S70 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 29, 1839 



various locations, witliout prejudicing any oilier 

 cultivation or crop. 



iJut I must brine; this long communication to an 

 end. Yet I have only glanced at topics which I 

 should have been happy to have discussed at large ; 

 and I have neglected several which I wished to 

 have brought before the farmers of Essex. I trust 

 I shall have other opportunities. I would not by 

 any means be supposed to dictate to men, whose 

 agricultural intelligence, and skill, and experience, 

 I well understand and respect, and by which I have 

 been often instructed. Hut I felt myself honored 

 by the invitation of the intelligent and devoted Sec- 

 retary of the Society, to whom the agricultural com- 

 munity are largely indebted, to add something to 

 your annual pamphlet; and I am most happy in any 

 form of friendship or union in a common cause, to 

 associate my name with the farmers of Essex. Con- 

 nected to this improved county by ties of kindred, 

 friendship, and long residence and intercourse, I 

 am most anxious to keep the chain bright and strong. 

 In offering these suggestions to the farmers, I 

 do it with a high appreciation of the agricultural 

 capacities of the county. At present, however, I 

 have not strong hopes of seeing these capacities 

 even half developed. Opportunities and promises 

 of quicker gain in her enterprising commerce, and 

 her active and industrious manufactures, present 

 themselves so frequently and flatteringly, that ag- 

 riculture is likely to continue to be carried on with 

 little labor and little capital. Under such circum- 

 stances, agriculture can no more flourish than com- 

 merce and manufactures can flourish with little la- 

 bor and little capital. As her population is multi- 

 plied, the demands of the great market-towns in her 

 vicinity increased, and the facilities of intercommu- 

 nication among her own people and with the neigh- 

 boring towns extended, this great interest must, 

 and will be much more regarded than it now is ; 

 and will secure its proper place in the considera- 

 tion and attention of its inhabitants. By an ex- 

 tended, skilful, and liberal cultivation, it will then 

 be found that in the capacities and productiveness 

 of much of her soil, as well as her commercial and 

 manufacturing advantages, her intellectual and 

 moral improvements, the county of Essex has been 

 Bignally blessed by Divine Providence. 



HENRY COLMAN. 

 April, 1839. 



From ' Transactions of the Essex AgricuHuPeV^o'cieiy, 1S38.' 

 EXPERIMENTS ON MANURJp; &c. 



(Concluded.) 

 MPv. HOW'S LETTER. 



MeOium, Dec. 5, 1838. 

 Dear Sir — In compliance with your request, I 

 suggest a few ideas on a subject of no small im- 

 portance ; for success in forming depends princi- 

 pally on the quantity of manure that is made. And, 

 in fact, a locomotive may as well be propelled with- 

 out steam, as a person have good success in farm- 

 ing without manure. There are various ways by 

 ■which manure may be increased. Cellars under 

 barns for the reception of manure are highly im- 

 portant, as its valile is much increased by being 

 preserved from drenching rains and drying winds. 

 Also, the quantity may be much increased by haul- 

 ing muck or soil, or throwing in hay, straw, or 

 some other materials to receive and suck up the 

 urine, as this is supposed to be worth nearly as 

 much as the droppings. A suitable plan for a cow 

 yard is of no small importance. It should be much 



hollowing in the middle ; the sides so elevated as 

 to prevent the water from running in, consequent- 

 ly there will bo but little to run out, to wash out 

 the manure. A large quantity of manure may be 

 made in such a yard, by hauling in muck, soil, or 

 some other material, and ploughing or pitching it 

 over occasionally. But it is said, we have no mead- 

 ow from whence to get muck ; there are no scrap- 

 ings in the road to be collected ; therefore we have 

 nothing to make compost of. But I would say, if 

 they have nothing else, take the soil from the field, 

 and with a little additional manure, the field may 

 again be restored to its former fertility. Another 

 object of some importance is to have the manure 

 applied in the best manner. I have, until recently, 

 been of the opinion that it is best to be applied in 

 a green state, and have the fermentation take place 

 in the ground; but of late I have had a diflferent 

 opinion, although I have tried no experiment that 

 is satisfactory in my own mind. I would suggest 

 the idea of recommending a premium to be offered 

 for the best experiment on the application of ma- 

 nure, that it may be ascertained which is the most 

 profitable, to apply manure in a green state or to 

 make a compost of it by mixing other materials, 

 taking into the account all the additional expense 

 of labor. 



Another thing is, to keep the hogs at work. By 

 keeping a good supply of hogs, and accommodat- 

 ing them with materials to work with, they will add 

 much to a farmer's stock of manure. 



Some farmers are averse to the credit system ; 

 to supply their hogs with materials to work with ; 

 to fill their cow yards and barn cellars with muck, 

 &e., and to give one, two, or three year's credit is 

 too much. This is one important reason why so 

 little improvement is made in farming. I bcdieve 

 there are the materials on almost every farm, and 

 means within the reach of almost every farmer, to 

 enrich his farm to almost any extent. 



Suppose a person to make a certain additional 

 quantity of manure ; consequently in the same pro- 

 portion the products of his farm will be increased ; 

 from which, by spending on the fann, will again in- 

 crease the manure, and so on, until his farm may 

 be enriched witliont limit. Finally, I believe that 

 if all the farmers would pay the attention to mak- 

 ing manure and enriching their farms that their in- 

 terest requires, the western fever would be less 

 prevalent an>ong us, and our young men, instead of 

 leaving the farms of their sires and engaging in 

 speculation, cr emigrating to the far west, would 

 cultivate the land of their fathers and learn from 

 experience that they may be amply repaid for all 

 their toil, and that the cultivation of the earth is 

 second to no other employment. 



Yours, with sincere respect, 



JOSEPH HOW. 



[For the New England Farmer.] 



If'ool 'Growers, look out ! — Manufacturers have 

 already begun to cry down the price of wool. You 

 have your remedy : keep the wool on hand until 

 they offer fairly. Old wool is not so plenty but 

 that the new -will be in demand, and the merchant 

 does not say that " cloths are declining." Again 

 we say, look out ! ! W. B. 



To make Copying Ink. — Add to common ink a 

 sufficient quantity of sugar to make it glutinous 

 when dry ; then put a piece of damp, thin, unsized 

 paper on it, and press it with a warm smoothing 

 iron, which will copy the writing. — Yankee Farmer. 



[For the N. B. Farmer.] 



EVERGREENS— THEIR CULTIVATION. 



Mr Colman — However to the contrary the tastes 

 of others may be, we are enthusiastic in admiratior 

 of cvergeens. No matter how humble their growth 

 — if they develop themselves in the moss which ad- 

 heres to the craggy rock — the humble vine, thai 

 creeps upon the earth, hardly daring to look upwarc 

 in the short space of its existence, or in the wavinci 

 pine or dark hemlock, frowning at angry stornu' 

 from the mountain's height, while centuries pasij 

 away ; they are all objects on which our eyes car' 

 gaze with a pleasure and admiration which othe: 

 portions of vegetable nature cannot afford. 



The symmetrical maple, the spreading elm, witi 

 its trunk fascicled with tiny branches, the beautifu 

 hickory, and tulip-tree aspiring towards the clouds 

 with blossoms lovely as the rainbow, truly may vit 

 with them, when the bud first expands before th( 

 early breathings of spring, and the rich leaf matures 

 under the ripening sun of summer ; but, like sum 

 mcr friends, or those who go with us while all o-oe; 

 well, their goodliness withers away at the approaci 

 of autumn's storms, and in Avinter, they leave U; 

 nought remaining of what in summer, we adrairei 

 but the barrenness of desolated beauty. 



Evergreens are like " the friend that is born fo 

 adversity." Whether the sun pours the vertioa 

 and intense rays of summer, or casts the sideloni 

 glances of winter upon the earth, they always pre 

 sent a gladsome and cheering prospect. In sprin! 

 their new foliage is of a more lively green ; in sum 

 iner many of them exhibit the gayest flowers; i 

 autumn they alone remain unchanged, savino- tha 

 their foliage assumes a deeper hue, as if to shrou 

 itself in mourning that the beauty and glory of th 

 year has departed. When winter, monarch of th 

 year, assumes its reign, the winds may moan throng 

 their dense-leaved groves, as if to peal the requiei 

 of nature, but there is music, solemn and sweei 

 chanting in its pipings; — the snow may desceni 

 and lodge upon their branches, but it is only t 

 veil beauty with the manile of purity. While the 

 stand as memorials of a past, whose " glory is de 

 parted" with its owji short days, they also give ai 

 assurance of a future, when nature shall awaki 

 from her dormancy at the touch of spring. Wh' 

 does not admire them, and why do we not indulg. 

 a more familiar acquaintance with them by culliva 

 tion ? 



Anticipated difliculties in the culture of ever 

 greens, is, probably, a great reason why they re 

 ceive no more attention. This is imaginary rathe 

 than real. For ourselves,- we have no more objec 

 tion to undertake the removal of a fir or a pine, ii 

 expectation of its future success, than of a mapL 

 or anything else. There are simple rules to bi 

 applied to transplanting all trees and shrubs, whic. 

 rules, like those adapted to other things, must van 

 according to circumstances. Trees should, as near 

 ly as may be, be always removed to a soil and lo 

 cality similar to that from which they are taken 

 This cannot often be done in setting out the varie 

 ty that is desirable around dwellings and in parks 

 But when removed to diflerent soils, it is preferabL 

 to move from wet to dry than otherwise, for in thi 

 case the vessels may contract so as to adapt them 

 selves to their emergencies ; but when a tree is re 

 moved to a wet soil, a surfeiting of liquid is thi 

 consequence ; disease, whose presence is indicate( 

 by paleness of the leaf, and death are the effect 

 How strikingly analagous are the effects of exces 



