1860. 



NEAV ENGLAND FARMER. 



397 



length of a lot you want to measure, and multi- 

 ply one into the other, and divide by one hundred 

 and sixty, and you have the number of acres, as 

 one hundred and sixty square rods make a square 

 acre. If you wish to lay off an acre square, meas- 

 ure thirteen rods on each side, and you have the 

 thing very near. 



SOUTHEKTT AND NORTHERN" CORN- 

 FIELDS. 



A correspondent of the Scientific American 

 writing from Kentucky communicates the follow- 

 ing, which may interest our agricultural friends : 



"It is a curious fact that the Yankees, with all 

 their ingenuity, have never learned to plow a 

 straight furrow, while every negro in the South 

 will lay off a field, however large, without having 

 a bend of a foot in a single row. The furrows are 

 not only straight but parallel, the last one in a 

 field a quarter of a mile square, always coming 

 out parallel with the fence. A Virginia farmer, 

 60 years of age, told me that he never had a short 

 row in one of his cornfields in his life. In the 

 new States, whenever you see crooked rows you 

 may know you are among people from New York, 

 New England and Ohio, and whenever the rows 

 are straight, you will find that it is a settlement 

 of Southerners. This accuracy is owing to the 

 method of laying off the ground. If it is desired 

 to have the rows three and a half feet apart, two 

 stakes are cut, each seven feet long, one for each 

 edge of the field. One of these is set perpendic- 

 ularly seven feet from the end of the field, and 

 the plowman, proceeding to the opposite edge, 

 makes a mark there also, seven feet from the end, 

 and runs his furrow straight to the standing stake, 

 operating in a direction to keep the unfurrowed 

 portion of the field at his right hand. Returning, 

 he splits the seven feet strip with a furrow, thus 

 hawing round — or, as the Southerners say, 'turn- 

 ing haw' — at both edges of the field. The failure 

 of Northerners to learn this simple art is mainly 

 ov.'ing to the inveterate conservatism characteris- 

 tic of farmers — their fondness for walking in the 

 paths of their fathers — but it is also partly to be 

 attributed to their mode of guiding their horses. 

 I think that for driving a team attached to a wag- 

 on, the two or four reins used at the North are 

 preferable to the plan of riding the near-wheel 

 horse and guiding the team by a single line on 

 the near leader, which is in universal use at the 

 South. But for plowing, the single line is decid- 

 edly better than anything else that I have ever 

 seen." 



Ceedit. — The CJieshire Eepuhlican, published 

 at Keene, N. H., will undoubtedly feel happier by 

 crediting us with the article in its issue of July 

 19, entitled "A Few Words about Haying." "We 

 like to see our children going about the world do- 

 ing good, but always with the badge of their pa- 

 ternity upon them. We lay no claim to the arti- 

 cle entitled "How to Mow," hitched on to the 

 breeches of our own bantling ! 



To remove mildew from linen or cotton goods, 

 dip the articles in soft soap, and spread them in 

 the sun, on the grass. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LETTER FROM THE SANDWICH 

 ISLANDS. 



Messrs. Editors : — From Kilanea we pushed 

 on for Kau the next station. We rode along near 

 the sulphur banks, down the west side of the cra- 

 ter, past the burning lake which we visited yes- 

 terday, and for nearly twenty miles travelled 

 through a country blighted with the overflowing 

 scourge of lava which has destroyed at least sev- 

 en-tenths of this noble island. We then found a 

 better country, and staid over night at the house 

 of Frederick Lyman, a worthy son of Rev. I). B. 

 Lyman, of Hilo. Mr. Lyman has one of the best 

 places I saw on Hawaii, a grazing farm of some 

 two thousand acres in the district of Kau. The 

 next day we rode through the district, passing the 

 wheat fields of the last year. Some two thousand 

 bushels were here gathered. Of this I may speak 

 again, ere I am through. 



In 1829 I passed through this district. Every- 

 thing was then primitive Hawaiian, and little im- 

 provement. Now, Christian civilization exhibits 

 its fruits in meeting-houses, school-houses, and in 

 better habitations than formerly ; in roads ; in 

 increased industry ; wheat raising, cattle raising, 

 better clothing, &c Kau, however, is a hard dis- 

 trict, exceeding stony as a whole, and fit chiefly 

 for pasturage. Goats are being raised in great 

 numbers, chiefly for their hides and tallow, and 

 pulu from the fern is plenty in the mountains, 

 and is becoming an article of commerce. Rev. 

 W. C. Shipman is the pastor of the church. 



From Kau we pushed on for Kona. We rode 

 some thirty-five miles the first day over an exceed- 

 ingly rough country. All lava, and nearly all the 

 aa or clinkers, small lava stones. Near night we 

 reached the sea and took a canoe. The sea was 

 smooth and the mountain breeze took us on de- 

 lightfully, so that at dawn of day we had entered 

 Kealakeakua Bay, and we landed and rode to the 

 residence of Rev. John D. Paris, at Orange Hill, 

 South Kona. His people, Hawaiians, are mostly 

 at the sea, the bay where we landed, and at the 

 coast which we passed during the night in the ca- 

 noe. His principal meeting-house is at Kealakea- 

 kua, near the place where Opukahaia, (Obookiah, 

 as written inEnglish,) used to live. With Mr. Paris 

 we visited IIonai>nau, the ancient place of burial 

 of kings, and a large ancient city of refuge. Mr. 

 Paris' residence is about two miles from Keala- 

 keakua, and only one mile from Kaawaloa, where 

 Cook fell in 1779. This spot we visited, as also 

 his monument, which, at a cost of some two or 

 three dollars, perhaps, not more, his brave coun- 

 trymen have erected to his memory. 



We found quite a number of foreign residents 

 on Orange Hill, the place of Mr. J. D. Paris. 

 From his house there is a very good road for six 

 or eight miles. The land on each side of this road 

 is owned by foreigners, and every half mile you 

 see a very decent framed or stone house built by 

 a foreigner. These men are cultivating their land, 

 raising coffee, oranges and other things. Till 

 lately the prospect was flattering that the coffee 

 crop would be large, but much of this year's crop 

 has been destroyed by an insect which causes 

 both the orange and coffee to blight. There is a 

 strip of land, including this Orange Hill, which 

 may become some of the most valuable on Ha- 



