VOL. XX. NO. an. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



301 



**•, and mtich more coiilil be. If you think il tlin fly, in July or any other month, lis* iievrr dr 

 iirth placing: in your iiacl'ul columns, it ii it your stroyoil enough of ihuin lo pay n innn lor a wirok's 

 >' iposal. 



Yours, 



J. WrilTMAN. 



ivork. Some wise man in our Sinio, has advicd lo 

 slnrvf them out of the country by ccniiing to now. 

 I t^liuuUI not like to sec it tried, as I Tear tho oxpc- 

 rimcnlcrH would starve first. Although women and 

 ilion upon some of Nature's paper— the bark of '-■'"''''■°" "*= •"■'' employed here as in Europe, to 

 •biich. h was enclosed in a paper letter, ond "ced and plenn grain licld.'*, and field labor is ex- 

 r Postmaster thought he must tax double poslage l'e"S'vc, still I am satisfied from personal obsorva- 



ir< Tumtr, Feb 25, 18I'J. 

 — Wo received tho above cominunicatinn 



Where's tin 

 ■ch bark letters ?- 



law for taxing postage on 

 Eu. 



Fmm iIm Maine Cultivator. 



GRAIN— PRACTICAL HINTS, &,c. 



NoRRinoFwocK, March 5, 1842. 

 f^kltssrt. Editors — I am apprehensive that my 

 I ninunications will become tedious to many of 



jr readers, on account ol the minuteness of my •■ ■ . \ r : .i . .u .i j 



, ^ 11, ,, Joint made of lion, with teeth on the inside, a turn- 



, *ils ; but It those to whom they prove so, wilr „, ■ in i l i i i. 



', , .,, . , , . cd hoe-handle screwed on each shank, like a truose 



, lecta moment, they Will be convinced that wri- „„„i, i, „ i i .,„ i u , 



' . , ' . , nccK hoe. 1 have also a sharp gouce, one and 



■ I on agriculture are spt to go into the opposite r .u • i j i t< i- ? i 



° , , . '^ , . *^' one fourth inch w.dc, handle four feet long : with 



renie, and only write on general princip es or ,i,„,„ .„ • i p i l ■ 



,,.. 1- .- ,, these, an immense number of weeds can be de- 



.king facts; taking it for granted that every one ' ,,„„ i ■ ,„ 



, , ,*• ■ 1 .) I, 1 • 1 etroyt'd in a day. 



tion. thai many fields of wheat will well reward an 

 outlay of one to three, or even four days expended 

 in weeding an acre. By thorough weeding once, 

 ihc Canada thistle m.iy be prevented from goinc to 

 seed before harvest. Every farmer should have a 

 pair or more of weeding longs. They may he 

 made of wood, exactly in Ihc shape of a pair of 

 blacksmith's tongs, — tho handle about four feet 

 long, and spread so as to permit the operator tn 

 tand between them. Mine have the jaws and 



ilready surticicnlly acquainted with the minute 



ils, which is far from being true. Few of your I ,i „I i . i n i ..i .i 



. ' , ,, , , , •'■ "'*« 1 'ii'ist dwell a little on lliem, 



ders but can recollect some simple labor-saving 



crv.illon, in your useful paper, which has been 



nore value to them than one year's subscription. 



th these convictions I shall continue to speak of 



igd no otherwise important, than having coDve- 



nce and saving of labor to recommend them. 



object lo mi.ving grass seed with grain, to save 

 jr in sowing, as much of it would be covered 



deep by the harrow and treading of horses or 

 II. .After sowing my wheat or other grains 

 > are harrowed twice — grass seed sowed, and 

 1 rolled smooth. On sandy loam, half a peck 



lover and the same of timothy or herds grass, 



gtiod quantity. In clayey loams, two quarts 

 .•er and eight of herds grass, is about right — 

 /ing the proportions according to the soils — in 

 ,• wet and bog-land soils, the clover should be 

 lied and a half bushel of red top and a peck of 

 Is grass sowed to the acre. As a general 

 g we sow too little grass seed. The conse- 

 nce is, a poor tilth is left naked, and the growth 

 I rich one is so rank, as to lose much of its 

 10. Some use a brush harrow to smooth their 

 md and cover grass seed. This may do on 

 ind too wot to admit the roller, but ia liable to 

 » the seed and leave it uneven. I would al- 



8 sow chaff in preference to clear seed ; but it 

 lircs observation and judgment ; for a bushel of 

 f, which will contain two lbs. of seed one year, 



not afford half that quantity another. 

 ;very farmer ought to grow his own seed ; it ia 

 ays a cash article, and if he buys he has to pay It is safest to stook the same day you cut. I 

 cleansing, which is useless, unless it contains I prefer twenty bundles to a etook, on account of 



seed. If leached ashes are used on wheat, i the power to stand against the wind. It is made 

 ' should be spread before cultivating : if un- ' as follows : Set up four pairs and one at each end ; 



hed, they may be sowed any time before the one pair and one, on each side of the centre ; 



Its are four inches high. Were it not for press- ' place four cap-sheaves on each of these points, and 



the earth around the seed, I should prefer not fasten together in the usual way. 

 M my grain of any kind, till it was three or j . Cradled grain is much less liable to hurt in Uie 

 • inches high. It will then destroy myriads of g,ook or barn, than that which is reapt, on account 

 .cts, and cause the grain to branch more. I of its looseness. Much grain is injured by mow- 



I this mode will not break the eggs of the ing down too soon. In fact it would ba better 

 ■sian fly, I know no means of doing it. All never to put il in close mows. I saw a grain barn 

 .hasbeensaidor written on sowing quick lime, at Guilford, .,wned by Hon. Joseph Kelsey, in 

 ;s, or impregnating nelds with the fumes of to- »vhich he had one scaffolding above anoUier, so 

 CO, sulphur, or tsscnct, of pole-cat to destroy ,hat the wheat all slood on the butu. It could 



The advantages of early cutting are so numerous 

 As soon as the 

 upper pari of the stock is turned yellow and the 

 kernel is fairly in the paste stale, put in the cradle 

 the first fair day — I say the cradle, for before tho 

 grain is crippled by long standing, this useful in- 

 strument con be used. If you neglect to cut then, 

 you may have rains, and winds to ripen, break 

 down and shell out tho grain — if rusty, the quality 



grows poorer — you must cut with a sxkle the 



straw is too brittle for bands — you can only handle 

 it when the dew is on, &c. 



Unless you feel able to purchase the little ma- 

 chine, with fingers pushed before a pair of little 

 wheels, for taking up cradled grain, which is a 

 great saver of time and back-ache, you may follow 

 the cradle with a rake made as follows: head 2 ft. 

 long, 1 1-2 inch square, 6 teeth half inch in diame- 

 ter, 10 inches clear of head — handle seven feet 

 long — a dry fir is the right shape and light — on 

 the back of head and handle, instead of bows, nail 

 a triangular piece of half inch board, with which to 

 even the butts of the grain. If your grain is good, 

 you may stand in your place and gather a sheaf. 



Those who understand it, can make five bands 

 sooner than I could describe the process. By the 

 way, I know men who can make a band and bind 

 a sheaf quicker than others can do the former. 

 There is a cleverness in handling grain, which few 

 men have arrived at in this section. I have had 

 men in my employ who could not average half an 

 acre in a dav. 



not hurt in this way. I cannot doubt tho flour 

 Would bo much swcclcr preserved in this way. 



As to the mode of ihrnsliing grniri, it hni come 

 to bo more expenaive than before any horso power 

 machine was in operation. It is my dcliberalo 

 opinion that the man who has grain enough to 

 make it an object to feed cuttle on it, will save 

 tiiuo and money by using the (tail in prclerence to 

 any machine ; unless he can have one in his barn 

 to use ns he pleases. Few fanners will afford 

 this. 'J'hc time lost in (ambling straw oul doors 

 and pitching il back again, with the hazard of inju- 

 ry from stones ami serious evils, all of which arc 

 avoided by threshiiig and feeding from the floor. 



Of barley and oats next limo. 

 Yours, &.C. 



JAMES BATES. 



[From the same. | 



CLEARING AWAY OBSTRUCTIONS TO 

 THE PLOW. 

 .Messrs. Editors — This is a subject which nearly 

 intorcsls every farmer in our State. Those who 

 have travelled through different parts of our State, 

 *fid have been at nil observant of the state of 

 '.hings, must know that stumps, stones, old logi«, 

 and other obstructions, are more or less abundant. 

 Now, Farmer Tlirilly is one of those men who in 

 reasoning always endeavors to come at the bottom 

 of his subject. And his first object to be accom- 

 plished is, to clear away all olislruclions from the 

 field, 60 that a complete unbroken furroiv may be 

 turned from one end lo the oilier ; — this, as Farmer 

 Thrifty says, is beginning at llie right end of busi- 

 ness. 



Plowing is the grand operation in husbandry. 

 If a field be poorly plowed, it can not yield a good 

 crop, however skilfully managed in other respects. 

 And let the question be asked, what proportion of 

 the arable land in our Slate is capable of being 

 well plowed? Much has been said lately in re- 

 gard to improvements in the construction of plows. 

 But of what avail is the most consumm.ite skill in 

 the making of this grand instrument of agriculture, 

 if our fields are to remain encumbered with slumps, 

 roots, stones, &,c. ? A well constructed slump 

 machine should be owned in every neighborhood 

 where slumps abound ; and I have heard Farmer 

 Thrifty say that ho wished that the inventive ge- 

 nius of some mechanic would make us off just the 

 right kind of thing for extracting stones from the 

 ground. .After procuring suitable implements for 

 performing all this business, it will not be so great 

 a task as might be imagined, to clear anay all ob- 

 structions from our arable lands. Farmer Thrifty 

 says that he has determined to persevere iii this 

 business, till his whole farm is entirely cleared of 

 obstructions to the plow. Let us then, gentlemen 

 farmers, imitate this worthy and patriotic citizen, 

 and the agriculture of the State of Maine bliall bo 

 placed on equal or higher footing than tliat of Great 

 Britain, 



Swearing in conversation indicates a perpetual 

 distrust of the person's own reputation, and is an 

 acknowledgement that he thinks his bare word not 

 worthy of credit. 



There are sixteen companies in Boston engaged 

 in the ice trade. The quantity of the article ox- 

 ported from Ihat city last year, amounted to sir 

 hundred thousand dollars. 



