1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



2G3 



24 to 32 cents per lb., was a dead letter, be- 

 cause no wools, or next to none, were imported 

 that cost over 24 cents per lb. 



The new tariff classifies all wools imported 

 into three distinct classes, indicating by name, 

 in the first and second classes, all wools that 

 come at all in competition with ours, and fixing 

 the duty at 10 cents per lb. and 11 per cent. 

 ad valorem, on all wools costing 32 cents per 

 lb., or less (not 24 cents per lb. or more, as 

 under the old tariff). So that if wools in- 

 cluded in the first and second classes cost but 

 5 cents, or any sum less than 32 cents per lb., 

 they pay a duty under the new tarijf of 10 cts. 

 per lb., and in addition thereto, 11 per cent. 

 ad valorem, ; and ninety-nine one-hundreds of 

 all the wools imported are included in classes 

 No. 1 and 2. It is only the coarse native 

 South American wools, and wools of like grade 

 from other countries, that are included in the 

 third class, and come in at 3 to 6 cents per lb. 

 duty. But those wools do not compete ■ivith 

 ours. 



To recapitulate : Buenos Ayres, Mestiza, 

 and all fine South American wools, cost to im- 

 .port, last year, 10 cents per lb., and three 

 cents per lb. duty in gold. With gold at 135, 

 the duty on a pound of wool was 4 cents in 

 greenbacks. Take the same wool under the 

 present tariff — a pound costs in Buenos Ayres 

 10 cents and 10 cents per pound duty, and in 

 addition thereto, 11 per cent, ad valorem, and 

 the duty on a lb. of wool is 11 cents in gold 

 or 15 cents in greenbacks, which is 11 cents 

 per lb. more duty than was paid in 1866. The 

 Cape wools cost last year about 14 cents per 

 lb. and paid about 6 cents per pound duty ; 

 with gold at 135 it would make the duty paid 

 8 cents per lb. in greenbacks. The same 

 wool now pays 10 cents per pound and 11 per 

 cent, ad valorem duty, which, reduced to 

 greenbacks, is 15 cents per pound, or leaving 

 out fractions, 7 cents per pound more duty 

 than under the old tarifl". 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Transactions of the Middlesex, (Mass.,) Agricultural 

 Soeiity, fur the year 1866. With a List of Premiuins 

 for llK-ir Tod Exh'ibition, atConcord. Oct. 3aiul4, 1867 ; 

 Officurs, iic. C'oiicord: Printed by Benjamin Tolmau. 

 1867. Pages, 120. 



This well printed pamphlet of 120 pages contains, 

 beside ibc usifal valuable record of the Society's 

 Transactions for the year past, a list of premiums, 

 officers, &c., fur the present year, which is the 

 seventy-third of the Society's existence. Addison 

 Gage, West Cambridge, President; John Cum- 

 mings, Jr., Woburn, and Simon Brown, Concord, 

 Vice Presidents ; John B. Moore, Concord, Scc'y ; 

 Richard Barrett, Concord, Treasurer. Fair at 

 Concord, on the new grounds, October 3 and 4, 

 1867. 



— According to British statistics, animals and 

 children born in the latter part of summer arc not 

 likely to be long-lived. 



FARMERS' GARDENS— No. IV. 

 Deepening the Soil. 



N the cultivation of most 

 garden products, depth of 

 soil is always a matter of 

 importance. Lands on which 

 the vegetable stratum is thin, 

 are deficient in permanent 

 productive power, and re- 

 quire a much larger appli- 

 cation of manur^i, and more 

 thorough working, than those 

 which have greater depth. 

 Digging two spits deep, as 

 is practiced in Europe, or 

 gradually going deeper Avith the plow, tends 

 to obviate this difficulty, and will eventu- 

 ally render the soil productive, if the requi- 

 site care be exercised in cropping and manur- 

 ing. 



Where the upper stratum is thin, and repos- 

 ing on a poor subsoil, a speedy change may 

 be effected in the following manner, although 

 from the great cost of labor in this country, it 

 may not be advisable to adopt it except on a 

 limited scale. 



Along the margin of the piece to be im- 

 proved, be it more or less, throw the soil, sub- 

 soil, sods and all, into a winrow on one side, 

 to the depth which is desired, say twelve or 

 twenty-four inches. Then commence on the 

 side in the direction the improvement is to 

 proceed, and deposit all the mould and sods 

 taken from the top, in the bottom of the first 

 trench, throwing that taken from the bottom 

 of the second trench over on to the top of the 

 first, and in this manner, proceed till the work 

 is done. Then cart on old, well-decomposed 

 compost, mixed with an equal volume of green, 

 unfermented stable manure, and work the 

 whole thoroughly into the yellow earth until 

 the virgin soil is approached. A liberal allow- 

 ance of manure is requisite in order to hasten 

 the decomposition of the soluble silicates con- 

 tained in the fresh earth, as well as to insure 

 the more ready absorption of the fertilizing 

 gases from the atmosphere, which are neces- 

 sary to impart vigor and activity to its latent 

 powers. A small quantity of fresh manure 

 sprinkled in lightly as the filling goes on, will 

 be of great service, and, indeed, any kind of 

 vegetable matter, such as straw, forest leaves, 

 or chip manure, will materially assist the pro- 



