234 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



For the New England Farmer. 



PKODUCTS OP A SMALL FABM. 



In New Enj^land, and particularly in Massachu- 

 setts, where there are so many manufacturing vil- 

 lages, and therefore good markets, there is a great 

 inducement to cultivate a little land well, raise 

 fruit and vegetables for market, and make better 

 returns than those who cultivate more land under 

 the old stereotype way of farming. In fact, most 

 of our farmers have too much land, and too much 

 of it poor. It should be divided among their sons, 

 more capital expended upon it, and more money 

 made. More refinement exhibited, less drudgery, 

 family better educated in all respects ; more time 

 for social and intellectual improvement, and final- 

 ly more happiness, which is only found in the en- 

 joyment of labor under an enlightened and refined 

 social system. The profit of farming is often dis- 

 cussed. I am decidedly in favor of rural life up- 

 on the farm, and think it the safest business I 

 can follow ; it brings the surest returns, and in it 

 are all the elements of health, happiness and true 

 independence. I have but a small farm, which I 

 intend to take good care of. I propose to give 

 you the products of ten acres in one lot. In this 

 lot there are 80 young apple trees, from three to 

 ten years old ; a part of them were in bearing 

 this season : 



EXPENSES. 



Paid for manure $15 



Prawiii'^ manure 4 



Plowirp seven acres 10 



Harrowinpt and cultivating 3 



Other team work 20 



Work on the farm 120 



10 acres, worth $1000, interest 60 



$232 

 PRODUCTS. 



Z\ acres grass, 6 tons hay, $10 $60,00 



Rowen.2 ions, $10 2\00 



2 acres oats, 80 bushels, 60c 40,00 



2.j tons straw, $5 12,50 



1 acre potatoes, 150 bushels, 40c 60,00 



1 acre Swedish turnips, 700 bushels, 25c 175,00 



2 acres corn, 114 bushels, 75c S5,50 



4 tons stalks, $8 24,00 



Apples 20,C0 



1 bushel beans 2,00 



Pumpkins 3,00 



60) heads cabbage 20,00 



I acre sowed corn 6,00 



$523,00 

 Expenses $232,00 



$296,00 



I used the manure I made, besides the $20 

 worth I bought. The oats were threshed and 

 measured, the corn weighed, the hay estimated, 

 the turnips all measured, 400 bushels sold at 2«3 

 cents per bushel, and the balance on hand, at a 

 higher market. All the crops were carefully 

 estimated, and many articles raised, consumed by 

 the family, not counted. Justus Tower. 



Laneaboro' , Mardt, 1861. 



from Barnard's American Journal of Education, 

 for March, 1861, and affords us several incidents 

 of Mr. Lyman's life heretofore unknown to us. 



Memoir of Gen. Lyman. — We have before us 

 a brief Memoir of the late Gen. Theodore Ly- 

 man, a great and good man — a great man, be- 

 cause he constantly exerted his good qualities to 

 bless his kind. His heart was as expansive as 

 the wants of his race, and his wealth cont'nually 

 llowed in gentle and un()l)trusive streams ^o sat- 

 isfy those wants. This Memoir is repubi'ihed 



For the New England Farmer. 

 TOP-DRESSING— FERTILIZERS. 



Mr. Brown : — I notice a recent article in your 

 paper from Richard S. Rogers, upon the sub- 

 ject of top-dressing meadow lands. I agree with 

 him in the importance of a better understanding 

 of the subject. There is a great want of care in 

 spreading manure, both on plain land and mead- 

 ow. Two years ago I passed a farm as good as 

 any in the county of Berkshire, and saw two or 

 three acres covered thickly with manure ready for 

 plowing ; how long it had been spread I do not 

 know, but as the weather was very drying, should 

 judge that at least one-half of the value of the 

 manure must have evaporated before it was cov- 

 ered with the plow. I have never gone into the 

 experiment of Mr. Rogers, but I have tried spread- 

 ing on both fall and spring, and have uniformly 

 had the best success in spreading in the fall. 

 Much depends upon the season, whether wet or 

 dry. In Aug., 1853, 1 spread over about two acres 

 with yard manure, the weather being too wet to 

 make hay for a week, so that the manure was 

 thoroughly soaked ; the grass came on so that it 

 gave me great after growth. At other times the 

 weather has been dry, when I received no benefit 

 at all from the manure. A different plan occurred 

 to me a year ago last fall, that, instead of spread- 

 ing clear manure it would be better to mix it 

 with loam, making a compost, believing that the 

 loam would prevent the manure from evaporating. 

 I accordingly made a heap of about equal parts of 

 some 60 loads, spread it on early in the spring to 

 about three acres. The season being very dry, 

 from April to July, it did not increase the grass 

 very much, perhaps half a ton per acre, except on 

 about one acre of very moist land, which gave me 

 about three tons per acre ! I also made a small 

 harrow with nine or ten teeth ; side five feet long, 

 four feet wide, with knife teeth set straight for- 

 ward to cut the turf. It was harrowed, perhaps 

 five times over. We had very refreshing showers 

 the latter part of August, so that the after growth 

 was very thick and fine. Another summer I ex- 

 pect to see a great crop. 



Another article from "R. M.," of Westboro', I 

 think is to the point. Much is said about fer- 

 tilizers ; I should consider them, more strictly 

 speaking, stimulants. Some twenty years ago, 

 before guano was discovered, I took from under 

 my barn, where the geese and hens had run free- 

 ly for twenty-five years, three loads and spi-ead on 

 a meadow, in the spring ; the growth was just 

 about double for the first year ; the next year there 

 was no perceptible difference where the three 

 loads were spread, and where nothing had been 

 applied. I look upon it as operating like the gu- 

 ano, stimulating the soil to produce a great growth 

 for one year, at the expense of the soil ; so that 

 if such a course was taken from year to year, the 

 land would become impoverished, unless more or 

 less yard manure was applied. A man, for in- 

 stance, under the influence of brandy, would, 

 doubtless, for a given time, do more work ; but 

 were he to follow uu dose after dose with little or 



