3M 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



post that was to occupy it, setting the post in the 

 centre and filling around it with small stones, 

 pounding them down — as the earth was replaced. 

 By this operation great firmness can be given to 

 posts. 



The higher and heavier the post, the deeper it 

 must be set in the earth to give it firmness, and 

 the more care must be had to keep it in a perpen- 

 dicular position while setting. If it inclines but 

 slightly, either way, it will commence acting on 

 the principal of tlic lever to throw the fence over. 

 To secure the durability of his posts, S. G. B. 

 will find it for his advantage to invert them or set 

 the top end downwards. In our own experience, 

 we have found that a post from the same tree, will 

 last one-fourth longer when so set, than it will if 

 set 03 it grew butt end down, in which way mois- 

 ture will arise from the earth through the sap 

 vessels and dififase itself through the post, — dry- 

 ness follows, and moisture again succeeds, and rot- 

 tenness ensues before due time has passed. If the 

 post is inverted, the sap vessels can no longer give 

 ascent to liquids, and no absorbing process will be 

 going on. But where posts are inverted the part 

 above ground should be reduced so that the diam- 

 eter shall be no greater than it is below the sur- 

 face, and if less, the less liable the frost will be to 

 upheaval, leaning, &c. If the posts your corres- 

 pondent proposes to use have been cut a year, and 

 lain with the bark off, their durability will in no 

 way be diminished but rather increased by the 

 process. Yours truly, w. b. 



Elinwood, June 6, 1853. 



WHAT THE FARMER MOST NEEDS. 



It is not a college endowed by the State, says a 

 cotemporary ; it is primary schools, to prepare 

 farmers' sons and daughters for the higher walks 

 in science as applied to agriculture. They need 

 organization. They want farmers' clubs and 

 neighborhood libraries of agricultural books. They 

 need discussion. They need more intercourse, not 

 only in their own town and county, but through- 

 out the State and country, to see and learn what 

 other farmers are doing, and if they have improve- 

 ments, learn what they are, and adopt them. This 

 is the greatest need of fiirmers. They need to be- 

 come satisfied with their vocation ; to get rid of 

 the prevailing notion that farming is, necessarily, 

 an unmental employment ; that is, that the farm- 

 er has no occasion to think ; has no occasion for 

 education, and never can become wealthy or what 

 the world would call respectable, while engaged 

 in the culture of the earth, and therefore he seeks 

 the first opportunity to escape from an avocation 

 placed under ban not only by all others, but his 

 own class also. The great need of the farmer is, 

 that he shall declare himself independent of all 

 other classes; at least, more so than they are of [will, upon°carefal examination,' appear wholly un- 



him, and of course he IS entitled to engage in any I „,(.,• „j u„ .,„, u mi, c it- i-i 



ftfKa^ «.,n;.,^ T^i 1.^ jTu • o t' »,.,•' I sustained by results, ihe fermentation which pu- 



otner calling whatever ; and if he is a man of toil, L "^ , , , ^ 



that is no reason why he should not be a man of^'^^^'^'^nt manure undergoes— unless under very pe- 

 intellect. The great need of the farmer is organ- culiar circumstances — is rarely, if ever, found to 

 ization, and this must be accomplished by a few rise sufficiently high to ensure this object. The 



WEEDS. 



"One year's seeding makes seven year's weeding." 



This old proverb conveys an important truth. 

 Thoroughly to eradicate the plants to which one 

 prolific parent will give birth, is a matter of no 

 small trouble and expense. The prolification of 

 some species of noxious weeds, is almost beyond 

 conception, and when permitted to mature their 

 seeds on soils under cultivation, and well fitted for 

 their support, they are a great evil, and a source 

 of no small trouble and annoyance to the farmer, to 

 say nothing of the injury they inflict upon hia 

 crops. It is an excellent plan, therefore, to go 

 over the cultivated fields and lands late in autumn 

 and eradicate every weed that can be found. No 

 matter how small or insignificant may be its ap- 

 pearance, it will assuredly produce seed ; and this, 

 when disseminated broadcast over the fields by the 

 winds, will germinate, and give birth to a progeny, 

 the perfect eradication of which will take more of 

 the time and energies of the laborers, than the 

 crops will warrant. 



It has been remarked by the moralist that the 

 thistle and mullein are ever the inseparable com- 

 panions of the sluggard, and it must be confessed 

 that the atmosphere which appears so congenial 

 to the one, appears to possess something in its con- 

 stitution highly advantageous to the other. Wher- 

 ever found, weeds indicate one of two things : — 

 that the farmer has injudiciously undertaken more 

 than he can accomplish, and do the work well, or 

 they indicate a state of indolence and inactivity. 



Some of our agricultural friends are in the ha- 

 bit of gathering up the spurious vegetation of 

 their fields, and depositing it in their yards and 

 styes. This is an admirable plan, provided the 

 vegetables have not become mature. In all eases, 

 however, where the ripening of the seed has been 

 effected, and the vital principle is sufBciently de- 

 veloped to ensure propagation, the practice can 

 scarcely be attended Avith other than the worst re- 

 sults. 



A very erroneous opinion appears to prevail in 

 relation to the degree of heat engendered by ma- 

 nure while undergoing the process of fermenta- 

 tion ; the commojj presumption being that it is 

 sufficiently intense to ensure the destruction of any 

 seed which may be exposed to the influence of the 

 fermenting mass. This supposition, however, 



self-sacrificing men, who will undertake the labor 

 of establishing and maintaining farmers' clubs, in 

 every neighborhood. Farmers need to drop pol- 

 itics and take up agriculture. They must talk, 

 read and think, and they will be sure to act or 

 their children will act for them. 



seeds of the common red sorrel — one of the most 

 pestiferous of all weeds in cultivated land, as well 

 as those of the mullein, white weed, and numerous 

 other plants which so annoy us, appear to be in 

 no way injured by the utmost degree of heat that 



