22 



THE FARMERS MONTHLY VISITOR 



February, 1842. 



fretted herself to death. To tliink of ourhavJHg^ 

 to fiiibmic to these dreadful changes, all at once; 

 when for ten years our dear father's spectacles 

 were never removed from the place in which he 

 had last laid them down." 



I attempted to offer a few words of consola- 

 tion to Miss Catharine, but she wept bitterly and 

 woidd not be comforted. "Ah!" said she, -'this 

 is one of the consequences of livinp in a repub- 

 lic. Had we been still under a king, he would 

 have known nothing about our little property, 

 and we could have enjoyed it in our own way as 

 long as we lived. There is one comfort, that 

 not a creature in the states will be any the better 

 for what loe shall leave behind us — sister and 1 

 have taken care of that. We have bequeathed 

 every article to our relations in Nova Scotia since 

 our nephew, poor boy, was so laifortunale as to 

 die before us. In all oin- trials it has been a 

 great satisfaction to us to reflect that when every 

 thing was changing around, grace has been given 

 us to remain faithful to our church and king." 



The loyal old lady then informed me that, on 

 liis accession to the throne, she had written a 

 letter of congratulation to his Britannic Majesty, 

 William the Fourth, whom she remembered 

 having seen in Boston before the revolution, 

 when he was there as Duke of Clarence, and an 

 officer in his father's navy. In this epistle she 

 had earnestly assured him that the family of Dr. 

 Bylea always were, and always would be, most 

 true and fervent in their devotion to their liege 

 lord and rightful sovereign, the king of England. 

 To have attempted to argue her out of this feel- 

 ing, the i)ride and solace of her declining life, 

 would have been cruel ; and moreover entirely 

 useless. 1 did not hint to her the improbability 

 of her letter ever having reached the royah per- 

 sonage to whom it was addressed. 



The old lady told me that her chief occupation 

 now was to write serious poetry, and she gave 

 me a copy of some stanzas which she had re- 

 cently composed. The verses were tolerably 

 good, and written in a hand remarkably neat, 

 handsome, and steady. 



Miss Catharine B\les survived her sister Miss 

 Mary about two years, and died of gradual decay 

 in the summer of 1837. Her remains repose 

 with those of her father and sister beneath the 

 flooring of Trinity Church. They left the whole 

 of their property to their loynlist relations in No- 

 va Scotia, true to their loni^-cherished resolution 

 that no republican should inherit the value of a 

 farthing from them. The representative of the 

 family is said to have come to Boston and taken 

 possession of the bequest. 



" Much yet remains unsung." 



TILLAGE. 



" 'Tis folly in the extreme to till 

 Extensive'fields, and till tlicm ill ; 

 The larmer, pleased, may boast aloud, 

 His bushels sown, his acres ploughed j 

 And pleased, indulge the clicering hope 

 That time will bring a plenteous crop 5 

 Shrewd common seiise sits laughing by — 



Importance of the (jtiality of the Salt 

 USED i>- MAKING Butter. — At a late Agricultural 

 ting in Augusta, Me., Dr. Bates stated that the 

 Quakers in Fairfield were in the habit of buying 

 the best description of coarse salt and cleansing 

 it, and having it groimd, and this salt they used 

 in the manufiicture of butter. The consequence 

 was the butter made by the Quakers of Fairfield, 

 had a better reputation and bore a higher price 

 than the butter ujude iu other towns. He held 

 them up as worthy of imitalidu. He stated that 

 the loss of the buttor mauuliictured in this State 

 was greater in auiouul every year than the sum 

 raised for the Stale tax — more than two hundred 

 thousand dollars. He believed that, if this fact 

 was generally luiderstood, if the people could be 

 made aware, of the loss incurred by bad manu- 

 facture, we should at once see an improvement 

 in this article of which is so much produced and 

 which enter into our daily consumption. — Maine 

 Farmer. 



Important Suggestion at this time of the 

 YEAR. — According to Liebig, (and the evidence of 

 our senses, too,) a large portion of the valuable 

 part of manure, escapes from stables and other 

 places of collection, in the form of gaseous am- 

 monia. Now by strewing the floors of stables 

 with gypsum, this gaseous manure immediately 

 combines with the sulphuric acid of the gypsum, 

 forming a solid compound, destitute of smell, and 

 of great value as manure. The offensive odor is 

 destroyed and the manure is retained. Those 

 who have tight stables may successfully tiy this 

 with great ease. — Cult. 



Hung or Dried Beef. — The |)ractice of a su 

 cessful farmer, is as follows: 



Eight oz. of salt, ) made into 



Two oz. of salt-petrc, ^ brine. 



This quantity, to he applied to ton lbs. of beef. 

 It should lay iu the briue foiu- weeks; and then 

 be hung upiu the kitchen to dry. In suauner tc 

 preserve it from insects, it should be lied up in i 

 linen cloth. 



Yeast. — Boil one pound of good flour, a quar 

 ter of a pound of brown sugar, and a little salt, 

 in two gallons of water for an hour; let it after- 

 wards stand until it becomes milk warm, bottle 

 it and cork it close. It will be fit for use in twen 

 ty-four hours. One jiint of this will make eigh 

 teen pounds of bread. — Ladi/'s ^Innual Reg. 



For when maturing seasons smile, 

 Thin sheaves shall disappoi 

 Advised, this emplv pride e 

 Till LlTTlF.and iinUMlc 



toil; 



1 fields. 



Neat be vour farms; 'tia long confessed 



The neatest farmer is the best. 



Each bog and marsh, industrious drain, 



i\or let vile balks deform the plain ; 



No bushes on your headland grow, 



For briars a sloven's culture show. 



Neat be your barns, your houses neat, 



Your doors be clean, your court-yards sweet; 



I\o moss the sheltering roof enshroud, 



Nor wooden panes the windows cloud, 



No filthy kennels foully flow, 



JSor weeds with rankling poison grow ; 



Bul shades expand and fruit trees bloom, 



And flowering shrubs exhale ]>erfume ; 



With pales your garden circle round, 



Defend, enrich, and clean the ground ; 



Prize high the pleasing, useful rood. 



And fill with vegetables good." 



Clover Seed might, with great safety, be sown 

 upon aiitimm grain, any time during tliis month ; 

 and as there is nothiuu' more promotive of suc- 

 cess than judicious anticipations of labor, it is to 

 he hoped that many \\ill avail thcuiselves of this 

 hint. 



Among the most spirited Agricultural bene- 

 factors in the State of Maine, we count onrfrictid 

 Doct. James Bates, late a member of Congress 

 from the O.xford district. Through the Agricul- 

 tural pajiers of that State he fiKiuenlly imparts 

 the lights drawn from his own experience. The 

 following article will apply as well to the north 

 erly half of Vermont and of New Hampshire us 

 to the colder region of Maine. — Ed. Vis. 

 From the Maine Cultivator. 

 Cultivation of Indian Corn in Alainc. 



J^Torridgeicock, Jan. 28, J843. 



Messrs Editors: — Although I have not been 

 idle since my last communication, the time may 

 seem long to you and your readers in which 1 

 have delayetl to redeem my promise. 



It may seem strange to some that we " up 

 north" in Somerset should make any part of otu- 

 rotation consist in the attempt to cultivate Indian 

 corn. But so it is, and often with very good suc- 

 cess. 



It should, as in the case of other hoed crops, 

 occupy the first year on light and free tillage, and 

 the second on harsher or heavier grounds, un 

 less treated in a mode somewhat common in 

 Bloomfield, on heavy, wet land, with a hard, 

 stony subsoil, in which, after spreading long ma- 

 nure liberally in May, they turn two furrows to- 

 wards each other and ])Iant corn wliere they 

 meet. This appears like a very slovenly mode, 

 but so far as the frsl crop is concerned, ofter 

 very successful. I have never practised it, nor 

 should I be much disposed to plant corn on land 

 which required it. 



When a mellow soil, which has been either 

 mowing or in pasture, is to be prepared for this 

 crop, my mode has been as follows: 



From tenth to twentieth of May spread and 

 plough under with a deep, smooth (iirrow, eight 

 to ten cords of long manure, and roll smooth — 

 then spread ten or twelve loads of old manure 

 from the barn or hog yard, or compost of 

 preceding season, and thoroughly incorporate it 



with the soil by cultivating lengthwise the fur- 

 ows and harrowing very fine. With a marker 

 made by putting three strong pins, eighteen inch- 

 long, at a distance of three feet si.\ inches, in 



piece of slitwork— a pair of thills — with two 

 handles niadeof the halves of an old o.x-bow, I 

 trace out my rows both ways. By the aid of a 

 horse and boy, letting the right or left han* pin 

 (as the case may be) follow its last track, and 

 using care to straighten any crooks, the whole 

 thing will look verj neatly and be much easier 

 cultivated through the season than any I know of. 



Forty-eight hours previous I pour copperas 



ater on my seed corn,aud when ready to plant, 



put in about a gill of tar to half bushel, and stir 



it until every kernel has received a thin coating, 



pour oft' the water aiul dry w 1th plaster. 



It is necessary to sunk it .sio lung, or you are in 

 danger by your coating of tar of preventing the 

 access of the necessary luuislure to the germ ; 

 but ill this way you will see on Ihe first and sec- 

 ond day of your dropping, the sprout already 

 making its appearance, and actually requiring 

 some care to prevent injuring it. Last year I 

 planted tlii'ee acres close by a lookery, froin 

 which flocks of crows daily visited it, and they 

 did not destroy twenty hills. Wherever they 

 ilid take up a hill they uniformly left the plant 

 on the ground. 



Some men put several more seeds in a hill 

 than they wish to have stand. If the seed is 

 good I would never do this, for the number of , 

 stalks is " rarely right adjusted" afterwards, un- j 

 less you do it yourscli; and then it costs much 

 stooping labor. As I wish never more than five 

 nor less than four plants, so I drop njy seeds. 

 This distance gives you 3,!i5o hills to the acre, 

 and room enough each way lo pass your harrow 

 and cultivator, with which most of the after cul- 

 ture is to be done, freely. 



As soon as the plants are of sufficient height, 

 a harrow should be passed twice in a row length- 

 wise the furrows, aiul hoed. Before the second 

 hoeing put about eight bushels of wood ashes, 

 one of plaster and one of slaked lime to the acre 

 around the hills. The cultivator may now be 

 passed each way without danger of disturbing 

 the sod, if the ploughing has been as deej; as it 

 should be. 



I shall not enter into the discussion about 

 which so much ink has been shed, as to breaking 

 the small roots of the corn by deep culture, nor 

 as to the advantage or disadvantage of ollen stir- 

 ring the earth to avert the evils of drought. It 

 is probable that both |)artics are light under 

 certain circumstances, and both wrong under 

 others. 



It is asserted that everj' root broken off throws 

 out a greater number of rootlets than it possessed 

 before ; and as the nourishment is taken up by 

 the absorbent power of these, ergo, the plant will 

 grow faster. The assertion that more are thrown 

 out than the long fibre broken off did, or woidd 

 possess, is easier made than proved, I imagine ; 

 — be that as it may, I should not be very anxious 

 to mutilate my corn roots for the sake of making 

 more of them. I have been told, the ncted Da- 

 vid Howe, of Haverhill, whenever he saw a far- 

 mer tearing the roots of his a])ple-trees with a 

 plough, never failed to go to, and expostulate 

 with him, to spare his favorite tree. 



Whether corn should be cultivated and hoed 

 twice, or more than twice, must depend on cir- 

 cumstances of which every farmer can best judge 

 at the time ; of one thing however I am well 

 satisfied, that it should be left as level as possi- 

 ble ; and when I come to the ne.xt year's culture, 

 1 expect to show a very strung reason for this, in 

 addition to its effects on the present crop. 



I do not expect to settle the question as to cut- 

 ting stalks, or topping corn, as some call it. I 

 shall state iny practice. If, as has sometimes 

 happened about the first of September, a frost 

 should come, I cut all my corn if po.-?sible next 

 day close to the ground— but if I can have ten 

 or even twenty days more before this visitation, 

 I cut before the frost strikes and shock it uj). To 

 do this, two men with sickles or corn hooks lay 

 four rows in bunches large enough to bind, or 

 set up without binding — I prefer the former. If 

 bound immediately, rye straw or rope yarn should 

 he used — if the latter, wliich will in tj^e end he 

 cheapest, as it will last several yeaii?, it should 

 be tied in a bow knot, otherwise it will be wast- 

 ed, as llio tar pievenis its bring untied. I said it 



