1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



461 



cal house-builder, ten per cent., we think, will be a 

 sufficient addition to them. 



The hint as to the cellar wall is excellent, as 

 forming it in the manner described, would leave a 

 very good air chamber, beyond which frost would 

 seldom pass. 



One can scarcely appreciate the value of plenty 

 of soft rain water in a cistern in the cellar, until 

 he has once had it and been deprived of it. We 

 put one in several years ago, and with the excep- 

 tion of three or four weeks at one time, have nev- 

 er been without a plentiful supply of clear, soft 

 water, no matter how much the demand upon the 

 cistern has been. 



Our correspondent is evidently a practical man. 

 Some of his articles heretofore published have 

 been extensively copied. 



GREEK- MANUiUNG. 



By this term I mean plowing under green crops 

 for the purpose of increasing the fertility of the 

 soil. It is a well established fact that all plants 

 derive a portion of their nourishment or substance 

 from the atmosphere ; therefore any crop turned 

 under and allowed to decay, must leave the soil 

 more fertile than it found it, by exactly the amount 

 of nourishment which the plant received from the 

 atmosphere. 



The main object in this kind of manuring is to 

 obtain a plant which grows quickly and produces 

 a large amount of foliage without occupying the 

 ground too long, and at the same time drawing 

 as large a portion of its nourishment from the air 

 as is possible. 



But the leaves and stalks are not the only ben- 

 eficial parts ; we want a plant whose roots run 

 deep, and thus raise from a considerable depth 

 substances which are useful to vegetation, but 

 from their depth are not available to our common 

 crops. 



The most common mode of green manuring in 

 this country, is the turning under of sods for corn. 

 The benefit derived from turning under a stiff sod 

 for corn is known to all farmers, and some allovv' 

 the grass to grow as late in the spring as possible, 

 and put off plowing as long as it will do. 



We all know that corn is a very exhausting 

 crop, and yet as a general thing it receives no 

 manure but what is derived from the decaying 

 grass and grass-roots which are turned under by 

 the plow. 



But there are various other plants which are 

 available for green manuring, of which the com- 

 mon or red clover seems best adapted to our cli- 

 mate. It soon reaches its growth, has a large 

 amount of leaves and stems, and its roots are 

 large and fibrous, and run very deep. Pive also 

 forms a very good crop for green manuring, but 

 requires more time than clover, is more expensive, 

 and derives more of its substance from the soil. 



Johnson writes, "That in no other way can the 

 same crop convey to the soil an equal amount of 

 enriching matter as in the leaves and stems." 



One great advantage of green manuring is that 

 these vegetable substances, when turned under, 

 decompose rapidly, and soon benefit the crop. 



Another is, that grain manured in this manner 

 never falls to the ground through weakness of the 

 straw, but no matter how heavy the head it re- 

 tains its erect position. 



But we must not attribute all the benefit de- 

 rived to the leaves and stalks, for the roots in 

 some cases contain as much bulk and nourish- 

 ment as the leaves and stalks. It has been esti- 

 mated that the weight of the roots left in the soil 

 by a sod four years old is equal to one-twentieth 

 more than the weight of the grass grown the 

 fourth year. 



The best plan to bring a field under a course of 

 green manuring, is to apply the manure on the 

 sod for corn, which should be followed with oats 

 in the usual manner, with a good coat of clover 

 (say eight or ten quarts to the acre) sown among 

 1 it. After the oats is taken off, the clover may be 

 I pastured lightly during the fall. Next year it 

 should be allowed to grow until three or four 

 weeks before it is time to sow the wheat, when 

 the clover should be well turned under and allow- 

 ed to remain until seeding time, when the wheat 

 should be put in the usual manner. 



By this plan, the manure is in good order to 

 act on the wheat crop as soon as it is sown, and 

 the green clover will strengthen the straw and in- 

 crease the yield of grain. 



This has been my practice for several years. 

 Last spring I sowed one bushel of plaster per 

 acre on the clover, and this fall I shall have a lux- 

 uriant cro]) to turn under. But I expect to plow 

 a portion of it before harvest, and then plow again 

 (shalloic) before seeding with wheat and grass 

 seed next fall. — Germanlown Telegraph. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HOMES AND PEOPIiE. 



A man's home is a truthful index of himself. 

 With his house, his yard and his fields, he pub- 

 lishes his autobiography for the world to read. 



When M'c pass buildings which are neat and 

 tasteful, with vines hiding all ungraceful angles, 

 and flowers all aljout ; when we hear the music of 

 the mowing machine in the meadow, and the sew- 

 ing machine in the parlor, we know just what 

 sort of people we shall find — industrious, cheerful 

 and generous, poor in purse, it may be, but rich 

 in heart treasure. 



Up street a little way is a frigid looking house, 

 well built and well painted. There are fruit trees 

 and a vegetable garden behind it ; but in front 

 the unfenced "lawn" slopes in nature's roughness 

 to the road. In one corner, a little patch of ground 

 is spaded, and a few consumptive-looking sweet 

 peas and asters are striving to bloom, perhaps in 

 competition with the heliotropes and geraniums in 

 the window above. Who needs an intimate ac- 

 quaintance with the proprietors thereof, to be con- 

 vinced that the Avoman alone has a tender, loving 

 heart, and a taste for the beautiful, and that she 

 has no sympathy from her husband in her efforts 

 to make the "wilderness blossom as the rose ?" 



Something of the inside atmosphere we may 

 learn from the quantity of sunlight which is ad- 

 mitted. Happy faces and dark rooms seldom go 

 in company, (except in "Jly-time.") 



From my window I can see a low, unpainted 

 building — the roof is unpainted, as perhaps it 



