NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JUI,Y 13. 18.J6. 



exhausted soil, witliout manure ; such yielding 

 most oil. The seed is drilled, and kept clean, 

 an<l the capsules when ripe are shaken into cloths 

 spread upon the ground ; and in one hour after, 

 the oil is made and fit for the market ! This then 

 is the crop for us ; the ])lant flourishes well in 

 light soils. I have this day despatched to Havre, 

 to the care of Messrs Wells & Green, a hox con- 

 taining 23 Ihs. of hrown sugar, 1st and 2d quality, 

 made under my inspection; 6 Ihs. of white pow- 

 dered sugar of great pinity, made from the Beet at 

 Famars, near Valenciennes ; two bottles poppy 

 oil 1st quality as samples, and 2 gallons of puppy 

 seed of the true species, for sowing this season ; 

 which will yield seed sufficient for a good breadth 

 next season. Will yon disseminate this poppy 

 seed ve.y extensively, that we may judge of the 

 proper soil, and the climate best suited to its 

 growth. 



Extract of a letter froin a gentleman in 



London, dated March 30. 

 I enclose a letter from Mr Peddcr. lie feels 

 very sanguine. Has sent Beet seed per Havre 

 Packets. He is very anxious to purchase the seed 

 drill, about ,£20, and proposes having a model 

 made. He considers it a highly valuable machine. 

 I purpose writing to him to say that if he still en- 

 tertains this opinion and a model will not clearly 

 put you in possession ofjts merits. I will venture 

 to authorise his drawing on nie for the amount. 

 Mr Pedder seems very intelligent and assiduous 

 and has been highly favored by circumstances, 

 Dr B. gave him very useful letters, and he tnet at 

 Arras a Prussian professor and chemist, with a 

 draughtsman, in i)ursuit of the same object, who 

 had nearly finished his inquiiirs and gave him the 

 benefit of them i also an engineer sent there by 

 Messrs. Taylor «Si Co. and who is giving him ev- 

 ery information. He says the machinery is ex- 

 pensive and powerful. Mr Pedder will remain 

 in that neighborhood some time. I think you 

 were fortunate in selecting Mj: Pedder ; and he 

 hopes to succeed. 



MAKING CLOVER HAY, IN COCKS^ 



Nothing is so hard to combat as the prejudice 

 of fanners, who think they can learn nothing in 

 their business. We have often recommended cur- 

 ing clover hay in cocks, as the means of doubling 

 the value of this kind of hay, besides lessening 

 the expense of curing- it. Many good farmers and 

 intelligent men have ridiculed the process, because 

 it rini counter to their practice, and was what they 

 could not reconcile to their ideas of good manage- 

 ment. But they wo(dd never make the trial ; if 

 they had done so they would have seen that they 

 were wrong and we right. We beg leave here to 

 say, that in many districts of Great Britain, spread- 

 ing hay from the svvaith, or tedding it, is going 

 wholly out of practice, as causing unnecessary la- 

 bor, and as diminishing the value of the hay. But 

 they are not blessed with our ordinary sunshine, 

 and heat in the haying season. The hay curing 

 process, with them, is a business of some days on 

 account of their comparatively cool climate and 

 humid atmosphere. But with us, when the grass 

 is matured, and thin, and the weather good, it is 

 often the business of a day. But this cannot be 

 the case with us with early mown hay, particular- 

 ly where clover abounds. The grass is then full 

 of juices, and the succulent stalks of the clover re- 

 quire time as well as sunshine to part with their 

 moisture. Spread and exposed to a hot sun, the 



leaves, blossom and exteriors of the stem foon 

 dries, hut in drying the exterior of the stems be- 

 comes iudurated, and refuse, like wood painted 

 wlien green, to part with the interior moisture. 

 The consequence is, the grass must either be 

 housed in this half cured conilition, and spoil in 

 the mow, or if the curing process is completed, so 

 as to prevent damage, the leaves and blossoms, 

 which constitute the best parts of the hay, are 

 over dried, crumble, and are lost. Cured in cocks 

 every part of the grass, whether the leaves or the 

 thick stalks, dries alike, and is alike preserved, 

 and the evaporation of moisture goes on I believe 

 even in wet weather, for a partial, though in no 

 wise a prejudicial fermentation takes place, and 

 the rarified air which it generates, being s[iecifi- 

 cally lighter than the atmosphere, is constantly 

 passing off. 



We have been induced to these remarks, at 

 this timely season, in consequence of finding in 

 the Farmer and Gardener, an agricultural paper 

 published at Baltimore, a conununication from 

 John Smith, fully confirming the utility of our 

 recommendation and long proctice. It would 

 seem that Mr Smith was led to make the experi- 

 ment rather from necessity than from choice. But 

 we will let him tell his own story. 



" When I commenced cutting my clover hay 

 the last season, the prospect for favorable weather 

 was flattering, but in a short time it changed, and 

 it became evident we should have a wet spell. I 

 then dropped the scythes and put all hands to put- 

 ting up the grass (then perfectly green but exempt 

 from external wet) into cocks of about 200 pounds, 

 cured hay, building them compact and high, to 

 avoid the introduction of rain as much as possible. 

 Rain came on before I secured all the cut grass, 

 but the next day was fair, and I succeeded by un- 

 remitted attention in getting the water dried out 

 of the remainder, and put it up in the same way. 

 It continued rainy ten days, and afforded no o|i- 

 portunity to cure in the sun ; the cocks were ex- 

 amined daily, by running the hand and arm into 

 them, and contrary to all expectation, gave no 

 indications of fermentation. At the end of ten 

 days the weather became fair, the cocks were open- 

 ed and found lo be in a perfectly sound condition, 

 except "so far as the rain had penetrated, and the 

 external wetting alone, in my opinion, made it ne- 

 cessary to open it at all. Tell farmers, they need 

 not fear losing their hay on account of unfavora- 

 ble weather at harvest. I have never seen worse 

 weather in hay harvest, and I saved mine entirely 

 well. It is most excellent hay." 



Our practice has been, except in cases of neces- 

 sity, like the one above, to let our hay wilt in the 

 swarth, that is, to cock in the afternoon, that 

 which is cut in the forenoon, and to have the cocks 

 not to exceed fifty to seventy pounds of hay when 

 cured. We are glad to see that a larger quantity 

 will cure well. Let it be remembered that the 

 cocks must not be made by rolling, hut by placing 

 with a fork one layer above another, till the cock 



The Mulberry. — Although fruit trees of near- 

 ly every kind, especially the peach, have suffered 

 severely almost unto death, from the blighting ef- 

 fects of the col 1 and raw weather of last month, 

 we cannot find that the mulberry tree, Biany thou- 

 sands of which have been set out, on various parts 

 of our island — sonte last year, and some the pres- 

 ent — have experienced any disadvantage what- 

 ever. This fact adds another to the many confir- 

 mations of our belief in the excellent adaptation 

 of the soil, situation and climature of Nantucket 

 to the culture of this important plant. On Thurs- 

 day we inspected thoroughly a plantation of four 

 thousand white nmlherry trees, owned by Mr A. 

 Mitchell, and lying about a mile from the town. 

 We could not discover that a single plant was des- 

 titute of evidences of life: indeed nearly every 

 tree exhibited the most promising indications of 

 vigor and thriftiness — while other trees and 

 plants, in the same vicinity, were blasted, or droop- 

 ing under the chills of the late rigid temperature. 

 We learn that other and more extensive planta- 

 tions are quite as healthy. Among those which 

 were examined, were several specimens of the 

 merus multicaulins, which were equally, if not 

 more thrifty than the Italian ; and we are now 

 perfectly satisfied from what we have gathered in 

 relation to the growth of the transplantations, that • 

 both the Chinese and Italian tnulberry will in this 

 place find a most congenial home. Other trees 

 may also flourish here ; but in the language of 

 the old song — 



The blight often seizes both blossom and bud, 



Wliile the mildew flies over the Mulberry Tree. — JVaJt- 

 tucket Inq. 



t ' 



i 



Preserving Cheeses. — For the benefit of the 

 cheese-making sisterhood, please to insert in your 

 valuable paper the following recipe, to prevent 

 new made cheeses becoming fly-blown and mag- 

 goty. Take common garden peppers, let thenti 

 be well dried and pulverized, then simmered in 

 beacon-fat thirty or forty minutes. Strain the' 

 fat off through a thin cloth, and it will he fit for 

 use. 



When a cheese comes new from the press to 

 the shelf, rub it all over with this ju-eparation, and 

 repeat it every time the cheese is turned, and 99 

 in a 100 will be preserved free from skippers. 

 Dark rooms and screens are useless appendages 

 to a cheesery, if this preparation be constantly 

 and faithfully applied. A cheese room should 

 have a window partly open day and night, and it 

 a flv attempts to deposit its eggs in a cheese that 

 has been well prepared in this way, it will "surely 

 die" immediately. — Yankee Far. 



is completed. ilbany Caltivator. 



Rather Backward. — The Montreal Vindica- 

 tor of May, says, — It will be the end of June be- 

 fore planting is finished. Pastures are very back- 

 ward. The orchards are not yet in blossom, nor 

 the forest trees in full leaf However, though 

 the season is unusually late, we may yet have a 

 better and more productive harvest than last .year. 



The Season. — The Claremont, N. H. Eagle, 

 says: Crops promise well in this vicinity — and 

 we hear but few complaints from the farmer. The 

 grass is nearly twice as hea\y as it was last year 

 at this time, and grain is doing well — so, of 

 wheat, though sown rather late. Corn appears to 

 to be rather backward, and in some places of a 

 sickly cast, but the late rains will give it a fresh 

 start, and on the whole, the poorest will be good 

 Fruit trees in the vicinity have not materially suf- 

 fered from the frosts and cold of May, and though 

 some were obliged to plant their gardens anew, 

 we do not but see but that vegetables of every 

 kind are as forward as at the last season. We 

 guess the farmers will have no cause to complain 

 when autumn and winter arrive. 



