NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUHLISHKD BY GEO. C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehoo8e.)-T. G. FESSENDEN EDITOR. 



VOL. XIII, 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 10, 1834. 



NO. 9. 



COMMUNICATION. 



F^or the New England Fanner. 

 HOW TO RAISE THREE CROPS PROM OKCE 

 PLrOUeHING. 



In my comtriuniciilion ptililislied in the N. E. 

 Farmer of Nov. 22.1, 1832, vol. xith, p. 1.54, I 

 only gave you the result of the first of the three 

 crops, hut think I promised to give you furtlr„r 

 inforui:Uion, shouUI it he necessary. And I am 

 now happy to .say that after the turnips the two 

 otiier crops have succeeded well last year, 1833 ; 

 llie grain sowed on them looked very well in the 

 spring, and all who saw it anticipated a large crop ; 

 but towards harvest although there was a good 

 growth the stalks looked thin, and at harvest the 

 timothy was as tall as the grain and in some in- 

 stances overtopped it. The crop however was a 

 good one in quality and a iiiiddling one in quantiiy. 

 It appeared in harvesting that owing to the grass 

 liaving been sown at the same time with the grain, 

 and so early that it had too iDuch possession of 

 the ground and bound it up which prevented the 

 grain from tillering. This, however, might be ob- 

 viated, by sowing 2 bushels of grain instead of 5 

 or 6 pecks to the acre, or by sowing the gr;iss 

 seed later than the grain, or in the spring. I did 

 not grnilge the loss of part of my crop of grain, 

 because my grass had now in the fall got full |)os- 

 session of the ground, and the straw was nearly 

 one third timothy, and this summer I have luir- 

 vested the 3d crop, and the hay was tiie largest 

 and thickest of any meadow that I have i.i any 

 time laid down or cultivated, and it promises to 

 give as good a crop for a number of years, and tlie 

 sward which is entirely covered feels quite light 

 under the foot. B. 



Bridgeport, Slst .litgust, 1834. 



closer contact, the laws of their cohesive attraction 

 are enabled to operate, and a union of these gases 

 gradually taking place in the proper juices, as they 

 descend I'rom the leaf in their appropriate vessels, 

 until arriving in their descent at the receptacle 

 formed for the grain, where an oxyikition of the 

 juices takes place in such a degree as to form mu- 

 cilage, starch, saccharine matter, &c. which we 

 have already shown may be converted into sugar 

 liy the adilition of a sujall proportion of oxygen. 

 It will be seen by this view, that the nutritious 

 panicles must be first elaborated in the leaf, and 

 return to the ear before the corn can be formed ; 

 and consequently, nourishment to the ear is de- 

 rived from that portion of the stalk which is above 

 it, and can receive no further aid from the stalk 

 after the operation of topping the corn in the usual 

 way. The sap which is taken up by the root after 

 the excision close to the ear, is all evaporated at 

 the wound inflicted by the operation, and cannot 

 benefit the grain. 



We will advert to this subject again in future, 

 and will probably make it appear, that the [lortion 

 of stalk below the ear contains much more nutri- 

 ment than the part which by so much labor is 

 saved in the present mode of curing fodder, and 

 even more nourishment than a crop of clover that 

 the same ground would produce. 



The best way decidedly, of using this marl is as 

 a top-dressing on clover, and then turning in the 

 sward while the grass roots are still full of sap. 



We have known land that would produce noth- 

 ing but the poorest pasture, after dressing with ten 

 cart-loads of marl to the acre, produce the follow- 

 ing season, one and a half tons of hay. 



Dr. Diicatel has promised us spe(!imens of the 

 difl'erent kinds of marl lie has discovered, and we 

 have taken measures to obtain some specimens of 

 tlie Jersey marl beds, that we may by comparison 

 determine their similarity. 



Front the Hiillimore Farmer. 

 CORN-STALK FODDER. 



We give on another page of our paper an ex- 

 tract from the N. E. Farmer, on the subject of 

 saving corn fodder; whicli we recommend to the 

 attention of our readers. 



The season is now ajiproaching, when that busi- 

 ness will commence ; and from the long drought 

 of the season, the crop of grass must be very short, 

 which will give to the corn fodder an unusual 

 value. We had by physiological reasoning on the 

 functions of leaves, and other parts of the plant, 

 come to the same conclusion which is proved by 

 the experiment of Mr. Clark, in the essay alluded 

 to ; though we have never before seen the result 

 of direct experiment on the point of the crop of 

 corn being injtired by topping in the usual way. 

 The sap of the plant is carried from the root in its 

 sppropriate vessels, through the stalk to the leaf, 

 where it is spread out on an extended surface for 

 the purpose of evaporation. The leaves here per- 

 form the same office for the plant which the kid- 

 nies do in the animal system, by carrying off the 

 aqueous particles from the blood, and fitting it for 

 assimilation. The sap carrying in solution the 

 gases which compose the substance of the grain, 

 is exposed in the cells of the leaf to the action of 

 lijiht, heat, and electric fluid ; and having parted 

 with the surplus watery particles by evaporation, 

 and brought the oxygen, hydrogen and carbon in 



From the sam4. 

 GOOD NEWS FROAI THE LOWER COUNTIES. 



Dr. Ducatel visited oiif office a few days ago 

 on his return from his Geological survey of the 

 Eastern Shore and Lower Counties of Maryland. 

 He informs us, that he has discovered marl in "-reat 

 abundance on the banks of rivers in Calvert and 

 Charles counties, and on the Eastern Shore. If 

 this discovery is turned to its proper use by the 

 farmers, who have it in their neighborhood, it will 

 be of nmch more value to the country than the 

 gold ndnes of Georgia and otlier slates where that 

 mineral has been found, will ever be. If this 

 marl should turn out to be as beneficial to the soil 

 as that with which we have been acquainted for 

 the last fifteen years in the state of New Jersey, it 

 will, if properly applied, quadruple the value of 

 their land in five years. 



There is great variety in the quality of marl ; 

 some abounds with undecomposed shell, so as to 

 require burning, and will be little diftijrent in its 

 eflfects from the hydrate of lime ; marl of other 

 kinds is composed of disintegrated shells, which 

 have been decomposed by some acid supplied by 

 the earth, and where this acid is the sulphurous, 

 the marl is essentially the same as plaster of paris. 



We have known an experiment with the Jersey 

 marl on potatoes — A piece of ground was selected 

 for the purpose : one portion was planted without 

 manure, another with the usual quantity of stable 

 manure, and a third with marl — It is many years 

 ago, and the quantity yielded is not now recollect- 

 ed, hut the size of the potatoes in the difl'erent ex- 

 periments is quite fresh in our recollection. Those 

 without manure were little larger than hickory 

 nuts ; those with the manure were tolerably fair 

 potatoes, about the usual size ; those produced by 

 the marl were very large, and one being weighed 

 reached the weight of 1 lb. 4 oz. 



VETCHES, &c. PLOUGHED IS. 



Under this article may be inchnled all sorts of 

 green manure. Amongst the most active parts 

 employed as manure, I have found the wild spe- 

 cies of the genus Sina[iis, ploughed in fresh in the 

 bottom of turnip drills, at the rate of twenty tons 

 per acre. The produce brought by auction £12, 

 while the rest of the field manured with twenty 

 tons of farm-yard dung, brought only from £9 to 

 £10 per acre. Other weeds, such as nettles, this- 

 tles, ragwort, &c. produce crops superior to farm- 

 yard dung. Potato stems, fresh ploughed in on 

 clover lea for wheat, I have found to produce 

 crops exceeding by two bolls per acre in quantity, 

 with more proportionate weight of straw, the oth- 

 er parts of the same field manured with farm-yard 

 dung, but otherwise under the same circumstan- 

 ces. The Ktems from three acres of good pota- 

 toes,. will i.janui-B an acre for wheat to much bet- 

 ter purpose than 15 tons of fiirm-yard dung, the 

 usual quantity allowed in that part of the rotation ; 

 clover after wheat beiiig the crop which generally 

 precedes fallow. Under the head of " green ma- 

 nure," I may mention an experiment I this year 

 made with pea-straw converted into dung without 

 the aid of cattle. Having something of that sort 

 on hand about the middle of last May, and being 

 in want of some loads of manure to finish a pota- 

 to field, I had the peas thrashed at the mill, and 

 the straw and chaft" carried to the side of the pota- 

 to field, and made up like a large hot-bed, giving 

 each layer of straw an ample watering. Fermenta- 

 tion soon commenced : and by the fifth day the mass 

 was so far decomposed as to be easily filled into 

 the carts. The eflluvium in filling was almost in- 

 tolerable. It was in this state laid in the bottom 

 of the drills ; the sets of potatoes were planted 

 above, and the earth ploughed over the whole. 

 Notwithstanding the dry nature of the ground, anil 

 the dry state of the weather in the summer months, 

 the part of the field manured with decomposed 

 pea-straw yielded abetter return than where fariu- 

 yard dung was applied. — Loudon. 



MARCH OF IMPROVEMENT. 



A distinguished French citizen has founded an 

 establishment for the preparation of food, to supply 

 the inhabitauts of Paris with good dinners ready 

 cooked, at their doors. Vehicles loaded with vict- 

 uals are to ply the streets at all hours. " Behind 

 these vehicles will be very splendid beufets filled 

 with pullets, chickens, and game of every sort, &c. 

 ready for the spit. A trumpet will announce the 

 approach of the gastronomic omnibus, and will 

 probably attract numerous purchasers." 



