1. 



A N D G A R D E N E R ' S JOURNAL. 



It 



af respect for theinsclvee nnJ respect tor their vo- 

 . The wb'jle;?ome hahiti ot'sjcit-ty have been 

 iken u;>, by the civil and political com ul ions ot 

 e, flnJ ihc inordinate thiit^l tor ncquiiing wenltb 

 idhionuble con-e lucnce, through mercaniilc and 

 8i)ecaialion^-, that honest (inuluctivc labor has 

 hr >\vn enlirely into the bnckgrouiid, and con id- 

 jt only un;,'cniecl but nieniid and tcrvile. Yet 

 lure to lay down thid proposition, that he who 

 Hi tor the wantd aiidcomt'oits of hintc:eU'and tum- 

 id rendeis some service to society at large, by 

 mtfil and physical inda-try, pe; forma one ot"the 

 lutiesotliie ; and will ulli;nately be rewarded in 

 iriciovu rectitude of hid life, by a greater measure 

 ptintial hai»piness than he who niakc^ mdlions 

 .id anddpccu ation, to be squandered in exirava- 

 or waned in folly, by hii chddten or grand- 

 !ii. Tae rc.ohu.ons that are con.i'tanLly taking 

 in/.irnilie:?, Ku!ii„'ient!y oJinon sh u?, th^t it id 

 ; icotU'i we leave to our chddien, hn: the indu=- 

 and moral hibita in wbi_-h we cdu-ate them, 

 cures to them wondly prosperity, and the irea- 

 'an ap;T.>ving conr.cience. 

 farmers, 1 have remarked, fharc m the errors 

 day. Not content with the gnina which aie ev- 

 reward of prudent in iuetry, and which might be 

 ■ increased by the culture of the mind — nor con- 

 ith one of the most independent conditions in so- 

 hundred:! and thou^ando of them eeek other and 

 nploynienta, and eome of truly menial character, 

 nd of labor, the greatest blessing of man, and to 

 hemselve^ in the imaginary scale of facsh-onnble 

 . And if they cannot participate themcclves in 

 '.aginary grenmcrs, (and it ia seldom any thing 

 ban imaginary,) they are anxious to indict tho 

 pen their poaterily, — tj rear their eons to the 

 le rail r-^nd to ollicc, — to po.itical power ajid tiir- 

 —10 make them merchants, a u?e.ul but gieatly 

 •vkc\ bu-inc?8, or to place thcin in smie other 

 1 employment, which shall exempt them from 

 fl of lab jt, the ealt thai be^i preserves from mor- 

 uption. 



aken men ! What clasa ineociety have within 

 2ach so many oi' the elements of human enjoy- 

 —30 many facilities for dispensing benchts to 

 —one of the first dutX3 and richest pleotures of 

 5 the indc;;endent tillers of the soil? "The 

 ." says Franklin, **h.^8 no need of popular fa- 

 ae eu-?cc-;8 of his cropa de;pnd9 onlv on the 

 g of God u;.ion hJRlione^t industry. If di-^crect- 

 uc;ied on the i;n;iroved piinciplea of hu_-b:indry, 

 ture ofTerrt the certain mcnn J ofDcqu'ring wealth, 

 apidly n^ is con dt-tcnt wiih the pure enjoyments 

 or With the good order and pro3perou3 condition 

 Jty. Agiiculuie id the golden mean, secure 

 om the temptavions of mn hroom opulence, and 

 iven 8yco;'hancy and dependence of poverty, 

 me neither poverty nor riche-," was the prayer 

 .vide mna of S-'r pture, " le--.i," be added, "lest 

 1 and deny thee, and &ay, who is the L^d ? or 

 e po^r and steal, and take the name of my GjU 



3 Value of Obs3r\atioaa to the Ta^iner. 



apa to no mnu or clasi of men is the value of ob- 

 -"in 80 great a-3 to the farmer. His bu^ines3 id 

 ally with natural objcctt'. His occupction leads 



many things to imitate or fulow nature. But I 

 '3 of nature are learned only by wniehing the si- 

 ^c?63es and the silent opcraii-ms which arc going i 

 I thue a:-ccrtaining the causes which produce the 

 which wc sec taking place around ue. The! 

 ho watcher closest — who siiriors no change to j 

 lace without looking into the cause — who, in I 

 ^serves the most, and treasures \\p the most in | 

 mory, becomes most acquainted wi:h the lows j 

 gpoken of, and by consequence is the beet farm- 1 

 Uhough the observations which hove been made ^ 

 corded by other-g, have become a large fund of 

 !e inf irmation, there is yet a vast deal mo:e to j 



Factfl arc yet in the dark which caa only be eli- j 

 y ob-ervaiion. I 



ou'd be interee'-ing to have a history of many of I 

 eful improvements that have been made from | 

 ^b^e^vRtionp, which f r-t gave the hint to set the I 

 ■nent on foot. Mre. Child gives a pleasing state- ! 



f the value of observation in one instance. — A ; 



not fifty miles from Boston, says she, is quite 



J for the improvement he has made in the wild 



He found a vine in the wood which dozens o( | 



ghbors passed every week, as well es he; btit he 



ft! srf that where the oxen fed upon the vine the 



were sw^e'.est. He took the hint. The vine 

 aneplanied and closely pruned. This produced i 

 ne clTer.t esbroweing bad done; the nonrishment, 

 I a wild £iat« rapported a great weight of vines 

 rti Jldrils, wi»nt •Btir»iy to tht he^y of the grap©. — 



Ills ncif^hbora would have known this as well a? he, if 

 they had thought about it; but they did not obscrcc. 



It is by thus observing that we are enabled to gather 

 expeiiencc, and experience guides to future succcds. — 

 Tiju ob3cr\Qtions that bnvc bc'U made in regard to the 

 grain-worm, uywcciU, as the iuocct is feomelime^ call- 

 ed, led many furmere to sow their wheat late. By so 

 doing they have saved their crops. It hne been obser- 

 ved that the iurCrt cnnic out at a certain lime in the 

 summt^r and remained active n certain number of days. 

 Hence, by sowing the whcut later so that tt would not 

 be headed out, it would e c.ipe the ravages of the in- 

 tcct in qucbiion. Thia has eucceeded well with most 

 farmers. 



A farmer who will probably have 500 buchels of 

 g3od wheal, told us. the other <hy, that had he &owcd 

 it ton days eailicr, as he in'endcd to do, he would 

 have lost the whole. But, being informed of the ob- 

 servati.Mis that hnd been made in legard to the weevil, 

 and advised to susjjcnd operations f tr ten daj's, he com- 

 plied, and thus taved his crop. — N, E. turmer. 



From I he J\eic England Farmer. 



CARROTS A\I> KLTA BAG A, 



The product of these crops is not so large in this 

 State as to requiie much expense or pains in their 

 preservation. An acre of ruta baga or carrots ie, 

 upon the whole, a iargi; quantity for any one farm. — 

 As yet, I ur farmers, in the cultivation of roots for 

 slock, are slowly feeling their way. We hope they 

 will come light at lait; and that email experiments 

 will encourage them to extend the cultivation. They 

 will presently learn that for keeping stock, there are 

 many much more protitnbie crops than English hay at 

 a ton or a ton and a half to on acre; and by turning 

 their attention to other crq e, by wh.ch they will hove 

 it in their power to keep much more stock, they will in- 

 crease their manure heaps, ond in this way quadruple, 

 in some cafes increase ten-fold, the productiveness ot 

 the r farms. 



An acre in carrots may be easily made to yield six 

 hundred bucfhels. In the estimate of an experienced 

 and excellent tarmer in Berkshire county, half car- 

 rots and halfoau^ arc as good feed for ahorse os oil oats; 

 or rather to use his own expression, he would preler 

 one hundred bushels of carrots ond one hundred bushels 

 of oats to two hundred bu-hels of oots for his hordes. 

 The experience of a distinguished farmer in England, in 

 the practice of keeping eighty horses on his larm, and 

 in hia colliery, entirely confirms this statement. Now a 

 bushel of carrots a day with chopped straw or ealt hoy, 

 would, we have no doub', keep a wotk horse in high 

 condition, though it would probably be much be;ter in 

 the case to g've him in 1 eu of so many carrots, some 

 grain or meal. H:ilf a bushel of carrots per day, however, 

 at twentyfive cents per Imshel, cut oH' from the allow- 

 ance made above, would pay for an allowance of a peck 

 of oats per day to a horse. Upon the supposition then, 

 of hie bcng kept in the stable six months or one hun- 

 dred and eigiity-three days in a season, an acre of car- 

 rots yielding six hundred but^hels to the acre, suppo- 

 sing one-half to be sold at twenty-five cents per bushel, 

 nnd the money expended in oots at thirtj'-seven and a 

 half cent- per bushel, to eat with the carrots, would 

 considernb'y more than fuiniih three horses with half 

 a bushel of carrots each per dny, nnd two bushels of 

 oots per week, or more ihon a peck of cots per day 

 besides the half bushel of carrots. Under this feed a 

 horse would require very little long feed of any kind 

 to keep him in good condition. 



Now, on the other hand, suppor^c the hor?e has 

 English hay, nnd if he is v/orked he ought to hove as 

 many oa'.s as in the former case, beside?, one horte 

 will consume in that time, ot twenty-five pounds per 

 day, not less than two tons ond n quorter, or the three, 

 six tons and three quarters: and this can hardly be 

 obtained fmm less than seven acres of land of ordinary 

 yield. The hordes will not, in the next place, be by 

 ouy mean? in so good condition; and the manure made 

 from this feed not half the value as tliat made in the ' 

 other case. j 



This is, many will say, a remarkable statement, but 

 it is well founded and not nt all exaggeroted. In o'.bcr 

 respects it deserves particulor consideration. There , 

 cannot be a doubt of th? odvantaeee, to our animal?, 

 in respect to health and comf iri, which the use of sue- \ 

 culent vegctnblcfi in eomc proportion?, wouldhaveover 

 the dry feed, which we ore occustnmcd in our present 

 mode of keeping to give them in the winter season. 1 



We might go on to speak of the green vegetables for i 

 stock in winter: the sugar beet, the ruta boga, Ujc '. 

 parsnip, &c. &;c., but it docs not come within our 

 design to treat this subject more fully at this time. 



Our intention now, wae merely to speaJv o( the 

 mode of presen'ing these vrgctables ibrongh the win- 

 ter. We eaiy then distinctly and «mphiit:«lly, that 



neither ruta baga, nor turnips, nor cabbagee, should 

 ever, under any circunistoncco-, be put in any toUiiideia- 

 bie qunntitics m the house cellar. The least de^oy 

 producci nn ofl'onbivc udur and poisons the air of tho 

 cellar ond of the houf^e. Carrol, and but ti are by no 

 nieons go bud, but they, if placed in large hLOpe, arc 

 liable to become hiated, ond to decay; or utheiwice lo 

 sprout, when their nutritive puwers are of course lea- 

 scni'd. 



Wc have kept them well in several cases, and often 

 known them kepi well by othcre, by pittmg them in a 

 field, thus: Take n dry knoll near where they were 

 raised, dig a trench about a *itot deep, lengibwite 

 north auil south; and of such width as youchooee, end 

 then after the tops of your can old and ruta baga are 

 cut olf, put them into this trench, piling them up aa 

 high as they will lay, in the form of a houtu roof — do 

 this when they ore dry; then put in a light layer of 

 (^trow ontl cover it lightly with dirt, piercing som* 

 holes in the top of the hcop with a crow tor, to let 

 off the steam; and so hi them nnioin until the sever© 

 frosts arc about Ectling in; then pul on another cover- 

 ing oi Etrow ond a thick covering of toiih, fastening 

 up the south end with several bundles of straw, which 

 caa be removed at pleasure. They may be put up in 

 heaps of one, two or three bundled bu.helr, or niore^ 

 as may be do^iired. They will keep well in this way, 

 and in plea. out days they moy be got ot without incon- 

 venience at any time as you moy wont them for your 

 live slock. You must be careful to see that there is 

 an escape for ihc steam afier they are first put up, oth- 

 erwise they may disappear without your suspicion, and 

 very much to your chagrin. H. C 



From the CuUitator. 

 Causes of Seeds not Geimlnatiug'* 



We have known and heard of considerable lose and 

 disappuintmtnt tiom seed.-, particularly onion seeds, not 

 growing. We have thought and mquired in reference 

 to the cause, and the result of our cogitations ond en* 

 quiriea moy be thus stated: 



Without a certain degree of moisture, seeds will not 

 germinate. On dry, sandy soils, nnd in a dry scaeon, 

 It teema highly probably, then, that seeds may be de- 

 prive-d of the lequisi'.e degtee of moisture: peihip^ re- 

 ceiving just as much i;s will mould them ond dcttioy 

 their vitality, or being so near the surface as to be inju- 

 red by the oiin'shcat and light. 



But the feccds may have germinated, ond have com- 

 menced to send out their roots and stem stalks, ond yel 

 be dietroyed. If the sod is not presied cloi^ely to the 

 seed.-, and very diy weather occurs juct at this period 

 of the proccfs of germination, the root being too dis- 

 tant from the soil, and too feeble lo draw cny supply 

 ol" moisture, the liquid food of the plant contained in 

 the fermenttd seed moy be dried up, and the life thus 

 destroyed. 



If you would avoid dieappointmcnt and loss from 

 seeds foiling to grow, the preventive procees is indica- 

 ted by a knowledge of the caufes most frequently pro- 

 ductive of this result, which we think are those stated 

 above. U you sprout your seeds before putting them 

 into the ground, you will preserve thc^m liom the first 

 cause of failure, but if you pulverize your soil ihoiough- 

 ly ond press in this slate with a hoc, spade, or roller, 

 upon the seeds thus sprouted, the root stem will soon 

 ond surely derive eufHcient moisture from ihe soil. 



In a few initoncesl have found mv reigbboreblnm©- 

 ing the seeds as useless, particulail of onions, carrots, 

 and parsnips, when ] have obtained a little of the seed 

 and found it to sprout quite well. You moy easily eave 

 yourj^elves from such rcilections, or from the temptation 

 to blame others, by steeping the suspected sctd ia 

 warm or tepid water, fiom six to twcnty-funr hours, oc- 

 coiding to the size and haidr.ces of the seeds, end then 

 setting it oway in a wormich f Ince for a doy or two. — 

 If good it wUl sprout in lb s time; if kept woim in a 

 dsHtifeh place, and it does not sprout in this t.nie, th« 

 seed is foully. 



In connexion with this subject, I may etote that sev- 

 eral circumf-lonces incline me to the belief that corn 

 which has been sprouted — no matter in what steep — 

 is safi' fiom the rovogceof thered or wire worm. It has 

 been fa-h;onob!e lo sleep in a strong solution ot copper- 

 as, and to aFcribe the safety of the seed in this Ate, 

 not to the change which fermentation haa produced in 

 the germ or chil which ie usually first attacked, but to 

 the change in the tattc from the copjicros. We have 

 known corn soaked in sample woter — in water alone — 

 to escape from the attacks of the worm as well os that 

 soaked in a copperas steep. Uni.l this matter is made 

 more certain, however, I would hold it bad hutbendry 

 to neglect the copperas, aa, in addition to the change 

 produced by h^ot and moisture, we hove also the diea- 

 grr^eable taste communicated by thie tcJt. 



