30 



EW ENGLAND FARMER 



JVL.Y afi, isi; 



AND HORTICULTURAL RKGISTER. 



DosTON, Wednesday, July 26, 1843. 



NOW FOR THE WEI' MEADOWS 



AND SWAMPS. 

 As soon as llie haying is over and opportunity comes 

 lo do something for llie permanent improvement of tlie 

 farm, lake a look at tlic sunlien and miry pans of your 

 land, which now yield you only vvaler grasses of little 

 value— upon which your cattle, possibly, may live, but 

 upon which they cannot thrive. These beds of ve^'et^i- 

 ble matter, partly ot meadow growlli, and partly ihe 

 wash from the surrounding uplands, are the very best of 

 our soils, for most of the c rops that are produced on the 

 farm. The root crops, perhaps, do not j/cnerally flour- 

 ish as well there as on the uplands, or those of them at 

 least which like to root deep, as the carrot. Though 

 the soil of the recl.iiined land be deep, we have found 

 that Iho roots of plants upon it like to keep near the sur. 

 face. And the carrot there will have large foliage and 

 a larue crown lo tlie root, but when harvested it will be 

 found very prongy, and its form shows that it has been 

 unwilling to go down into the cold pcaiy soil. Beets 

 and rula hagas will grow large upon such lands, but are 

 usuallv coarse and many of them unsound. But corn, 

 potatoes, beans, squashes, iind especially grass, do well. 

 If you have any of these wet lands, look attheni now, 

 and see whether you cannot profifably reclaim them. 

 Should you ask whether we refer to those places where 

 the vegetable deposile is six, eight, or an unknown num- 

 ber of feet deep, and the surfaces of which are very 

 loose and light when you come to work them, or wlielh- 

 er we mean those that have the mud not more than a 

 foot or two feet deep, and that are and will be rather 

 moist and heavy ? — should you ask us this, we should 

 answer, we mean either or both. For general tillage, 

 the deep and loose meadows arc best ; but for grass, the 

 shoal and more tenaceous ones are best, especially if 

 they lie upon a hard bottom. The sho.il ones are gen- 

 erally the easiest to reclaim, and we think them rather 

 the most valuable. 



But how reclaim.' — what are the procesiies .' The 

 first step, and an essential is, to drain thoroujjhly. You 

 must get command of the water. If this remains stag- 

 nant wiihm a fijot and an half of your surface, the wa- 

 ter grasses will soon reappear and usurp the place of 

 those which you have sown. But how drain .' Do not 

 trust to ditches through the centre, or distant from the 

 shore. This will not accomplish the purpose. Much 

 of the water in our wet meadows, oozes out from the 

 surrounding highland. Therefore all the space between 

 the shore and the ditch is ever liable to be loo wet, even 

 though the distant ditch should bo deep and free. Jit 

 the shore, is the place for a ditch, and the bottom of it, 

 if not the whole of it, should he dug in the firm land — 

 the gravel, sand or clay which forms the basin in which 

 the meadow lies. We know it i.." hard digging in the 

 firm ground — and yet the most profilable place to dig 

 generally is where the meadow mud is not more than 

 <j, 8, or II) inhccs deep. Uo to work there — open a 

 ditch three feet wide at the top, a fool at the bntiom, and 

 two feet or more deep. The clay, gravel, or sand that 

 comes out, is to be spread directly upon the suiface of 

 the meadow, and you cannot do your meadow so much 

 service in any other way at the same expense, as hv 

 taking up clay or gravel here, where, without cart or 

 wheelbarri w, you can put ii where it is wanted. If the 

 Jigging be hard, five dollars" worth of labor in that ditch 



will benefit your ground nearly as much, in the way of 

 graTcUin^ merely, as tlie same worth of labor would in 

 caning gravel fiom the hill, where you can dig easier. 

 But the sirongist leason for going into the hard pan 

 with your dilch is, that you in this way efTect a much 

 more thoiough draining ihan you can if you only dig 

 down to the pan. 



The dilches opened in the central parts of the mea- 

 dow, will furnish meadow mud or muck, that you may 

 work into the compost heap. And it is best to take it 

 ofl' for this purpose wherever you can go directly toil 

 with the team. But if the meadow will not bear the 

 cattle, it is bttler to spread out the mud evenly upon its 

 surface. It can do no harm there, while it may help to 

 burv and kill the meadow grasses. 



And how, when the ditches have been dug and iheir 

 contents disposed of, how shall we proceed .' No gene- 

 ral answer can be given. If the plow can be made to 

 run without very great difficulty or inconvenience, put 

 the plow in and subvert the meadow grass. This be- 

 ing done, you may plant and manage the meadow as 

 you would upland. But in many meadows, the bogs or 

 hassocks arc too numerous and tough to admit of plow- 

 ing. Such meadows are good, though hard to work. 

 Cut off the bogs or hassocks, with the most convenient 

 tool for the purpose that you can get. The best we 

 have found is a sort of adze, with long shank and twist- 

 ed eye, which lets you slrike at youi side, and yet have 

 your blade horizimlal. When these are removed, put 

 on loam, clay, gravel or sand, as is most convenient, one 

 or two inches det'p, and sow grass seed. 



If the surface of your meadow is loose and will not 

 bear a team, the snd can be broken up with the hoe 

 quite expeditiously, and when this has been done, you 

 may plant and till, and a year or so only will be need- 

 ed before the team will go very well there. 



On IheBC reclaimed lands, where their situation and 

 lexlure is such that you will probably wish to plow 

 them occasionally and till them, we do not suppose it 

 important lo carry on a large quantity of sand or clay. 

 Though a generous mixture of these with the vegetable 

 matters of the soil, will unquestionably be of a great 

 deal of service. These give both firmness and tenac- 

 ity to the otherwise loose surface, and they contain 

 silicates in which the meadow mud is deficient, and 

 which the plants want. 



When a meadow is lo be gravelled and grass seed 

 sown, we do not think it advisable to put tlie gravel on 

 very thick. The drainage will do more lo keep down 

 the wild meadow glasses than thu gravel; a coat just 

 thick enough to receive and start the English grasses, is 

 all that we would apply at first, and as the ground 

 should require a top-dressing in future yeais, we would 

 have that dressing composed mainly of sand, clay, loam 

 or the like, and in this way would gradually increase the 

 coating. This course has all the good effects of deep 

 gravelling at first, while il is less expensive. The best 

 dressing for these lands that we have seen used, is a 

 mixture of sand and ashes. Stable manures do well on 

 these lands, but generally are more required on the up- 

 land. Composts containing moi'e silicates are quite as 

 good on the meadows, and will be more lasting in their 

 effects. 



(ETOur thanks are due (o D. K. Minor.of New York, 

 the publisher, for Part III. of James F. W. Johnston's 

 Lectures on the Applications of Chemistry and Geolo- 

 gy to Agriculture. Wp deem this a most valuable work. 

 We have not yet read this part ; but the first and tecond 

 parts were more instructive and salisfaclory to us than 

 any other scientific work upon ogritullurc that we have 

 examined. 



MASS. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



EXHIEITIOS OF KLOWEBS. 



Saturday, July 22, 1843 



Joseph Breck it Co., of Boston, filled several of t 

 .';tands with specimens of their iSeedling Bicotees e 

 Carnations. We speak from our own e.sperierce, ; 

 from report of some extensive cultivators of this lov 

 class of flowers, that Me-srs. Breck & Co. have, fr(T 

 single package of seed imported by their house, prod 

 ed more double flowns from this one sowing, tlian i 

 customary lo get from seed saved from the best v.t: 

 ties, and for which^rc dollars per ihimblu.Ciill h.-.s bi 

 paid. We hope Messrs. Breck & Co. will obt.iin a I 

 ihcr supply of seed from llie same source, and that e 

 ers may be as su<-cessfiil in raising fine varieties as ll 

 have been. Several of the varieties are v%-orthy t 

 name, and should be extensively cullivatfd. 



There were some olher specimens of Picotees Cr 

 Messrs Jno. Hovey, J. L. L. F. Warren, S. ft. Johns 

 and S. Walker. 



Bouquels, by Jlepsrs. Warren, (fine,) Honard, Vk 

 Kenrick, and S Walker. 



Dahlias, by .Mr Robinson, (seedling,) and Grace V 

 ling, by Dr. Howard. 



fjy Mr S. R Johnson, Roses, and other specimen: 

 cut flowers — all fine. 



For the Committee, 



S. WALKER, Ch'mT, 



No report from the Fruit or Vegetable Commillces 

 ceived. Some superior specimens in the fruit deji 

 ment were exhibited. 



From Dr. Howard, Black Hamburg and Chassi 

 Grapes, extra fine, and red and white Currants. 



From Otis Johnson, Esq., Lynn — several varietiei 

 fine Cherries, and most superior Coolidge Peaches. 



From J. F. Allen, Salem — fine Peaches and delici 

 Bl.-ick Figs. 



From A. D. Williams, extra white and red Curra; 



From Hovey & Co., Ohio Everbearing Raspherr 



From Geo. Walsh, Belle de Choisy, and a fine bli 

 Cherry, for name. 



From J. Hovey, good Gooseber.'ies — and from se 

 ral others good specimens of fruit. — Trans. 



Rise in Wheat. — The Chicago Farmer, of June 2£; 

 says : 



" We have to record another unaccountable rise 

 wheal and flour, wheat being worth 94 to 9C cei 

 from wagons. Last night, 08 cents were paid foi 

 small lot. We can perceive no adequate cause for 

 rise ; il must be speculation, merely owing to the sup 

 abundance of money in the eastern cities. Perh; 

 some of the buyers are anticipating a shcrt crop, an 

 the season prove favorable, we predict for them bu 

 fingers between tiiis and the first of October. Ills 

 nonsense to anticipate a short crop thus early; bu 

 speculators will do so, let farmers be wise enough 

 avail themselves of their folly. The present price h 

 is not warranted by New York prices, and all that 

 now bought is for that market. It was only worih ill 

 115 cents, at last dates, and flour 5 25 to $5 75. 

 Buffalo, we see I12J cents had been refused for a 

 and at the same time flour was selling at JS. Cri, 

 purchasers, ihose !" 



03* .\ most severe drought prevails in this vicinit] 

 the present time, and if rain does not soon liill, 

 worst fears are entertained for many crops— potatoei 

 particular. Many fields present a mournful special 

 We must bear our ills as best we can, in a trusiful i 

 not complaining spirit — and, with the good old poei- 



" Judge not the Lord by feeble sense. 



But trust him for his grace ; 

 Behind a fruwninii providence. 



He fiides a smiling face." • 



Naihaniel Dearborn, Engraver, has favored us wit 

 copy of his " .Map and Catalogue of Mount Auhiin 

 A valuable guide book through that lovely resling p! 

 of the departed. 



