336 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



LETTER PHOM THE FARM. 



Concord, May 16, 1870. 



Gentlemen : — Never did a morning dawn 

 upon this beautiful world that seemed to my 

 senses more lovely than this. Never was veg- 

 etable life more active and luxuriant at this 

 season. There was a great amount of mois- 

 ture in the land, and a few days of an un- 

 clouded and powerful sun has so warmed the 

 soil, that all plants have started as by some 

 magic influence. 



A portion of the apple trees are in full 

 bloom ; in a few days they will be so generally. 

 Within a single week grass has grown in an 

 unusual degree. There are fields near me 

 where a thick swath could be cut to-day. 



Turning to the Transactions of the old 

 Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agri- 

 culture, published more than half a century 

 ago, I find some interesting observations re- 

 corded in relation to the time of blossoming 

 of apple trees. In 1793, and '94, they were 

 in blossom April 29 ; in 1795, May 10 ; 1796, 

 May 4; 1797 to 1803, from April 28 to May 

 5. This year, it will be May 19 or 20 before 

 the apple trees are generally in bloom. 



The following table of the growth of Indian 

 corn, and the number of days from planting 

 for each period of growth, will be found in- 

 teresting and instructive. 



Planted 



1792, May 4 



1793, April 23 

 " " 26 

 " " V7 

 " July, 15 



1794, M*ty, 3 

 " June, 21 



1798, April 27 



Sprouted. 



12 May, 8 

 6 " 13 

 8 " 12 

 8 " 11 



22 July, 7 

 15 May, 12 

 2S June, 7 

 15 May, 18 



Silked. \Eat<ib. green. 



14 July, 71 



10 • 78 



5 " 7j 



6 " 69 

 16 Sept., 61 



12 July, 70 



13 Aug ,63 

 21 July, 88 



1 Aug., 89 



23 July, 88 



10 Oct., 86 



29 July, 87 



1 Sept., 72 



The principal circumstance which caused 

 any difference of growth, appears to be the 

 time of planting. What was planted about 

 the beginning of May, appears to have re- 

 quired from 86 to 89 days to be fit for eating. 

 What was planted earlier took a longer time to 

 come forward, and did not ripen at so early a 

 date as that planted at the beginning of May. 

 That planted in July lost in the fall the time it 

 gained in summer, and furnished green corn 

 for the beginning of October. 



The specimen planted about the middle of 

 June kept its growth the whole summer, and 

 became fit for eating in seventy-two days. 



The prosperity of the plant depends more, 

 I think, upon the condition of the soil at the 

 time of ploughing than most persons are aware 



of. Seeds must have heat and moisture in or- 

 der to sprout, and when sprouted the germ 

 requires a loose and highly-pulverized bed to 

 travel and grow In. Without this, a plant 

 may live and grow, but its progress will be 

 slow and feeble, and yield little or no profit to 

 the cultivator. 



This matter of making the soil fine, has re- 

 ceived much attention during the last five 

 years. Ploughs and other Implements have 

 been constructed in numerous forms In order 

 to accomplibh it quickly and well. In some 

 ploughs they have succeeded in cracking the 

 upper portion of the furrow into innumerable 

 pieces, while the under half remains undis- 

 turbed and compact. To reach and break up 

 this portion with the harrow is out of the ques- 

 tion. Before it could touch it, the upper sur- 

 face would be as solid as that below. Noth- 

 ing but the plough or some implement that 

 lifts and twists at the same time will do It. 



I have rarely been so much interested and 

 instructed in the art of ploughing as I was a 

 few days since in looking at the work done by 

 some new swivel, or hill-side ploughs, on a 

 neighboring farm. It was soon found that a 

 plough exactly suited to turn a thick, tough 

 sward was not the best one to turn over a 

 tender sward. For the first, a convex mould- 

 board was required, something like the shape 

 of the human hand, when the fingers are 

 slightly bent down ; and the other, a mould- 

 board considerably flattened, so that its upper 

 edge should not only break the furrow into 

 numerous particles, but turn it entirely over 

 into its bed as the ^ough passed along. For 

 completely inverting the soil of a stubble field, 

 a mould-board of somewhat different form 

 may be required. All these were illustrated 

 in the most gratifying manner. The sod on 

 the sward land, as well as on the stubble 

 ground, was not only turned over, but cracked 

 Into Innumerable fissures, so that a stick or 

 straw could be put into them nearly through 

 the furrow ; and when walking over them they 

 had a soft, velvety feel under the foot. 



Three or four ploughs were used, all of the 

 swivel, or side-hill pattern, although the field 

 being ploughed was nearly level. It has been 

 a want long felt by the farmer, to get a side- 

 hill plough that was light, easily managed, 

 and that would do good work on level land, 

 as well as on the hill-side. This has been ac- 



