Published by John B. Russeli., at JVo. ^'ijVorth Market Street, (over the As^iicuHinal Warehouse). — 'f komas Ci. Pesse.ndkn. Editor. 



VOL.VI. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, FKBIUJARY 15, 1828. 



No. 30. 



AGRICULTURE, 



From the Coiioord Gazette. 



AGRICUliTimAL EXPERIMENTS. 



The Societii of Miditlesex Husbamlmcn and 

 Manvfnciurers have awarded tlio following pre- 

 miums for airricditnral experiments. 



To Mr Joseph BLANciiAaD, of Bo.vborough, for 

 'he best cultivated field of Hops, the first premium 



$10 



Mr BInnchard has instituted a series of experi- 

 ments on the following siibjprts ; — To ascertain 

 how much the hop plant is rapablc of prodiicin<; ; 

 — To discover whether luxuriance and fructifica- 

 tion can be tiniled : — To ascertain if the same 

 plant may be continued in the same soil without 

 (leCTeneratinn- ; — To ascertain whether the soil is 

 rendered sterile or fertile by continual cultivation. 

 His results on these points have been very satis 

 factory. 



The field, the product of which in 1827 has 

 obtained the Society's first premium, was thus 

 cultivated. In November 1826, a compost, beiny 

 three parts dark coloured loam and one part stable 

 manure, was marie, to be used on the hop field. — 

 In the spring as soon as the frost permitted, the 

 hops were dressed by ploughing and opening the 

 hills ; the superfluous roots were cut out; and a 

 shovel full of the compost was laid on each hill. 

 The hills were then covered with the mould of 

 the field. Tv.o poles were placed in each hill. — 

 As soon as the plants were grown enougt' lo 

 attach themselves to the poles, the first ploughing 

 and hoeing bei'an, which was repeated on seven 

 successive weeks. At the second and third hoe- 

 ings the field whs manured with compost, which 

 was one ha f green stable manure, the other half 

 dark coloured lo.im. This was laid in small 

 quantities in each hill. Nine loads of manure 

 were used to each acre. Cultivation ended be 

 tween the 10th ami 1.5th of July. The hop pick 

 ing began Aug. 28, and ended Sept. 12. The 

 field contained four .icres and seventy-four rods. 

 This field produced l(i340 lbs. of the first quality 

 hops. The average produce to an acre 2317 lbs. ; 

 the best acre yielded 380!) llis. The expense of 

 cultivation to an acre if 157,42 ; expense to a 

 pound of hops was six cents and eight mills. 



To IMr James Mace, of Bo.xborough, for the 

 next best crop of hops, the second premium, $5 



To Mr Nathaniel Holden of Shirley, for the 

 greatest crop of corn on one acre, the first pre 

 mimn, $1.5 



The acre produced 102 bushels three pecks, 

 and one quart of shelled coin ; each bushel 

 weighiVig 58 lbs. Mr Holden states that he put 

 twelve load-- of barn manure and seventeen loads 

 of rich compost on the acre. The whole was 

 hoed three times ; one third of the acre was grass 

 land on the preceding year. The expense of 

 cultivation was only iS27,80. .. 



To Phineas Whiting. Esq. of Lowell, for the 

 next best crop of corn, a premium of $10 



To Mr. Nathan Grout, of Sherburne, for the 

 best crop of barley on an acre, the first premium 



$10 



This land produced on the preceding year, 40 



bushels of corn by the a-id (if 20 loads of manure- 

 Early in the spring of 1P27, it was ploughed ami 

 then covered with 8 loads of manure, which wyis 

 ploughed in ; the furrows being 8 inches deep. 

 The land was ploughed u third timo by a horse 

 plough, and 52 quarts of barley sowed on the fur- 

 rows and harrowed in. The barley was liarvBsted 

 in July, and the amount was 54 bushels of well 

 cleaned bailey. J'he' quantity of seed' was less 

 than is usual!' sown on an acre, but Mr. (Jrout 

 thinks the crop would not have been greater if 

 the seed had been increased to the ordinary quan- 

 tity. The whole expense of cultivation and seed 

 was $20 Gl. 



LAND IN VIRGINIA. 



Mr Randolph, in a late speech, stated the fol- 

 lowing fact to show the depreciation of property 

 in Virginia. A gentleman purchased a small 

 tract of f-tir land, on which he built a house that 

 cost ,5000 dollars. Beinf obliged to sell a few 

 years after, he sold the land for three dollars an 

 acre, without any allowance for buildings. The 

 purchaser thought he had obtained the property 

 very cheap, but he cannot now get his money 

 hack. In the same quarter, land, some of it good 

 wood land, has sold for one dollar per acre. 



Hamp. Gazette. 



HOPS. 



The inspector of hops at Albany reports that he 

 inspecteil 719.290 pounds of hops during the last 

 vear. Most of them were raised in Madison and 

 Oneida counties, but some in Otsego, Saratoga, 

 Genesee, &c. The market has been dull, and 

 the price has not averaged over 9 cents. This is 

 partly attributed to large quantities of hops from 

 Massachusetts, which are preferred to those rais- 

 ed in New York. — Ibid. 



A FARM IN CHILI. 



An American in ('hili describes an estate own- 

 ed by Don Juan Ovalla, about 30 miles from Val- 

 paraiso ; it is 13 leagues square, (about as exten- 

 sive as the old county of Hampshire.) Ovalla has 

 upwards of li'.UOO head of cattle and an incredi- 

 ble number of horses, which run wild 11 months 

 III the year. Once in a year they are all brought 

 together, branded, such as are wanted taken out, 

 and the rest turned adrift. The branding of one 

 ■f these wild cattle is performed in two minutes. 

 One man throws a lasso over his head, another 

 has him fast by the hind legs, the animal is cast, 

 and the brand applied. — Ibid. 



[From die New York Farmer.] 



Letter from the Rtv. Dr. Miller, to the Secretary 

 of the JVew York Horticultural Society, on the cul- 

 tivation of the Strawberry. 



Pri.nceton, (N. J.) January 30th, 1831. 



Dear Sir, — It is a number of months since 1 re- 

 ceived official information, that the "Horticultural 

 Society of New York" had done me the honor to 

 elect me one of it;^ honorary members. For this 

 unexpected and unmerited honor, I beg the Soci 

 ety to accept of my best thanks. I fear that they 

 will find me ratiier a useless associate ; one who 

 has no other claim to their notice than an ardent 

 desire to learn on the subject of gardening, and a 



willingness to communicate something, though it 

 be ever so little, to the stock of improvement. It 

 was my intention to acknowledge the favor con- 

 ferred upon me, several months ago ; but I was 

 desirous of having something belter to send than 

 a mere letter of thanks. Whether I now attain, 

 in any good measure, my purpose, you will bo able 

 hereafter to judge. 



I am desirous of communicating to you, and 

 through you to the Society, a supposed iroprovc- 

 ment in the culture of strawberries, which is new 

 to me, and which may be leemed worth an exper- 

 iment by those who are fond of that delicious fruit. 

 It was communicated to me by a gentleman o 

 great resppi-tahility, of Somerset county, in the 

 state of Maryland, who has one of the best gardens 

 I ever saw. and who, particularly, has more straw- 

 berry vines growing in it than I ever saw in 6 

 private garden helere. 



This improvement consists in bur-ning the vine'; 

 in the spring of every year. The burning is ac- 

 complished in the following manner: early in the 

 sprintr. as soon as the frost is completely out of the 

 ground, cover the bed nearly an inch thick, with 

 drj! wheat straw. Put fire to it at the windward 

 end, and it will immediately and rapidly consume 

 all the dead vines, grass and weeds which are not 

 covered by the earth, without at all injuring the 

 roots of the vines ; but rather rendering tiiem 

 more vigorous and fruitful. This ought to be done 

 not in n very windy day, or else the flame wili 

 pass ov?r the bed too rapidly, and with too little 

 impression ; and yet not in a perfectly Cftlai day, 

 lest the flame should proceed too slowly, and so 

 scorch the tender roots of the vines : but when 

 a ffentle breeze is blowing, sufiicient to make tlie 

 combustion prompt and equal, and in such a direc- 

 tion as not to endanger adjacent fences or slirub- 

 bery. 



After the burning, the vines are to be left as the 

 flame leaves them, for some days. As .soon as 

 they begin to shoot, they ought to be dressed ; 

 superfluous roots or shoots removed, and the rrass 

 and weeds eradicated with a large knife, or some 

 similar garden tool of easy application. 



The gentleman to whom I referred above, in- 

 forms me that he generally burns one third of hit. 

 vines about the 20th of February ; another thiol 

 from the 1st to the 10th of March ; and the re- 

 maininjr third, about the last of March, or the firs* 

 of April. He supposes, houever, considering tliG 

 difference of climate, that each burning ought to 

 he from ten to twelve days later in Princeton or 

 New York. By adopting this method, he says he 

 secures a succession of crops, and the last croj> 

 much later, than his neighbors. He adds that he 

 has burned his last parcel of vines as late as wlieo 

 they were beginning to blossom ; and not only 

 without any apparent injury, but to their manifest 

 improvement in thrift and productiveness. He 

 thinks, also, that the vines managed in this wa||^ 

 yi.'ld their fruit, not only in a more ctrnvenicnt . 

 succession, but at least a third more in quantity 

 than hthers, on the same soil. 



When this process was first mentioned to m^ 

 my mind revolted at it, as destructive rather than 

 useful. But the gentleman who recommended it to 

 me, declared that he had practised it for a numbef 



