72 



$|)C Jarmct'g itlcmtl)lij faisitor. 



but now under our own eye, is as good as that 

 of any country in the world, is proof that the 

 more we take aw.iy from the soil the great- 

 er may be made its capacity for production. On 

 the 23d (lay of the mouth now passed, we hap- 

 pened to he pitched by accident for some three 

 hours among the celebratois of the bi-centennial 

 anniversary of the settlement of Maiden in Mas- 

 sachusetts, where one branch of the family of 

 our own name which came to Charleslown on 

 the other side of the river thirteen years before., 

 pitched their residence. The ground of the cel- 

 ebration was an amphitheatre formed by a 

 branch of Charles river near its estuary three 

 miles out or Boston surrounded by green fields 

 and vegetable crops already arising from the 

 ground under the early stimulants of a well 

 prepared soil, which was none the worse for 

 having been cultivated and improved annually 

 for two hundred years. The neat farm houses, 

 comfortable for both man and beast, all around 

 showed that men in successive generations had 

 well subsisted from the product of these lands 

 yet to be improved in a greater degree than 

 heretofore. On this soil, hard and sterile 

 by nature, where the savage had made his 

 insidious midnight attacks— where the infant had 

 often dinged closer to the mother's breast from 

 the appalling danger that beset them, often in 

 apprehension only, but sometimes in reality— on 

 this ground wc remarked a new evidence of 

 Yankee ingenuity in renovating the soil: the old 

 pasture where the first meeting house stood in 

 which was the hill from whence the church- 

 bell, not then upon the church without steeple, 

 was sounded, was covered with a remnant of 

 woolen and cotton rags, the refuse of some fac- 

 tory, in small pieces ascertained to be that kind 

 of manure best adapted to the resuscitation of a 

 worn down pasture. Many centuries ago, in 

 apostrophizing the Diety, the royal psalmist ac- 

 knowledged to his Maker, " the earth is full of 

 thy riches." Strange it is, that the science of 

 future years should have poorly discovered, and 

 little understood this doctrine in its full extent. 

 The earth is indeed full of riches ; and happy it 

 is for mankind that some of the present genera- 

 tion understand this doctrine so as to avail them- 

 selves of its benefits. Every portion of our soil 

 has that near about it which will restore its full 

 original fertility: we have only to give the un- 

 dersoil its due atmospheric action— we have only 

 to supply that small portion of the elements 

 near by of which cultivation has deprived our 

 | an( | s _io give to the ground its best capacity to 

 yield abundance of food. It is painful to see so 

 many farmers working in a dead soil made by a 

 round of superficial tillage when the enlivening 

 principle lies so near underneath, which is all 

 that laud wants to restore it to its best production. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 " What I know of Farming." 

 Mr. Editor:— In the New York Tribune of the 

 7th of April, is an article with the above caption, 

 by Prof. Mapes. This is the first of a series of 

 letters which is to be given in that journal on 

 his own experience in farming] And as I al- 

 ways have been connected ami interesied in that 

 business, it always affords me gratification to 

 read the experience of others engaged in the 

 same calling. It seems that Prof. Mapes has 

 chosen a farm that most farmers would shrink 

 from buying, to try experiments merely, wet 

 unburned land to be reclaimed by thorough 

 drainiui.' and good cultivation. However these 

 lands after they are reclaimed become the most 

 valuable for the cultivation of the grasses, and 

 other crops, of any land on the farm, as all farm- 

 ers know who have had any experience in the 

 business. But what struck us more forcibly in 

 Prof. Mapes' experiments is, the astonishing ra- 

 pidity with which he carried on his experiments 

 in so short space of time. He says that he com- 

 menced operations in October 1847, but only 

 had time to drain, &c. a small part of his laud 

 before severe frost set in. And further he says, 

 that "in the spring of 1848, the whole farm was 

 deep ploughed and subsoiled, and during the 

 summer a large portion was underdrained," &c. 

 In another place he says that his farm consists 

 of thirty-two acres of arable land, and in 1848 

 this was all ploughed and subsoiled, which would 

 be equal to once ploughing sixty-four acres in 

 time, and labor, and by the way this is more 

 ploughing than any half-dozen farmers will do 

 in this State in a year with one hundred and fifty 

 acres of land. We do not speak of this extra 

 ploughing as lost by any means, but as highly 

 beneficial ; only the expense of ploughing and 

 suhsoiling so many acres in so short a time 

 would be entirely nut of the reach of ordinary 

 farmers. Asain he says, "from October 1847 to 

 this time (March 1849) fifteen hundred loads of 

 muck have been brought from the meadows and 

 converted into valuable manure, anil ploughed 

 into the land," &c. And in another place " he 

 was anxious to apply chemistry to agriculture, 

 and was constrained by circumstances to get at 

 profitable results with but litile outlay," &c. 

 Now how so many acres could be double plough- 

 ed and fifteen hundred loads of muck made into 

 good manure, and ploughed in for crops, which 

 hv the way is only two items; and all this with 

 hut "little outlay" or expense, is beyond our 

 ideas of economical farming. The carting of 

 fifteen hundred loads of muck from his meadows, 

 he the distance ever so short, and the same to be 

 put into his stables, yards, hog-pens and made 

 into compost will require three or four limes 

 handling over, and this too, by hand-labor, is no 

 small item of expense. I will not pretend to say 

 that all this labor cannot be done in the space of 

 time given by Prof. Mapes. But that it can be 

 done in that time, and that too with only a small 





per treatment, they have been revived and are 

 now in renewed vigor, bearing again full crops 

 of fruit during the past season." In this case we 

 think that this orchard must have been one 

 which formerly was well cultivated with grafted 

 fruit, but of late years neglected. Now it would 

 be only necessary to prune the trees judiciously, 

 scrape off all the loose bark and moss from the 

 trunks of the trees, and then give them a tho- 

 rough washing of lye from wood ashes, or a 

 composition made of lime, ashes and plaster, 

 and laid on with a white-wash brush will do 

 very well to kill insects and keep the bark . 

 smooth. Sotne such course as this, we think 

 that Prof. Mapes would adopt, and then we could 

 see no reason why the orchard might not give a 

 fair yield of fruit the past season. But as a gen- 

 eral thing old apple orchards only have natural 

 fruit, which is of little consequence. Then if 

 the trees have a low umbrella top, they may be 

 cut off and a new top set on by grafting. Some 

 of the trees which grow very large will require 

 to be leveled down to a distance to prune a low j 

 top, taking care to cover the wounds with some 

 kind of composition ; then let the shoots grow 

 out, and in course of a year or two, they may 

 he budded or grafted as you choose. On old or- I 

 chanls treated in this way fruit may he raised to 

 some extent in from five to eight years. Where 

 a young orchard of trees is taken, of course a C 

 much longer time must elapse before they will 

 come into bearing. Though in this case, not 

 half as long a time as most farmers imagine, that 

 is if they only will take and cultivate tliem well.'-. 

 If a crop of apples could be grown as quick as* 

 a crop of corn or wheat, we should not see so 

 many knotty apples in farmers orchards as we- * 

 now do. But some length of lime, care, labor 

 and expense is the " same ever "in this case 

 among farmers. , 



Again Prof. Mapes says, " farmers living near 

 large markets can better afford to buy their sup- 

 plies of grass and grain, and in their place raise 

 such crops as will pay belter profits," &c. We 

 very much doubt the utility of farmers who keep 

 much stock, even if they live within ten, fifteen " 

 or twenty miles of New York, of buying all v 

 their hay and grain at the expense of other 

 crops. Of course, farmers near the city may own « 

 a little land, and raise such crops as ihey can 

 market every day, and perhaps it may be better 

 for them to purchase their hay and grain for their 

 stock. We shall he glad to read the coming let- *' 

 ters of Prof. Mapes on his mode of farming, and • • 

 have given these ideas out by way of criticism, 

 but as they occurred in course of practice to us, 

 Yours, &c, 



L. DURAND. 

 Derby, Ct., April 20, 1849. 



Extract of Clover.— The Shakers of Can- 

 terbury, N. H., prepare a delicate article, whicl 

 is represented to possess very important proper, 

 ties, by boiling the blossoms of red clover (Tri- outlay in capital, is beyond my ideas of cheap 

 folium Pretence) till an extract is obtained, of a r arln j„«r. yVe think that the business of farming 



I 



certain consistency, recognized by them as being 

 the medical point, and which is particularly used 

 as an external application in ulcerations. Those 

 who have made themselves familiar with ibis 

 comparatively new preparation, say that it acts 

 like a charm in altering the condition of the 

 most formidable class of ulcers. Such, in short, 

 are the favorable representations from reliable 

 sources, that hospital surgeons might find it ad- 

 vantages to use it nt once, especially as it is so 

 mild and delicate that no disturbance in the sys- 

 tem may be feared, however liberally the extiact 

 is applied. — Medical Journal. 



in the long run is more safe, and if well man- 

 aged and understood, will pay as well or better 

 than any other business followed. But farmers 

 with moderate means must make their improve- 

 ments gradual and sure, and not at loo great an 

 expense in the commencement, to ensure suc- 

 cess. 



Again he says, " on the farm is an old orchard 

 of apple and other fruit trees, most of which 

 was considered valueless from age, but by pro- 



The father of his country, whose wisdom 

 was manifest in every thing he performed, has 

 left us a record for the benefit of his country- 

 men. In his speech, on the opening of Con- 

 gress, December 5th, 1796, he says : » 



" It will not be doubted that, witli reference 

 either to individual or national wellare, agricnl-. 

 lure is of primary importance. In proportion as 

 nations advance in population, and other circum- 

 stances of maturity, ibis truth becomes more 

 apparent, and renders the cuhivatiou of the soil 

 more and more all object of public patronage* 

 institutions for promoting it grow up, Mipported , 

 by the public purse; and lo what object can it 

 be dedicated with greater propriety?" 



Those who are of the opinion that money will 

 do everything, may be reasonably suspected of 

 doing everything for money. 



