92 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR 



June, 1842. 



Gardens have been nuicli injured by the cut 

 worm, and squashes, rnelou.s and cucumbers are 

 eaten up by tlie yellow bugs. 



The difference between a community of farmers and 

 tnechunics who are producers, and a community 

 of traders and speculators who sometimes ma/;e 

 money and often lose, but rarely add to the real 

 wealth of the country. 



The town of llenniUer with u population of 

 near two thousand inhabitants as yet has present- 

 ed only a single case of biirjkruptcy under the 

 late law of Congress ; and tli.it case, we under- 

 ntand, to be that of a professional man recently 

 from Lowell who no longer belongs to the town. 

 There are several trading villages in New Hamp- 

 shire of hardly half the population of HenniUer 

 which have presented twenty, tliirty and as high 

 as fifty applicants for the benefits of bankruptcy. 



The herds grass and clover seed sown with the spring 

 crops has been nearly a dead loss tlie two last years. 

 Some of our best grass land has yielded at best but the 

 barren production of a luxuriant growth of Borrel ; and 

 perfect herdsgrass horse hay has become a rare and ex- 

 pensive article. 



It is our belief that the fall sowing of grass seed after 

 the spring crop is taken off is far better than the previous 

 spring sowing. Generally, if thr f.dl months be not very 

 dry, the young grass will obtain a footing before the win- 

 ter closes up. We shall get a tine crop of herdsgrass 

 from land broken up last fall and sowed down in Decem- 

 ber : about twenty loads of compost, a mixture of stable 

 manure and limed muck, were spread upon the acre, and 

 harrowed and rolled in. 



The greatest enemy to herdsgrass in many of our sward 

 tields has been a species of white worm resembling the 

 old fashioned muck worm. Many tields have been laid 

 bare, the sward coming off like lug's hair after a scald; 

 here the worms have been discovered. In other fields 

 the dainty vermin have selected the best grasses, and 

 left sorrel and the like : here, nine times in ten, the own- 

 ers have not been aware that tiie worms have done the 

 damage, but attribute it to the cold or the dry weather. 

 What can be done to rid our grounds of these eaters 

 whose maw is never satisfied, we have not the power of 

 devising. We hope that their course will run out so 

 or Inter, like the grasshopper. 



There is a chance that m.any of 

 year go too early into their mowii 

 grass looks better when cut down 

 experienced farmer on Connecticui 

 grass standing long furnishes the ri 

 uancc. It is believed that wheat, 

 barley may be cut earlier to ad van t 

 that, if well secured, they may b. 

 joint is yet green. Rye cut and 

 makes bread as good and as swcf 

 wheat. Great care must be taken 

 heat while in the bundle or packet 

 be well if our farmers shall suffer 

 gr.ass to stand while they early sec 

 tields. The farmers in western Nc 

 ing last after their great wheat tiel 

 In the month of .\ugust four years 

 uga county, New York, great stand 

 or timothy, with the heads turned 

 the farmers had just begun the \vn 



our farmers will this 

 ig fields. The herds- 

 early ; but an old and 



river tells us that the 

 lost substantial suste- 

 rye. oats and perhaps 



.' taken off when the 

 well cured thus early 

 t as tlie best flour of 

 that the grain ehall not 

 1 in the mow. It may 

 their growing fields ol 

 jre their rye and grain 

 ;w York do their hay- 

 lis have been secured 

 a^o we passed in Cny- 

 ing tields of herdsgrass 

 nearly black, in which 

 ■k of haying. 



For the farmer's Mo:itl.ly Visitor. 

 The JManure Heap.— No. 1. 



Mr. Editor, — 1 wish to call tiie attention of those 

 farmers who read the Visitor, to the importance of cnlarg 

 ing their manure heaps. There iMnnat be ton much said 

 and written upon this subject. Most ofonr farmers 

 to be satisfied with what they merely make from the hay 

 consumed in their birns, and do not even in this way al- 

 ways return to the soil what they have tiken from it, for 

 many who make no more manure than what the consump- 

 tion of the hay affords, sell off a portion of their hay, and 

 thus rob their fields and their own pockets. 



If I may be allowed to lecture farmers a little, I would 

 »ay— 



1. Make your hogs toori.—Many farmers are now-a- 

 days looking out for the best breed of hogs to fat easy ; 

 but such hogs are not always the best for the farm, espe- 

 cially if it is run down. Fat hogs are generally lazy.— 

 Whether their corpulency indu<.es laziness, or vice versa 



not able to say ; but of this I am sure, they will not 

 work well. If you wish to have help from your hogs m 

 making manure, get raw-boned, long-snout fellows, that 

 plough a furrow six or eight inches deep. If you 

 wish to have a fat one to kill, you might put one into the 

 ty as a kind of overseer. By occasionally casting an eye 

 t the laborers, and grunting .and lounging, he would per- 

 3rni his olbeo as well, probably, as many overseers of our 

 ublic works, at two dollars per day. 

 But you niu-t give your working porkers room enough, 

 nd stork to v.urk over. If you have inuck near at hand 

 ring it to the yard. 11' you cannot get at that, plough up 

 sods by the ruad-side. in your pasture lanes, and by your 

 walls in the fields. Children may not like it so well to 

 have the raspberry bushes and blackberry vines ploughed 

 up, but the hogs will be glad to work them over, and you 

 save having your grass trodden down. When you 

 get a good heap by the side of your hog yard throw in a 

 little at a time, for if you put in a large quantity they will 

 get discouraged. If their pIoiiijAs got dull, so that tliey 

 tt torn over the furrow well, dig a few holes and scat- 

 1 some corn or oats. If the hogs get the scent of 

 your deposit, they will work over the whole mass. 



Brakes and leaves may be thrown in to help loosen up 



the muck or sods. In this way you may do much towards 



arging the manure heaps. Every hog should make .at 



St six cart loads of good manure, and he will do it if 



you give him a chance. 



2. Get Muck or Soil into yow Barn-yard. — I know 

 of many farmers who are in the habit of draivinginto their 

 cow yards several loads of muck or soil in the spring, and 

 frequently ploughing it up with the manure which the cat- 

 tle drop during the night. This is carried out in the fall on 

 to the grass land for a top dressing, being left in heaps till 

 spring, or else thrown into heaps by the side of the yard 

 or in the middle, so that it may not be in the way of thi 

 cattle. Late in the fall another laying is spread on tli. 

 bottom of the yard, for the stock to run over during thi 

 winter. Throw down a load or two untler each windov 

 where you throw out your dung, and it will become si 

 well saturated with mire as to be good manure in thi 

 spring. If possible, let all be thrown together in the 

 spring, as soon as the t>ost is out ; then let it ferment t 

 it is time to draw it to your fields. It is a good thing 

 have the dung which the cattle make durinir the winter 

 under cover, as the rains waste the heap, and disenga 

 portion of the ammonia, which escapes into the air. 

 ny are in the habit of drawing their summer manu 

 the fall on to the ground which they intend to plough the 

 next spring. This is probably a convenience, but there 

 is a loss in its strength, especially when it can be kept u 

 der cover by remaining in the yard. 



JETHIIO. 



I 



ry valuable as a manure. 



1 since a wool merchant in Montpel- j 



lis wash-house for wool in the midst I 



t of which he had transformed into a 1 



his vegetables he had used no other J 



t is well known that from the hairs of wool transpiro 

 d which hardens upon their surface, but which pos- 

 :s the property of being easily soluble in water. This 

 substance has received the name of animal sweat ; the 

 water in which wool has been washed contains so much 

 of it .as to make it very valuable 



" I saw thirty year 

 ier, who had placed his ' 

 of a field, a great part i 

 garden. In watering his vegetables 1 

 water than that of the washings; and the beauty of his 

 productions was so great as to render his garden a place of 

 general resort. The Genoese collect with care, in tho 

 south of France, all they can find of threads and rags of 

 woolen fabrics, to place at the foot of their olive trees. 



" According to the analysis of M. Vauquelin, this ani- 

 mal sweat is a soapy substance, consisting of a base of 

 potash, with an excess of oily matter, and containing be- 

 sides, some acetate of potash, a little of the carbonate 

 .and of the muriate of the same hise, and a scented ani- 

 mal matter." 



To what 1 have already said. 1 might add, have a heap 

 of loam or sods under your sink spout. The soap-suds 

 and greasy dish-water which are so frequently running 

 from the sink, should not be lost. The vessels from your 

 chambers should be emptied upon it, and also the blood, 

 when you kill any of your creatures. If you do not wish 

 to throw all together, have another pile a little removpd 

 from the house. Some ashes or lime thrown on occasion- 

 ally, would remove all unpleasant scent. 



Do not be without a poudrelte factory. If you do not 

 understand the term, guess at it, as I have done. 



Now, sir, I will tike mv leave of you upon this subject. 

 JETHRO. 



The Manure Heap.— No. 2. 



Mr. Editor,— In No. l,lattempted to discourse a little 

 to farmers upon the importance of increasing the Manure 

 heap. I had advanced as far as the consideration of 

 ondhj, w hen my time was out. With your leave I w 

 resume the suljject, and s.ay — 



3. Gather up the Addments. — There is a great deal of 

 valuable matter in leaves and brakes, which ifgnthered in 

 season would be valuable as manure. Brakes, while they 

 are green, might bo mown and thrown into heaps, and 

 then covered over with a little loam or mud, when they 

 would rot very soon. Leaves can be gathered in the fall. 

 and thrown into heaps in the same miiincr as brakes, or 

 what is better, carried into a spare room into the barn or 

 shed, and used as litter for the cattle. 



Old woolen rags, horns, bones, hairs, &c. can be thrown 

 into a pile and covered over, which in process of time 

 they will rot and make the most valuable manure. The 

 sweepings of woolen factories, carding-millii and tailors' 

 shops, v.'here they can be obtained, are not to be despised. 

 In Chaptal's Chemistry 1 find the following, which is 

 worthy of notice : 



".\ very good manure is formed from wool. Accord- 

 ng to the ingenious experiments of M. Hatchett, hair, 

 feathers and wool are only particular combinations of gel- 

 atine, with a substance analogous to albumen ; water can 

 only dissolve them by means of fermentation, which takes 

 place slowly and after a long time. 



" One of the most surprising instances of fertile vege- 

 tation that 1 have ever seen, is that of a field in the neigh- 

 borhood of Montpelier, belonging to a mnnufacturer of 

 woolen blankets. The owner of this land causes it to be 

 dressed every year with the sweepings of his work-shops ; 

 and the harvests of corn and fodder which it produces are 

 astonishing. 



For the Fanner's Monthly Visitor. 

 Is Salt useful as a Manure 1 



It would seem that the ancients made use of salt as a 

 manure. The Saviour in his discnurse, says :— " Salt is 

 good ; but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall 

 it be salted 7 It U neither fit for the land, nor yit for tlie 

 dunghill ; but men cast it out." 



Col. Johnson of East Haverhill, Mass, (influenced 

 probably by this passage) saved once a field that ho was 

 about to plant with coin, by sowi.ng a quantity of coarse- 

 fine salt, in quantity about equal to what .we usually sow 

 of grain. The land was a light white pine plain originally. 

 The corn was very good that year, and the field, when 

 laid down, produced very stout clover. The salt proba- 

 bly acted as stimulant to the soil. Whether the land 

 would not run down afteriv,irds, like men who stimulate 

 with the ardent, remains to be seen. 1 have not noticed 

 Col. J's field very lately, and so cannot decide upon tha 

 experiment. But all manures arc more or less stimulat- 

 ing. The same argument probably mig'it be brought 

 against lime and plaster, that would be used against salt. 



Chaptal, in speaking of the action of salts upon vegeta- 

 tion, says : — " A little marine salt, mixed with dung and 

 spread upon the soil, excites the organs of plants and pro- 

 mctes vegetation ; but too much will produce a pernicious 

 effect upon them." 



'• Too much'' salt, according to Cliaptal, is injurious to 

 the soil. It was upon this principle that the ancients, 

 when they wished to render desolate a city or country 

 which they had conquered, sowed it over with an abun- 

 dance of salt. Thus when Abimelech took Shechem, 

 which had rebelled against him, " he beat down the city, 

 and sowed it with salt." 



Volney, in describing the Dead Sea and its borders, says, 

 " the true cause of the absence of vegetables and animals, 

 is the acrid saltness of its waters, which is infinitely great- 

 er than that of the sea. The land surrounding tlie lake 

 being equally impregnated with the saltness, refuses to 

 produce plants; the air itself, which Is by ev.apor3tion 

 loaded with il, and which moreover receives vapors of 

 sulphur and bitumen, cannot suit vegetation ; wiience the 

 dead appearance which reigns around the lake." 



I submit these few remarks to the consideration of 

 your correspondents. 



JETHRO. 



It is generally imsafe to leave a stiuation to 

 which we are adapted. We should smile at the 

 idea of watering a sturdy oak, or transplanting n 

 thistle to a richer soil: jet how many men sigh 

 that they are not dillereiitly situated, and put 

 forth their sturdiest efforts, to effect a change 

 which would destroy both their happiness and 

 their usefulness. 



