1853, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



159 



land nearly as smooth as if harrowed. My pres- 

 ent plow, purchased of a fomoiis Boston establish- 

 ment six years since, and having twenty years 

 improvements on it since the old one, is lonjj; and 

 narrow and the beam low. It takes the soil up 

 gingerly and tenderly as if afraid of disarranging 

 a particle ; part of it remains up in the shape of 

 a little ridge and part rolls back in the furrow. If 

 there is much litter or course manure it clogs, and 

 like all lazy plows that I have held, is thrown in- 

 to fits at sight of a pebble. In short, to work 

 with it, is a bore to any man who wishes to do his 

 work with a contented mind and a clear ^ con- 

 ecience; I threw it aside last spring, and did all 

 my work with a sod plow. But let us come to 

 the point. I think of making another sally among 

 the plow-makers this spring, and I wish to know 

 if any of the old sort are yet in the market ? If 

 80, 1 shall be tempted lo give all improvements the 

 cold shoulder and grasp my old friend heartily. 

 By the humble Bachblok- 



Marck 1, 1853. 



Remarks.— If "Bachelor" will call at the Agri- 

 cultural Warehouse, Quincy Hall, we believe he 

 may be accommodated to any kind of a plow he 

 desires. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SHELL LIME. 



Simon Brown, Esq : — I noticed in a late number 

 of the New England Farmei- an advertisement in 

 reference to the manufacture and sale of shell lime 

 with a recipe for its use in agriculture, which I 

 think promises well to the Farmer ; displaying the 

 provident munificence of nature and its readiness 

 to reward the hand of industry as applied in agri- 

 <;ulture, one of the noblest and most favorable em- 

 ployments. The following is the recipe — vrzj: 



Take four barrels of lime to one bushel of salt, 

 •and one cord of mud or peat with one bushel of 

 ■common salt. Dissolve the salt in water; with 

 this solution slake the lime, and mis this compound 

 with the mud. The result of this may be explained 

 In the follovi'ing manner. Tlie salt is decomposed, 

 its acid passes to the lime, forming muriate of 

 •lime, and leaving caustic soda in the mixture, 

 which causes decomposition in the mud and the 

 air, winch is known to pervade and fill light por- 

 ous substances. This arrangement furnishes the 

 presence of elements, which form a valuable and 

 highly fertilizing compound. These are brought 

 into commingled action the carbon and elements 

 of the geine, the oxygen, the hydrogen and the ni- 

 trogen of the air and the water, and new com- 

 pounds are formed. The caustic soda renders so- 

 luble the peat — carbonic acid is evolved — nitrogen, 

 hydrogen and oxygen form nitric acid and ammo- 

 nia. That which is now muriate of lime becomes 

 carbonate of lime. The muriatic acid repasses to 

 the soda, re-forming common salt. When the ac- 

 tion has ceased, there is nitrate of ammonia, car- 

 bonate of lime, and common salt, with soluble 

 geine. When applied to the soil and growing 

 plants, the nitrate may all bo transformed into 

 vegetable lifej the other salts, besides contribut- 

 ing to the formation of the plant, are ready to de- 

 compose the elements of the soil, and render it 

 more rich in nutricious substance. Thus it will 

 he seen that nature is in readiness to contribute a 



rich reward to the industry of agriculture, and the 

 fiirmer will be wise to regard her intimations. 



The compound would be improved by the addi- 

 tion of ashes ; but it is highly valuable without 

 this addition, and forms a cheap ccanomical, and 

 certainly a highly valuable fertilizer. 



BowEN Barkek. 



Hanson, 1853. 



Fer the New England Farmer. 

 CELERY. 



Mr. Editor: — One word more about celery. It 

 will soon be time to sow for celery that is to_b8 

 dug in the fall ; and it seems to me to be «ry im- 

 portant that all who intend to raise, this article 

 should get the ri<rht kind, for it costs no more to 

 raise a good variety, than it does a fonr one; and 

 to those who have'not been in the habit of raising 

 celery, and intend to this year, I would say, when 

 you go to buy your seed ask for "Seymjur's," or 

 "Seymour's Superb," as it is sometimes called. I 

 think there is nothing better than this. I raised 

 two kinds last year, and all who tried them pro- 

 nounced "Seymour's" the best ; sometimes I have 

 bought what" is called, "White Solid," but this is 

 a great misnomer, for it is as hollow as a pumpkin 

 stalk, and not much better for eating; it has 

 proved so with me for several years. Seymour's 

 are both white and solid, as well as good flavored. 

 Winter celery should not be sown until the last of 

 May or first of June. If any of your subscribers 

 know of any better kind of celery "than that which 

 I have recommended, I should like to have them 

 tell us what it \s. J. f. c. h. 



Nevjten Centre^ March Mlh, 1853. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



To S. W. Jr., North Wayne, Me. What is the 

 best food to keep hens on, and will it answer to 

 keep them in a building which is partly under 

 ground 1 



Corn, barley, oats, wheat, potatoes boiled and 

 mixed with meal, bits of fresh meat and scraps 

 occasionally, and cob meal, scalded in winter, are 

 all excellent for fowls. All of them may not be 

 necessary, though they like a variety of food. — 

 To this must be added, always, access to gravel ; 

 and if they can have lime-mortar, old bones, 

 broken and pounded oyster-shells, they will like it 

 so much the better. AH this, however, will fail 

 to make them profitable layers unless you furnish 

 them with a warm, dry place, for shelter. They 

 dislike cold and snow. If the shelter is dry and 

 warm, admitting the sun through the middle of 

 the day, it will not be disagreeable to the fowls, 

 even though partly under ground. We have kept 

 30 hens through the winter, and average one doz- 

 en eggs each day, and consider that the hens do 

 all that ought to be required of them, when it is 

 taken into account that there is constantly from 

 three to five hens out of the 30, all the time cluck- 

 ing and wishing to sit. Indeed, this propensity to 

 sit is the greatest trouble we have with fowla. 

 Our hens gave the same product through the win- 



