"O, Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy riches. For the New England Farmer. GUANO. As your correspondent gives the results of his trial of guano, I will give mine. I found an acre "These wait all upon Thee; that thou mayest of land, lying unfenced, before the academy, give them their meat in due season. serving as a pasture for all the stray cattle of the "That Thou givest them they gather Thou place. I put on a fence and planted it, with a openest Thine hand, and they are filled with view of grading when the ground was suitable. good." It is of the Connecticut Valley land, a light, worn Rarely have we received a better lesson than soil. Having no manure, I bought 150 pounds this of the Muskrats; to live truly to the attri- of guano and applied on the hill, mixing it well butes which God has implanted in our natures. with the soil. I planted three-fourths with corn, and the remainder with potatoes. It was hoed We wish we could recite the lesson as well as we twice, and before the second time, had plaster and ashes. I left one row without guano. have learned it. That Now, at this writing, the clouds still portend came up looking as if it needed a tonic. I plasa little more rain-the earth is saturated the tered half of it, which improved it. The worms brooks skip with joy, and the springs so long si ate it badly, and the drought affected it severely. I have just harvested fifty bushels of ears, the lent, gush up with gladness. Hungry pike find a corn of which appears plump and sound. This is wider range on the flooded meadows, among the rather above the average in this region on similar reeds and rank grass, and full mill-ponds drive land. The crop here is full one-half short from merry wheels that had become dusty and dull for the drought, except on the low meadows, where want of use. it is fully up to the average. My potatoes are Winter may now come as soon as it will. We good, being remarkably large and sound. I think the average is about 18 hills to the bushel. shall have plenty of water for the cattle, and if they are not all dug, I cannot give the amount. Old Boreas favors us, plenty of ice for the Orien- I bought and applied half a load of hog matals and for skating upon by the boys. The full nure, at a cost of 75 cents, including hauling. ponds and swamps and bubbling springs will send The corn planted on this was better than that on The poout their latent heat to soften the frosty winter guano, yielding about one-fourth more. tatoes seemed to be no better than on the guano, air, and send back in curling vapors to the atmo- being more in number, but smaller. This, I sphere a portion of the moisture they have so re-think, a common effect of that manure. 1 had, cently shed upon us. also, a bushel of beans. These grew well on the guano. Cost of guano and applying it, about CUTTINGS OF FRUIT TREES. 35,00-the guano costing $4,67. The plaster Cuttings should be made in autumn after and ashes cost $2,25, and was applied to all the growth has ceased, or early in winter-they may potatoes and corn except half a row. Manure, at be preserved by fastening them in a box by slats $3 per cord, would have cost me about five times running across, and then placing the open side of as much, applied at the rate I used the hog mathe box downwards with its contents in the bot-nure, which gives a volume in favor of the guano. tom of a pit dug for the purpose, on a dry spot My crops are as good as those of my neighbor adof ground, and burying the whole with earth. joining, with thirty loads of stable manure to the The slats keep the cuttings from coming in con- acre. If my ground is not in so good condition tact with the earth below, and they are preserved for the next year, I can afford to apply more in a proper moist condition. Or, they may be guano, and not incur so much expense as he. I packed in slightly damp moss, in a large box, regard the trial as satisfactory. Several of our men have tried it in various placed in a cellar. Very early in spring they should be set out. Every cutting should be cut ways. Mr. D. P. Wheeler applied about 125 off just above a bud at the upper end, and just pounds to the acre of grass land, on the same It was estimated to below one at the lower end. Taken off closely to soil and situation as mine. the old wood, with a base attached, they are have doubled the grass. The grass was nearly a more sure of growth. They should be set out foot taller than where it was not applied, on the in a trench, in a rich mellow soil, which is to be same ground. Its effects are plainly seen in the packed or trodden closely about them as the after-growth, at this time. He sowed his on trench is filled, and afterwards a mellow surface about four inches of sugar snow, which melted made by drawing on a little more earth. The the same day. Dr. Hosford and S. Willard, Esq., length of the cutting should be eight inches to a applied some to grass and to oats in May, with foot, and two-thirds to nine-tenths buried. Shad- scarcely perceptible effects. It was applied in ing the cuttings of any deciduous trees, (includ- dry weather. Some others applied it in various ing all fruit trees) is of little or no advantage, ways, but with results not unlike the above. but it is important to keep the ground uniformly Those who covered it or applied it while wet, remoist; if this is done by watering, the surface ceived benefit; those who used it dry, had little. should be preserved from crusting or cracking by The trial, on the whole, gave so favorable a mulch. This is the mode of raising quince trees, result, that a second, on a larger scale, will be currants and gooseberry bushes, grapes, &c., but made the ensuing year. will not answer for the larger fruits generally, A more particular statement of its effects in in the Northern States-it is cheaper to bud or particular cases, together with some remarks on graft, than to procure the few which may be ob- its application, may be made at another time. tained among many failures in this way.-Albany | I. H. NUTTING, M. D. Cultivator. Orford, N. H., Oct. 5th, 1854. MacGREGOR'S PATENT PORTABLE OR, AGRICULTURAL BOILER. ket. They have been fully tested eight years with much success. They are of different sizes, holding from barrel to 4 barrels." For the New England Farmer. BURNT CLAY, MEANS GRASS, &c. Burnt clay is now extensively used, in some way. We have before us a boiler somewhat dif- sections of the country, as a manure for garden ferent in its construction from any we have here- soil. It is generally prepared, I believe, by first tofore represented, and which is said by some accumulating a quantum sufficit of woody matter, who have used it to be superior to any other. and covering it with clay. The mass is then We have not tried it. The description below is coal and ashes, similar to the manner pursued in ignited, and burnt till the wood is reduced to from Messrs. Ruggles, Nourse, Mason & Co.'s coal burning. The charcoal, ashes and clay thus catalogue. furnished, constitutes an excellent dressing, and "These furnaces are made with and without produces highly beneficial effects on both crop covers, very substantial, and are more durable and soil. than any others in use; are arranged for wood, or fitted with grates and fire brick lining for coal. With the lining they are ever durable by replacing the bricks occasionally, at an expense of only $1,25, and can be used with wood with equal facility as if not lined. They require less amount of fuel to accomplish the same amount of work than any other furnace or boiler, either set in iron or brick. a MEANS GRASS-(Sorghum Halapense.)-This is native of Syria, and belongs to the same genus as broom corn. It has recently been introduced to notice in this country by some experiments made in Massachusetts and New York, where its cultivation has been attended with considerable success. It can be cut several times in a season, and is consequently well adapted to soiling. STRAWBERRY RUNNERS.-These should be con templated in the light of weeds, and destroyed. They are no less detrimental to the plants than They heat equally as quick at the front as at ordinary kinds of spurious vegetation, and prothe back part, the fire and draught being en- duce effects equally as deleterious upon the crop. tirely under the control of the operator by simply A writer in the Gardener's Chronicle remarks: moving one damper at the back part, consequently ting this fruit in separate and distinct plants, and "So convinced am I of the propriety of cultivathey are well adapted for all manufacturing and of cutting off the runners, that I have this season mechanical purposes, and for farmers' use, where taken out a plant between each of my plantaan equal and governable heat is required. For tions-thus making the distance between each the boiling of oil, the rendering of tallow, lard plant four feet by three." This is, perhaps, runand such like articles, the boiling of food for but there can be no question that an open arning somewhat too far into the opposite extreme; stock, and the scalding of hogs, this article is rangement is preferable to a close and crowded. unequalled by any furnace or boiler in the mar-lone. A writer in one of the agricultural journals, ken up by the roots of the plant, carried to its in course of observations on Strawberry Culture, utmost extremities, and now covers the straw of after asserting his opinion that most persons his wheat-field, with a delicate and beautiful coatallow their vines "to run themselves to death," says:-"If you would observe the plants that ing of sand, or enamel, which gives it strength bear the best in the fields, you will see that they to stand erect, and thus present its seeds to the inare those which have but few or no runners; fluences of the sun and air, and bring them to while those which have run very much, and be- perfection. come matted, bear little or no fruit. This is a While he reaps, shall he not inquire how this lesson worth observing, when you come to cultivate the strawberry in the garden. Where the came, and compare it with another field, which wild plant has not sent out much runner, from fell to the ground and failed to perfect its grain ? some cause or other, you will find the stock large Will he not investigate these causes and thus acand strong, the leaves broad and healthy, and the quire more knowledge of the operations of nafruit, which has the benefit of both sun and air, ture, and more power over his crops? is large and high flavored. If you have strawberry plants in your garden, keep the runners down to a foot in length, and you will make them healthier and more fruitful." GARDENER. By an accurate knowledge of the times when insects appear, and the kinds of plants on which they prefer to feed, the time of planting and sowing may be varied, so that it may be possible to esINQUIRY AND OBSERVATION. cape their ravages in some degree in this manner; or as their period of existence is often very brief, It is not expected that the farmer shall have an we may learn their time of retiring to a winter exact knowledge of the construction of the trees home, and destroy them there by late plowing or and plants which he cultivates with so much care; other means. The season of their coming and or of the anatomy and physiology of the animals retiring, the food they require, and the length which he rears. He cannot learn the precise hab- of time they remain, being accurately understood, its of the insects which destroy his crops, their pe- will, at least, give us a power over them we do riods of coming and retiring, or the office which it not now possess. But this is not all we gain. is designed they shall fill in the economy of nature. This knowledge admits us to some of the secret Yet a general knowledge of the laws which govern and wonderful operations of irrational life, and them, and a constant observation of their habits, thus leads us, by successive steps, "through nawill divest us of much of the repugnance felt to- ture up to nature's God." wards them, and lead us to a profound contemplation of the wisdom and goodness of the Great Architect of all. But the farmer too often stands in the midst of The Rose Bug, for instance, has received its name from its annual appearance coinciding with the blossoming of that plant, and this fact may We plant the seed, and behold the germ springs operate as a note of preparation against its ravato the light and air. What wonderful operations ges; and so it may aid us against the Caterpillar, are still carried on! The tree assumes the most Cankerworm, Curculio, and Beetles. The latter stately, as well as graceful forms—the buds, the insect sometimes proves exceedingly destructive. leaves, blossoms, and fruit appear, surpassing in The discovery was made by a gentleman, that beauty all art of the most skilful hands. It fur- they visited and defoliated his cherry trees in the nishes fuel, shade, fragrance, sustenance, often- night. When this habit was known, they were times protection against summer heats, or winter shaken down and destroyed in large numbers, and winds, and always beauty to the landscape. the trees afterwards saved. This fact was learned his trees, his plants, and flowers, of his corn, and trate what it has become too fashionable to conby reference to a work on insects, and will illusgrass, and grain, which he has caused to grow, demn as Book-Farming, as if facts recorded in a and looks upon them as the result of a mere me- book or newspaper were not as valuable as though chanical operation. He overlooks that wonderful declared by the tongue. To be consistent, the and mysterious agency which prepares the food, scoffer at Book-Farming should reject many of diversified as it is, and sends it to the farthest the best practices of the farmer now, because Virbud and leaf of a monarch of the forest, or the minutest tendril of the tiny vine. He plows, be-Jethro Tell, commended them. gil wrote of them; or Cato, or Columella, or cause it is easier to plant and hoe in a loose soil, The insect race has its part to fill in the great fogetting that, in a fine tilth, there are millions plan, and that part is undoubtedly an important more mouths to receive the food which the plant one. We accuse them of encroachments when requires than in a compact soil; that these open they select, as their favorite food, the plants we mouths catch fertilizing substances from every are cultivating for our own pleasure or profit. It passing breeze, and drink them in from the coolmay be, that in their deliberations and conventions, ing dews and genial showers. He forgets that if they hold any, they look upon us as the aggresthe sand which he applied to the clay land, has sors. They feed on the common bounty as well as found potash in the soil, become soluble, been ta- ourselves, enjoy their brief existence and die. Our domestic animals do the same; but we make them used, however, in its application, for if given in subserve our purposes, and are content. We too large quantities, and placed in too close have not yoked the inscet race to our implements proximity to the roots of the plant, its effects are fatal. Its value for all purposes is greatly infor practical purposes; but having this decided creased by being mixed with charcoal, or when advantage of them, the possession of reason, it is this is not at hand, with plaster. Every man the part of wisdon to study their habits with who keeps hens should have his hen-house so conpatient care, until we become as well convinced structed as to save all the manure, and save it of their usefulness, as we are of that of the Ox dry as may be, and he will find it no inconsiderable item in his matters of rural economy." and Cow, and that an intelligent Being placed them here for our good. SALT FOR CATTLE.-When cattle are allowed Many of the Beetles live on plants not only of and especially on changing to it from dry alito partake freely of green and fermentable food, little use to man, but some of them poisonous, ment, they require a constant and liberal supply and in a state of decay often offensive; they are of salt. One quart of salt, and three of wood therefore to be reckoned among our friends. Some ashes, mixed, should be given to a full-grown OBSERVER. live on the juices of animals, and by this means animal monthly. destroy a great number of noxious insects. Others are of service in the arts, affording us the costly cochineal, scarlet grain, lac and manna. Dragon flies and some others subsist upon plant-lice, and thus become our active protectors. For the New England Farmer. BLACKBERRY---HEN MANURE----SALT FOR CATTLE. THE BLACKBERRY.-This delicious fruit has rarely received the attention of the cultivator, though eminently deserving of all the care that can be bestowed upon it. A correspondent of the Albany Cultivator, over the signature of "S. H.," gives the experience of a friend of his, "who has a beautiful hedge, which produces a great abundance of excellent fruit." He says: "The plants are set out in rows four or five feet apart, and are kept free from weeds through the summer. In the fall, these spaces (between the rows) are filled with leaves from the forest. The next spring a quantity of ashes is strewn between the rows-these, with the leaves, are all the means used to secure a beautiful harvest every year." EVENING. See! the shadows now are stealing O'er the vale the mists are creeping; Chaunting hive-ward wends the bee; Through the welkin tranquilly. Oh! how sweet, at day's declining, 'Tis to rest from earth-born care; Dreaming that our home is there. Dublin Univ. Mag. For the New England Farmer. AG OD PLOW. HEN MANURE.-Like guano, hen manure possesses many valuable properties, in a form most conveniently concentrated. In all cases, however, where it is applied directly as a stimulant to crops, it should be compounded with some less GENTLEMEN:-Wishing that all those engaged powerful material, as loam, muck, or garden soil. in agricultural pursuits should have the best tools This is a necessary precaution, as the depositing in use, I take the liberty to write you, although of the seed on or beneath it, would inevitably we are strangers, that in my opinion, among the prove fatal to its vitality. Mr. W. BACON, an most important tools is a good plow. I find that occasional correspondent in the Farmer, in the in 1849, Sept. 14th, I bought of you an Eagle American Agriculturist says: Plow, No. 2, with Wheel Cutter, for which I "I have lately been informed, by an intelligent paid you $11. With this plow I have done the and skilful cultivator, that the following prepara- most of my plowing from that time to the present; tion affords an ample and compiete remedy. Take and you will find, by looking at the Barnstable hen manure one part, reduce it as well as you Patriot of the 17th inst., I took the first premium can to powder; then with an equal part of plas- for plowing at the Fair. The irons, by long use, ter of Paris, incorporate well together, and are somewhat worn, but I think, by general obsprinkle the mixture over the vines, or sow it servation, that the Eagle Plow, No. 2, for plowover the drills of your turnips. ing all kinds of ground, has but few equals and Hen manure is free from the seeds of foul no superiors. This plow runs deep, and you can weeds, and, in consequence of the great abundance always plow with a short chain, and guage the of ammonia it contains, it possesses a great effect plow by the wheel. I plowed at the Fair 7 in pushing plants forward. Hence, for tomatoes, inches, the others less. At 7 inches, the plow peppers and similar plants in our northern cli- runs easy and light for the oxen and those that mate, it possesses high value. It is well worth manage the plow. I bought of you last May an being saved with care, by farmers and gardeners, Improved Cultivator, Rogers' steel teeth; this I for every purpose of cultivation. Care should be think to be one of the best in use, and I would advise all those who want the best implements, to they run. use those named above. Respectfully, Barnstable, Oct., 1854. E. T. COBB. AGRICULTURAL AND COMMERCIAL This has been the case in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Canada. The President of the Nashville and Chattanoogo road has stated, that the increase in the value of a belt of land ten miles wide, lying upon each side of that line, was equal to $6,50 per acre, or $96,000 for every mile of road, which cost the company only $20,000 a mile. It has been calculated that The Democracy, a journal recently established the construction of the 2,000 miles of railroad in at Buffalo by an association of gentlemen, and Ohio would add to the value of landed property conducted with a good deal of ability, publishes in that State three hundred millions of dollarsthe following table and remarks illustrating the that is, five times the cost of the roads, which value of railroads.--Hunt's Magazine. was $60,000,000. The country can stand bankUpon the ordinary highways, the economical if it can stand any. Of all forms, they are the ruptcies that come through railroad enterprises, limit to transportation is confined within a com- least mischievous. paratively few miles, depending, of course, upon the kind of freight and the character of the roads. If fresh meat could be had from distant coun Upon the average of such ways, the cost of trans- NEW SYSTEM OF PRESERVING MEAT. portation is not far from fifty cents per ton per mile, which may be considered as a sufficiently correct estimate for the whole country. Esti-tries, where it bears a very low price, the people mating, at the same time, the value of wheat at of France would be able to purchase a much larg$1.50 per bushel, and corn at seventy-five cents, er quantity of animal food; but this has been and that thirty-three bushels of each are equal hitherto impossible, for the cost of transport and to a ton, the value of the former would be equal of fattening would be such as to make the meat to its cost of transportation three hundred and dearer than that which is raised in France. Atthirty miles, and the latter one hundred and tempts have been made to preserve meats in the sixty-five miles. At these respective distances cheap countries, and export them to France, but from market, neither of the above articles would they have all failed. There is now a project behave any commercial value, with only a common fore the Emperor and the Minister of War for earth road as an avenue to market. But we find that we can move property upon railroads at the rate of fifteen cents per ton per mile, or for onetenth the cost upon the ordinary road. These works, therefore, extend the economic limit of the cost of transportion of the above articles to 3,300 and 1,650 miles respectively. Statement showing the value of a ton of wheat, and one of corn, at given points from market, as affected by cost of transportation by railroad and over the ordinary road. Transportation by Wheat.... Value at market.. 10 miles from market...49.35 Transportation highway. Wheat.... 48.00 Corn...... $24.75 20.25 the drying of meat in South America, where it can be had at about one sou per pound, and importing it from thence for the use of the army and navy We have seen some specimens of meat dried in Paris, and which at the expiration of five months were perfectly good. In South America a very large quantity of meat is dried in the sun, but the process carries away a very large portion of the nutritious properties, and it remains good only for a few weeks. The process on which the government has now to give a decision is simple and apparently efficacious. The by water of the meat, which forms a very large portion of its bulk, is removed; and not by heated air, which has been frequently tried, and never with success, but by mechanical means; the meat is then plunged into a sort of varnish made from the gelatinous portions of the animal, and which 23.25 not only forms a hard surface, but also enters in21.75 to the pores of the meat and augments the nu18.74 trition, and then the meat is gradually dried. In 17.25 about fifteen days it is fit for packing, and will, according to the assertion of the inventors, keep 12.75 good for two or three years. When required for 11.25 use, the meat is put for a few minutes into water, 8.25 and it nearly resumes its original bulk, and is 6.75 cooked in the usual way. If it be true that meat 5.25 thus prepared will keep for two or three years, or 2.25 even for one year, the adoption of the process will 75 produce an enormous change in the economy of subsistence. In South America it can be preHow wonderfully does the railroad enhance the pared at about two sous per lb., including every value of farming lands at a distance from market! cost. As it is reduced in bulk about one-half, American farms, generally speaking, are very far the cost to transport would not exceed one sou, from market. Indeed, New York is the market and it could be sold in France, with a profit of for the bulk of the northern agricultural products. 25 per cent., at four sous per lb. South American Most English farms have a market nearly in sight meat is not, perhaps, equal in quantity to that of them. But ours are for the most part so far raised in France, but even supposing it to be infeaway, that railroads of long lines and long connec- rior to the extent of 20 per cent., the workingtions instantly double, treble, quadruple, and classes and the poor would have an abundant supquintuple the worth of grain lands near where ply of animal food.-Galignani. .$19.50 $24.75 $49.50 20 do. 15.75 14.25 9.75 3.75 |