338 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



austerities of a high northern positii)n. Nature 

 has left much for industry and the rural arts to do, 

 to render us prosperous and happy as an agricu- 

 tural people.. We have neither the propitiou°s suns 

 nor the luxuriant soils of the far off west, to which 

 our young Mien are flocking for fame and wealth 

 and careless leisure. But we have what are a 

 thousand times more valuable than these— a vigor- 

 ous, enlightened population— schools of virtue "and 

 institutions of wisdom. Who, I ask, that regards 

 life and health as he should, would willingly e.\- 

 change the pure air of Qur hills for the atmosphere 

 of western prairies, laden with miasma and charged 

 with fevers ? Heaven is universally and impar- 

 tially kind. He has placed us among rugged 

 mountains, but these very elevations break, as it 

 approaches, the violence of the tornado, and in 

 times of fearful drought, arrest the cloud which 

 sweeps across the arid plains, condense its vapors, 

 and pour tliem down upon the thirsty fields. 



In every clime— in every age, the men of the 

 mountains have evinced the strongest love of lib- 

 erty and country. The records of the world show 

 theirs to have been the loftiest achievements of 

 patriotism. Conquests have repeatedly changed 

 the jjopulation of the plains of Italy— but to whose 

 harps before the Swiss, did the Alps respond .' The 

 lowlands of England were successively overrun bv 

 Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Noiinan warriors— but 

 during all, the Celtic language only was heard 

 among the Cornish rocks. To use another's thoughts 

 and language—" Snowdou asked Ben Nevis, 'and 

 Ben Novis Snowdon, concerning the affections of 

 its people— each to the other said, "I have known 

 my people for a thousand years, and each year of 

 the thousand they have loved me the more.' " In 

 the bosom of the mountaineer, the love of life is 

 not stronger than the love of home: 



" Dear is that hill which lifts him to the storms. 

 And dear that shed to which his soul conforms ; 

 And as a child when scaring sounds molest, 

 Clings close and closer to its motlier's breast : 

 So the loud tempest and tbe'whirlwind's roar, 

 But bind him to his native raoiintains more."' 



MAT 1, IS38. 



a. The land produced herds grass and clover, 

 and I used it the preceding year for pasturage, and 

 put no other manure upon it that year than two hun- 

 dred weight of plaster. 



3. I have put upon it the same quantity of plas- 

 ter in the spring of this year that I did last, but no 

 other manure. 



4. I used one and three-fourths bushels of seed 

 upon the acre in sowing. 



5. I sowed it about" the middle of September, 

 lb37. It did not require weeding. I harvested it 

 on the twentyninth day of July, 1838, and by actual 

 measurement ascertained that I had obtained from 

 the acre thirtyfive and four-fifths bushels. 



The production of it cost me nine dollars, the 

 seed that I sowed included. 

 Respectfully yours, &c. 



JOHN L. COOPER 

 LEVI O. MASON. 



WHEAT CSOP. 



The subjoined account of a* te-heat crop was laid k t . i , , ,„ 



before the Massa,chusetts Agricultural Society ^^Z^'^' ;^elve and a half do. ; turnips, four cents. 



The crop would have received the' premium of thir- / u r ' "''''^'',''"^ consider a second crop, may 



tv dollars, but for a failure to send certificate, nf '° '''tf"""^'- ^'^ the most profitable. 



CROP OP VEGETABLES FOR STOCK. 



Newbury, Nov. 29, 1838, 

 To the Trustees of the Massachusetts ./IgricultuYal 

 Society. 

 GF.NTLEMEN—The hope of obtaining your pre- 

 mium which you offer for the largest amount of 

 vegetables raised and consumed, &,c., has had a 

 great inducement for me to make you the following 

 statement. I have raised and have consumed or 

 shall consume, the following quantities, viz. : be- 

 tween five and six hundred bushels of the common 

 flat turnip; two hundred do. of sugar beet ; fi-ftydo 

 of carrots; forty do. of small potatoes; about one 

 quarter of one acre of cabbages. .My stock con- 

 sists of thirteen head of horned cattle and two 

 swine, ^ly farm contains ten acres of tillage land 

 seventyfive or eighty do. of marsh, woodland, rocky 

 pasture, orcharding, &c. The value of the same 

 to the consumer, must be somewhat relative ; say 

 one bushel of potatoes worth three pounds of beef, 

 or one-third the quantity of Indian corn, sugar beets 

 or carrots, half the value of potatoes ; turnips one- 

 third the value of potatoes. The cost of cultiva- 

 tion for several ye^-s together, I think will beabout 

 as follows: potatoes, twentyfive cents a bushel; 

 beets, twelve and a half do. ; turnips, four cents' 



generally ploughing twice. Planted in drills 2 ]- 

 by 1 foot apart ; hoed them twice. Quality of ma 

 nure, made by hogs from loam and litter. 



3. The quantity of manure used the present 

 son, 10 loads of winter manure, made under 

 barn. 



4. I raised the seed — did not weigh it: eho- 

 think it took 1 1-2' pounds. I put the seed in 

 thick as to leave no vacancies. 



- 5. I got my manure out the first of May ; spreac 

 it and ploughed it in deep ; sowed three bushels oi 

 buckwheat and barley about the 12th of May : or 

 the 15th of June rolled and ploughed the same in 

 with Nourse's side hill plough. When it had got tt 

 be large, levelled the same with rakes. On the 17tl 

 of June, sowed the seed with a drill barrow, 2 1-5 

 feet apart; hoed. them twice; thinned them within < 

 about one foot as near as possible, the first time I 

 hoeing.^ I give every fifteenth bushel for harvest- 1 

 ing. The amount of the product, by actual mcas-l 

 urement, was 825 bushels. Allowing 50 lbs. toai 

 bushel, they weighed probably more than is re- 

 quired. ' 

 Expenses of Cultivation. I 

 10 loads of manure at $3 per cord $30 

 1st time ploughing . o 



3 bushels of buckwheat and barley 3 

 Sowing and harrowing the same j 

 Rolling, ploughing and levelling 4 

 Cost of seed and sowing 2 



4 days work thinning and hoeing 4 

 Harvesting 825 bushels at 1 1-3° 12 



1 acre land worth $100 — interest 



$57 

 6 



863 



Respectfully yours, 



TRISTRAM LITTLE. 

 N. B — I raised I think, about four tons of pump- 

 kins in addition to the above, which were consumed 

 on the place. 



ty dollars, but for a failure to send certificates of 

 the measurement of the land — a matter made in- 

 dispensable by the requisitions Of the Society. Mr 

 Cooper was seasonably written to, when the omis- 

 sion was discovered, but as no answer has ever 

 been received, it is presumed the letter mis- 

 carried. There can be no doubt ofthe correctness 

 of Mr Cooper's statements. His farming, within 

 doors and without, is of a high character; and we 

 sincerely regret this accidental omission. h. c. 



Sheffield, Oc<. 29, 1838. 

 To Bknj. Guild, Esq — Sir: The following 



statement I make, with the concurrence ofthe man 



whose signature is annexed, and who assisted me 



to harvest, thresh, and measure the wheat which 



grew upon one acre of my farm, and was sown in 



the autumn of 1837, and which has already been 



entered for the premium. 



1 Ti „ I 1 !■ I r I ^- -"le condition of the land in the snrincr of 



I. Iheland upon which I sowed one acre of ibqa a 1 x j ■" uie spring 01 



wheat in the autumn of 1837, was green '"vard'l J^^'J.^f^.f = P'a^ted with potatoes : left it in good 



which I turned over, harrowed, and sowed wlthnnt n -i l 



further preparation. It was upland and tTe so" L ' ^^ Product, 300 bushels of potatoes. Since 



consists of clay mixed with loam ' It wa dr/ eTrr 7"'"' '" '''"' ' '^^ P'-^^^ed 



early in the spring of 1838 ' ^ 1 '^'^' " ^"'^ ^^'"""^ "'^ '"^""'■'^ =^ft" '•''^t ploughing ; 



STATEMENT OF A PREMIUM RUTA BAGA 

 CROP, 



Raised in Uxhridge, Jforctsler county, Massachusetts. 

 To Be.\j. Guild, Esq. — Sir: I have sent you 

 herowiih a statement of the produce of one acre of 

 land, sown with ruta baga. I present it as a com- 

 petitor for the premium. 



Yours, very respectfully, 



J." P. SOUTHWICK. 



STATEMENT. 

 1. The condition of the land in the spring of 



Ruta baga at 20 cents per bushel worth .$165— 

 leaving a net gain of .$102 from one acre. 



1 he foregoing statement is correct and true, ac. 

 cording to our best knowledge and belief— the 

 land upon which the ruta baga was raised being 

 the same piece measured by Baruch Southwick, ac- 

 cording to his certificate, which is hereunto an- 

 ne-^ed. J. p. SOUTHWICK 



DAVID SEVY. 



I certify that I have this day measured for Jona- 

 than F. Southwick, a certain piece of land as the 

 same was staked out by him, and found the same 

 to contain just one acre. 



BARUCH A. SOUTHWICK 

 December 4, ia38. 



Early Pkas. — If you desire early peas, reader, 

 let us advise you not to plant the little hotspur va- 

 riety, or this you may, perhaps, obtain a mess & 

 few days earlier than of the early Washington va- 

 riety , but it is but a " mess"— one, or at the far- 

 thest, two stinted gathcrinss, and there is all the 

 reward you get for your labor and pains. Better 

 raise what is worth gathering whilst you are about 

 It, even, if you have to suffer the mortification of 

 having your neighbor boast of eating green peas 

 five or sLx days earlier than you. The early VVash- 

 ingtons are nearly as early as the hotspurs, and 

 when they are ready for gathering, there is some- 

 thing of them ; the pods are larger, and the peas 

 in them are more luscious. Besides, they will con- 

 tinue to bear for two or three weeks before the 

 vines die. — Maine Cultivator. 



A bill providing for a geological survey of South 

 Carolina, has passed the legislature of that State. 



