VOI-. XIII. NO. 18. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



139 



For the NfiD England Farmer. 

 BONE AND PLASTER MILIi. 



T. G. Fesse.nden, Esq. — Dear Sir, I notice in 

 e New England Fanner of -29(11 nit. the question 



asked yon, ]s there any niill in this vicinity 

 lere Plaster of Paris and Bones can he ground ? 

 bave a Wind Mill in this Town which was built 

 • the ohject of grinding for a Distillery ; since 

 It has ceased to operate I have had no use for it. 

 lis Mill operates two pair of stones, and with a 

 fling alteration may he made to grind not only 

 !ad stuff, hut Plaster or Bones, either or all. 

 iving no use for it, woidd sell it so low as to 

 ke it an object to those wanting a mill to pur- 

 ise. The person who liuilt the windmill, now 

 Charlestown, is a neighbor of mine who I think 

 old he glad of the job to take it down, send it 

 Boston by water, carry it where it may be want- 



and put the same in operation. 

 If yon think proper, you may make this public 



the information of such as are in want of a 

 I. 



Very respectfully. 



Varren, R. I. 6th JVov. 183 4. 



F. SiSSON. 



For the jVcki England Farmer. 

 soil, OF PIiYMOUTH. 

 Ir. Fessende.v — Dear Sir, I beg leave through 

 r valuable paper to correct an erroneous oj)in- 

 wt.ich is abroad relative to the soil of this an- 

 t town. The imjiression seems to be that it is 

 iliarly barren, a mere sand-heap, unsusceptible 

 'egetation, and that our fathers trudged over a 

 :h of sand, like snow-drifts, and subsisted on 

 ters, eels, and clams. This may have been 

 ething near the truth in their ' days of small 

 gs,' but however unfortunate in their location 

 3 our pilgrim fathers, it is clear that their en- 

 rising posterity have successfully applied a 

 3dy to some of the embarrassments with which 

 e good men were afflicted, and meliorated the 

 lition of things far surpassing the conception 

 ie original settlers. True it is that a tract of 



in the vicinity of the town consists of unpro- 

 ive sandy pine hills, hut bordering on the 

 e, our well cultivated soil will compare with 

 )est in New England. The first crop of Ruta 

 (produced in this county, if not in New Eng. 

 , was raised in this town, and obtained the 

 (iuiTi in 1819. Wheat and rye have been 

 uced from our soil at niore than thirty-three 

 els per acre, both of which have obtained pie- 

 ns; of the latter article, forty-three bushels 



raised on one acre and seven rods, by an in- 

 ious farmer in this town, a few years since, 

 vhich a prenduin was awarded bv the Ply- 

 h Agricultural Society. But the following 

 iple, it is believed, sets at defiance the rivalry 

 e most improved agiiculturist. Dr. Charles 

 m, of this town, occupying a piece of reclaim- 

 ramp, has, by judicious management, the past 

 n, prod(tced more than four tons of hay, clo- 

 md herdsgrass, to the acre. The hay when 

 ughly dried, was accurately weighed by the 

 weigher, and the land surveyed with the view 

 iremiuin, hut no premium was offered for hay 

 e Plymouth Agricultural Society. The land 

 jred one acre and a half and nine rods, and 

 isy weighed six tons eight hundred and 

 lounds, being four tons two hundred and 

 sen pounds to the acre. The second crop of 



grass standing on the tneadow, was estimated at 

 more than two tons, but was not mowed. Fruit 

 trees fiom-ish well here, excepting the peach, 

 which generally suffers essential injury from spring 

 frost, and cold easterly winds. In some instances, 

 however, we have witnessed abundance of fruit 

 fmm peach trees in favorable seasons and situa- 

 tions in our gardens. When in your city to view 

 the horticultuial display at Faneuil Hall, a lady, 

 piidiiig herself to be sure on that splendid exhibi- 

 tion, said to me, 'you can have no flowers at Ply- 

 mouth, your soil is so sanihj.' The ladies of your 

 city, Mr. Editor, ought to have more just impres- 

 sions respecting the seat of those, from whom un- 

 der Providence, we derive all our earthly enjoy- 

 ments. They may be told that the Mayflower and 

 the Droscra llotundifolia (Sundew) are natives, if 

 not peculiar, to this town and vicinity ; and of the 

 former, many baskets full were sent in the early 

 liart of summer, to decorate the parlors of the (ne- 

 tropolis; and this would in my opinion, appear to 

 peculiar advantage, if planted on the woody hills 

 of Mount Auburn, the soil of which, I think, would 

 prove congenial to this early flowering and beauti- 

 ful plant. As to our flower gardens, they display 

 a splendor and taste in no respect inferior to those 

 in the city, and hundreds of bouquets might have 

 been furnished from this town, equally splendid 

 with a large proportion of those which adorned 

 Faneuil Hall, (Magnificent as they were, some rare 

 exotics excepted. 



Our atte(npls to cultivate the foreign vines have 

 in general been unsuccessful ; but the Isabella is 

 very productive, and the fruit is delicious, when 

 well (natuied and free from disease. It is much 

 to be desired that some person whose experience 

 and observation entitle him to confidence, will di- 

 rect us to the most profitable method of cultiva- 

 ting this vine. In one instance, within my obser- 

 vation, a vine extends its numerous branches to the 

 roof of a high building, and spreads in different 

 directions several hundred feet. This vine is 

 abundantly productive, hut its fruit is not large, 

 and is every year n[ore or less affected with mil- 

 ifew ; whether this is to be ascribed to any pe- 

 culiarity of location I am unable to decide. In 

 other instances, where the vine has been subjected 

 to moderate pruning, all superfluous and unripen- 

 ed wood cut away, and the whole extent confined 

 to 12 or 15 feet, I have observed the largest and 

 best tnatured fruit, but very close pruning is ac- 

 cording to my judgment always injurious. I have 

 yet had no opportunity to ascertain whether the 

 Catawba grape will attain to a mature state of ripe- 

 ness in our climate, I hope you or some corres- 

 pondent will inform us. It appears in the Farnier 

 of October 22d, that Ja(nes McArthur, Esq. raised 

 the past season, the extraordinary quantity of six- 

 teen bushels of grapes, in the cold climate of the 

 State of Maine; if that gentleman has adopted any 

 method of culture, different from the coinnion 

 practice, the particulars would be acceptable. 



In your paper of the 5th instant, Mr. Editor, 

 you tantalized your readers by a notice of an ex- 

 traordinary large Angouleme pear, which measur- 

 ed a foot round, and took eight gentlemen to eat 

 it. It is hoped that this will .serve to encourage 

 the cultivation of this excellent fruit more general- 

 ly among us. 



Now I hope your readers will excuse me if I 

 recur to some reminiscences to show that fat oxen 

 of extraordinary size were not unknown in former 



limes. In April, 1773, a fat ox, raised by Lieut, 

 .loseph Baker, of Westborough, when seven years 

 old, weighed 2,501 pounds, was five feet eleven 

 inches high, nieasured nine feet three inches round, 

 twelve feet two inches from his nose to his rump, 

 and five feet from the top of his weathers to the 

 bottom of his brisket.* 



Stilllarger. June 24, 1779. I have just had the 

 satisfaction of viewing the largest fat ox perhaps 

 ever seen. He is six feet seven inches high, and 

 weighs on the hoof 3,500 pounds. This noble 

 animal was presented by some gentlemen in Con- 

 necticut, to His Excellency General Washington ; 

 it would seem therefore that at one period they 

 were free from starvation at Head Quarlers-f I 

 presume that our agricultural societies with all 

 their commendable improvements, cannot boast of 

 an ox of equal weight and measure to the one 

 above described. 



I subscribe myself, very respectfully, 



Your humble servant, 



James Thacher. 

 N. B. I am just informed that a friend at Kings- 

 ton has recently taken a pear from his tree, a Bon 

 Chretien, which measures eleven inches and one 

 third of an inch rout(d. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 CUT AND UNCUT POTATOES FOR PtANTIWG. 



Mr. Fessenden — The following details of au 

 experiment to ascertain the relative advantage of 

 planting cut or uncut potatoes is at your service 

 for publication if you think it of sufficient import- 

 ance. 



I planted this year alternate rowaof cut and un- 

 cut potatoes. I put four pieces into each hill of 

 the cut potatoes and two potatoes into each hill of 

 the whole potatoes. The liills were three feet 

 apart, each way, and of course the number of hills 

 in an acre was 4840. The produce of the rows, 

 planted with cut potatoes was at the rate of 

 three hundred and thirty-five bushels the acre, 

 or twenty-three thousand five hundred and 

 twenty pounds. The produce of the rows 

 planted with whole potatoes was at the rate of four 

 hundred and fifty -eight bushels or thirty-two thou- 

 sand and sixty pounds. The difference in the 

 crop in favor of whole potatoes was at the rate of 

 one hundred and twenty-two bushels the acre, but 

 as there were twenty-two bushels more of seed the 

 acre used in planting the whole potatoes the nett 

 gain was only one hundred bushels. However, as 

 one bushel of potatoes at the season of planting is 

 usually worth two bushels at harvest time, it will 

 be more accurate to calculate the gain at seventy- 

 eight bushels. The kind of potatoes planted was 

 the " white blue nose" which is decidedly the best 

 potato fur the table I have ever cultivated, though 

 a moderate bearer unless it receive generous treat- 

 ment. 



EUawodh, (Me.) SdATov. 1834. 



[The above is a valuable article, and the experi- 

 ments which it details, will go near to settle a very 

 important and much controverted point in hus- 

 bandry. — Ed. A/". Eng. Farmer. 



Piles. An ointment of lard, sulphur, and cream 

 of tartar, simmered together, is good for the piles. 

 — Frugal Housewife. 



* Evening Post, April 12, 1773. t My IMililary Journal. 



