NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



389 



ill not some northern wool grower reply to I nnt, or oiik. The teeth should be made at the 



'.ese inquiries ; and tell us also the usual price 

 1 American wool in the northern markets? In 

 lie I have been told it readily commands from 

 ■ (0 100 cents. 



I am no friend to any unnecessary commer- 

 i^U restrictions ; but if Consjress have thought 

 oper to give encouragement to our manufac- 

 res, is there any consideration either of jus- 

 e or state policy, which should withhold a 

 nilar encouragement from the raw material, 

 which the manufacture is made ? F. 



(cl'T-The Editor expects, with confidence, that 

 e above article will attract the notice, and be 

 vored with an answer from several of his 

 itions in Connecticut and Massachusetts. How 

 n gentlemen expect answers when they want 

 lormation on some points, unless they com- 

 unicate it when it is asked on other subjects, 

 ithin their knowledge and experience ? 



Ed. Amer. Farmer. 



SEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



S.\TURDAY, JULY 5, 1823. 



Fanner''s and Gardener's Remembrancer. 



JULY. 



l.'oRSE Rake. — In our observations, (p. 373) 

 1 the subject of hay-making, we forgot to men- 

 on a machine lor raking ray, which seems 

 ;ry well adapted to the purpose of saving ma- 

 lal labor. The following remarks and des- 

 ■iption of the machine we allude to were first 

 iblisbed in the Pitlsfield (Mass.) Sun, and re- 

 ililished in the second volume of " 31emoirs 

 ' tlie Board of Agriculture of the State of New 

 ork."' 



'• The present period of low prices of pro- 

 icts, and the necessity of economy, renders it 

 q.eilieiit to inquire whether ttie labor of con- 

 icting our farmr< may not be abridged by the 

 troduction of what are called labor saving ma- 

 liiies. My attention has been called to the 



end to turn up, so as to run on the ground like 

 a small sled, and not into the earth. On the 

 top of the head should be fixed about seven 

 small standards, eighteen inches long, to pre- 

 vent the hay falling over the head. In the 

 centre of the head fix two hanilles, such as you 

 have on ploughs, at a suitable distance, to guide 

 and steady the rake. From the ends of the 

 rake, extend a rope, of the size of a cart rope, 

 to fasten the horse's collar. The distance of 

 the horse from the rake may be such as to leave 

 room for the hay to gather. Observation will 

 soon direct the length of the ropes. Care must 

 be used to have the teeth set even and firm, 

 that they may run near the earth. This rake 

 is used to collect the hay into winrow, or pile 

 it — and it is useful in all grain fields to glean 

 the scattered grain, and to lay down the stubble 

 close to the earth to rot and promote putrefac- 

 tion. 



" P. S. A Horse Rake is in use on the farm 

 of Thomas Gold, Esq. at Pittsfield." 



The Farmers' Assistant likewise gives an ac- 

 count of this implement, corresponding with the 

 above, and adds that " the teeth, when in ope- 

 ration, run along the ground nearly horizontal- 

 ly, with the points a little the lowest, so as to 

 run under the hay, and as they take it up the 

 upright slats retain it till the rake is full, when 

 the man who follows it behind turns it over, 

 and thus empties it in a row ; then lifts it over 

 the hay, thus emptied, and sets in beyond it ; 

 and so it proceeds on, till it is again filled, and 

 the same process again rei)eated. 



" When one strip across the piece is thus 

 raked up, the horse is turned round, and anoth- 

 er strip is raked in the same manner, emptying 

 the hay at the ends of the last heaps raked up. 

 so that in this way winrows are formed. When 

 it ie thus rnked into winrows, it is dragged up 

 by the rake into bundles large enough for mak- 

 ing cocks." 



Hoeing Cork, Garden Vegetables, &c. — Some 

 farmers hoe their corn twice, others three times, 



Kisideralion of the subject. In one instance 



iz. that of g.ithering hay after it is made, I am j but it is believed that it is rarely hoed too often, 

 intilent the labor and expense may be greatly We have heard a person observe that he hoed 

 3ridsed. In one or two sections of our conn- a small patch of corn in his garden every morn- 



y. the Horse Rake has been introduced and 

 ;eii most successfully. To satisfy myself fully 

 1 the subject, the last season and the present, 



have had one in operation. It ha? exceeded 

 !V expectations, and I now recommend it to 

 IP immediate use of all our farmers. It will 

 nable one man, with a steady horse and boy, 

 ) perform at least as much work in gathering 

 ay into winrow and pile as six good men can 

 ccomplish, and as clean as is commonly done 

 1 raking by hand. The experiment which I 

 ave made will warrant this statement. The 

 xpcnse of the Horse Rake is small, not exceed- 

 12: two dollars. It is constructed thus: Take 



Hick of timber, of say any stout wood. Ash, 

 hi snut, fir, or spruce will be sufficient — ten 

 jet long if your mowing lands are free of ob- 

 tructions, and if obstructed with stumps or 

 ocks, then shorten the head of the rake to 

 our convenience. The rake head may be 

 hree and a half inches by two and a half diani- 

 tcr, or as you please. The teeth should be 

 iventy-two inches long, and one inch by one 

 nch and a half diameter, and set firmly into the 

 e.id about two inches and a half apart. These 

 eeth may be made of firm wlijte ash, or wal- 



ing, Sundays excepted, from the time that it 

 was an inch or two in height, till the top stalks 

 or tassels made their appearance, or as the 

 phrase is, the corn had " tostled out.'''' The 

 consequence was that the corn came forward 

 with uncommon rapidity, and he had ears fit to 

 roast more than a fortnight earlier than his 

 neighbors, whose corn with equal advantages 

 in other respects, was hoed but three times. 

 Some people hoe their land very superficially., 

 but they are but shallow cultivators. IDr. Deane 

 observed that " the deeper land is hoed, the 

 greater advantage do plants receive from hoe- 

 ing, if due care be taken that their roots be not 

 disturbed, or too much cut to pieces." Mr. 

 Cobbett (under the head cultivation, American 

 Gardener, par. 178, &c.) says, "If the subject 

 be from seed, the first thing is to see that the 

 plants stand at a proper distance from each oth- 

 er; because if left too close they cannot come 

 to good. Let them also be thinned early ; for, 

 even while in seed-leaf, they injure each other. 

 Carrots, parsnips, lettuces, every thing, ought 

 to be thinned in the seed-leaf. 



" Weeds never ought to be suffered to get to 

 any size either in field or garden. In England 



where it rains or drips sometimes for months 

 together, it is impossible to prevent weeds from 

 growing. But in this fine climate, under this 

 blessed snn, \vho never absents himself more 

 than about forty-eight hours at a time, and who 

 will scorch a dundt lion root or a dock root to 

 death in a day, and lengthen a water-melon 

 shoot twenty-four inches rn as many hours : in 

 this climate, scandalous indeed it is to see the 

 garden or the field infested with weeds. 



" But, besides the act of killing weeds, cul- 

 tivation means moving the earth between the 

 plants while growing. This assists them iu 

 their growth ; it feeds them ; it raises food for 

 their roots to live upon. A mere _/?a<-hoeing 

 does nothing but keep down the weeds. The 

 hoeing when the plants are become stout should 

 be deep ; and, in general, with a hoe thai has 

 spaties, instead of a mere flat plate. In short, a 

 sort of prong in the posture of a hoe.* And the 

 spanes of this prong-hoe may be longer or 

 shorter, according to the nature of the crop. 

 Deep hoeing is enough in some cases ; but in 

 others digging is necessary to produce a fine 

 and full crop. If any body will have a piece of 

 cabbages, and will dig between the rows of one 

 half of them twice during their growth, and let 

 the other half of the piece have nothing but a 

 flat hoeing, that person will find that the half 

 which has been digged between, will, when the 

 crop is ripe, weigh nearly, if not quite, twice 

 as much as the other half But why need this 

 be said in an Indian corn country, where it is 

 so well known, that, without being ploughed be- 

 tween, the corn will produce next to nothing? 

 " It may appear, that, to dig thus amongst 

 srrowing plants is to cut otT or tear off their 

 roots, of which the ground is full. This is re- 

 ally the case, and this does great good, for the 

 roots thus cut asunder, shoot again from the 

 plant side, find new food, and send instantly, 

 fresh vigor to the plant. The effect of this 

 lillage is qnite surprising. We are hardly aware 

 of its power in producing vegetation ; and we 

 are still less aware of the distance to which the 

 roots of plants extend in every direction." 



We believe, however, tl\at after plants hare 

 arrived at nearly their full size, it injures them 

 to cut off their fibrous roots. While the plant 

 is young and thrifty it may have the power to 

 re-produce its roots if they are cut ofl, but not 

 so when it has come near to maturity. Dr. 

 Deane says " hoeing should cease, or be only 

 superficial, when the roots are so far extended as 

 to be much injured by hoeing. They will bear 

 a little cutting without injury. For when a root 

 is cut off several new branches will come in its 

 place." Our farmers in general, and we believe 

 correctly, decline to use the plough or horse 

 hoe, among corn, after it has set for ears, as the 

 phrase is, or in other words, the ears have be- 

 gan to form ; because, they say it injures the 

 roots and prevents the ears from filling so well 

 as they would do otherwise. But if weeds a- 

 bound among the corn at the later periods of 

 its growth, they should be pulled up by hand, 

 destroyed by shallow hoeing, or it would be 

 better than leaving them untouched, to clip 

 them off with a scythe or sickle, that they may 

 at least be prevented from running to seed. 



* Hoes of a similar kind may be obtained at the A J- 

 ricultural Establishment, No. 20, Merchants' Row, 

 Boston. 



I 



