202 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



ries. All these fruits are cheaper and more whole- 

 some in hot weather than a principal meat diet. 

 Flesh is stimulating, while fruits are sufficiently 

 nutritious, and are cooling under our hot summer 

 suns. 



Screen the garden from the portheast and north- 

 west winds ?jy rows or clumps of pines and ce- 

 dars, or other evergreens, interspersed with the 

 maple, birch, beech, or oak. This will require 

 no cash outlay to the farmer, and a little done ev- 

 ery year will wonderfully improve and beautify 

 the homestead. 



Pastures. — Unless these are extensive and va- 

 ried, that is hilly, and containing low, moist pla- 

 ces, affording very early feed, it is a good plan to 

 keep the cattle from them until the first of June ; 

 the grass tlien becomes more vigorous — the roots 

 gain a firmer hold, and consequently continue 

 stronger through the season. Pastures fed close 

 early in the season are worth but little during 

 the dry, hot months. 



Soiling Cattls. — Sow southern corn this month 

 to be cut green for early fodder. An half acre 

 devoted to this purpose will help out your pas 

 tures wonderfully — and the increased product of 

 your cows more than pay cost of labor. Then 

 continue sowing, weekly, until July, and you will 

 be able to keep up a large flow of milk. 



The Corn Crop. — Remember the old adage, 



"When (laks look gray, 

 Plaiil night and day." 



Plow deep, pulverize and manure well, and then 

 let it be wet or dry, you will rarely fiiil of obtain- 

 ing a good crop of corn, — one of the most sub- 

 stantial and profitable crops of New England. 

 We have retained, in our practice, many of the 

 English modes of cultivation, and among others 

 that of hilling corn, and perhaps all the hoed 

 crops. In a climate where moisture is redundant, 

 this practice may prove beneficial ; but under our 

 burning suns of July and August, and with the 

 usual drouth attending those months, the practice 

 is evidently a bad one. Let the cultivation be 

 deep, mellow, and level, and we presume the crop 

 will do better on a level cultivation. 



Corn is valuable for household purposes, and 

 for every sort of stock ; is suited to our climate 

 and most ot our soils, and if accurate accounts 

 are kept, will be found i\. profitable crop. We hope 

 more attention will be given it. 



Asparagus. — Obtain one or two hundred roots 

 and set them in a trench a foot wide and deep, 

 and a foot apart in the trench. Spread the roots 

 out in their natural position, at the distance of 

 one foot apart on each side of the trench, making 

 two rows in one trench, or 100 plants in 50 feet. 

 This is the plan recommended by Mr. Cutter, of 

 Pelham, in volume 4 of the Monthli/ Farmer, 

 which may be referred to for a more particular 

 description . 



The plant is wholesome, easily cultivated, and 

 a profitable market vegetable. 



May is an important month to the farmer, as 

 much of his success for the year depefids on his 

 operations now. Most of the crops he cultivates 

 must be put in, and their value will depend con- 

 siderably upon the time and manner of doing it. 

 He that would get the best return for the least la- 

 bor, must work seasonably and syslematicaUy , and 

 with such thoroughness as to leave nothing un- 

 done necessary to secure a good crop. 



For the New England FarmtT. 

 PLOWJNG. 



BY A. G. COMINGS. 



Who knows how, and when, to plow T 



To understand the one simple matter of plowing, 

 is one of the great things necessary to good farm- 

 ing. If there is among all your intelligent read- 

 ers, a man to be found who knows all about 

 plowing, he ought to write a book for the instruc- 

 tion of the rest of mankind. 



In my intercourse with farmers it has become 

 very evident to me that there is no fettled and un- 

 derstood theory of plowing. Concerning the 

 time and depth of plowing, every man has his 

 ideas ; and there is no common understanding of 

 any settled principle of action, for different soils 

 and the soils of different altitudes, and different 

 inclinations, and different expo.sures. 



There are "a thousand things" to be known 

 about this one important part of the farmer's 

 work. 



The different kinds of soil, from the lightest to 

 the heaviest, will vavy the necessary work of the 

 plowman. The man who would plow stiff, clay 

 soils, in the same precise manner that he would 

 light, sandy soils, is the man who will perhaps 

 live to learn to do differently. 



Those who write about plowing, if I am not 

 much mistaken, take into view too lew items. We 

 see but little from the pens of the best writers, ex- 

 cept upon the questions of shallow or deep plow- 

 ing, fall or spring plowing, sod plowing, stubble 

 plowing, subsoil plowing, itc. 



If w^e take up the single subject of fall-plowing, 

 the whole matter requires that we consider the 

 kind of soil, the present state of the soil, how it 

 will be exposed to the frosts of winter, how it will 

 be effected by washing in the spring, how it may 

 be exposed to the action of wintry winds ; and in 

 addition to this the farmer is to consider whether 

 the turf will be more readily decomposed and the 

 soil more readily and suitably prepared for use the 

 next season, for the production of the peculiar crop 

 which is desired. 



If we are considering spring-plowing, the sub- 

 ject involves a great variety ot peculiar points, as 

 to the dryness and warmth of the ground before 

 plowing, how deep each particular piece of ground 

 should at the time be plowed, how the furrows 

 for each different piece should be turned, what 

 kind of a plow will do the work best, what will do 

 it easiest, what will do it quickest, and what plow, 

 considering these points together, should be used; 

 and how should the plowman hold the plow, to 

 secure the best performance in the shortest time 

 and with most ease to himself and his team. 



