276 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



Charles J. Power, of South Frarningham, repre- 

 sented as a seedling from the Isabella, now in" its 

 third year of bearing, the vine being seven years 

 old, and as fully ripe this year on Sept. 15th; said 

 to be an abundant bearer, the vine perfectly hardy 

 and that does not drop the berries ; the vine hav- 

 ing been grown on an open fence without protec- 

 tion from the north. 



The impropriety of christening fruits with the 

 names of persons is well illustrated by the follow- 

 ing sentence, in reference to specimens of new 

 grapes from Ohio, which occurs in this business- 

 like report : 



'•It appeared to the Committee that Lydia was 

 rather acid, that Mary was pretty good, with a 

 thick skin, and tiiat Ellen was rather subacid, with 

 eomewhat of a Catawba flavor." 



Fnr the Neic England Farmer, 

 PBEPAKDNTG AND APPLYING MANUKES. 



By i)reparing, I do not mean providing, but the 

 condition or state it is in when used in the field or 

 garden. It may seem out of season, now, for this 

 subject to be brought up, as most farmers use the 

 great bulk of their manure in the spring and early 

 summer — still, there are many who apply it to 

 their meadows immediately after haying is over, 

 regarding it as the best time for doing so. This 

 class, I am glad to know, is largely increasing. 

 Some, however, do not give much, if any thought 

 as to the condition the manure may be in, and ex- 

 ercise still less in its application, if we are allowed 

 to judge from what we frequently see. on passing 

 their premises. How very often do we witness 

 large masses, or lumps, thrown out and left un- 

 broken, to waste much of its value by drying, and 

 if it is strong, killing the sward where it lies, be- 

 ing a positive injury, rather than a benefit. Then, 

 again, how many in the spring, when using ma- 

 nure for field or garden crops, use it in the same 

 unpulverized state. 



I know a farmer who can talk very glibly, and 

 often well, about farm managements, who, the 

 past spring, hauled out his manure from his yard 

 without digging it over and pulverizing, and put it 

 in heaps very uniformly over a piece designed for 

 corn. Shortly after he had got it out, I passed 

 that way, and he was ])loughing the piece, and the 

 manure was spread over not more than two-thirds 

 of the surface of the ground, if, in reality, it cov- 

 ered more than half. Large lumps, from the size 

 of a goose egg, to the size of a man's head, em- 

 braced the largest part of the application. Sup- 

 pose the corn that was planted there capable of 

 thought, and expressions of thought, would there 

 not be heard emphatic complaints of injustice 

 from all portions of the field, and with good rea- 

 son, too? Suppose this man had spent the time 

 requisite to have thoroughly pulverized his ma- 

 nure previous to hauling it out, and when hauled 

 out, spread it evenly over all the surface of his 

 field, who doubts but it would have resulted in 

 fourfold profit on the labor expended. So, too, it 

 often happens with very many in all their farm op- 

 erations — too much in a hurry to get on with their 

 work, or an insufficiency of help to properly ac- 

 complish what they have planned. It is a well es- 

 tablished fact, with thorough farmers, that no 

 work on the farm pays better for being thoroughly 

 done than the pulverizing of manure previous to 



using it. When this is done, and it is spread 

 evenly over the field, the crops will inevitably show 

 their appreciation of the care bestowed upon the 

 preparation of their food. 



As to the best method of spreading, difi'erences 

 of opinion prevail ; some contending for putting 

 out in heaps previous to spreading, others spread- 

 ing from the cart or wagon as it goes to the field. 

 I favor the latter method, generally, and always 

 upon grass land or mowing lots. I have found 

 trouble in getting men to spread as evenly over 

 all the surface from k(»aps, as from the cart or 

 wagon, often having been compelled to have them 

 go over it twice, or even more than that, to get it 

 properly done. On meadows, I prefer using a 

 cart, tipping it so as to put a block a foot or so 

 long under the forward end, and spread with a 

 shovel from the hind end. This tipping brings the 

 work handy to the workmen, and relieves the neck 

 of the oxen. A hoe, fork, or some such imple- 

 ment is very handy in hauling it down from the 

 forward end of the cart. In this way, I find my 

 manure much better spread than by any other 

 method I have used, and quite as quickly done by 

 men who have been accustomed to doing it so. 



However fine your manure may be, it will be 

 for your interest to go over your meadows with 

 a brush, which I make in this way : take a three 

 by six or seven inch oak scantling, eight feet long, 

 bore two inch holes, sixteen inches apart, get good 

 bushy white birches of proper size, and you have 

 got a thorough implement for the work. If not 

 sufficiently heavj', throw on a rail or some suitable 

 thing. This brush will rub the manure into and 

 among the grass stubble so that but little of it 

 will be seen unless closely looked for. The first 

 rain that falls will eff'ectually dissolve its particles, 

 and the grass immediately assume a cheerful, 

 smiling aspect, indicating its appreciation of your 

 wise provision for its welfare. I have used the 

 brush where I spread manure for ploughing under 

 With the assurance that it was labor wisely ex- 

 pended. K. o. 



Juhj, 1863. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 CULTIVATION OP BYE. 

 The attachment of the people of New England 

 to rye as an article of food is rather remarkable. 

 I believe there is no part of the world where this 

 grain is so much eaten from choice as with us. 

 In Great Britain it is not used as food for man. 

 In Russia, in the northern parts of Germany, and 

 in some of the poorer Departments of France, it 

 is eaten largely, but it is by the peasantry, and from 

 necessity, not from fondness as with us. In Eng- 

 land and Scotland, oatmeal and barley-meal are 

 used by those who desire a variety in their food, 

 or a cheap diet. On the continent of Europe they 

 have a poorer kind of wheat, of inferior quality 

 and lighter than the fine wheat, which is called 

 spelt, which is cultivated for food, and takes the 

 place of barley and oatmeal in England, and of rye 

 and Indian corn meal with us. It seems to me 

 that the cultivation of rye for food among us 

 might be profitably changed for some of these oth- 

 er grains. Barley on good lands is a profitable 

 crop, yielding more to the acre than wheat, and 

 bearing a higher market value than any other 

 grain except wheat. It may be used for all pur- 

 poses that rye may be, for the food of man, mak- 



