22 



NEW ENGLAND FARMF.R. 



ascertain:n<j thn temperature of the ground at 

 that season. If we can plant corn an-.l sqiiasli 

 seed the middle of May when the asparaijus is 

 in a state to l>c cut the 7tli of that mouth, why 

 not plant those seeds the 7th when the aspara- 

 gus is (it to cut the tit-st of May ? A poach tree, 

 cherry tree, or a |)lum tree in fjood lioalth, is 

 also a fair indication of the tcniporatiirc of t!ie 

 earth, as i-s tlie apple and pear tree, if always 

 kept in a g-oo.l state, or in a cultivated or plouyh- 

 eil piece of cfroand ; but in the orchard, where 

 the grass is allowed t.j check the circulation, 

 three years out of five, trees are not ^o correct 

 an index as the asparagus bed, or as they them- 

 selves arc when growing in a garden or plough- 

 ed field where the ground is always open, so 

 that the rays of the sun and the warmth of the 

 atmosphere enter with less obstruction. 



'' I have said that the same plant should al- 

 ways be taken as the standing index, because 

 peaches, ("or instance, of different sorts or vari- 

 eties, and ciierries of different sorts, as well as 

 pears and other fruits, open their buds and 

 blossom sooner or later according to the res- 

 pective habits of each individual or variety ; 

 so that a person who should take one yt^ar 

 an early peach, and the next the late heath 

 as U^ index, might find hiniself very far from 

 correct. 



" With respect to the rains which prevail in 

 the month of .M.i}', by which seeds are rotted 

 in the ground, 1 apprehend that if the ground 

 be warm enough to excite the germ of the seed 

 farli/ in May, it will as soon be out of danger 

 from rot, as if it be planted the middle of May ; 

 for the rains prevail as much toivurds the la<t 

 a.5 the first of the month. And as respects the 

 iate frosts which are dreaded so much by many 

 people when the spring is early open, I con- 

 fess, that so far as my own observation goes, I 

 Mhould fear it less when the spring is forward 

 than when it is tardy. I don't mean to say that 

 premature heat, which wo sometimes have, is 

 not like to be followed by frosts in May ; but 

 when the spring continues to put forth new evi- 

 dence daily of its settled state in a regular and 

 natural manner, so as to bring forward vegeta- 

 tion ear!//, and with unusual vigoi,' in May, I 

 think tliere is much less danger of late frosts 

 than when the cold bla?ts from rtic Canada bor- 

 ders are constantly interrupting its progress — 

 because in one instanc ? the earth is gradually 

 ivarmcd, and creates witlun its inijucnce a warm 

 atmosphere that prevents iVost from taking 

 place ; whereas in the other case the earth 

 continues cold, and the temperature of the at- 

 mosphere near its surface is less capable of re- 

 sisting the night chillin'.r dcivs which tall upon 

 the young plants that are putting I'orih. I be- 

 lieve that if recourse be had to the state of the 

 weather for any ten years together from the 

 'Joth March to the 5th May, it nil! be found 

 tliat late in the season frosts have occurred 

 much more frequently when the average tem- 

 perature of the spring months has been bclozo 

 rather than v/hen it has been ubo-cc any given 

 point."' 



Wc think with the above qnolcJ v.iitiis that it 

 would be a matttr of but little clitiiculty lor every fiir- 

 mer to ni;il:e hiiiiseil' a Vegclahle ,iilnuinac!i, IVoin the 

 productions of lii.-* own soil ; and thus turn, a= it were, 

 t'le ISnok nf.Vatrirc into a Pcrptlual Kahndar. This 

 mirrht be tlonj without any referrnce to the artificial 

 • ii'^'i'^i"^ of timf, as ?et down in common almanaclr', 



and, v/e think, would prove not only simple, but cor- 

 rect and useful. For example: 

 The Gooseberry buds be- > S o i 



gin to swell, \ pow early peas. 



Wiiiow buds do. do. 

 I.ilic do. do. do. 



Asparagus fit for t 



} i, !>ow flax, oat?, Spring 



$ \ wheat and .Sprii;g rye. 



[• \ Plant potatoes, early use. 



J ( riant a potatoe patcli, 



able, N < also some pumpkins 



) ( near your hog stye. 



Currants put forth leaves, [■ ■{ Plant garden btans 



.\pple trees blossom, }■ \ Sow carrots, beets, fcc. 



White oak leaves as big j < m ^ i .• • 



as a mouse's ear, °\ | Want Indian corn.' 



We give the above as something like the/or»n which 

 might be adopted for the purpose of enabling the young 

 and inexperienced agricnltor to adopt some gtncrnt 

 rules for seeding his grounds. The substance of the 

 Kalendar must be established by actual observation, 

 and be the result of good sense operating upon experi- 

 ence. 



An advantage, which perhaps has not been adverted 

 to, may be anticipated from recording annually articles 

 like that of .'2 Rorburi/ Farmer, in which the times of 

 the annual budding and flowering of plants are noted. 

 The practise will aiFord data for ascertaining with con- 

 siderable precision the effects of cultivation as regards 

 climate. Some philosophers tell us that by depriving 

 the earth of its forests, and opening its surface to the 

 more direct uifluence of the sun's rays, the springs 

 come on earlier upon an average, and the mean tem- 

 perature of the climate is increased. Others den}- these 

 positions, and say that the mean temperature of the 

 climate can ni ither be increased nor diminithed by any 

 changes on the earth's surface, as the quantity of ca- 

 loric emanating from the sun will be the same in cor- 

 responding latitudes, whether such surface he compar- 

 atively rough or smooth ; and that when we expose 

 the earth to the more direct impulse of the solar rays, 

 we likewise deprive it of a mantle which covered it 

 in some degree from the frigid influence of those north- 

 ern blasts which so often bid " winter chill the lap 

 of May." 



(to be coxti.vued.) 



* This we believe is Hie Indian maxim alluded to by 

 Dr. Deane as above. 



jSEW LNGLAJNl) KAllMLK. 



BOSTOJ^:— SATURDAY, AUGUST 17, 1822. 



The Editor would be happy to make his best ac- 

 knowledgments acceptable to certain conductors of 

 newspapers and others whoso talents and stations give 

 them iulluence, for the favorable notices which they 

 have taken of this establishment. The indications of 

 good will, anil expressions of approbation, with which 

 he has been honored, having beep received from gen- 

 tlemen well qualified to appreciate the value of lite- 

 rary and scientific efforts, cannot fail to add stimulus 

 to industry, and elicit every possible eflbrt to realize 

 the favorable anticipations which appear to be enter- 

 tained by min, the acquisition of whose good opinion 

 is an object of high and laudable ambition. 



Among tliosc to whom we are under great obliga- 

 tions for announcing our paper in terms well adapted 

 to introduce it to general patronage, we shall hold in 

 grateful vememlirance the Editor of the Mannfnctarer.s'' 

 and Farmers'' Juumnl, a valuable paper, printed at 

 Providence, P.. I. \\'e hope we shall not be accused 

 of egotism in giving the following extract from an edi- 

 torial article wbi<51i appeared in that p;ip<-v of the 12tlv 

 inst. since it relates principally to our oliject, which it 

 co.rnct bo arrojance ia uito pronounce to be laudable. 



and gives, among other topics, a lucid exposition of Hi- 

 benefits which cultivators may hope to receive fro ;i 

 the JN'tif England Farmer, by making it a channel I.m 

 communicating to the public their own discoveries ami 

 improvemeiils. 



" There are many good reasons for the cstablisb.- 

 ment, in the northern section of our country, of a paper 

 mainly devoted to the interests of Agriculture. 'J he 

 meist prominent is, the great difierence between th- 

 cliviales of the i!^outhern and Northern States. '11 

 difference, requiring the cultivation, in one section, .; 

 crops which catmot be cultivated with advantage m 

 others, produces, of n«:cessity, different systems of farm- 

 ing. Kvery enlightened cultivator, wherever he may 

 live, has a system of his own, adapted to the peeuliai 

 situation of his land, as well as to the general charar- 

 ter of till- climate under whieh it lies ; (vhich system i- 

 the result eif experience. A number of such men slij.- 

 ulate, f-.r their mutual benefit, that each shall conmiu- 

 nicate to the whole, the result of his own experienr, , 

 and to make a paper, like the one under consideratioj:, 

 the vehicle of co-mmunication. Now the utility of suclr 

 an agreement depends on the limits which are presciii 

 ed to it, and the fidelity with which it is executed, i 

 is plain, that those only who cultivate the same crtj 

 can be mutually serviceable to each other. 'J he plan- 

 ters of Georgia and Caroliiia, whose crops consist prii- 

 cipally cf cotton, rice and sugar, cannot communica'' 

 much useful i.iformation to the farmers of the norlluri. 

 and middle states, who cultivate grain and keep lari; 

 stocks of animals, in a climate where the season i 

 from two weeks to two months shorter than it is with 

 them — nor can they learn of the latter any thing which 

 may be generally useful in their planting. The differ- 

 ence of sod and climate, even between the northern 

 and middle states, is so considerable, as to require, in 

 the one, a s;,stem of cultivation, widely dilferent fror> 

 that which is practised in the other. In every section 

 of our country, therefore, distinguishable from the oth 

 ers by pt culiarities of climate anel soil, and following a 

 system of husbandry materially different from the .sys- 

 tems in practice elsewhere, there ought to be estab- 

 lished a paper which should be made a common medi- 

 um, through which every experienced farmer may 

 convey to his brethren the result of his own experi- 

 ence. Tliis paper shoidd be supported and maele use- 

 ful, I'y a punctual payment of the subscription money, 

 and by a constant supply of original matter." 



Since the .above was in type we have been indebted 

 to the khietuess of Mr. Skinner, of Baltimore, not 

 only for the common civility of a proffered exchange 

 of papers, but for a complete file of the ciirrent num- 

 bers of the 4th vol. of that excellent work, the " Amer- 

 ican Farmer," together with an elaborate index of 

 the 3d volume, containing three printed sheets. To 

 these highly valueel favors is added a fricntfly letter, 

 in v.hich is evinced a disposition to " strengthen our 

 hands and encourage our hearts," in the duties of our 

 present cmp'IoJ^nent. Vi'e are happy to be assured ei( 

 a fact, (which hideed we had anticipated from Mi . 

 Skiimer's reputation for liberality and regard for the 

 interests of the community,) that the able fMitor of the 

 American Farmer, a publication, which has, not only 

 given a highly beneficial impulse to Ameiican agricul- 

 ture, but whose establishment may be considereel ;.- 

 tlie commencement of a new and brilliant era in it- 

 annals, is willing to regard us as a coadjutor, wortbv 

 to second his efforts in " extending the knowledge ei 

 all discoveries in the science, and all improvements in 

 the practice of Agriculture and Domestic Economy.' 

 Mr, Skinner's approbation cannot fail to be of essentia 

 aehantagc to us, and we would tender in return our 

 tribute of gratitude, ruid proffer the best services iu 

 our power (.o render to him or his establishment. 



COOKING FOOD FOR C.'.TTLr. 



.Imong the most useful improvements of modern hvf- 



banilry may be numbereel the practice of steaming o 



boiling food for domestic animals. Some acceiunt i-< 



the crigio of this practice in Great Britain may 1. c 



