•230 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



long, though llie stem was not more than six in- 

 ches. The cause of this is evident ; the nourish- 

 ment which is required for the growth of the 

 plant, can only be obtained by an increased wiae 

 extending surface of the root, and to form this, 

 more sap is often reqiiired ll)an the plant, owing 

 to the poverty of tiie earth, can obtain to itself; in 

 that case a soii is sterile, for the plant must evi- 

 dently perish. 



A root always proceeds in that direction where 

 food is most abundant ; from a knowledge of this 

 fact we should be circumspect in our mode of ap- 

 plying manures, according to the crop and object 

 we have in view. The soil in uiy own garden be- 

 ing shallow, never produced a carrot or parsnip of 

 any size ; but almost every root consisted of nu- 

 merous forks thicldy coated with fibres ; dij;ging 

 two spades deep produced no material advantage, 

 the gardener applying as usual, manure to the sur 

 face ; but by trenching, and turning in a small 

 quantity of manure at Me bottom, the roots always 

 spindle well, grow clear, and have few lateral 

 fibres. For late crops' of peas, which mildew 

 chiefly from deficiency of moisture to the root, it 

 is an object to keep their radiculas near the sur- 

 face for the sake of the light deposi'ions of moist- 

 ure, incident to their season of growth ; hence it 

 v«ill alwoys be found of benefit to cover the earth 

 over the rows with a little well rotted dung, and 

 to point it lightly in." — Iljid. 



Feb. 8, 182S. 



REMARKS ON SALT AS An APPLICA- 

 TION TO SOILS. 

 A writer in Loudon's Gardener's Magazine says, 

 "I have lived very much near the sea beach as 

 well as near salt-works ; I have watched the ef- 

 fects of the sea breeze and salt spray, and always 

 found it rather prejudicial to vegetation than oth- 

 erwise. The pamphleteers will perhaps say that 

 this was owing "to the saline particles not being 

 distributed scientifically ; they were cither sown 

 too thick or too thjn, or not at the right season ; 

 the salt should be measured by the imperial bush- 

 el, and weighed by the fiateiit beam and scales. 

 by men of rank and science." I acknowledge 

 that I possess neither rank nor science, but I hope 

 1 possess a common share of common sense, and, 

 as Providence has ordered it, I possess rather 

 more than a common share of e.xpsrience ; and I 

 refer to the most sensible part of your readers, if 

 a given distance from tiie sea would not deter- 

 mine the case with as great precision as weights 

 and measures ; but such point I could never find. 

 We have all seen a heap of rank manure lying in 

 a field ; we have seen il destroy vegetation for 

 se\eral inches all round ; then all at once vege- 

 tation sprung up most luxuriantly, then gradually 

 diminished, till the efl'ects were lost in the natural 

 Verdure of the field. But, wlicn a he.ip of salt 

 lies in a field, it, like tlie dung, destroys all vege- 

 tation round it ; but whore is the point of Uixur- 

 iousness ? where is so much as a fairy ring ? no 

 where to be seen: the pestilential elTrcts of il 

 diminish as gradually as those of the poison tree 

 wliirh we read of in the Island of Java • or, if 

 certain vegetables seem to thrive, they are cf a 

 particular kind, more resembling marine than ter- 

 restrial natives, and sire actually feeding on t!ie 

 murdered carcasses of their more dt-licate neigh- 

 bors. Pacts like these, uij^ht tench n child that 

 salt waa not a manure. iiUhougb extremely good 

 and useful for many thing?. It destroys weeds 

 and worms ; dead weeds and dead worms arc an 



excellent manure. But, if destroymg a perverse 

 and rebellious generation of vegetables, to make 

 room for a better, be manuring, then a naked sum- 

 mer fallow is manuring ; or, if cutting off nine 

 plants to make room for a tenth, be a manure, 

 then a turnip-hoe is a manure ; for, though only a 

 piece of steel on the end of a stick, it has often 

 procured rae forty or fifty tons of turnips per acre 

 instead of four or five. By way of explanation, I 

 sow nearly four pounds of turnip seed per acre in 

 drills thirty inches asunder, so thi t, without the 

 hoe, they would be little belter than so many rows 

 of cress or mustard. "But," says the man of 

 science, "salt enters into the constitution of plants 

 and therefore must be mnnure." I grant that it 

 does enter into the constitution of certain plants, 

 and I have witnessed some extraordinary good 

 effects from its application ; and I could fill seve 

 ral sheets on that side of tlie question, but am en- 

 gaged at present on the opposite side. It hardens 



the straw, that would otherwise be flaggy it 



makes the grain plump, that would otherwise be 

 shrivelled — in short, its uses are extraordinary, if | 

 applied with judgment; but to call it a manure, is] 

 a kind of false philosophy which I should like to i 

 extirpate from the rising generation, as it would I 

 only lead to futile experiments, foolish arguments' 

 and false conchisions. I make use of great quan- * 

 titles of salt every yea , and did so before the du-' 

 ty was taken off, both rock salt, and salt and ash 

 es. I was then obliged to swear what I was n-o- 

 ing to do with it, and what I had doiie with it, 

 and also give an account of the experiments I had 

 tried with it, some of which have helped to make 

 up the pamphlets 1 have read ; but now I have no 

 more trouble than if carliug from a dunghill. I 

 was at a salt-works a short ime since, and, I sup 

 pose, the greatest salt works in Europe ; 1 bought 

 a three horsn cart full for ten shillings; — they 

 loaded it into the bargain, only one of the men beir- 

 ged sixpence to drink, as he said he had made me 

 a good load, and trod it well so as not to shake 

 off. 1 thought he spoke true, and gave him the 

 sixpence. I weighed it, and measured it, after 

 getting it home ; — it was thirty-seven and a half 

 hundred, an<l measured sixty-two imperial bushels. 

 Now, this was not salt and ashes, but fair, good 

 salt, only not quite fit for a silver salt-cellar ; so. 

 if any one wants salt manure, [as they call it] I 

 think I can tell them where the cheapest shop i^j, 

 I asked a great many questions of the agent, and 

 also of the neighboring fanners, the substance of 

 which would occupy several letters ; but all that 

 I could write, or indeed nil that others have writ- 

 ten or could write, may be comprenended in the 

 following parable : — A certain man had two sons; 

 they wore twins, very much alike in every thing, 

 and in nothing more than in their delii ate com- 

 plexion, and weakly and sickly appearance — they 

 were troubled with worms, a weak digestion, &lc. 

 One of them was put under a course of physic, 

 which nearly killed him ; — but he however got 

 well, and grew quite fat and jolly ; the other lin- 

 gered on for some time, and died at last, although 

 he had always us much roast beef and plum- 

 pudding as lie could set face to. The old man 

 made the following remark, which passed current 

 through the country ; that physic fattened the 

 one, and roast beef starved the other ; and the 

 puffing spothecary, who sold the physic, began to 

 collect evidences of the marvellous cures which 

 his medicines had pel formed, and employed cer- 

 tain scribblers to write in favor of it, some of 



whom over-shot their mark, and published treatises 

 to prove the extraordinary feeding and fattening 

 powers of Glauber's salts." 



FARMS. ' 



A writer in the Mass. Agric. Repository, vol. v. 

 page 320, in treating " on the extent of land neces- 

 sary for a farm, and sufficient to support a family 

 well and independently." has the following among 

 other valuable remarks : " We know men, active 

 intelligent and industrious, possessed of thirty or 

 forty acres of land, who are labouring for others, 

 or taking charge of their neighbours' concernsj 

 upon the avowed reason, that ti.ey cannot support 

 their families on so small an extent of land. But 

 they do not reali-e the actual efficiency of the soil. 

 Undoubtedly there are many honourable excep- 

 tions to the ohservation.-i we are about to make ; 

 as a general rule, however, it may be aEaerted,that 



THE FARMERS OF M A SS AC HDSETTS ARE YET TO 

 LEARN THE IMMEKSE PRonUCTIVF, POIVEE OF A 



PERFfCTLY CULTIVATED ACRE. Instead of seek- 

 ing riches in augmenting the number of their 

 acres, let them be souj^ht in better modes of hus- 

 bandry. As a general truth, we btdieve it may be 

 asserted that every farmer iu Massachusetts, pos- 

 sessed of one hundred acres of land, might divide 

 them fairly by quantity ani quality, into thirds, 

 and by a suitable cultivation, make either third 

 more productive than his whole hundred acres ure 

 at present. This is the operation at which those 

 interested in the agriculture of Massachusetts 

 ousrht to aim — to make faruiers reali.e what cul- 

 tivation can effect, and to teach the modes, by 

 which the productive powers of the soil tan best 

 be elicited. It is indispensable for the success of 

 every undertakinsr that a sufficient capital to car- 

 ry it on, should be at command ; and for that of 

 farming in particular. When there is any defi- 

 ciency with respect to that important particular, 

 the farmer cannot derive sufficient profit from his 

 exertions ; for he may often be oblijied to dispose 

 of his crops at an undervalue, to procure ready 

 money ; or he may be prevented fro.m purchasing 

 the articles he may require, though a favorable 

 opportunity may present itself. An industrious, 

 frugal, and intelligent farmer, who is punctual in . 

 his payments, (ad hence in good crecit) will strive 

 with many difficulties, and get on with less mo- 

 ney, than a man of a differcct character. But if 

 he has not sufficient stock to work his lands pro- 

 perly — nor sufficiency of cattle to raise manure 



nor money to purchase the articles he ought to 

 possess, he must, under ordinary circumstances, 

 live in a state of penury and hard labor ; and on 

 the first unfavorable season, or other incidental 

 uiisfortiine, he will probably sink under the weight 

 of his ai cumulated burdens. In general, farmers 

 are apt to be;:in with too sur II a capital. They 

 are desirous of taking large farms, without pos- 

 sessing the mcins of cultivating them. This is a 

 general error ; for it makes many a person poor, 

 upon a large farm, who might live in comfort, 

 and acquire property upon a small one. No te- 

 nant can be secure without a surplus at command, 

 not only for defraying the couunon expenses of 

 labor, but in case any untoward circumstance 

 should occur. When a farmer on the other hand, 

 farms within his capncity,he is enabled to embrace 

 every favorable opportunity of buying with advan- 

 tage, while he is not compelled, if the markets are 

 low, to sell with loss." — Code of Agri. 



