1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:^IER. 



207 



it ferment too much, because an excess dissi- 

 pates its most useful qualities. Indeed, all 

 the warmth it ought to acquire, is just enough 

 to make it drop apart when overhauled, so as 

 to make it fine. 



Mr. Coke, a distinguished English agricul- 

 turist, discontinued fermenting manure, and 

 stated that the crops were as good as ever, 

 while the manure went twice as far. The 

 reference, we suppose, was to manure that 

 had been highly fermented ; this process we 

 have always considered as decidedly injurious. 



When placed under the soil and contiguous 

 to the roots of plants, unfermented, the roots 

 secure the benefit of the fertilizing lluids or 

 gases which come from it in the course of fer- 

 mentation, while the heat evolved renders the 

 soil about the roots a sort of hot bed. 



A slight fermentation previous to use is un- 

 doubtedly useful, as that commences the pro- 

 cess necessary to make the manure impart its 

 fertilizing properties, without at all impairing 

 them. 



The process of overhauling is an important 

 one. It should be done as rapidly as is possi- 

 ble and do it well; that is, to make it fine. 

 This may be done more thoroughly at the sec- 

 ond overhauling. A third overhauling will 

 be economical in manure fresh from the stalls. 



When the heaps are finished up, thrust a 

 stick or two, of an incb in diameter, into each 

 heap, and after three or four days draw them 

 out and feel of them to ascertain the degree 

 of temperature attained. If quite sensibly 

 warm to the hand, overhaul again, and make 

 the heap a little more compact. In this way 

 the heap will become so fine that it may be 

 easily applied, spread evenly and thoroughly 

 mingled with thd soil, where the roots will be 

 sure to find it. 



When a heap is finished, cover it slightly 

 with loam and little or no loss will occur by 

 evaporation. 



SQNHISE FARMING. 

 So much is said of farming at the West, that we 

 have been interested in looliing over some statis- 

 tics of down East farming, collected by the Editor 

 of the Presque Isle, Aroostook county, Sunrise, a 

 newspaper printed but a little south of the 47th 

 parallel of northern latitude. The Sunrise says, 

 "the soil of Aroostook couuty lies upon a strata of 

 argillaceous slate which is continually decompos- 

 ing by the action of the elements, and forming the 

 richest and moit productive soil ia the world. 



Hence our farms do not 'run out,' but produce 

 year after year the largest crops wirhout any per- 

 ceptible diminution in amount. The farms re- 

 ferred to below are not all of the largest, or their 

 owners the most skilful cultivators. Others quite 

 as skilful and successful might be added to the 

 list. We have collected such statistics as we con- 

 veniently could." The statistics embrace the de- 

 tails of fourteen farms in the town of Presque 

 Isle, twelve in Easton, sixteen in Maysville, seven 

 in Dalton, five in Castle Hill, eight in Mapleton, 

 six in Patten, four in Sherman, and four in Wash- 

 burn, — 76 farms ia all, comprising 5337 acres of 

 mowing, tillage and pasturing, the products of 

 which were as follows ; — 



$■29 







1 



1?. 



12 

 1 

 5 



ai 

 1 



9-0 

 4<"0 



089 

 ,S6i 

 075 

 6 9 

 (6. 

 4H 

 078 

 390 

 3i9 



$94 81{ 

 7,76^ 



2,990 tons of hay, estimated at $10 00 p'^r ton, , 



2,790 bu*. wheat at 2 0^ per bus. 



693 " cora 1.60 '• " 



26 6:U " oaH ,5J " " 



24 731 " buckwheat 50 " " 



673 " beans 3 00 " " 



20 260 " pota'oes .25 " ' 



28 631 lbs butter .40 per lb 



7,190 " chefiee ,15 '• " 



13,500" clover seed .2i ' " 



6 -,636 " porK .15 " •' 



Less paid out for labor, 



Leaving $37,05i 



to be divided among 76 owners of the farms for 

 their own time and labor, which is equal to $'1.14-5 

 each, on an average. When it is remembered 

 that there are other products from these farms tliau 

 those enumerated, such as roots of all kinds, minor 

 articles of the garden, dairy, &c., we think it doubt- 

 ful whether a better showing can be made of the 

 income of an equal number of farmers, and ol" an 

 equal number of acres in the Sunset land of roll- 

 ing prairies and oak openings. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



How Crops Feed. A Treatise on the Atmosphere nnd 

 thfi tjoil as related to the Nutrition of Plants. Wit.n 

 Illustraticns. By Bamuel W. Johnson, M. A.. Pro- 

 fesf-or of Analytical and Agricnlturnl tUifmietvy ia 

 the fc'ht flieid Scion ifin Hchoi-l of Vale Col « ge ; Cheru- 

 ii^t to ide O >rriecti( ut Slate Agricultural Society; 

 MeDib-r c.f tb-; Nitioiial Vcadtuij^ of eciences. Uew 

 York: O Judd & Co. IS'O. 



This volume is the second of a series of f .nr 

 volumes, — of which Hoio Crops Feed was the first, 

 — that the author proposed to write ; the third, to 

 treat of Culiivation, or the Improvement of the 

 Soil and the Crop, by Tillage and Manures; and 

 the fourth of Stock Feeding and Dairy Prod uee. 

 We are pleased to learn that our favorable 0i)in- 

 ion of the first volume is confirmed by a large sale 

 in this country, by its republication in Englaud, 

 under the editorship of two of the professors of 

 the Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester, and 

 by its translation into German, on recoiumeiiaa- 

 tion of Prof. Von Liebig. 



The present volume is divided into two parts ; 

 the first discusses the relations of the atmosphere 

 to vegetation, the second is a treatise on the sod. 

 To most readers the principles andofficeof atmos- 

 phere and soil are abstruse subjects, and the au- 



