1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



129 



cellar under the main building and kitchen wing 

 only. Parlor faces north, Dining-room south, 

 Kitchen east ; Bed-room wing only one story high. 

 Cost, on Long Island, $2500. We shall short- 

 ly submit another example in brick constmction, 

 showing the adaptation of the style to that mate- 

 rial. Respectfully, 



Saeltzer & Valk, Architects. 



For the Neio Ensland Farmer. 



PBBMIUMS BY THE STATE BOABD OF 

 AGKICULTUBE. 



Mr. Editor : — I saw in the January number 

 of the Fanner, the vote of the State Board of 

 Agriculture, requiring the diiferent county socie- 

 ties to offer premiums for the best experiments 

 in applying manures at different depths. 



This is a subject of much importance to the 

 farmers of this Commonwealth, and any experi- 

 ments which will give us reliable instruction upon 

 this subject will be a public good. 



In looking over this offer, and the plan marked 

 out by the Board, it appears to me that we may 

 strictiy comply with the letter of the instructions, 

 and yet not get any reliable information upon the 

 proper depth of applying manures. 



They do not tell lis whether it is to be sward 

 land, or land that has been cultivated one or more 

 years. If we take sward land, and plow the ma- 

 nure for lot No. 1, imderneath the sward, how 

 shall we know Avhether it was the fact of its be- 

 ing beneath the sward, on the depth at which it 

 was applied, that caused the different results ? 



When v/e come to lot No. 2, and try to cross 

 plow it, and get the manure at half the depth, we 

 infer the Board intended the experiment should 

 be tried upon old land. 



We will take a piece of mellow ground, and 

 spread the manure upon lot No. 1, and plow ten 

 inches deep, and if the manure is fine and well 

 composted, as the farrow slice rises and cracks, 

 the manure falls in, and gets well mixed with the 

 soil, instead of being buried at the bottom of the 

 furrov/ ; if the manure is coarse, much of it will 

 be left where the plow will draw it up when we 

 come to cross plow at half the depth ; thus we 

 may follow the directions, and yet not furnish any 

 reliable instruction upon this subject. The only 

 way in which 1 could get the manvu-e at a uniform 

 depth when plowing it into mellow land, Avould 

 be to follow the plow with a hoe, and draw the 

 manure into the furrow, and then turn the next 

 furrow upon it. If the Board had required this, 

 the experiment might have been viseful. 



I v.'ill now go upon lot No. 2. It has been 

 plowed deep, according to the directions. I will 

 try to spread the manure upon the rough furrows, 

 for according to the directions, I must not put the 

 harrow upon it yet ; much of the manure falls in- 

 to the holes ; I then cross plow it five inches deep ; 

 at what depth does any one suppose the manure 

 is covered ? To test it fairly, I think that No. 2 

 should have been rolled down smooth, and the 

 manure placed in the bottom of the furrow at half 

 of the depth of No. 1. 



I next spread the manure upon No. 3, and then 

 I am- told to take a harrow or cultivator and go 

 over the whole lot. What is the effect of this 



upon No. 2 ? Does not the harrow move much 

 of the manure, and mix it with the soil, and may 

 not the result be affected by the mixing, as much 

 as by the depth ? I think there should have been 

 nothing but a bush harrow upon it after it was 

 plowed. 



I am now to plant the whole lot, and then take 

 the team and cart the manure upon No. 4. This 

 looks some like book farming ; to drive over the 

 corn after it is planted. I have always been taught 

 to think a planted cornfield as almost sacred. 

 We have all read of the honest English farmer 

 who complains of the hounds treading down his 

 wheat in the spring, and was paid for the injury 

 done ; but at harvest time, he found that the tram- 

 pling had been an advantage to liim ; so if No. 

 4 does the best, how can we tell whether it was 

 owing to the trampling and beating it got after it 

 was planted, or the manner in which the manure 

 was applied ? 



I think there will be but little practical differ- 

 ence in the condition of the manure upon lots No. 

 3 and 4, except for the first three or four weeks ; 

 I begin to run the cultivator through the corn 

 about the 1st of June ; then the manure will be 

 mixed with the soil the same as on No. 3. They 

 tell us that the after cultivation must be the same 

 upon each lot. But they do not tell us what that 

 shall be. By using the plow, or Sav.'yer's im- 

 proved cultivator, we may hill it up so as to spoil 

 the whole experiment, and yet be entitled to the 

 premium according to the offer. 



An experiment conducted in so loose a manner 

 is worse than none. They say nothing about how 

 we shall plow it the second year. If the manure 

 has been where they supposed it to be, when we 

 plow No. 1, it will bring the manure to the sur- 

 face for the second year, and the others will be 

 buried. What instruction can we derive from 

 such an experiment ? 



I have endeavored to take a practical view of 

 this subject, feeling that Avhen the Board holds 

 the rod of state over the backs of the county so- 

 cieties, and say, thus shalt thou do, the public have 

 the right to ask, what will be the practical benefit? 

 WiLLUM R. Putnam. 



Danvers, Jan. 25, 1860. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LUNAR IWFLTJENCE ON THE TEMPER- 

 ATURE OP THE EARTH. 



Your correspondent "J. A. A.," of Springfield, 

 has given a series of experiments in your issue of 

 Jan. 7th which are of more than ordinary interest. 

 There is nothing like exactness, even in farming. 

 He has certainly made out a pretty clear case, that 

 there can be no connection between high and low 

 moon, a new or a full moon, Avith the temperature 

 of the earth. If his conclusions are correct, far- 

 mers should disabuse themselves of an almost 

 universal opinion that frosts are pretty sure to oc- 

 cur in the months of September and October, at 

 the full of the moon. Ask any man about it, and 

 he will tell you that we must look for a frost at 

 the full of the moon in September, and if he can 

 get by that, he expects his corn will ripen before 

 another frost. Now whence this almost universal 

 opinion ? It does not seem hardly possible, that 

 it can be a mere whim, yet it is possible that when 



