applied to the hill mixed with the soil with the hoe, not the foot. For the New England Farmer. PROFITS OF FARMING. Mexican guano and superphosphate of lime MR. EDITOR:-While on a visit to a friend, I may be spread broadcast, or placed in the hill, chanced to come across your valuable agricultural and the quantity used may be from two to four their experience in managing their farms, and, paper. I saw some of your correspondents gave hundred pounds per acre, according to the condi- thinking it might be acceptable to some of your tion of the land and the objects desired to be readers to know how we of the Empire State get gained. along in farming, I give you a short sketch, as follows. On all crops of the turnip or cabbage kind, the superphosphate is particularly useful. I purchased a farm of forty acres in the spring of 1852, not forty miles north of Troy, and paid It is an excellent plan to add a table-spoonful $20 per acre, or $800; $500 was paid down, of guano, or super-phosphate, to the hill, for and the remainder left on mortgage. One-third corn, as it gives it a vigorous start, bringing out of the soil is alluvial, one-third gravelly, and the the broad leaves early to supply food from the remainder decomposed slate, mixed with reddish atmosphere. At 3 feet 6 inches one way and 3 mainder timber. loam; thirty acres of improved land, and the reThe farm had been rented for feet the other, there would be 4148 hills per the past ten years, consequently it was very unacre; allowing 4 spoonsful to the gill, four bush- promising. House old, boards loose and swinging els would give 4096 spoonsful, which, at 60 in the wind, the windows almost without glass, pounds to the bushel, would be 240 pounds per still were the fences; rails were scattered hither &c.; the out-houses were miserable, and worse acre; and this is good a way of helping out where and thither, and hedges, stone heaps, and old logs the manure heap is limited. were thrown promiscuously over the premises. Bone dust may be used in the same manner Being determined to go ahead in the world, I and in about the same quantities. commenced fencing and repairing, and have, in the course of three years, built a new dwelling Perhaps as good a return might be realized house, and repaired the out-buildings and fences. from any of these fertilizers by scattering them My little place has now the appearance, and is a in very small quantities upon the suaface imme- neat and comfortable farm. Beside paying the diately after hoeing, and covering them care- mortgage, I am now out of debt, with one span of horses and fixtures, five calves, twenty sheep, fully, at each hoeing. But the process would be a tedious one. four hogs, poultry, &c. I give below the amount of farm produce which I raised the past year, Lime and ashes should not be mixed with though it was one of drought, and generally guano. Use them separately. Guano spread upon grass ground should be applied while rain is falling; for uplands, it would pay well to mix it thoroughly with muck. A solution of two or three pounds of guano to a barrel of water is an excellent fertilizer for valuable plants, and garden vegetables, applied about sunset, once or twice a week. CORN FODDER.-A piece of sward land was broken up in the month of June, (10th day) planted with corn, in drills, four feet apart, hoed twice, and the produce cut and tied in bundles on the third day of September. The yield was found, by weighing, to be equal to thirteen thousand, seven hundred and sixty-nine pounds to the acre! Plowing... Seed. Planting. Hoeing.. Harvesting.. Total. COST OF CROP. .$3,75 ...75 ...30 ..1,75 .4,00 .2,00 .$12,55 short crops in this section of Washington county. 20 tons of hay, worth $10 per ton.... 20 66 100 66 wheat, worth $2", apples, 20 cents "(common).. EXPENSES. .$200,00 ...160,00 ....150,00 .75,00 ..40,00 ..20,00 ...10,00 .100,00 ...50,00 $805,00 .$60,00 ....40.00 .....10,00 .30,00 ..50,00 One hand 5 months, $12 per month.. Which leaves a nett profit of... ..100,00 $440,00 ..365,00 My own labor has been amply paid by the increased value of the farm. I have been offered $3,000 for the farm and stock. Do our merchants or mechanics often do as well on the same amount of capital employed? J. HADES. Washington County, N. Y., 1855. CONNECTICUT STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.At a late meeting of this Society, at Hartford, that city was was fixed on for holding the next This fodder was fed as dry food to cattle during exhibition, and the following officers were elected: the winter, and was highly relished. By chaffing, Vice Presidents-Charles H. Pond, N. B. Smith. President-Samuel H. Huntington, of Hartford. corn fodder produced in this way will, we think, Corresponding Secretary-Henry A. Dyer, of be found very economical, especially in seasons Brooklyn. Recording Secretary and Treasurerwhen hay is cut short. John A. Porter, of New Haven. POTATOES. Much has been said and written on raising potatoes; and although I am not much of a farmer, yet I have taken some little pains to inform myself of the best way. 1st. I think the best land for potatoes is on our side hills, which is generally a deep loam and rather moist. The potatoes are not so likely to be injured by frost as in lower land, nor so subject to blast or rust: moreover this is the natural soil for a great crop. land was not rich. butt end has fewer germs. If he will try again, and give the butt end a fair chance, he will probably come to a different conclusion. For the New England Farmer. PRUNING TREES AND SUN-SCALD. MR. BROWN-I am glad to see Mr. Little's remarks on pruning, &c. Now Mr. Little, I think, cannot intend to go into raising apples on a large scale, or if he does, it must be where land is not 2d. As to manure, forty common loads is none so valuable as it is in Brookline. Here we are too much for an acre. If I had a thousand acres under the necessity of making the most of our of land, and but forty loads of manure for my po- land. My neighbor, Farmer Jones, has forty acres tato ground, I would plant but one acre if the of land; most of it is planted with apple, pear, plum and cherry trees, the apple trees from 35 to I am acquainted with two farmers who live 40 feet apart; he raises all kinds of green sauce near each other. The soil of their farms is very for the market, as well as hay and grain. Mr. much alike; one uses forty loads, while the other Jones cultivates every foot of his land, orchard, uses eighteen to twenty loads of manure per acre. and all; he breaks it up every third year, after The first has generally 400 bushels of potatoes to laying it down, and cultivates at first for potatoes, the acre, and the last 200 to 250. This is not all squashes, melons, corn, and then the next year the former gains. His land holds out several years for peas, beans, or other crops. He generally for other crops; while the latter has but a small gets two crops a year; a crop of peas, and then crop even the second year. sweet corn, beets or potatoes, and then turnips; 3d. The seed of potatoes ought to be changed sometimes three crops, first spinach, then lettuce, every five or six years. Even if the seed is brought and after that beets. So you see that we are unbut two or three miles, the crop will be much bet- der the necessity of pruning our trees in the old way (but not as broom-sticks, but more like a 4th. As to planting, I think the rows ought to large umbrella,) and by doing this we cut off the be about three and three and a half feet apart, and branches when young and trim our trees about the hills eighteen inches or two feet apart, and the six feet high, and then let them branch out, not potatoes cut for planting a large one in three leaving too many branches; three or four is enough. pieces, and those smaller in two pieces (no small This enables us to plow, harrow, or do anything ones should be planted) and three pieces put in else we choose in our orchards, and by plowing each hill. I have tried whole ones; they do not every third year and then cultivating two years, spread so well, and therefore do not produce so our trees are always free of roots on the surface. much as cut ones. I planted three years since ter. 2 rows with 4 pieces in a hill, do. 3 do. in a hill, 2 2 do. 2 do. in a hill, 2 do. 3 eye end pieces in a hill, 2 do. 3 butt end pieces in each hill. The butt ends weighed one-sixteenth more than the eye ends. They get well manured, trimmed of all suckers or superabundance of limbs, and all interfering branches, while they are small, by which means we give them a most beautiful top, and they in return give us a most plentiful crop of large, fair fruit, without any fear of sun-scald. Out of four hundred trees, I do not think a single tree can be found with sun-scald; we wash them every The product was as follows, viz:-The rows spring with potash, a pound to eight gallons of with 4 pieces yielded 10 bushels-many small water, which kills the scales and lice, and then we scrape off the loose bark, taking care not to Rows of 3 pieces, 10 bushels-not many small scrape too deep, so as to expose the inner bark; this will remove all the vermin and insects that Of 2 pieces, 9 bushels there were very few small have secreted themselves under the bark, or in any ones. ones. ones. ones. crevice in or on the tree. The fall is the best The rows of eye ends, 94 bushels-many small time to trim or prune trees; February and March to wash and scrape them. February and March And the two rows of butt ends, 10 bushels- is the best time to salt plum trees, and cut away and the best in the whole lot. any fungus or black warts. If Mr. Little will, I have tried it since with the same or nearly when in Boston, get into the Brookline cars, they the same success. will bring him to my house in ten minutes, and I should not have believed the butt ends would I shall be happy to show him the broomsticks have produced the best crop if I had not tried it; that he speaks of, and also the manner in which for some, even many of the pieces did not appear Farmer Jones does things on his farm-also mine to have any germ; and the reader has the same on a small scale. S. A. SHURTLEFF. liberty not to believe it until he tries it. I saw in your last Visitor some experiments of Elias Frost on raising potatoes. He says he planted GONE TO FARMING.-We have great hope of the 5 lbs. 9 oz. of eye ends, and on the same quantity world yet-it grows more and more sensible every "Hope springs perennial in the human breast," certainly it does--and that hope with nearly all of ground planted 3 lbs. 10 oz. of the butt ends, day. and had the best crop and largest potatoes from the eye ends. Now he ought to have cut the potatoes so that the butt ends would have been as large, and even larger than the eye ends, as the men is, that at some time, not far distant, they For the New England Farmer. MURIATE OF LIME. shall go to farming. So our old friend DANIEL NEEDHAM, Esq., of Groton, has tipt up his ponderous law tomes, gone to Quechee, Vt., and planted himself on a three-hundred-acre-farm on a barrel of Mr. James Gould's muriate of lime, MR. EDITOR:-Early in June last, I procured the banks of the "Silver Quechee," where we who requested me to make trial of it upon my trust he may vegetate and thrive exceedingly. A SKETCH OF FARM LIFE. "There is poetry in farming." True, For instance: digging gold will do In summer planting, weeding, hoeing, The scorching sun no mean type showing In winter tugging with the flail, In place of literary talk With compeers in your daily walk, Or, "Sold yer cattle ?-how'll ye chalk Not half the prose may well be told Yet we've incentives manyfold There while the cheer reeks to the ceiling, There he may read, muse and ponder There he may form just estimate Of those the world calls good and great; See fortune, circumstance, and fate Create renown, And give a knave a chair of state, An ass a crown. Knickerbocker. crops. I tried it upon six rows of corn, in the middle of a field, at the first hoeing, putting a small handful to each hill. On one side I had planted six rows of corn, manured in the hill with compost; on the other side an equal number of rows, manured in the hill with guano. No manure had been used in the hill, in the six rows to which I applied the muriate of lime; but the whole field, previous to planting, had been dressed with a thin coat of compost. As the field was surrounded by two or three rows of potatoes, of course there were two or three hills of potatoes at each end of the rows of corn. These were treated with the same kind of manure as the corn in the rows, of which they were a continuation. On harvesting the crop, I found that the corn to which the muriate of lime had been applied, was stout and the crop good, considering the season; in short, about one-third heavier than that on which the compost or guano was used. The potatoes which had been treated with muriate of lime, were nearly twice as large as those which were manured with the compost or the guano, and there was about the same number to the hill. LARKIN P. PAGE. Bedford, Mass., 1855. The WHAT IS RESPECTABLE SOCIETY? We heard a man, otherwise intelligent enough, lately sneer at another, "because," said he, "one never meets him in respectable society.' speaker did not mean, however, that the person he affected to look down upon was immoral, but merely that his circle of intimates was not composed of the fashionable or the rich. This notion of what constitutes respectable society, is quite a favorite one with that class of individuals, whom Thackeray has so significantly called "snobs." Empty pretence is always making its own characteristics a standard, by which it strives to measure the respectability of persons at large. In a community of mere money-getters, wealth is the test of respectability. Among the proud, narrow-minded, effete nobility of the Faubourg St. Germain, respectability depends on being descended from ancestors, who have married their cousins for so many centuries, that neither muscle nor brains are left any longer to the degenerate descendants. With the dandy officers, who constitute a considerable portion of the American Navy, respectability consists in having sponged on "Uncle Sam," in wearing gilt buttons, and in bilking tailors. Every conceited fool thinks himself, in like way, the only man really weighty, the only person who is respectable. But true respectability depends on no such adventitous circumstances. To be respectable is to be worthy of respect; and he most deserves respect who has most virtue. The humblest man, who bravely does his duty, is more worthy of respect, is more truly respectable, than the covetous millionaire among his money-bags, or the arrogant monarch on his throne. The fine lady, who back MUCK AND GUANO. bites her neighbor, is less worthy of respect than an honest washerwoman. The profligate noble, A QUESTION FOR PROFESSOR NASH. though he may wear a dozen orders in his buttonThere are few men in whose sound and prachole, is often not really as respectable as the shoeblack that cleans his boots. That which is called tical knowledge of the value and effect of ma"the world" exalts the one and despises the other, nures we have so much confidence, as in that of but it does not make them respectable, according Professor NASH, Editor of the Farmer, published to the real meaning of the word. Their respecta- at Amherst. We desire, therefore, to ask him a bility is all a hollow sham, as they themselves single question, with a view to making his reply frequently feel and those who worship them bow down to a Fetish, a thing of feathers and tinsel. as public as the interrogatory itself. It is this:The selfish, idle drone, who wastes life in his own What, in your opinion, would be the effect of gratification, and dissipates the fortune of his prog- three hundred pounds of guano upon an acre of eny, is not, and cannot be, respectable; but the good land for the space of five years? And what hard-working, self-denying father, who wears out the effect of the same money cost, say $9.00, of his life to bring up his children, is, even though he be but a day-laorer. Nothing can make Dives good meadow muck, spread upon another acre fit to lie on Abraham's bosom, while Lazarus is of the same kind of land for the same length of welcomed there, even with the sores the dogs time,-both fields to be planted with precisely the same crops, and cultivated and treated every have licked. For the New England Farmer. POTATOES---GRASS SEED. This false view of life, which would measure respectability by a conventional standard, is to-way alike? tally at variance with our republican institutions. It creates an "imperium in imperio;" for while the law declares all citizens equal, it erects a social standard which endeavors to ignore that great MR. EDITOR:-Having noticed in the Farmer truth. The coarse, brutal, knavish, profligate, a very interesting article from an old friend, criminal-in short all who fall short of their duty AMASA WALKER, Esq., upon his great success in to themselves and their fellow-men-are those potato growing, I am induced to state the praewho are "not respectable;" and this, whether tice of our Long Island farmers in this branch of they are rich or poor. While those who live hon-farming. In the towns of Flushing, Flatland, estly, and strive to do what good they can, con- Flatbush, &c., raising potatoes is the main busistitute what is really the respectable class, irre-ness of many farmers. They market early, obspective of the fact whether they eat with silver tain great prices, deal in peach basket bushels, and forks or steel ones.-Dollar Newspaper. For the New England Farmer. many of them range from two to seven thousand dollars for this crop alone annually. Their principal variety is Mercer, not unlike your Chenango in appearance. They use horse manure, plow deep, and, as one farmer said to me, he had raised potatoes fifteen consecutive years on the same piece of land. This pest of the fruit-grower may now be very easily destroyed, by simply picking off the eggs deposited on the tips of the branches last summer Their practice is to select the largest for seed. by the butterfly. They are wax-like in appear- They cut off and give to the pigs the "seed end," ance, and form a small ring around the limb, from as it is often called; cut the potatoes lengthwise one-fourth to nearly an inch in length, and about into quarters, plant two and a half feet apart by an eighth of an inch in thickness. It is not one-three feet, and hill very little. They say by tenth so much work to remove the eggs as it will cutting off the small eyes, they get more pounds be the nests by and by. of potatoes, and avoid small ones; four to five Not recollecting to have ever seen any thing of large stocks to the hill is all they want. Judgthis mode of destroying this pest of the orchard in ing from the large size they were digging, I put your valuable paper, I send you the above, which them down as the L. L. D.'s of the profession. is at your service. Enclosed is a specimen of the Is this not sound doctrine, and would it not eggs attached to the limb. West Poland, Me., March, 1855. S. TENNEY. apply to Chenangos, Long Reds, and all those long varieties which show a "seed end?" And THE WEATHER IN MAINE.-The weather here potatoes? Small potatoes, planted year after does it prove any thing in its application to small is very cold for the season. The snow is full year, prove to my mind the principle of dwarfing. three feet deep in the woods, and has not began I hope Mr. Walker and others will try the to go off yet. The sugar maple refuses to yield Long Island experiment, and publish the result. its annual harvest, but we hope warmer days are I would suggest the following plan: 1. Plant coming soon. S. TENNEY. West Poland, Me., March 26. the large quarters in rows separately; 2. Plant the "seed end" separately, then there will be no loss of seed, and the difference will be seen; 3. CORRESPONDENTS will confer a favor by writing Plant separately the hen's egg size; 4. Plant sepon one side of the paper only. We have many arately the next size smaller; 4. Plant separately valuable communications on hand which will the size of a robin's egg. Test the whole experibear keeping, and shall have proper attention by- ment fairly. No time is lost beyond sorting sizes. and-by. As far as possible, we endeavor to intro- Results may come that will gratify the ambition duce those first which may be acted upon practi- to raise large potatoes, which is the only aim of cally at once, at the same time desiring to present the farmer. "Small potatoes and few in the hill" a variety of topics. is his abomination. H. POOR. our case. EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. THE BOYS AND THE HENS. Sowing grass seed with the oat and barley Knot on the plum tree, but thus far, after having crops is dangerous, particularly with oats. The tried each of the remedies recommended at the rapidly growing grain suppresses the young grass, different dates of their publications, and which and in a dry time it is deeply shaded, overpow- includes all that has lately been repeated, we asered and destroyed. Is this not the experience sert, without the fear of contradiction, that the of many farmers? For these crops, and to lay Black Knot cannot be cured after it has fairly down to grass, manuring and deep plowing is the made its appearance, by any process yet made .only safe practice. Now we will suppose the public.- Working Farmer. grain to be harvested-the land in good tilthstubble and weeds have afforded additional manure; turn them in by shallow plowing, taking care not to disturb the manure first plowed in for the grain; sow grass seed, brush in and roll, and before winter you will have a better show of MR. BROWN:-Father has permitted us to obgrass, a better catch, and full remuneration for tain half a dozen hens, and we want to know how patient waiting and extra plowing. The mowing to manage and feed them in the best way. We field is the watch work of farming. If worth find a good many things in the vols. of the N. E. doing, see that it is well done. Farmer about them, but they don't exactly suit Brooklyn, April, 1855. What sort of a coop shall we make? what shall we feed them on? Shall they be constantly confined? We like the instructions we find in your paper, better than those we find in books, because they seem so natural; we think the writers have seen what they tell-it is like talking with one who knows. We were so well pleased with the letter you wrote us last fall about the horse-chestnut seeds we gathered for you, that we feel encouraged to write you now. April 19. HENRY AND EDDY. Now, Mr. Editor, for the benefit of "J. F. W." REMARKS.-One of the most encouraging facts and others, I would say that, from twenty to in the progress of this paper, is, that women and thirty years' experience in cultivating fruit trees, I find that suckers of the plum, transplanted as young persons frequently write us and either ask standards, almost universally fail to produce or impart information on the important topics of the farm. fruit; though growing thriftily and blossoming It is a great point gained. Our young freely, they have invariably failed with me. friends will find no difficulty in obtaining an "J. F. W.'s" tree is probably a sucker. But abundance of eggs and chickens, if they furnish they may be used with good advantage for stocks their hens with a dry, warm and convenient roostfor improved varieties. I have grafted hundreds For the New England Farmer. MR. BROWN-SIR,-In looking over the weekly issue of the New England Farmer, of March 3, 1 observed the inquiry of "J. F. W." what he must do for his plum tree, which fails to bear fruit, although blossoming full" every year, with your recommendation as a remedy. of them with good success; they grow finely and ing place, and plenty of wholesome food. An atbear profusely. I have trees grafted on suckers, tic room in an outbuilding, where the sun comes, from four to six years from grafting, which bore is a favorable position. They must be warmly last season from one to two bushels per tree. sheltered in cold weather or they will not lay. After grafting, your recommendations coincide with my experience exactly. Shelburne, Franklin Co., Ms., March 26, 1855. C. SMITH. For the New England Farmer. They should have food regularly, and in variety; corn, occasionally boiled potatoes and meal mixed with scraps, the crumbs and bits of meat from the table, oats, barley or wheat, together with gravel and pounded oyster or clam shells. They love to run at large and eat the tender grass, inMR. EDITOR:-Will you give me some informa- sects, young cabbage plants, and other good tion through your excellent paper, in regard to things which they find in the garden. But they using phosphate of lime or some like fertilizer, on do well confined a part of the time, being allowed such vegetables as beans, peas, &c. FERTILIZERS-GARGET. Also where I can get garget-root for cows, and to range for an hour or two before going to if there is any other remedy as good. Boston, April 10, 1855. A. J. P REMARKS.--Superphosphate of lime,guano, bone dust and ashes, are excellent for all garden crops roost. QUANTITY OF SEED. Mr. MECHI, the distinguished English agriculwhen properly used. Apply in small quantities, turist at Tiptree Hall, says "Our farmers have, mix well with the soil, hoe well, and you will many of them, yet to learn the advantages of a rarely fail of a crop. moderate quantity of seed." The true rule we believe to be to make the land rich and use the We can supply you with a little of the "garget-root." Whether it is the best remedy for less seed; then you get a vigorous growth and the disease called garget in cows we do not know. fully matured seed. BLACK KNOTS ON PLUM TREES.-We see a variety Mr. L. P. PAGE, of Bedford, states that corn of cures recommended in the papers for the Black planted with muriate of lime, last season, pro |