14 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JULY 18, 1$>3S. 



AND gardener's JOURNAI.. 

 Boston, Weokesoat, July 18. 1838. 



AlANb■RES-Co^Tl^uEO. 

 \l hnie 8(inkpn ofiioiiii: of tlie resources, wliicli ev- 

 ery fariner liiis upiin his own prpnuses for giipplyinj 

 liiiimi:!/ Willi manure. We inaj- be chargi-ubl<.' « ith ^onie 

 rcpetiiinnrt ; but iliu iinpurlance of the subject must be 

 our apology. We believe, and tbu conclusion is f. uncled 

 upon no small observation and experience, that aInioBt 

 every farmer has within hia own reach llie means of en- 

 richins; lii,H farm, of extending and improving his culti- 

 vation ; anil finally of carrying his cultivalion to as high 

 a pitch of proiUicliveness.iis llic nature of his soil admits 

 of No farmer should be willing to stop short of tiiis ; 

 and when this is made, as it should be, his great object 

 of pursuit, and he ii willing to devote to it all the atti^n. 

 lion and time and skiil and labor, which men, who aie 

 determined lo succeed, apply in other pursiiiis. success 

 Is equally certain. 'I'hc great rule of accnmnlalion in 

 «his case as in every other is, " Gaihi r up the liagmenis 

 ihat remain that nothing be lost." 



We have spoken o( a barn cellar ; and ofscciirincf tin; 

 contenU ofthn stalls ,Tnd the privy. The value of ne- 

 ce-.sary manure or night soil is v, ry pariially appreciated 

 among us. There is no manure more powerful. The 

 farmers in the neiglihorliood of the cities are beginning 

 to understand it. Jl is object.d by mr.ny that its effVcts 

 are tr,insicnl. So is evrry thing else in this world — 

 Nothing earthly or human lasts long. But we lielirve 

 that in this matter ihe effects are much more durable 

 than is geneially admitled. Within a short time we 

 have seen a field now in grnss, which hid a good dress- 

 ing of it five years ago ; nnd it tells of it in pretty loud 

 tones to this day. The great objection to ils use is in 

 the difficulty of removing it. We have shown in a for- 

 mer nuoiber how in n private establishment this may he 

 entirely obviated. The fanners in the neighborhood of 

 <ho city, who remove the night soil Ironi the cily, are 

 many of them, in the fir.'t disposition which they make 

 of this article, sufficiently slovenly; and ou.'ht tube 

 <iubjected to a more severe police; fur by proper man- 

 agement all offensiveness might be avoided, nnd cer- 

 tainly no deposits near iIib highways or buibiings ought 

 to be in any caye permitted ; the heaps shuulrl be imine- 



\Ve ha^e seen a good deal of f.ii.e modesly and a fas- | made water tight. Tiiey should have access to water 

 tidiousaifectation of delicacy in people, who, feeling that j freely or it should be often conveyed to them. Then 

 they are nude of porcelain clay aii'd not of common dirr^ i Iheir stye should be kept well filled with loam, bog mud, 



are very api to be otfenHed at ihe very wnrd manure; 

 but who in general are much like the sensiiive nnd mod- 

 est lady mentioned by Addison who swooned at nieeiiiig 

 a man on a Klaircas.;, and poor thing was put to b>'d in 

 three moiilhs aflerwarils. We consider every fubject 

 important, which essentially concerns health, and coni- 

 fi.rl, and wealth ; and so far from being offended in treat- 

 ing of them, the spirit of true philosophy and piety will 

 lead lis lo adore the wonderful and bcncfiicent transfor- 

 mations, which ;ire constantly going on around us. 



The next great source of dependence of the farmer for 

 manure should be his hog pen. Every careful farmer, if 

 he will take pains lo get the best breeds of swine, can 

 afToid to keep swim; for the manure they will make, ll 

 is a general impression among fanners that pork can be 

 fuited to advantage when its price in the ii arket is as 

 many cents as there are lens of cents in the price of 

 corn ; as for ex.-.mple when corn is fifty cenn you can 

 ifford to fat pork at five cents a pound ; when coin is a 

 dollar or ten times ten cents, ten cents a pound for pork 

 will be a saving price We believe ihat this rule is 

 rather matter of goess work limn the result of any care- 

 I tul and exact experiments. Mankind are fond of gener- 

 alising; and of leaping at conclusions wilhout any care- 

 ful weighing of jiremises; and almost all) proverb or 

 short rule in matters which are in their nature indefuiite, 

 will gain currency, if lo the semblance of truth you will 

 only add a certain quainlncss of expression In times of 

 lawful money, and before dollars and cents came into 

 fashion, the rule used to be, that poik must briiio- as 

 many pence per lb as there were shillings in the price 

 of a bushel of corn. This shows that this rule cannot 

 bo relied on with very great confidence. Our own ex- 

 perience has satisfied us afler various careful trials that 

 liidiiin corn is worth seventy cents a bushel to give lo 

 fattening swine, wheii pork will bring six cents per lb, 

 in the market. But then we are not willing to give lliis 

 as any certain rule. We only say ihat in cases, where 

 we li:ive kept an exact account this has been the result, 

 and we usually calculate upon it : but thei. it is obvious 

 how much the result may be affected by circumstances; 

 by the breed of swine ; by the age and condition of the 

 subjects when put up ; hy the preparation of the food ; 

 by the mode of attendance ; by the season of the vear, 



•dialely covered with bmin ; and the carls and utensils as j and the temperature ..f the stye ; by the nnmber in the 

 soon as einplied oiiglil to be tliorongMy washt d with | family which you feed, and their gnod temper and good 



manners to each other ; and a variety of other circum- 

 stances. But we refer to this matter merely to say th.it 

 wilh good management there is little risk of lose to ihe 

 farmer in keeping swine ; there is often a considerable 

 gain ; but even if there were a loss from the poik, thtre 

 may be a great profit from ihe manure. Hog manure is 



chloride of lime. The expense would be trifling. Th.ir 

 «s little doubt however that we shall soon have the French 

 melhod of preparing the arlii le introduced among us; 

 A mode by which the crude substance, by the applica- 

 tion of a prepared material lo be found every where in 

 abundance, and at small expense, and which, when ap- 

 plied constitutes about an eighlh part of the composition 



and is in itself a valuable manure, becomes disinfected | lows to work in a compost li-ap, and if you will oot,lik 

 of all bad odor, and brought into such a dry au.l friable 

 <onditiun ihat it may be packed in hairnls, and trans- 

 ported any distance; and used upon the land wiiiioul 

 .inconvenience or offence. As yet no provision has been 

 made for saving the liquid portions of this manure ; but 

 we know some individual cases in which this is s ivi^d 

 with tlVe g.'cat'"-''! "are, and lo great advanla;;e. In ihis 

 •nsiance a cO'"i<l'''able pile of mould is eollecled under 

 <over in a enivabl" place; and all the liquid from the. 

 liouse is dai^y BiK,' ''■"''■'""y I"'""''' i'P"» if- The heap 

 •ibecomes thus thoroii '''^' ''"l"'<'g"''''''' "'''' ilufcniliziiig ' to lay down with the 

 fjunliiies and fotma ■'' '""''I'' manure fir any purpose, have cniiilnrtalile, shailcd, and well littered apaitioems 

 We m.nke n.i ano;,i,„ f, .» ••■I'mg so lounely a subject in for sleeping rooms They sImuM h.ive a spacious, and 

 1>P plainest uianiiir .,p^,,' ,'«■ V' I'i'" ^^hoevil thinks." rememhcr, a will-pavei yard to work in, if possible 



leaves, straw, sea weed, scraps of leather, some saw dust, 

 some spent tan, but iliese in small proportions, decayed 

 vegetables, weeds, and every other substance, which 

 you^an find, which can bo convened into manure, and 

 which you have no other way to dis(>ose of. Then 

 again, if they grow lazy, and as the Virginia negro said, 

 get lo be geiillemen and will not work, shorten their 

 allowance somewhat, and making holes with aciow-bar 

 among the deposits of the siye bury here and iherc a hand- 

 ful of corn, and ihey will soon learn the an of mining; 

 and will show you that ihey can find the corn though it 

 were buried as deeply as the antienis thought Iruih was 

 in a well. In this way iheir labor will be turned to the 

 best advantage. You will begin to get rid of your Jew- 

 ish prejudices and feel some respect for this despised 

 animal ; and your corn fields and grass fields will soon 

 show you ill their favor a hmg column of credits. If in 

 former limes some of iheir kindred were deemed fit only 

 for ihe possession of evil spirits, you will perceive no 

 occasion for continuing and extending the malediction 

 to the whole race ; hut you will regard them as well en- 

 tilled to their place in the animal community and their 

 share in the commou gcmd lliings of tlio caitli ; and if 

 you can contrivo any mode (and what Is there in this 

 age of improvement not to be liojied for) of softening 

 their temper and improving their voices and mending 

 their manners, you may at la>i admit tliem lo the cliarac- 

 ler of humble and useful friends. But we will give you 

 breath. We have other topics hereafter. 



JMassachnsetts Uortiraltnral Society. 



EXHIBITION OK FKLHTS 



Saturday, July 7, 1S38. 

 Grapes — A basket of fine appearance from an 141)- 

 known souiee. 



Mroieierr/fs. — Methven Castle from the Garden of 

 Mr J. L. L. F. Warren of B'ightim. 



Apr cots — From Col. Wilder from his garden, Dor- 

 chester. 



For the Committee, 



WILLIA.M KENRICK, CA«irman. 



VEGETIBLES. 



Bfc(s.— Bv Mr S. Sw.eiser, of Cambridgeport. 

 Idluec^^y Mr 1'. Hill, ol Gioion. 

 Bmn*.— I'.y' James L. L. F. V^ar^en, Brighton. The 

 six week Bean. 



For the Commiiiee, 



S. POXD, Chairman. 



KXIIIBITION OF FI.OWKRS. 



Rnsts. By Messrs T. Lee and S. N. Johnson. 

 Dahlias. By Dr J. C Howard. 



Hecilliaa Ocianiums. By Col. M. P. Wilder; (hose 

 were the best specimins we have seen of 8cedling 

 Geianiums. Some ol them desiTve a name and a 

 pl.-icc 111 every good collection. We consider Mr Don- 

 in ilself of the richest quality ; swine are excellent fel- aid, (Col. W's. gardener.) as being very successful, and 



notice when we shall liavo 



[he iCgyptian desp it, doiipel them to make bricks witli- 

 oul straw ; but will give them an ample supply of the 

 raw maferi ll, they will be sure to turn you out an nbun- 

 'lanco of the inauuhictun d articl - of the very best qual 

 ily 



Now hogs lo do this mtisl be y.roperly accomniodaud, 

 in spacious and wi-li prepared coinpartmeiits by ihciii- 

 sclvrs; and not suff.-red to run at large in the highway 

 like many ol your cismopolitea in the city, nor as we 

 aclually saw one a f 



lajs ago, broii.ihtinto the parlor charm, and wherever you place 

 Idren on ihe floor. They should you destioy its beauty 



his plants entitled lo furtlii 

 a suitable opportunity. 



liouqutts. f$) Messrs \V. Kcniick; Ilovey & Co.: 

 Winsliip; Howard ; J. Hovey : Meller ; and S. Wal- 

 ker. .Among ihe specimens exhibited by Thomas Lee 

 Esq.. of brookline. we noticed several native plants of 

 gieat beauty, viz. liliododendron m.xinium; Cymbidi- 

 utii.''; M.iiinnli.i glaiica. iVc. Arc. 



In Ihe Bouquets of Mr \V. Kenrick, wo noticed the 

 Ohio l.ily, and a variety of the old While I.ily wiili an 

 irregular purple pitch "r liiige. .\s this last variety 

 was pailiciilarly brought before us. we give it as our 

 [liiiion that the pure whiteness of the lilj is lis great 

 patch or spot upon it 



lliir. 



'Ev^ 



port ol t; e :50th ult. we omitted 10 noiico a 

 men of Liriodendrou tuliplfera, presented by Dr 

 u ol Raiidolpii, fnuii the only niitive fee known 

 isl ill the coiiiiiy of Norfolk. We shall call on Ur 



