NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



397 



ound up ivitli oil, laid on with a puiiiter's 



usli, first coat thin, and second thick. 



I painted on a board with this mixturo, and it 



llheres so strongly to the bonnl, that it resists 



(i iron tool, and put thick on a shingle resists 



ke operation of fire. 1 used only a part ol the 



fixture ; what remains, continues in an iron 



»t ; water has lain on the mixture for some 



te without penetrating the substance, wliich 



as hard as a stone. 



'he Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts. 

 The following notice of this new publication, 



I extracted from an article in the Massachusetts 



gricultural Repository and Journal, JVo 4, Vol. 



, signed J. L. — one of the editors. 



" Not in any degree interfering with that of 

 I'rofessor Silliman, the Journal in question is 

 Intended to introduce to the American public, 

 hose articles in foreign publications devoted to 

 'hilosophy and the Arts, which may be thought 

 aost useliil. We meet (his stranger with the 

 Qost hearty and cordial welcome. Every one 

 vho reads much, knows that it is impossible in 

 he present state of our country, that the Euro- 

 lean scientitic journals can all of them, or in- 

 leed any of them, be republished here. They 

 ;annot be imported without enormous expense, 

 )wing to the inexplicable policy of laying heavy 

 luties on all works, without discriminating those 

 vbich must have a limited circulation, from 

 hose which are read by the great mass. This 

 ivork is intended to give us a selection from the 

 European publications, of those articles which 

 ire peculiarly interesting to us and adapted to 

 3ur condition and progress. The Journal is un- 

 ler the management of Dr. J. W. Webster, Dr. 

 I. Ware, and Mr. D. Treadwell, and we cannot 

 have a better pledge of the sound discretion 

 which will be exercised in the selection, than 

 the well merited reputation of its joint editors. 

 We most earnestly hope it will receive that en- 

 couragement which the very attempt deserves, 

 and which is due to the spirited efforts of these 

 scholars, and without which, no scientilic exer- 

 tions can be long successful."' 



NEW ENGI^AiND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1823. 



Farmer's and Gardener's Remembrancer. 



JULY. 

 I.\bnN Corn. — Some farmers delaj' their hil- 

 ling till ha3 ing, in order to husband time, cal- 

 culating to hill their corn when the weather is 

 such that haying cannot be attendeil to with 

 profit. This, however, is not altogether a cor- 

 rect mode of proceeding, for the following 

 among other reasons. 1st. Your corn suffers 

 by this delay, and ten to one the weeds get 

 such a start that your labor is much increased, 

 and its good effects greatly diminished. 2dly. 

 By delaying your third hoeing, or hilling too 

 long, your hilling, haying and harvesting jjress 

 on you all at a time, and you do nothing well, 

 because you do every thing in a hurry, jdly. 

 When hilling is delayed till haying, you gener- 

 ally hoe your corn in wet weather, because 

 such weather is unfit for haying. But if tlie 

 soil is considerably wet, ploughing or hoeing it 

 does but little good, and sometimes causes more 

 harm than benefit. The weeds are not destroy- 

 ed, the land is left in a heavy state, and so tight 



that the roots of the corn cannot jienetrate it, 

 and spread as they otherwise would. Yon there- 

 lore need line weather lor hoeing as well as for 

 haying. A little dampness, however, will bo 

 less injurious in the former than in the latter 

 kind of business ; ;ind of course it may some- 

 times be proper to leave your hay-field for your 

 corn-field. l!ut if the ground is considerably 

 wet, or there is a prospect of a " ifct sy«//,'' 

 you had better go with your boys, and the rest 

 of j'our " helji'' to cutting bushes. Dr. Deane 

 said, " other circumstances being equal, the 

 wettest weather is best for destroying shrubs by 

 cutting; because the sap vessels of the stumps 

 will continue open the longer ; there will be 

 the greater discharge of sap through them, and 

 the roots will he the more weakened. 



" Bushes, which grow in clusters, as alder, 

 and some other sorts, may be expeditiously 

 pulled up by oxen ; and this is an efiectual way 

 to subdue them. The expense of it, I suppose, 

 will not be more than that of cutting them twice 

 would amount to." Tiie wetter the ground is 

 the more easy it will be to pull up bushes. — 

 But if you have no bushes which require cut- 

 ting, and the weather is too wet for haying or 

 hoeing, you may find a profitable amusement in 



Digging and drawing Stones, and making 

 Stone Wall. — Stones can be dug out of the 

 ground much easier when the ground is wet, 

 than when dry. And now, before we forget it, 

 we will state what the Farmers' Assistant says 

 are the best modes of making stone walls. — 

 •' Dig a trench where the wall is to be made, 

 to the depth of about eighteen inches; into this 

 'hrow all the small and bad shaped stones, until 

 '.he trench is filled ; then on the top of these 

 ouild the wall, in a mason-like manner, to the 

 !ieight of about five feet, and throw the earth 

 (lug out of the trench up against the wall on 

 each side ; and in this way it will stand for a 

 length of time beyond the memor}' of man. If 

 a trench be not dug in this manner, the next 

 best method is to plough deep trenches close 

 on each side of the wall, after it is built, and 

 throw the earth thus ploughed up against tlie 

 wall." 



Turnips. — It is about time to think of raising 

 turnips ler feeding stock and other winter uses. 

 They require a light sandy loam, made pretty 

 rich and mellow. The seed may be sowed 

 about the middle of July, but it is not necessary 

 to be very precise as to the time. Dr. Deane 

 observed that he had sown them the first week 

 in August, and had a good crop. If sown so late, 

 they generally escape insects, and though they 

 may not grow quite so large, they will, com- 

 monly, be better for the table than those which 

 are sowed earlier. They may be sowed broad 

 cast, or in drills ; and if the former way is chos- 

 en one pound of seed is the common allowance 

 for an acre of land ; but if the fly is to be pro- 

 vided for, the quantify of seed should be a little 

 increased. The Farmers' INIanual says, " To 

 secure your turnip crop decidedly against the 

 fly, steep your seed 12 or 24 houfs before sow- 

 ing, in fish or train oil ; drain off the oil from 

 the seed, and roll the seed in plaister ; this will 

 separate the seed from the glutinous adhesion 

 of the oil, render the casts pure, and enrich 

 your crop." It may be tried, but we doubt its 

 edicacy. The cause does not seem to be ade- 

 quate to produce the alleged effect ; for the mi- 

 nute quantity of oil which might be attached to 



or imbibed by so small an object ns a turnip 

 seed, could hardly, we believe, communicate 

 any odor or flavor to a plant sprung from such 

 seed, sufficient to preserve it from insects. But 

 if fact says otfierwise, jihilosophy may as well 

 be silent. Experiments repeatedly made, and 

 accurately noted, must, after all, be considered 

 as the only sure basis of improvement.* 



The seed, when sown broad cast, should be 

 harrowed in with a short fined harrow, and it 

 will be of service to roll the ground with a 

 pretty heavy roller, to prevent the soil from 

 being too loose, break the clods, and level the 

 surface. If is said that top dressing of ashes, or 

 soot strewed over the ground is a good preven- 

 tive against the fly, and other insects, and it 

 will at least quicken the growth of the plants, 

 and the taster they grow the sooner they will 

 be out of danger from the fly. Infusions of el- 

 der, wormwood and tobacco, sprinkled over the 

 ground as soon as the plants appear, have like- 

 \vise been recommended, but perhaps would be 

 thought too troublesome for field cultivation. 

 If, after all, the fly, drought or grasshoppers 

 destroy the young plants, it will not cost much 

 to harrow and sow the ground a second time, 

 and those evils may thus, perhaps, be avoided. 



Although some people will continue to raise 

 turnips according to the broad cast method, yet 

 there is no doubt but these roots may be grown 

 to much greater advantage in drills or rows. — 

 The following from the " Memoirs of the Board 

 of Agriculture of New York," contains direc- 

 tions for raising turnips in the drill method, 

 which have been tested by the experience and 

 recommended by the writings of Mr. Feathers- 

 tonhaugh, of Duanesburgh, N. Y. a celebrated 

 practical and scientific agriculturist. " The 

 soil being turned up in the fall, and exposed to 

 the winter, is easily broken down in the spring, 

 and by the first of June got into good tillage. 

 .Advantage being taken of the first settled wea- 

 ther, deep furrows, three feet apart, are open- 

 ed, and well cleaned out with the expanding 

 horse hoe.t Fresh dung well sodden down is 

 carted info these furrows ; some prefer to spread 

 it at random on the surface, and rake it into the 

 furrows. When the work is sufficiently ahead, 

 these are covered with the plough, and become 

 small I'idges or ridgelets three feet apart. J By 

 the time the field is dunged, and covered, the 

 turnip drill, preceded by a light roller to flatten 

 the ridgelets, is introduced. A steady hand will 

 sow five acres in a day. When the crop gets 

 into a strong rough leaf, the hoers are introduc- 

 ed to thin the plants, which are left about eight 

 inches apart. These being suffered to fix them- 

 selves well in the soil, and their healthy leaves 

 extending over the surface of the ridgelets, a 

 light one horse plough then takes a slice from 

 each side of the ridgelets, and throws it into 

 the furrow. When this operation has killed 

 the weeds, the expanding horse hoe is again 

 introduced, which splits the soil in the furrow, 



* Bordlcy's Husbandry tells us that " It is said to be 

 a successful method of avoiding damage to young tur- 

 nip plants by flics, to mix every two pounds of seed 

 with a quarter of a pound of sulphur in tine powder, to 

 stand ten or twelve hours ; and then sow the seed." 

 It might be well to try this receipt, but we doubt its 

 efficacy, for the reasons before mentioned. 



t A common horse plough will answer by being run 

 back in the same furrow. 



I The Farmers' Assistant says 27 inches. 



