374 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



June 15. 182/ 



at difl'erent stages of its growth, all of which I 

 found ruinous, the deficiency of the crop being in 

 exact proportion with the earliness of the cutting, 

 with this addition, that the potatoes were ill ri- 

 pened and of a veiy bad quality. 



Loudon's Gardener's Magazine says " Wc are 

 sorry to observe that practice of pinching off po- 

 tatoe blossoms is not generally adopted, as the 

 produce would thereby bo materially increased. 

 (Salisbury Journal, Sep. 2,) A correspondent has 

 fonnd from experience that the crop is not only 

 increased, but mnch better in qunlity, and wishes 

 us to direct the attention of our readers lo the 

 practice, which we hereby do, fully convinced of 

 its importance." 



WEEDING. 



Although it is not customary in this country to 

 weed wheat and other broad cast crops, there are 

 great adrantages resulting from the practice. Sir 

 John Sinclair gives tlie results of various experi- 

 ments which were tried for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining what degree of positive advantage was de- 

 rived from weeding wheat, &,c. by which it ap- 

 peared that the gain in wheat in consequence of 

 weeding was ono fourth of the whole produce, 

 amounting to 4J bushels per acre ; in barley, (the 

 field being infested with charlock) 15 bushels per 

 acre, more than half the whole produce, and in 

 oats about 10 bushels to the acre, the whole pre- 

 duce being .37 bushels. In some situations, soils 

 and circumstances it might bo well worth the ex- 

 pense and trouble to weed fields of giain in this 

 country. But if this is undertaken it should by 

 all means be performed before the plants begin to 

 send out their ears. And if the hoe is not used U 

 will at least be highly expedient to puU out by 

 hand, the rye, cockle, darnel, tliistles, &,c. before 

 they shed their seeds. 



" Weeding flax," (says Mr Pomeroy in his Es- 

 say on Flax Hushandry, is considered in Europe, 

 and by good husbandmen in this country as ne- 

 cessary to secure a good crop of flax, which is 

 a very tender plant wlien young, and more easily 

 checked in its progress by weeds than any otlier. 

 It is not supposed to be injured by the clover and 

 grass sown with it ; on the contrary the Flemish 

 farmers think them beneficial, by protecting the 

 tender roots from drought, and keeping the weeds 

 under. It should be carefuily v/eeded when the 

 plants are three or four inches high ; they are 

 not then injured by the labourer going barefoot 

 over them. It is not always the case, however, 

 that flax needs weeding. Land which has recent- 

 ly been cleared from its original growth of wood, 

 or broken up from sward, will, generally, produce 

 broad-cast ctops, wliicli require no wcedintr. 



Many vegetable productions which are styled 

 weeds, such as purslane, pigweed, &c. &c. make 

 good food for swine, and should bo gathered in 

 baskets during the process of weeding and given 

 to those animals. If weeds have ariivcd at such 

 maturity that their seeds would vegetate, if they 

 have a chance it will be best to burn them with 

 fire or quick lime, or to bury them in a compost 

 heap, where the germinating principle may be 

 destroyed by fermenUition^ Sometimes it may be 

 found e.\pedient to bury weeds near the spots 

 where they grow, in trenches between the rows 

 of plants. It has been recommended to rake 

 ■weeds in heaps, scatter a little quick lime over 

 them, and cover the whole with a coating of earth. 



ON THE DEGREE OF KNOWLEDGE WHICH 5IAT BE 

 OBTAINED BY PRACTICAL KKN. 



The terms knowledge and ignorance are relative. 

 Had the veriest smatterer in chemistry lived in 

 the days of Doctor Faustus or Friar Bacon, and 

 exhibited tlie most common experiments of a mod- 

 ern laboratory, he would have been burned for an 

 adept in the black art, or tortured to death by in- 

 fallible inquisito s for dealing with the devil. It is 

 impossible to foresee or correctly appreciate the 

 efl^octs and the value of the increased and still in 

 creasing dominion which mind illuminated by sci 

 ence may give to man over nature. Every step 

 paves the way and facilitates the progress to far 

 ther advances. The farther we proceed in the 

 path of improvement the smoother it becomes, and 

 the advantages which result from the course be- 

 come more numerous, more apparent, and more 

 splendid. 



The improvomonts which have exalted man in 

 the scale of creation to a degree, of which his 

 I earlier predecessors could form no conception, 

 j have been, and shoujd be, by no means confined to 

 ' those whose lives are devoted to intellectual pur- 

 suits. '• It is impossible (says Mr Loudon) to set 

 limits to the knowledge which may be obtained by 

 those who are destined even to the most severe 

 and constant labour. Tlie intelligence of the mi- 

 ners in Scotland and Sweden may be referred to 

 as proofs. The miners at Leadhills Jiavs n regu- 

 lar library and reading society ; and the works 

 they make choice of are not only histories, voya- 

 ges and travels, &c. but even works of taste, such 

 as the British Classics, and the best novels and 

 romances. The degree to which knowledge \v\\\ 

 prevail among any class of laboring men, will de- 

 pend jointly on their own ambition ; on the de- 

 mand f(,r, or reputation in which knowledge is 



held ; and on the opportunities for ncquirin-T it. 



A dull, stupid person, with little native activity, 

 will never desire to know more than what enables 

 him to supply the ordinary wants of life. Where 

 the workmen of any art are required to have a 

 technical knowledge of any particular kind, they 

 will be found invariably to possess it. Thus car- 

 penters and masons require some knowledge of 

 the mechanical principles of architecture, and 

 working engineers of the strength of materials ; 

 and these kinds of knowledge are acquired by 

 them without an hour's interruption of their daily 

 labour: on the contrary the ha])it of evening 

 study renders them more steady, sober and indu.3- 

 trious than other workmen. If every cook-maid 

 before she could obtain a first rate place were re- ' 

 qnired to read ..Ipicius Redivivus in the origin::l 

 tongue, there would be no want of learned cooks: 

 and if no gardener could obtain a first rate situa- 

 tion who had not written a Thesis in Greek, or 

 who had not made the tour of Europe, there would 

 not be wanting abundance of gardeuers so qualifi- 

 ed. A Caledonian, when he comes to the Inn 

 country, soon acquires the English tongue, and if 

 he has been taught Latin, thus knowslhrce lan- 

 guages. The servants at the inns on some pa its 

 of the Continent, frequented by different nations, 

 often acquire a moderute knowledge of throe or 

 four languages ; and the bar-maid, at the hotel 

 at which we lorlged in Moskwa, in 1814, could 

 make herself intelligible in Swedish, Russian, Po- 

 lish, German, French, Italian, and English."' 



A Canal from Adams, in Berkshire Counlv, Msi 

 to Troy or Stillwater, N. Y. is proposed. 



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RING WOKIM. 



A friend wishes to know, through the Now K 

 land Farmer, if any effectual remedy is kna 

 for the Ring li'orm, with which, we are in'brc 

 by a respectable physician, more persons tl 

 usual are troubled this season. The two lollow 

 recipes are given by Dr. Willich. Printers' 1 

 and the frequent application of soft soap, we hi 

 likewise heard recommended. 



RING woR.M, OR TKTTER, [Htrpes miiiaris.) 

 eruption on the face, which consists of numen 

 small pustules, that rise closely in contact w 

 each other; appearing generally in a circn 

 form, and beina- attended with painful itching. 



These pustules never suppurate, and cannot, 

 easily cured ; often breaking eut at certain ^ 

 iods of the year, even after they have been i 

 parently removed. The usual application, in t) 

 afi'ection, is the common black or writing ink ;\ 

 frequent friction, or embrocation of the erupti_,,„„. 

 with mushroom catsup, has sometimes been atteni iimlo 

 ed with success. The following preparation hi tii pli 

 likewise been recommended; though we hsi iliw i 

 had no experience of its sffects : Take the roa Mtkii 

 of wild or garden sorrel ; let them be washed pa ite(« 

 fcctly clean, bruised in a stone mortar, and steel ,eoi«c 

 ed in strong white- wine vineg.ar, for two or tbM 

 days. At the end of that time, the liquor will \ 

 fitfor use, and the ring-worm should be rubl(( M^ 

 with it three or four times in the course of tr '""'' 

 day, and every night, previously to rciiriug to rei if 

 the roots being left in the vinegar as long as ai 

 of this liquid remains. ' " 



Rub the part effected, with the expressed j. 

 of the back walnut rind ; or with the juice fo_ 

 at the bottom of the tubs in which tobacco is kei 

 cr with a strong decoction of tobacco: or with 

 fresh leaves of gimson, (Datura stramonium)\ 

 with vinegar and gunpowder : or cover it with ill 

 siminered with white lead ointment, (white let—,— 

 rubbed into hogs' lard,) of with the mercurial cii ilora 

 ron ointment, (nitrate of mercury rubbed up will i «ki 

 hogs' lard.) All these have been tried and propi^ 

 ed, but the disorder is frequently inveterate. 



« VVEEVII,. 



The Society of Meaux in France has invited 

 those who think proper to make use of the folio, 

 ing very simple method of preserving grain frdi 

 weevils, and other insects, to communicate the 

 suit ot those trials 



Soak clotns, made of flax, in water, wring th 

 and cover your heaps of grain with them : in t 



hours time you will find all the weevils upon tW 



cioth, wliich must be carefully gathered up, thi 

 none of the insects may escape, and then immei 

 ed in water to destroy them. 



It has been stated that bread may be preservi 

 at sea, and in other situations in which it is liabl 

 to be injured or consumed by weevils by inclosiffl 

 it in bags, which had been previously soaked inl 

 pretty strong solution of salt petre. 



Intirnal Improvmient — A resolve has juslpasS 

 ed the Hou.e of Representatives, of Alassachl 

 setts appropriating IU,M{) dollars, for the survdf 

 of a route lor a railway, froi, Boston to Huds3 

 river, by a vote of \m to 4V. 'I'he unanimity witf 

 w/iiuh this liberal appropiiation is made, is grat^ 

 lyiiig to the friends of internal improvement, i 

 petition has been presented ior incorporating 

 company toi a canal Iroui Adams down the Uooa, 

 ac river to New York line — Joseph Sewiil, Esq 

 li»s been chosen Treasurer ami Receiver Genera 

 of the State. 



