236 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



not the farmers of the Commonwealth and New 

 England go and do likewise ? No great outlay 

 of capital or labor is required. Would it not be 

 better for our fanners to plant fewer acres, ma- 

 nure more highly what they do plant, and subject 

 the balance to a treatment like that above de- 

 scribed ? The crops would be equal, while the 

 whole would be left in better condition. 



Franklin, March 3, 1860. s. H. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 USB AWD APPLICATIOTT OF MAJSTURE. 



Mr. Editor : — Having seen the offer of the 

 State Agricultural Society for the best results 

 from certain experiments with manure, and not 

 calculating to try for the premium myself, because 

 I should be obliged to waste more manure than 

 the value of the ])remium, and having tried the 

 experiments required, years since, to my full sat- 

 isfaction", I therefore thought I would state some 

 of the many experiments which I have tried. Mv 

 father always plowed his grass land in the spring, 

 and then put on his winter manure and harrowed 

 it in, and when I came on the stage, I followed 

 the same course for some years, though very much 

 dissatisfied with the manure lying on top of the 

 ground to dry up and waste. 



Some fifteen or twenty years since, I com- 

 menced some experiments with my winter ma- 

 nure ; I took a field of about two acres of grass 

 land in the spring, and put on the manure from 

 my barn cellar, at the rate of thirty-two loads to 

 the acre ; on to one-half before it was plowed, 

 and on to the other half after it was plowed, and 

 harrov.-ed it in, then planted with corn, without 

 any manure of any kind in the hill. The result 

 v,as, as much corn where I plowed the mamn-e 

 under, as where I put it on top, and twice as many 

 turnips, though the corn looked badly whore I 

 plowed it under the fore part of the season. I 

 next tried six acres in the same way, with the 

 f ?.mc result. I have tried experiments with ma- 

 nure, and used it in almost every possible way, 

 and have come to the conclusion, that the only 

 true way to use long manure, is to plow it under 

 at the depth of from six to nine inches, ac- 

 cording to the soil ; and I have invariably found 

 that I got as much corn, double the turnips, and 

 a great deal better after-crops of wheat, oats and 

 grass. I think I have improved my grass lands, 

 since I have plowed my manure under, at least 

 twenty per cent. No one has seen any coarse ma- 

 nure left on the top of the ground on my farm for 

 the last ten or fifteen years, and I would recom- 

 mend, after occasionally throwing in a little loam 

 among the manure in the cellar through the win- 

 ter to soak up the urine, not to disturb it, until 

 it is loaded to carry into the field, and then plow 

 it under as quick as possible. 



George M. Barrett. 



Concord, Mass., March 17, 1860. 



Ohio R.\dish Seed. — A correspondeiit of the 

 Prairie Farmer says that radish seed that has 

 been kept six years or more, will produce radishes 

 of a better quality than new seed. — Genesee Far- 



THE OLD FARM-HOUSE. 



In a little fcrove of shade trees, 



Stands a farm-house, brown and old. 

 With a wealth of vines around it, 



Gemmed with flowers of red and gold; 

 By the path that makes a circle 



Of white sand around the lawn, 

 Grow sweet Timothy and clover, 



Rosy as a June-day dawn. 



Around its door pale morning-glories. 



Jump-up johnnies, dahlias, pinks. 

 Cluster — concentrated beauties, 



Married by a thousand links ; 

 Links of love, the works of nature's 



Mystery of handicraft ; 

 Links of glory, through which fairy 



Argosies of perfume waft. 



And the gate that swings before it, 

 And the fence as white as snow. 



Stand on variegated cushions. 

 Which the sun-fire sets aglow ; 



Crowning them with many colors- 

 Yellow, purple, green and blue — 



As if rainbows there had fallen. 

 Melted into rarest dew. 



On its roof the greenest mosses, 



Catch the shadows from the trees ; 

 On its sides red honeysuckles 



Make their courtesies to the breeze ; 

 And the ever-nervous willows, 



Standing near the garden's bound. 

 Throw a web of shade fantastic 



On the clover-mantled ground. 



O'er the well an arch of grape-vines. 



Formed with heaven's directed care, 

 Ciiains the shadows to the water. 



Making cool the summer air : 

 And a liny church, its steeple 



Piercing through a bower of leaves, 

 Is a sure and sacred refuge 



Where the wren her caro! weaves. 



For the New England Farmer. ' ] 

 ORDER IS ECONOMY. 



Very few there are, in any kind of business, who 

 make a gain of money, without habits of order m 

 their business. Some seem inconsiderate enough 

 to suppose that orderly habits arc more important 

 to professional men, merchants, mechanics, &:c., 

 than to farmers. I think very differently. 



With farmers in general, enough depends upon 

 the question of order about the barn and house 

 to decide the fate of each one, as to wealth or pov- 

 erty. The great majority of country farmers, who 

 become the positive ovv'ners of their homesteads, 

 in New England, make slow, but steady advances 

 in property. At first, *heir increase of property 

 is a very small amount yearly. And this small 

 amount, at first, is really the procuring cause of 

 the larger increase which may follow. Without 

 the small increase at first, the larger increase to 

 follow is entirely out of the question. And this 

 small increase, and oftentimes much more, de- 

 pends upon strict order about the house. Again, 

 it depends upon strict order about the barn and 

 tool-house ; and again, it depends on strict order 

 about the farm. 



The positive advancement of most farmers, in 

 property, is within the lino of $50 yearly, if not 

 within that of $25. If a man can, upon his own 



