VOL. XVII, NO 42 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



331 



than 95 tons. TJy the analysis of Sir II. Davy, 

 found in liis agricultural chemistry, the nutritive 

 matters affordcil by 1000 parts of this rout is 64 ; 

 that afforded by a 1000 of Timothy or herds pjrass, 

 33. This analysis, if made tlio rule by which to 

 determine relative values, would make the crop of 

 25 tons of rutabaga equivalent to 46 tons of hay. 

 The solutions of the laboratory, however, though 

 curious, cannot be regarded as the best means of 

 discovering the absolute value of alimentary sub- 

 stances. It is not enough to separate and measure 

 their constituents, since certain combinations of 

 them may be more nutritive than others. E.vperi- 

 ments made at the stalls and in the yard, will dis- 

 close tlie truth, and if the animals there grow and 

 fatten faster and better upon one article of food 

 than another, the relative value will be readily and 

 accurately estimated. As long ago as 1823, Col. 

 Wilson, of Deerfield, raised of this root 1100 bu. 

 the acre. We need not go beyond the limits of 

 our own jurisdiction, for instances of its great pro- 

 ductiveness. On our hills, and on lands which 

 those who examine the books only lor its favorite 

 soil, would pronounce unfriendly to its growth, it 

 has been raised for successive years at the estimat- 

 ed rate of 800 bushels to the acre, and been used 

 not simply as a substitute for hay, but for fattening 

 for the market, all kinds of farm stock. It is obvi- 

 ous that much too little tliought and labor, are be- 

 stowed upon the cultivation, jiot of this only, but 

 of the other roots. The carrot, beet, potato, man- 

 gold-wurtzel, have all a just claim to the regards 

 of the grazing husbandman. Can the earth be 

 more profitably used than it was by Air Ware, of 

 Salem, whose crop of carrots weighed at the hay 

 scales, at the rate of 44,576 lbs. by the acre, meas- 

 uring 923 bushels ? or than it was by Mr Lathrop, 

 and has been by a thousand other men, who- have 

 raised 700 bushels of potatoes upon an acre ? It 

 would seem that tlie oat crop, as abundantly produc- 

 tive as it is, and by no means to be neglected, has 

 less claim to the regards of the cultivator, whose 

 eye is intent upon the profit of his labors. It may 

 be said that these are the results of high cultiva- 

 tion ; this is not strictly true, and the results them- 

 selves prove it. High cultivation should be en- 

 couraged, for the sooner we learn the immense 

 productive powers of a perfectly cultivated acre, 

 so much the better. Much is attributable undoubt- 

 edly, to skilful management, in instances of uncom- 

 mon success, but quite as much to the kindly influ- 

 ences of climate, and those peculiarities and char- 

 acteristics of soil, required for the full and free de- 

 velopment of the special qualities and properties of 

 the plant. Objections are often started to the ex- 

 penses incident to the root culture. It is said that 

 much labor is required, more than is demanded for 

 the successful culture of grain and grass, and that 

 we have less of labor than of other capital. These 

 are no startling objections to a Yankee population 



a population expert and inquisitive, whose strength 



lies, not like Sampson's, in locks which may be 

 shorn, nor in those giant arras, which fable tells us 

 ■were employed in piling Ossa upon Pelion, to scale 

 the heavens ; but in that reposeless, studious per 

 severance, which withdraws not from its purpose 

 till satisfied that no agents for its accomplishment 

 can be found in earth or air. The objection ap 

 plies no more strongly to this than to other agricul- 

 tural operations. Labor-saving utensils are already 

 contrived and provided for it: if defective or faulty, 

 ingenious experience will correct and perfect 

 them. The drill-barrow and cultivator, or horse 



hoe, where the drill system is adopted, (and nooth- clay,— some gravel in different parts ; some of the 

 er should be,) will perform the work of many hands, low meadows have a peat bottom ; no clay, 

 pursuing the ordinary modes, and will enable the ' " ' ' "' " *" ' *'"' " '" 



3. I have always found that by mixing soils 



farmer to raise a field of Swedes or globes, man- of different qualities, I made a more permanent im- 

 c^old-wurtzel or =uo-ar beets, as easily as a field of provement than by putting on manure of any kind, 

 uotatoes of the samd compass. It should not be a | I put light sandy loam on to wet and heavy loam 



...alter of complaint, that mechanical labor-saving 



improvements have done less for agricultural than , the expense of cartnr 

 manufacturing pursuits. The novel combination 

 of the mcchantc powers have, and probably can, 

 he made to have, comparatively, little application 

 to the business of husbandry. We may, perchance, 

 plough, birt we shall never reap or mow, by steam. 

 It is^wcll that it is so. No matter if facilities be 

 not furnished, which will diminish the number nec- 

 essarily engaged in the untempting, healthful, joy- 

 ful pursuits of agriculture. With the plough and 

 the sickle, the hoe and the pruning-hook, the do- 

 piestic happiness and moral purity of a people such 

 as we are, are intimately associated. He is a for- 

 tunate liusbandman whose intelligence has revealed 

 to him the pure, peaceful, peerless joys of his occu- 

 pation, — who reads as from a holy book, dropped 



down from heaven, the manifestations of love and 



kindness, standing out in high relief on everthing 



around him, — who hearkens to the lessons of wis- 

 dom and notes the intimations of duty, which the 



dumb even of his charge impart; whose ox teaches 



him the despised virtue of submission, and rebukes 



his complainings; whose noble horse illustrates 



the excellence of docility, and speaks to him of the 



careful gratitude due to laborious fidelity ; — the 



dam of whose fold, bereft of her lamb to fill out the 



dishes of luxury, in accents of distress which human 



speech cannot articulate, .tells him of the excessive 



tenderness of maternal love, and of the wickedness 



of that heart which would incVeaso a mother's anx- 

 ious cares. No one holds intercourse with nature 



so pleasant, so instructive, as the farmer. It is 



with organized, living, breathing things, that his 



pursuits associate him. These are, or should be, 



his study : they have enough of novelty to amuse, 



enough of wonder to excite, to broad and deep in- 



quiryT He may admiie, but he should not envy 



the scientific mechanic, when he sees inert matter 



subjected to his creating mind and forming hand, 



and made actively obedient to his will, — when he 



beholds him borrowing of the wild cascade its mo- 

 tion, and reining and curbing the impetuous torrent 



as with a bridle. 



(Tolie concluded next wefk.l 



PREMIUM FARM REPORTS. 

 We publish next the report of Wm. Kuckminster, 

 Esq., of Framingham. Mr Buckminster received 

 a premium of filty dollars from the Massachusetts 

 Society. Ho was honored likewise, with a premi- 

 um on his farm this year, of fifteen dollarSj from 

 the Middlesex Agricultural Society. He received 

 likewise, a premium of fifty dollars the last year 

 from the Massachusetts Society. This is carryin, 

 a large swarth. 



peat is useful to both. The greatest objection is 

 When the mixture can be 

 effected by the plough, as it often can, the sub-soil 

 often differing in quality from the surface soil, it is 

 done at a very cheap rate. 



4. Mine is a stock farm and 1 till but little I 

 have in tillage this year, seven acres, including 

 nursery. On a lot intended for corn or potatoes, ; 

 put about 20 loads or 5 cords of manure to the acre 

 generally. 



5. I use both long and compost manure. 



6. I never put manure in the hills. It is one 

 of the worst modes of practice. It jeopardizes the 

 crop the present year, and operates unequally on 

 the succeeding. It is an invitation to worms, and 

 lessens the labor of the crows. It gives you more 

 stalks than corn — more vines than potatoes — and 

 more labor is required than in spreading it. I 

 plough in the coarre manure and harrow in the fine. 



7. . I plough the green sward just before plant- 

 ing — first having spread on long manure ; never 

 suffer the manure to dry after spreading. Put a 

 handful of ashes on the hill of corn; a spoonful of 

 plaster on potatoes. 



8. I mow, this year, about 45 acres of upland, 

 including interval that can be ploughed; and we 

 judge that we have cut 40 tons of merchantable 

 Kay on the same. 



9. I irrigate none but low meadows — think 

 the practice of watering high land injures the qual- 

 ity of the hay. 



10. By making dams across the brook, I flow 

 most of my meadows occasionally, and improve the 

 grass both in quantity and quality. No matter how 

 wet these meadows are kept, if the water is not 

 suffered to stagnate and heat. These low mead- 

 ows are spoiled for meadows, by ditching. If we 

 drain them we must introduce the English grasses. 



11. I mow 25 acres of coarse meadow grass, 

 very suitable for young stock, worth half the price 

 of English.- 



12. I have reclaimed much low peat land, 

 within a dozen years, and continue the practice. I 

 began by paring and burning the surface. This 

 moAe has ^Ome advantages. In a dry summer, an 

 acre may be prepared for the seed at an expense 

 of 20 d(dlars. The ashes furnisli an abundance of 

 manure for two or three years,, and I have thus ob- 

 tained one and a half tons of hay to the acre with- 

 out other manure. But as many seasons prove wet, 

 and stop our whole progress for the year, I have 

 abandoned this mode, and prefer to cart on 

 loam or sand, or gravel, in preference. When 

 banks of this kind are near the margin of the mead- 

 ow, a man with one yoke of oxen will cover over 

 one acre in six days— $12. Ten loads of compost 



This is the lowest 



must then be hauled on — $10, 

 Gentlemen: — I have made as correct a state- 



went this process, the same land never yielded a 

 ;t"'a;p;ss[ble,ofthe proceedsofmy farm this ' dollar per acre. I have reclaimed one acre of low 



season, and of my method of cultivation. 



land, which is not a peat bottom, at very little cost. 



rw^«' » -.»- «- '"T" ■'■'■" '^r . :rc: zx:. "ir;*:,^^.-.!^^'".:^: 



consists of one hundred and fifty acres, exclt 

 sive of wood land . , 



2. It has a variety of soih Its general char- . it m succession 



I drained it, and have gathered ten good crops from 

 \t in Kurcpssion without any manure. Two of 



