528 



NEW ENGLAND FARJIER. 



Nov. 



time ; still there have been showers and rain 

 enough to keep the grass and crops in a good 

 growing condition ; so that on the first of August 

 the surface of the earth was as fresh and green as 

 ever, and looked as well as in June. I can call to 

 mind twenty-five and thirty years ago, droughts 

 such as have not taken place in the past fifteen 

 years at least. I can mention in succession the 

 years of 1832-33-34-3o, as being summers of 

 great drought and scarcity of water, especially in 

 the season of 183.), when the drought began in 

 May and continued till the next February. The 

 severe winter of 1835-36 set in with no water in 

 the swamps, so that cattle had to be watered at the 

 wells of which many were dry. So these droughts 

 are not new to this country, but are found to be 

 old acquaintances in all generations. 



I was passing over a section of country in the east 

 part of this town, (Derby,) a few days ago, through 

 a by-road that leads into the forest, over which I 

 had passed before when a seven years old boy, 

 almost eighty-five years ago. At that time I re- 

 member passing a swamp of some six or eight 

 acres in extent, filled mostly with green flags and 

 large bunches of alder bushes. The flags were as 

 thick and as high as a man's head. This was in 

 the month of August, and men were at work in 

 the swam]i at that time cutting flags for chair- 

 bottoms, &c. But when I passed this swamp the 

 other day, what was my surprise to see the flags 

 all gone, probably years ago, the alder bushes 

 were gone, and this swamp, that was, now pre- 

 senting a smooth crop of clear bog grass. Proba- 

 bly all the improvement ever laid out was to cut 

 the alder bushes, and to open a ditch part way 

 round, which has now filled up again. 



I mention this fact to show that the grand pro- 

 cesses of nature by washing in soil from the high 

 lands around have made this swamp what it is to- 

 day, scarcely aided by the hand of man. And this 

 leads me to Farmer Hews' theory of soil culture 

 and swamp lands. "What's the use of spending 

 your time to drain swamps, when, if you let 'em 

 alone they will drain themselves in time and save 

 you the trouble and expense, tew. For don't you 

 see that we have got more upland that's dry than 

 we reap. Then, again, its goin' agin natur and 

 Providence tew, tu drain land, and taint right 

 nuther. For you see if Providence had meant tew 

 have the land all dry he would have made it so 

 for us in the first place ; T say its agin natur and 

 the Gospel. You see agin that this swamp water 

 is wanted in our hot, dry summers for our cattle 

 to wade in and drink — and for frogs, water snakes 

 and mud turtles to live in and breed in ; no, it 

 aint right." 



Yes, brother Hews, you have made a good ar- 

 gument for your side on drainage, quite as good as 

 some scientific men make for the opposite side of 

 the question. But, to conclude, probably no year 

 passes by but that some section of the country 

 suffers from drought. In portions of Vermont 

 and Maine, the present season, the farmers are 

 speaking of a parched soil, burnt grass lands, dry 

 streams, and grasshoppers. So, also, in some of 

 the Western States, and more especially in Texas. 

 Again, where the droughts continue for a series of 

 months and years together, the climate is more of 

 a tropical character, like Florida and Texas, than 

 that of our Northern States ; when the rain does 

 come, it falls in heavy bodies. Such is the charac- 



ter of our summer storms and thunder showers, 

 principally. Finally, I let this anti-rain theory go 

 as I find it, believing it to be a subject which far- 

 mers need not trouble themselves about in grow- 

 ing crops, but trust this matter to Providence. 

 Derby, VL, 1860. L. Durand. 



A SENSIBLE MOVEMENT. 

 At the annual agricultural exhibition of the 

 Worcester South Society, at Sturbridge, instead 

 of an address In the church on the day of exhibi- 

 tion, the following questions were propounded for 

 discussion : 



1. Can the raising of wheat be made made the most 

 protitablc crop, ol'the small grains ? 



2. Is sufficient attention given to the raising of root 

 crops ? 



3. Does the society offer sufficient encouragement to 

 the growing of fruit ? 



4. Will it he expedient for the society to offer pre- 

 miums on neat stock at the next annual exhibition ? 



We are glad to see this change in the usual ste- 

 reotyped programme of our shows ; not, by any 

 means, because the addresses on the occasions are 

 not pertinent and instructive, but because, when 

 the farmer takes a part in the exercises himself, 

 he will be just as much more interested and in- 

 structed, as he is more interested and instructed 

 by laying hold with his own hands of the practi- 

 cal business of the farm. No man can appreciate 

 and regard a fine fruit or shade tree, as he who 

 planted and tended it in person, and so of most 

 things on the farm. The gentlemen who en- 

 gaged in the discussion of the first question, 

 either acquired or imparted knowledge which will 

 be remembered and applied many times more 

 than it would have been if delivered in didactic 

 precision, or if listened to coming in that style. 



We should be glad if some of our friends would 

 send us a report of that discussion. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 E.EMEDY FOB THE POTATO DISEASE. 



Mr. Editor : — Some Jenny Lind potatoes 

 which I have just been digging are badly diseased 

 over the whole field, with the exception of a small 

 spot on which, several years since, a coalpit was 

 burned. As far as the coalpit extended the po- 

 tatoes were bright and sound, with scarcely a dis- 

 eased one among them. 



Now is it not reasonable to conclude that the 

 particles of charcoal left in the ground preserved 

 the potatoes from disease ? And would it not be 

 advisable for those farmers who can have access 

 to such coal[)it beds to put a small quantity of the 

 dust in each hill of ])otatoes at the time of plant- 

 ing, next year, and thus prove its virtues by a fail 

 trial ? S. L. WniTE. 



Oroton, Sept. 25, 1860. 



Shingling. — We hope every one of our read- 

 ers who owns a shingle, or ever expects to have 

 one laid over Ids head, will attentively read the 

 article upon "Shingling," in another column. 



