NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



379 



mental vision was the prospect of sweets to be enjoyed 

 in the tarts and puddings of future days. 



Then, appetite quickened by the fresh air and long 

 walk, came our picnic dinner on the soft grass un- 

 der the sunny hedge : here, with wholesome refresh- 

 ment, hapyjy faces, and beautiful scenery before us, 

 we really ijot much jjleasure, as well as profit, from 

 our blackberry excursion. Then followed our ample 

 dessert of the wild berry ; and we, as well as our 

 baskets, being filled to our hearts' content, were re- 

 minded by the setting sun that it was time to hasteri 

 homeward with our gathered treasure. 



Will any one who reads this follow our example ? 

 Let him lay aside his worldly anxieties, his business 

 cares, his daily occupations, and just try how much 

 simple enjoyment he may procure for himself, how 

 much real gratification he may afford to others, by a 

 day's blackberrying. 



But this is scarcely practical enough for our pages : 

 we must now adopt a more humble stylo. 



The blackberry is found growing plentifully in 

 almost every situation : on the high chalk hills or 

 the clayey valley, there it is in profusion. 



But when fully exposed to the sun, the flavor of 

 the fruit is much more perfect and of greater sweet- 

 ness than when growing in shady aspects. It is too 

 common to need description ; every body knows it ; 

 and perhaps its very commonness makes it neglected. 

 We have never seen blackberries brought to mar- 

 ket except in London ; and yet there is no reason 

 why children should not employ their time in gath- 

 ering them for sale : the money they would fetch 

 would be a little help; and no means, however small, 

 should be neglected by any one, now-a-days, by which 

 the comforts of his family may be increased. 



Then, if they are not sold, blackberry puddings 

 may be made for the children ; and these, either with 

 or without the addition of a few apples or damsons, 

 are very capital things for a family. They should 

 be made precisely in the same way as gooseberry or 

 currant puddings are usually made. 



ADVANTAGES OF RAILROADS. 



Hon. E. Everett, in his speech at the Norfolk Cat- 

 tle Show, made the following remarks on the advan- 

 tages of railroads to agriculture : — 



We were accustomed to view this system as much 

 more intimately connected with our commerce and 

 manufactures than with our agricultural interest. 

 But he believed that it would soon do quite as much 

 for the farmers as for any class, and that, in respect 

 to agriculture, and the real benefit of the countrj% 

 our net- work of iron roads would be worth more 

 than ten Californias. Another idea struck him in 

 relation to the extension of these railroad facilities. 

 It had long been the complaint that young men in 

 the countrj' were abandoning the places of their 

 birth, and looking into the great cities in search of a 

 livelihood to be gained, if at all, through different 

 means than those to which they had been brought 

 up. This complaint, he must allow, had been but 

 too well founiled. But now it was getting to be 

 much more common than it formerly was for a man, 

 so soon as he had acquired a competency, to return 

 to the place of his birth, and build himself a snug 

 little nest in the shade of his ancestral trees. For 

 instance, within a circle of twenty-hvc miles around 

 Boston, a perfect crop of these little boxes had sprung 

 up, and it was daily increasing in amount. Let but 

 a system of enlightened and judicious agriculture go 

 hand in hand with these increasing facilities of com- 

 munication with the great marts of trade, and the 

 beneficial effect of a love and relish for pure country 

 enjojTiients and employments would be more and 

 more developed. 



EXPERIMENTS-POTATO RAISING. 



The following experiments are with potatoes of 

 the Mercer variety, on loamy soil, with subsoil of 

 clay, and were planted the last week in April. I 

 ploughed and subsoilod about twenty inches deep ; 

 planted the same nun;ber in each row. The experi- 

 ments were conducted with perfect fairness : my ob- 

 ject Avas to ascertain which was the best manure, so 

 as to use it in future. The first three rows I manured 

 broadcast with four hundred pounds Peruvian guano 

 and two bushels plaster per acre, and harrowed it in. 

 I likewise put a tablespoonful of the following ma- 

 nures on each potato : — 



Row No. 1, compost of guano, ^ guano, | sand ; 



yield, Li bushels. 



Row No. 2, plaster ; yield IJ " 



" " 3, poudrette ; yield, .... 1 " 



The next four rows, twelve bushels salt per acre, 



broadcast : — 



Row No. 1, live ashes, handful; yield, . 1^ bushels. 

 " " 2, ground bones, " " • i " 



" " 3, bone dust, tablespoonful, . | " 

 " " 4, compost guano, as above, • i " 



The next five rows, fifteen bushels bone dust per 



acre : — 



Row No. 1, live ashes and plaster, handful, 



yield 1^ bushels. 



Row No. 2, salt and plaster, sprinkled along 



row, 1^ bushels. 



Row No. 3, leached ashes and plaster, hand- 

 ful li bushels. 



Row No. 4, bone dust, tablespoonful, . 1 bushel. 

 '* " 5, guano, compost, and plaster, 

 tablespoonful, IJ bushels. 



The next seven rows, twenty-five wagon loads 



stable manure per acre, broadcast : — 



Row No. 1, plaster, tablespoonful ; yield, 3 bushels. 

 " " 2, pure guano, tablespoonful, by side 

 of potatoes , . . . 2^ bushels. 



Row No. 3, road dirt, ^ shovelful on each, 3 J " 

 " " 4, horse manure, " " 3 " 



" " 5, hogpen " " " 3 " 



" " 6, poudrette, handful, . . . 2i '< 

 " " 7, guano compost 2 " 



The next experiments were with the Fox-Eye 

 variety, planted 23d May. The manure was put in 

 the row, nothing having been previously put on the 

 ground. 



Rows No. 1, 2, 3, and 4, leached ashes, a handful ; 

 yield, 10 bushels or 2^ bushels per row. Row No. 

 5, ground bones, small handful; yield, l^ bushels. 

 Row No. 6, salt sprinkled along row ; yield, 1 bushel. 

 No. 7, plaster, tablespoonful ; yield, 1 j bushels. No. 

 8, pure guano, tablespoonful side of each potato ; 

 yield, 1 bushel. No. 9 and 10, Ume ashes and plaster, 

 handful; yield, 2 bushels each. No. 11, 12, 13, and 

 14, guano and plaster, spread along row, handful 

 about every three yards ; yield, 5 bushels, or 1^ bushels 

 per row. 



In conclusion, I would state that the potatoes 

 Avhere the leached ashes were put were larger and 

 better than either of the others, except the road dirt, 

 which were decidedly finer than any in the field. 



Penxixgtox, 1849. W. J. 



P. S. The guano potatoes came up some ten days 

 before the others, and looked greener and better for 

 some time, but were finally beat by most of the 

 others. W. J. 



— Philadelphia Dollar Netospaper. 



The parent who would train up a child in the way 

 he should go, must go in the way that he would 

 train up the child. 



