NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



:i^ 



(such as the earths, salts aiul alkalies) or animal and 

 vigi'labh; manure, compostd of decayed and decayinof 

 animal and vcgpetable substances. Our observations, 

 at present, will be confined to the latter kind. 



A controversy has existed lor some years, relative to 

 the degree of fermentation which manure ought to tm- 

 dergo, before it is applied to tlie soil. Some agricul- 

 turists are advocates for long, frtslii or unfermented 

 manure, and others contend that it should never be 

 spread on the field till the fibrous texture of the vege- 

 table matter is entirely broken down, and it becomes 

 perfectly cold, and so soft that it may be easily cut by 

 a s})ade. 



Sir Humphrey Davy, whose authority, on subjects of 

 this kind, should not lightly be called in question, ob- 

 serves, " If the pure dung of cattle is to be used as 

 manure there seems no reason why it should be made 

 to ferment except in the soil ; or if suffered to ferment 

 it should be only in a very slight degree. The grass 

 in the neighborhood of recently voided dung is always 

 coarse and dark green ; some persons have attributed 

 this to a noxious quality in unfermented dung ; but it 

 seems to be rather the result of an excess of food fur- 

 nished to the plants. 



" During the violent fermentation, which- is neces- 

 sary for reducing farm-yard manure to the state in 

 which it is called short muck, not only a large quan- 

 tity of fluid, but likewise of gaseous matter is lost ; so 

 much so, that the dung is reduced one half or two 

 thirds in weight ; and tlic principal elastic matter dis- 

 engaged, in carbonic acid with some ammonia ; and 

 iTOth of these, if retained hy the moisture in the soil, 

 arc capable of becoming useful nourishment of plants. 



" It is usual to carry straw that can be employed for 

 uo other purpose to the dunghill to ferment and decom- 

 pose ; but it is worth an experiment whether it may 

 not be more economically applied, when chopped small 

 by a proper machine, and kept dry till it is ploughed 

 in for the use of a crop. In this case, though it would 

 decompose much more slowly, and produce less effect 

 at first, yet its influence would be more lasting. 



The Farmer's Magazine, a British periodical work of 

 celebrity, opposes this theory of Sir Humphrey Davy. 

 The conductor says that he " has known dung and 

 litter, which had been turned down fresh in the furrow 

 appear the next spring without any visibk' change. 

 Of course it must have lain dormant, without contri- 

 buting to the growth of the plants. Dry wheat straw 

 was regularly laid in the hollow of drills, and potatoes 

 planted above the straw. Both were then covered 

 with earth ; but very few of the potatoes ever came 

 above ground, and these only towards the end of au- 

 tumn. When the field was afterwards ploughed, the 

 straw seemed to have undergone no change ; nor did 

 it convey any sensible benefit to future crops. Had 

 the same straw been previously subjected to only a 

 moderate fermentation in the dung-yard, there can be 

 no doubt but its cflects would have been very difler- 

 ent." 



The Ho'n. Ricliard Peters, of Penn. is likewise op- 

 posed to the use of unfermented manures. He observes 

 in a letter to the Hon. Mr. Quincy, that "• straw muck 

 cannot be regularly spread. The auimal matter is not 

 mix'-d with the straw, but lies in masses per se [by it- 

 self.] This over ferments, and throws up your crops 

 in bunches or spots, over luxuriantly ; and it lays, 

 smuts, or mildews. The earth prevents fermentation 

 in" the straw ; and this dry rots, and becomes a ca/ju/ 

 mortuum, [dead useless mass.] I have experienced 

 this effect over and over again. I think reasonably 

 fermented dung goes further. All the straw and ad- 

 ditional matter is impregnated, and being decomposed, 

 sjlj-taJi with tlie animal ejections more equally, and to 



iufinitdy better advantage, assisting your crops in 

 more points, and operating efliciently on the whola."* 

 Mr. Robert Smith', President of the Maryland Agri- 

 cullur;il Society, appears to entertain a different opin- 

 ion on this subject. This gentleman in an -Address to 

 the Maryland Agricultural Society observes, " with 

 respect to stable dung I shall, for the present, content 

 myself by barely suggesting that my experience strong- 

 ly inclines me to the opinion that, Itowever long, it 

 ought to be ploughed into the ground, without any 

 pre\ ions stirring, and as soon as practicable alter it 

 shall have been taken from the farm yard."t 



* Sie Mass. A^ricuUural Repository, vol. ii; p. 3:i1. 

 f%ite Jlnurican Farmer, vo!. iv, p. 82. 



(to be CONTIi'LED.) 



The Essex Agricultural Exhibition will be at Topps- 

 field, the 2d of October. Over 600 dollars will be 

 awarded in premiums. Address by the Rev. Dr. Faton 

 of Boxford. Dinner tickets fixed at fjO cents. — Further 

 particulars respecting this Exliibition postponed fur 

 want of room to our next. 



The orchard of Mr. Stephen^Osborn, of Danvers, has 

 produced an apple this season, weighing iwV.e.'coj uiid 

 a half ounces ! 



More magnificent yet .' — '\\'e yesterday (says the Sa» 

 lem Gazette of Tuesday,) received an apple which 

 grew on a tree in Col. I'ickman's orchard, Sbuth fields, 

 under the care of that industrious and persevering hus- 

 bandman, Mr. Erastus A\ are, which weighed lieenti/ 

 ouncts, large. 



Mr. B. V. Clench, of New York, has raised a ciic^i.m- 

 her this year, measuring 23 inches in length,- l2 in cir- 

 cumference, and weighing 5 lbs. 12 oz. 



In a letter from James Whlton, Esq. of Lee, to the 

 Editor of the Berkshire Star, he says, " I have raised 

 the present st-ason, on one acre of land belonging to 

 my farm, ci'^)ity-fire bushels of oats." 



Munificent . — The honorable Stephen Van Rensselaer 

 has engaged Prof. A . Eaton, of Troy,"-to take a Geo- 

 logical and Agricultural Suivey of the Great Canal 

 rout from Albany to Buffalo, a distance of 300 miles. 

 The survey is to include the breadth often miles. 



A most horrid Ir.ansaction took place at the jail in this 

 city on Friday night, September 6, about 12 o'clock. 

 It appoftrs that Howard Trask, Francis Durgcn and 

 John Newman were all confined in one room. At 

 about midnight, Trafk got up and went to Newman's 

 bed, where he was asleep, and without giving hiin the 

 least. notice of his intention, with a sharp instrument of 

 some kind he cut open his stomach. Durgen who was 

 in aiK)ther part of the room aivoke, and coming to New- 

 man's assistance was met by Trask, who stabbed him 

 in the breast in several places, and he would probably 

 have iijiumanly butchered them both had not Iheir cries 

 brought the watchmen to their assistance. They are 

 both considered dangerously wounded. Trask is the 

 person who was concerned with Green at the State Pri 

 son riot in October last, and was acquitted on the 

 ground of insanity — Newman and Durgen are confined 

 for theft. Trask refused to answer any questions put to 

 him respecting the affair ; nor hath the instrument used 

 by him as yet been discovered. — Evening Gazette. , 



Sickness. — \\'ithin the last three weeks, nine persons 

 have died in Guildhall, Vt. and eleven in Northumber- 

 l.and, N. H. of Dysentery. The extraordinary mortality 

 is among children from six months to twelve years old. 

 And althougii the disease is called the dysentery, yet if 

 puts on a different appearance from the common and 

 ordinary disorder known by that name. The public 

 may expect hereafter a more particular account of the 

 progress. of this disease, and the treatment of it, by some 

 of the Physicians attending on it, 



Octavius Pickering, Esq. is appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor and Council, Reporter of the Decisions of the 

 Supreme Judicial Court of this Commonwealth, in the 

 place of Mr. Tjmg, who has resigned the o/Bce. 



YKLLOIV FEVER ^iT .HEW YORK. 

 On Sunday last 4, Monday 4, Tu< sday (i, Widnes- 

 day 11 cases. There has been about one hundred 

 deaths since the commencement of the fever. 



The Board of Health announced on Tuesday the 

 death by yellow fever of .Mr. George Gilbert \Sarren, 

 of New York, at one of the most frequented public 

 houses in town. He arriv-ed in town on the 23d ult. 

 and was taken ill on the 3d inst. and died on the morn- 

 ing of (he 9th. It is by no means remarkable that a 

 single individual, of the great nuinbir of persons who 

 have come to town directly from (he diseaseil district in 

 New York, should liave sickened here of the fever, nor 

 does it afford any ground for alarm to those who have 

 not been in that district. It is a very satisfactory proof 

 of the favorable change of the public opinions in rela- 

 tion to this disease, that this gentleman was suffered to 

 remain where he could have llie most comfortable ac- 

 rommodatioTis, and the best attendance, and that none 

 of the numerous lodgers in the very resp( rt'ible house 

 where he sickened, have in consequeace fled from their 

 quarters. — Daily jldeerliscr. . 



A second Lambert ,' — There is a gentleman living, iii 

 the town of Centerliarbour, in this State, Mr. Caleb 

 Towle, a wealthy and respectable farmer, whose height 

 is 5 feet 10 inches, girth 7 feet, and weight SI."! pounds. 

 He is obliged to use a second chair for the mort bulky 

 part of his frame. — Pcrt:moulh Journal. 



Dartmouth College. — On Thursday, the 22d ult. the 

 prize declamations took place at this Seminary. 'J he 

 prizes were awarded to George K. Pomroy, of Boston^ 

 Michael Lovell, George Boardman, and John Cham- 

 berlain, members of the College. 



At 11 o'clock, the exercises of the Phi Beta Kappa 

 commenced ; when an elegant and classical oration was 

 delivered by Professor Oliver, late of Sakm. It is said 

 to have been WTitten in a style of neat simplicity and 

 perspicuity seldom- surpassed. — The Society elected 

 the Hon. Daniel Webster, of Boston, for their President- 

 during the ensuing year. — ibid. 



AGRICULTURAL NOTICE. 



THE Trustees of the Plymouth County Agricultural 

 Society, having agreed to ofler in premiums, the 

 sum granted by the government, for that purpose, and 

 also the income of the funds belonging to said society, . 

 do hereby give notice, that there will be a Catti.k 

 Show, and- Exhibition of Manufactcrks, i;c. &c. 

 at South Bridgewater, on TUESDAY, the Eighth day 

 of October next, at 9 o'clock, A. M. — and that an Ad- 

 dress is expected on the occasion, by Hector Orr, Esq. 

 Candidates for premiums are requested to communi- 

 cate their intentions to Bartholomew Brown, or Daniel 

 Mitchell, Esq'rs. previous to the first day of said Oct'r. 

 DANIEL HOWARD, President. 

 West Eiidgewater, Sept. 1022. 



SPEED THE PLOUGH. 



ri^HE subscriber (late President of the Berkshire 



I Agricultural Society) convinced of the importance 

 of disseminating improred Agricultural Implements, and 

 (hat it can only be effected in an efficient manner, thro' 

 (he medium of persons who are practically conversant 

 Hi(h, and able to judge of their true merits from expe- 

 rience, proposes to open a REPOSITORY for the sale, 

 on commission.^ oi 3.\\ kmds of Agricultural Implements 

 ami Machinery. — Like'.cise, for Prime Seeds, and ap- 

 proved Agricultural Books. 



It being the object of the subscriber to bring into nse 

 such articles only as possess real merit, it is proper to 

 renjark, that he will offer none for sale but such as he 

 may be really acquainted with, or which he shall have 

 previously tested by experience. 



Letters, post paid, will be duly attended to, and all 

 favors gratefully acknowledged. 



THOMAS MELVILL, Jr. 



Pittsfield, (Berkshire Co.) Sept. 10, 1822. 



SUBSCRIBERS to the New E ■ .-.la.nd Far.mf.r who 

 wish to be considered as paying in advance for the 

 first Vol. must forward us $2,50 on or before the first 

 day of October next. All who neglect paying at that 

 time will be charged $3. We give this seasonable no- 

 tice that none may complain, as this rule will be strict- 

 ly adhered to. ff^ New subscribers can be furnished 

 with complete files from the commencement, Sept. 1, 



