NEW ENGLAND ^ARMER. 



pository, vol. v. p. 64, giic llic details of an experi- 

 ment with cut potatoes, and whole potatoes planted in 

 the same field, in adjoining rows, which resulted great- 

 ly in favor of the v/hole potatoes. In this ca?e it ap- 

 pears that fact and theory coincide, for, as Mr. Lowell 

 well observes " the polatoe is by nature formed to fur- 

 nish from its fleshy and watery root the food for the 

 young shoots." It is doubtless the juice of the planted 

 potatoe which enables the young )>l;mt to endure enWy 

 drought better than most other articles of field culture, 

 while a la!t drought, which assails thcia after the pa- 

 ternal root has parted ^i'ith its supply of nourishment 

 proves very injurious to the crop. 



Adverting incidentally to Hedge Fences, Mr. Lowell 

 has the following remarks : 



'• When the Hon. Mr. Qiiincj' jmblUheJ hi? 

 oxperinients on Hedge phmlinjr for fences they 

 (the Trustees] were aware that it would not he 

 of much value except on farms destitute: like 

 liis of natural materials for stone walls. In the 

 sandy territory of the old Colony it may be of 

 extensive use, but on farms fuch an 1 know, 

 ivhere the rocks must be got oiit before the 

 plough can move ; where they must be carted to 

 a great distance if not used for waif-, where, in 

 short, v.'alls are the cheapest mode of disposing 

 of tbte stones, it is excellent husbandry so to ap- 

 ply them." 



" In relation to the species of thorn recom- 

 mended by Mr. Qnincy, truth and long cxperi- 

 raent enable and require me to say, that th'' 

 Virginia thorn so much rccoinineiuhd by Mr. 

 Maine, from whose account ]\lr. Qiunry very 

 properly introduced and recommended it, is not 

 by any means the be=t adapted for general use, 

 for quick or live hedges. !t is too a]it to run 

 iip, and not sufficiently prone to throw out 

 strong lateral shoots, and it is believed, that ei- 

 ther the common Wbito Hawthorn of I'.nerlnnd, 

 or even our own, New England Cockspur thorn 

 is better adapted for this purpose. Wo make 

 these remarks not with a view of diminishing 

 the merit of Mr. C^uincy in making these exper- 

 iments, and communicating them, but simply to 

 make it known, that what we publish is intend- 

 ed merely as hit^ts which others may follow or 

 pursue, and we feel bound to state from time to 

 lime, any doubts which may occur to us on the 

 subject, or any opposite experience. 



" We have br:en m.ore free in speaking of the 

 limited extent to which thorn hedges can be 

 carried in the stony and rocky country of New 

 I'lngland, and the defects of the variety of the 

 Ihorn tir-t introduced because v.-e are ready to 

 say, and say it cordially, that we think all that 

 portion of otir country, which resembles the es- 

 tate of Mr. C^uincy, such as a pari of Kssex, 

 Middlesex, Plymouth, Bristol, and «oine of the 

 land? on Connecticut river will tlnnlly derive 

 great benefit from the introdudion of lire fen- 

 ces. They arc 3'et in their infan'"",', and to Mr. 

 Quincv we owe their introduction. It Will be 

 many years before the}' will be extensively tised, 

 but they will we presume eventually be intro- 

 iluced in all countries where stones cannot be 

 t'ound. and he will I trust have the credit of in- 

 ir'oducing them, a credit which will increase as 

 they shall be extended. They are very beau- 

 fit'iil. They give; an air of cultivation to the 

 landscape — they shelter the cro])s, and produce 

 a'oreneral effect of which no man, who has not 

 seen the dvHerence lietween French and Eng- 

 lUh scenery can have any adequate conception." 



(to BI; tO.\Tl.M EI'.) 



From the Ma^s. Agricultural Repository for June. 



Comparison of the present with some past seasons. 



We have for several years published such a 

 comparison, and farmers and general readers hav- 

 ing expressed a certain degree of pleasure from 

 the statement we continue it. It certainly may 

 be made of some use, if cultivators, instead of 

 consulting the Almanack, will attend to tlic in- 

 dications of nature. Certain plants wiW not 

 flower till the earth has arrived at a given de- 

 gree of temperature. 



They vary from five to twenty d.ays in the 

 time of flowering in iliflerent seasons. If, 

 therefore, as to the tenderer plants, the Indian 

 corn, squash, pumpkin and melon, we should re- 

 solve to plant them, not at a determinate peri- 

 od of the year, but when we should tunl by the 

 flowering- of certain plants, that the soil is so 

 warm as to endanger their rotting in the earth, 

 wo think some good would be attained. 



We sliall take a few plants as a specimen, and 

 compare the present season with some oi the 

 earliest during the last nine years. 



T!ic Cherry opened its blossoms in ISl^JMay 

 10th— 1815. May 10th— 1816, May CUh— isiS, 

 May nth— 1C2U, May Qd— I82Q, iilay !=». 



Jhpnragns \\;\s fit for the t;d>le for the first 

 lime in 181r3, .May Mth— 181.5, May Gth— 1816, 

 .May 51h— 181R, May 1.5— 18;:o, May 1st— 1B22, 

 May 1st. It should be remarked that the .As- 

 paragus was cut from the same bed in each year 

 — a bed was planted S3 years since, and never 

 changed, and one which has been constantly 

 groiving better — :m important fact in horticul- 

 ture. 



Pkni!: v,-ere first in flcivcr in the year 1815,' 

 May 14th — 1G17, M.nv 7th — 1819, May 13th — 

 1821, May nth— 1822, May '1th. 



Fenrs began to blow for the lirst time in 18I3< 

 Mav 20th— 1815, May IClh— 1817, May 7lh— 

 1819, May 1 7th— 1 820, May 9th— 1 822, May 5th. 

 jlppks first showed their open flowers, in 1813, 

 .ATav 23d— 1816, May 18th— 1817, May 12lh— 

 1819, Mav 19th— 1820, May 11th— 1822, Mav 

 9th. 



If will lio seen by this table,, that the present 

 season is the earliest on the whole vvhich we 

 have had for nine years. 



There is, however, a manifest difterence be- 

 tween the relative times of flonering of the dif- 

 f'cnu' plant" in the several jcar . ; and this is 

 rea/lily accounted for by the circumstance, that 

 a single turn of cold weather v.ill check the pro- 

 gross of all plants, and the season which may 

 have produced lb" earliest floivers on the Apri- 

 cot, the earliest of our fruits, may not be earlier 

 than usual in producing flowers on the Ap])!e. 



To give one practical rule which we believe 

 niiy be of some use, wc should say, that when 

 the ,\pple tree floivers we may safely (be it 

 sooner or later) venture to put our corn, .squash- 

 es and melons into Iho earth. 



This season v/as the earliest as to the open- 

 ing of the ground known on my place for 16 

 years. I ])lanted potatoes and pe;ts on the 7th 

 of March, .'iftcen days earlier than I was ever 

 able to do it before — but as I have often before 

 renr.irked, all these diilereiices disappear as the 

 season advances, and on the whole I doubt 

 whether the present sea.soa i.s in advance more 

 than four or live days of that of common years. 

 It however has been a great relief to the .abor 

 I of the larmcr- — bis season of labor has been ex- 



tended this year at least three weeks in this vi- 

 cinity, and this is of great value to him. Th^' 

 show of blossoms in all kinds of fruit is very 

 good, nearly double to that of the last year. — 

 The present cool v.ealher is highly beneficial 

 to the fruit. Wc had a very severe frost on 

 the 6th inst. which in low grounds injured ear- 

 ly potatoes, but the damage on the whole was 

 not great. If we can escape another for one 

 week more, we may presume on a fruitful year. 

 The prospect of grass is at this moment abovt- 

 that of ordinary years. 



A IIOXBURY FARMER 



From the J^'iw England Galari;. 



JcDCE QriKCY's Farm. — We have heard that Mr 

 Quincy v.as a praclicnl as well as theoretical farmer, 

 and it is well known that hi« talents have been induE- 

 triously employed in raising the standard of agricultu- 

 ral excellence in the neighborhood of Boston, but wc 

 do not recollect to have seen any description of liis fann, 

 or his mode of cuUivating it, till the following, for 

 which we are indebted to Mr. Stone's " Extracts from 

 a Gentleman's Port Folio." 



.ludg." Q,uincy, in addition to his professional 

 duties, is a theoretical and practical farmer ; 

 and I have taken the liberty of introducing the. 

 name of this distinguished gentleman because 

 there i- a part of his system which v.as entirely 

 novel to me. and which I thiixli. should be more 

 extensively known, as 1 feel persuaded that ma- 

 ny of our agriculturalists may profit by it. His 

 farm is extensive and surrounded by a flourish- 

 ing hawthorn hedge ; but there is not an inte- 

 rior fence on the premises. The whole pre- 

 sents a single field, devoted to all the various 

 purposes of agricidture. No part of it is allot- 

 ted to piigture, as his cattle are fed in their stalls, 

 andtiever suffered to run in the field. The ad- 

 yanfaiccs of this system are thus given : Former- 

 ly there were seven miles of interior fences to 

 be kept in repair, and by keeping the cattle up, 

 the V hole of this expense is saved. Formerly 

 sixty acres of this farm, were devoted to pas- 

 turage ; but now a greater number of cattle by 

 one t'lird, are kept upon the products of twenty 

 acres ; and I never saw cattle in better case. 

 The saving by this means is enormous, and that 

 immense advantages arise from it, is too appa- 

 rent to be dwelt upon. During the summer the 

 cattle are fed upon grass, green oats or barley, 

 cut up the day previousl)-. and suffered to wilt 

 in the sun ; and the manure, which is thus sav- 

 ed, will more than jiay for the extra trouble 

 anil exi)ense. The farm is highly cultivated, 

 anil everj' kind of grain and vegetables grown in 

 the country, appeared to have a place. The 

 cultivation of carrots it was said was found very 

 profitable, and, I passed a lot of live acres. — 

 Near this were also several acres of cabbage- 

 ruta baga, mangel v/urtzel, millet, kc. he. — 

 Judtre Q. has also an extensive salt manufacto- 

 ry, cf 175 cisterns or vats, which, however, he 

 contfmplatcs soon to enlarge. The salt water 

 is ptjmped by wind, and is let otT from one vat 

 to ajother — first depositing the sediment, and. 

 then the sulphate or carbonate of lime, until it 

 beccmes pure, when it is suffered to stand and 

 evaporate by the heat of the sun. The crj'stal- 

 lizalions, form on the top and settle to the bot- 

 tom. I have preserved a beautiful specimen. 

 One man attends the \\ hole of this concern. — 

 Tlie residence of Judge Q. is a charming situa- 

 tion. The house is a neat and spacious build- 

 ing, and the grounds, varied in surface and seen- 



