AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITIONS-1855. ears, wherever I have been, (and I have been in ESSEX. For the New England Farmer. FARM WAGES AND LABOR. California... Indiana... Iowa.... New Hampshire... North Carolina... Tennessee... .... STATE SHOWS. ...Montgomery, Oct. 23, 24, 25, 26. .Sherbrook, Sept. 11, 12, 13, 14. .Atalanta, Sept. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15. Columbus, Sept. 18, 19, 20, 21. .Barnstable, Oct. 10. ..Pittsfield, Oct. 3, 4. MR. EDITOR:-A writer in the last number of Kentucky.. Maryland.... the monthly Farmer finds himself much troubled Michigan... on account of the high wages which farm laborers Missouri.... are receiving. I shall attempt to show that good New Jersey. workmen receive no more than a fair equivalent for New York... their labor; if farmers wish to employ idle, ignorant, bigoted laborers, they may do so, and it will Pennsylvania... continue to be difficult to obtain others. The for- Rhode Island.. eigner when he first arrives, may be hired for small wages, yet he is dear "help;" but after he has Virginia.. learned the ways of the country, he demands and Western Virginia............ obtains as high wages as the Yankee. Much of the Barnstable.. farm labor is performed by machinery, and less Berkshire. hand labor is needed now than formerly, and more Bristol... intelligent labor is required. The farm workman Franklin.. labors more hours than almost any other, and he is Hampden... much exposed to the weather. It appears to me Hampshire... that the condition of the farm laborer, working 14 Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden.. Northampton, Oct. 10, 11. or 16 hours per diem, for $14 or $15 per month, Middlesex.. does not compare very well with that of the mechanic, working ten or eleven hours, for $1,50 or Plymouth $2 per diem. Working "by the month" wears out Worcester... the strength and constitution, so that no man with Worcester West... average health can expect to hold out longer than to the age of thirty-five or forty years. Then farm labor is not constant employment, for after the farmer has gathered in the products of the soil, he does not require any extra help until it is time to prepare the ground for another crop; consequently, there is, during the winter, but little employment to be had. Essex........ Housatonic.. Middlesex South. Worcester North... Lexington .New Bedford, Sept. 27, 27. Framingham, Sept. 19, 20. TOWN FAIRS. ...Tuesday, Sept. 25. Wednesday, Sept. 26. MISCELLANEOUS. Cheshire County, N. H... ...Keene, Sept. 19, 20. Wentworth, Sept. 21, 22. Worcester, Sept. 27. ...Nashua, Oct. 2, 3. ..Keene, Sept. 27. ..Sept. 26. United States Agricultural Society..Boston, Oct. 23, 24, 25, 26. HOW MUCH MANURE DO WE USE ON AN ACRE?— There is so much exposure in farming that young men who commence at the age of twenty-one, without any property, and with the intention of getting An acre of land contains 43,560 square feet, 4,840 a living by working on a farm, and who have an By those who average fortune, usually end a short life as poor as square yards, or 160 square rods. they began it. According to the doctrine laid down have used guano, it is said 300 pounds is sufficient by "E. G. L.," wages ought to be low when pro- ounce avordupois to the square yard. A cubic yard to manure an acre; 3023 lbs. would just give one duce is high; that is, the farmer cannot pay so high of highly concentrated manure, like night soil, wages when corn is $1,25 per bushel, as he can would, if evenly and properly spread, manure an acre when it is only 75 cts. How is this? Nothing has been said about that numerous about 1,400 lbs; a cubic foot not far from 50 lbs. very well. A cubic yard of long manure will weigh class called day laborers, men having large families A cord contains 128 cubic feet; a cord and a quarto support, and who are compelled to get their living by working out by the day on farms. Employ. If liquid manure be used it would take 170 bbls. ter would give about a cubic foot to the square rod. ment is far from being constant with them, and their condition is, if possible, worse than that of the would be equal to about 50 pipes or large hogsto give one gill to a square foot upon an acre, which mechanic or the laborer for manufacturing compa- heads. It would be quite useful if farmers would nies, for they have great reason to hope that by attending to their business they may get promoted; be a little more specific as to the amount of manure but the farm laborer can have no such hope; at the applied. age of twenty-one he is in his prime, and commands HOW TO MAKE A HORSE CARRY HIS TAIL as high wages then as ever, and considering the STRAIGHT.-I had a very fine colt, that carried his short period in which farm labor is really in detail on one side and was continually throwing it over mand, I think that laborers in that business ought the driving line, when to cure him of this habit, I to command the best of pay. South Hadley, Aug., 1855. E. N. braided a loop in his tail and tied it with a string to the trace on the same side on which he carried it, and when he found it was tied, he would pull on it, REMARKS.-We cannot agree with all that when I would let him up a little gradually on the "E. N." says in this article, but are quite willing sitting until at length he came to carry his tail perthat he shall have a fair hearing. fectly straight.-Boston Cultivator. EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. DRAINING-TRANSPLANTING-WALL-BUILDING OLD PASTURES-WHEAT CROP. 12 inches high. We do not believe in the alternate year theory. years. (d.) Pastures may be greatly improved in the manner you suggest; but whether that is the best (c.) If you mean to have a stone wall remain MR. EDITOR:-For a few years in my "teens" I where you place it, and stand the test of frost and "worked out" on a farm, after which I followed shoe-time, dig a trench three feet wide and two deep, making for a living; this proving a detriment to my and fill it with small stones, if you have them in health, I studied, and have practiced, in the winter, abundance. If not, the depth may be less. A wall for several years, as a profession, the science of well-built on such a foundation, will stand a hunPhrenology. I have had a desire for agriculture for dred several years, and two years since bought a farm of over 100 acres, and in summer, after a six months tour-from October, each year, lecturing on the above science-I do the most of the work on my cleared land (60 acres) with my own hands, and way, or not, we are not able to say. Pastures often love it well. I am healthy and happy. I should fail for want of seed, even when the soil is in pretty like to ask about a thousand questions through the good condition. Farmer, and perhaps shall, in the course of a year. 1st. I have a "swale," or swampy piece, of 7 or 8 acres, that bears upon an average about two tons per acre of hay, when cleared-and some of it has been mowed for forty years-but it is quite wet. Would it be best to underdrain it, or cut a deep, vious autumn. open ditch, or just cut a shallow channel to give or work with a cultivator as deep as you can, withcourse to the surplus water? (a.) Some such ground out reversing the sods. in last summer's drought dried up so that the grass was killed for quite a distance from such a deep ditch. Query: Does not such kind of ground require much water to make it productive? 2d. Is the fall a proper time to set out native seedling apple trees, of five years growth from the seed? (b.) Will such trees, set out in the fall, and others of the same kind, set out in the following spring, bear alternate years, as some assert? doubt the correctness of the theory. 3d. Is it the better plan to level the ground where stone wall is to be laid, or should the ground remain unbroken? Some say that if the surface is disturbed, it will heave more than if left unbroken. (c.) 4th. Is the best way to improve the feed in old hilly pastures, to harrow them in the fall thoroughly, and sow timothy and clover on them at the time? (d.) Lastly, should ground broken up in the fall be plowed again in the spring, for a wheat crop? (e.) Answers to the above, through the Farmer, would much oblige your subscriber, (e.) If the land intended for wheat is sward, it would not be best to disturb it in the spring, because it would be very expensive to break and pulverize the sods which were turned under the prePlow with a light, one-horse plow, -- RYE-WEEDS. FRIEND BROWN:-I wish to inquire through the New England Farmer what is the best time for sowing rye, and what manures are best adapted for do well, two or three crops in succession, on the it? I have lime, plaster and compost. Will rye same ground? What will, if anything, kill a weed known here every thing I can think of, but to no effect. Any by the name of Jacob's Ladder? I have tried light on the subject will oblige many young farmers, and I presume old ones, too. Petersburg, Aug. 6, 1855. W. R. S. REMARKS. To ensure a good crop of rye, it should be got in as early as the middle of August; it will then have time to make strong roots, and will resist the effects of winter much better than when the roots are young, tender and feeble. The kind of manure best adapted to the crop, depends in a great measure upon the kind of soil upon which Glover, Vt., 1855. BENJAMIN BRUNNING. the crop is placed. On the light, sandy soils upon REMARKS. (a.) Good meadow lands may be in- which rye is usually grown, a good compost of meajured by draining too much. The quality of the dow muck and barn manure would probably be land itself must determine how low the water must better than lime, plaster, or any of the common be reduced below the surface. On compact, heavy stimulants, such as guano and superphosphate. If meadows, the water may be drawn lower than on the meadow muck had been mixed with lime, those that are light and porous. Some meadows thrown into a heap, and remained a year, it would of the latter class are so exceedingly light that when be still better for it. the water is drained from them for the depth of 18 or 20 inches, they will burn, on taking fire, like stacks of peat, and be rendered nearly worthless. Nothing short of never-tiring perseverance will destroy some of the weeds which infest the farm. Several years since a patch of chiccory made its apExamine with care those parts of the meadow, pearance in one of our mowing fields, and was along the edge of the upland, where good grasses promptly dug up with a spade, but soon appeared grow luxuriantly, and see by digging what the state again. That process was repeated six or eight of moisture is there at various seasons of the year, times, but still it grew. It was then cut off just as this may afford suggestions which will be of ser- below the surface, and a handful of salt applied to vice to your operations. the bleeding wound, but this did not kill them. (b.) Yes. Set them soon after the leaves have This summer they were allowed to grow until the fallen, and throw the earth about their stems 8 to seed bolls began to form and then they were pulled up, some of them requiring the strength of ent season. I am no alarmist, nor have I any distwo men to accomplish it. To-day they have broad, luxuriant leaves, and are growing as vigorously as ever. Now, friend "S.," if you will tell us how to destroy chiccory plants, we will offset such service by informing you how to kill "Jacob's Ladder." HOW TO USE MUCK. position to increase the price of this almost necessa- UNITED STATES AGRICULTURAL Will you give me the best way of using muck on my land? My farm is situated on a rising piece of land, and is mostly sandy loam. I have just comWe call attention to the following Circular, menced farming for myself, and hope to be, some- which will make known the objects of the Society, time, a practical and thorough tiller of the soil.- and hope all who are interested in the noble art of Crops for the most part are backward in this sec tion of the country, but are growing fast, and look Agriculture and who is not-will make this Expromising; the hay crop seems more abundant hibition a personal matter, and give it all the influthan last year. JAMES F. BUTLER. ence in his power to render it, in all its departMonmouth, Aug., 1855. ments, superior to any enterprise of this kind which REMARKS.-After the muck has been dug one has ever taken place in this country. There are year, mix it with ashes or lime, and use it in that none, whatever business or profession they may be way on your sandy loams. The best use of muck, engaged in, but may be benefited, directly or indihowever, is as an absorbent. Always keep a good rectly, in the success of such an Exhibition. Not stock near your manure heap, and as the droppings only the best Stock may be presented, but we see of the leanto are thrown down, cover them with the no objection to exhibiting farm implements, specimuck once each day; no labor that you perform mens of fruits, grains, bees and bee-hives, preserved will pay you better than this. You not only get fruits, and everything else having immediate referthe addition of the muck, but it absorbs the volatile ence to the farm. We do not know that it is congases of the manure, and lays them up for future templated that anything beside Stock shall be introduced, but suggest, and earnestly desire, that other articles may be allowed a place for Exhibition, even if no premium is offered on them. use. WINTER WHEAT. GENT.:-In your paper of Aug. 11, I find an arWe trust that New England will do her whole ticle on "winter wheat," which contains information new to me; and, inasmuch as I have a good quanduty in this noble enterprise. That the hills of tity of such land as is mentioned in said article, I Vermont and Berkshire, the valleys of the Connecfeel disposed to make a trial of the winter wheat, ticut, the Merrimack and the Penobscot, and the provided I can find the seed. Can you tell me plains of the Cape, will all send their products to where, and for what price, it can be had? If so, by this grand gathering of the people, with the noble giving the information in your next paper, or as early thereafter as your convenience will admit, you specimens of their industry and skill. will confer a great favor on a SUBSCRIBER. Winchendon, Aug. 14, 1855. REMARKS.-Winter wheat may be found at the agricultural warehouses, and the price will be, probably, somewhere between $3 and $4 per bushel. For the New England Farmer. A GRAND NATIONAL EXHIBITION OF STOCKHorses, Cattle, Sheep and Swine-open to competition to all the States of the Union, and to the Agricultural Society in the City of BOSTON, Oct. British Provinces, will be held by the United States 23d, 24th, 25th and 26th. Twenty Thousand Dollars have been guaranteed by patriotic gentlemen of Boston and its vicinity to defray the expenses; the City of Boston has generously granted to the Society for present use, a fine public square of fifty acres; and $10,000 will be offered in premiums in the various departments. MR. EDITOR:-An observing cultivator informs me, that since the late abundant rains, he has noticed unmistakable indications of disease and decay The previous Exhibitions of this Society-at on the vines of his potatoes. Appearances, like Springfield, Mass., in 1853, and at Springfield, those in years past, when the potato was destroyed Ohio, in 1854-were eminently successful, and no by the rot. If this be true, and I know no reason efforts will be spared to render the present SHOW, to doubt, it is a fact worthy of notice, in several combining as it does the four great departments points of view-both as it will affect the supply of of FARMING STOCK, superior to its predecessors. this most useful article of food, and as it may The Premium List, with the Rules of the Exhibibe indicative of the cause of the malady that has tion, will be forwarded to all who will address the heretofore been so alarming. President or Secretary, at Boston, to that effect. It Never has the prospect of potatoes been more is earnestly hoped that all breeders, and owners of encouraging than for a month past. The general Fine Stock, will feel it to be a duty, as it certainly is remark has been "never did potatoes look better," for their interest, to contribute to the Show. and "there is no indication of rot." And further, The List of Entries, Exhibitors and Award of never have we known potatoes appear to better ad- Premiums, and all the proceedings of the Exhibivantage when brought upon the table than the pres- tion, will be published in the JOURNAL of the So CIETY for 1855. Annual members of the who desire to receive the Journal, should ber to renew their subscriptions. Society, she gets either haggard and lanky, or round and remem- fat; her figure tumbles all of a heap; her ankles MARSHALL P. WILDER, President. Fay's Portable Hand-Power Hay, Cotton and Cider Press. give out, her feet spread and flatten; her elastic step becomes a waddle; and her person altogether acquires the style of a cow. Brilliant eyes, on the other hand, complexion to match, features retaining the chiselled outline, a slim and smart figure, neatly of walking or riding out at a good pace, and for a turned ankles, finely-arched insteps, are the reward reasonable distance, every practicable day. And by these means is preserved for many a year a contour, This machine, the simplicity of which cannot be surpassed, has long been desired by the agricultu- the cut of which resembles that of the doe or the rist. It is admirably gazelle. At no period of the year is any healthy young woman, of whatever station, obliged to exadapted for pressing hay, change out-of-door recreation for in-door amnsecotton, hemp, wool, rags, ment, except when it hails, or rains, or snows, or pumice, linseed oil, &c., thunders or lightnings, or blows a hurricane. Are &c. Notwithstanding its there not furs? never mind the expense: the war small proportions and with Russia has not made them dearer than the attendance of a simpering doctor. Are there not extraordinary lightness, muffs, and boas, and all sort of water-proof armor? it is strong and effectual, Young ladies, take the advice of your elders, and, sufficiently so to press to as the old woman says, "Get out!"-in all tolerany compactness requir- able weather. As to necessary in-door amusement, ed. It is so simple in its mind, it may also be made conducive to beauty by being rendered in some degree intellectual. Intelconstruction and use, ligence adds considerably to the lustre of the eyes, that any person of ordi- which, without it, have only the glitter of glass beads, nary capacity will readily understand the mode of whilst the best-shaped and most splendidly-colored using it; with common care, one machine will last face which they can be stuck in, resembles that of a a life-time; for convenience and strength, the frame-waxen dummy in a hair-dresser's shop. In order, work is all secured together with joint bolts, only would do well to cultivate intelligence, to some extherefore, to attract admiration, ladies of fashion twelve of which are required to be removed, in ta- tent, by way of in-door amusement. Beauty may king apart for shipment, viz: four post bolts which be called a fading flower; but it is a flower that secure the top work to the bottom, and four bolts will fade very much the sooner for being taken inupon each side, which secure the end work to the doors for the winter like a geranium.-Water Cure side joints; the doors being previously unshipped, you have the two end pieces, two side pieces, and bottom work, which are easily carried by hand.Two persons will put the whole together in a few minutes. Journal. CONVENIENT AND WHOLESOME FOOD.-A very cheap, convenient, and palatable dish may be prepared with the common pilot bread, which is a hard, dry cracker, made of flour and water. These can be purchased by the barrel at a price but a little higher than flour, pound for pound, as they are generally made by machinery, and the cost of makpow-ing and baking is but trifling when it is done on a large scale. We see the price of pilot bread is can be The press being worked by hand power, used advantageously in stormy weather, closed doors, whereas in operating with horse er, doors require to be more or less open. For sale by the patentee's agents, NOURSE & Co., quoted in this market at less than half a cent per No. 9 Commercial Street, Boston. LADY'S DEPARTMENT. OUT-OF-DOOR EXERCISE. pound above good flour, and as they are nearly as dry as flour, they are about as nutritious. They will keep longer than flour without deteriorating or becoming stale. They can be used in a variety of ways, such as putting them into stews of meat, or meat and potatoes; they improve "hash" materially, and are a good substitute for "crust" in potEvery woman, every fashionable woman even, has pie, having the advantage of always being light and a heart at least considered as the organ of circula- wholesome. For an ordinary, every-day dish, put tion; and blood-vessels, on the healthy play of them into an oven after the bread is removed, or which depends the bloom of her face, and which into a stove oven, and let them dry thoroughly; will not play healthily without out-of-door exercise. then break them up and pour boiling water over She has also muscles and ligaments, which have to them, and add a little salt, and butter, cream or brace her up, hold her together, and keep her clean- milk. We know of no more easily prepared, more limbed, but will do nothing of the sort for long, wholesome, and more palatable dish than this, for unless they are maintained in proper tension by the the breakfast, supper, or even for the dinner-table. same means. Let her loll about all day in a close American Agriculturist. "muggy" house, instead of exerting herself for a due time in the fresh air, and she quickly begins to droop and look unwholesome. Soon her com Afflictions are the same to the soul as the plow plexion fades or grows discolored, her features are to the fallow ground, the pruning-knife to the vine, puffed or shrunken, her form either wastes or swells, and the furnace to the gold. |