Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-07-23
ENGLISH FARMING.
Extracts from n Paper read hefore the
Board Of Agriculture. by William 5. Thorp,
Esq, of MorristOwn. Isf


Raising Roots.
The manner of preparing the ground for
roots is to plow the ground Eve or six times
over between the last Of April and the time TO
put in the seed. AT each pIOwing the ground
is rolled aud narrowed and every weed or
root ofauy description is picked off by hand
and either drawn of into compost heap
or else burnt on a pile. The seed is drilled
on ridges mostly about 23 inches apart, hOed
twice and thinhed to from ten to twelve
inches apart. The manure generally used
is common barnyard manure, we'll rotted,
and phosphateS. The season being favorable
80 or 40 tons Of roots 10 the acre will be pro-
duced which are usually fed on the ground
where raised. This is done by using movable
fence, and fencing of patch 10 proportions
to tho size of the stock in the 6eld, the cli-
mate being favorable enough to allow cattle
and sheep to be kept in the 6eld all winter
without shelter and with nothing for feed
save roots.
The large amount of drOppings that would
be occasioned by good crop of roots, aud
they being mostly soluble, leave the land
in very good condition for another crop,
which on their bes. lands is generally barley
which is raised for feeding purposes and the
manufacture of English ale. On their clay
ey grounds this crop is generally oats but in
other cases, the ground is stocked down with
red clover if the owner wishes to cut it for
fodder, but if he wishes to pasture it the
next season he stocks it down to white clov-
er aud a mixture of some other grasses.
In either case, whether he cuts il for fod-
der or pastures it in the fall, it is plowed
and sowu with wheat for the 70 urth crop
Then comes the second round of the rotation
again.
Flowing.
In plowing common soils the plow is gaug-
ed to lay the burrows at an angle Of about
40 degrees or in other words to have one
furrow lap over the other one little so that
beneath the furrow there will be a small
open space. This serves as drainage from
the top of the ground, likewise for the cir
culation of air and has tendency to keep
the ground light, but in blowing their light
soils they adopt the reverse course, plowing
their land very early in the season and lay.
ing the furrow as fat as possible. This
would keep the soil in more moist condi-
tiOn consequently the crop would not be so
subject to suffer in the heat of the seasons.
At the time of my visit they were exper.
imenting with the steam plow which un-
derstand was success. There are several
different kinds but believe the fayorite
| plow TO be one that had small steam en-
CINE at either end Of the field the gang of
plows being attached to an endless wire
rope.
Raising Grain.
The grains and seeds Of all descriptions
are put into the ground by a drill One
reason for this is that the seed is put IN all
Of one depth; consequently the product is
more even, every seed having an equal
chance with its neighbor. This precaution,
combined with the care and judgment they
exercise in selecting the seed, secures very
even and fine samples. Their seed is all
put through separators till it is perfectly
clean, with all the poor, light and defective
kernels taken out and after all this pains,
in the month of june when the grain is grow.
ing they spend days and days and some
times month in picking out by hand every
weed that has made its appearance.
Manures.
Their barn yards are generally about two
feet lower in the middle than they are on the
outside, which answers the purpose of hold
ing the liquids; but in case of heavy rains
causing the yard to overflow, there is an out
let in one corner, which leads to a tank
When this is full, it is pumped into hogs,
head on wheels, which is drawn upon the
meadow, and is drawn off into a sprinkler
something like street sprinkler. They save
and compost everything that will decay Oh
the farm; they also use a great deal of lime
Bones are saved with the utmost care, and
either made into phosphates or taken to the
bone-mill and ground into what they cal
bone-dust The flesh, blood and bones of al
old horse are often worth more than he was
when alive. They import many thousand
tons OF bones, every year, from America, to
, be ground up and used as manures They
import fax seed aud cotton seed from Amer.
lea by the tens of thousands of tons, which
are ground, the oil extracted and the residue
pressed into cake, which is fed to their fat
} tening stock. The droppings, which arr
very rich, are afterwards used for manure
Here, Mr.. Chairman, is one case wherein
t the Englishman is too sharp for the Yankee
He extracts the oil, fats his cattle, manure
l his land, and rejoices, while the American
! farmer that sells him the seed is groaninI
: over his hard luck and run-out farm, an,
r says farming don't pay. They import
9 great deal of guauo, which is inspected b.
, government inspectors, and If found adulter
!. ated, the owner is punished by very heay,
0 fine. They make use Of great many chem
icals which they buy by the pound, in tn
r market, and feed their crops the same a
9 they do their cattle; that is to say, they tax
0 into consideration the crop they desire Il
4 raise, and then apply those manures an,
It chemicals, whose component parts enter int
= the construction Of tho plant to be raised
n They have special manures compounded b
n the manufacturers of artificial manures fc