256 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For I he New Ensland Farmer. 

 HONOR TO THE FARMER. 



Yes, honor to whom honor is due. And to whom 

 is it due if not to tlie farmer ? Tlie honest, indus- 

 trious farmer need not envy monarf*.hs or kings, 

 for v/iio is so happy and independent 1 and who so 

 free from the cares and ills of life, as the industri- 

 ous, temperate farmer ? Surely no one. Hisfield 

 is a flower garden, yielding him both pleasure and 

 profit. He walks forth into his fields, not like those 

 who revel in affluence, to while away their wearied 

 leisure; not like the mechanic, to invigorate his 

 emaciated frame; but like the robust man going 

 to his field of labor, which to him is a field of plea- 

 sure. And what employment is so natural to man 

 as agriculture ! None. It is man's nature to till 

 the ground. It is the employment ijitended for him 

 by nature. It is as instinctive to man to till the 

 ground as to bees to gather honey. When we 

 consider that over two-thirds of the population are 

 employed in the pursuits of agriculture, that it is 

 natural and indispensible to man's existence, why 

 should so many of our farmers consider their sta- 

 tion a low one? Especially our youth. They 

 seem to think it is not respectable to dig in dirt, 

 and away to some disreputable work-shop, where 

 they soon see their folly, and return to the domestic 

 life of the happy farmer. Farming is every day 

 becoming more and more popular. The time is ap- 

 proaching when the farmers will be looked up to 

 as the most popular and noble people in the world. 

 They are in reality so now. I have seen the most 

 noble and intelligent of men employed in the pur- 

 suits of agriculture. And many of our most noble 

 statesmen, as well as those who have attained the 

 highest degree of eminence and honor, were far- 

 mers. Q. Gavins. 



June 20th, 1851. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MANAGEMENT OF MOWING LANDS. 



Mr. Editor: — The judicious management of 

 mowing lands is one of the most important features 

 of good farming. Any thing that will increase their 

 productiveness tends to improve the condition of 

 the farm, as the cutting of a good quantity of hay 

 is the most practicable means of obtaining fertiliz- 

 ing manure, with which to enrich our soil; and 

 whatever tends to lessen the fertility of our mead- 

 ows will necessarily affect the productiveness of 

 other farm crops and the profits of farming. 



I believe the practice of grazing mowing lands 

 to much extent is an injudicious one. Every one 

 is sensible tbat the feeding of them in the spring 

 will diminish the amount of hay, but it is more in- 

 jurious to feed them in the fall, for several reasons. 

 If the aftermath is allowed to die down on the 

 sward, it will have the effect of a top dressing, en- 

 riching the soil, and thereby increasing the amount 

 of the succeeding crop of hay. If stock were not 

 permitted to graze upon our meadows, many of 

 them, I think, would show no perceptible deteriora- 

 tion in the soil for a series of years, provided the 

 hay was cut when in bloom, which is decidedly 

 the best time, as we then obtain a better quality of 

 hay and the soil and roots are not as much ex- 

 hausted as when the grass stands until the ripen- 

 ing of the seed. 



Some of the most valuable grasses are quite lia- 

 ble to "winter kill," and if the sward is well 



clothed with grass when cold weather sets in, it 

 forms a very important protection against the life- 

 destroying effects upon the roots by the freezing 

 and thawing of the turf. Another advantage of 

 not feeding meadows, is that the aftermath tends 

 to keep up an equal state of moisture and heat 

 through the summer months, and the grass is much 

 less liable to be injured by a drought and the land 

 to becolne tuif-bound. 



An occasion-.il top dressing of mowing lands is 

 a matter of the highest conseciuence, when the ma- 

 nure is properly prepared and applied, and should 

 be practised as much as possible without robbing 

 the tillage crops. Manure applied to grass land 

 should be well decomposed, and it is the best way 

 to compound it with rich swamp muck, mould or 

 earth. From a compost made of equal parts of 

 yard manure and one of these substances, we may, 

 under many circumstances, derive as much and 

 even more benefit than from clear manure. 



It is an excellent and almost indispensable prac- 

 tice to pass the brush and roller over the manure 

 after it is spread; this serves to more thoroughly 

 pulverize the manure and press it down upon the 

 sward, so that the roots will sooner feel its elTects, 

 and will be subject to less waste by evaporation. 

 Mowing lands that are not too wet, should be bro- 

 ken up in from four to seven years, according to 

 the ciiaracter of the soil. The turning under and 

 decay of the turf will, I think, generally enrich the 

 soil as much as two-thirds of an ordinary dressing 

 of manure. 



I believe that land can be as much benefited for 

 the production of grass by deep ploughing, as 

 other farm crops; for the roots will attain greater 

 size and vigor, and are much less subject to be in- 

 jured by drought, frost, &c. 



By enriching our meadows, it gives a chance to 

 enlarge our pastures, and thereby remove the ne- 

 cessity that some farmers feel to graze their mow- 

 ing lands. 



We should never overstock a farm with the view 

 of increasing the profits of farming. Seventy-five 

 sheep well kept will give us as large an annual in- 

 come as one hundred kept in poor condition, and in 

 the same proportion with most other kinds of farm 

 stock; besides, when pastures are fed very close, it 

 has a similar elfect to the grazing of meadows; and 

 if stock are kept so short through the foddering 

 season as to eat up all the straw, orts, &c., the ma- 

 nure is not near as valuable, as it is necessary that 

 there should be coarse forage mixed with it to re- 

 tain its strength by absorbing the juice, gases, and 

 prevent waste by evaporation. 



Pomfrcl, Vt., July lOih. Eben'r Bridge. 



A Thriving Animal. — Mr. A. A. Knowles, 

 of North New Portland, informs us that the calf 

 belonging to him, which weighed one hundred and 

 twenty-six pounds, at the age of four days, weighed 

 in four weeks from that time, two hundred and thir- 

 ty pounds, being a gain of one hundred and four 

 pounds in just four weeks. — Maine Farmer. 



To Restore Pork. — In warm weather, the 

 brine on pork frequently becomes sour and the 

 pork tainted. Boil the brine, skim it well, and 

 pour it back oa the meat boiling hot. This will 

 restore it even where it is much injured. — Genesee 

 Farmer. 



