FARMERS' REGISTER— CULTIVATION OF RYE. 



245 



collects the hay the length of the instrument, which 

 is about ten feet. The horse docs not stop to unload 

 or disengage it from the hay, hut it makes a half 

 evolution and jjasses over the hay thus gathered. 

 It will collect it in a much quicker manner than 

 the hand rake, and do the work quite as well. 

 Whenever my hay is fit to house, I start the rake 

 immediately before the hay carts, and one man and 

 horse will'gather it much faster than two carts and 

 five or six men can convey it from the field, even 

 if the barn is in the centre of it. To say that it is 

 worth as much as the labor of one man, which is 

 equal to a dollar a day, is not giving it credit enough : 

 it does more than this. For besides what it saves 

 in the mere labor by enabling you to gather your 

 hay in a short time, you may by despatch in some 

 measure avoid showers, and have the benefit of a 

 long day of sunshine. — For large farmers who 

 have clean fields, it is particularly useful ; and those 

 who have not yet obtained a rake cannot do better 

 than to purchase one at once, as now is the season 

 for using it, and in the labor and time saved, they 

 will be amply and immediately rewarded. 



Farmers upon subjects of agricultural improve- 

 ment, are slow of belief; and perhaps this is right, 

 as it prevents imposition. But at the same time 

 we must not permit ourselves to be positive losers, 

 because we do not choose to believe in modern im- 

 provement. If we are at all attentive to what pass- 

 es around us, we must be satisfied that it is so, and 

 our observation will tell us that there is room for 

 yet a great deal more. We have only to look back 

 and see what improvements have been made in ag- 

 ricultural instruments within the last thirty years. 

 For instance, in harvesting: the instrument first 

 used was the sickle — then a Dutch instrument call- 

 ed the S'eight — then the half cradle — and lastly 

 the cradle. See what improvements in the con- 

 struction of ploughs, to lessen tlie draught, whilst 

 they perform the work more perfectly : — In wagons 

 single and double, for it is not many years since 

 the wood-shod sleigh was used here to bring in the 

 harvest. I have seen this in my time, and I do not 

 look very far back. The first wagons made were 

 shod with wood, instead of iron. The Turks still 

 use a very rude plough ; it being nothing more 

 than a part of the body of a tree, shaped like a 

 plough, with a limb left behind for a handle, and a 

 cow and an ass yoked for drawing it, and a woman 

 commonly attends as a driver. This we would 

 call primitive farming. It is so. W ith them farm- 

 ing has not advanced in the lapse of years. They 

 are not susceptible to improvements, as they are 

 wedded to old customs, and think God would be 

 angry were they to farm better than their ances- 

 tors. I am sorry to say a few about us have some 

 such notions. Let us cast them aside — march up 

 to the intelligence of the age, and throw mind as 

 well as body into active employment. We were 

 not made like the ox and the horse, merely for bo- 

 dily labor. Let the head assist the hands, and our 

 employment will be both more pleasant and pro- 

 fitable, A. 



On the Cultivation of Rye, 



From ihe New York Farmer. 



Haverhill, Sept. 22, 1832. 



To the Trustees of the Essex Jlgricultural Society : 



Gentlemen, — Having for some years past been 

 more than commonly successful in raising large 



crops of winter rye by a process of cultivation, 

 which I believe, is entirely new, I have been in- 

 duced, by llie suggestion of some gentlemen whose 

 judgment I very much respect, to submit for your 

 consideration a statement of the mode of culture, 

 with the produce. And that the success of the ex- 

 periment this season may not appear to be altogeth- 

 er accidental, it will, perhaps, be as well to com- 

 municate the result of the process for the three or 

 four previous years. 



The land on which the experiment has been con- 

 ducted is situated on the Merrimack, about a mile 

 and a half east of Haverhill bridge ; and came in- 

 to possession of my father in 1827. The soil is a 

 sand, approaching to loam as it recedes from the 

 river. Perhaps the term plain land (by which it 

 usually passes) will better convey an idea of the 

 quality of the soil. It is altogether too light for 

 grass. The crops we find most profitable to cul- 

 tivate on it are winter rye, Indian corn, potatoes, 

 and to some extent turnips. Oats might probably 

 be raised to advantage, were it not that the land is 

 completely filled with the weed commonly called 

 charlick, which renders it entirely unfit for any 

 spring crop, excepting such as can be hoed. The 

 crops of rye, on the neighboring soil of the same 

 nature, vary I believe, from seven or eight to 

 twelve or thirteen bushels per acre, according to 

 the cultivation, and their approximation to the riv- 

 er. AV'e usually raise on land from thirteen to 

 thirty bushels of Indian corn per acre. Potatoes 

 are very good in quality, but the quantity is quite 

 small; not sufficient to be profitable, were it not 

 that the land is very easily cultivated. 



In the summer of 1827, we sowed three bushels 

 of winter rye near the river, on about two acres of 

 land which produced twenty-eight bushels. 



In 1828, we sowed four bushels on four acres of 

 land running the whole extent of the plain from 

 the river. Tliis piece was sowed in the spring 

 with oats; but they were completely smothered 

 with charlick, and about the middle of June, the 

 whole crop was mowed to prevent the charlick seed- 

 ing. By about the middle of August, a second 

 crop of charlick having covered the land, it was 

 ploughed very carefully, in order completely to 

 bury the charlick ; and then suffered to remain un^ 

 til the 15th of September, when we began sowing 

 the rye in the following manner : A strip of land 

 about twelve yards wide was ploughed very even- 

 ly, to prevent deep gutters between the furrows, 

 and the seed immediately sown upon the furrow 

 and harrowed in. Then another strip of the same 

 width, and so on until the whole was finished. We 

 found the oat stubble and charlick entirely rotted, 

 and the land appeared as if it had been well ma- 

 nured, though none had been applied to this part 

 since it had been in our possession. The rye sprung 

 very quick and vigorously, having evidently de- 

 rived great benefit trom being sown and sprouted 

 before the moisture, supplied by the decaying ve- 

 getable matter in the soil had evaporated to any 

 considerable extent. This crop produced one hun- 

 dred and thirty-three bushels. 



In 1829, the charlick was suffered to grow on the 

 land appropriated to rye, until it had attained its 

 growth and was in full blossom. The land was 

 then ploughed very carefully, and the charlick 

 completely covered in. In a short time a second 

 crop appeared more vigorous than the first. This 

 also was allowed to attain its growth, and then 



