VOIi. XIII. NO. 33. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



261 



would produce inore on one liundred. Our ma- 

 lum; is s()read over so nuudi ground, and conse- 

 flui'iuly so thin, tliaf, the rains wash it away, and 

 it docs littie or no jrood ; and all this for no hene- 

 iit, uidcss to make our nanirs look more respect- 

 able on the list of assessments. If a man wishes 

 to buy land tor speculation, he had better let it lie, 

 than waste his time and money in attempting to 

 cultivate more than he can manage to advantage. 



\Vhenever a man enters upon the manageujent 

 of a farm, the first object to which he pays atten- 

 tion ought to be to see that every part is well, and 

 thoroughly, and permanently fenced. Nothing is 

 jnore preposterous than, because he thinks he can- 

 not afibrd the time and expense to make good fen- 

 ces, to ex])0se the avails of all his labor and seed to 

 be destroyed, and at the same tinje teach, not only 

 his own cattle, but those of his neighbors, to be 

 unruly. If his object is to turn his time to profit, 

 there is nothing enhances the value of a farm in 

 the eye of a purchaser more than to see it well 

 fenced, while decayed and ruinous fences often 

 excite prejudice in his nund against the real in- 

 trinsic value of the land. 



When the farm is duly fenced, the next object 

 in course is, by all possible means, to render it 

 productive ; and this object, though attainable by 

 every man in some degree, still opens a field of 

 study which may occupy the mind of the most 

 intelligent farmer with profit his life time. It 

 would surpass the limits of our ])resent meeting to 

 make even the slightest attempt to particularize. 

 I will only remark, that plants require food as well 

 as animals, and cannot, any more than they, thrive 

 without it. A great part of this food or nom-ish- 

 nient they draw from the earth, and if the earth is 

 not replenished with the means of aftbrding nour- 

 ishment, it becomes, as the common phrase is, 

 worn out, and the labor of cultivating it is lost. 



But various plants require various kinds of 

 nourishment. The land, therefore, requires vari- 

 ous kinds of treatment to keep it in order. In 

 some cases, it requires large quantities of manure 

 to be actually applied, and that of difl'erent kinds, 

 according to the natin-e of the land, and 'of the 

 crop to be put on it. Sometimes it may not only 

 be kept in order, but greatly improved, siui|)ly by 

 a proper rotation of crops. It often happens that 

 the treatment which would benefit one piece of 

 land would injure, or at least be of no benefit, to 

 another. Thus, that which would be highly ben- 

 eficial to sand would be of no use on clay. 

 Hence it is a connnon saying in England, among 

 those who use marl as a manure. 



" He who matles sand will soon buy land , 

 But he who marlcs clay throws all away." 



Many people avoid maimring their land be- 

 cause they cannot afford it ; and the same econ- 

 omy teaches some to starve their cattle, because 

 they cannot afford to feed them. The latter 

 practice commonly ends in death just as the cattle 

 get learnt ; and the former if it docs not end in 

 the death of the farmer, will generally end in the 

 transfer of his farm by the bauds of a sheriff. 

 To illustrate the difference by profit and loss, be- 

 tween manuring and not manuring, I svill state a 

 case founded on substantial facts, and I think the 

 result will leave little doubt on the subject. 



There can be no precise standard fixed as the 

 average expense of raising an acre of Indian 

 corn, but for the present purpose I will assume 

 twelve dollars, which I think is rather a low esti- 

 mate than otherwise. I have already stated, that 



Charles Bugbee, of Palmer, in Massachusetts, 

 raised five hundred and fort}' bushels of corn irom 

 five acres. I knew his laud in its original state, 

 and I know twenty dollars per acre was its ut- 

 most value ; and I also know it could not have 

 been mrule to ]!roduce over twenty-five, or, at 

 most, thirty bushels, whatever labor might have 

 been bestowed on it. I will now i)respnt an esti- 

 mate by Dr. and Cr., for five years, had it been 

 cultivated in its former state, and another for the 

 same time in its improved state, and see how the 

 two accounts will compare, and what ^vill be the 

 footings by profit and loss. 



In the first instance I will debit the account for 

 the outsets, and credit the returns thus — 

 Dr. — 5 acres of land of land at .$20, 



5 years' interest at 6 per cent. 



5 years' cultivation of 5 acres, 

 at $12 per acre per annum, 



$100 00 

 30 00 



800 00 



Total, 



Cr. — The same land, 



5 crops of corn at 25 bushels 

 per acre annually, 125 bush- 

 els each at 50 cents. 



$430 00 



$100 00 



362 50 



Total, $462 50 



Making, in five years, a net gain of .$32 50. 



We will now make the estimate on the land in 

 its improved state. 



Dr The ground and interest as before .$130 00 



125 loads of manure at $1, 125 00 



5 loads per acre per year for four 



years afterward, 100 00 



5 years' cultivation as before 300 00 



Total, 655 00 



Cr. — 5 crops of corn at 108 bushels per 



acre, 2700 bushels, at 50 cents. 1350 00 

 5 acres of land, now worth at least 

 $60 per acre, 300 00 



Total, $1650 00 



Leaving a balance on the profit side, of $995. 



However extravagant this estimate may seem 

 to those who have not duly considered the sub- 

 ject, it is no more than a fair view of] the differ- 

 ence between manuring and not manuring. 



As to the various modes of improving your soil, 

 whether by actual manuring or rotation, or both 

 united, and in what manner, you will find at least 

 much information in the various periodicals de- 

 voted to the subject in our own State. Among 

 these the New York Farmer, and the Genesee 

 Farmer, are especially entitled to notice ; but the 

 little Cultivator, edited by the President of the 

 New York Agricultural Society, contains more 

 valuable information on the subjecuthan was ever 

 offered to the public at the same clBtnse. 



But even with the assistance of these publica- 

 tions, imtil the State and county schools shall be 

 established, and in full effect, the most copious 

 source of information will be the united efforts of 

 the State and county societies. It is to social in- 

 tercourse that we owe nearly all the improve- 

 ments which distinguish civil society. Improve- 

 ments which perhaps the most ingenious member 

 of society would never have dreamed of in a soli- 

 tary state, are presented in society almost every 

 day ; and these multiplied iijto each other by con- 

 stant interchange of ideas, are increasing, in pro- 

 portion, the stock of useful knowledge. 



It is true, our society, in its present incipient 

 state, scarcely presents ane|)itonie of wliatwe hayc 

 rcason to hope it will soon ajjpear. But what is 

 never begun can never be accomplished. Tiio 

 astonishing beneficial effects of agricultural socie- 

 ties present themselves around us in every direc- 

 tion. The money and time it will cost individu- 

 ally to make this society highly respectable are 

 too trifling to be worthy of serious notice ; while 

 the benefits resulting from the united efforts of all 

 the talent and enterprise in the county will be 

 beyond the power of calculation. Every one, by 

 bringing his individual stock of knowledge into 

 the general mass, will be entitled to the benefit of 

 the whole, for knowledge never lessens by being 

 divided. Each one will feel his ambition in- 

 creased by emulation, and his desire not to be 

 behind his associates will constantly increase 

 his efibrts for his own benefit. In short, we if 

 consider the trifle it will cost, and the immense 

 benefits naturally resulting from it, it is hardly 

 to be believed that any respectable farmer in the 

 county will withhold his name from becoming a 

 member of the Rensselaer Agricultural Societj . 



woor,. 



The quantity grown in this state is anuufdiy 

 and rapidly increasing, and the quality improving. 

 Farmers generally are becoming better judges of 

 both the animal and its fleece, and raise more of the 

 valuable kinds. The native sheep have been much 

 inqu'oved upon by iutermixure with the foreign 

 varieties, and we bid fair by a careful attention to 

 this branch of agriculture, considering our facili- 

 ties for its prosecution, to rival the English in 

 the quality and weight of carcass, whilst we com- 

 pete with Saxony and Spain in the fineness of the 

 fleece. Perseverance will in a short time effect 

 this, for the American wool is now preferred by 

 our own manufacturers to a rather finer quality of 

 foreign, because it works up better. The home 

 market being .supplied, the prospect is, we will 

 soon sec the time when it will be sought after 

 from abroad. 



The price was about the same as last year, if 

 anything rather better ; the supply on hand now 

 in the country is not large and will jjrobably b«; 

 very nearly consumed by the manufacturers this 

 wiiner and the coming spring. The importation 

 the last season has been small;' and the prospect 

 of the price for the crop of 1835 as flattering as 

 the one just disposed of The last public sales 

 previous to the suspension of navigation by water, 

 (and which are a criterion not only of the quan- 

 tity in market hut the prospect of what tlie price 

 is to be for mouths to come, was quite as good as 

 former sales, and if any thing rather in advance. 

 The price of the article in Europe remains much 

 the same as it has been some mouths previous, 

 although there were reports to the contrary. The 

 manufacturers of woollens in Europe have con- 

 stant employment and brisk demand for their 

 products. — Cultivator. 



To MAKE Castor Oil palatable. — Take the 

 quantity of oil you propose for the dose, and boil 

 it a few moments in an equal quantity of milk ; 

 tlien sweeten it with a little sugar. When the 

 mixture has cooled, stir it well, and administer it. 

 There will be no necessity of giving the child 

 anything to drink after taking the mixture, for 

 the taste of it is more pleasant than any other 

 drink you can give. 



