880 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



jrVKE 5, 1839. 



FARM ACCOUNT. 



We invite tiie nttentioii uf our readers to the sub- 

 joined account of some Rhode Island farming. It 

 will speak for itself, and needs no commendation 

 beyond what it is sure to receive from every intel- 

 ligent observer. The condition of the place when 

 it full under the husbandry of this enterprising cul- 

 tivator Wiis unpromising enough. The hand of in- 

 dustry directed by skill, has entirely changed its 

 aspect. — We do not know what we ca.n present to 

 our reader^ more useful than such statements as 

 these. Attention will be particularly called to .Mr 

 Anthony's opinion and use of ashes ; his cultivation 

 of millet, and his value of ruta baga. Whether he 

 has discovered a preventive against the injury to 

 milk from the taste of turnips, is deserving of far- 

 ther inquiry. We have, no doubt, however, that 

 sugar beet and we know that the common blood 

 beet would be a better feed for his milch cows than 

 the ruta baga, and raised with equal ease. We 

 should feel ourselves greatly obliged if other farm- 

 ers in and out of the State would furnish us other 

 accounts of a like exactness. They would render 

 a fflj^stantial benefit to the agricaltnral community. 



H. C. 



Xiirth Pronidetice, 5 mo. 19, 1S39. 



Respected pRiKXD Henry Colman : Premis- 

 ing that my mode of farming has been of too ordi- I 

 nary a character for its details to afford much of 

 interest or instruction, I will now endeavor to fur- 

 nish the statements requested. The farm an which 

 I reside has been under my management for thir- 

 teen years, most of the time for the owner, but re- 

 cently as tenant. It contains 150 acres : of this 

 50 is wood land, and (not pretending to perfect ac- 

 curacy in the division,) 30 pasture — leaving 70, 

 which has been subjected to tillage: 12 of this is 

 a bog, of ptaty character, 18 inches in depth over a 

 hard pan of sand, in which there sometimes occurs 

 a minute portion of clay. There are, perhaps, 15 

 acres of what may be termed loamy soil. The re- 

 mainder, with the exception of a brock .margin of 

 about an acre of moist and more adhesive charac- 

 ter, is very sandy with a gravelly or sandy subsoil. 



In 182G, the farm was in. very poor condition. 

 There were probably not more than six acres that 

 would have defrayed the expense of cultivation for 

 one year oidy. The crops of that.year were 5 tons 

 of hay, 2 of oats, 3 of bog hay, hardly worth the cost 

 of procuring, 200 bushels of potatoes, 200 of tur- 

 nips, some fruit, and a supply of garden vegetables 

 for the family. 



Prior to the period above alluded to the sandy 

 portion of the farm had been occasionally planted 



years, and has been as may be supposed an impor- 

 tant agent in its improvement. Kut of such as has 

 been effected in the condition of the sandy and most 

 sterile part of it, ashes has been the basis. These 

 have been two or three timi's applied at the rate of 

 about 200 bushels an acre, at intervals of three 

 years, if the grass seed took well, otherwise often- 

 er, previous to a dressing of stable manure. The 

 crops obtained in the process being millet, and the 

 small or southern clover. '1 imothy and red-top 

 have sometimes been added, and though coming 

 later to maturity than the clover, always to advan- 

 tage. The- hay has been better for the practice, 

 and a firmer sward turned over at the next plough- 

 ing. The millet and grass seeds are mixed togeth- 

 er and sown on a surface previously levelled by 

 the roller, and spread over with ashes. The millet 

 crop may be stated at 1 1-2 ton — more of clover, 

 with some diminution the second year. The field 

 has sometimes remained in clover two years '. fter 

 the ashing, which has immediately preceded manur- 

 ing. In other cases (and it has probably been the 

 better practice,) a dressing of about 30 loads of 

 stable manure, 27 cubic feet to the load, has been 

 turned lUider, aud tlie rJeld plauteil with corn the 

 second year. 



Thus treated, this kind of land will grow oats or 

 barley, but generally not heavy crops of either. — 

 Those to which it is best adapted are cum, millet, 

 and clover. When afterwards ploughed, which has 

 generally been in three or four years, some hard 

 crop has been the first of the rotation. Manure is 

 always applied for the benefit of this crop, and is 

 always turned under — the sod rolled down and not 

 disturbed by the after culture. — Of the different 

 methods pursued iii reclaiming the bog, paring and 

 burning was the chea pest and most efliectual. "The 

 lazy bed" way of the Irish would not soon have ac- 

 complished the object, and what my fancy suggest- 

 ed as an improvement on that method, grew more 

 bushes than potatoes. This was, to plant until the 

 sward should be rotted by the excavations of ditcli- 

 es previously spread over it for that purpose. Of 

 the m acres now stocked to grass, about -t' only 

 have had any manure excepting the ashes produced 

 by burning the surface. Thorough drainage ap- 

 pears indispensable to a reduction of the crude ma- 

 terialc of which this kind of land is composi.'d, end 

 without a breaking, down of its fibre it can aflbrd 

 but little nourishment tor plants. Occa.sional plough- 

 ing and manuring will also doubtless be necessary 

 to sustain it in good condition, and when there 

 is an excess of water to prevent a recurrence of its 

 original wildness. — The pasture rarely affords suf- 

 ficient feed for my cows. They however run out 

 in days during summer and a part of autumn, but 



with corn ; the crops on an average yielding about are always stabled at night. Clover, the suckers of 

 eight bushels to the acre. It afforded nothing for corn, and when these are gone, the tops, sometimes 

 the scythe, and was of so little value for grazing, ! millet, and the tops of the French turnip or ruta 

 that a neighbor rented so much of it as a cow p;is" I baga furnish a succession of green crops which 

 ture, the first year of my management for $15, as ' supply the deficiency in the pasture feed. In ad- 

 the last season produced more than 60 tons of mil- ' dition to this they have also, two quarts cf Indian 

 let, clover, and other hay, besides including what | meal each per day. The quantity is increased on 

 is now one-half the value of my present pasture. j the failure of green food, with the addition of pump- 

 Previous to 1821), farming had been with us but ' kins or other vegetables. But during winter, er 

 a secondary object, but by having asheti' such till such time as they are sold to the butcher, they 

 grounds as were seeded, the quantity of hay had are liberally supplied with Indian meal and shorts, 

 been considerably increased, and at this period, the ' and when it can be procured, flaxseed oil meal mix- 

 cows were advanced to J5 for the purpose of bene- ' ed together with some cut hay ten or twelve hours 

 fiting the farm as well as for furnishing milk for before feeding, and given in the form of swill. In 

 market. The number was subsequently increased \ summer the meal is fed dry. The cows are milked 

 to 20, which with a pair of oxen and a horse have till sold, which is generally in the spring. As they 

 been the average stock of the farm for several are turned off their places are supplied as fast as 



is necessary to keep up a uniform quantity of milk, 

 by such as have recently calved, or as reference is 

 often had to beef in the purchase by those that 

 have been sometime in milk. A few of the best 

 are occar,ionally allowed to bring calves, btit gen- 

 erally the stock is entirely changed. This practice 

 has had the merit of convenience, but is neverthe- 

 less of doubtful utility, for it is difficult to procure 

 new milch cows in winterer spring that have been 

 properly kept Farmers in general provide only 

 dry provender for their stock in winter, and a cow 

 coming in under circumstances involved by such 

 keeping w^ll not ordinarily give more than two- 

 thirds the quantity of milk that might be obtained 

 from her if in suitable condition at the time of calv- 

 ing. Liberal feeding afterwards will fatten the 

 animal but generally not occasion large secretions 

 of milk. 



When not at pasture the cows are kept most of 

 the time in the barn, and stand on a tight floor that 

 descends from the manger to the sill, over which it 

 projects a few inches and conducts the urine into 

 a paved trench outside the barn through an aper 

 ture of about five inches in width between the side 

 and the boarding of the barn, extending the whole 

 length of the cattle floor. Through this vacancy, 

 which is closed when necessary by shutters inside, 

 the manure is also shoved into the trench, and ex- 

 cepting in cold weather, almost daily sufficiently 

 covered with bog mud or loam to absorb the urine 

 and to protect the manure from the influence ol 

 the sun and atmosphere. As often as these trenchei 

 are filled in the ploughing season, the manure is 

 taken to the field and turned under, most of it fo: 

 liard crops, but occasionally for millet and for fal 

 feeding. That which has been made late in au 

 tumn has sometimes been ploughed in on land de- 

 signed for planting the ensuing season. In winte 

 it is put in heaps on hind to be ploughed in thi 

 spring, and when suflRciently thawed for the pur 

 pose, is also turned under. Thos managed, it doei 

 not ferment before it is placed beneath the sod oi 

 mixed with the soil. 



My management hitherto has been very defec 

 tive in regard to the root culture, having never rais 

 od an adequate supply for my stock. Of the differ 

 ent kinds which I have grown for the purpose, ! 

 am inclined with some hesitation, to a preferenci 

 for the French turnip or ruta baga. The former i: 

 by some supposed to be an inferior variety ; bu 

 between the smooth kind and the Swede I kiiov 

 no diflFerence either in produce or quality. The un 

 pleasant flavor which they impart to the milk o 

 cows that are fed with them 1 believe riever occur 

 if ton or twelve hours elapse between the time o 

 feeding and milking. I have pursued this metho' 

 for years without any complaint of " turnipy milk,' 

 to avoid which I had at one time ab'andoned thi 

 feeding. 



I consider millet alnrost an indispensable cro] 

 for light and sterile soils. When grown of suits 

 ble fineness, a circumstance which depends on th' 

 quantity of seed sown, it is equal to English hay a 

 provender, and better than most grasses for soiling 

 Grass seed, however, should not be sown with i 

 except on inferior soils. For such ten or twelv 

 quarts of seed to the acre is sufficient. Rio 

 grounds require twice the quantity, which wouli 

 inevitably destroy the young grass plants. Beside 

 its value there is a consideration in ils culture o 

 great importance to the farmer —it does not inter 

 fere with his other ■' seed time and harvest," Th 

 time of sowing is from the twentieth of the fiff 



