128 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



terest, I suQrfrest that it would be a proper subject 

 for legislative bounty, on the principle recently 

 adopted for the discovery of the causes of the pota- 

 to rot. This subject is respectfully submitted to 

 the consideration of the members of the Legislature 

 now in session, to agricultral societies, and the pub- 

 lic generally, for a proper investigation of its util- 

 ity. 



Bedford, March 22. J. w. s. 



Remarks. — The writer of this article will see, 

 on reflection, the impropriety of making such a com- 

 munication without his own or his friend's name. 

 Suppose the Legislature was disposed to act on the 

 subject, to whom could they apply for an investiga- 

 tion ? 



For the New Ens^land Farmer. 

 PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tiiere has been a vast improvement in the vari- 

 ous farming operations since the commencement of 

 the present century; many old systems have been 

 abandoued, and new and better ones adopted. 

 Science has lent its aid to the cause: in short the 

 subject has received a general impulse. 



Many tracts of mowing land which were former- 

 ly uneven and abounded with rocks and brushwood, 

 now present a smooth and beautiful surface. The 

 neat rail fence, stone wall or the live hedge are 

 taking the place of unsightly log or brush fence 

 over-run with briers and slirubbery. The fruit de- 

 partment has received its proper share of attention; 

 where there are now orchards of the finest fruit of 

 many varieties, there were formerly few trees that 

 produced any worthy of cultivation. Farming im- 

 plements of improved construction and superior 

 workmanship, combining the qualities of lightness, 

 strength, and saving of labor, are usurping the place 

 of the clumsy and unwieldly ones of former days. 



Agricultural papers, which were once few and 

 far between, are now found in nearly every fami- 

 ly throughout the length and breadth of the land, 

 diffusing information broadcast, which is springing 

 up a hundred fold, and which is every day visible, 

 in the landscape around us. Tliere are other im- 

 provements which might be enumerated, but the 

 above will suffice as examples. Should the same 

 spirit continue for years, we shall vie with, and per- 

 haps outrival the best agricultural portions of Eu- 

 rope in the productions of our soil. We need not 

 fear that the subject will be exhausted; for Europe, 

 after many centuries' experience in cultivating the 

 earth, is far behind China in their knowledge of 

 many branches of husbandry. 0. V. Hills. 



Leominster. 



For the New England Farmer. 



BIRDS. 



Mr. Cole: — I find by making out a list of birds, 

 that we have at least 80 kinds that are common in 

 this town; and I also find that there are very few 

 people that know what they live on, or whether they 

 are useful or not. It is well known to naturalists, 

 that a large majority of birds live wholly, or partly, 

 on insects; some on one kind and some on another. 

 For instance, the robin liveson worms, grubs, &c., 

 until cherries, currants and berries are ripe; when 

 these are gone, you will see them in the fields again, 

 in search of grasshoppers, worms, &c., and then in 



winter they live on cedar and sumac berries, &c., 

 thus changing several times in the course of the 

 year. 



Now my object in writing at this time is to get 

 information, and I hope that some of your corres- 

 pondents who are qualified will give us, from time 

 to time, the history of our birds, or answer the fol- 

 lowing questions about them, viz: what does a blue 

 bird, or any other kind of bird, live on 1 of what 

 use are they ? should they be killed, or should they 

 not? and what are their habits '' I think that if we 

 could get the history of one bird in each of your 

 numbers, that it would be space well taktsn up. 



Pelhaiu, N. H. B. F. Cutter. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 GRAFTING IN ODD AND EVEN YEARS. 



Mr. Cole: — In looking over the 2d Vol. of the 

 N. E. Farmer, I noticed at page 30th, a call for 

 facts in relation to the year of grafting having an 

 influence on the year of bearing of apple-trees, and 

 as I have a little practice in point, it is at your ser- 

 vice. 



In the spring of 1845, I took scions from a Bald- 

 win apple tree that bore invariably in odd years and 

 inserted them into a standard. The next year I 

 took scions from the same tree as before, and in- 

 serted them into another standard. The result is 

 as follows: The tree first grafted bore fruit in 1848, 

 '50. 



On the second tree about one-half the scions 

 bore fruit in 1849, the other half in 1850. The 

 trees grafted were natural fruit of the same variety, 

 and great bearers every year. 



Yours, P. L. Converse. 



Woburn, March 24, 1851. 



NIGHT SOIL™ITS VALUE. 



The best of all manures is the one which in our 

 country is almost universally wasted. In Belgium, 

 where agriculture is carried to great productive- 

 ness, they "order things differently." There, the 

 estimate is, by 7uce calculation, that it is worth $10 

 for every individual, man, woman and child. We 

 traverse sea and land, send to Africa and South 

 America to bring elements of fertility which at 

 home we throw away on every farm in the country. 

 What an immense amount is wasted in our cities ! 

 It must be the most valuable, containing the ele- 

 ments of all kinds of food consumed by man, and 

 in returning these to the soil, we return the iden- 

 tical constituents which former crops and animals 

 had taken from the land. Night soil contains the 

 phosphate of lime, which is indispensable to the 

 growth of animals' bones and to the nutriment of 

 plants, and which is not supplied from the atmos- 

 phere, like carbonic acid and ammonia. All fluid 

 and solid excretions should be preserved by mixing 

 them with burnt clay, saw-dust, ashes, peat or 

 wood charcoal, &c. 



We have a great deal to learn, and alas, much 

 more to practice, that we have learned. — The Plow, 

 the Loom, and the Anvil. 



Fine Mutton. — Mr. John A. Pierce, Stanstead, 

 Canada East, dressed a sheep last fall, of the Lei- 

 cester breed, 1 1-2 years old, that weighed dressed 

 125 lbs. Also a lamb six months old that weighed 

 65 lbs. 



