NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



378 



seventy- five cents each, and probably will last fifty 

 years. The)' can be hung up by the side of the hen- 

 house, or placed where you wish, and the hens will 

 follow them, after they have become acquainted with 

 them, which will be very soon. They can be easily 

 kept clean by scalding and changini^ the hay that is 

 put into them for their accommodation. When a 

 hen wishes to set, turn the nest round, the door to 

 the wall, until she is weaned from it a day or two, 

 and then turn it back again, and it will soon be occu- 

 pied as a most choice deposit for more eggs. I have 

 used them for the past year, and find myself and my 

 hens alike pleased with them. Do with this as you 

 please. 



Yours respectfully, 



OTIS BRIGHAM. 

 Westborough, Oct. 23, 1849. 



Editorial Remarks. — The straw nest is very 

 curious, and ingeniously constructed, affording pecu- 

 liar advantages, as hens seek for retirement when 

 they are laying or sitting ; and as it is adapted to 

 suspension, the hen on her nest may be kept free 

 from disturbance, or the attacks of various predatory 

 animals. This nest should have a conspicuous place 

 in the poultry exhibition. 



For the New Englarid Farmer. 

 MANURING NURSERIES, &c. 



Friend Cole : Being in conversation with a nur- 

 seryman relative to the business, he informed mo of 

 a new method he had made trial of for manuring 

 his grounds, and at the same time to obviate the ne- 

 cessity of hoeing, which had been a saving of some 

 thirty dollars the present season. It was simply to 

 cover the ground three or four inches thick with 

 Bwamp hay, worth about five dollars per ton. This, 

 he said, very nearly kept down all weeds ; but if here 

 and there one found its way through, it was an easy 

 matter to destroy it, as the ground, of course, would 

 be light under such treatment. 



In most or all locations, it would be necessary to 

 remove the litter in the fall, to prevent the depreda- 

 tions of the mice, and by returning the same partlj^- 

 rotted hay or straw in the spring, would the second 

 season have decomposed sufficiently to incorporate 

 with the earth, by using the cultivator between the 

 rows. If thou hast had any knowledge of this method 

 of nursery culture, wilt thou be so kind as to publish 

 thy views upon it in the New England Farmer, and 

 oblige thy friend, 



D. TABOR. 



Vassalboro', 'dth Mo., 1849. 



Editorial Remarks. — We have occasionally cov- 

 ered land among nursery trees, and around standard 

 trees, to keep the soil light, and to guard against 

 drought by retaining moisture; and this mode is 

 attended with excellent success. In many cases, in 

 hot, dry summers, it saves newly-transplanted trees 

 from destruction ; and it often produces a large crop 

 of the finest fruit, where, otherwise, there would be 

 a total failure from extreme heat and drought. 



Mr. Tudor has raised, this season, at Nahant, — nat- 

 urally a most unfavorable location, both from the 

 light, sandy soil, and exposure to salt spray, — the 

 largest pears of some varieties that we ever saw. A 

 friend, who visited his fruit-garden in the heat of 

 summer, remarks that his great success consists in 

 mulching. A basin of earth is formed around the 



trees, into which is put a deep layer of oak leaves, 

 Avhich retains the moisture, on the same principle 

 that it is retained around forest trees in their natural 

 position. So this skilful operation of art produces 

 the same effect as Nature herself, when left fi-ee from 

 the improvident hand of the cultivator. 



Hay, straw, sea-weed, common weeds, leaves, 

 shavings, partially decomposed tan, charcoal-dust, 

 manure of various kinds, and many other substances, 

 are good for mulching ; and as they decay they form 

 a valuable manure. In many cases, these materials 

 are worth for manure all that they cost ; so that the 

 expense of mulching, or covering the land, would cost 

 nothing. 



Raspberries and gooseberries succeed far better 

 where the land is covered. We have seen a piece 

 of raspberries, that was well covered with litter, per- 

 fectly free from weeds, without hoeing ; and it yielded 

 over a quart of fruit to the hill or stool, which was 

 four feet apart, making about twenty quarts to the 

 square rod, — one hundred bushels, or thirty-two 

 hundred quarts, to the acre, — which at the usual 

 price of twenty-five cents per quart, amounts to eight 

 hundred dollars. 



Covering land not only keeps the soil light and 

 moist, but it keeps up an equilibrium of temperature, 

 conducing to large and excellent crops, and the 

 healthy condition of trees, which, in our climate, 

 without this conservative measure, are liable to in- 

 jury, diseases, and death, by the great extremes of 

 heat and cold, wet and drought. 



As to the economy of covering land, much de- 

 pends on circumstances, of which every cultivator 

 must judge for himself. Generally it is attended 

 with much expense, and a very profitable crop must 

 be obtained in order to justify so liberal an expendi- 

 ture. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE, NO. II. 



Mr. Editor : The aboriginal inhabitants of Greece 

 lost all the primeval arts of agriculture, and lived in 

 a most degraded manner, and fed upon wild fruits, 

 acorns, &c. ; but by their early communication with 

 the Egyptians, they were led to the cultivation of 

 the ground, and they probably borrowed their arts 

 and early principles of science from them. Agricul- 

 ture was held in high esteem in the time of Homer, 

 so much so that one of the ancient kings laid aside 

 the robes of royalty that he might cultivate his fields. 

 Hesiod, who lived about the time of Homer, devoted 

 a Avhole poem to the subject of agriculture. 



Xenophon wrote a treatise on rural affairs some 

 time after ; but of other writings among the Greeks 

 on the subject of agriculture, but little remains, ex- 

 cept some scattered notices on the subject by several 

 authors, till the time of Varro, who informs us that, 

 in his time, there were not less than fifty authors 

 that might be consulted on the subject of agriculture 

 and rural affairs. The Pha?nicians and Chaldeans 

 held husbandry in the highest estimation. The Car- 

 thaginians, who descended from the Pha?nicians, 

 carried it to great perfection ; they have several wri- 

 ters on the subject, among whom was Mago, one of 

 their greatest generals. He is said to have written 

 no less than twenty- eight books ; and it is probable 

 that, under these auspices, agriculture flourished in 



