1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



253 



The windows of their minds are not darkened by 

 blinds and screens, but the light passes through 

 them bright and pure, and is not turned from its 

 direct course by any imperfect medium, and when 

 we look upon the mental tablets upon which it 

 tails, we find a perfect image reflected. This is al- 

 ways delightful. We admire a picture in propor- 

 tion as it is "true to nature." So when we find 

 the image, the idea, the thought that lies in the 

 mind of the teacher, accurately reflected from the 

 mind of the child, we are pleased — we feel that 

 the teacher is an artist, that he can do real work. 

 Such a teacher, if he can make but one picture, is 

 better than he who attempts many, but makes 

 none perfect. J. Reynolds. 



Concord, Mass., 1860. 



For the New JEngland Fanner. 

 THE WILD LANDS OF LONG ISLAISD. 



SECOJID LETTEB, FROM JUDGE FEENCH. 



In a former letter, I gave a general idea of the 

 immense tract of lands lying on Long Island, 

 within two hours of the city of New York, by the 

 Long Island railroad, which divides them nearly 

 in the centre. Thousands of acres of them are 

 for sa^e, at prices from twenty to fifty dollars an 

 acre. The soil would seem, in many places, to a 

 casual observer, to be far more sandy than in fact 

 it is, there being in it more or less of white wa- 

 ter-worn pebbles, which, washed by the rain, show 

 white on the surface. A slight examination will 

 show, however, that the soil is a sandy loam, with 

 alluvium enough almost to entitle it to be called 

 a clay loam. Taking up soil from six inches below 

 the surface, I found that by working it a little in 

 the hand, it had almost the consistency of soft 

 putty, and rolling it into little balls, and drying 

 it, it became quite hard, so that the balls might 

 be rolled across the floor without crumbling. 



Again, in pastures and fields, it is a common 

 practice, where there are no streams, to provide 

 watering places for cattle, by scooping out hol- 

 lows three or four feet deep, and there the rain- 

 water will stand through the summer, by merely 

 treading and thus puddling the bottom, without 

 the addition of clay or any other substance, on 

 land perfectly drained by nature, and where water 

 will not be found by digging twenty feet. This is a 

 common method of supplying stock with water in 

 some parts of England, but there the bottoms of 

 these artificial ponds are usually puddled with 

 clay. These lands have been often described as 

 barren sand, and I am therefore particular in stat- 

 ing my reasons for a different opinion. 



There are no stones for miles too large to throw 

 at a dog, and the land is easily plowed with two 

 horses after it is once broken up. My way to clear 

 it, would be to dig up by hand the few trees or 

 stumps too large for the plow, then mow the 

 bushes and bm-n them, and then plow with a 



strong team. I saw a team of five horses break- 

 ing up a new field of forty or fifty acres, for the 

 first time. The plowman said they could plow 

 nearly two acres a day, that he had tried oxen, 

 and they could not plow one acre a day. He in- 

 tended to sow winter rye and grass seed, and said 

 that he had got 28 bushels of rye to the acre the 

 year before, and 30 bushels of winter wheat ; and 

 300 bushels of potatoes to the acre, over 10 acres, 

 getting a crop of 3000 bushels. This is on Mr. 

 Wilson's farm at Deer Park, which he purchased 

 for $5 an acre about six years ago. My inform- 

 ant is a Scotchman, a very intelligent man, who 

 is, to my certain knowledge, a first rate plowman, 

 and who gives the farm on which he labors, the 

 appearance of an old country farm, such as few 

 American farms present. I may add, that persons 

 who know the farm, have full faith in these state- 

 ments about the crops. The soil seems precisely 

 the same as that of the Island generally. It is on 

 the raikoad, 7 miles nearer the city than North 

 Islip station. All these lauds are nearly as level 

 as a prairie, and there is no waste land, so that 

 large square fields may be laid out, and fully cul- 

 tivated, whenever it is convenient, A farmer at 

 North Islip, whose farm I visited, said that 

 his winter wheat averaged 18 bushels to the acre, 

 and his spring wheat 22 bushels, and his potatoes 

 from 125 to 150 bushels. For potataos, he plows 

 in barn manure, and manures in the drill with 

 300 pounds of Peruvian guano to the acre. He 

 said that the guano thus applied plainly showed 

 the rows, after a crop of wheat and two crops of 

 hay, four years after the application. 



Everywhere over the Island, so far as I went — 

 and Ave drove 40 mUes in an open carriage in one 

 day, on purpose to observe the agriculture of the 

 region — the wheat and clover appeared finely, 

 and wherever a field had lain in grass two or 

 three years, there was a thick heavy sod, with 

 every indications of a good crop of timothy. Not 

 a mile from North Islip station, we observed a 

 peach orchard of several acres, as handsome and 

 thrifty trees as I ever saw, some three or four 

 years old. The buds then (April 3) were unin- 

 jured, and several trees which I examined closely, 

 were full of blossom buds. Strawberries and black- 

 berries flourish finely wherever planted. I ob- 

 served a few young apples and pears, and some 

 grapes, all of which looked well. 



The climate must be more mild than Boston, 

 the winters being tempered by the sea, and the 

 extreme heat of summer in inland places cannot 

 be experienced on the island. Like Ireland, which 

 is the best country for pasturage in the world. 

 Long Island must be much protected from sum- 

 mer drought by the heavy dews, Avhich the sea- 

 breezes deposit in the sultry summer nights. One 

 singular fact deserves consideration by the scien ■ 



