&l)c tfaxmzt'B ittcmtljlij bioitor. 



171 



Advantages of Thorough Draining. 



Draining, as understood thirty years tigo in 

 > England (and to this day with us,) merely meant 



the making of channels to cany off surface wa- 

 ter, and under-ground drains, to dry bogs, or cut 

 off springs. It lias now an entirely different 

 . meaning in the agricultural world. Mr. Smith, 

 of Deauston, near Ediuhurg, was among the first 

 to practice and explain thorough draining, as it is 



"called. His system is, that all land requires to 

 be drained — that the depth of loam, or soil con- 

 taining the food of plants, seldom exceeds a few 

 inches, resting on a subsoil, or pun of clay, or 

 , Jiard gravel, saturated with water. By making 

 drains from two and a half to five feet in depth, 

 at every twenty or thirty feet, the land becomes 

 'dry ; air takes the place of water; every shower 

 furnished with a stock of ammonia, permeates 

 the soil, and the result is, that instead of a few 

 inches there are as many feet of fertile loam, the 



-action of the atmosphere being sufficient of it- 

 self to produce the change, although to hasten 

 the process, subsoil ploughing is made part of 

 the system. 



The change produced by the introduction of 

 thorough draining in Britain, is said to be truly 

 astonishing. Not only has the produce been 



• greatly increased, but wheat anil turnips have 

 .been grown at elevations, and in districts, where 

 their cultivation was not before thought possible. 



"By it, crops have been rendered less liable to 

 disease, and harvest has been forwarded nearly a 

 month. This will be belter understood, if we 

 reflect, that when water is allowed to remain in 



■'.•lie soil until removed by evaporation, the beat 

 of 'he sun and air, instead of being imparted to 



'the '-.-.'.id, will actually, through this process, pro- 

 duce an intense degree of cold. On the other 

 hand, were the soil so dry as to allow the rain to 

 pass through, it would imbibe heat from every 

 ray that fell upon it. 



The British government has considered this 

 improvement of so great importance, that, during 



""the last three years, large sums have been loaned 

 to all applicants, to be expended in drainage, un- 

 der the superintendence of inspectors. These 

 loans are re-paid by annual instalments of 6J 

 per cent., for about twenty years ; and as the 

 1 1 ii > 1 1 ■ - v is borrowed by government at three per 

 cent., these payments cancel the loan and in- 

 terest. — Robert Junlinc. 



sons, which succeed admirably in the county of 

 Penobscot. These facts have been fairly laid 

 before the public, through the public press, and 

 are now matters of record which all may con- 

 sult. 



"I made a great mistake fifteen years since," 

 said a farmer to us a few days ago, and one who 

 has been successful in his business, " because I 

 supposed that the orchards then begun would 

 more than supply the market with fruit before 1 

 could get an orchard under way ; but instead of 

 this, the demand for fruit has increased, and had 

 1 set an orchard often acres, when I commenced 

 farming here, it would have been worth more to 

 me now than the whole of my farm. 1 saw my 

 mistake sometime since, and have now a young 

 orchard just beginning to bear, and mean to 

 increase it." This is the opinion of a practical 

 man ; and to the same conclusion must all close 

 observers arrive. 



Let us see what can be done in the way of 

 farming in this county, by reference to a few 

 facts, which have actually occurred, and which 

 cannot be disputed. 



Major Ainasa Stetson, of Stetson, has a large 

 farm, but instead of exhausting himself and his 

 means in the effort to raise grain to compete in 

 the market with the grain-growers in the West, 

 he works his farm in raising grass for hay and 

 grazing, and keeps a stock of fifty cows, and 

 intends to increase the number to sixty or 

 more. 



This season he raised one thousand bushels 

 of potatoes on four and three-quarters acres; 

 two hundred and fifty bushels of corn, six cords 

 of pumpkins, and ten and a half bushels of 

 beans on five acres; over one hundred bushels 

 of wheat — making forty-five and a half pounds 

 of flour to the bushel, on five acres. He bad ten 

 acres in oats, but like most of that crop this sea- 

 son, the yield was light. 



The amount of the sales from this farm is as 

 follows : — 



Produce of the dairy $1,500 



Hogs and pigs 300 



Wheat, lambs, poultry, &c:, 50 



Penobscot Farming. 



There is too great a disposition among the 



half and half farmers of Penobscot county to 



"decry the agricultural resources of the county, 



and to pant for Western lands where they can 



f engage in the cultivation of grain and swine in 

 4 'Jie abundance of " hog and hominy." "We 

 •■annot compete," say they, " with the farmers of 

 the West in raising wheat and corn." Granted ; 

 nor is it necessary that we should, since we have 

 abundant markets for the products which our 

 soil and climate are admirably adapted to pro- 

 duce. The farmers of the West cannot compete 

 with us in the markets which we have for these 

 productions, and this they know and feel very 

 sensibly. 



The article of fruit, the demand for which in- 

 creases far beyond the supply and will continue 

 to do for centuries, offers a sure profit to all who 

 'will engage in the business in an intelligent and 

 faithful manner. There need be no blind exper- 

 iments in this matter, since those who have led 

 the way have proved a sufficient variety of ap- 

 ples, pears, and plums, suited to the various sea- 



Si, 850 



For hired labor and taxes, the sum of six 

 hundred dollars only has been expended, and 

 there has been at least $'250 in permanent im- 

 provements upon the farm, in buildings, &c. 



There is a lively brook running near the dwel- 

 ling of Major Stetson ; on this he has a dam 

 built, with a breast-wheel for driving light ma- 

 chinery. Over this be has a building, the upper 

 part of which is a work-shop, and in the lower 

 part a dairy factory; In the gravel bank, between 

 the cellar of his mill, is his dairy, connected 

 with which is an ice vault. In this dairy, the 

 milk is kept without turning sour — the cream is 

 taken off and carried to the churns in the mill, 

 the machinery set in motion, and the power of 

 that little stream which has so long run here to 

 waste, churns out the butler ; often eighty pounds 

 of a morning. Lower down the brook is the 

 piggery, and into this the skimmed milk is con- 

 veyed by a duct. 



Major Stetson began rather late with his fruit 

 trees, but he has now one hundred and sixty 

 grafted trees beginning to bear, and has a nurse 

 ry of three-fourths of an acre, with many grafted 

 trees of the best of fruits — among them one 

 bundled and fifty Green Gage and Washington 

 plums. 



We obtained the fads here stated in a conver- 



sation wilh Major Stetson upon the subject of 

 Penobscot farming, and make this mention of 

 ihcm, not for tin 1 purpose of glorifying Major 

 Stetson — he needs nothing of that kind, as his 

 works praise him — but fur the purpose of show- 

 ing what has been done in Penobscot, and what 

 others may do. 



Poor farming, slack and ill-directed eflorts 

 yield but feeble results anywhere, but we think 

 that good farming pays as well for the capital 

 and labor expended in tin; comity of Penobscot 

 as in any other county in our country, and ibis 

 being the case, it is the extreme of folly for peo- 

 ple to leave farming here, for the West, or even 

 in the hope of making a fortune by digging gold 

 in California. — Bangor Courier. 



New Hampshire State Convention 



Of Farmers and Mechanic.?, to organize a State Ag- 

 ricultural Society, Jbr the promotion of Agricul- 

 ture, Horticulture, .Mechanism and the .Iris. 

 The undersigned, believing in the advantages 

 of a combination of effort to efiect any radical 

 improvement; fully believing that the great and 

 fundamental science of Agriculture is yet in 

 many portions of the Stale in its infancy ; being 

 persuaded that to develop the resources of the 

 soil, science and skill must fashion and guide the 

 plough and prepare both the soil and the seed ; 

 that all classes and conditions of men are bene- 

 fited by the elevation of husbandry ; that peace 

 and true progress are conserved in proportion to 

 the rank it takes in the occupations of men ; 

 and having great confidence in the feasibility 

 and eminent usefulness of such a society, well 

 organized — take this method of calling upon the 

 Farmers, Mechanics, Professional men — all who 

 appreciate the benefits proposed by association, 

 to meet wilh us in convention, at the city of 

 Manchester, on ihe 12th day of December next, 

 at ten o'clock, A. M., at the City Hall, to adopt 

 such measures and efiect such an organization 

 as will be deemed best calculated to ensure its 

 success and permanency. 



Asa P. Cale, Northfield. Jos. Sawyer, Piermont. 

 Levi Bartlett, Warner. N. B. Baker, Concord. 

 Salma Hale, Keene. Harvey Huntoon, Unity. 

 A. (). Brewster, IlannverEzra Glidden, do 



E. D. Sanborn, do L. Brooks, Charleslown. 

 Cbas. Haddock, do John M. Glidden, do 

 D. D. Marsh, Croydon. Sam'l Garfield, Langdon 

 L.P.Cooper, do W. R. Kimball, Cornish. 

 Jos. Ilealy, Washington. J. 1). Nettleton, Newport 

 G. W. Nesmit'i, FranklinA. Colby, New London. 

 I. Hubbard, Claremoni. J. E. Rowell, Claremont. 

 Samuel Tutherly, do John S. Walker, do. 

 — A" H. National Eagle. 



The Yeoman. 

 The man who stands upon his own soil ; who 

 feels, that by the laws of the land in which he 

 lives — by the laws of civilized nations — he is the 

 rightful and exclusive owner of the land which 

 he tills, is, by the constitution of our nature, un- 

 der a wholesome influence, not easily imbibed 

 from any other source. lie feels, oilier things 

 being equal — more strongly than another, the 

 character of a man as lord of the inanimate 

 world. Of this great and wonderful sphere, 

 which, fashioned by the hand of God, and up- 

 held by his power, is rolling through the heav- 

 ens, a portion is his; from the centre to the sky. 

 It is the space on which the generations before 

 him move in its round id' duties; and feels him- 

 self connected by a visible link, with those who 

 preceded him, as he is, also, to whom he is lo 

 transmit a home. Perhaps his farm has come 

 down lo him from his fathers. They have gone 

 to their last home; but he can trace their foot- 



