1870. 



NEW ENGLAND F.\K:VIER. 



515 



so far as we caa make it convenient, it is 

 best to put all the manure we can under 

 ground in its fresh and^crude condition, and 

 cover it not more than three inches at the 

 most. 



Some good farmers do not apply manure 

 until it has been kept a twelvemonth ; we be- 

 lieve that is the case with Mr. John Brooks 

 of Princeton, Mass., who is a large and pros- 

 perous farmer. What special advantages 

 arise from this course are not clear to us, and 

 we should be glad if he would state them 

 through these columns. 



Top-Dressing. 



With regard to this mode of manuring there 

 are also various opinions ; but that it can be 

 very profitably employed scarcely admits of a 

 question. On grass lands it is generally with- 

 held too long, — until the grass roots are ex- 

 haust-ed, and there is nothing left upon which 

 to build up a crop. If on high land, the top- 

 dressing should be applied as early as immedi- 

 ately after the second year's crop is taken off, 

 or in the succeeding fall. Then it has vigor- 

 ous roots to work upon, and by top-dressing 

 annuBJly, or every other year, mowing fields 

 might be kept running for ten or fifteen years, 

 and produce from a ton to a ton and a half 

 annually. This would save a considerable 

 cost in ploughing, leveling and the cost of 

 seed. 



On moist lands, once well set in grass, swale 

 lands, lands on the margin of meadows, a 

 slight annual top-dressing will help them to 

 produce profitable crops for fifty years in suc- 

 cession ; and the fodder will be good. Dry 

 cows, young cattle and working oxen, doing 

 moderate wmter work, will tBrive well upon 

 it. 



Top-dressing may be applied most advan- 

 tageously in the autumn, and about the time 

 when we usually have plentiful rains, before 

 the sett'ng in of winter. The manure can 

 then be applied without jnjury to the ground 

 by carting over k, and the rains will wash out 

 the soluble matters from the manure and carry 

 them down among the roots of the plants, and 

 will also force the coarser portions down 

 around the stubble, to act as mulching through 

 the winter. Oiher advantages are, that farm 

 work is not so pressing as in the spring, the 

 teams are stronger, and the carting quicker 

 and cheaper over hard ground. 



THE DSOUaHT. 



The drought, from which we are now suffer- 

 ing, is the most wide- spread, continued and 

 severe which has occurred within our recollec- 

 tion. It embraces the whole of New England, 

 New York, Northern Pennsylvania, and the 

 whole belt lying between the Ohio River and 

 the lakes. It has not been uniformly severe 

 throughout this extensive region. Some local- 

 ities have been partially relieved by occasional 

 showers. The more southern portions, in 

 which the crops complete their growth at an 

 earlier period, have suffered less th n those 

 lying further north, in which they depend up- 

 on July and August for making their growth, 

 and have thus had to contend with the entire 

 dry period. Consequently the corn, late pota- 

 toes, root crops and pastures have suffered 

 severely, as have the fruit crops, fruit trees, 

 and even the forest trees. 



On dry pastures and old mowing lands the 

 roots of the grass in many places are entirely 

 dead, and it is doubtful if the fiuit buds in 

 some sections will form for the fruitage of an- 

 other year. The soil is unfit for ploughing, 

 and the reception of the winter grain. 



Hay, grain, potatoes, butter and pork in all 

 this northern section must be very high. The 

 loss in crops must be almost incalculable. 

 Those who are dependent on the sale of their 

 crops for money to pay their taxes and sup- 

 poit their families through the coming long 

 winter, must look forward with sad forebod- 

 ings. But let us not be discouraged. The 

 past few years have been eminently prosper- 

 ous. The accumulations of those years must 

 be freely used to meet the emergency, and to 

 relieve the wants of those who have not been 

 fortunate enough to accumulate for themselves. 

 Before the seven years of famine in Egypt 

 there were seven years of plenty. Before our 

 late enormously expensive war the country 

 had been wonderfully prosperous, and the ac- 

 cumulations of this prosperity furnished the 

 means of supplying our armies, and of sus- 

 taining the government, to which, under Hea- 

 en, our prosperity was due. Adversity is not 

 without its uses as well as prosperity. With- 

 out it we should become proud and self-confi- 

 deftt, and forget our dependence upon the 

 Great Source of all our blessingr. But we 

 did not sit down to moralize, but to ask what 

 lessons we, as agriculturists, should learn 



