THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



179 



for a future communication ?) I will nivself afUl, 

 that my return was tlirough a rich portion of tlie 

 state of Maryland, where tiie subject of anricul- 

 ture has probably received much more attt-ntiuii 

 than in any portion of the state of Viri;iiiia. 



P. S. I enclose an account ol the (irst Exhi- 

 bition of the Prince Georjie's (Maryland) A;.'ii- 

 cultural Society, a copy of their constitution and 

 by-laws, and their list of premiums. There is, 

 perhaps, rather too much of the facetious in the 

 description, but as I was present at the exhibition 

 I am able to state that it gives a good idea of the 

 occasion. Trulv yours, 



SIMON BROWN. 



From the Maine CuUiv.-.tor. 

 Natural Meadow or Reclaimed Bogr. 



It is truly gratifvin;; to observe the increasing 

 estimation of this kind of land. Swamps and 

 bogs are reservoirs for manure that is imavoida- 

 bly lost from higher ground : yet tiature wills 

 that it be not lost to man if he will but improve 

 it. 



Many rich and valuable bogs wear a forbidding 

 asjject, from being thickly covered with brush- 

 wood ; but by embracing favorable seasons for 

 burning, and closely following the fire with the 

 scythe, they may be reclaimed at much less ex- 

 pense than mayat first be anticipated. 



To keep such land clear, great care is indis- 

 pensable. It should beannually mowed wlictlicr 

 clad in bushes, weeds or grass, and every tl.iu^' 

 carefully cut close. After haying, a few liry davs 

 will, generally, so dry the stubble that fire will 

 run over it. Burning is useful both as a means 

 of clearing and smoothing the ground, and also 

 of increasing its fertility ; — ashes stimulate the 

 vegetable matter of which the soil is chiefly com- 

 posed. 



One other method of improving meadows 

 should not he neglected. I mean annual flowing: 

 this is the cause that made the land valuable at 

 first. 



Some may not understand why covering land 

 with water siiould enrich it ; hut I thiids the rea- 

 son must be plain to every careful observer; — it 

 is not the pure water but its contents that improve 

 the land. During heavy rains and melting of 

 snow, every stream, brook or rivulet is charged 

 with the wash of forests, ploughed land and pas- 

 tiu'es ; if this water is still confined to a narrow 

 channel, it passes rapidly off with whatever it 

 contains; If the channel is so obstructed as to 

 raise the water over flat lands, its course is less 

 rapid, and its contents deposited, leaving a dress- 

 ing of the finest and richest manine. 



I have observed that some farmers spend much 

 time in ditching meadows and swales, but none 

 in flowing them. Ditches may be useful while 

 crops are growing, by making a drier surface 

 and facilitating the action of light, heat and air ; 

 but flowing in fall and spring is, I think, of para- 

 mount importance. 



An error in relation to the proper time for 

 cutting aquatic grasses has prevailed to some ex- 

 tent. Thej' should be cut as soon as the seed is 

 full and before the leaves begin to rust — sooner 

 will make still better fodder — and secured with- 

 out exposure to rain or dew. A. 



Remarks. — We hod supposed that the great 

 value derived from the irrigation was in the "con- 

 tents" brought down, and not in the "pin-e wa- 

 ter." We have discovered our mistake on this 

 point. On the cultivated grounds attached to 

 the Insane Hospital at Worcester water is flashed 

 over the groimds brought from a clear cold 

 spring on the rising ground above; and Dr. 

 Woodward assured us that this "pure water" 

 had all the desired effect to increase the product 

 of hay. So we were informed by Col. Phinney, 

 the most successful practical a^'ricndturist we 

 have yet known,tlmt the clear cold water brought 

 over his mowing lands in the spring greatly in- 

 creased the quantity of good English hay. Look 

 upon any side hill over which the water has run 

 in the spring all the way up and down, even 

 when it shall come from the cold drain of a cel- 

 lar: if there be any "contents" coming down 

 with this water tliey must have filtered upon the 

 top of the ground long before they touch the soil 

 on which irrigation acts. 



Pure water, in itself, we believe to be one of 



1 the greatest fertilizers of the groun<l ; yet if pure 



' water stand upon or near the surface too long, 



it will destroy almost every vegetable crop. — 



Without pure water we should have no crop : 

 it is the great principle which forms vegetable 

 growth. When flashed over any soil if it imme- 

 diately runs off, its effect is seen in the early 

 spring of vegetation. Where the cold water of 

 early spring first runs, there will be seen the first 

 and most rajiid growth of every thing green. 

 We see this as well on the side hill pastiu'es of 

 the high mountains as in the hollows of the 

 streams in the valleys. We question whether 

 there will be any very great difference between 

 the water from pools carrying the "contents" of 

 the woods, and the clear cold water running from 

 springs, that shall be conducted over a mowing 

 field in the spring; the sun and the mild weiith- 

 er have all the due action in meliorating the effect 

 of the water. 



It might be useful for farmers to ascertain the 

 real effect of manures and other applications to 

 the soil. The natural iiiipression is, that when 

 land is'uoiM out" all the matt-rials of fertility 

 must be carried to it, to bring it bairk ; that with"- 

 out as much ina;uire shall be a[)plied as the val- 

 ue of the subsequent crops, such land cannot be 

 made useful ; that, in short, worn out land has 

 no intrinsic value. Now there is a great mis- 

 take in this supposition ; the worn out land oidy 

 wants a change of action to make it productive. 

 This change may be made simply by the plough 

 and cultivator without manure— by the applica- 

 tion of pure water, sand or clay — by stirring and 

 bringing upon the surface the under soil — by 

 (lr.Miii:ig, and in various other ways. Warming, 

 stiiMMJ.itiug manuies will do good on all lands — 

 tliiy "ill renovate worn out lands; but frequent 

 pliiugliiiig, irrigation, draining and the application 

 of sand upon stiff clay soils and stiff clay or marl 

 upon sandy soils, will do quite as much as the 

 bi'st ujanure in fertilizing a " worn out" field. — 

 Editoi- F. M. Visitor. 



Improvement of Stiff Clay Soil. 



A friend who has a lot of very tenacious clay, 

 on \vhich he grew, the present season, a crop 

 of very excellent carrots, both in quality and 

 quantity, but who experienced difficulty in har- 

 vesting them, owing to the tenacious character 

 of thesoil, having asked our advice to the best 

 mode of meliorating its texture, as .there may be 

 others similarly situated, we will avail ourself 

 of the occasion, of re[)eating here, what we said 

 to him. He apprised us that he could get any 

 quantity of foundry cinders. With the knowl- 

 edge of the character of his soil, and the resoince 

 just named.we advised him to haul on his lot(about 

 an acre in quantity) in the first place, 100 loads 

 of sand, to spread it evenly over every part of it; 

 then to haul on from 40 to 50 loads of the cinders 

 rejecting as much as possible of that ]iart which 

 had runinto an oar-like substance and to spread 

 that on the sand. This done to i)lough the whole 

 under, then harrow and cross plough it, and leave 

 the grotind in that condition until spring, when 

 if he intended putting on animal or alimentary 

 manures to do so, then plough again, harrow and 

 put on either a hundred bushels of litne, or the 

 same quantity of ashes, when be should finish by 

 harrowing and rolling. Should he follow our 

 advice, we have no doubt that during the next 

 season, he will find his tenacious clay converted 

 into a delightful clay mould, relieved from all its 

 tendencies to crack and bake, and that his work- 

 men, instead of finding it irksome toil to pene- 

 trate it with their implements, will discover, that 

 it will cut like rich old cheese, crumbling to their 

 touch, and presenting an aspect to their view, 

 no less pleasing to their sight than the improved 

 condition of the soil itself will render their la- 

 bors agreealde. The soil in one of the very best 

 agricuTtural counties in England at the present 

 lime, was, mainly, fifty years ago, a series of 

 continuous beds of almost floating sand ; but 

 now, these bodies of floating sand, by the appli- 

 cation of marl, or clay, as either was inost con- 

 venient to their respective owners, have been 

 converted into sandy lonnxs, the which by proper 

 subsequent treatment, have been rendered as 

 fertile as the hearts of men could desire. If one 

 should be asked, what is the most profitable soil 

 to work ? the question nine times out of ten 

 would he answered thus: a deep rich mould — 

 and what is such mould, but a compound of clay, 

 sand, vegetable and calcareous matter .' Noth- 

 ing else, and whatever of all these, which may 

 be deficient, can be artificially supplied when- 



ever required ; for there are but few sands be- 

 neath which clay may not be found. These on 

 the spot, the necessary quantity of lime or marl, 

 in some of its forms, can easily in most instances, 

 be supplied, as but three or tour per cent, of ei- 

 ther of these will be found suflicientto produce 

 the desired change in the condition of the soil. 



The Earl of Leicester converted an estate of 

 2200 acres of almost barren sands into one of 

 great fruitftilness by the means we have just 

 named, and instances are numerous in this 

 country, where great melioration have been pro- 

 duced in the same way. We know a li-iend, 

 whose garden was of such tenacious clay as to 

 be impenetrable to any thing but the pick, who 

 acting under our instructions, has made it by 

 sand, lime and stable manure, as pleasant a gar- 

 den mouldasgardner ever spaded — and this spot, 

 which seemed to have been destined by nature 

 for the site of a brickyard, is now one of the 

 most productive kitchen gardens any where to 

 be found. 



We will close this article by this remark — 

 that wherever clay lands to be reduced to mould 

 may lie contignous to salt-water rivers, that the 

 sand from their shores should be preferred. — 

 American Farmer. 



Woman and Agricdltcbe. — Agriculture i» 

 undoubtedly the first and most important of in- 

 dustrious pursuits ; and it is an occupation in 

 which, from the earliest histories of the human 

 race, woman has delighted to engage, and by her 

 labors, and more especially by her counsels, as- 

 sist in bringing to a state of perfection. Yes, in 

 this honorable pursuit man has been assisted by 

 that partner which the Eternal, in his goodness, 

 has given to hinj, to share his toils, alleviate his 

 cares, and embellish his life. Indeed, by looking 

 into the past, by reverting to the most distant 

 ))eriods of time, we shall perceive, through the 

 glimmering light which succeeds the darkness 

 of unknown centuries, that woman, so well de- 

 signated as the "flower of the human specief," 

 has had, in all ages, a direct share in the progress 

 of Agriculture. 



Let us look to Egypt. By raising the veil 

 which fiction and heathenistn have thrown over 

 truth, we shall find that in remote ages, while 

 Osiris, the wise King of that country, who was 

 afterwards deified, as dictating laws to the Egyp- 

 tians, Isis, his Queen, was giving them those pre- 

 cepts in agriculture which render the Egyptian 

 dominions the richest in the universe. They thus 

 became flimiliar with the mysteries of embank- 

 ments, irrigations, and drainings, in order to drive 

 aH the benefit which could be afforded by the 

 deposite of the benignant Nile. Isis chose the ox 

 as her type, on account of its great usefulness 

 in agriculture ; and the Egyptians imagined that 

 the soul of the celebrated Queen, after her death, 

 animated the ox 1 in con.sequence of which, they 

 exalted that useful animal to the rank of a deity. 



If we look to Sicily, we shall there find a Queen 

 who conferred the greatest benefit on mankind 

 by giving them lessons in agriculture — by mak- 

 ing them acquainted with the use of wheat and 

 the mode of cultivating it. This Queen of Sicily 

 was Ceres, whom the ancients, by an allegory 

 equally just and beautiful, have represented as 

 the mother of Phitus, the God of Wealth— mean- 

 ing unquestionably, that agriculture is the source 

 of all riches. The Greeks, who personified all 

 received favors, as they deified all virtues, with a 

 view to perpetuate their gratitude to the Queen 

 of Sicily, made her the Goddess of Agriculture 

 and Harvest. 



In the first centuries of the Roman Republic, 

 the care of the kitchen garden was always entrus- 

 ted to the mother of a tiimily. Indeed, among 

 the Greeks and Romans, many persons, received 

 divine honors on account of the services which 

 they rendered agriculture. In Sparta, while the 

 men were fighting for their country, the women 

 were cultivating the soil ; atid it is to the Em- 

 press of China that we are indebted for the mul- 

 berry tree and the rearing of silk worms. — fios- 

 ton Macantik Journal. 



Statistics of Labor. 



E.NGr.AND.— In England the price of labor va- 

 ries. The Nottingham stocking weavers, as sta- 

 ted by them in a public address, after working 

 from 14 or 16 hours per day, earn only from four 



