396 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



if not all, of the New England States, the very 

 next year. We have some farms in Rockingham 

 county, vphich yield two hundred tons of hay each, 

 and many wlijch yield fifty. The Mower will 

 work on any land where a horse-rake can be used. 

 We shall soon see haying done about in this man- 

 ner. A man and span of horses will drive into 

 the field, at sunrise, and resting an hour at break- 

 fast, will cut and spread about six acres before 

 noon. Another man may be occupied in the fore- 

 noon, in cutting out with a common scythe a few 

 corners, and spots near trees, where the Mower 

 cannot well go, and in raking out with a hand- 

 rake a breadth from the fences, to get ready for 

 the horse-rake. After dinner, one of the men will 

 mount a Delano's Horse-rake, and in three hours 

 he can easily rake the six acres into windrows, 

 while liis comrade, with a couple of extra hands 

 for the afternoon, can put the whole in cock. — 

 There should be on the six acres at least ten tons 

 of hay, making about three hundred cocks, and 

 two hundred of these should be covered with haij 

 fa;)s of cotton cloth, and so made secure against 

 change of weather for a week. The next fair day, 

 our two men may get in tlie hundred cocks easily, 

 and they may open the other an hour to the sun, 

 and get it into the barn as fast as they find it con- 

 venient. 



I think by keeping up with the times, and avail- 

 ing ourselves of the thoughts of men, as made man- 

 ifest in thpir inventions, we may see two men per- 

 form easily the former labor of six, and that 

 most of the hurry, and disappointment, and over 

 exertion of ha^'ing, may be done away with. 



And so, through all farm labor, as in other 

 fields, the mind asserts its supremacy over the 

 body. The hands are feeble, and alone, are no 

 match for the rugged obstacles which Nature op- 

 poses to our wishes ; but aided by an active intel- 

 lect, they will finally gain for Us that dominion 

 over the earth which is our rightful heritage. 



Henry F. French. 



Exeter, N. H., Aug. 18, 1853. 



POTATOES. 



The potato should not be harvested till it is per- 

 fectly ripe. If the tubers are moist, with much 

 soil adhering to them, it is better to convey them 

 at once to the bins, as they are, llian to free them 

 from the soil, as it is utterly impossible to do this 

 with economy without drying them, and equally as 

 impos.sible, to dry them sufficiently fir this without 

 essentially deteriorating their eating qualities. In 

 some sections it is a common pi-actice with the 

 cultivators of this root, to place the crop in bar- 

 rels or boxes, as soon as dug, and secure them from 

 the contact of the atmosphere by a stratum of sand. 

 This retains them in a moist condition, and effec- 

 tually secures the preservation of all their excel- 

 lencies. Since the prevalence of the potato disease, 

 instances have come to our knowledge, where po- 

 tatoes that were dug and immediately deposited 

 in the cellar, remained sound, while those placed 

 in barrels and standing a day or two out of the 

 cellar, and intended for the early market, have 

 badly decayed. 



LEACHED ASHES AS A TOP-DRESSING. 



Dear Sir : — I noticed a communication callinc 

 for an experiment of applying leached ashes as a 

 top-dressing upon meadows. 



I will mention a striking instance. It was in 

 my door yard lot, in about half of which the grass 

 always grew very luxuriant, while the other half 

 would hardly support weeds. I applied leached 

 ashes to a portion of the poor part, and rich mel- 

 low earth to the other, and now to my satisfaction 

 I see the result where the leached ashes were 

 placed. The grass is equal in growth to any in 

 the yard, and where the earth was put it has 

 helped it, but not one fourth as much. I came to 

 the sage conclusion, some time ago, not to sell a 

 bushel of ashes off my farm. It pays 25 per cent, 

 to apply ashes as a top-dressing upon meadows, 

 gardens, wheat, or anything else, so far as I have 

 tried it. Yours truly. Experimenter. 



S^ We take the above from the Ohio Farmer; 

 the editor of which paper says, in addition to the 

 communication, that " for peach and apple trees, 

 there is nothing superior to leached ashes." 



For the New England Farmer. 

 AN HOUR WITH A BUDDER. 



Seeing over my garden fence that neighbor Good- 

 man had got George Handy, a first-rate budder,at 

 work in his little nursery, I first hung up my hoe, 

 and walked round through the gate to see a little 

 into the operation. Like many other things, it is 

 •'very simple after you understand it." I had read 

 about the matter in divers books, but Handy told 

 me what I never knew before, and I saw the thing 

 done too. 



The trees were of difierent sizes, — from a quar- 

 ter of an inch to an inch in diameter, 'and were all 

 just trimmed up roughly, about two feet from the 

 ground. George was budding. He sat on a small 

 box the south side of the row, and had a dish of 

 buds, all cut ready to be inserted,^ water before 

 him. I was surprised to see how snort is the pro- 

 cess in skilful hands. George would hitch along 

 his seat with one hand — set the dish forward with 

 the other — seize a tree and bend it down under his 

 right arm, and then make the cuts and the open- 

 ing, and slip in the buds as quick as my eye could 

 follow him. I noticed that lie selected a smooth 

 place in the young tree near to the ground, so 

 that the future tree should have a uniform ap- 

 pearance throughout, and not present an ugly jog. 

 First he made a cut up the tree about three quar- 

 ters, of an incli long ; then another short one 

 across the top of the first, — then with the ivory in 

 the other end of his knife, he loosened and opened 

 the corners of the bark at the top. He now took 

 up a bud from the dish before him, and holding it 

 hy the foot-stalk — as he called the stem without 

 the leaf — he again applied the ivory, raising the 

 bark a little, and at the moment entered the bud. 

 The top of the bud seemed too weak to admit of 

 being forced down with the fingers the whole dis- 

 tance. This was quickly done with the end of the 

 knife-blade, inserted just below the foot-stalk. 



The top of the bud now stuck out at the top its 

 whole thickness. A cross-cut with the knife ex- 

 actly over the second cut made in opening the bark 

 at first, squared off the wood of the bud-slip, so 



