NEW ENI5L.A]¥B FABMEtt. 



Published hy John B. Rosseil, at .Vo. 52 ATorth Market Street, (over the .Agricultural Warehouse). — Thomas G. Fksspnpek Editor. 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1827. 



No. 13. 



AGSUCULTURE. 



Wo have received the iollowing- account of the 

 state of Agriculture in Indiana, from an intelli- 

 gent English farmer — from whom wo should be 

 happy to hear frequently. 



AGRICULTURE IN INDIANA. 



::■ « ■:<■ Probably some little information from a 

 resident here may be accsptable. I shall therefore 

 by leave, give you a short sl;etch, of which yon 



■ may make wliat use you think proper. 



I am an emigrant from England, about eight 

 years since. On my first coming here in the year 

 1819 it was thinly settled, and the country very 

 iittle improved; the stock of horses, cattle and 

 iheep, in particular, very trifling, which have from 

 rhat time been regularly increasing in number; 

 ihe prices in consequence much reduced, say a 

 Cow and Calf in KiQ $20 to .$25, now from $6 to 

 §8; Sheep, two to three dollars; now $1 50. They 

 are generally a mi,\cd breed; but wo have now the 



■ Merino and Barbary. The population also rapidly 

 increases, but they coufine themselves generally 

 to raising Indian Corn, which when we first came 

 here, was almost the only crop — but wo now raise 

 Wheat and Oats for sale, the Flour and the Oats 

 for the New-Orleans market. In 1820 there was 

 no Cotton, but what was brought from Alabama 

 or Tennessee, the price 50 cents per pound; now 

 we grow more than is wanted, and cannot .i."^' 

 obtain more 'ban 7 ta 8 cents. There are two or 

 three Cotton Factories established, which now re- 

 tail Cotton Yarn 1 1 37 cts. We have also several 

 Wool Carding Machines, at some of which they 

 spin the Yarn, which is now sold at G2i cents per 

 pound, and which in 1820 was sold the wool at 50 

 cents, and the spinning at 50 cents more. 



I forgot to state respecting Wheat, that the we 

 vii has troub'ed us much for socie years past, but 

 not so much this year. Is there any means of pre- 

 venting the injury they do .' 



I was pleased to observe in the N. E. Parmer, 

 some notice respecting Potatoe Onions ; I first 

 brought them into this neighborhood, where they 

 have answered well; this year I have had some 

 which exceed one pound each — they should be 

 planted in the fall of the year, whenever they be- 

 gin to shoot, and all before the end of the year 



The frost does not injure them but rarely after be- 

 ing planted. They should be planted at least from 

 14 to 16 inches asunder, and the ground kept 

 clean ; they should not be hilled, but merely co- 

 vered. 



We find the want of Agricultural meetings which 

 are much wanted, in new countries especially. In 

 consequence of almost every man living o;i his own 

 or United States land, labourers are very scarce, 

 and the low price of produce prevents the improve- 

 ments that otherwise would be made; and wo have 

 much difficulty in obtaining any machinery in this 

 country which would tend to facilitate our various 

 works. We should be glad to have some small 

 sketch of Pope's Threshing Machine of which you 

 speak so highly. Our great distance almost pre- 

 vents the hope of ever seeing one in this country. 

 In consequence of the cxpenoe attending a tillage 



farm, I am making mine into pasture, principally 

 with an intention of keeping a flock of sheep, of 

 which I have now about 300. 



Our Grasses arc Timothy, Red Top, and Blue 

 Grass — but not any Orchard. 



This country seems very favorable for most 

 fruits ; we have an abundance of Peaches, large 

 orchards of Apples, which as yet arc rather yoiuig, 

 Grn|.os, Mulberries, &c. 



This country abounds in Stone Coals and Iron 

 Ore: therefore it is very probable, this will at some 

 future time become a great manufacturing country, 

 as the price of provisions is very low and the raw 

 materials of iron, cotton and wool may bo obtained 

 almost in any quantity. We have had one small 

 Foundery put to v/ork, and have another now 

 erecting within about thirty miles. 

 Your ob't servant, 



S. HORNBROOK. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 

 PASTURING SHEEP, &C. 



Rees' Cyclopedia under the head "Close-Feed- 

 ing," gives the following — " It is of much conse- 

 quence to the grazier to have his pastures kept in 

 a state of close-feeding, as the animals are found 

 to do much better under such circumstances, and 

 at t!io same time to be capable of supporting a lar- 

 ger proportion of stock. Speaking of close-feed- 

 ing, Mr. Young has given the following useful re- 

 marks. " In the preceding trials there was not, 

 through the tliirty weeks, scarcely a bent to be 

 seen ; the pasturage was constantly shorn to the 

 ground, and in that state it was remarkable to sec 

 how constantly and even rapidly, it sprung, during 

 the continuance of a drought that was destructive 

 of all produce on the same farm, suffered to run to 

 bent, for hay or other views. The comparison was 

 the most decisive that can be imagined. 



"In all plants cultivated for pasturage there 

 a great effort the moment the seed-stem runs, to 

 which the whole growth of the plant is directed 

 to form the seed ; till then the growth is in the 

 leaves : it is therefore palpable, that the way to 

 have the greatest abundance of leaf, is by feeding 

 30 close as to prevent those stems rising at all. — 

 And he may further observe, that, on this system 

 of feeding, those grasses which yield a very great 

 but coarse produce, become sweet, fine, and valu- 

 able, by thus keeping them close fed. The avena 

 elaiior, or tall oat-grass, is very coarse, but in a 

 field of that grass,of thirteen acres and an half, it 

 was never suffered to rise, and consequently was 

 found, on e.xamination,to appear as fine and pleas- 

 ing to the eye as any of the more delicate grasses, i 

 It is with this view that he is cultivating it large- 

 ly, and also the dadylus glomerata, or orchard j 

 grass, and both are remarkably early. 



" He suggests it as "an inquiry that deserves 

 attention, whether the superior profit of grazing 

 sheep on comparison with oxen, does not depend 

 very much on this point of close-feeding ; for large 

 cattle, the herbage must be kept to a good head 

 to give a fullbite; and consequently innumerable 

 seed stems form, which tend to reduce the pro- 

 duct greatly." There can be no doubt of the great 

 benefit of close-feeding in all cases where the 



grass 



:r 



lands arc covered witli a c 

 sward." 



rUl-LING CLOTH. 



The faculty of being rendered thicker l»y com- 

 pression is peculiar to woollen eubstaoces. Im 

 vain may fabrics of silk and cotton bo subjected 

 to the same process; tliey would not in any length 

 of time, be rendered thicker by it, or ir.oro com- 

 pact in the smallest degree. To account for thi?, 

 it has bccji observed, that the single hairs of wool 

 when vieued in a microscope, arc discovered to bo 

 thickly set witli rougli and jagged protuberances, 

 adapted to catcli and entangle witheach other 

 Wlience it seems probable.that during the violcn' 

 agitation the clolh undergoes in the mill trnugl; 

 the fibres being at every stroke of llie mill ham 

 mer, strongly iM)pelled together and driven into 

 the closest possible contact, at length hook into 

 each other, drnwing closer and closer as the pro- 

 cess continues, till they become thus firmly and 

 inextricably united; each thread both of the warp 

 and woof being so joined and compacted with 

 those that are contiguous to it, that the whole 

 seems formed into one substance, not being liable, 

 like other fabrics,when cut with shears to unravel 

 and become ragged at the edges. 



POISON BT ivr. 

 Wash the part affected with a weak solution o!' 

 pearl ash, or v.'eak lie. 



POtSON BT DOGWI.OD. 



■t,. 



Apjfly a strapg solution of copperas to the par;: 

 affected. 



MOTHS AND BLACK ANTP. 



To prevent moths from eating your clothes, 

 place with them in the chest, either or any of the 

 following substances, viz: cedar-shavings or chips, 

 roots or blades of the sweet flag, tobacco leaves, 

 sheets of paper moistened with spirits of turpen- 

 tine, or bits of camphor. To prevent the little rod 

 and black ants from getting into honey and swec'' 

 moat pots, it is said that sprinkling tlia .shelves 

 where they are placed with black ground pepper, 

 will prove efl'cctual. 



HENS. 



A gill of oats a day, given to hens wiii cause 

 them to lay eggs very plentifully. See N. E. Far- 

 mer, vol. in. p. 50. They also require lime in some 

 of its compounds. Old lime mortar, or plastering 

 of rooms, coarsely pounded, are suitable substan- 

 ces, which should bo placed where the hens can 

 have access to swallow what they choose. 



jiur.RAFN IN noes. 

 It is stated by Y'oung that a handful of nRttIe.=^ 

 is to be previously boiled in a gallon of small beer, 

 when half a pound of flour of sulphur, a quarter 

 of a pound of elecampane, throe ounces of liquor- 

 ice, and a quarter of a pound of aniseeds arc to be 

 added in a pulverised state. This preparation 

 should be administered in milk, and the quantity 

 here stated is sail to be sufBcient for six doses. 



MUaKAIN IN CATTLE. 



A letter to Dr. Mease, Vice President of the 

 Philadelphia Agricultural Society, from Benjamin 

 Harrison of Berkley, Charles-City County. Vir- 



