1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



11 



6. Some of its writers are men of profound learn-' 

 ing in the various arts and sciences, and particu- 

 larly in chemistrj'^, in its relations to agriculture. 



7. The matter which has been collected and 

 printed with so much cai-e, is made easily availa- 

 ble l)y a full and accurate index to the articles, 

 and to the illustrations and names of correspon- 

 dents ; so that no time is lost in referring to any- 

 thing which has been presented during the year. 



These are some of the characteristics which 

 stand out prominently in the work, and must be 

 marks for commendation by every reader. 



For the New England Farmer. 



GREAT YIELD OF CARROTS. 



Gent. : — I wish to call your attention to the 

 statement of Dr. Cook, of Wendell, in relation to 

 his manner of raising carrots. He stated to me 

 when sowing them that he should do great things 

 in the carrot line, but I had entirely forgotten 

 what he said, until I saw his statement in the Re- 

 public. We di,> not consider the town of Wendell 

 one of our best towns for good land, by any means ; 

 on the contrary, we regard it as a I'ough, hilly' 

 town with a good deal of poor land. 



LUCIUS cook's statement. 



The subscriber, a member of the Franklin Coun- 

 ty Agricultural Suciety , submits the following state- 

 ments relative to the cultivation of a patch of car- 

 rots raised by hiia the current year. 



Said carrots were raised on Wendell Hill, in 

 said county, on the place whereon said applicant 

 now lives. The exact quantity of land was three- 

 fourths of an acre, and the number of bushels, or 

 baskets, six hundi-ed and fifty-one ; and the num- 

 ber of tons, sixteen. This number of tons was as- 

 certained l)y weighing four or five loads on the hay 

 scales, as they w^re drawn from the field, and di- 

 viding the sum of their weight by the number of 

 bushels or baskets, and finding them to average fifty 

 pounds. 



The land on which these carrots were raised 

 had been mowed for eight years prior to 1850, 

 when it was planted with potatoes, nearly all of 

 which were destroyed by the disease, and were 

 not worth half the cost of harvesting. 



In 1851 the land was planted to corn, which 

 was much damaged by worms, and afterwards set 

 out to Ruta Bagas, which grew well and yielded 

 a fine crop, but having no animals that would eat 

 them except horses, they were kept through the 

 winter in a cellar, and then thrown out for manure 

 — the entire crops on the land not paying the ex- 

 pense of cultivation by one-half. On or about the 

 20th of May, 1852, the land was sowed in drills 18 

 inches apart to carrots, by a machine bought of 

 Mr. Wm. EUiot, for the sum of three dollars and 

 twenty-five ce^ts, the land being first prepared by 

 deep plowing with a common plow, then raked and 

 levelled — about thirty loads of horse manure being 

 spreadon the land before plowing. The labor of 

 preparing the land, sowing the seeds, cultivating 

 and harvesting the crop, 1 contracted for at the 

 commencement, for t\\Qs,\xmo? seventy-five dollars, 

 which seemed to me and others as an extravagant 

 price, but as some stonj were to be removed in the 

 job, I consoled myself with the belief that I might 



stand it "just this onee." The crop has just been 

 liarvested. 



As ti) the value of the carrots I have always be- 

 lieved tliem worth as much as oats, by the bush- 

 el, to feed to horses, which are the only animals I 

 keep. Four or five tons of them I have sold at 

 from $12 to $15 per ton; at $12 I could sell them 

 all any day, and the sum would amount to $192. 

 Add to this four dollars, a sum for which 1 sold the 

 tops as they lay in the field, and four more dol- 

 lars which [ hope to get as premium, and tlie sum 

 would amount to .$200. Deduct from this $75 

 paid for lal)or, and $25 more for the cost of seed 

 and my own Care and skill — the lastbeinj; a cliarge 

 I make from habit — and it will leave $100 as the 

 net income from the three-fourths of iin acre. 

 Wendell, Nod. 15, 18-52. L. Cooke. 



THE SEASON. 



On the 5th of Dec. last year, the ground had 

 been frozen fi)r several days, and had thawed but 

 slightly during the middle of the day, so that all 

 about this region of country the roads were hard, 

 and nearly as smooth as plank roads. The 6th 

 was bright and pleasant, but cold. On the 7th it 

 rained a little. The 8th was moderate. On the 

 10th the roads Avere still smooth, and locomotives 

 could have run finely on the common roads. At 

 sunrise on the 11th, the thermometer stood at 12° 

 above zero. Sunday, the 14th was pleasant ; it 

 commenced snowing early Monday morning, and 

 about 5 inches fell during the day. Tuesday, the 

 16th the sleighs Tvere running briskly. On Wednes- 

 day, the 17th, at Concord, 20 miles from Boston, 

 one thermometer in the village stood at 20'^ be- 

 low ; another, a little north of the village, at 17^^, 

 and one noi'th-west on higher ground at lO'^ be- 

 low ! There were then deep snows, good sleigh- 

 ing and stern winter weather for many weeks. 



This year, on the 5th, the weather was mild and 

 pleasant; the farmers were plowing, making wall, 

 getting out manure, clearing meadows, and doing 

 any of the autumnal work of the farm. The grass 

 was green in the fields, where many cattle were 

 grazing, and young cattle were still supporting 

 themeslves in the pastures.* A drizzling rain fell 

 during a portion of the day, and similar weather 

 prevailed until the 8th ; that day w^as bright, 

 warm, and beautiful. So were the 9th and lOth. 

 On the 11th, there was a heavy fall of rain with 

 east wind. It cleared off during the night, the 

 wind hauled into the north and Sunday, the 12tb, 

 was a cold, bright morning with a clear, bracing 

 atmosphere. Monday was damp and cool in the 

 morning. At one o'clock it began to snow, and 

 continued until dark, but only about half an inch 

 fell. Tuesday, the sun rose clear, but it was not 

 warm enough to tl^w the snow. Wednesday, the 

 15th, was the coldest day up to that date. On the 



Tansies, or Lady's Delights, were in bloom in our garden, 

 and in the vicinity we heard of rose bushes in full leaf with 

 perfect blossoms. 



