NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AUGUST 10. 183f.. 



Bein- out in -.he ea^irn section of tlic town 

 the otlier day, we ex|iresse<l surprise to our .-oin- 

 panion, to soe sncli lar-e, l.ixnna.it fi.-Ms ol rye 

 '.ripe fort!..! lu.rv.st "— sncl. promising fi.l.ls of 

 corn, and even fine crops of clover — on what we 

 had heard so often called the " poor pine plants. 

 » Whv (said our friend, who is a distni^'uished 

 farmer) this land is not yet properly appreciated. 

 As one evidence that it is heginning to he appre- 

 ciated, I will state yon a fact. A shrewd and 

 good farmer of this town, went to Michigan and 

 "the West," a short time .-^ince, to find a farm on 

 which to settle.— He looked thoroughly and coin- 

 pared advanta-es then returned, and hought a 

 farm of this " plain land," and is now doing a suc- 

 cessful hnsiness with it. The crops of hay in 

 the meadows and home lots, are very ahun.lanf, 

 the corn looks much better than was anticipated. 

 We hope farmers will not complain this season.— 

 Sprirn^fJeld (Mass.) Rep. of July 30. 



The season.— A few weeks has wholly chang- 

 ed the pr. spe*-ts of the hushandmen. Through- 

 out this part of the country, hut one month ago, 

 there was a melancholy boding of famine in the 

 land. The corn looked pale and sickly ; rye 

 promised but little ; the spring grains looked mis- 

 erably; and grass, having attained the time when 

 haying usually begins, had n t half the usual 



crop. 



Atthat time the late long rains commenced, 

 which postponed the labors of the hiisliandmau 

 for a full month. IJut the delay was bounteously 

 rewarded. Throughout our commonwealth and 

 New Hampshire the prospects are wholly chang 

 ed. In the latter state the.e are such large crops 

 of grass and of oats, as the fannerj have not before 

 8ecn for many years ; and it has become a com- 

 mon remark, that their barns will not be large 

 enough to hold the hay. Rye too, looks well ; 

 corn and potatoes have improved beyond expecta- 

 tion ; and every thing promises abundance. The 

 face of nature never smiled more lovely, than at 

 the present moment; and the who!? earth seems 



filled with the bounties of Providence. Vorlh- 



ampton Gaz. 



FARMING. 



Farming is not exactly in our line, hut sur- 

 rounded by an intelligent agricultural poiiilation 

 ,^ we are, we cannot but feel a deep interest in it, 

 "and at all times be taking " notes of observation." 

 We are pleased with the spirit of inquiry and ex- 

 oil here. The science of agri- 



Similar lots of land, except they were covered 

 with underbrush anddwarf trees and stumps, have 

 been subdued and brought under the finest culti- 

 vation by Messrs Friuk and Delano at the upper 

 part of king street. This section of the town 

 seemed to be given over, by common consent as 

 one of the waste places of Northampion, as it has 

 been supposed, bogs and swamps and such sort of 



places although they drain all the naiirisliment 



from the surrounding territory — were beyond the 

 reach of cultivation. The face of the country in 

 that region has assumed a new aspect. Instead 

 of morasses for musquitoes and swamps, just the 

 |)lace to conceal desperadoes, if we ever had such 

 people here, there are now some of the finest grass 

 lands and fields ready for the coming harvest, to 

 be found in Northampton. We must not omit to 

 say that Dr. Barrett has applied some of his heal- 

 ing balsaui to an old, worn out, piece of land in 

 the same vicinity, and has given vegetable life and 

 new beauty to this old patient of his. We think 

 highly oftlie Doctor's vegetable medicines. — .Vor(/i- 

 amplon Cour. 



periments going 



culture should advance. It has no right to re- 

 main stationary. The farmer ought not tn cling 

 so iiertinacionsly to their way of doing things, 

 when sagacious men point them out more lucra- 

 tive and better ones. We have noticed, recently, 

 some improvements touching these things, whji-li 

 have gratified us amazingly. Mr William Clark, 

 Jr. has converted a piece of low, soggy, wet hmd, 

 north of Round Hill, into a most pi oduclive field 

 of herds grass and clover. It was comparatively 

 worthless, when Mr Clark ploughed it up last fnl!, 

 turning the turf completely over, so tliat the mass 

 of vegetable roots it contained rotted and furni-h- 

 ed nutriment to the soil. A liberal dressmt < I 

 manure, succeeded by sosving it with clover and 

 herds grass, has given a product this year of about 

 two ions to the acre. It is a beautiful piece of 

 soil contrasting gratefully with its former sterile 

 and barren appearance. 



Hf.ai.th. — We often hear people condemn cer- 

 tain ['arts of the country as unhealthy, and there- 

 fore object lo residing therein. All new settled 

 countries are particularly liable to have this ob- 

 jection u. ged against them, which, were the first 

 settlors more cautious in selecting sites for their 

 biiildin.'S, would perhaps be less true. The first 

 settlors, without any due regard to the healthiness 

 of the situation, often loi-ate in the very vicinity of 

 objects the most obnoxious to health, that engen- 

 ders disease and destroys health. Among these 

 may be specified : 



''Marshes, and all permanent leeeptacles of de- 

 caying vegetable matter. 



Grounds which are periodically overflowed. 

 Grounds which are excessively wet from ordi- 

 nary rains during a portion of every year, and 

 which exhibit extensive evaporation. 



Ponds which are drained in the course of the 

 summer and autumn ; and other 



Localities which are occ.-isionally subject to 

 great changes in their condition, and in their iii- 

 fiuenccs on the atmosphere " 



The putrid, poisonous vapors which continual- 

 ly accumulate in such places from decaying vege- 

 table or animal matter, should by all means pre- 

 vent persons from bui'ding in their immediate vi- 

 cinity. 'Vbese vapors being heavier than com- 

 mon"atmospheric air, never rise to any considf-ra- 

 l,le elevation, unless the air is surchargeil with 

 them to an alarming degree. Hence a building 

 being placed on an eminence, and a good degree 

 of caution being used, tolerably good healib may 

 be enjoyed. — Mechanics'' Messtnger. 



A TEABl OP COWS. 



It would perhaps excite a smile, were a man se- 

 riously to propose a substitute of cows for oxen 

 or horses in the labors of the field ; and yet on ex- 

 amination the alternative might not, in n>any ca- 

 ses be found so unworthy of notice as at first sup- 

 posed. W'orking cows is no new thing, and it is 

 liardly possible, unless in certain cases the prac- 

 tice was decidedly advantageous, the custom wouhl 

 have continued so long. Samson accused the 

 Philistines of ploughing with his heifer; an allu- 

 sion without point unless the custom was com- 

 mon ; and when the same enemies of Israel were 

 compelled to restore the ark they had impiously 

 carried off, the cows thn.t were attached to the 

 vehicle went lowing the whole distance. Tlie 

 practice of ploughing with cows is still common 

 in most parts of the east, and in Africa; oxen be- 

 ing very rarely used for that purpose, and horses 

 never. In tbc|etty principalities of Germany, 

 and in some parts of Switzerland, cow teams are 

 L'^nerally iiseil, the necessity of economizing la- 

 bor, and the means of subsistence having clearly 

 rendered such a course the most eligible. In the 

 duchy of Nassau, for instance, one ofthe best cul- 

 tivated and fruitful sections of Euro) e, acconling 

 to the statements of the [resent Governor of Cana- 

 da, the cow is used nearly altogether for the pur- 

 1 ose of farming; and the picture he has given of 

 these teams, driven by women, and conveying the 

 proiliice ofthe conntry to market, as well as doing 

 the other wmk ofthe fiirin, is lively, and well wor- 

 thy of notice. It is true, a team of cows might 

 not answer so well for our extensive wheat grow- 

 ers, or for breaking up the prairies of iMichigan or 

 Hinois; heavy oxen and strong horses will nn- 

 qucstionahly continue to be found the best for these 



I 



Cure for the bi.oodt murrain. — 1 have the 

 following from a friend as a cure for the bloody 

 mnrrain^in cattle, which has succeeded well iii 

 several cases. I will give if in his own words as 

 near as I can remember. If it should be thought 

 worth a place in the Farmer, it may be inserted. 



Take a piece of poke-root as big as a man's fist, 

 supimsed to be half a pound, for a common cow, 

 cut it fine, and two quarts of water, boil it to one 

 qrat, and | our it down when warm. The .lose 

 ,,i;,y be repeated once a day for two or three days 

 until the cure is compete. — Gen. Far. 



nrposes ; yet that by no means (irovcs that there 

 are not cases in which a heifer team would not be 

 preferable. How many small farmers are there 

 in our country, who cultivate but a few acres of 

 land, and who of course require a team but a few 

 days in a year, who might advantageously for 

 these few days use their cows without injury. 

 When we travel about the country, and find many 

 fiirmers w ho think themselves unable to keep more 

 than one cow, yet consider them elves obliged to 

 maintain a s|)an of poor half starved horses, to 

 plough a few acres, or go to mill or to market, one 

 raiinot help comparing such farmers with the Nas- 

 .sau I'.easants, and reflecting, that as a cow can be 

 kept at less expense than a horse, it would be far 

 better, for them to keep another cow or two, break 

 ther.i for a team, use them kindly and gently, and 

 dismiss their worthless horses altogether. Cows 

 in this case would be a double profit, for though 

 experience, where they are used, | roves that while 

 they are used the quantity of milk secreted is le.ss 

 than when at liberty ; vet when their use is over, 

 under fiivorable circumstances, they soon recover 

 what they had lost in milk, and go on as usual. 

 With good keeping, a cow will pay for ber.self in 

 a single year; woiihl it not be better then to sub- 

 stitute sncli valuable animals, where it can be done 

 without permanent injury to them, for the worth- 

 less skeleton carcasses, that caricature and de- 

 grade that noble animal the horse! Let someone 

 Then, who is superior to vulg"r pn-jiidiccs, fairly 

 and carefully make the experiment; let biin give 

 the lesult to the public, remembering that the man 

 who shall enable our farmi;rs to dispense with the 

 horse, by subslilutiiig cow laborfor horse labor, will 

 deserve the title of benefactor to the poor.— lb. 



