3.';4 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



of your herds of callle and swine. The barn 

 should therefore be placed at a convenient dis- 



and the turpentine retreats into the solid wood, : sen than the warmer southern states, and pel "' 



so that it appears /reasy, and will gum up the 



tance from the dwelling house aud other build- mill saw. Such fallen trees, in time, coat over 



ings ; but as near as may be without danger of 

 fire. Too low a spot will be miry in spring 

 and fall. Too high an eminence will be incon- 

 venient for drawing in loads, and on account of 

 saving and malting manures. If other circum- 

 stances permit, it may be best to place a barn 

 in such a manner as to defend the dwelling 

 house from the I'orce of the coldest winds. 



with moss and shew no inclination to rot. 



In September and October, 1190, I made use 



bps many such are yet living who have inad#''" 

 vseful observations on the properties and th 

 duration of timber. All such observations shoul 

 )e published, as it is an important subject th; 



of some such old and mossy log-, with green I vi" increase in consequence for future gener 



»0R TUF. NF.W E.VGI.AND FARMER. 



DUR.iBILITY OF TIMBKU. 

 In No. 39 of your paper, I publi.-hcd the re- 

 mark? of two respectable characters of great 

 experience, relative to the duration of timber; 

 and will now relate my own observations. 



In June, 1790, I built the first saw mill in 

 this place ; the timber was all white oak, and 

 most of it fell and hewed in the month of Feb- 

 ruary, when hard frozen. The millwrights 

 came in June and altered my plan ot the tVame, 

 and hevved some long timbers of while oak when 

 the bark peeled. The saw mill stood lirra for 

 twelve years ; then the timbers fell in June be- 

 gan to fail, and in fourteen years were perfect- 

 ly rotten, and the frame beginning to fall. In 

 1816 it was all pulled away, and a new mill 

 built in the place. Many of the timbers that 

 liad been tell in February were perfectly sound 

 aud made use of 1 observed that all such had 

 been young thrifty timber, of large growths ; 

 and pieces of brush wood, and small growths 

 had become dotted aud rotten in 26 years ; and 

 so far as respects white oak timber, I am fully 

 satisfied that Alexander Brown's theory, as men- 

 tioned in No. 39, is perfectly correct. 



The same rule will not hold good in regard 

 to some other kinds of timber, more particular- 

 ly Hemlock and Hickory, in which 1 have made 

 some observations. In the year 1790, 1 was 

 anxious to hire hands to cut and peel hemlock 

 logs for a log barn in the fore part of summer, 

 before the bark set fast, but was advised by an 

 old man from Rhode Island, to adjourn cutting 

 such logs until the bark would again peel in 

 the month of October, with the f\ill of the sap; 

 then, he said, the logs -woiikl last forever. 1 had 

 no experience in hemlock timber, and took his 

 advice. The logs were cut, peeled, and the 

 barn raised in October; and, as yet, the logs 

 appear as sound as when they were first raised, 

 and show no disposition to rot. Some years 

 since I built a house of hemlock logs, cut in 

 midsummer, when the bark would not peel, and 

 the logs rotted in a few years. 



In the year 1797, 1 b-iilt a house of hemlock 

 logs, cut and peeled in the month of June. It 

 is yet standing, but the logs much rotten. 



\Vhite pine limlM>r should be lelled in the win- 

 ter, when hardest frozen, and the bark hewed 

 ofl'; then the sap part of such logs will remain 

 white aud sound several years. If the bark is 

 left on them the sap part will turn black, and 

 the logs be worm eaten. If green white pine logs 

 are cut in the summer when the bark will peel 

 the sap part turns black, the boards mildew 

 and soon rot, .as will the logs. A green white 

 pine tree chopped down, will last but a few 

 years, unless fell when frozen, and the bark 

 hewed off. A white pine tree blown up by the 

 ..roots some ages or centuries ago, is the most 

 durable timber we have. The sap part rots, 



ones for weather boards and shingles. Those 

 made of the green logs are on the decay; — 

 those of the old logs shew no further sign of 

 decaying, only they grow mossy. 



I am clearly of opinion that formerly timber 

 was more durable than latterly, and for the fol- 

 lowing reasons : — In the neighborhood of my 

 nativity, (Bucks county, Penn.) there are three 

 log buildings yet standing, much older than any 

 person living. The one a large log barn built 

 by my mother's father. The logs arc peeled 

 hickory. It belonged to my uncle. I have 

 thrashed many days in it, for him, and frequent- 

 ly heard him say it was built by his father be- 

 fore his memory. If he were now living, he 

 would be upwards of 100 years old. The other 

 two are dwelling houses ; and all three within 

 a mile of each other. In one house the logs 

 are peeled hickory ; the other oak, with the 

 bark on. Four years ago, I paid, perhaps, my 

 last visit to the place of my nativity, and went 

 to see all those old buildings. They did not 

 appear in the least decayed ; had been shingled 

 a number of times ; ami one age or more had 

 rolled away since any person living could re- 

 member the building of either, or which was 

 oldest. 



During the revolutionary war, there was a 

 large log barn built in the same neighborhood, 

 and in plain sight of those three old buildings. 

 I was at the raising, did the chopping at one 

 corner, and well remember the logs were all 

 peeled hickory, and were very slippery to stand 

 on. The barn soon rotted, and fell down, and 

 twenty years ago 1 furnished the lumber from 

 my mills at this place for a stone barn on the 

 same spot. 



Notwithstanding I had seen those old build- 

 ings within four years, as 1 have a younger 

 brother in that neighborhood, since writing my 

 publication of April 10th, 1 wrote him to go 

 and examine those three old buildings, aiid 

 write me the particulars of their condition, kc. 

 He has done it. He says they are till standing 



ions. SAMUEL PRESTON. 



Stockport, Pa. May 16, 1823. 



FOR THE NEW ENCI.AXD FARMER. 



POTATOES. 

 VIr. Editob, 



If you think the following article worthy ( 

 nsertion in your valuable paper, after corrci 

 (ion, you have it at disposal. 



Potatoes, which are the most useful and pr( 

 fitable roots the farmer can make use of, ar 

 often spoiled and lost for the want of a littl 

 attention in planting, and securing them in ai 

 tumn. It has been the custom of many carefi 

 farmers to plant their potatoes very early i 

 the season, in order that they might dig thei 

 before frosts in the fall. Others think they c 

 better to defer planting them until late in th 

 spring. Be that as it may, 1 will give you no 

 way of raising and securing them. If they ai 

 to follow corn, which is my usual practice, 

 plough the ground late in the fall, very deC; 

 and let it lie until spring, when I manure 

 properly, say ten cords of manure to the act 

 if in good heart; if not, I put on more. Abo 

 the 2uth of May, after the manure is even 

 spread, I run it over with a plough just so as 

 cover it. 1 then, with a horse plough, mai 

 out the land in rows, three feet distant one w; 

 and about two the other — then take the se< 

 end of my large potatoes and place them in tl 

 corner with the cut side down, with two piec 

 in each hill. This being done, 1 take two 

 three pieces of the cob of Indian corn and p 

 in each hill ; then I cover them with earl f 

 After they are up a hand full of Plaster of Pai 

 or leached .ashes dropped on every hill is 

 essential service. 



When the potatoes are ripe in the fall, th 

 is, when the vines are dead, I dig them and p 

 them into a pit, dug on a knoll, with a tren- 

 two feet deep, leading from the pit out, 

 which I place a common pump log, with tl 

 end to the edge of the hole. After placi 



ICB 



ki 



'a\ 



M 



iiir 

 k 



id 



E 



ound, and occupied as heretofore ; and Jrom any boards over the hole, cover the whole with 

 thuig he could discover may stand as much '""g''- 1 (Sickness of earth sufficient to prevent the fn 

 1 have, some thirty-five years ago, been much fr^^ reaching them. In this way any quanti 

 employed in making roads through this part of, ^^n be put together without danger of tht 

 the country called Beech Woods; and from mykg,^ti„„ f^re should be taken to prevent ti 

 several observations am fully convinced thatj^jce from getting to the hole through the lo 

 the (piality of the soil has had no more to do j^y nailing a piece of tin with holes punch, 

 with the kinds of timber, than the soil of Great |i„ n oq tlie outer end. A FARMER. 



Britain with the invasion of Julius Csesar. One 

 instance 1 will mention. In crossing a ridge, 

 there appeared formerly to have been a great 

 wind fall, all the trees lying tops to the north; 

 the logs all coated over with moss; some very 

 large. I avoided them what 1 could, and in 

 cutting into them they were perfectly sound in 

 the middle, and were white oak, yellow poplar, 

 and hickory of large growths. There were 

 none of either of those kinds to be found grow- 

 ing ; all the standing timber was beech, sugar 

 maple or hemlock. They appeared to have 

 grown up since the wind fall. By cutting some 

 of the largest they were found to be upwards 

 of 200 years o 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



RKMEDY AGAINST WEEVILS. 

 Mr. Editor, 



In your paper a few months since it was o 

 served by one of your correspondents that We 

 vils did not migrate. It was but a few da 

 before I saw that paper, that one of our mc 

 careful and experienced farmers made the san 

 observation to me, giving as an illustration th 

 some years since they got into one corner 

 his garret, in which he had always kept t 

 ;orn, and were troublesome to him there t 

 two or three years, but never got across to tl 

 New England has produced more very oldlother part of the garret. And he further o 



