(Ill 



JNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY THOMAS W. SHKI'ARU, RCKiKRS' BUILDINGS, CO.NGRKSS SI'RKLT, (FOUKTll IXJOI! KROM S'I'ATE STRKKT.) 



Vol. I. 



BOSTOxN, SATURDAY, JULY 12, 182: 



No. 50. 



FACTS AXU OBSERVAllON'S RFLATlX.i TO 



GRICULTURE & DOMESTIC ECONOMY 



BK.RU MADE WITH IIF.MLOCK INSTEAD OF Sl'RL'rn. 



.Tiidge Peters, of Pennsylvania, informs that 

 P>cer quite as healthy, and miicli more aa^rro- 

 ble than that brewed with the Canada or Hali- 

 ax spruce, is made by tlie inCtision of liemlock 

 iranches, with the materials of which our coni- 

 noii spriico beer is coni|iosed. It has been sul)- 

 tituted for spruce for many years in my family, 

 nil we think it preferable in llavor to the Can- 

 ula or Halilhx spruce." — Ahutuirs of the Peiin. 

 l^riculliiral Hocuty^ vol. i, g. 25. 



EHEAD, FOOD FOR HORSFS. 



Judge Peters asserts that "General Pulaski, 

 '■,\ Polish officer who served in the U. S. army 

 luring our revolutionary war) had a favorite 

 ;harg-er, to whom he often gave bread, which 

 he animal seemed to enjoy beyond any other 

 bod. In Holland it is a common practice to 

 ^ive horses rye bread, or baked provender. — 

 The late Shcrifll" Penrose, who had a fine team 

 ■}t' working horses, was in the habit of buying 

 condemned ship bread, as the most nutritious, 

 and profited by its advantages." — ibid, p. 2.36. 



nU.VG TOO .MUCH rotted good for N0T)II.\C. 



It was remarked by Judge Peters, that "dur- 

 ing our revolutionary war, the late general P. 

 Schuyler mentioned tliat he had onca purchased 

 1 (arm from the representatives of an old settler 

 in the then coioiuj of New York. A great in- 

 Jucement was, that some thousands of loads ol 

 'htng liail tieen accumulating for half an age ; it 

 having been considered as useless, when the 

 land was iVesh, and thrown into a vast ravine. 

 At first the dung was operative, but the lower 

 the mass was penetrated, the more uorthless it 

 became ; till finally it would not compensate 

 the labor and expense of hauling it out on the 

 land." — ibid, vol. ii, p. 291. 



STONES I'SEFI-L IN SOME SOILS. 



Stones cannot be picked off too close from 

 sandy or loamy soils ; but a considerable quan- 

 tity of small stones are very useful in clay-loam 

 for preventing its becoming too compact. — Me- 

 moirs of .\". Y. Board of Agriculture, vol. ii, p. 20. 



different modes of ploughing different soils. 



Loamy soils can never be ploughed too deep, 

 nor mellowed too much ; but sandy and cla^ 

 soils should merely be turned over, in a flat 

 furrow, and not afterwards ploughed so deep as 

 to break the turf P'or clay if mellowed too 

 much will become mortar in wet weather, and 

 bake in dry, and the sand will become too loose 

 to support vegetation. — ibid. 



The mode of ploughing sandy soils, accord- 

 ing to the system adopted by the celebrated 

 Duckett, an English farmer. " It was founded 

 on three principles : 1. Ploughing very deep — 

 a due degree of moisture was thus preserved in 

 tis light land, by means of which his crops 

 were flourishing in seasons of drought, which 

 destroyed those of his neighbors. 2. Ploughino- 



seldom, but effectually, by a trench plough, or 

 what he called a skim-coulter plough, witli 

 which he buried the wce<l5 that grew on the 

 surface ; he has hccn known to put in seven 

 crops with only four ploughings ; and 3. Occa- 

 sionally raising a crop of turnips the same sea- 

 son, after a crop of wheat or of pulse." — Code 

 ' of .1:^ricull(irc, p. 15. 



) It is remarked by an eminent a'llhor, that if 

 one ploughing to the full depth be given, once 

 'in 12, 18 or 24 months, shallow tillage after- 

 j wards, is, in many cases, preferable to frequent 

 deep working, and es[)ocially for wheat, which 

 loves a firm texture.''* " This doctrine is well 

 entitled to the attention of the practical far- 

 mer."' — ibid, p. 302. 



Although some soils of a very loose texture 

 may be ploughed or pulverized with harrows 

 (o an extreme, we believe this oft'ence against 

 '400(1 husbandry is very rarely commift'ed. But 

 iliaf a loose soil may be and sometimes has been 

 ploughed and harrowed to excess there is but 

 little doubt. Wherever there is a want of co- 

 herence in the particles of the soil, too fretjucnt 

 ploiigkiiig, harrov;ing, kc. exposes the best part 

 of it to be blown away by wind, or washed off 

 by rain. When the soil has too little cohesion, 

 or is easily made " mellow as an ash heap," as 

 the phrase is, it should be disturbed no more 

 iban is necessary to keep it clear of weeds, and 

 place the seed in the ground. What ploughing 

 a)d harrowing is found to be indispensable, in 

 stch a soil, had perhaps better be performed in 

 tie spring than in autumn ; for if the texture of 

 lie soil is naturally too loose, and it be plough- 

 ed in the fall, the frosts of the winter succeed- 

 ing will greatly increase the evil. 



Dr. John H. Steel, of the county of Saratoga, 

 state of New York, in "Notes to the Geologi- 

 cal Survey of Saratoga County," published in 

 " Memoirs of the Board of Agriculture of the State 

 o/.Veixi York,'' page 155, observes that "The 

 idea of rendering the earth mellow for the re- 

 ception of the seed, which means, to have it 

 tinely pulverised and light, in common language 

 like an ash heap, does not appear to be so im- 

 portant as many of our farmers seem to imagine. 

 The great object of ploughing is to destroy and 

 cover in the earth every species of vegetation, 

 that the crop to be expected from the seeding 

 may have nothing to choke and impede its 

 growth, or deprive it of any share of the nutri- 

 ment that there is in the soil, which would be 

 useful to its own health and vigor; when this 

 object is elfected, the plough can be of no fur- 

 ther use, except to cover the seed. 



" The prevalent opinion, that turning in the 

 de-ui, or exposing a nexe surface of the earth fre- 

 quently to the rays of the sun, enriches the soil, 

 has likewise no foundation in fact. The earth 

 can imbibe nothing from the sun"s rays but heat 

 and light, which it possesses in sufficient quan- 

 tity for all the purposes of vegetation, when il 

 has not been moved at all. Who has not ob- 

 served the most luxuriant spontaneous produc- 

 tions, where the soil had not been stirred for 

 years ? And it is a maxim among farmers, that 



* Young's Calendar, p. 510. 



" where weeds grow luxuriantly, every other 

 vegetable will." Indeed, the frequent exposure 

 of a new surface of the soil, during the summer 

 months, must expose the volatile principles 

 which it may contain to exhalation, and thereby 

 endanger the loss of one essential article to its 

 fertility, wiiich in soils (hat contain much aniJ- 

 mal matter is very considerable. The turning 

 in of the dew is e(|ually absurd ; it can contain 

 no ingredient that is not found in rain water, 

 which is nearly pure. The dew is simply the 

 exbnlations of the day, which arc condensed 

 during the cool of the evening ; like rain, if 

 forms an essential moisture for the support of 

 vegetation, but can have no other effect." 



The same writer observes (page 157, of the 

 same wolrk) " That frequent ploughing is use- 

 less, and frequently injurious, may be further 

 inferred from the experience of many of the 

 most observing farmers. The practice of mere-' 

 ly turning over the sod and souing on the fur- 

 rows is becoming every year more popular, 

 and an intelligent firmer has just given me the 

 following account of a process which he tried 

 the season past. 



" Having a clean clover field, whicii he in- 

 tended to plant with Indian corn, a part of it 

 was ploughed and planted in the usual way, 

 while the space between was left unmoved and 

 green with clover, to be turned over to the 

 hills during the ]>rocess of hoeing ; the corn 

 was planted on the centre of the ridge. The 

 success of this process was very observable 

 through the season; the corn had a touch more 

 rapid and hixuyiant growth, and at harvest yield- 

 ed a considerable more abundant crop than the 

 other parts of the field. 



"The result is imputed by my informant, to 

 the following causes: 1st. The ground benealh 

 the hills of corn remaining unmoved and cover- 

 ed by the furrows, retained the moisture longer 

 than that which had been turned over and ex- 

 posed to the air and sun ; hence the plants did 

 not sufier by the drought, as did those in other 

 parts of the field. And, 2dly. The turning of 

 the sod, which was permitted to grow between 

 (he rows, up to the hills at hoeing time, fur- 

 nished the roots, as they extended from the 

 ridge, with a new supply of vegetable matter 

 and moisture." 



Other writers, however, among whom may 

 be mentioned Mr. Curwen, a very celebrated 

 English cultivator, assert that frequent plough- 

 ing and hoeing promotes moisture, and stirring 

 the soil is the best of all remedies against drought. 

 .Mr. Curwen " holds that by constantly turning 

 the vacancies between the rows or beds, in ev- 

 ery direction, he can in dry weather procure 

 tor the plants something like a compensation 

 tor rain, in the evaporation of moisture from 

 the earth. The first day's exhalation from 

 ploughing is' in the proportion of 950 lbs. of 

 water per hour from an acre. The evapora- 

 tion decreases on the second day a third part, 

 and continues to diminish for three or (bur days 

 according to the heat of the weather, whenit 

 entirely ceases ; and is again renewed by fresh 

 ploughing. A field of cabbages were this year 

 set on very strong stiff clay, which previous to 



