314 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



THE SEASON AND PROSPECTS. 



The large quantity of snow that "lingered in 

 the lap of spring," melted gradually away and 

 kept the ground saturated as long as it lasted. 

 Since this supply has ceased, there have been but 

 few spring showers, so that we began to feel the 

 effects of an early drought. By the twentieth of 

 May, the young clover began to droop in dry 

 places, and the dust in the streets and on high 

 laud fields, when harrowing, seemed to be as thick 

 and active as in midsummer. 



The drought — we are informed by a gentleman 

 just from New Hampshire and Vermont — has 

 pinched more shai'ply there even than in Massa- 

 chusetts. He also states that farmers were plant- 

 ing in their fields, while huge snowbanks were 

 piled on the hillsides, or in the valleys, within 

 sight ! Such a scene, we presume, is not often 

 witnessed. 



On the night of Saturday, May twenty-fourth, 

 there was a sharp frost in all the region about 

 Boston, which was quite destructive to the early 

 corn, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, and other tender 

 plants which had been brought forward by extra 

 care to supply a waiting market. The blossoms 

 and young leaves of the forest trees, were also 

 destroyed wherever they came within five or six 

 feet of the ground. On Monday, the 26th, they 

 presented an appearance of having fire run through 

 them. 



On Tuesday, the 27th, there was a copious and 

 delightful rain, which fell steadily and slowly 

 through most of the day, reviving the face of na- 

 ture, and causing the world to look as beautifully 

 as the most active imagination could well con- 

 ceive. This gladdening of the earth went up, al- 

 so, to the hearts of men, so that every counte- 

 nance was radiant, and all for a time forgot the 

 discomforts of a new call "to arms," and rejoiced 

 in the sunshine that broke out anew upon the re- 

 freshed land, teeming again with new life. 



The promise, now, for good crops of all our ag- 

 ricultural products, is cheering. The blossoming 

 on all our fruit trees has been profuse, and the 

 timely rain has aided the setting of the young 

 fruit, which now appears remarkably well. 



Planting has steadily progressed, so that now, 

 Monday, June 2d, it is nearly completed, while 

 some of the early crops have already had a first 

 hoeing. A wide breadth has been occupied with 

 wheat, corn, barley and potatoes, and with careful 

 culture and the blessing of Heaven upon them, 

 our average products will not be decreased in con- 

 sequence of so many of our farmers ]:)eing absent 

 in the "tented field." 



In England, by the latest reports in our for- 

 eign exchanges, the prospects still remain rather 

 gloomy. Heavy rains, and in some districts se- 

 vere storms have succeeded the early cold and 



wet weather. English writers are "startled" at 

 the fact, "that accumulated stores in the lake ports 

 will enable shippers to send on greater quantities 

 than were last season supplied to Europe." Eng- 

 land ought to know us better than she appears to. 

 She is able to purchase maps, and study them, 

 and she has intelligent persons continually travel- 

 ling among us, — and yet, from reading the Lon- 

 don Times, one would suppose that its writers had 

 rarely seen a geography, or consulted a map of 

 the United States ! Is this ignorance, or a wilful 

 perversion, intended to mislead the readers of that 

 influential journal ? The "startling" intelligence 

 in relation to our resources in breadstuffs, is one 

 of the evidences that England does not appreciate 

 us, either in our intelligence, our resources in the 

 grand staples that go directly to sustain life, in 

 our ability almost to speak into existence the mil- 

 itary implements necessary to resist or repulse 

 any foe, or to fill the hands of seven or eight mil- 

 lions of freemen who love liberty better than life 

 without its blessings. No people on earth, prob- 

 ably, are so independent of all other people, as 

 those of the free States of this Union. God grant 

 that we may use our great privileges Avisely and 

 well, living firmly up to our doctrine, never to ag- 

 gress upon others, nor to yield the rights which 

 are clearly our own. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 FENCES. 



Much has been written about fences. I would 

 recommend a very cheap one, that will require as 

 little ground as any other, made as follows : Pre- 

 pare good straight stakes five feet long ; steep the 

 lower end in blue vitriol liquor, one pound to five 

 gallons water ; set the stakes one foot deep in the 

 ground, on a straight line or otherwise, eight 

 inches apart ; saw off" the tops even, and nail a strip 

 of board two inches wide on top ; put one nail in 

 each stake, and the fence is finished. If the frost 

 should lift the stakes, they may be easily driven 

 down. 



There are thousands of miles of fence needed 

 on land where it vvould be impossible to obtain 

 boulders to fasten the posts of Mr. Smith's patent 

 fence to. I don't understand hoAV he is going to 

 tie his braces to the boulders with a wire. I 

 should think his boulders and braces must take 

 up at least one foot of ground on each side wliich 

 is too much to waste. 



Another kind of cheap fence is made horse-rack 

 fashion, with spindles one inch square, three feet 

 long, and eight inches apart, the ends of the rails 

 halved and pinned together, and a pair of stal'.es 

 set at the end of each length, with a withe on top. 

 Set the fence on a stone or block, eight inches 

 from the ground ; this fence is very convenient for 

 removing, if necessary. 



Another fence I like very much for a garden or 

 outside fence ; place boulders at a proper distance, 

 drill a hole four inches deep ; place an iron post 

 seven-eighths or one inch diameter, and fill with 

 melted brimstone ; the rails may be two by three 



