1865.] 
AMERICAN AaRICULTURlST. 
151 
land, where a ‘ Squire’ meant something, and— 
scoundrels got their dues.” 
“ Now, Squire,” said I, “ what have you got 
to show us. Any new notions around ? ” 
“I tried an e.xperiment last year on 
CUKING CLOVER HAY, 
and I would like to show you the result.” 
He took us out to the barn and showed us a 
bay, perhaps twelve by thirty feet, from which 
he was feeding his Alderney herd. It was well 
filled with as handsome clover as I ever saw. 
If I was not afraid of having my word doubted, 
I should say the handsomest. It was cut down 
in the middle with a hay knife, and you could 
see just how it was managed. There "was 
about ten inches of clover, and then about two 
inches of old salt hay, in alternate layers. The 
clover had all the leaves on, nearly, and was as 
bright and green as on the day it was put in the 
barn. To show that the hay was as good as it 
looked, Sqinre Oaks pulled out a lock of it, and 
also a handful of Timothy from the opposite 
mow, and presented both to an old cow. She 
smelled of the Timothy first, and then opened 
her mouth for the clover, without stopping to 
take a second sniff. The same was done to an 
Alderney heifer, who might not be supposed to 
be so well versed in hay lore, with a like result. 
There was no mistake. It was tip-top clover. 
“ Now,” says I, “ Squire, how did you cure 
it? for this will do to tell in Hookertown.” 
“ It is the easiest thing in the world,” says he. 
“ I cut the clover with a mower, when it was 
lust in blossom, and let it lie in the sun till 
wilted. I then put it in cocks, and let it stand 
until the next day, when I put it into the barn. 
There was first a layer of salt hay, rather thin, 
then a thick layer of clover. It comes out just 
as you see it. I think one (on of that clover is 
worth two of hay, as it is usually cured. All 
the leaves and all the juices are there. The 
salt bay, somehow', helps cure it. I do not at¬ 
tempt to explain the philosophy of it.” 
Farmers wdio have old stacks of this hay, and 
heaps of refuse straw about the barn, should 
save them, and try Squire Oaks’ experiment. I 
guess there is more virtue in the dry hay than 
in the salt. It helps the ventilation, and makes 
the curing complete. 
A New Mulch for STR.4.WRERRrES was 
shown us in the garden. This consisted of sods 
from a brake swamp, cut an inch or two thick, 
with a spade, so that they could be laid between 
the rows. He had been draining a piece of wet 
land, and had a plenty of these on hand. 
When fresh cut, they are free from seeds of 
W'eeds, and so sour that nothing wdll grow on 
them the first season. They are easily handled, 
keep the ground moist, and the berries clean. 
After a year’s exposure, they may be spaded in, 
or removed to the manure heap. 
Trellis for Grapes.— Mr. Oaks has turned 
his ledges to good account in training grape 
vines all over them, by means of wires. These 
ledges, some of them, present a bare surface, 
of twenty or thirty feet, and as he could not 
very well remove them, he covers them with a 
mantle of green in summer, and has the purple 
clusters in autumn. This is a timely hint for 
the multitude of improvers in Westchester 
county and elsewdiere, W’ho are troubled with 
ledges. They were made on purpose for grapes. 
How Nature Plants a Tree. —He showed 
us an apple tree planted on Nature’s plan— i. e., 
as near to the surface as you can get it, and a 
spot where a tree was planted on some garden¬ 
er’s plan—burying the roots in a deep hole. 
The latter spot was vacant, while the tree was 
flourishing, and had made a very broad collar 
just above the surface of the soil. Titus Oaks, 
Esq., laid very great stress upon this mode of 
planting. “ Nature,” says he, “ in growing an 
apple tree, first runs the seed through a cow’s 
stomach, and deposits it in a thick vegetable 
paste, upon the surface of the earth, or a little 
above it. The following spring the seed sprouts 
and the roots find their way into the earth. 
Such trees make the hardiest stocks, and are 
the longest lived.” 
An Orchard upon a Gravel Bed.— This 
he regarded as one of the triumphs of his art. 
There was no mistake about the poverty of the 
soil, for it was made up of sand and gravel, as 
the adjoining bank showed. No one had ever 
got a crop from it before. There was just as 
little mistake about the apple trees. They 
were very thrifty, well grown trees, and fruitful. 
The gravel bed had been treated with muck 
from an adjoining pond. That was the secret. 
We left, highly pleased with Titus Oaks, Esq., 
and his notions. He made us promise that %ve 
would not mention his name in connection with 
his improvements, a promise which we keep by 
taking his light out from under his bushel, and 
putting it upon your candlestick. 
Hookertown ^ Conn »^ ) Yours to command, 
Ajfril Uf, 1865. j Timothy Bunker Esq, 
m I ■ i 
Pulverization of Heavy Soils Impracti¬ 
cable if too Wet. 
When there is an excess of water in heavy 
soils it is utterly impracticable to reduce them 
to fine tilth w'ith plows and harrows. They 
may be renderetl somewhat fine by cutting and 
tearing them to pieces; but they can not be 
pulverized any more than one can pulverize a 
batch of dough. When a heavy soil is filled 
with water instead of air, the more it is plowed 
or harrowed the more compact it will be, when 
the surplus water has dried out. Sandy soils 
maybe plowed and harrowed in some instances 
without injury, when they are quite wet; but 
heavy soils must be sufficiently dry to crumble 
readily when worked, or it will be impossible 
to reduce them to that degree of fineness, which 
is essential for the roots of plants to spread 
through them. If a handful of heavy soil, in 
which there is not an excess of water, be work¬ 
ed with the hands, it will crumble, but when 
so wet that it will knead like dough, the more 
it is worked the harder it will be, when it 
comes to dry, and the less suitable its condition 
to promote the growth of plants. When a 
heavy soil just dry enough to crumble well, is 
plowed with narrow furrow slices, or spaded 
finely, it will be about one fourth deeper than it 
was before it was plowed. On the contrary, if 
plowed when so wet as to knead and not crum¬ 
ble, it will settle down at once to the same bulk 
or depth that it had before it was worked. 
The first thing to be done then toward a thor¬ 
ough pulverization of heavy soils is, to drain 
them. The next is to plow in autumn and ap¬ 
ply bam-yard manure; then, in order to increase 
the quantity of vegetable mold, and keep them 
light and friable, to raise crops of Red Clover 
or Indian corn to be plowed under when green. 
Tobacco. —Those who will cultivate the weed 
should, at this season, not only prepare the field 
with care, much as advised for carrots in another 
article, but particularly look to the seed beds, 
directions for which are given on page 107. It 
is not now too late to make them. Watering 
with diluted manure water, or gas-liquor, and 
sprinkling with wood and plaster, are very bene¬ 
ficial. As to the profit of tobacco culture in the 
Northern States, we believe the majority of far¬ 
mers would do better to put in roots or sorghum. 
Field Culture of Carrots on Heavy Soils. 
Farmers generally do not know the true 
value of a crop of roots of any kind, and in 
many parts of our country the soil is in a state 
of cultivation quite too poor to produce good 
crops. The soil for beets, rutabagas, parsnips, 
and carrots must necessarily be in a good state 
of fertility, well pulverized, and not excessively 
moist. This is more particularly true of heavy 
than of light soils. It is no difficult task to 
raise carrots on loamy soOs, if one has a good 
supply of manure, but on heavy soils, a deal of 
good management is essential. It will be almost 
useless to attempt to grow carrots on a heavy 
soil where there is an excess of water, or that is 
in poor condition, or overrun w'ith weeds. It 
would be equally unwise to attempt to grow 
roots on a poor, light soil, without a good 
manuring. On those farms where the soil is for 
the most part heavy, there are places in almost 
every field where an acre, or half an acre, can 
be selected, which will yield a fair crop of 
roots, with but little labor. The great dilficnlty 
in growing roots on many heavy soils is in get¬ 
ting the seed started. If such small seed be 
covered with heavy soil, unless the w'eather be 
very favorable, it will not come up well; be¬ 
cause it cannot force its way up through the 
crust of compact earth. Consequently, if the 
seed be checked in its growth, for a day or two, 
just as it is about to appear on the surface, the 
young plants fail to come up at all. But, when 
the soil is light and mellow, it is not necessary 
to guard against any such difficulty. 
We have been accustomed to grow roots for 
all kinds of farm stock, on heavy soils, where it 
W'as often difficult to obtain mellow earth suf- 
fieient to cover the seed. The practice is to 
plow the ground in autumn, and apply a good 
coat of manure, when it can be obtained in 
the fall, and harrow it in; otherwise, in the 
spring, when the ground is plowed the second 
time. The first plowing is done with narrow 
furrow slices, when we plow for corn. The 
second, about two weeks after corn-planting. 
The best kinds for field culture are Long 
Orange and White Belgian. After harrowing 
and rolling the ground, where the soil is suf¬ 
ficiently mellow for covering the seed, it is 
sowed and covered with a seed drill. Some¬ 
times, on very hard soil, we have hauled earth 
from some other part of the field, which was 
carried along in baskets, or on wheelbarrows, 
and sprinkled about half an inch thick over the 
seed. In some instances, sods from the high¬ 
way, well decayed and pulverized, were used as 
covering for the seed. On light, loamy, sandy, 
and mucky soils, all this is not necessary. 
When praelicable, procure seed free from burrs. 
We prefer much to soak the carrot seed nearly 
to sprouting before sowing. This is done in a 
bag kept moist and warm. Just before sowing, 
it should be rolled in plaster, and it ma}' be 
sowed with a good drill—equally well by hand, 
and very conveniently through a tin horn. 
With good weather, it will come up so as to 
show the rows plainly before the weeds get a 
start. The rows are close enough, if two feet 
apart, and many good farmers put them thirty 
inches, for greater convenience in cultivation. 
These directions apply equally to the other 
root crops above mentioned. 
