382 



NEW E N G L A x\ D FARMER, 



JVNE 1, 181 



AM) HORTICULTURAL RK0I3TER. 



BosTOK, Wedkesdxt, Jdre 1, 1842. 



TII.LA6E-CARE OF THE CROPS. 



Cropi of marly every kind, derive tieneiit from fre- 

 quent stirrings of llio enrtli Droun'l their roots If wa mis- 

 take nut, many farmers nre accustumed, when the corn- 

 field or potato field is not weedy, to infer that hoeing is 

 not culled fi>r. It is true that when weeds are abundant, 

 the crop does require cleaning; but it diie< not fol- 

 low that whin there iiro no weeds the crop is doing as 

 well as good husbandry can make it do. For the object 

 of plowing, cultiriUoring (?) harrowing, |jufin;i, &c., is 

 not snUlij to destroy weeds. Every stirring of the soil 

 bring.s new p.iiticle8 of soil or of manure and soil togeth 

 er, and promotes new chemical and new mechanical 

 changes in it. This stirring makes the soil give out 

 more freely food for the plants, and makes of the soil an 

 easier and morn agreeable bed for the roots to expand in. 



What is the best process of tillage for Indian corn, (or 

 instance. If much manure has been put in the hill, it is 

 necensnry to put so much earth upon it, as to keep the 

 manure from drying up. In such cares the common 

 mode of plowing between the rows and e.irthing up, is 

 nece.isary. But where the manure has all, or nearly 

 all been spread, the crop does well without any hill. 



The ground should be often stirred— but how ? Shall 

 we run the plow or cultivator or harrow deep, and loos- 

 en the earth as far down as we can .' orshull we merely 

 scratch the surface.' In years pait we have maintained 

 that it is important to spare the roots of the growing 

 corn ; and have prefijrrcd ming a light horkc-liarruw to 

 any other implement; and our course has been success- 

 ful. But it does not (ollow from this that we miiy not 

 do betti'r. 



When reading last year the Essays upon Husbandry, 

 by Ri'V. Jared Eliot, published in 1747, and from which 

 we extracted freely into our columns, we were much 

 impressed by a slutcmcnt there mode in regard to ihu 

 efTrcls of peculujr tillogc upon the carrot crop. This 

 was raised without manure. Th« rows were put wide 

 apart, and sofm after the plants came up, the earth was 

 plowed away from them, the plow running very near 

 the pliinls. After t few days, thesp furrows wer4 turned 

 back towards the plants. A few days subsequently to 

 this, fuirows were again turned fromtht plants, but the 

 plow did not run quite so near them as at the first time. 

 Then after a few days the fuirows were turned back — 

 ond this process of turning off and on, was repeated five 

 • r six limes. But at each time of turning of)', the plow 

 WIS kept a little farther from the plants than before. 



The consequence of all this was that ho obtained car- 

 rots 8,0 and 10 inches in circumference, where in the 

 common way of cultivation h« could not have had th»m 

 larger " than a common dipped tallow candle." And 

 though liis rows were six fret apart or more, he obtained 

 230 bushels per acre. 



Tho minute fibrous roots of the carrot extend laterally 

 farther than we are apt to observe. And it is only a 

 fair supposition that the b'iitcr the statu of the ground, 

 or tb.1t the more recently tho ground has been stirred 

 bifore the roots extend into it, the bettor the crop will 

 grow. Tho course pursued by Mr Eliot was odmiiabiy 

 fitted to furnish to the roots a fresh supply of soil fnuii 

 week to week, and this soil in alight and pulverized 

 Slate. 



Tho question whirh his praeticw and liia success in 

 tliiscaso have suggested, is this: whether we might not 



benefit our corn, our potaloe«, and all other crops by 

 commencing early with plowing ihe earth away from 

 one sida of the row, letiing the plow run eery near Ihe 

 plants — say within two or lliiee inches ; then we might 

 turn this earth back immediately, or let it remain 

 two or three days, and ibcn turn it back. After this 

 was d>'n< we might plow away from the other side; 

 ut the proper time turn this back. When it became ne- 

 cessary to plow of! again, keep tho plow 4 or 5 inches 

 /rom the plant. And thus repcU the process as long as 

 was necessary — taking 'care all Ihe time to keep the 

 plow far enough from the plants not to harm many nf 

 the roots. 



At ihe last time of going over the ground, it may be 

 well to use the light harrow and level the whole sur- 

 face. 



This is merely theory — hook farming — we give it only 

 as such. If any of our renders shall find in it any in- 

 ducement to make a lew limited experiments, the theo- 

 ry may possibly prove to be of some service. 



A fact that has some bearing upon this point, may be 

 brought from the practice of some of the most successful 

 Scotch cultivators of the potato, who after the plants 

 come up, take ofT the mould-board from the plow, and 

 then running the coulter as near to the plants as they 

 can, let the share pass directly under the seed and plants. 

 The effect is to stir the ground that the 6rst roots will 

 enter just as they begin to want food. 



SOU FENCE. 



We have somewhere read tliat Ihe peasants, in por- 

 tions o( France, inclose their small farms with fences of 

 siidsorluif; and that on these fences they grow must 

 of their fuel. Where we met with the account we do 

 not now recollect; but the perusal left in our memory s 

 distinct impression of all thai was needful for imitatinf; 

 the process. 



Last autumn, the public good, required the county 

 commissioners to open a way throu|;h our prirale do- 

 mains and impose upon us the burthen of consiructing 

 145 rods of fence. Wo had neither wood nor stone for 

 ilie purpose. Along portions of the line we bad a tole- 

 rably good upland sward — some of the way was bog 

 meadow — and some, a brittle Upland soil. In October 

 last, we commenced laying up sods — tin- fence four feel 

 wide at the surface of the ground, and two feet wide at 

 3 1-2 feet from the surface. At the sides we trenched 

 from (me and a half to two feet in both width and depth. 

 So that from the bottom of tho dilch to the lop of the 

 fence was five feet or more. We completed about thir- 

 ty rods last autumn and sowed apple pomace upon it. 

 The hoys— and somo of them full grown — have found 

 it agreeable to make this fence a foat path through the 

 wiiilcr and spring, and have so trodden down tho cover- 

 ing of the pomace, that wo shall have no trees this sen- 

 son. But as soon ns the road is made, and it is known 

 in the vicinity that tho top of the fenca is planted, wo 

 sImII have no evil of the kind to complain of. The 

 fi.nce itself— though the winter was nno to try it — has 

 stood well. Wo have laid the foundation and brought 

 towards completion nearly one hundred rods more. 

 Much of the way we nie obliged to haul the sods a few 

 rods, und to mix in hard brako-huniinocks, or brake 

 heads, brought from the pasture lands that wo are 

 breaking up. With one or two layers of these, wc can 

 make a fence of earth, even where there is little if nny 

 sward. What the expense of putting up this kinil of 

 fence will be, we havn no means of dolerniining accu- 

 rately. But it will not exceed fifty cents per rod. It 

 requires the soil of a sirip ot land a rod wide or more, to 

 make such a fence — but tijis is not all lost land. In 



three or four years it will all grass over, and the fe^ 

 proper will besr a good crop of grass. 



One of our neighbors having watched our ope 

 and seen how our fence stood the winter, has bt^ ' 

 about 80 tods of such fence this spring. He had nM d 

 all the way a tolerably good sward, and an easy sulii ; 

 to shovel. Ilis fence was built by the labor of | i 1' 

 men in II 1-2 days afler the ground was plowed. 7 | ' 

 plowing might cost from a dolLir to a dollar and a bi | ' 



Where rocks are abundant, stone wall is the besiM 

 on a farm. Where rails and posts are at hand, the/ [ ,[ 

 well; but where neither can be had convanicnllv,i 

 where the soil itself admits of being formed into a fen 

 there the sod fence may be desirable. 



Should any one desire any farther inlormation up« 

 this subject, we shall be happy to commuoicste all ttn 

 we posstss. 



Lime. — A striking instance of the effect of lima in 

 verting animal matter into manure is contained in tk 

 following extract from RufTm's Essay on Calcareous Mt 

 nurcs : 



" The carcase of a cow, killud by accident late in Ik 

 spring was laid on the ground, and covered by about il 

 bushels of broken shells mixed with 45 bushels of esrti 

 chiefly silicious. After the rains had settled the hst^ 

 it was only six inches thick over the highest part of tit 

 carcass. The process of putrefaction was so slow, ihi! 

 several weeks passed before it was over ; nor was it evu 

 BO violent as to throw off any etlluvia that the cnlcin- 

 ous earth did not intercept in its escape, so that no oflsi- 

 sive smell was ever perceived. In October the who* 

 heap was carried out and applied to one sixth of an scr- 

 of wheal; and the effect produced far exceeded thstc 

 the calcareous manure alone, which was applied at \ht 

 same time on the surrounding land." 



The same valuable work contains a caution to tin 

 farmer, which may save him from dangerous error. 

 " He is not to suppose that calcareous earth . an cnrid 

 a soil by direct means. It destroys the woi.sl Inc .,f pr»- 

 ductiveness, aridity, and uses to the greatest odvaiitigr 

 the fertilizing powers of other manures ; but of iiself it 

 gives no fertility to soils, nor furnishes the least food fe 

 growing plants." In other words, it is the strong bd 

 for the treasure, but not the treasure itself. 



Lime also possesses the property of making san^ 

 soils closer and firmer, and clayey soils lighter, lliii 

 mean between two extremes. — Darid Thomas' s Jlddresi. 



Thorough Culture. — I am satisfied that we have bets 

 loo saving of our harrows. Thirty years ago, there w« 

 a method of plowing in this country called "cut ni 

 cover." It was plowing, not to the shares, but to thi 

 halves — the furrow slice covering the space wheru a fur- 

 row ought to have been. I am appiehensivc thai uui 

 ideas of harrowing were learned in the some sr ho'J 

 When grain is sowed, is it not the prevailing upnii* 

 that it is harrowed enough when the seed is covi rrd^ 

 I had apiece of land harrowed sixteen times in on' <ia;, 

 and was satisfied the labor was well applied 



For beets, or corn, or polaloes, what would l>r lU 

 cITect of plowing in a heavy dressing of stable m lauri. 

 harrowing twice, and repeating tho operations cf Ilii 

 plowing and hnrrowings fiiur times more, adding; eaci 

 time to the depth of the soil ? 1 have not yet pcrrrmti 

 the experiment, but the nearer I have approachid it. till 

 finer has been tha crop. Thorough culluro would mo!> 

 to require that every little lump should bebmlxn.!) 

 that the roots could wander freely in every direction, sn< 

 that every drop of a summer shower should be caujbl 

 and retained for future use. Hard land and thin saik 

 have some resemblance to a dish bottom upwards. — A 



