306 



NEW ENGLAxND FARMER, 



MARCH 11, 1810. 



AND HORTICULTURAL RF.OISTER. 



Boston, VVednesdav, March 11, 1840. 



THE EIGHTH AGRICULTURAL MEETING 



Was liolden at the Representatives' Hall on Thursday 

 evening, 5th inst. Mr Brigliam, of Westboro', one of 

 the Vice Presidents of the meeting, in the Chair. Mr 

 Fowler, of Danvers, was appointtd Secretary. The at- 

 tendance was very full. The subject announced for dis- 

 cussion was the Small Grains. 



The Commissioner opened the meeting by reading 

 several letters from gentlemen distinguished for their in- 

 telligence and pracliual skill in agriculuiie, relating par- 

 ticularly to the use of ihe marls found in Berkshire, and 

 to the cultivation of wheat. These mails contain nearly 

 ninety percent of the carbonate of lime; and it had 

 been confidently expected that they would prove highly 

 beneficial in their ajipIiGation to lands, where they might 

 be accessible, and especially to the cultivation of wheat. 

 Experiments only can satisfactorily decide these points ; 

 and though the results hitherto have not been encourag- 

 ing, they are by no means to be regarded as decisive. 



The first communication addressed to the Commission- 

 er in reply to his inquiries, was from Edward A. Newton, 

 Esq , of Pittsfield, President of the Berkshire Agricultu- 

 ral Society. 



Mr Newton says he thinks it too soon as yet to come 

 to any decisive conclusions. His first experiment was 

 on a lot which had been planted the previous year with 

 potatoes and well manured. He spread twelve loads of 

 marl to the acre and sowed wheat. He obtained a hirge 

 crop of straw, but the wheat did not fill." This he attri- 

 butes in a degree to the number of trees in tlie field, which 

 was his orchard. 



His next application of it was to aJ6t of three acres, 

 upon which he put first twenty loads of fresh stable ma- 

 nure and then twelve loads of marl, and ploughed thrrn 

 in. He then spread ten loads of well rotted manure to 

 the acre, and pl;mted corn. His crop was much injured 

 by the wire worm. He obtained fifty bushels of corn to 

 the acre. lie did not expect any direct benefit from the 

 marl, and obtained none ; but he designs another season, 

 to lay down this land to grass with wheat ;. and considers 

 the result then will be a fair experiment of its efficacy 

 and value. Mr Newton likewise made an application of 

 it to carrots, but without any success ; it might perhaps 

 be better said, with an injury to the yield. He quotes 

 the auihority of Professor !Uadan,of Scotland, that marl 

 fresh from tile pits lias always a bad effect upon root 

 crops. 



The next letter was from Dr Robert Canip1)ell,ofPitts- 

 fiel I, who applied it at the rale of 200 and 500 bushels 

 to the acre upon carrots, sugar beets, and Indian corn.— 

 Hesiiys of his Indian corn, that he could not distinguish 

 the portion marled from tliat which was no! marled.— 

 " On the whole," he says, •' I do not consider that the 

 marl was any benefit to the crops thus far, although the 

 additional quantfty applied to the beet crop was manifest- 

 ly injurious. The crops were not of that kind, neither 

 were the experiments conducted in^ manner to test tile 

 utility of lime in any form. It wa*-,from learning fhat 

 luy soil was wholly destitute of the carbonate of lime, 

 that I was induced to try the marl. jAnolher reason wa.s, 

 from observing that portions of my land w.hen well ma- 

 nured and cultivated, did not give" igood return in crops, 

 which 1 was led to believe was owing to the presence of 

 Bome of the deleterious salts of iron', which I hoped to 

 be able to correct by the use of lime. It is my intention 

 to continue the use of lime in some form, either as marl 

 or lime m a caustic state, until I can be fully satisfied of 

 Its use." 



The next letter was from Mr Cornelius Basset, of Lee 

 an intelligent and skilful farmer He says " he liasnot 

 been so particular in his application of it as he. ou^ht. I 

 put 50 loads upon about 4 acres, and the follow! n^-r sea- 

 son planted with corn, having dropped the same number 

 of loids of manure in the hill." His corn he savs was 

 excellent. He afterwards sowed this land with wheat 

 and oafs, " which were very good." (This experiment, 

 from the intermixture of the manure, cannot be consider- 

 ed as conclusive ) He goes on to suv that " his potatoes 

 yielded about four quarts in a bushel from the same num- 

 ber of hills more than those he did not marl Heap 

 plied several loads to his mowing land. The first season 

 he could not perceive any diflereuce. The p,iBt season 

 in some places, he could see a marked difference -in 



some lots he judged a third difference— in others he could the same time sowed some dry. The dry-sown was 

 see no difference. He adds, '• I feel more encouraged to smutted: the steeped wheat was uninjured 

 apply it than when you were here. Some of my neigh- B. V. French, Esq., of Braintree, then addressed the 

 bors have received much greater benefit from its appli- meeting. He had made experiments in ihe application 

 cation than myself; and other? about the same. Esq. of lime to land. He was desirous to lay down some of 

 Porter applied some to an onion bed The first season his lands to grass. He objected to sowing barley in this 

 the onions were ordinary ; the past season, on the same case, because it was an exhausting crop ; to oats, because 

 bed, extraordinary ; he thinks the best in the county : he they were apt to be followed with an abundance of sor- 

 attributes it to m:irl :. he applied some to old sward- rel. He sowed the Gilinan wheat and obtained 23 bush- 

 bound meadow land ; his grass was much better. He els per acre. He tried the Black Sea variety, but it 

 applied on two rows of corn marl instead of plas- failed. The next year he wished to lay down some land, 

 ter, having plastered the best of the piece ; he applied Here the Oilman wheat succeeded where the Black Seu 

 about the same quantity of marl as plaster, and at the wheat failed. In some parts of Braintree and in the 

 same time the marled rows he thinks were lull as good neighborhood and on the islands in Boston harbor, the 

 ns the plastered ones. His land is on the banks of the ! Oilman wheat had failed 



Housatonic river. Another neighbor applied about half i In lb37, he wished to lay down to grass a piece of 

 a shovelful in a hill to corn, having manured side by side i 'and adjoining that on which his Black Sea wheat had 

 in a hill with good hog manure. The fore part of the j 'ailed He asked the advice of an eminent chemist on 

 se.ison his manured corn was the best In the fall he I the subject of liming. He advised him to apply one hun- 

 vvould have given any one the piece of corn if he would j dred and sixty casks to an acre. This was too expensive 



an experiment ; so he applied one hundred and fifty 

 bushels. The lime was air-slacked and spread upon the 

 land, which the previous year was in corn and potatoes. 

 A portion of the land, which had been limed, of eight or 

 ten feet wide, running across the piece, was dressed with 

 strong manure. 'I he wheat came up very well. On 

 the 5th July it v\'as struck with a blast. There was no 

 difference between the manured and unmanured parts of 

 the field. He again advised with the gentleman to whom 

 he had before referred, but his opinions on the efficacy 

 of lime had undergone a change. He, Mr French, would 

 not condemn the use of lime; but he would say his own 

 experience was unfavorable to it It might answer a 

 much better i>urpose in old coujitiies than in ours, and it 

 was extensively used there and much approved. He 

 laid this field down to clover and the product was excel- 

 lent. He had obtained three tons to the acre ; and hav- 

 ing practised the method of curing it recommended by the 

 late Judge Buel, the hay was a valuable fodder. 



He had something to say of deep ploughing. He had 



nick out the marled. In potatoes he was more particu- 

 lar He planted two rows and applied manure in the 

 hill ; two rows marl and manure, and two rows marl 

 alone. His nidrl ami manured rows were the best; the 

 marl application next ; but the manured rows the least." 



The next letter read was from E. Phinney, Esq., of 

 Lexington, on the cultivation of wheat. It is intended 

 that this letter shall come before the public shortly in 

 another form, and therefore we shall give scarcely an ab- 

 stract of it Mr Phinney has now cultivated wheat for -■- 

 tw-elve years, and for the last nine years with perfect of 

 success, the crop varying according to" the quality of the 

 soil, from 15 to 2,^ bushels per acre He attributes his 

 success to coniparat'vely deep ploughing, so that some 

 poition of the subsoil, the unexhausted treasure of the 

 earth, is brought to the surface to be enriched by manure 

 and atmospheric influences ; and to the use of lime mixed 

 with peat ashes, and barilla, containing about 50 per ct. 

 of lime. 



He says: " The parable«f the sower who went out to 



ow, contains much agricultural as well as moral and le- i lately nut with minutes of the examination of several 



;ious instruction. The s.ed that fell upon stony ground 



1'l 



ickieli /mdnot much earth, like that which is sown upon 

 our shoal-ploughed fields, sprung up and grew the better 

 at first, by reason of its having but little depth of earth ; 

 but as soon as the sun was up and the season advanced, 

 it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered 

 away. Here is an admirable lesson for larmers ; and the 

 reasoning of the .sacred teacher is as sound and unan- 

 swerable in an agricultural as it is in a moral and religious 

 view. Let the farmers then sow their seed upon " good 

 ground," deeply ploughed and liberally and rightly ma- 

 nured, and we shall have no more of the necessity of le- 

 gislative bounty as an inducement to the culture of wheat." 

 He addsr "Allowing me, however, to judge from my 

 own experience, I say without hesitation, I have no 

 doubt as to the successful cultivation of this valuable 

 crop in all parts of ihe commonwealtrff I mean with a 

 due application of skill in the management and cultiva- 

 tion of our grounds." 



The question of Small Grains then coming up, and par- 

 ticularly the cultivation of wheat, several gentlemen ad- , . 



dressed the meeting on the various topics of the use of: extraordinary crops — from 40 to 50 bushe'ls of wheat to 

 lime for wheat, on sowing wheat upon green sward, on ''" ^'^'^b, and other crops in proportion ; and this was a 

 the prevention of smut, on laying down land with wheat, i permanent improvement, 

 and other incidental matters, | (An account ofthis great improvement was given to 



Mr HenderB(jil, of Sunderland, stated that he had sowed j '''e roadeis of the New England Farmer a few weeks 

 wheat upon tiiif land or green sward inverted, and we U"i<^«'i !>nd westrongly invite the attention of farmers I 



Scotch and English farmers before a committee of Parlia- 

 ment, on the condition of English agriculture, and had 

 read it with great interest. The Scotch farmers were de- 

 cidedly in advance of the English farming, and their ex- 

 traordinary success was mainly attributable to an improv- 

 ed system of draining and the use of the subsoil plough, 

 ing. This draining was called the Deanston 8y.stem. It 

 consisted in sinking drains at the distance of seven yards 

 *part to thedepth of ilirce feet; narrow at bottom and' 

 filled in with stone to the height of about eighteen inches ; 

 an inverted sod placed upon these stones to prevent the . 

 falling in <f the dirt, and then the whole filled up and 

 the field left smooth. These drains were so deep as not 

 to be reached by the plough. The field was then plough- 

 ed with a common plough, and this followed by a sub- 

 soil plough, so that the whole was completely drained to 

 the depth of eighteen inches, and in the course of culti- 

 vation some portion of the subsoil, though not in excess, 

 was biought up to mix with the top soil and to become 

 enriched by air and heat and light. The fields thus pre- 

 pared Snd well cultivated and manured, produced most 



understood him to say, with success ; but as he spok 

 low, we did not understand whether it were winter or 

 spring wheat ; and legref th;it we w«re unable to catch 

 his remarks 



Mr Cole, the editor of the Yankee Farmer, then ad- 

 dressed the meeting. He had heard several farmers 

 speak of sowing wheat upon green sward, and we under 



the subject.) 



Mr Williams, of .\lford, Berkshire county, then spoke 

 of sleeping seed wheat in brine. He did not consider it 

 in any degree a preventive of smut His father had 

 steeped his wheat in brine, yet suffered much from the 

 smut. He used brine fiir the purpose of floating off oats 

 jd other foul stuff, which were mixed with his seed 



stood him, with advantage. In respectto steeping wheat wheat. The brine he regarded as preferable to water for 



he had known one farmer to soak his wheat in brin 



oving smut, as well as other matters, because they 



fortnight without injury. The editor of the Genesee vvould float in brine when they would not in clear water ; 



Farmer had steeped Italian and common wheat for a week Ij"' lie did not consider that there was any particular eifica- 



before sowing: they grew very well. A fanner in On- ''y '" brine itself for the destruction or prevention of 



ondaga had steeped his wheat a month without injury, smut He considered lime, however, as a perfect pre- 



He did not believe that brine would injure it. Some ^cntive of smut. He had sowed winter wheat upon 



farmers in New York had steeped the seed of Italian green sward, and the result had been good. He had 



wheat without injury. Mr Hathaway, of Rome, N. Y., made a trial of laying down land with wheat and rye. 



who introduced the cultivation of the Italian, sowed his O" ''"efi acres, the two oulside acres were in rye, the 



wheat without preparation. He had soaked it 12 hours centre acre was in wheat The grass seed was sowed 



and 24 hours in brine : it did not grow. The weather on the snow in the spring Each of the lots was plas- 



waswarm. If steeped in brine and kept cool, it would *ered. The grass seed came up equally well on each lot. 



not take injury. Experiments have been made of brin- O" tl'" 'ye ground, however, the grass was almost an 



ing to prevent smut. This was recommended on the an- entire failure. On the wheat, the grass took as well as 



thority of Arthur Young. His, Mr C.'s father, used to possible, and was almost as obvious to the sight as if the 



prepare his seed wheat by brining and liming it ; had at ""ye land had not been sown at all with grass. He mado 



