276 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JUN-E 



SYSTEM — OR SCIENCE. 



The learned professor said, "the day has passed 

 away when farmers repudiate science. They now 

 know that science means simply knowledge reduced 

 to a system so as to be readily taught and easily 

 understood, and therefore every truly practical 

 farmer must necessarily be a scientific agricultur- 

 ist. Books are now no longer repudiated, and a 

 fact is known to be no less a fact because it is 

 printed. The practical man, who is sufficiently 

 daring to adopt new and useful practices which 

 have been well tested by able persons is not now 

 looked upon by his neighbors as visionary." 



That there is more respect for scientific effort 

 than heretofore, there is no doubt ; and that there 

 is more confidence in it, is encouraging. But large 

 numbers look on it still distrustfully, or, if they 

 depart from their old habits, engage extravagant- 

 ly in the opposite extreme. 



OS VENTILATION. 



"The ventilation of stables is of great impor- 

 tance. "When animals are surrounded by the 

 gases given off from the surface of their bodies, 

 and annoyed by quantities of ammonia continually 

 being ^rccd irom thou' fei'meutlag eAcretia, ihey 

 require a much larger amount for their sustenance 

 than when in stables properly ventilated. If an 

 ox be enclosed in a varnished silken bag tied about 

 the neck so as to leave the head free to breathe 

 the atmospheric air, the amount of gases given off 

 from the surface of the body and confined within 

 the bag for a single 24 hours will cause his death ; 

 so that it will be readily understood that the ill 

 effects of badly ventilated stables are in a great 

 degree deleterious. Proper temperature is of the 

 highest importance. The organism of the ox is 

 such that his improvement in flesh making is de- 

 pendent not only on the amount of food consumed 

 but also upon the temperature by which he is sur- 

 rounded when digesting it. Much of its results 

 will be required to supply the necessary animal 

 heat, unless by proper protection from cold he is 

 not called on to furnish it by parting witlf a cor- 

 responding quantity of fatty matter." 



More attention is given to the subject of venti- 

 lation, both in our houses and barns, than has 

 been the practice heretofore. The subject of ven- 

 tilating barns was freely discussed at the agricul- 

 tural meetings at the State House during the past 

 winter, and facts were stated, proving the impor- 

 tance of a pure atmosphere, even for our animals. 



GREAT PRODUCTS FROM HIGH CULTURE. 



"Look at the Bergen gardeners. Many of them 

 pay $50 or some $75 per acre per annum, yet by 

 improved methods of culture they raise remunerat- 

 ing crops, while gardeners in other parts of the 

 country would consider such a rental a complete 

 drawback to their success. 



"A few farms are found, in almost every town 



where wheat is grown, that yield 45 bushels of 

 wheat or more per acre, and still the average crop 

 of this State is not 13 bushels per acre. Should 

 not every farmer, for this reason, endeavor to ^et 

 at the cause why his crops are so inferior ? and 

 more especially so, when I inform you that in very 

 many instances, the soils upon which these differ- 

 ences of crops exist are very similar. Some farm- 

 ers in Massachusetts have raised 100 bushels of 

 shelled corn yier acre. Why should not all en- 

 deavor to raise similar amounts V 



WHY CROPS LODGE. 



"I have been requested to state the causes why 

 wheat and other grain crops sometimes lodge. — 

 This is evidently for want of proper strength of 

 straw, and the cause may be then readily under- 

 stood. The rattan, bamboo and corn stalk, &c , 

 have a silicious coating or varnish on their sur- 

 faces. If we place in the fire an ordinary Hes- 

 sian crucible and throw in it the outer peelings of 

 corn stalks, keeping the crucible at a red heat, the 

 woody fibre will burn off, and by continuing the 

 operation for many hours until the coating of many 

 stdlks has been thus consumed, we shall find the 

 crucible to contain a button of glass, which being 

 analyzed will prove to be a combination of silex, 

 the base of common sand with one of the alkalies. 



"Now as common sand is not solublein water, 

 and as plants have no mechanical contrivance for 

 disintegrating it, they are unable under ordinary 

 circumstance^to take up the proper amount for 

 creating their surfaces and giving strength to the 

 straw ; for straw, like the corn stalks, owes to si- 

 lex the .whole of its power to maintain a perpen- 

 dicular position ; but if the soil contain either 

 lime, potash, or soda in sufficient quantities to dis- 

 solve the silex, or rather to render it soluble so as 

 to form the silicate of lime, the silicate of soda, 

 or the silicate of potash, in sufficient quantities so 

 as to be dissolvable in water and carried into the 

 plant for the necessary appropriation, then the 

 crops will not lodge. 



"If the farmer manui'es entirely with putrescent 

 manures, such as those furnished by the barn- 

 yard, and his soil be not originally charged with 

 excess quantities of alkalies, the growth of the 

 grain may be large enough by its weight to bend 

 down the straw." 



We suppose the same reasoning is applicable to 

 the grass crop. On a clay soil where the grass in 

 certain parts of the field usually lodges, interesting 

 experiments may be made by spreading sand lib- 

 erally on some of the spots, and noting the effect. 



IMMENSE SUPPLY OF FRUIT. 



"Notwithstanding the great scarcity of fruit in 

 this country compared with our wants or desires, 

 still the amount raised is many times greater than 

 in England. During the last year, an account was 

 given in the London Times of the amount of fruit 



