i853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



253 



am not prosy, not I. Did you ever know a writer 

 prosy in his own estimation ? All men think all 



men sinners but themselves. 



Allow me to introduce one indii'idual, to sub- 

 stantiate what I have said of the intelligence and 

 fihrewdneseof the Pennsylvania farmers, and then 

 5 will break up. (Jol. Ringwalt, living near the 

 R. R. Depot, at Downington, Chester Co., has a 

 farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres, 25 in 

 wood. Of that which is cleared, the largest por- 

 tion is a pasture. He gathered last season, 75 

 ions of good hay. H« might have gathered 150 

 tons, but he pastured a portion of his mow lots. 

 He keeps a public house and entertains many dro- 

 vers with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. He 

 harvested 1000 bushels of sound corn, getting from 

 ■GO to §0 bushels to the acre, — 350 of wheat, and 

 oats, and other small grains and roots in propor- 

 tion. 



He understands and practices thorough drain- 

 ing successfully. He showed me a taract of land 

 which he purchased four years ago, for $50 per 

 acre. It is now worth, he says, $100. But, he 

 added, I will never sell it. When he purchased, 

 the land was so wet, though upon aside-hill, as to 

 be wholly unfit for tillage. It is now covered with 

 wheat, rye and clover, better than any I saw else- 

 where in the county. 



He has thoroughly drained it, sinking his ditch- 

 *3S, in some instances, eleven feet, so as in all ca- 

 ses, to arrest the water at the fountain. He fills 

 all his drains with stones, arranging them at the 

 bottom, so as to form a sluice for th« water. The 

 top he covers with strav/, weeds or shavings, and 

 that with earth. He allows no stones to remain 

 upon the surface of his fields, or below it, within 

 reach of his plow. He is not afraid to disturb the 

 yellow dirt, but plows deep and subsoils. His ro- 

 tation of crop is peculiar. He plants corn two 

 aeasons in succession, — then takes off two crops of 

 wheat, then seeds to grass and mows from three to 

 five. When he turns in turf, he plows but five or 

 six inches. The second season he plows much 

 deeper. The first crop of corn he depends mainly 

 upon lime, spreading about fifty bushels to the 

 acre. The second, he applies compost and barn- 

 yard manure. Afte?the second corn crop, he sows 

 wheat and clover. In the autumn, after taking 

 off the wheat, he sows plaster and turns in the 

 clover and stubble and sows wheat and clover the 

 second time. He thinks he gets more corn and 

 more wheat the second crop than the first, and that 

 the land is more thoroughly subdued and pulver- 

 ized and in a better condition for grass. He slacks 

 all his lime in salt water and spreads it and plows 

 under, while smoking hot. This he regards as 

 very essential. | 



Another idea which maybe worth the attention 

 of your readers. The Colonel makes great use of 

 oyster shells, but says they should not be burnt. I 

 Burning destroys the distinctive properties of the' 

 shell. A burnt shell differs not essentially from 

 atone lime, except that it contains a small quanti- 

 ty of phosphorous. But unburnt, in addition to 

 what it contains when burnt, there is found in it 

 a large quantity of animal matter which is highly 

 nutritive to plants. He dries them by exposure to 

 iUe sun, then grinds them in a plaster mill and ap- 

 plies them as he does otlier mineral manures. — 

 He is careful to save all the liquid manures of his 

 barn-yard, and keeping the ground covered with 



sand, loam, muck, saw-dust and other absorbents. 

 In answer to ray inquiry how he made his apple 

 trees grow so fast and look so clear and thrify, he 

 replied, "Keep them limed and washed with soao 

 suds." ^ 



_ Now, Mr. Farmer, have not I established my po- 

 sition ' Yankee flvrmers are cute chaps, and can 

 do most things as wellas any body else. But they 

 need to be cautioned now and then, lest they come 

 to think that they are the people, and all wisdom 

 touching the matter of tillage will die with them. 

 Yours, E. B. H. • 



PLOWMAN'S SONG. 



BY THE "peasant BARB." 



Swe-ct are Utc fields where the clover is .springing, 

 And llilhe is the carol that floats from the bougli: 



And soft verniil breezes a gladness are hringing 

 To cheer nie as gaily I foHow the plow. 



Tliough hard be my toil, and. dew-drops of labor 

 Make damp the brown locks that encircle my brew. 



No envy I feel for my ease-loving neighbor, 

 For pride more ie mine, as I follow the plow. 



The lordling may boast of his titular story; 



The vote seeking grandee obsequious bow; 

 What care I for all their nonsensical glory.' — 



A Noble of Nature, I follow the plow, 



I muse npoii those, while turning the furrow. 

 Who, called like Elisha, are glorified now; 



Tho' hand delve in earth, yet the mind need not burrow. 

 But spring to the light, as I follow the plowi 



Connecticut Veltey Farmer^ 



For the New England Farmer, 

 STATS FARM AT WESTBOROUGH. 



Mr. Brown : — As model farms and educated 

 fiirmers are prominent topics of consideration at 

 the present time, may there not be propriety ia 

 instituting the inquiry, as to the management of 

 the State farm at Westborough ? 



If rightly informed, there is a fivrm ef about two 

 hundred acres, as well situated for cultivation and 

 improvement as any other in the Commonwealth, 

 There are several hundred boys, between the ages 

 of twelve and twenty years, healthy, vigorous and 

 able to work ; in need of instruction, hoio to work. 

 There are means of expenditure at command, to 

 sustain any and all reasonable experiments. Why 

 not put this farm under the care of a man, able 

 and competent to conduct such experiments? 

 Would it not be for the benefit of the boys to be 

 thus employed ■? Can they not l)e made to con- 

 tribute something towards their own support? 



It is stated by Dr. Bell, of the McLean Asylum, 

 that the ikirty acres of land connected v/ith that 

 institution yielded, the last year, a clear profit of 

 $1400 — or more than $46 per acre. Suppose fifty 

 acres of the land on the farm at Westborough to 

 be put under cultivation, with crops of vegetables 

 at a profit of $40 per acre — would not this be an 

 item wortliy of consideration? If I do not mis- 

 take, there are those who would undertake the 

 management of these lands, and guarantee this in- 

 come, if they could have the use of classes of 

 these boys, six hours in the day, for this pur-pose. 



I hope that this matter will be looked into by 

 some one competent to judge, and that the State 

 fiirm will be found worthy of the State of Massa- 

 chusetts. 



May 18, 1853. 



