S26 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRILM, ig^e 



AWn HORTICULTDRAL RKQI9TER. 



BoiTOi«, Wed5ksdat, April 13, 1842. 



NOW TO THE WORK. 



Tlie time has come to ktiep the team nt the plow and 

 harrow— to bo throwir)g over the dung heaps— to bo 

 getting in itie spring groin. 



At the plow and the h.-jrrow, liave n tenm bo strong 

 that it can move f.irward at a vigoroui pace without be- 

 ing worried. In clear land, with the furrow a foot wide, 

 let the team travel fast enough to plow one acre in. from 

 seven to eight hours. If properly fird, your team will 

 do the spring work easier ut this pace than at the slow 

 gait which tuk.s from eleven to twelve liours for the 

 acre. Lot the u\eii be fed airly in the morning— taJic 

 ihem out at a little past six— give them an hour andan 

 half at noon to feed, and return them to the barn as 

 early as six o'clock. Feed well with good hay and 

 some grain— keep the team well littered and well c.rdod. 

 Stir the land deep— stir the whole of it— and have it 

 well pulverized before you put in the seed. The har- 

 row may lug the team, but it is an implement that does 

 much to increase the crops, if it is heavy— if its teeth 

 are made to penetrate deep, and if it be drawn ovnr the 

 land both Kays. Any slighting of this work will be re- 

 compensed veiatiously at hoeing time, and will bo com- 

 plained of by the growing crop. 



Now dig up tho sod by the wall or fence, which the 

 plow cannot get hold of— stop the bushes from growing 

 there— if ihc-y have possession already, cut them down 

 and dig op the roots. Here is the best soil in the field : 

 It has been enriched not only by the snows and dust 

 which have lodged there, but by the alkali of the rocks 

 which compose the wall. Appearance too— the looks 

 of the ihing— isa reason for digging up all bushes and 

 planting your crops close to the fence. JVeat and tho- 

 rough work is best. 



The Manure heaps. Let them ho well thrown over- 

 well mixed up— well pulverized- before they areapplied 

 to the land. In this state they are much more effica- 

 cious than when put upon the land in lumps. 



Employers often think it for their interest to keep the 

 men as many hours as possible in the field. We doubt 

 the economy of the course. A good laborer knows 

 what a fair day's work is, and is willing to perform it. 

 If he knows thai when he has done it, he may leate 

 the field, he will accomplish it in ten cr el.;vcn hours; 

 but if he must continue longer than that at his worki 

 he will soon train himself to that slower movement 

 which will prevent riie accomplishment of the " fair 

 day's work " before the hour when he is called from the 

 field. Tliis will be donii from necessity, rather than 

 from any deliberate purpose. 



HOURS OF WORK. 



The principles of our advice in relation lo the speed 

 of the tenm and the hours for working yimr beasts, are 

 applicable to your own labor and that of your men.' 



We are satisfied from observation as well as experi^ 

 »nce, thai ten hours per day, in the field, are enough— 

 (the care of the stock to prcceile end follow.) In ten 

 hours each day, diligently improved, most ninii will ac- 

 complish as much work as they can by extending tho 

 hours of work beyond that number. Jn other word* 

 we know of no other farms on which so much labor is 

 accomplished in a s.a.on by a given number of hands, 

 Bi on those where about ten hours prr day are spent in 

 the field in vigorous and dilij.out labor. W« know 

 many who work twelve or thirteen hour.— but they 

 work more slowly, and do not accomplish a greater 

 amount of work than those who take two hours more 

 for rest. 



If one is lazy, or if his natural motions are very slow, 

 it may take him more than ten hours lo perform a fair' 

 dsy'iwork; he mujt make up in lime what he lacks' 

 in despatch. | 



On all farms, circumslaneea will occnsionnlly make it 

 desirable lo work more hours than wo have named, on I 

 some particular days; but not ordinarily Wo go upon 

 tho presumption that one is lo heep at tcerfc- busily and I 

 vigorously ai work. I 



SEEDING DOWN TO GRASS. 



I Much land is annually seeded down by sowing grass 

 seed along with spring grain. The convenience of ihU 

 course will cause it to be continued in,- though it is at- 

 tended with much danger of loss. 



Six or eight lbs. of clover seed, twelve quarts of timo- 

 thy or herds grass and three pecks of redtop, is a com- 

 mon seeding; but farmers would do well to increase 

 the quantity of lierdsgrass. This is the most important 

 kind of seed, because clover in most instances will come 

 in, even where no seed has been sown. And the red- 

 top will not generally make its appearance until the 

 third or fourth season, in considerable quantities. It is 

 tho time between the clover and the rodlop— that is, 

 the second and third years of the giase crop, that the 

 besi yield is obiained, provided the herdsgrass takes 

 well. To secure its taking well, or rather to increase 

 the chance, of its doing so, it is well to put on a large 

 quantity of seed. On moist and rich lands, we prefer 

 sowing the herdsgiass without either clover or redtop. 



Many farmers are accustomed lo give the grass seed 

 only s slight covering of earth ;— they sow upon the 

 furrows made in plowing in the grain, or upon the une- 

 ven surface left by the cultivator or the teeth of the har- 

 row, ind ihen cover by merely brushing or rolling. 

 Thus placed, tho seed will vegetate, but we have not 

 found it bearing the heats, and drought of summer so 

 well as when tho seed is placed deeper. We put the 

 grass seed as deep as wo do the gmin. 



More care than is otien taken to make the surface 

 smooth, will be amply repsid by the greater convenience 

 in mowing and raking for the three, four or five subse- 

 quent years. 



THE FENCES. 

 Ifit has not been done already, take up those rotten 

 posls in tho fence down at tho lower end of the field, 

 and put in eom« new ones ;— put in whole rails in the 

 place of the broken ones ;— put up tho draw bars all 

 sround tho premises ;— mend the gaps in the wall wher- 

 ever the frosts or vagrants, whether biped or quadruped, 

 havh thrown it down. Get every lot secure, for it will 

 not he long before some neighbor's cows or horse will 

 be turned ^ut to pick up a hrciikfast in the road, and 

 they will take iho liberty to lunch and dine in your 

 fields if the fcoQe (or abseoco of fence) allows thorn cen- 

 venient entrance 



SOAKING. SEED GRAIN. 

 W'« doubt whothor in ordinary cases any benefit re- 

 sults from soaking grain, either in water simply, or in 

 any solution in water; hut if from any cause, one is 

 kept from putting his in until pssi the proper time, soak- 

 ing will hasten the germination and help hie crop to 

 make up for lost time. 



EARLY POTATOES. 



The potato may be brought forward in its growth, b 

 putting it where it will sprout well before planting.' ^ 

 good wny of effecting ihe early starting of the sprou' 

 IS to put some fresh horse dung in a warm and .^helteret!: 

 spot, and cover this with earth four to six inches thici 

 Let the dung also be laid five or six inches thick. I, 

 the earth abov* ilie dung, put as many potatoes as yo Si 

 want lor tho first planting. Some put Iho potatoes o '^: 

 Ihe ground and cover wiih the dung. Do not break tb ^ 

 sproiiis when you plant out. 



It is said that potatoes of an early kind that wcr 

 planted late the last season, and had barely time to ripe r 

 before the frosts of autumn, arobetterfor seed th.nn thojjF.I 

 that were planted early and matured in August. 



Also, it was said at an iigricultural meeting at thi *' 

 State House, that a gentleman in Pittsfield has ascer ' 

 tainod by experiment that icdted potatoes will give 81 [ 

 earlier produce than any others. 



PEAS. 



Early peas may be sprouted and hastened, in the wa* ■ 



recommended for polntoes. Peas that are planted very, " 



early are generally less prolific bearers than those thai. ' 



are not put into the ground ur.til the earth is warm. Kop ' 



I all early vegetables use none but well rotted manure. 



[ RADISHES. 



U you plant these in an old garden, cover the bed 

 with two or three inches of sand or fine gravel, and put 

 ahalfpiiit of salt on each square yard. In this way 

 you icay hope lo keep Ihe worms from yourf lanU. 



CURCULIO AND CANKER-WORM. 



An experienced cultivator of fruits and flowers, Mr 

 Carter, of the Botanic Garden, Cambridge, informs ut 

 ihatfresh cow dung mixed with pitch and sulphur and 

 Ihen thoroughly dried, may be placed under the trees in 

 calm weather and set fire to. The mixture will burn 

 slowly, and its offensive smoke will bring down the 

 cutculio and the canker worm. Scraps of leather, or 

 any other matters that will give out an offensive odor 

 may be put in the mixture. ' 



The irealise of our respected correspondent at North- 

 cinplon, will appear in our next. 



MESSRS. GARRETSON AND PRINCE. 



Two weeks since, we gave some extracts from a leU 

 ter by Mr Prince, of Flushing, L. I., complaining of M» 

 Garrelson's advertisement in our coUimns. Mr GarreU 

 son pronounces ihe quotations wc gnvc from Mr P 't 

 I letter, " base falsehood.'' 1I« aays that the land he ob- 

 tamed from Mr P. consists of "rising 22 acres, and c.r- 

 tunly not over one acre has as yet been used for sireeti 

 and town lots; and I maintain every ihing set forth in 

 I my adverlisemonl is strictly correct " Mi G. refers to 

 [various gentlemen in Flushing, near the premises, (J. 

 llarrisKing, Esq., E. W. Lawrence, and others.) 'who 

 he says ate disinterested, and would give a different ac- 

 count of the mailer from Mr Prince's. 



We know nothing as to the merits of the case between 

 these nurserymen, and we presume our readers lake no 

 interest in it; and having noticed the oppositn sidet 

 about equally, we must close our columns «g.i„,t ,„. 

 thing more upon the subject. 



Nothing is high because il is high in rank, and noth- 

 ing I. low bccauee il is low in Me.-Dickens' .•ipeech at 

 Hartford. 



Pride, like the magnet, eonslantlj points lo one ob- 

 jrct, self; but unlike Ihe mognet, il has no atlractiv* 

 pole, but alall poinU repoli.— -Lacon. 



