52 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DKAINING— FALL MANimiJSrG— BOOKS. 



Mr. Editor : — I take this opportunity to Avrite, 

 informing you of some things and asking infor- 

 mation on others. I saw a little chapter on drain- 

 ing, by Judge French, in the ISIonthly Fanner, 

 for November, page 508, which says, "Let no man 

 flatter himself that any thing less than tile drains 

 four feet deep is really the best drainage." Now 

 it happens that all lands worth draining will not 

 admit of so deep a drain as four feet, but yet may 

 be drained to profit. 



I have a small piece which I have drained, 

 which would admit of only two feet, in conse- 

 quence of a running brook through the lot. I 

 drained it only one year ago this fall, and seeded 

 down to grass last June; the grass looks finely 

 this fall. I laid my drain with stone at the sides 

 and at the top with jjlank, for the want of some- 

 thing better. After draining it the two feet deep, 

 as above stated, I plowed it about eight inches 

 deep, the same fall, (1861.) The land is a piece 

 of level intervale, of a black, sandy soil. Before 

 sowing it down, I put on 100 bushels of ashes to 

 the acre, and harrowed it in well with the seed. 

 What do you think that I may have reason to ex- 

 pect from it ? (a.) 



Another chapter on page 515, on summer made 

 manure. I have practiced making summer ma- 

 nure for several years, putting materials plenti- 

 fully into the barn cellar until fall, and then draw- 

 ing out on to the lot where I intended to use the 

 manure the coming spring. I always plow it in, 

 sometimes for corn and sometimes for barley. I 

 use guano in the hill, composted with dirt, about 

 one pound of guano to one bushel of dirt, and it 

 works to a charm, giving the corn an early and 

 vigorous start. I put a good, stout handful of 

 the compost to each hill. The manure plowed in 

 makes the corn grow and mature finely. This fall 

 I drew out the manure from the barn cellar and 

 plowed it in where I intend to plant next spring. 

 The land is a strong loam and quite level, so that 

 it will not wash. This I did to save time for next 

 spring, as then I should have it to load and haul 

 and unload again. What do you think of the 

 process of plowing in manure in the fall ? Will 

 it be as good for the crop next year as though it 

 could be plowed in next spring, or will the rains 

 of fall and winter carry it too low for the plants 

 to reach it ? (b.) 



I have seen the following named books spoken 

 of in the Monthly Farmer, viz. : A book on 

 draining by Judge French ; another by Cliarles 

 L. Flint, I think, on the different grasses ; and 

 still another by Harris, on insects injurious to 

 vegetation. I would like to know through the 

 Farmer the price of the above named books, and 

 how I could get them, if I concluded to have 

 them, {c.) Jer. Potter. 



Fiskeville, E. L, Nov., 1862. 



Remarks. — (a.) With a slight top-dressing of 

 compost every other year, you ought to get a ton 

 and a half to two tons of hay per acre for the 

 next six or eight years. Judge Fi'ench, we think, 

 would approve of draining, even two feet in depth, 

 if there were a good outfall, where it is not prac- 

 ticable to go deeper. 



(6.) We think highly of plowing in manure in 

 the fall ; say to the depth of three or four inches. 

 The finest crops we have ever succeeded in get- 

 ting, were on land treated in this way. The ma- 

 nure is gradually decomposed, and the fertihzing 

 qualities thrown off from it are taken up by the 

 soil and held there ready for the roots of plants 

 to act upon as they need it. And there it is safe. 

 No miser ever hugs the gold he worships with so 

 tenacious a grasp as the soil holds on to all sorts 

 of fertilizing matter that plants require. Where 

 the soil is properly drained, so that a healthful 

 action can take place through it from the sun and 

 air, it robs every thing thai is buried in ii of its 

 energizing matter, and stores it up for the crops 

 which we are to place in it, and which are to be 

 fed by it. With this idea, it becomes of the ut- 

 most importance to the farmer to increase the 

 amount of sumrner manure by all the skill and 

 contrivances at his command. He will find it a 

 labor more remunerative than any he performs, 

 and when it is once systematized, may be done in 

 the warm season, amidst the cultivation and har- 

 vesting of his crops, without detriment to any 

 other demands upon him. Besides this, nothing 

 is more gratifying than to find, in the spring, when 

 all the work is pressing, a field all manured, and 

 only requiring running over it with the horse hoe 

 or cultivator to prepare it for the seed. 



(c.) The books you mention are excellent, and 

 would be valuable to you. The one on draining, 

 we believe, sells for $1,25, and that on the grass- 

 es for $1,50. Harris on insects is about $4,00. 



TAKE CARE OF THE FEET. 

 "Of all parts of the body," says Dr. Robertson, 

 "there is not one Avhich ought to be so carefully 

 attended to as the feet." Every person knows 

 from expei'ience that colds and many other diseas- 

 es which proceed from colds, are attributable to 

 cold feet. The feet are at such a distance from 

 "the wheel at the cistern" of the system, that the 

 circulation of the blood may be very easilv checked 

 there. Yet, for all this, and although every per- 

 son of common sense should be aware of the truth 

 of what we have stated, there is no part of the hu- 

 man body so much trifled with, as the feet. The 

 young and would-be genteel footed cramp their 

 toes and feet into thin-soled, bone-pinching boots 

 and shoes, in order to display neat feet in the 

 fashionable sense of the term. There is one great 

 evil, against which every person should be on 

 their guard, and it is one which is not often guard- 

 ed against — we mean the changing of warm for 

 cold shoes or boots. A change is often made 

 from thick to thin soled shoes, without reflecting 

 upon the consequences which might ensue. In 

 cold weather, boots and shoes of good thick leath- 

 er, both in soles and uppers, should be worn by 

 all. Water-tights are not good, if they are air- 

 tights also ; Lulia rubber over-shoes should never 

 be worn, except in wet, splashy weather, and then 

 not very long at once. It is hurtful to the feet to 



