3&2 



NEW ENGLAND FAIUJEA. 



held for a day or two, when she will adopt it. 

 This is a common practice in Spain, where 

 even half the himhs are killed, and tuo ewes 

 given to each hinib. One of my neighbors tried '• 

 it last spring;, upon rny reconimendalion, with 

 success."* 



Omons. — " .\ spot of ground should be cbo.'en i 

 for onions, which is moist and sandy ; because 

 they require much heat, and a considerable de- j 

 gree of moisture. A low situation, where the \ 

 sand has been washed down from a neisrhbor- [ 

 5ng hill, is very proper tor them, .^iid if it be 

 the wash of a sandy road so much the belter. 

 The most suitable manures are old roiten cow 

 and horse dung mixed, ashes, but especially 

 Soot. A small r|iiantity of aslie.s or sand, or both, 

 should be spread over llicm after sowing;, es- 

 pecially if the soil be not sandv. And it is not 

 amiss to roll the ground alter sowing; or har- 

 den the surface with the back of a shovel. 



" I have many jears cullivaled Ihom on the 

 same spot ; and have never found the land at 

 all impoverished by them ; but on the contrary, 

 my crops are belter now than formerly. But 

 the maiuning is yearly repeated ; and must not 

 be laid tar below the surface. 



" The ground should be dug or ploughed in 

 autumn, not very deep ; and then made very 

 tine in the spring, and all the grass roots, and 

 of weeds taken out, then laid in beds lour feet 

 wide. Four rows of holes are made in a bed, 

 the rows ten inches apart, and the holes in the 

 rows ten. About half a dozen seeds are put in 

 a hole, or more if there be any danger of their 

 not coming up well, and buried an inch under 

 the surface. Though the largest onions are 

 those that grow singly, some inches apart, those 

 that are more crowded produce large crops. 

 And the middle sized onions are better for eat- 

 ing than the largest. "t 



" The same writer expresses an opinion that 

 the drill method of sowing onions, may be 

 preferable ; and we believe it is generally pre- 

 ferred. 



Mr. Cobbett says, '• Let the ground be rich, 

 but not from /re,?/i dung. Make the ground very 

 fine ; make the rows a foot apart, and scatter 

 ihinli) along a drill two inches deep. Then till 

 in the drills ; and then press the earlh down 

 upon the seed by treading the ground all over. 

 Then give the ground a very slight smoothing 

 over with a rake. 



" For seed, pick out the Jinest onions, and 

 plant them out in rich land in the spring. To 

 grow this seed upon a large scale, plough the 

 land into four feet ridges, lay plenty of dung 

 along the furrows, plough the ground back 

 over the dung, flatten the top of tlie ridge a 

 little, and put along, on the top of the ridge, 

 two rows of onions, the rows seven inches apart, 

 and the onions seven inches apart in the rows. ''I 



CucLMBCR. — To give particular and minute 

 directions for cultivating cucumbers would seem 

 r;Uher a work of supererogation. We shall, 

 therefore, content ourselves with the foUowhig 

 quotation \vhich may induce the inexperienced 

 gardener to avoid u proceeding, which is much 

 more common than proper. 



" I have one observation to make upon the 

 <ullivation of cucumbers, melons of all sorts, 

 and that of all the pumpkin and squash tribe ; 



*• l.iviiig.sloa'3 Essay on Sheep. 

 ■ 1 n.an's N. E. Farmer; Wells & Lilly's edition. 



(f .\mtricaii Gardener, par. 23C. 



and that is, that it is a great error to sow them 

 too thick. One plant in a hill is enough • and I 

 would put tzi-o into a pot, merely as a bar against 

 accidents. One will bring more weight of fruit 

 than two (if standing near each other,) two 

 more than three, and so on, till you cnme to 

 fifty in a square foot ; and then yoU will have 

 no Unit at all ! Let any one make the experi- 

 ment, and he will find this observation niathe- 

 matically true. When cucumbers are lel't eight 

 or ten plants in a hill, they never sh<bt strongly. 

 Their vines are poor and weak. The leaves 

 become yellow ; and, if they bear at all. it is 

 poor tasteless fruit that they produce. Their 

 bearing is over in a few weeks. Whereas, a 

 single plant, in the same space will send its Hne 

 green vines all around it to a great distance, 

 aod, if no fruit be left to ripen, will keep bear- 

 ing till the while frosts come in the fall. — The 

 roots of a cucumber will go ten feet, in tine 

 earth, in every direction. Judge, then, how 

 ten plants, standing close to one another, must 

 produce mutual starvation." 



COL. JAQUES' CATTLK. 

 On the 14th inst. some fine imported Cattle, ^eIon3;- 

 ing to Col. Jaques, of Charlestown, were exhibited in 

 State-street, and it was allowed by all competent judg- 

 es that they were the l)est bred foreigners that ever ap- 

 peared among us. They were — the English bull Coe- 

 lebs, and cow Flora, together with a very promising 

 family, owned and bred by Col. Jaques, consisting of 

 the Daisy, C 1-2 years old ; the Eclipse, 21 mouths; 

 the Countess, 10 months ; and Jupiter, 7 months. — 

 Coclebs and Flora were purchased by Cornelius Cool- 

 idge, Esq. in England, and imported to Boston in 1818. 

 Eclipse had been purchased previous to this exhibition 

 for the Agricultural Society of Montreal, and the above 

 mentioned was his last appearance in this part of the 

 country. At 12 months of age this bull weighed 1060, 

 at 15 months and 7 days, at Brighton Cattle Show, 

 1243, and at 21 months and 11 days 1502 pounds. At 

 eath time of weighing he was only in what is called 

 common store keep. He has, however, never been 

 particularly valued for his weight, but for his perfect 

 symmetry, and being purely descended from the best 

 stock in Great Britain. The Society of Montreal pur- 

 chased him for $500. He had previously won a pre- 

 mium of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society of $40, 

 and been admitted to a cow for |10, making, in the 

 whole, $550, received for a bull about 21 months old 1 

 We are informed that Mr. Youl, an Englishman, the 

 agent of the Montreal Agricultural Society in this trans- 

 action, and who was /)ro/tijion«//^ acquainted with th< 

 best English breeds of cattle, spoke in high terms of 

 Col. Jaques' stoc'<c, as scarcely to be excelled in Great 

 Britain. We intend, hereafter, to take further notice 

 of this breed of cattle, and to point out some of the 

 advantages which may be expected to accrue from 

 their introduction into the United States. 



Pope'i Thrashing Machine. — We have published in 

 No. IJ, p. 99, of our paper, the opinion of the Com- 

 mittee of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society in fa- 

 vor of .Mr. I'ope's invention. Likewise in No. 35, p. 

 276, the report of a Committee of the Pennsylvania 

 Agricultural Society, recommending the same imple- 

 ment. The last No. of the American Farmer contains 

 a cut of the machine, with recommendations of a num- 

 ber of eminent agriculturists in Massachusetts and Penn- 

 sylvania. From these it appears, that wi^h hand power 

 it is capable of thrashing five dozen sheaves of wheat in 

 aa hour, and that the same machine, with the applica- 



il 



lion of horse power, thrashes ten dozen an hour. Th 

 it thrashes much cleaner, and more expeditiously ths #s^ 

 is usually done by the fiail ot by horse?. The hai j^ 

 machine can be constructed at little expense : the m: 

 teriaU cost $13, and it can be made by a good worl 

 man in twelve days. Col. Powell, of Philadelphii 

 says, '■ It was exhibited to our Society — tried by tht 

 committee, and has been in operation before several i 

 our directors and many other farmers (not DilletantHp" 

 nor " book farmer?,") who are not less satisfied th; i* 

 myself, that since it baa been adapted to the power 

 one horse, it is, by its simplicity and cheapness, strengt l»' 

 and force, better suited to our purposes than any thrad 

 iug machine which we have seen. It costs $50, occi 

 pie? :! 't more room than a fan, thrashes 120 sheaves 

 au hour, and can be carried in a cart or taken to pieceBfccti' 



at will." 



Flar Machine. — A machine for dressing flax has bee 

 invented by Mr. Goodrell, of New York, and is noT & 

 owned by Samuel Swartout, Esq. of Hoboken. A NaT 

 York paper says that one man, with this machine, cai 

 prepare or clean more flax in one day than fifteen per 

 sons With the hackle ; and the flax, thus dressed, i 

 worth, and will command three cents more a pound ii 

 the market by the qusutity. 



Uncommon, but useful objects of Premiums. 

 In the list of premiums oflered by the Executivt 

 Committee of the Hampshire, Franklin and Hampdet 

 Agricultural Society, we perceive the following, anc 

 are gratified to find the attention of New England far- 

 mer? directed to subjects o.'' this nature. 

 For th<' barn to be hereafter built, which shall be 

 best calculated for the usual purposes of a barn, 

 and especially for making manure by saving the 

 urine of beasts, $100 



P'or the second best do. do. 75 



For the third best do. do. 50 



For the best nursery of white oak, or white ash 

 plants, raised from the seed, not less than three 

 years old at the time the premium is adjudged, 

 and occupying not less than au acre of laud 100 



For the second best do. do. 75 



For the third best do. do. 50 



In order to give every fanner an opportunity to con- 

 tend for the ploughing prizes, the Executive Committee 

 have thoagbt fit to adopt the following arrangement: 

 Four oxen and fifty minutes time shall be allowed for 

 a quarter of an acre, reference to be had to the quality 

 of the ploughing, only, if performed within the time. 



Growth of Wood. — It has been ascertained (says an 

 English paper,) that Wood increases in the following 

 proportion: — 1st year as 1 — 2d as 4— 3d as 9 — 4th as 

 15— 5th as 22— 6th as 30— 7th as 40— 8th as 54— Sth 

 as 70 — 10th as 92. From tliis it is concluded, that 

 wood ought never to be cut till in the 10th year of its 

 growth. 



It is stated in a Liverpool Gazette,, that any person 

 who may swallow a pin, or the bone of a fish, will find 

 almost instant relief by taking four grains of tartar 

 emetic dissolved in warm water, and immediately after 

 the whites of six eggs. The coagulated mass will not 

 remain on the stomach more than two or three minutes, | 

 and in its ascent, it is said, will bring up the otfending ! 

 substance. 



MEDICAL. 



The use of Croton Oil, a powerful purgative, has 

 been introduced in Indii. It is obtained from the seeds 

 of the Croton Tiglium or Grana iVIoluca. One drop is 

 (he usual dose for a grown person, which, according to 

 circumstances, is increased to two or three. It operates 

 in from half an hour to three hours. It is sometimes 

 taken in pills. One drop is equal to a drachm of jalap, 

 or six grains of calomel, and an ounce of Epsom salts. 

 It is sometime;5 called NarvaUuja Cotta. 



