204 



NEW ENGLAND F A R IVI E R 



From the Albany Cultivator. 



BORROWING. 



Messrs Editors— I tliscover thnt yoii frenerouflly 

 lend your (.a<jes to tliu inquiries and sugjjestii.ns 

 efyonr correspondents, nnd for once I will state 

 my case, and submissively ask your commissera- 

 lion and aid. 



Borrowing is tlio iveic^hiy cause of my present 

 trials. I began a lew year.- a(ro, to gatl'ier round 

 me a few farininor implements, so as to be, on a 

 small scale, somewli.it ind.pe„dcnt. I endeavored 

 to get good tools, and nil I needed for any partic- 

 ular kind of work. But I .so.m found others need- 

 ed, but did not buy the siiine tools. 



A green-sward plow was bought, with no expec- 

 tation of breaking up more than four acres a year. 

 I chose to liave one, rather than get plowin<r done 

 badly by the job. But a neighbor, and another 

 and an.ither, wished to use it, each one more than 

 I had occasion to use it. 



I thought a wheelbarrow convenient, and bought 

 one. My neighbors in conjunction used it a wjek 

 where I had occasion to use it a day. 



I bought as many luies as I ever emploved hands. 

 My neighbors each owned one perhaps, 'and found 

 in planting, a few choice hoes near at hand quite 

 convenient ; and if they were returned with the 

 corners broken off, they would say they "stuck 

 the hoe into a chip, and ,1 broke off": as much as 

 to say no violent means were used to mar n nice 

 article. A forcible argument in favor of gettin<J 

 stout, clumsy tool..! in future. 



I bought an axletree and box for a truck carl, 

 fitting my buggy wheels to thein. Soon, one wants 

 the cart to drive in his potatoes, another to break 

 his colt to the harness, &c. 



I have two wagon-bo.ves for a two-horse wagon ; 

 one for a reserve, and one for common use. My 

 best bo.'j IS now well worn, and passes for an old 

 box, without my having used it scarcely any at all. 

 One wants it to bring a load of sand eight or ten 

 miles ; another wants my wagon and " gr'een box," 

 to ride to court with his family, or to meetin<i. or 

 to bring a load of shelled corn from a neighboTin-^ 

 town. And so, unless I begin to "make a rout," 

 It will soon go the way of all wood. 



I have a little orchard, and I made me a ladder 

 lor grafting, and for gathering fruit; but I must 

 make a ladder every liitle while, till the neighbors 

 are all supplied, or it will take me longer to hunt 

 up the borrowed ones than to get the apples by 

 climbing. 



I have a supply of pitchforks and rakes one year, 

 but near the close of haying they are borrowed and 

 not returned. The next year where are they .' I 

 do n't know. 



I once bought me a valuable saddle. I soon 

 found I had to supply five or six neighbors with a 

 saddle for all their horseback riding, which was in 

 each case far more than mine. But' I growled a 

 little about it, and there are more saddle's in town 

 now. 



I should like to own a subsoil plow. Methinks 

 I shall be safe in this purchase,-for few of the bor- 

 rowing class will want to use such a tool. 



I had a couple of bar posts made the pan sea- 

 son, and conveyed to a distant field, and left, as it 

 happened, m the wngon, as it was Saturday, and 

 tliey were not designed for immediate use. A 

 neighbor wanted the wagon to go to meeting. One 

 post was broken or split in unloading them for the 



occasion ; the other is now gone— doubtless bor- 

 rowed. 



I find poor encouragemeni for making improve- 

 ments in my implements nnd products. My wheat 

 was better and cleaner than that of my neighbors ; 

 (not that I wish t<j boast.) One wants to swap for 

 seed wheat; for, says he, "the heads of your 

 wheat were twice as long as mine;" another wish- 

 es to borrow because " the kernels are so plump" ; 

 and last on my list of plaints, a neighbor came to- 

 day to borrow or swap some straw: mine was 

 much better than his for making cider. 



Now I do not object to borrowing, altogether; 

 it is quite pardonable when carried to a certain 

 extent: there are proper limits to most good things. 

 If you think there arc other neighborhoods where 

 borrowing is too common, I should like well enough 

 to hfive you publish the above statements. 'I'liere 

 IS not much danger of their creating he.Trt-burning 

 in this vicinity, as the persons who might think the 

 allusions personal, will have lo borrow your paper 

 to read them. q_ 



DEC, 87, 18* 



leading into the Hudson, that the stream mi|| 

 c.irry away all the filth. We are not quite j 

 improvident as the Dutchman, but there are soj 

 farmers who, in order to secure a dry yard 

 the stock, are very particular to leave u drain 

 carry off the wash. They might as well cut a h 

 in their pockets." 



From the American Agriculturist. 



We give place to the complaints of our corres- 

 pondent, not because there is much hope of effect- 

 inL' a reformation among the class of borrowers, but 

 because there are many others afflicted and tor- 

 mented in the same way, and as, according to the 

 old adage, misery loves company, there may be 

 some consolation to all concerned to know they do 

 not suffer alone. It ij vexatious, to hear a man 

 decrying all improved implemer's, and yet, when 

 you have obtained at much cost, and more trouble, 

 some few for yourself, to find him the foremost in 

 borrowing and wearing them out, without so much 

 as a " thank yon," or " by your leave." But this 

 is the penalty all must pay who arc so presumptu- 

 ous as to be in advance of their neighbors, and 

 should be borne with all possible philosophy and 

 resignation. — Eds. 



BARNYARDS. 



We have before us the well written and practi- 

 cal address of xMr Mather, before the Middlctown 

 (Conn.) Agricul. Society, Oct. 1843. The follow, 

 ing extract will show the manner in which ho 



manages the important subject of manures. Cult. 



"Of the methods which I have tried, I consider 

 the following as the most economical. The barn- 

 yard should be excavated in the centre in the form 

 of a dish, leaving a margin on all sides sufficiently 

 broad for the comfort of the stock, and convenience 

 in feeding. In the fall, the yaro may be covered 

 to the depth of ten inches or a fool, with materials 

 from the swamp, the bottom of ditches, or with 

 turf from the roadside. To this should be added 

 all the weeds and refuse of the farm. And I am 

 strongly of the opinion that here is the most profit- 

 able place to spread all the lime, ashes, plaster and 

 salt which we design to apply to the land in the 

 coming spring. '1 he liquid from the stable should 

 be led into the middle of the yard, and the manure 

 from the stable, as fast as it is m:ide, be equally ' 

 spread over the whole, that the quality may be uni- 

 form. No water should be permitted to come into 

 the yard, except what falls directly upon it. By 

 the treading of the cattle during the winter and 

 spring, the whole will he incorporated into a uni- 

 form mass, and in a suitable condition to apply to 

 the land. By pursuing snbstanlially this course, I 

 have more than doubled the quantity and value of 

 the manure on my farm. A Dutch farmer, it is 

 said, built his barn directly over a small creek, 



SKA-MUD AS A FERTILIZRR. 

 Can you inform me whether the sea-mud whi 

 is found on the shore, below high-water mark is 

 any value to the firmer; and if it is, in what w 

 would yon advise that it should be applied.' ) 

 you think that it would answer in a compost hei 

 or would it be preferable to put it inio the cati: 

 yard or hog.pen ? I have thought that the or 

 objection to using it would be on account of t 

 great quantity of salt which it contains; althou 

 Liebig and other celebrated writers, speak in ve 

 favorable terms of the application of salt. A 

 here arises another question. Are not those fan 

 which are situated upon the sea-shore sufficieni 

 supplied with salt by the winds which are constai 

 ly sweeping over them ? Johnson remarks th 

 this is the case ;— then would not the applicati 

 of this sea-mud be too strong? althongh I ami 

 dined to believe that by drying the mod, much 

 the virtue of the salt would necessarily be d 

 stroyed, and hs sea-water contains, as Liebig stati 

 many very fertilizing qualities, this mud which pc 

 haps has been accumulating fur ages, must ha 

 imbibed a large quantity of all those properties 

 which sea-water is composed. 



By answering these questions, you will great 

 oblige one of your subscribers. R. B. Q. 



Sea-mnd varies greatly in its composition, d( 



pendant something upon the soil of the neighbo 



ing uplands. It is considered a valuable manui 



in Europe, and is sought for with avidity, and tram 



ported not unfrequently considerable distances ii 



to the interior. We have seen it used with goo 



j effect in the United States, from MassachusetU I 



[ Pennsylvania; and we are told that in Delawat 



; and Maryland, and even farther south, it is high! 



j prized by those who have tried it. On Long" I- 



j land, the past summer, wo were occasionally show 



the fertilizing results, not only of sea-mud, but ( 



1 the marsh soil also, applied to the uplands a littl 



removed from the borders of the marshes and th 



jsea-shore. Our intelligent correspondent, M 



I Partridge, informs us he has used bcachmud i 



I various ways with good effect; and that the pas 



summer, two gentlemen whose country seats bor 



der his mill, were allowed lo make use of the sed 



iment from the tide mill-pond, and they found I 



added greatly to the productiveness of their garl 



dens. 



Seainud may be applied in different ways, ac 

 cording to its constituents. If it abounds will 

 clay, it should be taken in the fall of the year, am 

 spread broadcast upon the land, and thus lie ex 

 posed to the action of the frost all winter. Thiil 

 pulverizes it well, and in the spring of the yearthi 

 the roller should be passed over it in dry weather 

 followed by the harrow, and if any lumps remaic 

 a'ter this operation, let them be beaten fine with 

 the dung-beater. This is considered one of the 

 best top dressings for grass land which can be 

 given ; it also answers well to be plowed in for 

 either grain or root crops. Where the niiid abound,! 



