198 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 4, 1828. 



'le was equally astonished and di-'lighted with the 

 beautiful and majestic appearance of one of these 

 plants. On examination it was found to measure 

 •33^ feet in circumference, and on it were found 

 the astonishing number of 832 handsome flowers. 

 There is every probability that this is by far the 

 greatest number of flowers ever seen in this coun- 

 try, on any of these splendid plants grown in the 

 open air. — Scotsman. 



"Why are you so melancholy." said the Duke 

 of Marlborough, to a soldier after the hatUe of 

 Blenheim. "I am thinking," replied the man, 

 "how much iiuman blood I have this day shed for 

 sixpence !" 



We are informed there were, a few days since, 

 22 vessels taking in and unloading Rough Rice 

 for the London and Liverpool Markets, in Ashley 

 River, near the Charlpston Bridge. 



Remarkalih Hybrid. — There is at present, at 

 Berlin, an anirnal produced between n stag and a 

 mure. The appearance of the creature is very 

 singular — the fore part is that, of a horse, and the 

 hinder part, that of a stag ; but all the feet are 

 like those of the latter animal. The king has 

 purchased the Hybrid, and sent it to the Pfanen- 

 ins<'!, at Potsdam, where there is a menagerie. 



An action was brought in the Court of Common 

 Pleas, (London) by a person who had been injur- 

 ed by a m schievous bull, against the owner of it. 

 A verdict was found for the plaintiff; — Damage-" 

 £10.5. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



_ BOSTON, FRIDAY, JAN. 4, 1898. { 



(HFTlie suhjecis suggosletl by F. H. P. not noticed in his 

 Communioalion in this week's paper, will be attended lo a»oo- 

 casion may offer. 



WASTE LANDS SUBDUED. 



It appears by certain statements, and calcula- 

 tions, in the last number of the London Quarterly 

 Review, that in Great Britain, "since the commence- 

 ment of the last century, upwards of six millions 

 of acres of land have been brought into a state of 

 tillage ; and, that no less than eleven parts in 

 tvielve were inclosed in one reign, that of George 

 HL, the steady and constant patron of agricul- 

 ture. 



"Notwithstanding these praiseworthy exertions, 

 it is estimated that England alone, still contains 

 about six millions of acres of waste land, yielding 

 but little produce ; and that, including Scotland 

 and Ireland, the quantity of waste land in this 

 kingdom cannot fall short of thirty millions of 

 acres. How much of this may be incurably bar- 

 ren, it is impossil-le to ascertain exactly ; — but 

 there is every ground to believe that a very large 

 ploportion of it is capable of being rendered high- 

 ly productive, under n skilful and energetic sys- 

 tem of tillase. Upwards nf two hundred years 

 have now elapsed since the British government 

 has almost exclusively directed its attention to 

 the cultivntioii of its forein-n possessions, leaving 

 the improvement of its territory at home to the 

 exertions of individuals. It is not too much to 

 say, that this country Iirs e.\-pended upon the cul- 

 tivation of its fornign colonies, a sum which do"s 

 not fall short of fifty millions ; and upon wars aris- 

 ing from its connexion with those colonies, no less 

 than two hundred millions. If a moiety of this 

 ."ium had been expended upon our own territory, 

 no rational man can doubt that extensive tracts of 



land which are now waste, would have been re- 

 claimed, anu that an incalculable addition would 

 have been made to the produce and population of 

 the country. "Industry," says Harte, in his ad- 

 mirable essay, " is the vis matrix of husbandry,and 

 .m ancient English writer well observes, that a 

 single uncultivated acre is a real physical evil in 

 any state." 



It would be not only curious, but useful, to cal- 

 culate, as near as possible, the quantity of waste 

 land in the older and more populous parts of the 

 United States ; and also to form some estimate of 

 the quality of such land, and what it is capable of 

 proilucing when reclaimed and well cultivated. A 

 great part, and perhaps the greater part of the 

 waste lands in New England, consists of swamps, 

 and land naturally too wet to produce anv kind of 

 vegetation which is useful to man or ilomesticated 

 animals. This land, however, in general, when 

 drained, subdued, and judiciously tilled, is much 

 more valuable than the uplands, which beino- 

 cleared and cultivated with less labor, attracted 

 the first attention and monopolized the first efforts 

 of our tirst settlers. It is hardly too much to say, 

 that the best lands in iMassachusetts, (on an aver- 

 age) ::re still in a state of nature ; an<l although 

 it vvDuld require much labor and expense to sub- 

 due them, their superior value when subdued 

 would amply compensate for their subjugation. 



Another kind of waste lands, of which there are 

 great quantities in a:l parts of the United States, 

 are called pine plain and shrub-oak lands. These 

 are reclaimed with less difficulty, and are very 

 easily tilled, when once brought under the plough. 

 These lands, witli aid of gypsum, clover, turnips, 

 &c. may be made perhaps as profitable as the 

 stronger and stiffer soi's, which are generally held 

 in much higher estimation. 



LICiUID MANURE. 



As a farmer, like a chemist, should lose none 

 of his materials, but even make his washings, run- 

 nings, and residmims turn out to his advantage. I 

 have sent you some account of an experiment I 

 have made in manuring land which I beg you will 

 lay before the committee of agriculture, that they 

 may communicate to others. 



I am possessed of a farm of near three hundred 

 pounds a year, and have in my yard what you 

 usually see in farmers' yards, two recesses or 

 pools, as reservoirs of dung and water. These 

 reservoirs are continually running over, and of 

 course a part of the matter contained in them is 

 carried off by the necessary drains, into the high 

 ways, ditches, and rivers. 



As much of the essential quality of the dung is 

 lost in this manner, (for parts of the salts, whether 

 fixed or volatile, will be washed into the pools, 

 and when they run over, will be conveyed into 

 the ditches, &c.) I tho\ight it good husbindry to 

 carry this superabundant water or manure, (for so 

 we may justly call it) on my Innd. wliiih I did by 

 means of a watering cart, not unlike those with 

 which the roads neat London are watend in the 

 summer time to allay the dust. 



'J'hat the experiment may be the more obvious 

 and certain, I first tried it in the 'legirning nf 

 March on a few acres, in the middle of a lar<;e 

 field of wheat, where, in a little timf. I found a 

 considerable increase of growth, both of grass 

 and grain ; and at hay time and harvest both the 

 one and the other were much belter crops than 

 what the same lands produced that were not so 

 manmed. 



As a man, or even a boy, with one of these 

 carts, and one horse, may manure a great deal of 

 land in a day, provided it be near the yard, I 

 would recommend the practice to all farmers ; for 

 tfle. expense is nothing but the value of the time 

 of^the boy and horse, and the increase, by what I 

 have seen, will be very great. 



This manure may be also laid to great advan- 

 tage on land, that is fresh sown with barley, oats, 

 or any other grain ; but on grass it should be laid 

 in the spring, when the lands are laid up for hay, 

 as the cattle will not feed on grass, while the 

 dung or its essence or salts adheres to the herb 

 age. 



This dung water should likewise be carried on 

 the land, not at a time when it rains, but in dry 

 weather, and at a time when the dung water in 

 the rool is of a deep brown color, and strongly 

 impregnated with salts. By this means, the land 

 may be manured from time to time, and the pools 

 kept almost empty for the the reception of fresh 

 matter whenever it rains, and thus nothing will 

 be lost. — English Publication. 



In order to form a proper repository for that 

 part of the farmer's liquid manure which consists 

 of the washings of the farm yard, the yard itself 

 should be situated and formed according to the 

 following- directions by Judg*- Bue , of Albany : 



"I will now suggest a cheap and practicable 

 mode of providing food for i-egetables, commensu- 

 rate to the means of every farmer of ordinary en- 

 terprise ; and that my suggestions may not be 

 deemed theoretical, I will add, that 'I practise 

 what I preach.' " 



"The cattle yard should be located on the south 

 side of, and adjoining the barn. Sheds, substan- 

 tial stone walls, or close board fences, should be 

 erected, at least <m the east and west sides, to 

 shelter the cattle from cold wimls ami storms, the 

 size proportioned to the stuck to be kept in it! — 

 Excavate the centre in a concave form, placioo- 



• the earth removed upon the edges or lowest sides. 



i leaving the borders ten or twelve feet broad, of a 

 horizontal level, to feed the stock upon, and from 



' two to five feet higher than the centre. This may 

 be done with a plough and scraper, or shovel and 

 hand-barrow, after the ground is broken up with 

 the plough. I used the former, and was employed 

 a day and a half, with two hand* and a team, in 

 fitting two to my mind. When the soil is not 

 sufficiently compact to hold water, the bottom 

 should be bedded with six or eight inches of clay, 

 well beat down, and covered with gravel or sand. 

 This last labor is seldom required, except where 

 the ground is very porous. My yards are con- 

 structed on a sand Inam, restinsr on a clay subsoil. 

 Here should be annually deposited, as they can be 

 cnnveniently collected, the weeds, coarse grass, 

 and brakes of the farm : and also the pumpkin 

 vines and potato tops. The quantity of these up- 

 on a farm is very great, and are collected and 

 brought to the yard Mith little trouble, by teams 

 returnins: from tho field. And here also should 

 he fed out. or stre\<ed as litter, the Hay. stalks, 

 and husks of Indian corn, pea and bean hftulm, 

 the straw of (Train not wanted in the stables. To 

 still farther augment the mass, leached ashes and 

 swamp earth may be added to advantage. These 

 ranterials will absorb the liquid of the yard, and 

 becoming incorporated with the ercrementitioiis 

 matter, double or treble the ordinary quantity of 

 manure. During the continuance of frost the ex- 

 cavation gives no inconvenience : and when the 



