392 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



plan by -which a national fair may be established, 

 if deemed ])rafticable. 



If the proposition for commencing a fair of this 

 kmd next year should be seconded by a sufficient 

 number of breeders of fine sheep, we would suggest 

 one slight alteration in the terms of the proposition, 

 to wit ; that the premium be awarded for the best 

 two or three animals (instead of one) of the class 

 named. We would further suggest that the com- 

 mittee of judges on fine wooled sheep, should consist 

 of the profirietors «f the three principal wool depots, 

 to wit ; T. C. Peters of Buffalo, John Brown of 

 Springfield, and TI. Blanchard of Kinderhook. 



Now, gentlemen wool-growers, do you say " Hur- 

 rah for the national fair, and the sweepstake premi- 

 ums " ? If so, send on your names as competitors 

 for 1850. — Ed. Cul. 



TIME FOR APPLYING MANURES TO 

 MOWING FIELDS. 



The following is extracted from the report of the 

 committee on improvements of the Plymouth Agri- 

 cultural Society, Hon. Morrill Allen, chairman. In 

 England, where the climate is very moist, the best 

 time to apply manure to mowing lands, is immedi- 

 ately after the hay is taken off; and this period is 

 found to be the best time in this country, when it 

 is very wet immediately after the crop is removed, as 

 the rowen soon starts up and shades the manure ; 

 but if the weather should be dry and hot, as is usu- 

 ally the case, much of the manure woiild be wasted 

 by evaporation. We copy from the report. 



Several years since, we offered premiums for ex- 

 periments to determine tJie best time to apply manure 

 to mowing fields. This would seem an easy experi- 

 ment, and the result more certain than in many other 

 cases. Two experimenters, however, came to differ- 

 ent conclusions, and it was judged advisable to renew 

 the offers. Unfortunately these offers have called 

 forth no competition. There is but one applicant, 

 Mr. Gecnge W. Wood, of Middleborough ; and he has 

 failed of conducting the experiment in aU. respects 

 according to the rules given. 



It docs not appear in his statement that he weighed 

 any beside the product of the land manured in May 

 and August till the present year. All should have 

 been carefully weighed the second year. The com- 

 parisons of that year would have been quite as im- 

 portant as those of the present. The object of the 

 requisition to weigh this year was to ascertain the 

 ultimate influence of the applications in different 

 months. It appears that one eighth of the acre se- 

 lected was lower and moister land than the residue. 

 This circvimstance would manifestly make the com- 

 parison unjust, and give the moist plat a greater or 

 less yield, according to the character of the season. 

 Owing to the neglect of weighing the products of 

 the several plats the second year, we have no means 

 of fall comparisons, excepting between the months 

 of May and August. The applicant states that the 

 plat dressed in August was moister land than that 

 dressed in May, therefore favored by the character 

 of the past season. Notwithstanding this circum- 

 stance, the aggregate amount of hay produced on the 

 land dressed in May was ninety-three pounds more 

 than that dressed in August. We have supposed 

 that spring dressing would generally produce the 

 greatest amount of grass ; but it is not a convenient 

 season either for the prejjaration or the application 

 of manure to mowing fields. The general practice 

 will properly be to dress mowing grounds the last 

 of summer and in the autumnal months. According 



to the experiment now ])efore us, it would seem that 

 some preference should be given to the month of 

 August ; but the influence will be nearly as groat in 

 any of the fiill months, and farmers may consult 

 their convenience, i^ they will be true to their inter- 

 est, and apply an abundance of manure in soine of 

 the months. The committee think in plain and easy 

 processes there should be strict compliance with 

 rules. In view of Mr. W.'s omissions, the award of 

 the premium is withheld, and a gratuity recom- 

 mended of six dollars. 



REMARKS ON DRAINING. 



We all well know that wheat and other grains, as 

 well as grasses, are never fully developed, nor pro- 

 duce good seed, when the roots are soaked in moistni-e. 

 No man ever raised good wheat from a wet or moist 

 subsoil. Now, many farms of this country, though 

 at times during the summer they appear dry, and 

 crack open on the surface, are not in fact dry farms. 

 On the contrary, for nine months out of twelve, they 

 are moist or wet ; and we need no better evidence 

 of the fact, than the annual freezing out of the pknt, 

 and conseqirent poverty of many crops. Need we 

 say more to convince you of the necessity for drain- 

 ing your farms ? 



Now comes the question. How is this great good 

 to be accomplished ? What is the best method ? 

 What will it cost ? And above all, what will it pay ? 

 These inquiries we will endeavor to meet. The 

 statements, though brief, will doubtless lead you to 

 renewed inquiries, and an active search for informa- 

 tion. 



The inquiry. How is this great good to be accom- 

 plished ? What is the best method ? will lead mc 

 to speak of various probable localities, each of which 

 needs a dift'erent treatment. Thus we have in sev- 

 eral of our towns portions that may be called boc/s, 

 being generally too wet to sustain the weight of a 

 man, and where the water seems to rise fron: below. 

 These lands are very retentive of moisture, acting 

 like a sponge ; but when drained, are often found to 

 be very fertile and productive. To drain lands of 

 this description, the first important step is, to ascer- 

 tain the nature of the strata of earth, which the 

 nearest high grounds may possess, in order to know * 

 whether the main sujjply of water does or does not / 

 flow from them. In almost all cases, such is the case, 

 and leads us at once to cut a drain, or ditch, just 

 above the level of the bog on the higher ground, and 

 so deep as to intercept the waters as they descend, 

 and by means of this ditch to lead tliem off towards 

 the lowest point, thus arresting the supjily of water, 

 collecting it into one channel, and cutting it oft' from 

 its usual ramifications through the bog. In time, 

 the bog will have become so firm as to be traversed 

 readily, though it remains wet and marshy. Smaller 

 open drains, or ditches, should now be dug from the 

 lowest point of the bog, to be connected with the 

 deeper and larger ditch on the higher ground, the 

 connection to be made at the greatest depression of 

 the latter. Smaller lateral ditches may now be cut, 

 leading into the main ; and thus the bog will be 

 drained and rendered fit for cultivation. — American 

 Atjricidturist. 



A Bikd's-Eye View of the Universe. — Sup- 

 pose this earth to be a ball of one foot in diameter ; 

 on that scale of proportion the sun would be one hun- 

 dred feet in diameter, and the moon three inches. 

 The sun would be two miles from us, — the moon 

 thirty I'eet — Jupiter ten miles from the sun, and Her- 

 schel forty miles. The loftiest mountains upon the 

 surface of the earth would be one eightieth of an inch 

 in height. 



