230 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



Dr. LoRiNG said that the last speaker had 

 spoken solely on English turnips and corn, the 

 former having had 25 cords of manure to the 

 acre, but he would say that in this section we 

 cultivated in a much more economical manner, 

 and we raised by this something more than "or- 

 ganized water." As a member of the Board of 

 Agriculture, he wished to say that he did not en- 

 dorse the report in full, although there were 

 some good features in it, but he decidedly object- 

 ed to the sweeping recommendation with which 

 the report closed. 



Mr. Proctor, of Danvers, considered carrots 

 one of the very best of root crops, although it re- 

 quired care and attention. It was an excellent 

 preparatory crop for onions, and before the de- 

 stroyer came, this latter was the best and most 

 profitable crop raised in the county of Essex. The 

 beet he considered good, as was the potato. Of 

 the latter, said he, we can raise 300 bushels to 

 the acre, and we can raise four times as much 

 roots to the acre as hay. Corn is the staple crop, 

 but it was seldom we hear of a yield of over 80 

 bushels to the acre. He had never been on a 

 farm in his life where there was not considerable 

 land that was good for carrots. 



Mr. Sheldon, of Wilmington, spoke particu- 

 larly of potatoes, and said he thought enough care 

 was not bestowed on them. Nothing after grass 

 will make butter better than they will ; pumpkins 

 and carrots give it a better color, but the butter 

 was not so good. A bullock fed on potatoes, ap- 

 pearing the same size as one fed on the ordinary 

 feed, would weigh more by this course. In the 

 country, he thought potatoes were as cheap a root 

 crop as any for cattle, but near the city it was 

 more profitable to send them to market. For 65 

 years he had not known the corn crop fail more 

 than five times. He had raised ruta bagas, but 

 until last year, he thought they impoverished the 

 land ; last year he planted some in a sand hill 

 where he had to put on birch boughs to keep the 

 sand and seed from blowing away, and he got an 

 excellent crop of smooth, round ones "as hand- 

 some as a picture." He said he had been in the 

 habit of planting 13 kinds of potatoes, and the 

 earliest he had were "balls ;" ho considered the 

 Davis' seedling and the Nova Scotia chenangoes 

 also a good kind. He planted in swampy ground. 



Col. Stone, of Dedham, said that as corn had 

 been spoken of, he would state that he had pro- 

 cured some seed from Mr. Clapp, of Dorchester, 

 of a kind of corn which he had never seen ex- 

 celled both for yield and early ripening. He had 

 got some of the Vermont 90 days corn, and planted 

 it alongside this, and Mr. Clapp's ripened some 

 days earlier. It had been tried by a number of 

 others, and all agreed in saying it was the earliest 

 and best they had grown. For the benefit of 



those who wished to try it, (although he had none 

 for sale,) Col. Stone said he would leave a few 

 ears with the Secretary of the Board of Agricul- 

 ture. 



The subject for discussion at the next meeting 

 will be, "7'Ae Management of the Dairy" when 

 Mr. Allen Putnam, of Roxbury, will preside. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 EAILROAD SONG. 



Messrs. Editors: — The following trifle of 

 mine, composed while awaiting an arrival at a 

 railway station, was first printed in the Spring- 

 field Republican. It appears to take so well, 

 however, especially with the juveniles, and I have 

 so often been requested to copy it, that I am in- 

 duced to give it to you for republication. 



Yours, truly, J. D. C. 



Odl, March 23, 18G1. 



RAILROAD SONG. 



BY THE PEASANT BABS. 



There's the bell ! listen well! 



"All aboard !" is the cry ; 

 We are going, going, — gone, — 

 We'll be back, by-and-bye. 

 Now we're jumping with a thumping and a bumping 



O'er the rails ; 

 But our horse has "taken something," and his 

 Strength never fails. 



Hear the bell ; listen well ; 



"Clear the tracli !" is the cry ; 

 We are flying, flying, — flown 

 Like a "ttreak o' lightning" by. 

 What a racket ! how we clack it, as we track it 



O'er the rails ! 

 But our pony needn't slaek it, for his 

 Strength never fails. 



Blow it loud to the crowd 



Who our coming wait to spy ; 

 We are coming, coming, — come ;— 

 Rub tlie cinders from your eye. 

 As we're sliding, and are gliding, and are riding 



Into town ; 

 Never horse less need of "hiding," or less need of 

 Rubbing down. 



For the New England Farmer. 



SEED TIME. 



Mr. Editor : — When we get past the middle 

 of March we begin to think of "seed time." Al- 

 ready, on this Island, potatoes were planted 10 or 

 12 days ago, during the warm spell of 5 or 6 

 days. Our farmers are skiUcd in this department. 

 They cut ofi" the "seed end" or small cluster of 

 eyes, give them to the pigs, and then cut the po- 

 tatoes lengthwise into quarters, and plant twenty 

 inches apart in rows. Tlicy say they get as ma- 

 ny or more pounds, and "all largo potatoes." The 

 large eye, or germ, is on the body of the potato. 

 The small ones on the end will make small 

 potatoes and prevent the growth of the larger 

 ones. Three to five vines in a hill are enough. Try 

 it, if you doubt ; it costs neither time or trouble. 

 I have passed through several potato fields, and 

 not a small vine to bo seen ; so in digging time, 

 I have seen the ground covered, and not a pota- 

 to that was not marketable as to size. 



