140 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
ings from the road, and whatever he could get that would 
work into manure. This pit, frequently emptied and 
re-filled, constituted a little manure factory that produ¬ 
ced the best potatoes in Ireland. Farmers, is not here 
an opportunity for making much manure, with materi¬ 
als that have for a long time been thrown away ? 
7. Of all sources of manure-making, hogs are the 
most profitable. Those who have barn-cellars for their 
hogs to work in, can turn their labor to the best account, 
but those who have not, may, without expense, have a 
small yard attached to the bog-pen, and every few days 
throw in muck, loam, turf, leaves, weeds, or anything 
of the kind that may be at hand. The hog-yard, to be 
profitable, should be frequently attended to,- when con¬ 
siderably filled, it should be emptied and supplied with 
new materials. Hogs, if rightly managed, would never 
be censured for laziness. They have unjustly been ac¬ 
cused of this, simply because, like mankind, they will 
not work, unless they can work in their own way. To 
be sure, when they have “ accumulated 77 a good deal, 
they like to “ retire from business,” and become “gen¬ 
tlemen of leisure;' 7 but while in the “vigor of life, 77 
they will do a good deal towards “ a living, 77 if provi¬ 
ded with the means. As they are “fond of new things, 77 
they should frequently be supplied with new materials 
to work upon; and if this is faithfully done, farmers 
may rest assured, their hogs will dig more money for 
them than many of the California gold-diggers will 
ever realise. John Tufts. Wardsboro,’ Vt.. Jan., 
1849. 
@kctcljcs cf JFarms. 
Further Sketches of Mr. Phimiey’s Farming. 
Editors of the Cultivator —In the April and 
May Nos. of The Cultivator for 1848, I gave an ac¬ 
count of a visit to Mr. Phinney’s farm, at Lexington, 
Mass., in January previous. In September last, I had 
the opportunity of observing some of his fine crops,— 
the result of his mode of operations. And first, 
The Orchards. —The trees in the Baldwin orchard, 
for productiveness, deep verdure, smoothness of bark, 
and fine shape and proportions, presented a very re¬ 
markable appearance. One could hardly conceive how 
the trees could possibly bear more fruit. Although 
many of the limbs were bent nearly to the ground, un¬ 
der the burden of apples, yet not a prop was seen in 
the orchard,—the horizontal training of the limbs, of 
which I have before spoken, effectually preventing 
them from splitting off. Mr. Phinney was expecting 
to harvest nearly 1000 barrels of the Baldwin apple 
from this orchard, which he intended to ship for Liver¬ 
pool, on his own account. The fruit for market is care¬ 
fully picked from the trees by hand, and immediately 
put into the barrels, which are stored in a dry cool cel¬ 
lar, built for the purpose, in the orchard, where they 
remain until a sale is effected. No windfalls are ever 
suffered to go into the barrels. Hence, his apples com¬ 
mand a ready sale, and a much higher price than ordi¬ 
nary apples, put up with less faithfulness and care. 
Mr. Phinney formerly had a great many varieties of 
fruit in this orchard; but quickly perceiving that the 
Baldwin apple found here by far the most propitious 
awril, he turned his attention almost exclusively to the 
cultivation of that variety. He finds that the great 
point to be considered, pecuniarily , in fruit-raising, is, 
—Of the most approved varieties, which will flourish 
in greatest perfection, in a given location and soil ?— 
The young sweet-apple orchard is coming into bearing 
finely, and is a great pet with Mr. Phinney. Here, 
too, it is found that one or two varieties are worth all 
the rest for productiveness and profit. The orchard 
May, 
has an eastern slope, the limbs are trained in strict ac¬ 
cordance with Mr Phinney’s notions, and the trees are 
very thrifty and vigorous. 
Cultivation of Carrots. —In front of the new 
house, I noticed a remarkable field of carrots of one 
acre. The cultivation of the ground had been prepa¬ 
ratory to laying it down as a level and permanent grass 
plat. Twenty loads of compost were spread upon the 
sward last spring, and turned under to the depth of six 
inches, and the subsoil plow following in the furrow, 
loosened the earth ten inches deeper. Twenty loads 
of compost were then spread on top of the sod furrows, 
tw r o or three inches of the surface made perfectly fine 
and mellow with the harrow, and early in June, the 
seed was sown with a machine, in rows two feet apart. 
At the time of my visit, the carrots had made most vi¬ 
gorous growth, the tops so completely covering the 
ground that the eye could not at all distinguish the 
rows. Knowing well the fact that this erop makes its 
principal growth of root after the twentieth of Septem¬ 
ber, I will not state the probable amount of bushels to 
be harvested from this field, as it might sound like a 
large story. Suffice it to say, that any reasonable man 
should be satisfied with the like of it. The decompo¬ 
sing sod, underneath, was in time for the carrots; and 
together with the manure turned under, perfectly sus¬ 
tained the crop, in the latter part of its growth; it also 
kept the land light and mellow, permitting the roots 
to penetrate and range about at pleasure. The loos¬ 
ened subsoil invited them still farther below. The 
white carrot was sown upon this field. Making a good 
part of its growth above ground, it is the more readily 
harvested without disturbing the sod; and as Mr. Phin¬ 
ney intended the field for a lawn, he was anxious to pre¬ 
serve the surface level and smooth for receiving the 
grass-seed. 
In my ignorance, I had always supposed, until last 
season, that old lcui?. as it is called, was the only suit¬ 
able preparation for growing + he carrot. I am now well 
convinced of my mistake. One „* -ny neighbors last 
spring sowed a piece of green-sward leo*! wc the same 
day that I sowed a piece of strong fertilg j A land. 
The seed for both fields was out of the same lot, 
the land thoroughly prepared, in both cases. We fre¬ 
quently compared notes during the progress of our crops, 
in order to test the merits of a green sward ley for the 
carrot; and the result was, that my neighbor’s crop 
yielded nearly a third more than mine, while his ex¬ 
pense in hoeing and weeding, was one-half less. It 
seems surprising to me, that the carrot is not more 
universally raised by our farmers. It is a clean, pretty 
root to handle; as winter feed, nothing is more grate¬ 
ful to the taste, or promotive of the growth and thrift 
of cattle and horses; for milch cows, it exceeds any 
other mess-feed for producing sweet, yellow butter; 
and if the ground is properly chosen and prepared, it 
makes a very profitable return for the labor bestowed. 
The Grass Lands. —In my former notice of the re¬ 
claimed grass-lands, I omitted to speak of the import¬ 
ance of an open space, of 3 or 4 inches square, on the 
bottom of the drains. If stones of sufficient size are at 
hand to cover this channel, the rest of the filling may be 
of small stones, as the water will readily find its way 
into the open space below. The ten-acre piece of drain¬ 
age, which I noticed in a former communication, proves 
a most judicious and profitable investment—the land 
having given fully three tons per acre, of excellent 
herd’s-grass and red-top hay, the past season. The si¬ 
tuation of the field is such as to receive all the surface 
wash of many acres of highly cultivated land, gently 
descending towards it, on either side,—the benefits of 
which are now fully secured and turned to the best ac¬ 
count,—which, with an occasional top-dressing of com 
post manure, will undoubtedly keep the land in produc 
