556 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



What next 1 Why, a machine off south that cuts 

 and bundles 30 acres of corn a day ! 



INSECTS. 



Horace Greeley, in his late Indiana Agricultural 

 address, says, — " It has pleased the All-wise to 

 subject Agriculture to the chances and perils of 

 insect de^edations, as well as to weeds, drought, 

 frost, inundation, and other evils. The •end of all 

 these IS beneficence — the evolution and discipline 

 of man's capacities through the necessary coun- 

 teraction and combat." The farmer needs occa- 

 sionally some such encouragement ; for the rav- 

 ages of insects are sore trials of patience and 

 resignation, and, but for the promise of dominion 

 over every creeping thing, would sometimes al- 

 most extinguish hope, and dishearten effort. But 

 to those who mean to fight the battle through, 

 " to find a remedy or bankrupt themselves in the 

 search," the various articles on insects, that are 

 written for the Farmer, are exceedingly valuable. 

 In the October number there is an article on the 

 " climbing cricket," on a new bug found in a 

 wheat field in Sandwich, two remedies for the 

 curculio, and directions to " Destroy the Apple 

 worm." 



"kindness to animals." 



Aside from the humanity of the thing, it is ac- 

 tually profitable to treat animals kindly. How 

 different the appearance and value of the merciful 

 man's stock, and that of the cruel, bad tempered. 



MAMMOTHS. 



" Tall corn " in Camden, and Long Wheat heads 

 in Fredonia, Me., would seem to show that down 

 East is what it's cracked up to be. 



MANURES. 



An Answer to inquiries that have been made in 

 the Farmer in reference to the value of Gas lime, 

 with analyses of the lime, and of Peat and Marsh 

 mud. 



POTATOES. 



Potato raising requires, at best, much heavy, 

 lugging work. And so long as this crop is at the 

 mercy of an uncontrollable disease, will farmers 

 read with interest every thing that their brother 

 farmers have to say upon the subject. In favor of 

 pulling the vines as soon as struck by the disease, 

 Mr. Goodrich adduces some very conclusive exper- 

 iments. This year, soon after my vines showed 

 the effects of the disease, I attempted to m'ow 

 them off with a scythe, but found so much diffi- 

 culty in cutting them, that my little faith in the 

 process soon gave out. On digging, I could per- 

 ceive no difference between the cut and uncut. 

 The disease, with me, seems to have made a brief 

 visitation — to have killed the tops, affected the 

 tubers more or less, and then to have departed ; 

 while other years it has hung on much longer, 

 even following them into the cellar. We have an 

 account of a factory in Ilinesburgh, Yt., for mak- 

 ing " Imperishable potato" for shipping, &c., and 

 remarks on the Potato and Onion crop in that def- 

 inite portion of our country — "August 29, 1853." 



scientific 

 With the caption "A new Help for Farmers," 

 we find a critical notice of a work by Johnston, re- 

 published in this country, with a preface and index 

 by the editor of the Farmer, entitled " Elements 

 of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology," which. 



with an extract on "What Chemistry, &c., may 

 do for Agriculture," gives us a favorable impression 

 of the book. Other articles on "Vegetalde Pro- 

 duction ; " on "The Atmosphere and its effects 

 upon animal life ; " on the botanical division of 

 " Roots ; " on "Spontaneous Plants," will iit least 

 show that there is yet much to learn. 



transactions 

 Of the New Hampshire Agricultural Society. 

 No. 3, of the Review of the Massachusetts Trans- 

 actions. One suggestion of the writer I wish to 

 second — that of commending the questions pro- 

 posed to competitors for premiums on farms, for 

 general adoption. As they are usually given, the 

 detailed statements of particular farms are the 

 most interesting portions of this publication . How 

 much would their value be increased were all ap- 

 plicants in the State to give answers to each of 

 the Middlesex questions. ■ 



WHEAT. 



JNIy experience in the world has taught me 

 rather to distrust my own impressions than to 

 condemn the general practice of large bodies of 

 men. A farmer from New England settled in 

 Southern Ohio. He thought to himself, " I will 

 teach these people farming." So lie yarded his 

 hogs, cut his corn, hauled it into his barn, and 

 carefully fed it to them. As usual, his neighbors 

 tuiiied theu's into tIi6P field. He watouou the 

 process. The hogs, too lazy to break down the 

 corn faster than it was needed, eat it all clean, 

 and having a freer range than his own, did full as 

 well. One year satisfied him on this point ; the 

 next he did " as others do." Farmers from Eng- 

 land often insist upon the back-breaking process 

 of "dibbling," until they find the ordinary and 

 much easier practice of planting answers as well 

 in our country. And to the question, "Why don't 

 the farmers of Massachusetts raise wheat?" so 

 earnestly discussed by Mr. Poor and by " J. F. C. 

 H.," I would answer, not because they don'tknow 

 how, but because experience has shown them that 

 other productions are more profitable, all things 

 considered. But Massachusetts does and always 

 has raised wheat. By the statistics, in 1829, she 

 produced 29.784 bushels — giving to every man, 

 woman and child in the State, just about " one 

 quart." A Reader. 



Winchester, Oct., 1853. 



NATIONAL AGRIOULTURE. 



The total value of the annual products of the 

 soil of the United States is now about One Thous- 

 and Millions of Dollars ; and no one who knows 

 what Science has done for Agriculture will doubt 

 that the same amount of Labor which is now em- 

 ployed in producing this aggregate might be so 

 applied as to secure a total product thirty per 

 cent, greater, (mt One Thousand Three Hundred 

 Millions. But scientific, skilful, thorough Agri- 

 culture always employs more than the shiftless, 

 slouching sort too generally prevalent ; and it is 

 certainly vrithin bounds to estimate that our Ag- 

 riculture might be so improved as, by the help of 

 additional labor now unemployed and unproduc- 

 tive, to give an additional product of fifty per cent, 

 or Five Hundred Millions per annum — au achieve- 

 ment which would double the wealth of the coun- 

 try every eight or ten years. Whosoever will 



