234 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
August. 
portion of spring crops facilitates the spread of 
wild mustard, and among insscts, grubs and wire 
worms increase according to the cultivation that 
favors their labors. It appears to be but little un¬ 
derstood how great is the assistance, to clean cul¬ 
tivation afforded by a good rotation. The best 
example of this sort we ever witnessed, where 
every field of the symmetrically laid-out farm 
except a wet meadow, was brought under a regu¬ 
lar, unvarying system, scarcely a weed was ever 
to be seen; and we ascertained that not onerthird 
of the labor usually expended, was required for 
the hand-dressing of hoed crops. The alternation 
was such that the whole operated like the two- 
faced harrow—the culture of each successive crop 
constantly tended to the destruction of some 
weed injurious to another, and thus all were de¬ 
stroyed in their respective turns; while at the 
same time the fertility of the land was increased, 
and each crop fed with its own proper nutriment 
as its turn came round. 
Grain Crops in New-Hampshire. 
The Report of the Committee of the New-Hampshire 
State Agricultural Society, as published in the Granite 
Farmer, shows very conclusively that large crops may 
be raised in that State, provided the great essential re¬ 
quisite, good cultivation, is given. Among the state¬ 
ments, we observe that of James Wilson, of Frances- 
town, who raised thirty-nine bushels and twenty-seven 
quarts of spring wheat on an acre and thirty-two rods, 
or thirty-three bushels and seven quarts per acre. The 
land was plowed in 1850, ten inches deep—the next 
year 25 loads of fresh manure were plowed in, and corn 
planted, using 15 loads yard compost in the hills. In 
the spring of 1852, the ground was plowed twice tho¬ 
roughly, and two bushels of Black Sea wheat sown. 
The following is the estimate of the cost per acre :— 
Plowing twice.... $3 00 
Three Hammings,... 75 
One-fourth of 40 loads of manure, $1 per load, 10 00 
Two bushels of seed,. 2 50 
Interest on land,. 3 00 
$19 25 
Credit by 33 bush. 7 qts. wheat at $1,25, • • 41 50 
Nett profit,•••• ... $22 25 
It will be perceived that this success must be in a 
great degree owing to the 40 loads of manure, well 
mixed with the soil by the plowings and harrowings. 
Several other crops of spring wheat varied from 20 to 
27 bushels per acre. 
Indian Corn .—Six experiments were reported, the 
product varying from 54 to 101 bushels per acre. We 
observe a leading feature in nearly all these experiments, 
the large quantity of manure used. The crop of James 
A. Cook, or Cornish, yielded 96 bushels per acre; it 
was manured first with 50 cart loads (size of cart not 
Btated) per acre, plowed six inches deep; then with 50 
loads of compost, plowed under three inches deep; the 
corn planted in drills three and a half feet apart, and 
six inches in the drill, and with 20 “ loads” (f “ hog- 
manure and compost” in the drill. Soil sandy loam— 
suffered by drouth and worms—harrowing “ equal to 
twenty times over.” Experience has taught us that 
from one-fourth to one-third more may be raised by 
planting in this manner in drills, over planting in hills; 
but we very much question the economy of so copious 
an application of manure at one time, under ordinary 
management and at ordinary depth of culture. If 
thoroughly intermixed and covered with the soil, the 
whole would doubtless be absorbed and retained; but 
the difficulty of thorough admixture increases with the 
quantity applied at one time, and although the crop may 
be very large, there may be more waste by evaporation 
of volatile parts than with a more moderate quantity. 
--- 
Recent experiments indicate that the loss of manure 
from imperfect pulverization and mixture, is much 
greater than is generally supposed, often amounting -to 
one-half or two-thirds of the whole quantity applied. 
Emerson Furber's crop of corn—41 bushels on 65 
rods, or 101 per acre—was raised on a piece of ground, 
enriched by occupation as a cow-yard, and afterwards 
by four cords of manure plowed ten inches deep, and 
well mixed with a cultivator. The cprn was planted in 
hills, and the ground stirred “ often.” No complaint of 
drouth and v T orins is made, as in the previous experi¬ 
ment ; and the crop would doubtless have been larger 
had it been planted in drills. Ths experiment is certi¬ 
fied by witnesses. 
John Brown raised 31 bushels on half an acre, or 62 
per acre, in a district of country where the weather 
proved very unfavorable. His rule is to plant potatoes 
on sod, plow under 15 cartloads of manure in autumn, 
(50 bushels per load,) and twenty-five the next spring, 
and then plant the corn in rows 3 ft. by 2, thinning to 
4 stalks in a hill, and avoiding hilling. lie states that 
for fifteen years, his crop has been from 75 to 136 bush¬ 
els shelled corn per acre, the average over 85. He 
thinks 40 loads of manure more economical than 20, the 
latter usually producing about 40 bushels per acre, the 
former about 80, the cost of cultivating being in both 
cases the same. It is an interesting subject of inquiry, 
what quantity best promotes that degree of growth which 
shall afford the best remuneration for the outlay—vary¬ 
ing of course with the previous fertility of the land. 
J. Brown thinks he has greatly improved the produc¬ 
tiveness of his crops of corn, and kept up its early 
ripening, by selecting the seed in the field. 
Salting Hay. 
Judging from what I have seen within my own sphere 
of observation, I should say that the business of salting 
hay, where it is done at all, is done in a rather slovenly 
and injudicious method. The common practice seems 
to be, to unload a whole wagon full of hay at once, with¬ 
out the sprinkling on of any salt, and then to throw on 
in.handfulls, a peek or so, when the unloading is com¬ 
pleted. This will necessarily make some of the hay 
excessively salt, while, apart will receive no benefit from 
it all. Some assert, in defence of this slovenly and 
wholesale mode of salting hay, that the salt will rise 
through the whole load, from what was put on before 
each load ; and some again speak of the salt being sure 
to soak down from above. Neither supposition has any 
plausibility to support it. I am satisfied, both from ex¬ 
perience and the nature of things, that the better way 
of applying salt is to.sprinkle a little, say from a tea¬ 
spoonful to a table-spoonful, upon each forkful as it is 
unloaded. Any boy could attend to this. Even little 
girls have sometimes turned out and done this, in the 
midst of the hurry of hay harvest. But where neither 
little boys nor girls can be had to attend to the regular 
sprinkling of salt upon every forkful of hay, I think 
it a matter of so much importance, that I take a man 
from his work in the field to attend to it. 
When salt is thus evenly sprinkled over your hay as 
it is, mowed away in the barn, you need give yourself no 
concern,about salting those creatures that partake of it 
during the winter. They will get a little every day, 
every meal, with their hay. This certainly seems more 
natural and healthy than getting a whole lot at once, 
at intervals of a week or so. The quantity w'hich I aim 
to have used, is as near as may be to a peck to each ton 
of hay. Observer. 
Useful Embroidery. —The New-Hampshire State 
Ag. Society has offered $22 in six premiums for the best 
specimens of Patching and Darning, to be exhibited 
at the State Fair next autunm. We should look upon 
these specimens with far more interest than all the 
worsted dogs, and flowers, and trees, and “ parrots with 
twin cherries in their beaks,” containing all the essen¬ 
tial elements of stiffness, and seen for the thousandth 
time. A part of the premiums are for girls under 14. 
