New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-12-27

into which green rye clover, timothy, oats,
soyyed corn. stalks, &c, &C., may successfully be
thrown from every side, and where shelter from a
cold, driving storm, is provided and that, if cows
could be MIXED here and left through night as
well as day, it would be found good economy.
a. know that most of us are slashing down our
trees most mprovidently and thus compelling our
| children TO buy timber at thrice the cost at which
we might and should have grown it. know that it
is wasteful to let White Birch, Hemlock Scrub Oak,
| Pitch Pine, Dogwood &c. start up and grow ON
lands which might be cheaply with the seeds of
Locust White Oak, Hickory, Sugar Maple, Chestnut,
Black Walnut, and White Pine know that no farm
IN settled region is large that its owner can
really afford to surrender considerable portion of it
to growing Indifferent cord wood when il would as
freely grow choice timber if seeded therefor; and
feel sure that there few farms 30 small that a
portion of each might not be proftaby devoted to the
growing of valuable trees know that the common
presumption that land 80 devoted viii yield return
for lifetime is wrong-know that if thickly and
properly seeded, IL will begin to yield bean-poles
hoop-poes &c. the fifth or sixth year from planting,
aud thenceforth viii yield more and more abundant
" forever. / know that good timber, In any
well peopled region should not be cut of but CUT our
--thinned judiciously but moderately and trimmed
up 40 that it shall grow tall and run TO trunk in
4
about us millions of of rocky crests and sc-
cvties steep ravnes and sterile sands, that Ought
to be seeded TO timber forthwith kept clear of cat
tie. and devoted to tree-growing evernore.
g. do not know that all lands may be proftably
undetermined Wooded uplands know could not
be- Fields which slope considerably, and 20 regu-
lary that water never stagnates upon OF near their
surface do very well without. Light, leachy sands,
like those of Long Island Southern Jersey
Eastern Maryland and the Carolinas. seem
to do fairly without. Yet my conviction ls
strong that nearly all land rhoh 70 TO De
pesiseahy cultivated rH in time be under
drained ! would urge no farmer to plunge up TO his
neck into debt in order to underdran his farm. But
,roald press every one who has no experience on
this head to select his wettest field, or the wettest
part of such field and having carefully read and d.
gested Warnings, French's, or some other approved
work on the subject, procure tile and proceed next
FAN to drain that field OF part of field thoroughly,
taking especial precautions against backwater, and
watch the effect until satisfied that 1t will OF will
not pay to drain further / think few have drained
one acre thoroughly and at no unnecessary cost,
without being impelled by the result TO drain more
and faster until they had tiled at least half their
respective farms.
g. AS to Irrigation doubt that there is a farm in
the United States where something might not be
proftably done forthwith 10 secure advantage from
the artificial retention and application of water
Wherever brook or runnel crosses or skirts farm
the question" Can the water here running use
lessy by be retained and in due season equally
diffused over some portion of this land pat once
presents itself One who has never looked with this
view will be astOnished at the facility with which
some acres of nearly every farm may be irrigated
Often dam that need not cost $50 will suffice to
hold back ten thousand barrels of water, that it
may be led off along the upper edge of slope
OF glade, falling off just enough to maintain
q gentle steady current, and 80 providing
for the application of two Tor three inches Of
water to several acres of tllage grass just when
the exigencies of crop and season most urgently
require such irrigation. Any farmer east of the
Hudson can tell where such application would
have doubled the crop Of 1870, and precluded the
hard necessity Of selling OF killing cattle not easily
replaced.
OF course, this is but rude beginning In time
we shall dam very considerable streams mainly TO
this end and irrigate hundreds and thousands of
acres from single pond or reservoir. Wells viii be
sunk on plains and gentle swells now comparatively
arid and sterile, and wind or steam employed 10
raise water into reservoirs whence wide areas of sur
rounding OF subjacent land will be refreshed at
the critical moment and thus rendered boun-
less Plains of the wild West, even Artesian wells
will be sunk for this purpose, and the water thus
obtained will prove source of fertility as well as
refreshment, enriching the soil by the minerals
which il holds in solution and insuring bounteous
CROPS from wide stretches Of now narreY and worth
less desert. immigration will yet thickly dot the
great Sahara with GASES of verdure and plenty; but
il will long ere that have covered the valleys OF our
Great Basin and those which skirt the afiuents OF
the savage and desolate Colorado with beauty and
thrift surpassing the dreams of poets. And yet its
eagiest and readiest triumphs are to be won rlght
herein the valleys of the Connecticut, the Hudson,
the Susquehanna and the Potomac.
10 AS To Commercial Fertilizers / think have
been well paid for the application of Gypsum (Plas-
ter of Paris to my upland grass at the rate OF one
bushel Der acre per annum, while my tllage has been
supplied with it by busting my stables
with it after each cleaning, and 30 applying
it mingled with barn-yard manures Lime tun-
slaked) from burned oyster-shells, costing me rom
d to 80 cents per bushel delivered, have applied
literally, and Judge with profit. Bones, ground,
the finer the better | have largely and l think
advantageously used; but my land had been manly
nastnred for nearly two centuries before bought it,
and thus continually drained of Phosphates, yet
never repenished: 30 my experience does not prove
that the farmers of newer lands ought 10 buy
bones, though advise them to apply all they can
save OF pick up small cost Pound them very fine
with beetle OF ax-head on fiat stone and give
them TO your fowls: if they refuse part OF them
your soil will prove less dainty. am not sure that
il paws to buy any manufactured Phosphate when
Won can get Raw Bone, though doubt not that, for
instant effect the Phosphate is far superior As to
Guano, it has not paid me; but that may be the
fault of careless OF unskillful application judge
that any one who has to deal with sterile sands
that will not bring Clover, may wisely apply
400 pounds of Guano per acre, provided he has moth
Aftar