AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



^ 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK &. CO., NO. 62 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aohiouitubal Wabbhoubb.) 



.xxn.j 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 20, 1844. 



[NO. 38. 



N. E. FARMER. 



PORT ON FARMS OFFERED FOR THE 

 STATE SOCIETY'S PREMIUMS. 



he TnifUcs of the Massachusttts Society for Promnt- 

 int; .tgriculture : 



'he Committee appointed to award the premi- 

 ofTered for the best cultivated farms, respoct- 

 ! report, that they have carefully examined the 

 ral sta'ernents mode by the respective claim- 

 , and, allliough they have been aided in their 

 beratioiis by the intelligent gentleman who had 

 iifully inspected their farms, they nevertheless 

 a found some difficulty in satisfying themselves 

 \o their comparative meriti'. Most of the claims 

 entitled tj respectful con.sidcration, — all exhibit 

 mmcndable ambition to be esteemed good far- 

 e — an honest ambition, surely, whose humble 

 ry aims at no distinction except that which 

 ■ngs from a desire to contribute most to tlie 

 (k of human happiness, — a contest in which, 

 rgh all may not win the prize, all may engage 

 1 profit to themselves and with more or less 

 jfit to the community. 



n their distribution of the funds of the Massa- 

 setls Society for Promoting Agriculture, tlie 

 -stipes hope and believe that their efforts have 

 tribulod in some liumble measure to the success 

 he great cause whose interests they have labor- 

 oo promote. They have at no time been insen- 

 18 of llie importance of the trust committed to 

 r hands. On the success of the great cause of 

 iculturi), the welfare and happiness of all, in 

 Btcr or less degree, must depend. It is, in 

 h, tlie powerful engine that puts in motion the 

 )le mass of the body politic. Should this cease 

 ict, all the elements of which society is com- 

 sd, must not only come to a stand, but cease to 

 It. The fostering patronage of a generous pub- 

 should '-trerigthen the hands and encourage the 

 rt of the cultivator of the soil — and the smiles 

 n approving community cheer him on in his 

 lable and laborious calling, — then will an in- 

 igcnt, sober and industrious yeomanry continue 

 le, as ihey ever have been, the right arm of our 

 ,onal power and greatness, giving stability to 

 form of our government and the freedom of its 

 itutions. 



i'he numoer of applicants for the Society's premi- 

 ! for ill" best cultivated farms, is 11; being a 

 ;er number than have ever been presented in one 

 son. f n some of the statements made of their re- 

 ctive modes of culture, your committee find much 

 omniend, but still there exists with all of them 

 ic practices which they cannot approve. These 

 If cninmillee feel bound to state; and they do 

 ot without some hesitation, being aware that 

 iiers under some circumstances may have good 

 , sutlicient reasons for a certain course, which 

 ers, without a knowledge of their circumstances, 

 J bo led to condemn. There are, however, 

 18 practices among farmers whose claims for 

 fercnco are bcscd only upon immemorial usage, 



but the bad tendency of which, modern practice 

 has fully demonstrated. All those who have made 

 claim for premium, without a single exception, use 

 a part or the whole of their long manure from the 

 stable in its green state. This is unquestionably 

 bad economy, since it has been again and again 

 demonstrated by careful and repeated experiments 

 of our best practical farmers, that a load of com- 

 post made of one part of stable, manure and two 

 parts of peat or swamp mud, properly composed, 

 give as great an increase of crop, and as great and 

 durable improvement to the soil as a load of long 

 manure used in its green und unfermented state. 

 There is another advantage in composting manure ; 

 it may be used nearer the surface, by which great- 

 er benefit will be derived by the growing crop, 

 without the risk of losing any of its enriching qual- 

 ities. 



The practice also of manuring crops in the hill, 

 particularly potatoes, with green manure, is bad 

 husbandry. By this practice, especially in dry 

 seasons, the crop is not only greatly diminished in 

 quantity, but is much inferior in quality to that 

 which is produced on land where the manure is 

 spsead on and plowed in. Few persons seem to 

 be aware of the distance to which potatoes extend 

 their roots, and that if the manure be placed with- 

 in three feet of the hills it will seldom fail of being 

 reached. VVe have often witnessed the injurious 

 effects of putting green manure into potato hills, 

 and in some instances a much less crop has been 

 produced than would have been yielded without 

 any manure upon the ground. 



Your committee observe, also, the almost univer- 

 sal practice of sowing grain with grass seed. More 

 than twenty years' practice, and the opinion of our 

 best farmers, have convinced us that this is bad 

 economy. 



If the farmer must raise a crop of grain on land 

 which he intends laying to grass, he will find 

 his future crops of hay may much increased by 

 sowing his grass seed in September, after taking 

 off his grain crop and plowing in the stubble. The 

 quantity of grass seed sown, is in some instances 

 much too small. From two to three pecks of herds 

 grass and a bushel of red-top seed should be al- 

 lowed to the acre. 



The barns of some of the applicants for premi- 

 um were found without cellars, and otherwise de- 

 fective in construction, as it regards the warmth 

 and comfort of the cattle. The good farmer will 

 be as careful in preventing the cold winds from 

 blowing through his cattle-stalls, as ho will in ex- 

 cluding them from his bed-chamber. Much of the 

 food taken by animals in a cold barn, is required 

 to keep up the warmth of the body, which in a 

 warm one goes to their nourishment and increase 

 of weight. Warm barns are therefore not only 

 more comfortable, but will operate as a saving of 

 food. In some cases, the cattle were not provided 

 with water in the barn-yards, and are therefore 

 compelled in all weathers to go for water to some 

 distant spring or brook, whereby much of their ma- 

 nure is wasted, and the cattle exposed to suff'ering 

 and injury. This is bad economy, and by every 



judicious farmer must be considered bad husband- 

 ry, and with a very trifling expense may bo reme- 

 died. 



Upon the farm of Mr Poor, near Newburyport, 

 well known by the name of the " Indian Hill Farm," 

 improvements have been made on a broad scale, 

 and with liberal outlay. It has long been noted 

 for its durable and well contrived structures, and 

 for the systematic culture of its grounds. Mr 

 Poor has planted a number of acres with forest 

 trees, which have now become a source of income. 

 Some of the oaks which have grown from acorns 

 planted by the present owner, when but a la'd, are 

 now more than six feet in circumference. Nume- 

 rous acres of wet and unproductive meadows have 

 been reclaimed upon the most approved method, 

 and calculated to render them permanently produc- 

 tive. His uplands in most respects are success, 

 fully managed, and generally yield abundant crops ; 

 and above all, his plan for saving and making ma- 

 nure, is superior to any we have noticed, and is 

 worthy of the attention of all farmers. 



Mr Poor says he finds deep plowing a remedy 

 for the washing of the land on side-hills : this is a 

 valuable suggestion, and adds another to the many 

 advantages of deep plowing. It is found to be a 

 serious objection to the cultivation of our side-hills, 

 that the land is so liable to be washed away by sud- 

 den and heavy showers. The remedy suggested 

 appears reasonable, as the capacity for absorbing 

 the water that falls upon the surface, is no doubt 

 increased by deep plowing, and consequently there 

 13 less to run ofl^. 



Your committee are aware that it may be said 

 by some that Mr Poor is one of those gentleman- 

 farmers, that farm more for pleasure and show than 

 for profit, and that, therefore, his example cannot 

 be adopted as a guide for farmers of more limited 

 means. Is this so ? The time, we trust, has gone 

 by, when scientific, or what is more conimonly de- 

 noted " book farming," and "gentleman farmer," 

 were used as terms of reproach. The rich man 

 who indulges his taste in beautifying and adorning 

 the face of nature, and expends his thousands in 

 making agricultural experiments, and in convert- 

 ing his barren wastes into fruitful fields, clothed 

 with the richest verdure, is, in the highest sense of 

 the word, a public benefactor; and, as a rational 

 source of amusement, he derives for himself infin- 

 itely more pleasure than he could from the same 

 amount expended in the costly establishments and 

 rich equipages of a city life. It is to those who 

 expend liberally, who cultivate their grounds more 

 for pleasure than profit, that the country is indebt- 

 ed for much of its beauty and richness of scenery 



for most of the valuable improvements that have 



been made in the science of agriculture. Hut for 

 them, we should now be following in the old beat- 

 en track that was pursued by our fathers centuries 

 ago. The single suggestion of Mr Poor, that deep 

 pIowinL' may be a remedy for washing oil' the soil 

 on our side-hills, is of great valuf> to farmers, and 

 not the less valuable because it comes from a gen- 

 tleman who may derive less profit from his money 

 and labor expended, than his neighbor of smaller 



