I sowed two other small pieces of ground, the one on the 1st, and the other on the 8th of September. Neither of these yielded like the one sowed on the 25th August; but each of them produced much larger and better turnips, than I have seen, that were sowed at the usual time.
I attribute my success altogether to the late sowing; the heat is then less intense, the rains more frequent, the dews more copious, the fly harmless, and the crop abundant.
I would earnestly recommend to the farmers to set apart a small piece of ground, and try the experiment of late sowing, and I am confident they will be amply compensated for making the attempt, by a greater increase of crops.
[Connecticut Courant.
(From the American Farmer.)
On the use of Oxen and deep ploughing in New England, by Josiah Quincy, Esq.
Boston, Nov. 2, 1817.
My dear Sir,
In reply to your inquiries in your last letter I answer:—Oxen are used almost wholly for plough and team work in this quarter of the country. A single horse is usually kept by our principal farmers, to go to mill, and to church, and for the convenience of the family. Occasionally he precedes the oxen at plough, or on the road. This is so universal as to be almost without exception, among mere farmers. They certainly answer all purposes, except perhaps speed; and in this, on a long journey, they are considered as quite equal to horses. But of this our farmers have not many opportunities of comparison, oxen are so universally used. They are "worked" with yokes, and "broken" when very young, pretty much as men break horses.—Our farmers are so satisfied with their utility and economy that no argument would induce them to change.