1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



127 



made." In an experiment made between a pair 

 of wooden harrows, and a pair of iron ones, con- 

 structed alike, although the iron ones were twenty 

 pounds the lightest, yet they worked decidedly 

 better and steadier then those made of wood. It 

 seems to he requisite to have the desired weight 

 in the most compact from ; the instrument per- 

 forms its work easier and better, while it is more 

 conveniently handled by the operator. 



The horse rake, in its various forms, has proved 

 itself of great service. One patented by a Mr. 

 Delano, of Maine, has been considerably used in 

 this State, and is scarcely excelled by any labor- 

 saving machine in use on the farm. Its teeth act 

 independently, thus adapting itself to all surfiices, 

 and the operator rides as he rakes. The process, 

 of raking is rapid, thus enabling the haymaker to 

 leave his spread grass to the benefit of the sun, 

 until a late hour in the afternoon, and frequently 

 to get it in on the same day in which it is cut. 

 It is cheap, simple in construction, and dura- 

 ble. 



A horse-mowing machine, and a machine for 

 spreading swaths, are implements much wanted, 

 and are inviting subjects for the inventive genius 

 of some of our citizens. 



For the New England Farnif.r. 

 EXPERIMENTAL FARMING. 



BY SILAS BROWN. 



Messrs. Editors: — This will compare with ex- 

 perimental religion ; no religion is genuine but ex- 

 perimental religion ; and so it is with farming. Our 

 greatest theorists in both, sometimes run into the 

 regions of moonshine and are deceived by trusting 

 to reflected light. 



The chemist may analyze the soil on my farm 

 and discover the deficiencies which are required to 

 constitute a good soil, and point out the ingredient 

 or ingredients which are wanting, theoretically, 

 and I go to work practically, and lind my land un- 

 productive as before ; or he may analyze the soil 

 in one situation, and find it totally deficient of an 

 element which abounds plentifully at a little dis- 

 tance from the soil analyzed. Many of our farm- 

 ers have soils varying every few rods, and what 

 would prove a suitable ingredient in the manure 

 for one place would be worthless applied to an- 

 other. 



AVe dug a well a few years ago for the accommo- 

 dation of my barn animals ; after removing the soil 

 at the surface, we entered a quicksand which con- 

 tinued to the bottom of the well, and proved so 

 troublesome by flowing into it and filling it up, 

 that I had a new one dug about 50 feet distant 

 from the other ; there, after removing the soil, we 

 came upon hard, compact clay gravel, which con- 

 tinued to the bottom, and was pecked up at a 

 greatly increased expense over digging the first 

 well ; liere was an illustration of the change of 

 soils worth noticing. In this neighborhood the 

 changes from clay to sand may frequently be seen ; 

 bricks have been made within a few rods of a sandy 

 soil witliout the least appearance of clay. 



Thus analyzing soil in any one location will not 



truly represent the different locations on a farm, or 

 point out the different ingredients required to en- 

 rich them, and after all, the only thing to be relied 

 on is the practical application of different kinds of 

 substances to the soil, and decide experimentally 

 which is best. All farmers know that clay witli 

 sand, or mud with sand, will improve the soil, but 

 it is very difficult for farmers to go into critical 

 analyzations of soils, even by the help of a chemist, 

 but with doubtful success. 



It appears to me to be a difficulty approaching 

 an impossibility, that the best practical chemist 

 can give directions to the farmer how to prepare 

 his manure to suit his different kinds of soils, and 

 fit them to produce different kinds of crops, with 

 any precision. The farmer, after all, hap got to 

 learn by a fair trial and accurate observation, how 

 to enrich his land and fit it for any particular crop. 

 As a general rule, in the application of manure, 

 perhaps it would be the best way to follow the ex- 

 ample of the poor traveller, who got destitute of 

 money and was obliged to exercise his wits to pur- 

 sue his journey, and understanding the gullibility 

 of "poor human nature," he concluded to make 

 an attack upon it in its most vulnerable part, and 

 pronounced himself a doctor ; he soon found a pa- 

 tient and promised a cure ; (a matter of course 

 with certain benevolent people who have a single 

 eye to the benefit of others, and a double one at 

 the contents of their money purses ;) the next thing 

 was which way to go to work to do it. At length 

 he hit upon a plan like one who suddenly awakes 

 from a revery, and with true Yankee shrewdness, 

 he went out into the fields and gathered every kind 

 of herb that came in his way and said it was very 

 strange if some one among them would not be a 

 suitable remedy for the disease of his patient. 



I believe, with the limited state of our knowledge, 

 that in the preparation and application of manures, 

 the better way would be to make a compound of 

 every substance, vegetable and mineral, which 

 would have a tendency to benefit any kind of soil, 

 and like the doctor's prescription, it would be very 

 strange if some of the ingredients should not prove 

 of the right kind. 



Wilminglon, January, 1853. 



Remarks. — This is the common practice, friend 

 B., and one to which we are obliged to resort for 

 want of an exact knowledge of what each particu- 

 lar crop needs. We have no doubt a great deal of 

 medicine is administered in the same way. A mix- 

 ture is given, that something in it may hit, where 

 a simple article would have been better, had the 

 disease been thoroughly understood. In manur- 

 ing from a compost heap made up of all sorts of 

 materials usually collected on the fiirm, do we not 

 apply from it certain substances already abounding 

 in the soil, and which the crop does not need? It 

 seems to us, therefore, that analyses, although 

 only approximating the truth, are better than an 

 indiscriminate use of manures. 



A Compound Solar Microscoi-e has recently 

 been commenced in the citv of New York, by Pro- 

 fessor J. Hinds, formerly of Salem, N. Y., capa- 

 ble of magnifying olrjects 17,450,000 times. 



