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JNEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 11, 1828. 



In countries subject to severe winters, the sea- 

 son for planting is the litter part of March or the 

 besjiuning of April. Trenches, eighteen inches 

 wiile and tivenly deep, must first be prepared. — 

 Could these trenches have been miide in the 

 course of the preceding summer or autumn, it 

 would be still better ; the earth, thus having had 

 time to lay open to the aii, would Ire mure favor- 

 able to the plant. I'he most economical and ex- 

 pei:itiou8 way of performing this operation is by 

 using the plough, and going three or four times 

 over the same furrow with it ; after which, the 

 loose earth is taken out with the spade, and the 

 trench made to a proper depth. If the plantation 

 be but small, or the expense no consideration, the 

 best way is to work the ground altogether with 

 the spade, and turn it up in all directions. 



Ill lands which are very dry, you must plant 

 from titteen to eighteen inches in depth; the drier 

 the soil the deeper you must plant. In rich soils, 

 from twelve to fifteen inches are sufTnient. The 

 plants ought to be placed four, five, or si.\ feet 

 distance troin one another, according to the qual- 

 ity of the soil. The richer it is the more distant 

 the plants must be. If horses be used for plough- 

 ing, the rows o.glit to be placed at six feet dis- 

 tance ; and at seven, if o.xeii be used. The rows 

 must be in a straight line, in order to facilitate 

 tne ploughing. Finally, if the spade be only used, 

 the plants may be placed at five or six feet dis- 

 tance, both ways — but in all cases, care must be 

 taken not to place the plants of one row immedi- 

 ately opposite those erf the next row. 



The best mode of planting the grape vine, is 

 this : You lay down six inches of the plant, flat 

 at the bottom of the furrow or trench, and lean 

 the upper part of it on the si !e of said ditch, so as 

 to form the fig'ire of an angle, then placing one 

 foot on the roots to press them flat with the bot- 

 tom of the ditch, you cover the plant with three 

 or four inches of good soil well pulverized, or two 

 handfuls of moistened ashes, which are pressed 

 strongly over with the foot. After which, the 

 trcinch is filled up with earth, only leaving out, 

 uncovered, two eyes of the plant. The trenches, 

 at the time of planting, must be free from vi^ater; 

 if any should remain in them, wait until they are 

 dry. 



Rousseau's Herbal. — We have just seen the 

 MS. Herbal of the Philosopher of Geneva. It con 

 sists of eight small folio volumes, bound up neatly 

 in vellum, each volume having a thong of the 

 s'me material bound three or four times round it. 

 The plants are crushed flat, and fastened to the 

 paper with gum ; and the natural history, or rath. 

 er the scientific description of each, is written on 

 the opposite page, in Rousseau's small, beautiful 

 hand-writing. A very pleasing scent exhales 

 from the volumes when open ; and neither the 

 leaves nor the flowers of the plants have lost their 

 brilliant colors. The MS. is valued at three hun- 

 dred guineas. — Weekly Revieio. 



tato flour, and one third wheat flour, 're e»en su- 

 perior to those made wholly of the latter. On or- 

 dinary lands, 100 bags will be produced from an 

 acre, so that 6000 lbs. of flour may be obtained 

 from an acre of land. Potato flour is now much 

 used in Scotland. 



An earth has been discovered in Virginia, which 

 contains portions of Gypsum, and is successfully 

 used as a manure. 



Method of sultins Butter. — Take of sugar, one 

 part — nitre on" part, and clean salt two parts;' 



beat them well together and put it by for use. 



To every pound of butter, [when it is freed from I 

 tiie butter-milk] take one ounce of the prepara- 

 tion, and mix it thoroughly together Butter salt- 

 ed in this manner and put down in tubs withal 

 little nieited butter poured over the surface, to fill 

 every vacuity, before the top is put on, will keep' 

 for many years. 



Dfth'ia. — This most beautiful autumnal flower- 

 ing plant is a native of Mexico, and of late intro- 

 duction into this country. It has more than 150 

 varieties now cultivated in Europe. 



Potato Flour. — A Dorsetshire farmer, who has 

 recently made some experiments in the prepara- 

 tion of this article, states as the result, that a bag 

 of potatos (240 lbs.) will produce 60 lbs. of flour ; 

 and that plain puddings made with two-thirds po- 



From Ihe New-York Farmer. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF CARROTS, 

 BEETS AisD PARSNIPS. ' 



To insure a good crop of any of these roots, it 

 will be requisite to be provided with a sufficient 

 quantity of well fermented heavy manure, which 

 muy be laid on the griund two inches thick, and 

 broken with the hoe. The ground should be deep 

 dug and the manure well mixed with thesoil. This 

 work, where thesoil is light and dry, I would 

 prefer having done in autumn, so that the manure 

 might have time to be incorporated with the soil ; 

 and in the spring the ground should be dug over! 

 again. Parsnips and carrots may be sown as soon 

 as the ground is fit to work in spring, but beets ] 

 are more tender and are easily killed with frost' 

 when young. For carrots and beets, the drills 

 should be drawn at the distance of 18 inches from 

 each other, and 16 inches between the 5th and 

 6t-h drills ; which will throw them into beds of 5 

 drills. This is a great advantage in cleaning, as 

 the 16 inch space serves the purpose of an alley. 

 and keeps the beds more open and loose. The 

 seeds of beets should be dropped into the drill at 

 the distance of three inches, seed from seed, as 

 the beet seed sends up several plants from each 

 seed ; and by having them dropped at that dis- 

 tance a great deal of labor is saved in thinning, 

 and the plant has a better chance to advance from 

 the beginning. Carrots ought not to be sown too 

 thick ; it will therefore be requisite to rub the 

 seed well between the hands to take off" the beard- 

 ed ness which is attached to the seed ; this will 

 make the seeds adhere less to each other, so th:it 

 it may be sown rnoie regularly along the drill — 

 When the plants of beets or carrots have put out 

 four or five leaves, they should be thinned out to 

 the distancs of six inches, plant from plant ; the 

 beds should be kept clean by frequent hoeings, 

 till the plants cover the ground, when the seeds 

 will be eflTectually kept down by the crop. 



Parsnips should have 16 inches between the 

 drills, and an alley of 20 inches between every 

 four drills ; they should be thinned out to 6 or 7 

 inches, plant from plant ; when the vines are very 

 luxuriant, they should be broken down either by 

 trampling them with the feet, or by drawing a roll- 

 er over them ; this process takes but very little 

 trouble, and is of great service to the swelling of 

 the roots. In the keeping of these roots through 

 winter, great care should be taken to have them 

 dry, that is, in a dry place. Parsnips will stand 



the winter where they grow ; so that those for 

 sprint; use may be auflfered to remain till wanted 

 for the table. 



Carrots and beets may be laid in a pit three 

 feet deeu and two and a half wide, and covered 

 with two feel of earth, well beat witti the spade 

 to send off the water. Parsnips shoulu be laid 

 into the pit with a layer of earth or sand between 

 each layer of routs, whicli will keep them well 

 colored and free from rust, which they ^re very 

 sulij'Ct to when laid up without ha.wng earth be- 

 tween iliem. In planting out any of th&se roots 

 for see.', the most genuine roots are to ^ e selected ; 

 they sh' ul bn pl.inted up to their i ecks in the 

 ground, at the distance of three and a tialf feet; 

 when they send up Mieir flower stems a stake 

 should be put down beside each plant, to tie them 

 to ; and it may be requisite to run cross bars be- 

 tween the stakes, especially for beets, which 

 should be well tied up. Wiien the seed begins to 

 ripen they shou'd be looked over, and the ripe seed 

 taken off", which may lie easily known by the 

 change which takes place in the color. Carrots 

 change from a light green to a blown ; and beets 

 get likewise of a brownish color. Parsnips get to 

 a light yellow, and will lose their seed with the 

 first wind after its arrival at maturity. The seed 

 first taken off should be kept by itself, as the ear- 

 liest on the plant is generally of a superior quality 

 to the later produced part of the seed. The seed 

 when taken up should be hung or laid in an airy 

 room or loft, till it is perfectly dry ; it should then 

 be rubbed out and put in boxes or bai;s, and kept 

 till wanted. WM. CURK, Gardener, JVeiv York. 



To keep butter from groiidng rancid To one 



peck of fine salt add one ounce of crude sal am- 

 moniac, and two ounces of salt-petre, both finely 

 powdered ; and mix them well tugethnr. With 

 this mixture, work your butter till the milk is en- 

 tirely extracted ; and then put it in firkins, salting 

 it with the above preparation, to such a degree as 

 to be palatable. This mixture is stronger than 

 the clear salt, and of course less is required. 



Early Potatos for feeding sivine — It is a good 

 practice to plant some early sort of pqtatos on a 

 small fertile piece of ground near your hog stye ; 

 which together with youF peas (if you have any) 

 will enable you to bring forward your pork, and 

 half fatten your hogs before your Indian corn is 

 ripe enough to gather. 



We notice as uncommon productions of the sea- 

 son, (says a Charleston paper) the artichoke, as 

 large as the crou ii of a man's hat ; and straw- 

 berries of a very large size, which we saw this 

 morning. They grew in the vicinity of Canons- 

 borough. 



Peas. — Field peas should generally be sowed as 

 early in the spring as the ground can be got into 

 proper order. The last week in April, or the first 

 week in May will do very well, but if the soil is 

 a light sandy loam, which is recommended for 

 that crop, they may usually be sowed siill earlier 

 to good advantage. But when it is feared that 

 they may bo infested by bugs it will be safest to 

 sow them as late as the Kith of June. Col. Wor- 

 thington, of Rensselaer County, New York, " sow- 

 ed his peas on the 10th of June six years in suc- 

 cession, and a bug has never been seen since in 

 his peas. Whereas, his neighbors, who have not 

 adopted this practice, have scarcely a pea without 



