108 
THE TRAVELLER.—NO 1. 
his native place, well known througout the state 
as one of the most enterprising men of business 
and wealth, is also one of the best farmers in 
New Jersey. Although not yet 50 years old, he 
has made all his wealth by his own industry, 
and the management of those he has employed 
to labor, and probably has cleared up and im¬ 
proved, or renovated, more worn-out land than 
any other man in the state. He owns, where he 
now lives, about 1,200 acres of land, the greater 
part of which, when he commenced there, seven¬ 
teen years ago, was no better than thousands 
of acres of Jersey sands now are. But now, his 
immense barns and stacks of hay and grain are 
standing witnesses of the fertility of his im¬ 
proved soil. 
To Improve an Old Pine Field. —After cutting 
off the timber, he burns it over and plows and 
then sows 40 bushels of lime and harrows it in, 
and sows rye, and perhaps clover. After the 
rye comes off, puts on a dressing of swamp muck 
in some instances 60 to 80 loads to the acre, of 
which he has a great quantity, and which pro¬ 
duces a most marked effect upon all crops. He 
has also used the Squonkum, (green-sand,) marl, 
with the greatest benefit. It is applied at the 
rate of 100 to 500 bushels to the acre as a top¬ 
dressing upon grass or grain. It costs five cents 
a bushel at Freehold, and has to be hauled 10 
or 12 miles, and yet is found to be a profitable 
application, even at the largest quantity. 
Mr. Buckelew, is a very large owner of mules, 
keeping from 250 to 300 in use, mostly in towing 
upon the Delaware and Raritan Canal, though 
most of his farm teams are mules, and of excel¬ 
lent quality. A wagon for hauling off corn is 
coupled 20 feet apart, with two stout poles upon 
the axles, upon which the stalks are piled cross¬ 
wise and ride thus in pretty large loads from 
the field to the barn. 
A new threshing barn, with machine to go by 
water, has just been built by Mr. B.. 40 by 60 
feet, with 34-foot posts, and an underground 
room of same size, for storing roots and receiv¬ 
ing the grain from the threshing machine. Mr. 
B. also owns several other farms which he 
carries on by hired labor; and is improving in a 
high degree, by lime, marl, muck, manures, deep 
plowing, and draining. The effects that this 
man has produced not only upon his own land, 
but by his example upon all the country around, 
is well worthy of notice. 
All the land in this part of the state is com¬ 
paratively level; that is, there are no hills, and 
the soil is mostly sandy—just the kind to be 
benefited most by manure and lime. 
Isaac Pullen, nurseyman, thinks lime is inju¬ 
rious to peach trees, but that they are greatly 
benefited by manure. They always do the best 
upon new land. 
Bonedust for Buckwheat , at the rate of two and 
a half bushels to the acre, Mr. P. says will beat 
any other manure he ever saw used, of the same 
cost. If the season is good for growth of straw, 
three bushels will make it fail down. With an 
application of only two and a half bushels upon 
an acre of land, so very poor that it would not 
produce four bushels of corn to the acre, he got 
40 bushels of buckwheat. 
Swamp-Muck Manure. —About four miles from 
Allentown, I spent a night with Mr. Forman 
Hendrickson, from whom I learned something 
of the value of peat or swamp muck. Upon 
three acres,, he put 35 big loads of muck and 50 
bushels of unslacked lime, and made 25 bushels 
of wheat to the acre. Some muck will do very 
well just as it is dug, and some must have lime 
mixed with it, or it is of little value. In one 
experiment, last summer, he saw no difference 
in his wheat crop between manure, guano, and 
muck; but upon the part manured with muck, 
the grass was much the best. His usual course 
is to dig and pile his muck and mix lime with 
it. His neighbor, Ezekiel Coombs, who is one 
of the most successful users of muck in the 
state, pursues this course: He bought a worn- 
out farm a few years ago upon credit, and by 
use of muck, has paid for it, besides erecting 
good buildings. The crops mentioned in the 
January number of the Agriculturist, of Mr. John 
L. Hendrickson, were made upon a farm that 
had been rented and skinned for fifty years, 
but by the use of muck, he now gets one and a 
half to two tons of hay to the acre, and 30 bush¬ 
els of wheat. 
To Drain Land where quicksand is trouble¬ 
some, can be done by cutting two ditches above 
the main ditch, not quite deep enough to be 
affected by the quicksand, so as to inclose a tri¬ 
angular-shaped piece of ground, which serves 
to take off a portion of the water and relieve 
the pressure of sand into the main ditch. So 
says Mr. Thomas Hancock. His practice is to 
plow in all manure upon wheat ground and 
harrow in all guano, lime, and ashes. He never 
uses any top-dressing upon grass except marl. 
Rent of Land , at Camden N. J., is worth six 
dollars an acre, the renter finding his own man¬ 
ure to as great or greater amount, and yet culti¬ 
vation is found profitable, owing to the con¬ 
venience of Philadelphia markets, and the facil¬ 
ity of reaching New York by railroad. In other 
parts of the United States, the fee simple for¬ 
ever, of far better land can be had for less money, 
which will produce more, without manure, and 
yet is not worth cultivating, for the very simple 
reason that the cultivator has no market for his 
surplus produce. Such land can only be made 
available by increased facilities of transpor¬ 
tation. Strange that all farmers do not see the 
advantages of making good carriage roads, and 
the interest they have in railroads, plank roads, 
canals and navigable waters. Solon Robinson. 
MANURING ORCHARDS. 
When orchards bear profusely, or the soil 
through which their roots extend, yields crops 
which are removed from the ground, the trees 
ought to be supplied with an ample dressing of 
manure, as often, at least, as once in four or five 
years. We think, however, a better way is to 
allow the orchard to take its place in a rotation. 
Unlike many others, we would not object to oc¬ 
cupying the ground with any particular species 
