings from his shop by the roadside or 

 in the corners of lots. Our first object was to clear 

 away those unsightly heaps. We carried them in- 

 to the fields, believing if the leather could do no 

 good, the vegetable substances would, which time 

 had incorporated with it. Kvery field on which 

 those heaps were spread, became ♦eniarkably pro- 

 ductive ; — so much so as to excite tlie admiration 

 of neighbors. And something might have been 

 ascribed to ingenuity in cultivation, wliich was due 

 rather to the energy of old leather. This early, 

 and in some degree accidental success, (for then 

 we had neither read nor thought much on subjects 

 connected with agriculture,) induced us to be very 

 saving of scraps of old leather, we have been in 

 the habit of cutting up old shoes and boots and 

 spreading them on fields, and always think there is 

 an ample remuneration for the labor bestowed. It 

 will be jierceived there has been no course of ex- 

 periments which could qualify us to givo definite 

 answers to all the questions of " Inquirer." Wo 

 think, however, that leather shavings are a good 

 dressing for nlmost any description of soil ; that they 

 will assist in the growth of nearly every class of 

 plants, perhaps more from preparing the soil for 

 vigorous action than direct influences. We think 

 three cords sufficient for one dressing of an acre, 

 and believe the ultimate results of hucIi a dressing 

 would bo greater than a dressing of six cords of 

 the richest barn manure. 



M. ALLEN. 

 Pembroke, March \Wt, 1842. 



.Vb dispulmfr about Tastes. — The liedgehog will 

 oat Siianish (lie?, which will kill a dog, and a com- 

 mon hog feasts upon rattlesnakes. 



Liirge Pickeiel. — Mr Daniel Risley, of East 

 Hartford, showed us, says the Hartford Times, a 

 pickerel, which he caught, weighing M lbs. 



From the Maine Farmer. 



EXPERIMENTS ON PLANTING LARGE 

 AND SMALL POTATOES. 

 Mr Hoi.mks — We think, in this region, that 

 small potatoes are as good for seed as large ones, 

 and the result of any experiment for a single year, 

 will seem to say so. If this is true, the rule that 

 "like produces like," must here have an exception. 

 I commenced the e.':periii:ent spoken of eight 

 years ago, when I selected a few of my largest po- 

 tatoes, and a few of the size that we usually plant 

 — small, but not the smallest — and have ever since 

 kept two distinct breeds, if I may so speak, select- 

 ing large ones to plant from the largo lot, and 

 small ones to plant from the small lot. Till this 

 year, I have never been able to perceive any diffe- 

 rence more than difference of soil, or some other 

 like circumstances would make ; — but this year 

 the result is so marked, tliat I think the seed alone 

 must hav« produced it. Perhaps in a good season 

 the result would be different. I selected a bed in 

 my garden as nearly equal in quality as I could 

 find, and planted, without manure, eight rows 

 across it, as follows: — 

 No. i, planted with large polaloes, cut, yielded 



10 lb. large and 19 lb. small potatoes. 



bel-. 



2, small, 



3, large, 



4, small, 



5, large, 

 f>, small, 



7, large, 



8, small, 



11 

 1(> 



8 1-2 

 10 3-4 

 11 

 10 1-2 



9 1.2 



2 3 4 " 



whole, 18 1-2 " 



1 1 3-4 " 



20 



9 1-4" 



In each row fifteen potatoes were planted and 

 none of the seed rotted. The acreablo quantity of 

 seed and produce is as follows : 

 No. 1 requires 43 bushels seed, and yielded 400. 



IGO. 



128 



SCO 

 214 



4)I36G 4^702 

 Average for large seed, 341 1-2; for small seed, 

 190 1-2 bushels to the acre. W. D. D. 



POTATO PLANTING. 



The Right Hon. Sir James Graham, presented 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England, a 

 communication he had received from Major Perce- 

 val, of Harntown House, ctiunty of Wexford, Ire- 

 land, on the subject of potato planting; and in re- 

 ference to that part of Sir James Graham's paper 

 on the same subject, printed in the third part of 

 the Society's Journal, in the year 1640, referring 

 to the failure of the crop arising from the circum- 

 stance of using cii( sceiA Major Perceval gives u 

 statement of a similar failure, to a considerable ex- 

 tent, experienced ten or twelve years ago in the 

 district in which he resides, in the potato crop, 

 from seed made of cut sets, the failure being at- 

 teniled, however, with great peculiarities. The 

 cut seeds planted in the forenoon, were found to 

 do well, and yield agoodcrop; while those planted 

 in the afternoon were nearly a total failure : or, on 

 the contrary, those planted the next day in the 

 forenoon, a failure, while the afternoon planting 

 would be found to do well. The capricious re- 

 sults would be found to happen in the same field. 



all of a uniform quality ; the same manure 

 used throughout, the sanie sets being cut at 

 same time as the others, and in every way tree 

 similarly, to obviate the serious evil. Major P 

 ceval then proceeds in an interesting account 

 the management of his potato crop, and states t 

 he found tlie failure from cut seed entirely prevc 

 ed by selecting the largest potatoes, which lie 

 into piis for seed, (a plan which prevented 

 chance of their heating,) and in spring, two 

 three days before planting, he cut the potatoes 

 to sets as often as possible, with one eye, or g 

 niinating principle in each, and immediately lir 

 them, (drying up the cutting with air-slacked lir 

 keeping them spread on a floor. We have plan 

 cut seed in Canada, in the forenoon, that succc 

 ed and was free from dry rot, while the same se 

 cut from the same pit of potatoes and plantei 

 the same field, soil, and manure, in the afterni 

 of the same day, was nearly a total failure, 

 cut sound potatoes, lime them after they are ( 

 and lit th'cm dry before planting, will, in a gr 

 measure, prevent dry rol. — British Jitntr. Cult. 



From the Maine Farmer. 



HEMLOCK AND PINE FOR SHEEP. 



Mil Holmes — I will once more give my opii 

 of the benefit of hemlock and pine boughs for shi 

 and even spruce and fir, lliough they are no 

 good. 



I think I shall be correct in saying I began v 

 six sheep forty years ago last March. I ever h 

 and still keep the dcscendents of the same shi 

 except by crossing from other bucks. I have t 

 used more or less hemlock or pine, and bolli w 

 convenient, and allowed them to eat when t 

 would and when they pleased, by placing it by 

 side of the fence in the yard. I have never 

 covered the least damage by it, but a benefit, 

 less hay is required. 1 still feel correct in saj 

 that my sheep are as healthy, and ever have b 

 as Uiose of my neighbors. 



I consider pino healthy, and it saves the tro< 

 of using tar on the nose, and besides, is much n 

 comfortable for the sheep tJian a dry lot of tar 

 hair near their mouths. 



It was said, in former years, that hemlock g 

 to sheep would make them weak, they would 1( 

 their wool, and the lambs would come dead, i 

 this is the opinion of some at the present da; 

 This is a mistake. I have noticed, where tl 

 stories are told, that the sheep were poor, 

 cause of which was for want of food. It is 

 that a very poor sheep often brings forth a c 

 lamb, or if not deud, it soon dies for want of f 

 and if the sheep lives to the time for taking off 

 fleece, it is often the case that the greatest part 

 on the hedges and brush of the fields for the b 

 to build their nests with. 



When I was hauling my fire wood, not I 

 since, I was putting some hemlock boughs on 

 sled, my wood cutter says, if you give then 

 your sheep they will have dead lambs. I said, 

 so — for I have a live one now, and expect a 

 more soon. My reasoning is, that sheep and ca 

 want a change of food as much as human beii 

 in proportion to their grades. I consider it 

 belter way for many, if not asjl, who have fire 

 support and sheep to feed, to save the small bou 

 of the hemlock and pine, and place them in U 

 yards for their flock. 



Thus much I have written on the bark of a bi 



