178 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



DKC. 6, T 8 t 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE HIGH NAND AG- 

 RICIJLT. SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. 



Experiments in Deep Ptowinc; The experiment 



was made upon a field, which is eixtyfive feet above 

 the level of the sea. The soil is sandy, resting 

 upon a subsoil of sand and gravel of great depth, 

 and so thorouglily drained by the declivity of the 

 surrounding lands, that want of moisture is its nat. 

 Ural defect. There is but littlo difference between 

 the soil and the stratum on which it rests, beyond 

 what culture and manure have made; but from 

 sinking of gravel, treading of horses, and pressure 

 of the plow, year afler year, and age after ane, the 

 subsoil had become crusted, hard, and beaten as a 

 road. In short, from shallow plowing, tliere was 

 but little depth of cultivated earth, and, as on all 

 such soils in dry seasons, the crop was scorched 

 and scanty. 



With a view to render this field fruitful in any 

 season, it was subsoiled with the Deanston plow, 

 eighteen inches deep, and sown with wheat. The 

 great vigor and luxuriance of the crop, attracted 

 general notice, and it must have yielded an extra- 

 ordinary increase, if it had not been lodged by 

 wind and rain shortly after the ear appeared. 

 Therefore, it gave only thirtyeiglit bushels of gram 

 per acre ; but there were three tons of straw, which 

 proved its great strength. To this a crop of pota- 

 toes and two of wheat succeeded ; but it is the 

 culture of this field for crop of 1841, and the re- 

 sults, which chiefly constitute this report. 



It was all equally dressed with sea-weed ; and 

 four acres of the same quality and description, were 

 measured and staked oflT. Two of these acres 

 were plowed twelve inches deep, with two horses, 

 and two of them eighteen inches deep, with four 

 horses. These two portions in all other respects, 

 were cultivated and managed exactly alike. They 

 were planted with potatoes in the last week of 

 April, eight inches deep, twelve inches asunder, 

 and in drills thirty inches wide, running at right 

 angles to the furrows of the experimental plowing. 



The potatoes were planted deeper than usual, 

 therefore the shoots were longer coming through 

 the ground ; but ivhen they did appejr, it was with 

 great strength and regularity. They expanded 

 their broad deep-green leaves, and grew vigorous- 

 ly in the dry sandy soil, in a very severe and long- 

 continued drought. It was soon evident that the 

 deepest plowed portion had the advantage ; the 

 stems and branches of its plants were stronger, 

 and covered the ground first. 



The potatoes from the deep tillnge were larger, 

 more of one size, had fewer small ones, and not so 

 many of a green color as those from the other di- 

 vision. 



The practical conclusions to be drawn from this 

 experiment are — 



First, That deep plowing increases the produce. 



.Yext, That, as boih portions of the land used in 

 the experiment were opened up eighteen inches 

 deep by the subsoil plow in 1837, the full benefit 

 of that operation is not obtained till the earth so 

 loosened is again plowed up. And the reason is 

 evident, for it is then only that the soil is deepen- 

 ed, by an addition from the subsoil with which it is 

 inleriuixed, and rendered more fruitful. 



Lastli/, If deep plowing increases the produce, 

 it increases also the supply of vegetable manure ; 

 and a greater portion of manure, added to improv- 

 ed culture, must produce a progressive increase of 

 fertility and of produce. 



A WIFE WORTH HAVING. 



We were favored, a few weeks since, with an 

 interview with Mr Ilarvey Ford, of Winchester, 

 Litchfield county, who called in to pay his subscrip- 

 tion for the fourth volume of the Farmer's Gazette. 

 IMr Ford's (arm lies principally in the town of 

 Goshen, and like most of his townsmen, he is a 

 thorough-bred dairyman, and is employed in pro- 

 ducing the famous Goshen Butter and Cheese, 

 which has acquired such an enviable name all over 

 the land. His operations in this line are not as 

 extensive as many of his neighbors', he keeping on- 

 ly on an average tivenfi/ cows ; but the products of 

 his dairy are of tlie best quality, and always com- 

 mand the highest price in market. The first pre- 

 mium on Cheese was awarded to him by the Hart- 

 ford County Agricultural Society, in 1842. 



Feeling highly gratified with this opportunity of 

 an interview with an intelligent farmer from that 

 rich section of our State, we exercised our Yankee 

 prerogrative, and asked Mr Ford a great many 

 questions in relation to his business. We ascer- 

 tained that ho had occupied his farm for about six- 

 teen years, during which time his energies had 

 been directed chiefly to the single object of pro- 

 ducing a first rate article of butter and cheese — 

 those richest of all the products of agricultural la- 

 bor. Among other things, we asked him what 

 quantity of these delicious articles his farm pro- 

 duced annually, and how much he usually laid out 

 for labor, &c. From the answer to these ques- 



Such a wife is au invaluable treasure to 1 

 husband. What would some of our modern fi 

 ladies say to this ? What would a fashiona 

 Miss think, if told on her bridal eve that she woi 

 be required during the next sixteen years, to m! 

 ufacture nearly 7000 lbs. of butter and cheese e'l 

 ry summer? If told that instead of spending 

 her husband's money for silks and laces and otll 

 trumpery to enable her to make a great bustle 

 the ball room or at the fashionable watering pla 

 she would be expected by her own industry tot 

 S5U0 a year to the wealth of the family, how wo 

 her little delicate hands be rai-ied in horror at 

 thought ! And yet, our word for it, Mrs Ford I 

 been a happier woman for sixteen years past, tl 

 the most lightly laced and profusely bustled dan 

 sette who promenades Broadway or Chapel strti 

 We arc almost inclined to read a homily on fern 

 education — but it would be out of our appropri 

 sphere. — Co7in. Fur. Gaz. 



tions, we learned two important facts, viz: that 

 The potatoes were dug in the last week of Oc- j Mrs Ford had performed almost the entire labor of 

 tober, when It was found that the land plowed , i|,e dairy with her own hands, and that Mr F. had 

 twelve inches deep, produced 57 bolls per acre, | a regular account at home of the quantity made 

 and the land plowed eighteen inches deep, produc- 1 each year, the price for which they were sold, &c. 

 ed f)!) bolls per acre, being a difference of twelve , At our solicitation he premised to send us a cor- 

 rect statement of his books. Prompt in the ful- 



bolls per imperial acre, of four cwt. to the boll. 



Il is a condition annexed to the premium oflTered 

 by the Highland Agricultural Society for experi- 

 ments in deep plowing, that one-half of the land 

 used "shall be cultivated in the ordinary way." 

 Ky evidence before the Agricultural Committee in 

 183(j, the depth of plowing in Scotland is from si.v 

 lo nine inches. If that depih had bei'ii taken for 

 the lowest extreme in this experiment, the difie- 

 rence in the production of the two portions, it is 

 believed, would have been greater ; but as this 

 field had been plowed twelve inches deep for years, 

 its ordinary deptli was adhered to, and the diffe- 

 rence is certainly sufficient to establish the advan- 

 tage of deep plowing. 



filment of his engagement, we received from him, a 

 few days since, a written statement, from which 

 we copy as follows : 



108,607 Ib.s. of cheese and butter, exclusive of 

 what was used in the family, and some sold to 

 families of which no account wna kept, miide by 

 one woman, (Mrs. Ford,) during a term of sixteen 

 years last past — except a very small proportion 

 made by others during short intervals while she 

 was absent or out of health. The amount of mon- 

 ey for whicli these articles were sold, was $8,340 80. 

 This is an average of (1800 1-2 pounds of butter 

 and cheese per year, selling for $521 30 ; and all 

 made by the hands of one woman. 



ORIGIN OF THE PORTER APPLE. 



Mr Wm. Bigelow, a few years ago, publisher 

 pamphlet entitled "History of Sheiburne." 

 giving an account of its remarkable tr. cs. he nar i 

 the Porter Apple Tree. He says it wus foi 

 growing spontaneously on the farm of Rev. 

 Porter, but produced no fruit for several yei 

 At length Mr P. discovered on it a single apj 

 which he found to be of very agreeable flavor, 

 then paid very particular attention to the tr 

 which became very large and productive, and i 

 ons were carried from it in all directions and 

 grafted on other stocks. He said the stump of 

 parent tree, in 1830, was still remaining on 

 farm of Col. Calvin Sanger. 



This apple is well known in Boston, and it cr 

 mands the very highest price of all fall fruit, 

 is ripe in September and October. The tree i 

 pretty thrifty grower, the limbs branching a 

 proper angle, not extending horizontally like 

 Greening kinds, nor running up pcrpendiculai 

 like the high Sweeting. Its shoots are more sf 

 der and delicate than those of the Baldwin, thot 

 they arc not so liable to bo winter killed, for tl 

 cease growing earlier in the season. But the P 

 ter is as great and constant a bearer as the Ba 

 win. 



No fall apple is now so great a favorite in B 

 ton, if we except the Hubbardston Nonsuch, as 

 Porter apple. The Nonsuch ripens in Novem i 

 and December, and is a rich successor of the Pi 

 ter. We are in much want of trees of these t 

 kinds, as our markets are not half supplied w 

 good fall apples Ploughman. 



Occupation. — No one can be healthy and ha[ 

 without occupation — some regular employment 

 profession. The life of an idler, is always an 

 satisfactory one, and " killing time" is the most • 

 borious of all work 



A gentleman, after having boughta pairof gC'i 

 of a countryman, in the Boston market, at nii ex . 

 price, asked the seller why he was so unwilling) 

 sell one alone. '• Sir," said he, " they have b( i 

 constant companions _/?Be-(in6?-(ipen/_i/ years, ani 

 could not think of parting them." 



In Paris, during the month of July, there wn 

 33,000 sheep consumed. 



