<rv^ r:' 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH M-^-RKET STREET, (Agiucdltdhal Warehoo8e.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



Ol,. JIT Ml. 3 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 5, 1843. 



[NO. I. 



N. E. FARMER, 



We find the followingr in the Mark-Lane (Lon- 

 in) E.vpresa, of May '^9 : 



iGRICULTUR.AL MISSION FROM THE 

 UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



Mr Henry Colman, of the State of Neiv York, 

 s come to Rowland, at the reqiipst of a very 

 rge number of the farmers of the United States 



America, to irjqiiire into the farminji; and condi- 

 in of the rural population in England and on the 

 nntinent, with n view to ascertain their improve- 

 ents, and obtain such information in every de- 

 rtment of agriculture and horticulture, and rural 

 d domestic economy in general, as may be bene- 

 :ial to hrs own country. He is familiar from long 

 perience, with all the practical operations and 

 tails of American husbandry, having been em- 

 oyed by the Government of Massachusetts for 

 veral years, as commissioner for the agricultural 

 rveyof that most improved State in the Union. 

 IS reports have been favorably received in ibis 

 untry. He brings with him numerous letters to 

 ntlemen of the highest consideration in this 

 untry and on the continent ; and has likewise 

 plomas from the American Agricultural Society, 



Washington ; the Pennsylvania Agricultural 

 iciety, at Philadelphia; the New York'state Ag- 

 Jultural Society ; the American Institute, at New 

 irk; the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, at 

 iston ; and the farmers of Massachusetts, at a 

 iblic meeting held at the State House, in Boston ; 

 id other societies in the United States, commend- 

 g him and his objects to the friends of ngricultu- 

 1 and rural improvement, wherever they may be 

 und. 



Mr Colman'a objects, we understand, are wholly 

 iblic and practical, and entirely disconnected 

 ith any party or political considerations whatev- 

 . He proposes to spend a year or more in Eng- 

 nd, in visiting as far as may bo, every part of the 

 untry— England, Scotland and Ireland— and 

 en to proceed to the Continent, to examine the 

 isbandry of France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, 

 id other places where information may' be ob- 

 ined, and especially to make himself acquainted 

 Ith the agricultural and manual labor schools, 

 id the e.xperimental farms. 

 Mr Colmnn was, a year ago, elected an honora- 



member of the Roy.il Agricultural Society of 

 igland, on the motion of the Duke of Richmond, 

 cnnded by Lord Spencer. 



We have now before us some of Mr Colman's 

 ports on the condition of agriculture in certain 

 itricts of the United States, and which contain a 

 St body of useful information. They clearly 

 ove the ability of Mr Colman to perform the task 



1 has undertaken, and we trust every facility for 

 taining information will be atfordcd him by our 

 ■riculturists; if for no other cause, for the sellish 

 e that we believe the reports which he will pub- 

 :h of the agriculture of Great Britain, will be as 

 eful to the British farmer as they will be valua- 



2 to the farmers of his own country. 



OLD AND NEW FARMS. 



Whether it is more profitable in the United 

 States, to lay out money in the purchase and im- 

 provem 'lit of exhausted farms, or in the clearing 

 and improvement of new land, is j question which 

 requires more mature consideration than has been 

 generally given to it. Calculations embracing the 

 several expenses required in the two operations 

 would sccni to show, that the intelligent farmer, 

 versed in the various processes of producing ma- 

 nure and taking advantage of green fallow crops, 

 will lay out his moans most profitably in restoriuf 

 worn-out land to fertility ; provided he does not 

 commit the common error of endeavoring to im- 

 prove more land than liis resources will enable him 

 to do justice by. 



On the other hand, the man of more limited 

 means, who cannot buy an old larm, or get one on 

 a sufficiently long lease, may, by going west, pur- 

 chase land at SI 25 per acre, or 200 acres for 

 .f2.j0, which will be already in the highest state 

 of fertility, but seriously encumbered with heavy 

 timber or other natural bcsetment. This he clears 

 and brings under cultivation, little by little, work- 

 ing, perhaps, a certain portion of his time for others, 

 in order to obtain subsistence previous to the com- 

 ing in of his crops. Every cleared acre may cost 

 him 15 or 20 dollars, which, however, adds the 

 same amount to the value of the farm, whilst every 

 bushel of grain and every addition to his stock, is 

 so much gained. It may be several years before 

 the pioneer will accumulate much priqierty. Still, 

 however, the prospect of an ultimate independence 

 thus held out to the poor and industrious settler, 

 is a good one. 



lie who has the advantage of sufficient means 

 to enable him to purchase exhausted lands at from 

 5 to 10, 20, and even 30 or 40 dollars per acre, 

 may, by a judicious application of lime, marl, plas- 

 ter, and other mineral fertilizers, aided by green 

 fallow crops plowed under to form a mould, soon 

 resuscitate a farm and render it again highly pro- 

 ductive and valuable. 'J'he following facts will 

 demonstrate the practicability of what is here as- 

 serted. More instances could be produced, but 

 this, being on unquestionable authority, is ample 

 for present illustration. 



Mr George W. Cummins, of Smyrna, Delaware, 

 purchased a farm near that place, containing about 

 200 acres. The .land had been under cultivation 

 for half a century or more, and its soil so complete- 

 ly exhausted as not to be capable of compensating 

 for the labor an<l seed expended upon crops. It 

 had, nevertheless, been rented, up to the time of 

 purchase, and one of the conditions was the pay- 

 ment, annually, of two-fifths of the Indian corn 

 crop. From a thirty acre field, the rent paid the 

 last year was only about 30 bushels ! Clover re- 

 fused to grow upon this land, and wheat would not 

 yield much more than the seed sown. The soil 

 was a sandy loam. ' The first step taken by Mr 

 Cummins for the restoration of this land to fertility, 

 was, to sow one bushel of ground plaster per acre. 

 Hush It up in the ^spring-, and spread upon it 70 



bushels of slaked lime per acre. Oats were then 

 sown at the rate of :;i or 3 bushels to the acre and 

 in July, when nearly fit for harvest, the straw be- 

 ing partly yellow and partly green, they were 

 plowed under, an ox-chain having been rigged in 

 front of the coulter, so as to torn them down be- 

 fore the plow. Previous to this plowing, 1 1-4 

 bushel more of ground plaster of Paris was sprink- 

 led on the ground. A second crop of oats spriinir 

 up in a thick mat from those plowed under, and 

 about the first of October, these were turned down 

 by the plow like the first growth. Wheat was 

 now sown, about 1 1-2 bushel to the acre, and har- 

 rowed in, followed by clover early in the sprinc. 

 The crop of wheat averaged about 8 bushels to 

 the acre, and this, it will be observed, without a 

 shovelful of stable or any other kind of animal ma- 

 nure. The clover had a bushel of ground plaster 

 sprinkled npr)n it in the spring, and yielded, the 

 second season of its growth, about a ton per acre 

 at the first mowing. Thus, land from which the 

 vegetable mould had been entirely exhausted, was, 

 in a comparatively short time, and without the as- 

 sistance of barn-yard or any other kind of animal 

 manure, brought into a condition to yield compen- 

 sating crops of wheat, corn, and vigorous clover. 

 By the assistance of the ordinary quantity of barn- 

 yard manure, the produce of wheat would average 

 about 25 bushels, and of Indian corn 40 or 50 bush- 

 els per acre. The whole expenses incurred by Mr 

 Cummins preparatory to the wheat and clover crops, 

 amounted to $13 73 ; and as the wheat raised was 

 about 8 bushels, and sold for $1 50, and the clover 

 mown about 1 ton per acre, worth about 8 or 10 

 dollars the ton, the expenses were abundantly re- 

 paid by the first crops, and the land left in good 

 heart for future profitable tillage. 



When farms are situated near towns, animal ma- 

 nures can generally be obtained at fair prices, and 

 hence the usual productiveness exhibited by lots 

 and fields in the proximity of towns. But with 

 large farms situated at too great distances from 

 such places to admit of the transportation of stable 

 manure or street dirt at fair prices, the farmers are 

 left to the fertilizing substances at hand, or to the 

 purchase of concentrated manure that will bear the 

 cost of transportation, such as li.me, ashes, soot, 

 plaster, crushed hemes, poudrette prepared from 

 night soil, &c., the salts of nitre, soda, ammonia, 

 etc. Those who live near enough ko marl-beds to 

 admit of the hauling of such heavy substances at 

 a fair cost, are indeed fortunate. '1 hen there are 

 the manures or composts prepared from peat, by 

 the addition of ashes, the salts of potaeh, soda, &c., 

 the merits of all which can now be readily ascer- 

 tained from the results of actual experiments re- 

 ported in numerous recent publications, upon airi- 

 ciiltural matters, and especially in that highly val- 

 uable little treatise by Dr. D.inn, '■ The Muck. 

 Manual." — Farmers' Ennjclop. 



There ore two things which ought to teach us 

 to think but meanly of human glory ; the very best 

 have had their calumniators, and the very worst 

 their panegyrists. — Lacon. 



