1867 



NEW ENGLAND FARJ^IER. 



141 



although the gnrtrlinp; rills, and the green 

 stripes upon the declivities constantly invite 

 their attention to it. Irrigation is the great 

 resource for such farms. A small dam across 

 a ravine would often enable the owner to 

 throw the water, in the sprinsr or after the 

 summer rams, over many acres lymg upon a 

 lower level, which would give him successive 

 luifailing crops of sweet hay or rich pasturage. 

 A pit sunk a f(iw feet in a side hill and where 

 there would be a fall of thirty or twenty or 

 ten feet, would enable him to throw the water 

 which now breaks out at the foot of the hill, 

 over other acres, with the same result — 

 and this watli but a trifling expense. There 

 are hundreds of farms in Worcester county, 

 and in the hilly parts of the State, where ten, 

 twenty or thirty acres of good grass land may 

 be irrigated at very little expense. This irri- 

 gation would be equal to a top dressing of 

 manure annually, worth from ten to fifteen 

 dollars per acre. A dressing of this value to 

 such a number of acres, would be properly ap- 

 preciated by every farmer in the State ; and 

 yet, in how many instances do farmers neglect 

 to avail themselves of that which wonld be of 

 equal value, although the labor would be much 

 less than it would be to haul and spread the 

 manure, even if it were furnished to them gra- 

 tuitously. Leaves and soil from the forests, 

 loam composted with barn manure, and irri- 

 gation are the principal resources of hillfarms. 



Intervale and lowland farms, and farms con- 

 taining meadow and swamp lands, on the other 

 hand, require draining to get rid of the cold 

 surface water, and sweeten the soil. After 

 drainage, dressings of sand or gravel wdl be 

 found very efficacious. When meadow lands 

 have, by draining and dressing with sand or 

 gravel, become sufficiently consolidated for 

 the plough, barn manure will give large crops 

 of corn, oats or potatoes ; and these may be 

 followed by grass, with light dressings of sand 

 or loam, with a plowing once in five or six 

 years. Such lands, if kept properly drained, 

 and occasionally plowed, will be among the 

 most productive of lands for a long time. But 

 the plowing once in a few years, must not be 

 neglected, as there is a constant tendency in 

 such lands for the coarse grasses to come in 

 and kill out the finer grasses, which can be 

 prevented only by occasional plowing and 

 dressing with manure. I>arge quantities of 

 good hay may be raised in this way, with the 

 use of but small quantities of stable manure. 

 This hay will add much to the means of the 

 farm for raising other crops. 



Draining and mixing of soils, then, are the 

 great reso:nTes of low-lying farms. 



Farms consisting of sandy loams and pine 

 plains usually contain more or less wet mead- 

 ows and swamps, for the reason that they are 

 so level that the surface water accumulates in 

 the hollows, and forms bogs and swampy places. 

 And thus, as it were by special design, nature 

 provides the means needed and best suited to 



supply the most urgent wants of such soils. 

 This want is humus or decaying vegetal >le mat- 

 ter. This is collected and preserved in the 

 swamps and bogs in the form of peat and 

 muck. 



This, pulverized by the frost and used alone 

 or composted with l)arn manm-e, is the great 

 resource for such farms. They are little reten- 

 tive of manures, but allow the salts to leach 

 through them in a short time. Peat lasts long- 

 er in them than barn manures. Hence com- 

 posts are better adapted to such soils than 

 crude stable manures. Clay, too, is valuable 

 in improving such soils, as it Is retentive of 

 both ammonia and water. When this can be 

 readily obtained, it should be put in heaps or 

 beds of about a foot deep, ard allowed to lie 

 for a year or more, and be frequently stirred 

 with the plow or harrow, to break the lumps 

 and make it fine, and then spread upon the 

 surface and plowed In. Thirty or forty loads 

 of clay applied in this way, to an acre of dry 

 sandy soil, will sometimes work a wonderful 

 change in its fertility. The plowing in of 

 green crops is another valuable resource for 

 such farms. Two crops of buckwheat may be 

 plowed In, In a year. The next year, dress 

 with lime and seed with clover, and plow un- 

 der in July. And in September, seed down with 

 clover and red-top, and you may take off the 

 following year a good crop of hay, and have a 

 good pasture for several years. Such farms 

 are easily worked, and with light dressings of 

 manure, and the liberal use of peat and clay 

 may be made very productive. Where farms 

 lie upon the sea-coast, the waves furnish an 

 unfailing resource which can be easily and 

 profitably used. Within eight or ten m/Ies of 

 the city staVjles, they furnish the best resoiu'ce 

 for the market gardener. This manure, when 

 well rotted, and composted with vegetable 

 waste, will bring forward the vegetable crops 

 more rapidly than any other material, and the 

 good cultivator will apply It in sufficient quan- 

 tity to keep his land always growing better. If 

 superphosphate, bone flour, ashes or plaster 

 are occasionally added. It is all the better, but 

 they cannot be depended on alone by the mar- 

 ket gardener. Large quantities of stable ma- 

 nure must he used at the same time. Farmers 

 In the vicinity of soap works, woolen mills, 

 and other mills, will, of course, avail them- 

 selves of the resources which such establish- 

 ments afford. 



The milk farmer, especially if he soils his 

 cows, has a resource within himself. A judi- 

 cious use of dry peat or loam In the barn cellar, 

 enables him to make a large quantity of valuable 

 compost, that will constantly increase his crops 

 of hay or other fodder, by which he will be able 

 to increase annually his stock of cows, and con- 

 sequently his quantity of compost. Lime in 

 anv form, and ashes when they can be obtained, 

 may be used with great advantage, especially 

 on soils that have been exhausted by long pas- 

 turage and cropping. And now, brother fann- 



