306 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



supplanted the cultivated crops, all owing to the 

 effects of this mineral, should induce us to make a 

 series of experiments to test its efficacy here. 

 There are not, as in some instances, intermingled 

 with it foreign ingredients to counteract its effects 

 or injure vegetation. The learned Geological Sur- 

 veyor of the Slate says, " The Berkshire marls ap- 

 pear to mo to be some of the richest and host that 

 ever occur." If, as is stated by those who have 

 both the science and the practice necessary to true 

 deductions, they are valuable only for the calcare- 

 ous matter which they contain. The analyses of 

 tlie Surveyor prove them unusually valuable. Of 

 the ten specimens submitted to close analytical 

 tests, the smallest product was 40 and the largest 

 ')5 per cent, of carbonate of lime, or clear calcare- 

 ous matter. The deposits are overlaid by a rich 

 covering of vegetable matter which has been grow- 

 ing and decaying for an indefinite period — and 

 which, intermingled with the marl below it, would 

 form a rich and valuable dressing for meadow 

 grounds or crops of annual cultivation. Upon ex- 

 posure to the air marl readily dissolves and is con- 

 verted into powder fit for use. 



All who have experimented successfully with 

 this mineral, concur in the opinion that it should 

 not be applied till reduced either by natural or arti- 

 ficial agents to a powdered state. If permitted to 

 remain in masses upon the soil it will fail in a de- 

 gree at least of producing' the desifed results. As 

 the action of this, as well as other hiineral alkalies, 

 is complex, different upon different soils, and in its 

 combination with other substances 'tfjfon the same 

 soil, and the laws which control its sifc'tion are not 

 yet thoroughly learned and cannot at bnce be as- 

 certained, close observation of all the circumstan- 

 ces accompanying experiments should be made, and 

 it should not be rejected because patience and 

 critical attention are required for a full knowledge 

 of its effects. Others have succeeded most won- 

 derfully, and their conclusions may be quite safely 

 adopted, so far as they are applicable to our cli- 

 mate, the texture and composition of our soils, the 

 •crops which we grow, and the modes of cultivation 

 which we have established. Upon our own expe- 

 rience mainly should we rely. We are Yankees 

 and the world dare not deny to its the skill and in- 

 genuity necessary to accomplish whatever skill and 

 ingenuity can perform. 



The earth, in wisdom infinite, in kindness most 

 tenderly, has been fashioned and adjusted to 

 the varied conditions of the sensitive and ration- 

 al beings whose abode it is. 



-iVll things, rightly understood and wisely used, 

 contribute bounteously to hum.an happiness and to 

 the moral and intellectual elevation of the human 

 species. 



At the conclusion of bis six days work, the 

 Omniscient Architect proclaimed it good. It teems 



-with benevolence — it is clothed with beauty all 



around and upon it beneficently shines celestial 

 light, the reflected radiance of the bright throne of 

 love and kindness upon which the superintending 

 Father of all is seated. No element of the mate- 

 rials of his work is frail or useless. Every thing 

 which our hands can reach, or upon which our in- 

 tellectual power can act, may be made subservient 

 to our pleasure and improvement. All thino-s are 

 created for the use of man. If they be not applied 

 to the purposes of their creation, ours is the sin 

 and folly. If we starve amidst the elements of 

 food, because too indolent to learn their combina- 

 tion and relatiors, and nature's economy in their 



conversion to pleasant and healthful aliments, the 

 penalty will in no measure transcend the crime. To 

 us, among the breathing things of earUj, as the 

 structure of the organs which digest them clearly 

 indicate, belong the finer fruits. To live on mast, 

 to browse and drive away the lower animals from 

 their husks, is brutish meanness. The field in which 

 the husbandman is set at work, embraces the world, 

 and all around it, the relations and the associations 

 of life and happiness, with material things, are his 

 to study and apply ; the air which he breathes his 

 cornfields inhale and appropriate to their use ; the 

 light which uncovers the enchanting prospects 

 around him, gives to his wheatfields their sweetness 

 and clothes them in green — the water which slakes 

 his thirst, is drank with equal eagerness by his 

 parched herbage ; and the electric flash which 

 makes him tremble, shakes from the clouds tlieir 

 fatness upon his lean and arid pastures. The 

 agencies of air and light, and moisture and elec- 

 tricity, as co-workers with him in the business of 

 husbandry, are his own peculiar and appropriate 

 studies. How animating, how elevating is the busi- 

 ness of agriculture, when it walks hand in hand 

 with such interesting, ennobling studies. In this way 

 science is made to do and get good — science 

 ploughs, and sows, and reaps, and scatters the fruits 

 of the harvests in profusion all over the world. 

 Away then with the entities and quiddities, the 

 monads and molecules of Plato and Aristotle about 

 which a starving, uncomfortable, stationary world 

 quarrelled for two thousand years. Away with the 

 fruitless abstractions of the closet, with the deduc- 

 tions of musty canons scolastic and folly. 



To nature's teachings let us listen — the natural 

 sciences let us study, and apply them too, to the 

 rational purposes of life — for the advancement of 

 human happiness and human virtue. Then may the 

 visions of the poet be realized — "Then may we 

 look up through nature." I repeat it,— "through 

 nature up to nature's God." 



APRIl. 3, 1839. 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL SOCI- 

 ETY FARM REPORTS. 



No. 1. Levi Goodrich of Pittsfield Mass. to 

 whom was awarded the premium 125 dollars. 



The answers are in reply to the question pro- 

 posed in the circular of the Massachusetts Society 

 to the several claimants. 



1st. I have 200 acres of land exclusive of wood 

 land. I have also a farm of pasture land contain- 

 ing 123 acres lying in the town of Dalton about 3 

 miles from my home farm. 



2d. The soil of my farm consists of sand, gravel 

 and loam. 



3d. I consider the best method of improving the 

 different soils above mentioned is to plough and 

 manure with a rotation of crops. 



4th. I till a'bout 50 acres of land I have this 

 year 



acres Of Rye, 

 " summer Whettt, 

 " Oats, 



Rye and Oats, 

 Peas, 

 Corn, 

 Potatoes, 

 Ruta Baga 



14 



13 

 1 « 

 11-2' 

 3 " 



8 



5 " 



51 1-2 acres in all. 

 I manure all the land where I have hoed crops 

 at the rate of about 20 loads per acre. 



5th. My manure is applied in its long or greeu 

 state. 



6th. I spread and plough in the manure on the 

 land where I plant corn, potatoes and turnips. 



7th. My method of cultivating green sward, is, 

 to plough in the fall and sow small grain, either 

 rye in the fall, or oats in the spring ; the next year 

 manure and plant corn, potatoes or ruta bagas ; 

 and the 3d year sow spring grain and stock 

 down to grass. 



Sth. I mow from 40 to 50 acres of upland, that 

 will average about 2 tons of hay per acre. 

 9th. Irrigate none. 



JOth. --Vfler my ploughed land is manured I put 

 all the manure I can spare on the low meadows, 

 think it increases the quantity and improves the 

 quality of the hay. 



11th. I mow about 50 acres of meadow that is 

 flowed by the Housatonic river; the quality of the 

 hay is excellent for sheep . or cattle, excepting a 

 few loads of coarse hay on some low spots. It 

 produces about 2 tons of hay per acre at the first 

 crop, and a part of it produces a good crop of rowen. 

 12th. About 20 acres of my meadow was 7 years 

 ago a useless swamp, covered with alder and wil- 

 low bushes, black ash and pine stumps in abun- 

 dance, the timber had been cut off before I purchased 

 the farm. It was so wet and soft that cattle could 

 not go through it in the summer. I first drained h 

 by ditching ; then took all the brush out root and 

 branch, then levelled it with the boghoe and sowed 

 on about 12 quarts of herds-grass and red top seed 

 per acre. The whole expense was about 25 dol- 

 lars per acre, it is now well worth 100 dollars per 

 acre. 



13th. I planted only 3 acres of corn this year, 

 the land was sowed to rye last year, tlie stubble was 

 ploughed in the fall, coarse straw manure from tho 

 sheep yard spread on in the spring and ploughed 

 in ; the land was furrowed 3 feet apart one way for 

 the rows, the other way the rows were planted 

 about 20 inches apart, it was planted the 12th of 

 May, 2 acres of it was the little Canada corn ; the 

 produce was 96 baskets per acre weighing 4G lbs 

 per basket in the ear. It was perfectly ripe and 

 dry the 20th of August. The other one acre was 

 a large sort of eight and ten rowed corn, which 

 ripened about a fortnight later, but was a much 

 better crop. It produced 152 baskets weighing 46 

 lbs per basket in the ear ; these baskets will make 

 something more than half a bushel of shelled corn. 

 The produce of this acre will not vary much from 

 80 bushels. 



14th. I planted 8 acres of potatoes this year; a 

 part of the land was green sward ploughed in the 

 spring spread on manure and harrowed, the pota- 

 toes planted were of the variety called Burr pota- 

 toes. The produce was about 200 bushels per 

 acre, two acres of oat stubble was ploughed in the 

 fall, 20 loads of manure per acre spread on in the 

 spring and ploughed in, planted the Burr potatoes 

 the rows 3 feet oue way and 20 inches the other 

 making 47 hills on a rod. The produce was 450 

 bushels per acre, for which I received of the B. A. 

 Society the first premium for tho best 2 acres of 

 potatoes in the county. This season has been un- 

 favorable for potatoes, and the crops in this part of 

 the country are lighter than usual. Last year I had 

 560 bushels per acre. 



15th. I planted 5 acres of ruta baga they are not 

 yet gathered; I think they will yield about 700 bush- 

 els per acre ; I feed them to fat cattle ; milch'cows 

 and sheep. 



