THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



59 



To the Editor of the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Kennebuni, Maine, April Vith, 1641. 



Dear Sir : — The inclosed memoranda found 

 among the papers of the hue Dr. Jacob Fisher, 

 of this town, is believed to be worthy a place iu 

 the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. l)i-. Fisher was 

 extensively known,— many years a member of 

 tlie Massachusetts Legislature, during the con- 

 nection of Maine with the government of tliat 

 State. His recent decease is probably known. 

 He was his whole life an observing, practical man. 

 The memoranda indicate much of his turn of 

 mind— full of anecdote and philosophical inter- 

 est ; and it is believed that his experiments upon 

 gardening and farming will be useful and inter- 

 esting to your readers. B P . 



Memoranda of Events, S,-c., soyne remarkable, some 



curious, some useful, some frivolons, S,'C. Sfc. 



June 7, 1803.— This day the flies which are 

 supposed to eat garden plants, mostly disappear; 

 they have swarmed for near a w eek ; they are the 

 most ugly of the winged insect tribes. Their 

 size, between the musquelo and black wasp, long 

 wings and legs, black head and bodj'. They cov- 

 er the currant bushes and all green things in tlie 

 garden. Two years since, they were plenty for 

 the first time iu our parts. That year the gar- 

 dens were destroyed, that is, eaten down smack 

 smooth, and these flies were accused of the act. 

 Out 1 cannot find that they are guilty. The 

 beans, &c. which they have covered for several 

 days are not eaten or even wounded iu their 

 leaves. Perhaps the same state of air which is 

 favorable, (if it may be called a favor) for the pro- 

 duction of these flies, also produces other insects 

 which really do the mischief. There is a small 

 round bug which resembles a flea in size and 

 skipping, which has eaten cabbage plants and all 

 the turnip kind this year. Brown wor?us, which 

 eat beans, cucumbers, &c. &c. are veiy plenty ; 

 they have eaten a great )|)art of my early potatoes, 

 &c. I suspected a frost one night, and lightly 

 covered two rows of beans with the orts of Eng- 

 lish hay ; those two rows were not eaten by 

 worms that night ; the other rows were, badly. 

 From this hint 1 tried the experiment on some 

 beans, watermelons, cucumbers, &c. keeping the 

 hay on them all the time. It preserves them iu a 

 good measure, though not wliolly. Does it em- 

 barrass them in climbing the stem of the plant, 

 (for they climb — a worm of half an inch will eat 

 off a bean, &cr. two inches above the ground) or 

 does it stop them by taking the dew? for worms 

 generally eat when the dew is on the plant — or 

 do they dislike the smell ? All whidi were eaten 

 where the hay was put, were eaten below the 

 surface of the ground. 



Sowed onions to-day ; former sowing, bad seed 

 and but few came up. [Oct. these good for noth- 

 ing.] 



June 8. — Sowed cabbage, carrots and onions. 



July 6. — The cabbage and French turnips are 

 sown together. The said flea-bugs eat the tur- 

 nips ami leave the cabbage. [Oct. 19, the late 

 sown onions good for nothing ; early, some good, 

 some stag-necked owing to bad seed, as 1 appre- 

 hend.] 



July 0. — Nothing eaten by the brown worms 

 since this month commenced. 



July 29. — Great i-ains every day for neaily a 

 fortnight past ; water stands amongst iny corn 

 and potatoes six or eight inches deep. Part of 

 corn and potatoes was hoed in that state. Old 

 Father Davis said it would ruin them ; I guess he 

 did not like to hoe in the water. 



August. — Where the water stood on the pota- 

 toes it rotted their roots and they died. It did not 

 injure the corn, except perhaps made it later in 

 ripeninu^. 



October 19. — If summer squashes are brought 

 into the barn and laid on hay, they v.ill keep a 

 long time into cold weather, and are good eating. 

 1804. — Raised half tlje onion-beds, leaving 

 deep alleys that the ground may warm, and a 

 place be made to scrape away the dirt from 

 amongst the ])lants when tliey begin to bulb. 



May 28. — Million of the flea bug ; silted ashes 

 over the plants early in the moriung — a light 

 evening is best. 



Last'ftll hove up, iu high ridges, several squares 

 ;o kill the worms and warm the ground. 



Asparagus square too wet ; shall sink a drain 

 round it. [.Tiily, asparagus very good this year — 



have concluded to omit the drain.] First sowiug 

 of onions now up ; second sowing this date — on- 

 ions came up in about a week or ten days. 



MayW, — Finished all the second sowings. To- 

 day the garden flies appeared. 



Asparagus is easy of cultivation. It requires a 

 warm and rather moist soil. Set the roots three 

 or four, six or eight inches below the surface ; 

 cover them in the fall several inches with good 

 dung, rake it mostly off early iu the spring, and 

 dig it with a fork. The richer the ground the 

 larger and better the shoots. In the opinion of 

 my humble appetite, it is one of the best and 

 most profitable of garden plants. 



May 30. — Sowed French turnips, and radishes 

 with them, in rows, in beds, for standing. 



Very few brown worms this year; scarcely 

 any in those squares which were hove up. Past 

 winter there was a great deal of snow, hut the 

 ground was not frozen very deep and hard. 



No flies for these two or three days. First sow- 

 ing of peppers eaten under ground as they were 

 coming up. 



Plenty of striped yellow bugs on cucumbers, 

 pinn|)kins, &c. Garden seeds came up exceed- 

 ingly well this year. 



July 1, 1804. — Cut the asparagus to tliis date. 

 It is the opinion that cutting it after the first of 

 June injures it vei-y much. Next year I shall know 

 the truth. [Next year. It does not injure it] 



Abundance of fennel worms this year. They 

 are on the seed parsnips, carrots, celery, &c., al- 

 so on the present year's growth. Irritate them, 

 and they shoot out a crotched weapon of defence 

 just hack of their head which difilised an effluvia 

 rather unsavory to many noses. A bed-bug is a 

 perfect rose compared to it. 



About one-third of my potatoes were not cov- 

 ered deep enough to prevent the dung from dry- 

 ing: shall lose twenty bushels by one bad day's 

 work. I do not tell the man's name, but a good 

 and faithful laborer is worthy his hire, and a curse 

 on a lazy scoundrel. 



July 14. — Rather dry ; but garden and field look 

 promising. The lettuce I sowed among the as- 

 paragus when I first dug the square, was very ear- 

 ly and tender, owing to its rapid growth. 



If hogs have a small yard allotted them, and 

 two or three feet of earth from the road side 

 thrown into it at diflerent limes, they will iriake 

 enough of manure to pay their board. I throw 

 three or four loads of it iu a heap and let it lie 

 over the summer, which improves it ; and by 

 throwing it in two i)lace3 alternately every other 

 year, you have an excellent cucumber spot. 



August ], 1804. — Where the early peas grew, 

 hoed up the weeds, raked them into a winrow, 

 and covered them with earth by scraping with a 

 hoe aboTit two inches of the surface oft', leaving 

 the place smooth and hard, sowed it with English 

 turnips, raked in the seed lightly. [The tinnips 

 all wormy.] N. B. The square was hove up 

 last fall. My cabbage, where the groiuid was 

 hove up last fidi, is much freer from (lie white 

 maggot, which makes them pumplc footed, than 

 when it was not hove up. 



Onions ought to bo sowed early, that the sea- 

 sou may be sufficiently long for them toi'orm and 

 ripen; they will not bulb until the tops he^'iu to die. 

 It is au erroneous theory that onions require a hard 

 bottom. Probably the error originated froin the 

 sujjposed analogy between them and English 

 turnips, both being bidbous. Logic. Onions and 

 turnips both have bulbous roots, but turnips bidb 

 best on hard ground — ergo, ccpos quoque, &:c. 

 But the proposition which asserts the analogies is 

 false ! Turnijis have a tap root ; onions fibrous 

 roots ; in mellow ground the tap roots of a tur- 

 nip will grow to a large size, making the tinnip 

 in the form of a carrot. The fibres of an onion 

 will be the same iu har<l or soft land. Onions 

 require land no harder than just to press down 

 the top to prevent the wind's blowing away the 

 seed, which should be sowed as near the top as 

 possible. Take a straight edged board eight 

 inches wide, lay it across your beds, make a 

 trench on each side one-fourth inch deep with a 

 small stick, to .sow the seed in ; walking on the 

 hoard, sow, cover, turn the board on the edge, 

 press gently down, t^u'n the board over and its 

 width will make the place between the rows. 

 Proceed on. Many roll a barrel over their onions, 

 or use other means to break down the top : tliis 

 is all a hum! Nature may be assisted, but will 

 not be forced or imposed upon. The tops ought 



to be left to die in the natural way. All the good 

 the barrel can do is to turn the bulb out of the 

 ground and so loosens it that it is left in some 

 measure above ground ; but this is better done by 

 hauling away the earth from between the rows 

 with a hoe when weeding. They bulb best when 

 the tops are left to take their own course. I rais- 

 ed this season, on a square of thirty-one ftjet, 

 twentj' bushels, besides w hat we used through the 

 growing season. 



April 10, 1805. -Sowed peas. 



April 15. — Planted beans. 



May 3. — Soweil few beets, carrots, parsnips, 

 celery, parsley, &c. 



May 4. — Sowed onions. [The Shakers so>ved 

 theirs a fortnight ago.] Onions ought, by all 

 means, to be sowed "as soon as the ground" will 

 do. After a certain time of year they will not 

 bulb, tliough the fall be warm, but grow stag 

 necked. 



May 22.— First sowing of onions up. It has 

 been very wet this month ; and sowed second 

 batch of onions this day. 



Note. Sowed lower square but one, yesterday, 

 with beets, carrots and parsnips. Have not yet 

 ploughed for planting. No white worms or mag 

 gols in the seed turnips or radishes yet. 



To-day I first discovered that my radishes are 

 soon to be spoiled by those maggots mentioned 

 above. A fly deposites its eggs "about the root, 

 near the surface of the ground. These eggs are 

 vulgarly called fly-blows. Every plant has doz- 

 ens on its root or very near it, so that when they 

 hatch, the little animalculoe may find their food 

 at himil. I caught one of the flies in the very act 

 of iniquity ; it was about the bigness of a mid- 

 dling window fly — more slender, and lighter col- 

 ored. 



June 15. — From Tuesday last week to Monday 

 this w-eek, it was overcast or rain.y. The cucum- 

 bers growing with so long absence of the sun 

 were so tender that when a hot sunny day came, 

 it killed most of them. Those which grew near 

 some grass and a little defended, surviv<3d. Capt. 

 Hatch's were served the same sauce. If they had 

 been shaded for a day or two they wouhl prob- 

 ably have lived. 



The 4th of June a pea blossomed ; in ten days 

 the flower fell from round the pod; ten days more, 

 full. 



June 17.— Sowed oats: the land having, till 

 now, been too wet. Sowed hay-seed after last 

 harrowing. [Oats tolerable ; dry season ; hay- 

 seed came up badlj.] 



June 13, 1806. — Sowed late peas ; one bed of 

 year before last growth ; both came up well. 



Note. Last week one of my hogs, year old, 

 was taken unwell. He seemed to be blind, and 

 kept continually walking about, would eat noth- 

 ing. Thinking it jiossible that he might have 

 something in his throat which choked him, I 

 ran a stick with a rag on the end, two feet down 

 his throat; he died in four minutes. When I 

 have another hog thus disordered, I'll let him live 

 or die as he thinks meet. 



Onions, twenty bushels last year on a plot, of 

 thiny-lwo by thirty-two feet. 



jyfay 19, 180G.— Cut asparagus. Mr. Clark had 

 it several days ago. 



Lisbon onions are three or fom- days longer 

 coining up than common ones. 



On measuring my onion square, I find it only 

 31-5 feet by 31-5, which is only 3-28 square rods 

 of ground; less than the 48th part of an acre of 

 ground. 



Little oniou.s, or scullions, will grow and bulb 

 cousiderahly after they are iiullcd up and laid on 

 the ground, which I fotind by trying several into 

 a crack in a post. Those which would enter 

 when pulled up, would not by nearly one half, in 

 a week's time. Hence it is best not" to break the 

 tops. The sciillion will not grow if pidled up 

 and laid on the ground with the top cut oft! 



Palladium Aug. 5, 1806.- Three oz. salt petic, 

 pounded, dissolve it in as much water as will im- 

 merse one-half bushel seed corn, add one r;uart 

 strong l_\e, soak the com Iv. enly hours, sprc-id it 

 on a dry floor five or six hours, and it will lie fit 

 to plant. This method is also servicable ibr 

 wheat, and other seeds. Robekt Johnsto:;. 

 Published by order of the Agricultural Society, jXew 



York. 



Ditto. To make trees beer fair apples, &c. — 

 On the longest day in the year, strip the bark 

 froin the trunk : be careful not to mnr the wood. 



