March, 1842. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



37 



vents the fineness of mould so necessary for the 

 germination of the smaller seeds. AVhere the 

 condition of the soil will admit, a few beds of 

 carrots, lettuces, peas, and similar hardy plants 

 may be put in for early use, although it would 

 not be best to plant all intended for the year at 

 this time. Asparagus beds should now be clear- 

 ed off, the litter put upon them at the beginning 

 of winter removed, compost spread over the 

 beds to the depth of three or four inches, and 

 well worked in with n strong fork, avoiding dis- 

 turbing the crowns of the roots as much as pos- 

 sible. This is one of the most delicious of veg- 

 etables, and is deserving of far more general 

 cultivation. There is an impression that there is 

 something mysterious and difficult in the growth 

 of asparagus; but this is all idle, as there are 

 few plants cultivated with more ease and certain- 

 ty. It is idle, it is true, to think of growing fine 

 asparagus where the soil is wet or compact to 

 within a few inches of the surface ; or where 

 there is no richne.ss to give vigor to the plant. 

 Asparagus requires a soil preamble to the depth 

 of at least two feet, as the roots, like those of 

 most other perennial plants, run deep; and on 

 the richness and good condition of tlie soil, the 

 size and ipiality of the shoots will mainly de- 

 pend. It may be cultivated either by roots trans- 

 planted or by seed ; and in either case, when 

 properly performed in the early spring, success 

 may be considered as certain. A few potatoes 

 may be planted in March, and early varieties 

 should be selected. If the seed end, or that end 

 containing the greatest number of eyes, is select- 

 ed for planting, the product will come to matu- 

 rity some ten or twelve days earlier than when 

 other parts of the root are used. The Lanca- 

 shire gardeners, who mainly supply the London 

 market with potatoes, are very careful 

 this rule. 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

 Work for the Month. 

 Liebig's beautiful explanation of the manner in 

 which |)laster performs its effects in promoting 

 the growth of plants, has given an increased im- 

 pulse to the use of this invaluable article, and we 

 hope every farmer will try some of it on his clo- 

 ver, grain, corn, potatoes, &c., this year. On san- 

 dy soils, its value will he more apparent than on 

 any others, and though little used on the potatoe 

 crop, we have heard of instances where it has 

 been nearly or quite doubled by its application. 

 There is no manure of this class, which will at 

 all times, and on all soils produce the expected 

 effects, and occasional failures will never deter 

 the experienced farmer from their further use. On 

 suitable soils, plaster is the most efficacious as 

 well as cheapest manure that can be used. 



It is well for a farmer to be looking ahead, and 

 securing such seeds as he is intending to plant 

 or sow the coming season. He who has noticed 

 the difference in the crop between plants produ- 

 ced from good ripe, perfect seed, and those from 

 inferior, imripe, or perhaps injured seed, will un- 

 derstand the propriety of attention to this point. 

 It is not too much to say, that thousands of acres 

 of corn fail,almost annually, from using bad seed. 

 Better to pay douhle prict^ for good seeds, than 

 use poor ones, if they could he had for nothing. 

 To attempt economy in this way, would be to in- 

 vite certain failure. 

 j If every farmer would see the roads to the ex- 



I tent of his farm were planted with trees, it would 

 require but a few years to change the whole as- 

 pect of our country for the better. The maple, 

 elm, ash, and in suitable soils the Iocust,might be 

 profitably used, and if these were not to he had, 

 fruit trees, such as the pear, cherry, or apple, 

 might be substituted. In transplanting make your 

 holes large, but not deep, give the roots space to 

 H spread, use rich soil in filling up, and do not cov 

 er much higher than the earth naturally was 

 around the tree. If the top is heavy, it should be 

 secured against winds. There are multitudes of 

 fittnilies in New England that make all the si _ 

 they need, from maple trees planted within forty 

 years; and such plantations are annually increas- 

 ing. It has been ascertained at the south, that 

 the attacks of some of the insects so fatal to fruit 

 trees, particularly the jjeach, may be prevented 

 by planting a small red cedar in the same hole 

 with the fruit tree ; the odor of the cedar being 

 offensive to them. Wormwood has also been 

 tried in the same way, and it is probable any 



strong scented plant would produce a similar re- 

 sult. 



Have you made all the i>ecessary preparations 

 for the coming season? Are your agricultural 

 implements in good order, your ploughs, hoes, 

 scythes, rakes,harnesses,carts, &c. ready for use? 

 Farmers find it most unpleasant, when a piece of 

 work is to be done, to be obliged to go to a neigh- 

 bor for the necessary implement, and it is not un- 

 frequently the case that the time spent in borrow- 

 ing and returning a tool, would purchase a new 

 one, or, if applied in season, repair the old one. 

 Don't rely loo much on borrowing ; the practice 

 is a bad one. Be neighborly but if you exhibit 

 your good will in sojne other method than a de- 

 pendence on yom' neighl)or for the n>eans of car- 

 rying on your farm work, you will probably be 

 quite as much respected. — Cultivator. 



A Brilliant Stdcco Whitewash.— Take 

 clean lumps of well-burnt lime, (say five or six 

 quarts,) slack the same with hot water in a tub, 

 (coveret) to keep in the steam,) pass it in the fluid 

 form through a fine seive ; add one-fourth of a 

 pound of whiting or burntalum, pulverized ; one 

 pound of good sugar; three pints of rice flour, 

 made into a thin and well-boiled paste, and one 

 pound of clean glue, dissolved by first soaking 

 it well, and then putting it into a small kettle, 

 which should again be put into a larger one 

 filled with water, and placed over a slow fire. 

 Add five gallons of hot water to the whole mix- 

 ture. 



This wash is applied with a painter's brush, 

 where particular neatness is required. It must be 

 put oil while warm, if upon the outside of the 

 building; if within doors, cold. It will retain its 

 brilliancy for many years. About one pint of this 

 mixture will cover a square yard upon the out- 

 side of a house, if properly applied. If a larger 

 quantity than five gallons is wanted, the same 

 proportions must be observed in preparing. Co- 

 loring matter may be added to give it any requir- 

 ed shade. — Gen. Fiir. 



Manures. 

 From a prize essay on making compost heaps, and the 

 value of liquid manures, written by Mr. James Dixon, 

 .and published in the Journal of the English Agricultural 

 Society, we make the following extracts:— - 

 " Having brought great quantities of both peat 

 and sawdust into my farm yard, I laid out for the 

 bottom of a compost heap a space of considera- 

 ble dimensions, and about three feet in depth: 

 three-fourtha of this bottom was peat, the rest 

 sawdust : on this we conveyed daily the dung 

 from the cattle-shed, the urine also is conducted 

 through channels to wells for its reception— one 

 on each side of the compost heap; common wa- 

 ter is entirely ])revented fiom mixing with it. — 

 Every second day the urine so collected is thrown 

 over the whole mass with a scoop, and at the 

 same lime we regulate the accumulated dung. — 

 This being continued for a week, another layer, 

 nine inches or a foot thick, of peat and sawdust 

 (and frequently peat without sawdust) is wheeled 

 on the accumulated heap. These matters are 

 continuously added to each other during winter, 

 and in addition, once in every week never less 

 than 25 cwt. — more frequently 50 cwt. of night 

 soil and urine ; the latter are always laid next a- 

 bove the peat or bog earth, as we think it acceler- 

 ates their decomposition. It is perhaps proper 

 here to slate that the peat is dug and exposed to 

 the alternations of the weather fbr several months 

 before it is brought to the heap for admixture ; 

 by this it loses much of its moisture. In some 

 cases, peat contains acid or astringent matters 

 which ai-e injurious to irsef'ul .vegetation. On this 

 I have not tried any 'decided experiment, but am 

 led to the supposition by frequently seeing 

 stones, some in a partial stale of decomposition, 

 others wholly decoinposed in bogs, and at the 

 dejilh of several feet from the i>urface. Some 

 years' experience has convinced me of the im- 

 propriety of using recently dug peat; proceed- 

 ing in tl«? n>anner I recommend, it is superior 

 and more convenient on every account— very 

 much lighter to cart to the farm-yard or any oth- 

 er situation where it is wanted ; and so convinced 

 am I of its utility in composts for every descrip- 

 tion of soil, except that of its own character, that 

 wherever it can be laid down on a farm at less 

 than four shillings per ton, I should recommend 

 every agriculturist and horticultiu-ist that can 

 command it, even at the cost here stated, to give 



it a fair trial. So retentive and attractive of mois- 

 ture is peat, that if liberally applied to arid, sandy 

 soil, that soil does not burn in a dry season, and 

 it so much improves the texture and increases 

 the produce of an obdurate clay soil, if in other 

 respects rightly cultivated, that actual experience 

 alone can fiiirly determine its value. 



" For the conveyance of night-soil and urine, 

 we have the largest aud strongest casks, such as 

 oils are imported in ; the top of which is provi- 

 ded with a funnel to put the matters through, and 

 the casks are fi.xed on wheels like those of a com- 

 mon dung-cart. For the convenience of empty- 

 ing this carriage, the compost heaps are always 

 lower at one end ; the highest is where we dis- 

 chai-ge the contents, in order that they may in 

 some degree spread themselves over the whole 

 accumulation. The situation on which the wheels 

 of these carriages stand while being discharged 

 is raised considerably ; this we find convenient, 

 as the compost heap may be sloped six or seven 

 feet : low compost heaps, in my opinion, should 

 be avoided. The plan here recommended I have 

 carried on for some time. I find no difficulty in 

 manuring my farm over once in two years; by 

 this repetition I keep up the fertility of my land, 

 and it never requires more than a moderate ap- 

 plication of manure. 



" The beneficial effects of top-dressing young 

 clovers or mixed grass seeds is scarcely ever re- 

 garded with due attention. By this help crops are 

 not only much increased, even thirty or fifty per 

 cent, but they are also ready for cutting much 

 sooner, whicli in a backward spring gives the 

 stock fai-mer inestimable advantages for sorting 

 his cattle, and thereby raising manure at his plea- 

 sure. The full effects of this practice I first ex- 

 perienced in the dry season of 1826: I had some 

 clovers which had been manured the previous 

 winter ; ray land was soon covered with crop, and 

 that so vigoi-ous a one, that the hot weather did 

 not overpower it. My cows that summer were ti- 

 ed up during the day-time, and in the night they 

 were tui-ned out into the pastures ; most of the 

 stock in my district were much distressed from 

 over-heat as well as from being short of food for 

 some weeks ; milk yielded little butter ; scarcely 

 any for a time was offered in our large market 

 town : no doubt that year will be remembered by 

 many gentletnen on tho Agricultural Society's 

 committee. I, however, was under no difficul- 

 ties on account of the season ; my clovers pro- 

 duced plenty of food for my cattle, and in return 

 they yielded as much milk and butter as I ever 

 recollect from the same number. I am persua- 

 ded that the same satisfactory results would have 

 followed if the same system had been adopted 

 fur feeding stock ; it was that year my attention 

 was first directed to raising compost heaf)S from 

 urine. This I now do frequently without the 

 help of any dung from the cattle-stalls. The 

 sairre occasion called my mind to another matter 

 well worthy every farmer's attention — I allude to 

 the great superiority of the manure raised la 

 sumiTter-stalling to that produced in the ^Itor 

 during tire winter. I verily believe the di(t&eaC9 

 is fifty per cent, unless stock are fed in a great 

 measure during winter with artificial food. In are 

 arrangement for making compost heaps from 

 urine, I would recommend a receptacle to be 

 made at tire back of the cattle-stalls just outsidq 

 the building; this should hold about twenty cart- 

 loads of mould, or any other matters to be em- 

 ployed; if its situation were a little lower than 

 the cattle-sheds, all the urine would pass into it, 

 and remain there until the mass is completely 

 saturated, which will be sufficient; when the 

 earthy matters are covered over with it, the com- 

 |)ost may then he thrown out and the proceeding 

 again renewed. In order to show part of the 

 benefits of this practice, 1 beg here to observe 

 that the most foul or weedy mould may be used ; 

 the action of the urine, if not reduced by water, is 

 so powerful, that wire-worms, the black slug, 

 many other destroying insects, and all vegeta- 

 bles, weeds, &c. when in contact with the urme 

 for a tiiTio are deprived of their living functions. 

 The situation for raising this compost should be 

 protected from the weather by a covering simdar 

 to a cart-shed ; indeed, the deteriorating influen- 

 CCM of rain, sun, and arid winds, on all putrescent 

 matters of compost are so serious, that in my 

 humble judgment it would be worth while to 

 have places under cover where these are usually 

 laid down." 



