THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



1^7 



give the Ibllowiiig extract Iroiii the coiTespond- 

 euce of the Railway Times: 



" At a late meeting of the Mancliester and 

 Leeds Railway, the chairman gave an account of 

 the traffic of some of the lending railways when 

 they first opened, and tlieir progressive increase ; 

 fioni which it appeared that the Manchester and 

 Liverpool line ojiened in September, 1830, and 

 for the first three months their traffic averaged 

 £1,500 per week : for the whole of 1831, it ave- 

 raged £3,000 per week, lieing 100 per cent, in- 

 crease on the average of the first three months; 

 and in 16-10 it averaged £5,100 weekly, being an 

 increase of 240 per cent, on the "fiist tljree 

 months ! The Grand Junction opened in July, 

 1837, and iheir traffic for the first 25 weeks ave- 

 raged £4,450. During the same period, in the 

 following year, it averaged £6,500 a week, being 

 an increase of 4f> per cent. Tlie average weekly 

 traffic on that line, for 1&38, was £5,500 ; for 

 1830, £7,750 ; and for 1840, £8,400, being an in- 

 crease of 90 per cent, in the course of three 

 years and a half upon the average of the first six 

 months. The London and Birmingham line was 

 opened in September, 1838, and the first tliree 

 inontlis the average traffic was £8,900 per week. 

 During the same ])eriod, in the following year, it 

 was £12,000 weekly, being an increase of 35 per 

 cent.; and in 1840, it averaged £14,700 per week, 

 being, in two years and a quarter, an increase of 

 65 per cent, on the receipts. This statement 

 clearly shows that it is a work of time before a 

 railway can fully develop its resources." 



From the Boston Cultivator. 

 Winter Rye. 

 Mr. Editor — As winter i-ye, in many of the 

 towns of this State, is an important and profita- 

 "ble crop to the cultivator, and as 1 have seldom 

 seen a communication on tlie best mode of pro- 

 ducing it in your useful paper, 1 thought I would 

 offer a few hints on the subject, growing out of 

 forty years' experience and observation made on 

 the practice of others. 



Winter rye will grow in many of our back 

 towns requiring but little labor, and frequently 

 good crops may be obtained without manure,and 

 frequently the soil will be benefitted by the op- 

 eration of ploughing and liarrowing, especially in 

 old bound out pasture. One great reason why 

 so many have poor stinted crops is, that they sow 

 their seed at an improper season; and another 

 is, that the ground sowed is not properly pre- 

 pared: almost any kind of land will produce it, 

 if not too wet and cold. 1 have seen fine crops 

 grow on hard whortleberry liills, on sandy plains, 

 and on the intervals of our large rivers. The 

 most numerous ftilia-es of crops (in favorable sea- 

 sous) 1 have witnessed, have been owing to 

 ploughing and sowing too late in the season : it is 

 not uncommon to see a man ploughing and sow- 

 ing a hard tract of pasture as late as October or 

 November ; — such a man may have the promise 

 of a blessing, but it will not come in a crop of 

 rye. Others commit a less error l)y sowing tlieir 

 seed in July, and if it should not head out the first 

 season, they stand a better chance for a crop than 

 the late sowers. Those who raise the best rye 

 on old pasture ground, plough in June, with a 

 good plough, turn small bushes, grass and weeds 

 all inuler, let the ground take the benefit oCthc 

 atmosphere until the twentieth or last of August' 

 then harrow thoroughly, sow the seed half bush- 

 el or three pecks to the acre, then harrow again 

 till the ground is well pulverized, and the .seed 

 well covered in the soil. Then fence off catde, 

 sheep, and every " creeping thing" that will eat 

 rye, and if there is a failure of a crop, he will not 

 have to bring his own negligence to account. 



New burnt lands, and lands under cultivation 

 may be sown later, but if not sown before the 

 middle of September, the rye will not fill so well 

 Another advantage derived from sowing rye in 

 August, is the opportunity it gives the farmer of 

 seeding his land to grass at the same time, which 

 will benefit his pasture enough to compensate for 

 the exhaustion caused by the crop of rye. 



Few farmers in this vicinity will attempt to 

 grow wheat under the discouraging circumstan- 

 ces which at the present time exist among us. 

 In the first place the soil is not naturally conge- 

 nial to the growth of a wheat crop, and a prep- 

 aration of it will be attended with greater ex- 

 pense than most farmers will bo willing to incur, 

 when the remuneration will te bo uncertain. In 



the next place, vvheat flour is and has been so 

 cheap, and is likely to continue SO, that there i s 

 not much doubt hut the farmer would realize a 

 greater profit from his labor in the cultivation 

 of rye than of wheat, on the most of our soils. 



A good crop of winter rye may be obtained 

 from soil where wheat under the same cu\- 

 ture would not ])ay for Tiai-vesting. 1 am confi- 

 dent that our soils are destitute of some princi- 

 ple or property beside lime, which is es.sential to 

 the profitable cultivation of wheat, and either 

 from want of skill or tiom our situation in re- 

 gard to the sea const, or some peculiarity of cli- 

 'nate, or defect of soil, many farmers after repea- 

 ted attempts have, lor the want of success, di- 

 rected their efforts to the culture of crops which 

 promise them a better compensation. Still I 

 hope every able farmer will experiment upon his 

 soil, and discover, if possible, the ingredients 

 which are lacking, and supply them, and fit his 

 land for a profitable crop of wheat, and the pub- 

 lic will consider him among the benefactors ot 

 the agricultural art. 



The above observations in regard to wheat, 



e made with particular reference to a large pro- 

 portion of towns in the county of Middlesex. 



inimmgUm, Mass., July 26, 1841. S. B. 



(U^ Rye may be raised on very poor land if it 

 be well tilled and sown as above directed ; but 

 wheat must have a rich soil. We think the pov- 

 erty of our soils is one great reason why we can- 

 not raise wheat to advantage. We must recruit 

 them by cultivating grass and hay, and when they 

 become rich enough we may grow wlieat if we 

 please. 



Grass seed should be sown with the rye in pas- 

 ture grounds by all means; the clover seed, how- 

 ever, should not be sown so late as September; 

 it may be sown on the snow. 



Lands are never made richer by taking off a 

 crop of rye without applying manures. The 

 bushes in a jiasture rnay be killed, and more feed 



iiy be obtained for a year or two hy ploughing. 



d taking off a crop of rye. 



When grain is the principal object of the farm- 



, he will he obliged to fence off that part of the 

 field which he sows — but if liis object is to enrich 

 his pasture land, and to double his feed, he need 

 not make any fence — his cattle may feed on the 

 rye — and it will furnish them with an early bite 

 in the sjiring. Ju this way he may make his 

 lands richer without the use of manure. — Editor 

 Cultivator. 



The Crops. 



The wheat harvest, it may now be confidently 

 said, will yield more than an average crop, not- 

 withstanding partial failures in Virginia, in Penn- 

 sylvania, and in the State of New York. Small 

 parcels of the now crop at the South have alrea- 

 dy come into market, and have been sold for from 

 lis to 125 cents a bushel. 



The product of the United States In bread, 

 corn and other vegetable food, is thus stated in 

 the recent census : — 



Bushels Wheat raised in the U. S. 76,174,849 

 Do. Rye, 17,037,600 



Do. Indian Corn, 297,855,658 



Do. Oats, 106,375,li:»2 



Do. Buckwheat, 6,952,326 



Do. Barley, 3,848,149 



Do. Potatoes, 101,981,439 



From the data here furnished, making a fiiir 

 allowance fbi- the States and Territories not in- 

 cluded in the statement, it ai)pears that nearly 

 four buslicis and a half of wheat are raised lor 

 each inhabitant ; of other grain nearly thirty bush- 

 els to each inliabirant ; and of potatoes about six 

 bushels and a half to each inhabitant. Making 

 an aggregate of forty-one bushels of grain and 

 potatoes to each iniiabitant, including men, wo- 

 men, and children, bond and free. 



From such a surplus, it is obvious there will be 

 much readv for export, if any ojieniiig should of- 

 fer.— .V. Y'. Jlnierican. 



went to examine the cause, when the tanner, who 

 is an experimental farmer on a small scale, in- 

 formed me that he had taken from the yard, four 

 or five barrels of waste hair, and spread it upon 

 this spot of about two land yards. 1 have watch- 

 ed it narrowly from that time to this ; the wheat 

 grew so strong that at harvest it was so lain as to 

 be of little value ; oats followed wheat, audit 

 was very visible in the clover ; the field is now 

 again in wheat ; 1 have just been to see if there 

 are any remains of it, but it being wheat after 

 potato, and sown late, it is not very observable, 

 although I think it is still visible. He has this' 

 year carried the experiment to some extent, both 

 as a manure for wheat and as a top dressing for 

 clover, on both of which it hai? an astonishing 

 effect. He has likewise turned to account the 

 rotten tan from the yard by placing it thick on 

 the orchards, and seldom fails of a good crop of 

 apples ; the trees look very healthy, and throw 

 tlieir shoots very strong ; he is now drawing the 

 waste tan on the roals to be trodden up prepara- 

 tory to its being used as manure for land. — Mr. 

 DoBLE. — Marklane Express. 



Pennsylvania. — The following are the annual 

 products of this State, and their value. Penn- 

 sylvania raises one-sixth of all the wheat in the 

 Union, and is capable of producing as much as 

 England now does— 100,000,000 of bushels. 



Biishels. Value, 



$12,995,200 

 3,926,793 

 155,144 

 5,121,712 

 1,041,006 

 7,011,106 

 2,36.5,864 



Total, 65,801,468 $32,616,945 



Butter, sold and consumed by 



producers, 50,000,000 lbs. $12,500,000 

 Cheese, sold and consumed 



by producers, 2,000,000 



lbs. 1,500,000 



Milk, more than, 1,000,000 



Orchards and gardens more 



than, 2,000,000 



Beef, sold and consumed by 



producers, 200,000,000 ll>. 14,000,000 

 Pork, sold and consumed by 



producei-s, 150,000,000 Ihs. 10,500,000 

 Mutton and veal, estimated, 9,500,000 

 Poultry and fish, estimated, 2,000,000 



Total value of food, $86,616,945 



Hay, 1,284,677 tons, $12,846,770' 



Wool, 3,028,647 lbs. 1,2 1 1,458 



Lumber, pine, sawed, sold and 



unsold, 800,000,000 feet, 8,000,000 

 Unsawed timber, shingles and 



staves, sold and consumed 



at home, 2,000,000 feet, 2,000,000 



Other agricultural products, 15,000,000 



$39,108,228 



Total agricultural products of the 



State, $125,675,173 



New MANURE.-Iriimediately adjoining thefarm 

 I occupy is a tan-yard with about 50 acres of poor 

 clay land attached, it is so situated that I can 

 from my field survey the whole at a glance. A 

 few years since I observed a small piece in the 

 middle of one of the fields, n hich was at the 

 time in wheat, liinking very luxuriant: knowing 

 that no manure liea|) had been i>laced there 1 



All the plants, wliether in the garden, field or 

 forest, if in rows, should be placed in the direc- 

 tion of north and South, in order to admit the 

 sun's rays every day to both sides of the row. 



A writer in the Southern Agriculturist, con- 

 firms a statement heretofore published, of the 

 value of soa|) suds as a manure and also a pre- 

 ventive against the ravages of worms, bugs, &c. 

 Why is it so generally thrown away, when it may 

 be so well applied ? 



Liebig says — "Carbonic acid, water, and am- 

 monia contain the elements necessary for the 

 support of animals and vegetables. The same 

 substance are the ultimate products of the chem- 

 ical processes of decay and putrefaction. All the 

 innumerable products of vitality resume, after 

 death, the original form from which they spuing. 

 And thus death — the complete dissolution of an 

 existing generation — becomes the source of life 

 for a new one." 



W^retchedly jierverse or singularly unhappy 

 has been he, who has lived from infancy to the 

 grey hair, without having created a place in soci- 

 ety, and secured some iaillilul liosoin upon which 

 he may lean in the decline of nature ! 



