THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



M.u. 



\VI 



iMoiiiiUiIus, and 

 lidge 



iuli::'- I ,' ■ '".I,' ■'. r.inl Graitoii counties 

 \V(\-ii I ■. I 'Die product of liis 



ivhcai \;:i:- i.>.:;i', l.n-lih to tlie Jicre. The 

 laud ivnsa si'itY .-oil in.riniiij;- to clay; it was 

 broken up in t!je nioulli of June, IVom the |ias 

 ture li-oui \vlii<;li it had not heen hel'ore disturhcd 

 Ibi- thirty veaM. It uas cross jjloughed just be- 

 fore sowing, and about lifteeii casks ol' lime — 

 part burnt oyster shells, and part Thoiiiaston 

 liurnt stone — were spread to the acre, and har- 

 rowed in before sowini;-. The kind of u heat 

 sowed was white hall wheat, prucni-. d i'roni 

 Lockport, N. V. and ituas put into iln' ui'ouud 

 in Aut:iist. No ether niainnx- than tin: lime was 

 airplied. Tlie [Mv.lM.t, tueutv bushels to tlie 

 acre, was lane r..r I he |„ e.ent'year. A porlion 

 of the lironnilhreken up and i)repared in llie 

 same way, was sowed with winter rye; tiiis was 

 aliriost entirely winter killed, while the wlieat 

 escaped. Everywhere in New England it will 

 be're marked, that the wheat crop, especially 

 si)ring wlieat, for little winter \vlieat is here rais- 

 ed, suffered imich from drought during the last 

 summer. 



Mr. Henshaw attribtitts his success in this 

 wheat crop entirely to the lime. He raised the 

 last sunniicr excellent Indian com and potatoes 

 on gromid niodcr;iIely manured on which the 

 year previous fourteen casks of lime to the acre 

 had been apjilied. His potatoes were larf:e and 

 very line, turning out a bushel for tuelve hills — a 

 largo crop taking into consideration tlie severe 

 drought of last summer. He is of o|iinion that 

 the favorable effects of his lime will be felt for 

 several years. 



Ho is preparing for making mnnurc this .sen- 

 son by carting lilaek mud to his cattle yards into 

 every three loads of wliich he diffuses a cask of 

 slaked Thomaston lime. 



Originnl fertility of the yew England soil. 



Perhajis there is no district of country in the 

 United States so long under cultivation that l>et- 

 ter retains its original fi>rtiiity than the valley of 

 the Connecticut river, both the alluvion u[)on 

 either shore of the stream, ;uid the higher 

 grounds to the very tops of the hills and nioun- 

 tains which are not broken into ledges. The 

 entire county of Caledonia, a table of whose ex- 

 traordinary production was yiresented in the last 

 Visitor, is sit;'ated iar up tliis valley on the 

 Passnmsic, which discharges itself iuto"the Con- 

 necticut. Directly opposite this county ol' Ver- 

 mont on the New Hampshire side some lifteen 

 miles from the river stand the highest of the 

 White Mountains. About one thousand feet he- 

 low the highest point of Moimt Washington, and 

 betv.cen that and Moinit Monroe, is the pond or 

 spring which gathers inio a body of clear pellu- 

 cid waters the inuunierabie fountains gushing 

 from the rocks above, the highest sources of the 

 Amonoosuck river which discliarj:es iiscir' into 

 the Conuccticnt some forty miles to the soutli- 

 wesl. Such is the abundance of water collected 

 from l(!ss than one third of the surface of i!. 

 two liighest moinitain tops, that the water i', 

 charging itself from this high reservoir at all - 

 sons would he quite snfiicient at the height ei 

 more than four thousand feet from the mountain 

 bass to do the work of a factory of several thous- 

 and s))indles. 



For thousands of years have the primitive 

 rocks of these high nioimtaius been wearing 

 down, changing into soil, filling u\i and fertilizing 

 the vales beiow. Millions of loa<!s were carried 

 down at one grand avalanche into the Amonoo- 

 snck, when a grand water s|)out broke uiiou the 

 mountains in the fall of the year 183G: tlic sur- 

 face of hundreds of acres inone spot was taken 

 off at the same time, commencing from a point 

 at the lop and running out wide at the bottom in 

 tlie shajic of two sides of a U'ianide. This im- 

 mense slide carried down many niillions of tons. 

 Rocks and trees of the largest" dimensions pre- 

 sented no obstacle to its course. The n:iked 

 space left upon the mountain side is seen at the 

 distance of nintiy miles with the naked eye: sev- 

 eral miles off the .skimmed surface, tearing iuot 

 the very bowels of the mountain, seem to be of 

 the color of red ochre bordering on a yellow. 

 That the elements of fertility exist i;i the" rocks 

 of th3 mountains tliemfelvcs, wo entertain \t> 

 donb'. Til* fertile vrllevs r.lonsr the stream.^ 



tliat woik their v.ay towards the ocean below are 

 all indebted to the rough mountains above them. 



In the midst of this mountain region there is 

 much land yet inisetlled. Some of it is covered 

 with a ilense giiivvth of maple, beech, birch, betn- 

 lock, spruce ar.d pine. As it is looked up and 

 settled, large tracts of land more valuable than 

 had ever been anticipated are discovered. 



The valley of the Amonoosuck running di- 

 rectly from Mount Washington is found to be 

 fine and wherever it has been cultivated, as the 

 tovvns of Littleton, Lisbon and Bath can testify. 

 Levi W. (.Joeleigh, Esq. who keeps a public 

 house in Lisbon, has a farmofabotit si.\- hnndreil 

 acres; one hundred and thirty acres of this i- 

 her.utiiid intervale; M.",j. Samuel Youkg, well 

 know u in that eonntry. was the first settler upon 

 tliis funi. He hail lieaid of another man in 

 (iraftoii w iio had one hundred acres ot wheat; 

 and about tha year 17!!^, determined to go be- 

 yond all others, he cleared pue huudred and one 

 acres, and sowed spring wheat upon burnt 

 ground. The crop was twenty bushels to the 

 acre, making him more than two thonsjmd bush- 

 els li)r the year: the second year he |iloughed 

 as well as he could and put in another crop, 

 which turned out fifteen hundred bushels besides 

 plenty of herds grass seed where the wheat did 

 not catch. His first crop sold at two dollars and 

 a half—bis second croji at three dollars the 



This was forty yer.rs ago — the ground was up- 

 land ; and our inlbrniant told us that upon the 

 same ground there is at this time a growth of 

 wood, nsh, maple, butternut, &c. some of which 

 are eighteen inches through. 



From the New England Farmer, 

 Manures. 



Experiments are reported as having been re- 

 cently made in England with saltpetre, with much 

 success. In the cases referred to it was applied 

 to wheat but its application to other crops lias 

 proved equally favorable and encouraging'. It is 

 not a new experiment. We know several cases 

 in this eonntry of its sucressfid apiilication, of 

 \-. liieh -ve shall speak hereafter ; but we shall give 

 tlM' experiment now referred to in detail, because 

 it seems to have been made with considerable 

 care, and its results are professedly given widi 

 exactness. 



The Ilarles/on (England) Farmers' Club put it 

 to their members as a subject of the highest mo- 

 ment, to make exact observation and f xperiments 

 witli various manure.*. Certaiidy no matter con- 

 nected with the improvement of agricuhme can 

 be of more importance. At a recent meeting the 

 subject of saltpetre was discussed. Various ex- 

 jjeriments were reported. We select one of the 

 strongest cases, they say, " the apjilication of .salt- 

 petre as a top-dressing to wheal after pease, on a 

 light land with a gravelly sulisoil." 



One hiuidred weight per acre was sowh by 

 hand on the Gth of April, and to prevent any er- 

 ror which might have arisen from a diffe.-encc in 

 soil of one side of the field from another, the 

 :i! i>;v . ■ , II. fully ajijilicd oil every two al- 

 ■ !:e two crops were reajied, 

 :!: i! seiinrately ; and the result 

 ^■, .- ;;ii ii; ; ,;-(■ ill' six linshelsof wheat, and up- 

 wards of two and a half hundred of straw ])er 

 acre, obtained at an outlay of 27s. sterling only, 

 as follows: 

 Produce per acre of wheat which had SI. Ih. 



been manured with .saltpetre, IGO 2^ 



Produce without saltpetre, 133 12i 



effect would probably be increased (but this is at 

 present unsupported by evidence) by applying 

 only half the quantity of saltpetre at first, and the 

 remaining part a few weeks afterwards." 



The experiments which have come under our 

 own observation, have been upon grass and wheat. 

 The effect upon grass was quite remarkable. The 

 w heat was in a growing state ; the saltpetre ap- 

 jilied when six inches in height ; the quantity per 

 acre not noted ; the differeiice between the part 

 not dressed with saltpetre and that to which it 

 was applied was obvious and striking; the wheat 

 w.is ilieii in lliiwer; it was intended that the re- 

 Mih should be arenrately observed; and we hope 



Incroasc,, 



2G 4 



increase,. :40 i 



Produceperacreof straw with stdt- Cwt. St. lb. 



pctre, 23 4 13 



" " " without saltpetre, 20 7 8 



Increase, 3 5 5 



Cost of the saltpetre was 27s. stciling per cwt. 

 The wheat of coiusc was winter wheat, and it 

 was sown broadcast. A stone is 14 lbs. 



The society proceed to rejiort: — '-It is the 

 unani.nous opinion of this meeting, that saltpe- 

 tre is a most valuable addition to our list of nia- 

 uures. Strong evidence has been given of the 

 benefits conferred by it on wheat, clover, and 

 otlier layers, and tares on light land ; and on clo- 

 vev layers on heavy land : in cicli case the salt- 

 petre was applied in the month of April, and at 

 the rate of one hiuMlred weight |n;r jcn?, 'I h.^ 



of 



Any person ot common observation, and at all 

 interested in such subjects, cannot fail to obsen-o 

 the innneuse quantities of manure which are ab- 

 solutely thrown away on our fariris, in our cities, 

 and about our roads and buildings. What a 

 blessing it would be, if we had something of the 

 reported frugality of the Chinese, on the score of 

 cleanliness and liealtK as well as interest. How 

 ihw of farmers ever think of saving their soap 

 siid.^. We lear, without meaning any reproach 

 upon the glide housewives, that some of them do 

 not hear of such a thing as soap suds as often as 

 might be usefid ! But how few ever think of 

 saving and applying it; and yet it is a most valu- 

 able manure ; and by having a vault or pool in 

 which to deposite a pile of loam, or large heap 

 of earth, by regularly throwing the contents of 

 the wash tub upon it, might be converted into the 

 ineans of greatly enriching the land; and what 

 tuns upon tuns of the most valuable liquid ma- 

 nure, by a little pains-taking and contrivance, 

 might be obtained in the city, by farmers, who 

 are now willing to cone four and six miles and 

 transport fire-fanged and dried hoise inanure at 

 a cost, before it reaches their farms, of six and 

 eight dollars a cord. 



The French are now taking great pains to save 

 the water in which the wool is washed at the 

 woollen factories, full as it is of soap and anin al 

 oil, and find it a most valuable application to 

 their lands. We have long known the value of 

 the refuse wool ; and we have stood by the mill- 

 shute in Lowell more than once with feelings of 

 serious regret, wketi we have seen the wash iiom 

 their woollen factory, full of enriching matters, 

 mingling with the waters of the river and pas.sine 

 off into the ocean, as so much valuable material 

 absolutely thrown away. 



Our highly respected friend Bement, of Alba- 

 ny, has niaiie some very successful experiments 

 w ith hogs' bristles, applied in his potatoe hills 

 and in other foririe. He speaks of their benefi- 

 cial effects as quite remarkable ; and we promise 

 ourselves the pleasure of hearing from liim on 

 this and the use of various other manures, in 

 which he has becu experimenting. We can con- 

 fidently rely upon his observations and experi- 

 ments as intelligent and exact ; and the results 

 which he gives under his own hand, as certain. 

 H. C. 



Extraneous Manures— Nitrate of Soda. 



It is re)iorted, that a remark was made by Lord 

 Karnes, 90 years ago, that such improvements 

 would be made in agricultural chemistiy, that 

 sufficient manure for an acre would one day be 

 earried in a man's coat pocket ; and that a trite 

 answer was made to the lemark, that the produce 

 from such manuring wouV.l then be brought away 

 in the waist-coat pocket. Now, although this pe- 

 riod has not yet arrived, ycl; something approach- 

 ing to the small quantity of manure necessary to 

 give vigor to an acre oi' wheat, has been proved 

 on Guillord Downs during the past year ;_ not that 

 this kind of manure alone was taken up by the 

 crop, but that it formed a great stimulator to the 

 extrji growth there cannot be a doubt; bringing 

 into ;.ctivity probably some latent manures lying 

 in the ground ; for a strong alkali will convert 

 oleaginous matters into saponaceous consistency, 

 and in that state becomes soluble in water : hence 

 it is taken up by the spougelets of the roots in a 

 liquid state. Those persons who consider quan- 

 tity necessary iu manuring ground are sadly mis- 

 taken, intimate mixture with the soil, and capa- 

 bility of becoming readily soluble, being neces- 

 sary points for consideration. In March, 1839, 

 ,"\lr" John Rvds, bailiff to Frederick Mangles, 

 Esq. of Dowii Farm, Guilford dressed over many 

 flcres of wheat with I 1-2 cwt. of nitmle of soda 



