10 



NEW 



ENGLAND 



FARMER, 



APRIL 5, 1«37. 



BOSTOiN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1837. 



FARNF.H'S WORK FOR APRIL.. 



Sprisg Whkat. — Great care sliuuUi he t;il<en wilh 

 n "iird to the s.red (roiii whlili \vu atteinpt to obtain our 

 crops, iind particularly of wlie.it. " One error In re innv 

 mar oor whole Bystem, anil render nnr skill productive 

 ol lis much evil as good On poor and worn out land, 

 tlu; evil of sowing impure seed with grain or grass seed 

 ..'ould be great; but wliun the ground is in high order, 

 the crop IS more injured ; the noxious plants take tirm- 

 er h' Id, and are more dilBcult lo he eradicated .♦ It 

 wmiKl be bcil.r for a farmer to pick over his seed wheat 

 by single handluls, than to sow cockle darnel, tares and 

 otlie: vegetable nuisances." 



A correspondent gives the following directions for 

 preparing seed wheat; " T!ie only successful course is 

 to prepare the seed about Ion days before sowing lime 

 This is done by selecting clean and plump seed, passing 

 it through water in a tub about half a bushel at a lime, 

 and washing it and skimming off the matter that floats ; 

 then empty it into a basket to drain ; then lay it on a 

 clean floor, and rake in two quarts of slacked lime and 

 one quart of plaster to the bushel, and if too dry, sprin- 

 kle on water, and continue to stir it till all is covered 

 with the lime and plaster. In this way you may pro- 

 ceed until you have prepared your whole seed. Let it 

 remain in a heap one day, then spread it and move it 

 daily, until it becomes perfectly dry ; it is then fit to 

 sow, and you may then sow it if the land should hap- 

 pen to be quite wet." 



The same writer observes that " the quantity of wheat 

 to ;in acri!, should be a bushel ami twenty quarts. In 

 the process of sowing, you may not be able to apportion 

 your seed exactly to the acre ; tl erefore, when you 

 have sowed and ploughed in ihe quantity proposed for 

 the acre, you may gather all that remains, with llie 

 liine and plaster, and sow it on the whole piece of land, 

 passing across the furrows. This will make it even, 

 and cause a very equal distribution of the seed, which 

 may then be h.irrowed. After the wheat has come up 

 three or four inches above ground, sow one bufhel of 

 plaster 1.o the acre, or house ashes, equivalent, as you 

 please, or leached ashes, increasing the quantity." 



A writer in the IMaine Farmer of the 28th ult., with 

 the signature B. S., gives the following statement on 

 this subject : 



"A gentleman, who for several years has been a suc- 

 cessful cultivator of w'heat. has pursued the following 

 method. He ploughs the bind he intends to be sown 

 with win at, as late in the fall as possible, with the fur- 

 rows running north and south ; so ihatevery part of the 

 surface shall be equally exposed to the sun s rays. In 

 the spring, as soon as the fiosl is out sufficiently to lev- 

 el the ground, lie puis on his team with a stout harro*;, 

 and sows his wheat without legard to the e;uliness of 

 the season. Here let me remark, that 1 believe spring 

 frosts seldom, if ever, injure grain in the least; but an 

 early frost in the fall is very liable to, especially if it 

 come w'liile the grain is in the milk. 



" I suppose the success of the gentleman alluded to 

 above, to depend principally on his practice of late 

 ploughing and early sowing "*■'•** 



" The eggs or larvae of insects are early deposited in 

 the earth, in such cells and with such supplies of nutri- 

 ment for their infantile state as their natures require. — 

 The parent insect does not anticipate, and of course 

 makes no provision for their disturbance or removal. — 

 Late ploughing etfectually dislodges a great portion of 

 them from their winter quarters, and exposes them to 

 .t.iB sudden changes of weather — ihe alternate wetting 

 and drying, freezing and thawing, which we inevitably 

 have late in the fall and early in the spring. Tiiis ex- 

 posure is more than they can endure, and the natural 

 consequence is, that they perish in myriads." 



be obtained, entitled Ci.AHO.vtAN Sciiooi,, by Schuyler 

 Clark, Prof.-ssor and Superintendant. This school is to 

 consist of 10 classes of 30 [lupi's each ; five classes ol 

 males and five of females They are to occupy 10 

 rooms, which are to fiunished for the following branch- 

 es ; — ist. Language; English, Preiich, i^panisli, &c. — 

 '2d Jlathemaiics, 3d Geography, History, Astronomy,- 

 Geology and fiolany, 4lh, Natural Philosophy, 5th, 

 Drawing and Painting, Oih. Music, 7th, Elocution, Sth, 

 Orthography and Deliiiiliun.'Jlh Penmanship and book- 

 keeping, Kith, .^lor.ilily, Moral and Intellectual Philos- 

 ophy and Political Economy. 



"'The two great ditficulties " according to this Pros- 

 pectus, '• in most of the schools now in operation are 

 these: 1st— Having pupils of different ages, (perhaps 

 trom six years of age up to twenty) taught in the same 

 room at the same time— and 2d — Having the same 

 teacher instruct ill many branches. In the Claronian 

 School, those great dirticullics will be eoni|.letely avoi- 

 ded, by liaving a u?acher for every priiuipal blanch of 

 study, and by classing the school so that only those ol 

 the same nge or capacity, shall be in the same room at 

 a time, and having all the classes^pass in regular rota- 

 tion into all the rooms. * 



" Winnisimmet Village, [the site of the proposed] 

 school] is situated one mile and three-eights north-east 

 of Boston, and is esteemi d one of the most healthy and 

 delightful places in the vicinity. It communicates witii 

 the C.iy by the Ferry steamboats, whichare very safe 

 and convenient, and pass usually every 15 minutes. 



"A Journal of tlie proceedings of the school will be 

 published semi-monthly, and sent to the palrons of the 

 school." • 



Mr Schuyler Clark, the Proprietor and Superinten- 

 dant of this school is recommended by Rev. Horatio 

 Alger, and many other re.*|)ectable gentlemen. Refer- 

 ences are given to Rev. Win. Croswell. Rev. O. A. 

 Br.iwnson.Ur John C. Warren, Dr John B. Brown, Jo- 

 seph W. Ingraham, Lewis G. Pray. 



We have a high opinion of the ;j/«;i which it is pro- 

 posed to puisue in the conducting of the Claronian 

 School. Division of labor, and one tiling at a time, are 

 as impoitant in inental as in manual operations. If a 

 student is obliged to attend to a number ol branches of 

 science at once, or in quitk succession, he will make as 

 slow jirogress as would a firmer, who should undertake 

 to cultivate twenty dirttjrenl fields, under as many dif- 

 ferent crops and courses of tillage at the same time ;— 

 and, therefore consumes the tune of his laborers in 

 coursing from one lot to another, performing shifting, 

 and therefore shiftless operations. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAI- SOCIKTY. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Saturday, March 125, 1837. 



John A. Kenrick, Newton— Hubbardston Non- 

 ode Island Greening, Gardner Sweetning, Old 



Fro' 



such 



PSmnain, Flushing Sjiitzenburg, and Seaver Sweet- 

 ing. 



From Joseph Sumner, Roxhury — A handsome red 

 sweet Ajiple, ranking with the best of the season, which 

 the Connnittee piopose calling the Sumner Sweeting. 



From Mr R. Manning, Salem — A basket of winter 

 Nelis. or good Malinoise I'eais, in a fine rating state ; 

 about the size and shape of the Sukle, melting, with a 

 slight aromatic flavor: if the tree is of free growth, and 

 a good bearer, no one who likes good fruit in his grounds, 

 should be without one or more of these; althi'Ugb t!ic 

 fruit is small, we should consider the season, and fine 

 preservation, melting and aromatic flavor. 



For the Committee, 



B. V. FRENCH. 



mer they are said to render delicately white, and the 

 benefit derived from the latter, is in ihe opinion of ma- 

 ny growers, nearly equal to that obtained from oilcake, 

 in point of the weight of flesh, and so .supeiior in flavor 

 that in the island it always commands tlie highest price. 

 Cows- fed upon them during ihe winter months are said 

 to produce butter of a color and flavor equal to that of 

 the most luxuriant grasses. In Jersey 25 pounds are 

 given daily to the cows with hay, and the cie.-uii is nn>ro 

 abundant than from an equal quantity of milk, and the 

 cows differently fed — seven quails producing as much 

 as seventeen ounces of butter. — Yankee Far. 



Dong. — It is common, at this season, to haul to the 

 fields, the dung destined for the spring crops Fermen- 

 tation and waste often ensue before it is liuried in the 

 soil. To avoid this loss — wo allude to unf riiieiited 

 dung — the dung should be 1 lid in compact piles, of not 

 exceeding eight loads, where most convenient to be dis- 

 tributed, and as soon as the ground beconn^s thawed, 

 covered with six or eight inciies of earih, and the sur- 

 face smoothed witli the spade. The manure will sel- 

 dom ferment before the ground thaws. The earthy 

 covering imbibes the gaseous matters, and protects the 

 dung fnun the wasting influence of ihe weather. When 

 crops ai-e dunged in the hill or furrow, with long ma- 

 nure, the dung sometimes fails to rot, for want of mois- 

 tuic to bring on fermentation, and is consequently of 

 no benefit to the crop. When the dung is spread broad- 

 cast, and ploughed under, this difficulty never occurs, 

 and the dung becomes better incorporated with the soil. 

 — Cultivator. 



Novelty in Education. — We have received a print- 

 ed sheet containing a Prospectus of a proposed plan (or 

 educating youth; which tons is new, has a pleasing 

 appearance, and we should suppose from the degree of 

 consideration we have as yet been able to give the sub- 

 ject, will prove of practical utility. A School is pro 

 posed to be opened in April or the first of May, of the 

 present year, provided a sufficient number of pupils can 



• See a communication by the late Dr O, Fiske, N. 

 E. Farrier, vol. i. p. 222. 



Parsnips — a field crop. — The labor and mode of 

 cultivating tiie parsnip are about the same as those of 

 the carrot. The parsnip produces a larger crop, its av- 

 erage product being rated at 24 tons the acre, and that 

 of the carrot at 12 tons. The parsnip also contains a 

 far greater proportion of saccharine matter than does the 

 carrot, is grateful to the palate of farm stock, and is 

 greatly conducive to their fattening. It possl>s^es anoth- 

 er advantage ovar the carrot, in its hardiness — it may 

 be left in the ground till spring, and not be injured >y 

 the frost. In the Island of Jersey, it forms a regular 

 part of the field system. The roots are fed in a raw 

 state to the hogs and horned cattle ; the flesh of the for- 



Important to Farmers — An esteemed correrpon- 

 dent has given us some infornration rel.alive to the 

 planting of corn, which we think must be highly use- 

 ful to farmers, and would perhaps prove a beiielit to ihe 

 corn market generally, were it adopted. Hundreds of 

 thousands of bushels are annual y destroyed by birds, 

 (particularly the black. bird and crow) uhiih might be 

 preserved by a very simple mi:tliod. The birds will pull 

 it up the moment it appears above ground, and eat the 

 seed. In order to prevent its destruction, the farmer 

 should first soak ihe seed well in soft water, until the 

 chit is just on the eve of bursting through, then turn it 

 into a vessel of tar, made soft by moderate warming, 

 and stir it thoroughly until every grain is well coated, 

 'when i'- may be separated for planting. Work in some 

 pounded plaster, when planting, and this seed the birds 

 will not disturb ; it will come up rank and fine, and pay 

 well for th.' trouble. If the corn is not soaked well be- 

 fore coating it with tar, it will not be likely to come up, as 

 the tar will natuially prevent the necessary moisture 

 from penetrating through it. This has been tried by 

 firmers who never could get a good cro|) of corn in any 

 other way, and found to succeed admirably. — Su7i. 



HiDDE.N Trf.asuue. — A curious circumstanee has oc- 

 cured at Parr, near Liverpool. An old laily sold a prop- 

 erty in land, and fmcying there were coals henealli the 

 surface, reserved her right to them — but oftered to sell 

 ilto the purchaser fin- £100. The offer was declined. 

 The old lady died, and left her light as a valuable leg- 

 acy to some neices, who were of course greatly annoy- 

 ed at receiving nolliir g better. At length ihey contrived 

 to induce some persons who were supposid to have more 

 money than nrt, to undertake the expense of boring on 

 the land (an expensive undertaking) to ascertain wheth- 

 er there were coals or not. The boring continued for a 

 considerable time, to the great amusement of persons 

 connected with collieries, but at last to their great as- 

 tonishment, the chagrin of the purchaser and the un- 

 bounded delight of the legatees, two delfs of the best 

 coal in Lancashire, were discovered extending nearly 

 the whole breadth of the land that could easily be work- 

 ed. The coals were immedia ely purch.ased by the pro- 

 prietors of a neighboring colliery for £20,000. On sub- 

 sequent borings, throe lower delfs were found, which 

 the same persons purchased for £15,000. — English pa- 

 per. ^ 



Died at Dalkeith, Scotland, on the llth of Feb., Mr 

 James Tliorbuin, Senior, aged il4 years, father of Grant 

 Thorburn, of New York. He was the thud generation 

 fiom the pcLsecuted Covenanters, referred to in Scott's 

 " old Morality." He remembered Prince Charley and 

 his rebel arrny, passing the house where he dwelt, 

 marching to the battle of Preston Pans. He was 75 

 years a member of the church ; and lived ihe life, and 

 died the death of a Christian. 



