286 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



BIARCH 13 1839. 



A>D HORTICULTURAL RKGISTER. 



Boston, Wbdnesdav, Mabch 13, 1839. 



AGRICULTURAL MEETING. 



The seventh agricultural meeting was attended at the 

 Representatives' Hall on Thursday. The subject of con- 

 versation was the redemption of waste land ; sand, salt- 

 marsh, hog or peat. The discussion was animated and 

 instructive. 



The commissioner read to the meeting several interest- 

 ing communications on the subject of reclaiming lands, 

 among others from Mr Moore of Concoril ; Mr Fay of 



Marlboro; Mr of Chelmsford ; Mr Brown of Sau- 



gus; Dr Bancroft of Groton, and Mr Phinney of Lexing- 

 ton. Each of these gentlemen had had much practical 

 experience in the matter ; and the communications were 

 interes'.ing and instructive. 



Mr Bruwn's communication stated an extraordinary 

 improvement in the recover)- of si.\ acres of swamp. Be- 

 fore he commenced his operations this tract for any use- 

 ful pii^ose, was worthless. With the courage of a man 

 exactly fitted to drive off the trespassers from the disput- 

 ed territory, or to follow Putman's wolf into his den, he 

 began this improvement ; first by ditching and draining ; 

 and then by the extraction of the slumps, and roots, and 

 logs. lie extracted logs in some cases sixty feet in length ; 

 and found three tiers of stumps or roots, lying one above 

 the other. He ultimately succeeded in clearing his land 

 and dug out two hundred measured cords of wood and 

 sM most of it in charcoal, from this six acres. His land 

 is now brought into a highly productive state, and is not 

 overvalued at one hundred and twentyfive dollars per 

 acre. The whole expenses attending this improvement 

 were8li8 dollars, and the balance in favor of thi experi- 

 ment was .•$■31)4,23. The whole statement in all its de- 

 tails and jiarticulars will presently be given to the public. 



Mr Moore at Concord has been equally successful, 

 though his expenditures have been far less. The exten- 

 sive meadows to tlie south cast of the beautiful village of 

 Concord were of no productive value, and indeed \VBre 

 offensive to the sight. By ditching, draining,- reiiioving 

 the bushes, paring, turning the sod, spreading loam and 

 sind, with some manure intermi^ced, he has obtained 

 large crops of grass and corn. From 81 rods of this 

 meadow, which he was induced to measure mcrelv as 

 matter of trial, he obtained this year 3805 lbs. of well 

 made hay; and from other parts at the rate of more than 

 ninety bushels of corn to the acre. 



Mr Fay's improvements have been considerable and 

 successful. The first experiment of cutting up all the 

 turf and piling it in stacks, and then burning these stacks, 

 and spreading the ashes was found to be too expensive 

 for profit. He now merely turns the sod over, and as 

 soon as it becomes dry burns it as it lies, and the ashes 

 are already placed where it is desired they should be. 



Dr Bancroft's method is lo pare when- hassocks abound 

 and putting them in stacks burn them and spread the 

 ashes. In other cases he ploughs his land and plants po- 

 tatoes on the inverted green sward, carrying on an abun- 

 dance of sand and gravel, and sometimes loam to bury 

 his seed of potatoes without making ajiy hole for them. 

 In this way he gets the surface in the course of the sea- 

 son reduced and prepared to receive the grass seed, or 

 otherwise he plants a second time. His lands required 

 occasional manuring; but are rendered liisiily productive. 

 In no part of the .state perhaps have there been finer im- 

 provemen s made in the redemption of this species of land 



than in Groton ; and il is rather striking to observe that 

 in the immediate vicinity of and adjoining to land on 

 which the most beautiful and productive improvemenU 

 have been made there are large lots of land of the same 

 character as this was, remaining in the dog-in-the-manger 

 state, which the owners through a strange perversity will 

 neither improve themselves, nor suffer others to im- 

 prove. 



Mr Phinney s improvements have been extensive, sub- 

 stantial and extraordinarily successful. He ditches and 

 drains his lands, especially by cutting drains round the 

 margin of bis swamps, which communicate with the 

 main ditch, as it is well known that much of the water, 

 with which these swamps are filled, is either top-water or 

 comes from springs in the neighlioring hills ; he (hen com- 

 pletely inverts the sod and lays it Sat, rolling it where it 

 is practicable. He does this with a plough prepared for 

 that purpose if the nature of the land admits of it; or 

 otherwise with a bog hoe, and it can be done in this way 

 at the rate of about 20 dollars per acre. He sometimes 

 takes advantage of the season ; and when the frost is 

 suffi- iently out jf the ground for the plough to penetrate 

 about three inches, he turns over w-ilh success and ease 

 this land, upon which he could not go with a team, if the 

 frost were entirely out. After the land is completely ditched 

 and drained and the sod completely inverted and rolled, 

 he applies about 20 loads of compost mannre to the acre 

 and sows his grass seed ; and the land yields abundantly. 

 He deems this kind of land, after such improvements are 

 completed, as the most productive land among us. Form- 

 erly he w-as accustomed to sell this land at the rate of 

 three dollars per squai-e rod for the right of digging the 

 peat two spits or about five feet deep — this would give 

 4-0 dollars per acre— he considers it now moi-e valuable 

 to be kept for grass. 



These are very important statements, and their com- 

 munications will be given to the public ; and the whole 

 siiljject of the improvement of these lands fully treated 

 in the commissioner's report on the agriculture of Mid- 

 dlesex. 



The meeting was afterwards addressed by Dr Stearns 

 of Sudbury, who gave an instructive account of his im- 

 provements of the marginal lands round his peat mead- 

 ows and swamps by under-ground draining ; — by Dr 

 Stebbins of Swansey, vvho gave an account of the re- 

 demption of the lands atlloboken, N. Y. ; — byMrPearce 

 of Marthii's Vineyard, vvho spoke of the improvements 

 eO'-cted on his farm by the use of lime ; by Dr Keep, 

 who wished to explain more fully the views on the Use 

 of lime which he formerly gave to the meeting, and 

 which he thought had been misapprehended ; by Mr 

 Buckrainster of Framingham, who detailed his improve- 

 ments by inverting the green sward on marginal lands 

 without draining, and applying compost of loam and ash- 

 es ; and by a gentleman from Taunton, who gave an 

 agreeable statement of his own improvements, mingled 

 with some interesting sketches of his personal history, 

 in his struggles to subdue his father's prejudices. The 

 father having passed from the gristle of youth into the 

 bone of manhood, it was very difficult to make him take 

 up the line of march in the course of modern improve- 

 ments. It was however the good fortune of the son to 

 succeed ; and to compel from him the last acknowledg- 

 ment, which an old man ever willingly makes, that the 

 young do know something which their fathers did not. 



The meeting broke up at the appointed hour with an 

 evident impatience for another session. It was agreed 

 therefore to adjourn the meeting to the ensuing Thursday 

 at the nsu:d hour and place, and the subject suggested 

 for discussion were the cultivation of roots and fruit 

 trees. 



H. C. 



THE WHEAT BOUNTY. ] 



Agreeably to an order of the House of Represents I 

 fives, the Secretary of State presented to that body oi ' 

 Saturday, an abstract of the returns of the bounties paii 

 for Wheat, by the several towns in the Commonwealth' 

 showing the quantity of Wheat raised in each town fo: 



' which the bounty has been claimed and allowed,— the 

 number of claimants in each of said towns, the amoun 

 allowed upon such claims, the names of the towns fron; 



' which no cbims have been received, and the names oil 



j the towns whose claims were disallowed. The abstract! 



I was ordered to be printed for the use of the House. 

 It appears from this abstract that returns have been re- 

 ceived from 221 towns ; the number of claimants 3633- 



j the number of bushels of Wlieat raised (for which iht 



; bounty has been claimed) 97,195 1-2: and the vvhoU 



I amount allowed |;9421 9-2. 



I From 76 towns no returns were received. Of these 1] 

 j was in the county of Suffolk, 21 in Essex, 20 in Middle-! 

 j sex, 2 in Worcester, 4 in Hampden, 2 in Berkshire, 8 in 

 Norfolk, 4 in Bristol, 4 in Plymouth, 10 in Barnstable ' 

 From ten towns, the returns were not made in conjpli. 

 ance with the law. 



RAW AND COOKED FOOD FOR SWINE. i 



Mr Editor— Suppose I had six pigs or shoats to win- I 

 ter, all of the same breed, age and weight. Three ol 

 them I place in a dark, warm pen and the other three in | 

 a similar one. I have one hundred bushels of potatoes ' 

 to keep them on w-hich I divide equally, and feed three 

 with them taw and the other three with them boiled oi 

 steamed in such quantities that both parcels will be ex- 

 hausted in one day, giving them all as much water as they 

 will drink and no other food. Which three of the pigs 

 will be in the best flesh or condition when the potatoes 

 are all consumed, those fed on raw or those fed on cook- 

 ed potatoes. 



It is known that cooked potatoes will digest easier and 

 pass out of the system sooner than they will before they 

 are cooked, therefore will not those fed on raw potatoes 

 do better, or lay on flesh, while the others arc hungry .' 



I merely put this question for the consideration of vour 

 readers. 



A man recently told me that he put a quantity of po- 

 tatoes into his barn and let tliem freeze, aiid they have 

 continued frozen and he has put them into his boiler to 

 cook in that slate and his swine never did belter on po- 

 toes that had not been frozen. It will probably be a con- 

 venience to those who have small cellars, to leave their 

 potatoes up where they will freeze, but if they are suf- 

 fered to thaw they will lose their value. This however, 

 may be regulated by covering them in the barn floor un- 

 til the weather gets pretty cold and then expose them for 

 anight, they can then be kept through the winter. If 

 raw potatoes will keep store swine in better flesh than • 

 cooked ones, the same principle will apply to apples, 

 pumpkins, squashes, and all kind of roots.— Jf/nmc F<ir- 

 mer. 



SECOND REPORT ON THE AGRICULTURE OF 

 MASSACHUSETTS. 



The Second Report of the Commissioner of Agricul- 

 tural survey has been some days in the press, and will 

 soon make its appearance. The publication has been re- 

 tarded by the publication of many other public docu- 

 ments, which were under the immediate action of the 

 legislature. 



H. C. 



