UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES I AMERICAN HUSBANDRY A SERIES OF ESSAYS ON AGRICULTURE. COMPILED PRINCIPALLY FROM "THE CULTIVATOR 1 ' AND "THB OENESEE FARMER." WITH ADDITIONS BY WILLIS GAYLORD AND LUTHER TUCKER. IN TWO VO L M E VOL. I. NEW YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 1864. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1340, by HARPKR & BKOTHKK* In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York. V \ COMPILERS' PREFACE, n IN offering to the agricultural public the present volumes, the compilers feel that a few words in ex- planation of their intentions and wishes may in this place be necessary and proper. Profoundly im- pressed with the important influence which .the cul- , tivation of the soil exerts on the prosperity of the in- ^ dividual and the nation ; confident that in too many ^ cases the most effectual methods of promoting this desired prosperity are not adopted; believing that the systems of farming at present pursued in this r country are usually more or less defective, and may r be greatly improved by an acquaintance with the ad- j vanced methods of more experienced countries, and ^ a thorough investigation by our farmers of the prin- ^ cipal points of difference between their husbandry ^- and ours, we have endeavoured, in the papers se- lected and prepared for these volumes, to embrace such general principles and such courses of practice as will conduce most certainly to benefit and im- , i prove the condition and prospects of the tiller of the J soil. Very little space has been devoted to mere P theories of rural economy, a correct practice from ^ already established facts being considered more im- 3 portant. It has been our wish and endeavour to pre- - sent such a manual as will be found instructive to ff Q all who are engaged in the great undertaking of pro- ^ duciug a nation's wealth as well as a nation's bread 310 777 iv COMPILERS' PREFACE. It will be seen that the first volume, with the ex- ception of a few miscellaneous articles deemed ne- cessary to its completeness, is from the fifth and sixth volumes of the Cultivator, and may be con- sidered as the expression of the matured opinions of JUDGE BCEL on the subject of Agriculture. As a proper termination to this volume, we have included the Address prepared by him for delivery before the New-Haven Agricultural and Horticultural Societies, and on the journey to perform which duty his valu- able life was closed. A large portion of the second volume, the chapters on the Kitchen and Fruit Gar- dejis included, were written and prepared expresslj for this work ; the remaining part consisting of pa pers selected from the volumes of the Genesee Far mer. To the whole such notes have been appended, and such alterations and additions generally have been made as were deemed essential to accomplish the object we had in view. It is not expected or supposed that the theories unfolded or the practices inculcated in these volumes jje perfect. The science of agriculture is necessa- rily progressive, and so, of course, must be the prac- tice. Our object and aim have been to imbody as much useful information as possible ; to excite in- quiry and investigation, and furnish the means for arriving at correct and just conclusions. How far we have succeeded in our design is left for the de- cision of an enlightened agricultural public. September, 1840. C ONTENTS OF . THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER I. NEW HUSBANDRY. Introduction. Manuring. Draining. Good Tillage. Alterna- ting Crops. Root Culture. Fallow Crops. Rules and Sugges~ lions in Husbandry. Comparative Profits of the Old and New Husbandry Page 9 CHAPTER II. ON THE NECESSITY AND MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUS- BANDRY. Report by Judge Buel 58 CHAPTER III. ROOT CULTURE. The Potato. Manures. Early Potatoes. Choice of Kinds. Mode of Planting. Harvesting the Crop. Sorting the Crop. Wintering the Crop. Culture. Beet. Carrot. Parsnip. Turnip. Introductory Remarks. METHODS OF FEEDING ROOTS. Report by Judge Buel. Col. Meachant on the Carrot and Ruta Baga . 73 CHAPTER IV. INDIAN CORN. Varieties of Indian Corn. To render Com prolific. Culture of Corn. Experiments in producing improved varieties of Indian Corn. Experiments in Harvesting Corn. Selection of Seed, and Early Maturity 108 VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. MANURES. What quantity should be applied to an Acre T Winter Man- agement of Manure Specific Manures. Bone Manure. Leached Ashes. Peat Earth, Peat Ashes, &c . Page 123 CHAPTER VI. IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS-LANDS. Of Pasture. Of Meadow. On converting Arable or Plough Land into Permanent Meadow or Pasture. Report on Grass- es and Grass-Lands 148 CHAPTER VII. PLANTS. The Germination of Seeds. Roots and Leaves. Extent of the Roots of Plants . 162 CHAPTER VIII. SWINE .... 175 CHAPTER IX. SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. Native Sheep. Spanish Merino. Saxon Merino. New Lei- cester or Bakewell Breed. South Down. The Influence or Effect of Feed on the Quantity and Quality of the Wool and Carcasa 182 CHAPTER X. MISCELLANEOUS. OUR COUNTRY OUR WHOLE COUNTRY. Clover: its value for Cattle, for Seed, and for the Soil. Use of Clover. Clover and Clover-seed. Prevention of Smut. Why is it best to bury Manure T Butter-making Drill Husbandry. Effect of Steeps. Modus and Profits of Strawberry Culture. Sta- CONTENTS. Vll tistics of American Wool and Wooljen Manufactures. Ex- periment in Harvesting Corn. Cultivation of Cucumbers. The circumscribed Farmer. On the Application of Manures. Kfficacy of Lime in preventing Insect Depredations. Mil- dew of the Gooseberry. The Philosophy of Pruning. The Mind and the Soil - . Page 217 CHAPTER XL MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES CONTINUED. Caleb Kirk on Hedging. Animal Nutrition. On the Use of Gypsum. Choked Cattle. Specific Food in Soils for Plants 276 CHAPTER XII. Address of the Hon. Judge Buel, delivered before the Agricul- tural and Horticultural Societies of New-Haven County, September 25, 1839 305 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. CHAPTER I. NEW HUSBANDRY. Introduction. Manuring. Draining. Good Tillage. Alterna- ting Crops. Root Culture. Fallow Crops. Rules and Sugges- tions in Husbandry. Comparative Profits of the Old and New Husbandry. To no one individual is the agricultural public of this country more indebted for correct opinions on the important subject of Improved Husbandry than to Judge BUEL ; and his influence in bringing the sys- vem into repute was deservedly the greater, as the principles he advocated in his writings were most happily illustrated and enforced by his practice. These opinions and principles are imbodied in the following chapter; and prepared, as the subject- matter was by him, for the purpose to which it is now applied, they may be considered as the result of his settled convictions and his matured experience. The principal features that distinguish the New from the Old Husbandry are here made sufficiently appa- rent ; and the theory is not more beautifully in ac- cordance with nature, than the results are found to be beneficial to the agriculturist. I B 10 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. The introduction and establishment of the New Husbandry in England required many years for its accomplishment ; a long series of experiments ; the writings of many distinguished men ; and the exam- ple of individuals of known science and skill. There were old and deep-rooted prejudices to overcome ; the dread of innovation to encounter ; the habits and usages of ages to break up and eradicate, before the improvements, which have proved so essential and vital to the prosperity of that kingdom, could be fix- ed on their present secure basis. Men bred to the business of farming are proverbially reluctant to submit to changes affecting their modes of proceed- ing ; and when some of the proposed methods were found to conflict entirely with the courses which they and their fathers had pursued, it is not surprising that such novelties were regarded with suspicion and distrust. Perseverance, however, triumphed over opposition ; and good sense, aided perhaps by national necessities, frowned down illiberality and persecu- tion ; and a return to the old systems of cultivation, it is now universally admitted, would bring speedy ruin, if not absolute starvation, on the whole nation The United States have received their agriculture, as well as their codes of morals and laws, from what may well be designated the " Fatherland ;" and al- though the revolution destroyed the sense of servile imitation and dependance that was before so opera- tive, still the changes that were gradually going on in Great Britain were not without their influence on the fanning systems of this. There was a mateii&l NEW HUSBANDRY. 11 difference, however, in the state and condition of the two' countries, that produced important modifications in the action of these changes. There the popula- tion was great, and the quantity of land limited ; and the necessities of that population enforced the adop- tion of the New Husbandry by the strongest of mo- tives, the avoidance of starvation. Here land was abundant ; and no serious evils, so far as regarded a supply of bread, could arise ; the difficulty to be guarded against was only the deterioration of soil to which the action of the Old Husbandry subject- ed lands. Of course, little attention, on the whole, was paid to the matter by the great body of Ameri- can farmers ; and although it was well understood that the lands in the older settled parts of the coun- try had lost much of their productiveness, and that the new system would remedy this alarming and in- creasing evil, still the mass persisted in their ancient habits, depending on migration to new lands hi the West when those of the East should cease to reward the labours of cultivation. That such a feeling was erroneous could be doubt- ed by no reflecting mind ; and, fortunately for the country, various causes combined to show the im- policy of such a course. Nature herself, in such an extended country as ours, has interposed checks to the general prevalence of such impressions. The evils and privations necessarily consequent on a re- moval 'from an improved district to an unimproved one are not without their influence ; experience has also shown, that at great distances in the interior, al- 12 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. though all the necessaries of life can be produced in abundance, there are comparatively few things' that can be grown and forwarded to a distant market with the expectation of profit ; and it was also seen that, if the productiveness of old lands was not equal to that of new, the profits of cultivation were not, in the aggregate, so much inferior as at the first glance appeared. More than all, examples were not wanting of public-spirited and intelligent farmers, who, by adopting a course of husbandry that had succeeded so well abroad, proved most satisfactorily that worn-out lands could be restored to fertility by skilful cultivation ; that the progress of deterioration, so prevalent in the older states, could be checked ; and that the productiveness and consequent value of eastern lands could be so greatly increased as to render a resort to the virgin soils of the West unne- cessary to those who were already in possession of eastern farms. In bringing about this state of things, the names of Livingston, Powel, and Duel have an honourable pre-eminence. Others effectively co-operated ; but it may be said that to these men the high praise is pe- culiarly due, of calling the attention of the public mind to the advantages offered by the New Husband- ry. . Unfettered by habits unfavourable to change, and unaffected by a blind veneration for ancient usa- ges, so pernicious to advances in the cultivation of the soil, these men, and particularly the last named, entered upon the business of agriculture with a de- termination to avail themselves of whatever light NEW HUSBANDRY. 13 thn experience of others had afforded ; and to apply to the cultivation of the earth the aids that science, and an increased acquaintance with the laws that govern the formation of arable soils, and the growth and improvement of vegetables, could give. In do- ing this, they necessarily adopted, with suchmodifi-i cations as our climate and country required, the im- proved husbandry of Britain and Belgium, and this with a success which has constituted a new era in the agricultural history and prospects of the United States. Objections have been made and opposition has been encountered, but in a less degree than was perhaps to have been expected, where established and ancient usages were assailed ; and the rapid ex- tension of the principle and practice of the New Sys- tem, and the general favour with which it is viewed where best understood, seem to indicate that the im- proved husbandry has gained a permanent and secure footing among us. Now and then, indeed, an indi- vidual may be found who persists in cropping his land according to the old method, until it is so redu- ced that the crops will not pay for the culture, when he abandons it to the recuperative powers of nature, and proceeds to repeat the same exhausting course on another section of his farm ; but such instances are comparatively rare ; and where the New Hus- bandry is not avowedly made the basis of the agri- cultural course, its influence may be traced in many ways, such as in the more general rotation of crops, the increased quantity of roots grown, and the con- sequent improvement in the numbers and quality of 14 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. the cattle and sheep of the country. It is to explain more fully the principles of this system of farming ; the reasons which render it preferable to the older methods ; and the general outlines of the practice to be pursued, that the following remarks of Judge Buel were penned, and from which the reader will no long- er be detained. Editors. That system of agriculture known by the appella tion of the New Husbandry, and the general princi pies of which we propose to point out, is new only comparatively, and in contradistinction to the old system, which is generally adopted in the first set- tlement of a country, in some degree as a matter of necessity ; but which, being once established, is too often persisted in, with a reckless indifference to ul- terior consequences, long after the necessity for it has ceased. This particularly happens in countries like ours, where new and virgin soils are continually inviting to emigration. What we denominate the new system has long been in operation in the valley of the Po, in Italy ; indeed, it seems to have been practised there by the Romans in the meridian of their greatness, and in Flanders, and for the last half century in Great Britain ; and it has, besides, for some time had many faithful followers in the United States. By the old system we mean that which, generally speaking, has impoverished, and is still impoverishing, the soil on our Atlantic border, and which is already causing indications of prema- ture exhaustion and poverty in some portions of the new West. "As much vacant land as this district contains,".says a late writer of East Virginia, " there is but little uncultivated [old fields] which, until en- riched, will yield any clear profit. Therefore, East- ern Virginia, in its present state, is fully populated, and no increase can be expected except from the im- NEW HUSBANDRY. 15 provement of the soil, and the consequent increased means of subsistence." This remark will hold good in many portions of the older states. By New Hus- bandry we mean the art (and to many yet a mystery) of progressively increasing the fertility and products of our soils, and the intrinsic value of our farms ; and of thereby providing the means of subsistence for our increasing population. There are no universal rules for doing this. Much depends upon climate and soil, and upon the distance and demands of the market. The products of the soil, as well as the demands for them, vary gener- ally with latitude. Grain, pulse, roots, and grass, are the natural products of higher latitudes ; rice, cotton, and tobacco, constitute the staples of more temperate regions ; while the productions of the tor- rid zone vary from both of those before referred to. Though there are no definite rules of practice that will apply to all, yet there are essential requisites to success that have a general application. These are capital, industry, and perseverance, and knowledge to apply them wisely with effect, under the varied circumstances of climate, soil, and market. Great success cannot be expected in any laudable underta- king without persevering industry ; and in regard to knowledge, the laws which govern matter, upon which our labours are to be expended, are the same everywhere ; and we are endowed with capacities for investigating, comprehending, and applying many of them in aid of labour, the profits of which are in a measure graduated by the intelligence which gov- ern and directs it. The New System of Husbandry, or the art of in- creasing the fertility and products of the soil, con- sists in, 1. Manuring. 2. Draining. 3. Good Tillage. 4. Alternating Crops. 16 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 5. Root Culture. And, G. In substituting Fallow Crops for Naked Fallows. Most of all these are necessary to good farming, according to soil, climate, and location. They are the distinguishing traits of the new husbandry ; and as they are practised with more or less fidelity and judgment, in the same proportion are they likely to advance the condition of our agriculture, and to ben- efit the commonwealth. These objects have become so hackneyed from our repeated attempts to illustrate their bearing upon the prosperity of our country, that we almost de- spair of interesting our readers by what we have to offer ; but as we labour in our vocation, and deem the matter in question of deep interest to the farmer, we shall again throw our seed abroad, in the hope that at least a portion of it may fall upon the ground and yield a reasonable increase. We intend to discuss the several subjects we have named, and shall endeavour to show the why and the how each of them tends to benefit the farmer, and to advance improvement in our husbandry. In the re- marks we shall offer, it will be our endeavour rather to explain the principles upon which the new system is founded, and which have a common application, and to demonstrate their beneficial influence in hus- bandry generally, than to detail the minutiae of prac- tice, which must, in some degree, ever be influenced and controlled by local causes. I. MANURING. The first requisite to improving the fertility of the soil, is plenty of food for the crop which it is des- tined to nourish. The meal-chest must be occasion- ally replenished, or it will not long serve to supply the wants of the family. The kine must have daily her forage or her grain, or she will withhold her ac- customed tribute of milk. The field, which yields an annual contribution to the husbandman, wili be- MANURING. 17 come steril if nothing is returned to replace the crops annually carried off. Philosophers have spec- ulated for ages as to What constitutes the food of plants ? Without recapitulating the various theories which have had their day upon this point, every farm- er can readily respond to the question, from per- sonal knowledge, that it is MANURE vegetable and animal matters which constitute the true food of farm crops. Mineral, fossil, and earthy substances may meliorate the soil, and increase its capacities for the healthy development and maturity of plants, or may impart wholesome stimuli to the organs of plants themselves ; but vegetable and animal sub- stances, after all, constitute mainly the elementary food of plants : crops on well-prepared grounds are always good when these, in a soluble state, are known to abound ; and they are always defective or prove a failure when these are wanting. Farmers should hence regard manure as a part of their capital as money which requires but to be properly employed to return them usurious interest. They should husband it as they would their cents or shil- lings, which they mean to increase to dollars. They should economize every animal and vegetable sub- stance on the farm ; and when it has subserved other useful purposes, apply it, by mixing it properly with the soil, to the increase of the coming harvest ; put it to interest, that it may return the owner its per centage of profit in grain, roots, and forage, and ul- timately in the increase of meat, and in the products of the fleece and dairy. Every load of manure well applied to the farm will increase its products to the value of one dollar. The fanner, therefore, who wastes a load of manure, is as reckless and improv- ident as he who throws away a bushel of corn in the dearest times. Not only what is denominated ma- nure, as the contents of the cattle and hog yards, and the cleaning of the stable (the amount of which may be greatly increased by stalks, weeds, vines, 18 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. and other vegetable matters), may be transformed into farm produce ; but the rich earth of swamps, ditches, and waters, the leaves of the forest, urine, soapsuds, &c., are all convertible to a like use. He that will not feed his crops with manure, should not complain if his crops fail to feed him with bread. As the grain, roots, and forage destined to feed the family and the farm stock require the best care of the husbandman to prevent waste and injury, so does the manure which is destined to feed his crops. Fermentation, if suffered to exhaust its powers upon it, materially lessens its value ; the wind and the suu dissipate its virtues, and the rains leach it and waste its fertilizing powers. The same care given to the food of vegetables which should be given to the food of animals, will be richly recompensed in the in- creased product of the harvest. Lime, marl, gypsum, and ashes are all beneficial- ly applied to increase fertility under certain circum- stances, which it is unnecessary for us here to par- ticularize. Stiff clays are also benefited by the ap- plication of sand ; light sands are improved by the admixture of clay ; while both clay and sand are im- proved by the addition of marl or other calcareous substances. If we contrast the common with the improved practice in regard to the management of dung, we shall readily see that the difference in preserving the fertility of the soil is incalculably great : enough to induce poverty in one case, and to enrich the propri- etor in the other. Even the best class of our farm- srs, who are deemed judicious managers, seldom avail themselves of half the resources of fertility which their farms or neighbourhoods afford ; not half that are put in successful requisition by the far- mers of Great Britain and Flanders. Besides, what manure they do make is in general badly husbanded. They suffer the gaseous portions to waste in the air, instead of being absorbed by and enriching the soil, MANURING. 19 and the liquid to course down hill to the highway or the brook. But what shall we say of the mass of our farmers T We have travelled hundreds of miles to the west, and seen great quantities of manure in the yards and about the barns (often the accumula- tion of years), seemingly considered by the owners rather as an encumbrance or a nuisance than as a source of fertility and of wealth. In the new sys- tem of husbandry, the farmer's profits are, in a meas- ure, graduated by the quantity of manure he is en- abled to produce from his farm. In the first num- ber of the fourth volume of the Cultivator, we gave estimates, from high authorities, of the amount pro- duced upon farms in Great Britain. Dr. Coventry, Agricultural Professor in the Edinburgh University, gives to each acre of straw four tons of manure man- ufactured by farm-stock. A Berwickshire farmer, quoted by Sir John Sinclair, obtained four cart loads, of 30 to 35 cubic feet each, from every ox wintered upon straw and turnips. Meadow-land is stated to produce from four to six tons of manure to the acre ; and the available sources of fertility upon a farm are estimated to be sufficient to give a full supply of ma- nure once in every course of the four-year system of husbandry. Arthur Young, with six horses, four cows, nine hogs, and suitable litter, made 118 loads of dung, 36 bushels each, in a winter. Cattle fed with turnips are computed to make double the manure that those do which are fed on dry fodder alone ; and an acre of turnips, with an adequate quantity of straw, has produced 16 cart loads of dung. It will be readily perceived, that by this mode of arrange- ment, ample means are provided for keeping up the fertility of the soil when put under a four-shift sys- tem of husbandry. What, now, is the common quantity of manure under the old system! Taking our state or our country at large, we are confident the average quan- tity which is judiciously applied will not amount to 20 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. one load an acre, and we are doubtful if it will amount to half a load. Can it be wondered, then, that, under such reckless management, of returning to the soil only a quarter or an eighth of what we take from it of the food of plants, our lands should continue to grow poor till they no longer yield a reward to culture ? The cultivated lands in this state are esti- mated at eight millions of acres. On the supposi- tion that one half of them is appropriated to tillage and meadow (and this is a low estimate), we might produce and apply annually, under the new system of husbandry (and we ought to do so), sixteen mill- ion tons of manure, worth to the country, at a low computation, sixteen millions of dollars ; whereas we now produce, under the old system, certainly not more than four million tons, thereby suffering an an- nual loss, independent of the certain and constant diminution in the product and value of our lands, of twelve millions of dollars in the single item of ma- nures ! This is not a visionary speculation ; it is sober truth ; and we ask any intelligent man to show, from facts, a less unfavourable conclusion. We will merely remark here, in regard to the ap- plication of manures, that, if used in an unfermented state, they should be buried with the plough, and ap- plied to a hoed or autumn-ripening crop ; if used in a rotted state, they may be blended with the sur- face, and applied to a summer-ripening crop. We will give two reasons for this practice. Manure fer- tilizes in two ways : by the gaseous matters which are evolved in fermentation, and which rise ; and by liquid matters, which sink. If used before it has part- ed with its gases, manure should be buried, that the incumbent soil may imbibe these fertilizing elements. If the manure has been rotted, it has parted with its gaseous matters, and all its remaining fertilizing properties are liable to be carried down by the rains ; nence this latter may be deposited near the surface MANURING. 21 Again, fresh manures, even in a liquid form,* induce a rank growth of herbage ; but they do not produce good plump seed. Hence, if applied to common small grains, they cause a great growth of straw at the expense of the grain : fermentation being most rapid at midsummer, when the seed, and not the straw, requires the food. Hut the autumn-ripening crops, as com, &c., are in that state at midsummer which requires strong food to perfect their stalks and leaves ; and the fermentation of the manure has subsided before the grain matures in autumn. Fos- sil manures, as lime, marl, gypsum, are applied upon the surface or buried superficially, because their dis- position is to settle down, and they give off no gas- eous food. Individuals, it is tme, are but units ; yet the ag- gregation of units makes millions, and the aggrega- tion of individuals constitutes nations. We should all act as though individual example had an impo- sing influence upon the whole. In the matter which we have just discussed, every farmer may be as- sured that, by adopting our suggestions, he will un- questionably promote his own interest, and, by his example, benefit society. Having shown that manures are indispensable to good husbandry; that they constitute the food of plants ; and that they may be greatly increased by good management, we proceed now to the next re- quisite in the new system of husbandry, viz. : * Col. Le Courteur (see Fanner's Magazine) tried stable ma- nure and liquid manilre, the latter diluted, upon his wheat. The grain tillered much, or gave a great growth of straw and grass ; but the product in grain was diminished. When the liquid manure was applied a second time, by being poured upon the growing wheat, the straw was very rank ; but the plants pro duced only a few ears of wheat, and those were very defective in grain. 22 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. II. DRAINING. Few improvements of modern date are likely to become more beneficial to the northern section of the union than systematic draining. In the first place, it will reclaim and render highly productive large tracts of land, which are now unproductive of anything useful, by reason of the water which con- stantly covers or saturates them. In the next place, it will improve the lands that are wet, and render them far more manageable and productive in grain, roots, and the more nutritious grasses, by carrying off the superfluous water. When there is an excess of moisture in the soil, ploughing can be only imper- fectly performed, and not until late in spring : the benefit of manure is thereby lost, and the cultivated crop is light, and more subject to vernal and autum- nal frosts than it would be if the land were laid dry. The soil, in regard to vegetable nutrition, may be compared to the animal stomach, which digests ; and the spongeoles or rootlets of the plant, to the lac- teals of the animal, which absorb, and take up, and propel the digested food to the elaborating organs (the lungs in the one and the leaves in the other), where this food undergoes its last preparation, and is fitted to become a part of the organic matter of the animal or vegetable. We all know that when the animal stomach is from any cause out of order, so that the food taken into it is not properly digest- ed, the subsequent processes of nutrition are arrest- ed ; and if the cause be not removed, the animal sick- ens, and ultimately dies. So with the soil. If the vegetable matter deposited there to feed the crop be not decomposed or rotted, and resolved into a liquid or gaseous form, so that it can be taken up by the spongeoles, the plant will become sickly and unpro- ductive, and the processes of healthy nutrition be at a stand. Hence the accumulation of vegetable mat- ters in swamps, marshes, and other localities habitu- DRAINING. 23 ally saturated with water, and their great fertility when thoroughly drained and exposed to the influ- ence of all the agents of putrefaction ; and hence the necessity of draining the wet grounds on our farms before we can expect to make them profitable by culture. Coarse and aquatic plants, it is true, do grow in wet grounds and in water; but few of the cultivated crops, however, are found to thrive where the ground is not dry and permeable to the influence of the sun and atmosphere. It is not enough that the surface of a soil be dry : it must be so to the depth to which the roots of plants penetrate for food, at least fifteen to eighteen inches, to ensure a healthy growth of vegetation. It is the extremities of these roots which gather the food, and which are constantly elongating while the plant grows ; and if roots extend into a wet stratum, the food which they take up is either too much dilu- ted, or not otherwise adapted to a healthy vegetation. Nor is this all : the water injures or destroys the fibrous parts of the roots, and unfits them for the per- forrrtance of their functions. We have published ample directions in the Culti- vator for the various modes of draining, and have pressed upon the notice of our readers the impor- tance of this branch of improvement. Yet we have a few remarks to offer here on the particular advan- tages which under-drains possess over open drains in certain situations. The object of draining being to carry off the sur- plus water before it saturates the surface soil, im- pedes early tillage, and injures the crop, it should be our first care to ascertain the cause of wetness, and where the deposite or fountain is which is the source of the evil. Where water rises through the subsoil or-tower strata, in spouts or springs, as well as where, falling upon a flat surface, it collects and reposes upon an impervious subsoil, under-drains are decidedly best, at. least to collect the surplus waters 24 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. into a main open drain. They are not only best be- cause the most efficient, but they are the most dura- ble, most economical, and waste no land. They are the most efficient. They can be made to reach, by digging and boring, the dep6t of water or water stratum, and thus to carry it off before it ap- proaches the surface, or pasture of plants. Open drains do this but seldom or but imperfectly, because they are not often carried deep enough, and are con- tinually liable to obstructions, which impair their ef- ficacy. They are most durable. An under-drain, laid in the most approved mode, with stone or tile, will last an age, if not a century. Whereas open drains are but temporary in their beneficial effects without period- ical repairs." They are the most economical. A good under-drain generally costs no more than a good open drain, which effects a like purpose, and probably not so much, as the former can be carried down with nearly perpendicular sides, while the latter must be dug with sloping banks, and must embrace a width of surface.corresponding with its depth : the deeper the drain, the broader it must be at top. The cost of the stone or tile is in a manner counterbalanced by the difference in excavation. And, when completed, the under-drain will require no annual repairs, while the open one will be a constant drain upon the labour of the farm, requiring bridges, and frequent scouring and cleaning. If under-drains cost sometimes the most, they are unquestionably the cheapest in the end provided they are well made. Under-drains waste no land. They may be multi- plied at every twenty feet, as they sometimes are upon stiff flat clays, without excluding the plough or the scythe from a foot of the surface. Open drains, on the contrary, if made of suitably dimensions, re- quire a breadth of three or four feet, and the plough is excluded from as much more at their sides. GOOD TILLAGE. 25 We draw no comparisons, nor do we need any, between the products of a field of habitually wet soil, or the trouble and expense of managing it, and the same field after it has undergone a thorough drainage and amelioration. Every farmer, we pre- sume, has noticed the vast disparity in both. If there is one to whom it is not familiar, let him make the trial, and he will be astonished at the result, and at his own want of forethought in not having made it before. III. GOOD TILLAGE. When thorough draining has been effected upon lands to be benefited thereby, there is another oper- ation which is calculated to aid in the efficiency of manures and in the increase of farm products. This is good tillage a perfect pulverization of the soil, and the keeping it free from weeds, which retard the growth of the crop, and rob it of its food. Good til- lage is important not only as it serves to exterminate weeds, to facilitate the digestion of vegetable food, and to mix and to incorporate this food with earthy elements ; but as it breaks and mellows the soil, and enables the roots of plants to range freely in search of this food. Every farmer must have observed, that where tillage has been but imperfectly performed, as is sometimes seen about stumps and rocks, and near fences, the crop is comparatively feeble and light. This cannot be owing to the poverty of the soil, be- cause the plough, as it rises to the surface in these places, deposites and accumulates there the best and finest mould of the field. The feebleness of the grain arises from the imperfect tillage which those spots receive. The old practice of carrying the main furrows to the extremity of the field, and of dispensing with head-lands, is a bad and slovenly one, and ought to be everywhere exploded. The cut and cover practice is still worse, as it leaves one half, and sometimes two thirds of the soil undisturbed by I C 26 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. the plough. We remember well, that when we fol- lowed the plough in our boyish days, and knew no- thing of the philosophy of ploughing, our aim was to go over much ground and show a ploughed surface, regarding the complete breaking up of the soil as of minor importance. There will always be a great many boys at the plough until the importance of good ploughing is better understood . Good ploughing con- sists in breaking or turning every inch of the soil ; and good tillage requires that the harrow and roller should finish, if the plough has failed to effect it, a complete pulverization of the soil. A green sward becomes pulverulent as the roots of the grasses de- cay, and is best without a second furrow, because this turns again to the surface, to the wasting influ- ence of the sun and winds, the vegetable matter bu- ried by the first ploughing, and which, if left buried, would contribute largely to the sustenance of the crop. As the roots of the grasses decay, the soil becomes loose and porous, and is permeable to moist- ure, air, and heat. Hence the advantage of fallow crops over naked fallows, and of depositing seeds upon the top of a clover lay : the sod then imparts fertility to the soil, while it enables it to derive im- portant advantages from the co-operation of external agents. Good tillage requires that, wherever it is practi- cable, as in the culture of drilled and hoed crops, the surface soil should be kept clean and pulverulent while the crop is growing, for the same reason that the soil is required to be made so before depositing the seed, viz., to facilitate the decomposition of the vegetable food, to stimulate the organs of the plants, and increase the growth and product of the crop. There is no better expedient for preventing the evils of drought upon a soil, than that of keeping the sur- face mellow and clean. Atmospheric air and dew, both always charged with the nutritive food of plants, settle into such a surface as into a sponge, and impart GOOD TILLAGE. 27 to the roots of plants both aliment and stimuli. Dews falling upon a hard surface are evaporated by the first rays of the morning sun ; but they penetrate a loose surface, and moisten and fructify it. Hence the high repute of the drill husbandry, which enables the cultivator to keep his crops clean, and the surface of his soil mellow and open. Good tillage has reference to depth as well as qual- ity of tilth. " There are many plants, the roots of which are found at fifteen to twenty and even thirty feet under ground sainfoin and lucerne, for instance : even red clover will strike down to nearly three feet if the soil be a fertile loam ; and some of our com- monest vegetables, if it be friable or sandy, push their tap roots to about the same depth. The roots of wheat will penetrate as far as eight inches into the earth ; and when sown on the crown of ridges, they have been found at the depth of twelve. We may therefore assume the depth of twelve inches as the utmost vegetable limit of corn land. Provided the soil be open and fertile, the nearer its depth ap- proaches to twelve inches, the greater number of plants may it therefore be supposed capable of fur- nishing with support." Brit. Husb., vol. ii., p. 49, 50. Soils should be ploughed as deep as the sub- stratum will admit, at least once in a course of crops, if this can be reached with the force of an ordinary team ; and when the surface soil is superficial, it should be deepened, as fast as fertility can be im- parted, by turning up, at suitable intervals, some por- tion of the subsoil. The atmosphere imparts to this apparent inert earth more or less of the elements of fertility. Baron Von Vpght increased vastly the value and products of his farm, by increasing the depth of its mould (krume or vegetable pasture), in this way, in the period of sixteen years, from three to fourteen inches. Land that in the outset would not yield him fourteen bushels of rye to the acre, was by this mode of improvement brought to 23 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. yield twenty-four bushels of wheat; and the im- provement was not confined to a part, but exti-mlrd to the whole farm, comprising some hundred acres. The reader is referred for a detail of these improve- ments, and an account of the baron's excellent sys- tem of husbandry, to No. 1, vol. ii., of the Cultivator. And it has just been announced to us in a foreign journal, as one of the greatest improvements of the age in rural affairs, that a plough has been invented which breaks and pulverizes the subsoil without turning it to the surface. Its advantages to agricul- ture are thus described by Le Fever in Loudon's Magazine : " Smith's subsoil plough seems calculated to ren- der the most steril and unproductive soil fertile and profitable. Mr. Smith's most ingenious invention, by breaking the subsoil without bringing it to the surface, renders it pervious to both air and water. The same chymical changes which take place in a fallow, owing to its exposure to the action of the winds and rain, are thus brought into operation in the subsoil, while the surface soil is in the ordinary course of cropping ; and when, after a few years, by a greater depth of ploughing, the subsoil is mixed with the upper soil, it is found to be so completely changed in its nature as to be capable of producing very kind of corn." Jethro-Tull and his disciples maintained that the great secret of inducing fertility consisted in mi- nutely dividing and pulverizing the soil by culture ; and John Taylor, the arator of Virginia, and an ex- cellent practical as well as scientific farmer, consid- ered the atmosphere as the great storehouse of ve- getable food, where this food exists in a gaseous form. The good tillage we advocate embraces all the advantages of Tull's ana* Taylor's theories, with- out lessening the importance which we attach to barn-yard manure. The deep ploughing of dry land, or the breaking GOOD TILLAGE. 29 up and stirring of the subsoil, promotes fertility by increasing the power of the land to absorb water by cohesive attraction. " The power of soils to absorb water from air," says Davy, " is much connected with fertility. This power depends in a great meas- ure upon the state of division of its parts ; the more divided they are, the greater their absorbent power. When this power is great, the plant is supplied with moisture in dry seasons ; and the effect of evapora- tion in the day is counteracted by the absorption of aqueous vapour from the atmosphere, by the interioi parts of the soil during the day, and by both the ex- terior and interior during the night." The soil im- bibes caloric earlier in the spring, and retains it la- ter in autumn, in proportion as it is dry and deep ; a matter Of high consideration in cold climates, where the length of the summer scarcely suffices to mature the crops. The quality and dryness being the same, a soil is fertile and durable nearly in -proportion to the depth of the tillage which it receives : six inches giving nearly double the pasture for plants that a three-inch stratum does ; and a twelve-inch tilth greatly exceeding in productiveness one of only six inches. Von Thaer calculates this difference in pro- portionate degrees in lands which contain a vegeta- tive stratum of soil of four, six, eight, and twelve inches in depth, provided, of course, that it be all of equal quality. If, therefore, each seed were to produce a plant, it would follow that ground which contains eight inches of depth of fertile mould might be sown with double the quantity of that which con- sists of only four inches. He however admits, that this principle cannot be carried to that extent, be- cause the action of the atmosphere must d^er afford that superiority to the surface, that a cubic foot of mould, if divided into two square feet, will always produce a greater number of plants than if the seed were sown upon one foot superficial; but he as- sumes the value of the land to be increased in the 30 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. proportion of eight per cent, for every inch of mould beyond the depth of six to ten inches, and to be di- minished in the same proportion, from six to three inches, in soils of a thinner staple. Principe* Rai- sonnes Agriculture, vol. iii., p. 138, s. 735. Thc-r considerations have been hitherto but little regarded in our practice, though they constitute an important feature in the new system of husbandry. . Good tillage demands also the extirpation of weeds. Every plant growing upon a soil tends to im- pair its fertility, and weeds generally more than cul- tivated crops, because they are commonly the most hardy and the greatest consumers of vegetable food. They are particularly prejudicial to crops in a dry season, as they exhaust the soil of moisture in pro- portion to their superficies, or the surface of their stems and leaves ; some species transpiring their weight of moisture every twenty-four hours. The drill culture and deep ploughing both lessen the evil of weeds ; the first tends to destroy them, and the latter to bury their seeds so deep as to prevent the plants getting ahead of and choking the young crop. Clean tillage has been too much neglected in our practice. Many crops are diminished a fourth, a third, and even a half by pestiferous weeds, which are permitted to seed and propagate upon the land. Good tillage requires good implements, and these to be kept in order, that the farm-work may be eco- nomically done, and well done, and done at the prop- er time. The disparity between the old and the new implements of culture is great, not only in the time employed, but in the manner in which they do the work, and in the power which is required to perform it. The%ld plough requires a four-cattle team and two hands to manage it ; and the work ordinarily was, after all, but half executed. The improved plough is generally propelled by two cattle, requires but one man to manage it, and, when properly gov- erned, performs thorough work. Harrow** and other ALTERNATION OF CROPS. 31 implements have undergone a like improvement. Besides, other new implements, which greatly econ- omize the expense of tillage, are coming into use, as the roller, cultivator, drill-barrow, &c. ; so that a farm may now.be worked with half the expense of labour that it was wont to be worked with forty years ago, and better worked withal. Mind, likwise, where it is put in requisition, and enlightened by science, is doing ten times more in aid of agricultural labour than it formerly did. If we revert to old, and, in most cases, to present practices, we shall perceive that thorough tillage has not been sufficiently attended to. Our implements have been defective, and the manner of using them often imperfect. Good ploughing is all-important to good farming, and still there is no labour upon the farm that has been more imperfectly performed than this has generally been. Light soils seldom require but a single ploughing for the seed, if well executed ; but, if badly executed, two ploughings are too little. Our implements are, however, daily improving, the importance of good tillage is becoming more and more apparent, and our practical knowledge is in- creasing. IV. ALTERNATION OF CROPS. Alternation of crops is an essential requisite in good farming, and forms a part of it wherever it is considered to have arrived at any degree of perfec- tion. It is this Avhich gave to Flemish husbandry a pre-eminence over that of every other country, long before the new system had obtained a fooling in Great Britain. It is principally this which has con- verted the county of Norfolk, and other districts in England, from the poorest and least productive into the most wealthy and populous portions of that coun- try. It is this alternating system which has contrib- uted, in a great measure, to the astonishing improve- ments recently made in the agriculture of Scotland ; 32 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. and it is this which constitutes the pioneer marks of improved husbandry in our own land. la the preceding sections we have suggested the importance and the modes of making our lands rich and dry, and of subjecting them to good tillage. Let us now inquire under what method of management they are likely to make us the largest returns, with- out diminishing their intrinsic value. It is palpable to every observing farmer, that the old mode of permanently dividing our grounds into meadow, plough, and pasture lands is a most wretch- ed system of exhaustion, both to the land and its oc- cupant. The tillage ground deteriorates with the scanty manuring it gets, till it ceases to make a re- turn for the expense of culture, or till it is thrown into old fields or commons. The meadow-grasses run out, mosses and weeds come in, the soil becomes too compact and impervious for the ready admission of the great agents of vegetable decomposition and nutrition, and the free extension of the roots of the finer grasses ; and as all is carried off, and little or nothing brought back, the soil is annually becoming poorer and less profitable. The pasture is the only portion of such a farm that is improving ; and even in this, bushes, brambles, and noxious weeds are too often permitted to choke and destroy the better herbage. It is equally apparent, that we caimot take two or more arable crops of the same kind from a field in successive seasons without a manifest falling off in the product. The reason of this may be found in an immutable law of nature, which has provided for each species of plants a specific food suited to its organization and its wants. Thus some soils, for instance, will not grow wheat, although abounding in the common elements of fertility, and although they will make a profitable return in other farm crops, in consequence of their being deficient in the specific food required for the perfection of wheat. One fain- ALTERNATION OF CROPS. 33 ily or species of plants requires a different food from that which another family or species requires ; and it seems to be also a law of nature, that what is not essential to one family or species shall be left in the soil, or returned to it through the excretory organs of the growing crop. Of course, the specific food for any class or species continues to accumu- late in the soil, the general fertility being kept up, till the return again to the field of this particular crop. Thus it is supposed to require ten or a dozt n years for the specific food of flax to accumulate suf- ficiently for a second crop after one has been taken from a field. Even the specific food of clover be- comes exhausted by a too frequent repetition of it in the same field ; it being found necessary, in Norfolk husbandry, to substitute for it, in every other course of crops, other grass seeds, so that this may not be repeated oftener than once in eight years. There are exceptions to the rules of practice which these laws inculcate. Some soils seem natural to wheat, others to oats or grass ; and successive crops of these are taken without apparent diminution of pro- duct. Yet it is better to regulate our practice by general laws than by casual exceptions. In the cases noted as exceptions, there is probably so great an accumulation of the specific food of the particular crop, that it has not been exhausted, though it evident- ly must have been diminished. It is in accordance with the natural laws we have noticed that the grass- es in our meadows change ; that the timber trees of the forest alternate new species springing up as the old ones decay or are cut down ; and it is in ac- cordance with these laws that the alternation of crops has been adopted in all good farming. To simplify and render the subject still more plain, the generality of tillage crops have been grouped into two classes, differing essentially in their charac- ter, culture, and exhausting influence upon the soil. These two classes are denominated culmiferous crops 34 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. and leyuminnus crops. The first is so named from culm, the stalk or stem of grains or grasses, usually jointed and hollow, and supporting the leaves and fructification. ' Our intention here is not to embrace the grasses. Culmiferous crops are termed robbers, or exhausters of the soil. This class includes wheat, barley, oats, rye, Indian corn, tobacco, cotton, &c. These are particularly exhausting during the process of maturing their seeds. If cut green, or when iu blossom, they are far less so. Leguminous crops, literally, are peas, beans, and other pulse ; but here the class is intended to embrace all which are consid- ered as ameliorating or enriching crops, as potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, cabbages, and clover. These latter are not only less exhausting than the culmifer- ous class, as most of them do not mature their seeds, and all, on account of their broad system of leaves, draw moie or less nourishment from the atmosphere ; but they improve the condition of the soil, by dividing and loosening it with their tap and bulbous roots. For these reasons they are called ameliorating or enriching crops ; and as they generally receive ma- nure and drill culture, they are peculiarly adapted to enrich and fit the soil for the culmiferous class. Good husbandry enjoins that culmiferous and le- guminous crops should alternate, or follow each other in succession, except when grass is made to intervene ; and it matters little which crops are se- lected from the two classes. The good judgment of the farmer may here be exercised to determine which are likely to be to him the most advantageous. It may be proper, however, to note two exceptions to this rule ; Indian corn may, under certain contingen- cies, be made to precede or follow another grain crop to advantage, and oats may sometimes be profitably sown as a fallow crop, to supersede a naked fallo'v, preparatory to a crop^of wheat or rye. Some soils, it is true, are more favourable to one kind of crop than another ; as, for instance, calcareous clays and ALTERNATION OF CHOI'S. 35 strong loams are better adapted to wheat than sili- cious gravels and sands ; while the latter are better fitted to carry Indian corn, turnips, and clover, than clays. In other respects, such as the exhaustion of the ground, it is a matter of little interest with the farmer what crops of each class are chosen to al- ternate with each other. Farm stock seems necessarily to be embraced in the system of alternate husbandry. Cattle convert the bulky products of the farm into meats, butter, cheese, &c. These concentrated products are carried to market at comparatively trifling expense. Cattle also furnish labour, and manufacture into manure the straw, stalks, and other offal and litter of the farm, necessary to keep up its fertility ; for without manure the soil will grow poor, and its products an- nually diminish. Manures, we repeat, are the main source of fertility to our soils, and the substantial food of our crops. Our supply of these will depend on the amount of stock we feed upon the farm 5 and the amount of stock we can keep profitably will again depend upon the fertility of the soil, and the consequent abundance of its products. So that grain and grass husbandly, and cattle husbandry, are recip- rocally and highly beneficial to each other. It is maintained by practical men, that grounds under good tillage will yield as much food for cattle, in roots, straw, &c., as the same grounds would yield in grass, thus leaving the grain as extra profit. Clover, which we have classed with ameliorating crops, merits a farther and distinct notice. We find that clover was cultivated at an early period by the Flemings, and constituted an important item in their excellent system of husbandry. Its introduction into Britain is of comparatively modern date. Forty years ago its culture may be said to have commenced in the United States ; but its .progress was slow till within the last few years ; and even now, large por- tions of our country are practically ignorant of its 36 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. improving and enriching qualities. Its benefits have been great wherever it has been introduced, accom- panied with the use of gypsum ; and the two com- bined have hitherto been the principal basis of good husbandry. But their benefits are capable of being far more widely extended. We consider the use of clover for cattle food, great as it is, but of secondary importance to the farmer; its most profitable use being to feed crops and ameliorate the soil. N<> green crop is so serviceable for the latter purposes; and \ve are satisfied from experience, that the practice of habitually sowing it with small grains for these objects, where it is not intended to stock with grass- seeds, is an excellent one on all grounds adapted to its growth. Upon this subject we quote as follows from Chaptal : " Artificial grass lands [constituting a part of the alternating system, and in contradistinction to natu- ral and permanent grass-lands] ought now to be con- sidered as forming the basis of agriculture. These furnish fodder, the fodder supports cattle, and the cattle furnish manure, labour, and all the means ue cessary to a thorough system of cultivation."* V. ROOT CULTURE. The advantage of root culture to the soil in the alternating system has been already briefly alluded to ; but this culture possesses higher claims to our notice than the bare influence it has in ameliorating the soil : it constitutes, otherwise, a valuable source of fertility to the farm and of profit to the farmer. It trebles the amount of cattle-food, and doubles the quantity of manure. Potatoes constitute a great por- tion of the bread and meat of the Irish peasantry, * See Cbaptal's Chymistry applied to Agriculture, embracing also the most valuable parts of Sir H. Davy's work on the same subject, and an admirable Treatise on the Use of Lime as a Manure, by M. Puvis, with introductory remarks by Professor Renwick, published by Harper & Brothers, 1839. ROOT CULTURE, 37 feed their cows, fatten their pigs and poultry, and form an article of foreign commerce. The turnip has long been made an important crop in German husbandry. The beet has become so important in France as to engage the attention of her scientific men and of the government in extending its culture The field culture of the carrot has long been prof- itably pursued among the Flemings. And as it re- gards Great Britain, whose example in husbandry is deservedly held up for our imitation, her best wri- ters on rural matters, and her best practical farmers, ah 1 concur in saying, that her pre-eminent success in modern husbandry has been in a great measure ow- ing to the introduction of turnips as a field-crop in that island. We will here quote a passage from the New Edinburgh Encyclopaedia in corrobo ration of what we say : " The introduction of turnips into the husbandry of Britain occasioned one of those revolutions in rural art which are constantly occurring among hus- bandmen, and, though the revolution came on with slow and gradual steps, yet it may now be viewed as completely and thoroughly established. Before the introduction of this root, it was impossible to cultivate light soils successfully, or to devise suitable rotations for cropping them with advantage. It was likewise a difficult task to support livestock through the winter and spring months ; and as for feeding and preparing cattle and sheep for market during these inclement seasons, the practice was hardly thought of, and still more rarely attempted, unless where a full stock of hay was provided, which only happened in a very few instances. The benefits de- rived from turnip husbandry are, therefore, of great magnitude : light soils are now cultivated with profit and facility ; abundance of food is provided for man and beast ; the earth is turned to the uses for which it is physically calculated ; and, by being suitably cleaned with this preparatory crop, a bed is provided 38 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. for grass seeds, wherein they flourish and prosper with greater vigour than after any other preparation." Few of our readers are probably apprized of the fact, that English beef, so highly extolled, and of which John Bull so vauntingly boasts (and perhaps no people have better beef)> is mostly winter-fattened upon turnips and straw, very little hay being used. This will account for the high value which the turnip culture has obtained in Great Britain. All the above-named roots are well adapted to our soils and climate ; and where their culture has been undertaken with spirit and managed with judgment, success has been certain. The great objection to this culture has been, the labour which is required to secure these roots from the frosts of winter ; and yet the labour and expense required for this purpose are perhaps no greater than we expend in securing our grain and forage, if they are as great. Where cellars are not at command or not adequate, these roots may all be securely preserved in pits in dry situations, due precaution being had to covering and ventilation. It is the novelty of the labour, rather than the amount, and a want of practical knowledge and confidence of success, which intimidate and de- ter us. We do save our potatoes, and we can save other roots in like manner. Assuming the average product of hay at a ton and a half to two tons per acre, and of beets and ruta baga at 600 bushels ; and allowing a bushel and a half of the latter (90 Ibs.) to be equal, for farm-stock, to twenty pounds of hay, an acre of the roots will go as far in the economy of feeding as nearly three acres of meadow, to say nothing of the tops, which will go far to repay the extra expense of cultivating the roots ; while the ground in the one case is ameliorated and improved, and in the other impoverished. These roots, besides, may be used as a substitute for grain for working cattle and for pigs. The three acres of grass gives less than 0000 pounds to the manure-yard, while FALLOW CROPS. 39 the one acre of ruta baga or beets gives 36,000, or four times as much us three acres of grass-land. VI. SUBSTITUTION OP FALLOW CROPS FOR NAKED FAL- LOWS. Fallowing is the mode of preparing land (general- ly greensward) by ploughing it a considerable time before it is finally ploughed for wheat and rye, to be sown in autumn. A naked fallow is such as receives no intermediate crop between the first ploughing and seeding for the main crop ; a fallow crop is one that intervenes between these two processes. In Eng- land, fallows are generally broken up in autumn, re- ceive repeated ploughings during the ensuing sum- mer, and are sown in autumn, or cropped with turn- ips, and sown the third year with barley. In the United States, naked fallows are more often broken up in June or July, receive repeated ploughings, and are sown in September. For fallow crops, old swards are broken up in autumn, and clover lays in the spring ; the first receive one or more ploughings in the spring, and, immediately after, the seeds which are to constitute the fallow crop. Clover lays re- ceive the fallow crop upon the first furrow, or with but one ploughing. Naked fallows, in England, oc- cupy the ground a year ; and if they are sown with tares or rye, as they often are, to be fed off in the spring, they are termed bastard fallows. With us, fallow grounds lay idle but part of a season. There is no agricultural writer of note, and very- few good farmers, who now contend for the propri- ety of naked fallows, except on stiff clays or wet grounds, which can only be worked in the summer, and this for the single purpose of cleaning such soils from root-weeds. We subjoin two or three quota- tions in corroboration of this fact : " Fallowing was necessary as long as grains only, all of which exhaust the soil, were cultivated ; du- ring the intervals of tilling the fields, a variety of 40 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. herbs grew on them, which offered food for animals, and the roots of which, buried in the soil by the plough, furnished a great part of tlie necessary ma- nure. But at this day, when we have succeeded in establishing the cultivation of a great variety of roots and artificial grasses, the system of fallowing can be no longer supported by the shadow of a good reason. The ease with which fodder may be culti- vated, furnishes the means of supporting an in- creased number of animals ; these in their turn sup- ply manure and labour ; and the farmer is no longer under the necessity of allowing his lands to be fal- low." Chaptal. " It is already acknowledged, that it is only upon wet soils, or, in other words, upon lands unfit for the turnip husbandry, that a plain summer fellow is ne cessary." New Edinb. Encyc. " As there is only one good reason for fallowing, namely, to destroy weeds ; and as this can be done full as well by fallow crops, that is, by crops that require frequent hoeing and cleaning during their growth, no fallowing ought to be permitted in a good system of agriculture." T. Cooper. We have quoted in the last number of the fourth volume of the Cultivator, the practical example of the late Chancellor Livingston, showing an increased profit of nearly two hundred per cent, resulting from substituting fallow crops for naked fallows, be- sides an increase of cattle-food, upon one hundred acres of arable land, of sixty-five tons, and the ma- nure from sixty-five cattle which this extra food would keep. In page 88 and 104 of the same vol- ume we have given Greig and Beatson's systems of managing clay farms, in which naked fallows are dispensed with, and the profits doubled by substitu- ting fallow crops. These evidences might be great- ly multiplied were it necessary ; but we have so many examples and illustrations in every quarter of our country, that he who will may profit by liis own FALLOW CROPS. CONCLUSIONS. 41 observation and inquiry. The expense of the sum- mer fallows may be saved, and a very valuable ex- tra crop obtained, by the new mode of practice. In regard to what are the best fallow crops, much will depend upon the soil. Upon stiff clays, oats and peas are recemmended, which, although not cleans- ing crops, succeed well upon an undecomposed sod. Potatoes also answer well ; and if they do not ripen early enough for winter grain, they prepare the ground remarkably well for spring wheat. Clays should be broken up in autumn if intended for a fal- low crop, that the frost may break up and pulverize the soil, and that the decomposition of the sod may commence earlier in the spring. The late John Lor- rain, of Pennsylvania, who was an excellent practi- cal farmer as well as a gentleman of science, rec- ommended that, in ploughing for grain after a fallow crop, the furrow should be superficial, so as not to turn up the vegetable matter of the sod, but to leave it where the roots of the ensuing crop will most need it. Upon light soils, Indian corn, beans, peas, pota- toes, tuniips, or other roots, constitute good fallow crops, particularly if preparatory to spring wheat and barley/ We have now gone over the ground we proposed to examine. We have endeavoured to explain what we mean by the New System of Husbandry ; to de- velop its principles, and to show WHY and WHERE- FORE it is superior to the old or common system. We have, we think, demonstrated, 1. That the fertility of the farm may be kept up and augmented by the manures it can be made to furnish ; 2. That the condition of the farm may lie much im- proved by thorough draining ; 3. That the capacities of the farm can be fully de- veloped only by good tillage ; 4. That the profits of the farm are materially f uig- *!. D 42 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. mented by alternating crops, and a system of mixed husbandry ; 5. That the cattle-food and manures of the farm, the main sources of fertility and profit, may be greatly increased by the cultivation of roots ; 6. That the labours of the farm may be econo- mized, and its products farther increased, by substi- tuting fallow crops for naked fallows. And, finally, that, were these several improvements generally introduced into our agricultural practice, they would render our farmers more independent, bring industry into better repute, and essentially pro- mote the prosperity and happiness of all classes of society. There is no doubt that most of our impoverished farms may, under the system of management we have been describing, and with the auxiliary and available aid of lime, marl, gypsum, swamp-earth, ashes, &c., be progressively improved in fertility, and rendered productive and profitable. We have the strongest grounds for this belief. The like has been done in Great Britain, in the Netherlands, in Germany, in France. Worn-out lands have there been renovated and rendered very valuable. They have been so in the United States. They are now undergoing this improvement in the valley of the Hudson. The partial introduction of the New Hus- bandry has, within a few years, doubled the surplus agricultural products of most of the counties be- tween Albany and New- York ; and yet the improve- ment has there been but begun. The same management which our subject sug- gests for the renovation of old lands, will perpetuate the fertility of those which have been newly brought under culture. Although the soils of the great sec- ondary formation of the West will not so soon be- .come impoverished as those of primitive and transi- tion formations ; and although fertility may be more readily restored to them when they have become ex- RULES AND SUGGESTIONS IN HUSBANDRY. 43 hausted, yet the same general laws govern in all. Deterioration will progress in all soils which are cropped, unless there is returned to them, in the form of manure, some equivalent for what is being constantly carried off. RULES AND SUGGESTIONS IN HUSBANDRY. We shall now proceed to give some rules and sug- gestions in husbandry, of general application, to en- able farmers, and particularly novices in the art, to judge of the character and qualities of their soil, its adaptation to particular crops, the causes of its de- terioration, and the means of perpetuating its fertil- ity ; or, if worn-out or impoverished, of restoring it to its pristine vigour. The facts and suggestions which we shall give are the results of our reading and our practice ; and though they may not in all cases prove to be sound, we think that in the main they will be found to be so. The essential elements of a good soil are sand, clay, lime, and vegetable or organic remains. Mag- nesia, iron, and other matters are often found blend- ed with the preceding ; but, in general, they are not considered as exercising a great influence on its fer- tility, except they exist in more than ordinary pro- portions. 2. The presence of sand, clay, and vegetable mat- ter in a soil is deemed essential to all crops ; and lime, in some of its forms, is considered indispensa- ble to many crops, and particularly to wheat. 3. The presence of sand and clay is readily de- tected by the experienced eye ; that of vegetable matter by the consistency and colour of the soil ; and that of carbonate of lime by drying a portion of soil, and pouring upon it some acid having a stronger affinity for the base than the carbonic acid, as muriatic acid, or even strong vinegar : if it con- tains lime, effervescence will ensue ; and the propor- tion may be ascertained by very simple modes of analysis 44 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 4. Sand is the most essential of the earthy ingre- dients of a soil, and generally most preponderates ; though where it exceeds eighty per cent, the soil is virtually barren. Clay is next in proportion; but where it is in excess, the soil becomes stubborn, is hard to be worked, and more or less unproductive. Lime exists in the smallest proportion ; and from two to ten per cent, of this in the upper or tillable stratum is deemed sufficient for all the purposes of profitable husbandry. When in excess, it induces barrenness. A calcareous soil is considered condu- cive to the health of the neighbourhood. Organic matter, that is, vegetable or animal, is indispensable in a soil. It is the food of plants. Yet even this is frequently found in too great quantity, as in peat earth, which is often infertile till mixed with earthy ingredients, or brought in contact with fermenting materials. 5. When an excess of sand, clay, lime, or vege- table matter is discovered to exist, the fault may be remedied by an admixture of the deficient element or elements. When one of the elements is found wanting, it may be supplied by art. Thus a load of clay upon an arid sand, or a load of sand upon a stub- born clay, or a few bushels of lime, or marl, or ashes upon a soil deficient in calcareous earth, are often of more ultimate service than a load of barnyard dung. But, 6. Both dung and lime are consumed by the grow- ing crops ; and, if the crops are carried off the land, it must be periodically replenished with the same substances, or it will often become deficient in these mate-rial elements of fertility. 7. The sand and clay of the soil may be likened in their offices to the stomach of the animal ; the lime and salts to the gastric juices, which assist to dissolve the food in the animal stomach, and to the condiments, as salt, pepper, &c., which we employ to stimulate and aid the orgauis and process of di- RULES AND SUGGESTIONS IN HUSBANDRY. 45 gestion ; and the organic matter in the soil to the food itself, which feeds and nourishes the animal system. 8. If the crops grown upon a soil are permitted to rot upon and return to it again, its fertility is not impaired, but improved. Nothing is lost, but some- thing gained, from the fertilizing influence of the at- mosphere. But when all the crop is carried off and nothing returned, deterioration must take place : the vegetable food must undergo a continued diminution. This is a plain exposition of the cause of lands wear- ing out ; and, at the same time, it explains the neces- sity of applying manures to keep up their fertility. 9. All the elements of a good soil being present, its fertility and consequent profit will in a measure depend upon its exemption from an excess of water, which, like fire, is a good servant, but a bad master. This excess may arise from spouts and springs burst- ing up from below, or from surface waters, where the ground is level or nearly so, settling and repo- sing upon a tenacious subsoil, or from waters flow ing from higher grounds. Hence the importance ot draining. We do not know of any farm crop which thrives well upon a soil that is habitually wet, either upon its surface or within the natural range of its roots. Water-meadows and rice profit by periodical floodings ; but even these are injured by habitual wetness. 10. Fertility depends much, also, upon the quality and properties of the subsoil. If this be defective or come too near the surface, its faults may be cor- rected, and the tilth deepened, by bringing it up, in small portions at a time, with the plough, to the meli- orating influence of the atmosphere, and by blending it with the upper stratum. 11. If a soil, under proper management, does not return good crops, or if the crops are found annually to diminish, it is a sure indication that there is a de- ficiency in one of the primary elements of a good 46 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY soil, that the subsoil has a malign influence, or that there is an excess of water. It is the province of the manager to search out the cause of the evil, and to apply the proper remedy, be it lime, manure, deeper drainage, or deeper tilth. 1-.2. Grain-crops are the greatest exhausters of the fortuity of soils, on account of their narrow system of leaves, and the great quantity of nutriment they extract from it to mature their seeds. The remark extends to the narrow-leaved grasses, converted into hay, when they are permitted to ripen their seeds in the field. 13. Indian corn, tobacco, and beans may be em- braced in the second class of exhausting crops ; for although they have broad leaves, and are supposed to derive much of their nourishment from the atmo- sphere, they are, nevertheless, gross feeders, and are bulky crops, and leave very little upon the soil to compensate for what they take from it. But great economy in feeding these crops may be effected by applying to them the long manure of the yard and stables, instead of summer-yarding it, as many farm- ers are wont to do. These crops will feed upon what is otherwise lost in the yard, the gaseous matters ; and these afford exactly the food that the crops named want, and at the very time they want it. 14. Roots come next in the order of exhausting crops ; but they compensate, in a measure, for what they take from the soil, by the meliorating influence they have upon it, in dividing, pulverizing, and free ing it from weeds, by means of their roots and the culture they demand. 15. Green crops, that is, clover, buckwheat, rye, oats, &c., ploughed under as food for plants, are en- riching crops, and powerful auxiliaries to the fold yard, but they are too seldom resorted to for this purpose. 16. Depasturing with cattle, and particularly with sheep, enriches a soil. According to Van Thaer, it AULES AND SUGGESTIONS IN HUSBANDRY. 4T adds 20 per cent, annually to the fertility of an ordi- nary soil, though probably for a limited period. Thi? results from the fact that the crop is returned to the soil in the droppings and urine of the animals which graze it. 17. Lime and clay are essential in a wheat soil. Indian corn delights in a rich, dry sandy loam. Tur- nips excel on dry sandy soils. Rye is impatient of wet. Barley does best on a clay loam, as do beets, carrots, and peas. Oats and potatoes find a conge- nial bed in cool moist grounds, though for the lattei the surface stratum should be light or mellow. Of the grasses, the tap-rooted, as clover, lucerne, &c., require a deep soil, permeable to their long roots, and free from water; the fibrous-rooted, as the tall-oat, orchard, &c., thrive upon soils that are shallower ; and the rough-stalked meadow, red-top, bent, and some of the festuca family, are congenial to, and often natural in, moist or swampy grounds. The timothy, or meadow cat's-tail, the main dependance for winter forage in the Northern states, adapts its roots, it is said, to its location ; being fibrous-rooted upon dry, and bulbous-rooted upon moist grounds ; and, therefore, adapted to any situation. 18. Where arable and mixed husbandry prevail, the natural fertility of a farm cannot be kept up or increased from the resources of the farm stock with- out resort to an alternation or change of crops. Al- though the diminution of fertility may be impercep- tible in some extraordinary cases, and although some soils seem naturally and peculiarly adapted to certain crops, yet, where the same crop is grown on one piece of ground in successive years, deterioration as certainly goes on as the sun shines by day. Whether, according to the modern theory of certain European philosophers of high repute, the excre mentitious matter thrown into the soil by a growing crop is poisonous to its species ; or whether, as we maintain, each species requires and exhausts, 01 par 48 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. tially exhausts, a specific food in the soil, suited to its particular wants, we will not now stop to inquire ; hut it. is a fact established by general experience, that an annual change of crops upon a field, while under tillage, tends very much to economize its fer- tility, and to increase the profits of the labour be- stowed upon it. Hence, 19. It has been laid down as a sound rule in farm- ing, that two white, or grain, or culmiferous crops should not be made to succeed each other in the same field ; but that each of these should be alterna- ted with, or followed by, a green, a grass, a root, o." a jeguminous crop. 20. Where the soil of a farm will admit of it, a good course is to alternate, 1, roots or Indian com, with long manure., upon the sod ; 2, grain, with grass-seeds ; 3, grass for two years. The poorer the soil, the oftener should it be returned to grass, particularly to clover and pasture. 21. Geologists refer to three distinct formations as constituting the crust of the earth : the primitive, containing little or no lime or organic remains ; the transition, containing lime and organic remains ; and the secondary, abounding extensively in both these elements of fertility. Their natural relative/er/i/i/y is in the reverse order in which they are named, the secondary being the best, and embracing most of the great basin of the Mississippi, and the country drain- ed by its tributary streams. We say nothing of alluvial formations deposited by the ccean and streams. These partake of the character of the country from which they are brought, and are more or less fertile, according to the fertility of the dis- tricts from which their soil is derived, and the force of the currents by which theii deposites have been made ; a rapid current leaving only the coarser or heavier materials, while the lighter and richer mat- ters do not subside until the current becomes siow and le?s agitated. A sluggish current, therHbre.de posites the richest soil. RULES AND SUGGESTIONS IN HUSBANDRY. 49 29. The three great formations which we have mentioned possess, it is well known, characteristics different from each other. They grow, naturally, many plants peculiar to each, and they are adapted to different branches of husbandry, or to different farm-crops . The primitive will not generally grow good wheat, but is suited to grass, oats, potatoes, &c. The transition is adapted to natural grasses, and to most of the arable crops, particularly to the cereal class ; and the secondary to the cultivated grasses, to roots, and particularly to wheat.* 23. There are other circumstances in regard to the location of a farm demanding the consideration of the master, which refer to latitude and elevation. Plants have their natural zone or climate, beyond which they do not grow or thrive but imperfectly. There is a difference in every degree, or sixty miles of latitude upon tide-water, of five or six days in the forwardness of natural vegetation in the spring, and nearly a like difference in the blighting indications of autumn. But what is of equal importance, but less generally regarded, is the difference in climate produced by altitude. Three hundred feet of eleva- * An able writer in the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, in reference to these formations, terms the primi- tive, which, it seems, comprises the most elevated lands in Scot- land, the region of heath and coarse herbage; the transition, the natural region of the grasses; and the secondary, the region of cultivated grasses, and particularly adapted to arable and al- ternate husbandry. He assigns to each a particular and dis- tinct breed of cattle. To the first, or higher region, a thick- haired, small, hardy breed; to the second, or middle region, those of larger size ; and to the third, or lower region, those that are most sensitive to cold, gross feeders, and that acquire the great- est weight He goes on to show, from numerous examples, that these several breeds are the most profitable in the various dis- tricts assigned them ; and that they are manifestly improved, in most cases, by a judicious cross with the improved short-horns. There is much good sense in the writer's remarks ; and, al- though the descriptions of the three formations as to elevation does not fully apply in the United States, the facts we have copied afford useful suggestions to the American grazier. I. E 50 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. tion is considered equal to one degree of latitude in its influence upon temperature. Hence it does not follow, that because a crop will thrive and ripen in a given latitude upon tide-water, it will thrive and ripen equally well in the same latitude at a higher elevation. On the contrary, to be better understood, we say that, other tilings being alike, the climate on tide-water, in latitude 42, is similar to that of a place elevated three hundred feet above tide-water in latitude 41, or of a place nine hundred feet above tide-water in latitude 39 ; so that the table-land of Mexico, in latitude 16, at an elevation of seven thousand and eight hundred feet above the ocean, should possess about the same mean temperature, and produce the same natural and artificial growth, as Kingston upon the Hudson, though the extremes, both of heat and cold, are probably greater at the northern than they are at the southern point.* * " All the western part of the inlendancy of Vera Cruz," says Humboldt, in his New Spain, " forms the declivity of the Cordilleras of Anahuac. In the space of a day, the inhabitants descend from the regions of eternal snow to the plains in the vi- cinity of the sea, where the most suffocating heat prevails. The admirable order with which different tribes of vegetables rise one above another, by strata, as it were, is nowhere more per- ceptible than in ascending from the port of Vera Cruz to the ta- ole-land of Perote. We see there the physiognomy of the coun- try, the aspect of the sky, the form of plants, the figures of ani- mals, the manners of the inhabitants, and the kind of cultivation followed by them, assume a different appearance at every step of our progress. " As we ascend, nature appears gradually less animated, the beauty of the vegetable forms diminishes, the shoots become less succulent, and the flowers less coloured. The aspect of the Mexican oak quiets the alarms of travellers newly landed at Vera Cruz. Its presence demonstrates to him that he has left behind him the zone, so justly dreaded by the people of the North, under which the yellow fever exercises its ravages in New Spain. This inferior limit of oaks warns the colonise who inhabits the central table-land how far he n ay descend to- wards the coast, without dread of the mortal disease of the twit ito. Forests of liquid amber, near Xalapa, announce, by the freshness of their verdure, that this is the elevation at which RULES AND SUGGESTIONS IN HUSBANDRY. 51 These data are assumed from recollection, and may not he precisely correct. 24. The means of preserving and of augmenting the fertility of the soil are sufficiently indicated in the preceding suggestions. They consist mainly in manuring, draining, the admixture of earthy mate- rials, and th alternation of crops. 25. Stable and fold-yard dung is most profitably applied in an unfermented or partially fermented state, and to hoed and autumn-ripening crops. Fer- mentation diminishes the fertilizing properties of ma- nure. If this fermentation takes place in the soil, the gases, the volatile portion which first escapes from the putrifying mass, are retained in the mould, and serve to feed the crop. If fermentation takes place in the yard or upon the surface, the gases are wasted, and the dung undergoes farther loss from the rains which ordinarily leach it. Long manure should be spread broadcast, and well buried by the plough. 26. Short manure, or that which has undergone fermentation, is most beneficial when harrowed in upon arable lands, or spread upon the surface of grass-grounds. 27. Old meadows may be kept in a productive the clouds, suspended over the ocean, come in contact with the basaltic summits of the Cordillera. A little higher, near La Bandarila, the nutritive fruit of the banana-tree comes no longer to maturity. In this foggy and cold region, therefore, want spurs on the Indian to labour, and excites his industry. At the height of San Miguel, pines begin to mingle with the oaks, which are found by the traveller as high as the elevated plains of Perote, where he beholds the delightful aspect of fields sown with wheat. Eight hundred metres higher (two thousand and six hundred feet), the coldness of the climate will no longer ad- mit of the vegetation of oaks ; and pines alone cover the rock, who.-e summits enter the zone of eternal snow. Thus, in a few hours, the naturalist, in this miraculous country, ascend? the whole scale of vegetation, from the heliconia and the ban^n* plant, whose glossy leaves swell out into extrar rdinary dimet eion.s, to the stunted parachyma of the resinous trees." 52 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. state, in ordinary cases, by a tr mnial top-dressing with manure or compost ; or may be renovated and restored to a productive state by the modes we have already recommended in the Cultivator. 28. Composts are economical when made to ab- sorb fertilizing liquids which would otherwise be wasted ; or to decompose inert vegetable matter, as peat, earth, &c. 29. Lime, gypsum, marl, and ashes are powerful auxiliaries when applied to proper soils or suitable crops. Observation and experience will be the best guides in their application. They should all be ap- plied to the surface, or but superficially covered. 30. All vegetable and animal matters constitute the food of plants when they are rendered soluble, or capable of being dissolved in the water of the soil. 31. Bone-dust, horn-shavings, poudrette, woollen rags, urine, and animal carbon or burned bones, are concentrated manures, and should be used sparingly and with great care upon or near the surface of the soil. Pigeon and hen's dung partake much of the character of the preceding, and require precaution in their use. We think the best mode of applying the two first named is to mix ashes with them or long manure, just before they are put upon the soil, whereby they are brought speedily into a state of fermentation and decomposition. 32. The best guards against drought are keeping the soil deep, rich, clean, and mellow on the surface. 33. The more cattle that are well kept upon a farm, the more manure ; the more manure there is applied, the greater the product and the profit, and the greater the means of sustaining an increased stock of animals upon it. All of these advantages are increased when root-crops are made to enter largely into the system of culture. OLD AND NEW HUSBANDRY. 53 COMPARATIVE PROFITS OF THE OLD AND NEW HUSBANDRY. [We add, at the close of this chapter, the follow- ing statement, given in the London Farmer's Maga- zine from the pen of an eminent English agricul- turist, as exhibiting some of the reasons that induce the adoption there of the New System, and the com- parative profits resulting. That more labour on a given number of acres is required under the new system than under the old, is apparent ; but the in- crease in productiveness is in a still greater ratio, and so are the ultimate profits. By keeping but few acres under cropping, and doing the work of those few acres in the best manner, the farmer gains some important advantages ; he can retain more land in grass, and, of course, can raise more stock ; he is not wearing out his soils by improvident culture ; he re- ceives a far greater interest on the capital invested in his farming operations ; and when, in the course of rotation, his fields are seeded to grass, they are clean, in good tilth, and will not only produce great crops of pasture or grass, but be in fine order for their course in the production of grain crops.] It may be proper to premise that my farm consists of about 200 acres, comprising 30 of wood, 42 of pasture, and the rest arable. Of the arable, 85 acres are of good mixed soil, well adapted to turnips and barley, but not considered equal in value to the best wheat land ; the remainder consists partly of a hun- gry gravel and partly of clay, of very inferior quali - ty. It is cultivated on the Norfolk, or four-course system. 64 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 1. I dilrgcntly collect litter of every kind, sea- weed, furze, fern, leaves of trees, &c., for bedding my yards, in addition to the straw grown on t lie- land. In the last twelve months I have brought in about 50 wagon-loads of these materials : each wzs- on load gives employment to about three men for a day ; the total, therefore, being 150 days. 2. This increase of litter would avail little or no- thing if I did not keep an extra number of live-stock ; for I observe that many farmers do not even make their straw into good muck. I therefore fat about 40 hogs and four or five head of horned cattle every winter ; enough, in short, to consume half my Swed- ish turnips, which are carried into the yards for this purpose. The drawing, topping, and carting, togeth- er with the time occupied in looking after the stock, may be estimated at one man's employment during the winter months, equal to 150 days. 3. The removal of one half the turnips would in- jure the succeeding barley crop if I did not lay on, at the time of sowing the turnips, an extra quantity of manure, say 25 single horse cart-loads per acre, about 10 loads more than the usual allowance! This I am enabled to do, partly by the great quantity of lit- ter in my yards, partly by placing a bottom of earth or chalk under every dung-heap, and a thin covering of the same materials over the top. The practice of carting all my dung twice, first from the yards to bottoms prepared in the fields, and then on the land when wanted for use, of course employs many hands, as well as the turning the composts, and mixing the materials together. I believe I do not overrate the number of cart-loads transported annually on my farm at 2400 ; whereas on the same number of acres, a farmer who moved his dung only once, carrying it immediately from the yard, at the rate of 10 loads per acre for turnips, and the same for wheat, would transport only 600 cart-loads annually: The extra 1800 loads may give about 112 days employment, and OLD AND NEW HUSBANDRY 55 the turning of the compost about 20 more ; making together 132 days. 4. I have introduced this year the Norfolk practice of dibbling wheat. This occupies two men and six children for 30 days, at the rate of half an acre per man per day. Computing the six children equal to one man, the dibbling gives extra employment of 90 days. The expense is paid in the saving of seed, to say nothing of the increased produce, which is es- timated by the best Norfolk farmers at a sack per acre.* 5. Extra weeding, throwing ditches, draining, &c., may occupy about 80 days. Let us now recapitulate Collecting litter ...... 150 days Feeding stock in yards . . . .150 Carting earth and dung . . . .132 Dibbling wheat 90 Extra weeding, draining, &c. . . 80 Total 602 At 300 working days in the year, this is equal to two labourers extra, winter and summer, employed on a farm containing only about 120 acres of arable land. It is not easy to estimate with precision the in- creased amount of produce which a farmer may ex- pect to obtain in consequence of such an increased outlay in labour ; the less so as that increased produce does not make itself felt the first, second, or third year to the full extent : indeed, I have heard an in- telligent fanner say, that he has observed a progres- sive improvement in his land during no less than twenty years, from persisting in a system of high cultivation. I beg leave to introduce here the esti- mate of Von Thaer : * A sack is four bushels. 56 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. On a farm of 913 acres of good barley land. 'he olci tritem, t'udrr he in pmH or two crop* and * (allow. alirrtnn i)t en>. Produce in cattle ./ 210 f 1008 II'Ji'j-* Produce in gram . 894- 4291 20 2030- 9.744 Gross produce . . 1104 529920 327915,73920 Expenses of cul- tivation .... 537 2577 60 1051 5,044 30 Nett produce . . 567 2721 60 222810,694 40 The last line comprises rent, profit, interest on capital, tithes and taxes of any description, the ob- ject being simply to show the comparative results of the two systems of cultivation. The system is not founded on speculative views, but on extensive and accurate observation during a long series of years by a man well acquainted with the practical business of agriculture. Indeed, I may observe in passing, that there is no work in the English language to be compared with Von Thaer's, so far as my knowl- edge extends. I am not surprised at the low esti- mation of works on agriculture among practical farmers. Instead of containing, as they ought to do, a digest of all that is necessary to be known by a single competent hand, such works consist, for the most part, of loose collections of suggestions, spec- ulations, experiments, and observations ; correct and incorrect, authenticated and unauthenticated ; thrown together apparently almost at random, with- out order or discrimination. It will be seen, on comparing Von Thaer's num- bers, that his estimate of the expenses and produce on the two systems of cultivation respectively is in round numbers as follows : On the improved system the expenses of cultivation is double ; the gross pro- duce is triple ; the nett produce is quadruple. This statement, however, being expressed in so general and abstract a form, and resting, as it does, on the authority of an unknown author, is not likely, OLD AND NEW HUSBANDRY. 57 I fear, to weigh much with the majority of farmers. Let me then endeavour to bring the question home to them by a statement of a different kind. I sup- pose it will hardly be disputed that, by means of the system of high cultivation which I have described, a farmer may be expected to get per acre at least one sack of wheat, one of barley, a quarter of a ton of clover hay, and three tons of turnips additional Let us compute the value of these items : 4 bushels of wheat at 56s. ../.ISO $6 72 4 bushels of barley at 30* v ..0150 3 60 1-4 ton of hay at 3J 0150 360 3 tons of turnips at 5s. ... 15 3 60 4)/.3 13 4)$17 52 Average per acre 18 3 4 38 This on 120 acres amounts to M09 10 $52560 The labour of the extra hands through the piece at 11 shillings per week, amounts to 1.57 04 $274 56 I charge nothing for horse labour, since the cart- ing of dung, litter, &c., is performed at times when the team would otherwise be standing still. But as there is some additional weai and tear of carts and wagons, let us estimate this at 10000 4800 67 04 322 56 Extra profit arising to the occupier /.42 06 $203 04 The result of this computation, if correct, ought surely to encourage every farmer to be liberal in his expenditure in the article of labour ; and if not cor- rect, I hope some one will point out where I am wrong. The actual produce of the present year, in my own case, is as follows : my wheat, so far as yet threshed, averages from nine to twelve sacks per 58 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. acre ; the last is the produce of a new variety, whirl) proves very prolific. My barley has yielded, on an average, twelve sacks per acre. I have, however, one field of barley not yet threshed, from which I dn not expect to get more than nine sacks per acre, the soil being a poor gravel. The general character of the land I have already described. CHAPTER II OX THE NECESSITY AND MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUS- BANDRY. Report by Judge Buel. WE cannot be too often reminded of the contrast which exists between good and bad husbandry ; nor too often admonished to search into the causes of this difference, and to apply the needful remedies. The difference does not consist alone in a single crop or a single season : the soil in the one case is becoming more and more exhausted of fertility, and losing its intrinsic value ; while in the other its rel- ative worth is on the increase, and the difference in product is consequently annually increasing. We will illustrate our proposition by a comparison between American and Scotch husbandry now and sixty years ago. Sixty years ago the agriculture of Scotland was in a wretchedly low and unproductive condition, while the products of our yet unex- hausted soil were abundant. But sixty years ago the spirit of improvement fell upon Scotland ; her -gricultural society was instituted, and commenced ts useful labours, and was soon after greatly aided by the organization of a national board of agricul- ture ; agricultural surveys were made and published MEANS OF IMPROVING OUIl HUSBANDRY 59 ,)f every county ; the best practices of every district thus became known to the whole nation ; men of fortune and science turned their attention to the en- couragement and improvement of this parent art and the consequence has been, that a wonderful and salutary change has come over that land, fraught with abundance and with blessings. The value of land 'has in consequence been enhanced three and four fold, and its products have been increased in a proportionate ratio. " In fertile districts," says Sir John Sinclair, " and in propitious seasons, the farm- er may confidently expect to reap from' 32 to 40 bushels of wheat ; from 42 to 50 bushels of barley ; from 52 to 64 bushels of oats, and from 28 to 32 bushels of beans per statute acre. As to green crops, 30 tons of turnips, 3 tons of clover, and from 8 to 10 tons of potatoes per statute acre, may confi- dently be relied on. In the most favourable seasons the crops are still more abundant." Now what has been our progress in agriculture during the last sixty'years ] Has it not been retro- grade 1 We have, to be sure, obtained abundant crops from our rich virgin soils, and when these, un- der bad management, have become exhausted, we have occupied and exhausted others in their turn. But what is the condition now of the lands that were cultivated by our fathers half a .century ago 1 Do they produce the average crops which are given above as the products of Scottish husbandry, under all our favourable circumstances even of climate and of civil liberty 1 Are our crops half as large 1 Nay, are they more than a third as large 1 Do we get from our old districts an average of more than 10 to 13 bushels of wheat, of 14 to 17 of barley, or of 17 to 21 bushels of oats per acre "! At the close of the last and in the beginning of the present century, the surplus products of our Northern agriculture were ex, ported to an immense amount. Now* we import the * In 1838-39. 60 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. agricultural products of Europe to avert the evils of famine ! The cause of this remarkable difference in the surplus products of the soil may be partially owing to unpropitious seasons, but is mainly to be sought for in the neglect of our agriculture, both by the people and the government. In Europe, gov- ernments and influential individuals have bestowed spirited attention upon the improvement of agricul- ture, as constituting the basis of national prosperity and independence. While with us, improvement in husbandry has been considered a minor concern ; it has at least not received the consideration of the statesman or the political economist. Party politics, and local or personal schemes of aggrandizement, have so much engrossed the attention of the men who ought to lead in these matters, and who do lead in every other public improvement, that the humble claims of agriculture have failed to attract their no- tice or engage their attention, although it constitutes the base which supports the whole superstructure of civilized society. If we would preserve the su- perstructure with its embellishments, we must take care to make strong and permanent this foundation. Our farmers, too, seem generally indifferent or spir- itless in regard to the general improvement of our agriculture, either because they mistake their duty and true interest, or that, under the influence of a strange fatuity, they fear they shall sink as others rise. We should consider our soil as we do our free in- stitutions a patrimonial trust, to be handed down UN- IMPAIRED to posterity ; to be used, but not abused. Both are more easily impaired than they are resto- red; and both belong, in their pristine vigour and purity, as much to our children as they do to us. In some of the once populous and fertile districts of the old Continent, the productiveness of *he soil has been recklessly wasted by men, whose descendants have consequently become poor and wretched, and MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUSBANDRY. 61 tneir country almost a desert. In other portions, where the fertility of the soil has been sedulously preserved for ages, the population has continued prosperous, wealthy, and happy. It is undeniably true, that our general system oV' farming is bad ; that, in most parts of our country, the natural fertility of the soil has been gradually diminishing, and its products becoming less ; that the evil is increasing ; and that, without a radical reform, we shall, in the North, not only cease to have surplus products to pay for the foreign com- modities which long habit has rendered necessary to our convenience, but lack a supply even of bread- stuffs for our own population. To what degrading dependance will this course of things in a few years reduce us, unless prompt and efficient means are adopted to check our downhill course in the pro- ducts of agricultural labour! With the finest coun- try in the world, a population almost entirely agri- cultural, exempt from the enormous burdens, as tithes, rents, and poor-rates, which press like an in- cubus upon the agricultural labour of Europe, and dependant on foreign supplies for the means of sub- sistence ! ! The idea is humiliating, is alarming, to all who look to the ultimate prosperity and happi- ness of our country. Our maritime commerce de- pends upon contingencies which we can neither foresee nor control. Venice and Genoa, and Por- tugal and Spain, have each in turn had their " days of commercial prosperity ;" they successively rose to opulence and power, and successively sunk, the victims cf corruption, into effeminacy, vice, and des- potism. Manufactures too, as we have had abun- dant cause to know, are but a precarious dependence for national greatness. Commerce and manufac- tures are the shaft and capital of the social column, of which agriculture constitutes the base ; and with- out this base they can no more withstand the shocks and revolutions of time, than could the short -lived 62 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. glory of the nations we have namrrl. Great Britain now wields the trident, and the world is made tribu- tary to her workshops. Hut, great as she is in commerce and in manufactures, these are consider- ed secondary and auxiliary to her agricultural great- ness. Land is the basis of her national wealth ; it is the surplus marketable produce of her soil, says Sir John Sinclair, that is the source of all her polit- ical power, and of the personal enjoyment of her citizens ; and there is no source of domestic indus- try or of foreign commerce, he adds, that can in any respect be put in competition with the improved cultivation of her soil. The agriculture of Great Britain employs but two thirds of her population ; and yet the surplus products of her soil suffice to feed and support the other third, and to assist in supplying our deficiencies.* Our population is at least five sixths agricultural, yet during the lust two years we have had to import about ten millions worth of breadstuff's to supply our deficiency in this first element of life ; and even in the most favoura- ble seasons, the exports of the surplus products of our northern soil have been merely nominal. We will state one fact, derived from official docu- ments, which will demonstrate, beyond the power of refutation, our downward course in this great branch of national industry. It is this: the average in- crease of breadstuff's, passing from our canals to tide waters, from the great grain district of the West (the Flanders of America), has amounted to three * The reader must not infer from this that Great Britain has ordinarily a surplus of agricultural produce beyond her own wants. In favourable seasons she produces about enough to feed her population ; but is obliged to import breads) u Ms. some- times to a large amount, when there is a partial failure of crops. That Great Britain, with her limited territory and dense popu- lation, should occasionally have to do this, must be expected ; but the circumstances of our own country are so entirely dif- ferent, that it must be owing mainly to bad husbandry that we tuould ever be subject to such necessity. MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUSBANDRY. 63 and three quarters per cent., while our population has increased in the ratio of six per cent, per annum ! If such has been the deficiency in our grain-grow- ing, new and fertile districts, to meet the wants of our increasing population, how much greater must* that deficiency have been in the exhausted soils of old settled districts ] Many portions of our country, which once exported grain, have, by bad husbandry, become dependant upon the comparatively new set- tlements, or upon foreign supplies, for this indispen- sable necessary of life. This remark will apply to almost our entire Atlantic border. Will any math- ematician tell us how long it will require, according to the disproportionate ratio of increase between our population and our means of subsistence, to re- duce us to a state of absolute dependance, or to a state of national want and famine ? It is apparent, from the examples of improvement which are witnessed in many districts of our coun- try, that we CAN improve the general condition of our agriculture if we will adopt a wise and ener- getic policy. Nay, we have a demonstration of the practicability of doing it in the now palpable benefits of the law to improve our agriculture, passed in 1819. That law involved an expenditure of 40 or $50,000, and expired in 1824. It was found fault with by many from political motives, and by more from a spirit of envy in those who either had not the en- terprise or the talent to compete successfully for the rewards which it gave to industry and skill. And besides, the law, in some instances, was badly, we may almost say corruptly, executed. Yet, under all the disadvantages of want of organization, of in- experience and abuse, has not that expenditure been like manure spread upon our soiU Did not that law excite a laudable emulation among the whole farming community, and bring into action more skill, more industry, and more improvement 1 Has it not been instrumental in greatly improving our farm 64 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. stock, our farm implements, and modes of culture ! Has it failed to increase the farm products of any one county, of a respectable population, to the amount of the total expenditure ? Or has it failed to return ihto the treasury, every year, the gross amount of that expenditure, in the form of canal tolls upon the increased productions of the soil? We do not put these questions because we have any doubts in the matter, but to bring the subject home to the calm and deliberate consideration of those reflecting men whose duty and interest it is to scan, to judge, and to act wisely upon a question of momentous impor- tance to our country. If these men think with us, that the law of 1819 has amply remunerated the state for its expenditure on the increased tolls on our canals, and that it has added millions to the value of our annual agricultural products, they will not hesitate to renew that policy which has been productive of so much public good. The improve- ments of the last eighteen years might have been respectable without the aid of that law ; but it was that which gave a new impetus to improvement. The fairs and exhibitions which it produced taught our farmers that there was ye't much to learn in their business ; that they could improve in their farm stock, in their farm implements, in theif seeds, and in their modes of culture ; and many of them resolutely determined to profit, and did profit, by the lessons of instruction which they then imbibed. And when the spirit of improvement has begun, it is like civil revolution ; it seldom retrogrades. One im- provement leads to others as naturally as the active mind, having attained to one branch of knowledge, aspires to other and higher branches. Our Southern brethren say we are in advance of them greatly in agricultural improvement. If this is so, we owe it to the law that was passed, upon Gov. Clinton's rec- ommendation, in 1819. It requires no science, and very little art, to weai MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUSBANDRY. 65 out and exhaust the most fertile soil. The process is simple : take from it all you can by close crop- ping for a few continuous years, and return to it nothing in the form of manure, and the work is done, or far advanced. In this business we have shown ourselves to be no mean adepts. But it does require science, and art, and perseverance, and cap- ital, to restore fertility to a soil which has become exhausted. This we hav* not yet sufficiently learn- ed, but it should be our next lesson ; and the sooner we begin, the sooner shall we profit by it. Agricultural improvement is slowly developed, at least to superficial observers. It requires years to renovate the fertility of an exhausted soil, to im- prove the stock of a farm, or to realize the benefits which result from draining, from alternating crops, and from root culture. We are much in the habit of calculating upon immediate gains, without looking to remote and ultimate benefits. We saw not the change when the law of 1819 was in force, because its benefits were but partially developed. But we now hear the remark from hundreds, that the ap- propriation of 1819 was one of the most beneficial to the state that has ever been made by the Legisla- ture. The popular vote of the state would never have sanctioned the construction of the Erie and Champlain canals ; and yet the wisdom of the meas- ure is now sanctioned by an enlightened world. Al- though the construction of these canals may have operated prejudicially to some individuals and dis- tricts, yet the benefits which have resulted to the whole state have amply compensated for any person- al inconvenience or injury they may have caused. So with the law to encourage agriculture ; many did not foresee its benefits, who now acknowledge that they are palpable and important. We must judge of public measures by their fruits ; and, before we are competent to do this, the seed must germinate, the plant grow and blossom, and the fruit mature. I F 66 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. This is particularly the case in all measures to im- prove agriculture. It is the province of wisdom to look ahead ; to sow the useful seed, and wait the coming harvest for the recompense. We must sow in the spring, and cultivate well in the summer, if we would gather an abundant harvest in autumn. We may, too, almost lay it down as a maxim, that THE MENTAL AND MORAL CONDITION OF AN AGRICULTURAL DIST1UCT IS IN THE RATIO OF ITS IMPROVEMENT IN HUS- BANDRY. To borrow the spirit of a political saying, as goes agriculture, so goes the state. There is cer- tainly much truth in the remark, that where the farming is slovenly and bad, ignorance, indolence, and vice most generally abound ; and that, where agricultural improvement is most advanced, the pop- ulation are most industrious, most intelligent, and most moral. Knowledge begets a love of knowl- edge ; and when a man has acquired enough of it to convince him of its utility in his business, he con- siders it a part of his farming capital, and he is anx- ious to increase his stock of it as the readiest means of improving his condition in life, independent of the mental pleasures which it imparts. But, not having acquired the requisite degree to enable him to ap- preciate its value, or to show him the defects of his system of management, he plods on, with listless indifference, in the ways of his fathers ; and as great success nowadays seldom rewards such labours, he too often becomes spiritless and dissatisfied, and relaxes into indolence, of which vice is too frequent- ly the concomitant. Under the existing state of things, how does it be- come us to act 1 What are we to do * Shall we fold our arms, leave agriculture to decline farther or to shift for itself, and depend upon more propi- tious seasons and other Providential interpositions to supply our wants ? Shall we depend upon the cotton, rice, and tobacco of the South, which consti- tute our almost entire exports, to pay for the foreign MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUSBANDRY. 67 commodities which we consume in the North T Or shall we, animated by the enterprise and love of in- dependence which were, wont to animate our fathers, take it resolutely in hand to provide abundantly for ourselves, by encouraging and enlightening agricul- ture, elevating its character, and stimulating it to new efforts by suitable honours and rewards ? As regards the means of improvement, much has been done and much is doing by the agricultural periodicals of the day. The first of these was estab- lished at Baltimore, by John S. Skinner, in 1819 ; and we can now enumerate nearly twenty that are diffusing light, awakening enterprise, and inciting to industry in every section of our country. Probably one hundred thousand farmers are now deriving in- struction and improving their practice from the pe- rusal of these journals ; and it is not extravagant to say, that the benefits they are dispensing to the na- tion are equivalent to millions of dollars every year. But what is one hundred thousand compared to the gross agricultural population of the union I and how much greater would be their benefits if these jour- nals had access to every farmhouse, or even to every schoolhouse, in the state ! Besides giving much that is useful in the science, or the first principles of husbandry, they are continually advising their readers of every improvement which is being made in the practical operations of the farm ; of new seeds and plants^ and the mode of cultivating them, and of every improvement in labour-saving machines. By concentrating, as it were in a focus, the prac- tical knowledge of the country, and then scattering it, like the solar rays, into every corner of the land, to fructify the earth, thus rendering it subservient to the benefit of all, some individuals have been enabled no obtain a clear profit of fifty, one hundred, and even one hundred and fifty dollars on an acre, who had never obtained a profit of thirty dollars before. And the benefits of these splendid results are not confined 68 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. to the individuals who effected them : they are her- alded in the agricultural journals ; become known all over the country ; and every new and successful effort at improvement soon has its fifty, its hundred, and its thousand imitators. Suppose, for instance, what we hope will yet prove tme, that an individual should discover an effectual preventive of the ravages of the Hessian fly or grain-worm instead of only ben- efiting him and a few neighbours, or becoming grad- ually known, as in olden times, the knowledge of it would now be spread in a few days, by the agricultu- ral periodicals, into every comer of the land, and the advantages of the discovery would thus amount to millions in a single year. So with every other im- provement in husbandry. It is not the province, nor is it the study of news journals and literary editors to deal extensively in agricultural concerns. They seldom publish even the incidental notices which are designed to subserve the interests of husbandry without a special request, and a fee in the bargain, as though they had no personal interest in the prog- ress of agricultural improvement. We must infer from these premises, that every man will promote his own interest, and benefit the public, by patroni- sing and endeavouring to extend the circulation of our agricultural papers. They tend to no possible evil, while they are certainly calculated to do much good. Another means of facilitating agricultural improve- ment is to introduce class-books into our common schools for the senior boys, which shall teach those elementary principles of science which are indispen- sable to the successful practice of agriculture. A boy may be almost as easily taught to analyze soils, and to comprehend the leading principles of animal and vegetable physiology, as he can to commit to memory pages of matter, the knowledge of which seldom serves him any useful purpose in manhood. We must begin in youth if we would bring about any material improvement in the habits of society. The MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUSBANDRY 69 good seed that is sown in the springtime of Ufe ie never lost : it will ultimately sprout, and grow, and give its increase, as surely as the grain which wa deposite in a fertile soil. The tree will grow a> t ... twig is bent. Youth is the season to get instruction in the principles of the business which is to consti- tute the employment of life; and the more knowl edge boys acquire in these principles before they start in life for themselves, the more likely they are to prosper and become useful to society. The time that the senior boys in school devote to the business of the farm, will give to studies which are connected with their present and future business an interest and an influence which will be as abiding as life. But we would go farther in the business of agri- cultural instruction ; we would establish schools to teach simultaneously both the theory and practice of agriculture. We would carry something of the theory into the primary schools, and much of the practice into the schools of science. Veterinary schools, to instruct in the anatomy and management of domestic animals, have long been established in Europe ; their usefulness has been highly extolled, and their numbers are increasing. Switzerland, Prussia, and France have also their schools, in which the science and practice of agriculture are taught to hundreds of young men, who are thereby enabled to manage their estates with greater benefit to them- selves and the public, or to obtain honourable and lucrative situations as managers for others. We give bounties on our fisheries, to make them a nur- sery for seamen ; but we give none upon agriculture, which is the best nursery of freemen. We spend millions annually to protect our commerce ; but we give nothing to improve agriculture, which is the ba- sis and support of that commerce. We protect out manufactures by a heavy tariff; yet agriculture, which furnishes the raw materials, and buys the fab- rics which the manufacturer consumes and vends, 70 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. is left to protect itself. We have expended nearly three millions in this state to aid in educating al- most exclusively professional and other gentlemen ; but \ve have given nothing exclusively to educate our agriculturists, who constitute the great mass of our population. And yet there is probably no em- ployment in life capable of being more benefited by a professional education (in which a professional ed ucation would conduce more to the public prosperity) than that of managing our farms. A proper knowl- edge of soils, manures, vegetables, and animals ; of the agency of caloric, of moisture, of the atmo- sphere, and of light, in the economy of vegetable and animal growth, is of the greatest use to the' farmer, and yet in what existing school can be acquired this knowledge, during the period of life in which he ought to obtain his practical information t All impressions of general reform, to be success- ful, must be first made upon the ductile minds of the young. The old are apt to be too obstinately wed- ded to their juvenile habits and prejudices. Men are prone to grow up in the creeds in which they are early instructed be they Christian, Mohammedan, or pagan be they those of good or bad husbandry. And if our youth are instmcted in the first elements of agriculture, and taught to consider it, what it truly is, an employment calculated, above all others, to promote individual and national prosperity and hap- piness, they will aspire to honour and distinction in its labours ; and will not so generally press to the cities, to the bar and the counter, for the means of gratifying a laudable ambition. Society, too, will reap an abundant reward from the change. \Ve will illustrate this by an historical fact. Ernest, former duke of Saxe Gotha, had his people instructed by compendiums of every kind of useful knowledge, in- cluding music and drawing, that were put into the hands of youth in all the country schools, and which in a few years entirely changed the face of his prin- MEANS OF IMPROVING OUR HUSBANDRY. 71 cipality ; and " it is amazing," adds our author, who wrrte some years afterward, "to observe the differ- ent irradiations of genius in this and the adjacent circles." The effect was alike beneficial in the im- provement of the soil and the mind. And the exam- ple of Saxe Gotha probably led to the excellent sys- tem of school instruction in agriculture which has since been introduced by Prussia and most of the German states. It has been stated, as an objection to the establish- ment of agricultural schools, that they would be only accessible to the rich. This objection, even if well founded, would not go to lessen their value to the state : for if we could convert a few hundred drones, as the sons of rich men may generally be termed, into working bees, the public, as well as the young men themselves, would certainly be gainers by the transformation. The complaint is, that we have too many consumers and too few producers. This would tend to restore an equilibrium : for the exam- ples of the rich, be they good or bad, have an impo- sing influence on the middling and lower classes ; and thus to improve the habits and morals of the rich, would be the surest way to improve the condition of society generally. Hence, therefore, if agricultural schools can be made instrumental in annually con- verting a few hundred of the idle and dissipated sons of wealth (or, rather, in preserving them from vicious and wrong habits) into wholesome, industrious farm- ers, agricultural pursuits will become more respecta- ble and be more followed ; and we venture to pre- dict, that then we shall not long continue to do, what we have done import potatoes from Ireland and Germany, hay and oats from S4^tland, eggs from France, and breadstuff's from all the countries of Europe, including the dominions of the autocrat of Russia and of the Grand Turk. But it is not exactly true that the rich alone would find access into agricultural schools, were such es- 72 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. tablished. The rich rely upon their paternal wealth, and have not often the ambition to become useful, aJ least by the habits of manual labour, which would be rigidly required in such schools. These schools would be filled with the youth from all classes of so- ciety, who aspire to fortune and independence by a manly exercise of their mental and physical .powers. Young men of this description, even from the poorer classes, do obtain admission into literary institutions, :>!! they would into agricultural ones with still greater facility, since the terms of admission here would be more reasonable, and with an equal pros- pect of distinction and usefulness in after life. But, whether these schools were filled from the rich or the poorer classes, or, as we have supposed, from all classes indiscriminately, a certain and great public good would result from their establishment : the pu- pils would go to swell the producing classes of soci ety with habits of application and usefulness, minds imbued with scientific knowledge, bodies hale and robust, and hands practised in all the manual opera- tions of the farm. [NOTE. The foregoing just and forcible remarks on the necessity of improving our husbandry, are from a paper read by Judge Buel before the State Agricultural Society in 1838. A few remarks re- lating to the agricultural periodical, the Cultivator, are omitted, as not precisely in place in this volume, however just in themselves. It is to be regretted that we have no correct or authentic means of deter- mining the amoqfl| of any given article of produce at different periods of time ; still there can be little question that the opinion above expressed, that there is a decided falling off in the quantity of grain pro- duced per acre in the older settled parts of our COUD ROOT CULTURE. 73 try, is correct ; and there is little room for douln that the same result will follow in the newer districts, unless a more rational mode of culture>is introduced and practised. That course has been pointed out in a lucid manner in Chapter I. of this volume. In a few words, it consists in draining, tillage, manures, roots, and a rotation of crops. The ruinous practice of exhausting our lands by continued cropping must be abandoned; roots and clover must take their places with the grains ; and a better^and more eco- nomical system of making and managing manures must be adopted before our agriculture can rank with that of the most favoured nations. Editors.] CHAPTER III. ROOT CULTURE. The Potato. Manures. Early Potatoes. Choice of Kinds. Mode of Planting. Harvesting the Crop. Sorting the Cro^. Wintering the Trap. Culture. Beet. Carrot. Parsnip. Turnip. Introductory Remarks. METHODS OF FEEDING ROOTS. Report by Judge Buel. Col. Meacham on the Carrol and Ruta Baga. I. THE POTATO. EVERY farmer cultivates the potato, but few farm- ers cultivate it as profitably as they might. The average crop does not probably exceed one hundred bushels an acre.* It may be made to exceed three [* We are inclined to think that Judge Buel has underrated in this place the average of the potato crop in this country. In some instances in which the quantity on considerable tracts has 74 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. hundred bushels the acre, and without increasing materially the expense of culture. It is a reproach to us, that thi&foot is brought three thousand miles from England; Ireland, and Germany, to supply the wants of our city population. Let us try to do better. It is in the hope that we may contribute to increase our average product, so as to supply the demands of our own market, that we give the fol- lowing directions for its culture. Soil and preparation. A mistaken notion prevails with many, that the best potatoes are grown on a warm, sandy soil. The reverse of this is true. The best potatoes, tfs to quality, are believed to be grown in the west of England, Ireland, Nova Scotia, Maine, and other high latitudes, and particularly in humid climates. In a dry season, the quality and quantity are with us not as good as they are in a moist and cool one. The potato zone does not extend south of New- York : that is, its quality deteriorates south of that latitude ; and it probably has the most con- genial climate between 42 and 45. If these as- sumptions are well founded, then it should be our aim to plant upon a cool and mcist, though not wet soil, which approximates nearest to the temperature of the best potato-growing districts elsewhere. The potato will grow anywhere if there are vegetable matter and moisture, but it will be inferior upon dry sands, and stiff or wet clays. It does best in loams or reclaimed swamps ; and it pays well for a good dressing of long manure, and should, if practicable, be planted on the first furrow of a grass ley. If the sod is old and tough, plough deep in September, hav- been ascertained, it has averaged from 150 to 200 bushels per acre. In the county of Susquehanna, for example, the aver- ago for the whole county was about 175 bushels per acre. Some towns have given over 200, and a few, perhaps, have fallen below an average of 100 bushels There is, hawever, no room for doubt, that the average is much less than it would be wilh a bettor system of cultivation. Ed*.} ROOT CULTURE 75 ing first spread the manure, if to be had at the time ; but if the ley is one of clover, of one or two years old, the ploughing may be postponed till spring. If ploughed in September without manure, this may be spread upon the ground just before planting, and buried with a light furrow, so as not to turn up the vegetable matter of the sod. In our practice of al- ways sowing clover with small grains, we seldom fail of having a tolerable grass ley for the corn and potatoes which are to follow; and its value to the crop doubly compensates for the cost of the clover- seed. The potato has a system of roots, which strike deep if the soil will permit, to collect food for the plant. A decomposing sod, with the manure which should accompany it, turned with a deep fur- row, affords the best aliment for the plant, and is de- posited where the roots naturally seek it, and where it remains cool and moist. The stolens have a dif- ferent office to perform. They require more air and heat, shoot horizontally, and, if buried deep in culture by the plough, will produce a new set near the sur- face. So that a rich, deep soil, having a good sod and a mellow surface, is best adapted to this plant. Harrow thoroughly before planting. Manures. The value of manures to the potato crop can scarcely be overrated ; and, indeed, a large crop is seldom obtained without this auxiliary. Long or unfermented manure is preferable to that which is rotten. And remember, this manure does not be- come more impaired in value for the crop which is to follow the potato than if it were summer-yarded. We prefer applying it broadcast, with an unsparing hand, previous to the last ploughing; and we ap- prove of Mr. French's practice, of sowing plaster upon the manure instead of afterward applying it to the growing plants. Seed. A thousand and one experiments have been made, and with various results, to determine the rel- ative value of large, medium, or small seed of cul 76 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. or whole tubers. We think the majority of these ex- periments is in favour of medium, or a little more than medium sized roots for seed, cut into sets of two or three eyes. On the principle that like pro- duces like, such a seed will produce a crop of the most desirable size for the table. Each eye forms a distinct plant, like a kernel of corn ; and the size of the tuber, and not of the set which is taken from it, will give character to the product. If the variety has a dwarf habit of growth, more sets may be put in a hill, or they may be planted nearer in the drill, than where the growth is tall, or where the tops send out many lateral shoots. Rich ground will also sustain a greater number of plants than poor ground. The Rohan, and we are told, also, the forty-fold, re- quire thin planting. The object should be to give the plants a good pasture, and not to have the top-s so thick as to exclude the solar rays from the soil. To produce early potatoes, or to bring a crop to ear- ly maturity, it is advised to gather the seed before it has attained maturity, to expose it some days to the influence of the sun, and to select the top ends for the earlier crop. We have a strong illustration of the correctness of these conclusions in London's Gardeners' Magazine. A correspondent of that jour- nal made the experiment : he dug every other row of a potato patch for seed while the vines were fresh, and exposed them in the sun until they had become green. In February he cut them crosswise, leaving the bottom and top in separate sets. He cut those which had been suffered to ripen in a similar man- ner, and planted the four kinds in alternate rows. They were all planted on stable litter, and covered with about three inches of earth. A part of each kind received no subsequent earthing. We give the result in the writer's own words. "The early potatoes not earthed up grew close around the stock or stem, like eggs in a nest, and so near the surface of the ground that they might be ROOT CULTURE. 77 picked off with the finger, leaving the stock or stem uninjured, to produce more potatoes from the run- ners. From the eye-sets of the unripe tubers we had a supply every day for a fortnight, when those of the bottom sets came into use for another fort- night ; at that time, potatoes from the eye or top sets from the ripe seed came into use, and were succeed- ed by potatoes from the bottom sets of the ripe seed. Those kept for seed, or the table, were earthed up as usual, and each row produced almost as large a crop as any two rows not earthed up the luxury of an early potato being a greater object than the quantity." Choice of sorts. There is a difference of nearly one half in the nutritious or fattening properties of different varieties of the potato. Those which are best for table are best for market and best for farm- stock, though their yield is generally less than thai of the coarser varieties. Those in the highest es- teem are the Pink-eyes, Mercers, Sault St. Marie, St. Helena; and almost every district has its othei favourites. The Rohan, we think, will ultimately obtain the ascendancy, on account of economy iu seed, its yield, and its intrinsic merits.* Mode of planting. Three modes are practised : in hills and in drills, as a distinctive crop, and in alter- nate double or treble rows with Indian corn. The propriety of planting in hills or drills depends upon the condition of the soil ; if it has been thoroughly subdued by the plough, drills are to be preferred, as * The following remark is in this connexion worthy the at tention of the practical agriculturist. " The first point to which I wish to direct the attention of the cultivator of the potato is, the age of the variety ; for it has long been known, that every vari ety cultivated gradually bf comes debilitated, and loses a large portion of its powers of producing ; and 1 believe that almost every variety now cultivated in this and the adjoining counties has long since pass ed the period of its age at which it ought to have resigned its place to a successor.' 1 '' T. A. KNIGHT. Farmer's Instructo; i., 193, pub- lished by Harpei & Hrotlf era. 78 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. they are cultivated with the least expense, and gen- erally give the largest product, though they in gen- eral demand the most labour in gathering the crop. The practice of raising potatoes with corn, by al ternating two or three rows of each, has been emi nently successful where it has been conducted with spirit : the product of the mixed crop has been greater than where each has had a separate depart- ment of the field. We omit to notice the Irish mode of planting in beds, as involving an economy in land which we do not require, and an expenditure of la- bour which we cannot afford. The seed should not be buried more than three or four inches, and the covering should be least in wet ground. Culture. The culture of the potato, to be profit- able, should be almost wholly performed with the plough, cultivator, and harrow ; little other labour being required with the hand-hoe than may be bare- ly sufficient to destroy the weeds which these imple- ments do not reach. In the first place, the seed may be covered with the plough, whether in hills or in drills. In the next place, the harrow should be used, before the plants are above ground, to reduce the ridges made by the plough in planting, to pulver- ize the surface, and to destroy the young weeds. In the third place, the cultivator or the plough, turn- ing a superficial furrow from the plants, may be in- troduced when they are not more than six inches above the surface. In the fourth place, the plough may be used to turn a light furrow to the plants, so as to give their stems an earthing of three or four inches ; but the plough should run twice nearly in the same track, that the ridges upon which the crop grows may be rather flat and broad than pointed rather concave than convex calculated rather to re- tain than to throw off water. Here the hand-hoe may be of use in gathering around the stems a por- tion of the earth raised by the plough, in destroying weeds among the plants, and in perfecting the earth- ROOT CULTURE 79 ing or hilling process ; for the crop shou'.d receive no farther earthing after the plants are in blossom, when the stolens have shot forth, and the tubers be- gan to form. Earthing after this time causes a new set of stolens near the surface, and a growth of a new set of tubers, which, in a measure, rob the ori- ginal ones of their food. We have seen, by the ex- periments quoted in raising early potatoes, that the natural place for throwing out stolens, or roots which produce the tubers, is the point of the stem which first comes to the light and atmosphere ; that if this point is covered in due time with two or three inches of mould, stolens are protruded into it which produce the potato ; but that, if this earth is wanting, the stolens cannot protrude, but the potatoes grow at the surface around the stem. After the earthing process described, no farther care is required than to destroy weeds, which may be done with the hoe, or, if long omitted, by the hand. In harvesting the crop, although we have made much progress in improvement, much remains to be done. The hoe, the dung-fork, the spade, the po- tato-hook, and the plough, followed by the harrow, have each their several advocates. From our experi- ence, we should choose the last first, and the first last, where the crop is in drills ; and we should pre- fer the hook where it is in hills. With the potato- hook, when the crop has been in hills, we have thrown out fourteen bushels of pink-eyes in an hour, and twenty-seven bushels of the Rohan, though in neither case did we gather the potatoes ; but in both the digging process was thoroughly done. Lawson & Son's potato lifter, figured and described in vol. v., p. 114 of the Cultivator, seems to be calculated to abridge the harvest labour of this crop. Sorting the crop. This is an economical process, though little attended to, and may be more profitably done before the crop is housed or pitted than after- ward. There is a portion of the crop, often a fourth 00 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. or a third, which is small, and unfit for the table, for market, or for seed, but which is as good as the large ize !or farm-stock, and which can be econom- ically used for this purpose, in fattening hogs and beef cattle, in autumn and winter. If they are sep- arated at the harvest, they are always in readiness ; if not, the sorting is tedious, or is neglected, and the small potatoes are the last that remain, cither for the table or for seed. With us the work is a trifling affair. We have a wire sieve or riddle, the meshes of which are of a size to admit those of a given size, appropriated to swine or cattle, to pass through. As the crop is brought home, a peck is thrown into the riddle, and, by shaking it half a minute, the sorting is completed. Wintering the crop. The best mode of preserving potatoes in perfection through the winter is to bury them in shallow pits, in a dry and porous soil (a side hill is the best), where they will be free from water, and to cover them first with straw, and then with earth, and, if convenient, coarse manure over the earth, so that they shall be secure from frost. Whether put in pit or cellar, they should be dry, that is, free from external moisture. Potatoes put into the cellar should be kept as cool as possible without freezing, and air should be excluded by a light covering of mould or sand. A dry, warm at- mosphere will speedily impair their good properties. In using potatoes, they are improved by boiling, es- pecially for pigs. The potato belongs to a family of poisonous plants, the solanum; the boiling 01 steaming of which is believed to expel the deleteri- ous, and to improve its nutritious properties. To neat cattle and horses they may be fed raw with manifest advantage. In cooking them for the table, it is preferable to do it by steam. The mode of do- ing it is simple. Take a piece of sheet iron, of the size of the bilge of your pot or kettle ; perforate it whh half inch holes ; then clip off two parallel sides ROOT CULTURE. 81 so as to admit it into the mouth of the vessel ; put it in ; put some water under, and some potatoes over this perforated iron ; and, as the water boils, the po- tatoes will be steamed and prepared for the table : or, if to be boiled, put them into the vessel while the water is cold, that they nay heat through as the tem- perature of the liquid is increased, so that the inside may cook as well as the outside ; and, when they are near being done, turn off the water, remove the cover, and leave them to dry over a moderate heat. We will close this article, already longer than we had intended, by giving the culture, expense, product, and estimated profit of two crops raised by our- selves, in different years, upon the Albany barrens, the soil a sand-loam. Culture. The field was in clover. We applied twenty-five loads of long manure, in May, to an acre, and dropped it at suitable distances for spreading ; marked out two lands of equal breadth, twenty feet ; and, having the seed prepared, proceeded to planting, which occupied three men, a boy and team, three half days. One man took charge of the team ; a second raked the manure into the furrow, and trod it down as he went on ; and a third spread the ma- nure, and, with the boy, dropped the seed. The rake followed the first furrow, and the manure from two and a half feet surface was drawn into it, and the sets or seed dropped at eight inches distance on the manure. The plough followed and turned three fur- rows, or made three bouts. In the mean time, the manure and seed were deposited in the first furrow of the second land, to which the plough followed, and in this way they alternated till the planting was completed. The ground was then rolled, harrowed as the plants began to break the surface, and subse- quently ploughed between the rows, and hand-hoed once. About half the field was a dry sand-knoll, which suffered severely from drought ; and the crop here was but a little more than fifty per cent, of the other half The product was ascertained by the ng I.--G 82 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. ricultural committee ; and, as stated by them, em- braced the average of the entire acre. EXPEXSK OP EXPERIMENT I. Man and team 1} days, ploughing in seed 2 00 Two men and boy planting same 2 00 25 loads of manure, at 75 cents . 18 75 25 bushels seed, at 50 cents . 1250 Rolling, harrowing, and ploughing 1 00 Hand-hoeing once ... 1 50 15 days taking up crop (a long time) 1 1 25 Rent 5 00 954 00 $188 38 . 54 00 . $134 38 45 25 350 bushels large potatoes, at 50 cents . $179 50 71 do. small do., at 12i cents . . ' 8 88 Deduct charges .... Nett profits in experiment 1 At 2s. a bushel, the nett profit would have been . EXPERIMENT II. Culture. This crop had been preceded by wheat. It had 25 loads of long manure spread and ploughed in. The ground was then harrowed, furrowed or listed with two and a half feet intervals, the seed dropped at eight inches, covered with a plough, a furrow on each side, and the ridges rolled. The after culture consists of two horse and hand hoe- ings. The crop was harvested with the plough and potato-hook. The product was determined by the agricultural committee. EXPENSE. One ploughing ... $2 00 25 loads manure, at 75 cents 18 75 25 bushels seed, at 50 cents 12 50 Harrowing, furrowing, rolling, and horse-hoeing 3 00 Planting and covering, 3 days 2 25 Hand-hoeing, 2 days . 1 50 Taking up crop 9 00 Bent 5 00 CXI ROOT CULTURE. 83 183 bush, mercnantable potatoes, at 50 cts. $191 50 97 do. small do., at 12$ cents . . 9 62* $201 12 j Deduct charges 54 00 Nett profits $147 12J At 2s. per bushel, the profit would have been about . 52 00 In these estimates the whole manure is charged to the crops. Deducting one half, as is customary, the profits would have been $9 37 1-2 more in each experiment. u. BEETS, Of whatever variety, whether for sugar or for cattle, require the same soil and the same culture. The mangold-wurzcl or scarcity-beet has hitherto been the principal kind cultivated for farm-stock, though the blood-beet occasionally, and th" sugar- beet recently, have both been grown for this 9 irpose. Beets, like all tap-rooted plants, require a deep soil, as it seldom happens that the roots enlarge much in the subsoil, or below where the earth is moved by the plough or spade. Moist loams, either of sand or clay, suit them best ; though they grow on all soils not wet or very stiff, provided they are made rich and mellow. The mangold-wurzel will do better on poor lands than the other sorts. The deeper the ground is ploughed, the more thor- oughly it is pulverized, and the more intimately the manure is incorporated with the earthy matters, the better is the prospect of a crop. Pulverization is particularly necessary to the germination of the seed. The harrow should therefore be efficiently used be- fore the seed is deposited in the soil. The manner of planting the beet, of whatever kind, is in drills, which may be done either by the drill- barrow or the hand. Mangold-wurzel should be in rows twenty-seven to thirty inches apart, and the 84 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. plants, when out of the reach of insects, thinned to twelve or fifteen inches in the row, as the object is to obtain large size. The table and sugar beet may be sown in rows from twelve to twenty-four inches apart, and left to grow at six to ten inches in the rows, the object being not great size, but good qual- ity : it being found that the quality of medium or small- sized roots is better, both in regard to flavour and saccharine matter, than that of very large roots. Some prefer soaking the seed, and some even sprout- ing it before it is sown ; as it is husky, and, in case of dry weather, frequently does not germinate. But if the seed is put into fresh-ploughed ground, planted early in the season, and a roller passed over the surface after it is covered, or the ground pressed with the hoe or foot, it seldom fails to grow. The seed should be covered from three fourths to an inch deep ; and as the young plants are liable to be destroyed by the grub, and even the turnip-fly, it is advisable to sow thick, say from three to four pounds of seed to the acre. In the after-culture, the objects are to keep the crop clean and the soil mellow. The first dressing may be light, with a cultivator, where the breadth between the rows will admit ; but when the plants are well established, the cultivator or small plough should be run deeper, and this operation may after- ward be repeated to advantage. The crop should be harvested as soon as it has ceased growing, which is known by the under leaves turning yellow ; as, if left in the ground longer, the roots deteriorate in value. Mangold-wurzel is the German name : mangold a beet, wurzel a root. Their culture was introduced into England, from Germany, about 18*20, and more recently they have attracted considerable attention in this country. In 1830, the Doncaster Agricultu- ral Association, an institution which has rendered vast service to the farming interest, sent abroad a ROOT CULTURE. 85 circular among the best English farmers, with a view of collecting all the information upon the culture and use of this vegetable which was likely to be useful. Nineteen answers were received from large growers of the root, and the society published, in a condensed form, their purport. The report states that " The answers are from every description of soil, the greatest number (nine) from sand, not, it ap- pears, because that kind of soil is most favourable to it, but because, on sands, fallow crops of all sorts are more generally grown than any other; six are from peat, four from clay, four from chalk or lime- stone. " The method of sowing appears to be drilling or dibbling on ridges, from twenty-seven to thirty inch- es apart, and afterward singling out the plants in the rows at about sixteen or eighteen inches from each other : the period of sowing any time between the middle of April and end of May ; on cold soils ear- lier than on warm. " The tops and leaves should be ploughed into the land immediately.* In comparing the quantity of manure used for Swedish turnips and mangold-wur- zel, it appears from the answers of those farmers who have tried mangold- wurzel longest, that both re- quire nearly an equal quantity, ten or twelve two- horse cart-loads per acre. With respect to the com- parative product of the two crops, it appears to be in favour of mangold-wurzel in the proportion of about one fifth. The greatest weight obtained is by Mr. Simpson, of Babworth 54 tons. Of our corre- spondents, ten decidedly prefer mangold-wurzel, two give a partial preference to Swedes, and the rest have not expressed an opinion. " The feeding properties of mangold-wurzel and Swedes are an important part of our investigation. * After the rocts are harvested. 66 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. Lord Althorp alone has tried their comparative mer- its, and he gives them a decided preference over the Swede. In tin's opinion his lordship is supported 1'v Mr. Kelk; but seven of our correspondents are of the opinion that the Swedish turnips will feed (juic'kcr. Five of our correspondents say it is ben- eficial to milch cows, and two of the Norfolk farm- ers say it is apt to injure the butter. " To sum up, the advantages of mangold-wurzel are these : It is more sure to plant, being very little liable to the fly or grub. It will produce more weight. It is off the land earlier. It is useful as a change of fallow crop when the land is tired of turnips. It will grow on land where turnips cannot be raised. It is better spring food. " On the other hand, in favour of the Swedish tur- nips it may be said, That the weeding and singling out are less expen- sive. There is more time for fallowing in the spring. The succeeding crop is better than after mangold- wurzel. Perhaps cattle feed best on Swedish turnips when they are fed alone." Mangold-wurzel is relished by every description of stock ; though, in feeding it to neat cattle, it is recommended to commence with small feeds, and, when it produces bad effects, to change the animal's food for a few days. Charles Poppy, an enthusiast in this culture, and whose pamphlet is before us, particularizes twenty-six uses to which this root m. iy be profitably applied. The British farmers speak highly of this root as a food for young calves. It is cut small, and fed to them after they are a fortnight old with wonderful benefit. ROOT CULTURE. 87 The value of this crop is certainly great in the e or inangold-wurzel will feed -. 300 days. Making very liberal allowance for the difference in the expense of raising these crops, and for any error the committee may have made in fixing the dai- ly rations, or in the produce of each to the acre, they think that no doubt can for a moment be entertained, that the Swedish turnip and the mangold-wurzel are decidedly the best crops that can be raised for feed- ing cattle. The committee have no doubt that the sugar-beet and carrot offer advantages nearly or quite equal to the roots above recommended. Their product and nutritive properties are very similar, and the expense of culture is not very dissimilar. The su- gar-beet is probably richer in nutriment than the mangold-wurzel, though its product is ordinarily less. The carrot may require more labour in the culture ; but it is superior as food, particularly for horses. Arthur Young highly extols the carrot. Upon the product of three acres of this root, he assures us he kept, for more than five months, twenty work-horses, four bullocks, and six milch cows ; nor did the ani- mals during that period, he adds, taste any food ex- cept a little hay. Our enterprising fellow-citizen, Col. Meacham, of Oswego, has gone largely into the culture of carrots as cattle-feed, as well as many of his neighbours ; and they speak highly of the profits of the culture. Some very satisfactory experiments have also been made among us, on a limited scale, in cultiva- ting and feeding the sugar-beet. There seems to be little doubt, from the high state of perfection and of profit which the business has arrived at in France and Germany, that the culture of this beet will soon ROOT CULTURE. 103 be extensively gone into in this country for the pur- pose of making sugar ; and if so, the residuum of the beet will form an important item in the material for fattening cattle. There are other advantages resulting from root culture which should not be overlooked. It tends greatly to increase the quantity of manure on the farm, to meliorate the texture of the soil, and to fur- nish excellent alternating crops in convertible hus- bandry. In selecting for culture, the farmer should choose the roots that are best adapted to his soil. The turnips prefer a dry, sandy soil ; the beet a clay loam. As to the best means of cultivating these crops, the committee summarily remark, that the product and profit will materially depend upon the following contingencies; viz., that the soil be dry; that it be rich ; that it be deeply worked ; that it be thoroughly pulverized ; and that the after-culture be well man- aged. The implements necessary to cultivate them advantageously, in addition to the plough and har- row, are the drill-barrow and cultivator. The sea- son for sowing the beet is from the 10th to the 20th May; and for the Swedish turnip from the 10th to the 25th June. The drill or row culture is decidedly the best. A detail of the whole process of culture would occupy too much space for this report ; and it is unnecessary, as these processes are already un- derstood by many, and have been minutely described in the agricultural periodicals of the day. The com- mittee will merely recommend, in conclusion, that the roots be always cut previously to being fed to cattle, for which purpose machines may be procured at a moderate charge, which will cut a bushel in from one to three minutes. If cut, the roots will be eaten entirely ; if not cut, a portion is apt to be re- jected and wasted. The chairman has received a communication from Col. Meacham, stating his mode of* cultivating the 104 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. carrot, the product, and manner of using the crop. He cultivates them in drills from 20 to 24 inches apart ; he gets one thousand bushels an acre, at an expense of $25 to $30 ; he kept six work-horses on them from November, 1836, to June, 1837, without grain, and they remained in good plight, and per- formed as well as he ever had horses perform ; and he thinks they are worth double as much for slock as ruta-baga. Upon the subject of the carrot culture, which is j)c. iiajis less understood among us than that of the beet and turnip, the committee will add, that this root tli nves best in a sandy loam, light, moist, but not wet, and of great depth ; in which the plough, going to the beam, brings to the surface nothing that is not fit for vegetation. The ground should be ploughed immediately preceding the sowing. In Suffolk, Eng- land, they sow 8 Ibs. seed, broadcast, to the acre ; and the crop is from 400 to 500 bushels. To horses they are considered superior to any other food. Two bushels of carrots and one of chaff is the per diem allowance to a horse ; or seven bushels of car- rots and one bushel of oats is- the allowance for a week. They are also profitably fed to all other farm stock. They are raised in Suffolk without manure, at an expense of Qd. (18 cents) per bushel. The yield of the carrot is often from 700 to 1000 bushels the acre The crop is gathered by making a deep furrow near to the drill ; when a man seizes, draws the top to the furrow, and pulls them up with great facility. Another root, the parsnip, is deserving of notice, though its partial culture hitherto will hardly enti- tle it to be classed among field-crops. It is believed to be the most nutritious root of any that have been named ; is as easily cultivated as the carrot or the beet : and has this advantage over all the others, that its value is not impaired by frost. From the preceding views, the committee do not hesitate to recommend the extension of root culture ROOT CULTURE. 105 as the most ready means of keeping up the fertility of our farms and of increasing the profits of their cultivation. CARROT AND RUTA-BAOA CULTURE. The following is a brief account of my method of cultivating the carrot and ruta-baga. My opinion in regard to profit is in favour of the carrot. As to the relative value, I have entertained the opinion that the same weight of carrots is worth, for stock, near- ly double that of the ruta-baga. I fed my work- horses on carrots from November, 1836, till June, 1837, three span ; they remained in good plight, and performed as much as I ever had any within that length of time ; they ate no grain ; nothing but hay and carrots, thrown whole into the manger. I have raised one thousand bushels of carrots or over, year- ly, for three years past, on an acre of land. In 1836 1 raised between two and three thousand bushels of ruta-bagas. They produced from six to seven hundred bushels to the acre. They grew very large : the largest one weighed thirty and a half pounds. The land was stony and gravelly, made mellow and ridged high with the plough, two and a half feet or over apart from centre to centre. The seed was planted about the 10th of June, which I found to be late enough. Method of planting : one man goes forward with the hoe, and makes marks for the seed in the centre of the ridges, about twen- ty inches apart, which is very quick done, nearly as fast as a man would walk ; another man follows as fast with the seed, and drops From four to five seeds into the place with his thumb and fore finger, and covers them at the same instant with the remaining three fingers. In this way I think a smart man would drop the seeds and cover two acres a day. The same year, 1836, 1 raised one acre of carrots, which produced over one thousand bushels. 1 meas- ured one rod of the ground whe"e the carrots ap- 106 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. peared to be the best : the produce of this rod was at the rate of over fifteen hundred bushels per acre. Multitudes of carrots from this acre measured four and five inches in diameter at the butt : the longest one that we found measured over two feet. The soil was deep, gravelly, and stony, originally covered with large sugar maple, interspersed with heavy bass and hemlock. I cannot admit that the whole ex- pense of labour on the one acre of carrots, including the harvesting, was over thirty or thirty-five dollars. The land on which they grew had been occupied the year previous with carrots, potatoes, corn, ruta- bagas, beans, and other garden vegetables, and ma- nured with long manure on the one half, and hog- manure on the other. Between the 1st and 5th of May (it having been previously deeply ploughed) I commenced work in the morning with six or seven men and boys, three horse-team ploughs and har- rows ; and at 12 o'clock, M., the same day, the planting was finished. I have no doubt that Judge Buel, had he been present, would have consider- ed the planting of the seeds to be slightly done ; but the crop was a good one, being one thousand bushels or over per acre. First we ploughed the ground very deep, and harrowed the furrows level ; then took each man his hoe, reversing the edge of it, and expeditiously scraping or dragging the hoe along the surface of the ground twenty or twenty-four inches apart, bearing on the hoe sufficient to make a large mark or track, and to remove the stone and other encumbrances from the track or drill ; and so on, back and forth, until the whole acre was marked out in drills : then each man or boy, taking a small dish with seed in one hand, and stooping down so as to bring the other hand as near the ground as might be to prevent the wind from blowing the seeds out of their place, walked quickstep, each one strewing the seeds according to their own judgment ; having, however, previously received a good lecture ROOT CULTURE. 107 from the master not to strew them too thick. When this was done, each man took the hoe again, and half reversing it, with the edge up, went through again with an increased movement, gently puddling or stirring the soil in the centre of the drills. A piece of board or stick, four or five feet in length, will answer this last purpose about as well as a hoe. A great part of the seed sown by some farmers is lost by deep covering. A shower of rain will bring them up without any covering where the soil is loose and well fitted. The ground between the drills ought to be brushed over with the hoe imme- diately after they begin to come up, or before, if you can see where the drills are, so that you can avoid disturbing the carrots. I think a man may cultivate three acres of carrots with the same amount of expense and labour, by keeping in advance of the weeds, that he can one acre in trie common way, with the weeds in advance of him a number of days. When the carrots get up ten or twelve inches high, I plough between the rows with a horse again and again. When I har- vest them, I run a strong team and plough as near the outside rows as possible, and very deep, turning the furrow from the rows ; the hands follow after,, and pull them out by the tops with ease, a number at once, and throw them in heaps ; and so I proceed until the piece is finished. If there was any differ- ence in the crop, it was in favour of that part where the long manure was spread the year before. I planted the same piece in 1837 without any addition- al manure. The crop was about one quarter less. I have no doubt that it would be a great benefit to our farmers who keep stock to cultivate the carrot, especially for milch cows. To those who are not experienced in the cultivation of the carrot, I would say, sow your seeds in drills, at least twenty or twenty-four inches apart ; the earlier in the season the better, if your land is in good order; if they 108 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. stand thin in the drills, they will be large ; if very thick, it will spoil the crop. THOMAS S. MEACHAM. CHAPTER IV. INDIAN CORN. Varieties of Indian Corn. To render Corn prolific. Culture of Corn. Experiments in producing improved varieties of Indian Com Experiments in Harvesting Corn. Selection of Seed, and Early Maturity. VARIETIES OF INDIAN CORN. DR. BROWN, in an essay lately published in the Farmers' Cabinet, enumerates thirty-five varieties of Indian corn which he has in his possession. He divides them into five classes, besides sub-classes. We give the names, as well for future reference as matter of curiosity. A. YELLOW CORN. A. a. No. 1, Genuine gourd-seed, of 24 rows ; 2, of 22 rows ; 3, of 20 rows ; 4, of 18 rows ; 5, of 16 rows ; 6, of 14 rows : 7, of 12 rows. A. b. No. 8, King Philip Indian corn, 8 rows. A. c. No. 9, Sioux, or early flint, 12 rows ; 10, Sioux of Pennsylvania, 12 rows; 11, Sioux and gourd-seed mixed, 16 rows. B. WHITE INDIAN CORN. B. a. White flint. No. 12, genuine white flint, 12 rows, Virginia; 13, white flint, 10 rows; 14, early white flint. B b. White flour. No. 15, from Peru, 8 rows; INDIAN CORN. 109 16, Pennsylvania, 8 rows, called Smith's early white ; 17, New-Jersey, 8 rows ; 18, New- York, 10 rows. B. a. and B. b. No. 19, Mandan Indian corn, a mixture of 12 and 15. B. c. No. 20, Early sugar or sweet corn, 12 rows, grains shrunken. C. H.EMETITE, OR BLOOD-RED INDIAN CORN. No. 21, Common-sized, 12 rows and red cob. No. 22, Red cob with white grains. No. 23, Red cob with yellow grains. No. 24, Red cob with brown grains. No. 25, Red cob with white gourd-seed. No. 26, Red cob with gourd-seed and yellow flint. No. 27, White cob with yellow grains. No. 28, Speckled red and yellow grains on a white cob. No. 29, The same on a red cob. No. 30, Dwarf haemetite, commonly called Guinea corn. D. BLUE CORN. No. 31, Blue corn, 10 rows. E. No. 32, The corn of Texas ; each grain is en- closed in a pod or husk, and the ear in a husk. No. 33, Corn found in the envelope of a Mexican mummy. No. 34, Cobbett corn, grown in England. No. 35, The famous Button corn. We take the liberty of adding to the above list five other varieties in our possession, seemingly not embraced therein, viz. : 1. Lake Superior corn, ears six inches, 12 rows, reddish brown colour, said to be very early ; from S. Robinson. 2. Squaw corn, 8 rows, blue grain, also early. 3. Corn from Trieste, on the Adriatic ; ears six inches, and semi-conical, 12 and 14 rows, orango yellow. 110 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 4. Rice corn, cars four inches, and grains like rice. 5. A yellow 12 rowed com, from Vermont, ears considerably smaller than the Button. Dr. Brown gives four criteria (the first three from Mr. Taylor) v/hich should be regarded in selecting our seed-corn, viz. : 1. The most stalk. 2. The lar- gest cob. 3. Longest grain. And, 4. Early growth and quick culture. The reason for the first is, that a man can gather more grain, stalk, blade, top, shuck, and cob, of large than he can of small stalks. This quality, however, would not be so highly esteemed in the North, for tall, large-growing corn would be here later in ripening ; and besides, corn of this de- scription will not bear planting so thick, and, conse- quently, will not yield so much per acre as varieties of more diminutive growth. 2. The large cob is preferred, because it gives the most corn. 3. The longest grain, because it decidedly settles the supe- riority of the farinaceous product. We dissent from this conclusion, and think the superiority in farina- ceous product depends more upon weight than the length of the kernel. The Dutton, it will be seen by the communication of J. Wright, has weighed 69 Ibs. the bushel. This has a short kernel ; and yet we doubt if any long-kernelled variety can be found to weigh so heavy, or to afford so much nutriment. The fourth requisite, early growth and quick culture, is a very important one to Northern farmers. TO RENDER CORN PROLIFIC. It seems to be a great desideratum with farmers to plant that variety of corn which will produce the most ears on a stock. This criterion of a good va- riety is deceptive, and passes for more than it is worth ; and, withal, leads to a neglect of the main point which should engage the farmer's attention. It is not the number of ears on a stock, but the number of bushels on an acre, that should be the first aim of the grower ; and this depends not so much on varie- INDIAN CORN. Ill ty as upon richness of soil. Corn, like cattle, will produce according to the quantity and quality of the food which is consumed ; and if this food be not in the soil, it matters little how many ears grow upon a stock ; the product will be in the ratio of the food : if there are many ears, they will be compara- tively small ; if but few, comparatively large, in pro- portion to the richness of the soil. An acre of good pasture will carry, say five sheep, through the sea- son, and fit them for the butcher ; but if the^ acre is made to carry ten sheep, they cannot $hnve.' tind will not be fit for the butcher. And again : TP l tti& acre of pasture is poor and light, the five sheep put upon it will be stinted in food, and will not thrive. The gain in the sheep will be in proportion to the quantity of herbage they convert into mutton and wool. So with corn. The roots of this grain, like the sheep, range over the whole pasture of a field, gather the nutriment which it contains, and this is transmuted into grain and forage ; the aggregate of which is not very dissimilar, whether the ears be three, two, or one upon a stock, provided due re- gard is had in planting to the habits of the variety , so that the pasture be fed off clean without being overstocked. We have frequently observed that we have more ears upon a stock on the borders of our cornfield, and where the intervals are large be- tween the hills, or some of the stalks deficient, than we have in the centre of the field, or where the plant- ing is close ; and that the size of the ears, or the aggregate of the product, is always in proportion to the richness of the soil and the excellence of its cultivation. The atmosphere undoubtedly contrib- utes essentially to the food of the corn-crop, where the surface of the soil is kept clean, open, and per- meable to it. The fermentation of long dung in the soil, and the frequent use of the cultivator, tend to keep it in this favourable condition. There is no danger of gorging or injuring the corn crop with 112 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. long manure if it bo spread and buried with the plough ; nor are its fertilizing properties so much impaired in using it for corn, potatoes, and ruta- baga in this way, as they are by the system of sum- mer-yarding it, so generally adopted in some coun- ties west of Albany. The remarks which we have made upon Indian corn, tending to show that the product depends es- itiully upon the quantity of food which it finds in '>i| JJUE its subsistence, applies, with greater or l^jjjJJKeTKffHlJarm-crops. The economy of man- / dg^pWlt cfppeglds K upon the judgment of the farmer inT adttyvtifig- thej/ood, both as regards quality and quantify, je.ihe wants of the particular crop. But let uS'noTbeimsapprehended on one point: unfer- mented 'dtnig should not be used for the small grain or ojther crops .which ripen at midsummer, until it has be'e'h first prepared and fitted for them by the autuniit-fipening^crops, as corn, potatoes, ruta-baga, &c. , These latter subsist principally upon the gase- ous and volatile portions of the manure, which are first disengaged from the mass in the process of fer- mentation, and which are rather deleterious to the former at the season when they are maturing their seeds. Another criterion which some farmers consider as essential to a good variety, is smallness of cob. So far as this conduces to the early and perfect dry- ing of the grain, it is entitled to weight, but no far- ther. The objection to a large cob was answered by a gentleman by asking the objector whether it required most cloth to make him or his son a vest, pointing to a boy standing by his side. The circum- ference of a cob two inches "in diameter will contain double the quantity of grain that a cob of one inch in diameter will. There is no doubt but the habits of corn change with change of climate ; or, in other words, that the 4warf Northern varieties, when taken to the South, INDIAN CORN. 113 tn a few years become acclimated, and assume the tall growth of the South. It is hencp advisable, that, whore early maturity is desired, as it seems to be in our latitude, seed should be occasionally procured from the North. Another means of preserving the early ripening properties is to select for seed the ears which ripen first. We have faised the Button corn, obtained from the Green Mountains of Vermont, for sixteen years ; and yet, taking care to save for seed the earliest matured ears, we that it ripens much, if any, later when we first planted it. CULTURE OF In the fall of 1837, the grour for my corn was in timothy anc sward, having been stocked abou\ ploughed it late in the fall. In I covered it over with common the barnyard, which was composed tity of straw. My stock is straw was thrown into the yard plentifully during the winter for bedding. In drawing it out, a load was usually dropped in a place, so that, after it was spread, it completely covered the ground to quite a thickness. About the middle of May the ground was ploughed very deep, and boys were sent ahead of the plough, who raked all the manure into the pre- vious furrow, so that it was completely covered. Some of my neighbours then said that they would rather have that coarse manure off from the ground than on it for the good of the corn-cropland that it would do no good till the next crop, or until it should be decomposed. I will here remark, that, from rea- son and experience, I must protest against leaving manure in the yard over summer, or even putting it into heaps to decay, as some do, to heat and drain off its strength. On the contrary, in most cases it is nearly as cheap to haul it into the field as to heap 114 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. it up in the yard. We get the use of it one year sooner, and have all the strength on the land, where it should be, instead of being washed into tlie streams of water. I think, for corn and potatoes, that ilur benefit the first year will more than pay the expciiM- of carting an ordinary distance. To return to my subject : I next harrowed and furrowed my ground, or, rather, marked it very shallow, three feet apart. It was now the 17th of May, having been hindered in planting 1* number of days by a heavy rain. The Mil* f&re* fiixteen to eighteen inches apart, and I put three kernels'in a hih\ It being rather cold and wet, the corn did not sprout as quick as usual ; and, on examination, I found that a small wire-worm, that had probably been in the manure, had eaten into the chit of much of it, so that only a part was coming up. Although now as late as the 4th of June, I commenced planting over, by putting in just as much seed as I did the first time, in a hill between every two hills, which made them nearly join. As I had only seed enough left of the kind to plant over 118 rods of the ground, the rest was planted in beans. I will here state, that the 118 rods was all the ground that had been manured, and a cast was made on the acre from that ratio. The rest was equally as good corn, but the ground was not well stocked. When I hoed the first time, I concluded, at the second hoe- ing, to pull out some where it was thickest ; but it being left for some time, and forgetting to tell my man to do it, it all stood. I directed him to hoe it twice more ; but he did it only once, having for ex- cuse that the corn had got so large he could not do it ; so that it had only two hoeings. The stalks were 8 or 10 feet high, and a complete swamp to appear- ance. Now some of my neighbours said it would be all stalks and no corn. On the night of the 2d of Sep- tember, I think, we had a severe frost, which killed the stalks ; but the corn was all ripe, the last plant- INDIAN CORN. 115 ed as well as the first ; making for the last planted just 13 weeks. It needed no sorting to grind, and handsomer corn I never saw. As to its being all stalks and no corn, the result showed. I am strong- ly of the opinion that great improvements may be made in planting by distributing the seed more over the ground, and by putting in more of it. L. C. I here offer my mode of treating corn, which 1 consider the most important among the grain crops. Whether manure has been spread before ploughing or placed in the hills afterward, I adopt the same practice. As soon as the corn is up, so that the rows or lines can be distinctly seen, I run the plough through, as near to the hills as may be without dis- placing the plants, to the depth of five inches, throw- ing the earth from the hills ; if moles or mice are plenty in the field, both ways ; if not, only one way. The rows are then gone over with the hand-hoe, the hard surface or crust immediately about the plants stirred and broken, and the contiguous weeds or grass destroyed : this is the first dressing. After about ten days, set in the plough in the same man- ner as before, if it has been ploughed through only one way ; if both, reverse the furrows, and let the hoe be used to loosen the earth about the plants, and to draw a little fresh soil to the hill, at the same time eradicating all weeds and grass near the plants. Now we have ended the second process, and are ready, at the proper time, for the third and fourth, or more, as the soil or season may require, with the cultivator or harrow to break down small hillocks or ridges, and to keep a soft surface between the rows, that will absorb the showers or dews, when a hard surface would be but little benefited, taking care at each time to draw a little new mould to the hills, yet leaving them at the last dressing wide and square, and but slightly elevated. This little rise about the corn will help to support it at the autum- 116 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. nal gale, and will not turn the showers off to the in- jury of the crop. This management may seem not exactly orthodox ; but I fancy I derive some advan- tages not to be obtained by the use of the harrow or even cultivator alone. Those mischievous miners, the moles and mice, are more effectually opposed in their operations, a deeper and softer bed is prepared for the roots to strike into, and greater extent of surface is exposed to be heated by thf sun's rays ; which is, in effect, protracting the summer a week or ten days; time enough, not unfrequently, to save a crop. A common saying with our farmers is, com only wants hot weather; and the fact is notorious, that a fair crop of^corn may be obtained by nice management in a season so dry that any other grain- crop would fail almost in toto. The harrow and cultivator scarify the ground, but do not lay it open with a bold incision, nor leave the corn-hill on a prominent ridge or hillock at the commencement of growth, when nothing but heat seems necessary to the vitality and health of the plants. If it be object- ed that by this use of the plough we assist the escape of vegetable food in the form of carbonic acid gas and volatile alkali, I reply, it may be so to the amount of six or eight per cent. an inconsiderable matter compared with the accelerated maturity of the crop. ARCH. JAYNE. EXPERIMENTS IN PRODUCING IMPROVED VARIETIES OF INDIAN CORN. Some ten or twelve years since, I instituted a se- ries of experiments in crossing different varieties of corn, and was perfectly successful. The variety named in Dr. Brown's list (page 43 of the same num- ber), " No. 16, Pennsylvania, 8 rows, called Smith's early white," was the result of one of the experi- ments. It was produced by what we call the Tus- carora, or " New- York cheat," with the Sioux (No. 9 of Dr. Brown's list). From the parentage of thia INDIAN CORN. 117 new variety, you would naturally expect a mulatto colour ; hut I will explain why it is pure white as 1 go along. I had two objects m view, the one to get the large, white grains of the Tuscarora on the small cob of the Sioux ; and the other, to produce a variety earlier than either, if possible. To accomplish my object, I planted a piece of ground, say the eighth of an acre, with both varieties, one in each alternate hill ; but as the Tuscarora was known to me to be from 15 to 20 days later than the Sioux, I planted the latter 15 days after the former. Now the pro- cess of crossing is performed in the following man- ner. The variety that has the cob that I wish to retain is used as the female, and as the tassels (male flowers) appear, they are carefully cut off and sup- pressed ; the variety whose grain I wish to get is used as the male, and its tassels are allowed to grow. It is unnecessary to interfere with the female flow- ers (the silk). The ears of corn produced by the Sioux hills had the form and size of cob of the Si- oux, but the grain was a beautiful sulphur colour, and of the form of the Tuscarora, though smaller. This corn I planted the next year, and the result was a beautiful variegation of the grains, .of pure yellow and pure white, though all the grains were alike as to size and shape. The cream-colour had evidently returned to its original elements. I then carefully selected the white grains, and planted them the third year, and the result was the establishment of the variety called " Smith's early white." (I do not understand how or whence Dr. Brown obtained the name of Pennsylvania, 8 rows.) My experiments established the fact satisfactorily to my mind, that you can place the grains of any variety of corn upon the cob of any other variety, by the process detailed above ; and that there is no ob- ject more worthy the attention of farmers than im- provements of this kind. You have only to regulate the time of planting each variety, so that they flower 118 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. at the same time. I ought to observe, that if you do not destroy the tassels of the variety that has the objectionable grain, the crossing will not be so per- fect, because the impregnation will be from two males instead of one, and, const juently, the grains produced will be various. The crossing is equally important in making the large late kinds small and early. You can get the tall Virginia corn (that is, the grain of it) upon the early dwarf stalks. Indeed, you may vary it almost at pleasure. As you will perceive above, it requires three years to accomplish the object perfectly. The first year effects the crossing ; the second year certain characteristics re- turn to their original elements, such as the colour, and somewhat of the flinty quality ; the third year the new variety is produced perfect and will re- main so, so long as it shall be kept distinct from other varieties. Another experiment was combined by me with the above, viz. : the first matured ears of good form and size were always selected for seed. By this process I was able, in five years, to make my new variety from 15 to 20 days earlier than the Sioux, or any other variety. I had green corn on my table for some years, two weeks earlier than the hotels which were supplied with early corn from Norfolk. I beg to observe, that the Smith's early white has but eight rows, and the Sioux (the female parent) twelve : now to account for this. After I had pro- duced the variety, I was still desirous of putting it upon a smaller cob ; hence I planted it with the su- gar-corn, using the latter as the female. The result was the eight rows. I also once took a notion to give it a red cob, and had no difficulty in doing so, by using the red cob sugar-corn as the female ; but I recrossed and got rid of the red cob again, because it stained the lips and fingers while eating it. GIDEON 15. SUITII INDIAN CORN. 119 EXPERIMENTS IN HARVESTING CORN. Andrew Nicol has given in the Farmers' Register a statement of some experiments he made last year with his corn crop, the substance of which we ab- stract. 1. He spread 32 loads of pine leaves on a piece of corn land, planted very close for the climate of Vir- ginia, so as to give an average thickness of four inches/ The crop received no after culture. The product was 75 bushels per acre, considered there a very large return. The pine leaves counteracted the effect of drought ; and Mr. N. thinks that, had the covering been thicker, the product would have been greater. 2. The second experiment was made to ascertain the effect of topping, cutting up, and leaving the grain to ripen upon the standing stalk. Eighteen rows of 150 yards in length were stripped of the fodder; that is, all the leaves, except two above the ears, were taken off on the llth September; the tops were cut from six of these rows on the 20th September ; six other rows of the 18 were cut by the ground the same day ; and the third six rows were left to stand, .ogether with the first six, until the corn ripened ; other six rows, from which neither fodder was pulled nor tops cut, were, on the same 20th Septem- ber, cut off by the ground and set up in small shocks. " The corn from each was gathered on the 2d De- cember, and on the 7th February shelled and accu- rately weighed. The following are the results i& measure and in weight : 1st C rows measured 8 bushels, weight per bushel 58 Ibs. 2d 6 " " 7f " " 57 " 3d 6 " " 7| " 66J " 4th 6 " " 8i " " 59J " These results go to show, 1. That leaves are essential, even after corn is cut off at the ground, in increasing the quantity and weight of the crop. And, 120 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 2. That the mode of cutting up the whole, grain, tops, and leaves, gives the most corn and heaviest corn, and certainly improves t!i<> quality and in- creases the quantity of cattle i' What quantity should be applied to an acre. Winter Man- agement of Manure. Specific Manures. Bone Manure. Leached Ashes. Peat Earth, Peat Ashes, &c. [THE subject of manures is one of great impor- tance to the farmer, and under this head we have arranged several papers from the pen of Judge Buel, illustrating the particular topics indicated. That there is a most lamentable deficiency in our general management and use of manures, cannot be. ques- tioned ; and to introduce a more correct and farmer- like course was a favourite object with that suc- cessful cultivator. In addition to the remarks of Judge Buel, we have selected two papers of peculiai interest as part of this chapter ; one being part of a communication from Mr. ANTHONY, of Rhode Island, illustrating the value of leached ashes as a manure ; and the other a letter from the well-known farmer, W. A. SEELY, of Staten Island, on the use of peat- earth and peat-ashes as fertilizers of the soil. This letter is particularly important to farmers at the pres- ent time, as, in consequence of the geological sur- vey of the state now going on, the presence of large 124 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. bodies of peat have been made known where its ex. istence was scarcely suspected, and thus an easy and certain mode o'f fertilizing lands made poor by injurious cultivation, has been placed within the reach of thousands, n will be read with interest by all who possess, or can obtain, this invaluable sub- stance.] WHAT QUANTITY OF MANURE SHOULD BE APPLIED TO THE ACRE ? The answer to this question involves many con- siderations which preclude a definite reply ; such as the condition of the land, the quality of the manure, and the kind of crop. Too much, as well as too lit- tle manure, may be applied. What would be bene- ficial for an autumn-ripening or hoed crop, would be prejudicial to a small grain or summer-ripening crop (more particularly if the manure is applied in an un- fermented state), and there would be, withal, a waste of fertilizing matter. Twenty tons to the acre would not be too much for corn, potatoes, ruta-baga, &c., if applied broadcast and ploughed in; but if it be long manure, and applied in the drill or hill, and a dry season should ensue, it might prove an injury ; and were this quantity per acre of long, or even short manure, applied to small spring grain, it would probably cause a flush of straw, likely to be affected by rust, at the expense of the more valuable part, the grain. Dr. Coventry, late professor of agricul- ture in the University of Edinburgh, whose business and study it was to collect data, and make correct deductions in this and other agricultural matters, was of the opinion that from four to five tons of the kind usually denominated spit or tolerably rotted dung, are yearly requisite to keep up the fertility of the soil; and this supply he thinks a well-managed farm may be made to produce. To show how this MANURES. 125 quantity may be obtained, and how it should be ap- plied, we quote from Mr. Youatt, the author of " British Husbandry." " According to that calculation," says our author, " it must be observed, that the course of crops is supposed to consist on light soils, of the alternate plan of corn and green crops [see New System of Husbandry] on clays, which do not admit of that system, that the holding contain a proportionate quantity of grass-land, and that the quantity of manure should be supplied, not in small quantities annually, but in large ones, at intermediate dis- tances of four, five, and six years. Light soils, in the common course of husbandry, rarely require the application of putrescent manure oftener thaironce in four years, and in all cases where the clover is allowed to stand two seasons, it may be deferred without disadvantage for another year. Heavy soils may run six years without it, provided that the land be laid one year in fallow, and that there be suffi- cient meadow to be reckoned at least one crop in the course. It being, however, clearly understood, that, whether on light or heavy land, nothing but grain, seeds, and livestock is to be sold off the farm, unless replaced with an equal portion of purchased dung ; that the whole of the green crops, the haulm of pulse, and the straw of corn, is to be used in the most economical manner ; and that some of the live- stock are to be either soiled or fattened upon oil- cake : this plan, if carefully pursued on good soils, with capital sufficient to secure an abundant work- ing and fattening stock of cattle, ought, under fair management, to furnish an adequate supply of dung for any of the usual courses of culture. " Having thus submitted to our readers all that oc- curs to us of importance on the subject of famyard manure, we shall here recapitulate a summary of the chief points which we deem particularly worthy of their consideration : 126 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 1. To bottom the farmyard with furze, fern [brake], dry haulm [stubble, &c.], or any other loose ivi'ii>t* that takes the longest time to dissolve ; and over that to bed it deep with straw. 2. To occasionally remove the cribs of store-cat- tle to different parts of the straw-yard, in order that their dung may be dropped and their litter trodden equally. 3. To spread the dung of other animals, when thrown into the yards, in equal layers over every part. 4. To remove the dung from the yard at least once, or oftener, during the winter, to the mixen.* 5. To turn and mix all dunghills until the woody or fibrous texture of the matter contained in them, and the roots and seeds of weeds, be completely de- composed, and until they emit a foul, putrid smell ; by which time they reach their greatest degree of strength, and arrive at the state of spit-dung. 6. To keep the dung in an equal state of moisture, so as to prevent any portion of the heap from be- coming fire-fanged. If the fermentation be too rapid, heavy watering will abate the heat ; but it will after- ward revive with increased force, unless the heap be either trodden firmly down or covered with mould to exclude the air. 7. To ferment the dung, if to be laid upon arable land during the autumn, in a much less degree than that to be applied before a spring sowing. 8. To lay a larger quantity on cold and wet lands than on those of a lighter nature ; because the for- mer require to be corrected by the warmth of the dung, while on dry, sandy, and gravelly soils, the application of too much dung is apt to burn up the plants. Stiff land will also be loosened by the unde- cayed fibres of long dung, which, although its putre- * The place of deposite where ihe manure is heaped up and mixed. MANURES. 127 taction will thus be retarded, and its fertilizing power delayed, will yet ultimately afford nourishment. 9. To form composts with dung, or other animal and vegetable substances, and earth, for application to light soils. 10. To spread the manure, when carried to the field, with the least possible delay ; and, if laid upon arable land, to turn it immediately into the soil. 11. To preserve the drainage from stables and dunghills in every possible way ; and, if not applied in a liquid state, to throw it again upon the mixen. 12. To try experiments, during a series of years, upon the same soils and crops, with equal quantities of dung, laid on fresh and afterward rotted, in order to ascertain the results of their application to the land. The whole quantity to be first weighed or measured, and then divided. " Tho fermentation of farmyard manure is, in fact, a subject of far greater importance' than is generally imagined ; for on a due estimation of its value mainly depends the individual success, as well as the na- tional prosperity of our agriculture. The experi- ments to which we point cannot, therefore, fail to come home to the interests of every man ; they may be made without expense, and without any other trouble than the mere exercise of common observa- tion and intelligence. Leaving, however, aside the discussion concerning the disputed worth of fresh or fermented, of long or short dung, let the farmer sedulously bend his attention to the accumulation of the utmost quantity that it may be in his power to procure The manner and the time of using it, in either state, must, however, be governed by circum- stances which may not always be within his control; and every judicious husbandman will rather accom- modate himself to the exigency of the case, than ad- nere strictly to his own notions of what he conceives to be the best practice. In fine, whether favouring the one or the other side of the question, let him col- 128 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. lect all he can ; apply it carefully to hia crops ; and then, trusting to events, ' let the land ard the muck settle it. 1 " Oli THE WINTER MANAGEMENT OF MANURE. Wf make this preliminary remark, upon which what we have to offer is in a measure predicated, viz., that all the manure from the stables, yard, and hog- pon should be carried out in the spring for the corn and pQtato crops. . The objects to be obtained in the winter manage, ment of manure are, 1. To prevent waste by leaching and drainage ; 2. To prevent its becoming fire-fanged ; and, 3. To prevent more than moderate or incipient fermentation. 1. Where cattle-yards are upon a slope, or are con- vex, or nearly upon a level surface, the liquid portions of the manure, which may be termed, in a measure, the cooked food 'of plants, continually pass off and are lost. Heavy rains, and the drip from the barns and sheds, also passing through the manur:; in their escape from the yard, leach and deprive it of its finest and most fertilizing properties. The remedies against this evil consist, first, in giv- ing a concave or dish shape to the yard. The earth excavated from the centre being deposited upon the borders, which should be fifteen or twenty feet broad, with a slight inclination to the centre, a dry passage to the barn is secured, and a sufficient space of dry ground to feed the stock upon which run at large. Secondly, the yard should be bedded, after it is clean- ed, with peat or swamp earth, if the farm affords it, six to twelve inches deep ; or, if this is not to be had, with any other porous waste earth ; and afterward should be kept well littered with straw, stalks, po- tato-tops, ana the coarse grass and weeds of the farm. This shape of the yard prevents the escape of the liquids, and the earth and litter absorb and be- MANURES. 129 come enriched by them. Even should the liquids of ihe yard be dried up, as they are in summer, the earth and litter will retain the fertilizing matters which they held in solution. By these operations alone the quantity of manure will be double what it is where they are neglected. Thirdly, to prevent an exess of water in the yard, what falls from the build- ings should be conducted off by gutters. And, fourth- ly, a reservoir should be constructed under ground for the reception of the liquids that unavoidably flow from the yard, and particularly for the urine from the stables. By this latter means a great accession may be made to the fertilizing resources of a farm, and a material obtained fitted for the immediate wants of a growing crop. 2. When dung is accumulated in large masses, ei- ther when' thrown from the stables or in the fields where it is to be applied, even though it be protected from the weather, a violent fermentation takes place, moisture is exhausted from the mass, and it becomes what is termed fire-fanged dry, light, and mouldy, and seriously impaired in its value. To avoid this in the yard, spread the manure oc- casionally over its surface. It thereby becomes blended with other matters less disposed to ferment, is trodden by the stock, and the air, one of the agents in causing it to ferment, is in a measure excluded. Under cover, it should not be suffered to accumulate in excess without the admixture of earthy matters, which will retard fermentation and preserve moist- ure. It is often convenient to draw manure to the field in the autumn oj winter, where it is to be used. If such manure has not undergone fermentation, it should never be laid in heaps of more than three feet in depth, or more than six or eight loads together; the surface should be handsomely smoothed off, and then covered, when the frost will permit, with six or eight inches of sod or earth. This prevents vio- lent fermentation, and the loss of the gaseous mat- ters which fermentation always sends off. I. L 130 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. With the foregoing precautions, there is little dan- ger of fermentation proceeding to a wasteful or im- proper length before the manure is wanted for the corn or potato crop. What fanner is there, who makes any pretensions to economy, who would not feel insulted to be told that he carelessly wasted one half of his family food or of his cattle food one half of what his farm -educed for animal subsistence '\ And where is the fference, whether he wastes the food of his family, his animals, or his crops ? His crops feed both his family and his livestock ; and, unless he feeds his crops, the others must ultimately suffer the penal- ty ; for the earth, though a kind and prolific mother, cannot always give when we withhold from her the means of giving. Return to her what is no longer of use to us, and she will requite us with her richest blessings. Let us bear in mind, that every animal and vegetable substance which we give back to her bosom, she will faithfully elaborate into new organ- ized matter for our pleasure and profit ; but that if, like the prodigal, we exhaust the parental treasure, it can no longer supply us with bread or meat. Too many who occupy a rich virgin soil, may be com- pared to useless drones who waste their patrimonial wealth : they waste that which would benefit both themselves and their children. SPECIFIC MANURES. We have repeatedly said that wheat cannot be depended on as a profitable c*rop on primitive soils without the application of animal matters and lime. The hopes of making New-England a wheat-grow- ing country always seem to us fcHacious, from the absence, in all primitive formations, of these two essential elements, lime and animal matter. Lime is now generally admitted to be essential to a wheat soil ; but as lime consists of 20 parts of the metal calcium, and about 7.5 of oxygen, it does not seem MANURES. 131 to furnish nitrogen. Upon this subject we quote from the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture the following, in support of our own opinions. " On analzying the grain of wheat and the bulb of the turnip (the parts for which the crops are culti- vated), it is at once found that both of them contain elementary principles not entering into the composi- tion of ' common vegetable matter J namely, nitrogen in the grain of the wheat, and sulphur in the turnip ; besides which, the saline matter is also found to be peculiar ; but this last will be considered more fully hereafter. Having once, therefore, discovered that these elements are essentially necessary to the growth of the above-mentioned plants, we are evi- dently led to ask ourselves the question, Whence are they to be obtained ? Dear-bought experience has long since answered, in animal manures. Yes, all substances derived from the animal kingdom contain more or less of both nitrogen and sulphur, and hence the value, or, in fact, the absolute neces- sity, of such manures for the particular crops now under consideration. It may, indeed, be said by some, that, ' however necessary animal manure may be for turnips, still there can be no absolute neces- sity for its application to the wheat-crop ; for, as ni- trogen is the substance here wanted, surely the at- mosphere will present a ready and never-failing res- ervoir of that element.' But it must here be re- marked, in answer to such a statement, that it is exceedingly probable that the higher order of plants, at least, never obtain the nitrogen they possess from the air, but always from decomposing animal matter." And what, it may be asked, are animal manures ? Not, we answer, mere vegetables, which have rot- ted in the yard or passed through the cattle of the farm not farmyard and stable dung, in the ordina- ry mode of its management. The common" vegeta- ble matters consumed by the farm-stock do not con- tain nitrogen, this essential element of wheat. It, 132 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. however, abounds in the urine of animals and in all animal substances, as wool, hair, bone, horn, the dung of carnivorous animals, or such as feed upon flesh; it exists in fish, in soap-boilers 1 waste, im- pregnated with animal oil, and, to some extent, in shell-marls. We shall be told, probably, in contradiction to our theory, that the primitive formation of New-Eng- land has produced good wheat, and that it promises to produce it again. When first subjected to cul- ture, even soils of primitive formation have a quan- tity of animal matters upon their surface, which have been accumulating for centuries, and which may suffice for one or more crops of wheat ; but these being exhausted, the crop necessarily fails. Art may in many cases supply the deficiency, by the application to the soil of one or more of the above-enumerated animal substances ; and these el- ementary matters may have been accumulating from ordinary manuring, until the soil has become suffi- ciently charged with the specific food of a wheat- crop. We fear, however, that all attempts to raise good wheat we mean the grain, not the straw on soils of primitive formation, without the aid of ani- mal manures, will be found to be rather an uphill business ; and that, even with this aid, like Frank- lin's whistle, it will cost more than it is worth. We will extract one other remark from the writer above quoted, which is, that " although practice has long ago shown the necessity of animal manures for the above-mentioned crops [wheat and turnips], still chymical analysis alone could ever have explained the reason for this necessity ; thus placing the advanta- ges to be derived from the science in a truly promi- nent and important light." BONE MANURE. Since bone manure has become accessible to a considerable portion of the farming community, by MANURES. 133 the erection of bono-mills at Albany, Waterford, New-York, Boston, and other places, and is likely to come into more extensive use as its value is bet- ter appreciated, we propose to give some account of its fertilizing properties, of the soils and crops which it is calculated most to benefit, of its mode of application, the quantity that should be applied to the acre, &c. In doing this, we shall draw our facts principally from the report of the committee of the Doncaster Agricultural Association a society which has rendered eminent service to the agricultural community, in different departments of husbandry, by its investigations and reports. With a view of collecting facts to form the basis of their report, the committee addressed seventeen queries to the most intelligent farmers of the coun- try, embracing men of science, and asking answers to their interrogatories in regard to this manure. Forty-nine answers were returned. From these ihe committee made out their report ; and it is the sub- stance of this report we are about to give. Bone manure had been used by those to whom the queries were addressed for an average period of twenty years. " Our . correspondents," says the report, " with only two exceptions, all concur in stating it to be a higlty valuable manure, and on light, dry soils, superior to farmyard dung and all other manures." In copying the language of one of them in relation to dry, sandy soils, we express the opinions repeated by the far greater number. " I consider bone for tillage one of the most useful manures which has ever been discovered for the farmer's benefit. The lightness of carriage, its suit- ableness for the drill, and its general fertilizing prop- erties, render it peculiarly valuable in those parts where distance from towns makes it impossible to procure manure of a heavier and more bulky de- scription. The use of the bones diminishes labour at a season of the year, too, when time is of the first 134 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. importance ; for one wagon-load of a hundred and twenty buslirls of small drill-bones is equal to forty or fifty carf-loads of field manure." "Upon very thin sand land," say the committee, " its value is not to be 'estimated ; it is not only found to benefit the particular crop to which it is applied, but extends through the whole course of crops, and even in the succeeding course its effects are visible in the improved quality of the land, and the efficiency of a smaller quantity than would have first ensured a crop." Numerous facts are here cited in proof of this declaration of the committee. Where, for instance, in a district of many thousand acres, turnips would produce only tops, and those very small, the use of bones alone has increased the tur- nip-crop in some cases ten, and in few cases less than five fold ; and all the succeeding crops of grain and grass were amazingly improved. On light loams, provided they are dry, bones were found preferable to yard dung ; but they do not seem to benefit wet soils at all. On heavy loams and clays the experiments were unfavourable; and the committee infer that clay soils are, in general, too moist to receive any con- siderable benefit from bone manure. Upon peat soils, thoroughfy drained, the advanta- ges of bone manure were very striking. Fifteen to twenty bushels per acre were found to surpass, very far, the ordinary dressing of farmyard dung, and even lime and pigeons' dung. Upon gravels, the opinions of its efficacy are con- tradictory. Upon wet ones it does not succeed. As to its durability three acres were boned with one hundred and fifty bushels per acre by mistake. Fourteen years after, the land had not forgotten it, but was nearly half as good again as the other part, farmed precisely in the same way, witli the excep- tion of this single dressing of bones. To the question, Do you continue to use bones 1 MANURES. 135 not one in the forty-nine returned an answer in the negative. Their use was rapidly increasing. Upon grass, either for meadow or pasture, their effect was favourable, the herbage being improved in quality and quantity. Six hundred bushels were spread upon twenty-four acres of a dairy-farm, of dry, sandy gravel, which had been laid down ten years. The effect was to produce double the butter from the cows depastured upon it to those which were fed upon like pasture not boned. The general application of bone-dust in England is to the turnip-crop, one of the most important in British husbandry ; and the opinions as to the best mode of applying it, whether in drills $ or broadcast, are various, though the former opinio'n rather pre- vails. As to the size of the bones, the opinion is in fa- vour of half-inch bones. Mr. Burk says, " If I were to till for early profit, I would use bones powdered as small as sawdust : if I wished to keep my land in good heart, I would use principally half-inch bones, and in breaking these I should prefer some consid- erably larger." " By using bones of a large size, with dust in them," says another correspondent, " I think I have sufficient of the small particles to set the crop forward, and sufficient of the large particles left to maintain the land in good" condition for the last crop" in the course. In regard to the quantity to be applied to an acre, although the committee admit that the average of the returns is thirty-nine bushels, they neverthe- less recommend, as a sufficient dressing, twenty- five bushels of the small size and forty bushels of the half-inch, giving to the poorer lands a greater, and to the richer a smaller quantity. Some of the correspondents prefer raw or fresh bones, and some those which have been boiled, and the glue and oil extracted. Without going into farther detail, we shall close 136 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY". our notice of the report by copying a summary of the deductions which the committee draw from the facts they collected. They are as follow : " On dry sands, limestone, chalk, light loams, and peat, bones are very valuable manure. They may be laid on grass with good effect. On arable lands, they may be laid on fallow for turnips, or used for any of the subsequent crops. That the best method of using them, where broad- cast, is previously to mix them up with earth, dung, or other manures, and let them lie to ferment. That, if used alone, they may be either drilled with the seed or sown broadcast. That bones.which have undergone the process of fermentation are decidedly superior to those which have not. That the quantity should bo about twenty-five bushels of dust or forty bushels of large, increasing the quantity if the land be impoverished. That upon clays and heavy loams it does not yet appear that bones will answer." From the foregoing data, the farmer will be able to judge how far bone manure is adapted to his soil ; and, from estimating its cost and transportation, he can calculate the economy of purchasing and apply- ing it. In the report before us, it is computed to be cheaper at 2*. (48 cents) per bushel for manuring, than yard dung at 10s. ($2 40) the load, the price the latter is stated at in Britain. The price at the mills in this state is $14 to $16 per ton, which would bring it to more than 40 cents a bushel. So that to manure an acre with twenty-five bushels would cost about $10 75, besides transportation and spreading. This dressing would be equal to that afforded by twenty common loads of manure, which ought to be estimated to be worth 50 cents a load, besides the expense of hauling it out and spreading it. It would therefore seem to be cheaper than stable-manure ; and, at all events, it would afford a valuable auxilia- MANURES. 137 ry where manure is scarce, or has to be brought from a distance. As it is necessary, for the investigation of this subject, that the component parts of bones should be understood by every one interested in their use as a manure, I submit an extract from an analysis by that eminent chymist, Mr. Hatchett. He says : " The component parts of bones are chiefly four, viz., the earthy salts, fat, gelatine, and cartilage. ' The earthy salts are three in number. ' 1. Phosphate of lime. ' 2. Carbonate of lirtfe. ' 3. Sulphate of lime. ' The proportion of fat seems to vary from one sixth to one fourth of the weight of the bone." Annexed is also a table, calculated from experi- ments made from the bones of various animals (by the same chymist) : 100 parti con- tain of the Gelatine. Phoipliate of Carbonate of Lime. Loss. TotL Horse Ox. . Sheep Swine Calf. Elk.. 9 3 16 17 25 1.5 67.5 93 70 52 54 90 1.25 2 0.5 1 1 ' 22.25 2 13.5 30 21 7.5 100 100 100 100 100 100 Thus it appears that the bones of the calf afford the most gelatine, and those of the ox and horse the least, except the elk. The gelatine, the most beneficial portion to the land, is also an important ingredient in making port- able soups and in the manufacture of glue ; and there can be little doubt that, in most cases, the gela- tine is, with the fat, extracted from the bones, by boiling or otherwise, before they are sent to the mills to be crushed for manure.* * Chaptal says that this renders the hones comparatively worthless, by depriving them of tiieir most feitilizing properties. See Chaptal's Chymistry applied to Agriculture, Harpers' edi tion, p. 162. 138 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. LEACHED ASHES. In 1833, a lot of land falling under my manage- ment which had then recently been purchased at $30 per acre, seven acres of it (and perhaps the least valuable part, which, in my opinion, never pos- sessed fertility, though it is usually called worn-out land, being a sandy plain with gravelly subsoil) were ploughed and rolled, in order to secure for the ben- efit of the crop what little valuable matter might be turned under ; about 1600 bushels of leached ashes were spread upon the piece, and it was sowed with ten quarts of millet and sixteen pounds of Southern or small clover seed to the acre. The season proved dry and the seed took badly : the crop of millet was ten tons by estimation, and was sold for $180. Nine- teen tons of clover were supposed to have been ob- tained the two succeeding years at four cuttings ; and this was sold for $316. The clover having nearly all perished in the winter of 1835-6, it was pastured the season following, and last year, 1136 bushels of ashes having been applied to it, it was again sowed with millet, and stocked as before with Southern clover, twenty pounds to the acre. The product was thirteen tons of millet, for which I cred- ited the owner $221, retaining it for my own use. Like results have been obtained from similar treat- ment of the same description of soil in various in- stances ; this not having been selected because the most striking, but because the amount for which the crops sold fixes their value, without knowing exactly the quantity produced, which in each case has been supposed. The labour bestowed on the lot was more or less Wended with other business of the farm ; it is therefore difficult, a't this period of time, to ascertain the amount. I believe, however, it did not exceed the charge in the subjoined ac- count. MANURES. 139 Cost of land $21000 " ashes for both dressings .... 215 54 Seed fordo. ... 41 25 Ploughing 10J days . .... 21 00 Rolling 3i do. Harrowing 3i do. . Caning outside furrows Sowing 3 days . Carting and spreading ashes 7 00 7 00 7 50 3 00 54 00 Cutting, curing, and housing41 tons millet and clover 123 00 Five years taxes 2 10 Interest accruing on transaction .... 46 00 $737 39 Cr. By produce sold, amounting to $717 00 Value of pasturage . . . . . . . 1500 Value of lot in its present condition . . . 385 00 $1,117 00 737 39 $379 61 There is reason to suppose, from present appear- ances, that ihe lot in question will cut two tons of clover this season per acre ; it will therefore be seen that my valuation is not a high one. A repetition of the treatment it has received would no doubt im- prove still more the texture of the soil, though I am inclined to thTrik there might be a falling off instead of an increase in the amount of its products by sub- sequent ashings. Should this be the case, it would indicate a suitable condition for more permanent im- provement by manuring. PEAT EARTH, PEAT ASHES, &C. In the number of the Cultivator for January, 1839, p. 191, a correspondent, in noticing " a recently pub- lished account of the proceedings of the British As- sociation for the advancement of Science," as to the improvement of peat-bogs, and the use of peat-moss or turf as a manure, speaks of the preparation of the 140 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY latter in barnyards, and of expelling from the turf, through that mode of preparing it, the qualities with which it is imbued, when taken from the swamps, deleterious to vegetation. I began, some months ago, the use of it, in some degree, after the modes advert- ed to by the members of the association ; and have, from information I have been able to obtain from emigrants, and from my own observation and read- ing, been led to a series of experiments with it. Though the results are not yet as complete as I hope eventually to make them, I apprehend that what I have thus far observed may be useful. I ap- ply the turf in a variety of ways : First, after the mode of preparing it in compost, directed by Lord Meadowbanks, " which was printed and distributed gratis among the Scotch peasantry many years ago, and which has ever since been highly approved of, both by practical and scientific cultivators," in Scot- land, Ireland, and generally in all the European countries in which peat is to be found. That meth- od has been described in former numbers of the Cul- tivator, and will be found, in all its essential particu- lars, in Fessenden's New-England Farmer and Rural Economist, pages 209 to 212, and in Loudon's Ency- clopaedia of Agriculture. Composts have been made by me which, when prepared in strict-eonformity to those directions, have fully justified them. Through this means, there is no difficulty in trebling or four- folding an ordinary farm supply of manure, and which may (as the authors say) " be used weight for weight as farmyard manure, and will be found, in a course of cropping, fully to stand the comparison." Whenever I have deviated from the track laid down, I have found that a strict pursuit of the old practice was the better, and have returned to it. In particular, I find the necessity not only of avoiding the compres- sion of the compost heap by the tread of the men or cattle employed, but the expediency of throwing into it every vegetable material which may contribute to MANURES. 141 Keep it light and as springy as possible. I also find it most prudent to avoid compression through rais- ing the heap above the allotted height. My supply of turf to this time has been taken from a swamp about five feet deep, of about two thirds of an acre, one half of which, down to the clay subsoil, I have used in composts or otherwise, and which I propose tilling the coming summer. I have also used the turf in bottoming my barn and cattle yard, stables and hog-sties, and in burning it for ashes. My first application of it to manuring began with the last spring. The ashes were used as I have already stated in a previous number, and I can assure you my clover and grass crops fully justified all the anticipations I was authorized to make. Some of my neighbours, of excellent practical information in ordinary mat- ters, attempted to dissuade me from the use of it. A fssoms ; and here I said, my friend, is the iine up to which my turf- ashes, of which you disadvised the use, have been applied. Fortunately, in spreading, it run out on this land, and thus has afforded me an opportunity of again consulting with you as to its usefulness. My mode of burning has also been heretofore de- scribed in the Cultivator, and my. experience has convinced me of the policy of smothering the fire, and burning the turf as slowly, and confining as much of the smoke during the combustion as possible. My heaps are generally four to six weeks in burn- ing. That the turf is* purely vegetable will be per- ceived from the fact that" twenty cart-loads of turf are necessary to produce one of ashes. Sand or clay are not destructible by combustion, and would, if present, have been found still the same in bulk and visible to the eye ; none, however, can be dis- covered in the ashes ; and this may be considered as a fair method of testing the question as to how much of mossy-earth the turf contains. The correspondent in the Cultivator before al- luded to queries as to the application of sulphuric acid for converting turf into manure, and for fertilizing a turf soil. This induces me to call attention to facts which have ever been witnessed by me : around al- most every opening of the heap through which the smoke issues, an oily substance resembling sulphur will be perceived. Bottoming, before covering them with litter, the shelters under my barn and sheds, as I always do, to the height of about twelve inches, with turf, in order that it may absorb the stale and moist- ure of the place, I have observed that though, when taken there dry from the swamp, the turf is perfectly devoid of all smell, after having been thus used it becomes as sensibly acid to the smell as the most sour lemon. In turning it over, the acid exhalation cannot but be perceptible to every by-stauder. MANURES. 143 All writers upon turf, in speaking of its antiseptic properties, say it is imbued with a phosphoric acid, having some affinity to gallic acid or tannin, and which renders it, in that state, anti-putrescent, and, consequently, deleterious to vegetation. It will dry- rot and pulverize when exposed to the air, and is in that state pernicious, because it has not gone through the fermentation necessary to render it soluble, and fitting food for plants. The fermentative decay and solution of vegetable and animal substances afford to vegetation its proper nutriment. The turf, it will be perceived, when used in compost, and in contact with fermentative manures, attracts to itself and ab- sorbs so much of the putrescent exhalations as is necessary to expel the acid which checks its decay, in common with the manure placed in juxtaposition with it. If this, then, be a tendency of the turf in the compost, why should it not operate similarly, though in a less degree, in the earth to which it is applied, and, so far from affording nutriment to surrounding ve- getation, attract it to itself, and absorb the putrescent or fermentative substances already in the soil * In the first instance, it has always been said, and it is no doubt true, that the turf, while saturated with the acid, is remotely deleterious to vegetable growth and to the soil ; and after having, within the soil, taken to itself what will promote its decay, it prob- ably gives it back, and does become in some degree beneficial as a manure. It may well be that sulphu- ric acid will, by its action on the turf, accelerate the souring to which I have adverted, and thus promote the decay of the turf. Turf was, for a long while, the source of disappointment as a manure, until the principles applied to it by Lord Meadowbanks were scientifically explained and brought into practice. In the spring and in the fall, immediately after car- rying out the supply of manure from my cattle- yards and hogsties, I bottom them anew with turf to the depth of at least a foot, covering it with six 144 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. inches of seaweed or drift. To the accumulation of the place during the winter, when little is to be lost, in fermentative manures, by solar heat or evapora- tion, I cart around the yard and spread on its upper edges, some eight, ten, or more feet wide, the empty- ings of my stables and yard-sheds, with the litter- ed surface occasionally of my hogpens (which are placed in the centre of my barnyard). The feeding- racks and moveable pens are from time to time shifted, that the turf and seaweed may, by the tread and droppings of the cattle, and the occasional moist- ure of the yard, be worked together, and the turf sat- urated with them as much as practicable. The main part of the manure, being placed on the upper sides of the yard, in settling down to the centre and to- wards the barnyard drain, passes necessarily among the bottoms of the turf and seaweed, which thus be- come imbued with the substances necessary ft> pre- pare them for the fermentative decay, which the acid of the one and the saline impregnation of the other require for them. In the spring, as soon as solar heat may induce a tendency to fermentation, and consequent evaporation and loss, the yards are turn- ed over with a plough or the shovel, that the whole may be so commingled that the turf may attract and absorb the waste which would otherwise ensue. At the lowest part of the barnyard, and that to which everything from the farmhouse, kitchens, farming- yards, and stables tends, I have a cemented cistern or tank capable of containing 250 hogsheads. The windmill and horse power of the yard is connected with this tank by pulleys, straps, and chain buckets, so that if, during the winter, spring, or summer, ] think best to wet my compost heaps, hogsties, or any of the yards with those drainings, the power is con- veniently applied, and by leaders the draining is thrown back to settle again through the mass and return to the tank. The compost-yard adjoins the barnyard ; and is so graded, that if the drainings from MANURES. 145 the tank be thrown on to the heaps, after settling .hrough, they return by box under-drains into the yrards> and tank. If a surplus is still on hand, a cart with a hogshead and sprinkler is used, with which, in a four to one diluted state, I irrigate such grass- lands as I think may be benefited by it, or my grain crops in such parts of a field as I apprehend may want it : an excellent method of readily adding to the manure, and of forcing those parts of a field which in the spring are perceived to want manuring; or my garden is fertilized and forced by it to any state of productiveness which can be effected by such an application of the most stringent and prompt in its influence, of all manures. The last spring, in spots where my wheat did not thrive comparatively, applying it with a watering-pot, the grain advanced and outstripped the surrounding parts of the crop, which before had afforded better promise of thrift. Pouring a pint of it into a hill of corn, of potatoes, or of vines of any kind, will be found to give an aston- ishing impulse to them. The filling and driving of the cart, of sprinkling it on the field, or applying it to the hill or garden, is the work of the barnyard power, a boy, horse, cart, sprinkler, and watering-pot. The cart and its sprink- ler, in its form and use, is in all respects like those employed in cities for sprinkling the streets. To irrigate and manure drilled crops, the sprinkler should be taken from the rear of the cart, and two of them should be hung parallel with the shafts and over the drills. During the heavy rains of the fall and spring, should the drainings of the yard accumulate and fill the tank, and not be otherwise wanted, the surplus is let off into a muck-road, embanked on the sides, and filled to the depth of ten to fifteen inches with sea- weed, turf, turf ashes, and a small supply of manure, and made gradually to percolate and settle down- ward through a distance of from four to six hundred feet in length and twenty in breadth, and through which muc/c-road cattle, carts, and vehicles of every I. M 146 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. kind, when it is not too wet, are forced to find their way, to break up and mix its contents with the drain- ings of the barnyard. Until the drainings of the yards have reached the farthest extent of this road, they should not be applied to agricultural uses. He- fore driving my cattle from rny yards, if it becomes necessary to do so, and always two or three times a day when its surface is moist, a boy, as a standing rule, drives them for exercise several times round the yards, the better to bring the manure in contact with the bottomings. I have other modes, not here explained, by which I readily avoid the access to my yards and tank of the excess of drenching rains, when the storms are heavy and of long duration. This I may explain, if desirable, on another occasion. "Within the last year I have lost none absolutely none ! of the leaching of my yards and stables.* * " The modern agriculturist, he thought, did not pay suffi- cient attention to the manures made in the foldyard. Some- times he had been asked how his fattening animals paid him for the trouble of producing them. This, however, could not be answered by a mere reference to the sum he obtained for them by sale, but there was a variety of circumstances to be consid- ered before he could answer it properly. For instance, the quantity of manure obtained from them was one not wet straw, but good manure. There was another thing which required at- tention: when the manure was carried from the foldyard into the fields, it was suffered to lie in a large heap for a long time ; so long, indeed, that, before it was spread upon the land, its qual- ities had perished. He was aware that it required a certain time for fermentation to take place, but it was frequently left till such fermentation had passed off. It was his practice, as soon as the heaps were raised on the field, to throw a quantity of mould upon them, and thus prevent evaporation taking place too rapidly. Proper attention ought also to be paid to draining the foldyard. The produce saved was now, in ten out of twlevo in- stances, lost. It would be advisable, when the yard had a full, to establish conveniences for catching it, and then convey it to the lands. In France and the Netherlands they were extremely careful in preserving this liquid manure, and the peasants inigbt be seen conveying it out to the fields, and giving each plant -i proper proportion." Shillito in Quarterly Journal of Agricul 'ure. MANURES 147 To this it will be said by some, it is laborious and expensive. Not so much so as may be apprehended, or as would be the case with others not assisted with mechanical powers and under-drains as I an; , but what I have thus done at some expense, others may do, in a great degree, for a mere trifle, and t j a way that I may hereafter suggest. I assume, as a standard, the fact that farmers with us pay one dollar per load for manure, and that this is a criterion by which to form an estimate of the labour or capital which may profitably be bestowed in obtaining it as I do. If this be the true criterion for judging, every day's labour I expend in produ- cing it is worth twenty-fold the sum I pay my hands to effect it. Turf affords an invaluable medium for saving the waste of manure, and for increasing its amount and usefulness ; and it is better than rich mould, earths, or the pearings and bottoms of ditches, inasmuch as it is all vegetable, and in itself, strictly speaking, a manure, when properly prepared. The contents of stables, barnyards, and cattle and hog pens should never be exposed to the solar heat or to fermentative evaporations, or their drainings lost, when turf, or any inert vegetable substance, or surplus farm materials of a vegetable or animal na- ture abound ; nor should animal substances, fish or any other, be suffered to waste their effluvia in the air when such materials can be had. For all use- ful purposes, enough of the agricultural influence or effect of manure is produced as soon as vegetable or animal decay is sure to progress. From that moment a compost should be resorted to, and the heat and action of the manure (which is sure and irresistibly powerful) be thus brought to operate on substances to which this propensity has not been sufficiently imparted. In this state, all that is ordinarily wasted tends to a useful result in augmenting the mass. It is a common practice to bury fish, preparatory 148 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. to their use as a manure, in common, raw earth. The most soluble of ordinary manures, it is soon dissipated by atmospheric action, and leaves on the soil to which it has been applied a raw earth, in its then condition injurious to it. .1 find it far more beneficial to bury the fish in turf and in turf ashes, seven loads to one of fish (in Loudon, it is said, of turf alone, even 20 to 1), which the decay of the fish will make an excellent and very powerful manure, and one which will endure long after the fish will have done their office in the soil and disappeared.* W. A. SEKLY. Wheat- Sheaf Farm, Staten Island, Jan. 18, 1839. CHAPTER VI. IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS-LANDS. Of Pasture. Of Meadow. On converting Arable or Plough Land into Permanent Meadow or Pasture. Report on Grass es and Grass-Lands. ALTHOUGH the alternation of grass and grain crops is deemed most profitable, on soils and in situations which will admit of this kind of husbandry, yet there are many situations in which this alternate change cannot be carried into effect without manifest preju- dice to the interests of the cultivator. There are some soils so natural to grass as to yield an uiuii- minished product for many years, almost without care or expense. There are others, upon the banks of streams which frequently overflow, which it is * For much valuable information on the use of lime an a ma- nure, seo the very full and able article by M. Pnvis. in C'liym- istry applied to Agriculture, p. 20J, tt teq., published by Haipw & Brother*. IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS-LANDS. 14P prudent to keep in grass, lest the soil should be worn away by the rapid flood of the waters. Others, again, are too precipitous or too stony to admit of arable culture. Nor should we conceal the fact, that it is still a controverted point whether rich, stiff clays are not most profitable when permanent- ly appropriated to grass. Whatever causes prevail, the fact is indisputable, that a considerable portion of our lands are, and will continue to remain, in meadow and pasture. It is with the view to aid the farmer in correcting any defects that may exist in such grass-grounds, and in improving and keeping them in condition, that we offer the following sug- gestions. And, first, OF PASTURE. The evils that are experienced in pasture-grounds are, the gradual disappearance of the best grasses ; the growth of mosses and weeds in their stead; and the prevalence of coarse herbage in situations where there exists a superabundance of moisture. Where- ever there are stagnant waters, as upon flat surfaces, the pasture is rendered peculiarly unhealthy for sheep ; but it is remarked, that if the water is in continued motion, as is generally the case upon the declivities of hills and mountains, no ill consequences follow. To remedy the evils we have enumerated, and to improve the condition of pasture-grounds, one or more of the following expedients may be advanta- geously resorted to, viz., sowing and harrowing in grass-seeds, scarifying, bushing, draining, manuring, and top-dressing with marl or lime. Grass-seeds may be sown either in the autumn or spring, followed by the harrow, and, if practicable, by the roller. The harrow partially extirpates the mosses, breaks and pulverizes the surface, and buries the seeds ; and the roller presses the earth to the seeds and smooths the surface. The bush-harrow 150 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. is to be preferred. This may be constructed by in- terweaving some strong but pliant branches of trees through the open squares of a heavy harrow, which thus forms an efficient brush, and, when drawn over the ground, performs' its duty perfectly during a short distance ; but the branches being pressed close, and worn by the motion, soon become so flat as not to have the effect of spreading the earth thrown upon the surface by earth-worms, or ground-mice, or ants. It is therefore recommended in British Husbandry, as a better mode, to fix the branches upright in a frame, placed in the front part of the carriage of the roller ; by which means they can be so placed as to sweep the ground effectually, and, when worn, can be moved a little lower down, so as to continue the work with regularity. This opera- tion also completely breaks and scatters the manure dropped on the field by the stock, and partially in- corporates it with the surface-mould. Scarifying is cutting the sod and loosening the surface. Concklin's Press-harrow is a suitable im- plement for this purpose. We also subjoin the drawing of an implement constructed for this pur- pose, which we take from British Husbandry, calcu- lated to be drawn by a one or two horse team. This implement is intended to cut the sod perpen- dicularly, so far down as to sever the roots of the grass, which occasions it to throw out fresh ones. It slices the sod without tearing it, and should be constructed with a number of very sharp coulters, fixed into a crossbeam at such distances as may be IMPROVEMENT OF- GRASS-LANDS. 151 thought advisable, say from six inches to a foot, and of a width according to the strength intended to be employed in drawing it. The blades should be oc- casionally whetted to preserve their edge, and the. implement should be used when the ground is in a moderate state of moisture, and the grass short. If the land is poor or moss-bound, it may be passed crosswise. It is best adapted to moist clays which do not contain stones or gravel. It is advantageous- ly used to precede the sowing of grass-seeds. The foot- wheel is to regulate the depth of the work. Draining improves the quality of the herbage, and marling or liming increases, the quantity. It is re- marked, that animal dung, when dropped on coarse pastures, produces little or no benefit ; but when calcareous matters have been laid upon the surface, the finer grasses soon take possession of it. Manures alone are seldom applied to pasture, especially with us ; but applied in the form of com- post, as a top-dressing, they are serviceable. Gyp- sum and spent ashes may be used with undoubted benefit in most cases. It need hardly be added, that bushes, thistles, and other perennial weeds obstruct the growth of grass, and that they should be carefully extirpated. Our pasture-grounds are generally left to take care of themselves ; but there is no doubt that some expense bestowed upon their improvement, in some of the modes above suggested, would be profitably laid out. OF MEADOW. The crop being here annually carried off, it b3- comes a matter of necessity, if the field is to be kept permanently in grass, to apply manure occasionally, if we would prevent a diminution of product. It is affirmed that a perfectly thick bottom cannot be maintained on permanent meadows in England, un- less it is manured every second year Gypsum will 152 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. effect much here upon dry soils, though there ita i Ht-cts arc equivocal; but gypsum alone will not suffice t-vcn here. The average product upon our old grass-lauds will hardly average over a ton and a half to the acre. With a biennial or triennial top- dressing of dung or compost, where the sod is in good condition, it is believed the average would be double. Meadows are subject to all the evils that are ex- perienced in pastures from mosses, wetness, and the diminution of the finer grasses, besides the greater exhaustion of fertility consequent upon carrying off the annual growth ; and the same measures are best adapted to renovate them. Meadows are generally depastured after the hay has been taken oft* and the rowen partially grown. " After the cattle have been removed,'' says an English writer, " the land is bush- harrowed and rolled.' 1 '' It has been stated, though some question the fairness of the experiment, that the operation of heavy rolling has been found to add six or seven hundred weight of hay per acre to the produce of the crop.* The effect of pasturing meadows in the spring upon the coming grass-crop has been a matter upon which farmers have differed, though all agree that heavy cattle should not be kept on so late in au- tumn, or put on so early in spring, as to injure the sole of the sod by poaching it when in a wet state. Mr. Sinclair has stated, that a given space of the same quality of grass having been cut towards the end of March, and another space of equal size left uncut till the last week in April, the produce of each having afterward been taken at three different cut- tings, that of the space last cut exceeded the former in the proportion of three to two ; and in one in- Btance during a dry summer, the last cropped space exceeded the other as nearly two to oue.f It is * Derbyshire Report, vol. ii., p. 83. t Treatise on Agriculture, p. 113, U4, Harpers' edition. IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS-LANDS. 153 generally conceded that it is better to feed off rowen than to cut it as a second crop. ON CONVERTING ARABLE OR PLOUGH-LAND INTO PER- MANENT MEADOW OR PASTURE. The first obstacle to encounter is the practice, yet loo prevalent, of throwing plough-land into old field or pasture, without stocking it with grass-seeds. We lay it down as an unerring rule in good hus- bandry, that ploughed fields intended to be conve r t- ed in pasture or meadow should be well stocked with grass-seeds ; and, as next in importance, that as many species of grass-seeds be sown as can be procured or are adapted to the soil ; and that, if possible, there be included the seeds of those grass- es which are either indigenous to, or which are found to thrive well in, the immediate neighbour- hood, and in similar soils. The reasons for recom- mending several species are these : Each kind has its particular season of growth, and exhausts a par- ticular food in the soil ; and by multiplying the num- ber, we are more apt to obtain a constant growth of herbage, and a far more abundant supply of feed. Thus, for instance, say a square foot of surface will support but six stocks of timothy ; this grass, grow- ing neither very early nor very late, the herbage would neither be abundant nor permanent. But the same square foot, which would support but six plants of timothy, would support, at the same time (because every kind requires its specific food), six plants of five other species, say meadow fox-tail, red clover, white clover, orchard, and tall oat-grass, or species of the agrostis or fescue families. Of these six kinds, some one would be in luxuriant growth at all seasons, and the herbage would be increased from three to four fold, if the soil be good, by the admix- ture of the different seeds. We cannot too often repeat, that pastures and meadows are almost as much benefited by a rich 154 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. soil, and a soil moist, not wet, as amble husbandry. The food of the grass, as well as of the grain crop, must come mainly from the soil; and if this food is scanty, the crop will in like manner be scanty. And, again, the more nutritious grasses will not grow on soils habitually \\vt. " The products of natural meadows," says Arm- strong, " have been carefully and skilfully analyzed in Germany, in Italy, in England, and in France ; and the result shows that wet meadows contain the smaller number of the different species of plants, but the greater number of those which are either useless or injurious ; and, on the other hand, that moist meadows contain the greater number of the former, and the smaller number of the latter. The following simple table exhibits at a glance the pres- ent state of knowledge on this important part of our subject : No. of Pilots. Uraeful. Vtelcm or bad. In wet meadows ... 30 4 ' 26 In dry ... 38 8 30 In moist "... 42 17 25 " The agricultural labours suggested by these fact.* are of two kinds : the eradicating of useless, pernicious plants, and the continuance and mul'ipli- cation of those which are good. The first of these objects is promoted by mowing the meadows before the seeds of noxious plants ripen, by pasturing them, oni e in three years, with sheep, horses, and cattle in succession ; by harrowing them in the spring and fall ; by destroying by hand perennial weeds ; and, lastly-, by sufficiently draining those that are wet. " Many pernicious plants are annuals, and are kill- ed by the first of these operations. A similar effect is produced by the second ; the harrow or scarifier will destroy mosses or other weeds whose roots are fibrous and superficial ; the hand-hoe will extir- pate such tap-rooted plants as resist the harrow and are refused by cattle ; and Iraining will expel all worthless aquatics." IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS-LANDS. 155 In order to obtain seeds of indigenous kinds which are not to be had in the shops, it is common in Eu- rope to have the seeds carefully gathered by chil- dren, which, being sown on a well-prepared piece of ground, and taken care of, will soon yield seeds for far in -culture. It is easier to accommodate the plant to the soil than to adapt the soil to the plant. In laying down lands to permanent meadow o> pasture, it is all-important to have the soil perfectly broken and pulverized ; as the future value of th& crop will depend upon the perfect germination of the seeds, and this cannot be expected without a thor- ough pulverization and preparation of the soil. It is also important to sow plenty of seed. The ground, to be sure, will sustain and nourish only a certain number of plants ; yet it is better to go to an extra expense for seed than to have a deficiency of plants. It is usual, in Britain, to sow from ten to sixteen pecks of grass-seed to the acre on lands intended for permanent grass, and from six to \ dozen species. Another practice there, entitled to our notice, in laying down lands permanently to grass, is to sow grass-seeds exclusively, that is, un- accompanied with any sort of grain. A good turf is the main object ; and if grain is sown with the grass- seeds, it robs the soil of much of the food which is necessary to nurture the young grass, and perma- nent value is thereby sacrificed to temporary and comparatively trifling profit. The best time for sowing, for permanent grass-lands, is said to be the early part of autumn, say in August or the first of September, in order that the plants may become well established before winter. Or, the more hardy kinds may be sown then, and the ten- derer kinds sown upon the same field in the spring, as we sow clover upon the winter-grain. As the seeds of grasses are generally small, the use of the roller, to pulverize and press the earth upon them, and to smooth the surface, is almost indispensable 156 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. in good husbandry. It is considered of great advan- tage to give a light dressing of compost or of rotted dung to young grass ; and to avoid feeding it with heavy animals the first year, before the turf has thickened and become firm. If the grounds laid down in grass are intended for permanent meadow, reference should be had to the grasses which are fit for the scythe at nearly the same time. For information on this point, we refer to p. 30, vol. iv., and to pages 11, 33, 47, and 63, vol. iii., of the Cultivator. Should pasture and meadow be made to alternate, or should fields be kept exclusively for each 1 The American practice is not to alternate ; and yet there seems to be substantial reasons for a contrary course. The object in both cases is to obtain the greatest quantity and the best quality of food for farm-stock ; and this object is promoted in both cases by scarifying, draining, and top-dressing. La- bour is as profitably laid out in improving our pas- ture as our meadow grounds. But feeding and mow- ing have different effects upon the soil. In one case the crop is annually carried off, and in the other con- sumed upon the ground. Meadows, therefore, di- minish in fertility, while pasturing increases the productive powers of the soil. Is it not proper, for this reason alone, to alternate, in order to keep up fertility ! But there is another argument: pastures soon abound with biennial and perennial plants, as thistles, mulleins, &c., which, as cattle do not con- sume them, mature and shed their seed, and multiply rapidly ; whereas, if they are occasionally converted to meadows, these plants would be cut down before the seed matured, and at least the biennials would be soon extirpated. These weeds are as prejudicial in pastures, in diminishing the quantity of herbage as they are in meadows, and the same good manage- ment requires their extirpation in both. Something depends vn the size of enclosures. Small IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS- LANDS. 157 enclosures, say ten acres, are believed to be better than large ones. Grass grows better when there is no stock upon it than when it is subjected to the constant tread of heavy animals ; hence it is deemed economical to shift cattle occasionally from one en- closure to another. Another advantage of small en- closures is, it enables the farmer to keep different classes of stock separate, and thereby prevent inju- ries, which ofter occur to weaker animals from run- ning with stronger ones. " Respecting the stocking of enclosures (we quote from British Husbandry), it is the opinion of the most intelligent graziers, that the cattle fed upon them should be divided in the following manner. Supposing four fields, each containing a nearly equal quantity of land, one of them should be kept entirely free from stock until the grass has got up to its full growth, when the prime or fattening cattle [or the cows, where the dairy is the prominent business] should be put into it, that they may get the best of the food ; the second best should then follow ; and, after them, either the working or store stock, with lean sheep to eat the pastures close down: thus making the whole of the stock eat over the four en- closures in this succession : No. 1. Clear of stock, and reserved for the fattening beasts or cows. No. 2. For the fatting beasts till sent to No. 1. No. 3. For the second-best cattle, until forwarded successively to Nos. 2 and 1. No. 4. For stores and sheep to follow other cattle, then to be shut up until the grass is again ready at No. 1 for the fattening beasts," p. 482. " Land that is constantly mown must also be fre- quently manured, or it will be thrown out of heart." There is no doubt on this point. If the crop is fre- quently carried off, and nothing in the shape of ve- getable matter returned to the soil, the land must and 158 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY will deteriorate, till the crop will' not pay the laboul of gathering it. Those, therefore, who will have good, permanent meadows, must, once at least in four years, give it a bountiful top-dressing of dung. [We add here the following concise but valuable report made to the Agricultural Society of this state, on grasses and grass-lands, by L. E. ALLEN, Esq., of Buffalo, merely remarking that we fully concur in' the opinion expressed, that the quantity of grass- seeds sown is in most cases far too limited.] REPORT ON GRASSES AND GRASS-LANDS. The committee on laying down grass-lands, &c., report : In the consideration of this subject, but two dis- tinct propositions submit themselves to the reflec- tion of the committee ; and, first : our soils in the Northern states may be ranged, for the purpose of this report, into two classes : the tenacious, whether clayey, loamy, or vegetable ; and the silicious 01 sandy. These are sufficiently well known to every farmer without analyzation. The first division of these soils may be termed " natural grass-lands ;" the second requires the grasses to be frequently cul- tivated by rotation with other crops, and, for the present purpose, may be termed " artificial" soils for grasses. In the management of the first, the committee feel warranted in the assertion (and for the tnith of this they appeal to the innumerable instances in all parts of the Northern states, where large and productive tracts of meadow and pastures have been in uninter- rupted grass-culture for more than half a century), that, so far as has yet been tried, lands may be kept in grass for such a length of time as " the mem- ory of man runneth not to the contrary." It is true that there so ; ls will not, more than others, bear con- IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS-LANDS. 159 tinual cropping without occasional, nourishment, with impunity ; but when once well seeded, by the application of various manures, among which that of the barnyard is the best, and in the absence of close after- feeding, they will yield grass, as the com mon saying is, "almost for ever." In many sections of our country, where vegetable loam preponderates upon a clayey or a hardpan sub- soil, the ploughing up of meadows and pasture-lands for many years is almost destructive to their future production of grass ; and it is only by long and regu- lar applications of mixed and rich manures that they can be brought back to their primitive luxuriance In proof of this remark, your committee need only refer to some of the most celebrated and productive grazing districts of the state, where the staple grass- es of our country have been always successfully cul- tivated. In frequent instances, perhaps in a large majority of cases, lands of this description, which have been cleared within the last fifty years, and are now occupied as pasture and meadow, have never been ploughed, but remain in the same uneven con- dition of surface as they were left when the harrow followed the first grain and grass-seed which were deposited in them after clearing. Great reluctance is usually manifested in disturbing these fields, al- though somewhat inconvenient to the mower, their proprietors being so well satisfied with their annual crops as to prefer the old adage, and "let well enough alone." Your committee have witnessed instances of this description of soil, which have been for thirty years in grass, and but slightly manured, and, under very ordinary cultivation, producing in a common season two or three tons of the finest hay per acre. Such, however, are extraordinary cases in favourable positions. An ordinary crop may be one to two tons per acre, according to the care and attention of the farmer. It is true that these lands may become exhausted. 160 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY and the grass " run out," as the term goes, through bad husbandry and neglect ; but the application of yard-manures, of new grass-seeds and the harrow, will, in nearly all instances, restore them to their wonted luxuriance. It need hardly here be stated, that irrigation, draining, and other artificial stimu- lants may be important to the productiveness of the meadow and the pasture ; but, as these always sug- gest themselves to the judgment and good sense of the cultivator, they do not necessarily come within the province of this discussion. The quantity of seed sown to the acre, for either pasture or meadbw, should not be less than half a bushel ; the kind or va- riety to depend somewhat upon the soil and its situ- ation. For mowing, the red clover, timothy, and red-top are the best and most desirable. For pasture, the same, with the addition of white clover and blue or June grass, which are almost everywhere indi- genous to the soil, and are among the richest and most nutritious of all our grasses. In fine, the sim- plest methods compatible with the established rules of good husbandry, your committee believe, with such soils, are the best for their profitable and per- petual cultivation. In treating the second proposition, viz., the culti- vation of grasses on the lighter soils, your commit- tee will remark, that much must necessarily be left to the judgment of the cultivator as to the time that his lands are to be kept in grass, depending upon his own necessities, or what he requires from his land. As a general rule, if the raising of grass be an object, so long as the lands produce well, either from their natural fertility or by the application of artificial stimulants, they should not be disturbed ; but when the object is a regular rotation, with a strict regard to the greatest profit, two to four years is sufficient for the benefit of the land, and as long as such soils will usually yield a grass-crop that will pay. It is better that the soils be properly prepared, by pro- IMPROVEMENT OF GRASS-LANDS. 161 vious grain or root crops and abundant manuring, and hy harrowing and rolling, for the reception of grass-seeds, and that the manures of the farm, save, perhaps, lime, ashes, and plaster, be withheld for the use of the current ploughed crops, rather than to expend them upon the grasses ; yet much must depend upon the local position of the ground, the climate, and the dry or moist condition of the soil. The descriptions of grasses best fitted for these soils are, so far as our experience has yet tested, the red clover and timothy. They are strong, hardy, and rich in their properties, universally known and cultivated, and have, in competition with all rival ex- periments, maintained their reputation and superior- ity. The proportions of seed distributed on the soil may vary with the views of the cultivator, as he in- tends it for hay or for pasture, and may range from one to two thirds of either variety ; but in no case, for thorough seeding, should the combined quantity be less than from half a bushel to three pecks per acre. The great fault with our farmers is, that they do not half seed their grass-lands, the usual allow- ance being less than half the quantity recommended. As to the time and manner of seeding, your commit- tee unhesitatingly recommend the earliest spring, oh a light loam ; or, if that be wanting, while the ground is yet unsettled, on a crop of winter-grain. If this be not practicable, the other best plan would be ei- ther sowing with spring-grain, or seeding in the sum- mer with buckwheat or turnips, as the occasion may demand. Ploughing into the soil an occasional grass-crop for its renovation, in the absence of stimulating ma- nures, cannot be too highly recommended in the lighter soils ; and for succeeding crops of almost any description, this process is also highly advanta- geous, and may, without hesitation, be always rec- ommended. As the discussion of this subject at greater length I. N 162 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. would lead your committee into minute details not required by their duties on this occasion, they beg leave to close their communication with the follow- ing suggestion to all who would cultivate grasses : Read attentively, and follow the practical rules laid down in the best agricultural papers of the day, and no intelligent farmer need be at a loss to under- stand how he may most successfully cultivate his lands with grasses. CHAPTER VII. PLANTS. The Germination of Seeds. Roots and Leaves. Extent of (he Roots of Plants. THE GERMINATION OF SEEDS. SEEDS often fail to grow ; and the seedsman is of- ten found fault with for vending bad seeds, when they are really good, and when the cause of their not growing is owing to the gardener or planter. To induce germination, moisture, atmospheric air, and a certain temperature are indispensable; and it is also requisite that light be excluded from the seed until the nutriment in it is exhausted, or until the root can draw nourishment from the soil. The first effect of the air, heat, and moisture upon the seed is to change its properties ; to convert its starch into sugar into a sort of milky pulp, the proper food of the embryo plant. If at this stage the seed becomes dry, its vitality is believed to be destroyed ; but if the agents referred to are permitted to exert their influence, the contents of the seed swell by degrees, ind the point of the future root being formed, breaks through the shell in a downward direction, while, PLANTS. 1 63 about the same time, the point of the future stem comes forth in an upward direction. The presence of air, heat, and moisture are afterward as indispen- sable to the growth of the plant as they were to the germination of the seed. Now it often happens, that wheji seeds are planted in fresh-stirred ground, or when the soil is moist, they undergo the incipient process of fermentation, and the earth not being pressed upon them, and dry weather ensuing, the moisture is abstracted, and the seeds perish. Too much moisture is also often de- structive to the vital principle of seeds ; while others, again, are buried too deep to be vivified by solar and atmospheric influence. The first object in planting, therefore, should be, to place the seed just so far un- der the surface, and to cover it with so much earth, as shall barely secure to it a constant supply of moist- ure. There are many seeds, as of the carrot, parsnip, orchard-grass, &c., which, if not previously steeped, or the soil well pulverized and pressed upon them, fail to grow for want of moisture. Hence, in sow- ing orchard-grass, it is found prudent to spread the seed upon a floor and sprinkle it with water, and to pass a roller over the ground after it is sown. And hence, in loose garden mould, it is advisable to press the earth with the hoe or the spade upon all light seeds after they are sown. But we would draw the attention of the farmer, as well as of the gardener, to another mode of pre- venting failure and disappointment in the growth of certain seeds; and that is, by sprouting them before they are planted. This may be conveniently done with Indian corn, pumpkins, mangold-wurzel, beets, &c., on the farm, and with melons, cucumbers, beans, peppers, and a great number of other seeds which are assigned to the garden. The mode of doing it with the field-seeds we have named is this : steep them from twelve to twenty hours in tepid water ; then pour off the water, and leave them in a warm 164 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. place, covered, to exclude the light and prevent their drying, or in a dark cellar or room, and the radicles or roots will shoot in a few days, and may then be planted without injury. Having been obliged to sus- pend our planting for four days on account of rain, we found our seed, which had been previously steep- ed and set by in a dark room, with radicles two or three inches long. It was planted, however, with but little inconvenience, and did remarkably well. Mr. J. Nott sprouted" a part of his corn last year, and a part of it was not sprouted ; and, what is worthy the particular notice of farmers, he assures us that the sprouted corn was not hurt by the wire-worm, while the unsprouted seed was seriously injured, although planted by the side of each other. Mr. Nott ac- counts for the difference in this way : the wire-worm attacks the chit, and feeds upon and destroys the germe : but the radicles having already protruded, and not being to the taste of the worm, the insect attacked the solid part of the kernel, where its prog- ress was too slow and too remote from the germe to retard its growth. Mr. Nott also sprouted his mangold-wurzel-seed, and planted it as late as the 27th of June. Almost every seed grew, and the crop might be called a good one early in September. To sprout garden-seeds, procure two sods of equal size, say eighteen inches square ; place one in the corner of the kitchen chimney, with the grass down ; lay your seeds upon it, and if they are small, wrap thrmjn a piece of brown paper ; then place the other sod upon them, with the grass up ; water well with warm water, and the seeds will sprout in from twenty-four to forty-eight hours. There is one manifest advantage in sprouting seeds : it tests their goodness, and shows whether they will or will not grow. A small quantity of seed-corn submit tod to this test before planting, would in many instances prevent great loss to the farmer. PLANTS. 165 ROOTS AND LEAVES. Plants may be said to consist of two great pzdhs, the root and the stem, with their various appenda- ges. But since we are in this place merely to con- sider one function of vegetable life, namely, the function of absorption, or the manner in which plants bring matter, external to themselves, within the range of their vital actions, we may confine our re- searches almost entirely to the roots and leaves ; these being, beyond doubt, the parts by which ex- traneous matter is first received into the plant ; and, in the first place> let us examine the functions of the root. The term root is generally considered to include all that part of the plant which is beneath the sur- face of the soil. This, however, "is not strictly cor- rect ; for many plants possess what botanists call a rhizoma, or underground stem. The true root is that part of the plant which, from the instant of its bursting the coverings of the seed, begins to direct its course downward (or towards the earth's axis), " with a tendency so powerful that no known -force is sufficient to overcome it." Moreover, it differs from the stem in many of its characters ; thus, it does not divide itself into smaller fibres in the regu- lar manner in which stems generally give off their branches. Again, it never produces leaves or scales ; and another important distinction is, "that it never becomes green (at least in tissue) when exposed to the action of air and light, while all the other parts of vegetables, when thus exposed, assume that col- our." The root is divided into the body and fibres, the latter of which will alone claim our attention. These fibres are furnished at their extremities with a remarkable structure, which, from its resemblance to a sponge, has been termed spongiole. It consists of an extremely loose texture, and is most probably merely " the nuwly-formed" internal " tissue" of the 166 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. root itself, deprived of its more dense covering or cuticle, as it is termed. This opinion is very much strengthened by the well-established fact, that roots grow by their extremities only, in this manner the spongiole is always being renewed ; and, what is of still more consequence, is never long in one place. On ihis account it is that plants which live many years (if not growing too near othera of the same kind) are not liable to die from having exhausted the soil ; or, in other words, are not liable to be starved to death ; for it is evident that, by the constant change of position of the spongiole, which is the only part of the root by which nourishment is received into the plant, there must be a constant supply of food, so long as the soil around it contains any or- ganic matter in a jit state for absorption. It has been shown, by innumerable experiments, that the spongioles, or absorbent extremities of the roots, cannot take up anything but fluids ; or, at all events, if they can absorb solids, they must be in such a minute state of division that they would remain sus- pended in water even for a considerable time, which is a fineness of particles far greater than will proba- bly ever be attained by any mechanical means. It has likewise been proved that plants are capa- ble of choosing, to a certain degree, their food ; or, in other words, of selecting those substances which are best adapted for their peculiar nature, and re- jecting what would be injurious. This power, how- ever, appears to be limited, as it is perfectly possible to destroy a 'plant by giving it poison by the roots. The root, moreover, has the power of excretion, or returning to the earth such matters as are either useless or injurious. From this last property of roots, we may draw two valuable conclusions : first, that, in order to poison a plant, the substance used must be capable of acting rapidly, or it will most probably be rejected before it has had time to pro- duce its effect ; and, secondly, that, since plants reject PLANTS. 167 substances useless and injurious to them, the soil where they grow may in time become so impreg- nated with such substances as to render it incapable of supporting the same species of plant any longer ; or, at least, until such time as the rejected matter shall have been decomposed. The next purpose which the roots of all land, and of the majority of aquatic plants, serve, is obviously to fix them firmly in their places. On tin's account, we find, in many cases, that a certain proportion exists between the size of the stem and the root. This, however, is subject to exceptions. But, on the other hand, in all cases, an obvious relation may be perceived between the form of the root and the kind of soil in which the plant grows. Thus, if two specimens of the same plant some of the grasses, for example be found growing, the one in clayey, the other in a sandy soil, it will be seen, on examination, that the root of the one growing in the sand is much more minutely sub- divided, and contains many more small fibres, than the one which grows in clay ; and the reason of this is obvious. We have already seen that the spon- gioles are the only absorbent parts of the root ; that they exist only at the extremities of the smallest fibres ; and, moreover, that they can take up nothing but what is presented to them in the form of solu- tion. Now, in the clayey soil, from its retentive nature, the soluble parts are not allowed to drain away ; and hence the plant is supplied with food near at hand, and, consequently, a few short fibres are sufficient. On the other hand, plants growing in sand are frequently deprived of. all fluid near them by the sinking of the soluble matters through the loosely aggregated soil ; in which case the plant would inevitably perish from starvation, were it not for the wise law of nature, which provides against such calamities by endowing the roots of plants placed under such circumstances with the power of shooting forth innumerable minute fibres in all direc- 163 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. tions, in order that advantage may be taken of every drop of moisture which falls in their neighbourhood. Nor is it merely in the number of minute fibres that the roots of plants growing in sand differ from those which inhabit the stiffer soils. The form of the body of the root is distinct : thus, nearly all bulbous and other large succulent roots as the turnip, for exam- ple require sandy soil ; and, moreover, some plants, as that species of grass named Phleum pratense (meadow cat's-tail, or timothy grass), change the form of the root according to the soil they inhabit. In stiff clays, the plant just mentioned has a fibrous root, whereas in sand it becomes bulbous, and as- sumes all the characters of Phleum nodosum. The explanation here is as evident as in the former case. The bulbs of the roots act as reservoirs of food for the plant : thus, in very dry seasons, these bums shrivel up, their fluids being all needed, by the rest of the plant, and hence withdrawn. So beautifully do we perceive in this, as in all other cases, that design and adaptation of means to specific purposes, which must impress even the most skeptical with the ab- solute existence of a Great First Cause. Maiden, EXTENT OF THE ROOTS OF PLANTS. Roots perform a double office to plants : they serve as braces to keep them in an upright position, and they are purveyors to supply them with food suitable to their growth and maturity. To enable them to perform these offices well, three requisites in the soil are essential. First, it is important that the soil be mellow, that the roots may penetrate it freely, not only to strengthen their bracing power, but to extend their range for food, this being absorb- ed or taken up by the spongioles or extreme points ; and the greater their range the more abundant the food which they supply. Secondly, it is important that this food be in the soil, in a soluble state ; that is, in a condition to be dissolved by, and incorporated PLANTS. 1(39 with, the fluids in the soil. This food consists of vegetable and animal matters, or of whatever has been such. Thirdly, it is important that a quantity of moisture be always present in the soil, to dissolve the focd of plants, or to serve as the medium for conveying it first to the spongioles, and from thence into and through the plant. Air, heat, and moisture are all essential agents in preparing the food of plants in the soil, and in giving vigour to vegetable growth. It should be the object of the farmer and gardener to aid these natural operations in cultivated crops j and to repay the soil, by labour and skill, for the an- nual tribute which they draw from it. These la- bours consist in returning to it vegetable food (ma- nure) equivalent to that which they annually take from it ; in rendering it mellow and penetrable to the roots of the growing crop ; in regulating the supply of water, too much being as hurtful as too little ; and in keeping the surface loose and porous, for the free admission of air, heat, and moisture. Hence the ad- vantage of deep tillage, perfect pulverization, drain- ing, manuring, and the frequent use of the cultivator among drilled or hoed crops ; and these considera- tions also suggest one objection against using the plough in the culture of these crops, and earthing or hilling them to any considerable extent ; as both of these modes of culture, ploughing and hilling, tend to curtail the natural range of the roots, and, conse- quently, to diminish the pasture and food of the crop. The depth and horizontal spread of roots are greater than is generally apprehended, as they often branch into minute filaments imperceptible to the naked eye ; still these minute imperceptible fila- ments collect" food for the parent plant. Jethro Tull, the father of drill-husbandry, has given us a good and satisfactory illustration of the great extension of the roots of the common turnip, which we here in- sert, not only to convince our readers of the fact, but I. 170 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. to illustrate the importance of good ploughing and thorough pulverization in tillage husbandry. We invite attention to the cut, and then to the explana- tion in the words of Tull. " A method to find the distance to which roots extend horizontally. A piece or plat, dug and made fine, in whole, hard ground (Fig. 1), the end A two feet, the end B 12 feet, the length of the piece 20 yards: the figures in the middle of it are 20 turnips, sown early and well hoed. The manner of this hoeing must be at first near the plants, with a spade, and each time afterward a foot distance, till the earth be once well dug ; and, if weeds appear where it has been so dug, hoe them out shallow with the hand- hoe. But dig all the piece next the outlines deep every time, that it may be the finer for the roots to enter when they are permitted to come thither. If the turnips be all bigger as they stand nearer to the nd B, it is a proof that they all extend to the out- side of the piece, and the turnip 20 will appear to draw .nourishment from six feet distance from its centre. But if the turnips 16, 17, 18, 19, and 20 ac- Su're no greater bulk than the turnip 15, it will be ear that their roots extend no farther than those cf the turnip 15 does, which is but about 4 feet. By this method the extent of the roots of any plant may be discovered. There is another way to find the length of roots, by making a long narrow trench at the dis- tance you expect they will extend to, and fill it with salt ; if the plant be killed by the salt, it is certain that some of its roots enter it. " What put me upon trying this method was an ob- servation of two lands or ridges (Fig. No. 2), drilled with turnips in rows, a foot asunder, and very even in them ; the ground at both ends and on one side was hard and unploughed. The turnips, not being hoed, were very poor, small, and yellow, except the three outside rows,., c, d, which stood next to the land (or ridge) E, which land, being ploughed and PLANTS. 171 172 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. harrowed at the time the land A ought to have been hoed, gave a dark, flourishing colour to these three rows ; and the turnips in the row d, which stood farthest off from the new-ploughed land K, received so much benefit from it as to grow twice as big as any of the more distant rows. The row c, being a foot nearer to the new-ploughed land, became twice as large as those in d; but the row b, which was next to the land E, grew much larger yet. F is a piece of hard, whole ground, of about two perches in length, and about two or three feet broad, lying between those two lands which had not been plough- ed that year. It was remarkable, that, during the length of this interjacent hard ground, the rows d, c, b were as small and yellow as any in the land. The turnips in the row rf, about three feet from the land E, receiving a double increase, proves that they had as much nourishment from the land E as from the land A, wherein they stood, which nourishment was brought by less than half the number of roots of these turnips. In their own land they must have extended a yard all roun3, else they could not have reached the land E, wherein it is probable that these few roots went more than another yard, to give each turnip as much increase as all the roots had done iu their own land. Except that it will hereafter ap- pear that the new nourishment taken at the extrem ities of the roots in the land E might enable the plants to send out more roots in their own land, and receive something more from thence. The row c being twice as big as the row rf, must be supposed to extract twice as far; and the row b four times as far, in proportion as it was of a bulk quadruple to the row J." " When roots are in a tilled state," says Tull, " a great pressure is made against them by the earth, which constantly subsides, and presses their food closer and closer, even into their mouths, until itself becomes so hard and close that the weak sorts of PLANTS. 173 roots can penetrate no farther into it unless reopen- ed by new tillage." Tull's work was published a hundred years ago. ft has been quoted and commented upon by most of the subsequent writers upon agriculture ; and the v facts above stated have never been controverted nor doubted, either by these writers, nor, so far as we have learned, by practical farmers. They are. there- fore, undisputed. Why is it that cultivated crops upon the margins of fields, and about stumps and fast stones, give more dwarfish plants and less pro- duct than the well-tilled portions of the field 1 It is not owing to the poverty of the soil ; for these por- tions abound most in the elements of fertility, by reason of the plough, on being raised from the fur- row, depositing there the finest and richest mould. Why do meadows deteriorate 1 Is it not because the roots of plants have not a sufficient range in mellow earth to supply the requisite food ; and be- cause the unbroken soil " becomes so hard and close, that the weak sort of roots can penetrate no farther into if?" There are some practical improvements which we would draw from the preceding facts. And, First : In regard to the use of the plough in Indian corn and other hoed crops. The roots of Indian corn are known, from repeated observation, to ex- tend in the soil at least six, eight, and ten feet ; and, if planted in squares four feet apart, each hill has virtually a pasture of four feet square to feed upon. Now if the plough is run both ways through the crop, this pasture is reduced to at least two square feet, for the roots which furnish sustenance are within reach of the plough, and must be cut by it. Hence the plough, where it is employed, reduces the pasture of each hill from sixteen to four square feet, or three tourths. Secondly : In regard to the application of manure, whether it should be applied in hills and drills, or 174 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. spread broadcast. The roots extend simultaneously with the stems, and draw sustenance for the plant through their extreme points. Hence, by the time the crop is first dressed, the roots have extended be- yond the manure deposited in the hill, and, conse- quently, the plant derives but a partial benefit from this central deposite of food. If, on the other hand, the manure is spread broadcast, the roots, as they extend, are constantly reaching new supplies, and the plant is sustained in undiminished vigour. Thirdly: In regard to fallow crops instead of na ked fallows. Where sward ground receives but one plmghing (but that should be a thorough one), the vegetable matter of the surface is turned completely under, safe from the wasting influences of the weath- er. This vegetable matter readily decomposes, fur- nishing a permeable stratum for the roots, the food which these roots seek for, and moisture to convey it to the plants. As the roots of the sod decay, the upper stratum becomes permeable to heat and air, and crumbles into a fine tilth. In the case of naked fallows, a good portion of the vegetable matter is lost by being turned to the surface at the second ploughing, and the ground consequently becomes more compact, and is not so readily penetrated by the roots of the crop, nor by heat, air, and moisture, the essential agents of vegetable growth. And, Fourthly: The facts which we have detailed af- ford a strong argument in favour of the alternating system of husbandry wherever it can be introduced ; of periodically breaking and pulverizing the soil with the plough, harrow, and roller, and with root-crops, thereby rendering it more congenial to the growth of grasses and small grain. SWINE. 175 CHAPTER VIII. [THE following report, made by C. N. BEMENT, Esq., at the annual meeting of the New- York State Agricultural Society, will be found to embrace much valuable information on the several breeds, as well as the treatment of this animal. In scarcely any instance has improvement been more manifest than in the case of swine ; and it must be admitted, thai in no case was such improvement more needed. For farther information on this subject we refer to the Cultivator, vol. vii., No. 1.] Until recently, very little attention has been paid to the breeds of our farm-stock; and pigs, being considered an inferior species of domestic animals, have been the last to engage the attention of the farmer : even at the present day, in many districts of our country, the old, unprofitable kinds of this animal continue to prevail. Indeed, systematic breeding, with a view to improve the form and value of the animal, may be said to have hardly com- menced among us, the improvements which are perceptible being rather the fruits of European thak American skill. A common error in this country has been to re- gard more the size of the animal than its symmetry or good points ; to estimate a breed according to the great weight which it could be made to attain rather than the profit with which it could be fitted to the hands of the butcher the most material point to the 176 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. farmer. But experience is teaching us a new lesson on this head. Butchers now judge of an animal, not according to its gross weight, but according to its good points, or the value of the meat which it car- ries. Breeders have learned to prefer those which, with a given quantity of food, will lay on the most meat. And the consumer has learned, too, that meat that shows the most solid fat is neither the most healthy, the most savoury, nor the most eco- nomical. It is the due admixture of fat and lean, or the prevalence of what is termed fat-lean (such as is seen in the Devonshire ox and the South Down sheep) that gives the greatest value to butcher's meat. It was lately remarked by an eminent breeder in England, Mr. Gray, at an agricultural dinner, that he could feed, on an acre of land, a greater number of pounds of mutton, in carcasses from 18 to 20 Ibs. per quarter, than in carcasses from 28 to 30 Ibs. per quarter ; and that a quarter of mutton from a sheep of 18 to 20 Ibs. weight per quarter is worth more in proportion than from a sheep of 30 Ibs. per quarter ; and, consequently, that the advantage is on the side of the smaller carcasses. And he assigned this among other reasons, that, in case of drought or scarcity, a small animal can collect as much food as a larger one, and, having a smaller carcass, it de- rives more advantage from it ; that, while the larger is losing in condition, the smaller one, if not impro- ving, is remaining stationary ; and when the period arrives at which an abundance of food can be ob- tained, it almost immediately recovers itself, and is fit to go to market sooner than the larger animal. These remarks are found to hold good in regard to swine as well as sheep. The same quantum of food that will give 600 Ibs. to hogs of a very large breed, will fatten two hogs of 300 Ibs. each ; and the meat of the latter, though not so fat, will be of the better quality. This and other considerations have giren to what is termed the Berkshires a decided SWINE. 17? superiority, both in England and America, over most other breeds. The history of the introduction of this breed among us was stated in the report upon swine made at the last meeting of this society. Since that time, the demand for this breed of pigs, from almost every state in the Union, has greatly increased, and prices, in some cases, have almost ' exceeded credulity. Two hundred and fifty, three hundred, and even five hundred dollars a pair, have been, paid for them. Nor have they been found deficient in weight when they have had time to mature their growth. They have been fattened to weigh five, six, and seven hundred pounds ; and one, eighteen months old, pur- chased of Judge Buel, was brought to this market last week from Fulton county, which weighed, when dressed, 633 Ibs., the carcass of which sold in the market at about $56. But it is not the weight which this breed of hogs may be brought to that gives them their great in- trinsic value. They are docile, quiet, come to early maturity, have but little offal, give a large and ex- cellent ham, one of the most valuable parts, sweet, sound, and high-flavoured pork, and make, it is be- lieved, as great, if not greater returns for the food consumed, than any other breed among us. It is a matter of congratulation to the admirer of this breed of hogs, that Mr. Lossing,pf this city, has recently imported three animals of this breed, care- fully selected by Mr. Hawes in England. This, it is hoped, will prevent the necessity of breeding in- and-in, and thus preserve to us the breed in its pu- rity. In corroboration of the high opinion entertained of this breed of hogs, I will state that Col. Williams, a spirited and wealthy gentleman residing on Long Island, desirous of procuring a superior breed of hogs, wrote to his friend and agent at Liverpool to procure for him, without regard to price, six pigs of the 178 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. le.it breed in England, and to take time arid satisfy himself before purchasing. After diligent inquiry, his friend finally settled on the Berkshire, as being considered, taking all things into view, the best and most approved breed, and purchased seven, four males and three females, being the entire litter (the owner refusing to sell a part), and forwarded them to New- York, where they arrived in October last. One of the male pigs will be sent to the chairman of this committee in the spring, which will go still farther to keep the breed from degenerating. There are other good breeds of hogs in some sec- tions of the country, each of which has its advocates and admirers, such as the Bedford or \Voburn, Mackey, Leicesters, Mocho, China, Byfield, and Grass-breed, as they are termed. Much loss has been sustained by our fanners in not keeping up the purity of blood when possessed, the importance of which has been too little regard- ed; and, before they were aware of it, the good qualities were lost, either by breeding in-and-in, or by crossing with inferior animals. As it regards the choice of hogs for breeding, it is recommended that the male should be small-headed, deep and broad in the chest, the chine rather arched, the ribs and barrel well rounded, and the hams fall- ing full down nearly to the hock. He should also be more compact in his form, and rather smaller than the female ; for if she be coarse, her progeny will be improved in form and flesh by the cross ; and ths more roomy she is, the better chance will she afford of producing a large and healthy Utter. Re- specting her make, no other observation need be made than to choose her of a deep and capacious body, with a good appearance, and belonging to as perfect a race as can be found. The boar should be well fed, and, when young, used sparingly. The sow should also be kept in good condition, so as to support her offspring, but SWINE. 179 should not be made too fat : for, if in very high or- der, she will probably bring but a weak and indiffer- ent litter of pigs. She should not be allowed to far- row in the winter, as the young are then extremely tender, of all animals the least able to endure cold, and thrive with great difficulty. March and the first of April for the spring, and August and September for the fall litters, are therefore to be preferred as the best seasons for farrowing. When breeders possess a good kind of stock, they are too apt to follow it up by breeding what is term- ed " in-and-in" with the same family ; a practice which, it is well known, cannot be successfully per- severed in ; for the animals will become bad feeders, grow delicate, fall off in size, and almost entirely give up breeding ; and, should they casually have a litter, the pigs will be small and weak, and die al- most as soon as they are born. It not unfrequently happens that a young sow will devour her young : she should, therefore, be care- fully watched, and well fed when about to farrow, which may be known by her carrying straw in her mouth to form her bed. It is a good precaution to sponge the backs of the pigs immediately after they are born with a strong infusion of aloes in lukewarm water, as its bitter taste will. prevent her from de- stroying them : care should also be taken, before farrowing, to separate her from other hogs. She should have a dry and warm place, and be provided with a good supply of straw cut short, to prevent the pigs from getting entangled, in which case she is apt to lay upon and kill them. To protect the pigs, an open frame or strong rail on each side of her, elevated a few inches from the ground, under which the pigs may run, has been recommended. Eight or ten days after farrowing, the sow may be allowed to leave her sty for a short time every day, and when the pigs acquire a little strength they may accompany her. A grass-field is the best place, ISO AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. for the herbage improves the sow's milk ; the piga also grow faster as well as more healthy, and tlie sty is rendered more cleanly by their absence. If the brood be numerous, they should be lessened, in order to relieve the sow, to eight, or, at most, nine; though from ten to thirteen have been brought up in perfect order, without any apparent injury to the mother. In such cases, however, she should be a strong and healthy animal, as well as supplied with an abundance of the most nutritious food. During the whole period of her nursing, the offals of the kitchen or dairy-wash, with shipstuffs, ground oats, barley, buckwheat, or corn, mixed and given luke- warm morning and evening, and in the middle of the day, boiled potatoes, beets, or carrots, with a little Indian meal, or pease and barley ground and mixed, or something equally nutritious, may be fed to her. The young pigs, even while sucklers, should not be left wholly to the nourishment offered by the sow, but should be furnished, two or three times a day, with skim-milk, or buttermilk-whey, or pot liquor, made lukewarm, and having a little meal, shorts, and boiled roots mixed up with it ; or, if this be thought too troublesome, skim-milk, with a small quantity of meal, may be left constantly for them in a part of the sty to which the sow cannot have access. In six or seven weeks they will generally weigh from thirty to thirty-five pounds, and be strong enough to wean. After weaning, they should not only be kept dry and clean, but regularly fed. The importance of swine, to consume the refuse or coarse grain of the farm, and for the production of manure, is too well known to the farmer to require farther notice. Pigs that come in March and are intended to be killed in December, should be well fed with the wash of the kitchen and dairy from the time of weaning, should have a run in good clover where there is plenty ol water, and. as soon as pease will answer, a SWINE. 181 small'quantity of these should be added to their food daily, to be increased as they increase in size : feed- ing and fattening hogs exclusively on corn, at the present high prices, it is evident, would be a losing and ruinous concern. It is therefore recommended, that, as soon as the harvesting of potatoes com- mences, the hogs should Lc: confined and fed with boiled or steamed potatoes, with a few pumpkins, beets, or carrots : pease also, and oats and buck- wheat ground together, should be well mixed when hot, and fed lukewarm regularly three times per day. Great care should be taken not to cloy their appe- tites by giving them more than they will eat at each time ; and, as they advance, it is recommended to feed them a little at a time several times in the day. To keep them easy and quiet, much depends on reg- ularity ; for they are much better observers of time than many are aware of. To harden and give solidity to their flesh, about two or three weeks previous to their being killed they should be plentifully fed with c6rn and pure water ; but it would be more economical to have the corn reduced to meal, and, if convenient, made into mush or pudding, adding a little salt by way of relish. A little fine charcoal thrown into their pens occa- sionally, and a small quantity of sulphur mixed with the food, will add much to their health. It has been ascertained that one bushel of grain, ground and cooked, will go nearly as far as two in its whole state ; and these remarks will apply equal- ly well to grown hogs. March pigs, well fattened, weighing from 200 to 250 pounds, and killed in December, will command in this market the highest price ; but for consump- tion on the farm, an older and larger hog is recom- mended, say from 300 to 400 pounds. Hogs treated as above, if of a good breed, will re- quire from six to eight weeks to fatten them suffi- ciently for slaughtering. 182 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. CHAPTER IX. SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. Native Sheep. Spanish Merino. Saxon Merino. New Lei- cester or Kakewell Breed. South Down. The Influence or Effect of Feed on the Quantity and Quality of the Wool and Carcass. [THE first part of this chapter consists of a report, made by Col. H. S. RANDALL, of Cortland county, to the State Agricultural Society, and presents the best history of the several breeds of sheep, and their introduction into this country, that has yet been pre- sented to the American public. The raising of sheep and the growing of wool have become one of our greatest agricultural interests, and deserves a proportionate share of public attention. To those engaged in these pursuits, this paper will be most acceptable. The second part of this chapter is a similar report, made to the same society, on the man- agement of sheep, by FRANCIS ROTCH, Esq., of Ot- sego county, the present able and respected pres- ident of the State Agricultural Society, whose expe- rience in the management of cattle and sheep, and Judgment of their respective qualities, is probably not exceeded by that of any other individual in this country. The course pointed out in the report is plain, and the advantages resulting from following it are great and certain.] SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 183 NATIVE SHEEP. Although this name is popularly applied to the common coarse-wooled sheep of the country, which existed here previously to the importation of the improved breeds, there is, properly speaking, no race of sheep " native" to North America. Mr. Living- ston, in speaking of a race as " indigenous," only quoted the language of another,* and his informant was either mistaken -as to the fact, or misapprehend- ed the term. The only animal of the genus Ovis originally inhabiting this country is the argali,f known to our enterprising travellers and traders who have penetrated to the Rocky Mountains, where the animal is found, as the Big Horn. Though the pelage of the argali approximates but little to the wool of the domestic sheep, they are, as is well known, considered by naturalists to have belonged originally to the same species ; and the changes which have taken place in the form, covering, and habits of the latter, are attributed to their domesti- cation, and the care and skill of man during a long succession of years. The common sheep of the United States were of foreign, and mostly of English origin. The writer of the volume on sheep in the " Farmer's Series" [Mr. Youatt] speaks of them as, " although some- what differing in various districts, consisting chiefly of a coarse kind of Leicester, originally of British breed."{ Others have seen, or fancied they saw, in some- of them, a strong resemblance to the South Downs. Mr. Livingston was of this number. But it is far more probable that they can claim a common descent from no one stock. Our ancestors emigrated from different sections of the British dominions, and some portion of them from other parts of Europe. * Livingston's Essay on Sheep, p. 56, 60. t Godman's American Natural History. i Vol. on Sheep, p. 134. Essay on Sheep, p. 53. 194 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. They brought their implements of husbandry, and their domestic animals to fertilize the wilderness. Each, it would be natural to suppose, made choice of the favourite breed of his own immediate district, to transport to the New World, and the admixture of these various races formed the mongrel family now under consideration. Amid the perils of war and the incursions of beasts of prey, they were pre- served with sedulous care. As early as 1G7G, Mr. Edward Randolph, in a " Narrative of the Lords of the Privy Seal," speaks of New-England as " abound- ing with sheep."* The common sheep yielded a wool only suited to the coarsest fabrics, averaging in the hands of good farmers from three to three and a half pounds of wool to the fleece. They were slow in arriving at maturity compared with the improved English breeds, and yielded, when fully grown, from lo to 12 pounds of a middling quality of mutton to the quarter. They were usually long legged, light in the fore-quarter, and narrow on the breast and back, although some rare instances might be found of flocks with short legs, and some approximation to the general form of the improved breeds. The com- mon sheep were excellent breeders, often rearing, almost entirely destitute of care, and without shel- ter, one hundred per cent, of lambs, and in small flocks a still larger proportion. These, too, were usually dropped in March or the earlier part of April. Restless in their disposition, their impatience of restraint almost equalled that of the untamed ar- gali ; and in many sections of our country it waa common to see from 20 to 50 of them roving, with little regard to enclosures, over the possessions of their owner and his neighbours, leaving a large por- tion of their wool adhering to bushes and thorns, and the remainder placed nearly beyond the possi- ' Colonial Papers of Massachusetts. SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEiMENT. 185 bility of carding by the " Tory bur," so common on new lands. The old common stock of sheep, as a distinct family, have nearly disappeared, having been univer- sally crossed, to a greater or less extent, with the foreign breeds of later introduction. The first and second cross with the Merino resulted in a decided improvement, and produced a variety exceedingly valuable for the farmer, who rears wool only for do- mestic purposes. The fleeces are of uneven fine- ness, being hairy on the thighs, dewlap, &c. ; but the general quality is much improved ; the quantity is considerably augmented ; the body is more com- pact and nearer the ground ; and they have lost their unquiet and roving propensities. The cross with the Saxon, for reasons wb'ch we shall hereafter al- lude to, has not been generally so successful. With the Leicester and Downs, the improvement, so far as form, size, and a propensity to take on fat are concerned, is manifest. SPANISH MERINO. The history of this celebrated race of sheep, so far as it is known, has so often been brought before the public, that it is deemed unnecessary here to re- capitulate it. The first importation of them into the United States took place in 1801. Four rams were shipped by Mr. Delessert, a banker of Paris, three of which perished on the passage.* The fourth ar- rived in safety at Rosendale, a farm owned by that gentleman near Kingston, in this state. In 1802, two pairs were sent from France by Mr. Livingston, the American minister, to his estate on the Hudson ; and later the same year, Mr. Humphreys, our minis- ter to Spain, on his departure from that country, shipped one hundred for the United States. But they attracted little notice until our difficulties with * " Archives of Useful Knowledge." Cultivator, vol. i., p. 183. I P 186 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. England led to a cessation of commercial inter- course with that power in.1808 and 1809. The at- tention of the country being now directed towards manufacturing and wool growing, the Merino rose into importance. So great, indeed, was the interest excited, that from a thousand to fourteen hundred dollars a head was paid for them. Other and nu- merous importations soon followed ; and, unfortu- nately, some of the cargoes arrived in the worst con- dition, bringing with them those scourges of the ovine race, the scab and foot-rot. These evils and the increased supply soon brought them down to less than a twentieth part of their former price, so that they could be bought for $20 a head. When, however, it was established, by actual experiment, that their wool did not deteriorate in this country, as had been feared by many, and that they became readily acclimated, they again rose into favour. But the prostration of our manufactories, which soon after ensued, rendered the Merino again compara- tively of little value, and brought ruin on numbers who had purchased them at their previous high prices. The rise which has since taken place in the value of fine wool, as well as the causes which led to it, are too recent and well understood to require particular notice. With the rise of wool, the valu- ation of the sheep which bear it has of course kept pace. The Merino has been variously described. This arises from the fact that it is the gqperal appella- tion of a species, comprising several varieties, pre- senting essential points of difference in size, form, and in quality and quantity of wool. The Escurial flocks stand first in point of fineness. Attached to the convent El Escorted, within a. short distance of the capital, and being the private property of the kings of Spain, no pains or care have been spared upon these beautiful flocks. They are of a good size and fine form, "combining excellence," as is SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 187 remarked by an intelligent writer,* " scarcely admit- ting of improvement." It is supposed that most of the Escurial sheep which found their way into this country are but indifferent specimens of this cele- brated variety of the Merino. Their fleeces are somewhat lighter than those of the Paulars, Negret- tis, &c., and altogether they bear a close resemblance to the genuine Saxons, of which they are the parent stock. According to Mr. Lasteyrie,f the Negretti " are the largest and strongest of all the Spanish travelling sheep." The Guadaloupe "have the most perfect form, and are likewise celebrated for the quantity and quality of their wool." The Paulars " bear much wool of a fine quality ; but they have a more evident enlargement behind the ears, and a greater degree of throatiness." As the last named was one of the principal varie- ties introduced into the United States, a more par- ticular description of it may not be unacceptable. The sheep of the Paular Convent are large, with heavy, but, compared with the Escurial or Saxons, coarse fleeces. The wool of the pure bloods con- tains a considerable quantity of jarr or hair, and it abounds in yolk, to such a degree, that it catches and retains at its extremities much floating dust, the pol- len of hay, &c. This gives it a peculiarly stiff and hard feeling externally. It however forms an ex- cellent protection against storms and cold. The form of the Paular is generally good ; but an unusu- ally large dewlap, so plaited and doubled as to go by the popular appellation of " the ruffle," extends from the lower jaw to the brisket, presenting a great ob- stacle to the shearer, and an unseemly and ungrace- ful appendage in the eye of the refined breeder. On the sides of the neck, and not unfrequently the * Cultivator, vol. ii., p. 150. t " Farmer's Series," vol. on Sheep, p. 156. We quote Mr Youatt. 188 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. face, the skin also lies in loose wrinkles. The head is coarse, and, in the male, usually surmounted by large horns. The skill of the American breeder has obviated some of these defects, and there are :i few (very few) flocks claiming purity of blood, .\\liidi have little or no jarr, and an almost entire absence of the throatiness peculiar to this variety. Proba- bly, however, in most of such instances, they owe it to a cross with the Saxons. There are some other varieties of the Merino which we shall not pause to describe. Taken col- lectively, the Spanish rams, according to Chancellor Livingston, yield about eight and a half pounds of wool, and the ewes five, which loses half in washing; making four pounds and a quarter the average weight of fleece of the rams, and two and a half the average of the ewes.* Some varieties considerably exceed this estimate, and probably it would fall short if ap- plied to the prime sheep of any variety. In the cel- ebrated flock of French Merinos at Rambouillet, the average weight, exclusive of tag and belly wool, is six pounds to the fleece. It should be stated, how- ever, that both Mr. Livingston and Mr. Humphreys assert, that the Rambouillet sheep carry more wool than any of the Spanish flocks. f Col. Humphreys, in a letter to the Agricultural Society of Massachu- setts, even goes so far as to say " that the improved stock of France yield twice as much wool as those of Spain/' Some carefully selected small flocks in this country, which were "salved"! after the pre- ceding shearing, have averaged, including the ordi- nary number of rams, four and a half pounds of wool to the head. The gummy, thick wool of the Merino can be but imperfectly cleansed on the back of the animal, where it is the universal custom in the Uni- * Essay on Sheep, p. 39. f Livingston's KSSHV, p. 71, and note. J Uuboed over with a salve consisting of oil, wax, &.C., which adds to the weight of fleece. SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 189 ted States to wash it ; and probably four pounds of clean wool would be as high as the maximum aver- age in the choicest flocks. Few overgo three and a half. The Merino, though the native of a warm climate, becomes readily inured to the greatest extremes of cold, flourishing as far north as Sweden, without de- generating in fleece or form.* It is a patient, docile animal, bearing much confinement without injury to health, and we never have been enabled to discover in it that peculiar "voraciousness of appetite" as- cribed to it by English writers. f Accurately con- ducted experiments have shown that it consumes two pounds of hay per diem in winter ; the Leices- ter consumes from three and a half to four ; and the common wooled American sheep would not probably fall short of three. The mutton of the Merino, in spite of the prejudice which exists on the subject, is short-grained anA of good flavour when killed at a proper age, and weighs from eight to ten pounds to the quarter. It is remarkable for its longevity, re- taining its teeth and continuing to breed two or three years longer than the common sheep or the im- proved English breeds ; but it should be remarked in connexion with this fact, that it is correspondingly slow in arriving at maturity. It does not attain its full growth before three years, and the ewes in the best-managed flocks are rarely permitted to breed before they reach that age. The Merino is not a good breeder, the bearing ewes giving little milk, and sometimes neglecting their lambs. Eighty per cent, would probably be as high as the average number of lambs usually reare:!. We have already adverted to the cross between the Merino and the native sheep. On the introduc- tion of the Saxon family of the Merinos, they were universally ingrafted on the parent stock, and the * Lasteyrie. t " Farmer's Series," Sheep, p. 1 19. 190 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. cross was continued until the Spanish blood was nearly bred out. When the admixture took place with pure-blooded and prime Saxons, it roulttd most favourably. A variety was produced superior to the Merino in form, carrying less wool, but this more than compensated by its fineness. The ex- cessive throatiness of the Paulars disappeared or was greatly diminished. But, unfortunately, these instances of judicious crossing were rare. Our country was flooded by eager speculators with the grade sheep and refuse Merinos of Germany. Fine- ness of wool during the period of this strange excite- ment was made the only test of excellence, no mat- ter how scanty its quantity, no matter how diminu- tive or miserable the carcass. Governed by such views, the holders of most of our Merino flocks pur- chased these pseudo-Saxons, and the consequence was, as might have been foreseen their flocks were ruined. SAXON MERINO. Tn the year 1765, Augustus Frederic, elector of Saxony, obtained permission from the Spanish court to import 200 Merinos, selected from the choicest flocks of Spain. They were chosen principally from the Escurial flock, and on their arrival in Saxony were placed on a private estate belonging to the elector, under the care of Spanish shepherds. So much importance was attached to the experiment, as it was then considered, that a commission was appointed to superintend the affairs of the establish- ment ; and it was made its duty to diffuse informa- tion in relation to the management of the new breed ; to dispose of the surplus rams at prices which would place them within the reach of all holders of sheep ; and, finally, by explaining the superior value of the Merinos, to induce the Saxon farmers to cross them with their native breeds. Popular prejudice, how- ever, was strong against them, and thi*. was height- SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 191 ened by the ravages of the scab, which had been in- troduced with them from Spain, and which proved very destructive before it was finally eradicated. But when it became apparent that the Merino, so far from degenerating, had improved in Saxony, and that the Saxon wool exceeded the Spanish in fine- ness and value, the wise and patriotic efforts of the elector began to reap their merited success, and a revolution took place in popular sentiment. The call for rams became so great, that the government resolved on a new importation, to enable them more effectually to meet it, and to improve still farther the stock already obtained. For this purpose an in- dividual, considered one of the best judges of sheep in Saxony, was despatched to Spain in 1777, with orders to select 300. For some reason, probably because he experienced difficulty in obtaining a greater number presenting all the qualifications he sought, he returned with but 110. They were from nearly all the different flocks of Spain, but principal- ly the Escurial, and were considered decidedly su- perior to the first importation. In addition to the establishment at Stolpen already founded, others were now commenced at Rennersdorf, Lohmen, &c. ; schools were established for the education of shep- herds ; publications were distributed by the com- missioners to throw information on the subject be- fore the people ; and the crown tenants, it is said, were each required to purchase a certain number of the sheep. When we take into consideration the unwearied pains bestowed on this favourite object by the Saxon government ; the fact that the Saxon va- riety are descended only from the choicest sheep of Spain, and that a degree of care and attention are bestowed on their breeding in the former country entirely unknown in the latter, it is not a subject of surprise that the emigrant Merino in Saxony ex- cels the parent stock in the quality of his fleece and that roundness of form and fineness of bone which 192 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. indicate better feeding properties. The Spanish shepherd is little changed from what he was 111 the days of Cardinal Ximenes or Pedro IV. ; with much practical knowledge of his business, but never dream- ing of improvement ; and his knowledge strangely blended with prejudices as ancient as the pedigrees of his sheep, running back to a period when Spain was a Roman province. He is not the owner of llic sheep under his care, but the ill-paid servant of a titled family or a religious order, who, in nine cases out of ten, are no more disposed or more competent to carry out a system for the improvement of their flocks than himself. And, finally, the Spanish cus- tom of pasturing their sheep during the entire sea- son in large flocks, without enclosures,* to render the necessary divisions practicable, entirely prevents that nice adaptation to each other of the male and female selected for breeding ; that counterbalancing of the defects of one parent by the marked excel- lence of the other in the same points, which exhib- its the skill of the modern breeder. In Saxony, and the other states of Germany, the case is far other- wise. The electoral flocks, the parent stem, are un- der the direction of commissioners appointed for their intelligence and their knowledge of the sub- ject ; and the noted private flocks employ the first agricultural skill of ihe Saxon landholders. The low price of labour, too, admits of a degree of atten- tion and constant care over their flocks unknown in other countries. The attention bestowed upon breeding may be inferred from- the fact, that in many of the largest flocks, every individual sheep is num- bei^d and registered, its pedigree known, and its off- spring recorded. The number and age of the sheep * Neither are there enclosures in Saxony ; hut the division is effected by the bucks being placed in pen>, and the ewes classi- fied and nwrked. The ewes are from tune to time driven in the yard around the pens, and when the teaser has selected one, it placed in the pen of the buck for which it is marked. SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 193 is expressed by an ingenious method of marking on the ear, invented by Mr. Thaer, which causes little mutilation, and effectually distinguishes any number of sheep. " When lambs are weaned," says Mr. Charles Howard, in a letter to the author of the vol- ume on sheep in the " Farmer's Series," " each is placed upon a table, that his wool and form may be minutely observed. The finest are selected for breeding, and receive a first mark. When they are one year old, and prior to shearing them, another close examination of those previously marked takes place : those in which no defect can be found re- ceive a second mark, and the rest are condemned. A few months afterward, a third and last scrutiny is made ; the prime rams and ewes receive a third and final mark ; but the slightest blemish is sufficient to cause the rejection of the animal." Considerable attention has also been bestowed in Germany on the breeding. of grade sheep a cross between the Merino and the native sheep of tho country. These native sheep were of two varieties, and they bore a strong resemblance to the old com- mon stock of the United States ; those which were fed on the uplands being smaller and of finer fleece, and the lowland sheep carrying more flesh and'coar- ser wool. The sheepholders who were unable to purchase pure bloods resorted to this cross. The wool of some of these flocks, after a few genera- tions, has rivalled even the electoral in fineness ; but it loses in quantity, as the native German car- ried much lighter fleeces than the Spanish sheep. The sheep themselves are also much less perfect in form, the means of the common breeder not permit- ting him (and, indeed, there being no prospect for an adequate return) to bestow the same labour that the breeder of pure bloods does, to sacrifice for the least defect, and, in short, incur the same expenses, when, at best, his sheep will not sell for more than one eighth or one tenth of the price of pure bloods. 194 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. In 1834, the best Spanish wool solJ in the English markets at from 2s. 6d. (GOcts.) to 4*. (96cts.) ; the Saxon at the same time commanded from 4s. 6rf. ($1 08) to 55. 3d. (Si 26) per pound.* In the Uni- ted States, where less difference, and very unjust- ly, is usually made, the full-blooded Saxon sells for about one third more per pound than the Merino. The fleece in good flocks averages about two and a half pounds, and often, if only grown sheep were in- cluded, would rise as high as three. But this is far from the standard of many flocks in the United States, called, and doubtless believed by their own- ers to be, genuine Saxons. This brings us to a most painful part of our subject, and one which we would willingly pass over in silence, were not our obliga- tions to the public paramount to any considerations for the feelings of individuals. In disclosing the frauds practised on the American public, we are compelled, for the purpose of doing justice to the in- nocent and the guilty, and also for the information of those who have been the purchasers of the im- ported sheep, to go into a minuteness of detail which would be otherwise uninteresting, and perhaps be deemed censurable. THfe following statement was submitted to the committee by Mr. Grove : " The first importation of Saxony sheep into the United States was made by a merchant of Boston, at the instance of Col. James Shepherd, of North- ampton. They were but six or seven in number. In 1824, Messrs. G. & T. Searle, of Boston, import- ed 77 Saxon sheep. They were selected and pur- chased by a Mr. Kretchman, a correspondent of the above firm residing in Leipzig, and shipped at Bre- men on board the American schooner Velocity. I was engaged to take charge of the sheep on the pas- sage, and I also shipped six on my own account. I * " Farmer's Series." SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 195 am sorry to say, that as many as one third of the sheep purchased by Kretchman (who shared profit and loss in the undertaking) were not pure-blooded sheep. The cargo were sold at auction at Brooklyn as ' pure-blooded electoral Saxons,' and thus, unfor- tunately, in the very outset, the pure and impure became irrevocably mixed. But I feel the greatest certainty that the Messrs. Searle intended to import none but the pure stock ; the fault lay with Kretch- man. In the fall of 1824, 1 entered into an arrange- ment \vith the Messrs. Searle to return to Saxony, and purchase, in connexion with Kretchman, from 160 to 200 electoral sheep. I was detained at sea seven weeks, which gave rise to the belief that I was shipwrecked and lost. When I finally arrived, the sheep had been already bought by Kretchman. On being informed of what the purchase consisted, 1 protested against taking them to America, and in- sisted on a better selection, but to no purpose. A quarrel ensued between us, and Kretchman even went so far as to engage another to take charge of the sheep on their passage. My friends interposing, I was finally induced to take charge of them. The number shipped was 167, 15 of which perished on the . passage. They were sold at Brighton, some of them going as high as from $400 to $450. A portion of this importation consisted of grade sheep, which sold as high as the pure bloods, for the American pur- chaser could not know the difference. It may be readily imagined what an inducement the Brighton sa!e held out to speculation, both in this country and Saxony. The German newspapers teemed with ad- vertisements of sheep for sale, headed ' Good for the American market;' and these sheep, in many in- stances, were actually bought up for the American market at five, eight, or ten dollars a head, when the pure bloods could not be purchased at from less than $30 to $40. In 1836, Messrs. Searle imported three cargoes, amounting in the aggregate to 513 sheep. 196 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. They were of about the same character with their prior importations, in the main good, but mixed with some grade sheep. In the same year a cargo of 221 arrived, on German account, Emil Bach, of Leipzig, supercargo. A few were good sheep and of pure blood ; but, taken as a lot, they were misera- ble. The owners sunk about $3000. Next came a cargo of 210 on German account. Wassmus and Multer owners. The whole cost of those was about $1125, in Germany. With the exccjtli.m of a small number, procured to make a flourish in their adver- tisements of sale, they were sheep having no pre- tensions to purity of blood. In 1827, the same in- dividuals brought out another cargo. These were selected exclusively from grade Socks of low char- acter. In the same year, the Messrs. Searle made their last importation, consisting of 182 sheep. Of these I know little. My friends in Germany wrote me that they were like their other importations, a mixture of pure and impure blooded sheep. It is due, however, to the Messrs. Searle to say, that, as a whole, their importations were much better than any other made into Boston. " I will uow turn your attention to the importa- tions made into other ports. In 1825, 13 Saxons, arrived at Portsmouth. They were miserable crea- tures. In 1826, 191 sheep arrived at New- York, per brig William, on German account. A portion of these were well-descended and valuable animals, the rest were grade sheep. In June, the same year, the brig Louisa brought out 173 on German account. Not more than one third of them had the least pre- tensions to purity of blood. Next we find 158 ship- ped at Bremen on German account. Some were diseased before they left Bremen, iv\ 1 an happy to state that twenty-two died before th*i>- p rriv a l in New- York. All I intend to say 01" them i-, that 'hey were a most curious and motley mess of wrot^-h*"! animals. The next cargo imported a. lived iu U* SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 197 brig Maria Elizabeth, under my own care. They were 1G5 in number, belonging to myself and F. Gebhard, of New-York. These sheep cost me $65 a head when landed in New- York. They sold at an average of $50 ahead, thus sinking about $2400! I need not say that they were exclusively of pure blood. A cargo of 81 arrived soon after, but I know nothing of their quality. The next importation con- sisted of 184, on German account, per brig Warren. With a few exceptions, they were pure-blooded and good sheep. We next have an importation of 200 by the Bremen ship Louisa. They were commonly called the " stop-sale sheep." They were of the most miserable character, some of them being hard- ly half-grade sheep. The ship Phrebe Ann brought 120 sheep, of which I know little, and 60 were land- ed at Philadelphia, with the character of which I am unacquainted. Having determined to settle in Amer- ica, I returned to Saxony, and spent the winter of 1826-7 in 1 visiting and examining many flocks. I selected 115 from, the celebrated flock of Machern, embarked on board the ship Albion, and landed in New- York June 27, 1827. In 1828 I received 80 more from the same flock, selected by a friend of mine, an excellent judge of sheep. I first drove them to Shaftesbury, adjoining the town of Hoosic, where I now reside. On their arrival they stood me in $70 a head, and the lambs half that sum." It should be remarked, that the above statements were made by Mr. Grove with the greatest reluc- tance, and only at the earnest solicitation, or, rather, requisition of the committee, who conceived it their duly to place the whole circumstances before the public. It will be inferred, from the facts above stated, that there are few Saxon flocks in the United States that have not been reduced to the quality of grade sheep by the promiscuous admixture of the pure and the impure which were imported together, and att sold 198 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. to our breeders as pure stock. This accounts in t satisfactory manner for the different estimation in which this breed of sheep are held in Germany and in this country, and for the degeneracy of tlje pseu- do-Saxon of the United States. In its general habits and characteristics its do- cility and patience under confinement, as well as its deficiency as a breeder and its slowness in arriving at maturity the Saxon bears a close resemblance to the Merino. It consumes about the same amount of food, and is equally remarkable for its longevity. Its mutton, however, is considered of better quality, and rather superior in quality. THE NEW LEICESTER OR BAKEWELL SHEEP. The unimproved Leicester was a " large, heavy, coarse-wooled breed" of sheep, inhabiting the mid- land counties of England. It is described also as having been "a slow feeder, and its flesh coarse- grained and with little flavour." The breeders of that period regarded only size and weight of fleece. The celebrated Mr. Bakewell, of Dishley, was the first who adopted a system more in accordance with the true principles of breeding. He selected from the flocks about him those sheep " whose shape possessed the peculiarities which he considered would produce the largest proportion of valuable meat and offal ;" and having observed that animals of medium size possess a greater aptitude to take on flesh and consume less food than those which are larger, and that prime fattening qualities are rarely found in sheep carrying a great weight of wool, he gave the preference to those of smaller size, and was satisfied with lighter fleeces. To reach the wonderful results obtained by Mr. Bakewell, it was supposed that he resorted to a cross with some oth- er varieties ; but it seems now to be well establish ed that he owed his success only to a judicious prin- ciple of selection, and a steady adherence to certain orinriplps of breeding. SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 199 The improved Leicester is of large size, but some- what s-inaller than the original stock, and in this re- spect falls considerably below the coarser varieties of Cotswold, Lincoln, &c. Where there is a suffi- ciency of feed, the New Leicester is unrivalled for its fattening properties, but it will not bear hard stocking, nor must it be compelled to travel far in search of its food. It is, in fact, properly and ex- clusively a lowland sheep. In its appropriate situa- tion on the luxuriant herbage of our highly-cultiva- ted lands, it possesses unrivalled earliness of matu- rity ; and its mutton, when not too fat, is of a good quality, though usually coarse, and comparatively deficient in flavour, owing to that unnatural state of fatness which it so readily assumes, and which the breeder, to gain weight, so generally feeds for. The wethers, having reached their second year, are turn- ed off in the succeeding February or March, and weigh at that age from thirty to thirty-five pounds to the quarter. The wool of the New Leicester is long, averaging, after the first shearing, about six inches, and the fleece weighs six pounds. It is of coarse quality, and little used in the manufacture of cloths on account of its length, and that deficiency of felting properties common, in a greater or less extent, to all the English breeds. As a combing wool, however, it stands first, and is used in the manufacture of the finest bombasins, &c. The high-bred Leicesters of Mr. Bakewell's stock became shy breeders and poor nurses ; but crosses subsequently adopted have obviated these defects. In England, where mutton is generally eaten by the labouring classes, the meat of this variety is in very great demand, and the consequent return which a sheep possessing such fine feeding qualities is en- abled to make, renders it a general favourite with the breeder. Instances are recorded of the most extraordinaiy prices having been paid for these ani- mals ; and Mr. Bukewell's celebrated buck " Two 200 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. Pounder' was let for the enormous price of four hundred guineas ($2000) for a single season! The New Leicester has spread into all parts of the Brit- ish dominions, and been imported into the other countries of Europe and the United States. They were first introduced into our own country hy the late Christopher Dunn, Esq., of Albany, about twen- ty-five years since. Subsequent importations have been made by Mr. Powel, of Philadelphia, and va rious other gentlemen. We conclude this notice of the Leicester with the following description of what should constitute a perfect animal of this breed, from the " Farmers' Series :" " The head should be hornless, long, small, taper- ing towards the muzzle, and projecting horizontally forward. The eyes prominent, but with a quiet ex- pression. The ears thin, rather long, and direct- ed backward. The neck full and broad at its base, where it proceeds from the chest, so that there is. with the slightest possible deviation, one continued horizontal line from the rump to the poll. The breast broad and full ; the shoulders also broad and round, and no uneven or angular formation where the shoulders join either the neck or the back, par- ticularly no rising of the withers, or hollow behind the situation of these bones. The arm fleshy through its whole extent, and even down to the knee. The bones of the leg small, standing wide apart ; no looseness of skin about them, and com- paratively bare of wool. The chest and barrel at once deep and round ; the ribs forming a considera- ble arch from the spine, so as in some cases, and especially when the animal is in good condition, to make the apparent width of the chest even greater than the depth. The barrel ribbed well home ; no irregularity of line on the back or belly ; but, on the sides, the carcass very gradually diminishing in width towards the rump. The quarters long and SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 201 ftill, and, as with the fore legs, the muscles extend- ing down to the hock ; the thighs also wide and full. The legs of a moderate length ; the pelt also mod- erately thin, but soft and elastic, and covered with a good quantity of white wool, not so long as in some breeds, but considerably finer."* THE SOUTH DOWN. This breed of sheep has existed for several cen- turies in England, on a range of chalky hills called the South Downs. They were, as recently as 1776, small in size, and of a form not superior to the common wooled sheep of the United States. Since that period, a course of judicious breeding, pursued by one man (Mr. Ellman, of Glynde), has mainly contributed to raise this variety to its present high degree of perfection, and that, too, without the ad- mixture of the slightest degree of foreign blood. In our remarks on this breed of sheep, it will be under- stood that we speak of the pure, improved family as the original stock, presenting, with trifling modi- fications, the same characteristics which they exhib ited sixty years since, are yet to be found in Eng- land, and, as the middle space is occupied by a va riety of grades, rising or falling in value as they approximate to or recede from the improved blood. The South Down is an upland sheep of medium size, and its wool, which, in point of length, belongs to the middle class, is estimated to rank with half- grade Merino. The average weight of fleece in the hill-fed sheep is three pounds, and in the lowland four pounds. But the Down is raised more particularly for its mutton, which for quality takes precedence of all other in the English markets. Its early ma- turity, and extreme aptitude to lay on flesh, render it peculiarly valuable for this purpose. The Down * Sheep Husbandry, p. 110. i. a 202 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. is turned off at two* years old, and its w eight at that age is from 80 to 100 Ibs. High-fed wethers in Eng- land have reached from 32 to even 40 Ibs. a quarter! Notwithstanding its great weight, the Down has, in the language of Mr. Youatt, a patience of occasion- al short keeping and an endurance of hard stocking equal to any other sheep. This gives it a decided advantage over the bulkier Leicester, Lincolns, &c., as a mutton sheep in hilly districts, and those pro- ducing short and scanty herbage. It is hardy and healthy, though, in common with the other English varieties, much subject to the catarrh or " snuffles," and no sheep better withstands our American win- ters. The ewes are prolific breeders and good nurses. The Down is quiet and docile in its habits, and, though an industrious feeder, exhibiting little disposition to rove A sheep possessing such qualities must, of course, be exceedingly valuable in upland districts in the vicinity of markets. Accordingly, they have been introduced into every part of the British dominions, and imported into various other countries. The Emperor of Russia paid Mr. Ellman three hundred guineas for two rams ; and in 1800, " a ram belong- ing to the Duke of Bedford was let for one season at eighty guineas, two others at forty guineas each, and four more at twenty-eight guineas each."-)' These valuable sheep were introduced into the Uni- ted States a few years since by Col. J. H. Powell, of Philadelphia, and a small number was imported by one of the members of this committee in 1834. The last were from the flock of Mr. Ellman, at a cost of $60 a head. Several other importations have since taken place. The following is the description of the perfect Among breeders, the sheep is termed a two-year old, or & two shear sheep, until three years old. In this case the sheep is between two and a half ana three vears old. t " Farmers' Scries." SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 203 South Down by Mr. Ellman, the founder of the im- proved breed : " The head small and hornless ; the face speckled or gray, and neither too long or too short. The lips thin, and the space between the nose and the eyes narrow. The under jaw or chap fine and thin ; the ears tolerably wide, and well covered with wool, and the forehead also, and the whole space between the ears well protected by it, as a defence against the fly. " The eye full and bright, but not prominent. The orbits of the eye, the eye-cap or bone, not too projecting, that it may not form a fatal obstacle in lambing. " The neck of a medium length, thin towards the head, but enlarging towards the shoulders, where it should be broad and high, and straight in its whole course above and below. The breast should be wide, deep, and projecting forward between the fore legs, indicating a good constitution and a dis- position to thrive. Corresponding with this, the shoulders should be on a level with the back, and not too wide above ; they should bow outward from the top to the breast, indicating a springing rib be- neath, and leaving room for it. " The ribs coming out horizontally from the spine, and extending far backward, and the last rib pro- jecting more than others ; the back flat from the shoulders to the setting on of the tail ; the loin broad and flat ; the rump broad, and the tail set on high, and nearly on a level with the spine. The hips wide, the space between them and the last rib on either side as narrow as possible, and the ribs generally presenting a circular form like a barrel. " The belly as straight as the back. " The legs neither too long nor too short. The fore legs straight from the breast to the foot ; not bending inward at the knee, and standing far apart both before and behind ; the hock having a direction 204 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. rather outward, and the twist, or the meeting of the thighs behind, being particularly full, the bones fine, yet having no appearance of weakness, and of a speckled or dark colour. " The belly well defended with wool, and the wool coming down before and behind to the knee and to the hock ; the wool short, close, curled, and fine, and free from spiry projecting fibres." ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP. The committee on " the feeding and management of sheep in winter," while they are fully aware of the importance of the subject thus brought under their notice, feel that they can-suggest but little that is new and instructive to the intelligent farmer or nock-master in the home management of sheep as now practised ; yet they are inclined to believe that there is much, both highly interesting and useful, to be gathered from a knowledge of sheep husbandry in other countries, where its vast importance (form- ing, as it does in some cases, the chief wealth of the nation) has called to its aid all that education, science, and close observation could suggest for its improvement : nor are instances wanting where this valuable knowledge has been practically applied in this state, with a success that warrants thecommittee in offering some suggestions from the German prac- tice that may materially improve the winter man- agement of sheep with us. Most of the sheep in the Northern and Middle States produce wool of an improved quality, being more or less mixed with the Merino, or the impro- ved Merino of the Saxony family, and are principally kept for their fleece, the carcass being a secondary consideration : within a few years, however, this latter has become more valuable, from causes which it is not necessary to examine, as they are evident to every observing mind. The committee would therefore have it understood, that their attention has SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 205 been almost exclusively directed to the management of the (Spanish sheep, in all their various grades, as found in this country Many plans have been recommended, rules have been prescribed, maxims laid down, and the requi- site quantities of food stated, for maintaining sheep in a thriving and good condition. But all these can only be understood relatively, for we must take the size of the animal into consideration ; and it should be borne in mind, that a large sheep requires more food than a small one, and that a sheep which gives five or six pounds of wool must consume more than one which gives but three pounds. These facts lead to a consideration which has re- ceived little or no attention from the great mass of our farmers who keep sheep, namely : The influence or effect of feed on the quantity and quality of the wool and carcass : It may be laid down as a rule, that two pounds of good "hay, or its equivalent in grain, roots, and straw per day, fed regularly at three different times, are sufficient for a grown sheep of the Merino family, producing three pounds of fine wool, provided it en- ters upon its winter keep healthy and in good condi- tion. For breeding ewes, or a larger race of sheep, this quantity would not be sufficient ; while for a race by nature small and weak, it would be more than they require, and, if fed to them, would greatly diminish the quality of the wool, though it should in- crease its quantity. Farmers in Germany generally allow their sheep an average of from one and three fourths to two pounds of hay daily (including the whole flock), and their sheep are vigorous, healthy, and in good condi- tion, with the best of wool. Others allow them one and a half pounds daily, and they do not suffer with this quantity, but are healthy and rather thriving ; still they do not yield so much wool, nor is the car- cass so heavy ; while others -again, through ill-ad- 206 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. vised economy, have limited their sheep to one and a quarter pounds of hay per day ; but it was found that they sheared from ten to sixteen ounces less wool per head ; that the constitution of the animal could not be matured, and that he ultimately became a diminutive and feeble animal. The wool from such sheep is termed " hunger-fine" appearing to possess a high degree of fineness upon the sheep's back, and being extremely soft to the touch. " But," says Mr. Eisner, a writer on sheep husbandry, " this kind of softness is as exceptionable as its fineness, both arising from the poverty of the animal ; for, after shearing and washing, it lessens to an unusual de- gree in volume." It is deficient in strength, elasti- city, and the felting properties, and it does not make as perfect and durable a fabric as it would had the sheep been kept in a thriving condition. Its intrinsic value, therefore, to the manufacturer is not so great as its apparent fineness would indicate ; and the grower, who anticipated a " good clip" of wool from his flock, is very unpleasantly awakened from his dream when he finds that they shear much less than he expected; and this, we fear, is too often the case with many of our economists who undertake to keep flocks of fine-wooled sheep. It is, however, certainly a most erroneous conclu- sion, that sheep produce an increased or extra quan- tity of wool in proportion to their increased or extra quantity of food. " Farmers who were deceived by this theory," says Mr. Eisner, the author above quoted, " have been disappointed ; for the increased quantity of wool was scarcely half in proportion to the extra quantity of feed, and the quality was con- siderably deteriorated." Such is the opinion of one of the most intelligent breeders and close observers of the economy of sheep in Germany. The expe- rience of one of the members of this committee fully goes to confirm the above position ; and his experi- ments, made with great attention and exactness for SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 207 a series of years, both here and in Germany, enable him confidently to offer the following results : that sheep of good size, superior fineness, and thick fleece, when rightly fed and managed, produce, on an aver- age, two and three fourths to three pounds of clean wool, washed on the sheep's back. But a flock is only rightly fed and managed when they are not al lowed quite as much as they would eat, thus ensu- ring thriftiness and bodily health. To effect this desirable object, as has been already stated, two pounds of good hay, or its equivalent in grain, roots, and straw per day, are required ; whereas the same sheep, were they allowed as much hay as they could eat, would consume over three pounds, or its equiv- alent in grain, roots, and straw. Now, in order that the increased or extra quantity of wool be equal to the increased or extra quantity of hay or other fod- der, they ought to shear from four and an eighth to four and a half pounds of wool per head. But this is not the case ; the increase seldom amounting to more than 25, instead of 50 per cent. In other words, six pounds of hay. fed to three sheep, pro- duced from eight and a quarter to nine pounds of wool ; while the same quantity, and of the same quality, fed to two sheep daily, produced from six and seven eighths to seven and a half pounds only, leaving a balance in favour of the former of from one and three eighths to one and a half pounds : an item in the profits of a sheep establishment of some importance, especially where large flocks are kept. But this is not the only disadvantage of high feed- ing ; for, while it ruins the constitution of the ani- mal, it injures the quality of the wool. Some German writers on sheep-husbandry esti- mate this reduction in quality at ten per cent., and maintain that the greater waste in cleansing it in- creases the loss to twenty per cent. ; such wool containing a larger quantity of oily or greasy sub- stances, which go far to make up the increased 208 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. weight of the fleece. Assuming this to be a correct estimate (and it is believed to be so), it will be found that, for an outlay of- 50 per cent, in extra feed, only five, or, at the most, ten per cent, of wool is obtain- ed in return. It would, however, doubtless increase the carcass and the quantity of manure ; but this would be done at too great a price ; though, if the sheep were intended for the shambles, it would alter the case. Having considered the influence or effect of feed upon the quality and quantity of the wool, and shown that either extreme, too little or too much, is unprofitable to the wool-grower, the committee will, in the next place, proceed to that part of their sub- ject relating to the care and management of sheep during winter. It may be classed under three heads : Feeding, Watering, and Shelter. Food. This should be such as to agree with the habits and economy of the sheep, and should con- tain nourishment and bulk equivalent to two pounds of hay. The varieties of winter provender to be consider- ed are hay of all the cultivated grasses, such as clo- ver, lucerne, &c., &c., and hay from natural but dry meadows ; sound oat, barley, rye, and wheat straw, and well-cured vetches and pea-vines ; all kinds of grain (with the exception of the less healthy rye), roots, such as potatoes, carrots, ruta-baga, mangold- wurzel, turnips, and the different kinds of beets ; all of which are suited to the health, thrift, and the in- ternal economy of sheep. Of the different kinds of hay, white and red clo- ver, sainfoin and timothy, stand first, and seem to be best adapted to the nature of sheep ; they eat it with great avidity, and with but little abatement in appe- tite, through the whole of a long winter. Of red clover there are two kinds, the Northern and the Southern ; the latter of which makes much the best SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 209 hay. Sheep should be made to eat up their hay clean when it is cut at the right time and well cured, ami that time is when clover, lucerne, p.nd sainfoin arc in full bloom, and when timothy has about one quarter to one half of the blossom off. But when the growth is large and the hay decayed at the bot- tom, then they should not be forced to eat it clean; but an allowance must be made, as the decayed parts, were they compelled to eat them, would prove hurtful. Also, where hay has been somewhat in- jured by rains during the process of curing, allow- ance should be made. Mow-burned or mouldy, hay ' should never be used in the sheep-cot, for it causes a general debility of the system, and, if continued, will ultimately produce the rot. Hay from lowland meadows is not as good as that from the uplands ; though, if the former be ren- ovated by occasional ploughing and reseeding, it im- proves the quality : but, in portioning out the quan- tity of hay to sheep, a suitable allowance should be made ; and the more of the wild and sour grasses that are mixed with it, the greater should the allow- ance be. Hay from wet meadows is not wholesome for sheep, and should never.be given them unless from necessity ; then double the usual quantity must be allowed. Were they confined to such hay, and compelled to eat it nearly or quite clean, it would prove ruinous to the flock. Hay from meadows that have been very highly enriched by top-dressings, afford a luxuriance and rankness of growth possessing a laxative property, and should be dealt out to sheep very cautiously, especially to lambs ; and if it is pretty freely salted with a view of preserving it, still greater caution is necessary. Sheep will then eat it greedily, espe- cially if salt has been withheld from them for some length of time ; but it is then the more dangerous, as foddering from it a few days in succession, or I. R 210 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. even a few times, creates excessive thirst. Sheep drink an unusual quantity of water, and scouring is thus produced, which often proves very fatal. But, before entering upon any course of feeding, it is advisable to divide your sheep into different flocks. The breeding ewes into one, the wethers into another, and the lambs into a third. From these main divisions, subdivisions may be made as circumstances require, taking care that the individu- als composing the different flocks are as nearly as possible of equal size and strength ; if not, the weak- er portion are not apt to get a due share of fodder. And if there be any individuals that are old, feeble, &c., an invalid department should be added, and extra care and attention bestowed upon it. Having all these arrangements completed, a care- ful supervision must be extended over the whole, and the* course of treatment regulated by circum- stances. Supposing the breeding ewes to be in good condi- tion, they should receive one and a half pounds of hay, and one and a quarter pounds of grain per day, until the rutting season is over : the grain must be then withheld, and the flock go through the winter on hay, increasing it to two and a quarter pounds, and givfng an occasional foddering of straw, until within five or six weeks of lambing, when this al- lowance should be decreased a little and roots sub- stituted, commencing by degrees with one bushel of potatoes, or one bushel and five eighths of ruta- baga to one hundred ewes, and increasing the quan- tity gradually, of potatoes to three bushels, and of ruta-baga to four and three quarter bushels per day. With this kind of treatment there will be very little difficulty in raising lambs. But when a flock of ewes are not in such condi- tion, and require, therefore, more feed and better treatment, two pounds of hay and one quarter of a pound of grain ought to be fed daily until the rutting season is over, When the grain should be withdrawn SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 211 and roots immediately given, of potatoes two, or ruta-baga three bushels to a hundred per day, until about lambing-time, when that quantity is to be in- creased to three bushels of the former and four and three quarter bushels of the latter. Both flocks should receive a foddering of straw or good corn- fodder three times a week, generally at night, of which they will eat a considerable portion, while the orts serve for litter. The three-year old wethers will go through the winter on hay, with an occasional foddering of straw, the orts of which serve them for litter. But the younger wethers require better feed, and, being hard to winter, the best hay should be given them, with some small additions, of grain or roots, say one fifth of a pound of grain, or three quarters of a pound of potatoes, or one and a quarter pounds of ruta- baga. It being very desirable that the lambs should go through the winter in the best possible condition, much care is required ; and having given them a few sheaves of oats every evening before they were taken out of the pasture, it remains now to be de- termined as to the kind and quantity of feed they are to receive. This ought to be the best hay, and as much of it as they will eat without cloying. If it is well mixed with white and red clover, and has been cut in good season and well cured, it should be eaten up clean. In addition to this, from a quarter to half a bushel of oats per hundred head may be their daily allowance, as circumstances require. The flock of invalids, having been placed in the warmest situation, claim every care and attention ; and no pains or trouble must be spared to carry them through the winter, so that the old ewes shall be enabled to raise a lamb each, which will pay foi all the extra expense and trouble the whole have cost. In connexion with the foregoing remarks, it be- comes necessary to ascertain the feeding properties of grain, ny>ts, and straw, as compared with hay, to 212 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. enable the farmer to make his estimate of the quan- tity he will require, and to calculate the probable profit or loss of raising certain crops, and feeding them to sheep. The experiments of Mr. De Raumer, of Kaluvas- ser, in Silesia, go far to establish certain facts on this subject. They are interesting to the inquiring mind, and may be considered as settled. Mr. De Raumer is a thorough, practical, and scientific far- mer, and is considered high authority on agricultural subjects : his farm-establishment is very extensive, and his experiments may be relied upon. " Potatoes, raw and cut into slices, sheep eat gree- dily, and with continued good appetite ; they ate seven pounds per head daily, with an allowance ol straw. The animals remained healthy and lively, and drank three pints of water per head daily. " Mangold-wurzel, sheep eat with less greediness : they consumed regularly eight pounds per head dai- ly, with straw as with the potatoes, and drank scarce- ly one quart of water. The animals remained like- wise healthy. KINDS OP FEED. 1 - " |fjl Pndua d wool. fallow. lb>. or IU. nl. 1000 pounds raw potatoes, with salt . 4bi t> 83 >2 5t 1000 do. do. without salt 44 6 8 10 14* 1000 do. raw mangold -\vurzel 38 5 3} 6 5* 1000 do. pease 134 14 11 41 6 1000 do. wheat 155 13 131 59 9 1000 do. rye, with salt 90 13 I4J 35 111 1000 do. do. without salt 83 12 ioi 33 8i 1000 do. oats 146 9 It 40 8 1000 do. barley . 1J6 11 Gj 60 1 1000 do. buckwheat 1-0 10 4J 33 8 1000 do. good hay 58 7 10J 12 14 1000 do. hay, with straw, without other fodder 31 15 8 6 11 1000 Ibs. whiskey still-grams or wash 35 6 1 4 SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 213 " Pease, sheep eat very eagerly ; they consumed two pounds per head per day, drank two to three quarts of water in twenty-four hours, and the ani- mals remained perfectly healthy. In an unsoaked condition, they are nard for sheep to eat, and affect their teeth. " Wheat, sheep eat greedily, and it disposes them to be very lively ; they consumed two pounds per head daily, drank from two to three quarts of water, and remained perfectly healthy. " Rye, sheep do not eat readily, and it does not suit them well, as the above results in the increase of weight show : they drank from two to three quarts of water daily. " Barley : of this the sheep ate two and a half pounds per head daily, and throve upon it, drinking three quarts of water in twenty-four hours. " Oats the same as barley. " Buckwheat the sheep ate with great avidity, and with the best results as to health and liveliness. A sheep can eat from three to four pounds, and will drink from two and a half to three quarts of water in twenty-four hours. " Of gd hay a sheep can consume four and a half pounds, and will drink from two and a half to three quarts of water in twenty-four hours." Mr. W. A. Kreisig, a celebrated farmer in East Prussia, considers that one pound of oil-cake meal is as nutritious as two pounds of good hay. 80 Ibs. of clov ^r hay* are equal to 100 Ibs. mead- ow hay. 80 Ibs. lucerne and sainfoin, to 100 Ibs. do. 200 Ibs. sound and well-cured vetches and pea- vines, to 100 Ibs. do. 300 Ibs. sound barley and oat straw, to 100 Ibs. do. * Note by the Translator The clover in Germany grows finer than the clover in this section of country : it resembles more the Pennsylvania clover, and yields two crops a season. It is cut when in full blow, and well cured in cocks. 214 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 400 Ibs. sound wheat and rye straw, to 100 Ibs. do. 100 Ibs. water-turnips, equal to 40 Ibs. of potatoes, or 50 Ibs. of mangold-wurzel. Mr. John Philip Wagner says, in his work entitled " Contributions to the Science and Treatment of Wool and Sheep," that " 200 pounds of potatoes, 266 pounds of carrots, 350 pounds of ruta-baga, and 90 pounds of clover-hay, lucerne, and sainfoin, are each of them equal to 100 pounds of good hay." Your commitee beg leave farther to cite the prac- tice of a few of the most celebrated breeders of sheep in Germany ; and, first, that of Mr. Albricht Thaer. of Moeglin, in Prussia. Potatoes and straw consti- tute the main feed for his large flock of 1500 during winter. He cuts the potatoes into small slices, feeding them alternately with straw. When his pastures, in the fall of the year, begin to fail, he commences feeding potatoes, by scattering them in the field in such quantities as he deems sufficient, with the best effect upon the health and condition of the animals ; his flock fully attesting that sheep may be kept principally on roots and straw. One of the committee, who has been familiar with sheep- husbandry both in this country and in Germany, confidently believes, from his knowledge on the sub- ject, that the same practice can be profitably applied in our sheep-husbandry. Mr. Bloeck, of Schieraw, in Silesia, one of the most intelligent and experienced breeders of sheep, keeps a flock of 500 in the following manner. He fodders six times a day. 1st fodder 208 Ibs. rye straw, of which they eat . 52 Ibs. 2d fodder 130 Ibs. oat do. do. do. . 97 Ibs. 3d fodder the dry sheep receive 160 Ibs of pea- vines, of which th*>y eat . . 120 lha. the ewes receive hay . 4th fodder potatoes mixed with cut straw 750 Ibs. rye bran oil-cako meal, barley meal, 120 Ibs. 31 Ibs. 8 Ibs. 33 Ibs. 822 lb. SHEEP AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 215 5th fodder the ewes receive hay . . .120 Ibs. the wethers 160 Ibs. pea-vines, of which they eat .... 120 Ibs. 6th and last fodder 208 Ibs. of rye and wheat straw, of which they eat . . 52 Ibs. Total amount consumed per day . . 1503 Ibs. The flock was of superior quality, the animals large, and always in excellent condition. Count Magnis, of Eckhardsdorf, gave to 100 breed- ing ewes the following per day : 1st fodder straw and clover hacker . . .69 Ibs. 2d fodder the same 69 Ibs. 3d fodder clover hay 100 Ibs. 4th fodder potatoes and straw hacker . . 72 Ibs. 5th fodder straw 75 Ibs. Total ...... 395 Ibs. The daily portion of the electoral flock of Rennes- dorf, the private property of the King of Saxony, consisting of 400 breeding ewes and rams, was 1000 pounds of hay in two meals, and at night a fodder- ing of straw. Many other valuable practices of the German shepherds might be cited ; but your committee, fear- ing that they have already exhausted your patience, forbear to enlarge upon them ; they therefore pro- ceed to the consideration of the second proposition, namely, water. All domestic animals require water in proportion to the quantity of dry provender they consume ; and sheep demand particular attention in this respect, as well as some care in regulating the quantity, accord- ing to circumstances. Warm springs are always to be preferred ; though sheep are frequently to be seen eating snow, which may be attributed in most cases to fever. It is desirable that the flock should be able to drink without wetting their feet or wading into the mud, both of which are not only very injurious by pro- 216 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. ducing disease in the foot, but deter the animals from drinking as often as inclination prompts. Protection against the inclemencies of the season is the third consideration in the " feeding and man- agement of sheep in winter." It is almost as ne- cessary to their health and prosperity as food itself, and for this reason, comfortable shelters should be built for them : they not only do much better, but it is a great saving of time, fodder, and manure. It will be found that ten tons of hay, fed to sheep that have warm shelter, will go farther than twelve tons fed out to them from a stack, and when they have no other protection from the inclemencies of the weather than the side of the stack or a fence. Such stables, if properly constructed, will pay at least from 15 to 25 per cent, interest annually. This alone should prompt the owner of a flock to provide comfortable lodging places for them. " A merciful man is merciful to his beast." Each full-grown sheep requires six square feet of room, including racks. The stable should be eight feet high, with windows in the upper part, that may be closed as circumstances require. The floor over- head ought to be made tight, that nothing may fall through. The animals must be well littered, as it will add much to their health and comfort. Where this is neglected, the dung accumulates and creates an offensive smell, and the sheep are then very loath to enter their stables. It is but too often the case, that when farmers do shelter their sheep, the stables contain a mass of dung so offensive that the flock will not enter them, and, if forced in and confined .there, it proves highly injurious : hence the preju- dice " that housing sheep is injurious to their health." OUR COUNTRY OUR WHOLE COUNTRY. 217 CHAPTER X. MISCELLANEOUS. OUR COUNTRY OCR WHOLE COUNTRY. Clover: its value for Cattle, for Seed, and for the Soil. Use of Clover. Clover and Clover-seed. Prevention of Smut. Why is it best to bury Manure ? Butter-making. Drill Husbandry. Effect of Steeps. Modes and Profits of Strawberry Culture. Sta- tistics of American Wool and Woollen Manufactures. Ex- periment in Harvesting Corn. Cultivation of Cucumbers. The circumscribed Farmer &c., &c. THERE is no one business of life which so highly conduces to national prosperity and independence, and to general and individual happiness, as the cul- tivation of the soil. Agriculture may be regarded, says the great Sully, as the breasts from which the state derives its support and nourishment. Agricul- ture is truly our nursing mother, which nurtures, and gives growth, and wealth, and moral health, and character to our country. It may be consider- ed as the great wheel which moves all the machine- ry of society ; and that whatever gives to this a new impulse or energy, communicates a corresponding impetus to the thousand minor wheels of interest which it propels and regulates. Providence seems wisely to have ordained, that because this is the most necessary employment towards the subsist- ence and comfort of the human family, its labours shall receive the highest and most substantial re- ward. While the other classes of society are di- rectly dependant upon agriculture for a regular and sufficient provision of the means of subsistence, the agriculturist is 'enabled to supply all the absolute wants of life from his own labours, though he de- rives most of his pleasures and profits from an in- 218 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. terchange of the products of his industry with the other classes of society. Agriculture has been call- ed the parent of arts, not only because it was the first art practised by man, but because the other arts arc its legitimate offspring, and cannot continue long to exist without it. It is the great business of civ- ilized life, and gives employment to a vast majority of almost every people. The substantial prosperity of a country is always in the ratio of its agricultural industry and wealth. Commerce and manufactures may give temporary consequence to a state ; but these are always a precarious dependance. Venice, Genoa, Portugal, Spain, &c., each in turn rose to wealth and power from commercial enterprise ; but they all now ex- hibit melancholy evidences of fallen greatness. Their population degenerated under the corrupting influence of commercial wealth, and, having no suit- able agricultural basis to rest upon, they have fallen in succession from their high standing, victims to the enervating influence of domestic cabals, or be- fore the more robust energies of rival powers. They exhibit nothing now, in their political or social insti- tutions, in their agriculture or the condition of their population, that can be admired or coveted by the freemen of America. -Great Britain has now be- come ascendant in commerce and manufactures ; yet her greatness in these sources of power and op- ulence is primarily and principally owing to the ex- cellent state of her agriculture ; without which she could not maintain her manufactures or commerce in their present flourishing state, or long retain her immense foreign possessions, or anything like her present population. Only one third of her people are said to be employed in agriculture ; yet their labours, such is the high condition of her husbandry, suffice to feed themselves and the other two thirds. An agricultural population of five millions, of all ages, produces annually, from her limited soil, seven OUR COUNTRY OUR WHOLE COUNTRY. 219 hundred millions of dollars' worth of agricultural pro- duce, averaging about one hundred and forty dollars to each man, woman, and child. The recently-pub- lished letters of Dr. Humphreys are so conclusive and instructive upon this subject, not only in regard to the importance of agriculture to a nation, but as showing the susceptibility of this art of high im- provement and great productiveness, that we subjoin below an extract from one of them. " It is the opinion of competent judges, that the advances made in the agriculture of Great Britain during the last seventy or eighty years, are scarcely exceeded by the improvement and extension of her manufactures within the same period, and that to these advances no other old-settled country furnish- es any parallel. That they have been very rapid, indeed, the following figures and comparisons abun- dantly show. In 1760, the total growth of all kinds of grain in England and Wales was about 120,000,000 bushels. To this should be added, perhaps, 50,000,000 for Scotland ; making a great total of 170,000,000. In 1835, the quantity in both kingdoms could not have been less than 340,000,000 bushels. In 1755, the population of the whole island did not much, if any, exceed 7,500,000. In 1831 it had risen to 16,525,180, being an increase of 9,000,000, or 120 per cent. ! Now the improvements in agriculture have more than kept pace with this prodigious in- crease of demand for its various productions ; for it is agreed on all hands, that the 16,500,000, or, rath- er, the 17,500,000 (for more than a million has been added since 1831), are much fuller fed, and on pro- visions of a far better quality, than the 7,500,000 were in 1755. Nor is Great Britain indebted at all, at present, to foreign markets for her supplies. Since 1832, she has imported no grain worth mentioning; and till within the last six months, prices have been so exceedingly depressed as to call forth loud com- plaints from the whole agricultural interest of the 220 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. country. England is at this moment so far from wanting any of our breadstuff's, if we had them to export, that she has been supplying us liberally all winter from her own granaries ; and, according to the latest advices, she had still bread enough and to spare. Again : it is estimated by British writers of high authority, that the subsistence of 9,000,000 peo- ple costs, in raw produce, no less than 72,000,000, or 8 for each individual, per annum. According to this estimate, the annual product of this great branch of national industry is $350,000,000 more at present than it was in 1755; which is more than twice the value of the whole cotton manufacture of the country in 1831. Now if it costs $350,000,000 to feed the increased population of 9,000,000, then to feed the whole population of 17,500,000 must cost nearly $700,000,000 ! What an amazing agricultu- ral product for so small a territory ! And yet it is the opinion of practical men of the highest respecta- bility in England, that the raw produce of the island might be wellnigh doubled, without any greater proportional expense being incurred in its produc- tion ; that is to say, 35,000,000 people might draw their subsistence from one little speck in the ocean ! Now we have a territory more than fifteen times as large as the island of Great Britain ; and what should hinder it, when it comes to be brought under no higher cultivation than some parts of England and Scotland, from sustaining a population of 500 or 600 millions of people 1 This would give to Virginia something like thirty millions ; to Illinois and Mis- souri about the same number each ; to New- York near twenty-five millions, and so on in proportion to the other states. I am quite aware that this es- timate will be regarded as extremely visionary and incredible by many readers ; but not more so than it would have been thought, in the middle of the last century, that England, Scotland, and Wales could ever be made to sustain thirty-five, or even thirty millions." OUR COUNTRY OUR WHOLE COUNTRY. 221 A city may flourish by foreign commerce, by be- coming the carrier of other nations, till foreign ag- gression, or foreign rivalship, or the opening of new channels of trade contingences of no unfrequent occurrence shall blast its prospects, and consign it, like Persepolis, Petra, Tyre, and other ancient cities of the East, to ruin and oHivion. A town or distinct may llourish by manufacturing industry, as many have done in ancient and in mod- ern times, so long as it can exchange its merchan- dise for the means of subsistence and of acquiring wealth ; but if its dependance for these is upon for- eign lands, its prosperity is unstable ; the interchange is liable to be interrupted by wars, rivalships, and other contingences. A country can be long prosperous and truly inde- pendent only when it is sustained by agricultural intelligence and agricultural industry. Its foreign commerce may be swept from the ocean ; its manu- factures may perish ; yet still, if its soil be tilled, and well tilled, it can be made to yield all the abso- lute necessaries of life ; it can, when misfortunes abate, like the roots of the trunkless tree, send forth a new stem, new branches, new foliage, and new fruit ; it can rear again the edifice of the manufac- turer, and spread again the sails of commerce ; and it will yet retain the germe and the spirit of inde- pendence. The preceding facts will serve to show the im- portance of agriculture to a nation in sustaining its prosperity and its independence, and in supplying the wants and multiplying the comforts of its popu- lation. The same reasoning that applies to nations, applies to states, to counties, to towns, and to neigh- bourhoods. A griculture constitutes the basis of their prosperity, directly or remotely ; and the blessings which it confers are always in the ratio of the intel- ligence, skill, and industry which direct and control its operations. Take a town, for example, which AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. has a mixed population of the various classes of so- ciety. If the average produce of . .ich acre of land is but ten dollars, it is l>;m ly sufficient to cover ex- penses and to feed the dinner's family. Having nothing to sell, the farmer, of course, cannot buy ; or, if he buys, he cannot pay the merchant, the man- ufacturer, or the mechanic ; nor can he support the ifcwyer, the physician, the schoolmaster, or the cler- gyman. But if every acre be made to yield thirty dollars' worth of produce annually, which most lands, properly managed, are capable of doing, the twenty dollars, or two thirds of the whole product of the soil, become virtually a circulating medium. It is so much surplus wealth created by the agricul- tural labour of the town. Now let us suppose, far- ther, that the lands in the town amount to twenty thousand acres. Under the reckless system of management which too generally prevails, and which, upon the average, does not produce over ten dollars an acre on old improved lands, the product would be barely sufficient to maintain the agricul- tural population, without adding to their wealth, or enabling them to buy of the merchant or others the necessaries and comforts which they stand in need of. I am aware that this does not hold good in practice ; for even the most shiftless farmers buy ; but if they pay, it is at the expense of many of the substantial comforts of life, or perhaps, ultimately, of their farms, which they might continue to enjoy, and to increase in value, under a more enlightened system of management. But under the improved system, which we have not graduated high at thirty dollars per acre, and which is under the average product of well-cultivated lands both in Europe and America, the aggregate agricultural labour of the town would give an annual increase to its wealth of four hundred thousand dollars. Is there, then, an in- telligent, reflecting man, who cannot see and appre- ciate the advantages to society, to the state, and to OUR COCNTRY OUR WHOLE COUNTRY. 223 the nation, of a highly-improved stale of agriculture? Is there one who does not see that his personal in- terests are promoted by this certain and constant influx of wealth, drawn from the soil, prolific in the bounties and blessings of a wise and beneficent Cre- ator ? HE has spread everywhere the means of making man wise and happy. HE has given him the capacity to apply these means to his own good. HE has commanded him to bring his capacities into constant and active exercise ; and HE has promised to reward, and HE will reward, all who prove faithful to the command. I do not aim to disparage the other great branches of national industry, which are bountiful sources of wealth and happiness, by praising agriculture ; but I think the importance of this great business to the state has not been duly appreciated, nor its interests sufficiently regarded and promoted by those who have had the management of our state affairs. My object is merely to make agriculture the base, as it ought to be, of the social edifice. We are so prone to look up for blessings to what are termed the high- er walks of life, and to expect them to fall upon us without an effort, that it becomes necessary, at times, to point to their legitimate sources below, in the soil. Agriculture, manufactures, and commerce are all important, in a public point of view, in the order in which we have named them ; and, like the human body and its members, are reciprocal aids to each other. The agriculturist gathers from the soil the elements of usefulness ; the manufacturer fits them to our wants ; and the merchant becomes the factor of both, and the medium of interchange It is but just, in the mean time, to suggest some of the important bearings which our manufactures have upon the prosperity and independence of our country. These consume the surplus products of the soil ; they convert into useful fabrics the wool, the hemp, the flax, and much of the cotton, of the 224 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. farmer and the planter ; and they supply to the great agricultural mass of population articles of necessity and convenience, at a cheaper rate and of better quality than the farmer could fabricate them for himself. The manufacturers of our country consume more of the surplus provisions of our soil than all Eu- rope, Asia, and Africa put together. I know it is said that we can gel our wearing apparel from Europe, had we no protecting duties, cheaper than we can manufacture it ourselves. And this is undoubtedly true as regards many articles that we use. But what would be the consequence ? What was the consequence in 1836, when we were flooded with foreign goods without the means of paying for them * Our manufacturers became embarrassed ; many of the mills were stopped; and a general stagnation of all business ensued. Had the causes which produced that state of things continued to operate, a complete prostration of our manufacturing energies must have ensued, and the manufacturer been obliged to seek his employment and his bread among the agricultural class : the home market for the surplus products of our soil would have been thus cut off, and the stimuli to industry and enter- prise everywhere paralyzed. Europe does not want, and will not buy, our agricultural products. She sells to us even breadstuff's. Ours must find a home market, or no market at all. But there is another consideration which claims from us an interest in ou manufactures. Why are manufactured goods cheaper in Europe than they are in America] Not because our workmen are less expert or our machinery less perfect. The difference lies in the social condition of the work- men of the two countries in the price of labour. So depressed is the condition of the operatives in Europe, that they are compelled to labour for a bare subsistence. They enjoy but few political rights. There the many toil to support the few in luxury OUR COUNTRY OUR WHOLE COUNTRY. 225 and extravagance. Here the case is widely differ- ent. Our citizens enjoy equal rights, and the spirit of our institutions demands that they should be so rewarded for their labour as to be able to assert and maintain their rights. Depress them by poverty and want to the condition of the operatives in Euro- pean workshops, and you degrade them as men, and render them dangerous as freemen. The interests of the different classes of society in our country are so intimately interwoven, that it may be assumed as a truth, that each class and each individual best subserve their own good, when they endeavour to promote the welfare of all, of ev- ery other class and individual. It conies, then, to this, if our views of the matter are correct, that ag- riculture, being the great conservative principle of national prosperity, independence, and character, should be primarily supported should be encour aged, enlightened, and honoured ; that our manufac- tures, being necessary, like the elaborating organs of the plant, to convert to convenient and useful purposes the products of agriculture, should hold the second rank in our regards as a branch of national industry which cannot be dispensed with without manifest injury to the other classes of society, and without perilling our independence as a nation ; and that agriculture and manufactures being duly cher- ished, commerce, as a necessary medium of inter- change between the two great branches of national industry, and between them and foreign nations, will as certainly prosper and flourish as the tree in a rich soil, which is braced and supported by a good system of roots -below, and has a healthy top and foliage above. Let us, then, improve our agricul- ture, and foster and protect our manufactures, that our commerce may enlarge its boundaries and mul- tiply its gains. Then may we, in the spirit of oui motto, exclaim, OUR COUNTRY OUR WHOLE ' OUNTRY. I. S 226 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. CLOVER : ITS VALUE FOR CATTLE, FOR SEED, AND fOR THE SOIL. We have received a communication from Mr Henry Brewer, of Enfield, Tompkins county, illus- trating the value of clover as a means of keeping up the fertility of his soil, and of rendering its culture profitable. Mr. Brewer was from old Dutchess, the land of clover. He purchased his farm in Enfield in 1830, at $8 50 per acre. It now gives a product of from fifteen to forty dollars per acre per annum ; and the improvement and the profit he ascribes prin- cipally to the cultivation of clover. As the commu- nication is very lengthy, having the writer's permis- sion to do so, we give the purport of it in a con- densed form. Mr. Brewer remarks, that New- York farmers pay io those of New-Jersey and Pennsylvania annually many thousand dollars for clover-seed, which they might raise for themselves with profit. He would as soon think of buying his seed-oats and seed- wheat as his clover-seed. He prefers the Southern or dwarf clover, because it is fit to cut five or ten days earlier than the tall-growing or Northern kind, and is more certain'of ripening the seed of the sec- ond crop. He sows with his small grain at the rate of fifteen Ibs. the acre, and sometimes sows his corn- fields after the last hoeing. Mr. Brewer appropriates his clover to three very valuable purposes : to feed his stock, to fertilize his land, and to fill his purse ; and he has succeeded admirably in them all, so far as we can judge. His cattle thrive upon it, both as a green and a dry crop, in summer and winter ; his wheat and corn feed and thrive upon it, when buried and decomposing in the soil ; and his purse increases with the increase of his cattle and his crops. And, finally, besides feed- ing his cattle and fertilizing his soil, the seed of his second crop gives him an acreable profit, annually, CLOVER: ITS USES. 227 of from fifteen to fifty dollars. Now there is no se- cret in the business, no patent right. He gives you his whole process, that you may profit by his exam- ple if you will. We shall endeavour to present it in concise and plain terms. Clover is used either for hay or pasture the first crop, and uniformly for seed and forage the second crop. If for pasture, he turns his stock upon it about the first of May, or when the soil has become so firm that the feet of the cattle will not poach the sod. At this time, the growth is such as to enable the cattle to thrive. He pastures till about the 20th of June, and the closer it is cropped at this time, the better, he thinks. The cattle are then withdrawn, and the second crop is permitted to grow and ma- ture its seed. If the first crop is designed for hay, it is cut from the 20th to the 25th of June, although it may not have passed the bloom, or arrived at that state "when most farmers deem it in a proper condi- tion to be cut. It is important to cut it as early as the 25th, Mr. B. thinks, in order to give the second crop time to grow and mature its seed before it is injured by the frosts of autumn; five days often making a material difference in the seed-crop. We do not like Mr. B.'s mode of curing this early-cut clover: he takes it, when partially cured, to his barn, and spreads it about upon scaffolds and poles till made, and then puts it into his bay. This causes unnecessary labour. Cured in grass-cocks, accord- ing to our repeated directions,* it will be as good as * We have this year varied our practice somewhat, and, we think, with advantage. The grass cut in the forenoon has been turned in swath directly after dinner, and put into grass-cocks the same day. If rain has threatened, the cocks have been opened the second day, and the hay finished ; but we prefer to .eave them to the third day, when a slight opening, to evaporate the external moisture, suffices. The grass mown in the after- noon is turned the same day in swath, or, if not wilted enough, in the forenoon of the second day, and in the afternoon put into cocks. We deem it important, 1st. That clover should st_?id 228 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. when spread over a barn, and more than half the la- bour will be saved. Mr. B. thinks clover hay made in the shade is much better than that made in the sun. " '/he next way of curing this green clover," says the writer, "is with wheat-straw that has been kept in the barn for that purpose, by laying a course of hay and then of straw, and so on until you have it all secured." The importance of mow- ing the first crop early is illustrated by the fact that ous of Mr. B.'s neighbours, who had been persuaded to cut his first crop some days earlier than usual, acknowledged that he should obtain thirty bushels more clover-seed than usual in consequence of it. The seed-crop is gathered with care and brought to the barn as soon as it is fit, that rain upon it, or unnecessary exposure to the weather, may be avoid- ed, both of which materially impair the value of the butts or straw for fodder. The heads are separated with a flail, and the seed extracted by Robert Ritten- house & Go's, patent clover machine. The average product in seed is from four to five bushels the acre ; which, at present prices, is worth sixty to seventy dollars : a tolerable acreable profit for a second crop. In regard to his clover machine, Mr. B. has cleaned four hundred bushels of seed with it, without a dol- lar of expense in repairs. It is portable ; and, " when there is once a machine in a neighbourhood," says Mr. B., "I think the farmers will then raise in cocks some time, in order to equalize the moisture, to sweat ; that is, that the moisture contained in the thick stems may have time to disseminate itself upon the surface, and into the thin leaves ami blossoms. If a slight fermentation takes place in the cocks, so much the better ; as the hay, in that case, is not likely to undergo a second fermentation in the barn. 2dly. 1'bat the curing process should be carried on, as much as pos- sible, without the aid of the direct rays of the sun, which cer- tain!) imp.tir the nutritive propeities of the hay. Kxpose a lock ol clover two days to the direct influence of the run's rays, and il becuiuw blanched and valueless, and cattle will reject it. -Corn*. Cult. CLOVER : ITS USES. 229 their own seed, as is the case in my neighbourhood. And if they raise it themselves, they think it costs nothing ; they then sow liberally, and get a bounti- ful return." The machine cost sixty dollars ; and it would verily seem to be worth more than that amount annually to the farmers of the neighbour- . hood. In regard to the value of clover in keeping up the fertility of the farm, Mr. Brewer considers it of the first consequence ; for, says he, " I think I can ma- nure my farm with clover cheaper than I can cart manure from my own barnyard ; although I have it all carried out in the spring of the year for my hoed crops, while unfermented, because 1 think it. of more value to have it rot in the soil than in the farmyard. I do not wish to have it understood that I am an ad- vocate of the miserable practice of leaving the ma- nure in the barnyard, as many of my neighbouring farmers do, to waste one half of its best qualities, for I have my barnyard thoroughly cleaned every year." One word as to the condition of the farm when it came under Mr. B.'s management. The soil is de- scribed as being a sandy loam, mixed with slate gravel, and most of it very stony. When he went on to it, remarks he, in 1830, " there were about fifty acres of cleared land, and it was considered one of the poorest farms in the town by my neighbours, who assured me I could not get grass enough from the farm to keep one cow. There was but two acres of meadow upon it, and that was too wet to plough. But this did not discourage me. I pur- chased two and a half bushels of clover-seed the first spring, which some of my neighbours thought was enough to seed my whole farm, weeds and all ; but I sowed it on sixteen acres." Such was Mr. Brewer's beginning ; and the reader is already ad- vised, that this spirited start has been followed up for eight years with increasing advantage. The 230 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. wheat-crop has averaged from eighteen to twenty-* four bushels per acre. USE OF CLOVER. Almost uniformly, clover (with plaster) is used as an ameliorating or enriching crop ; yet the land is but little benefited thereby. For, as soon as the clover has attained to such a height that cattle can 'get a good bite," while the herbage is tender, and before the stalk becomes in the least indurated, the cattle are turned upon it, and are continued there as long as they can get a living. Then comes the turn for colts or sheep, which continue the spoliation till the field is a complete waste, and almost as barren of herbage as the Libyan desert. And now, per- haps, it is time to put in the plough for a winter crop ; so the soil is turned over, and if ten bushels of rye, or fifteen or twenty bushels of oats per acre are obtained, the proprietor is entirely satisfied. Now it strikes me that this is a very mistaken policy. It is true, the stock that takes the first clip fares most daintily, and the land is somewhat ben- efited by the manure left upon the surface ; but, in the case of a dairy farm, where the cows are often driven a considerable distance from the pasture to the yard, there is a great waste ; though many nev- er think of that. But the root of the clover thus sheared of its lungs can never attain to much size ; and, as hardly a leaf or a stalk is turned under, the soil can be but little benefited by the green crop ; and if it does not degenerate, it certainly does not improve. About three years since, in July, I called on a gentleman in the north part of the town where I re- side, who makes use of clover, " according to my notion,' 1 in the right way. He went with me over a considerable portion of his farm, and through fields which he intended to sow with wheat or rye. The soil was a gravel, and by nature not the most fertile. CLOVER : ITS USES. 231 In these were horses, swine, and cows, up to their eyes in clover in full bloom, and of most luxuriant growth ; and it gave me pleasure of no ordinary de- gree to witness such a feast : a feast for the eye, for the brute, and for the. soil. I remarked, " Indeed, Mr. T., your stock fare sumptuously." " Yes," was his reply, " and that is the way I manure my fields. When the clover is pretty well rolled down (I don't allow the cattle to eat it all up) I go in with my har- row, and complete the levelling process by drawing it in the same direction that I plough, that in the latter operation the herbage may be more complete- ly buried." He likewise told me that it was by far the cheapest manure he could use ; and that, as long as he could produce clover in such abundance, he would not draw manure if it were given him. This is carrying the principle to its fullest extent, farther than I should approve ; but it might have been only his extravagant manner of showing his entire confidence in the system of cultivation, inde- pendent of other means of fertility. Still I very much doubt his willingness to give away his yard manure, or to part with it for the market price ; and I did not observe that he " summered" any. He need not have told me that he obtained large crops ; they were splendid ; for his oats in adjoining fields proved it. By-the-way, oats are the crop he most cultivates. The land in this region is often plough- ed in the fall, and only harrowed (but that thorough- ly') in the spring. CLOVER AND CLOVER-SEED. Clover is becoming of more and more importance, and the quantity sown is annually increasing, in proportion as the new system of husbandry extends among us. Its tap roots penetrate and loosen the soil ; its stems and foliage produce abundance of .'y.tritious food for the neat stock of the farm ; and ooth roots and stems, when turned under by the 232 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. plough, are highly enriching to the soil. It is ,ndis- pensable in alternate husbandry ; and we feel justi- fied in saying that its liberal and judicious use, to- gether with gypsum, upon many light soils, has add- ed fifty, one hundred, and even two hundred per cent, to the profits of their culture. Yet there are a great many districts of our country in which its value is seemingly but little appreciated, and in which its cultivation has been yet hardly begun. There is scarcely a plant grown upon the farm that returns to the soil more of the elements of fertility ; affording almost a certainty that its cultivation will continue to increase for some years in a progress- ive ratio. From this view of the subject, it is apparent that clover-seed will continue to increase in demand as it has continued to advance in price ; and that the raising of it for market promises to be a lucrative business. The dwarf Southern clover will afford a crop of hay to be cut the last of June, and a crop of seed to be gathered towards autumn. The price of seed is now from twelve to fifteen dollars a bush- el; and if we suppose the acre to yield but five bushels, the profit will be enormous. Machines for cleaning the seed are already abundant, and others have been introduced for gathering the heads in the field. We give below the drawing and dimensions of one described by Mr. L'Hommedieu, in the trans- actions of the old Agricultural Society PREVENTION OF SMUT. 233 Dimensions. 1, 2. The shafts, 4 feet 4 inches long, and 3 feet asunder. 3, 4. The handles, 3 feet long, and 20 inches apart. 5. The fingers or teeth, 13 inches long. The wheels are 16 inches in diameter. The machine is drawn by one horse, and guided by a man or boy. It simply consists of an open box, about 4 feet square at the bottom and about 3 in height on three sides. To the forepart, which is open, fingers are fixed similar to those of a cradle, about 13 inches in length, and so close together as to hold fast and break off the heads of the clover stocks which catch between them, and which are thrown back into the box as the horse advances. The box is fixed on an axletree supported by the wheels. The driver raises or lowers the fingers of the machine, so as to take off all the heads of the grass ; and, as often as the box is filled with them, they are thrown out, and the horse goes on as before. PREVENTION OF SMUT. We extract the subjoined table from the Quarter- ly .Journal for June, as particularly applicable and useful at this season. . It gives the results of trials with various liquids as steeps for seed-wheat, made by Mr. Bevan, on a sandy soil in Bedfordshire. The columns in the table marked A. contain the results from the steeped grain sown, and those marked B. are the results from smutted samples. AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. His <6'( ; a> oo-ri see ^ -^ Cl t*~ CO GO W CO O ^^ 00 W * O f- ^ OD . C"^ 6 J- "5-^ E B 2 s. s- c J3 a .w-c S bS It will be seen that the seed steeped in a pickle of common salt was free from smut, gave the greatest product in good grain, and the greatest weight in straw. This steep may be used by every farmer. The article from which the above table is extract- ed was written by George W. Johnson. The writer examines the erroneous theories and opinions which have prevailed as to the origin or cause of smut in grain, and, we think, satisfactorily shows their falla- cy. Mr. Johnson then proceeds to detail what he considers correct knowledge upon the subject, and PREVENTION OF SMUT. 235 quotes some of the most eminent naturalists in sup- port of the opinion, that what passes by the different names of smut, dust-brand, and burned corn is a parasit- ical fungus, which preys not only upon the sap, but destroys the very organic structure of the grain and chaff upon which it fixes. Botanists generally dis- tinguish this fungus by the name of urido segeturn. Chymical analysis has shown it to consist, 1st, of about one third of its own weight t)f a green, buty- rous, fetid, and acrid oil: 2d, nearly one fourth of a vegeto-animal substance, perfectly similar to that which comes from putrid gluten : 3d, of a black coal, one fifth of its weight, similar to that which is found in all remnants of putrid organic compounds : 4th, of free phosphoric acid, amounting to scarcely more than .004 of the smut : 5th, of phosphates of ammonia, magnesia, and lime, in the proportion of a few thou- sandths. " The contagion attacks especially the gluten, and precedes, indeed prevents, the formation of starch." It has also been shown by Duhamel, Kirby, and others, that the disease exists in the af- fected plant before the development of the head ; that it is propagated by minute seeds, which attach to the kernel, and which are so light as to float buoyantly in a damp atmosphere ; that the vitality of these seeds is not destroyed by frost; but that they will contaminate seed-grain with which they come in contact after being long in the soil. In early spring, when the plants were but a few inches high, upon carefully opening the hose or blade which covers the ear, M. Duhamel found this erribryo al- ready black and distempered. After quoting the re- sults of many experiments, besides those in the above table, made by Mr. Bevan, Mr. Johnson adds : " The conclusion from these and many other ac- cordant experiments is, that washing the seed is ef- fective in preventing the communication of the dis- ease to the crop. If the washing were frequently repeated, or the cleansing made complete, by pass- 236 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. ing a continued stream through the wheat for som* hours, it is probable that simple water might be em- ployed for this purpose as effectually as any saline solution. But, as this would require more labour than is dc.sinible, and as the salts, &c., employed a^e beneficial in other ways, by protecting the seed from vermin, and ministering to the future vigour of the plants, steeps are generally and very properly adopted." If lime be employed, it is recomnrmdjd to prepare it by mixing "one pound of fresh lime with three gallons of boiling water, allowing these to stand for two hours, and the clear liquid then to be poured off and immediately used. In this liquor the wheat should be soaked for twelve hours, stirred twice or thrice during the time, and then mixed upon a floor, with the powder made by pouring three gallons [pints'!] of boiling water upon five pounds of lime." Mr. Johnson has had no experience with lime himself; but he has witnessed many experiments with stale urine and a solution of common salt. He thinks the latter the most agreeable ; and, although both were completely effective, he has used the salt, as being most cleanly as well as convenient. His mode is to wash the seed with pure water, skim off the floating light grains, and then soak it twelve hours in a pickle made with common salt, strong enough to float a hen's egg. Mr. Johnson is satis- fied, from experiments he made, and which he details, that the soil is one source of infection, and that salt is an antidote to this infection ; and he thinks the truth of his opinions is confirmed by the fact " that fields in the vicinity of the sea are rarely injured, and never extensively, by the ravages of the smut. WHY IS IT BEST TO BURY MANURE 1 Animal matters decompose with facility when acted upon by moisture and air, the greater propor- tion of their elementary parts making their escape ON BURYING MANURE. 237 in various forms of combination, and leaving the earths, alkalis, and carbonaceous matters remain- ing. When this decomposition takes place beneath the surface of the ground, these gaseous compounds, as well as the carbon (which there is reason to believe assumes also the gaseous state by combining with oxygen), may be supposed to be partially or wholly retained in the earth, to afford the matter of nutri- tion to plants. Purely animal substances, therefore, which thus readily decompose, do not absolutely require fer- mentation before they are mixed with the soil. Vegetable fibre is, under certain circumstances, a slowly decomposing substance. When vegetables are green and full of juice, as all green crops and grass leys, they readily ferment [hence the impro- priety of wasting these fertilizing properties by cross-ploughing] ; but when the stems are dried, as in the case of straw and litter, they decompose with slowness, and the mixing them with animal matter hastens the putrefactive fermentation. The principal animal matters which are mixed with the ligneous fibre of the litter, and which cause it to undergo decomposition, are the'dung and the urine of the animals. Prof. Low. The practical lessons to be drawn from the above theory are, 1st, to make your cattle-yards concave, or hollow in the middle, to retain the urine of the animals, nearly a moiety of the manure : 2dly, to strew or feed your straw, stalks, and other litter in the yard, to absorb the urine and other liquids there accumulating : 3dly, to apply this manure before it has undergone much fermentation, that the soil may absorb its gaseous portions ; and we would add, 4thly, to apply it to a hoed, crop, that the weeds and grasses, the seeds of which are blended with the dung, may be extirpated in the process of after cul- ture. 238 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. BUTTER-MAKING. A nice process of butter-making, as practised by Mr. J. M. Weeks, of Salisbury, Vt., is given in the Yankee Farmer. Mr. W. makes three qualities of butter : one, he says, worth 38 cents, being the pure butyrous matter, of exquisite flavour ; the second, worth 19 cents ; and the last, 9 or 10 cents, a gluti- nous substance, and insipid in taste. Mr. Weeks heats his milk after the animal heat has passed from it, but to what temperature he does not say, and then sets his pans in cool, running water ; and, when cold, they are raised out of the water, and the milk skim- med in 6 to 18 hours. We conjecture, for Mr. Weeks has not told us, that the first skimming is made be- fore the milk is placed in the running water, or per- haps before it is heated, and the last at the end of the 18 hours. The butter is salted and worked when it comes from the churn, worked again the next day, without cold water in any of the processes, and then packed tight in tubs, lined with bags previously sat- urated with beeswax, and covered on the top with fresh pickle. The great requisites in making and preserving good butter are : 1. That everything should be cleanly throughout the process. 2. That the milk should be kept at a proper tem- perature, say from 45 to 55, while the cream is separating. 3. That the cream should be taken off and churn- ed before its quality is impaired. 4. That its temperature should be from 55 to 650 when put into the churn, and the churning should oe moderate and uniform. 5. That salt of the best quality, in sufficient quan- tity to suit the palate, should be blended with it at the first working, and the buttermilk completely separated from it by the butter-ladle. 6. That the working of the butter should be re- DRILL HUSBANDRY. 239 peated at the end of 24 hours, after the salt has be- come completely dissolved, when all the liquid should be pressed out. 7. That it should be packed (without any addition of salt to make it weigh) in stone jars, or in wooden firkins or tubs, such as will not impart to it any taint or bad flavour, and in such manner as will totally exclude the air. Butter made in this way will be of fine flavour ; and, if put down and kept in the manner here rec- ommended, its flavour will be preserved for an al- most indefinite period, provided it is not exposed to a temperature of over 70. Water, mixed either with the milk, the cream, or the butter, and especial- ly soft water, adds nothing to, but materially injures the flavour. We have no doubt that the position assumed by Mr. Weeks is correct, that milk skim- med at three several times will give three qualities of butter the cream taken off first being the richest and most valuable. The common remark of our good dairy- women is, " my butter is good enough ;" and many think so who have no very sufficient reason for such an opin- ion. But as the principal object in making butter is gain, and as it will sell according to its intrinsic value, every one should seek to improve its quality, if not to please themselves, to please their custom- ers, that they may realize a larger profit. DRILL HUSBANDRY, We have no doubt, will ultimately come Into vogue among us we mean, in the culture of wheat and other grains though for a long time its progress will be slow. At the late Preston agricultural meet- ing in England, the question proposed for discussion was, " the comparative advantages of the drill and broadcast systems of husbandry." Mr. Binns ably advocated the drill system, and set forth its advan- tages under the following heads. 240 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 1. The seed is delivered with regularity. 2. It is deposited at a proper depth. 3. The weeds, during the growth of the plants, are destroyed with great facility. 4. The plants cultivated receive the undivided benefit of the soil and manure, and have not to main- tain a constant struggle with weeds. 5. The land, by the process of hoeing, is under- going preparation for another crop. 0. The necessity of summer fallowing is avoided. 7. By admission of the sun and air between the rows, a stronger and healthier plant is produced, and, of course, a heavier crop. 8. By stirring the soil, it is rendered more suscep- tible of benefit from the atmosphere, imbibing more oxygen, and being both warmed and enriched by the sun. 9. The roots shoot freely in a pulverized soil. 10. By drilling, the farmer is enabled to have heav- ier crops of beans and wheat on light land. 11. Clover and grass seeds answer incomparably better with the pulverization^ produced by hoeing, independent of clearness from weeds. 12. The drills give facility for depositing smaller portions of manure with greater effect. These advantages are all self-evident to a good farmer; and it might have been added, as a thir- teenth advantage, that drilling economizes seed, though Mr. Binns rejects it on the ground that if the plants are thin, they throw out side-shoots, which produce imperfect grain, and ripen unequally. Mr. B. affirms that fifty-six bushels of wheat have been raised on the light soils of Norfolk by drill hus- bandry. The drills employed in sowing wheat, &c., are drawn by a horse, and sow six or eight rows at a time at the required distance, dropping and covering the seed. The machine for clearing between the rows is also drawn by one horse, and consists of a EFFECT OF STEEPS ON WHEAT. 241 frame with six hoes attached to it, which occupies the same space as the drill. The rate of drilling is an acre per hour. Wheat is drilled at nine inches between the rows, and barley at seven. The horse- hoe is used once, and the hand-hoe twice. The ex- pense of weeding in England is stated at two shil- lings (forty-eight cents) per acre. EFFECT OF STEEPS ON WHEAT. Mr. Hathaway's letter, published in the June num- ber of the Cultivator, 1838, giving his opinion that steeping Italian spring wheat in strong brine for a length of time is injurious to its vegetating principle, has induced me to make some experiments for my own satisfaction. The results have not been what I anticipated, and they certainly go to prove that gentleman to be correct. The wheat on which I experimented was the Ital ian the berry fair and plump. The pickle was im- pregnated with as much salt as the water would dissolve. Parcels containing twenty-five kernels each were steeped at different periods of time, placed in moist earth, and marked in such manner that they might be easily distinguished, and were suffered to remain undisturbed until the greater part of tiie stems made their appearance above ground. Result of First Experiment. No. 1, 25 kernels, steeped 5 minutes, 2 did not vegetate " 2, do., do. 30 do., 2 do. " 3, do., do. 1 hour, 4 do. " 4, do., do. 18 hours, 12 do [2 kernels missing. The result of the parcel steeped 18 hours being unexpected, I made another trial, which was as fol- lows : No. 1, 25 kernels, well washed in brine, every kernel vegetated. " 2, do , steeped 4 hours, 2 kernels did not vegetate. " 3, do., do. 8 do., 6 do. do. " 4, do., do. 12 do., 1 1 do. do. " 5, do., do. 18 do., 13 do. do. I. T 242 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. It seems from the above, that the injury sustained is proportioned to the length of time the grain has been steeped, and that when it has been in the brine 18, or even 12 hours, almost one half loses its vege- tative power. 1 ;un fully satisfied that pickling and liming the seed is an infallible preventive of smut in the wheat crop ; but I do not think that steeping for 10, 12, or 18 hours is necessary. This opinion is founded on my own experience and 'observation, as well as the long practice and experience of others. My method has been to make the brine as strong as I could, permitting the wheat to be no longer in it than is necessary for washing it, and skimming off what- ever floats on the surface ; when taken out it is mixed with fresh slaked lime, and sown soon after. With this preparation, even when the seed is im- pregnated with smut (as was the case last year with part of the Italian wheat that I obtained), the crop has been perfectly clean. Liquoring, as it is called, has been practised in the wheat-growing districts of Scotland for these forty years past, and how much longer I do not know : but as long ago as at that period, good farmers would almost as soon have thought of throwing their seed into the sea as of sowing it without that preparation. Brine made from salt or seawater, or otherwise, and stale cham- ber-ley, were used, the latter most generally. When chamber-ley was applied, the usual method was to sprinkle it on the heap of grain until it was well wetted, adding fresh slaked lime, and sowing im- modiately. In the application of brine, some steep- ed the seed for a longer or shorter time, and others sprinkled it. Without liquoring, in nine cases out of ten, the crop was smutty ; with it, never. I will conclude with a quotation corroborative of what I have just stated. " There is some danger from the first ; for if the seed steeped in urine is not immedi- ately sown, it will infallibly lose its vegetative pow- STRAWBERRY CULTURE. 243 er. The second, viz., sprinkling the urine on the seed, seems to be the safest, if performed by an at- tentive hand ; the last, brining, may do equally well, if such a quantity of salt be incorporated with the water as to render it of sufficient strength. But it may be remarked, that this last mode is often ac- companied with smut, owing, no doubt, to a defi- ciency of strength in the pickle ; whereas a single head with smut is rarely discovered where urine has been used." Treatise on British Husbandry. JAS. SMEALEE. MODES AND PROFITS OF STRAWBERRY CULTURE. Having noticed an article in the August number of the Cultivator, 1838, on the culture of strawber- ries, to which my attention has been directed for a number of years, and wishing the public to possess all the light on the subject which can be obtained, I am induced to communicate what little knowledge I have of it. The kind generally cultivated on Long Island (where I reside) for the supply of the New- York market, I believe to be the early scarlet ; and of these I have at present about three acres under cultivation. We generally transplant, and form our new beds in the beginning of May. Formerly the universal practice was to plant in rows from two to two and a half feet apart, the plants single being left single, and at a distance of from 12 to 18 inches from each other. My present practice, and that of many others, is to plant them in hills about three and a half or four feet asunder each way, placing four plants in a hill, two and two together, about three inches apart. By planting in hills there is a great saving of labour, for it takes less time, the plants are more easily kept clean by running the cultivator through them both ways, and there is less labour in hoeing; whereas, by the old method, when planted close, the cultivator could not be used among them at all, or, at most, only oxie way. The cultivator is 244 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. run through the plants as late as it can be done with- out serious injury to the runners, hoeing them each time ; and it is seldom, when judiciously performed, that they require this operation over "three times. I have always, in my practice, found the plants when properly managed, sufficiently to cover the ground to produce a good crop of fruit the next sea- son. A piece, covering less than half an acre, of last year's planting, produced this season over 3000 baskets, containing nearly a pint each, which were sold in the New- York markets for $200. This, however, is an uncommon yield, and is seldom ex- celled, or even equalled. New beds almost invaria- bly yield better than old ones, and produce larger fruit, though the berries are apt to be sandy after showers. It took nearly two acres of my old beds to yield the same quantity that the half acre of new did. The soil I prefer for strawberries is light, sandy land newly cleared, on which no animal or vegetable manure has been used. On land of this kind, which has been prepared by previous crops, and on which weeds have not been suffered to go to seed, the plants will last four or five years, Avhile on old land they are seldom profitable over two, and often not more than one. The greatest enemy to the beds is white clover, which, in old lands, after the first year's bearing, generally gets possession, and eradicates the plants. Land lately cleared is not often troubled with this grass : the great danger here is froTn sorrel, but this is less destructive. Our beds cover the whole ground : there are no alleys, no clipping of runners, no digging the paths, no burning with straw, as rec- ommended by some gardeners ; for it is doubtful whether these operations would be profitable, and pay cost. At all events, our experience leads us to adopt the plan I have describod The only oper- ation whicli I have found necessary and advantageous after the first year, is to pull up and destroy the WOOL AND WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES. 245 weeds and grass, and to run a light harrow over old beds early in the spring, when matted too thick with plants. As for manure, it is not customary with us to put any on. I once read an account of plaster being highly beneficial, which I tried, but it failed of improving the plants. Lime might aid in destroying sorrel, but I have not tried it. Much has been written about male and female plants, and of the necessity of mixing them in the beds to make them fruitful. Now all this may be necessary with some varieties ; but with the one we cultivate I can assure you it is not : no cultivator in my neighbourhood (Narrows, L. /.), from which the New-York markets are principally supplied, as far as I have ever heard, does it. I once tried an ex- periment which appears to me conclusive. I plant- ed a small bed in my garden at the time when the fruit commenced ripening, taking only such plants as had good and fair fruit on them, and no others. This bed produced the next year abundantly : they were all female plants, and there were no males in their vicinity to impregnate them. The male and female blossoms of this variety must be on the same plant, although, to the eye, no difference is present- ed in their appearance. T. G. BERGEN. STATISTICS OF AMERICAN WOOL AND WOOLLEN MANU- FACTURES. The following is a statement of the number of sheep and of the woollen manufactories in the dif- ferent states, the number of pounds of wool pro- duced in each, and its value at 50 1-2 cents per lb., which seems to have been the average price for the last ten years. 246 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. Ch*n Seta Ouintitjr. AT -.M. Mwep. r ir- :.rrv. IU. .: ,ln. Maine . 622,619 21 2,023,512 1,021.873 New. Hampshire 465.179 43 1,511,632 763.475 Vermont 1,099.011 100 3,571,786 1,803.751 Massachusetts 373.3-.22 519 1,213,297 612,715 Kh 1838. THE ^ICUMSCRIBED FARMER. By this we mean such as possess a limited capi tal, and a limited desire for improvement, except in their own way ; such as decline taking an agricul- tural paper, because it teaches nothing, they say, that is adapted to their practice or that is graduated to their scale ; because, in fact, it is not oral, or de- livered by word of mouth, but has been subjected to the operation of the printing-press. Let us ask these gentlemen, if they were disposed to have their son become a first-rate farmer, wheth- 254 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. er they would select a teacher of circumscribed knowledge, who followed the practices of the last century, and knew only how to kill land, or one who was familiar with all the improvements of the age. and whose thrift in business was a guarantee that he worked it right 1 Now the agricultural journal is to the circumscribed farmer what the good teachei would be to the boy, an instructor in the improve- ments and best practices in his business, written bj chose who have made and adopted them, and have profited by them ; and for the particular benefit of those who have limited means, or cannot go abroad for the information they need. The modern im- provements in farming go to economize labour, or, rather, to render labour more productive and profit- able, and to keep up the fertility of the soil ; two objects of as much or more importance to the cir- cumscribed farmer than to one of more extended means. The man who takes an agricultural journal profits by the experience of hundreds ; while he who takes none can profit only from his own, and that, perhaps, of a few neighbours. The adage teaches that two heads are better than one, the world over. These remarks are preliminary to some extracts we are about to make from John Lorain, a philoso- pher and a first-rate farmer, written for the special instruction of circumscribed farmers, to whose no- tice they are respectfully recomimnded. " In this country land is very cheap : an excellent ready-cash market for the produce of the* soil gen- erally prevails. This offers every rational encour- agement to the poor but industrious farmer, who depends principally on his own labour and that of his family for cultivating the soil occupied by him. He is but little affected by the high price of labour, or the idleness and insolence of workmen, which take place in every country where labour is scarce, unless the laws be oppressively severe. THE CIRCUMSCRIBED FARMER. 255 " The principal reason why this class of farmers so seldom become wealthy, and but too frequently continue poor, is the desire of immediate returns from cropping, and the mistaken idea that the prof- its to be derived from rearing live-stock progress too slowly to answer their purposes. This induces them to crop the soil yearly, with but little attention to grass or an increase of cattle, until their grounds become so much exhausted that rest is absolutely necessary to procure crops worth gathering. The soil being greatly impoverished, and the seeds of the grasses destroyed, as far as perpetual ploughing and cropping can effect this ruinous purpose, the grounds rest with no other covering but that of some scat- tering and debilitated grass and weeds. This ex- poses the soil to the very injurious action of the sun, wind, washing rains, and melting snows. When such grounds are ploughed for crops, instead of being richly stored with grass-roots, and well cov- ered by their tops, scarcely any vegetation is found to replenish them, or to nourish the crops grown on them. " These ruinous practices naturally introduce pov- erty of soil, and its inseparable companion, poverty of purse. This, however, is not all : it entails on posterity the wretchedness introduced by their in- considerate forefathers, or an Herculean task to counteract the curse of poverty which their negli- gence has produced. Whether Satan is also the in- stigator of this evil I do not presume to determine ; but certain I am that it is much greater (so far as farming is concerned) than the curse entailed on the soil by the fall of Adam. That seems to consist simply in brambles and thorns, including with these such other vegetation as would compel man to earn hie bread by the sweat of his brow. This curse, we may all see, is irrevocable ; but we may also, at the same time, observe, that if man complies with Heav en's mild decree, and removes those obstacles to the 256 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY growth of plants which better suit his purpose, ngn- culturc flourishes, and his rational want* an: abun- dantly supplied. " But when the hand of folly inflicts the additional curse, of poverty on the soil, this insatiable monster, like Aaron's serpent, swallows up all the rest, brambles, thorns, &c. (the mild chastisement of Heaven), cannot prosper where poverty has obtain- ed dominion over the soil, as may be readily seen ; for these, and all other vegetation on such grounds, look sallow, starved, and debilitated. " That man is inexcusable, and ought to be pun- ished for this sin against common sense, himself, his posterity, and the community in which he re- sides, is evident. " Before this inconsiderate being enters the for- est, glade, or prairie, nature has been for ages en- riching the soil for his use. This fertility might be preserved and increased, even by the circumscribed farmer, if a system of agriculture calculated to keep the ground fully replenished with decaying animal and vegetable matter were practised, and due at- tention paid to the augmentation of livestock in proportion to increased ability, instead of the ruin- ous practice of perpetual ploughing and cropping. " Reason alone demonstrates this interesting fact. It has also been clearly shown by actual practice in almost every neighbourhood by tho successful enterprise of farmers who commenced their busi- ness on lands bought on credit, and covered with timber, without any buildings on them, and with not more than a pair of working cattle, and cows barely sufficient to supply the family with butter and milk. Nay, more : some who were not half as well off as this have paid for their land, acquired an extensive stock of cattle, and become wealthy, though their mode of management was very inferior to that which has been proposed. They, however, increased their livestock in full proportion to the ON THE APPLICATION OF MANURES. 257 means furnished by the system of management em- ployed by them. " From first to last, they have been enabled to live better, and far more independently, than those who relied principally on the plough. The cause of this is evident : milk, butter, cheese, wool, meat, hides, and manure, are continually increasing. It is true that but little manure could be obtained in the beginning : that little, however, was spread, the pro- duct was greatly increased, as was also the fertility of the soil for a succeeding crop, and the grasses following it. Where is plenty of good grasses and hay, young cattle will grow as much or more in one year than they do in two when kept on pasture fed bare during summer, and on straw through the prin- cipal part of the winter. "It is proper to remark, that, although many cir- cumscribed farmers make considerable progress in increasing their livestock, their laudable enterprise is too often suddenly checked before they obtain half the number of domesticated animals necessary to the proper cultivation of their grounds. " This evil originates in the prevailing error, that huge piles of stone and mortar, or of boards and scantling, are the best means that can be pursued by the cultivator to improve his farm. Hence it is that we see, almost in every part of Pennsylvania where it is possible to effect this mistaken improvement, extensive barns and dwelling-houses standing on farms where we do not observe half the quantity of grass or number of caf tie necessary for the proper cultivation of the surrounding soil." ON THE APPLICATION OF MANURES. Whether by the term manure be understood all things commonly so called, or only putrescent sub- stances, I have had but one opinion for a long time in regard to thoir application, and this has been con- firmed by all my subsequent experience, each year 258 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. adding something to the great mass of consentane- ous facts. When my attention was first turned to this subject (some thirty-five or forty years ago), I had adopted, but without examination, the notion at that time most common among us, that it was best to let all putrescent manures be well rotted first, and then bury them deep, either by the plough, spade, or hoe. This notion, like the common law, was so old, that " the memory of man extended not to the contrary ;" but, happily for us all, the revolu- tion had broken the entail of opinions as well as of landed estates, and left us at liberty to think and act for ourselves. The natural consequence of this in- creased freedom was the introduction of many new practices in the arts as well as in government ; and agriculture came in for some small share of these benefits. Among them was the application of pu- trescent manures to the surface, and in a much less fermented state than had ever been -tried before. But so dreadfully afraid were the first experimenters of the formidable laugh of that once numerous fam- ily, " The Goodenoughs," that they made their trials, as it were, by stealth ; and, consequently, the results remained for a long time .unknown, except to a few. I happened to be among this small number, and could not long resist the evidence of my senses, al- though I must confess that at first it seemed to me a sort of sacrilege even to doubt, and still more to act, in direct opposition to an opinion which, for aught I know, had descended from Triptolemus him- self. By degrees, however, my courage waxed stronger and stronger every year, until I felt myself brave enough to commence the following experi- ment, which several old farmers, in whose veracity I perfectly confided, had assured me they had often tried, and always with the result which I am about to report in my own case. I began penning my cattle late in the spring, and continued it until frost in pens of the same size. ON THE APPLICATION OP MANURES. 259 moved at regular intervals of time, and containing the same number of cattle during the whole period. These pens were alternately ploughed and left un- ploughed until the following spring, when all were planted in corn, immediately followed by wheat. The superiority of both crops on all the pens which had remained unploughed for so many months after the cattle had manured them, was just as distinctly marked as if the dividing fences had continued standing : it was too plain to admit even of the slightest doubt. A near neighbour, a young farmer, had made the same experiment on a somewhat dif- ferent soil the year before, but with results precisely the same. Similar trials I myself have made, and seen made by others, with dry straw, alternately ploughed in as soon as spread, and left on the sur- face until the next spring. In every case the last method appeared to be the best, as far as the fol- lowing crop could prove it. The same experiment has been made by myself and others with manure from the horse-stables and winter-farm pens, con- sisting of much unrotted corn offal, and, without a solitary exception seen or heard of by me, the sur- face application, after the corn was planted, pro- duced most manifestly the best crop. I pon these numerous concurrent and undeniable facts my opin- ion has been founded, that it is best to apply manures on the surface of land ; nor is it likely to change un- til I see a still greater number, equally well authen- ticated, on the opposite side : up to the present time I have not heard of a solitary one. True it is that I have read many ingenious, fine-spun arguments in opposition to the opinion which I hold in common with numerous other agriculturists, but no proofs whatever have accompanied them, and therefore I must remain incredulous until they are sustained and corroborated by such facts as should always be deemed indispensable to establish any practice what- ever in any of the various branches of husbandry. 260 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. To collect these facts is a slow and tedious process, not very flattering to that pride of opinion which delights in speculative theories, and which sickens at the thought of the labour necessary to make and record accurate experiments in agriculture. In no other way, 1 think, can we account for those differ- ences of opinion as to matters of practice which are often found among our brethren where all the facts are on one side. But unwillingness to believe in that which we cannot explain in some way to grat- ify our vanity, gave rise to the sect of skeptic phi- losophers, and, it is to be feared, will keep up the race as long as the world stands. Let me not be here misunderstood. Far be it from me to object to theory and speculation, provided the sole object be to arrive at truth. As this should be the aim of all, I am in favour of the utmost latitude of discus- sion in the honest pursuit of it. But I do, and must ever protest against that practice, which is far too common among us, of regarding plausible and appa- rently scientific conjectures more than the actual results of experiments fairly and accurately made ; so that not unfrequently we indulge our fancies with the former, even in direct opposition to the latter. Take, for example, the two conflicting theories as to the best mode of applying manures, and test them by the uniformly-concurring results of the several experiments which 1 have stated. All these results undeniably prove that the surface-application was the best, although the kinds of manure differed con- siderably. And what^actj have we in opposition to this 1 Not one : nothing but the conjecture that the evaporation from surface-spread manure must carry off the greater and the best portion of the food of plants therein contained. But that such evapora- tion cannot so act seems to me to be unquestion- ably proved by every fact I have mentioned : for, if it did, then the land of summer cattle-pens, plough- ed up as soon as the cattle were removed, would in ON THE APPLICATION OF MANURES. 261 eveiy case have produced better crops than that of the unploughed, instead of doing it in none. Similar results, too, must, have followed in the other cases which I have stated, whereas- 1 have never seen nor heard of their doing it in any one. My belief, founded on the facts already stated, is, that all the fertilizing substances of manures are soluble in water, and will remain uninjured them- selves, and useless to plants until the solution be- gins, whether they be deposited on or under the earth's surface. I also believe that this solution is caused by every fall of rain, and is immediately ab- sorbed by the subjacent soil, which absorption re- sults from two causes : first, the principle of gravi- ty ; and, secondly, the stronger attraction of the earth than of the atmosphere for every substance in solution which constitutes the food of plants more- over, that the earth never parts with this food, when thus absorbed, to anything but the plants themselves ; for it is their peculiar aliment, and not that of the atmosphere, whose existence, for aught we know to the contrary, is entirely independent of it, although its agency seems essential to the health and vigour of all plants. If this were not the fact ; if, for ex- ample, the earth did give the best and greatest, por- tion of this food to the atmosphere, or if it escaped from surface-spread manure before gravity and at- traction could impart it to the earth, then the evap- oration which is supposed to be the medium of con- veyance, and which is known to be constantly going on from the soil, would, in process of time, certainly render it barren, even without any cultivation what- ever. Yet neither total nor partial barrenness is ever known to be produced by any other cause than incessant culture without manure. That evapora- tion does take off something from manure while in a moist state, is proved by the offensive smell which constantly exhales from it until it is entirely dry. This smell arises from a gas which is said by some 262 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. to contain the most valuable portion of the food ol plants. But admit the fnrt, when, is the proof of this portion being lost ''. \ say there is none. On tne contrary, we have what 1 consider a conclusive reason for believing that this food is immediately given by the atmosphere to the tops of plants, as more suitable to them than to their roots. My rea son for this belief is the result of the following ex- periment, which I have known to be repeated sev- eral times. All the bark was taken off from around the body of certain young trees, in a ring about three inches wide, for the purpose, in the first case which I saw, of ascertaining whether this process would kill the tree. But, to the surprise of us all, not more than a year or two elapsed before that part of the body above the ring became obviously larger than the part below ; and this difference in size in- creased every year afterward, as I had frequent op- portunities of noticing. Another reason why I believe that manures act better spread on the surface of land than buried un- der it in the customary manner, is, that, in the first case, the rain-water carries the dissolved substances no deeper than the roots of most of our cultivated plants ; and that these substances are there held fast by the earth's chymical affinity until the stronger attraction of the spongioles- of the roots begins to act upon them. But, in the second case, that is, where manure is ploughed under as soon as spread, all the food of plants contained therein being placed at once quite as deep as their spongioles naturally extend, and this, too, before the rains begin to dis- solve it, the subsequent solutions necessarily sink still deeper, and generally beyond the reach of the plants for whose nourishment they are designed. In no other way can I account for the long-noticed and invariable superiority of crops produced by sur- face-spread manure to those produced by that which has been ploughed in. To me there appears to be ON THE APPLICATION OF MANURES. 263 but this alternative; either to deny the facts already stated, which I myself have often witnessed, or to explain them (if we must theorize on the subject) in some such way as I have attempted to do. Permit me farther to add, that on this subject nature her- self seems to oflfer us a useful lesson, if we were not too wise in our own conceits to be taught by such an instructress ; for I know not a single ex- ception to her practice of depositing on the earth's surface all the putrescent substances, of every na- ture and kind, which appear designed to preserve her fecundity. In close connexion with this subject, there is one other matter on which I will take the liberty to ex- press an opinion : this is in regard to the best state in which manure can be applied. So far as my own experience enables me to judge* (an experience con- firmed by that of many others, in whose practical knowledge of the subject I have great confidence), I believe that the fresher it is the better ; for in this state so much less will suffice than in a more ad- vanced stage of putrefaction, that time, labour, and value are all saved in the application : while none of the alleged " turning" ascribed to manure's being " too hot" ever occurs if the quantity used be less- ened in proportion to its- freshness. This injury to plants, if I mistake not, is always caused by excess in the quantity, and not by the quality of the manure we apply to them, although the two things are often confounded, and thereby contribute to the perpetua- tion of error in regard to the nature and operation of all fertilizing substances. There is not, I believe, an agriculturist of any experience in our country who has not had frequent opportunities of witness- ing numerous facts to prove the correctness of these opinions. But, as I before remarked, we are all vastly fonder of our own fancies than of facts in opposition to them, and, consequently, pass by all such without notice ; or, when too strong and ob- 264 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. trusive to be entirely disregarded, we spare no la- bour nor pains to force them, as far as we po.s>il>ly can, to support some previously-conceived notion which our silly pride forbids us to abandon. This obstacle to the progress of all improvement, but especially in husbandry, is one of the most perni- cious of our besetting sins ; and, but for this, it seems to me impossible that any controversy should still exist in regard to the best manner and state in which to apply manures to land. Two or three years, at farthest, would have been amply sufficient to establish the most beneficial practice, if all those whose special interest it is to ascertain it would have diligently and impartially resorted to compara- tive experiments, accurately and assiduously made for the purpose, rather than to speculating and the- orizing about it. But it can never be too late to make such experiments. Let me, therefore, most earnestly recommend to all who have doubts on the subject, forthwith to commence making trials of the different methods of applying manures, and also of the different states in which it is best to apply it. The opinions of experienced men are certainly well worth consulting in regard to all matters connected with their respective trades, professions, or callings ; but we should never implicitly take them as guides for our own practice any longer than until we can have leisure to test their correctness by actual ex- periments. When a number of these concur in pro- ducing the same uniform result, it is matter of very little comparative importance how others may en- deavour to account for the fact, as the fact itself is the all-important thing, especially in every practical art. But this war between speculation and practice, between nature's doings and our fanciful ways of accounting for them, is destined, I fear, never to cease so long as such a thing remains in the world as pride of opinion. Let a man once commit him- self so far (either in speaking or writing) as publicly USE OF LIME AS A PREVENTIVE. 205 to deliver what he considers an argument in support of his ipse dixit, and there are a hundred chances to one that he persists in it to the day of his death. JAMES M. GARNETT. Fredericksburgh, Va., June) 1839. EFFICACY OF LIME IN PREVENTING INSECT DEPREDA- TIONS MILDEW OF THE GOOSEBERRY. In the Cultivator for May, 1839, page 57, 1 noticed a communication which stated, among other things, that a piece of corn, on ground where fragments of wall, &c., had been strewn for manure, was exempt from the ravages of worms. This recalled to my recollection some facts which were communicated to me in conversation some time ago by an intelli- gent old gentleman, who was for many years a farm- er in Columbia county, in this state, and which were in substance as follows : He once applied what he supposed at the time was plaster or gypsum, but which was afterward ascertained to be lime, to a number of hills of corn, potatoes, cucumbers, mel- ons, &c. It was used at the time of planting, about a handful being thrown directly over the seeds in each hill previous to their being covered with earth. He remarked that the corn to which this application had been made was entirely exempt from worms, while other pieces in the vicinity suffered severely from their depredations. The cucumber and melon vines, &c.,thus treated, were also exempt from their attacks, neither were they troubled by the striped bugs or flies with which they are generally attacked. My informant farther assured me that he had after- ward repeated this experiment a number of times, and always with a like satisfactory result. It would seem from this that lime is to a great extent a pre- ventive of the ravages of the grub and other insects, when applied at or previous to the time of planting. The mode practised by my informant may not an- swer for all soils and situations, but the same result T. X 266 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. might probably be attained by throwing the lime mixed with earth over the surface, and ploughing or harrowing it under previous to planting.* There are in my garden some young gooseberry- bushes which have been well manured and pruned, but the fruit, since they commenced bearing (about three years ago), has been uniformly rusty, as it is commonly termed. To prevent this, I have tried several remedies without success. Last year, see- ing salt dissolved in water somewhere recommend- ed, I had it sprinkled over the bushes several times, commencing when they were in blossom, but with- out any effect. I have also tried lime (recommend- ed, I believe, in the Cultivator). Last fall it was applied freely about the roots, and the branches whitewashed as thoroughly as practicable, and a small quantity mixed with water was sprinkled over the bushes two or three times this spring. E. THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING. We apprehend that the common practices in this branch of rural labour are not altogether based upon a sound philosophy. The animal structure, we all know, is admirably adapted to its wants, its habits, and its uses. There is no surplusage ; no useless encumbrance ; all is necessary to fulfil the designs of nature. From analogy, then, and from the sys- * Remark. We have cultivated the gooseberry eighteen years, during sixteen of which we lost most or all of the crop by mil- dew or rust ; but the last two years the fruit has been fine, clean, and healthy. We impute the recent exemption from these diseases to the application of brine (salt and water) to the ground about the bushes in the month of February the two pre- ceding years. We consider the mildew a vegetable parasite, which abides permanently upon the collar and root of the bush, and irom which see>ls are disseminated, under a suitable state ol the atmosphere in summer, to the fruit; and that the appli- cation of salt, when vegetation is dormant, destroys the par.tsite without hurling the bush. Pickle may be used in the growing eason at the rate of one ounce of salt to one gallon of water In winter it may be made much stronger. Cond. THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING. 267 tem and order which everywhere pervade the visible creation, is it not reasonable to infer that every part of the vegetable structure is alike essential to its well-being ? Are not the branches and leaves as in- dispensable to the tree as the limbs and lungs are to the animal? Who will say otherwise 1 ? Nature produces nothing in vain. Although we may assist in carrying out her designs, we cannot cross her purposes without suffering the penalty imposed for a violation of her laws. No one part of a plant can be affected without at the same time affecting the other parts. Roots and branches reciprocally produce and nourish each other. If a tree has part of its roots destroyed, the branches which these support will decay ; and when, on the other hand, some of the branches are destroy- ed, a portion of the roots will perish also. The ex- tent and form of the one will, in a measure, ever cor- respond with the extent and form of the other. If a young tree be kept close pruned divested of its limbs and foliage it will soon be stinted in its growth, the wood will become carious and diseased, and the plant will be short-lived. If, therefore, we destroy the equilibrium which nature has establish- ed between roots and branches, by greatly diminish- ing the one or the other, we thwart her designs and mistake our own interest. Every branch has its roots its mouths in the soil, to supply it with the elements of its nourishment ; and every root has its branch and its leaves its lungs in the air, to con- vert those elements into food for the joint benefit of them both and of the stem. One cannot attain growth without the co-operation of the other. With- out the roots the plant cannot receive the elements of its food, and without the leaves, those elements, when taken into the system, are of no benefit ; but, on the contrary, like undigested food in the animal stomach, generate disease instead' of promoting health and vigour. Every leaf performs its office 268 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. in the process of nutrition and growth ; and, other circumstances being alike, the increase in the growth of the plant will he in proportion to the number of its healthy leaves : if one half of these be destroy- ed, the growth will be only one half as great as if the whole had remained ; and, if complete defolia- tion takes place, the growth will entirely cease. Hence pruning decreases growth in proportion to the extent or severity with which it is practised. " Whenever a tree has a live spray cut from it, an injury is inflicted on that tree that can never entire- ly be repaired. Every wound received is stored up ; and if wounds be constantly added, they will accu- mulate to a degree too great to be borne, and the tree will sink under its infirmities. It is useless to attempt to transfer the timber of the boughs to the stem, or to confine the growth entirely to it. How- ever desirable it may be to the pruner to have all the growth diverted to the increase of the stem, he never will be able to effect it. He may, like the dog, snap at the shadow and lose the substance ; but never will he b'e able, by pruning off the boughs, to increase the growth of the stem one jot. No : the size of the stem will be in proportion to the head it has to support. The stem is not, as he may imagine, a production formed merely for the use of man ; it is the canal or passage in which the juices pass between the roots and branches ; and the size of this passage is always in proportion to the offices it has to perform. If the number of branches [mean- ing to include leaves] be increased, the quantity of sap passing between them and the roots will be in creased; a greater space becomes necessary for the increased quantity of sap, and, consequently, the stem is increased. Let the head of the tree in- crease, and, depend upon it, there will be a corre- pj ending increase of the stem. " It is said to be right to cut away a small propor- tion of the weaJter branches, and thus turn the cur- THE "PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING. 269 rent of the descending sap more abundantly into the stem. It is hard to understand what is meant by this explanation of the effects of pruning. Does the sap descend down the stem till it arrives at the weaker branches, and then ascend up them and in- crease their size instead of that of the stem 1 If so, the weaker branches would soon become the strong- er ; or, rather, if trees have the property of sending the s'ap from the strong branches to the weaker, all the branches would be equally strong. The de- scending sap, on reaching the weaker branches, would become ascending sap. And if the small branches be considered obstructions, preventing the descent of the sap, the large branches must be greater obstructions. But where does the sap de- scend from ? Primers forget that they cannot cut a live spray from a tree without lessening the quan- tity of its leaves. Their theory is founded in error, and all their reasoning is false." Bollard, in Farm, Mag. This explains what often seems enigmatical to superficial observers in vegetable economy, viz., that moderate-sized trees from a nursery have or- dinarily a much thriftier and healthier growth, and arrive sooner to a good bearing state, when trans- planted, than trees that are very large. In the for- mer, the natural proportion between the roots and the branches is preserved, the roots being taken up nearly entire ; the sap-vessels, therefore, are filled, and the growth is but partially retarded. While, in taking up very large trees, whose roots have greatly extended, the mouths of the plant are seriously di- minished, the sap-vessels contract and become in- durated in consequence of the diminished supply of sap, and the tree must acquire new roots and new sapwood by a slow process of growth ere it can flourish with its accustomed vigour. The same evil results from cutting off the entire top of a tree. It is deprived of its elaborating organs ; and, although 270 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. the root may send up the elements of food, they cannot benefit the plant for want of leaves to con- vert them into vegetable blood. It is no argument against this position, that deciduous trees spontane- ously develop foliage and flowers in the spring. There is a store of elaborated sap laid up in autumn to effect this. Strip a tree entirely of its leaves in June, when this store is exhausted, and the tree will not grow, and probably will die. The stem, at least, will sustain serious injury. The nurseryman knows that, after an apple, pear, or plum stock has been cut down and grafted upon, the heart-wood becomes unsound if the graft fails to grow, and the whole stock dozy, and, in a manner, worthless for a future scion, and that it will not grow a particle above where it sends off suckers. The tendency of pruning to generate disease and to shorten the life of trees is illustrated in the ap- pearance of old orchards which have been injudi- ciously pruned. Wherever a limb is split off by winds or accident, it will be seen to expose a dis- eased heart-wood ; and this disease at the heart spreads to the roots and branches, and induces pre- mature death. The natural duration of the apple- tree is believed to be more than one hundred years ; and yet how few are found in a healty state at fifty years ! Mark the contrast, in soundness of wood, in vigour of growth, and in duration of life, between the apple and other frequently-pruned trees, and those trees, whether fruit or forest, which are left to luxuriate naturally, without the artificial aid of the pruning-knife. If pruning be prejudicial to growth and longevity, v> liy, then, we may be asked, prune at all ? We an- swer, for utility, to give beauty to the tree, and to improve and increase the fruit. In natural forest-growth, trees attain height, and a straight, clear timber form, from their crowded sit- uation ; and as the lower branches become useless, THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING. 271 they die and fall off. But in cultivated grounds, or where there is ample room for roots and branches to spread, this does not take place ; and hence the propriety ol pruning here to obtain a good stem for timber, or a handsome top for shade and ornament. Often there are two or more leading shoots striving for the mastery, and, unless they are shortened or taken oft', there will be two or more stems of dimin- utive size, instead of one of larger size. We may therefore prune shade-trees to improve their form or to please the fancy, and timber-trees to improve the bole ; but in neither case do we either increase the growth or prolong the life of the tree. " As the twig is bent, so will the tree incline," is literally true in regard to pruning. We can give almost any form to trees which fancy may conceive, by beginning early, and persevering with the pru- ning-knife or shears, as is often witnessed in clipped hedges and in ornamental garden-grounds. We may make them dwarfs or standards, or give them a thin or dense foliage at our pleasure. They may be trained or cut into the shape of animals, into ge- ometrical fprms, or architectural or sculptural com- positions. We prune fruit-trees to improve the fruit and to induce a bearing habit. The roots of trees take up from the soil a certain quantity of vegetable food, call it geine, or humus, or organic remains, or what you please ; it has previously constituted parts of vegetable structure, and is convertible by natural processes into wood or fruit, or both. If the ten- dency of the plant is to wood, as is generally the case with all healthy young trees, the fruit will be scanty and inferior, at least till the tree has attained to mature size. But if the tendency to growth is checked by poverty of soil, disease, or judicious pru- ning, the tree will be brought into a precocious state of bearing, and, in the case of judicious pruning, pro- duce more and better fruit. 272 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. In pruning or training to induce a fruit-bearing habit, the object is to check the uninterrupted, and, we may say, natural descent of the elaborated sap to the root, by encouraging a horizontal instead of an upright growth of the branches when the tree ap- proaches the bearing age. This causes a stricture in the descending sap-vessels at the bifurcation or junction of the branches with the stem, and a conse- quent accumulation of elaborated sap in the branch- es, to generate fruit-buds and to swell the fruit. The same object is sometimes, though injudicious- ly, effected by cutting out a narrow circle of bark, or by ligatures, to prevent the descent of the elabo- rated sap. Hence the upright shoot is often cut out, particularly in the apple-tree, and the branches are trained horizontally, diagonally, or in a half-in- verted position, as on walls, espaliers, and in the en queneille, or distaff form of training. These opera- tions have also a tendency to improve the quality of the fruit, by giving it a better exposure to the kind influences of the sun, air, and light, all essential to its due maturity and high flavour. Nature provides for the propagation of the species by producing per- fect seed, leaving to. art the labour and contrivance of enlarging and enriching the pulp or fruit. All fruits may be improved from their natural state by artificial culture, though nothing can be added there by to the intrinsic value of the seed or the natural duration of the tree. The seeds of the wild crab or wild pear are as good to sow for stocks to graft or bud upon, as the seeds of the cultivated varieties of these fruits ; and, indeed, according to Dr. Van Mons's theory, which his practice seems to have confirmed, they are the best from which to start new varieties. Prune, therefore, when necessary to improve timber; prime for ornament; prune to improve the fruit ; but do not prune in the hope of accelerating jjrowth or of prolonging life. And, in all your pru- THE PHILOSOPHY OF PRUNING. 273 nings, cut while the wood is small, and spare to the tree all the foliage you can consistent with the ob- ject you have in view. By pruning when the tree is young, and pruning often, we may secure a hand- some stem and a well-formed head, and we cause no wounds that do not speedily heal. The common practice is to prune in autumn or spring, when the tree is divested of foliage. To this practice we make two objections. In the first place, the wounds are exposed (unless covered with a suit- able composition) to the searching and corroding in- fluence of the sun, wind, and rain, there being no leaves to shield nor circulating pulp to heal them. In the second place, it causes the multiplication of suckers, and often increases the evil which it is de- signed to cure. The sap is arrested in the spring* when its flow is greatest, in its natural course to the amputated branches, oozes out and corrodes the bark and wood, or exhausts itself in the production of a prolific growth of suckers, more detrimental to the tree than the parts that have been lopped off. If pruning is performed the last of June, when the exuberant flow of sap has abated, the wounds are in a measure protected by the foliage from the weath- er ; much unelaborated has then become elaborated sap, transformed into cambium or pulp, whose heal- ing qualities soon cover the edges of the wound; few or no suckers are generated, and the heart of the tree is preserved from canker and decay. These opinions as to the propriety of summer-pruning have been confirmed in our mind by three years' practice and observation. Another common error in pruning is the practice of cutting all the lateral shoots from a young tree except a few at the top ; and to cut young, vigorous wood from the tops of old trees, leaving long, ex- tended, naked branches, which are often broken by the winds. In the first case, we obtain long, spin- dling stems, incapable of supporting, when trans- 274 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. planted to an open situation, a good top. The same evil occurs in the nursery or the forest, when the young trees stand in a crowded position. In the second case, we produce unsightly and compara- tively unproductive tops. Since the offices and the importance of leaves in the vegetable economy have been better understood, a manifest improvement in pruning has taken place. It is now contended, and, we think, upon correct principles, that none, or but very few of the lateral branches should be cut en- tirely from young trees until the tree is tall enough to form a head ; and that the pruner should be con- tent with shortening those which interfere with the main stem, and such as are of unreasonable length. By this means we get a tapering and straight stem, and retain the aid of a large portion of the leaves towards its enlargement. Every leaf contributes to the growth of the stem below the point of connex- ion. When the tree has attained a proper height to form the top x it is advisable, particularly with the apple, to cut out the upright shoot, leaving three, or, at most, four lateral branches upon different sides. If a little attention is afterward annually given to cutting out the small limbs which are likely to cross or interfere with each other, the necessity of cutting off large branches will be for a long time prevented. In old trees, the older branches frequently become cankered and diseased, and young, thrifty wood is thrown out at or near their base. In this case, it is always preferable to cut away the diseased wood, leaving the healthy shoots to take their place. In transplanting trees the knife should be used sparing- ly. If the roots are greatly diminished in digging up the tree, the top may be lightened by thinning its branches ; or, if none of these can be spared with- out marring the form, the longer branches may be shortened, or cut in at a bud ; but we do not advise, in any case, the cutting off the entire top. THE MIND AND THE SOIL. 27f> THE MIND AND THE SOIL. In cultivating the soil, we have our seed-time and our harvest-time ; and we all very well know, that if good seed is not deposited in good time, the har- vest will either be scanty or altogether fail. We can reap only what we sow, unless it be the weeds and noxious plants which spring up spontaneously from our neglect. So it is with the mind. It has its seed-time and its harvest-time ; its vernal season of youth, and its summer season of manhood. And the good seed we sow in the young mind will as as- suredly grow and give its increase as that which we deposite in the soil. Our crops tend to increase our wealth and add to our animal enjoyments. The im- provement of the mind not only tends to these de- sirable ends by aiding the labour of the hands, but it tends also to knowledge, to virtue, to happiness. Do we estimate these things rightly, and assign to each its relative value 1 Do we not graduate the wages of the labourer who cultivates our soil by the measure of good he can render us 1 And do we not graduate the wages of the teacher, who cultivates the minds of our children on a very different princi- ple, by the small amount which his wants or his limited capacity induces him to take ? While we make merit the criterion of our choice in the culti- vation of the soil, do we not too often make the want of it the criterion in choosing the cultivator of the mind ? And yet all must acknowledge that qualifi- cation and excellence are as much more important in the latter than in the former, as mind is superior to matter, as a good man is superior to a good crop. Who would not feel a higher pride in rearing a fam- ily of intelligent, virtuous, and useful children, than in rearing a fine beast, or in raising a great crop of corn ? Let us try to mend in this matter ; to get good labourers in the mental and moral no less than in the vegetable field of culture. Thin shall our children " rise up and bless us." 276 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. CHAPTER XI. , MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES CONTINUED. Caleb Kirk on Hedging. Animal Nutrition. On the Use of Gypsum. Choked Cattle. Specific Food in Soils for Plants. HAVING preferred plashing to any other mode that I had seen made use of in training a hedge, I began the process when the stalks were about an inch in diameter near the root, and from that to au inch and a half: if well attended to in their previous growth, they will attain that size in six or seven years after they are planted ; but, if neglected, they may require double that period. It may be observed, that no ad- vantage is gained by plashing before a good root is formed, for that is the future support and basis of the superstructure. By having a good strong root, the cutting or wounding the top or body of the stalk will soon recover from any injury received in the necessary work of plashing, which is done by cut- ting the body of each stalk with a hedge-knife or pruning-hook, bending the stalk with one hand in the direction it is to be laid, at the same time, by a stroke of the knife with the other, about four inches from the surface of the ground. If one stroke should not prove sufficient, a second or third may be appli- ed, being careful to leave as much of the wood uncut as to afford the sap to flow into the top, and yet to bend easy into an inclined position of about forty- five degrees' elevation from the base or bank on which it stands : one third or one fourth of uncut wood is sufficient to supply sap to the plashing, which must bend easy, otherwise it would incline to rise out of the proper degree of inclination. Much depends on this circumstance in forming a good and CALEB KIRK ON HEDGING. 277 uniform hedge ; the plashings should not press one upon another so much as to prevent a free and un- obstructed circulation of air, and the sun's rays also, as the health and vigour of the plashing is much promoted thereby. If there should be too much wood in the hedge, by planting too close or any oth- er cause, it must be cut away, leaving no more than what is really necessary to form the basis of a good and lasting live fence. One of my errors was suf- fering too much brushwood to be crowded into my first live hedges, both living and dead ; brushwood, such as was cut away in some places where too thick, and filled in where too thin. In order to make a present fence, I was induced to suffer it to be done in this way, from the recommendation of my hedger, who was from the west of England, and had been in that practice ; for the immediate making a fence of such materials as he had to do with, I read- ily gave his judgment the preference, he having had experience in the business. But my observations in two or three years more convinced me of the impropriety of introducing dead wood to fill every vacancy, as well as crowding too much of that which was living. I had much of it to remove in places where a want of health demonstra- ted the present evil. After this was done the re- maining part became more healthy, but it remains thin, and never will overcome the injury. There seems to be no inclination to put out shoots from the old wood in those vacancies, which would have put forth shoots when newly laid if no obstruction had been present. I find it is best to trim off the branches, especially the large ones, though not very close to the body of the stalk. It shoots young sprouts more abundant- ly from the plashing, which rise in an upright form, as well as those from the stumps shooting up through the plashing ; interlocks the whole together, holding the plashing in their place as crossbars, and forms 278 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. a kind of lattice- work. On the contrary, if the plash- ing is too crowded, the shoots rising from the stump will evade the thicket and push out in a lateral di- rection, endeavouring to gain the benefit of sun and air, and rise on the outside, where they are injurious instead of beneficial ; by secluding the plashing from the benefit of sun and air, the sap no longer inclines to the plashing, but flows freely into the suckers on the outside. I have been more particular on this point, having seen errors in others, as well as my own, on that head. Previous to laying a hedge, a quantity of stakes are to be provided about four feet and a half long if it stands on a bank, or a little longer if the ground is not elevated, and split as small as they will bear to drive about one foot in the ground ; they are to be driven through the plashing occasionally, as the work progresses, in a straight line two feet and a half or three feet distant from each other. These stakes are driven through the plashing, so as to keep the part laid directly over the stumps, for reasons before given, the shoots rising immediately through the plash : the stakes are bound in their place by wattles or poles, prepared of alder or willow, or any- thing that will not in future make useful timber, as their use is only temporary, until the hedge becomes set by growth. This binding has the appearance of a twisted rope. CALEB KIRK ON HEDGING. 279 If rightly done, it steadies the head of the stakes, and keeps them in a direct line, and serves the pur- pose of holding straggling shoots that may be di- rected under its confinement, and confines the top of the hedge, holding it. steady for trimming until its own growth gives it stability. The next year after being laid it-should be exam- ined, and any shoot that inclines to leave the right direction should be cut away, unless there is a va- cant spot to receive it ; then it ought to be intro- duced into such vacuum. By frequently trimming the superfluous branches off, the body becomes more dense and impenetrable. About five years past I adopted the summer trim- ming about the middle of June, and found it much easier to accomplish while the shoot was in a tender state ; and I have regularly done the trimming in that and the following month ever since, finding the labour much easier performed, and no bad effect on the hedges, though warned by some to the contrary, apprehending bad consequences to arise from cutting at that season. The present season having been excessively dry and warm, I have not discovered the least injury : they have held their foliage as well as usual. My conclusion has been, that by cutting when the sap is in full flow, and taking away the small shoots that were carrying off a considerable portion for their support, that portion must diffuse and spread through the whole body of the hedge, and add strength to every remaining part. The foregoing remarks will apply to either kind of thorn as it regards the treatment of them ; but the Virginia kind has advantages, though not so rugged in appearance as the Delaware : they are more uniform in their growth, and give regularity and uniformity to the hedge. But what is very im- portant is their inclination to send out an abundance of shoots or suckers when cut, not only from the 280 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. stump, but from the plash also : the latter is not the case in the Delaware thorn; they seldom afford shoots out of the plash ; except where the top end is cut off, the suckers will rise. To attain a regular distribution of shoots from the plashing, we must be mindful to give every stalk laid a proper degree of slope or inclined plane, as before observed : by that means they are likely to rise on the body of the plash. If too much elevated, the sap flows to the head, and produces a cluster at that point ; and if laid too much in a horizontal position, the sap is not encouraged to follow that direction, and will produce suckers from the stump only, leav- ing the plash without sufficient nourishment to be- come useful, and which must consequently decline. It will be readily understood, that the more gener- ally we can direct the flow of sap through the whole body of the hedge, strength and uniformity is there- by promoted, it becoming healthy in all its parts. After that object is attained, all that is necessary is the keeping it within proper limits by trimming. The figure represented on page 278 is a view of a section of newly-plashed hedge divested of foliage, after having formed the first shoots from the old stalks, making the first effort to fill the vacancies, and seven years old before it was cut. This figure represents a section of one that has been laid seven years and annually trimmed, being in full foliage at CALEB KIRK ON HEDGING. 281 the time the drawing was taken. The first, show, ing the skeleton of a hedge, may be useful to de- monstrate the subject in that stage of its progress to maturity. This figure presents an end view of the section represented on page 280, showing a correct view of the shape which I preferred for form- ing a hedge the most impenetrable at the bottom ; these views are elevated on a bank from a foot to eighteen inch- es high, which was formed from re- peated dressings, as they required fresh earth to cover the grass about the roots, which retards their growth in a young state remarkably if not kept down., This elevation gives the hedge a much more forbid- ding appearance to ungovernable animals. The trimming may be done with a hedge-knife about eighteen inches long, with a hooked point,, used with one hand, or with any othpr sharp, light tool that may best suit the operator, making the stroke upward rather than downward : the root being secure in the ground, it will not give way be- fore the stroke as it would in making the stroke downward. The last trimmings of these speci- mens were made with a common grass-scythe, as the mowers were cutting the grass in the field. I found, by applying the scythe to the hedge, it was an expeditious mode, though rather unhandy to strike upward ; but a little practice overcame the difficulty. After viewing these specimens of hedges produced by the foregoing mode of management in a given time, it will be information. I have no doubt, to some, sufficient to determine their choice whether a dead or living fence is to be preferred. I made the choice upon an imaginary view, with- out having the advantage of ocular demonstration, and without any idea of the comparative expense, or even attempting to make any calculation on the sub- I. Y 282 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. ject, as I had made up my determination in favour of a live fence. There are now some djata to form an estimate upon ; and the subject is of such a nature as to re- quire a series of years to gain the desired object ; yet I have confidence in believing it can be ascer- tained with much correctness. The last number on this subject was more fully demonstrated by a drawing, not only to assist the young husbandman in the best mode of forming his live fences, but to give a view of what may be con- sidered a specimen of a finished hedge, or one that has attained maturity being thirteen years old from the time of planting, and needing no farther care but that of annual trimmings, shearing or clipping the extra shoots that incline to enlarge it beyond proper limits. The mode has been already treated of. The next inquiry is, What is the cost of obtaining such a desirable enclosure, to protect and secure the labours of the farmer, and, at the same time, orna- ment his farm ? The following is a correct esti- mate, as near as the nature of the case will admit, calculated for the latitude or neighbourhood of the writer of these notes, being done from actual exper- iments made by himself, and some of his neighbour- ing farmers pursuing the same plan of hedging. Taking a given distance, say one hundred panels of post and rail fence, measuring ten feet to the panel, which is the usual length, makes sixty perches and ten feet over. One thousand quicks will plant that distance : their cost from nursery is $5 00 Planting them by a man and boy, each two days ; man's wages and board at 75 cts 1 50 boy's do. do. 60 " . . . 1 00 One dressing the first year by running a furrow or two with the plough . 25 And then a light dressing with the hoe (same hand) . 75 Expense of first year ... f 8 50 CALEB KIRK ON HEDGING. 283 Sd year, dressing as above . . . . 81 00 3d " do. do ] 00 4th " do. do 1 00 5th " do. do. . . . . 1 00 Cth i; do. do 1 00 5 years' dressing $5 00 7th year, trenching to prepare for plashing, plough, and horse $0 50 Three days' work, at 75 cts., throwing up a ditch 2 25 500 stakes, counting labour as above, including timber 3 50 Wattles, and cutting them . . . 2 CO One hand three days at plashing, at $1 . 3 00 Expense of 7th year .... 11 25 8th year, 1 day's work, trimming and cleaning $0 75 9th " do. do. do. . 75 10th " do. do. do. . 75 llth" do. do. do. . 75 12th " do. do. do. . 75 13th" do. do. do. . 75 Expense of six years .... $4 50 $29 25 The foregoing process has produced such a hedge as is exhibited in the drawing, taken from a section of one thirteen years old, now in good condition and improving, becoming more dense every year; and, so far as I am able to form a judgment, I am of the opinion that seventy-five cents annually applied to the trimming will keep it in that form perpetually. The calculation on this section of sixty perches will afford data to "apply to any quantity of greater extent ; and tha. annual expense on this, after the seventh year, is uniform, and may be considered to continue so for as long a time as it is regularly at- tended to, and will apply to any extent, at one cent and a quarter per rod or perch of sixteen and a half feet. If the writer of these observations had commen- ced hedging with the knowledge now obtained by experience, one half his labour would have been saved. 284 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. The expense of a fence made of timber, say posl and rail, which is the most common in the vicinity of this place, is seventy-five cents for each panel of a four-rail fence to those who have their fencing to purchase and the labour to pay ; that is, seventy-five dollars for one hundred panels, which, compared with the same length of hedging, places the case, for a perishable material, with thirteen years of the time gone $75 00 And for a hedge growing better every year 29 50 Leaving $45 50 as a balance in favour of sixty perches and ten feet distance : what this will amount to on a large farm I shall leave to the owner's calculation. I may farther remark, the labour of making live fence can be done by weak hands if rightly direct- ed : my plashing was done by a man seventy-four years of age. The making of rails and handling them require a person in the prime of life ; and ev- ery stage of the process of erecting wooden fences is laborious, besides the destruction of much valua- ble timber, which in some neighbourhoods is a heavy tax on the owner. Each neighbourhood may make their calculations of fences made of timber. According to circum- stances attending the hedge, calculations may be relied on, if the foregoing rules and remarks are strictly attended to, which will a^pply to either kind of thorn ; but it was the " Virginia parsley-leafed thorn" of Marshall's catalogue of forest-trees that was preferred, and which grows spontaneously from this place to the South as far as the Mississippi ; and I have no doubt of its thriving in a northern lati- tude, seeing no bad effect from the winters of our Delaware climate, although I had a section plashed in the midst of winter to prove the consequence. The hedge may be considered as made in seven years from the time of planting, as it is only trim- ANIMAL NUTRITION. 285 ming that is required afterward, which amount* to one cent and a quarter for each perch of distance : the quarter may be thrown off if the clipping is nev- er omitted in due time, as this lessens the labour a rule that will apply through every operation in hus- bandry, and should never be forgotten while twen*y- five per cent, is saved, and often fifty. ANIMAL NUTRITION. Until within a very few years, little attention seems to have been paid to the subject of animal nutrition : the quantity or kind of food most suitable for this purpose was mostly overlooked ; and if life were supported, no questions were asked as to the why and the wherefore. So long as the population of the world remained few in number compared with the acres from which subsistence was to be drawn, there was, indeed, little use in inquiries of the kind ; then, as now in the United States, or on this Conti- nent generally, a supply of food of some kind was usually certain. Now and then, years of famine in particular sections might occur ; for in those times, when the means of intercourse were so limited, the inhabitants of one country might be starving, while those at a distance of a few hundred miles were rioting in abundance ; but these calamities were soon forgotten in the succeeding plenty, and led to no valuable investigation as to the nature of food or nutrition. The population fared more nearly alike in former times than at present, so far as food was concerned ; it was bulky and hearty, and, if it pro- duced disease, it was of a different kind from that which now assails the modern omniverous eater and drinker, and in all cases was decidedly the same. In these days, the differences in mankind made by rank or wealth are scarcely more deeply marked than those observable between the diseases of the rich and the poor : differences, in the main, to be attribu- ted to the nature of their diet and its effects on the animal system. 286 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. Among the inquirers into the effects of different kinds of food or animal nutrition, Dr. Stark, of Vi- enna, appears to have taken the lead ; indeed, he seems to have fallen a martyr to his zeal in the cause of science, perishing, as he undoubtedly did, from the results of his long-continued experiments on himself. By confining himself to food of a par- ticular kind for a considerable space of time, he was able to ascertain its actual effect on the organs of digestion, and its value as a source of nourishment. Bread, meat, and milk, each in its turn, for a consid- erable period was his sole nutriment ; and the result showed that these things, certainly among the most nutritive of substances, could not maintain the vig- our of the body, or even life itself, for but a limited time. In this respect man differs from the majority of animals ; his organization is such as to admit and even require a variety of food ; while many animals are, by a law of their natures, confined to a particu- lar kind, as flesh or vegetables. The French physiologists, Magendie and his coad- jutors, followed up the experiments of Stark, not on themselves, but on animals ; and found they could not long survive on food, however nutritious in itself, unless they received a large portion of that on which they naturally subsist. Thus a dog fed on white sugar and water alone soon became emaciated, lost his appetite and sight, and perished. Few substan- ces can be more nutritive than sugar, but it lacked the power of properly distending the stomach and exciting its digestive energies. Dogs fed on pure wheat bread and water lived but little longer ; and rabbits, which eat a variety of vegetables, such as clover, cabbage, barley, corn, and carrots, were una- ble to live for any time when confined to one of these. It was found that animals, when much ema- ciated and reduced by one kind of food, were not of ten restored by another, though they frequently par took of it with greediness the tone of the stomach could not be regained. ANIMAL NUT1UTION. 287 To facilitate proper digestion of food by the ani- mal or man, it is necessary that, with the nutritive part, substances more bulky, or containing little nu- tritive power, should at the same time be taken into the stomach. An experiment has been made in England on the feeding of horses, which demon- strates this fact most conclusively. Some cavalry horses were selected; and while one part of them received sugar and water alone, the other part had a few pounds of cut straw added to their portion of sugar and drink. Those which received the sugar alone fell away rapidly, while those fed with the sugar and straw throve as perceptibly ; and a repe- tition of the experiment on another set of animals showed the same result. In man, the rich and high- seasoned food, the fine flour and the fat meat, are to the stomach what pure wheat or sugar would be to the stomach of the horse. There is much nutriment, but little that can facilitate digestion. A man swal- lows nourishment enough for half a dozen ; but, in- stead of its producing a good effect, his stomach be- comes disordered, its functions debilitated, and in the midst of plenty he becomes dyspeptic, and in- capable of enjoying anything. The man who lives on common food, sound and sufficiently nutritious, is rarely troubled with the evils that press so heavi- ly on him who, regardless of the law of nature, takes more nutriment and less substance than is consistent with a healthy tone of the digestive powers. Perhaps. the best estimate of the time required for the digestion of the various substances used as food by man, and their general effect on the animal or- ganization, is given in the book of Dr. Beaumont, from experiments made on the living subject, and under circumstances more favourable to correctness than are known to have ever before existed. We give below a table of the results obtained by him, not as a mere matter of curiosity, but as furnishing information of the most valuable kind in connexion 289 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. with animal nutrition. The first column indicates the substance taken into the stomach ; the last the time required for its digestion. * Boiled rice . . . 1 00 Sago, tapioca, barley, and boiled milk . 2 15 Tripe and pigs' feet 1 00 Fowl*, beef's liver 2 30 Hard eggs . . 3 30 Soft do. 3 00 Custard . . 2 45 Trout, boiled or fried 1 30 Other fresh fish . 3 00 Beef, rare-roasted . 3 00 Do. dry-roasted . 3 30 Salt beef, with mustard 230 Pickled pork . . 4 30 Raw do. . . 3 00 fc. *>. Mutton, fresh . . 3 15 Veal . . . . 4 00 Wheat bread, fresh baked 3 30 Com bread . . .315 Sponge cake . . . 2 30 Succotash . . . 3 45 Apple-dumpling . . 3 00 Apples, sour and mellow 200 Do. sweet and mellow 1 30 Parsnips, boiled . . 2 30 Potatoes, do. . .3 30 Do., roasted . . 2 30 Raw cabbage . . 2 30 Raw, with vinegar . 2 00 Cabbage, boiled . . 4 30 Dr. Beaumont found that the envelope of the seeds of the apple and the skins of potatoes were scarcely acted upon by the gastric juice, and that they were consequently indigestible. As a whole, it would seem that animal aliments are digested easier than vegetable ones ; but his experiments show conclu- sively, that, whatever the kind of food, the ultimate principle of nutrition, or the chyle, is the same in all eases. Digestion is much facilitated by the particles of food being made fine when taken into the stomach, and the quantity of nutritive matter furnished is greater. Individuals, therefore, in whom -the digest- ive powers are weakened, find a benefit in thorough- ly masticating or chewing their food. This princi- ple is of great importance in the feeding or fattening of animals, and shows the necessity of grinding or cooking the materials given them if we would have them derive the full benefit of the nutritive matter contained. The experiments of Dr. Beaumont farther prove, that when food of great nutritive powers is taken ON THE USE OP GYPSUM. 289 into the stomach in large quantities, the functions of that organ. become evidently clogged, and that usual- ly, in eating, a larger quantity of nutritive matter is received than is beneficial. A certain quantity of solid food, or food of a bulky nature, he found to be essential to easy digestion and a proper separation of the nutritive principle. This agrees with the fact that horses or cattle require cut straw or hay mixed with their grain, both to ensure mastication, and to furnish the necessary bulk of solid matter in the stomach. It is a common saying with farmers, Hint an ox, when feeding on meal, must be furnished with a lock of hay to make him a cud. They re- quire more than this ; and the reason, from what has been said above, is perfectly obvious. ON THE USE OP GYPSUM. There is no longer any doubt in our mind of the advantage of applying gypsum in the spring to all our meadow-lands which are beyond the influence of the sea atmosphere, and which are habitually dry. There are instances recorded, to be sure, of its not producing perceptible benefit the first year; and some instances where it did not seem to operate even the second year, and yet ultimately developed its fertilizing properties. We do not design now to discuss the question how gypsum does operate, but to inquire and state, from the facts within our reach, to what crops its applica- tion is particularly beneficial ; on what soils its ef- fects appear to be greatest ; how much should be applied to the acre, and at what season it is best ap- plied. We are satisfied, that if the value of gypsum were better known, it would be much more exten- sively used than it is ; and that, the more it is used, the greater will be our agricultural surplus. Gypsum, according to Chaptal, consists of L Z 290 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. Pure calcareous earth or lime ... 30 parts, or 33 Sulphuric acid 32 " 43 Crystallized water ... 38 " 24 100 100 It requires from 450 to 500 times its weight of water to dissolve it. When pure, it does not effer- vesce with acids ; it is insipid in taste, and free from smell. A simple mode of trying its quality consists in putting a quantity of it pulverized into a dry pot over the fire, and when heated it gives out a sul- phurous smell. If the ebullition or bubbling which then takes place be considerable, the plaster is good ; but if not, it is considered indifferent ; and if it re- main motionless, like sand, it is not thought to be worth anything. Its colour is white, gray, or blue. Its effects in benefiting agriculture have been great- est in Germany and in the United States. Its bene- fits in Great Britain and France have been less ob- vious. The soils upon which gypsum operates most beneficial ly are the light, dry, sandy, and gravelly. Upo.n soils containing little or no vegetable matter, its ef- fect is trifling r but when these lands are dressed with dung, the gypsum then produces a great effect ; and, the dung being present, the poorer the land, the greater its benefits. It seldom produces any sensi- ble effect upon wet grounds, and frequently none upon stiff clays. The crops which are most benefited by gypsum are the clovers, lucerne, Indian corn, and pease. There are some few cases noticed of its being found ben- eficial to wheat and other small grains ; but it is the generally received opinion that it does not operate directly on these. Gypsum, however, may be made indirectly beneficial to all crops which are grown upon a clover lay, by causing a greater growth of clover, which becomes food for the crop which fol- lows, and which is abundant in proportion to the ON THE USE OF GYPSUM. 291 rankness of the previous clover. Its efiect upon turnips is doubtful ; and some will not allow that it is beneficial to potatoes. Davy lays it down as a fact, that it is most beneficial to those plants which always afford it on analysis ; and the small grains are not found to contain it at all. Many instances are given where its application has doubled and tripled the clover-crop. The quantity which should be applied to the.Mcre is a point quite unsettled ; and it should probably be va- ried according to soil and circumstances. John. Taylor, of Virginia, and Judge Peters, of Pennsylva- nia, concurred in opinion, that on lands where it was applied annually, one bushel to an acre was an ample dressing. In Europe it is recommended to dress with five or six bushels to the acre. We have gen- erally sown but a bushel ; but last spring, by way of experiment, we doubled the dressing on a portion of a meadow, and found the grass there much the heav- iest. It is advisable to try it in different quantities, and to note the result of each, as a guide to future practice. The time of applying gypsum is generally in the spring, sometimes as late as May or June. The writer of British Husbandry recommends, with much plausibility, that gypsum be applied to clovers semi- annually, viz., soon after the crop is mown in sum- mer, and in the spring just after the plants have be- gun to shoot. We shall be thankful for memoranda of any experiments that may have been made in this practice in our own country, and also whether it produces a better effect when laid on in dry than in wet weather. The work from which we have just quo- ted dwells with emphasis on the importance of hav- ing the gypsum attach to and remain upon the leaves of the young plants, and repeats the charge to sow it when the leaves are wet with dew or with a re- cent light rain, and never just preceding or during a rain. Professor Low says that mineral substances, 292 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. as powdered lime and gypsum, are absorbed through the pores of leaves when scattered upon them. A watery temperature, it is alleged, at least arrests its effects, and seems to suppress them altogether if the gypsum has been calcined, a process which it is sometimes subjected to, to facilitate its reduction to powder. Burning, however, merely expels the crys- tallized water, without otherwise altering the gyp- sum, the strongest heat not being sufficient to expel the sulphuric acid. When applied to tillage- crops, it should be either sown broadcast in spring, or scat- tered upon the hills or drills of the growing crop. Upon the principle quoted above, the latter would seem to be the better practice in regard to hoed crops ; though our mode of applying it to corn has been to sow it broadcast before the ground is har- rowed for seeding. When applied at the rate of five or six bushels to the acre, the effects of a dressing have sometimes continued some four or five years. The most common practice is to sow it annually upon the crops and grounds likely to be benefited by it, and to sow it in quantities from one bushel to two bushels on the acre. To determine the capacity of gypsum for absorb- ing moisture, an ounce and a half, in fine powder, was exposed to the air during three foggy nights, and afterward carefully weighed, when it was found to have gained not quite half a grain in weight. This fact overthrows the theory that plaster is ben- eficial on account of its capacity and tendency to imbibe moisture from the atmosphere. The benefits of gypsum are so palpable in our country upon clover and some other crops, and indi rectly upon nearly all, that we cannot but hope these remarks will serve to extend its use upon our farms, and to indnce many to try it who are experimentally ignorant of its fertilizing powers. CHOKED CATTLE. 293 CHOKED CATTLE. The facts that more attention is now paid to the rearing of cattle and the introduction of improved breeds than formerly, and that many valuable ani- mals are yearly lost from obstructions in the throat or by choking, which might be saved were proper measures adopted, have induced us to present to our readers drawings of a cattle-probang or throat-tube, from the work on cattle by the Useful Knowledge Society, and a condensed account of the best meth- ods of removing obstructions known at the present day. We give these engravings the more willingly, as the tube is found one of the most efficient and immediate agents of giving relief in hoven or bloat that has yet been devised, and, where it can be had, far preferable to the knife- to which farmers in this disease are frequently compelled to resort. oh a Sr O a FL92 CI^ These cuts will give a sufficient idea of t'ne con- struction of the most useful probang or oesophagus- tube, and which should be in the possession of every farmer who breeds cattle extensively ; t)r, where this is not the case, one might answer for several neighbouring farmers. No man, however, who pretends to the character of farrier or veterinarian, should be without these or similar instruments. 294 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. Fig. 1. a. The tube made of simple leather, or of leather covering a canal of spiral wire. It is about four feet and a half in length, so as to reach from the mouth to the rumen or stomach, leaving a suffi- cient portion outside the mouth to be firmly grasped. b. The stiletl or rod, represented as introduced into the tube, and running the whole length of it. It gives greater firmness and strength to the tube when it is either passed into the stomach in cases of hoove, or used to force obstructions down the gullet. c. The handle of the stilett. d. A hollow piece of wood running freely upon the stilett, and placed between the handle of the stilett and the round extremity of the tube. The stilett is longer than the tube by the extent of this piece of wood, but is prevented from protruding by the interposition of this slider on the handle. The stilett may be introduced at either end of the tube. It is usually inserted at c when the instrument is used to force anything down the throat, because the bulb at the other end has a flat, or, rather, concave surface, and can therefore act with more certainty and power on the obstruction in the throat. e. The end of tne tube which is introduced into the paunch in cases of hoove. It is rounded to per- mit it to be more easily forced through the pillars or roof of the paunch, and is perforated with holes for the escape of the gas with which the stomach may be distended. Fig. 2 represents the whalebone slilett (any tough elastic wood will do for the rod when whalebone cannot be had), with the hollow piece of wood run- ning upon it, and shows how easily that may be withdrawn when the stilett is taken from the tube. This piece of wood taken off, the stilett will project a little at the end of the tube ; and by moving the stilett up and down in the tube, this may be made to act on the obstructing body in the manner, and with somewhat the force of a small hammer. CHOKED CATTLE. 295 Fig. 3 will be presently described. Fig. 4 is a piece of strong, thick wood, widest in the centre, and perforated for the passage of the tube. Its use is to keep the mouth open during the use of the probatig; and it is secured by leather straps nailed to the extremities, and buckled round the horns. The farmer should have another mouth- piece, with a central hole that will admit the passage of a small hand. He will thus be enabled to grasp and remove any obstruction that has not descended beyond the commencement of the gullet. Let it be supposed that a cow has swallowed a potato or turnip too large to descend the gullet, and thus arrested in its progress, and evidently seen at a certain distance down the throat. The farmer should have immediate recourse to the tube, intro- ducing the flatter end, and using moderate force. If the body yields to this, he is justified in pushing it into the chest ; but if it is with difficulty pushed on, the operator should instantly cease attempting to drive it down, for the fibres of the gullet soon be- come irritated by distention, and grasp the foreign substance, as it were, spasmodically. The gullet also itself becomes smaller as soon as it enters the thorax, and a substance that moves easily in the upper part can scarcely be moved at ill in the lower portion. But if it cannot be driven down, it may perhaps be solicited or drawn upward. The fibres of the gullet have allowed the substance to pass them, and are somewhat weakened by the unnatural distention; and, not having recovered their tone, they may yield again. The internal coat of the gullet is smooth and yielding : it may, however, be made more so, and some effect may also be produced on the surface of the obstructing body. Half a pint of olive oil should be poured down, a persevering attempt being made by the fingers externally to give the body a retro- grade motion. When moved sufficiently upward, it 296 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. may be drawn out by the hand, introduced through the large mouth-piece. If the obstructing body cannot be moved in this way, recourse may be had to the corkscrew tube, Fig. 3, in the cut. a. The leather tube as before, but somewhat lar- ger, longer, and stronger, with the upper part, for the purpose of additional strength, sometimes of brass. b. The handle of the stilett, that runs through it as through the other tube. c. The piece of wood sliding on the stilett. In consequence of the corkscrew termination, this must be in two parts, easily removed. They are here removed, and one of them hangs down, suspended by a string. When removed, they allow the point of the stilett to project two or three inches. d. The bulb which is introduced through the mouth-piece. It is larger than those on the other tube, but not so large as the distended gullet. e. A corkscrew fixed at the end of the stilett ; and which, coming out at the centre of the knob, cannot possibly wound the gullet. When this instrument is used, the screw is re- tracted within the knob, and secured by placing the pieces of wood c on the handle of the stilett. The instrument is then introduced through the mouth- piece, and forced down the throat until it reaches the obstruction. The pieces of wood are then taken off, and the screw, by turning the handle, is worked into the obstructing body as the common corkscrew into a cork. If the potato or turnip is fresh and sound, a great purchase is thus obtained, and in most in- stances the root may be thus drawn out and got rid of; but if only a portion is brought away, some good has been done, and the screw should be returned as long as it will take hold. The substance will now probably yield to the pressure of the first probang, and in a crushed state pass into the stomach. CHOKED CATTLE. 297 Sometimes, too, the stilett of the first tube, the slide being taken off, can be advantageously used as the rod of a gun, forcing the obstruction down by re- peated percussions. Should these contrivances fail, and the obstruction still remain, bleeding, sometimes carried to absolute fainting, may be resorted to, in preference to crush- ing the root by external violence, though even this is sometimes admissible. There is not a more pow- erful relaxant of the muscles than bleeding ; and during this momentary relaxation the operator may frequently move the body upward, if possible and in preference, but downward if it will not come up. If the obstruction can neither be forced down nor removed by crushing, the animal must be lost un- less the operation of asophagotomy be resorted to, or the obstruction cut down upon, and then removed through the opening. The veterinary surgeon will here find no difficulty, and may proceed with confi- dence. The animal should be cast, thrown on the right side, the head stretched out, and lying as flat as the horns will permit. The point of obstruction will be seen at once. An opening is now made through the skin, the cellular substance a little dissected away, the gullet opened, and the obstruction removed. The edges of the gullet should then be brought to- gether and confined with two stitches, and the skin secured in the same way. The beast should have nothing but gruel for two or three days, then gruel and mashes may be allowed, and in a fortnight or three weeks the wound will generally be healed. If the root has passed into the thorax before it is observed, or the operator has been called, the chances of saving the animal are much diminished. The ob- struction must be either drawn up or pushed down without delay ; and great force is here allowable ; for, if it be not overcome, the animal will surely die. Cat- tle that have once been choked are found more liable 298 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. than others to suffer agr.in; and it will therefore be generally advisable to fit them for the butcher as early as possible. The tube may be made of thin, firm sole-leather ; or, if of upper-leather, it may be sowed over a spiral tube of small flexible wire. It maybe three fourths of an inch in diameter, with a suitable bore, and the bulb may be one and a quarter or one and a half inches in diameter. The stiffness of the tube is greatly aided, when necessary, by the introduction of the rod or stilett. Every one has lost some animals which in all probability might have been saved by the cheap and simple apparatus we have here described, while many have perished by quackery or the ill-judged ef- forts made to save them. It is but a few days since a gentleman of our acquaintance lost a cow that was choked with a potato. Some little effort had been made to remove it, when he was told that a quantity of soap put down would have the desired effect, and the informant undertook to see it administered. The required quantity was prepared and poured down, when the animal died almost instantly. The probability is, that more was given than the gullet could contain, and that the first breath, by drawing the fluid soap into the lungs, produced instant suffo- cation. Soap, too, is a dangerous remedy for an- other reason : it is very rare that the alkali is so thoroughly neutralized as not to retain some caus- ticity ; and, when put down the gullet, if it remains a considerable time in one place, it excoriates the inner membrane, or in some cases eats through the gullet, and thus destroys the animal. Oil, as above directed, is better in all cases than soap ; and no farmer should intrust another with the care of a dis- eased animal, unless he has reason to believe that he possesses some knowledge of the structure, forma- tion, and capacity of the part diseased. We have known animals killed by thrusting a stick so far into SPECIFIC FOOD IN SOILS FOR PLANTS. 299 the stomach as to perforate its walls ; and this was owing to ignorance of the distance between the mouth and the stomach. If regard to the sufferings of the animal does not influence them, the fact that such cruel treatment must be a source of loss should induce farmers to adopt a better and more scientific mode of treatment. SPECIFIC FOOD IN SOILS FOR PLANTS. That soils the most favourable for the growth of plants of any particular kind may, unless attention is paid to furnishing a supply of the food in which such plants delight, become exhausted and unfit for their production, is a fact which a multitude of ex- periments fully proves, and which seems to be gen- erally admitted. The earths themselves, silex, lime, and clay, can hardly be said to be the food of plants, though minute portions of them are taken up by the ^ssels and appropriated to the structure of the firmer parts. The earths seem only to serve as a reservoir for the nutritive matter; or perhaps they constitute rather the fountain of that electro-mag- netic agency which has been proved so efficient, if not, indeed, the sole cause of vegetation. We may reduce plants to their elements by cal- cination, and we may examine the products given by their decomposition, but we only discover the parts that are left: the power that collected their particles has ceased to operate ; and we should be almost as well qualified to judge of what the human lody can perform, and of the nature of its nutrition and growth, from a post mortem examination, as to decide on these same functions in a living plant from an examination of the remains of a dead one. Chymistry has performed wonders, and from its in- valuable aid much more may be expected ; but the causes that change the qualities of a soil, and, of course, the whole character of its vegetation, are of such a nature, and, perhaps, so slight or evanescent, 300 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. as to escape or be overlooked in the scrutiny of the most competent observer. The fact that, by continued cultivation or crop- ping, the soil becomes exhausted of the food of plants or incapable of producing them, is too evi- dent to be denied ; and that in some cases a good growth of a particular kind of plant may be had, when the one previously cultivated has run out, seems equally certain. The trees of our forests, no less than the plants cultivated for food, seem subject to this law, and the instances that prove such ten- dency to change abound in every part of our coun- try. In some places, where the timber on large tracts of land has been felled and allowed to spring up again without intervening cultivation, it is not UHCommon to find the young growth consisting of entirely different varieties from those that first oc- cupied'the soil; and in some places, where the soil has been cultivated for years and then left to it.sutf, the same result of a total change of timber has en- sued. In many places in Western New- York, where the original growth was beech or even hem- lock, we have seen, when this has been removed and the soil left to itself, the whole surface covered with cherry, laurel, and other trees, not one of which was known previously to exist near the place. In Virginia and the states adjoining, it is well known, and the fact has frequently been noticed, that where the original growth is pine, as it is on a very large part of the low country, when this is cleared off, the succeeding growth of timber is never pine, but a mixture of the hard woods, principally oak, chestnut, and their congeners. On the contra- ry, where these latter formed the original growth, the succeeding one is most usually pine, growing up in dense and almost impenetrable thickets. In some of the oldest- settled parts of that region, this process lias been repeated several times on the same lands ; the former, but most unskilful practice in farming SPECIFIC FOOD IN SOILS FOR PLANTS. 301 having been to crop a piece of land until completely exhausted, and then leave it to the recuperative ef- forts of nature, while new lands were cleared and put under cultivation. In the valuable papers of Dr. Hildreth on the coal region of the West, and in the notes of a Naturalist, both to be found in Silling n's Journal, are notices of large tracts on which nothing but a heavy growth of white oak and its kindred trees are found, and the soil of which is full of pitch-pine knots, scattered in the greatest profusion over large districts, on which a pine-tree has not been seen since the dis covery of the country. The inference is irresistible, that, owing to some unexplained cause, these im- mense forests have perished, and their place has been occupied by the magnificent oak woods that now form so conspicuous a feature of these districts. So plentiful are these pine remains in some places, that the collecting and burning them for tar has been a profitable business. That there is the same tendency in cultivated plants to change, or to run out and be succeeded by Others, is well known to every one. Continued care is required to keep meadows that lie long in grass from becoming filled with other and worthless vari- eties ; and reseeding and frequent manurings are necessary to prevent the kinds desired in the soil from running out. So soils on which the same crop is too .frequently raised will show a tendency to throw it off in the inferior value of the crop pro- duced. New-England and Eastern New- York were once the best of wheat-growing districts, but have long since ceased to be such ; and the most moment- ous question that can be asked by the Western farmer is, will that region, now so productive, ex- hibit a similar decline T There can be no reason to doubt that it will, unless an improved and more ra- tional mode of farming be adopted to prevent it. As illustrating the changes that take place in soils 302 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. from cultivation, rendering them unfit for plan 4 .? of a particular kind, we make the follow rig extracts from a communication in the ji'ultivjitor of April, 1838. It is from the pen of a g<-.. tic-man of Suffolk county, Long Island : " With us, wheat was raised from the first settling of the county until 1780 or 1790; it then failed. About that time we began to get fish (for manuring), which were used for rye, and did well. It was no uncommon thing to have 40 bushels to the acre. For wheat they did not answer, neither did any other manure. Farmers, as a general thing, gave up try- ing to raise it. At the present time, wheat is a far more certain crop than rye, and has been for years past. Rye has been failing for some time, and lat- terly many pieces have been cut merely for the straw. There is a complete revolution in the two grains. * * * * Corn has not fluctuated ; it has been a steady crop, and governed by the seasons. Oats the same. Flax has run nearly the same round as wheat ami parley." Two causes have, by vegetable physiologists, been assigned for this action of plants on the soil, both of which have been advocated with great skill, and in favour of both of which a formidable array of facts and experiments may be adduced. One of these theories supposes that a specific food for each kind of plant exists in greater or less quantities in the soil, and that, when this food is exhausted by a suc- cession of crops of the same kind, the plant must of necessity fail for want of its proper nourishment. In this way the changes of forest timber noted above may be explained, since rendering the soil unfit for the production of one kind of plant by no means disqualifies it for growing another. By this theory, also, the cause of the changes of the grain- crops in our country is made plain ; as the specific food of each plant being in a great degree different, that required by the rye had been untouched by the SPECIFIC FOOD IN SOILS FOR PLANTS. 303 wheat, and vice versa. The second theory by which these facts are accounted for is that of the justly celebrated De Candolle, which supposes that plants, in growing, secrete substances injurious to, and not required by them ; which substances, strictly excre- mentitious, are thrown off by the roots into the soil, and, by repetitions of the process, finally render it unfit for the growth of the plant. This excrementi- tious matter is, however, supposed to affect no plants except those of the same kind with that from which it has been ejected : thus that from the pine would not prevent the growth of the oak, nor would that which rendered the soil unfit for wheat injure in the least a crop of rye. It is clear that most of the phenomena alluded to above as attending a succession of crops on the same soil, or the changes which the forests of a country undergo, may be explained by either of these theories; and it is not improbable that both may be more or less influential at the same time. To us the weight of testimony has appeared to be in favour of the theory which attributes these changes to an exhaustion of the specific food of the plant ra- ther than to the excretion of poisonous matter from the preceding vegetation. It must be admitted, how- ever, that the experiments of De Candolle and Ma- caire go far to prove such an exudation or secretion form plants ; and, this fact once established, it cannot be unreasonable to suppose that the matter thus re- jected must be unsuitable for the succeeding plant, should it be one requiring the same kind of nutri- ment. Thus, admitting the truth of either of these the- ories, or of both, we arrive at the conclusion that change of plants is a law of nature ; and the manner in which we can imitate her, and thus avoid the in- evitable consequences of continued successions of the same kind of plant, is distinctly pointed out. Nature restores the original constituents of the soil 304 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. by a slow and gradual process : science has enabled us greatly to abridge this period, by producing our- selves, in rapid succession, the same changes that nature, unassisted, would require half a century to effect. We do this in two ways : either by resto- ring to the soil, in the form of manures, what we have taken from it in the shape of grain or grass, or by such a rotation of crops as shall prevent the ex- haustion of the specific food of the plant" in the one case, or the injurious accumulation of excrementi- tious matter in the other. The successful combina- tion of both these methods, manuring and rotation, constitutes the great secret of successful agricul- ture ; and the establishment of the principles on which the system is based may be considered the greatest improvement of its age. In those parts of our own country and in Europe where the system of manuring and rotation has been fully adopted, a steady improvement in the soil and in the crops is clearly apparent, and not the least symptom of ex- haustion or of deterioration can be seen. It is time that the unphilosophical system of taking crop aftei crop of the same kind from land should be aban- doned for the more rational one pointed out by na- ture herself, and which has been proved to be so far superior to the former methods. Corn, wheat, clo- ver, and manure (the last applied to the first crop) have trebled the produce of the lands in Dutchess and on Long Island within thirty years ; and lands that had been exhausted and abandoned have been reclaimed, and restored to a state of fertility rivalling the best districts of the West. There is great rea- son to fear that this subject is not yet properly ap- preciated by our farmers. We, in the comparatively new parts of our country, go on as though exhaus- tion were impossible, and reducing the fertility of our lands a mere fiction. Do we not already begin to perceive proofs (and particularly where the skin- ning process in cropping is adopted) that these JUDGE DUELS ADDRESS. 305 causes have already begun to operate 1 Do we get as much wheat per acre on such lands as we did twenty years ago ? 1 f not, to what cause shall we at- tribute the falling oft"] One of the most important questions a farmer can ask himself is, How shall this reduction of crops be arrested where it has al- ready commenced, and prevented where it does not yet exist ? CHAPTER XII. Address of the Hon Judge Buel, delivered before the Agricul- tural and Horticultural Societies of New-Haven County, September 25, 1839. I APPEAR here, gentlemen, by invitation, to address you on the cultivation of the soil, which it is the ob- ject of the associations here convened to promote improvement in. I have been prompted in the un- dertaking rather by a desire to render a service, than from any confidence in my ability to perform one ; and, in the few remarks I have to offer, shall need much of your indulgence for imperfections in style and deficiency in matter. Agriculture and Horticulture are intimately related to each other. They both depend upon the soil, and the animals and plants which it nurtures, for sup- port, for profit, and for pleasure. They both admin- ister and are indispensable to our wants and com- forts. They are governed in their operations by the same natural laws. Agriculture has cognizance of the farm, which supplies our principal wants ; Hor- ticulture of the garden, which administers to our more refined appetites, to our health, and to the ra- tional pleasures of the mind. The one gives us bread and meat, and the materials for our clothing; I. A A 306 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. the other, choice delicacies for the table, uid multi- plies around us the charms of floral beauty and xu- ral scenery. Both tend to beget habits of useful industry and sober reflection, and to improve us in all the social relations of life. It is befitting, there- fore, that institutions designed to foster and pro- mote improvements in these primary and associate branches of labour should unite in their anniver- sary celebration, and in returning thanks to the Su- preme Being for the bounties of a fruitful season. Of the utility of these celebrations, and the exhi- bition of the products of the farm and garden which are made at them, I have no kind of doubt. They bring to public notice whatever is new and most valuable in a business which highly interests us. They perform the work of years in diffusing useful knowledge in all the departments of rural labour. They awaken in the bosoms of hundreds the dor- mant powers of the mind, which otherwise might have slumbered in apathy. They excite to indus- try, to emulation, and to the study of those laws which everywhere control the visible creation, and which enlighten and reward all who humbly seek and follow their counsels. Nor is it the cultivator of the farm and garden alone that are to be benefit- ed by these exhibitions. Whatever tends to in- crease and improve the products of the soil, serves to augment the common stock, and enables the grower to supply the market with more and better products, and to buy more liberally of the other classes in return. The merchant, the manufacturer, the mechanic, and the professional man, have all, therefore, as deep an interest in promoting the im- provement of agriculture and horticulture as the farmer and gardener have. Society is in some measure a joint concern, at least so far as relates to what are termed the producing classes ; the more the.sr ourn by their labour, the greater is the acces- sion of substantial wealth to the community. The JUDCJE BUEL'S ADDRLSS. 307 amount of honey in a hive depends not upon the num- ber of bees which it contains, but upon the labour and skill of the working bees. The farmer virtually pro- vides for the other classes, and is, at the same time, their principal patron and customer ; and, although his labours are too often held to be low and menial by those who cannot or will not appreciate their value, his condition affords the best criterion by which to judge of the welfare of those around him. No coun- try can long flourish, or preserve its moral and physi- cal health, whose agriculture is neglected and degra- ded. The amount of a farmer's sales and of his purchases will depend upon the profits of his labour. Double these by an improved system of husbandry, which I feel assured can be done, and which has been far more than realized in many old districts of our country, and you will double the substantial wealth of the neighbourhood, and impart correspond- ing life and activity to every other department of business. If we look to Spain, to Portugal, to a great portion of Italy, to South America, or any other country where agriculture is neglected, or holds but a subordinate rank, we shall find a de- graded population, characterized by superstitious ig- norance, poverty, and crime. Every class of the community, therefore, has a deep interest in pro- moting the improvement of the soil ; and all should willingly contribute their aid towards enlightening, honouring, and rewarding th^se who are honestly employed in its cultivation. With regard to the utility of agricultural and hor- ticultural societies, much will depend upon the ob- jects which bring their members together. If they associate for selfish purposes, merely to monopolize the spoils, and withdraw whenever they are disap- pointed in their sinister hopes, jealousies and apathy will ensue, and the association will fall, as many under like circumstances have fallen, without pub- lic loss or public regret. But if the association be 308 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. formed for mutual improvement, and in the benevo- . 'lit and patriotic desire to do a public good ; to stimulate and reward industry and enterprise, how- fiver humble their condition ; and if it strive, by con- centrated and persevering efforts, to improve the condition of a district, of a county, or a state, then will it inspire public confidence, obtain public sup- port, and become a public blessing. To illustrate this last proposition, I beg to refer to some associa- tions which have been tried, and whose labours have been crowned with palpable and brilliant success. The counties of Berkshire, Essex, and Worcester in Massachusetts, have each, for many years, main- tained an agricultural society ; and they each dis- tribute ten or twelve hundred dollars a year, one half of which is paid out of the state treasury, in prizes to successful competitors in the various de- partments of agricultural and household labour. It is said, and I believe with truth, that every dollar thus expended has made a return of twenty dollars in the increase of agricultural products which it has caused ; and so satisfied are the inhabitants of the benefits of the expenditure, that an increased spirit is annually manifested by all classes to maintain and perpetuate these nurseries of industry and im- provement. The Highland Society of Scotland affords another illustrious example of the utility of agricultural as- sociations, when conducted with a view to public improvement. This society was organized in 1784 ; but so few were its members and so limited its means, that it attracted but little public notice, nor effected any great improvement in husbandry till the commencement of the nineteenth century. Yet it had sown the good seed, which never fails, under proper management, to yield to the husbandman a bountiful harvest. Nor did it fail in this case. The society now numbers twenty-two hundred members, embracing most of the opulent and influential men JUDGE DUEL'S ADDRESS. 309 of the country, of all professions, and distributes an- nually in prizes about seventeen thousand dollars. In no country or district has agriculture made more rapid strides in improvement than it has in Scot- land since the organization of this society ; which, although it may not have been the only, has most assuredly been a principal, cause of this wonderful and salutary change. Up to 1792, the agriculture of Scotland, to adopt the language of the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, was " wretched ; execrably bad in all its localities ! Hardly any wheat was attempted to be grown ; oats full of this- tles was the standard crop, and this was repeated on the greater part of the arable land, while it would produce twice the seed thrown into it; turnips, as part of the rotation of crops, was unknown ; few po- tatoes were raised, and no grass-seeds or clover were sown. A great part of the summer was em- ployed, in the now fertile shire of Fife, in pulling thistles out of the oats and bringing them home for the horses, or mowing the rushes or other aquatic plants that, grew on the bogs around the home- stead." But a change soon came over the land. The seed which had been sown by the Highland So- ciety had germinated, and its luxuriant foliage al- ready covered the soil. In 1815, according to the authority I am quoting, " beautiful fields of wheat were to be seen; drilled green crops everywhere abounded ; the bogs had disappeared ; the thistles no longer existed ;" naked fallows were abolished ; draining was extensively introduced ; wet lands were made dry ; poor, weeping clays were convert- ed into turnip soils ; and " whole parishes were com- pletely transformed from unsightly marshes inl > beautiful and rich wheat-fields ; and where the plough could scarcely be driven for slush and water, were heavy crops per acre and heavy weight per bush- el."* The improvements in Scottish husbandry * Quarterly Journal of Agriculture for June, 1839, p. 70. 310 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. have continued to advance until, according to the estimate of Sir John Sinclair and Professor Lowe, both high authority, until the acreable products of her soil more than double those of our Atlantic states. The means adopted by the Highland Society to effect these radical improvements in Scottish hus- bandry are such as may be employed by us with al- most a certainty of corresponding success. " In the days of its youth and feebleness," says the Quarterly Journal which I have just quoted, "the Highland Society sent the leaven of the turnip husbandry into all the glens and straths of the North, by offers of small prizes to certain Highland parishes, and the same may be said as to the growth of clover and the finer grasses. As it advanced in strength as to num- bers and to cash, attention was turned to premiums for stock ; then came offers of reward to men of sci- ence to discover better implements and machines, to diminish friction, and consequently draught, such as in the threshing-mill, and other parts of agricultural machinery. Still advancing in the scale of intellect and of science, premiums were offered for essays to bring to light the facts connected with chyrnistry and natural philosophy ; and under the auspices of the society was set up the Quarterly Journal of Ag- riculture, a work which has been the vehicle of con- veying so much useful information to the agricultu- rist, that we humbly venture to say it ought to ap- pear on the bookshelf and table of every farmer's parlour. After this, the great stock shows were re- solved upon." At the Glasgow show in 1838 there were exhibited for prizes 461 neat cattle, 1*21 horses, 274 sheep, and 47 swine ; total, 903 domestic ani- mals, in 031 lots. Of the other competitors the numbers were as follows : JUDGE BUEL'S ADDRESS. 311 For Butter . . . . * . . 18 Full Milk Cheese J5 Skim Milk Cheese Wool Koots and Seeds Implements 6 8 13 28 In 88 lots. The number of persons present was estimated at over 17,000, besides workmen and official people; not one in a thousand of whom probably left the ex- hibition without carrying home with him some new- ly-acquired knowledge in his business, or some new stimulants to improvement and industry. Not only has Scotland profited by the labours of her agricul tural society, but Great Britain generally, and even the United States have been highly benefited by them. The information which that society has pro- mulgated has been widely disseminated among us by our agricultural journals, and has contributed not a little to the improvement of the agriculture of our country. And in England, which had been thrown into the background by the superior improvements in Scottish husbandry, it has within the last year induced the formation of the English Agricultural Society, on a broad and liberal scale, which prom- ises important advantages to English husbandry, and to agriculture generally. As evidence of the utility of horticultural societies in multiplying and improving the products of our gardens and in promoting rural embellishments. I would refer to the neighbourhoods of Boston and Philadelphia, where societies of this kind have long existed, and to the Horticultural Society of London. In the first-named cities and their environs, the progress of horticultural improvement has been manifestly great. Alany new and choice fruits, cu- linary vegetables, and ornamental plants have been introduced, culture has been much improved, the markets better supplied, and prices cheapened. 312 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. The London Society, although its garden has been established but about twenty years, has concentrated in it, from both continents and from the islands of the sea, embracing every clime, more than five thou- sand varieties of edible fruits, including fourteen hundred varieties of the apple, and seven hundred of the pear, and an almost endless number of. orna- mental plants, many of them before unknown in pur catalogues. Its collection of pears, which embrace hundreds of recent origin from Flanders and from France, have been already broadly spread over these states, and supply our dessert with a succession of this delicious fruit. As a corresponding member of this society, I have participated, and have enabled others to. participate, in the good which it has been generously diffusing abroad. In 1825, and at sub- sequent periods, I have been supplied liberally with grafts of the choicest fruits which it had collected. The great obstacles to horticultural improvement are ignorance of the relative merits of different kinds of fruits and culinary vegetables, and of the proper modes of cultivating and preparing them for the ta- ble. The generality of country gardens exhibit but a scanty assortment of vegetable productions, and these but badly cultivated, and often of inferior qual- ity. The tendency of horticultural exhibitions is to show the good and bad in contrast, or rather to pro- mulgate a knowledge of the better sorts, of their cul- ture and use, to excite useful competition, and to demonstrate the utility of garden culture as a source of health, pleasure, and profit. 1 have had many fruits presented to me which the donors considered of the first quality, but which I found, on compari- son, to be of secondary or inferior grade. The man who has seen or tasted only inferior fruits, may well mistake them for good ones. It is as easy to cultivate good fruits as bad ones ; and no one eats so good fruits as he who cultivates them himself. It is as easy to cultivate the vergaleu as it is the choke- JUDGE BUELS ADDRESS. 313 pear ; the green-gage as the horse-plum ; and yet the difference between them, in all the qualities which we most esteem, is incomparably great. But, till we can show our neighbour better fruits, he will continue to cultivate and rest content with his choke- peaf and horse-plum. With regard to what is termed ornamental gar- dening, or the cultivation of flowering shrubs and plants, there is an objection, real or affected, often made by very many people, on the ground that it yields no profit. If the great object of life were to accumulate money, without enjoying any of the com- forts, save the gratification of animal appetite, the objection would be conclusive. But we are endowed with other and higher appetites than the mere brute ; and Providence has everywhere surrounded us with suitable objects for their development and innocent gratification. Shall we. then, reject the proffered benefactions so kindly tendered because they add nothing to our pelf ] And what is there in the nat- ural creation better calculated to soften down the rough asperities of our nature, to awaken kind feel- ings towards each other, and to excite reverence and love for the Most High, than a familiar acquaintance with the wonders and beauties of His vegetable kingdom. Did you ever know a misanthrope or a miser who was an admirer of flowers 1 1 would not recommend the neglect of more important duties for the culture of a flower-garden ; yet, when there is ability or leisure (and these may be found to a greater or less extent in almost every family), a taste for floral beauties should be inculcated in the young, not only as a source of rational pleasure, but as a salu- tary precaution against bad companions and bad hab- its. The mind must be employed and must have recreation. It is better to direct it to the works of the Creator than to the works of man. Lord Bacon has said of the garden, " It affords the purest of hu- man pleasures : the greatest refreshment to the spiri' 314 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. of man : without which, buildings and palaces ire but gross handiworks." But I am forgetting myself. In my ardour to commend horticulture for its useful, elevating, and purifying influence upon the habits and inarm* society, 1 did not recollect that 1 am addressing the highly-polished inhabitants of a classic city, who have long since demonstrated in practice the truth of the lessons I would inculcate. I will therefore dismiss this branch of my subject, and turn to the less attractive, though more important topic of agri- culture ; barely adding, That in all endeavours to improve the condition of society, whether religious, moral, or industrial, in- dividual efforts and example can affect but little ; and hence, that in every great work of reform or improvement, the concentrated strength of many has been resorted to and brought to a focus by means of associations ; and that the great objects of society are not likely to be promoted in a more em- inent degree by any, than by associations formed for like purposes with those which I have now the hon- our to address. Being a native of this state, and having spent my early days within its borders, I can well remember the farming practices that were wont to prevail. The farm was, to use the commendatory language of that day, " suitably divided into meadow, pasture, and plough land ;" and each division was exclusively devoted to its object, until most of the nutritious grasses had " run out" in the meadow, and the plough- land had become too much impoverished to bear a remunerating crop. Many an acre was turned into " old field" or commons, destitute alike of natural or artificial herbage, affording scanty gleanings to half- famished cattle. I beg not to be misunderstood. I am describing what was a bad feature in Yankee husbandry. Farming has no doubt recently under- gone great improvements in Connecticut, as it kas JUDGE DUEL'S ADDRESS. 315 elsewhere. Yet, on a fair comparison with highly- cultivated agricultural districts, I believe it will be found that the husbandry of this state, in the main, is susceptible of great improvement. The lands of Connecticut were originally rich and productive. The seasons are about as propitious as they were wont to be ; the earthy elements remain in a great measure unchanged ; and the lessons in improve- ment that have been taught elsewhere, leave little reason to doubt that, under proper management, these elements may again be restored to their ori- ginal fertility. In a late tour which I made through parts of New- York and New-Jersey, I found many evidences of re- cent improvement, and I doubt not that similar ones abound in my native state. In a part of Dutchess county which I visited, the best farms have been sold within my recollection, with improvements and buildings, at from seven to seventeen dollars an acre. They cannot now be bought for one hundred dollars an acre ; and one was sold last year at auction, with- out buildings, at one hundred and thirty dollars an acre. Fifteen years ago, a farm in Western New- York of 400 acres, exhausted by bad husbandry, was bought by a Scotch farmer for $4000. This farm has been so improved by good husbandry, that the owner was last year offered for it $40,000. He re- fused the offer upon the ground that it actually net- ted him the interest of $60,000, or $1050 the acre. A farm was pointed out to me in New-Jersey which was recently sold for $7 the acre, and that was all it was said to have been worth in its then condition. By a liberal outlay in draining, it being level and wet ground, and in liming, manuring, &c., it is now con- sidered worth $125 an acre. 1 went over another farm which a few years ago was bought at the same price, and which now, on account of the improve- ments which have been made upon it, is -considered worth $100 per acre. I am informed, on the best 316 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. authority, that similar cases of the rapid increase in the products and value of farms, consequent upon an improved system of management, are to be found in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. Although these cases are isolated ones, they nevertheless serve to show the practicability of vastly increasing the value and products of our exhausted lands. Among the causes which have essentially con- tributed to the deterioration of our 1 r.vds and the consequent depression of our agriculture, I consider the following as prominent : Ignorance of the principles of agriculture ; The want of a sufficient outlay in the manage- ment of our farms ; and The low estimation in which the employment has been held by all classes, including farmers them- selves Agriculture has too generally been considered a business requiring mere physical power, with which the principles of natural science had little or nothing to do. To plough, sow, and gather the crop has been the general routine of farming operations, re- gardless of the poverty which our practice was in- flicting upon the soil and upon our children. Like the reckless heir of wealth, we found ourselves in possession of a treasure; and without inquiring for what purpose it came into our hands, or realizing our obligations to husband and preserve it for oth- ers, we have squandered it lavishly, through our ig- norance or our folly. True, we have been occasion- ally admonished of our error by the schoolmen, who, wrapped in abstract science, and knowing little practically of its application to husbandry, have as often tended to confuse and mystify as to enlighten and instruct. Hence the prejudice which has arisen against book-farming. But science and art are now uniting their labours, and are deriving mutual aid from each other on the farm, as they have for some time been doing in the manufactory and in the shop IUDOE BUEL'S ADDRESS. 317 of the artisan. A new era is dawning upon the vis- ion of the farmer ; new light is illuming his path, and a new interest and new pleasures are urging him on to improvement. He begins to study the laws which Providence has ordained for the government of im- proved culture, and he finds, in their application to his labours, the means of increasing profits and of high intellectual enjoyment. And the more he stud- ies and is guided by these laws, the more does he become satisfied of former errors and his compar- atively limited sphere of usefulness. Science is probably capable of rendering more important ser- vices to husbandry than to any other branch of la- bour, and presents a wider field of useful study to the cultivator of the soil than to any other class of society. The deficiency of farming capital, or, rather, the stinginess with which capital is employed in im- proving and maintaining the condition of our lands, is another cause of declension in the profits and character of our agriculture. The farmer is too prone to invest his surplus means in some new bu- siness, or in adding to his acres instead of applying them to increase the profit of his labour and the pro- ducts of his farm. He either works more land than he can work well and profitably, or he diverts to other objects the means which would yield a better return if applied to the improvement of the soil. He is apt to consider twenty or thirty dollars an enor- mous and wasteful outlay upon an acre of land or upon a choice animal ; and yet the interest of this outlay will be ten times paid by the increase of crop or the increase of the animal ; and, in most cases, the principal also will be returned to him in the course of two or three years. Many of the most thriving farmers in Southern New- York, New-Jersey, and Pennsylvania make a quadrennial expenditure of twenty dollars or more to manure an acre ; and it has become a maxim with them, that the more the 318 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. outlay for manure, the greater the nett profit of their lands. But it is not the outlay for manure alone that demands a liberal expenditure of capital. Good seed, good farm-stock, and good implements are all essential to the economy of labour, and to neat and profitable farming. And I think it will appear, from the cases I have quoted, that in many locations cap- ital may be very advantageously employed in re- claiming wet and marshy grounds, generally rich and the most productive when laid dry. \Vhen our cattle grow lean and threaten to disap- poinl our hopes of profit, we do not hesitate to im- pute the evil to the want of food or to inattention in the herdsman. And, if we are prudent managers, we at once graduate our stock to our food, knowing that one well-fed animal is of more value in the market than two animals that carry but skin and bones, and we take care that the food is properly fed out. When our crops become lean, we need not hesitate to ascribe the decrease in product to like causes want of food, or want of attention in the farmer; and prudence and profit, in like manner, require that our crops, like our animals, should be limited to the food and labour which we have to be- stow upon them. In other words, an acre well ma- nured and well worked will be found to be more profitable than four poor acres badly worked. I may here be asked, from whence are to be ob- tained the vast supplies of manure requisite to ma- nure our old lands 1 I answer, from a multiplicity of sources around us, from every animal and vege- table substance within our reach. Nothing that has once been part of an animal or a vegetable but can be converted into corn, grass, and roots. I think I may assume as facts, that, upon an average, not half the manure is saved upon our farms that might be, and that this moiety is half lost before it is applied to the soil. Every horse, ox, or cow wintered upon the farm, if well fed, and littered with the straw, JUDGE DUEL'S ADDRESS. 319 stalks, &c., of the crop, should inake from six to ten cords of good manure. Dr. Coventry, late professor of agriculture at Edinburgh, estimated that the straw of an ordinary acre of grain, computed at 21 cvvt., may be converted by the urine and liquids of the stables and cattle-yards into three and a half tons of manure ; that meadows that cut one and a half tons of hay will give four tons of^manure ; clover, the first year six tons, and the second year five and a half tons per acre ; and that, with the extraneous substances which may, with due care, be collected without expense from the roads, the ditches, the ponds, and from refuse of every kind about the house and premises, the acreable amount should be amply sufficient for a full supply of manure once during every course of the four-year system of husbandry. Arthur Young, with six horses, four cows, and nine hogs, which consumed 16 loads of hay and 29 loads of straw, obtained 118 loads of manure, 36 bushels to each ; and from 45 fatting oxen, well fed and lit- tered, 600 tons of rotten manure. But an American lawyer,* and an excellent practical farmer withal, has gone beyond these estimates. I visited his farm a few weeks ago, which lies upon the seashore. It consists of about 200 acres, most of which was in a course of crops. The crops of the season had all received an ample supply of manure, as their ap- pearance indicated ; and yet I was shown masses of well-prepared compost in reserve, consisting of yard manure, peat ashes, peat earth, seaweed, and fish, estimated at twenty-five hundred dollars all pro- duced upon his farm. The third impediment to agricultural improvement which I propose to notice is the subordinate rank which has been assigned to this employment, and to which the farmers themselves have contributed, by a want of respect for themselves and for their voca- tion. The wholesome habits of society have been * W. A. Seelv. Esn.. of Staten Island. 320 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. broken up by the civil and political convulsions of the age, and the inordinate thirst for acquiring wealth and fashionable consequence through mercantile and other speculations, so that honest, productive labour has been thrown entirely into the background, and considered not only ungenteel, but menial and ser- vile. Yet I venture to lay down this proposition, that he who provides for the wants and comforts of himself and family, aiTd renders some service to so- ciety at large by his mental and physical industry, performs one of the high duties of life, and will ul- timately be rewarded, in the conscious rectitude of his life, by a greater measure of substantial happi- ness than he who makes millions by fraud and spec- ulation, to be squandered in extravagance, or wasted in folly by his children or grandchildren. The rev- olutions that are constantly taking place in families sufficiently admonish us that it is not the wealth we leave to our children, but the industrious and moral habits in which we educate them, that will secure to them worldly prosperity and the treasure of an ap- proving conscience. Tjie farmers, I have remarked, share in the errors of the day. Not content with the gains which are ever the reward of prudent industry, and which might be greatly increased by the culture of the mind not content with one of the most independent conditions in society, hundreds and thousands of them seek other and new employments, and some those of a truly menial character, to get rid of labour (the great- est blessing to man), and to raise themselves in the scale of fashionable society. And if they cannot participate themselves in this imaginary greatness (and it is seldom anything more than imaginary), they are anxio as to reflect the evil upon their pos- terity ; to rear their sons to the law the railroad to office, to political power and turmoil ; to make them merchants, a useful but greatly overstocked busi- ness, or to place them in some other genteel em ployment, which shall exempt them from the toite JUDGE BUEI/S ADDRESS. 321 of labour, the salt that best preserves from moral corruption. Mistaken men ! What class of men in society have within their reach so many of the elements of human happiness so many facilities for dispensing benefits to others, one of the first duties and richest pleasures of life as the independent tillers of the soil! "The farmer," says Franklin, "has no need of popular favour ; the success of his crops depends only on the blessing of God on his honest industry." If discreetly conducted on the improved principles of husbandry, agriculture offers the certain means of acquiring wealth, and as rapidly as is consistent with the pure enjoyments of life, or with the good order and prosperous condition of society. Agricul- ture is the golden mean, secure alike from the temp- tations of mushroon opulence, and the craven syco- phancy and dependance of poverty. " Give me nei- ther poverty nor riches" was the prayer of the wise mm of Scripture; "lest," he added, "lest I be full and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.'' When we consider that agriculture is the great business of the nation of mankind ; that its suc- cessful prosecution depends upon a knowledge in the cultivators of the soil of the principles of natural science ; and that our agriculture stands in need of this auxiliary aid, we cannot withhold our surprise and regret that we have not long since established professional schools, in which our youth, or such of them as are designed to manage this branch of na- tional labour, might be taught simultaneously the principles and practice of their future business : a business on which, more than on any other employ- ment in society, the fortunes of our country, moral, political, and national, depend. We require an ini- tiatory study of years in the principles of law and medicine before we permit the pupil to practice in these professions. We require a like preliminary I. BB 322 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY study in our military and naval schools, in the sci- ence of war and navigation, ere the student is deem- ed qualified to command. And yet, in agriculture, by which, under the blessing of Providence, we vir- tually " live, and move, and have our being," and which truly embraces a wider range of useful sci- ence than either law, medicine, war, or navigation, we have no schools, we give no instruction, we be- slow no government patronage. Scientific knowl- edge is deemed indispensable in many minor em- ployments of life ; but in this great business, in which its influence would be most potent and useful, we consider it, judging from our practice, of less conse- quence than the fictions of the novelist. We regard mind as the most efficient power in most other pur- suits ; while we forget that in agriculture it is the Archimedean lever which, though it does not move, tends to fill a world with plenty, with moral health, and human happiness. Can it excite surprise, that, under these circumstances of gross neglect, agricul- 'ure should have become among us, in popular esti- mation, a clownish and ignoble employment ? In the absence of agricultural professional schools, could we not do much to enlighten and raise the character of American husbandry, by making its principles a branch of study in our district schools ? This knowledge would seldom come amiss, and it would often prove a ready help under misfortune to those who had failed in other business. What man is there who may not expect, at some time of life, to profit directly by a knowledge of these principles ? Who does not hope to become the owner or cultiva- tor of a garden or a farm 1 And what man enjoying the blessing of health would be at a loss for the means of an honest livelihood, whose mind had been early imbued with the philosophy of rural culture, and who would rather work than beg ? An early acquaintance with natural science is cal- culated to beget a taste for rural life and rural la- bours, as i source of pleasure, profit, and honour. JUDGE BUEL'S ADDRESS. 323 It will stimulate to the improvement of the mind ; to elevate and purify it ; it will lead to self-respect, to virtuous moral deportment. And it will tend to deter from the formation of bad habits, which steal upon the ignorant and the idle unawares, and which consign thousands of young men to poverty and dis grace, if not to premature graves. A knowledge of these principles, to a very useful extent, can be ac- quired with as much facility in the school or upon the farm as other branches of learning. Why, then, shall they not be taught 1 Why shall we withhold from our agricultural population that knowledge which is so indispensable to their profit, to their in- dependence, and to their correct bearing as free- men ? Why, while we boast of our superior privi- leges, keep in comparative ignorance of their busi- ness that class of our citizens who are truly the conservators of our freedom ? I know of but one objection : the want of teachers. A few years ago, civil engineers were not to be found among us. The demand for them. created a supply. We have de- monstrated that we have the materials for civil en- gineers, and that we can work them up. We have materials for teachers of agricultural science, which we can also work up. Demand will always ensure a supply. The enumeration of the foregoing obstacles to agricultural improvement sufficiently indicates the means which will be efficient in removing them. These means consist, so far as I now propose to notice them, 1. In giving ^professional education to the young farmer, which shall embrace the principles and prac- tice of the business which he is designed to follow in life ; and, 2. In diffusing more extensively among those who have completed their juvenile studies, and are better fitted to profit by the lessons of wisdom and experi- ence, a knowledge of the same principles, and of the 324 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. best modes of practice which these principles incul- cate, and which experience has proved to be sound. We have professional schools in almost every business of life, except in the cultivation of the soil, one of the most important and essential of them all, and one embracing a larger scope of useful study in natural science, and in usefulness to the temporal wants of the human family, than any other. The policy of monarchs and of privileged orders has been to repress intelligence in the agricultural mass, in order to keep them in a subordinate station. But neither the policy nor the practice should be counte- nanced by us. Our agriculturists are our privileged class, if we have such. They are our sovereigns, because, from their superior numbers, they must ever control our political destinies for good or for evil. And the more intelligent and independent we can render them, the more safe we make our coun- try from the convulsions of internal feuds and the dangers of foreign war. I put the question to fathers : Would you esteem that son less, or think him less likely to fulfil the great duties of life, who had been educated in a pro- fessional school of agriculture, with all the high qualifications which it would confer for public and domestic usefulness, than him who had been educa- ted for the counter, the bar, or other high profession- al callings ] On which could you best rely for sup- port and comfort in the decline of life ? Nay, I will venture to carry the appeal farther ; to the discrim- inating judgment of the unmarried lady : Would you reject, as a partner for life, the student of such a college, coming forth with a sound mind, deeply im- bued with useful knowledge, and a hale constitution invigorated by manly exercise, whose cares and af- fections were likely to be concentrated upon home and country, and whose precepts and examples would tend to diffuse industry, prosperity, and rural happi- ness around him? The father's response would, I think, he ;in unhc^itiiting no to the first question; JUDGE DUEL'S ADI.UKSS. 325 and the lady's, after due deliberation, I verily sus- pect, would be a half-articulate amen. I pretend not to the spirit of prophecy, yet I venture to pre- dict that many who now hear me will live to see professional schools of agriculture established m our land, to see their utility extolled, and to be in- duced to consider them the best nurseries for repub- lican virtues, and the surest guarantee for the per- petuity of 01 r liberties. They should be establish- ed ; they will be established ; and, the sooner they are established, the better for our country. To those who have passed to manhood, and who have made up their minds, from necessity or from choice, to till the ground, the means of improve- ment, of studying the rrin:iples of their business, and of becoming acquah ted with the most approved modern practices in husl andry, the opportunities of acquiring useful knowledge are abundant and cheap. One of these means, and a valuable one, is proffered him through the exhibitions and publications of these societies. Another is the perusal of books upon ag- riculture and rural economy, which should form a part of social and rural libraries. And another fa- cility of acquiring this useful knowledge is afforded by the agricultural periodicals of our country, which, besides containing a great deal that is instructive in the philosophy of farming, are a record of the best modes of practice, tind of much that is new and im- portant in the various departments of rural and household labour. A volume of the Cultivator, of which I can speak with accuracy, contains about as much matter as five or six volumes of the popular novels of the day, and twice as much as four num- bers of our literary quarterly journals. The price of the Cultivator is one dollar per annum. I verily think, that if the farmer would divide his patronage between political and agricultural journals, he would be a manifest gainer in his fortune and in his fami- ly ; would be more happy in his business, and more 326 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. domestic in his habits ; a better manager, and a more useful citizen. Time will not permit me to go into the details of modern improvements in husbandry. These im- provements are great, and afford the brighest hopes to the philanthropist and the patriot. No one who can carry back his memory forty years can with- hold his wonder at the astonishing advances which have in that time been made in the manufacturing and mechanic arts by reason of the aids of science ; and those who can scan the future will have no less reason to rejoice in the anticipated advantages which are in prospect, from an improved culture of the mind and the soil, consequent upon a better system of education among the agricultural population, and the general diffusion of useful knowledge which is likely to result from it. I will merely farther remark to the farmer, that, if he would prosper in his business, he should study, practice, and adopt the better system of husbandry which is abroad in the land, and which has already greatly profited thousands, so far as his soil and cir- cumstances will permit ; that he should drain his wet lands, economize his manures, and apply them with judgment ; that he should cultivate well what he does cultivate ; alternate his crops ; extend his root-culture ; increase and improve his stock as the products of his farm will permit ; and substitute fal- low crops for naked fallows. In conclusion, gentlemen, permit me to express my hearty wish that success and honour may crown your efforts to improve the condition of your coun- try, industrial and moral associate benefits almost as intimately connected as cause and effect and that you may long live to enjoy the blessings which are promised to him who truly loves his neighbour, and reveres and worships his God. or VOL. i. University of California Library Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. i'Htl