28 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



<ve2ds and earth, collected into heaps, and when 

 ;uito dry, sot on fire ; after several days of slow 

 :ombustion the entire mass is converted into a 

 :ind of black earth. This compost is only em- 

 ployed for the manuring of seeds. When seed 

 time arrives, one man makes holes in the ground ; 

 another follows with the seed, Avhich he ])!aces in 

 the holes ; and a third adds the black earth. The 

 young seed, planted in this manner, grows with 

 such extraordinary vigor that it is thereby enabled 

 to push its rootlets through the hard, solid soil, 

 and to collect its mineral constituents. 



The Chinese farmer sows his vidieat, after the 

 grains have been soaked in liquid manure, quits 

 close, in seed beds, and afterwards transplants it. 

 Occasionally, also, the soaked grains are immedi- 

 ately sov>-n in the field properly prejmred for their 

 reccptii^n, at an interval of four inches from each 

 other. The time of trans])lanting is towards the 

 month of December. In ^March the seed sends 

 up from seven to nine stalks with ears, but the 

 straw is shorter than with us. I have been told 

 that wheat yields 120 fold more, which amply re- 

 pays the care and labor bestowed upon it. 



it is quite true that what suits one people may 

 not on that account suit all countries and all na- 

 tions ; but one great and incontrovertible truth 

 may, at all events, be learned from Chinese agri- 

 culture, viz., that the fields of the Chinese culti- 

 vator have preserved their fertility unimpaired 

 and in continued vigor ever since the days of Abra- 

 ham, and of the building of the first pjTamid in 

 Egypt.* This result, we also learn, has been at- 

 tained solely and simply by the restitution to the 

 soil of the mineral constituents removed in the 

 produce ; or \\hat amounts to the same thing, that 

 this has been effected by the aid of a manure, of 

 which the greater portion is lost to the land in the 

 system of European (and American ?) cultivation. 

 — Liebig's Modern Agricidture. 



* Vessels of Chinese porcelain are found in the pyra- 

 mids, of the same shape, and with the same cliaraotors 

 of writing on them, as on modern China at the present 



^'"•ly- 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE HYDBAULIG RAM. 



I notice in the November number of the Monfli- 

 lij Farmer a call for information concerning the 

 above machine. I have one in operation on my 

 farm, which is situated in the extreme southerly 

 part of this town, adjoining the Great Bay of the 

 Piscataqua river. It has been in operation about 

 twenty months, and works far beyond my expec- 

 tations, the water being driven up a rise of about 

 eighty feet, and thirty-five rods distance. It fur- 

 nishes an ample supply of water for all purposes, 

 of both house and barn. The fountain, or spring, 

 affords about five gallons of water per minute ; 

 the drive pipe is of iron gas pipe, one inch cali- 

 bre, and forty-five feet in length ; the conducting 

 pi))e from machine to house is lead pipe, § inch 

 calibre, and thirty-five rods in length, laid three 

 feet beneath the surface of the ground, and from 

 a reservoir in the house the water is conducted 

 under ground in a h ii^ch lead pipe five rods to 

 the barnyard. The fall from the spring to the 

 machine is eight feet six inches, and the rise from 

 :he machine to the house is about eighty feet, and 

 ho distance thirty-five rods. The quantity of 



water received at the house can be varied by means 

 of an adjuster attached to the machine, but in this 

 case there is ten times the quantity of water driv- 

 en up that is needed. The ram is from the man- 

 ufactory of W. B. Douglas, Middletown, Conn., 

 and size, No. 3 ; cost, six dollars. 



The farm has generally been occupied by a ten- 

 ant, but during the few months of very cold weath- 

 er last winter, some days of which were most se- 

 vere freezing weather, no one occupied the house, 

 and there was no fii-e in it for some time, yet the 

 stream into the reservoir, and the reservoir itself, 

 were not in the least afi"ected by frost, and the wa- 

 ter floAved the same as it did in the month of Ju- 

 ly, and of the same tcmperatm-e. The expense 

 of labor and material in the whole operation did 

 not exceed seventy-five dollars. I procured a di- 

 agram from ]Mr. Douglas, and directed the whole 

 business in person, without the least inconvenience 

 or mistake. Any further and more particular in- 

 formation will be given with pleasure, if desired. 



Durliavi, N. II. , Nov., 1859. V. Smith, Jn. 



THE CANADA THISTLE. 



This is a very troublesome production. It is 

 said to have been introduced originally as an or 

 namental appendage to the flower garden. The 

 root is perennial, creeping, and remarkably tena- 

 cious of life. It is also wonderfully prolific, prop- 

 agating itself from the filaments of the roots, as 

 well as from the seed. 



When lands have become foul with this plant, 

 thf best plan, probably, that can be adopted for 



