238 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAN. 15, 1S40. 



tlie land has been longer tired with its repetition, 

 it luis been destroyed in wliole districts by a grey 

 parasitical plant called orolanche, and the only cure 

 has been the entire suspension of its cultivation in 

 those districts for many years. It is well known, 

 also, that in Norfolk, where the turnip has been lon- 

 gest cultivated, that root has become subject to a 

 disease which distorts it with unhealthy excrescen- 

 ces ; and it may bo worth inquiry whether, apart 

 froHi dry seasons and the depredations of insects, 

 flie late general failure of the turnip be not in 

 some degree owing to its too frequent repetition. 



Such being the ill results of a too scanty rota- 

 tion, which consists in the endless repetition of four 

 crops, the remedy must of course bo sought in a 

 greater diversity ; and here we cannot but look to 

 that npighbnring country whence our green crops 

 were first derived. In Flanders we find rotations, of 

 great richness and endless diversity, carried over a 

 term not of four years, but of ten, eleven, and even 

 fourteen. Into all of these potatoeg enter, consum- 

 ed on the farm, being in fact the chief food of the 

 cattle during the latter part of winter and the be- 

 ginning of spring. Carrots, too, are sown on the 

 same grown with barley or peas, and after either 

 grain is harvested, come also to maturity in the au- 

 tumn of the same year. The barley harvest, how- 

 ever, is much earlier than in this country. But 

 though our summers do not certainly encourage 

 such double culture, pens might be early enough 

 ripe even with us to a'dmit of its trial ; but at all 

 events, the Flemish carrot, a white variety, may be 

 worth cultivating as the crop of the year, since it is 

 said to yield 2J tons by the acre, where the com- 

 mon orange or Dutch carrot gives but 11. Pars- 

 nips, it appears, are grown also where the soil is 

 too heavy for carrots, and being extremely hardy, 

 are left in the ground during winter, and drawn 

 only as they are required for immediate use. Thi^y 

 are thought not so good for milch cows as carrots, 

 but superior for fattening cattle. Wo have long 

 h:;d another root, the mangel-wurtzel, which may 

 serve, if grown on a part of the turnip field, to pre- 

 vent the evils arising from the too frequent recur- 

 rence of that principal crop ; and it is well knoirn, 

 if stored up, to come ii}to useful service for ewes 

 with their lambs in the spring. There is a mode 

 which our owrr farmers have taken towards the 

 doubling of crops, not indeed on one piece of ground 

 at one time, but on one piece in the same year. — 

 Between the wheat h.irvest in August and tlie sew- 

 ing of turnips in June, there occurs in the four- 

 course system a gap of nine months' idleness for 

 the soil. This inlerva! is filled up, on a part at 

 least of the wheat stubbles, with a crop of rye to 

 be fed otT green in the early spring, at the time 

 when fresh food is most wanted for stock, and least 

 easy to be procured. So far as this e.ictends we 

 have thus two crops where our forefathers left a 

 naked fallow; and it may bo worth inquiry agnin 

 how far this sy.stora can be extended. Hut this 

 important subject of the rotation of crops, though 

 much may be done by individual enterprise, re- 

 quires such minute attention to so complicated re- 

 sults spread over so long periods, that it is only on 

 an experimental farm we can hope to see it fully 

 investigated. 



It might be supposed that when these different 

 stages of husbandry had been successfully passed, 

 when the subsoil of a farm had been mellowed, or 

 rather when it had been gradually blended with 

 the soil, and the soil itself might thus be said to 

 have been brought to a double depth, when the sur- 



face of the field had been dressed with the most 

 suitable manure, either natural dung, or artificial 

 manure, whether of the mineral or refuse class, had 

 been worked with the right implements, in the right 

 manner, at the right time ; sown with the most pro- 

 ductive seed, and, above all, sown in the best course 

 of rotation, when the crops thus prepared had be'en 

 cleansed either by the hand or the Imrse-hoe (a 

 method, this last, little known in the sivrth of Eng- 

 land, though long practiced and approved for the 

 turnip crop in the noitli ;) but it might be supposed 

 when the crops had been thus made ready, that 

 nothing remained for the farmer but to await the 

 fostering influence of the sky, the dropping rains 

 and alternate sunshine, until after a joyful harvest, 

 he shouid reap the reward of his toil at the neigh- 

 boring market. Little, however, does the sanguine 

 calculator upon paper know of the farmer's real 

 anxieties and frequent disappointments — of the 

 blights, and rusts, and mildews ; the inaects and 

 the fungi, which falling, as if in an unseen cloud, 

 on his fields, impair, if not destroy the vegetative 

 power which he has so carefully and expensively 

 endeavored to nurture. 



(To be continued.) 



From the Albany Cultivator. 



FARM WALL. 



Common stone wall, for durability, and an effect- 

 ual security to crops, is not surpassed by any other 

 kind of fence. The making of it is somewhat ex- 

 pensive, but the benefit, resulting from removing a 

 useless incumbrance from our farms, more than 

 counterbalances the expense. 



Althoush the advantages of this kind of fence 

 are obvious, yet, with many, it is not in very high 

 repute. They object, that it is every year falling 

 down, and requires much labor to keep it in repair. 

 This objection has some force from the fact that 

 many of our walls in the western New York are 

 unskilfully built. 



The stones in this region are not generally of 

 the best kind, and wall built of them will not stand 

 as well as wall in those parts of the country where 

 the material is more abundant and of better form. 

 But I know from actual experiment, that wall built 

 MS it should be, will make a very permanent fence, 

 and require but little repair. 



Much of our wall in western New York is laid 

 wrong side up, that is, the stones that are laid at 

 the bottom should be laid at the top. The largest 

 and best shaped stones are selected to be laid upon 

 the ground, the next best for the second tier, and 

 so on till the wall is topped out with small stones, 

 unfit fir the place. Although this, at first thought, 

 might seem to be the best way of building, a little 

 reflection and experience will teach a man that it 

 is the very- worst. Where will your round and 

 cobble stones lie best? Is it not on the ground, 

 where they will he firmly imbedded in earth, 

 and must be immoviible r And will not your large 

 and well shaped stones make a much better super- 

 structure than the small cobble stones? 



In many parts of New England, wall-laying is a 

 trade ; and I have observed that they there select 

 I.heir poorest stones to lay upon the ground. They 

 lay a broad foundation, and with small stones raise 

 the wall from 8 to 12 inches high. This absorbs 

 most of the poor stones. They then select stones 

 a size larger, and lay them in a double row on 

 each side of the wa* and thus raise their wall 12 

 or 15 inches. They then select their longest and 



best stones, and lay them across the wall, so as to 

 firmly bind together the two sides, resoi-ving small- 

 er but good shaped stones for completing the top 

 of the structure. 



The wall, when thus built, should be secured by 

 ploughing about three furrows on each side, and 

 throwing up, with a shovel, the last furrow so as to 

 raise an embankment against the wall, at least a.' 

 foot high. By this means the small stones are all 

 covered, and lying beneath the surface, will be but 

 little affected by frost, and will lie as firm as the 

 best stones you could select. Even if they were 

 no larger than the stones used on a McAdamized 

 road, they would make a, firmer and surer founda- 

 tion than broad and flat stones. The small stones 

 will settle about uniformly and equally into the 

 earth, and being pressed by larger stones above, 

 will lie steady and unmoved in their place. But 

 when large stones are laid upon the ground, the 

 heaving of the frost, and the softness of the earth 

 in a wet season, will cause them to settle more on 

 one sidj^than on the other, and thus tumble down 

 the cobble stone structure above them. 



The method of building wall here recommended, 

 will, I think, commend itself to the reflecting and 

 intelligent. But if any have doubts, I could easily 

 remove them by showing them wall that has stood 

 the test of time, remaining firm in its place, while 

 wall laid in a different manner has become dilapi- 

 dated. 



There is another error in wall laying that I 

 would notice. Some take great pains to lay the 

 smooth surfaces of the stones outward, so as to gire 

 a handsome face to the wall. To effect this, they 

 often lay the stones in the most unfavorable posi- 

 tion. I have often seen a long and smooth stone 

 set up edgewise and lengthwise in a wall, which 

 seldom fails to be crowded out by the pressure 

 fr«m above, to the ruin of the wall. But do the 

 best you can, no great beauty can be given to a 

 stone wall ; and here, as in other cases, utility 

 should not be sacrificed to beautij. That wall will 

 eventually look best, that lies best. 



In making wall, I direct to have every stone laid 

 in a position so that it will lie most firmly in its 

 own place, and bind together most effectually the 

 stones beneath and about it, without regard to the 

 beauty of the wall when completed. A. 



Pittsford, Monroe Co., M Y. 



To make Leather lf'nter-proof.—Me\t a pound of 

 tallow with half a pound of rosin. When melted 

 and mixed, warm the boots or shoes, and apply the 

 mixture hot with a painter's brush, until the sole 

 and upper leathers will suck in no more. If it be 

 ih'sired that the hoots should immediately take a 

 polish, dissolve an ounce of bees wax in an ounce 

 of spirits of turpentine, to which add a teaspoonful 

 of lampblack. A day or two after the boots have 

 been treated with the tallow and rosin, rub them 

 over with the wax and turpentine, but not before 

 the fire. Thus the exterior will have a coat of 

 wax alone, and shines like a mirror. Tallow or any 

 other grease rots the stitching and the leather — ro- 

 sin gives it an antiseptic quality and preserves it. 



Rhubarb. — This excellent plant, which should 

 have a place in every garden, is very easily raised, 

 requiring nothing more than a rich loauiy situation. 

 It is an orchard in miniature, the stems of its leaves 

 affording a substance which is an cxceller.t substi- 

 tute for apples, to make sauce or pies. Thi' sauce 

 made from it is a preventive of bowel complaints. 



