390 



NEW 



ENGLAND FARMER. 



One of the purposes to be effected li.V hoeing 

 is to nourish the plants by drawing fresh soil 

 near to them, and by the sam'e means to cause 

 them to stand more firmly. But this should be 

 done with caution. Hilling excessirely is hurt- 

 ful, as it does not permit the roots to have .so 

 much benefit from the rains, and too much hin- 

 ders the influence of the sun upon the lower- 

 most roots. If, however, the ground be dry, 

 and the season warm, it may be well to make 

 Ihe hills somewhat larger and higher than would 

 otherwise be eipedient. 



It seems to be a point not yet fully settled 

 whether it is best to cut off, or otherwise de- 

 stroy the suckers of Indian corn. The Farmers' 

 Assistant tells us that " the growth of suckers 

 is injurious to the crop, and ought to be either 

 pulled up, or bent down to the ground with 

 earth sufficient to kill them ; and this is believ- 

 ed to be the better waj-, as by this mean the 

 principal stalk is not injured by wounding." — 

 We believe in cultivating the premium crops 

 in Massachusetts, the suckers were generally 

 taken away. In the Plon. Mr. Hunnewell's ac- 

 count of his raising a crop of one hundred and 

 eleven bushels of corn to an acre, (Mass. Agri- 

 cultural Journal, vol. vi, p. 242) it is slated that 

 " immediately after half hilling, the suckers 

 were all carefully cut off." Col. Valentine's 

 statement of having raised 11C bushels and 28 

 quarts of corn to an acre, ((see page 178 of our 

 paper.) mentions that " all the suckers were 

 pulled out in July ; and in August all the suck- 

 ers were again taken away, together with the 

 false stalks, and those that were smutty." Mr. 

 Lemuel Davis, however, by an experiment, 

 which is related in our tirst No. page 8, arriv- 

 ed at a different result. The gentleman last 

 mentioned states that when he cut off the suck- 

 ers from the stalks, he found "such a propor- 

 tion of the juice wept out where the sucker 

 was taken off that the growth was not so large, 

 and the ear set higher upon the stalk ; on the 

 part where the suckers were not taken off, the 

 corn was thicker set and more prominent — the 

 ears set ten or twelve inches nigher the ground, 

 and were a good proportion larger." On the 

 •whole, we think thnt further experiments to 

 ascertain the effects produced by removing the 

 suckers are much to be desired ; and we hope 

 that farmers in general will pay so much atten- 

 tion to this subject as to take off or bury the 

 suckers in at least one row of their field, and 

 compare its product with the next in which the 

 suckers are suffered to remain. The time and 

 manner of performing this operation should 

 also be carefully noted, and the whole made 

 public for the benefit of the community. 



The last number of the Massachusetts Agricul- 

 tural Journal cuntaios as much useful and inter- 

 esting matter as any preceding No. of that val- 

 uable work. We propose, from time to time, 

 to replenish our columns from that source, at 

 the risque of incurring the displeasure of cer- 

 tain fault-finders, who object to every article 

 which is not altogether original, or written ex- 

 pressly for the publication in which is made its 

 primitive appearance. Although many of our 

 readers have seen the articles which we have 

 extracted, or may extract, from the work ad- 

 verted to, yet many more residing in distant 



quarters of the Union, may receive them thro' 

 the medium of the New England Farmer, to 

 whom otherwise they would be like a fountain 

 sealed, or a light, which though brilliant, is 

 without the limits of their horizon. It would 

 be folly for us to deprive ourselves or our read- 

 ers of ihe benefits resulting from a wholesome, 

 invigorating, and fertilizing stream, merely be- 

 cause its fountain head is not situated on our 

 premises. Besides, we are so well acquainted 

 with the characters, views and motives of the 

 gentlemen who conduct the Massachusetts Ag- 

 ricultural Repository, that we are confident 

 they will not be displeased if we avail ourselves 

 of the fruits of their labors, since we cannot in 

 any other way so effectually promote the ob- 

 jects of their institution. 



NEW AGRICULTURAL PUBLICATION. 



By the politeness of Jesse Buel, Esq. of Al- 

 bany, we have received a copy of the second 

 volume of " Memoirs of the Board of Agriculture 

 «f the State of J^. York. Published by authority^ 

 This work consists of more than 500 pages, oc- 

 tavo. It contains, we believe, quite as much 

 valuable information, relating to the subjects 

 which it professes to embrace, as any work of 

 the kind ever issued from the American press. 

 Indeed, nothing less could have been expected 

 from the joint efforts of many of the most en- 

 lightened, liberal and philanthropic individuals 

 in that large, populous and enterprising state, 

 whose improvements in canals, steam-machine- 

 ry, &.C. &:c. have realized what, half a century 

 since, would have been thought to have been 

 the dreams of a sanguine and visionary specu- 

 lator. 



In speaking of this work we shall not pre- 

 sume to take the chair of a critic, and shall in 

 no other way express our high estimation of 

 its contents than by giving, from time to time, 

 such extracts as may in our opinion prove most 

 beneficial to our readers. The following, from 

 the preface, is all we have room for in the pre- 

 sent number. 



" The original articles in this volume give it 

 a strong claim to public attention. But a few 

 years have passed, since the business of cultiva- 

 ting the land, was generally considered here as 

 a coarse occupation, giving a precarious living 

 to the most laborious and the most numerous 

 portion of the community. We now find active 

 and intelligent men spread through the state, 

 pursuing with spirit the improvements in agri- 

 culture, which a long experience has taught 

 other countries, and devising practical and ra- 

 tional methods of accommodating them to our 

 own climate and soils. 



" To what is this important revolution owing ? 

 How is it that the farming interest has been 

 so astonishingly redeemed from the unjust hu- 

 miliation into which it had sunk? 



" The answer is, that public patronage has 

 elevated the condition of the yeomanry in their 

 own estimation : it has given them confidence in 

 their own resources, and in thus laying the best 



foundation for individual and national content- 

 ment, has already produced its own reward. 

 F'or certainly this great moral consequence far' 

 exceeds in importance, the comparatively in-1 

 significant means which have been applied to 

 produce it." I 



[COMMUNICATED.] 

 We extract the following notice respecting Sheep 

 from the Montrose Gazette, published in Suaquehann 

 County, (Penn.) — a county settled principally by far 

 mers from the New England States, and which thc> 

 have changed in twelve or fifteen years from a wilder- 

 ness to a well-peopled farniing district. The couQty 

 has been described as high land, well watered, healthy, 

 and particularly well adapted to grazing. 



"My neighbor, Mr. Crandall, in the fall of.^ 

 1818, had six ewes. In the spring of 1822 hii 

 little flock had increased to thirty-t-wo, although 

 in November 1819 he had killed two; in No- 

 vember 1820 he sold two and killed seven. In 

 the summer of 1821 he sold seven, and in No- 

 vember following he sold seven and killed three, 

 In November, 1820, he bought one ram, which 

 with one of his ewes, died the following spring. 

 He bought another ram in November 1821. 

 Recapitulation — originally six ; sold sixteen ; 

 killed twelve ; bought two ; lost two ; remain* 

 ing, thirty-two. The increase from the six, 



FIFTY-FOVR. 



''J. Adams bought twelve ewes in September 

 1821, from which he raised sixteen lambs the 

 following spring. The same year he sold from 

 his f^ockten, and killed six. From the remain- 

 ing twelve he has this spring raised fourteen 

 lambs. One of last years lambs, at one month 

 and one day old, weighed forty-four and an half ,| 

 pounds. 



" Mr. Follet has three ewes, each of which 

 on the same night this spring, brought him 

 three lambs, all of which are now living and 

 thrifty." A FARMER. 



riV 

 hi 

 111. 

 nil 



.... 



To Ihe Editor of the J\"ew England Farmer, 



Sir — I am told the Canada Thistle is travel- 

 ling East, and has already reached Vermont, 

 New Hampshire and a part of Massachusetts. 

 Indeed, I perceive it has found its way on to 

 my own small farm, to my no little dismay. — 

 Will you. Sir, permit me to ask my brother 

 farmers to communicate to the public, through 

 the medium of your paper, all they know about 

 this plant ; and particularly to state the best 

 and most successful method to exterminate it. 

 By so doing, they will much oblige 



MIDDLESEX. 



WHOOPING COUGH. 



A writer in the Fredericklown Herald gives the fol- 

 lowing as a remedy for this distressing complaint. 



Dissolve 80 grains of salt of tartar in a pint 

 of clear water, add to it 40 grains of cochineal, 

 and sweeten it with loaf sugar. Give a child 

 one year old, one tea spoonful four times a day, 

 with a table spoonful of barley water immedi- 

 ately after. Boiled apples put into warm milk, 

 may be the chief food, if they can be had. This 

 will relieve the patient in two or three days,^ 

 and cure in a week. 



In the last stage ot this complaint, take the 

 tincture of bark H oz. paregoric i oz. tincture- 

 of cantharides 1 drachm, mix them, and give to 

 a child one year old 15 drops 3 times a day, and 

 so on in proportion to the age of the patient. 



