NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



87 



inly use of intermixing the soil with the dung is to im- 

 libe the gaseous elements of vegtable life, and hindrr 

 heir dissipation. If there be mncl\ soil, these elements 

 fill be dilfused through it with less density and com- 

 iression ; if little, it will be more iibun<l;inlly saturated, 

 nd enriched with the nutritive vapois. '1 he only er- 

 or, into which the farmer can run, is to supply such 

 ,n inconsiderable quantity as will he incapable ot im- 

 •ibing the elastic and volatile particles, and thus by his 

 wn mismanagement, occasion a waste of the vegetable 

 liment. One cart load of soil to two of stable dung is 

 he least proportion which he should ever attempt to 

 ombine, and p rhaps if the two were mixed equally, 

 ,e wouWhe compensated for the additional labour and 

 xpense." 



" Simple earth, although excellent for bottoming 

 nd jtrewing over the pit dug near the barn, is of all 

 laterials the most unprofitable in compost dunghills. 

 I matted sward thickly entangled with roots, or mud 

 ragged from thf bottom of bogs or ditches, and replete 

 .-ith aquatic plants, are clearly preferable on this ac- 

 ount, that, besides bringing earth to the composition, 

 hey supply a large proportion of \ egetable matter. 

 Vlieuever the soil must be carted to the heap, it is 

 etter to lay out the expense in transporting these en- 

 iching materials ; because they will not only equally 

 bsorb and retain the evaporating gases, but greatly 

 ugment the quantum of manure."* 



The path proper for a farmer to pursue in order to 

 lake the most of his manure and preserve his own 

 ealth and that of his family is plain and straight as a 

 irupike. Whenever putrid fermentation is going on, 



any part of his premises, and consuming his stib- 

 ancc by a slow but wasteful combustion, let him ap- 

 ly earth, peat, or some earthy substance, in quantities 

 ifficient to attract, imbibe and retain all the effluvia, 

 ealth, profit and cleanliness equally require sueh 

 roceeding. We shall say a word or two upon the 

 tter topic. If a man were to swallow daily, a quan- 

 ly of filthy matter, or to eat his food impregnated 

 ith steams from a manure heap, or from some other 

 jtrefying and offensive substance, when he might, 

 ith a little exertion, avoid such nauseous viands, and 

 ibstitute something nourishing, palatable, pure and 

 holesome, we should be apt to set him down for a 

 rt of Hottentot. But, a man may almost as well take 

 th into his stomachy as JUthy ej^uvia i7ito his lungs — 

 ! may about as well diue with a crow or a buzzard, 



sup with a toad " on the vapor of a dung-hill." 



* Ltlters of Agricola. 



(to be continced.) 



(K?"^^« have received an official account of the Essex 

 attle Show, which did not come to hand till after the 

 tide on that subject, which we have extracted from 

 e Salem Gazette, was in type. We hope what we 

 ive printed will be a satisfactory substitute for the 

 ore detailed account. 



Meteorological Journal. — Our attentive Waltham 

 »rrespondent has sent us his Journal for September, 

 hich we shall insert on Saturday. Our correspondent 

 Jtices, as remarkable, " that the 29th of the month 

 as the warmest morning, at sun rise, that has been 

 iperienced for two years ; and also, that the mornings 

 'the 2Gth, 29th, and 30th, were warmer than any three 

 tccessive ones for the same period." He adds, " ex- 

 pt a few days, the month has been uncommonly warm, 

 easant, and dry ; and never was known a more fa- 

 )rable time for ripening and securing the various pro- 

 ictions of the earth. Ileckoning from the commence- 

 ent of the warm weather, which was the first day of 

 ay, we have passed a long and delightful Summer, 

 id been richly blessed in our basket and in our store." 

 Wtdnesday''5 Centinel. 



Among the interesting objects exhibited at Brighton 

 I Wednesday, we noticed three sons (by one birth) of 

 rs. Willis, wife of Joseph Willis, of West Sudbury, in 

 is state, a soldier of the revolution. Their names are 

 eorge Washington, John Hancock, and Samuel Ad- 

 as. They are now 23 months old and weigh 7] lbs. 

 I»c mother is 48 and her husband 57 years old.— Pa/. 



THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



PUBLISHED BY THOMAS W. SHEPARD, ROGERS' BUILDING, CONGRESS STREET, BOSTON. 



Several numbers of a Newspaper, witli tlie above title, have been published 

 in Boston, and have met the approbation of intelligent Agriculan-ists, and an 

 enlightened public. The following remarks relative to this {)ublication, are 

 the result of the unbiassed and disinterested deliberations of highly respectable 

 and very competent judges, whose names, and the observations to which their 

 signatures are attached, must render farther recommendations superfluous. 



^'^EW ENGLAKD FAPMER.— Published by Thomas W. Shepard. 

 The opinion of the subscribers having been requested in favor of this publication, with the avowed and 

 very proper wish, on the part of the publisher, tliat it might tend to the increased circulation of his Journal, 

 (the first, avowedly devoted to the interests of agriculture in New England.) we cheerfully afford our testi- 

 mony, .IS far as it may be of any value tn him. Though the American public, when compaied with that of 

 other nations, may be considered a thinking and reading one, yet from various causes, which it cannot be 

 necessary to state, much the greater part of its reading is conlhied to, and its information obtained through 

 daily, weekly and other periodical journals. In a country, in which the Elective power as to almost all offi- 

 ces, is enjoyed and exercised by the great mass of the people, it is natural, that politics, including the national, 



state, county and town interests and concerns, should occupy much the largest share of our public journals 



next to these, commerce and manufactures must of necessity hold a high rank. These require so much more 

 constant and more accurate information — so much in those branches depends on political, conunercial and ag- 

 ricultural events abroad — so much on the state of foreign markets, on losses and disasters at sea, that it is not 

 surprising that nineteen twentieths of all our newspapers are occupied either with politics or commercial news. 

 So much is this the case, that it was doubted for a long time whether an Agricultural Newspaper could be 

 supported — but the success of the American Farmer, printed at Baltimore, by John S. Skinner, Esq. and the 

 Plough Boy, at Albany, by Solomon Southwick, Esq. has proved that there is a sufficient degree of zeal and 

 intelligence and desire of knowledge among the cultivators of the soil to sustain a few purely agricultural pa- 

 pers. If one is to be added to the two, which now exist, among the several thousand Newspapers now print- 

 ed in the United States, it would seem that New England is its natural and most proper situation, and Boston 

 as conveniently placed for its publication and correspondence as any place in New England. We hope we 

 have as many thinking and reading fanners in the Six New England States, not only as any other portion of 

 this country, but as an)' equal portion of tlie cultivated world can afford or furnish. 



It seems to be absurd, that farmers should subscribe for papers devoted exclusively to questions in which 

 they have only a remote interest, and should decline giving their aid to one entirely devoted to their instruc- 

 tion, amiistment, and to the record of their improvements, doubts, queries, discoveries and speculations. The 

 paper now commenced has every thing to recommend it as far as we have had an opportunity to judge. Mr. 

 Shepard is well known as an editor of a valuable paper at Northampton. That he has all the professional 

 skill, and the requisite liberality in the execution of his work, is manifest by the numbers already published. 

 They are neatly executed on good paper and with a fine type, with great care and accuracy, far above, iu 

 these respects, (we may say, wili.out offence, we hope,) any other like publication. His present assistant, 

 TaoMAS G. FF.ssEiVDEiy, Ewj. is a man of reading and talents, and has paid great, and for our country, al- 

 most unexampled attention to agricultural subjects. His mind is philosophical, and his attention is undis- 

 tracted by other pursuits. His life has been principally devoted to such subjects. The numbers as yet issued 

 are respectable, as much so as could be expected, before the public at large had taken an interest in the 

 work. We hope that it will succeed, but that must wholly depend on the aid which the intelligent Divines, 

 Lawyers, Physicians, and practical Farmers in the country will afford it. That aid must consist not only in 

 taking it and paying their subscriptions — that to be sure, is its necessary food, without which it must starve — 

 but in favoring it by communicating their thoughts, experiments, objections to existing jnactices, or to new 

 projected improvements. It should be remembered, that this is a mere Newspaper, and therefore, that a man 

 who would not write a book in his own name, or an article for the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository, 

 need have no scruple in writing for this. 



AARON DEXTER, President of Massachusetts Agricultural Socielir. 



S. W. POMEROY, \st Vice President. 



THOMAS L. WINTHROP, 2d Vice President. 



JOHN LOWELL, Corresponding Secretary. 



RICHARD SULLIVAN, Recording Secretary. 



BENJAMIN GUILD, Jlssistanl Recording Secretary. 



JOHN PRINCE, Treasurer. 



J. WELLES, S. G. PERKINS, ) 



P. C. BROOKS, JOSIAH QUINCY, \ Trustees. 



E. HERSEY DERBY, GORHAM PARSONS, ) 



The New England Farmer is published weekly, on Saturdays. Each No. contains 8 quarto 

 pages, printed on a sheet of" good quality, with an entire new type. The price is ^2,50 per 

 annum, in advance, or ^3,00 at the close of the year. 



Each volume will comjjrise 52 numbers, and the present volume commenced the first Saturdaj- 

 in August. A title-page, and a correct and copious index will be given at the end of each year. 



Persons who will procure seven subscribers and become responsible for the payment, will be 

 entitled to a copy gratis, and in the same proportion for a larger number. 



Congress-street, Boston, Oct. 1822. 



(fi/'Editors of papers with whom we exchange, bi/ giving the above an insertion, luill confer a, 

 favor which xvc shall be happy to reciprocate when an opportunity offers. 



