348 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



il)AY8, 1839- 



vated by the subscriber, lies in Saiigus, and con- 

 tains 4 acres veiy wet, anil peaty bottom, and ad- 

 mitted of ninninjf a pole in some places, 10 feet 

 without reaching hard bottom ; covered with a large 

 quantity of pine stumps, and a young growth of 

 maples, alders, dogwood, &c. 



In the first place I commenced removing the sods 

 and roots from about one-fourth of an acre, and 

 burning the same, but finding the land would not 

 be made sufliciently dry by this process, I turned 

 the snds over the whole piece in the fall (1837), and 

 let them remain for the action of the frost unlil 

 spring (lf^38), then had them chopped with large 

 grub hoes, fine enough for planting potatoes, &c 

 The process of turning over the sods and getting 

 out stumps were both done at the same time: after 

 doing this, I run a ditch around the piece, and four 

 ditches across it, 3 feet deep and 4 feet wide, with 

 an outlet sufficient to drain the land at all times 

 last season, to ]5 inches below the surface. 



I annex a rough slictch of the different lots, which 

 1 will describe : 



Lot No. ] — Containing one-fourth of an acre, 

 nearest the upland, was cleared in the fall and 

 spring by chopping and clearing the small roots, 

 and made in a good condition for cabbages ; manur- 

 ured with compost of loam and manure, and a small 

 portion of unleeched ashes put in each hill. Crop, 

 fifty dozen large cabbages. 



Lot No. 2 — One-fourth of an acre, pared and 

 burned; .sods not fully burned collected into heaps 

 and mixed with stable manure, lime, and salt ; in 

 spring, chopped fine and spread in drills : plahtr-d 

 with ruta baga. Crop, 100 to 150 bushels— mixed 

 with others and I cannot give the exact number. 



Lots No. 3 and 4 — Sods turned and mud-wheeled 

 on from the ditches and spread ; raked in rye and 

 grass -seed. Crop, 5 1-2 bushels of rye, and 18 to 

 20 cwt of hay, without manure. 



Lots No. 5 and G — Potatoes, squashes, puiopkins, 

 &,c., with coarse barn and stable manure. 



Lot No. 7 — Corn, potatoes and squashes. 



The amount of manure used on the whole piece, 

 about G cords; 2 casks of lime, 1 bushel of salt. 



Estimate loorlh of Crops, and Expenses. 



CROPS. 



327 bushels of potatoes at GO cts. per bu. $196 30 



51-2 do. rye, at $1 25 " " fi 87 



81-2 do. corn, " 1 00 " " 8 50 



100 do. ruta baga, at 30 cts " " 30 00 



18 to 20 cwt. hay, X2 00 



40 doz. cabbages at 50 cts. per doz. 25 00 



2000 lbs. squashes, 20 00 



Value of fuel taken off, at least 25 00 



$246 67 



Net profit, ^70 00. 



The present value of the land I leave for the 

 judgment of the Committee, 



WM. OSBORN, Jr. 

 December, 1838. 



AS.\ T. NEW HALLS STATEMENT. 



To the Comviillri iif the. Essex. .Ogricullural Sucielij on 

 ll'ct Meadow and Swamp Lands : 

 Ge.ntlejie.n — The piece of meadow land which 

 I offered for your inspection the past season, and 

 which you have been pleased to view, is a part of 

 a lot containing about ten acres, that twelve years 

 since was a sunken quag-mire, from 2 to 12 feet in 

 depth, producing nothing except boshes, dogwood, 

 lilies, and in some places, coarse water grass; this 

 piece, a part of which was very low and wet, con- 

 tains 1 acre and 61 poles; in the latter part of tlie 

 summer of le3(), I covered three-fourths of an acre 

 with sand and gravel from 3 to 6 inches in de])th, 

 manured with 100 bushels of leached ashes and 4 

 cartloads of the scrapings of the barn-yards, sowed 

 with rye and grass seed the last of October ; the 

 rye sprang up from one to two inches in height be- 

 fore the ground froze, but was, as I believe, owing 

 to the lateness of sowing, principally pulled up and 

 destroyed by the frost ; a few patches of the rye 

 which survived the winter were harvested, after 

 which it yielded more than 2 tons of hay, which 

 sold at 20 dollars per ton. In 1836 the first crop 

 weighed 44 24-100 hundred. In the summer of 

 1837 J prepared the remaining part of this piece; 

 manured with 75 bushels of ashes and 3 loads of 

 scrapings, sowed with rye and grass seed the fore 

 part of September, but owing to the extreme drought, 

 there were several patches where the seed did not 

 vegetate. The crop of rye which grew on about 

 half an acre, produced 1-1 1-2 bushels, weighing as 

 soon as thrashed 04, and after having been spread 

 to dry for 5 weeks, 62 pounds per bushel. 



The grass on the stubble at the time of reaping, 

 as also on the first named piece, promised fair for 

 a sound crop, but finding the grasshoppers becom- 

 f very numerous, I fed with neat cattle. 

 Believing that farmers generally have strong 

 doubts as to the utility of cultivating rye on mead- 

 lands, has been the principal inducement to of- 

 fer this experiment. 



In 1834 I prepared and sowed 2 acres and 53 

 poles of this meadow with grass seed, and might 

 have conveniently sowed the whole with rye, if I 

 could have had any confidence of success ; but af- 

 ter consulting with the most experienced farmers in 

 the vicinity, and getting no encouragement, I con- 

 cluded to try one-eighth of an acre only, on wuich 

 I sowed four quarts of seed, which yielded five 

 bushels and three pecks of grain of superior quality. 

 Very respectfully, your ob't serv't, 



ASA T. NEWHALL. 

 LynnfiM, Dec. 1st, 1838. 



RICHARD PHILLIPS JR.'S STATE.MENT. 



To tlie Committee on llie improvement of H'et Meadow and 

 Swamp Land : 

 Gentlkmen — My piece of laml, which is enter- 

 ed for premium, contains one acre and an eighth. 

 I came into possessi .n o( this land early in June 

 last. It was then in its wild state, thickly covered 

 with small maples, dogwood, black alders and other 

 bushes. On the 2."'>th of June the mud and water 

 were three feet in depth on this land. I then cut 

 a small ditch on the southerly side of it and drain- 

 ed off the water. In August it was so dry as to 

 permit the cutting of the bushes, which laid a num- 

 ber of days, and then fire passed over them. After 

 this, there remained large hassocks and roots, which 

 I cut and dug up by hand, and let them remain a 

 few days, then piled them up and set fire to them, 

 and burnt, as good judges said, nearly three hun- 



dred cords of hassocks, roots, and bush. Twenty 

 cords of these now remain on the edge of the land 

 which I intend to burn. I cut a ditch on the west- 

 erly side of this piece, and cross ditches on it about 

 three rods apart, which have drained it sufficiently 

 dry. About the 25th of this month, I spread the 

 earth that came out of the ditch, on the land, on 

 the top of which 1 spread the ashes, which were 

 made from the burning of the hassock, etc. Then 

 I sowed upon it 3 pecks of herds grass seed, and 

 half a bushel of red top, with a very little clover 

 seed. On this piece of land I liave spent 48 1-2 

 days work, which cost about $48 50. This piece 

 of land has been brought to, without the help of 

 oxen, horses, or plough. It was acco^nplisbed al- 

 together with the sweat of the brow. 

 Yours respectfully, 



RICHARD PHILLIPS, Jr. 

 Topsfield, Sept. 27, 1838. 



(From the Gazette and Mercury ) 



Good Luck — Much having been said and writ- 

 ten in disparagement of/ne wooled sheep as nurses 

 the writer wishes to state a fact respecting his own 

 fiock. Probably for fineness, tlicy are not° excelled 

 by any flock in the country. 



He has taken especial pains to procure sheep 

 of superior quality, as respects body, and also fine- 

 ness of wool. And he has found his efforts amply 

 repaid by his success in wool growing, for a num- 

 ber of years past. Out of a flock of "two hundred 

 eightyfive, he has not lost a single sheep since ta- 

 ken to the barn last Autumn. He has also raised 

 one hundred and forty lambs the present season 

 without losing a single lamb out of his flock ; and 

 all have been owned by the sheep. He has not 

 fed out six quarts of cow's milk to them, and yet 

 they are all in a thriving condition. He has not 

 given them over half a bushel of grain of any kind 

 since they were taken in, in the fall. Siiice the 

 first of April, they have been fed with ruta baga, 

 this is all the feeding they have had, e.xcept hay. 



Perhaps a flock of the far famed Bakewell sheep 

 consisting of 265, with but a single half bushel of 

 grain for the whole flock, would not beat this. If 

 there is such a flock I shoiikl like to hear of it 

 ABEL WILLIAMS. 



.Ishjiell, April 22, 1639. 



We understand the farmers in this state are mak- 

 ing great efforts this spring to put seed enough in- 

 to the ground to give crops, if the season be i)ro- 

 pilious, ample for home consumption, and thus keep 

 the hundreds of thousands of dollars at home, which 

 are now annually sent into other states for bread 

 stuffs. There will be more corn planted this year 

 in this country, than has been planted in any onefc 

 year for the last fifteen years. In this village ev- 

 ery little patch of ground is to be improved for the 

 growth of something or other useful in a family. 

 The valley of the Merrimack will this ye^r begin 

 to look like a garden, and all the face of the coun- 

 try round about, is to be dressed up in good style. 

 Speed the plough, and let the farmer prosper, and 

 all will prosper except lawyers and sheriffs, for 

 plenty will be in the land, and then their vocations 

 lessen to profit. — Concord f.V. H.) Courier. 



Hor CuLTURr — It appears that the American 

 crop varies from one to three millions a year while 

 in England it r('aches to forty or fifty. There 

 seems no good reason why we should raise so 

 little. 



