1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



67 



unwise as put them into a grain crop or some 

 other improper crop at the very first, or expect 

 great crops before the land had had the benefit of 

 exposure to the beneficial influences of the atmos- 

 phere, and have, of course, been disappointed, 

 and thus made ready to decry all reclaimed 

 swamps and lands that are mucky or inclining to 

 muck. 



But notwithstanding these admissions, and ex- 

 planations, there are abundant reasons for valuing 

 both much more highly than "S. P. M." — the 

 writer referred to — seems willing to do. He 

 seems to have been led to this undervaluing of 

 muck, in part at least, by what seems to us a 

 strange idea, namely, that muck and mucky soils 

 cannot be of much value because they have been 

 "submitted to a leach of time unrecorded." For- 

 tunately for those who might be staggered a little 

 by this suggestion, there are several paragraphs 

 of an article on "Spreading Manure in Autumn," 

 only a few pages farther along, which are sufficient 

 to neutralize the eff"ect of this notion that muck 

 and mucky lands must have had everything of 

 value leached out of them. The whole of the ar- 

 ticle just referred to is valuable and instructive ; 

 but for "S. P. M.," and all who may be influ- 

 enced by his suggestion of the effects of a long 

 leaching, the following passage, on page 544, may 

 be a word in season : — 



"Thousands of our swamps have been saturated 

 ■with water most of the time ever since the flood ; 

 yet drain them, throw up the muck, sow oats or 

 grass seed, and such is the fertility of these water- 

 soaked soils, that they will yield as heavy crops 

 as can be grown by the use of farm-yard manure. 

 The fertilizing ingredients of a rich alluvial soil, 

 of swamp muck, iir of stable or other animal ma- 

 nure, are all identical — with this difference, these 

 fertilizing ingredients in the manures can be 

 mostly leached out, but not so in the soii." 



We regret to find ourselves so near the limits 

 of the space we usually occupy with these occa- 

 sional "Notes," before we have accomplished all 

 that we intended. We hoped to find room to set 

 forth several of the uses of muck and mucky soils. 

 This, however, has been so recently, so well, and 

 so fully done by the editor of this journal, that all 

 interested may be better satisfied if they should 

 turn to Vol. 12 for 1860, and find his articles on 

 muck, by help of the index. More Anon. 



SEED SOWERS. 

 Modern ingenuity has given birth to a great va- 

 riety of implements designed to economize the 

 time of the farmer, and diminish the labor without 

 abridging the profits of his hands. Every imple- 

 ment designed for such a purpose, and calculated' 

 in its construction, to accomplish ends so desirable, 

 should meet with favor. The inventor should not 

 only be remunerated, but contemplated in the light 

 of a benefactor, and as deserving of honorable 

 praise. We have had many instruments spoken 

 of for acceptance, most of which are admirably 

 adapted to economize both expense and toil. We 

 have heard of three men toiling all day to plant, 

 imperfectly, half an acre of beets; and we have 

 Been the same extent of surface planted with al- 



most mathematical accuracy and precision by a 

 boy and a machine in less than half a day. With 

 another "labor saving machine" of somewhat dif. 

 ferent construction, we have heard of a field of 

 seven acres planted with corn by a man and horse, 

 —a small boy driving the latter, — in less than a 

 day's time; and a patch of turnips sowed, covered, 

 and the surface uniformly and evenly rolled, by one 

 man with a seed sower in the same time which it 

 would have taken six to perform the work by 

 hand, in the usual way. We have ourselves 

 planted an acre of corn per hour, with a boy, horse 

 and corn-planter, and did the work more accu- 

 rately than it is usually done by hand. Indeed, 

 on a field of nearly four acres planted with com, 

 and where there were few obstructions of turfs or 

 stones, not a half dozen missing hills were found 

 when the first hoeing took place. 



The only objection to this mode of planting is, 

 that the hills cannot be kept in regular squares, 

 so that they can be worked each way with the 

 horse and cultivator. This i& a serious objection, 

 because where this can be done, and the land is 

 not weedy, very little work is left to be performed 

 with the hand hoe. 



A good sower for small seeds would be suffi- 

 cient for a half dozen farms where the buildings 

 are not remote from each other. 



For the Sew England Farmer. 

 IMPOKTANCE OF KEEPING ACCOUNTS. 



Can the importance of keeping accounts be too 

 often or too strongly urged ? I think not. It is 

 related of Dr. Franklin, that, wlienever he took 

 any subject under serious contemplation, he was 

 in the habit of choosing two sheets of paper, upon 

 one writing the arguments for, and upon the oth. 

 er, the arguments afjainst the subject. Following 

 his example, I will first see what can be said in 

 favor of keeping accounts. 



1 . We should be enabled to determine with ex- 

 actness, the profit or loss upon any crop. 



2. It would settle what crop is most profitable. 



3. We could tell what crop is best adapted to 

 particular soils, for although corn can he made to 

 grow upon soils not naturally suited to that grain, 

 yet, if the extra expense exceed the profit, it is 

 well to kno\/ it. 



4. We know what our produce cost, and know- 

 ing what it cost, we know what we can aff'ord to 

 sell for. 



5. It would save much ill feeling among neigh- 

 bors, and prevent many law suits, as there would 

 be a record of many accounts now trusted to mem- 

 ory. 



6. It would, if adopted throughout the land, be 

 a source of much useful information that we stand 

 sadly in need of. 



7. It would settle many disputed points in agri- 

 culture. 



8. It would he a source of much satisfaction at 

 the end of the year, and in years to come, to be 

 able to recur to the various transactions of the 



