NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



l.iS 



Urely. and so far as they were rich, abundantly. 

 The inhabitants of North-Hampton for many 

 rears paid their public tax in wheat; and this 

 vheat grew on the very lands, where for a long 

 »eriod it has been supposed to be so uncertain 

 m object of culture, as to be scarcely worth the 

 ittempt, i. e. on Intervale?. 



2. New lands yield wheat perfectly well in 

 nost parts of this country at the present time, 

 jonie farmers believe, that there is such a 

 change wrought by time, either in the climate 

 )r in the soil, independently of the proper ef- 

 ccts of culture, that the blast is to be attributed 

 o this change. Although this is a mere suppo- 

 .ition, supported by no evidence, it has still had 

 ts weight. But it is entirely refuted by the 

 act, mentioned under this head. Lands in the 

 .amo circumstances yield wheat as abundantly 

 it the present time, as at any former period. 

 It deserves to be remembered, that all the In- 

 ervalcs along the Connecticut have furnished 

 iome crops of this grain for a considerable time 

 ifter they lirst began to be cultivated. 



3. Lands dressed with ashes, now furnish fine 

 ;rops of wheat, which is rarely or never blast- 

 id. The only reason why the crops on new 

 ands are so .safe from the blast, is, that they 

 ire covered with vegetable mould ; another 

 lame for vegetable manure ; and so long as the 

 jfficacyofthis manure lasts, are dressed with 

 10 other. It is the universal tendency of this 

 ■nould to produce great crops ; but it produces 

 hem byn gradual and moderate vegetation. — 

 ishes, which are the same manure in another 

 brm, produce the same elTect in exactlj' the 

 same manner. Accordingly, although the crop 

 )f wheat, yielded by grounds dressed (vith ashes, 

 .? abundant ; yet the stalk is lirm, and strong ; 

 nuch stronger but much shorter than that pro- 

 luced by animal manure, and equally safe from 

 odging, and blasting, as that which grows on 

 ■ egetable mould. 



It ought to be observed, that in grounds, 

 ivhere the vegetable mould is very deep and 

 iliundant, wheat grows so rapidly as to be uni- 

 versally blasted. That this effect is solely deri- 

 ved from the redundance of this manure is cer- 

 tain, because the same lands after the cultivation 

 of a few years, yield wheat perfectly well. 



4. In various instances, which have fallen 

 within my knowledge, wheat, sown after clover, 

 has been perfectly free from any injury by the 

 blast ; and that on Intervales, and other lands 

 most liable to this injury. Here vegetable ma- 

 nure has been employed in another form ; yet 

 the same efl'ect has been produced. 



5. Lands, dressed with gypsum, have been 

 equally favorable to wheat. This good elTect 

 has, however, been commonly produced through 

 the medium of clover ; the gypsum having been 

 first employed for the production ol this ])lant, 

 and the wheat having been sown after the clo- 

 ver had been ploughed in. 



6. Fields, manured with the white fish, have 

 yielded wheat, universally, in great abundance, 

 and with almost absolute certamty. This is in- 

 deed animal manure also ; but very difierent 

 from that, which I have introduced by this 

 phrase above ; viz. that of the stable and barn- 

 yard. The white tish is a species of herring, 

 very fat and oily, and remarkably favorable to 

 vegetation of every kind, which is the object 

 either of agriculture, of horticulture. 1 have 

 mentioned this fact, to show, that the evil com- 



plained of, has its origin neither in the soil, nor 

 in the climate ; but in the particular mode of 

 cultivation, which 1 have mentioned as its pro- 

 per cause. 



7. The lands in rennsylvania, which yield 

 plentit'ul crops of wheat, are regularly dressed 

 with lime, or gypsum; and neither here nor in 

 those old settlements in the State of New-Vork 

 where this grain is least exposed to the blast, 

 are cattle very numerous. Of course the kiiul 

 "f manure, which I su|)pose to be noxious to 

 this plant, cannot abound in these countries. I 

 im informed also, that, when this manure is 

 used, it is generally mixed with other substan- 

 ces in a compost ; and converted, either parllj', 

 or wholly', into mould, before it is employed as 

 a dressing. It ought also to be observed, that a 

 great (lart of the wheat lands in these countries 

 are clay ; and that the process of vegetation mav 

 be therefore materially different from that, j 

 which exists in Neiv-Eugland, where the soil is 

 |irinci]>ally loam with a mixture of gravel. It 

 is however said, that in Pennsylvania their crops 

 tail, when they are unable to dress the lands in 

 lime, or gypsum.* It is also said that the lands 

 along the Mohawk River, which have hereto- 

 fore yielded wheat with great certainty, as well 

 as luxuriance, are gradually becoming less and 

 less fitted for this kind of culture. 



1 have been informed that at Newbury they 

 have lately adopted a new kind of husbandry, 

 liy means of which the crops of wheat are no 

 less sure, and prosperous, than they were for- 

 merly. What this mode is, I have not, howev- 

 er, been able to learn. 



In my own belief, animal manure produces 

 this noxious effect long alter it has ceased to 

 enrich the soil. Although its influence has in 

 this case become small ; yet, so far as it ex- 

 tends, it is mischievous ; anil may, at the dan- 

 gerous period above mentioned, accelerate a 

 growth, at least sufficiently rapid otherwise, so 

 as to produce the evil in question. Thus I con- 

 sider grounds, long devoted to pasturage, as 

 being injurious to the culture of wheat as really, 

 though in a less degree, as those which are ma- 

 nured from the stable in form. 



It ought, however, to be observed, that since 

 the Hessian fly has rendered it impossible to 

 cultivate what is here called white bald wheal, 

 we have lost the species best fitted for the soil 

 and climate of New England, as well as that 

 which furnishes the best bread. All the sub- 

 stitutes for this wheat have yielded inferior 

 crops ; have been more exposed to the blast ; 

 have been more injured by the frost ; have 

 weighed less ; and been of an inferior quality. 



Should these observations be allowed to me- 

 rit the attentioil of farmers in this country, it 

 would certainly be worth an experiment to sec 

 how far the use of vegetable and mineral ma- 

 nures, would remedy this verj' serious evil. — 

 Were lands, inleiided lor the culture of wheat, 

 to be employed tor this purpose during a con- 



siderable period ; were clover or other vegeta- 

 ble substances, or, where they can be obtained, 

 mineral manures, to be alone employed as the 

 means of enriching the soil, I am persuaded my 

 countrymen would again see their crops of this 

 grain not less sure, less abundant, nor less gen- 

 er.il, than they were in former tinies." 



From llie Kariners' Weekly Messenger. 

 SIGJfS OF A GOOD F.IRMER. 

 His corn land is ploughed in the fall — His 

 bull is from two to five years old and he works 

 him. He seldom lets his work drive him. Has 

 a cooking stove with plenty of pipe to it. The 

 wood lots he possesses are fenced. His sled is 

 housed in summer, and his cart, ploughs and 

 wheelbarrow, winter and summer when not in 

 use ; has as many yoke of good oxen as he has 

 horses — Does not feed his hogs with whole 

 grain — Lights may be seen in his house often 

 before break of day in winter — His hog-pen is 

 boarded inside and out — Has plenty of weeds 

 and mud in his yard in the fall — All his manure, 

 is carried out from his buildings and barn yard 

 twice in the year, and chip dung once a ^ear — 

 His cattle are almost all tied up in the winter — 

 He begins to find out that manure put on land 

 in a green state is the most prolitable — Raises 

 three times as many turnips and potatoes for his 

 stock as he does for his family — Has a good lad- 

 der raised against the roof of his house — Has 

 more lamps in his house than candlesticks — Has 

 a house on purpose to keep his ashes in and an 

 iron or tin vessel to take them up — He has a 

 large barn and a small house — seldom has more 

 pigs than cows — adjoining his hog-pen he has a 

 hole to put weeds and sods, and makes three 

 loads of best manure from every old hog and 

 two from every pig. A good farmer in this 

 country begins to find out that steaming vegeta- 

 bles can be done at one third the expense of 

 boiling, and that the Ruta Baga turnip is a thing 

 worth thinking of — he fences before he ploughs 

 and manures bei'ore he sows — He deals more 

 for cash than on credit. 



* This remark, and iudced tlie whole tenor of the 

 article has a tendency to confirm what we have ob- 

 served iu No. 12, pp. 91, 92, of the N. E. Fanner, rel- 

 ative to the necessity of lime, in some of its combina- 

 tions, to insure the production of wheat. Pish makes 

 a useful manure for wlieat, because it contains, togeth- 

 er with other food for plants, phosphate of lime, in 

 greater ijuactities than most animal substances. 



Ed. .V, £;. Farmer. 



HABITS OF CATTLE WITH RESPECT TO 

 FOOD. 

 It has been observed by some American wri- 

 ter upon Agriculture, that American Cattle were 

 not so fond of turnips, ruta baga, and some oth- 

 er plants not generally cultivated for feeding 

 stock in this country, as it should seem that 

 English cattle were. This apparent squeam- 

 ishness of our native breed of cattle may be ac- 

 counted for by any one who will make a proper 

 application of the following passage from An- 

 derson^s Essays on Agriculture, vol. ii, p. 6. 



" .\lthough it may be presumed, that in gen- 

 eral, instinct points out to animals the plants 

 that are hurtful to them or the reverse ; yet 

 experience sufficiently shows that this cannot 

 be relied on as an invariable guide — among do- 

 mestic animals at least ; which, by having little 

 freedom of choice from their infancy, have 

 their taste in all probability depraved, as well 

 as our own. I have seen oxen that on no ac- 

 count could be brought to cat turnips ; and 

 there are very few put upon them, who do not 

 eat them at first with some degree of reluc- 

 tance, if they have not been sometimes accus- 

 tomed to taste them before ; yet it is very well 

 known, that lew kinds of food are more nour- 



