178 TREATMENT OF ORCHARDS.-ANALYSES OF SWAMP MUCK, ETC. Various expedients were resorted to without suc-water over it. I then covered the guano with cess, until I had seen a wen cured on the human about a peck of pulverized charcoal to each tree, head by washing it repeatedly in brine. The pro- which I also wet thoroughly. The trees immedicess of washing, however, seemed too tedious; ately changed their color, grew astonishingly, and and so I concluded to mix salt and tar, and apply ripened their fruit in great perfection. to it. It soon began to diminish, and after two or Peru, Me., April, 1846. TREATMENT OF ORCHARDS. You requested that I should give my mode of treatment to my Orchards for a few years past. WM. WICKHAM MILLS. Smithtown, L. 1., 23 March, 1846. ANALYSIS OF NO. 1. Vegetable matter, about thirty per cent. of which is in the state of what is called soluble Geine or Humus, ANALYSES OF SWAMP MUCK. MR. T. N. HOLLISTER, of Metuchin, N. J., has furnished us with the following analyses made by Dr. Chilton of this city. The bed is situated on a low level surface, with only a gradual slope from the surrounding lands, the soil of which is comwhich the muck appears to have been formed conposed of a rich sandy loam. The subsoil upon sists of clay, the muck varying in depth from one to twelve feet. The upper stratum, as per sample No. 1, is from one to six feet deep. The under stratum, as per sample No. 2, was produced where No. 1 was five feet deep, at a point twelve feet below the surface. The land where it is found is covered with maple, ash, and elm, which grow very rapidly; a small portion having been cleared of wood has become firm and dry, and is at present in fine sod, and contains an early growth of grass. My practice is, every spring, to have the young The valuable properties of this muck have been shoots, decayed limbs, and such branches as inter- tested by Mr. Hollister, who, by the way of experifere with each other, carefully removed; the rough ment, spread it broadcast upon a part of his lawn, bark and all the moss scraped off, and the main the present verdant appearance of which strongly body of the tree rubbed with liquid soap. Once in contrasts with the part where no muck was applied, five years I have manured heavily with coarse far exceeding in beauty a fine piece of grass land manure from the barn yard and dung heap, planted well manured early this spring. The bed of muck with potatoes, plowed deep and cultivated well, comprises about thirty acres. spading up round the trees where I could not plow. The next spring I plow again, sow with oats and seed down to clover. It is my purpose hereafter to feed off the oats and not let them ripen. A grain crop in an old orchard is of little value, and is a decided injury to the trees as well as to the fruit. I used to mow my orchard. This too I think is wrong. I now pasture with sheep and hogs. I put rings in the noses of my hogs to prevent their injuring the clover when young and tender; but when the clover becomes well set with good roots, I put the snouts of the hogs in good condition by pulling out their rings, and they root the ground completely over, especially about the roots of the trees. This I think is of great benefit. It keeps the ground loose and open. The hogs eat all the worms and unripe fruit; they destroy all insects with which they come in contact; and, should any be so lucky as to escape, the frost of winter will be sure to kill them. I ought to have said that I never allow an insect to build a nest upon a tree during the summer or spring. My fruit has improved very much since I have adopted this mode of treatment, especially my Newtown pippin; and this I can attribute to nothing else but to my mode of cultivation. I have an idea that guano is a good manure for fruit trees. I applied some pondent writes us from Lebanon, Ohio, that uplast season to peach trees that were on the decay, wards of $600 worth of sheep were destroyed and pretty much destroyed by the worm. I applied within a few weeks in that township alone; and it about the first of June. I had the earth removed the loss in the county for one year was not less from the roots, and what worms could be found than $2,250! Notwithstanding this, and losses were destroyed. I then sprinkled a handful of equally great in other parts of the State, the Legisguano about the roots and wet it well by sprinkling | lature of Ohio, at its last session, refused to pass a Silica, Traces of Potash, Sulph. Acid, and Phosphoric 49.21 14.00 17.04 1.41 3.24 2.10 13.00 100.00 ANALYSIS OF NO. 2. 18.46 47.00 17.80 3.10 0.43 0.81 12.40 100.00 DESTRUCTION OF SHEEP BY DOGS.-A corres A REVIEW OF THE MARCH NO. OF THE AGRICULTURIST.-No. 2. 179 law taxing dogs. There is no greater friend to the guano may be a valuable fertilizer for a conserva- A REVIEW OF THE MARCH NO. OF THE AGRICULTURIST.-No. 2. .... made and a home-trade man, I vote for a tariff of public opinion upon the importation of manure, or any other of the natural products of the country. [For an admirable series of articles on Homemade Guano," see our last volume, pages 61, 87, and 115.] Chittenden Co., Vt., Ag. Society.-All I have to say upon this article is, that every other society in the United States should "go and do likewise." It is the best show of common sense that I have ever noticed of any Agricultural Society. By the by, I re Reduction of the British Tariff-Yes, and ours too, of course. More Guano! I have just seen a letter from some inland, out-of-the-world town in Illinois, that says, "in consequence of the prospect of being able soon to send our wheat to England free of duty, real estate is looking up." Fudge! But it is no use to say to a man that Rules for the Application of Guano.-Permit me to offer an amendment. Strike out all after the words, " Before using guano," and insert, let the cultivators of American soil seriously inquire whether there is not a vast amount of native manures existing in the form of permanent minerals or earthy matters, to say nothing of that most valuable of all manures, deep plowing and green crops, The Eagle Plow.-Rather too much like an adbesides the enormous neglect of animal manures vertisement [you would not think so, my dear constantly going to waste, particularly in cities, Reviewer, if you had to answer the hundred and which it would be far more economical to use in- one questions per week which we do, regarding stead of importing a substitute. Mr. Editor, I can- these plows] to pass current among strangers not bear the name of "guano." It calls up sad Mr. Editor; but if the said strangers will accept reflections whenever I see or hear it. Is it possible my endorsement I will vouch for all you say that Young America, the land of fertility, "the of its good qualities. garden of the world," has occasion to import ma- collect that Solon Robinson has spoken highly of nure? Then are we poor, indeed! as most new the plow, and he is safe authority. Pray, friend beginners are. Why, here in this good city of Solon, does it do well upon your prairie soil, New York, there is a shipload of guano as good where there is so much complaint about the plow as ever sun shone upon on the islands of Africa or clogging.... Your Prairie Farmer paper brags Peru, going to waste every day. If we are to im- much of steel plows, but a friend of mine who lives port manure or bread stuffs, I am reminded by the out there, says they soon wear out. Is that so? If story of the two brushmakers, that we had better it is, why not harden the steel mould-board? "steal the brushes ready made." There is another thing. I lay it down as an axiom to my mind, which time will prove to my countrymen, that owing to our long dry summers, and want of irrigation, as a general fertilizer, guano will prove a decidedly bad speculation. Besides, is it good economy for us to import phosphate of lime? In the name of geology, I protest that we have a sufficient looks up" to the British tariff, 75 miles inland quantity in our own country. At all events, 20 from Chicago, that the total abolition of the British per cent. of sand, clay, organic matter, and water, Corn-laws will have a tendency to reduce instead when added to the 26 to 52 per cent. of phosphate of increasing the price of his wheat. Time will tell. of lime, is entirely too much of a very common and Liebig's Patent Process of Manufacturing Manure. superabundant article, to be so far-fetched and dear-Patent medicine and patent manure! Is this an bought, for the sake of the 4 to 46 per cent. of improvement on Bommer? But first, how do you ammoniacal salts, which your table shows the pronounce that name? Is it a "Lie," with an affix guano to contain. Most persons who ever of" big," or is it " Labah?” [The German proread, know that ammonia is a fertilizer; and as the nunciation is Le-big.] Some of his opponents say best of guano contains 46 per cent. of it, conse- that his writings give the signification of the Engquently it is a good manure. But is it any more lish sound of his name. I hope not, for thousands necessary to go to Peru after ammonia than it is place great dependence upon them. after phosphate of lime? Heavens! what a hum- be, and undoubtedly is, a very good formula of bug! What is ammonia? Is it something that preparing an artificial substitute to restore fertility exists only on the sun-burnt" Islands of Peru, to land; but it never will be extensively used where it never rains?" Really it is a long time while millions of acres of forest and prairie can be since we have had a shower of common sense. had after the "old homestead" is worn out, upon "The schoolmaster" is undoubtedly "abroad." which crops can be raised without any manureWhat is ammonia? My book (I am "a book our country is too large and too rich in soil to farmer") tells me it is-nitrogen, 82.35, hydro- improve. gen, 17.65, 100; and it is found in the most come-at-able form for the farmer's use, in urine and animal matter; particularly in bones, horns, hoofs, &c., that are thrown away to make room for "Guano." What immense quantities go daily down the sewers of New York, in the form of human urine alone! On account of the mere transportation (it is so portable an article), This may A Southern Barn.-Well, at least here is one good feature-there is a manger instead of a rack. But, begging your pardon, this is not a barn as Noah Webster understood it, but a stable; and so it is called where it belongs. The place for fodder, i. e. blades of maize, is upon scaffolds over the stalls, and the corn is in the crib "over yonder," and the door has to be opened whenever the horse 180 A REVIEW OF THE MARCH NO. OF THE AGRICULTURIST.-NO. 2. is fed, and it opens outward, and is fastened by a This is an old subject with an old writer, but he rail leaned up against it; I know it wont suit ever has something new. In common with many this latitude. . . . Mr. Miller speaks of his plan of his friends, I regret that "miserable health" as of brick or stone. He surely means logs. I never saw one of that family of other materials. If not of logs, he need not caution that the partition walls should go down to the floor-if of brick or stone, I "reckon" the wall would start from the ground. It is a very good way to build a new country log stable, but a poor plan for a civilized barn. has prevented him from keeping his ready pen in exercise for the gratification of the readers of our paper." . . . And so it is not all gold that glitters upon the prairies? Sheep will starve upon frostbitten dead grass in the fall, then? Glad to hear the truth spoken plainly. No doubt the Western prairies afford a fine country for raising sheep, but there are some difficulties there to encounFencing. This is a fruitful theme. I am a dis-ter. This article of friend Solon's no ciple of yours, Mr. Editor, upon this subject. Let doubt contains some sound, practical advice to us see what says this other South Carolinian. Oh, those who design to commence the business of ho! the South is with us too. Here are a hun-wool-growing upon the Western prairies. But dred thousand miles in the first paragraph! A some of us up our way," would like a word of quarter of a million of dollars worth of land in the explanation about Mr Cockrill's fine sheep. Does single State of South Carolina, devoted to a pur-the wool deteriorate in quality or quantity in that pose worse than useless! It is a wicked waste of latitude? Will Mr. R. tell us something more the bounties of nature. But, friend Coke, you about this Southwestern flock? . . . Too much state the quantity entirely too small. Half an acre truth about them "ignorant, stupid, unfeeling, and to a mile is only half a rod in width, whereas, indolent flock-masters," though it is expressed in bushes, baulks, briars, and fence will average rather strong language. No danger though of a nearly double that width. "In most parts of "libel suit," as those who treat their flocks thus Europe," you say, and so do I, and most other never read. Such suits are more commonly coopered parts of the world too, "they have no fences." up by some very envious cultivators, of a maliComfort yourself that when this country is as old cious, instead of ignorant disposition, towards a as China, we shall not be such intolerably big fools rival in business. . . . But is it a fact that people about fencing as we are now. But you nor I wont live upon the productive soil that you describe, in live to see our country enjoying such a blessing. such habitations? Then truly they are indolent! A greater boon will it be when fences are unknown The Yellows in Peach Trees.-Here is " new docexcept as cattle enclosures or yards. Such a loss trine" from an old book. But the translator, if I would be worth more than all the gold mines of Peru understand the signature, is a gentlemen who may -Guano included. I give you the right hand of fel-be relied upon. And if the article from the New lowship, and thank you for the perusal of your com- Duhamel, which is also reliable authority, is cormon sense articles. Although our views are at present rect in its theory, as well as the opinion of Persitreated with scorn by those on "t'other side of the cus, that this disease is not "contagious," then fence," yet we rank some strong names upon our must we change our practice in the cultivation of side. But add to the picture of your own State this best of all fruits.... Let us hear more upon the millions of acres of rich prairie soil in the this very interesting subject. What is the experiWest, which the poor man is deprived from enjoy-ence of those who have cultivated this fruit upon ing, because he cannot fence his crop against the rich soil of the West and South? It strikes me his neighbor's cattle. Piracy is an honest oc- if Dr. Philips, of Mississippi,. Dr. Fanning, of cupation, compared with turning unruly cattle Tennessee, and Mr. Robinson, of Indiana, would out to range over a neighbor's roadside fences. tell their experience in raising peaches, that it "Pass a law to keep up stock," do you might be good evidence from three points, and difsay? Why, none but a nation of uncivilized bar- ferent soils and climate, that might be useful when barians would ever let them run at large. . . . I" doctors disagree." . . . I wish, friend Persicus, am sorry that you did not give us your own name that one of your experience and information at and place, for I am going down to your State next home and abroad, would write over his own signawinter, and I should be proud to take so sensible a ture. I have cause for concealment, you have writer by the hand. [If Reviewer does go South none. we promise him a letter to Coke, and will ensure Southern Crops and Culture-It appears to me him a hearty reception at his hospitable mansion.] that I have seen Dr. Philips described as a small Agricultural Chemistry and Geology.--From the man, but he certainly has a large head, and handles reading of this article it actually appears as though a free pen. I have been told by one who has been it was intended for the use of schools. Now this" thar," that he also has a large heart. I certainly may do very well to amuse some of our city youth, should like to visit him and many others of the who will sometimes talk of "a place in the coun- Southern planters, and test that fact by testing their try;" but what country boy that has sense enough hospitality. "Is that so," as you say in your to comprehend anything about the science of those second sentence, that what we conceive, here at the few questions and answers, has any idea of North, your Mississippi soil to be, inexhaustibly spending his life as a cultivator of the soil? No rich, will wear out in twenty years? Please exsir; he is looking forward to "a place in some plain this, Doctor. What is the soil? You intistore," or something more genteel" than that of mate that cotton is not an exhausting crop. What, being the son of an American agriculturist. then, wears it out? For you say, "the subsoil Sheep on the Prairies.-What again? Them possesses all the requisites of a good soil." That chaps out West are determined to "wool us." you need no mineral manures, such as time, marl, am ROTATION OF CROPS. &c., and yet your land wears out in twenty years. | horticultural brethren. [He has not patented them: What sort of farmers (I beg your pardon, I believe says any one is welcome to their use.] But if I you don't call yourselves "farmers," but " plant-knew that he had taken a patent, I would denounce ers") are ye? Is the word "rotation" only known the whole concern as a very picayune way of adas applicable to office, and not to crops? From vertising his wares for sale. The fact is, I am your description, or rather the inference drawn | decidedly opposed to that spirit of narrow-mindedfrom your partial description, I should suppose ness among agriculturists, that prompts them to that with such a subsoil, and such an ability to patent every little simple contrivance that they turn under two green crops, peas and oats, for one may chance to think of. One of this class of taken off, that such a soil in such a climate, with small potatoes," a few years ago, patented an such management, would never wear out. .. But apple picker, that any common farmer can make what is the "cow pea?" I find such an article in for an expense of sixpence. Very useful, true, the American Farmer's Encyclopædia, but the de- but too small for a patent. REVIEWER. scription is very meagre. If you please, Doctor, give us a full description-color-size-yield- We have so many communications crowded uport both of seed and vine-when sown-when har- us, we regret to say that we cannot give the whole vested-and what good for, both pea and haulm. of our correspondent's agreeable article, but are . . . And so you have done feeding your hogs on compelled abruptly to bring it to a close.. cotton seed! Well, it is time, if I am rightly informed of the manner of feeding them, which I told is often done in the same state that they grew, THE primary points in relation to the proper rowith quantities of the lint adhering, and as I be- tation of crops with the farmer, before he can with lieve the seed itself has an outside hull around the prudence attempt the cultivation of land to any exoily kernel about as nutritious and digestible as tent with satisfactory results, should be a full dry hickory bark, it is no wonder that your hogs knowledge of the climate and soil he is to occupy. went to the buzzards instead of the smoke-house. By the term climate, is intended the nature of the But let me inquire if you, and nearly every weather in his particular district; and it is with other large planter, do not own a grist-mill; and regret that full and proper attention is rarely given whether if you should grind your cotton seed with by the farmer, to the nature of the climate under oats or peas, thus mixing fat, bone, and muscle which he is to operate; as it is a well established together, it would not make good hog feed. Pray fact, that the system best adapted to maritime situtell us something of the manner of using cotton ations is not so well adapted to those that are seed for manure. How much seed grows upon an more inland; as also where a large portion of the acre? We cannot understand what you mean by country is covered with timber, there is a greater saying that enough rye, oats, and peas, should variation of the thermometer, between the extremes be saved to plant the succeeding crop." This may of heat and cold, than where the country is cleared be all plain English in your latitude, but you must of wood. In a woody country, the sun being parrecollect, Doctor, that our paper is a national one, tially excluded, the evaporation from the earth is and I guess some of us don't understand your not sufficient to dry the ground; consequently parts Southern ways. If you only save the seed, pray, of the day in summer are hotter, and the winters are what becomes of the crop? And what kind of colder than in a country cleared and under cultivagrass is that which follows oats and rye? I un- tion, where a more equal temperature is obtained. derstand sweet potatoes, and should like to be one By the term soil I would name clay, loam, peat and of your "poor, starved niggers," long enough to sand, which are the most popular with us, and eat my "half-acre." If all the straw of wheat neither so ungrateful as not to repay the husbandwere returned to the land, how much loss of pot-man, if he will only give proper attention to its ash would there be there? .. Because you culture. In fact, a favorable climate and soil are "lose too much time fencing," and you might have justly ranked as the "first riches of a country." said because your rail fence in your climate is a very unreal estate, you will take to hedging. Well, that is better than nothing. But I wish you would read the article in the number of this paper now under review, upon fencing, and say if there is not more common sense in that writer's views than in a system which takes "too much time," all over the Union. Write again, Doctor. Don't fear that we shall tire. Descriptions of your country, and method of cultivating your crops, given with much more minuteness, will be interesting up here. Another important feature to be considered in relation to a system of rotation of crops, is a proximity to, or distance from, a market. Under the former circumstance, the various kinds of root crops, vegetables, hay, and all the more weighty articles, can be cultivated to advantage, while those more remote from a market have to confine themselves to grain, and the more valuable products. Too much attention cannot be paid by the cultivator to the nature and qualities of the soil, by becoming familiar with its natural properties, improving its good qualities, and removing its defects, A Drill Cultivator and Marker.-What! an- the importance of which is so self-evident to every other! Is it possible that the world is not yet full! Now these may be very good implements for cultivating strawberries, and if I knew the inventor had not patented them, I would recommend him as a generous and liberal-minded man for exhibiting and publishing them for the benefit of his intelligent farmer, that no general system of cultivation can be given unless all the circumstances as to the nature of the climate and soil be known; and the force of habit is so strong, that a farmer who has been a long time accustomed to a certain variety of climate and soil, by removing to another under different circumstances, will rarely meet with the same satisfactory results. Hence it cannot be presumed to establish one system as best adapted to all situations. The atmosphere of Long Island from its maritime situation is strongly impregnated with salt, while in the northern and western portions of the State which are more inland, nitrogen prevails in the air, and different applications are required as fertilizers to the soil. For instance, the application of plaster (which has but little affinity with the marine atmosphere) to land on Long Island is attended with no good results, while in the interior, from its affinity with nitrogen, it attracts from the atmosphere, or absorbs and retains it until required by the plant,and consequently is highly beneficial. (a) Owing to the early settlement of the island and a uniform course of cultivation, a large portion of the natural soil has long since been exhausted, and is now only made productive by the most liberal and large deposits. Consequently a proper rotation of crops requires a far more diligent study with the farmer than where the land has had less cultivation, as on the rich bottom lands of Ohio and the West, where wheat is reputed to have been sown for twenty successive years without any apparent exhaustion of the soil. seed per acre are sown, after which the ground is well harrowed and rolled. In the March following ten pounds of clover seed per acre are sown upon the field, which completes our system of rotation of crops. The field being now properly seeded for grass and prepared after the wheat is harvested for mowing the succeeding three years. The produce of wheat is about twenty-five bushels per acre. For a few years past some of our farmers have adopted the system of sowing ten pounds of clover seed per acre, with, and at the same time of, sowing their oats, the growth of which affords good pasture after the oats are harvested; and the following year until after mowing time, when the clover is permitted to grow to be plowed under in September, when the usual quantity of manure is spread upon the field, and the wheat and grass seed sown. This plan has been attended with satisfactory results to those who have attempted it, the soil being in much better order for the wheat crop and laying down to grass, than when cultivated under the old system. It has another advantage of authorizing the farmer in mowing as many acres of his pasture ground as he pastures of the clover. Below I give a statement or table of a low ave rage of our different products per acre, the largest product ascertained, and the general average price of each. Variety products. Corn, Carrots, Hay, Flax, Average crops | Largest crops Average value. bushels per acre. per acre. 20 40 1.00 15 35 621 30 80 35 40 122 60 On Long Island, after a field of grass has been mowed for three years and pastured one or two years (according to the strength of the soil), it requires cultivation and manure. It is plowed in April, and from twenty to thirty cart loads of stable manure per acre are spread upon it, which costs Rye, seventy-five cents a load, or about the same quan-ats, tity of the sweepings of the streets of the city of New York, which costs about fifty cents per load. The former is preferable after it is well harrowed in. Corn is planted upon the field early in May, which requires three courses of plowing and hoeing during the summer, and produces from fifty to seventy-five bushels of shelled corn per acre. The following year, during the month of March, the corn stumps are harrowed out, the field plowed, and two bushels of oats per acre are sown early in April. No manure being added for this crop-a portion of the field is generally reserved for potatoes, which are planted in drills, in which a good coating of manure is placed before the potatoes are dropped, and then covered with the plow. In about ten days, or a short time before the sprouts appear on the surface, a few green twigs of hickory or other wood, are twisted among the teeth of a harrow with which the ground is brushed lengthwise of the drills; the result of which is, the early Fixed rules can be laid down, practised, and weeds are destroyed and the ground partially lev- profitably adopted for a rotation of crops, for cerelled. They subsequently require two courses of tain varieties of climate and soil, or where there is plowing and hoeing before they appear in blossom, a similarity, and where, too, the same manures can and the produce of potatoes is about two hundred be obtained, which rules have been derived from bushels per acre. The product of oats is about previous experience. It would be a useless waste fifty bushels per acre. As soon as practicable after of time and labor to apply green manures to a soil the oats are harvested the field is again plowed, a large portion of which is composed of vegetable when the oats that have been left in the field ve-matter-lime or marl, where the calcareous subgetate very early and afford pasture until the early stances are in sufficient quantities-charcoal, where part of September. The field is again plowed, on which about thirty loads of stable manure per acre (costing as before stated seventy-five cents per load), are spread and well harrowed under, and two bushels of wheat and four quarts of Timothy The cultivation of rye and barley is limited, the former being occasionally sown on light or sandy soils in the place of wheat-the latter on rich or strong land instead of oats. Flax has also a small cultivation, and is sown on a portion of the oat field. Ruta baga, mangel wurtzels, and carrots are cultivated in the same field with corn. other substances capable of absorbing all the ammonia are present, and coming in contact with them, or any fertilizing or absorbing substances where there is a sufficient quantity of both for the luxuriant growth of the crops desired to be grown ;--and |