AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 53 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultbbal Wakehoose.) 



VOL.. XVII.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1838. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL- 



AGRICULTURE IN MAINE. 



The capiibilitics and resources of Maine as an 

 agricultural country have been much underrated, not 

 only by strangers but by a great majority of its 

 own inhabitants. It has been looked upon as a 

 place fit only for lumbering, fi.shing and specula- 

 tion, and it was supposed, generally, that she must 

 be dependent upon the fertile fields and prairies of 

 the West for a supply of bread stuffs to support her 

 population while engaged in tliese vocations. Maine 

 has been thrown upon her true resources of wealth 

 in consequence of the great depression in tiie com- 

 mercial world, the failure in part of its trade, and 

 the reaction of the speculations, which so infatuated 

 tnany of her own citizens as well as of the neigh- 

 boring States. Aided by the liberal patronage of 

 the State, and encouraged by the splendid success 

 of two successive seasons, it remains no longer a 

 matter of doubt, but a certainty, that Maine can, 

 not only raise her own bread stuffs, but soon have 

 a surplus for exportation. We have recently re- 

 turned from an excursion in Maine, New Brunswicli 

 and Nova Scotia, of four weeks, having travelled 

 five hundred miles in the former place in various 

 directions, giving us an opportunity to visit many 

 farms and to fall in company with many intelligent 

 men, who are largel}' engaged in agricultural pur- 

 suits, and from what we have seen and heard, have 

 come to the conclusion that were we possessed of 

 tlie spirit of emigration, ive would look eastward, 

 rather than turn our faces to the "far West." 

 Some portions of the State are equal in fertility to 

 any part of our country which will bo seen by the 

 facts which are given below. There are large 

 tracts of it for sale, yet untooiched by the wood- 

 man's axe, which may be purchased for $1.50 to 

 .$2..50 per acre, a short distance from navigable 

 streams, and in one of the most healthy climates 

 in tlie world. 



It appears that the grain worm, so injurious to 

 the wheat crop has not crossed the Penobscot ; but 

 between that river and the Kennebec we found it 

 had been somewhat injurious in many places. Im- 

 mense quantities of wheat are raised this year, 

 exceeding by far the amount raised last season, 

 although it is said not to be quite so plump and 

 heavy; but the quantity sowed was much larger. 



Mr S. C. Clark, of Springfield, gave us the follow- 

 ing statement of the quantity of produce raised upon 

 his farm last season, viz : 

 1100 bushels of wheat on 31 1-2 acres from 31 1-2 



bushels sown. 

 589 bushels of wheat and oats mixed ; two fifths of 



which was wheat on about 13 acres, from 13 1-2 



bushels sown. 

 86 1-2 bushels of rye from 2 bushels sown on short 



of two acres of land. 

 1500 bushels of potatoes on six acres. 

 160 " ruta baga on one fourth an acre. 



7 " white beans. 



50 tons hay on forty acres. 

 400 lbs. maple sugar. 



12 bushels beets and carrot^ beside what were used 



in the family. 



The land way taken from the stump, or -.vas in a 

 wilderness state eight years since. Mr Clark also 

 stated that the poorest man in the town, who by the 

 way, is deaf and dumb, raised eighty bushels of 

 wheat. This town is about sixty miles' from Ban- 

 gor, near the military road from that place to Houl- 

 ton, and was " from the stump," about the same 

 time Mr Clark commenced his operations. 



The Hon. Ira Fisk, of Lincoln, infonned us that 

 he raised last year in township No. 4, adjoining 

 Springfield, 1200 buahels of wlieat, at the rate of 30 

 to 35 bushels per acre : 500 bushels of oats, CO 

 bushels to the acre : 1000 bushels potatoes, 700 of 

 which were rai>-ed on 1 3-4 acres without manure : 

 1100 bushels ruta baga, at the rate of 400 busliels 

 per acre, and 85 tons of hay at the rate of 1 1-4 tons 

 per acre. The produce of his farm was sold on the 

 place to timber-men at tlie following prices. Wheat 

 $1..50 per bushel: oats 42- to 50 cents per bushel: 

 hay $15 per ton : potatoes, 33 cents per bushel. 

 The price this year will probably be somewhat 

 reduced. The cost of clearing wild land, viz. cut- 

 ting, burning, rolling the logs and sowing the seed, 

 is estimated from 12 to .$15 per acre : at these 

 prices it is generally taken on contract. The ave- 

 rage crop is estimated from 25 to 30 bushels of 

 wheat to the acre in tliis section of the country ; 

 and crops of 35 bushels and even more not unfre- 

 quent, which will pay the cost of the land, clearing 

 rnd harvesting, and leave a handsome profit. The 

 land on the seacoast is generally much inferior to 

 many tracts back in the country ; but the adv.anta- 

 ges that are, or may be derived from the muscle 

 beds and other maritime manure will make up the 

 deficiency so far as the raising of potatoes, hay, 

 oats and barley are concerned. As to, wheat, tlie 

 seacoast is not so favorable for its production. 



A farm in Ellsworth, on which arc 90 acres of 

 mowing, produced tliis season by estimation 140 

 tons of hay. It has been mowed fifteen years in 

 succession, and the hay sold, no stock of any con- 

 sequence having been kept upon it, and has not 

 deteriorated. Its productiveness has been retained 

 by suffering the aftercrop to remain on the ground, 

 and by an annual dressing of muscle manure. It 

 was remarked that the shells were somewhat in the 

 way of the scythe, but a heavy roller passed over it 

 in the spring would remedy that evil. A muscle 

 bed attached to a farm is a valuable appendage not 

 often appreciated as it sliould be. 



Indian corn is not much cultivated east of the 

 Penobscot, and in comparison with other grain, 

 very little between that river and the Kennebec. 

 This species of grain is an uncertain crop, and 

 even where favored with tlie best season, does not 

 give so profitable a -return as wheat. We noticed 

 many fields which looked well and to all appearan- 

 ces out of the way of frost, the last week in August. 

 Hay has come in bountifully throughout the State, 

 and tlie prospect for potatoes is generally good, and 

 we see no reason why Maine should not thank God 

 and take courage. J. B. 



GREEN'S STRAW CUTTER. 



Our ingenious countryman, Mr Green, has re- 

 ceived a high compliment, in the encomium which 

 has been passed upon his macliine by the Highland 

 Agricultm-al Society of Scotland. A description of 

 this machine was sent from Canada to the secretary, 

 by Mr Ferguson, who pronounced it " the easiest 

 and the mo.st effective cutter he ever met with — a 

 real first rate machine." The communication was 

 laid before the committee on machinery, who, after 

 making a machine according to the description, 

 and sufficiently testing it, reported that they found 

 it " to bear out all that was reported of it by Mr 

 Ferguson ;" that " it is now ascertained, that it will 

 cut three times more tliaii the best of the common 

 sort, and with less force ;" ani that " one person 

 driving the machine will cut with ease five hundred 

 weight of hay or straw in an hour." This is a 

 high, but deserved commendation. The notice, 

 with a cut of this machine, is published in the 

 society's papers for June Cultivator. 



Green's Straw Cutter, may be had at the office 

 of the New England Farmer. In the next number 

 we shall have an engraving of the machine. How- 

 ever high the commendation of the 'H. A. S. of 

 Scotland may, it is not overrated. — Pub. JV. E. 

 Farmer, 



STEEPING SEED WHEAT. 



We have two communications from Mr J. Hath 

 away, persisting in his notion, that the germinating 

 power of Italian wheat is destroyed by slcepir>^ ,i 

 a few hours in brine ; though Mr H. admits, that 

 his results might in some measure have been pro- 

 duced by the grain having been passed through a 

 smut machine. On tj;e other hand, Mr Hathaway's 

 neighbor, B. P. Johnston writes us, that he soaked 

 tlie seed for six acres, in a pickle as strong as he 

 could make it, to which he added saltpetre, for 

 fourteen hours, and that he never lias known wheat 

 come finer and better. In another case his wheat 

 was soaked twentyfour hours, in brine, that would 

 bear an egg — and afterwards remained in a barrel 

 ten or twelve days, was then sown, and gave a 

 product of twentyfour bushels to the acre. We 

 have other notices to the same effect, which it is 

 hardly necessai-y to detail, as we feel a perfect 

 confidence, from the ten, nay, hundreds of thousands 

 of trials that have successfully been made, that 

 steeping seed grain in brine, and liming it, does not 

 destroy its vegetating principle. Yet there is one 

 other case we may quote, which, if there were 

 doubts remaining, would seem to set the matter at 

 rest. Mr Medary, editor of the Ohio Farmer, 

 steeped the Italian wheat eighty/our liours, in a 

 warm temperature, in a pickle so strongly saturated 

 with salt as to coat tlie grain — and yet every seed- 

 grew. In another instance, tlie seed remained in 

 the liquid, or brine, three weeks ; and of tliis, too, 

 every seed appeared to grow. 



Wliile on this subject of steeps, we will detail a 

 fact communicated to us by Mr. B. V. French, of 

 Braintree, Mass. He steeped seed corn in a solu- 



