NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



347 



barrels and i!81 half barrels cf t'.o-.jr ; and in 

 1819 the further amonnt of 50,716 bbls. 2043 

 half bbls. and 3oO bag;?, with bread, wheat, In- 

 dian corn and meal in proportion. 



These statements should suffice to banish all 

 despondence about our future prospects, and to 

 inspire an unhesitating confidence in the capa- 

 bilities of a country, which has repaid our el- 

 forts with so much liberality. They should 

 also have a due eti'ect on the guardians of the 

 public expenditure, — inasmuch as undoubted 

 proofs are furnished that the former grants 

 have neither been unprofitable nor misapplied, 

 and that every shilling taken from the treasury 

 has been a mean of lessening our imports, and 

 of thus saving our circulating medium ; to say 

 nothing of the great addition made to the pro- 

 vincial wealth. To sum up the whole, 1 ara 

 inclined to believe, that in the history of do- 

 mestic improvement, no parallel can be found 

 to the prodigious advances we have made in 

 the short space of tour years ; and that if the 

 mechanism now in motion, by which this pro- 

 vince is ascending so fast to independence in 

 corn, be neither broken down nor materially' 

 clogged in its operations, we shall soon rise 

 superior to all our difficulties. 



JOHN YOUNG, Secretary. 



Halifax; March 12r/i, 1823. 



of notice you will give it publicity, and not oth- 

 erwise. 



My neighbor states that his brother, in an 

 adjoining county, sowed a field of wheat the 

 last season, which came up well and grew rap- 

 idly for a short time, when he discovered that 

 the fly Had laid claim to the whole field by de- 

 positing its eggs in the first joint of every stalk. 

 Immediately on this he turned his sheep into 

 the field, who soon cropped the whole to the 

 ground, and after they were removed the wheat 

 again grew rapidly, and from this field ho har- 

 vested a remarkable fine crop of good wheat. 



I leave this simple fact to the consideration 

 of yourself and your subscribers. 



Yours, respectfully, B. 



Buckjicld, Maine, May 20, 1823. " 



FOR THE NEW E.\GI.AND FARMER. 



CATTLE SHEDS. 



J. H. Farm, West .\eu-bury, May 27. 

 Mr. Editor, 



I wish through your valuable paper to re 

 quest a description of the best possible way of 

 making a Cow House — as to the width ; depth 

 of the trench ; space between each cow ; whe 

 ther to have partitions or not ; how to fastei 

 thera ; whether a rack is necessary or not ; atd 

 every thing that is convenient or useful. 1 

 have for sometime calculated on making an jJ- 

 teratioo, and have taken pains to ascertain the 

 best way, and thought I had a perfect plan ; 

 but unfortunately for my plan, I saw one pos- 

 sessing more conveniences the other day, which 

 induced me to think if I made the inquiry thro' 

 your paper, some of your many respectable 

 patrons would be willing to give a description 

 of those on their farms ; or if theirs were in 

 any way defective, to alter their descriptions 

 to their present views, which will much oblige 

 jouTf, &c. ' ARATOR. 



FOR THE NEW EHGUAJID FARMER. 



REMEDY AGAINST THE HESSIAN FLY. 

 Mr. Editor, 



Sir — Wheat is so important an article of fool 

 that every farmer should make all possible im- 

 provement in its cultivation. It is like tie 

 other precious things of this world, the more 

 valuable, the more difficult to obtain. Many of 

 our farmers in this quarter begin (o despair oF 

 success in this crop for the present, in conse- 

 quence of the ravages of the Hessian Fly the 

 last season, which, they say will have its course 

 and destroy our Wheat for several years, alter 

 which we may again venture to sow it. A 

 neighbor of mine has lately informed nie of a 

 remedy, or rather a preventive to the eftects 

 of this destroyer, which to me is new, and miy 

 be so to others, and I therefore hasten to com- 

 Bunicate it to you, knowing that if it be worthy 



From the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository. 



I do not expect to impart any thing new to 

 the intelligent farmers of our country, hut still 

 as the crop of hay must ever be an important 

 subject to the cultivator; and as the success of 

 the following experiment was very gratifying, 

 I am induced to submit it for publication. If it 

 induces others to drain their low lands, and 

 make them more productive, 1 shall reap much 

 satisfaction therefrom. 



I have on my farm a flat piece of low land, 

 of about twenty acres. This has been tome, 

 and to my predecessors of more than half a 

 cenlUT}', of less value than has been expended 

 in mowing the alder and other bushes, which 

 had overrun the ground. The difficulty of drain- 

 ing, for want of a sufficient descent, had dis- 

 couraged any thing being done to effect any 

 improvement. Although 1 had occasionally seen 

 some instances of low land thrown into beds, by 

 intersecting ditches, yet the universal practice 

 of this mode of taking off the water, and pro- 

 ducing forward vegetation on the banks of the 

 St. Lawrence, and its apparent good effect, in- 

 duced me to make the experiment. I accord- 

 ingly, in a dry time, in the fall of the year 1 81 4, 

 broke np about four acres of this land. The soil 

 was of a black meadow mould. The under stra- 

 tum sand and clay mixed, making a hard pan. 

 As the furrows turned over very smooth, ex- 

 cept in some places where it was strong, the 

 land was left till the next year, 1815. When 

 it became sufficiently dry, the sod was found 

 more rotted than was expected. About twelve 

 bucks of manure to the acre were carted on 

 and spread, and the harrow was, at different 

 times, passed over the ground during the sum- 

 mer and fall of the year. The usual wetness 

 of the soil had discouraged the expectation of 

 raising any crop from the ground. In the latter 

 part of the fall a large central ditch was opened 

 through the whole piece, corresponding to the 

 descent therefrom. Furrotvs were then plough- 

 ed at suitable distances, and the ground from 

 them thrown upon the beds, which weie made 

 about 20 feet by 60. This admitted a more 

 early ploughing in the summer of 181G. It was 

 then laid down with herd's grass and clover 

 seed. About half a bushel of the former, and 

 four pounds of the latter to an acre. A few 

 oats were sown therewith, which gave a com- 

 mon crop, and were cut for fodder. As the 

 land had not been highly mannred, and the ex- 

 periment promised very favorably after taking 

 off the oats, a coat of manure was put on, of 

 about 12 bucks to the acre; and, it being an 



object to prevent the evaporation of the ma- 

 nure (as this was done early in the dry season) 

 as well as to have the land left smooth, and de- 

 scending towards the ditches, they were plough- 

 ed anew, and the earth in them thrown upon 

 the beds. In the spring of 1817, the grass made 

 an appearance of most exuberant fertility ; the 

 herds' grass became very thick, and, before 

 mowing, measured, much of it, over five feet. 

 The clover was well set. 



Several of my neighbors, thinking the crop 

 greater than they had seen, wished to have the 

 produce ascertained. 1 accordingly had three 

 parts, or pieces, in no respect differing essen- 

 tially, if at all, from the rest, measured by a 

 careful surveyor. Major C. Adams, of Needham, 

 and the crop therefrom was sent to the town"? 

 scale and weighed. The hay was perfectly well 

 made, and the result was 16,152 square feet, 

 equal to 59i rods, produced 1 ton, 10 hundred, 

 and 3 quarters of hay, equal to 4 tons, 2 hun» 

 dred, 3 quarters, and 2 pounds to the acre. 



I am, Sir, with much respect, yours, &:c. 

 JOHN WELLES. 



From the American Farmer. 

 TO TAKE HONEY. 

 Mr. Skinser, 



There is a gentleman in the lower part oi 

 your native county, who knows much better 

 how to take honey from bees than the German 

 mentioned in your paper (No. 48, vol. 4,*) and 

 with less expense than Blake's patent hives. I 

 was once an eye-witness of his taking it, and 

 partook of the nice dainty, He has no need ol 

 cap, mask or gloves — so far from shielding him- 

 self, he rolls his sleeves up above his elbows, 

 and goes at it when the sun is at its meridian. 

 knowingf that the bees are all at that time from 

 home. The brighter the sun the better, and 

 the month of August is his honey harvest.— 

 When he goes, as before mentioned, at mid-day, 

 he takes off the top of the hives and takes out 

 as much honey as he thinks proper ; nails on 

 the top and goes on to another, and another, 

 until he is done. The honey is as nice and 

 white as it can be. The bees will ifr.mediately 

 fill up the vacant place, and the next year you 

 have nice new honey again, as the gentleman 

 informed me. a lover of honev. 



May 11th, 1823. 



■ See N. E. Farmer, pp. 322 and 331. 



WnF_vT Harvest. — Our accounts are varioas, 

 but generally very unpromising. On both the 

 south and north sides of the James River, for a 

 considerable distance above this city, and for 20 

 miles below it, there has been much injury al- 

 ready done — at some places the fly alone, at 

 others the chinch bug, and in some fields both 

 insects are at wtrk. We have heard that the 

 bug has already attacked even some of the oats, 

 and some spots of the young corn. The rich 

 lands, even in this district, however, may pro- 

 duce good crops of wheat. On the lower parts 

 of Pamunkey river and on to the Rappahannock, 

 the crops as yet appear very fine. The chinch 

 bug is certainly this year in extraordinary num- 

 bers — for within the last week many have been 

 seen flying in our city, an object of curiosity 

 rather than of dread. It is a small speckled fly, 

 that derives its name from its smell when mash- 

 ed between the lingers. — Riclmiond Enquirer. 



