&Ik fatmtfs ittontljlij btsttor. 



41 



new lands of belter fertility to tempt the farmer 

 away from his old lands so soon as their first 

 great production Sagged! The lighter lands 

 were tlie soonest to wear out and the first to lie 

 given over to sterility. A dozen or twenty years 

 of exhausting cultivation would he pretty sure to 

 make some farms incapable of producing grasp, 

 grain or vegetables sufficient to pay the labor of 

 cultivation and harvesting. 



It is now well understood that most light lands 

 in the interior may be resuscitated by the use of 

 plaster anil clover under a rotation or change of 

 Clops. That matter was also understood by the 

 Jersey farmer fifty years ago; yet in all that 

 time a great part of the light lands in West Jer- 

 sey that could not have direct aeeess to city, vil- 

 lage or sea manures, has been suffered to lay un- 

 improved. Within the last five years, we are 

 told, large tracts of these New Jersey light lands 

 have been brought into cultivation by the use of 

 the mineral manures, marl, plaster and quick 

 lime, in addition to the vegetable sliuiulaiiis.such 

 as stable and sea manures. It is in the lightest 

 lands that thousands of bushels of peaches are 

 raised for the New York and Philadelphia mar- 

 kets: the same lands produce corn and other 

 grains, with all the common useful root vegeta- 

 bles. Jersey is now an exporting Slate of bread- 

 stuffs: these bread-stuffs are raised on lands 

 which used to ship small wood to the sea-ports 

 of other Sfates, and with the avails purchase 

 flour and meal for home consumption. 



Most of the pine plain lands, extensive in the 

 New England States, may he brought into profit- 

 able cultivation; and these, which have been ac- 

 counted our poorest, may be made equal lo the 

 best lauds for production and profit. A light soil 

 is always easier alul less expensive of cultivation : 

 a poor light soil will be greatly sireugthed and 

 assisted with clover seed and plaster— the latter 

 ploughed iu aftei' a first crop. Deep ploughing — 

 when first broken up anew a liltle deeper than 

 ever before — will most assuredly aid the crops of 

 light land. The vegetable mould will grow 

 deeper and blacker for the deep ploughing : after 

 the sub-soil shall receive the due thawing and 

 freezing and atmospheric action, there can be no 

 danger of using it upon the surface. 



Let the advice of the thriving Jersey fanner of 

 years gone by be remembered 10 be practised. 



Guano. 



The farmers of Maryland and Virginia, upon 

 the worn-out soil of that country, have found in 

 the Peruvian guano a manure more directly pro- 

 duclive than any other. The supply of guano in 

 the country by no means equals the demand: 

 the retail price of Peruvian guano at Washing- 

 ton city lias been raised from forty dollars lasl 

 year to fifty-five dollars ibis year the ton. In the 

 use of this manure all the writers in Eng- 

 land and this country agree upon several essen- 

 tial points, among which are ihe following: 



To keep the guano from direct contact with 

 the seeds and roots of plains : 



To use it shortly before or after a rain: 



To cover or mix it with the soil immediately 

 when not used as a top dressing : 



When used as a lop dressing to mix it with 

 three or four limes its bulk of earlh, or some less 

 pungent manure, that its strength may be diluted 

 and not burn the plants. 



Guano should never be given in contact with 

 seeds, as it kills the embryo in germination : for 

 the same reason it may be doubtful whether it 

 may not by being laid too near the ruots of plants 



force them if not burn them up, especially in a 

 dry season. Jt should be carefully covered and 

 mixed with the soil as much as practicable. As 

 the lumps are too strong, they should be broken 

 up and all put through a seive. 



The mixing guano with an equal volume of 

 plaster serves to fix the ammonia : mixed with 

 four or six parts of pure soil, its volatile products 

 are absorbed, and its disagreeable smell is avoid- 

 ed — the warmer the soil, the less quantity of 

 moisture is needed. Brown colored earlh, peaty 

 matter, saw-dust, slightly burnt clay, charred 

 turf, coal or peat ashes, are all good lo be mixed 

 with guano. 



We have two tons of African guano (being 

 unable to procure Peruvian guano in Boston) 

 which is intended to be used on about twenty 

 acres of sub-soiled light land prepared last fall : 

 this with our own fashioned compost of twenty 

 loads of fifty bushels measure each to the acre, 

 at the rate of two hundred pounds, is intended 

 for our crop of corn and potatoes — the latter to 

 he planted first as soon as the earlh is fit for its 



reception. 



— . .rr ^ — 



Long Island Peaches. 

 The Agriculturist describes the peach orchards 

 of Mr. John I. Stoothoff, situated near Jamaica, 

 Long Island, six miles from the ocean, where 

 they receive the uninterrupted effects of sail air 

 and ocean winds: one orchard contains 2500 

 trees, five years from the seed — another 1050 

 trees, four years from ihe bud. 



At the time of planting the trees, Mr. Stooihoff 

 cuts off the tap root, if there be any, in order 

 that the other roots may take a horizontal direc- 

 lion near the surface of the ground, and receive 

 the full benefit of the manure and the vivifying 

 influences of rains and dews. The first year af- 

 ter he plants Ins trees, he cuts off the trunks or 

 stems from two ami a half to three feet above ihe 

 ground, in order to allow the future branches lo 

 start low and form a bushy head. In winter, he 

 prunes bis trees by culling away all dead wood, 

 and in summer he thins out the superfluous 

 branches, in order to admit the sun and air. In 

 the month of June, and again in September, the 

 earth is drawn from each tree, the roots careful- 

 ly scraped, all borers cut out with a knife, aud the 

 earth properly put back in its place. 



Mr. Stoothoff for Ivvo or three years past, has 

 been iu the practice of planting asparagus ami 

 peas in bis orchards, manuring them with wood 

 ashes and slable or barn yard dung. The culti- 

 vation of garden vegetables among fruit trees, 

 however, he does not fully approve. He thinks 

 it preferable to keep his orchards clear of weeds 

 by frequently scratching over the surface with a 

 cultivator, aud manuring each tree, within a fool 

 or two of the trunk, with six to Ten fish, (moss 

 bunkers) covering them over with three or lour 

 inches of earth. To the last-named circumstan- 

 ces anil ihe great care observed in removing the 

 tap root and extracting the borer, il is probable 

 ihe success of bis peach culture mainly depends. 



Mr. Smoihntf has kept an exact account of the 

 products of his two orchards the season past, 

 from which we copy the following, including ihe 

 amount of sales : — 



2,780 bunches of asparagus, $418.10 



431 bushels of early peas, i'i.").. r .O 



261 « late " 185.75 



41 " Sickle " 17.25 



2.G37 baskets of peaches, 2,G00.18 



$3,646.78 

 These orchards contain about 28 acres, and 

 constitute a part of ihe farm recently owned bj 

 James Campbell, Esq., late Surrogate of the cily 

 of New York. 



Mr. Walker, Secretary of the Treasury, re- 

 commends in his report that laborers for wages 

 in all industrial enterprise and pursuits should 

 get a share in the profits realized therefrom in 

 addition lo their own stipulated weekly wages. 



In enthusiastic calculations of the benefits of 

 railroads, the editor of Visitor iu bis struggles 



for ten years to start the road from Nashua to 

 Concord, believes he was ahead of every oilier 



man. The Concord railroad since its comple- 

 tion has gone far beyond him. And now that a 



railroad "over ihe ridge and through the ledges" 

 has been completed sevi-ni y-five miles further 

 into the region of the Connecticut river valley 

 in the incredible short space of eighteen months, 

 what gratification does iis early success not af- 

 ford ? The fact stated in ihe Congregational 

 Journal of a winter train of ninety -five cars, 

 bearing forward with a single engine 1 , three hun- 

 dred and forty tons of logs, hoop-poles, wood 

 brick, bark, boards, limber, soap-stone, fee. — ar- 

 ticles which without the railroad were nearly 

 worthless— puis all previous calculation at defi- 

 ance. Railroads in New Hampshire wiinin ten 

 years will double the intrinsic value of every 

 acre of land within its limits. 



Granite Mountain Ice. 

 A friend from Massachusetts informs us i hnt 

 the deficiency in ice the present winter from ihe 

 Fresh and Spy ponds, near Boston, have been 

 supplied from ihe Granite Slate, near the tower- 

 ing Monadnock, which is si en in a direct line of 

 more than sixty miles north -west from ihe lop of 

 Bunker Hill Monument. This ice is taken from 

 ponds in Troy, N. II., and is carried over the 

 windings of ihe Cheshire and Fitcbburg railroads 

 very nearly one hundred miles to the wharves at 

 Charlestown. .Ms., at the expense of one dollar 

 and filiy cents per Ion. The ice from the Gran- 

 ite Slate is represented to be very pure and beau- 

 tiful, coming down so many feet to the level of 

 the sea, and formed from mountain springs of 

 silver water. It is believed the ice will not 

 break up in the ponds lo prevent its gathering 

 and preparation before the first of April. The 

 price of freight to New Orleans being three dol- 

 lars less the ton than iu 1847, the saving per ton 

 will be one and a half dollars after adding the 

 railroad transport. 



Relief to the Destitute. 



In visiting the churches and worship of several 

 of our cities, there is no spectacle more grateful 

 to ihe best sympathies of human nature, than the 

 passing in and out of groupes of orphan children, 

 male and female. In two of ihe churches of 

 Washington city we have noticed these, all near- 

 ly of a size, each sex in its uniform neat Sunday 

 attire, each litile face attentive to ihe services 

 and worship in a silling, standing or kneeling 

 posture. Of all the clerical or lay gentlemen 

 willlin our personal knowledge, lliere are none 

 more excellent in morals, more talented in mind, 

 than the Catholic clergymen iu ihe District of 

 Columbia who have fallen casually into our ac- 

 quaintance during the last twenty years. By ihe 

 Rev. Mr. Barber, formerly a Protestant Episcopal 

 minister at Clareiriont, N. H., afterwards taking 

 orders as a clergyman of the Roman order, was 

 the editor firsl introduced to the Rev. Father 

 Matthews of ihe same order in the city of Wash- 

 ington. Without understanding ihe Catholic 

 service, we have scleral times attended the reli- 

 gious services at Mr. Matthews' church. Later 

 in life, we grow into the conviction that there is 

 the "still small voice" of religion, tiot nunc in 

 sacred poetry than in ihe music in which il is 

 chained. The solium mush? at the Capitol on 

 the late occasion of Air. Adams' funeral eereuio- 

 nv, tor ihe first lime used on the many funerals 



