46 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AUGUST 80, ISS*. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, WEUiNESDAY EVKNI.NG, AUG. 20, 1S34.. 



PARMER'S WORK. 



Lai/ins; doum Land to Grass. Young's Farm- 

 er's Calendar, under the dale of August oliserves, 

 "This is ilie liest season of the wliole yeiir for 

 Isyinj; down land to grass; and no other is adniis- 

 ■ible for it on strong, wet or lieavy soils. Spring 

 sowings with grain may succeed, and do often, hut 

 that they are hazardous 1 know from forty years' 

 exjieriencp." 



Loudon says, " It is a had system to mix seeds 

 of diflerent plants before sowing, in order to have 

 the fewer casts. It is lietter to sow each sort se|)- 

 nrately, for the expense of going .several times over 

 the ground is nothing, compared to tlie benefit of 

 having each sort equally distributed. The seeds 

 of grass being very light ought never to lie sown 

 in a windy day, o.vco|it by inacliiuery, an equal 

 delivery being a point of great consequence." 



"The j.-ind on which grass seed is intended to 

 be sown should l)e well plouglied and cleared 

 from the roots of noxious weeds. IJefore the seed 

 is sown, the surface of the ground should be made 

 level and fine: Otherwise the seeds will he hmied 

 unequally. When the seed is sown it should lie 

 gently harrowed in, and the ground rolled with a 

 wooden roller, wliicii will make the surface even, 

 and prevent the seed's being blown into patches."* 



The " ftlemoii's of the Board of Agriculture of 

 the State of New York," vol. ii, p. 30, in giving 

 nn account of the methods of culture adopted by 

 the fanners in Rensselaer county, state tliat " Far- 

 mers difi'tir in opinion in regard to the most suita- 

 ble quantity of grass seed. S. Germond, II. VVurtii- 

 inglon, C. I'orter, C. R. Colden, aud some others 

 say that eight quarts of the mixture of clover and 

 timothy s(;e(! slioidd he sown on every acre. And 

 Col. J. Carpenter sows sixteen quarts on an acre. 

 lie says when the grass and clover grow very 

 thick, it will he more tender feed, and more fine 

 liay, and that it will not run out so soon. But J. 

 Philips, G. F,ddy, and mtiny others, consider four 

 quarts as sufficient. 



" All agree that the proportions of the mixture 

 of the seeds should be governed by the nature of 

 the soil. That in a sandy soil three-fourths should 

 lie clover— in clay loam it should be in equal parts, 

 in clay soil but <nie-fourtli clover seed. 



"There should beat lt;ast a bushel of plaster 

 •own nn every iicre of clover and grass lanil of a 

 sandy, gravelly or loamy soil. Also, (ui all upland 

 natural meiulinvs. Two bushels per acre are much 

 better tliati one on sandy or gravelly soils." 



I'ayson Williams, Fsq. of Fitchburgli, IMass. in 

 giving an account of a premium crop of spring 

 wheal, raised by him in 1822, observes that " the 

 quantity of grass seed, used by me is never less 

 than twelve poumls of clover, and one peck of 

 herd's grass [timoihy] to the acre. Here permit 

 mc to observe that inmimerable are the insiances 

 ill this country, where the farnn^r fails in his grass 

 orops by not allowing seed enough ; and what is 

 worse, the little ho does give, with a sparing hand 

 is sufyered to take its chance uinler that pest of 

 agriculture called the bush harrow, which not on- 

 ly drags the stones ami other loose matters into 

 • heaps, but leaves the soil dead and heavv, and 

 does not cover the soil deep enough to strive with 

 the July droughts cflectually." 



* Deane's iVew Enghnd Fan. 



Barn Yard. Now is the time to fuiiiish the 

 raw materials for your niaimre mannfaciories, to 

 wit, your barn yard or barn cellar, hog" pen, 

 &c. Dr. Deane observed "after the barn-ytird is 

 cleaned in the spring, the farmer shiuild em- 

 brace the first leisure he has to store it with a varie- 

 ty of materials for making inanure. For this pur- 

 pose he may cart into it swamp mud, clay„ brick- 

 dust, straw, thatch, fern, weeds, leaves of trees, 

 turfs, marsh mud, eel grass, or even simd and 

 loam. If he cannot get all these kiiulsof rubbish, 

 he may take such of them as are most easily ob- 

 tained. Any of these substances being mixed with 

 the dung and stale of cattle, will become good ma- 

 nure. But some regard may be had to the nature 

 of the soil on whicli the manure is to be laid. II 

 it be clay, the less clay and tfie more briik dust 

 and saml will be priqjcr. If a sandy soil, clay, 

 pond-mud and flats will be better ingredients. 



" All the materials above mentioned, and many 

 more that might be named, will in one year be- 

 come good manure, by being mixed with the ex- 

 crements of the cattle, and prevent the waste of 

 them. And this is thouglit by the best writers on 

 husbandry, to be the che.ipest method a farmer 

 can take to trianure his land, considering the small 

 cost of the materials made into manure." 



Farmers might make a valuable addition to 

 their farin-yard manure, by digging a bole at a 

 convenient distance from their kitchen, about 3 or 

 ■1 feet deep, and sufi'iciently wide to form a com- 

 mon receptacle for the various matters originating 

 iti and about the house ; extending a jiaved gutter 

 from the kitclu;n to it, to conduct soap-suds, and 

 other useless slops into it. When it becomes of- 

 fensive, the ofiensive matter shoidd be covered 

 with earth. That which was thrown up in digging 

 the hole may be a|q)li(^d as long as it lasts. Care 

 should be taken to prevent the water from without 

 from running into it. The receptacle njay be hid 

 from sight by planting an evergreen hedge around 

 it, leaving an opening at the back tor putting in 

 and taking out the contents. 



mode of applying horses' labor is, to vary their 

 muscular action, and revive its tone, by short and 

 frequent intervals of repose. — Quar/cr/i/ Juurnat of 

 Jlsricultvre. 



ADVANTAGES OP SHOUT STAGES IJV DRAW- 

 ING HE VVY LOADS. 



Mr. Stuart Mem'eAth, of Closeburn, propri- 

 etor of one of the richest coalfields in that island, 

 both as to quantity and quality, has very success- 

 fully employed horse power to the drawing of 

 heavy loails, by dividing the load into short 

 stages. Before this expedient was resorted to, 

 each hor.se could travel the dist.-mce of only eigh- 

 teen miles, and return with a load of twenty-four 

 hundred weight thrice a week ; that is to say, 

 the aggregate of the labor of each horse, amounted 

 to three tons twelve hinnlred weight weekly. But 

 by dividing that distance into foiu' stages of four 

 and a halt' miles each, (our horses can make three 

 tri[is daily, anil draw a load of ibirty-tliree hun- 

 dred weight each trip, or nearly five tons daily, 

 01- thirty, tons weekly. Hence according to this 

 method, the aggregate of the labor of each horse 

 amounts to nbovc seven tons weekly. Suppose 

 sixteen horses are employed, instead of making 

 them travel eighteen miles one day, and return 

 with a load the following, the more advantageous 

 plan is to arrange them in four divisions, and 

 make each division travel only four and a half 

 miles in succession. Were this distance increas- 

 ed to ei.x stages, the load might be proportionably 

 increased, with less tiitigue to tho horses; for it 

 will invariably he found, that the most profitable 



ITEMS OP IJSTELLIGENCE. 



Ovlni;;c. On tlie night of tlie Hth inst. a mob with 

 painted faces, collected near the Ursuline Convent, in 

 Charlestown, about 11 o'cloclv, and after burning tar- 

 barrels, entered and set fire to the buildings. The Su- 

 perior, Nuns and other inmates, all females, in number 

 between GO and 70 were allowed only time to put on 

 clothes sufficient to cover them and make their escape 

 by a back passage, before the building was in flames. 

 Property to a large amount, and every thing belonging 

 to the inmates was consumed or otherwise destroyed. 



Four meetings have been held in Boston and Charles- 

 town, and measures taken to bring the perpetratoisofthis 

 base act to justice. 



We have on our tabic an apple presented us by Mr. 

 John Burgess of Bristol, weigliing 1'3 ounces. It was 

 raised on the farm of Maj. Ilez. Munro, and is tlie 

 largest we ever saw at this season of the year. — Harren 

 R. 1. jiiqjer. 



Frvit. We saw some magnificent gooseberries this 



week, the produce of garden, Windsor." Several 



were of an extraordinary size, one, wliich we examined 

 measured three inches round the middle. — jlcadian Ru- 

 cortlcr. 



A Steamboat has recently been constructed in Illinois, 

 which lias made a trip to St. Louis, bearing tlie name of 

 '' THE coldwater;" named not near so much in allusion 

 to the element in which the craft is destined to be used, 

 as to the temperate circumstances which have marked 

 her progress from the foiest to the wave. All the work 

 of constructino;, iittinff out, manninir and navitratino; her, 

 has been done without the aid, or rather the hindrance of 

 ardent spirits. We are glad to see so many ardent spir' 

 ita, sustaining practically the cause of ■■ the cold water" 

 le-forineitlon. There is a fair prospect that tliis boat will 

 not early *' hum out her copjicr." — Lexington Intelligen- 

 cer. 



The Olden time. Compare the rate of travelling at 

 the present time with what it was a little more than a 

 century and a quarter ago. 



E.xtract of a letter from Jonathan Dickinson to Wil- 

 liam Smith, dated Philadelphia, 2d month, 1G!)7. " If 

 any occasion presents write to ine by way of New Eng- 

 land. We have the Post goes there — in fourteen days 

 we have an answer from Boston, and one every week 

 from New York, and one in three weeks from Maryland, 

 and once in a month from Virginia." — Boston Morcuntilt 

 Juurnttl. 



Bite of a Rattle Snahc. Mr. Gains Briggs, of Castlc- 

 ton, Vt. while passing through his field a it-w days since 

 received upon his bare ancle a severe bite from a rattle 

 snake. He killed the snake and then proceeded home 

 in the full belief that he must die. The Vermont States- 

 man says ; — '' Dr. Woodward was called as soon as pos- 

 sible, and although the case was extremely doubtful, Iw 

 is now in a fair way to recover. Much credit is due to 

 Mr. Briggs' wife, who manifested a presence of mind 

 and promptitude of action quite uncommon. It appear* 

 that on ascertaining the situation of her husband, she ap- 

 plied her mouth to the wound, and continued sucking 

 it until the arrival of the Doctor, without which not- 

 withstanding skilful medical aid, it is supposed he must 

 have died. The snake was found which measured 

 about four feet, iuid had three raitlcs." 



Let it be remembered that no instance is known of a 

 jierson's being attacked with cholera, who abstained to- 

 tnlhf I'rom alcoholic drink, unless he was previously de- 

 bililated by some other disease. We frequently hear it 



