1 SCO] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
130 
to strip offthe tipper leaf that partly surrounds 
the brush.” Further trial may show these ob- 
^ctions to be valid, but the dwarf character of 
lie plant, and its long, fine, even brush are so 
much in its favor, that Ve still think it may, on 
the whole, be found superior to the old variety. 
-„--a,#®-►-«--• 
Blinks from a Lantern.XIX. 
BY DIOGENES KEDIVIVUS. 
RS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. 
Not having had very marked 
success in my late explorations 
I purpose to vary my method a 
little, and look into the future 
history of your planet for a 
farmer. It is possible that that 
character may now exist, in some out of the way 
place, and that we may yet fall upon him in our 
travels. But for the present, let 11 s look in upon 
the grandsons of the generation now upon the 
stage. The mirror that I hold up before you, 
contains no optieial illusions. The pictures are 
things. 
It is a May morning in 1910, and we are look¬ 
ing out upon a New England landscape. I see 
you hardly recognise the country, it has under¬ 
gone such a change. You are astonished at the 
increase of woodland, and at the different location 
of forests. When the country was first settled, 
the high lands were cleared, and the dwellings 
were put upon the hills. Of course, the roads 
had to go winding up the steep ascents, and the 
clearings were made from the top downward, 
until nearly all the high lands were slript of their 
forests. This policy was, perhaps, a necessity, 
from the fact that these locations were less liable 
to chills and fever, a disease that afflicts all new 
clearings in the woods. It was certainly in vio¬ 
lation of all taste and utility that a country should 
oe thus settled. The forests and most rocky 
lands are found upon these ridges, and this is 
the most fitting place for forests, both for beauty 
and for usefulness. They then break the violence 
of prevailing winds, distribute the showers more 
equally, and crown the mountains with a glory 
peculiarly their own. But, see, time has changed 
these mistakes of the fathers. The roads now 
wind along the hill side, and through the valleys, 
and every neat white cottage and farm house has 
its back ground of meadow, orchard and wood¬ 
land. The swamps, swales and marshes, that 
once only bred mosses, brakes, sour grasses and 
reptiles, now present one broad expanse of mead¬ 
ow, the most profitable lands upon the farm. 
Another striking change in the landscape is the 
disappearance, of the stone walls, and the zig¬ 
zag fences that used to enclose every two or three 
acres of land. “ Pray, what has become of them 1” 
They have literally gone under, submerged by a 
higher civilization. You miss them at the road 
side in many places ; for the highway has be¬ 
come purely a matter of public convenience, and 
the man who should attempt to turn it to private 
advantage by pasturing, would be booked out of 
good society. The lands you see are only in¬ 
closed for the advantage of the owner, and not to 
guard against the tresspass of the public. Some 
farms have only a few inclosures near the house, 
and all the rest of the land is free from obstruc¬ 
tion. “But what has become of the stones 1” 
l.ook down there at the foot of the hill, and you 
v ill see breaking out every few rods a vigorous 
stream of water, and running off into the brook. 
More than half of the land is threaded with these 
hidden drains, and the stone walls you miss, have 
gone down to guard the water ducts, instead of 
guarding the crops against cattle. 
“ But, look here, O ! Diogenes, what is that 
strange apparatus upon the meadow, that seems 
to be a cross between a locomotive and a big 
yellow dog, throwing out the dirt behind it in a 
shower 1 Have the people done with plowing 1” 
The plow is an exploded idea, belonging to rude 
husbandry. The machine you see, is the patent 
sod rasper, driven by a caloric engine, doing up 
the work of the plow, the harrow, and the bush, 
at one operation, and leaving a seed bed over a 
foot deep, of a finely comminuted mass of soil. 
At an expense of five dollars a day for coals and 
attendance, it rasps up eight acres of meadow, 
preparing it for planting better than was ever 
deemed possible in the last century. The drill is 
hitched on to the engine, when the rasping is 
done, and twice the quantity of ground is planted 
that can be rasped in a day. 
*■ But what does it mean that so much more of 
the land seems to be under cultivation 1” You 
will notice, if you look on a map, that the cities 
are much larger, and the villages are very much 
more numerous than formerly. The population 
is quadrupled, and this fact has increased the 
breadth ofland under tillage, though the product 
of every acre is more than doubled. The con¬ 
sumption of the products of the farm too, is great¬ 
ly increased by the ability of the people to con¬ 
sume all they desire. If you could look into the 
larders in the villages, you would find them all 
weil stocked. The almshouses are still left, 
but they have few tenants, except in the large 
cities where too many emigrants remain. 
A little later in the season, you will see this 
same engine hitched to the reaper and mower, 
and doing about twice the work that was accom¬ 
plished by a span of horses in the last century. 
The farmer only cuts grain and grass in the few 
days when they are in the best condition for 
harvest. He has these operations completely un¬ 
der his control, and nothing is lost from an un¬ 
seasonable harvest. 
“ As so much labor is done by machinery, what 
do men find to employ themselves about 1” 
Much more time is spent in intellectual culture 
than formerly. The course of study in the schools 
is greatly enlarged, and the farmers’ sons are not 
confined to the rudiments of education, and sent 
out to seek their fortunes at the age of sixteen. 
Husbandry is no longer a rude struggle of mus¬ 
cles with the reluctant soil. Mind rules every 
thing in the shop of the artisan, and in the field 
ofthe husbandman. The esthetic nature of man 
has waked to a new life, and the fine arts are 
patronized to an extent never dreamed of a 
hundred years ago. Enter any of those farm 
houses that sit smiling yonder upon the hill side, 
amid their orchards and flower gardens, and you 
will find them more sumptuously furnished than 
the dwellings ofthe citizen in the last century. 
The parlor, you see, is a much frequented room. 
Here are fine carpets, a piano that goes, walls hung 
with engravings and paintings, a center table well 
furnished with papers and magazines that are 
read. In the room back there, you will find the 
farmer's sanctum, dignified with the name of li¬ 
brary, the book cases well filled, the writing desk 
not yet put to rights by the good wife, looking 
somewhat like an editor’s table. Upon my word, 
here is your old favorite, a venerable Nestor 
among journals, American Agriculturist, May, 
1910. May its shadow never grow less 
Nothing so much prevents a person from being 
natural and easy, as an extreme anxiety to ap¬ 
pear so ; the self-possessed only are graceful. 
Every condition has its own difficulties 
How much Seed per Acre? 
This question can be answered only approxi¬ 
mately. A table giving a fixed invariable quan¬ 
tity would often mislead for the icasons shat qual¬ 
ity of soil, method of cultivation, climate and lo¬ 
cation, all vary the certainty and manner of 
growth. Where, for any reason, it is difficult to 
make seed “take,” it may requite an addition of 
as much as twenty five per cent, or one peck to 
the bushel. Again on very rich land, where grain 
would tiller exuberantly, it is the practice to di¬ 
minish the amount sown. With crops like roots, 
onions, etc , where thinning is practicable, it is 
advisable to sow liberally enough to allow foi 
this. Individual judgment must be exercised. 
The following table republished from Vul. XIV, in 
answer to a call from many subscribers, shows 
the smaller and larger quantities usually allowed 
to the acre. 
Barley, broadcast, lj to 2^ bushels; in drills, 
1 to 1} bushels. Beans, 2 to 3 bushels. Beets, 
3 to 5 lbs. Buckwheat, 1 to 1 j bushels. Car¬ 
rots, 2 to 2i- lbs. Corn ( ndian), j- to 1^ bushels ; 
Broom Corn, J to 1J bushels. Flax, for seed ^ 
to 1 bushel; for fiber, H to 2i bushels. Grasses—- 
Red Clover, 10 to 1G lbs.; White Clover, 4 to 8 
lbs.; Blue grass (Kentucky), 10 to 16 lbs.; Red 
Top, 12 to 18 quarts ; Orchard grass, 20 to 30 lbs ; 
Timothy (Herds grass), 12 to 18 qts. Hemp, for 
seed, | to 1 bush.; for fiber, 1 to If bush. Mil? 
let, 1 to 1£ bush. Mustard, 10 to 20 qts. Oats, 
2 to 4 bush. Onions, 4 to 5 lbs. Parsneps, 3 to 
6 lbs. Peas, in drills, 1£ to 1J bush.; broadcast, 
2 to 3J bush., according to the size of seed. Pea¬ 
nuts, in hills or drills, 1 to 2 bush. Rye, in drills, 
| to 1 bush ; broadcast, 1 to 2 bush. Turnips, 
H to 2 j lbs. Wheat, in drills, i to 1£ bush; 
broadcast, 1£ to 2j bushels. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Liquid Manure for the Garden. 
Every man who has a sink spout, has a foun¬ 
tain of wealth at his back door. You laugh at 
the idea, for you have never tried it. Make the 
experiment, and you will laugh at your own 
simplicity for overlooking a stream that abounds 
with gold dust, as really as Pactolus. The ap¬ 
plication of liquid manure to meadows, on farms 
may be at some distance in the future, but for its 
use in gardens the time has already come. A 
good many laborers, mechanics and villagers are 
already trying it, and finding it just the thing. 
If you have nothing better, sink a half hogs¬ 
head a foot or two in your garden, in the most 
convenient place, and run a leader from your sink 
spout into it. A watering pot is the best thing to 
put it on with, hut not at all essential. An old 
pail and dipper, kept for the purpose, will answer. 
When the plants are well up, and begin to grow 
nicely, apply the liquid two or three times a 
week, just at night, it is excellent for vegetables 
and the small fruits, and for grapes and pears, un¬ 
til they begin to approach maturity. It not only 
increases their size, but improves their flavor. 
Gardener. # 
Remarks .—In Vol XVI ; , p. 157, we gave a full 
description of our own method, and of the great 
benetit derived from the use of sink slops, wash 
water, etc. In a corner of the garden we sunk 
a large hogshead even with the surface, and built 
a square box over it with a hinged lid to raise 
up for dipping out the liquid with a paint tub. On 
our present place we shall save all such material 
in a stone manure tank, parti) under she stables, 
and partly in the yard, to he used as needed.— Ed. 
- -- O **■-»-<»—- 
Every man is the architect of his own fortune 
