1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



383 



"I thought of you -within the last half hour. 

 Do you remember, when at the State Fair at 

 Keene, some eighteen or twenty years ago, you 

 got up near the beginning of what threatened 

 to be a very dull tarmers' discussion on 

 thorough draining, and made a stateinent that 

 draining was an essential to every soil, — that 

 the dryest land could be prolitably improved 

 through its use, and that you would tolerate 

 no theorizings which either controverted indi- 

 rectly or denied this proposition ?'' 



Of course I recollected the circumstance, 

 and the Governor went on to say : — 



"Well, like many others present, I consid- 

 ered your statement in the highest degree ex- 

 travagant, and thought, as they did, that you 

 had advanced the idea for the purpose solely 

 of provoking debate — which it was very suc- 

 cessf id in doing ; and I have continued to 

 think so until recently, when I have discovered, 

 pradicaUi/, that you were perfectly right, and 

 your theory entirely reliable. And the way 

 proof came to me was in this wise : I had a 

 piece of wet land which I could only drain by 

 running the trenches through a dry portion 

 which, in my estimation, required no drainage 

 at all. When the work was performed I 

 thought of you and what I still esteemed to 

 be your extravagant theory, not doubting in 

 the least that my experience would ultimately 

 knock the bottom out of it. I mentioned just 

 now that I had been thinking of you within the 

 past half hour, and that was while I passed 

 over the light land I had drained compulsorily, 

 and waded through the deep grass in the vicin- 

 ity of the drains, while I noted that that on the 

 undrained portion was stunted, burned up 

 and valueless. I believe in draining light 

 land, and that the process will pay."' 



Now I think tliis testimony, which was 

 backed by that of Gen. Natt Head, President 

 of the N. H. Agricultural Society, and one of 

 the most enlightened farmers in the State, 

 (the General had joined us at Hooksett, where 

 he resides,) will show my intelligent friend 

 Koyal Smith, that there has been some method 

 in my universal drainage madness, and I think 

 he will rejoice in the information. 



A Fireside Farmer. 



Remarks. — Thanks to friend Moore for 

 his testimony in relation to draining land. 

 Our farmers, half of them at least, are not 

 yet thoroughly convinced that draining any 

 land is a profitable operation. Land is too 

 plenty and too cheap, they say, to make it 

 economical to expend $25 to $50 an acre in 

 relieving it from surplus water. 



We have often felt inclined to say as much 

 as our correspondent has above ; but upon re- 

 flection have concluded that there is so much 

 land that needs draining more than other por- 

 tions do, that we would urge draining that 



most needing it, and then strike boldly into 

 his theory. But we are glad of his help. 



The operations of the atmosphere upon soils 

 are as yet imperfectly understood. \A'hen we 

 know more about them, we are inclined to 

 think that we shall learn that there are no va- 

 rieties of land but may be brought into a state 

 of comparative fertility at moderate cost, and 

 one important agent in the work will be at- 

 mosplieric influences. 



USING FBESH MUCK. 



We are often told even by those whom we 

 regard as high authority that muck should never 

 be used until it has been exposed to the 

 weather a year, or after being composted.with 

 manure. I have had some experience with 

 muck, and I do not agree with those writers. 

 j\Iy first trial was made on a gravelly knoll, 

 where I put a one-horse load fresh from the 

 muck-bed. Sowed the piece to buckwheat. 

 Where the nuick was it grew very rank ; 

 lodged and rotted before the rest of the piece 

 was ripe. 



Since then I have tried it as a top dressing 

 on grass land, and was satisfied that it 

 doubled the crop the first year, but not so much 

 benefit the second year as manure generally 

 has. I have doubled the hay crop on my 

 farm, and claim that 1 have done it by using 

 muck, and have never used but a very little 

 that has been out of the bed a year. I dug 

 a ditch through the muck-bed, and since then . 

 when 1 have wanted to draw out a few loads, . 

 •I have taken it from the side of the ditch and 

 spread on the grass land. I do not say it is 

 better used in this way, but I think it pays 

 and saves some labor. 



The best top dressing that I ever used was 

 made by slacking lime with brine and mixing 

 it with muck shovelled up in June, and spread: 

 late in the fall. It showed the effects for six . 

 years. I think that if farmers knew the value ■ 

 of lime, salt and muck, phosphate would be a . 

 drug in the market. — (Jor. Vermont Farmer, 



Remarks. — One great cause of the differ- - 

 ent opinions of farmers in relation to the ef- 

 fects of muck, is the dilFerent qualities of the 

 muck used. The above writer has probably 

 muck of superior quality, or that which is • 

 comparatively free from those properties 

 which render most muck direct from the bed ; 

 less beneficial than in his case. 



THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OP MILK. 



Dr. Oliver C. Wiggin, of Providence,. 

 Rhode Island, bears the following testimony 

 to the value of milk : * 



The nutritive value of milk, as compared' 



