S- 



210 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Sep 



We have said that a rich mold abounJs iu nitrogen, | 

 which is the base of ammonia, and an important ele- 

 ment in both bread and meat. One hundred pounds 

 of dry, lean meat, in the carcass of a dead horse, will 

 yield fifteen pounds of nitrogen, and of course form 

 an exceedingly rich mold. A like weight of wheat 

 will yield two and a half pounds of nitrogen ; and 

 therefore, in comparison with the stems, leaves, 

 roots, and solid wood of most plants, \yill also form a 

 rich mold. One hundred pounds of wheat straw con- 

 tains but a third of a pound of nitrogen : hence, if it 

 could all be transformed, it would take seven pounds 

 of straw to make one of wheat, and forty-live to form 

 one of horse flesh. But there are worse plants for 

 making rich mold, or the flesh of animals, than wheat 

 straw." Dry v.-ater-rotted hemp stalks, and pine saw 

 dust will form poor mold and poorer horse feed. 



Clover, peas, and corn, are among the best plants 

 for producing a valuable mass of organic matter in 

 the soil for future use. But suppose one's land is 

 " clover sick f wliat then is his remedy 7 If plaster 

 fails to bring clover, and wood ashes and bones are 

 not to be had, he must try timothy, rye, peas, or 

 buckwheat. With the aid of lime he may probably 

 grow grass and make manure, which will give him 

 corn and other grain. Deep and thorough tillage 

 increases the available food of plants, more than any 

 other one thing of equal expense. The sub-soil is 

 full of genuine manure, if you only make it as fine 

 as the earth in an onion-bed. Deep plowing and 

 liming have cured many a clover sick field in Eng- 

 land ; and they will do as much in this country. 

 Making meat and saving manure have done much. to 

 renovate poor lands. We know several large farm- 

 ers who grow peas and oats to be eaten by hogs in 

 the neld^just before they are fairly ripe. All tbe 

 straw and manure being left on the ground,^ it is 

 enriched and prepared for wheat, corn or clover. 

 Many injure their farms by making haste to become 

 rich — running their fields closer than their stock of 

 fertilizers will warrant. Such men should read more 

 and labor less. A jiersnn is seldom worse employed 

 than when impoverishing the earth. 



DRAINING. - PROFITS OF POITLTRY, &c, 



Eds. Gen. Fariiek : — I became a subsfriber to your valua- 

 ble prtper at the oonimencement of llie present volume, and 

 .seciiig your manifest willingness to answer questions, I veii- 

 tiiri' lo ask a few. I have only a small farm — about thirty 

 acres improved, or r:itber worn out. It lies across u rid^e. 

 the southern e.xtrenuty reaching into a deep swamp. The 

 soil is gravelly. 'I'hc water from this swamp reservoir, 

 which has a very imperfect outlet, leeches its way throiitih 

 this ridge, tiud bubbles up clear and rnld through all the 

 land below t^ie riilge. Yon know the effect of this. 



I can content myself no longer to go upon the old |>rinii- 

 ple — do as father diil, — but intend to make my few acres 

 produce as much as the same amount of labor I perforuj can 

 diMw from double the number of acres ; and by so doing 

 recommend your p.iper to my neighbors. }iul to the ques- 

 -.iim — whether to ditch this land below the ridge, by cutting 

 a ditcli below and pirallel to it, and thence convey it away 

 through covered cli:uincls ; or cut Ihrongh the ridge, and 

 dr.iin the swam]>. In order lo do the latter, the ditch would 

 require to be only alioul six feet deep for a distance of abo'iit 

 fifty rods, to bring it where the dittdi would be run across 

 by the former plan : the remainder of the distiince would 

 require a depth 'tiufticient to make the land dry below the 

 reach of roots. To me the draining of the swamp would bo 

 of little advanUgc, as 1 have but two or three acres of the 

 land, and that I do not wish to clear : neither does the 

 Hwamp mako it sickly, as might be expected. 



.'\nother (|uesti(m, witli regard to keeping hens. I am 

 tirod of having hens run ut large : they scratch up the seeds 



I sow, unless I cover them with brush . and they cat up my 

 strawberries, to say nothing of the damage done to field 

 crops. I want a supply of eggs for a large family. Now. 

 the question is, whether I can aft'ird to build a suitable place 

 for tliem, barely to supply my own family, better than to 

 pay 8 to I2i cents per dozen for eggs. If so. will a space 12 

 by 70 feet, on the west side of barn and slieds. with tlie 

 upper part of sheds for roosts and nests, be suHicient room ' 

 for fifteen or twenty ? And is there any way to teep them 

 from eating their eggs but by being too spry for theni '* 



If you will have patience to read and answer these niqiii- 

 ries, you will oblige a subscriber ; if not, I shall not be dis- 

 heartened, but experiment for myself. 



I will say a few words here, about what I have done and 

 intend to do on my farm. The first step I took in the way 

 of reform, was to build good, substantial fences. Comp.ared 

 with the generality of farms, mine is well fenced — corners 

 staked. This relieves me entirely from anxiety about intru- 

 ders. I have nearly cleared my fields, and now I am ready 

 to lay my ditclies straight, and my furrows straight, and 

 douljle their former depth. This last is necessary through 

 all this section. 



I anticipate being able lo send you a respectable list of 

 names for your next volume, and prove myself voiirs, Irulj . 

 Gkorgk T. Cook.— .ITaiUsun, Ohio, July, 13.') 'l. 



Wb should think it very advisable to drain the 

 swamp, as you last propose ; and as you own but a 

 part of it, perhaps you could get your neighbor or 

 neighbors whose land would be benefitted, by it, to 

 assist in the work. Individuals whose farms adjoin, 

 might often engage together in the work of draining, 

 to their mutual advantage. But we doubt whether 

 this would entirely remedy the evil yo-. complain of, 

 and we would advise you, by all means, to drain di- 

 rectly that part of your land where tlie water " bub- 

 bles up clear and cold.'' This sliould be done by 

 covered drains. Various plans ol forming covered 

 drains we have given in previous volumes of the 

 ■Farmer; but if Mr. C, or any of our readers need, 

 more iiifirmation ilian they now possess, on the vari- 

 ous modes of forming under-drain.-*, we « ill give it 

 with p'easure. 



Wo don't wonder that our corresponden! is tired 

 of having his hens run at large, scratching up hi*" 

 seeds and eating his strawberries. Wo got tired of 

 it a long time ago. There is no doubt but every 

 farmer can afford to build a suitable house and y.irJ 

 for his chickens. (We gave a very good jdan for a 

 cheap house, in the April number.) To be sure, if 

 he should charge the hens every quart of grain lliey 

 eat, and credit them with the eggs at about eight 

 cents a dozen, the account- might not show m'.ich of 

 a balance in their favor ; but then there is a satis- 

 faction in having every thing around you, n^ede.? for 

 family use. You are always sure of having your 

 eggs fresh, and never have the unjdeasant <)iiery 

 arise in your mind, as you break an egg at the break- 

 fast table, whether you are to have an cgi^ or a chicken 

 for breakfast. On a farm, too, there is always refuse 

 grain, not marketable, that will keep the chickens 

 needed to furnish eggs for a family. There is an- 

 other consideration, too, of importance, and we fear 

 generally forgotten ; and that is, the value of the 

 manure. It is the most valuable manure — almost 

 equal to guano. We always tliink the manure pays 

 us for the grain consumed, to be used in our flower 

 and vegetable garden ; and we get the eggs for the 

 trouble of taking care of the fowls. Tnis is the way 

 we reckon the profit and loss. 



The yard yon speak of will be large eiioiigb ; but 

 if you could build it on the cast or south end of yonr 

 sheds, it would be less exposed to storms. If you 

 are "spri/" enough to keep your hens from rating 

 their eggs, you will have to be "spry indend. - 



