1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



527 



was the soil. Oa the following spring, and so on I was added a sprinkling of uninvited ox-eye daisy, 

 ever since, this land has been worked with com- [ or white weed, while the other side presented the 

 fort, and some portions of it even made into gar- : usual appearances of a wet meadow, — hassocks, 



den beds any time after the 2()th of April ! At 

 the time of draining, the meadow was dotted with 

 hassock grass, rushes and skunk cabbage, which 

 all disappeared in the course of two years, with- 

 out the aid of plowing, reseeding or heavy ma- 

 nuring ; nothing being applied but a very light 

 dressing of composted manure. It will be seen, 

 then, that the season for farm operations on this 

 piece of land has been lengthened in the spring 

 about five weeks ! bevond what it was before 



coarse cut grass, rushes, S:c. On retiring from 

 the field, one of the gentlemen observed, — "I 

 would give more for the crops of that land hereaf- 

 ter with ttco parts of manure upon it, than I would 

 for it as it now is, with six parts of manure.'' If 

 such is the case — and his experience in such mat- 

 ters entitles him to speak confidently — the crops 

 will repay the cost much sooner than our estimate 

 above indicates. The work has been done so ir- 

 regularlv, and so mingled with the other afi'airs of 



drainage had taken place. The period of growth i the farm, that it will be difficult to arrive at the 

 und ripening has also been cousiderablrvxteuilsd. ! exact .cost jjor acre. 



These results, however, would scarcely justify the i ■ 



belief that this land is capable of producing crops • BEST WAY TO DRY APPLES. 



Buch as are matured in a climate several degrees j ^he best method that I have ever used to dry 

 farther south. Far from it. But it will produce i apples is to use frames. These combine the most 

 and mature the most abundant crops that it would j advantages with the least inconvenience of any 

 have utterly failed to bring before,— and bring ^^av, and can be used with equal advantage either 

 them at about one-half the cost of labor that is : '"' '^O^ng i" the house or out in the sun. In pleas- 

 . , Till. I ai^t weather the frames can be set out-doors 



required on wet and heavy land ! i ^^.,5,^^^ ^.^^ ^j^^^ ^f ^ building,' or any other sup- 



The drains have now nearly all been opened = port, and nights, or cloudy and stormy days, they 

 on the north-west side of the valley, there being can be brought into the house and set against the 

 some twenty-five or thirty laterals, of various ! «i'^le of the room near the stove or fire-place, 

 length, according to the pitch and position of the | ^ ^^^ femes are made iii the following manner : 

 . . . , , . ) Iwo strips 01 board, 7 leet long, 2 or 2;! inches 



land, some ot them being not more than thirty , ^,5 je_t,^o gtj.jp, 3 f^g^ j^ng, U'' inches wide, the 

 feet in length, while others are two hundred, all | whole three-quarters of an inch thick— nail the 

 laid with pipe having an orifice two inches in di- i short strips across the ends of the long ones, and 

 ameter, and discharging themselves into the main j it makes a frame 7 by 3 feet, which is a conve- 



, . , . , .^, . e ^\ • u 'c nient size for all purposes. On one side of the 



dram, laid with iiipes 01 three inches orifice. , . . ., ' i . o • 1 



' ' ' ' long strips nails are driven 6 inches apart, ex- 



This side of the meadow being exposed to the \ tending from the top to the bottom. 



drainage of a long hill with several acres of table- 1 After the apples are pared, they are quartered 



land at its top, we have put the lateral drains only i and cored, and with a needle or stout twine, or 



twenty feet aioart. They are all four feet deep, so j «tout thread, strung into lengths long enough to 



, ,. , ^ 1 ^ ^1 ^i -11 I reach twice across the frame; the ends of the 



that trom the centre, between them, there will be , • ^1 t- 1 4. ^u 1 ..1 » • i. 



' ' .1 twine are then tied together, and the strin? hung 



a fall from the surfiice to the bottom of the ditch j q^ the nails across the frame. The ai)ples will 

 oifour perpendicular feet, to every ten horizontal soon dry so that the strings can be doubled on 

 feet. That is, standing in the centre between | the nails, and fresh ones put on, or the whole of 



two drains there will be a fall on the right hand 

 and on the left ot four feet to the bottom of the 

 ditch, for each of the ten feet from the centre to 

 the ditch itself. Under such circumstances, the 

 drainage of the soil will take place rapidly, and be 

 of the most thorough character, and the benefi- 

 cial results to the growing crops, having a warm, 

 moist and porous soil in which to extend and per- 

 fect themselves, will abundantly repay all the cost 

 incurred, during each five years hereafter, so long 

 as the land shall be properly cultivated. 



On Thursday last several gentlemen came to 

 see the operation as it was going on, viewing, in 

 the first place, that portion of the land drained in 

 1857, and then the new portion, and comparing 

 the herbage and condition of the two parts. The 

 contrast was so striking as to arrest the attention 

 of all ; the drained side being covered with a thick 

 stubble of timothy and red top grasses, in which 



them removed, and others put in their place. 



As fast as the apples become suflicieiitly dry 

 they can be taken from the strings, and the same 

 strings used to dry more on. If large ap])les are 

 used to dry, they may be cut in smaller pieces. 



I suppose that pears, quinces, and perhaps oth- 

 er fruits that can be strung, might be dried in this 

 way, although I have never dried any in this way 

 except ap])les. — C. T. Alvord in Coiintry (Jentle- 

 man. 



Surface Application' of Manure. — From 

 the result of various trials, Professor Voelcker 

 seems to lean to the opinion that the spreading of 

 farm-yard compost on the surface of the soil, for 

 even a considerable period before it is plowed in, 

 is by no means so injurious a practice as we have 

 hitherto been led to suppose. He says, "that on 

 all soils with a moderate proportion of clay, no fear 

 need be entertained of valuable fertilizing substan- 

 ces becoming wasted, if tlie manure cannot be 

 plowed in at once. Fresh, and even well-rotted 

 dung, contains very little free ammonia ; and since 



