1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



655 



First, get up a high estimate in your own ' 

 brain of every acre of unsightly swamp land , 

 that you may possess, though heretofore it may 

 have been counted worthless. After a little 

 engineering, strike a deep ditch through its 

 lowest outlet, bring to light those inexhausti- 

 ble stores of richness collected from the high 

 lands since the days of the antediluvians, by 

 draining it dry ; pull all the stumps,_ trees and 

 bushes from "its surface ; plough it ; sow on 

 from 20 to 50 bushels of lime to the acre to 

 correct its acidity, and sow thickly with timo- 

 thy. Oue acre shall produce more than the 

 best five of high and dry field land, in all these 

 years of continued drought, without the need 

 of 25 ox-loads of barn-yard manure to the 

 acre, to be felt only three or four years. 



If the fanner is not afraid to take exorbi- 

 tant interest on his money now invested in 

 banks, railroads, and government bonds at 

 from six to ten percent, let him draw it from 

 these and other places of investment and re- 

 ceive, in this case, one hundred per cent. 



I have cleared about two acres of such 

 swamp land at a cost of about S50. Though 

 not yet ploughed or reseeded, it pays me this 

 year the interest on $500 at 6 per cent. A 

 neighbor of mine having improved four acres of 

 swamp, cuts this year of short hay crops, 10 

 or 12 tons of the best of hay without any 

 prospect of immediate depreciation. 



Another improvement in farming may be 

 made by those who have not already done so, 

 by hauling in turf, loam, swamp mud, mixed 

 with lime^into the barn-yard, barn cellar, hog 

 yard, and under sink spouts, thereby saving 

 all the manure that can be secured in this di- 

 rection. ' 

 And yet, in my opinion, for a farmer to ' 

 think to bring up "an old exhausted farm to a 

 high state of fertility by barn-yard manure 

 alone, made on his own farm, is like a man's 

 stepping into a basket and attempting to lift 

 himself by the handles. While he is bringing 

 up one acre, two are running down. 



A home-made phosphate may be had at a 

 cost of not more than $20 a ton, by taking 

 at the rate of 100 lbs. of raw ground bone, 

 100 lbs. wood ashes, 100 lbs. plaster, wet 

 into a soft mud, to stand some days and then 

 dried off by as much more dry dirt scraped 

 out from under buildings containing nitre, or 

 by nitrate of soda at $9 per hundred. Tliis 

 composition contains ail the four bases of plant 

 food, according to Professor Ville's theory. 

 This composition is in part my own discovery, 

 and is within the reach of every farmer. I 

 have tested it during the last year so far that 

 I feel authorized to say that an acre of land 

 can be manured at a cost of five or six dollars, 

 equal to that which receives 20 or 25 ox-loads 

 of barn-yard manure. 



I cannot close this short article without 

 a word of exhortation or of encouragement to 

 the farmers of IMaine, New Hampshire, and 

 other states in the Union, where drought, 



grasshoppers, and short crops are the order 

 of the day. As the purposes of the Divine 

 mind only tend to the good of the creature, 

 these years of continued drought tend to fer- 

 tilize the soil, drawing the nitre to the surface 

 of the earth where it helps to feed the vege- 

 table world, while continued rain would carry 

 it and keep it below the reac'i of roots of 

 plants. The earth is also enriched by the ac- 

 tion of the sun, as it is well known in England 

 that land ploughed and suffered to muain un- 

 cultivated through a summer's sun is improved 

 in fertility. That the earth is similarly im- 

 proved by these years of drought is evident 

 to every observer, by the noticeable fact of 

 the great amount of butter-cup or crows-foot 

 i that covered hill, dale, and pasture the present 

 year, where it was not seen before. As this 

 plant is found only in the best and richest soil, 

 we argue that the earth has become more fer- 

 tile for the drought, and will again more than 

 compensate the agricultural world for its losses, 

 i crosses and disappointments, when the wet 

 ' seasons, in their astronomical rounds, shall 

 again visit our globe. M. J. ELvrvey. 



I Epping, N. H., 1871. 



HOW TO GET PLENTY OP FRESH 



EGGS. 

 In a long communication to the Germantown 

 Telegraph, upon the subject of poultry, Mr. 

 E. 1) wight of Hudson, Mich., considers, the 

 question "How to get plenty of good- flavored 

 fresh eggs with little trouble," and thinks \l 

 there is any secret in it, he has discovered it, 

 and makes the same public for the benefit of 

 all interested. He says : — 



"Once, thirty years ago, I was troubled 

 just as mv neighbor now is. I fed my hens 

 plentv of corn and got but few eggs, 

 reasoned upon the matter, and happened to 

 think that the constituent parts of milk and 

 the white of eggs were much alike. Xow, it 

 has long been known to milkmen that wheat 

 middlings and bran are about the best of any 

 feed to make a cow give milk ; why not then 

 the best to make the hens lay eggs ? I tried 

 it, and since then have had no trouble. My 

 mode of preparing the feed is to mix about 

 five parts of bran with oue of middlings. In 

 the morning I wet up with water about four 

 quarts of the mixture in a large tin pan, tak- 

 ing pains to have it rather dry, though all 

 dalnp. This I set in a warm, sunny spot, 

 '• south of their shed, and theywalk up, take a 

 few dips, don't seem to fancy it like corn, and 

 start oil' on a short hunt for something better, 

 but always coming round in a short time for a. 

 few more dips from the dish of bran. There is 

 little time during the whole day but what one 

 I or more are standing by the pan, and likewise 

 i helping themselves. 



i I am careful to mix for them just as much 



' as they will consume during the day. At 



night, "just before they repair to the roost, I 



