158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Apkh, 



either oats or barley, and grass seed sown with 

 it is much more apt to germinate and grow 

 than with either of the above named grains. 



Having had considerable experience and 

 good success in raising wheat and other crops, 

 perhaps it may not be amiss to relate some of 

 it, for the benefit of my brother farmers ; not 

 that I feel myself master, but just a beginner. 

 Agriculture is the greatest of all sciences, and 

 as all sciences are developed from small begin- 

 nings, why may I not add my mite ? The sea- 

 sons, of course, have a great deal to do in the 

 raising of all crops, but still, in order to raise 

 good crops, man has a certain duty to perform, 

 and if we expect to succeed and thrive, it be- 

 hooves us to find out what that duty is. I sel- 

 dom fail to raise a good crop of wheat, as I 

 hardly ever realize less than twenty, and have 

 raised as many as thirty-five bushels to the 

 acre. Last year I raised on two and a half 

 acres, and from four and a half bushels sowing, 

 seventy-five and a half bushels by Aveight. I 

 generally sow after a potato crop, and my 

 mode of proi-edure is as follows : When I first 

 break up a i)iece of land I almost invariably 

 plant corn, manuring only in the hill, applying 

 ashes, &c. The second year I manure heavily 

 by spreading on, and plant with potatoes, put- 

 ting no manure in the hill, but using some 

 plaster, and I have had but two poor crops in 

 eleven years, and some seasons have raised as 

 many as four hundred bushels to the acre. 

 My land has now been planted two years and 

 has produced t^vo good crops. By ploughing, 

 and by hoeing and digging the potatoes, the 

 manure that was spread has been thoroughly 

 pulverized and mixed with mother earth, in- 

 stead of being left in coarse lumps to dry and 

 evaporate as in the old practice. My land has 

 been enriched and equalized and is in good 

 condition, not only to produce straw, but also 

 that precious berry that we have been laboring 

 for. 



If you have manured heavily, plough deep 

 and sow early, and don't be afraid to get the 

 grain in too deep. Keep off your old-fash- 

 ioned iron-tooth harrow, for it does not work 

 the grain in far enough, and the more you 

 han'ow your land with it the harder it becomes. 

 Get a good cultivator harrow — they work like 

 a charm — l(>ave the ground light, and get the 

 grain in as it should be. I sow spring wheat 

 of the French T variety. Yours truly, 



Isaac W. Hutciiins. 



Templeton, Mass., Feb. 22, 1867. 



Remarks. — We are proud in being the "or- 

 gan'" of th(! practical experience of such far- 

 mers as Mr. Iliitchins. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE CUTiTIVATION OF HOPS, 



Mr. Ei)iTf)U: — TIk^ present comparatively 

 high pi'icc of liops is awakening an interest in 

 their cultivation. They were formerly ciJti- 



vated quite extensively in Eastern Massachu- 

 setts. The reasons which led our farmers to 

 cease to cultivate them, were chiefly the three 

 following: 1st, the lluctuating price. This 

 ranged from 8 to 10 cents to 40 or 50 cents. 

 When the price was high, they would set new 

 yards. When it fell below 13 or 14 cents, 

 they would plow them up. Fifty years ago it 

 was thouglit that 12^ cents would pay for their 

 cultiviition. Then poles were worth §7 per 

 hundred, and labor 75 cents per day. The 

 second reason was the scarcity and high price of 

 poles. They gradually rose to ten, twelve 

 and even fifteen dollars per hundred. This 

 decided many to (juit the business. The third 

 reason was that they required much manure, 

 and returned nothing to the soil. If they cul- 

 tivated a large field of hops they had nothing 

 with which to raise corn and grass, and in a 

 few years they were able to keep but small 

 stocks of cattle, and of course had but little 

 manure, even for the hops. I do not propose 

 at this time to discuss the projiriety of farmers 

 engaging again in hop culture. 1 have some 

 pleasant recollections of the old-time hop-pick- 

 ings, when we used to eat the luscious water- 

 melons and roasted corn in the evenings at the 

 hop-kilns, and when the buxom daughters of 

 the fiirmers, with their gloves and sun-bonnets 

 stood at the bins day after day through the 

 hop harvest, and when the bag, Mith a hoop at 

 the mouth was suspended luider the trap tloor 

 in the slatted floor of the kiln, and the dried 

 hops were pushed into it with a rake, and the 

 smallest boy jum^jed into the bag to tread 

 them down, and had to tread for dear life to 

 keep on the top of them, and prevent being 

 smothered by them. They were pleasant days, 

 which will never come again to me at least. 

 I write now to send you a short article from 

 the Prairie Farmer, entitled "Horizontal Hop 

 Yards," which is the invention of a Mr. Col- 

 lins, and is patented. By the old method, two 

 poles per hill are generally used, costing very 

 heavily. 



By this inetliod, only one stake per liill is neces- 

 sary, and this only sufficiently higfi to admit of tlie 

 passage of men and horses under the twine, to cui- 

 tivate, etc. The stakes arc set about one fuot in 

 the ground. In order that the stakes may be more 

 dural)lc, they are generally coated with gas tar; 

 tarred hemp twine is also used. In a little publi- 

 cation on Hop Culture, issued by Orange Judd & 

 Co., the following comparison between the expense 

 of establishing a yard by the old and the new 

 modes, is made : — 



Cost of yai'd witli long poles, 1400 poles at 20c, 

 P80; sharpening, $(10; setting, $7. Total cost, 

 (not counting handling,) aftor setting vines, $'297. 



With stakes: 7-Jl) feet lumber for stakes, iail.5 to 

 $20; gas tarring stakes, )S'2 ; 'io llts. twine at 30c, 

 $7 .-TO; setting stakes, $1; putting on twine, 50c; 

 riirht per aero, $10. Total cost after setting vines, 

 .^;>r,. 



The stakes are generally made 1 1-4 inches 

 square, though of ctJursc the size may l)e varied. 

 The stakes for the male vines are made longer, say 

 18 feet, and are not attached to the other stakes l)y 

 the twine, as they arc atl'eetcd more by the wind, 

 and would bo liable to break the twiue. The ob- 



