Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-04-26
6durtestrr Daily spp.
From the Genesee On. " Farmer.
A LONG ISLAND PRIZE FARM

In 1891, and also in 1852, the American In
sutute awarded the first premium for the chest
cultivated farm of one hundred acres" to H
H. himball, Esq, OF Flatands, Kings County
Long Island. The early part of last June we
mad the pleasure of visiting this Justly cele-
brated farm, and think brief account of it
may not be unlnteresting to our readers.
The farm contains little over one hundred
acres of arabic land and is situated about eight
miles from New York, on the shore of Jamaica
Bay, which affords easy communication with
the city by water.
The soil is an exceedingly fine, friable loan.
with thin layer of clay lying on a grayellv
subsoil, which affords excellent drainage.
There is not stone on the farm From its
peculiar location, seaweed and drift can be had
IN great quantities, and they are placed in the
cattle yards, where they are converted into
excellent manure. A considerable quantity of
manure is also brought from New York. This
IS made into compost with the manure of the
farm, muck, leached ashes, bone dust etc., the
heap being covered with seaweed and drift.
which absorb the ammonia The heap is
turned once or twice. till it is thoroughly rot
ted, and so fine that it can be spread with
shovel without adhering to it. The manure is
applied wholly to Spring crops, and Mr. X is
undoubtedly right in decomposing it as much
as possible, as in such condition it acts with
great rapidity, and pushes the plants forward
during the early stages of growth. He attrib-
utes much OF his success to this method of
composing manures but it must not be for
gotten that the soil is naturally rich, and that
n'dn,"eS are used acih great G6erulity
The principal crop raised on the farm is pota-
toes, the main object being to get them early,
whlle they command high price. They are
planted in rows three feet apart and from ten
to twelve inches in the rows. The land is first
ploughed, and narrowed till in fine filth; drills
are then opened, and sprinkling of Peruvian
guano-say fifty pounds to the acre-scattered
IN the drills; the thoroughly rotted, composted
manure, previously alluded to, is then spread
III the rows, and the seed planted on the ma
nure and covered with the plough. Before the
potatoes make their appearance, the land is
narrowed for the purpose of breaking the crust
ana killing the weeds. The cultivator and
plough are frequently used, and at the time of
our visit nothing could exceed the cleanliness
ana mellowness of the ground and the luxuri-
BUSINESS OF the crop. The varieties mainly
planted are the Early June and Blue Mercer.
The former are dug and sent to market before
they are fully ripe, and are sold at a very high
price. AS soon as the early potatoes are dug,
the land is planted with cabbage celery, spin
ach, or ruta bagas. Celery is very profitable.
and the necessary deep tillage and heavy ma
nurlng render the soil exceedingly fertile for
subsequent crops. Mr. X. had four acres of
celery last season, and intends to plant ten
acres the present year. Mr.. Kimball has two
rows Of hot-beds, each row about two hundred
feet long and nine feet wide, covered with sash
From these beds he has sold this spring over
500 worth Of lettuce, and the beds at the time
OF our visit were occupied with cucumbers,
500 worth having been already sold.
A few acres only are sown with wheat-but
such wheat we have not seen elsewhere the
present year 1t is the Mediterranean Mr. |
X, formerly sowed the Bergen wheat, a variety
originating in the neighborhood 1t appears
that Mr.. Bergen discovered a single head of
this variety growing in a field of wheat He
kept separate, and soon raised enough to fur
nish seed for himself and neghbors. 1t was
known as the White Bergen, and has frequently
taken prizes at the fairs of the American Inst.
tute. Unfortunately, during the excitementin
regard to the Australian wheat a few years
ago, the Bergen was abandoned and now none
can be found. 1t was an early and every way
excellent variety and far superior to the Aus
tralian, which, in fact, is now little cultivated.
The crops of timothy and clover on this
farm were very fine. The land is seeded down
with wheat-the timothy being sown in the fall
and the clover in the spring. When the land
Is once stocked, it is allowed to remain in
meadow as long as it will produce, without top
dressing, two tons of clean timothy hay per
acre, which it will generally do for five or six
years. When ploughed, it is planted with
corn, followed by potatoes, with second crop
of cabbage or tutnips. The next year it is also
planted with potatoes, and is then sown with
wheat and seeded down, Each crop is well
manured, except the turnips.
All the stock on the farm is soiled in the
yards during the summer practice which
affords o large quantity of excellent manure,
and enables the farmer to dispense, in good
degree, with fences. OF course, it does not
follow, because soiling is profitable on a farm
contiguous to large city, where labor is
cheap (Mr X. pays his men from SIS to $40
per month and board) and produce high, that
1t would pay where land and produce are cheap
and labor dear
Sugar beets, carrots, parsnips and other
roots, are extensively grown as food for stock
They are sown in drills, after subsol plough
ing, and are heavily MANFRED in the drills,
great care being taken to have the manure
thoroughly rotted and intimately incorporated
nth the soil
The profits of this farm are full fifty dollars
per acre; and Mr.. X. says he shall not be sat
isfied till his hundred acres net him $4,000
per annum
CLERICAL CURIosITIEs.-Dr. James Muir,
of the District of Columbia, wrote all his SER
mons and recited them memoriter. But unless
the manuscript was in his pocket he could not
preach at ALL though he never used it. One
day. having left it at home he was obliged to
send for it before he could begin his recitation
He was buried, at his own request, in a grave
thirteen feet under his pulpit.
In writing sermons, DR.. Muir was in the
habit of folding the requisite amount of paper
and then scattering catch-words along tho
pages, after which he would proceed to fill up
the intervals with the thoughts which he had
carefully studied in his own mind.
DIR. David Porter was great oddity. A
Napoleon head, joined by short neck, upon
very portly body, which stood upon pair
of remarkably spindle legs, which were
cased in small clothes and silk hose, it was
the striking figure of as uncommon a mind.
When he was fairly under way, in the pulpit,
his short, dense sentences jerked out with
a nod of the head and a stamp of the foot or
the rap of his cane, which he sometimes did
not lay aside even in preaching, told like the
hitting of bullets. In the lecture-room he
would not only traverse the platform but at
times descend to the floor, step over bench
to some open space, walk there awhile, step
over another bench, and get back to the desk
from the opposite side, and all the while cary
ing on the address without break.
DIR. Porter was very absentminded Pray
ing with his eyes open, as was his habit, at
"nelghboring meeting" he CHANGED to see a
net Al. ,l..e -.