Ma y, 1842. 



THE I'ARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, 



79 



for which the mnteiinl is abuiidiiiiL Layinj,' these 

 walls, the young men were at work; their I'omi- 

 dationsi weVe made by digging into tlie pan, and 

 laying at least two tiers of stones below the 

 surface. 



Ashes. 



In answer to our correspondent's inqiiiiy "s 

 to the operation of ashes on grass or on hoed 

 crops, we would state they operate well on all 

 dry and light soils, but they always have innch 

 more effect when the soil is full of vegetable 

 iriatter which we wish to decompose than when 

 it is destitute of it. llejice a handful of ashes — 

 a gill — ou a hill of corn, in green sward land, 

 has four times as much effect as on land desti- 

 tute of such matter. 



Leached ashes, in large quantity, improve the 

 texture of liglit soils, render them more cohesive 

 and more capable of retaining moisture. For 

 this reason they shoidd never be applied to hea- 

 vy soils — the low, clayey grounds. At five or 

 si.x cents per bushel they will prove as cheap as 

 manure at one dollar for a load, (thirty bushels;) 

 they operate for a longer term. 



On grass lands we think dry ashes not suita- 

 ble, (done, for a top dressing— there is nothing 

 on which they c.in operate to advantaije — hut 

 they may be mixed advantageously with any kind 

 of vegeiahle matter, ll' mixed in large qiumli- 

 ties with stable manures they may cause a more 

 rapid decomposition than is desirable — but wiili 

 peat muck they operate adnfn-ahly. On corn 

 lands one gill of ashes is enough for one hill, 

 and this gill should be dropped on the surface 

 as soon (is the coi-n is planted — it then operates 

 quicker and keeps away the worms. — Massachu- 

 setts Ploughman. 



Geological Changes. — It is stated in a late 

 number of Galignani's iMessenger that a geologist 

 who has lately" travelled in the west of France 

 has made some curious observations on the ac- 

 cretions of the shores principally in Vendee and 

 the ancient Poitoii. Their alluvial increase has 

 been so great thai the snot where an English (i4- 

 gun ship was wrecked in the middle of the last 

 century is now the centre of a field of corn. — 

 The harbor of Pryny is dry, and the portjjf Ra- 

 baud, where not long aao vessels of 170 tons 

 entered easily, is now 3000 metres from the sea. 

 The port of St. Gilles is filling up, and the harbor 

 of Gachere is barred. All this has occurred vyiih- 

 i?i a century, and has proceeded altogether from 

 uccumidations of sand, for it has been demon- 

 strated by numerous observations made at Ihest 

 that no change has taken place on the coast of 

 France of the level of the ocean.— jBos<071 Mer. 

 Journal. 



The above changes arc hardly as rapid as those 

 continuallv taking place within our own observa- 

 tion. Wliere the Rlerrimack river flowed tleep 

 in its bed, sufficient to float a 74 gun ship thirty- 

 three years ago, (the time of our first ac(iuaiiaiu-e 

 with i"t) we have for several years past mowed 

 good English grass at the rate of two tons of hay 

 to the acre; and where we raised stout corn 

 twenty-five vears ago is now the centre of ihe 

 greatest dejiih of the riv(!r. No human i)0wt'r 

 can alter these changes constantly going on in 

 the Concord intervale, since the encroachments 

 of the river commence in a quicksand at the ceii- 



ayers 



of rocks or trc 



driven sjiiles have little effect. — Ed. Visitor. 



Nothing like Sheep for the Soil. 



Ho.v. 1. Hill:— I noticed in your last \ isitor 

 the following question is asked by one I>o« — 

 "Are sheep a benefit to the soil ?" requesting a]i 

 answer from some of your wool growing corres- 

 pondents. 



By experience I can answer Mr. Bow in the 

 affirmative, t now occupy one lot of about 

 twenty acres to sheep grtizing, which has been 

 thus treated for the past fifty years: this lot by 

 the process may now be said to he too rich, for 

 there are actually many spots of from one to l()ur 

 or five square yards whore the grass has killed 

 out by an excess of manure. 



I don't think at this present time the lot is as 

 profitable as it wouhl.be ro clear the pine stumps 

 from this clay pasture and mow it two or three 

 consecutive years, as I have treated an adjoinmg 

 pasture of a'larger size. Many of our clay fields 

 will not make sward after being ploughed a few 



years: it has been tried to give them a long rest, 

 but unless stocked with sheep they produce but 

 little herbage. 



For fiun- or five years 1 have stocked n loam 

 side hill that is now in fine grasses for sheep. — 

 Where toriiierly nothing but cattle were permit- 

 ted to craze them, and it was foul in the extreme, 

 the prin(ii>le herbage was white daisies and 

 johnswort — now scarce a stalk of either can be 

 found. We have an abundance of jiroof that 

 sheep grazing is a safe and easy method of reno- 

 vating Ibid lands. 



Close fieeding will not injure the older sorts of 

 grazing land, but beneficial results will be the 

 conseipienci: : on new lays it should be seldom 

 attenipteil, as injiny may be done to such land. 

 Close feeding will make most kinds of any grass- 

 es fine, sweet and productive ; but this effect de- 

 pends altogether on its being constantly fed close, 

 that is, all seed steins being prevented from 

 rising. Close feeding a large pasture is not as 

 good lor the stock as a small one, because too 

 many are constantly rambling from one end of 

 the lot to the other together. 



The Season. — Respecting the season we have 

 had an uncommon one for tillage, and working 

 our teams. In traversing this section of our 

 State one is led to the conclusion that instead of 

 making rrrsidents, or lounging about places of 

 lUihlic resort, boasting of being on the eve of a 

 Western tonr there soon to set up or tend a gro- 

 cery, we have all been as busy as the laboring 

 bee; and I presume that many years have passed 

 since we have trusted so much seed to be bmied 

 in the bosom of the earth as this year — and let 

 me predict if we have a middling season for 

 cropping that our harvests will be abundant, and 

 our granaries filled. This conclusion has been 

 the more strengthened on the account of the two 

 past dry summers giving our land a rest. After 

 these there generally fijilows a heavy burden, as 

 I have noticed. 



That it may be the ultimate result is the wish 

 of your friend, 



S. VV. JEWETT. 



Weybridge, \^t. May 20th, 1812. 



I 



Col)bett on Gardening. 



IMr. Luther Hamilto.n, bookseller of this 

 town, has done the [.rodueers from the ground a 

 great service in the re-publication of a neat edi- 

 tion of the celebrated work entitled, " The Amer- 

 ii-aii Gardener: a treatise on the situation, soil, 

 teiiein- and laving-out of Gardens; on the mak- 

 ing and managing of Hot Beds and Green- 

 II«n!<cs; and on the propagation and cultivation 

 of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Flowers. By 

 WILLIAM COBBETT." 



Reading tins treatise lor the firet time, we were 

 sui-prised it should be suffered to go out of print. 

 The products of gardens may be doubled and 

 trebled sinqdy by following the advice given in 

 thi'se pages. William Coubett was well known 

 as a politician thirty years ago. He came to tiiis 

 country \vl\r\i young, a mere adventun.-r. A sol- 

 dier in tlh' iiiitish army, without ednealion, with- 

 out prnpe[i\, and without friends, he commenced 

 as a political writer. His first e.-^say in this conn- 

 try was as the editor of a federal paper at I'hila- 

 delphia of great asperity and no contemptible 

 tact: his p'ditics \vere purely Brilisli ; and he 

 attracted so much attention in England as to ob- 

 tain the cninplimeiit on the floor of the British 

 Parliament, from Mr. Windham, at the head of a 

 lory niinisiry, that he -'deserved a statue of go!d 

 (Iji-his .•^er\ires to Great Britain in America." — 

 He v.as too high toned a monarchist long to be 

 patronized liv iiioderate federalists, and left this 

 country aboiit the year 1800. Men of Cobbett's 

 cast ge"nerally go upon extremes; and he had not 

 longbeen in England before he was on the side 

 of tlic ullra democracy. Never had the monarch- 

 ical parlv in England a greater thoin than they 

 founil in" William Cobhett. Having been jn-ose- 

 cuted and imiirisoned long for liliel, he came a 

 second time to this country, and commenced 

 liirmer on Long Island. In that occupation while 

 he here remaiiied lie was very successful; and 

 here he gathered the facts anri experience which 

 are presented in his book on Gardening that 

 are ^'ivmi in that |H'euliar felicitous and graphic 

 style which flowed so easily from his pen.' Cob- 

 bett's Gardening twenty-five jears ago presents 

 all those prominent points of iniprovemenl which 

 are now just opening upon the New-England 



Agriculturist : these are the results of experience : 

 they apply to all times, and will be found true 

 yesterday, to-day and forever." 



As a beautiful compliment to a lady, a moat 

 comprehensive jirefiice. and a production worthy 

 of Addison or Franklin, we present Cobbett's 

 Dedication of the "American Gardner," ad- 

 dressed 

 " To Mrs. Treadwcll, of Salishurrj-Place, Lone;- 

 Isl'nnd. 

 London, 20ih June, 1821. 



Dear Madam — Be i)leased to receive the fol- 

 lowing little work as a mark of the highest re- 

 spect which it is in the power of the author to 

 show to any human being. The work was, for 

 the greater part, written while I lived in your 

 neigliborhood, and while I had the happiness to 

 enjoy the numeious advantages of an intercourse 

 with your family. Real [ileasures, when once 

 possessed, are alway.'5 enjoyed until memory quits 

 the mind. Those who once have seen a bed of 

 beautiful tulips, carnations, or auriculas, enjoy, 

 during life, the delightful sight, in recollection ; 

 and, in defiance of time and of local distance, I 

 shall, as long as memory remain, still enjoy the 

 l)leasure arising from that politeness untainted by 

 affectation, that unostentatious hos[»itality, that 

 kindness coming from the bottom of the heart, 

 which will, in my mind, always be associated 

 with the name of Treadwell. 



That part of this work which relates to flow- 

 ers, owes its being written to the great del ght 

 which I observed you to Uike in the cultivation 

 of this beautiful class of the productions of the 

 garden ; and if it should be found calcululed to 

 add, in the smallest degree, to your pleasures in 

 that healthful, innocent, rational, and instructive 

 pursuit, that circumstance will afford a singular 

 gratification to. 



Dear Madam, 



Your most obedient. 



And most hnml)le servant, 



W.M. COBBETT. 



A Milk Farm near Bosto.n.— Mr. Josiah 

 Houghton of Chelsea occupies a large farm of 

 420 acres. He has 47 cows— 33 of which now 

 give milk daily whiidi is brongh'. to the Boston 

 market. Mr. Houghton sells his milk at twelve 

 cents |ier gallon, at his door ; he has sold 44 gal- 

 lons of milk per day. We inquired of Mr. H. if 

 he could not realize more by the sale of hay than 

 of milk. He said he could, much more, provid- 

 ed his farm was suitable mowing land, but it 

 was much of it rough and fit for nothing but pas- 

 turing. 



Mr. Houghton's cows are not large but they 

 are well shaped ; many of them are young and 

 fi-om their n[)peaiaiiee will make great milkers at 

 six and seven. He milked lOi quarts from a two 

 year old heifer in a day in December last. 

 . Mr. Houghton's rent" is now $700; he has for- 

 merly paid $1000 for the same farm. His town 

 taxis $129. Last week he brought one of his 

 cosset sheep to market; the carcass weighed 104 

 pounds, and the tallow 20] i)omids. The sheep 

 was three ye:)rs old; the meat was sold at ten 

 cents per pound. 



Mr. Houghton has some very fine mowing 

 land near the dwidling-hoiise. He winters his 

 cows in part on marsh hay. He attends strictly 

 to the milking himself, and he finds that the only 

 way to ])revent loss lioni the shrinking of the 



This row of S^ cows in one barn is the longest 

 we have seen for some time. These cows are 

 kept neat and clean and show that they have 

 been well tended. The Boston milk market is 

 immense and requires a sweep of fifteen to twenty 

 miLes to supply it. Some IJirmers are alarmed 

 lest too much milk should be brought on the rail- 

 roads. Mr. Houghton says he could not have 

 supplied his regular customers last winter with- 

 out the aid of milk brought on the Worcester 

 cars. — Mass. Ploughman. 



Trees and Flowers. — Whilst the produce 

 of the nurseries and flowerists of Mass. is $111,- 

 418 annually, liir a capital invesied of only S43,- 

 170— the value of the like products in N. H. is 

 reported in the last census returns to be only 

 $35 annually— not one-tenth part of the jiroduct 

 of any other state in the ('nion. This return is 

 too small to our certain knowledge, but we are 

 nevertheless too much dependent upon si.ster 



