54 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



>'rom Niles' Register. 

 FLAX 



Another machine has liCMi invented by Samu- 

 el Davidson, ofHoniulus', N. Y. for dressinEf flax. 

 Its whole cost, ineluding tlie patent right, is 

 • )nly forty dollar.'. Jt hn^ been tried by nviny 

 of the most respectable tarmcrs. They (.itim- 

 ate the saving in the labor at three fourth'-, and 

 the saving in llax at one fifth, compared witii 

 the common mode ; while it leaves the texture 

 of the thread unbroken. By the use ol this 

 machine the process of rof/i/irj may be dispensed 

 with, as it will answer for dressing the flax eith- 

 er with or without rotting. 



This improvement promises to be extensively 

 usefol — its price is small that every neighbor- 

 hood may easily have a machine. I'hx is an ar- 

 ticle of easy cultivation and great produci. if the 

 jirocess of rotting and usual way of cleaning it 

 can be dispensed wiih, anil must become an im- 

 portant staple to the people of the interior for 

 home u-e, and transport to the seaboard, &,c. 

 A pound of fiax may be carried any given dis- 

 t.incc us readily ris a pound of cofn, pork, 6cc. 

 The cost of transportation will be the same ; but 

 the amount of that cost as to the relative value 

 of the article, will be essentially ditl'ercnt. The 

 soed, too, if crushed and made into oil, will al- 

 ways tiud a ready market, and better pav char- 

 ges fof carriage tiian any sort of provisions that 

 our farmers can raise in the interior. Oil mills 

 may be erected at a .tmall expense, and would 

 yield large profits to their owners, if the supply 

 of seed were abundant, in anj' part of our coun- 

 try west of the mountains. 



We feel both publicly and personally inter- 

 ested in the cultivation of flax and the use of 

 flaxeu goods — publicly, because it will add much 

 to tlie national prosperity ; privately, because 

 we cannot have good pa^xr without flaxen rags 

 lo make jt of. 



From the Montreal Gazette of August 31. 

 aghicultural rei-ort for august. 



The cutting of grain became common from 

 the 10th to the loth of the month; about the 

 19th the weather was very unfavorable lor ru- 

 ral or harvest aflairs ; very heavy rains with 

 warm growing weather, which lasted some lime, 

 have done considerable damage to Grain lying 

 on the ground (the common way in this coun- 

 try) as it has rendered the straw black, and 

 caused the crop to spring or sprout. If the 

 Canadian farmers would bind and shock their 

 crops as they cut them, like old country farm- 

 ers, it would be a great saving of fodder to them 

 in rainy seasons ; indeed we have had more wet 

 weather this summer than in the throe preceding. 



Towards the latter end of the montli, we had 

 excellent dry days, with a strong or good breeze 

 which has enabled the farmers to house a great 

 part of their crops, and a few line days will 

 finish the bulk of the harvest. 



Grass seeds have generally taken well and af- 

 ter gra-ss looks tine. 



Of Turnips little is heard, but Mangel Wurtzel 

 is much rcconuncudcd l>y all who have raised it ; 

 the quantity on an acre is said to be very great, 

 and it is not suhjrct to be injured by th(; lly or 

 grasshoppers. 



Cutting Hay on natural wet medows has been 

 attended with much trouHe, and .some very ex- 

 tensive fields arc still uncut, being overflowed 

 with water. 



Stock of all kinds is in excellent condition ; 

 milch cows are very scarce, bees have thriven 

 well this summer, and it is' a matter of surprise 

 and regret that they are not more generally 

 kept both for the profit they give, and the good 

 example they set before us. Laborers are in 

 abundance, good reapers have been commonly 

 paid from Is. Gd. to Is. lOd. per day. 



A pair of the beautiful and gigantic nondes- 

 cript KIks. known by the Indians of the Upper 

 Missouri (where they have begn lately discover- 

 ed) by the name of Wajietli, arrived here on 

 iMonday se'n-night on their way to London. 

 These noble animals are the size of the horse, 

 with immense spreading horns; their form th 

 most perfect model of strength and beauty, com- 

 bining the muscular strength of the race hor.sc, 

 with the lightness and agility of the greyhound; 

 are capable, with ease, of drawing a carriage or 

 carrying a person more than twenty miles an 

 hour. They are perfectly domesticated, and of 

 the most amiable and gentle disposition. Their 

 flesh is esteemed the finest of venison; and as 

 the female is on the point of producing young, 

 no doubt is entertained of adding this most noble 

 and interc-tiiig ipiadruped to our stock of do- 

 mestic animals. They will be exhibited for a 

 few days at Stoakes' Kooms, next door to the 

 Athena'um, in Church street. — London paper. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BO.rrO^.— SATURDAY, SEPT. 14, 1822. 



TO REAnF.nS, CORRESPONDENTS, IVELL-WISHERS, 

 ADVISERS, &C. &C. 



Wt have been cmiacntly favored, since the com- 

 mencement of the New England Farmer, with a mul- 

 titude of counsellors, who have from time to lime vol- 

 unteered opinions respecting the course it was best for 

 us to pursue in conducting^ the publication. Bat, it 

 unfortunately so happens that but rarely any two of 

 our monitors agree in their precepts; and as we can- 

 not, at the same moment, move in a great variety of 

 opposite directions, we shall take in good part, what 

 WHS doubtless well meant, but hope to be excused, if 

 we do not exactly conform to rules and regulations, 

 which do not always accord with each other, any bet- 

 ter than with our own views of the subjects to which 

 they relate. Still we are bappy to receivB counsel, 

 though for the reasons above mentioned we cannot al- 

 ways comply with it. Besides, our advisers, surely, do 

 not wish to be oiu' controllers ; and if they will kindly 

 continiu- to shed liglit on our paths, we will spare them 

 the trouble otdincling our fttt. 



The gentleman who advises us to write a " System 

 ofGeorgicks after the manner of Virgil," borrowing 

 hints from the " elegant works of Darwin," &c. is 

 respectfully informed that if we had talents, we have 

 not time to s])are for such a purpose. A number of 

 years (certainly not less than nine according to Horace) 

 would be rf quisite to complete such a work : and by 

 the time it was finished, a considerable part would 

 probably become obsolete by improvements which are 

 every day unfolding. We believe moreover, that the 

 princii)h s of science, and the details of art, are, gen- 

 erally sjHakiupf, belter given in plain prose tlian in the 

 " linked sweetness" of IJr. Darwin's most mellifluous 

 modulations. For instance/'Dr. Darwin's poetical des- 

 cription of the Steam Engine would hardly serve as a 

 specification to enable a workman to build a machine 

 of the kind ; and should even a greater than Darwin 

 undertake to give versified accounts of many oi the 



most useful modern improvements in agriculture, niua- 

 ty nine in a hundred of the cultivators of the soil 

 " Would read, and read, then raise their eyes in doubt, 

 " And gravely ask— Proy tchaVs all this about .?" 



Georgicks, and poetical descriptions of rural occupa- 

 tions and amusements, aie, however, very pretty arti- 

 cles, and we should be glad of an assortment for the 

 benefit oCsome of our readers, who like our correspon- 

 dent alluded to, have taste enough to read and relish 

 such things. Our attention must, however, for the 

 present, be more directed to the wants of the majjy 

 than the tr.=te of a few. 



A gentleman from Vermont writes to us as follows — ■ 

 " We have tried your receipt for using elder juice [see 

 page 3,] in a large dairy, on two or three cheeses that 

 were much cracked, and from which it was diificult to 

 keep the till .5 that produce skippers. The experiment 

 answers perfectly — the flies do not even approach that 

 part of the pantry. No doubt it will answer other 

 valuabTe purposes." 



The gentleman who has given us an accouat of his 

 experiments with Seed Potatoes will accept our thank?, 

 and is requested to continue his favors. 



The articles on " Preparing Flax," in the preceding 

 pages, merit much attention from all who feel an in- 

 terest in developing the natural resources of our coun- 

 try. ^\ e hope new lights will be elicited from actual 

 experiments, whose details and results we should be 

 happy to publish. 



ON S.iVING AND BIAKINC THE MOST OF MANURE. 



No soil will always ]'rove productive without ma- 

 nure. Though naturally fertile as the garden of Eden, 

 if it is always giving and never receiving, it will at 

 length become as barren as a desert. Manure then, in 

 farming, is all in all. It is that without which there 

 will soon be 



" Nothing in the house — nor in the barn neither." 



Particular spots, like Egypt, and other alluvial or 

 intervale lands, which Are annually overflowed, derive 

 manure from the bountiful hand of nature, and cannot 

 be exhausted by bad husbandry. Some soils likewise 

 are not easily exhausted, and are easily recruited, in 

 consequence of being so organized as to attract from 

 air and water the principles of fertility. 



But if the soil is naturally barreji it may be madr 

 ftrtile. If land in its natural state be good for nothing 

 but tc holdthe globe together (as some have quaintly 

 expressed it) it may be made abundantly fruitful by 

 being mixed with certain earths, compo.«t.*, dung, &c. 

 together with a judicious rotation of crops. " In the 

 Payes de ^V■aes, in Flanders, sand is cultivated to great 

 perfection. The soil of that district, which was origin- 

 ally a barren white sand, has been converted into a 

 most fertile loam."* This was effected by suitable ap- 

 plications of clay, niarle, vegetable and animal ma- 

 nure, deep ploughing, turning in green crops, &c. The 

 most barren pilch-pine or shrub-oak plains in New 

 England may be rendered fertile by similar processes. 

 And in many instances it is better thus to convert u 

 piece of poor land, which is favorably situated as re- 

 gards government, the state of society, the market, &c. 

 into an excellent farm, than to seek a farm in the wil- 

 derness, where there is neither government, society, 

 nor any of the comforts and enjoyments of civilized 

 life ; and which, with all these disadvantages, cannot 

 be rendered productive without a great deal of labor 

 and expense. 



The principal agent in converting a barren to a 

 fruitful soil must be manure ; either fossil manure, 



' Cede of Agricullurc. 



