TOL. xvin, NO. 3a. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



273 



ne side of his field, and laying eight successive 

 caps in a row, at the distance of one rod apart, 

 nd the rows likewise one rod apart, it will require 

 ist twenty times eight heaps to dress an acre. Tlie 

 ifitance at which tlie heaps should be placed apart, 

 I ascertained with sutBcient accuracy by taking 

 le distance from the hind-end of tlie cart to the 

 )rward feet of tlic cattle upon the tongue as the 

 leasurement of a rod in length. He ploughs his 

 round about six inches deep, carefully and com- 

 letely inverting the sod. He seldom ploughs his 

 lanure under, excepting where he would raise tap- 

 joted vegetables ; but having laid his land flat, lie 

 jreads his manure and then harrows it and cross 

 srrows it until a fine tilth is produced. His corn 



planted three and a half feet apart and is care- 

 lUy hoed three times without making any hill 

 hatever ; and he is careful to sutfer no weeds to 

 jmain among it. It is suflered to stand in the 

 sld until perfectly ripe ; and the stalks are not 

 it until the corn is so far advanced Jiat there can 

 } no advantage from them to the ripening of the 

 ir. His butt stalks also are saved with great 

 ire ; and when stowed away, his corn fodder be- 

 ig intermixed in alternate layers with whea^ straw, 

 le straw itself is rendered more nutritious and sa- 

 )ry for his cattle. If ho plants potatoes, he is 

 ireful to plant whole potatoes and of a good size. 

 he sprouts from such are stronger, and the crop is 

 fortnight earlier. The jiotatoes are hoed twice 

 id the ground kept clear from weeds. 



The second year the ground which has been in 

 )rn is not ploughed nor the sod disturbed or re- 

 irted ; but it is harrowed in both directixms by 

 e cultivator managed by one man with a horse, 

 he wheat is tlien sowed at the rate of two bush- 

 s to an acre, or barley or oats as he may choose, 

 ith grass seeds. 



He has been in the habit of raising esculent lOots 

 ir his stock, of the value of which as feed, he has 

 high estimation ; mangel wurtzel, carrotu, turnips, 

 id ruta baga. He likes the ruta baga very much 

 i feed for his horses. He planted last year two 

 ;res of carrots and ruta baga upon green sward, 

 anaged as he has said, and obtained one thousand 

 ishels. Potatoes are sometimes made tlie second 

 •op in the course. In that case his land has two 

 anurings ; and so with other esculent vegetable 

 ■ops. 



After haying, and even late in the autuimi, he 

 jvotes much time and labor to the improvement 

 ■ his lands. He carries sand on to clay lands, and 

 ay on to sand lands, and finds much benefit from 

 lis intermixture of soil. He deems the principal 

 Ivantage resulting from this process, to be upon 

 nd which he cannot plant, the covering up of all 

 le vegetable matter on the soil, by which means 



becomes rotted and improves the staple of the 

 )il. This he deems a matter deserving particular 

 tention ; this covering up of vegetable matter 

 id converting it into manure. He pursues this 

 ork even until late in the autumn, when the ground 



frozen. 



He obtains much swamp mud. He has exten- 

 :nsive meadows, which have two and a half feet 

 3pth of mud resting upon blue clay. He has at- 

 impted the redemption of this land by digging a 

 jntre ditch three feet in width and two feet in 

 3pth, and cross ditches at right angles with the 

 lain ditch, and emptying into it. These cross 

 itches are two and a half feet wide at top, 18 

 iches at the bottom and one foot in depth. They 

 ccur as often as once in two rods. After the 



ditching is completed, gravel or sand is carried on 

 to the meadow at the rate of one hundred loads to 

 the acre and manured. It is then sowed liberally 

 witli herds grass and clover. The ditches require 

 to be cleared out once in three years, and the mat- 

 ter collected in them spread upon the land. In this 

 way tliey may be kept in guod condition for an in- 

 definite period of time. His own improvements in 

 this way are of twelve years' duration and without 

 deterioration. 



In 1 838, he undertook the redemption of four 

 acres of this kind of land. He covered it with 

 gravel, which was spread immediately. The next 

 spring when the ground was thawed to the depth 

 of two or three inches, he harrowed it most thor- 

 oughly ; he then sowed herds grass and followed 

 it with a bush harrow. The crop of grass which 

 he has since obtained from this land was at least 

 two tons to the acre ; and the moss in the land 

 was completely decomposed. 



He is accustomed to use alternately his pastures 

 as mowing fields and hia mowing fields as pastures. 

 He finds a very great advantage from this course 

 of management. He ploughs liis pastures, even 

 though he has no manure to apply to them ; and 

 though he cannot fence them against his cattle. He 

 inverts the sod, laying it completely over; and then 

 sows his grass seed. In this way the feed of his 

 pastures is greatly improved both in quality and 

 quantity. He ploughs his pastures, getting a crop 

 of Indian corn and then laying down his land with 

 Indian wheat and grass seeds. The Indian wheat, 

 i. e. the Tartarian buck wheat, is deemed by him a 

 good crop, and the flour much esteemed. When 

 he has no manure to apply to the land, he ploughs 

 it in a shallow manner; but, at any rate, it should 

 be occasionally ploughed and sowed with grass 

 seed. 



Judge Hayes lias done much in the improvement 

 of his live stock, having obtained an improved 

 Short-IIorn bull from Greenland, N. H., where this 

 valuable stock has been some time reared, and 

 roni which the beautiful ox Columbus was descen- 

 ded, an OS whose superior is seldom seen. 



He closed his remarks much too soon ; bat he 

 has kindly promised that we phall soon hear from 

 him on these subjects — an engagement which he 

 cannot too soon fulfil. We shall hold him strictly 

 to his H-ord in this case; and being a lawyer, and 

 knowing the consequences of neglecting "to take 

 up one's paper," we mean to sue him if he does not 

 pay the note at maturity. 



The account he has given of his farming opera- 

 tions so far, will be read with much interest and 

 instruction. His improvement of his pasture lands 

 deserves particular attention. We have often urg- 

 ed it upon farmers; but he is the only man we-have 

 yet known to practice it. H. C. 



HINTS ON THE CARE OP HORSES. 

 There are a great many farmers who take but 

 poor cara of their horses in tlie winter season. In 

 the short days they have 'waier before dark, and 

 then have to go without until nine or ten o'clock 

 the next morning, or if they have water early in 

 the morning, they will not usually drink, as their 

 time of thirst is past. Horses seldoai refuse water 

 after tliey have eaten their evening meal, though if 

 they do not have it then, they will usually drink 

 but little the next morning until after eatincr. So 

 if a horse will not drink early in the morning, it is 



no indication that he has not been thirsty the pre- 

 vious evening. 



V/c have been particular in our observations on 

 this point. We have turned a horse out to drink 

 at nine or ten o'clock in the evening, and seldom 

 knew him to fail of drinking heartily. Then for 

 experiment, we omitted to give him water in the 

 evening and attended to it in the morning before 

 he was fed, and he would seldom drink. If it be 

 best for animals to have free access to water at all 

 times, as is generally allowed, then they ought 

 surely to have a supply immediately after eating, 

 when they are usually thirsty ; though the superfi- 

 cial observer who finds that they will not drink early 

 in the morning, may think that all has been well. 



There is not a man probably, who has not at 

 times been very much in want of drink, and yet, 

 without being able to obtain it, his thirst has grad- 

 ually abated. In this case the juices from other 

 parts of the body are, in a measure, put in requisi- 

 tion, to supply moisture when it is wanted, so, by 

 an equalness, the thirst is abated or done away, but 

 there is a deficiency of moisture in the system — a 

 drought less severe but more extensive, which if 

 experienced daily, will prove unfavorable to health 

 and strength ; and in animals it will injure the 

 growth of the young and operate agaS*«t the fine, 

 healthy condition of every creature. They must 

 have water when they need it, or they will not 

 drink ; like men, they do not eat and drink accord- 

 ing to fashion and custom. 



Some farmers will use their horses till they are 

 warm and sweaty, and then put them up, perhaps, 

 in a cold barn, without covering them with any 

 thing to keep them warm. This is often greatly 

 increased by allowing the horses to drink freely of 

 water while warm, in order to save the trouble of 

 watering theci after they have stood till "feool : a 

 great many horses suffer in this way, and some are 

 ruined. For a man or beast to be inactive and ex- 

 posed to x;old after exercise and perspiration, is 

 very destructive of health, and M'ill destroy the 

 strongest constitutions. Every man knows the im- 

 portance of guarding himself against exposure to 

 cold after perspiration, and how a drink of cold wa- 

 ter in this state, will send a chill through his whole 

 frame. Though a man is not like a horse, he re- 

 sembles him in his ability to endure a great deal of 

 labor, with proper management, and in his liability 

 to disease if his tender frame bo not guarded with 

 care. 



It was observed in the Farmer some months ago, 

 that it was better for a horse to have a place in the 

 v.'inter where he could stand upon the manure, and 

 walk round at •ea.'^e, than to be confined to a stall 

 and stand upon a hard floor. But in this case, as 

 the horse will generally stand in one place to eat, 

 the manure will accumulate under his hind feet so 

 that he will stand uneasy, unless it be levelled fre- 

 quently, 80 that it will be as high or higher under 

 his fore feet. 



Currying horses is very much neglected by some 

 farmers. This operation is very important, as it 

 contributes both to the pleasure and health of the 

 animal. In some cases this business is hardly at- 

 tended to, being performed only a few times in the 

 course of the winter. 



Many a farmer's horse that H now stupid and la- 

 zy, and of a miserable appearance, would, under the 

 care of a good hostler, without extra keeping, be- 

 come so changed in his appearance and spirits in a 

 few months, that his owner would hardly know him. 

 — Maine Fanner. 



