VtUy. XVH. NO. 45 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



357 



tnontlis at $10 per month ; that is $80. I also em- 

 pUiy one man by tlie day at four shillings per diem. 

 He has and will labor six months for me this sea- 

 son, which amounts to .$104. I have three sons 

 whose labor is equal to two men at $12 per month 



,$108. .'My own health not being- good, I have 



not been able to labor during the season. Making 

 in the aggregate an amount for labor of $352. Of 

 this amount a part of the labor has been bestowed 

 on improvements on my farm — making fences, walls, 

 (Sic, say an amount equal to one hand four months, 

 which at 812 per month amounts to $48 — which 

 deducted, leaves a balance for labor of $304. 



27. I have about 100 apple trees on my farm, a 

 few of which are grafted fruit ; and also a small 

 number of peach, pear and cherry trees. 



29. I have not suffered from borers or canker 

 worms. 



30. I suffer no ardent spirits to be used about my 

 premises nor furnish .any to my laborers. 



Gentlemen, I have answered the questions pro- 

 posed agreeably to my understanding of them : if 

 they afford that information which they were de- 

 signed to obtain, I shall be much gratified. 



JOSHUA R. LAWTON. 



Great Barrington, Oct. 24/A, 1838. 



loads of manure and harrow the land ; mark it out wheat. For preparation of ground see No. 7. In 

 for corn or potatoes one way, cover the corn in the j laying land down to grass, I sow two bushels 

 hills with compost from the cow and hog yards, wheat, ten quarts timothy and ten pounds clover 

 plough and hoe the corn three times without mak- seed per acre. My seed was the white and red 

 ■■-o- any unnecessary hills; split the hills in the j bearded wheat. The soil is loamy ; the wheat was 



N. S. BENNETT'S STATEMENT. 

 Nathaniel S. Bennett of Framingham, received 

 a premium of fifty dollars from the Society. His 

 replies to their interrogatories are as follows. 



1. My farm consists of ninetytwo acres, exclu- 

 sive of wood land. 



2. The soil is various ; and combines in differ- 

 ent proportions, sand, gravel, clay, loam, and peat. 



3. The methods of improving my land are by 

 draining and top-dressing the peat ; tilling and 

 manuring the loam ; making manure with the sand ; 

 and roads with the gravel. 



4. By rotation I keep under tillage eighty acres ; 

 and apply twentyfive loads of manure per acre. 



5. In applying my manure, the long and green 

 manure is kept long and green (until applied to the 

 soil) by being mixed with sand or loam as it is re- 

 moved from behind the cattle* ; the compost ma- 

 nure, such as is made in the cow and hog yards in 

 summer, is applied as a top dressing on mowing 

 land, or for covering corn in the hills. 



6. My mode of applying my manure is as fol- 

 lows. My green manure is spread and covered in 

 the soil, sometimes by ploughing and so.metimes by 

 harrowing. iMy land generally presents a rough 

 surface when ploughed the last time for corn ; and 

 I prefer harrowing in the manure to ploughing it 

 under. I use compost manure on the same field, 

 sufficient to cover the corn in the hills. 



7. My mode of managing green sward is as fol- 

 lows. I plough green sward in August, (on my 

 farm, and I believe everywhere else, ploughing m 

 August is a sovereign remedy for the corn, or cut 

 wormt) cross plough in April, applj^ twenty five 



* Mr Bennelt's method is to keep a large quamitj; of earlh 

 sand or loam, m his cow house behind h.s slock with which 

 the manure is mixed daily ; an,l the urine i. ahsorhed. In 

 this way it IS kept in a measure from freezing ; and as ^% e 

 understand the above statement, from fermentation, the 

 stable or tie up is wide, and the manure is kept under cover 

 ftom sun and rain. We think, however, that a barn cellar 

 would be a ereat improvement upon this method. 



tThe Committee of the Society disapprove fall ploughing, 

 and prefer spring ploughing for the very reason that Mr. 

 Benneu prefers "ploughing m the fall. We know another 

 farmer wL says he plough's early in the fall that there may 

 be grass enough start between the furrow Blices to feed the 



spring, harrow the same way I intend to plough, 

 plough clean, harrow, sow with wheat and harrow, 

 sow timothy and clover seed, and two bushels of 

 plaster per acre, and bush it down ; and level the 

 borders and the ground around the trees, with the 

 hoe. 



8. In the course of my rotation, I mow seventy 

 acres of my farm, of upland ; thirtythree acres 

 this year. The average yield of hay is twentyfive 

 hundred pounds per acre. 



9. I have practised irrigation, but receiving no 

 benefit from it, abandoned it ; the water brought 

 on was considered too pure to produce any benefit.^ 



10. I manure my low mowing land at the rate of 

 twentyfive loads of compost per acre. 



11. I mow eighteen acres of low land not suit- 

 able for the plough, and obtain fifteen tons priirie 

 stock hay, and five tons of good English. 



12. My method of reclaiming low and bog lands, 

 is by draining and ditching with plough and scra- 

 per ; the sods being carried to the hogs and cattle 

 yard for manure; the mud, gravel and sand plough- 

 ed and scraped on the meadow, in order to level 

 it. I then manure the land, and sow red top and 

 timothy seed in August or first of September ; then 

 harrow it with two pair oxen and a heavy and sharp 

 harrow ; level again with the hoe, and then rake 

 &c. so as to leave the surface smooth. I have 

 managed to mow two and sometimes three tons per 

 acre, on land thus improved. 



13. I have planted with corn eight acres the 

 present year. For the preparation of the ground, 

 kind, quantity, and the manner of applying ma- 

 nure, see No. 7. I prefer planting corn in a dry 

 state ; the crows may be kept away by surrounding 

 the field with a white line. The quantity of corn 

 obtained in the above land is three hundred bushels. 



14. I had two acres in potatoes the present year. 

 I prepare the ground for potatoes as I do for corn ; 

 in lieu of compost I put a spoonful of plaster in the 

 hills when I plant them. I plant the Nova Scotia 

 blues. The average yield this year is only onn 

 hundred bushels per acre.§ 



15. I raised this year five bushels dried beans ; 

 some pumpkins and turnips with my corn and po- 

 tatoes, squashes, bean^, peas, beets, and other gar- 

 den vegetables, in the kitchen garden ; quantity 

 not ascertained. 



16. I sowed one and a half acre with spring 



immersed in brine, and coated with plaster; no 

 lime was used. 



18. My means for inaking manure are from my 

 cattle and hogs. My manner of saving it, is by 

 preparing sand, loam, mud, straw, &c., and placing 

 it behind my cattle, and in my yard?, in order to 

 absorb the liqi*d parts; and to prevent washing, 

 evaporation, and as much as possible, freezing. 



19. My stock consists of four oxen, six cows, 

 five young cattle, and one horse. My barn is 80 

 feet long"by 36 feet wide. I have no cellar under 

 it. My stable manure is kept under cover imtil 20 

 or 25 loads are made, when it is carted to the field 

 where it is to be used, put in one heap and c jvered. 



20. My cows are of the native breed. 



21. My calves intended to be raised are allowed 

 to suck half the milk of a cow each morning and 

 evening for five weeks, when they are turned to 

 pasture and weaned-. 



22. I have made 400 lbs. of butter the last sea- 

 son ; sold and used the remainder of the milk ; 

 have made no cheese. 



23. I keep five swine, and shall make twelve 

 hundred pounds pork. My swine are of a mixed 

 breed. 



24. My swine are kept through the summer on 

 skimmed milk and whatever else would have been 

 cast away. They are fattened on boiled apples 

 and potatoes mixed, and a small quantity of corn 

 meal added while the potatoes and apples are hot. 



25. I make forty loads of manure from the hog- 

 pens. My manure is made by furnishing the hogs 

 with sand, mud, loam, «fcc., to which is added the 

 wash from the sink. 



26. I employ one man and two boys. I paid $216 

 for labor the past year, 



27. I have nine hundred apple trees ; eight hun- 

 dred are grafted, and one hundred natural fruit. 



28. I have one hundred and twelve cherry, peach, 

 and pear trees. 



29. I have had no canker worms. I had a few 

 borers in peach trees, and destroyed them with a 

 pointed knife. I prevent their attacks by plaster- 

 ing the lower part of the trunk and upper part of 

 the roots, with mortar such as is used for plastering 

 a house. It is applied in the month of August. 



30. No ardent spirits are used on my place. 



cut-worm with that he may not attack the corn. This may 

 be a solution of the disagreement between the parties m the 

 case A most respectable farmer in the interior makes oats 

 his first crop on green sward ; and in this way he says en- 

 tirely escapes the worm, while when corn was the first crop 

 iu the rotation, gave him great trouble. 



!\lr. Bennett's cross ploughing in the spring is no douhl a 

 work of supererogation ; and if he goes sodeep as to disturb 

 and break or invert the inverted sward, is decriedly inexpe- 

 dient and bad. His answer in this case is not so lull and ex 

 plicit as could be desired. We cannot in this matter reler 

 him to higher authority than to the author of the report of the 

 Society whose successful practice demonstrates the sound- 

 ness and excellence of his cardinal principles of cultivation- 

 principles which he has fully explained to the public. 



t That water fully charged with putrescent matter or en- 

 riching soil would be far more efficacious than pure spring 

 water is obvious enough ; hut that pure spring water would 

 be wholly useless we cannot admit without farther lignt. 

 The purest water is in itself a powerful agent in vegetation ; 

 and we should have beeen glad to have had some more par- 

 ticulars in regard to Mr. Bennett's exneriments in irrigation 



§The yield of potatoes is very small, hut the drought every 

 where was severe, and materially affected their crops. 



SoRi Throat. — Mr Editor: I saw in your pa- 

 per some time since, a recommendation of the daily 

 tise of cold water, applied to the neck as a security 

 agaiifst sore throat. My own experience concurs 

 with yours on this point. I was many years sub- 

 ject to this ailment, and was advised to try this rem- 

 edy by one who had proved it. I did so, and have 

 had no return of the complaint. As the season hag 

 come when there is considerable exposure, from 

 the contrast between the temperature oftheday and 

 evening, it may be well to remind your readers of 

 this method of protecting themselves. Below I 

 give you the testimony of Sir Walter Scott, on the 

 same point, which I transcribe from one of his let- 

 ters published in Lockhart's life : 



" When I was a little subject to sore throats I 

 cured myself of that tendency by sponging my 

 throat, breast and shoulders, every morning with the 

 coldest water I could get."— Bos«. Merc. Jour. 



